Mass Effect 3 Demo Impressions [Online Open To All]

Did not like the first half all that much with the poor fights and manipulative child scene. But I guess it's more of a tutorial. The second half was much better. The new upgrade system is an improvement, as is the combat in general. Was playing on Insanity and those Cerberus troops gave me a good fight. Like the flanking options, the verticality, the much better enemy AI, the new powers and the much improved Vanguard charge.

They might drop the ball story-wise, but in terms of gameplay this should be the best one yet.
 
Sober said:
Didn't actually thoroughly read the power upgrades but apparently there is one that can proc no cooldowns for your powers (like 25% chance).

Also I noticed if you hit someone with basically any biotic power they get debuffed (before it was really just singularity). Hell, I think Warp does it now so if you can back-to-back warp you get massive lulz (if you can't trap a group in singularity).

Lift is so fun to strip (actual) shields off guardians. Throw is okay as long as it's cooldown is practically non-existant to spam against enemies to fuck around with.
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Yeah, will have to check the talent trees again when I get back home. But I don't think Warp can explode another Warp, since I tried spamming it while waiting for Normandy to come pick me up.

HP_Wuvcraft said:
Story Mode sucks.

Combat is horrible and you auto-level.
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Well no shit. It's not aimed at people who post on Gaf, it's aimed at people who would have difficulty playing the game on easy.
 
Coxswain said:
Where? What part of Mass Effect 1 is 'intellectually engaging'? It's sure as shit not the terrible gameplay, where the majority of the stats don't matter, most of the ones that do just rise as you play the game, without any real player choice, input, or variety, and where your choices in character build and equipment in almost all cases boil down to 'the one that is obviously better than all the other choices' and 'something that does the exact same thing, but less efficiently/effectively'.
And if it's anything to do with the story - largely superficial ideas cribbed from better science-fiction, stitched together with some nice presentation and put into a (somewhat) interactive format - then you're at least going to have to explain how any of the ME1 writing is more intellectual than the treatment of the Genophage or Geth reprogramming in ME2 (not that either of those things was really much of an intellectual heavyweight).


For real, Mass Effect from day one has been a big, dumb, schlocky pulp sci-fi series, in the format of a Bioware RPG where the only gameplay system of note is purely based on combat. If you don't enjoy that, and you still liked Mass Effect 1, then you weren't paying attention when you played it. Nothing about it changed from the first game to the second, and there was no reason to ever expect that suddenly the third game was going to be anything but a bunch of dumb, lightweight fun.
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Good post, although I may be a bit less cynical about this series. I adore Mass Effect 1 (I also adore Mass Effect 2), but this was always big grand sci-fi pulp in the tradition of Star Wars or Star Trek. It was never Bela Tarr. It was never Samuel Beckett. It always wore its inheritances from blockbuster space opera on its sleeve. I actually think the moment-to-moment writing in Mass Effect 2 was noticeably better than in Mass Effect 1 (more playful and self-aware, with more interesting characters), although I would admit that the overall plot in the sequel is less compelling. I'm a bit worried about 3 (a few too many lazy one-liners in the demo, and the kid was a bit much), but the idea that there has been some radical drop in quality between the first two games is pretty mystifying to me (Ashley reciting Whitman, "Hold the line" on Virmire, and the ending with Shepherd emerging out of the rubble were all corny as hell too in ME1 - but still kinda endearing). There have been some meaningful design changes - some for the better, some for the worse - since 1, but there is still a pretty clear line of continuity in the series. It has always been populist entertainment (Star Wars/Star Trek are in its DNA); treating ME1 like it's rarefied high art only fit for connoisseurs and ME2 (and presumably 3) like it's pandering to "dudebros" (god I hate using popular internet memes even in scare quotes) strikes me as snobbish and lazy, but also as a pretty fundamental category mistake.

Specifically relating to the demo: It will be interesting to see if the levels open up elsewhere in the game, as many of the combat enhancements would seem to point in this direction. The second level in the demo felt a little too constrained for the new toolset (too many sticky surfaces in close proximity). The mechanical tweaks seemed to chafe a bit against the level design.
 
Even more hilarious than Anderson's running animation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMI3j8JYsi8

Pretty underwhelming demo:
- subpar texture quality and overall blurry look
- that FOV
- can't holster weapon during mission
- press SPACE to do something you didn't intend to
- new melee system is all flash, no substance
- pretty lackluster opening, especially compared to ME2
- general movement just felt "wrong" for better lack of words
 
hahaha, anderson's sprinting animation

Yea the framerate is pretty terrible on ps3

The shadowing makes the faces looks creepy, and shut up ashley.
 
I think my not-too-distant-past-self would be horrified at this, but I think I'll be playing my first run in story mode.

