Mass Effect 3

[TsukasaSIGN]

FirestormEdit: Warning. This topic may contain spoilers for Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2.

A couple of weeks ago, Bioware announced ME3 to be released next year. Is it just me or does this seem too soon for the next mass effect to come out? I mean, ME2 took them 3 years to make and they're already releasing the third installment? I just don't feel like the quality is going to be quite on the same level as the first two. Not to mention, Bioware is working on Dragon Age 2 also. I dunno, maybe its just me, but Bioware just seems to be trying to pump as many games out as they can.

Anyone else feel this way? Sure the release date is probably going to be pushed back many months, but I don't think the world is ready for another Mass Effect yet. Discuss.

 

[Firestorm]

Mass Effect: November 2007
Mass Effect 2: January 2010 (2 years, 2 months)
Mass effect 3: November 2011 (1 year, 11 months)

It's only a dev time of 3 months less than the second game. BioWare has a separate team for Mass Effect and Dragon Age. They've always worked on multiple titles ever since the studio started 15 years ago.

 

[Zeromus EG]

You get to go to Earth. EARTH. What can they possibly do wrong? ;) Really looking forward to it, but I've got about 3 different playthroughs that I need to complete on ME2 before I can play ME3 properly haha.

Gonna be really interesting to see what effect your choices in ME/ME2 made as well e.g. The rachni queen, genophage cure etc...

 

[Mr. Hadwick]

I only played the second game, but enjoyed it thoroughly, my only complaint was the lack of variety in combat, but really, but I think that mostly had to do with my class choice (sentinel)

I'll probably borrow the third game from a friend when it comes out, since I don't spend much money on consol games. I was surprised by the setting on earth, could be a lot of fun

 

[Morm]

I played through ME1 and ME2 recently to get my character exactly as I wanted it. I am super excited, but was so pissed off when Terminator made an appearance at the end of the second game. What a stupid bullshit final boss, SUPER easy on insanity mode.

I'm looking forward to a cinematic of reapers and the full galactic fleet going toe to toe...I know it won't happen though, it'll likely be some lame weasel out thing. Either way, ME2 was a gorgeous game and I expect no less from Bioware.

Edit: I'm betting ME3 is on the same engine with only slightly different graphics, so it makes sense that the dev time would be less. It should be a lot less, if I'm right, so that means they've put the effort into polishing and making it awesome as hell.

 

[Veedrock]

1000 different importable variables from ME1 and ME2...I can't even fathom the possibilities. I've got a lot of different sequences to work out in both games to make the full franchise experience truly worthwhile. Issue is that I've already done 5 runs on ME1 for achievements, so it's really hard to pick up the game several more times and make sure to address every side quest. I've beat ME2 twice but I've barely touched the surface (I ran through the main missions exclusively to get a feel of the gameplay and pace), so I still have to do an in-depth goof run just to learn what to expect and what options I should choose.

Man what I would give to have 3 player co-op present :/ I personally think it would be amazing to have the whole squad controlled by players, but I know not everyone has this mentality. Apparantly multiplayer is still a small possibility but in all likelyhood it'll be some type of versus mode, if it's included at all. Another possibility that was rumored was Bioware integrating Kinect into gameplay in some manner. Haven't heard anything since Kinect's release so I'm not optimistic about this one, the other crushing factor being the franchise's migration to the PS3 (though Move support could be pretty cool). It'd be interesting to know exactly what they had in mind with motion controls.

I personally feel both the release and story progression are rushed. I expected maybe March or April of 2012; releasing it 5-6 months before that is a huge amount of unused development time. I just really hope they know what they're doing, because this is all on top of recreating ME2 on PS3 and managing DLC.

Spoilers concerning plot progression

I don't like the short timespan of events to be completely honest. ME1 spanned over a year's time, which is when the Reaper threat began, all whilst being denied by practically everyone. Then ME2 starts and Shepard dies for 2 years, but during this time next to nothing was happening? Ok some colonies got abducted, yet the council and affiliated parties still denied the Reaper involvement and refused to investigate/help despite what happened in ME1. In the two years Shepard was gone they managed to stick their heads back in the sand? I don't buy it. Ok so progress through ME2 to the end where you end the Collectors' involvement in the Reapers' plans. Then as the game ends you see a massive flood of Reapers headed towards the Galaxy...and they're still several years off. I don't know, Mass Effect 3 is just going to begin in a clusterfuck of events with little to know background on what's actually going on. In the grand overview of things, ME1 is "small scale," ME2 is "small scale" given how the council/everyone still neglects the threat, and ME3 is going to be "OMG climax" while the previous two games were just...there? Maybe I'm just being too cynical or overthinking it. ME1 severely hindered the Reaper's progression towards the Galaxy but Mass Effect 2 didn't accomplish anything worthwhile in the overall plot, other than display the asinine ignorance of the galactic powers.

