tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14091374449725337222024-03-13T23:41:27.147-04:00N7 Mass EffectAbout the Mass Effect video games and the Mass Effect universe.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02399918895518397367noreply@blogger.comBlogger43125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1409137444972533722.post-32491519163273077532014-12-07T23:38:00.000-05:002014-12-08T12:11:05.616-05:00Opportunity Lost<style>
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The failure to move forward with a high-quality movie is
keeping Mass Effect from being the next great Sci-Fi franchise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was killing some time this weekend and ended
up watching some Mass Effect compilation videos on YouTube.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It made me think about whatever happened to
the Mass Effect movie and perhaps a huge opportunity being squandered by
EA/Bioware and “Hollywood” to bring the next great Sci-Fi movie trilogy to
non-gamers.</div>
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Some of the videos put together by other Mass Effect fans are
awesome.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you haven’t you should watch
a couple of the ones that take all the cut scenes and make them into a movie of
sorts covering Mass Effect, ME2 and ME3.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mass Effect fans have some serious video capture and editing skills way
beyond mine.<br />
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">As I recall <a href="http://www.legendary.com/home" target="_blank">Legendary Pictures</a> was to produce the movie and it had a
substantial amount of steam at one time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>A quick Internet search using Google pulled these two articles; “</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><a href="http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/05/14/universal-may-have-just-announced-the-mass-effect-movie">Universal
May Have Just Announced the Mass Effect Movie</a>” and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“<a href="http://screenrant.com/mass-effect-movie-writer-mark-protosevich/">Original
‘Mass Effect’ Movie Writer Says Game Was Too Difficult to Adapt</a>.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Seems like these two articles contradict each
other.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe some other sites that
follow Hollywood movie productions might have some insight.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The second article is interesting because it
includes a interview with the writer of the first ME script. The writer says he
was adapting the first Mass Effect for the movie.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I like the idea of adapting the three games as a movie trilogy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Although gamers would be
familiar with the plot generally the public would not. Mass Effect would be a breath of fresh air for the rest
of the moving going public.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The story line of the games is solid enough that
with minimal Hollywood interpretation they can be made into quality movie
scripts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you can add to that quality
directing, actors and special effects you’ll have a great movie.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course that is a lot of ifs that need to
come together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How many poor sci-fi
movies have you seen based on quality source material?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps the “<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0401729/?ref_=nv_sr_1">John Carter</a>” movie
based on Edgar Rice’s books or the Chris Roberts “<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0131646/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Wing Commander</a>”
movie based on the “Wing Commander” video game come to mind just to name two.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Speaking of Chris Roberts his new “<a href="https://robertsspaceindustries.com/">Star Citizen</a>” game funded
through crowd sourcing looks impressive.)</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Here’s a <a href="http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/03/22/why-warcraft-was-easier-to-adapt-as-a-movie-than-mass-effect">interesting
article</a> about the upcoming WoW movie and why Legendary Pictures’ ME movie
isn’t moving as fast as the WoW movie did.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So perhaps a ME movie is still a possibility.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is interesting too because they talk
about how all the WoW lore helped them to make the movie and how all the ME lore is
hurting the movie.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just an fyi, I used
to play WoW and really enjoyed the lore.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/Zu0FMaEneO0?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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What if Mass Effect was a television series on the scale of
the recent remake of <a href="http://www.syfy.com/battlestar/">Battle Star
Galactica</a> on the SyFy channel?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
would certainly support that and could see a four or five year arch to cover
ME, ME2 and ME3.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Star Trek started as a
television series that spawned movies, books and several video games.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(None of games I played were very good.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I even gave <a href="http://www.arcgames.com/en/games/star-trek-online">Star Trek Online</a> a
try and didn’t find it my cup of tea but I know many people enjoy the game.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Star Wars started as a books but it was the movie that made it famous and has spawned
a whole new era of books and several video games.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From that
perspective Star Trek and Star Wars are complete opposite.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now you have Mass Effect whose genesis is a
video game, a few books and it might transition to movies or TV.</div>
<br />
I’ve always liked Sci-Fi of all types.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course in the space arena I like Star Trek
and Star Wars.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However both of these
franchises feel old and stale to me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>J.J. Abrams did a good job with the last two Star Trek movies but I
can’t say I was really excited about them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I’m sure I’ll see the new J.J. Abrams Star Wars movie, perhaps when I
can rent it on Apple TV, but again I’m not really excited about it.</div>
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<br /></div>
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So what is it that Mass Effect has that Star Wars and Star
Trek don’t?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m not
exactly sure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All three have huge expansive
universes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They each have interesting
and developed characters. I think the difference is interactivity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In Mass Effect I was actively a part of the
story.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the other movies and TV series
I was a passive observer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That
interactivity somehow makes me more invested in the story.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02399918895518397367noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1409137444972533722.post-49396797661994544952014-11-25T22:37:00.002-05:002014-11-26T08:08:40.972-05:00Mass Effect 4 and Dragon Age Inquisition to share the Frostbite engine<div class="MsoNormal">Bioware stated that Mass Effect 4 and the new <a href="http://www.dragonage.com/#!/en_US/home" target="_blank">Dragon Age Inquisition</a> will both be built on the <a href="http://www.frostbite.com/" target="_blank">Frostbite Engine.</a></div>
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<br></div>
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Although I’m not invested in the Dragon Age (DA) series I
thought I’d play Dragon Age Inquisition to get a feel for the Frostbite
engine and see what we might expect to experience with Mass Effect 4.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I did partially play <a href="http://www.bioware.com/en/games/#dragon-age-ii" target="_blank">Dragon Age II</a> and it was horrible on oh so many levels.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Most people and game reviewers who have played DA say the <a href="http://www.bioware.com/en/games/#dragon-age-origins" target="_blank">DA Origins </a>was
excellent and DA II not a worthy follow up effort.</div>
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<br></div>
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<object class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ThBGpBEF_Vw/0.jpg" height="266" width="320"><param name="movie" value="https://www.youtube.com/v/ThBGpBEF_Vw?version=3&f=user_uploads&c=google-webdrive-0&app=youtube_gdata"><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed width="320" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/v/ThBGpBEF_Vw?version=3&f=user_uploads&c=google-webdrive-0&app=youtube_gdata" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true"></object></div>
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So I'm 25 hours into DAIQ and so far I'm not impressed. To be fair I am playing on a Xbox 360. Perhaps DAIQ on Xbox One or PS4 is significantly better than Xbox 360. I'll buy an Xbox One when the new Mass Effect comes out. Wish they would make it for Mac, but I digress.</div>
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I'm not a techie and know very little about programming and writing code etc so my experience is just my perceptions as a gamer playing so I don't know if the problems are with Frostbite, Bioware programming or any number of issues that can affect game play.</div>
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<br></div>
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The first thing that I noticed is that the sound keeps shutting off. I have to go to an external menu and return to the game to fix the sound. Occasionally that doesn't work and I have to exit the game completely and reload to get the sound back. </div>
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<br></div>
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To continue the sound theme, the sound is often broken up like it isn't properly synched with the animation or the sound can't keep up the video. This is a frequent problem and is annoying.</div>
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<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Visually the Xbox 360 looks good but there are many instances where the screen doesn't render seamlessly. This usually affects a section of the screen that doesn't look right then you can watch it fill in. That might be because the processor, graphics card and available random access memory of the Xbox 360 doesn't have the horsepower to handle the requirements. Any techies have an explanation?</div>
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<br></div>
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The game mechanics are similar to Mass Effect with the familiar wheel etc. You can choose three other characters to be part of your team for missions. The War Council is somewhat like going the galaxy map on the Normandy in Mass Effect. Unlike Mass Effect you can switch between characters controlling any toon in your party. I'm not sure how I feel about this. It is fun to switch occasionally but switching makes me feel like I'm less invested in the character I created to play the game. For example I created a mage. But if you get bored and want to check out the abilities of a warrior or rogue you can do that and switch back to your character whenever you want. I'm sure others may view this as a good feature. I'm not against it but not sure I want to embrace it either.</div>
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<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Moving through the game zones is a problem. You are able to mark the location you want to go to and a little graphic in the bottom left corner shows your field of vision and your mark giving you a straight line azimuth to your target. The problem is that this graphic is blank. It doesn't show you the terrain between you and your target. So you'll find that you can't move to the location because there is a terrain feature such as a mountain range between you and your target. Ultimately you end up having to follow some type of terrain feature going out of your way to get someplace. You can exit to the menu screen to look at the game map which shows you the terrain around you. The terrain it shows isn't terribly detained but that ends up taking significant time from actually playing especially if you have to do it frequently to find your way to the target location. </div>
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<br></div>
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More DAIQ updates to follow. </div>
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<br></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02399918895518397367noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1409137444972533722.post-38809585589185120882013-12-01T16:49:00.000-05:002014-11-25T22:48:56.914-05:00Mass Effect; The Final Fight<style>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkv9nAkBcHoaHIEZhYPHdjxQMhAo4TGwhRkdTh41ApsQk-9ITAmAnkp16DXDoxReXbhMME2RGoJ9vaJgVyT2e5AHJCn-fd4lQhvKv0mSYMXLnlCVzf9ykb6eUTKjAnPCbCGBh_ISDGMtsw/s1600/tttt.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkv9nAkBcHoaHIEZhYPHdjxQMhAo4TGwhRkdTh41ApsQk-9ITAmAnkp16DXDoxReXbhMME2RGoJ9vaJgVyT2e5AHJCn-fd4lQhvKv0mSYMXLnlCVzf9ykb6eUTKjAnPCbCGBh_ISDGMtsw/s320/tttt.png" height="163" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Your squad for Shore Leave.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Well I finally got around to downloading the “<a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Citadel:_Shore_Leave">Citadel Shore Leave</a>” DLC.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So three games and every DLC
later I’m finally at the end of the Mass Effect trilogy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s been quite the ride.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I really like Mass Effect.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>First I’ve always enjoyed science fiction but there were three things
that I really liked about the Mass Effect series.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mass Effect had a great story line,
fun/interesting characters and more than any other game I’ve played I felt like
I was actually the star of this interactive movie.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Other than the original horrific ending of Mass Effect 3 Bioware/EA did a great job overall with this game.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I do think the ending was horrific.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But TV doesn’t seem to be able to do endings any better if
you look at how “Dexter” and other popular TV shows have ended.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So perhaps Bioware/EA should get some slack
for the ending.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But seriously were
people there actually looking at the ending and saying, “wow, great ending
guys, outstanding job?”</div>
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<br /></div>
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So as far as the “Citadel Shore Leave” DLC goes it was
fun.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a chance for you to go on
one last mission with the characters who have been with you for the last couple
years with some notable exceptions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: red;"><b>Spoiler Alert</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilK3REdx-FSEAE6dcibpZ6LiImwSW7YnYuhHkoJN5M7yDsJOFZUGX0_OhU9_7DTDX3p1wzEFaaVtj5X8AkJuTe_aY-sfjdHPk1hoUv8dExlasaYB3kdw3Z7be5Pa_61iPdJpWdYduTSdJm/s1600/cover-fire.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilK3REdx-FSEAE6dcibpZ6LiImwSW7YnYuhHkoJN5M7yDsJOFZUGX0_OhU9_7DTDX3p1wzEFaaVtj5X8AkJuTe_aY-sfjdHPk1hoUv8dExlasaYB3kdw3Z7be5Pa_61iPdJpWdYduTSdJm/s320/cover-fire.jpg" height="174" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some covering fire from your squad.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Normandy gets sent to the Citadel for some repairs and since
the ship is in space dock you get the chance for some much hard-earned
leave.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lucky for you <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/David_Anderson">Admiral Anderson</a>
decides to give you his apartment on the Citadel so now you have your own
home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You get an email from Joker
inviting you out to sushi for dinner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>You meet Joker and discover that each thinks the other sent the
invitation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>About that time an Alliance
lieutenant joins the party and tells you people are out to kill <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Commander_Shepard">Shepard</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Immediately after she delivers the warning a
hit team attacks and you’re off on your adventure around the Citadel.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Turns out Cerberus made a clone of Shepard who has decided
he want’s Shepard’s life and is trying to steal his identity, <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Spectres">SPECTRE</a> codes
and of course the <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/SSV_Normandy">Normandy</a>.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
