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Mass Effect 3 Fan Reviews (May Contain Spoilers)


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#101
jbauck

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For me, Mass Effect 3 is like a full-service luxury private jet that parachutes people directly into a dark, dank pit of poisonous snakes.  For people who enjoy a good journey, this game is awesome.  For people like myself, who require a good destination, it's a franchise-killer.

Things I liked:
+ My crew talked to each other and moved around the ship.  This was a really, really nice touch that made the Normandy feel more "alive".
+ Insanity difficulty was freaking hard.  I'm sure better gamers than me rolled through it, but for me?  Wow.  Overall, combat gameplay was fantastic.
+ In my paragon playthrough (I imagine renegade play-through has different details), Mordin and Legion dying were really well-done.  Great send-off for great characters.
+ Linear story.  Normally, I don't like linear stories in an RPG, but ME3 unfolded with a logical progression that made sense in the context of the overall war.  The drive to the end was exciting.
But then there was the end.

My problem with the Ending (I'll try to be brief):
- I Didn't Win This Game.  I don't feel like I "won" a game if PC death is inevitable.  People may disagree, and that's fine.  Inevitable PC death just feels like a failure.  A "Critical Mission Failure", to be exact.  That's why video games should avoid inevitable PC death.  It's fine for something like, say, Hamlet, but no - not fine for a medium in which I spend so much time and effort trying not to die ...

- Rumored/Secret Endings. Rumor is, Shep doesn't die in some cases, and there might be a secret ending for a 2nd playthrough, but until I see a walkthrough on how to do it, I simply don't believe it exists ... and without confirmation there's some other ending out there, and I somehow missed it despite doing 100% exploration and all side-quests, I have zero desire to play this game again.

- Mass Effect Relay Destruction = Destruction of the System.  Even if there is a "Shep Survives" ending out there somewhere, it's hard to call any of these endings a win.  Relay Destruction = System Destruction is well-established.  Sol has a Mass Effect Relay.  The main goal of the game, as advertised, was taking back the Earth.  There's no epilogue to contradict the logical conclusion that Earth and the fleet there are destroyed.

- Choices Meaningless.  Like many others, I feel the ending rendered all of my previous choices meaningless.  This game has no replay value for me (which is a bummer because BW games = replay value is one of the reasons I've always loved them so much).  My replays of ME1 and ME2 were all a waste of time - I only needed the one import to see all endings.  Everything boils down to one entirely new, out-of-nowhere choice that is not affected by anything else I ever did.

- Guardian/Catalyst/Whatever Was Actually Wrong.  The core assumption that organic destruction is inevitable is false.  Now, I stated it in that way to make a point, which is this: the underlying question "are we doomed to destroy ourselves?" is a philosophical one, and merits thought and discussion ... but the ending of this game assumed a definitive answer with no room for argument.  It then offered a false utopia "solution" wherein all life is converted to a synthetic/organic hybrid, ignoring the fact that synthetic/organic conflict is not the sole source of conflict in the galaxy.  Organics and synthetics are as perfectly capable of killing themselves as they are each other, and the promise of "peace" rings hollow.

- Wastefulness.  It's seems like a terrible shame for all of the excellent lore writing to go to waste.  The logical consequence of the relays being destroyed is that galactic government, trade, whole species and star systems - all gone (again ... can't say that I feel like I won with Shep dying and/or the relays destroyed).  The end of this game means there is no more Mass Effect universe, not just no more Shep.  At least, no more ME universe unless it's a) a prequel B) retcons the end of ME3 or c) drives right through the giant plot-hole of the logical repurcussions of all mass relays being destroyed and never looks back.  I don't really find any of those scenarios compelling.

Overall Score:
9/10 For People Who: a) Don't Care Enough About Happy Endings to Replay Over and Over for Optimal Results, or B) Don't Care About Happy Endings At All, or c) Liked How Matrix 3 Ended, or d) Hate Their Shepard, or e) Are Still Willing to Suspend Disbelief in Regards to the Established Lore About Destroying Relays and How that Lore Means the Earth Just Got Blown Up, or f) Would Have Found it Acceptable if Luke Had To Die for Darth Vader to Snap and Kill the Emperor.  If you fall into one of those groups, this game is for you, and I recommend it without reservation.

2/10 For Everyone Else.