I'm not gonna lie, I dislike that Mass Effect is going to the PS3 :( I liked the Xbox's exclusivity to the franchise (PC being grouped in). I guess the good news is that since the PS3 release will use the ME3 engine, it'll be a good live test to determine what, if any, bugs need worked out. I'll have to rent the game to give it a go and feel the difference myself.

 

[Morm]

many of the variables aren't that worthwhile, like saving the colonists in Zhu's Hope in ME1 means the survivor says something slightly different to you in ME2. It's not like ALL of the decisions are Earth Shattering- hell the FINAL one in ME1 had minimal (or zero) impact on ME2.

 

[TsukasaSIGN]

Earth isn't all that exciting of an environment. No matter how many futuristic styles and themes you add, no matter how many alien species are on it, its still earth.

 

[Zeromus EG]

Earth isn't all that exciting of an environment. No matter how many futuristic styles and themes you add, no matter how many alien species are on it, its still earth.

Isn't that the point though? Sure on ME1 you can go "Oh my God, look at how messed up Eden Prime is", but when the setting's on earth you can see the actual damage.

Everyone wants to see some Independence Day-style cinematic with Harbinger raping the White House...

I'm looking forward to a cinematic of reapers and the full galactic fleet going toe to toe...I know it won't happen though, it'll likely be some lame weasel out thing.

This. If we don't get to see Shepard getting the entire Council, Geth, Krogan, Quarian and Rachni (depending on what you did to the Rachni Queen on ME1) armies on the phone and rushing to save earth in one huge cinematic then someone at Bioware needs shooting. Hell you could even get Aria to bring her buddies down from Omega. It'll be interesting to see what difference the choice at the end of ME2 makes regarding the inevitable fight too.

 

[az]

sssssssspoilers itt

 

[Lamppost]

With the setting on earth it could potentially make or break this game tbh.

I bet it will be really good though

 

[TsukasaSIGN]

And, maybe it's just me, but the sniper in the ME3 trailer looks like Blair Herter from G4.

 

[Fishin]

I haven't played the first two as my gaming platforms consist of PS3, Wii, and a really crappy computer, but they look really neat so I'm glad 2 and 3 are coming out on PS3. Alternately I might get a new computer soon, so I'm curious, is the game any better on PC than on a console? I've heard that Dragon Age (by the same developer) definitely is.

 

[TsukasaSIGN]

I never played it on the PC but I've seen videos from PC gameplay from ME and I think the menus and HUD look cleaner than on the 360

 

[Morm]

See the problem with the reapers is that they don't lend themselves that well for a full scale ground combat. Shepherd has made sure that they don't get to indoctrinate anyone else (that scheme failed with Saren) and the Heretic Geth, depending on what you did with them, are pretty much done either way for the time being. Yeah the collectors are around but as far as we know there was just the one station and one ship, otherwise they woulda been hitting more than just people (surely, we aren't the ONLY species they can use considering that Asari can use ANYTHING to reproduce). Reapers, IIRC, are just shitkickingly huge ships and from what we've seen have only been compatible with Humans and Protheans. Sooooo I don't see any cinematics of a full scale ground war coming, just a standoff between full fleets IF they don't do something to the mass effect relays first.

Who even cares about Aria and Omega? They ONLY reason that shitstain even mattered was for team building.

Also, if you saved it, the Destiny Ascension is the ONLY ship even comparable to Sovreign, who looked like a typical reaper. Even then, it got its ass handed to it by just the damn geth heretics. Even the dreadnoughts, which are limited by species as to how many can be made, are little bitches compared to Sovreign. So many ways to go!

They had BETTER fucking tie up all the loose logical ends with the reapers randomly coming back every 50 thousand years and not simply occupying the space. I mean I kind of get it but I want it spelled out nicely.

Also, I can't fathom a better way to start ME3 than ME2. Usually, when you bring a character back to life, it's because you killed him or her off thinking it would be a one of. In this instance, my jaw dropped at the start of ME2. I was thinking "how the fuck can they KILL off the character I spent all that time on and transfered over!?"

