The Glade 4.0

I have to say that I did a little "**** yeah" when Garrus showed his ugly face too.

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"Dress cops up as soldiers, give them military equipment, train them in military tactics, tell them they’re fighting a ‘war,’ and the consequences are predictable." —Radley Balko

Who did everyone run with in the original ME? I found that Garrus was awful so i stopped using him in this first version. I run almost exclusively with Liara and Tali in this one. I find them almost perfect compliments to Soldier class. In ME2 I mostly did Miranda and Garrus. I really liked Garrus from the recruiting mission, he seems way more badass in the 2nd one.

That's another thing ME2 does much better, controlling your squad.

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“Strong people are harder to kill than weak people, and more useful in general”. - Mark Rippetoe

Once you get Legion and its M-98 widow upgrade, Garrus loses his status as the best sniper in your squad. But if you want to get all the loyalty quests done AND save your crew, you don't get legion until the game is almost done.

Like you, in ME1 I ran with Liara/Tali much of the time, although Wrex would occasionally replace Tali since I could do the electronics/decryption myself.

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Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherezade had a thousand tales
But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeves you got a brand of magic never fails...
...Mister Aladdin, sir, What will your pleasure be?
Let me take your order, Jot it down -You ain't never had a friend like me
█ ♣ █

Yeah i screwed up the ending in ME2. Kelly died and so did Jack, I'm assuming it's because I took too long to get to the crew. Jack I assume died because she was the only team member who wasnt loyal?

I'll fix that next play through.

BTW I found Kelly to be the best love interest candidate in ME2 but apparently she is only considered an "alternate".

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“Strong people are harder to kill than weak people, and more useful in general”. - Mark Rippetoe

Tali'zorah's romance is incredibly well done.

Jack probably died because (1) she wasn't loyal and (2) you used her to hold up the biotic field that held out the swarms. If you'd used Samara (who you did the loyalty quest for), she'd have survived. (Jack and Samara are the only two powerful enough to pull that off and survive, though.)

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Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherezade had a thousand tales
But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeves you got a brand of magic never fails...
...Mister Aladdin, sir, What will your pleasure be?
Let me take your order, Jot it down -You ain't never had a friend like me
█ ♣ █

Garrus was taking notes in ME1. If you talked to him a lot, you notice he idolizes Shepard.

Since there don't seem to be achievements based on keeping people in your party, I've been mixing up my team in ME2. I tend to use Miranda, because of her squad buffs, but honestly I think the real money play is Garrus and Tali. All of the big storyline missions seem to be full of nothing but synthetics. Biotics didn't really get any worse in this installment, despite the ***** I've heard about them, they just don't do as well as the tech powers. Both are just as broadly useful, but the tech powers also specialize in wrecking synthetics whereas biotics don't have any real bailiwick.

In ME1, playing as a soldier made Shepard a one-man wrecking crew by about level 20 or so. Really the only teammate that I needed was a tech expert to unlock stuff. I typically used Liara and Tali (although Kaiden would have been a good replacement for either) as there was no need for the fire support that the other three provide. I assume the vanguard is in a similar position. When I played as an engineer and an adept, I used Wrex or Ashley for heavy armor. Garrus is basically an infiltrator with better weapons (and therefore doesn't suck), and was my doorman when I was playing an adept.

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Buckle your pants or they might fall down.

I used Samara for the shields. Jack died while not in my control on one of the other teams in that final assault. She wasn't even a team leader or on any special assignment so i assumed it was either loyalty or random.

The loyalty thing annoyed me because I did her loyalty mission but she reverted back to normal after the confrontation with her and Miranda. I apparently didnt have enough Paragon to patch it up.

i agree Coro, Soldier seems to just dominate in this first game. Now that I finally found good armor for Tali and Liara they are really tough to take down. Lots of shields seems to work well and Liara's biotics are great.

ME2 biotics are strong imo as a Vanguard.

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“Strong people are harder to kill than weak people, and more useful in general”. - Mark Rippetoe

Who was your team 2 squad leader? From what I understand, only Garrus or Miranda qualify without someone getting killed.

In the final mission, I used:
Tali'zorah as tech specialist crawling through the tunnels.
Garrus as second team squad leader (twice in a row).
Jacob to escort my crew back to the Normandy2.
Samara for the shielding.
Miranda and Legion in my squad throughout.


Ah...I didn't realize you could mess up her loyalty one achieved.

