25 réponses à ce sujet

[karthikc]

No spoilers please!

I'm going to play ME3 for the first time this week. Given my ME2 experience as a reference, where:

1. Veteran was perfect in the beginning but too easy post mid-game (after the collector ship).
2. Hardcore was too hard in the beginning (especially Horizon) but perfect by the time I hit level 25

What difficulty do you suggest I play Mass Effect 3 on? I like a challenge, but only so long as it doesn't come down to chipping away at humongous health/shield/barriers bars. The other problem with hardcore ME2 was that many powers (like shockwave and cryo-blast) became pretty useless and I don't want that to happen in ME3. 

I intend to play as a Vanguard. Again, no spoilers please! I'm completely in the dark about all things ME3 and would like to playt it blind.

Modifié par karthikc, 19 août 2012 - 07:51 .

[Abraham_uk]

Stick to normal for the time being and when you're getting confident raise to hardcore.

Oh and check out this thread. It explains how all the combos work.
If you don't understand the opening post just give me a private message.

http://social.biowar...index/9629730/1



Shockwave and cryo ammo/cryo blast are not useless.

Shockwave will stagger protected foes. It will blast away unprotected foes and in Mass Effect 3 there are plenty of them.
Cryo ammo will freeze unprotected foes. It will slow down protected foes.

Modifié par Abraham_uk, 19 août 2012 - 08:28 .

[Abraham_uk]

Description of new power.

Nova: Will deplete your barrier and create a very damaging high impact shockwave.


Combos you can create without the help of squadmates.

Biotic explosions:

Pull followed by shockwave
Pull followed by charge
Pull followed by Nova

Lifting Shockwave followed by charge
Lifting Shockwave followed by nova


Cryo Explosions:

Shoot enemy using cryo ammo then follow up with:  shockwave/nova/charge.  
Make sure the move is a killing blow so that nearby enemies can be affected.


Incendiary Explosions:

Shoot enemy using incendiary ammo then follow up with: shockwave/nova/charge.
Make sure the move is a killing blow so that nearby enemies can be affected.

Modifié par Abraham_uk, 19 août 2012 - 08:26 .

[karthikc]

Thanks for the suggestion, Abraham. Is the difference between normal and hardcore in ME3 the same as it was in ME2? That is, do all enemies get protection that resists most biotic/tech powers?

[TheSovietPenguin]

Play on hardcore and dont use nova. Fun times will be had.

Nova is a little to overpowered and playing a novaguard (charge-nova-charge-nova-charge-nova) is mind-numbingly dull. For a more me2-ish vanguard, dont use nova.

[riv84]

karthikc wrote...

Thanks for the suggestion, Abraham. Is the difference between normal and hardcore in ME3 the same as it was in ME2? That is, do all enemies get protection that resists most biotic/tech powers?

I'm not sure how it is on normal since I've been playing insanity from the start but even on insanity a lot of enemies don't have any protection. Also you can perform biotic combos on enemies even with protection now using warp/reave then detonating it with charge/shockwave.

[karthikc]

riv84 wrote...

karthikc wrote...

Thanks for the suggestion, Abraham. Is the difference between normal and hardcore in ME3 the same as it was in ME2? That is, do all enemies get protection that resists most biotic/tech powers?

I'm not sure how it is on normal since I've been playing insanity from the start but even on insanity a lot of enemies don't have any protection. Also you can perform biotic combos on enemies even with protection now using warp/reave then detonating it with charge/shockwave.

Oh, this is very heartening. If I can pull of biotic combos on hardcore without having to strip every enemy's defense, that's the difficulty I'll play at.

[Siirlock]

Personally, I would recommend playing on Hardcore. My preferred difficulty setting for both ME1 and ME2 was Veteran; IMO ME3's Normal mode is just too easy.

[zeypher]

I prefer hardcore myself.

[Abraham_uk]

karthikc wrote...

Thanks for the suggestion, Abraham. Is the difference between normal and hardcore in ME3 the same as it was in ME2? That is, do all enemies get protection that resists most biotic/tech powers?

Regardless of difficulty, protections are specific to each enemy class. If an enemy has shields on narrative, they have shields on insanity. If an enemy has no shields on narrative, they have no shields on insanity.

Note that protections such as armour, shields and barriers are still vulnerable to tech and biotic combos. That's right, you can pull off biotic and tech combos to deciminate those protections. Bring reave as your bonus power and you'll be spamming reave followed by charge forever.


Here are the enemy classes. Note that only the trooper classes have no shields/barriers or armour.

Trooper: Regardless of difficulty, will never have protections. You heard that right. Never. These are Geth Troopers, Cerberus Troopers, Reaper Husks and Canibals.  Troopers account for most of the early enemies, and just less than half of the latter enemies.

Specialist Trooper: Cerberus Engineer. Kill that engineer before it deploys it's turret. Failing that, destroy the turret as soon as possible. The Engineer has shields, but the turret has shields and armour.

