Mass Effect Speedrun Ideas (360)

jowa

2008-02-27 12:47:58 am

I've just finished my third playthrough on insane mode, that game is quite awesome. I'd love to see a speedrun of it.

xxjuicesxx

Edit history:

xxjuicesxx: 2008-02-27 10:37:28 am

2008-02-27 09:52:02 am

Pwnstar.

Taking a break to finish up the achievements continuing running tomorrow.

I did do a run through on a new game last night and finished Prologue, Citadel, and Therum in under one hour, so as long as Noveria and Feros are under 30 minutes a piece which they definitely are going to be, I don't see 2 hours being unthinkable.

Still deciding if the points wasted on intimidate.charm to get Saren to off himself to skip fight one is worth it timewise giving up all those points in other areas that might be useful.

I think the best way to time the run is after you complete a run go to New Game + and look at the profile you just finished it says your name the level your at and the time of the run.

krael

2008-02-28 01:21:04 am

Verified verifier and hangaround :)

Marksman + pistol = 10 second Saren fight.. (the first one)

I tested it out today, and I managed to kill him in about 10-12 seconds or so. I maxed pistol and I have the spectre master gun.

You could probably do it in a second less, if you manage to use marksman and sabotage in the same time or so. Is it possible to do a shield overload or something?

That would be awesome in that fight, as his HP seems to be alot less compared to his shield.

xxjuicesxx

Edit history:

xxjuicesxx: 2008-02-28 04:15:06 am

2008-02-28 02:25:14 am

Pwnstar.

Quote:

Marksman + pistol = 10 second Saren fight.. (the first one)

I tested it out today, and I managed to kill him in about 10-12 seconds or so. I maxed pistol and I have the spectre master gun.

You could probably do it in a second less, if you manage to use marksman and sabotage in the same time or so. Is it possible to do a shield overload or something?

That would be awesome in that fight, as his HP seems to be alot less compared to his shield.

do you mean the first one at the citadel or the one on virmire? and what difficulty?, i find myself getting him half life then he goes invulnerable for a couple seconds then i can finish him off after. ill try a bunch more i guess.

krael

Edit history:

krael: 2008-02-28 02:56:19 pm

2008-02-28 02:56:02 pm

Verified verifier and hangaround :)

Quote:

do you mean the first one at the citadel or the one on virmire? and what difficulty?, i find myself getting him half life then he goes invulnerable for a couple seconds then i can finish him off after. ill try a bunch more i guess.

The first citadel fight. Sorry that my post was inaccurate Smiley

And It was on normal.

xxjuicesxx

Edit history:

xxjuicesxx: 2008-03-02 01:43:57 am

2008-03-02 01:40:56 am

Pwnstar.

Ok I believe this is my final path.

0 Eden Prime Prologue

Talk to Joker
Citadel Rapid Transport --> Tower
Council Meeting
CRT --> C-Sec
Wrex
Fist
Save Tali
Tower
CRT- C-Sec
Docking Bay

1 Therum

Mako
Geth Armature Attack
Tunnel
Speak to Liara
Activate Laser
Get Liara
Krogan Boss Fight
Normandy

2 Noveria

Speak to Opold
Grab Package
Speak to Anoleis
Run to Mako In Garage
Mako Section
geth destroyer/repair drone fight to elevator
Puzzle Speak to Mira
Roof fix Lines
Reactor
Decontam
Get to Rift
Restricted Area Decrypt
Matriarch
Rift Station to Normandy

3 Feros

Speak to Fai
Secure Tower
Take Elevator to Prothean Skyway
Mako to Drop Spot
Drop Run Straight to Door
PSI Valve to Destroy Claw
Back to Refugee Camp
To Colony
Activate Crane Control
Destroy Thorian
Head to Normandy

4 Virmire

Storm Through Gate 1 , 2, and 3
Speak to Wrex
Head to Base
Secret Entrance Seems Quicker?
Head Back to Bomb
Fight w/ Saren

Return To Citadel

Speak With Council
Speak With Anderson
Steal Normandy

5 Ilos

Fight to Upper Ruins
Disable Security
Head to Mako
Speak to Vigil
Head to Conduit
Scale Tower
Scale Citadel Tower
Saren
Saren Final

Ok I believe this is my final path.

