E3: Mass Effect 3

[ServebotFrank]

I'm disappointed that the Reapers' big plan for mass extinction seems to be so direct, combat orientated, messy and above all inelegant.

I think this is more meant as a sort of insult to Shepard and humanity who've been thwarting the Reaper's plans for two games.

I think it's pretty clear by now the Reapers aren't the cold soulless, calculating invincible machines they are trying to make you believe.

I find that disappointing too. I liked the idea of facing unfathomable foes that weren't actual gods or explicitly supernatural.

I'm sure the Reapers aren't just targeting Earth. I imagine they're hiding that small detail until the game is released.

 

[Karma168]

The only thing i don't get is how does a hologram work as a knife?

Other than that can't wait till march, i'll end up playing this then starting the entire trilogy again to get through as many options as i can.

 

[Karma168]

Also, why Earth. Earth is barely talked about throughout the first 2 games. The closest you ever get to Earth is going to the Moon on a side-quest. Why do we give a frack about Earth? It's barely been relevant in the past few games, so why would the Reapers even care. And don't give me, "Well Shepherd beat a Reaper so now the Reapers fear Earth DERP!" Yeah well Shepherd beat the Reaper with help from Krogans, Asari, Drell, Salarian, Turians, Quarians, and Geth. By proxy all of those races should be equally feared. When you have an outlier (Shepherd) and the outlier is not good for you. You don't assume the outlier is the same as everyone from where the data point was pulled from. Logically just because Shepherd is human has no bearing what so ever on the fact that he/she defeated a Reaper.

It's probably nothing to do with Shepard, remember the reapers use these extinction cycles to reproduce and humanity is the only species with enough genetic diversity to be of any use so that will be a reason for going to Earth. In that 1st trailer when he mentions so many millions of people dead we have no way of knowing how many are dead and how many have been harvested for making a new reaper.

 

[Stevepinto3]

So we're just gonna buy our weapon upgrades this time? No mineral scanning? WOOOOOOOOOOOO!

You know, looking back, I might not have had such a problem with the mining if it hadn't required such ridiculous amounts. 50000 tons of material to make upgrades for maybe 5 or 6 guns?

Also, I'm curious why people think it's the action that made ME2 less appealing to RPG fans. It's not like we shun anything that isn't turn-based combat. It was the very limited skill trees and abilities that made it feel less like a shooter-RPG.

Done complaining.

So I've already got my team picked out. Assuming we get 6 squad members like the first game, I'm gonna go with Wrex (duh), Garrus (also duh), Mordin, Legion, Jack, and Thane. If you can have more than 6 I'll probably be getting Zaeed or Grunt as well. Can never have enough Krogan, right?

 

[Ian Caronia]

*SNIPPED OPEN*
For one the whole plot was hinted more at Shepherd attempting to stop the Reapers before they get here. That's what the whole plot of ME2 was. Also while your analogy to Lord of the Rings does fit to an extent you have to remember that those big battles were more or less a distraction. The real important stuff was happening on a Mountain while a slightly pudgy hobbit carried another hobbit up to the top. That's right all those major battles weren't the climax because the climax is a bromance and a malnourished creeper falling into lava. The plot that ME3 looks like it is leading up to is more like something copy pasted from half the shooters from the past 4-5 years. It always annoys me when people think a huge epic battle should be the be all end all of stories. Epic battles are usually fairly forgettable. I haven't watched any Lord of the Rings movies in probably 6 years and all the battle sort of blur together. The parts that stand out are things like Frodo and Sam on Mount Doom. Boromir confronting Frodo in the woods. Smeagol and Gollum arguing with each other.

I'm not saying epic battles aren't good, but they are forgettable. And just cause we are playing an interactive medium doesn't mean we have to end the game on the same note as every other game and every other summer blockbuster of the past 5 years.

