Mass Effect: Difference between revisions

* Get Rich quick. The "Rich" achievement unlocks Spectre weapons, you want them ASAP. You need 1 million credits in your bank. If you're having trouble, don't grind too hard. Gear is level-dependent, so a few levels mean exponentially better drops. This is the only gear you need to worry about. After BIG PROMOTION go into the little room beside the elevator on the Citadel and talk to the C-Sec officer at the desk to unlock the special weapons, or talk to the weapons officer on your ship.

* Dialog and loot boxes can be gated with omnigel. Combined with the point about money, regularly sweep your inventory to make a reserve of omnigel, then sell anything that's not bolted down.

* You can play any class, but they aren't balanced. The dual magic/tech is by far the weakest / hardest to play, especially your first time through. Pretty much anything else is usable. Full fighty is easiest, and full biotic gets a hilariously overpowered nuke in the mid/late game.

* Until you know how to exploit the system, balance your party so that you have at least one full or dual-class character who can do each of: magic, fighty, and tech.

* The unlock skills in this game are Electronics and Decryption. Your party has to have both, on any combination of characters. Either max these skills on one tech character in your party, or don't double up until the late game when you can afford to spread your points.

* Talk to all your squadmates after every single mission. Especially after every big mission. Especially if you think they're cool characters and you want to unlock more character development. Especially if you want to romance them, and they're either human or blue.

* Party members Wrex and Garrus are generally thought to have the best shore party dialogue lines. The game scripts its best dialog for obvious combinations of companions, so if you bring along a particular character for a story mission it's smart to choose your other party member as someone you want to see them talk to. Even the boring vanilla humans have nice story bits written for them, almost making up for the fact that they're boring gameplay-wise.

* You get way better boosts from maxing out either side of the morality system. Pick a side early, and use it anytime you're in doubt. There are gated dialog options starting early in the game that add your Charm/Paragon or Intimidate/Renegade. Generally, put your skill points here first to make sure you're covered, and only on one side. As you progress you'll get 4 “free” points by maxing out the morality wheel on that side, so you'll only have to spend 8 skills to get all 12 slots. (If you intend to 100% the game, see below.)

* When you first set off in your ship to tackle some planets, do them in this order: Dig Site, Feros and Noveria. The reason is Noveria is ridiculously difficult if you leap into it right away, especially the final boss who will massacre you if you didn't grind beforehand. Completing Dig Site and Feros first will level you up enough to tackle Noveria easy. Keep in mind once you play a planet to a certain point, you cannot leave until you complete the planet.

 

* The game can be a tiny bit buggy and stick you in floors/walls if you get hit by a lot of physics magic. I suggest armoring against this as highest priority. Rarely, an enemy will become stuck under the floor and won't die, forcing you to reload. Before that, try to use physics like grenades or magic to dislodge them.

 

* The Mako gets stronger based on the Electronics skill of your tech person. Max that asap. Like unlocking, this does not stack.