[Confirmed] Potential Cheese for Paramour II/III & Insanity II/III

[undefinedmike]

Appreciate the concise instructions, worked for me no problem.

[chunkylover12305]

This sounds awesome! I remember playing these back in the day on Xbox360 but mostly forgot storylines, characters, and those dreaded Insanity playthroughs (I think I only did it on the first one). I heard that Insanity on the first game was manageable so I think I'll do that with the steps you provided to get that Insanity III trophy! Thanks everybody for testing out and confirming this for us! 

Gonna go buy this today and get to work!?

[Salamandxrs]

I didn’t have any bug

[DrBloodmoney]

I will be doing this - sod any complaints from 'gatekeeping' elitists who want to whine about it.

Their scorn means nothing, as I've seen what makes them cheer.

 

I've done each Mass Effect game on Insanity before - I don't need to run that gauntlet again to prove myself.

 I didn't get the Legendary edition for that.

I got it to rediscover an awesome story and amazing world - and the best way to do that is not on Insanity.

 

 

[BananaPuddin86]

Wonder if the Trophy only works on the xbox version because of the internal Cmos battery that the playstation uses. The xbox doesn't have that battery. Yet the playstation gets time information from that cmos battery for trophy information.

[Kranitoko]

On 17/05/2021 at 4:06 AM, AerisFlowerGirl said:

Hi friends,

 

First of all, I would like to say that if you aren't cool with cheeses and/or want to do Insanity legit, great. You do you, but don't come in here posting nonsense unless you have information to share.

 

With that out of the way: I mentioned in the PSA: Mass Effect 1 Insanity cheese still works thread that Xbox players can currently cheese Paramour II/III and more importantly: Insanity II/III by simply romancing once or beating Insanity once, closing the game, reloading a save, and doing it again. That is such a time saver that would be great for vets who don't really want to play the hell that is Mass Effect 2's insanity again. Sure, we will do it, but what if you could save those 20-40 hours for something else? Unfortunately, the cheese only works on Xbox and I've been trying to replicate it and/or find out why.

 

With that being said, I uploaded all my stuff to the Cloud and deleted everything off my console, except the save I made right before traveling to Ilos, which locks in your romance. Replaying the scene with my chosen partner actually managed to trigger Paramour II! But only Paramour II, as deleting my profile saves again and repeating the steps did not unlock Paramour III. I tried doing it offline once and repeating various things, but it seems to pull your trophy information from somewhere. When I boot up the game after deleting my trilogy profile saves (all profile saves, to be safe), it shows zero trophies unlocked at the Mass Effect 1 main menu. But once I've done the romance scene and exited back to the ME 1 menu, all my trophies are there, including Paramour I and II. Since nobody has unlocked Paramour III yet, I suppose we'll have to wait and see if it is even unlocking properly in the first place on the PS side.

 

I want to turn it over to anyone willing to test the same theory on Insanity II, who already has Insanity I cleared on their chosen game. Or anyone who wants to do more testing in hopes we can find a reliable method to skip Insanity II and III. I got this idea from the Bioshock Infinite blue ribbon trophy skip, so I thought it may work similar to that. Anyone want to take my theory and run with it to see if we can figure something out? Or once far enough into the trilogy, see if the method will work when you have say two Insanity clears and can skip the third one. Idk just an idea.

 

______________________________________________________________________________________________

 

EDIT: This has now been confirmed to work! Thank you for your hard work and testing, Wrangberth & Varun10000! Here are the official steps, tested by myself on patch 1.02:

 

Step 1: Complete Mass Effect 1 on Insanity. You can either do this legit, or by doing the cheese outlined in this post. Credit to xZoneHunter for discovering the old cheese still works from the PS3 days. If doing it legit, make sure to keep a save right before activating the final panel in the Citadel Tower. 

 

Step 2: Once you have earned Insanity I, quit the game and back up all of your data to the PS+ Cloud. This step is necessary to ensure you keep progress on other trophies in the trilogy set, such as Paramour and Long Service Medal.

