Mass Effect 3 Discussion Thread

[J W]

Amen!



Oh yeah. The best part is, my Tuesday night class was cancelled because the prof is going to a convention.

LOL that the professor has to lie so that he (she?) can stay at home to play ME3.

Next week will be about the same for most: "Sorry, I can't help you tonight as I need to edge the grass" or "I have to change the oil in my car." Maybe "I need to wash my hair." To esteemed friends "I have some papers to look over."

My robotic dog will understand me.

 

[MaZa]

Official launch trailer is out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bG2mdZ23eP8


*sigh* Only few more days to go... Damnit the wait is killing me! SWTOR doesnt satisfy my Scifi needs enough. X(

 

[MorgothPl]

5 days wait time (got info on Origin, that game will be playable on 8th march).... already preloading. Book and the soundtrack will be aviable to leech on 5th March, DLC and other Digital Deluxe Edition are ready now.

Damn, and I thought I was hyped before SW:ToR.... can't wait now - already replaeyed ME1+ME2 3 times, to get different choices in 3rd part

 

[NKDietrich]

5 days wait time (got info on Origin, that game will be playable on 8th march).... already preloading. Book and the soundtrack will be aviable to leech on 5th March, DLC and other Digital Deluxe Edition are ready now.

Damn, and I thought I was hyped before SW:ToR.... can't wait now - already replaeyed ME1+ME2 3 times, to get different choices in 3rd part

ME3 becomes playable on origin on March 5th at 9 PM PST, actually. Try playing the game and it tells you when it will unlock.

 

[Viper87227]

ME3 becomes playable on origin on March 5th at 9 PM PST, actually. Try playing the game and it tells you when it will unlock.

I wonder if you can spoof your location like you could for BF3.

 

[MaZa]

ME3 becomes playable on origin on March 5th at 9 PM PST, actually. Try playing the game and it tells you when it will unlock.

Thanks to a tradition that had some point (shipping) during the stoneage of gaming we european gamers get shafted in the ass with 3 inch pole, again and again. We can play the game only at 9th March even with digital downloads, which may very well be downloadable days before but will only unlock at "official EU release date".


It makes no god damn sense in this day and age but majority of big publishers still do it even if they dont have to...

 

[Derangel]

Thanks to a tradition that had some point (shipping) during the stoneage of gaming we european gamers get shafted in the ass with 3 inch pole, again and again. We can play the game only at 9th March even with digital downloads, which may very well be downloadable days before but will only unlock at "official EU release date".


It makes no god damn sense in this day and age but majority of big publishers still do it even if they dont have to...

Yes they do have to if they want retailers to stock their games.

 

[MaZa]

Yes they do have to if they want retailers to stock their games.

Except its a known fact that retailers tend to have the games in stock for days, maybe even weeks before release date. How do you think pirate groups get their "early copies"? Also the games do not get printed in the US and then shipped into EU, that would be huge waste of resource if they would. No, EU copies are made here in EU and then spread around the continent just like they do there in US.

Plus digital releases do not have stocks at all so there is even less reason for that.

Want an example of big game release that did it all fairly? Half-Life 2. That game had an international release date, it was released everywhere on very same date. No, this tuesday release in US and friday release in EU is just a stupid tradition that needs to go.

 

[Derangel]

Except its a known fact that retailers tend to have the games in stock for days, maybe even weeks before release date. How do you think pirate groups get their "early copies"? Also the games do not get printed in the US and then shipped into EU, that would be huge waste of resource if they would. No, EU copies are made here in EU and then spread around the continent just like they do there in US.

Plus digital releases do not have stocks at all so there is even less reason for that.

Want an example of big game release that did it all fairly? Half-Life 2. That game had an international release date, it was released everywhere on very same date. No, this tuesday release in US and friday release in EU is just a stupid tradition that needs to go.

My point was that digital games HAVE to release the same day or after retail copies. They can not release them earlier digitally due to contracts made with retail shops. It's just that simple. Same with prices.

 

[MaZa]

My point was that digital games HAVE to release the same day or after retail copies. They can not release them earlier digitally due to contracts made with retail shops. It's just that simple. Same with prices.

