Mass Effect 3 Demo Impressions [Online Open To All]

ScreenSplitter said:
Is it just me, or is anyone complaining about ME3 after playing the demo never going to be happy?

Played like a perfect blend of ME1 + ME2 to me, arguably what the third game in a trilogy should be.
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Felt like the story had finally reached the climax we have been waiting for since 2007 to me. Which is as it should be. While the gameplay is far from being great in terms of third person shooter mechanics, they still have improved on it even further and it plays better than it ever has. AI is better as well. Can't complain about where they have made improvement.

Better gameplay aside, I am still playing this as an RPG. Speaking of which, you know that there will be more character interaction and so forth in the full game. This was merely a demo of the intro sequence and an action sequence from later in the game. As a fan of the series since the first one, I could not really ask for more based on what I saw. I think it is going to be the best one yet.
 
Billychu said:
If you want to see PTSD handled poorly in a game, play Metroid Other M. It's embarrassing.


How come people in this thread say "Shepard" and then say "he"? Does Shepard have a male brother or something?
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I confess Japanese stories in video games, with a few exceptions, pass right by me. It´s a clear example on how good gameplay can sometimes completely gloss over a week story.

Dark Souls is probably my favorite rpg of this generation (on consoles) and it´s story is total crap.

Hopefully Mass Effect 3, despite it´s story (based on the leaked script) can do the same and make it up with gameplay.
 
ScreenSplitter said:
Is it just me, or is anyone complaining about ME3 after playing the demo never going to be happy?

Played like a perfect blend of ME1 + ME2 to me, arguably what the third game in a trilogy should be.
Click to expand...

You have to understand, a lot of gamers here on GAF scrutinize every inch of a game. Things like jaggies on some dude's ear, a certain way a damn ray of light hits some person's face, or 2D figures running away way off in the background that 99% of people won't notice, a gun reloading faster than they're used to, a run animation that although looks funny, aren't something to exaggerate to the levels seen here. It's taken to a whole other level here lol.

This being a game made by Bioware, who is now the devil here since Dragon Age 2 (made by an entirely different team than the ME team mind you) and to some degree ME2, exacerbates that fact even more. Things that would usually go by unnoticed or would be inconsequential in most other games, suddenly become a huge focus because it's fun to laugh at Bioware here and any little thing is brought up to give them more ammo for criticizing.

These insignificant things all of a sudden become everything that the game is. To me and you, we wouldn't even really bat an eye to little issues like those. Personally I'm SO glad that I'm the type of gamer I am. I love so many damn games and enjoy almost every one I buy. The standard of what makes a game great here on GAF absolutely boggles my mind. It makes me think, am I just too lenient? I don't think I am, if I'm not enjoying something, I stop it then and there, and there have been games where I've done that. But damn, some of the complaints are just plain crazy to me.

*shrug*
 
The Kinect implementation is pretty sweet though.

I was playing last night and whispered "Incendiary ammo," and I had to smile when it recognized my faint utterance.
 
Liked the demo but the graphic was a bit disappointing. Some jaggy galore and the faces look kind of weird. Combat is efficient and feels a bit easier than in ME2. Not to keen on "Press X for everything" though. At times, it's also hard to do the context-sensitive press X thing unless you line up the cursor perfectly.

At any rate, feels good enough for me. Definitely psyched up for March 6.
 
shinobi602 said:
You have to understand, a lot of gamers here on GAF scrutinize every inch of a game. Things like jaggies on some dude's ear, a certain way a damn ray of light hits some person's face, or 2D figures running away way off in the background that 99% of people won't notice, a gun reloading faster than they're used to, a run animation that although looks funny, aren't something to exaggerate to the levels seen here. It's taken to a whole other level here lol.

This being a game made by Bioware, who is now the devil here since Dragon Age 2 (made by an entirely different team than the ME team mind you), exacerbates that fact even more. Things that would usually go by unnoticed or would be inconsequential in most other games, suddenly become a huge focus because it's fun to laugh at Bioware here and any little thing is brought up to give them more ammo for criticizing.

These insignificant things all of a sudden become everything that the game is. To me and you, we wouldn't even really bat an eye to little issues like those. Personally I'm SO glad that I'm the type of gamer I am. I love so many damn games and enjoy almost every one I buy. The standard of what makes a game great here on GAF absolutely boggles my mind. It makes me think, am I just too lenient? I don't think I am, if I'm not enjoying something, I stop it then and there, and there have been games where I've done that. But damn, some of the complaints are just plain crazy to me.

*shrug*
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Aha I'm with you man. Personally, I think it's going to be the perfect ending to a great trilogy. Might be a little bit early to make assumptions, but I really like what I've seen so far.

