Mass Effect 3

[Tale]

Just beat the game. The ending was better than expected. In that it was pretty and the music were terrific. The events and choice were precisely as dumb as expected.

 

There seems to be three groups of complaints about this ending.

 

Star child and his philosophy are stupid. Why are we forced to go along with it?

The setting is ruined and all the fleets of the galaxy are stuck in Sol. That'll end well.

Shepard deserved a happy ending with his LI and friends. Instead they're stuck on some random world for no reason.

 

There's something fair about all three camps. But I think I hate Star Child the most.

 

[Drowsy Emperor]

Were you people seriously expecting a worthwhile ending to the ME trilogy, after it being obvious with ME2 that the story is the least of their concerns and that they're willing to tumble it around with no real regard to sense and continuity?

 

It was either going to be Shepard riding off into the sunset or what you got. Consider yourselves lucky it wasn't the first (creatively bankrupt) option.

[Calax]

Were you people seriously expecting a worthwhile ending to the ME trilogy, after it being obvious with ME2 that the story is the least of their concerns and that they're willing to tumble it around with no real regard to sense and continuity?

 

It was either going to be Shepard riding off into the sunset or what you got. Consider yourselves lucky it wasn't the first (creatively bankrupt) option.

No, I wasn't. I was, however, expecting something more on Par with MGS4's over the top ending.

[Tale]

Were you people seriously expecting a worthwhile ending to the ME trilogy, after it being obvious with ME2 that the story is the least of their concerns and that they're willing to tumble it around with no real regard to sense and continuity?

 

It was either going to be Shepard riding off into the sunset or what you got. Consider yourselves lucky it wasn't the first (creatively bankrupt) option.

ME2 was still better than this. A repeat of ME2 would have been fantastic.

[Gorth]

Caved in and purchased the game. Started by taking a look at the Origin store. $60 for standard version. Then I logged in and the price jumped to $80 for the same version because of the price fixing that EA practices, Went to Gamersgate instead and bought it for $50, Now busy downloading through the Origin installer.

 

Was there something about a day 1 DLC that was worth getting too? Tried looking around a bit, but can't find anybody selling it, not even EA.

[Calax]

I forget exact name but you get a new party member who's REALLY well integrated into the game, and a tiny mission.

[Gorth]

I forget exact name but you get a new party member who's REALLY well integrated into the game, and a tiny mission.

If it works just as well as Shale in DA:O, then I would be satisfied.

 

Was there something about a day 1 DLC that was worth getting too? Tried looking around a bit, but can't find anybody selling it, not even EA.

Duh. Not sold in the store, You can only find it on the Mass Effect 3 "poster' under my games in the Origin client, selecting it first and then "Shop for add-ons". Need to have some serious words with their interface designers

[Lexx]

By the way, does that dog in the shuttle bay (from the CE) do anything interesting? He just walks around and that's it. Was it really worth to put this into the CE to fluff it up?

[Morgoth]

Just finished ME3. Got all War assets together, without playing MP.

 

Wow, what a marathon. I feel pretty exhausted now.

 

Also, what a beautiful ending. And I'm glad I played FemShep, Jennifer Hale did one hell of a terrific job there. Couldn't imagine how bad it would be to listen to Mark Meer, sweating, panting, gasping and....oh god better not.

Edited March 11, 2012 by Morgoth

[Gorgon]

Question : can you still gather war assets after you have been detected. I have tried speeding back in and pinging for a second or two but I never seem to get a hit out of it.

[Raithe]

So far I've reached the point where I've done the whole Quarrian/Geth thing.. So guessing there's still a chunk more to do.

 

Pretty much fun overall with a few annoyances. Sure, Bio seem to be going for some of the cheap emotional buttons but they're mostly well crafted cheap emotional buttons, and the music hits the right spot for them.

 

Lost a few old companions, but others have survived..and I'm not sure exactly which decisions led to that. Although with how the ME2 squad members are integrated into the storyline, and seem to have some cinematic moments that save/help Shepard, I'm curious as to how those situations would play out if they died in the previous game...

 

The Codex is annoying. I'm fine with the lack of hand-holding and pointing me in specific directions, but I'd love it if they'd actually freaking update to let me know if I've found items or done parts of the quest... Also, would be nice if they split them up so you could see one list of Priority, one list of Secondary (as they've done b efore) rather then one mass list that really doesn't organise.

[Lexx]

Question : can you still gather war assets after you have been detected. I have tried speeding back in and pinging for a second or two but I never seem to get a hit out of it.

 

Yes. That's how I do it: Fly in circle, ping the **** out of the map until reapers are too close, then I exit. Now I jump in and scan again, run away, jump in again, run away, etc. Most sectors only have 2 secrets, a few have 3, so especially in the bigger ones, it can be a bit annoying to find the remaining fuel depot wreckage (in pretty much all cases it is 1 planet and 1 fuel depot wreckage. Always scan planets first, then try to find the fuel depot. I found this to be the most effective way).

