Mass Effect for Xbox 360
FAQ/Walkthrough

Author: Jason “nimerjm” Nimer
Version: .01
FAQ Start Date: November 21, 2007
FAQ Completion Date: ?

Author’s Note: Welcome to the world’s best, most complete
FAQ/Guide/Walkthrough for Bioware’s truly epic Xbox 360 opus - Mass
Effect. Like a lot of Bioware’s past games, Mass Effect is all about
choices; good, evil… it is entirely in your hands. Another commonality
Mass Effect shares with past Bioware RPGs is that it is truly, almost
unbelievably massive in scope. Due to these facts, this guide will be a
constantly evolving creature; with both the paths to good and evil fully
explored over time. Know this, reader – you may have your doubts about
diving into such an involved and complex game, but stick with me and when it
is over, you’ll at least have had the option to see and do everything in
the game. Enjoy!

*Table Of Contents

-Introduction
-Table Of Contents
-Legal Information
-The Basics Of Mass Effect
-The Walkthrough
    *Getting Started
    *Prologue
    *Citadel
    *Artimus Tau
    *Feros
    *Noveria
    *Virmire
    *Citadel (Second Visit)
    *Ilos
    *Citadel (Third Visit)   
-Endgame
-The Assignment FAQ
    *Planetary Assignments
    *UNC Assignments
    *Other Assignments
-Xbox 360 Achievements
-Cheats, Secrets And Glitches
-Thanks
-Closing

*Note: This walkthrough will stick more toward the “good” side of
Mass Effect. The “evil” walkthrough can be found both as a
separate file at IGN.com and (possibly) attached to this file. There is quite
a bit of overlap between the two and both paths lead to some very exciting
places. No one is all good or all bad (I’m living proof…), so feel
free to jump between the walkthroughs as necessary. Ok… let’s get
started!

*Legal Information

Ugh… the most boring part of every FAQ. This is the part where I say
that this guide can only be used, in full or in part, by IGN.com under the
penalty of lawsuit and/or a Wet Willy. This guide is not to be altered in any
way with my express written permission and no one is allowed to profit off my
work except me. If what you are planning to do with this guide feels shady,
you probably shouldn’t do it.

*Basics Of Mass Effect

**COMING SOON**

*The Walkthrough

*Getting Started

Mass Effect’s title screen brings up two options – Start New
Campaign and Extras. If you’re like me, you’ll want to poke around
the Extras menu for a moment, looking at achievement points and such. When
you’re ready, start a new campaign.

Note: Mass Effect’s character customization is crazy deep. I’ll be
letting you know what I choose; just so you can have a frame of reference is
my guide differs from your experience with the game.

The first option the game gives you is the ability to name your character.
John Shepard is the default name (and also the name I’ll be using for
this guide), but change it if you want to. This is also the step where you can
choose between a male and a female lead character. The next step is to choose
your origin. You get three back story options – Spacer (the ‘One
Tin Soldier’), Colonist (the ‘Luke Skywalker’) and Earthborn
(the ‘Aladdin’).

After that, you’ll choose your reputation. Your choices are Sole
Survivor (the ‘Ripley’), War Hero (the ‘Rambo’) and
Ruthless (the ‘Wolverine’). The next step is picking your military
skill. These vary quite a bit, so just read the attributes that come with each
one. These little nicknames have nothing to do with the game; they’re
just funny and can be used to accurately describe each of the Hollywood hack
back stories. I thought the writers were on strike… well, after reading
these, I can’t blame them.

Lastly, you’ll have the option to customize your character’s
facial appearance. There are a whole bunch of options here (think Elder
Scrolls: Oblivion, but more complex). If you don’t care, you can also
use the pre-made face by selecting the Confirm Appearance choice. Change what
you don’t like, stick with what you do and hit A to confirm your choices.

Here is the breakdown of your choices, their order and what I did personally
(just for a frame of reference):

*Name – John Shepard
*Gender – Male
*Back story – Spacer
*Psych profile – War Hero
*Military profile – Soldier
*Facial features – Default

Beware – once you’ve confirmed, there is no going back. Make sure
you like what you’ve got before moving on.

The last step in the process is choosing all your standard video game options,
such as difficulty level, auto aim and various other stuff. The only setting
that makes a difference for the purposes of this guide is the difficulty. I
chose Normal; so if things are a lot different in the other difficulty
settings, let me know. Hit A when you are good to go and begin the game.

Note: One last thing before we begin. Since this is the “good”
side of the walkthrough and your “good/evil” orientation in the
game hinges on your conversation wheel responses and actions, know that in the
choice-based scenarios, I’ll be choosing the “good” answers
and actions. You should be able to figure this stuff out for yourself –
if your two dialogue/action choices are, “Let’s help that
guy” or “Screw him,” guess which is the “good”
one. This might be confusing now, but you’ll understand in a few minutes.

*Prologue

After a short scene, you’ll get your first crack at the conversation
wheel. This basically uses the left analog stick to choose your verbal
responses to non-player characters (NPC). Since this is the “good”
walkthrough, try not to be too much of a jerk. These two guys, Joker and
Kaiden, will let you know that you need to go speak with the ship’s
captain. Head down the hallway ahead of you, speak to few people here and
there if you feel like it (the conversation with Chakwas and Jenkins can net
you a small item if your conversational answers please them).

Keep moving forward and speak with the Spectre, Nihlus, an alien who seems to
have some secrets. The captain will come in eventually and everyone seems to
know what is going on – except you. Eventually, you’ll be told to
get to the cargo hold, prepare and get ready to touch down at an Alliance base
called Eden Prime. They’ve been attacked, so it is up to you to find out
how, why and who did it.

Now you’ll find yourself on this new planet, Eden Prime. This part of
the game serves as a tutorial (sort of), so be paying attention to the info
boxes that game will show from time to time. Also, from the pause screen, you
can check and recheck most of this info, along with your objectives, your map
and everything else in your Codex and Journal.

