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[Lakitu]

Updates And Corrections:

New Confirmed Characters:
-Tali: Has unfinished business with Shepard.
-Jack: Had a character redesign. Was a popular romance option.

Confirmed Part of Squad:
-Liara
-Garrus
-Kaiden/Ashley (Has achieved Spectre status)
-James Sanders

Present:
-Admiral Anderson
-EDI
-Joker
-The Illusive Man
-Mordin (The plot dictates that he stays close to Shepard)
-Legion
(And, from Game Informer earlier, Wrex)

Confirmed Locations:
-Salarian Homeworld Sur'Kesh
Description: A peaceful world. Very tropical, with palm trees, waterfalls. The Salarians live near a Volcanic crater. From top to bottom you'll see the houses they live in. You will visit Sur'Kesh earlier in the game.
-Quarian Homeworld Rannoch (The Geth Occupied One)
Description: A desert with huge pyramid structures.
-Mars (A human-mining operation)
-A human mega city that formed when Vancouver and Seattle merged.
Description: That's where you'll spend your time on Earth. So not London or New York like previously mentioned. Describes the planet: 'It's curved, futuristic buildings bathe in beautiful light as the sea laps into the waterfront and docks.' They also saw the aftermath in which the Reapers decimate it.
-Palaven (?)
-Palaven's Moon
-Illium

Heavy Melee Attacks
-Class based one hit kill melee move.
-There is a new charged-up melee attack where Shepard uses his Omni-Tool to inflicting a big burning hit.

Story:
-They saw a cut-scene where the Normandy and a fleet of alien ships go through a mass relay together.
-The structure of the story is a little different to Mass Effect and ME 2 but it bears more resemblance to the first game's story. 'Mass Effect 3, in simple terms, is a little more like the first game. You're collecting pieces of a story, but the more you investigate and explore these themes, the more the game will unlock and you'll see the bigger picture.' Its more of a traditional story.
-They're not going to end the game like a traditional war story, where you beat the bad guys and celebrate.

Spoiler

All these characters and relationships created will be a big part of the ending.

Space Battles:
-

Spoiler

There will be a space battle when you visit the Turian homeworld. You'll work together with the Turians to try and destroy a Reaper fleet.

Additional Details:
-Casey Hudson says, the game will have some epic moments, as well as 'smaller, more personal moments' that exceeds the previous 2 games. The player will start realising things from Shepard's personal life. He will have to deal with the consequences of the sacrifices he's had to make.
-Obvious: Your choices will all have an impact in ME 3 such as the genophage, the collector base, your LI choices etc.
-New enemy type: The Cannibal. Part Batarian, part Human and part Reaper. Consumes other enemies in combat to gain strength.
-The Turret that Engineers can use won't kill enemies, but distract them.
-Gunfights are quicker and more deadly (confirmation).
-Visually it's tapping the heels of games such as Killzone 3 and Crysis 2, with 6 months development time left.
-The Rachni decision may haunt you in ME 3.
-Character customisation will be as extensive as ever.
-The action, rather than the all-linear affair of ME 2, will be more along the lines of Uncharted.
-New Cerberus troops are called Phantoms and Assassins.
-Shepard faces full-on bosses in the game's story. Some are really huge. One part, you have to lure a Reaper up to a Thresher Maw so they can duke it out.
-"Many of the core story levels are built around the largest, most dramatic moments in the galaxy."
-New and improved Biotic powers.
-The Mass Effect series has sold over 7 million copies.

More details from Gamer.nl / Full Translation - Post 572 (Thanks to Blue Ninja)
-Normal in ME 3 will be the equivalent of Veteran in ME 2.
-Kai Leng (known from the books) will work with Cerberus to kill Shepard.
-James Sanders is muscular, like an American footballer on steroids.

New details from Swedish magazine Level. Courtesy of Arcian.
-Every single squad member who survived in ME 2 will be back.
-Cerberus crew will leave the SR-2 and at the beginning of the game, it'll feel empty.
-Shepard won't play the role of a General, but instead, will inspire others through their actions. An inspiration for Shepard is the WW2 pilot Jimmy Doolittle.
-The Turians

Spoiler

have evacuated to a nearby moon from their homeworld Palaven due to it being inoperable as a military stronghold (probably meaning the Reaper's are attacking). The fires on the surface of Palaven can be seen. There also seems to be some concept art of Palaven (awaiting confirmation) so maybe in actuality we still get to go there?

