Day one DLC description leaked
spoiler (click to show/hide)
"Unearth lost secrets from the past and recruit the Prothean squad member in Mass Effect 3: From Ashes."
800 MSP
Bioware comment
Hi all!
We're happy to confirm that Mass Effect 3: From Ashes DLC will be available at launch for all platforms. For those of you who have purchased the N7 Collector's Edition (including the PC Digital Deluxe Edition), you will get this content at no extra charge. We'll have a lot more details for you later this week! Stay Tuned!
DLC is a new squad member,but according to leaked stuff he plays a pretty big role in the main quest.I guess you just won't be able to recruit him without DLC.
pretty lame
(http://i.imgur.com/P7nxI.jpg)spoiler (click to show/hide)
Goatse
spoiler (click to show/hide)
Just thought I'd edit this (http://dol.dengeki.com/pr/masseffect3/comic/01/01.jpg) up. The official Bioware-supported Mass Effect RPG franchise explained in manga!
(http://i.imgur.com/xVM9a.png)
I've got no real problems with ME3 so far, despite the war there's still plenty of mucking around on alien worlds and shooting stuff for fun. Combat's improved, feels smoother and more responsive without being a major overhaul like ME1->ME2 was. Graphics are improved and it still retains that nice art style the series has always had, could be better I guess but it's not something I'm really going to complain much about.
But there is one thing:
spoiler (click to show/hide)
Everything with the little kid is just dumb. And I know, from spoiling myself earlier, that it's only going to get far worse. I'm not really looking forward to that, but at least I know what to expect.
spoiler (click to show/hide)
Aria's quest to not let out the lunatic of the prison, it just says to keep talking to Baileys assistant, and also kasumi's quest tells me to research hannar corruption and i click the terminal but it just stays there
spoiler (click to show/hide)
And still buy the fucking day 1 DLC they have tied achievements to. FUCKERS
spoiler (click to show/hide)
(http://i.imgur.com/zhrvq.jpg)
slight spoiler, potential lols
spoiler (click to show/hide)
(http://i.imgur.com/zhrvq.jpg)
Also this:
spoiler (click to show/hide)
http://www.destructoid.com/mass-effect-3-used-a-stock-photo-for-tali-unmasking-223344.phtml
spoiler (click to show/hide)
(http://i.imgur.com/9wfsO.jpg)
I like that they tied in the ME2 DLC plots/characters into ME3, made the whole things feel a bit more cohesive even if it was only a few scenes.
It does. It's subtle but I like it. And I mentioned before about the book stuff.spoiler (click to show/hide)
Kahlee Sanders is a major character in the books as is her relationship with Anderson so its nice to see her in the game.
I'm still early but yeah the Vega character is not a good one and outside of an episode of Psych I've never liked Freddie Prinze Jr in anything. He's a bad actor. A no-name but actually tough sounding random marine dude would have turned in a better performance and suited the character better.
fistful, you mean
spoiler (click to show/hide)
the blueprint for the weapon the Protheans were building to stop the Reapers? Yeah I thought that was kinda funny too, especially since I remember a while ago hearing from Bioware that "there won't be any deus ex machina, there won't be any secret discoveries of a Reaper "off switch" or ultimate weapon.
Then again I am still so freaking early in the game who knows what will change?
Music seems like it has a better mix of 80's synth and generic hollywood soundtrack music than ME2 did at least.
I'm about seven-ish hours in. I'm going to spoiled tag everything, but I don't think I'm mentioning anything major.
spoiler (click to show/hide)
Yeah, the "uncompleted prothean superweapon" macguffin is pretty lame. But I guess that's unavoidable when you set up this unstoppable foe.
I am glad that so far it doesn't seem that Cerberus is straight-up working for the Reapers. It seems more like they're pursuing some sort of independent agenda.
Best dialogue so far has been when you meet up with Wrex and him and Garrus start bantering back and forth. I like the Prothean dude too.
Feels too much like I'm watching the game though. Waaay too much cutscenes without so much as a dialogue choice early in the game.
I actually think some of the combat is improved over ME2. Combat scenarios seem a little less narrow-corridor-y and have been more opportunities to rush up, or flank enemies rather than just chilling behind cover and popping them off one at a time.
I haven't even left the Normandy after leaving the Citadel and James fuckin' Vega has already earned the top spot on my shitlist. Congrats Ashley, you're finally number 2.
spoiler (click to show/hide)
I hope Esteban's a top.
spoiler (click to show/hide)
Kai Leng. He's another tie in from the book. I like the fan service being used here.
spoiler (click to show/hide)
. I permanently lost some quests because of the attack on the citadel. If I had known that was going to happen I would have completed them. I hate when that happens in games.
Cortez: I'm an only child, lost my parents...I had a husband.
LOL WHAT
Yeah, that was awesome, I love how casual that was thrown in there, especially in an industry where gay characters are so blatant about it.
The best so far was Shepard beating Vega's ass in a fistfight :rock
Not a fan at all of scanning and running away from the Reapers. Pretty pointless, does it even cost you anything if you get captured by them?
Also, PLEASE tell me that we get access to more of the Citadel a bit later, since it just seems so freaking tiny:
spoiler (click to show/hide)
I got into space, was scanning a bunch of planets, now doing the Eden Prime DLC mission... then have to go to the Turian homeworld
Cortez: I'm an only child, lost my parents...I had a husband.
LOL WHAT
Yeah, that was awesome, I love how casual that was thrown in there, especially in an industry where gay characters are so blatant about it.
The best so far was Shepard beating Vega's ass in a fistfight :rock
Not a fan at all of scanning and running away from the Reapers. Pretty pointless, does it even cost you anything if you get captured by them?
Also, PLEASE tell me that we get access to more of the Citadel a bit later, since it just seems so freaking tiny:
spoiler (click to show/hide)
I got into space, was scanning a bunch of planets, now doing the Eden Prime DLC mission... then have to go to the Turian homeworld
Game over if you get caught by a reaper while scanning.
I was one of the very few people who found Mineral Scanning in ME 2 oddly soothing. It wasn't a well done mechanic but for some reason it felt like sci-fi which I liked.
As far as the Citadel. spoiler (click to show/hide)
(More floors on the elevator open up. I think basically like 5 or 6 floors.
spoiler (click to show/hide)
is she able to become a squadmate? She just disappeared from the hospital for me after being made a Spectre.