Before you do anything, take a minute to check out the controls and how they
work. Checking the controls against either this guide or the instruction
booklet will provide invaluable. Go ahead and check… I’ll wait.
For some reason, Mass Effect simply expects the player to start the game with
extensive knowledge of how it controls. Whatever… reading the
instructions won’t kill you. Just so you understand, here is a link to a
Penny Arcade comic lampooning this very problem –

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2007/11/19

Once you feel you’ve got a good handle on things, you’ll want to
go forward and down the hill to meet a few enemies. I think I remember these
guys… did anyone else play Halo 3? Take out all three and head to your
right to find a rockslide dead-end and a white capsule on the ground. These
Upgrade Kits are the treasure chests of the Mass Effect world. Grab the items,
turn around and head to the left side of the area to trigger a small scene.

After the scene, you’ll get your first taste of combat. Take out the
three flying drones and the few other minor enemies in the area. Before moving
on, examine the soldier’s body to trigger a small conversation with
Kaiden. After it is over, head up the hill and clean up any enemies you may
have missed. At the top, you’ll find another Upgrade Kit. Pick up the
items inside and continue on the path.

At about this point, the game will start explaining team members, upgrades and
squad commands. It might seem overwhelming now, but once you get the hang of
things, it won’t be so bad. Just make sure you read the on-screen
tutorial messages and you may or may not want to check out your Equipment and
Squad choices from the pause menu. None of this stuff is life-or-death
important now, but it is good to be aware of what is coming.

When you spot the next cluster of enemies, take them out and check the left
side of the area for a Med Kit. If Kaiden is low on health, use these to heal
him up. If not, just hang onto them for now. They are fairly numerous in this
area and you can’t carry more than four at a time, but better safe than
sorry, I suppose.

Continue forward to trigger another scene. After it is over, take out the two
enemies and speak with this new character, Ashley Williams. She’ll
explain a bit about what happened, who she thinks the attackers might be and
why they showed up. Not much is clear beyond the fact that these attackers are
an obscure race called the Geth. Ask her to join your group and she will.

After this little exchange, search the area for some goodies before moving on.
The crate in front of you contains some Scorpion armor, which is only useful
to Kaiden. Follow the game’s instructions and equip him with it. Also,
make sure to check a nearby Upgrade Kit for a few more items.

Continue down the path and the game will explain about cover and the storm
command. If you played Gears of War, this should all be second nature to you.
Hide, run, shoot… unfortunately, using cover and storming was useful in
Gears. In Mass Effect it looks cool, but you are better off strafing an enemy
and firing, rather than using the cover/run method. Follow the instructions
anyway and move down the hill to trigger another scene.

After the scene, you’ll have a new area on your map and a new objective,
but we’ll talk about that in a second. Before you do anything, search
the area for a crate containing a few new weapons. Equip them however you
wish, but I prefer to keep my main character the strongest so I gave him the
strongest assault rifle and equipped the other two new weapons to Ashley and
Kaiden.

Your new objective is to investigate the research camp, so check your map if
you wish to find its location. It isn’t far, so head up the hill and
follow the path. At the top, you’ll see another short scene and
encounter a new, tougher enemy – the Husk. These must have been what
Danzig had in mind when he wrote, “Astro Zombies.” Stay back and
shoot them from a distance; they can really hurt you if you let them get
close. Once all three are dead, check near the spikes on the left for an
Upgrade Kit containing some weapons and armor. No one can use the armor yet,
so just hang onto it for the time being.

When you’re done check out the area, head for the structure and use the
door on the left. Inside you’ll find a crate with two pieces of armor.
Like with nearly everything in this game, you’ll probably have use for
it at some point, but convert it to Omni-Gel if you wish.

…and considering you might not know what Omni-Gel is, let’s take a
time out to talk about it. Omni-gel is aptly named; it can be used for a ton
of different things. Unlocking encrypted doors, hacking computers, upgrading
items, weapons and armor, the stuff has a million and one uses. When you
obtain items, you always have the choice to turn them into Omni-Gel, which is
a much better plan than lugging around tons of useless armor and weapons. Like
I said before, this all seems like a lot to absorb now, but you’ll get
the hang of things soon.

After picking up the two armor pieces, exit this part of the structure and
check out the door to the right. It has been locked, so choose the easy
decryption method. This plays out like an Xbox 360 controller’s version
of that old game ‘Simon.’ Tap the appropriate buttons as they are
highlighted to open the door. If you mess up, never fear; 25 Omni-Gel will
open the door just as well. Told you it could do everything.

Inside, you’ll meet Dr. Warren and her assistant/raving lunatic Dr.
Manuel. They hid in the crate when the attack began, and Manuel seems to think
the time for human beings has come and gone. Oh well. Leave this area and
follow the path past the left side of the structure to be treated to a scene
between Nilhlus (the mysterious one from the Normandy) and an alien named
Saren.

When you are back in control, run up the hill and Ashley will say something
about the huge spacecraft in the distance. As you continue toward it, get
ready – a few Geth soldiers and some more Husks will attack. Take them
all out (the music will calm when the last one dies) and run to the right.
Hack the trailer door to meet three surviving farmers who aren’t a whole
lot of help. Ask them all the questions you want, but all they have to say is
that they ran from a loud noise. Thanks. They’ll also have a Stinger II
pistol for you if you ask them nicely about their other dealings…
besides farming and running away, that is. Before leaving, check the nearby
crate for some more Omni-Gel and a locker inside the trailer for a couple more
weapons.

Move down the hill to the spaceport. At the top of a few ramps, you’ll
find Nilhus’ body, an Upgrade Kit with some ammo and another Med Kit.
Examine the body for another short dialogue sequence. Afterward, you’ll
run into another survivor who explains what happened to Nilhus, how he
survived and what happened in the attack. He’ll tell you to take the
cargo train to follow Saren’s path.