-There will be more stuff to buy in stores and more stuff to do in menus. They will do a lot more to please RPG fans but they won't tone down any of the shooter elements.
-You will be able to visit Illium once again.
-They want to create a greater variety of enemies. It mentions 'Reaper Zombies' but I kind of think these are just Husks.
-Talks about the Batarian Husk and how you can shoot various parts of it to incapacitate it:
Shooting it's hand cannon will disable it's ranged attacks, shooting it's claw will prevent it from meleeing you or you can just shoot it's durable torso and go straight for the kill.
-Anderson will have more of a combat role this time around.
-Some species are on the verge of civil war and you may need to choose / sacrifice species. Such as the Geth vs. Quarian scenario. Think of the Virmire but on a grand scale.

Check out the Game Informer ME 3 hub for video features on Garrus, the origins of certain species, sound design and a few great interviews with Casey Hudson.










Original:

From: http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/103/index/7146063/1
Thanks to DJ-MAT

We're due to get some more information from PSM3 and OXM soon.

-The reason that Cerberus is put against us is explained at the beginning of the adventure (could it be because the Alliance gets the Normandy SR2 and technology, and SID, the AI ​​of the ship? This a suppose of mine, not in the magazine)
- Cerberus' troops: mechas, assault units, shock troops ninja-style.
- Reapers: they have different sizes, ranging from 500-600 meters of the smaller ships to the 2km for Herald.
- New skills for Shepard: launched in search of coverage to Max Payne, rolling, jumping small holes in the ground, as the SWAT turn and strike the enemy with greater variety of melee attacks. It specifically mentions "a new class: Heavy Melee" take advantage of these capabilities of combat [Edit: 27/04 - A Heavy Melee class has been claimed as a mistranslation by gameplay designer Christina Norman.]
- New skills: Engineer can build turrets.
- Customizable Weapons, guns, sight ... five variants in each section.
- More items to "loot."
- Space Battles? Perhaps, but unconfirmed.
- Scenarios: larger. We will see people walking, ships fighting, architecture in greater detail. Searching for the photorealism of the sites using new lighting techniques on the stage. It has also improved the atmosphere and the number of dynamic elements of the stage, increasing interactivity with the player.
- Locations to visit: New York, London, a moon of ¿Koriano? [Quarian] world, a salarian world and Mars, among others. The development of each environment takes about 6 months, testing the levels from the outset.
- Enemies: we can do dynamic damage into them. The Cerberus mechas, for example, requires that we shoot a weak point, the glass cockpit in order to overcome them. In other enemies we can cut off the arms, break the head or break various pieces of their armors.
- Fighting more dynamic, forcing us to move more frequently. The game speed is improved by 10 to 15%.
- Exploration: we won't drive vehicles seen in previous games. The main gameplay is designed without them and will continue so. This does not mean that there is no vehicle, but they can't reveal more now. There is a new scanning system.

I looked through the scans and google translated the details they gave about the future of the series after Mass Effect 3.

This being the end of the trilogy, can we expect in the future?

With Mass Effect 3 closes the history of Shepard, but the universe that we created is still there, with many possible stories to tell. I see many possibilities in the future from an MMO to a degree of action in first person or even why not a platformer. It all depends on what players we ask in the future.

Mass Effect 3 will have multiplayer?

We've always wanted to include it, since the first Mass Effect. Explore ways to be able to offer for each delivery, but noestamos fully convinced of the solutions we have found so far.

In which way this issue evolves the franchise?

Great challenge of Mass Effect 3 was our own ambition and goals. We wanted to increase the level of adventure and at the same time satisfy the expectations of the players. The aim was to make Mass Effect the best possible and we're getting to a comprehensive improvement of all the sections from the technical aspects to the most minute details of the gameplay. Details such as improvements in the combat system and the increasing importance of the inventory system are the most tangible proof of this.

Coincidence or not, the May issue contains a first look at Mass Effect 3 exclusive national was also the fastest to hit newsstands in the history of Marca Player. Today, 19 April, I had no trouble finding the magazine in a relatively small town lost in the southeast Spanish. After a brief stop on the way to work and 1.90 euros less in the pocket, case solved.

