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Well, as usual, the game leaked a few days back, about a week before shipping.

I have seen this game. There is a rant already posted on Dark Reign. It is filled with spoilers. On this forum, I will say: I cancelled my CE preorder for a reason, that reason is the super bad plot and endings.

This does note bode well.

Even with my tolerance of grimdark/"mature" stories I find the leaked endings incredibly bad.

BaronIveagh wrote:
Well, as usual, the game leaked a few days back, about a week before shipping.

I have seen this game. There is a rant already posted on Dark Reign. It is filled with spoilers. On this forum, I will say: I cancelled my CE preorder for a reason, that reason is the super bad plot and endings.

So you stayed through the ancient technological super race (called the Reapers, no less), but...

dogma wrote:
So you stayed through the ancient technological super race (called the Reapers, no less), but...

Spoiler:

...the weird technological singularity god pushes it beyond the pale?

Not so much that as what he tells you . Particularly when he's saying it to my Shep who is wearing a nuke...

So you'e basically complaining about the constraints of dialogue choices (I can't choose "Pet the fluffy bunny." in this hostile confrontation! This game is crap!), and the absence of total freedom, while further assuming that your nuke is relevant at all.

And what would your nuke do, even if successful? Leave a group of, now uncontrolled, sentient machines with a ridiculous technological advantage roaming the galaxy?

Sounds like the beginning of a joke..."So, this guy with a nuke strapped to him walks into a bar..."

Does the dialogue system still lie to you?

example from ME1

What the dialogue tree says;

"You (word that means you were conceived out of wedlock)!"

What shep says (with little to no venom);

"You won't get away with this."

I didn’t really care for the second game, and the trailers for this one fail to impress me. Its a shame since i thought the first game had a lot of potential.

Why look for this stuff? I am busy playing Dragon Age II at the moment, before that Nehrim. In either case the last thing I would want is the entire metaplot and endings spoilered before play; and this game isn't even out yet.

I may go to wiki sites during play, I avoid badly structured ones that give away too much on one page and avoid certain types of data.

Frankly if a game interests me unless I get an 'anonymous' warning not to play, that is anonymous reason not source I will still play.

I play the games for the journey not the destination.

Orlanth wrote:
I play the games for the journey not the destination.

Wouldn't that mean that the ending doesn't matter to you?

dogma wrote:

Orlanth wrote:
I play the games for the journey not the destination.

Wouldn't that mean that the ending doesn't matter to you?

It is important but matters less than the gameplay.

I have played excellent games with disappointing endings before. The ending may effect replayability, but not necessarily soil a good playthrough.

There are several types of 'bad' ending. Some aren't that bad or better tailor into sequels.

1. Heroic sacrifice.
Not a lot of people accept this one nowadays, which is a pity. The heroes dies saving the day is in my mind a good ending. Can be unpopular though.
Depending on the type of death this can be reversed easily enough without a retcon. Caught in a collapsing temple or succumbing to poison gas do not necessarily mean death and both have been used in decent titles with sequels using the same character.

2. Deus Ex Machina.
Another annoying one, as it makes progression futile, but this depends on how the power is invoked.
If one accepts that there are bigger forces than the hero at work its doable. especially if the intervention is directly enabled by the hero. I.e the godlike force is unleashed/summoned rather than awaited or worse a surprise visit.
Deus Ex Machine ending do have an enormous plus side though, they make sequels easier depending on how the overforce is described as it users in.
If the utter extermination of an adversary is involved as most outros make the mistake of doing then you have a continuity problem. If the overforce instead banishes an enemy then the effect might last only as long as the overforce remains. This makers for good sequel material if the overforce is removed or wanders off.
Wotan and Zeus have a habit of walking offstage as often as they have a habit of walking on. This may be used for the next installment of a series and makes for better continuation than when the hero itself defeats the enemy as it avoids having to nerf the hero to make the sequel make sense.

