1966 réponses à ce sujet

[dragonfan21]

 my mass effect score : 95/100

what really sucked was the ending it was to vague and to much of a cliffhanger.I would love to know what happen after the war and what happen to my  squad.

[Demon Velsper]

50/100

The plot is ludicrous. They're building a completely alien spaceship/whatever that they've never even heard of prior to the game in just a few months? Get real. And the reapers never noticed? Right.

But I could have forgiven that stretch of the imagination if it wasn't for the abyssmally poor endings. And why claim to have several different endings when you don't? The space magic just changes color, that doesn't -ing qualify. And then you top it off with the Normandy plot-canyon, which happens no matter what you do.

The game in itself is rather solid, though it would have been nice if you'd recalled that keyboards/controllers actually have more than one button though. "Press X to revive!", presses x, goes into cover. Brilliant design choice, just brilliant, bet you spent years thinking of that one.

With decent endings it would have been 70 - 80, but the endings just make the game completely pointless.

Oh, how the mighty have fallen. At least it proves that Dragon Age 2 wasn't an isolated incident.

Modifié par Demon Velsper, 10 mars 2012 - 11:18 .

[calabazada]

I rarely feel the need to post on a forum, BUT this time I must. I loved me3 until the last 15 minutes. Excluding the exceedingly unhelpful journal entries and the bugs that kept me from finishing 2 missions, it was a fabulous game that got me emotionally involved. Then there's the endings, which to me a) leave more questions than answers and do not demonstrate that your sacrifice (assuming you die) means anything. You don't get to see life go on, which was the point. It's important to see that your actions meant something, anything! I would also have liked to have seen a slightly more happy ending. Real life is depressing enough. It would have been nice if one ending had been included that allowed all the survivors (including shep) to sit on the beach and count seashells or have a beer or two. Geez, Shep goes through all of that just to die....a little depressing. I want one happy ending please.

[Xorp32]

I Love Bioware and the Mass Effect games, but at the ending I felt so disappointed and let down. Shepard goes through hell to save the universe only to die and cut off all the races from their home-worlds now that the mass relays are gone! Earth will be horribly damaged by the citadel exploding near by and the debris hitting it, possibly ending life there anyway! If Shepard had known this was the outcome he probably would have just spent what time he could have with his friends and love interest before the reapers ended this cycle. Please Bioware Fix These ending choices, and give us actual choices and put them out as a DLC. 

Modifié par Xorp32, 10 mars 2012 - 11:35 .

[guybrush threepwad]

Good
-There were some epic moments, like betraying Wrex and shooting Mordin
-More weapon customisation
-I can't think of anything else that stands out as an improvement over ME2, but most aspects of the game were solid except for below.

Bad
-The journal did not provide enough information on quests and was cluttered by fetch quests
-Stupid fetch quests
-Autodialogue. Took our Shepard and made him yours.
-Lack of dialogue choices
-Would have prefered greater role for some ME2 squad members like Jack
-Face import bug
-Why must every Bioware game have a gameplay sequence where all you can do is slowly move towards another location?
-Too many waves of enemies at times.
-Writing:
The main plot. Often felt like it was written by a consultant for a SyFy channel disaster movie.
Crucible = Deus ex machina. Should have established possible solutions in previous games
The kid, my Shepard would not care about him and I was already sick of him the first moment i saw him

The unforgivably horrible
-The endings. Catalyst is AI with idiot logic, we are forced to confrom to its plans. Each ending is pretty much the same, and goes completely against what the mass effect series was about, which was choice, something we aren't given at the end. It renders everything we did meaningless, and leaves a black stain on the entire series and completely destroys replay value. I don't need a happy ending, just a good one. I'd have even preferred Shepard failing and the reapers killing everyone, or basically any other conceivable ending would have been better. I hope Bioware provides new endings. The other problems would have been forgivable if it weren't for the endings, I was going to play it a few more times but now I have no desire to ever play it again.

I'll rate the ending and the rest of the game separately, as I don't know how badly the ending would skew my grade.

Game 8/10
Ending 1/10 (I feel like I am being generous).

[Zaneras]

I'll make this as formal and easy to read as I possibly can, because I want my opinion (which is shared by many others) to be heard.

The game as a whole gets a 3/10. The reason I put it at that score is because the game as a whole, while it was very enjoyable, in the end left me feeling like I had been punched in the gut. The game itself was amazing; the developers clearly put a lot of hard work into this game, and I appreciate that. The game was nearly perfect... And here it comes. The game was nearly perfect, until the end. The endings were just horrendous. There are no meaningful distinctions between any of the endings, and they're all polar opposites of satisfying. Shepard dies or ends up completely stranded from his squad, and love interest, with no hope of ever seeing any of them again. The happy upbeat music in all of the endings is just the icing on the cake. Shepard deserves better than that! All of the sacrifices he's made, all of the things he accomplished... All of that was reduced to less than nothing at the end. All of the time spent talking with your squad, becoming genuinely attached to their characters, gone. Shepard will never see them again and they don't even seem to care that he's dead. This is just unacceptable. I haven't even gone into the logical issues with the ending, and I won't, because those don't really bother me. I just think that Shepard deserves a happy ending, or at least the option of a happy ending. I honestly don't know what happened to the writers when they were fleshing out the ending, because it just doesn't fit. Period. One avenue to fix this is releasing a DLC with the real ending and calling the current ending a hallucination. I honestly don't care how you retcon it, as long as something is done. This has soured the entire series for me, and according to the others posting on your forum, for them as well. It's not too late to fix it. Just please do so.

Again, the developers put a lot of time into this game and obviously cared about it. It's just too bad that the ending takes quite a chunk off of the value of all that hard work.

[agent musubi]

Total score = 75/100
Score PRIOR to Ending @ the Citadel = 98/100
Score for the Ending = I don't know...it was absolutely atrocious...10/100?


Some Notable Positives

• Game did a really good job of portraying a "total war."  This is especially remarkable given that it's an RPG with player choice.  To sustain the tension through about 40 hours was not a small writing accomplishment.
•  Liked the re-introduction of the customization elements, like Gun Mods and more weapon variety.  Liked the more robust leveling choices, too.  Much more involved and required more planning and thought as to which powers to choose.  

• Combat was better than ME2.  Loved the fact that enemies flanked you, l liked the increased difficulty.  This, too, contributed to the sustained tension throughout the game.

• Loved the party banter while on missions, loved the NPC interaction while on the Normandy.  Might be considered a small touch, by some, but I think it made the game feel more seamless and gave a deeper characterization.  It was smart choice by the Developers to go this route, as it was probably made the amount of content economically feasible.

 

Some Notable Negatives

• I found the more limited dialogue options to be disappointing.  It felt more like I was watching the story unfold and less like I was in control of the story.  

• Facial animation for Shepard was not good.  Certainly, it was not good enough to help accomplish what the story demanded.  ME3 was about big, intense emotions, but Shepard's face (at least the custom Shepard...can't speak for default) was like a plastic doll.  

• Some loose plotlines go unaddressed.  Dark Energy/Haestrom got serious foreshadowing in ME2, but dark energy was barely mentioned in ME3.  Confusing connections between Cerberus and Reapers.  For the video game to assume that players had read some comic books (like Illusive Man's background and how he came into contact with Reaper tech) was beyond reason.  Game story didn't address these types of issues at all.
• Very poor system for tracking side quests.  The journal gave the barest of information about what the tasks were and were to go.   

