Mass Effect 3 Demo Impressions [Online Open To All]

shinobi602 said:
Haven't noticed any framerate issues at all on the 360 personally.

Edit: Some slight stutter in a few cutscenes.
Click to expand...

The cutscenes are hitting 20fps max whenever the camera moves. But, again, that's all a part of the charm of this funny ass demo.

Oh, forgot to mention how brilliant the choice between making this game an action or rpg or story is. Oh man, laugh riot.
 
Finally played the SP demo, and it is not the best demo I've seen. It might even turn off newcomers to the series. However, given that everything was out of context and was pretty short, I had my ME3 fix for the moment.

I hope the MP shows some promise, that's the part I'm most anxious about.

And damn, they give you the ability to make some ugly-ass characters!
 
astroturfing said:
2012 and still have to be worried for PS3 versions of games. WTF Bioware? the gen is ending and all.. making PS3 games shouldn't be that hard at this point.

seriously, is the PS3 version clearly worse than ME2 framerate-wise? because i played ME2 on PS3 and thought it was ok overall, no regrets. but the framerate was kinda iffy, i remember thinking that if it was any worse it would greatly annoy me. so is it obviously worse in ME3?

i'm not gonna try the demo myself because i want nothing spoiled. i'm just trying to decide whether to get the game for my PC or PS3.. leaning towards PS3 because of my ME2 save and dualshock.
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It's worse then ME2 on PS3. ME2 wasn't so bad in comparison.
 
Mr. B Natural said:
The cutscenes are hitting 20fps max whenever the camera moves during a cutscene. But, again, that's all a part of the charm of this funny ass demo.
Click to expand...

It didn't really bother me at all to be honest. I don't think it was dipping THAT low, but I did notice some stutter here and there. Not enough to really take me out of it.

The gameplay was butter smooth though, definitely no issues there for me.

Mr. B Natural said:
Oh, forgot to mention how brilliant the choice between making this game an action or rpg or story is. Oh man, laugh riot.
Click to expand...

I don't really see anything wrong with choices...
 
Mr. B Natural said:
I thought this demo was absolutely hysterical. Framerate on 360 is awful. They're trying so hard to be epic and failing miserably. You can actually hear the voice actors rolling their eyes while they speak their lines. Not only did none of my dialogue choices matter but Shepard didn't even bother to say any of the lines I chose, not even the proper tone. That kid's dialogue and voice acting...oh my god, someone call M Night Shamalyan and let them know he has a contender. Spoiler Alert: he's imaginary and Shepard when he/she was a kid.

The wack-a-mole combat, and the hilarious b movie enemies. Explosions where all you hear are glass shattering. Running on a ledge that you can't drop out of. The extreme linearity. The total fakeness of the whole scenario...the planet is being destroyed and it has about as much impact on the player emotionally as a kid kicking down a sand castle.

How does Bioware do such a magnificently hilarious satire on modern gaming and keep such a straight face? I couldn't do it.
Click to expand...
Wasn't that bad. This is your first Mass Effect game?
 
Doodis said:
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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Hm, I chose the second level from top difficulty (hardcore) as well as Vanguard and to my knowledge didn't come close to death in the slightest despite being in the middle of combat all of the time. I kind of felt invincible.

I enjoyed the demo Ok.. but it's massively compartmentalized and leads me to believe the errors of ME2 will only be exacerbated. I do want to play it though, but am in a questionable moment. Voice acting was also seemingly flat. . Running animation is really wonky.

Also, the idea that
anything will be left of Earth by the time you go "talk" to the council and do a myriad of missions to get support
must be some kind of joke. Weird way to have demo.
 
LCfiner said:
harsh but you have a point.

i think on a large scale level, it was a bad move to make the disastrous invasion of earth into a tutorial level. that informs so much of the presentation of that segment.

if it occurred later in the game and didn't have to hold your hand, it could feel so much more epic
Click to expand...

That's an issue I'm having. How is it even reasonable to think I will be gallivanting across the universe, looking for allies, questing, whilst Earth is being destroyed with such efficiency. Surely by the time I even reach the Citadel, it would be all gone.

shinobi602 said:
Why do you think that? The war between the Reapers and the Protheans alone lasted hundreds of years.
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Did it?

They make it seem like humans have no chance, though, without the help of ALL species.
 
INDIGO_CYCLOPS said:
That's an issue I'm having. How is it even reasonable to think I will be gallivanting across the universe, looking for allies, questing, whilst Earth is being destroyed with such efficiency. Surely by the time I even reach the Citadel, it would be all gone.
Click to expand...

Because you can't stop them by yourself. Is having the invasion at the beginning of the game a bad idea? Yeah. But there's nothing Shepard could really do at that point.
 
From the demo

NEW2.jpg


From the newest video

NEW1.png


Lightning looks completely different, makes me wonder how old the demo build is..
 
Gotta admit the PS3 framerate is pretty ass in the opening area, and improves a little bit on the Surkesh mission.

