Mass Effect 3 Discussion Thread

Dan_D said:
The "Buy DLC" message at the end is also gone post EC installation. And the DLC's are quite good. A new DLC is also in the works which is bringing back a ton of the voice actors and is supposed to be bigger than any DLC they've put out. Ever.
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I think the reason eyebrows are raised at the DLC, besides the lingering distaste over the original ending, is the price increase that ME3 DLC has seen. At it's price, Lair of the Shadow Broker was a great value. But is Omega really worth that much more? Even if you argue that prices are increasing in general, Omega would still have to be of the same quality as LotSB. I haven't heard that it is, but I haven't personally played it.

And if this next DLC is going to be so big, what are they going to charge for it? If they go for expansion pack pricing, it had better have expansion pack quality content and in reasonable quantity.

I think my biggest remaining issue with the plot of ME3 (after the fixes to the ending) is Kai-Leng. The character comes out of nowhere, has no back story beyond the "I'm the loyal henchman I'm-a gonna get ya!", and I don't really think his martial arts-movie moves and styling fit the ME universe at all. All of that wouldn't bother me too much if he wasn't there at every corner in the game. I'd have rather just seen the Illusive Man than this hollow henchman character.
 
Sycraft said:
At this point, I'm not giving it a chance. ME3 just ruined the series for me. After playing it through I have had no desire to replay any of them anymore, which is sad (I love replaying games and replaced the first two quite a few times). The story was just irredeemably bad in more ways than one for me and it just ruined the universe. I lost all interest, uninstalled it, and haven't had a desire to go back.

For me they can't fix it with DLC short of going back and rewriting everything from Priority: Earth onward, and probably some other stuff too. It isn't a case of rage, but just that I didn't enjoy it. It ruined the story, the universe, for me so I've no interest in playing in it anymore. I play other things.

I'm also not interested in giving them any more money for this series. I am a big fan of "vote with your wallet". I got screwed over, but I won't continue to throw good money after bad hoping that it'll get fixed.

It also taught me to never, ever, preorder a game even if you like the series. Always wait until it launches and you can evaluate if you should buy it. I would have been much happier had I never played 3, and just continued to enjoy 1 and 2.
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You guys do know there is a mod to remove the Starbrat and change the ending right?
 
Dan_D said:
You guys do know there is a mod to remove the Starbrat and change the ending right?
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Yeah and I need to get on that asap. Playing it in bits and pieces. Enjoying it so far. Fighting mechanics suck but that is partially due to the gametype. Still clunky as hell but so is everything else. BF3 get caught on a pebble anyone?
 
Having enjoyed ME1 and 2, but not being a fanboi, having only played 3 with the extended ending, and having only paid 12 bucks for it (lots of qualifiers there), I can say I enjoyed it and didn't understand all the hate it got.

Reading up, it looks like MP and the iOS minigames factored heavily into 'readiness rating', final military strength, and therefore available endings. Plus, the adjusted military strength #'s were tighter in the original release before better endings were unlocked. Given that most players will skate through the main missions, I can see how this would lead to some p.o.'d gamers.
 
Dan_D said:
The game autosaves at a few points on the Priority: Earth mission. But quick save and manual saves are indeed blocked. I think it's an example of extending the playtime of the game artificially in order to keep people from running all the endings quickly. Given the initial quality of the ending it was probably a wise move. As for BioWare points, they never go onsale and DLC doesn't ever seem to either. Playtime for the money is a hard question to answer. I think they were both worth it but then again I know I'll replay them probably half a dozen times or more.

As for Miranda, you never get a third call. You get an E-Mail from her at your private terminal. Then you have to find her on the Citadel. She's in the Presidium Commons and she's in the apartments near where you met the Blood Pack leader and killed him with the help of that Batarian. It's also in the same area where the Blasto 6 advertisement is and you helped Ambassador Din Korlak avoid getting killed by Zaeed. That's also where Zaeed dies if you screwed up. And there are several ways to get Miranda killed during the Horizon mission. I believe not having her loyalty from ME2 (assuming she survived which is generally unlikely without her loyalty, but definitely possible) or not telling her about Kai-Leng while talking to her over the QEC in teh Spectre offices will get her killed. If you skip the second meeting I don't know if the third one can take place or not. Even if it does if you didn't tell her about Kai-Leng or you chose the wrong options during her confrontation with her father she's toast.
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It's hard to justify those DLC prices in the current market compared to what the main game is currently going for, not to mention other full games. Sales from Steam, GMG, GOG, Amazon, and Gamefly have changed the market.