• I'll end with the biggest: THE ENDING.  I wrote something similar in one of the numerous posts about Fan Dissatisfaction with the Ending, but my issue was not with the "saddness" of the ending.  It was all about a lack of satisfying resolution to the storylines played out over 3 games.  I was shocked at how marginalized all of the experiences and choices of all the games became...all due to some really poor creative choices by the Devs at the ending.  I can be satisfied with "sad."  I loved Red Dead Redemption's ending, even though it was sad...perhaps I loved it even more because it was sad.  ME3's ending tried for poignant and just flat-out missed and landed on confusing and convoluted.  So disappointing that I can't fully articulate how much (even though I'm trying to here).  

• Beyond pure storyline issues, it was shocking to have about 10 minutes of cutscenes at the end of the game sap the joy out of an incredible experience spanning 3 games.  I've played through both ME 1&2 (plus every DLC for both, including the sorry Pinnacle Station) about a dozen times each.  I don't have any motivation to play through ME3 again, though...due purely to the ending.  That I could love a game (not to mention a series) for 99% of it and have the last 1% turn me off so completely is actually quite an amazing accomplishment...

Modifié par agent musubi, 11 mars 2012 - 12:33 .

[mjh417]

My Mass Effect 3 score: 90/100

I cant believe I'm still giving the game a 9 out of 10, after that ending. I mean I would have given it a 10,000,000 out of 10 until the final 8 mins. The game was a masterpiece pure and simple through out. The best game writing ever. Some of the most fun and exciting gameplay ever. Playing on Hardcore offered a truly pulse pounding experience in combat. All the characters got their due and all the story lines (except the main one in the ending) got an exceptionally awesome finish. I felt like every choice I made really mattered ... until that last choice.

How can you do this to us Bioware??? No way you honestly thought people would be okay with the ending. How are you guys okay with it??? Its so sad cause ME3 was by far THE BEST in the trilogy up until the last 8 minutes.

Im actually really and truly depressed. I feel like I could and should sue Bioware for emotional duress... that was a joke (BUT NOT REALLY). Staying up til 5am Thursday night to finish the game because once I got to Thessia, I just couldn't put it down. The game was a masterpiece, the greatest gaming experience I've ever had. I thought the writers were geniuses, the way they were weaving everything together, giving me all the hard choices, making everything feel like it mattered, giving me truly emotional and heart breaking and heart warming moments with these characters I loved, making me relate to Shepard in ways I never had before... and then the final mission, those final moments, those final conversations... literally nothing had felt more perfect, nothing ever had me feeling like more was at stake, nothing had ever got me so caught up in it all... but then I reached "the catalyst" and everything just went so wrong and so quickly and it made no sense and it basically felt like some talentless hack with nothing but audience contempt came in and wrote those last few minutes just to undo everything that had been done. IT WAS A BETRAYAL. Shame on you Bioware.

ITs sad that I will pay anything for DLC that gives us an entirely different ending.

Pleas please please Bioware make this.

This time do it right. THat means make it so our choices MATTERED, you know the same way you wrote THE ENTIRE REST OF THE GAME!!!

RE-EXPLAIN!!! REWRITE!!!! RETHINK!!! Actually come up with a scenario and back story for The Reapers, the Cycle, the Catalyst, the Crucible, the Citadel that FITS the lore and core philosophy of what the series is about as it was first introduced in ME1 and then majorly built upon and expanded in ME2.

Remember the conversations with Legion???? The actual end of ME2. The conversations with Sovereign, Vigil, and Harbinger. Especially with all the brilliance and thought provoking material that came from Legion in ME2, it felt like the writers really understood what the series was about and what the Reapers were about. It actually still managed to feel that way through out ME3 until the final minutes.

Mass Effect should be about the Mass Effect tech and what that means for both organics ans synthetics. It was never about organics versus synthetics, except in the Geth/Quarian SUBPLOT because The Reapers are NOT simply machines, they are "sapient constructs." They exist as a way of perserving all organic life by synthesizing it in machine form and creating a single intelligence from "many minds" but those minds are organic. The huskification process is simply a more grim and brutal and less refined version of the process used to create and actual Reaper.

If the dilema is about Mass Effect tech, something that comes from the Reapers, that it is something that pertains to organic life just as much if not far more that synthetics. Organics war with other organics and they can just as easily destroy each other on their own. Just look at the Krogan Rebellions and Rachni War. Both of which came from using tech that was not built but found. This is what Mass Effect is actually about. "You evolve along the pathways we desire" as Sovereign says. Later Legion talks about the fundamental difference between the true Geth and the Heretics is that the true Geth reject the Old Machine's gifts and chose to find their own ways, "Geth must build their own future." THIS IS WHAT ME IS ABOUT!!!!! Organics and Geth or any AI, anything with intelligence ultimately face the same issue. The cycle exists because we ALL fall into the same trap, we use the tech of those left behind rather than develop our own. The Repars can harvest us because we evolved along the paths they designed for us. They are the reason there is a cycle.

The catalyst's explanations ring completely and VERY OBVIOUSLY false to everything except to him (or it) self. He even admits that Shep's mere presence proves he is wrong but his new solutions are EVEN WORSE and make no sense. They do destroy the Mass Relays, but it does so as it its some "after effect" a bizarre consequence, rather than the whole point. Even worse is that the way this happens, in both choices, essentially means an apocalypse for the galactic civilization we know in way that is FAR WORSE than if we waged the war with the reapers for another 400 years. Shep didn't save a dang thing. He ended the cycle (apparently) but all the popel he was fighting for are ven more doomed now than they were before he listened to some idiotic VI. Both choices are the same, whatever their difference is, its nonsensical, meaningless, dumb, and again WAY beyond the point of everything. Mass Effect is not about organic versus synthetics, it never was until the catalyst tried to tell me it was and even then I had so much ammunition to prove him wrong that it was just sad.

Seriously, how are The Reapers a solution to some inevitable annihilation of organics by synthetics? Does that make any sense??? Not only does it not make sense with everything that has ever been said of happened in the 3 games, but it doesn't make any sense on its own.

I know there have been countless cycles before this one, but lets look at this one closely. The only AI or synthetic threat ever presented (besides The Reapers themselves) is the Geth. The Geth were made by the Quarians over 300 years before the games begin. The first war with the Geth left the Quarians homeless but still alive and kicking. Through the rest of the cycle, before and after, not a SINGLE OTHER INTELLIGENT SPECIES WE KNOW OF EVER HAD A WAR WITH AI. But wait, it get even better. THE ONLY REASON THE GETH EVER REAPPEARED TO ORGANICS TO WAGE WAR WAS BECAUSE THE REAPERS ASKED THEM TO.

Now Javik says that The Protheans had their won war with machines, but from what I understood, the organics WON... end of story and that was before The Reapers came along to harvest them. SO same point as before applies, the Reapers dont save organics from destruction by synthetics. In fact its simply the opposite, the Reapers destroy advanced organics and harvest them into synthetic Reaper bodies.

