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[HP_Wuvcraft]

People having rock bottom expectations isn't my problem.

But apparently them liking the game is.

Please don't act like you're the only one on the internet that thinks they are superior to others due to a taste in games. You're not.

 

[firehawk12]

What you call rock bottom expectations, I call shaped, or accurate, expectations. I went in expecting the experience I've come to like from Mass Effect, and I got it. I don't play the franchise because I want to play Baldur's Gate: Space Adventures. I play it because it's a sloshy action shooter with minimalistic RPG elements bolted on, with enjoyable characters and dialogue. I got what I wanted.

To be honest, after the massive disappointment of ME2 in terms of consequences (lol, Kaiden/Ashley is there for one second and takes off), I don't think I had any real expectations for ME3.

It's probably why I enjoyed it more than I thought it would, despite them using the same tricks. Jacob and Thane becoming useless characters didn't surprise me at all. Jacob dumping your sad ass if you were dumb enough to romance him is actually a masterful troll!

 

[rdrr gnr]

So what did everyone else think of the remaining 98% of the game? I.e. the bits BEFORE the last 10 minutes?

I thought the game was excellent but i had a few small bugs glitches which really needed to be fixed

1) the Journal Screen - tell me which part ive done and when ive done it. Fallout's/Skyrim's system is a lot better than this. There were so many times when ive forgotten if i have picked up the item needed and if it was fine to return now.

2) The randomness of bringing up the journal screen - sometimes its all the way down, half way down, sometimes its two tabs across - it changes which order ive viewed things in.

3) MP Glitches - had quite a few MP glitches so far. Ammo not picking up, not being able to resuscitate people.

Thought the rest was excellent however. Really enjoying my 2nd playthrough (insanity run) right now.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=36224243&postcount=1368

I've stricken the death of squadmates from that list and added N7 missions. Kaidan's writing is still shit, even if it was meant to be intentional.

 

[Hero]

The game is a mediocre third person shooter with light RPG elements. I don't see how anyone could really try to play this series for the actual shooting gameplay mechanics and have fun. The universe and story were the only things that made me want to play through them.

 

[firehawk12]

The game is a mediocre third person shooter with light RPG elements. I don't see how anyone could really try to play this series for the actual shooting gameplay mechanics and have fun. The universe and story were the only things that made me want to play through them.

It's basically Uncharted but with interactive cutscenes, really.

(Whether ME3 plays better than UC3 is probably up for debate)

 

[Antiochus]

So what did everyone else think of the remaining 98% of the game? I.e. the bits BEFORE the last 10 minutes?

I thought the game was excellent but i had a few small bugs glitches which really needed to be fixed

1) the Journal Screen - tell me which part ive done and when ive done it. Fallout's/Skyrim's system is a lot better than this. There were so many times when ive forgotten if i have picked up the item needed and if it was fine to return now.

2) The randomness of bringing up the journal screen - sometimes its all the way down, half way down, sometimes its two tabs across - it changes which order ive viewed things in.

3) MP Glitches - had quite a few MP glitches so far. Ammo not picking up, not being able to resuscitate people.

Thought the rest was excellent however. Really enjoying my 2nd playthrough (insanity run) right now.

Ironically, the crimes people have been raging after experiencing the ending are actually committed, bloody handed, by the previous 99% of the game. From start to just before the end the game basically rides roughshed over any player choice and agency, whether it be the choices made before or during the game, having deeper, meaningful interactions with characters other than the LI, to being managing/overseeing the struggle against the Reapers (i.e. none). After accumulating so much war assets, you have no way of choosing and utilizing them in any way, nor do you see and feel the effects of their level. You don't even know how your fleet fared against the Reapers as your looking from the Citadel. Were they victorious? Stalemated? Ravaged?

And people are complaining about the ending? Anyone who with an open mind during the rest of the game should know that nothing good was going to come out when the game skips a climax and stalls at the 85-90% mark before ending all of a sudden.

 

[firehawk12]

Ironically, the crimes people have been raging after experiencing the ending are actually committed, bloody handed, by the previous 99% of the game. From start to just before the end the game basically rides roughshed over any player choice and agency, whether it be the choices made before or during the game, having deeper, meaningful interactions with characters other than the LI, to being managing/overseeing the struggle against the Reapers (i.e. none). After accumulating so much war assets, you have no way of choosing and utilizing them in any way, nor do you see and feel the effects of their level. You don't even know how your fleet fared against the Reapers.

And people are complaining about the ending?

As I said above, after ME2, shame on you if you thought your choices mattered. It all comes down to Tuchunka and maybe the Quarian conflict (although, fuck those Quarians).

 

[EatChildren]

The game is a mediocre third person shooter with light RPG elements. I don't see how anyone could really try to play this series for the actual shooting gameplay mechanics and have fun. The universe and story were the only things that made me want to play through them.

I enjoyed shooting stuff in ME3 more than I did in Uncharted 3.

Take that as you will.

 

[Replicant]

Positive:
+ Combat is far more proficient this time around. Power upgrades actually more customizable. Ditto with weapons and armors. I enjoy flaying enemies to death before freezing them then shattering their carcass.
+ Good memorable moments: Liara's time capsule, Tuchanka battle, Reaper battle in Rannoch and the following confrontation between Quarians/Geths, some of the romance paths, Garrus/Shepard bonding moment, and Cerberus Base's revelation of Shepard and EDI.
+ Intra-dialogues between crew members are good and helps to give some of the characters more personality. For example, Garrus and Tali flirt shamelessly like high school kids if you take them to Rannoch mission. EDI and Kaidan (or Ashley) both have interesting comments if you take them to Cerberus Base. And Liara and Javik have some revelation moments if you take them to Thessia.
+ Same-sex romance(s) are treated with more care than I thought they would. The dialogues are pretty good and the stage direction they took to make said romance make sense is very welcomed. Romance in general is also better here than in the previous games.
+ Closing moments with the popular ME2 characters (Mordin, Legion, Thane) were heart-wrenching and are the kind of sad endings that I was happy to see.
+ The little details they give to supporting characters (ie. ME 2 characters). For example, Jack turning into Nemesis if you don't save her in time from Grissom Academy. Or you fighting Monrith as a Banshee if you had her alive in ME2 save.