So the whole gang comes out and helps Shepard stop his evil clone giving you a chance to take some old friends out on a couple missions once again.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/hoSKh6GwcGM?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br />
</div>
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<br /></div>
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Most notably my two favorite characters, <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Miranda_Lawson">Miranda Lawson</a> and
<a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Kasumi_Goto">Kasumi Goto</a>, weren’t included in this DLC.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Miranda and Kasumi also received the most lame cameos in Mass Effect 3
of all the Mass Effect 2 characters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So
other than that disappointment it was fun to catch up with old battle buddies.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_m-OeIOX2XYoluw4-siMCQMQMgw8F500iGOXOJPDEyLWxoId9rZj3YqJ4ZgQhwbPTXh8hjkWvmm6glbzyYLfLjaUkaJLay6eRPOsgJIWTYn6Du7j-VuBj1DF_N6rM-mwRVygmZw0RWxOy/s1600/Liara.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_m-OeIOX2XYoluw4-siMCQMQMgw8F500iGOXOJPDEyLWxoId9rZj3YqJ4ZgQhwbPTXh8hjkWvmm6glbzyYLfLjaUkaJLay6eRPOsgJIWTYn6Du7j-VuBj1DF_N6rM-mwRVygmZw0RWxOy/s320/Liara.jpg" height="320" width="310" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Liara with a pun for Shepard.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In ME Ashley and Garrus were usually my squad members.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In ME2 it was usually Miranda and Kasumi once
I did Kasumi’s DLC.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In ME3 it was
usually Liara and Garrus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I took the
opportunity to take Wrex (who Ashley killed in my original ME play through) as
well as Garrus and Ashley on a couple missions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I never liked Vega in ME3 so the only mission he ever went on was the
Mars mission you had to take him on.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If you haven’t played “Citadel Shore Leave” and have some
spare cash laying around go ahead a buy it and give it a try.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It costs about the same as going to the
movies so it won’t bankrupt you.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After you finish the mission you get to have a party in your
new Citadel digs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hang out, joke and
dance etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They put in a number of jokes
and puns that you’ll get if you’ve been along since the beginning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I always found some humorous lines in Mass
Effect but you can tell they really tried more than usual.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After saving the universe you deserve to party with your
friends.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02399918895518397367noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1409137444972533722.post-34357116928867883972013-06-11T22:36:00.001-04:002013-06-11T22:36:56.540-04:00Mass Effect: Paragon Lost
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYuzLGGeDhTMarr_Wu5OaUNAx3rKIu938qnfZl-ginW7OAMXa4fqCgzJazWT7UBvBMVWWfY14SdYCgRPXnH9kGBMzl2axk3L4YRf3yJvIu3-s6QrM9di895IrolDOrwaSeStlCPMYGh0sL/s1600/200px-Paragon_Lost_Poster.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYuzLGGeDhTMarr_Wu5OaUNAx3rKIu938qnfZl-ginW7OAMXa4fqCgzJazWT7UBvBMVWWfY14SdYCgRPXnH9kGBMzl2axk3L4YRf3yJvIu3-s6QrM9di895IrolDOrwaSeStlCPMYGh0sL/s200/200px-Paragon_Lost_Poster.png" width="129" /></a></div>
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So I was scrolling through movies on <a href="http://www.hulu.com/">Hulu Plus</a> the other
night and came across <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Mass_Effect:_Paragon_Lost"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mass Effect:Paragon Lost</i></a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since I hadn’t seen it
yet I decided to watch it.</div>
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I can’t say I’d recommend this animated movie to a Mass Effect fan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wouldn’t use it s an introduction to Mass
Effect for a noob either because they most likely won’t be coming back to ME.</div>
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First off I thought the quality of the cartoon graphics was
on the low end.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It just didn’t look high
speed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The facial structures had
that Anime look to them if you know what I mean. (Generally I'm not a fan of Anime.)</div>
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This animated movie is supposed to be a prequel to Mass Effect
3.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However it seems like it is just a
rehash of part of Mass Effect 2.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At its
core the producers just picked a segment out of Mass Effect 2 and made a
cartoon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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The story line was confusing even for somebody like me who
has played the games, read the books and comics because it didn’t seem to match
the timeline in the games.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In Mass
Effect 2 Commander Shepard discovered that the Collectors were harvesting
Alliance colonies and ultimately undertakes the "<a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Mass_Effect_2_Guide#Suicide_Mission">suicide mission</a>" to stop them. The Mass Effect 2 story centers around a Collector attack on
an Alliance colony to capture humans, using insect drones to paralyze them, and
then process them into DNA to use in creating a human Reaper.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sound familiar?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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And I thought Commander Shepard had already been there and
done that... </div>
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If you think about the “Remember the Normandy” pin Vega wears and
other plugs in the script about Commander Shepard being dead you could take a
leap of faith that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Paragon Lost</i> is
happening after the opening of Mass Effect 2 when the Normandy is destroyed and
before Mass Effect 3.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But if that is the
case why does Cyberus have to send the reconstituted Commander Shepard to find
out why Alliance colonies are disappearing when Vega and the Alliance have
already discovered the answer?</div>
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Glad I saw this on Hulu Plus and didn’t pay to see it, my
Hulu Plus subscription withstanding.</div>
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If a Mass Effect movie ever comes out I hope they do it justice. Maybe a HBO series; something like they did with "Game of Thrones" instead of a movie?</div>
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How awesome would be if a great studio produces the movie? It could be a epic summer movie block buster spawning several sequels, think <i>Batman</i> or the <i>Transformers</i>. Hopefully like the new Star Trek movies or Star Wars in quality. The other side of this equation is to think of all the bad sci-fi flicks you've seen in your life; weak animation, script writing, actors and producers etc. </div>
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I guess only time will tell. </div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02399918895518397367noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1409137444972533722.post-6876302950144471332012-12-16T20:45:00.000-05:002012-12-16T21:25:51.734-05:00Mars Mission - Insanity<style>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEQXK-QVYWfsKMdHkVPAGjS8-LqZkKIByMi1qo0hkwT74FepEUNT7f4KeuNHD4eBMNI7nthYZHhwlKpedYjJVAHR_yXnSKmkFByQn7wX7Y0FlTVngZ_nERWlVyV3QfFu1_YrZTU_QgIRY-/s1600/Mars-facility.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="185" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEQXK-QVYWfsKMdHkVPAGjS8-LqZkKIByMi1qo0hkwT74FepEUNT7f4KeuNHD4eBMNI7nthYZHhwlKpedYjJVAHR_yXnSKmkFByQn7wX7Y0FlTVngZ_nERWlVyV3QfFu1_YrZTU_QgIRY-/s320/Mars-facility.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Alliance Prothean archives and research station on Mars.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Its been a few months now since Mass Effect 3 came out and I
played the single player campaign game.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Since completing the single player campaign I’ve mainly been playing
Mass Effect Multiplayer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I decided to
take another run through of the single player campaign mode on insane level.</div>
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During the initial introduction to Mass Effect 3 we find out
what has happened to Commander Shepard after the destruction of the <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Collector_Base">CollectorBase</a> beyond the <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Omega_4_Relay">Omega 4 Relay</a> and his parting of ways with <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Cerberus">Cerberus</a>.</div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/RTXdaChhoic?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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The Alliance hasn’t been to kind to Commander Shepard
locking him up for a kangaroo-court court martial related to the <a href="http://masseffectfan.blogspot.com/2012/01/mass-effect-arrival.html">Arrival DLC</a> that took place after Mass Effect 2 and resulted in the destruction of the <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Batarian">Batarian</a>
</span>Mass Relay and subsequently millions of Bartarians.</div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNDseW3Ud78ztggO3J-ijFHA3q7mIfnmK7ydUHyAzNYfIcBEVKguU1D8SqYqpCgTn0E3uozNzX-d9JXUqp-6CNGazvPtMRqQMXiBbDi3uuLIpRherkPJq5PUBpV0imCTcOnbRTjeeOfdXS/s1600/mars-archives.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="186" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNDseW3Ud78ztggO3J-ijFHA3q7mIfnmK7ydUHyAzNYfIcBEVKguU1D8SqYqpCgTn0E3uozNzX-d9JXUqp-6CNGazvPtMRqQMXiBbDi3uuLIpRherkPJq5PUBpV0imCTcOnbRTjeeOfdXS/s320/mars-archives.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shepard's destination, the Mars Prothean archives.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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We find our protagonist locked up in a plush <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Systems_Alliance">Systems Alliance</a> brig
awaiting his court martial.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are introduced
to <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/James_Vega">James Vega</a>, a new character to the video games, in the opening sequence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I never warmed up to Vega in Mass Effect 3
and I’m sure that won’t change in this run through.</div>
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Eventually Shepard’s day in court arrives and Vega comes to
take him to the court martial.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Along the
way we run into <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/David_Anderson">Admiral Anderson</a> and now Lt. Commander <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Ashley_Williams">Ashley Williams</a>. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>During the beginning of Shepard's court martial the
Alliance starts losing contact with its outer bases and space stations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Soon a massive object is spotted closing
quickly on the Earth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then contact is
lost with the moon and the Reapers attack Earth.</div>
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During the initial Reaper attack the Systems Alliance
headquarters council, which is also also the court martial board, are all killed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Commander Shepard makes his way to the
Normandy with Admiral Anderson.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rather than
escaping on the Normandy Admiral Anderson decides to stay on Earth to lead the resistance against the
Reapers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He reinstates Shepard into the
Alliance military and gives him command of Normandy instructing him to go to
Mars.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1Nu-zsB2Qv6O4sjg034na6xRtgGxY9c1KZL8hx2IcMXS2MJfc-L_aQ2cua7c3evZ5bjK4JMCa3JUbg_P8YlQ5AnhygvJk0PIZLW7039QO7D7VaJvoJFcUgng_M9BV_rPpcNUt7gMaMoEy/s1600/Eva.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1Nu-zsB2Qv6O4sjg034na6xRtgGxY9c1KZL8hx2IcMXS2MJfc-L_aQ2cua7c3evZ5bjK4JMCa3JUbg_P8YlQ5AnhygvJk0PIZLW7039QO7D7VaJvoJFcUgng_M9BV_rPpcNUt7gMaMoEy/s320/Eva.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dr. Eva Core gives Ashley a beat down.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Upon arrival at Mars Shepard gets a break because the Reapers have not attacked Mars. After landing Shepard discovers Cerberus troops control the archives. Shepard, Vega and Ashley fight through the Cerberus troops to gain access to the Mars facility. Inside they find <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/index.php?search=liara&fulltext=Search">Liara</a>, who had been doing some <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Prothean">Prothean</a> research, dispatch a trio of Cerberus troops who where attacking her. </div>
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Liara tells them of her research and the designs of a possible Prothean weapon for use against the Reapers. They quickly agree that Cerberus is after the same information. The team is now in a race to beat Cerberus to the Prothean data. The Cerberus task force is lead by <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Eva_Cor%C3%A9_%28Mass_Effect_3%29">Dr. Eva Core</a>, who unknown to Liara is actually a android disguised as a human.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02399918895518397367noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1409137444972533722.post-41136538689610558642012-12-10T14:04:00.004-05:002012-12-11T08:17:15.373-05:00Omega DLC Play Through <style>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjznD-dyfMlnRm7jbXbRYF-Fq1nf-272CDkK32sEoWVrBW5vPmPAa7HTybQei-rPvFCx6yqXzwKmU7LFswCA7qO-GOZrZAOBTISUSnb9fTr0fi9HWn3rfaThkT3Rkih5ZmNbVDCM-MHgDhN/s1600/Aria-kis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjznD-dyfMlnRm7jbXbRYF-Fq1nf-272CDkK32sEoWVrBW5vPmPAa7HTybQei-rPvFCx6yqXzwKmU7LFswCA7qO-GOZrZAOBTISUSnb9fTr0fi9HWn3rfaThkT3Rkih5ZmNbVDCM-MHgDhN/s320/Aria-kis.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shepard is getting a bit Capt. Kirk like.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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I enjoyed the <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Mass_Effect_3:_Omega">Omega DLC</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No surprise there as a Mass Effect fan I’m sure you all knew I would.</div>
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All these DLC missions EA/Bioware puts out after the launch of Mass Effect 3 always leaves me feeling a little funny.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since Shepard dies at the end of ME3 (surely at this point this isn’t a spoiler for someone) its always odd to see him pop up as if nothing has happened.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But as I’ve said before it’s always good to have some more quality time with Shepard and friends.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To get started with the Omega DLC go to Shepard’s email on the Normandy and you’ll have an email from <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Aria_T%27Loak">Aria</a> asking you to meet her at dock 42 on the Citadel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Head to the Citadel and you’re on your way.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"></td></tr>
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<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNQFFOH0ZVwldTt7ocHrIqTEGOIDbe1dvIpff0zq8wyX2eXD1WxRY867TAEADZJH_-zzzhSAwHST8d-4lu8OnCfhyn3gLmvH5IOEhGp35_41nWh044fMR-uxVGPgT1O2pIWu-GI-R2O7qC/s1600/Petrovsky.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNQFFOH0ZVwldTt7ocHrIqTEGOIDbe1dvIpff0zq8wyX2eXD1WxRY867TAEADZJH_-zzzhSAwHST8d-4lu8OnCfhyn3gLmvH5IOEhGp35_41nWh044fMR-uxVGPgT1O2pIWu-GI-R2O7qC/s320/Petrovsky.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">General Petrovsky</td></tr>
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Aria was one of my favorite non-player characters in Mass Effect 2 so I’m glad we get to go back and close the loop on a couple loose strings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a result of the Shepard’s and Aria’s actions in Mass Effect Aria is ousted from her position of running Omega.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Forced to flee to the Citadel due to the Ceberus attack and occupation she’s been spending time gather resources and developing a plan to return and take her throne back at After Life.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWYhIZ4Fh3YI7YG8fpkuLIIWGt-fGJ8BJapbaX808cMBK1otoVgkdykdrFSyNqcMRG-CmTZv4B0rZWD7PZoGwL3JXgg5XI_m0mLMpRZx1gAFqdMLqk9GtXWiQzITESbwLJtrXKwdiplIM3/s1600/Rampart-Mec.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWYhIZ4Fh3YI7YG8fpkuLIIWGt-fGJ8BJapbaX808cMBK1otoVgkdykdrFSyNqcMRG-CmTZv4B0rZWD7PZoGwL3JXgg5XI_m0mLMpRZx1gAFqdMLqk9GtXWiQzITESbwLJtrXKwdiplIM3/s320/Rampart-Mec.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rampart Mech</td></tr>
