1966 réponses à ce sujet

[Errationatus]

Remember, you asked.

Things I was cool with:

 - Overall, the game was deep, detailed and looked very nice on my rig, gameplay was satisfying, except for sometimes when Shep wasn't quite sure where to roll or if he should get into cover (especially when he should have!).  Love/hate Banshees.  Gawdamn deadly b!tches.  Hated those stinking Cerberus engineers too, but loved wasting the annoying little mofos.  

 - The characters were in character for the most part.  I wouldn't have minded seeing that "N7" tattoo of Jack's.  Very disappointed there.  Grunt kicked rachni heinie.  Garrus stayed a bro.  Jacob was bland but solid.  Tali and Garrus hooking up was hilarious.  No doubt there were Taliwhackers bent outta shape over that.  They are a smidge ...possessive, if you hadn't noticed.  Liara and Samara were gorgeous, as always.  Eve was a great character.  Liked her a lot.  Mordin went out well.  I liked the heavier, more armored suit for Tali.  That made her look sharp.  Her being drunk was amusing.  Her follow-up with Javik was funny too.  Good job with Kai Leng. Hated him almost immediately. Couldn't wait to kill that pr!ck as violently as possible.  Nice to see David at Grissom A.

 - Loved how Bioware trolled the Taliwhackers.  I wonder how many of them actually know how - and I don't mean just the picture of her face.  If you have trouble, I'll give you a hint:  the face was likely done that way on purpose.

 - Unlike a lot of people, I had no real problem with the endings.  I get them.  Would I like a "happy" ending?  The romantic in me says yeah, but the realist in me gets it.  If you wanna give me a triumphant, happy ending, I wouldn't turn it down, but I'm not some whiney little sh!t with presumptuously self-entitled delusions enough to "demand" one.  

 - I liked the change in the Citadel over time, to reflect the growing crisis, both in its state and news broadcasts.  To me, it's the small things and touches that make a story richer.  

 - The weapons were good.  Biotics were better for the most part.  The weight to cooldown ratio needs tweaking, though - it's too restrictive at the moment.

 - One thing I think needs pointing out:  I don't think the kid from the opening was the Guardian.  I think Shepard either saw him that way or the Guardian plucked it from his head. The last dream of Shep's kinda presaged that.  People need to pay a tad more attention, I think.  The planet the old man and kid are on is the Normandy planet.  I'll give you another hint:  pay attention to the sky after the Normandy crashes.  Also, moons move.

 - Also, one thing I'd like to point out to those who whine about past decisions not mattering?  They matter:  to your quantity of "war assets" and the strength of your final attack.  For instance, there can be a big difference to having the geth and not having the geth, having Eve and not having Eve.

You people really need to pay attention.  Sheesh.  


Things that could have been better:

 - The constant "go get this, go back to the Citadel, pick up thirteen quests, go, then back to the Citadel" was tiring and tedious.  I seriously began to dread the idea of going anywhere near the Citadel again.  It also slows my enthusiasm for any replays.  I can take filler, BW, but that was just annoying.  You could have used that for ME2 romance arcs.  Hell, you could have woven our ME2 romance arcs through all that fetch/return stuff.  Not impossible.

 - Cerberus got tedious really quickly too.  Story-wise, I got that they were undermining everything and furthering TIM's nefarious plans, but come on.  I got so sick of seeing them over and over and over.  Maybe it's just me though.  It's also a pity you just made him another Saren in the end.  Right down to the convincing him to suicide.  That was just lazy, BW.  Don't deny it.  That's what you did.  Tsk.

 - Balak as leader of the remaining batarians.  No.  Just no.  That was seriously contrived, lame and verging on incredulously stupid.  He needed a bullet in his head, not power and redemption.  A very sour note for me.

 - Diana Allers was completely unnecessary.  I'm sure Chobot is a fine, decent human being, but she did not need to stink up my game.  The only mitigating point to her was I could both refuse her initial presence and remove it at any time.  If she'd been forced on me or made necessary, there would have been far more nerdrage outta me.  She was good for five points and nothing else.  How exactly did she end up in ME, BW, hmmm?

 - Miranda looked almost identical to ME2.  This is not a good thing.  Those who love Miranda will know what I mean.

 - Non-ME romances got pretty much nothing.  Again, I get it, but they deserved more.

 - Was not happy when the audio at the Thresher Maw/ Reaper fight cut out - all the way through Mordin's sacrifice and the briefing after.  Not happy at all.  Also, at some point my Shepard's eyes bugged out of his head and stayed that way another entire mission.  Not impressed with that, either.  Funny, but not cool.

 - EDI.  Really, BW?  We needed a heavy-jugged cylon on the Normandy learning how to love?  Did we?  Really?  Lame fanservice.  Unnecessary.

 - Why the hell was Joker in a relay at the end?  Where was the Normandy going?  Without some kind of bridging scene, that ending makes no sense whatsoever.  Granted, there's more butthurt over that than it actually warrants, but it's understandable to a point.

 - The English guy toward the end that stated he was the "Big Ben Sniper" did not look even remotely like the Big Ben Sniper from the cinematic.  A pity.

 - I had to release the Rachni again?

 - Only got to ride an Atlas once.  Once.  Not cool.

 - I would have liked more closure with Jack (since she was the romance in my MShep canon playthrough).  A short sweet vid was unsatisfying.  I understand the idea that the main thrust of the ME narrative involves the original squad, but something more than, "Yeah, you don't suck," at the end from Jack would have been better.  

Still and all, not game-breaking.  It is the Apocalypse.  We have to make allowances.  *Sigh*

 - Wrex calling everyone "pyjacks".  He sounded like an semi-grumpy uncle, not a relentlessly ruthless warlord.  I get "mellowed", but c'mon.

 - 
Ash was annoying as hell with her neverending doubts and distrust.  Even romanced.  The hell?  If I haven't proved myself by the start of ME3, there's no doing it.  It was hard to keep liking her at that point.

 - Rannoch.  Jona's dad buying it too?  Not cool.  I get it, but not cool.  Forced and unnecessary.

 - That damn Reaper.  How about some cover?  No?  I'm suddenly playing Bionic Commando?  FFS.

 - The quarians are a very stupid race.  I caught myself almost yelling at the screen a few times as they kept up their stupidity with the geth.  Not an actual fault in the game, but jeez.

 - The Sanctuary mission was pointless.  Nice wrap up for Miranda, but generally I was going "so?" the entire time. Maybe I was still weary from all those Citadel runarounds, but I just didn't care.  Maybe I need a playthrough from ME2 where I romanced her.  Dunno.

 - Did I mention I hated Banshees?  I'd rather face the damn brutes. They were less intimidating.

Well, all I can think of really, so far.  If I had to give it a score, even though I think it's meaningless,  I'd give it a tentative 8.5/10.  If there is more to this game you've yet to release, I'll hold off a final score and judgment until all content coming has arrived - unless future DLC is just multiplayer maps/crap/whatever, then I won't care and and my score will stand.

[Sergeant Threat]

 Up until the last 15 minutes i would give this game a 9/10. 

Then I have no idea what happened to the story we've worked 5 years for. No replayability like the first two games. In fact, I don't see how any more Mass Effect games could come after this. I'm Not saying I want a happy ending with rainbows and unicorns. I came into this game expecting Shepard to die, but instead of killing off Shepard you killed off the entire Mass Effect universe.

