1966 réponses à ce sujet

[crimsonrhodelia]

I finished my first play through probably about an hour and a half ago and am still too overwhelmed with grief (strong term, but it applies) to discuss my thoughts of the game as a whole right now.

Essentially, I loved the ME3 experience more than I had dreamed would be possible. Characterization, animation, dialogue, music were absolutely stellar and better than I'd hoped for. My problem lies, predictably, in the last ten or fifteen minutes.

The ending, not to mention playing and reloading several times hoping in vain for a better one, is absolutely heartbreaking.

To watch my Shepard, whom I've loved so much since I first played ME1 almost 4 years ago, succeed, but pay the ultimate price (besides I suppose in the "best ending") is absolutely soul crushing. Shepard sacrificed so much, over the course of so many years, and to have it end with her dying alone (since even Anderson isn't with her at the very end), far away from everyone she loves tears me apart.

The way the game evolved, particularly her relationship with her love interest, gave me such high hopes that they would both make it out alive and live to celebrate their victory together.

Instead, she dies and he somehow magically has teleported back onto the Normandy.

Please, if nothing else, consider releasing a DLC that if nothing else will reunite Shepard with his/her crew on that final planet. I would pay any amount of money for a DLC that would place her there with the rest.

I can deal with the ending otherwise (tech/no tech, etc.), but for Shepard to be completely alone at the end, and for the fans to then have no idea what happens to the rest of the characters we have grown to be so attached to over the last four years is horrific.

ETA: 

So many excellent points above, but the one about how these endings are not going to get players new to the franchise to play ME1 and ME2. Why would you bother, when you know it'll only end in heartbreak?

I would give anything for a happier ending, even one with serious moral issues attached to it, i.e. the bargain with Morrigan in DAO. I am shocked that BW didn't offer this as an option. The sameness of the endings are really going to hurt the franchise, I think. What a tragically disappointing way to end the series.

At this point, I can't see myself doing another complete playthrough of ME3 again unless a new ending is released through DLC.

I hate the feeling that I wasted 34 hours of my time doing missions only to have it all thrown away by a deus ex machina child god manifestion, and not only getting killed, but then not even getting to see what effects my Shepard's sacrifice had on the people she knew...except for them ending up in a tropical paradise, looking completely indifferent to the fact that they have no idea what happened to Shepard, just adds insult to injury.

I suppose as far as what I expected from the ending was the Keepers playing an important part and at least the option of a true happy ending, no matter how hard it might be to achieve.

In short, Bioware, please, PLEASE release a DLC offering an alternate ending that will offer the players closure re: squadmates and love interests, and their Shepard's actions --- and a true happy ending for those who want to experience that.

Shepard deserves that chance.

Modifié par crimsonrhodelia, 10 mars 2012 - 12:59 .

[SwiftRevenant]

I won't repeat what a lot of others have said but wanted to just emphasize a few points...

Pros:

Love the new weapons/mods/improved combat
Faster harder combat
Mass effect story line

Cons:

Multiplayer while fun at first is too repetitive and the lack of customization makes the characters made on the multiplayer side less engaging.

The ending was honestly just terrible.  If you wanted to bring in new players to the mass effect franchise you did the complete opposite by ruining the experience at the end.  Your choices, hard work, etc. had no effect on the time, effort, and for some studying put into the game to get the "experience" a person wanted.  90% of the game is amazing and then the last 10% just was inexcusable.  FIX THIS!  I don't care if its a DLC.  I want to have great thoughts when I look back on my first mass effect series experience not a, "It was amazing mostly but oh the ending was just bad."  I'm very disappointed with how the three choices at the end were literally the same.  

As a regular customer of your products you have let me down.  I hope you will take heed to all the feedback you have received in this area and either fix it or improve it so this does not happen again.

[Archer]

I originaly posted this in the So we can't get the ending we want after all? thread. By popular demand im re- posting my thoughts here-

Glad to oblige from the UK

Utterley brilliant game, excellent character development, some emotional moments, intense action. Great fun all round.

Then i completed it.

The last ten minutes-

Poorly written, poorly implemented. A real kick in the teeth after a 4 year investment building my sheps story. A cheap rip of Battlestar Galactica frankly and no where near as well written. Made absolutley no sense in terms of the trilogy's narative to date.

I cannot believe the same team that made the rest of this masterpiece of a game worked on the endings or that this same team actually thought the fan/player base would enjoy these endings. Every action i took, every decision i made in ME1, ME2, and ME3 make no difference to the ending. No matter what choices i made over the last four years my journeys end boils down to three decisions that result in almost three identical cutscenes.

Bioware told me my decisions would matter in ME3- they dont
Bioware told me i would have a sense of closure- i dont
Bioware told me i would see multiple endings based on my choices- i dont

What i do have is a pile of questions all of which could start with 3 letters-

WTF?

I have posted in a few threads my thoughts on the end and have been an advocate of calm, constructive feedback, but the more i think on this, the more threads i see being deleted or ignored, the more my rage levels start to build

4 Years to see how my story ends, and its not personal, its the same as every other player here who bought this game

Im not asking for a Disney ending, i have no issues with a darker ending.

What i want is an ending that makes sense, an ending that actually looks like some thought was put into it.

Sorry but the end is sloppy and full of plot holes, i pick my team for the final assault yet all my crew are on earth before the final assault. I pick a team to run for the portal yet they magicaly return to the normandy. The fight is at earth, why is Normandy traveling through a mass relay? why is Normandy out running the explosion when relay travel is near instaneous? why did i bother curing the genophage? why did i bother getting the best outcome for the geth/quarian war? why am i told that the synthetic life always turns on organic life and that the solution is for synthetic life to wipe out organic life? Hell that holographic child guardian could have skipped the entire explanation and summed it up by saying "All this has happened before and all this will happen again" Sound familiar? In fact it wouldnt have surprised me if in the last act Bailey discovered he was a Reaper along with four other established characters from the franchise...

