Bought it tonight and have played it for a few hours.

The graphics are better but still nothing too special. The story so far is moving along well enough but I never like the early part of these games where my squad recruitment is absolutely limited by linear plot.

The controls are incredibly rigid and frustrating. Movement is like running through molasses. Combat is a fight against the cover system as much as the enemies. Good luck running through an area with low walls or rubble!

Crappy gameplay, bland graphics, and a mediocre story. Why did I buy this again?



... oh right.

Its okay Manchu. I like Tali too. There there.

I hated it at first, now im starting to like it more. It does feel some what a bit of a let down. Still going to play it till it tells me to buy dlc to finish the fight, then I will curse it for eternity.

I enjoy all the cut scenes and character interaction. Yes, I love Tali but I'm also really glad to see Ashely and Garrus again. I was even happy to get Dr. Chakwas back on board quickly. I had to force myself to stop playing tonight. Without having to get up for work tomorrow, I'd probably stay up playing until I met up with everyone.

That's how BioWare gets me: they know I'll suffer through the terrible "gameplay" to spend time with the characters.

There are some weird backwards steps. The Normandy, which managed to wow me in both ME1 and 2, is now cluttered and ugly. And I can't figure out why the writers thought struggling against the Council with the Reapers destroying Earth and Palavan would make for a satisfying third episode.

I'm also playing a black Shepherd but Shepherd's voice is so whitebread I feel like he's doing a Barack Obama impression a la Key and Peele the whole time. (Yeah, I'm playing him paragon, too.)

I have been playing off and on since 6 am yesterday, so far, so good :>


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then again, this has been my favorite off day as well

I bought it yesterday, and I'll get some game time in once I'm back in Chicago. Thankfully I don't have much in the way of deadlines coming up.

I'm having a lot of fun with the gameplay, myself. I love being able to vault over walls without needing to get behind them first.

Truthfully, the only problem I have is that the game has finally gone full-on Paragon vs. Renegade. There aren't any more neutral conversation options, just the paragon or renegade choice.

Other than that, I've been loving the game. Combat is fun, and getting more than one shot per thermal clip for my sniper rifle is always nice. Plus, mods are back, and credits are actually useful for a change. I've even found a nice little combo of skills and weapons that has basically allowed me to play the game without needing to get into cover just because of how quickly I kill enemies.

What format are you guys playing it on?
Are the gfx/controls better on a Pc for example or is it fairly standard across the board?

I'm enjoying the combat for the most part, but I've noticed a few inconsistencies in the plot and tone of the game that have annoyed the hell out of me. Also, the hair options for FemShep are atrocious . I'm hoping that the game will find its footing before too long, though to this point (I'm a couple of hours in) I can safely say that this is the weakest entry in the franchise's main series. Not bad, but where Mass Effect 1 & 2 were truly great, so far this game is merely above average-to-good.

You'd say ME3 is weaker than ME2? I really feel this is reverse-ooh-shiny syndrome. I'll need to play the game through at least once before making that call but I distinctly remember feeling very let down after my first pass at ME2. My second play of ME2 was for PS3 with all the DLC and I liked the game much, much more. Not only did the DLC fill in important story gaps (Lair of the Shadowbroker especially) and add much-needed meat to the bones but the time gap also gave me a chance to accept that BioWare vis-a-vis EA had turned away from the legacy of its D&D-based games.

There is no similar gap between ME2 and ME3. If anything, ME3 feels even more streamlined. There are even in-game jokes about this (Esteban's comments regarding the location of the armory). As for gameplay, ME3 is not very good at all. But then again, ME2 was flat out poor. I remember mentioning to a friend that it was a gakky third-person shooter that gets reviewed as a RPG to avoid one-star ratings. I've noticed that BioWare has tried to make some improvements (with movement, as Locclo mentioned above) but the innovations don't gel into a meaningfully different experience. It's still frustrating and would be totally unacceptable if the game was marketed as an action game or shooter.

So is ME3 appropriately called a RPG? Sure, why not? What isn't a RPG? If you're looking for story-altering choices, however, I doubt this is the series for you. I'm going by ME2 (and DA2 TBH) on that score, obviously. I've yet to run into any choice other than Pepsi v Coke Paragon v Renegade but I've only played for around four hours and am curious/optimistic regarding what the difference between "+2 Paragon" and "+2 Reputation" could be.

Structurally, I can't figure out why FFXIII is ripped on for being linear but these BioWare games get a pass. I suppose the ability to do a (one) side mission early on instead of proceeding with the main plot makes it a comparative sandbox? Wait, no. Yes, I know FFXIII took forever to "open up" but I feel like ME3 is similarly taking forever to get going. In ME, I define "okay, it got going" as I have more party members that I want to use than I can use. Because, let's face it, this series consistently shines in one area -- creating compelling and endearing characters.

The bioware games give the illusion of choice and actually have some areas to explore, while FFXIII it's just one long cooridor after another.

Even when you get on to the overland section in FFXIII, it's still jsut a fething cooridor. Even when you get to the forest region, you're STILL in a cooridor-- the forest is nothing more than scenery you can look at as you walk along a narrow path.

This is a subtle and yet important gameplay distinction...

FFXIII opens into an open world eventually Mel, and a real open world, but you have to suffer through ten to twelve hours of corridor to get there, and then the open world section is all just extra stuff you do with near no role in the story. Heck you get there and then you go back to the corridors to finish the storyline! That said, in the department of openness, I think ME comes out on top simply as a matter of course. ME2 is nothing but corridors and it felt more open than FFXIII -_-

Melissia wrote:This is a subtle and yet important gameplay distinction...

I'm sure there is some non-substantive aka "subtle" distinction between the way ME3 and FFXIII appear but for the purpose of actual structure they seem pretty equivalent to me. We've turned quite a corner in the American-Japanese divide when BioWare gets cut more slack than SquareEnix.

I've also been wondering who was standing with the Illusive Man during the Mars transmission. It looked like a male figure from the glimpses I caught but I initially thought it could be Miranda. Given that Cerberus soldiers are being modified via Reaper technology, I guess we can all say "I told you so" in the mirror with regard to the Illusive Man's "contact lenses."

Only idiots thought otherwise when in comes to TIM and the Reapers. In terms of foreshadowing, TIM was so blatantly obvious that its not even worth calling it foreshadowing. Bioware tipped their hand on that one. Its almost like they weren't even trying. EDIT EDIT: Or maybe they were just counting on the stupidity of their fans being incapable of comprehending how bad they've gotten at crafting a story.

EDIT: Screw it, its obvious and we all know it. It's not worthy of being treated as a spoiler. Anyone who didn't figure this out in ME2 doesn't deserve to comment about storyline in anything

Yeah, I thought about putting spoiler tags on that one, too -- but between the inordinate amount of close-ups on Saren's eyes in ME1 and the inordinate amount of close-ups on TIM's eyes in ME2 ...

Manchu wrote:I'm sure there is some non-substantive aka "subtle" distinction between the way ME3 and FFXIII appear

Claiming such things are "non-substantive" is misleading, as it's quite substantive in terms of gameplay. It is utterly impossible to create 100% choice (even a game as open ended as, say, minecraft or dwarf fortress does not have such), therefor to make up for that the better the game is at producing an illusion of choice, the better the game is designed.

Note that I am NOT saying this game is perfectly designed or anything. Just better than FFXIII.

An illusion is not convincing by virtue of being an illusion. That they offer no actual choice or even apparent choice is my main criticism of ME2, DA2, and (so far) ME3 as RPGs. Once I got over that and took the games for what they were, I was able to enjoy them much more and I wasn't nearly so hard on them. I don't feel that FFXIII has gotten the same "fair chance." The idea that a game succeeds if I'm dumb enough to fall for its tricks and fails if it doesn't attempt to trick me is ludicrous.

Manchu, it sounds like you just don't much care for Mass Effect as a series, honestly. If you aren't much for the roleplaying/individual decisions in the series, and don't much care for the combat system, then why play it? Not trying to be rude or inflammatory, I'm genuinely curious.

As for why Mass Effect 2 made such a strong impression on me early where Mass Effect 3 has not, it doesn't have anything to do with the game's level of polish. The new graphics engine is a bit uneven in some of the cutscenes, but when it works, it really works. Some of the early set-pieces on Earth felt grandiose in a way that few games do. I'd be over the moon to see my incarnation of Shepard rendered so well . No, my problems with it so far have been with narrative inconsistencies and a few dips in writing quality. The way that Mass Effect 2 handled the narrative from Mass Effect 1 (or more accurately, the narrative as I played it) was damn near seamless, whereas the same treatment from Mass Effect 3 has felt shoe-horned in so far.

Early Mass Effect 3 spoilers follow.

Why did Andersen send me to talk to the Council? Because I *used* to be a Council Spectre? Andersen, you're ON THE FUGGIN Council! And even if you left the Council during one of the novels, you used to be on the Council. Me on the other hand, I made the call that killed the Council during Sovereign's attack on the Citadel. So instead of having me stay on Earth and fight (which is what I do best) and sending you to the Council (which you've been on for two years), we have the older desk jockey staying behind to fight the Reapers and the biggest bad ass in the galaxy off on a diplomatic mission. Dumb, clumsy, and not up the standards set by previous entries in the game. I understand that they needed to get Shepard off world, but they could have found a way to do it that wasn't seemingly ignorant of pivotal events from the previous two games.

On Mars, why did Kaiden and I have the same forced, poorly written conversation about my previous involvement with Cerberus twice within the space of a minute? The clumsy exposition wasn't just badly written and placed, but it actually sounded as if the voice actors were bored with their lines.

Why is the Shadow Broker on my team? Or more importantly, why is one of the biggest secrets in the galaxy apparently no longer a secret. Hackett asked Liara to investigate the Mars archive because she's the Shadow Broker? Why does Hackett know that she's the Broker, and why is she totally fine with owning up to this fact in the middle of a hostile base? From the events of Lair of the Shadow Broker, it seemed the Liara would be a lot more careful with her alter-ego.

Maybe it's a side effect of having just played through Mass Effect 1 and Mass Effect 2 for the first time over the past two weeks, but the writing and characterizations in Mass Effect 3 have seemed surprisingly inconsistent up to this point. It certainly hasn't made nearly the same impression on me that the first couple of hours of Mass Effect 2 did. Of course, I still have a lot of game to get through before I make a final judgment.

As I mentioned in the OP, I rate the ME series on a couple of points:

Presentation: Average

Gameplay: Below Average

Story: Average

Characters: Best In The Business *

* Shepherd aside.




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I'm conflicted over whether this game should have started on a Reaper-besieged Earth. It's supposed to provide the game with energy and Shepherd with a conflict that makes him relatable to the party members and NPCs. (Seriously, how many times have I seen the dialog option "I can relate" so far? At least three or four, I think.) But that very conflict leads to some crises in the suspension of disbelief. Your point about Anderson having been on the Council is a good illustration although I'm sure ME fluff nutters would respond that Anderson has a bad relationship with Udina or something.

I'm absolutely amazed at the whining going on over on the Bioware forums over the ending. People are way too emotionally invested in this, it's just a video game. It's like people freaking out over Harry Potter...for the love of reason...it's fiction, not reality.

The first game was meh, second was really good, third is getting simultaneously slammed and praised right now. I'll wait until the price drops before I bother with it.

I must say that if you like the cast there is no reason to pay attention to the rage in deciding when to buy it. OTOH, I can understand the investment people have in their favorite stories. Whether I agree or disagree with their appraisal, I appreciate their passion ... to a point of course. As a medium, the internet does not encourage measured and reasonable debate.

When someone says I've spent 24 of the past 48 hours in a thread discussing the ending of a video game there is something seriously wrong with that individual.

There are some nutcases out there. ME2 is the best game I've played in years and I like the story, but I'm not so emotionally invested in that I'm going to freak out simply because I dislike the endings.

It reminds me of the backlash over the Dark Tower ending.


I'm mainly not buying it because SWToR turned out to be mediocre despite excellent voice acting and pretty good class stories and because Bioware apparently dumbed ME3 down even more so than ME2. The dialogue was one of the stronger points of ME1/2, if they've reduced options than I'm not paying full price for it.

I think the dialog is written well enough. Mind you, I'm not just judging it by what is said but also by who is saying it. So again I am confirming that I like the characters and think they are well made. Even the new ones seem good to me. As far as dumbing the choices down ... I don't know. ME2 was pretty well red v. blue, too.

Eh, there were a fair amount of neutral choices even though I typically went renegade for the lulz. I've seen a lot of posts claiming that there is a severe lack of neutral choices in ME3 and I don't like the new gung ho Marine character simply because I've yet to see a video game pull of a believable military character. The ones from the first two games were passable, but this new guy looks like a severely stereotypical tatted up jarhead prick. While there are many individuals like that, they typically do not reside in special forces.

Anyone find any big bugs yet? I'm doing this one citadel mission where



Anyway, I have to go to the Dock holding area to find the guy I need, but the game freezes up when I'm between levels, just a black screen (on PS3).. I can go to other levels just fine though. I'm gonna try and leave the citadel and go do a mission then try and come back I guess

I think I may be close-ish to that point and am also playing on PS3. I'll let you know if I encounter this issue.

Necros wrote:Anyone find any big bugs yet? I'm doing this one citadel mission where

Spoiler:

I have to get the blue suns to side with me, and their leader is in jail, so I gotta convince her 2nd in command to take over

Anyway, I have to go to the Dock holding area to find the guy I need, but the game freezes up when I'm between levels, just a black screen (on PS3).. I can go to other levels just fine though. I'm gonna try and leave the citadel and go do a mission then try and come back I guess

I found a pretty annoying one on the mission where you have to rescue the female Krogan from Cerberus (on the Salarian planet). I was trying to get into a piece of cover, and actually wound up getting stuck in it. I just couldn't move at all, and had to restart the mission to fix it.

