Mass Effect 3 Demo Impressions [Online Open To All]

Enduin

No bald cap? Lies!
No, it should rather be:
"I dunno, you're the board, I'm just a soldier who is no longer even a commander and who was warning you about this shit for over two years and you did nothing!".

The way everyone acted surprised when Shepard (for the nth time) said "it's the Repears!" was almost comical.

So Shepard should be a whiny bitch who in the middle of an invasion starts making pithy and backhanded remarks saying "I told you so" ? That's so much better.
 
For what it's worth, I like the faster gunplay and think it's a marked improvement.

Wish my Infiltrator could have gotten a sniper rifle for that second half, but that semi-auto rifle and long-range shotgun worked beautifully.


Graphically I think it looks fine (not amazing) except for the Eternal Curse of the Awful Low-Res Clothes which has plagued the series since day one. That, and the constant switch between real time and pre-rendered cutscenes is somewhat jarring.
 

EatChildren

Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
It's pretty clear that they wanted to jump straight into the action, so a trial prologue would've slowed the beginning considerably (they could've made it optional at least). Also, they've been telling us how this is the perfect game to jump into the series if you haven't before, so I guess wasting time on events only people who played the previous games understood is not ideal. Bottom line: Earth gets attacked -> you are shown as humanity's only hope -> go save the galaxy I guess.

Sadly the highs are defined by the lows. ME2's sudden assault followed by the slow, quiet space walk through the torn apart interior was excellent. This just BOOM BANG REAPERS RARR.

But I don't die. It's not hard. It's just too fast. And the weapons have no power in them. Maybe it's the sound, I don't know. Still, you can't deny the fact that changes have been maid. And it's just a matter of taste really. Obviously, you like it. I don't.

Fair enough I guess. I see no real significantly bad change, nothing to warrant it being truly 'different', just expanded. ME2 tactics apply, and then some. And I had no issue with the weight and feel of the weapons.
 
So Shepard should be a whiny bitch who in the middle of an invasion starts making pithy and backhanded remarks saying "I told you so" ? That's so much better.

Indeed!

i-told-you-so-o.gif
 

Tacitus_

Member
But I don't die. It's not hard. It's just too fast. And the weapons have no power in them. Maybe it's the sound, I don't know. Still, you can't deny the fact that changes have been maid. And it's just a matter of taste really. Obviously, you like it. I don't.

It's just a matter of adapting. I spam the pause in combat so I can manually aim powers for my minions so it's as ezpz in the demo as it was in ME2.
 
*chooses : "COME WITH ME!" - dialogue option*
*shepard says : "We're in this together"*


Roleplaying.
This is to me, the dumbest thing about the series.

In ME2 you pick a negative option when speaking to a reporter and Shepard straight up punches her in the face. The option didn't even hint at a violent action. I was too far in without saving to reset, so now this bitch is gonna confront me in ME3 about why I'm an out of control violent crazy person.

Who's idea is this and who agreed that it was a great idea to not only go along with it, but keep it in for all three games?
 

Phinor

Member
Just finished the demo... animations and graphical fidelity are actually worse than the were in the previous game... how?

Having read a lot of comments about decreased visuals and things like holster animation being removed, I can't help but think that maybe Kinect has something to do with this? I remember reading back when it was released that Kinect actually uses quite a lot of resources and there really wasn't that much processing power on the X360 in the first place. Naturally if they needed to free resources for Kinect using various techniques, the same changes would be implemented to PS3/PC versions.

That being said, it only uses the voice recognition. Does anyone have any idea how much processing power is required for the voice component alone? Are there any tests perhaps with Kinect PC now being available? Might be a long shot but...
 

jvalioli

Member
No, it should rather be:
"I dunno, you're the board, I'm just a soldier who is no longer even a commander and who was warning you about this shit for over two years and you did nothing!".

The way everyone acted surprised when Shepard (for the nth time) said "it's the Repears!" was almost comical.

I actually laughed out loud.
 

Serious

Member
I really want to like the demo, but not being able to select my loadout in the second mission is a serious issue and I do not know why Bioware didn't let us change what weapons we brought in. The weight system is a nice idea, may need a bit of adjustment, but being able to spam powers in the Sur'Kesh segment like I was able to in the Earth segment would've made that part so much more enjoyable. As is, a power based class is almost unplayable on Insanity.

I like what they've done to the powers themselves. So many options, and all of them are tempting, at least as an Engineer. Turrets especially could be a lot of fun, although they felt a bit awkward to use. They may just take more practice. A lot of ways I can go with my build, which was one of my biggest issues with ME2. Combat felt alright. graphics in my opinion were fine, but then again I've never been that picky about them.

Dialogue...I didn't think it was horrible, but it wasn't that great. I've heard that they cut out quite a bit of dialogue and dialogue options for the demo, but even still the game does begin a bit abruptly. I'm not a fan of the default Femshep, though since I'm importing my own character anyway, it doesn't bother me.

