[Megathread] Mass Effect 3

[GennGreymane]

I actually loved the entire battle going to the pillar.... pretty fucking epic Banshee + marauders + reaper beams on higher difficulties = angry greymane and right after a few brutes.

- - - Updated - - -

How many war assets do I need for the perfect ending? I have 3500 EMS and 7000 TMS

[zealo]

Im not sure if id call the shitstorm that occured before EC "small" but its an average ending with it with all 3 options after it. It works by now although i would have wanted them to just skip the god child entirely.

Its also 3100 EMS for best ending with EC and 4100 without it.

[Elim Garak]

People didn't hate the ending itself. They hated how the story concluded. That Starbrat and his explanation. It was lame beyond lameness itself.

There was also some outrage about 3 colors - that is people raged about the delivery of the player choices, but that was a collateral.

[Deleted]

The ending would probably have been received better if it wasnt for Starbrat Ex Machine.

Blowing up Harbringer because he's the "command unit" would have been oh so much sweeter.

[Deleted]

Mass Effect 3 ending: Choose how you want Shepard to die.

[Deleted]

die.

Bitch please, i am a God!

[Mormolyce]

I dont see why ME3 gets so much hate. It has as much if not more content than ME2 and has a very good story as well. Also the choices feel more impactful than in ME2. Especially the one with the Genophage(SP). I also find the combat a lot better and smoother. Upgrading weapons is also a huge plus and improvements on powers. Also its great to have an enemy besides mercs, collectors, and a few geth (which is far later in ME2). I like the verity of Reaper forces, and Cerberus, plus each unit has a different tactic to be used. I love the guardians since I use pull to rip away their sheilds.


Is it really because of the ending? Because if thats the case I feel a lot of overreaction.

Honestly it's not just the ending, though the ending was the most unsatisfying part.

Without going into a massive review - it was a big wobbly at the start, then FANTASTIC in the middle, then HORRIBLE at the end. Biggest let downs for me were:

-The ending: even with the extended cut it still feels like an unworthy end to the game and especially the series.
-The tone, especially at the start and end, crossed the line between dark and just downright depressing.
-All the new characters are lame, especially compared to the older ones.
-Kai Leng especially was a horrible character.
-Vega was a lackluster crew member (in truth, after a VERY long time in the game I came around to him a bit... but still).
-Although a lot of your previous decisions do impact the game, some of them were only in pretty trivial ways (eg, choosing to kill the Rachni Queen, choosing Morinth over Samara, siding with or against Cerberus even...)
-Paragon vs. Renegade options make very little real difference.
-Cerberus suddenly has platoons of soldiers that look like something from Gears of War (I personally found this kind of jarring and un-Mass Effecty).
-Subtle shift towards a more FPS style game (you could debate this one really).
-I didn't really like the whole fist weapon thing... I mean melee weapons just seem silly in the ME universe (YMMV).
-No direct confrontation with Harbinger, despite all the setup in ME2.

I mean, there are definitely GOOD things about ME3 - in my original playthrough Mordin sacrificed himself to end the genophage and it was such a well written death that even though he is possibly my favourite ME character, I felt okay about him dying. There were tears in my eyes when he started humming the song :O

And the dialogue with Matriarch Aethyta is one of the best dialogues I've ever had with any character in any game, ever. Tears of laughter that time.

That's the frustrating thing - the middle of the game, where you're catching up with characters from PREVIOUS Mass Effects, is so goddamn good. But the bad is so bad... it's a tragedy, it could've been a perfect game, if only the new elements were up to par with the old ones.

[Mirishka]

Honestly it's not just the ending, though the ending was the most unsatisfying part.

Without going into a massive review - it was a big wobbly at the start, then FANTASTIC in the middle, then HORRIBLE at the end. Biggest let downs for me were:

-The ending: even with the extended cut it still feels like an unworthy end to the game and especially the series.
-The tone, especially at the start and end, crossed the line between dark and just downright depressing.
-All the new characters are lame, especially compared to the older ones.
-Kai Leng especially was a horrible character.
-Vega was a lackluster crew member (in truth, after a VERY long time in the game I came around to him a bit... but still).
-Although a lot of your previous decisions do impact the game, some of them were only in pretty trivial ways (eg, choosing to kill the Rachni Queen, choosing Morinth over Samara, siding with or against Cerberus even...)
-Paragon vs. Renegade options make very little real difference.
-Cerberus suddenly has platoons of soldiers that look like something from Gears of War (I personally found this kind of jarring and un-Mass Effecty).
-Subtle shift towards a more FPS style game (you could debate this one really).
-I didn't really like the whole fist weapon thing... I mean melee weapons just seem silly in the ME universe (YMMV).
-No direct confrontation with Harbinger, despite all the setup in ME2.

I mean, there are definitely GOOD things about ME3 - in my original playthrough Mordin sacrificed himself to end the genophage and it was such a well written death that even though he is possibly my favourite ME character, I felt okay about him dying. There were tears in my eyes when he started humming the song :O

And the dialogue with Matriarch Aethyta is one of the best dialogues I've ever had with any character in any game, ever. Tears of laughter that time.

