Mass Effect universe discussion thread

[Ouroboros]

So apparently the date for "Lair of the Shadow Broker" is set for Sept 7th and it's going to cost 800 points or 10 bucks in real money.

On one hand I'm exciting because I'm hoping the higher price means it'll have more in it than any previous DLC (it's the highest priced one so far) but on the other hand it's still a higher price.

I picked up dragon age this week and it's got some seriously pricey DLC in it compared to mass effect. Let me also tell you that if you want to experience some of that "artificial difficulty" we were talking about earlier give this thing a whirl. Ordinarily I'd feel cheap for backing my entire party into a tiny corner to form a shield wall around Morrigan while she spams a massive AOE lighting spell and they do nothing.... but not when the game throws 8+ heavily armored dwarves at me in an ambush it wants me to walk into the middle of in order to trigger.

Dragon age origins, the game where 3 out of 4 party members concentrate on clogging a doorway while Morrigan turns the entire room beyond into a giant electric chair for the outnumbering horde of the day, and said party members repeatedly try to run into it. And people complain that the companion AI in mass effect was retarded.

Maybe I shouldn't have gone to this dwarf city so soon...

I was enjoying the game until I got here.

[dosed150]

So it's worth getitng? I have the other two, quite enjoyed them

I would say so, a slight ocd complaint theyve switched the title and picture on the spine so it doesnt match the other 2

september 7th cant wait, then got a week to play it before halo reach, hoping we get another shiny new weapon with it, love getting more weapons but refuse to buy the non story dlc

[Oranos]

So apparently the date for "Lair of the Shadow Broker" is set for Sept 7th and it's going to cost 800 points or 10 bucks in real money.

Yeah, I'm not sure if I'll purchase that first, or Dragon Age's "Witch Hunt," which both come out on the same day.

Let me also tell you that if you want to experience some of that "artificial difficulty" we were talking about earlier give this thing a whirl. Ordinarily I'd feel cheap for backing my entire party into a tiny corner to form a shield wall around Morrigan while she spams a massive AOE lighting spell and they do nothing.... but not when the game throws 8+ heavily armored dwarves at me in an ambush it wants me to walk into the middle of in order to trigger.

You fight with your Tempest. Or do you have Chain Lightning?

Not that it matters. I think I'm cheaper than you are. Thank God for spell combinations.

Spoiler:

I always just slap down a Glyph of Repulsion. Overlapping, with Glyph of Paralysis is easily the most effective (and probably mana efficient) spell combination in the game. Most of your problems will go away very quickly. Just try to be careful, the "shockwave" has some serious range.

Dragon age origins, the game where 3 out of 4 party members concentrate on clogging a doorway while Morrigan turns the entire room beyond into a giant electric chair for the outnumbering horde of the day, and said party members repeatedly try to run into it. And people complain that the companion AI in mass effect was retarded.

Really? I had more problems with my Mass Effect squad than I did with my Dragon Age party. That could be because half the time, they run right in front of my Widow's scope. Even when I tell them to "hold," which never really seems to work. Ticks me off, they screw up my shot more often than not.

Maybe I shouldn't have gone to this dwarf city so soon...

I was enjoying the game until I got here.

Orzammar is about the worst possible place to go in the beginning (and it only gets worse). And I made the same damn mistake the first time I played.

Just wait for the final boss battle (on nightmare). I cried. And went back to one of my earlier Camp saves.

If you're looking for an idea on order, I tend to go Circle Tower, Redcliffe (and it's associated quests), Brecilian Forest, Orzammar. I toss in Denerim, the DLC, and other sidequests in at random.

[The Mighty 6 platoon]

So it's worth getitng? I have the other two, quite enjoyed them

Yep, it's a good book.

Though unlike the others it feels less like it's setting things up for the game. The first book really was explaining Anderson and Saren's back story, the second book properly introduced Cerberus and the Illusive man, while this third book doesn't. It fleshes out the universe some more, it's a good read.

Though I think the book did reveal what may be a main enemy in the 3rd game, and by enemy I mean something psychically to fight against.

Spoiler:

One of the characters becomes a host for the reapers, like a husk, but much more advanced and with the reapers directly controlling them

. I'd hazard a guess we'll be shooting at more of these in the third game, since man with assault rifle v miles long ships isn't so much of an option.

