[Megathread] Mass Effect 3

[Laurcus]

Not a fan of how the cool downs were working personally...

I'm still on the fence about the cooldowns as well. I get how it's supposed to work though. Tech/biotic>hybrid combat>combat. As a soldier, you're supposed to rely primarily on your guns. Soldiers have the longest cooldowns, and the least amount of cooldown based powers. They use a smaller amount of powers less frequently than other classes. To compensate they get more guns, (which means more ammo) and more damage. So their straight up combat is more powerful with more sustainability. And vanguard/infiltrator are of course a balance.

I think the reason they did this was to make all the classes play a little more different from each other. In ME1 and 2, the primary difference between the classes concerning playstyle was what weapons you were trained with. Combat stats were what determined the playstyle of the tech/biotic characters. This is glaringly obvious if you play an adept in ME1 and pick up assault rifles as your new game + power. The class plays like a squishy soldier with some CC.

By making the difference be the amount of weapons you can carry vs the types of weapons you can carry, it forces the tech/biotic powers to stand on their own to make their respective classes feel unique, and changing the cooldowns is an essential part of that.

[Doozerjun]

Just played through the demo, on normal. Very nice. Looks like they added some extra terrain features such as climbing ladders and jumping. Also I can tell that I will spam the heck out of the frag grenades. Anyway, this just makes me want to play the full game even more.

[Restos3]

I made a contingency plan and had valentines yesterday. She was not all together pleased at first but after several glasses of wine and a hearty dinner she mellowed out a bit. I have to bring flowers tonight to completely mellow out the blow that will come when she sees me sitting in front of my pc. Ball and chain indeed.

That's clever, lol!
Even though I can't wait for this game, I prob wont play the demo. Don't want to spoil myself

[Leonard McCoy]

Demo is pretty good. Graphically its tight, haven't seen ME look this good in awhile. I went as an adept, the powers have a different feel to it. I like, their alot faster and smoother.

[Raphtheone]

Just finished my first playthrough of the demo as an Infiltrator on Insanity.

First mission was piss easy. It's basically a tutorial on how to sprint, jump, and attack various types of creatures in simple battle scenarios. I couldn't import my Shepard using the face code, she got all messed up (as in, from a black haired femme fatale to the average emo girl). This bummed me out, since the cut-scenes were f-ing amazing, only to be spoiled by a character in the middle of the screen that clearly doesn't belong there, sucking the voice of MY Shepard. You know when you see a woman move her lips and a mans voice comes out? It was something like that. To say it irked me is an understatement.

I took continous, and various stops looking at the scenery, and it's extremely beautiful. They've spent a lot of time on the details. The solar flare effect thingy (when you move something in front of the sun, like your gun) is amazing. It's obvious it's the same GE (game engine) as ME and ME2, but lights, shadows and overall textures has gotten some love, making it look better than ever (still the same GE, mind you!).

It wasn't a whole lot of dialogue as it was cut-scenes with the occasional pause, using the wheel-o'-dialogue as a resume button. If I hadn't seen the cut scenes from various sources already, I would've been very happy with the results. Now that I have, I know what they cut out, making it feel lackluster, such as the second level of the demo. I suppose they didn't want to focus too much on RP in a one hour demo, but during the ten or so minutes of cut scenes, I only recall somewhere along the lines of four to six times where I was asked my opinion. That's a whole lot of auto pilot. It didn't bum me though, I know this demo isn't representative of the final product. There's too much missing to get a proper view on the game, it's more like a taste, an appetizer, an introduction for new players, rather than a demonstration of the final product.

About the missing stuff. I played an Infiltrator, which specializes in sniper rifles. I had a gun a majority of the first level, which is to be expected. I found an automatic weapon for the last fight on the first level, and it felt really nice. Still the same stock Alliance weapon, but the sounds alone made it feel like an upgraded, or new, solid weapon. First level, no sniper rifle. First thing I checked when I spawned on the second level was what sniper rifle I had (well, the first thing I checked was Liara's facial textures). There wasn't any. Gun that is. Liara is as beautiful as ever. I had to play the entire level as a sniper rifle oriented class without a darn sniper rifle. Still, it didn't bum me, but it did force me to alter my standard tactics.

Overall the Insanity difficulty was much easier than I had expected. There was only two places where I faced a wall (well, two and a half). First place was where you meet up with Kirrahe and you'll have to face those turrets. The problem wasn't the turrets, but the fact that the Cerberus soldiers enjoyed kamikaze runs to force you out of hiding. One thing I did enjoy with the difficulty was how prone the enemies are at throwing grenades at you when you're comfortably behind your cover. This is something you don't see in ME2, which makes the difficulty only a matter of longer fights, not harder. In ME3, you constantly have to re-evaluate the battlefield, it's a breath of fresh air. Second place was that down/upper level plaza place. The difficulty was the same, swarmed by Cerberus soldiers and grenades. Third place was the final boss, ending up CC'ing the adds and kiting the boss. That tactic was much more effective than I had anticipated. Clearly ME3 is about controlling the battlefield at higher difficulties. No spray and pray, there are too many targets with too much health for that. I like.

