Okay, I've given Mass Effect 3 a fair blast now, and to be honest it's been a rather polarizing experience throughout. This goes for both how the storyline was an emotional rollercoaster with things getting more dire as time went on, with brilliant moments mixed with not-so-brilliant ones, and how the game itself felt. ME3 in some ways felt very different to its predecessors, but often also felt very much like them, sometimes more like ME1, other times more like ME2. But throughout much of the game I had a hollow feeling in my gut, and this came about for two reasons: 1) the emotional impact of what was going on and what could be, and 2) the fact that something just felt... off about ME3. So, now after it all, I'm posting what I consider more of an analysis than a review of ME3.
For the first part of my analysis, I'm actually going to focus on something almost entirely positive: the combat and core gameplay. I'm going to outright state it, here... BioWare absolutely nailed the core combat gameplay in this game. In a system that was too defined by RPG rules in the original to one that was too linear, simple, annoying and bare-bones in ME2, they've finally managed to really perfect the system in this third and final entry. Shepard feels more fluid on the battlefield overall, the powers are (for the most part) more satisfying. Biotics don't feel as nerfed as ME2, while also not feeling too powerful like they did in ME1. Shepard feels tougher now, not feeling so cover-dependent and vulnerable as in ME2 and like he/she can actually take a hit or two. Levels design manages to give Shepard more opportunities and options on the battlefield, not only making them feel less linear and fake, but providing various routes and strategies for both Shepard and his/her squad, but also the enemies the player faces. The places also feel far larger and more real, often with epic backdrops and great set-pieces, allowing epic moments to happen not just in cutscenes, but all around you during play. The longer, wider levels also allows snipers to finally come into their own after ME2's smaller levels mostly restricted them.
This leads to the enemies themselves, who are all very well designed. All feel challenging in different ways without being too cheap, and make you have to think and adapt on the battlefield about what you take down first and how. The way the enemies play and work with each other is great, and the way certain classes can have different advantages and disadvantages against certain enemy types is fantastic as well (e.g. biotics can rip shields out of enemies' hands, while Engineers can mess with turrets). Enemies overall feel challenging and threatening without being frustrating. The weapon variety is far greater than before too, with a decent roster of weapons, and with weapon modding back (and better than ever) we finally have a proper degree of customisation with trade-offs and limitations. The new health system is far better than the regenerating health of ME2 as well.
This is all good stuff, but I have to now question looking at most of the rest of the game what was sacrificed and what has suffered to make way for it. And my main issue is that the stuff that I personally feel has suffered is actually the stuff I liked most about Mass Effect: the actual roleplaying stuff. Sure, I was calling for better, statistical, hardcore RPG mechanics and argued with many people over the years that this is what ME2 lost in favour of more pure shooter ones, and I'm happy that this has come back somewhat. But I wasn't expecting the cinematic, story-driven and dialogue aspects that both prior entries shined at to suffer in the third entry. While I thought ME3 wasn't going to beat the original game for me, I thought at the very least it was going to best ME2. Now, I don't even feel it does that.
For starters, my dialogue choices are severely limited throughout. Ignoring "Investigation" options, Shepard almost always only has two options on the right side of the wheel: the nice one and the nasty one. Where's my third choice? I have so many characters who, while usually going with one of the two extremes in most cases, would still occasionally dip into that middle-ground central choice. Now it's just gone, and we've only got black and white with no hint of grey. I get the strong feeling that Kinect support being added is somewhat responsible for this: too much time spent there, combined with too many options for the Kinect code monkeys to get working, so they cut out the dialogue options to make it simpler for them. The point is, the game has suffered majorly for it in one of the areas I loved most, and while I complained about ME2 often forcing me into a narrow band of dialogue options, it at least gave you more than two binary choices along the way in 90% of cases. There's also barely any Paragon/Renegade Blue/Red Charm/Indimidate options at all. I think there were more chances for that on Noveria in ME1 alone than in the entirety of ME3 from start to finish. On top of this, Shepard just speaks by herself far too much without any input whatsoever, leaving me constantly thinking, "My Shepard would never say that!" and being frustrated at the game for not giving me more control. This not only plagues the many cut-scenes that have barely any interaction at all, but all these moments where you don't even enter a cutscene and Shepard and another NPC just gab back and forth to each other.
