Can anyone confirm Hardcore Mass Effect behaviour?

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2007-12-03 08:20pm

After my first playthrough of ME, I made a new character and powered on through the game: I targeted a completion time of 8 hours, and I'm on track. However, I started a new game in Hardcore, so I'm level 18 at Benezia and totally, utterly stuck.

When I restarted my original character, it was still on 'Veteran'. I set it to 'Hardcore' during the Eden Prime mission and haven't changed it.

My problem is that to progress my second character I'm going to have to drop difficulty. That means I need to get Hardcore on the other character or replay the whole damn game again. So can anyone confirm that changing a difficulty to Hardcore at the start works, as far as the achievement is concerned?

DAMN ACHIEVEMENT WHORES LOL EPEEN

Chardok · Post by **Chardok** » 2007-12-03 08:21pm

what is ME?

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2007-12-03 08:22pm

Mass Effect!

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2007-12-03 08:36pm

yeah I came into this thread expecting some weirdass discussion about Windows Millennium

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2007-12-03 08:39pm

WHAT LOL

Nobody even REMEMBERS WinME! And 'Mass Effect' made the title too long. Everyone on the board who plays ME will know what the thread title means anyway. DPDP should be able to help me.

Soontir C'boath · Post by **Soontir C'boath** » 2007-12-03 09:08pm

Stark wrote:WHAT LOL

Nobody even REMEMBERS WinME! And 'Mass Effect' made the title too long. Everyone on the board who plays ME will know what the thread title means anyway. DPDP should be able to help me.

Sorry, bud. I came into this thread thinking Windows ME as well.

CaptHawkeye · Post by **CaptHawkeye** » 2007-12-03 09:15pm

I changed Veteran to Hardcore at the start of the game too. It failed me. I completed the game and got no Hardcore achievement.

I played through Benezia on Hardcore. Probably the hardest moment in the game on Hardcore. Those fucking Asari commandoes and their stupid lift biotic! They consistently left me with no cover to hide behind since all of the crates on the ramp were levitating 2 meters above my head!

I was only able to survive after...erm... "practicing" on the gaurds in the hallway and buffing Garus's and my own character's Dampening skills like crazy.

CycloneRider052 · Post by **CycloneRider052** » 2007-12-03 09:23pm

Good thing I haven't done much with my 'hardcore' playthrough yet.

Stupid game not letting you reset the difficulty when you're doing a new game + ......

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2007-12-03 09:33pm

CaptHawkeye wrote:I changed Veteran to Hardcore at the start of the game too. It failed me. I completed the game and got no Hardcore achievement.

I played through Benezia on Hardcore. Probably the hardest moment in the game on Hardcore. Those fucking Asari commandoes and their stupid lift biotic! They consistently left me with no cover to hide behind since all of the crates on the ramp were levitating 2 meters above my head! I was only able to survive after...erm... "practicing" on the gaurds in the hallway and buffing Garus's and my own character's Dampening skills like crazy.

Well, fuck. The only save I have is right before the Benezia fight with 2 medigel, 1 nade and nobody left to kill. I guess I'll have to try walking back to the ship, but I doubt it'll work.

I can beat the first three lots, it's the post-dialogue part where it's her + 3 commandos that get me. You're on the exposed platform and Benezia is moving around and all my guys have 20% health. Bah.

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2007-12-04 05:49am

From what I've heard, as long as you change the difficulty before Eden Prime, you can get the achievement.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2007-12-04 06:19am

Hmm. I changed Anton's while still on the ship, so hopefully it'll work.

Anyway, I'm not stuck anymore. It turns out being level 21 with spectre gear means the fight goes from 'staggeringly hard' to 'trivially easy': I beat her with no trouble while talking on the phone. I won't make a 10h sweep now, thouhg

The level scaling is wierd: Anton did that fight at ~35, and it was a challenge, but at ~21 on a higher difficulty it was ridiculously easy. At 18 it was impossible (at least with the crapola equipment I had so early in the game).

Havok · Post by **Havok** » 2007-12-04 03:52pm

I just did this too. You have to change the settings before you start the game or it doesn't work. If you changed it on the ship you might as well start over.

Also I went through the entire second play through with Ashley and didn't unlock the soldier achievement. WTF!!

Havok · Post by **Havok** » 2007-12-04 04:00pm

P.S. having the sex with the Consort with a girly character is strangely hot.

Vendetta · Post by **Vendetta** » 2007-12-04 06:08pm

havokeff wrote:P.S. having the sex with the Consort with a girly character is strangely hot.

Blue carpet tastes better?

Vendetta · Post by **Vendetta** » 2007-12-04 06:10pm

havokeff wrote: Also I went through the entire second play through with Ashley and didn't unlock the soldier achievement. WTF!!

For the ally achievements, you have to do enough of the game to get the "completionist" achievement, with that character in your party at all times.

