So, now that the Mass Effect 3 Demo is out...

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Saulkar

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Aug 25, 2010
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I will have to wait for a crack to appear so I guess I am skipping the demo, unless a version that does not require Origin appears.

In the end, purchase the game, crack the mother, play, post videos on youtube gloating that even though I did not pirate the game I would never use Origin ever again!!! The multiplayer means nothing to me for this game so I will gladly pass. Besides, having a cracked version will open up modding potential!
 

sage42

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Mar 20, 2009
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Now that I've plyed the demo I can safely say most of my fears have been settled. Plus,

HOLY SHIT A FEMALE KROGAN. AND SHE KICKED ASS!

That one point alone had me squealing like a little girl. Now all I want is to see Rannoch, Kal'Reager, and an awesome ending for both my Renagade FemShep/Liara and a Paragon MaleShep/Tali.
 

EinTheCorgi

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Jun 6, 2010
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Personaly...i hated the demo. Well hate is a bit strong. Disliked is a better word. I cant help but feel like ME is going the cod rout even by killing a child...in almost the same bloody way. unlocking new characters and weapons in co-op is all luck based in wich i find flawd and at the start of the game you can even chose to have the game chose for you. Now I dont know about you, but Mass Effect has always been about choices and that mode isnt masse ffect and I thing in the long run the whole game will suffer....though this is what ive come to expect from EA and there sleazy ways. first with dead space 2 then battle field 3 now mass effect 3 now i still loved dead space 2. BF3 ehh not at all. though do i think ME3 will be good yeah. Do i think it will be worthy of being the last ME game? Nope. all i can compare ME3 to is idiana johnes and the crystal skull. not terrible but definitely not fitting of the Mass Effect name.
 

Appleshampoo

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Sep 27, 2010
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endtherapture said:
I really enjoyed the demo. More tactical than ME2, more intense than ME1, it was perhaps the perfect fusion between the two games. I was really pleasantly surprised.

It also left a really deep emotional impact on me I dunno I wanted to cry at one point in the game.

When the ship carrying the boy blew up, and Shepherd left Earth, I dunno it felt so profound, I haven't been that affected by a game since The Witcher 2
I actually shed a tear then.

I actually thought the kid was going to be some form of escort mission, or was just going to hang around a ship giving Shepard inspiration, but daaaamn. That was a sad moment :(
 

Kavonde

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Feb 8, 2010
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Even on PC, with the graphics cranked up all the way, textures looked pretty crummy and facial animations were deep in the uncanny valley. Hopefully, there's still enough time before release to polish that stuff.

Only real concern is the overdone brownish yellow color filter, which I REALLY hope I can turn off. Just 'cause it's the end of the universe doesn't mean it has to be a big ugly mush of blegh, BioWare.
 

Zack Alklazaris

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Oct 6, 2011
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The graphics don't seem finished (I played the PC version). Some of the things look spectacular, but some others not so much. This may be because of the demo limited graphic adjustment options.

Gameplay is amazing as always in Mass Effect, no complaints.

Storyline, now I only played the first mission. I don't like the mission skipping in the demo. It makes me feel like I'm skipping chapters in the final book of my favorite series. Still, it seems a little like ME2. Gather a bunch of people for a good cause. Still the content alone may well make up for it.
 

Valanthe

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Sep 24, 2009
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Finally finished playing. It was definitely short, but it showed off a lot of how the game works, which is a good thing, I wish they'd had at least one decent conversation in it though, there was like three dialogue options spread out through the demo, and all of them were pretty lackluster.

The controls felt a bit foreign to me, but I imagine that's just a matter of trying to get used to them, it didn't feel like they were out to kill me like Amy's were, so that gets a pass.

When I saw that kid at the end of the intro, I was like, "Oh god don't make me bring the whiny six year old on boa- shuttle blows up- Oh shit....

If the end of the intro is an indication of the them of this game... I'm gonna need to stock up on kleenex, so that's a big check in my book.

My only complaint comes from the graphics department, because holy crap, Did anyone else notice how freaky the animations and character models were? I hat being "that guy," to bring this up, but on my femshep playthrough, I just couldn't help but notice how... wrong, her breasts looked, this wasn't noticable when she put armour on thank god, but in the street clothes for the intro, something didn't look right, and it was just her too... so I dunno.

The faces as well looked just plain wierd, it was almost like there was too much detail, so people just don't even look human anymore.
 

Stavros Dimou

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Mar 15, 2011
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There are some things that I think need some eh... calibrations.
I sort them out in matter of importance for me.

