Mass Effect 3

[outsyder]

So now that I can't find any Collector's Editions available, my anticipation is really not so high.

[FireCaptain4]

Originally Posted by outsyder

So now that I can't find any Collector's Editions available, my anticipation is really not so high.

I learned my lesson with LittleBigPlanet 2. If you want a Collector's Edition with high profile games nowadays, you have to preorder months and months in advance. Hell, Gears 3 Limited Edition was sold out at three of my local video game retailers five months in advance.

[Cosimo]

The demo for 3 was excellent. I think outside influences affected my enjoyment of the sequel. Playing Binary Domain, it bares a resemblance to Mass Effect but with better action

[outsyder]

So I was able to get my hands on a CE. Probably won't arrive by launch day, but whatever.

[smok3h]

What system are you guys buying it for? I'm getting mine for PC, as I own 1 and 2 for PC; I recently replayed through both of them on PC. I lost my previous save files due to reformatting, but there was no way I was going to play Mass Effect 3 without a save imported from the two previous games.

Anyways, I cannot fucking wait for tomorrow!

[Tyler_Durden_208]

I'm on 360, where I've played the first two.
A horrible shift at work and then sleep and FINALLY I can play it.
DAMN IT! Go faster, Time!

[Tyler_Durden_208]

Launch trailer:
http://youtu.be/bG2mdZ23eP8

I still have about 10 hours to go, but oh my holy fuck that was epic.

[the clever guy]

I havent played this yet, and I've been keeping an eye on the reviews, but can anyone who has played this tell me how it works with the Kinect and/or what the purpose is of the Kinect?

[outsyder]

Originally Posted by the clever guy

I havent played this yet, and I've been keeping an eye on the reviews, but can anyone who has played this tell me how it works with the Kinect and/or what the purpose is of the Kinect?

I haven't played it with Kinect, but I know it's used to order squadmates around.


I see the whole thing as unnecessary.

[smok3h]

I just have one thing to say:

Blasto 6: Partners in Crime... coming soon to a theater near you.

[Vong]

Played 6 hours last night, and the only thing keeping me from it is fucking work.

Shit, I want more!

[vesaker]

Originally Posted by the clever guy

I havent played this yet, and I've been keeping an eye on the reviews, but can anyone who has played this tell me how it works with the Kinect and/or what the purpose is of the Kinect?

Here is what the Gamespot review had to say about the Kinect:

The Xbox 360 version supports the Kinect peripheral, allowing you to call out commands to teammates ("Liara: Warp!"), perform your own skills ("Pull!"), interact with objects ("Open!"), or choose dialogue options. This is all absolutely functional, and sometimes even enjoyable. For instance, calling out to a team member to let loose a biotic power means you don't have to pause the game to pull up the radial menu. On the other hand, there's enough of a delay when speaking your wishes aloud that it's more efficient just to push a button.

Source

[outsyder]

Free sniper rifle DLC for PC users.

http://www.alienwarearena.com/giveaw...ect-3-giveaway

Get em before they're gone!

[smok3h]

Originally Posted by outsyder

Free sniper rifle DLC for PC users.

http://www.alienwarearena.com/giveaw...ect-3-giveaway

Get em before they're gone!

Bitchin! Thanks man.

Also, how amazing was the cinematic where Shepard is leaving Earth at the beginning of the game? That scene gave me goosebumps. The music in that scene was incredible and what was happening on the screen was just so powerful. I have a feeling this game is going to reduce me to some serious tears at some point... just a hunch.

[Tyler_Durden_208]

25 hours in. This game is fucking amazing. It is amazingly epic and at times touchingly funny and heartrendingly tragic. The only sour note so far is the new scanning mechanic and I've barely touched that.
Also, I'd like to call fail on PC Gamer for saying that it's hard to get to galactic readiness without playing multiplayer. I believe I'm getting close to the endgame and I've done every mission I've come across and a small bit of scanning and I'm almost at galactic readiness. It just takes patience, a love of the characters and universe enough to care and not just plowing through the main story.