Defenders: These are like troopers but normally have some support role added. They all have either blue shields or riot shields. Examples include Cerberus Centurian, Defenders and Maruders.

Ranged Offence: Always have armour, shields or barriers. They can blast entire areas or snipe you down. They include Geth Rocket Troopers, Cerberus Nemesis,  

Close Range: Brutes, Phantoms and Pyros.  Pretty vulnerable to ranged attacks, but powerful close up. Haver armour, shields or barriers.

Mini-Boss: Geth Primes, Cerberus Atlus Mech and Banshees. All three are damaging up close and at a distance. Well not so much Harvesters. They have a layer of shielding followed by armour.


Banshees are naturally resistant to biotic and tech powers. When they start turning blue, they are briefly immune to your powers. So keep shooting! But biotic and tech combo at the right time and you'll own them easily. I've biotic comboed banshees to death on insanity, bronze, silver and the one time on gold.

Modifié par Abraham_uk, 20 août 2012 - 12:27 .

[karthikc]

Abraham_uk wrote...

karthikc wrote...

Thanks for the suggestion, Abraham. Is the difference between normal and hardcore in ME3 the same as it was in ME2? That is, do all enemies get protection that resists most biotic/tech powers?

Regardless of difficulty, protections are specific to each enemy class. If an enemy has shields on narrative, they have shields on insanity. If an enemy has no shields on narrative, they have no shields on insanity.

Note that protections such as armour, shields and barriers are still vulnerable to tech and biotic combos. That's right, you can pull off biotic and tech combos to deciminate those protections. Bring reave as your bonus power and you'll be spamming reave followed by charge forever.

This sounds fantastic; thanks for letting me know. Didn't (and don't want to) read past this because they're spoilers! I know nothing about ME3, and want to keep it that way.

So would you say ME3's hardcore mode is closer to ME2's veteran experience than ME3's normal difficulty?

Modifié par karthikc, 20 août 2012 - 02:19 .

[Abraham_uk]

karthikc wrote...

Abraham_uk wrote...

karthikc wrote...

Thanks for the suggestion, Abraham. Is the difference between normal and hardcore in ME3 the same as it was in ME2? That is, do all enemies get protection that resists most biotic/tech powers?

Regardless of difficulty, protections are specific to each enemy class. If an enemy has shields on narrative, they have shields on insanity. If an enemy has no shields on narrative, they have no shields on insanity.

Note that protections such as armour, shields and barriers are still vulnerable to tech and biotic combos. That's right, you can pull off biotic and tech combos to deciminate those protections. Bring reave as your bonus power and you'll be spamming reave followed by charge forever.

This sounds fantastic; thanks for letting me know. Didn't (and don't want to) read past this because they're spoilers! I know nothing about ME3, and want to keep it that way.

So would you say ME3's hardcore mode is closer to ME2's veteran experience than ME3's normal difficulty?

I only ever played insanity so I'm not sure. Just to let you know. Insanity really isn't that difficult.
The only game of the three Mass Effect games I found tough on higher difficulties. was Mass Effect 1. I had ME 2 and 3 on the PS3, but ME 1 on the PC.

Thanks to combos Mass Effect 3 is easier. So the only considerations are the following questions.

Can Shepard deal with armour?
Can Shepard deal with shields/barriers?
Can Shepard deal with riot shields?
Can Shepard kill a mini-boss in less than five minutes?

Make sure that the answer to all of the above questions is YES.  Because squadmates can die easily. (This isn't as much of an issue as it was in Mass Effect 2. Squadmate AI was a lot weaker).

Modifié par Abraham_uk, 20 août 2012 - 02:38 .

[Abraham_uk]

Top 5 reasons why Mass Effect 3 is easier than Mass Effect 2. (Reduce combo damage, make sure all enemies have protections and suddenly Mass Effect 3 will actually be tougher than Mass Effect 2)

Enemies without protections.
Stronger Squadmate AI.
Tech/biotic/incendiary/cryo combos. Easy to perform.
Greater agility and improved cover mechanics.
The absence of The Praetorian (toughest Mass Effect enemy to date, easily trumping all boss battles)

Top 5 reasons why Mass Effect 3 is tougher than Mass Effect 2.

Grenade Spam
Enemies of various different strengths and weaknesses work together as a team to flush you out.
A few moments of huge difficulty spikes.
Certain enemies have abilities that can blitz your entire squad within seconds
A few enemy types are very good at flanking you.

[capn233]

The new tactics take some adjustment, but after that the game is basically always easier than ME2. Even defending the missile battery, which is probably the hardest thing in the game other than an early Grisson Academy, is probably trumped by Horizon or early Disabled Collector Cruiser. And enemy flashbangs in Lair of the Shadow Broker and Arrival are probably more dangerous than the frag and smoke grenades you get in ME3.