Which leads to another major downfall: companion conversations. I was flabbergasted at how much of a dive these have taken. Moments like going to chat with Liara, my love-interest across three games, resulting in no cutscene and just a small amount of banter if I'm lucky is awful. The VS gets even worse treatment, having only a couple of proper chats after getting them back, and there not even being one the first time they return to your ship again. It's especially confounding considering one of the biggest beefs people had with the likes of Zaeed and Kasumi in ME2 was the fact they just stood there without any proper conversations, and now they've basically done it to every single companion for 90% of the time you go and see them. Sure, it's nice that they interact with each other, move about the ship and that they even often have comments about more minor quests, but it all feels hollow and lazy, and again my Shepard doesn't get given a choice in how to chat with them, either just standing there silently or speaking on her own with no input from me at all. Sure, squadmates have loads more to say and do during missions, banter more and there's a lot of dialogue in the game as a whole, but without input and choice and variation it's largely pointless.
Sidequests are sparse and weak for the most part too. Their either massively involved to the point of being almost a main quest and having proper set-ups (e.g. quests involving prior companions and associates), which I like, or it's a case of running around the one hub area (The Citadel) and just clicking on people, who then give you some mission about collecting some artifact or Spectre only item, involving no dialogue choices or cutscenes (with very rare exceptions). I actually have to wonder what people who felt the original Citadel was too tedious to run around think of ME3's, because while it is nice and big, feels more like The Citadel as introduced in ME1 was and is very alive and dynamic, with new content almost every visit, even I as a huge fan of The Citadel in the first game to the point of almost never using rapid transit find the constant marches from zone to zone on ME3's Citadel tedious, repetitive and time-consuming. Quite often I have to visit every location at least twice per visit just to make sure I have covered everything, and while the map can be helpful in pinpointing turn-ins, the Journal is useless and never allows me to properly sort or even track what aspects of all these samey fetch-quests I have done. ME3 actually made me hate The Citadel, and I didn't think that was possible before this. And while it is also nice to see your crew sprinkled around the places there too and to be able to interact with them now and then, it doesn't make up for the complete lack of proper interaction and conversation with them as a whole. Also, having quests unlock on The Citadel but not allowing you to accomplish them because the systems you need to go to are still locked because you haven't progressed the main quest enough is poorly implemented, especially when these systems have little else in them beyond a few other War Assets.
Linearity is the next major issue, and is another something I didn't expect from Mass Effect, especially in the final entry. As if the reasons above weren't enough to limit the replay value of a game where it feels more like I'm playing the Shepard V.I. with it's 7% prediction accuracy than my actual Shepard, the fact that the game sticks you on rails for the most part is unforgivable, especially when there's no real reason for it in many cases. What made prior BioWare games shine was the fact that you had your first two to three places, and then were free to go and and do what you wanted, when you wanted, how you wanted. ME2 changed this up a little with it's split sections divided by Horizon, but overall still succeeded in this aspect. One might say that ME3 had to have a bit more focus after the mess that was ME2's story, but ME1 proved that you can still have a better, clearly and stronger main narrative without sacrificing freedom (as did Baldur's Gate II, KotOR and Dragon Age: Origins). ME3 is a straight line for the most part, and while there's a certain degree of sense to this when it comes to things like the Turian/Krogan situation, there's no reason that the Quarian/Geth situation couldn't have been thrown at you either at the same time as Palaven or immediately after it, since it's pretty isolated. The linearity of the main plot is just going to kill replay value, with only major sidequests being remotely off the beaten path. I thoroughly enjoyed the storylines, and the stuff with the krogan and sorting out the quarians and Geth provided some of the most emotionally strong moments throughout the trilogy... but it's still far too linear.
