I'm about to start my fifth play through (second time as a woman), I still need some of the ally and biotic/tech achievements. Thankfully the last time I played as a woman I borked Liara so it wasn't that weird. All in all, one of my favorite games in a while. Even liked the initial Citadel sections.

So with the new downloaded mission (which I finally bought) is it possible to level up to max on one playthrough? I'm thinking about playing through again, but I'm conflicted whether I should do it with the same character to get the max level, or a new character.

I don't think it's possible to do it in one play through. Actually took me 3. I got to level 58 on the second and just didn't have enough left to get those last points. I probably didn't do enough in my first run through since I was more interested in the story at the time than trying to max everything out.

Well, now I'm about 10 hours into it and I like it, although I don't like it as much as some of the other A+ titles on the Xbox. Call it an A- if you will.

My main issue is the auto-save. Sometimes it seems useful, sometimes it only saves so sparingly that when you die you're suddenly at the beginning of a planet and have to re-do 30 or 40 minutes of work. That's ridiculous. I saved right before my fight with Benezia in Novertia* (the snow planet). And I died. Had I not died, the previous auto-save was back at the fucking hotel. Ridiculous. Why even bother with it?

The other problem I had was the inventory. I love having lots of choices but it really is too much. I didn't want to auto-level my characters, but auto-inventory would've been great, aside from the upgrades.

Right now I'm on the beach planet. Like I said the game is very good so far, but it is not perfect.



* Don't these sound like drug names? "Novertia should not be handled by women who are pregnant or may become pregnant. In studies, the principal side effects of Novertia were runny nose, loss of sleep, and irritation of the throat. A very small group experienced myocardial ischaemia. Please check with your doctor to see if Novertia is right for you."

I haven't really found any A+ game to be truly A+ However, Mass Effect is one of my favorites of the console. I just really liked the storylines and the controls and difficulty was fair.

I heard some studio bought the rights to the game and has hired a screenwriter to pen the script. Video game movies are the new super hero movies.

The superhero movies...before X-Men/Spider-Man.

IIRC, you max out at level 50 on the first playthrough for a character. 60 can only be hit on a 2nd playthrough.

You can actually save anywhere via the menu. I would save after every little thing.

Oh the other thing I just started using was the map. Makes the little side moon planets a lot easier when you know where all the minerals are.

I agree about the inventory thing... that was just painful. I think that and the elevator loads were my two biggest pet peeves...

From CVG, Gamestop is listing a $20 2-disc re-release of Mass Effect on Feb 10th that includes a documentary as well as galleries of trailers, music, and art. It also includes the Bring Down the Sky DLC (which has an MSRP of $5).

http://www.gamestop.com/Catalog/Prod...oduct_id=73790

I might end up getting this version of the game.

Damn that sounds like a pretty sweet version.

Does anyone think any other DLC will come out? Or are they done?

I still have yet to play the DLC that's out now.

As with most games, I'm very late to the party. I started it this weekend.

I need a few tips on gameplay. If there was a training mission in the citidel, I must of missed it. I've made it to the first planet beyond the Citidel with only machine-guns and shotguns/pistols. The combat gets more intense at that point.

1) I never figured out how to use grenades. Which combo or button is it?
2) I also never figured out how to use missles in the vehicle.
3) I have auto-aim on, but the gun always seems to actually show a "hit" off to the side of what I'm aiming for. (My team usually takes out most of the opponents). What am I missing?
4) There's a number of weapons available, what's your recommended weapon for this early game play + being a novice at shooters?

Never fails no matter the game, I suck at aiming.

I just finished my first time through this weekend...anyway.

1) Press the "back" button, the one opposite the "start" button, to throw, again to detonate. I believe the image of the button is on your HUD next to your grenade inventory.

2) Missiles are launched with the right shoulder button.

3) I didn't use auto-aim, so can't help there. But, I don't think that this is a shooter. That is, the hits are not solely based on whether you have the target in your cross-hairs. Instead, the game bases the hit on various factors including chance. I could be wrong about this, though.

