MP affecting the SP

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#1 Sat, 03/10/2012 - 18:23
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MP affecting the SP

I've heard that the only way to get the best possible ending is to play the MP.  Is this true?  I sincerely hope not.  It is possible to prepare the Galaxy enough through the single player experience to ensure the best outcome?

Sat, 03/10/2012 - 19:08
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No, you HAVE to play the MP. I won't go into spoilers or anything, but with just the campaign alone you cannot get enough resources for the best ending. Playing the MP raises your glactic readiness, which is basically just a multiplier for the stuff you collect in game. Even if you made the best choices in ME1 and 2 and collected everything in 3 without the MP you cannot get enough stuff for the best ending. Apparently this was a BioWare decision to help combat piracy since a stolen copy of the game can't play online.

Sat, 03/10/2012 - 19:55 (Reply to #2)
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KamakazeTaco wrote:

No, you HAVE to play the MP. I won't go into spoilers or anything, but with just the campaign alone you cannot get enough resources for the best ending. Playing the MP raises your glactic readiness, which is basically just a multiplier for the stuff you collect in game. Even if you made the best choices in ME1 and 2 and collected everything in 3 without the MP you cannot get enough stuff for the best ending. Apparently this was a BioWare decision to help combat piracy since a stolen copy of the game can't play online.

 

Are you sure? You can still raise your galactic readiness by doing side missions, N7 missions, scanning planets, etc. I could have sworn I read you can still do the endgame without doing MP. 

 

Oh and there are no "best" endings. 

Sat, 03/10/2012 - 22:43 (Reply to #3)
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Barheet wrote:

KamakazeTaco wrote:

No, you HAVE to play the MP. I won't go into spoilers or anything, but with just the campaign alone you cannot get enough resources for the best ending. Playing the MP raises your glactic readiness, which is basically just a multiplier for the stuff you collect in game. Even if you made the best choices in ME1 and 2 and collected everything in 3 without the MP you cannot get enough stuff for the best ending. Apparently this was a BioWare decision to help combat piracy since a stolen copy of the game can't play online.

 

Are you sure? You can still raise your galactic readiness by doing side missions, N7 missions, scanning planets, etc. I could have sworn I read you can still do the endgame without doing MP. 

 

Oh and there are no "best" endings. 

 

 

That's what I remember reading too.  I'll have to search for the article, but I swear I remember reading that you don't need to play multiplayer to get all the different endings, as long as you're thorough in SP.  

Sat, 03/10/2012 - 23:05 (Reply to #4)
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OMGaLaserPewPew wrote:
That's what I remember reading too.  I'll have to search for the article, but I swear I remember reading that you don't need to play multiplayer to get all the different endings, as long as you're thorough in SP.  

 

That is correct, here is a post saying you don't need to play any MP to get the "best" ending.

Sun, 03/11/2012 - 08:29 (Reply to #5)
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Jedi_Kez wrote:

OMGaLaserPewPew wrote:
That's what I remember reading too.  I'll have to search for the article, but I swear I remember reading that you don't need to play multiplayer to get all the different endings, as long as you're thorough in SP.  

 

That is correct, here is a post saying you don't need to play any MP to get the "best" ending.

 

And here http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/03/06/mass-effect-3-war-assets-and-readiness... is the explanation of how that works. Because your galactic readiness is at 50% unless you play the MP, every war asset you get in game is only half of what it should be. So without playing the MP you HAVE to get a perfect game. Find every single bit of salvage and tech and what not, get every paragon/renegade choice, you can't miss anything. Playing the MP lets you get full value for your stuff and makes the "best" ending possible.

 

But that's your call. Personally I'd rather just play a round or two of the MP a day with some buddies then chill with the campaign instead of having to scan every inch of every map for anything I can click on.

Sat, 03/10/2012 - 22:26 (Reply to #6)
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KamakazeTaco wrote:

No, you HAVE to play the MP. I won't go into spoilers or anything, but with just the campaign alone you cannot get enough resources for the best ending. Playing the MP raises your glactic readiness, which is basically just a multiplier for the stuff you collect in game. Even if you made the best choices in ME1 and 2 and collected everything in 3 without the MP you cannot get enough stuff for the best ending. Apparently this was a BioWare decision to help combat piracy since a stolen copy of the game can't play online.

 

If this is true, it is going to seriously tick me off.  I have devoted hours to this game.  I have run through the previous two with three characters.  I have gotten every item and completed every mission.  I should not be forced to spend time in a multiplayer experience just to achieve the best single player ending to the trilogy. 

 

If they want to tack on a multiplayer component, fine, but, to make it crucial to having the most complete single player experience, is complete crap.

 

 

Sun, 03/11/2012 - 01:05
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It's my understanding that you can get the best ending without playing MP.  However when you play MP and level a guy to 20 you can 'send him into' your SP game and deploy him as an asset of war.  That gives you 75 points towards your SP readiness level.  So if you play a lot of MP you can send a bunch of bad asses into your game and practically skip all the side missions and still be 100% ready (from what i understand, i personlly haven't spend more than 20 minutes in SP ).