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In this new DLC the stage is set and now its time for Shepard to hold up his end of the agreement and help Aria retake Omega.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With her forces assembled and a plan in mind Aria sends Shepard and email.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On Omega you’ll fight to expel the Cerberus occupation lead by <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Oleg_Petrovsky">General Oleg Petrovsky</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Along with the usual assortment of Cerberus troops there are also two new enemies to deal with; <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Rampart_Mech">Rampart mechs</a> and <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Adjutant">Adjutants</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Adjutant</td></tr>
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The Rampart mechs seem to be upgraded versions of the <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/LOKI_Mech">LOKI mechs</a> we all know so well. They also have shields and an omni-blade they use to dispatch victims in hand to hand combat.<br />
<br />
The Adjutants are creatures Cerberus brings back from beyond the <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Omega_4_Relay">Omega 4 Relay</a>. After the events of Mass Effect 2 Cerberus establishes a base through the Omega 4 Relay to exploit any technology it can from what is left of the Collector base. As with all Reaper based creatures Cerberus wants to control them but can only exert limited control. Since Cerberus can't truly control the Adjutants they settled with trapping them in a section of Omega that is now a no-man's land that nobody enters. Hope they don't get out.</div>
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You also get to crawl through the under belly of Omega using a flashlight to see much like the Mass Effect 3 missions in <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Utukku">Utukku</a> where we come across Grunt commanding the <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/War_Assets/Krogan#Aralakh_Company">Krogan Aralakah Company</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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The is certainly a good deal of action in the Omega DLC.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I ran through it using the <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Striker_Assault_Rifle">Striker</a> and <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Cerberus_Harrier">Cerberus Harrier</a> assault rifles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>During this mission Aria demands that you come alone so you’re usual Normandy crewmates aren’t with you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To round out your team on missions you get Aria and <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Nyreen_Kandros">Nyreen</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nyreen, a female turian, is a new character introduced during Omega who has a long history with Aria.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
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Throughout the mission we get filled in piece by piece about their complicated relationship.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After Aria fled the Cerberus occupation Nyreen stayed behind on Omega.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eventually she became head of the Talons, one of Omega’s many notorious gangs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>General Petrovsky uses his troops and the Adjutants to wipe out the various gangs on Omega.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This leaves Nyreen and the Talons as the last bit of organized resistance to the Cerberus occupation.</div>
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Once Aria's attack to retake Omega begins General Petrovsky puts up one road block after another. Essentially you fight your way through the bowels of Omega until the final confrontation with Petrovsky. The General has not surprisingly chosen Afterlife to be his headquarters. At the end you have several choices; mainly to let Aria kill Petrovsky or save him. If you save him he becomes a prisoner of the Alliance and provides information about Cerberus that adds to your galactic war readiness against the <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Reaper">Reapers</a>. Regardless of Petrovsky's fate Aria honors her agreement providing troops, ships, red sand and <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Element_Zero">element zero</a> that also adds to your overall galactic readiness.</div>
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By biggest criticism is the cost. At $15 this DLC costs more than any other other DLC so far. While a good play I don't think it was as good as other DLC costing less such as Mass Effect 2's "<a href="http://masseffectfan.blogspot.com/2012/02/mass-effect-liar-of-shadow-broker.html">Lair of the Shadow Broker</a>" or Mass Effect 3's "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=65CAXTN7qjg">From the Ashes</a>." </div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;">(I had a couple hours of captured video to review. Perhaps a bit long but I thought two 10 minutes videos would be better than a longer video.)</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02399918895518397367noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1409137444972533722.post-33622465748124469732012-11-27T21:16:00.001-05:002012-12-03T20:33:58.317-05:00Omega DLC Now Availaable<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkC0xOGAWecQzRQUTf_LNMn8pyN0CLUBaYSxNbPCMnhsJHUBFIksRs6MO8irekbmVyl0BclMgh6BHcsWZpYw2ThPulWV3uX87R4VgswTNtDpeE3v5nkNiHqgsOI9m-qg5WMaUh0HEHXZYc/s1600/Omega+images.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkC0xOGAWecQzRQUTf_LNMn8pyN0CLUBaYSxNbPCMnhsJHUBFIksRs6MO8irekbmVyl0BclMgh6BHcsWZpYw2ThPulWV3uX87R4VgswTNtDpeE3v5nkNiHqgsOI9m-qg5WMaUh0HEHXZYc/s320/Omega+images.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="color: red;"><i>Update: Dec 3, 2012, A great deal of recorded video from Omega. It will take a couple days to pull it together into a video outlining the mission</i>.</span><br />
<br />
The much anticipated <i><a href="http://blog.bioware.com/2012/11/26/fight-for-omega/">Fight For Omega</a> </i>downloadable content is now available. I just purchased it for Xbox 360 for 800 MS points which is about $10. <i>Fight For Omega</i> takes up 1.99 GB of space on your hard drive.<br />
<br />
This new DLC takes us back to <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Omega">Omega</a>, a sierra hotel of a space station, where we first meet local crime queen <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Aria_T%27Loak">Aria T'Loak</a><b> </b>and spend a good deal of time in Mass Effect 2 learning the ins and outs of this rough and tumble part of space.<br />
<br />
As you may recall in ME3 Aria drove a hard bargin for her support in the war effort. As a result of Aria's support of the war effort Cerberus has taken over Omega from Aria and her band brigands. Now it's time to pay off that debt and help Aria regain her throne as crime queen of Omega!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhisUsm6u5zU-E2bbfD6XFaRrgss0iU0QDH5CVYvLGJ5O-EUdkOTMe5sS5SOyZfDFjC-BNvFFA8o5YfvRqIYiYK6j9JPWZIop5f2v2YukH6ZIOAgQ15JEYoASCy8D8DhXXSp_7KrRmonwLo/s1600/200px-Omega_Talons_Icon.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhisUsm6u5zU-E2bbfD6XFaRrgss0iU0QDH5CVYvLGJ5O-EUdkOTMe5sS5SOyZfDFjC-BNvFFA8o5YfvRqIYiYK6j9JPWZIop5f2v2YukH6ZIOAgQ15JEYoASCy8D8DhXXSp_7KrRmonwLo/s200/200px-Omega_Talons_Icon.png" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Talon Symbol</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
To complicate matters the <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Talons">Talons</a>, a band of <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Turian">Turian</a> mercenaries, also are laying claim to Omega. In ME2 they tried to put the squeeze on Aria until she hijacked their <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Red_sand#Red_sand">Red Sand</a> shipment and laid the smackdown on the Talons running that show. Afterwards they reluctantly accepted Aria as the crime queen of Omega but secretly have wanted Aria out so they can take over. Is this their time?<br />
<br />
Hope to have video up and a review in a few days. Got to play it first!!!!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02399918895518397367noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1409137444972533722.post-83514386626871376032012-10-30T12:56:00.001-04:002012-10-30T13:33:21.916-04:00Assault Rifle Mastery – Mass Effect Multiplayer Challenge<style>
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</style> I just completed the <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Mass_Effect_3_Multiplayer/Challenges">Mass Effect Multiplayer Assault RifleMastery Challeng</a>e on Silver.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So no banner for
me!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But Assault Rifle Mastery is a fun
challenge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It reminded me that one of
the things I’ve always liked about Mass Effect was the wide variety of all
types of weapons and the ability to modify them.<br />
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Like most people I have a couple favorite assault rifles
that I habitually use; the Harrier, Collector Rifle and Saber.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Doing the Assault Rifle Mastery Challenge
forced me to use assault rifles I generally don’t use anymore and some that I
never really used at all.</div>
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So here is my run down on the assault rifles I used.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuan2blm1EpA0F84nf0jevIvRxuAUJOQ7rdidQiI7yZG8s4-_7G87rZe6i0xVn2FreHZ5y_QYtqbR_MklStGz1mDyXSWgNaFSODQ2Kxnyhw3NBsmKz9jn5EsUyRmJL9a6I4knwbjiWZ08J/s1600/XXXX.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuan2blm1EpA0F84nf0jevIvRxuAUJOQ7rdidQiI7yZG8s4-_7G87rZe6i0xVn2FreHZ5y_QYtqbR_MklStGz1mDyXSWgNaFSODQ2Kxnyhw3NBsmKz9jn5EsUyRmJL9a6I4knwbjiWZ08J/s640/XXXX.jpg" width="171" /></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>The Best</u></b></div>
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Not surprisingly I thought the three best assault rifles
where the <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Cerberus_Harrier">Harrier</a>, <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Collector_Assault_Rifle">Collector Rifle</a> and <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/M-99_Saber">M-99 Saber</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I used the Harrier II and yes, I have Harrier X envy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Harrier is, I think, the best assault
rifle in the game.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is accurate, has
low recoil and does the most damage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
main drawback of the Harrier is that it holds a low amount of ammunition, 80
and 20 in the clip and has a high rate of fire.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Harrier has a
high rate of fire so your 100 rounds go quick and you are always looking for
the nearest ammunition crate to replenish your rounds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The good news is that you can generally kill
basic enemies in less than 20 rounds.</div>
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I used the Collector Rifle IV and found it to be a close
second to the Harrier.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like the Harrier,
the Collector Rifle has a high rate of fire.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The damage on the Collector Rifle IV is about equal to the Harrier
I.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A big advantage of the Collector
Rifle is that it holds three times as much ammunition so you don’t have to
desperately know where every ammunition crate is relative to your position.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Collector Rifle is accurate and has light
recoil so you can hit the target with most of shots.</div>
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I really like the Saber.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I used a Saber V for this challenge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The Saber is like using a sniper rifle that fires quickly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Saber is highly accurate, does damage on
the level of a sniper rifle and has light recoil.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It holds a little over 40 rounds plus 8 in
the clip.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even though it has low
ammunition I never feel like I am low on ammunition like when you use the
Harrier.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Two to three rounds will drop
any basic enemy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The disadvantage is the
low fire rate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While much faster than
most of the sniper rifles it is slow compared any assault rifle in the
game.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sometimes it feels like forever
when you are one shot away in a close in fight waiting for it to reload and
your biotics/shields are recharging.</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>Honorable Mention</u></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdGxWqypINUUNTAW76Xbf-xTJ0Hi4p2QWnN6QrTLcw5cIdCl-qpX5F40V_V3LnRbszDpqrQghOa8jyH2rW15En7Xn0CfjnK7i3ahZqWeuwcggXFQIfvEeRa8_SH-t7Jt6xM2c7RihTcmE1/s1600/yyy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdGxWqypINUUNTAW76Xbf-xTJ0Hi4p2QWnN6QrTLcw5cIdCl-qpX5F40V_V3LnRbszDpqrQghOa8jyH2rW15En7Xn0CfjnK7i3ahZqWeuwcggXFQIfvEeRa8_SH-t7Jt6xM2c7RihTcmE1/s640/yyy.jpg" width="126" /></a>I also used the <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/M-8_Avenger">M-8 Avenger X</a>, <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/M-15_Vindicator">M-15 Vindicator</a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1409137444972533722"> VII</a>, <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/M-37_Falcon">M-37Falcon</a> and <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Phaeston">Phaeston X</a> assault rifles for this challenge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All of these are decent weapons.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The M-8 Avenger is of course the classic Mass
Effect assault rifle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is the base
line for all other assault rifles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I’ve
said in other posts you can’t really go wrong with the Avenger.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Damage is a bit light.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it is lightweight so recharging biotics
is good, holds lots of ammo and is accurate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><br />
<br />
The Phaeston X was much better than I remember.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was my standard for a long time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Phaeston is another solid rifle for any
map or enemy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is accurate, has moderate
kickback, does moderate damage and holds a good deal of ammunition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was the first time I used the M-37
Falcon in multiplayer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I must say it was
pretty good.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Falcon, essentially a
grenade launcher, does high damage but has low a accuracy and a low rate fire.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Besides the high damage it
also stuns enemies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is great when
firing into a crowd or facing something like a Geth Pyro.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The stun gives you a chance to move out of
range or pump in a few more shots.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s
also fun to watch the enemies hit by the Falcon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sometimes they go flying through the air or their
heads explode.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Vindicator is one of
those assault rifles I rarely use.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
turned out much better than I remembered it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The Vindicator fires five-round bursts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Its accuracy is moderate and has high kickback.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the kickback is moderated by the five-round bursts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So all in all its
not too bad.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It does moderate damage,
holds a moderate amount of ammunition and its weight is light, which is good
for recharging.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Generally speaking all these assault rifles are all
pretty good overall.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVTaOk46hoUTxyxvGOAuXghLSPpmZNdMBL0R4_0BRYJPR9C8tjtaBwGVahzCq7i3lwD0B_PGk6UHprVxvXbsNtw1qf-NGslPvpAoL3MLZQgXl42aoLRh-DGNA5aeV_rLYqN-s0RfZq0TVe/s1600/zzzz.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVTaOk46hoUTxyxvGOAuXghLSPpmZNdMBL0R4_0BRYJPR9C8tjtaBwGVahzCq7i3lwD0B_PGk6UHprVxvXbsNtw1qf-NGslPvpAoL3MLZQgXl42aoLRh-DGNA5aeV_rLYqN-s0RfZq0TVe/s200/zzzz.jpg" width="161" /></a></div>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>The Most Fun</u></b></div>
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The most fun was the <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/M-76_Revenant">M-76 Revenant X</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This rifle is fun to play with if you’re not
seriously trying to outscore everyone on your team.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It has a high rate of fire, sounds awesome,
good muzzle flash, holds a high amount of ammunition and does moderate
damage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is not highly accurate and
has substantial recoil.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You have to
modify the weapon or use equipment upgrades to reduce the recoil to an
acceptable level.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is ok at close
range targets but even at moderate distances it loses what little accuracy it
has.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I found the Revenat to be more
