Mass Effect 3 demo - 2/14/12

polydiol said:
people these days expect everything to be as simple as their ipads and iphones and only have 2 buttons.
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so true...

you can almost guarantee that within every thread of an EA published title, that there's always going to be at least 3-5 replies bitching and moaning about Origin and EA...because you know, it's the "kewl" thing to do these days...
 
I'm just wondering why they restricted multiplayer to BF3 owners, and not owners of previous ME games.

Own ME1 and ME2 = no perks, can't even import your Shep's face
Own unrelated franchise = early access to multiplayer demo

Right...


Anyway, the demo struck me as good and bad. Some of the bad parts I'll be willing to write off as beta-ish quality for a early demo such as poor movement and lip-sync.

The new cover mechanics may take some getting used to, but I found it difficult to break cover when I wanted... Shep always wants to roll to new cover or change corners instead.

The music and some sound effects are very reminiscent of ME1 which is fantastic.

Biotics were extremely limited on the Salarian world due to a forced 4 weapon loadout greatly increasing cool-down timers on abilities. My vanguard who could charge every 3 seconds or so in the intro took 17 seconds to cooldown on the second mission which basically turned my vanguard into a glorified soldier.
 
Limahl said:
No problem. It should work fine.

Once you do that, check your "Registered Game Content" on the BioWare site and you should see the Chakram Launcher listed for ME3.
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That worked & KoA:R is actually pretty fun. I'll wait to buy that when its on sale.

I can't complain about getting $10 on ME3 Digital Deluxe Edition from Amazon. I originally preordered it for $71.95 & recently I wanted to change the payment method. Amazon had to cancel my last preorder & wound up giving me a $10 credit when I re-preordered. It came out to $69.99. :D

+1000 to Amazon for awesomeness. I don't care about getting a free copy of BF3, so Amazon works for me instead of Origin.
 
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Ryom said:
beta-ish quality for a early demo such as poor movement
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I was going to chime in here and say that it felt like Sheppard was "floating" when I was walking around. Is that what you are talking about? It doesnt feel like I am solid on the ground and taking actual strides to move.
 
Yes, and the running animation is pretty silly looking as well.
 
YamahaAlex37 said:
Is it just me or did the black guys run animation SUCK in the first part?
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You actually have the same poor animation, but the camera is closer to you and you can't see the flaws :p

Besides Anderson is getting up there in age and has been behind a desk for years, so maybe cut him some slack.
 
Ryom said:
Biotics were extremely limited on the Salarian world due to a forced 4 weapon loadout greatly increasing cool-down timers on abilities. My vanguard who could charge every 3 seconds or so in the intro took 17 seconds to cooldown on the second mission which basically turned my vanguard into a glorified soldier.
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is it because you're using 4 weapons? i didn't know that had anything to do with it.

i figured it was because they didn't give you any upgrades to cooldowns and higher level skills take more time to reset.

i was going to play through the demo 3 or 4 times, but when i found out infiltrators don't get sniper rifles i figure i'll just wait for my friends and play through the co-op portion instead.
 
Limahl said:
In ME2 hooking up with Kelly Chambers was easier than ordering delivery pizza.

Not that thats a bad thing really, and her outfit is um.....interesting when she comes to your cabin.
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I guess you forgot about the Varren Scale Itch. Enjoy your space VD!
 
I finally got around to playing this demo. I've been busy, otherwise I'd have jumped on this the minute it was released as I'm a huge Mass Effect fan.

Does it seem like the music isn't complete for the demo? It doesn't play at all during some sequences or at least, not where I'd have expected it which make some of the in-game cutscences feel a little flatter than they should. The options menu is located under Extras? Why the hell is that an extra? Aside from that, some of BioWare's statements feel a bit off. Mass Effect 3 is supposed to have the fastest combat of the series, but Mass Effect 2 felt faster to me. Though you couldn't do as much with regard to moving in and around cover. Environmental interaction went up as you can now climb ladders and do things like that. But the game doesn't feel as responsive as ME2 felt. Skill upgrades feel a lot like ME1, but simplified rather than being quite as dumbed down as they were in ME2. Of course you can upgrade your companions the same way you handle your skills, which kind of sucks to a degree. The system in ME2 was so simple that handling it for all your companions was real quick. In this game it feels more like micromanagement. I'm not sure I like that, but I'm certain I'll get used to it. I did after all deal with a ton of micromanagement BS in ME1.

I haven't seen anything with regard to weapons upgrades in the demo. Graphically the game is the best looking ME by far. Yeah the graphics aren't amazing or anything, but then again none of the Mass Effect games were. They look OK, environmentally speaking, but the series' real strength lies in character models and facial animations. This title looks the same in that regard. I am also pleased that BioWare implemented anti-aliasing support in the options menu.