I'm still excited for the game, but the decision to not let you change out weapons in the second segment is a massive issue for the demo.
 

Zen

Banned
Welcome to what Mass Effect is since the first game.

Yes and no, there were instances in ME where the dialogue started off exactly as the hint answer was written. I agree that having something as simple and direct as 'come with me!' as a hint and then having him//her not say that is a little jarring.
 

Enduin

No bald cap? Lies!
Not allowing people to change their weapon load out in the SP is probably the worst thing about the demo simply because so many people are unaware of the new cooldown mechanics and now think abilities are totally nerfed. they should have at least made a point of clearly telling people of the new cooldown system and the effects awesome have on them.
 
I actually laughed out loud.
I actually invisioned Shepard taking a gun and blowing his brains out right there in front of the council.

The level of stupid in that room was just too amazing for words.

Idiot (looks like Udena): "Is that all you have to say on how to stop the reapers??"

Shepard: "Oh wait, actually I forgot about the 30, 500-foot cans of bug spray we have stashed all around the world."
 

Peve

Neo Member
Not impressed much by the demo, the auto dialogue stuff was very off putting. There were only around 4 options that were a sentence each. I am really hoping it was just a demo limitation.

The combat felt a bit off but that could be because I am not fully used to it.
 

sp3000

Member
I think what is somewhat telling is that the action mode is the default option in this game. Seems like good evidence that they want to put less emphasis on dialogue options.
 
You guys saying this looks worse than ME2 are fucking nuts.

Im replaying just now ME2 for my perfect save for ME3, and even having ME2 cranked up with high resolution character textures, ME3 still looks better.
-Faces look much better, custom Shepard looks really good now, and has improve textures and hairs (much better custom making this time around also). Random NPC have MUCH better textures on their faces, companions have also, although im using for them the high resolution ones in ME2 and they probably look a little better in ME2 (thats counting mods)
-Textures in the clothes are still bad, but they are still better than ME2 (again without counting the companions high resoltuion packs)
-Jaggies are less present. ME2 was a fucking jaggie fest, even forcing the Nvidia with NHancer. Im playing it right now and my eyes fucking bleed. ME3 looked much better in that department.
-Textures in the terrain are basically the same than ME2, aprt from some parts a really didnt had a problem with them.
-Animations... WTF are you guys smoking. It looks better than ME2, they are still not really good, but they move better. The part were anderson and shepard were moving around the alliance rooms in the first part of the demo while talking was MUCH better than anything from ME2. I know that the dialog thingy with Vega in one of the trailers looked atrocious, but in the demo I didnt see anything that made me puke.

Im just going to add. Having one part of the original team back, and also Mordin, during the last part, made me giggle like a school girl.
And also that this time Shepard controls fucking phonomenal. Its going to be difficult going again to shepards tank controls tonight in my ME2 save im playing.
 

Midou

Member
I think what is somewhat telling is that the action mode is the default option in this game. Seems like good evidence that they want to put less emphasis on dialogue options.

I don't really get this, is this an option in the real game, or is it to see different segments of the demo?

^^^ agree it looks quite a bit better, outside clothing textures. That kid with the plane at the very start looked like he had better animations than I remember seeing in ME2.

Lips seem pretty bad though.
 

xion4360

Member
I just realised that all the hills around the Salarian base are
2d planes

No shit bro

Having read a lot of comments about decreased visuals and things like holster animation being removed, I can't help but think that maybe Kinect has something to do with this? I remember reading back when it was released that Kinect actually uses quite a lot of resources and there really wasn't that much processing power on the X360 in the first place. Naturally if they needed to free resources for Kinect using various techniques, the same changes would be implemented to PS3/PC versions.

That being said, it only uses the voice recognition. Does anyone have any idea how much processing power is required for the voice component alone? Are there any tests perhaps with Kinect PC now being available? Might be a long shot but...


Kinect handles that itself, it's not taking anything away from the game.
 

rozay

Banned
I think what is somewhat telling is that the action mode is the default option in this game. Seems like good evidence that they want to put less emphasis on dialogue options.
More likely that it's the first option because the people it appeals to are the same people that simply pressed A repeatedly until out of the character creator to play John Shepard the Soldier.
 

Demon Ice

Banned
What would you suggest?

"Shepard what's our plan?"

"Ok, while the Reapers are leveling shit, let's go over this battle plan for next 5 hours and review what we've learned, mmkay?"

"Get out of here, save as many people as you can, and meet up at the Citadel so we can plan this thing out. Ok Break!"


Golly gee, that was hard, wasn't it. But keeping sippin' that kool-aid lol, I've seen you defend Bioware from valid criticism all over this thread.