Ah. I misunderstood your point then. But it doesnt make any more sense why majority of big games get few days later release date in EU than in US when its clearly not necessary.


Oh well, there is no point raging it over here anyway. I just want the game soooo bad.

 

[eloj]

My point was that digital games HAVE to release the same day or after retail copies. They can not release them earlier digitally due to contracts made with retail shops. It's just that simple. Same with prices.

Your point was a non-sequitur given that the complaint wasn't about the difference in release date between stores and online, but between different geographical regions.

A difference for which of course, there is not good reason.

 

[blade52x]

Personally, although I don't look down upon multiple playthroughs or having multiple "shephard's" to play with, I stand strongly by the having an "original" shephard. You know, you're first playthrough where you acted based on how you felt rather than about having a "perfect" playthrough, or a paragon or renegade only playthrough etc. I feel that the "original" playthrough is a story that was actually crafted by you. I mean, everyone can do the perfect playthrough but where is the sense of accomplishment. I only have 1 playthrough on both ME's for this reason. ME1 went like this for me : Was pretty much neutral on the paragon/renegade scale, killed the rachni queen because I didn't want them around anymore; killed wrex because honestly, who was he to question me; saved ashley because well, my shep is a male and let the council die because they the focus was on sovereign; also put Anderson in charge. In ME2, pretty much, thane and jack died because I didn't know not upgrading certain parts of the ship would cause death; I took my time rescueing the crew because I went and did Legion's loyalty mission which resulted in the crew being killed and I blew up the Collector Base so the Illusive Man is a little pissed. So yea, I don't know, I think the first playthrough is the one I'm most excited about because I have to deal with the decisions I made based on my gut feeling, not a pre-determined route. It's the story I crafted and the story I'm going to continue and end with. How about you all?

I...

- Let the rachni queen live
- Convinced Wrex
- Saved Ashley
- Let the council die
- Put Andersen in charge
- Thane and Jack died
- All of my crew except for two were killed
- Blew up the collector base

Can't wait for ME3! I 100% agree with the original post. Once I finish ME3.... then I'll probably go back and try out some alternate routes. Hell... I'll probably just start completely fresh from ME1 and go a different route.

 

[BigJayDogg3]

Having played the Demo, I think I may have made a mistake letting Cerberus keep the collector base.

I don't really want to have to fight Cerberus technology!

 

[J W]

Having played the Demo, I think I may have made a mistake letting Cerberus keep the collector base.

I don't really want to have to fight Cerberus technology!

They're assholes. You should have known better!

I think I may be as excited for ME3 as I was for Skyrim.

 

[blade52x]

I tried the demo. I'm glad they didn't change very much. The mouse sensitivity is greatly improved, the character movement has been improved, and the dodging seems like a nice addition. Overall, it feels like Mass Effect. I only played through the first mission just to get a feel for the game, and stopped there (don't want any spoilers).

I wonder if the choices you made in the previous games along with this one will lead you down to a ending where you either beat the Reapers, or lose and watch the entire galaxy fall. And when I say that, I truly mean prerequisites from ME1/ME2, because wow... the entire series would have total re-playability if that were the case.

 

[Valshistixol]

The ending got leaked. I'll just warn everyone that it ruins the entire series.

 

[Neb]

The ending got leaked. I'll just warn everyone that it ruins the entire series.

I'll see what I think of it when I get there personally. Are you even buying the game? IIRC, you've been fairly negative through this entire thread.

 

[J W]

The ending got leaked. I'll just warn everyone that it ruins the entire series.

it was all a dream.


(and LOL, if the ending is more than what I expect it to be -- Shepard saves the universe -- then I'll be more impressed than anything.)

 

[Neb]

it was all a dream.

With all the romance involved, maybe it was a wet dream?

 

[Valshistixol]

I'll see what I think of it when I get there personally. Are you even buying the game? IIRC, you've been fairly negative through this entire thread.

Not a lot to be positive about. I own both Mass Effect 1 and 2. I loved 1, 2 wasn't very good, and 3 is shaping up to be a turd.

