#1. Investigate and left side of conversation wheel are usually reserved for the items that do not end the chat line. They are usually just FYI pieces, but sometimes they do lead to a better resolution if you dig a little. And of course the left is for all reputation options, if you can.
#2. There are three basic class mechanics to this game: guns, biotics, and tech. All have abilities within that not only take care of each other, they also counter the following types of protection: shield/barrer, armor, health.
#3. Health is the last bar on all enemies, and it means they are free for biotics. Shields are countered by the Overload power. Barriers are countered by guns. And armor is beaten by several types of attacks. Basically, you should have a way to get that enemy’s protection down.
#4. For the 360, you click the LS to bring up either a map or an objective tracking radar. Helpful if you are lost.
#5. You can take full command of you allies. For 360, the left and right on the D-Pad correspond to the icons of your teammates at the bottom of the screen. If your cursor is over an enemy, they will attack; if not they will go to that place. Pressing Down returns your pals to you. You can even change their default mapped powers for when you press their d-pad control.
#6. Also, don’t forget to know if you have your teammates’ powers on auto, because if you don’t mind micro-managing, you should disable it. They will use their best powers if you command them to attack.
#7. Speaking of which, you can map your own powers to several buttons on the 360 (open the power wheel and follow the prompts to map).
#8. Armor upgrades must be equipped in your cabin on the ship.
#9. Be sure to always change your and your squad’s ammo and guns for the needed enemies, or just keep a good mix and go for it.
#10. If you don’t save often, which may not be needed, you may find your “Resume” option after death taking you to your last physical save. You should have three options: last save, restart the whole mission, or load up your last auto-save (this is the best option always).
#11. You can melee (B) crates and such.
#12. The scarring is in regards to if you go renegade. If you do, your face will get red. If you go paragon, you’ll never see this effect. There is a ship upgrade for a ton of platinum to fix this, but for some reason it kept getting less expensive as the game went on.
#13. Take your time with hacks, especially ones without credit rewards, those are usually access to areas or upgrades.
#14. Should be higher, but be sure to invest in your “special” talent early for the rep bonus and overall boost to stats. Some powers and abilities are stronger than allies’ “special” talents usually – their specials are most likely a boost in 2-3 stats, where they can be revived and their powers are more valuable than their health.
#15. If you want to get someone in the sack, agreeing with them and choosing all paragon options is usually best.
#16. As well as giving an achievement, viewing the combat vids in your computer log can help clear up anything about combat you may not fully grasp.
#17. Paragon or renegade? Nice people save others and usually get to see more, while tough people tend to miss some things but do have a bit more fun. Obviously there is a perfect balance you can meet, but that’s entirely up to you. It is wise to try and stick to one as best you can.
Things to know before you start
If you played Mass Effect, you may load the GAME COMPLETE data on your memory source.
There are 4 things to account for if you do this: (slight spoilers if you plan to play these games in reverse, but you’ll find these out anyway)
Status of Wrex, the big lizard guy Status of Ashley or Kaiden Status of the Council from the end of the game And your Shepard’s actions and background (both of which you made before and during the game), and your class/spec is not accounted for either, or your appearence. Side quests from ME1 do further just a hair on this game, either with a few micro quests or emails
I believe a fresh toon here generates the following:
- Council alive Anderson a member Opposite gender member dead No love interests Wrex not alive (I believe)
- A new character may be random, and if so it doesn’t matter.
Of course turn on subtitles too. One thing to keep in mind is whether you want your allies using their best stuff in combat or you want to tell them when to use it. Gameplay may vary slightly depending on which choice you make, but you can change this option at any time in the pause menu, you just may not realize there is a problem with your choice later.