Edited March 11, 2012 by Lexx

[Morgoth]

I never was detected by the Reapers. You guys ping too much lol

 

Either way, you should have at least 5000 War Assets before the final mission. I ignored some of the Milky Way sidequests, but did everything else. Also got good diplomatic options whenever it arised, so I didn't have to sacrifice one race for another, but could get both in. No suicides or anything.

Edited March 11, 2012 by Morgoth

[C2B]

No suicides or anything.

 

Thats impossible.

 

Or how did you handle Wrex/Mordin?

[Morgoth]

No suicides or anything.

 

Thats impossible.

 

Or how did you handle Wrex/Mordin?

Mordin sacrificed himself, he didn't suicide.

[Nepenthe]

Sure guys, don't use spoiler tags.

 

Nepreview:

 

Positives:

- The core gameplay has been greatly improved (imo, again), with the new rolls etc. changing the combat into a lot more kinetic experience from the ME2 whack a mole. Also feels more genuinely 3d than before - hadn't noticed it before, but the new movement options have allowed them to make better levels.

-The rhythm is more varied, ME2 consisted of those identically sized chunks. While I like that too (makes it easy to play when you know how much time it's going to take), this one keeps you guessing a bit more. In fact, I'd say that the best part of this game over other recent Bioware games is that it pushed me a bit out of my comfort zone. I didn't have the feeling that I'm on control of the train riding the Bioware rails. Good job on that.

- there's a lot more talky, mellower bits of the game. As I think I said earlier, it (along with the above removal of the comfort zone of post BG2 Bio games) really called back to the best moments of Bg1 and 2 for me. I wish I could get this kind of enjoyment from open world games.

-Up until the very ending, the story (and writing) do a really good job of tying together the previous two games, with more than enough consequences and homages. Too bad it comes unglued.

 

Negatives:

-the endings, especially them being handled in the deus ex button of doom style

-thew new combined journal/codex is mind-bogglingly bad.

-not getting the Locust until very late.

-no Mako!

 

Summary:

Goes from Game of the Decade to merely "very good" at the final moments. Bioware need more competition to keep them sharp, hopefully Obsidian and Eidos Montreal have good projects to come, and somebody else will break into the market as well. Going to be interesting to see how Witcher 2 does on the microsoft console.

Edited March 11, 2012 by Nepenthe

[Gorgon]

Game of the decade, really ?

 

The gun action was excellent, especially if not ruined by singularities. The plot started out good, got better, and then kinda petered off into medium towards the end. I was still positively surprised. It's a good game, overall maybe an outside chance of being in the top ten.

[greylord]

I never was detected by the Reapers. You guys ping too much lol

 

Either way, you should have at least 5000 War Assets before the final mission. I ignored some of the Milky Way sidequests, but did everything else. Also got good diplomatic options whenever it arised, so I didn't have to sacrifice one race for another, but could get both in. No suicides or anything.

 

How the heck did you do that without MP? I did every friggen quest including the DLC and still didn't get close to 5000, and with mostly what I thought were the best choice (such as Geth/Quarian combo...etc).

 

Actually, I had more than 7000 in War Assets, but because in SP it reduces it by 50% so that you get Effective at half of that...my effective was only half of my War Assets...which is what stinks in the way they handled MP vs. SP.

[greylord]

Game of the decade, really ?

 

The gun action was excellent, especially if not ruined by singularities. The plot started out good, got better, and then kinda petered off into medium towards the end. I was still positively surprised. It's a good game, overall maybe an outside chance of being in the top ten.

 

 

If it weren't for the gosh darn awful bad journal...and the terrible endings....and that ME2 would have been last decade as well as most other great games such as the original ME...I'd put it for game of the decade (thus far). AS it is, with that terrible journal and the way the endings go...it is merely really good.

 

PS: Anyone who finished...do you get that KotOR 2 jive from the ending...as in a similar feel of great game...but you might prefer that it had a ending or different type of ending?

Edited March 11, 2012 by greylord

[Humanoid]

I wouldn't imagine it too hard to make a provisional Game of the Decade when the decade is a mere 14-and-a-bit months old. I haven't made the plunge yet since I've had some non-gaming distractions keeping me busy but no doubt it'll return soon. Most likely it'll come down to whether I can wait a month or so for the Witcher 2 EE with sundry other things and tackle this later.

 

Normally this would be "waiting for the rough edges to be polished out" time, but as it sounds relatively glitch-free already (aside from some logic errors along the lines of supposedly dead people reappearing in later cutscenes) it's more a question of how much DLC bastardry they'll be planning between now and then. I'm not a huge bigger-picture-world-oriented gamer but I do need it to provide a coherent reason to pursue the main questline - hence while endings are relatively irrelevant, there needs to be reasonable in-character motivation (the reason I found DA:O unfinishable).

 

 

Anyway, before I get lost in a sea of rambling on - is there any scope at all for modding in this instalment or is it all pretty much locked down like its predecessors?

[Gorth]

Thread getting a bit long...

 

Continued here