That's the frustrating thing - the middle of the game, where you're catching up with characters from PREVIOUS Mass Effects, is so goddamn good. But the bad is so bad... it's a tragedy, it could've been a perfect game, if only the new elements were up to par with the old ones.

Well said, I agree with just about all of it. And it took me a while to come around on James too. I busted him up pretty badly while we 'danced' because he irked me at the start with his arguing.

And Ash/Kaiden ugh... so annoying in ME3. "Are you surrrrrre you're not still with Cerberus?"

[Deleted]

I don't get the "fist" weapon in ME. I mean the omni-tool thing is just a hologram, it's not mater, so how the hell do you stab with it?

[Mormolyce]

People didn't hate the ending itself. They hated how the story concluded. That Starbrat and his explanation. It was lame beyond lameness itself.

There was also some outrage about 3 colors - that is people raged about the delivery of the player choices, but that was a collateral.

Well. I dunno. I don't think it was the starchild itself that was the problem. I got that they were going for a pseudo-mystical ending with the subtext that the EC explained in detail. I definitely didn't like that it was vague and pseudo-mystical, but really - even if they'd found some other way of framing the ending I still wouldn't have liked it.

I mean consider this: instead of taking the form of the child that's been on Shep's mind all game, it takes the form of Anderson. Then as you talk it changes into the shape of [Ash/Kaiden], and all the other characters who have died during your playthrough of all three games, ending with the child. I mean, that gives you the same message (that the cost in human lives is weighing on Shep's soul) and echoes the voices in the dreams you've been having but avoids ambiguity over whether the child is an actual child, and also ties directly into the relationships you built and choices you made throughout the series.

IMO, a much better way of framing the ending - but honestly, even if they'd done this I would've still been unhappy with the way the ending is three different scenarios in which Shep dies, none of them satisfactory, none of them reflective of the journey you've had in the whole series - and all because of a last minute reveal (the suddenly "eternal" machine/biological conflict) by a crude plot device introduced at the start of ME3 for precisely this purpose (the Crucible).

[Deleted]

The child is pointless itself. And the dreams fucking annoying.
Are we supposed to believe that Shepard got PTSD from a child dying, when we can wipe out entire races and slaughter thousands? We witnesses worlds get destroyed and we have seen the horrors of intergalactic undeath.

No.
Fuck that kid.

[Mormolyce]

Well said, I agree with just about all of it. And it took me a while to come around on James too. I busted him up pretty badly while we 'danced' because he irked me at the start with his arguing.

And Ash/Kaiden ugh... so annoying in ME3. "Are you surrrrrre you're not still with Cerberus?"

I did think they were being a bit unfair :P

Although to be honest... if you played ME2 hostile to Cerberus then they're being too harsh with you, whereas if you played it friendly to Cerberus they're almost being too understanding with you... kind of a weird compromise IMO.

I DID like the scene in which you confront Ash/Kaiden in front of the council though, and if you play it wrong you might actually have to kill them

My only criticism of that being that being that the paragon/renegade system is such that you would have to actually deliberately decide to kill them to get that result. It'd be nice if you hard to EARN the option to keep them alive in that scene through your earlier interactions with them. It's kind of too easy to always pick the red or blue option and always get the best result. To be fair, ME1 and ME2 had similar problems to a lesser extent.

- - - Updated - - -

The child is pointless itself. And the dreams fucking annoying.
Are we supposed to believe that Shepard got PTSD from a child dying, when we can wipe out entire races and slaughter thousands? We witnesses worlds get destroyed and we have seen the horrors of intergalactic undeath.

No.
Fuck that kid.

I mean shit, I'm still traumatised over losing _____ on Virmire.

I think the kid was supposed to symbolise all the loss of life... but really it could've been done better. Why not use Ash/Kaidan for that?

[Deleted]

I mean shit, I'm still traumatised over losing _____ on Virmire.

I think the kid was supposed to symbolise all the loss of life... but really it could've been done better. Why not use Ash/Kaidan for that?

Would had been a golden opportunity to use a LI that died (like in the suicide mission).

[Mormolyce]

I don't get the "fist" weapon in ME. I mean the omni-tool thing is just a hologram, it's not mater, so how the hell do you stab with it?

Technically it creates matter via the mass effect field's "minifacturing" plant or something, I dimly recall.

But like, while it's kind of an awesome idea that you could actually make a weapon out of that thing... I just don't like it. Seems wrong for Mass Effect, which always had an air of realism. As real as super advanced future sci fi can be anyway.

- - - Updated - - -

Would had been a golden opportunity to use a LI that died (like in the suicide mission).

I agree, or even all of them.

[Deleted]

I agree, or even all of them.

Shepard confronted by the spectres of those he lost, sacrifised or killed? (named mobs only ofc)
That would be good.

[Mormolyce]

Its also 3100 EMS for best ending with EC and 4100 without it.

Oh I forgot, my other major complaint about ME3: ME2 had an awesome system where all the loyalty missions and choices you made affected the way the final mission played out. The EMS sounded like it would operate in a similar way, but when you actually finish the game all that happens is that invisibly, in the background the game checks IF EMS > ___ THEN Ending1 ELSE Ending2, which is far less sophisticated and rewarding.