I'm honestly surprised that so many people don't like the gameplay. It didn't change all that much from 2, there's just more acrobatics and the ability to move around in cover. I'm not having any issues with it whatsoever, other than the odd moment where I hit the wrong button and accidentally step out of cover. What's the big deal with the gameplay that everyone's so mad about?

As for me, the issue is not that ME2's gameplay was wonderful and ME3 ruined it. It's that ME2's gameplay was fair to poor and none of ME3's improvements really address that.

The gameplay is fine for me, but I'm more in it for the story stuff anyway. I would have preferred a 1st person shooter kind of view though instead of 3rd. would be great if they could give you the option for both

Well my first reaction was the opening scene of Vancouver getting destroyed: What in the hell?! Don't they know only New York is supposed to get destroyed like that.

Necros wrote:Anyone find any big bugs yet?

Yes.

Obviously I love the characters, so I'll just soldier through the unimpressive gameplay.

One thing that seems like a bug is occasionally it started getting super jerky, like 5FPS. Closing the game and restarting it fixes this. My system is far in excess of the system requirements, and it runs fine the vast majority of the time. It seems to take about 2 hours for this to start happening, and it doesn't always.

So. I just beat the game.

I'm pretty well pleased with it so far, actually. I went with a Soldier in ME1, a Soldier in ME2, and I started a Soldier in ME3, but the new tweaks to assault rifles are...not good. Convinced me to restart as a Vanguard, and I'm honestly impressed with the combat now that I'm playing a class that can largely ignore the cover mechanics and just go bombing around slaughtering. ME2 was largely "sit in cover, destroy things with the Vindicator/Mattock" and thus quite tedious. This is quite an upgrade, though that may be due more to the class than the gameplay.

The "streamlining" of the conversations sucks, and I wouldn't be surprised if the next game in the franchise just eschewed dialogue options altogether in favor of non-interactive cut scenes. Bioware is steadily becoming less an RPG developer and more an action developer. They still have great writers, but I think it's pretty obvious they'd rather write novels than branching storylines.

Multiplayer's one of the aspects of the game I was quite venomous to when it was announced, but I've probably spent more time on it than the singleplayer so far. Which leads to the odd circumstance of barely being off Earth in the campaign, yet having 100% Galactic Readiness. Hope I'm not screwing myself there.

Not wild about the squad. Never been a fan of Liara, Tali, or even Ashley.

So I watched the after-the-credits scene on Youtube...that was really awful. Really cheapens the impact of the entire series IMO. It's also not really that spoilerish if people are interested.

Bioware is steadily becoming less an RPG developer and more an action developer. They still have great writers, but I think it's pretty obvious they'd rather write novels than branching storylines.

Disappointing to hear.

Chongara wrote:So. I just beat the game.

For reals? I've been playing almost nonstop since I got it tuesday, and I'm still in "act 1" according to the hint book the GameStop guy made me buy

Necros wrote:

Chongara wrote:So. I just beat the game.

For reals? I've been playing almost nonstop since I got it tuesday, and I'm still in "act 1" according to the hint book the GameStop guy made me buy

Fo' Reals. Granted, I didn't do 100% completion just enough to fill that green "War Assets" bar and unlock all the endings. I think the total completion time was just shy of 20 hours for me. I don't know if that's fast or slow. I can imagine the game taking longer if I was playing a different class maybe? I found that I could pretty much beat everything very quickly in the game by taking 1 light weapon (keeping power recharge at 200%) and just spamming Charge + Nova over and over as Vanguard.

The only thing that was remotely close to a challenge were the enemies called "Banshees" and only because they had an unavoidable, non-telegraphed instant kill attack in melee.

Oh.. yeah I play slow. I just now got my assets to the minimum line, but I'm doing a lot of exploring and checking out planets and running from reapers. Also doing all the side missions I can find, for extra XPs.

I'm doing a soldier with fire ammo and armor piercing ammo maxed for the whole squad.. armor I use the armor piercing and fire on everything else. Stuff dies real quick. I never order my group to do anything either, they just do their own thing and kill stuff for me. But stuff dies real easy, especially the cerebrus guys that think they're tough with those big metal that my bullets go right through.

I'm also taking my time. I read like everything that pops up and need to talk to everyone and all that stuff but I'm really enjoying it. The game is like a non-stop easter-egg for those who've played the previous two installments.

I've also been taking it slow. I've been hitting every side-mission I can, exploring the galaxy for artifacts and other random gubbins for people on the Citadel.

By the way, I gotta say that I love what they did with the Citadel. Not just the layout, but the fact that if you want to blow an hour after doing a lot of combat, you can just wander around and do talky side-quests for people.

When I first got to the citadel I thought it would be a good idea to get all the quests I could before heading out again... took me like 3 hours.

Me too.

Well I'll be home in thirty minutes where ME3 is waiting for me, so will be able to join in the thread from tomorrow.

Sad face on the 360 bug, hope I get lucky, or I'll figure out what I am doing when it happens. If I can just re-edit the face, I won't be too bothered as I know what she looks like.

Morathi's Darkest Sin wrote:Well I'll be home in thirty minutes where ME3 is waiting for me, so will be able to join in the thread from tomorrow.

Sad face on the 360 bug, hope I get lucky, or I'll figure out what I am doing when it happens. If I can just re-edit the face, I won't be too bothered as I know what she looks like.

Are you talking about how it doesn't properly carry over your guy's appearance? Ya, that happened to me. Turned me into some Indian guy. I was able to recreate my guy for the most part though.

I just beat the game as well. Fem Shep, Xbox 360, Infiltrator. Game Spoilers to follow.



All and all, Amazing close to a great story, but a mediocre close to what could have been a great gameplay franchise.

If you haven't yet gotten there, you eventually do a mission on a planet called "Thessia". One companion is preselected for you; for some really choice dialogue, your other companion should be the.... new addition to the team.

I''ve played 5 or 6 hours by now. Got back from the Turian moon and back to the Citadel to visit Thane. Before I talk about anything else I have to say one thing:

That IGN woman who's playing that Alliance Action News Extreme reporter... that is one terrible character. Who's idea was it to put her in the game and in a role like that?!


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Also: Joker is creeeeeeepy...

KamikazeCanuck wrote:

Are you talking about how it doesn't properly carry over your guy's appearance? Ya, that happened to me. Turned me into some Indian guy. I was able to recreate my guy for the most part though.

Aye, and yeah it happened. I decided to try and see if I could get her look, and surprisingly I was able to get a near spot on match, if fact I think I've toned done the cheeks a little better this time, so prefer her over the previous look I had.

About 3hrs in, couldn't wait to download my goodies, so didn't actually start the game till just after midnight, and stayed up to just before 3am, which was a bit daft as I had to get up for 6am to open the shop at 7am. I made it through though, a bit zombified, but generally okay. Due to the nature of this one and what I've seen so far, won't be able to play while the boys are up, so will have to wait till about 8pm to carry on.

Really enjoying it so far though, had to force myself to bed, even with the early start, also have so far avoided the ending spoiler, and not opening any spoilers in here either, keep it spoilered please as you have been so far, its much appreciated.

On the main menu, I get a little news thing about a DLC mission, but I can't download it (on the PS3) .. Checked the PSN store and can't find it there.. or is it collectors edition only and all the other noobs just have to wait till EA gets greedier and wants everyone else to buy it?

I am regretting not importing a character as I really don't care for the default decisions Shepherd made.

You really need to play the second game at a minimum and import a character from that to maximize your options in ME3. Certain alliances are much easier to forge based on your actions in ME2.

I don't think anyone has mentioned it yet, but basically every female character has gotten noticeably curvier. The first time I saw Jack there was a definite double take, same with Liara. Its like they decided to make Miranda's model the standard for all the female characters, which of course lead to turning Miranda's already borderline impossible curves up to 11 (complete with the requisite dat ass shots).



As for the combat, I've been relatively impressed. It took me a while to get used to the tighter camera, but once I did it was alright. My one complaint would be that, given the volume of enemies and how durable some of them are (try killing a Cerberus Guardian without a biotic, or a sniper rifle), there often ends up being a profound shortage of ammunition. The context sensitive space bar is also somewhat difficult to get used to, but has only really proven problematic when I try go into cover in a corner; which is easily solved by avoiding such attempts.

As for the story so far, I like the return to ME1 model where recruitment happens more organically, rather than being your direct objective. Though I'm finding more and more that I wish there were more variety in who your could actually recruit. Certain characters could easily be swapped on and off the Normandy with minimal impact to the story, at least so far.

Also, the Prothean from the DLC has some awesome lines.

So I've never actually been sad after something happened in a video game.. but, last night I got to the part where and I was actually pretty bummed. He was one of my favorites from ME2. I was gonna be pretty pissed earlier when I thought but I'm glad that one worked out in the end.

I do kind of wish you could have more people to choose from on your team.. so far I've been stuck with James, EDI, Garrus and Liara. Guess I was used to ME2 when there were like 10 people to choose from.

Manchu wrote:I am regretting not importing a character as I really don't care for the default decisions Shepherd made.

Spoiler:

Shepherd apparently killed Wrex and the Rachni queen in ME1. And he let the council die ... Also, LotSB never happened as far as default Shepherd is concerned. I'm beginning to think that default Shepherd never had a romantic attachment to any former or current crew member, either.

He appoints Udina to the Council too I think. Default Shepard might be a jerk.

KamikazeCanuck wrote:

Manchu wrote:I am regretting not importing a character as I really don't care for the default decisions Shepherd made.

Spoiler:

Shepherd apparently killed Wrex and the Rachni queen in ME1. And he let the council die ... Also, LotSB never happened as far as default Shepherd is concerned. I'm beginning to think that default Shepherd never had a romantic attachment to any former or current crew member, either.

He appoints Udina to the Council too I think. Default Shepard might be a jerk.

Agreed. I actually went back and finished my mass effect 1 and ended it perfectly. Killed Ashley because I liked Kaiden more. (Also because I like Kaiden for his story line.)
I also saved wrex gave him hope got his family armor, also got every cerberus mission done and everything in mass effect completed with full on paragon. Mass Effect 2 that paid off XD. Apparently I accidently did something funny, as a paragon i sabatogaed the gunship when I was saving garrus. Hopefully that won't have an impact at all!

But all in all it is really good game. Plus I am in it for the story. Not the gameplay.

I know I kicked Udina with my sth Shephard, but he's in the Council anyway.

So far I'm not sure if I like what's happening with EDI and Joker. Seems very fan-fiction-ish.

Anung Un Rama wrote:I know I kicked Udina with my sth Shephard, but he's in the Council anyway.

So far I'm not sure if I like what's happening with EDI and Joker. Seems very fan-fiction-ish.

Not really. Seems kinda cute. Considering the fact that Joker can never have childern anyway.

Manchu wrote:Bought it tonight and have played it for a few hours.

The graphics are better but still nothing too special. The story so far is moving along well enough but I never like the early part of these games where my squad recruitment is absolutely limited by linear plot.

The controls are incredibly rigid and frustrating. Movement is like running through molasses. Combat is a fight against the cover system as much as the enemies. Good luck running through an area with low walls or rubble!

Crappy gameplay, bland graphics, and a mediocre story. Why did I buy this again?



... oh right.

I disagree.

So I just completed the game and I am the only one who feels cheated? I mean damnit Bioware, you made me wait for this pice of steaming Ork droppings? And the main point of irritation.... The goddamned mid game thrue to the ending! And the fact that combat feels so dull, I am officaly cured for my love for Mass Effect

Game is absolutely lovely, I love it. About halfway through I believe, 17-hours or so IIRC.



That's really the only part I'm really frustrated about in this game, it deserves a 9 or 9.5/10 at the minimum.

LordofHats wrote:Its okay Manchu. I like Tali too. There there.

LOL I cannot say anything so do I maybe a little to much.

Been playing most of the weekend, well for what I can put in anyways. About 17hrs in (although I do a lot of checking on the chatting elements) and still loving it so far.

Its really weird as I am generally not interested in Gears of War, but love the cover/combat game you can run in Mass Effect.




Oh, I lucked out on the Multiplayer as well. Got a Turian Warrior in my free booster, was about to play when I thought I had 450 MS points at the mo sitting there doing nothing, so brought a Veteran booster and two spectre boosters. Got a Quarian Infiltrator out of the first, and then the Black Widow sniper rifle out of the second.

So Quarian Snipers ahoy.

I came to the point of seeing Tali for the first time in ME3, stopped playing, deleted my save, and re-installed ME2. I really feel like I need an imported character to enjoy this game.

Hmm, I think I'm getting close to that point, have several side missions I need to clear up first, but my next priority is for her people, so I am guessing she'll be there.

Have been loving the game, accidently spoilered myself a little bit, thanks to the weird fact Dakka doesn't hide spoilers when you pass the mouse over a thread title and it shows you a line from the first and last post.
Damn my quick reading eyes!

However I don't really mind, someone one in that thread said it best, the ending is more about the journey, and I'm loving every minute of mine so far.

Going through the walkthru in the hint book, it does mention in almost every mission "if so and so died in ME2 then you can't do this, but instead you'll talk to someone else and you can do this instead" .. it even goes all the way back to ME1, which I never even played.

So yeah, I think if you can import an old Shepard then you'll probably get the most outta ME3.

That's what I like most about the game. How I keep running into character's I've met before. Recently, I found the body of the Krogan whom I helped hook up with the Asari on Illium.

Manchu wrote:I came to the point of seeing Tali for the first time in ME3, stopped playing, deleted my save, and re-installed ME2. I really feel like I need an imported character to enjoy this game.

Why didn't you do that in the first place? You spent all that time doing all that roleplaying for a reason: so that you did what you did and not something else.


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Anung Un Rama wrote:That's what I like most about the game. How I keep running into character's I've met before. Recently, I found the body of the Krogan whom I helped hook up with the Asari on Illium.

Yes, and there a note to return his body to her. That was sad.