[moose1132]

I'm only like 6 hours in myself, but so far it's just as amazing as the last one. Maybe even better if there are more moments like that opening sequence on Earth. I like how I've avoided any info on the game leading up to the release as there have already been a few nice surprises for me. I'm already thinking how interesting it will be to play through the game again under different circumstances than I am now with my imported character from ME1 and ME2. I've been wondering how certain things would play out differently if different choices were made in previous games and certain characters had died/survived instead of what I've done on my own play-through of the first 2 games.

[Tyler_Durden_208]

Finished it. And traded in the entire Mass Effect trilogy.
MAJOR ENDING SPOILERS FOLLOW

Spoiler:

So, essentially, the last ten minutes of the game say "Fuck all your choices over the trilogy, fuck everything you did for the last 5 years of your life and fuck everything you just spent 30 hours building up to. BioWare constantly said there would be wildly divergent endings and that the war readiness and assets would contribute to that. They don't at all. You essentially get a deus ex machina "choose your ending" machine right at the end that they don't even properly explain. Each of your three choices (I thought there was only two until I looked online later) gives you an ending that essentially, while ending the Reaper threat, is a straight up middle finger to everyone else. The Reapers are stopped for NOTHING. The Mass Relays being destroyed in every ending means almost entire species are stranded at Earth, which means Turians and Quarians are near dead, since they have no food. Add on to the fact that apparently Joker was just hanging out near Sol's Mass Relay instead of anxiously waiting on Shepard like he always does just for a retarded ending and the fact that my squadmates magically teleported onto the Normandy and I hate the ending. It goes against the entire point of Mass Effect: That after this all over, they can go back to their lives. Nevermind the cruelness of "Hey, Shep, for reasons we can't explain, you have to die in every ending so it's real sad, m'kay?" Fuck you. I didn't cry because you tried to make it sad. I cried because I had no choice and I died, knowing I couldn't just stop the Reapers. I wanted to have the chance to stop the Reapers and then get my hope fulfilled. I wanted Shepard to make good on his promise to always come back to Liara.

I'm done with BioWare games. They've let EA worm their way in and between this and DAII, I just can't stand being so hyped for games that mean so much to me being trashed. I honestly can't go back and even play the first two because of this game.
Up until the end, for me, this game was a true 10/10. It was turning into my favorite game of all time. After that ending, it sits currently at around a 5 or 6.

[kobe8byrant]

Sorry but don't you have a choice where the character in question doesn't end up the way he did in your ending?

[Tyler_Durden_208]

Originally Posted by kobe8byrant

Sorry but don't you have a choice where the character in question doesn't end up the way he did in your ending?

Upon further study, yes and no. If your effective military strength is high enough and you choose the specific ending for it, supposedly so (although I didn't get it that way and several others haven't either, even with meeting the requirements). I saw that ending on youtube and it's still immensely unsatisfying and with no closure whatsoever.

Spoiler:

It feels like Ron Moore's Battlestar Galactica ending as rewritten by a 12 year old. And the "Shepard lives" ending is basically "OMG! Shepard took a breath while laying rubble like he's some horror movie villain coming back for a sequel!" I really cared more about galactic civilization being in ruins and what the fuck Joker and Liara and Garrus (who were my squadmates up until Harbinger zapped me, and then I thought they died from a Harbinger laser) were doing hanging out on the Normandy near that Mass Relay. And don't even get me started on the Guardian on the Catalyst looking like that kid Shepard has the nightmares about. WTF?

Don't get me wrong. 99% of this game is amazing. This game made me feel things so deeply that I'd never thought I'd feel about a game. That 1% is just really hard to ignore though.

[The_alpz]

Tyler I feel very similar. This game was so amazing the entire way from start until the very end.

