Mass Effect 3

[DarthParametric]

For those that have finished the game

Actually,

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not so much HR, but DX1. The 3 choices are pretty much lifted straight from there, at least in terms of the broad strokes idea of each. You've got merge with AI, destroy technology and return to the dark ages, and kill the big bad to keep the status quo. Unfortunately though it seems after you make the choice, the depiction of what follows kind of goes off the rails. At least if the ending I saw (destroy all technology) is anything to go by. WTF did they show me?

[Totenkopf]

@Sal--Agree w/DP. MP is fine if you want it, but should be no more than icing on the cake.

 

@ D3: It's not just the Femshep walk/run animation that's horrid, the male shep and npc walk/run animation looks pretty strange to me too... in the ME3 demo I mean, I don't remember it being bad in previous games, but in the demo things did seem pretty off.

 

Thanks for confirming it was not just a vague impression I had...

 

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[Taak Farst]

@Sal--Agree w/DP. MP is fine if you want it, but should be no more than icing on the cake.

 

 

 

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BEAT YA TO IT! Post #1063

 

All going good so far. I'm one of the few that actually seems to love this game.

[Lynk Former]

If the ending is anything like the spoilers I've read that were leaked months ago then I know what to expect...

[DarthParametric]

Other than Chobot's walk-like-a-hooker animations, it seems like most of the female animations are the same terrible ones from ME2. At least for NPCs anyway - don't play a FemShep myself. Watching Liara walking around at times is quite disturbing. There's this whole weird semi-squat stance the animations seem to have, especially noticeable traversing stairs.

 

And on the subject on dodgy animations, it seems they use a toned down version of that jittery, head-shaking talking animation from the Rachni puppet-Asari in ME1. I've seen Shep do it, and some NPCs. Looks bizarre.

[Red Hessian]

Ok, I've finished the game in 35 hours (with a default face ), did every quest and side quest I could find and from what I've seen of the ending (the one I've gotten, at least):

 

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Not only is it a huge letdown, but the whole "technology is bad, m'kay" is really getting on my nerves. Like DP and Achilles said, it felt like Deus Ex, or watching an old re-run of The Matrix.

 

That aside, I got the feeling during the course of the game that it really doesn't matter what my choices were/are. Most, if not all, squad members and old friends die in some heroic acts of self-sacrifice, no matter what you do.

 

And I won't even go into the massive plotholes, the fact that you really don't get any closure after spending hundreds of hours on the first two games, the "cinematic experience" that mur'phon so perfectly described, the standard "dumb-as-a-post" squad AI, and the occasional crashes while loading autosaves.

 

The conclusion: This was probably the first and last time that I've played Mass Effect 3.

[Sylthar]

Ok, I've finished the game in 35 hours (with a default face ), did every quest and side quest I could find and from what I've seen of the ending (the one I've gotten, at least):

 

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Not only is it a huge letdown, but the whole "technology is bad, m'kay" is really getting on my nerves. Like DP and Achilles said, it felt like Deus Ex, or watching an old re-run of The Matrix.

 

That aside, I got the feeling during the course of the game that it really doesn't matter what my choices were/are. Most, if not all, squad members and old friends die in some heroic acts of self-sacrifice, no matter what you do.

 

And I won't even go into the massive plotholes, the fact that you really don't get any closure after spending hundreds of hours on the first two games, the "cinematic experience" that mur'phon so perfectly described, the standard "dumb-as-a-post" squad AI, and the occasional crashes while loading autosaves.

 

The conclusion: This was probably the first and last time that I've played Mass Effect 3.

 

I have to say I agree with you, though I'm going to try and play Multiplayer just before the final mission of ME3 and see if I can get a better ending. However the endings that I've read about are just as disappointing or insanely stupid.

 

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Such as Shepard being able to become a Reaper, like... WTF?!

[Trex]

Grr. Seems like I've been hit by the character import bug.

 

I think I'll patiently wait for a patch to fix the problem.

 

Provided it doesn't take more than a week, then I won't be able to resist it anymore.

[MsFicwriter]

It appears that, from reading forum spoiler content, my theory about ME3 was right:

 

 

I thought, "BioWare is going to pull a DA2 on ME3, in which all of the endings are basically the same with minor differences. Individual players' choices will matter down to the most obscure minutiae, yes--but then the ultimate ending will be what BioWare wants it to be, not the players. This is also what happened with KOTOR II: TSL and Kreia being Darth Traya. Obsidian Entertainment got crucified for this, so why not BW/EA?"

 

 

On the upside, is there any partial nudity in the romance scenes with your LI? That'll be the only way I'll be tempted to buy this game.

[Sylthar]

It appears that, from reading forum spoiler content, my theory about ME3 was right:

 

 

I thought, "BioWare is going to pull a DA2 on ME3, in which all of the endings are basically the same with minor differences. Individual players' choices will matter down to the most obscure minutiae, yes--but then the ultimate ending will be what BioWare wants it to be, not the players. This is also what happened with KOTOR II: TSL and Kreia being Darth Traya. Obsidian Entertainment got crucified for this, so why not BW/EA?"

 

 

On the upside, is there any partial nudity in the romance scenes with your LI? That'll be the only way I'll be tempted to buy this game.

 

I don't know about all of them, but if you romance Kaidan he'll be in his boxers. x]

 

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And if you romance him as a male Shepard, they'll both be in their boxers.

[igyman]

Started playing last night. I never expected much out of ME3 and despite that my initial impressions are still quite negative. The first thing that stands out are the poor visuals, which just might look worse than even ME1, even with all the graphical settings in the config tool maxed out. The next is the high degree of automatization in conversations and the overall lack of convo options and high restrictiveness in character interaction.