accurate if you fire it in short 2-3 second bursts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The problem is it is hard to do this because
it so much fun to just hold the trigger and watch it fire.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikyzNTBPbWs-NAXmVDjjVwtV0sdJLDMw3WKaK4OGHUYXz2yeaam2R30lIm5Y87grmDt_1R3xP6TTZacoLvPeGiabUT5CBYpMJLWPW-kliVX9-HIRKkcAJqdIfnyjKhlre0ESPhyphenhypheniCZFRWu/s1600/aaa.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikyzNTBPbWs-NAXmVDjjVwtV0sdJLDMw3WKaK4OGHUYXz2yeaam2R30lIm5Y87grmDt_1R3xP6TTZacoLvPeGiabUT5CBYpMJLWPW-kliVX9-HIRKkcAJqdIfnyjKhlre0ESPhyphenhypheniCZFRWu/s200/aaa.jpg" width="161" /></a></div>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>The Worst</u></b></div>
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The worst was without a doubt the <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Geth_Pulse_Rifle">Geth Pulse Rifle X</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>It has three positives; it is accurate, has
little recoil and holds a lot of ammunition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The bad news is that you’ll need all that ammunition because its damage
is so low it takes forever to kill anything.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It takes an entire clip of 80 rounds to kill just the basic Cerberus
Trooper, Geth Trooper, Cannibal or Collector.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Just avoid this assault rifle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
didn’t think I’d ever get to 100%.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then
of course I got to 99% just so that I could have one more game with this lame
rifle.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02399918895518397367noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1409137444972533722.post-53325219409692324652012-10-16T23:56:00.001-04:002012-10-18T22:32:06.316-04:00Firebase Giant and Ghost Alternative Maps<style>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3w_wFwPgZlD7GZHg4jbyynu3-Le6JBUZj0ta_FlUGtBlnc29MSBSXL4olgm1gbR18xsmMMtyNTndZw8o9oAS33JBZx5fP57nlFZVCpkFDhEJ6mrQSxZ8_fQwYicpRZfhnhYhhVfyRAKoM/s1600/Firebase+Ghost.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="84" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3w_wFwPgZlD7GZHg4jbyynu3-Le6JBUZj0ta_FlUGtBlnc29MSBSXL4olgm1gbR18xsmMMtyNTndZw8o9oAS33JBZx5fP57nlFZVCpkFDhEJ6mrQSxZ8_fQwYicpRZfhnhYhhVfyRAKoM/s320/Firebase+Ghost.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Firebase Ghost</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Looks like EA/Bioware added some new alternative multiplayer
maps.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So that is total of three alternative maps that I've seen so far. Today I played the alternative
<a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Firebase_Ghost">Firebase Ghost</a> and <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Firebase_Giant">Firebase Giant</a> map.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Not as much as a change as the <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Firebase_Giant">Firebase Dagger</a> map was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The alternative Firebase Ghost map is a huge
rain storm, see video, that downpours, then stops leaving puddles of water and
then starts again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The rain doesn’t
really affect visibility like the sandstorm does on Firebase Dagger.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> It is also light wise darker than the normal Dagger map. Perhaps because of the rain clouds blocking the sun or maybe it is supposed to be night rather than day like the original. </span><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/b59-l57BD1w?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br />
The Firebase Giant alternative map is just more of a light show than
anything else.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It doesn’t affect you
unless you stand there and look at the lights.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There are some cannons firing into orbit that light up the sky and the
map area.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I didn’t turn my recorder on to
catch it as it wasn’t really interesting enough to cause me to stop playing and turn it on.<br />
<br />
<b><span style="color: red;">Update</span></b> <br />
I came across the Firebase Giant alternative map playing multiplayer tonight so I turned the recorder on and captured a few minutes of video, see belos.. As you can see its a bit darker due to night time. You can also see the cannons firing into orbit and the flash it creates.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02399918895518397367noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1409137444972533722.post-39980621831025863202012-10-09T20:19:00.000-04:002012-10-11T11:34:57.185-04:00Mass Effect 3, Multiplayer: Retaliation<style>
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Mass Effect 3’s new multi-player downloadable content (DLC)
"<a href="http://www.masseffect.com/">Retaliation</a>" is now available.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So log on and down load
that new content.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There some interesting
things I’ve noticed just playing a couple bronze missions and not reading lists
of stuff from the professional gaming sites.</div>
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<object class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://i.ytimg.com/vi/GqkYX8_54nw/0.jpg" height="266" width="320"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/GqkYX8_54nw?version=3&f=user_uploads&c=google-webdrive-0&app=youtube_gdata" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/GqkYX8_54nw?version=3&f=user_uploads&c=google-webdrive-0&app=youtube_gdata" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></div>
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It's free and it’s good.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Get it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of the first things
you’ll notice is the menu screen is different with the addition of a challenge
tab.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">For you badge and achievement collectors your time has come</b>.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="background-color: white;"> </span> </span>There are to many categories to talk about
but it appears EA/Bioware took a page out of “Call of Duty” and other similarly
structured games where you can earn achievements in certain categories by doing
certain things or maxing out a skill or item. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For example there is an Assault Rifle category
where you need to get to 100% with each assault rifle in t<span style="background-color: white;"></span>he game.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not sure how they are calculating but I don’t
think anybody will be finishing up the achievements tomorrow. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghRvMJjTq-MnJKRT8lLyGXQlKOzWktpETzZIfzRrjhhMC6mGQoB_HUYIQ5bi1d4NfJcYbWmg4oxQHF2UkVWN9sJ8-K7eOds4OH_pRL2LsJYwA0WsJKJo288I1pczCsVp9YUo6ocJb6je0l/s1600/Explosive-rounds.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="185" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghRvMJjTq-MnJKRT8lLyGXQlKOzWktpETzZIfzRrjhhMC6mGQoB_HUYIQ5bi1d4NfJcYbWmg4oxQHF2UkVWN9sJ8-K7eOds4OH_pRL2LsJYwA0WsJKJo288I1pczCsVp9YUo6ocJb6je0l/s200/Explosive-rounds.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj51K_XcqZuEAbS2q3PL39IIo9x1NvpZh94-h78eGF71UZvrKth_T7PwbKlVRq_7-yiS0UZJWKSSuBnF8Jhf2ETY2HgvkgxIzzZlHRuNgiJVTXDPkW3S-vyGkebRvPeIDpMWafW4JrVoa0d/s1600/Drill-rounds.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="182" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj51K_XcqZuEAbS2q3PL39IIo9x1NvpZh94-h78eGF71UZvrKth_T7PwbKlVRq_7-yiS0UZJWKSSuBnF8Jhf2ETY2HgvkgxIzzZlHRuNgiJVTXDPkW3S-vyGkebRvPeIDpMWafW4JrVoa0d/s200/Drill-rounds.jpg" width="200" /></a>An old enemy is back to throw a wrench in our plans.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Collector">Collectors</a> who we spent a good deal of
time fighting them in Mass Effect 2 and especially the climatic final “Suicide Mission” are
back.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(See pos<span style="font-weight: normal;">t "I Like Miranda and Won’t Apologize For It" for video of the "Suicide Mission.") </span>The Collectors even killed Commander Shepard in the beginning of ME2 filling us with self-doubt until we sorted things out. It’s good to fight the Collectors again and get some more pay back.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It also adds more variety in the
enemies you can fight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Collectors bring their
usual techniques but have a few tricks up their sleeves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At one point I came across a “Collector
Web.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not sure what it did I figured you didn't want to get caught up in it so I fired it up and destroyed rather easily. Seeker Swarms are back and if you're in a weakened state and they attack you'll need to use a pack.<br />
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With the Collectors the Husks they control are “possessed”
and they explode when destroyed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you
happen to be in weakened state and one is destroyed next to you it is like a
heavy-duty grenade going off.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most
likely you won’t make it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So try not to
let them close in on you if your shields are down.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTuG1HXCtRQ7puu3x46RmHBNaIb4NadTnz1nqIlG-L-kGf5dqc4V7P9UycozsrNginp9TUhhDZRhHVsd2GzDZCEnvXa551KtY5lTQMtGu6MljWiTWSh9mfz9Z-QijNWAJxQlKTPG4lsdgf/s1600/Phasic-rounds.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="136" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTuG1HXCtRQ7puu3x46RmHBNaIb4NadTnz1nqIlG-L-kGf5dqc4V7P9UycozsrNginp9TUhhDZRhHVsd2GzDZCEnvXa551KtY5lTQMtGu6MljWiTWSh9mfz9Z-QijNWAJxQlKTPG4lsdgf/s200/Phasic-rounds.jpg" width="200" /></a>Flipping through a Premium Sprectre Pack I saw some <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Ammunition_Upgrades">new ammunition</a>; Drill Rounds, Explosive Rounds and Phasic Rounds to name a few.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had a chance to use the Drill rounds and
liked them a great deal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I also picked
up a new N7 Particle rifle that I didn’t care for.</div>
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I saw a <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Volus">Volus</a> player, with a jet pack, not sure what class he was off the top
of my head. Never seen a Volus move so fast, perhaps that fat boy had an upgrade? lol There are also new alternative maps to mix things up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The video above features the Firebase Dagger alternative
map.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> On this map</span> visibility is cut short by a
sandstorm.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> I believe there is an alternative map for each map, effectively doubling the number of maps. (If I'm wrong someone let me know.)</span></div>
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I’m sure there are many new changes I haven’t
mentioned.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These are just some I noticed
after playing a couple of bronze games to check it out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So log on and
find them out for yourself. Good luck with those achievements.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02399918895518397367noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1409137444972533722.post-27985467121097774252012-09-22T18:14:00.001-04:002012-09-22T22:03:34.927-04:00Leviathan DLC<style>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaNnSJIJuygx-PP6sx75cNOHcOaupMWS1eU3xMlPtf0KIxdneGVcjgl6TDTZbrji4hq4sGRDPiwfX_n6x_QDOSOz75yytX-imoSdoEC462oXSKArU9GrKIgN4Qsvo6JfG1dABLN5xrBAaY/s1600/leviathan-ME3-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaNnSJIJuygx-PP6sx75cNOHcOaupMWS1eU3xMlPtf0KIxdneGVcjgl6TDTZbrji4hq4sGRDPiwfX_n6x_QDOSOz75yytX-imoSdoEC462oXSKArU9GrKIgN4Qsvo6JfG1dABLN5xrBAaY/s320/leviathan-ME3-1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><b><span style="color: red;">Spoilers Follow:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Don’t read or watch the video if you don’t want to know.</span></b></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The new Leviathan content is available for down load for your playing pleasure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the MicroSoft XBOX you can purchase it for
800 MS points which is ten dollars I believe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So if you haven’t, go ahead and drop ten large for this additional
content.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Leviathan is a nice little side mission.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a bit strange for me because my
Commander Shepard didn’t make it at the end of Mass Effect 3 and then he pops
up for a mission like nothing has happened. See my previous post, "Mass Effect 3 Extended Cut DLC Ending," and video about the
Extended Cut ending.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> But I got over Shepard's resurrection real quick as Leviathan provides you with more playing time with Commander Shepard and your other Mass Effect friends.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-QzIAH3MP6RF6aSA_3-wUfJSDt7NO8_BUrsnDcrPKKyhACyFDx4SFhKpH1pK1mjHCg7gHOVfo1XOFHttYxZoirb5bFgPJMxTCIjGsGNNFK0nP7KwbspbfUG1QyN5pIMRgv7iMPqXeWzNJ/s1600/Leviathan-email.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="111" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-QzIAH3MP6RF6aSA_3-wUfJSDt7NO8_BUrsnDcrPKKyhACyFDx4SFhKpH1pK1mjHCg7gHOVfo1XOFHttYxZoirb5bFgPJMxTCIjGsGNNFK0nP7KwbspbfUG1QyN5pIMRgv7iMPqXeWzNJ/s200/Leviathan-email.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Find Hackett's email.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I guess the first thing you need to know is how to access Leviathan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once you’ve downloaded the content go to the
menu and load a previous saved game.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It doesn’t matter which one or where in the game's timeline you choose.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I happened
to choose a save game towards the end of Mass Effect 3.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So it gave me a chance to easily do the
ending over again and pick another ending option, purely coincidental; just a
little benefit for picking a save game towards the end of the game.</div>
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</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJO8UUTdYFMZepOuyRDpCcIqwhPs3v6j149FNTO-QSAyTJFFJ4eGkIBWgUAjbAw1mvqAEB1DCV2FYh4LvAjkmPSeBzwr075dCMT6o8AuZ2PWViKTqf8llHGcc2tkEC9aCc3IU0PqSAseuA/s1600/Leviathan-bryson-office.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="111" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJO8UUTdYFMZepOuyRDpCcIqwhPs3v6j149FNTO-QSAyTJFFJ4eGkIBWgUAjbAw1mvqAEB1DCV2FYh4LvAjkmPSeBzwr075dCMT6o8AuZ2PWViKTqf8llHGcc2tkEC9aCc3IU0PqSAseuA/s200/Leviathan-bryson-office.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Go to Dr. Bryson's lab.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Check your email and you’ll have a “Urgent message from
Admiral Hackett” directing you to meet up with Dr. Bryson.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then go to Citadel and select Dr. Bryson’s
Lab and you’re off on the new mission.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/gUgXWofQzeo?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
You’ll spend a short amount of time talking to Dr. Bryson
when he is killed in front of you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Because Dr. Bryson didn’t really explain anything of importance it’s up
to you to search his lab for the clues to what he was working on, what
<a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Leviathan">Leviathan</a> is and where to find it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After
you pull the pieces together you’re off to find Leviathan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To complicate things Leviathan doesn’t want
to be found.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The clues you find send
you on a mass relay hopping chase around the galaxy to beat the Reapers to
Leviathan. Along the way you’ll meet Dr. Bryson’s daughter, fight Reapers and piece the Leviathan puzzle
together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Finally you get to pilot a <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Triton_ADS">Triton</a> which is essentially the same thing as an Atlas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You get to shoot some Reapers instead
of having an <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Atlas">Atlas</a>/Trition shooting at you for a change.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It turns out that Leviathan is long lived race.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And they where the race that created the
Reapers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At some point the Reapers
turned against the Leviathan’s and made them the first harvest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So the Reapers look like the Leviathans.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There aren’t many Leviathan’s left and they
essentially lay low and watch the Reaper cycle occur over and over again.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Will you be able to bring the Leviathan’s into the galactic