I haven't touched the multi-player side yet, but so far the single player demo looks good. It's not perfect, but it's fun and challenging. I didn't waste through it as easily as I did ME2. I'm looking forward to the full retail game as much as ever if not more so.
 
Dan_D said:
I finally got around to playing this demo. I've been busy, otherwise I'd have jumped on this the minute it was released as I'm a huge Mass Effect fan.

I haven't seen anything with regard to weapons upgrades in the demo. Graphically the game is the best looking ME by far. Yeah the graphics aren't amazing or anything, but then again none of the Mass Effect games were. They look OK, environmentally speaking, but the series' real strength lies in character models and facial animations. This title looks the same in that regard. I am also pleased that BioWare implemented anti-aliasing support in the options menu.
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Was wondering where our resident ME junky was. :p

In the demo you pick up a few weapons upgrades lying around - much more like ME1, which I do like. I got a pistol heavy barrel and a few other things, although I didn't actually equip any of it. Not sure if I even could, I assumed I would have to do it in the Normandy.

It's going to take me a while to get used to the new, more complex cover system. I also hope there will be a toggle to turn off the arrows showing which way you'll roll/jump; it really kills the immersion for me.
 
TwistedAegis said:
Was wondering where our resident ME junky was. :p

In the demo you pick up a few weapons upgrades lying around - much more like ME1, which I do like. I got a pistol heavy barrel and a few other things, although I didn't actually equip any of it. Not sure if I even could, I assumed I would have to do it in the Normandy.

It's going to take me a while to get used to the new, more complex cover system. I also hope there will be a toggle to turn off the arrows showing which way you'll roll/jump; it really kills the immersion for me.
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Well I've basically been working my day job, trying to close on a new house, doing my daily PvP's in SWTOR and cranking motherboard reviews out at a fairly good clip. As a result, I was a bit behind on getting to my ME3 demo. :) I haven't been to sleep yet, so I tried the demo after finishing a review and before starting my regular work. I work from home but I've been slammed with crap. Once I get done with the day job, I'll crank up the demo again and go through it more carefully than I did earlier. I didn't get all the way through the demo earlier, but I do believe I got through most of it. I'll give multiplayer a try later as I believe the demo includes that as well. I'm really kind of frightened about how multiplayer will work in practice in the Mass Effect series. Multiplayer tacked onto single player games typically blows. For example, I didn't enjoy it in Dead Space II at all but liked the single player game just fine.

So we'll see. You don't get much of a sense of story from the demo as you can't import your saves into it as far as I know and what's there isn't anything more substantial than a prologue which vaugley refers to the previous games. As a result of that, I've been looking at it more from a gameplay and mechanics standpoint. So I don't think I'm going to see the same enjoyment out of the demo I'll get from the retail game. Still mechanically, it's like an evolved version of ME2's combat, which is a good thing in my book. I think the combat was competently executed in ME2 for the most part. I think the demo is pretty good, but it lacks context and we know it only goes so far, so people should keep that in mind while playing it.
 
CreganTur said:
I guess you forgot about the Varren Scale Itch. Enjoy your space VD!
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I never touched that cesspool, I went for Liara and stuck with it.

I've seen photos on the web though of Kelly......phew.
 
I like the gameplay, seems very ME2 is which, while some of you hate, is exactly what I wanted.

The surround sound seemed quite lacking (things behind you just got really quite, positional audio was suspect) but the overall quality of the sound effects were fantastic. Big fan.
 
Cali3350 said:
I like the gameplay, seems very ME2 is which, while some of you hate, is exactly what I wanted.

The surround sound seemed quite lacking (things behind you just got really quite, positional audio was suspect) but the overall quality of the sound effects were fantastic. Big fan.
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Not sure the demo was even in 5.1, people have been posting about some audio issues though.

http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/344/index/9276890

I was running a 2.1 setup for the demo so far and it was pretty sweet.

I could plug in my Corsair HS-1's and see how it goes though. Prolly be worth it for the retail game.
 
My big complaint is that i still think tech skills and biotic skills shouldn't share the same cooldown.

i get that the first game was too cheap in that you could rattle off every skill in rapid succession to crush everyone, but i think that you could balance it with slightly longer cooldown timers overall for classes that get to use both abilities.

i think the big issue with the demo in terms of gameplay for me is the long cooldown timers. i played a vanguard and maxed out throw, which ended with a cooldown time of 11.5 seconds! either it's an issue which is solved by in-game upgrades like in the 2nd game, or its going to make for some really useless skills...
 