Edit: Oh I remember you, you're the one that was defending Chobot's space-tanktop. Even better!
 

Emitan

Member
What's the status on breaking Origin DRM? After what it did to my file system, I'm never using it again. I'm not buying this until I can play it without Origin being installed.
 

Vamphuntr

Member
I feel that the tone is better than ME2 if the whole game is like the demo. At least they are not trying to shove you the whole "you joined Cerberus even if they are evil because they brought you back to life" down your throat this time.

Unfortunately, it seems to be once again an hallway shooter where you hide behind conveniently placed crates. Also, something is definitely wrong with the running animation.
 

Vlodril

Member
After playing the demo i feel Bioware cant really design a decent combat system. After 3 uncharted's and gear of war's and everything in the game feels so unwieldy and uncomfortable. Nothing flows organically at all..

Very disappointing.
 

Moaradin

Member
Uncharted 3 good combat?

ME3 combat isn't the best in the genre, but a big step up from the previous games. It's actually good now.
 

Demon Ice

Banned
You are trusting people who are crying over the fact that the game has no AA but FXAA or whatever acronyms those people use. They dont really talk (or care) about if the game is fun, only if it can out-crysis Crysis in the graphics department.

You are an idiot.


I don't think it's that. They just never are content - ever.

It's only great if it's from 10 years ago. Sometimes you need to take off the rose tinted glasses and enjoy the ride.

(See the Deus Ex/Skyrim/BF3/ME2 threads.)

I'm not saying all PC gamers are this way, it's just annoying. They find a way to complain about the littlest of things. I don't think I've ever seen Derrick01 say anything positive about any game ever. It's just like, why are you so angry about everything. Can't you just enjoy the hobby? ( Has nothing to do with the quality of ME3 or the intro, just in general. I didn't think it was that mind-blowing either. )


How would you feel if suddenly console gamers were no longer the primary dev platform and had to deal with games that were tailor-made for PC first and then roughly ported to Xbox/PS3? Imagine going to a game's menu only to discover that your controller's D-Pad and Left Thumbstick do not navigate the menu. Instead, since it was made with PCs first you have to navigate with the right thumbstick and make selections with the right trigger. Sound annoying? That's a teeny tiny slice of what PC gamers have to deal with when it comes to rushed console ports. It's irritating.

I can guarantee console gamers would complain just as loudly, if not louder, than PC gamers are (rightfully) complaining about some of the issues in ME3, if my scenario were to take place.
 

LQX

Member
Having a hard to making my ethnic female Shepard look like she did in ME2. Will we be able to import how we look?
 

Trey

Member
THE REAPERS ARE HERE. /everyone turns around surprised even though Shepard has been utterly raving like a lunatic for the past 2 games about them

How should we stop the Reapers Shepard, what's our plan.

WE STICK TOGETHER

Yeah, this is bad. It reminded me of Reach. "The Covenant are on Reach."

Really? You've been building this up for two games and this is how you introduce Reapers? Mass Effect was a planned trilogy with a storyline more cohesive between its games than any in history. This is inexcusable.
 
The new default female Shepard is terrible. My custom Shepard (who I partially stole from someone else a long time ago) looks more like how the new default Shepard looked in the art than the one Bioware provides.
 

Myomoto

Member
Am I the only one who hates how absolutely EVERYTHING seems to handled by the 'A' button (I'm on 360)? You take cover, sprint, pickup items, dodge, and vault over cover with that one button. This is most likely me not being used to the controls yet, but I had a LOT of trouble getting into and out of cover, because Shepard would constantly be dodging in odd directions.

What added to the aggravation for me was the fact that I cannot for the life of me see much of a use for the dodge/commando roll in the first place. It's so damn short, you don't seem to pop into cover after jumping at the end of a sprint (I couldn't get it to do that at least). Why is it in there?

Secondly, as many have already pointed out, when I'm playing as a biotic, why the hell do they load me up with a ton of weapons so I can't use my damn powers in the 2nd part of the single player demo? That was just inexcusable, and I cannot POSSIBLY imagine that nobody pointed out at some point how the this demo basically fucks you over completely unless you play as a solider. Also, the infiltrator not getting a sniper rifle? Are you fucking kidding me?!

Thirdly, I SERIOUSLY hope that this demo is just locked into some very low-res assets, because all the textures look eff'ing terrible!
 

Kem0sabe

Member
Can you give us some examples of the animation and writing horrors you're speaking about? I never even noticed.

Facial animations, especially "lip sync" seems off at times, possibly bugs or unfinished animations due to this being an earlier build.

I felt that, animation wise, the biggest problem was caused by the faster combat, while in ME2 the traditional cover shooter mechanics went a ways to make the poor combat animations less noticeable, in ME3, the constant run and gun just brings to light how poor the combat animations really are. :(
 
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