Ok - I'm playing it through again - this time trying to be an asshole to everyone I talk to and kill everyone I can. Even doing so, I've managed to get some paragon points - almost unavoidable unless you skip a lot of missions. Some of the dialog options are funny. I love cutting off the council meetings. Hopefully that blue chick puts out in the end.

I beat this game last night. Some thoughts on it...

In response to your points above

Crud, typed out a response and thought I posted it, but I guess not. I finished this late last night... I really enjoyed the heck out of this game. The storyline was so interesting to me that it was hard to resist not jumping right into the main story quests rather then spending time on the side quests. I finished at Level 42 with about 24 hours played time and about 120 saves

I'm trying to decide now whether to play it through again as my current character or start over with a completely different class, since I was a female Vanguard. I also ended being split between Paragon and Renegade, so I want to try all renegade options.

As for some other thoughts,

AaArrrgh! I am replaying the game on hard and I am stuck at the mission on the Moon with the rogue AI. I'm at the last of the three buildings and as soon as I open the door EVERY SINGLE drone flies right at me!! There are at least three rocket drones in there and I just can't get past this. I don't remember them doing that on my other playthrough.....

It took me a ton of tries to beat that part on normal. Try opening the door then running back to the main room and closing the door behind you. You'll have a little time to come up with a game plan. I loaded everyone up with Carnage.

Same here, grenades help

So...I basically really suck at the combat in this game. I got tired of constantly dying, restarting, and dying again with some of the bigger fights. So I went from Normal difficulty to Casual. Now I'm mowing down everything in my path. I'm already twenty or so hours in, so I'm wondering if I should put it back to Normal.

It seems as if the combat system isn't really as good as it should be...I dunno. Maybe it's just me.

What kind of character do you have? Even though you don't get to use any of the cool techniques, the soldier is probably the easiest to start out with.

1. Always upgrade your armor. Try to put as many points into it so that you can use the next class up. If you're stuck with light armor, you won't be able to take as many hits. Of course, you should upgrade your guns as well... and always put as many enhancements as you can on each one.

2. Try to invest your points. If you haven't upgraded your character at all, you'll have a tough time.

3. Use your techniques. If your shield is down, use the shield replenisher. Use medkits (invest some points into the first aid for some of your members to get them to be more effective).

4. Don't just rush in blindly, especially if there are snipers.

Thanks for the feedback. I'm around a level 30-ish Vanguard...I've got the Shock Trooper thing going on. Earlier in the game, the combat was good...it was challenging, but not overly frustrating. But then, you start fighting bigger groups of enemies, and they just all swarm at you. I would plan stuff out, get my asshole teammates (who are basically useless) to do some biotic stuff, but I would still get my ass handed to me over and over again. Now that I have the Medium armor, and all my combat levels are close to being maxed out, I should probably do better at the higher difficulty.

I just hate the fact that all the planning and stuff I did went out the window when all the enemies would swarm and kick my ass. I got so sick of that slow motion dying scene, and that music....ack. I haven't cussed at a video game like that since Marvel vs. Capcom 2.

It seemed like the game got easier for me. As my team leveled up the enemies stayed the same. Much like Rainbow Six send your team in first while you stay behind. They may die but its really only you that counts.

It felt easier for me as well, although i'm not sure if it's because I was managing my equipment and abilities better, or if I just got used to the fights.

I just finished watching Serenity for the first time. Very good movie, you guys were right all along.

I was thinking how with a good budget Whedon could do a pretty good movie based on the game. As long as the aliens don't look incredibly fake, I think it could be great.

I just finished the 3rd of the first three big missions (Noveria, Feros, and Artameus Tau). I got "Rich" pretty damn easily. I didn't even realize it until I went to sell a few things and saw I was I was at 900,000 already.

Got the achievements for killing 150 geth/organics as well as dampening 150 times, pistol expert (150 pistol kills), and a few others.

Got "Paragon" after the 3rd mission, which was cool, since I can now max out my Charm.

I'm a bit concerned about getting the "Ally" achievements because I did use Liara for the Feros mission, and Wrex for everything else. But I have used Ashley the whole time. I'm also a bit worried about "Completitionist" since I know some people haven't gotten it, and I feel like I've done a lot of the sidequests (though I've only counted 33 of them completed). Probably have to do some more exploring on the map.

Overall, a lot of fun though.

My completionisht achivement didn't hit until the very last mention. I didn't even notice. Luckily I don't care so much about achievements, but I varied my squad so I didn't get any of the ally ones on my run through.

I'm playing it again and going Renegade, and i've already noticed missions I missed the first time around. I think i'll go with Garrus and Kaiden. I'm playing on Hardcore too, but its still pretty easy since I used the same character.

You don't need to complete every side quest to get completionist. 33 sounds like you probably did enough as I did a ton of side missions with the intentions of doing them all but I just wanted to go to the end and I still got the achievement. I played the same way with Ashley and Wrex however I picked Liara for one mission and didn't get the achievement for Wrex only Ashley.

Ah, ok. That's fine. I'll probably get Wrex's on my second playthrough, and just keep the same two literally the entire time. I figured it'd be smart to use Liara for the Feros one, but obviously it wasn't.

This is pretty fucking ridiculous.

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I want to slap all of those people upside the head.

If it were a movie it wouldnt even be rated R

You know, I was going to pick up Mass Effect at some point, but now that I know, thanks to Fox News, that you can engage in full anal penetration with money shot controls, I'm going to pick this up tonight. I can't wait to fuck my sexbox!

It's written on the box. If you can't read an advisory, then go screw yourself. Or an alien.

Holy crap that woman was smug. "Oh, my research says adolescent boys can't tell the difference between a video game and reality." Lord knows, if I were 13 and playing Mass Effect, I'd expect all of my sexual encounters to be with blue women who have tentacles for hair.

LOL! "They're seeing women as objects of desire"

Would she rather adolescent boys see men as objects of desire? Are women not allowed to be admired? What's wrong with liking women?!?!

You at least got to give them credit for showing BOTH sides of the story, not just one side of the story as other mainstream outlets would portray.

What a bunch of jokers, maybe they should sit down and play the game before being such asses.

As for Cooper Lawrence’s expertise with video game issues? Apparently non-existent. She is the author of several books - on dating: The Cult of Perfection: Making Peace with Your Inner Overachiever; Been There, Done That, Kept the Jewelry; The Fixer-upper Man: Turn Mr. Maybe into Mr. Right in 5 Easy Steps; -and the unforgettable Cosmo Girl’s Quiz Book: All About Guys.

Thankfully they're a little late on this news... The holidays are over and most of the kids who wanted this game already got it. Hah! :-P