Dome said:
My big complaint is that i still think tech skills and biotic skills shouldn't share the same cooldown.

i get that the first game was too cheap in that you could rattle off every skill in rapid succession to crush everyone, but i think that you could balance it with slightly longer cooldown timers overall for classes that get to use both abilities.

i think the big issue with the demo in terms of gameplay for me is the long cooldown timers. i played a vanguard and maxed out throw, which ended with g cooldown time of 11.5 seconds! either it's an issue which is solved by in-game upgrades like in the 2nd game, or its going to make for some really useless skills...
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My actual Shepard had always been a vanguard, so I naturally chose the class for the demo. I was disappointed that the massive cd on charge turned me into nothing more than a glorified soldier. Hopefully this can be fixed with gear upgrades or something.
 
did you upgrade charge a lot? or is it a massive cooldown regardless or level?

my favorite class in ME1 (i played through i think 9 times) was the engineer with a sniper rifle. although the biotic or vanguard were the strongest. i never really got into the shotgun though

in ME2 Infiltrator was definitely my favorite, followed closely by sentinel. i only played through 4 times though.

so i was bummed when the infiltrator stll had a shotgun in the demo...
 
Honestly I want this game so damn bad that playing the demo is more painful than fun...can't wait for March.
 
Assuming EA doesn't lock down modding the files, myself and some others have already been digging through the Coalesced.bin (the new version of the Coalesced.ini file from ME2), and there's tons of things that can be altered, including likely the cooldowns if you want to tweak it to your preference of what you think it should be.

Now, if EA does any checking for files being modded, this is ripe to get you banned, but we won't know that for a while yet. The reason I expect they will police this is that modding the Coalesced.bin file does affect multiplayer at the moment (confirmed in testing).

So, yes we can mod. Is it worth the risk? I'm thinking no atm, but I'm sure some folks will test the waters when the game goes live and risk being banned. I'm sure not gonna be the guinea pig.

Might be able to have 2 copies of the file and swap between, but log into MP once with the wrong one and it could cost ya perhaps.

Not enough info at this point and as expected, EA/BW aren't saying a word yet.
 
Limahl said:
Assuming EA doesn't lock down modding the files, myself and some others have already been digging through the Coalesced.bin (the new version of the Coalesced.ini file from ME2), and there's tons of things that can be altered, including likely the cooldowns if you want to tweak it to your preference of what you think it should be.
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Thanks for the info. A fair number of us have no interest in the MP.
 
Dome said:
did you upgrade charge a lot? or is it a massive cooldown regardless or level?

my favorite class in ME1 (i played through i think 9 times) was the engineer with a sniper rifle. although the biotic or vanguard were the strongest. i never really got into the shotgun though

in ME2 Infiltrator was definitely my favorite, followed closely by sentinel. i only played through 4 times though.

so i was bummed when the infiltrator stll had a shotgun in the demo...
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ATTN: Everyone regarding cooldowns:

You can choose your weapon load out in the full game, but not in the demo. Since you are locked into 4 weaps, you get a really long cooldown on biotic talents. In the earlier level you had the normal 2 weapon load out and could charge every 3 secs or so. With a 4 weapon loadout cooldowns take 17-20 seconds!
 
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I gave the demo a go. It was alright. I only played the first level and gave the MP a shot though that was more frustrating than anything else.

Combat is fine.. though it reminded me how much I hate the "action key" concept. Why can't I have a run button and a use button? Also, FOV doesn't usually bother me too much, but it is indeed awful here. Shepard shouldn't take up 1/4 of the screen. The first game did that the best, but still, it should be adjustable.

Also, was I the only person happy when that kid died? lol
 
drako said:
Thanks for the info. A fair number of us have no interest in the MP.
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Just came across this by chance, looks like one part of the "cooldown" section. If so, then it should be editable to be more like what people want.

"usesharedpowercooldown": [
"TRUE"
]
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drako said:
I'm not sure I'm a fan of the music I've heard. I'm sure the Mansell fans are going nuts over it, but it just feels very incompatible with the ME universe to me.
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Well I guess it's just up to taste, but for me and a lot of science fiction fans, we are tired of the full Michael Bay/Modern Warfare orchestral movements being put into games at every point, its overblown and what we used to call "over-produced". Not saying that's what you had in mind I am just talking in general. The music of Mass Effect series is probably some of the best post-Tangerine Dream music I have heard in a very long time.
 
Limahl said:
Assuming EA doesn't lock down modding the files, myself and some others have already been digging through the Coalesced.bin (the new version of the Coalesced.ini file from ME2), and there's tons of things that can be altered, including likely the cooldowns if you want to tweak it to your preference of what you think it should be.

Now, if EA does any checking for files being modded, this is ripe to get you banned, but we won't know that for a while yet. The reason I expect they will police this is that modding the Coalesced.bin file does affect multiplayer at the moment (confirmed in testing).