Its a crying shame that this game probably is the single most impressive game ever made by Bioware right up until the point that platform on the citadel starts moving

Bioware used to be better than this

[Ulmont]

Rather than write a text review, I decided to make a comic explaining the main problems I had with Mass Effect 3.




Comic created with assets from RoosterTeeth Comics. RoosterTeeth Comics are intellectual property of Griffon Ramsey & Luke McKay.

[Cosmar]

I would rate the majority of the game 10/10. With the ending in mind, that would be more like 7 or 8 out of 10.

The game was fantastic and fun and emotional. But the ending punched me in the gut, made me see that *nothing* Shepard has done or decided truly mattered, and the Reapers essentially still win, in a way.

Really, the ending felt tacked on, almost as if some other writer not even involved in mass effect came up with it on the spot and threw it in there. It just didn't feel right, didn't align with the series. And sure, I can understand that the writers wanted to come up with a definitive ending that was also unpredictable. But when that results in a majority of consumers/ loyal fans being utterly crushed and leaving the experience feeling very negative and not wanting to be involved/invested in the Mass Effect franchise anymore....that's a bad thing.

The rest of the game was awesome. It was great curing the genophage and resolving the quarian and geth conflicts. The relationships and character interactions were top notch, and the gameplay was addictive and challenging.

But again, the end...I can't get away from it. I'm not sure if I ever want to play these games again, knowing that in the end none of the choices or events of any of the games really matter. I don't consider this a personal attack on Bioware when I say that the writers dropped the ball with the ending. It was not very well thought out, it was incredibly convoluted and left me and most other players with a bitter taste in our mouths.

If the Catalyst/Reapers just wanted to save organics from themselves and preserve them as reapers, why all the secrecy? Why all the terror and pain and destruction? Why all the husks, banshees, torture, etc? IF they were so benevolent, why not just show up and tell the races what they planned, and give them option to submit peacefully or resist? And if it was such a good thing they were doing, why couldn't they have done it in a way that didn't involve so much horror and intense pain? It just doesn't make any sense and rubs me in all the wrong ways.

And it just felt like a crushing blow knowing that Shepard would never see his friends again, would never have a life with his (in some cases, just recently discovered) lover. I understand there had to be some sadness/sacrifice, but I just think that was too much.

Oh, and it makes my Shepard look like a  total idiot after all the "this isn't goodbye" stuff I had him say to all his friends. Because it WAS goodbye.

And I really wish we would have just been told the truth that we actually CANNOT get the best possible ending in single player only. I found every war asset, got the best possible endings to all the missions, and did not do multiplayer, and yet at the end my Shepard did not survive whereas other players, who had played multiplayer but who otherwise did everything exactly as I did, had their Shepards survive. Not happy with that, at all.

Again, fantastic game, and the very fact that it affected me enough to make me feel so intensely, even if the majority of that emotion is overwhelmingly negative, is something of an accomplishment. Kudos to Bioware on the excellently crafted 99% of the game, and some small kudos for at least trying to come up with a deep ending.

But I won't be playing any of these three games again, unless something is done to change the endings...nor will I purchase or endorse any further excursions into the Mass Effect setting.

My final score: 7/10 (10/10 not counting the ending)

And aside from that, the ending was just crushingly depressing, no matter what you decided.

Modifié par Cosmar, 10 mars 2012 - 01:12 .

[Ona Demonie]

Play time: 30+ hours

The game was incredible. I absolutely loved how the story played out. My favorite mission is the Citadel Coup and I even purposely reloaded a save just to play it again. The music is amazing and the dialogue is awesome. I actually love the auto-dialogue; it's something I would expect Shepard to say.

The battle on Earth was intense and awesome. Nothing else will bring justice to it.

But... the endings. I do not have any closure with the endings. I literally cried for an hour because I invested so much time and effort into getting a perfect playthrough. A perfect ending where, yes, many people died during the reaper invasion, but Earth is saved, Shepard lives, and is reunited with his/her crew as they stare into the sky as Reaper corpses fall. Instead, I'm left with Earth is saved, Shepard's alive... but not with his/her crew and/or LI.

Yes, our choices mattered. But the reward for all that time and effort is a punch to the gut. I would have been fine if Shepard was stranded with his/her crew. That's it. But the endings left us with more questions. Plus, I have some issues with the writing and some aspects of the endings.

1) My biggest peeve is that even if your two squadmates die, they end up on the Normandy. Is this a bug or a design oversight?
2) The Reaper's motivation. That's a paradox... sort of.
3) The Citadel suddenly appears out of nowhere.
4) Lots of "Space Magic"

I and many others are upset about these endings, BioWare. I would have given this game high praise if the endings were slightly better by having Shepard be with his crew. Then it would truly be "bittersweet".

[Packa]

I don't believe numbers can acurately represent the quality of a game, so I wont be giving one. I just want to share my take on ME3, and the series as a whole.

