Mass Effect 3

So I was playing the demo early with some code a friend of mine got me -- anyone else played it yet? Think the normal release of the demo is tomorrow. There's nothing too eye opening -- it looks like it's the same demo they were showing at gameshows the last time we actually used this thread -- but obviously it's a lot different playing it than watching it. Gameplay feels basically the same as ME2 outside of being able to clobber the shit out of people with spaceswords which is way more awesome than I imagined it being, but the story stuff(even though again, nothing new) is what hit me... made me want ME3 for real so bad so quickly. Still shocking to me how many scenes potentially dead characters are in... they've gotta have spent ridiculous amounts of times rewriting shit based on not having characters alive.



Also it is probably the most counter-intuitive mechanic I have ever seen in a combat system designed around shooting from cover but the Vanguard inexplicably having the Sonic the Hedgehog homing attack is super fucking awesome I'm totally switching to this.


EDIT: Also I watched the Shadow Broker cutscenes again on YouTube because I was feeling nostalgic and man I miss this series so much lol

Shepard: "What kind of guns does this thing have?"
Liara: "IT'S A TAXI IT HAS A FARE METER!"
 

aamto

on whom the three Fates smile
Fyi, pre-order this game on Origin and get Battlefield 3 for free

it's US and Canada only...but the game requires Origin to be played, so if you don't already own BF3, why not?

anyways, my thoughts on the demo (played the PC version, will get the 360 version because i played previous versions on the 360):
  • the FOV was pretty awful and the whole first part felt entirely forced, overly dramatic, and extremely cliche.
  • it felt and looked awkward walking and running with your gun out and pointed as the default. iirc, that was not the standard way to run around in ME1 and 2 (i could be wrong and if i am, it was just as awkward then, i bet).
  • shooting mechanics seemed fine but the controls were incredibly clunky on the PC KB+M. i don't remember having any sort of trouble with cover+running on the 360. i'd advise a control pad. the AI left a bit to be desired, though. i'd run up beside them to flank and accidentally take cover...and they'd just stare at me.
  • leveling system appeared unchanged from ME2. i know they said they'd make it a bit more complicated but can anyone explain to me the difference? it's been a while since i played ME2 but i do remember having 2 distinct paths for every ability...
  • felt good to get the band back together, even if L'iara (is that her name?) is one of my least favorite characters. wanted to see Wrex tearin it up. a bit of a bias, but the second part is EXACTLY what i wanted to see in ME3: undoing the genophage and unleashing Krogan carnage.
  • having said that, given the sequence in part 2, it seems as if our "big" story choices will have little effect on the overall story (i somehow doubt they scripted an alternate of that event, where you are allied with Cerberus and trying to get the female Krogan...but i could be wrong) and that seems wrong to me. almost like a bait and switch. this is just what it seems like to me, i could be wrong!
all in all, it was as i expected it to be. passable shooting mechanics but, more importantly, and bits and pieces of a story i want to see come to a close. i don't play ME for its shooting mechanics: the only reason i'm getting ME3 is because i'm genuinely interested (and time invested) in the story of the series and want to see it close out. take that, David Jaffe.
 
Fyi, pre-order this game on Origin and get Battlefield 3 for free

it's US and Canada only...but the game requires Origin to be played, so if you don't already own BF3, why not?