4) I played a character that could only use a pistol and sniper rifle (pretty useless since most missions are not in open areas). What ever you choose, though, train in it and keep upgrading your weapon/mods/ammo.

Thank you!

I attempted to start the game this weekend and got to the first combat section (the planet that was attacked by a mysterious enemy). I'm a big RPG fan and was expecting something very different from the combat that I found in this game. I hate combat-intensive shooters where things move too fast, I have to worry about aiming at the right spot/enemy when there are many of them on screen at once, and especially when I have to manage/control more than one character at a time (in a non-turn based situation). I was fine with the menus, dialogue, etc. in the prologue parts in the ship, but I gave up very shortly after entering the first combat area, feeling like I wasn't in control of anything that was going on.

Does it get better? Is there a learning curve that I just need to overcome? Should I care about my other squad members (one of them died, I didn't know if that was a scripted event or if I should reload and try again)?

As a fan of adventure games, exploration, and traditional RPGs, and a non-fan of fast and heavy combat, multiple characters doing multiple things, and trying to manage or figure out 500 different classes and varieties of weapons at once -- especially right at the beginning of the game, when things should be simple instead of starting me out fully equipped with a dozen different weapons -- should I continue this game and give it more of a chance? Because after about an hour of playing I threw up my hands, said "enough of this," and put Fallout 3 back in.

I knew I had skipped a few side quests, but I never realized just how many I skipped until last night. I finished the game after about 16 hours.

Although I have the completion achievement, it apparently didn't save properly. When I hit "resume" now, it takes me back to the beginning of the final boss battle. There's no way I'm going through that again in order to play the expansion pack.

^
If you really want to play the expansion pack just start a new game and blow past everything until you get control of the ship. Then immediately go to the expansion pack asteroid.

Yeah, I pretty much decided I'll be playing through the game again. I didn't have any idea what I was doing when I first started and just went with the default character: I didn't have any biotic/tech abilities. I didn't even know about the second wheel (with the likes of "unity") until the final assault.

Between those, the DLC, and the near 40 hours of side quests....I missed a lot of this game.

I'm kind of like you ... not really a shooter kind of guy (though as pointed out, this game isn't as much of a shooter as the gameplay makes it seem).

I'm sure you can have success with any weapon, but my preference was the assault rifle. High rate of fire, which let me just rapid fire at a target and they'd generally go down. Good range (not as good as sniper, but solid) and damage. Crouching during combat helps a lot with the aim. I hardly ever used sniper rifles. Pistols were nice backups when the main weapon overheated, or for those few not trained in assault rifles. I didn't use shotguns much, but their heavy damage made them useful during some boss battles.

There's a learning curve to the combat, but use the HUD and don't be tentative about slowing down the "real-time" combat when needed.

There is a learning curve. I think the game is worth figuring it out. Like I said earlier, I'd recommend arming your guys with a weapon that doesn't overheat (pistol or assault rifle), crouch to improve aim, pause when needed, and use the HUD. Combat is hardest at the beginning. I suck at shooters, but by the end of this things felt pretty easy to me.

If your squad member died, and doesn't get up after combat, it was scripted. And there's a scripted death early, so that's what you're probably seeing. As long as you live, they'll be fine after the shooting is over.

3 new achievements have popped up:

Undisputed 50
Complete Ahern's survival mission

New Sheriff in Town 50
Take first place in any combat scenario on Pinnacle Station

Best of the Best 50
Take first place in 12 combat scenarios on Pinnacle Station

No announcement yet on when this DLC will be available or for how much.

While it hasn't yet even been announced, the new DLC popped up on the Swedish and Swiss marketplace for 400 points. x360a.org says it's still there and you can grab it if you go international.

Mass Effect DLC “Pinnacle Station” is available for download on Xbox LIVE Marketplace. It weighs in at 246 MB and is priced at 400 Microsoft

Market Place Link

Cool. Hopefully the things to do in this are considered quests that count toward the ally achievements so I don't have to do as much mineral hunting in the future.

Also, Mass Effect Avatar Items