Mass Effect Legendary Edition (EP)

I just tested it myself and the Achievement popped so you can still cheese the insanity run on Mass Effect 1: Legendary edition.



Got to give credit to the original finder of this cheese: https://www.playstationtrophies.org/forum/topic/182334-hardc...



Walkthrough:

1. Make a save after you reach Saren the first time in the Citidel, before you go down to the final fight. Right before you access the console (to save/kill the council) so after the first saren fight.



2. Complete the game.



3. Reload the save you made in step 1.



4. Change the difficulty to Insanity and save over your save from step 1.



5. Start a new career and import your character that you just beat the game with.



6. Change the difficulty to Insanity while on the Normandy.



7. When you are on Eden Prime make another separate save.



8. Reload your previous save, verify the game is on insanity from step 4 and beat the game.

This is a standalone comment I wanted to bring up on my playthrough-

I started the game on normal difficulty with the updated leveling system (lvl 30 max).

I found that I was just breezing through the enemies, very little in the way of challenge. Somewhere between Eden Prime and the Citadel I changed the difficulty to Insanity to give me more of a challenge.

I completed the game thinking I would have to completely playthrough twice but I got the "Insanity I" on the single playthrough. I do not know if it was a majority of the game thing, or a bug within the game. It might be possible to get all the way to the Saren fight on an easier difficulty, then change it right before the fight for the ding.

My actual Insanity tips-

Having fixed the guns to be completely usable through all characters is a BIG help. Not so much early on (especially if it is a fresh character), but I was utilizing all but the assault rifle by my third planet. Keep that in mind when you reach open areas or close quarters.

Unlike the rest of the games, tech is the best set of abilities to have in the game. You run into synthetics more often than biotic users, shields are on most creatures, nerual shock comes in handy against big Krogan, and a maxed out AI hacking can have Juggernauts, Armatures, and the Citadel turrets fighting for you. Make sure you, or at least one squad member is an active tech user.

If you go biotic. Lift-throw is a great way to throw opponents off of the map; especially on the Citadel climb. It can be done with squadmates, but you have the ability to kind of aim the throw based off of your body position.

SAVE OFTEN- Its self explanatory but other than difficult combat segments, games can glitch and you don't want to loose so much progress.

Save your money for Specter grade Weaponry. You can buy yourself something nice (if you can afford it) by the time you leave the Citadell; once you have access to the fourth planet, the gear you should be receiving will be a very high level and worth a lot once sold. Go to Citadel, buy Specter gear, leave, repeat. It goes all the way to level X.

In my opinion, spending skill points in BOTH Paragon and Renegade is a waste of damage/armor potential. Likewise I found that high damage weapon ability's for the Shotgun and Sniper for my Squad to be a waste. Upgrade it for the damage potential, but don't expect the squad to use the skills even if you highlight it. Sun, moon, stars, and gods have to be aligned perfectly in order for those shots to fire.

Pretty much what the description says. One thing to add though - if you by any chance change the difficulty during your playthrough you can still get the achievement if you reload an earlier save where insanity was still set and continue on from that point.

Happened to me while changing the video settings and calibrating HDR. I reset and didn't realize it also reset the difficulty to "normal" instead of leaving it on insanity. Lost about 2h of progress until I figured out I played on a lower difficulty. Just wanted to reassure people who might have done something similar.

As for tips - the Legendary Edition lets you start on insanity without forcing you to finish the game at least two times. I started with a fresh Soldier and never ran into that much trouble. The best skills to level are Immunity, Shield Boost and Adrenaline Burst along with your preferred choice of weapon (I mainly leveled pistol and sniper rifle but you can use any weapon even if it's not leveled in the Legendary Edition). Don't forget to level Charm and Intimidate too as many dialog options will depend on these skills (and give you discounts for selling and buying). Adrenaline Burst will reset all your skills on cooldown, meaning you can immediately cast Shield Boost or Immunity again, making you almost invincible

As for squadmates I mostly took Tali for her Decryption and Electronics skill as well as AI Hacking, Sabotage and Dampening to combat the many Geth and other AI enemies. To balance it out Liara with her plethora of biotic skills to combat human enemies. Don't bother with her Electronics skill as her Overload will become unavailable if you skill all other biotic skills (which you should, as Singularity and Lift are great crowd control powers and Warp helps weaken tougher opponents, Stasis also comes in handy to take tougher enemies out of the fight for a limited time). I leveled her First Aid since only one of your squadmates needs skill points there.

