Friday, August 21, 2015

#Blaugust Day 21: On the Vanguard

Last night ended up being given over to Mass Effect 3; more specifically the multiplayer mode. I had never tried it before but hearing so many good things about it combined with Ash's recent foray back into the games led to me joining him, Tamrielo, and Kodra for a couple of matches.

Well, I say the night was given over to Mass Effect; most of that time was spent wrestling with the unwieldy beast that is Origin. I had to download the game, and for some reason Origin refused to acknowledge that Ashgar and Tam were friends, so they couldn't invite each other into a game. It took awhile but we finally got it straightened out and could actually play. It didn't enhance my opinion of Origin any, however.

It's not just me, right? You see it too?

Once we were in I was presented with a bunch of classes. I figured Soldier would be a safe middle of the road bet and started out with that. The first mission went okay for the first waves, but then we let ourselves get a little too split up and died one by one on the sixth. I was trying to snipe, but I had trouble finding good sight lines. Still, it was fun, and I got enough experience to hit level 3.
Between missions I decided to see if I had enough credits to buy anything in the store. I didn't, but I did have some free boxes to open; presumably from DLC or something? From one I got a very nice assault rifle, and from the last I pulled a Cabal Vanguard unlock. That immediately raised my Vanguard class to 8, so I decided to try it out in the next mission. Skimming its powers gave me the impression it was meant to be a close range class, so I equipped a shotgun and my new assault rifle and off we went.



The second mission went a lot more cleanly than the first. People went down a few times but got healed, and it started to look dodgy on the retrieval wave we got when two of us went down and stayed down. We made it through though and the remainder of the mission went nice and smooth. Between the Vanguard's teleport, the shotgun, and a paralyzing blade power I felt like it contributed a lot more the second time around.

Overall, it was a fun night that reminded me that multiplayer FPS games can be a lot fun with the right teammates. I'm looking forward to playing more.

2 comments:

  1. I think the only FPS multiplayer I've done was on Destiny. I think it made it more enjoyable, but we only ever did it once. Since I'm not one for random matchmaking there would have to be some convincing to get a group together. Haven't played in a long time, but I don't think anyone I have on PSN has really played in a while either.

    I really need to get around to playing through ME2 & 3. I have 2, but did not get far in to it.

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    1. This is where I admit that I've never actually finished the first game. I got bogged down in side missions somewhere along the way. Need to go back and start over; it'll give me a chance to play as Femshep in any case.

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