So my point is this whole cycle organics vs. synthetics logic comes out of nowhere and makes no sense with everything before it. Mass Effect is not a carbon copy of the Battlestar Galactica reboot. I mean i felt like the ending was trying to pretend that that it was when really Mass Effect is a very different story about very different things (even if ME is BSG influenced, but its also Star Wars and Star Trek and Aliens influenced). In BSG the show had set its self up right from the very start as being about a cycle of never-ending conflict and new beginnings between creators and the created and so that end made sense, and unlike ME it actually was emotionally satisfying on most levels and gave the characters what they were deserved. ME3's end was anything but that.

Now The Catalyst also talks about cleansing older and more advanced civilizations to make room for new ones. This idea makes a lot more sense, but tis still flawed and full of holes and comes out of nowhere.

Now to me the Crucible itself is a fascinating idea with the exception of its use in the final few minutes. This is especially true if you agree with me on what Mass Effect is actually about philosophically, that its about developing and relying own your own tech versus inheriting and depending on discovered tech. You see as far as we know, The Crucible does not come from The Reapers, but its not of our own design either. It was inherited from The Protheans (hey remember how everyone used to think thats who built and left behind the Mass Relays and Citadel???) and then it turns out that they inherited from those who came before them and that its been slowly designed a little more and more each cycle. This is fascinating. What the Crucible is and what it does and should it be used and will it work and what will it actually happen if its used is a mystery that is very well established and developed and discussed through out the game. It fit so perfectly with what the series is about and it could and should have been the center piece of the end. It was... but it was als not. It wasn't really explained other than it "changed" the Catalyst and offered new solutions, solutions that were arguably easily worse than letting the cycle continue.

Now I know many were not fans of The Matrix sequels, I personally think they are lacking and even boring, as "movies" but in terms of continuing the philosophy and story established in the original (a fantastic and amazing film), the sequels really delivered. I think it should be obvious the similarities and parallells between ME and Matrix trilogy with regards to the events of ME3's ending and the climax of The Matrix Reloaded. The Catalyst is The Architect, Shep is Neo, The Crucible's link to the Citadel is The Source, and their meeting is an unexpected and mind bending twist to what both Shep and Neo assumed would be the end of their fight, organic life in a war with destructive machines and their ultimate victory. Now I could go on and on outlining all the ways these franchises are similar and how their different and so forth, what their philosophies mean and works about them, but thats not the point. The point is "choice" a word very key to both stories. In The Matrix Reloaded, Neo learns the truth about this war with the machines and is given a choice by the architect, he is not the first to be stand there and meet The Architect, in fact it is part of the cycle, but he is the first to be given a "choice," an anomaly resulting from The Oracle's introduction of a love interest for The One, a choice to instead of serving his predefined purpose to serve humanity by rebooting and continuing and beginning a new cycle, he can chose another door and not reboot the system at the consequence of The Machines destroying Zion and eventually the entire Matrix crashing effectively killing everyone. Neo makes that choice opening the door to doing something unknowable and unpredictable to The Architect and leads to the events of The Matrix Revolutions, and ultimately an ending in which Neo breaks the cycle by sacrificing himself and saving the Matrix, the machines, and liberating humanity.

Now in comparison, in ME3, Shep is the first to stand at this place on the Citadel, meet The Catalyst, and be given a choice. The problem is that these choices are silly and come from The Catalyst. There may be a choice, but it would be the same as if The Architect meet Neo and there was only one door as it had been in previous cycles. This is because its playing into the AI's games, playing by its rules, the hero doing something he or she doesn't understand cause the AI in charge told it to do so. Something that makes the entire journey irrelevant and foolish.

Now I dont think a fix ME3 ending should copy The Matrix sequels, at least not any more than it already does. See the main problem I have with the ME3 endings ultimately is that they are entirely emotionally unsatisfying and actually they are a full on F**k You to the player and Shepard and the entire galaxy. With the Mass Relays destroyed, and all the high level species of the Galaxy's military might now trapped on a ravaged Earth, all hope is lost and everyone is trapped. Everything Shep did to unite them and fix their problems, like the genophage, and inspire hope, was for nothing. Shep didn't save anyone. His sacrifice was for nothing. It ended the Reaper threat and the cycle but it destroyed the world of his present and doomed his entire civilization. And this all happened cause he listend to some VI, whom not only clearly did not have his best interests in mind, but also was wrong about everything it said. Neo called The Architect on his bull and in the end proved him wrong, its travesty that Shep didn't do the same.

I want a new ending where as Shep walks over to any of the three options he or she's given one final moment for an interrupt, a renegade for the left and right options and a paragon one for the middle. In the Renegade interrupt, Shep tells the Catalyst to F**k itself and that he or she sees through it's lies and errors and its confusion of being stuck in tis own loop. Shep says that he or she knows better than to trust the thing that controls The Reapers and he or she calls Hackett and The Normandy to attack The Citadel and try to take out the Catalyst and dislodge The Crucible, and try and blow that up to. In the Paragon interrupt, given when Shep approaches the middle Synthesis path, Shep stops and turns around and asks The Catalyst

Shep: Why?
Catalyst: Why what? This is what you were meant to do.
Shep: No. Why am I listening to you. You say this is the way to synthesis, to organics and synthetics becoming one, to the end of the cycle, but you control the Reapers, you created this cycle. But the fault has always been ours. Even us humans chose to use the Mass Relays, to evolve along that paths you desire. If I'm going to end this cycle and destroy the Mass Relays I'm going to do it on my terms.
Catalyst: Do not fool yourself, these are the only solutions, these are the possibilities you granted us when you gave us the Crucible.
Shep: But we built the Crucible, all of us together, organics and synthetics, and we built it to stop you to destroy the Reapers. We built it to save our civilization from your control. You say it gave you new solutions, but that's all it is to you, solutions, just math and numbers. I came here to save the people I care about to save my people's home, all our home's, and if your not in it for the same than I have no business listening to a damn thing you say.

Then Hackett contacts Shep and says he's got contact with Anderson and he's got the Normandy moving into the now open Citadel to save him at which point Shep tells him to pick him up and that there gonna have to attack The Citadel in full force and that The Crucible is of no use.

Shep has now realized that The Catalyst and the Citadel are what needs to be destroyed and that the Normandy should lead the fleet in a charge to do that. Shepard could even sacrifice him(or her)self by letting Joker and the rest of the crew get on the escape pods (mirroring the opening of ME2) and then taking control of the Normandy as it crashes itself at max velocity into the top of the Citadel and The Crucible, this blows it up and destroys all the Reapers, the Mass Relays, and presumably The Crucible, as the rest of the fleets retreat throughout the relays just before they explode.

Also before Shep makes his decision to crash the Normandy and sacrifice him(or her)self if he or she's LI is a part of the current Normandy crew (Liara, Ashley, Kaiden, Garrus, Tali, Samantha, or Estaban) he or she will demand to stay with Shep and sacrifice him or self as well. EDI will also try and stay despite Joker trying to grab her body, explaining to Joker that her body will be useless once The Normandy is gone. This makes Jeff, if you've helped him and EDI romantically, try and fight to stay but EDI forces him onto the escape pod (maybe he grabs her body though and takes it with him). So in the end its Shep and EDI and possibly Shep's LI about to slam themselves into The Citadel to save the galaxy. The rest of the team is on Earth, or in escape pods floating towards Earth, and the fleets are retreating after having had one final assault on The Reapers and The Citadel (Shep orders this).

