Ever try playing without charm or intimidate ??

[=CrimsoN=]

I've never done this, but I'm doing a playthrough now without putting points into it and wow...its like Im playing a whole different game. I usually just go full paragon with max charm, but playing without charm (while still going paragon) just feels way more realistic. It's like Shepard tries to do the right thing, but he can't save or get the best outcome for everyone and most characters seem to acknowledge that. There is a sense of loss of control over situations.

For example I didn't realize that at the conclusion of the Corporal Toombs mission, without charm or intimidate, if you try to help Toombs, he will shoot the Cerberus scientist and then shoot himself and if Shepard is a sole survivor then Toombs will say something along the lines of how Shepard deserves to be that sole survivor before killing himself . It's actually super depressing.

[Sticky Wicket]

I have sometimes tried to do it but become frustrated with not saying what you want to say (in the dialogue options the thing you want to say is greyed out so you cant even click it!) Eventually I get fed up with that and invest points.

It is game changing. There was once when my charm points were so high I convinced Saren in the final battle to give up his allegiance to the Reapers.

[=CrimsoN=]

Originally posted by Sticky Wicket:

I have sometimes tried to do it but become frustrated with not saying what you want to say (in the dialogue options the thing you want to say is greyed out so you cant even click it!) Eventually I get fed up with that and invest points.

It is game changing. There was once when my charm points were so high I convinced Saren in the final battle to give up his allegiance to the Reapers.

Yep, I’ve done that too. It’s going to be interesting being forced to fight him. I imagine the fight will feel more desperate.

[Sticky Wicket]

Originally posted by €rimson:

Originally posted by Sticky Wicket:

I have sometimes tried to do it but become frustrated with not saying what you want to say (in the dialogue options the thing you want to say is greyed out so you cant even click it!) Eventually I get fed up with that and invest points.

It is game changing. There was once when my charm points were so high I convinced Saren in the final battle to give up his allegiance to the Reapers.

Yep, I’ve done that too. It’s going to be interesting being forced to fight him. I imagine the fight will feel more desperate.

It's an exciting battle that one, not that hard if you have the right team and have invested skill points appropriately.

I think that whole last chapter of ME1 (the battle for the station) was done superbly; what Bioware used to be so good at.

Having choices to fight him or persuade him is what RPG's are all about. To go back to your original question then, yep it might be interesting to actually try once to play the whole game through without any skills like that but it does limit your options of course.

[delta]

I did this once because I was like "hey I can get 3-4 free charm/intimidate points each playthrough so if I play the same character through several times I can max out other skills and eventually still get all my charm and intimidate as well". So...I did my first playthrough...and I've been too lazy to continue.

[=CrimsoN=]

Originally posted by delta:

I did this once because I was like "hey I can get 3-4 free charm/intimidate points each playthrough so if I play the same character through several times I can max out other skills and eventually still get all my charm and intimidate as well". So...I did my first playthrough...and I've been too lazy to continue.

Yeah, I definitely can’t see myself doing another playthrough, but I will do a full trilogy run. I have done a trilogy run before but I did it as a full on paragon and was able to save everyone and get the best possible outcomes for everything. It will be interesting to see how much little side quests change when I’m not able to get the best outcome, but still attempt to do so. I’m trying to go with a “good intentions Shepard” but sometimes things just don’t work out and I can’t save everyone. Makes for a more realistic playthrough, I’m finding

[Black Hole]

Saving Toombs does nothing and in fact puts you in danger in a way as he threatens to kill you in the second game if he ever finds you...

You never see him mentioned in the third game so will assume he died and oh well.