fight against the Reapers?<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWDAT0skT57POV5iRlIRV8z6rmm1fUZCDMYehpcu-wIznsmpeIC8qRJN5c427rkeLg6wgYUUpKeItpTBOwvnzRS-0bsuLZKvNGZV93hIvYLIvWRnzkT3FlElctMtAlH_vmYwuaa7QEIMjN/s1600/Leviathan-actual.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWDAT0skT57POV5iRlIRV8z6rmm1fUZCDMYehpcu-wIznsmpeIC8qRJN5c427rkeLg6wgYUUpKeItpTBOwvnzRS-0bsuLZKvNGZV93hIvYLIvWRnzkT3FlElctMtAlH_vmYwuaa7QEIMjN/s400/Leviathan-actual.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Commander Shepard finds more than one Leviathan.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02399918895518397367noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1409137444972533722.post-764596750108127582012-09-16T21:17:00.000-04:002012-09-16T21:39:41.793-04:00Mass Effect 3 Extended Cut DLC Ending<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYKLHCqrKKay8__3kf01ZLSib6kmF4RIRVhH_evrcuY66y_wN7U-ygiHIor7K8f32zHxwcFUrmroK9k1b_cN4-dTkX-22JyMrtEfb4svVpv_C3n5axoKss6USs0mgzxFcCpudce6xdryrN/s1600/extended_cut-t.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYKLHCqrKKay8__3kf01ZLSib6kmF4RIRVhH_evrcuY66y_wN7U-ygiHIor7K8f32zHxwcFUrmroK9k1b_cN4-dTkX-22JyMrtEfb4svVpv_C3n5axoKss6USs0mgzxFcCpudce6xdryrN/s400/extended_cut-t.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
Well it’s been a long busy summer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I finally played the new DLC Mass Effect 3
ending; Extended Cut.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So here it goes.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I will not wax and wane philosophically about the meaning of
the different endings, if any, or how that relates to us in our daily
life.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="color: blue;"><b>I liked the new ending and I’m appreciative that EA/Bioware
recognized the angst the original endings created in the Mass Effect community
and took positive action to address the player’s and fan’s concerns and
feelings.</b></span></i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I also want to thank everyone
who emailed, tweeted, facebooked, youtubed and used other social media outlets or
old school letters to complain and make their feelings known to EA/Bioware.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There is an old saying that goes something like “One
awe-shit erases ten that-a-boys.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That is exactly what happened to EA/Bioware with the
original Mass Effect 3 endings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For all
the acclaim and good will Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 generated from the
story lines, characters, voice acting, graphics/animation, combat system and
the immerse universe EA/Bioware created; they squandered it all away or some
might say they flushed it down the toilet with the most horrific endings ever
conceived.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i><b>The original endings where
ill-conceived and just plain lame.</b></i><br />
<br />
<i><b><span style="color: red;">Spoiler Alert: The video shows one of the possible endings of Mass Effect 3. </span></b></i><br />
<i><b><br /></b></i>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white;"></span><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/YX7CtB1BaUU?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When you consider that on average most players spent about
30 hours to complete each game in the series, Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2 and
Mass Effect, about 90 hours of total playing time they deserved an ending that closed
out Commander Shepard’s story and the multiple story arch’s with characters
that we came to like and invested our time in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Players also deserved the unique endings
promised in that our decisions in Mass Effect affected the outcomes resulting
in a different play through for each individual player.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Did you kill <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Urdnot_Wrex">Wrex</a>, save the <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Rachni_Queen">Rachni Queen</a> or
side with <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Miranda_Lawson">Miranda</a> or <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Jack">Jack</a>?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The original Mass Effect 3 ending were so bad I didn’t even
know if Commander Shepard lived or died.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The new Extended Cut endings resolved many of those issues.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know what happened to Commander
Shepard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know what happened to
characters I had come to like, to races, civilizations, the Reapers and even
the Mass Relays.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So the new ending
provided for me the closure of Commander Shepard’s story that was missing in
the original endings.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I personally thought it was sad because some of my favorite
characters didn’t live.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1409137444972533722#editor/target=post;postID=3839079509911881433;onPublishedMenu=template;onClosedMenu=template;postNum=8;src=postname">as I said in a previous post</a>, a sad ending is ok, we see that all the time in movies,
books and television.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An ending that
isn’t an ending isn’t ok.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02399918895518397367noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1409137444972533722.post-39767946026815089272012-09-04T20:47:00.001-04:002012-09-04T20:48:39.233-04:00Summer Is OverOk summer is over it is time to do some new Mass Effect posts. I've mainly been playing Mass Effect Multi-player the last couple months. I like the new maps, characters and weapons that have been added.<br />
<br />
However there are many things to talk about such as the new DLC ending and Leviathan to name a couple.<br />
<br />
Also need to do another ME3 play through this time as a FemShep.<br />
<br />
So I'll do some playing and some posting in the near future.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02399918895518397367noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1409137444972533722.post-30883162278012874312012-06-26T21:33:00.002-04:002012-06-26T21:33:31.356-04:00Mass Effect 3 Extended Cut is Available<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsI3drznL_j1wWbcSsLTdkvF1inrhOc36TLMjfgE1un5m1f4GBnRdROEA-hovRbWABSSaCFw7eLFR9O9L8nvKAmztxp1rbGsDgXJ5YfyBmAVsRDiGm8GOC5tLFJvS4R_9oYBBVwXCJIxu6/s1600/ME3-Extend-Cut.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsI3drznL_j1wWbcSsLTdkvF1inrhOc36TLMjfgE1un5m1f4GBnRdROEA-hovRbWABSSaCFw7eLFR9O9L8nvKAmztxp1rbGsDgXJ5YfyBmAVsRDiGm8GOC5tLFJvS4R_9oYBBVwXCJIxu6/s400/ME3-Extend-Cut.gif" width="400" /></a></div>
Finally some Mass Effect news to blog about. At long last, the much anticipated <a href="http://masseffect.bioware.com/about/extended_cut/">Mass Effect 3 Extended Cut</a> is now available for download. As you know many ME fans where down right outraged at the lame (being generous) ending of ME 3.<br />
<br />
The outrage caused such a back lash that EA/Bioware developed this additional downloadable content to try to appease the many upset gamers and industry talking heads. It is free of charge so get online and down load it.<br />
<br />
Here is what EA/Bioware's ME3 website posted.<br />
<br />
<i style="color: #cc0000;"> "The Mass Effect 3: Extended Cut is a downloadable content pack that will </i><br />
<div style="color: #cc0000;">
<i> expand upon the events at the end of Mass Effect 3. Through additional
cinematic </i></div>
<div style="color: #cc0000;">
<i> sequences and epilogue scenes, the Extended Cut will include
deeper insight </i></div>
<div style="color: #cc0000;">
<i> to Commander Shepard’s journey based on player choices
during the war against </i></div>
<div style="color: #cc0000;">
<i> the Reapers. The Extended Cut will be available
to download at no additional charge </i></div>
<i style="color: #cc0000;"> on June 26th on Xbox 360 and PC and
PlayStation 3." </i><br />
<br />
I will give it a play and let you know how the new ending is with some video. Of course there are already reviews out there. I haven't read any and won't until after I play it so I'm not jaded by the another person's experience with this content.<br />
<br />
I hope there are some answers. I couldn't believe how terrible the ending of ME 3 was. So I'll post again in a few days after I've had time to play it through.<br />
<br />
Here is some exciting video showing how to download the Extended Cut content using a Xbox 360.<br />
<br />
<b>Promise next video will show Extended Cut action and ending.</b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/Gc0Y20nad-Q?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02399918895518397367noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1409137444972533722.post-72443446646178845422012-05-09T20:19:00.001-04:002012-05-09T20:19:14.050-04:00Mass Effect Comics<style>
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<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhogX7A9n7yB29-pkYjiJ_LeZSxCPTD-Oy56tshuXQpiuTZB8rv7CUA1LS2sB8Y3qWnAIZpSVeuPbUx2msf9bFMTC6PoF22nuXBiQgiljLjsMdeATsz1TlG3N8ZxO7EGRn6L28z7-ftftAg/s1600/IMG_0010.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhogX7A9n7yB29-pkYjiJ_LeZSxCPTD-Oy56tshuXQpiuTZB8rv7CUA1LS2sB8Y3qWnAIZpSVeuPbUx2msf9bFMTC6PoF22nuXBiQgiljLjsMdeATsz1TlG3N8ZxO7EGRn6L28z7-ftftAg/s200/IMG_0010.PNG" width="150" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’m not a big comic book fan but in the spirit of looking at
all things Mass Effect I checked out the Mass Effect comic books.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I actually went to a couple local comic book
stores but they didn’t have any Mass Effect comics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnT_rl9DQHO-lDwPIwgTEF0ZKELco2oowfwNCX24cZW4zqPnui3QLmbEBJvc9AIjHf-vlOvIgxT_Yr4x3RdIdE6hkkJxPp3R-9CJD6H87IUEhS9LyRzWjqQJBFqF3c942DSb1Co8mkfsd5/s1600/wwww.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnT_rl9DQHO-lDwPIwgTEF0ZKELco2oowfwNCX24cZW4zqPnui3QLmbEBJvc9AIjHf-vlOvIgxT_Yr4x3RdIdE6hkkJxPp3R-9CJD6H87IUEhS9LyRzWjqQJBFqF3c942DSb1Co8mkfsd5/s320/wwww.gif" width="240" /></a>Of course I next turned to the Internet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First I went to the <a href="http://www.darkhorse.com/">Darkhorse comics website</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span> </span>On their website it was easy to
find the Mass Effect comics and you can purchase them to view online or have them mailed to
your home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While surfing their website I
discovered that Darkhorse had an application for the iPad.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Woo hoo! </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So I went to the iPad app store and downloaded the
app.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After creating the account I easily
found the Mass Effect comics and was able to purchase digital copies of the
Mass Effect comics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As with all things Mass Effect, if you are a Mass Effect fan
you’ll like the comics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For some light
entertainment reading I found the comics an enjoyable diversion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The comics I read complimented many of the
story lines you find in the three Mass Effect video games and books. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The comics are well written and illustrated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They allow you to spend some
time with your favorite characters while finding out a little more about them and
the Mass Effect world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At $1.99 cents a comic book that shouldn’t be to great of a
cost to anybody who has access to a computer, Apple iOS or Android device.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So take that change out of your pocket.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Reading with my iPad was easy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>You can swipe and read entire page or you can click and it zooms in on a
section of the graphic for a close-up and then moves from segment to segment on
the page in close-up mode.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is great
for reading the text and obviously for the graphics.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAdxJUMXY_nRQLz8F7aWcIZASJgXaCLES2_mG9bdckYU03zu9sflpL3WPRiJTpfh7bYGjG_j4Vb1ABa09nWKlsetchgK0xykWZQdj4T4tS1qfK3jwhIyhCrS2CkXMxqEw_lXe0OsQQFWfP/s1600/Untitled-1.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAdxJUMXY_nRQLz8F7aWcIZASJgXaCLES2_mG9bdckYU03zu9sflpL3WPRiJTpfh7bYGjG_j4Vb1ABa09nWKlsetchgK0xykWZQdj4T4tS1qfK3jwhIyhCrS2CkXMxqEw_lXe0OsQQFWfP/s400/Untitled-1.gif" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Full page view left and close-up right.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiEE1a5qYWmXElRz0A6cRTK102phTR7sSh8DtQ1jlYJ4O9TUz-91N_4ALyIFYFuASKTcZVeZsinEb2y2x2Bhjd5NE-xBw5naVrcMWYQ6cgbhQzkv7i2w0gs5gGXQqB8nwMoAbg5jKQNJIe/s1600/ddddd.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiEE1a5qYWmXElRz0A6cRTK102phTR7sSh8DtQ1jlYJ4O9TUz-91N_4ALyIFYFuASKTcZVeZsinEb2y2x2Bhjd5NE-xBw5naVrcMWYQ6cgbhQzkv7i2w0gs5gGXQqB8nwMoAbg5jKQNJIe/s320/ddddd.gif" width="240" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The cost for the digital versions was cheaper than actual
paper comic, as you would expect for digital copy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I believe they were $1.99 cents versus three
dollars for the comic. Any comics you buy on your iPad you can also view on
their website through your personal computer’s web browser. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Remember, when you
buy on the website or through the app store you don’t actually own the comic;
just the right to read the book through the authorized device.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> <a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_462787614"> </a></span><a href="https://digital.darkhorse.com/faq/">See Darkhorse FAQs. </a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #741b47;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #741b47;">
<b><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 13.5pt;">“Do I own the digital
comic I purchased?</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #741b47;">
<span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;">You do not. As with
Amazon, Nook, and other e-book companies, you don’t own the book you buy. You
are licensing the right to read the book on supported and authorized devices.”</span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02399918895518397367noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1409137444972533722.post-74442429884170903312012-05-01T23:06:00.000-04:002012-05-01T23:06:01.694-04:00Grunt; Fighting to the End<div class="MsoNormal">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI1qU0Usob-uoxE3rusNLe46dI610QrLE11hkI4w0Iarh68gOGk1jHVQrTsnhJIGskTWdQRMXG2o2hhNCqcFFp4Qr2rKlGOaMe1OPQFen4bKrI_Vjl2Tl6IjUqrXTg2MmSMBQ28rOhufp2/s1600/kkk.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="174" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI1qU0Usob-uoxE3rusNLe46dI610QrLE11hkI4w0Iarh68gOGk1jHVQrTsnhJIGskTWdQRMXG2o2hhNCqcFFp4Qr2rKlGOaMe1OPQFen4bKrI_Vjl2Tl6IjUqrXTg2MmSMBQ28rOhufp2/s200/kkk.gif" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shepard and Grunt on Tuchanka.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Grunt" target="_blank">Grunt</a> gets a much better video cameo than other Mass Effect
2 characters such as Thane and Kasumi.
Grunt’s cameo even gets a surprising twist at the end.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Shepard goes to <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Utukku" target="_blank">Utukku</a> to investigate missing squad of
Krogan soldiers. Upon arrival at Utukku
he discovers that Grunt is the commander of the <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/War_Assets/Krogan#Aralakh_Company" target="_blank">Aralakah</a> Company; a special
company made up of Krogan warriors from the various clans on Tuchanka. It’s not clear if the Aralakah are
investigating the disappearance also or if the missing squad is from the
Arlakah but it sets the stage for the Shepard / Grunt reunion.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/vf2ygWJsKK8?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
With the help of the Aralakah Company and Grunt, Shepard
explores the tunnels of Utukku and discovers that the Reapers are mutating a
hive of <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Rachni" target="_blank">Rachni</a> into <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Ravager" target="_blank">Ravagers</a> much like they do with other species to create
<a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Husks" target="_blank">Husks </a>or <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Scion" target="_blank">Scions</a>. Moving deeper into the
maze of tunnels Shepard enters the hive’s central nest area while Grunt and the
Aralakah hold off waves of Rachni.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the central chamber Shepard discovers the <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Rachni_Queen" target="_blank">Rachni Queen</a> from Mass Effect that he let live during the battle with <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Matriarch_Benezia" target="_blank">Matriarch Benezia</a>. Turns out the Reapers have
captured the queen with advanced Reaper Technology. (Nothing a few rounds from the M-8 Avenger
won’t fix.) </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The queen was able to resist Reaper indoctrination. To counter the queen and take control of the
Rachni the Reapers trapped her isolating her influence and indoctrinated the
other Rachni directly rather than through the queen. Shepard and company have the choice to
release the queen or leave her trapped by the Reapers. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxAqZJVvNIjOsOqGMeVFElReGWXy5p9F5d3FyjBwYkRjfNexWVgpJIyHEj71eDM8T6fRoGdsQTU34N50mbi_JDF97hlD8SaL-qb0c3CtgORUA_ptE3PzgCT2ZE8PO8Is0F7JpiYJwSgPzQ/s1600/ravagers.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxAqZJVvNIjOsOqGMeVFElReGWXy5p9F5d3FyjBwYkRjfNexWVgpJIyHEj71eDM8T6fRoGdsQTU34N50mbi_JDF97hlD8SaL-qb0c3CtgORUA_ptE3PzgCT2ZE8PO8Is0F7JpiYJwSgPzQ/s320/ravagers.gif" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Grunt charges into the Ravagers.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
While holding the line against the now indoctrinated Ravagers
Arlankah Company takes heavy losses.