Neutral:
o James Vega is funnier than I thought he'd be. Also, so fucking useful as a distraction for the Brutes and Banshees during the final battle. Since his HP is high, I don't have to heal him that often.
o Javik is an asshole but the solution is easy: I just don't talk to him often because it makes me cringe to hear some of the things he say. He's funny in comics but in the game he's kind of annoying.
o Multi-player. Is actually pretty enjoyable if you get good team who knows what they are doing. Needs better way of getting new characters though. The chances are so slim.

Negatives:
- THE ENDING!
- Kai Leng, Jessica Chobot, SpaceBrat, and Creepy Grandpa.
- Problem with loading/saving in some spots of the game. Often the game froze to a halt during elevator moment in Citadel.
- No more dialogue conversation to determine if some random characters you encounter mid mission is good or evil or must be saved or kill. I enjoyed those moments in ME2.
- Conversation wheel are not as many as it used to. I want to have more control of the important talks, even if the difference is just the reaction from the character you're speaking to.
- Having to control Shepard in his nightmare. Why giving us control when it's not necessary? All he does in the dream is chasing after the spacebrat anyway.
- The diary is a joke. I can't tell if I've got the items that I need for a mission and if I've completed the mission or not. Why they changed the perfectly fine diary in ME2 is beyond me.

 

[Jake Tower]

My Shep's reaction to the ending:

Holy Shit! It's John Waters!

 

[Blue Ninja]

ME2 was infinitely more polished than ME1 and ME3. I think I only ran across like three or four glitches through all my playthroughs: Shepard's head spazzing out in random directions, getting stuck on cover and Ish' sidequest never completing are all that come to mind.

ME1 and ME3 are both a lot more yanky. I really think ME3 could've benefited from an extra six months of development time: the glitches you often see during dialog are just jarring sometimes.

 

[Minion101]

I enjoyed shooting stuff in ME3 more than I did in Uncharted 3.

Take that as you will.

Same. You have pretty cool abilities in ME3

 

[Coxswain]

The game is a mediocre third person shooter with light RPG elements. I don't see how anyone could really try to play this series for the actual shooting gameplay mechanics and have fun. The universe and story were the only things that made me want to play through them.

The only third-person shooters I can think of from the last ~5 years that are more fun to play are Vanquish and Lost Planet 1+2. ME3 is a damn sight better than Gears of War and Uncharted, that's for sure.

 

[Hero]

I enjoyed shooting stuff in ME3 more than I did in Uncharted 3.

Take that as you will.

Haven't played Uncharted 3 yet but seeing as how the shooting mechanics were complained about I'm not sure that's saying much.

The shooting isn't what's bad. It's just the repetitive wave after wave of the same few enemies on every single mission.

 

[hateradio]

I still can't believe that ME3 has more dialog than the previous games combined. I guess it goes to show that stopping and using the wheel can make dialog seem longer or more interactive. Har.

I know that the interaction between the crew on the Normandy is a nice addition, but besides that I don't think I felt any real connection to the crew beyond that which we had established on previous games. There were a few nice scenes with Javik, Garrus, and Liara, but everyone else felt like a shell.

I think the ending helps redirect the disappointment into one spot, but the game is flawed. In any case, I still enjoyed it very much.

 

[Replicant]

Haven't played Uncharted 3 yet but seeing as how the shooting mechanics were complained about I'm not sure that's saying much.

The shooting isn't what's bad. It's just the repetitive wave after wave of the same few enemies on every single mission.

If you think the waves in ME3 is annoying, stay away from Uncharted 3. That game has some of the most controller-breaking moments where you get ganged up from left, right, front, and back at the same time. I like the game but there were times when I went into rage due to the gameplay.

 

[hateradio]

If you think the waves in ME3 is annoying, stay away from Uncharted 3. That game has some of the most controller-breaking moments where you get ganged up from left, right, front, and back at the same time.

I haven't played it, but I got annoyed during Uncharted 2. I couldn't understand how hundreds of guys could hide out in the mountains. I ended up putting the game on Easy, which I think made it worse because the auto-aim was ridiculous to use.

Beyond it, the worst wave combat has to be DA2. Luckily, this is much, much better than it.

 

[B_Rik_Schitthaus]

ME2 was infinitely more polished than ME1 and ME3. I think I only ran across like three or four glitches through all my playthroughs: Shepard's head spazzing out in random directions, getting stuck on cover and Ish' sidequest never completing are all that come to mind.

ME1 and ME3 are both a lot more yanky. I really think ME3 could've benefited from an extra six months of development time: the glitches you often see during dialog are just jarring sometimes.

Ged' outta' here!

 

[Arjen]

ME2 was infinitely more polished than ME1 and ME3. I think I only ran across like three or four glitches through all my playthroughs: Shepard's head spazzing out in random directions, getting stuck on cover and Ish' sidequest never completing are all that come to mind.

ME1 and ME3 are both a lot more yanky. I really think ME3 could've benefited from an extra six months of development time: the glitches you often see during dialog are just jarring sometimes.

Another six months would've done wonders for this game, they could've expanded the intro and think a bit more about how they wanted to end it. Such a shame.

