Mass Effect 3

[Chaos he/him]

I thought I'd make a thread for this game, even though I do not yet own it (nor even have time to play it if I did ). You know, I used to be a pretty big gamer growing up, but I hardly have any time for it now. It has to be a very special, addicting game for me to want it. Usually this means a story-heavy or some other RPG game. The game I played most recently was Pokemon Black and White, and that was nearly a year ago. Sure, games have came out since, like Skyrim. That's nice. But my time is precious, and if I'm already invested in a series, that makes it so much easier.

And never have I been truly invested in a game series like Mass Effect.

Since playing Knights of the Old Republic, I've been a fan of BioWare and their storytelling skill (KOTOR had such an excellent plot twist). When Mass Effect came out, I was enthralled. The story, with the conversation wheel, was so engaging, and the universe was so deep and compelling. Mass Effect 1 had another phenomenal plot twist, too. Best yet, the decisions you made would influence the next two games. After how disappointing KOTOR2 was, I thought this was amazing.

Mass Effect 2 is the best game I've ever played. From a technical standpoint, it's just a beautiful, well-oiled game. From a story point of view, it was phenomenal. Really, this was such a fantastic way to structure a trilogy. It's a little like Empire Strikes Back, in that things get much more personal, and it's more powerful for that reason.

The choices in Mass Effect 2 were some difficult, challenging decisions to make. You're invested in this world so much that the choices aren't really black-and-white anymore. I don't want to say much, in case people haven't played it (and you totally should), but the one at the end of game made me put down the controller and pace around my room for ten minutes. Sure, I'd beaten the game, but there was the imminent threat of the Reapers coming in Mass Effect 3. I had to really choose what would be the best for the galaxy. No longer was a game's morality system just the good option or the evil option.

Well, Mass Effect 3 is here at last. The Reapers are invading the galaxy to wipe out all sentient life. Considering the ending of Mass Effect 1 was an intense battle to destroy one Reaper, I'm frigging terrified to fight all the Reapers. I have no idea how to win, how it is even possible to defeat something like that. They've killed sentient life in the galaxy every 50,000 years, like clockwork. How was my Shepard supposed to win?

It's going to be awesome.

If Mass Effect 2 was the best game I've played before, I want Mass Effect 3 to be even better. I want it to become my favorite game ever. I've never been so excited for a game, nor had such high expectations. I sincerely hope BioWare knows what it is doing. But it seems that from the reviews, it is amazing. Apparently there will be some serious casualties. It isn't like Mass Effect 2 where you can save everyone, but it's your decisions in the past games which will determine who dies. This is incredibly exciting to me for whatever reason. In Mass Effect 2, my crew died because I waited too long (because of some stupid DLC) to get to the Collector base. I had thought I was going to replay the whole game, but knowing that people will die in this game makes me less upset about losing some people before.

I have no idea what ME3 will be like. I'm not going to look at any guides to this game; I want to be totally surprised. (Just FYI, since I won't be able to play this game for two months, at least, if you spoil the game for me, I will track you down and kill you in your sleep.) But first, I need to play some ME2 DLC, like the Liara one (I love you, Liara!), and then it is onto ME3.

So, has anyone played it? Is it good?

I do have a question, for players who imported a ME2 character: can I change my class at the start of this one? My normal Shepard is a Soldier, but my secondary Shepard is an Adept, and I liked the biotic powers so much better.

[Eerongal he/him]

I have no answers at the moment for you, but at current my copy of mass effect 3 is in the mail. So come next week or so, i'll be sure to spoil every nook and cranny for you!

edit: which system you getting it on? if its the 360, we should totally play the multiplayer. It's supposed to affect the single player somehow.

[Chaos he/him]

I have no answers at the moment for you, but at current my copy of mass effect 3 is in the mail. So come next week or so, i'll be sure to spoil every nook and cranny for you!

edit: which system you getting it on? if its the 360, we should totally play the multiplayer. It's supposed to affect the single player somehow.

I'll be getting the 360 one. We might be able to do that, that'd be cool.

