Question: I've managed to recruit just about everyone, and all my crew members are loyal, but I still don't have Chambers on my ship. The only time I've seen her is that one mission where the collectors attack the colony, and she refused to join me because I was with Cerberus and not the Alliance. I haven't gone after the IFF yet because I wanted to have everyone loyal since I hear you need to go through the omega relay asap. My only active mission now is Stop the Collectors, and the last dossier is still ghosted on the crew status page.

Should I already have Chambers? Did I screw something up?

Also, page 10.

[Edited on February 14, 2010 at 11:18 PM. Reason : .]

2/14/2010 11:18:03 PM

Your secretary? She's always on your ship.

[Edited on February 14, 2010 at 11:20 PM. Reason : You mean Ashley Williams? If so she's not a party member.]

[Edited on February 14, 2010 at 11:21 PM. Reason : You get your last crew member on the IFF mission]

2/14/2010 11:20:13 PM

Yeah, I just finished all my loyalty missions with the 'Find the IFF' or whatever mission still active...gonna finish my last 2-3 side missions before doing that, but the way I understand it, you get your last crew member after/during the IFF mission, and after that point, have a limited amount of time before you're 'forced' to go into the main story line...but that in the limited amount of time, you can do the final crew members loyalty mission

more like LOLyalty missions

2/14/2010 11:42:26 PM

Im commander shepard and this is my favorite thread on the citadel

2/15/2010 12:07:30 AM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0z--ic2lQzg

2/15/2010 2:40:30 AM

Quote :

"Your secretary? She's always on your ship. [Edited on February 14, 2010 at 11:20 PM. Reason : You mean Ashley Williams? If so she's not a party member.] [Edited on February 14, 2010 at 11:21 PM. Reason : You get your last crew member on the IFF mission]"

OK, I'd confused Chambers and Williams, and I'm glad to know that I haven't missed anything crucial in that regard. I'm really enjoying this, but I'm eager to finish so that I can start Bioshock 2.

[Edited on February 15, 2010 at 8:18 AM. Reason : .]

2/15/2010 8:18:50 AM

Quote :

"Yeah, I just finished all my loyalty missions with the 'Find the IFF' or whatever mission still active...gonna finish my last 2-3 side missions before doing that, but the way I understand it, you get your last crew member after/during the IFF mission, and after that point, have a limited amount of time before you're 'forced' to go into the main story line...but that in the limited amount of time, you can do the final crew members loyalty mission more like LOLyalty missions"

If you don't go straight into the Omega Relay after after the IFF mission, Chambers will die a terrible death.

Which means you can't do Legion's loyalty mission before finishing the main quest

2/15/2010 10:30:49 AM

^ Incorrect, as long as you talk to him as soon as you recruit him, you do have time to do his loyalty mission (but nothing else).

2/15/2010 10:46:19 AM

2/15/2010 11:11:45 AM

The squadmate AI in this game is so interesting. I am playing on Veteran difficulty, and thus far only have Jacob, Miranda, Mordin, Zaeed, Garrus, and Grunt. Whereas in my game Jacob is an absolute beast, everybody else has a glass jaw. (This includes having all available upgrades and research up to this point in the story.) I never have to tell Jacob to do anything, I never have to revive him, he always uses cover well, and I constantly see him getting kills. I am not sure if the AI is consistently getting lucky or what, but my other squadmates aren't helping much at all.

2/15/2010 11:42:00 AM

"Those Minerals" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFCZMEwl_K8

^ Weird, I actually think Jacob is the least useful squad member (excet Tali when you fight collectors, then she's the most useless).

