Mass Effect 3 Review

[The.Bard]

Spoiler

Tell me about.

I'm aching to play the game (supid EU release) date, just so I can form my own opinion.

I won't be terribly surprised to find that I love the game and that all the hate is internet buisness as usual.

By the Goddess, I am so so sorry. That sucks. 8(

I can say this, I'm only ten hours in, but I absolutely love it so far. It's true to the manner in which I enjoy the series, and that's more than enough for me.

Is it perfect? No. No game ever will be. But I absolutely think this takes the best RPG elements from ME1 and blends them perfectly with the suave combat of ME2. It's damn good, and it's keeping me enthralled so far.

The hate is absolutely business as usual on the internet. I love the guy who posted that every single ending of the game sucks. Seriously, if one day after release you've already seen every single ending, your opinion is irrelevant to me. It means you're lying, or you set the game to action and skipped past every resulting "cut scene" that was left.

Oh, and lastly, I played the "From Dusty Cigarette Butt Ashes" DLC last night, and I thought fondly of Zeel. Good ol' Zeel, I imagine him in a straight jacket right about now, frothing at the mouth while they put an ME3-playthrough on a tv for him... hahah.

That's good to hear.

I too, shall be thinking of Zeel as I download The EA Brain Control Device From Ashes DLC.

I think his suspension is up, isn't it?

Hmmmm. It might be. I'm sure 'll regret saying this, but I'm really curious to get a spoiler-free impression from him of the game in general. Maybe I'll send him a message after I've beaten the game, just in case he throws spoilers in.

You'll be happy to know in addition to From Ashes, their other Day 1 DLC, the "EA Marketing Troll Contractual Device Implant," is actually a free download on the disc - literally. Using nanotechnology embedded into the edge of the cd itself, all you need to do is pick it up to become a "Biobot," or whatever the popular term is. Biodrone?

This is why the people who pirate the game still retain independent thought enough to see through the facade. Cuz they never touch the disc.

 

[Karathos]

- Your choices don't matter, or they've been retconned.
- All endings are the same, no matter what you've done in any ME game so far.

Considering the amount of choices in all three games, I'm curious as to how you know these two things for a fact.

Other than that: Preordered via Origin, bought From Ashes, downloaded, waiting for EU release to clock in.

 

[blackrave]

I feel bad about ME3, really bad
I LOVED ME1
It hit sweet spot between TPS and RPG
I loved every aspect of the game even those that a lot of people found bad/annoying
Setting, story, role system, gameplay, MAKO, inventory, EVERYTHING
It was RPG as much as it was TPS
And after Final battle there was ending song M4(partII) by Faunts. God, I love that song. I sat through credits, I was astonished, I was speechless, lines between game and reality blurred, that was best moment I ever experienced with any game.
After founding and listening to part1 of M4, I expected that it will be used for opening scene in ME2 (I simply knew there will be ME2)

Then I got my hands on ME2
And disappointments came one after another- role system was heavily cut, inventory was close to non-existing, way how thermoclips were done made no sense, even MAKO was gone.
ME2 wasn't RPG anymore, it was TPS with upgradable abilities and good non-linear story, but it was RPG as much as Fable. RPG-ultra-lite, RPG for dummies, babies first RPG, primitive, simplistic, dumb- all these things went through my head as I played ME2.
Rage, disappointment, anger, frustration, sadness and disappointment are only few of emotions I have when thinking about ME franchise. As I finished I promised myself that I won't buy ME3 unless there is improvement. Developers claimed that they know about criticism, and they will try to make role system and inventory closer to one from ME1. I hoped it will be true. But from what I have seen and read about ME3, again it is only more ME2 (Now with 100% more Origin)

So let me conclude that I won't play this game.
My Shepard is dead
What I saw in ME2 was only reanimated, soulless husk
His soul left with the original Normandy

 

[BaronIveagh]

The hate is absolutely business as usual on the internet. I love the guy who posted that every single ending of the game sucks. Seriously, if one day after release you've already seen every single ending, your opinion is irrelevant to me. It means you're lying, or you set the game to action and skipped past every resulting "cut scene" that was left.

Or you watched them on youtube since they were up from about Thursday to about Sunday night when EA went around closing youtube vids. Or watched the walk throughs which have been up since about Sunday.

Can't really deny that the hate isn't businesses as usual, but I will state that Bioware's PR reps mishandling of certain leaks and several statements being revealed as misleading did fan the flames in significant ways.

 

[The.Bard]

The hate is absolutely business as usual on the internet. I love the guy who posted that every single ending of the game sucks. Seriously, if one day after release you've already seen every single ending, your opinion is irrelevant to me. It means you're lying, or you set the game to action and skipped past every resulting "cut scene" that was left.