 

[bloodhawke83]

Tried to update Origin so I can play Mass Effect 3.

1. update failed, wont start.
2. uninstalled and reinstalled. failed.
3. uninstalled and reinstalled. failed.
4 uninstalled and reinstalled. failed.
5. uninstalled and reinstalled. failed.

F it.

 

[Dan_D]

I...

- Let the rachni queen live
- Convinced Wrex
- Saved Ashley
- Let the council die
- Put Andersen in charge
- Thane and Jack died
- All of my crew except for two were killed
- Blew up the collector base

Can't wait for ME3! I 100% agree with the original post. Once I finish ME3.... then I'll probably go back and try out some alternate routes. Hell... I'll probably just start completely fresh from ME1 and go a different route.

I did a lot of work on the second game in 8 playthroughs to figure out how my choices turned out. Here is the results output from the ME2 save reader found on BioWare's site. Which includes the import data in the file from ME1.

Mass Effect 1:

• Romance: Liara
• Ash or Kaidan saved on Virmire? Ashley
• Council status: saved
• Human on council: Anderson
• Wrex status: alive
• Rachni status: alive

Mass Effect 2:

• Romance: Liara
• Collector base destroyed.
• Heretic Geth were re-written.
• Mordin was stopped from killing Maelon.
• Mordin saved the Genophage research data.
• Jack spared Aresh.
• Tali was found innocent.

• Garrus is part of your crew. You have gained his loyalty. Garrus spared Sidonis, the turian who sold out his team on Omega.
  
• Grunt is part of your crew. You have gained his loyalty. During Grunt's Rite of Passage, you and Grunt killed the Thresher Maw.
  
• Jack is part of your crew. You have gained her loyalty. On Pragia, Jack spared Aresh, one of the survivors of the Cerberus facility.
  
• Jacob is part of your crew. You have gained his loyalty.
  
• Kasumi is part of your crew. You have gained her loyalty. After recovering Keiji's graybox, Kasumi decided to destroy it.
  
• Legion is part of your crew. You have gained its loyalty. After retrieving the virus from Heretic Station, Shepard decided to re-write the Geth Heretics.
  
• Miranda is part of your crew. You have gained her loyalty. After succesfully relocating her sister, Miranda revealed her existence to Oriana.
  
• Mordin is part of your crew. You have gained his loyalty. After discovering that Mordin's protege, Maelon, was working on a cure for the Genophage, Mordin was stopped from killing him by Shepard. Maelon's Genophage research data was saved.
  
• Samara is part of your crew. You have gained her loyalty.
  
• Tali is part of your crew. You have gained her loyalty. Tali was found innocent of the charge of Treason when Shepard spoke passionately on her behalf.
  
• Thane is part of your crew. You have gained his loyalty.
  
• Zaeed is part of your crew. You have gained his loyalty. Vido escaped from Zaeed when Shepard decided to save the factory workers.

DLC's

• Arrival: Arrival complete; the Batarians were warned.
• Overlord: David Archer was taken to the Grissom Academy.
• Shadow Broker: Liara is the new Shadow Broker; continued the romance with Liara.

I completed ME2 with all companions and Normandy crew alive. This save data is from my sixth playthough. That being said, even in my first playthrough, I only lost Miranda. All other Normandy Crew have made it in each of my run throughs.

 

[Viper87227]

I completed ME2 with all companions and Normandy crew alive. This save data is from my sixth playthough. That being said, even in my first playthrough, I only lost Miranda. All other Normandy Crew have made it in each of my run throughs.

In my first play though, I managed to kill almost everyone. Half the crew wasn't loyal, and I apparently didn't make wise choices on who would be filling what role in the suicide mission. This was when the game first released, but the only person I recall surviving was Jacob.

The second time around, having a bit more insight on how my choices would affect the outcome, I did a lot better. Thane died, but he was the only one. The crew all died as well. I was going to give it one more go and try to save anyone, but it didn't really bother me much. Any of the companions I cared about survived.

 

[Laffles]

The ending got leaked. I'll just warn everyone that it ruins the entire series.