Game over if you get caught by a reaper while scanning.
Yeah, I got the Game Over by getting caught by the reapers a few times... but all it seems to do is bump me back in the galaxy, where I have to re-harvest the minerals again. Not really much of a punishment, only setting me back like 30 seconds of gametime. I was wondering if there were long-lasting implications.
I doubt it if it just makes you reload an older save or something since you're resetting the state of the world. I've never been caught so I don't know exactly what it looks like though. I doubt it has any implications. I think they just wanted something really simple and low skill and quick to acquire things since people hated the mineral scanning so much.
Regarding Ashley:
spoiler (click to show/hide)
is she able to become a squadmate? She just disappeared from the hospital for me after being made a Spectre.
spoiler (click to show/hide)
Just keep playing. I think its better to say that than spoil anything.
spoiler (click to show/hide)
Aria/Blue Sun mission.
spoiler (click to show/hide)
Basically I need to convince the Turian general to lay off on the Blue Sun but he needs some shit from a Salarian shopkeeper. So I went there, talked with the Salarian and he also wants something, a rare artifact or whatever.
It's tough being a good guy. Should have shot them both.
Spoiler tags just in case.
Basically all the little Citadel missions but if there was one where I am really stuck at it would be the spoiler (click to show/hide)
Aria/Blue Sun mission.
spoiler (click to show/hide)
Basically I need to convince the Turian general to lay off on the Blue Sun but he needs some shit from a Salarian shopkeeper. So I went there, talked with the Salarian and he also wants something, a rare artifact or whatever.
It's tough being a good guy. Should have shot them both.
Spoiler tags just in case.
spoiler (click to show/hide)
I thought that may have been one of the ones that shows up on the galaxy screen as "Find Artifacts" or something but maybe I'm thinking of another mission. Either way its in Kite's Nest. I'm not sure which system though once you get there. You may have to scan around a bit.
spoiler (click to show/hide)
I didn't complete that Hanar quest on the citadel and it disappeared so I feel like I blew any chance of any interaction I could have had with Kasumi.
huge mE3 spoilers
spoiler (click to show/hide)
Killing Thane and Mordin and i'm sure more :piss turnign Kaiden into a gay :piss broken quest logs :piss
im about 13 hours in. does
spoiler (click to show/hide)
samara and zaeed
show up in the story or in side quests, i don't want to miss them
im about 13 hours in. does
spoiler (click to show/hide)
samara and zaeed
show up in the story or in side quests, i don't want to miss them
spoiler (click to show/hide)
Yes. Zaeed does show up as long as you do a certain side mission. I'll tell you the mission if you want to know which one. I haven't had Samara show up yet.
spoiler (click to show/hide)
Citadel:Volus Ambassador
Din Korlack as a possible Cerberus informant.
spoiler (click to show/hide)
All the truces I brokered, all the people I helped, all the things I did over the course of three giant RPGs gets boiled down to three simple choices. Door #1, door #2, or door #3? And that's it. The best you can get for an "epilogue" is the crew of Normandy crash landing on some deserted planet where their gene pool will whither and die after a few generations of inbreeding. You don't see how your choices affected the universe, you don't see what happens to all the different cultures, and Shepard just evaporates in a flash of light to wind up as some bedtime story that some old dude tells to a little kid.
The combat was such an upgrade from the first title and I really dug the premise of two. Of going on a suicide mission and recruiting people and finding out their personal stories. Of working for this bad guy terrorist organization but being a good man. I thought they nailed the working for a sleazy guy boss in the illusive man aspect. (Although he was far more sinister in the book.) spoiler (click to show/hide)
He's this way in ME 3 btw. Much more evil and willing to do awful things. I almost replayed two after reading the book because he's such a dick in the book and in the game I let him have the technology at the end of two because he comes off so much better in the game. Flawed but not evil
Now a lot of people criticized two for not having anything to do with the main story or not progressing things enough story wise but none of that bothered me in the least. I think ME 1 had the strongest and most consistent story of the three games but I still preferred playing 2 by a pretty wide margin.
Still have a ways to go but I can say that 3 isn't as powerful for me in that premise. The personal stories aren't as powerful as they were in 2 for me and the overall story is enjoyable but not really at the level of the first one. ME 3 is like hanging out with good friends. Its nice to see the old gang back together again. I just kinda wish we were doing something slightly more compelling. Which isn't to say there haven't been some strong individual moments. The combat is much better though than 2 which is nice. So right now about 40 hours in I would put ME 3 somewhere between ME 1 and ME 2 for me. We'll see how the final last leg of the game alters my opinion.
this game stumbles real badly at the beginning but thankfully regains its footing along the way and now i'm enjoying it a lot. i'm starting to get the same feeling I had when playing ME2. Tuchuncka was awesome:
spoiler (click to show/hide)
Thresher Maw vs. Reaper was :omg :omg
I liked Mass Effect 2 a lot more. just the entire game, except the combat and the token human squad mate. better combat sounds like a nice improvement, but it's like uncharted 3 improving combat; I'm not playing these games for the combat. It didn't have what I liked most about Mass Effect 2. I mean, right after Mass Effect 2 I went through it again as female Shepard. I planned to do the same with ME3 but it gets plain dull for long stretches.
It wasn't bad or anything. Just felt like a long middling shooter. The coolest moments were being dropped off in the shuttle all in real time. Otherwise, it was the same thing for the entire game. A good number of side missions were just single player horde mode in on. Other side quests are "scan planet; deliver to dude on citadel." Also never understood planet scanning and the reapers thing. I just out raced them and didn't get the point of it.
best parts of the game for me were the bro moments with spoiler (click to show/hide)
Garrus and Thane. When disease ridden Thane busts out of nowhere and stops Liu Kang from assassinating the counsoler, I was like THANE YOU SO FUCKING COOL WRECK HIS SHIT FUUUKKKKYEAAAAAAAHHHHHH.
And me and Garrus shooting bottles on the Citadel. Garrus was my bro the entire game. Just like old times. Garrus is fucking awesome.