When Shepard leaves the hive for the surface only Grunt remains of
Arlankah Company. Upon the way out they
come to an intersection filled with Ravagers.
Grunt says goodbye to Shepard;
“The shuttle is down that path.
I’ll hold them off. Get out of here Shepard.” Grunt charges into the path of the Ravagers
giving Shepard the opportunity to escape.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02399918895518397367noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1409137444972533722.post-25144176960787949632012-04-21T13:40:00.001-04:002012-04-21T14:40:28.865-04:00Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer<style>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg_y0uoItceP6cjRWSGx6BxBT7vo31OpPBA0AwQZ1NtRHAyhs7j2qEhCEKOw1VetW2vfrBlXRqztkCI5KWb94HgjSNa5s7dWeGzz6cOxCpSf4JijNhkAFCkXuQMw8WNy7GEXzGolmY2FIK/s1600/multi+3+extraction_00000.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg_y0uoItceP6cjRWSGx6BxBT7vo31OpPBA0AwQZ1NtRHAyhs7j2qEhCEKOw1VetW2vfrBlXRqztkCI5KWb94HgjSNa5s7dWeGzz6cOxCpSf4JijNhkAFCkXuQMw8WNy7GEXzGolmY2FIK/s200/multi+3+extraction_00000.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
Mass Effect’s “new” multiplayer component was launched prior
to Mass Effect 3’s release. It has been
out for sometime now and has had several updates to include new maps and
weapons since it was launched as a demo with two maps. Overall <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Multiplayer">MEM (Mass Effect Multiplayer)</a> is fun
and I’m sure any Mass Effect fan likes it.
I also think it appeals to other gamers.
Perhaps players of Modern Warfare, Battlefield etc. might give it a try
for a break from their usual gaming routine. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
In a MEM game you play with three other peeps to form a
four-man Alliance team. You get sent to
some off-world sierra hotel to complete various missions. During the game you fight 10 waves of
enemies completing various missions and then are extracted.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Characters are capped at level 20 and you get to distribute
a generous amount of points into the various class’s biotic powers. New updates have added new races and classes
you can play such as the Geth. I must
admit that I find the Krogan Vanguard disturbing! Lol The
enemies are either Cerberus troops, mutated Reapers or Geth. Watch out respectively for the <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Phantom">Phantom</a>,
<a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Banshee">Banshee</a> and <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Geth_Prime">Prime</a> opponents as they are the hardest to kill.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/hkC2JxqDMXA?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe> </div>
<br />
There are three difficulty levels, bronze, silver and gold. You can really tell the difference between the levels as the aggressiveness and survivability of the enemies significantly increases as you go up in difficulty. On gold level, the hardest, it is very difficult to survive to extraction. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The variety of missions is one feature that makes MEM
fun. The base mission is to kill the incoming
wave of enemy. Always fun just shooting
anything that comes your way. The other missions entail killing four
“high-value” enemy targets, uploading data from a computer terminal,
fixing/reactivating four terminals/satellite up-links and finally the extraction
itself.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The high-value target mission is fun. You have a set amount of time to kill 4 enemy
targets. Each time you kill a target you
get a little more time. Don’t be
surprised to find other enemies protecting the high-value target adding some
difficulty.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The uploading data is essentially a hold your ground
mission. You go to a terminal and must
hold your position for several minutes while uploading data to a computer
terminal as enemies constantly attack you.
Remember the more of your team members in the designated area the
quicker the download.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The fixing or reactivating mission sends you to four
different devices on the map in succession to activate. You have a set amount of time to activate all
four devices. Usually this involves
fighting your way to the device and a little hold your ground. When you get to the device it takes about 15
seconds to activate it. If there aren’t
any enemies around you can do this by yourself.
If not you’ll need a team member to keep them busy for the 15 seconds.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The extraction mission, which I guess you could say is the
11<sup>th</sup> wave, is another hold your ground mission. You move to the extraction point and hold
that area for two minutes until a shuttle arrives at the LZ to extract you.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My only real criticism of MEM is the awards system where you
buy various packs of gear, increasing in price, Starter, Recruit, Veteran, and Sprectre to get better gear, ammo and power upgrades.
The problem is that the equipment in any pack on any given purchase
varies so you never know what you are getting.
Sometimes an item you shelled out big bucks to buy in real money
(Microsoft Points) or in game earned credits in a Sprectre pack might be found
in the significantly less expensive Recruit pack. Say for example you have an
Avenger II assault rifle and want the Avenger III. You have absolutely no logical path to
purchasing it. You just have to hope
that it randomly show’s up in some pack you buy. Buying a Spectre pack or higher has no
bearing on if the item you want will be in it.
For example I’ve wanted the Vanguard additional camouflage patterns for
my character’s appearance for weeks. No
such luck.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Also the MEM contribution to your Mass Effect 3 single
player game makes no sense. As you play
MEM you see some message that says something like “+ 1% to galactic readiness.” This number goes up and down. Log off and come back and you start over
again. How this gets added to your
readiness in the single player game isn’t in the least bit obvious. Not that you really need a couple percentage increase
in readiness when you get to the end of Mass Effect 3. So why even bother with this?</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02399918895518397367noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1409137444972533722.post-38119162653359939912012-04-14T18:06:00.002-04:002012-04-14T18:06:42.341-04:00The Quarians or the Geth? Part 2<style>
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<b><i><span style="color: red; font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Spoilers Follow</span></i></b><span style="color: red; font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh3hXRt2jwIn99LvTf299nRbafn68pi9E6jtJLPBCsEkQYan1dLP4veG1aJCbQcXO1hFMuXQsnfO_fOSWA1Yy4EXWxmMY8_D4riw7kskhFR3FQhhAwTnKQ0mG61DOt3uBRnp9X2uKV6XGQ/s1600/tali-legion.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="135" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh3hXRt2jwIn99LvTf299nRbafn68pi9E6jtJLPBCsEkQYan1dLP4veG1aJCbQcXO1hFMuXQsnfO_fOSWA1Yy4EXWxmMY8_D4riw7kskhFR3FQhhAwTnKQ0mG61DOt3uBRnp9X2uKV6XGQ/s320/tali-legion.gif" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Who will you choose?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">In the end there can only be one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Either the <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Quarian">Quarians </a>or the <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Geth">Geth</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So who will you destroy and who will you save?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Both have huge fleets and technical expertise
to help you construct the <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Crucible">Crucible</a>. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">You choice either kills Tali and the
Quarians or Legion and the Geth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So
EA/Bioware does allow to you choose the fate of an entire race.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Ultimately it doesn’t really matter who
you chose.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whichever you choose will
commit their fleet to your war effort and use their engineering skills to
assist with the construction of the Crucible.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/DZik8bThkRI?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<br /></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02399918895518397367noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1409137444972533722.post-82022889092171632362012-04-09T21:16:00.001-04:002012-04-09T21:28:38.671-04:00The Quarians or the Geth? Part 1<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOaCrSNErm0z_rJpS41A1HzLtEtZe_d7_2LO5Fqc3RozLnAm8OXovjBOvKMqiBn4hppYS8u1QvoIfNLeda6_9VrCew22ELVcxO5YYnK6n-GW4UA4UhQOiOWV4BM60UbWyB1i_v7k_xDzm1/s1600/dreadnaught.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="185" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOaCrSNErm0z_rJpS41A1HzLtEtZe_d7_2LO5Fqc3RozLnAm8OXovjBOvKMqiBn4hppYS8u1QvoIfNLeda6_9VrCew22ELVcxO5YYnK6n-GW4UA4UhQOiOWV4BM60UbWyB1i_v7k_xDzm1/s320/dreadnaught.gif" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Heretic Geth dreadnaught explodes just as Shepard escapes.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<div style="color: red;">
<b><i>Spoilers Follow</i></b></div>
<div style="color: red;">
<br /></div>
One of the few things you’ll get resolution on in Mass
Effect 3 is the fate of the <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Quarian">Quarians</a> or the <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Geth">Geth</a>. Commander Shepard gets to make some choices
that either saves or destroys one or the other.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Trying to reclaim <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Rannoch">Rannoch</a>, their homeworld, the Quarian fleet is engaged
in battle with a Geth fleet that includes a Geth dreadnaught they are trying to
destroy. Turns out that the Geth virus
in Mass Effect 2 didn’t save the <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Geth#Heretics">Heretic Geth</a> and bring them back to the Geth
collective. The heretic Geth are now
fighting for the “old machines” and are opposed by the Geth who are losing
their fight against them.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/RKDysZK61Pc?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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Shepard uses the Normandy’s stealth systems to fly through
the fight and dock with the dreadnaught.
Their mission is to disable its systems so the Quarians can destroy
it. Overall this is fun mission. After boarding the dreadnaught you fight your
way through the ship to turn off its turrets and other capabilities. Of note is that each time the big guns fire a
surge of energy goes through the passage you are in. If this hits you it wipes out your shields
making you easy prey for the Heretics defending the passage. So remember to take cover when you see the
power surge coming.</div>
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<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpNQamXJ9osirfWlFq6cuO6JBCvu36pufLxi_l_P5rpRhkiEP66D0Bl9z-skSURWQkNIMHPcXNhhLqHuTAZ0UxyRSuwA-Uo3o5j0eHOzN1HLA7iJKUktANXw5LbzSusPlwq-sy3a2OjjG7/s1600/legion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpNQamXJ9osirfWlFq6cuO6JBCvu36pufLxi_l_P5rpRhkiEP66D0Bl9z-skSURWQkNIMHPcXNhhLqHuTAZ0UxyRSuwA-Uo3o5j0eHOzN1HLA7iJKUktANXw5LbzSusPlwq-sy3a2OjjG7/s320/legion.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Legion captured and connected to the dreadnaught network.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Towards the end you discover that the Heretic Geth have
imprisoned <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Legion">Legion</a> and are using him and the Geth collective as a large
server to operate the dreadnaught, communicate and other miscellaneous tasks.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You free Legion and he explains the Geth/Heretic Geth
situation to you. Legion then helps you
to disable the dreadnaught and escape.
Seems that the Quarian Admiral leading the attack choses to attack the
dreadnaught rather than waiting for you to escape. You need lay smack down on him for that!</div>
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<br /></div>
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This sets the stage for another encounter on the Quarian
home world of Rannoch where Shepard ultimately decides the fate of the two
races and Tali and Legion. Like <i>The Highlander </i>"there can only be one."</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02399918895518397367noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1409137444972533722.post-38390795099118814332012-04-02T16:25:00.000-04:002012-09-16T21:42:23.897-04:00Mass Effect 3 Ending – Oh My<i style="color: red;"><b>Spoilers Follow</b></i><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7QhnblRxTzCLnzLtNl9XafUcsa7Eb0ehhtzF1GNTOraJ3RK3sANr10yukpLKdroHonavdzTmX6ARig7R_if0AceUQZvJI6KQ2G0qZeaHeDSoZjzta4QKdwmJ7vpJO_FBdw-E1nGVdk4pE/s1600/aa-guns.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7QhnblRxTzCLnzLtNl9XafUcsa7Eb0ehhtzF1GNTOraJ3RK3sANr10yukpLKdroHonavdzTmX6ARig7R_if0AceUQZvJI6KQ2G0qZeaHeDSoZjzta4QKdwmJ7vpJO_FBdw-E1nGVdk4pE/s400/aa-guns.gif" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Big machine guns are always fun to shoot.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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If you are a Mass Effect fan or a gamer you’ve probably read
about the ending of Mass Effect 3 if you haven’t gotten there yourself. I finished Mass Effect 3 the other night
so I can weigh in on the issue.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Well, where is that anti-Mass Effect 3 facebook page so I
can like it! Wow, what a terrible ending
to the game, trilogy and characters I came to like over three games
spanning five years. EA/Bioware can try
to hide behind their “creative” genius but it won’t help. The ending of Mass Effect 3 doesn’t suck
because it is sad. I’ve seen lots of
movies and read many books with sad endings.
