Support NeoGAF

[DOWN]

I like the ME1 default armors a lot, but I think the new direction is better. ME2 and 3 are too hard looking to me.

That said, they are using awful colors in those pictures. I don't know what the default will be, but I'd personally make it more like the white or silver space suits. It's less video game armor looking to me and looks beautiful in the colors and darkness of space.

Sure hope it has more of the clean and bright qualities ME1 had, too.

Wait, didn't they say that our choices in the ME Trilogy will be recognized in some way in the new game? So by that logic, getting a remaster should be in the cards, right?

I mean, I'm just looking for an excuse to do it all over again anyways, but still.

Ehh, not really. They've danced around the "keep your saves" thing since ME3 launched, but that could have been related to DLC, or gimmicky stuff. I don't think it implies a remaster or that your save import will have any significance on the outcome of Mass Effect 4. If an import option exists at all, or if they'll go with something Dragon Age Keep-like as a gimmick. My gut says they'll be doing as much as possible to keep Mass Effect 4 a borderline reboot/clean slate for the series, disbanding the Shepard trilogy and leaving it as its own thing (as they should), irrespective of where in the canon it's set. And I think if it's a sequel, they'll do whatever they can to distance from the various decisions end-game, both out of respect to the choices and letting go of baggage. As well as crazy development logistics in living up to those choices with substance.

No, they said you won't need the old saves.

 

[Ralemont]

I'm hoping what Mike Laidlaw said in the Kotaku interview holds true for ME4 as well:

One thing we have discussed is whether smaller, more local stories might be a better venue for having choice and consequence play out in deeper ways, since the choices can be more personal, more consequential to the characters involved without necessarily being called out by criers in northern Antiva, and that idea is quite fascinating to me, so....we'll see!

Not necessarily the more local part, since it's freaking space and we should go a lot of places, but the stakes don't need to be galaxy-wide to feel important to the player.

 

[Toa TAK]

Ehh, not really. They've danced around the "keep your saves" thing since ME3 launched, but that could have been related to DLC, or gimmicky stuff. I don't think it implies a remaster or that your save import will have any significance on the outcome of Mass Effect 4. If an import option exists at all, or if they'll go with something Dragon Age Keep-like as a gimmick. My gut says they'll be doing as much as possible to keep Mass Effect 4 a borderline reboot/clean slate for the series, disbanding the Shepard trilogy and leaving it as its own thing (as they should), irrespective of where in the canon it's set. And I think if it's a sequel, they'll do whatever they can to distance from the various decisions end-game, both out of respect to the choices and letting go of baggage. As well as crazy development logistics in living up to those choices with substance.

Okay, thanks. I've been out of the loop of the series after ME3's last DLC came out.

How did they do it for Inquisition? Was that a clean slate, too?

 

[The Artisan]

Ehh, not really. They've danced around the "keep your saves" thing since ME3 launched, but that could have been related to DLC, or gimmicky stuff. I don't think it implies a remaster or that your save import will have any significance on the outcome of Mass Effect 4. If an import option exists at all, or if they'll go with something Dragon Age Keep-like as a gimmick. My gut says they'll be doing as much as possible to keep Mass Effect 4 a borderline reboot/clean slate for the series, disbanding the Shepard trilogy and leaving it as its own thing (as they should), irrespective of where in the canon it's set. And I think if it's a sequel, they'll do whatever they can to distance from the various decisions end-game, both out of respect to the choices and letting go of baggage. As well as crazy development logistics in living up to those choices with substance.

Gifs:

that top gif reminds me a bit of no man's sky

 

[Ralemont]

How did they do it for Inquisition? Was that a clean slate, too?

No but they don't use saves anymore. They have a website where you go and create "world states" by putting in your prior choices and then you import that from the site into Inquisition.

 

[Toa TAK]

No but they don't use saves anymore. They have a website where you go and create "world states" by putting in your prior choices and then you import that from the site into Inquisition.