Summation: I deeply regret pre-ordering a CE of this game and wasting two days of vacation to play it right away.  I also deeply regret all the time I spent doing multiple play-throughs of ME1 and ME2.

Modifié par jbauck, 08 mars 2012 - 11:18 .


#102
Jhon Flash

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The Game and series 90/100
The ending 10/100 (it looked good)

I liked how they did the music was reminiscent of ME1.
I liked that my decisions carried over, people living ships being intact.
The whole game gave a sense of emergency, to me, which makes sense.
The lack of by pass games what a waste of time. ME1 omni-gel for my fifth and sixth play through, ME2 no I don't need to go in that room that bad on the second play through.

My problem is this.
I stopped Saren, Sovereign and the Geth.
I saved the destiny ascension and the council.
Collected every resource I could through three games.
I chose Ash over Kaiden and kept Wrex alive
Kept all my squad mates alive, baring those that had to die.
And then.


I find some “kid” living in the Citadel that controls the Reapers but for some reason could not activate the Citadel. If he new what was going on and he had to of known, why not start the process.
And at the end of ME3 the mass relays explode which, for any one paying attention, means every solar system, Sol included, that contained one is gone. We know this because of the Arrival DLC.

All the ships and resources I collected were destroyed, as were my squad mates. Except those lucky few that magically got back up to Normandy then ran for some reason away from the very thing that was, as far as they knew, about to destroy their enemies and end the war.

Modifié par Jhon Flash, 09 mars 2012 - 09:36 .


#103
lookingglassmind

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jbauck wrote...
- Guardian/Catalyst/Whatever Was Actually Wrong.  The core assumption that organic destruction is inevitable is false.  Now, I stated it in that way to make a point, which is this: the underlying question "are we doomed to destroy ourselves?" is a philosophical one, and merits thought and discussion ... but the ending of this game assumed a definitive answer with no room for argument.  It then offered a false utopia "solution" wherein all life is converted to a synthetic/organic hybrid, ignoring the fact that synthetic/organic conflict is not the sole source of conflict in the galaxy.  Organics and synthetics are as perfectly capable of killing themselves as they are each other, and the promise of "peace" rings hollow.


This bears repeating.

#104
LordSnakie

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In short, I give this game a 30/100. 35/100 at absolute best.

BioWare made an ambitious decision when it tried to make importing decisions possible, but with the amount of variables that had to be taken into account with each successive generation, the games got measurably worse. ME1 innovated massively within the RPG genre, with breakthroughs in dialogue, writing, and a deep, immersive world. The dialogue-wheel and fully-voiced PCs have become famous and are being adapted across the genre. Nothing like this has happened with ME2 or ME3, and it won't. ME2 and ME3 traded innovation within the genre to modification within the series, improving upon a pre-existing formula without trying to add in improvements that could be borrowed across the board. This is not necessarily causative of the problems we see, but rather symptomatic.

BioWare, you tried to change too much in ME2. Combat, graphics, the very means in which the story was conveyed--it changed from an action-adventure plot to one focused on characters, and it simply didn't mesh well, nor did it advance the plot. The Collecters could have been handled in half the time they were, and the rest of the game could've been dedicated to, with proof from the base, preparing the galaxy. ME3 could have been a much more slow, user-directed story. However, the plot wasn't advanced enough, and ME3 suffered. You start out already losing.

The more open-ended a story is in the beginning, the more open it must be in the end to be successful. You gave players too much choice in ME1, and when you couldn't handle the amount you had to account for in ME2, you restricted access to the citadel and gave us e-mails to sop up the rest. This was mitigated somewhat in ME3--we met old people, the citadel was opened back up--but at the cost of a truly open-ended story. Rather than Shepard being proactive, we were turned into a reactive husk; we did fetch quests and missions for the "real" powers-that-be across the galaxy, all lined up nicely and neatly so there was to be minimal work necessary to account for the maximum amount of decisions that could be had in the previous games. I cannot stress enough that you made our character, the one we as the players have invested time and money in, into a REACTIONARY to handle the workload you would've had to put in to make them truly responsive.