 

Step 3: Delete the gamer profile, trilogy profile and launcher profile from your console. Do this for any game you have started, such as Mass Effect 2 and 3. You will also want to delete the “Saved Data” file. This looks different than the other saves as it has the Mass Effect Legendary Edition picture on it. No need to delete any auto saves or game saves. 

 

Step 4: Launch Mass Effect 1 and go to Extras -> Trophies to confirm you have none unlocked. All trophies should be grayed out. Back out and press Exit to Launcher.

 

Step 5: Re-launch Mass Effect 1 and check your trophies again (Extras -> Trophies). They should all now be unlocked as intended.

 

Step 6: Now you can load your save from step 1 right before the final fight with Saren on Insanity. Defeat Saren once more and the next Insanity trophy should pop at the Mass Effect Relay loading screen, right before talking with Anderson/Udina.

 

Step 7: Repeat Steps 3-6 in order to unlock Insanity III. Congrats! You no longer have to spend hours on Mass Effect 2 & 3's insanity if you do not want to. Now just download your profile saves you deleted earlier and continue on.

 

As noted, this will also work on Paramour II/III should you need it. You would need to make a save right before traveling to Ilos in Mass Effect 1, and then do steps 3-6. Just replace "watch romance scene" with "fight Saren." This should also theoretically work with Mass Effect 2 and 3, as my Paramour III popped in Mass Effect 2 after traveling to the Omega 4 relay.

 

Lastly, this can be done anytime. I personally did it after completing Mass Effect 1 and 2, and xZoneHunter has successfully done it after completing Mass Effect 1 and 3 on Insanity. Any other questions or problems, feel free to post. 

Absolutely fantastic. Managed to get the Paramore trophy I was missing cause of this. Thank you so much ☺️

[GastNDorf]

Ah, very nice tips although I have to say I remember my insane playthrough on ME2 PS3 being very easy by about 1/3 of the game, I played on an adept and needed to unlock the right powers. Once I did, all I had to do was spamming the impairing biotics on enemies, things like black hole or vortex (not sure about the names). I'd also take Thane and Miranda who also had those to an extent, so I could use their while mine where on cooldow, that basically allowed me to trap enemies in almost infinite loops until they died. And with those 3 I could also have all types of ammo in case there were weaknesses or resistances. That playthrough ended up being easier than my first on normal, flag bearer class having no clue what I was doing.

[OTPYG]

On 24/05/2021 at 1:06 AM, DrBloodmoney said:

I will be doing this - sod any complaints from 'gatekeeping' elitists who want to whine about it.

Their scorn means nothing, as I've seen what makes them cheer.

 

I've done each Mass Effect game on Insanity before - I don't need to run that gauntlet again to prove myself.

 I didn't get the Legendary edition for that.

I got it to rediscover an awesome story and amazing world - and the best way to do that is not on Insanity.

 

 

Are there really that many people complaining about this for you to get so defensive about exploiting a glitch? Correct me if I’m wrong but I’ve only seen one comment in this thread saying that it ‘wasn’t fair’. If anything there’s more people justifying them using this exploit then there is complaining about it existing. 
 

You do you, there’s no need to justify it. This is a trophy website, if people are annoyed about others using exploits then then need to get their own priorities in check. 

[DrBloodmoney]

27 minutes ago, OTPYG said:

Are there really that many people complaining about this for you to get so defensive about exploiting a glitch? Correct me if I’m wrong but I’ve only seen one comment in this thread saying that it ‘wasn’t fair’. If anything there’s more people justifying them using this exploit then there is complaining about it existing. 
 

You do you, there’s no need to justify it. This is a trophy website, if people are annoyed about others using exploits then then need to get their own priorities in check. 

haha, yeah - guess that does come off as a bit defensive out of context?

 

There was a bit of back and forth on the subject, but must have been in one of the other threads at the time - maybe the trophy thoughts one or something?