3. What next?
Some endings just leave you hanging.

Orlanth wrote:
2. Deus Ex Machina.
Another annoying one, as it makes progression futile, but this depends on how the power is invoked.
If one accepts that there are bigger forces than the hero at work its doable. especially if the intervention is directly enabled by the hero. I.e the godlike force is unleashed/summoned rather than awaited or worse a surprise visit.
Deus Ex Machine ending do have an enormous plus side though, they make sequels easier depending on how the overforce is described as it users in.
If the utter extermination of an adversary is involved as most outros make the mistake of doing then you have a continuity problem. If the overforce instead banishes an enemy then the effect might last only as long as the overforce remains. This makers for good sequel material if the overforce is removed or wanders off.
Wotan and Zeus have a habit of walking offstage as often as they have a habit of walking on. This may be used for the next installment of a series and makes for better continuation than when the hero itself defeats the enemy as it avoids having to nerf the hero to make the sequel make sense.

Sadly, all the endings are basically 'A Wild and Unforeseen Deus Ex Machina appears! Shep makes one of three choices you are allowed! It's Super Effective


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dogma wrote:
And what would your nuke do, even if successful? Leave a group of, now uncontrolled, sentient machines with a ridiculous technological advantage roaming the galaxy?

Well, mostly it's the fact that

Meh! Still gonna buy it anyway and not leave my sofa for the next 2 weeks. I have a small nerdgasm every time I see that live action commercial on TV.

Interweb folks will tear apart everything they can get their hands on, because the people making fanboy stuff will never make it exactly 100% the way they want it, and even if they did, they'd still complain because that's what the interweb is for.

Right now I just can't decide if Tuesday will be an Arby's, Sonic or Papa John's night. I'm thinking the later, so I can start playing while I wait for the delivery guy.. but it might piss me off if he comes when I don't feel like pausing.

Necros wrote:Meh! Still gonna buy it anyway and not leave my sofa for the next 2 weeks. I have a small nerdgasm every time I see that live action commercial on TV.

Interweb folks will tear apart everything they can get their hands on, because the people making fanboy stuff will never make it exactly 100% the way they want it, and even if they did, they'd still complain because that's what the interweb is for.

Right now I just can't decide if Tuesday will be an Arby's, Sonic or Papa John's night. I'm thinking the later, so I can start playing while I wait for the delivery guy.. but it might piss me off if he comes when I don't feel like pausing.

Necros, I eagerly await hearing about you reaching the endings then. You do have spare controllers, right?

Not reading em cuz I don't want spoilers I'm sure they screwed up the ending, I just meant the if the journey is fun then I'll be happy enough with it.

Actually no. This has been discussed since the 1st game.

The geth have a collective hive mind as well. As collective consciousness and that they all are connected to the 'hive mind' a collective consciousness. The Reapers work the same way. WE HAVE KNOWN THAT!

Stop complaining about bad plot design.

Its actually quite smart they are following the same thing as they did before.

This has been hinted a large collective like the geth hubs which held many collective peoples.

No bad plot design here at all!

Its quite connected!

BaronIveagh wrote:

dogma wrote:
And what would your nuke do, even if successful? Leave a group of, now uncontrolled, sentient machines with a ridiculous technological advantage roaming the galaxy?

Well, mostly it's the fact that

Spoiler:

he straight up tells you 'Hi, I'm the Reaper Hivemind and I control all the reapers who would be mindless without me' when they already make a point to let you know that they stole how tyranids work for how Reapers work now in ME3. I mean, seriously, I'm in his brain when he tells me this. With a nuke. Even if it did nothing outside, I'm willing to bet that baby would do something when I wire it directly to his forebrain.

Mindless doesn't mean not dangerous, or not powerful.



Its sort of like killing a dictator. Sure, the tyrant is dead, but all those people with all those guns that had a vested interest in the tyrant are still alive, and they still have guns. Your immediate situation isn't any better, in fact it may be much, much worse.

Just pre-ordered this today and am looking forward to it.

To be honest, I enjoyed the first Mass Effect the most. The Mako was challenging to learn to control, but fun after that. The story, to me, was much better than the second one, as there was honestly quite a bit of mystery as to who or what the antagonist actually was. In the Mass Effect 2, I more or less already knew this, but the development of the collectors being goons for the Reapers wasn't a mind blower. I am guessing the 3 installment's story is going to really be much of the same from ME2, just with the whole, actual part of annihilation thrown in there.

dogma wrote:

Spoiler:

And, from what I understand, the Reapers work essentially in the same way that the Collectors work. Limited autonomy.

TBH I play ME for the party members. Who's in this one?

Manchu wrote:TBH I play ME for the party members. Who's in this one?