MOST IMPORTANT:

1) EVERYTHING IS GREY
ME3 discards the vibrant sci fi color pallete of ME1 and ME2,for grey and brown shades everywhere.Colors seem too washed out,too faded.

2) 6 ACTIONS ON THE SAME BUTTON ???
In ME2 we had Sprint,Cover,and Interaction all in the same button,and boy it was annoying some times.Well in ME3 we got all these functions PLUS side rolls and jumps all in the same button.
At a time I wanted to immediatly start running left to get to a distant cover spot,but Shepard did a short side roll instead,getting all the enemy's bullets in his face and dying.
Later on when I tried to activate a computer that was on top of a desk,Shepard wouldn't activate the damn thing but would instead duck and take cover behind the desk.I got in cover and out of it about 3-4 times until eventually I activated the computer because of luck.

3) STORY/DIALOGUE STUFF
So the available dialogue options given at all conversations where always 2 but from what I read people say that other dialogue options where cut from the demo for some reason.
The story while interesting,seemed to have a faster pace than it did in 2 past games which isn't of my like.In just a handful of minutes Reapers invaded,Shepard got re-recruited to the Alliance,and all the other things happened..

MEDIUM IMPORTANT:

1) ENEMIES SPAM GRENADES
So the enemies got a new attack,which is throwing grenades at you.And they do it when you are in cover to get you out of it.But getting out of it is slow and most of the times the time needed for the animation to happen takes longer than it takes the grenade to go boom. I felt like playing Battlefield 3 in third person.

2) MORE SCRIPTED EVENTS,NARROWER CORRIDORS
In ME1 spaces where very large and there where so many rooms you didn't had to visit for the main story,you could even get lost at times.In ME2 rooms became shorter so you could visit additional rooms that aren't important for the main story without getting lost.In this demo of ME3 it seems there are no additional rooms at all,and the actual shooting area became shorter and narrower than ever.It's too much straight forward "go there do that" to me,and I think it's bad there isn't enough to explore,'cause I liked exploration.

3) WEAPONS ARE UNBALANCED.
So check this out,an enemy needs like 10 or 15 bullets from the assault rifle to die,and it takes like 6-8 seconds to shoot them,while they die with about 5-6 pistol shots in less than 5 seconds.Makes the assault rifle feel unworthy in comparison to the pistol.


LESS IMPORTANT:

1) SHEPARD'S LIFE GOES DOWN FASTER
I played Mass Effect 3 single player,and I felt like I played Battlefield 3 multiplayer because Shepard's health seems to go down the same as fast. I played on medium difficulty and there where 2 enemies on screen.I thought of going out of cover to run to one of them that was distracted by Liara,and do the all powerfull melee attack to him.But before I even get to him I was killed down in like 2 seconds because the other guy killed me with 2 assault rifle bursts.

2) UNUSUAL GUN SOUNDS
The new gun sound doesn't sound like a lazer gun or a conventional gun either.It's just like the sound you would get by hammering a hammer to a piece of metal,too metallic.

3) CAN'T TALK TO SQUADMATES
So when I face at my squadmate,there isn't a circle appearing on them so I can't interact with them and have them say a line.It was a nice feature of past 2 games.

4) CAN'T HOLSTER WEAPON
There isn't a button to holster or unholster the weapon.
 

LiquidGrape

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I felt the oft cited child scene was the most base kind of emotional manipulation.

"Oh look at the little urchin playing with his toy ship and laughing innocently! What ill could *possibly* befall this treasure?"

The writing is pompous, characterisation seems sketchy, the visual design has taken a turn for the worse (Ashley, what did they do to you?), and the animation work is lacking.

I realise it's a demo, and I realise it isn't a final build, but I can't say I was roused to anything more than a subdued "eh, it's about okay."
And I'm one of those (apparently) strange people who genuinely feel Dragon Age 2 was an improvement on Origins, so it isn't a matter of being predisposed to dislike BioWare.

It simply left me thoroughly indifferent.
 

Shoggoth2588

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Aug 31, 2009
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Played the demo with all three modes and have this to say about it...