Also, why Earth. Earth is barely talked about throughout the first 2 games. The closest you ever get to Earth is going to the Moon on a side-quest. Why do we give a frack about Earth? It's barely been relevant in the past few games, so why would the Reapers even care. And don't give me, "Well Shepherd beat a Reaper so now the Reapers fear Earth DERP!" Yeah well Shepherd beat the Reaper with help from Krogans, Asari, Drell, Salarian, Turians, Quarians, and Geth. By proxy all of those races should be equally feared. When you have an outlier (Shepherd) and the outlier is not good for you. You don't assume the outlier is the same as everyone from where the data point was pulled from. Logically just because Shepherd is human has no bearing what so ever on the fact that he/she defeated a Reaper.

Okay, listen, you CLEARLY have some shit to sort out.
1. Lord of the Rings should never be compared to Mass Effect.
...It should be compared to Dragon Age, because they both have elves.
2. Earth is TOTALLY important! At the beginning of the very first game we're told that humans are the last race to join the space-age thanks to Mass Effect tech. They are absolutely no threat to the Reapers and, let's face it, humans are boring. Why attack an interesting alien race when you can attack boring humans? Plus, like, everybody wanted to see the Space Federation and shit. So... Yeah, why not start there?
3. Big battles make me hard

Okay, enough joking around. You're totally right, mate, but just for clarity's sake-
Here's the real reason the Reapers attack Earth: Because Shepard's from there

It's not that they're afraid of humans. They just want to hurt the people that mean something to Shepard. ...Which is how Bioware turned your ominous, hyper-intelligent evil AI race into boring ol' vindictive assholes.
_Still find the Reapers intimidating? No? You see them as a big epic enemy to kill?
Then Bioware's writers have failed.

NOTE: If you still find the Reapers ominous and intimidating after seeing that trailer then I suggest you buy a copy full price, since you are one of the few who have managed to keep the true spirit of a nigh omnipotent AI race alive...even when Bioware couldn't.

 

[4173]

I'm disappointed that the Reapers' big plan for mass extinction seems to be so direct, combat orientated, messy and above all inelegant.

I think this is more meant as a sort of insult to Shepard and humanity who've been thwarting the Reaper's plans for two games.

I think it's pretty clear by now the Reapers aren't the cold soulless, calculating invincible machines they are trying to make you believe.

I find that disappointing too. I liked the idea of facing unfathomable foes that weren't actual gods or explicitly supernatural.

But how would you see them defeated then?

A few possibilities:
1. They don't, everything dies
2. They don't but a MacGuffin hides some beings, or moves them to an area the Reapers can't reach
3. Some sort of exhaust port in the Death Star type thing
4. A much, much more graceful reveal of the Reapers not being an unknowable evil. I think it would be much better as a mystery unraveled, not a realization that the Reapers are petty.

I'm disappointed that the Reapers' big plan for mass extinction seems to be so direct, combat orientated, messy and above all inelegant.

I think this is more meant as a sort of insult to Shepard and humanity who've been thwarting the Reaper's plans for two games.

I think it's pretty clear by now the Reapers aren't the cold soulless, calculating invincible machines they are trying to make you believe.

I find that disappointing too. I liked the idea of facing unfathomable foes that weren't actual gods or explicitly supernatural.

I'm sure the Reapers aren't just targeting Earth. I imagine they're hiding that small detail until the game is released.

That's exactly what concerns me. I hate the idea of going down to every planet to burn and slaughter.

 

[gring]

DA2 killed all interest in Bioware for me, it was the straw that broke the camels back, or really I should say the potato gun bullet to the camels face that broke his face.

This looks like halo more then mass effect. And cheesy heavy rock music for the trailer? YEESH.

"OH theres RPG elements!" Really? Because they said the same thing about ME2, and DA2, but those games were as RPG as Fable (hint: which really means almost none). So what is it, that powers branch off? That was in ME2. That there's weapon mods finally? OH GOOD I GUESS ITS FIXED NOW!

"Defend the HOMELAND!" is cliche and completely overused as hell. So let me guess how the trilogy ends: We kill the reapers after a bunch of people with guns shoot them. wow, thats... epic?

