132 réponses à ce sujet

[sinosleep]

Miss Yuna of Atlanta wrote...

She has her uses, especially against Collectors. Squad Warp Ammo and Pull are not to be sold short.

Yup, I like brining her along on warp bomb classes since she has a 25% CD reduction passive for quicker pulls. Combined with Samara's 25% CD reduction passive that's a whole lot of warp bombs.

[kstarler]

To the OP first, I feel your pain. I started on Casual and worked my way up to Insanity only after two failed attempts where I got frustrated and lowered the difficulty. Even with 5 times through the game under my belt, two that started on Hardcore and ended on Insanity (after the CS), I only  finally got through the entire game on Insanity after hours of frustration and forced breaks to keep me from breaking my computer. The following time through, I dropped the difficulty back to Veteran and it felt like cheating, so I bumped it back up to Hardcore. It still felt like cheating, so I bumped it back to Insanity, and since have only been able to play at that level, because anything less isn't challenging enough anymore. I don't know that I'm typical in that regard, but I know that my skills at video games are only average at best, so I believe just about anyone can do it. It takes perseverance, and it's not easy for a lot of folks, but if you stick with it, I can only hope you'll find it as rewarding as I did.

On a side note to Sinosleep, I think you missed a myth. There seems to be a myth that you could somehow get through ME1 using only powers on adepts and in ME2 powers are entirely useless because you still have to use your weapons. However, having played through ME1 as an adept on Hardcore (only did Insanity as an Infi and Vanguard, and that was enough tedium for me), I would be willing to wager that I fired more shots in ME1 as an Adept than I did in ME2 on my first Insanity Soldier playthrough (with the Revenant, mind you.) There were a few instances where I could float mobs off into space in ME1, but the vast majority had to be killed by placing the reticle over a CC'd target and holding the trigger until they died or my gun overheated. I'm sorry, but there is no skill in being able to do that; all that is needed is patience.

Conversley, there is indeed skill in using your powers to drop shields on 6 guys in a truck with a well placed area overload (thanks Miranda/Garrus/Kasumi!), slapping a heavy singularity on the toughest guy, who still has a sliver of defenses up, so he's staggered (thanks Liara!) and using one of his floating buddies to heavy warp-bomb him to the ground before pull/throwing his ass back to the mass effect relay he came from (or at least off the roof of Azure.) Put that in your pipe and smoke it, you Salarian bastard! 

At least, that's the way I see it.

Edit: Editted for syntax and clarity.

Modifié par kstarler, 04 janvier 2011 - 04:32 .

[eyrjedi]

Use the powere to their full advantage. Warp on barriers, Overload on shields, and Incidiary on armor. It also helps to order squadmates to eliminate one enemy at a time. The strategy for higher difficulties has to change also.

[zapienx]

OneDrunkMonk wrote...
I never liked the change over to heat sinks for weapons and even less so on harder difficulty settings. The idea that you would have to leave your cover, the ground you are defending, run out into the open, into enemy territory and "Hey guys you don't mind if I grab a few of your expelled heat sinks eh? I'm getting kinda low over here." is completely idiotic.

As for Biotic use, well I can accept nullification of Biotics on shields (Biotic shielding making the most sense) but armor should offer little protection aside from cushioning the blow of being tossed into a wall. Personally I felt the Biotics in ME1 were fine considering that a cool-down/recharge was necessary. I mean hell...The cutscenes we see of the mission on Purgatory has Jack leaving a path of destruction in her wake, making quick work of everything and everyone in her path. Surely the guards had shields and armor so...

In most FPS you have to crave for ammo, that is part of the strategy of the game. However, it should exist the option for your teammates to cover you.

As I stated before, powers are not nullified but disminished. Singularity stalls armored enemies and Inferno grenades pass through shields.

Sadly, the trailers and cutscenes doesn't look like the real gameplay. I am still wondering how Saren killed a bad ass Spectre with only one shot (Mass Effect 1). The 'burger' looks better in the adds...

