Quote Originally Posted by Zevox View Post
Really? Huh, I would never have guessed that. Neat. Too bad the electric burst effect seems to be invisible, so I can't ever really tell when it's going off anyway...
Yeah. I didn't buy it at first, but Callos took me into a game and proved it.
As for the electric effect, I think it's the first thing to go if there is any graphical glitch whatsoever. I know if I hit a brute, it will shock his allies but I won't see it. But I have hit a cannibal, and watched te electricity pulse. I'm not sure why it works that way though.

But then I'd need to give up either my damage mod or ammo mod, which would mean less firepower out of the beam . Plus my AR armor-piercing mod is only rank 1 or 2 at this point I believe *more grumbling about boosters* .

Zevox
It's a no brainer. The damage per shot is sufficiently weak even at full bore the extended barrel does almost nothing. You're going from like, 17 a round to 21, which means you're still only doing 5 damage to armor. You also can't pierce cover or allies, so you're not hiring people all that often.

Contrast with the armor piercing mod, and you're doing more damage to armored targets, and your allies cannot block your shot. I go by the D&D rule of the one hit KO that doesn't hit being less useful than a caltrop that does.

It might even make soldier "playable" for you as you putter around with it. Adrenaline rush will cancel the long reload animation, and also boost shields and give you 40% DR. I had good mileagae burning through te entire clip, hitting adrenaline rush and watching the clip build up. Dodge roll and then shoot again! Very mistake friendly when you're just trying to figure out how to use the bloody particle rifle.

Quote Originally Posted by YakYak View Post
As promised, the ME2 writeup, in which I summarise the continued adventures of my ME1 characters that I talked about once upon atime, followed by Mordin-esque musings about mistakes and curiousities.

{table]|Game 1|Game 2
Gender|Male|Female
Class|Vanguard|Soldier
Bonus talent|N/A|Warp Ammo
Bonus weapon (Collecter ship mission)|Assault rifle training|Widow sniper rifle
Go-to team|Garrus & Grunt|Garrus & Thane
Outlook|Paragon|Renegade (by about 20 points)
Romance|Remained faithful to Ashley|Left Kadian for Garrus
Hacker|Garrus (KIA)|Tali
1st team leader|Tali|Garrus
1st personal team|Legion & Grunt|Legion & Thane
Biotic|Jack|Miranda
2nd team leader|Miranda|Jacob
2nd personal team|Legion & Grunt|Garrus & Thane (KIA)
Escort|Jacob|Mordin
Final Team|Legion & Grunt|Garrus & Jacob
Losses|Garrus & Samara|Thane
Fate of Shepard|Escaped|Escaped[/table]

Game 1 notes:

Unsure if teammate/Shepard death possible during final cutscene, would prefer not to know for sure, heightens dramatic tension. Initially unsure of total losses, due to not seeing Miranda, and not being sure that empty coffin protocol was in use (Samara’s body clearly seen left behind). Samara presumably lost due to loyalty issues. Garrus initially suspected to be dumb luck, later input suggests ineptitude at task given. Went into real-life stage of grieving following Garrus’ death. ME3 playthrough with this character may be considered a “for Garrus” moment.

Game 2 notes:

Miranda apparently incapable of summoning final biotic push, Thane lost as result. In hindsight realise was probably random decision between Thane and Garrus. Could not bear to loose Garrus again. Did not recruit Samara, due to screw-ups. Was deploying to recruit when Normandy attacked. Nuking final boss effective, very satisfying. Unfortunately, cannot OHKO, finished with Widow rifle. Adrenaline Rush ability very effective with snipers, allowed use of only Viper sniper rifle in multiple missions. Had Warp and Disruptor ammo hardwired to RB & LB buttons, allowing for quick switching between organic & synthetic targets.

EDIT: Favorite moments:

Game 1: Discovering that biotic Charge+Shruikan+Incindiary Ammo=anything with 2 health bars dying.

Game 2: Beating down 6 consecutive husks in an adrenaline-infused frenzy.

Vindicator rifle notes: Feels much like Halo 2 Battle Rifle, high accuracy, lethal headshots, almost a sniper rifle in its own right.

Theory of Shepard death supported by seperate achievements for mission sucess and survival, and ominous export games to ME3... if you survive loading screen message.

Scars: Healed on Vanguard very quickly. On soldier, scars fluctuated from nearly healed to red eyes (for the stalking part of Thane's mission). Finally settled at end of game at slightly worse than at beginning of game.
interesting.

For weapons and ammo, I specialized more.
I would pull out my SMG (damage to barriers/shields), equip it with cryo ammo (damage to shields). I pulled out my heavy pistol, and have it incendiary rounds. I pulled out my widow and activated Liara's warp ammo, for barriers and AP.

At that point I would pull out the SMG and pistol so I could switch easy stereo them, and cycle based on opponent's health type. Widow came out for special occasions, like a good snipe set up or dealing with Harbinger (who took two shots to lose barriers and armor), while the SMG/pistol worked best against te rest of the collectors. My shotgun came out for husks, or he never I was going to biotic charge. Don't recall it's spec; probably whichever ammo type boosted damage the most.

Not sure what the specifics were, but I made it through without missing a loyalty mission. I remember the hardest time I had was Jacob's mission, because I was out of ammo the whole time, and unable to charge someone without getting killed, and they stayed out of shockwave/pull range. Clever primitives, they were.

Samara's was equally frustrating, as my first go round I was neither evil nor good enough to tell Morinth to piss off. I reset and equipped the death mask. Take that, space elf!

I too missed the one hit KO, because I missed. It was embarrassing actually... Ah well. I was able to get out without a scratch, losing no one by some coincidence (as I didn't voter looking it up). My frown however did everything right but somehow lost Legion. Came back to bite him in Me3 though.


Which reminds me, about Rannoch.
Spoiler
Show
So a friend lost Legion and couldn't save both Geth and Quarian. He didn't know this and was really attached to Tali. Like, before it came out, he hoped Me2 would let you romance her an never did anything with Ahley or Liara just in case.

So he gets to Rannoch and sticks to his ideals and the quarians all die. And then Tali jumps of a cliff and he takes a trigger to save we and comes up empty, and he's like, on the verge of tears.

And then, because it was his last mission before Cerberus base, Tali, who is dead, walks into the captain's cabin and has her romance period with him while he is freaking out. And at the end she says "I'll always be here for you Shepard. Right here" or something, an he's cracking up. Like going crazy cracking up.


Is it a glitch? Or is it intentional? I suspect it's a bug of the obvious nature; romance set to Yes and no indicators to the contrary.