You killed our ability to do missions at our own pace and with our own minds, you killed exploring, you killed learning about the galaxy and its races and people, and you killed our ability to even enjoy what we'd accomplished in the previous games by killing us in all but one ending, the BEST POSSIBLE ending, in which we *may* be alive, but our squad is still trapped light-years away and we've killed some of the races and teammates we've gotten most close to. The bottom-line is that ME3 was a story where you merely tied up loose ends, all in a very linear manner, and then shot yourself in the foot at the very end, the only real part of the game where the story was moved forward at all without a macguffin (the Crucible), and stared at the screen, wondering why you spent hours making decisions and shaping your character when all of it never really mattered at all.

The only positive parts of ME3, to my mind, are the sequences in which you meet old characters, characters from the books, and some of the humor. Gameplay and graphics were great, sure, but what does that matter, if I don't even want to touch the game anymore because I find the endings so distasteful? I won't pick it up again unless we receive new options.

In short: DLC that allows new endings or playtime (AS SHEPARD!) post-endgame, or I will never be purchasing or playing one of your titles again.

#105
P_sutherland

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90/100 before the final battle, 13/100 after.

#106
darthoptimus003

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thats exaclly what the mass effect universe became with this game a hugh wast of time and money every loyal fan just got kicked square in the balls with these endings
in my opion we got ripped off with this crap
now to be fair the game was great i loved it up till these bassackward endings that where total crap and if i could id send all three games back to bioware and say thanks for the biggest waste of time ever cause it really didnt matter what we did in the first 2 games cause you die anyway my only hope is that everyone at bioware realize there mistake and fix it then maybe my faith in tis company will be on the mend but i really really dout it

#107
Landline

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Before the ending. A competent game that, while nothing that's worth writing home about, delivers a nice experience for people who are invested in the story and the characters.

After the ending: The single worst experience I've ever had playing any video game ever. The bad ending is made even worse by the good stuff that came before it.

#108
Adanu

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I can only echo what Landline said.

Adding that this ending is the second worst I've ever seen in a game... with Chrono Cross ending being the worst.

That right there... is hard to do, but you, Bioware, the 'story' game devs, have managed it.

Congrats, you've managed to kill Mass Effect for me.

#109
Lunatic LK47

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The entire game before the ending: 9/10.

The ending: 1/10.

'Nuff said. Whatever hateful messages have been sent towards the writers responsible for the ending: They deserve it, plain and simple.

Modifié par Lunatic LK47, 09 mars 2012 - 12:01 .


#110
Jhon Flash

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I will say bravo on the attempt, BioWare took on a huge task and delivered an amazing experience, right up until the end.
Mass Effect went from my favorite game experience to the biggest let down and failure in gaming I have ever seen.

#111
ramdog7

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So where are the new fans Bioware was trying to obtain?

#112
Carmen_Willow

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I've done one playthrough so far. Paragon FemShep.

THE GOOD:

Kaiden LI writing was great, good romantic tension, neat cut scene at the end. Thane's writing was great. Cried my eyes out. It was nice that I could follow through on this LI from ME 2 and still have Kaiden at the end. Thanks for that. EDI was well written (except for the rogue VI stuff--didn't need it). The Geth quest was well written. I hated losing Legion.

Combat was good, Krogan and Turian quest lines were great. The Citadel attempted coup was excellently written (except for the Villain).

I loved the fact that you failed some quests if you didn't do them in time!

James. I thought James was really well written. Just the right amount of come-on mixed with earnestness. I liked him a lot.

Miranda's quest line. Thought it was good.

Loved the Prothean. Great character. Wasn't what Liara expected, but he and his civilization had much in common with the Romans. Thought he was cool. Glad he wasn't the wise All-Father, Yoda.

THE BAD:

Being stuck on a cliff trying to target that Reaper without getting killed. Hated that. Screamed at the monitor. Very frustrating.

Horrible journal. I didn't think anyone's journal could be worse than Skyrim's, and I was right, but you came close. So not user-friendly. And no map! The little weird blue arrows were very misleading. I wasted serious minutes trying to figure out where the little arrow wanted me to go.

The assassin who looked like an escapee from a JRPG. Pluueeezzze! He was a caricature. His outfit, weaponry and hairdo just screamed, "I am a bad guy!!!" Assassins usually benefit from being able to blend in with the crowd. Not a lot of blending there. And you either needed more of him or less of him.

Liara's little white outfit. Any female in her right mind would tell you that white simply isn't a color you want to wear to explore the universe. And it made her look fat. No female wants to look fat, unless your species is fat to begin with. Same goes for Miranda's white outfit. Ditch the white outfits!