But.. when the Normandy crashes into the Citadel and it actually activates the Crucible and a giant Mass Relay like blue pulse it creates actually trasports the partially collided Normandy warping through space right as the rest of The Citadel, The Reapers, and the Mass Relays all exploded.

Shep then wakes up, either alone, or with his or her LI, and finds him or herself with a destroyed Normandy on a strange planet. He or she then looks up at the sky and sees The Crucible intact and floating above him and it pointing with a beam into a strange rip in the fabric of space, a worm hole of sorts, and on the other side is Earth. And then thats when the screen would cut to the credits. The implication being that The Crucible can create wormholes or something that ultimately will proved a new ay to traverse the Galaxy.

Alternate endings resulting from these new choices could be the LI awakens to find Shep's body dead and then its LI and a mangled bu still function EDI body that look up and see The Crucible's opened portal to Earth. ANother alternative, if Shep died and there was no LI, could be that its the remaining crew, the soliders on Earth, or Joker that sees the portal and the strange new plant from its other side on Earth.

I dont know if thats an ending everyone else would like, but I for one would dig it (i wrote it after all) and know its a ton better than what we have now. It centers on Shep and his or her choices and ends the cycle, takes out the Reapers and their traps and tech, but without dooming the galactic community.

[GHOST OF FRUITY]

Having just finished ME3, I must say what an incredible gaming experience it was. Some great moments, some very sad and moving moments, alot of humour despite the dark tone of the game in general. The ending I can't say I liked it (merge or whatever it was called) - It fitted the tone of the game, but it wasn't a satisfying end to the Shepard story imo. The Normandy thing, I simply can't fathom what happened there.

I see the calls for some new endings - if that happens I sure wouldn't oppose it. If that doesn't happen though, well dissapointing ending or not ME3 is a game i'll remember for all the right reasons. But Bioware, please give the requests for different endings some thought. It seems that many are unhappy with how the game ends - an ending is often the thing that people remember when a film or game is bought up in conversation, and it does the Mass Effect series a disservice to be remembered in that way.

[rinoe]

Why are you  so scared to claim you want happy ending?
I WANT ONE.

If there are multiply endings in the game, why one of them couldn' be happy?
When my Shep work so hard to help everyone, make peace bettwen races and all, I want to see the otucome. Why can't I win?

Modifié par rinoe, 11 mars 2012 - 12:38 .

[davidrab]

I want BioWare to tell us what were they thinking when they decided to make that ending?

[Drake_1000]

I will support any review who said its a great game until the ending.

[drewsiff1112]

This is my opinion of ME 3.  The best aspect of the game was definitely the combat system.  The game still retained ME 2's armor customization.  Still do not mind the use of ammo.  They increased the number of weapons but that's fine because I felt that there really were no exceptional weapons in ME 2.  What made combat in the game stand out was the fluidity of the system.  The introduction of the diving and rolling was integrated seamless with the cover system.  It was just a work of art.

The storyline of the game (minus the ending(s)) was also the best of the series.  Its all about trying to bring races together, put aside rivalries and disputes, and ultimately unite the galaxy against a common enemy.  Sure it may be something that has been done before, but written correctly, can make a great tale.  In this case, it worked very well.  I thoroughly enjoyed the main story and all of its sidequests.  I also did not mind the scanning for war assets, which brings me to my next point.  The war assets did provide an interesting new aspect for gameplay.  And it seemed like the more assets you aquire, the better of a chance you have in the final battle, or so I thought...

Now that I have given my positive thoughts on the game, I feel that it is only fair that I share my complaints....or complaint.  My single complaint is the conclusion to not only ME 3, but the series as a whole.  From day one it was all about stopping the Reapers and saving the galaxy.  We all knew that it was going to end that way.  So when fans were thrown a curveball, it all turned sour.  First, the entirety of ME 3 is all about prepping for a final assault to reclaim Earth.  Now I feel that all the time spent on gathering assets went to waste because there is no clear evidence on how they are used, apart from determining the ending.  I thought that with a large force the Reapers would get smacked around but instead they completely dominate as if nothing had changed.  It really did not make sense for me.  Also, the final outcomes were very disappointing.  I, like so many other fans, was looking forward to Shepard annihilating the reapers, returning to Earth, having a moment with their LI (if they had one) and just having a big ****ing party.  Instead, Shepard can die, the relays and citadel are destroyed, and the galaxy can end up back in the Stone Age.  I havent played all the endings but from what I have heard, they aren't much happier.  And that is what upsets me.  I want closure and satisfaction to a long and hard road and I did not get that with ME 3.  I have heard that many fans want a better ending to be developed and I am gladly among them.

All in all, as much as the ending dissapointed me, I greatly enjoyed ME 3 and will definitely hang on to my copy.  It was a well done game, but I just want some closure, and the good kind too.

Overall rating: 9.0/10

[Soilworker77]

The game is just pure awesomeness and the storytelling absolutely rocks.
2 things I thought was bad, is the journal and the side missions.

The 1st thing is that as you are walking around at the Citadel and suddenly eavesdrop on the civilians you get a side mission, which was a strange invention by you.
I liked it when you could have dialog with them and the choose if you would take it on or pass it away, now you are looking for new armor and suddenly you have a side quest? 
You need to think about that thing.

The 2nd thing is that the instructions in the journal was pretty bad, you couldn't get much info from it on what to do.
Just go there, pick up that and bring it to a Turian at the Presidum Commons.
The one in the 2nd game was good, first you had a short summary and if you clicked on it, you exposed a more detailed summary, which was good and helped a lot during the missions.

Oh and by the way, I don't think Shepard ended the war with the Reapers in the way you showed us, there is a few things I am considering proof that something else is in the works... 

Modifié par Soilworker77, 11 mars 2012 - 04:48 .

[MerchantGOL]

10/10

One of the best games ever made, even if you don't like the ending, Bioware hits every note with the story, characters, game play everything

most games will be lucky if i get one moment where i tear up. This game had me crying like a little girl multiple times

Modifié par MerchantGOL, 11 mars 2012 - 01:43 .

[avantoreon]

9/10.

Likes:

Thought that the gameplay mechanics were an improvement in almost every way from ME2.
* I liked that powers had more than four levels to them and allowed you to make branching choices in how to use those powers.

* Especially liked that how much you were carrying affected your power recharge rate. It made playing a casting-focused adept feel very, very different from say, a sniping-focused infiltrator.

* Weapon and armor customization and choices were pretty cool.

I also thought that the plot and characters were fantastic, with a couple of exceptions. It felt like I was making meaningful choices for most of the game that resolved differences and changed the galaxy.

Dislikes:

The infamous last 5 minutes of the ending. I hear there's a whole thread on this ;-) I don't mind the outcomes in general, I'm okay with the victory having some costs. But the ending is ambiguous and confusing. I like to just pretend the Normandy bit and the relays exploding just didn't happen, since neither of those make sense. The other main problem I have with the ending is that you don't actually see how any of your choices leading up to it make a difference. Dragon Age: Origins was a good example of how to handle this sort of thing---maybe a montage talking about what happens to everybody after it's over.

Enemies with ridiculous amounts of health and protection aren't especially interesting. I'm looking at you, Banshees. Just grinding away at an enemy's shields, health, and barriers while trying to avoid getting hit is pretty tedious, I wish the higher-level enemies could be more interesting.