Before ME3, I always prefered the first game to the second one. ME2 had better gameplay, but the 'feel' and story just were not there for me. Then comes ME3, and I fell in love, at first, as it had the best aspects of the previous two games: Excellant combat from the second game, and the atmosphere and story quality of the first. The only complaints I had about ME3 were a few of the renegade/paragon pop up events. (Udina, Kai Leng, and Illusive man at the end) where I could not figure out why they were a renegade choice. the 3 I mentioned always involved shooting first to save another, or myself. I had to shoot udina because I felt he was about to kill one of the councilors or Ashley. Kai leng was about to stab a sword in my back, so I stabbed him first. The illusive man had a gun at Anderson, one of my Shepards best friends and one of my favourite characters, and was about to shoot, so I shot him first. The last thing I have to complain about is the galaxy at war and the prepardness rating for each section of the galaxy, which I couldn't figure out without resorting to out of game sources. I actually still don't really get what it means, something to do with multiplayer? Anyway, these were just minor complaints that I had no problem overlooking. I always give a game a few strikes before i complain. Then came the ending.

At first, I thought it was a perfect ending. Me and Anderson sitting there on the floor, finally done the fight, not sure what to do next. Just content to watch the reapers get taken out. And then, almost comically, Hacket contacts me, and I am lead to the real ending. All 3 ending choices I was presented with felt like they belonged in another game. I can appreciate that the writers were trying to do something original and creative, but this was not the time to do so. This was a time to play it safe and go with the ending I was expecting: the cliche happy ending where the good guys win and the bad guys are vanquished, and life returns to normal. I thought this was acheived perfectly right up to before Hacket calls you. Had the game cut to credits there, I would have been perfectly satisfied. Maybe they could have given us some short text about all of the charecters like at the end of DA:O. After beating the game, I am totally disapointed and depressed. I still want to go through ME3 and experience the awesome game several more times, but I can't motivate myself all because of the ending.

Thats my take on ME3. It may be on of the best games of this time, concluding one of the greatest stories ever told in a video game, but then there is a weird epilogue tacked on to where the game should have ended that kills my entire interest in the series. I proudly wore my N7 hoodie for the past few years as a hardcore Mass Effect fan. Now I'm afraid I may have to shop for a new hoodie.

[AlexXIV]

I will have to split my rating into three parts.

Start/Prologue: no real introduction/import resolution, 6/10
Main Part: brilliant but some flaws so not perfect, 9/10
End/Epilogue: no words, 0/10

Until I came to the end I didn't understand the bashing of ME3 by fans at all. I was seriously thinking this is probably the best game Bioware made. There were choices, drama, I laughed, cried, etc. Great story. Then came the Ending. And I was like ... wtf, is this a joke? ... anyway. I am not really going to rate this game as a whole because imo the ending ruined it. So anything that I could say about the game in general would not be fair to the 30 hours I really enjoyed.

Modifié par AlexXIV, 10 mars 2012 - 01:21 .

[lordbyro]

CDRSkyShepard wrote...

I'll definitely give you a full impression once I'm done, Chris.

So far, I have a few gripes, but none that are completely ruining the game for me:

- No new LIs (as in no LIs who weren't LIs in previous games) for straight, female players
- The Crucible is a pretty blatant deus ex machina
- We're not given a real clear reason why Earth is the focus of everything. We know the Reapers are hitting it harder than other planets, but is that their main focus, and thus the key to stopping them? Maybe this will be cleared up by the end of the game.
- More bugs than I remember coming across in ME2. I got my Shep stuck on Mars in a pretty open area...not some random corner. My femShep's face code also didn't import like was warned earlier, and I really hope a patch comes out for that, because it will be a pain to re-create all my Sheps' faces.

Stuff that's absolutely blowing me out of the water:

- The little things...like going to talk to Garrus in the Main Battery and discovering he's on the bridge.
- The Citadel is very vibrant
- I have experienced a pretty full range of emotions so far, and it's been an absolute roller coaster. I've gone from giddy-happy to all-out crying in just about 7 or 8 hours. The number of heart-wrenching times is even greater than that. It's a testament to how well the universe is written that I can care this much.

As I said, I will be on the lookout for more feedback to give you, and I'll give it more concrete numbers when I'm done.

I would participate in this forum but, guys, what is "LI"? (I'm a brazilian guy... I dont know very well English. Sorry about it!).

[txmn1016]

@lordbyro

LI =Love Interest

[Sylvianus]

I really fear about the endings. So far I'm loving this game. But I don't want to see all that ruined by the ending. I hope they will fix that, or at least give us something else.

[AlexXIV]

lordbyro wrote...

I would participate in this forum but, guys, what is "LI"? (I'm a brazilian guy... I dont know very well English. Sorry about it!).

Love interest. The guy/girl you hit on.

[Ulmont]

I would participate in this forum but, guys, what is "LI"? (I'm a
brazilian guy... I dont know very well English. Sorry about it!).

Its an anacronym for Love Interest. It's who you 'romanced' in the game.

[thepiouspriest]

I am not going to put a number out as quantification of a somewhat subjective experience detracts from the overall review. 

I liken Mass Effect to a 4 year relationship with me. I've played ME since my college days and enjoyed it so much, I skipped an entire week of class playing Mass Effect 2 from sunup to sundown. This game has moved me emotionally, from feelings of sheer excitement when Shepard emerges from the rubble of Sovereign, kicking collector ass and cheering as my Shepard impaled Kai Leng saying "that was for Thane you son of a ****" to where I was extremely emotional with the deaths of Mordin, Thane and I almost cried when Legion went. The evolution of the gameplay hit some high notes in terms of combat and was almost perfect. The characters and story are memorable and worthy of being included in ANY serious academic history of video games and even with Jack Wall leaving, the soundtrack for all 3 games is sheer joy for any music lover (I would listen to the Illusive Man track almost everyday since Mass Effect 2). Your combat and rpg mechanics finally seemed to have hit the sweet spot and can only go up from where they were. 

