Shotgun and Pistol, and the upgraded/upskilled pistol kicks ass.
Per Muzyka’s advice, I went with Vanguard. And by the endgame, a modified high-level pistol and shotgun is indeed a powerful combo. I can tag fools from afar with the pistol/marksman, and whip out the shotgun to end them if one sneaks up on me (I’m all about polonium or incendiary VII rounds).
Also, one thing I didn’t expect – and that the manual doesn’t mention, nor any of the writeups I deliberately ignored – is that the skill tree has all kinds of special perks in it. Upskill your Warp enough and it becomes Master Warp with big bonuses. Upskill your shotgun enough and you get Carnage, an ultra-blast power. This makes pretty much all the skill trees more interesting, including the biotics; the powers improve qualitatively, not just quantitatively.
Also the shotgun seems to have some seriously long range, this isn’t Quake where you have to be within ten feet to use it at all.
I have 215 more posts on QT3 than NMA.
Quantity is not quality. So, why are you playing a game you don’t like?
Another possible reason in favor of going straight soldier: as I understand it, you can use tech skills and biotics that your teammates possess, but you can’t as directly control their weapon use. In other words, being a solider doesn’t mean you don’t get to use spells, it just means you cast them through a teammate.
This would also be a reason NOT to go tech/mage, because doing so only takes away the variety of weapons you can use as a soldier, with no real benefits (you only gain the use of skills/spells that a solider can use/cast through his teammates anyway).
Now, there must be something wrong with this argument, because it would mean there’s really no reason to play anything but a solider. Is there some tangible difference between casting a spell through your main guy versus through a teammate that I’m missing?
I might restart as a soldier myself. Just feeling more inclined to shoot stuff than micro-everything my first run through. Plus, I’ve seen some chinks in my custom face design that I wish I could change, and it’s hard not to focus on them in every conversation.
I just created a soldier:
I haven’t really gotten any further than that, but when I get home from work…
I agree, too, and because of that, this is one of the few RPGs where I’ve been inclined to role play a character as something other than my own personality. I think they’ve done a really good job with it.
I went with Infiltrator my first runthrough and rerolled because as a newbie, using the sniper rifle SUCKS LARGE QUANTITIES OF HINDQUARTERS. Rerolled as a soldier, run up to things while holding down the trigger of an assault rifle, it’s all good.
The sniper rifle rocks when you have skilled it up a little bit; unfortunately, there are not many opportunities for sniping throughout the game.
Pistols, however, are awesome.
David Gaider didn’t work on this game so I had some hope.
I guess I’m supposed to know what that means, but I don’t. Google to the rescue!
It would appear that David Gaider is a writer for Bioware who, according to this post on the LucasArts forum, has worked on:
• “Baldur’s Gate 2” (my major contributions being much of Athkatla, the Drow city in the Underdark, and three of the four romances – Aerie, Viconia and Anomen, as well as other party members)
• “Throne of Bhaal” (my first time as Lead Writer)
• “Knights of the Old Republic” (my contributions being Korriban and some of the major characters – Carth, HK-47, Jolee Bindo and Bastila’s romance)
• “Neverwinter Nights” (to a lesser degree, my work is mostly in Chapter 2)
• “Shadows of Undrentide” (much of Chapter 1, including Deekin)
• “Hordes of the Underdark” (the critical path was mine, and I wrote both Deekin and Valen)
So let’s review: You don’t like a guy who wrote dialogue for HK-47 - ONE OF THE FUNNIEST CHARACTERS IN THE HISTORY OF GAMING.
Fear not, Draikin: no matter how many posts you ever make here, you’ll always be a true NMAer.
I <3 madkevin!
The sniper rifle kicks a lot of ass, once you skill up and slap a recoil stabalizer in it. I’m one shotting every geth I see, and it took out that armature real nice.
I’m thinking I’ll try an infiltrator. However, I think it would be fun to play an Engineer. I’ve just yet to discover any compelling reason to do so. Thoughts?
Oh, is that why you can be a ‘renegade’ in this game without coming off like a 15 year old high school jerk?
To be fair, Carth.
I stipulate that HK-47 easily trumps Carth.
Sneering Assertion: Those who do not understand the genius of the HK series of diplomacy droids are cluless meatbags. Master. Sir.