2/10:(

[Cybermortis]

Why are so many stating that they would PAY for a DLC that would fix the ending? If I buy a new car and find out that the brakes don't work I do not expect to have to pay extra to get them fixed.

A year ago we got Dragon Age 2, a game that did to Biowares reputation what the atomic bomb did for Hiroshima. BW indicated that they were listening to the (many) complaints about the game and keeping them in mind. Apparently this was a lie, because they have repeated many of the same errors they made back then in ME3.

We get the 'find this and magically return to person X' quests. We get promises of choice and find that they don't matter in the end. We get an ending that makes no sense on any level. Heck we literally get the same ending sentence; 'Continue your adventures by buying DLC!' (paraphrasing here).

The differences between DA2 and ME3 are that the former didn't destroy the entire world in which it was set, allowing future games to be set in a rich universe with a history that adds immersion. ME3 manages, regardless of which of the 'choices' you make, to rule out ANY possibility of future games in that universe. Play pre-Reaper period?...Why, it will have zero effect. Play afterwards?...its not the same universe because you just destroyed it.

The good points;

Combat - A very definite improvement over ME2 on every level.

Upgrades/levelling - Again, a vast improvement over ME2.

Settings - The option of playing the game as a 'shooter', 'classic' ME or as an RPG was a good one...although I'm not entirely sure how the latter two compare.

[Tezzajh]

my perfect ending would be the device would not work and you would have to rely on your war assets to win, so it will be like me2 loyalty missions. more effort you put in more you get out. it would be a brilliant excuse to do multiplayer to gain war assets

[cruggero22]

Did anyone besides me get the notion that the catalyst was some version of a creator entity, or godlike?

[levannar]

My overall score: 95/100

Overall, I honestly believe that this game is, if not the best in the series (let's face it, it's pretty much impossible to objectively pick a best from these three masterpieces), but at least right up there with ME1 and 2 in quality. It feels far more linear than those two, but I can't really be mad for that when I see how powerful the narrative is, how the writing and voice acting shine thanks to the better structure of the story and more defined character for Shepard. To be honest, up until the end of the Quarian/Geth storyline, I would've given it a resounding 100/100; I even thought about how everything I'd seen until that point had made my jaw drop, and how I couldn't find a single thing that would've decreased the score. I'd like to reflect on different aspects of the game, and most of all, the problems that eventually made me take away those 5 points.

Technical matters (bugs, polish, etc.): 80/100

First of all, I started my Shepard back in ME1, which means I'm one of the many people affected by the import bug. It didn't really annoy me, but then again, I hadn't put too much effort into creating this particular Shepard's face. I was able to recreate her in ME3 pretty well, however, and I can proudly say she has that distinctive FemShep feel I have grown to love. 

Another major bug I've experienced is the one that resets Shepard to Level 1. Thankfully, I had saved mere minutes before it happened. A bug I found far more annoying is the one where Shepard gets stuck on the Normandy's bridge after talking to Joker or EDI--this forced me to reload quite a few times throughout the game. Other than these bugs, all I've found were graphical glitches--clipping issues were fairly common. I experienced no performance issues that couldn't be attributed to my crappy laptop.

Gameplay: 97/100

Many have praised ME3's gameplay, and for good reason. I've had a lot of fun playing the game, especially with the Vanguard's Charge + Nova combo--on lower difficulties, Shepard simply owns the battlefield, and that felt pretty awesome when I was fighting galactic annihilation. The level designs are also infinitely better than in ME2. My only gripe is the omnipotent Space button--like many others, I've gone into cover facing the enemy when I was triying to sprint away, picked up mods and datapads when I was trying to go into cover, gone into cover when I was trying to pick up mods or datapads. And let's not even get into the issues with reviving in multiplayer. Still, I love the system.

Music and sound effects: 100/100

Very well done all around. The soundtrack is amazing--my favorite tracks are currently Leaving Earth and Stand Strong, Stand Together, but there are so many more gorgeous songs: Mars, A Future for the Krogan, Sur'Kesh, Rannoch, I Was Lost Without You, The Fleets Arrive (triumphant Mass Effect theme for the win), I'm Proud of You, and of course, The End, Once And For All (which is steadily growing on me, despite its aching lack of the ME theme or Vigil--I always felt those should've made a return at the very end of the series). I guess I just listed most of the soundtrack, but that just shows what an incredible work the team has done. The sound effects were just as good, I'm totally in love with the Reaper sounds, and the Banshee screams still give me chills.

Plot: 90/100

Now we're getting to the important parts (at least for me, the story and writing were the main influences on my experience). Like I said before, the plot up to the end of the Quarian/Geth storyline was amazing. In my opinion, the problems started with Legion's death--that was the first thing I disliked in the entire game. It wasn't the fact he died, but the way it was executed--it all happened so fast, and IMO it wasn't explained very well just why he had to die. I would've appreciated at least an interrupt with no real effect, like in Mordin's case. But I digress.

From that point in the story, there were multiple plot points that I felt weren't properly explained. Why was the Prothean Beacon encased in a statue? If the Asari were studying it, why didn't they put it in some top secret scientific complex? That they were "hiding it in plain sight" didn't make much sense to me. The Reaper attack on the Citadel was also fishy--it reminded me of the moment in KOTOR when the player learned aboard the Leviathan that Dantooine had fallen. In both cases, the "show, don't tell" rule was broken, and at first I actually had trouble believing what happened. And if the Reapers could take the Citadel so easily, why hadn't they done so before? Not to mention, how did they get it to Earth so quickly? Can an object so huge really be transported through a mass relay? I'm not saying it can't be, but some explanation would've been nice.

And there's the ending, of course--completely detached from the rest of the story, raising so many questions and problems that I won't bother to write them all down. The only reason I'm not taking away more points for it is that at the time, I didn't realize how problematic it was--only later did I start thinking about it. It also didn't 'ruin' Mass Effect for me, something I'm thankful to my own tolerance for. Still, the issue remains that no closure was given at the end. I don't know what happened to most of my squad or the allying fleets--heck, I don't even know if the relays exploded like in Arrival, destroying just about every star system in the galaxy, or if it was somehow different and the species I have fought so hard to save were spared. There's also the question of what the heck the Normandy was doing in transit when the battle for Earth was still raging. I cannot believe my crew would run from the battle like that. They simply wouldn't. There's no way.

Characters, dialogues, banter, voice acting: 100/100

I saved the best for last. This is why I play ME games, and ME3 did not disappoint--actually, in this regard, I think it's the best in the entire series. All the characters were brilliantly written, there's no getting around that fact. I just cannot even describe the range of emotions the writing made me feel--there were hilarious moments like drunk Ash and Tali, the supremely annoying Kai Leng (and his death, one of the most satisfying moments in any game I've ever played--to quote Shepard, "This is for Thane, you son of a <beep>"). There were the absolutely wonderfully written romance convos (Garrus romance for me, and oh boy, did it deliver), and some of the most touching, heartwrenching moments in the entire series. 