Also in sadness:

The hard drive of the PS3 that I used to play ME2 crashed while I was playing FF13. And I bought ME3 for PS3 so that I could get the DLC without having to go through XBL. So in order to export a character to ME3, I need to replay ME2 -- which doesn't bother me much. I like ME2 as well as any of the ME games. Again, it's all about the characters for me.


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I'm a little conflicted about trying to play a renegade Shepherd, which I guess could give me more incentive to get through ME2 again.

For example, when Garrus wants to shoot that guy who betrayed him -- that guy knows he screwed up and wants to move on with his life. Personally, I don't think that Garrus has the right to kill him just because he can't forgive him. Renegade Shepherd lets Garrus kill him. Now, even if I didn't care about the life of the guys Garrus kills, I do care about Garrus -- do I really want him to be a murderer?

I know that playing against one's natural inclinations or personal beliefs is great roleplaying challenge ... but is it any fun in this case? Guess I'll find out.

Manchu wrote:The hard drive of the PS3 that I used to play ME2 crashed while I was playing FF13. And I bought ME3 for PS3 so that I could get the DLC without having to go through XBL. So in order to export a character to ME3, I need to replay ME2 -- which doesn't bother me much. I like ME2 as well as any of the ME games. Again, it's all about the characters for me.

I won't use this opportunity to rub in the evilness that is both Sony and FFXIII....oh wait. Well, on the bright side this is another opportunity to save eveyone in the suicide mission if you didn't pull that off the first time around.

Yeah, I saved them all on my second play through. Jacob died on my first play through.

Manchu wrote:


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I'm a little conflicted about trying to play a renegade Shepherd, which I guess could give me more incentive to get through ME2 again.

For example, when Garrus wants to shoot that guy who betrayed him -- that guy knows he screwed up and wants to move on with his life. Personally, I don't think that Garrus has the right to kill him just because he can't forgive him. Renegade Shepherd lets Garrus kill him. Now, even if I didn't care about the life of the guys Garrus kills, I do care about Garrus -- do I really want him to be a murderer?

I know that playing against one's natural inclinations or personal beliefs is great roleplaying challenge ... but is it any fun in this case? Guess I'll find out.

My biggest problem with ME2 is that it doesn't encourage rolplaying if you care about saving all of your crew. Instead of just deciding what you'd do in a situation the goal is to max out either your paragon or renegade points. If you go evil then you have to go full evil.
I hope ME3 doesn't have that problem either. I've just been winging so far, rather than trying to max out my meter.

Yeah, there was no benefit to having a mix of paragon and renegade in ME2.

In ME3, there seems to be a separate reputation score.

Yep, screw it, I just played the last mission again and I can safely say that most of the last half hour of the game have been thoroughly erased and replaced with a far more satisfying conclusion in my memory.

@Manchu
Anyways, I believe I helped Garrus kill him. He deserves to die for what he did. And Garrus is just one of those guys. He's only a few steps away from being The Punisher, though I could see why you'd want to stop him from becoming The Punisher (The Punisher isn't exactly what you'd call a happy person). For me, I actually felt Garrus pushed me into his crazy revenge plot. I felt like I didn't even have the right to stop him from taking vengeance.

I always saw Garrus as Batman.

Manchu wrote:I always saw Garrus as Batman.

IIRC he was mowing down people on Omega. He's definately the Turian Frank Castle. The one I had more of a problem with was Zaeed Massani. IIRC you have let civilians fry to help him out. Something I wouldn't do normally but only did to gain his loyalty because I knew that'd save his life later. On second playthrough anyway. First playthrough was roleplaying second was more like power gaming.

Zaeed could be loyal with a high enough Paragon, even if you helped the civilians survive.

Garrus.. I saw him as my drinking buddy.

Yeah, I got Zaeed's loyalty as an ultimate boy scout.

I think you can get everyone's loyalty regardless of paragon/renegade as long as you have a high enough ratio in either direction -- which is why I said, choosing some of one and some of the other has no in-game benefit in ME2.

Aye, Lucas my second character was a mix, and there where times he had to struggle through. He did have a ending where everyone survived mind.

Even though I took Legion on Tali's loyalty mission, so Legion wasn't loyal, I think I didn't do Jacobs either.

Wrapped them up afterwards, Although I don't think Lucas ever did Arrival or the last couple of shuttle missions, might double check before I take him into ME3.

Need to finish Leiths ME3 run first of course.

As a first time player of the ME series I have to say im enjoying it immensely. I think the gameplay is good except for the furious tapping of A shouting "WHY WONT YOU TAKE COVER!!!". The weapon mods (although its a shame you can only have 2) make weapon selection a very interesting part of the game. I was disappointed you cant "mix and match" armour pieces from different armour sets.

Im enjoying the story also but i constantly feel like im "missing" something from not playing ME2. The bad things I have to say are two main things: The whole "scanning" and recovering artefacts interface was never properly explained (making it very frustrating) and not all systems are unlocked from the beginning making certain recovery missions undoable for a while. Secondly it seems like a bit of a hassle between every mission wondering round and talking to every member of my crew, couldn't there just be a helpful interface which says "X, X and X have new dialogue options"?

Between email and Traynor, you know a lot of what's up on your ship. Doesn't mean you know it all, of course. I feel you there.

I think the only issue I have with ME3 gameplay wise is that the A button does entirely too much. It's used to run, activate objects, and take/move through cover which can lead to some very frantic button mashing if you need to activate a control panel mounted to a piece of cover while being chased by bad guys (NO DAMMIT! I WANTED TO CLOSE THE DOOR, NOT JUMP THE WALL!). Granted, it doesn't come up too often. Other than that, it's probably my favorite combat system in any game so far, especially the multiplayer since they don't give you a pile of extra options you will likely never use.

For example, I played a Vanguard in ME1 and ME2, so I carried that over in ME3. I used Biotic Charge, Nova, Shockwave and Warp Ammo (from Liara) in the single player. I also had Pull, Incendiary Ammo and Cryo Ammo, none of which saw any use at all (I used pull maybe a half dozen times to rip the shield from Guardians, whenever I was too lazy to just charge them and shotgun them in the face). In multiplayer, a Vanguard only ever uses Charge and Nova, and occasionally an ammo type added for the match. So I only used one more ability in Single Player than I do in Multi-Player, and for most classes I can see this being the case. Infiltrators will pretty much use Tactical Cloak and Incinerate in addition to their Sniper Rifle, and Adepts are going to use Singularity and Warp almost exclusively.

My point is, the single player gives you TOO many abilities on demand, which necessitates the command wheel. I can get by mapping three abilities to LB, RB and Y, and I only ever use the wheel to tell my squad what to do if necessary (usually I don't have to). I think a more interesting system would be to have a larger pool of abilities, and you are allowed to take 2 into combat, selected the way you select weapons (Y would be reserved to Medi-Gel). Then allow you to select one of each of your teammates abilities and map them to left and right on the D pad so you can use them on command. It would be more tactical and get rid of the wheel.

Just a thought.

I find that everyone has something new to say after every mission. Sometimes it's just an offhand remark but still.

Anybody remember way back in ME1 there was a DLC mission that put you in the classic moral conundrum of saving innocent people or letting the terrorists escape to go on and do more evil? I choose to stop the bad guy and it was brutul. Guess I won't be seing those scientists in ME3.


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Aldarionn wrote:I think the only issue I have with ME3 gameplay wise is that the A button does entirely too much. It's used to run, activate objects, and take/move through cover which can lead to some very frantic button mashing if you need to activate a control panel mounted to a piece of cover while being chased by bad guys (NO DAMMIT! I WANTED TO CLOSE THE DOOR, NOT JUMP THE WALL!). Granted, it doesn't come up too often. Other than that, it's probably my favorite combat system in any game so far, especially the multiplayer since they don't give you a pile of extra options you will likely never use.

For example, I played a Vanguard in ME1 and ME2, so I carried that over in ME3. I used Biotic Charge, Nova, Shockwave and Warp Ammo (from Liara) in the single player. I also had Pull, Incendiary Ammo and Cryo Ammo, none of which saw any use at all (I used pull maybe a half dozen times to rip the shield from Guardians, whenever I was too lazy to just charge them and shotgun them in the face). In multiplayer, a Vanguard only ever uses Charge and Nova, and occasionally an ammo type added for the match. So I only used one more ability in Single Player than I do in Multi-Player, and for most classes I can see this being the case. Infiltrators will pretty much use Tactical Cloak and Incinerate in addition to their Sniper Rifle, and Adepts are going to use Singularity and Warp almost exclusively.

My point is, the single player gives you TOO many abilities on demand, which necessitates the command wheel. I can get by mapping three abilities to LB, RB and Y, and I only ever use the wheel to tell my squad what to do if necessary (usually I don't have to). I think a more interesting system would be to have a larger pool of abilities, and you are allowed to take 2 into combat, selected the way you select weapons (Y would be reserved to Medi-Gel). Then allow you to select one of each of your teammates abilities and map them to left and right on the D pad so you can use them on command. It would be more tactical and get rid of the wheel.

Just a thought.

Sometimes when all hell's breaking loose I just want to stick to the wall and it doesn't quite work. But that's me screwing up though. Some games "auto-stick" you to the wall but that has it's own disadvantages.

I love that squadmate powers can be mapped to the D-Pad but it is also the "go-there" button to I get a bit nervous using it in realtime because if you miss the bad guy you're basically sending your teammate to their doom. Once again that's me though and I don't have any other problems with the controls.

Manchu wrote:Yeah, there was no benefit to having a mix of paragon and renegade in ME2.

In ME3, there seems to be a separate reputation score.

I think reputation boosts both Paragon and Renegade by however much it says (if you have any Paragon/Renegade points) whereas if you get "+5 Renegade" it obviously only boosts the renegade amount.

Zaeed could be loyal with a high enough Paragon, even if you helped the civilians survive.

Yeah, I got Zaeed's loyalty as an ultimate boy scout.

I let Zaeed burn. My Shepard had a change of heart about what is acceptable civilian casualties after seeing the Collector base. It's a point of view which carried on into ME3. ME1 and 2 was pretty much max renegade (except for Mordin's loyalty mission in ME2 and choosing to destroy the collector base) then in ME3 I ended up with full paragon and half renegade.

The gameplay is easily the best out of the entire series, in my opinion. The fights are less obviously designed, with more options for flanking and more aggressive enemies which makes for some much more challenging fights.

The weapon customisation is the best out of all the games, too. In Mass Effect there was loads of weapons which all worked in the exact same way (e.g all assault rifles are full auto) but with lots of mods. In Mass Effect 2 there was pretty much no weapon customisation but a more varied arsenal in terms of the actual function of the weapons. Now in Mass Effect 3 we can pick whatever type of weapons we want to use, regardless of our class with the weapons having the variety of ME2 with the customisation of ME1.

The story is really bleak, which makes the little bits of light in it that much more bright and emotional, whether it's seeing an old friend or bringing hope back to an entire species.

I would have liked some more proper conversations with Garrus (my Shepards love interest) but the ones you do have are so well done that I can forgive that (the final one before the very end of the game had me crying, damn you Bioware! You're taking away my internet man points!)

yeah apparently this happened. one of the main producers said this on twitter.
https://twitter.com/#!/GambleMike/status/177942797880541185

About the ending of the game.

Ah: they have essentially "fixed" the paragon/renegade system in ME3. http://blog.bioware.com/2012/03/01/reputation-in-mass-effect-3/
It's all about your rep. It's safe to roleplay in your rpg again.

Manchu wrote:Jacob died on my first play through.

Jacob died when the character was conceived.

Noooo!

And

KamikazeCanuck wrote:
And

Spoiler:

Yeoman Chambers!

What happened to her?

Nooo!




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dogma wrote:

KamikazeCanuck wrote:
And

Spoiler:

Yeoman Chambers!

What happened to her?

Spoiler:

She died in my ME2 save.

No one on your crew needs to die in ME2 including the non-squadmates.

KamikazeCanuck wrote:
No one on your crew needs to die in ME2 including the non-squadmates.

I know, but she did.

I don't usually "power game" these games, I play them as if I were there. Playing a role, as it were.

Tuchanka Spoilers:


Pretty good point in that Bioware article, that there is really no room for an "evil" Shephard in this game. But through that, most conversations seem to be a bit useless. Okay, they're still great conversations and above everything anybody working for Capcom ever wrote, but I wish they had more of an impact.

Right now I'm still playing with my Paragorn Shephard, after that I have my evil Biotic Darth Shepard, also male. I'm really looking forward to see how all those missions turn out considering all the people I killed as a Renegade.

I have to say though, after playing FemShep in the demo, I don't like male Shepard as much. Some day I'll have to play ME2 once more to try out how many squadmates I can kill and get away with.


edit: can anyone tell me what happens to Conrad Verner if you're nice to him? I had a bug on the Xbox version in ME2 which always assumed I held a gun to his head, even if I didn't.

dogma wrote:

Spoiler:

I imagine that I caused Tali to kill herself will cause some hate.

You !!!

I'm wondering how high of a reputation you need........

For me at the end, when I faced the illusive man (anyone else think that's a dumb name?) I had some paragon & renegade responses that I could give while he was monologueing, but no interrupts. I was like a 99% paragon for the whole game

Aldarionn wrote:I'm wondering how high of a reputation you need........

Spoiler:

.......to unlock the last paragon/renegade dialogue option when facing down The Illusive Man on the Crucible. I got all of them except the last one, which was greyed out so I had to choose a regular option instead. I still killed him with an interrupt but I don't know what that option would have done. It obviously wouldn't change the ending much but it might have changed the outcome with him.

Necros wrote:For me at the end, when I faced the illusive man (anyone else think that's a dumb name?) I had some paragon & renegade responses that I could give while he was monologueing, but no interrupts. I was like a 99% paragon for the whole game

Spoiler:

and I just convinced him that the reapers were controlling him instead of the other way around, so he blew his head off. Also, there's supposedly some way to save Anderson, but for me he died.