I went back and found Miranda there, and that gets back to another quibble: journal entries. Open an email and it doesn't add a journal entry to meet someone. Worse, read emails disappear down the list into alphabetized rather than chronological order, and you can't access them while you're trudging around the Citadel looking for those blue X's. An inventory of artifacts would be nice too. The journal entries weren't always clear on those missions either. Perhaps I missed something.
 
Ruiner said:
Having enjoyed ME1 and 2, but not being a fanboi, having only played 3 with the extended ending, and having only paid 12 bucks for it (lots of qualifiers there), I can say I enjoyed it and didn't understand all the hate it got.

Reading up, it looks like MP and the iOS minigames factored heavily into 'readiness rating', final military strength, and therefore available endings. Plus, the adjusted military strength #'s were tighter in the original release before better endings were unlocked. Given that most players will skate through the main missions, I can see how this would lead to some p.o.'d gamers.
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no all the endings where the same ....
no really the only change was the color of the beam of light

here are all "six" endings played side by side pre-EC
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPelM2hwhJA
you can see what the raging was about
EC still doesnt change they decided to shit all over the already established story and pull star-brat out oh there ass
 
Ruiner said:
Having enjoyed ME1 and 2, but not being a fanboi, having only played 3 with the extended ending, and having only paid 12 bucks for it (lots of qualifiers there), I can say I enjoyed it and didn't understand all the hate it got.

Reading up, it looks like MP and the iOS minigames factored heavily into 'readiness rating', final military strength, and therefore available endings. Plus, the adjusted military strength #'s were tighter in the original release before better endings were unlocked. Given that most players will skate through the main missions, I can see how this would lead to some p.o.'d gamers.
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The original ending kind of just dropped you, thats what made people mad. The more people dug to figure out WTF just happened, the more problems they found. The EC didn't fix all the problems, leaving some people still upset. The original ending left a significant number of players wondering if they just blew up the entire universe and killed everyone. It was a failure of the writers to explain what was happening, combined with some graphic designers that got carried away.
 
wizdum said:
The original ending kind of just dropped you, thats what made people mad. The more people dug to figure out WTF just happened, the more problems they found. The EC didn't fix all the problems, leaving some people still upset. The original ending left a significant number of players wondering if they just blew up the entire universe and killed everyone. It was a failure of the writers to explain what was happening, combined with some graphic designers that got carried away.
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Pretty much. The nerd rage over the original endings is pretty well justified.
 
People always think it was just the ending that universally ruined the game for people. Granted, the ending was horrible and definitely put a nail in the coffin, but it goes beyond the ending. From the very start, the story of ME3 betrayed it's predecessors and treated the player like an idiot with no memory. Through the game there was:
- No sign of the growing chaos/entropy/dark energy storyline
- The reapers character changed from super intelligent and advanced mecha-bio beings into some sort of drone like space bug.
- The reapers power minimized. In the previous games (and even the third) it is explained that even 1 reaper could barely be defeated by all of the might of the entire galaxy. In the third game multiple thousands of these things show up. That's game over. Especially if they are allowed their original super-intelligent character.
- Over-emotionalized story telling tropes. An opening scene with a random kid in danger and super cheesy "emotion" cut scenes. Brutal. Then that kid turns into the star child... If they had made the kid a form of mind control exerted by a reaper, that would have been cool. Those scenes still would have been brutally cheesey, but the payoff would have been cool.
- Too many plot holes to mention. Look back at the RPGCodex review: http://www.rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=8117

It may be a fun game in some gameplay respects. And DLC and Mods may make the story better. But the way it ruined the established story (From the get go) is what turned many players off. Not just the ending (which also featured some god awful level design and gameplay choices).
 
Elios said:
no all the endings where the same ....
no really the only change was the color of the beam of light

here are all "six" endings played side by side pre-EC
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPelM2hwhJA
you can see what the raging was about
EC still doesnt change they decided to shit all over the already established story and pull star-brat out oh there ass
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Lol. Having seen that, I get it. Ouch.

I've just played 2 so far: extended cut green and EC 'no choice'. Played a couple of rounds of MP, then uninstalled. I'd like to play the DLC, but not at those prices.
 