anyways, my thoughts on the demo (played the PC version, will get the 360 version because i played previous versions on the 360):
  • the FOV was pretty awful and the whole first part felt entirely forced, overly dramatic, and extremely cliche.
  • it felt and looked awkward walking and running with your gun out and pointed as the default. iirc, that was not the standard way to run around in ME1 and 2 (i could be wrong and if i am, it was just as awkward then, i bet).
  • shooting mechanics seemed fine but the controls were incredibly clunky on the PC KB+M. i don't remember having any sort of trouble with cover+running on the 360. i'd advise a control pad. the AI left a bit to be desired, though. i'd run up beside them to flank and accidentally take cover...and they'd just stare at me.
  • leveling system appeared unchanged from ME2. i know they said they'd make it a bit more complicated but can anyone explain to me the difference? it's been a while since i played ME2 but i do remember having 2 distinct paths for every ability...
  • felt good to get the band back together, even if L'iara (is that her name?) is one of my least favorite characters. wanted to see Wrex tearin it up. a bit of a bias, but the second part is EXACTLY what i wanted to see in ME3: undoing the genophage and unleashing Krogan carnage.
  • having said that, given the sequence in part 2, it seems as if our "big" story choices will have little effect on the overall story (i somehow doubt they scripted an alternate of that event, where you are allied with Cerberus and trying to get the female Krogan...but i could be wrong) and that seems wrong to me. almost like a bait and switch. this is just what it seems like to me, i could be wrong!
all in all, it was as i expected it to be. passable shooting mechanics but, more importantly, and bits and pieces of a story i want to see come to a close. i don't play ME for its shooting mechanics: the only reason i'm getting ME3 is because i'm genuinely interested (and time invested) in the story of the series and want to see it close out. take that, David Jaffe.
In ME1/ME2 you could holster your gun, I'm assuming you can in this one too, as although i like the new reticle's I hated running with your gun. Although this is supposed to be a demo, so there shouldn't be a part where you should really holster your gun.

They did expand on the leveling, by adding two further levels to choose. In ME1/ME2 you only had four levels with the last being your only deviation of (mostly) range vs power. Now you level beyond four, and have more options inside the tree's. They've also added new specialized powers to each class. Nova/Sticky Grenade for Vanguards/Infiltrators. (I haven't played other classes)

As for the mechanics, they are a bit clunky. Though this might be because I'm not use to (and still don't like the) space+arrow key rolling techniques. I'm used to pressing spacebar and hitting the direction of cover, to make things fast pace. Now I find shepard doing gymnastics in the middle of gunfights that end me getting killed.

As for choices, and the impact of earlier decisions, it's the demo in no way would they reveal giant plotlines, or the impacts of huge decisions in a 2 hour demo.
 

aamto

on whom the three Fates smile
so curiosity got the best of me and i read the script/spoilers leak. afterwards, i promptly cancelled my pre-order because it was...awful. just plain awful.

i will not spoil anything other than to say that this game's story (which is why i was going to buy it, fuck the gameplay) is not worth $60. it's not worth $30. it's not worth $10. Twilight may be better written than this crap. good god, i couldn't even believe what i was reading.
 

Firestorm

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Why would you read the generic story ending and cancel based on that instead of seeing what you did in the past affects the outcome of the third game? I'm still looking forward to it for sure. Pretty hyped. Played a bit of the horde multiplayer in the demo and had a lot of fun with it. Just finished up the last DLC I hadn't done yet for ME2 and got all the achievements aside from the ones that require me to play on Hardcore or Insane. Just a few more days!

My friend did the testing on cinematics and said there's a ridiculous amount of things that affect cutscenes but wouldn't tell me what obviously. They're subtle, but there.
 

aamto

on whom the three Fates smile
Why would you read the generic story ending and cancel based on that instead of seeing what you did in the past affects the outcome of the third game? I'm still looking forward to it for sure. Pretty hyped. Played a bit of the horde multiplayer in the demo and had a lot of fun with it. Just finished up the last DLC I hadn't done yet for ME2 and got all the achievements aside from the ones that require me to play on Hardcore or Insane. Just a few more days!

My friend did the testing on cinematics and said there's a ridiculous amount of things that affect cutscenes but wouldn't tell me what obviously. They're subtle, but there.
if only you knew. it wasn't just the ending. the whole damn script leaked. if you want, i can get into some serious spoilers...

but obviously you don't. i'm just saying what i read was not to my liking...at all and not worth forking over $60 for. your mileage may vary, as with any game where the main selling point is the story.
 