Vega was alright too. Jacob and Karth are the most boring characters ever. spoiler (click to show/hide)
When Jacob shows up in that one side quests, I completely forgot that he was in the mass effect universe. I kept expecting Zaeed and Samara, but with Jacob, who remembers Jacob.
some end game spoilers:
spoiler (click to show/hide)
after the point of no return the game went on way too long. All the Earth stuff flat out sucked. Having shoot outs on alien planets or sci-fi stuff is at least somewhat interesting. The streets of London? don't care. At one point my Shepard was like "It's good to be home," but I specifically chose 'Spacer' as my origin because who cares about Earth. there's also mention of my mother in the game, but she never shows up. it seemed like all choices were ultimately vapid and made no difference. not just choices from the past games, but the choices you were making in ME3 didn't seem to matter. The entire progression was a contrived trading operation to make build and protect a super weapon. and in the end...whatever. I chose the ending where I could just walk in a straight line. Didn't matter at that point.
although I said the choices don't matter, some of them are hilarious. my favorites were (re: space fucking)
spoiler (click to show/hide)
-I Love You
-Let's Fuck
(homosexual pilot notes attractive men dancing)
-Hey, I'm eye candy too.
-I prefer vagina, thank you very much.
not a choice, but I liked the moment where you get drunk and wake up next to Aria.
oh, and the game looks pretty nice, but the demo section/intro is butt ugly. I don't know what happened there.
Just finished thespoiler (click to show/hide)
Quarian bit.
That was excellent. I think that storyline has always been my favorite in Mass Effect.
Met up with Miranda...
spoiler (click to show/hide)
She was the romance I went with in ME2, but I've decided to stick with Liara. Felt kinda bad when I rejected her and she was crying with her back to me...
Tali <3333333333333333333
spoiler (click to show/hide)
The face reveal was better than I expected. They didn't spoil it on a character model but instead of a nice IRL picture :heartbeat :heartbeat :heartbeat
I'm pretty sure I'm near the end of the game:
spoiler (click to show/hide)
Citadel is at Earth. etc etc
This better not be another one of those "don't wait too long lol!!' tricks.
So this Galactic Readiness thingy. Is it basically just the green bar? Because the green bar has been completely filled awhile for me.
I'm pretty sure I'm near the end of the game:
spoiler (click to show/hide)
Citadel is at Earth. etc etc
This better not be another one of those "don't wait too long lol!!' tricks.
Galactic Readiness is how much Military Strength is actually used, resulting in Effective Military Strength.
Military Strength is getting support in single player. Galactic Readiness % depends on how much you've played multiplayer; by default it's at 50%. So if you don't touch multiplayer and have military strength of 7000, your effective military strength is 3500. You can max out the bar without touching multiplayer if you do the side missions.
But (this isn't really a spoiler but just in case) spoiler (click to show/hide)
to get the best ending, you must play multiplayer and have effective military strength above 5000, which is impossible in single player alone.
so the "point of no return" mission is:
spoiler (click to show/hide)
The Cerberus base mission
godamnit.
Luckily I create new save points a lot.
I have a save right before the "point of no return" mission. I'm gonna just redo it later and go back and scan the FUCK out of the galaxy. and if any reapers decide to get alerted to my presence then i'll just let them kill me so i can reload back into the same exact spot with no consequence whatsoever because the mechanic is CRAP CRAP CRAP :maf
BTW I think ME3 has better character moments than ME2 and 1. The scene where (Liara and Shep):
spoiler (click to show/hide)
Liara goes to Sheps cabin and tells him about the galaxy archive time capsule and asks what he wants recorded about him was really well done.
the combat scenarios are also the best in the series and actually fun.
disappointing that there aren't any places to go and walk around (IG: Illium, Omega, etc). Just the Citadel.
Unfortunate they had to fill the game up with a lot of bullcrap.
Fun stuff about the Mass Effect 3 ending [all shamelessly stolen because there's no way I'm typing all this out myself]:
spoiler (click to show/hide)
All endings
1) So the Mass Relays are destroyed in every outcome. Doesn't this mean the united galactic flotillas I gathered are stranded on Earth? If so, the Quarians, Volus and Turians are screwed because there is no dextro-amino (or whatever it was) food for them.
2) How does Shepard survive in space without any air? I didn't see a dome or ... anything that would indicate there was air during your conversation with the Deus Ex Child
3) So ... the synthetics are destroying organics in order to prevent synthetics from destroying organics ... To quote GLaDOS "Don't think about it, don't think about it ..."
4) Why can't I use Joker/EDI or Geth/Quarians as an argument agains the God Child's logic?
5) The God Child said that someone built the Reapers ... when? And for what purpose?
6) Didn't Arrival teach us that destroying a Mass Relay will result in the destruction of an entire solar system? Is that sill valid here? (Why not?)
7) What happened to my squadmates in the final mission? Did they really just abandon one of their closest friends? And why was Joker fleeing from Earth?
Destroy
1) So I destroy every piece of machinery in the galaxy, sending every known race back at least 1000 years (or so). But what about the Quarians and the Volus? They can't live without their suits. So if I choose this option, I'm committing double genocide ... (to my wife no less)
2) The Geth also die ... but didn't Tali said that the Geth blur the line between synthetic and organics?
Control
1) So ... WHY is the cycle inevitable again? Quarians and Geth? Joker and EDI? ... nothing?
Synthesis
1) How does this actually work?
2) If everything is part synthetic now, and everything is part syntetic, do those units have souls?
3) How do different races react to this?
4) How do the quarians survive?
5) How does this affect the culture and life of everyone? Is there peace now? Are there wars? Does this affect emotions? Love, Hate, Fear, Friendship?
6) Does this affect intellect? Does it make everyone smarter?
spoiler (click to show/hide)
So the GREAT BIG REASON the reapers were here, the reason that no MORTAL MIND could POSSIBLY FATHOM was... the reapers were killing/assimilating advanced cultures so they don't make synthetics and kill themselves. Because "the created will always rebel against their creators". So I guess the Geth now cooperating with the Quarians was a fluke and we should all ignore that because it OBVIOUSLY wasn't supposed to happen. I mean, nevermind the redundancy of killing something as a solution to it killing itself.
spoiler (click to show/hide)
Aren't the Quarian's suits partially synthetic? And the Volus? By destroying synthetic life, did I just kill Tali, Miranda, and Grunt (all relying on some form of "created" tech) and commit genocide three times over?
