[Megathread] Mass Effect 3

[Notos]

Go to 2:50. If you have all the fleets, you get this battle video. The quarians are definitely there. It is kind of confusing though because Joker's like "Asari reporting in" and it's showing the quarian ships.

You do not actually see the Quarian ships engage though if you watch closely. You've never gotten that video though? That's weird.

I always get the Geth at the same place where the Quarians are shown there, and instead of the Quarian saying something, it's a Prime unit.

[Oerba Yun Fang]

Has anyone used any texture improvement packs for Mass Effect 1?

http://www.moddb.com/mods/mass-effec...provements-mod

How did they work for you? I heave heard that it riddles the game with bugs and missing dialogue.

Haven't seen it (although I've seen some of the methods it uses). Honestly? The only person I really think would need it is Garrus, with his facial texture bug that they won't fix because of the file system they use. Everyone else seems fine to me, considering when the game was released.


EDIT: So, out of curiosity, I gave it a try anyway. This was the result. It does indeed make graphical errors pop up, though I've only noticed it on text so far, and it's not always there. No missing dialogue yet, but then I'm not even to Eden Prime.

[Zazeeth]

"Mass Effect 3: Extended Cut DLC"

Artistic vision my butt... If the ending to a story leaves people with more questions than answers, then it's either some type of sequel bait, or bad writing. I want to know in what way ANY of the endings is "artistic". "Pick a color!" is about as artistic as it gets.

Here's my perspective:
-ME1: Setting up the foundation for the universe this game exists in. Sets up who the big baddies are.
-ME2: Giving us more of an insight to how the reapers operate, while trying to find clues on how to stop them as well as setting up foundations for resolutions to take place in ME3.
-ME3: Final showdown. Doing everything in your power to bring people together to fight off the reapers once and for all. For me, I spent the entirety of the game mending all of the fences. I cured the genophage, I brought peace between the Quarians + Geth while also retaking Rannoch. I was a love doctor for Joker and EDI. I united the entire galaxy.

So when finally faced with the final choices... to me it broke down like this:
-Control: Go completely against everything I fought for with the Geth + EDI. Fries shepard, blows up mass relays/citadel, strands everyone where they are.
-Destroy: Again, goes completely against the whole Geth/EDI thing. Shepard potentially lives, mass relays/citadel go kablooey, everyone becomes sitting ducks.
-Synthesis: The only ending that made most sense to me based off of the decisions I had made. Yet it still left everyone stranded wherever they were.

I just couldn't help asking myself the question, "If this was always a possibility with the crucible, why didn't this stupid little AI ghost kid thing just let people build it, then synthesize everyone?" You may say, "But the little nuisance of a plot-hole didn't even KNOW about the crucible until it was connected to the citadel, there's no way it would've known before." This is where I have to bring up the plot point that was dropped somewhere along the line, about how the crucible was the collective effort of multiple extinction cycles. If it was never finished before, then the reapers must have known about it and destroyed it to prevent its deployment. But if the little ghost child hadn't known about the crucible, how exactly did it know what would happen as a result of the choice Shepard makes?

Was the crucible initially started by whoever originally made the citadel/little ghost child?
If it was, it would explain how the catalyst knew what would happen depending on Shepard's choice.

If it wasn't initially started by whoever originally made the citadel/catalyst, then who started it? How did they know what to do to cause these outcomes?

Why would they give a possibility for three options, instead of aiming for some sort of giant cannon or reaper self destruct sequence?

This guy points out some of the biggest grievances with the ending.

Calling this "Artistic Vision" is just highly irritating to me.

I never went into this expecting everything to be flowers/unicorns/rainbows at the very end. I was expecting something along the lines of "We will make our own path, thank you very much. You can just get out of our way and let us make our own mistakes, instead of shoving your own views down everyone's throat." Instead, in the end it's basically "My way, or the highway."

All that said, the things that would make me happiest with this "extended cut" DLC, is if they explained/added these things:
*How your squadmates made it back to the normandy when they were clearly with you on your way to the beam.
*If the reapers (under control or synthesis) are able to rebuild mass relays so that everyone can get back home.
*If the mass relays are unable to be rebuilt, what happens to the fleet that's stranded at earth.
*What happens to tuchanka/rannoch/palaven/asari homeworld(forgot its name)/earth
*Giving a better reason than the circular logic of "we built synthetics to destroy organics to prevent them from building synthetics"

That would make the ending much more palpable for me.

