Octopus Overlords

My personal list of "must-have" mods for MELE

* Trilogy Save Editor
* ME3Tweaks Mod Manager

NOTE: The two above are REQUIRED

* LE1, LE2, and LE3 "community patch" -- almost required
* One probe all resources -- eponymous, no more spamming probes to find big deposits.
* Expanded Galaxy Mod (LE3) -- works on top of community patch, plus some optional stuff
* Skip Minigames for LE1, LE2, LE3 -- up to you, I hate the minigames
* Galaxy Map Tracker (LE1) -- tracks mission per system
* No Reaper + Max Scan Range (LE3) -- I find the "dodge the reaper" stuff boring
* Pinnacle Station DLC -- something not even Bioware can do
* Take Earth Back (LE3) -- You gathered all the allies, and this will show the allies at the Earth Hub before the "beam run"
* Audemus's Happy Ending Mod -- no more starchild! Destroy is the canonical ending
* Optional Flirting Mod (available for multiple) -- improved dialog to show you're really flirting, instead of just friendly
* Anderson's Final Convo Restored mod -- added a few cut lines
* Conrad Verner Remembers Mod and Conrad No Apology Mod -- Conrad was a little forgetful and this fixes that
* The Collectors Cabin mod -- shows extra items in cabin for special missions, from ship models to souvenirs
* DLC Timings Mod -- lets some missions happen a little earlier
* Immersive Emails mod -- adds emails and such that used to be in a smartphone app to emails for immersion
* Alliance Uniform Consistency mod -- fixes uniform differences among different ME games
* Ronald Taylor's Fate Fix mod -- so what really did happen to Jake's father?
* Overlord DLC Morality fix mod -- Overlord actually did not give you any paragon or renegade points... until now
* Make Oriana actually Miranda's twin mod (LE3) -- Oriana in original did NOT look like Miranda at all, despite being her genetic twin...
* Liara Consistency Project mod -- fixes her looks through the ME series
* Normandy Rapid Transit Mod (LE1) -- adds a rapid transit hub near exit to Normandy
* F.I.S.H. mod (LE3) (no need to invite Kelly to dinner to get your fish fed)
* Kirrahe Makes Good mod (LE3) -- adds Major Kirrahe (Solarian) as STG asset even if you blew off the Dalatress
* Missing Codex Restore Mod (LE2) -- adds extra entries to Codex
* Admiral Daro'Xen Restored mod -- adds some assets and dialog
* N7 Mako Mod (LE1) -- makes Mako more "drivable"
* Replenish Grenade LE1 -- adds a locker on Normandy so you can refill grenades rather than loot them
* Elements of Comparative Weaponry LE1 -- lets you compare weapons so you know which to keep and which to sell
* Infinite Fuel (LE2) -- Normandy no longer spends fuel running between systems and in systems.

Thats quite a list. But from the names Im guessing they are all handy.

Daehawk wrote: ↑Sat Jun 11, 2022 11:03 pm Thats quite a list. But from the names Im guessing they are all handy.

Most of them are graphical consistency fixes or bugfixes.

A couple are "minigame remove", infinite fuel, easy mining, reaper not bother you in system, that sort of thing.

Im getting closer to my ME2 Legendary play through. What are the essential mods Ill need to make it less tedious? Im really only care about easing stuff like mining and fuel and making it look its best.

Ive got the 1 probe mines entire planet on my list....but Im open to other suggestions on ease of play mods...plus a nice graphics one. Id think the Legendary has the best graphics but even I posted a video on a graphical upgrade mod. Need more.

Kasey Chang wrote: ↑Sat Jun 11, 2022 9:57 pm My personal list of "must-have" mods for MELE

[snip]

Thanks for this list! I finally picked this up when it went on sale recently and am about to start playing. I haven’t investigated how to apply/manage mods yet, so apologies if a dumb question, but is there 1 set way to do it or are there competing methods and one that you would go with? (I typically go vanilla, but these descriptions have me wanting to play with them)

infinitelurker wrote: ↑Wed Jun 15, 2022 2:38 pm

Kasey Chang wrote: ↑Sat Jun 11, 2022 9:57 pm My personal list of "must-have" mods for MELE

[snip]

Thanks for this list! I finally picked this up when it went on sale recently and am about to start playing. I haven’t investigated how to apply/manage mods yet, so apologies if a dumb question, but is there 1 set way to do it or are there competing methods and one that you would go with? (I typically go vanilla, but these descriptions have me wanting to play with them)

Use the ME3Tweaks Mod Manager. Install that first, have it make a backup of your setup, THEN add mods to it, (so it knows it's there), then finally use it to deploy the mods to your respective games.

Im reinstalling Legendary for my ME2 rerun. Its been a few months since my ME1 rerun. This is my first ME2 Legendary go and my 6th I think overall ME2 go.

SO I want to use those mods to make it less tedious..the 1 probe mines a planet and Reapers dont bother me in the space map stuff. How do I go about that? Is it just Nexus mods and their Vortex thing then?