Did I just strand the combined military forces of the entire galaxy in the Sol System? The entire Quarian Flotilla (if they aren't all dead) will never see the homeworld that I JUST FUCKING FOUGHT TO WIN BACK?!? Don't Turian and Krogan DNA rely on a form of food that doesn't exist in the Sol System? Did I just effectively commit Krogan, Quarian, Geth, Volus, and Turian genocide?
spoiler (click to show/hide)
We're talking about a magical explosion spanning the entire galaxy that somehow infuses organic DNA with synthetics and vice versa, and we get no more than 6 words on it. Wow. Just, wow. Sit for a moment and bask in the simple-mindedness of BioWare.
spoiler (click to show/hide)
God's a robot who's been stalking your dreams. He wants other BIG robots to kill you so that other small robots don't. But you're so uber cool that he's gonna let you decide between three apocalypses. In the first you send existence back to the stone age, most likely killing asstons of everything in the process, then synthetics kill everything a few millennia down the road. In the second you kill yourself and you get to ass up his plans and basically play god with the universe from then on. In the third "right" choice. 99.9% of everything dies, the stuff that doesn't gets megadosed on hallucinogens and grows circuitry on their skin... which makes them part organic part synthetic, thereafter... utopia... Oh ya, but you're dead. And your lover gets to have three ways on an uninhabited planet with a cripple and a spaceship.
(http://i.imgur.com/HFIfw.jpg)
Even a monkey can write Bioware games!
Being so close to the end, I'm kinda thinking I know how they will end it. Unless they throw an absurd curveball at me.
I've seen a few references to: spoiler (click to show/hide)
Deus Ex
that would make sense. I'm just happy I got to spend time with Tali. My Tali.
So about Kelly Chambers...
spoiler (click to show/hide)
Did Bioware really just kill her off-screen? She was my dancing partner, dammit!
And to top it of, that new woman with the British accent that took her place is a lesbo. Like hell I am going to play as a female Shepard.
And does Ashley ever talk in the Normandy? She's basically a DLC like character now. :lol
So about Kelly Chambers...
spoiler (click to show/hide)
Did Bioware really just kill her off-screen? She was my dancing partner, dammit!
And to top it of, that new woman with the British accent that took her place is a lesbo. Like hell I am going to play as a female Shepard.
And does Ashley ever talk in the Normandy? She's basically a DLC like character now. :lol
Ya, Ash is pretty lame so far.
Re: Chambers
spoiler (click to show/hide)
When you first meet Chambers on the Citadel, there's a dialog option to recommend she change her appearance. I didn't choose it, but I wonder if you do, perhaps that leads her to live through the Cerberus attack?
spoiler (click to show/hide)
i like how she doesnt even appear on the "dead" list on the normandy :lol
spoiler (click to show/hide)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQvPFNjxxU0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qYm738hq1o
haven't seen one of these in a while :lol
i only played the first mass effect but now i'm curious,what's the ending exactly? why people think it's so bad?
spoiler (click to show/hide)
It boils a trilogy full of player choices into three boring, nonsensical choices that all result in pretty much the same ending scene. Also the entire game universe is totally ruined because of space magic.
I don't have an issue with the ending from a storytelling standpoint. I'm not even gonna argue that aspect with people. It's an opinion thing. And I don't think any opinion on it is right or wrong so arguing about it is sort of pointless outside of expressing how you feel about it which we all certainly have that itch to scratch. Personally I thought my ending was spoiler (click to show/hide)
kinda artsy and ambiguous and I kinda like that sorta thing but I see how others wouldn't. Or just simply for their own valid reasons didn't like it or didn't think it was the right ending or didn't make sense, or wasn't expansive enough etc.
Now the part that I do find very disagreeable and makes me angry is the readiness rating. Now that to me is horse crap. And poorly designed at worse and disingenuous at best. When fistful was talking about this earlier I regret posting what I did and that bioware quote because its utterly misleading and just shows I was the one who didn't understand the system. I'm gonna leave all this unspoilered but not give anyway any details except mechanical ones because I feel you need to know this stuff if you are legit going for the full experience.
I didn't really get that my effective military strength number is reduced due to my readiness rating. I did a lot of side missions I felt and scanned as much as interested me for artifacts and ended up with a military strength of 6291. But an effective military strength of 3522. I had a readiness rating of 56% because I did two multiplayer sessions because I legit like the multiplayer stuff. But I said to myself you know I feel like this is spoiling the single player a bit because I'm seeing monsters I haven't seen in the campaign yet. So i stopped. Not because I didn't like it. But because I said I'll do this after I complete the single player for fun.
So I got to the end of the game and I was a little confused because let's say I couldn't choose certain actions that would have impacted things. So I look up why and its because to do those things you need an effective military strength of >4k and >5k. So fucking tell me that Bioware. Put it in the game. Why hide that? In ME 2 you needed all that stuff outfitted on your ship but they gave you a bit long list of it. So you just did it all. Hiding that you need those explicit number values to get the "best" ending or all the choices is just awful. Because its not even hiding them like in quests or prior decisions you've made. Its simply hiding them to be hiding them. And scanning in this game is awful because its boring. Yeah its boring in ME 2 because its grinding but at least you know what you are grinding for and the specific value amount you need to grind to. If I would have understood that I needed >5k effective military strength I would have just played the multiplayer which I don't have a problem doing. I like it. But I feel lied to with all this stuff about you don't need to do the multiplayer, it can all be done in the singleplayer. I guess. But its boring as fuck not to mention certain quests are broken which is directly their fault which could have increased my military rating more. Plus you still don't know exactly how many you need.
So yeah that's awful design on their aspect. They communicated this aspect very poorly through PR and in game because they designed a very boring way to collect war assets for the most part and then were scared people would get mad about putting in multiplayer so they kept saying you don't have to touch multiplayer.
Well this could have fixed in two ways.
Design better missions and ways to collect war assets or be fucking honest about multiplayer and say hey, you probably want to do this because the other way in sp is really boring. And we are not going to tell you exactly how many you need. We'll just give you a number and a graph that has no frame of reference. Fucking awful. You put in the multiplayer component. It's fun. Stand behind it and tell the truth. Don't add something like you're fucking embarrassed about it. Stand behind your product. If you're going to put that dumb ass green bar at the bottom of the screen then have that represent the amount you need to get the "best" ending/all the choices at the end. Not what it is right now.