[Locutus_of_BORG]

Teammates can and do cover you... they actually do a pretty good job considering how badly outnumbered you are most of the time. Part of it is also knowing when to break cover properly.

[Sparda Stonerule]

sinosleep wrote...

maybe this is true, maybe it isnt, but im sortof under the impression that those that dont mind enemy protections love their weapons, while others who dont like enemy protections love their abilities. maybe most of those that dont mind enemy protections because they are playing a soldier, and most of their abilities arent strained by enemy protections. theres alot more that goes into this question besides do i like it or not.



for me, and for me talking directly about mass effect, from the first time i saw saw it i never understood it. much the same when the first time i fired a weapon in ME2 and didnt see a heatbar. abilities, more specifically biotics, are what defines mass effect atleast for me. enemy protections take away the very reason im playing massefect. its just drastic change i dont depreciate in a series, especially because i had crazy high expectations in what i was going to get in ME2. make the game more challenging by doing anything other then enemy protections.



i really dont understand how enemy protections made it out of the first round of discussions. a terrible method of creating challenge in a game like ME.

I like my abilities just fine, and used them quite often in that last video I posted both from on my squad and myself. I still like the rock, paper, scissors difficulty addition.

Allowing powers to continue to work on anything and everything would defeat the purpose of establishing a rock/paper/scissors system in the first place. What is the point of setting up the system if you allow players to use flaming biotic sledgehammers that burn paper, smash rocks, and smash scissors, instead of forcing the player into using said system?

It wouldn't make any sense to do anything other than what they did and I certainly haven't seen better systems suggested on these forums. All I see suggested are a steady stream of contradictions.

People want stronger squads but complain they steal their kills as is.

They say defenses are too high even though they're usually on a 1:1 ratio and practically everything in the game gets a modifier against them and there are a **** TON of instant counters.

They say a rock, paper, scissors system isn't innovative but liked simply giving the enemies a truck load of health as in the previous game as if that was?

It's ridiculous.

Rock/paper/scissors adds a layer difficulty that by virtue of being rock/paper/scissors can EASILY be removed by the player thus leaving things like weapon and power damage on a FAR more even level than games that simply give enemies health X 10.

Can we get you some kind of common sense award Sinosleep? You know back when I used to play games like Donkey Kong 64 and I had a problem with a section or boss (I am looking at you Jack in the Box and Puffer Fish :| ) I took the time to understand the game and get better at it.

But now if something is even remotely hard it must be the problem of the developers. Especially since you can't singularity all your troubles away in ME 2. I'll be clear I played as a Vanguard my entire time through ME 1. No he didn't have a bonus power because I never made a new character, yes he only had 1 point in Warp because back then I had no idea what the heck I was doing. But you know what? I started Insanity on level 60 and I never died. Why? Because the enemies could shoot me all day, but I had max barrier and barrier specialization. So We stood there shooting at each other until the enemy fortification had worn off and he was dead.

ME 2 difficulty ruins nothing, it just ups enemy damage and increases their health and protection pools. As it stands I can boot up my level 30 non new game + Vanguard and use the locust to kill one basic Blue suns merc in a clip because I do insane amounts of damage. I can Charge a Blue suns commander and Claymore him 3 times doing the reload trick and he will die.

Honestly the only challenge is getting to know your class and using it well. ME 1 was easy even when firing your Spectre X gear non stop for eternity. ME 2 isn't too difficult when just using guns. However I will say one thing right now. Powers make the game approximately 3 times easier, provided you know when and how to use them. Just because you don't see their utility does not mean they have none. For example I don't like Cryo at all. I never use Cryo Ammo or Cryo Blast because I hate it. I know what it is used for, I know it has utility I just never enjoyed using it. Heck even a seemingly useless power like Neural Shock has a lot of utility as I found out on my Engineer playthrough. It cripples organics for so long and affects their accuracy.