Is this the same leaked script that's been out for five months+ and confirmed to have been both incomplete and deviated from or something more interesting?
 

aamto

on whom the three Fates smile
Is this the same leaked script that's been out for five months+ and confirmed to have been both incomplete and deviated from or something more interesting?
it was actually confirmed to be accurate. confirmed because BioWare (or i guess EA) released some ME3 copies early into the wild (you know, that track-an-ME3 promotion thing) and the endings (already on youtube) matched exactly the leak.

they tried to spin it and debunk it, but it was actually the real, finalized script.
 

vonFiedler

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Hell aamto, even the dialogue in the demo scared the hell out of me. But I mean I can't not get it. Not after playing Mass Effect 1 three times (twice too many) just so I could have three different characters going through the series.
 

Yonko7

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I wonder how the past choices will effect how the outcome will be. I love how everyone will have a difference experience playing through the series!
 
The Mass Effect 3 Discussion Thread

I've been putting the majority of my time into the games surprisingly addictive multiplayer. I think the big thing for me is the fact that you don't buy individual guns or characters, you unlock them. It's been keeping me on my toes playing countless matches with my brother trying to unlock the damn Krogan Sentinal, or at least some new weapons. But so far the HUMAN VANGAURD is my bro, Biotic Charge-Nova-Biotic Charge is so beast on bronze and silver, and I've found that the abilities make up a powerful close range game allowing me to use just a light assault rifle.

If anyone wishes to play my Xbox360 gamertag is iliekmudkipz2
 

vonFiedler

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Mass Effect 3 does not just have a bad ending, it has every bad ending.

I'm going to put the rest in spoiler tags, but believe me when I say that I wish someone had spoiled the ending for me beforehand. When I had heard that there was poll on Bioware's website where a staggering 97% of 30,000 players didn't like the ending, when I had heard about the change.org petition or the letter writing campaign on facebook, I was too stupid not to give up hope for a good ending.

The ending to Mass Effect 3 is a cliche pretentiously disguised as art. There are better examples but Mass Effect 3 specifically reminded me of God of War 3 because of the hackneyed dream sequence and the arbitrary unexplained destruction of the status quo.

The ending to Mass Effect 3 is unexplained, out of left field, and the result of the game developers writing themselves into a corner. In this way Mass Effect 3 is not unlike Lost, just as they couldn't come up with a suitable explanation for the island Bioware could not write a logical way to defeat the reapers.

Most damning, the ending to Mass Effect 3 makes moot all choices you have made over the course of these 3 games. Deus Ex; Human Revolution's ending was universally panned for the same sort of bad writing (choose ending by pressing buttons). Choices having consequences isn't just a selling point for every BioWare game in the last decade, it's THE selling point of Mass Effect. Now it doesn't matter. Nothing you did matters.

Every notoriously bad ending in history is rolled into Mass Effect 3. The only one that doesn't fit is The Sopranos, but ending abruptly seems like the merciful option compared to what we got. At least the Sopranos had Journey.

Many fans are foremost mad that they don't get a happy ending. That's understandable given that for five years they played a game series where they were led to believe their choices mattered. If you played well and were a miracle worker in getting all the races to unite, you should get that happy ending. Likewise an ending where the reapers win should be available as well. However I feel that is a very minor concern in the face of the fact that Mass Effect 3's ending is just plain bad writing.

The following were my exact thoughts as I played through the ending. Red were my exact thoughts, blue are some more things I have to note now.

So Deus Ex Machina the Crucible ends up summoning God, who tells you that no organics and synthetics can live together.

Bullshit, I made peace with the Quarians and the Geth. EDI has a desire to leave peacefully with organics. So now the whole basis of your plot device is fucked. What is really fucked about this is that having romanced Tali, my entire perception my Shepard (not everyone's Shepard, but mine) was that he had made peace between org and synth a personal goal because of his love her. So he should really have something to say about this, like, "you are wrong, I have empirical proof".