Oh, that's actually pretty neat. I assume this was for the Next-Gen consoles, right?

 

[DOWN]

Okay, thanks. I've been out of the loop of the series after ME3's last DLC came out.

How did they do it for Inquisition? Was that a clean slate, too?

They made a website called The Keep, where you could configure all the significant choices in the series thus far, then import that world state. Though, it asked many more questions than they used, likely to avoid spoilers for what would really be in Inquisition and to make The Keep more viable for Inquisition sequels.

But Inquisition was a continuation of the arc from prior games. Mass Effect won't be, so save states are much less likely.

 

[Ralemont]

Oh, that's actually pretty neat. I assume this was for the Next-Gen consoles, right?

Everything, which was nice for people who may be using a different platform for Inquisition than they did for the previous games, or people playing Inquisition without the other two.

 

[EatChildren]

No, they said you won't need the old saves.

Well there you go.

Oh, that's actually pretty neat. I assume this was for the Next-Gen consoles, right?

All systems. There were some neat uses of the gimmick (

Spoiler

your protagonist from DA2 makes an appearance

), but Inquisition predominantly stands alone and even then was still part of a world state set up by DA1/DA2. Not a trilogy, but a continuation of what was going on.

ME4 is assumed to be a clean slate.

 

[inky]

I kinda like the new suits. I mean, it's still obviously a far stretch from ME1's sleek body suits. But it's not quite full space platemail like ME2/ME3. Gives the impression of a bit more function, like a suit designed to explore hazardous environments.

This in particular;

The combination of steel and fabric, cushioning, vents and jets. Even the helmet looks more practical and visibility based than ME2/ME3's comical helms.

They still keep fucking up the back oxygen port though.

To me those just look like a different game. I say that both as a positive and negative.

 

[Toa TAK]

I wonder if they'll make a website for that for the inevitable ME sequel. That sounds incredibly convenient for Bioware to abandon after Inquisition.

 

[Ralemont]

I wonder if they'll make a website for that for the inevitable ME sequel. That sounds incredibly convenient for Bioware to abandon after Inquisition.

They'll definitely keep using it for Dragon Age. I don't know about Mass Effect but it seems logical they would, unless they plan to make all future Mass Effect games self-contained, which would by no means be a bad thing.

 

[Plasma]

To me those just look like a different game. I say that both as a positive and negative.

Reminds me of the Halo 4 Spartan armour.

 

[inky]

Reminds me of the Halo 4 Spartan armour.

For a military-type combat focused game it makes sense, but it is something I'd see from a more near future Space Sim type of game. I'd expect the person in that suit to be flying this kind of spaceship for example:

...based on that small pic alone, I must stress. Otherwise it's too soon to say.

 

[Patryn]

I wonder if they'll make a website for that for the inevitable ME sequel. That sounds incredibly convenient for Bioware to abandon after Inquisition.

If they're doing save importing, that's how they'll do it.

I think the days of directly importing saves are over. The website solution is too convenient, both for the player (can easily jump platforms between series entries) and Bioware.

Reminds me of the Halo 4 Spartan armour.

My head goes to Dead Space, personally. Looks like something Isaac would wear. Complete with the strip on his back that looks like a life bar.

 

[dr_rus]

Reminds me of the Halo 4 Spartan armour.

Reminds me of a dozen of different games which had almost the same design. Meh, generic and uninspiring. I wish they'd go back to ME1 70's sci-fi aesthetics.

 

[JohnnyFootball]

I wonder who they'll get to score the game. I've always enjoyed this series' scores. Guess Jack Wall isn't coming back since he left after 2.

The team that scored ME3 is more than welcome back in my book. Although, the track that seems to be everyone's favorite is the one I hate the most. Mainly because it was played during my least favorite parts of the game (the ending, the kid dream sequences)

 

[JohnnyFootball]

Here is an interesting question for you guys:

What are some little things they could have done that would have made ME3 better? I realize that "little" is a subjective term.