To avoid legal problems I have chosen not to reproduce the image story. Yes I can, at least broadly discuss what you can find in the report. The magazine costs less than 2 euros, so I encourage you to buy some and you to take a firsthand look.


Modesty

The most and the least has been able to see scanned the 12 pages published by GameInformer, the first magazine in the world to open fire. It is well known reputation of "cazaexclusivas" this veteran American publication. Almost always the first and the most material received, so it was not expected that a young Spanish head could make shadow.

In total, the story of Mark Player has an area of ​​seven pages, of which the first two are a double page purely introductory, half page with a list of influences and a small one-page interview with producer Casey Hudson (rather soda, by the way). That leaves three and a half pages "useful", although it should be clear that the space is pretty well spent thanks to the good work layout.

As for photos, things are regular. Most of the catches of Mass Effect 3 have already been published by GameInformer. To these are added a few new images, four of them in-game and a pair of conceptual designs. This may disappoint the fans more anxious, but is in line with what was expected.

I assume you've all read the summary of the progress of GameInformer (and if not, here is the link ), so I omit all that has already been told to avoid repeating information. It is well known BioWare secrecy, so we appreciate the good work of writer Mark Player, which has managed to get some new details.


The Galaxy is never big enough

The most interesting part of the story is probably the one devoted to the stage. It is confirmed that the maps will be considerably larger and open. Also transmit more life, more supporting characters and certain dynamic events, which may be interactive or not. A level of detail we can enjoy a more complex architecture and implementation of new lighting effects.

Some locations are confirmed planet of origin salarianos, Mars, moon Koriana world (this seems a transcription error, probably means "world quarians") and several cities on Earth, including London and New York probably. According to the BioWare team has been a challenge to imagine what could be the cities earthlings in the future. The artists have finally chosen to design mega halfway between Seattle and Vancouver.

Something does not change too much of Mass Effect 2 on the third installment: Normandy. Although the ship is now in the hands of the Alliance, which will make some small changes, the overall design will remain, so the units will be very familiar.


Making friends

This time the enemies pose a greater challenge than ever. AI has been greatly improved by introducing a new system of coordinated assault. This means that every enemy will have a specific role within their group, like chess pieces, and will be able to adopt strategies based on their own role. The variety of enemies is much higher, with units of different size and power. Even within the reapers will own ranks, from the main buildings of 2 km in length to a smaller escort reapers of between 500 and 600 meters.

In general it will be a game harder than previous ones, but Shepard also have new advantages. For starters there is a new dynamic damage system that will injure or destroy specific parts of enemies. For example, shielded enemies will be defeated only be hurting their weaknesses. The character will also be much more agile, able to perform new actions such as seeking cover roll, roll or jump over obstacles without prior barricade (about time).

The fighting will be more intense than ever, with a rate between 10% and 15% higher. It has paid particular attention to the combat, which has been expanded and improved to the point of giving way to a new class that will make the most: the "Heavy Melee.

Are in some respects as air vehicles. Instead of reusing the Mako or Firewalker will be new vehicles and a new navigation system that, for now, is a mystery.


Becomes the role

After Mass Effect 2 will focus on improving the mechanical action of the parties, the end of the trilogy will attempt to recover some of the elements rolero that fell by the wayside. Will not play as dense as the first part, but an inventory will be more generous, more types of objects to collect, a skill tree much richer and weapons can be customized mounting accessories such as scopes or canyons, which also have a aesthetic effect.

The dialogue system will remain virtually unchanged, though BioWare "is putting emphasis on increasing the bond between the player and their characters." For its part, the decisions will be more important than ever and have an effect more evident. As the end of the trilogy, BioWare has no pressure to prevent chaos things too, so there will be many and very different end.

On the argument has not been said virtually nothing we do not know. There are no confirmed new names of colleagues or clarified what happens with Cerberus. At least the producer is wet and has promised that the story will be less evident than in Mass Effect 2. The plot will be revealed little by little, instead of showing all his cards right from the start, and vary throughout the adventure as the player's own choices.

Source: http://translate.google.com/transla...s/178-avance-de-mass-effect-3-en-marca-player

 

[Kyoufu]

My Lazarus body is ready.

Melee heavy class, is this going to be completely new or just Vanguard modified?

 

[Jarmel]

Sounds like space combat is going to be reveal in the game.

