BioWare Finally Confirms and Details Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer

[HalfTangible]

I am... *eye twitch* ...going to... *seeth* reserve... judgement... *twitching arm* for now... *teeth grinding*

This is EA we're talking about. They'll find a way to screw up everything, just like they did with Dragon Age 2 and ME2.

EA's games are fine (usually - DA2 is the only one I can think of that was just plain bad) it's their marketing that sucks.

Also: my rage is slightly appeased over the fact EA makes a lot of money for ME and DA from ripping off sports fans ^^

 

[omicron1]

Here is the problem: it just doesn't matter. ME multiplayer will be a flash in the pan, here today; gone tomorrow. In its place will be the CoDs and the Battlefields, games designed around multiplayer and perfectly capable of holding that position in the gamerspace. And ME3 will have an empty lobby and nobody playing as soon as the next big thing comes along.
This decision was born in a meeting, I guarantee you - born of me-too policies and mega-market strategizing. The problem, as always, is that people can only play one multiplayer game at a time; chances are, it's not gonna be yours.

 

[rohansoldier]

This is EA we're talking about. They'll find a way to screw up everything, just like they did with Dragon Age 2 and ME2.

I guess I am one of the few people out there that actually prefer both DA2 and ME2 to the originals then? I love ME1 don't get me wrong but ME2 is more refined IMO and in my limited experience of DA1, it's just not as good as the sequel. Maybe once I have played it a bit more I will learn to love it (whenever I get the chance to play it).

OT: I was worried at first when the ME multiplayer announcements first reared their heads, but hearing something official from bioware and having it be co-op only instead of the traditional team deathmatch and capture the flag (which totally would not work in mass effect) has made me feel a bit better about the whole idea.

As long as you can still get all the endings playing single player, I guess I have no problem with it.

 

[HalfTangible]

This is EA we're talking about. They'll find a way to screw up everything, just like they did with Dragon Age 2 and ME2.

I guess I am one of the few people out there that actually prefer both DA2 and ME2 to the originals then? I love ME1 don't get me wrong but ME2 is more refined IMO and in my limited experience of DA1, it's just not as good as the sequel. Maybe once I have played it a bit more I will learn to love it (whenever I get the chance to play it).

OT: I was worried at first when the ME multiplayer announcements first reared their heads, but hearing something official from bioware and having it be co-op only instead of the traditional team deathmatch and capture the flag (which totally would not work in mass effect) has made me feel a bit better about the whole idea.

As long as you can still get all the endings playing single player, I guess I have no problem with it.

I prefer ME2 to one. In fact, one is now painful for me to play through. Seriously. PAINFUL.

 

[Kingsnake661]

What a min... what is this, "Galactic Readiness" meter and what is the utter CRAP about muiltiplayer impacting my single player ending... that's how i read it. You do this MP stuff and it effects your readiness for the perfect ending? Not to mention the fact that if these coop missions have story elements in them, i want to play them, but i DON'T like dealing with xbox live goons to have to do it. I don't HAVE 3 buddies that are into mass effect like i am. I don't have many gaming friends in general, I'm a bit of the odd ball in my circle of friends in that respect... I can't say I'm too happy with what i'm reading so far...

 

[Zhukov]

What a min... what is this, "Galactic Readiness" meter and what is the utter CRAP about muiltiplayer impacting my single player ending... that's how i read it. You do this MP stuff and it effects your readiness for the perfect ending? Not to mention the fact that if these coop missions have story elements in them, i want to play them, but i DON'T like dealing with xbox live goons to have to do it. I don't HAVE 3 buddies that are into mass effect like i am. I don't have many gaming friends in general, I'm a bit of the odd ball in my circle of friends in that respect... I can't say I'm too happy with what i'm reading so far...

Read the article under the link.

EDIT: It's down. Here's a copy-paste [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.317343-ME-3-Co-op-details].

 

[Shamanic Rhythm]

The Bioware forums probably resemble Mogadishu at the moment...

Also "other platforms and interfaces to be announced". Facebook game, I bet you. Any takers?

