Mass Effect 3

[Big Jack McBastard]

Well I caved like a good little capitalist, bought this yesterday when I traded in a few other titles knocking 28 quid off it (no sign of it in Gamestation either) and played it for 10 hours straight so it can't be so unutterably terrible. Barring the face importer fuck-up (got 95% of my Shep back looking like he should (hair and eyes seemed to be the main sticking points he started off a bit too glassy and smooth for my liking but now he's starting to crack round the edges getting darker round the eyes and showing glowing red scars like in ME2 as the Renegade points mount up thankfullly) it's doing pretty well, I've ignored the DLC and multiplayer as Twitchy (my loony, do anything it takes, Sheps first name) is not the sort to make things easy on himself. Interesting developments here and there and it's still loaded with decisions that leave you looking at the screen debating with yourself which way to go even when you're acting like a bastard/goody-two-shoes as you're not quite sure how they'll pan out in the end.

Starting to get the crew together again and seeing the old familiar faces pop up with the odd surprise thrown in. I think the Krogans are my next big task.

Anderson looks stupid when he runs.

More later, I'll spoiler stuff as needs be.

[Pete23]

I'm nowhere near the end, or even the middle, but the huge wave of internet outrage at what they've done with the ending has swept me up against my willl and forced me to read this spoiler filled link:

http://www.gamefront.com/mass-effect-3-ending-hatred-5-reasons-the-fans-are-right/

Without giving anything away, it does seem that the complaints about the ending may be justified, but I'm not too worried - I'm in it for the journey (man). So far I'm loving it.

[HappyTree]

I read about the endings and one of them sounds perfectly fine to me. You just have to work towards it!

[Rachel]

You don't find the stuff with the child retarded beyond believe with its ham-fisted EMOTIONAL ENGAGEMENT™ attempts? CaB, I am disappoint :D

[Big Jack McBastard]

You don't find the stuff with the child retarded beyond believe with its ham-fisted EMOTIONAL ENGAGEMENT™ attempts? CaB, I am disappoint :D

No you're right, those bits are shite and the kid should at least be a wee version of yourself.

Another 10 hours today, it's still got that irresistible draw to just keep going and do the next bit, and the next bit and oh go on then I'll do one more... until it's 20 to 5 in the morning, just got another shitflood of new missions and tasks after, 'the incident' on the Citadel too.

My Shep is looking good and grim now. I've kept 3 characters for transferring with wildly different attitudes and mixed styles of play so I expect the endings I'll see should at least show some differences.

I don't want to know why people are bitching though I'm guessing it's mostly down to having to do twice the graft to get a decent ending if you're not taking it online and I'll wager some are pissing and moaning about

Spoiler alert

Shepard dying

[close]

[nb]I imagine[/nb] on them in the end.

[MojoJojo]

The ending sounds a bit like Deus-Ex to me, and that annoyed me.

BJM - there are other complaints, but can't discuss them without getting all spoilery.

[Pete23]

From what I've read BJM, your words may return to haunt you...

[RickyGerbail]

what about romance options? can i bed the tentacled one?

[Still Not George]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kIMzvgg-H0

I can't adequately express my joy at this.

[MojoJojo]

Ignoring the ending/forced MP aspects:

Is the combat good and less repetitive?
Is the citadel bigger?
Does the galaxy have a decent sense of scale, and not have the shooting gallery feel of ME2?

In many ways it feels like they've fixed the problems with ME1 and ME2, but added some new problems.

[Big Jack McBastard]

The ending sounds a bit like Deus-Ex to me, and that annoyed me.

BJM - there are other complaints, but can't discuss them without getting all spoilery.

That plus.

From what I've read BJM, your words may return to haunt you...

That make me grimace a bit. From what I saw of the installation files on the PC there were several different 'colours' of endings including the variance of good/bad on top, I'm guessing they're a bit copy/paste in places then (don't tell me). If it's a matter of choosing this/this/or this at the end which could totally override the path you've trod thus far like HR then that's.. irksome.

what about romance options? can i bed the tentacled one?

Not sure if there's any blue bootay on show but you can get back in with Liara (I waited for

Spoiler alert

Jack

[close]

to show up again but there was no shagging to be had, yet.

Is the combat good and less repetitive?
Is the citadel bigger?
Does the galaxy have a decent sense of scale, and not have the shooting gallery feel of ME2?

The combat is pretty much exactly the same with a few bells and whistles, I particularly like one of the new pistols, if anything the Citadel is smaller (5 levels off the elevator) as it plays less of a crucial role but has more casual things to pick up on, the focus of the game ain't hanging around there waiting for the Reapers afterall, it's not really to it's detriment though as the theme is more 'get out there and get shit done'.

There is more interesting/unexpected stuff going on in the galactic scale but don't expect the shooting gallery feel to be gone it'd be a bit bloody weird if they changed it now anyway. Garrus even came out with "Looks like another shooting gallery" mid-fight when we popped onto the Krogan homeworld to do something.

[Big Jack McBastard]

Re: The Ending.