A sad ending is ok. Mass Effect
3’s ending is terrible because it SUCKS, period. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
First, most of your choices from Mass Effect and Mass Effect
2 don’t really matter. For example I chose
to make Anderson the human representative to the Council but Udina is the human
Councilor not Anderson. The ending
stinks because you get no resolution about anything. When the game is over you don’t know what
happened to the galaxy, the Alliance, humanity or your squad members over the
games. You can infer a couple things but
there is no definitive resolution on anything other than the characters who
died before the ending scene. In my game
Liara and Garrus were my squaddies for the final battle. Presumably they where killed trying to get to
the light beam that transports you up to the Citadel. But they both stepped off the crash-landed
Normandy at the end. So I guess Joker
swept down with the Normandy and picked them up while Shepard was crawling to
the transporter? </div>
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<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ5GHaTgabWrNzOidMuJwRCGXGjZCjvfRWZLTU01Q9Iwao1srismEn-k6IO4CAu9evuP6S811OymFCUantGPhUlOnG-eZ9PYVDh_WKjPhyb8IZT3UEmtnHevfm6V5mQ8z2m_wGPbIJI3YW/s1600/geth-quarians-space.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ5GHaTgabWrNzOidMuJwRCGXGjZCjvfRWZLTU01Q9Iwao1srismEn-k6IO4CAu9evuP6S811OymFCUantGPhUlOnG-eZ9PYVDh_WKjPhyb8IZT3UEmtnHevfm6V5mQ8z2m_wGPbIJI3YW/s400/geth-quarians-space.gif" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Quarian and Geth fleets fight it out.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Another thing that really irked me was how Mass Effect
2 characters
were completely dissed. <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Kasumi_Goto">Kasumi</a> was
dissed the most of all and she was one of my favorites. Anyhow EA/Bioware's claim that they were
limiting the squad so that you could get more involved with the ones they forced on you was lame. First off, I didn’t want to meet new
characters in the third game. I wanted
to spend the third and final game getting to better know more about the characters
I already knew. <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Miranda">Miranda,</a> who was huge in
Mass Effect 2 gets maybe 5 minutes of cut scenes. (No, I haven’t actually timed it.) How can
you take such an integral character and completely cut her out, more so if you
had made her a romantic interest? Some Mass Effect
2 characters fared better than others but mainly they all just made
appearances in cut scenes. Some got more
time than others and some were killed and you had no input. I guess those that died were the lucky ones!</div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/James_Vega">Vega</a>; I never took him on mission after Mars when others
where available. <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/EDI">Edi</a> and <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Javik">Javik </a>were both
nice gimmicks but that’s it. Javik
especially, as the last living Prothean, could have been given a huge role in
the game finishing the Crucible for example.
Although <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Ashley">Ashley</a> was always a favorite they essentially gave you three soldiers
(Ashley, Vega and Javik) for the squad although they had different biotic
powers. I will admit I thought Javik had
a couple funny lines though.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Just to rub a little salt in the wound EA/Bioware is coming out with a new Mass Effect 3 ending in the form of DLC - downloadable content. I.E. if you want the new ending you are going to have pay them more money for what should have been included in the game. Many people think that EA/Bioware already had this content on hand and planed to make you pay for it from the get go. Perhaps this is the ending that was previously leaked during the Beta testing? Did EA/Bioware feel they had to come up with a new lame ending because the original was leaked?</div>
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<br /></div>
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So what to do? If you
are a Mass Effect fan you have to play Mass Effect 3 regardless of the lame
ending. On the positive side the
graphics are awesome. The game play is
excellent the new melee attacks are a welcome addition. The exception being the combat roll which usually turned out to be a pain for me. Many times I would get caught rolling between
objects and couldn’t get out. I never did get Kinect so I can't comment on how that works. Perhaps somehow who played Mass Effect 3 with Kinect can leave a comment about how they liked it. Personally I like pulling up either the weapon or biotic wheel. It stops the action so you can take a break and survey the battlefield to get some situational awareness. The new
weapons and biotic powers are fun also.
Killing Udina feels real good too!
Lol There are some great new enemies
also such as <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Kai_Leng">Kai Leng</a> and the Reaper made <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Banshee">Banshee</a>. There are some excellent fights but I’ve felt that way
about all three games.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="http://doycetesterman.com/index.php/2012/03/mass-effect-tolkein-and-your-bullshit-artistic-process/">Here is a interesting piece by Doyce </a>about Mass Effect 3's ending that
shows how Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy would have ended if it followed
the terrible story telling that EA/Bioware used on Mass Effect 3. It's worth reading.</div>
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Mass Effect 3 to me was really a story more than a video game. What made Mass Effect great were the characters, plot, voice acting, cut scenes, graphics, weapons, enemies and more importantly that through the video game interface I felt that I was part of the story. <i>Essentially I was the lead actor in this epic science fiction movie/story.</i> EA/Bioware dropped the ball on story telling in Mass Effect 3. Whether it was just a grab for money or some artificial date that they felt the game had to be out by we'll never know. And most likely EA really could care less if you and I are upset. They got your money which was their Cerberus-like plan all along. <b><span style="color: blue;">(Update: EA/Bioware has said the new ending DLC will be free.)</span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I didn't capture much video of last 8 hours or so of the game as I was trying to just finish it to see the ending. I'm going to go back to a save and replay it again and capture some video for future posts. </div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02399918895518397367noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1409137444972533722.post-42516406214760362072012-03-25T23:16:00.000-04:002012-03-26T00:02:12.284-04:00Thane Krios Plays His Last Card<style>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKicCmz0REUy913EF26mBqDcoUVEVDW3YglNhnV5NruluZw9Led9pIrVnUGsnbylIB4De2xpsicTz24y98xP1BEvslap_EAO-536TPXoM4b8n2C8-SmMr9mKutT7OcPAPLY0q3wa5QWEBn/s1600/Cerberuslogo.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKicCmz0REUy913EF26mBqDcoUVEVDW3YglNhnV5NruluZw9Led9pIrVnUGsnbylIB4De2xpsicTz24y98xP1BEvslap_EAO-536TPXoM4b8n2C8-SmMr9mKutT7OcPAPLY0q3wa5QWEBn/s1600/Cerberuslogo.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cerberus Logo</td></tr>
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<b><i>Spoilers Follow</i></b></div>
<a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Priority:_The_Citadel_II"><i>Priority: The Citadel II</i></a>, is a Mass Effect 3 mission to
get excited about. Not only does this
mission have great action, it has great fight scenes and some final answers to
a couple lingering Mass Effect questions.
It turns into a running gun battle on the Citadel complete with <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/X3M">X3M skycar</a>
chases, trading shots from the top of speeding elevators, general mayhem, a
satisfying death of a disliked character and a new enemy!
What’s not to like?</div>
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At some point in Mass Effect 3 you’ll head back to the
Citadel to deal with some political intrigue.
When you approach the Citadel all space traffic controller
communications is down. Through some
back channels you find out that Cerberus is attacking the station. Since you can’t land you take a shuttle in
and observe the on-going battle from the air.
Forced to land in a hot landing zone you fight your way to C-Sec.</div>
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<br />
At C-Sec you find <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Captain_Bailey">Captain Bailey</a> wounded outside C-Sec
headquarters. Bailey helps you gain
access to C-Sec and starts re-establishing the computer network that was disabled by
Cerberus. After securing C-Sec Bailey
asks you go secure Councilor Esheel. At
the Executor’s office you discover Councilor’s Esheel bodyguards are dead. Eventually
you find her unharmed in an adjacent room.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kai Leng; Cerberus assassin and new enemy. </td></tr>
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Then <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Kai_Leng">Kai Leng</a> appears to kill the Councilor. Shepard is too late to save the Councilor but
Thane Krios appears out of nowhere (and the hospital) and saves the Councilor
from Kai. Thane and Kai engage in hand to
hand combat while Shepard hustles the Councilor to safety. Thane lays the smack down on Kai with a
biotic backhand bitch slap that knocks him out for a few seconds. Kai recovers from the vicious backhand and the fight continues. Eventually the tricky Kai runs Thane through
with his sword dealing a mortal blow.
Although not immediately fatal, the wound along with Thane’s Kepral’s
syndrome is too much. After the battle
Shepard is able to visit with Thane and say his good byes. Our last view of Thane as Shepard leaves is
him in a coma in the hospital with his son by his side in a death vigil. Not the best way to go out but much better
than just sitting in the hospital the entire game. At least Thane went down fighting. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> So for you Thane Krios fans here is Thane’s
fight with Kai Leng so you don’t have to watch the longer video if you don’t
want to. </i></b></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shepard and Kai fight on X3M's through the Citadel.</td></tr>
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After Thane is stabbed Shepard gives chase in what becomes a
X3M skycar chase through the Citadel.
Eventually Kai disables Shepard’s X3M and they crash on a balcony on the
Citadel. Shepard and company race on
foot to reach the other Councilors; who are coincidentally being guarded by newly
appointed Spectre Ashley.</div>
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Ashley is taking the councilors to the roof of a building
where she thinks a X3M will take them to safety. But unknown to her this is actually a Cerberus trap. Shepard ends up on top of an elevator racing
Kai to the roof where the Councilors are.
By now Bailey is able to re-establish the network. He begins making Kai's elevator car stop at
each floor allowing Shepard to reach the Councilors first.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You don't want to miss this Renegade action.</td></tr>
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After reaching the roof and catching up with the Councilors Shepard has a hostile encounter with
<a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Ashley">Ashley</a> that is egged on by <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Udina">Councilor Udina</a>.
Udina, not wanting to be exposed as a Cerberus agent is trying to open
the door to allow Kai and the Cerberus troops in to kill or capture the
Councilors thus placing him in charge as the only remaining Councilor. Ashley sides with Shepard at which point
Udina pulls a gun and Shepard shoots him dead.
Good riddance, that was one sweet cut scene seeing the end of
Udina. That character was no good from
the beginning of Mass Effect.</div>
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Thane dead or as good as dead. Udina
exposed and gunned down. Closure on two
issues; one more satisfying than the other.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02399918895518397367noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1409137444972533722.post-33892771187365164552012-03-19T14:33:00.000-04:002012-03-20T23:40:21.525-04:00So Many Assault Rifles<style>
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One of the many things I’ve always liked about the Mass
Effect video games is the wide range of weapons at Shepard’s disposal. In Mass Effect there is a weapon for everyone. Do you want a pistol, assault rifle,
submachine gun, sniper rifle, shot gun, grenade launcher, missile launcher or
flamethrower? It’s not over once you’ve
chosen a type of weapon. Each type of
weapon has multiple models for you to choose from. After you have your weapon and model in Mass
Effect 3 you can also choose 2 upgrades among dozens of choices. Want a scope for your pistol? No problem.
Want a larger magazine for your sniper rifle? No problem.<br />
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I like <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Assault_Rifles" target="_blank">assault rifles.</a>
With Mass Effect 3 playing a Vanguard class I can start the game with
one! Lets take a look at three of the
more popular assault rifles; the M-8 Avenger, M-96 Mattock and M-55 Argus. </div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_934607383"><b>Avenger:</b></a><a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Avenger" target="_blank"> </a> What can I say, the Avenger is the standard
assault rifle of the game and the one you start out with in Mass Effect. What’s not to like about the Avenger? It is lightweight. In Mass Effect 3 this is
important because you are now weight capped in weapons and as a bonus you incur a power recharge penalty related to weapon rate that can be as much as 200 percent. That is long wait to recharge in a fight. Once you reach a certain combined weight you
can’t carry another. The Avenger puts out
a high-sustained rate of fire and has a low to moderate recoil that results in
a mild nose pull. All the better for
keeping rounds on your target. The
Avengers main drawback is, as far as assault rifles go, relatively low
damage. The Avenger makes up for that
with a high rate of fire and being able to carry 440 rounds of ammo. That is the most ammunition holding
capability of any assault rifle in the game.
A little bit of damage multiplied by 440 is a great deal of damage. Looking at the screen and seeing you have 440
rounds makes you feel good. No worrying about
where the next pile of ammo is. All that
ammo comes in handy if you find yourself in one of those fights where ammo is
hard to find or get to. Overall you
can’t go wrong with the Avenger on just about any mission.</div>
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<a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Argus" target="_blank"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Argus:</b></a> The Argus is new assault rifle for Mass
Effect 3. For the moment you can only
get the Argus by purchasing the “Collectors Edition” of Mass Effect 3. Maybe in the future you will be able to buy
it separately or as part of some weapons package. I was very excited to have the Argus so I
used it a great deal at first. The nice qualities
about the Argus are that it puts out some heavy damage. You can take out Cerberus Guardians pretty
easily with the Argus just by shooting their shields. The Argus fires in three round bursts, which
helps you to conserve ammo. On the
negative side the Argus fires in three round bursts because the recoil on this
bad boy is ridiculous. Usually your
third round is above your target’s head.
So aim at their feet if you want to get three hits. It also takes some time to get your point of
aim back down after a 3 round burst.
Don’t be afraid to take the Argus because of its recoil. The Argus kills
things fast. Just keep its
recoil in mind and move your aim point down after each burst that way you make every shot
count.</div>
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<a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Mattock" target="_blank"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Mattock:</b></a> The Mattock is my favorite assault
rifle. I mix up the weapons I take on
missions for variety but always come back to the Mattock. The Mattock is another high damage assault
rifle. The Mattock’s damage is a less than the Argus but much greater than the
Avenger. Another nice characteristic is
that the Mattock has little recoil so it is highly accurate. If you add a recoil dampener to the Mattock
then the recoil is almost negligible. The Mattock has a 16 round clip. Although it is a semi-automatic you can quickly shoot an entire clip into a target without having to re-aim. Woo-hoo!
Sixteen Mattock rounds brings the pain to any enemy on the receiving end. On the minus side the Mattock is very heavy
weapon. If you take it on a mission be
prepared to not take other weapons to mitigate the weight penalties for having
a high combined weapons weight. Also the
Mattock’s standard load is only 64 rounds.