 

[chstens]

What a min... what is this, "Galactic Readiness" meter and what is the utter CRAP about muiltiplayer impacting my single player ending... that's how i read it. You do this MP stuff and it effects your readiness for the perfect ending? Not to mention the fact that if these coop missions have story elements in them, i want to play them, but i DON'T like dealing with xbox live goons to have to do it. I don't HAVE 3 buddies that are into mass effect like i am. I don't have many gaming friends in general, I'm a bit of the odd ball in my circle of friends in that respect... I can't say I'm too happy with what i'm reading so far...

You don't HAVE to play multiplayer to get the perfect ending, it's just an optional way of increasing your galactic readiness, the co-op missions won't have anything to do with the single player DIRECTLY, but they will have their own little sidestory, and you not wanting to deal with "xbox live goons" to experience that, well, that's your problem. Personally, I am excited. The possibility of playing a Turian/Krogan/Salarian/Asaria etc. spec-ops is very appealing to me. My one suggestion to you is get your facts straight and stop complaining about the co-op because you don't have someone to play with.

 

[Jandau]

I'm pretty fine with all of this, but under one condition:

That I am in no way, shape or form forced to participate in multiplayer or whatever "other platforms" they mentioned in order to get the full plot, story and ending. Yes, I know the article implies this is the case, but until it's confirmed, I'll be wary.

If the above condition is met, then cool. Coop is nice as long as I don't have to play it, and whatever else they have planned is likely to be interesting and I won't really care about it. My money is on a Facebook game, an iPhone/iPad/Android game and maybe an ARG.

 

[AndyFromMonday]

Yeah, Mass Effect 2 was famously screwed-up. Oh wait, no. The other thing.

It was quite bad actually.

I guess I am one of the few people out there that actually prefer both DA2 and ME2 to the originals then?

There's nothing wrong with liking bad games. I admit I enjoy playing WoW even though it's lacking in quality.

 

[Genericjim101]

What a min... what is this, "Galactic Readiness" meter and what is the utter CRAP about muiltiplayer impacting my single player ending... that's how i read it. You do this MP stuff and it effects your readiness for the perfect ending? Not to mention the fact that if these coop missions have story elements in them, i want to play them, but i DON'T like dealing with xbox live goons to have to do it. I don't HAVE 3 buddies that are into mass effect like i am. I don't have many gaming friends in general, I'm a bit of the odd ball in my circle of friends in that respect... I can't say I'm too happy with what i'm reading so far...

It can only impact singleplayer if you choose it do so, otherwise anything gained from it can be achieved in singleplayer. As for missing out on the story elements in co-op sorry brah you'll have to convince some friends they're going to play Gears Of War XD.

 

[Normandyfoxtrot]

This is EA we're talking about. They'll find a way to screw up everything, just like they did with Dragon Age 2 and ME2.

I guess I am one of the few people out there that actually prefer both DA2 and ME2 to the originals then? I love ME1 don't get me wrong but ME2 is more refined IMO and in my limited experience of DA1, it's just not as good as the sequel. Maybe once I have played it a bit more I will learn to love it (whenever I get the chance to play it).

OT: I was worried at first when the ME multiplayer announcements first reared their heads, but hearing something official from bioware and having it be co-op only instead of the traditional team deathmatch and capture the flag (which totally would not work in mass effect) has made me feel a bit better about the whole idea.

As long as you can still get all the endings playing single player, I guess I have no problem with it.

I prefer ME2 to one. In fact, one is now painful for me to play through. Seriously. PAINFUL.

I prefer DA2 and ME2 over their progenitors a well I found both DA:O and ME1 to be quite a slog to get trough and when a RTS player says your game is slow and boring you have a problem not to mention I found them much less exciting and enjoyable than their sequels.

 

[VulakAerr]

Yeah, Mass Effect 2 was famously screwed-up. Oh wait, no. The other thing.

It was quite bad actually.

I guess I am one of the few people out there that actually prefer both DA2 and ME2 to the originals then?

There's nothing wrong with liking bad games. I admit I enjoy playing WoW even though it's lacking in quality.