"The Illusive man" like "The Dark Council" from tOR. Typical Bioware and their wonderful names.

Just returned from the Quarian Homeworld.

@ Anung Un Rama

yeah..... i jsut got Garrus in ME3 so i have been skipping most of everything in the thread so far, definatly got to contribute in here a bit once im farther in

Do I need the Galactic Readiness to get the best ending. Because the Multiplayer is rather boring.

Anung Un Rama wrote:Do I need the Galactic Readiness to get the best ending. Because the Multiplayer is rather boring.

You need an Effective Military Strength above 4000, I believe. I had to do a tiny bit of multiplayer, not hours of grinding.

Amaya wrote:

Spoiler:

I'm pretty sure you can kill Miranda off in ME2. I think I remember doing so intentionally. Hate the bitch. Tali's not much better either.

Wait. Someone disliked Tali?

A Town Called Malus wrote:

Anung Un Rama wrote:Do I need the Galactic Readiness to get the best ending. Because the Multiplayer is rather boring.

You need an Effective Military Strength above 4000, I believe. I had to do a tiny bit of multiplayer, not hours of grinding.

Yea I got 30% readiness in about 2-3 hours of casual gaming. (and above 5000 is the best ending)

vodo40k wrote:

A Town Called Malus wrote:

Anung Un Rama wrote:Do I need the Galactic Readiness to get the best ending. Because the Multiplayer is rather boring.

You need an Effective Military Strength above 4000, I believe. I had to do a tiny bit of multiplayer, not hours of grinding.

Yea I got 30% readiness in about 2-3 hours of casual gaming. (and above 5000 is the best ending)

I did it with 5000 and didn't notice any difference to the 4000 one.

the multiplayer is fun actually. it really doesn't take long to get it to 100%.. a couple nights maybe if you're starting at 50%. But one thing that I didn't like was, it goes down again if you don't keep playing, by like 5% per day I think. I had mine at 100%, then I went to bed, the next night after work I planned to go finish the game and it was down to 95%, so I had to go play an online match again to get it back to 100 first. I don't think you really need it at 100, but I wanted it

The bar for my military strength is already completly filled, but readiness is a different number, isn't it? It's measured in percent.

I am not reading a single word of this thread because I have not finished the game yet, but I just played the part where you have to decide wether to save the quarians or the Geth. I chose the quarians. Hearing legion say "Does this unit have a soul" made me tear up a little. That was the toughest decision I've had to make in a video game by far. And come to think of it, I don't know why I chose the quarians, other than that their fleet is bigger.

Anyway I put legion's line in my sig

GalacticDefender wrote:I am not reading a single word of this thread because I have not finished the game yet, but I just played the part where you have to decide wether to save the quarians or the Geth. I chose the quarians. Hearing legion say "Does this unit have a soul" made me tear up a little. That was the toughest decision I've had to make in a video game by far. And come to think of it, I don't know why I chose the quarians, other than that their fleet is bigger.

Anyway I put legion's line in my sig

You know, if you do all of the other mission on Rannoch before the Priority mission, and you have a high enough reputation score, you can save both the Geth and the Quarians. Legion dies either way, but it's a much better ending to that story arc.

Spoiler tags, bitches.

Anyway, my second disc (360) seems to be messed up. The game will freeze once or twice per game session (depending how long I play) and then my xbox won't recognize the disc as ME3, it just say "Play game disc" at the dashboard, then gives me an error it's unreadable. It works fine after a system restart, and yes I have it installed and it still happens. *Sigh* I'm debating on sending it back or not, I really want to play but I really want to not have these problems too. No, it never happens on the first disc either.

Anyway, to go back to the very beginning of this thread...am I the only person here who actually thought that ME1 was the best one of the three so far?

Kevin949 wrote:Spoiler tags, bitches.

Anyway, my second disc (360) seems to be messed up. The game will freeze once or twice per game session (depending how long I play) and then my xbox won't recognize the disc as ME3, it just say "Play game disc" at the dashboard, then gives me an error it's unreadable. It works fine after a system restart, and yes I have it installed and it still happens. *Sigh* I'm debating on sending it back or not, I really want to play but I really want to not have these problems too. No, it never happens on the first disc either.

Anyway, to go back to the very beginning of this thread...am I the only person here who actually thought that ME1 was the best one of the three so far?

I think story-wise it had one of the strongest written narratives, especially the Sovereign reveal.

Sovereign: You are not Saren.
Garrus: I....don't think that's a VI.

That was the biggest "oh sh*t" moment in the series for me. The moment when you realize that you aren't dealing with a rogue Spectre, youre dealing with an intelligent super-machine that's controlling him, and he knows you're onto him.

On the gameplay front though, ME1 was probably the weakest. The classes weren't at all balanced (Vanguard and Adept were monstrous whereas Sentinel was near unplayable), and there were entirely too many choices when it came to equipment and abilities. ME2 dumbed it down a little TOO much, and ME3 balanced them out. I think ME3 is the strongest when it comes to balance between shooter and RPG elements.

See I like all those choices though. I liked the combat a lot more in ME 1 as well though, everything in ME2 and ME3 feels too instanced, too scripted.

I didn't think the classes were that unbalanced really, especially after you start unlocking the ability to give other classes abilities not normally available to them.

I don't know, everything just felt grander in the first game and then it just all got scaled down massively (no pun intended) in the next one and more in this one. I mean, I shouldn't be able to get through any mission in less than 10 minutes.

Concerning the Geth and Quarians, now spoilertagged for your convience.

I just read from my sources that "Bioware plans to discuss the ending after more players have finished it", but since I'm not on my computer I can't link it, sorry guys

I swear somethings wrong with my game, all I have ever done is play pure paragon, I never got an option to save both the geth and the quarians and at the end even though i had full paragon i couldnt use the last option on the illusive man. Furthermore I was only just able to scrape 5000 military strength, despite having 100% readiness and scanning EVERY SINGLE SYSTEM for assets and doing every available side mission (my friend was no where near as thorough and he somehow managed to get about 6000 strength with only 60% readiness).

I think the option to save both is dependent on other things, not just if you're a paragon.. like stuff that happened in ME2. I had the option to save both.. lemmie check my hint book...

Yeah, I was wrong concerning what needs to happen.......

Karon wrote:

Spoiler:

So, Tali killed herself...

Wait, what?! HOW?! WHY?!

Anung Un Rama wrote:

Karon wrote:

Spoiler:

So, Tali killed herself...

Wait, what?! HOW?! WHY?!

It seemed Different, But i love it.
Sadly no squadmate specific missions.
I loved those.
Also, Mass effect reminded me why i love sniper rifles.
Although i played an assualt rifle class last playthrough so sometimes i get in the habit of using my sniper as an assault rifle.

Karon wrote:

Spoiler:

Still really mad that Jack wasn't a squad member option in this game.

From what I understand she becomes one only if you romanced her in ME2.

So I suppose you can play through that again XD. Hell I'll bet I could power game through ME2 in like, 15 hours, maybe 12? I should try that.

Writing this so the spoiler doesn't show in the post preview.

LordofHats wrote:

Karon wrote:

Spoiler:

Still really mad that Jack wasn't a squad member option in this game.

From what I understand she becomes one only if you romanced her in ME2.

So I suppose you can play through that again XD. Hell I'll bet I could power game through ME2 in like, 15 hours, maybe 12? I should try that.

No she isn't a squad mate, even if you did romance her in ME2. She'd have different conversations at the times you meet up with her though.

Yeah, that's what I meant. I could never bring her along like you can Liara or Ashley.

I just feel that the romances in ME2 are so cheap now. Liara and Ashley are the only ones that you can just have and roll with you in the whole ME3.

Finished the game last night....

that is all I have to say.

Am I the only one here that hated Jack?

Asherian Command wrote:Am I the only one here that hated Jack?

I hated her character design if that helps. I mean, come on. Put a shirt on. Or at least wear a Bikini top cause the straps aren't doing it for me

Asherian Command wrote:Am I the only one here that hated Jack?

I romanced her because she was the most emotionally interesting character to me.

She is easy to hate I suppose if you don't look much farther than "wat a bitch..."

Karon wrote:

Asherian Command wrote:Am I the only one here that hated Jack?

I romanced her because she was the most emotionally interesting character to me.

She is easy to hate I suppose if you don't look much farther than "wat a bitch..."

No. IT was the tatoos and the stupid sniper guy vs a vanguard class guy that pissed me off. That and she is basically an upgraded vanguard so she was kinda useless to me.

I finished the "From Ashes" mission today, and I want to ask:

After reading some comments I now realize what my complaint is with this game and to a lesser extent ME2...it's too much like dragon age 2.

Don't get me wrong, I'm enjoying ME3 and I liked ME2 as well. But I now understand where my point of contention is with these two games, and my god was DA2 a giant boring turd of a game. Such a disappointment when I get that game.

Asherian Command wrote:

Karon wrote:

Asherian Command wrote:Am I the only one here that hated Jack?

I romanced her because she was the most emotionally interesting character to me.

She is easy to hate I suppose if you don't look much farther than "wat a bitch..."

No. IT was the tatoos and the stupid sniper guy vs a vanguard class guy that pissed me off. That and she is basically an upgraded vanguard so she was kinda useless to me.

So you just didn't like what she looked like.

Ok.

LordofHats wrote:

Asherian Command wrote:Am I the only one here that hated Jack?

I hated her character design if that helps. I mean, come on. Put a shirt on. Or at least wear a Bikini top cause the straps aren't doing it for me

Agreed. Horrible character design.

The person herself? An interesting character and I was interested in getting to know her, the last person I would ever have romanced however in those games.

Personally it WOULD be in order Ashley, Miranda, Tali (those are the people I am interested and wouldnt mind a romance) after that ... Liara uhhh and then I dont know who but whatever. Not that it made a difference sense I only Romanced Ashley and that is it.

I actually liked the tattoos and the shaved head. They fit her really well. My problem was just the attire. I thought her clothing was stupid.

Galdos wrote:
The person herself? An interesting character and I was interested in getting to know her, the last person I would ever have romanced however in those games.

Strange, that was my first choice, maybe that says something about me.

Overall design was very good, I thought. She was consistent with some the other people I've known with awful childhoods, but cranked up to 11; as was intended I think.

Clothes weren't that great, but I can sort of see the thought behind them. Someone that gets that many tattoos in those places isn't really all that concerned about people seeing what they're on.

Still, her alt costume is way better. And her ME3 outfit is really what I think she should have had from the beginning.

Her ME3 outfit definitely gives off the Fifth Element vibe. Just as crazy, but with a bit more punk rock goin' on with the jacket and all.

I like her a lot more in the 3rd game. It feels like Shepard really helped her get her act together, but she's definitely still Jack.

I couldn't stand her in ME2, though I gradually felt sympathy for her after doing her story mission. She was always too edgy and psychopathic for me, and if I wanted that I'd hang out with Zaeed.

On a completely different note, anyone get a Commendation pack last night? Anything good? The N7 Crusader is a blast.

I wasn't much of a fan of Jack in ME2. Grunt was probably my favorite of all and still is.

I don't get all the hate for DA2 though... I think it was a great game. I liked it way better than the first...

Jack was too over the top and obnoxious. I don't care how traumatic her background was, she was a total bitch and her character design (straps, tats, and shaved head) was just...bleh. I never used her or Miranda.

Only reason I even talked to them at all was because I always complete everything I can in games.

Well Bioware stated that Miranda was supposed to be polarizing. You really weren't supposed to like her. Most of the fans agreed. I think AwkwardZombie said it best though.

Sorta like James Vega. I think laying on the pandejo was a little thick... but the character was well modeled, and Freddie Prinz Jr. was a good voice actor! I might use him in my party in my next playthrough, but I made sure I talked to him a bit. A lot of people hated him, but I grew to like him.

I like Miranda. Something about that buttoned-up buxom style, just like a birthday package. Jack is the anti-Miranda fashion-wise, letting it all (or what there is of it) hang out. Either way, you have a play-tough jumble of insecurities to mess with and I prefer mine with clothes on unless I happen to be messing. Shepherd is so 50s (how does he not have a cardigan-and-pipe alt look?) that it's hard to believe he'd do well with either ... or anyone, short of Liara who surely must be the hottest-to-trot character in video game history.

If you want ManShep to have a healthy relationship with a healthy lady then romance Ash. I mean, that's fine for real life and all. In consequence free Mass Effect land, I'll spin the wheel on the girl whose face I can't see but I know has three toes per foot. Kink much? Shepherd is written as such a fething creeper anyway (you are now picturing him dancing) it's best just to go with those unsavory urges. I feel the warp over-taking me ... [twitch]

I really liked James so far in my playthrough, even if I hardly use him on missions. I am also a really big fan of the crew moving about in this one, makes the ship seem much more alive.

James was fine, didn't care for Ashley much at all. She was a little too "i'm tough girl michelle rodriguez" for me. I mostly used Liara and Garus or tali

Chemical Cutthroat wrote:Well Bioware stated that Miranda was supposed to be polarizing. You really weren't supposed to like her. Most of the fans agreed. I think AwkwardZombie said it best though.

Like Manchu, I liked Miranda. She was the personification of what happens when you're expected to be superlative. There's nothing left to achieve, nothing to feel rewarded by, just the burden of expectation.

Chemical Cutthroat wrote:
Sorta like James Vega. I think laying on the pandejo was a little thick... but the character was well modeled, and Freddie Prinz Jr. was a good voice actor! I might use him in my party in my next playthrough, but I made sure I talked to him a bit. A lot of people hated him, but I grew to like him.

Way better than Jacob, if nothing else Vega was at least believable.

Good point, Morathi. I love how the crewmembers interact with each other. Just wait till Garrus and James hang around at the kitchen.