One thing that sticks out is instead of having the kid in the dream sequence, would be if that sequence had the person killed in the Virmire sequence.

 

[The Artisan]

The team that scored ME3 is more than welcome back in my book. Although, the track that seems to be everyone's favorite is the one I hate the most. Mainly because it was played during my least favorite parts of the game (the ending, the kid dream sequences)

yeah. Me3 score was quite good. I used to have a segment from the Mars track as my ringtone.

 

[Bisnic]

Here is an interesting question for you guys:

What are some little things they could have done that would have made ME3 better? I realize that "little" is a subjective term.

One thing that sticks out is instead of having the kid in the dream sequence, would be if that sequence had the person killed in the Virmire sequence.

You know these missions that ask you to send a probe to collect items? Replace these probes by actually landing on the planet and do something. Even if it's just a 5-10 mins walk like the crashed ship on a cliff in ME2, it would have been much better.

 

[Ganzlinger]

I prefer ME2/3 armors over ME1. And I'm loving the new direction.

 

[CharmingCharlie]

Here is an interesting question for you guys:

What are some little things they could have done that would have made ME3 better? I realize that "little" is a subjective term.

One thing that sticks out is instead of having the kid in the dream sequence, would be if that sequence had the person killed in the Virmire sequence.

Little things for me had to be the lack of holstering. I was so annoyed that they removed holstering just so they could have space for extra rolling around on the ground like a moron animations.

The fact that they removed the ability to holster your weapons led to laughable instances such as Shepard walking up to the Turian General with his gun aimed at the General.

Oh and the banal fetch quests (if they could be even classed as quests). I mean come on having Shepard eaves dropping on people and chasing after fucking fridges whilst there is a war for the very existence of life.

 

[Patryn]

Here is an interesting question for you guys:

What are some little things they could have done that would have made ME3 better? I realize that "little" is a subjective term.

One thing that sticks out is instead of having the kid in the dream sequence, would be if that sequence had the person killed in the Virmire sequence.

I've been saying for the longest time that the Virmire survivor would have been a better manifestation of guilt. It even thematically fits, as Shepard had to leave the person behind for the mission. Imagine the sorts of conversations that this would open up, as well. Such a missed opportunity...

Get rid of the Pacman thing with the Reapers. It doesn't create tension, simply because it's so easy to evade. It's more annoying than anything.

Get rid of fuel. It didn't really make sense in ME2 and it makes less sense in ME3 since you get free refuels so often.

Force the player to have to click a person to activate their side mission. None of this "Oh, I just overheard you" bullshit.

Fully decouple the MP from the SP. The multiplayer was good enough to stand on its own, and it's kind of ridiculous reading about how you have no chance when you've filled up 3/4 of the bar, it's green, and it's well above the minimum needed level.

If we were going bigger I'd talk about overhauling the entire final mission, but that's kind of hefty.

 

[Hyperzephyrian]

If ME4 decisions carry over to another sequel, I hope they allow us to use the previous system of importing local save files. If a Web solution like the Dragon Age Keep is our only option, that means that once the servers are shut down, we'll lose that ability forever.

 

[Patryn]

If ME4 decisions carry over to another sequel, I hope they allow us to use the previous system of importing local save files. If a Web solution like the Dragon Age Keep is our only option, that means that once the servers are shut down, we'll lose that ability forever.

Based on DA:I, I highly, highly doubt you'll ever have the local solution again.

 

[Shredderi]

I hope that that there won't be any decisions from the past games affecting the new mass effect, and it seems like this will be the case. I want them to have as much freedom as possible to do what they want and have as clean a slate as possible.

 

[razzmahtazz]

If we were going bigger I'd talk about overhauling the entire final mission, but that's kind of hefty.

I'd would have liked the scenes that the alleged Patrick Weekes posted on PA to be re-introduced(Entire cast fighting with you towards the Citadel beam). Don't know if thats also a large change.