There are other things to comment, but I don't want to drag on for too long. Squadmates feel more responsive with their ability usage, weapons feels properly tuned (not that it has been an issue in the past), sound, music and effects are amazing (loooove that buum-sound when you launch the game and press a key to get to the main menu), and the list goes on. My main reason for trying this demo (didn't bother with ME and ME2) was because of forced Origin. I just wanted to make sure it's still the same game, before I allow Origin a more permanent place on my computer. ME3 is definitely worth it. With that said, if I find a Origin-free crack for ME3 in the future, I'll probably switch over to that.

Not directly related to ME3, but I found a checkbox for autoupdating games in Origon settings. I for one don't fancy being forced to update when I'm perfectly happy with what I've got, only to have tuning etc messed with. No idea if it actually works, but it's nice that it's there.

edit:
Have to add two more things. Taking cover in ME2 was always safe, even if your head stuck out (yet you could shoot enemies in a similar situation). This isn't the case in ME3. If your head sticks out, it can be shot at.

Also, as Infiltrator, at times I was under the impression I wasn't cloaked (when I was). I was targeted by multiple enemies despite me being cloaked. Wasn't always the case, but it happened enough to warrant mention. Also, the CD on the cloak is longer than in ME2. It screwed me sometimes, mainly because I expected it was done, head out in front of all enemies, pop it, oh crap it's still on CD, run back to cover.

[looopy]

So here's my internal battle (have had it with other games but its especially horrible on Me3 cuz of the save transfer)

So I have an I7 desktop that i really have recently loved playing games on, but I played the first 2 on xbox.

Pros of Computer:
Better graphics (you guys tell me would they really be that much better for Me3? or is it a quick port over?)
Faster load times (the 360 load times on Me2 were atrocious)

Cons of Computer:
Lose all progress, square one.
Lose my story etc.
DRM?
wow
Pros of xbox:
See above

Cons of Xbox:
I played the second Me2 first and had a shitty ending. Then I went on months later to play the first and loved how my choices panned out. So if I were to transfer my new character in, I would have to replay Me2 again (With ToR, Tribes, Rage, Diablo 3, and of course Me3 staring me in the face, I dont exactly have alot of time for this)

So please tell me what you guys think

[Xeones]

I'm still on the fence about the cooldowns as well. I get how it's supposed to work though. Tech/biotic>hybrid combat>combat. As a soldier, you're supposed to rely primarily on your guns. Soldiers have the longest cooldowns, and the least amount of cooldown based powers. They use a smaller amount of powers less frequently than other classes. To compensate they get more guns, (which means more ammo) and more damage. So their straight up combat is more powerful with more sustainability. And vanguard/infiltrator are of course a balance.

I think the reason they did this was to make all the classes play a little more different from each other. In ME1 and 2, the primary difference between the classes concerning playstyle was what weapons you were trained with. Combat stats were what determined the playstyle of the tech/biotic characters. This is glaringly obvious if you play an adept in ME1 and pick up assault rifles as your new game + power. The class plays like a squishy soldier with some CC.

By making the difference be the amount of weapons you can carry vs the types of weapons you can carry, it forces the tech/biotic powers to stand on their own to make their respective classes feel unique, and changing the cooldowns is an essential part of that.

Somewhat on board with you, but the understanding I've been able to gather is that getting even a second weapon will have a large effect on the cooldowns. The cool downs are linked, so I'm having trouble seeing this as any sort of a good design decision. Why make skill based classes with mechanics that might not be immediately clear that harshly limit the use of those skills. My infiltrator felt pretty useless during the demo because I could hardly do anything other than shoot at which point I'd just be better off as a Soldier.

[Greevir]

So here's my internal battle (have had it with other games but its especially horrible on Me3 cuz of the save transfer)

So I have an I7 desktop that i really have recently loved playing games on, but I played the first 2 on xbox.

Pros of Computer:
Better graphics (you guys tell me would they really be that much better for Me3? or is it a quick port over?)
Faster load times (the 360 load times on Me2 were atrocious)

Cons of Computer:
Lose all progress, square one.
Lose my story etc.
DRM?
wow
Pros of xbox:
See above

Cons of Xbox:
I played the second Me2 first and had a shitty ending. Then I went on months later to play the first and loved how my choices panned out. So if I were to transfer my new character in, I would have to replay Me2 again (With ToR, Tribes, Rage, Diablo 3, and of course Me3 staring me in the face, I dont exactly have alot of time for this)

So please tell me what you guys think

From what I can tell from some of the XBOX360 vids I watched on Youtube and playing the Demo today on PC I can definitely tell the difference in graphics and the PC wins hands down. As for the imports and such, I just recently played through the first two to get me a save to port into 3. There are sites where you can downloads peoples saves. Check out http://www.masseffect2saves.com/ and see if you can find a save close to what you want.