[olipyr]

I won't lie, I wish I had downloaded this game first instead of pre-ordering it. I'm EXTREMELY dissapointed with the ending. It's one ending with different colours, there are no "multiple endings". I did enjoy the synthesis ending idea, but the actual ending itself was......anticlimactic. Everything has pretty much been said on why the ending killed it, so I'm not going to repeat it.

Oh, and the choices of the last two games not meaning shat just well, it angers me a bit.

Frankly, it's shaken my faith in Bioware.

Most everthing else was outstanding, aside from the few bugs where I lost all my credits and medi-gel then had to reload a previous save game. It was a great experience up until you're to "take back Earth".

My rating is a 5/10. If not for the ending, 9.5/10

Modifié par olipyr, 11 mars 2012 - 02:12 .

[xDaLamp337x]

97/100

Liked:

Story - made me connect with the characters and all the choices from my previous games
Combat - improvement upon me2's system with more varied enemies
Morality/Reputation - easier to understand and it makes it more realistic
Art - the background and setting arts were stunning to look at
Planet Scanning - The thing I hated most about me2 was simplified and was actually fun with the Reapers chasing you and stuff
Javik - honestly one of the best characters that was created in the Mass Effect series. Some of my favorite scenes is where it is flashbacks to his past or him retelling his story

Dislike:

Ending - I have no idea what the stargazer and the kid even are talking about. Was the story just made up? How did the Normandy and Joker end up in the Mass Effect relay? I thought they were fighting on earth. And how did EDI make it back to the Normandy from being obliterated on Earth? And I also do not see much difference between the choices at the end. This is seriously the only portion of the story i had a slight problem with, everything else was phenomenal.
Glitches/Freezing - In cut scenes and and dialogues my Shepard's head would just stay as if he was looking at his shoulder and would stay like that for the entirety of the conversation. The game also froze on me way too much.
Side Quests - a little too easy/boring
Romance: very little dialouge options with potential LI's. And the fact that you get locked into a relationship right away with the first possible person. I liked in the first two games i could balance multiple LI's at a time and then choose which one you wanted. But i got stuck with Liara because she was the first one to ask me and I did not know that it would do that.
Journal - I had no idea what I was supposed to do or where I was supposed to go half of the time

Closing Comments:

I liked pretty much 99.5% of the story. And the stuff that I disliked is just minor stuff that certainly did not ruin the game in any way. They would of only made the game better

Modifié par xDaLamp337x, 11 mars 2012 - 02:27 .

[Alamar2078]

Single Player Review:

Game Play / Combat: 9.2 of 10. A few of the new enemys [mostly the heavy reaper infantry] were damage sponges and did not involve interesting game play choices other than keep on beating on them until they fell while staying out of their way. Other than this everything seemed to work very well.

Dramatic elements: 9.6 of 10. I really got into how the stories & events were portrayed esp. in the cameos by the ME2 squadmates. Overall very nicely done.

Setting: 9.9 of 10. I really bought that the entire galaxy was in a war for survival. I believe the developers pulled off exactly what they were going for here.

User Interface: 8 of 10. Overall a good job but a relatively bad quest journal / some of the combat controls that caused more problems than they were worth, etc. pulled this down.

Stability / Glitches:  7 of 10.  During reloads my system would pause an unacceptably long amount of time.  The issue was intermittant but occurred often enough to be VERY noticeable.  I also had what I imagine are system freezes once every 4-6 hours.

"Fan Service": [I.E. giving the fans what they want or at least expect] ... 0 of 10. Normally I wouldn't add such a ludicrous category but several events that I am aware of [through my playthrough and reading forums today] rate as bad as you can get:

-- The Jacob romance issue seems to be a slap in the face. While I'm firmly a Jacob-hater I see no reason why he should cheat on Shepard after such a short time. I know that in real life romances usually do NOT work out but I believe an expectation was set that was not met in the game(s)

-- The Tali reveal seems like a quick & dirty photoshop job of a "stock" photograph. The amount of care that I would have expected after all the mystery about the appearance didn't match what we got.

-- The ending esp. with the "God Child" / Citadel AI / whatever. Nothing needs to be said except this ending for many has tarnished not just ME3 but the Mass Effect series as well as [IMHO] gaming in general. After seeing the ending I literally am turned off of doing any gaming at all in the near future.

Summary: Based on everything but "Fan Service / Expectations" I'd give this game a solid 9.6 rating. Once you include "Fan Service" though I think that it's very generous giving the game a 7 of 10. [Honestly I would give it a 2 of 10 but I hope that I'm just irrationally upset about the shortcomings ....]

Note:
ME1: Overall 9.6
ME2: Overall 9.5
ME3: Overall 7 [Without misc. sloppiness could have been 9.6]

At this point I do not intend to put in any Mass Effect disc into my system for the forseeable future. As far as doing a preorder this and DA2 may have finally broken me of that practice ... oddly B/W was the only company that I trusted to do preorders with ....

Modifié par Alamar2078, 11 mars 2012 - 02:12 .

[SadShepUniverseDead]

 
 Hi Bioware Team,
I am from Canada,

I don't post on game forums anymore, I only registered yesterday to post my thoughts on the conclusion of your trilogy. The entire game is an excellent masterpiece filled with drama, character development and gratification, ending with a final assult on our home planet, to take back the Earth. Your entire game envoked this emotional entanglement  that I haven't experienced since I grew up. I played the first Mass Effect as a teenager and the story that you told was dark, but inspirational - like the beginning of an epic.

I waited five years to finally complete my Chinese Sheperd playthrough. I wanted to save China, luckily according to the picture of the planet when you take back the Earth, China was not hit as hard as Europe or North America, and many of those interior Chinese were spared the reaper invasion. The best part about playing your trilogy was getting to know the characters. Garrus, Ashely, Kaiden, Liara, Tali, Wrex, Joker - then you introduced new ones, Jacob, Miranda, Thane, Samara, Mordin, Jack, Edi, and Grunt. Throughout the course of the Mass Effect trilogy, character development has been the biggest part of the Mass Effect experience in my case, equal to you giving us the chance to choose how this game progresses. My Shep liked aliens, since there were no Chinese squadmates.

99.5% of your game was literary genuis, an epitome of interactive story telling, a wonderful work of fiction that captured the imaginations and fears of thousands spanning across cultures and backgrounds. The death of Mordin Solus, the Krogans, The Quarians and Geth, Cerberus, Khalisah Al Jilani breaking into tears over the loss of the Human homeworld, there is a message of hope in all this. If we are able to sacrifice our own integrity and stop thinking about our own personal morality, we might just pull this off: Or the Paragon route, which Chinese Shep took obviously, being from Canada.

99.5% of your game will go down in history, not just for video gaming, but as an art piece, one of the most engaging and personal stories ever told. A game that Bioware can tuck in its belt, like you did with KOTOR, where your company can set the benchmark that all other companies try to emulate. I know Bioware isn't just about the money. It may be a business, it may be incorporated and have shareholders, but the employees at Bioware are designing Art. We know you care about the products you put out into the marketplace, it is evident by the extreme attention you put into continuity and the little quirks that make us smile.

