1966 réponses à ce sujet

[jfruelas521]

Hello Bioware,

I just finished a second play through last night, which by the way was incredibly difficult to start knowing how the game ends. I sincerely think the best way to fairly evaluate this game is to give it two scores. The first score judges only the first 95% of the game and disregards the ending. The second score judges the game and takes the ending into consideration.

First score = 9.5/10
(not taking ending into consideration)

Strengths:
· Incredibly good character development and interaction. I believe this is the strongest part of the game. For me, the most memorable parts of the game are my interactions with the characters. Taking back Rannoch for my LI, Tali was the best part of the game in my first paragon play through. Then on my second play through, which was renegade, shooting Mordin in the back gave me an overwhelming sense of guilt, something I've never experienced in any other game for killing an imaginary character. That decision still haunts me. I supremely applaud you for creating such vibrant and developed characters.
· Impressive story. My interactions with the virtual world around me gave me a real sense of motivation to save the galaxy. It wasn't simply a bunch of faceless people to save for the sake of saving them. It was saving the galaxy for the sake of the characters I've come to love over the past 5 years.
· Main story missions were fun. Seeing Palavin burn from one of its Moons: Awesome. Seeing thresher maw take down a reaper destroyer: Sweet. Taking back Rannoch for LI Tali and brokering peace between Quarians and Geth: One of the pinnacles of achievements in gaming. Assaulting Illusive Man's base and taking out Kai Lang: Surprisingly satisfying.
· Fighting was well polished. Liked the addition of rolls to get in and out of cover. However, would have liked to have seen more enemies have more shields, armor or barriers on Insanity. Without those, defeating most enemies is a simple 1, 2, 3 process of Liara Singularity, spam Throw, repeat.
· Multi-play is fun and somewhat addictive.

Weaknesses:
· The mission to retake Earth was a bit underwhelming. The opening cinematic was great. But after that, it was a slow decline followed by an abrupt train wreck in the form of everything that happens after you deal with the Illusive Man. I thought this would be an ending battle somewhat akin to DA:O or ME2 where you get pick different armies to attack things and help you during the course of the fight. Depending on what you chose, some species may live or die, etc. Instead, all we got was a regular mission. Expected a bit more than that for the fight to retake earth and to the end of a masterpiece franchise.
· Side missions were not compelling this time around. The main side missions received from Hackett were half way decent but those fetch quests you get from people on the citadel are abnormally tedious.
· Journal isn't updated at all when you are part way through a quest. Please update journal sections once a significant part of the quest is complete.
· Bought collector's edition. Dog included was terrible. Spent 30 seconds looking at him, never looked at him again. N7 outfits weren't well designed. Ended up using default outfits. Included guns weren't much better than normal guns.
· Few minor bugs that break side quests.
· No graphics options for PC? Can adjust only resolution? I can deal with that, just thought I'd mention it. PC gamers like to adjust that type of stuff.

Overall, the bulk of the game was sublime. I congratulate you on putting together not only such a great individual game, but such a fantastic franchise.


Now to address the ending. Ugh. Where to begin. I have the same complaints that most of the rest of the people on this forum do. In my honest opinion, the ending was soul crushing. I thought long and hard about the proper term to use there. Soul crushing is what I came up with. The first time I saw it, my first feeling was confusion about what I had seen, followed immediately by a feeling of supreme despair. I immediately went online to see if I had somehow received one of the bad endings, even though I had finished all of the side quests in my first play through, disregarding the ones broken by bugs. To my horror, I found that there is really only this one ending with three different color explosions. I still have a hard time seeing how the great minds at Bioware thought this ending was a good idea. To put the ending in perspective, this is literally the first time in my history, which is getting close to two decades of gaming now, that I have felt the need to contact a developer directly about the ending to their video game. I've played plenty of games with bad endings before but I normally just shrug them off and say they could have done that better. I didn't particularly care for the ending to Skyrim but at no point in time did the thought of contacting Bethesda to complain about it ever enter my mind. I'm generally a pretty moderate person and don't succumb to fan hysteria easily. However, after seeing the ending to ME3, I really cannot stop myself. I have been posting in these forums constantly ever since I finished ME3; somehow, sharing my pain with other people takes slowly takes the pain away. These forums have become my support group.

Therefore, it is with a heavy heart that I am forced to give you my second score.

