Spoiler Warning S4E10: Garrus Bueller’s Day Off

By Shamus Posted Tuesday Dec 14, 2010

Filed under: Spoiler Warning 130 comments


Link (YouTube)

At the top of the episode, we actually tried the assault on the doors like three times, and kept getting killed. We want to keep the show moving, and so Josh tried to avoid playing the game as intended: Crouch behind cover and play peek-a-boo / whack-a-mook for two and a half minutes. That’s really boring to watch, so Josh is a bit more aggressive than is advisable.

And then we stopped to begin the episode, and Mordin cleared the room alone. Sure, it seems odd that the ship’s doctor should be able to rambo his way through waves of enemies. But a more pressing question is: Where the crap was Jacob? I’m not sure why he decided to go on break right at this moment and leave all the work to Mordin, but I’m sure he’ll have lots of time to reflect on his mistake now that he’s never leaving the ship again ever.

EDIT: Oh right, he was with Garrus. Ah well. He’s staying on the ship anyway.

 


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130 thoughts on “Spoiler Warning S4E10: Garrus Bueller’s Day Off

  1. Varewulf says:

    Didn’t you leave Jacob with Garrus? I’m only commenting now before I watch so I can get first comment for once. :P

    1. sebcw1204 says:

      every time i see somebody celebrate or comment on their first comment-ness, I’m going to give them an iCookie. it will lampshade the silly behavior, but probably just encourage it further. So…. here’s your cookie

      1. Daemian Lucifer says:

        It would be a good thing if people started first posting en masse because then wed see more of Shamus’ first post puns,like with last few strips of dmotr.

        1. Syal says:

          Just what we need. More puns.

  2. X2-Eliah says:

    Shamus, your website was off. How cruel.

    I managed to watch this, and already had a very good question, but I forgot it during the time your website was off.

    So, yes.

    Oh, I remember.

    They got the voice actor of Colonel Thigh, and they shafted him into THAT stupid role? A c-sec nobody? What the hell.

    1. jdaubenb says:

      He’s playing a role in the two loyalty missions (squaddie side quests) on the Citadel and has been set up as a more important character for the third game in the expanded universe, apparently.

  3. Josh R says:

    The agressive playstyle is definitely more fun to watch, I played soldier through the first half of ME2 (working on the second half as soon as I get home and on my gaming pc) and it would appear to be a much easier class to play (having a shotgun, sniper, pistol, rifle is a little OP, and using slam as a soldier just seems to make it shamefully unfair.)

    However not as easy as playing Soldier in ME1, where slamming on two skills gave me near invincibility, allowing me to melee even the massive machine geth

    1. TSED says:

      Speaking of melee…

      JOSH! USE IT!

      1. guy says:

        I second! It’s suprisingly effective.

        1. MarkHawk says:

          I played sentinel (Tech/Biotic) and melee was STILL a good finisher, despite having no talent with weapons…

          1. BanZeus says:

            I’d regularly pistol whip Vorcha stuck in my singularity as an adept, at least until I started putting points into throw.

  4. TSED says:

    Another thing – why don’t you use your henchmen (now to be Mordin and Garrus forever, I assume)’s powers? Like when you were staring down that gunship, and you held space bar, and Mordin’s incinerate was up. And the gunship was pure armour because of your difficulty setting.

    And you didn’t click it.

    I mean, I know I’m way more min-maxy than you, Josh, but all this wasted potential is… something. I am starting to watch Spoiler Warning just so I can get mad at you not taking the ‘right’ (yes I chose that word for hilarious connotations) tactical decisions.

    Like punching. Remember in ME1 when you’d run around punching people to death when you could shoot them, just because you’d rather punch them to death? Why don’t you do that now?

    I am starting to understand why raging fanboys rage. It’s all in good fun, though; I don’t actually care if you listen or not. The storm I’m working up is fake, and all that jazz. I bet if this keeps up for another week or two I’d actually be disappointed if you started to take my advice.

    1. Jarenth says:

      I wondered exactly the same thing.

    2. Nidokoenig says:

      Josh only had control for the first couple of episodes in ME1, Randy did the rest of that season. He’s also possibly toning down some abuses, after the Chinese stealth armour abuse in Fallout 3 and freezing everything that moved in Bioshock, which got a bit old.

      1. Jeff says:

        But Mordin’s Incinerate is awesome, especially if it triggers his lines.
        “Flammable? Inflammable? Don’t remember. Dosen’t matter!”