You have to keep your eyes on your fries when using the Mattock.<br />
<br />
Of course there are many other assault rifles in the game you can check out and use. Whatever your tastes you'll find a weapon you like in Mass Effect. What is your favorite assault rifle and why?</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02399918895518397367noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1409137444972533722.post-40831836722664568782012-03-14T23:12:00.000-04:002012-03-14T23:43:54.536-04:00Cure for the Genophage and the Death of Mordin Solus<style>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJHwVYU4YA7vkyVuQAMHDqf6AP4xzarLxMM5NT0f4ATXlybBT8HWIvTgNOe8ADsZyagrQMnWyhufycYdIpihz07SGtj5PTMtAxPxtqAXHvNYUtoOu3YnXb6NEW0rYbwddypoSqBmyn1QCz/s1600/mordin.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJHwVYU4YA7vkyVuQAMHDqf6AP4xzarLxMM5NT0f4ATXlybBT8HWIvTgNOe8ADsZyagrQMnWyhufycYdIpihz07SGtj5PTMtAxPxtqAXHvNYUtoOu3YnXb6NEW0rYbwddypoSqBmyn1QCz/s320/mordin.gif" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mordin's last frame.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Like all good plot lines and viruses the <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Genophage" target="_blank">Genophage</a> has run
its course. A central theme throughout
the trilogy is the Genophage virus that the <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Salarians" target="_blank">Salarians</a> created then infected the
<a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Krogan" target="_blank">Krogans</a> with. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The main plot line for the Krogans was to find a cure for
the Genophage and it was included in many subplots, conversations, cut scenes and
missions. The Genophage reduced the
fertility rate of the Krogans and kept them from overwhelming the galaxy with
sheer numbers.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In Mass Effect 2 Salarian scientist <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Mordin_Solus" target="_blank">Mordin Solus</a> joins
Shepard’s crew. During his plot mission <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Dossier:_The_Professor" target="_blank"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Professor</i></a> and his loyalty mission <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Mordin:_Old_Blood" target="_blank"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Old Blood</i></a> you learn of Mordin’s involvement with the Genophage and other
viruses. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Using <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Maelon" target="_blank">Maelon’s</a> data Mordin is able to develop a cure for the
Genophage. The Krogan are withholding
their assistance in the fight against the Reapers unless the Genophage is
cured. So Mordin assists Shepard to
develop a cure and release it into the atmosphere of <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Tuchanka" target="_blank">Tuchanka</a> thereby curing
the Krogans.<br />
<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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Upon arrival at Tuchanka Shepard discovers that a Reaper has
invaded and is near the Shroud; the device that will spread the Genophage cure
into the atmosphere. Shepard and team
fight their way through various mutated Reaper minions to summon Kalros, “the
mother of all <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Kalros#Mass_Effect_3" target="_blank">Thresher Maws</a>.” Lucky for
Shepard, Kalros attacks and destroys the Reaper allowing Shepard to get to the
Shroud. The Shroud is heavily damaged by
the Reaper and is unstable. </div>
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<br /></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXmpQctWC6lsYCNkv1GSRZ9VQUcjDV8ns2V3NeKBgL9-x7us_elUHCtSjbHHrzA7u0Ssm-0_P8QR3_stOHTCbRtsRaNV328MaGWzrQcQUoFc_zqc2comp6_0sx3Xiy-j0CzisrrgMelsjw/s1600/shroud.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="185" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXmpQctWC6lsYCNkv1GSRZ9VQUcjDV8ns2V3NeKBgL9-x7us_elUHCtSjbHHrzA7u0Ssm-0_P8QR3_stOHTCbRtsRaNV328MaGWzrQcQUoFc_zqc2comp6_0sx3Xiy-j0CzisrrgMelsjw/s320/shroud.gif" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Shroud on Tuchanka.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
On the
way to the Shroud the female Krogan Eve mentions something about fate so I
guess she knew Mordin’s. Because of damage done to the Shroud Mordin must manually disperse the cure from
the top of the <a href="http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Shroud" target="_blank">Shroud</a>. Getting into the
elevator Mordin knows it is a one-way trip and doesn’t allow Shepard to go with
him and says a short good bye. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Mordin goes to the top and disperses the cure and shortly
afterwards the Shroud explodes before he can escape. Goodbye Mordin, another Mass Effect 2
character bites the dust.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Mordin was a fun character.
The way he spoke and the things he said made him a interesting and fun
character. I occasionally took him on
missions. Mordin’s rendition of “the
Major-general’s Song” calling himself a “scientist Salarian” in Mass Effect 2
was one of the funniest moments of the game.<br />
<br />
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</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02399918895518397367noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1409137444972533722.post-41508284133597578822012-03-10T11:01:00.002-05:002012-03-11T13:00:58.325-04:00Mass Effect 3 New and Old Characters<style>
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I’m not very far into Mass Effect 3 but here’s what’s going
on. The combat is certainly harder on
normal than Mass Effect 2. Enemies are a
smarter and often try to flank you.
The Cerberus Engineer ground mounted turrets are a pain and fighting Cerberus
mechs is getting tiresome. The good news
is I’ve spoiled every one of the Illusive Man’s plots so far. Lol
I’ve taken the Prothean data from Mars along with Dr. Eva's cybernetic spy body, evacuated the biotic children from Grissom Academy and have the last
living Prothean on my team; take that Illusive Man!</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj-8PaWdmr3-FqkNRblcLf5FKexKEoo1KIEmJhGFuC-CB05zT5QKu0VULizAngGSRlKAoq_wydGzc6DQTE52woela_o7IBWnckSMBuLqCxQmHZRdHpgFLpe-gJcY7nGf27w9gdWXVBuExW/s1600/edi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj-8PaWdmr3-FqkNRblcLf5FKexKEoo1KIEmJhGFuC-CB05zT5QKu0VULizAngGSRlKAoq_wydGzc6DQTE52woela_o7IBWnckSMBuLqCxQmHZRdHpgFLpe-gJcY7nGf27w9gdWXVBuExW/s320/edi.jpg" width="201" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The new Edi</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I really liked the Mass Effect 2 characters and have been
interested to see what their fates were in Mass Effect 3. But first lets talk about some new
characters. <span style="color: red;">SPOILERS to some degree follow.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Edi:</b> On Mars you steal Dr. Eva's cybernetic female body from
Cerberus. Edi is able to transfer into
this body. From then on you can take Edi on
missions and she becomes a permanent squad member. Joker is in love with her. Will they fall in love and get married? </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Javik:</b> It is back
to Eden Prime where it all started to steal the last Prothean from the Illusive
Man. He survived the last Reaper cycle
50,000 years ago in a stasis pod.
Luckily you are the only person who can decipher the messages in the Prothean
Beacons and Liara, the galaxies foremost expert on Protheans, is there to help
you find, wrestle away from Cerberus and revive him. Best quote of the game so far belongs to
Javik; Referring the the Salarians; “The lizard people evolved…they used to eat flies.” He becomes a permanent squad member.</div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Vega:</b> He’s a
permanent squad member from the start. A
solider class who is Shepherd’s guard while on trial for the events during
“Arrival” then sticks on after the Reaper invasion begins.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
EA/Bioware stated that any Mass Effect 2 characters that
survive the Suicide Mission would appear in Mass Effect 3. It appears that we now know what “appear”
means. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So here is what I’ve discovered so far. A pattern is emerging with the fate of Mass
Effect 2 characters. Most are being
discarded like trash. Essentially Mass
Effect 2 characters are given a video cameo like the lame cameo they did in Mass
Effect 2 for Mass Effect characters Ashley and Kaidan. Here’s what I’ve discovered so far.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Thane:</b> Sorry
Thane fans, stick a fork in him, he’s done.
Your closure with Thane is a really lame video cameo in the Citadel hospital. You can talk to him and find out his illness
has gotten worse. It appears that Thane remains in the
hospital for the entire game.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Kasumi:</b> Her fate is very disappointing because she
was one of my favorite ME2 characters.
Essentially on some weak side mission she follows you around the
Citadel, invisible most of the time, as you wander from point to point picking
up clues. She saves your life, feigns
death (to avoid the authorities) and goes off on some Reaper related task for
Shepherd. Most likely not to be seen
again in the game, we’ll see what happens.</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjMty1JzFIWlAkgQONhIq4i_puXnbxqUzBkvFHSd9Lc9rZ3UZjN4irW4umsRN6liJLg8yq5k6zO-WuPw8VBDmu5ZxUP7ppAIT4edFYki-qtBBGKEGn3r5KkhzYLxm04gFtkdPFbd1bxf-h/s1600/liara.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjMty1JzFIWlAkgQONhIq4i_puXnbxqUzBkvFHSd9Lc9rZ3UZjN4irW4umsRN6liJLg8yq5k6zO-WuPw8VBDmu5ZxUP7ppAIT4edFYki-qtBBGKEGn3r5KkhzYLxm04gFtkdPFbd1bxf-h/s320/liara.png" width="209" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Liara's new armor</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Liara:</b> Is one of
your permanent squad members. You catch
up with her immediately during the first mission on Mars. She does finally get some decent looking armor.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Jack:</b> You run into her at the Grissom Academy where
she is now teaching biotics to children. After
you evacuate her and the kids to the Normandy she disappears. As with Kasumi it
appears you won’t see her again.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Wrex:</b> Again a video cameo as you rescue the Krogan
female. It appears you’ll see him again
since he is the leader of the Krogran. I’m guessing not as a squad member but in video cameos again.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Grunt:</b> No sighting yet.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Jacob:</b> No
sighting yet.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Zaeed:</b> No
sighting yet.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Samara:</b> No
sighting yet.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Miranda:</b> You met her at the Citadel after she sends an
email to you. After you meet she’s off
to help her sister again and you to fight Reapers. You are given the chance to continue the
romance from Mass Effect 2 or end it. I'm
guessing if you keep the romance you’ll see her again but only in video cut
scene cameos not as a squad member.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Legion:</b> No
sighting yet.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Ash:</b> Starts as a
permanent squad member. You run into her
immediately on Earth at your trial. She
gets a smack down on Mars and goes to the Citadel hospital. I think depending on if you are trying to
reestablish a romance with her you might have different trees. She’s become a Spectre and might be assigned
back to the Normandy with you or could do other missions for the Council. It might depend on if you are trying to
romance her or Miranda. Not sure if she comes back as a squad member, we’ll see
what happens.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Garrus:</b> You link up with him on a mission and he
becomes a permanent squad member.<br />
<br />
<b>Mordin</b>: Mordin is encountered on the Salarian home world of Sur'Kesh when Shepherd (with Wrex in tow) arrive to free the Krogan female Eve. Mordin helps Shepherd free Eve then agrees to use Maelon's data to find a cure for the genophage.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02399918895518397367noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1409137444972533722.post-65315889992299680722012-03-06T18:57:00.001-05:002012-03-07T19:31:44.345-05:00Mass Effect Take Back The Earth (Collector Edition Unboxing and why I don't use UPS)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuoCSZXV0gh24Lq240tiapre__5xw8jDJw6SqRlGvyisEIXyMROBCFkE5cCRy39A75OnRWg1neO7LV5dXPAsOXxitEBEJ1iY3VxPnVaVxbDfviyQv2VFvHQRS08SpuUDSlBdf-SAw0VW7a/s1600/no+me+3+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="154" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuoCSZXV0gh24Lq240tiapre__5xw8jDJw6SqRlGvyisEIXyMROBCFkE5cCRy39A75OnRWg1neO7LV5dXPAsOXxitEBEJ1iY3VxPnVaVxbDfviyQv2VFvHQRS08SpuUDSlBdf-SAw0VW7a/s320/no+me+3+copy.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
I am so not taking back the earth today because of a really lame decision. Seriously EA / Bioware... you chose UPS to deliver the "ME3 Collectors" edition to those (like me) who purchased directly from you online. Are you high, are you kidding me? UPS doesn't deliver unless you are home to sign for it. So for all of us who work - - no Mass Effect 3 for us today. Don't you also think that perhaps you could have planned to have the collector editions arrive a day early and used FEDX; sort of a bonus for those of us who ultimately paid more money for the game than was necessary?<br />
<br />
So thanks. Now I have to go to the UPS customer service center between 8:15 and 9 tonight to pick up my ME3 collectors edition. By the way the UPS customer service people said just leave a note on the door and they'll leave it. They didn't.<br />
<br />
Perhaps I can play for an hour tonight. What is the marketing reasoning for launching on a Tuesday anyhow; what is the tradition? Seems like the weekend would be better for gamers. (Any marketing/advertising people know the rational/history for video games to come out on Tuesdays?)<br />
<br />
Anyhow the good news is ME3 is getting awesome reviews and Mass Effect Infiltrator ($6.99 at the iTunes app store) is now available for your iOS device such as iPhones and iPads.<br />
<br />
Here are some of the early reviews.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.g4tv.com/games/xbox-360/50299/mass-effect-3/review/" target="_blank">G4tv </a><br />
<a href="http://video.msnbc.msn.com/in-game/46633030/#46633030" target="_blank">MSNBC </a><br />
<a href="http://www.ausgamers.com/games/mass-effect-3/review/" target="_blank">AUSGamers</a><br />
<br />
Perhaps later I can get up an "unboxing" of the collectors edition because I surely won't be able to play. Thanks UPS.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: red;">Here's an update. Finally picked up the Mass Effect 3 Collectors Edition at the UPS service center. It would have been easier pre-ordering from Best Buy and picking it up there than dealing with UPS and their ridiculous policies. Any how I was able to make a quick unboxing video (very exciting) and at least get to Mars. I have decided I'm not going to blow through this first run through as fast as possible. Rather am going savor every scene and fight, taking my time. </span><br />
<br />
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<br />
<br />
Oh, fyi, last night I went to the www.ups.com and sign up for their "UPS My Choice" program so I can as they said "Get Home Delivery On Your Schedule." Not so unless you join the premium version and pay UPS more money to deliver your package. Something you've already paid them for by the way.<br />
<br />
So then I get on UPS online customer service chat service. I thought it was quick and helpful. I explained I would be at work and wanted the package left at my door. UPS rep says no problem using my tacker number says the package doesn't need a signature and to leave a note. I leave a note taped to the door with the tracking number stating to leave the package at my door. Check ups site in the afternoon and have the unable to deliver will try again tomorrow. Well I'll be at work tomorrow to. Back to UPS online customer service chat service. "We're sorry, we know this is frustrating. The driver has the discretion not to drop off." "You can pick it up at the customer service center. Would you like for us to make an appointment for your?" What I need an appointment to go to the customer service center to pickup my package? "Yes" Ok I'll do that. "Between 8:15 - 9:00 p.m." lol A 45 minute window late at night. Not to mention the 1 hour round trip ride to this customer service center. Assuming I don't get mugged in parking lot of this unsavory part of town.<br />
<br />
Of course no response to me from UPS via email or twitter. Not surprised. <span style="color: red;">(UPS did email back on Wednesday March 7th. "I am truly sorry that you received a less-than-satisfactory experience with our company. We look forward to the opportunity to reestablish your trust in our services.</span><span style="color: red;">"</span><br />
<br />
Seriously I've never liked UPS because of their drop off policy. I wouldn't have used them for this if I had a choice. I urge you never to use UPS, use USPS or FedX. <br />
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But I guess ultimately it is all my fault. If I had taken the day off from work none of this would have happened. Hi boss, mind if I take Tuesday off to play Mass Effect 3. Perhaps my boss plays ME3 also and would have understood. I doubt it.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02399918895518397367noreply@blogger.com0