The continuity between games was a bold experiment and by in large was sucessful apart from a few minor flaws. The core of the multiplayer is solid, although its bearing on the ending is something that needed to be reassessed before relasing the game. What happens to folks when game servers go dark? Will there be enough funding to release a patch to compensate for it? Will there ever be the addition of LAN? I somehow doubt that as I believe that the core model of Bioware has shifted to a position embraced by that of Activision. It pains me to see a developer such as Bioware become subject to the same boom bust factors that crashed the Rock/Guitar and Tony Hawk games. I understand at the end of the day you are in business to make a dollar, but that doesn't mean you make it any way possible. 


I understand in an economy where a dollar does not go as far and costs continue to rise, there will be an increased emphasis to give "less" for the standard price of 59.99 to help cut down on costs, but there is coming a time where consumers will stop purchasing as much due to their disposable income going down and cost of living increasing, so this bonanza of DLC and 59.99 not delivering on the complete experience will cut down into your profit line (ask the people who buy your games how much they are spending on gas and grocieries relative to gaming, and ask yourselves that same question).I've worked the front lines of gaming retail, and pushing DLC to parents and other folks is almost like pulling teeth,even if it's a wonderful piece of work. I'm not against the idea of DLC, but the day one disk locked DLC is rather insulting, the only way I got mine was because I got the CE. I've bought almost every major piece of DLC for ME2. 

Then there was the ending: I liken it to trying to consumate a marriage on the wedding night only to have the woman you love not want to and asks for an annulment. I've been wondering how in the hell does this ending work with everything I know with the Mass Effect universe and I find answers to be lacking and/or extraneous.If you needed an extra 6 months to a year beyond your intial delay, I would have GLADLY waited if it meant that the ending would have been meaningful. It really does feel like a kick in the balls. I'm not necessarily asking for a rainbow and pony type ending (although it would have been nice), but a more thoughtful ending that didn't leave more questions than answers without any hope for future resolution. Even if it was similar to Dragon Age where text was written with photos before the credits, I would have been OK with it. An attempt to remedy this with a paid DLC will only add insult to injury and further damage the effectiveness of current video game business models. 

I know gamers are a rather finnicky and easy to anger group. A design decision can bring equal amounts of praise and critcism. So far though, I do believe that the majority of your fans are unhappy with what the Bioware brand has become and wish for a return to a period where creativity rules instead of money. I know you have shareholders via EA to honor, but I say this with great respect: The major folks running the financial world ARE NOT people you want to be beholden to.They will dispose of you in a careless manner and have no regrets.So long as the desire for a dollar trumps complete experiences in gaming, I will continue to reduce my purchases of Bioware games. This all can be rectified in my opinion with an I'm sorry from the Dr's, Casey Hudson and the rest of Bioware teams with a good faith effort to return to what made Bioware, a truly great developer and one I loved since KOTOR. I want to be a fan again, but I just somehow doubt that will occur. 

For me, I consider the Mass Effect series and Mass Effect 3 a great game with an ending that does not live up to the story and the universe it created .It puts a deep divide between the creators and fans that can break even the strongest of bonds forged duing the experience. 

[crimsonrhodelia]

Packa wrote...

At first, I thought it was a perfect ending. Me and Anderson sitting there on the floor, finally done the fight, not sure what to do next. Just content to watch the reapers get taken out. And then, almost comically, Hacket contacts me, and I am lead to the real ending. All 3 ending choices I was presented with felt like they belonged in another game. I can appreciate that the writers were trying to do something original and creative, but this was not the time to do so. This was a time to play it safe and go with the ending I was expecting: the cliche happy ending where the good guys win and the bad guys are vanquished, and life returns to normal. I thought this was acheived perfectly right up to before Hacket calls you. Had the game cut to credits there, I would have been perfectly satisfied. Maybe they could have given us some short text about all of the charecters like at the end of DA:O. After beating the game, I am totally disapointed and depressed. I still want to go through ME3 and experience the awesome game several more times, but I can't motivate myself all because of the ending.

Well said. Hell, at this point, I'd pay for a DLC that would fade to black and then roll credits after Shepard and Anderson are sitting on the floor.

[STB Iron Storm]

          I for the longest time was a hige Star Wars fan. I constantly said that nothing would top it, EVER. Well Bioware, you toped it. You topped it with Mass Effect 2, 3 hadn't even become a factor yet. I was so enthralled by the story that it replaced Star Wars as my favorite story of all time, after seeing the ending of Mass Effect 3 I don't know what to think.

          I loved so much about this game, the way it really brought a universe to life. I loved how the crew would go to other areas of the ship and interact with one another. I loved the crew themselves, No other game has made me cry for those lost or demand revenge for those murdered, no other game has manipulated my emotions so. I have absolutely no notable complaints about Mass Effect 3 until the last push for the Citadel transporter.

          Bioware, I have been a massive supporter of you since KOTOR, I placed complete trust in you, in the fact that you have never let me down and have delivered an incredible game every time... until now. Those last few moment aboard the citadel destroyed every ounce of trust I had for you. To build up such an immense and diverse story and universe, to have a thousand differant posibilities and choices to make and only allow you in the end to have 3 POSSIBLE ENDINGS WITH NO IMPACT FROM ANY OF THOSE CHOICES IS DESCRACEFUL! On top of the end being so half done and careless you didn't even have the respect to your players to give us any closure. You left us with more questions than we had at the beginning of Mass Effect 2. You never let us tell our love intrests goodbye, you never gave any indication of what happened to our old squadmates who were fighting across the battle space, you never even allowed for any ending to any race or planet. Is Thessia destroyed? Is Paloven Destroyed? Do the Quariens and Geth forge a lasting peace and rebuild Rynocch? How did our teamates assisting us in the final push get out? How did joker end up running from the energy blast? How did he even have time to break away? 

