About to play Mass Effect 1 for the first time

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JohnnyNapalm

[H]ard|Gawd
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Jul 13, 2007
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Any suggestions? This definitely isn't my "normal" kind of game, I'm trying to branch out a bit based on what I've heard about the series.

I'm not really in it for the difficulty, more for the story, so what can I do to make it as painless as possible?
 
easy mode seems the easiest....


other then that not much else without giving away any of the story.


oh one tip. go get the asari first. i forgot what planet it was but it was NOT feros or novaria. start with that, and then ya pretty much just do what you want. also when you get near the end. dont go after the lost recon team till you have everything else done. after that point your pretty much locked into the end game. so get all your other shit you want to do before then.
 
I'd suggest turning off the subtitles. They ended up distracting me in-game and seemed to be counterproductive to what the experience was meant to be.
 
I've heard that ME2 actually has audio glitches that are frequent enough to justify leaving the subtitles on. Kind of ironic.
 
This is true about the audio glitches in ME2. Nothing too bad, but you miss a word or two every once in a while.

Also, since no one else has mentioned it: Unless you enjoy pain;), avoid the generic side-quests/planet exploration. After a while, there are a bunch of planets that you can land on and do stuff that are not related to the main story. For the most part, I found these to all be repetitive and boring. You will probably know what I mean after you do a few of them. You don't get anything spectacular from doing these quests, so I recommend skipping them.
 
JohnnyNapalm said:
I've heard that ME2 actually has audio glitches that are frequent enough to justify leaving the subtitles on. Kind of ironic.
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Odd, not a single audio glitch for me and I'm on my second playthrough.
 
Sikkyu said:
also when you get near the end. dont go after the lost recon team till you have everything else done. after that point your pretty much locked into the end game. so get all your other shit you want to do before then.
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Dammit, I knew it.

I'm on my first play through and I've been doing a crapton of the generic side missions and only racked up 20 odd hours. I just did that particular mission and thought things were getting a bit too.. dramatic... for it not to be near end game.
 
No need to go in easy mode. Normal at least. And yeah, try to keep the subtitles off. It is more immersive. Though on the flip side, it might be hard to hear the random "overhearing" talks without subtitles. Make sure voice volume is up.... even if it means turning down the other stuff and upping your master volume.

If you DO go mucking around random planets looking for things to find and things to shoot be sure to reference gamebanshee.com's walkthrough planet maps. They are good about not spoiling. That way you don't have to roam around aimlessly in your mako (ATV vehicle). It'll take you strait to the point.

Oh, and decisions you make in the game will affect what happens in ME2. Probably more so in ME3.

And even if you're a paragon (do gooder), save before you get interviewed by a reporter. There are other dialogue options you will want to try even if you will end up just loading the game after you try them. The reporter will have a little floating droid camera beside her.

BTW, what's your "normal" kind of game? FPS? If so, things will get better when you move on to ME2.
 
see i like all the side quests/planets.

i don't like the finding the minerals to survey, but going to each generic planet and doing the side quests is fun.

the painful part of the side planets is exploring for the minerals, if you just want to enjoy those planets head to the orange marked icons and then be done with it, makes sthe side planets a lot more fun.
 
Parmenides said:
BTW, what's your "normal" kind of game? FPS?
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Lots of great advice in here, thanks guys.

To answer your question, yeah, I enjoy shooters like Bad Company and sports games for the most part. Sad to admit, but Fallout 3 is the most "rpg"-like game I've played.
 
H-street said:
see i like all the side quests/planets.

i don't like the finding the minerals to survey, but going to each generic planet and doing the side quests is fun.

the painful part of the side planets is exploring for the minerals, if you just want to enjoy those planets head to the orange marked icons and then be done with it, makes sthe side planets a lot more fun.
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Searching for minerals is a waste of time. Like I said, just use the gamebanshee planet maps. BTW OP, if you do all the minerals, it will carry over to more starting supplies in ME2. Otherwise it's not really worth it to look for them, unless you're trying to milk every drop of experience possible from one play-through.

