[Megathread] Mass Effect 3

[crazysmacker]

Wreav is an idiot. Just like Wrex says. Just watched him in videos on youtube, and my very first playthrough was default ME 2 since I started with that, so I had Wreave in Tuchanka too.

He is an asshole. Nothing can come out of letting him be clan leader.

Yes he is, i am so glad he gets headbutted by Wrex before Eve does her little speech.

[Notos]

Yes he is, i am so glad he gets headbutted by Wrex before Eve does her little speech.

And then Kalross eats him. Happiest moment in the game, after having to put up with him in my first playthrough.

[Duncanîdaho]

Except all reapers look alike. There has only been one Reaper that looked differently and that was being built by the collectors in ME2 and destroyed by Shepard. No other footage of the reapers showed a different looking reaper then the Squid forms. If they change shape only after every cycle then maybe that is true. The problem with ME3 and its ending is it essentially re-writes everything else done int he game into 3 paths. Everything done to fight the reapers becomes null and void because it doesn't matter what you do. It all ends the same, with the Cycle being complete and destruction of Advanced Lifeforms.

All reapers do not look alike. In ME3 alone there are 4 different types at least. You have your sovereign class capital reapers which look like squids. Then you have your destroyers which looks like spiders, just like the keeper species imo. Then you have transport ships which look different, and then you have your flying ugly ass harvesters. All are versions of reapers, just some are controlled by the higher up ones and are more high tech(destroyers,capital ships).

ME2 spoiler: The Protheans probably would have had their own reaper form but they were naturally resistant because of their DNA style(its in ME2 somewhere) and the reapers were forced to change them to collectors instead and rely on indoctrination.

Also, the more I ponder the indoctrination ending theory the more I believe it. There is just so much stuff that's either really poorly done and doesn't make any sense at the end which Bioware has been amazing with on any other game they ever made(Especially the ME series). Or, which is what I think now, they intentionally left it that bad for us to pick up on for future DLC. Because its all being pieced together in Shepards brain.

The one thing that sells me the most is that the Citadel looks nothing like we have scene it before, it looks like an amalgamation of TIM's command room, a collector ship and the shadow brokers ship. The shadow brokers ship parts are key because THE ARE UNIQUE TO AND BUILT FOR THAT SHIP ONLY. They were created in that cycle, just for the shadow brokers ship so it could power itself from the lightning storm around it and draw the huge power needed to stay stealthed. When you do your the Shadow Broker mission in ME2 this is pointed out to you. It would be impossible and pointless for that piece of the shadow broker ship to be in the citadel, its not like the citadel is surrounded by lightning or a storm. Also the fact that Anderson doesn't even flinch or bleed when you shoot him. Yet you start gushing blood out of the same area you just shot him, because you just shot the avatar of your willpower, not Anderson. Or how bout the fact that when you run towards Harbinger there are zero trees and shrubs around, yet after he blasts you and you get up if you look around there are the same trees and shrubs that have been in Shepards nightmares in front of you and behind you. Then on top of all that theirs the imaginary kid who no one sees, hears or reacts too all game except Shepard. Yet this is the form the VI(Catalyst) takes, THE KID ONLY EXISTS IN SHEPARD'S HEAD. Therefore this means that the VI or Harbinger is already in his head analyzing his thoughts and messing with them. There is no other way Harbinger/Starchild could have known that imaginary kids features without either reading and manipulating Shep's mind, or if Harbinger put the kids image there in the first place.

There's just to much stuff like this to ignore for me. Are the reapers so dumb, to leave a living Shepard behind to walk into a beam that takes him directly to where he needs to go and there is zero guards even though Anderson himself just before you ran for it said there would be lots of them? Not to mention the 8 brutes, 4 banshees, countless cannibals and marauders and a Reaper destroyer that was blocking me getting TO the beam. OFC they would have guards inside too. Bullshit again. Also how the hell would the illusive man even get onto the locked down and closed citadel with his base and organization in ruins, and the reapers hunting him? How is Anderson ahead of you? He said he entered the beam AFTER you did and there's only one path to the room. The fact that if you look around before you go into the beam, and even wait, Anderson is nowhere to be found. Yet he's in there at the same second you are talking to you. How does Shep and his armor get completely mangled, yet your radio survives in perfect condition. When Anderson enters the control room, his radio gets jammed and he goes all static. Yet Hacket can later contact you in the exact same place via radio when he does not even know you are there and probably would have already been told you were dead and did not make it. It's all garbage and lies.

