Mass Effect 3 SPOILERS THREAD

timestretch said:
I've played ME1 4 times, ME2 twice and ME3 I completed once, but it took me 3 months to do it because I wasn't enjoying much of it. Here's my disjointed rant that I'll type up because I'm in-between projects this afternoon:

ME1 - best dialog-writing, best main story, most interesting choices, felt the most satisfying to play through for me personally
ME2 - best side missions by far, good story but not fantastic, lots of detail in characters' backstory and writing
ME3 - worst dialog, worst writing. Best gameplay (shooting, cover, etc). Some very exciting setpieces to fight on, but game *really* felt like the player was "along for the ride" doing combat scene, story scene,combat scene, watch Shepherd jump off a ledge with explosion, run past this, blow up this, etc. The pacing was tiring to me.


All of them have good parts, but ME1 was my favorite and ME3 was the flashiest and fastest, had a lot of lines that made me groan, and a lot of scenes where I was just thinking that "this is like the Michael bay of video games."

And just to mention the writing in general, like the overall scripts of the games: ME1 seemed pretty sophisticated. Things made a lot of sense and had a lot of apparent depth. There would be a plot twist and I'd be able to think about how that action made sense coming from that character, or something would be portrayed with the right amount of mystery and the right amount of exposition, etc. It was like a very good writer was at the helm of things. disclaimer: I'm not a great writer myself so I'm poor at articulating it and I haven't played these in a while so I don't have many examples ready to support my opinions.

For ME3, the writing seemed all over the place. It wasn't as cohesive. The villains didn't seem to make much sense. The Reapers didn't seem logical or intimidating at all.

1 Reaper alone, Sovereign, in ME1 seemed like he was about to accomplish everything he needed to and fought viciously against huge fleets around the citadel. He was "smart" and cunning and his actions seemed sensible and it would be reasonable to expect positive results (for him) from his strategic and tactical choices. He was the big mysterious alien, lovecraftian cosmic horror death machine with a fearsome intellect and he was a shadow looming over the game.

In ME3, reapers are a bunch of dumb digitally-shrieking fools getting killed by big worms, and sending their pathetic ground troops down to fight on even terms with the turians and humans and stuff. Sovereign was just 1 entity, and he did awesome stuff as a villain. The reaper fleet is massive in ME3, but it feels like they barely achieve anything other than burning a few cities.

I think a lot of stories benefit from a strong element of mystique, with a few solid reveals thrown in that can blow our minds. The exposition that ME2 and 3 added just didn't resonate. They added more detail and they are canon, sure, but the twists here and the reveals here weakened the story rather than strengthened it. Think to finding out how the cycle works in ME1 - Damn, the Protheans were not the first... they were just the most recent step of a long staircase of galactic extinction events? The Reapers do this? whoa, what could that mean?

What gave you that sense of awe and inspired the thoughts that go with that, in ME2? Were you impressed by "the human reaper?" Everyone I know thought it looked like a gaudy Terminator knockoff and it was weak and impotent besides. Not impressed. The collectors being Protheans? Whatever, I was more interested in the universe in which they were dead - the reapers made more sense to me as a mysterious, killing cosmic force, that way. How about ME3? The Starchild, and the crucible? ME2 I can assume is the writers trying to expand on the universe and adding new detail, but that detail just not being executed particularly interestingly or convincingly. ME3 I can't see anything other than poorly equipped writers writing themselves into a corner and having no time to think of something better, realizing they have a deadline to release the game and they have no idea how Shepherd is going to beat a fleet of a million Sovereign-reapers. "Yeah, the Crucible, that'll be the thing the story centers around." There's a problem if the only literary resolution to a plot arc is supermagic.

And the thing with the kid who died in the beginning on Earth, and the dreams you have, and the Starchild? That just seemed so forced. I felt like Shepherd was *my* character in ME1 and ME2 and the choices I made with Shepherd wouldn't indicate that he/she'd be so affected by this, but now it's a canon fact that Shepherd is all torn up about one specific kid dying? Millions of people died on the Earth attack, and Shepherd, the coolest-headed, most brilliant officer in the Alliance and human spectre is going to get all torn up and obsess over one single kid? Put your attention to things that you have some control over, and worry about the people you know! Goodness, that kid wasnt even the first person in the trilogy I'd failed to save, either.