In fact, the missions themselves are too. It seems my fears of never seeing another Noveria were justified, because there's almost no ways to really handle the situations here differently beyond last-minute choices. There aren't really even any moments on the way where you can deal with little side-quest activities during the main quest. Remember those groups of people you could deal with on Eden Prime, Noveria, Feros, and Omega during Mordin's recruitment mission, etc.? There's none of that in ME3, it's all just focusing on the main battle. I'd have expected being able to help small squads of soldiers and the like on places like Palaven's moon, Thessia, even during the early Earth stuff and perhaps even Mars, but... no. It's all straight-line and one focus. The levels themselves may feel larger and more epic, and be more dynamic and far less like corridors than ME2, but the missions themselves content wise are a straight line until any final decisions are made.
Also, I can see that our decisions really mattering in ME3 are a crock too. Nothing really matters, since it's all weak substitutions or things simply not paying off at all. The missions don't really ever change, it's just the flavour of them that alters slightly. If Wrex is dead, Wreav is there. If Mordin's dead, some other salarian takes his place. If Grunt's not there, another krogan... same mission. Legion is pretty much the same but with less dialogue if he was never woken up and given to Cerberus, which to me makes no real sense, and explanations as to why it apparently does are facile. The new Council just slot right into the old one... same events every time, just different models and voices saying almost always the same stuff. Saved the Rachni Queen? Doesn't matter, because The Reapers still get one anyway. ME3 should have been a bag of Party Mix lollies, but instead it's a bag of jellibeans, and only the colour of them changes for each person. Don't get me wrong, there are some great moments and import-decision related stuff, but it's largely shallow. Even the VS gets shoved right into the background and even taken out of about half the game, just to make sure too many variables aren't dealt with and explored. On top of that, I can't believe how many fan-favourites just never made it in and were never resolved, especially after how they were left in ME2. Top of the list here are the likes of Shiala, Gianna Parasini, Kal'Reegar and Matriarch Aethyta. These along with Conrad Verner (who did make it in and was, admittedly, great) are probably the top five semi-minor fan favourites from the previous two games, and they simply aren't there in person. We never finish the thread of Liara's "father" and never hear Adam Baldwin, and two characters who may have flirted with Shepard in the past are abandoned entirely. Poor form.
I have to say too, I'm sick of Cerberus being such a big deal... again. I get that they need to be both a constant thread and a constant threat, but ME3 stretches the already beyond-belief concept that a human splinter cell group in what is essentially its infancy is just better at everything than every other faction, with unlimited-trillion dollars and the best gear while being able to operate anywhere without issue in massive force. After the events of ME2 and Revelation (which I loved because it actually portrayed the group in a more realistic, curbed manner than ME2 and ME3 did) I find it hard to believe they could be much of a threat at all, and here they are, stronger than ever, existing in some anti-backwards universe where the more they spend and the more beaten down they are, the more they seem to have. The idea that they could just take over The Citadel like that in the middle of the game was completely laughable, despite circumstances. I know it's war and all, and pretty much every other faction is busy nursing wounds and fighting The Reapers, but the overall concept is just beyond ridiculous. Cerberus is and always will be a small splinter group gone rogue that's only existed a few years, yet manages to outdo the likes of The Shadow Broker, STG and Salarian Union in a game they've been playing for centuries, somehow staying under the radar completely despite having to have a paper trail a mile long of funding and the fact they slap their logo's on everything they can. On top of it all, they end up seeming to be more of a focus than The Reapers themselves as the game progresses, stealing the limelight from the threat that should be the real focus all the way up until the last 15 minutes or so. The cheap, manufactured "victory" of Kai Leng at the end of Thessia was horribly executed as well. The concept that Shepard needs a defeat after what is (hopefully, if you played your cards right) a lot of success given the circumstances is a good one, but it's handled in such a forced, ham-fisted way. To wail on this so-called "threat" for a few minutes and then him to suddenly "win" just 'cause he needs to is frustrating, but not for the right reasons. Shepard should be frustrated, but the player should not. It quite simply needed to be executed a LOT better.