I really hope the theory or some theory is actually true, because if its not I don't know how a company that was so good(near perfect) with managing inconsistencies in their story up to this point could drop the ball worse then anyone ever has in an RPG.

[Adhal-Blackrock]

Speaking of the Indoctrination Theory, not sure if its been posted previously but this is a great video that sums it up well going back to Mass Effect 1.

*Spoiler Alert* this video will show the entire ending if you haven't seen it.

http://youtu.be/ythY_GkEBck

[Deleted]

Speaking of the Indoctrination Theory, not sure if its been posted previously but this is a great video that sums it up well going back to Mass Effect 1.

*Spoiler Alert* this video will show the entire ending if you haven't seen it.

http://youtu.be/ythY_GkEBck

That video has been linked about a dozen times already. It's still good though, sums it all up nicely.

Well the only thing it affects directly is Eve surviving, so it just depends on what you want to do with her.

Oh I definitely want Eve surviving. I've loved her ever since she made her debut on the demo. She's such a kickass!

EDIT: I actually dug up my comment from my guild forums after I had finished the demo.

"But whatafak was up with that boy in the uhh.. WELL THE BOY THAT WAS HIDING. I have no idea why they had to shove him there, really.
I did like the female krogan though, she had some ATTITUDE."

Considering the whole game I find my comment about "the boy" a bit funny too. :P

[crazysmacker]

Oh I definitely want Eve surviving. I've loved her ever since she made her debut on the demo. She's such a kickass!

Her story about her shaman initation was neat and her living with the genophage kinda pulled my heartstrings a bit when i heard it the first time.

[Rukh]

So since I had lost my ME2 save game I had to do 3 as a new game. Well I just got done going through 1 then 2 again.

Strange thing though, I thought I did everthing to do in 2. I had all my squadmates alternate uniforms and the little ring around them, I did all the side quests I could find and had the universe explored at 100%. But then during the last scene, I'm closing a door and BANG! Legion dies. W T F!!! My first time through ME2 I managed to get everyone to survive, how did I somehow lose people this time??? Worse than that, I beat the end boss, and am running back to the ship, and pass a body of... Mordin Solus. ; ; WHAAA TEEE EFFFF is this BS??? He was the person I talked to the most too, he thought I was trying to get in a relationship with him FFS. What is this BS?

[Lord Bale]

So since I had lost my ME2 save game I had to do 3 as a new game. Well I just got done going through 1 then 2 again.

Strange thing though, I thought I did everthing to do in 2. I had all my squadmates alternate uniforms and the little ring around them, I did all the side quests I could find and had the universe explored at 100%. But then during the last scene, I'm closing a door and BANG! Legion dies. W T F!!! My first time through ME2 I managed to get everyone to survive, how did I somehow lose people this time??? Worse than that, I beat the end boss, and am running back to the ship, and pass a body of... Mordin Solus. ; ; WHAAA TEEE EFFFF is this BS??? He was the person I talked to the most too, he thought I was trying to get in a relationship with him FFS. What is this BS?

It's not only getting their loyalty, it's sending the right squadmates on the correct jobs.

See the chart here http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/to.../index/5855452

[Notos]

It's not only getting their loyalty, it's sending the right squadmates on the correct jobs.

See the chart here http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/to.../index/5855452

Pretty awesome chart, I'll keep it handy for my next playthrough in case I forget who to send where. I wish ME3 had implemented something similar for the last level, except with war assets. Like, if you find all the "squad" type assets, the scene where the teams try to gun down the reaper plays out differently (i.e. they don't get obliterated). That's actually kinda what I was expecting when I was going into the level for the first time. At least the cinematic where the fleets first engage plays out a bit differently if you have enough assets. It could have been so much better though.