Or you watched them on youtube since they were up from about Thursday to about Sunday night when EA went around closing youtube vids. Or watched the walk throughs which have been up since about Sunday.

Can't really deny that the hate isn't businesses as usual, but I will state that Bioware's PR reps mishandling of certain leaks and several statements being revealed as misleading did fan the flames in significant ways.

You raise a very valid point about the youtube vids. I can't deny it's a valid opinion, but if I was on the fence, I wouldn't even consider steering my decision around an opinion formed from youtube. The context, the feeling of being connected to the decisions, the gameplay... it's just not there.

Case in point, I watched a "walkthrough" of Heavy Rain once, and I thought it stunk. Played at a friend's house, and it seemed much less ridiculous. Same premise applies to me here: being in & connected to the moment is different than watching a video of it.

The leaks are tough. 3 major ones, none of them Bioware's fault. They were in a tough position where they couldn't elaborate or defend themselves without dishing major spoilers. I'm finding it nearly impossible to talk about what I think of ME3 so far with my friend who is still only halfway through ME2. Other than talking about the guns, I can't say anything without ruining some portion of the experience for him.

Plus - if you'll allow me a small not-directed-at-you rant here - hating Bioware is the cool kid thing these days. I personally know more than a few people who have never played a Bioware game and will still say they hate their last few games w/ straight faces. It's very hard to hear people complaining so vehemently without assuming they are just blindly following the masses.

Heck, more than half of this thread are posts accusing the Escapist of lying about the review. So we can't have differing opinions anymore? Ok, guys, it's fine if you don't like ME3 or Bioware. Some of us do. But you think Susan must be lying because she - and most of the other people reviewing ME3, it appears - like the game a lot? Grow up, you closed-minded judgmental jimminy crickets.

 

[sindremaster]

did not get bylines, do not work in the field anymore and had my last gasp two years ago.

Susan, the problem is that I've been told what to write by my bosses about more then one EA release. DA2 was a 'GOTY' and a '9 out of 10' before they ever let me see it, because EA was dumping more advertising dollars on us then God. Then I got to play it and it sucked.

DA2 came out one year ago, get your stories straight.

 

[The.Bard]

I've been playing it all day...

This game... is like... if Awesome crapped out Awesome onto a silver platter made of Awesome and gave me two Awesome spoons to eat it with.

But... I threw the spoons away. Because it also gave me Awesome Biotics so I could eat the Awesome off the Awesome silver platter without my hands so I could continue playing Mass Effect 3 while eating the Awesome with my brain.

My one, ONE complaint so far, is that I don't have as much control in conversations as I would have hoped, ESPECIALLY near the beginning of the game. Control of Sheppard is taken away from me far too much for my liking.

But I don't care because the rest of it is AWESOME and totally makes up for it.

You shut up! I hate the game. I hate the entire thing. You know why???

BECAUSE I CAN'T MAGICALLY PLAY IT IN MY MIND WHILE I AM AT WORK!!!!!!

So thanks, Bioware. Thanks a frigging lot for giving me cocaine that I can't legally snort at my desk 8 hrs a day.

*sob*

I... I hate the world and everything in it. *sob*

Also, I need sleep when I go home tonight. And groceries. Do groceries raise my galactic readiness meter??

But... but what if I just skipped sleep and played ME3 all night instead??

I'm going to make a movie called "The Mass Effectist," and it's basically going to be "The Machinist," but replace every verb with "playing Mass Effect 3."

Here are my "life before ME3" & "life after ME3" shots:

 

[GreenHollow NY]

I won't be joining the contingent of whiners and naysayers.

I'm sure there will be faults, there always are, but the overall experience is bound to be worth it.

I salute you. There is no game that doesn't have any faults. Everyone needs to sit back, take a chill pill and just enjoy the game they want to play. If they don't think they will like it, will no one is holding a gun to their head.

God I was beginning to think I was the only one who actually approached Me3 from a realistic perspective...It's true no game is perfect and although Me3 admittely has it's faults, it still by far does enough things right to get a thumbs up in my book, and I honestly think that things like day 1 DLC and the like should not be factored into a game review.

 

[NiceJobBreakingItHero]

Biggest gripe is that almost everything in part 2 that was trumpeted as being important (The Rachni, the Geth, AI etc etc) have all been either retconned or are mentioned in brief passing. Hell, the game doesn't even recognize the fact that you've played through the Lair of the Shadow Broker mission! They simply ignore it!

It's funny to see you accuse Susan of lying and yet do it in your next post.

Lair of the Shadow Broker was referenced several times including the Bossfight. It was almost impossible to miss.
And there is even a full mission for the rachni Oo

 

[Wicky_42]

I've had it [Origin] installed on my computer for a month now, and I haven't seen any noticeable change on my computer, whether or not it be spyware, adware, the thought police, my privacy instantly ruined and distributed to a hundred billion internet companies, or whatever people are getting butthurt about.