I really enjoyed the game. Don't have a problem with the ending. Some great moments all through out. But that aspect really angers me. Now I feel like I also need to replay the last bit just to have the "choices" and hear the dialogue and see the thingsspoiler (click to show/hide)
(Even if the changes are so minor as to not be materially important)
So what I'll say to anybody playing the game right now. Make sure your Effective military strength value is >5k so you have the flexibility to get all your options at the end of the game. Whether you get it by scanning every system in the game or playing the multiplayer is up to you.
I'll probably make a longer post when I get more free time about what I liked. And what I didn't like. Because I legit like a ton. Was really engaging and picked up story-wise in the second half and the combat was really fun for me. But that ending mechanic really angered me. Not the ending itself. But the mechanic of it. Really poor design there.
Great impressions Stoney.
I don't have any intention to start some argument but as someone that's okay with the ending, can you at least see why people feel it's disconnected from the rest of the game? Did it feel that way to you or did you think it matched up seamlessly?
And yeah the readiness rating bullshit is another issue I have with the ending. It really doesn't matter at all and getting the percentage extremely high (under the assumption that like in ME2, it changes a great deal) is such a tedious and lame process if you don't touch the multiplayer. The co-op is a nice idea but I really didn't want to play with a bunch of strangers calling me dickshit or ruining key points of the game for me.
Ignoring my issues with the ending, I really like Mass Effect 3 and the character interactions within the game. They're really well done and I enjoy just going around talking to people. I just, really hate all the scanning stuff. It's better designed but still slow as fuck all and kills the flow of the game. Not to mention I never understood the awareness level of the reapers. The bar just fills up an incredible amount so you either let them catch you and start over or you scan and then come back after you do a mission.
I'll say this about the co-op as someone who played a lot of it in the demo. I think its really fun. And in all the demo time I spent playing it people were actually pretty respectful relatively speaking. Competitive MP (deathmatch type stuff) no matter what the game or the platform is what tends to make people very combatative. It can still happen in co-operative co-op especially when a game develops an insider-ish crowd but I think generally speaking people are generally nicer in that venue. Especially to lower ranker players.
As far as the ending.
spoiler (click to show/hide)
If I was to guess about people who didn't like the ending, two approaches make sort of legit sense to me as far as criticism. That's not to say these are the only two. Just the two that spring to mind for me. I think there is a large group of people who probably want an ending that sorts of shows what happened to everybody after this is over. Like at the end of New Vegas where it shows what happened to pretty much everybody in the game but done Mass Effect style. I think gamers tend to love these kind of endings because we get very attached to these characters as we play these games for long lengths of time. And especially in a series where you've really grown attached to characters over three games. I think that's a valid and understandable criticism although I personally don't need that type of ending for every game and I actually like that this kinds of cuts it off. I've spent all the time with the characters and learned about them. I don't need to see cutscene after cutscene showing Garrus on a farm 20 years down the road and hear the annoucer say he lived happily ever after. Some games need that. I don't feel like this game does because I've already interacted with them so much.
The other valid criticism that rings more true to my ears is that this series has sometimes spent really long stretches explaining relatively minor things but things that give color to the universe. They've done this just because its interesting in many cases. To end the game with the most monumental choices a person could make with relatively little preamble or long expository doesn't seem appropriate to Mass Effect. It seems a bit too fast. Why can't I ask questions like in nearly every other situation possible that has occurred in these three games. I get the idea of crafting a scene and getting in late and exiting early but I think in this case we excited too early. This is a case where I think they could/should have spent more time talking to the "child" at the end of the game. I wanted more explanation. I'm not a person who needs every dot to connect in a story. I don't even mind mystical type stuff as I think its a flaw sometimes to try to explain everything via logic. But whatever approach you take you need to sell me on it that you're committed to it. Either by tone or by just taking the time sometimes. I think this got the tone right but skimped on the taking the time to convince me part.
spoiler (click to show/hide)
I'm not even upset that there's no happy ending, I'm upset that the only difference between the three ending is different colored space magic.
spoiler (click to show/hide)
I merged with Helios so Joker and EDI could get their bone on. Their relationship was somehow a lot more endearing and a lot less awkward than all the Shepard x skipskipskip bullshit so it's only fitting that they should be the ones to live happily ever after.
THINGS:
I laughed at the bit in the credits that said "some photographs courtesy of GettyImages."
They still haven't figured out what to do with the galaxy map? Watching a toy Normandy getting chased by toy Reapers is lol. No penalty for fucking up either. What's the point.
Speaking of what's the point, that Kai Leng guy was so dumb.
I normally feel weird about celeb actors voicing video game characters because the writing is so bad and they're obviously half-assing it for an easy paycheck. Ever play a Bethesda game? Shit is unendurable. But man, Martin Sheen killed it here. His last scene was so good. Dude was probably half-assing it anyway and he still delivered way beyond the call of duty.
Combat is SO GOOD. Holy shit I biotic charge into anything and everything and then pause the game and figure out how to get out of the mess I just put myself in. The biggest mistake you can make in Mass Effect, other than taking it too seriously, is to play it like a cover-based third person shooter.
I know that "your choices don't matter in the end" and all that, but it's still crazy how many permutations are going on in any given scene based on who's in your party and what you've done (years) previously. They really nailed role playing in a way, even if that way is simplistic or even base. There's a good reason people refer to him/her as "my" Shepard.
Anyway, love the big Hollywood emotions, love the combat more than ever, yet so many things are laughably and unconscionably wappy that you need to distance yourself a bit from what's going on to get max possible enjoyment. Good game, took me ten hours less to complete than ME1 and 2.
You may want to spoiler tag some of that. Or maybe not. I don't really care or know how others feel.
The combat is great imo. I played almost single handed with biotics which I felt like wasn't really as viable in the prior games. My guns were only an occasional thing. Playing on hardcore felt like the right experience. Still easy for most of it with the nice occasional challenging difficulty spike. I really enjoyed it and they introduced more varied enemies than prior games.
And I agree. Martin Sheen killed it in both games. The difference between someone like him and say Freddie Prinze Jr is staggering. Keith David also rocks it but then he always does so its not a surprise or anything.