0 Eden Prime Prologue

Talk to Joker
Citadel Rapid Transport --> Tower 
Council Meeting
CRT --> C-Sec
Wrex
Fist
Save Tali
Tower 
CRT- C-Sec
Docking Bay

1 Therum

Mako 
Geth Armature Attack
Tunnel
Speak to Liara
Activate Laser
Get Liara
Krogan Boss Fight
Normandy

2 Noveria

Speak to Opold 
Grab Package
Speak to Anoleis
Run to Mako In Garage
Mako Section
geth destroyer/repair drone fight to elevator 
Puzzle Speak to Mira
Roof fix Lines
Reactor
Decontam
Get to Rift 
Restricted Area Decrypt
Matriarch
Rift Station to Normandy

3 Feros

Speak to Fai 
Secure Tower
Take Elevator to Prothean Skyway
Mako to Drop Spot
Drop Run Straight to Door
PSI Valve to Destroy Claw
Back to Refugee Camp
To Colony
Activate Crane Control
Destroy Thorian
Head to Normandy

4 Virmire

Storm Through Gate 1 , 2, and 3
Speak to Wrex
Head to Base
Secret Entrance Seems Quicker?
Head Back to Bomb
Fight w/ Saren

Return To Citadel

Speak With Council
Speak With Anderson
Steal Normandy

5 Ilos

Fight to Upper Ruins
Disable Security
Head to Mako
Speak to Vigil
Head to Conduit
Scale Tower
Scale Citadel Tower
Saren
Saren Final

xxjuicesxx

2008-03-02 01:41:31 am

Pwnstar.

Also,

I was wondering if anyone could record the way you can get the Mako past that barrier on Therum so you can use it to take down the Armature, The speed and strength will save a lot of time if the glitch doesnt take long to do...

And a video of the using a biotic to skip Nihlus speech, I probably wont do it it seems Nihlus speech can easily be skipped in under a second and I think casting a biotic would take longer...

xxjuicesxx

Edit history:

xxjuicesxx: 2008-03-04 08:33:49 am

2008-03-04 08:10:26 am

Pwnstar.

Finally got all the achievements.

I just did a run in 2:58 but I was still spamming some techs to get the achievements and I was fooling around here and there...

I guess Ill aim for 2:30 , if you have any time savers let me know.

logitechSDAZ

Edit history:

logitechSDAZ: 2008-03-27 10:41:38 pm

2008-03-27 10:40:28 pm

Here's a trick that skips opening a gate on Therum. I did this on normal difficulty and I doubt surviving would be possible on veteran or insane. There must be a faster and easier way to skip this gate that was already found, but I haven't seen any videos on youtube. Anyway, I timed opening the gate vs. using this trick. When opening the gate, I sprinted as much as I could and did it as quickly as possible. Skipping opening the gate only saved 2 seconds, but this can also definitely be done faster than what I did in the video. If there isn't a faster way to skip this gate, then this could be used in a segmented run on normal difficulty. It is frustrating to get the timing down right though.

xxjuicesxx

2008-06-10 09:42:51 pm

Pwnstar.

I'm still quite working on this. I'll have some updates to post in a few days.

Norrin_Radd

2008-06-11 04:46:31 am

I love YaBB 1G - SP1!

Can't wait to see this!

Xagar

2008-06-13 07:23:22 am

Remember, if you get Liara last of the three planets, you can only have to do one mind-meld cutscene. That's about a minute right there. Also, pressing neutral right is the fastest way to end any conversation , pretty much.

Cowboy

2008-06-13 11:00:09 am

Bulletproof Kneecap

Okay, so there's a chance that my Nihlus conversation skip may actually not work. IIRC, some time ago I was playing through the game again and skipped Nihlus's conversation by simply standing there for a while not talking to him.

I dunno. I'll try it out later tonight if I feel like sitting through the intro a few times.

DreaGhost

2008-06-22 05:13:51 am

Canadian Connection

xxjuicesxx, shouldn't saving Liara on Therum be held off to the last possible minute, as to avoid seeing Shepard's vision's consecutively. If it doesn't save much time then I could see why you'd save Liara first, but I think you could take off a fex minutes by not having to see the vision's that would come after completing a mission having Liara NOT part of your crew.

as for the Nihlus conversation skip before Captain Anderson comes in...for the most part skipping the few lines of text he spits at you with just spamming the X button only take's 4 or 5 seconds before Anderson comes in! Although I personally wasn't able to use Cowboy's trick either so I can't comment on how much faster that would actually be.

