Mass Effect 3

I completely forgot this game comes out Tuesday March 6th! Amazing.
I suggest you all go look at the trailers, they get me pumped.
The game is going to have DLC from what I've been told, so I'm thinking of holding off on buying it until it goes on sale later with DLC included. I'm in no rush to play, though I'm still excited to play it! Star Wars has kinda taken over my games though, and since I pay for it, it'll keep my attention for at least a few months. But all my ME2 game saves are ready to go. ^_^

Sooo...how about you? Excited for Mass Effect 3? Anyone here already got it pre-ordered?
What are you looking forward to?

 

I'm not buying it until they release the GAME OF THE YEAR OMG AWESOME edition so I don't have to individually purchase all of it It looks amazing but I don't care enough to play it up front to pay for all that crap later.

 

I saw the PC edition was for sale at work for $60. Had me pondering looking for the first one to see what the games are like. My latest game here is still Doom 3, which I eyeball ever so often and consider going back to. Last time I played I stopped right when you step on the big pentagram (if memory servers) and the horde of aliens/demons/whatever first appear.

 

My friend got me ME1 and ME2 as a gift on Steam. I can see why people love this series so much. It's really engaging both in terms of storyline and in terms of combat. Though, I will say that combat is kinda one-dimensional. At the beginning of the game, it was "pray I can find good cover and my weapons don't overheat too fast." Now I'm about level 30, my infiltrator has maxed pistol and sniper rifle skills and high fitness and armor skills, so I just pop immunity and marksman and spray bullets everywhere. Liara has maxed lift and singularity, so she just chucks people in the air and Ashley has maxed assault rifle, fitness and armor skills so she pumps everything full of lead. Or polonium. Or cryo...stuff. It's ok, though, because despite not being hugely difficult or dynamic, it's still crazy fun.

If I have any other complaint, it's that the game's save mechanism is embarrassing inconsistent. It should auto-save any time you finish or progress in a quest objective or at least as often as you encounter a zone loading screen. There are also all sorts of random times that quick-save doesn't work for no rhyme or reason and I have to go do a full save. It's weird. Maybe it has something to do with how they ported between the console and the PC.

 

I don't like how you have to play online in order to prepare "combat readiness." My PS3's internet connection sucks.

 

I really liked the first one but not so much the second one. I'll probably pick up 3 at some point in the future.

 

Finally beat it last night. I must say I liked ME2 much better.

 

I've read that a lot of people are unhappy with the ending.
Were you, KirStang?

 

Yea, definitely less-than-satisfied. It's not just that, either, I felt like in ME2 you could really travel the Galaxy kicking ass and doing whatever you wanted. It seemed a lot more scripted this time.

For what it's worth though, Bioware did do a very good job of portraying the desperation and sheer destruction on Earth. At some points I was hanging on by the edge of my pants.

Finally, none of the endings really explained the Reapers, or where they came from. There was also no real epilogue, which I would have liked.

 

Of ALL of the things that the ending DIDN'T do, it absolutely explained completely what the Reapers were and where they came from. You might not have liked that explanation (tons of people don't), but it states in fairly explicit detail who made them and why.

I think the thing about the ending for me is twofold. First, the "end" of Mass Effect is Mass Effect 3. The entire third game is a single long conclusion, which explains in part why it is so much less "open" than the previous games (especially the first). To look at the very last 5 minutes alone and say "well that didn't tell me anything!" ignores the gameplay of the rest of the game, most of which is heavily invested in tying up various plotlines from across the entire series. Allies, friends, entire races die, are saved or kill themselves based on your past and current actions. And NOTHING about the very end of the game changes any of that (despite the protestations of various basement dwelling internet denizens).

Second, the end, i.e.

the "annihilation" of the Reapers by whatever method and the destruction of the Mass Relays,

is inevitable, because the point of the story isn't the end, the point of the story is the STORY. This is a story in the tradition of an epic. The "end" of the Lord of the Rings, for example, is protracted, kinda weird and (in a lot of people's opinions) not great. It includes a bizarre deus ex machina, it goes on forever, it's not really very happy. That's because Tolkien wasn't telling the story of those characters. The story he was telling was the story of the end of the elves time on Middle Earth and the beginning of the dominance of man.

Similarly, the story BioWare is telling is the story of the

permanent end of the Reaper threat, the end of the universe's reliance on Reaper/Mass Relay technology, and the end of the Star Child's cycle of synthetic destruction of advanced organic life. The conclusion is foregone, as was Sauron's destruction, the rise of man and the departure of the elves. No matter how much anyone wanted the rings to stay around, the elves to stay in Middle Earth, etc., none of that could happen, because the story is being told in a world where it has already happened. What's important is HOW that result came to be, what sacrifices people made on the way there, what relationships were forged, alliances made, broken, you know the drill.

The Mass Effect story is an ancient one being passed down so a child knows the story of the Reapers, who destroyed them, why they were destroyed and what happened to the mass relays.