[dosed150]

Yep, it's a good book.

Though unlike the others it feels less like it's setting things up for the game. The first book really was explaining Anderson and Saren's back story, the second book properly introduced Cerberus and the Illusive man, while this third book doesn't. It fleshes out the universe some more, it's a good read.

Though I think the book did reveal what may be a main enemy in the 3rd game, and by enemy I mean something psychically to fight against.

Spoiler:

One of the characters becomes a host for the reapers, like a husk, but much more advanced and with the reapers directly controlling them

. I'd hazard a guess we'll be shooting at more of these in the third game, since man with assault rifle v miles long ships isn't so much of an option.

Spoiler:

does seem a distinct possibility, towards the end when anderson is telling kahlee he knows of some people he can turn to in and out of the alliance, I was thinking of the normandy, some of the few people outside cerberus who know whats going on, maybe early in me3 anderson and kahlee pay a visit to shepard

[kharn the betrayer]

So apparently the date for "Lair of the Shadow Broker" is set for Sept 7th and it's going to cost 800 points or 10 bucks in real money.

On one hand I'm exciting because I'm hoping the higher price means it'll have more in it than any previous DLC (it's the highest priced one so far) but on the other hand it's still a higher price.

I picked up dragon age this week and it's got some seriously pricey DLC in it compared to mass effect. Let me also tell you that if you want to experience some of that "artificial difficulty" we were talking about earlier give this thing a whirl. Ordinarily I'd feel cheap for backing my entire party into a tiny corner to form a shield wall around Morrigan while she spams a massive AOE lighting spell and they do nothing.... but not when the game throws 8+ heavily armored dwarves at me in an ambush it wants me to walk into the middle of in order to trigger.

Dragon age origins, the game where 3 out of 4 party members concentrate on clogging a doorway while Morrigan turns the entire room beyond into a giant electric chair for the outnumbering horde of the day, and said party members repeatedly try to run into it. And people complain that the companion AI in mass effect was retarded.

Maybe I shouldn't have gone to this dwarf city so soon...

I was enjoying the game until I got here.

yeah you should have gone somewhere easier first skip the place for now and go to the mage tower

dont worry though Dragon age once you get the hang of it is REALLY easy it basically hangs on how well you can abuse your mage

learn how to use Croud control spells like Cone of Cold/Blood wound and you can pretty much cheese every mob out without much difficulty even on Nightmare mod(with difficulty mods installed)

what version of Dragon age do you have any ways? PC or Console if its PC theres a mod that GREATLY helps the companion AI I can link you too

[gotthammer]

storm of the century FTW!

[kharn the betrayer]

storm of the century FTW!

I killed myself with that spell the first time I cast it... I so wasnt expecting the AoE to be THAT big

[Oranos]

storm of the century FTW!

That spell combination is the ultimate mana killer, especially if you only run one mage, which I do.

It's the equivalent of Mass Effect's Cain. Extremely powerful, but not very practical.

[gotthammer]

Well, potions help.

[kharn the betrayer]

That spell combination is the ultimate mana killer, especially if you only run one mage, which I do.

It's the equivalent of Mass Effect's Cain. Extremely powerful, but not very practical.

Stormof the Century is not like ME2's cain(which is useful for certain areas) because unlike the Cain Mana potions are so freaking easy to get you can easily craft a metric ton of them in Dragon age (infact the infinate gold trick requires you to make the highest tier mana pots en mass and sell them back for a profit)\

plus unlike the cain you dont need Line of sight to fire it off and can fire it through walls assuming there isnt a door seperating you (I abused it to hell int he deep roads)

[Oranos]

How is it not like the Cain? It's overpowered and purely situational.

Either way, there's still several issues you haven't taken into account.

1. It's three spells, two of which require several seconds for activation. In which case the spellcasting may be interrupted, and yes, I've had that happen on more than one occasion. To set this up with a lone spellcaster, which is what I would have do, isn't practical. Even with two or more, you're still lollygagging around when you could have the entire room locked down.

2. Back to mana. This is a bit tricky, as to what type of spellcaster you want to discuss, or what type of party composition. If you have an Arcane Warrior, you'll just be running sustainables, so it's up to the other spellcaster to deal with Storm of the Century on their own, which brings us back to the problem of setup. It's a bit more workable with two mages, though (you don't get the extra hundred or so mana sucked off).