Also looks like they're taking alot of inspiration from Dead Space in regards to the enemy design(aiming at specific parts).

The Max Payne rolling aspect was useless in that game and I suspect will be useless here.

The Melee Heavy class is probably going to be a specialization of the Vanguard class which seems to imply each class will have specialities that drastically affect gameplay.

I'm curious what can be modified on the gun? Ammo, sights, barrel, and gunstock are the only ones I can think of.

 

[Salz01]

-Scenarios: larger. We will see people walking.....

I dont know why this made me laugh. I guess NPC's just stood around? Now they will walk around the battlefield or ship interiors? Epic....

 

[Typographenia]

SPACE BATTLES!

Oh man, I really want this.
Also, interested to see if that Heavy Melee class could potentially use any of the weapons the cerberus people were wielding.

Must resist... spoiler line...

 

[Nirolak]

SPACE BATTLES!

Oh man, I really want this.
Also, interested to see if that Heavy Melee class could potentially use any of the weapons the cerberus people were wielding.

They already confirmed on their forums you can't.

That said, there are gun bayonets now.

 

[Jarmel]

SPACE BATTLES!

Oh man, I really want this.
Also, interested to see if that Heavy Melee class could potentially use any of the weapons the cerberus people were wielding.

Must resist... spoiler line...

The melee weapons for enemies has already been confirmed that they are NOT pickable by Shepard.

 

[Kyoufu]

Makes no sense, why can't I pick up a Cerberus Biotic Blade and slash some mechs with it?

 

[Phonomezer]

Very ambitious and sounds amazing. Hope it has the same vibe as ME1 than ME2 (and the synth soundtrack!).

 

[From The Dust]

If there are decent space battles (that you can actually control) then I will buy the whole series. When they go back on sale

 

[Mafro]

- Customizable Weapons, guns, sight ... five variants in each section.

Weapon customization from the first game removed in the second game and now brought back.

Good.

 

[Typographenia]

Rats. I had read that before, but I thought maybe they were waiting for the heavy melee class info. Oh well!

That bit about exploration tripped me up for a second. I was really mad thinking we weren't going to explore at all, but I see they just meant without the mako or firewalker thing.

Spoiler

Space hot air balloon tours?

 

[Kyoufu]

I'm guessing space battles will be similar to SW:TOR's.

 

[Noisepurge]

wow, quite the checklist

 

[Darklord]

About the locations.

Spoiler

London and New York? How painfully boring for a sci-fi series that can be pretty much anywhere. Yeah, lets get 2 heavily used cities instead of something highly original.

 

[Nirolak]

Makes no sense, why can't I pick up a Cerberus Biotic Blade and slash some mechs with it?

I imagine they shelved melee until they feel they have the third person shooting top tier, since their goal is to compete with the best shooters with the combat this time.

I'm hoping either the spin-off or the next game has melee weapons though given that they have cyber ninjas now.

About the locations.

Spoiler

London and New York? How painfully boring for a sci-fi series that can be pretty much anywhere. Yeah, lets get 2 heavily used cities instead of something highly original.

You forget that it's the future.

 

[Skirn]

"New skills: Engineer can build turrets."

Yeees!

 

[Cimarron]

"There is a new scanning system"

I certainly hope so. I'd hate to go back to this... http://tindeck.com/listen/lqip

 

[DirtRiver]

Space battles (possibly) and dynamic damage to the enemies. Plus the continuation of one of my favorite stories ever.

2012(?) can't come soon enough.

 

[Nirolak]

Space battles (possibly) and dynamic damage to the enemies. Plus the continuation of one of my favorite stories ever.

2012(?) can't come soon enough.

Q4 2011, probably October since November is already packed from both other publishers and EA's own line-up.

 

[Marleyman]

About the locations.

Spoiler

London and New York? How painfully boring for a sci-fi series that can be pretty much anywhere. Yeah, lets get 2 heavily used cities instead of something highly original.

I don't really mind it since the

Spoiler

Reapers are attacking Earth. It is Shepard's home planet and all.

 

[DaBuddaDa]

About the locations.

Spoiler

London and New York? How painfully boring for a sci-fi series that can be pretty much anywhere. Yeah, lets get 2 heavily used cities instead of something highly original.

Agreed completely. Mass Effect is about exploring the galaxies and landing on strange, alien planets,

Spoiler

not dumping around tired real world locations.