I don't use Vortex nowadays. I just download the tweaks manually, then use the M3tweaks thing to install it.

Ok I grabbed and installed that Tweaks thing manager and downloaded the mods I wanted . Put them in and away I went . All seems great.

One question.....do I need to continue to launch the game from the Tweaks manager or now that its all installed can I I use the Legendary desktop shortcut again?

Man its good to be back in.

No idea about that last question. TO make sure I get the mods active I launch from the ME3Tweaks Mod Manager.

Daehawk wrote: ↑Sun Jun 26, 2022 10:12 pm One question.....do I need to continue to launch the game from the Tweaks manager or now that its all installed can I I use the Legendary desktop shortcut again?

I’ve been launching via Steam after installing the mods once and it seems like the mods are still in place and active.

Everything has been going good but this time when I exited the game it just stuck there. I had to restart the pc to clear it. Alt tab wouldn't work as I could see the other windows but clicking them did nothing and the exiting game screen stayed up. May be a one time thing. Ill see next time I play.

I just realized I cant compare weapon stats. I went to equip me and my crew now that I have more than the original 2 but cant find gun stats....I mean not only I cant compare I cant even guess if one is better than another. I remember this being a thing in my other 5 plays. I mean why have all these weps if I cant tell a different in them? It wouldn't be so bad if I could change out in the field but I can only change them on ship or if a member gets added I think.

Did they change the size of scale of the Normandy in the sector and systems maps? Its looks so tiny and is hard to see when Im in a sector going between systems or in a system going between planets. I dont remember it being so small and hard to see before. If it wasn't the Legendary that did it maybe a mod Im using did. But I dont think so as I didn't install a map mod.

Word is this will be free to prime subscribers on Amazon prime day!

Indeed.

That means that Sir Isaac Newton is the deadliest son of a bitch in space!

I love that drill sergeants different speeches when you visit the Citadel.

Was stuck a bit in a warehouse where AI was making robots. If you stood in cover and just destroyed the bots as they came they never stopped coming. Took me a long time to kill move up kill move up kill move up and keep everyone alive doing it.

Flabbinabbit!!... On ME2 ive never lost fish in my tank....this play through though Ive lost them 2 times..maybe 3. And now Kelly is offering to feed them...but they're all dead again...Im not sure where to buy fish once lost. Maybe the Citadel restocks. I could swear I got some somewhere else.

So who would win in a biotic fight...Jack or Samara?..Id bet on jack. I mean she is supposed to be this amazing weapon right?

two best things about taking Kasumi on missions are her shadow assassin attack and hearing her laugh at kills.. "HA HA!" ...Sorta like the kid on Simpsons lol. She is fun. Shame she was never a love interest. Her look and voice actress and outfit make her a stand out.

Daehawk wrote: ↑Tue Aug 30, 2022 11:57 pm So who would win in a biotic fight...Jack or Samara?..Id bet on jack. I mean she is supposed to be this amazing weapon right?

That would be interesting. Jack is more hotblooded and vicious, while Samara is calm and experienced. I think if Samara could withstand Jack's initial attacks, she could get Jack frustrated and take advantage of that and her lack of experience.

Daehawk wrote: ↑Tue Aug 30, 2022 11:57 pm So who would win in a biotic fight...Jack or Samara?..Id bet on jack. I mean she is supposed to be this amazing weapon right?

Jack may be the most powerful HUMAN biotic, but Samara has her beat in experience and she's considered powerful even among the Asari. So I'd probably give the edge to Samara.

For some reason ive lost my squad stat choice screen. It goes from choosing who to take straight to the equip screen. Maybe it will fix itself after a restart since I wont play again until tomorrow.

Also I plan to do all squad member missions except Tali and go to the IFF to pick up Legion THEN take him and Tali to her loyalty mission. I always enjoy that .....snicker

I swear Ive taken Legion to Tali's loyalty mission...but everything online says I can only do legion's loyalty mission after IFF....dont I get Legion there?...Im confuseredly now.

Mass Effect 2 really gives me doubt that Joker is a good pilot.

Flies in front of collector ship where beam wep is ..boom
Flies in front of Collector ship...again
Flies in front of collector ship....again...seeing a theme here??
Then when we do shoot the shit out of their cruiser what does he do?...flies around the exploding ship in nice and tight .... and we crash.

He is SO fired when we get back home.

Ok finished ME2 L . Must be my 5th or 6th time through the series. Will wait a few months or more to play ME3 L.

I still love Legion's line when confronted about Shepard's armor "There was a hole" lol. You can tell he seems embarrassed. A bit of hero worship i take it.

Also about the end base.. Als oa little disappointed Shep cant follow up on that breeding request on Tuchanka. Now that would be a very interesting mission indeed.

I just finished Mass Effect 2. I hear ME3 is controversial, but what I'm about to say about ME2 may be even worse.