3. Many environments will have you stuck in the radius of Storm of the Century, which still makes it purely situational. You sure as heck better hope you're not anywhere near it, because it will kill you. I wonder if Glyph of Neutralization would protect your party, now that I think about it.

4. You need to build up two entire lines and most of another. A bigger problem if you only take the one spellcaster. That said, most people will probably invest up to Cone of Cold or Inferno, so if you want to spend the extra three or four points for the other, you could. Same with Spell Might, most folks will probably build to that, too.

5. There's plenty of spells that are more useful and don't carry quite the same risk. And they can kill just as effectively. What you can do with Storm of the Century, I'll do just as effectively with Paralysis Explosion and the rest of my crowd control spells (Crushing Prison, Forcefield, Blood Control, Cone of Cold, etc). I can easily lock down an entire room and keep it that way while the rest of my party cuts the enemy to pieces.

Note: I've also decided that I want a Fereldan contractor to build my house. That these structures don't get totally wasted by Storm of the Century is rather impressive.

[gotthammer]

Well, I usually just use it to clear areas where I know the enemies are (before they see me), not while stuck in actual combat.

And yeah, I think I was casting SotC every few minutes in the Deep Roads (a lot of times in the Sacred Ashes quest, too). Morrigan =
It usually goes like so:
Enemies detected on mini-map. Party holds ground. Take control of Morrigan. Have Morrigan advance and cast SotC. Watch now-alerted enemies die en masse.

Oranos does have good points, tho'. I wouldn't bother trying to cast SotC when I'm already engaged: spells like mind blast or cone of cold are way more useful.
As for getting hit by my own Storm: only if I'm really careless. Then again, as I said, I only cast it to 'initiate' combat (tho', in my case, it tends to end combat, too )

If anything, I wish there were a way to 'turn it off' after all the enemies are dead...it's kinda annoying to wait for it to die down.

[Ouroboros]

You fight with your Tempest. Or do you have Chain Lightning?

Not that it matters. I think I'm cheaper than you are. Thank God for spell combinations.

I got chain lightning now but I cheesed those Dwarves with tempest.

Spoiler:

I always just slap down a Glyph of Repulsion. Overlapping, with Glyph of Paralysis is easily the most effective (and probably mana efficient) spell combination in the game. Most of your problems will go away very quickly. Just try to be careful, the "shockwave" has some serious range.

Paralysis seems pretty godly going by how easy of a time the blood mage guy had in that fade dream I sent him into. He had paralysis and it basically turned the epic confrontation with the desire demon into a total joke of her standing there frozen while he shot lightning bolts at her face until she keeled over.

Didn't expect that to work on a boss type character like that, or to last that long, and apparently there's even an area effect version.

Really? I had more problems with my Mass Effect squad than I did with my Dragon Age party. That could be because half the time, they run right in front of my Widow's scope. Even when I tell them to "hold," which never really seems to work. Ticks me off, they screw up my shot more often than not.

I look in the tactics menu, virtually all of them say "the character will flee from the area of damaging spells" but without fail they will constantly run into Morrigan's lightning thing and zap the **** out of themselves chasing some archer on the other side of the room, who's currently in the process of getting fried himself. The only way to prevent this from happening seems to be to set them to defensive (which then causes them to stand around and do nothing while the guy next to them has a spider suck out his organs) or to wear out the pause button mercilessly. I had one battle near the end of the dwarven hell where for some reason Whynne kept wanting to run into the middle of the enemy mob and every time I sent her back she'd just keep doing it over and over for no discernible reason.

Orzammar is about the worst possible place to go in the beginning (and it only gets worse). And I made the same damn mistake the first time I played.

No, the worst possible place is to try and kill Flemeth at level 11.

Ok so she's a mage and this is a tiny area, should be easy enough to corner her and...... HOLY ****!

Just wait for the final boss battle (on nightmare). I cried. And went back to one of my earlier Camp saves.

The final boss of the dwarven hell Ozammar? Yeah it was pretty brutal. Looking back though I'd say the one right before it, the brood mother, was way cheesier with that global knock down thing it spammed and the constant enemy spawning. Jarvia is also another contender, or that ******* spider queen. I guess more or less every boss battle in that place was hell.