I just don't find it plausible, or consistent with itself... So much of 3, just didn't resonate with me. Felt contrived and forced. Felt like they were making scenes and making them look awesome (and they did) and the story that linked it all together was less important, or crafted by less talented or less passionate people. Or maybe just too many people - 1 good writer could make it all cohesive, but not a team. Who knows.

So that's my rant. If ME1 was adapted into a movie or a novel it'd be a pretty good one. If ME3 was, it would be another common special-effects summer action movie with a weak plot that we all forget.

That said, ME3 did have its high points. I still say it was a good game. It is a good enough game, and a broad enough game, that I cam capable of almost totally hating some aspects of it, and I can still enjoy much of the rest of it. I guess that alone is worthy of some praise, and good job to Bioware and perhaps even their writers for enabling that.
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My thoughts exactly.

I dont know what we faced in ME3, but it was not the Reapers.

"Yeah, were making one of the most massive structures ever" and not a SINGLE reaper came to do something about it - Crucible Guard

Did we saw something CLOSE to the dreams that the beacon show to Shep ? Not even close

Did we saw something CLOSE to the repear weapon that scarred planets in the ME1 ?

Like all trilogys, the former always suck.
 
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perhaps bioware will add dlc to the point the 4th option does not result in the current cycle being destroyed
 
The third game seemed a bit sparse as far as content. I do wonder how much DLC BioWare is planning exactly. They've made comments in the past about having a bunch of stuff in store, but I'm not sure whether they were referring to MP content.
 
Dan_D said:
Yeah I didn't think the terrain was ridiculous in ME1 at all. I just got sick of the repetition of driving around looking for minerals and other stuff on planets with the Mako.
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It's big problem was it navigated like a pig, even with PC controls. Had it been able to fly smoothly over the rough surface, it probably would have been more fun since you could quickly go sniff out all the stuff you needed and the exploration gave things a tangible sense of bigness.

However it was a real pain to move around and so exploration took way too long.
 
J W said:
The third game seemed a bit sparse as far as content. I do wonder how much DLC BioWare is planning exactly. They've made comments in the past about having a bunch of stuff in store, but I'm not sure whether they were referring to MP content.
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this and Omega are for sure id bet at lest 1 more if not 2
 
I came to master the mako and really enjoyed it. It's kinda like skiing in Tribes 2. You have to use the jets a lot.
 
Anyone play Leviathan? Reviews seem decent. Does this in fact make the ending better?
 
i watched some LPs of the DLC it sucked no where near as good as the ME1 and 2 DLC
seems they cant even get that right and imo the ending makes it like that
doesnt help that no matter what DLC they add in the ending isnt going to change ether so why even play it

i want my epic show down with Harbinger damn it i dont care how "video gamey" it is its a fucking video game i want my boss fight
you had him hanging over us for all of ME2 then he doesnt even show up in 3 WTF
 
Elios said:
i watched some LPs of the DLC it sucked no where near as good as the ME1 and 2 DLC
seems they cant even get that right and imo the ending makes it like that
doesnt help that no matter what DLC they add in the ending isnt going to change ether so why even play it

i want my epic show down with Harbinger damn it i dont care how "video gamey" it is its a fucking video game i want my boss fight
you had him hanging over us for all of ME2 then he doesnt even show up in 3 WTF
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Yes, the review I read said the DLC wasn't as good as it could have been considering the ending. I'm hoping this and all the future DLC somehow work to make the ending quite good. This might be a stretch.

I'm super tempted to replay from ME1 up through 3. Also been playing the MP some since yesterday and am loving these new classes. Platinum is a bitch and the new levels are tough.
 
Leviathan is only showing what we already know.

They dont know WTF they doing. The story is completely broken now. Beyond repair.

Let Shepard die in peace.
 
