Mass Effect - custom character creation

Question

Just starting Mass Effect. Given how much I've read about 'John Shepard', I'm wondering if it is worth creating a custom character (which I would normally do), or if it is best to go with the standard male character?

Asked by Durathor

Answer

Shepard is your character's name, if you don't really care about how he looks, then you don't really have to customize him at all.

Most of the story and interactions have little to do with your character origin. There are a few lines here and there that refer to your past, but nothing game changing in the grand scheme of the plot.

What does change the story are driven by the choices you make throughout the game.

Answered by Sorean

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Is there any move that cures the enemy pokemon's status problems?

Question

I am currently engaged in a desperate struggle to capture the roaming legendary beasts. I have my sights set on Entei at the moment, having brought it down to 1 HP and paralyzed it. Sadly, it is still infuriatingly difficult to catch.

This was all done before I realized that applying the "sleep" condition is preferable than applying the "paralysis" condition for the purpose of capturing pokemon.

Seeing how you cannot afflict a pokemon with two status ailments, I would like to cure the Entei's paralysis so that I could make it sleep instead. Is there any move that will allow me to do this?

Asked by Aubergine

Answer

There are at least three ways. Unfortunately, none will work on your scenario.

Fling, when used with a corresponding status healing berry, should recover the status condition. However, it counts as a 10 Power attack prior to causing the effect, so you would not even be able to throw a Sitrus berry for healing before you would kill something at 1 HP.

Trick and all of its derivatives can be used to swap a status healing berry onto the target. None of the Legendary Beasts have held items to my knowledge, though, so this won't work.

Finally, the moves Wake-Up Slap and Smelling Salts will cure Sleep and Paralysis respectively. But not only do they do damage, they do double damage to such an afflicted Pokémon. So like Fling, not viable.

Answered by Grace Note

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When should I use the Blood Donation Machine?

Question

The Blood Donation Machine allows you to trade half a heart pre-Womb or a whole heart in or after the Womb for some amount of money. Additionally, there is a chance that the machine will explode and give you a Blood Bag, which gives you another heart and heals you five hearts (unless you're playing as ???).

I've read that the average number of usages to obtain a Blood Bag is around eight. I've never made it as high as eight personally, but it's supposedly possible to go well above that.

Is there a maximum or minimum number of times before a Blood Bag will drop? If I have a certain number of hearts, am I guaranteed a Blood Bag? Can it drop on the first use of the machine?

Asked by Ian Pugsley

Answer

The amount of time's you'll need to use the machine varies a lot.

I've received the bag on the first attempt multiple times, but I've also once had to use the machine 32 times before the bag finally appeared.

Most of the time it's worth it to at least give it a go, as you'll generally find it around 8 attempts, which will fully heal the hearts you spent.

The only time I don't go for the bag is if I'm already low on hearts and I think I'm going to need them.

Also, another note, it's generally worth it to give it at least 2-4 attempts because even if you don't get the bag, you can blow up the machine and possibly get a heart or two.

Answered by Mr Smooth

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How do I figure out how to get to new locations?

Question

I love exploring in Skyrim. There's just nothing like forging a trail through the wilderness and discovering a brand new location, loaded down with treasures, monsters, and surprises.

However, sometimes I need to get somewhere specific. I find it tricky many times to get where I'm trying to go, especially where elevation differences are concerned.

For instance, I need to get to the top of this mountain, where there's a fort. I circle it as best as possible, when I find a path that seems to lead up:

However, it turns into a dead end:

The map is often no help in determining which way I should approach a new destination - elevation is very difficult to judge, and there's usually too little detail between the clouds and the odd perspective to figure out how to climb up to a given location.

Sometimes I luck out and can throw myself off a cliff at a location, but I don't always have this luxury. I realize I could mod/cheat/glitch my way up mountainsides (I include horses in this, for their unnatural ability to climb vertical mountain faces) but I know that Bethesda must have some way of getting to every valid location, and I just have to figure it out. I typically just brute force my way by circling the mountains until I find the "right way up." However, I sometimes find this process frustrating, and it would be really nice if I could narrow the search space, at least somewhat.

Are there any general tips and tricks for orienteering in Skyrim? How should I go about getting to new locations that I've never been to before, especially when elevation is a factor?

Asked by agent86

Answer

If the destination is your current active quest the clairvoyance spell should give you the best path to your goal. This spell is available pretty early on, try the college at winterhold to purchase it if you don't already have it.

Otherwise it is trial and error or exploring as some of us call it.