I would've at least liked to see a few scenes of some of the resources you collected in action in the final battle scenes. Like a half-second of each would be plenty, just an acknowledgement that "hey yeah all those missions for Aria helped because here you can see the Omega mercenaries charging into battle" or "those Elcor battle tanks are every bit as epic as they sound". That's all I needed, they didn't have to blow their cinematics budget on them all. But a single number... it's such a step backwards from ME2.

[Nerraw]

I don't get the "fist" weapon in ME. I mean the omni-tool thing is just a hologram, it's not mater, so how the hell do you stab with it?

Hard light.

[Deleted]

Yeah, annoyed quite some by the kid (along with Thessia, but i believe i made my point twice about that already). Hated those dreams.

This may or may not be a popular opinion but how i'd like the ending to go would pretty much be:
The crucible works by the mind of the one that fires it, seeking out and destroying anything they percieve as an enemy (people who have read/watched Fairy Tail and seen the spell Fairy Law in use would understand).
This would of course mean you can't choose what ending you want just near the end. It'd mean all your actions up til the end would decide who lives or dies. Did not cure the genophage? Krogans will be angry - percieved as enemies (or if you set off the bomb or Wrex is dead etc). Rachni queen killed? Rachni wiped out too. You could spend a lot of time in the game building up relations to the different races. Full asshole renegade shep = only humans survive? Or something.

Just my random wish/idea for the ending, aside from wanting it to be remade from Thessia and onwards, as well as some sort of encounter with harbinger. Feel free to disagree :P

[Mormolyce]

Official canon explanation:

Although melee-combat applications for the omni-tool are almost as old as the device itself, the feature was largely unused prior to the Reaper invasion. The need to take on multiple husks in close quarters forced the Alliance to develop ways to enhance the tool's offensive capability.

The most common melee design is the "omni-blade," a disposable silicon-carbide weapon flash-forged by the tool's mini-fabricator. The transparent, nearly diamond-hard blade is created and suspended in a mass effect field safely away from the user's skin. Warning lights illuminate the field so the searing-hot blade only burns what it is intended to: the opponent.

http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Omni-tools

I mean, it's not a HUGE leap from the established abilities of the omni-tool, but I just found the idea of running up to someone and stabbing them in a universe where we fire mini-mass accelerators at each other a tad ridiculous.

Don't even get me started on Kai Leng's silly SUPER-KEWL-KATANA.

[l33t]

Don't ever do it again, but I'll keep playing no matter what you actually do. That is hypocrisy. His statement is meaningless because his protest is only over the cost of the games, and not about the content. Since they are still willing to play and experience all of the content.
But that is exactly what it boils down to. They don't like ME3 ending. So because they don't like that one game they are never going to buy a game from that company again and will pirate them. That is "I don't like a game from this company => I will pirate them" which you find crazy, and I'm saying is crazy. But am being told by you that I'm crazy for stating what you and I both agree on. Crazy.

You are indeed a very strange person. I haven't said anywhere that I have a problem with prices. I am a grown adult, have nice job and get enough money to waste more that 100$ per month in Steam/etc buying games and stuff. I haven't said that I didin't like ME3 as a game, on the contrary I stated clearly that I loved like 90% of the game itself. The problem is, I don't like developers' attitude at all. I am a paying consumer; game devs gain their profits just because people like me buy their products. That said, if devs want to get my money, by no possible way should I get ignorant, abusive and stupid answers from developers when absolutely polite and nice questions asked. That is point one.

Point two. As I said already, I got my heart literally broken by how dull, unimpressive, stupid and so on were the endings. Some people state that "blah blah its just 10% of the game blah blah, lol u r stupid". Yes, it is 10%, but that 10% totally broke my heart. I didn't play the whole line of ME games to just get that spit in my face, followed by even more spits in my face during the discussion at Bioware forums. Since 2008 I played ME games. I was totally bought by the way they make desicions from previous game develop the story in current game. I conserved my saves and replayed games over and over and over to see all the possible endings and plot twists. And all that just to get three-coloured nothing in the end? WTF? Are you even serious Bioware?

Point three. Considering everything stated above, I have decided to play their game, and only if the game worth it, I'll consider buying it. If Bioware's games continue to include bad, lazy pieces of shit they tend to call "artistic-vision", then its their own fault. I don't want to support devs who don't want to make a quality product any more, sorry. That does not mean I don't want to play their games. Told you already, I want to punish devs for their attitude, and the only possible way to do it is with wallet. If I just won't play their games at all, I won't punish anyone but myself, which is obviously not my goal. Logic.

And point four. Please spare me the crap of "oh my god you are a thief, burn in hell!" Is it ok to trick your customers into buying your product by overhyping them and giving false information and lies about the product? Definitely not. Is it ok to throw shit into customers who uncovered your lies about the product? No. Such attitude hurts gaming market as much as pirating does - well, maybe even more, since it pushes legal customers away, while those who pirate games still will do it no matter what. So, for me there would be no blind purchases of Bioware games anymore, because I don't trust the company any more. It is that simple, really.