Designing and making video games is not fun, its hard work, long hours and stressful. Like a lot of jobs. However, an accountant does not get to sit back at the end of the day, point to something and say "I created this. I and my entire community put in untold hours and created this masterpiece." Except for, of course, if you have accountants at Bioware. This is the sad part about your fans reaction. 0.5% of your game is flawed, and I wouldn't believe it. but 0.5% of that is at the end and it competely invalidates anything that was accomplished across three games. The hours you put into Mass Effect 1, 2 and 3 are now meaningless to the story.

I believe that Mass Effect fans are upset because the universe they have grown to love, is the reason they played Mass Effect 3. Reapers were coming to destroy it, and kill everyone. We all hoped we could stop it, or even loose to the Reapers. The way the story ended, with the mass relays gone, the Geth dead, perhaps those relays exploded and killed everything, if you chose destroy, well universe is saved sort of, and that is a reasonable conclusion for real life. I mean we all die anyways and the impacts that the majority of us have is negligible in the world, a world that will forget us, but Mass Effect isn't as depressing as real life. In Mass Effect you can't get cancer and humans live beyond one hundred years, all the characters that have bad parents end up super powerful biotics or something.

The soul crushing that Mass Effect 3 is a great ride. Thane, Mordin, Legion, Tali, Miranda, the way they die, the way countless people in this universe perish, is the most depressing ride that I have ever seen through a median like this, and it is beautiful. The endings are nothing like this. Somehow these endings managed to invalidate three games full of choices. Other people have expressed the reasons why the ending makes all of our Shepard's choices redundant. All this game needs to be that epitome of storytelling, is a good ending. The reception that your fans are showing is an indicator that the current ending is not good. If Bioware employees put this much passion, love and spent life into making this game as perfect as they can, isn't it doing all that work an injustice by allowing 99.5% of that wonderful epic piece of storytelling to be ruined by 0.5% of work that wasn't so good, which is understandable, we know you were under a lot of stress during this project. Bioware employees are human beings, and a lot of them are Canadians, which makes them more Human.

I will pay $10 to download DLC that fixes the endings and bring closure. The current ending seems to conjure up this feeling inside me, "What was the point of playing?" I would try to answer "The Experience," but that has all been devalued by five minutes of gameplay. I hope we can have our really depressing endings, and our endings that are not as depressing. I was planning on buying the extra DLC like Arrival and Kasumi after I finished Mass Effect 3, but with this conclusion, I feel like it was all for nothing. My choices didn't really matter.

Sincerely,
Nova Scotia,

[Scorpii]

It's hard for me to give a score at this point...

As a lot of people here, I enjoyed the game up until the last mission, if fact, I love the last mission as is, I just don't like the intro nor the ending.

I helped Aria to get her mercenaries, she said I could count on her when needed, I expected to see her and the mercenaries in the final battle but that didn't happen.

What about the Rachni? I chose to save the queen on ME1, they pretty much said in ME2 that I could count on them, I actually ended up saving them again in ME3, and after that I was hoping to at least see them giving support at the end, maybe swarming around some reapers but no, an apparently big decision going to who knows where...

I feel like I just saw a prefabricated video in which no mater what you do, it'll be the same, that was a let down.

Ok, the last mission started, it intense and great, and becoming more intense toward the end, and just before the last run in the camp I got a chance to talk to all my crew, share a few words, kiss with my LI, cheer up a little bit imagining how it would be after all is finished. It gave kind of hope for going that last run and end it all triumphant.

I chose my to squad members which one of them was my LI and went for the last run, the troops were intercepted with a reaper which forced us to go on foot the last couple of hundred meters. The reaper started shooting at us, all great until the ray hit us. I thought, oh well, maybe I didn't dodge it fast enough while expecting the "mission failed" screen, but no, It was in fact part of the ending, I woke up barely a live and all in slow motion (very dramatic, but cool), three husk coming at me, I desperately tried to move fast enough to shoot them before they got to me while thinking in my squad, just wanting to kill them to look around and see whether my squad members were alive or not, but they were nowhere to be seen (another mayor let down) I entered the transporter ray and appeared on the citadel, where Anderson some how managed to go through, and all that stuff people already know. I really dislike not knowing more about what happened to my squad, to earth, to other species. So what? Do I have to use my imagination? If I had to, what do I have to do such thing? A bunch of relays destroyed and a lot of races trapped in our solar system? If I recall, in ME2 I destroyed a relay causing a massive genocide, the energy released by the relay destruction was sufficient to eradicate life in the whole system. Then I must assume even though I managed to destroy, control or combine with synthetics, almost all systems including the earth were destroyed by the mass relay destructions, great!

And what about the rest of my crew? they foresaw all this so while I was scarifying myself to safe the galaxy, they took the normandy and ran away through the mass relay to who knows where?

How is this a proper ending to such a formidable story?

I really hope Biowere release an extra ending on a DLC, I would ideally hope a happy ending watching myself with my LI and squad enjoying victory and rebuilding our planets. I want to see the Rachni, Aria, the Blue Suns, Blood Pack, and so on...

Even little details like at least letting me see my wounded squad members, maybe watching them die, would give more sense at the end, making Shepard feel miserable and making easier to give in life...

Nothing make sense at the end, please fix it!

Hard for me to give a score but:

Game until just before the last mission: 96/100
intro to last mission:                                70/100
last mission gameplay:                             98/100
last mission ending:                                  40/100

overall:                                                      76/100

Modifié par Scorpii, 11 mars 2012 - 02:34 .

[Brass_Buckles]

My review:

I'd rate Mass Effect 3 a 10/100.  Edit:  No, there's not a missing number there.  It's a ten out of a hundred.  That low.  Because, as I will explain further down, a bad ending can ruin an entire series, no matter how great the build-up to it was.

Pros:

The dialogue, voice acting, the losses and the victories that you see through the whole game leading up to the ending are amazing.  I felt like I was really building up to something great.  Like finally I'd get to end this thing with the Reapers.

My Shepard's romantic relationship with Garrus felt really natural, "organic," if you will.  I know that he probably said some rather different things if he wasn't romanced, but I didn't feel like I missed out on anything.  I felt like he and Shepard were really there for each other and it wasn't one-sided as it appeared to be--more than a little bit--in ME2.  I was grinning and going "d'aww" over every scene with them.  The "farewell" scene was particularly touching.  The only disappointment there was that there weren't more of those scenes.

Cons:

Number one con:  the endings.  They don't even deserve the dignity of a plural.  You get the same result.

It's not that I wanted a happy ending, necessarily.  However, the ending we got felt like something a child came up with.  It's not what I expected, and not what I feel I deserved after putting hours upon hours of work into playing all three games.  I would have been okay with Shepard dying, if I'd gotten to see what became of all the people I'd helped or harmed, based on the choices that I made.  Even ending cards like I got in DA:O would have been acceptable.  And I think that Garrus (and any other LI) should have been having a funeral, or otherwise mourning my Shepard's loss, if not death (I'm aware that Shep can survive in one ending).  I would have liked a few lines of dialogue about Shepard and the whole experience in general.

I would have been fine with an ending that made me cry.  As it was, the ending was so out-of-nowhere, so out-of-place with the rest of the series--even when I suspected that there might be a new enemy other than the Reapers--that it just seemed ridiculous.  I think I even would have been okay with Shepard dying without ever being able to touch the controls.