[Alliare she/her]

When I saw 'mass' in a thread created by you, I thought it was a physics topic

I didn't know this game. But it sounds great, judging by what you say. I'll try to get a copy. Should I play I and II first or get directly the third one?

[Eerongal he/him]

When I saw 'mass' in a thread created by you, I thought it was a physics topic

I didn't know this game. But it sounds great, judging by what you say. I'll try to get a copy. Should I play I and II first or get directly the third one?

They go in a direct succession. The story continues on with the same characters from each, and you can even import your saves from previous games to keep the consequences of your actions from the previous game.

In short, it's probably best to play from the beginning

[Chaos he/him]

When I saw 'mass' in a thread created by you, I thought it was a physics topic

I didn't know this game. But it sounds great, judging by what you say. I'll try to get a copy. Should I play I and II first or get directly the third one?

I agree with Eero. Go in order. The decisions in the second game have more weight when you play the first one. I would assume in the third game that gets very key.

They are all great games in their own right, but I should warn you, Mass Effect 1 is slightly buggy (they optimized the engine a lot better in 2). However, you won't really know the difference until you progress

[Eerongal he/him]

so i got my copy yesterday. I'm really enjoying it so far, but i'm only a few hours in. However, in my opinion, the cover mechanic isn't as good as in the previous games. It seems a lot easier for you to get OUT of cover now, which is bad because i accidentally move out of cover when i dont want to. So i end up standing up quite a bit when im wanting to be ducked behind a rock or something, and getting shot.

Also, going on mechanics still, there a change with the weapon system. You still have the same weapon slots as before (assault rifle, sniper rifle, SMG, pistol, and shotgun) but equipping items in those slots are optional. The more weight you have, the longer your cool downs are on your powers. You can also get a BONUS to cool down times if you travel light enough. Makes pretty nice incentive for you to just grab a few small weapons on any power based character, but load up on someone who is fully run and gun.

[Chaos he/him]

Can you change your character class at the start of the game, like ME2?

[Eerongal he/him]

Can you change your character class at the start of the game, like ME2?

yup. You can basically remake your character when it imports. I was forced remake my face because it said it couldnt import it

[Arondell]

I first got Mass Effect 1 and 2 last November when steam had a both on sale for $20. I got Mass Effect 3 about 9 days ago and recently finished it. Overall I thought it was great. There was one rather important aspect of the game that I felt was very disappointing. Since this seems to be a no-spoiler thread at the moment I won't get into it here. Though if you go to the actual bioware forums its causing a bit of an uproar in the Mass Effect fan community.(With good reason.)

For the most part though I felt it was a darn good last chapter. Though it seems pretty clear that there going to be releasing some DLC over the next year for it.

[Eerongal he/him]

I first got Mass Effect 1 and 2 last November when steam had a both on sale for $20. I got Mass Effect 3 about 9 days ago and recently finished it. Overall I thought it was great. There was one rather important aspect of the game that I felt was very disappointing. Since this seems to be a no-spoiler thread at the moment I won't get into it here. Though if you go to the actual bioware forums its causing a bit of an uproar in the Mass Effect fan community.(With good reason.)

For the most part though I felt it was a darn good last chapter. Though it seems pretty clear that there going to be releasing some DLC over the next year for it.

there's a spoiler tag you can use. it's just [ spoiler] spoiler[ /spoiler] without the space in front of the bracket.

Looks like this:

spoiler

And i assume you refer to the ending? I haven't beat it yet, but i'm quite sure I'm really close. I think i'll beat it after i get off work tonight. So far, I'm highly enjoying it.

[Arondell]

And i assume you refer to the ending? I haven't beat it yet, but i'm quite sure I'm really close. I think i'll beat it after i get off work tonight. So far, I'm highly enjoying it.

Yeah its about the ending. Without getting into too many specific story details of the ending it kind of works like this.