          This is the only time I have ever posted my responce to the end of a game to the company to let them know what I thought. I have never been so distraught at the end of a game that I cryed not for the characters but out of complete disappointment. Please, please don't let Mass Effect die like this, Please don't end such an incredible and intricate story with such a poor ending. A story like this one deserves better. We deserve better.

[Trishot]

 Hello everyone,

First of all thanks for allowing me to write a review about what has been an absolutely epic 5 year (give or take) journey from Mass Effect 1, 2 and now 3.

Ok, now for my review.

This is one of the most epic feeling games I have ever played, short of some bugs.

I really enjoyed the ride, I fell in love with Mass Effect in 1. Mass Effect 2, whilst being a good game came short on the RPG elements and you kindly listened to your fan base and put the best of them back in. Kudos for that.

Everything about Mass Effect 3 screamed epic, I had emotional moments where I cried and had a soar throat trying to hold the tears back. I came to love the characters the BioWare team created, I only ever felt what I felt throughout the entire third installment once in a videogame. When I had to rush to save the citadel from Sovereign and the Geth, I shall never forget that epicness. You really really made me feel that all the way through the game and again, I say well done.
The combat system is much improved, I really like how my Sniper Rifles do not use up one thermal clip per shot.

Now, before I start a small walkthrough of my game experience I wish to let you know I did countless playthroughs of Mass Effect 1 and 2 all completionist runs, I wanted my choices to really help me in Mass Effect 3. I enjoyed every playthrough and I couldn't wait for Mass Effect 3 to come out. I was so impressed by the series, instead of a normal copy I even got the collectors edition.

Now, so far I have done only 1 playthrough in Mass Effect 3, I chose to use my Male Shepard who is almost pure Paragon and did everything he could to hold peace and bring the galaxy together. He romanced Tali in Mass Effect 2 and was quite disappointed I never got to see her face, I figured I'd see it in Mass Effect 3.

So my Mass Effect 3 starts and I first see a boy playing with a toy version of the Normandy, I grew to dislike this boy pretty quickly (after the first dream) Anyway, I soon get to see "Admiral" Anderson, which I found odd for I had him put in the council, Google helped me find out he resigned his position to Udina. Ok, cool, I am sad you couldn't explain it in the game but I didn't care that much. Well we all know the Earth battle from the demo, so after that I was glad to visit Mars and meet up with a character I grew to love Liara. She tells you about a Prothean super structure that might be able to stop the Reapers, she found its plans right in the archives located on Mars. Ok, great timing but I'll go with it.

After that the game is very much as I expected it to be, with a few plotholes here and there, nothing really big. Mordin and I cured the Genophage, sadly Mordin gave his life for it. But the Krogan under Wrex his leadership deserved the second chance, who am I to play God right? I just fixed a mistake the Turians and Salarians made. This was a teardrop moment (Mordin sacrificing himself) and I applaud you for making the story so compelling you actually invoke emotinal respones from me.

Ofcourse there where more such moments, Thane dying a hero's death, Miranda dying to safe her sister, stopping Samara from commiting suicide, Grunt miraculously coming back from the Rachni onslaught (I saved the queen again btw)

As I was gathering War Assests throughout the galaxy and doing the sidequests that appear in my journal because I ran passed a few npc's chatting. I started noticing something odd, I was gaining military points, but the Galactic Readiness remained at fifty percent. I thought that must be the progress they are making on the Prothean structure code named: Crucible. So I didn't pay much attention. The game thusfar had been epic, very epic.

So I finally (after emptying my Journal by completion) meet up with the Flotilla and the love of my Shepard, Tali.
Ofcourse, as was hinted at the Quarians and the Geth are at war. The whole story that follows is my favourite in the game up to this point. As I always liked Tali (Soothing voice and her mystique) I talked to her a lot during both previous games and really cared about the Quarian people. I also came to care about the Geth due to my talks with Legion. So I was so very very releived I got them to work together, even though that ended the platform known as Legion. The Geth, as a people where largely intact and helped the Quarians re-settle on their homeworld, even help bolster their immunesystem. That was absolutely perfect, emotions at the right times and all, again I say well done BioWare.

At this point in my playthrough before investigating Thessia I see the Galactic Readiness is still at fifty percent. I thought it was normal, as I was doing everything including trying to find anomolies using the improved scanner.

So, I gathered a lot of fleets
Volus, Mercenaries, Rachni, Krogan, Turian, Asari, Salarian, Alliance, Geth, Quarians, Elcor etc.
So when I made the push for earth a lot of the fleets I assembled never showed up. Either this was a bug or they chickened out. Either way, I was so enthralled in the story at this point I didn't really pay that much attention. I still had the biggest fleet ever and felt absolutely ready to kick some Reaper ass, all we needed was the Catalyst and they brought it to earth (the Reapers I mean)

So, on earth I really try and see the scenery and the background, and it felt epic and so large scale. I enjoyed talking with my crew be it via the communications terminal or in person. I loved it.
I wish to take one conversation and highlight it here, for this is my personal review.
So, the conversation I picked out is with Garrus, he is by far the best character in my opinion and only at this point did I realise how good of a voice actor Garrus has. Sure he says a cheesy line "You where born to do this" but how he says it and how I felt at that time. It was perfect.

