Mass Effect 3 [Massive Spoilers]

The Game Room
1

I started a thread on ME3 over a year ago, when all we had was a teaser trailer. Now, we have a heck of a lot more. Specifically, a demo (out for Xbox 360 and PC, coming soon to PS3) - anyone checked it out yet?

The release date is a few short weeks away - 6th March in America, 9th in Europe.

I’ll be picking it up for Xbox 360, since my saves are on that medium, creating a direct chain back to the character and decisions I made in 2007 (my Earthborn Adept Sole Survivor, generally paragon but with a bit of a rough edge), which is absolutely insane and unique in video game history as far as I can tell. It’s also unique in that your squadmates from previous games can be killed - if they are, they won’t return for the third game. My only worries are that I’ll be unable to pick out the exact save I want to import and remembering my BioWare account details for future DLC and stuff.

The only bad news is that on the PC it looks like you need EA’s Origins, which can generously be described as a Steam knock-off. I’m watching a let’s play of the demo since I can’t be bothered with that nonsense, looks to continue the tradition of the trilogy improving with each instalment.

Moderator’s Note:
This thread gets pretty full of endgame spoilers very quickly. If you’re still playing through the game, I sincerely recommend starting a new thread if you want an unspoiled discussion of the game. Read on at your own peril.

  • Gukumatz,
    Game Room Moderator
2

I’m really conflicted. I want to continue to support Bioware, and I love the ME series. At the same time, I really don’t want to reward EA for being draconian idiots.

3

Not really. It used to be a pretty common feature in computer RPGs. The SSI gold box Dungeons and Dragons games allowed you to port from one game to the next. Bard’s Tale did the same, as did Might and Magic and, IIRC, Wizardry.

4

They import decisions from one game to another? Importing a superficial character I imagine is one thing, but the continuity and work that goes it into making the world in one game react to your decision in another quite another. The lead designer has said that ME3 was comparatively easy story-wise since they didn’t need to leave any dangling threads to be picked up.

Watching the demo - Captain Kirrahe’s back! Hold. The. Line.

Seems that they’re also going for different gameplay styles; Action where the story is automatic, Role-Playing which is apparently like traditional ME and Story where the combat takes a back seat.

5

Well, no, those old RPGs were pretty story-light, so there generally weren’t any plot decisions that needed to be imported: each game could only end in one way. Mass Effect is certainly taking the concept to a new level, but it’s not a unique or unprecedented idea.

On the other hand, the Gold Box games, at least, actually imported your entire character: items and experience points were retained between games, without forcing a reset or depowering on your characters. If you were a sixth level fighter with a +2 longsword at the end of the first game, you’d be a sixth level fighter with a +2 longsword at the start of the second. Which was also pretty cool.

6

In Baldur’s Gate, if you kept the Golden Pantaloons when you imported your character into Shadows of Amn, and then managed to acquire the Silver Pantaloons in the latter game, and then found the Bronze Pantalettes in the Throne of Bhaal expansion, you’d be able to craft something very special. The Baldur’s Gate series was, of course, developed by Bioware who also developed Mass Effect.

As for Mass Effect 3, I’m conflicted about the whole Origins mess. I had the EA Downloader (pre-Origin) for some reason or another. I tried updating it to Origins, but the installer crashed. I’m taking that as a sign.

7

Valve did this whole fiasco years ago with tying Half-Life 2 to their Steam software, even if you bought the disc. EA isn’t exactly treading new ground. I mean, Origin sucks balls, but you can’t fault them for doing something that Valve did years ago (back when Steam was similarly shitty).

8

I am downloading the demo now. I will probably be able to get a gameplay report in an hour or so.

9

Personally, my only beef with Origin is that EA has no right to be using the name of Lord British’s old company after the way they killed the Ultima franchise, burned the corpse, and pissed on the ashes.

That being said, i’m presently replaying through Mass Effect 1 and 2 in preparation for the thrid, because I want a save file that’s fresh in my mind. My Shepard is female, a Ruthless Colonist who romanced Liara, let the Council die, made Anderson head of the all-human Council, and allowed Cerberus to take control of the Collector base.

10

Just played the demo. It’s more or less the same Mass Effect, with some changes to the control. The normal movement speed is very slow, so you have to dash more often. However dashing makes it hard to control your direction. I guess that will make the game harder.