As for planets, after becoming spectre I first went to get Liara on Therum, then all the side missions (excluding Bring Down the Sky which I saved for after Virmire), then Feros, all new side missions that came up, then Noveria, all new side missions and planets Virmire and just before going to Ilos I did Bring Down the Sky because you get a guaranteed rare item at the end of it which is appropriate to your current level. I was Level 28 there and got a Colossus X armor for Tali (could have gotten a Heavy Human Armor or Omni Tool as well). Remember to make stops at the Citadel at least after each main mission / plot world.

With every side mission and planet done, I hit Level 29 right before the fight with Saren at the end. Keep in mind that in the Legendary Edition there'll be Geth joining in the fight against him at the end. Level 30 requires a whopping 662.100 XP which you won't be able to get in a single playthrough.

Good luck, commander!

Adding my own experience here. Firstly, this is a totally legit playthrough, but there are ways you can trivialize it.

First, recommend doing all other ME1 achivements in Normal. Complete all missions, enjoy the story and content! This will level you up for step 2. My selected class was Vanguard, which gives a lot of options to complete power-specific achievements, etc. This also relevant in next step. Also, max Paragon or Renegade path (simply always choose either-or option, don't mix in a playthrough)

Step 2 is NG+ Insanity run. As you have already enjoyed all content, you can speedrun all plot missions and not bother with any side missions, no need to stress about achievements etc. You'll be done in a few hours! Specific tips:
- I used Kaidan and Liara as main companions. With 3 x Pull & Throw + Singularity, you can keep almost all enemies disabled at all times! Max these powers.
- Don't forget to equip the best possible equipment and mods. Choose equipment that lowers power cooldowns
- Only place you should stop in are shops, can't hurt to get medigel updrages. These are reset in NG+.
- Keep Barriers up at all times in combat, at least when enemies have heavy weapons.
- Pick the most troublesome enemy (Krogan, Krogan Warlord, Geth Destroyer and Prime etc.) - Pull, Throw, and fire your weapon on the floating foe to push them even more. ALWAYS Pull or Throw a charging enemy, don't let them touch you! Most importantly: in open air stages like Virmire, and final Citadel space walk, you can yeet even these powerful enemies out of the map in two seconds! With all three characters with these powers, you can disable and kill three Krogans at the same time. Even in enclosed spaces, they are unable to attack and you can keep disabling them and chipping away their health.
- Speaking of enclosed spaces: use Singularity to block doorways. Especially good against the most tedious part of Insanity run, the battle against Thorian and his creepers. You can still throw them off ledges, but in corridors, you can make them bounce around like pinballs. Don't let creepers vomit on you! They are very resistant to damage, but can fall down when you shoot them. They then start pushing themselves up, which means you should shoot again. You can keep a creeper or two humping the floor like this way, and they are completely helpess.
- All main mission planets have linear driving stages: Noveria, Therum, Feros, Virmire and Ilos. You don't need to stop or fight at all! Use L1 to boost, fire only the cannon to clear the way. Otherwise, just drive to the end. Even on Insanity, your opponents have 0 chance to even really damage you. No Tresher Maws in main plot ;)
- Saren: intimidate or charm the first phase, can be done even on a speedrun on NG+. Second phase: the only harmful Saren attack really is when he jumps on the ceiling and fires red fireballs. Keep your barriers up, and you'll be done slowly but surely! Don't despair when his shields recharge again and again. That's just part of the game. If he has a sliver of health but full shields, you can slam him into objects to take his last few health points away!
-Save often. There are spots that you may forget to do so, e.g. the Thorian run and Virmire assault do a good job in making you hurry too much. Your squadmates might remind you to save - when they comment that you are clear of enemies, or when downed and they get up automatically without Unity, then you should also be able to save.

To summarize, the only way to die is to: get charged at by a Krogan or Geth Prime, get vomited on and swarmed by Thorian creepers, or get hit by a heavy weapon. Pull/Throw/Neural shock helps with first two. Barrier, and of course situational awareness, helps with the second. Heavy projectiles are very slow!

Have fun!