    3. Volatar says:

      I never use my allies powers. I always forget that they exist. Maybe he did too?

      1. TSED says:

        Set them to auto-use, then!

        1. Bodyless says:

          I am sure he did so. Mordin used Incinerate on the krogan charging for the last door.

        2. krellen says:

          Josh has done this. The reason the Krogan floated away when he charged him was because Jacob had just used Pull on it.

  5. LurkerAbove says:

    Aria talks to you after completing the Patriarch thing. And the Salarian who wants to enter the information selling game has you pick up some data that refers to Aria. You can talk him out of being a spy, or warn Aria, or perhaps some 3rd option I forget (just give it to the Salarian and walk away?)

    And Samra’s loyalty mission gives you reason to go back to Omega.

  6. Specktre says:

    “Garrus Bueller’s Day Off”? What are we going to do with you Ruts… what are we going to do…

    1. Galad says:

      I don’t get the pun…?

      1. Specktre says:

        Derived from “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”. An 80s film.

        http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091042/

  7. Lalaland says:

    On my most recent playthrough I equipped Za’eed with a sniper rifle and he and Garrus tore up the enemy with fire ammo (I min-maxed to get team fire ammo, I love that stuff)

    1. Halfling says:

      I am kind of disappointed that it doesn’t look like Josh has Za’eed DLC installed. His loyalty missions was one of the more fun ones I thought.

      1. acronix says:

        I think that´s because his mission was compensated by a lack of dialogues and simpathy.

  8. SpammyV says:

    No! You’ve played right into Jacob’s hands by leaving him on the ship! He wants to be that team member that stays on the ship and never does anything so he doesn’t get promoted and have to wear something as stupid as Miranda’s armor! You’re letting him win!

    I am also disappoint that Tigh gets shoved into such a no-name role.

    1. Robyrt says:

      It’s Thursday afternoon and Shepard is off saving the world with his cool alien friends. Back on the Normandy, it’s another round of drinks for Jacob, Miranda and Dr. Chakwas. “I thought Cerberus was a human supremacist organization!” they’ll kvetch to one another.

    2. Jarenth says:

      If Jacob is smart enough to recognize that going on missions risks him getting dressed up like Miranda, I’d say let him have the victory.

    3. Halfling says:

      The funny thing is the C-Sec captain seems much more like the majority of roles that Michael Hogan plays. He usually plays kind of gravely nobodys. Fishing boat captains and the like.

      I think they did a good job with him. He got a role with some good screen time but he didn’t run around trying to be cooler then Shepard like Aria. Also he was a random side NPC they actually made helpful to Shepard. Everyone else who helps Shepard only after she blasts like 200 million space zombies/cyborgs/mercenaries/giant robots to oblivion to prove something or another.

  9. Daemian Lucifer says:

    Damn I forgot what I wanted to say.Something about mordin being awesome and how jacob isnt that bland.Though he is above just miranda,he still is pretty interesting.

    Oh,just remembered,you do get back to omega for samaras loyalty mission,but even then you dont fuck with aria again.Oh well.

    1. Ringwraith says:

      There are hints that Aria’s been mentioned before in Mass Effect, though not in name.
      It makes sense that she doesn’t get involved anyway, as she basically oversees Omega, just making sure no-one gets powerful enough to challenge her, and doesn’t get involved and leaves them to fight amongst themselves unless someone takes action against her.

      Also, I liked Jacob, I used him for a fair while.

      1. ulrichomega says:

        What hints have there been that she’s been mentioned before?

        And, yeah, I don’t get the hate about Jacob. He’s a tad bland compared to the rest of the really deep characters, but he’s by no means a bad character. I just see him as the ship’s head soldier: he’s not really supposed to have a personality, but he gets the job done.

        1. Kanodin says:

          Wrex talks about fighting someone named Aria in the first game, and how she put up a damn good fight. Not outright stated but heavily implied to be the same person. That’s all I got.

          1. Aldowyn says:

            He said Aria? I don’t remember the name.. if he did, definitely the same person.

            Also, I think she was involved with the Liara/Shadow Broker/Collectors thing

            1. Avilan says:

              She was involved with that, AFAIR.

          2. krellen says:

            The commando Wrex fought was named Aleena.

            However, there’s no reason to believe that “Aria” was always her name.

            1. Kanodin says:

              Oh right, my mistake. That explains why it’s something that’s considered implied and a popular theory instead of being blindingly obvious.