In the last ten minutes of the game your introduced to a literal Deus Ex Machina that basically gives you three choices. None of your previous decisions in the game, paragon/renegade or races saved or lost have any effect on these choices. Your Effective Military Strength will change how many of the choices you have access too. Even then though the final outcome regardless of the choices you make are 90+% the same. The most obvious difference being the explosions are either red, green or blue. The nature of the choices and the outcomes have made a lot of fans feel that their isn't much point in even replaying the game. I kind of felt that way. Futility is the emotion that comes to mind.

[Arondell]

There is a rather interesting post on the Bioware forums that is giving an updated analysis of the whole "ME Ending" issue from a public relations perspective. The original post doesn't seem very "spoilery" by itself but if your worried about that kind of thing you might want to avoid it.

http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/355/index/10084349

[Chaos he/him]

Since it seems that a lot of you guys have finished the game, I'm putting Spoilers in the title so you can all discuss it. And I'm gonna not view this thread for a month and a half until I actually get to play it

[Eerongal he/him]

Apparently, bioware is going to address the ending, sounds like they're going to do some DLC for new endings or something

[Arondell]

Ha. I love this quote by Ray Muzyka. "We’re working hard to maintain the right balance between the artistic integrity of the original story while addressing the fan feedback we’ve received,” he wrote.

The "artistic integrity" argument lost a lot weight with me after I heard about how they made the image of Tali without her mask.

If you have Tali as a love interest she gives you a picture of herself. They used a stock photo off the internet and did some poor photoshop work on it. Tada! Picture of Tali.

Here is the original picture. http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/photo/hammasa-royalty-free-image/123488108

Here is a YouTube link to the picture scene.

Granted this is a rather trivial issue on the whole tapestry that is Mass Effect 3 but it was still a pretty chintzy way to do that big of a face reveal. Artistic sloth at its finest.

[Eerongal he/him]

The "artistic integrity" argument lost a lot weight with me after I heard about how they made the image of Tali without her mask.

If you have Tali as a love interest she gives you a picture of herself. They used a stock photo off the internet and did some poor photoshop work on it. Tada! Picture of Tali.

Here is the original picture. http://www.gettyimag...image/123488108

Here is a YouTube link to the picture scene.

Mind = blown.

I romanced tali specifically to see her face (i didnt wanna look it up online to cheapen the reveal), and this makes me sort of sad that it's just a stock photo....

[Wisdom he/him]

I was so angry when I saw the ending (I'd played through to get to it, didn't get it off the internet), that i literally felt like killing someone. I've calmed down now somewhat, but it can still get me worked up. There's a really great post here that sums up how I felt perfectly and analysed why people feel that way. There are numerous problems with the ending, beyond the cut and paste they seem to have done with each ending you can get. The rest of the game is brilliant though, and that makes it worse - I care so much about the character and story that I just feel cheated. At the moment, Bioware has sunk very low in my opinion.

[Chicken]

ME3 basically has the worst ending that exists. I'd dismissed that claim up until the very last 10 minutes because it'd been solid gold for 30 hours. While it may not be objectively the worst ending for anything ever, the preceding 30 hours of awesome, plus the 50-80 hours invested from first games, makes it exponentially worse. And simply cutting those abominable 10 minutes without doing anything else would've been more than enough to make it great, seeing how there's an incredibly fitting endlike sequence right before the huge pile of radioactive crap. I don't think I've ever seen an overzealous internet outcry be as justified as this. It really does ruin ME forever, then jumps into a time machine to retroactively ruin entire series from start. ME3 must go down into literary history as a shining example of how not to end a story. Comparing the end to the bulk of the game, it looks almost deliberate.

Plus latest situation seems like Bioware intends to sell the actual ending for extra $$$. Which is totally rad.

[Arondell]

ME3 basically has the worst ending that exists. I'd dismissed that claim up until the very last 10 minutes because it'd been solid gold for 30 hours.

The sheer contrast is part of what makes it such a let down. Part of me keeps wondering how the developers could possibly have thought this was a good ending. I suspect there was some sort of group think going on inside the company and anyone who did have doubts was afraid to speak up. If nothing else it does indeed seem to be the case that Bioware was totally blindsided by the near universal revulsion to the ending.