After the conversation, a few more Geth troops will attack. Take them out and
move down the ramp to the train platform. There are a good number of troops
waiting for you on the train and they have a new ally – the Geth Shock
Trooper. This guy can take a lot of damage and deal out quit a bit as well.
Try to stay out of his line of sight as he approaches you and damage him when
you see an opening. After he’s gone, board the train platform and run
toward the other end, making sure not to miss the Med Kit and a couple other
pickups along the way.

At the end of the train, use the train controls to get things moving and
trigger another scene. Looks like Saren and the Geth were working together,
and now they plan to destroy this whole colony. Damn.

When you step off the train, you’ll have five minutes to disarm the four
bombs scattered around the area. The good news is that five minutes is more
than enough time to get to all the bombs. The bad news is that there are two
more Geth Shock Troopers, along with a handful of normal Geth troops, waiting
here to stop you.

After stepping off the train, disarm the first bomb directly to your left.
Head up the ramps to the scaffolding and forget about the three remaining
bombs for a moment. Concentrate on taking out the two Shock Troopers and the
rest of the enemies first. Also, keep and eye on Kaiden’s health;
he’s voted “Most Likely To Die” at this point in the game,
and no one wants that. Sure, after the action dies down “dead”
characters get up like nothing happened, but it’s a nice reassurance if
you can keep everyone alive.

Once all the enemies are gone, set to work diffusing the last three bombs.
Before diffusing the last one, be sure to check the far left side of these
platforms for a crate containing a few more weapons. When the game is paused,
the bomb’s timer is paused as well, so feel free to take an extra second
outfitting your characters before diffusing that last bomb.

When the last bomb is taken care of, follow the small path near the crate
where you found those last two weapons. As you descend the ramps, a few more
troops and a Husk or two will attack. Again, keep an eye on Kaiden’s
health and take them all out. When they’re gone, decrypt the storage
locker near the ramps for a couple more weapons. Directly across from the
ramps is a crate with some new armor. To your left and across a small bridge
you’ll find another locker with some new ammo types inside. Finally,
check the far right corner of the platform for a Technician’s Kit, which
contains some extra goodies.

After you’ve picked up all this good stuff, head to the middle of the
platform and examine the Prothean Beacon, which triggers a scene and ends your
adventures on Eden Prime.

You’ll then get to see Saren’s reaction to finding out a human
(you) “used” the beacon. Eventually, you’ll wake up back on
the Normandy, where Ashley and Doctor Chakwas are happy to see you. After some
dialogue, Captain Anderson will come in and grill you about what happened. As
tempting as it may be, this is the “good” walkthrough; no brash
declarations of war or snide comebacks will do. This conversation will also
tell you a bit more about the Geth, Saren, Spectres and the Council.

After the conversation, the game will auto-save and your next goal will be to
talk to Joker and get him to land the ship. There are some things to do on the
Normandy first, so lets get those out of the way now.

Oh, one more thing before we go any further. Now that you’ve been
through combat and gained some experience (and probably a level or two),
you’ll no doubt have noticed that I haven’t mentioned skill
points, their allocation or anything of the sort. This stuff will be detailed
in another section of this FAQ. I prefer to use the auto-level/auto-allocation
option. It takes some of the RPG customization elements out of the game, sure,
but I personally don’t care for that kind of thing. I’d rather
just play the game. Again, if you are concerned about leveling, skill points
and how to use them, check the separate leveling/skills sections of this FAQ
(COMING SOON).

Ok, back to the game. Before you leave the medical room, check the right wall
for a device that will replenish all your Med-Gels. Handy! Exit the room and
initiate a conversation with Ashley. If you’re nice to her
(“good” walkthrough, remember?), she’ll talk about herself
for a minute. Jeez, I’ve seen college kids pretend to like Sleater-
Kinney to get girls, but this is way out of hand!

When you’re done with her, take a few minutes explore the ship. Doctor
Chakwas, Kaiden, Captain Anderson… some have more to say than others,
but make sure to speak with all these people before asking Joker to land the
ship. Also, directly next to Chakwas, you’ll find Shepard’s
Locker, which contains a few more new weapons.

Once you’ve finished being social, head to the back of the area. Here
you’ll find some stairs and an elevator. FYI – Using the elevator
brings you to a lower level, where you can manage your attributes, your
team’s attributes, buy items and use any vehicles you may have need of.
This early in the game, though, you can probably skip the elevator for the
time being; there is next to nothing you can do down there. Just take the
stairs up.

There isn’t much to do up here, either. Get back to the second floor
bridge and tell Joker it is time to land of the planet’s surface.
He’ll agree and you’ll get another movie to watch. Congrats! You
finished the prologue of Mass Effect.

*Citadel

As soon as you get off the Normandy, you’ll be approached by Ambassador
Udina, who just happens to be a total jerk. He’ll demand that you and
your people come to the Council Tower to discuss Saren. Whatever, dude. After
the conversation, you’ll regain control in Udina’s Office. Hack
his computer for an optional assignment (more on this later) before moving on.

First things first, you’ll probably want to check out your new Codex and
Journal entries. They not only provide a little background info, but looking
at them gets the Codex and Journal pause screen options to stop flashing.

After you’ve checked this out, you have free reign to go anywhere you
want in the Citadel. But like with the elevator and lower level on the
Normandy, you might just want to skip it for now and get to the Council Tower.
Sure there are other things you can accomplish, but taking care of the Council
Tower first opens up many, many more possibilities.