      2. Jeff says:

        Jacob’s useless when you have 100% accuracy teammates with sniper rifles. Headshots everywhere. His power selection was lacking in the team, and iirc he was missing a skill point.

        1. Fnord says:

          Well, he provides incendiary ammo. Not very useful for Vanguards, true, but for some classes having the squad ammo available is nice.

        2. BanZeus says:

          Jacob and Miranda both actually start with one extra skill point.

      3. Avilan says:

        Jacob and Miranda both are “Bards”. Basically they are Jack of all Trades, so that you can learn the different abilities in the tutorial missions easily and you can play any class and still fit in.

        That’s why Miranda is the third most powerful Biotic on the team (after Samara and Jack), unless you play an Adept, when she is the fourth. This is also why Jacob has a good Ammo Power and being a class that don’t really exist in-game (he is like a Sentinel without the armor, basically).

        1. BanZeus says:

          I always thought of him as a nerfed Vanguard.

  10. Jarenth says:

    I think the best part about that battle with the gunship is that it was so totally unique, and that you’ll never again have to fight any other completely identical gunship like that.

    Never.

    1. Irridium says:

      And even if you had to, fighting the same thing all the time never gets old.

      Never.

    2. Robyrt says:

      Hey, Mass Effect 2 is in a proud tradition of repetitive gunship battles going all the way back to Half-Life 2. Kasumi’s loyalty mission even has one with recharging shields. Now that’s what I call innovation! Game of the Year!

      1. Jarenth says:

        Never.

        1. Avilan says:

          Which it deserves.

          And why is “repetitive gunships” bad, but “10000 identical Geth” is good?

          The gunship is a standard human weapon; you see them in the ME3 trailer desperately trying to defend London.

          1. X2-Eliah says:

            Pointing out 10000 identical Geth along with repetitive gunships is.. somehow.. making the game.. better?

            I’d say it’s a really strong argument why the game is not so great after all.

          2. Jarenth says:

            I was less whining about repetitive gunship battles and more trying to pre-emptively crush Rutskarn’s optimism before he finds out you fight a thousand more of these things.

          3. Irridium says:

            Because those Geth were led by Saren, a great Antagonist with understandable goals.

            These gunships are lead by some asses who we don’t care for. Which makes fighting them boring.

        2. Irridium says:

          It also won best writing.

          If they’re talking about the characters and your companions, then yes, best writing.

          If they’re talking about the main plot. Well then, now I see an issue. Although its their opinion, but I don’t have to agree with it. Or like it.

    3. AyeGill says:

      Why is everyone saying you fight gunships all the time? There are two of them in the entire game, three if you get the Kasumi DLC.

  11. McNutcase says:

    Not like they have to worry about Shepard smuggling in guns. She just carries them in openly…

  12. Christopher M says:

    The game sound is quieter now! I can hear better! …or maybe I’m imagining things. Either way, I appreciate it.

    1. Galad says:

      I doubt you’re imagining things, I felt the same way

      1. Josh says:

        I’ve been experimenting with the optimal game sound levels to make the game audible but not to the degree of overpowering the commentary. Seems like I’ve hit it just about right with this week’s episodes.

  13. Deadpool says:

    Btw, I hate when games don’t give you at least some cheesy excuse as to WHY I DON’T BRING ALL MY PARTY MEMBERS WITH ME?!?

    1. Nidokoenig says:

      Now I’m wondering if there’s a mod that let’s you just take everyone along. Like the one in Fallout 3 that let you grab all the vanilla companions. Running around with the whole gang, plus Buttercup and a dozen Garys(Garies?) does sort of explain why it’s so important.

      In this game, they might have gotten away with it by saying that small teams are better because you keep a low profile and don’t attract wave after wave of enemies everywhere you go, if it wasn’t for Cerberus bringing you back specifically so they could use your famous face, and the wave after wave of enemies everywhere you go.

    2. Mumbles says:

      Just ONCE I’d like a game to have a Reservoir Dogs walk scene. Why is that too much to ask?

      1. Deadpool says:

        Amen sister!

        Seriously, most games use that old “low profile” crap, and it works sometimes… when it’s brought up. But generally, by endgame, you’ve managed to attract all the god damned attention in the WORLD any friggin way. Everyone and their grandmother is out to kill you. And you’re STILL leaving over 50% of your battle strength sitting at home base twindling their thumbs while the country/world/universe/whatever you’re saving goes to shit…

        1. acronix says:

          Except for that time when Shepard leaves with everyone in that cheap transport to do…something whose only purpose is to let the Collector´s attack the Normandy and FORCE the player to use Joker.

