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[Gregory Black]

 

[Resonance]

I completed my Insanity run last night, starting as a L5 Infiltrator, finishing with 100% survivors, though I skipped a couple of side-quests.  So far, the Infiltrator has generally been the easiest for me to play, completing most missions on Insanity more easily than either the Sentinel or Adept did on Hardcore, though I really should re-run my Adept now that I have a better understanding of the game mechanics for a proper comparison.  The exception was Tali's loyalty mission, which took me a couple tries when a door sealed behind me and I got cornered with no retreat option.  The final mission was over so fast that no Collectors had time to show up.

A few lessons learned:

• The first forced mission past Freedom's Progress counts only main missions for when it shows up (i.e. it's a good idea to do all of the miniquests before doing more than two main quests), but the *second* forced mission counts *all* quests.  My 'harvest xp from little things' technique backfired on me badly, leaving me to face Harbingers without the SMG upgrade, and I had to reload a couple times until I got my aggression level right.
• Cryo ammo appears mostly worthless, at least compared to Warp ammo.  Even fighting Krogan, I killed them faster starting at pure health with Warp, and that's about the optimal use-case scenario.
• A Widow can one-shot a Harbinger once the barrier is down.
• Assassin Cloak trumps Improved Cloak fairly hard.  While the additional 2s of cloak time allows you to pick up a little extra distance when repositioning, the damage difference is substantial, which in turn affects ammo consumption and how well you can prevent yourself from being swarmed.
• Conversely, Agent training dominates; shaving an extra half-second off of your uncloaked time and getting some extra cloaked time in beats a tiny increase in overall damage fairly hard.  This also helps with hacking, but...
• One point in hacking is actually better than 2, 3, or 4 points, the reason being that the bonus shielding does not go away when the hack wears off, and hack times are far too short for the shields to be breached by enemies most of the time.  One point of hacking with the Agent bonus, however, allows you to generate a fresh decoy every few seconds as long as you were able to breach shields initially.
• It helps a lot with ammo consumption to realize that heavy weapon ammo containers also replenish about ten heatsinks to all weapons.  Getting them after fights, or late in them, instead of getting them as soon as you see them, helps a lot with ammo shortages.
• Playing Insanity makes your teammates look incompetent, which reduces the fun factor, even though I think they got the challenge factor about right.
• Optimal completion of Feros in ME1 *does* provide a very slightly different flavour text in ME2 than mere survival of the colony.  It's a pity that the optimal path requires either 3 ME1 playthroughs or sacrifice of a power.

[Elysienne]

Optimal completion of Feros in ME1 *does* provide a very slightly different flavour text in ME2 than mere survival of the colony.  It's a pity that the optimal path requires either 3 ME1 playthroughs or sacrifice of a power.

It may just be because it's very late where I am but I think I missed something there. Could you explain a little more, please, Res?

[Resonance]

Optimal completion of Feros in ME1 *does* provide a very slightly different flavour text in ME2 than mere survival of the colony.  It's a pity that the optimal path requires either 3 ME1 playthroughs or sacrifice of a power.

It may just be because it's very late where I am but I think I missed something there. Could you explain a little more, please, Res?

An optimal path through Feros requires 10 points in Charm/Intimidate (the badass resolution to the Saren encounter at the end requires 12, and optimal resolution of Noveria requires 5).  Each playthrough of ME1 will net you four free points in Charm/Intimidate.  There are not enough skill points at L60 to catch all of the key points of all powers even with no points spent on Charm/Intimidate, so if you want the best Feros ending, you either have to make multiple playthroughs, or accept that there will be an additional high-end ability you won't be able to see.

In terms of difficulty, it doesn't matter that much, but if you're completionist about your builds, it does, particularly since ME1 doesn't allow respec.

[Elysienne]

Ahhh, I gotcha now. Thanks for the clarification, Res.

I've thought about doing the whole "make a character and run through the game multiple times for the optimum build" thing but... it's so much like effort...

[Resonance]

Yeah, I had "perfect" saves for Adept and Sentinel, but only went for 2 plays on Infiltrator, and will probably only go one on Vanguard.  I may even skip ME1 completely on Soldier.  I have played these games way too many times now.

As an aside, for those that haven't seen this yet, you can get all three of the Dr. Pepper DLC headgear pieces for free:

http://hellforge.gameriot.com/blogs/Hellforge/Mass-Effect-2-Free-Dr-Pepper-Promo-DLC-Codes

[Gregory Black]

Well, just finally finished the game last night after a 2-week hiatus. I was really, really hoping the ending would have been tougher (I guess I can always crank up the difficulty) but the final boss battle was actually easier than the loyalty mission for Grunt. Somewhat of a disappointment. Nonetheless, it makes me want go to back and play ME1 and finishe Renegade, then go through as Renegade in ME2 to see what changes.

However, I will say final cutscene = PLEASE TURN ME3 INTO MMO.

[Arinara]

Ugh, no.

ME3 deserves to be a single-player game, same as the first two. MMOs don't end.

By all means, create Mass Effect Online, but finish the damn story first.

[Niranen]

Ugh, no.

AGREE

VASTLY AGREE

[PsychoPez]

It worked for Warcraft 3 after all...

[Gregory Black]

Ugh, no.

AGREE

VASTLY AGREE

But... but...

I wanna cyborz with Elcors...
"Feigned sympathy: No, it's okay, I've heard that happens to lots of guys."

[Niranen]

I wanna cyborz with Elcors...
"Feigned sympathy: No, it's okay, I've heard that happens to lots of guys."

UPSIZED TO DISPLAY YOUR DEEP SHAME.

Also, because I actually laughed with noise.

[Elysienne]

While an ME MMORPG would make me drool and squeal like a shameless little schoolgirl, I'd much prefer they finish the Reaper story first too.

[PsychoPez]

Faked Enjoyment: Oh, oh, penetrate with an increased velocity.

Hopeful: Rotate vector of entry 20 degrees to the left.

Mild distaste: This one's left.

[Niranen]

OMG PEZ.

I AM FRONTPAGING THIS CONVERSATION.

...OBVIOUSLY I HAVE MY BULLHORN ON FULL POWER TODAY.