Unless your big change is like doing a suicide mission type sequence all over again for the final mission (Which is really a big, humungous missed opportunity)

 

[Bisnic]

I've been saying for the longest time that the Virmire survivor would have been a better manifestation of guilt. It even thematically fits, as Shepard had to leave the person behind for the mission. Imagine the sorts of conversations that this would open up, as well. Such a missed opportunity...

Get rid of the Pacman thing with the Reapers. It doesn't create tension, simply because it's so easy to evade. It's more annoying than anything.

Get rid of fuel. It didn't really make sense in ME2 and it makes less sense in ME3 since you get free refuels so often.

Force the player to have to click a person to activate their side mission. None of this "Oh, I just overheard you" bullshit.

Fully decouple the MP from the SP. The multiplayer was good enough to stand on its own, and it's kind of ridiculous reading about how you have no chance when you've filled up 3/4 of the bar, it's green, and it's well above the minimum needed level.

If we were going bigger I'd talk about overhauling the entire final mission, but that's kind of hefty.

You even hear whispers sometimes from dead Ashley/Kaidan during those dreams, So, it's not like Bioware forgot about them... it's just that they went "that kid's(which you talk with for one whole minute) death was more traumatic for Shepard than his/her squadmate that was your friend/ally and which their death was your decision, while the kid's death had nothing to do with you."

 

[Hyperzephyrian]

Based on DA:I, I highly, highly doubt you'll ever have the local solution again.

I got the impression that DA:I used the Keep largely to accommodate people switching platforms, since we were (are?) still stuck in this cross-gen phase. With ME4, that's not an issue. But if they do have world-state transfers between games, and the Keep is the only possible solution, I won't buy. That's a deal-breaker for me.

 

[Ralemont]

You even hear whispers sometime from dead Ashley/Kaidan during those dreams, So, it's not like Bioware forgot about them... it's just that they went "that kid's(which you talk with for one whole minute) death was more traumatic for Shepard than his/her squadmate that was your friend/ally and which their death was your decision, while the kid's death had nothing to do with you."

No, the kid is not supposed to be literal in the dreams. He's a stand-in, a symbol for all the loss/regret Shepard has had over the journey, and everyone he might still fail to save. That's also why using the VS doesn't work: it's far too close to an actual example of regret/guilt, and you end up with the same "my Shepard wouldn't care about so and so" complaints. The kid also works better than the VS would because of the final dream where the kid runs to "Shepard" and they both burn. That scene doesn't make sense with the VS.

 

[Patryn]

No, the kid is not supposed to be literal in the dreams. He's a stand-in, a symbol for all the loss/regret Shepard has had over the journey, and everyone he might still fail to save. That's also why using the VS doesn't work: it's far too close to an actual example of regret/guilt, and you end up with the same "my Shepard wouldn't care about so and so" complaints. The kid also works better than the VS would because of the final dream where the kid runs to "Shepard" and they both burn. That scene doesn't make sense with the VS.

Not arguing that scene would have to be reworked. Doesn't change the fact the kid was just idiotic beyond belief.

And I fail to understand why an actual example of regret/guilt can't work as an avatar of the entirety of Shepard's regret/guilt?

Seriously, all they'd have to do is have Shepard look down and see an image of the VS getting on that shuttle before it blows up and the connection between the two things is made. Just have Shepard do a double take and have the VS gone and it's clear that it's just her head messing with her.

 

[Toa TAK]

The team that scored ME3 is more than welcome back in my book. Although, the track that seems to be everyone's favorite is the one I hate the most. Mainly because it was played during my least favorite parts of the game (the ending, the kid dream sequences)

Yeah, the ME3 team was a nice surprise since they did a great job on their DLC for ME2.

But I was kinda bummed Clint Mansell only did 2ish songs on the whole thing. Bullshizzah.

At least they reused key songs from Wall. At the right times, too (Vigil).