It makes me wonder sometimes. People want powers to be like they were in ME 1. However my main draw to RPG's is that you have to use tactics to do well. Singularity is to a difficulty curve in ME 1 what a Nuclear Bomb is to a Mountain. There is no game breaking power in ME 2... except maybe stasis (seriously I one shotted Vasir's armor with my Claymore which had Inferno rounds as she came out of Stasis on Hardcore, surprised me greatly). Maybe some people just like difficulty curve crushing powers in RPG's. 

[zapienx]

sinosleep wrote...
I like my abilities just fine, and used them quite often in that last video I posted both from on my squad and myself. I still like the rock, paper, scissors difficulty addition.

Allowing powers to continue to work on anything and everything would defeat the purpose of establishing a rock/paper/scissors system in the first place. What is the point of setting up the system if you allow players to use flaming biotic sledgehammers that burn paper, smash rocks, and smash scissors, instead of forcing the player into using said system?

It wouldn't make any sense to do anything other than what they did and I certainly haven't seen better systems suggested on these forums. All I see suggested are a steady stream of contradictions.

People want stronger squads but complain they steal their kills as is.

They say defenses are too high even though they're usually on a 1:1 ratio and practically everything in the game gets a modifier against them and there are a **** TON of instant counters.

They say a rock, paper, scissors system isn't innovative but liked simply giving the enemies a truck load of health as in the previous game as if that was?

It's ridiculous.

Rock/paper/scissors adds a layer difficulty that by virtue of being rock/paper/scissors can EASILY be removed by the player thus leaving things like weapon and power damage on a FAR more even level than games that simply give enemies health X 10.

I like the R/P/S system but it is not well implemented in this game because of the following reasons:
1) No in-game help of the R/P/S system. You find out by trial and error.
2) The In-Mission squad info doesn't tells how powers and enemy defenses interacts.
3) Aboard the Normandy, the overview screen of your team doesn't show details of the powers.
4) Not enough pre-mission info.
5) Redundant powers.
6) Cannot distribute freely some of the powers points of your squad.
7) Neither you nor your team have armor.
8) The enemies doesn't have 'lift/push' powers.
9) The enemy powers always affect you and your team no matter the protection.
10) Cannot retrain powers of your squad (unless you have Shadow Broker DLC).

Consecuences of this are:
1) Cannot plan ahead your strategy with the best suited powers/team members.
2) Wasted points. I was frustrated after finding Legion that I cannot regain the points I used in the AI Hack of Tali.
3) Because of the rigid system for the points distributions and prerequisites I have three members with Concusion Shot (mandatory), Incendiary Ammo in Joseph instead of Grunt and one point wasted in some loyalty powers (mandatory).
4) Overall, I could not maximize the three powers I want in each member. Why maximize and not distribute evenly? Because partial powers are no effective against advanced enemies. I solved this partially with the Squad Retrain Powers in Shadow Broker DLC but still have three redundant Concusive Shot.

The frustrating thing is that you don't get anything extra in high difficulty settings (your level cap is 30). The level cap should be raised to get more power points. Moreover, you should get more money for the completed missions. They would be fair rewards for your effort.

[zapienx]

Sparda Stonerule wrote...
But now if something is even remotely hard it must be the problem of the developers. Especially since you can't singularity all your troubles away in ME 2. I'll be clear I played as a Vanguard my entire time through ME 1. No he didn't have a bonus power because I never made a new character, yes he only had 1 point in Warp because back then I had no idea what the heck I was doing. But you know what? I started Insanity on level 60 and I never died. Why? Because the enemies could shoot me all day, but I had max barrier and barrier specialization. So We stood there shooting at each other until the enemy fortification had worn off and he was dead.

Yea. Barrier made me impervious. Only died three times because I was distracted. Far too easy and tedious sometimes.

[Kronner]

zapienx wrote...