FractalFusion

Edit history:

FractalFusion: 2008-07-11 11:02:50 pm

2008-07-10 02:56:02 am

I recently did a speedrun of Mass Effect with a final time of 2:35. (Soldier Casual New Game w/ achievements)

With regards to skill points for Soldier, I'm pretty sure leveling Pistol first is the best method. Next should be Assault Training (only to unlock Adrenaline Burst and Fitness), then Fitness, then a secondary weapon (either Assault Rifle or Shotgun though I haven't tested Shotgun). I didn't consider any bonus biotic talent in my playthroughs, so if you have it, level it. Charm/Intimidate is useless since you can't unlock enough slots to skip the Saren fight.

Have the left bumper (when tapped) switch between Pistol and the secondary weapon, and the right bumper mapped to Marksman (this also maps to the skill for any other weapon).

Skipping the extra mind-meld cutscene can be done as well by doing Feros last, so you can get Liara first. However, you have to do Noveria next, and I don't know if it is possible to obtain enough omni-gel to skip the various minigames.

In regards to picking the shortest cutscenes, release the Rachni Queen and have Anderson break into Udina's office. For the Virmire choice, the cutscene is 20 seconds shorter for the bomb site but it takes longer to return to the bomb site (and you have to run through an enemy group twice if you don't kill them).

The Rachni intro cutscene is totally skippable by the way. I try to run by as much as possible.

Edit: I believe it is faster to get Garrus instead of Wrex. Wrex does not show up (presumably) until you first see him in Chora's Den. Citadel Rapid Transit won't let you go to C-Sec directly, so you have to take an elevator there. On the other hand, Transit allows you to go directly to Med Clinic to get Garrus. In addition, not getting Wrex speeds up Virmire since you don't have to go talk to him then.

I recently did a speedrun of Mass Effect with a final time of 2:35. (Soldier Casual New Game w/ achievements)

With regards to skill points for Soldier, I'm pretty sure leveling Pistol first is the best method. Next should be Assault Training (only to unlock Adrenaline Burst and Fitness), then Fitness, then a secondary weapon (either Assault Rifle or Shotgun though I haven't tested Shotgun). I didn't consider any bonus biotic talent in my playthroughs, so if you have it, level it. Charm/Intimidate is useless since you can't unlock enough slots to skip the Saren fight.

Have the left bumper (when tapped) switch between Pistol and the secondary weapon, and the right bumper mapped to Marksman (this also maps to the skill for any other weapon).

Skipping the extra mind-meld cutscene can be done as well by doing Feros last, so you can get Liara first. However, you have to do Noveria next, and I don't know if it is possible to obtain enough omni-gel to skip the various minigames.

In regards to picking the shortest cutscenes, release the Rachni Queen and have Anderson break into Udina's office. For the Virmire choice, the cutscene is 20 seconds shorter for the bomb site but it takes longer to return to the bomb site (and you have to run through an enemy group twice if you don't kill them).

The Rachni intro cutscene is totally skippable by the way. I try to run by as much as possible.

[b]Edit:[/b] I believe it is faster to get Garrus instead of Wrex. Wrex does not show up (presumably) until you first see him in Chora's Den. Citadel Rapid Transit won't let you go to C-Sec directly, so you have to take an elevator there. On the other hand, Transit allows you to go directly to Med Clinic to get Garrus. In addition, not getting Wrex speeds up Virmire since you don't have to go talk to him then.

toxicchicken

2008-07-14 06:08:02 am

Yes, getting Garrus is faster and more XP.. to get Wrex you need to use an elevator, that can't be good Wink

I think the AR is the best weapon to go with, as it works well at any distance. Pistol + SG might be ok too, but Pistol can only compete with the AR damage when it's maxed (master marksman).

I doubt you will find enough omni-gel for the Tower of Hanoi thing, even if you do Noveria last.. except you want to convert some equipment, but that might be as time consuming..

It seems like most people go for New Game with existing Profile => probably all Achievements.
I suggest Barrier as bonus skill. It helps in the beginning until you get Immunity. By then you're unstoppable anyways -_-

xxjuicesxx

2008-07-14 06:33:43 pm

Pwnstar.