When you’ve done all this stuff, exit Udina’s Office and go down
the stairs. When you get to the bottom, go speak to the hologram lady on your
left, Avina. She acts as a kind of mall directory from the future, so spend
some time asking her about the area, its inhabitants, its history, the works.
She has a TON of information and as boring as it may seem, you should try to
listen to as much of it as you can. It really serves to enrich the story, it
explains a lot of things you might already have questions about and if I
encourage you to check it out, it saves me from having to type it all out for
you. I love action as much as the next guy, but listening to Avina is a very
good idea.

After you’re done (oh…so THAT’S what a Spectre is! Did
anyone else miss that?), walk past Avina to the glowing orange arrows. They
point you toward the Citadel Transit System, which kind of looks like either
the old After Burner arcade game or a simple computer, depending on which one
you happen to be looking at. Press A next to it and choose the Council Tower
as your destination. This will move the story along, but I feel I should re-
stress the importance of spending ten minutes or so listening to Avina about
the area.

When you get to the tower, walk forward to trigger a scene with two Turians.
Garrus, it seems, was in charge of the Saren investigation. He also tells you
not to keep the Council waiting, which is video game speak for,
“Don’t bother exploring here just yet.” Just follow the
stairs up and speak with Captain Anderson to start the Council hearing. I
tried this a few times to see if my answers would get different responses, but
it seems that no matter what, Saren is aquitted, allowed to remain a Spectre
and found to have no connection with the Geth.

After a bit more post-Council conversation with Udina and Anderson,
you’ll be given a few choices on what to do next. It might be tempting
to just run off on these new missions, but you should probably talk to
Anderson for a bit for some more story background. He can clear up some stuff
about Spectres, his history with Saren, the Shadow Broker, Barla Von and the
previously mentioned drunk, Harkin.

Once you’ve finished with Anderson, check the pause screen and look at
your journal. You should have at least three more main missions and, depending
on how much time you spent checking out the Citadel, one or two assignments as
well.

Note: From here on out, the game will throw a lot of missions and assignments
at you. Some will completely worth it, netting you items, new characters,
money and good/evil points. I’ll be tackling these one at a time and
breaking it down both here and in the Table Of Contents on a planet-by-planet
basis, so to speak. Like I said before, Mass Effect is a huge game that
changes depending on how you play. I’ll be going over all the missions
and assignments I find personally, but that doesn’t mean there
aren’t more out there. If you find some, e-mail me at
nimerjm@hotmail.com with “Mass Effect” in the subject line and a
detailed description of how you found the mission/assignment, what it entails,
how you finished it and a name you’d like me to accredit the info to. I
will be adding all the submitted extra quests to another portion of this
guide, so keep and eye out for them.

To start, you’ll need to leave the Council and go back the way you came.
On your way by, Ashley will point out an alien behaving strangely to your
left. If you speak with him, he’ll give you a Scanner. The assignment
attached to this item will be explained later in the Assignments FAQ portion
of this guide. For now, just use the Rapid Transit System to get to
Chora’s Den (its found under the Ward menu).

When you regain control, you’ll see that you need to fight your way to
Chora’s Den. The enemies aren’t too tough, so you should be ok if
you keep you behind cover and always take it one guy at a time. Spraying
bullets all of the place will be one of the best ways to get yourself killed,
so concentrate on singular enemies, rather than the crowd as a whole. Once
everyone is dead and gone, enter the bar itself. Didn’t people stop
being pervs for game girls like, forever ago? Either way, this is a strip
club, so deal with it and find Harkin. He is usually sitting near the
club’s exit.

After the scene, Garrus will suggest going to a Medical Clinic for another
clue or two. When you get there, you’ll see Dr. Michele being tormented
and shot at. Save her and make sure to kill every last enemy in the room. You
can then talk to her about connections to Saren, though she doesn’t have
much to say.

That’s the end of this segment. Garrus will now join your party. Cool.
Outfit him with some good gear (not that you have a ton yet) and get started
on your next goal.

Leave the doctor’s office and take a right. The stairs to the C-Sec
Academy will be on your right, and that is you next destination.

When you go down the escalator, speak with the police officer for a bit more
background. When you’re done, continue to follow the path to the
elevator. Use it and it will let you out in the Academy. Follow the path to
the left and around the corner and you’ll see Wrex. You know, the guy
who looks like the mutant offspring of The Creature From The Black Lagoon, the
shark from Finding Nemo and Andre The Giant. Speak with him and he’ll
join up with your team as well.

To continue the story, you’ll need to go back to Chora’s Den in
the Ward area. When you arrive, it seems pretty quiet, even closed completely.
Upon entering, you will be ambushed. Do your best to protect your party
members during the fight or leave them outside and do the work yourself (down
on the d-pad issues orders to hold position).

Once everyone in here is gone, leave your partners where that are and use the
only other door in the room. Take care of the handful of guys in there, move
your team up and, before moving on, hack the Weapons Locker. There isn’t
anything spectacular, but it might be worth picking up anyway.

The next room is Fist’s Office. He’ll make it quite clear that he
was expecting you. Not only will he be shooting at you, his two heavily
fortified turrets will be too. Your best bet is to hide behind a wall, wait
until Fist runs to the other side of the room and unload everything
you’ve got onto one of those turrets. Their life regenerates, so this is
no picnic. Just fire away at them and you’ll get it sooner or later. You
can also concentrate on just killing Fist, but those turrets can mess you up
pretty bad, so it is wise to get them first.

After Fist is down, he’ll give you some info and well, it doesn’t
work out too well for him. Now you’ll need to make it down to the docks
to save the set-up-and-unawares Quarian from an ambush.

You’ll have four minutes to get there, but before you get going, pick up
the few items in this room. Various assignments can be completed with objects
in this room as well, so keep that at the back of your mind.

Like the bomb diffusing time limit, you’ll have more than enough time to
the Quarian. Exit the strip club the way you came in and backtrack to the room
with the entrance to the Farmer’s Market. Use the stairs and
you’ll see the Quarian to the left. Kill her captors and you’ll
have a lengthy conversation with Tali. She’ll also join your party if
you ask her to.