And then there's the fact that all the relays went boom.  I know some people have said, "Oh but everyone can rebuild."  But I started thinking, and I remember what happens when a relay is destroyed from Arrival.  And that means that the Normandy's crew is really all that's left, and that means the dextro-squaddies are doomed.  Take back Earth?  No, Earth probably just got blown up with the Relay and every other planet in the Sol system.  The Reapers have won.  There might be people left, but anyone living in a system with a relay would simply be gone.

I was expecting Shepard to need to make some sacrifice, especially since I played paragon.  Possibly be willing to die, or be left behind, or killed by the firing of the weapon.  I was hoping to see the impact of hours upon hours of decisions, not all of them easy.  Like so many other fans, I feel horrendously cheated.  I might replay the game, because I love the rest of it, but when my actions didn't really matter because whatever I do my actions didn't matter, it just doesn't feel worth all that time and effort.  Or the high price I paid for the collector's edition.  It's like reading a really great novel series, and then the ending just falls flat because the author got bored with writing it and slapped something together.

Less catastrophic flaws include the glitches.  Garrus's date scene had a massive image of Shepard superimposed behind Garrus's face at one point.  Yes, my graphics driver is up-to-date.  And there are some "hitches" in animation from time to time.

I didn't like all the scanning.  I should have had to land planetside to recover some of those things.  Some of them would have made for fun missions--go rescue X group of people.  Visit Y exotic temple to get an ancient artifact to inspire people of Z species.

I agree with some others that the dialogue seemed limiting.  Too little ability to give input of my own.  Too few neutral options, and paragon and renegade were so strongly split this game that I ended up going pure paragon.  I have never done that before.  Even in my most paragon playthrough, the first time I played, I made some renegade decisions.

But even with the other minor flaws, the ending is the thing that really ruins the game for me.  And let's face it, when it's meant to be the end of the trilogy, and everyone was talking about how epic the ending was going to be, and when we know that there are supposed to be more games released within this franchise, that ending was a ripoff.  An ending can make or break a book or movie, and it definitely makes or breaks a game as well.  It makes me feel like the devs just laughed at me as they took their paychecks to the bank that so many fans contributed to with the purchase of this game.  It feels like the Mass Effect universe got peed on.  I played the games because I really loved the MEverse.  The species, the characters, the not-very-realistic tech.  I've never been that into science fiction games; I've always preferred fantasy.  But Mass Effect was just so good that it brought me over.  Of course, it's just a game, and I'll get over it fast enough, but at the moment, having taken time off from work to play the game and having spent the last three days playing it relentlessly, words cannot express how disappointed this ending made me.

I really hope that, because the way that the ending was set up, there will also be a "true" ending released and it will turn out that the original ending played out as it did because Shepard had become so legendary as to be seen as a religious figure, and the reality of what happened was either not known or not remembered.  Because really, how could someone even really know what happened, without having been there?  And no one else but Shepard was there, and if Shepard didn't survive it, then...

There are just way too many flaws with the endings.  And as Udina would say, "This is an outrage!"

At this point I don't have much faith that new endings will be released, but I hope, Bioware, having seen how upset most of us are about the current ones, mostly in regard to closure and knowing what results our choices had, that you will at least bear this in mind for the future.

Games are far too expensive a form of entertainment, and the Mass Effect series takes far too long to play, to satisfy with this kind of ending.  I think, unless there's something truly epic planned ahead, it'd be hard to sell any further Mass Effect games to me.

Modifié par Brass_Buckles, 11 mars 2012 - 02:27 .

[ftkerns]

Saw a comment a while ago on Penny-Arcade that sums it up perfectly--the ending "was so bad it gets into M. Night Shyamalan territory."
Anyway, after checking around the internet, I found a few mentions of the chances of getting a "golden" ending--Reapers defeated, Shep survives, things turn out okay for the galaxy in general--are increased through multiplayer. Y'know, I was wondering why my galactic readiness rating stayed at 50% through the entire game, from beginning to goddamn horrible ending, even though I did almost all of the side missions. Now, not only am I still depressed over the ending, I'm getting furious. I was under the impression, after hearing comments from the writers, that while MP enhanced your galactic readiness, you could still get a good ending with single-player only. Well, this appears to be completely false.

Which really, really pisses me off. I'm not into multiplayer, and none of my friends are, either. And I don't just hop online and hook up with random people, especially since most of them are probably hardcore gamers who can hand me my ass every ten seconds, because I'm into this game for its story. So now I'm feeling like I'm being punished because I don't do MP. Getting an at least moderately good ending to the game--and the whole trilogy--should not depend on things like MP, when not everyone who plays the game is interested in such a feature. MP should be there to add an extra level of enjoyment for anyone who wants it, not an integral part of the game that will cripple your readiness rating if you're just not interested in online gameplay.

So...possible solutions. Patch/DLC/expansion pack that adds one or two new endings, giving those of us who want a happy--or at least moderately upbeat--conclusion a way to save the galaxy without dying and/or hosing every life form across 100,000 lightyears. Don't get rid of the atrocious endings, keep them in for those who like them--just give us an extra option or two, so we can actually enjoy playing the game and trust you to continue making epic, well-written games in the future.

One thing I might suggest for a DLC ending: when the Catalyst explains that it controls the Reapers and why it's perpetuating the cycle of genocide, Shep should first show some outrage. Something like, "You're controlling them? You're the cause of all this? You've been murdering trillions upon trillions of innocent people for millions of years! You son of a ****!" Then he/she should be able to, if the Reputation and Paragon/Renegade points are high enough, convince the Catalyst to end the cycle. There should be an option to say, first of all, "Killing us to 'save' us doesn't make any sense at all!" And second, "Look at Joker and EDI; they're certainly getting along fine. And the geth and the quarians! They're cooperating, not just to stop the Reapers, but because they want to. They've learned to live with each other. They're building their own future together. Give all of us a chance to do the same."

One possibility I find interesting is that maybe Shep could suggest that the Catalyst withdraw the Reapers but keep an eye on things for a while. "Let us prove that organics and synthetics can coexist. Stop the slaughter now, leave us alone, give us another 50,000 years to sort out whatever problems might come up. Give us a chance to prove that we're all better people than you think we are, organics and synthetics alike. And if we prove ourselves, then the Reapers never set foot in our galaxy ever again, and you let us evolve on our own terms for as long as the universe exists."

Well, that's how it'd go if I were writing it.  And if I were keeping the ridiculous excuse of a "reason" that Catalyst is doing this in the first place.

Another possibility is to simply go back to the original idea of the Reapers trying to preserve us against the dark energy threat. In which case, Shep should have the option to tell the Catalyst, "Did it ever occur to you that some of the people you slaughter during each harvest could've already figured out a solution?  Give us a chance to work it out on our own."

Or...this may be a simpler and easier to implement option...just make a small update that takes away the influence of MP on the main game. That way, everyone who is into MP won't even have to download it, and can continue playing as usual. And those of us who don't do MP can install it and actually see our galactic readiness rise above 50%.

That way, everyone has a choice. Which is what I thought these games were all about.