_________________
Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherezade had a thousand tales
But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeves you got a brand of magic never fails...
...Mister Aladdin, sir, What will your pleasure be?
Let me take your order, Jot it down -You ain't never had a friend like me
█ ♣ █

Tali is actually pretty hard to kill, considering that both electronics and her special class talent boost her shields. All of the squad members who lack heavy armor have access to the electronics talent. The reason Garrus seems like he sucks might be because Liara and Kaiden both have barrier to back up the shield boost from electronics (assuming Liara develops electronics), and Tali gets an even bigger shield boost from her special talent. Garrus also lacks the immunity skill that keeps Wrex and Ashley going.

The thing the soldier class gets that tips the scales for them is the assault rifle. Late in the game, when you've scraped together the million credits to unlock the Spectre weapons from the Normandy and C-Sec merchants, and when you're starting to pick up tier VIII-X weapon upgrades, the assault rifle becomes a vastly superior weapon to anything else you're carrying. With a high-end heat sink (frictionless materials) and either combat scanner (combat optics) or kinetic stabilizer (kinetic coil) set into an assault rifle, you can just hold down the trigger and go to town. As long as you don't have something that increases your heat generation, the heat sink will ensure that your weapon never overheats. The improved accuracy on the combat optics or the stability bonus on the kinetic coil will also stop your accuracy from degrading due to sustained fire.

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Buckle your pants or they might fall down.

I just got access to the Spectre stuff last night but havent had a chance to use it. Looking forward to that. Can other team mates equip those? I was hoping I could give the pistol to Liara. I'm guessing not.



I had Legion crawling through the tunnels as my tech specialist. Garrus led the first time then Miranda the second time. Samara for shielding. I cant remember who led my team back to the Normandy hmm, maybe that was it? I think it might have been the emo fish assassin guy, but I really dont recall.

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“Strong people are harder to kill than weak people, and more useful in general”. - Mark Rippetoe

Yes, your squad can use the spectre equipment. Liara could equip the shotgun or the sniper rifle, too, she just wouldn't be very good with it.

Remember, there are two merchants who sell spectre equipment. Once you've bought a full set, go visit the other merchant to pick up an extra pistol and shotgun for Tali. No reason why she should miss out, and she'll tear people up with the spectre shotgun.

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Buckle your pants or they might fall down.

Liara has 0 weapon skills, so you want to give her a pistol anyway. In the original Mass Effect, I used Tali and Wrex. In Mass Effect 2, it varies greatly depending on what types of enemies I am going to be facing. From a purely gameplay view, you can never go wrong with bringing Miranda because she has overload(great against mechs and shields) and warp(great against barriers and armor and straight up health damage). Sadly, Tali doesn't have much use outside of purely mech/geth based missions, so she didn't get a whole lot of play. If she has a squadmate role in ME3, I hope they fix her abilities to be more useful overall(like maybe giving her the cooldown of an engineer Shepard for her drone instead of this insane 45 second cooldown she has now and letting her shield drain ability work on armor and barriers as well as shields). Jacob is almost never used because I'm fairly certain he has the worst skill set of the entire group. Fire ammo, pull and barrier? Yeah, you suck Jacob. I also never used Jack because...I don't like her. I liked every other squadmate except her.

Kasumi always seems to find her way into my group because of how amusing she is(plus...she is incredibly powerful).

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Los Angeles Kings 2014 Stanley Cup Champions

"I love this **** team right here."
-Jonathan Quick

As long as the back to the ship escort is loyal he'll survive. The survival chances of your final party holding the door is dependant on their average defense skill - so weak folks there pull it down and leave more chance of dying. Folks also die in order - least loyal first, then a specified list, starting with moridin.

I sent moridin to escort the crew back - he survived, great, and now I dont have to worry about keeping him alive. I then took Talia and Jack with me on the final boss, as they both have very low defense, leaving the bruisers to the automated fight - all survived.

Believe jacob, miranda or garrus can be your fireteam leads with nobody dying; legion or talia as your tech; samara (or her daughter) or jack as your biotic shield.

Yeah, Jacob can be squad leader as well. The average defense skill is an average of all characters left behind to hold the line. So, if you leave the really tough ones behind(Grunt, Garrus and Zaeed) you can leave the really frail ones as well(Tali and Mordin). But if you're going to take one of the tougher ones, you should take a frail one as well and the other frail one should be sent back as an escort.