You might have heard about this guy, Archangel, who killed all those thugs on Omega. That was me.

Morathi's Darkest Sin wrote:I really liked James so far in my playthrough, even if I hardly use him on missions. I am also a really big fan of the crew moving about in this one, makes the ship seem much more alive.

Definitely agree.

I'll just throw this in here.

The guy who did the music for ME2 released an album (for 5 bucks). It's all songs made for ME2 that weren't used. It's pretty damn ace.

http://music.biggiantcircles.com/album/legacy

ME2 had awesome music, I was really let down by ME3.

Hell, I thought ME1 had great tunes, and ME2 still blew it away.

Give it a go, you can listen to all the full songs on the site too.

Was really bugging me who voiced Aria, looked it up, major load off my mind.

Agree with certain Issues with the Gameplay. The amount of times Shepherd comes unstuck from cover or fails to stick to it altogether is frequent, also the animation for a 'Sprint Vault' only Happened about twice in the entire game for me. I remember doing it or the first time and trying about 15 times to re-anct it to no avail. I was dreading when the enemies became a challenge as it would all come tumbling down into frustration.

Fortunately it only happened in the last Combat encounter of the game, i literally couldn't do it, Tried twenty odd times then just switched the diffculty to 'Narrative' (It was still far from easy). The 3(and a 4th after finishing the group) Banshees and 8 Marauders (Plus another wave) moved to flush me with an alacrity i had not seen in previous encounters and somehow i had used ~15 medi gel during the mission as i had 0 for the battle, and to add insult to injury it switched off my AP rounds. Now everyone has their sticking points in videogames, just as you will laugh in my face about this i am sure i would laugh in yours about some random challenge you found difficult in whatever videogame.

I am not a power gamer but i am far from a scrub, though i'll admit i am better against humans than AI (I had a 1.2 K/D in Reach but have never completed a Halo game on Legendary). So i cant be totally at fault. i'll admit I had made some rash decisions regarding my shepherd's resilience; only a couple points into fitness and purely focusing on power damage/recharge speed along with Inferno armour which has no protection bonus. I also Only used ever used the cerberus SMG and that funny stick goo pistol.

One other reason could be my experience from Mass Effect 2, In 2 i was initially an Infiltrator, because i found it to be too easy i re-rolled as a Sentinel. I found this class equally OP but more satisfying to play. So it was my initial choice in 3, now Bioware had obviously realized this OP and Nerfed the 'racial power', 'Tech Armour' for number 3. I eventually got used to this but what i didnt get used to was the change to 'Warp', although it can be used for 'Devastating Combos', in ME2 i am pretty sure i had warp to Bust barriers; Overload for Shields, Warp for barriers. I realized far too late into 3 that warp no longer served this purpose, it was now a bit of a dud.

I am now playing through as an infiltrator and can do whole sections without being hit more than a few times, not that i am particulary good just that it is now super easy. For reference i am using the viper sniper rifle, i dont even need the 'One hit' to kill them all, 2 super slow mo bullets are as good as 1. I have also found that oddly disruptor ammo is good against barriers which doesnt really hold to the nice little rock/paper/scissors they had in 2.

Completed the game about an hour or two ago, dived around on google for ending related stuff and read 2 or 3 pages of this thread

My thoughts:

Good:

Better story than ME2 - Spending 80% of the main story getting a team is not a story!
Weapon Customization - Thanks Bioware! Still not as good as ME1
Pretty nice looking aswell.
Provoking emotions - I was pretty upset at 3 parts of the game, and more so drove me to use 2 renegade options on a full paragon character)
Difficulty - One of the more challenging games I have played in a while. Doesn't help when they swarm you with brutes XD
Tali - That is all


Indifferent:
Weapon allowances - Really hard to say whether its good or bad, ME1 allowed use of any weapon but limited aim depending on the class, ME2 locked you out of certain weapons and ME3 allows free use of any weapon regardless, I did get used to the new system.
Ending - I can see why people despise it as I myself don't like it much. However given rumours it may not be the end has me placing it here.

Bad:

Heavy Weapons - What the hell happened to the heavy weapons?? Specific mission heavy weapons are lame.
Controls - Seriously...who puts activate, sprint and get into cover all to one button?? The amount of times I rolled into a wall when I wanted to open a Medi-pack is awful...
From Ashes DLC - I would pay £10 for this why?? Granted the squadmate does become likeable after being a bit of a donkeycave...
Readiness Rating - I seriously have to play MP to get this higher to get the best ending for my character?? Lame...

Bugs Encountered:

Cutting of all audio during cutscene, the one with Mordin and the genopage.
Various camera glitches - Am I supposed to be looking at a wall when clearly a character should be there??
Non-opening of doors - The academy door glitched so I gave up and went to sleep.

Overall thoughts:

Very well put together game, even though some aspects did annoy me. Iv enjoyed the 30 hours or so I put into the game. I really didn't make use of the class I was, it was purely a choice for all the decryption and bypass stuff in ME1. I will probably start another story from ME1 again but going all out Renegade soldier with Garrus/Tali in my team the entire time.

Multiplayer - Haven't touched it other than the demo which tbh was pretty good.

EDIT: Added another item to the Bad section.

dogma wrote:There's nothing left to achieve, nothing to feel rewarded by, just the burden of expectation..

So you act out by slumming it with a pervy dweeb like Shepherd. YEEEEAH!

So...whatever happened to the dismemberment mechanic from ME2 anyway? Thought it was odd that it's missing in this one.

There's certainly still a Beheading mechanic.

Yes, but hardly what I meant and you know that.

Was just joshing.

They still kept some localized damage. But it seems they just went to 'stun' damage rather than part specific stuff.

Chemical Cutthroat wrote:Was just joshing.

They still kept some localized damage. But it seems they just went to 'stun' damage rather than part specific stuff.

I should have put a after my comment.

Yeah, came off a little more

No worries!

I think I like the weapon mods rather than the body hits. Punching through cover or adding Melee attachments is just damn cool.

Chemical Cutthroat wrote:Yeah, came off a little more

No worries!

I think I like the weapon mods rather than the body hits. Punching through cover or adding Melee attachments is just damn cool.

Ya, I do like the weapon mods as well. I just wish the shotguns didn't weigh so damn much or that ANY other gun got the weight reduction mod similar to the SMG (the lightest EFFING guns in the game). Oh, keep in mind, this is on my biotic femshep, I'm sure the weight problem is largely mitigated on a class that is more weapon friendly.

And to everyone talking about who they sexed up...liara in the first game, garrus in the next two

Though for some reason, my import save didn't show liara being my romantic interest in the first game. But I KNOW it was her...because, well, you know...

I've had a couple of bugs relating to previous actions.

I find the Asari to be aesthetically off-putting.

Am I the only one?

I think it's because of the different faces they use. Some of them are great and fit fine, but a lot of the less important ones look a little off.

I think Liara looks fine, and I loooooove Aria T'lok. I think she looks fine as well.

And she only has one rule...

But Samara seems a tad off, but Lillith looked fine. I dunno. Because they were closest to the humans in term of expression and structure, I think when it didn't work it really really didn't work.

Manchu wrote:I find the Asari to be aesthetically off-putting.

Am I the only one?

I think their heads are kind of creepy. However, I'm biased as I hate everything about the Asari. Until Mass Effect 3's ending, they were the thing I hated most about the series. Seriously they're everything I hate about elves in fantasy settings plus the "Blue-Skinned Space Babe" factor.

They dont have ears, to me it looks weird, so i will join you Manchu.

On the subject, a couple other aesthetic/canoney things that got on my nerves:
-Why do Salarians all have straps across their chests? it looks dumb.

-Why do humans wear such goofy looking clothes? Only Illusive man is dressed well, and he would still look better in a suit. The rest are wearing garments with far too many seams, straps, layers and fastenings. I am sorry but fashion only changes so much and i cannot see why the people of the future would wear such impractical clothes.

-Where are the female Turians? Admittedly they must be munters as most Turians seemed to be shacked up with Asari.

-Krogan do not look strong, their limbs are puny and they are just a massive head on a scrawny body.

-[More personal taste]: The guns are too big! Think how much cooler the cutscenes/inevitable renegade interrupts would look if Shep pulled out a FiveSeven sized/looking pistol instead of that giant Supersoaker.

- Miranda's Improbable Breasts look strangely gross on her skinny body with its spidery arms.

-Why do Turians have such Obviously Roman Names. I mean Adrian Victus? Come on Bioware.

Infact apart from the Reapers, the Kodiak, The Normandy, the Hover cars, the Mantis rifle, the Geth, the Turian's faces and the 'Honda Armour' the art is pretty unimpressive in Mass effect.

I just don't know how the same people who designed the Turians (one of the best looking Alien Races i have seen (Lion-Eagle-Lizards)) came up with the ridiculous looking Krogan.

I found Liara to be the only real attractive looking one .. Tali, I dunno, gotta see what's under the hat first. Ashley, just annoying looking and you can she was hand crafted to make teenage boys drool. Miranda, just felt like the designers said "OMG it's the girl from Chuck, we gotta make her hot" and they just tried too hard and her whole body ended up looking strange in the end. Or maybe they just needed better motion capture.. I dunno.

Necros wrote:I found Liara to be the only real attractive looking one .. Tali, I dunno, gotta see what's under the hat first.

I'll just say it now...

Hey, Krogan seem to be Native American inspired. (nothing wrong with that, just brought it up since you mentioned the turians).

As for the clothing, how do you know that constant space travel doesn't require specific wear? Maybe the new space fabrics are far more resilient (considering no one EVER rips anything at any time ever, even after getting blown up. It's like it's superman clothing) and they have lost the desire for oddly different clothing (except in the bar...and the high society party in the expansion pack in 2).

I agree on the guns.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

dogma wrote:

Necros wrote:I found Liara to be the only real attractive looking one .. Tali, I dunno, gotta see what's under the hat first.

I'll just say it now...

Spoiler:

...far too human.

Well...

Kevin949 wrote:

Chemical Cutthroat wrote:Yeah, came off a little more

No worries!

I think I like the weapon mods rather than the body hits. Punching through cover or adding Melee attachments is just damn cool.

Ya, I do like the weapon mods as well. I just wish the shotguns didn't weigh so damn much or that ANY other gun got the weight reduction mod similar to the SMG (the lightest EFFING guns in the game). Oh, keep in mind, this is on my biotic femshep, I'm sure the weight problem is largely mitigated on a class that is more weapon friendly.

And to everyone talking about who they sexed up...liara in the first game, garrus in the next two

Though for some reason, my import save didn't show liara being my romantic interest in the first game. But I KNOW it was her...because, well, you know...

Go Team Garrus!

The fact that you never see female Turians bothered me as well.

And it's sad that al the "minor" races got so little screen time. You have two conversations with a Hannar, meet a handful of Volus and only one Elcor :(

Where are the female Turians? Admittedly they must be munters as most Turians seemed to be shacked up with Asari.

How would you feel if someone told you that there were tons of female Turians in the ME series but none had speaking roles?

...far too human.

Yeah, very true. But then again, I am capable of finding this attractive:so it's probably best that BioWare isn't catering to my preferences.

Anung Un Rama wrote:The fact that you never see female Turians bothered me as well.

And it's sad that al the "minor" races got so little screen time. You have two conversations with a Hannar, meet a handful of Volus and only one Elcor :(

Everyone is off fighting...They can't all chill at the citadel anymore.

But I get what you're saying.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

A Town Called Malus wrote:

Kevin949 wrote:

Chemical Cutthroat wrote:Yeah, came off a little more

No worries!

I think I like the weapon mods rather than the body hits. Punching through cover or adding Melee attachments is just damn cool.

Ya, I do like the weapon mods as well. I just wish the shotguns didn't weigh so damn much or that ANY other gun got the weight reduction mod similar to the SMG (the lightest EFFING guns in the game). Oh, keep in mind, this is on my biotic femshep, I'm sure the weight problem is largely mitigated on a class that is more weapon friendly.

And to everyone talking about who they sexed up...liara in the first game, garrus in the next two

Though for some reason, my import save didn't show liara being my romantic interest in the first game. But I KNOW it was her...because, well, you know...

Go Team Garrus!

Hell yes, Garrus seemed to be the only genuine bad ass in the group.

I personally think the Krogans body proportions look WAAAY off, with those scrawny arms and legs attached to a squat torso and HUGE heads. As a new player to ME, I think the Turinas look similar in some ways to "the Prawns" from "District 9".

Although not directly related, I believe this has to be shared; its hilarious.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/29768571/Name%20Generator.html

Kevin949 wrote:

Anung Un Rama wrote:The fact that you never see female Turians bothered me as well.

And it's sad that al the "minor" races got so little screen time. You have two conversations with a Hannar, meet a handful of Volus and only one Elcor :(

Everyone is off fighting...They can't all chill at the citadel anymore.

But I get what you're saying.

But it's not like you saw a lot of them in the previous games. ME2 had maybe 3 Elcor and I can't remember any Hannar.

Man, I wish they would've actually made that Blasto movie instead of just giving us sound snippets.

Blasto is full of win. I laugh every time.

And Manchu's vote for the next cover of Fornax terrifies me a little.

Something tells me Predators don't kiss much.

Thats about as scary as a vorcha going... ... I'm not going to finish that...

Chemical Cutthroat wrote:And Manchu's vote for the next cover of Fornax terrifies me a little.

I'd buy that for a dollar.

Manchu wrote:Yeah, very true. But then again, I am capable of finding this attractive:

Spoiler:

so it's probably best that BioWare isn't catering to my preferences.

No wonder you like redheads...

Manchu wrote:

Chemical Cutthroat wrote:And Manchu's vote for the next cover of Fornax terrifies me a little.

I'd buy that for a dollar.

Of all the missed opportunity. I'm sure fans would snap that up.

When I was playing through with my girlfriend, (I was controlling the shooting, she was making all the decisions... sounds familiar...), and we came across that in one of the stores she was all, "What's that?"