More RPG options, better dialogue, and better graphics. Just "upped" overall.

kai3345 said:
What happens if you pick the "Many losses" or whatever option in regards to who died?
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I'm guessing it means you lost most/all of the squadmates from the suicide mission, as well as losing Wrex.
 
I think the first half of the demo should not have even been in the demo. It's poor in all regards. The second half is a lot better, and ending on a boss fight is solid.

I tried the co-op as well, and I actually dug it. My friends and I will probably have a blast with it for a week or two here and there. The group I was with only made it to wave 2 on medium difficulty I believe, so it hopefully can be the right amount of challenging.

Oh and am I the only one who laughed when that little kids ship got blown up by the reaper at the end of the first half of the demo? xD
 
ScreenSplitter said:
Then I really doubt you played ME1.
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I don't know why people keep saying this. Mass Effect 1's tone and scope was totally different than 2, and the gameplay was at a slower pace. I've put hundreds of hours into this series. If you like ME1 and ME2 equally, or like ME2 more, whatever, that's fine. But a lot of people see a big difference between 1 and 2 and we're really fucking tired of people telling us two games we find very different are actually exactly the same.
 
shinobi602 said:
You have to understand, a lot of gamers here on GAF scrutinize every inch of a game. Things like jaggies on some dude's ear, a certain way a damn ray of light hits some person's face, or 2D figures running away way off in the background that 99% of people won't notice, a gun reloading faster than they're used to, a run animation that although looks funny, aren't something to exaggerate to the levels seen here. It's taken to a whole other level here lol.

This being a game made by Bioware, who is now the devil here since Dragon Age 2 (made by an entirely different team than the ME team mind you) and to some degree ME2, exacerbates that fact even more. Things that would usually go by unnoticed or would be inconsequential in most other games, suddenly become a huge focus because it's fun to laugh at Bioware here and any little thing is brought up to give them more ammo for criticizing.

These insignificant things all of a sudden become everything that the game is. To me and you, we wouldn't even really bat an eye to little issues like those. Personally I'm SO glad that I'm the type of gamer I am. I love so many damn games and enjoy almost every one I buy. The standard of what makes a game great here on GAF absolutely boggles my mind. It makes me think, am I just too lenient? I don't think I am, if I'm not enjoying something, I stop it then and there, and there have been games where I've done that. But damn, some of the complaints are just plain crazy to me.

*shrug*
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You're really overestimating this Bioware hate. Some of us just have high standards - I've never played a Bioware game other than ME and ME2.

Aliasing is a huge eye sore. Bad animations ruin immersion.
 
Moaradin said:
The co-op on PC is actually pretty amazing so far. Even my friends who are Mass Effect "purist" and hate every change to the series, for better or worse, loved it. It gets so intense later on and we eventually all agreed that it's probably one of the best teamwork based co-op games we've played in a while. Of course this was a three man party. We never did get that forth player.

The MP really shows how well the controls and shooting have been improved. SP part of the demo wasn't very good for that just because of how linear it was.
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I got to try a bit of the co-op last night by going through their dumb Facebook "recruitment" thing, and I really have to agree.

I wasn't too hot on the game based on the singleplayer demo, but the multiplayer component is a much better representation of gameplay. In the SP demo, every class but Soldier is forced to play as a crappy version of a soldier due to the ridiculous cooldowns you get from having all those weapons equipped. In the multiplayer, where you can take as light or as heavy a load as you want, and you can actually use the abilities that are pretty much the whole point of the game, it really becomes apparent that the game is genuinely a big step up from Mass Effect 1 and 2, both in terms of how good the action-based shooter mechanics have become, and in terms of having a really nice variety of meaningfully different character build/equipment options.

Mass Effect 1 had hundreds and hundreds of pieces of equipment and ~150 places where you could add skill points, but in terms of gameplay there were really only two different things you could do with each of the four weapon classes, most classes were limited to only two weapon classes to begin with, and Pistols made Shotguns and Assault Rifles obsolete in every conceivable way, so there was very little meaningful variety - and typically, only three out of twelve milestones per ability had an appreciable effect, so there wasn't really any meaningful customization of your skills, either.
In Mass Effect 2, they did a much better job of making each upgrade count. The weapons, within a weapon class, were (with some exceptions) lateral upgrades that played differently, instead of being straight 'this one is better than the old one' upgrades - and the straightforward damage upgrades came in large, effective chunks, so that you could really feel the difference every time you upgraded. The skills, too, were pared down so that every time you upgraded one, that skill became very noticeably better than it had been before the upgrade. The problem, of course, being that there just weren't all that many options available: two choices per weapon class, other than the Assault Rifle (which only one class can natively use), unless you were a Soldier or Soldier-hybrid who chose to specialize in a particular weapon, in which case you got three choices; and four levels to each skill, with only the very last level of each skill offering the player any differentiation.