Maplehamwich said:
People always think it was just the ending that universally ruined the game for people. Granted, the ending was horrible and definitely put a nail in the coffin, but it goes beyond the ending. From the very start, the story of ME3 betrayed it's predecessors and treated the player like an idiot with no memory. Through the game there was:
- No sign of the growing chaos/entropy/dark energy storyline
- The reapers character changed from super intelligent and advanced mecha-bio beings into some sort of drone like space bug.
- The reapers power minimized. In the previous games (and even the third) it is explained that even 1 reaper could barely be defeated by all of the might of the entire galaxy. In the third game multiple thousands of these things show up. That's game over. Especially if they are allowed their original super-intelligent character.
- Over-emotionalized story telling tropes. An opening scene with a random kid in danger and super cheesy "emotion" cut scenes. Brutal. Then that kid turns into the star child... If they had made the kid a form of mind control exerted by a reaper, that would have been cool. Those scenes still would have been brutally cheesey, but the payoff would have been cool.
- Too many plot holes to mention. Look back at the RPGCodex review: http://www.rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=8117

It may be a fun game in some gameplay respects. And DLC and Mods may make the story better. But the way it ruined the established story (From the get go) is what turned many players off. Not just the ending (which also featured some god awful level design and gameplay choices).
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see i wish i could write like that
VERY well said
 
Maplehamwich said:
- The reapers character changed from super intelligent and advanced mecha-bio beings into some sort of drone like space bug.
- The reapers power minimized. In the previous games (and even the third) it is explained that even 1 reaper could barely be defeated by all of the might of the entire galaxy. In the third game multiple thousands of these things show up. That's game over. Especially if they are allowed their original super-intelligent character.
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I think this favorite image of mine sums that part up nicely.

ME3_Reapers.jpg


If they had stuck with how it was in ME1, by the time we got to ME3, shit would have been epic, and even if we lost at that point, it would have made more sense.
 
I never really found an issue with the story and idea of the reapers...but then again I don't over analyze everything. I just play the game and enjoy.
 
The concept of the Reapers protecting organic life by destroying advanced organic species isn't so bad. It's an idea that's been explored before and could fit with ME1 just fine. The problem was that you were given options in the ME3 ending, including synthesis with the machines, which makes no sense in the context of the former idea.
 
xIronCrossx said:
I never really found an issue with the story and idea of the reapers...but then again I don't over analyze everything. I just play the game and enjoy.
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I'm with you!

I'm also one of the rare few who enjoyed the ending, and the EC one even more so. I definitely have issues with it, but I wouldn't let that make me hate the entire game (or indeed the entire SERIES like some people have stated.)

My overall rough view of the trilogy is like this:

ME1: Best story, good storytelling, relatively weak gameplay.
ME2: Weak story, amazing storytelling, better gameplay.
ME3: Weakest story, good storytelling, best gameplay overall.

I want ME with ME3's gameplay, ME1's story, and ME2's storytelling.

BTW, by storytelling I'm referring to the quality of dialogue and character development, excitement in the storyline, things like that. Basically how much the game pulls you in and makes you feel emotions, even if the plot itself had holes.

I still get shivers thinking about springing the Collector trap.

last edit: The soundtrack of ME3 was a major downfall from the first two games. NOWHERE NEAR as good as what we got in ME1 and ME2.
 
What? ME3 had a pretty damn good soundtrack, or atleast the music I remember hearing was great.

Limahl said:
-snip- Pic of the incredulity of changing purpose of the Reapers.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvyJo3EzZZk

I don't see a whole lot of change really, roughly 1:30ish. It just seem to have more of it screaming in the second and 3rd game.

That said, I finally got around to watching the indoctrination theory video along with the extended cut videos. And Quite frankly I'm convinced of it. Or the original thought of it.... (which I still hope is in, at least, some of the developer's minds)

Didn't read through the whole thread since I literally dropped ME3 after beating it because I was so utterly disappointed with the ending originally... but I don't know if anyone noticed how the EC endings didn't really contradict the Indoctrination Theory at all. Not only that, it probably more so, implies that the Indoctrination theory is real. You see that in all the endings, Shepard pretty much dies and is remembered for his efforts and whatnot. But after the Destroy ending, you still see him shifting in the rocks.... AFTER the scene with his abandon helmet and his plaque being put on the wall of the dead. So that may as well be all in his head, after fighting off the indoctrination.

So...... youknow what? Fuck the idiots who denied it, because they already bowed down to money anyway. I'm sticking to the Indoctrination Theory... and because I do, I'm finding that I'm liking the ending a lot more now. I can still agree though, that the "choices" of ME3 and character development in it was shit though. But I had a rush playing it so I never noticed it the first time around.
 
