Mass Effect 3.5 Does this thread have a soul?

[Landis963]

Is it though? You can get a ton of points for doing rather counterintuitive things, such as allowing Engineers to plant Turrets so you can blow them up, or saving your rockets for the Extraction wave to fire them across the map at clumps of super-enemies as they spawn in (who wouldn't have prevented you from winning anyway.) And when Vanguards top the charts, they tend to do so very disproportionately to their actual contribution - almost implying that the team wouldn't succeed without them when that isn't the case at all.

So no, I don't put too much stock in the points myself. As long as I'm not 4th, or have less than 15-20% of the total spread, I don't worry about the standings at all.

The only reason the points matter is that everyone's score added up gets you more XP at the end. Which of course makes it useless when you're trying to farm gold or something.

[Zevox]

Is it though? You can get a ton of points for doing rather counterintuitive things, such as allowing Engineers to plant Turrets so you can blow them up, or saving your rockets for the Extraction wave to fire them across the map at clumps of super-enemies as they spawn in (who wouldn't have prevented you from winning anyway.)

Sure, if you deliberately try to game the system (though good luck doing so from Turrets - they give fewer points than a mook, which personally I think should change, since I'm pretty sure those points determine xp as well, and it seems very wrong to give that few points for something as dangerous as a Cerberus Turret, but I digress). Most people don't do that though - and why would they, after all? It's not like the rankings affect anything practical.

And when Vanguards top the charts, they tend to do so very disproportionately to their actual contribution - almost implying that the team wouldn't succeed without them when that isn't the case at all.

Nah, that's just because they're faster at killing things than other classes in most circumstances. Comes with the whole "being in the enemy's face" part, and Nova.

Zevox

[ShinyRocks]

So I finally risked Gold on the Salarian Engineer. White and Geth because I wanted to ease into it. First time we wiped on Wave 8, which isn't bad, given that we were doing it wrong. I didn't know any better, but everyone was waiting for spawns outside at the bottom, instead of in the console room.

Then two full extraction runs. I prefer the Human Engineer for Bronze and Silver, but the Salarian really comes into his own on Gold. I finally see the point of Decoy and the ability to refill your shields pretty much constantly is neat.

The second one was two Salarian Engineers, a Geth Engineer and a Human Engineer. Against the Geth. We ... didn't have too much trouble.

What else have I learned? I love the Phalanx. And I am getting to bursting point with anger about still not having the Locust.

They keep giving me sniper rifles. I swear the packs look at what you use and weight against it. I never play Vanguard, Soldier or Infiltrator and all I get is Shotguns and Sniper Rifles.

Oh, and this morning we wiped on Wave 4 of Bronze. We were three-manning, but still. There's no excuse for that.

[Landis963]

Y'know, there should really be some trading post or something, where you can put up stuff you don't want and ask for some category of things in return (to help combat that problem Pokemon ran into with people asking for legendaries in exchange for their totally awesome Bidoof (i.e. a common)). For example, this would be "I have a level of Mantis, can you give me an SMG in return?" or "I have a Disciple, can you give me a pistol weapon mod?" Of course, there is still the problem of the asker getting ripped off (for example, by being given yet another Shuriken upgrade or being given a heat sink upgrade), but I think that would be a viable thing to add.

[Zevox]

They keep giving me sniper rifles. I swear the packs look at what you use and weight against it. I never play Vanguard, Soldier or Infiltrator and all I get is Shotguns and Sniper Rifles.

I'd almost believe it - I get way too many sniper rifles. But on the flip side I do play Vanguards, and I've gotten plenty of shotguns (at least rank 1 of everything, including rank 5 of the Claymore). Still having crap luck with pistols and not much better with SMGs and ARs though.

Zevox

[Yana]

Don't you guys just love the people who join a gold match and then just sit in a corner for the entire game? I just finished a battle where I had three such teammates. One quit early on and was replaced by another player who stayed in the Firebase White lz the entire match.

I consider myself lucky that the Geth Engineer that WASN'T being a total jerk was also quite competent. Seeing as how we had to duo the entire match ourselves and all. I know we shouldn't put much emphasis on scores but even so, when my score is almost 15x higher than the lowest two players on the field... Something is going horribly wrong.

There really needs to be an ingame "vote to kick" option.

Edit: @ Shiny & Zevox, You two must have just terrible luck. I've had no issue maxing out my weapons of choice. Though, if you want my honest opinion, you're not giving all of these weapons a shot (pun unintended) just because they aren't of the weapon type you prefer.