What happened to space exploration? What happened to subtlety and thick stories? WELL, "not anymore" says bioware.

 

[Ian Caronia]

The only thing i don't get is how does a hologram work as a knife?

Spoiler: Hard Light technology

 

[Alucard788]

Does no one else find this trailer off putting? It feels like it's trying to be Halo or some crap like that. After seeing this I'm feeling doubt about this game for the first time. I have a feeling the sticky greedy hand of EA have been all over this thing and now it's going to be a mediocre shoot em up instead of a tactical shooter RPG.

Also why Earth? What's so bloody important about Earth? This is another thing that annoys me. Everyone human in ME1 and ME2 seems to think that Earth is so fricken important. I don't give a crap about Earth, I want to get away from Earth. This is Sci-Fi, in fact it's full on Space Opera! So why oh why do we give a crap about Earth when we have a whole freaking universe to worry about.

If I do play this game I hope I get the chance to kill most of humanity and let Earth crumble.

Hah! I'm excatly the same. It's like in every fantasy game with a conflict between elves and humans. I always choose the elves, without fault.

It's suppose to be an escape...saving humans over and over is getting kinda bleah.

 

[gring]

Spoiler: Hard Light technology

LOL, more like plagurism technology

 

[BodomBeachChild]

Omni-blade. Really? REALLY? So much for trying to have a small grasp on reality...

 

[The.Bard]

For one the whole plot was hinted more at Shepherd attempting to stop the Reapers before they get here. That's what the whole plot of ME2 was. Also while your analogy to Lord of the Rings does fit to an extent you have to remember that those big battles were more or less a distraction. The real important stuff was happening on a Mountain while a slightly pudgy hobbit carried another hobbit up to the top. That's right all those major battles weren't the climax because the climax is a bromance and a malnourished creeper falling into lava. The plot that ME3 looks like it is leading up to is more like something copy pasted from half the shooters from the past 4-5 years. It always annoys me when people think a huge epic battle should be the be all end all of stories. Epic battles are usually fairly forgettable. I haven't watched any Lord of the Rings movies in probably 6 years and all the battle sort of blur together. The parts that stand out are things like Frodo and Sam on Mount Doom. Boromir confronting Frodo in the woods. Smeagol and Gollum arguing with each other.

Well, you make some excellent points, and unfortunately, nobody can answer them until we're watching the credit scroll after beating the game.

I agree with you that the poignant character moments between Sam & Frodo are the best part of that ending, but you can't have those character moments without the war. It is only after seeing the bloodshed, the death, and the costs that come with that you can fully appreciate that quiet moment between two little hobbits.

And on the large scale, that's more what I'm referring to. You are correct in that ME2's plot was stopping the Reapers, but when they first announced the trilogy and the robots coming to cull all of galactic life plot, we KNEW this was coming. The Reapers HAVE to show up for a war. The threat of them coming through has been the elcor in the room since ME1. It's never been an "if," but a "when???" If ME3 was just Shepard preventing them from coming through the portal again, the victory would be hollow, not to mention redundant.

In general, though, I think there's plenty of reason to be happy about what we've seen. Do shallow action movies stink? Yes. But is it because of the presence of all that action, or simply that the action hasn't earned its paycheck with the proper amount of reflective insight and "emotional content," as Bruce Lee so aptly put it?

I'm with you; I hate Hollywood action movies. I won't see Transformers, I'm proud to be Mission Impossible-free my whole life, Speed was a joke, and Commando is something I watch when I want to laugh my butt off at how not to make a film.

But when I CARE about what's happening? When I'm invested emotionally? When war isn't simply about snazzy sci fi effects, but comes with emotional resonance? Well, NOW you have my attention.