I only beat the last one because I got two of the hostile golems to agro onto Morrigan and just ran around kiting them while the rest of the party took care of the rest. Incidentally I've learned that's what the spell "shock" is really for, those times when Morrigan wants to get a little extra exercise by playing "catch me if you can" with everything it touched.

That seems to be the real trick to it. You need to break up enemies into smaller groups by abusing the activation/target AI and cheese them with corners, scenery and doorways as much as possible. That's the part I'm liking the least so far. It seems that when the going gets tough the tough HAVE to get cheesy. You can basically cheese the game or die a lot first until you cave in and end up cheesing it anyway. I can't say it's particularly satisfying to win battles by breaking the AI or exploiting the terrain in stupid if hilarious ways.

I once used a merchant to funnel a horde of enemies for example. He just stood there obliviously looking slowly side to side while people got chopped up, set on fire, electrocuted or frozen all around him. I guess he felt he didn't have anything to get worked up about being that he was an invincible god being and all. If I could only recruit that merchant to my party our dark spawn troubles would be over in no time.

If you're looking for an idea on order, I tend to go Circle Tower, Redcliffe (and it's associated quests), Brecilian Forest, Orzammar. I toss in Denerim, the DLC, and other sidequests in at random.

I've so far gone Redcliff, Tower, Ozammar and now I'm thinking about whether to do Denerim or the Elf forest next. I figured the game would just scale the enemies to whatever location I picked first but that doesn't really seem to be the case.

Now that I've plowed through the molten stone of Ozammar with my unwilling face things do seem much easier however. Going to cave that place in if I get the opportunity later though. I'm surprised the final boss of that place wasn't Harbinger with Sovereign backing him up.

Bioware: Yes you must kill these with swords and arrows, look out for that relativistic stream of molten metal the size of a building, oh look Whynne's trying to run into it again.

yeah you should have gone somewhere easier first skip the place for now and go to the mage tower

dont worry though Dragon age once you get the hang of it is REALLY easy it basically hangs on how well you can abuse your mage

Yeah I'm seeing that to, namely that they should have called it dragonmage, since that's who you're going to be controlling 99% of the time in combat.

what version of Dragon age do you have any ways? PC or Console if its PC theres a mod that GREATLY helps the companion AI I can link you too

I'm on PC and by all means link me to the mod. I don't want an easy button for the game, but something that'd stop my allies from running off alone into 7 angry darkspawn or into my own AOE spells would be most welcome.

I just don't want to have to babysit them constantly or pause the game every 1.5 seconds to forcibly veto the latest stupid suicidal stunt they're trying to pull.

[Oranos]

Paralysis seems pretty godly going by how easy of a time the blood mage guy had in that fade dream I sent him into. He had paralysis and it basically turned the epic confrontation with the desire demon into a total joke of her standing there frozen while he shot lightning bolts at her face until she keeled over.

Didn't expect that to work on a boss type character like that, or to last that long, and apparently there's even an area effect version.

It's Paralysis Explosion. Set down overlapping Glyphs of Paralysis and Repulsion. I haven't seen much resist the shockwave, including your own guys, so you have to be really careful with it. But it's probably the best spell/spell combination in the game.

The entire glyph line is just godly (and it's one of the first two lines I build up, the other being cold).

No, the worst possible place is to try and kill Flemeth at level 11.

Ok so she's a mage and this is a tiny area, should be easy enough to corner her and...... HOLY ****!

Shapeshifter, but yeah. Considering Flemeth single-handedly saves the last two Wardens from an army of Darkspawn, that would be the other place to not go first. At least she stays in the same place when she battles the party.

The final boss of the dwarven hell Ozammar? Yeah it was pretty brutal. Looking back though I'd say the one right before it, the brood mother, was way cheesier with that global knock down thing it spammed and the constant enemy spawning. Jarvia is also another contender, or that ******* spider queen. I guess more or less every boss battle in that place was hell.

Yes, that was the one. I don't have fond memories of that battle, the first time through. And I will never, and I repeat never, go to Orzammar first again.

Now that I've plowed through the molten stone of Ozammar with my unwilling face things do seem much easier however. Going to cave that place in if I get the opportunity later though. I'm surprised the final boss of that place wasn't Harbinger with Sovereign backing him up.