Do I like shotguns all that much? No, but the game has seen fit to give me a Claymore 8 and Disciple 2 while my Widow languishes at 2. Even so, I still have used them on occassion and have grown to like the Claymore.

[Landis963]

Don't you guys just love the people who join a gold match and then just sit in a corner for the entire game? I just finished a battle where I had three such teammates. One quit early on and was replaced by another player who stayed in the Firebase White lz the entire match.

They might have been glitching out; That's my usual MO when a character of mine starts jumping around and going into cover a few feet above ground. However, that's really bad luck to have not one, not two, but three "teammates" who are either glitching or antisocial.

[Yana]

They might have been glitching out; That's my usual MO when a character of mine starts jumping around and going into cover a few feet above ground. However, that's really bad luck to have not one, not two, but three "teammates" who are either glitching or antisocial.

Oh no, they weren't glitching. Both of the incompetents who stayed were more than capable of moving towards the lz, or staying there and moving around at ground level as the case may be. And on both occasions where the objective was "hold the line", they both managed to rouse themselves for the objective before afking again. No, both of these people were credit farming by piggybacking on the efforts of the other two teammates.

[Zevox]

Edit: @ Shiny & Zevox, You two must have just terrible luck. I've had no issue maxing out my weapons of choice. Though, if you want my honest opinion, you're not giving all of these weapons a shot (pun unintended) just because they aren't of the weapon type you prefer.

Do I like shotguns all that much? No, but the game has seen fit to give me a Claymore 8 and Disciple 2 while my Widow languishes at 2. Even so, I still have used them on occassion and have grown to like the Claymore.

I play casters and Vanguards. Even if I wanted to bother with sniper rifles (and I don't), they weigh too much to be worth using on the former, and they're the antithesis of the latter.

Zevox

[Landis963]

Oh no, they weren't glitching. Both of the incompetents who stayed were more than capable of moving towards the lz, or staying there and moving around at ground level as the case may be. And on both occasions where the objective was "hold the line", they both managed to rouse themselves for the objective before afking again. No, both of these people were credit farming by piggybacking on the efforts of the other two teammates.

Like I said, really bad luck. Do you know their handles so we can kick them?

[Psyren]

Sure, if you deliberately try to game the system (though good luck doing so from Turrets - they give fewer points than a mook, which personally I think should change, since I'm pretty sure those points determine xp as well, and it seems very wrong to give that few points for something as dangerous as a Cerberus Turret, but I digress). Most people don't do that though - and why would they, after all? It's not like the rankings affect anything practical.

I still see far too many groups burn through medigel on wave 10 and rockets on wave 11, when doing the reverse might result in not having to use medigel at all. (I personally consider medigel more valuable.)

Nah, that's just because they're faster at killing things than other classes in most circumstances. Comes with the whole "being in the enemy's face" part, and Nova.

My point exactly - merely killing enemies fast is not an accurate measure of total party contribution, as your own Decoy story attests. This is particularly true on Hack missions, where a lone-wolf Vanguard racking up points outside the hack zone can actually be detrimental to the group.



@ Snipers: Raptor was my first maxed uncommon and have to say that it was mildly amusing trying to be a "normal" Infiltrator for awhile. (Plus it gave me a reason to use all those Sniper Rifle amps that had been gathering dust in my Equipment menu.) But I'm really trying to max my Eviscerator, and later Disciple, instead. CQC for life, baby

Finally, sidenote: If anyone was wondering whether you can get the new classes from Veteran Packs, I got my Batarian soldier last night from one. Going to spec him for melee and bleedy-blades.

[Landis963]

I finally have a full complement of Infiltrators, with a lovely Quarian Infiltrator joining my unlocked ranks. On a related note, I'm not sure the Geth Infiltrator was given the right tools for the job. I mean, Prox Mine is only useful as an early-warning signal, and the fact that Geth automatically get Hunter Mode (still awesome as always, albeit a bit blinding on open-air maps such as Dagger) and Infiltrators automatically get Tactical Cloak means that there's only one power slot with which to work. Why they didn't get, I don't know, Overload or something is beyond me.

[GloatingSwine]

On a related note, I'm not sure the Geth Infiltrator was given the right tools for the job. I mean, Prox Mine is only useful as an early-warning signal, and the fact that Geth automatically get Hunter Mode (still awesome as always, albeit a bit blinding on open-air maps such as Dagger) and Infiltrators automatically get Tactical Cloak means that there's only one power slot with which to work. Why they didn't get, I don't know, Overload or something is beyond me.