I like the R/P/S system but it is not well implemented in this game because of the following reasons:
1) No in-game help of the R/P/S system. You find out by trial and error.
Not true, just read the power descriptions.
2) The In-Mission squad info doesn't tells how powers and enemy defenses interacts.
Not true, just read the power descriptions.
3) Aboard the Normandy, the overview screen of your team doesn't show details of the powers.
Not true, click on them for more info.
4) Not enough pre-mission info.
Not true.
5) Redundant powers.
Of course, that's why there are 5 difficulty settings.
6) Cannot distribute freely some of the powers points of your squad.
You can (LoTSB).
7) Neither you nor your team have armor.
Everyone has shield or barrier or armor.
8) The enemies doesn't have 'lift/push' powers.
?
9) The enemy powers always affect you and your team no matter the protection.
They can stun you, that's it.
10) Cannot retrain powers of your squad (unless you have Shadow Broker DLC).
You can (LoTSB).

The frustrating thing is that you don't get anything extra in high difficulty settings (your level cap is 30). The level cap should be raised to get more power points.
Higher level would mean tougher enemies, so all the weapons would have to be rebalanced. You can max 5 out of 7 powers (including bonus). Higher level cap is stupid idea.

Moreover, you should get more money for the completed missions. They would be fair rewards for your effort.
Yeah, because I could use extra credits in addition to more than 300k unnecesary credits I have after I beat the game, yay!

[tonnactus]

Miss Yuna of Atlanta wrote...

She has her uses, especially against Collectors. Squad Warp Ammo and Pull are not to be sold short.

Shockwave is also good on the platforms. If someone dont hesitate to use heavy weapons(the arc projector),that part of the game is done in no time.

[Winterfly]

The so called "harder difficulty" in games often is the computer cheating! More HP, more armor, more damage.



Which is just plain silly.

[sinosleep]

zapienx wrote...

I like the R/P/S system but it is not well implemented in this game because of the following reasons:
1) No in-game help of the R/P/S system. You find out by trial and error.
2) The In-Mission squad info doesn't tells how powers and enemy defenses interacts.
3) Aboard the Normandy, the overview screen of your team doesn't show details of the powers.
4) Not enough pre-mission info.
5) Redundant powers.
6) Cannot distribute freely some of the powers points of your squad.
7) Neither you nor your team have armor.
8) The enemies doesn't have 'lift/push' powers.
9) The enemy powers always affect you and your team no matter the protection.
10) Cannot retrain powers of your squad (unless you have Shadow Broker DLC).

1. The GUI helps you out. Powers that aren't intended for use on X defense are colored RED while powers that are remain normal.
2. Again, the GUI does this for you.
3. Do you mean in regards to r/p/s/ or in general? 
4. There is if you bother talking to the NPCs before missions. They usually tell you you are encountering eclipse, blue suns, or blood pack, at which point you know you'll be facing primarily shields (blue suns), barriers with the occasional engineer (eclipse), or armor (blood pack).
5. Redundant powers are a GOOD thing in a r/p/s system. Best to give a few classes the ability to work within the system than to force you to only bring along defense strippers
6. ? 
7. so
8. that's a good thing
9. again, so? I don't care if it's a one way street.
10. this I agree on.

Consecuences of this are:
1) Cannot plan ahead your strategy with the best suited powers/team members.
2) Wasted points. I was frustrated after finding Legion that I cannot regain the points I used in the AI Hack of Tali.
3) Because of the rigid system for the points distributions and prerequisites I have three members with Concusion Shot (mandatory), Incendiary Ammo in Joseph instead of Grunt and one point wasted in some loyalty powers (mandatory).
4) Overall, I could not maximize the three powers I want in each member. Why maximize and not distribute evenly? Because partial powers are no effective against advanced enemies. I solved this partially with the Squad Retrain Powers in Shadow Broker DLC but still have three redundant Concusive Shot.