First score = 5.0/10
(taking ending into consideration)

Yes, an ending this epically bad can mar a game this much. It can also destroy a company's credibility with its consumer. I wrote in a previous post to you, Bioware, that you are my favorite game development company, but that my confidence in your company has been severely shaken. This statement still holds true. Unfortunately, you will not see another dime from me until the ending has been resolved in a satisfactory manner. Once this has been done, you will continue to receive my support in the form of game purchases (I always buy your games new), DLC purchases and general praise. Here is to hoping that you can resolve the ending to ME3 better. I anxiously look forward to what you announce in April.

I don't want to end this review on a bad note. You still created one hell of a great franchise in Mass Effect. I want to congratulate you on that. Mass Effect is still a gaming masterpiece and Shepard does belong on the Mount Rushmore of greatest video game characters of all time.

Thank you for your time.

[blood.rage]

I finished my first playthrough some time ago and did another one yesterday, so I had some time to organize my thoughts on ME3. I'll try to make my opinion constructive..

So here's what I like:
+ Shepard - I love what you did with him, I especially mean the fact that you gave him emotions, so I could consider him to be human finally, not a robot again. I really liked the moments, when he was not sure about the future, when he was sad, because someone died because of his choices, and especially when he needed his friends' support, etc. And what is the most important here for me - he didn't feel whiny at all, which I was afraid of at first. Great job on that! Besides, I enjoyed the moments, when he teased Tali (about the suicide mission) and Liara (about the Shadow Broker on Sur'Kesh)

+ the dream sequences with the theme of the child - I think it was all amazing. Very sad, mysterious, dark (because of some whispers Shep could hear from his friends) and at the same time very powerful

+ funny references - finally apart from being depressed (after all many people died) I could laugh as well. For example I loved, when Jack or Garrus said something like - everyone knows you can't dance (Garrus's 'no comments' was hilarious!) hell, he can't!

+ touching and memorable moments - although I'm a really tough girl, I must admit - a few tears fell. I will never forget, when Mordin was singing his salarian song before his death.. that's for sure! I will never forget Garrus's favorite spot on the Citadel, either.. Shep's farewell with his crewmembers was also very moving for me. I really thought then 'man, you won't make it, poor you'. Again - great job on that!

+ Kai Leng - it's not I like him or something. It's all about making me hate Leng so much that all I wanted was.. oh yes - his death! Going renegade to kill him was very satisfying!

+ James Vega - I really love this character and actually I'm sad he didn't have more dialogs

+ Javik - love him too! His 'you all are primitive' made me laugh hard Shep's reaction to his remarks was also hilarious. nicely done!

+ Cortez - I liked talking to him too. It doesn't really matter that my Shep was straight. Still it was a good bromance.

+ some guests aboard

+ EDI getting her new body, so she could be our squadmate

+ scripted events

+ music - it was incredible for me, especially I love two tracks ('Leaving Earth' and 'An End Once And For All'). The choice of the second track for the final cutscene made it really touching for me.

+ squad banters

+ squadmates being depressed because of the war

+ Meer's voice acting in the final cutscene - I don't know actually why, but he made me feel my Shep was even more human than ever. I felt really sorry for him then..

+ funny moments - I loved the idea of Shep waking up next to Aria after drinking I laughed really hard, when I saw her eyes literally saying "cool story bro, wrong place though" )

+ nicely handled classes - I never liked infiltrators or engineers, but now it's changed

+ bigger ship and the NPCs moving around

+ bigger Citadel than it was in ME2

+ meeting Shep's crewmates on the Citadel and spending some time with them

+ armor and weapon customization

+ scanning is not safe anymore

+ romances among the squadmates

What I dislike:
- scanning is still tiring for me, of course it is better done (scanning is no longer safe), than in ME2, but collecting things was quite boring after some time and definitely it's not my idea of fun

- poor interaction - it is one of the most important aspects of the game for me. In ME1 I loved that after every bigger mission we got dialogs for each squadmate. In ME3 it doesn't happen. Of course some generic lines are good, if someone doesn't have anything more to say, but only in this case.. The Virmire Survivor or Vega got fewer 'bigger' dialogs, which doesn't happen when it comes to (especially) Liara or Garrus. what a pity..

- the VS is neglected - I can't speak about Kaidan, because I haven't finished any playthrough with him yet, but Ashley felt for me like a DLC character. She actually had one interaction with James (even Javik, who IS a real DLC character had more). I heard that many lines for her have been cut off. And it's really easy to feel it unfortunately. Mostly I got lines like "Nice to see you, commander". Oh well.. She was my Shep's LI, but actually I didn't feel it. He had more conversations with Liara than his LI. That was.. really weird for me.. Don't get me wrong - all of her dialogs were well-written, but the number of them is an issue for me.. The VS had a really great potential. Just saying.