"Basically an alien porno mag." I replied, "It's like 5 credits, I'm gonna buy it."

"No you're not! My Shepard doesn't want that!"

Hilarious.

I'd read to Fornax ... for the articles.

So I beat the game last night....

Got to agree with Kevin that ME1 is the best from the series.

That and many other points.

johnscott10 wrote:Got to agree with Kevin that ME1 is the best from the series.

That and many other points.

It was an awesome game, you start out having to prove your worth as the first official human spectre, find out one of them is rogue and start hunting them down while all the while there's a huge underlying sub plot of this synthetic take over of the galaxy you discover...you actually felt like you were doing something, going around to all the planets and discovering bases and shady gak going on in them...I don't know, the character development for all the characters was so good and fleshed out, the following two were a joke practically. It just felt like you were being told "go here and do this, good Shepard *gives treat*". Even more so in the third one. I mean, there was SO much going on in the background everywhere and you were always off in your little pocket dimension bubble of cover based fighting away from EVERYTHING...even when you had it felt like you were just...doing your own thing.

I don't know, I'm just still in that "I just beat the game and I'm bummed about it" melodramatic stage.

Yes, but in ME1 everything is all new and shiny. Obviously you're not going to be as awe-struck by things like the Citadel and the universe as a whole after you've seen it multiple times.

Agreed. I played the first one multiple times when it came out, and read every snippet of information in the Codex. Everything you find is new and exciting.

The next two games introduce new things, but really it's just returning to the world that you fell in love with in 1. They add things, change some things, but all in all you now know what to expect.

KamikazeCanuck wrote:Yes, but in ME1 everything is all new and shiny. Obviously you're not going to be as awe-struck by things like the Citadel and the universe as a whole after you've seen it multiple times.

If you were to remove the obvious "new and shiny" aspect that made it good even then ME1 is still the best in the series, they tried to get back to it for ME3 but did miss it by a bit. The story is much better, its alot more challenging than the others, you have worlds to actually explore (even if they are a bit small) and the Mako, god I loved some of the stuff you could pull off.

I'm one of the few people that liked the Mako too. I think ME3 is the best because it took the best of the first 2 games and combined them. ME1 had better RPG elements and exploration and ME2 had better combat. I think ME3 is the best of both worlds.

My only big problems with ME1 were the clunky inventory and that controls were like trying to steer a brick through a blizzard in the middle of august around a mountain and under a waterfall. I can say a lot of mean things about ME2 but at least the controls were better

Ugh... Mako.

Love hate right there.

I really enjoy exploring. It's fun, and it's exciting, you get to find stuff!

But every single surface you land on is the same freaking thing in a different color with a different weather effect and it drove me nuts. It was fine at the time, but when replaying it multiple times it was just painful.

The 'level design' if you can call it that feels like someone went around with a terrain editing tool, pulled up mountains EVERYWHERE, and then went home and got drunk.

Correction, probably drunk during terrain creation.

No trees. No water. No strangth and interesting bits of terrain at all. They could have just stolen some levels from Smuggler's Run and called it a day, at least those are less boring.

When you FINALLY get to Virmire, look at the difference!

It's a beautiful, well crafted world full of jungle and steep cliffs. There's the gorgeous water, the funny crab creatures, and that ominous storm off in the distance.

I still remember that storm. How the bright and shining beach is contrasted by that dark and brooding storm out at sea. You can see the black clouds, punctuated by flashes of lightning in the distance. It seemed to hint at what was coming.

I loved that.

Sure, you can't put that much crafting into all the random planets you land on compared to a story mission, but the difference was so incredibly jarring to me. So no... I do not recall the Mako jaunts with fond memory. It just reminds me of how stupid the map setup was, and how crappy the sidequest planet design was.

KamikazeCanuck wrote:Yes, but in ME1 everything is all new and shiny. Obviously you're not going to be as awe-struck by things like the Citadel and the universe as a whole after you've seen it multiple times.

I played through that game enough times to get every single achievement....Awe-struck had nothing to do with it, it was just a really good, well thought out game.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Chemical Cutthroat wrote:Ugh... Mako.

Love hate right there.

I really enjoy exploring. It's fun, and it's exciting, you get to find stuff!

But every single surface you land on is the same freaking thing in a different color with a different weather effect and it drove me nuts. It was fine at the time, but when replaying it multiple times it was just painful.

The 'level design' if you can call it that feels like someone went around with a terrain editing tool, pulled up mountains EVERYWHERE, and then went home and got drunk.

Correction, probably drunk during terrain creation.

No trees. No water. No strangth and interesting bits of terrain at all. They could have just stolen some levels from Smuggler's Run and called it a day, at least those are less boring.

When you FINALLY get to Virmire, look at the difference!

It's a beautiful, well crafted world full of jungle and steep cliffs. There's the gorgeous water, the funny crab creatures, and that ominous storm off in the distance.

I still remember that storm. How the bright and shining beach is contrasted by that dark and brooding storm out at sea. You can see the black clouds, punctuated by flashes of lightning in the distance. It seemed to hint at what was coming.

I loved that.

Sure, you can't put that much crafting into all the random planets you land on compared to a story mission, but the difference was so incredibly jarring to me. So no... I do not recall the Mako jaunts with fond memory. It just reminds me of how stupid the map setup was, and how crappy the sidequest planet design was.

I agree, the level design did have a lot of cut and paste to it, that was probably my main complaint about the first game. A lot of repetition. But at least there was something going on for a lot of it. Running into thresher maws, having to get out of the mako to navigate narrow canyons, rachni popping up out of nowhere. You gotta remember too, even though there wasn't much going on on the planets, if you look at every other planet in our system as well, how many of them have anything but barren dead wastelands? None. Why would it be any different anywhere else? There would be the odd pearl of the ocean like earth and virmire, but not every planet will be a lush green, or have wonderful waterfalls and oasis in the desert.

What I really don't get, where the feth was the hover tank in 3? They introduced it in that gakky DLC in ME2 and then did NOTHING with it...it's not even on the fething SR2 I don't think (or was it? I didn't really look for it).

And to the guy a few posts up, I disagree that this is the best of ME1 and ME2. This was more like ME2-light. They stripped out so much of the stuff that made this game an actual RPG that it was basically damn near an on-rails 3rd person shooter. And for anyone that stayed to the end of the credits, that scene at the end is evidence of this fact if you truly are playing part .

Kevin949 wrote:

What I really don't get, where the feth was the hover tank in 3? They introduced it in that gakky DLC in ME2 and then did NOTHING with it...it's not even on the fething SR2 I don't think (or was it? I didn't really look for it). [/spoiler]

If I recall Cortez(Shuttle Pilot), or w/e his name was, did mention something about it, though I don't remember exactly what.

Chemical Cutthroat wrote:Ugh... Mako.

Love hate right there.

I really enjoy exploring. It's fun, and it's exciting, you get to find stuff!

But every single surface you land on is the same freaking thing in a different color with a different weather effect and it drove me nuts. It was fine at the time, but when replaying it multiple times it was just painful.

The 'level design' if you can call it that feels like someone went around with a terrain editing tool, pulled up mountains EVERYWHERE, and then went home and got drunk.

Correction, probably drunk during terrain creation.

No trees. No water. No strangth and interesting bits of terrain at all. They could have just stolen some levels from Smuggler's Run and called it a day, at least those are less boring.

When you FINALLY get to Virmire, look at the difference!

It's a beautiful, well crafted world full of jungle and steep cliffs. There's the gorgeous water, the funny crab creatures, and that ominous storm off in the distance.

I still remember that storm. How the bright and shining beach is contrasted by that dark and brooding storm out at sea. You can see the black clouds, punctuated by flashes of lightning in the distance. It seemed to hint at what was coming.

I loved that.

Sure, you can't put that much crafting into all the random planets you land on compared to a story mission, but the difference was so incredibly jarring to me. So no... I do not recall the Mako jaunts with fond memory. It just reminds me of how stupid the map setup was, and how crappy the sidequest planet design was.

Don't forget the Thresher Maws. Enemies which melt your Mako's armour in a single shot and occasionally erupt right beneath you, causing an instant game over. I can remember I basically tried to avoid all flat expanses of terrain because I knew there'd be a damn Thresher Maw waiting for me.

Manchu wrote:I'd read to Fornax ... for the articles.

I could dig that.

If anyone has questions about the ending, the answers are all right here:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QT4IUepvrU1pfv_B95oQj0H84DlCTUmzQ_uQh1voTUs/preview?pli=1&sle=true

Manchu wrote:I find the Asari to be aesthetically off-putting.

Am I the only one?

I find the Asari to be hot as hell.
To bad they are not real...

johnscott10 wrote:Got to agree with Kevin that ME1 is the best from the series.

That and many other points.

Well I think ME2 was much better it had a little more story behind it and was more of a challenge.

Brother Coa wrote:

Manchu wrote:I find the Asari to be aesthetically off-putting.

Am I the only one?

I find the Asari to be hot as hell.
To bad they are not real...

For me Tali is the best female character hint to my romance scene but that's me and you like your choice.

I was speaking for Asari in general not just Liara...

Brother Coa wrote:I was speaking for Asari in general not just Liara...

I know.

WHAT THE FETH. Seriously, WHAT THE FETHING FETH? I really hope Bioware releases an alternate ending as free DLC. I cannot stand to see my favorite video game trilogy ever end like that.

In a happy bit of news I think we can all get on board with, Retake Mass Effect (one of the fan movements pushing for a fix to the ending) has successfully raised $80,000 and donated it to Child's Play, a charity that operates toy drives for children's hospitals.

Its kind of weird when you think about it, unless they're getting $80k worth of ME3 copies , but charity is charity XD

black templar wrote:

johnscott10 wrote:Got to agree with Kevin that ME1 is the best from the series.

That and many other points.

Well I think ME2 was much better it had a little more story behind it and was more of a challenge.

I don't really see how its a story when its 80% go here, recruit member and repeat with the odd mission or 2 that deals with the collectors. Though saying that most of the recruiting missions can be skipped. ME1 had a better story as you start with a vision you can't make sense of. While pursuing Saren you uncover a plot to destroy the galaxy.

As for more of a challenge?? I would have to disagree aswell, it may just be weapon balance but killing stuff in ME1 was alot harder than ME2 imo. ME1 i swapped between pistol and sniper rifle. in ME2 a pistol was more than enough. I only used the sniper coz I liked headshots lol. If you compare the final bosses of each game then ME1(Sarens reaper form) has the harder boss than ME2(human robot reaper thing).

To each their own I guess.

I love how people compare ME1 to ME2 and just say "ME2 was a bunch of side quests and go here do this", and then elaborate on the entire story of ME1.

ME2 was better than ME1, and ME3 is better than ME2. Its just how it is.

Karon wrote:I love how people compare ME1 to ME2 and just say "ME2 was a bunch of side quests and go here do this", and then elaborate on the entire story of ME1.

ME2 was better than ME1, and ME3 is better than ME2. Its just how it is.

lolno


Heres something a guy from bioware said:

" This is in addition to our existing plan to continue providing new Mass Effect content and new full games, so rest assured that your journey in the Mass Effect universe can, and will, continue.”

Mass Effect 4?

As for more of a challenge?? I would have to disagree aswell, it may just be weapon balance but killing stuff in ME1 was alot harder than ME2 imo.

It was harder but only because combat was as much a battle with the controls/mechanics as with the enemy. Then there's the ludicrously long cool down times on abilities. I played through the game on insane and never used them. Ever. But then I was playing Vanguard and shot guns were OP as all bojangles in ME1 XD

EDIT: Of course there will be a Mass Effect 4 EA doesn't give up on a franchise until it stops making money.

LordofHats wrote:It was harder but only because combat was as much a battle with the controls/mechanics as with the enemy. Then there's the ludicrously long cool down times on abilities. I played through the game on insane and never used them. Ever. But then I was playing Vanguard and shot guns were OP as all bojangles in ME1 XD

Yea I have to agree with the abilities, its very rare that I use them in any of the ME games. I do however use grenades a fair bit in ME3 though thats not so much an ability. Ok the sniper rifle had issues with the controls/mechanics, but the pistol was fine if you aimed down the sights. Can't say much about shotguns, never use em.

Karon wrote:I love how people compare ME1 to ME2 and just say "ME2 was a bunch of side quests and go here do this", and then elaborate on the entire story of ME1.

Well its not surprising, ME2 story is Go to a colonized world which no longer has humans. After a few missions, Go to world who still has humans but being abducted. Then eventually find collector ship, steal the IFF then onto suicide mission. The recruiting missions are pretty much filler. You don't need to do all of them but the missions in ME1 all had a connection to Saren in one for or another.

ME2 fixed the cool down issue (I wish they hadn't dumbed down the tree doing it but w/e I settled). That and ME2 didn't have as many redundant abilities as ME1 did (I could be remembering the ME1 abilities incorrectly though, like I said I hardly ever used them). I remember the engineer/Infiltrator especially having like 4 abilities that mostly did the same thing? And Biotic powers before fully upgraded weren't that different from each other barring singularity.

I guess I'll take a look. I'm gearing up for a full replay through ME1 and ME2 to prep some save files. Lost all of mine when I forgot to copy them when I switched to a new hard drive XD EDIT: Which you'd think I'd remember to do after having already lost all of them one the time I switched saves a year or so before

LordofHats wrote:ME2 fixed the cool down issue.

I guess I'll take a look. I'm gearing up for a full replay through ME1 and ME2 to prep some save files. Lost all of mine when I forgot to copy them when I switched to a new hard drive XD

Ill agree I like the "ammo" based system over the overheat system, annoying when you want to snipe but cant due to overheating. I myself done the exact same thing with saves so I can still remember all 3 games a decent bit. Played all 3 of them in like 4 weeks, would have been less if my partner hadn't stole my comp for playing Skyrim lol.

