Mass Effect 3

Vlad Piranha · Posted: Tue Mar 06, 2012 6:56 pm Post subject: Mass Effect 3

Fifteen years ago, a massive game development undertaking came to fruition with the release of Final Fantasy VII. It made a huge splash in the realm of interactive storytelling and redefined games as works of art in addition to mere digital entertainment and distractions akin to television. A risky multimillion dollar investment pushed the envelope and challenged all subsequent releases to build upon what was left on the table.

Many great games have come down the line since then. Titles like Half-Life, Max Payne, Halo: Combat Evolved and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare all did their part to add exposition to shooting countless foes on a 3D battlefield. Thrilling as these titles were, I can say that for the first time in these last fifteen years, a game has finally come along to challenge Final Fantasy VII for its crown as the most carefully crafted and technically impressive game for its time. I can say without any regret that Mass Effect 3 is the most stunning piece of entertainment software ever made.

If you haven't taken the time to play through any of the games in the series, I do recommend that you start in on them. I've never been rewarded so handsomely for taking my time with an RPG and simply helping NPCs and finishing quests/missions. You don't merely benefit in terms of levels or items in these games, but you take a more active role in reshaping the story. Every little decision a player makes in Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 has an impact on the world of Mass Effect 3. Up until now, players simply enjoyed an age old pleasure referred to as 'getting the good ending'. There's more to it than that this time around.

I won't bother with explaining the plot of the series to new players in any real detail, that's for the games to do. As veterans know, Commander Shepard has spent the last two games building alliances, striking down foes and preparing for the oncoming Reaper threat. Everything comes to a head here. Your Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 save files will continue to be crucial and rewarding, especially if you completed them as the ultimate Paragon or Renegade. I heartily recommend the Paragon path as the rewards of your goodness will rally a fighting force that can defeat anything. If you guys want to prepare for this game in the best way possible, make friends with as many species as you possibly can up to this point. You'll want every alien that knows how to squeeze a trigger to be loyal to you because the easy part is officially over. War has come to Citadel space and how many assets you gathered in the previous games will have a large impact on your story and game in Mass Effect 3. Getting the best ending in the original game took tens of hours of work, but it's paying dividends now. The most difficult bonuses to get from that game and from its sequel yield the coolest and most stirring moments in ME3.

The story is everything I could have hoped for. The gameplay is what really impresses me on my first day of playing. I was one of the few who griped about the gameplay of ME2 being too different from the first. The concept of reloading weapons and using cover seemed too much of a concept that had been done in other games. While the cover system was in the first game, it wasn't crucial in the way that it was in the second one. In ME3, the cover system has been polished so thoroughly that it actually outshined other series that developed it first. Instead of being a cheap imitation of Uncharted or Gears of War, the student has become the master.

Mass Effect 2 also seemed more like a shooter than an RPG and that bothered me as well. ME3 represents the best compromise possible. 3's Combat remains smooth and quick like in ME2's, yet RPG elements from the first game have been reinstated. A feature I truly missed was the customization of weapons in the first game. That feature has been simplified (in a good way) and reintroduced and it makes the gameplay experience that much more customizable to the user's preferences and that's what the series is really all about. You pick two accessories for each weapon to retool its function to suit your needs and fighting style. I'm a damn good shot, so I pass on improved sights and extended magazines and always pick more powerful ammunition and a recoil reducing accessories to make the most out of the ammo I already have. Someone who isn't the best shot, but loves to spray lead regardless would probably do the opposite.

Instead of having a huge inventory of accessories to sell or discard, you simply buy the accessories that interest you or find them on missions not unlike upgrades in ME2. One of them will work for all weapons of their type. For example, I bought armor piercing capabilities for pistols and my whole squad now has it equipped. It's that much easier. There's no messing around and replacing High Caliber Barrel IV with High Caliber Barrel V. You just attach an item to increase bullet damage on your weapon and play the game. I have yet to do anything to change my weapons' configurations.