Colonel Sanders said:
last edit: The soundtrack of ME3 was a major downfall from the first two games. NOWHERE NEAR as good as what we got in ME1 and ME2.
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Absolutely! It really suffered from firing Jack Wall. And really, there didn't seem to be a whole ton of original music in the game at all, besides the Mansell pieces which didn't fit at all IMO.

Ironically, probably my favorite piece of music in ME3 was the song that played while you were talking to starkid.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCiPUgOahuc
 
Serpent said:
What? ME3 had a pretty damn good soundtrack, or atleast the music I remember hearing was great.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvyJo3EzZZk

I don't see a whole lot of change really, roughly 1:30ish. It just seem to have more of it screaming in the second and 3rd game.

That said, I finally got around to watching the indoctrination theory video along with the extended cut videos. And Quite frankly I'm convinced of it. Or the original thought of it.... (which I still hope is in, at least, some of the developer's minds)

Didn't read through the whole thread since I literally dropped ME3 after beating it because I was so utterly disappointed with the ending originally... but I don't know if anyone noticed how the EC endings didn't really contradict the Indoctrination Theory at all. Not only that, it probably more so, implies that the Indoctrination theory is real. You see that in all the endings, Shepard pretty much dies and is remembered for his efforts and whatnot. But after the Destroy ending, you still see him shifting in the rocks.... AFTER the scene with his abandon helmet and his plaque being put on the wall of the dead. So that may as well be all in his head, after fighting off the indoctrination.

So...... youknow what? Fuck the idiots who denied it, because they already bowed down to money anyway. I'm sticking to the Indoctrination Theory... and because I do, I'm finding that I'm liking the ending a lot more now. I can still agree though, that the "choices" of ME3 and character development in it was shit though. But I had a rush playing it so I never noticed it the first time around.
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I liked the sound track for ME3. People say it's too different from the first games yet ME2 and ME1 are very different in terms of their soundtracks as well.
 
Dan_D said:
I liked the sound track for ME3. People say it's too different from the first games yet ME2 and ME1 are very different in terms of their soundtracks as well.
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ME3 ST has its moments. I'm still a fan of An End, Once And For All out of that one, simple yet powerful. Nothing will dethrone the club music from Afterlife in ME2 for me though. I still remember walking in there the very first time and that beat started playing.....

http://youtu.be/Y2LfVZ2JN9o

Very good memories of those days, very good indeed.
 
So anyone going to get the Citadel DLC? I'm downloading it. I hear its actually really decent.
 
Nope. Still holding strong on my promise not to buy any DLC for this game since none of it can influence the ending.
 
I was really hoping for a sale on the other DLC when this was released. I'd like to revisit ME3 with the DLC... but it'll $55 to purchase it all. I only paid $15 for the damn game...
 
Viper87227 said:
I was really hoping for a sale on the other DLC when this was released. I'd like to revisit ME3 with the DLC... but it'll $55 to purchase it all. I only paid $15 for the damn game...
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Fat chance. That's partly why EA doesn't like Valve's DLC policy on Steam. They have no intentions of putting that stuff on sale.

Having said that... I'm also curious as to the quality of this add-on. It didn't sound like the Omega one was worth the asking price, but maybe this one will be. I want to do a replay of the series soon and if I add the ME3 DLC I can get a good quantity of new gameplay.
 
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drako said:
Fat chance. That's partly why EA doesn't like Valve's DLC policy on Steam. They have no intentions of putting that stuff on sale.
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Some googleing suggests that they have gone on sale in the past. It's not an EA thing, it's a Bioware thing. BF3 has had DLC sales (and can also be purchased third party), as have other EA games. The problem is that you have to buy lame ass Bioware points to buy the ME3 DLC... further worsened by the fact that you can't buy the exact denomination of points you need to buy all the DLC, so you end up with extra useless points. It's a bitch move, and it's 100% Bioware. They did the same thing with ME2, which wasn't Origin exclusive and the like. I bought that game on sale too on Steam, and paid a damn fortune for all it's DLC.
 
Downloading now, I had a great time playing all three games.

Luckily for me I only started playing ME1 just a few months ago.. so by the time I started playing this trilogy, most of the DLC's had been out.
I purchased almost all the DLC's except Omega and had the luxury of already having the extended cut released.

Overall well worth the money I put into everything, although with that said I spent a total of $29 for all three games (not including DLC)

From the looks of it I will enjoy playing Citadel as it's one big Mass Effect send off.
 