Spoiler:

Don't know if this is a spoiler but I was upset for reasons like you. I was hoping that if my readiness was high enough; which it was; and all the forces around the galaxy were with me that I could get an ending where it all worked out and Shepard could be with his/her love interest in peace for once. The only hope I have is that there is supposed to be a secret ending when you beat the game for a second time. Still very upset that it seems almost every choice I made over the past 2 games don't really factor into the ending to much. At least Deus Ex gives me very different endings. Even though I picked what I believe is the right ending out of the presented choices (The systhesis or green ending) I was hoping to feel an emotion other than sadness and depression about Shepards fate.

[FireCaptain4]

Wow, many people are in an uproar over this game's ending online.

I haven't read any spoilers, but this makes me extremely sad as my girlfriend purchased the Collector's Edition for me for my birthday (still a month away) and I feel like the entire world has turned upside down. I NEVER expected this kind of a reaction to a Mass Effect game. Mass Effect 1&2 are two of the greatest gaming experiences I've ever had in my entire life, so...

Man, I'm just stunned at how the community has responded to this game. It's like hearing that the smart, strong, caring father that you know and love was just found guilty of raping handicapped infants--it has left me completely blindsided as someone who wasn't there to witness the crime. The ending must REALLY suck.

[Tyler_Durden_208]

Originally Posted by FireCaptain4

Wow, many people are in an uproar over this game's ending online.

I haven't read any spoilers, but this makes me extremely sad as my girlfriend purchased the Collector's Edition for me for my birthday (still a month away) and I feel like the entire world has turned upside down. I NEVER expected this kind of a reaction to a Mass Effect game. Mass Effect 1&2 are two of the greatest gaming experiences I've ever had in my entire life, so...

Man, I'm just stunned at how the community has responded to this game. It's like hearing that the smart, strong, caring father that you know and love was just found guilty of raping handicapped infants--it has left me completely blindsided as someone who wasn't there to witness the crime. The ending must REALLY suck.

Don't worry man, the other 99% is more than up to the Mass Effect standard and many times even surpasses it. You're still going to have a great ride. That 1% that is the ending is growing on me. I still think the ending sucks, but I'm kinda alright with it now that I've read up on some ideas (that the fans had to provide) to make it go down a little better. The ending is controversial and really unexpected and that's fine, it just lacks closure. Maybe that's what BioWare intended, I don't know.

[Tyler_Durden_208]

Well, if this is true, I take back what I said and my God the end is awesome:
WARNING! DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVEN'T COMPLETED MASS EFFECT 3! (Also do not read if you want to see all the endings or you just don't want to read spoilers yet.)
http://social.bioware.com/forums/for...ndex/9727423/1

Spoiler:

This theory would completely redeem the ending and I would be back on board. Shepard going through indoctrination would actually be the most ballsy ending they could do that still fits the lore and tone of ME. It would also give us a later chance to actually kick the Reaper's ass and get back to that Dark Energy plot they were hyping up in ME2 and changed at the last minute for ME3.

Please, please, BioWare, stop being coy and quiet and comment on the damn ending!

[vesaker]

Originally Posted by Tyler_Durden_208

Well, if this is true, I take back what I said and my God the end is awesome:
WARNING! DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVEN'T COMPLETED MASS EFFECT 3! (Also do not read if you want to see all the endings or you just don't want to read spoilers yet.)
http://social.bioware.com/forums/for...ndex/9727423/1

Spoiler:

This theory would completely redeem the ending and I would be back on board. Shepard going through indoctrination would actually be the most ballsy ending they could do that still fits the lore and tone of ME. It would also give us a later chance to actually kick the Reaper's ass and get back to that Dark Energy plot they were hyping up in ME2 and changed at the last minute for ME3.

Please, please, BioWare, stop being coy and quiet and comment on the damn ending!

That would be cool but..... didn't you already trade your ME games in?

[Tyler_Durden_208]

Originally Posted by vesaker

That would be cool but..... didn't you already trade your ME games in?