[Deleted]

So was anyone wondering what Commander Shepard himself would say after watching the ME3 ending? Here ya go ... Funniest video I have seen in a while.



---------- Post added 2012-04-06 at 08:22 AM ----------

I always get the Geth at the same place where the Quarians are shown there, and instead of the Quarian saying something, it's a Prime unit.

Yeah me too. I think it is just stupid that you don´t see all the cool fleets you have gathered, like the Baterian, Elcor, Volus, Hanar/Drell, Terminus Fleet and so on.

[Notos]

Yeah me too. I think it is just stupid that you don´t see all the cool fleets you have gathered, like the Baterian, Elcor, Volus, Hanar/Drell and so on.

I really would have liked for them to show both fleets together instead of one or the other, but I guess they didn't feel like making an additional cinematic clip for that option. Also, you don't see any Geth ground troops in the London finale at all, which is kind of a bummer, but I guess the Geth weren't a part of Hammer team so I can live with that. Yeah I would have liked to see the other races in action.

Also it's a shame you never come across Jack and her biotic squad on London. Or Miranda or Grunt or Kasumi or Jacob or anyone else. I mean, talking to them on the communicator is ok and all, but just seeing them in action for a few seconds each, Kicking some Reaper ass, would have been perfect. Like, you're escorting the Hammer vehicles to the teleporter and off to your right you see Samara taking on two Banshees by herself and ripping them apart, then a wall collapses on your left and you see a Brute get knocked on its ass by Grunt, who finishes is off with a shotgun blast to the face. I mean, what we got was still good, but it could have been epic.

[Deleted]

I really would have liked for them to show both fleets together instead of one or the other, but I guess they didn't feel like making an additional cinematic clip for that option. Also, you don't see any Geth ground troops in the London finale at all, which is kind of a bummer, but I guess the Geth weren't a part of Hammer team so I can live with that. Yeah I would have liked to see the other races in action.

Also it's a shame you never come across Jack and her biotic squad on London. Or Miranda or Grunt or Kasumi or Jacob or anyone else. I mean, talking to them on the communicator is ok and all, but just seeing them in action for a few seconds each, Kicking some Reaper ass, would have been perfect. Like, you're escorting the Hammer vehicles to the teleporter and off to your right you see Samara taking on two Banshees by herself and ripping them apart, then a wall collapses on your left and you see a Brute get knocked on its ass by Grunt, who finishes is off with a shotgun blast to the face. I mean, what we got was still good, but it could have been epic.

The geth prime you can talk to at the Forward Base in London tells you that the Geth are indeed part of Hammer !!

I think that this was kinda stupid to not see any of those "other" Hammer troops you have gathered. You only see Humans, Turians, Krogans and 2 Asari.

Seeing Jacob, Miranda and so on in Action would be great, instead of talking to them with the communicator.

However Geth should have been part of the Hammer forces and I am sad that they were not shown at ALL on earth.

Edit: I am still not understanding why only like 30% of Hammer make it to Earth on EACH EMS rating. This is just stupid to have over 5000 EMS just to see less than 30% make it to earth !!

---------- Post added 2012-04-06 at 08:47 AM ----------

How things change !!

The Endboss of ME1 was Sovereign
The Endboss of ME2 was the Proto Reaper
The Endboss of ME3 was MARAUDER SHIELDS !!

[Duncanîdaho]

What Bioware/EA did with that communicator thing is the exact same thing Obsidian/Lucasarts did back with KOTOR2. Instead of getting nice epilogues/cutscenes of what happens to your crew, and seeing them in action in the final minutes. You get the final boss before she dies and you get to ask her one question about each of them. In which she gives you vague answers. It was one of the main reasons the game is looked on with scorn. It happened because the game was rushed out before fully finished. Now here they did the exact same thing, with slightly more conversation in the fact you actually get to say a couple words to them personally.