And the latest DLC has simply reinforced my eternal hatred of the Deep Roads. Hardest damn boss you will ever freakin' fight in the game. I took in a 30+ Warden and got smashed a good ten or eleven times.

[Ouroboros]

It's Paralysis Explosion. Set down overlapping Glyphs of Paralysis and Repulsion. I haven't seen much resist the shockwave, including your own guys, so you have to be really careful with it. But it's probably the best spell/spell combination in the game.

The entire glyph line is just godly (and it's one of the first two lines I build up, the other being cold).

Ahh so it's like a giant magical landmine, I can get behind that. It'll take 3 levels to get it up and running though.

I found another nice little bit of fun in the sleep/confusion line though. That "waking nightmare" spell at the end is hilarious as you can just stand back and place bets while the enemies kill each other. It's even better since it seems like enemies that weren't even in the AOE will still attack ones that have been "turned". Reminds me of playing a Necromancer in Diablo II years ago, spam confusion on big mobs and amp the ones in combat with your skeletons. Using this in a similar way, to basically take the entire back half of a mob out of the fight for a couple minutes and damage it, is working out brilliantly.

Sleep is also great because the area is massive and it only hits hostile, so you just cast in on the melee ball and any badguy who doesn't have his own dance partner yet has to take a time-out rather than help to 4 on 1 one of your guys. I's just an added bonus that using horror on a sleeping guy nails him for like half his health or more.

Between those two spells I'm mowing through werewolves and darkspawn like nothing now, it's a total joke compared to that misery I endured in Ozammar. Now the only problem I have is the same one I did in mass effect 2. Too many characters I want to bring along to various events and not nearly enough slots to put them in.

Shapeshifter, but yeah. Considering Flemeth single-handedly saves the last two Wardens from an army of Darkspawn, that would be the other place to not go first. At least she stays in the same place when she battles the party.

Yeah that was kind of funny actually "now if you'll just kindly follow me over here to this little clearing, I'll gladly hand you all your asses."

Yes, that was the one. I don't have fond memories of that battle, the first time through. And I will never, and I repeat never, go to Orzammar first again.

Did you side with the big Gollum guy or the nutty dwarf woman. I picked him thinking he'd be able to squash her like a bug (he shuts off in the actual fight of course ) but maybe it's worse the other way.

And the latest DLC has simply reinforced my eternal hatred of the Deep Roads. Hardest damn boss you will ever freakin' fight in the game. I took in a 30+ Warden and got smashed a good ten or eleven times.

Which one is that. I just realized that my game came with Shale for free and considering how powerful he seems to be that I basically made things torturous for myself for no reason.

Awesome.

[Oranos]

Ahh so it's like a giant magical landmine, I can get behind that. It'll take 3 levels to get it up and running though.

Oh, yeah. I found out about it by accident, and ended up with some of my party frozen, but since then, I can't live with the combo. It doesn't cost a lot of mana, it'll freeze just about everything, and it lasts for a pretty long time (though it does depend on the rank of the opponent). It wears off faster on bosses, obviously.

Between those two spells I'm mowing through werewolves and darkspawn like nothing now, it's a total joke compared to that misery I endured in Ozammar. Now the only problem I have is the same one I did in mass effect 2. Too many characters I want to bring along to various events and not nearly enough slots to put them in.

Yeah, as the other Grey Warden, it feels wrong to not bring Alistair, so he's almost always with me. Leliana and Wynne round out the rest of this party for my current warrior. And I'd love to ditch Wynne, but she's such a damn good healer. But it's hard, picking and choosing. I'd love to bring Barkspawn or Zevran or Morrigan with me more often.

And without Morrigan, most of my spells are more support now. So that's made things a little interesting.

Yeah that was kind of funny actually "now if you'll just kindly follow me over here to this little clearing, I'll gladly hand you all your asses."

I wonder if that was the "giant bird," that Morrigan mentioned.

Did you side with the big Gollum guy or the nutty dwarf woman. I picked him thinking he'd be able to squash her like a bug (he shuts off in the actual fight of course ) but maybe it's worse the other way.

I made a tactical decision and sided with Branka--the nutty dwarf woman--as I usually do. The chance to have a Golem army to battle Darkspawn with, there's no way in hell I'd pass up that opportunity, and I don't think very many Grey Wardens would. They're about stopping the Blight, using whatever means necessary. Screw whatever your party says.