 

Mostly just a bit of the usual peacocking from the e-toughnuts, getting their panties in a twist over people not having to suffer through insanity playthroughs to get the individual platinums ?

 

More power to ‘em if they wanna do that over again, of course, but when it comes to this exploit?

 

...One that means a full trophy list for playing the games at their best, with the focus on the story and the choices?

 

...Not needing to bog down that story with the early game combat on pain-in-the-sanity mode, and not needing to cheat on my pretty blue girlfriend who doesn’t deserve to be done like that?

 

That’s the Paragon choice, in my book ?

 

 

Edited June 1, 2021 by DrBloodmoney

[OTPYG]

6 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said:

Snip

Yeah you’re right, there’s some peacocking in other threads. I don’t see the need for such toxic behaviour. It’s a single player game and it doesn’t influence of affect their experience or joy with the game whatsoever. Everyone should and can play the game, and its exploits, as they see fit. If they’re worried that a trophy won’t be as rare as it could be due to said exploit, then as I said before, they need to get their own priorities in check. They’re pathetic. 

 

Enjoy your time with the trilogy. I finished it yesterday, was a brilliant walk down memory lane!!

[AyAerith]

20 hours ago, OTPYG said:

Yeah you’re right, there’s some peacocking in other threads. I don’t see the need for such toxic behaviour. It’s a single player game and it doesn’t influence of affect their experience or joy with the game whatsoever. Everyone should and can play the game, and its exploits, as they see fit. If they’re worried that a trophy won’t be as rare as it could be due to said exploit, then as I said before, they need to get their own priorities in check. They’re pathetic. 

 

 

There was certainly some "peacocking" in the other threads, the conversation got removed after I got a bit carried away putting someone in their place. I too am sick and tired of people telling me how to play games. How to spend my free time and enjoyment. You don't see people going into threads saying "wow, you did that legit? Loser." Who cares? If you are enjoying the game, play how you want. Had to start this thread with "if you don't like cheeses, leave" because it seems like every thread on every forum dedicated to achievement/trophy hunting has at least one elitist that has to run their mouth about how they did it legit. Great, good for you, nobody cares lol.

[Infected Elite]

just wanting confirmation that this doesnt screw up counts for ME3?

 

as i backed up saves to cloud. havent deleted system stuff yet (im playing on ps5 so idk if that helps), but if i got Insanity 2, and Insanity 3 before i start ME3 is my plan.

On 01/06/2021 at 3:44 PM, OTPYG said:

 Correct me if I’m wrong but I’ve only seen one comment in this thread saying that it ‘wasn’t fair’. If anything there’s more people justifying them using this exploit then there is complaining about it existing. 
 

You do you, there’s no need to justify it.

reminds me of The Fast and the Furious. "Doesn't matter if you win by an inch, or a mile, winning is winning"

 

Doesn't matter how its achieved. 

[Cleggworth]

I'm using the exploit when the time comes. I'm playing for the story and my wife is experiencing it for the first time after telling her for years how good it is. I don't want it lessened by being bogged down on insanity. I did it legitimately the first time, I'm confident enough in my digital equipment to be totally fine with doing it this way ?

[DrBloodmoney]

1 hour ago, Infected Elite said:

just wanting confirmation that this doesnt screw up counts for ME3?

 

as i backed up saves to cloud. havent deleted system stuff yet (im playing on ps5 so idk if that helps), but if i got Insanity 2, and Insanity 3 before i start ME3 is my plan.

doesnt cause any issues AFAIK - I’ve done it in ME1, (for Paramore and Insanity) and the counters for the 2000 kills etc. carried on fine afterwards, unlocking around the halfway point of ME2.

 

The only Trilogy trophy outstanding for me is the complete all 3 with the same character, so can’t confirm that, but all seems fine.

[Infected Elite]

4 minutes ago, DrBloodmoney said:

doesnt cause any issues AFAIK - I’ve done it in ME1, (for Paramore and Insanity) and the counters for the 2000 kills etc. carried on fine afterwards, unlocking around the halfway point of ME2.

