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-Lazarus Project (Jacob Recruit)
-Freedom's Progress (Miranda Recruit)
-Mordin Recruit
-Garrus Recruit
-Jack Recruit
-Grunt Recruit
~~-Horizon~~
-Thane Recruit
-Samara Recruit
-Tali Recruit
-Collector Ship
-Jacob Loyalty
-Miranda Loyalty
-Mordin Loyalty
-Garrus Loyalty
-Jack Loyalty
-Grunt Loyalty
-Thane Loyalty
-Samara Loyalty
-Tali Loyalty
~~~-Reaper IFF (Spoiler Recruit)~~~
-Spoiler Loyalty
~~~-Suicide Mission~~~
-Post-ending (can if you want complete remaining sidequests, Loyalty, DLC)
You didn't say WHAT Tali mission. Her Recruitment or her Loyalty?
The most important thing to remember, if you want the better/best ending, is to WAIT UNTIL COMPLETELY READY (with exceptions I could tell you if you want) before doing the Reaper IFF mission. Seriously.
Aside from that, its very particular things, like how some Loyalty missions are more demanding on your Charm of Intimidate than other ones, if you want the 'best' results from their stories. Example is Samara's Loyalty mission where you need an exceptionally high Renegade or Paragon in order to do something special at the end, or the couple of crew fights that happen after you complete the Loyalty missions for two companions.
But Reaper IFF is the big thing. Collector Ship doesn't matter, and Horizon mostly doesn't matter except to open up the game a lot more.
After the Reaper IFF mission, you only have a lowwww number of mission left to do the Suicide Mission or else there is a cost, one you may hate. So basically (unless you know what you're doing and how it exactly works) do the Suicide Mission as soon as possible after the Reaper IFF mission (save for one particular Loyalty mission).
-Normandy Crash Site can be done whenever.
-Zaeed Loyalty can be done along with the other Loyalties, but I'll say that if you want to Paragon through it, you may want to wait until you have an especially high Paragon.
-Kasumi Loyalty can be done along with the other Loyalties.
-Firewalker can be done before or after the ending, but I prefer pre-ending.
-Overlord can be done before or after the ending, and I consider pros and cons to both.
-Lair of the Shadow Broker can be done before or after the ending with different contexts, but I personally prefer pre-ending a little more. Definitely do it after completing the other 2 sidequests related to Liara though.
-Arrival can be done before or after the ending, but I think it is written to be more appropriate as the very last thing you do before ME3 (unless all you care about is the gameplay rewards, post ending.
For the most part, sidemissions and even Loyalty missions don't lock out, but they do lose most of their story importance if you don't do them before the Suicide Mission. So the point before the Suicide Mission is the closest to a hard point of no return there is, but the point before the Reaper IFF mission is the big point of no return to care about. Only do Reaper IFF when you're damn well ready.
Yep basically!
The hasty players at this point will go "Fine then I go go go", and suffer a damn hard rest of the game, and pay for not being prepared.
The careful players will take the cue and understand that they need to make sure they are as prepared as possible, especially given that the Collectors aren't going to gather too many more colonists in the meantime and there isn't an immediate need to go after the Collectors, there's time to get as ready as you can. AKA do all the missions, get all the Loyalty, upgrade the ship fully, etc. Before getting the Reaper IFF.
So, from the time I am fully prepared (like I said, 5 more loyalty missions and a few more assignments to go), how long more will it take to complete the game? Still a few hours more or not? I just kinda don't want it to end....the game is just so amazingly diverse.
(Get the DLC.)
Well how long have missions normally been so far? Half an hour? Hour? That will indicate for you.
You've got your 5 Loyalty, sidemissions (you sure you got only a few? have you been scanning every planet? talked around every hub location?), suicide mission. DLC.
Probably at least another 10 hours, safely.
Then pirate, whatever. They're DLC from 2010-2011.
The DLC implementation mostly wasn't bad in ME2-ME3. The problems people had were:
-too many promotional/exclusive smaller items
-Day 1 DLC stuff (which was much an industry standard then)
-having a (considered important) companion DLC released Day 1 for ME3
The price wasn't the matter for the most part. For the content received, they were mostly fair. There is an issue of not discounting the price but that's completely EA's right.
Paying $15 for Citadel DLC in ME3 is probably gonna be worth it. Paying several dollars for Kasumi DLC is IMO worth it (at least as long as she survives to ME3 and ME3 Citadel DLC). Etc.
Call it abhorrent but most fans had mostly no issue with DLC in ME2-ME3, save for a couple cases.
Again, whatever, but if its such an issue, pirate. *gets banned lol*
How is EA not getting your money if you're buying ME3? You can only buy it from EA. Oh and they get a share of the ME1-ME2 money too, maybe you missed that.
I don't understand why you're not at least downloading the free DLC. WTF? lol
Some of the ME2 DLC music is used later in ME3, I think. (Along with characters if you save file import, and concepts)
I've never downloaded pirated games before on PC, so really I don't think I'll be doing that. Though, this was recommended to me by some users on Reddit as well, funnily enough.
Thanks anyways!
From Ashes contains:
-A single mission, where you must bring Liara and then another companion. Can be done at any point in most of the game, but at least the first time around it may be good to do it as soon as available, or almost as soon.
-A companion of a very special species. He is a strange form of an Adept/Vanguard/Soldier/whatever. He resides in the room where Grunt is in ME2.
-Scenes with this companion throughout the game, as well as after-mission lines if you check up on him (like many companions in ME3). Unlike Zaeed and Kasumi, this companion is very fully featured.