Also hoping that my bevy of bitches still love me. I hit Liara in the first one and since she is asari she's cool with me diddling whoever so I nailed jack because it was a freebie and then went for Tali, who I adored in the first game. I WANNA SEE HER FACE!

 

[Firestorm]

I finished ME2 about two days ago (just grabbed the DLC and hopefully will do Shadow Broker tonight) and the final mission really was amazingly done. That "FUCK FUCK FUCK DON'T DIE" feeling isn't really something I've felt often in games as usually you know they can't die. Here, I knew they COULD die and it was nerve-racking.

I haven't played the first two as my gaming platforms consist of PS3, Wii, and a really crappy computer, but they look really neat so I'm glad 2 and 3 are coming out on PS3. Alternately I might get a new computer soon, so I'm curious, is the game any better on PC than on a console? I've heard that Dragon Age (by the same developer) definitely is.

Not to the extent Dragon Age is. I believe there are some interface improvements and of course the visuals are better, but you won't be missing anything like the tactical view that Dragon Age added.

Playing it on PS3 means you miss playing ME1 and just get to make the decisions in the digital comic which could be a positive if you want to save time, but a negative if you really want to play it as well. It's also more expensive. Steam had ME1 and 2 for $10 each (ME1 has been $5 before as well) while the PS3 ME2 is going to be a $60 release most likely. Expensive + Less Time Spent or Cheaper + More Game Time is your choice.

 

[TsukasaSIGN]

Yeah the collectors are around but as far as we know there was just the one station and one ship, otherwise they woulda been hitting more than just people (surely, we aren't the ONLY species they can use considering that Asari can use ANYTHING to reproduce)

Hide

That's wrong. The collectors were gathering the humans because it was their turn in the cycle of dreadnoughts or w/e it was the collectors were making. The terminator. They could only collect humans because the giant thing (It's been at least 6 months since I've played. It's hard to retain all that story after a while) had to resemble the species being collected.
And IIRC wasn't sovereign one of those things too or maybe that thought just popped into my head as I was typing this.

Reapers, IIRC, are just shitkickingly huge ships and from what we've seen have only been compatible with Humans and Protheans. Sooooo I don't see any cinematics of a full scale ground war coming, just a standoff between full fleets IF they don't do something to the mass effect relays first.

Hide

If the reapers could only indoctrinate the humans and protheans, then how was Saren and practically everyone on Virmire under the indoctrination?

I hope they don't make us go through the whole team building bullshit again in ME3. I've already grown attached to the teams from the first two, plus I managed to keep everyone alive in ME2 so I would kinda like to keep that team...maybe with a few additions.

 

[Firestorm]

I'm going with my friend's prediction of ME3's progression being structured like ME2 where Shepard is required to seek help from all the different species to lead a coordinated defense on Earth.

 

[TsukasaSIGN]

That's gonna suck! I don't want to build another team. I just want Wrex, Grunt, and Liara.

 

[Firestorm]

Severe Mass Effect 2 spoilers:

Hide

After finishing the Shadow Broker DLC, I think it's safe to say Liara will not be joining your team in ME3. Wrex is more likely as someone leading a united Krogan people (if you kept him alive through ME) than as an individual character. I'm hoping your ME2 team will join you though. Garrus is all I need!

 

[vonFiedler]

This is going to be only the second game I bought due to Tali being in it. So she better as fuck be in it.

 

[Firestorm]

"Rumours"
- multiplayer's gonna be in it probably mostly worked on by BioWare Montreal
- game is completed and at the stage where it can be played from start to finish

So yeah, that's right, next eight or so months before it goes gold are all polish + multiplayer :o

 

[vonFiedler]

You know what I think? It's probably not gonna be yet another game where you build a team, but more like Dragon Age where you go around raising armies to defend Earth. You could go to the Quarian homeworld and either liberate it or side with the Geth, help Wrex unite his planet in exchange for a Krogan army, there are just so many possibilities here.

 

[Arch]

Mass Effect mutliplayer...uh...

This has been such a hotly debated topic, with a huge mass of people explaining how an ME Mutliplayer would be a mess. How they'll pull it off, I don't know. But hell, if someone can make an AC Multiplayer work (And, it's REALLY been reworked) then maybe there's some hope.

 

[TsukasaSIGN]

Multiplayer and ME should never cross paths. I can't even imagine how Bioware could add multiplayer in ME unless they make ME3 even more like a shooter and less of an RPG. Even if that happens, the multiplayer will be a total mess and will only thrive for a couple week and then die down to a couple hundred who still play it.