I really can't be arsed with shooting any more, I think I'll be happy just to play it for the story, set-pieces and dialogue. Once I've got that out the way, then maybe I'll see if I'm in the mood for combat.
 
lastplayed said:
I think my not-too-distant-past-self would be horrified at this, but I think I'll be playing my first run in story mode.

I really can't be arsed with shooting any more, I think I'll be happy just to play it for the story, set-pieces and dialogue. Once I've got that out the way, then maybe I'll see if I'm in the mood for combat.
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Believe me, that was my first inkling, too.

But it's not worth it.
 
Magic Mushroom said:
They might drop the ball story-wise, but in terms of gameplay this should be the best one yet.
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Why am I getting a Matrix Trilogy feel with this game. The first one great, the second one was ok, teh third one is LOLWAT? I think this may be a travesty in the making here.

What is going on here BioWare?

Anyway, the gameplay is the highlight of a story driven RPG?
 
Snuggler said:
Done.

It was okay, I guess. The combat does feel faster and tighter, which I like, but it's still not in the same league as the big swinging dicks of the genre like Vanquish and Gears. It's C-tier in comparison. My first impression is that I'll enjoy it more than the combat in the first two games, but that's not exactly high praise. Movement and the cover system feel too rigid, and there was nothing particularly impressive about the level or encounter design. The weapon customization and leveling will definitely help, though, I expect to enjoy it more in the full game.
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Are you saying ME should be in the same genre as Vanquish and Gears? Remember dude, its an RPG at the end of the day. You cant expect the 60fps action of vanquish for a game this large.

You say C-Tier? For RPG combat it is almost perfect to me. I dont know any other RPG with a better battle system.
 
PC-version here. Just have to say that I hope there is some high-res textures in the full game. :/

Otherwise it was good, and ran at a steady 120fps :)
 
Hero said:
This demo felt more like Gears of War than Mass Effect. Fucking disappointing as hell.
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A small combat part of a huge game? Weird.

Also - why complain about story mode if you are not the target audience for it.
You want to level? You want to have tougher fights? Don't play story mode.
 
I don't know what people expect out of a demo lol. You would think it would just show off a small combat portion of the game. You aren't gonna get much out of it.

I guess Mass Effect isn't the best game for demos.
 
Having played the multiplayer some more I can definitely see myself playing it a bit in the final product. In fact, I think it shows off the massive improvements to combat much better than the SP demo. Being able to get a much greater idea of how you can customise your character in terms of power evolution and loadouts is good too.

MP really needs some polishing and bug-fixing though as it's extremely unstable (6 crashes over a day!). The lobby has a habit of crashing the game entirely because of players randomly leaving/being booted. I even ended up in a game last night where enemies didn't appear for me, but were showing for everyone else. The game wasn't lagging at all as both myself and everyone else were moving perfectly smoothly... I just couldn't see any or hit any enemies. Kind of a boring game actually.

Hit detection also seems kind of off, at least with the sniper rifle. Several times I've shot an enemy, got the marker that tells you that you hit him, only for it to do no damage.



Seeing a level 5 Engineer with a Revenant (and lots of level 2-4 players with Mattocks) made me cry, as I'm still stuck with the basic assault rifle and only recently unlocked my first mod for it. Whoever came up with such a shitty unlock system should be fired. Make it fixed, or allow the player to choose what they unlock. What you do NOT do is make it completely random and force players to waste their hard-earned credits.

To make things worse, you have the option of going for a basic unlock package for 5K credits, or a more advanced one for 20K. All that you get told is that the former has a small chance of an "uncommon", and the latter has at least one. But without any idea of what unlockable is what I can't make an informed decision.

The game also tells you that the 5K one is good for unlocking weapons and new characters... but it's not. Brought about 20 of them, received 1 new weapon and 1 new character option in total.


In terms of classes, at this early stage they appear reasonably balanced in multiplayer. Soldier starts off a bit weak - being limited to 2 weapons in multiplayer doesn't help when you're the class that completely depends on them - but maxed out concussion rounds are extremely useful. Those guys with shields aren't so tough when you can hit them with a round so hard it knocks the shield out the way, and with a cooldown so quick you can keep them almost permanently staggered.
 
I'm not going to play the demo, as I hate having the story spoiled a bit and then replaying the same thing for my first play through, but I hear the music is excellent? I'm actually pretty hyped for Clint Mansell's work (he's also one my favorite film music composers), hearing it's actually good, oh boy.
 
derFeef said:
A small combat part of a huge game? Weird.

Also - why complain about story mode if you are not the target audience for it.
You want to level? You want to have tougher fights? Don't play story mode.
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The hell? I played on action mode. It's not hard at all.

eso76 said:
A very clunky gears of war.
I wouldn't mind the amount of action if it was indeed flowing and fun, but this was a chore to play.
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Yeah, that's how I feel.
 
derFeef said:
Also - why complain about story mode if you are not the target audience for it.
You want to level? You want to have tougher fights? Don't play story mode.
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I played Story Mode because I wanted to see how it was.