Why do game developers or publishers not learn from mistakes? /facepalm

[Deleted]

Why do game developers or publishers not learn from mistakes? /facepalm

They believe in their "artistic vision" as is stated in the DLC announcement. They still think they made an oh-so-great ending and it fulfilled their artistic vision of how Shepard's story should end.

[Duncanîdaho]

They believe in their "artistic vision" as is stated in the DLC announcement. They still think they made an oh-so-great ending and it fulfilled their artistic vision of how Shepard's story should end.

But the crew! lol That's more of what I was referring to and what drives most people insane about the ending. People love the characters they are with and invested in. Again, it's the exact same mistake that was made with KOTOR 2 in that you don't know what happens to any of them.

People care less about Shepard and even the galaxy as a whole, and more about Shepard's interaction with his crew. You need to have closure in that aspect in an RPG game that revolves around these characters. I was hoping KOTOR2 taught that lesson.

[Deleted]

They believe in their "artistic vision" as is stated in the DLC announcement. They still think they made an oh-so-great ending and it fulfilled their artistic vision of how Shepard's story should end.

Then their "artistic vision" is heavily clouded They should totally smoke less weed LOL

Hopefully the upcoming DLC will add a bit more closure not only to our squad but also to characters like Jacob, Miranda, Kasumi and so on.

[Deleted]

But the crew! lol That's more of what I was referring to at what drives most people insane about the ending. People love the characters they are with and invested in. Again, it's the exact same mistake they made with KOTOR 2 in that you don't know what happens to any of them.

I know, I know. But that was the first thing that came to my mind when I read that question/statement.

I hate not knowing what happened to my group. I invest a lot of emotions to characters in these type of games and it sucks that their stories are left open. Well I'm not happy about Shepard's story either, but I mean c'mon. I just wanted to see Tali getting her beach property house, see Garrus pouring down some drinks at somewhere like Hawaii, Liara writing that book with Javik, Kaidan taking his mother to an outerspace tour... And so on. I'm not loyal to BioWare but I noticed just a while ago that most games I like are actually theirs. I absolutely adore Jade Empire and Dragon Age: Origins to give a few out. At least I know what happened to my group in those and in DA: O you could affect it quite a bit if you wanted to. So yeah, I know what you meant but I just had to grasp on the last thing with the "artistic vision" BioWare keeps throwing around about the ending.

[Deleted]

I know, I know. But that was the first thing that came to my mind when I read that question/statement.

I hate not knowing what happened to my group. I invest a lot of emotions to characters in these type of games and it sucks that their stories are left open. Well I'm not happy about Shepard's story either, but I mean c'mon. I just wanted to see Tali getting her beach property house, see Garrus pouring down some drinks at somewhere like Hawaii, Liara writing that book with Javik, Kaidan taking his mother to an outerspace tour... And so on. I'm not loyal to BioWare but I noticed just a while ago that most games I like are actually theirs. I absolutely adore Jade Empire and Dragon Age: Origins to give a few out. At least I know what happened to my group in those and in DA: O you could affect it quite a bit if you wanted to. So yeah, I know what you meant but I just had to grasp on the last thing with the "artistic vision" BioWare keeps throwing around about the ending.

Absolutely I am totally with you there

I am really hoping that we get to see the "fate" of all Crewmembers still alive in ME3 in the new DLC. Everyone of them had there wishes and talked with Shepard what they wanted to do after the war was over.

Tali wanted a Beach house on Rannoch, Garrus wanted to pour drinks on a beach and so on.

This was really sad that we basically only get to see the Normandy crash land on a planet

[Duncanîdaho]

I know, I know. But that was the first thing that came to my mind when I read that question/statement.

I hate not knowing what happened to my group. I invest a lot of emotions to characters in these type of games and it sucks that their stories are left open. Well I'm not happy about Shepard's story either, but I mean c'mon. I just wanted to see Tali getting her beach property house, see Garrus pouring down some drinks at somewhere like Hawaii, Liara writing that book with Javik, Kaidan taking his mother to an outerspace tour... And so on. I'm not loyal to BioWare but I noticed just a while ago that most games I like are actually theirs. I absolutely adore Jade Empire and Dragon Age: Origins to give a few out. At least I know what happened to my group in those and in DA: O you could affect it quite a bit if you wanted to. So yeah, I know what you meant but I just had to grasp on the last thing with the "artistic vision" BioWare keeps throwing around about the ending.