And I think that is what ME3 is going to be. The "deep breath before the plunge," if you will. I anticipate absolutely phenomenal conversations with the people Shepard cares about while the entire galaxy spins slowly around the drain. And the payoff for that will be pedal-to-the-floor adrenaline pumping action where you are fighting, and you know the stakes, and all you can think about in the back of your mind is that one wrong move and you and all the people you ever cared about are SCREWED.

... aw, now I'm all sad I can't play until next March. BOOOOO!!!

I'm not saying epic battles aren't good, but they are forgettable. And just cause we are playing an interactive medium doesn't mean we have to end the game on the same note as every other game and every other summer blockbuster of the past 5 years. It kind of reminds me of the 1800's early 1900's where Authors would write one story. They would write several books with the same plot, switching characters and settings. They made money off this. These books are also considered crap by todays standards and probably by standards back then as well.

I agree with you here. I'd love to have more games with a personal touch, where saving the day doesn't rely on stopping somebody bent on destroying the world and blowing everything up. But there must be something at stake. You can't achieve victory without peril, so whether it's war or an internal conflict, something has to challenge our characters emotionally or physically.

What I'm looking forward to - and I would be angry if they showed it in a preview - are the emotional choices we'll need to make. I'm hoping this game has at least 3-5 decisions with the same no-right-answer as Virmire from ME1. If they deliver on that, nothing else matters; I will love this game forever.

Also, why Earth. Earth is barely talked about throughout the first 2 games. The closest you ever get to Earth is going to the Moon on a side-quest. Why do we give a frack about Earth? It's barely been relevant in the past few games, so why would the Reapers even care. And don't give me, "Well Shepherd beat a Reaper so now the Reapers fear Earth DERP!" Yeah well Shepherd beat the Reaper with help from Krogans, Asari, Drell, Salarian, Turians, Quarians, and Geth. By proxy all of those races should be equally feared. When you have an outlier (Shepherd) and the outlier is not good for you. You don't assume the outlier is the same as everyone from where the data point was pulled from. Logically just because Shepherd is human has no bearing what so ever on the fact that he/she defeated a Reaper.

I hope they have a good reason. I can only make random guesses at this point. I agree with you that having it be a galactic fight would make more sense, but at the same time, it wouldn't be very personal. Just lasers and space. It would be like the Star Wars prequels. All zip and no ZANG. They already had a fight on the Citadel, so where else would Shepard be most emotionally invested in? Earth. Also, they really don't mention how long the Earth portion of the game lasts for. They're tricky over at Bioware. That could be Chapter 1, and the rest of the game is fighting the Reapers elsewhere.

But any way you slice it... I have hope for ME3 being GotY material and then some.

 

[higgs20]

I'm disappointed that the Reapers' big plan for mass extinction seems to be so direct, combat orientated, messy and above all inelegant.

well when your a race of giant, hyperadvanced,almost indestructible, machine gods that have existed since the dawn of time and to whom wiping out universes is nothing but a day job subterfuge probably seems a bit pointless.

a bit like scaling your office building, climbing in the window and hiding under your desk all day just so the receptionist doesn't notice you coming in.

 

[Eveonline100]

The first gameplay section was already shown at EA's E3 press conference. In it, Shepard is attempting to take down a Reaper base. Cerberus forces try to stop him from making his way to a Reaper silo of sorts, but the plebes don't have the gusto.

This part confuses me. Yes, Cerberus is mad at Shepard for whatever reason, and they want to kill him. But come on Cerberus, time and place. Why are you trying to stop Shepard from taking down a Reaper when the reason you brought him back at the start of ME2 was because you knew how important he was in stopping the Reapers?

Oh well. Hopefully there will be a reasonable explanation in the full game. But right now it seems a bit silly.

I'm sure they are indoctrinated to high hell for messing around with Reaper tech. Or they are just jerks led by a crazy, possibly cyborg, nutjob and that the reason.

OT: ME3, will, I'm sure, be one of the best games ever. Of course there needs to be a big showdown, the whole series is a big lead up to bringing pain to the Reapers. How one can kill a whole army of virtually invincible super robots...I guess we shall see

now you know how i feel as far as i'm concerned this what i expecyed after if it didn't turn into say all out by the 3rd game and feture heavy amout of combat the this would be like say LOTOR 3 ending with say the 2 sides peacefully talking over there differecne.