Finally, we come to the endings. They all suck. They really do. None of them are good, and while much of this is also due to the execution and the fact that it seems to render everything before this pointless, there really should have been a more upbeat, heroic ending for our Shepard's. It doesn't matter what's chosen, it feels like it undoes not only what were my favourite parts of ME3, but everything I've done in the two games prior. It makes all those choices and bringing together races that have had centuries of conflict completely irrelevant because every choice I make is going to kick them in the crotch and screw them over somehow. When Mordin, Thane and Legion died in my first playthrough I initially thought they were good deaths for the characters, but after reaching the end if feels like their sacrifices and hard work was for naught. I don't expect a Disney, all-happy ending, but I expect something that feels satisfying and rewarding, and doesn't feel like I wasted years of my life building these multiple playthroughs. Not that barely having any proper choices throughout the rest of the game helped that much. The fate of the galaxy wrests on my shoulders, and no matter what I do I feel like a ******. There should have been something more akin to the DAO ending, IMO. On top of that, having absolutely nothing to reflect your decisions to that point makes it feel even worse. I want to know what happened to everybody after I did what I did, but beyond seeing Joker, EDI and my love interest crash on a planet (when they were mysteriously going through a relay jump, why?!") just doesn't cut it. Also, as happy as I am to see Liara alive, I'm pretty sure she was supposed to be with me in that final rush. Which also reminds me... talk about building up Harbinger to be absolutely nothing. I spoke to the nobody, pint-sized Reaper on Rannoch, but all I got from Harbinger was a stare-down and some beams. What happened to his taunting and the like? The point is though, the wishy-washy, vague and even pretentious ending just isn't satisfying. It's like it tried ti pull some kind of 2001: A Space Odyssey, but fell flat on it's face. That doesn't work for a game like this, because this is the type of thing where across a trilogy you want to feel an impact from what you did, and not just be tossed three bad options that have no real bearing on what you've done before at all.
Overall, ME3 could have been the best of the three games, and much of that potential is scattered within ME3, but it fails utterly because of execution. I wanted the statistical RPG stuff to be better, but not at the cost of dialogue and choice, and while the core combat gameplay is the best of the three, the price that was paid to do that is far too high, and despite being sure prior to release that ME3 was at least going to be better than ME2, it just isn't. Ironically, as with ME2, the stuff I was most concerned about wasn't too bad, but the stuff I thought wouldn't suffer at all and would be fine has taken a massive step backwards. It's pretty clear that BioWare just don't want me as a fan any more, because the roleplaying elements have just taken such a back seat to the combat now. BioWare don't want to make proper RPGs any more, and they don't want to give players meaningful choice and a protagonist they can call their own: they just want to make story-driven action games, and if ME2 and DA2 weren't indicative of that, ME3 certainly is. The game isn't a complete and utter failure (though the endings come close), and unlike DA2 the universe of Mass Effect hasn't been utterly ruined for me. It still feels like Mass Effect, and until the last moments the writing is still good and there are many satisfying moments, particularly with the krogan and quarian/Geth situations. But the complete lack of proper, varied choice and the final moments put a major damper on this. I'm still a fan of the Mass Effect universe, but I'm no longer a fan of BioWare, and no longer want to play their future games. Near-perfect combat wasn't worth what was lost, and I'd much rather play ME1 with it's broken RPG systems and ME2 with it's shallow, too purely TPS combat than ME3 with it's far better combat, because at least the former two games had plenty of dialogue options and choices to make. Except now because of ME3, I don't feel much like playing them any more either, because it all ends up being for naught from what I can tell. Perhaps time will heal those wounds... I don't know. Hopefully. I'm definitely reconsidering buying the new anime and the Invasion trade paperback now. DLC... maybe, depending on what it is. A new ending DLC I'd definitely get, just to patch the game.
But future BioWare games? No. I'm done with BioWare now. They don't want me as a customer clearly, so I don't want them as a developer any more.
Modifié par Terror_K, 15 mars 2012 - 03:48 .
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