So, now I get to make a speech, it was rather short and I didn't feel it ended when my Shepard finished speaking, I felt he wanted to say more. He didn't doesn't matter I was in a state of pure happiness (for I felt this was really the last bit) finally seeing all my hard work in both this installment and the previous two come to fruiition. I had spend many many hours up to this point making sure I didn't miss anything and made sure the galaxy was truly united for I came to care and love for all of the species. Except Vorcha, don't know why. Anyway, the last push (after the quite difficult for me protect these rockets quest)  whilst running to the beam I really felt this is it. I tried avoiding the beam as best I could, obviously BioWare had other plans and I presumeably lost Ashley and James (needed their grenades) I survived though and limped to the beam after Harbinger sets off to rejoin the epic battle raging above me. I was limping to the beam and didn't realise there where husks coming at me (taking in surroundings) so I got a scare when I suddenly saw them uplose but I got them down and entered the crucible.

Now, inside the crucible the slow walk was a bit tidious luckily it was mercifully short.
I fully expected to meet the Illusive Man and so we did. I activated the device and sat down next to a shot but still living Anderson. He says he is proud of me and dies. At this point I expected to see a cutscene with the remaining fleets helped by the crucible to finish the Reapers. However this did not happen. Instead something happens that changed my entire feeling for the universe and even the previous games.

I get to talk to the true Catalyst (which seems to be an AI of some sort taking the form of the boy haunting my dreams) I talk to him and had to make one of three choices.
Basically it came down to Control, Destroy or Merge.

The explanations given from the choices I had made me feel suddenly empty and sick. For the choices my Paragon Shepard was presented with where evil. I'll explain briefly

Merge: This seemed the most "friendly" option though would not fit my Shepard at all. For it would merge Organics and Synthetics and I would not force anything upon people. For throughout the saga I was champion of free choice for all organics and synthetics alike. So forcing them to merge essentially killing them and creating something else didn't seem right. Even though I had done it before with the Heretic Geth, although that choice took a while to make I figured in the end, both options kill them. Why not make the non-heretic Geth smarter. At least one side wins this way. So in short, this was not an option I would let my Shepard make.

Destroy: This choice destroys the Reapers, but the pay is it also destroys EDI a loved character and I already promised Joker I would do everything to keep her safe, and my Geth allies. It has been two days now since I finished this playthrough so forgive me if this is in error. But I was under the assumption it would destroy all tech (Quarian space suits, which they need for liviing, the mass relays the citadel the entire summoned fleet)  This choice seemed to doom the entire galaxy plunging it right back into the dark ages. The reprocussions of this choice where just.... to big for my Shepard.

Control: The Illusives man idea, ironically made the most sense for my Shepard to take. I would have preferred him building a home together with Tali back on her homeworld, but one last sacrifice to save everyone my character loved seemed a nice way to end my story as well. So I picked the choice.

To my horror this destroys the Mass Relays all over the galaxy, sending the Reapers back to dark space. I was petrified, sad, angry I had all sorts of emotians flowing through me. And at this point I must say they where NOT good, not as the moments before.
I youtubed the other two choices, see if it was an error in judgement doing the control one but to my utter horror they all had the same outcome. You isolate all species, in which you doom many of them and the Normandy strands on a backwater planet. With James and Ash miraculously walking out with Joker and EDI. 
Now, I have no idea how they survived Harbinger in the first place, but why is Joker running? He was helping "Sword" with the Reapers, when did he find the time to fetch my chosen companions for the suicide run off earth.
Then after the credits I saw another cutscene I was like, you teasers! Now I at least get to see what happens to my crew, instead I see a grandpa having finished telling presumeably my story to his grandson.

Now, call me whatever you want. I still feel empty and it really did hurt emotinally though not in a good way.
I am unsure what the intention was but somehow it destroyed my will to make more playthroughs. I can't even see myself playing ME1 and ME2 which where both games I loved and wasn't tired of at all in the slightest.
Now I have formulated somewhat of a theory as to why that is.

First let me say I never read these forums or posted anything prior to this message, so I am not sure how many agree with me on my review.

Anyway, the main attraction from these games was that I could "create" my own universe, in a sense. I had choices to unite species and save them from annihilation I could help individuals that enriched the universe I loved to play in. So I did everything I could possibly find in this universe that I loved. All in anticipation of how it would eventually effect my end. Now what ticks me off is that no matter the choices, I made previously, I get the same results, these results end up in ALL of my previous efforts which are now totally moot. I could have never even played the previous games and rushed to the end and get the same outcomes. I never get to find out what all my hard work did for the galaxy, how my former crew, the heroes who where with me my entire story or at least helped me stop the collectors, I do not find out what happens to them. They are doomed to an unknown planet, where the story presumeably gets passed from generation to generation. Setting aside the obvious flaw of such a limitted gene pool. All I gather from it is that Ash, James and Joker have been busy and had a LOT of inbreeding. Yay! Way to end my epic tale.

So in short..


TL;DR
-Game felt epic right until the last give or take 10 minutes
-It's plain stupid to force multiplayer in order to get your Galactic Readiness up (still unsure what it gives exactly but still)
-The characters are very strong and well written, I genuinly care what happens to all my crew
-I care for the universe I play in and really wanted to fight for justice and equality for all organic and synthetic alike
-The end of the game feels rushed and there is no diversity in them if I may quote one of the makers of this fine saga

"There are many different endings. We wouldn’t do it any other way. How could you go through all three campaigns playing as your Shepard and then be forced into a bespoke ending that everyone gets?" - Michael Gamble

I do not wish to speak out of line here, but this is EXACTLY what happens.

There are also concerns for me regarding an almost religious like form of circular logic (Sovereign was right, I do fail to understand)

Besides all that there are multiple weird things within the plot I'll highlight the one I find the most obvious.