 

 

Sun, 03/11/2012 - 09:19
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You won't need to collect EVERYTHING in SP to get the best ending:

Quote:
You can maximize your EMS just by collecting War Assets in the single-player game. There is a certain threshhold of these you would need to exceed (I can't get too specific) but I can tell you there are MORE than the required amount that can be gathered in the single-player campaign.

Sun, 03/11/2012 - 09:36
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This seems like a good page that has what all the possible endings are:

http://www.ign.com/wikis/mass-effect-3/Endings

 

There are 8 and 8, depending on whether the collector base was destroyed in ME2. (Also a "secret" ending if you beat the game twice). To get the "best" endind with each way, you need 5000 on your galactic readiness. Here are the different levels:

< 1750

1750

2050

2350

2650

2800

4000

5000

 

The above site has spoilers (I didn't read any of them), but they are hidden behind a spoiler button so you won't read them unless you click.

Sun, 03/11/2012 - 11:20
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I don't know if I believe that you raise your readiness without doing MP.  I am now level 45ish, have done every single side mission (I have OCD about side missions), scanned every possible system open to me (occupied and not occupied) and seems like I am getting fairly well progressed now in the story line and my readiness is at 51%.

 

That said, yesterday, it was at 52%, and it only went to 52% after I played MP for the very first time.  It was still 50% about 12 hours into the game.  I had a few minutes to kill and jumped into MP for just a minute, completed like 5 waves or so, and checked again and I was at 52%.  I not only think that you NEED to do MP to achieve MAX, but that you need to do it every so often or your level deteriorates...at least mine did in the first little bit.  Whether or not the "ideal" outcome for what you want the story ending to be is achievable is another thing....I can't comment on that since I haven't completed it.

Sun, 03/11/2012 - 12:01
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Hmmm, I can't edit my own posts... anyway, when I said Galactic Readiness, it should actually read "Effective Military Strength". It's that value that should be at 5000 to get the best endings.

 

The Readiness Rating is strickly the value from playing MP. 50% is the lowest. This % value is used to figure out your "Effective Military Strength" based on your "Total Military Strength" asset.

 

Fade: What is your "Effective Military Strength" at right now? 

Mon, 03/12/2012 - 10:49 (Reply to #12)
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Jedi_Kez wrote:

Hmmm, I can't edit my own posts... anyway, when I said Galactic Readiness, it should actually read "Effective Military Strength". It's that value that should be at 5000 to get the best endings.

 

The Readiness Rating is strickly the value from playing MP. 50% is the lowest. This % value is used to figure out your "Effective Military Strength" based on your "Total Military Strength" asset.

 

Fade: What is your "Effective Military Strength" at right now? 

 

The green bar is almost full. I don't remember the number exactly, but I do know that the bar was close to max. I think I'm going to do so MP this week anyway and get a couple achievement and then go with whatever that readiness is at that time. 

Mon, 03/12/2012 - 11:21 (Reply to #13)
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FadeIntoBlack wrote:
The green bar is almost full. I don't remember the number exactly, but I do know that the bar was close to max. I think I'm going to do so MP this week anyway and get a couple achievement and then go with whatever that readiness is at that time. 

 

My green bar is full now, and my total value was somewhere in the 3000s, not at the 5000 needed for the best ending. Not sure how far along I am in the game, but I did just finish the Shroud mission on Tuchanka. I've done almost all the side missions and system scans I could do at that point too.

Sun, 03/11/2012 - 18:21
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Ive also noticed that the % you get in MP fades after a while too. I was at 100% for one of the galaxys the other night, then didnt play for 24 hours and it dropped to 92%

Mon, 03/12/2012 - 09:10 (Reply to #15)
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LadyisRed wrote:

Ive also noticed that the % you get in MP fades after a while too. I was at 100% for one of the galaxys the other night, then didnt play for 24 hours and it dropped to 92%

 

Well yeah. They want you to keep playing MP and hopefully buy some of those Spectre packs for 160 MSP. 

Mon, 03/12/2012 - 09:11
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I did notice after starting an entirely new game with a new imported character (Not NG+) that my galactic readiness carried over. So apparently it doesn't matter what character you use, your galactice readiness is at least partially determined by your MP progress. 

Mon, 03/12/2012 - 10:40
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Your Readiness can never fall below 50%, 50% is the bottom.  I don't know about single player but in multiplayer your readiness starts to decrease as soon as you turn the game off.  It'll fall a like 1 or 2 % a day until it hits 50% if you stop playing.

Mon, 03/12/2012 - 11:23
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Not to be a party pooper, but the only thing all these "galactic readiness" stuff changes is the story part of the ending. You can finish the game without party members dying with the bare minimum of galactic readiness. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's my take on it. 

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