 

[EatChildren]

Haven't played Uncharted 3 yet but seeing as how the shooting mechanics were complained about I'm not sure that's saying much.

The shooting isn't what's bad. It's just the repetitive wave after wave of the same few enemies on every single mission.

I don't mind this though. I enjoy shooting the enemies as I enjoy the core mechanics. I like the blend of weapons and powers. I like that there's a good variety of weapons, and powers are separated between tech and biotic, allowing for a wealth of different play styles. I like that there's a pretty huge variety of enemies to keep encounters interesting. I don't really have any problem with the encounters, as simple as they are, because of the above: the simple act of fighting stuff feels good to me.

That doesn't mean there isn't room to improve or that the game is exceptionally polished. The one button does all concept is junk. There's some collision detection issues. Balance is questionable depending on your class. It's no Vanquish, but still, I really enjoy it, moreso than a lot of other third person shooters.

 

[Minion101]

Another six months would've done wonders for this game, they could've expanded the intro and think a bit more about how they wanted to end it. Such a shame.

How long was ME2 in development?

 

[Replicant]

I haven't played it, but I got annoyed during Uncharted 2. I couldn't understand how hundreds of guys could hide out in the mountains. I ended up putting the game on Easy, which I think made it worse because the auto-aim was ridiculous to use.

Beyond it, the worst wave combat has to be DA2. Luckily, this is much, much better than it.

AHAHAHAHA, yes yes! That's one thing that annoyed me about it. I mean FFS, I went through the hardest path to get to a point in the game (ie. climbing cliffs then the path behind me was closed and it was only one way) and when you get there, "bam", there are tens of enemies somehow managed to get there by.......I don't know how.

 

[hateradio]

Do you guys think the content initiative will help the game at all? I'm hoping that besides a patch that fixes bugs, it improves other things. I don't think they'd go back and polish anything extensively, but a few tweaks here and there that are beyond a simple patch would be nice. Ideally, it would be like an enhanced edition lite (lite lite).

 

["God's Beard!"]

All I wanted was for Shepard and Jack to make out as reapers crumble through the rays of a sunrise. Was that too much to ask?

 

[EatChildren]

Do you guys think the content initiative will help the game at all? I'm hoping that besides a patch that fixes bugs, it improves other things. I don't think they'd go back and polish anything extensively, but a few tweaks here and there that are beyond a simple patch would be nice. Ideally, it would be like an enhanced edition lite.

I didn't experience anywhere near as many bugs with ME3 as some people seemed to. Odd head movement in conversations, and that goddamn spot behind EDI on the Normandy, were the only ones. My playthrough was about on par with ME2 in terms of bugs.

Some will be fixed. Some wont. Head import will be fixed in the next big patch, as will (I assume) some multiplayer bugs. Ending wont be revised, but extended with new dialogue trees and maybe some extra footage for closure. Experience as a whole will remain exactly the same. Nobody will be happy. Everybody dies.

 

[hateradio]

All I wanted was for Shepard and Jack to make out as reapers crumble through the rays of a sunrise. Was that too much to ask?

Love Making DLC for crew that is not in the Normandy, $14.99. Would you buy it?

Some will be fixed. Some wont. Head import will be fixed in the next big patch, as will (I assume) some multiplayer bugs. Ending wont be revised, but extended with new dialogue trees and maybe some extra footage for closure. Experience as a whole will remain exactly the same. Nobody will be happy. Everybody dies.

That's what I expect. However, since they're adding this extra bit of content, it would be nice if it were a bit more beyond the patches and the extended dialog wheel with Vent Kid 2.0.

 

[CorwinB]

I finished the game yesterday evening, and I found the ending absolutely dumb.I chose the green pill.

I loved the rest of the game, though. What a waste.

 

[firehawk12]

Do you guys think the content initiative will help the game at all? I'm hoping that besides a patch that fixes bugs, it improves other things. I don't think they'd go back and polish anything extensively, but a few tweaks here and there that are beyond a simple patch would be nice. Ideally, it would be like an enhanced edition lite (lite lite).

The only thing that would be a big improvement but relatively simple to implement would be a full-fledged character editor so that you aren't stuck with default Shepard's choices.

 

[rdrr gnr]

Even after all of these great arguments, I'm still in the don't alter the ending club. Not for something like artistic integrity, but because the damage has been done. There is no one left to satisfy. You want to elaborate on the lore? Release a video clip on YouTube or something. I can't hurt if it's free, but I'm not counting on my opinion to change because of the initiative. Hell, I'm already more jaded by the fact Javik was such a great character, and I didn't get to experience him.

 

[Dresden]

A character editor (so I can kill off Ashley and Mordin) and a new INDOCTRINATION ending (featuring 100% more stupidity) would bring me back.

 

[Hero]

If you think the waves in ME3 is annoying, stay away from Uncharted 3. That game has some of the most controller-breaking moments where you get ganged up from left, right, front, and back at the same time. I like the game but there were times when I went into rage due to the gameplay.

Uncharted never appealed to me. Might play it eventually once my backlog is done.

The only third-person shooters I can think of from the last ~5 years that are more fun to play are Vanquish and Lost Planet 1+2. ME3 is a damn sight better than Gears of War and Uncharted, that's for sure.

I mean I guess it's unfair since Vanquish is so good, but I mean Gears of War 3 does the cover system better and has a really great, skill-based reloading system that can reward/punish you. Not to mention the boss battles are actually unique encounters.

I don't mind this though. I enjoy shooting the enemies as I enjoy the core mechanics. I like the blend of weapons and powers. I like that there's a good variety of weapons, and powers are separated between tech and biotic, allowing for a wealth of different play styles. I like that there's a pretty huge variety of enemies to keep encounters interesting. I don't really have any problem with the encounters, as simple as they are, because of the above: the simple act of fighting stuff feels good to me.