The fetch quests with no clues in the journal as to where to go to deliver the fed ex package. Very frustrating. I didn't know if I would find all those things on the Citadel or out in the galaxy somewhere.

The lack of fuel depots. I know, I know it was to lend realism to the lack of supply. But I wasted countless minutes jumping from one system to another in search of a gas station.

The light levels on the reconfigured Nomandy. The light was so low that I wanted to wear a flashlight on my head. Seriously. I missed the brighter lights of the corporate version. In fact the lighting in the entire game was rather low. I kept squinting.

The "child" who came up with the harvest solution. Maybe this is clearer to someone who's bought all the DLC and read all the books, but I was trying to figure out if this was "God." Was he the creator or the created? And who put him in charge? And which of the many species that he had harvested created him in the first place? This needed to be explained better within the game itself. You can't assume that every player will know all the background.

THE UGLY:

The paragon ending. I had already lost Thane, and Legion and some other folks. Did I have to die and take Kaiden and half the galaxy with me when I departed? And for what? So that sentient beings could be stranded out in the star systems with no bus to take them home? I was so depressed, I just wanted to cry. You really need to have a least one ending where the hero walks away with his/her LI in tow. I understand some of the other endings are somewhat better, or maybe you have to get more brownie points before you get a happy ending, but I was just bummed by all of it. Why invest that much time in a character only to have them die? Sad, really sad.

Someone on your writing team had to have brought up the idea that maybe, just maybe, people might want a happy ending. Please tell that person, that I think he/she was right. We did want a happy ending. At least one happy ending.

And did I mention the journal? Oh yeah, I did.

I rate the game a 7/10. You lost two of the three points on the ending.


P.S.  Guys, I thought you would have learned something from the Dragon Age II debacle (as I recall, that ending didn't go so well, either) with regard to the endings.  This is worse because it really is the end of Shepard's story. 






.

Modifié par Carmen_Willow, 09 mars 2012 - 12:17 .


#113
dogbanks

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 100/100 in the initial gameplay.
0/100 the second I saw my Tali's body dead on the ground.

#114
Faraborne

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 Due to the radical departure in narrative and storytelling within the final moments of the game (from end of missile battle on)  I am going to give the game two different scores.

The majority of the game: 9.5/10

ME3 blew me away with how good it was!  I was very skeptical after playing the demo, but as soon as Anderson mentioned my actions in the Arrival DLC, I was hooked.  I laughed, cried, felt like a badass, felt like a hero, felt pain, sadness--the list can go on and on.  Technical bugs, texture pop-ins, none of that bothered me because the game was just soo amaxingly good!

The Galactic Readiness system was awesome.  I found myself constantly going back to the War Room to check on the state of the army preparing for War.  The intergration with multiplayer I found to be awesome and I spent several hours on the multiplayer just for that reason.

I only have two gripes with the majority of the game.  First, the scanning thing was cool--but Reaper awareness...it was just annoying.  Not a game changer, but it was annoying.  Second, not near enough real conversation bits with companions (especially Ashley Williams <3).  There were a few very well crafted scenes, but there needed to be more small scenes of just casual conversation (and not Zaeed'd).

ME3 was by far the best blend of all the elements of Mass Effect, crafted expertly, amounting to what should have been my favorite game EVER.

Should have been.

The ending: 3/10

Being a philosopher I understood what the writer was trying to accomplish and can respect them for that.  However, that style of writing would have been excellent and appropriate for something like Deus Ex: Human Revolution.  In Mass Effect, it was totally out of place and inconsistent with the entire series.

The ending was not bad because it was bitter, or sad, or didn't feature rainbows and butterflies.  The ending was bad because it did not fit Mass Effect.

First, to me the primary theme of Mass Effect is determinism (evolution) vs. self-determinism (free will).  In Mass Effect 1, Sovreign tells Shepherd that he has no choice in the matter...the desturction of all life is inevitable.  Shepherd effectively says "Screw you" and through determination, sacrifice, and perseverance he stops Sovreign and proves that life is not determined.  Free will is the truth.  ME2, everyone tells Shepherd that he is attempting a suicide mission--one way trip.  His fate is determined.  Shepherd's response: "I'm going to stop the Collectors but I plan to live to tell about it!"  He defies fate and proves that through free will, sacrifice, and determination life can persist through insurmountable odds.