[Deleted]

It's not only getting their loyalty, it's sending the right squadmates on the correct jobs.

See the chart here http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/to.../index/5855452

You actually have to have the loyalty of some squadmates in order for them to survive. Let's say you send Garrus to lead the troops and you don't have his loyalty and he will most likely get shot. I know he actually does get shot either way, but if you don't have his loyalty he will die. I know that because I got Zaeed to lead the troops on my first playthrough and when he got shot he died right there. Garrus got shot at the exact same scene and I expected him to die, but he just shrugged the bullet off like a boss since I had his loyalty. And yes, I know Zaeed isn't the best bet to lead the second hit team but my point was that I know you can die to the shot in that scene without loyalty too. Even if you chose the right squadmate for the job (e.g. Garrus). You also have to have the three vital upgrades on the Normandy or you risk losing a squadmate again. Like if you didn't purchase the armor upgrade from Tali, either Tali or Legion will get shot after they work their way to you after opening the doors. It's not purely about sending the right people to do the right job. It's a sum of few things. :P

And I was actually expecting that to happen on ME3 too. I think something like not purchasing the part for the engineers could've ended up in some of them dying. Or you know, something like that.

[Deleted]

Aveline, The Genophage Renegade choice will make you cry, I doubt you'll make it, that was probably the most intense part of the 3 games for me. And it's actually not that wrong Shepard shows how bad he/she feel about it but he/she had to do it to get salarian supports, sound like you had no choice... oh god you will feel so terrible (Assuming you let Wrex live in ME1 otherwise I heard it's not as bad).

Actually the pure renegade choice with genophage isn't that bad. The one where you kill Wrex in ME1, save Mordin and Wreav just doesn't find out about the deception. I didn't go for it though, as much as I love Mordin, killing Wrex dooming the whole krogan race so he could live for another 5-10 years just doesn't sound like a good idea.

But yea, renegade vs paragon isn't good vs evil. Both are good, but for the renegade, end justifies the means, paragon just wants to do the right thing.

[Deleted]

Actually the pure renegade choice with genophage isn't that bad. The one where you kill Wrex in ME1, save Mordin and Wreav just doesn't find out about the deception. I didn't go for it though, as much as I love Mordin, killing Wrex dooming the whole krogan race so he could live for another 5-10 years just doesn't sound like a good idea.

But yea, renegade vs paragon isn't good vs evil. Both are good, but for the renegade, end justifies the means, paragon just wants to do the right thing.

I like Wrex so I haven't had Wreav as a leader in any of my playthroughs. And since Wrex is so giggidy about making babies I haven't been able to doom the entire krogan race either.

And I know Paragon vs. Renegade isn't always "good versus bad", but Renegade is more of a "my way or the highway" choice. It just seems like in ME3 you're a complete psychopatic bastard if you go all the way with Renegade. You doom entire species, kill your squadmates, blow up planets etc. So I don't know if I can be completely Renegade this time round either.

[Deleted]

And I know Paragon vs. Renegade isn't always "good versus bad", but Renegade is more of a "my way or the highway" choice. It just seems like in ME3 you're a complete psychopatic bastard if you go all the way with Renegade. You doom entire species, kill your squadmates, blow up planets etc. So I don't know if I can be completely Renegade this time round either.

I know what you mean There was some of that in ME1 and 2 too. Still, I've always played as a renegade with like 25% paragon mixed in (usually from helping my team members and friends and being nice to them). I even got something like that in ME3, saved pretty much everyone, helped everyone etc. I think the really horrible renegade choices in ME3 come from previous mistakes or not having high enough renegade score so the red option is grayed out.

Still, I don't think I want to play as pure renegade in any of the ME games and not as pure paragon either. It's natural that some of the choices just seem wrong. It would be the same as watching movies I guess, sometimes you go "why did he/she have to do that! that was so mean!" even if you otherwise like the character.