Yeah, but it's at a local franchise (so non Gamestop affiliated) that I'm getting a job at soon and I pretty much just traded for Magic cards and it's likely they wouldn't mind holding on to them if I asked. But yeah, if BioWare pulled the wool over my eyes, I'll admit I overreacted.

[vesaker]

Originally Posted by Tyler_Durden_208

Yeah, but it's at a local franchise (so non Gamestop affiliated) that I'm getting a job at soon and I pretty much just traded for Magic cards and it's likely they wouldn't mind holding on to them if I asked. But yeah, if BioWare pulled the wool over my eyes, I'll admit I overreacted.

LOL, just a little

[The_alpz]

The more I read, the more it seems very logical of an explaination. But in the meantime damn it for the soundtrack being so powerful

[Tyler_Durden_208]

Originally Posted by The_alpz

The more I read, the more it seems very logical of an explaination. But in the meantime damn it for the soundtrack being so powerful

Agreed. "Arlakh Company" and "An End, Once and for All" keep playing in my head over and over.

[Vong]

Beat the game last night....

Spoiler:

Got the "red" ending.

I'm not as fervently against the endings that alot of people are. I guess I take it for what it is; a hero sacrificing himself to save the galaxy. And it gives you something to talk about with other gamers who played the game. What would you do in Shephard's spot? Would you destroy, control or unite your enemy? In the end, it puts the final piece of moral-based gameplay in your hands. How they put the Normandy and the others inside a mass relay as its being destroyed is the only beef I have with the ending.

It is true that all the factors that were made for 3 games does little to affect the ending in ME3, but the majority of the choices made in the previous games affect small outcomes in the subplots of this one.

[Vong]

A good article from Kotaku regarding the ending:
Why Mass Effect 3's Ending Was So Terrible

What I took away from it:

Spoiler:

"What had been the point of making all your decisions across three titles based on good or "evil" (well, "rude") if the final payoff did not represent these?"

[smok3h]

Honestly, I probably wouldn't have had a problem with the ending if it wasn't for the endless bitching I saw on the internet. That sort of exposure has a way of worming itself into one's subconscious and influencing opinions.

My only real complaint about the ending is this:

Spoiler:

The whole scene with Joker escaping in the Normandy, and then waking up on some random garden planet with half of my crew with him (one of whom was with me when I was running to the Citadel beam and should have been killed by Harbinger's laser). That just makes no fucking sense at all! Furthermore, how did any of my crew mates who were on the ground with me in London get back onto the Normandy in time to escape the blast? This part of the ending was a ROYAL fuck up.

The Catalyst thing, or the choose 1 of 3 endings didn't bother me one bit.

and how did some of you guys beat this game in so few hours? I put 42 Hours into it on Hardcore difficulty, completing every side mission I came across except for the kakliosaur fossil one (couldn't find the damn thing). I also scanned every system 100%.

[moose1132]

I finally beat this today and yeah, I hated the ending too. I heard a lot of rumbling and bitching online about it, but I avoided any and all details so I didn't spoil anything. But...

Spoiler:

I too was left wondering how crew members who were right next me teleported to the Normandy. Also, I had just played through ME2 again with all the DLC before heading into this so when the mass effect relays blew up, I was expecting them to exterminate entire solar systems like it did in the Arrival DLC. Unless they did... it was really unclear. The entire sequence with the ghost kid was just bad. When they give you the choice for your ending, none of them seemed like the choice I would have made as the character I've played as through 3 games with. They could have just ended it by asking what your favorite color was since that appears to be the only big difference.

http://ps3.ign.com/articles/122/1221273p1.html

Looks like everyone's bitching is actually being heard though.

[Tyler_Durden_208]

I'm happy that BioWare is listening to the fans, but worried that they'll ignore huge potential things like

Spoiler:

the indoctrination theory

and just give us more info on the crap that is the current ending.