 

[Future PhaZe]

Nice to see they'll be making use of the new lighting from UE3. Should look spectacular.

 

[Kurtofan]

Do we really need spoilers here?
People who don't want to know the locations should just go on a media blackout.

 

[sixteen-bit]

Shoul I read those details if I haven't played ME2 yet?

 

[Jarmel]

I noticed that one of the Reapers is named Herald. I'm guessing that he's the head honcho which is disappointing as I was hoping it would be Harbinger.

 

[iNvid02]

might as well mark q4 2011 with "doing jackshit"

 

[Nirolak]

Do we really need spoilers here?
People who don't want to know the locations should just go on a media blackout.

Good point.

I just updated the title, so people can feel free to not use spoiler tags.

Re: The Locations.

I'm fine with Earth cities if they look as imaginative as that Earth concept up from the series I posted a few posts up, but less enthused if they basically look like the real cities.

 

[EatChildren]

I bet Mars, at the original dig site, is where we find the magical all powerful Reaper stopping deus ex machina.

 

[Nirolak]

Here are the details in Spanish in case anyone wants to do a non-google translate translation.

- Tropas de Cerberus: mechas tripulados, unidades de asalto, tropas de choque al más puro estilo ninja.
- Segadores: tienen diversos tamaños, desde los 500-600 metros de altura de las naves más pequeñas a los 2km que alcanza Heraldo.
- Nuevas habilidades para Shepard: lanzarse en busca de coberturas a lo Max Payne, rodar, saltar pequeños huecos en el suelo, girar como los SWAT y golpear al enemigo con mayor variedad de ataques cuerpo a cuerpo. Se menciona específicamente "una nueva clase: Heavy Melee" que aproveche estas capacidades de combate.
- Nuevas habilidades: Ingeniero puede generar torretas.
- Armas personalizables: cañones, mirillas... hasta cinco variantes en cada apartado.
- Más items para "lootear".
- ¿Combates espaciales? Quizás, pero sin confirmar.
- Escenarios: más grandes. Veremos gente andando, luchas de naves, arquitectura con mayor detalle. Se busca el fotorealismo de los parajes utilizando nuevas tecnicas de iluminación sobre los escenarios. Se ha mejorado también la atmósfera y el número de elementos dinámicos del escenario, aumentando la interactividad con el jugador.
- Localizaciones que visitaremos: Nueva York, Londres, una luna del mundo koriano, el salariano y Marte, entre otros. El desarrollo de cada entorno lleva unos 6 meses, probando los niveles desde el primer momento.
- Enemigos: daño dinámico en ellos. Los mechas de Cerberus, por ejemplo, requieren que les disparemos a un punto débil, el cristal de la cabina, para poder vencerlos. A otros enemigos podremos cortarles los brazos, romper la cabeza o cercenar distintas piezas de su armadura.
- Combates más dinámicos, que nos obligan a movernos con más frecuencia. La velocidad de juego se mejora de un 10 a un 15%.
- Exploración: no controlaremos vehículos vistos en entregas anteriores. La experiencia de juego principal se ha diseñado sin ellos y así seguirá. Esto no quiere decir que no vaya a haberlos, pero no spueden revelar más ahora. Hay un nuevo sistema de exploración.

 

[Jarmel]

Good point.

I just updated the title, so people can feel free to not use spoiler tags.

Re: The Locations.

I'm fine with Earth cities if they look as imaginative as that Earth concept up from the series I posted a few posts up, but less enthused if they basically look like the real cities.

They seem rather Citadel inspired which I'm guessing is probably the point. Honestly I would love to see a Mass Effect styled human city. We're going to see a Salarian and Quarian location, we've seen Krogan and Asari locations. The only one left is a Turian planet which I fully expect we'll see.

 

[Diablohead]

My vanilla soldier shep is ready.

 

[Kyoufu]

My vanilla soldier shep is ready.

:lol

Shoul I read those details if I haven't played ME2 yet?

Nah, play ME2 first if you intend on playing/following ME3.

 

[Kurtofan]

Good point.

I just updated the title, so people can feel free to not use spoiler tags.

Re: The Locations.

I'm fine with Earth cities if they look as imaginative as that Earth concept up from the series I posted a few posts up, but less enthused if they basically look like the real cities.

I'm guessing New York will be the hub while London will be a mission only place if the intro is anything to go by.