 

[Redingold]

Why exactly are the Reapers on Earth? I don't mean why are they attacking Earth, I mean why are they on Earth, as opposed to being in space bombing it from orbit? It's a much more effective tactic, seeing as ordinary dreadnoughts fire shells that impact with nuclear weapon like strength every two seconds, and Reapers are significantly more powerful than that. So why bother walking around shooting puny lasers at everything?

EDIT: Also, aren't Earth's cities supposed to be arcologies? Huge, self-contained hyperstructures? Why is the city we see in the trailers not one of these?

 

[WouldYouKindly]

What it means is that they are full of their typical PR bullshit. They will try and sell the choices to the Mass Effect fans, and sell the fact you can "hop in as a newbie" to all those who h- blah blah blah yakkety shmakkety

Sorry, no more room for jaded negativity / whining about DA2 or ME2's RPG-iness in this forum. We're only accepting happy open minded people in Mass Effect land. Kthxbye. =D

Where's Yahtzee's E3 hype massacre when you need it?

 

[CalPal]

I would like to get involved in all this debate and stuff... but when I read that the kid from the "escape Earth" demo died... god damn it, now I'm pissed off at the Reapers! Come March 6th, there's gonna be hell to pay.

 

[Dr Snakeman]

For one the whole plot was hinted more at Shepherd attempting to stop the Reapers before they get here. That's what the whole plot of ME2 was. Also while your analogy to Lord of the Rings does fit to an extent you have to remember that those big battles were more or less a distraction. The real important stuff was happening on a Mountain while a slightly pudgy hobbit carried another hobbit up to the top. That's right all those major battles weren't the climax because the climax is a bromance and a malnourished creeper falling into lava. The plot that ME3 looks like it is leading up to is more like something copy pasted from half the shooters from the past 4-5 years. It always annoys me when people think a huge epic battle should be the be all end all of stories. Epic battles are usually fairly forgettable. I haven't watched any Lord of the Rings movies in probably 6 years and all the battle sort of blur together. The parts that stand out are things like Frodo and Sam on Mount Doom. Boromir confronting Frodo in the woods. Smeagol and Gollum arguing with each other.

Well, you make some excellent points, and unfortunately, nobody can answer them until we're watching the credit scroll after beating the game.

I agree with you that the poignant character moments between Sam & Frodo are the best part of that ending, but you can't have those character moments without the war. It is only after seeing the bloodshed, the death, and the costs that come with that you can fully appreciate that quiet moment between two little hobbits.

And on the large scale, that's more what I'm referring to. You are correct in that ME2's plot was stopping the Reapers, but when they first announced the trilogy and the robots coming to cull all of galactic life plot, we KNEW this was coming. The Reapers HAVE to show up for a war. The threat of them coming through has been the elcor in the room since ME1. It's never been an "if," but a "when???" If ME3 was just Shepard preventing them from coming through the portal again, the victory would be hollow, not to mention redundant.

In general, though, I think there's plenty of reason to be happy about what we've seen. Do shallow action movies stink? Yes. But is it because of the presence of all that action, or simply that the action hasn't earned its paycheck with the proper amount of reflective insight and "emotional content," as Bruce Lee so aptly put it?

I'm with you; I hate Hollywood action movies. I won't see Transformers, I'm proud to be Mission Impossible-free my whole life, Speed was a joke, and Commando is something I watch when I want to laugh my butt off at how not to make a film.

But when I CARE about what's happening? When I'm invested emotionally? When war isn't simply about snazzy sci fi effects, but comes with emotional resonance? Well, NOW you have my attention.