At this point, I'd like to mention that NO game or movie, nor any other work or fiction has ever made me sob uncontrollably for almost an hour--yet that is exactly what Mordin's death scene accomplished. It was so perfect, so flawlessly executed--treading that fine line between forced and inevitable, never once straying out of character, providing redemption and a fitting end for one of the most controversial yet beloved figures in the entire series. Even now, three days later, I have tears in my eyes as I write this--and I'm proud to say that for the first time ever, I mourn a fictional character as I would a real life person. I don't know what that makes me (at the very least, terribly sentimental), but I do know that it makes Mass Effect 3 one of the greatest gaming experiences in my entire life. Regardless of its flaws. 

[deity]

Just finished the game and sit here with a feeling of "whatever"

Prior to the ending I would rate it at around 8 out of 10... Why, some lacking conclusion for lack of better word. Harbinger is somewhat big in ME2, and the reaper on Rannoch mentions it and then ... nothing!
I played my femshep first, with Kaidan as LI ... and maybe I missed something but a couple of sentences and they were on track for resuming relationship?!?!?!? I have yet to play my male shep with Ashley as LI, so can't comment on that.

It annoys me, that multiplayer has such a large impact on the singleplayer game, which I have concluded for prior posts... I'm not really a multiplayer kind of person!

Finally the lack of dialogue choices in general... as several other posters have mentioned..

The story, the fighting, the scenery, the mood ... I mean the final conversations with your whole squad (old and new) loved it... which is why ME3 gets an 8 out of 10 from me...

However, if I include the "Grand Finale" that score will go significantly down...
As Tooneyman wrote:
"Bad endings. Either way you die. It doesn't matter. I don't have to say anymore than that to get a point across. Bioware is going to look at this very carefully and truly listen to the fans now because their reputation and game sales from here on in will be affected. There is a solution however.

BIOWARE! You make DLC, or you can make the expansion you talked about to fix the endings of Mass Effect 3. The choices are yours. Because Mass Effect 3's needs fixing."

I totally concure with that... The ending .... what a dud!

[d00b1eman]

WTF.



bioware.... i haz a sad. and the messed up part about it all? none of it ultimately matters in the end. galactic readiness at 100? eff you everybody dies anyway. built up relationships all throughout the game thinking that everybody would play a part in the final battle? eff you they all die. think you're gonna be cool and do every mission on the citadel to help protect them during the final fight? eff you everybody on the citadel dies. i can go on and on, to how messed up it is they made my female commander shepard look like crap at the end of the game as if she wasn't the bad ass that she was during the whole series to have come out of that clean! ugh.

i didn't even get a choice in the matter. no, i just followed orders, instead of GIVING orders like a commander should.  i played all 3 of those games and you're telling me the best ending you got for all of those hours is one where joker and his robot girlfriend live while shepard gets stuck in some jacked up computer program? i seen Edi smirking at the end. of COURSE she's gonna make sure her and her man live while everybody else dies. good luck with that joker you douche you cant get a robot pregz you idiot smdh

and the prothean?

aint no female prothean so that race is now screwed too. i guess you can include all the other races as well, as they get plunged back in the stone ages because all of the mass relays blew up. who knows what happened to wrex and dem... or garrius... i guess ashley died on the way to the crucible but we will never know.. poor liara, i left her in london
somewhere. and all of that to end up talking to some dumb ass baby with a bad attitude to complete the game.. fake ass matrix. WHAT THE HELL MAN!

the last shot of shepard you wanted me to see was a battered and bruised dude? and for what? didn't he do everything to save the world? had this been the renegade ending... it would've been SWEET. karma. either way you're jacked. i would've respected that. but where's the true paragon ending? where's the hard work for all of the true paragons that grinded night after night into the early hours to set things up perfectly for the last stretch of your series??? i guess by wanting to ensure that you created a title that encompassed all fans, you wanted to be sure that the ending encompassed all things as well. bioware, i love your games. i played KOTOR, KOTOR 2, Jade Empire, Mass Effect 1, prereserved 2 and picked it up on the midnight release.. prereserved 3 and also picked THAT up at the midnight release. i was your ultimate fan boy. i'm 34 now.. so i maybe buy 2 or 3 games a year nowadays. and this was one i was really looking forward to, and you let me down at the end.



highly pissed.

but i still love you. i look forward to the DLC. i'll give you 10 bucks.. if you give me closure. deal?

Modifié par d00b1eman, 12 mars 2012 - 11:27 .

[Gruzmog]

Id like to rewrite my earlier 5,5 into a 7,5. I still think the ending was badly executed and full of plotholes, but the rest of the game is to much fun and the conversations are hilarious on occasion, Still hope the ending gets fixed or expanded though

Modifié par Gruzmog, 12 mars 2012 - 11:32 .

[GoBioWareGo]

Up until the ending? 9/10.

The only complaint in that part of the game was that i talked to Jack maybe once. Really? Only once? That's my only real gripe.

Weapon and armor customization finally seemed to be good, and the game was just GREAT, really felt epic.

Then I got to the ending....
And had some GodGhostAIChild give me the option to magically combine people and machines or wipe them out, all the relays were destroyed, the Normandy and all my crew is stranded on an unknown planet, and every fleet in the galaxy is stuck in Sol. Is this supposed to make any sense? It's like your writers were taking LSD for the last section of the game. Congrats on ruining an entire trilogy in five minutes.

1/10. Way to go Bioware.

-------------------------
Just got a little cooled down after finishing the game. It really was a good game. As for the ending.. Well i read this, and it has at least given me a little hope:
http://social.biowar...5/index/9727423 
Even if it turns out this isn't the case, i can at least pretend like it is for closure.

Modifié par GoBioWareGo, 13 mars 2012 - 12:42 .

[Kralin Ignatov]

Before the ending, I would have rated this game a 95/100, but the ending itself was a 2/10 a best, so over all, a 55/100. Considering the ending is very important to this franchise, its necessary to weight it more heavily

Gameplay was a solid 85/100. Controls were strange at first, but as I got used to them, they were very fluid. A separation of use and sprint / roll / cover  would have been nice, as it felt clunky when I wanted to do one action (open a door) and instead I took cover.

Story, besides the ending, gets a 99/100, easily. I cried on Tuchanka, on Ranoch, on the Citadel. I felt tied to the actions, compelled to save as many as I could. I was found caring for many individuals I did not think I would. I even brought along Chobot, although I hated her character, because I knew it would help me save people.

Setting was a perfect 100. I never forgot there was a war going on, never lost sight of the impending doom in the galaxy. I loved every depressing second of it.

But then the ending. As I said, 20/100 at best, and its 1/2 of the score. The biggest issue I have with it, is that I felt like I lost. Like I did something wrong. I ended up not caring what happened to my Shepard, as the endings didn't feel different. Oh, i get to control, destroy, or blend? That's nice, the same **** still happens anyways. I felt like nothing mattered to that point. Sure, the journey was nice, but the end was a failure, so who gives a damn? It just left me disappointed, and sad.

So, yeah, 55/100. Could have been great, but you dropped the ball when it was most important. If I were you, I would have made the endings first; devoted the most time to the most important part. But instead, the ends felt tacked on. Oh well.

I'll just keep these endings in mind next time you sell a game. I don't want to pre-order another mistake.

Modifié par Kralin Ignatov, 12 mars 2012 - 11:47 .

[MzAdventure]

Dear Bioware:

I pre-ordered the collector’s edition of Mass Effect 3 – the first time I’ve ever done that for a video game. I counted the hours down until it arrived. I’ve played almost non-stop since then. Ended yesterday’s session ready to head out to destroy Cerberus. At the time, I was excitedly telling my husband all about it… how great the game was, how I envisioned playing over and over again. I was even considering buying a copy for my PS3 in addition to the one I purchased for my Xbox as a show of support/appreciation for your handiwork.