After this is all over, you’ll be back in Udina’s office. Just
like before, take the Transit System to the Council Tower. When you arrive, do
a 180 and run up the stairs. Captain Anderson will let you know that Tali is
already presenting the evidence to the Council.

Watch the scene between the Council jerks, Tali, Udina and Captain Anderson. I
won’t ruin what happens, but it is definitely one of the numerous
“wow” moments in the game. Enjoy the scene and its sheer bad-
assery!

After the Council meeting, Udina and Anderson will scurry off the get you
fully outfitted for your upcoming journey. They’ve moved your ship
though; now the two of them are at the docks off the C-Sec Academy. Use the
Rapid Transit system to get over there. When you arrive, use the elevator in
the center of this room (not the one up the stairs) to get down to the Docking
Bay.

Anderson, in a move no one saw coming, up and gives you his ship and crew for
free. Umm… k? Anyway, Udina and Anderson will chat for a while and give
you a handful of new missions and assignments. Make sure to check out your
pause screen for all the additions to your Journal and the Assignments FAQ for
more info on those.

Basically, you have free reign to go wherever and do what ever you please. The
universe is huge and has tons to do, which is part of the reason I’m
sure I’ll be working and updating on this guide for a while. Anyway,
back to the point – just because you can leave now doesn’t mean
you should. You should probably explore the Citadel a bit, looking for
assignments and such. Once you checked things out a bit, get back to that
Docking Bay and take off for the Artemis Tau galaxy.

* Artimus Tau

Return to the Dock, look around a bit and use the airlock to the left to enter
the Normandy. You’ll give the crew and everyone on board a nice
“Win one for the Gipper” pep talk. When you’re done, go back
down the ramps to the navigation center. Turn it on by pressing A while the
NAVMASTERGUIDE (or something like that). Finally, run around to the back, up
the small bridge and press A again to choose your destination. You’ll
want to follow these steps to get where you’re going: Milky Way galaxy,
Artemis Tau galaxy, Knossis system, planet Therum. Land, pick your squad and
get ready for a new planet!

Upon landing on planet Therum, you’ll be in control of your very first
vehicle, the Mako. It kind of looks and even controls like the Warthog in Halo
3, though this thing has six wheels instead of four. Get used to the controls
for a moment and then follow the path along the right side of the lava pool.
When a large Geth spacecraft flies overhead, get ready for a fight.

It took me a minute to figure this out, so I’ll make your life easier
and just tell you: RT fires your machine guns, nut the RB is a weapon as well.
It only fires one shot at a time, but it’s a lot more powerful than the
standard machine gun. The best way to fight with stronger enemies is to soften
them up first with the RB attack and finish them with the machine gun.

These two Geth soldiers appear to be riding mechanical bugs. You can run into
them and knock them over (not fatal), you can fire on them or you can simply
run away. The third option is really the best, as the Mako’s targeting
doesn’t allow for you to shoot things that fall into its blind spot.
This blind spot exists in a sphere around the wheels. You just can’t hit
anything that gets close to you.

If you’re following my advice, just drive past them and avoid at all
costs. There are only two and they’re easily avoided. Round the corner
and continue following the path. Keep in mind that the paths look quite
similar to one another, so you may be driving around for a few minute before
you find your destination.

At the end of the path, you’ll be impeded by a large roadblock.
You’ll need to kill every last turret, enemy, everything. It seems like
a tall order, but the Mako’s rocket launcher secondary weapon should
make quick work of this barricade. There is a way to skip all this fighting,
but being that Mass Effect is an RPG, I’m sure you’ll want to
experience.

Once everything here is over with, head back down the path and look for a
small side road to your left (on the left if you’re driving away from
the roadblock). Follow the narrow path and take out the lonely turret on your
way to the other side of the roadblock, which, if you worked from the other
side first, should be fairly clear of enemies. Park wherever you want and use
the B button to exit the Mako.

First go look behind the barrier to your right. You’ll find two crates
containing some new weapons and ammo. Now go check in the building in the
middle. It has an Upgrade Kit with some more ammo. Last, go investigate the
building on the left. A Locked Crate sits outside the entrance and can be
easily be decrypted for a new weapon and some armor. The door nearest you
contains nothing, so check the other door, which is a few steps to the left.
Inside you’ll find a Weapon Storage Crate with, duh, some weapons. Also,
the button to open the gate to the next area is in here, so hit that and get
back to the Mako. You can also open the path back in the direction you came
from, but if you didn’t take out the turrets from the other side,
you’ll want to do so very carefully.

Follow this next path around the lava. As you move on, you’ll run into
two sets of two enemies. You probably will absorb some damage, so keep in mind
that if things look bad, pressing the Y button will repair the Mako. It takes
a few seconds, but it is better than getting blown up, right? Also, the Mako
will regenerate health if left alone for long enough. If you get into trouble,
retreat, park yourself in a quiet cornet and wait a few minutes for it to get
back to 100%. This part is irritating enough; you wouldn’t want to have
to do it over and over, would you?

As you continue past the two sets of enemies, you’ll notice a structure
in the distance. That is your goal, but a handful of Geth Rocket Troopers
(dangerous), Geth Troopers (harmless) and one Geth Colossus (very dangerous)
stand in your way. Be patient, try to take them one by one, use both the
Mako’s main weapon and more powerful sub weapon and most of all, keep an
eye on the tank’s health. You should be able to take them all down
without too much instance if you’re careful.

The structure ahead isn’t much more than a tunnel, so drive right in and
follow the path. At the other end, there are two Geth Rocket Troopers just
hanging out. You should be able to kill them both before they notice you and
return fire. When they’re gone, continue around the corner to the next
tunnel and drive on in. In this tunnel, you’ll find two more Rocket
Troopers, followed by a small group of enemies at the tunnel’s exit.
Neither group should give you much trouble.

