Mass Effect 3

[Reverend]

HotRod wrote:

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Holy crap.....Look at Ashley! I had my doubts about sticking with her and putting Miranda in the "friend zone". But after seeing that pic I regret my choice much much less.

Actually...I'm not so sold on Ash's new look. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for getting rid of her lazy eye glitch and getting her to wear some new armour but I have to say, that hair style doesn't quite suit her personality. I mean, she's still a marine, no? Of course I don't play games for the T&A appeal, so I would've been utterly fine to see her with a crew-cut. Mind you, she does normally wear her hair tide up so perhaps that's just for one "special" scene in the game...or just an early test. I noticed in DA2 that they were trying to make hair behave a little more realistically. Finally (and I realise this is a really minor nit to pick) but isn't that the wrong colour hair?

Skywalker wrote:

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I'm gonna be honest, I would be more than okay with not having Tali as a squadmate. I never was much of a fan. But, like Garrus, she's a very popular character and it's highly unlikely that's going to happen.

Now see, I wouldn't mind there being no Garrus as a squadmate, though likewise I can appreciate that it would be unlikely. Honestly it wasn't until ME2 that the character even got interesting for me but even then I felt like his story had been told and if I had been reading a novel or watching a movie instead of playing a game then I would fully expect the author/director to give him a good hero's death in the suicide mission.

Out of interest, what squad line-up did you favour in your first ME1 playthrough? I suspect a lot of people's preferences are dictated, or at least influenced my their gameplay choices the first time around. Personally I played as a soldier so once I recruited them, Tali and Liara felt like the optimal companions. After a while I just got so used to having them around, they became favourites. Prior to that I favoured Ash and *anyone* other than Kaiden. The guy irritated me.

[Skywalker]

My ME1 squads usually depended on my Shepard's class, but my favorite trio was my Vanguard Shepard, Ashley, and Garrus. My Infiltrator Shepard with Wrex and Kaidan was pretty good, too. But Ash, Garrus, and Wrex were by far my favorite squadmates.

ME2 was a little different because I didn't need to worry as much about making a balanced squad, but my primary lineup for my main Shepard (the Vanguard) was Miranda (mostly because of her evolved abilities, plus Overload and Warp) and Garrus. Garrus, Grunt, and Mordin were my favorite of the ME2 squadmates.

[Reverend]

I never found much of a use for Mordin. While hos powers are useful he had the distressing habit of dying rather often. Even on normal difficulty I'd often fine myself running out of medigel for the amount of times I had to revive him. Jack too for some odd reason I mean you'd think she'd be pretty tough but that girl really has a glass jaw.

Speaking of Jack (and I may have brought this up before) but I was rather disappointed with her. I mean from the trail of destruction she leaves behind in her recruitment mission they make her out to be a neigh unstoppable biotic battering ram. Though I appreciate that any squadmate that really had that power level would totally break the game, perhaps they could have used some kind of sustained ability that for a short time (and with a long cool down) puts her normal abilities into overdrive. Indeed a lot of the characters could have done with something similar. Grunt's fortification and Legion's geth shield were a good start but I think Garrus could have used a "focus" ability that briefly increased his accuracy and rate of fire. Not so sure about the others but something to make squad selection a little more involved.

[ThunderAeroI]

My Jack is dead, thank god. I hated having her around. I suppose I would have liked to had a higher Paragon score so I could keep Miranda and jack happy, but if I have to choose between Miranda and Jack, Jack can go out the air lock.

[John Clark]

Reverend wrote:

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Out of interest, what squad line-up did you favour in your first ME1 playthrough? I suspect a lot of people's preferences are dictated, or at least influenced my their gameplay choices the first time around. Personally I played as a soldier so once I recruited them, Tali and Liara felt like the optimal companions. After a while I just got so used to having them around, they became favourites. Prior to that I favoured Ash and *anyone* other than Kaiden. The guy irritated me.

For my first playthrough (Soldier Shep), my main sidekicks until later on in the game were Ash and Wrex. It didn't make for an optimal team, but I guess it worked out.

Before I finished the game I took a sidetrip out to Luna and decided to take Liara along. On that mission, she was throwing the drones around so after that, she was dragged along for more missions.

[TheGodBen]

Reverend wrote:

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Now see, I wouldn't mind there being no Garrus as a squadmate, though likewise I can appreciate that it would be unlikely. Honestly it wasn't until ME2 that the character even got interesting for me but even then I felt like his story had been told and if I had been reading a novel or watching a movie instead of playing a game then I would fully expect the author/director to give him a good hero's death in the suicide mission.

Heathen! Garrus is an awesome badass, they don't just die when things get tough (except in my upcoming 4th playthrough with my racist renegade manShep). If ME3 doesn't end with Garrus as the sole ruler of the galaxy, I will demand a refund!

The thing that surprised me is that Liara is listed as a squadmate. I had assumed that making her the new Shadow Broker meant she was destined for greater things. It seems odd to set her on that path only for her to return to Shepard's side shortly after.

