Enterprise NX vs Normandy SR-2

[Stofsk]

In Halo, the 'Legendary' difficulty is considered canon. I think it's reasonable to use the same standard for Mass Effect, in which case you characters are not that durable (two seconds of automatic fire, or two RPGs will kill someone with full shields and full ultra-tech armor).

Sounds reasonable, but i think you still have to take gameplay with a grain of salt - otherwise, you will run into things that just don't make much sense if you take them literary.

'Literally' is the word you want. Literary relates to literature.

I'd hesistate to take gameplay as an accurate reflection of the world - after all, on the highest difficulty you could easily be killed by a couple seconds worth of gunfire, but the reverse isn't true. It takes a bit more effort to drop enemies on insanity.

[Starglider]

Sounds reasonable, but i think you still have to take gameplay with a grain of salt - otherwise, you will run into things that just don't make much sense if you take them literary.

So what? There's plenty of stuff in say Star Trek that just makes no logical sense. We rationalise it as far as we can and discard it entirely when it cannot be rationalised. ME's gameplay is relatively sensible, it doesn't have completely impossible stuff like a contemporary fighter jet carrying 100 missiles (Ace Combat). A few things you have to treat as abstractions, e.g. the thermal clip system (your clips are split into weapon specific ammo counters, but any clip dropped by any fallen enemy partially refills all of your weapons?), but the weapon damage / character durability isn't one of them.

It takes a bit more effort to drop enemies on insanity.

On Insanity, enemy mercs take about the same level of punishment you do. It's only 'boss' enemies (heavy mechs, scions, Harbinger etc) that take a lot of fire to kill.

[adam_grif]

The ship had been heavily shot up by the colony defense turrets, and possibly the disabled Turian cruiser as well.

It had been shot at by the colony defense towers, but that took place weeks or more before the final confrontation. Possibly months, considering it takes ~24 hours to traverse 12 lightyears, and you hop around star-systems like no-tomorrow during the game. Either way, variable amount of time before final confrontation means that either it wasn't being repaired at all, or it got fully repaired in the time period. Since there was no visible damage anywhere, I'm leaning towards that.

If you take the Normandy without the Thanix cannons, her mass drivers are unable to do significant damage to the collector ship, and she has to close in and use the Javelin launchers instead. The Thanix cannons apparently have yield and/or shield piercing capability way beyond normal mass accelerators.

Ambiguous. She either only fires cannons, or only fires torpedos, but not both. I think it's cannons but others disagree. Even so, firing torps on more powerful targets is standard fare in MEverse, that's the only way fighters ever do damage.

Gameplay in Star Wars and Star Trek games isn't canon, because those are adaptations of movies. However Mass Effect 2 is a computer game. Gameplay should be considered a primary source, at least on a par with cutscenes.

Gameplay is never cannon unless stated so. In MEverse, gameplay and cutscenes are wholly divorced, which are both in turn divorced from the codex. This is a problem, because analysis of the three will give you different results based on different weightings you give to each relative to the other.

According to gameplay, Shepard and Co can regenerate from getting shot several times in under a minute, with no wounds or blood at all. In gameplay, "power cells" create rockets for use in a rocket launcher. In gameplay, you can use "ammo powers" that make no sense at all given how the guns are supposed to operate. In gameplay, you can use "tech powers" that are mostly non-sensical and aren't mentioned anywhere else in the cannon. In gameplay, you can PHASE THROUGH SOLID OBJECTS WITH YOUR MIND as long as you're a vanguard.

The codex at least gives us quantifiable things and makes more sense than the other shit.

That was one specific star putting out an odd kind of radiation. Most likely the planet's magnetic field was gone, and high-energy charged particles were making it down to ground level. Obviously it wasn't sunlight as such since EM radiation doesn't interact with shields.

My fan theory is that it wasn't interacting with shields, but was actually shorting out the emitters on the exterior of your suit.

[Stargazer]

In Halo, the 'Legendary' difficulty is considered canon. I think it's reasonable to use the same standard for Mass Effect, in which case you characters are not that durable (two seconds of automatic fire, or two RPGs will kill someone with full shields and full ultra-tech armor).

On "Insanity" even the most basic grunt has armor or shields which allows him to resist the gravitational forces of the mini-singularity gun. Jack on any difficulty can't tear apart mechs like she does in her first cutscene. Gameplay is the lowest of sources for canon, especially in an RPG.