That doesn't mean there isn't room to improve or that the game is exceptionally polished. The one button does all concept is junk. There's some collision detection issues. Balance is questionable depending on your class. It's no Vanquish, but still, I really enjoy it, moreso than a lot of other third person shooters.

I do like the powers I just feel that every class has a bread and butter combo you don't really stray from that. I don't really think there are that many different enemies, at least to the point where encounters are frantic. Every group (cerberus, reaper, geth) has similar priority trees where you take out the most dangerous guy and work your way down and after the tenth mission there's barely any difference between the last mission other than sheer body count.

I actually wish they stuck with the unlimited ammo, overheat penalty from the first game. Ammo feels so tacked on and just an annoying obstacle. I also would've like an individual ability cooldown system rather than the global one we got in ME3.

 

[Photolysis]

So what did everyone else think of the remaining 98% of the game? I.e. the bits BEFORE the last 10 minutes?

Overall very good, with some very weak aspects that drag it down a bit. So, ending aside...



Good:

• Banter between characters, and dialogue in general. Seeing characters move around the ship, talking to each other, referencing missions in past games was excellent and added a realistic touch. Bioware have some really solid and talented character writers.
• Ambient dialogue is well written and goes a long way towards establishing the feel that yes, a bunch of bad shit is going on.
• Some good fanservice such as Garrus' calibrations and his new "favourite spot on the citadel".
• Some character deaths like Mordin's were handled well, I thought. Even if I don't think it's explained that well why everything suddenly starts exploding (unless I missed something), but it fits. Everytime some idiot journalist comes up with the "people hate the ending because it's not happy" line I want to beat them over the head and point them to this.
• The new reputation system so you can act how you want without automatically losing out because you didn't punch enough people in the face, or save enough kittens. Great for immersion.
• The weight system is excellent for power-based classes. 200% recharge speed as a Vanguard. Yes please!
• In a few cases at least. the 'Paragon' option can come back to bite you. Would have liked to have seen more of this, but it's better than nothing.
• Some scenes had real emotional impact. Mordin's death, Liara's plan for the future, Tali getting a rock from her homeworld (with negative points due to said rock being invisible).
• For the most part I really liked the ME2 score, and it was nice hearing a few pieces here and there from it, but there was some excellent original stuff in there as well.
• Some of the voice acting is phenomenal. Ash Sroka for instance manages to really nail her performance in several places, but there's a lot else that is deserving of praise.
• Based on the romances I've seen (uh, one for the most part) I would say it was quite well done, offering some hilarious dialogue as well as some very touching moments. Plus you can throw in some character development too!

Bad:

• Dream sequences were awful. How to fix: make them skippable, make them like normal cinematic conversations, and skip the stupid slow motion shit. And ditch vent kid, add other dead squadmates in place. Could have been done well, executed poorly.
• Vent Kid. Because I just love blatant attempts to emotionally manipulate me. Kid dies? Boo-hoo, deal with it. Keep dreaming about him? See a fucking shrink Shepard.
• The opening sequence. Bad dialogue, nonsensical behaviour.
• Vega. Not as bad as I originally thought, but a wasted character. The VA performance wasn't bad, but the material he was given wasn't great. At least you can make him call you "Commander", which is a plus. Would have loved to have someone like Legion or Mordin take his place because those were awesome characters.
• Planet scanning redux. Now with reapers to interfere and a bad UI that doesn't give you much information on how much you're missing.
• Side quest tracking and the journal is abysmal.
• MP's netcode and shitty unlock system. And the lack of filtering out bad players easily via level filters. If the system had been like SP where you choose what to purchase, would have been fine.
• Some of the dialogue / VA directing is awful. "STEEEEEEEEEVE" / [nonchalantly] "You sure?". The few occasions I can think of offhand I had a problem with both Meer and Hale's performances, so I'd be reluctant to blame them without further information.
• Kai Leng's character, and Shepard's cutscene incompetence. Instead of watching as Thane gets stabbed, how about you fucking shoot him? And why the fuck is he dancing around like a comic book villain?
• Jessica Chobot's character. Bad VA, I only took her first time around for those super important 5 points. One of her flirtatious lines before I told her to GTFO made my skin crawl. Gah.

There's more stuff but this list is long enough.


Bonus point: autoaim. I just love having a system which is so bad that it actually takes me off a target I have lined up. Yes, I actually miss shots because of the auto-aim... how insane is that? If I'm aiming at a guy I don't want you to partially aim at some guy 20 feet away. Let me turn that shit off. And sometimes it feels as if I'm fighting the controls, in part helped by one button doing everything.

 

[Arjen]

How long was ME2 in development?

A little over 2 years i think?

 

[hateradio]

Even after all of these great arguments, I'm still in the don't alter the ending club. Not for something like artistic integrity, but because the damage has been done. There is no one left to satisfy. You want to elaborate on the lore? Release a video clip on YouTube or something. I can't hurt if it's free, but I'm not counting on my opinion to change because of the initiative. Hell, I'm already more jaded by the fact Javik was such a great character, and I didn't get to experience him.

I don't feel like they need to change anything either. But since they're going to do something, I wouldn't mind some other areas in the game being improved, too.

 

[Replicant]

Re: Jessica Chobot, someone pointed this out on that tumblr thing and I feel that it's accurate. I can't believe Bioware had the time to model, write her lines, and generally polygon'd the hell out of her boobs. And yet, they can't even do proper 3D modeling of Tali's face and had to resort to photoshopping stock image.

Priorities, it's completely whacked in this game.

 

[Inanna]

It's basically Uncharted but with interactive cutscenes, really.