The frustrating thing is that you don't get anything extra in high difficulty settings (your level cap is 30). The level cap should be raised to get more power points. Moreover, you should get more money for the completed missions. They would be fair rewards for your effort.

1.) I believe you can plan ahead due to NPC or mission briefing (side quests) and worst comes to worst you can always restart
2.) This I can understand
3.) I'm not a fan of pre-reqs, but I don't mind some redundant powers. Like I said earlier, it's a GOOD thing to have some choice. I LIKE that I can bring Jacob OR Grunt for incendiary ammo.
4.) same as above

And lastly I don't really care about getting rewarded for harder difficulties as most other games I play don't do it either and so it's not something that I expect from a game. In fact, based on what most games do, I expect to get screwed more and more the harder the difficulty I play on.

[Locutus_of_BORG]

^If you consider the Geth Assault Rifle, or the Hardcore & Insanity achievements as rewards, then ME2 actually does reward players for playing at a higher level... which, like you said, most games don't...

...Then again, the actual achievement of playing, beating and enjoying the game irl in the hardcore and insanity levels can be looked at as a reward in itself.

Modifié par Locutus_of_BORG, 04 janvier 2011 - 08:33 .

[Zahe]

Winterfly wrote...

The so called "harder difficulty" in games often is the computer cheating! More HP, more armor, more damage.

Which is just plain silly.

Another way to look at it is regarding them brought in line with the PC. Compare a garden variety krogan with Grunt for example on the easier difficulties. Sure one could argue that Grunt is bred to be stronger, but the difference is ridicilous.

Also in ME's case, the harder difficulties also seem to have a more aggresive AI.

Modifié par Zahe, 04 janvier 2011 - 08:50 .

[BurnedToast]

My problem with the difficulty is that it does not really make the game any harder, it just makes it more tedious.



Since every enemy has protection, it takes that much longer to kill everything. Since they deal more damage you have to spend more time hiding behind a rock to regenerate.



The core gameplay and strategy is absolutely unchanged. You do the exact same thing on insane as you did on hardcore, it just takes longer and is more boring.

[sinosleep]

Except that if you apply the proper offensive rock to the currently used defensive scissors then it DOESN'T take substantially longer to kill the vast majority of enemies in the game.

That is what you do differently than on easier difficulties. On normal you can cast whatever you want, whenever you want, and bring whoever you want along with you. If you want to progress at a fast clip on insanity you have to adjust your strategy with regards to who you bring along and what you use on "first sight" of any enemies in order to quickly eliminate the rock/paper/scissors defenses.

Modifié par sinosleep, 05 janvier 2011 - 06:40 .

[Sandbox47]

It's funny how you all rely on your teammates... Mine are always locked out of that boss battle on Horizon (don't know why they aren't allowed through). All you have to do is keep mobile. If you bunker down, the enemies will surround you. And make sure to be in the midst of coverthingies, otherwise you'll die within seconds. This is where incinerate (or that biotic attraction globe, forget it's name) is useful.

[Sandbox47]

Ah, I see your concerns, having read the posts.



Veteran, hardcore and insanity are called thus because they are harder than normal and (what's that easy one?). That logically means that you will find it harder to play the game. I fail to see how you can complain about this, seeing as you set the difficulty and that it's neither mandatory nor unexpected (or so I thought).

If you want an easy Insanity then don't frikin' play on insanity. If you want a hard normal then don't frikin' play on normal. I never realized that this was an issue before I saw your posts.

[zapienx]

Kronner wrote...

zapienx wrote...