 

[Ralemont]

Not arguing that scene would have to be reworked. Doesn't change the fact the kid was just idiotic beyond belief.

I don't think he was. He's nothing I'd ever write a paper about or anything, but the symbolism works, heavy-handed it may be.

And I fail to understand why an actual example of regret/guilt can't work as an avatar of the entirety of Shepard's regret/guilt?

Because the meaning of the dreams becomes lost a bit if the issue gets too focused on any one specific incident. A surprising amount of people already think the dreams are about that specific kid dying. Dreams wherein the characters keep shifting between different characters would suit this purpose even better, but now we're talking significantly more work put in for a very small portion of the game.

Seriously, all they'd have to do is have Shepard look down and see an image of the VS getting on that shuttle before it blows up and the connection between the two things is made. Just have Shepard do a double take and have the VS gone and it's clear that it's just her head messing with her.

Huh? You mean in the dream or the intro?

 

[Taker34]

Reminds me of a dozen of different games which had almost the same design. Meh, generic and uninspiring. I wish they'd go back to ME1 70's sci-fi aesthetics.

This.
I couldn't care less about functionality or a more military design, because it looks like something from Halo, Blacklight: Retribution or whatever random sci-fi shooter is on the market right now.

At least the original ME aesthetics were beautifully unique, pretty alien and yet recognizable.

 

[Patryn]

Huh? You mean in the dream or the intro?

Intro. Replace the kid with the VS there and it works.

I also respectfully disagree and think tying it to a specific incident the player experienced makes it more meaningful than some stupid kid who means nothing.

I'd honestly be curious how many players felt pulled out of the narrative due to the kid vs those who felt more connected.

 

[Toa TAK]

Those dream sequences did feel out of place...

 

[The Artisan]

Here is an interesting question for you guys:

What are some little things they could have done that would have made ME3 better? I realize that "little" is a subjective term.

One thing that sticks out is instead of having the kid in the dream sequence, would be if that sequence had the person killed in the Virmire sequence.

I wanted shepard to rage his ass off at the council when first talking to them about the reapers in Me3, after trying so hard to make them realize and heed his warnings. they weren't the least fucking bit apologetic or ashamed about it and showed no hint of regret for not listening to him in the first place.

 

[HK-47]

I wanted shepard to rage his ass off at the council when first talking to them about the reapers in Me3, after trying so hard to make them realize and heed his warnings. they weren't the least fucking bit apologetic or ashamed about it and showed no hint of regret for not listening to him in the first place.

That wouldnt have helped. What needed to be done was not make the Council idiotic scapegoats to make the player feels special. I mean they tried to do this in 1 and its was a laughable failure that made Shepard and Anderson look like imbeciles so they turned it up all the way in 2. Having the player call them out in 3 would be like punching a scarecrow.

 

[JeffZero]

I got lucky with the dream sequences.

Got lucky with just about any point Shepard was taken out of my hands to act as the writers ordained, too. My Shepard was very much a tragic figure in over his head (I'm not a big fan of flawless hero types so I actively rebel against that whenever possible) and Mass Effect 3 made all Shepards feel the heat, in more ways than one.

That said, there's no reason to make every player go through that stuff!

 

[ThoseDeafMutes]

The council needed to be depicted not as idiots but as sort of shrewd and a bit callous. In ME2 for example, they deny the Reapers exist. At face value they look like idiots, but it can be justified as them lying to Shepard and feigning ignorance because he's working for Cerberus, a pro-human terrorist organisation. They should have secretly believed the whole time, but were keeping up the public story in front of him since he was a potential security risk now. Behind the scenes, they would have been working on measures to try and prepare for the Reaper threat, with secret weapon projects and establishing small "ark colonies" to help survive if the Reapers did come back.