I'm really curious about Mars, I hope there's an infiltration mission there.
"Shepard lives!"

 

[Darklord]

You forget that it's the future.

Yeah but, london sure looked like london in the trailer. It's not going to be like The Fifth Element or something.

 

[Marleyman]

I bet Mars, at the original dig site, is where we find the magical all powerful Reaper stopping deus ex machina.

Yeah, I can definitely see that being the case.

 

[Lakitu]

Yeah but, london sure looked like london in the trailer. It's not going to be like The Fifth Element or something.

Well looking at the screens and concept art released so far, they seem to be going for the vibe of the picture above.

I bet Mars, at the original dig site, is where we find the magical all powerful Reaper stopping deus ex machina.

They said in GI there won't be a Reaper 'off-button.'

 

[Dennis]

I still Earth think is a very boring setting and hope its just like one of the first or last levels that are set there.

Not to thrilled about the other locations either.

Bioware, I want more worlds like Virmire, Ilos and Ilium.

Enough with the grimdark already. This isn't supposed to be Gears of Effect

 

[Wiggum2007]

We need some Spanish speakers up in here so we can get a decent translation.

 

[Nirolak]

I looked through the scans and google translated the details they gave about the future of the series after Mass Effect 3.

This being the end of the trilogy, can we expect in the future?

With Mass Effect 3 closes the history of Shepard, but the universe that we created is still there, with many possible stories to tell. I see many possibilities in the future from an MMO to a degree of action in first person or even why not a platformer. It all depends on what players we ask in the future.

Mass Effect 3 will have multiplayer?

We've always wanted to include it, since the first Mass Effect. Explore ways to be able to offer for each delivery, but noestamos fully convinced of the solutions we have found so far.

I'm trying to find more new stuff and will keep updating if anything else pops up.

 

[Tunesmith]

I noticed that one of the Reapers is named Herald. I'm guessing that he's the head honcho which is disappointing as I was hoping it would be Harbinger.

My Spanish is very rusty but I don't see the actual article mention Herald as a name, just that the biggest ships would be 2km and the smaller ones 5-600m.

 

[Zenith]

My Spanish is very rusty but I don't see the actual article mention Herald as a name, just that the biggest ships would be 2km and the smaller ones 5-600m.

maybe they named him Geraldo?

 

[EatChildren]

Not to thrilled about the other locations either.

I like that you've already worked out what the non-Earth locations will look like before you seen them or had them described to you.

 

[Kurtofan]

I still Earth think is a very boring setting and hope its just like one of the first or last levels that are set there.

Not to thrilled about the other locations either.

Bioware, I want more worlds like Virmire, Ilos and Ilium.

Enough with the grimdark already. This isn't supposed to be Gears of Effect

You sure love to complain when they only announced two Earth locations.
What makes you think Mars, the Salarian world and that other planet will be grimdark?
Anyway when giant mind controlling spaceships who create fucking zombies are invading the galaxy there's bound to be some grimdark.

 

[Walshicus]

About the locations.

Spoiler

London and New York? How painfully boring for a sci-fi series that can be pretty much anywhere. Yeah, lets get 2 heavily used cities instead of something highly original.

How often do you get

Spoiler

English

cities in games?

Spoiler

London

is *not* heavily used.

 

[Acidote]

Herald is probably a mistranslation for Harbinger. If you want me to check something else, feel free to ask.

 

[Lakitu]

I looked through the scans and google translated the details they gave about the future of the series after Mass Effect 3.



I'm trying to find more new stuff and will keep updating if anything else pops up.

Thanks Nirolak. Good stuff.

 

[Wiggum2007]

Haha that Cerberus SWAT-looking trooper on one of the last pages looks so out of place, like he accidentally wandered into the photo from a nearby Tom Clancy game article.

 

[Dennis]

I like that you've already worked out what the non-Earth locations will look like before you seen them or had them described to you.

huh?

They also mention Krogan moon (boring war-torn grimdark) and Mars (red and bland and familiar)

That isn't something I can get wildly excited about.

There isn't any of those locations that jumps out at me as something wondrous and new.

 

[Nirolak]

While cut off in the Game Informer scans, it seems that the ninja does indeed use a full sized ninja sword and not a somewhat longer shock stick, in case anyone else was also confused by the first scans like I was.