As far as spoiler (click to show/hide)
Kai Leng. He's pretty different than he was in the books. He's more comic bookish here. In the books he just came off as a cold blooded merc. I think that approach is cooler.
Half-way through game spoilers...
....
spoiler (click to show/hide)
Does Anderson side with Ceberus and betray you? Does Ashley kill him?
So.... who didn't make Udina the council member in their game?
Half-way through game spoilers...
....
spoiler (click to show/hide)
Does Anderson side with Ceberus and betray you? Does Ashley kill him?
spoiler (click to show/hide)
regardless of your choice, Udina is the council member.
I chose Anderson in my game.
i am really interested in seeing how a lot of the situations play out with dead squad mates. like miranda, thane, etc etc.
Where does Thane show up in ME3? I let him die in 2.
spoiler (click to show/hide)
He emails you wanting to talk, then you can go visit him at the hospital on the Citadel.
Oh. Well, needless to say, that never happened in my game. Seems like an easy thing to cut.
spoiler (click to show/hide)
He also attacks Kei Leng during the attack on the Citadel. He gets stabbed by him and then Kei Leng escapes. So what happens in the confrontation between Sheppard and Kei Leng without Thane?
RE: Thane and Kai Leng (http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Kai_Leng)
spoiler (click to show/hide)
Leng saw action when Councilor Udina attempted a coup against the Citadel Council and allied with Cerberus. He was close to assassinating the salarian councilor when Shepard and either Major Kirrahe or Thane Krios interfered. Leng managed to escape after stabbing Krios or Kirrahe. In a race to get to the Council, Leng disabled Shepard's X3M, but ultimately failed his mission and forced to retreat. If both Thane and the major died in previous installments, Leng will successfully assassinate the councilor.
Salarian guy showed up in my game.
What happens if you kill garrus and tali in ME2?
spoiler (click to show/hide)
similiary what hapens if u kill Legion?
What happens if you kill garrus and tali in ME2?
spoiler (click to show/hide)
similiary what hapens if u kill Legion?
spoiler (click to show/hide)
Legion was the only squad member that died in my ME2 playthrough. Curious what they do with that in ME3.
spoiler (click to show/hide)
in the geth attack base mission with the quarians legion is what powers the base station
spoiler (click to show/hide)
(http://i.imgur.com/Rm4Yz.png)
:rofl
(http://penny-arcade.smugmug.com/photos/i-dfFJj7N/0/L/i-dfFJj7N-X2.jpg)
spoiler (click to show/hide)
(http://www.nerfnow.com/comic/image/713)
spoiler (click to show/hide)
But no, really, did we need choices? The ending was perfect with Shepard and Anderson laying down there.
WTF IS THIS KID CREATOR THING? IS THIS A JAPANESE ANIME?
spoiler (click to show/hide)
But no, really, did we need choices? The ending was perfect with Shepard and Anderson laying down there.
spoiler (click to show/hide)
I totally agree there. The game ending with Shepard and Anderson, all shot up and burned up, just laying there and talking as the Catalyst activates and destroys the Reapers would have been so much more awesome than what happened directly after that.
spoiler (click to show/hide)
But no, really, did we need choices? The ending was perfect with Shepard and Anderson laying down there.
spoiler (click to show/hide)
I totally agree there. The game ending with Shepard and Anderson, all shot up and burned up, just laying there and talking as the Catalyst activates and destroys the Reapers would have been so much more awesome than what happened directly after that.
spoiler (click to show/hide)
That really would have been great, but then they decided to get all deep on us... and failed at it. Favorite game ruined, but there's always Assassin's Creed. :P
spoiler (click to show/hide)
If he died in ME2, like he did in my game, there is another Geth that looks just like Legion in the core of the dreadnought. Shepard and Tali talk about how Legion died, and the fake Legion says he's not Legion.
spoiler (click to show/hide)
-Millions of Korgan are stranded on Earth
-Krogan are very warlike and aggressive
-I cured the genophage earlier in the game
-Krogan breed incredibly fast
-The Earth is in total ruins and millions [billions?] of humans and aliens are completely stranded on Earth without hope of contacting another habitable system
In other words, everyone is totally screwed because the Krogan are going to take over in a matter of years and eat everyone else.
spoiler (click to show/hide)
It really does negate everything. Blah. A series where choice is one of the most important aspects and the ending removes all choice and forces three nearly identical endings.... I went with "Destroy all synthetics" ending, but i didn't realize it would destroy all the mass relays. Did the starchild say it would and I just missed it? The ending just had no weight to it. I hate that the course of events is the same regardless of your actions in the series. It just reduces everything to three buttons. It's basically what happens at the end of Deus Ex: HR but that game does it's button choice ending far better.
and am i alone in thinking this but does the after-credit scene LITERALLY negate everything by implying the entire series is just a story a grandpa is telling his grandkid? that really sucked
I found a quote that perfectly sums up the laughably absurd gulf between the professional reviewers and actual gamers:
This is one for the fans, and few who buy it will be left unsatisfied by how the story - their story - ends.
http://www.videogamer.com/xbox360/mass_effect_3/review-2.html
And just how big is that gulf?
spoiler (click to show/hide)
(http://i.imgur.com/8TVJI.jpg)
People asking for a "brighter" ending are idiots imo. (Unless by brighter they mean smarter) Its fine however to not like the endings in ME 3. Ending doesn't bother me as I mentioned before but that's one opinion in a sea of them.
spoiler (click to show/hide)
By brighter I think they mean "an option," not make the only ending happy.
That's one of the hang ups people had with it. There is only one ending regardless of choice.
spoiler (click to show/hide)
Where she shows you the galactic archive.
All that stuff is just do good. Such a shame because the ending kinda sucks a lot of the interest I have in replaying the game because all of it is irrelevant in the end.
Getting close to the endgame.
spoiler (click to show/hide)
I actually like Miranda, so I found her death on Sanctuary touching.
Getting close to the endgame.
spoiler (click to show/hide)
I actually like Miranda, so I found her death on Sanctuary touching.
spoiler (click to show/hide)
She can die?
spoiler (click to show/hide)
Kai Leng attacks her on Sanctuary, and she dies from the wounds, but not before killing her father.