        2. Viktor says:

          My justification is usually that you have to leave a competent force with the ship or one of your enemies will steal or booby trap it. This goes right out the window as soon as your entire team of merciless killers and deadly spellcasters is subdued and the ship stolen anyways(looking at you, KotOR 2), but otherwise it sometimes works.

          1. Aldowyn says:

            Hey, the end game mission has everyone doing something important. Just saying.

            Other than that… Acceptable Breaks From Reality

            *edit* Finally! Figured out how to link… just took a bit of googling and experimenting! :D

            1. Deadpool says:

              Arbitrary Headcount Limit is the problem.

              I’m willing to suspend disbelief when the Old Man tells me no more than three people can time travel at a time. It’s when something like New Vegas comes along and their excuse is simply “three is a crowd” that drives me nuts.

              Lie to me dammit! But at least make up an excuse…

        3. Mumbles says:

          I’m so glad New Vegas doesn’t have this problem. Nothing like having people stop you on the streets because you did something awesome.

  14. Kanodin says:

    The shotgun with more ammo is on Samara’s recruitment mission. I just got there after this show made me replay the game.

  15. James says:

    When you were talking to Garrus and Jacob was standing in the way. He must have known that he wouldn’t get another chance to be in the show.

    1. Avilan says:

      Speaking of standing in the way… Random comment: Bringing Wrex to talk to the nice reporter girl in ME1 makes the camera sit INSIDE HIS HEAD. A glitch which is sorta funny, you have a pair of floating eyes and eyebrows in front of the camera…

  16. Groboclown says:

    “Rip and tear! Rip and tear!” The Doom comic book should be used more often.

  17. guy says:

    Make sure to run through Mordin’s dialogue tree until he explains the interspecies birds and bees. Also, I really hate how badly-lit the citadel is. Also, you’ve got at most one recruitment mission before having to do the brain-hurting one. I actually used The Krogan in place of mordin, sometimes swapping him out for Tali, Samara, or Legion.

  18. Aldowyn says:

    … awesome. Rutskarn’s “…. What are you guys talking about?”, when the others are talking about Garrus’ armor near the beginning

    Skip a bit… I love that conversation in the Citadel entryway. “If you fire this weapon, you are ruining SOMEONE’S day, SOME where, SOME time!”

    The ads are hilarious… all screwed up because your records are, well, screwed up.

    BTW, TIM basically says “go right ahead, talk to the Council, if you think you can convince them. Not likely.” So they don’t really want Shepard hiding – I guess they’re more about his/her personal leading ability (i.e. the squad)

    I imagine Shepard’s larger-scale leading ability will be important in ME3. (want… to.. talk… about… ME3 trailer…)

    1. X2-Eliah says:

      ME3 trailer?

      The one that showed only Earth being attacked by the reapers?
      The one that for the most part featured a broken urban warzone setting?
      The one whose colour scheme can be summed up as ‘grey’?
      The one that looks like Modern Warfare: 2020 edition?

      Yeah, let’s talk about that.

      1. swimon says:

        It wasn’t very good. It seems to continue ME2’s proud tradition of turning a cool series with a lot of potential into yet another dystopia. The game will probably be great. Now we have talked.

  19. Jakale says:

    Ah, all these dark lit cutscenes are reminding me of the fact the your scars glow. Probably just the graphics being weird, but I like to think all the stuff pumped into you turned your blood into something like whatever the Predators have, but orange.

    1. Ernheim says:

      It’s explained (sort of) later. The implants holding you together start malfunctioning when you do renegade shit (because why not?) and are literally melting your face off. If you take all the renegade options you end up looking really badass. Even your eyes start glowing red.

      1. Aldowyn says:

        Well, if it’s not there already it will be soon, but we won’t see it here. It’s in a email from Dr. Chakwas, on your private terminal.

      2. Avilan says:

        As far as I understand it it’s something about your not being emotionally at peace and therefore causing the healing process to not work as well. Basically what you see is your cybernetic implants through the cracks. Including your T-101 camera eyes.

        I have never gone 100% renegade, but I don’t like the full “terminator” look. I do like it when you are at 70-80% and you get the hint of red light in your eyes but they don’t shine bright as red LEDs.