Because they knew that whatever it was would be a dump power compared to all the shoot-through-walls damage that you can get from a GI.

[Landis963]

Because they knew that whatever it was would be a dump power compared to all the shoot-through-walls damage that you can get from a GI.

Which is useless if you don't have a Widow, a BW, a Javelin, or a sniper piercing mod. None of which I have.

[Fawkes]

Why they didn't get, I don't know, Overload or something is beyond me.

To keep them from being too game-breakingly good, I'd imagine.

[Morty]

You know what I hate? When I play Quarian Infiltrator and people keep killing the Geth I sabotaged.

[Landis963]

To keep them from being too game-breakingly good, I'd imagine.

But that's what DLC characters are for!

In all seriousness, you could give them something like Energy Drain instead and they'd probably be fine.

[ShinyRocks]

You know what I hate? When I play Quarian Infiltrator and people keep killing the Geth I sabotaged.

That, except with people killing the ONE mob I've warped before I can detonate it with Throw. I know self-detonations aren't ideal, but sometimes that's all you can do and it's frustrating when I get what would be probably 3 or 4 kills turned into one assist.

Shiny & Zevox, You two must have just terrible luck. I've had no issue maxing out my weapons of choice. Though, if you want my honest opinion, you're not giving all of these weapons a shot (pun unintended) just because they aren't of the weapon type you prefer

.

Oh, I have tried. I'm just no good. I did try and play with Infiltrator and I just can't snipe. I like sniper rifles in single player but in multiplayer I'm just not fast or accurate enough to get the kills in and I wind up making everyone languish because I'm not helping. If I ever get a Black Widow, I'll try again.

Shotguns, I just don't see the use of on a ranged 'caster'. If they're that close to me, I've done something wrong.

I do have terrible luck with the packs though. I have no Geth weapons at all. No Widow. No Black Widow. No Locust. I got my first Phaeston today, and my first (and only) Carnifex about two days ago.

I mostly get the Harpoon Gun (fun, but completely unusable for me). And today I got the Hornet, which I just plain hate.

[SiuiS]

Which is useless if you don't have a Widow, a BW, a Javelin, or a sniper piercing mod. None of which I have.

Or a pistol with piercing mod, or a shotgun with shredder mod?

You know what I hate? When I play Quarian Infiltrator and people keep killing the Geth I sabotaged.

Yeah. You'll want to either give em self destruct, or hack tertiary, sideline targets.

But that's what DLC characters are for!

In all seriousness, you could give them something like Energy Drain instead and they'd probably be fine.

God, no! It's barely not broken on the salarian!
A geth hunter with a proximity mine at 5 can kill a banshee on silver with five pulse of heavy melee. That's insane. Less of the first prime martial artist.

They don't need anything even remotely stronger than what they have.

[Landis963]

Has anyone else gotten the bug where you die, but then you suddenly jump upright and spread your arms out like wings and freeze like that? That happened to me just now. I was going through a gold run (Firebase White w/ Geth, BTW) and this happened to me during an "assassinate the targets" mission. What's more, I was applying first aid when I died, and once I jumped up, I stuck like that for the rest of the match. It made me want to hit the talk button and apologize for the glitch, only I didn't (and still don't) know where the talk button is. Thankfully my teammates won the match without me (Turian Soldier, IIRC, Krogan Sentinel, and Human Infiltrator).

[Landis963]

Or a pistol with piercing mod, or a shotgun with shredder mod?

Again, none of which I have. I think I used up all my luck getting my first Claymore a few packs ago.

God, no! It's barely not broken on the salarian!

Aha! It comes in under the "Not Broken" line!

A geth hunter with a proximity mine at 5 can kill a banshee on silver with five pulse of heavy melee. That's insane. Less of the first prime martial artist.

Perhaps, but that's ~5 secs during which the Banshee (IIRC) isn't staggered, and thus can work her freaky voodoo on my otherwise prone body. I can see how that would be mitigated with Prox Mine at 6, but otherwise I'm not sure.

They don't need anything even remotely stronger than what they have.

I must not be using it right then.

[GloatingSwine]

Which is useless if you don't have a Widow, a BW, a Javelin, or a sniper piercing mod. None of which I have.