Spoiler alert

and I say 'The Ending' cos there is one with variations so slight as to be utterly insignificant. It really doesn't matter which one you choose the upshot is exactly the same.

[close]

I'm not pissed off, I kind of suspected they'd dropped the ball with the finish, hence all the bitching on their forums,
You do see the affects of your actions in the game before the finish, but not with the ending.

It does irk that the entirety of the focus of this game which is essentially resource and ally collection for the last fight, turns out to be pointless once you're

Spoiler alert

up that last lift

[close]

and into to deus ex machina land, and every big decision you'd made previously is now trivial.

There's nothing they can do to 'fix' the ending, no DLC can patch it up, no matter how well crafted or free, hell if they went as far as trying such a thing they could even throw in 800 free MS points in with it, I still wouldn't be arsed.

It was fun getting there and I did enjoy the series, it's conclusion is more of a disappointment than an outright farce. It doesn't inspire me to play it through again, it inspires me to trade it in to one of those shops out there grasping for pre-owned copies, which I'll be doing shortly.

[Rachel]

I take it all back.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=467pmIX-oZo
*breaks down weeping*

[RickyGerbail]

lol

[HappyTree]

Big, massive ÜBER spoilers at this forum discussion link:

http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/355/index/9999272/40

But I now see what all the fuss is about. It does seem rather disappointing. I was always going to wait a while before getting this game, so maybe in a year they'll have resolved all this stuff about DLC and endings. They do seem to have not just dropped the ball but thrown it away deliberately at the 98 yard line just to create a stir.

[Dark Sky]

They must have had their reasons for ending the game as they did, though, surely.  It kinda annoys me that so many people seem to want to control someone else's story.  Russell T Davies once said, "writing is not a democracy".  It's Bioware's vision...that's how they wanted to tell the story.

And I know you could affect the story yourself, but it was still going down pre-set routes Bioware wrote for you to go down.  It's not like it was a sandbox game, or a true RPG where you could be anyone and do anything.

...I say all this this having played about three hours of the first game then given up because I found it extremely boring.

[HappyTree]

I remember playing KotOR and having no sense of disconnect between the choices I made and the ending. Even if the ending was simply a good/bad binary split, I chose my path and got the result. Same in ME1 and 2. I played in a particular way because I was working towards something. When asked to make tough decisions I considered how they might affect future repercussions.

That does not seem to have been continued in ME3.

Spoiler alert

In fact from a certain point you are pretty much on tracks.

[close]

That smacks of lack of time to me

Spoiler alert

, as does the Prothean DLC that was originally intended to be in the game proper, copy/paste endings and Google Tali.

[close]

It's not so easy to dismiss the public given what was claimed for this series all along. But in the end this will either harm them as a company or not. We shall see. I wonder how Star Wars: The Old Republic is doing...

[Big Jack McBastard]

I don't know why people think DLC will 'fix' it, or why they'd even want it now.

Fantard Customers:"If we BAWW loudly enough they'll make it better!"
BiowEAr: "Fuck off it stays as it is" (so far) OR "Sowwy you all had a piss-fit here's your new tacked-on pacifier content for X hundred MS points on top of what you've already paid."
Fantard Customers: "Yaay! Let's keep sucking their cocks, after all it's worked out well so far."

They have the option of gouging their more gullible customers even further with ephemeral promises of DLC which may never address the ending (I highly suspect this is the route they'll take) or they can cave and knock up some bullshit ending which addresses some elements of the problem too late and tacitly admits that what they put out in the first place, was in hindsight, worthy of their customers scorn.

It's too late to fix, it was too late when they started burning the discs, I'm not playing it again and I'm not going anywhere near the MP or DLC as they contribute nothing.

[mikeyg27]

Took the multiplayer out for a spin for the first time, and as much as I don't want to admit it I did indeed have a blast. Even the american teen twat who patronised me after I may have misused the rocket launcher couldn't ruin it. I think it helps that it's only a co-op mode - it avoids much aggro. The only real difference that requires getting used to is the strict real-time - there were a few times I pressed the shoulder button to use a power only to trigger another power assigned to it.

[glitch]

Avoiding this thread due to spoilers - but I'm up for any multiplayer shenanigans. Managed to beat the Silver Reaper challenge, which was nice.

Add me: desensitised

[turnstyle]

I've read that the ending of this game is very poor.

If any of you whores have played this game, and are DISGUSTED with the way the story pans out, please send me your copy of the game and I will make sure to dispose of it for you.

I offer this service free of charge.

Xbox 360 only please, I do not have the facilities for PS3 game disposal at the moment.

[Jerzy Bondov]

I'm enjoying this game a lot. Because of all the ending talk, I'd forgotten that there was going to be a whole game before I got to it. I've only put 10 hours into it so far (only in games is 10 hours a short amount of time) but I love cruising around the galaxy in my spaceship, chatting up freaky aliens and shooting dickheads, just like I loved all those things in the first two games. I don't doubt that the ending is disappointing, but if it keeps being this good up until that point, I can't imagine I'll mind all that much. Even if it kills off all my cool buddies.