My only issue with ammo in ME2 was that I found some weapons didn't have enough in reserve, which made using the Mantis for example on higher difficulties really annoying. Kept running out of bullets -_-

That and I kind of liked the overheat system as an idea. I'd have liked a mixing of the two models rather than completely dumping heat for ammo. But oh well. Can't say I was that invested in it.

Karon wrote:
ME2 was better than ME1, and ME3 is better than ME2. Its just how it is.

I like how you think

For those who enjoy watching Yahtzee trash talk things I remembered that I hadn't checked his section on Escapist in awhile. Low and behold he's got his ME3 review:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/5497-Mass-Effect-3

Not his funniest review ever but it got a few good chuckles in for me.

LordofHats wrote:For those who enjoy watching Yahtzee trash talk things I remembered that I hadn't checked his section on Escapist in awhile. Low and behold he's got his ME3 review:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/5497-Mass-Effect-3

Not his funniest review ever but it got a few good chuckles in for me.

Largely disappointing review, much like ME3s ending!

Meh, Yahtzee isn't as funny as he used to be (his jokes are pretty repetitive). The last one I really enjoyed was his Skyrim review.

So what's up with the "human reaper" in ME2? He's made up of human paste. This seems to imply that the Reapers harvest species every cycle to make different types of Reapers but every other Reaper is your standard issue Hand-looking Reaper. The human Reaper is more like a cyborg I guess but the rest appear to be pure machine. Why'd they make that thing?

KamikazeCanuck wrote:So what's up with the "human reaper" in ME2? He's made up of human paste. This seems to imply that the Reapers harvest species every cycle to make different types of Reapers but every other Reaper is your standard issue Hand-looking Reaper. The human Reaper is more like a cyborg I guess but the rest appear to be pure machine. Why'd they make that thing?

Its currently theorized that the Cuddle Fush exterior of the Reapers is really just a shell, and that the Reapers actually look like whatever species they're based on and reside within the shells.

I want to say Bioware confirmed this at some point but I can't remember.

I don't think it's been mentioned already, but I really feel it should be: Diana Allers is a terrible character.

Anung Un Rama wrote:I don't think it's been mentioned already, but I really feel it should be: Diana Allers is a terrible character.

So is Cortez. Here I thought the Carth clones were improving, but in every video I've seen of Cortez he's talking about how sad he feels cause his husband died. At first I was like, kudos for just making this an open thing Bioware, very progressive of you. Then I was like... Okay. I get it bro. Your sad. Can you talk about something else or is this the sum total of your character?

At least Cortez wasn't played by a semi Internet celebrity and his character wasn't an exact copy of said celebrity.
"Hi, I have boobs, because that's the only way to guys will listen to news."

Something unrelated: I could't find the quote while I googled it, but do I remeber that right, that James talked about taking down a Collector ship? I'm not the only one who heard that, right?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Found it on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IM6Zu1ZEOUs

Ehm... no. There was ONE Collector ship and it took an upgraded version of the most advanced ship humanity could build and this Gears of War-reject here is telling me HE destroyed one?

Anung Un Rama wrote:I don't think it's been mentioned already, but I really feel it should be: Diana Allers is a terrible character.

I don't think anyone will disagree here. I introduced her to the airlock after she ran out of usefulness (technically I only ordered her off my ship but my headcanon says she was spaced).

LordofHats wrote:

Anung Un Rama wrote:I don't think it's been mentioned already, but I really feel it should be: Diana Allers is a terrible character.

So is Cortez. Here I thought the Carth clones were improving, but in every video I've seen of Cortez he's talking about how sad he feels cause his husband died. At first I was like, kudos for just making this an open thing Bioware, very progressive of you. Then I was like... Okay. I get it bro. Your sad. Can you talk about something else or is this the sum total of your character?

Please tell me you are trolling.

Seriously, LOH. Play the game before commenting on specific things like this.

Cortez opens up much more once you HELP HIM get over the loss of his husband - which is not easy to get over as I'm sure you could imagine.

Karon wrote:Please tell me you are trolling.

Seriously, LOH. Play the game before commenting on specific things like this.

Yes cause no one thought "I'm gonna put all of Cortez's convos on you tube" for me to stumble across

Not sure why anyone would think that but apparently they do XD EDIT: Maybe it turns out differently with different convo options but most of what I saw was a dude being sad, which is only interesting for so long.

Of course I should be thankful people with even less of a life than me put up random you tube videos for me to stroll through, cause this is priceless:

The game sets the entire context of what he is saying, as well. Listening to just what he says in a vacuum is ridiculous.

Listening to just what he says in a vacuum is ridiculous.

Yes, because Cortez and his emotional state are vital to the war against the reapers. His entire character exists within a vacuum. Remove him from ME3 and ME3 is exactly the same its just lacking the shuttle pilot who is only occasionally entertaining. EDIT: Contrasted to other characters who seem much more integrated into the story.

LordofHats wrote:

Listening to just what he says in a vacuum is ridiculous.

Yes, because Cortez and his emotional state are vital to the war against the reapers. His entire character exists within a vacuum. Remove him from ME3 and ME3 is exactly the same its just lacking the shuttle pilot who is only occasionally entertaining.

He does provide some good war assets. And he does have some interesting things and he is part of your crew. Plus in ME2 you never see your pilot. In ME3 you do.

Plus I am playing me3 for the second time. So my guns are uberly powerful... But my enemies are too. 5 shots and I am dead from an Assualt Trooper. And I am a Vanguard class. Insanity is ridiculously hard.

The events happening around you can color your perspective on his situation.

Human emotions are not simple, and to know what it feels like to lose people very close to you colors your perspective even more.

Its not as simple as "He's a whiny bitch, get over it already"

Karon wrote:The events happening around you can color your perspective on his situation.

Human emotions are not simple, and to know what it feels like to lose people very close to you colors your perspective even more.

Its not as simple as "He's a whiny bitch, get over it already"

I didn't call him whiny I called him sad, as in the literal definition of the word. Cortez is a sad man. Too bad that sentence pretty much sums up his existence. I suppose I could call him whiny but he manages to be sad without complaining about it so hes still a step up from Carth on the Carthish character scale.

Am I the only guy who has decided to kill Ashley.
Keep Kaiden.
Be a vanguard spam charge and his new ability which is so OP its hilarious. Charge regenerates all biotic shields and then I use it up in my Biotic Slam punch which instant kills anything close then it decreases cooldown for all my abilities by 40%. Rinse Repeat and all my enemies are dead. HELK IT DOES FULL DAMAGE ON EVERYTHING!
Vanguard got extremely overpowered since me1. In me1 I had to use my shotgun... Only my shotgun... of course it did have explosive rounds VIII and heat sinks X. Which was 5 shot kill for Saren.

And gladly shoot Udina when I was given the chance?

I found the Kaiden/Ashley decision a complete crap shoot. I hated them both and wished there was a way to not save either of them. Usually I made my decision to save whoever was with Curahee cause Curahee was a bad ass.

Vanguards were always OP but the addition of Biotic Charge took it to a new level (of course other classes got some awesome toys in ME2 so the field while still unbalanced I think got a little more leveled). You want OP use the Eviserator on an Infiltrator. In ME2 that combo produced the most damage in the game and you blow through on Veteran without any trouble at all.

Anung Un Rama wrote:I don't think it's been mentioned already, but I really feel it should be: Diana Allers is a terrible character.

I think that could have worked out a lot better if she actually did some full, hard-hitting interviews but all she does is ask 2 easy ones and then when it gets the the more interesting stuff it fades to black for some reason.

LordofHats wrote:I found the Kaiden/Ashley decision a complete crap shoot. I hated them both and wished there was a way to not save either of them. .

But.... they are some of my favorite characters of all times lol

Too be honest I don't remember a word Kaiden said in ME1 past the opening. I find Carth 2.0's character completely forgettable (at the very least I remember Carth's whining) Ashley I remember the things she said, but I just found her bland.

Of course I didn't much like the party in ME1. Wrex I loved cause he was awesome, and Liara was okay, but the rest of the characters were all flat. Tali pretty much only existed as a mouth to tell the player about the Quarians (for those who don't remember, she was the only one to appear in ME1), and Garrus had to wait till ME2 to find a personality more complex than John McClane's.

Most of my favorite ME characters actually came to be in ME2 (High fives for Mordin and Legion )

ME2 had the best pacing and all in all was the most complete experience. It had a satisfying story that apart from the obvious tied everything up in a neat little bow. The gameplay was seriously bland and easy but it was a memorable game regardless.

Bioware games have a set structure which boils down to 'Build a team for the big fight'. The absolute GENIUS of ME2 is that this is not only the Structure but the story of the Game!

My main Problem with 3 is that i felt rushed. I just thought while i am scanning planets for credits Earth and the Turian Fleet is being stomped by Reapers. In 2 any distraction felt necessary, 'i need more platinum to improve the normandy's Weapons!'.

Yeah, 3 really does its best to discourage hunting around. Everything seems so intense and rushed... I was worried there wouldn't be an Earth to save if I didn't get my ass in gear.

And I still don't even know if I saved anything...

Well said.

Oh and did anyone miss this?




It appears in motif form in 3 when the normandy first sweeps in to pick you up. Which i gotta say was a spine tingling moment. I really missed it though in the final few fights. The weepy (did well up a bit) clint mansell ditty is all well and good but it is not Tub-thumpingly awesome.

Gotta love the bit that comes in 0.44. Also 2.11-2.45 really do it for me, love the twinkling synth and digitised vocals. Its a shame it isn't more electronic. The orchestral arrangement nearly ruins it for me, song kinda fragments after 2,50, as does the bit where the 'Halo choir' comes in ~3.20, why do all game soundtracks need Halo Choirs?!

Perkustin wrote:Well said.

Oh and did anyone miss this?




It appears in motif form in 3 when the normandy first sweeps in to pick you up. Which i gotta say was a spine tingling moment. I really missed it though in the final few fights. The weepy (did well up a bit) clint mansell ditty is all well and good but it is not Tub-thumpingly awesome.

Gotta love the bit that comes in 0.44. Also 2.11-2.45 really do it for me, love the twinkling synth and digitised vocals. Its a shame it isn't more electronic. The orchestral arrangement nearly ruins it for me, song kinda fragments after 2,50, as does the bit where the 'Halo choir' comes in ~3.20, why do all game soundtracks need Halo Choirs?!

The ad for the Collector''s edition of ME3 says I get a digital copy of the sound track. I don't see anything for it though....

Ever heard of YouTube?
You can listen to entire soundtrack there.

You get a download code if you get the Collector's (there is a joke here) Edition.

You need to get on the webernets and go to Bioware's website to redeem said code and DL the soundtrack.

I miss the days where they have you a CD...

Chemical Cutthroat wrote:You get a download code if you get the Collector's (there is a joke here) Edition.

You need to get on the webernets and go to Bioware's website to redeem said code and DL the soundtrack.

I miss the days where they have you a CD...

Thanks. Please educate Coa on the wonders of the compact disc too. How it allows you to not need a computer to listen to music etc.

Aye but surely 'suicide mission' wont be on the ME3 OST CD, i never heard it aside from Aforementioned Motif in the Prologue. Which as i said was a great shame.

KamikazeCanuck wrote:

Chemical Cutthroat wrote:You get a download code if you get the Collector's (there is a joke here) Edition.

You need to get on the webernets and go to Bioware's website to redeem said code and DL the soundtrack.

I miss the days where they have you a CD...

Thanks. Please educate Coa on the wonders of the compact disc too. How it allows you to not need a computer to listen to music etc.

If you could find me store in Belgrade that sells Two Steps from Hell, Globus, Mass Effect OST and Lord of The Rings OST I will by them tomorrow, or at least some way to buy something on the internet and not being banned because of sanctions.

Brother Coa wrote:

KamikazeCanuck wrote:

Chemical Cutthroat wrote:You get a download code if you get the Collector's (there is a joke here) Edition.

You need to get on the webernets and go to Bioware's website to redeem said code and DL the soundtrack.

I miss the days where they have you a CD...

Thanks. Please educate Coa on the wonders of the compact disc too. How it allows you to not need a computer to listen to music etc.

If you could find me store in Belgrade that sells Two Steps from Hell, Globus, Mass Effect OST and Lord of The Rings OST I will by them tomorrow, or at least some way to buy something on the internet and not being banned because of sanctions.

I'll look into it next time I'm in Belgrade.

Easy guys. No need to get snarky.

I'm just joking. I think Coa knows that. If not: Coa I'm joking. Well, actually if I go to Belgrade I will look....

Be my guest.
If you are around let me know and I will show you how local beer taste

That sounds like a good offer.

One thing that surprised me about this Mass Effect is that it's hard. I'm not used to that in Mass Effect. The previous two were really easy combat-wise. I play on the second hardest difficulty and some of those final battles especially the final one were really difficult.

KamikazeCanuck wrote:One thing that surprised me about this Mass Effect is that it's hard. I'm not used to that in Mass Effect. The previous two were really easy combat-wise. I play on the second hardest difficulty and some of those final battles especially the final one were really difficult.

Spoiler:

Especially Kai Leng fight and the protect the Rocket ones.

Those were a bit frustrating on 'Hard'(or whatever is after normal), but the fairly imba black widow came to rescue on both of those, for me.

A friend showed this to me and I thought it was pretty entertaining for the first iteration.

Who's that guy premiering in that video? He's not commander shepard...

Also, it almost sounds like a Weird Al song.

Also, downloaded *shady eyes*

This one is also pretty good. I love these guys, but I never favorite them so I always have trouble finding their videos:

Hah, awesome. So my question, where was all the cutscenes of that quality in the game, DAMN IT!

Why won't it install from disc?!

Gotta admit, deep down, I always thought Shepard was a douche

LordofHats wrote:

Gotta admit, deep down, I always thought Shepard was a douche

I finally finished it yesterday and I found it to be possibly the weakest in the series. For a war of literally apocalyptic scale I found much of the game to be curiously hollow.