(Whether ME3 plays better than UC3 is probably up for debate)

UC3 is definitely better (imo) if we're talking gameplay. ME3 seems quite clunky, to me at least. I hate taking cover then taping X to jump over covers.

 

[firehawk12]

Re: Jessica Chobot, someone pointed this out on that tumblr thing and I feel that it's accurate. I can't believe Bioware had the time to model, write her lines, and generally polygon'd the hell out of her boobs. And yet, they can't even do proper 3D modeling of Tali's face and had to resort to photoshopping stock image.

Priorities, it's completely whacked in this game.

It's not like Tali has her own video game website.

UC3 is definitely better (imo) if we're talking gameplay. ME3 seems quite clunky, to me at least. I hate taking cover then taping X to jump over covers.

Well, the flip side is that I gave up on UC3 half way through (after maxing out my character in the beta)... so I dunno. The enemy encounter rate seemed much more annoying anyway.

(Most of UC3 felt like the shitty Earth final battle in ME3)

 

[Kabouter]

So what did everyone else think of the remaining 98% of the game? I.e. the bits BEFORE the last 10 minutes?

I PM'd this spoiler-free opinion to stump directly after finishing the game, before having read any opinions on the game from anyone and having gone into the game almost entirely spoiler free (I'd seen the EDI and Javik reveal thread, but no other PR material of any sort).

Overall, I enjoyed Mass Effect 3, but as you probably suspected already, it's the weakest of the trilogy. Of course maybe the GAF consensus is that it's amazing, but I haven't read anything from others on the game.

The great:
Early on you can buy a device that automatically feeds your fish. Holy shit.

Good:
I liked how they improved the combat, it feels much better and is a lot more fun than in previous games. Enemy diversity is much improved, a very welcome change that one. While the removal of permanently carried heavy weapons is a shame, I also feel that overall the weapons are better handled. There's none of the mess of items and omnigel that there was in the first game, but there's more there for the RPG gamer than there was in Mass Effect 2. They found a good balance there. The biggest improvement for me though is in character movement, something as simple as the addition of rolls makes everything much better for me.

A lot of the game just looks really cool. I know it's totally superficial and doesn't seem that important, but there's a lot of parts of the game that look great. Amazing backdrops in several missions. I have hundreds of screenshots to sort hahah.

I like how there's very few parts of the game that are purely there for time-wasting. There's a bit of planet scanning, and an attached 'reaper detection' mechanic that is really stupid (and easily exploited), but it's a very small part of the game. The game just has a lot of mission content, and all of it pretty high quality. You go to diverse worlds and the mission design is pretty varied given the relatively limited gameplay the franchise has always offered.

The Citadel is so much better than in ME2, it might even be better than the one in ME1. It's well laid out, it has some beautiful sections, there's lots of stuff going on, it just feels right for a place like that. Only thing I'll say is that one section is a bit big, and would have needed an additional fast travel point imo.

You can indeed finish the game with the best ending without playing multiplayer, dumbass iOS games or other crap. Be prepared to scan nearly every planet and do every side-mission though.*

The game is just about the right length, I was getting a little tired of it near the end, but that was also because that was just the poorest part of the game (see further down). Given the subjects of the missions, it always felt like it was keeping pace too. You're always focused on completing the final goal of the game, even in the side missions.

So-so:
Graphics still aren't great. While I don't always mind them so much, some of the textures are extremely low-res, which can make the graphical appearance a bit jarring at times. Some of the geometry is really basic as well, which shows on rocky worlds.

Characters, you get a much smaller complement of squadmates than in previous games, most of which were also ME1 squadmates. In fact, you don't get any squadmate from ME2 as a squadmate in ME3 unless they were also a squadmate in ME1. The ME2 characters do of course return, some in some of the best parts of the game, but it seems like a shame to have them only appear for one or two missions in the game when they were some of the best characters in the franchise. The characters you do get also seem to have less to say than they did in ME1 and especially ME2. I suppose you already know a lot about them, but even then, talking with squadmates/shipmates was always one of my favourite parts of the series.

The Normandy, it's not that much different, but there are fewer characters on there (even if you saved everyone in ME2), and they made one or two changes that make traversing the Normandy slower.

I know it wouldn't make sense in this totally 'omg save earth' instalment, but I still miss a well developed element of discovery. I want to explore, it's in space for crying out loud! I want to learn about new civilizations, find out about Protheans and earlier civilizations etc. There's some of that here, but not enough.

Bad:
That douchebag Vega. Total throwaway character, I have no idea why he was even in the game. He seems like he should've been a replacement for if you killed off one of the ME2 characters. Like if you let a similar character die in ME2, you got Vega instead of him.

The game's attempts at appealing to your emotions. I appreciate them trying, but they never have the impact they are supposed to, and only once or twice have any impact at all. You can't come to care about characters from only seeing them once. A little crudely drawn and animated boy getting blown up by a big honkin' space laser isn't exactly going to make me burst out into tears.

Leaving the best character in the game for DLC

While I like that there are more items, and I don't mind goodie hunting, it sometimes feels like I'm playing an old ass point & click adventure with lots of pixel hunting. I get totally paranoid on missions on whether I'll forget to pick up an item I'll need to complete a mission, and when you're not playing MP, that's not something you want to forget too often.

Giant facepalm:
The final two hours or so of the game. Maybe others will love it, but yeah, not for me. To explain further would of course involve massive spoilers.

Overall: 7.5/10

Given that that's spoiler free, one other thing:
I wish that the Turian, Salarian and especially Asari worlds got as much attention as Tuchanka and Rannoch did. Feels like something that would be a great fit for some proper DLC. Want that more than ending DLC tbh.

*I don't consider the red 'Shepard is alive' ending the best ending. Not a big fan of the 'ol genocide.