And I think that is what ME3 is going to be. The "deep breath before the plunge," if you will. I anticipate absolutely phenomenal conversations with the people Shepard cares about while the entire galaxy spins slowly around the drain. And the payoff for that will be pedal-to-the-floor adrenaline pumping action where you are fighting, and you know the stakes, and all you can think about in the back of your mind is that one wrong move and you and all the people you ever cared about are SCREWED.

... aw, now I'm all sad I can't play until next March. BOOOOO!!!

I'm not saying epic battles aren't good, but they are forgettable. And just cause we are playing an interactive medium doesn't mean we have to end the game on the same note as every other game and every other summer blockbuster of the past 5 years. It kind of reminds me of the 1800's early 1900's where Authors would write one story. They would write several books with the same plot, switching characters and settings. They made money off this. These books are also considered crap by todays standards and probably by standards back then as well.

I agree with you here. I'd love to have more games with a personal touch, where saving the day doesn't rely on stopping somebody bent on destroying the world and blowing everything up. But there must be something at stake. You can't achieve victory without peril, so whether it's war or an internal conflict, something has to challenge our characters emotionally or physically.

What I'm looking forward to - and I would be angry if they showed it in a preview - are the emotional choices we'll need to make. I'm hoping this game has at least 3-5 decisions with the same no-right-answer as Virmire from ME1. If they deliver on that, nothing else matters; I will love this game forever.

Also, why Earth. Earth is barely talked about throughout the first 2 games. The closest you ever get to Earth is going to the Moon on a side-quest. Why do we give a frack about Earth? It's barely been relevant in the past few games, so why would the Reapers even care. And don't give me, "Well Shepherd beat a Reaper so now the Reapers fear Earth DERP!" Yeah well Shepherd beat the Reaper with help from Krogans, Asari, Drell, Salarian, Turians, Quarians, and Geth. By proxy all of those races should be equally feared. When you have an outlier (Shepherd) and the outlier is not good for you. You don't assume the outlier is the same as everyone from where the data point was pulled from. Logically just because Shepherd is human has no bearing what so ever on the fact that he/she defeated a Reaper.

I hope they have a good reason. I can only make random guesses at this point. I agree with you that having it be a galactic fight would make more sense, but at the same time, it wouldn't be very personal. Just lasers and space. It would be like the Star Wars prequels. All zip and no ZANG. They already had a fight on the Citadel, so where else would Shepard be most emotionally invested in? Earth. Also, they really don't mention how long the Earth portion of the game lasts for. They're tricky over at Bioware. That could be Chapter 1, and the rest of the game is fighting the Reapers elsewhere.

But any way you slice it... I have hope for ME3 being GotY material and then some.

Mr. Bard, I just want to say: I love you. In the most non-creepy way possible.

I'm a die-hard Mass Effect fan, and your little essay has explained why. I have faith in BioWare. I mean, come on, they've made, what, one bad game (DA2)? Pretty decent track record.

Just because it's actiony, doesn't mean it's inherently bad. If you have a reason to care about the stuff that's blowing up and the people who are dying (which the previous two games have definitely given us), it becomes a truly great story.

So, yeah, thank you for saying what I did not have the attention span to type up myself. You are my favorite poster on the Citadel. XD

 

[zHellas]

As long as I may punch the turian councilor in the face this time around, I'm happy.

YES. THEY MUST DO THIS.

EDIT: and the omni tool blade is the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen. Looks like BioWare have finally abandoned even the pretence of 'hard' sci-fi.

I'm sure an explanation will be all there in the manual. I mean, they already have holographic haptic interfaces. Why do you think they couldn't get a blade out of that? Also, for all that they've shown their work, Element Zero is dodgy at best, and biotics, frankly, points at Element Zero and then says, "Magic!"

Okay, maybe you have a point that the pretense is even thinner... but, if you knew where to look, it was pretty thin already. I don't think it's that much thinner, though.

I think their explaination for it would pretty much be: It looks cool, that's why.

And I totally agree.

 

[AndyFromMonday]

On rails shooter sections and the ability to use a mech? This is so similar to current gen shooters it's just plain scary.