Why would you even say that? just gtfo, seriously man, shit like this just annoys me, don't say anything, it implies things and makes me wonder I just want to play the game that I spent my hard earned money on without some guy trying to ruin it.

 

[Derangel]

completed ME2 with all companions and Normandy crew alive. This save data is from my sixth playthough. That being said, even in my first playthrough, I only lost Miranda. All other Normandy Crew have made it in each of my run throughs.

I've yet to have a companion die on me. I'm thinking of intentionally letting it happen.

 

[drako]

I've yet to have a companion die on me. I'm thinking of intentionally letting it happen.

Neither have I. I thought it was fairly simple to keep em all alive... just be a completionist and make logical choices for the final mission.

 

[Viper87227]

The ending got leaked. I'll just warn everyone that it ruins the entire series.

As someone else said, how about you just shut the fuck up about it entirely? I don't want to know if the ending is phenomenal or terrible. However I feel about the ending, I want to go into it with no preconceived notions.

 

[J W]

Neither have I. I thought it was fairly simple to keep em all alive... just be a completionist and make logical choices for the final mission.

I couldn't keep the scientist guy alive on my first two playthroughs. I did his loyalty quests both times, yet there was always a scene at the very end of a collector walking along side his corpse.

The third time I brought him with me to face Terminator and he lived.

 

[limitedaccess]

I couldn't keep the scientist guy alive on my first two playthroughs. I did his loyalty quests both times, yet there was always a scene at the very end of a collector walking along side his corpse.

The third time I brought him with me to face Terminator and he lived.

If you mean Mordin you can send him back with the colonists you rescue.

 

[Colonel Sanders]

If you mean Mordin you can send him back with the colonists you rescue.

Also I think as long as you have the heavy hitters (Grunt, Zaeed, Garrus basically) back with Mordin he won't die but if you take even one of them with you, or have them go back with the crew, or lead the fireteam, he will die because the total "hold the line" value of the defenders is too low.

 

[Derangel]

Also I think as long as you have the heavy hitters (Grunt, Zaeed, Garrus basically) back with Mordin he won't die but if you take even one of them with you, or have them go back with the crew, or lead the fireteam, he will die because the total "hold the line" value of the defenders is too low.

I sent Grunt back with the crew and no one died.

 

[shantd]

Hmmm...I lost one dude in ME1...I think it was Kaidan. But I'm bringing him back from the dead because even though something about him annoys me, Ashley annoys me more. Also, I don't like the makeover they gave her. Her tomboy-ness was one of the things I liked about her. Plus, bringing people back from the dead makes you feel like God.

In ME2, I lost one person in the end sequence. I believe it was the Quarian girl. Can't remember the details, I think I had her climbing through somekind of duct...bah my memory gets worse and worse by the week it seems like. Anyway, I had no idea it was possible to save everyone. How do you do it? You have to win everyone's loyalty, and they live?

 

[Dan_D]

I've yet to have a companion die on me. I'm thinking of intentionally letting it happen.

Well the first time I made the mistake of not having enough Paragon points when I did Miranda and Jack's loyalty missions. After you complete the second of the two, in either order, a confrontation between the two is triggered. If you lack enough Renegade or Paragon points to pursuade the two of them to knock it off, you will have to choose conversation options which will cause the loss of either Miranda's or Jack's loyalty. This will typically result in their deaths. It's guanteed if you take either with you to fight the final boss. Not guaranteed if you leave that person to hold the escape route with everyone else.

You can actually regain that individual's loyalty later through pursuade options in conversation but again you have to have a lot of Paragon or Renegade points to do so. My mistake was not having an ME1 save, or allocating my skill points right which kept it so I could never attain enough points to pursuade Miranda to stop being a bitch. Again this was my first playthrough and I didn't have an ME1 save, or know nearly as much about the game as I do now. I went back and played ME1, then imported the save which gives you a huge Paragon or Renegade bonus to start, and I allocated my skill points in the right way necessary to gain the Paragon/Renegade bonus. So subsequent playthroughs never turned out that way.

Neither have I. I thought it was fairly simple to keep em all alive... just be a completionist and make logical choices for the final mission.