For those wondering about your favorite NPC, take heart. Every previous member of your crew makes a vital appearance at some point in the game, as I understand it. Whether it be Wrex, Garrus, Williams or Mordin, you'll get to see your best friend do something incredibly heroic at some point. It's seems silly that I feel genuine respect and affection for a game character the way I would for a film hero, but that's how rewarding the dialogue and character arcs are in ME3. To see your old allies under your command shake hands, give each other support and show real compassion toward one another is amazing. A game has finally properly executed the most important part of Act 3 in any story: character growth and familiarity in a real sense. There's an element of vicarious reward here. You truly wish for these people to succeed in their endeavors because you grow so fond of them. Game characters like Falco Lombardi and Zidane Tribal have always been loveable to me, and heartbreaking plot twists from games like Final Fantasy VII have been compelling, but their merits pale in comparison to Mass Effect 3's. I'll say no more in the name of plot preservation.

The hype hasn't let me down. This just may be the most worthwhile game purchase I've ever made and don't forget that I've been buying video games since 1989. Yeah, it's like that.

Last edited by Vlad Piranha on Wed Mar 07, 2012 10:43 pm; edited 1 time in total

Erwin Rommel · Posted: Tue Mar 06, 2012 10:17 pm Post subject:

I tend to agree with the above, although I've only started playing.

The tendency of Shepard to randomly duck into poor cover while getting shot at is still annoying, though. But it's probably unavoidable.

Oh you're getting shot at and running to cover? Sure I'll put you in cover. Wait, you wanted cover that wasn't exposed to enemy gunfire? Sorry. Good thing we just autosaved...
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Berry Punch · Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2012 2:30 am Post subject:

Not buying it since EA have destroyed everything I know and love, that and them saying that the huge DLC for ME3 took about 2 months to make when critizied sbout their DLC with the prothean only availible for collectors edition. Or layoff people from one of their most successful teams if the DLC wasn't added on after the main game was finished.

TLDR: As I do like ME2, which I no longer posses, i've gotten sick of EA screwing me on games. How about dat $60 paperweight called BF3?

Erwin Rommel · Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2012 2:34 am Post subject:

Everytime I buy something from EA, a little part of my soul dies. But it is Mass Effect 3, after all.
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Vlad Piranha · Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2012 8:48 am Post subject:

Yeah, I wa pretty disappointed that I had to have Origin to play it. Unlike Steam in its infancy, there have been no growing pains, so it's not all bad.

anonymousity · Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2012 1:19 pm Post subject:

Atat has been pretty balls deep in this game since it came out, I expect we'll have some very personal comments from him soon.
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2shoes · Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2012 5:34 pm Post subject:

vlad i still have not installed that mass effect you told me to buy do i get my 5 bucks back? Shocked

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This mod is rightfully ours, and fuck everyone that stands in our way.

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2shoes · Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2012 5:43 pm Post subject:

Kirov wrote:

How about dat $60 paperweight called BF3?

i like it quite well in fact its a hella ton better than BF2
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Sparrow wrote:

...if pirates stays on bf1942 i'd hate to see the community grow even smaller, but i know i'll always be around and i hope the rest of you will too!

Special Jimmy wrote:

This mod is rightfully ours, and fuck everyone that stands in our way.

fair winds and following seas, lil shoes 8/3/94-6/23/09

Eugene · Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2012 8:56 pm Post subject:

I just beat the game, the game was worth every dollar.

EDIT: Also I'll be writing my own review of it tomorrow or something. I'll piggyback Vlad's thread if he doesn't mind.

Pharaoh Man · Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2012 11:35 pm Post subject:

I played Mass Effect 1 for about 4 hours and was thoroughly underwhelmed. The story was trite and full of uninteresting cliches, the combat was clunky and unintuitive, and the karma system was the same one that has been in every game for the last 8 years.

I also tried playing Dragon Age and it appeared to be the exact same terrible game, just in a fantasy setting rather than in space.

I've listened to the hype about the other two games, and I know I'll never play them because if they're anything like the first one I don't want to waste my time. I am curious about the story carrying your choices over from the first few games, as that sounds like a fun new idea, but I don't want to play through three bad games just to get the experience.

Several people have told me "ME1 starts slow, you have to get through it and it gets really good." I don't think that's a wise use of my time, if they can't even make the opening act fun. I might spend two hours reading wikis and seeing how choices from earlier games affect the later one so I can see what the fuss is about, because everyone does seem to like these games and that's the only part that interests me.