Basically, they should have been laying the groundwork for the defeat of the Reapers in ME2 so that ME3 didn't come out of nowhere. The idea that the council legitimately talked themselves out of believing in the Reapers is lunacy, their own analysis of captured Reaper artefacts (e.g. Turians reverse engineering the Thanix gun from Sovereign) should have revealed that it was CLEARLY not a Geth construction. Since, you know, no ship of this type ever appeared again, and the other geth never used that tech? Even though you can fit the Thanix gun on a Frigate sized ship and it only took like a year to reverse engineer it from scratch?

ME3 can't be fixed with small improvements, it would need to be structurally quite different IMO. The game aspect of it is pretty fine though, it's just story/plot structure that needs tweaking.

 

[Guri]

About the armour, I hope BioWare goes back to more colourful ones. I can understand the "protection" part you were discussing before, but there was a huge lack o colour variety in 2 and 3.

 

[prag16]

Little things for me had to be the lack of holstering. I was so annoyed that they removed holstering just so they could have space for extra rolling around on the ground like a moron animations.

The fact that they removed the ability to holster your weapons led to laughable instances such as Shepard walking up to the Turian General with his gun aimed at the General.

Oh and the banal fetch quests (if they could be even classed as quests). I mean come on having Shepard eaves dropping on people and chasing after fucking fridges whilst there is a war for the very existence of life.

I'm still surprised the lack of holstering bothered so many people so much. Barely gave it more than a thought myself.

As for the eavesdropping mechanic, I actually preferred this over having to walk up to every npc and initiate conversations. With the war urgency, merely eavesdropping actually felt less immersion breaking to me, especially since it's reasonable that automatically recognizing and logging things like this is something an omnitool could logically accomplish.

 

[DOWN]

Keep in mind that in real life, space suits are often largely various fabrics and either little or no hard pieces depending on the purpose. I don't think the ME1 sci-fi movie suits were that wild, they were just tight flex paneling with some hard pieces.

Maybe they are some cool innovation on kevlar layering as armor in ME1.

 

[Mindlog]

Fully decouple the MP from the SP. The multiplayer was good enough to stand on its own, and it's kind of ridiculous reading about how you have no chance when you've filled up 3/4 of the bar, it's green, and it's well above the minimum needed level.

Agreed.
I wouldn't be surprised if my N7 team is more valuable than every other military asset combined. Cameos would be nice, but MP and SP don't need to mix.

Here is an interesting question for you guys:

What are some little things they could have done that would have made ME3 better? I realize that "little" is a subjective term.

One thing that sticks out is instead of having the kid in the dream sequence, would be if that sequence had the person killed in the Virmire sequence.

When at a planet's map screen create some sense of scale. This could be done with nearly meaningless altitude/orbital velocity numbers. The size of the scanner sensor ping could have also been used to help create some sense of scale. There needs to be more to minimize the feeling that we're just staring at texture swaps. Instead of the Normandy mini-driving ridiculousness they could even overlay superficial orbital paths when we select a planet. It could even lend to the story telling when some objects have oddly strong gravity fields given their size. That starts venturing into big change territory. So for minimal change: Altitude/Orbital Velocity.

 

[wolfhowwl]

The council needed to be depicted not as idiots but as sort of shrewd and a bit callous. In ME2 for example, they deny the Reapers exist. At face value they look like idiots, but it can be justified as them lying to Shepard and feigning ignorance because he's working for Cerberus, a pro-human terrorist organisation. They should have secretly believed the whole time, but were keeping up the public story in front of him since he was a potential security risk now. Behind the scenes, they would have been working on measures to try and prepare for the Reaper threat, with secret weapon projects and establishing small "ark colonies" to help survive if the Reapers did come back.

Basically, they should have been laying the groundwork for the defeat of the Reapers in ME2 so that ME3 didn't come out of nowhere. The idea that the council legitimately talked themselves out of believing in the Reapers is lunacy, their own analysis of captured Reaper artefacts (e.g. Turians reverse engineering the Thanix gun from Sovereign) should have revealed that it was CLEARLY not a Geth construction. Since, you know, no ship of this type ever appeared again, and the other geth never used that tech? Even though you can fit the Thanix gun on a Frigate sized ship and it only took like a year to reverse engineer it from scratch?