[Deleted]

I know what you mean There was some of that in ME1 and 2 too. Still, I've always played as a renegade with like 25% paragon mixed in (usually from helping my team members and friends and being nice to them). I even got something like that in ME3, saved pretty much everyone, helped everyone etc. I think the really horrible renegade choices in ME3 come from previous mistakes or not having high enough renegade score so the red option is grayed out.

Still, I don't think I want to play as pure renegade in any of the ME games and not as pure paragon either. It's natural that some of the choices just seem wrong. It would be the same as watching movies I guess, sometimes you go "why did he/she have to do that! that was so mean!" even if you otherwise like the character.

Hahah, I get what you mean. Pure Paragon wasn't that enjoyable either. I've enjoyed my Paragade Shepard the most, she's my main Shepard anyway. She's more of a peaceful person that tries to solve conflicts (like the war between quarians and geth) but if someone messes with anyone close to her she will punch them as hard as she can. And Renegade choices like interrupting and stabbing Kai Leng were just too enjoyable to miss out. It seems more natural that you're not always the perfect good guy, I know I wouldn't be able to be like that myself. And you already saw what a good "Renegade" player I am. I'll actually take a new snapshot of that Shepard's current status...

http://i.imgur.com/C7dru.jpg

My bad guy is too good!

[Deleted]

Hahah, I get what you mean. Pure Paragon wasn't that enjoyable either. I've enjoyed my Paragade Shepard the most, she's my main Shepard anyway. She's more of a peaceful person that tries to solve conflicts (like the war between quarians and geth) but if someone messes with anyone close to her she will punch them as hard as she can. And Renegade choices like interrupting and stabbing Kai Leng were just too enjoyable to miss out. It seems more natural that you're not always the perfect good guy, I know I wouldn't be able to be like that myself. And you already saw what a good "Renegade" player I am. I'll actually take a new snapshot of that Shepard's current status...

http://i.imgur.com/C7dru.jpg

My bad guy is too good!

http://i.imgur.com/otFQQ.jpg

Paragoooon!

[Deleted]

http://i.imgur.com/otFQQ.jpg

Paragoooon!

I see some red in there too! D;

[Kesolovac]

I have finished Me1, Me2 with 100% paragon with my 3rd character and with him I choose to finish Me3. Never interrupted a scene with renegade option... until Udina scene

[raddry]

I took my time, explored everything after every mission and it took me 28 hours (on normal first time)

Well I'm at 28 hours and I'm just about to meet quarians, though got 2 side missions before.

[Deleted]

http://jmstevenson.wordpress.com/201...mass-effect-3/

I really like the way he worded it... especially in regards to closure.

Personally I’ve grown tired of people saying “You just hate it because it wasn’t a happy ending!” No, we hate it because it was an ending that failed on so many fundamental levels as to boggle the mind. We hate it because it made no sense in any context, and resulted in completely undermining the series we’d grown to love. There are so many things wrong here that I’m just going to pick the top three issues.

-later-

I went into this game fully expecting an unhappy ending, because I just didn’t think there would be anyway to defeat the Reapers. I think fighting a futile hopeless battle would have been incredibly poignant, with Joker slamming the Normandy into Harbinger in the final moments, or a last stand by Garrus as he takes down fifty husks before finally being overrun, and finally Shepard fighting defiantly to the bitter end against a horde of Cannibals. The possibilities were endless. Even a sad ending, would allow resolution, because in those final few moments before the end we could see the characters we knew and loved defiant to the last, we would understand their fate and respect their sacrifice.

[Deleted]

http://jmstevenson.wordpress.com/201...mass-effect-3/

I really like the way he worded it... especially in regards to closure.

Somehow I sincerely doubt that he is in the majority being fine with a sad/unhappy ending. A vast majority of the complaints (that I have seen) regarding 'closure' is that we don't get to see what happens to all the characters after the end Dragon Age: Origins-style, and that is a happy ending if anything.