I like the R/P/S system but it is not well implemented in this game because of the following reasons:
1) No in-game help of the R/P/S system. You find out by trial and error.
Not true, just read the power descriptions.
2) The In-Mission squad info doesn't tells how powers and enemy defenses interacts.
Not true, just read the power descriptions.
3) Aboard the Normandy, the overview screen of your team doesn't show details of the powers.
Not true, click on them for more info.
4) Not enough pre-mission info.
Not true.
5) Redundant powers.
Of course, that's why there are 5 difficulty settings.
6) Cannot distribute freely some of the powers points of your squad.
You can (LoTSB).
7) Neither you nor your team have armor.
Everyone has shield or barrier or armor.
8) The enemies doesn't have 'lift/push' powers.
?
9) The enemy powers always affect you and your team no matter the protection.
They can stun you, that's it.
10) Cannot retrain powers of your squad (unless you have Shadow Broker DLC).
You can (LoTSB).

The frustrating thing is that you don't get anything extra in high difficulty settings (your level cap is 30). The level cap should be raised to get more power points.
Higher level would mean tougher enemies, so all the weapons would have to be rebalanced. You can max 5 out of 7 powers (including bonus). Higher level cap is stupid idea.

Moreover, you should get more money for the completed missions. They would be fair rewards for your effort.
Yeah, because I could use extra credits in addition to more than 300k unnecesary credits I have after I beat the game, yay!

In the end of my post I already mentioned the Lair of The Shadow Broker (LoTSB) but not everyone have it and it was available when most people already completed the game.

I have the Xbox 360 versión (no mouse). In the Status Screen (Normandy) I cannot click anywhere to get detailed info on how the powers points are distributed in my team or the description of the powers. Moreover, the 'specialist' power is not showed. To see the detailed information, I have to dock in a base (Citadel, for example) and bring every one of my team members (two by two). However, the description of SOME powers is 'incomplete'. Ex. "Throw Field: A dark energy sphere dangles your enemies helplessly, leaving then wide open to attack". It is not noted that Throw doesn't work against protections. By the way, Concussion Shot somehow affects any target, no matter the protection.

In the mission description doesn't say wich kind of enemies will I find. The Codex doesn't tell which kind of protection use the enemies. How the hell would I know that I will find armored varren in Jack's loyalty mission? I would have choosen Garrus with Armor-Piercing ammo instead of Zaeed.

'Lift' powers are singularity, pull and throw. I mention this because if you want a more balanced and challenging fight, the enemies should have these powers. Well, just kidding, that kind of enemies would kick our as..s .

After I finished my first playthrough I had a lot of credits but I expended all of then buying upgrades in Omega but I still have to buy stuff in th Citadel, Illium and Tuchanka. I am 'shopaholic' . Well, certainly if you do all the side missions you will have enough money, the problem is that there are not enough stores to spend it. By the way, you don't get all the upgrades in the missions, you have to buy most of them, however, you won't get all the upgrades, no matter if you complete 10 times Insanity with all side missions and DLC.

The problem with the powers is that for some companions you cannot choice which powers you want. Without LoTSB a point is wasted in the loyalty power. Concussive Shot is mandatory in three characters, no way to avoid that. Cannot have an unstopable Grunt 'tank' with Incendiary Ammo, Berserker and Fortification (because of Concussive Shot). Cannot get Overload (Garrus) without Concussive Shot. Cannot get Cryo Blast without Incinerate. What the heck? How are related all those powers? Jacob and Miranda don't have prerequisites. Why not let the same rule for the others. Overall, the power tree doesn't make sense. I mention this with the hope that the developers fix it for MS 3. Sugestion: reset the power points of the squad mate once is completed the loyalty mission and discard pre-requisites.

About the extra points and improvements, it is a matter of power-hungry. I want to build the most powerful team in the traverse . It would be cool to have a gang of badasses to go wreaking havok as you see in the cutscenes and trailers of the game .

[Zahe]

Sandbox47 wrote...

It's funny how you all rely on your teammates... Mine are always locked out of that boss battle on Horizon (don't know why they aren't allowed through). All you have to do is keep mobile. If you bunker down, the enemies will surround you. And make sure to be in the midst of coverthingies, otherwise you'll die within seconds. This is where incinerate (or that biotic attraction globe, forget it's name) is useful.