Last night, I was truly entertained. Amazed, even, at the depth of play, the involvement I felt, the attachment. I’ve never had more fun playing a video game. I cried when Mordin died! A video game did that to me. Wow. I was ready to buy your entire catalog, repeatedly and forever. I was ready to start up ME 1&2 again and try some different choices (mind you, these are games I’ve already played seven ways to Sunday!!) I was already forming my apologies to husband and dogs for the many future hours they’d be deprived of my company whilst I immersed myself in your world yet again.

Cut to today – devastation. The endings were all terrible!!!! They rendered every choice I made, everything my character fought for, completely worthless. My first ending attempt (synthesis, Shepard dead, galaxy stranded as there were no relays, etc) left me utterly bereft. I tried the other choices – ack! Still bad, worse even and now I am becoming increasingly confused. Surely this wasn’t where you fine folks were going to leave me?

What had I done wrong?? Other than choosing NOT to do multi-player (I don’t do multi – if I wanted to interact with my fellow humans I’d sit down with my friend for poker), I completed every mission, gathered every resource… surely if life as Shepard and the gang knows it was changing forever, she’d at least get the chance to live it with them? What’s with this crazy end scene with Joker et. al climbing out of the Normandy, which was fleeing the fight before it crashed??? I don’t understand any of it.

So I fly to the internet… it will tell me, help me figure out how I screwed it up. After all, my first Shepard in ME2 got half her team killed before I got THAT game right. And find only other bewildered, formerly devoted followers of the ME story like myself. Having read about all the possible endings, I find myself with absolutely no desire to try them as they all lead to the same unsatisfying end result. Why would I bother to play the game anymore, or again? Spend time curing the genophage, for what? Quarians and geth… for what? I don’t know that I’ll ever play any of the games again now. I don’t want to purchase any more DLC etc. (you could easily have picked my pocket off the ME world for quite a bit more)

Worse still, I’m crushed. My heart is broken. I had expected to be sad when I finished – the bittersweet sadness of reaching the end of a great story. There is nothing quite like the feeling of finishing an amazing tale the first time, though there is comfort in knowing you can always pick the book up again. This time, I’m numb, I’m cheated, I’m angry.. but most importantly, I’m done. I don’t want to be part of this story again.

You earned my affection for ME – all of them. I’d even say I got my $80 of entertainment in the play I had between the game start up to the ending. But you tossed away the affection… I won’t buy from you again if endings like this are ok by you.

Fix it and maybe I’ll be back. Otherwise, my thanks for 90% of a great ride and best wishes in your future endeavors.

[scomoletti]

 Chris,

Overall.. 70 out of 100.

Pros:
1) Game length - without dlc it was about on par with ME2. It didn't suffer like DA2 did.
2) Bugs - I know others reported issues with teleporting, import issues, and more.. I never experienced any. Flawless for my first play through.
3) New weapon customization system - It adds some interesting choices and lets the player taylor the weapons to suit their style (but..there were cons..see below).
4) Story - up till the end (no surprise here..) it was great as usual. The story lines for each of the major arcs wrapped up nicely and everything seemed to fit well.
5) The environments were amazing..the battle at Thessia stood out for me (no..not Kai Leng though the temple was cool).
6) Variety in powers, customization, and the unlocking them from your crew - nice improvement over the ME2.

Minor Cons - annoyances but didnt detract from the game - no penalty.
1) Even though the weapons could be customized the difference from 1-5 was so small it almost wasnt worth it. 
2) All of the scannner quests. Felt like a NYC bike courrier. Here is Commander Shepard, savior of the galaxy, destroyer of reapers, Spectre, and if you throw in an extra dollar he may get your laundry when he picks up your kids from Thessia. 
3) no ability to bypass some of the cut scenes. Ok..first time around it's important but with so many..the dramatic pauses, etc etc..shorten them up or let us bypass them.

Major cons - impacted the gaming experience but still not significant 
1) No matter your choices in previous games they have little to no impact on ME3. Paragon or Renegade..the outcome is about the same. Choices impacted available crew..thats about it.
2) Miranda as a LI in ME2 - She treats you like a..brother? boss? coworker? Certainly not a li. It's all 'Commander Shepard' and 'I cant tell you..'. After what we went through previously? Really? I got a more enthusiastic response from Jack and she was a one night stand, a fact which she made very clear shortly aftward. I get that Miranda wasn't a main character but she did have enough exposure to warrant some better dialog and options in this regard. 
3) Multiplayer...I like ME for the single player experience. Having multiplayer is nice..it's a new option..it could add to the game even..but it should never detract from it. The galactic rediness thing is a mess. I finished the game with it at 50% across the board as I had no interest in multiplayer. 

4) The big one.. The ending. This is 20% of my 30% fail here. What can I say that has not already been said. I guess I'll cover my point of view... 
I expected Shepard to die..it was that type of story. For him to live honestly would have been too much..so this didn't bother me.
However the choices he had available at the end left more than a bit to be desired. space magic techo-organic fusion (wait..what???), kill all AI (wait..we cant just kill the reapers only and keep the geth/edi/etc (not that we loose edi..explain that?)), or control the reapers.. ok so that was the only one which made any kind of sense at all. 
Then there is the Normandy suddenly in travelling through a mass relay with atleast 2 other people both of which were on earth when you made your final charge. We all know Joker would never leave Shep behind and was engaged in the fight anyway. If he crashed on earth that would be one thing..and atleast make sure people dont teleport to the normandy (Liara would not have left the FOB while she thought she could help for instance). 
Then there was the lack of closure.. even if we accept the loss of the mass relays (sucks but plausible) there should have been some explanation on how the glaxy survived the reapers due to Shepards heroic efforts. Even a story board style like DA used would have worked.. and for all the crew and lead characters (council members, Hacket, Kasumi, Miranda, Jack, the two with you for the final charge to the teleport beam, etc etc). How did the Krogans do for the next few generations? The Geth? Asari? list goes on.. 
And finally the way it ended left little hope of a DLC cleaning up the mess unless you make us use a new character or perhaps use an existing like Ash..

This was the most disappointing end to a game I've experienced yet. 

[Sainta117]

My
understanding is that Bioware has asked for a specific format for reviews, so I’m doing my best to meet the standards suggested.



Gameplay - 9/10

Pros:

1) Gameplay felt great in a lot of respects. Weapon handling, the decisiveness of engagements, the reactions of enemies to hits and power attacks were allphenomenal.

2) I think you guys finally got balance just right, with enemies challenging enough to force me to sweat (final ground mission - oh my god!) but not overwhelming.

3) The close combat was much improved over previous iterations - it felt much more useful and natural, although not quite perfect (the lack of control on the animation once it started meant that I occasionally did my whole grunt and stab thing in a totally different direction from the enemy as they wandered away from me. I really liked the “pull from behind cover and stab" thing, though - that was always a great moment for me when it worked out.

Cons:

1) I understand that context-dependent controls are currently in vogue, and they make console players happy, but we PC players have lots and lots of keys, and we would love to have a “dodge/roll/whatever” button that’s different from our “cover” button. I lost count of the number of times I accidentally popped out of cover because I accidentally pushed the spacebar too many times or accidentally rolled into or jumped over something I was trying to hide behind. Separate keys for dodge and cover, please.