 

[staticneuron]

Overall very good, with some very weak aspects that drag it down a bit. So, ending aside...



Good:

• Banter between characters, and dialogue in general. Seeing characters move around the ship, talking to each other, referencing missions in past games was excellent and added a realistic touch. Bioware have some really solid and talented character writers.
• Ambient dialogue is well written and goes a long way towards establishing the feel that yes, a bunch of bad shit is going on.
• Some good fanservice such as Garrus' calibrations and his new "favourite spot on the citadel".
• Some character deaths like Mordin's were handled well, I thought. Even if I don't think it's explained that well why everything suddenly starts exploding (unless I missed something), but it fits. Everytime some idiot journalist comes up with the "people hate the ending because it's not happy" line I want to beat them over the head and point them to this.
• The new reputation system so you can act how you want without automatically losing out because you didn't punch enough people in the face, or save enough kittens. Great for immersion.
• The weight system is excellent for power-based classes. 200% recharge speed as a Vanguard. Yes please!
• In a few cases at least. the 'Paragon' option can come back to bite you. Would have liked to have seen more of this, but it's better than nothing.
• Some scenes had real emotional impact. Mordin's death, Liara's plan for the future, Tali getting a rock from her homeworld (with negative points due to said rock being invisible).
• For the most part I really liked the ME2 score, and it was nice hearing a few pieces here and there from it, but there was some excellent original stuff in there as well.
• Some of the voice acting is phenomenal. Ash Sroka for instance manages to really nail her performance in several places, but there's a lot else that is deserving of praise.
• Based on the romances I've seen (uh, one for the most part) I would say it was quite well done, offering some hilarious dialogue as well as some very touching moments. Plus you can throw in some character development too!

Bad:

• Dream sequences were awful. How to fix: make them skippable, make them like normal cinematic conversations, and skip the stupid slow motion shit. And ditch vent kid, add other dead squadmates in place. Could have been done well, executed poorly.
• Vent Kid. Because I just love blatant attempts to emotionally manipulate me. Kid dies? Boo-hoo, deal with it. Keep dreaming about him? See a fucking shrink Shepard.
• The opening sequence. Bad dialogue, nonsensical behaviour.
• Vega. Not as bad as I originally thought, but a wasted character. The VA performance wasn't bad, but the material he was given wasn't great. At least you can make him call you "Commander", which is a plus. Would have loved to have someone like Legion or Mordin take his place because those were awesome characters.
• Planet scanning redux. Now with reapers to interfere and a bad UI that doesn't give you much information on how much you're missing.
• Side quest tracking and the journal is abysmal.
• MP's netcode and shitty unlock system. And the lack of filtering out bad players easily via level filters. If the system had been like SP where you choose what to purchase, would have been fine.
• Some of the dialogue / VA directing is awful. "STEEEEEEEEEVE" / [nonchalantly] "You sure?". The few occasions I can think of offhand I had a problem with both Meer and Hale's performances, so I'd be reluctant to blame them without further information.
• Kai Leng's character, and Shepard's cutscene incompetence. Instead of watching as Thane gets stabbed, how about you fucking shoot him? And why the fuck is he dancing around like a comic book villain?
• Jessica Chobot's character. Bad VA, I only took her first time around for those super important 5 points. One of her flirtatious lines before I told her to GTFO made my skin crawl. Gah.

There's more stuff but this list is long enough.


Bonus point: autoaim. I just love having a system which is so bad that it actually takes me off a target I have lined up. Yes, I actually miss shots because of the auto-aim... how insane is that? If I'm aiming at a guy I don't want you to partially aim at some guy 20 feet away. Let me turn that shit off. And sometimes it feels as if I'm fighting the controls, in part helped by one button doing everything.

Agreed. And the tower was exploding because of damage sustained when reaper slammed into it.

EDIT: I personally didn't care about the prothean. Other than putting an interesting perspective on their culture, he added nothing to the game imo.

 

[ShockingAlberto]

So what did everyone else think of the remaining 98% of the game? I.e. the bits BEFORE the last 10 minutes?

I thought the game was excellent but i had a few small bugs glitches which really needed to be fixed

1) the Journal Screen - tell me which part ive done and when ive done it. Fallout's/Skyrim's system is a lot better than this. There were so many times when ive forgotten if i have picked up the item needed and if it was fine to return now.

2) The randomness of bringing up the journal screen - sometimes its all the way down, half way down, sometimes its two tabs across - it changes which order ive viewed things in.

3) MP Glitches - had quite a few MP glitches so far. Ammo not picking up, not being able to resuscitate people.

Thought the rest was excellent however. Really enjoying my 2nd playthrough (insanity run) right now.

I thought it was the weakest Mass Effect game by a wide margin, even without taking story in to account.

There were several sidequests that were just multiplayer maps where you play horde mode and press buttons while a disembodied voice talks to you or Cortez explains that the LZ is too hot.

The subquest log is crazy broken, uninformative, and the process of getting "missions" by just overhearing characters was poorly thought-out at best.

Encounter design felt worse than ME2. ME2 was at least clear about the fact that you are traveling down a hallway and shooting guys. You used your biotics to stop enemies from flanking you, positioned your teammates, etc. In ME3, you needed the Assault Rifle with Incendiary Ammo and you were mostly fine. To counter-balance this, they gave Cannibals inexplicably large amounts of grenades, they gave Banshees (who teleport and have tons of health) one-hit kill melee moves, and gave Cerberus enemies smokescreens that don't really do anyone any good. These things didn't make the battles any harder, it just made the battles take longer.

The reaper minigame on the galaxy map was so poorly thought out and tacked on that I would be legitimately shocked if you told me they added it more than a month before the game went gold. It is especially surprising since Christina Normal pretty explicitly said that scanning in Mass Effect 2 was awful and they regretted that mechanic, but then replaced it with something actually worse.