The solution can no longer work because an organic has made it to Catalyst.

Maybe I shouldn't play Devil's Advocate for the reapers but why?

"So now we find a new solution."

Get rid of the reapers then.

"But I cannot do it."

Why

"Here are three magic buttons that each lead to solutions."

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo Actually yelled this as loud as I could.

"Solution A destroys all synthetics including the Geth and EDI."

Here is where I start actively hating the ending. I'm not concerned about Shepard, I don't even know he is going to die. I'm only immediately concerned because the Geth and EDI are good! Why can't god just destroy the geth? Why game? Explain.

"Also you are partially synthetic so it will kill you too."

Oh that is weeeeeeaaaaaak. Death by technicality. Let's not forget all the humans with pacemakers we'll be killing.

"Solution B lets you control the reapers. Then it will kill you."

WHY. At least there was WEAK explanation for why Solution A kills you. But now I know it isn't death by technicality, it is death by bad writing. And I didn't know it at the time, but this option also destroys all Mass Relays. Which kind of destroys whole star systems having done exactly that with one in The Arrival. Even if they didn't scanning planets revealed that many can exist supply wise only because of Mass Relays. So you still destroy the galaxy.

"Solution C is to literally destroy the galaxy. I mean merge all life into a higher being. This would be the final solution."

THEN WHY DIDN'T YOU DO THAT THE FIRST TIME?

The Star Wars prequels did not have as many plot holes in as a short a time as the ending to Mass Effect 3. This is just bad writing, and it could happen again if no one realizes their mistake. I want to see the ending changed more as an apology than anything. I doubt I will purchase another Bioware game if the threat of horrible decisions like this loom over my head.

And to think that just yesterday I had my knickers in a twist because of the half-assed photoshop Tali picture. That seems ages ago now.

Just as The Sopranos and Lost had fringe fanboys defending their endings, I've seen a few defending Mass Effect 3. The one that might have held the most water is the nihilist depiction, where the point of Mass Effect is that none of your actions matter. You know, except when god allows you to shape the universe in one of three arbitrary ways. So fuck that argument too.

Some people say that this is artistic expression and who are we to do something about it? This is not expression. This is bad writing. I was prepared for expression. I was prepared for an ending that might not be what I wanted, but would tie up the story in a manner the writer's thought most fitting. I was not prepared for bad writing, not from Bioware. Every other part of the game is masterfully done, but in 5 years they could not think of a way to write themselves out of this corner. That is what people want changed.

EDIT: Just found a theory with some decent arguments stating that the ending is an indoctrinated dream. It truly is every bad ending ever.


The biggest kick in the dick is that I played through the really quite terrible (but engaging storywise) Mass Effect 1 three times so that I could play Mass Effect 3 three times. Now I don't think I will.
 
Join the cause buddy: http://www.facebook.com/DemandABetterEndingToMassEffect3

(also this was in it and i cant resist the repost)




Honestly I thought the other 98% of the game was really good(I'll probably post about it later, have a paper due in 12 hours), they mastered a lot of the little stuff -- interplay between squad was a lot better both on the Normandy and during missions largely because of party being smaller and familiar, the emotional scenes were incredibly well done, there were a lot of the hilarious one-liners that keep me playing ME, all the characters got deeper, and for most of the game the whole dialogue choice system was used great. But man, with 100 hours invested in the series minimum for most of their fans they have to nail the ending and even J.K. Rowling could have done better.

Here's hoping the fan pressure actually gets a new ending but I'm not holding my breath. I actually intentionally spoiled parts of it for myself which made it less of a letdown but obviously it still leaves a bad taste in the mouth. The whole set of conversations in the base before you start the final push capped off a really amazing character development game Bioware played in ME3, which will likely be a nice farewell to about fifteen characters we grew to know and love, but man, after that... it's a pity the universe they lived in won't be remembered quite the same way if Bioware doesn't do something.