In Mass Effect 3, they do a good job of addressing both meaningful differentiation, and variety of upgrades. Weapon types that actually play differently, as in ME2, make their return, and are bolstered by an improved weapon mod system, allowing for differentiation at the level of fine-tuning your loadout.
You're not limited to a particular weapon type by class; only by how much weight you want to carry, and the skills having three levels of differentiation each; between those two things, this is actually the first Mass Effect game where two characters of the same class might actually end up having different playstyles from one another. The ability to determine your own balance between weapon firepower and ability cooldown is, in and of itself, a deeper and more robust statistical "RPG" mechanic than anything present in either ME1 or ME2 - and the skill upgrades that synergize with each other to further reduce certain combinations of skills (which typically come at the cost of not being able to have versions of those abilities that are overall more powerful) plays really well into that.


Even if you're the sort of person for whom the idea of multiplayer in Mass Effect is personally, emotionally insulting, I really recommend jumping through the hoops to get access to the MP component. Even if you hate the MP itself, you should evaluate the game based on the way it actually plays, rather than the shitty, neutered gameplay that the SP portion's equipment loadout forces on you.
 
zlatko said:
I think the first half of the demo should not have even been in the demo. It's poor in all regards. The second half is a lot better, and ending on a boss fight is solid.
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Oh good then it's not just me being an ME2 hater. I had to shut the demo off after playing a couple of minutes because I just couldn't put up with it anymore.
 
Why does the PS3 version have to run so bad? I own and have beaten ME1 & 2 several times on 360 and had beaten ME2 once on PS3. I was hoping ME3 would run good on the PS3 as ME2 ran pretty decent. After playing both demos the 360 version just destroys the PS3 version. This sucks for me because I refuse to pay for Live an I have 2-3 friends who are getting it on PS3 that I wanted to play online with. I hope they fix this shit otherwise I'm playing strictly solo an getting the 360 version after all.

Edit* who am I kidding, I already know the PS3 version will not be up to par. I have some soul searching to do.
 
shinobi602 said:
You have to understand, a lot of gamers here on GAF scrutinize every inch of a game. Things like jaggies on some dude's ear, a certain way a damn ray of light hits some person's face, or 2D figures running away way off in the background that 99% of people won't notice, a gun reloading faster than they're used to, a run animation that although looks funny, aren't something to exaggerate to the levels seen here. It's taken to a whole other level here lol.

This being a game made by Bioware, who is now the devil here since Dragon Age 2 (made by an entirely different team than the ME team mind you) and to some degree ME2, exacerbates that fact even more. Things that would usually go by unnoticed or would be inconsequential in most other games, suddenly become a huge focus because it's fun to laugh at Bioware here and any little thing is brought up to give them more ammo for criticizing.

These insignificant things all of a sudden become everything that the game is. To me and you, we wouldn't even really bat an eye to little issues like those. Personally I'm SO glad that I'm the type of gamer I am. I love so many damn games and enjoy almost every one I buy. The standard of what makes a game great here on GAF absolutely boggles my mind. It makes me think, am I just too lenient? I don't think I am, if I'm not enjoying something, I stop it then and there, and there have been games where I've done that. But damn, some of the complaints are just plain crazy to me.

*shrug*
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All you are saying it's essentially "I'm annoyed cause people talk down of a game I like".

Anyway, I don't have big complaints for this demo, but sure as fuck I'm not excited about it.
It's a more of the same without the faintest shadow of improvement or innovation.
Actually, they are even stripping down features (like the option to put your weapons away) cause of "memory limitations".
 
Whatever happened to being able to use the new hair styles from the fem shep concept arts :(?

None of them was in the demo, or are they going to be in the retail version? Or am I being trolled!?
 
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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I love you.
 
I kind of like Vega from the few lines he spoke in the demo, sounds like a nice fellow. Liking him better than Kaidan. I hope he can keep up, if he doesn't want to end up like Kaidan.
 
Billychu said:
I don't know why people keep saying this. Mass Effect 1's tone and scope was totally different than 2, and the gameplay was at a slower pace. I've put hundreds of hours into this series. If you like ME1 and ME2 equally, or like ME2 more, whatever, that's fine. But a lot of people see a big difference between 1 and 2 and we're really fucking tired of people telling us two games we find very different are actually exactly the same.
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We weren't talking about two. We were talking about 3's demo. Which I think brings back a lot more of the in-depth power customisation in one. Also, Wrex, Liara, and Garrus being present doesn't hurt.