There's no avoiding those two facts, so there was no ending which made them available. People freaking out about the lack of "choice" in ending are missing the simple fact that you were never intended to have a choice. All of the hundreds of choices available throughout the game, all of those decisions, that was what was important. The "conclusion" of the story was there because it had to be, not because it represented the grand culmination of every moment of all three games. People clearly expected something else, though, so I guess we'll have to see what April's DLC brings in that regard.

 

I agree with you 1000% percent. People/gamers are just stupid selfish creatures. And they whine like they're entitled. I'm guilty of it myself from time to time. But I adore all Bioware does, and accept its flaws. No such thing as a perfect game, after all.
Man, I can't wait to play ME3.

 

I don't think bioware really did a good job explaining reapers and where they came from. Basically you see a translucent child who says reapers were "his solution" but, as far as I remember, he never says where he himself came from. Or how the Citadel was built. I think the prothean hints at it, ("evolution is the cosmic imperative") but I think the ending did not fully explain where they came from, or how they came to be. Only that organics and synthetics usually end up destroying each other, so, to prevent that, he wipes out the organics before they can create synthetics? I don't know. (Then are reapers synethetics?) There should be more than a 5 minute dialog that explains everything.

Eh, I would disagree.
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I'm not so much freaking out about lack of choice, as the fact that the past Mass Effects gave you a lot more freedom to open up and pursue good side missions.
In addition, where ME3 is lacking compared to ME2 is the dynamic gameplay. In ME2, you get to crash a party 007 style. You have a high speed flying-vehicle chase. You have combat on the outside of a ship. In ME3, it's basically the same old "Go in to a facility, kill everything, repeat." game play. I enjoyed the game, but it did not live up to ME2.

 

I beat the game a little while ago. And have read loads of stuff about the ending.
Personally, I love the game. Every single moment. Up to the ending.
On its own, if you take it at face value, is nonsensical, and makes less sense the more times you watch it.
Pop it into the Indoctrination Theory, and its a work of pure genius.
Here's a couple of sites I've enjoyed looking at. I think you guys will too:
One
Two
Three
This is a FANTASTIC video put together by a ME3 fan. Really, watch it. Editing is great. And watching it made me happier with the ending. At least, at the possibilities.

--- merged: May 16, 2012 6:12 AM ---
Oh, also, anyone here play multiplayer? Cause I do, and its a lot of fun, actually. Best multiplayer I've ever tried out.
If any of you want to play sometime, let me know. Oh, on the PC I mean. I don't do the console thing.

 

I heard from a friend on irc that the Mass Effect universe will go on after ME3, just not with Shepard's story. Anyone know if that's true?

He said something like at the very end after the credits, they showed someone with N7 armor lying in some rubble, and then they twitch and draw breath, and it wasn't Shepard. I guess meaning the series will go on.

 

Some of the developers have stated that more will come in the Mass Effect world. What these games might be, is a complete mystery. Its been discussed for awhile online that ME3 is the end of Shepard's story, but not the end of ME as we know it. That kinda implies a Halo type progression, where the first 3 games were about Master Chief, then progressed on to games about being in the military while MChief did his shit. There's no way to know. Its all speculation.

That spoiler you mentioned is true. I got it on my first playthrough. It happens if you have 100% war readiness and strong military strength, and only if you

choose the destroy reapers option in the endgame, the choice on the right side of the room.

There's loads of speculation on what that scene meant. Some believe its to do with the Indoc Theory I posted recently (read those links!) and some think its someone else. There's no way to tell if it is or isn't Shepard.

I guess we'll find out when the epilogue comes out sometime this summer, which is supposed to be DLC that will help explain the ending.

For those that have played the game, or are just interested in this kinda stuff, I'm going to hunt down a ME3 discussion that happened at PAX East this year. I opted out of the discussion, cause I didn't own the game at the time, and was worried it'd be all spoilers. But now that I've played it, I wanna see what it was about. I found the video shortly after I went to PAX East, I just need to find it again.

I'll post it soon.

 

Side note: I'm replaying the game right now. My first playthrough was as the lovely dark haired lesbian lover Shepard to Liara (rawr) as a paragon/earth/ruthless/soldier. Didn't have FRAPS at the time, which I regret, but I do now. And take screenshots as I play through the default male Shepard as renegade/earth/ruthless/sentinel.
I gotta say, I've captured some pretty amusing screenshots. If anyone is interested in me sharing some screenshots in this thread, let me know

 

I foooouuuuuuuund it! ^_^
For all your viewing pleasure, the Mass Effect 3 panel hosted by PAX East 2012 in Boston. It is in two parts.

 

Thanks for finding and posting this, Settie.
I listened to all 5 parts and you could really tell the dev team cared about their game.

 

I've posted my screenshots up on my facebook page under public. If any of you want to see them, let me know and I'll send a friend request your way.
I got some pretty great shots. And each picture has comments.
--- merged: May 17, 2012 at 9:10 PM ---
Shit, Sorry about that, Fremen. I hadn't looked at it yet, and saw just the two parts to the panel. There are three more parts, people. They're easily linked to part 2. I'd edit my previous video post, but it seems I can't.