What hell is with the difficulty spike?

When the objective is to "Survive" and they drop a Banshee and unlimited Cannibals on you... how in the fuck is anyone supposed to deal with that shit? I hate having to turn the difficulty down in games, but this is the dumbest shit I've ever seen.

Did a designer at Bioware just say "fuck it, toss a bunch of enemies down at the end because video games."

Ugh. Getting though the game has been a chore even up to this point but now I'm getting serious fatigued from this. I'll never understand these types of decisions in games.

This is like the last level of a fucking NES game or something. Is this a joke? Do they even want people to finish their shitty garbage game? Its not like I have anything to look forward to because apparently the ending is so bad that it causes the internet to explode in hatred for a month straight.

I hate everything. Fuck.

Wuss.

I assume you're talking about the last section of the game where you defend the missiles? Yea, that part was fucked up. I died many times in that portion. good thing the ending it lead to was so great!! Oh, wait...

It's scary to think that people like you are qualified to help us with our mental health.

<333

When people cry in my office I call them pussies, throw tissue boxes at them, and then just stare judgmentally.

Just scheduling your next appointment on a card and writing "Your parents were right about you" instead of a date and time.

There's a small room like just across where the missiles are ... you can just stay there in cover and avoid almost all the enemies, I acutally liked that part because it was one of the few spots where you get to use cover and all of your powers to stop the enemies rather than just walking foward.

I save those notes for the bills.

If you're talking about the nonstop wave of enemies that attack you when you have to defend the missiles, I will say this. It's manageable if you choose the right teammates to go with you on the final mission, as well as constantly upgrade your teammates' powers and weapon abilities.

If it gets too tough, then yes, you'll have to play the level on casual mode. I played Mass Effect 3 twice, and the only time I switched it to casual was the final assault on Earth on my second playthrough. But that's because I just wanted to rush through the wave.

You make people scared to go get mental help, just in case those helping them are all so mean.

Fortunately, I am not a mental health professional, so me telling the OP that you suck at the game shouldn't do too much damage to anyone except that OP.

Honestly, though, it's hard but it's not impossible. If you can get past the school mission (where Jack is, I forgot what the name of the school was), then you ought to be able to get past this.

Jokes and jokes. All in good fun. I actually just finished a performance review where I was told that client defined me as 'calm', 'collected', 'sweet', and 'mild-mannered'. Seriously.

It's the final combat encounter of the game, so it basically serves as the final boss. It makes sense for it to be the most challenging sequence in the game.

As someone who played through that shit on Insanity, my strategy was just basically to run and hide and kite the enemies all over the map. I was playing as Infiltrator, and with the Black Widow, Tactical Cloak (which makes your sniper rifle way more powerful if you fire it to break cloak) and headshots, I could take down a Brute in two or three shots, so I started by smoking like three of them as soon as the map starts. Infiltrator with the Black Widow is seriously powerful.

That eased the pressure, though I was basically powerless against the Banshees because their barrier recharged. So after that I just basically popped my cloak, and ran to the other side of the map. Fired off one or two shots, maybe kill a Cannibal or Brute or something, waited for the cool-down on my cloak to recharge, then ran some other part of the map. Rinse and repeat until the timer ran out. I played with Liara and Garrus, but they were largely useless, because they died instantly (reviving them was good because they drew aggro, but they just died instantly, so I ran out of Medi-gel fast).

I don't know how well this strategy would work if you don't have Tactical Cloak, but that's how I did it, anyway.

(BTW, I'm really not trying to be "I'm so awesome, I'm playing on Insanity"-guy. I'm usually mediocre at best at video games, and playing through the Mass Effect series on Insanity is one of the few genuinely difficult game things I've ever done. That, and learning how to badly play Dwarf Fortress.)

For a game with such bad combat, that's so heavily focused on story, you should just play on easy.

Charge enemies to refresh your shields. Then shotgun.

Banshee is mildly dangerous but telegraphs it's attacks and only has like 2 different attack cycles.