It is actually. For the most part. But if you lose anyone's loyalty, then it drops the defensive total for the group securing the door. That's how people start dying. If you lose anyone's loyalty then you want to leave them to defend the door and sometimes they'll still live if that total is high enough. Take them to fight the boss and they croak.

I couldn't keep the scientist guy alive on my first two playthroughs. I did his loyalty quests both times, yet there was always a scene at the very end of a collector walking along side his corpse.

The third time I brought him with me to face Terminator and he lived.

This is because your defensive total for the party to hold the door was too low. Mordin dies first because he has the lowest defensive stats.

If you mean Mordin you can send him back with the colonists you rescue.

I always send Jacob back with them. His dossier lists him as a leader, but one that will always be over shadowed by Shepard. So I sent him back with the rest of the crew.

 

[J W]

That makes sense because I always sent Grunt to escort the survivors. To me that seems most logical as he's a big badass who could handle himself if things got dicey.

 

[Dan_D]

Hmmm...I lost one dude in ME1...I think it was Kaidan. But I'm bringing him back from the dead because even though something about him annoys me, Ashley annoys me more. Also, I don't like the makeover they gave her. Her tomboy-ness was one of the things I liked about her. Plus, bringing people back from the dead makes you feel like God.

In ME2, I lost one person in the end sequence. I believe it was the Quarian girl. Can't remember the details, I think I had her climbing through somekind of duct...bah my memory gets worse and worse by the week it seems like. Anyway, I had no idea it was possible to save everyone. How do you do it? You have to win everyone's loyalty, and they live?

Mass Effect forces you to sacrifice either Kaiden or Ashley. Ashley's a bitch, but I find Kaiden kind of annoying. I've seen additional footage of ME3. In her initial appearance Ashley looks terrible during the first part of the game, but wearing the full N7 armor at some point down the line, she basically looks like FemShep but with a different head. I liked that look for her actually.

You lost Tali in the ventalation system on the Collector Base. As far as keeping everyone alive, believe it or not it's easy. You have to complete each squad member's loyalty mission. You must retain their loyalty through additional confrontations which occur between Miranda and Jack, Legion and Tali. You need to have all but two missions (doesn't matter what they are, but I typically have Legion and Tali's loyalty missions left to do at this point. Legion's can't be done earlier anyway.) done before you begin the Reaper IFF mission. Once initiated you are on the clock. The crew of the Normandy SR-2 will get abducted by the Collector's once that mission is complete and you start the next phase. Once they are gone you can complete two missions and no more if you want to save everyone. At that point you must enter the Omega 4 relay and travel to the Collector base. Then you will arrive in time to save everyone. If you go through the relay after 3 missions, then you will lose half the crew. If you arrive after completing 4 missions, then you will only be able to save Dr. Chakawas and I think maybe Kelly. Five or more and you can only save Dr. Chakawas.

Then you have to assign the right squad members to a given task. Your actual team makes little difference with regard to who you take with you. But here is the breakdown:

Vents:
Tali or Legion
(I always send Tali myself. But Legion works just as well.)

Second Fire Team Lead"
Garrus, Miranda, or Jacob.
(I always choose Garrus for this job.)

Biotic:
Miranda, Samara / Morinth or Jack
(I typically use Jack for this.)

Escort Crew Back to Normandy:
Mordin if he is loyal.
(I always choose Jacob for this task.) Anyone who is loyal can complete this mission, but you want to send away someone who has a low defensive total like Mordin or Kasumi. Zaeed, Garrus etc. are BAD choices as this will hurt your chances to keep everyone alive in the next part. I dislike Jacob and actually send him back everytime. He's always felt kind of useless and almost like a male version of Miranda, but he lacks her Biotic prowess making him a bad alternate for her.

Final Phase:
Do not take any non-loyal squad members with you for the final battle. Individuals with low defensive scores like Tali, Mordin, Kasumi, or Jack are good choices. However, I typically take Garrus and Miranda with me or Tali and Garrus. Taking Miranda is cool because you have additional dialog with the Elusive man you wouldn't ordinarily get. Zaeed's defensive total is among the highest and as a result you want to leave him to hold the line with the others. In fact he is good enough boost to cover for someone like Mordin and keep him alive.