According to gameplay, Shepard and Co can regenerate from getting shot several times in under a minute, with no wounds or blood at all. In gameplay, "power cells" create rockets for use in a rocket launcher. In gameplay, you can use "ammo powers" that make no sense at all given how the guns are supposed to operate. In gameplay, you can use "tech powers" that are mostly non-sensical and aren't mentioned anywhere else in the cannon. In gameplay, you can PHASE THROUGH SOLID OBJECTS WITH YOUR MIND as long as you're a vanguard.

The first is partially explained by the codex in ME2- combat hardsuits now automatically administer applications of medigel. The second is nonsense. The third is simply a streamlined form of the ammo upgrades you could get in the first game. The fourth actually happens in the novel "Mass Effect: Ascension"- someone sets off a tech mine that scrambles a person's barriers and overloads the targeting system of her gun. The fifth- I dunno, but it may be mentioned in the future.

[adam_grif]

Medigel ain't bacta. It doesn't explain why their stupid stupid space-slut clothes don't get big fat holes punched in them either, or how Jack, wearing nothing but her tattoos, gets exactly the same treatment.

The ammo upgrades in the first game didn't make sense either.

The tech powers in general are nonsensical. Certain parts of them make a little sense, but not how it is in the game. AI hacking is particularly hilarious, with higher versions actually giving shields to the thing you're hacking even if it doesn't have shields normally. The magical tech armor makes no sense, wtf is it made out of? Is the holographic bullshit supposed to be solid?

As for the phasing through solid objects, makes no sense. Biotics are just mind initiated mass effect stuff, increasing or decreasing mass locally. Pull and push don't even make much sense, the silliness of "Charge" that the Vanguards get is just icing on the cake.

[Omeganian]

The Normandy had no problem with the conditions which overloaded the squad's shields. ME personal shields cannot be compared to ME ship shields, nor to ST ship shields. Only to ST personal shields. The Normandy could survive in the galactic core, where even considering the low gravity pocket, radiation was likely very high.

[Stargazer]

Medigel ain't bacta. It doesn't explain why their stupid stupid space-slut clothes don't get big fat holes punched in them either, or how Jack, wearing nothing but her tattoos, gets exactly the same treatment.

Medigel is some kind of genetically engineered bioplasm, so it is somewhat similar to bacta in that respect. But no, it doesn't work exactly like it does in the game mechanics for either game.

As for Miranda, Jack, Thane, etc., not having armor suits, that's just a poor design choice.

The ammo upgrades in the first game didn't make sense either.

"The development of practical minifacturing omni-tools allows modern militaries a great deal of flexibility in equipment load-outs. A vast number of field modification kits, or "upgrades", are available for common equipment such as weapons, armor, omni-tools, biotic amps, and even grenades.

An upgrade kit typically consists of less than a dozen unique parts and an optical storage disc. When loaded into an omni-tool, the OSD provides all technical specifications required to manufacture the tool and additional parts necessary to install the upgrade onto another piece of equipment. Assembly is typically modular, and installation can be completed in less than a minute.

Since omni-tools are designed to use common battlefield salvage materials such as plastics, ceramics, and light materials (rendered into semi-molten "omni-gel" for quick use), it is quite possible for a trained soldier carrying upgrade kits to customize gear on the battlefield to fit the current tactical situation."

Make sense now?

The tech powers in general are nonsensical. Certain parts of them make a little sense, but not how it is in the game. AI hacking is particularly hilarious, with higher versions actually giving shields to the thing you're hacking even if it doesn't have shields normally. The magical tech armor makes no sense, wtf is it made out of? Is the holographic bullshit supposed to be solid?

AI hacking does kind of make sense, considering that the only enemies AI enemies you run into are either security drones that are likely wirelessly controlled, or geth, which are all connected in a wireless network. The recharge shields bit is nonsense, though.

As for the phasing through solid objects, makes no sense. Biotics are just mind initiated mass effect stuff, increasing or decreasing mass locally. Pull and push don't even make much sense, the silliness of "Charge" that the Vanguards get is just icing on the cake.

"There are three branches of biotics. TELEKINESIS uses mass-lowering fields to levitate or impel objects. Mass-raising KINETIC FIELDS are used to block or pin objects. DISTORTION uses rapidly shifting mass fields to shred objects."

Take that as you will. Mass effect fields raising or lowering mass is the most basic understanding of the fields, but I'd say there can be more complex applications of the fields.