Mass-effect – What are the differences in plot and possible endings between the Story, Action and RPG modes

mass-effect-3

In Mass Effect 3 you can choose to play campaign in Story, Action or RPG mode.

I know the difference between them is that Story focuses on plot while ignoring FPS elements; Action removes dialogue options and is focused on FPS elements; and RPG focuses on both plot and action aspects of the game.

My question would be – beyond things I mentioned above, is the game customized in any other way (by selecting one of them and not others)? Is there any possible ending "locked" in a certain mode?

Best Answer

Because Action Mode is the only mode that automatically chooses your dialogue options, you will be unable to direct the story to your personal narrative and will be locked to the ending that the automatic choices lead you to.

Now, if you've imported a save or play multiplayer, your previous choices will still affect Galactic Readiness and the Mass Effect Universe you play in.

No one has confirmed if Action Mode chooses identical dialogue choices each playthrough, but Action mode is the only mode where you cannot choose how you end the game.

Currently the Action Mode dialogue randomness question is being discussed here: Are Action Mode responses random?

Asari

Base Health/Barrier: 500/500
Evasion and Mobility: Asari slide on biotic energy, which uses 10% of their barrier for each use.
Melee and Heavy Melee Abilities: For their Heavy Melee, they unleash a PBAoE (Point Blank Area of Effect) biotic pulse (similar to Nova, except the charge up time is longer, as is standard with Heavy Melee attacks).
Unique Passive: Asari Justicar

Drell

Base Health/Barrier: 500/250
Evasion and Mobility: Drell do flips for evasion, during which they take 50% less damage. They also have 15% faster movement speed.
Melee and Heavy Melee Abilities: They use martial arts for their regular melee attacks, but have the standard class-based Heavy Melee.
Unique Passive: Drell Assassin

Humans

Base Health/Barrier (or Shielding): 500/500
Evasion and Mobility: Humans can do a combat roll in any direction, both in and out of cover.
Melee and Heavy Melee Abilities: Standard
Unique Passive: Alliance Training. Humans are the only race that can get a weight decrease to all weapons.

Krogan

Base Health/Shielding: 750/1,000
Evasion and Mobility: Krogan do not have an evasion mechanism and also move slower. Unlike Turians, they cannot roll from cover to cover.
Melee and Heavy Melee Abilities: Their regular melee is a headbutt, and they have a unique heavy melee ability, Krogan Charge, which lets them charge and swing their weapon, causing knockback and staggering.
Unique Passives: Krogan Berserker and Rage (replaces Fitness)

Quarians

Base Health/Shielding: 500/600
Evasion and Mobility: Quarians do a jump to the side as their strafing evade rather than a combat roll.
Melee and Heavy Melee Abilities: Standard
Unique Passive: Quarian Defender

Salarians

Base Health/Shielding: 500/600
Evasion and Mobility: Salarians do a jump to the side as their strafing evade, same as Quarians.
Melee and Heavy Melee Abilities: Standard
Unique Passive: Salarian Operative

Turians

Base Health/Shielding: 500/750
Evasion and Mobility: Turians, like Krogan, do not have any way to evade or strafe and move slower. However, they can roll from cover to cover.
Melee and Heavy Melee Abilities: Standard
Unique Passive: Turian Veteran. They are the only class that can receive a bonus to Weapon Stability.

The Resurgence Pack DLC added the Geth and Batarian races. You need to download it in order for the new races to show up in the store packs for you.

Batarians

Base Health/Shielding: 750/750
Evasion and Mobility: Batarians have the same movement limitations as Krogan. They do not have a way to evade or strafe, are unable to roll from cover to cover, and have a slightly slower overall movement speed.
Melee and Heavy Melee Abilities: Standard regular melee. They have a unique heavy melee which takes a long time to charge, but it pretty much pulverizes your target, doing massive damage, causing knockback and quite a bit of blood spatter.
Unique Passive: Batarian Enforcer. Batarians are the only race that can get a Spare Ammo capacity bonus as a passive. In addition, they can get a weight decrease to both Sniper Rifles and Shotguns.

Geth

Base Health/Shielding: 250/750
Evasion and Mobility: Geth do a strafing evade outside of cover similar to the Quarians and Salarians. Like the Krogan, they cannot roll from cover to cover. They get movement speed bonuses in their passive.
Melee and Heavy Melee Abilities: Standard regular melee. The Geth Heavy Melee is a bit similar to the Asari's. It's a PBAoE pulse that uses your shields to power it (again, similar to Nova) for as long as you hold down the Heavy Melee button or until your shields run out, whichever comes first. Higher shields will let you do this longer, so in Hunter Mode, which costs you 50% of your shields, it won't last as long.
Unique Passives: Networked AI, Advanced Hardware (replaces Fitness), and Hunter Mode. Geth can receive a weapon damage bonus to Geth weapons, and like the Batarians, can also receive a reduction in weapon weight for two types of weapons instead of one type, Assault and Sniper Rifles. Hunter Mode, when active, lets you see through smoke and architecture, in order to locate enemies, who show up with red glowing auras. There is a 50% penalty to your shields while this ability is active.

Mass-effect – Are there any gameplay differences between the male and female Shepard

No.

There are no major differences between a male and female Shepard other than romance options, and an occasional minor dialog (think of the condescending mercs on Omega during the Dossier:Archangel mission in ME2).

The major difference between the two comes down to the voice actor and romance paths.