[The Region Legion]

Just finished it... stayed up all night because I thought it would be ending "soon" at around 5am... it's now 8am. Sometimes I'm glad to be unemployed.

Having heard all the fuss about the ending, I was worried going in - my Tesco pre-order took 2 weeks to arrive (!) and I assumed the internet would spoil it in all the waiting time. Luckily I stayed spoiler free and...

Everything about it was just incredible. Dramatic, extremely tense in places, remarkable design - as far as I'm concerned, they fixed everything that sucked about the last two (and that wasn't much, but what there was was significant).

So, the ending. Well, I accepted it while playing it but having read about it a little more now I have to kind of agree. When I'd finished I just thought "well, I can see why people are annoyed - they wanted to win and have a happy ending" and I think that is partially the case but there is one very serious issue with it that I now can't forgive either.

Spoiler alert

How is your crew back on the Normandy, and how is Joker outrunning the blast that's meant to destroy all synthetic life as well as the mass relays, when a) your whole squad was with you on Earth and at least two of them were killed in the blast that injures Shepherd and b) the Normandy would have been in the battle on Earth? That made no fucking sense at all, and fans are right to be pissed with that.

[close]

Would I have preferred

Spoiler alert

a happy ending

[close]

? Honestly, yes. I think the worst thing I can say about everything once you're

Spoiler alert

hit by the Reaper beam

[close]

is that its so very like

Spoiler alert

Deus Ex: Human Revolution. 3 choices, all with a brief explanation of what happens afterwards and then that's it, game over.

[close]

After 90 hours+ across the 3 games, I suppose it's reasonable to say that that's pretty unacceptable.

But hey - it's just a video game series, and a damn good one at that. In all other ways, I think the last one is actually the best. Also

Spoiler alert

I am genuinely in love with Tali'Zorah and was very sad to say goodbye to her.

[close]

What a loser.

[The Region Legion]

Hm... actually, in direct opposition to my previous post, having now watched all the endings on YouTube, I think the fans have a point. Specifically because

Spoiler alert

they're all the fucking same!

[close]

Also, it seems as if this has been planned for from the start as

Spoiler alert

Bioware have already announced that they'll do something about the ending in a DLC in April, which was rumoured much earlier to be called "The Truth". So now they're having us pay for a more satisfying ending!

[close]

That really rustles my jimmies.

[HappyTree]

Yes, the people who joined in on the "entitlement" side of the argument really need to understand why the ending is just ludicrous. I have been reading spoilers a-plenty and watched all the endings. I am confident that I will have forgotten most of it by the time I buy this game. I will be waiting to buy is very, very cheaply, second hand and with DLC as a GOTY edition if possible. I refuse to buy into this 3rd chapter as much as I did the 2nd. When a developer starts taking the piss I check out, hombre!

[The Region Legion]

The truth is I'm a sucker for

Spoiler alert

the no-win scenario

[close]

. It was clear from very early on that

Spoiler alert

Shephard had no chance of surviving the final battle

[close]

and the game makes that pretty clear when

Spoiler alert

you're saying your goodbyes to everyone, as well as the premonition with him dying in the fire with the boy in the dream forest

[close]

- I appreciated that

Spoiler alert

despite Shepherd's relentless upbeat nature throughout the series, he actually couldn't really beat them, just change things for the future

[close]

. These are the things that tricked me into thinking it was an acceptable ending at the time.

But yeah, the fact that

Spoiler alert

all the endings are basically the same regardless of which you choose

[close]

as well as the fact that (spoiler even for someone who's completed it)

Spoiler alert

Shepherd actually survives if you play the shit out of multi-player and have over 5000 military units before you go into the final battle so its not even as if this had to be the last game

[close]

and ALSO the fact that

Spoiler alert

the fate of the Normandy and your crew actually doesn't make sense anyway

[close]

has resulted in me being a fuck of a lot more disappointed in it today than I was at the time.

[The Region Legion]

Fuck, just realised my first post on the subject sort of has a bit of a spoiler in there that I didn't cover, and now can't modify. Really you shouldn't be in this thread if you don't want spoilers at this point but apologies for anyone who caught it.

[Neil]

Got ME2 preowned for a tenner, and really enjoying it. Have yet to finish it, but ME3 is down to 25 quid in Asda now, so I couldn't resist. Only plating the multiplayer for now, and it's pretty good. The maps are a bit cramped though, they could do with larger Horde maps for lone wolf players me. One of my character builds is a Quarian infiltrator with shotgun and sabotage, so I can get up close and personal. Most of the Geth I turn just get gunned down by competitive teammates, though!

The hectic clamouring for kills does give it a nice pace, but at times it's a bit frustrating to see all your kills getting nicked by biotic bleeders.

More challenges are needed, too. And way more waves, but I guess DLC will address these issues before long.

[Neil]

It is nice you can build different characters, and try different playstyles. Not sure how long it will hold my attention as it's a little slight, but I'm looking forward to unlocking the Krogan and Drell characters.

[Neil]

Ah great, free multiplayer DLC next week, with a couple of new maps. New characters and weapons too. Look up Resurgence Pack on YouTube.