I think you'll find that you are in a tiny minority. ME2 was reviewed incredibly well, winning many GOTY awards. ME1 was found wanting in many ways including bugginess and overall quality. I don't think you can write ME2 off as a bad game for being different to how you would prefer when there is such an overwhelming amount of support for its changes from professional reviewers and gamers alike. It was an amazing, smooth and well-rounded game with 1 or 2 "interesting" design choices detracted from the otherwise perfect experience.

 

[Avatar Roku]

Yeah, Mass Effect 2 was famously screwed-up. Oh wait, no. The other thing.

It was quite bad actually.

I guess I am one of the few people out there that actually prefer both DA2 and ME2 to the originals then?

There's nothing wrong with liking bad games. I admit I enjoy playing WoW even though it's lacking in quality.

People are pretty much entirely in agreement as to DA2's lack of quality, but there is a MUCH more mix opinion about ME2. I, for example, found the character missions (i.e, 90% of the game) to be amazing but the Collector plot to be goddawful.

Point is, don't hold up ME2 as an example of a universally-reviled sequel because the actual opinions on it are much more varied than that.

 

[Genericjim101]

Yeah, Mass Effect 2 was famously screwed-up. Oh wait, no. The other thing.

It was quite bad actually.

I guess I am one of the few people out there that actually prefer both DA2 and ME2 to the originals then?

There's nothing wrong with liking bad games. I admit I enjoy playing WoW even though it's lacking in quality.

You mean "I found Mass Effect 2 quite bad actually", factoring sales and views you're objectively wrong. At some point using statistics an opinion can be proved to be a wrong fact : D

 

[rohansoldier]

Yeah, Mass Effect 2 was famously screwed-up. Oh wait, no. The other thing.

It was quite bad actually.

I guess I am one of the few people out there that actually prefer both DA2 and ME2 to the originals then?

There's nothing wrong with liking bad games. I admit I enjoy playing WoW even though it's lacking in quality.

Thats your opinion and you are entitled to it. I however thoroughly enjoyed the game.

Like I said, I love ME1 and plan to play it through again shortly in order to get the last few achievements and get my ME3 character ready.

 

[jurnag12]

THIS....doesn't sound nearly as bad as I expected.

 

[Caine Master]

I don't like this at all. I don't want to have to play multiplayer in order to get the whole story. I have only one person I play this with and our schedule isn't always the same.

 

[Kingsnake661]

What a min... what is this, "Galactic Readiness" meter and what is the utter CRAP about muiltiplayer impacting my single player ending... that's how i read it. You do this MP stuff and it effects your readiness for the perfect ending? Not to mention the fact that if these coop missions have story elements in them, i want to play them, but i DON'T like dealing with xbox live goons to have to do it. I don't HAVE 3 buddies that are into mass effect like i am. I don't have many gaming friends in general, I'm a bit of the odd ball in my circle of friends in that respect... I can't say I'm too happy with what i'm reading so far...

You don't HAVE to play multiplayer to get the perfect ending, it's just an optional way of increasing your galactic readiness, the co-op missions won't have anything to do with the single player DIRECTLY, but they will have their own little sidestory, and you not wanting to deal with "xbox live goons" to experience that, well, that's your problem. Personally, I am excited. The possibility of playing a Turian/Krogan/Salarian/Asaria etc. spec-ops is very appealing to me. My one suggestion to you is get your facts straight and stop complaining about the co-op because you don't have someone to play with.

As a matter of fact, my facts are stright. Muiltplayer DOES impact single player endings. It isn't nessessiry, but i never said it was. My main beef is adding game effecting *story* elements to a gameplay mode i don't like. *MY* problem, I relise that, but like everyone else, i can voice my displeasure at it. Much like you can proclam it's awsomenss.

I am wondering what this OTHER stuff is... and how this all applies to muiltpal play throughs... if i get through the coop stuff at least once, can i use it like a gamesave file for a few different games plays, or will i have to do it anew each time? (and before you jump at me, i KNOW you don't know the answer. This is more like thinking outloud, with typing. ;-)