 

I do like the fact that they added back grenades and weapon mods and that they expanded the skill tree (compared to ME2). I also like the fact that Shepard's shields and health are more durable in combat (again, compared to ME2) and that health doesn't regenerate automatically, at least not fully. The squadmates seem more useful during combat as well, which is another plus. However, the roll action has so far done more harm to me than good and the fact that we still have the omni-button, instead of mapping certain actions to separate keys only worsens the situation for me.

 

On a smaller note, I like that the ME2 Mission Complete screen is gone. On another small note, I don't understand the change in appearance of certain characters (Bailey, Udina), or the change in Alliance and C-Sec uniforms. Again, these are just the initial impressions after playing through the two prologue missions, the Citadel and the Controversial DLC Character recruitment mission. I might post my definitive impressions after I finish the game.

[DarthParametric]

Someone should Tweet/email Karpyshyn and see if he had anything to do with the endings or if they were all Walters' bright idea.

[Taak Farst]

this is probably an incredibly dumb question. But how can I actually attach the N7 patch on to something like a cloth shirt? Do I need to buy another piece of velcro to stitch/stick on it, which the n7 patch will cling on to?

[Alkonium]

this is probably an incredibly dumb question. But how can I actually attach the N7 patch on to something like a cloth shirt? Do I need to buy another piece of velcro to stitch/stick on it, which the n7 patch will cling on to?

 

Or, you could just stitch it on directly. I personally just put mine on my pea coat.

[Red Hessian]

Someone should Tweet/email Karpyshyn and see if he had anything to do with the endings or if they were all Walters' bright idea.

 

It seems to me the powers that be somehow muscled Karpyshyn out of the franchise entirely. I found no mention of him being involved in ME in any way since Mass Effect: Retribution.

[logan23]

I believe Karpyshyn was involve with an old plot for me3 which was later changed.

 

ME3 reminds me of what happen with kotor2 sith lords. If you completed the game you probably know what talking about.

[Achilles]

Someone should Tweet/email Karpyshyn and see if he had anything to do with the endings or if they were all Walters' bright idea.

I didn't see Drew anywhere in the credits.

 

Nor did I hear, "embrace eternity", "glass mother", "single, glorious ________" or anything else that sounded like it should be delivered by William Shatner, so I think it's safe to say that Karpyshyn had no role in ME3.

[Sylthar]

I believe Karpyshyn was involve with an old plot for me3 which was later changed.

 

ME3 reminds me of what happen with kotor2 sith lords. If you completed the game you probably know what talking about.

 

Seconded.

[logan23]

There is a chance they will change the ending or patch it since EA must be looking at this and saying is the mass effect IP damaged, will people pay for any dlc?

 

It would be in EA/bioware's best interest to patch the ending in a way that won't break the bank but satisfy the fan base and repair the IP.

[jedi_consular16]

Patch the ending?? I'm only about 7 hours into the game...is it really that bad?

 

I'm thoroughly enjoying the game so far, although I'm getting the feeling that I'm spending far much more time going through dialogue in passive-NPC areas than I am actual combat so far. Did anyone else get this impression in the early game? And, does it change at all? Not to say that I don't enjoy the RPG story progression, I do, but I feel like the ratio has been changed unnecessarily from ME2.

[Alkonium]

There is a chance they will change the ending or patch it since EA must be looking at this and saying is the mass effect IP damaged, will people pay for any dlc?

 

It would be in EA/bioware's best interest to patch the ending in a way that won't break the bank but satisfy the fan base and repair the IP.

 

I don't think you quite understand how patches work. Patches are to fix bugs, not writing.

[DarthParametric]

Well they are "patching" the latest ME novel by Dietz to fix all the continuity errors, after the forum went crazy on its release. But no, I seriously doubt there will be any change in the ending/s. You'll just get some canned PR response.

 

Patch the ending?? I'm only about 7 hours into the game...is it really that bad?

I think the problem most people have with the ending/s is that it is Bioware's end, not the end for the player's Shepard. After 5 years, 3 games and probably 100+ hours of playtime for a single character, there's no real resolution to Shepard's personal story, at least not in the direct sense that most fans probably wanted/expected anyway. It's very similar to DA2 in a lot of ways. You go through the whole game making a series of choices and experiencing the repercussions of choices in past games. Yet at the end, all that is ultimately meaningless - your choices amount to nought. What you get is the movie Bioware wanted to make, with the only input being what colour the special effects are. And it's not even a good movie, or not a very satisfying one anyway.

[logan23]

I heard fallout 3's ending was patched do to outcry about it.

 

It's possible but we might have to wait till after they see a huge dip in people buying dlc. This will be a clear marker.

 

We will see if this outcry about the endings are around 3 weeks from now and what happens to the future dlc sales.

 

I personally won't buy the dlc and I bought most of the me2 (except the weapon or clothing skins) And it's not because a protest but psychological I don't see the point.

[Alkonium]

I heard fallout 3's ending was patched do to outcry about it.

 

All I'm familiar with is Bethesda cutting the whole nuclear bomb thing from the Japanese version for obvious reasons. Which is still not the same thing.

 

In fact, the only patched ending I'm familiar with is the PC version of Portal, but that was simply for promotional reasons.

[DarthParametric]

FO3 changed the end to allow your character to survive rather than die, but only so you could use that character in DLC. Specifically the BOS one that was a direct continuation of the main story. After the credits roll, ME3 dumps you back just before you launch into the final battle so you have a save for DLC, so they don't need to change the ending on that account.