  20. Audacity says:

    Okay, I have another set of questions for the lore gurus/reactionary fanboys. Why does the new Normandy need fuel when the first one didn’t? What is this fuel and how does it work? Why don’t they just use nuclear energy?

    1. Lalaland says:

      Good old fashioned petroleum, this a Cerberus ship after all. Mass Effect 3 is a fight over the oil fields of Central Asia and in space!

      1. Audacity says:

        Seriously? Wouldn’t using combustible fossil fuels as a power source in a spacecraft lead to the same types of problems we had with the old diesel submarines? Namely needing a separate supply of oxygen for the engine?

        1. Lalaland says:

          No I was just taking the mick, there is no justifying it lore wise without some serious ret-conning I just like to think that the evil of Cerberus has led them to find a way to replace clean burning nuclear fuels with dirty, sooty carbon fuels. The whole system was just ludicrous especially the way it drained your mined ore when you ran out implying that the engines runs on anything like the way you can make a diesel engine burn just about any grade of oil or a space-goat

    2. guy says:

      What’s sad is that I think it’s got a fusion reactor, you know, the sort that uses hydrogen, AKA, the most common element in the universe.

      1. Audacity says:

        A fusion reactor makes far more sense than the petroleum suggested above, but wouldn’t that only need to be fueled irregularly, say a period of months to years? Rather than several times over the course of days/weeks that ME2 takes place over?

        1. Althain says:

          I refer you to the ME Codex:

          “Intended for next-generation fighter craft, the Heed Industries Helios Thruster Module propulsion system far outpaces the typical liquid hydrogen/liquid oxygen reactions that power a frigate’s maneuvering thrusters. By using metastable metallic hydrogen, the Helios boasts a fuel that burns at far greater efficiency than liquid H2/O2.

          […]

          When a Helios-propelled ship must refuel, however, it typically relies on a large carrier or nearby planetary factory to synthesize the metallic hydrogen. This process uses extremely dense mass effect fields to create the metal under pressures of over a million Earth atmospheres, an activity most safely done while planetside. While that process may seem like a drawback compared to “skimmer ships” that can gather hydrogen and oxygen from anywhere in the universe, the combat superiority of the Helios’ maneuvering capabilities is often a worthwhile trade-off.”

          So apparently the Normandy SR1 could indeed skim fuel from nebulas and whatnot, but the SR2 needs to refuel at dedicated stations.

          1. krellen says:

            I get a little sick of all these downgrades being sold as “performance upgrades”. That’s the same shit they pulled with thermal clips.

            1. Sumanai - a grouchy ball of bile and cynicism says:

              Kind of brings to mind when someone abuses another and claims it’s for their own good.

            2. Ringwraith says:

              The Normandy has an excuse this time, as it’s massive, twice the size of the original. So therefore probably needs the extra fuel.

              Though it can still travel without thrusters due to being able to travel within it’s own mass effect field, that’s probably not enough for inter-system travel. Notice how you only use fuel when travelling from system to system.

          2. Nidokoenig says:

            “Metallic hydrogen”, are you shitting me? I’d feel better if they said it ran on the power of friendship and rainbows, which Cerberus crew don’t provide in sufficient quantities, so they need to fill up on little girls, puppies and ponies every so often.

            That said, I know enough about chemistry to know you can do some truly bizarre shit with the right temperature and pressure conditions, but even if there were a metallic state for hydrogen under phenomenally weird conditions, it would need to remain under those conditions to stay in that condition until it got used(if you have ice at 50 degrees C because of pressure, it’ll melt when the pressure drops), so the generator would also have to be part of the storage mechanism, unless they magic up some bullshittium alloy to contain a form of hydrogen manufactured under ludicrous pressure conditions, when they could have just used liquid bullshittium as fuel.

            Sorry if that post comes across as a little ragey, I’m having a hard time with a bout of flu. Don’t take it too seriously. Hell the rage is pretty comical now that I look at it.

            1. Audacity says:

              I have to agree. “Metallic Hydrogen” sounds about as fakey as Kirk’s “Transparent Aluminum.”

              Does this have any gameplay effect other than as a money sink? Why do you even have money if there is no longer a need to purchase weapons or armor?

