8 réponses à ce sujet

[heypete]

Hi all,

Over the last few years I've taken two characters all the way through the series (Sheploo, Soldier, Paragon and Femshep, Vanguard, Paragon). I've taken a third character through ME1/ME2 (Femshep, Adept, Renegade) and am starting a new run through ME1 with an Infiltrator (never played any of the tech classes before, so I figured it'd be interesting).

With this new Infiltrator, I decided to mix things up: custom face, different combat strategies (more sniper rifles and pistols instead of my standard assault rifles-to-the-face strategy), and different bonus powers.

I've come up with a brief mental backstory for the character and am attempting to play the game in the way that this character (rather than the way that I, the player) would behave. I've decided that, as a spacer and military brat prior to joining the Navy, this character is a bit more "by the book", a bit more uptight, and less openly-friendly (or openly-jerkish, in the case of my Renegade) than my previously characters.

So far, so good. Only one problem: headcanon.

Having played through the games a few times, I'm having a bit of trouble breaking out of the metaphorical groove that I've left through the games before: I've always done certain missions in the order that made the most sense to me. In-game decisions were made based on my own personal motivations and feeings. My character's romance choices have always been the ones that made sense to me from the perspective of me, the player. All in all, I've played the game as *I* would have done things (with the exception of Renegade -- the renegade options are quite out of character for me, and I found it somewhat challenging to play strictly-renegade).

For this run, I want to get into the mindset of my character and make decisions based on their own fictional history and motivations -- in short, to be more immersed in the gameplay. This is quite challenging, as making certain decisions differently than I usually do seems "wrong" to me (even though it may be what the fictional character would do): For example, taking Liara to confront Benezia on Noveria makes for some interesting dialogue for the player (and is what I've aways done), but a by-the-book Navy type probably wouldn't want to risk their squadmate having an emotional issue with confronting her own mother.

Does anyone have any suggestions for breaking out of this headcanon and getting a bit more immersed in the game from the character's perspective? I'm trying to avoid playing the game the same way again but am having some difficulty with getting in the right mindset.

Modifié par heypete, 02 avril 2012 - 10:47 .

[capn233]

Ha I will be the first to reply even though I did maybe the first 4 runs through ME1 nearly the same way (well, optimizing after what I learned in the first one).

One thing that will help you with squad member selection is that it is somewhat nice to have an equal mix of combat, biotic, and tech skills in the squad. If you were to go for the "Ally" achievements in ME1 you would have to make the conscious choice to stick with a couple for the vast majority of the game. When I decided to get all of those, that forced me to get away from Garrus and Liara nearly exclusively.

As far as actually what a Navy type would think, I suppose if he was elite he would go with whatever he thought would be the most expedient way to accomplish each mission. Since Liara is so useful, I am not sure that she would always be left on the boat, but maybe I am wrong. If Kaidan isn't dead consider using him for some biotic potential as well as some tech. You could round out the squad with Wrex to fill out biotics and combat.

Infiltrator is a very good class in ME1. It can certainly be played with sniper rifle and pistol only. I took AR's as a bonus most of the time, but by the time your character is leveled up you can use the sniper rifle nearly exclusively at all ranges. It is nice against husks because it will usually knock them down at close range if it does not kill them. And with the infiltrator buff to sniper rifle cooling, you can make a rifle that fires much more often than a soldier.

For final thoughts, maybe just think about the choice you made in a mission and just go the other way for the sake of it being different. Personally, part of why many of my playthroughs ended up being similar was because that is how I think most of the missions should be approached. You'll probably just have to make an effort to do something differently if you are really interested in seeing the alternative.

[heypete]

Thanks for the reply.

With my soldier Shep, I normally have Garrus/Liara (general) and Garrus/Tali (when I know there's boxes that need opening) as squadmates. Garrus is a good all-around character, and Liara's singularity is basically a one-click "win" button for fights. I almost feel like cheating when I have Liara use the singularity.

With vanguard+singularity Shep, it's normally Garrus/Tali as a good all-around mix, with occasionally Garrus/Wrex mixed in. I usually don't find Ashley or Kaiden to be terribly useful for my play style, but I'll give them a shot (so to speak).

I've considered going for the "Ally" achievements as that would definitely force me to mix up the squad. Good idea!

In regards to the role-playing bit, Liara is basically an "unknown" as far as ME1 Shep is concerned: she's young for an asari, a bit introverted, nerdy scientist type[1] than the combat-ready type, and her allegiance is not well known for certain until later in the game (her mother was indoctrinated; who's to say Liara wasn't as well? She might be trying to help her mother on Noveria...). A sensible person would be careful.

That said, I've not really played any of the tech classes before (and am easing into it with the Infiltrator class). It certainly requires a different style of play and a good choice of squadmates compared to the Soldier class.

[1] Amusingly enough, I'm an introverted, nerdy scientist who spent some time in the army a few years back...though I'm male and decidedly not-blue. I also ended up marrying a nerdy math teacher. Perhaps that's why I find it so difficult to not have Liara as a squadmate? Who knows.

[tractrpl]

Realizing what characters are out there makes a difference in choosing your class. For example, my paragon male soldier will have a relationship with Liara. This is mainly due to the fact that Ashley is superflous to me on missions, I never used her except for the first mission. In any other class, Ashley is useful, so that shepard would have a relationship with her. A biotic shepard should have a relationship with Tali in the later series. A female shepard of any class could have a relationship with Kaiden since Kaiden would mix well with any class of shepard on missions, but a fully biotic shepard would have no need to take Liara anywhere except to Noveria.

[tractrpl]

In other words, I tend to have relationships with squadmates I find useful. I want to take my love interests with me on missions, not just leave them back on the ship and chat them up later.

[heypete]

tractrpl wrote...

In other words, I tend to have relationships with squadmates I find useful. I want to take my love interests with me on missions, not just leave them back on the ship and chat them up later.

I like the way you think.

Unfortunately, this means that Kaidan always gets nuked: I never really found him to be terribly useful.

[capn233]

Kaidan is actually pretty good, especially early game. I admit, I underutilized him, but if you put points into Lift early that helps make the beginning of the game easier.

I actually always saved Ashley, not really because Kaidan was useless (even though Liara is more than enough biotics for the whole squad) but because I was a bad commander that was always fraternizing with Ashley...

[CoffeeHolic93]

capn233 wrote...

Kaidan is actually pretty good, especially early game. I admit, I underutilized him, but if you put points into Lift early that helps make the beginning of the game easier.

I actually always saved Ashley, not really because Kaidan was useless (even though Liara is more than enough biotics for the whole squad) but because I was a bad commander that was always fraternizing with Ashley...

Or if you're going to Therum first, spec him for Neural Shock. It makes the Krogan Battlemaster easy/ier even on Insanity difficulty.

[capn233]

Mi-Chan wrote...

capn233 wrote...

Kaidan is actually pretty good, especially early game. I admit, I underutilized him, but if you put points into Lift early that helps make the beginning of the game easier.

I actually always saved Ashley, not really because Kaidan was useless (even though Liara is more than enough biotics for the whole squad) but because I was a bad commander that was always fraternizing with Ashley...

Or if you're going to Therum first, spec him for Neural Shock. It makes the Krogan Battlemaster easy/ier even on Insanity difficulty.

Yeah that's a good idea.