Which one is that. I just realized that my game came with Shale for free and considering how powerful he seems to be that I basically made things torturous for myself for no reason.

Awesome.

The Golems of Amgarrak.

*Twitches*

My hardened warrior, the hero of Ferelden, fierce battler of hordes of Darkspawn. He'd been through both Origins and Awakening, made level 34(?), and was equipped with most of the best gear from both games.

It should have been an easy battle.

He was seen running around the room, just barely alive, and possibly screaming like a little girl.

Even the final boss in Origins (and Awakening) wasn't this damn hard.

[Ouroboros]

Yeah, as the other Grey Warden, it feels wrong to not bring Alistair, so he's almost always with me. Leliana and Wynne round out the rest of this party for my current warrior. And I'd love to ditch Wynne, but she's such a damn good healer. But it's hard, picking and choosing. I'd love to bring Barkspawn or Zevran or Morrigan with me more often.

Brining things back to ME for a moment it occurred to me that Alistair's an interesting counterpoint to Jacob. A lot of people say that Jacob only seems uninteresting because he's just a "normal guy" and suffers by being contrasted next to all the wild and wacky superhumans and aliens that make up the rest of the ME2 crew. Well Alistair is basically in the same boat in DAO. He's a clone of your main character if you play as a human warrior like I did, and he's contrasted next to a bunch of witches and mythical creatures all with big personalities of their own like Morrigan, Ogrehn and Zevran, and yet he more than holds his own. Every time I don't bring him along I end up thinking "I wish I had Alistair around to see what he'd have said there".

I made a tactical decision and sided with Branka--the nutty dwarf woman--as I usually do. The chance to have a Golem army to battle Darkspawn with, there's no way in hell I'd pass up that opportunity, and I don't think very many Grey Wardens would. They're about stopping the Blight, using whatever means necessary. Screw whatever your party says.

I figured more along the lines of "no way are they actually going to let me have a Gollum army, and even if they would, I just want this **** over with as fast as possible and this big robot guy is really cool."

The Golems of Amgarrak.

*Twitches*

My hardened warrior, the hero of Ferelden, fierce battler of hordes of Darkspawn. He'd been through both Origins and Awakening, made level 34(?), and was equipped with most of the best gear from both games.

It should have been an easy battle.

He was seen running around the room, just barely alive, and possibly screaming like a little girl.

Even the final boss in Origins (and Awakening) wasn't this damn hard.

Well it's nice to have something to look forward to.

[Stewart5]

I know I've said it before, but in ME I have a soft spot for the 'bog standard' humans. I like the fact we are out in the galaxy and we have our own triats - determination, curiosity, the urge to improve our situation and standing - as what marks us out. We don't need all that xeno fany stuff to take our place in the galaxy

[Oranos]

Brining things back to ME for a moment it occurred to me that Alistair's an interesting counterpoint to Jacob. A lot of people say that Jacob only seems uninteresting because he's just a "normal guy" and suffers by being contrasted next to all the wild and wacky superhumans and aliens that make up the rest of the ME2 crew. Well Alistair is basically in the same boat in DAO. He's a clone of your main character if you play as a human warrior like I did, and he's contrasted next to a bunch of witches and mythical creatures all with big personalities of their own like Morrigan, Ogrehn and Zevran, and yet he more than holds his own. Every time I don't bring him along I end up thinking "I wish I had Alistair around to see what he'd have said there".

If Jacob was half as awesome as Alistair, I would have been more than happy.

I consider my "main" Warden to be a human warrior, and he's pretty much a carbon copy of Alistair. Circumstance may have forced them to work to defeat the Darkspawn, but Alistair comes across as a brother to my Cousland. They continually cracked jokes that probably had Leliana and the rest of the party facepalming.

Jacob just seemed to be there, which was most of my problem with him.

I figured more along the lines of "no way are they actually going to let me have a Gollum army, and even if they would, I just want this **** over with as fast as possible and this big robot guy is really cool."

You do actually get some Golems for your army, just not many, but there's still one point where I considered them invaluable.

Well it's nice to have something to look forward to.

I'll be ready to scrape the remnants of your Warden's body off the floor.