Godmachine said:
So anyone going to get the Citadel DLC? I'm downloading it. I hear its actually really decent.
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I picked it up and will give it a try tonight. I find it interesting that even though it's been quite some time that ME3 was released some folks are seriously still ridiculously outraged at ME3's ending
 
Neb said:
I picked it up and will give it a try tonight. I find it interesting that even though it's been quite some time that ME3 was released some folks are seriously still ridiculously outraged at ME3's ending
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Having more time go by won't make you like something. The game experience people had back then won't change either.
 
it is not "ridiculously outraged". It is justified when a game you absolutely love for the ability to make meaningful choices shits on you and gives you the same ending in 3 different colors.
 
Neb said:
I picked it up and will give it a try tonight. I find it interesting that even though it's been quite some time that ME3 was released some folks are seriously still ridiculously outraged at ME3's ending
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Yea , its time to let that shit go. I did. I was outraged but I got over it. In fact now I've accepted it , Shep was always meant to die and that's fine. It doesn't make other gaping plot holes any less dumb but the ME series is not worth dismissing because of that. Its still one of the best series of games I've played in ages. Not everything has to be Final Fantasy SNES long and with the depth of RTS. Sometimes its just good to plunge into a series and take it for what its worth.

Besides with the ME series still moving on there is no looking back now.

By the way the DLC is really great so far.
 
Godmachine said:
So anyone going to get the Citadel DLC? I'm downloading it. I hear its actually really decent.
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Holy shit! I forgot all about it! Downloading it now. Will definitely be playing it this weekend.

Limahl said:
ME3 ST has its moments. I'm still a fan of An End, Once And For All out of that one, simple yet powerful. Nothing will dethrone the club music from Afterlife in ME2 for me though. I still remember walking in there the very first time and that beat started playing.....

http://youtu.be/Y2LfVZ2JN9o

Very good memories of those days, very good indeed.
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Definitely! Too bad this wasn't on the soundtrack though. It is the best song from that game. Really made the atmosphere in Afterlife. I also thought An End was perfect, especially paired with the Control ending. Shep grabbing those electrodes or whatever the hell they were, flashbacks of the crew, Shep stumbling and having to reach back up and grab them...just brilliant!

Sovereign's theme is also great.

CreganTur said:
Nope. Still holding strong on my promise not to buy any DLC for this game since none of it can influence the ending.
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Shame. Youre missing out.

jiminator said:
it is not "ridiculously outraged". It is justified when a game you absolutely love for the ability to make meaningful choices shits on you and gives you the same ending in 3 different colors.
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No, its ridiculously outraged. Its a video game, not eye surgery. Yeah the ending was a let down, but the other 99% of the game was outstanding especially considering they went back and put together the Extended Cut ending, and with that EC, the endings aren't bad at all anymore. What made Mass Effect great wasn't the choices, it was the characters and the story. There are other games where you can make meaningful choices but that doesn't make them ME.

Let it go man. Disappointed I get. Outraged over a 5 minute ending I don't especially when the over 90 hours of game play over the 3 games is among the best ever created.
 
I haven't played any of the ME3 DLC yet. I got pissed off at the ending and didn't want to touch any of it. Thinking I may play through them this weekend. Is it just like ME2 DLC where you load up your last save and go to the galaxy map console to start it?
 
Yep. Youll get an email telling you where to go to start the DLC.

**edit**

Just to clarify, I meant youll get an email on Commander Shepard's private terminal in the game. BioWare doesn't actually send you an email. :D
 
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Just downloaded around 7.5GB of ME3 DLC. Went to start up the game and discovered that because I had deleted the From Ashes DLC to make room on my hard drive (Xbox) it wouldn't load my save. Now waiting on that 600MB to download.
 
Maximus825 said:
I haven't played any of the ME3 DLC yet. I got pissed off at the ending and didn't want to touch any of it. Thinking I may play through them this weekend. Is it just like ME2 DLC where you load up your last save and go to the galaxy map console to start it?
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Pretty much. The Extended Cut and other DLC's really do help the game quite a bit. The improved endings aren't perfect, but they are far better than the original endings.
 
Why doesn't Shepard get a badass Asian biotic squadmate with a sword? The Alliance trips over its own feet. They really just send Vega and nobody else? And aren't the default weapons just vendor trash? I tried them out on the targets after Horizon and they felt pathetic.

James is a fine soldier, but humanity's last hope and he's the only human option other than Virmire survivor? He or she is weak, IMO, especially after seeing the beat down on Mars.

The only squadmate that made me smile in combat was Grunt. Why didn't they enable a Salarian STG infiltrator? I don't care about war assets.

Does anyone do stupid stuff like have James try to hack things or do anything at a console and see what happens?
 
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