You can't just burn through the main plot. Got to farm sidequests.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2007-12-04 07:24pm

havokeff wrote:P.S. having the sex with the Consort with a girly character is strangely hot.

You mean 'standing next to a possibly naked space elf', right? Anyone who considers the Mass Effect stuff even vaguely sexual is extremely imaginative. You get more action on the fucking dancefloor, for christsakes.

I'm concerned about my Renegade thing. Many quests give you paragon points when you turn them in (like the Feros power/food/water ones) and I'm not sure if I'm supposed to somehow get renegade out of them. I also can't remember where the Planet of the Apes is, because I'm going to need to run them all over to get Renegade.

Havok · Post by **Havok** » 2007-12-04 09:38pm

Stark wrote:
havokeff wrote:P.S. having the sex with the Consort with a girly character is strangely hot.
You mean 'standing next to a possibly naked space elf', right? Anyone who considers the Mass Effect stuff even vaguely sexual is extremely imaginative. You get more action on the fucking dancefloor, for christsakes.

Really? So when they are both naked and the Consort throws her hand up against the head board, that's not sexual.

Or when they get naked, hop in bed, LITERALLY have sex before you land on Ilios (Either Male Shepard/Laria. Male Shepard/Ashley. Female Shepard Liara. I assuming there is Female Shepard/Kaidan version.) and then you get the option to do it again on the conversation wheel. That's not sexual? Maybe you should finish the romance sub plot.

Havok · Post by **Havok** » 2007-12-04 09:40pm

Vendetta wrote:
havokeff wrote: Also I went through the entire second play through with Ashley and didn't unlock the soldier achievement. WTF!!
For the ally achievements, you have to do enough of the game to get the "completionist" achievement, with that character in your party at all times.

You can't just burn through the main plot. Got to farm sidequests.

No shit Sherlock, that is why I am PISSED! I do everything... It is a compulsion!!

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2007-12-04 11:07pm

havokeff wrote:Really? So when they are both naked and the Consort throws her hand up against the head board, that's not sexual.

Or when they get naked, hop in bed, LITERALLY have sex before you land on Ilios (Either Male Shepard/Laria. Male Shepard/Ashley. Female Shepard Liara. I assuming there is Female Shepard/Kaidan version.) and then you get the option to do it again on the conversation wheel. That's not sexual? Maybe you should finish the romance sub plot.

Don't be a tard. It's the most sanitised Days of Our Lives so-called 'sex' I've ever seen in a game. The best part is it doesn't even matter what you've done: I've so far never failed to complete a romance plot, even ignoring, abusing, mocking and basically being a horrible cunt to whoever it is. That's CLASS.

Rawtooth · Post by **Rawtooth** » 2007-12-04 11:28pm

Stark wrote: The best part is it doesn't even matter what you've done: I've so far never failed to complete a romance plot, even ignoring, abusing, mocking and basically being a horrible cunt to whoever it is. That's CLASS.

Really? That's stupid. In KotOR, Bioware at least made it possible to fail the romance plot if you messed up the dialogue choices.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2007-12-04 11:42pm

It wouldn't surprise me if there are certain places where you can break it, but I was a horrible bastard to the bloody space elf, and Mojo Kaidan and Whiny Whore Ashley, and it didn't interfere. Clearly I should have used the blue option so they shoot themselves in the head?

PS killing everyone at Zhu's Hope = incredibly satisfying.

Havok · Post by **Havok** » 2007-12-05 12:35am

Stark wrote:It wouldn't surprise me if there are certain places where you can break it, but I was a horrible bastard to the bloody space elf, and Mojo Kaidan and Whiny Whore Ashley, and it didn't interfere. Clearly I should have used the blue option so they shoot themselves in the head?

PS killing everyone at Zhu's Hope = incredibly satisfying.

I'm so wanting to do an absolute renegade play through. I hope it is everything I've dreamed!

Vendetta · Post by **Vendetta** » 2007-12-05 02:45pm

Stark wrote: Don't be a tard. It's the most sanitised Days of Our Lives so-called 'sex' I've ever seen in a game. The best part is it doesn't even matter what you've done: I've so far never failed to complete a romance plot, even ignoring, abusing, mocking and basically being a horrible cunt to whoever it is. That's CLASS.

Considering that this is nigh on the only sex you see in games that aren't outright h-games, that's a fair bit of hyperbole there.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2007-12-06 12:03am

Ha HA! The Witcher 'sex' is presented in a far more sexual way. Hav thought the ME sex was 'hot' in some way, which frankly boggles my mind. Like I said, you'd get more action on a dancefloor, and Hav isn't the kind of nerdling who thinks 'zomg two chicks next to each other = ZOMG HAWT', he's a real person. The stilted dialogue and Days of Our Lives direction is the the fail on the cake.

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2007-12-06 12:47am

The sex scenes in Mass Effect were tamer than most R-rated film sex scenes.