2) I felt more could have been done with power combos - this was great in ME1&2, and well done in DAO (DA2, not so much). There’s very little that makes you feel quite so much like a biotic god as lofting three or four baddies with a wide singularity, and then detonating the whole thing with a warp, tossing enemies like rag dolls. It seemed like there was at least one new one (cryo + incinerate = awesome), which was great,but more could have been done with it.

Multiplayer - 7/10

1) I actually enjoyed this (sort of) but it definitely felt forced, and I was unhappy with the implementation. The combat system works pretty well when you can control squadmates behavior, but not so much when they’re all players competing for kill count and points. Also, galactic readiness increased too slowly. I understand the goal of getting playersto spend bioware points buying up extra gear (nice job with the math, by the way - the smallest increment that would allow you to buy all the DLC left you with exactly enough for a spectre pack), and I don’t
begrudge you the microtransaction profit, but the way it was done just felt like a naked cash grab.

Questing - 8/10

Pros:

1) I really liked that you spread the quests out - often times in the past it’s felt like I did all the sidequests at once and then the world was emptyafterwards. That being said, maybe streamlining this so we didn’t have to be constantly patrolling for new dialog options or questgivers would have been nice (see cons below)

2)
Having brought a save over from ME1, through ME2, and into ME3 paid off hugely in terms of incidental dialog, cameos, and cross communication between squadmates. One day, when I get over the phobia of playing ME3 induced by the horrible ending, I’m going to set up a completely different character and try it again.

Cons:

1) Finding questgivers again to finish quests was a chore. I’m not sure if I was doing it wrong, or if there was a glitch or something, but I never really felt I could rely on the quest cues to find anybody. I don’t mind running around once in a while, but this felt like I had to constantly patrol the entire citadel after every single mission. Especially in an era when I have lightspeed communications and a VI assisted PDA strapped to my hand, having to physically wander around to find the same guy standing in the same place is stupid. At least have the omni tool on my wrist allow me to find the general area where the questgiver used to be. Don’t tell me how to find them the
first time, but do let me know where they are when I try to go back.

Weapons/Armor/Equipment- 9/10

1) Weapon upgrading was great, and the diversity was good (if a bit much, actually - some weapons were almost identical, but I’m not going to complain about that).

2) The shooting range on the citadel was a fantastic idea, but you could have done a lot more with it (moving targets, timed challenges, etc).

3) The addition of weight as a dynamic was great, and I loved how you did this to prevent players carrying around a full armory like in ME1/ME2 without arbitrarily limiting the classes. It did feel odd that all the SMGs could be lighter than the pistols - should have been possible to use light materials for them as well.

4) I was a big fan of the customizable armor, both the complete harnesses and the individual elements. It really allowed me to tweak my character to match his concept. Also, the “no helmets in conversations” option was a godsend. I didn’t always play it one way (sometimes on, sometimes off), but I loved that I had the choice.

Cons:

1) Display of weapon characteristics was a problem, as I couldn’t do a real comparison of the buyable weapons to the ones I already had.

Non-ending story - 9/10

The little moments were the best (I won’t spoil them), but I regularly found myself chuckling, giggling, or just grinning like an idiot. There was one point, when I took that stupid (spoiler)’s love poem back to his
(spoiler)(spoiler) where I actually choked up, looked around to make sure no one was watching, let one tear fall, wiped my eyes frantically, and then pretended nothing had happened. Awesome work.

Ending - 2/10

I think I get what themes you guys were going for (sacrifice, the unknowable nature of the universe, finding a new, fresh way forward), but you just screwed it up so, so badly. Why allow me to go to all that trouble to bring all those races and factions to the table and then make it clear that it didn’t matter one whit to the outcome?

The ending didn’t have to be happy, but it shouldn’t have been baffling and unsatisfying. I finished, not with a “Yeah!,” or a “Aww (sniffle),” or even a “Well, I’m done with this now. What should I make for dinner?,” but instead with an anguished “What? Huh? That’s it? Nooooooo!). I got up from my last play session feeling angry, confused, and hollow. To have put in so much time and emotional energy, and then to see it come to naught was maddening. I loved this series, and 72 hours later, I still think the ending of this game may have ruined the whole thing for me. I hope I get over it - there’s so much in this game and its predecessors to like. But I don’t know if it’ll ever be the same.


I posted this earlier on your forums, and it got a strong response beforeit got buried by all the “we hate the ending” threads. I think it applies here.

************************************************************************
I'm not writing this to complain about the endings. That's been done at amazing and repetitive length elsewhere. Instead, for a moment I'd like to pretend that I am standing in the shoes of the writers and explain what I suspect happened to cause this backlash.

There are two kinds of science fiction stories that catch the popular imagination. First, those which explore a novel or challenging concept in science, with all its intricacies and implications, and follow it where it leads (which may be a very strange place indeed). Second, thereare those stories which create a futuristic backdrop against which theycreate story variations on universal themes like redemption, sacrifice,or growth.

An example of the first type of story is "Childhood's End," by Arthur C. Clarke, which posits a catastrophically alien future for humanity. It's thought-provoking, memorable, and very, very disturbing. Another examplewould be "Roadside Picnic," by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, which presents a bizarrely alien environment that is not only unknown, but profoundly unknowable. Others include Asimov's "Robot" series and "Ender's game."

Examples of the second type include the "Star Wars," "Battlestar Galactica," and "Star Trek" franchises. Note the relative levels of awareness in the general public of these two disparate genres of science fiction stories (note also the difference in their relative profitability - I'll come back to that).

The mistake that the writers made, in my opinion, was to misunderstand which of these the Mass Effect franchise represented. Mass Effect 1 and 2 were clearly space opera, on the order of "Star Wars," "Star Trek," "Battlestar Galactica," etc. Mass Effect 3 was on a trajectory to be slightly deeper space opera than its predecessors, but then took a sharp right turn into "Childhood's end" territory.

In my analysis, the backlash over the game arises from this simple problem. The fans signed up for space opera, thought they were getting it for the vast majority of the game, and then had the rug pulled out from under them at the last minute. Regardless of how Bioware chooses to react to the fan criticism, the obvious lesson for them (and for others who write stories for any medium) is a simple one: know your audience. While writers
always retain the creative freedom to resolve their stories however they wish, any writer (or organization) that aspires to commercial success must always remember that rule. In this case, I believe the writers forgot it.

edited: format

Modifié par Sainta117, 13 mars 2012 - 12:05 .

[Tezzajh]

bioware have shot themselfs in the foot with this one what are they gonna do for dlc? I can't buy dlc knowing full well it wont make a diffrence to the outcome it'll feel like whats the point . And no after war dlc, that was always my favourite highlight of the game

8/10 for gameplay hard to navigate without help arrows
9/10 combat the knockback is annoying
10/10 story and side missions
the ending 0/10 war assests should have determined the outcome, Death,Death and who knows WTF the other ending involves should not be the only choice. it reminds me of bungie and halo 3 they knew they wernt going any further so they killed off the main characters, BIOWARE kills sherpard and mass effect generators

Modifié par Tezzajh, 13 mars 2012 - 12:08 .