So, yes we can mod. Is it worth the risk? I'm thinking no atm, but I'm sure some folks will test the waters when the game goes live and risk being banned. I'm sure not gonna be the guinea pig.

Might be able to have 2 copies of the file and swap between, but log into MP once with the wrong one and it could cost ya perhaps.

Not enough info at this point and as expected, EA/BW aren't saying a word yet.
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How about modding things like the FOV and whatnot? I wouldn't know if the graphics settings would be tied into the file you specified, but if so can it be adjusted. It's my only complaint with the game. The FOV gives me a serious headache like I play it with blinders/binocs on.
 
So I tried out multiplayer tonight not expecting much. I was surprised to find that it is actually pretty damn fun to play. I was semi-expecting some tacked on nonsense, but it is actually fairly well done. It's similar to the popular survival modes that a ton of games have these days (Gears of War made it popular IIRC), but during some of the waves you have objectives to accomplish instead of just killing all of the enemies. The different class combos make things interesting too. My coworker and I were having fun tag teaming enemies by using my Asari Adept's stasis ability to freeze enemies in place while he lined up easy headshots with his sniper rifle.

From what I've read, the multiplayer WILL affect your single player game if you play it. However, you can apparently get the same bonuses that playing multiplayer provides at some point in the main story too. I obviously don't know how this will work for sure, but I imagine it's probably something like giving the player free ship upgrades instead of having to pay for them. Since there are multiple areas for the multiplayer representing different species' territories, perhaps winning enough multiplayer matches in a given area will also give you a social boost to help recruit the associated species easier.
 
Buxaroo said:
How about modding things like the FOV and whatnot? I wouldn't know if the graphics settings would be tied into the file you specified, but if so can it be adjusted. It's my only complaint with the game. The FOV gives me a serious headache like I play it with blinders/binocs on.
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most likely all those relevant settings are going to be mixed into the same configs. normally devs would seperate the classes of functions into their own files, and secure only the ones needed. like on steam, where you can mod as you want and/or choose between vac in/secure play. but knowing the way bio/ea does things, they're just going to roll it all up into one big clusterfuck for us to deal with. so I forsee only 2 possible scenarios here post launch:

1. zero file checks and rampant cheating, then we can do what we want with sp
2. completely locked down configs that you won't be able to do jack shit with, securing this game for the 3 people that do want to play mp

either way fat chance they're going to deal with this basic functions that we've all been whining about ever since the first release, just more of the same porting along with the "we give a shit about pc games" propaganda.
 
I'm on the fence about this one. Felt more arcade/generic than ME2. Will wait for the user reviews of the full game.
 
Got into multiplayer last night and found it to be a ton of fun! First 2 sessions didn't go to well since I had to figure out what was going on, but my next 2 groups worked together really well and we finished the missions with successful extraction. Those 2 missions alone netted me 7 levels!

Played as an Infiltrator and it was great.Cloak + Heavy Melee works very well.
 
Buxaroo said:
Well I guess it's just up to taste, but for me and a lot of science fiction fans, we are tired of the full Michael Bay/Modern Warfare orchestral movements being put into games at every point, its overblown and what we used to call "over-produced". Not saying that's what you had in mind I am just talking in general. The music of Mass Effect series is probably some of the best post-Tangerine Dream music I have heard in a very long time.
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Quite the opposite actually. I absolutely loved the soundtrack to the first game. But I thought the second, while decent, was much more generic. The big Mansell track in the demo (for the kid scene) didn't really impress me that much. I miss music like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfOjaLKRW0o

But you are definitely correct in that it is all up to taste. And I did like the MP menu music.. so that's something. ;)
 
drako said:
Quite the opposite actually. I absolutely loved the soundtrack to the first game. But I thought the second, while decent, was much more generic. The big Mansell track in the demo (for the kid scene) didn't really impress me that much. I miss music like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfOjaLKRW0o

But you are definitely correct in that it is all up to taste. And I did like the MP menu music.. so that's something. ;)
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For the sake of consistency, they should have let Jack Wall and his crew finish this series out. I'm going to miss his flavor and tone big time in this game.

I've never been big on Mansell.
 
I'll wait to judge the music until I've listened to every track. It might be more epic than what the demo has represented.
 
CrimsonKnight13 said:
I'll wait to judge the music until I've listened to every track. It might be more epic than what the demo has represented.
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I agree on waiting to judge, but the last thing I want is more "epic," though given the subject matter of the game I don't doubt that is the direction they are going.

I'm probably one of the few people that agrees with you Q-BZ on Mansell. My favorite score of his is Black Swan, and that was mostly source material. A fair number of the old crew are still on board though. In particular, Sam Hulick apparently has a large role in the ME3 soundtrack, and he did the excellent music for the Arrival DLC.
 
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