MP seems to run at a smooth 30, which I guess is down to the usual MP graphics downgrade.
 
shinobi602 said:
Why do you think that? The war between the Reapers and the Protheans alone lasted hundreds of years.
Click to expand...

The reaper / protean war i assume was galaxy wide. The reapers aparently wiped most of earths colonies and defenses in a matter of days (not sure timeline as demo doesnt make it clear).

We could easily conclude that the invasion of earth itself would be over in a short time, unless they have an ulterior motive. From what i read of the leaked script...
it basically bogs down to Shep searching for a magic protean MacGuffin that they didnt have time to use, then travel to cerberus secret base for last piece of said macguffin and then directly to earth for final showdown.
 
I was enjoying it until it locked up my computer not far into the 2nd section of the demo. It takes a mess of a game to do that these days.
 
Mad_Ban said:
Gotta admit the PS3 framerate is pretty ass in the opening area, and improves a little bit on the Surkesh mission.

MP seems to run at a smooth 30, which I guess is down to the usual MP graphics downgrade.
Click to expand...

I've only played co-op so that explains how I haven't had much of a problem with framerate on PS3. I'm used to ME felling janky though. I'm also playing Enslaved on PS3 right now so 30fps feels like a luxury currently.
 
Just fired up the demo and dear god their faces, their faces! What is going on? They all look like they're made of plastic and their mouth holes flap open just vaguely in time to the sounds coming out. I feel like I'm playing some kind of necromancy game where all the characters have been raised from the dead.
 
Metalmurphy said:
What makes Protheans and Earth even remotely similar? Protheans were a galaxy wide empire way more advanced then Humans.
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Didn't say they were similar. I was insinuating if it took hundreds of years to defeat the Protheans, Earth could at least last for a few weeks perhaps.

Did you guys forget the first ME3 trailer? "A million dead the first week, another 7 the first week" or something like that.
 
Metalmurphy said:
What makes Protheans and Earth even remotely similar? Protheans were a galaxy wide empire way more advanced then Humans.
Click to expand...

What I should have said - of course it will be the case. All I'm saying is, they're setting up like without the help of every living species, Humanity is doomed. Fair enough, but how is going around, organizing and questing said species even remotely fitting in context? As the lowly human race, who can't defend itself, it seems we'd be wiped out within days. They practically decimated that first city in minutes.

The writing is piss-poor, and I don't remember the other two being THIS BAD. Maybe I should play the demo again...

shinobi602 said:
Didn't say they were similar. I was insinuating if it took hundreds of years to defeat the Protheans, Earth could at least last for a few weeks perhaps.

Did you guys forget the first ME3 trailer? "A million dead the first week, another 7 the first week" or something like that.
Click to expand...

A few weeks, sure - Wonder how long galaxy-wide questing would take, rallying up all the living species necessary?
 
Lifejumper said:
From the Beta

NEW2.jpg


From the newest video

NEW1.png


Lightning looks completely different, makes me wonder how old the demo build is..
Click to expand...

The files in the ME3 Demo folder says the 17-01. So maybe the demo was cooked on that date?

Also, the .pcc files for the character models are 1/3 of the size compared to the .pcc files in ME2. For example, Garrus' model is 7,39MB in ME2, while his model in ME3 is only 2,45MB.
 
edgefusion said:
Just fired up the demo and dear god their faces, their faces! What is going on? They all look like they're made of plastic and their mouth holes flap open just vaguely in time to the sounds coming out. I feel like I'm playing some kind of necromancy game where all the characters have been raised from the dead.
Click to expand...

I'm guessing you've never played a Mass Effect game before?
 
Just downloaded and played till on the Normandy ... on ps3 here.

Can't believe what I'm seeing. It looks like we're back to 3/4 years ago. By today's standards anything is sub par. Animations, facial expressions, framerate, anything looks and feel like there was no refining at all.

When the first mass effect came out it was top notch, but it feels there is no real improvement from there.

Really really sad. I was expecting a lot from this.
 
shinobi602 said:
I'm guessing you've never played a Mass Effect game before?
Click to expand...

Lol you're right, I guess I'd hoped they'd have done something by now.


-Amon- said:
Just downloaded and played till on the Normandy ... on ps3 here.

Can't believe what I'm seeing. It looks like we're back to 3/4 years ago. By today's standards anything is sub par. Animations, facial expressions, framerate, anything looks and feel like there was no refining at all.

When the first mass effect came out it was top notch, but it feels there is no real improvement from there.

Really really sad. I was expecting a lot from this.
Click to expand...

I tend to agree.
 
INDIGO_CYCLOPS said:
What I should have said - of course it will be the case. All I'm saying is, they're setting up like without the help of every living species, Humanity is doomed. Fair enough, but how is going around, organizing and questing said species even remotely fitting in context? As the lowly human race, who can't defend itself, it seems we'd be wiped out within days. They practically decimated that first city in minutes.