Also, as far as that popular fan interpretation of the ending there, vonFielder -- I'd be pretty surprised if Bioware did it intentionally and it wasn't just easily explained horrible writing, but it sure gives them a great excuse if they want to go for it again...
 

PK Gaming

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So.......

Just twiddling my thumbs here. I got the game on launch but i'm no hurry to finish it like with ME2. I'm going to take it real slow this time. Bottom line; Its a very fun game, with some much needed changes (Normandy's better, Citadel doesn't suck) but a I ripped my hair out over a few changes.

-The squadmate selection is ass. No Krogan, Vega and the "other human" + Tali & Garrus AGAIN. Urgh, I know Garrus and Tali fan favorites, but god gives some new characters a chance to shine. Or better yet, just give us a reason to use Wrex, since he's a badass. I don't care if he's busy, its fucking Wrex!!! To add insult to injury, one of them is a DLC exclusive character (i'm not cheap... I just refuse to bow to system >_>) I would have preferred it if the game had a ton of squadmates.

-Scanning planets. I'd take anything over that, and you can't even do it for too long since the
Reapers are on your ass if you scan for a while


Still enjoying the hell out of it nonetheless. Jennifer <3 Hale.
 

Eraddd

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Bit of truth in this


But after reading vonFiedler's spoilers (wasn't going to buy the game until I finished ME2), the ending does sound like a pile of shit.
 
All PR is only good PR if it doesn't actively stop people from purchasing your product. The logic is that eventually positive/negative feeling is lost over time while familiarity is retained and is valuable toward creating future purchases, but here I think the wounds will take way too long to heal for it to be worth it for Bioware here if they don't do anything. Too many people had too much invested in this series in what would be their core market moving forward with other ME-related projects, and they'll lose people for good if they don't make a move her to reconcile their angry consumers. The group they'd lose will likely not be replaced by people choosing to pick the series up because people are mad about an ending sucking.






also @ PK Gaming on the smaller party: they definitely did that on purpose this time. It wasn't very popular in ME2 that squadmates basically only had unique dialogue three times on the ship and during the recruitment and loyalty missions so rather than having a giant cast in ME3 they kept it smaller so they could develop each of them more. I definitely think that worked out a lot better -- it's much more believable that these people are my/each other's crewmates/friends than in ME1/2 or really any RPG I can recall off the top of my head, the chemistry is very good. But you'll have to see if it works for you as the game progresses, I guess. EDIT: To expand on that thought some... the ME trilogy is as much about Tali and Garrus in particular as Shepard at this point(which Shepard comments on if Paragon), and Liara and the Virmire Survivor also play a pretty big role in that too... there's a certain victory lap for those characters in this game, I think. I like Tali/Garrus/Liara a lot so I'm biased but I'm pretty pleased with how they and Shepard closed things out, it was an appropriate last journey for them. Well, appropriate 98% of a last journey.

Also I wouldn't let the interference when scanning planets bug you much, it's pretty easy just to keep exit/re-entering and kiting them around while you clear the system out.
 

PK Gaming

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Oh crap, my post came off as too strong, definitely didn't want to sound like I was whining. As for the cast, different strokes I suppose. I loved that ME2 and I was definitely ok with the limited amount of unique dialogue. Honestly I couldn't care less about Edi or Vega, so I have less options than your average player. Though I can agree, its definitely more organic this time. I JUST had a damn good conversation with Liara and Garrus. The non-squadmate convo's are pretty fleshed out too.

The scanning thing was half serious anyway, it's maddeningly addictive (dark secret of mine) and the
reapers aren't that bad, I just think we could do without them
and I autopiloted most of my posts (since i'm dead tired)
 

vonFiedler

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the ME trilogy is as much about Tali and Garrus in particular as Shepard at this point
Due to their story arcs developing over all three games and being vital to the plot of the third, I'd say it's definitely about Tali and Wrex. But Garrus gets away with being unimportant by being a serious badass.
 

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