Fappy said:
I am actually very surprised this thread doesn't already exist (guess everyone who owns it is taking a sick day and playing it right now) so I will take this oppertunity to lay out my impressions of the full game thus far. I'll avoid anything plot-oriented Bioware's marketing hasn't already talked about and focus primarily on the broad scheme of things. I played it for roughly 4 hours last night and if I don't cover it here I'll answer any questions you guys over in Europe/Australia/etc. have. I will list a few pros and cons, but I feel Q&A is a better way to do this.
Pros:
- Combat has greatly improved much to no one's surprise. Controls are more responsive and the powers/weapons feel like they pack more of a punch. Its also really fun hunting down all of the weapons and mods on a battlefield. Feels RPG-y in that sense.
- Bringing it back: Right from the get-go the game invokes the spirit of the first game. As someone who romanced a certain romance option in ME1 I was surprised the topic came up within the first hour of gameplay. A lot of the interactions with returning characters are fun and interesting without feeling like fan-service.
- Banter has been greatly improved and has been pretty insightful/funny so far.
Cons:
- Auto-dialogue: At this point I am sure you guys have heard, but yes, there is a lot of auto dialogue. From what I understand your automated responses are supposed to fall in line with your alignment as my Paragon Shep is usually a pretty nice guy when auto responding, and I would be fine with it if it wasn't so damn prevalent. Note that in most non-big story moments there is a lot of normal ME dialogue give and take and that most of the auto-dialogue happens in missions and during big plot scenes.
- Character models/animations/etc: I don't know what happened between games, but some characters look completely different now. Whether they are prettier now or uglier I think Admiral Hackett is the only human character that doesn't look different from ME1 and 2. Liara looks weird and it bothers me. Some of the animations, as I am sure you guys have heard or seen in the demo, are just straight up goofy.
- Un-synced dialogue and buggy cutscenes: If you thought this was bad in the first two games.... The game also seems to be a bit moire unstable than ME2 was. I experienced a hard-freeze at a load screen and my 360 sounds like its mining the damn disc constantly. I installed it to the HD last night so I will see if it runs better after work.
Overall I am having fun with the game so far and enjoy the story despite feeling a bit railroaded. Well, I don't have much going on right now: fire away with questions
About the same for me, really. As for the Character Models, I think one of the things about why they look different is that there's so much more details. Liara (and all asari, for the matter) always looked smooth-skinned, like a human, yet with the amount of detail in this game, we now see that asari skin is actual broken into individual tiny "scales".
I too have experienced the buggy cut-scene animations. In one conversation my Shepard had her head turned completely away from the person she was talking to, as though she were trying to go all Exorcist on the salarian and have her head spin all the way around.
As for the auto-dialogue, eeeehhhhhhhhh...while I don't like that it takes away from the control of the game, I get it. Specifically when speaking with your squadmates after each mission. They all have something unique to say after each mission and really I don't think you need a full-blown conversation for that, besides you really don't need to keep going and checking for new conversations just to have'em say "Come back later, fignuts."
That said, however, the conversations with squadmates had previously been to delve deeper into their back-stories. Granted, with a few exceptions, you already know everything there is to know about your squadmates (if you've played the previous two games, that is). So realy, it's like I said in the above paragraph, my feelings on the auto-dialgoue are "eeeeeehhhhhhhhhhh..."
Things I love: the look of the game is beautiful. I also really like the weapon system in the game...narrowed down from the tons and tons of crap-weapons in ME 1, and yet a much wider selection than in ME 2. Also they've brought back the interchangeable mods for your weapons so that's pretty sweet. I also liked how there was no dicking around with the story, no hour of BS before the shit hits the fan. It's pretty much exactly what you've seen in the trailers: (spoiler use only for those who haven't seen a trailer or otherwise don't know what the first 20 minutes of the game are).
The game opens and within 10 minutes Reapers are already raining down on Earth
Also: Scanning solar systems is back...though extremely watered down and, if you're in a Reaper controled system, can actually be kinda fun!
Things I don't like: not so certain I like the "Weapon Weight" system. Yeah, it's cool that any class can now use any weapon with equal proficiency, but one of my least favorite things in all of gaming are games that put some kind of limit on your inventory...games like Oblivion and Dragon Age. Because then you find yourself in a dungeon, you find some kick ass loot, and it becomes "Ahhh fuck, what am I going to drop to make room for this?" Well in ME 3's case it just makes your cooldowns take a bit longer, but still, I've never been a fan of weight systems. Also, it seems as though a couple of the choices made in previous ME games were negated...anyone who's been to the Citidel already likely knows what I'm talking about. Also, we've come full-circle and have returned to the "Tedious Running Sidequests"...seriously, just like in ME 1, I spent a full 2 hours running around the Citidel doing sidequests. Buuuuut at least in this game's case, all the sidequests do at least allude to being for the good of the cause and helping out the war effort. Still...that's a LOT of running.
All in all it's everything I wanted it to be: a great game that I'm thoroughly enjoying.
Oh, and apparently there was a glitch with the receipt printer at the GameStop that I went to...I had preordered the standard game, not the N7 Collector's Edition...yet my receipt was printed with a code to get the free character DLC. He comes with a beam-rifle that fits in the assault rifle slot...this beam can essentially be turned into an "elemental" ray-gun. A lightning stun-gun if you use Disruptor Ammo, a Freeze Ray if you use Cryo Ammo, and a Heat Ray if you use Incendiary Ammo. Also: it has infinite ammo with a clip that recharges after a few moments.