The only segment of the game where I felt any real sense of a greater conflict was London, mostly because they included regular comms chatter which was (mostly) contextual. Otherwise it was a fairly linear experience with no real connection to the bigger picture outside of cutscenes and dialogue. While there was the occasional appearance of allied troops it was rare and usually brief.

I also dislike how I was able to solve the Genophage and Geth problems within a couple of missions; it was inevitable that they would be cleared up in this game but it was a little too simple.

My main problem though was the ending, I should have just stopped playing at the beam of light. Aside from the inconsistencies, miraculous escapes and severe limitations that the endings have its the sudden appearance of 'god' that killed it for me, meh. The subtle BUY DLC! message was also appreciated.

I don't think that I will bother with a second play through.

The difficulty was fine, the only fight that I had any difficulty with was one of the engagements in London where you need to be evacuated by a dropship. I tried to fight my way through and got splattered repeatedly until I just ran for it and made it easily.

Anyone still feeling depressed because of the ending?

I found that this guy's videos helped me feel better:

http://www.youtube.com/user/agsii1#g/u

Also these:

http://www.youtube.com/user/ACAVYOS/videos

Just look up the "indoctrination theory", needless to say it makes the endings have allot more sense. If Bioware DO NOT confirm the indoctrination theory as true I will loose all faith in humanity. NO ONE (except maybe Lost) could make an ending with so many plot holes and inconsistencies, its especially out of character for Bioware.

vodo40k wrote:NO ONE could make an ending with so many plot holes and inconsistencies, its especially out of character for Bioware.

Seriously, am I the only one who played DA2?

I'm surprised you even admit to having played that.

Amaya wrote:I'm surprised you even admit to having played that.

It was a very traumatic experience but with a lot of therapy and rage filled Halo Reach matches I'm much better now

I'm not a big fan of Sword & Sorcery settings. Can someone give me the short version of why DA2 is so bad?

It's worse than DA:O and DA:O has to be the blandest, most overrated and over hyped unoriginal piece of crap made in the last 5 years.

Anung Un Rama wrote:I'm not a big fan of Sword & Sorcery settings. Can someone give me the short version of why DA2 is so bad?

The ending is really bad. The story of the game is told in a very non-direct manner and the 'main' storyline is this chaotic jumble of confusion. At the end of the game, a random plot point from the beginning of the game that seemingly had nothing to do with the rest of the game (not even seemingly it really had nothing to do with the rest of the game) reappeared from nowhere. The ending was bad. Certainly worse than ME3 in my mind actually.

EDIT: Granted, the ending of DA2 may have been better if the rest of the game hadn't been such a mess. I look back at it now and I think it was a worthy attempt to push story telling in a new direction but in the end DA2 suffers from not being direct enough and having so much subtlety 19th century gentry wouldn't know what to make of it.

DA2 was just unpolished and unfinished. The concept was good and the actual gameplay was good, but it wasn't anywhere near as good as Dragon Age:Origins.

I wouldn't listen to Amaya's opinion over Bioware games, anyways. He doesn't care about story.

After thinking it over, I think ME2 was probably the best Mass Effect made when you include the DLC.

Mass Effect 3 just really left me wanting. I was REALLY disappointed that I didn't get to bring along a lot of people from ME2.

I mean, really. There was no point in romancing someone who was solely in ME2 because you only get a very short gameplay segment with them. I really wanted to just get them back in my party and take them along.

The current ending is, obviously, the biggest letdown. I'm pretty entrenched in the indoctrination theory, though. If I was Bioware, I would cling to that as much as possible even if it wasn't their original idea.

Definitely agree DA2 was unfinished. I mean look at the menus. They're horrible! And who was the genius who put the only bow wielding companion in the game on the DLC list?

Oh gee look. An awesome bow! Too bad I'm a mage!

Karon wrote:DA2 was just unpolished and unfinished. The concept was good and the actual gameplay was good, but it wasn't anywhere near as good as Dragon Age:Origins.

I wouldn't listen to Amaya's opinion over Bioware games, anyways. He doesn't care about story.

After thinking it over, I think ME2 was probably the best Mass Effect made when you include the DLC.

Mass Effect 3 just really left me wanting. I was REALLY disappointed that I didn't get to bring along a lot of people from ME2.

I mean, really. There was no point in romancing someone who was solely in ME2 because you only get a very short gameplay segment with them. I really wanted to just get them back in my party and take them along.

The current ending is, obviously, the biggest letdown. I'm pretty entrenched in the indoctrination theory, though. If I was Bioware, I would cling to that as much as possible even if it wasn't their original idea.

Keep thinking that.

You want me to dig up my thread pointing out why ME2 is the best Bioware game ever and possibly the best RPG ever made?

Oh yeah, it's primarily because the story, characters are freaking awesome and it helps that the gameplay is actually enjoyable. So far. I'm enjoying ME3 even more.


I could make a list of games with exceptional stories that have mediocre gameplay, but I still love them. The problem with me comes from games with mediocre stories and bad gameplay, such as Dragon Age: Origins.

Hell, Morrowind has a freaking terrible combat system and I LOVE that game because the setting and MQ are among the best ever created. Hell, that game probably has the best video game world ever made. Vvardenfall is beautiful even with dated graphics.

I apologize, and I have agreed with your assessment of ME2 being the best RPG ever made since I completed the game.

ME3 just really lost a lot of the character interaction I really grew to love in ME2 to the point where I played it three times over a year and a half span.

I honestly was really bummed when I realized I couldn't take Jack (and others) with me after I met them.

TBH, I think ME3 was rushed because of EA. They said the reason was because "they wanted the squad size to be smaller to get better interaction between characters", which is complete bs. I didn't notice any deeper interaction with characters than I did in ME2. There was likely less overall because there WAS less characters to interact with.

When you add in one of the worst endings for a game possibly ever if they don't release DLC picking up after Shepard breaks the indoctrination at the end of the "red" ending, ME2 is the superior game for me right now. Even if they do release a badass ending and I shake off the effects of prisoner of the moment, I think I will end up saying ME2 was the better game overall.

It's not a problem Karon. I specifically named Mass Effect and Dragon Age in my comment about gameplay > story because I wasn't incredibly impressed with either one's story (especially DA) and didn't care much for the combat in either one.

Lack of interaction with squad mates is one of the negative aspects of ME3 despite some really great moments in it. I actually really like the James Vega character to the point where I take him on every mission regardless of who'll be facing.

So, if Tali and/or Garrus die in ME2 what happens in ME3? Do you have like 2 squadmates?

Amaya wrote:It's not a problem Karon. I specifically named Mass Effect and Dragon Age in my comment about gameplay > story because I wasn't incredibly impressed with either one's story (especially DA) and didn't care much for the combat in either one.

Lack of interaction with squad mates is one of the negative aspects of ME3 despite some really great moments in it. I actually really like the James Vega character to the point where I take him on every mission regardless of who'll be facing.

Spoiler:

The fight with James, shooting on top of the Praesidium with Garrus, and catching Ashley Williams drunk off her ass were all great moments but they don't make up for the lack of dialogue and lack of dialogue options imo.

A lot of my whining at you was directed at that you say Mass Effect and I assume you mean the entire series and not just the first one - which I agree was lackluster.

By no means am I trying to say ME3 is a bad game by any stretch. The shortcoming of ME3 I blame entirely on EA because they rush every game and don't give a single feth about their customers.

It's good so far, but it feels like it's fairly short.

I made the mistake of not finishing every side quest before doing priority missions so I'll have to replay it.

Amaya wrote:It's good so far, but it feels like it's fairly short.

I made the mistake of not finishing every side quest before doing priority missions so I'll have to replay it.

Spoiler:

Apparently I have doomed Jack to death as a Phantom...damn

How's that happen?

KamikazeCanuck wrote:

Amaya wrote:It's good so far, but it feels like it's fairly short.

I made the mistake of not finishing every side quest before doing priority missions so I'll have to replay it.

Spoiler:

Apparently I have doomed Jack to death as a Phantom...damn

How's that happen?

Whoa, glad I did that Grissom Academy one then. Also glad I destroyed the Geth Heretics because I believe that helps with

It does, though isn't necessary for the goal.

Are there any other quests that have "time limits"? There's Grissom Academy. The Benning one needs to be completed before the Cerberus Coup and the Suicide Mission from ME2 should actually be completed in a timely fashion to save the crew. Those are the ones that I'm aware of anyway.

I really, really wish they told you where some of these missions actually were.

"You need to do X on Benning!"
"Where the feth is Benning?"

As someone who has only played ME3, I never got to meet Jack, Samara or Thane....

News just in regarding the DLC for the endings:

http://news.ea.com/portal/site/ea/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&ndmConfigId=1012492&newsId=20120405005304&newsLang=en

BioWare Announces Mass Effect 3: Extended Cut

Free* DLC Pack to Provide Additional Cinematic Scenes to the Ending of Mass Effect 3 this Summer

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--BioWare, a Label of Electronic Arts Inc. announced Mass Effect™ 3: Extended Cut, a downloadable content pack that will expand upon the events at the end of the critically acclaimed Action RPG. Through additional cinematic sequences and epilogue scenes, the Mass Effect 3: Extended Cut will give fans seeking further clarity to the ending of Mass Effect 3 deeper insights into how their personal journey concludes. Coming this summer, the Mass Effect 3: Extended Cut will be available for download on the Xbox 360® videogame and entertainment system, PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system and PC for no extra charge*.

“We are all incredibly proud of Mass Effect 3 and the work done by Casey Hudson and team,” said Dr. Ray Muzyka, Co-Founder of BioWare and General Manager of EA’s BioWare Label. “Since launch, we have had time to listen to the feedback from our most passionate fans and we are responding. With the Mass Effect 3: Extended Cut we think we have struck a good balance in delivering the answers players are looking for while maintaining the team’s artistic vision for the end of this story arc in the Mass Effect universe.”

Casey Hudson, Executive Producer of the Mass Effect series added, “We have reprioritized our post-launch development efforts to provide the fans who want more closure with even more context and clarity to the ending of the game, in a way that will feel more personalized for each player.”

The Mass Effect franchise is one of the most highly decorated series in the history of games, having earned over 250 awards from critics around the world. Mass Effect 3 launched last month to universal critical acclaim, receiving over 75 perfect scores. For more information on Mass Effect 3, please visit http://masseffect.com, follow the game on Twitter at http://twitter.com/masseffect or “like” the game on Facebook at http://facebook.com/masseffect. Press assets for Mass Effect 3 are available at www.info.ea.com.

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You read that right. It's going to be free. For the moment anyway.

It's still just going to be "clarification". A bit disappointing. Don't need to see a turd in HD to know that it's a turd. I'll be interested to see what they do, though.

Any chance of a text copy and paste for the work blocked?

Edited my above post for you, sorry bout that

Cheers and no worries, wasn't expecting it, just thought I'd ask. Thanks for getting it up there.

Regarding the info, seems interesting, have to wonder how it will actually work.
Although I need to actually get up and finish my game, of course I need to get mutliplayer back up to 100% first.

Here's a text cut/paste for you:



Personally I think this is the worst possible news that could have come out of this. They hide behind the sentiment that the end of the game was their "artistic vision" but I seriously am having trouble wrapping my head around that. The idea that their ENTIRE writing team signed off on what we got and said "Yeah, this looks right. That's a wrap." is so alien to me. It took the fans all of a week to point out a multitude of MAJOR plot holes, and the writers worked on this for two YEARS and missed those? They were either rushed and released a sloppy product, or they are seeing things about the ending that are clear as day to them, but obviously lost in translation.

I really believed the Indoctrination Theory had the right of it, because it fits so incredibly well with what we got as an ending. Perhaps I'll just have to remain in denial and pretend that theory is correct despite this news. That might be the only way I'll be satisfied with the game.

Aldarionn wrote:

I really believed the Indoctrination Theory had the right of it, because it fits so incredibly well with what we got as an ending. Perhaps I'll just have to remain in denial and pretend that theory is correct despite this news. That might be the only way I'll be satisfied with the game.

Yeah, the issue really was that there weren't enough hints throughout the game, inserting strangeness here and there that hints at indoctrination and reminding people of the telltale signs throughout would have helped

You do realize that they can't come out and say yes the indoctrination theory is correct if they want to pull off a big reveal?

Amaya wrote:You do realize that they can't come out and say yes the indoctrination theory is correct if they want to pull off a big reveal?

I dont see why not, even if it wasn't their intent (which i hope to God it was) It would make me and im sure many others feel a hell of allot better about the ending. If Bioware had just confirmed Shepard was becoming indoctrinated near the end and put in a bit of needed exposition I would have been very happy with the three colour rainbow.

Amaya wrote:You do realize that they can't come out and say yes the indoctrination theory is correct if they want to pull off a big reveal?

Sure they could but they won't cause I'm about 90% convinced now that the theory was never a reality (Ignoring that using it is still bad writing). All the ending needs is clarity. Will it be the greatest ending ever? No. But the main problem with the current ending is how confusing it is. More context would solve that right up and not be anywhere near as much work as the "it was all a dream" ending that has us redoing all the things we just dreamed about.

Someone actually proposed throwing in a text based epilogue ala DA:O and I agreed with him. We don't need to redo the ending we just need clarification.

My biggest problem is that the ending of the game seems to have been written by an entirely different team of writers than the first two games, and 95% of the third game. When held up to the established lore and tone of the series, the endings we got are COMPLETELY out of left field, and take all choice away from the player. It's a major tonal shift full of plot holes, and it really makes me think of an M. Night Shyamalan twist. If you're going to pull that kind of BS, a little warning might have been nice.

Well ME3 is the first Mass Effect not to have Drew Karpyshyn as the lead writer. Conclusion? Karpyshyn was the only guy in Bioware who knew how to write an ending.