Datamining the Trilogy (AKA Things That Were Cut)

What Noel said: Also new "Platinum" difficulty. It's up for download on Xbox and Origin right now.

It would be awesome if you could finally spend your credits on what you WANT/NEED...not this lottery BS.
Man, soooo frustrating.
Guess we'll all know in a bit.

Nice work Noel! What's the bet that that 'buy anything' will be using real money not in-game credits?

That's exactly what I fear...anything else would be too good to be true. And it only makes sense business-wise.
Or the prices are going to be insanely high. (if you pay with credits)

London and Rio have brand-new skyboxes, very detailed, very pretty. Most of the other textures are recycled, notably Rio uses a lot of the Citadel's textures; while the other two cities - from their SP iterations.

No hidden weapons this time out, sorry.

Ohh.... see. I just read random posts. Anyone in chatrooms with me knows very well that I read things in pieces and thus misread. Teehee.

And uh, platinum? Well, for me to play that would be assuming that I can survive Gold. So uhm, yeah.... I'll eventually get back into some MP for socialization. For now... I'll wait and see what people have to say about it... and we all know that people will say plenty here.

Any hints on Singleplayer content?

None so far. Haven't torn everything apart yet. Played the DLC, item store not in sight. Sad.

There is no "pay for what I want store," but there might be one coming in the future if it's in the files.

This one is overall very much higher quality than the previous pack. I was delighted with it when I played it this weekend at the BioWare base at SDCC...though the Shadow is a bit disappointing.

Platinum is a new kind of pain. Whether it's good pain or bad pain depends on how a) good you are, b) good your team is and c) how much you like a challenge. Lol. I got to Wave 5 on it at SDCC but it was so brutal. But, I can say it's not a chore, at least. They keep things interesting. The first time I attempted it, it was Firebase Goddess with Reapers, and we had five banshees and three brutes right off the bat on Wave 1. None of us were prepared (and I was playing the Shadow XD) and we died within the first few minutes.

Is the Shadow the new infiltrator? If so, my mate (one of those guys who has maxed everything) reckons it's the best thing ever - properly spec'd it's able to one shot melee phantoms.

The Shadow Strike is great when no one else is hanging around to shoot you while the insanely long animation does its thing. Lol.

Haha ah gotcha. So people will love it on bronze but it's a high risk/high reward move for gold.

Yeeeah....high-risk, high-reward doesn't suit a stealth class very well. Lol. Especially not at 500/500.

I wonder if there's a way to datamine the Platinum level stuff...I wonder how it all works since you have a main enemy, but any enemy from any faction can show up.

Well, I've seen people editing "army lists", but I've never looked into them. I'm sure someone has already laid these out bare in the MP forum on the BSN. I'll look into studying these soon-ish, OK?

No problem, bud, take your time. It's more for curiosity's sake than anything else.

Chewing on the TLK files:

"Resupply" messages from announcer. WTF?

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<string>
<id>747415</id>
<position>250</position>
<data>Supply drop in play.</data>
</string>
<string>
<id>747416</id>
<position>251</position>
<data>Dropped some supplies.</data>
</string>
<string>
<id>747417</id>
<position>252</position>
<data>Resupply in play.</data>
</string>
<string>
<id>747418</id>
<position>253</position>
<data>Resupply on the field.</data>
</string>
<string>
<id>747419</id>
<position>254</position>
<data>Supply drop on-site.</data>
</string>
<string>
<id>747420</id>
<position>255</position>
<data>Supplies have been dropped.</data>
</string>
<string>
<id>747421</id>
<position>256</position>
<data>Resources dropped and in play.</data>
</string>
<string>
<id>747422</id>
<position>257</position>
<data>Resources on the field.</data>
</string>
<string>
<id>747423</id>
<position>258</position>
<data>Supply drop in target area.</data>
</string>
<string>
<id>747424</id>
<position>259</position>
<data>Resupply in target area.</data>
</string>
<string>
<id>-2146736223</id>
<position>260</position>
<data>-1</data>
</string>
<string>
<id>747426</id>
<position>261</position>
<data>You got 'em.</data>
</string>
<string>
<id>747427</id>
<position>262</position>
<data>Resupply achieved.</data>
</string>
<string>
<id>747428</id>
<position>263</position>
<data>Resupply successful.</data>
</string>
<string>
<id>747429</id>
<position>264</position>
<data>Supplies picked up.</data>
</string>
<string>
<id>747430</id>
<position>265</position>
<data>Hand 'em out.</data>
</string>
<string>
<id>747431</id>
<position>266</position>
<data>Stock up and reload.</data>
</string>
<string>
<id>747432</id>
<position>267</position>
<data>Resources out of play.</data>
</string>
<string>
<id>747433</id>
<position>268</position>
<data>Supplies out of play.</data>
</string>
<string>
<id>747434</id>
<position>269</position>
<data>Pickup completed.</data>
</string>
<string>
<id>747435</id>
<position>270</position>
<data>Pickup achieved.</data>
</string>

An... intro speech?! I now have to check whether it's voiced.