The best are:
Miranda for having overload and warp
Grunt for being almost un-killable once you upgrade his passive skill and fortification
Garrus for having a sniper rifle and squad AP ammo
Zaeed and Thane for having sniper rifles and +50% damage passive skills (plus Thane has warp)

[Edited on February 15, 2010 at 11:56 AM. Reason : ]

2/15/2010 11:50:18 AM

My Miranda gets killed ALL the time. She is like some kind of super bullet magnet. I have never seen my Garrus even pull out his sniper rifle unless I force him to, and then he can't seem to hit anything with it. During the mission to get Grunt, I parked Garrus downrange of enemy snipers and made him pull out his sniper rifle while I told Jacob to hold back in the next room. For about a minute straight, Garrus didn't hit a single thing that I could see. WTF. After getting tired of this, I had Jacob move into position where he promptly killed 4 bad guys on his own - 2 of them by pulling them over an empty space and then dropping them.

2/15/2010 2:33:12 PM

If you're good with on character, then its luck. Character AI is atrocious and you have to constantly be giving orders to whoever you are with. Also, you need to tailor group abilities on insanity, so you can't always use the same squad.

2/15/2010 2:45:21 PM

2/15/2010 3:30:29 PM

so what are some fun things to do in this game? I've heard taking Legion aboard the Migrant Fleet is interesting...I want to know what other things to do in my 100% Renegade playthrough...should I try and gain nobody's loyalty just to be a super renegade asshole?

2/15/2010 4:41:21 PM

Is it possible to go 100% Renegade? I tried my damnedest not to get any Paragon but I still ended up with the first block in Paragon filled up. It seems unavoidable to get some Paragon (activating Legion instead of sending him off to Cerberus gets you +20 Paragon).

SandSanta told me they weren't mutually exclusive but when I ended my first play through I was missing 1.25 blocks of Renegade and that was the exact amount of Paragon I had (and that was with sending off Legion to Cerberus to get the +20 Renegade).

2/15/2010 4:49:56 PM

My first playthrough had about 50% of the renegade bar filled, and about 75% of the Paragon bar...although it was an import from ME1 so I don't know if that accounts for the difference in each since you get a bonus

Also I know the skill at the very bottom for Shephard (cant remember the name) gives you a bonus to paragon/renegade which I guess helps you fill the bars faster...I'd also assume that the more side quests you do, the more you can raise either...I did probably 6-8 of the N7 'anomaly detected' missions

But when I say 100% Renegade, I just mean being a total asshole throughout the whole game, regardless of how much the bar actually fills

[Edited on February 15, 2010 at 5:01 PM. Reason : .]

2/15/2010 4:58:46 PM

after doing Jack's loyalty mission i pissed Miranda off enough for her to become unloyal; any way i can get her loyal again? she's the only one at this point now who is not loyal and my next step is to go after the IFF.

2/15/2010 5:50:56 PM

How the hell did you manage that?

There isnt even a system in place to know how close to Loyal you are or arnt.

2/15/2010 5:53:35 PM

when i select my squadmates for a mission, it shows who is loyal or unloyal. after Jack's loyalty mission i was informed she became loyal but then Miranda became unloyal due to a fight between the 2 in which i sided with Jack.

btw playin this on the comp if it matters

[Edited on February 15, 2010 at 6:00 PM. Reason : .]

2/15/2010 5:59:47 PM

Well Miranda is going to die on the final mission

2/15/2010 6:15:16 PM

If you have enough renegade or paragon you can get her loyalty back.

And she won't necessarily die, just don't pick her to do anything important and she might be alright.

2/15/2010 7:01:18 PM

I just finished my first playthrough...

Had all crew members loyal but somehow my BOY Mordin ended up dying. What's up with that?

2/15/2010 10:40:34 PM

I finished my first playthrough today...everyone survived suicide mission... ^I sent Mordin to escort the rest of the ship's crew back to the Normandy when I got the option, since I heard he often dies for seemingly no reason

Now I am starting my 2nd playthrough...figured I'd try a female Shephard...her name is Cuntessa Shepard...lol

she is a total badass...she talks shit to everyone and always does Renegade stuff...although I also got Renegade points for telling Kelli I'd embrace her if she fell...everyone else though gets the COLD SHOLDER

Also, despite constantly arguing with our boy Martin Sheen, on this playthrough at the end I plan on going with his suggestion about what to do with the final base...thats my way of describing it so as to not post any spoilers

2/15/2010 10:48:43 PM

Quote :

"after doing Jack's loyalty mission i pissed Miranda off enough for her to become unloyal; any way i can get her loyal again? she's the only one at this point now who is not loyal and my next step is to go after the IFF."