The squadmates are hardly a necessity, they just speed things up. If you know the tactic, which isn't that hard to learn, then you should never die at the Praetorian.

[Malanek]

BurnedToast wrote...

My problem with the difficulty is that it does not really make the game any harder, it just makes it more tedious.

Since every enemy has protection, it takes that much longer to kill everything. Since they deal more damage you have to spend more time hiding behind a rock to regenerate.

The core gameplay and strategy is absolutely unchanged. You do the exact same thing on insane as you did on hardcore, it just takes longer and is more boring.

I completely disagree with this. The exact opposite is why I think they did a really good job with ME2 insanity. It isn't long or tedious, enemies go down, and need to go down, quite quickly. You do need quite different tactics at some points and using your squad is much more important. And obviously the fact that you can't just launch AOE CC because of protections changes things a lot. ME1 insanity was slow and tedious, ME2 is not.

[Bozorgmehr]

Malanek999 wrote...

I completely disagree with this. The exact opposite is why I think they did a really good job with ME2 insanity. It isn't long or tedious, enemies go down, and need to go down, quite quickly. You do need quite different tactics at some points and using your squad is much more important. And obviously the fact that you can't just launch AOE CC because of protections changes things a lot. ME1 insanity was slow and tedious, ME2 is not.

^^ This ^^

Me2's problem isn't the defense system, it's the different impact it has on the 6 classes. While it doesn't really change gameplay for the Combat orientated classes; it hugely influence gameplay for Casters. I much prefer this system (with all it flaws) over the usual "give enemies x10 HPs" approach. In ME2 you can still one-shot enemies with the most powerful weapons (Insanity) - enemies don't take 10 headshots without breaking a sweat (like in ME1 for example).

[Aimi]

Malanek999 wrote...

BurnedToast wrote...

My problem with the difficulty is that it does not really make the game any harder, it just makes it more tedious.

Since every enemy has protection, it takes that much longer to kill everything. Since they deal more damage you have to spend more time hiding behind a rock to regenerate.

The core gameplay and strategy is absolutely unchanged. You do the exact same thing on insane as you did on hardcore, it just takes longer and is more boring.

I completely disagree with this. The exact opposite is why I think they did a really good job with ME2 insanity. It isn't long or tedious, enemies go down, and need to go down, quite quickly. You do need quite different tactics at some points and using your squad is much more important. And obviously the fact that you can't just launch AOE CC because of protections changes things a lot. ME1 insanity was slow and tedious, ME2 is not.

This was an excellent post.

[RzMyth]

I don't want to sound egotistical, but i have personally beaten ME2 on as both a soldier and a sentinel without any deaths on insanity difficulty.

And do you know the reason? it isn't because I am some sort of god at gaming, rather its because I have not played the game on any lower difficulty setting.

This is because many gamers belive that by playing the game on a lower difficulty and moving up would gradually increase their skills and so making the game easier on higher settings.

Of course, the reverse is usually true as players adapt to their chosen difficulty and struggle to overcome challenges, such as subconsiously knowing enemy placements, target priority and effective cover positions are changed by increased health, damage dealt and numbers/locations.

as such, when it comes to mass effect 2, and any games where a difficulty level is present, make sure you set it as high as possible, sure you will die a bleeding TON at first, but soon you will be able to blow through challenges with ease.

[zapienx]

sinosleep wrote...

zapienx wrote...

I like the R/P/S system but it is not well implemented in this game because of the following reasons:
1) No in-game help of the R/P/S system. You find out by trial and error.
2) The In-Mission squad info doesn't tells how powers and enemy defenses interacts.
3) Aboard the Normandy, the overview screen of your team doesn't show details of the powers.
4) Not enough pre-mission info.
5) Redundant powers.
6) Cannot distribute freely some of the powers points of your squad.
7) Neither you nor your team have armor.
8) The enemies doesn't have 'lift/push' powers.
9) The enemy powers always affect you and your team no matter the protection.
10) Cannot retrain powers of your squad (unless you have Shadow Broker DLC).