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<string>
<id>765393</id>
<position>434</position>
<data>The Reapers hit us first, and they hit without warning.</data>
</string>
<string>
<id>765394</id>
<position>435</position>
<data>While the rest of the galaxy gathers strength to fight a final battle...</data>
</string>
<string>
<id>765395</id>
<position>436</position>
<data>A few us remain behind...</data>
</string>
<string>
<id>765396</id>
<position>437</position>
<data>To hold the line.</data>
</string>
<string>
<id>765397</id>
<position>438</position>
<data>To keep what's left of Earth free.</data>
</string>
<string>
<id>765398</id>
<position>439</position>
<data>Or die trying.</data>
</string>
<string>
<id>765399</id>
<position>440</position>
<data>This is it - today - all the training... all the sacrifices. This is why you do this.</data>
</string>
<string>
<id>765400</id>
<position>441</position>
<data>You are the elite. You are the future of Earth.</data>
</string>
<string>
<id>765401</id>
<position>442</position>
<data>The fleets are gathering, but until they come back... we're on our own.</data>
</string>
<string>
<id>765402</id>
<position>443</position>
<data>The Reapers attacked Earth because they knew we were a threat.</data>
</string>
<string>
<id>765403</id>
<position>444</position>
<data>But they don't know the half of it.</data>
</string>
<string>
<id>765404</id>
<position>445</position>
<data>Earth is ours.</data>
</string>
<string>
<id>765405</id>
<position>446</position>
<data>And if they want it... </data>
</string>
<string>
<id>765406</id>
<position>447</position>
<data>They'll have to go through us to get it!</data>
</string>

There are also new Leviathan strings. We apparently have to TRACE A SIGNAL across the galaxy map, playing "warmer, colder" until we find the correct planet.

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<string>
<id>755658</id>
<position>125</position>
<data>We have located Ann Bryson's dig site.</data>
</string>
<string>
<id>755659</id>
<position>126</position>
<data>We have located Garneau.</data>
</string>
<string>
<id>755660</id>
<position>127</position>
<data>There is no sign of Ann Bryson in this system.</data>
</string>
<string>
<id>755661</id>
<position>128</position>
<data>Garneau is not located in this system.</data>
</string>
<string>
<id>755662</id>
<position>129</position>
<data>These coordinates match our trace of Leviathan.</data>
</string>
<string>
<id>755663</id>
<position>130</position>
<data>No sign of Leviathan at these coordinates.</data>
</string>

Also a lot of repeats of LI dialogue from the previous DLC, nothing new that I can tell.

That intro speech is from the Earth DLC trailer and it's Anderson giving it:

Should be an epic trailer with Anderson voicing it but I involuntarily think about the ending whenever I see anything Mass Effect related now and am immediately filled with thoughts of the Starchild and feelings of 'meh'.

Not sure why the trailer VO is in the DLC though?

Well, it is epic. But the ending...

Yes, the idea is great, but the execution is visibly lacking. I feel meh as you. I try to concentrate in the cool things, and then Im struck with the question "for what?". Mass Effect is like smoking tobacco for me now. The sense of pleasure is easily discarded as I think on the ill consequences at the long run. I'll avoid ME3 as I avoid cigarettes.

Nothing new from the DLC front, so here's some picktures instead.

First up, didja know ME1 was supposed to have character thumbnails like ME2 eventually did? With the little portraits? Well, even if it wasn't, they WERE made. Observe:

There's also two obviously ME2-ones (different style, plus they're stored in a different place). One is Scarred Garrus, but the other?


Note how they have faces both for Proto Caveman Shep (first design review) and Ezio Auditore Shep (aka pre-Sheploo Sheploo) but not Sheploo. Tells you all you need to know, really.

Next up: ME1. Didja know how the galaxy map was going to look? Well, let the game tell you!


And finally back to ME3. Remember those ads on the Citadel? Here they are. While I remember SOME of them, the ones with the Shadow Broker and the pistol don't look very familiar to me. Like, at all. Bonus: parchment with ancient script! I assume it's Quarian as it looks similar to the stuff in Hock's vault in ME2. (For clarification, Asari script is on the Armali poster; and it's the same one on the Armax, Gun and Broker pictures)












Thoughts, comments, requests?