Mass Effect 3

[Leisher]

I skipped ME2 because I thought ME1 was a bit overrated.

Anyway, ME3 is coming out rather quickly and on the day it's released there will already be DLC available for purchase.

This is not a good trend in gaming.

[Troy]

How long until us consumers just get to buy Game Engines for 60 bucks, and the actual story is like 10 bucks an hour?

That sounds exactly like an MMO, actually.

[WSGrundy]

Then you skipped one of the best games ever made.

[Leisher]

If it's like the first, I doubt it.

I'll buy it for $5 during a Steam sale at some point in the future.

[TheCatt]

I quit playing ME 1 cuz it was boring. I had ME2, but never played it.

I'm more of a Dragons Age person, apparently.

[WSGrundy]

I don't hate DLC as much as I use to and now my main beef is that I end up having to wait so long to play games because I don't buy them until they release a complete collection. Normally that isn't a big deal, I just got Red Dead Redemption and it didn't bother me waiting for it. Sometimes though when it is something like ME3 where if I was only allowed to play one more game the rest of my life ME3 would be my choice the wait does suck a bit.

[Vince]

The ending for ME3 was god aweful. Great game up to the last 10-15 minutes.

[WSGrundy]

You will be getting some free DLC adding to it or maybe changing it in the not to distant future.

[Vince]

You will be getting some free DLC adding to it or maybe changing it in the not to distant future.

Yeah, but they've pretty much said that they aren't changing the ending so much as clarifying the ending and tying up loose threads.

So instead of a piss poor written ending with plot holes and continuity problems, best case we just get a piss poor ending.

After Mass Effect I and DA:O, Bioware was golden in my book. I'd have bought any RPG they sold. I really liked ME2, but there were parts they changed in the mechanics that I didn't care much for. But they did it in response to player feedback. Inventory was too clunky in ME1. They got rid of it entirely rather than clean it up, which I didn't care for. In ME3, they seemed to strike a pretty good balance on it. People got tired of running around in the Mako, so they replaced it with planet scanning. I'd rather they'd just cut out some of the running around in the Mako rather than cut it out completely. Planet scanning on the console was the most mind numbing grind ever until they patched it later.

I could even forgive DA2. To this day I haven't been able to get through that, but they tried something different. Didn't work for me, but I wouldn't say the quality of the game was bad. The story just wasn't up to be the sequel of Origin's.

But this monstrosity has definitely tainted my view of Bioware. I seriously doubt I'll buy another Bioware title at launch. The review sites have shown some sort of terrible disconnect from the players on this one. I don't know if it's because of ad dollars or because they play so many games so much of the time that they don't feel invested in the gaming experience anymore or what, but they really pooched this one. Oddly enough, some of the best reporting on the whole issue with the ME3 ending was done by Forbes magazine online.

And the puzzling thing is that most of the game seemed very well written. I don't know if they were trying to keep this ending a secret after the script leak they had some time back or what, but I can't see how this ending went through the normal review process that games before it had gone through without someone telling them that it feels like they phoned this one in.

[TPRJones]

I owned ME1 & ME2 from Steam sales for awhile, but had never really gotten into them very much. I'd played up into the start of the main storyline on each, and then lost interest. But after playing and enjoying the now Bioware online Star Wars game, I tried them again and loved them. I spent March playing through each one three times with different Shephards. Good stuff!

ME3 was also very good ... for the first 98%. Then the shit ending. Some people say the whole game is the ending, but if the whole of ME3 is supposed to be giving closure to all the storylines then that ignores the fact that the very end of the game completely undoes all of that closure and makes everything you just wached/played unknown and uncertain again. It's not how you end a series, it's how you end part two of a series with so many cliffhangers that everyone is eager for the ending to come. In general, I mean; in particulars there are some serious story problems with the details and how counter they are to the entire story the game was presenting to date that I won't get into here.

Vague and minor SPOILERS: I wish they had at least replaced the magical space kid with a keeper. That would have been interesting. It would still be a crappy cliffhanger problematic non-ending ending that doesn't fit with the rest of the series, but at least it would have been more interesting to consider the implications of the keepers being behind it all than just introducing some random new character at the end. eos



Edited By TPRJones on 1333820982

[WSGrundy]

I spent March playing through each one three times with different Shephards. Good stuff!

Same here. I play through being good(picking what I think are the good choices), and then the same with bad. Then I play a 3rd time picking what I would like to think I would do/say in each situation.

[WSGrundy]

Yeah, but they've pretty much said that they aren't changing the ending so much as clarifying the ending and tying up loose threads.

That is the official response right now. They are saying that this is art and that you should respect the direction the creator wants to go in bull crap. But I think it was kotaku not sure but they had an unnamed source that they trusted that said internally they were shitting their pants and worried about a swotor boycott or even more bad press beyond what they have gotten and are working on something.

[Vince]

But after playing and enjoying the now Bioware online Star Wars game, I tried them again and loved them. I spent March playing through each one three times with different Shephards. Good stuff!

Yes, and even with the crap ending of three, I'd recommend a second play through to people on 3 simply for the different coversation options between paragon and renegade. Some of the renegade conversations are quite funny.

I'm shy only one achievement in ME1 (insanity play through), so I'm thinking about doing a fast run through it with no side missions and see how many of the main characters I can kill off before getting to 3. That way I have no vested interest in many of the characters when Bioware shits on them at the end.

[Vince]

They are saying that this is art and that you should respect the direction the creator wants to go in bull crap.

I agree about that being horse shit. If no game company has ever sacrificed their original vision of a game due to time constraints or needing to a better ESRB rating, THEN you can come talk to me about preserving the artistic vision of the creators.

But I think it was kotaku not sure but they had an unnamed source that they trusted that said internally they were shitting their pants and worried about a swotor boycott or even more bad press beyond what they have gotten and are working on something.

I hope so, but we'll see. I think many at Bioware are very concerned. Not sure about EA. Though the "Worst corporation" award they won this year I would think would give ANY corporation pause.

[TPRJones]

I'm thinking about doing a fast run through it with no side missions and see how many of the main characters I can kill off before getting to 3. That way I have no vested interest in many of the characters when Bioware shits on them at the end.

Actually, in at least once case the replacement is even better. In ME3 Wiks is SO much more awesome than Mordin.

[Vince]

Actually, in at least once case the replacement is even better. In ME3 Wiks is SO much more awesome than Mordin.

My renegade play lost Tali in ME2. That one kind of sucks without her. Not bad, just bland.

And the difference between saving and killing the Rachni queen in ME1 is the difference between that part being pretty cool and really stupid.

[TPRJones]

With one version of my play-through, I managed to get Tali to commit suicide. Now THAT was depressing. Especially because she was my romance for that one.

I think Jack and Miranda were the only two characters I never killed off in ME2 on any version of my games.



Edited By TPRJones on 1333943225