Then you're not ready for the Geth Infiltrator ;)

Really, the thing that makes the class is stacking a piercing mod onto one of the high power snipers and shooting through all the walls.

[SiuiS]

Again, none of which I have. I think I used up all my luck getting my first Claymore a few packs ago.

Okay. I thought you hadn't even considered them.

Perhaps, but that's ~5 secs during which the Banshee (IIRC) isn't staggered, and thus can work her freaky voodoo on my otherwise prone body. I can see how that would be mitigated with Prox Mine at 6, but otherwise I'm not sure.

Hee. No, that's ~4 seconds of her staggering, and ~2 seconds of her walking forward or just standing their prepping a warp before liquefying :)

I'm not so good at it, but it turned Xanatos, a casual player, into a pro.
He has to play on my box because his was lost. He was in a match bopping around for fun. Around wave seven, two OC the guys decided to discuss booting him for his low score (around 5k), so he launched a rocket at each of them, slipped on hunter mode, cloaked, and topped the charts at 50% more than the second place guy (who was the fourth player - both of the score obsessed guys came in last).

I must not be using it right then.

You an me both, brudda.

[Aotrs Commander]

So, playing through ME 1 with Evil Idiot Shep (now on the 3rd restart - this time it's Syko Shepard, who's got a bit of a Fu Manchu thing going for him...)

Interestingly, it's kinda weird. He doesn't seem real, maybe because it's only like four hours or something in (just got the Normandy), but... It feels like it's exactly what it is, some nutcase bloke who's not the Real Shepard. I don't know whether it's the fact he's male or Renegade, but, I just feel much more disconnected from this guy. It's notable, because I've never found that before, in my tradition of Evil Second Playthroughs. It's really strange.

Maybe it's because - at this point - even Renegade Shep is more of an A-grade jerk with a twitchy trigger finger than out-and-out baby-eating Evil (like most of the prior game's "evil" paths approached...) Once he's murdered a few more people or something, maybe it'll feel better...!

[Landis963]

Then you're not ready for the Geth Infiltrator ;)

Really, the thing that makes the class is stacking a piercing mod onto one of the high power snipers and shooting through all the walls.

Actually, I discovered earlier today that I do in fact have a sniper piercing mod - it's just on my Mantis X, which means it's useless for playing the class the way it's meant to be played.

[Zevox]

I still see far too many groups burn through medigel on wave 10 and rockets on wave 11, when doing the reverse might result in not having to use medigel at all. (I personally consider medigel more valuable.)

Depends on how you think of them. I would concur about medigel being more valuable, but that's primarily because I have less of it, which is primarily because I use it more. I personally think of missiles as a panic button: for use when something needs to be dead right now or we might lose. Medigel is a more general-use thing, used if we're more than halfway through the match, my allies don't appear that they'll get to revive me in time, and I'm not entirely confident that things are going well enough that they can finish things without me (unless they've proven so incompetent that I don't expect us to succeed anyway, in which case I'm not wasting medigel on them).

My point exactly - merely killing enemies fast is not an accurate measure of total party contribution, as your own Decoy story attests.

Actually it wasn't Decoy that I was talking about, but the Quarian Infiltrator using cloak to finish the "activate four objectives" missions, which we'd have been screwed on without her. Nonetheless, I would still say that dealing damage and killing enemies fast is in most cases an accurate measure of contribution to the fight, or at least as accurate a one as can be measured numerically. For instance, your objection before was that the score gives the impression that the Vanguard was essentially to your victory when he wasn't, which is fair - but I'd say it more accurately represents that he made your victory much easier even if you could have won without him, which is also quite fair, no?

This is particularly true on Hack missions, where a lone-wolf Vanguard racking up points outside the hack zone can actually be detrimental to the group.

Oh, I disagree about that. Unless the Vanguard brought a not-shotgun backup weapon that's accurate at a distance (or is using the Graal or Geth Plasma shotguns), he's not going to contribute so well by sitting in the hack zone. By going off and fighting things outside it he distracts large numbers of enemies from attacking the rest of the group, giving you an easier time defending the hack point. That's my MO when those objectives come up with my Vanguards.

Of course, that assumes a competent Vanguard who won't get himself killed immediately doing that, but then all Vanguard play requires that.

You know what I hate? When I play Quarian Infiltrator and people keep killing the Geth I sabotaged.