              1. Fnord says:

                FYI metallic hydrogen IS a real thing (which you could confirm with a quick wikipedia check, if you care). It requires high pressures, but has been experimentally produced (and is present in the cores of gas giants). There’s no reason that I know of to expect it to be metastable (which would mean, once produced, it remains in that state), so you do have the problem of keeping it under 25000 atmospheres of pressure at all times.

                And also the problem that powering a spaceship by hydrogen combustion is stupid.

                1. Audacity says:

                  Umm, I did do a Wikipedia check for “Metallic Hydrogen” this is what I got.

                2. Audacity says:

                  How did you do that? Is there some secret Wikipedia I don’t know about?

                3. krellen says:

                  I’m magic.

              2. guy says:

                It’s not the only thing you can spend money on; shops exist that sell weapon upgrades, new types of armor, and experimental cybernet- wait, what? How does that last one make any sense?

                1. Audacity says:

                  Oh, that makes more sense. I assumed that because Shamus and company weren’t constantly bitching about buying new gear and the inventory system, like they did for ME1, that it must have been removed.

                2. guy says:

                  It’s a bit unusual. Basically, Moridin can spend resources to get squad-wide upgrades based on stuff you pick up, other upgrades you’ve already researched, or conversation options. He can also upgrade the Normandy, which has a major effect on the endgame. Resources are acquired by that probing mechanic people keep talking about.

                  Some upgrades, most notably Heavy Skin upgrades that boost shepard’s health and unlock punching more harder, can be bought in stores with credits. You can also get new armor types that provide tiny bonuses that way. One of them is basically a human version of Garrus’s eyepiece that gives bonus headshot damage.

          3. Fnord says:

            I’m a fan, but that is stupid. That appears to imply that ships literally burn the hydrogen. Despite the fact that the original Codex makes clear that they use either nuclear fusion (normal) or matter/antimatter (high performance/military) reactions. The idea that you can have space-opera style performance with H2/O2 chemical rockets is only slightly less stupid than the joke about petroleum.

            As for refueling, I assumed that it was abstracted away in 1, like the whole “drive the ship” interface. Also, it’s probably easier when you can rendezvous with Alliance carriers or supply ships.

      2. Fnord says:

        You can’t run a fusion reactor with ordinary hydrogen, at least not easily; direct proton-proton fusion doesn’t happen except in the cores of stars and similarly extreme conditions. What you can use are certain isotopes of hydrogen and helium (I believe the codex says they mostly use Helium-3), but you do need a facility to separate those isotopes out.

        Alternately, if you’re refueling with antimatter, that’s obviously not something you can just find lying around.

        1. guy says:

          Sure you can, Tritium, Deuterium, and He3 are just better. He3 is apparently standard because it’s roughly 3.5 times better than Tritium.

          1. Fnord says:

            Technically, yes, it’s only “better”. Technically, you could get energy from proton-proton fusion, but technically, you could get energy from hamster wheels. It works in stars, yes, but that’s because a) stars are really, really huge, and b) no one minds that it takes 10 billion years to get all the usable energy out. There’s a reason why no one seriously considers proton-proton fusion in artificial reactors.

            He-3 fusion isn’t inherently better than D-T fusion; it’s harder to get started and produces less energy (though not by much). It’s used because it’s better than D-D fusion (at least potentially), and He-3 is much more common than tritium (tritium has a short half-life, so the only naturally occurring tritium is the trace made by cosmic rays).

    3. Irridium says:

      Cerberus “Upgrades”

    4. Nidokoenig says:

      It might be possible that the original Normandy, being an Earth ship commanded by a Spectre, got refuelled for free by anyone at any base either for free to suck up or on the Earth military’s/Council’s dime. New Normandy, being a Cerberus ship, has no such luck and has to refuel at commercial space gas stations like all the common folk.

      As for fuel, since this ship moves through solar systems in a matter of hours, it needs to be moving at a fairly big fraction of the speed of light, and accelerating and decelerating at a phenomenal rate at each end. Hydrogen fusion is a massive source of energy, but the travel times in the game imply a massive expenditure.

      And maybe Cerbandy is a rush job that gets lousy mileage. Seriously, battleships are built in decades, or years if you’re lucky, not months. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s running an overclocked off-the-shelf or scavenged reactor from a smaller ship and that’s why it can’t hold enough fuel for it’s weight class. Maybe it’ll go Chernobyl at the start of Mass Effect 3 and you’ll get to fiddle with Shephard’s settings again.

