Mass Alex: Mass Effect - Part 04

Alex. You need to use your crew skills more.

This is by far the worst part of the game and the hardest. It's got the two fights that compete for hardest in the game (the Armature fight is brutal as any class, but the elevator fight is even harder if you're playing a class that doesn't do well at close range, nearly impossible as the Infiltrator, which specializes in sniping), with both of them having nice and lengthy unskippable cutscenes right before, and it focuses on the wonky combat rather than the top-notch world-building and storytelling. Really well played throughout, particularly getting the elevator fight done in one go - I've played this game more times than I can count and still regularly die a few times there every playthrough. I was a bit frustrated until Alex discovered the best way of using the Mako (AKA spamming that single-shot canon as much as possible), but that didn't take very long.

The one thing you might want to do is stop dumping skillpoints into Pistols and start going down the Shotgun route (and obviously using shotguns whenever the range is appropriate - which is more often than you'd think, shotguns in this game have pretty respectable range). Pistols are the game's way of making sure every class has something sub-par to use in the situations they're bad at (Shotguners have something for long range, snipers have something for short range, for instance), so they're considerably less worthwhile than any of the other three weapon classes.

Honestly, I think picking Soldier would have been the better class choice. People who are really into Vanguards are always thinking of the ME2 and ME3 ones, where the cooldowns are shorter and the combat areas are tighter.

The length of the cooldowns in ME1 and the fact you are usually engaging at longer ranges makes a lot of abilities and shotguns pretty hard to use if not worthless IMO. It never hurts to be a little tank-ier if you've never played before, either.

I recently finished this section in my own run on the PC, and I feel bad for anyone who had to do that with a controller. It's so easy to spam the powers by just clicking on them, and aiming is, of course, so much easier. I also had Adrenaline and Unity unlocked, so I've basically got two revives in each fight.

I also just did a side mission on some planet where you open a room into a whole bunch of husks, and I don't know how you would survive that fight if you spec-ed into sniping.

All of the combat rooms have complex cover layouts and lots of boxes, but all of the enemies just seem to run right at you once getting activated. I wonder if it's because the environments were made before the combat was finalized, and they imagined you could actually make use of the various chest-high walls?

I had a dream that this series got cancelled and honestly, that's more of a nightmare.

Alex's face just appearing out of nowhere at the beginning gets me every time. Every time. I end up just mirroring the terrified stare that he does.

These weird audio issues makes Alex sound like Smithers at times.

Also I never noticed how the characters snap into the next animation between lines, I don't think that happened in my game? Along with the weird audio mixing makes this video kinda trippy to watch.

Don't know about everyone else but I found it easy enough to stay in one spot in the mako, jump-dodge out of incoming attacks, and cannon my way to victory. Call it cheesing but those sections just aren't fun.

I think that's just Bioware, dude. I've at least yet to play a game of theirs where the characters don't snap into animations and move awkwardly. Just seems like an innate limitation of their dialogue system. Of course, it's more obvious if you skip around.

Fantastic series. Thanks guys!

@redhotchilimist said:

It was more the very noticeable click into place between lines, and I don't think Alex was skipping to the next line a lot.

What is with the pistols obsession? Also use your medi-gel!

Hate on the mako all you want. No other tank/vehichle lets you somersault above a rocket. Nice driving Alex

01:15:05

Watching this made me realize how lucky I was to have chosen a class with sniper skills when I played this. Looked frustrating as hell.

This was exactly what I did. I'll do anything to make these horrible sections of the game more bearable, fuck the Mako

@alex A combat suggestion: you're trying to play this as an action game with RPG elements, rather than what it is - an RPG with action elements. You really need to spend time searching out upgrades (in shops between missions, and by scouring every corner of the map for boxes and hackables during) - as this is an RPG rather than an action game, you won't be able to overcome subpar equipment by just playing better. You need to spend a little more time and attention on character skill allocations, too - the game's auto allocation for your team mates is pretty poor.