It says that I can jump right into the action but it doesn't seem to be so. The dialogue chooses options for you as it says but the thing about most cut-scenes is that they've become skippable more often this generation. Sure, you can mash X (on the 360) but that only skips you forward disjointedly between the dialogue. Unless I missed it, there doesn't seem to be a way of skipping the cutscenes entirely. It's not that I'd want to to begin with but I played Action mode last and was hoping I could just skip through all of the talkie bits since I've seen them twice before. Also, why can't I use grenades like in ME1? I understand that I can map them to LB, RB or, Y but why should I have to when I could lob as many as I wanted back in the original by tapping select? Other than that and the fact that Shepard is always a grey solider, Action mode seems to play like the other two only with every level-up auto-leveling you and no way to chose what Shepard will tell people (I expect the full version will still include sexing the hell out of whoever is in your party the most and is the opposite gender as your player character)

The game seems to play an awful lot like Mass Effect 2 in terms of combat. Doesn't seem like a lot has changed so there isn't much to talk about here except for the leveling system which looks alright so far. Haven't really played around with it too much yet though but I'll give it another try or three. As has been mentioned I like how everyone can use just about every gun but either I missed them completely or the big guns have been removed from ME3. Where's my Cryo-Cannon? Where's my Nuke-Launcher? I'm also really curious to see how I'll be screwing around while flying around on the map screen...resource mining from orbit or, resource mining from the surface on a new vehicle? Or will I be digging resources out of the shattered husks of the many reapers I kill while cruising around in the Normandy?

Why in the hell can't I level up like in RPG mode?! Don't tell me that's the only difference between Story and RPG mode too, because either the demo was bare bones or, there are just as many conversation choices in RPG mode as there are in Story Mode.

In general I liked the demo more than I thought I might have. I didn't even bother with multiplayer though, mainly because I don't have XBL-Gold (I think there was a free weekend...I missed the hell out of it) and partly because I'm on the anti-Origin band-wagon. After a bit of fiddling it looks like you can change the playstyle during gameplay so, if you want to make your own Shepard then turn off all of the RPG bits (dialogue decisions off, auto level-up on) that seems to be a possibility.

I'm one of the few people who didn't notice Mordin's new voice but then, a lot of it seemed to have been filtered somewhat. It didn't sound too terrible to be me but the demo was a bit short, I thought. I'm not about to pre-order it but I may get this one new anyway once the price has dropped a little bit but I think I'll wait until the reviews are out (though I'll probably get a bunch of 5-star reviews so I'm not expecting much help there)
 

Steampunk Viking

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For me, I loved the demo, some great stuff in there. So far it feels like a perfect blend of herb and spic... I mean ME1 and ME2. It seemed to reintroduce everything that made either game good and improved on it, and yes, the end of the first mission was a real tear jerker, even I found myself welling up when I saw that.

I do love the new combat style too, although it will take me a while to get used to it I think ("don't combat roll, stick to the wall!") but at least I know longer feel confined to one bit of cover and just popping my head out now and then like the previous 2 games, and I found myself meleeing ALOT more. Finally, First Aid heals health again instead of just remote reviving! (It's a pain to revive allies now, but I quite like the system regardless of the difficulty)

I also tried out the Kinect and it works better than most people expected, although I found myself repeating myself for it to take notice... but then again, I was very loud when it came to setting it up first time so I may just need to adjust my settings.

All in all, brilliant so far, and it's reassured me my faith was well placed in this game. There are a few buggy bits but I reckon those will be ironed out by the time the full game is released. Let's not forget, it went gold after they completed the demo for the 14th.
 

Zhukov

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Dec 29, 2009
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Playing a vanguard is great fun. It's like being a biotic wrecking ball.

Get Garrus to strip away their shields. Then have Liara lob a singularity into the mob. Biotic charge into the whole mess, detonating the singularity. Drop your nova, scattering fools in all direction. Shotgun fire and biotic falcon punches for anything still twitching.

Fun.
 

Astro

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Feb 15, 2012
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I'm by no means a fan of the Mass Effect series, I disliked Mass Effect 2 on a video game level, hated it on a cultural level and the original Mass Effect was the pinnacle of mediocrity to me, but I actually liked the Mass Effect 3 demo. I liked that there wasn't a lot of emphasis on bungling around the stupid dialog wheel hoping that saying "I disagree" doesn't turn into a feet-stomping "renegade" tantrum just because it's the choice on the bottom of the menu. I liked how it didn't try to be a dreadfully superficial RPG and a mediocre action game, it was just a pretty decent action game (for a cover-shooter with regenerating health anyway). Lastly, I liked how the UI didn't make me want to throw up. Sure, the writing is still cliché and bland, the level design too linear for the combat and most of the characters are completely juvenile, that isn't going to change at this point (because apparently people [REALLY REALLY] like it). It's still a fast paced and nicely polished third-person shooter, only now that it has more of a focus on one specific area it's more satisfying and less awkward, (though hopefully there won't be such a jarring shift between combat and story areas). In closing, I might actually get through this Mass Effect game on my first play-through instead of it taking me four attempts to finish the first Mass Effect and never finishing Mass Effect 2.
 