Right now I'm slowly going through the game using this glitch to see if I can find any major skips or breaks.

Maglok

2008-07-17 04:22:04 am

Dum die dum

Your saying pistols skill? Pistols aren't that good, why pistols if your a soldier?

I'd help out with ideas, but I bought the PC version and as you might know it crashes all the time untill they patch it. Thousands of people complaining. I did manage to get in pretty far, but I am waiting till patch.

your_name_here

Edit history:

your_name_here: 2009-02-15 12:25:49 pm

2009-02-15 10:16:10 am

Here's my idea for a route on NG+, Insanity. I've still got some questions, though.
I don't know what class to do. Maybe soldier/shock trooper/barrier. Although, my Adept/Bastion/Shotgun seems to be doing fairly well. I have barrier on hotkey. Groups of enemies can be bypassed with singularity, and bosses are easily dispatched with stasis, warp, then carnage. The radial menus will eat up a lot of time, though.

General:
Saving and reloading will fully heal the mako.
Grenades can be used to damage yourself, to enter combat mode, so that you can run at combat speed. This is useful in places like the citadel and the first part of noveria, where there is very little combat.
Do you even run any faster holding A while out of combat?

Pre run:
Get to 60
Set level up to auto to save time on leveling squad mates.

Eden prime:
Fairly straightforward.

Citadel:

travel to tower->meeting
travel to chora's den->talk to harkin
travel to med clinic->get garrus
Set team as ashley/garrus
travel to chora's den-> take out fist -> save tali
travel to tower->become spectre
travel to C-Sec
Say no to Wrex joining you->take elevator and leave

Noveria:

Get package from opold
give package to anoleis
go to garage, and run past the geth to the mako
you can skip a cutscene in the second area of peak 15 by running straight for the elevator instead of killing the geth
Use omni gel to bypass mira puzzle
Roof
Reactor
hack into door of decontamination chamber
go to rift
skip fight with rachni.
hack door in back
kill benezia
Which cutscene is faster, saving the queen, or killing it?
leave

Feros

Talk to fai dan
Clear tower
report back to fai dan
take elevator to highway
drop the geth ship
go to refugee camp->agree to use grenades
tell squad to not use grenades
kill colonists, meleeing them when possible
go down to thorian
kill thorian
spare asari
go back to ship

Virmire:
tell kaidan to go with kirahee
Use right(main) entrance to base
Go back to ashley

Therum:
Not much to say. Kill enemies, save liara

Citadel
Travel to flux (Dunno if this is possible without having been there before)
Tell anderson to use console in udina's office (Pretty sure this cutscene is faster)

Ilos:
Again, fairly straightforward.

Citadel:
In the area where the path splits, take the left path (the one right next to the elevator shaft)
Get saren to kill himself
Which cutscene is faster, saving the ascension or letting them die?
Kill zombie saren

I'm pretty sure the timer stops right after the final saren battle (There's a save point there, I'm assuming that's when it makes the completed game save), so the convo afterwards doesn't affect time. If it does, I think the convo you get for saving the council is faster (Less unskippable dialogue)

Here's my idea for a route on NG+, Insanity. I've still got some questions, though.
I don't know what class to do. Maybe soldier/shock trooper/barrier. Although, my Adept/Bastion/Shotgun seems to be doing fairly well. I have barrier on hotkey. Groups of enemies can be bypassed with singularity, and bosses are easily dispatched with stasis, warp, then carnage. The radial menus will eat up a lot of time, though.

General:
Saving and reloading will fully heal the mako.
Grenades can be used to damage yourself, to enter combat mode, so that you can run at combat speed. This is useful in places like the citadel and the first part of noveria, where there is very little combat.
[i]Do you even run any faster holding A while out of combat?[/i]

Pre run:
Get to 60
Set level up to auto to save time on leveling squad mates.

Eden prime:
Fairly straightforward.