Talk to her again, and if your Paragon/Renegade is high enough then you can get her back

2/15/2010 11:47:46 PM

ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL

2/16/2010 12:26:09 AM

The heavy weapon selection is driving me crazy. The particle beam and flamethrower don't seem to do much damage, my missiles often fly off in random directions even though I'm still looking right at the target the whole time, and the Cain and black hole projector are slow as hell. I'm starting to just use the grenade launcher all the time now...

(Although a thought has just occurred to me. I wonder if you can use Tactical Cloak, line up the shot, and then wait for the slowass guns to discharge? That'd certainly turn me back on to the Cain.)

2/16/2010 12:56:38 AM

Particle beam is the best by far I think, but it doesn't fit the armor.

2/16/2010 1:26:10 AM

All done! I really enjoyed the last mission; I was so tense the whole time that it was practically a relief to be done. Also, nobody died. Now, I'm really curious to know about the decisions everyone made during the final mission.

2/16/2010 5:53:22 AM

Finished the game, finally. That play through I think I did near 100% completion, barring really expensive upgrades.

Might try a blitz playthrough on Insanity where I do as few loyalty missions as possible and just have everyone (or nearly everyone) die in the end

2/18/2010 2:32:22 PM

^ ha i finished last night.. did pretty much everything. going to do a similar insane playthrough i think. want a massacre at the end.

2/18/2010 3:11:47 PM

It's interesting to me that thus far into my game (not been to Ilium yet), there has been no conversation of a theological nature regarding Shepard's death and return. Everybody just seems to take it at face value (maybe because they don't know the full details of his death, and believe that he just disappeared for a while). I wouldn't give this much thought were it not for the long conversation Shepard and Ashley had in the first game about their beliefs in God.

On another note, what's everybody's favorite bonus power to train? I've been using Barrier for a long time now.

2/18/2010 5:43:10 PM

^Squad Warp Ammo

2/18/2010 6:04:23 PM

On my first playthrough (ME1 import) I was a Soldier...the bonus skill I added and used fairly often was Slam. With all my firearm power, it was nice to have a reliable biotic power to mix in.

My 2nd playthrough I'm a Vanguard...can't remember, but I know its something with a bunch of biotic powers...I think for now I'm using Reave

2/18/2010 6:08:43 PM

Is there a significant difference between fortify, barrier, and Geth shield?

Other than ^, reave is cool.

2/18/2010 6:10:08 PM

^theres some huge detailed breakdown of the differences in one of the xbox.com forums

2/18/2010 6:28:38 PM

just hit level 30 (post suicide mission.. i was 29 after the "end"). going to start a new mass effect game to get the achievements i haven't gotten then import into me2 for the insanity playthrough. though with all the other games i want to play, who knows _when_ this will actually happen.

2/19/2010 12:51:33 AM

There's basically no difference between fortify and barrier.

Geth shield is almost the same except instead of 75% shields for 180 sec you can get 75% and 10% weapon damage for 60 seconds.

And Dominate is always fun as a bonus power (you can get that from siding with morinth).

2/19/2010 1:07:50 AM

Quote :

"On another note, what's everybody's favorite bonus power to train? I've been using Barrier for a long time now."

I was using Incendiary Grenades simply because it was the first power I unlocked, but after I unlocked everyone's powers I decided to go with Heavy Reave. I chose it because it still works when the target has armor or barrier up...dunno if it goes through shields, but I doubt it. Slam is cool and fun as fuck, but I/a teammate can just as easily incapacitate a vulnerable target with Pull, Shockwave, Throw...you name it. I needed something to help when everything else was still up. I was a Vanguard so I had Shockwave and Pull (and Charge, but that's special) at my disposal, but they only work on vulnerable enemies.