MercurySteam

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For me, it feels like they took the traits of ME1 and ME2, improved and optimised them and blended them flawlessly into a single game. The new skill system is great and Garrus, Liara and Wrex have never looked better. And let's not forget how immersive the game feels.

This games is definitely looking to be the best in the trilogy.
 

DarkhoIlow

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Dec 31, 2009
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I played the demo yesterday so here's my take on it.

When I started the game and wanted me to choose the type of way that I want to "experience" the game got me very confused.I can't see the difference between Story/RPG mode(I don't even count the option that auto chooses the dialogue options,that's just stupid).I have tried playing with both settings and for the life of me I can't see which one is meant to be played.Someone please enlighten me.

Now here are some minor rants/things I didn't like from the overall demo:

When I saw James Vega for the first time I thought to myself how many steroids did this guy take.He's like double the size of my character.

The NPC's face animation and lip sync was a bit off,as well as the textures throughout the whole game
I hope they fix this before launch.

Sprinting is quite off,as if the torso and legs don't move in the same time.It's even more awkward as a female Shep,doesn't seem fluid at all.

The action/cover key all molded in one got me into more trouble that I would of thought.Going over the cover when I pressed it only once and such nonsense.You can't press it on your squad mates during missions which was a letdown.

Wanting to use your omniblade and having to wait for Shep to auto lock on a person when hes moving is gonna cause problems for people that play on higher difficulties.


I found it overall quite good,despite finishing it in less than one hour which is quite disappointing.

It's a Mass Effect game so obviously is a buy for me,wanting to see how Shep get's out of this "The world is gonna get wiped out by the Reapers" nightmare.
 

Astro

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Feb 15, 2012
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I think you're "meant" to play the one with all the content (RP). Really it's up to your own personal preference though, that's why you're given the option in the first place. The action one sounds interesting to me, I don't have a grudge against story content but the cinematic conversations sounds pretty neat considering the usual options you get in the series.
 

Knight Templar

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Dec 29, 2007
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Just tried out the multiplayer. My first game I became detached from my body and fell through the map when I became reattached. My second game was the most fun I've had online in a while.

Valanthe said:
When I saw that kid at the end of the intro, I was like, "Oh god don't make me bring the whiny six-year-old on boa- shuttle blows up- Oh shit....
I felt bad because I was thinking the same "don't make me take them" followed by "oh, so if I had taken them along..."

One of my friends is convinced they are not a real person, since nobody seems to notice them but shep.
 

Purplecoyote

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Feb 10, 2010
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First of all, LADDERS. I am excited about the new movement possibilities. I can see myself hunting for ladders and jumpable gaps in the middle of combat already to find possible goodies.

Also, the soundtrack is beautiful especially the track that is playing with the child and the Reaper, loved it.

I do agree about the face animation thing, it all looks a little bit..cartoony, default femshep in particular. I played it first with the default femshep and wasn't really into it because her face distracted me, but when I used the facecode of my femshep from ME1 and ME2 it was a lot better.

And Ashley, HELLOOOOO BETTY. It's a little bizarre hearing her voice coming out of this bombshell.
 

Rancid0ffspring

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Aug 23, 2009
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I'm worried that I'm being overly cynical about this.... But there's some things that just don't feel right about it.

Did anyone else notice how Shepard & Anderson kind of ran like neanderthals?

As someone pointed out, maybe we're missing some content to avoid spoilers, but did those 'Military leaders' seem a bit like whiney 'Oooh nooooes please save us from the big bad' bitches?

The conversations, post invasion start don't seem all that concerned/urgent... more like, 'well this is inconvenient'.

There was no option for codex!!! Not even a grey'd out one :(

Even though there was admittedly few instances where you had conversation options, both outcomes seemed to be exactly the same. Ie, regardless of what you say, same thing happens to 'lil Timmy.

This I'll be honest is just a personal gripe, but the 'Cannibals' seemed really cartoony to me.

Please don't get me wrong. I am so freaking excited about this game. I'm just worried that after the destruction of DA2, that ME3 is going to suffer a similar, if not worse fate in order to make it more appealing to the masses.