Keeping it vauge, without spoiling it too much (ME games are still in my backlog), what was so bad about ME3? I think I might have vaguely heard of some kind of Space Magic copout but don't really know
- The game relies on systems called "galactic readiness" and "EMS" which dictates the state of the end of the game. The system is represented by a bar that fills up and a number. This system is not very well explained and is entirely abstract in terms of understanding how it will affect the nature of the end-game. You will get halfway through the game and fill the bar but still be able to add to the number. So which is important? What number do I need to get a good ending? It's poorly contextualized.
- The side-content that generally adds to the GR and EMS is almost entirely sup-par. It involves "overhearing" NPC characters talking about something they wish to acquire or reacquire. You then automatically get a sidequest popup and need to go and find the item. The actual gameplay involved is simply flying off to a solar system, scanning it and then choosing a planet that may have the item. Once you have it, you take it back to the person. This completely lacks any sort of meaningful gameplay and is comparatively much worse than the side content from past ME games.
- Scanning in general is a poor experience. When you scan a solar system it increases "Reaper awareness". Essentially when that is maxed, a little teenie enemy ship appears and you have to pac-man your way out of the solar system. If you get caught you are hit with a GAME OVER screen and it immediately dumps you back to the SAME system you just loaded into with NO consequences. It's a completely useless and pointless mechanic. This wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't critical to the game. You MUST scan to find items to increase your numbers. Worse yet, you're finding random context-less things like maybe a "Spec-ops team" or a "lost frigate" or whatever. These are items for your military strength but are just numbers and mean nothing. At no point is doing this "fun" and is just padding.
- The other side-content is called "N7 missions". These were in Mass Effect 2 and were mostly pretty OK little missions that had their own self-contained stories. In ME3? They are the multiplayer maps that you play singleplayer for a period of time.
- The entire first and last missions are awful. They are poor examples of scripted "roller-coaster" missions. The latter falls into the trope of "THROW EVERY ENEMY AT THE PLAYER!!".
- One of the key components to Mass Effect is making your own Shepard. You make his face. You make his backstory. You also decide what kind of person Shepard is. Is your Shepard a dick who doesnt care about anything but the mission? Or is he a saint that helps the weak. In Mass Effect 3 they attempt to force character traits to your Shepard. There's a sub-plot running through the game that attempts to humanize Shepard but not only does it fall completely on its face but as I said, it goes against what they've done in the past. If your Shepard has always been a space asshole he now is a nice guy in one scene then back to being a complete dick the next. It breaks the illusion that this is your character. Now for me? My Shepard was a saint but it still sucked because the actual content to the sub-plot is terrible.
- And the end. The end of the game is nonsensical. It tried to be artsy and bold but instead is just lunacy. The fact that two critical pieces of content (From Ashes, Leviathan) are locked away behind DLC is fucking disgusting. From what everyone says, they add needed context to the entire story.
- Overall the game feels like a rush-job. It feels like they took Mass Effect 2, stripped it down to it's core, then bolted on a number of poorly thought-out and half-baked systems. It's a disappointing experience that removes any interest I have in playing Mass Effect games.
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