I don't recall that part being that difficult (finished on Insanity) What class are you playing as and who are you bringing to that mission?

Yeah, what's with the difficulty spike in the last mission of the game? Literally no other game has a difficult last mission!

the part immediately following that section is more annoying if you can believe it...

@markm said:

Whoa, wait a minute. Are you trying to say that there's a problem with games having difficult final sequences/last levels like games on the NES? To that, I say that you seem to be one of the reasons why games tend to be a lot easier now than they used to be. Normally, I'd give someone a lot more benefit of the doubt, but you don't seem to be enjoying your time with the game, and you don't seem to have had enjoyed your time with the game up to this point. So... why are you still playing? If you've viewed your gameplay experience to be "a chore" and you know that the ending is "so bad" and therefore have nothing to look forward to, what's the point of playing? I mean, I get that you probably spent money on the game, but if you hate it and "hate everything" because of it, why don't you spend some of your precious time playing a game you actually enjoy?

But if you were looking for some tips in terms of strategy, I'd say pick a well-balanced group. Since you'll be bum-rushed by a bunch of Banshees near the end, I'd take Liara or someone else who has Biotic powers that are effective against Barriers and Armor, and use well-coordinated attacks and power combos. Also, keep moving around and don't just stay holed up in one area, as that's an easy way to get overwhelmed by enemies that will approach you from all sides. It's tough, sure, but the odds aren't insurmountable. "Use more skill," as the saying goes, I guess.

The game should prepare you for such moments but it does seem like a trend (at least for games that I play) where it will be pretty much a cake walk and then all the sudden I hit a wall where the game did not prepare me. Seems like a Bioware thing especially.

@gkhan: Oh man, you've just described my entire experience with the much "improved" combat of ME 2. Cloak + headshot and the occasional tech ability every dozen enemies. The useless teammates only good for drawing aggro since they seem to think that every piece of cover has a pile of lava behind it. The same ones which the game practically revolves around. Bland and frustrating at the same time. God I miss the Mako.

@markm:

I got it the first time. Might be because I played an Infiltrator and had a pimped out Black Widow. Easy peasy.

However, the enemy will indeed overrun your position. Over and over again. The solution? Keep moving. In MMORPG terms, you have to kite the enemy. Just get your ass to another part of the map and get in cover. Shoot to kill (headshots and effictive power usage). Move other yet another cover. And so forth. This should seperate the quick from the slow, and give you time to dispatch of enough enemies to keep the upper hand in the grand scheme of things.

I got sweaty palms, and it lasted forever, but I managed to get past this section in my first try. It ain't that hard. Just keep fighting. If you give up, and let yourself be overrun, then that's your own fault.

If you ain't an Infiltrator I feel bad for you son, I've got 99 problems but a headshot ain't one.

... I'll let myself out.

I found that sections unpleasant as well. To be clear: dying in a platformer is expected. Dying in an action adventure game is frustrating. Dying in an RPG is heartbreaking. ME3 is an action adventure game, I died lots, and found that very unpleasant. It did force me to learn the biotic/tech combo system, but why did I have I dig throug. FAQs to learn about basic game systems?

I was a Vanguard and using the Charge ability a lot if only to get across the zone faster. Wasn't there a shield recharge ability attached to that at some point? So I would Charge, do that punch the ground thing, quickly look for another enemy across the map and repeat. Sprint away into one of those side buildings when I needed some time to recharge my abilities. I think I had Garrus and EDI with me.

Pretty sure I died once or twice but that was a pretty exhilarating fight overall, if maybe one of those things I'd sort of dread playing ever again (recent example is the underground level of Last of Us).

The end encounter is the hardest in the campaign, but I wouldn't call it cheap. They throw a shit ton of enemies but also give you a lot of room to kite and a bunch of cover.