There's more that's not strictly a gameplay problem. The pacing (EARTH IS UNDER ATTACK hold on I have to get involved in this shopkeeper dispute with this customer trying to return something WHY WON'T YOU HELP RIGHT NOW TURIAN COMMANDER MY PEOPLE ARE DYINGGGGGGG), the pretty lame character roster in comparison to previous games, sidequests having event expiration without any indication that they would is always bad game design, War Assets meaning essentially nothing

Though weirdly, I think what bothered me most is how Turret Happy the game got near the end. I don't think these guys had any idea how to design a turret sequence so they just threw them in randomly. There was one where a reaper was chasing your car that lasts all of ten seconds. There was one where you're crossing a bridge, grab a turret, and shoot enemies with literally no obvious fail state, and then get off and keep crossing the bridge.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I do not agree with the assessment that ME3 was an amazing game ruined by its ending. It was a game that was rushed, had corners cut at every opportunity, and presented a strong argument for why game should be allowed every second they can get in the oven. It's the kind of result the industry should be looking at cock-eyed rather than praising for not trying to be ambitious enough and still failing.

 

[Mxrz]

Having Vega and the IGN girl as replacements / punishment for fucking up in ME2 and getting someone more interesting killed would've been a great move. Oh well.

 

[AniHawk]

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I do not agree with the assessment that ME3 was an amazing game ruined by its ending. It was a game that was rushed, had corners cut at every opportunity, and presented a strong argument for why game should be allowed every second they can get in the oven. It's the kind of result the industry should be looking at cock-eyed rather than praising for not trying to be ambitious enough and still failing.

all of this. it felt extremely rushed. the reaper minigame in particular (with an unintentionally funny, barren game over screen) seemed pretty obvious.

 

[EatChildren]

The reaper minigame on the galaxy map was so poorly thought out and tacked on that I would be legitimately shocked if you told me they added it more than a month before the game went gold. It is especially surprising since Christina Normal pretty explicitly said that scanning in Mass Effect 2 was awful and they regretted that mechanic, but then replaced it with something actually worse.

Thought out and well implemented the Reaper galaxy map mini-game was not, but worse than ME2? Definitely cannot agree with that.

 

[Arjen]

ME2 scanning was defintly worse than ME3 imho

 

[ShockingAlberto]

Thought out and well implemented the Reaper galaxy map mini-game was not, but worse than ME2? Definitely cannot agree with that.

It was worse in that it felt like a Mass Effect Carnival Game's production values and was totally incongruous with the rest of the game.

Bad-looking reaper lego models slowly plane-shift toward you and then the Game Over screen comes up. It might be the thing that most speaks to severe budget cuts in the game, short of Jessica Chobot's face modeling.

 

[Coxswain]

I mean I guess it's unfair since Vanquish is so good, but I mean Gears of War 3 does the cover system better and has a really great, skill-based reloading system that can reward/punish you. Not to mention the boss battles are actually unique encounters.

I don't think Gears of War does the cover system any better at all. It suffers from the exact same 'one button does everything' thing that Mass Effect 3 has, and now that ME3 has a roll, quickjumping over cover instead of having to crouch down into it before you can hop over, grab kills, and going around corners without leaving cover, there's really nothing left that Gears does any better.
Similarly, active reloads are not particularly skill-based and are definitely not interesting at all. Either you do it right (there's only one way to do it right; there's no on-the-fly decision-making, just a really easy 'hit the button at the right time' mechanic) and you get a bonus, or you don't do it right, and you don't get a bonus. The extent to which you have to catastrophically fuck up the timing to actually get the failed reload is such that I don't think it ever happened to me more than a dozen times throughout all three Gears of Wars combined, and it isn't even all that much of a big deal if you do screw it up. It just means that you have to wait another two or three seconds before you can shoot again.
The boss fights are unique, but they're still boring and scripted to all hell. If they didn't have cool visuals to go along with them, mechanically they'd be dull as hell. Both ME3 and Gears of War are only ever really good when they're putting you up against a variety of standard enemies, where all the normal rules apply.


And Gears is just a standard shooter where the choices that let you prepare for combat are basically limited to choosing two out of however many weapons (and further limitations apply there, be they 'hard' limits, where a certain weapon just isn't available for that part of the game, or 'soft' limits, where you can technically keep the weapon, but you'll have a hard time getting enough ammo to actually make proper use of it).
In Mass Effect 3, the preparation options you have range from lasting for an entire playthrough (your class choice) to 'the rest of the playthrough' (which weapons, armour, upgrades, etc you choose to purchase/upgrade, and which skills you choose for yourself and your party members, although there's a limited ability to respec the latter), to 'for the whole mission' (which party members you decide to bring along, which armour you want to wear, which weapons you bring along), down to the moment-to-moment decisions that are common in any shooter, like enemy prioritization, positioning, which weapon to use and how much ammo to save before grabbing a refill, whether to retreat into cover to recharge or whether to poke your head out and keep attacking, etc. Only there are other considerations that are not in a standard shooter like Gears: Which weapons and skills your squadmates use, which skills to use once your cooldown comes up, along with the skills that use non-cooldown resources (those that are limited based on a stock of consumables, like grenades and medi-gel, or on some other resource, like Nova requiring you to spend your Barrier).