Spoiler:

Things like the Starchild, the three choices that don't make any sense and the plotholes that no amount of explanation would make sense for me. Joker and crew would NEVER run unless they knew beyond any certainty of a doubt Shepard was dead and that he wanted them to leave.

So, I'm optimistic about BioWare in the future, but I'm also very skeptic on this new content.

[Vong]

This is good news. This game brought the worst out of the fans, and I doubt BioWare wants to tarnish the rep they have with their customers.

[outsyder]

I'm betting there was a lot of unrest within BioWare itself over the ending.

[Tyler_Durden_208]

Originally Posted by outsyder

I'm betting there was a lot of unrest within BioWare itself over the ending.

Supposedly Mac Walters (Lead Writer) and Casey Hudson (Project Director) didn't involve any of the rest of the writing team on the ending. The rest of the game's writing was peer reviewed to make sure everything meshed, but Walters and Hudson locked themselves in a room and wrote out the ending and acted like they were above the scrutiny of everyone else.
Now that's all hearsay, but it does make sense... The end feels like it's from a different game entirely. And of course there's the now famous meme-worthy quote from Mac Walters' writing sessions for the ending where he wrote all this junk down and then in all caps at the bottom of the paper (underlined several times) "LOTS OF SPECULATION FOR EVERYONE!"
Ah, well. I've finally gotten a PC up and running that can play some recent games and I bought ME 1&2 digitally off Amazon while they were 10 bucks a pop. I'm not going to buy ME3 til it's on sale and after I hear some of what this content will entail. I'll buy Dragon Age II again before I blindly jump in on promised "fix DLC" that could make it worse.

[FireCaptain4]

I'm a bit torn at the idea of a developer changing the story conent in the game due to fan feedback.

On one hand, you want to please your fans. On the other, it seems like you're sacrificing an artists vision in order to please others. What if everyone thought the ending to American Beauty was too dark and then the movie ended with Kevin Spacey going to the gym?

Of course, I say this without knowing what the ending is (PLEASE, NOBODY TELL ME! I'M AVOIDING SPOILERS FOR A REASON!), so I may be happy to know Bioware is deciding to make a change after I do play.

[moose1132]

I do have to admit that as bad as I thought the ending was, video game endings in general are usually fucking horrid. Most of the time game endings are just cheap hooks to keep people interested for a sequel (which is particularly frustrating with games that are not clear hits and may never see a sequel). So I guess what I'm saying is that it's a little surprising to see the amount of rage the ME3 ending has gotten from gamers. I know the ME games are held at a higher standard than most games, but I could easily see a riot started over 90% of other game "endings" out there.

[Tyler_Durden_208]

Well, that's the thing for me. BioWare games usually have fantastic endings keeping in tone with their stories (even Dragon Age II which I'm not overly fond of, had an ending that fit pretty well with the game itself). Dragon Age: Origins had great multiple endings with very thorough epilogues that added to the epic feel, Mass Effect 1 & 2 had phenomenal endings, KotOR's endings are great narrative finishers. So why let Mass Effect 3 slide? If we're truly striving for great storytelling in video games (and to some extent this whole video games are art thing, which I truly do believe in) why do we have to accept what until those horrid last 10 minutes was one of the richest and most personal stories with some of the deepest characters of any medium can just phone it in just because "that's how video games usually are"? If we just say "fuck it" and not hold the storytelling up to the same level we would films, books, and television dramas why aren't we just playing games for the gameplay? I don't need all games to have a fantastic story, as I don't need all media to. Just when the story is the main draw to something, to have it all be so half-assed in the end is insulting. For five years, I ate, slept and bled Mass Effect. It was my Star Wars. It still can be, if the story can get an actual ending worthy of it's 2 predecessors and the 99% of astonishing story that preceded it.

[The_alpz]

While i'm worried about the possible negative effects of a publisher changing the ending due to fan outrage, i'm happy and looking forward to what they come out with to please the fans. But part of me wonders if they planned this all along.....