Getting close to the endgame.
spoiler (click to show/hide)
I actually like Miranda, so I found her death on Sanctuary touching.
spoiler (click to show/hide)
She can die?
spoiler (click to show/hide)
Kai Leng attacks her, and she dies from the wounds, but not before killing her father.
spoiler (click to show/hide)
That's cool. In mine, her father held her sister hostage, I talked him down (Put the fear of God in him) and Miranda sent him right through a window to his demise. Kai Lang was nowhere in sigh. I guess I beat him there?
spoiler (click to show/hide)
Yeah, I talked her dad down, but then Miranda blasted him through the window. On the last video log that Miranda records, the camera shows Kai Leng drop in on her. She dies right after killing Henry Lawson, but not before putting a tracking device on Kai Leng.
I did an N7 mission to save the communications outpost before going to Sanctuary, that could be why.
spoiler (click to show/hide)
I believe whether Miranda dies or survives the attack is tied to whether you got her loyalty in ME2.
In that scene
spoiler (click to show/hide)
I believe whether Miranda dies or survives the attack is tied to whether you got her loyalty in ME2.
spoiler (click to show/hide)
She was loyal to me in ME2. The only character I didn't get loyalty from in ME2 was Samara.
spoiler (click to show/hide)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=467pmIX-oZo
:rofl
ME3 felt like I was just cleaning up everyone's shit. "oh we'll help you fight off the reapers...if you do this"
it's not so different from ME2, but that's helping a person and not an entire race who'd be killed anyway. like
spoiler (click to show/hide)
Turians: We'll help you save Earth if you get the Krogan to save our world
wait, then I'd just have fragmented turian and krogan forces. fuck you assholes. except garrus you all are weak and needed the Korgan to kill bugs. I'll take teh entire Krogan fleet to earth.
ME3 felt like I was just cleaning up everyone's shit. "oh we'll help you fight off the reapers...if you do this"
it's not so different from ME2, but that's helping a person and not an entire race who'd be killed anyway. like
spoiler (click to show/hide)
Turians: We'll help you save Earth if you get the Krogan to save our world
wait, then I'd just have fragmented turian and krogan forces. fuck you assholes. except garrus you all are weak and needed the Korgan to kill bugs. I'll take teh entire Krogan fleet to earth.
The difference for me was I felt like I was finishing off important story arcs and situations that have been there all along. It made sense for me to be doing some of this stuff at least for me in regards to a galactic war and more importantly I wanted to do it.spoiler (click to show/hide)
(Genophage, Geth versus Quarians for example)
Now the side missions where I overhear some random dude and then go scan a planet to find something. That's weak. But the actual real missions and sidequests I found compelling for the most part.
finished the game
Bioware writers should drink arsenic. Worst ending to a once-promising trilogy since the Matrix Revolutions.
spoiler (click to show/hide)
I'm fine with Shepard dying, I'm fine with the ME relays being destroyed. What I can't stand is the total non-sequitur conclusion to everything that's happened in 3 full games. What did the War Readiness accomplish? Why did I do ANY of this? It's just deus ex machina bullshit. And fuck starchild. This has nothing to do with wanting a "happy" ending or entitlement, and everything to do with wanting an ending that makes sense within the Mass Effect universe.
tl;dr: Skip 1, play 2, skip 3
finished the game
Bioware writers should drink arsenic. Worst ending to a once-promising trilogy since the Matrix Revolutions.
There is a Matrix trilogy?
No, no there is not. There's only one Matrix movie. :shh
And there is only one ME game
spoiler (click to show/hide)
ME2
spoiler (click to show/hide)
Why hello thar, Battlestar Galactica ending! They talked about the Reapers being the balance in the galaxy in ME2 so the whole God-like creature keeping everything in check wasn't totally out of left field. Are people pissed because something like God is in the game, just like they were pissed with it in BSG? Stargazer Buzz Aldrin talking to a kid was stupid, though.
spoiler (click to show/hide)
And it's not even about the ending trying to be more "high-minded" or "bitter-sweet," though let's be honest here, the ME3 ending barely even qualifies as bittersweet. No, I can deal with all that just fine. It's that nothing about the ending even remotely holds up to scrutiny. Too many plot holes, too many contradictions, too many changed premises, too little variety, virtually nothing of substance to hold onto, and a complete disconnect from all the choices I made throughout the previous 100+ hours.
spoiler (click to show/hide)
Yep, they totally pulled a BSG ending. God was behind it all, infinite cycle of sentient life creating artificial life that will wipe it out, destroy technology, etc. One gripe I've got is the crashlanded Normandy at the end. How the fuck were Garrus and Liara there? They were my team for the final assault in London... huh? That makes no sense, but not enough for me to rage or get in touch with the FTC.
spoiler (click to show/hide)
"Shepard dies, fuck you all. GAME OVER."
But seriously, I don't think they should change the ending. It is what it is, and can you imagine how insufferable fanboys will be whenever there is something they don't like? "But Bioware gave us what we wanted! You best do the same, kind sirs!" Best to keep pandora's box closed.
All right, time for me to join in.
spoiler (click to show/hide)
The ending sucks. There shouldn't really be any Stoney-esque "I thought it was fine" bs. You can say that the ending "didn't bother you", but you can't argue that, in and of itself, it was a good, coherent, ending.
I'm not quite in the GR and Green Man camp of raging about it, though.
Also, I never read any of the spoilers in this thread in advance, but holy crap, I made the Deus Ex comparison on my own right away, so it's funny to see I'm far from the only one.
But, the comparison to the end of Deus Ex does not do any favours to ME3.
For one thing, the three endings of Deus Ex aren't simply levers that you pull. You actually have to work towards the ending you choose in Deus Ex, so the final level plays out differently according to what you are trying to accomplish.
Whereas ME3 has a DX:HR-esque "okay, you've reached the end, now push one of these three buttons for the different endings."
That alone is bullshit.
But in addition to that, the Deus Ex choices logically followed the game. The three choices pretty much represented the competing forces you had been torn between throughout the whole game. None of them were black and white, but you chose the one that you best fit with.
ME3? One of the options was to control the Reapers, which comes right after you spent a five-minute dialog/cutscene arguing with and ridiculing The Illusive Man for wanting to do exactly that. What. The. Fuck.