Edit : Its especially bitter because the writers changed the ending from what was originally envisioned when they started the series. Remember all that talk about dark energy from the Mass Effect 2? That was foreshadowing about what the original reason for the reapers actions. For whatever reason after Karpyshin left the team the new head writers decided to change it. I'm not sure why. Being bitter about the whole thing I have unkind opinions about the why.

Edited March 26, 2012 by Arondell

[Arondell]

It appears at the moment that anger over on the Bioware forums has receded to a constant dull rumble of dissatisfaction while people await the Mass Effect panel at PAX East this coming weekend. Most seem to expect Bioware to make some kind of statement regarding the ending during the panel.

There has been a lot of YouTube videos made because of all this. My favorite so far is a 40 minute video that effectively gives a detailed critique about why the ending doesn't work in relation to the rest of the series. Specifically covering the issues of genre, character focus, central conflict, and narrative coherence.

Yes it contains a lot of spoiler material.

[Arondell]

Well its been the better part of two months now since ME3 came out. The panel at PAX East basically said that they will be releasing an "Extended Cut" to provide clarification and closure. It will come in the form of free DLC sometime this summer. The official press release has stated that it will not include any new or remade endings. Fan response to this seems to be generally negative.

In addition to this more tech savvy fans have started uncovering cut dialogue that is hidden in the current game. This is causing even more discontent since some of the dialogue is pretty cool stuff. The cut

dialogue that apparently occurs during the last mission is one great example.

While the whole issue with the ending is still getting most of the gripes quite a lot of smaller issues that under most other conditions would probably be considered significant issues still bother quite a lot of fans. The poorly done photshop photo as a Tali face reveal, the day 1 Prothean DLC, and crappy mission tracker are on the list. Oh yeah Bioware hiding behind the

excuse for the ending. Lets face it "artistic integrity" is the consolation prize of excuses in creative works. Its what you use when everyone thinks you suck.

The weird thing is that as glaring as these issues are its still a great game. I can't not recommend it. Just....Well....Instead of walking into that beam of light at the end just turn the game off. The prior 20-40 hours of game play will thank you for not playing the long dark shadow that is the last ten minutes. I might change my mind if the "Extended Cut" DLC is better then I currently expect it to be.

Edit : I forgot to add this. Including Jessica Chobot a real life IGN journalist as Diana Allers was rather tacky. One of the more blatant cases of pandering I've seen in the industry. Then killing off Emily Wong a minor if well liked recurring character in a twitter post put the icing on the cake. Especially since Emily Wong would have been the most obvious character to use in the position they used Allers.

Edited April 26, 2012 by Arondell

[Arondell]

Well it has been officially announced. The Extended Cut is being released this coming Tuesday on June 26th. I'm basically viewing this as Bioware's saving throw and while I'm hoping for good results I'll admit to not being optimistic.

Edited June 22, 2012 by Arondell

[Tazren he/him]

I actually liked the Extended Cut.

I especially liked the new ending. It wasn't exactly my dream scenario for the end, but close enough.

What I imagined as the perfect decision at the end of the game, before it was released, was that the means of destroying the Reapers would come at a horrible cost. Like, extinguishing the Earth's sun. Or actually sacrificing all of Earth to do it. So ... let the Reapers win, or destroy Earth. Would have been an amazing decision.

[Lady_Yasha she/her]

I actually liked the Extended Cut.

I especially liked the new ending. It wasn't exactly my dream scenario for the end, but close enough.

What I imagined as the perfect decision at the end of the game, before it was released, was that the means of destroying the Reapers would come at a horrible cost. Like, extinguishing the Earth's sun. Or actually sacrificing all of Earth to do it. So ... let the Reapers win, or destroy Earth. Would have been an amazing decision.

I liked the Refusal ending. But I'm still concerned about the Starchild. It was too magical and deus ex machina to be believable. And how the Crucible worked wasn't actually explained, just "space magic."

I still prefer the original ending that involved dark energy. I would've liked to see how Drew Karpyshyn wrote it.