A lot of them, and I suppose at the very least considering the trend past couple Bioware releases, the party members will probably be really well done.

EDIT: Maybe there'll be some cat fights between the love interests. Shepard could record them and make a handy retirement fund for himself

BaronIveagh wrote:

dogma wrote:

Spoiler:

And, from what I understand, the Reapers work essentially in the same way that the Collectors work. Limited autonomy.

Spoiler:

Changed from previous game. Now, like nids, kill the big ones and it lobotomizes the rest or kills them outright. It's actually part of a few of the missions. and Guardian spells it out at the end in case you missed it: Reapers do not have any sort of free will.

I would appreciate a link, because what you seem to have read is not what I read.


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LordofHats wrote:
EDIT: Maybe there'll be some cat fights between the love interests. Shepard could record them and make a handy retirement fund for himself

Jack/Miranda/Ashley ship?

Maybe some Tali for flavor?

I will likely buy this just to continue the romance with Tali.

So seeing as no one has posted ANY videos or gone into any detail about what actually happens outside of talking about this like an inside joke, I had to go and come up with this video of the (Renegade) ending posted on Youtube.

I hate ME2. I won't be buying ME3 simply because I thought ME2's story was crap and I don't expect anything to improve. Frankly though...



I honestly don't see why everyone is all up in arms about it. Depending on the rest of the game it might not be that bad...

LordofHats wrote:I hate ME2. I won't be buying ME3 simply because I thought ME2's story was crap and I don't expect anything to improve. Frankly though...

I honestly don't see why everyone is all up in arms about it. Depending on the rest of the game it might not be that bad...

Ditto...

I won't be buying ME3 because I wasn't all that impressed by ME2, particularly by ME2's reorientation of the franchise towards shooter elements. I frankly find the dialogue wheel a pretty big step back for RPG game design.

I also don't understand the uproar about ME3's leaked ending. It was pretty funny carousing through all the grouse threads on the Bioware forums....god are they a pissy bunch. I don't think that Bioware realized that when you run your forums like a police state people tend to get pretty easily inflamed.

TedNugent wrote:So seeing as no one has posted ANY videos or gone into any detail about what actually happens outside of talking about this like an inside joke, I had to go and come up with this video of the (Renegade) ending posted on Youtube.

Spoiler:

Wait, those songs... they arn't really in the game are they?

I have heard many a horror story about the Bioware forums.

I won't be buying ME3 because I wasn't all that impressed by ME2, particularly by ME2's reorientation of the franchise towards shooter elements. I frankly find the dialogue wheel a pretty big step back for RPG game design.

Honestly my only problem with the wheel design is that it coincides with the MC being fully voice acted and the start of dialogue options on the wheel not always matching what is actually said.

So I'm playing ToR, and I'm a trooper trying to track down some bad guys and I'm trying to get some info from this gangster I found. I'm playing a neutral character (and hurting myself doing it) and I pick the option that says "I need this information." It seems like a reasonable start to the conversation so I pick it. What does my character say? "You will tell me what I need to know or I will make you suffer!" Which frankly seems like it should have been marked as a dark side option

It's shaping up to be a bad year for Bioware. Estimates are that SW:ToR last lost as many as 60% of its initial subscribers and the ME3 fan rage is the greatest I've witnessed in any fashion since the legendary backlash over Blizzard's plan to add realid to the forums.

It's pretty sad that with Dragon Age 2, Skyrim, SWToR, I still prefer WoW. Gameplay > story.

You know I am fine with these endings?
Because lets face it. They are finishing the story. No one will be happy with the endings because it is designed to be sad. That is the point!

They have spent alot of time on it.

Plus i've heard some people that have finished it LOVED the ending.

Plus this is like reading the end of a book, without reading the last 30 chapters! How can comment on the ending? If you haven't even played the entire game yet?

Gamers need to stop their criticism! Until the game is released. Thats why i don't listen to game critics. I don't insult a game until it comes out!

Then i rent it then I start playing. I like many from my school will see how I like it.

LordofHats wrote:I'm playing a neutral character (and hurting myself doing it) and I pick the option that says "I need this information." It seems like a reasonable start to the conversation so I pick it. What does my character say? "You will tell me what I need to know or I will make you suffer!" Which frankly seems like it should have been marked as a dark side option

Clearly you've never needed informaton.