J W said:
Anyone play Leviathan? Reviews seem decent. Does this in fact make the ending better?
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I played it through last night. It is a solid DLC imo. The developers stated that DLC was going to be set during the game, so no one should be expecting a change to the ending. It expanded on the backstory of the Reapers a bit. I feel the storyline was solid and was about what I expected given some of the DLC from ME2. I loaded a save right before I assaulted the Illusive Man's base to play through the DLC so I could see if there was any additional dialog at the ending from the DLC. I haven't finished that part yet, but will report back later when I do.
 
cnealjr said:
I played it through last night. It is a solid DLC imo. The developers stated that DLC was going to be set during the game, so no one should be expecting a change to the ending. It expanded on the backstory of the Reapers a bit. I feel the storyline was solid and was about what I expected given some of the DLC from ME2. I loaded a save right before I assaulted the Illusive Man's base to play through the DLC so I could see if there was any additional dialog at the ending from the DLC. I haven't finished that part yet, but will report back later when I do.
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Actually Leviathan is supposed to change the ending slightly. Leviathan is already elluded to in the Extended Cut ending dialog. So I'm not sure what the complaint is. I haven't played Leviathan so I'll reserve judgement. I began a new playthrough and I'll go through LEviathan on that. I'm uncertain when I'll have time to complete it, but I'm looking forward to it.
 
Dan_D said:
Actually Leviathan is supposed to change the ending slightly. Leviathan is already elluded to in the Extended Cut ending dialog. So I'm not sure what the complaint is. I haven't played Leviathan so I'll reserve judgement. I began a new playthrough and I'll go through LEviathan on that. I'm uncertain when I'll have time to complete it, but I'm looking forward to it.
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I had heard there may be some more dialog with the starbrat as a result of the DLC. I feel that the EC expounded on some of this history already. I played through the EC endings, but ran out of time to do so last night. I'll start the assault on Illusive Man's base next and play thru the shitty London mission and see what I get.

I'm of the camp that the EC fixed the game enough to satisfy me and I can enjoy a decent game. Was it all that I'd hoped for? No, but at least the EC made it a workable ending to a fantastic series.

Knocking the DLC by saying it doesn't change the ending is silly. Bioware has stood firmly by the stance that the ending is what they intended. This DLC is set during the events leading up to the final push, so expecting it to magically replace the ending is pretty wrong, but everyone is entitled to their opinions. I feel it was worth my M$ points and enjoyed the mission, and that is enough to make me open to buying other DLC they may produce.
 
cnealjr said:
I had heard there may be some more dialog with the starbrat as a result of the DLC. I feel that the EC expounded on some of this history already. I played through the EC endings, but ran out of time to do so last night. I'll start the assault on Illusive Man's base next and play thru the shitty London mission and see what I get.

I'm of the camp that the EC fixed the game enough to satisfy me and I can enjoy a decent game. Was it all that I'd hoped for? No, but at least the EC made it a workable ending to a fantastic series.

Knocking the DLC by saying it doesn't change the ending is silly. Bioware has stood firmly by the stance that the ending is what they intended. This DLC is set during the events leading up to the final push, so expecting it to magically replace the ending is pretty wrong, but everyone is entitled to their opinions. I feel it was worth my M$ points and enjoyed the mission, and that is enough to make me open to buying other DLC they may produce.
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I agree completely. The EC fixed enough. Is it all I hoped for? Not by a long shot but I don't hate the game now.
 
DouglasteR said:
Leviathan is only showing what we already know.

They dont know WTF they doing. The story is completely broken now. Beyond repair.

Let Shepard die in peace.
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Yep. As far as I am concerned, the Reapers won, Shepard is dead. EA and Bioware died along with them. I hope those jerks get turned into husks. Adding a bunch of DLC will just confuse things more, and I am NOT replaying the ending sequences over and over again just to try to salvage a hint of WTF is going just so EA can make a few bucks.

RIP Mass Effect and Shepard, you had an awesome life.
 
I played through the ending again last night. There are a few more dialog choices with the Starbrat about Leviathan than there was in the EC dialogues. Still say it was a solid DLC, regardless of what you thought about the game in general.
 
I suck at trying to get IRL friends into this stuff. They always tell me that they're not gamers and refuse to buy. I'm stuck playing with randoms on MP, though I still enjoy my friends I've never actually met but who still talk Russian and seem like nice people. I meet lots of friendly randoms on MP.

Anyhow, the spoiler edition of my post is taht I recently began playing ME. What a chore. I'm killing Wrex off and going to try to get Mordin to stay alive in ME3. I dislike the Krogan anyway.
 
I thought leviathan was pretty good, all things considered. Looking at ME3 in a vacuum, I think it does somewhat improve the ending, since you have a bit of backstory without feeling like the starchild is dumping it all on you at the last second.

However, I find the continuity between 1, 2, and 3 thrown off even more than before. Moreso than ever, I don't get the point of 2.
 
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