Answered by Colin

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Do I need to have played Mass Effect to enjoy Mass Effect 2?

Question

I have never played Mass Effect, but I hear that Mass Effect 2 is great.

Do I need to play the first to understand the second? Will I be lost?

Asked by Vaccano

Answer

They do a pretty good job of introducing the world and story in ME2, if you have not played ME1. That being said, I feel that picking up ME1 for $20 is well worth it and will definitely enhance your ME2 experience.

For example. certain characters will not appear in ME2 if you did not play ME1. Make sure you get ME1 and ME2 on the same platform too. You can't transfer saves from different platforms.

Answered by Elpezmuerto

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Are there any games/tactics where infestor controlled units are used to build “foreign” units?

Question

I recently completed the "Zerglot" achievement, as described here.

In short, you have to warp in a Zealot, while playing Zerg. You can do this, by using neural parasite (Infestor) on an enemy drone and use the drone to build a nexus. Then you control a nexus and you can start up your own Protoss build and go for Gateway and then Zealot.

While something like this is most likely extremely difficult to pull off against a human opponent, I was wondering if this has actually been used in game before? Are there any games where somebody uses this to produce a Zerg/Protoss or Zerg/Terran unit mix on his own?

If there's no game you know of, what do you think of this strategy in general? I guess it could be doable in the case where your opponent has a weakly defended expansion up and you can capture one of his workers?

In case of a Protoss opponent you would "only" need to:

• control a probe for a short amount of time to warp in a nexus
• protect the nexus until completion, build a probe
• go anywhere with your probe to build a protected nexus/structures (build an expansion)

Asked by bummzack

Answer

I did see one game commentated by Husky where a Zerg player captured an SCV which was sent to repair a tank on the battlefield, and he did work up the Terran tech tree. But I think that game was really just for fun as many bizarre things happened, and the players goofed around more than actually playing to win (maybe someone remembers that one and can give a link?). I have never seen anywhere else where neural parasite was used like this in a legitimate game.

I would say this is not feasible in a legitimate game because:

1. The amount of infestor energy required to pull this off would be probably be better spent elsewhere. You need to escort the worker via parasite back to your base, then throughout construction of the building. OTOH, parasiting a probe is easiest because a Nexus warps in instantly.
2. It will take a long time to get to a point where this is even possible. By this time, you won't benefit much from the other race's low-tier units & structures. If it were hypothetically possible in the early game, I could see a benefit to using terran supply depots for a wall-off, or getting quick marines for anti-air.
3. The APM required to efficiently use this tactic again would probably be better spent elsewhere. This is not a tactic you will ever bother practicing, so if you actually do this, you will be basically treading in unknown waters throwing off your natural rhythm. How will you hotkey your new command center or barracks for example?
4. If your creep spreading is what it should be, then your options are limited for building placement. As Terran at least you could head to an island as a workaround.

There are lots of low-tier "foreign" abilities that could possibly be practical though, if you get really lucky and manage to pull this off:

1. Chrono boost on Zerg upgrades or larva
2. Marine + roach or muta army composition
3. Scanner sweep / MULEs
4. Missile turrets
5. Planetary fortresses
6. Bunkers for roaches / hydras

Though most of these are still not going to be practical if you have any creep spreading.

In 2v2 I have always wondered though if allys have used this tactic. It would be MUCH more feasible here because:

1. You could build your 2nd race base amongst your ally, avoiding creep
2. You don't need to bother keeping a hold of the worker with neural parasite as much. If your ally is Protoss, it would just take 1 neural parasite.
3. Creep spread tends to be more conservative in team games unless your ally is also Zerg.

But in a team game of course it's also less compelling because you already get the army composition. The biggest benefit would be chrono boost, or sharing transports. I won't mention "less communication required between teammates" because well, you should just aim to improve the communication, not work around it :)

But I have never heard even a mention of doing this amongst allys in a team game; maybe you cannot neural parasite an ally?

Answered by tenfour

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Should I be receiving emails from my squadmates?

Question

I downloaded the iOS free app for Mass Effect 3, which you can use for seeing the codex, and send ships to increase galactic readiness, among other things. Fun little app.

However, one feature was that I was going to receive mails from squadmates as I interacted with them in-game.

I am well advanced in the game, already romanced someone, but I've yet to receive a message.

I am logged in with Origin.

Is this a bug? Should I do something in the game to start receiving them? Is the AppStore description a lie?

Asked by Juan Manuel

Answer

See that Mail Icon with the arrow in picture 3? You need to click it to have the app pull all the "emails" from the server.

Answered by tiddy

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