Now ME3.  The kid tells Shepherd that their fate is inevitable.  No matter what Shepherd does, synthetic life will destroy organic life.  The only way Shepherd can prevent this is to synthesize organic and inorganic life (which if you think about it is essentially saying everyone must become a Reaper).  This ending is entirely inconsistent (despite having glaring logical errors and lacks empirical support).  As proven above, Mass Effect's primary theme is fatalistic determinism vs. free-willing self-determinism with self-determinism being proven again and again to be the truth.  Now, the Reaper Guardian kid says that no that theme is wrong the truth is determinism.  And this is asserted with no question.  Major problem here.

Furthermore, the Guardian lacks empirical support for his claim.  The reconciliation between the Geth and the Quarian disproves the Guardian.  EDI disproves the guardian.  The backstory of the Geth and Quarians disproves the Guardian.  Essentially, the Guardian makes an assertion with zero empirical evidence and Shepherd just accepts this.  I cry foul.

Furthermore, to me the dichotomy between organics and inorganics always was a metaphor for racism.  I don't believe I am alone in this opionion and the entire theme throughout the game seems to prove this.  Essentially what is the message being given by the Guardian then: racism is inevitable.  Again, I cry foul!  I do not say for one second that Bioware is propounding racism, rather I am saying that whoever wrote this ending was incredibly careless and not aware of the thematic implcations of his writing.

Should the ending be fixed?  Yes.  If Bioware truly considers their games to be works of art, then they should heed the reviews of their most important critics (the fans who have deep love for the series).  I feel that Bioware crafted a beautiful painting with ME1, ME2, and even ME3.  Then, at the end, a careless artist came up and threw black paint all over the masterpiece ruining it.  However, the painting is not irrecoverable.

Do your work as good artists!  Apologize for the carelessness, heed the advice from your critics, and fix this glaring issue.  I ask Bioware and all the developers and executives to have the courage to do this.

#115
PsychoticPenguin

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Faraborne wrote...

The ending was not bad because it was bitter, or sad, or didn't feature rainbows and butterflies.  The ending was bad because it did not fit Mass Effect.

First, to me the primary theme of Mass Effect is determinism (evolution) vs. self-determinism (free will).  In Mass Effect 1, Sovreign tells Shepherd that he has no choice in the matter...the desturction of all life is inevitable.  Shepherd effectively says "Screw you" and through determination, sacrifice, and perseverance he stops Sovreign and proves that life is not determined.  Free will is the truth.  ME2, everyone tells Shepherd that he is attempting a suicide mission--one way trip.  His fate is determined.  Shepherd's response: "I'm going to stop the Collectors but I plan to live to tell about it!"  He defies fate and proves that through free will, sacrifice, and determination life can persist through insurmountable odds.

Now ME3.  The kid tells Shepherd that their fate is inevitable.  No matter what Shepherd does, synthetic life will destroy organic life.  The only way Shepherd can prevent this is to synthesize organic and inorganic life (which if you think about it is essentially saying everyone must become a Reaper).  This ending is entirely inconsistent (despite having glaring logical errors and lacks empirical support).  As proven above, Mass Effect's primary theme is fatalistic determinism vs. free-willing self-determinism with self-determinism being proven again and again to be the truth.  Now, the Reaper Guardian kid says that no that theme is wrong the truth is determinism.  And this is asserted with no question.  Major problem here.

Furthermore, the Guardian lacks empirical support for his claim.  The reconciliation between the Geth and the Quarian disproves the Guardian.  EDI disproves the guardian.  The backstory of the Geth and Quarians disproves the Guardian.  Essentially, the Guardian makes an assertion with zero empirical evidence and Shepherd just accepts this.  I cry foul.


Agreed.  It's one thing if the inevitability of organic/synthetic conflict and self-destruction was woven into and escalated through the narrative throughout the whole game.  But it's only vaguely hinted at a few times, never a focus of the narrative, and the two other major subplots (quarian/geth and EDI) which make up a much larger focus of the series both falsify the premise (synthetics become self-determinant and choose to co-exist).  I don't consider the reapers as "synthetics" in this conversation, they were the bogeyman, created in the past, not part of this cycle.  The appeal of the ME universe was self-determinism, and I totally agree that funneling everyone into one of three "determined" outcomes, all of which are fatalistic in nature, ruins the entire premise of self-actualization which the first two games stood on.