After you’ve left the second tunnel, you’ll be forced to exit the
Mako. The path is blocked, as well as your radar, so jump out, equip your
squad with the best stuff you’ve got and save the game. This sequence
coming up is the point where you’ll either learn to play Mass Effect on
the game’s terms, or you’ll be stuck forever.

When you first move between the rocks blocking the Mako’s path, there
will be a handful of enemies waiting for you. Remember the Rocket Troopers
deal the most damage, but also are the easiest to kill. Get rid of them first
and mop up the rest of the less dangerous enemies next.

When you round the next corner, you’ll be given two rock outcroppings to
use as cover. Pick one and stay there. Remember how quickly you died in Gears
of War before you learned to use cover? You’ll be dead even faster here.
Make sure your other two squad members have cover as well and begin picking
off the enemies on the tower to the right. Your squad is more than capable of
taking out the enemies that charge up the hill at you. It might take you a
couple of tries to get through this part and some of the following battles,
but once you get used to things, it won’t be very difficult at all.

After this canyon is cleaned up, if you don’t listen to anything else I
have to say, listen to this: save. your. game. now. You will almost surely die
at this next part, and you wouldn’t want to have to get through all that
again, right? After the little scene, you need to get your team and yourself
under the building and behind the metal plates there. You’ll want to try
to stay back here as much as possible during this fight. That thing four-
legged from the cut scene (called an Armature) can kill you in one shot. Your
first job in this battle is to kill the two Geth Stalkers, which are the only
two enemies that will come to you. They jump around everywhere and can be hard
to hit, but using squad powers like Carnage and Overload work well.

After the two of them are down, you’ll want to worry about the Armature.
Find a covered spot where you have a good view of it and slowly chip away at
its health with your Assault Rifle or Shotgun. Carnage, Sabotage and Overload
work fairly well in this case too. I found that the green box to the right of
the metal plating can be a great covered point, and shooting at the Armature
through the beams holding up the structure can keep you safe as well.
You’ll probably want your squad to stay back while you tackle this enemy
alone; they have a tendency to get themselves killed.

The last step is to take out the two Geth Snipers. This is done fairly easily
by strafing and pounding away with the Assualt Rifle. Feel free to have your
squad help you with these two to speed up the process.

Once it’s all over, head up the ramp and open the door. Run down this
hall and get ready to fight a few more enemies, but nothing major like before.
As you work your way down the path, follow the scaffolding and use the
elevator at the end. At the bottom, you’ll encounter three Geth Assualt
Drones, but they shouldn’t cause you too much headache. Use the next
elevator to move even further down.

As you near the bottom, this elevator will break down. Jump off and follow the
broken path ahead. Watch the cut scene that follows. Looks like we’ll be
saving this lady now too. Maybe she can tell us what really happened at the
end of ‘Alien Nation.’ Haha. Anyway, work you way down to the
floor of this cave and take out the handful of Geth waiting for you. Take note
of the device almost directly below the scaffolding you just walked down.
It’s a Mining Laser and its what you’ll be using to free that
woman. Before you fiddle with it, search the area for a Weapons and Storage
Locker. Once you’ve plundered them both go back and use the Mining
Laser. It asks you to press buttons to activate the laser and AXBY made it
work for me. You might need to play around a bit if the code is randomized.

The laser blows a huge hole in the floor, so run in and hit the button. This
frees Liara and after some dialogue, you’ll need to escape the caverns.
Make note that the game auto saves here, so if you die at the next part, you
don’t need to freak out. At the top of the elevator, you’ll be
confronted by a Krogan Battlemaster who aims to bring Liara to Saren. Of
course, you won’t want any part of that plan, so get ready to fight.

The Geth Troopers and Snipers aren’t much of a threat, but the Krogan
Battlemaster can be a huge pain. It’s foolish to fight him up close, so
stay away, use Overload and keep plugging away at him. He’ll eventually
die. Kill any remaining Geth and a cut scene will take over. Mission
accomplished!

Watch the conversation with your team and Liara to find out some more
about… well… everything and speak with the Council when
you’re through. At this point, you have the choice of continuing on the
main story path or branching off to do some assignments and other missions.
The next main path mission will lead you to Feros, so you can continue there
or check out the Assignment part of the FAQ for the extra stuff.

*Feros

After landing on Feros, leave your ship and speak to the main on the path.
He’ll tell you that you need to meet with Fai Den, the colony’s
main man. You’ll be ambushed by Geth here, but they shouldn’t be
able to hurt you too much. Kill them all and continue to follow the path to
the stairs. You’ll again be ambushed by two Geth Stalkers, but they
don’t jump around as much before so they should be easy.

The next area looks a lot like the line at the Star Tours ride at MGM
Studios… to me, anyway. Speak with the people here if you want and poke
around a bit for some experience and computer terminal to hack.

In the next area, you’ll find Fai Den speaking with a woman. If you
start talking to them, you’ll be ambushed by Geth. Kill the two Troopers
and three Snipers here before going upstairs to meet the second wave. Slowly
work you way through the tower and kill every Geth soldier you see. Be
careful, though, a Geth Destroyer appears here and he packs a punch.

When every Geth has been dealt with (you’ll get a small cut scene), go
back and talk to Fai Den. He’ll explain about ExoGeni and the Geth
presence here. By asking him questions Fai Den will point you in a couple of
different directions – water, food, power, tunnels… the Geth
presence has affected all these things. You’ll have a few different
things to accomplish, so feel free to tackle these next parts in whatever
order you choose. The only necessary objective you have is to get to ExoGeni,
so let’s worry about that. Check the Assignments part of the FAQ for
everything else.