The writing is piss-poor, and I don't remember the other two being THIS BAD. Maybe I should play the demo again...
Click to expand...
It took the Reapers centuries to wipe out the Proteans, and they now have to deal with wiping out not only the humans, but also all the other species. So yeah, Earth might be pretty much fucked, but there really is time to organize a defence. But eh, if you cant suspend your disbelief this might not be the game for you?
 
Lime said:
The files in the ME3 Demo folder says the 17-01. So maybe the demo was cooked on that date?

Also, the .pcc files for the character models are 1/3 of the size compared to the .pcc files in ME2. For example, Garrus' model is 7,39MB in ME2, while his model in ME3 is only 2,45MB.
Click to expand...

I would assume they didn't include the high res textures in the demo. They did the same thing with the DA2 PC demo.

Plus aren't the sizes of the console and PC demo relatively the same? That should be a good clue.I
 
shinobi602 said:
It didn't really bother me at all to be honest. I don't think it was dipping THAT low, but I did notice some stutter here and there. Not enough to really take me out of it.

The gameplay was butter smooth though, definitely no issues there for me.
Click to expand...

Unless you're playing on PC, there's nothing buttery smooth about the demo.
 
I played the demo last night. I was actually surprised at the second part of the demo. Either I'm rusty or I really suck, but I died like eight times trying to take down that mech. For me the aiming sensitivity seemed kind of off. I'm sure that's adjustable though.

Other than that I enjoyed it, except the voice acting and the script seemed weirdly off tone and weird like it was a bad translation of a JRPG or something.
 
Enduin said:
I would assume they didn't include the high res textures in the demo. They did the same thing with the DA2 PC demo.

Plus aren't the sizes of the console and PC demo relatively the same? That should be a good clue.I
Click to expand...

Doesn't Xbox Live have a maximum limit of demos? Like 2GB? Because the ME3 demo is 1.9GB and that would partially explain the beta-like quality of the demo (if the data amount has been downsized).
 
Just finished the demo on PC...

Is it just me or is the face animation significantly WORSE than the previous two games? I didn't even think that was possible. Not to mention the lip sync doesn't work at all in some parts...
 
edgefusion said:
Just fired up the demo and dear god their faces, their faces! What is going on? They all look like they're made of plastic and their mouth holes flap open just vaguely in time to the sounds coming out. I feel like I'm playing some kind of necromancy game where all the characters have been raised from the dead.
Click to expand...

You people are so spoiled! Go play The First Templar demo to recalibrate spoilness. That is literally what you described.
 
Mr. B Natural said:
I thought this demo was absolutely hysterical. Framerate on 360 is awful. They're trying so hard to be epic and failing miserably. You can actually hear the voice actors rolling their eyes while they speak their lines. Not only did none of my dialogue choices matter but Shepard didn't even bother to say any of the lines I chose, not even the proper tone. That kid's dialogue and voice acting...oh my god, someone call M Night Shamalyan and let them know he has a contender. Spoiler Alert: he's imaginary and Shepard when he/she was a kid.

The wack-a-mole combat, and the hilarious b movie enemies. Explosions where all you hear are glass shattering. Running on a ledge that you can't drop out of. The extreme linearity. The total fakeness of the whole scenario...the planet is being destroyed and it has about as much impact on the player emotionally as a kid kicking down a sand castle.

How does Bioware do such a magnificently hilarious satire on modern gaming and keep such a straight face? I couldn't do it.
Click to expand...

Pretty much... Dialogue just felt cliche and not even well performed.

Was really looking forward to this now I am not sure anymore
 
Darknessbear said:
You people are so spoiled! Go play The First Templar demo to recalibrate spoilness. That is literally what you described.
Click to expand...

If The First Templar is the bar at which all gaming is to be judged then I'd have to change my pants every time I play a videogame that isn't The First Templar due to over-excitement.
 
Darknessbear said:
You people are so spoiled! Go play The First Templar demo to recalibrate spoilness. That is literally what you described.
Click to expand...

Expectations are based on the scope of the product. You are not suggesting The First Templar and Mass Effect 3 shared similar budgets, are you?
 
Lime said:
Doesn't Xbox Live have a maximum limit of demos? Like 2GB? Because the ME3 demo is 1.9GB and that would partially explain the beta-like quality of the demo (if the data amount has been downsized).
Click to expand...

No clue on demo size limit, but seems right. I just think that both the PC and console demos being almost the same size is telling at least for PC that we aren't getting the package. I can't look it up my self sadly but it would be helpful if someone tested medium texture vs high on PC and see if there's a difference.
 
I think I'll be doing the same as I did with the Assassin's Creed series, just stick to having played only the second one and ignore the rest. The funny thing is both AC2 and ME2 have the exact same faults - shallow gameplay, incredibly easy, let down ending - but they're enough to get the gist of what the series are trying to do.
 
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