Citadel:

travel to tower->meeting
travel to chora's den->talk to harkin
travel to med clinic->get garrus
Set team as ashley/garrus
travel to chora's den-> take out fist -> save tali
travel to tower->become spectre
travel to C-Sec
Say no to Wrex joining you->take elevator and leave

Noveria:

Get package from opold
give package to anoleis
go to garage, and run past the geth to the mako
you can skip a cutscene in the second area of peak 15 by running straight for the elevator instead of killing the geth
Use omni gel to bypass mira puzzle
Roof
Reactor
hack into door of decontamination chamber
go to rift
skip fight with rachni.
hack door in back
kill benezia
[i]Which cutscene is faster, saving the queen, or killing it?[/i]
leave

Feros

Talk to fai dan
Clear tower
report back to fai dan
take elevator to highway
drop the geth ship
go to refugee camp->agree to use grenades
tell squad to not use grenades
kill colonists, meleeing them when possible
go down to thorian
kill thorian
spare asari
go back to ship

Virmire:
tell kaidan to go with kirahee
Use right(main) entrance to base
Go back to ashley

Therum:
Not much to say. Kill enemies, save liara

Citadel
[i]Travel to flux (Dunno if this is possible without having been there before)[/i]
Tell anderson to use console in udina's office (Pretty sure this cutscene is faster)

Ilos:
Again, fairly straightforward.

Citadel:
In the area where the path splits, take the left path (the one right next to the elevator shaft)
Get saren to kill himself
[i]Which cutscene is faster, saving the ascension or letting them die?[/i]
Kill zombie saren

I'm pretty sure the timer stops right after the final saren battle (There's a save point there, I'm assuming that's when it makes the completed game save), so the convo afterwards doesn't affect time. If it does, I think the convo you get for saving the council is faster (Less unskippable dialogue)

Knever

2009-02-16 10:47:33 pm

I love YaBB 1G - SP1!

Just letting you guys know that I would be incredibly interested in a run of this. Sorry I don't have any tips, but keep working on it ^_^

your_name_here

2009-02-17 08:38:46 am

I just did a quick run through of my build. A few problems I had:
Spending way too much time in the radial menu. Does the PC version allow for multiple hotkeys? The Bastion build was very effective otherwise. I one shotted benezia with warp/carnage, and was able to bypass many, many enemies with singularity.
Similarly, I spend way too much time on the thorian nodes. I just read up on it, and it seems to be that killing creepers makes the nodes less resistant to damage, so it probably isn't my build, but my strategy for that segment. I normally use singularity to bypass creepers instead of killing them. I could try killing them by throwing them off the edge, which is pretty much what I did for benezia's henchmen. I'd alternate between putting a singularity over an edge, and the lift/throw combo.
It's going to be a bitch to time some things on feros. There are two consoles that you have to use that aren't usable when in combat. If you try activating them before combat is over, you waste like 4 seconds on a dialogue box. I guess I'll just try to stick with wating until I get the audio cue from my squadmates before trying to start them, even though the cues come well after (maybe 2-3 seconds) combat actually ends. I might be able to time the zhu's hope one properly, as that segment would be pretty short and easy otherwise.

drrob

2009-02-17 09:44:47 am

I normally don't keep defaults, but I do love SDA!

Quote from your_name_here:

Here's my idea for a route on NG+, Insanity. I've still got some questions, though.
I don't know what class to do. Maybe soldier/shock trooper/barrier. Although, my Adept/Bastion/Shotgun seems to be doing fairly well. I have barrier on hotkey. Groups of enemies can be bypassed with singularity, and bosses are easily dispatched with stasis, warp, then carnage. The radial menus will eat up a lot of time, though.

G

I don't think SDA allows NG+ until a regular version has been posted. You might want to check with a mod before you invest all that time.

Carcinogen

2009-02-17 12:49:19 pm

ARGGG

Nobody reads the rules anymore. SDA got rid of that rule a long long time ago.

your_name_here

2009-02-17 02:51:28 pm

Well, I don't even have a method of recording it yet, so it'll be a while before I can even start putting in the long hours. Plus, my build would be better suited for the PC version, which allows you to bind 8 biotic powers to hotkeys, avoiding the pausing associated with using them. So, I'll probably hold this off till I get a new computer.

FractalFusion

2009-02-18 12:38:43 pm

Quote from your_name_here:

Which cutscene is faster, saving the queen, or killing it?

Definitely saving the queen.

Quote from your_name_here:

Travel to flux (Dunno if this is possible without having been there before)

It's possible (through Rapid Transit, you mean).