The demo has three presets - action, role-playing and story. That affects dialogue and the difficulty of combat. Not sure if that’s going to end up inside the final game.

The action feels somewhat different. I find myself using the right mouse button to aim more often, and you are required to flank more. The melee kill move is nice.

You can customize your ability more now, usually choosing between more AoE or more damage or less recharge. Biotics have longer cooldown now, so you can’t just spam them.

11

Yes, I can. If EA wants to compete with Steam, that’s fine. However, competition implies that they have a product of similar quality and they’ll drive each other to make improvements. So far, Origins has been buggier, raised more privacy red flags, and has a fucked up EULA. They’re not only treading ground that Steam managed to improve years ago, they’ve actually taken a step backwards from that.

12

Already preordered the collector’s edition. Transferred my old save games to my new xbox. Hope I nabbed the right ones, or I may need to re-transfer. In any case, mega excited.

13

I’m actually pretty miffed about the whole Origins thing, but I’m sure I’ll be there the day it comes out either way.

I’d love to play through the first two again, or at least the second one, before then, but there’s just no way I’ll have time. I will have to check and make sure all of my saves are in order, though, since I’ve upgraded my PC since the last time I played 2.

14

I played through the demo on xbox 360 a couple of times. Sadly, they did not include a sniper rifle for my infiltrator to play with, but I quite enjoyed using the tatical cloak with the new heavy melee omni blade attacks. I like the system of having ability cool downs tied to equipment weight, so you can run around with just a pistol and spam biotic powers, or stomp in with a full arsenal and rely more on your guns and armor.

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Guys, remember that masseffectsaves.com exists!

You can download almost any type of save from there if you need to.

Also you can use your PC saves on console and your console saves on PC with some free converting software.

I played the single player demo and tried the multi-briefly. Going to try it again tonight hopefully.

I was dissapointed in a couple of ways:

First, again no support for gamepads on PC. For shame Bioware. Then we are still getting the low rez console textures. Never mind that tiny Eastern European game devs can manage WAY better textures, Bioware can’t be assed.

Also the story choices seemed quite limited. Like they were missing options, and some places that should allow you choice instead just played out like cutscenes.

It’s been confirmed by Bio, however, that indeed some of the story/dialogue options had been cut for the demo. So I’m hopeful that part of the experience will be just as good or even better than ME2.
Origin? Meh, who cares. I’m at the point where that platform isn’t going to stop me from enjoying a game I’ve been looking forward to. I’m already signed up, I already own BF3, so I just need to hit the download button and then hit play.

I would prefer if it were on Steam, but it’s hardly a big deal at all.

My last small nitpick are the animations. Specially running. They seem… off. Stiff, unnatural?

I liked the way the combat felt. I was playing at insane level, which felt a lot like playing a fairly difficult shooter. A couple fo hits and you’re down, so cover, and tactics play an important role. more so than in the past, IMHO. You need to flank and use your team mates for cover fire.

I like the system of cover in ME3. The arrow indicating where you will go helps a lot. Jumping over obstacles by double tapping cover is intuitive and smooth.

I also like the new options in thee skill trees. Allows for greater customization.

All in all, I’m happy with what the demo promises for the full retail release.

'course I’m going to be traveling in Germany the week of release so I’ll miss out for a bit. Hopefully you guys cna pop in and talk about it some more so I can read about your experiences!

16

Haven’t played the games, but judging from the wikipedia summary it sounds like the later Wizardry games had plot points that were carried over from game to game. (Also like their plot was totally crazy, but anyway).

17

How do you crouch?

18

Also did anyone notice default female Sheppard is different than dfS from ME1 & ME2?

19

The multi-player right now is co-op only where it’s a squad of 4 (I think, I haven’t seen more than that) vs waves of dastardly cerberus operatives.
It’s fun. You gotta work together, specially in later waves. But unless there’s some competitive play and better maps, and more players, I don’t me doing this for long.

20

it’s how they take a dump on fans of ME1 & 2. oh, you bought both games on Steam? too bad, you have to buy it from our shitty service instead. oh, you really want fem Shepard for the intro? sure, but we’ll replace her with someone else.