Modifié par PsychoticPenguin, 09 mars 2012 - 01:17 .


#116
Biotic Sage

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10/10.  A masterpiece.

Unlike many of the people on these boards who are ranting about the ending, I am completely on board with your entire vision Bioware/Casey.  You made a very brave (and very right) move by giving us a finale in which I had to make a choice that I will probably agonize over for the rest of my life.  You were brave enough to make it truly significant to upset the status quo of the Mass Effect universe and did justice to the maturity of the entire franchise.  Now that I have that out of the way, I will move onto my feedback.

The Beyond Amazing:
- Emotional investment.  The character interactions, especially with the love interest, were the best I've ever seen in a video game.  The score did the rest.  My expectations were completely blown away in this department.  I actually cried manly tears during Thane's hospital scene, my final goodbye to Liara, and Anderson's death.  And I felt a deep pain in my gut at the conclusion knowing that Shepard and Liara could never just be together like they both wanted because of the impossible circumstances, but it was mixed with joy/happiness knowing that I permanently ended the Reapers' and their onslaught and freed the galaxy from the control that was the Mass Relays and developing along the Reapers'/Citadel's pre-determined path.  Mankind and all aliens can now naturally ascend to greatness.  Of course the other choices were still very tempting as well, so to me that's mission accomplished for you guys at Bioware.
- Awe inspiring set pieces and action.  Thresher Maw attacks, head to head with the Reaper on Rannoch, and that physically draining final assault in London where people are literally being disintegrated all around you while you make a desperate attempt to finish the fight.  Man you guys certainly fulfilled your promise of the Reaper invasion that had been set up since the very first game.  This sh*t is for real.  And of course the great graphics that we've come to expect in all Mass Effect games.

The Great:
- Customization.  The weapons each had their own unique feel, the different classes' powers were well balanced, and in terms of armor we can don anything from a stealthy recon suit to a bulking juggernaut look (or anything inbetween)...AND we can choose color schemes...even the lights!  You really found the sweet spot between ME1 and ME2.
- Gameplay.  Combat and level design were extremely well done.  I won't even be able to play ME2 again because it will feel like my hands are tied behind my back.  Shepard can finally move like a pro on the battlefield.  The levels aren't just corridors, although when there is corridor combat it is extremely well done with varied enemies who will actually challenge you.
- Plot.  All of the priority missions flowed very well from one to the next and all felt truly significant to the overall fight against the Reapers.  A couple of minor hiccups, but nothing immersion breaking.  And certainly no more holes/gripes than I have with any of my favorite stories (LOTR, original Star Wars trilogy, BSG, Lost, Godfather, The Prestige)

The Bad (although there's really no "bad" here, just aspects that werent' transcendant like the above):
- Secondary quests.  They could be really overwhelming and feel meaningless the way you magically acquire them as you walk around the Citadel...or alternatively find a bunch of random stuff out in the galaxy and then just happen to find all the people who are looking for those particular things.  Again, this is no worse than the secondary quests in ME1 or ME2, so it isn't bad, it just hasn't been improved upon.
- I'm hesitant to put this on here, because it was pretty much bug free, especially for a game so massive in scope.  However it's feedback so I'll put the bugs I did run into: lip syncing was off a few times noticeably, characters were standing or appeared in places they had no business being in, and once the game froze.  But like I said, this happened so rarely that I didn't even get frustrated when it did happen.  And it didn't happen during the most significant parts of the game at all.

Thank you Bioware.  I felt such a catharsis after completing your amazing trilogy.

Modifié par Biotic Sage, 09 mars 2012 - 01:28 .


#117
kbct

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Damn BioWare, you really screwed up the ending to an otherwise epic story. When I heard the negative buzz about the ending I kinda dismissed it because of your great track record. I've been a customer since Baldur's Gate. All the BioWare games I've played were generally good despite some minor flaws. ME3 was no different. As I played through ME3, I grew more and more confident that the naysayers were wrong. It turned out they were right. Another thread title in this forums sums it up perfectly - 5 years ruined in 5 minutes. I think others here provide all the reasons why the ending sucked so bad. I just wanted to add another post to the long list of posts.

