A few clarifications regarding Mass Effect 3:
- I played ME3 many times from beginning to end, more than I care to count. I played ME1 and ME2 too, but it was only a long time ago and not nearly as much as ME3. I don't play MP, though, as it feels like an unrelated different game.
- There is no right or wrong way to play any game, however, if an achievable goal is set under certain constraints, there must always be more optimal (right) and less optimal (wrong) ways to achieve that goal. For example, in a chess match, if the goal is set to lose, not to win, then every otherwise wrong move now becomes right, and the otherwise worst move (if it exists) becomes the very best. In a game like ME 3, if the goal is set to merely experiment with different weapons, then using any low-damage weapon in an attempt to one-shot kill a toughest enemy becomes a right choice (in order to discover the chosen weapon is not a right choice).
- Armax Arsenal Arena is a perfect (in the sense that nothing in the game is better for the stated purpose) way to verify the combat effectiveness of different weapons, different loadouts, different classes, different builds of each class, different powers, different power combos, different squadmates, different squad compositions, and different play styles. To raise the combat difficulty, fight all four types of Super Elite enemies on every map, activate one or more or all combat bonuses to your enemies, activate one or more or all combat penalties to your own squad, and/or reduce your squad size from 3 to 2 and then to 1 (solo), until your character and/or your squad is no longer able to survive in the arena. Given a specific challenge in the Armax Arsenal Arena, the killing efficiency of any Shepard build or a squad can be measured and compared simply by the displayed finish times as well as the final scores. The setup that uses the least amount of time to achieve the highest final score is always the best way to handle the given challenge. And is the "right" choice for that challenge.
- I fought with my own Shepard characters in the Armax Aresenal Arena 100s of times and my highest arena score is 15,000, though only up to 9999 can be displayed on the score board. What I know for a fact is that Sentinel, if built for survival, is not only able to survive best (among all 6 different classes), but can also kill very fast. What I also know for a fact is that without play intervention, James is the squadmate who can survive in the arena significantly better than other squadmates who can be selected to fight with Shepard in the arena.
- Among all the 6 classes, at least in my hands, Sentinel is the only class who does not have to struggle a lot to complete the entire ME 3, including every DLC, on Insanity without dying once in player-involved combat. Although this has nothing to do with how the story ends, however, if the "right" decisions are made, it is possible that a Sentinel Shepard not only survive every battle on Insanity, but also the entire story line all the way to the point right before the credits screen shows up. Because of that, I don't use medi-gels, or pick any optional heavy weapons. Also, I rarely use grenades, except in an "emergency" situation.
- For the role-play purpose, Shepard should never, ever die (until where the main story ends), even if played on Insanity. However, to discover the "right" (most optimal) ways to achieve the goal of surviving the entire ME 3 story without dying once in combat on the Insanity difficulty, and to fully take advantage of the Sentinel class, a lot of experiments, deaths (reloads), power permutations, and arithmetic calculations are simply unavoidable.