_________________
Los Angeles Kings 2014 Stanley Cup Champions

"I love this **** team right here."
-Jonathan Quick

ME1: Liara, Tali, and Wrex. Replace one with you, depending on class. Kaiden's biotics sucked compared to Liara. Besides, that boy scout was an enormous tool and a major candy-ass. Garrus, I wanted him to be more, but like others said he just wasn't as good as Tali.

Also, was it just me or did all the women in the first one seem to have daddy issues of some sort?

ME2: Miranda, Garrus/Kasumi, or Grunt. Some people do tend to be pretty situational. Garrus is really good sniper-support in the second one. Kasumi rocks for her stealth attacks that will pretty much take down armor in one hit. Grunt, you just can't take him down until Insanity. Miranda is always good, but her effectiveness drops a crap-ton on insanity because biotics seem almost worthless due to most everything having armor. I suppose I coulda done more mid-fight ammo-switching but I got tired of it.

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The Dude abides.

Until you get Legion. Legion is a better sniper (if you upgrade his sniper rifle to the M-98), and thanks to the geth shielding talent, is more durable. As awesome as Garrus is, Legion basically makes him obsolete.

_________________
Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherezade had a thousand tales
But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeves you got a brand of magic never fails...
...Mister Aladdin, sir, What will your pleasure be?
Let me take your order, Jot it down -You ain't never had a friend like me
█ ♣ █

Oh, and Miranda Lawson is Shepard's handler so that the Reapers don't get the Intersect...wait a sec...agent Sarah Walker is a genetically engineered member of a human-supremecist terrorist group...no...I'm confusing my Yvonne Strahovskis...

Hey...John Casey is a Quarian marine!

_________________
Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherezade had a thousand tales
But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeves you got a brand of magic never fails...
...Mister Aladdin, sir, What will your pleasure be?
Let me take your order, Jot it down -You ain't never had a friend like me
█ ♣ █

One of Miranda's biotic skills is the anti-armor skill. It seems like she'd be extremely useful when everything has armor.

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Buckle your pants or they might fall down.

Yeah Miranda and Garrus was an easy 1 2 shot for most enemies. Jacob was solid as well. I definitely like the Q E system to have them move or use their cooldowns.

In this first one Wrex is kinda ridiculous with Barrier and Immunity. I barely use him or Ash though since I'm playing a Soldier. I prefer having a biotic and tech in my party for balance.

Immunity in general is kinda OP at veteran anyway. I pretty much can throw it up and shotgun to the face ftw.

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“Strong people are harder to kill than weak people, and more useful in general”. - Mark Rippetoe

With immunity up and the proper armor, you ought to be able to survive the main cannon of an armature. If you went shock trooper, you're pretty much unkillable if you really want to live.

_________________
Buckle your pants or they might fall down.

Warp is, yes. But it's not as effective as Incinerate or whatever it's called. It doesn't really help you all that much on Insanity.

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The Dude abides.

Miranda's class skill makes her useful no matter what. With that maxed out to give damage instead of health, Zaeed can almost match Shepard's damage since squad members do less damage with their weapons than Shepard does(example, Legion's Widow barely does the same damage as Shepard's Mantis). Couple that with both two powers that counter basically anything and she's probably the most useful squadmate in the entire game.

_________________
Los Angeles Kings 2014 Stanley Cup Champions

"I love this **** team right here."
-Jonathan Quick

Yeah, but who wants to use her when you can roll around with Tali and Legion?

Yvonne Strahovski would be really really nice to roll around with.

_________________
Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherezade had a thousand tales
But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeves you got a brand of magic never fails...
...Mister Aladdin, sir, What will your pleasure be?
Let me take your order, Jot it down -You ain't never had a friend like me
█ ♣ █

Like I said before, Tali is very situational because her abilities are mostly focused on dealing with mechs. The drone can make up for it, but the cooldown is too long and it dies really fast on the higher difficulties. Legion is fine as he has very strong combat abilities to back up his weak skills(aside from the shield which is totally awesome). I really wish everyone had skills suited to all situations(like in the original), but they don't. It's unfortunate that I can't take Tali with me on every mission without hampering my chances of success when I fight nothing but krogan and biotics. Make her loyalty power work on armor and barriers and she would go from being mediocre in most situations, but totally awesome against synthetics and shields to "OMFG, best character ever because she's so unbelievably adorable and awesome in all situations!"

_________________
Los Angeles Kings 2014 Stanley Cup Champions

"I love this **** team right here."
-Jonathan Quick