That makes sense because I always sent Grunt to escort the survivors. To me that seems most logical as he's a big badass who could handle himself if things got dicey.

Not really a good move. Grunt has a better defensive score and he's better suited to holding the door with the others. Mordin, Kasumi, Jack, and Tali are actually better choices for this for that reason. Though if you have Zaeed you have a little more leeway with regard to your choices. People who do not have Kasumi or Zaeed, and didn't keep/recruit Legion should shy away from sending anyone other than Mordin on this assignment as he is the most likely to die. Not to say that your choice won't work, but it isn't ideal.

 

[Colonel Sanders]

That makes sense because I always sent Grunt to escort the survivors. To me that seems most logical as he's a big badass who could handle himself if things got dicey.

Yep, that was exactly my logic during my very first playthrough of ME 2, causing Mordin to die. Overall I loved the suicide mission and the way it was designed - how many games can you name where you have to make decisions in a very human way about your NPC teammates? - but that was the one thing that was wonky because it doesn't make a lot of sense that you can send a total weakling back with the survivors.

 

[Dan_D]

Yep, that was exactly my logic during my very first playthrough of ME 2, causing Mordin to die. Overall I loved the suicide mission and the way it was designed - how many games can you name where you have to make decisions in a very human way about your NPC teammates? - but that was the one thing that was wonky because it doesn't make a lot of sense that you can send a total weakling back with the survivors.

Ultimately, they just need someone intelligent or at least tough to take them back to the Normandy. Anyone you send is better choice for leadership than they'd get allowing them to fend for themselves. Ultimately the task is simple. I actually rationalized Jacob as being the perfect choice because he's supposedly a leader in his own right, but he's not as capable in my opinion as Garrus. Garrus is the man and I need him fighting Collector's not doing escort missions. Jacob, not so much. But I figured he'd care enough about the people and have enough leadership ability to lead them to safety. As it turns out this always worked for me, but only because my defensive totals were high enough to allow everyone else to survive the defense of the door.

 

[shantd]

Wow, thanks for the breakdown Dan. You say it's easy, but it seems fairly involved. It's good though that there's more to their survival than simply having their loyalty. Were that the case, that would seem pretty lazy and just plain weak...although it seems having their loyalty is a prerequisite.

It sounds as if you have to get a bit lucky to save everyone the first time around. I mean, how would you know that you're on the clock after a certain point and can only have 2 missions to save everyone, but a 3rd mission before the reaper mission guarantees death? And, how would you know that the defensive stats of your group are stacked to determine their success at the door? This is the first I'm hearing of that...Still, I'm not going to complain. It's a matter of relativity...what other game even has consequences like these in the first place? Basically none.

I think I'm not going to import my save game. I only did one playthrough, and it wasn't tied to ME1 which I played on console. If I start from scratch on ME3, does that mean everyone from ME2 was saved, or will Bioware automatically decide which died and which lived?

 

[shantd]

Overall I loved the suicide mission and the way it was designed - how many games can you name where you have to make decisions in a very human way about your NPC teammates?

Indeed...it really stinks that we'll have to kiss all of this goodbye after this game. I'll never understand the decision to determine, in advance, to limit a series like this to 3 games. Yes, I know Bioware has said that they will likely continue to make games from within the ME universe, but still...for my money, this is among the very best series in gaming, and it seems to me they should leave it open ended until it hits the COD 'jump the shark' phase. We're nowhere near there.

 

[Derangel]

Indeed...it really stinks that we'll have to kiss all of this goodbye after this game. I'll never understand the decision to determine, in advance, to limit a series like this to 3 games. Yes, I know Bioware has said that they will likely continue to make games from within the ME universe, but still...for my money, this is among the very best series in gaming, and it seems to me they should leave it open ended until it hits the COD 'jump the shark' phase. We're nowhere near there.

Honestly I believe the best games are ones that make you think "man I wish they would make more of these" or "man I want more from this developer". It's pretty rare to have that reaction with games these days.