[sonn]

In the ME1 my soldier used Ashley and Garrus with a bit of Wrex. As you can tell I didn't use much biotics in the first game. In ME2 I rotated between Grunt, Jacob, Miranda and Garrus.

Maybe the Reapers targeted the Shadow Broker ship? They knew about the Shadow Broker and his power from their previous dealings. But the page also says playable to 'some extent' so she may only be available for a single mission.

[LeadHead]

My ME1 squads would typically be Garrus and Ashley or Garrus and Tali. Of course I'd play with the others from time to time, but not on the Primary Missions.

In ME2, most of the time it would be Garrus and Tali, but given how much richer the field of potential squadmates was, I'd use different people more often. Garrus/Miranda, Garrus/Mordin and Garrus/Thane were common matchups. Miranda/Zaeed, Tali/Grunt, Thane/Tali would happen regularly too. Samara and Kasumi would pop up from time to time. Jacob and Jack had trouble finding their way onto missions. Jack moreso than Jacob. Lots of the time, I'd play Jacks Loyalty mission towards the end and realize upon starting it, I hadn't used her at all since recruitment, as she hadn't filled in any skill points at all.

I'm not sure when it happened, but Garrus somehow became my right hand man in the ME universe. Which is fine with me.

[Reverend]

TheGodBen wrote:

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Heathen! Garrus is an awesome badass, they don't just die when things get tough (except in my upcoming 4th playthrough with my racist renegade manShep). If ME3 doesn't end with Garrus as the sole ruler of the galaxy, I will demand a refund!

The thing that surprised me is that Liara is listed as a squadmate. I had assumed that making her the new Shadow Broker meant she was destined for greater things. It seems odd to set her on that path only for her to return to Shepard's side shortly after.

Hey, don't get me wrong, I liked Garrus a hell of a lot better in ME2 than I did in ME1, he's just not a favourite is all. Besides, Tali could totally kick his...uh...whatever turians have instead of an arse.

Yeah, that surprised me a bit too. Like many I had assumed that after LotSB she'd take up a role more akin to Anderson, Hackett and the Illusive Man; providing dossiers, intel and sending you on missions and whatnot. Of course it possible Feron is the one to stay behind and run the base while Liara relocates to the Normandy.

[-Brett-]

I normally don't bother with gaming magazines, but I might have to make an exception in this case. ME3 is easily the title I'm looking forward to most this year. Probably my most looked-forward-to title of the last several years, come to think of it.

[T.Geiger]

I have played through the first game eight or nine times now. After getting the achievements, I have always had Ashley as my tank and usually Garrus as my engineer. Wrex if I don't need one. Its nice to have both tanks backing you up.

Ash and Wrex can handle the Survival missions on Pinnacle Station all by themselves. After making the needed time, I figured I'd keep going until the Geth got me. Thirty minutes later, I just sat Shepard down and figured I'd wait until the Geth got my squad (and then me). Thirty minutes after that, I called it.

In ME2, I always take a tank and a support. The tank is usually Garrus or Grunt. The support is usually whoever I think fits best with the character concept I have for that Shepard. The middle characters, like Thane and Jacob, never see any playtime.

[Saquist]

Reverend wrote:

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I never found much of a use for Mordin. While hos powers are useful he had the distressing habit of dying rather often. Even on normal difficulty I'd often fine myself running out of medigel for the amount of times I had to revive him. Jack too for some odd reason I mean you'd think she'd be pretty tough but that girl really has a glass jaw.

Speaking of Jack (and I may have brought this up before) but I was rather disappointed with her. I mean from the trail of destruction she leaves behind in her recruitment mission they make her out to be a neigh unstoppable biotic battering ram. Though I appreciate that any squadmate that really had that power level would totally break the game, perhaps they could have used some kind of sustained ability that for a short time (and with a long cool down) puts her normal abilities into overdrive. Indeed a lot of the characters could have done with something similar. Grunt's fortification and Legion's geth shield were a good start but I think Garrus could have used a "focus" ability that briefly increased his accuracy and rate of fire. Not so sure about the others but something to make squad selection a little more involved.

Frankly Samara is better.
That Reaving is the best thing since the singularity.

[Reverend]

^Uncontested. In my first playthrough I hardly ever used Jack once I'd recruited Samara.

[Skywalker]

Yeah, I loved Jack the character, but Jack the squadmate was completely useless to me. Same with Mordin; loved him as a character, but I rarely used him on missions. Hopefully the squadmates in ME3 will be a little more balanced in terms of usefulness.

[Reverend]

Yeah I think the problem with a lot of the biotic abilities in ME2 is that they were rendered next to useless on the higher difficulty settings as most or all enemies had armour and/or shields. Speaking of which, while I can understand a kinetic barrier being able to protect someone from a biotic throw, how exactly does having armour help? Seriously, on hardcore, husks can just *walk* through a singularity with no trouble at all!

Mind you, biotics were a little overpowered in ME1, so they may have just over compensated. I remember on my Adept playthrough, just for fun I took Liara and Wrex with me and we were just throwing enemies all over the place with no trouble at all, hardly needing to fire a shot. It was hysterical!