One other thing.... a glitch exploit (and I don't think it will ruin your game). You can get as much paragon and renegade points as you want when you talk to a certain turian who wants you to retrieve something from his apartment. I'll say no more. Just wanted you to be aware of it. Having 100% paragon and renegade points is nice to have. It only enhances the game by giving you more dialogue options. If you're not into that sort of things, then nevermind.
 
JohnnyNapalm said:
Lots of great advice in here, thanks guys.

To answer your question, yeah, I enjoy shooters like Bad Company and sports games for the most part. Sad to admit, but Fallout 3 is the most "rpg"-like game I've played.
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You'll probably like ME2 much better then.
 
JohnnyNapalm said:
How's that glitch work, exactly?
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Well, a tad bit spoilery here:

He's the binary helix employee on planet Novera? A turian at a cafe. When you retrieve the secret data from his apartment don't just give the data to him. Ask him some off topic question like "tell me about the matriarch Benenziah." Then "I want to talk about something else." Then ask him to testify in court. Pick the blue or red dialogue option. Conversation should end. Then just do the same exact thing over and over again. Just save the game beforehand.

This way, it will allow you to select max persuasion points when you get 100% renegade and paragon.
 
Keep up on your inventory! Others may not agree but IMO the inventory system was not that great. If you keep on top of it you shouldn't have an issue. But I let mine get out of hand and I spent a good bit of time going through it and cleaning it all up. The change to the system in ME2 was a welcome one. And if all you are playing it for is the story you can mostly just skip all the little side quests, they got very repetitive and messed with the flow of the game if you ask me. So are worth doing however as they do give information about other things going on around you.
 
Some side quests are nice to do, especially if you see the person in ME2. It's worthwhile doing the one where you kill the ladie's criminal rivals. Then tell her to stop being a criminal.
 
Sniper rifle is your friend :) One shot = one kill. Same counts for enemy snipers (at least if you play on insanity), so watch for them.

Also, if you havent' decided on the platform - Xbox minigames to decipher doors/chests are much easier then PC ones :)
 
Blauman said:
Keep up on your inventory!
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i've found the inventory loot to be kindof pointless for 99% of the items you get. once you find that weapon/armor etc.. its a bit before you start looting other things.

basically what I do is sell everything under a certain level, right now I sell everything under level VI , i keep my level VII and VIII items and this seems to keep my inventory pretty low.

I also sell any and all weapons i loot since it doesn't really take long to find the best weapon for each level.


The only other thing i'd suggest is decryption skill either for your character. So many containers /doors require decryption to get through the game would be boring without it.

its the one thing i wish my character could have, instead of have talia that i bring on every mission (i went vanguard)

but if your character picks up decryption then you'll have more fun as you can have more options on the side characters you bring.
 
Kinda did stink, that you couldn't decrypt without tali or garrus always being with you. (unless you yourself were a tech). I just said, screw it, I cheated myself in some encryption so I can just run around with anyone and not worry about having the right people with me in order to unlock things.

Btw, I thought people liked the PC decryption mini game better than the XBox. PC is not that hard once you get the hang of it.
 
One tip about licenses, don't buy all of them as it'll clutter up your inventory options. To increase the chances of getting good stuff, just buy the good ones. I forget exactly, gamefaqs should have the answer. As for weapons, eventually you'll get access to Spectre weapons so they'll be the best. I forget, but I think you can buy the Spectre license if they don't appear in your Normandy requisition's officers selection of items.

I did a quick search:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/xbox360/qna/930279.html?qid=66757

The Geth Armory license is one of the non-random licenses; it's available from Morlan in the lower wards.

Kassa Fabrications can be found in the inventories of the elcor on Noveria or the Normandy Requisitions Officer.
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Also if you do all the Pinnacle stations DLC quests, you get access to some better stuff then Spectre items :)

Oh, and something really important, check your inventory after each fight - youg et helluva items from dead opponents, and they are auto transferred to your inventory, when you open it :) Though, 99% of what you loot is vendor trash. I usually used shield/health regen mods on armor, then compat optics/cooling mod on weapon and as ammo either anti-synth or antiflesh ammo
 
Yeah, I recommend getting the Pinnacle Station DLC too. I think though it's better to save it near the end when you are level 50 as the rewards will be based on your level.
 
I bought the game on a Steam sale for like $15. I tried to get into it a couple times but was too distracted to settle in to the story and didn't even continue past the first mission.