Go back through into the tower, but this time, follow the path left after the
stairs instead of using the second flight of stairs. Use the elevator to the
Prothean Skyway to continue to the next area. At the top, you’ll come
across two colonists battling a Geth Drone. Kill it for them, take the Mako
tank and head toward ExoGeni HQ.

After exiting the tower – surprise – a Geth ship will drop off
some enemies for you to deal with. Remember you have the powerful weapon (RB)
along with the machine gun (RT) and you’ll be fine. Let the Mako’s
shields recharge before continuing to the second Geth fight. After the second
group is gone, you’ll notice an enemy or two more on your radar. These
last few stragglers are in a hidey-hole just off the road. Go in, get rid of
them and take the handful of items they were guarding.

After you go through what seems to be a garage door from space, you’ll
hear some voices over your radio. There is another small outpost of colonists
here. Hop out of the Mako and speak with them. One of the women wants you to
find her daughter, Lizbeth. Also, make sure to take note of how big a douche
the man, Ethan, with this grieving mother, Juliana, is. He is hiding
something. Speak with the other colonists in the area and Gavin Hossle in
particular, if you are looking for a new assignment. Again, check that part of
the FAQ for more info.

Get back to the Mako and stay on the path. You’ll be ambushed twice more
by Geth on your way to ExoGeni HQ, so keep the Mako’s health up and be
careful – the last ambush has a Geth Juggernaut, and he can make things
difficult. Before you enter the HQ, you might want to hop out of the Mako and
look around. There are two more hidey-holes off this stretch of highway and
they both have enemies and items within.

You’ll go through two more garage doors and the path will end. Before
you jump out of the Mako and continue on foot, see if you can angle yourself
correctly and take out some of the enemies ahead with the Mako’s
weapons. It just makes things a little easier.

Clean up the rest of the Geth and take a look around. You have two options
– you can head to the left side of the area, check out a blue force
field and head directly into the base, or you can hack a door to the right.
Hack the door and go inside. Take the items from the small room and
you’ll be attacked by a Geth Armature. Shoot the fusion tank near it to
cause some damage and chip away at its health from the hallway where it
can’t get to you. Once its dead, turn around and head underground.

Guess who? Lizbeth tells you about the Geth energy field and an organic being
they want, called a Thorian. I knew there was more going on here…
She’ll give you her ID badge so you can get through looked doors inside
the HQ. Be careful; as soon as she’s done talking, you’ll be
attacked by a half dozen more Varren. Take care of them and head for the only
exit from this large room, which is in the opposite corner of where you are
now.

Go inside and you’ll hear someone having computer problems. Head up the
stairs and you’ll be treated to an amusing scene between a Krogan and a
computer. Kill the Krogan off and use the computer to find out what the Krogan
wanted. I won’t ruin it for you, but everything that has been going on
here is made perfectly clear at this point. Ask the computer a few more
questions if you want, especially if you want to know about the Torian, how it
works and where it is.

You’ll want to be escaping this planet soon, so you’ll try and
radio Joker aboard the Normandy. The energy field is blocking your
transmission, so your first step will be to knock it offline. Run past the VI
Console and up the stairs to a small landing. Don’t jump off just yet;
there are two Geth Shock Troopers down there. Kill them before they realize
what’s going on and you’ll get another small scene. Investigate
the glowing orb and hack the crate in this room for a few items before
continuing on.

Follow the only hallway out of here and you’ll encounter a few enemies
when you come to the next clearing. Seriously, would someone like to make the
case that the Geth Stalkers aren’t the most annoying and least dangerous
enemies in the game? Anyway, you have two choices here. The non-tinted hallway
will lead you up to some Krogan who will rush you. I promise you – you
will die here if you aren’t careful and good with biotics. After
they’re dead, you can find some good items up here, as well as a
computer vital to one of the assignments… you know, the assignments that
we aren’t discussing here?

The red hallway will lead up to a fight with some Geth, but the whole thing is
easily handled if you shoot the exploding tank on the ground near them first.
A shot or two more should kill each enemy after that. Use the walkway for a
tiny scene that shows… I’m not sure… and descend to kill the
rest of the Geth in the area. There is a Destroyer here, but if you’ve
been fighting enemies, leveling up and keeping the best weapons equipped, you
shouldn’t have nearly as much of a problem as you did with these guys
before.

There are three terminals in this area, each of which will give you an
assignment. There is also a tiny, easy to miss hallway off the area with a
crate containing a few nice items. Once you’ve looked around,
investigate the Shuttle Bay Door Controls. This will bring up a small number
puzzle. It is extremely easy to figure out on your own, but the answer is to
hit the 17, 11 and 5 valves, in that order. Neat.

After the scene, Joker lets you know that the colonists are freaking out.
Looks like it might be about time to be getting the hell out of here. Get back
downstairs and through the blue locked door, which leads you right back to
Lizbeth and the Mako. Talk to her, get to the Mako and get going.

Back out on the highway, you’ll have a number of Geth blocking your
path. It is almost suicide to slow down and attempt to kill them off one by
one. Instead, drive right through them and keep going. At the other end,
you’ll get a radio message from Lizbeth’s mom. Go down and watch
what goes on. Without ruining anything, I’ll tell you this – even
though you are going for the “good” playthrough, you can’t
stop what you’ll eventually need to do here.

After the “unpleasantness,” equip your grenades with the nerve gas
you just received. You can totally kill the colonists if you want, but it
certainly won’t net you any “good guy points,” will it? Get
back into the Mako, barrel down the highway (right through the Geth) and once
you make it to the other end, you’ll get a scene that introduces the
Thorian Creepers. These are not, repeat, ARE NOT colonists, so kill them at
will.

Head into the base and take out these gruesome guys at will. You’ll find
some colonists at the top of the ramp. They are shooting at you, sure, but hit
“select” to toss a grenade at them. Hit it again to detonate it
and knock them out. Follow the path back through the main colony to the crane
controls. The best way to advance is to get close enough to the enemies to
activate the Thorian Creepers and retreat. They’ll follow you, so shoot
them from safe spots a ways back on the path. Then move forward and take out
the colonists with either grenades or melee attacks.