[res27772]

You know why I think these complaints will fall on deaf ears and they won't do a damn thing to change anything - the fact the Mass Relays were destroyed... this simple fact tells me they've got no itentions of making a Mass Effect 4, how can they without they relays!? (Unless they do an alternate timeline thing, or base it waaaaay in they future with a newly evolved human race... there's a couple of ideas Bioware) But I suspect there'll be no ME4, so why should they care they've annoyed us all so much with tyhe end of ME3, they've already got our money afterall.

[cronosfire]

Mass effect 3 score: 95/100

Okay so over all the game was the greatest game I have ever played in my life. With that it did have its flaws, such as the cover/revive button. The weapons.... tooo many of them and most of them werent even worth using. The no heavy weapons. I really wanted to be able to use them.I was not to happy about the VS because they felt like kasumi in ME2. Where there werent that important no real connection.

The game it self was a fantasic game. I saw soooooo many of my choices matter/influence the game. Being able to have liara and a few of the character I cared about most back was an extreme bonus. The DLC char was even great and made sense. It fit into the story just fine without me going that couldnt happen. The combat was the best in its class. I like the weapon mods even tho I did not use a lot of them. The arrmor mods i never used but will in my next playthrough. The normandy was well put together for being a war ship. The multiplayer is surprizing addicting, I do with we had more calling our squad mates to the captians room though i liked how we were able to call some people up. I would like some more audio with squadmates. I like they the squadmates walked around the normandy but didnt like it that sometimes they were hard to find (until i figured out how to use the map).

There were two parts in the game that I hated. One being the reaper controled areas. It was soo annoying having to out run them when I was trying to scan. And after one or two scans they were alllll over me. The second part is the ending. Now im not going to blow up about them because i know this is most likey how a war with the reapers would end. I mean come on how can shepard survive everything whos that lucky. But with that I would like an ending were i at least get to live and spend time with my LI. SOmething to were We can at least live if not for long but not always have to die kinda does suck.

SO with all that, that is why it gets a 95/100 it was a great game just could have had a better ending and it would have been perfect.

[vince0488]

Soul-crushed I think is the best way to describe how I feel right now.

Bioware, you've created a masterpiece with ME3. You should be extremely proud of the work you've done and I can assure you the immense effort and personal sacrifice your team must have gone through to create this game is recognized, and I'm in your debt forever for letting me experience the most incredible saga I've ever been part of.

...But the way you ended this journey in its last 10 minutes was simply gut-wrenching. I've finished the game 2 days ago now and the disc is still in my 360 console, just sitting there. I cannot bring myself to play so much it depresses me to think just how extremely gloomy and open-ended it all ends. I cannot even convince myself to play the multiplayer (which I enjoy thoroughly), because now I know it is part of a universe that suffers from such an unsatisfactory ending.

I can get that Shepard dies/sacrifices himself for the greater good. I was expecting it to be honest (although he ''survived'' in my playthrough). But so much things remain ambiguous an open ended. Why is my Shepard so docile toward the VI Child and why can't he argue with him? Why was it necessary, plot-wise, to have the mass relays destroyed?(which pretty much dooms the entire galaxy I was set out to save) Why is the Normandy running away with all my crew members and where does it end up?(the fate of the crew here is pretty much the most depressing point here) What happens in the long run to all these species I had a hand in creating their fate?

For a game based on the player's choice, the endings sure didn't give me any. 16 different endings and all the points above remain true for each. I didn't expect rainbows and bunnies but I would certainly have liked the choice to end my story a different way. For all I know you already have DLCs planned to expand on this ending, but if this the case a closed and satisfactory ending should have been included in the original game package.

I've been attached to this universe and these characters since the original Mass Effect release. But now it makes everything I accomplished just so...pointless.

If your goal was to make me feel something through an art media, mission accomplished. You couldn't have hit more dead-center.

If your goal was the satisfaction of a long-time fan over the conclusion of a story, you've missed your mark by miles.

Still a fan, but a depressed and unsatisfied one.

[JackFace]

My Mass Effect 3 score: 96/100 (for reference, I'd give ME a 88/100 and ME2  96/100)

To start, let me say thank you, BIoWare, for making another really, really good game. Here's my take on it after one playthrough.

We'll start with the negatives. This is related to the actual game as much as it is to you guys, BioWare, but I'd be at fault if I didn't say that it was a dirty move on ya'll's part to charge for Javik. In the past I've held you guys up as a model of how DLC can be done properly when I'd debate such things with my friends. I don't know who's idea it was to charge extra for already complete content (I don't care if it was on the disc or any of that--what important was that there was a lot of game that non-CE customers simply didn't get with their purchase because you chose to make them pay for it just for the sake of making them pay for it), but at some point someone should have said, "Hey, listen, we shouldn't do this because our fans (as much as they **** on the Internet) are pretty cool and we shouldn't pull one over on them like this." Now, I bought the CE and Javik is my favorite party member, but it still leaves a very sour taste in my mouth. For years and years you guys have been my favorite video game company. You still are. But if this kind of thing keeps continuing, if, for whatever reason, you keep abusing the DLC system, I won't be able to let myself spend money on your games.

Now that that unpleasent business is out of the way, we can talk about the game itself. So, negatives (as you can see, a 96/100 doesn't leave much room for a lot of bad, but criticism is important):

Game length. It took me roughly 30 hours to finish the game on my first playthrough. Is that a short game? No, not at all. I buy a lot of games that I'll never put 30 hours into and I'm happy with them. I'll also be replaying ME3 several times. If we say 25 hours a piece I'm sitting on 80+ hours of total gameplay. That's awesome. But I feel that it's worth noting that I expect more out of BioWare. I don't embellish when I say that I think that all of you make up the best video game developer that has ever existed (also maybe Nintendo, those guys make some excellent games). I found out about you guys with KotOR and have played and loved every game since. Dragon Age is a fantastic game. ME is the best trilogy of games I've ever played in my life. ME3 may be the best game of this generation. Part of what makes your games so fantastic is that they're so, so deep. And ME3 isn't shallow by any means, but I'm used to having from 35-40 hours in a given first playthrough. Maybe it's because you took out scanning and the little unlocking minigames and that took four or five hours out of the game. I'd rather have 35 fun hours than 35 fun hours and 5 not fun hours. So this is not really an indictment per say, just something that I as a die hard fan am concerned may become a trend.

Closure. Can we get some? Here's the deal. I loved the endings. The story was great from start to finish. But what about my crew? What about the fleet? I can appreciate leaving things to the imagination of the reader--the Crucible AI, for instance, was just enough information without giving too much--but we've got to have something! This is a really ****ty situation that the galaxy has found itself in and Shep makes some really big decisions in the end game. Let's see their effect. Do I have to see Shep ride off into the distance or get a medal? No, of course not. But what did I get (this is from the Destroy ending, though I gather that there are many similarities in all of them)? See the Reapers be affected? Check. See the Normandy, Joker, and two squad mates? Check. See whether Shep's alive or dead? Check. Humans? No. Turians? No. Krogan, Salarians, Asari? No, no, and no. The fleet outside? No. The rest of the party? No.