I don't like it.

What's the problem, exactly? This is the Demo Impression thread. I'm giving my impression.
 
Played through the first segment but didn't play the second. I think I want to keep the rest of the game fresh. Man, it is really weird but awesome seeing a futuristic version of the city you live in get blown to hell around you. I've seen it in movies - usually masqueraded as somewhere else - but never a game.
 
Really enjoyed the demo. Still don't get some (most) of the hate. But, my impressions: combat was great in the Salarian half. Good use of open battle fields with multiple angles of attack including much appreciated vertically. Love the melee kills, so much nicer than 2. Appreciated being able to use multiple biotics again! Storywise its clear we are missing key info but I still enjoyed it as well. I'm as cynical as the next but the feeling of dread and hopelessness was there for me in the opening bit. Similar to how I felt in me1 during the Citadel attack.

An aside; my roommate who hasn't played ME at all watched me do the demo and his words, "This is some serious sei if pulp." So I think it's safe to say they still have that feel down.
 
Played through the demo and enjoyed it as expected. I loved both ME1 and 2.

I understand the divide between the audience with the two prequels, but personally I enjoyed playing the explorer, ship-commander Shepard in ME, and now I'm enjoying the more hardened, do-what-it-takes Shepard of ME3.

I liken it to old Star Trek vs. the latest movie - though admittedly I never watched much of the Star Trek series, I understand the appeal. Enjoying the world and getting to know the different species, with exploration and discovery at the forefront. Now that the world has been introduced and I'm familiar with the characters and lore, there's a specific mission to do. The game is more linear but it doesn't bother me, personally. I quite enjoy both styles and I have a feeling I'll love ME3. It has to be said that it's infinitely better than what they did with DA2 after DA:O.

I'm a little disappointed with the looks of the new FemShep. Thought they'd put a little more work into giving her personality like ManShep has. She just looks like a player-customized model with a different face texture, though it must be said it's preferable over the original.

Sad to see that Ashley is back and not Miranda, but my fantasized human-on-human lesbian relationship never materialized in ME2 (sad face), so I guess now I've been rejected I won't be barking up that tree again. Liara, come back to me!

I like the Infiltrator much more in this game - it seems more like how Kasumi was in ME2, but a lot more fleshed out. Moving behind enemy lines, planting bombs, using sneaky melee attacks and disabling weapons... it's much more fun than Stealth Mode, Head shot, win! It's like future sci-fi Snake. I played on the mode right beneath insanity and died once (oops).

Lastly, I didn't spoil the game when it was leaked, and I understand that a lot of people were disappointed with the story but I'm not going to let that get to me. If the purpose of the playthrough for these people was just to get through it as fast as possible, you'd never allow yourself to enjoy the story. You'd always be looking for gimmicks and twists and coming from a backward perspective. The second part of the demo had a great little side-story to it. Looking forward to more!
 
HP_Wuvcraft said:
I played Story Mode because I wanted to see how it was.

I don't like it.

What's the problem, exactly? This is the Demo Impression thread. I'm giving my impression.
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Just saying that you aren't the target audience for the difficulty. It's made for people who don't want any challenge at all in the game and just want to watch the cutscenes.
 
That was a pretty pitiful 'invasion' also the escape with bits of rubble and buildings falling conveniently so you can run across them was just tired. I know it was an intro to the mechanics but the absolute failure of selling the fact that the reapers have just landed on earth was hilarious.

The second part was ok. But lets hope they keep convenient corridors to a bare minimum.

On a lighter note using this with Kinect is hilarious especially if you speak the dialogue with conviction.

Plus changing your weapon by just saying it's name is pretty cool.
 
odd_morsel said:
I understand the divide between the audience with the two prequels, but personally I enjoyed playing the explorer, ship-commander Shepard in ME, and now I'm enjoying the more hardened, do-what-it-takes Shepard of ME3.
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I'm thinking of reconfiguring my maleShep to look much older, kind of like Picard. The reasoning behind this is that his body is finally starting to reject the Lazarus Project implants.
 
spekkeh said:
I'm not going to play the demo, as I hate having the story spoiled a bit and then replaying the same thing for my first play through, but I hear the music is excellent? I'm actually pretty hyped for Clint Mansell's work (he's also one my favorite film music composers), hearing it's actually good, oh boy.
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From what little was emphasized in the demo, yes. It's different but surprisingly familiar at the same time, it'll make you want to hear the rest of the game.
 
So they couldn't find a button for Roll? Heh. Any way to holster my weapon?

Glad SSAA works just as well as it did in the other two games. Give it a try if your computer can handle it.
 
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