Tawxic · Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2012 11:45 pm Post subject:

if you thought Mass Effect 1 needed more action oriented gameplay then Mass Effect 2 kind of fixes that problem by being a mediocre 3rd person shooter. The only reason why I care about the trilogy is because of character side stories but there is no denying that most of the story content in the game is cliches, so I would say that if the first Mass Effect story didn't grab you I wouldn't get your hopes up with Mass Effect 2; Tho mass effect 2 is only $5 to try.

There is a handful of meaningful stuff that carrys over from the previous game but everything else is just call backs to side quests you did in the previous game.

Hirmuinen · Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2012 11:40 am Post subject:

Spoiler view and all stuff___:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4H_A7SeawU4

Heres a good explanation why ME3 totally destoryed ME saga(And I don't care about the crew, most of them got killed if I had the choice).

I was fine with the ending because I was playing renegade the whole way through and could totally buy that indoctrination ending(and even without it, just fuck it all up), because my guy was turning into an illusive man, and I totally wanted that. But every single ending is the same. And I also thought it was awesome you coudn't get all together happy ending, but had to chooce from bad ones, but this one didn't even have that option.

I was waiting my sheppard to say fuck you and eat shit and die to that little kid instead of just accepting it all.

Nothing is explained after that. The massrelees gets destroyed and cause supernova(the reason that ship escapes to that empty planet), not sure about this maybe the reapers had some other way to destroy them, but I remember them saying in ME1 that it would cause supernova. But I chose ants over worm people who are violent(Krogans) and chose to destroy machine organs instead of living in peace with masked humanoids, but nothing is shown what will happen to them all. Will the ants cause future problems or will the machine organs dominate and cause future problems to human race because of you(will krogans assault the earth for knowing you caused their holocaust ect.).

I was waiting more. I know ME coudn't reach its expectations and I totally understand that the ME team didn't want to create just another sci-fi Gears Of Wars(even if you can't make the difference at this point when it comes to gameplay), but even normal happy ending with some bad endings like in Fallouts could have worked. You could create totally evil endings on top of good ending(and I prefer sad endings with these kind of stories).

Ok game, maybe little too linear and less RPG type for me. Combat felt too much grinding and didn't have enough variety to be good action game either. I would still say to play it through but maybe when it's super cheap rather than new...
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Erwin Rommel · Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2012 6:29 pm Post subject:

I'll wait for the additional ending content before making any final judgment.
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Erwin Rommel · Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2012 3:38 am Post subject:

Erwin Rommel wrote:

I'll wait for the additional ending content before making any final judgment.

I just played through with the Extended Cut DLC. The DLC basically did two things: it added some more scenes that make some elements of the ending make sense and it gave the player more information about the endings. It doesn't change the major architecture of the ending, though. (i.e. there is still the 3-way choice ... well sorta ... read the spoiler below if you want to see)

As for the new ending cut-scenes, they are no longer simply color-coded versions of the same thing. They give more detail about what happens to Shepard and the other main characters. Synthesis is still bizarre, but there's no way around that. The cut-scenes also pay attention to your specific play-through (e.g. it seems to know who Shep romanced and who died previously)

After having played through it, it is eminently clear to me that the original ending was rushed. There are a number of things they put in this DLC that were inexcusably absent from the original ending. While it sucks that they were absent at first, big kudos to Bioware for putting them in after the fact. On the whole, I am satisfied by this. There are still flaws here and there are things I might have liked to see done differently, but that is true of every game. Then again, I wasn't as pissed about the original ME3 ending as some people were.

TL;DR: If you hated EVERYTHING about the ME3 ending before, you will still hate it (but maybe less). But if you were like me and thought the big picture of the ending was fine but that it just a terrible execution, then this probably addresses most of the issues you have.

Here's a bit of a SPOILER, but I need to mention it:

Quote:

was waiting my sheppard to say fuck you and eat shit and die to that little kid instead of just accepting it all.

Shepard can do that now. That gives a special kind of fourth ending. You can even trigger it by shooting the kid. Awesome.
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