Honestly I hope those sequences they are talking about are just like you said. That's all I really want. I'll even be ok with the ending. I just wish they had it in in the first place. I doubt they would have got nearly as much crap about the ending then. At least it's not like KOTOR 2 where it was hung out to dry. At least I will get closure.... in a few months.

[Deleted]

Absolutely I am totally with you there

I am really hoping that we get to see the "fate" of all Crewmembers still alive in ME3 in the new DLC.

Everyone of them had there wishes and talked with Shepard what they wanted to do after the war was over.

Tali wanted a Beach house on Rannoch, Garrus wanted to pour drinks on a beach and so on.

This was really sad that we basically only get to see the Normandy crash land on a planet

Indeed. I have to say that the future plans with your love interest that are talked at the very last conversation just all go to bits and pieces. Like that video I just posted about of Garrus. He just wants to retire to somewhere warm, pour down some drink, "try" to do a turian-human baby but maybe ending up in adoption... With Kaidan he's finally gotten you back and his last words just break my heart each time. He's saying something like "I just don't want to lose you again..." and then the ending happens. Excuse my lack of love interest examples, I'm still working my way through on ME2 with my Liara romancing male Shepy.
Of course I want to know what happens with the rest too, but aaargh. I just want to see what happens to all of them, even if Shepard didn't survive and fulfill the future plans with his/her love interest. And I want to see Krogan babies. GIMME KROGAN BABIES! I'd so want to see how the Krogan homeworld looks like after curing the genophage. Wrex sure was eager to get "back in action".

Honestly I hope those sequences they are talking about are just like you said. That's all I really want. I'll even be ok with the ending. I just wish they had it in in the first place. I doubt they would have got nearly as much crap about the ending then. At least it's not like KOTOR 2 where it was hung out to dry. At least I will get closure.... in a few months.

I totally agree with this. Even a little text would've been a lot better than nothing at all. I do hope for some cinematics about the group members now that the DLC is revealed, but just an ending like DA: O would make me a bit happier. There would've been indeed less crap about the endings if there would've been something.

[Duncanîdaho]

I <3 Liara. Lair of the shadow broker DLC makes me fall in love with the woman everytime.

[Deleted]

Yeah the current ending adds absolute zero closure to this massive universe and to all those of Shepards crew from ME1-ME3.

It´s absolutely stupid to only show a chrash landed normandy and then immediatly switch to the credits. What about my other friends? How are they doing? How is the galaxy in general doing after the war was over?

So many cliffhangers and plotholes ....

[Duncanîdaho]

Random question. Who do you guys think should play Commander Shepard in the movie? It is going to be live action right?

I personally have no idea. I hope it's not someone to well established but still has some acting skills. I also hope the movie is not a complete failure lol. All the aliens(in combat too even) are going to be pretty hard to pull off well without serious $$$ invested.

[Deleted]

Random question. Who do you guys think should play Commander Shepard in the movie? It is going to be live action right?

I personally have no idea. I hope it's not someone to well established but still has some acting skills. I also hope the movie is not a complete failure lol.

Well I hope that it will be a FemShep movie. Never liked the male Shepard to be honest

Nah I have no clue who would play him/her at all.

[Deleted]

Random question. Who do you guys think should play Commander Shepard in the movie? It is going to be live action right?

I personally have no idea. I hope it's not someone to well established but still has some acting skills. I also hope the movie is not a complete failure lol.

Maybe they're making a male and female Shepard version!? That'd be smashing.

Seriously though, I have absolutely no idea. I'm not too familiar with newer actors.

[Oerba Yun Fang]

Random question. Who do you guys think should play Commander Shepard in the movie? It is going to be live action right?

I personally have no idea. I hope it's not someone to well established but still has some acting skills. I also hope the movie is not a complete failure lol.

Male: Alex O'Loughlin or David Boreanaz

Female: Milla Jovovich or Scarlett Johansson