Hit the crane controls and watch the scene. Head down the new stairs to your
left and the game will auto save. Good thing, too. You might want to make sure
you have Anti-Personnel ammo in your weapons at this point; it will make the
next segment much easier.

Watch the next scene, which is both disgusting and very disturbing. Once it is
all over, kill the clone and any Thorian Creepers in the area. These guys are
going to get annoying, as there are a ton of them in the area. Once they
finally stop coming at you, kill the Thorian Node in the next room. Gross.

Head up the stairs and the Thorian will vomit up another clone. Go back
downstairs and take care of it, along with the new Creepers in the area. Once
the area is clear, work your way back up the stairs and collect the items from
the weapons locker. Kill the Node in the next room and keep going.

Continue on in this manner along the path. Always take care of the clones that
show up first; they can do a lot of damage. Kill all the Creepers next and
finally, kill the Nodes. Just go slowly and eventually you’ll reach the
end. Kill the last Node and the Thorian will die.

In an unexpected twist, the Thorian’s death will release a prisoner,
Shiala. She is a former follower of Saren and will shed light on quite a few
things here, from his plans to more about the Protheans and the Cipher.
She’ll do a creepy mindmeld with you that will further clear up the
beacon’s vision, which, as it turns out, is both horrifying and
disgusting. Ask Shiala about whatever you like and return to the colony when
you are ready.

You can speak with colonists here if you want, but there isn’t too much
going on. Return to the Normandy when you are ready. After a scene with the
crew and a chat with the Council, you’ll be free to move around the ship
and talk to your crew. If you hadn’t done so up to this point, I’d
recommend making sure you talk to everyone at length. It can open up some
interesting assignments, it adds a lot of cursory information to your Codex
and can flesh out the story a bit. Also, investigating certain parts of the
ship itself can net you experience points and new Codex entries. It’s
just a good idea to spend time on the Normandy checking things out.

When you are ready, head back up to the Galaxy Map. You’ll be
interrupted by a transmission from the Citadel. Listen to what the Council has
to say and you’ll get a new mission destination – Virmire. After
the conversation, you’ll have the option of going where you want, but
the two main story destinations at this point are Noveria and Virmire.
It’s a better bet to tackle Noveria first, so that should be your
destination after you get whatever else taken care of. Check the Assignment
FAQ if you want to take a few detours first.

*Noveria

As you prepare to land on Noveria, you’ll immediately know that these
people must be a hostile bunch. Leave the ship and you’ll be confronted
by some local authorities. They will give you a hard time but no matter what
you say, you’ll be able to move on with your weapons intact.

In the next room, speak with the woman in the red jumpsuit, Gianna Parasini.
Ask her a few questions about the planet and the Geth. She’ll spill the
beans about Benezia’s recent visit. Go down the stairs and use the
elevator to get to the next area.

No one here really wants anything to do with you, so find Gianna again and
have her let you into Anoleis’ office. He’s a real a-hole, so keep
the conversation to a minimum. Ask him about Benezia for a few tidbits, but he
isn’t much help. All you need to know is that access to Benezia is cut
off for now, and it’s your job to get to her. Before going any further,
you should know that there are some assignments in the area. Check the
Assignments FAQ for more info on them.

If you’re ready to keep going, ask Gianna about another way to get to
the garage. She’ll give you a name – Qi’in – and
pretty much nothing else on the subject. She does have a wealth of information
on the local corporations, though. Ask about them before taking off.

To get to the hotel, you’ll need to take an elevator located at the
exact opposite end of this lobby area. It shouldn’t be too hard to find
considering there is next to nothing else going on in this area.

In the bar, you’ll see Qi’in sitting directly ahead of you.
Instead of running right up to him, I’m going to save you a world of
headache. Take a right and head upstairs first. Follow the path at the top of
the stairs until you hit a dead end. By doing two decryptions here, you can
get an assignment and, more importantly, deactivate a security system. This
will make the next part of the game infinitely less annoying. After
you’ve done this, go back downstairs and talk to Qi’in.

He’ll offer his garage pass in exchange for some information off his
computer. The catch is that his business has been shut down by Anoleis under
suspicion of corruption. Qi’in seems to think that whatever info he has
been cut off from will bring down Anoleis, so he asks you to get it for him.
He warns that you may have to bash a few heads in along the way, but whatever,
right?

Note: If you go speak with Anoleis at this point, he’ll try to talk you
out of things. Even though this is the “good” walkthrough, that
guy was an anus a few minutes ago. Screw him. The option is there if you
choose to take it, though.

Anyway, the elevator up to Qi’in’s office is located off the main
lobby area, in the hallway marked with the red car insignia (which seems to
indicate ‘garage’ – also off this hall). It is the first
elevator you come to in the hallway.

At the top, convince the two guards who stop you to get out of your way, then
kill the rest. This will be tons easier if you deactivated the security system
before like I told you to. Check the entire place for items and such before
downloading the evidence from Qi’in’s computer.

After you download the data and attempt to leave, you’ll be confronted
by some blonde and a few more guards. There’s nothing you can do –
you’re going to have to kill her. She is a complete pushover, but the
handful of guys she brought with her aren’t messing around. They have a
lot of firepower, so you’ll need to be very careful to avoid a quick and
painful death. If you are having a lot of trouble, try equipping some toxic
rounds. If you even manage to graze your enemy, you’ll poison them and
then… you play the waiting game.

Once they are dead, use the elevator and Gianna will be waiting at the bottom.
She’ll ask you abut the noise and request you speak with her before you
talk with Qi’in and give him his data. This, my friends, is where things
can get very, very complicated.