The entire game in general was easier than ME2 as a sentinel IMO. I played on Insanity with an ME2 level 30 import. Power combos in ME3's combat system were way too overpowered. They did a ton of damage, were good for crowd control, and the powers recharged almost instantly when specced properly. I was throwing warp detonations and inferno blasts everyone 2 seconds.

Kill the banshees and run away if they start getting close. Use the cover in the blown out buildings rather than going in the open where you can get flanked. Don't be afraid to use medigel, you won't need it soon enough. Personally I thought it was a pretty exhilarating last battle.

There was nothing hard about that game at all, then again i started at level 30 because i played the other 2 games so maybe that's the difference?

The game overall is okay but the combat and control is so fucked up.

It isn't a great shooter, it isn't a great RPG, and the "platforming" and level design is so modular and repetitive.

That said, the world is interesting sometimes and one or two of the characters may grow on you.

Fucking Mass Effect.

I did that shit first time through on whatever the hardest difficulty is.

Maybe your build is just bad?

I think I died once on the first go and that was mainly due to operator error, not that it was too hard. I just messed up, can't remember how at the moment. As a Vanguard I pretty much would charge, nova, repeat and was fine. With maxed out incendiary ammo and my power recharge so fast since I was carry two very light guns, I was barely shooting, just power spamming, and when I did shoot I was tearing people apart with the ammo powers. It was intense but not too bad.

I had more problems with some of the DLC stuff, especially the final fight in the Citadel DLC. That was much more frustrating. But in the main game? I never had too many problems.

Died once or twice, was expected since it was you know... the end of the game.

OP has gotten soft :P

I had trouble with that area too. I didn't really die that many times but it was the fact that it lasted so long that made me upset with it. That was with an Adept (that's the name of the vanilla space mage class, right?) on the highest difficulty.

I actually found Marauder Shields to be a far more formidable (and absolutely infuriating) opponent. I SHOT LIKE FIVE DUDES IN THE WHOLE GAME PRIOR TO THAT! GAH!

What difficulty spike?

You're troubles are hard to respond to when you don't even mention what class, squad mates or tactics you used. A game like ME can be made a lot harder by making unwise choices when preparing for the harder battles.

Regardless of your class, weapon and squad choice though, positioning is critical in that battle. On the Banshee waves I like to head to the far near right corner of the map and take standing cover behind the red phone booth. I position my squad behind a low wall near there.

That way there's plenty of distance from the spawning waves to take them out with ranged attacks. Powers like Carnage and Dominate can help here, though banshees are resistant to Dominate. You should also be ordering big power attacks from your squad on tougher enemies.

When the Banshees come close, relocate quickly to the far side of the map inside the little sheltered area for more ammo and cover. If you manage to hold out there you can do a quick sneak dash to the truck when it's controls are online before the last Banshee spawn closes in on you.

There's also two medkit cases and more ammo in the bigger sheltered area on the other side of the map, but you have to be very cautious going in there as many enemies spawn on the side of it that's open.

I honestly didn't have a problem with Mass Effect 3 on its hardest setting. I quit on two because the bad guys were extreme bullet sponges, but perhaps I had to give it another chance on another playthrough to really get it down (and I've never quit on a hard difficulty before, especially on a fantastic game). Three isn't that bad, even in those moments you feel should be hard because you're bombarded with enemies. Are you fully upgraded, or near it? It's easier to go through it on the second or third go. Why are there so many Mass Effect 3 threads being brought up? Wait... This is 'necroed'.

If he hasn't done it after three months then he probably has either given up on it or he's completely fucking nuts. And I wouldn't discount the latter, the OP is not known for his brilliant insight or intelligent discourse.

@believer258,

I didn't post it just for his benefit. Whenever someone falsely represents a decent game out of their own lack of effective strategy and tactics, I like to clarify for others whom may be struggling as well.

Just the fact that some don't know what it takes to prepare a Banshee for kill is enough to make some struggle with such battles. All it takes is fairly well upgraded Overload to strip their Shields, then an effective weapon with something like Warp ammo.