ME3 can't be fixed with small improvements, it would need to be structurally quite different IMO. The game aspect of it is pretty fine though, it's just story/plot structure that needs tweaking.

Other than that thing with the space bar, it was pretty fun (and really where the series should have been to begin with). It did need greater enemy variety though.

BioWare should have made a basic humanoid faction like ME2's mercs that could be reskinned as various indoctrinated forces just so there wouldn't be constant fights with Cerberus goons. There should have also been way more cobbled-together Reaper monstrosities. The banshees were cool, we needed more of that.

 

[The Artisan]

The council needed to be depicted not as idiots but as sort of shrewd and a bit callous. In ME2 for example, they deny the Reapers exist. At face value they look like idiots, but it can be justified as them lying to Shepard and feigning ignorance because he's working for Cerberus, a pro-human terrorist organisation. They should have secretly believed the whole time, but were keeping up the public story in front of him since he was a potential security risk now. Behind the scenes, they would have been working on measures to try and prepare for the Reaper threat, with secret weapon projects and establishing small "ark colonies" to help survive if the Reapers did come back.

Basically, they should have been laying the groundwork for the defeat of the Reapers in ME2 so that ME3 didn't come out of nowhere. The idea that the council legitimately talked themselves out of believing in the Reapers is lunacy, their own analysis of captured Reaper artefacts (e.g. Turians reverse engineering the Thanix gun from Sovereign) should have revealed that it was CLEARLY not a Geth construction. Since, you know, no ship of this type ever appeared again, and the other geth never used that tech? Even though you can fit the Thanix gun on a Frigate sized ship and it only took like a year to reverse engineer it from scratch?

I would only buy that if during Me3, they would've given some sort of indication to shepard that this was what they were doing amongst themselves before the reaper invasion.

but the whole thing with the council wasn't the worst thing to come out of that game anyway.

 

[Patryn]

The Council in ME3 was yet another problem borne out of Bioware's unwillingness to live up to the consequences of player's decisions.

Based on ME2, there should have been 2 possible permutations of the Council: A human council, and the existing council. Yet the whole thing just gets handwaved away, and regardless of whether you saved the Council or not, humanity is still stuck in the same position.

 

[Hyperzephyrian]

It did need greater enemy variety though.

I thought the enemy variety was pretty good, and definitely the best in the series. Some more unique bosses (in the vein of the Thorian, or something similarly weird) would have helped. But Banshees, Brutes, Guardians, Phantoms, etc., were all different enough in combat that I thought the variance was sufficient.

 

[ThoseDeafMutes]

The Council in ME3 was yet another problem borne out of Bioware's unwillingness to live up to the consequences of player's decisions.

Based on ME2, there should have been 2 possible permutations of the Council: A human council, and the existing council. Yet the whole thing just gets handwaved away, and regardless of whether you saved the Council or not, humanity is still stuck in the same position.

Biggest slap in the face is that the all-human council won't even see you.

 

[JeffZero]

A lot of love went into making several enemy types unique and memorable in 3, but I still would have preferred a fourth faction. I get why the game splits things up so neatly into distinctive groups; during a major galactic war style of setting it's more than forgivable. But I'm always gonna be that guy who'd sacrifice a bit of combat depth for a touch more overall variety, and I get tired of seeing the same things over and over again in that game.

That said, its predecessors aren't overwhelmingly superior about it. ME2 is usually a case of "Collectors, Merc Groups, and Geth 101". Having the merc groups look and feel different from one-another is key, though, and you're fighting all these krogan and vorcha with the Blood Pack, salarians with Eclipse, you know, it's just good deviation. I realize in ME3 you're fighting all their combination platter offerings, but still, a few more unit types would have gone a long way.