[goose2989]

Dear Mr. Priestly,

My Mass Effect 3 score is 60/100

I sincerely hope that you are still reading these. I am very aware how upset everyone is, and how I am clearly no different. I also would like to clarify that I have, essentially, two scores for ME3. They are as follows:

ME3 until activating the Crucible - 95/100

After your "choice" - 10/100

While my overal 60/100 is not an average of the two (it would be 52.5) the vast majority of the game is so great that I can't lower the score more. With that said, here are my pros and likes:

PROS - 

The characters, as usual, were a homerun. Dialogue on the Normandy was fabulous, and having crewmates meeting each other around the Normandy was a fantastic touch. It showed that Shepard isn't the only person who has friends. Squadmate banter during missions was fantastic, and I am happy how certain combos (Tali and Garrus, specifically) all related with each other differently. Many fans felt that Tali, Garrus and Shepard should be friends in canon, and the dialogue made that feel so much more real. Vega was also much more likeable than we expected; nice job with him. Give Freddie a high-five

I applaud the voice acting as well. It was as great as I expected it to be. No reason to go into any more detail

The romance was great. I have been a long time fan of Tali, and ME3 was a satisfying experience for Tali and Shepard. While I would have liked more dialogue between them, the Normandy dialogue and that of the Rannoch missions was fantastic. The way that Tali's face was handled was also a huge plus to me. Since I did look at her, I would have liked to have seen that be a "trigger" of sorts to show Tali in-game during the romance scene. But I understand the reasoning, and I am still happy with the results. As for the stock photo, I liked her a lot. She was as gorgeous as I pictured her, and in the right way. If not the stock photo, I would assume that the artists would have used some random supermodel, much like Liara, Samara, Miranda, etc. and that would have made her feel too connected to the individual model.

In short, I like how Tali looked and how you designed her.

Next, I'll say the combat was imrpoved in every aspect of it. Mobility was what I noticed first, and loved the ways Shepard can get around the battlefield. Weapon modifications were superb, creating a great balance between too much "Skyrim" and too much ME2. Great job there. Give the appropriate designers and developers for that section a high-five from me. 

As for the Citadel, I was pleased at how large and detailed it was. While I was initially dissappointed that we only have one hub world, I am glad that it allowed more depth to be added to it. Also, showing the increase in refugees and general chaos was a nice touch. And regarding squadmates not coming with, I think that was a change for the better. I missed having Tali and Garrus with me,  but talking to them on the Citadel at other locations was nice. Again, well done with that. 

My final pro is the soundtrack. I don't know why Bioware decided to detach Jack Wall, or why you hired Clint Mansell, but the outcome was spectacular. Combat themes were absolutely fantastic, making the game feel much more exciting. The combat themes for Sur'Kesh and Rannoch were breathtaking. And the piano tracks, during all those dificult moments, really get my emotions going. Mordin's death had me genuinely crying, as did watching Earth fall in the first few minutes of the game. Seeing the Reaper destroyer blast the child from the sky was tough. It made me swear revenge on the Reapers. I had some genuine anger for them, the most from the whole series. I was the first time I really felt any real anger towards the Reapers, more than simply "they're the bad guys". 

Sadly, I now need to discuss what I felt was wrong with ME3. I'm sure you can guess where I am going...

I almost feel I can just write "read multiple previous posts" but I am with the majority when I ask for a new outcome. I realize it may not make perfect sense, but I feel that the given ending possibilities for ME3 MAKE NO SENSE AT ALL! I don't believe that the writing staff actually felt this was a good was to end ME3. Even if that was the case, you have seen overwhelming evidence from thousands upon thousands of fans that we want somethingdifferent. At the very least, Bioware must see the potential for future DLC options. While I am not one bit pleased with the thought, countless fans would be willing to purchase additional DLC that gives us that "DIsney-like" ending. I can honestly say I am one of them. Maybe it's typical. Maybe it's cheesy, But hey, I want the chance to see Tali and Shepard live happily ever after. If we are willing to pay for it, THEN LET US! I am longtime fan, but the endings have me teetering on the edge of dissatisfaction. 

It may be out of place for this review, but it is so important to be. Please give us the option for that happy ending. That's what Mass Effect is all about, right? The option? The choice?  And obviously give those that romance Liara, Garrus, Ashley, etc. the same opportunity. I can bet you Bioware would make a nice hunk of change for something that can easily be added to the game. 

As for the ending itself (please notice I used the singular form of the word), whether or not you wanted a sad ending seems irrelevant at this point. The ending seems pointless regardless. Organics and synthetics can't get along? I believe I united the Quarians and Geth only 10 hours earlier... Go ahead and let the Catalyst say that, but let us have a chance to give him a big middle finger. Require an EMS of 6,000, or whatever, to succeed. We want to see the Reapers lose without Shepard dying, or sacrificing the Relays. And I sure don't want Tali and Garrus stuck on a backwater planet. If they can eat the food, then Joker and any other surviving crew members cant. 

Other small complaints would include thigs like the extra emphasis on Liara (she almost appeared as a co-protagonist). It would be more acceptable if Shepard's LI was given this position, and Liara take it if she is Romanced or you choose no LI. The same goes for the images that flash across Shepard's eyes while choosing at the end. I would have liked to see Tali and Garrus in there. 

Besides the ending, which I genuinely feel is atrocious, that was the next-worst thing I can think of.

I apologize for the rant, but I tried to be as polite as possible. I hope you are still reading this, and would love to hear from you in the near-future. 

Thank you for your time,

Kristofer R

[RyianaT]

Things I loved: (spoilers)

• A Shepard with emotion.  My Shepard felt things this time and that was great to see.
• Interactions with characters - the scene with Garrus and shooting the bottles or with Kaidan at dinner, for instance, just really gave impact.
• The way the crew/companions moved around the ship/Citadel and spoke to each other - it added a lot to the game for me
• more connection between Shepard and Hackett/Anderson

Things that were somewhat annoying:

• The journal - just telling me that something is on planet Dekuuna does not tell me where I need to go or what I need to do. 
• The Reapers attacking/scanning thing - that was simply annoying and I would rather have the old ME 2 scanning (and I didn't like the ME 2 scanning)
• Some dialogue could not be heard.  I only knew they existed because I play with sub-titles.

None of the "annoying" things were game-breaking.  In fact, I was over the moon in love with this game - until the end.  Like the majority of others posting here, I was EXTREMELY disappointed with the endings.  How exactly did my choices matter for that?  How was this "my" Shepard's story exactly?  You told how YOU felt the story should end.  And if you were writing a novel, that would be fine.  But you were not.  This game has been marketed with the idea that our choices matter and that its about OUR choices, but then you leave us with the same ending regardless of anything we did.  After all the hours and money I have sunk into the ME series, those endings almost feel like I got flipped off by you guys.  I do not mean to disrespect you guys or anything - there is no doubting the hard work, long hours, and heart you guys have put into this series.  But why weren't there choices at the end of the final game?  Where was the option to have Shepard rescued from the Citadel before the relays blew, thus at least allowing her to live with her LI and friends rewarding her for everything she's done for the galaxy?  I know in real life, people don't always win - but sometimes they do.  And guess what, I don't play these games for realism - I live real life and its hard and sometimes sucks beyond the telling of it (to quote Buffy).  I do not spend my money and my time for entertainment that depresses me worse than real life.  I don't know if I will be able to play ME again.  Why would I?  Nothing I did in any of the 3 games really matters. 

All in all - it was a amazing game with the potential to blow all else out of the water, but the endings take all of those good feelings away.  Honestly, I'm dissatisfied and disappointed - I expected more from you guys.  Maybe my expectations were unfair, but you asked for my opinion - so there you go.