Might be because they don't recognize what that power is doing. In my previously-mentioned gold game with a Quarian Infiltrator yesterday I killed a couple of those before realizing what the that orange aura probably signified. You just don't see Sabotage much, since Quarian Infiltrators are rare in multiplayer and can only use it for hacking against the Geth and a couple Cerberus units, and none of your companions get it in single player. So if you didn't play an Engineer or Infiltrator Shepard in single player and don't play or haven't unlocked the Quarian Infiltrator in multiplayer, it's a power that will easily slip your mind.

Zevox

[Psyren]

Actually it wasn't Decoy that I was talking about, but the Quarian Infiltrator using cloak to finish the "activate four objectives" missions, which we'd have been screwed on without her.

Same thing: while she is doing the real work, a Vanguard charging around racking up a killcount contributes to that objective tangentially at best.

Nonetheless, I would still say that dealing damage and killing enemies fast is in most cases an accurate measure of contribution to the fight, or at least as accurate a one as can be measured numerically.

If WoW taught gamers anything, it's that you can measure LOTS of things numerically. Points for damage taken, points for revives, points for damage absorbed by decoys/turrets/drones, points for CC (stuns, freezes, staggers etc.), points for objective completion speed etc. Currently, "damage dealt" is weighted too high, and all the things that matter just as much as damage (if not more) are weighted too low.

Consider that if the rounds run long, you run the risk of team members messing up and having to burn medigel or rockets before the critical wave 10. Or even run the risk of disconnecting and leaving a reduced group to fend for themselves. Your Quarian Infiltrator that ignores the enemies to disable the 4 targets is contributing much more to the group's success than a kill-happy Vanguard, but you'd never know that by looking at the scoreboard for that round - that's my point.

For instance, your objection before was that the score gives the impression that the Vanguard was essentially to your victory when he wasn't, which is fair - but I'd say it more accurately represents that he made your victory much easier even if you could have won without him, which is also quite fair, no?

Assuming the other members of the group could have killed the enemies without him - no, the points don't necessarily mean that. A Vanguard's only real strengths are teleportation, and the ability to be surrounded by enemies and live, which is why they're so good at soloing (since in that case, you'll always be surrounded by enemies.) There are other classes (Adepts, Engineers) that can tear through groups of enemies and rack up points just as quickly; they just have to stay distant to do it.

Oh, I disagree about that. Unless the Vanguard brought a not-shotgun backup weapon that's accurate at a distance (or is using the Graal or Geth Plasma shotguns), he's not going to contribute so well by sitting in the hack zone. By going off and fighting things outside it he distracts large numbers of enemies from attacking the rest of the group, giving you an easier time defending the hack point. That's my MO when those objectives come up with my Vanguards.

I'm not begrudging the Vanguard for playing to his strengths; the class was clearly not designed to sit around the campfire with other classes during a hack. My problem is that the players sitting in the hack zone are doing more to contribute to the round than the Vanguard is, merely by completing the mission objective. And while charging around outside it is arguably making the hack groups lives easier, it's not a sure thing that he's making it SO much easier on them that the point disparity is accurate, particularly if he's clear on the other side of a large map like Dagger, Hydra or White.

There's also the not-insignificant chance that the Vanguard will die off on his own, and the hack group be forced to decide between breaking ranks to rescue him and completing the mission as quickly as possible. And even a skilled Vanguard can fall victim to lag and glitches.

[SiuiS]

Actually, I discovered earlier today that I do in fact have a sniper piercing mod - it's just on my Mantis X, which means it's useless for playing the class the way it's meant to be played.

Even if the piercing mod is on one weapon, you can put it on another. It's not that you only get one of each and have to divvy them up between all appropriate gun types.

And how does that prevent anything? Even the basic piercing mod shoots through about a meter, right? Or you can tote a shotgun and just leave hunter mode on, cloak-fire, repeat. Sniping is for folks afraid of charging the foe.

Oh, I disagree about that. Unless the Vanguard brought a not-shotgun backup weapon that's accurate at a distance (or is using the Graal or Geth Plasma shotguns), he's not going to contribute so well by sitting in the hack zone. By going off and fighting things outside it he distracts large numbers of enemies from attacking the rest of the group, giving you an easier time defending the hack point. That's my MO when those objectives come up with my Vanguards.

Of course, that assumes a competent Vanguard who won't get himself killed immediately doing that, but then all Vanguard play requires that.