-Just a note - Bringing him on the Thessia mission brings a unique scene and more pointed dialogue. You don't have to, but its fun to do at least one.
-Like the other companions, he can be present in Leviathan DLC, and featured in Citadel DLC.
So basically he's a 'full companion' cut out of the game. If you think terribly of EA, then this just looks like a crappy business practice to milk players (and at least for the money side of EA, it probably was). But if you trust Bioware's words on the matter, it was more a case of:
-Deadline hitting, game release already gets pushed forward once
-This companion was originally going to be more core to the story, but rewrites happened and he became relatively more optional
-Bioware finishes the rest of the game and keeps the companion out
-In the meantime before launch, Bioware completes From Ashes content and the money side of EA decides to make it their Deluxe Edition incentive, to the angry cries of gamers
-Bioware rationalizes this by thinking that From Ashes content is technically NOT required to understand the MAIN PLOT of ME3, so its really just a very optional but very tasty DLC. And that if From Ashes wasn't set to be DLC, it would have just become cut content that players would NEVER see. They're only half right on that, but whatever.
From Ashes is important. It may not be absolutely important in the biggest ways (its not as important as say, having the Illusive Man in ME2 haha), but it definitely ties into things, and much more than Zaeed and Kasumi ever did to the games they were in/the trilogy.
~~~
To continue:
-Leviathan plugs a giant hole in understanding the larger story at play in the game/trilogy, and (along with the free Extended Cut DLC) making the ending of ME3 feel less jarring and confusing. No, you don't 'need' it, but like From Ashes, it kinda feels like its required to actually get the more full story of ME3. Some players avoid it though, mainly because it acts as justification for the ending people got, and hated, in ME3. On the other hand, other people can't be without it, since it makes the ending more digestible.
-I'd call Omega DLC the most optional... on its own. It is the most 'stand alone expansion' of the DLCs, it doesn't have any of the existing companions (but instead Aria and a new character), and it is a relatively side adventure that is a contained plot. It definitely has ties to the rest of ME3, but these are all very optional ties to recognize. It is only barely worth its $15 price IMO, but it also can still be damn fun, as they really stretch out the combat and story to try to make it as worth it as they could. Omega seems like 1-2 missions that could have been in the main game but were cut out, getting several months of polish and new content, becoming the DLC that is more like the length of 3-4 missions.
-I'd call Citadel DLC the most optional... as part of ME3. While it is seriously massive and has ties to soooo many things/choices in the whole trilogy (seriously), it is also a complete tonal shift and we're even allowed to headcanon that it takes place after ME3 (even though it isn't). People easy even regard it as non-canonical and just blatant fanservice; whether that's a correct interpretation to take is debatable, but I disagree. You have the gang together.. plus an old character. You get 3-4 missions' worth of initial story gameplay. You get a casino with betting rings, quazar, etc. You get an arcade with minigames. You get a combat arena with its own rewards, full featured combat including ME2 squadmates and Collectors and more, its own sidequests. You get an apartment you can slightly customize. You get visits with companions in your apartment and around the Citadel. You get a huge party you can guide that can host up to ~17 people.
Citadel DLC has a whole lot of particularities about the 'best time' to do its various forms of content, but I won't get into that unless you get the DLC.
~~~
To summarize:
-Yes, bloody download and play From Ashes.
-Unless you want to see the more hated ending (why not just Youtube it?), download and play Extended Cut.
-For initial play, I do highly suggest Leviathan. I find its best placement is around the final act of the game (which I'll say is between/around the levels of Thessia/Sanctuary).
-Omega and Citadel DLC (aka = $30) are the most like 'expansions. Omega as more standalone, and Citadel as more integrated into the game. I admit you can play the whole rest of the game, returning you to a previous part in the game when complete ('Continue+'), and you can decide to get Omega and Citadel when you feel like it.
TLDR: Get From Ashes, get Extended Cut, probably get Leviathan, then if its an issue, you can wait to get Omega and Citadel for when you feel comfortable with it.
I'm not a staunch supporter. There's a lot of issues with Bioware's planning and even current implementation of their DLC. I have ranted a lot about these problems. I just don't think its a big deal for ME2 now, and mostly not a big deal for ME3. You're not punishing them at this point for not giving them money, because their quarterly profits are most certainly not dependent on ME2-ME3 purchases now. Only in 2010-2013 would this have mattered. So either you buy or pirate or you're just punishing yourself, not EA. As far as I can tell with how the business works.
But yeah my last post lays out how you can avoid spending $30 of the cost for now. While I like to do Omega mid-ME3 for pacing purposes, its not a huge deal and you can avoid it for now ($15), and Citadel DLC is its whole other beast that while you can spread it out over the 2nd half of the game, you don't need to, and it is avoidable content too ($15). Then when you feel comfortable, this year or whenever, you can guy either or both. But you don't need to put down that whole $60-70 or whatever right away - you can cut down the total by $30 easily, until you're ready.
I have pirated the ME2 exclusive collector content, especially since I already had it on XB360 but had no way of getting it on PC otherwise, but that's it. Oh wait, and I got Pinnacle Station for ME1 because it was so confusing and vague to get it legit, basically scrubbed from Bioware's website.
-Lair of the Shadow Broker (ME2)
-Leviathan (ME3)
-Citadel (ME3)
This should indicate the most important things to go for, ultimately. But I wouldn't discount stuff like Kasumi (ME2), Overlord (ME2), Omega (ME3) - they're just not the most "OMG BIOWAR U ROK FOR THE MOST AWESOME DLC". Also didn't count From Ashes because its less "AWESOME" and more "Yeah this is practically part of the main game even if it isn't literally."