1. The GUI helps you out. Powers that aren't intended for use on X defense are colored RED while powers that are remain normal.
2. Again, the GUI does this for you.
3. Do you mean in regards to r/p/s/ or in general? 
4. There is if you bother talking to the NPCs before missions. They usually tell you you are encountering eclipse, blue suns, or blood pack, at which point you know you'll be facing primarily shields (blue suns), barriers with the occasional engineer (eclipse), or armor (blood pack).
5. Redundant powers are a GOOD thing in a r/p/s system. Best to give a few classes the ability to work within the system than to force you to only bring along defense strippers
6. ? 
7. so
8. that's a good thing
9. again, so? I don't care if it's a one way street.
10. this I agree on.

Consecuences of this are:
1) Cannot plan ahead your strategy with the best suited powers/team members.
2) Wasted points. I was frustrated after finding Legion that I cannot regain the points I used in the AI Hack of Tali.
3) Because of the rigid system for the points distributions and prerequisites I have three members with Concusion Shot (mandatory), Incendiary Ammo in Joseph instead of Grunt and one point wasted in some loyalty powers (mandatory).
4) Overall, I could not maximize the three powers I want in each member. Why maximize and not distribute evenly? Because partial powers are no effective against advanced enemies. I solved this partially with the Squad Retrain Powers in Shadow Broker DLC but still have three redundant Concusive Shot.

The frustrating thing is that you don't get anything extra in high difficulty settings (your level cap is 30). The level cap should be raised to get more power points. Moreover, you should get more money for the completed missions. They would be fair rewards for your effort.

1.) I believe you can plan ahead due to NPC or mission briefing (side quests) and worst comes to worst you can always restart
2.) This I can understand
3.) I'm not a fan of pre-reqs, but I don't mind some redundant powers. Like I said earlier, it's a GOOD thing to have some choice. I LIKE that I can bring Jacob OR Grunt for incendiary ammo.
4.) same as above

And lastly I don't really care about getting rewarded for harder difficulties as most other games I play don't do it either and so it's not something that I expect from a game. In fact, based on what most games do, I expect to get screwed more and more the harder the difficulty I play on.

I can finish any mission with any team members but the optimal team makes it more enjoyable. Certainly the in-mission GUI helps and sometimes NPCs gives some tips but it is not enough. In a universe full of cybernetics and a global extranet I should expect to have at hand (in my personal console in the Normandy and/or in my omnitool) detailed information about missions, enemies, powers and team mates BEFORE I get in trouble. Codex doesn't help, by the way. For example, armored Varrens took me by surprise.

Certain 'red colored' powers can be used, Concussive Shot and Inferno Grenades, for example. I found out it in my second playthrough.

I agree that 'choice' is the key word. Sadly, Concussion Shot is mandatory (no choice here) in Grunt, Zaeed and Garrus. Moreover one point is wasted in the loyalty power (if you don't have LoTSB DLC). The fact that the power points distribution is an arithmetic progression (1-2-3-4) makes things worse. Therefore, the choices are limited. By the way, in Hardcore and Insanity it is prefereable one maxed power than two partial powers.

My Dream Team would be (if possible):
1) Grunt with Incendiary Ammo, Berserker and Fortification .
2) Tali (or Legion) with AI Hacking, Energy Drain (or Shield Boost) and Machinist (or Infiltrator).
3) Shepard with Singularity, Warp, Throw, Squad Warp Ammo and Bastion.
When I replay a game certainly I want more challenges but also I want to become more powerful .

I know this game is an arcade/FPS/RPG hybrid but it should not be so simplified. I enjoy the game as it is, but I would like some things to be 'improved' in Mass Effect 3. I cannot improve it using Mods because I have an XBox 360.