    5. Specktre says:

      Yeah, that annoyed me too. Before ME2, I assumed that ships were powered by their mass effect cores, and therefore, didn’t require a fuel source. I mean, you look at the codex and it puts a big emphasis on mass effect technology and how it’s used for practically everything. Though I think there is some mention of how gas giants are “mined” for their hydrogen and helium gases as a source of fuel.
      I suppose by adding a fuel meter, BioWare feels they’re being “more thorough” with the game’s universe or something–Idk…

      1. Aldowyn says:

        I’m pretty sure the mass effect core is different from the sublight drives and only used for jumps with the relays (and the stealth systems, in the Normandy’s case). Of course, that comes with its own problems – namely, why do ships need mass effect cores with the relays? That’s like the bullets needing mass effect cores to be fired!

        The REALLY strange part is that it literally never mattered to me. It costs like nothing to refuel, and it never limited my movement because I only really ever did go to a system then back to the relay, thus never running out of fuel between missions.

        1. BanZeus says:

          If I understand the theory…

          Mass effect cores let the ship use conventional propulsion to achieve FTL speeds, but even at an average speed of 20 times the speed of light it’d take a few thousand years to get from the citadel to Omega. Mass Relays allow instant transition by reducing the mass of anything in a narrow track to essentially zero, so any amount of force will allow you to reach infinity mph while in that corridor.

          Something that occurred to me is that although the network extends across the galaxy, it still only allows access to less than 1% of the star systems – so you could theoretically have dozens of completely independent networks, dozens of Citadels, etc. just inside the one galaxy.

          1. Nidokoenig says:

            If that were so, it would only be a few years until each group found out about each other by picking up on each others radio transmissions, assuming they’re all roughly evenly spread.

  21. xXDarkWolfXx says:

    The sad part is i havent actually done Jacob and Mirandas loyalty quests. Despite doing everyone elses loyalty quests

    1. Aldowyn says:

      Jacob’s is … odd, but Miranda’s is actually fairly interesting, in my opinion. Turns out if you talk to her she’s got a pretty good backstory – though her blind loyalty (at least until the Paragon ending, and maybe only if she’s loyal, where she basically flips off TIM) to Cerberus doesn’t have a particularly good reason. (Basically “they took me in and appreciated my talents”, if I recall correctly…)

  22. Specktre says:

    Hey Shamus, y’know what really disappointed me about this particular part in the game?

    When I first did Archangel’s recruitment mission, I thought that by not sabotaging the gunship, then Garrus gets wounded and scarred for the rest of the game (this idea came from ME2 ads and articles that said “You’re choices matter!”), so I went back and did the mission again thinking that if I did sabotage the gunship, then Garrus wouldn’t get scarred.
    But no, regardless of whether or not you sabotage the gunship, Garrus still gets licked–the only difference is that the bloody thing arrives damaged, making it easier to kill.

    So yeah; like I said, that was a little disappointing.

    1. Nidokoenig says:

      Not only that, you can upgrade the medi-bay with facilities for dermal regeneration to heal your own scars, but not Garrus’ scars. That and a skeletal lattice technology that renders your bones almost unbreakable. Joker’s shit outta luck though. They could at least make it have a high cost per use, so you get paragon points for spending those precious metals on non-mission critical things, or renegade points for being pragmatic and Joker dies/gets his legs broke later.

      1. Bit says:

        To be fair, a fair chunk of Garrus’s face is quite literally blown off, while yours is only some improved synthetics the help your skin not melt. You’d need to rebuild parts of Garrus completely. And although Cerberus seems to be able to do that, it’s not mission critical.

        And on a more cynical note, the Rule of Cool abides.

        1. Specktre says:

          Oh, I think the scars and charred armor for Garrus look bad-***, but like I said, I was disappointed to find I had no control over that particular outcome.

          And crap, I just realized that I should have used “your”, not “You’re” in the original post — fail.

        2. BanZeus says:

          You could give Joker an adamantium skeleton and retractable claws but it would cost ten years salary, he’d be in recovery for months and it probably wouldn’t make him a better pilot.

        3. Vect says:

          Also, I highly doubt that Cerberus is willing to devote resources to help a Turian with his scars if he’s still able to Scope and Drop just as well as before. Even if Chakwas does her best, Miranda/TIM might just give you some excuse about using your resources wisely (IE basically helping Turians go against some sort of Cerberus protocol). So all Chakwas could probably do is to give him that patch on his face.