I know why you're avoiding doing this - spending time in menus doesn't make for a good video. However, it is what the game is.

I've always played Mass Effect on PC. I've never really understood why people disliked the mako so much, but now that I think about it, controlling that thing with a gamepad sounds like a nightmare.

I'll throw in my vote for turning down the combat difficulty. Mass Effect 1 has some super old and super dated combat and is honestly just a pain after a while. ME2 is when the combat actually becomes enjoyable.

Thresher maws are no joke. Also Vinny is an asteriod spotter.

Best series on GB! Probably renewing premium because of this.

Pistols in ME are the best.

My favourite way to play ME1 was always Vanguard with sniper skills added via the unlocks you can get through the achievements. Lifting a geth half a mile away out of cover before sniping its head off just never got old.

At least not until I figured out that combining scram rails with explosive rounds turned the sniper rifle into a perfectly-accurate, hitscan rocket launcher.

Tali + Wrex = best group. But hey, play however you want. It doesn't really matter.

I remember this fight being a real asshole too, pretty sure I had to cheese it in a similar way.

That bullshit savepoint made me rage so hard i didn'tcontinue playing the game.

Also remember HATING the controls/combat. Is it easier using mouse and keyboard?

I think the controls on PC using a keyboard and mouse must have been much less aggravating than they were on consoles. I always remember thinking the gameplay was a bit floaty and inaccurate in ME1, but that it wasn't that terrible. There's no shame in turning down the combat difficulty; the combat is easily the worst element of ME1.

"It's like farting in a bag" - Vinny

Alex I love you man, just a quick tip: you need to use Marksman like 100x more than you currently are. It'll prevent your pistol from overheating and you can shoot as fast as you can pull the trigger.

@tr0n said:

This is how I maintain stealth, as well

the combat in 1 was great for being a space wizard, especially because each ability cooldown was independent unlike the better shooting but worse wizarding sequels. and shame on bioware for soldier even being playable, don't make a bunch of systems and then have a player class that doesn't interact with them.

best show since project B.E.A.S.T. In the role of a lifetime.....Barry White is, Alex Navarro.

Man.. the video starts and hear those sound and background sounds and I just get chills! Man... SO good. Loving this series.

Dude this intro is scary ... every time

Glad they chose Therum first, definitely the least interesting of the main story planets due to being almost exclusively combat

This is great, thank you!

This is like one of the most difficult fights in the entire series, have flashbacks at having to replay this section multiple times.

That intro shot gets me Every Time

People are telling you that you should be using shotguns, and while they’re good, pistols are just as good if not better in ME1 (just make sure that you have Marksman popped). That being said, you should invest points into getting Barrier because that’ll do wonders for your survivability.

This part of the game is harder than most of what you’ll end up encountering, largely due to it being an introduction to Geth Snipers. If there’s anything I can recommend with regards to combat, it’s that you should focus on killing single enemies first so that they don’t have time to recover.

Still love the series so far! Keep up the good work.

SO MUCH FUCKING DETAIL AND WORLD BUILDING!

I love that you don't HAVE to dig so deep, but doing so just sucks you into their universe so much more.

Yes! My favorite current series. Alex Effect!

@jdp83 said:

Y'all seem to really want a Film & 40's of Galaxy Quest for some reason.

The mics sounding hot makes everything about this video 10/10

Upgrading to medium armor and unlocking Barrier are going to help your survivability a TON.

And heal in combat WAY more. And Pistol Marksman!

The audio seems super compressed in a guitar pedal compressor way.

I don't think Alex has used medi-gel once in this playthrough. I think that's the one piece of advice I'd give him (just press Y in battle) because he's been playing the rest pretty well. That and break stuff down into omni-gel before his inventory gets too out of control.

Edit: Ah, he starts doing it during the geth fight from Hell.

I just started playing the game again and those fights, especially the Geth fight, are probably the most difficult encounters in the game. All said Alex did pretty well. I knew what was coming and still got wiped a couple of times.

"So late, late, late capitalism"

lol