Mass Effect 1 We stopped the Reaper invasion for the time being because Sovereign couldn't use the citadel to summon the Reaper fleet. Now the citadel is actually a massive mass relay connecting to presumeably dark space. Cool, I like that, we use Vigil to cancel this process and we safe the day! Yay!
Now at part three of the saga we meet the master of the Reapers which lives inside the citadel which means he never needed sovereign to start the process he could have initialized the cycle whenever he wishes, yet he does not.

The Reapers are also vastly more intelligent then us, yet their military tactics are childlike. If you want to actively annihilate all the space exploring civilisations. You attack their planets, they realise its futile to fight and try to run. Station a few "Reapers" at every relay to make sure none escape the grid.


Anyway, this post is now at its end.
So thanks for a wonderful universe and great gaming experience, I really enjoyed it. Too bad as thanks for being a loyal customer you give me a big F*ck you and destroy the universe I took time in trying to unite and build.


PS: If the endings provided closure and an ending fitting to my Shepard this review would have given the game a 9.5
Now because this game (for me) effectivly destroys it all I give it a 3.0 for the trouble.

[M1SF0RTUNE]

Likes:

-The tone and atmosphere of the game, making it somewhat of a realistic war story almost, and the game delivered a terrific war against the Reapers, so I was satisfied all the hype leading up to that encounter was satisfied.

-The gameplay was way more fun and fast-paced, and having some of the RPG elements back in the game is a great touch without sacrificing any of the ME2-style gameplay. Now if only we could get ME1 revamped...

-The multiplayer is very addicting!

Dislikes:

-The last 5 minutes of the game. I spent a great deal of time working on multiple characters to see vastly different endings, and that's what was promised from the get-go. When that wasn't delivered and it was down to an ultimatum choice, where just about every other decision you made up to there felt like it didn't matter, I wanted to hang myself for wasting 2-3 months of my life playing ME1 and 2 again, and I don't wanna import them anymore.

-The game felt far too linear this time around, and it almost felt like all the troops you need to gather for the Galactis Readiness felt far too easy, and nearly pointless. Same story with the readiness from the MP front. Just turns Mass Effect into a numbers game, instead of a game where you have realistic (and satisfying) consequences to some of your actions.

That's just my opinion in a nutshell. I normally would elaborate a lot more, but eh, decided to keep it simple.

[Deathh Knight]

Disclaimer: The following only represents roughly 5% of everything that I feel about the final result of ME3 and all the variables that went into my score. I will not waste the time by restating things from all the other posts and it would make this post go on for 20 pages or more 8)*

For me the ME3 experience was a complete let down. So many things were not followed through with from ME1 and 2 into ME3; which equals very poor story writing. The quick rundown for me is:

Pros:
1. Truly epic parts in ME3 that left me in awe.
2. 80% of the graphics were fantastic.
3. 70% of audio/sound was good.
4. Great to see the races of the galaxy finally unite.

Cons:
1. Numerous story items and decisions from the frist two installments that did not carry forward into ME3. This is so crucial to me as a fan of any storyline. *I have spent hundreds of hours doing many different play throughs of both ME1 and 2 to see how the different choices would effect the out come of ME3. Most of my work has been nullified by the above fact.*
2. Inconsistent great graphics.
3. Inconsisten great sound.
4. Dissapointed with music score. Needed a true "synthesis" of ME1 and 2's music scores in ME3. Felt really cheated on this. *I personally LOVED the music score of ME2.*
5. Your choices really do not make any difference in how the game ends. Thus there is very little incentive for another playthrough. *I have played dozens of play through with ME1 and 2 and enjoyed every one.*

Summary:
As a die hard fan who started with ME1 and is a veteran of ME2, my score is: 3/10 for ME3.
There is so much that bioware dropped the ball on with ME3. It is truly difficult to understand how the powers that be at bioware could not see what made the first two such great games, and incorporated all of that and more into ME3.

Bottomline: Even though ME3 had many epic moments, thats all they were, moments. As a whole I feel ME3 is a fail. I have been patiently and excitedly waiting 4 years to see the conclusion to this great story only to be very disappointed and left with a feeling that the storyline was lost and forgotten in this final installment. *sigh*

[lordbyro]

Ulmont wrote...

Rather than write a text review, I decided to make a comic explaining the main problems I had with Mass Effect 3.




Comic created with assets from RoosterTeeth Comics. RoosterTeeth Comics are intellectual property of Griffon Ramsey & Luke McKay.

Hahahaha! Great comic resume. Me too, I ask to myself "this is how it ends?!" After DA2, Bioware prove it's the number one ruining his best games. "Hum...  Someone losted his imagination capability, here?"

(Im sorry about mistakes. I'm brazilian guy. Dont know English lang)

[Greed1914]

I'm with most folks here. 99% of the game is great. 1% is terrible.

I even got used to the way Shepard moves, despite my constant complaints after the demo. I was in love with the game, right until Shepard catches a ride on that elevator.

Yeah, it would have been hard to come up with lots of variants on an ending, but we had been told that we would have 16 unique endings, not a bunch of endings that are only slightly different from each other. We were told that all of our choices would be coming to a head, and that our questions would be answered. Didn't happen. It all came down to the EMS number (a convenient way to open up endings without factoring in choices) and a decision made in a bubble. We don't even get the chance to tell the Catalyst that we find the options unacceptable. Also, I totally get that the stranded crew was supposed to represented a fresh start, but it negated everything I did for the Quarians/Geth, and more importantly, Tali, when I saw her stranded on some planet. Not to mention how I was forced to leave all of them behind. Seriously, why am I forced to choose between EDI and the Geth, and Shepard? The Catalyst says that Shepard's implants would also be shut down, yet that is the only way for Shepard to live?

The lack of dialogue input was somewhat upsetting, mostly due to the lack of Paragon/Renegade options. Most of what we had was just two choices.