I disagree. The time difference between four people hacking and three people hacking and one guy goofing off is substantial. On gold and late-silver, it's more economical to bunker down and grit through two minutes of not powerspam than it is to powerspam for three minutes while everyone else is locked down. And given how easy those objectives are to over-run at that point, you could easily spam powers while staying in the hack radius.

Might be because they don't recognize what that power is doing. In my previously-mentioned gold game with a Quarian Infiltrator yesterday I killed a couple of those before realizing what the that orange aura probably signified. You just don't see Sabotage much, since Quarian Infiltrators are rare in multiplayer and can only use it for hacking against the Geth and a couple Cerberus units, and none of your companions get it in single player. So if you didn't play an Engineer or Infiltrator Shepard in single player and don't play or haven't unlocked the Quarian Infiltrator in multiplayer, it's a power that will easily slip your mind.

Zevox

No one seems to notice, but sabotage DOES affect organics. It damaged them, prevents shooting and is guaranteed to stagger non-protected enemies, and even some shielded ones. The backfire effect includes melee attacks, and can prevent ravagers from firing, can stall banshees for about a second, and kill brutes midair.

[Zevox]

Your Quarian Infiltrator that ignores the enemies to disable the 4 targets is contributing much more to the group's success than a kill-happy Vanguard, but you'd never know that by looking at the scoreboard for that round - that's my point.

Again, even that's not necessarily the case. Having a kill-happy Vanguard around for one of those waves means that enemies that would otherwise threaten a player activating the objects are either focused on the Vanguard or dead, making it easier for another player to do the activating. That can make cloak completely unnecessary for completing that objective, allow a non-Infiltrator to take care of it just as easily as an Infiltrator.

Assuming the other members of the group could have killed the enemies without him - no, the points don't necessarily mean that.

I'm really not seeing how that response makes any sense. If the Vanguard dished out all of that damage before anyone else could, how is he not making things easier on you?

I'm not begrudging the Vanguard for playing to his strengths; the class was clearly not designed to sit around the campfire with other classes during a hack. My problem is that the players sitting in the hack zone are doing more to contribute to the round than the Vanguard is, merely by completing the mission objective.

Again, not necessarily. Keeping people alive to complete that objective is just as important as completing it in the first place.

And while charging around outside it is arguably making the hack groups lives easier, it's not a sure thing that he's making it SO much easier on them that the point disparity is accurate, particularly if he's clear on the other side of a large map like Dagger, Hydra or White.

If the Vanguard is clear on the other side of the map, he's doing it wrong. You want to stay close enough to the hack area that you're drawing off enemies that would otherwise be shooting at your allies, probably even close enough that your allies are giving you support fire in a largely open map like Dagger or Hydra (barring an odd hack area without much of a view). Being on the other side of the map means you're not doing nearly as much to keep those enemies off your allies as you could be.

I disagree. The time difference between four people hacking and three people hacking and one guy goofing off is substantial.

Not from what I've seen. Though actually what I've seen is quite confusing, since how many points get added to your meter for a hack per whatever time interval it uses seems to vary in odd ways. I never have figured out how that's supposed to be working.

No one seems to notice, but sabotage DOES affect organics. It damaged them, prevents shooting and is guaranteed to stagger non-protected enemies, and even some shielded ones. The backfire effect includes melee attacks, and can prevent ravagers from firing, can stall banshees for about a second, and kill brutes midair.

Sure, but I was responding specifically to Morty's comment about the hacking effect, not the weapon-overloading effect.

Zevox

[Corvus]

So, playing through ME 1 with Evil Idiot Shep (now on the 3rd restart - this time it's Syko Shepard, who's got a bit of a Fu Manchu thing going for him...)

Interestingly, it's kinda weird. He doesn't seem real, maybe because it's only like four hours or something in (just got the Normandy), but... It feels like it's exactly what it is, some nutcase bloke who's not the Real Shepard. I don't know whether it's the fact he's male or Renegade, but, I just feel much more disconnected from this guy. It's notable, because I've never found that before, in my tradition of Evil Second Playthroughs. It's really strange.

Maybe it's because - at this point - even Renegade Shep is more of an A-grade jerk with a twitchy trigger finger than out-and-out baby-eating Evil (like most of the prior game's "evil" paths approached...) Once he's murdered a few more people or something, maybe it'll feel better...!

Renegade was not meant not be evil. More the do whatever it takes to bring down the bad guys vigilante cop. He plays fast and loose with the rules but he is doing bad things for a good reason.