I'm not about to avoid something on some extremist principle, if that something involves a genuinely entertaining gaming experience.

You do realise that the whole point of spyware is that the user doesn't notice its presence, that it just sits there quietly watching and recording and reporting? That you won't notice your privacy suddenly being ripped away because it's already happened, that your hardware stats, software usage habits and favourite internet sites are already sitting happily as part of a corporation's aggregated database, with your assumption that it doesn't matter as naive as the Jews who registered their faith with the German government.

Just saying.

 

[BaronIveagh]

DA2 came out one year ago, get your stories straight.

Interview me when I haven't been awake for 48 hours (since you should have noted that in various posts yesterday) and you get more consistent responses. And the DA2 thing was not what I was thinking of when I wrote that, but it's neither here nor there at this point.

The leaks are tough. 3 major ones, none of them Bioware's fault. They were in a tough position where they couldn't elaborate or defend themselves without dishing major spoilers. I'm finding it nearly impossible to talk about what I think of ME3 so far with my friend who is still only halfway through ME2. Other than talking about the guns, I can't say anything without ruining some portion of the experience for him.

Plus - if you'll allow me a small not-directed-at-you rant here - hating Bioware is the cool kid thing these days. I personally know more than a few people who have never played a Bioware game and will still say they hate their last few games w/ straight faces. It's very hard to hear people complaining so vehemently without assuming they are just blindly following the masses.

Heck, more than half of this thread are posts accusing the Escapist of lying about the review. So we can't have differing opinions anymore? Ok, guys, it's fine if you don't like ME3 or Bioware. Some of us do. But you think Susan must be lying because she - and most of the other people reviewing ME3, it appears - like the game a lot? Grow up, you closed-minded judgmental jimminy crickets.

You do know that in the book, Pinocchio murders the cricket, twice, and sets up Gepetto as a child abuser, right?

As far as 'blindly following the masses', I'd have to say that is an interesting take, and as I said before, my own opinion was tainted, so I can say that my own objectivity on the issue is also questionable, as Susan herself pointed out, as my own opinion is colored by my own experiences.

As far as Bioware's mishandling of it: actually there were four leaks, and one of their responses to one leak turned around and bit them hard with the Prothean DLC. It probably would have been better for them to have issued a very carefully worded release that they would consider additional ending dlcs based on fan demand. While this would have continued the DLC rage, it actually would have significantly reduced the over all level of rage directed at Bioware, and propped up their reputation for listening to fans. Even if they released no such DLC, it would have diffused the initial reaction long enough to ensure higher 1st month sales.

 

[ZeroMachine]

Biggest gripe is that almost everything in part 2 that was trumpeted as being important (The Rachni, the Geth, AI etc etc) have all been either retconned or are mentioned in brief passing. Hell, the game doesn't even recognize the fact that you've played through the Lair of the Shadow Broker mission! They simply ignore it!

It's funny to see you accuse Susan of lying and yet do it in your next post.

Lair of the Shadow Broker was referenced several times including the Bossfight. It was almost impossible to miss.
And there is even a full mission for the rachni Oo

The game acts as if you did not play The Lair of the Shadow Broker, this has been confirmed by Bioware as being a glitch on their part. The game doesn't register you having helped Liara gain power and Liara even says "it's been years" despite you having made peace or rekindled the romance at the end of Shadow Broker.

All I can comment on is this, as I always let the Rachni Queen live (and I agree that it's a bit lame that they "bred another one"), but you're just wrong on that, OR they fixed it really damn quick.

Spoiler: DO NOT READ IF YOU WANT NO SPOILERS

While on the Sur'Kesh mission to save the Krogan female, a Yahg (a member of the alien race to which the former Shadow Broker belonged) broke through a wall, killing a Cerberus soldier. Garrus and Sheppard teased Liara, Sheppard saying "there goes the next Shadow Broker" and Garrus saying "I think I heard him saying 'Liara' that whole time." Liara responds with "Not funny!". This, among a multitude of other references to the specific mission details of the Shadow Broker (Liara's friend sends you an email, talking about the ship, the drone recognizing you) all prove that you're either wrong, lying, or they fixed it the second the game was released.

 

[ZeroMachine]

Double post on account of Reapers. My bad.

 

[Susan Arendt]

The best part of the game?

You can tell Chobot's character to go away and you never have to see her again.

And here I thought James was bad, but after a minute of talking with her, I'll take his jersey shore, random spanish shouting, douchebagness any day.

I thought I was going to hate James, but I came to be really, really fond of him. Probably because of his banter with Esteban.

 

[mental_looney]

Nice review and spoiler free cannot wait until I have this game on friday damn europe