Now, are there are inferences I can make about all of those based on what the ending did show? Absolutely. And there's a time and a place to show and not show things. But this is the end of the trilogy. We've played through three games in the buildup to this point, invested in our squad and the other characters and races, poured ourselves into this galaxy. I think, then, that it would have been wise to give us something. You could do it in any number of ways. It wouldn't take too much: maybe pull a little RotJ and flash toward a couple of the homeworlds and show the Reapers falling/leaving or whatever they do and have the soldiers cheer. Show the fleet limping away from the defunct Reapers, bloody but united. Or you could do more than that if you wanted. Show the races rebuilding, show someone pulling Shep out of the wreckage, show the important characters at his hospital bed/memorial statue. Don't get me wrong, I'm not asking for happy. I wouldn't have been mad if Shep had died in every possible ending. For example, let's take a look at Dragon Age, which had closure out the wazoo. We find out what happens to everyone. Even if most of it are just blurbs of text, that's better than no information at all. Not knowing much is just dandy for a ME2, but when you're ending the story, go ahead and end it. Show us briefly how the galaxy will or won't keep functioning, give us a little something on the different races, show our LI mourning/rejoicing for Shep. Give us a blurb about the effects of our decision. Maybe the galaxy never gets itself together, maybe it's better for it. Doesn't matter what happens, I just want to know what happens.

And, speaking of a happy ending or not, my final criticism is that my party never felt like it was in danger on Earth. Given what I saw on the suicide run, I know you guys can really pull out a very intense ending. And it was absolutely intense, but I never thought, "Oh, god, this is the final battle and my team isn't likely to survive." With a battle that big, I think I should have felt that. Have oportunities to kill some of them off, I say. Let some of them die if I didn't have enough resources or didn't get the right species. Let someone make a heroic sacrifice so that Shep can make it to the conduit thing. Make me choose between two party members again. Something, give it some danger. That said, I did feel like Shep was about to die at every turn, so that was very well done.

Now, for the positives:

Everything else. Seriously, I just want to let everyone who put so much effort into this beautiful game know how much I appreciate their hard work and that it paid off in spades. I have never, never seen a game so well executed.

The music. I knew from the minute that you all announced that Clint Mansell was helping with the music that this game would have the most epic soundtrack in history. I was right. I've never heard more gripping music in a video game. Moments that stand out are Grunt's last stand, leaving Earth, looking at Tali's picture, and Mordin's sacrifice. Let me just say that you couldn't have made a better choice with the music.

Cinematics. This is a beautiful game. Period. This game is the only game that has ever legitimately tricked my eyes into thinking that the people were actors in real places. It didn't happen incredibly often, but it's a testiment to your work. But it's more than being pretty. The camerawork, etc. was all fantastic. Couldn't give you more credit than I do for the cinematics. Shep especially looked great; he's (I play with the default Shep) so, so much better than the first two games. The facial expressions looked much more natural and were more varied.

Story. Frankly, the ending was better than I thought it would be. It's quite difficult to make any deus ex ending seem plausible, but you incorporated the Crucible into the story very well and if I believed the Reapers I had no problem at all believing the Crucible's power. On the way to the ending was a fantastic story. Gripping from the start at Earth and all the way through with the Reaper's slowly advancing. The special (pronounced spee see all; I feel like that's a word, but I don't have any idea how to spell it) differences were done well, and their reasons for not coming to the fight immediately didn't feel forced.

Characters. Extremely well done. I love you guys because your story and characters are always top notch. I cared about all of them and they all played a part in the story.

Modifié par JackFace, 13 mars 2012 - 12:24 .

[MTC]

I thought this game was amazingly well done - one of the best I've ever played, and, personally speaking, a deeply emotional experience building from the previous two games.

However, I have to come on here and add my voice to those who found the ending to be a deeply-felt disappointment. Let me preface this by saying that I was expecting a dark ending. I wouldn't have turned down a happily-ever-after fan-service ending, mind you (particularly if it was available only as the result of commitment to quest completion over multiple titles). But I was ready for hard decisions and self-sacrifice. And maybe nobody making it out alive.

I loved the wounded, half-dead Shepard dragging herself up to the Citadel. I loved the confrontation with the Illusive Man, and Anderson dying beside me as we regarded Earth below us, won back at last (I thought then).

But when the platform started to rise, and the omniscient blue god boy started telling me that no, actually, I'd had it wrong this whole time, and here's what's REALLY going on with this whole Reaper thing, it slammed the fourth wall right back down between me and the story I'd spent hundreds of hours immersing myself in and attatching myself to. At that point, I didn't care which of doors one, two or three I chose. I didn't care! This from somebody who really, literally wept at multiple points throughout the game - when Legion died, when my character told Garrus "there's no Shepard without Vakarian". I was a sucker for this world, and I loved it!

I must reiterate, I wasn't looking for an ending tailored to my personal wants. I truly believe it's not Bioware's responsibility to cater to my needs - that's not what makes good games or good stories. I was ready to be totally devastated - but not alienated from the narrative.

This is a great game, and a truly exceptional series. And though I don't want to try to insist that you OWE us a better ending, I do think that the series deserves one. Because the disparity between the quality and potency of the game (and previous games), and the quality and potency of the last 10 minutes, is (I believe) totally astounding. I think none of us would be in such an uproar of emotion if that were not the case.

And I, for one, will happily pay to see a DLC that addresses this! It seems like an ideal use of payed-for optional post-game content, if you ask me. Thanks for hearing me out.

[TcomJ]

the point is even if these are true... that doesn't justify how bad and lazy the ending is. Like I said, no good writer will make you read 7 books of Harry Potter and then tell you that these are all just a dream or sucks to be you, your shep got indoctrinated.

- No epilogue on race, crewmates and such whatsoever and just leave you dry like a corpse.

[highcastle]

I hate numeric scoring and feel it's largely arbitrary, so I'm skipping that. Instead, I'll simply break down my main points:

This was easily my favorite entry in the ME series. The story was gripping from the get-go. Shepard came across as a three-dimensional character. I loved that we saw his breakdown after Thessia, I loved that people finally started questioning his humanity after his "death." This felt like a real war with a real psychological toll. It asked some big questions about the nature of humanity and reality. I loved the character interactions, as well, particularly the romances. They provided a great emotional hook and made the endings that much more powerful. And finally we get some same-sex LIs for m!Shep. This made me ridiculously happy, as I could finally play my character without condemning him to a life of chastity.

While I was initially weary of the limited dialogue options and the amount of speaking Shepard does without player input, I have to admit it helps establish him as a fully rounded character. He remains more consistent in tone and emotes more. And when it counts, the players have input. Ascribing points based on reputation was awesome, too. That meant I could mix and match the Paragon and Renegade options as I saw fit without worrying I'd lose access to Charm or Intimidate options.

While there's been a ton of controversy over the endings (to say the least), I'm really in favor of them. There's something to be said for critical interpretation, for eschewing easy answers in favor of something a bit more thought-provoking. I love that this game encouraged me to think deeper, to draw my own conclusions. Am I saddened by some of the ramifications of these interpretations? Yes, but the series has been sad from day one. Choosing whether to save Ash or Kaidan in the first ME established this series as one in which anyone can die....and often does. I have no problem with that. Not every story needs a happy ending or even a definitive one. Some ambiguity is good.

My big complaint is that it doesn't seem to be possible to get the "best" (if such a term is applicable) ending without multiplayer. I'm not a huge MP fan. I was told playing the single player alone would provide me with more than enough assets for the "best" ending. After doing every side quest and scanning every asset, I still was shy of the necessary 4000 rating for that ending. MP should not become a necessity to experience every possible outcome, not when the franchise was intended as single player to begin with.