Now I've got a pretty good game with a ****ty ending. Now I don't really want to play it again. What a shame.

#118
JrSlackin

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 I loved every minute of it.

I understood the ending, but it lacked so much closure to such a huge decision, and ending it with an old man telling a story to a child just made me kinda scratch my head.

You guys did great in everything else, the ending though really needs to be addressed. If you can go back and change things in the recent book, you can go back and change things in a recent game with a patch. 

(PS Your loyal fans deserve better.) :unsure:

Modifié par JrSlackin, 09 mars 2012 - 01:46 .


#119
I can Hackett

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I make this short and sweet alot of people have already explained my feelings this game is ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL, I just HATE the endings if the endings were better this game would be my #1 top game ever BIOWARE PLEASE give me some closure with my long invested in characters that is all I ask

#120
johhnytrash

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Great game! Bioware really did an excellent job with the Multiplayer, AI tactics, difficulty and game play.

Most of the scenes were very well voice acted. It showed that Bioware is getting much better at cinematic sequences and emotional investment. I was engaged right up to the end, when the little boy ghost told me that nothing that Shepard did to get to the end game made any difference.The story was pretty linear, and that's OK due to the amount of variables going in. They had to deal with a lot. But to balance out the linear story, why did you make the ending so slap dash and tacked on? You blew up your own world! Which is fine if you provide hope, but you really didn't. There was nothing to lead into how the fans can imagine what the next steps could be.

The endings were functionally the same. And not very good. Think about the amount of story you told. 40 hours? 50? How is a 5 minute sequence of your teammates returning to Eden a fitting end for that much story? Fans are going to be vile, but I think you made a mistake on a Star Wars Prequel and Matrix Revolutions type scale.. and I don't think it's hyperbole. Is the point of an adventure story to depress the listener? There are many stories that tell a heroic death without makeing it a dirge. We know Shepard was triumphant, but you didn't make us FEEL it. We didn't see the victory, we only saw the loss and the pain. You didn't define your story as a tragedy, but you gave us a tragic ending. It's the confusion that is pissing people off, not the death or the lack of epilogue.

Shepard is a bad ass Reaper killer, and Shepard's ending should have been as a bad ass Reaper killer, not a weak Monty Haul homage to the Singularity threat of technological progress.

Gameplay 9 out of 10
Story without the ending 9 out of 10
Story with the ending 3 out of 10

Modifié par johhnytrash, 09 mars 2012 - 01:54 .


#121
Foulpancake

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I'll not repeat what was said again, as i'm going to be posting a big thingy in the "endings" thread thats gotten to like 21 pages already. But up until the end i would have given this game 10/10, absolutely brilliant, a masterpiece...

Then the end killed it completely, dogbanks said it best earlier, only for me it was Liara. Once i saw my Liara lying in a pool of blood... then trying to proceed hoping she wasn't really gone, only to find out... ya know i'm so upset i can't even type this right now

0/10 overall, i wish i never even played the first Mass Effect, i would be spared this heartbreak and betrayal

#122
azc23

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Majority of the game: 7.5/10
Ending: 0/10

RPG elements: Mass Effect kept a good balance of action shooter and rpg throughout and there are always going to be elements that certain people dont like. Crew composition being one of them, however the designers made the game farcical in many ways...sticking us with a sex bot rather than leaving us old standbys.

The auto dialogue was pointless, we want to pick what sheppard says, we want to craft his opinion on the world. Not be told what it is. The pick a side in a fight dialogues were also rediculous.

Choice meant nothing in this game what so ever. You promised us that our choices would matter and they changed almost nothing. They all lead to being railroaded into a deus ex machina ending that satisfied no one.

This led to a trite ending with three options presented to us by some melevolent god force...hey if they are your creatures, why not just command them to stop? At the end Sheppard dies with three non choices which essentially end the same way. Synsethis? When did this even come up as a plausible option in the ME universe...some magic ray beam that shoves technological code into our dna...if technology could be coded into DNA doesnt that mean organic and synthetic life are essential the same anyway?

Destruction...ok so basically you nuke all of creation, fine maybe life will spring up again.

Control, ok you tell the reapers to leave.Wow fantastic...they were that easy to control?

All this from the massive construct that took weeks to complete? Poorly written, lazy storytelling and a terrible way to end the series. Dragon Age 2, Mass Effect 3...what is happening to you bioware.