[Drogonion]

Huge ME series fan. Gave ME1 a 9/10, and ME2 a 9.5/10. And up until the finale, was giving ME3 a 10/10.

But then came finale. And though it came in the promised epic and spectacular fashion that still has me surprised the next day, I think it was not the sort of surprise that Bioware intended.

I have never experienced a finale to a story-arc veer so spectacularly off-course as in ME3. Just. Wow.

Over 3 epic chapters we struggle with our hero to save his galaxy from destruction by omnipotent sentient machines. Against impossible odds, our hero unites the disparate sentient beings in his galaxy - including synthetic and organic beings - into an epic force to oppose the machines.

Only to be forced - at the moment when victory seems to have been won - by an unknown powerful being to essentially destroy the galaxy that he has fought to save.

Just. Lame. (And from a professional fiction writer's point of view, astonishing.)

Before finale: ME3 10/10 for me.

After finale: ME franchise a solid 5/10.

[HK-90210]

In the end, I love most of ME3. I love the story, I love the characters, I love the universe. The Genophage Arc? AWSOME. The Citadel coup? AWSOME. The cameos by your ME2 squadmates? Not bad, considering time requirements and all. The final Assault on Earth? GREAT! Love the farwells with your crew, the feelings the finale gives you. All of that is great.

Gameplay-wise, the combat as excellent, best shooter I've ever played by far. I don't like how much Shepard auto-dialogues, but I can understand that less focus on that allowed for greater focus on other aspects of ME3, so I can stomach that. Barely. It hurt the roleplaying, but at the same time allowed for a more immersive gaming experience. Replay value diminished, but my playthroughs became much richer.

Now I do admit that the endings bother me a little. It's not like they are game-ruining, but they do bother me. Not the Synthetic vs Organic conflict. That was fine, no problem. I like how the three endings open brand new doors for the universe.  For me, the problem all boils down to the fate of Shepard and his crew. 

In ME1, nothing the player did influenced Shepard's fate directly. Two of his squadmates could easily die via player choice,  but Shepard was going to kill Saren and stop Soveriegn in the Battle of the Citadel, no matter what the player did. In ME2, that changed a bit. The suicide mission, and how successful one was at it, would influences Shepard's fate and that of all his companions. But if you palyed the game well, you got out OK, or with few casualties. I loved that. Death was an option, but not if you played thoroughly and well.

In ME3, death is a near-certainty. And in a way that's fitting, given ME3's setting and story. But IMO, it's TOO certain. I think that a greater way to determine Shepard and cos fate would have been the EMS rating at the end. Below a certain number, Shepard and his crew dies, end of story. Above a higher number, Shepard's crew lives, but he/she is screwed. Above an even higher nubmer, they all get out OK. But instead, Shepard seems to die in 2 of the three endigns, and his crew is always stranded on an unknown planet at the end I doubt it's the Gilligan's Island senario it appears, but most clarification woudl be nice.

But above everything else, the one thing I can't stand about ME3, the one thing I think is inexcusable, is the treatment of Jacob Taylor's romance in ME3. In my opinion, the treatment of people who romanced Jacob was unfair, not in touch with Jacob as a character, and indicative a lack of caring for a character that wasn't as popular as others. To me, this felt vindictive. The only people who would be hurt by this turn of events would be people who LIKED Jacob. And it would not have been a difficult thing to give him a Jack-like ending to his romance. Something that fit what the romance was from the start(flirty, based on sexual chemsitry, but also with an innate understanding of one another). Jacob as a character was worth that amount of effort. WE were worth that amount of effort. And the fact that we weren't given that dissappoints me more than any of the endings ever could.

Modifié par CastonFolarus, 10 mars 2012 - 02:10 .

[DarkSpider88]

Overall Game Rating 80/100

Pros:
-Great Characters
-Multitude of enemies
-Paragon/Renegade Choices
-For the most part awesome story. Literally had me unable to drop my controller many times.

Cons:
-Not enough way to earn credits
-Not enough squad members. I am sorry overall ME2 was much better in this area.
-Multi-player having any effect on single player experience. I am sorry but making it a factor after 2 games in is a disservice to your core audience. I am fine with having to gather resources for war but adding multi-player to do it is dumb.
-The Ending: I know there are many endings but from what I read of all the ones I didn't get they all seem to be just as disappointing. I have played as Commander Shepard for 3 games and anything less than me getting to just blow the reapers back to dark space and fly out into the galaxy with Liara (or other LI) is a disappointment. The ending is so not what I wanted I may not be able to play the game again.

Modifié par DarkSpider88, 10 mars 2012 - 02:13 .

[vigna]

Quick review.

Likes:
-As with all bioware games you simply fall in love with the characters, and ME3 fleshed them out even more, and made you fall in love with all of them once again.
-Combat seemed more difficult at times which is good for a "normal" player.
-You really felt the anxiety in the story.

Dislikes:
-Multiplayer?..Why? If I want multiplayer I'll get Gears or Halo. If you want to do multiplayer you shouldn't do it at the tail end of a single player RPG/Shooter.
-The take cover/uck/roll/slide around function seemed very buggy this time, and accidentally killed me way too many times--breaking my immersion of the game...
-The ending....Really? Are you serious? After spending thousands (yes, thousands) of hours playing a series as amazing as ME you give us ..this? That's just unbelievable to me. I can understand Shepard dying, or even being forced to die. I can get that. But this kid? Seriously, So no sapien has ever made it to the catalyst, Yet the catalyst knows all outcomes of civilization's possible future , and that machines and Sapiens will never be able to get along? Really, that doesn't make sense. Ridiculous.