Really, though, the game was solid. I've never been brought so close to tears so many times by another game. The choices were thought-provoking, we finally got to see negative consequences for Paragon options, and the ending really stuck with me. I know there's heat over this game. I for one hope when people cool down and think about it, more people give it the respect it deserves. And I applaud BioWare for continuing to approach games as art rather than pure entertainment. The story moved me, the ending moved me. And that's not always easy to accomplish.

[Biotic Budah]

The game was the most satisfying game I've ever played up until the final 10 minutes. I mean fine, you want to shove the worst ending since the Soprano's cut to black down our throats, ok. But no epilogue? No seeing the fruits of Shepard's sacrifice? No seeing the galaxy coming together to rebuild each others worlds? Oh wait, you can't you destroyed the Mass Relays!

I understand artistic license, but you get everyone so invested in these characters. I have 10 play through's from ME2. After finishing this game I really don't see the point in playing my others. What's the point? Nothing I do will change the Shepard's fate. You wanna do social commentary, do it another way. To make a philosophical point in a game that has millions of followers is just not the way to go.

You can count me out on buying any DLC. What's the point? You've shown us all that no matter how hard you try, no matter how many sacrifices you make, in the end it doesn't matter we're all gonna die or be blown back to the stone ages, at least in this game.

4.5 out of 5. The last 10 minutes will cost you game of the year, but hey at least you've cemented your place in video game history for the worst ending to a trilogy. I'm sure G4 will give you that award posthumously one day.

[Cybermortis]

res27772 wrote...
 But I suspect there'll be no ME4, so why should they care they've annoyed us all so much with tyhe end of ME3, they've already got our money afterall.

They should care because many people will not be giving them money again, either for DLC or any future games regardless of setting. 

DA2 was an overhyped pile of rushed tripe made purely to cash in on the success of DAO. And one that damaged Bioware's reputation with players, especially with their 'if you don't like it its your fault' responses and the corporate version of sticking fingers into their ears and humming a tune to pretend no one had any problems with it.

A year ago, almost to the day, I stated that if Bioware messed up ME3 they would effectively be finished as a company because what little reputation they had left would be gone. Clearly the message was lost, if indeed they ever bothered to listen to such warnings in the first place, because they have screwed up ME3 and...apparently ignoring the complaints as they did for DA2 - at least as of writing.

They need to do something to adress the one overriding issue just about every player has had with the game - the endings. They NEED to change the endings, and they need to do so in such a way that they are not seen as trying to bleed their customers of more money so they can get the ending(s) the game series deserves.

Otherwise we can say goodbye to Bioware. 


I mean, 'God-child' at the ending? I *might* have accepted the Keepers in that role - having regained their intelligence after the Reaper signal had been blocked by the Protheans. It would have fit with the lore - say the Keepers were the species that created the Reapers but lost control and were enslaved by them. It would also have made more sense if they then presented the final options as 'We can do this, this or this...you pick' PLUS the option of 'We'll win without help' (if your combat strength was high enough)...But apparently their writers were too busy doing everything but thinking at this point.

[tanisha__unknown]

Somewhat ambiguous:

could be 80%

++ story 
++main missions -   better than in the pervious game, not just collecting squadmates for 80% of the game and some three mission to achieve your actual goal
++ interactions of shepard with squadmates
++ music is great
++++ voice acting (at least the one of Jennifer Hale, I only played femshep so far)
+ multiplayer is fun

+/- combat is better, you  can't stay in one location as in ME 1+2, but are forced to move, though after a while I came to find it a bit tedious
+/- exploring part  -  ah yes, better than the planet scanning in its predecessors, though still: appearance of the reapers is annoying, since I am not motivated to wait till I have done a mission, I usually scan till I've found everything and get caught by the reapers, then reload to get the assets, nevertheless an improvement
+/- graphics - I am not that much of a graphic freak, nobody expected it with this game, however only most recently in multiplayer, the tip of the gun of an enemy wasvisible through the wall, could have been more thorough there

- The first hour is a bit boring, don't know why...
- Little things that are annoying, e.g. the journal could be less
confusing, passing that door to the war room is very unnerving etc.
- You spend  a  l o t  of time running through the citadel if you want to fulfill every side missions
- probably I am just too dumb, but I had some difficulty trying to find my mission target on the citadel at some times
- I found that to  get the "best" ending you need a galactic readiness level of 5000. I think on my second playthrough (did no more than two) I covered probably 98% of all side missions (Should be 100% since every mission showing up in the log was fulfilled but let us assume I missed something). I got a total strength of ca 6300, so without multiplayer the "best" ending is not available
- length - I read the game shoudl be ca 20 h if you only do the main quest, 40 if you do all missions.The above-mentioned playthrough took me about 23 h - feels a bit short.
- Having played all three parts of the trilogy - what was the point ME 2? Collectors creating a human reaper, fine, but why not an Asari reaper or turian reaper or anything like that? Somehow ME1 and ME3 fit together regarding the story, ME2 does make a lot of sense
--- much has been written about the legitimacy of a nonfree day one DLC, I do not want to restate it here
--- paragon/renegade interventions seem to have little impact as well as paragon/renegade choice on the dilalogue wheel
--- bugs - In the "From Ashes"-DLC, on my second playthrough, after the first video of Javik's memories, the game would crash even after a reload, I had to restart the mission to get rid of it + sometimes the game would crash to desktop (win7 64 bit)
---- Skin textures - I have grown to love FemSheps standard appearance from ME 1 and 2 (I know, I might be a minority). I imported her face. The hair colour did not match, futhermore, I can't really pinpoint it, she looks somehow
different

---------------- cutting my final judgement down to 37% - the ending - In the Mass Effect universe you got pretty much always to make some kind of choice and see its consequences, the way it is designed now it appears as if none of the decisions made previously did matter, despite the three choices you get to  make at the end it appears like one ending in three different coulours. Some final slides telling what happened to the different people and your comrades would have been the minimum - sure, compared to the rest of the game it would be a very cheap way of presenting things, but still a great improvement over what we have now.
Furthermore the ending just makes no sense at all. Why does the AI on the citadel look like the child Shep saw dying? Why does he not argue with it (Does it for pretty much whenever he is not fighting in my playthroughs)? How come the Normandy is suddenly travelling with FTL and why are the squadmates that accompanied me suddely aboard totally unharmed (should be in London dead or at least in a similar condition as Shep)?
The destruction of the mass relays pretty much destroys the Mass Effect universe. Remember what Sovereign/Vigil said in the first part of the trilogy? Galactic civilization is based on the mass relays, without it, there would be not intergalactic travel, trade or communication. Destroying it just enhances the - I - did - all - this - stuff - and - now - that's - it - feeling.This point as well as the decision to let Shepard dy in pretty much every ending may be considered artistic freedom - I do not like it, though it is not the most severe problem of the ending.

The ending did not only ruin the Mass Effect 3 gaming experience, but also the ones of the previous games. Burning down a trilogy with approx 100 h of gameplay within just 5 minutes is still an outstanding achievement, though I fear not a very profitable (DLCs and successors)one. Still up to then a great game, therefore it is not 0 %.

Modifié par Jinx1720, 13 mars 2012 - 01:00 .