 

The only Trilogy trophy outstanding for me is the complete all 3 with the same character, so can’t confirm that, but all seems fine.

 

its over. its all over. ? Insanity 2 and 3 complete...

now. i can just enjoy ME3 for the mess that it is. I dont think romance or the all 3 with same char will glitch. but ill have saves incase.

 

Funny enough... i had so little equipped on my suits... once i did. Saren on Insanity 2 and 3 was my bitch lmao. Nobody got downed.

 

 

 

 

Thank you OP for this!

[espjh2]

I just did this without any issues. I had only loaded ME1 and did this at the end of my casual run.

 

Paramour II and III also popped without issue.

 

Having done Insanity on the originals, this was a welcome glitch. From recollection, ME2 Insanity had a couple of tough spots.

 

Now on to enjoy ME2 and ME3!

Edited June 6, 2021 by espjh2

[phoenix_shade]

I'm just confused about why somebody needs to cheese the paramour trophies? Don't you just get them for playing the game? 

[DrBloodmoney]

4 minutes ago, phoenix_shade said:

I'm just confused about why somebody needs to cheese the paramour trophies? Don't you just get them for playing the game? 

Yes, paramore is easy to get from a pure gameplay point of view, but if you want to genuinely role play the part of a ‘good’ Shepherd, and chose to romance Liara, you may not want to do any paramore option in ME2, given that it would require you to ‘cheat’ on her. (Sleeping with her in ME2 as part of the Lair of the Shadow Broker stuff doesn’t count for Paramore).

 

[Qualle960]

Does the new Patch 1.03 affect the glich?

[Tieske]

I just tried to get the Insanity II trophy after the new update but did not get it, tried 2nd time still nothing. 
I hope I’m doing something wrong

[NovaSoma]

The new 1.03 patch apparently fixed some trophy issues. But I’m guessing it removed the exploits to get Insanity II/III etc. unless someone tests to see if it still works. For now it’s probably best not to update 

[SnowxSakura]

The new patch made it so importing a save into Mass Effect 2 from Mass Effect 1 will now only give a max of 100,000 credits, to "not break the early game experience"

[jess210sw]

58 minutes ago, SnowxSakura said:

The new patch made it so importing a save into Mass Effect 2 from Mass Effect 1 will now only give a max of 100,000 credits, to "not break the early game experience"

Wow, that is a major credit nerf. In general I'm not a fan of patches that make games more grindy. Especially since in the legendary edition you have to buy most of the dlc stuff that used to be sent to you for free. In ME3 you can repeat the Citadel DLC armax arena combat simulator as much as you like and each gold award is worth 10,000 credits for a source of infinite money, but as far as I'm aware ME2 has nothing similar which really makes the credit nerf hurt. It's annoying worrying about finding every single little wall safe and pda. I wouldn't be mad at all if they changed it back to 10% of your ME1 credits.

[Tieske]

5 hours ago, NovaSoma said:

The new 1.03 patch apparently fixed some trophy issues. But I’m guessing it removed the exploits to get Insanity II/III etc. unless someone tests to see if it still works. For now it’s probably best not to update 

 

Yeah, I really hope it's just me. I've deleted the game and it's now installing again.

Trying to start the 1.00 version with my 1.02 saves, hope that works.

At least I got the 1.000.000 credits from ME1 as I started that a day before the update.

Just wished I got the Insanity 2/3 after I got Insanity 1...

[NovaSoma]

33 minutes ago, Tieske said:

 

Yeah, I really hope it's just me. I've deleted the game and it's now installing again.

Trying to start the 1.00 version with my 1.02 saves, hope that works.

At least I got the 1.000.000 credits from ME1 as I started that a day before the update.

Just wished I got the Insanity 2/3 after I got Insanity 1...

It surprisingly works as that’s what I’m doing as well since 1.03 got downloaded. So far I haven’t had any problems with my saves from 1.01 on 1.00. I’m close to trying out the exploit and seeing if that works. I’m guessing it will