Just because you didn't ride a Mako and there wasn't an Overheat function does not mean it doesn't have any features reminiscent of 1.
 
shinobi602 said:
You have to understand, a lot of gamers here on GAF scrutinize every inch of a game. Things like jaggies on some dude's ear, a certain way a damn ray of light hits some person's face, or 2D figures running away way off in the background that 99% of people won't notice, a gun reloading faster than they're used to, a run animation that although looks funny, aren't something to exaggerate to the levels seen here. It's taken to a whole other level here lol.

This being a game made by Bioware, who is now the devil here since Dragon Age 2 (made by an entirely different team than the ME team mind you) and to some degree ME2, exacerbates that fact even more. Things that would usually go by unnoticed or would be inconsequential in most other games, suddenly become a huge focus because it's fun to laugh at Bioware here and any little thing is brought up to give them more ammo for criticizing.

These insignificant things all of a sudden become everything that the game is. To me and you, we wouldn't even really bat an eye to little issues like those. Personally I'm SO glad that I'm the type of gamer I am. I love so many damn games and enjoy almost every one I buy. The standard of what makes a game great here on GAF absolutely boggles my mind. It makes me think, am I just too lenient? I don't think I am, if I'm not enjoying something, I stop it then and there, and there have been games where I've done that. But damn, some of the complaints are just plain crazy to me.

*shrug*
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This sums up so much of what I've been thinking lately, especially the last paragraph. Bravo, good sir.
 
ScreenSplitter said:
We weren't talking about two. We were talking about 3's demo. Which I think brings back a lot more of the in-depth power customisation in one. Also, Wrex, Liara, and Garrus being present doesn't hurt.

Just because you didn't ride a Mako and there wasn't an Overheat function does not mean it doesn't have any features reminiscent of 1.
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I'm talking about the combat though. The leveling system is the best one in the series so far and I doubt many people would disagree.
 
Billychu said:
I'm talking about the combat though. The leveling system is the best one in the series so far and I doubt many people would disagree.
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How is leveling now? I heard XP in the middle of combat was back, but not necessarily for every single kills like ME1.
 
Billychu said:
How come people in this thread say "Shepard" and then say "he"? Does Shepard have a male brother or something?
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If you want to get technical, 'he' is actually an indefinite pronoun (gender neutral, see this). However it has for some reason become commonplace to refer to a person of unspecified gender as a he/she, even though this isn't grammatically necessary.
 
Bisnic said:
How is leveling now? I heard XP in the middle of combat was back, but not necessarily for every single kills like ME1.
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I think you earn it from kills (maybe only bosses or tough enemies) and from examining stuff in the environment.

Almost every tier of a skill has 2 options to choose from so it's not ME1's boring minor increments and not ME2's terrible system either. They combined the best parts of both into something I think works really well and 2 people using the same skill can actually use it in different ways.
 
Gueras said:
I didn't get the diference between role play mode and story mode...

can some explain that for me?
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I think the only difference is combat difficulty, which I'm pretty sure you can alter after making either of the two selections any way. It just seems like extra promotion for their new 'even easier mode'.

To be honest, I don't understand why anybody would be angry at the inclusion of 'action' and 'story' modes. They cannot conceivably have taken a lot of resources to implement, and they might just make somebody happy, somewhere out there in the big world.
 
Gueras said:
I didn't get the diference between role play mode and story mode...

can some explain that for me?
Click to expand...

RPG Mode is what you would expect Mass Effect 3 to be if there weren't different 'modes' (ie: Just a regular game). Story mode is for people who would prefer it if the game didn't have combat, just so they could go through the story and make their own decisions. It doesn't remove combat, but it turns the difficulty down to the point where the player basically has god mode.
 
Billychu said:
I think you earn it from kills (maybe only bosses or tough enemies) and from examining stuff in the environment.

Almost every tier of a skill has 2 options to choose from so it's not ME1's boring minor increments and not ME2's terrible system either. They combined the best parts of both into something I think works really well and 2 people using the same skill can actually use it in different ways.
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Positive feedback in my ME thread? Go away!

But thanks anyway lol.
 
It was nice to jump back into the ME universe last night.

I have to say, I was getting my trashed kicked as a Vanguard. Played through as a soldier a second time, and it was much easier. I really hate the way they changed the charge effect for Vanguard. I get lost in the transition. But hopefully I'll get used to it.

For some reason, Kinect controls weren't really working my first time through, either, but they were fine the second time.

Looking forward to release day.
 
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