#123
mizark3

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5/10 (9/10 with a real ending where your choices actually mattered throughout the games)

Combat: Mass Effect 2 with weird additions, (heavy melee? so I want to put myself at excess risk to do 1.5 times damage?) would have been better as the first game (mostly the first game getting new guns and armor mods, I-X. Weapons are halfway there, weapon mods are there, but armor and armor mods are essentially non-existent. It is an action-rpg and loot is always fun. just maybe a better way to get rid of it rather than omni-gel) Plus the first game's combat sprint was amazing.
Immersion: classic Bioware, everyone in the universe has an interesting story that makes you care (nice spectre addition on this)
Dialogue Wheel: This felt broken, not only due to lack of choices, but also 2 choices that are not paragon or renegade placed in the P/R slots. Easy fix, put them on left and right center. Just like choosing who to fix something in a mission.
Quest Tracker: The first two games had it track items well enough, then quests no longer track your progress. Why?
Reputation: A straight out improvement, whether you want to be paragon or renegade at any moment is alright. Much better than being forced down 1 path the entire game.
Endings: Just give me a button that kills reapers, but keeps Mass Relays up. Maybe death potential attached to galactic readiness. Or crucible does nothing, oh well, we planned on fighting them anyways! If readiness is over 6500 you defeat the reapers, all of them.

Also, the kid was a bad choice, it should have been any lost squad mates, you are guaranteed to have at least 1 person die on you.

Edit: Also the first two games made achievements more than a couple of points, they had an actual gameplay effect, 5-10% more XP whatever, they do no appear to give any bonus in the third game however

And the side stories on the citadel should have been like 2, where you can walk 10-20ft away then back to the person to advance their lines. Why do I have to go to a seperate floor, then back to get the next 3-7 times they continue their conversation.

Modifié par mizark3, 09 mars 2012 - 02:35 .


#124
DyneEnigma

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You know, I could have looked over the lack of interaction with your squad/friends, compared to ME1 and 2, such as Garrus, Ashley, Liara etc.

I could have looked over the lack of loyalty missions, which was an AMAZING thin in ME2. (The loyalty missions made you feel connected to the people around you.)

I could have looked over the lack of importance in the galactic readiness and the acquisition of war assets.

I could have looked over the lack of decent side missions. If I want to player the multiplayer maps, I'LL GO PLAY MULTIPLAYER. Granted they brought missions related to your former squad.

I could have looked over ALL of these ridiculous things, that Bioware could have done WAY better on, if I was given a damn ending that didn't result in SCREWING EVERYONE OVER.

Where are my Rachni warriors? Where are the Spectre squads? Where is my mercenary fleet? None of the f*ing assets played a role in the end whatsoever! I might as well just have got right above the minimum then rushed through the main story.

I saved all these people, united former enemies, built in game friendships and relationships, only to (pretty much) kill them all. The Mass Relays are destoyed, and last time I checked, ACCORDING TO YOUR DLC BIOWARE, when one is destroyed it wipes out an entire system. Know what that means? Earth would have been destroyed. Guess what Shepard!? YOU SAVED EVERYONE! Oh wait... You didn't.... You destroyed our only means of getting back to our families, you destroyed all technology as we know it, YOU SENT US INTO AN F*ING DARK AGE. From what I've seen, no matter what the Mass Relays are destroyed no matter what you choose. So much for that AWESOME ancient technology that was meant to SAVE people. Also, is it honestly too hard to ask that we get atleast ONE ending where Shepard lives?

I was looking forward to this game SO much and recommended it to A LOT of people before it came out. Now I feel betrayed. All my time spent playing ME1 and ME2 was pointless. I agree with what someone said earlier on, at the end this was NOT a mass effect game. I'm not even going to bother rating it.

I dealt with what happened to KOTOR, but not again for ME. I seriously doubt I'll buy anything else bioware related. Unless its some type of DLC for different endings. In which case PLEASE for the love of GOD hurry up and come out with something like that. 

The endings you guys have given have left me feeling hollow. A deep pitt right in my stomach.

Modifié par DyneEnigma, 09 mars 2012 - 04:07 .


#125
ARC-109

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Game before the ending: 9/10 after 0/10. It's like bioware played deus ex invisible war and thought that's good idea for an ending let's do that.