[Minrolol]

Somewhat on board with you, but the understanding I've been able to gather is that getting even a second weapon will have a large effect on the cooldowns. The cool downs are linked, so I'm having trouble seeing this as any sort of a good design decision. Why make skill based classes with mechanics that might not be immediately clear that harshly limit the use of those skills. My infiltrator felt pretty useless during the demo because I could hardly do anything other than shoot at which point I'd just be better off as a Soldier.

Felt useless as the infiltrator in the demo during the campaign but when I hopped into MP with only two weapons the amount of damage I was doing was pretty insane. Tac cloak had like a 4 second cool down or something like that with very little points put into the talent.

On a side note im interested to see how it plays out if mordin died. Also who will take wrex's place during that mission. Was thinking either grunt or the other krogan who sits on the throne on their planet.

[Xeones]

Felt useless as the infiltrator in the demo during the campaign but when I hopped into MP with only two weapons the amount of damage I was doing was pretty insane. Tac cloak had like a 4 second cool down or something like that with very little points put into the talent.

On a side note im interested to see how it plays out if mordin died. Also who will take wrex's place during that mission. Was thinking either grunt or the other krogan who sits on the throne on their planet.

I don't have access to the multiplayer due to how they punished the players.

[Cattaclysmic]

Just finished a multiplayer game with 3 guys - i was like FUCK YEA!

Playing adept seems to be a lot about CC - using singularity to keep the shielders at bay and whatnot

[Doozerjun]

Haven't tried the multiplayer. Is it purely pve? Or are there some pvp deathmatches available

[Northern Goblin]

I do not want my roll key to be the same as my sprint/cover key.

I also greatly dislike their attempts to sex up Ash Williams, she's meant to be a tough bitch not a supermodel with a shotgun.

[Raphtheone]

Haven't tried the multiplayer. Is it purely pve? Or are there some pvp deathmatches available

MP is purely co-op. I assume trolls will find a way to incorporate some PvP elements. They always do.

[Sargerus]

Demo is pretty good. Graphically its tight, haven't seen ME look this good in awhile. I went as an adept, the powers have a different feel to it. I like, their alot faster and smoother.

I strongly disagree. The demo is filled with low resolution textures, just like ME2 was

[Archaeon]

I strongly disagree. The demo is filled with low resolution textures, just like ME2 was

I was also pretty surprised at how bad some of the textures were, but I'm hoping it has to do with it being a demo. Otherwise the graphics were improved over ME2 I think... the faces and the lighting and stuff. The gameplay graphics outside cutscenes look pretty good when you aren't zoomed in on the pixels of Shepard's armor. Although... it seemed to me that the lip-syncing during cutscenes was way off...?

I quite liked the movement and combat changes. Tumbling, moving between cover, controls are smoother overall.

[Melfeth]

Very disappointed with the demo. From the looks of things, it's going to be just as bad as ME2. I might consider purchasing it if I see it in the bargain bin.

Alas, the days when Bioware made good games and not terrible waifu simulators seem long gone.

[Naidia]

I liked it, the soundtrack and cinematics seem to be great as always. Love my female commander Shepard being back, with more customizable options! But for some reason when I had to put the demo on pause, my Xbox sounded like it was going to just explode.

[Yakobro]

You can import a Mass Effect 1/2 360 save to pc (and the reverse).

Took about 5min of googling and even managed to fix "The Fan" quest to paragon using a save editor (import bugged to always be renegade)

Everything else working fine.

[Roamingstorm]

1. Mass Effect was never sold on a beautiful game such as Farcry or Crysis. You don't come to play Bioware games based on graphics, look at previous games. (Yes, everything is so spiffy etc now a days, but honestly the graphics are not all that different from 2, computers will always trump a console system most of the time when it comes to gaming that should be common sense with any game now.)

2. Multiplayer is strictly team work, every game I have played and people go run off to do a "lone wolf" get killed in seconds most of the time. I have messed with Engineer, Soldiers, Adept, and Vanguard. All of the abilities are supposed to have synergy with everyone else. There has been many occasions to where a Infiltrator has saved myself and others from death in a game because of stealth and reviving.

3. It's a demo. For anyone who played Kingdoms of Amalur demo recently it's full of bugs and sound glitches. Why? Because it's an older version. Played the actual game and haven't ran into any issues.

The combat is fluid, if not better then the previous games, and in my opinion better then most third person shooters.

The decision making is still there and the story. Is it bad that in the Earth stage there was actually in a minute cut-scene that I saw more emotion then I did when I played through all of Skyrim? (No I'm not bashing Skyrim, I've been playing Elder Scrolls since Morrowind)

The graphics in my opinion are fine, hell I wouldn't care if they were still Mass Effect 1 graphics because even then they were good. The game is not selling itself on cutting edge graphics. (Mind you I played on the 360)

Personally if you've played the previous two I doubt you stuck with it due to it's "new amazing combat features", because honestly it sold itself for an RPG, and still is. Bioware has done these things mainly because they've been listening to the player base since ME1 on ways the players would like to see improvements, and then they go from there. This isn't a "hey let's change things around because we feel like it" type of move. They listened to what people wanted and they did their best to deliver it.