ME2 is not only widely considered the best in the series, but one of the best games, period. It still appears in GOAT lists. So, after liking ME1, I was expecting to love ME2. I didn't. I think it's just an average game.

What made ME1 special to me was its two parallel themes: humanity's struggle to gain respect as the new kid on the galactic block, and the player's quest to discover and define Commander Shepard. The two themes complemented each other in a way that emotionally resonated with me. But ME2? Well, you can assemble a team of fairly interesting characters. You contend with Cerberus and the Collectors, two fairly interesting factions. But I felt there wasn't much growth, no build up to something grand and meaningful like there was in ME1.



In fact, about a quarter of the way through the game, I stopping playing for six months. It just wasn't grabbing me. When I finally picked it back up, I kept playing till the end, but it was never very fulfilling.

I'm partly at fault for this, being too much of a perfectionist. After completing the game, I read a walkthrough for the final mission and was astonished by how many variables determine the outcome of it. Maybe fans love ME2 because of those variables. They toy with different approaches to see how things play out in the end. But with my completionist and maximalist play style, I simply steamrolled over all those variables. My way of playing was optimal, but less special.

There's a lot I appreciate in ME2, though. Improved aesthetics. Tighter inventory, stats, and exploration. The Insanity difficulty earns its name for the first half of the game; there were a couple of times I had to reload an old save and redo hours of play because I hadn't built my team right. Being a sniper is viable from the start, and few enemies could survive a melon shot by the time my skills were maxed. Mordin is fun to talk with, and Kasumi is fun to bring to fights.



I wasn't impressed by most of the quests, but some exceptions were the dossier one for Archangel; the loyalty ones for Jacob, Mordin, and the hellaciously sexy justicar; and the Overlord and Shadow Broker DLCs. Best of all was the quarian loyalty quest, which I'll remember as one of my favorites of any RPG.

I liked the new bases. The blasted junkyard of Tuchanka, the corrupt gleam of Illium. The seedy corridors of Omega brought to mind the late-night carousing of my youth. Sometimes I would fire up ME2 just to go to the Afterlife nightclub. (Though for some reason I can only do the white man's side-shuffle; I had better dance moves in ME1. Better sex, too.)

I do look forward to ME3. I want to see the consequences of the decisions I made in ME2. I bet I'll like ME3 more and will look back on ME2 as a sturdy, shiny, but mostly uninteresting bridge between the first and third games.

That's fascinating. ME2 was my favorite installment for sure, with the exception of the final boss which was just dumb.

The only thing “controversial” about ME3 were the endings. Other than that, it is the pinnacle of the series in every way.

Yeah, people get hung up on the disappointing ending and lose sight of that fact that until that last 15 minutes or so, it's a brilliant experience.

Yeah, and a lot of that has been tweaked. Don't let twenty bad minutes ruin hundreds of amazing hours.

Note that there are also mods out there that redo the ending, but they tend to go too far into feel-good territory. The one where Shephard and the Geth hug it out while the ghosts off all of the NPCs who have died sing kumbaya in the background, for instance (OK, that was an exaggeration, but I felt the fan endings I've read about tend to be a little too Disney.)

Somewhat related to the ending, but all of the cut scenes with the kid throughout the game are tremendously unneeded and annoying breaks in the story/action.

I agree that ME 3 is excellent in general. I tend to put it on equal footing with ME2 in the gameplay department. But... that ending... still sucks.

I just wanted our full galactic fleet, something never before seen by the Reapers, to have a giant battle with them and win.

You can get a mod that eliminated most of the "starchild" from the endings, IIRC. I know I installed it and I find the ending slightly underwhelming, as if the giant fleet up to that point is a bit of "meh". But with enough fleet you unlock more potential endings, I think.

Oh I used the Happy Ending MOD the last two times I played. We kicked their butt and I lived.

Yeah, Bioware REALLY dropped the bag on the original ending. Extended Cut helped a little, but basically, all those things you did in the name of saving the galaxy came down to choosing 1 of 3 colors. WTF... I don't pretend to understand the whole anguish as I really only got into ME with Legendary Edition, even though I did BUY all three games in NON-LE as well. Just never got around to play it.

Im installing ME:L ME3 now. I replayed the other two in legendary version so time for pt 3.

I plan to add one mod...the one that removes the Reaper alerts in systems and lets me have full system wide scanning. Ive played this 2 or 3 other times and Im getting rid of that feature I hate. Im leaving the crap ending in this time.

EDIT: And max fuel and probes. That was a mod I loved in ME2 L

Yeah I think of ME3 as the best game in the series. I thought ME2 significantly improved on ME1 in terms of the individual quests (especially the stories in the loyalty quests), but the main storyline of that game was pretty much garbage (human reapers never really made sense and weren't really ever explained all that well, though I did get a chuckle after assuming that the human reapers have a giant space dong). While ME3 had both great individual quest stories and a suitably epic main quest.

And yeah, the ending was pretty dumb, but it's not the first creative work with a shitty ending.