Then, just a week ago I sat down with it and I'm having a lot of fun. I love the fact that it's more like a move/novel and less of a shoot 'em up. It's a great story and really draws you in. I keep hittin my Fraps screenshot button every few seconds :cool:
 
I recommend throwing it in easy mode and sailing through. The action isn't terrible, but it's not on par with a 1st tier shooters like ME2 is. IMO, you'd be saving yourself annoyance more than you'd be depriving yourself of a challenge I echo the sentiments of others on keeping an eye on inventory because the management system is pretty half baked and it's easy to overflow and tedious to clean up.

The story and the characters are absolutely incredible and I always sort of regarded the combat as an interlude to get to those points.

My time was spent reading codex entries, exploring all conversation options, and towards the end whoring licenses and top grade loot for no particular reason.

I recommend going through the story and getting a decent save built up, and then smell the roses in ME2 which has much much better gameplay to begin with on top of the epic characters and story (at least IMO).

Until I started playing the second one, ME1 was one of the games of the generation for me, so it's a lot of fun to play however you do it but there are definitely some annoyances you're not hurting yourself to avoid.

Oh, stick with it until you leave the Citadel. It's not a bad sequence, but it is a bit too long and really loads you down with side quests to get distracted with, and the game tends to lose people there. (it did me on my first attempt). It gets a lot more exciting, and actually builds to a satisfying climax and ending unlike so many games out there.
 
It's like the first Star Wars (episode 4). Slow at parts especially at first, but epic at different parts especially at the end. The developers have said that ME2 is like Empire Strikes back.
 
I've been playing ME1 lately and having a lot of fun. I started as an infiltrator and got up to ~level 15. My hard drive crashed and i lost my save games. started again as a soldier - the game is MUCH easier now.
 
Started on Friday, made it to level 30 today. Really enjoying it so far. Combat really can be viewed as an interlude between conversations, as another poster mentioned. Also, I have to keep reminding myself to slow down in the firefights, and that kiting works better than frontal assaults.
 
I suggest that you take your time and really explore the dialogue options. Make your choices wisely especially if you intend to import your character into Mass Effect 2 because every decision you make in ME 1 affects everything that happens in ME 2 and I mean everything.

Other than that, approach it open mindedly and enjoy the fabulous Bioware Sci Fi RPG goodness.
 
ScretHate said:
What class set up is the best for newbies?
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for ME 1 soldier with immunity is pretty much god. easy point and shoot, use all guns etc.

either that or vangaurd. has some biotics and shotgun is pretty good in me1, not as good in me2.. barrier is pretty uber with an overlapping cooldown. just you gotta watch those krogen when they get close.
 
One of the things you should keep in mind in ME is that your decisions have real consequences. . .for at least two games worth. If you burn somebody they won't forget if you run into them again. Obviously if you kill somebody then they are gone along with all of their benefits. I really, REALLY like the attention to detail without being overtly in your face with it (bumping into people here and there, etc) in ME2.

Enjoy ME and take your time. It's a great game.

Oh, and you don't need to be a completionist but if you have a decent amt of minerals and cash that'll help a LOT in ME2...
 
Finished my first playthrough last night at just under 20 hours played and half a mil in the bank.
 
This game annoys me in a way only Oblivion has, too much RPG, not quite as many skills to chose from (thank god), and its slow.... however i'll probably finish it eventually if i get bored enough. Unlike Oblivion.
 
Inu said:
This game annoys me in a way only Oblivion has, too much RPG, not quite as many skills to chose from (thank god), and its slow.... however i'll probably finish it eventually if i get bored enough. Unlike Oblivion.
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At least the voice acting is decent. In Obliv it's HORRIBLE.
 
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I just finished it. The ending was pretty good. the last boss took forever to kill.
Started another campaign same character but I don't have specter status now =(
 
Babbster said:
That part of the game (the Citadel, between Eden Prime and reboarding Normandy) is the worst part of replays.
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Having just finished my first run through and doing a replay, yeah I'mma +1 on that.

Though I have noticed that Biotic powers are kind of easy-moding things. It's so weird to just lift whole groups of enemies into the air and painting them with bullets while they flail their arms helplessly.:p
 
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