Mass Effect

[Five_X]

I don't care about Batarian Sentinels. Already got one in the Victory Pack.

Today I managed to get two Resurgence Packs. No Batarian Soldier.

Now... I've been counting the Premium Spectre Packs and Resurgence Packs I've been buying since the DLC came out; they've amounted to a total of 25 (11 PSPs, 14 RPs) plus the Victory Pack.

Now, based purely on numbers, a Premium Spectre Pack, which guarantees two Rares at the very least, has a 2/28 or 1/14 chance of getting a Batarian Soldier. Both the Resurgence Pack (2 Rares, one is guaranteed to be Resurgence Gold content) and the Victory Pack (one Resurgence weapon/character) both have a 1/10 chance to grant the Batarian Soldier.

By the numbers, I should have acquired at least one Batarian Soldier at this point, as I have a 15/10 likelihood at the very least to have found one in a Victory Pack/Resurgence Pack. However, while I've found multiples of other characters (my GI is maxed out) and weapons (I have a Striker VIII and GPSMG VI), I have had absolutely zero luck getting a Batarian Soldier.

To not have a Batarian Soldier despite those odds is literally bending plausibility by this point.

And, to make it worse, one of the people I played with in a great Gold match was using a Batarian Soldier. That same person managed to unquestionably top the scoreboard.

[SeiKeo]

I think your probabilities for having gotten are 88% for the Resurgences and 55% for the Specters which is gnarly to lose, yes.

[Mcjon01]

It still had Eezo and biotics.

Seriously, no matter how you twist and turn it, biotics and especially Asari affinity makes almost no sense unless you go with the explanation of "space magic" and "space elves".

Hard sci-fi can have impossible, nonsensical things in it and still be "hard", provided it's willing to spend enough time explaining exactly why all those things aren't nonsensical in favor of actually using that space for something useless like "plot" or "characterization".

To not have a Batarian Soldier despite those odds is literally bending plausibility by this point.

Man, I wish I could trade you mine, since I've never used it.

[KENTA]

Hard sci-fi can have impossible, nonsensical things in it and still be "hard", provided it's willing to spend enough time explaining exactly why all those things aren't nonsensical in favor of actually using that space for something useless like "plot" or "characterization".

And that's why hard sci-fi is best with vidjagames. That glorious Codex use.

[legoguydude]

ME1... or "brb, lemme melee this thresher maw." ME1's mechanics were broken. Once you got the right mods and skills nothing could kill you. It had a flawed implementation (instead of a flawed story).

I kinda felt that that was sometimes the whole point. By the end of the game, you were certifiably the baddest dude in the galaxy. And if you thought the game was too easy, you turned up the difficulty.

There were still a few missions where everything went FUBAR and I had to run and hide behind some bit of scenery - NOT by pressing A - and stare desperately at the medigel button until it stopped flashing and I could use it. This was back before regenerating health, where, if you had the right skills or armor upgrades, your heath might fully recover between battles, but not during battles.

I have to say, I really liked the way ME3 handled the weapons. They did everything right. If only they hadn't used ME2's armor system.

Also, what the fuck happened to Omnigel?

[Neir]

Also, what the fuck happened to Omnigel?

It's actually discussed ingame during the ME2 Shadow Broker DLC.

[Mcjon01]

This was back before regenerating health, where, if you had the right skills or armor upgrades, your heath might fully recover between battles, but not during battles.

I dunno, between the krogan ally achievement and my Colossus X with two medical exoskeletons, my soldier was pretty friggin' good at regenerating health. Maybe not FPS-level "lol fully healed in a couple of seconds" healing, but enough that it definitely made a difference in battles and not just between.

[legoguydude]

I dunno, between the krogan ally achievement and my Colossus X with two medical exoskeletons, my soldier was pretty friggin' good at regenerating health. Maybe not FPS-level "lol fully healed in a couple of seconds" healing, but enough that it definitely made a difference in battles and not just between.

Wait, hang on - the Ally achievements gave you bonuses?

[Mcjon01]

I don't know if all of them did, but I know the Krogan Ally achievement gave a +1 HP per second bonus to Shepard.

[Techlet]

Immunity lol.

[Mcjon01]

Heavy Colossus X + Immunity + Max Regen = I AM KROGAN

[DB-L]

Came in handy during the Thorian mission, the one time in the game where I got significant use out of melee. -_-

[mewarmo990]

Gameplay-wise ME1 was... really easy. Even before NG+ my Vanguard had like infinite shields + Barrier and I cranked it up to Insanity to even have a chance of dying because Hardcore was the same as Normal, as far as I could tell.

ME2 did two things great and that was the combat and the characters. The combat was better in nearly every way, and they brought in some really top-notch talent for the writing and acting. But they went a little overboard with the highest difficulty level (I guess that's the point); not only are enemies more aggressive, they also have layers and layers and layers of shielding and armor, making most powers completely useless and forcing reliance on guns despite the stupid new ammo system. I missed the traditional RPG inventory but by ME3 I think most of us seem to have forgotten about it, so whatever.

I think that ME3 improved on ME2 in many ways mechanically -- going back to 2 to finish up my FemShep for import, combat just feels clunkier and slower even though it was a huge step up from 1. I guess I really miss rolling, infinite sprinting, and melee that's worth a damn. Though, the couple steps back they took IMO were the decreased variety of powers (many of them do nearly identical things now) and the loss of heavy weapons (which were SO MUCH FUN but probably break game balance).

I've always wanted to write reviews of all three games - obsolete that might be - since I've spent so much time with them. I can never organize my thoughts well enough to create a finished article, though.

The codex is hard sci-fi.

I agree there, always look forward to the Narrator guy.

[Kotonoha]

Narrator guy is the bane of my existence. I can't read while listening to someone reading the same thing but much slower.

In ME1 you could just open and then close the entries so he would shut up, but in the later games, can't do it ;_;

[Techlet]

Okay, no more Promoting. Gonna stop at N7 300.

[mewarmo990]

Narrator guy is the bane of my existence. I can't read while listening to someone reading the same thing but much slower.

In ME1 you could just open and then close the entries so he would shut up, but in the later games, can't do it ;_;

I noticed they did recycle entries for 3, though

[Vigilantia]

Narrator guy is the bane of my existence. I can't read while listening to someone reading the same thing but much slower.

In ME1 you could just open and then close the entries so he would shut up, but in the later games, can't do it ;_;

I just read your comment in his voice... and it was AWESOME. His voice now ranks top next to "The Frontline Guy" and "Morgan Freeman."

@mew: Yah, but a lot of the articles were kinda old. I didn't really need a new Article on the Asari or the Turians since I've known about them since the 1st game.

[legoguydude]

I just read your comment in his voice... and it was AWESOME. His voice now ranks top next to "The Frontline Guy" and "Morgan Freeman."

Please. Yahtzee has the best voice.

Also, I want to point out that ME2 was a cliche storm. Powered armor space marines cover-based shooting RPG element quick time events AAAHRFFGLD

[SeiKeo]

ME2/3 QTEs are the only good QTEs.

[Mcjon01]

There were QTEs in ME2?

Oh, wait are you actually counting the P/R Interrupts as QTEs? That's kind of a stretch. The simon says game in ME1 is more of a QTE than those are.