      2. Avilan says:

        Cerberus *has* worked with Joker. He is walking without leg-braces and crutches now, something he outright states in ME1 that he cannot do (he needs them both, and still always has a chance of breaking a leg just going to the bathroom).

      3. GiantRaven says:

        Does the medical bay upgrade actually heal your scars? When I bought I kept the red eyes and scars. I just assumed it stopped the effects progressing but the damage already done couldn’t be reversed, which would be the same with Garrus.

  23. Bit says:

    I liked Aria. I mean, she was hardly the deepest character, but she fills her role well and acts in good accordance with her backstory, which is a fairly decent one.

    1. Aldowyn says:

      That’s not the issue. The issue is they have this awesome character, and she does NOTHING other than feed you a bit of information and let you on your merry way.

      1. Avilan says:

        I hope that she will be back in ME3, just like the guy at C-Sec.

  24. Mine says:

    That gunship part pissed me off so much. I hate it when you’re playing through a game and think “I should do this thing because it’d be really useful,” but the game doesn’t give you the option. And then you play on and find out that thing you wanted to do would have, in fact, been really useful.

    In ME2 after I killed the guy working on the gunship, I thought my Shepard should go in and smash the controls so no one could pilot it, but I figured taking out the guy working on it was taking it out of commission as far as the game was concerned. nnnoooopppee.

    1. Avilan says:

      First of all stopping to smash the gunship would have forced you to really rush to save Garrus.

      Second… it DOES make a difference. If you kill the sergeant, the gunship has less health (it is not fully repaired).

      1. Irridium says:

        Thats not much of a difference. You just have one less health bar to go through. Hell chances are most people won’t even notice.

  25. Zaxares says:

    On Garm floating: It looks like Jacob used Pull on him right after you Charged into him.

    On Garrus’ Broken Suit: Yeah, I had to shake my head at that. After ALL the time he spends on your ship, you guys couldn’t buy him a replacement suit of armor? >.< At least the alternate outfit DLC you can buy gives Garrus a SWEET looking suit of armor that DOESN'T have the hole. (But Jack and Thane's alternate outfits look hideous…)

    On Fuel: Actually, if you run out of fuel, you burn up your mineral resources to fly back to the Mass Relay. In a normal game, you do NOT want to do this because gathering enough minerals for your research projects (which upgrade your weapons and armor) is hard enough.

    1. Irridium says:

      Well at least Jack finally gets some proper clothes.

      Instead of just a tank-top or belt… top.

  26. Sumanai - a grouchy ball of bile and cynicism says:

    I get the impression that the Spoiler Warning crew would be whole heartedly behind “Mass Effect: Mordin Solus Adventures”. All it would need as a sales pitch is “you control Mordin Solus the whole game”. Even, or rather especially, if there are no dialogue trees, just cutscene conversation with Mordin Solus being better than anyone else.

    You know, for a change I planned on not complaining about anything and just doing the [insert ranting]-joke. But then I noticed the incendiary ammo skill, and I realized it bugs me. I mean sure, it stands for the character modifying his/her weapons to taste, but that’s what the mod system stood for in ME1. Which brought me to an idea. I’ll make a reply to this where I’ll explain it.

    1. Sumanai - a grouchy ball of bile and cynicism says:

      — This isn’t about ME games specifically, but more like general musings. —

      What if all the “skills” that you put points in were actually modifications to your equipment? I don’t mean that you’d get Fire Shield for you armor or something, but in a more conceptual level. That it would be considered to be modifications/improvements that the characters make to their equipment based on their experience of using them on the field. When you use skill points you’d be basically retconning on what that character was paying attention to during combat. Did he keep an eye out how well the special bullets work or on the biotics?

      And what makes those things work better is that they’re being adjusted closer to the characters needs. In biotics the character would’ve adjusted the firmware or something to better work with the characters brain waves or something. Guns would have their weight, bullet mass or speed adjusted. Special ammo would be risky so it would be toned upwards slowly etc.

      Of course this means some basic changes. For instance weapon accuracy should be maxed near the beginning, since there’s only so much to adjust with sights and the character’s skill with the weapon should be assumed to be irrelevant. After all the player is the one aiming.

      There’s a problem that changing equipment should technically force at least a partial reset on the skills since the new piece has its own quirks. But ignoring that and just carrying the points over feels to me like an acceptable break from reality. Making the player worry about wasting points because something better will come up later doesn’t really add up enjoyment.

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