Synthesis was generic new-agey crap that made no sense. And blowing up the Reapers was exactly what the game was supposed to be about, so of course that was my first choice. But it still doesn't make sense that you shoot at some tubes to destroy the Conduit, which kills the Reapers, when the game has you believe that, umm, the whole purpose of the Conduit was to destroy the Reapers. So, to kill the Reapers, you have to shoot and sabotage the weapon that was designed to kill the Reapers? Riiiiight.
And none of that even touches on the Catalyst/kid/God himself.
It doesn't necessarily bother me that there was some "Force/being" behind the Reapers. But if you're going to have a reveal like that, at least explain it and have it make a lick of gawdamned sense, please. Every conversation you have with a Reaper in the series has a real sense of gravitas and awe to it. So if you're going to have some-*thing* beyond the Reapers, you have to be able to outdo even that. And they failed miserably. So they shouldn't have even tried.
I think a sappy "here's what everyone is doing now" or Ewok-campfire-party-on-Endor is not necessarily the right fit, but anything's better than what they did. End it with the convo between Shepard and Anderson sitting down, then the clips of the red energy wave killing the Reapers with the soldiers celebrating as they fall. The end.
More than anything else, it's disappointing that they clearly completely winged the ending. They pitched this series as a fully-conceptualized trilogy, and if that were actually the case, you would have thought they would have contemplated the ending before, oh, fall 2011. You don't have to JMS-levels of arc-planning, but having a rough idea where the story is fucking going would have been nice.
end rant.
That being said, the ending shouldn't be changed. The horses have left the barn on that one. You can't make people forget what they originally came up with on their own.
awesome thing in the game was
spoiler (click to show/hide)
Tali suicide if you choose geth. OWNED
awesome thing in the game was
spoiler (click to show/hide)
Tali suicide if you choose geth. OWNED
spoiler (click to show/hide)
Wow. What does she do? I chose to wipe out the Geth.
awesome thing in the game was
spoiler (click to show/hide)
Tali suicide if you choose geth. OWNED
spoiler (click to show/hide)
Wow. What does she do? I chose to wipe out the Geth.
spoiler (click to show/hide)
Tali has a sad and then jumps off a cliff.
spoiler (click to show/hide)
I choose the geth but she was fine with it wtfff
spoiler (click to show/hide)
Was I supposed to give a fuck who Kai Leng is? It seemed like his reveal was supposed to have an impact on me, but it was just "oh it's a bad guy with a sword."
WTF why didn't that happen for me
spoiler (click to show/hide)
I choose the geth but she was fine with it wtfff
spoiler (click to show/hide)
If she survived the suicide mission, Tali meets Shepard when the quarians ask for the Normandy's help in retaking Rannoch. Due to her having the most experience with geth, she has been made a member of the Admiralty Board in place of her father.
If Shepard chooses the geth over the quarians, Tali sobs as she witnesses the entirety of the Migrant Fleet crash and burn up in the Rannoch atmosphere, removes her mask, and commits suicide by throwing herself off a cliff. A Paragon interrupt is placed during the suicide, but it won't affect the outcome.
If Shepard chooses the quarians or peace is made between quarians and geth, Tali decides to rejoin the Normandy, knowing that she'd be fighting for her homeworld. But first, she takes off her mask to see the sunset.
spoiler (click to show/hide)
:lol LAWL :lol Gonna play a real game now like Saint's Row 3
spoiler (click to show/hide)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=467pmIX-oZo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alcgX3mjYaY
canon ending:
spoiler (click to show/hide)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kqVB15Yab4
spoiler (click to show/hide)
Tali without the mask
spoiler (click to show/hide)
search through the stock photos on Getty Images. :teehee
spoiler (click to show/hide)
you couldn't bitch out the kid for saying the robos would always kill the humans. not a big deal though, his dumb ass controlled the reapers so he obviously didnt know shit. i killed those motherfuckers good
spoiler (click to show/hide)
It sure didn't take much convincing for legion to fuck over his entire crew and species
This game is contrived as fuck
beat the game and got 50/52 achievements. Just need a level 10 gun and 5000 kils now. What was wrong with the ending? Why were nerdlingers writing angry emails to Bioware? The ending was sweet as far as I was concerned.
It was definitely the best ME game, hands down. The best gameplay and set pieces. I wish there were some vehicle sections but oh well. Guess idiot nerds hated those too so Bioware had to remove them.
Why did Robot EDI have a fucking camel toe? That is the biggest unanswered question of the game for me.
I'll pick up the DLC and see what they do with the ending anyhow. IMO they should have left the ending as is. So many fanboy nerbos were trolled so hard.
ending music was so cool
spoiler (click to show/hide)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCiPUgOahuc
GOTY 9/10
only flaw was the combat could have been polished more from ME2 and it got a bit little repetitive. A little more mission and gameplay variety would have been nice. Also sidequests could have been more fleshed out (they could have cut half of the "collect X item" quests), but there was plenty of content as it is.
reading and watching stuff on the updated ending. yeah, not worth it.
the biggest change (spoiler)
spoiler (click to show/hide)
New/4th Ending. Refuse the three other choices or shoot the cosmic kid.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PThzItSAT5c
others are spoiler (click to show/hide)
fallout-esque slideshow showing krogan babies or barren wombs depending on your choice I guess.
Mass relays don't explode; now only fall apart. Said to be repairable.
Control ending has Shepard turn into a Reaper, controlling other reapers to rebuild the broken relays (seriously).
That planet Joker and crew were stranded on? yeah, they fly off it at the end.
Cosmic kid is an AI created by the original people whose job was to find a solution to the synthetic problem. Went nutso and turned those people into a reaper. Repeats cycle...or something. It's not clear.
spoiler (click to show/hide)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5J-QDTM8Zk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgYYYmzr7_A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFzrRz6Dc0Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PThzItSAT5c
huh, so does the extended Control ending prove TEH INDOCTRINATIONS THEORIES???
spoiler (click to show/hide)
Nope.
spoiler (click to show/hide)
The new ending option is Shepard just giving up and letting the Reapers win, thus continuing the cycle.
...in which the NEXT round of civilizations will, of course, build the Crucible, be faced with the Star Child's choices, and presumably choose one, thus making Shepard's refusal to choose irrelevant. (apart from killing off humanity)
Ya, Bioware, I think you actually made it worse.