In the final mission I was able to take down barrier'd Collectors and Harbringers with warps from both of my teammates and using Reave myself, then taking the enemy down the rest of the way (like 50% health bar) with bullets or biotics.

Other than that I considered picking up a protective ability like Fortification or Barrier, but I figured that if I'm in that instant that I need to use a skill I can either use Unity to fully heal real quick or just die and restart the combat pretty close from where I was anyway, due to the game's hidden combat checkpoint system.

Quote :

"I finished my first playthrough today...everyone survived suicide mission... ^I sent Mordin to escort the rest of the ship's crew back to the Normandy when I got the option, since I heard he often dies for seemingly no reason"

When I chose people for each of the missions, I went with what their little bio said/what their background was involved with. I doubt it mattered since everyone was loyal, but figured it'd be safer, if not more in line with the story. I only had one instance where I thought someone was going to die, and that was one section where I had Jacob lead a fire team and he got shot during the cutscene. During that escort I had Grunt do it because Krogan's are bodyguards afterall

Quote :

"Is there a significant difference between fortify, barrier, and Geth shield?"

Aside from what Twista and ^ have said, it could depend on your research upgrades. Some upgrades give bonuses specifically to Geth Shield tech, or you might have biotic boosting upgrades.

^^I'm gonna reimport the Shepard I just beat the game with and go full renegade, little/no loyalty missions. What's the minimum loyalty missions you need to do to beat the game and have Shepard survive?

2/19/2010 3:29:01 AM

from what i read you need one member of your crew to survive so he/she can help shep on to the ship at the end.

2/19/2010 3:29:35 PM

Anybody tried this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qrc3UecqEQ

I know that the method itself works, as I can land it 100% of the time now. However, I am curious if anyone else has noticed that the game's math is a bit... off. I can start a mission with a specific amount, play through the whole mission while adding up the money which I'm collecting, and then end the mission with substantially less money than I ought to have "made." I suspect that this may be Bioware's way of preventing money glitching, but I'm going to be disappointed if this is the case. Dr. Michel and Expat were my two best friends in the first game.

2/20/2010 9:34:55 PM

Some people like Tali WAY too much

2/21/2010 2:03:06 AM

I'm only about 2 hours in, but I'm really enjoying this a ton

2/22/2010 9:05:11 AM

Best. Glitch. Ever.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZAq7wcweUQ

Tested this last night and it works like a charm. You can go to the research terminal and get all of your talent points back, then reallocate them. This also works on your other squad members.

2/22/2010 10:14:24 AM

^looks like beating the game on Insanity just got a lot easier

2/22/2010 11:46:57 AM

Will be trying that tonight

2/22/2010 4:11:42 PM

i'm gonna waste 10-15 minutes boosting renegade in that early cutscene with Jacob and Wilson

2/22/2010 4:53:07 PM

^ Where is that? What do you have to do?

Hate I missed it

[Edited on February 23, 2010 at 9:52 AM. Reason : .]

2/23/2010 9:51:58 AM

right here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRVzxpvebAg

i didnt really think it was worth it though...however ^^^^^that glitch works great

2/23/2010 9:55:58 AM

I can confirm that the double money glitch does not work properly. I've used it on 3 different missions now and the math doesn't add up after the mission ends. While the "credits found" number can change, the "Cerberus credits" is a very flexible number and can actually create a hard cap on how much money can be earned in a single mission (e.g. if you're supposed to be able to find a max of 30,000 credits in a mission but you glitched to make 60,000, then the Cerberus contributed credits won't add up properly and you might only get 800). Case in point, I was doing this on Tali's loyalty mission where there are many hackable credit sources, and I eventually wound up getting only 1 credit out of the last few sources. Even though the mission summary screen will show the full amount you should be receiving after using the double credit glitch, you don't wind up with the same amount in hand once you're back on the Normandy. Damn it.

2/23/2010 10:40:47 AM