The general feel of shooting, moving, and making 'shooter' decisions is about on par (that is to say: It's definitely no Vanquish, but it's certainly not any worse than Gears), only there's an entirely separate dimension to the combat since your longer-term decisions play into which options are available at any given second, and since you have options like Biotics and tech that simply aren't available in a standard shooter. You're also given much more feedback in ME3 than you are in Gears: Your health is an actual goddamn health meter, instead of a vague red screen overlay, and you can see the enemy's health meter as well, instead of just having to plug shots into them until they die. The Shields/Armour/Barrier/Health dynamic is more interesting than enemies simply having an HP bar, and I thought there was a much more interesting variety of enemies in ME3 in comparison to Gears.

Basically I think Mass Effect 3 is easily on par with the biggest 'pure' third-person shooters (Gears, Uncharted, etc) in terms of being a 'pure' shooter, but it goes above and beyond by having the customization aspects and the greatly expanded repertoire of abilities. If you're going to call it a "mediocre" shooter then I think you have to explain which games you're comparing it to. If those games aren't Vanquish or Serious Sam or something, I don't think the argument holds much water.

 

[Zeliard]

Encounter design felt worse than ME2. ME2 was at least clear about the fact that you are traveling down a hallway and shooting guys. You used your biotics to stop enemies from flanking you, positioned your teammates, etc. In ME3, you needed the Assault Rifle with Incendiary Ammo and you were mostly fine. To counter-balance this, they gave Cannibals inexplicably large amounts of grenades, they gave Banshees (who teleport and have tons of health) one-hit kill melee moves, and gave Cerberus enemies smokescreens that don't really do anyone any good. These things didn't make the battles any harder, it just made the battles take longer.

Couldn't disagree more with this, at least on Insanity. Enemies are super-aggressive and attempt to flank you constantly, along with trying to remove you from cover with grenades, and occasionally by shooting through cover itself. This forced you to actually move around the levels, which were bigger and allowed for much more flanking than the simple straightforward levels of ME2 (we probably have the MP to thank for this). I made it a point to flank in almost every encounter, while sticking my teammates at the front. Pincer attacks ahoy.

Battles took longer in ME2 on Insanity because they gave every single enemy - even the basic ones - layers of defenses that you first had to remove. In ME3 most enemies have the simple red health bar and are thus much more prone to instant biotic attacks, which also recharge much faster than they did in ME2. Shepard also runs around much more quickly and is far more agile in general. All of it combines to make combat in ME3 much quicker and frantic than it ever was in the previous games. The Quake player in me actually found it quite a treat. My only issue was the sticky cover system; on PC they really should have allowed you to bind cover/roll/sprint all separately.

 

[Jake Tower]

I thought it was the weakest Mass Effect game by a wide margin, even without taking story in to account.

There were several sidequests that were just multiplayer maps where you play horde mode and press buttons while a disembodied voice talks to you or Cortez explains that the LZ is too hot.

The subquest log is crazy broken, uninformative, and the process of getting "missions" by just overhearing characters was poorly thought-out at best.

Encounter design felt worse than ME2. ME2 was at least clear about the fact that you are traveling down a hallway and shooting guys. You used your biotics to stop enemies from flanking you, positioned your teammates, etc. In ME3, you needed the Assault Rifle with Incendiary Ammo and you were mostly fine. To counter-balance this, they gave Cannibals inexplicably large amounts of grenades, they gave Banshees (who teleport and have tons of health) one-hit kill melee moves, and gave Cerberus enemies smokescreens that don't really do anyone any good. These things didn't make the battles any harder, it just made the battles take longer.

The reaper minigame on the galaxy map was so poorly thought out and tacked on that I would be legitimately shocked if you told me they added it more than a month before the game went gold. It is especially surprising since Christina Normal pretty explicitly said that scanning in Mass Effect 2 was awful and they regretted that mechanic, but then replaced it with something actually worse.

There's more that's not strictly a gameplay problem. The pacing (EARTH IS UNDER ATTACK hold on I have to get involved in this shopkeeper dispute with this customer trying to return something WHY WON'T YOU HELP RIGHT NOW TURIAN COMMANDER MY PEOPLE ARE DYINGGGGGGG), the pretty lame character roster in comparison to previous games, sidequests having event expiration without any indication that they would is always bad game design, War Assets meaning essentially nothing

Though weirdly, I think what bothered me most is how Turret Happy the game got near the end. I don't think these guys had any idea how to design a turret sequence so they just threw them in randomly. There was one where a reaper was chasing your car that lasts all of ten seconds. There was one where you're crossing a bridge, grab a turret, and shoot enemies with literally no obvious fail state, and then get off and keep crossing the bridge.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I do not agree with the assessment that ME3 was an amazing game ruined by its ending. It was a game that was rushed, had corners cut at every opportunity, and presented a strong argument for why game should be allowed every second they can get in the oven. It's the kind of result the industry should be looking at cock-eyed rather than praising for not trying to be ambitious enough and still failing.

Preach on, brotha!

 

[j0hnny_385]

Thought out and well implemented the Reaper galaxy map mini-game was not, but worse than ME2? Definitely cannot agree with that.

^ this. as bad as the "Reaper chase" is, it's nowhere near as nonsensical and boring as planet scanning.

 

[HadesGigas]

Though weirdly, I think what bothered me most is how Turret Happy the game got near the end. I don't think these guys had any idea how to design a turret sequence so they just threw them in randomly. There was one where a reaper was chasing your car that lasts all of ten seconds. There was one where you're crossing a bridge, grab a turret, and shoot enemies with literally no obvious fail state, and then get off and keep crossing the bridge.

I absolutely HATE turret sequences in pretty much every game. Mass Effect is one of the worst about it. That turret scene on the bridge you mentioned made no sense. Why did Shepard have to stop and do that instead of all the grunts standing around doing jack shit?

The only one that I felt made sense was the one where you're in the ship saving the Quarian general. Every other one it would have made more sense for me to be in the front lines blowing shit up with my mind while some random other person who isn't a biotic superhero manned the turrets.