[karthikc]

Neofelis Nebulosa wrote...

Do you play the MP?

If you can play Silver good enough to normally succeed, you can hit Insanity difficulty without much problems and get used to it very, VERY fast. It'll be you new normal difficulty once you start playing Gold.

Good heavens, no. I have not played anything ME3, and no, no insanity mode for me. I'm looking for the experience closest to ME2's veteran mode, perhaps a little harder than that. From everybody's answers, I think that would be the hardcore difficulty level, turning it down to normal when I hit difficulty spikes.

I think the problem with posting in a gameplay/builds subforum is that everybody who answers is already good at the game and extremely familiar with the game's systems and mechanics. It's all new to me, and I won't be going through the game with any kind of level knowledge, optimal builds or suitable equipment. Think about the first time you played ME2, when you (possibly) didn't know that most powers are stopped by shields, or what kind of weapon works better against what kind of protection, or whether you'd be able to respec your Shepard, and so on. Playing on insanity right away would have been pretty crazy.

Modifié par karthikc, 20 août 2012 - 07:24 .

[Abraham_uk]

karthikc wrote...

Think about the first time you played ME2, when you (possibly) didn't know that most powers are stopped by shields, or what kind of weapon works better against what kind of protection, or whether you'd be able to respec your Shepard, and so on. Playing on insanity right away would have been pretty crazy.

That is a very intelligent and valid point.

Okay go for Normal then. Just start off with normal. If normal is too easy, raise the difficulty. If normal is too challenging lower the difficulty.

For someone who knows the mechanics, Mass Effect series isn't too taxing.
For someone who is still learning the basics, it's tough.

I remember having some trouble playing Adept in Mass Effect 2. At one point I was tempted to change class quite early on, but I perservered. That is the main tool for beating any difficulty in any game. Persistance. Once I figured out how adepts powers worked, I was ready to raise the difficulty.

[Siirlock]

karthikc wrote...

I have not played anything ME3, and no, no insanity mode for me. I'm looking for the experience closest to ME2's veteran mode, perhaps a little harder than that. From everybody's answers, I think that would be the hardcore difficulty level, turning it down to normal when I hit difficulty spikes.

In my opinion, yes, ME3's Hardcore difficulty is closest to ME2's Veteran setting. I know BioWare kept saying Normal was supposed to be "the new Veteran", but for my experience, that just wasn't the case.

[Ladymac9811]

Since you are looking for something close to veteran mode I would start off with hardcore. I think it is the closest you will come. I saw that you want to avoid insanity but if you are importing a Shepard I truly believe insanity is the way to go. The combat will take a little getting used to but enemies will flank. I find insanity with an imported Shepard similar to veteran and hardcore in ME2 especially when using a Vanguard. My preference is Engineer and with her I started on insanity. Good luck and enjoy ME3 is a great game.

[karthikc]

Neofelis Nebulosa wrote...

Oww, what a shame. MP is fun (well, depending with whom you play of course), you should definately try it if you have a stable enough internet connection. So far for that.

And yeah, I believe hardcore difficulty should be the closest, though my own experience is exactly zilch as I only played insanity so far, but the others seem to have some firsthand experience, so give it a go.

I will play the MP, but along with my SP campaign as I'm told it has an effect on the latter.

[Sarah_SR2]

This is a very interesting post for me too since I've completed ME3 three times now on normal and feel it's time to up the difficulty the next time as it's become way too easy now. The first time I played it I found it slightly harder than ME2's normal - but that's because the combat system has undergone a lot of changes that take a little time to adjust to. I also believe that the enemies no longer level up in line with the player, so as you level up you'll gradually outrank your opponents. A level 50 plus Shepard is almost unstoppable whilst starting at level 1 should be harder than starting with an imported level 30 Shepard.

I also think the perceived difficulty depends somewhat on the class you play as. I found the soldier to be slightly harder (and a lot more boring tbh) than in ME2 but the vanguard was just awesome as it made a complete mockery of pretty much every enemy I faced.

You have to decide whether to say hell with, take the plunge and go hardcore to see how you get on, or go with caution and play on normal to start with. You can always change the difficulty mid game if need be.

[KZ_Panda]

I started on insanity and i would say it's easier than ME2, so i imagine ME3 hardcore will be easier than ME2 hardcore as well...

i would say try on the harder difficulties first and tune down when you feel like you are dying too much. Say, if you die more than 2 times per mission (or have to use medi-gel more than 3 times per mission), lower difficulty. Otherwise stay on it =)

[Daxamite]

i never used vanguard on me2 because the biotic charge looked a bit difficult to control.

then i started playing me3 multiplayer vanguard. that made playing vanguard on me3 sp v easy. the ability to pause the single player game using the power wheel means you can charge, then nova, then look around to see if anyone is aiming at you so that you can roll away from them while you hit them using your squad. i played me3 normal and found it ridiculously easy.