- no reward for being faithful - as I said - no special interaction and actually no real reward because of it. I was disappointed. I waited so long for it and now what? Nothing?

- exploring some of our squadmates' personal problems - for Ashley it could be her family situation and maybe getting some help from Shep to save them, Maybe same for Garrus? For Jack - reunion with her mother maybe? A lot of possibilities which are not used unfortunately

- no pause during the cutscenes - I had a few situations on my first playthrough, when my phone was ringing while I was playing.. What could I choose? How do you think? ME3. That's disturbing and.. problematic.

- no love from Shep's mom - my Shep was a spacer and had no single message from her. Even in ME2 she sent him something. Why not now, when everyone's dying? That's not a serious issue of course, but still..

- the way femshep runs - I didn't like it at all, because it was very odd for me. But it wasn't anything that ruined the game for me. That's for sure.

- an annoying bug, when Shep is standing next to Joker (on his right side), he always freezes and nothing can move him

- time-limited sidequests and the fact that some sidequests do not appear in the journal (it's easy to forget about them)


Not decided yet about:
The ending.

No, I'm not going to complain about it. All I want to say is - IF the indoctrination theory is true, probably it'll be the best ending I've ever seen. But as I said "if". I mean - the ending feels incomplete, because it explains nothing, even if someone loves the way it is right now. We do not know anything about Shep's fate. Everything else is also unknown. Probably he is still in London. So from the beginning I've had a feeling you're going to prepare something for us. All I'd like to see is to give people a real choice - if you fought well enough, because of your choices, let Shep live, if you didn't fight well enough.. Let him die as a hero, but still let him finish his mission. I'd love to know that my choices really mattered after all! That would be win-win.

To sum up - poor interaction with our squadmates was a very serious issue in my opinion. I'd just like to see more, because I always enjoyed it the most in every ME game. Also, the feeling, that some elements of the content have been cut off, was also problematic for me.

But I'd give 90/100.

Thanks for this nice experience.

[Corine_esq]

5/5
Game play+:
Game play is now streamlined and fun. You are no longer the clunky clumsy Shepard of Mass Effect 2 (ME2). Cover system works great, the weapons are more personalized and more of what you'd expect through an easy upgrade system. Side-quest are also quick and efficient, and a pay off for listening to people and exploring, feeling more in the story line than emails or waypoints. And if you don't involve yourself or miss some side-quests it has the potential to change the story.
Story +:
Engrossing conclusion to a Fantastic trilogy. Pay off for playing the previous games the way you wanted will be repeated in various characters appearing or not appearing in certain areas adding to the game play mechanics, and reaping benefits or hindrances because of your choices. Even if this is the first time playing in the series, the storyline and work with the cinematic to introduce you to and throw you headlong into the epic struggle that seasoned fans are fully invested in. Plus the innovation of game play style to match how you want to go throughout the story makes a comfortable experience for the newest to the series. Also the amount of interactive side story, even if you have no effect on the outcome enriches the world and creates and individuality between the all the environment the player explores.
Graphics +:
For those familiar with the series the Graphics have a story of their own, from the cartoon/Star Trek look of the first Mass Effect, to the Crisp redesign streamline of the second, and now the thick textures of the third. ME3's graphics show the wear on the characters with an impossible task, each world shows it's own character with rich design and interactive size. Tattoos, facial features, clothing, all have been designed for a familiar yet original feel to so many characters taking up the environment.
Sound +:
I cannot praise the soundtrack to this game enough, it is beautifully scored. New side conversations in the environments is fun to discover interact with. Creature soundtracks personalize what to expect and adds feeling to fire fights. No spoiler, but every major scene from the dialogue delivery to the sounds of the events around have a great effect for building suspense and apprehension to satisfaction of resolution.
Replay Ability +:
Multiplayer option is quick horde survival that is easy to jump in and out of even if you don't want to invest in the main storyline, plus it adds an additional asset to the single player campaign. With all the different stories going throughout the game, there a tons of options to change and replay the consequences, supporting the different Shepards even with the basic choices with a new character.

[kkr]

As a faithful fan to bioware, and as a person who believes in the fact that mistakes and oversights are almost unavoidable on projects the scale of mass effect 3, I feel that it is crucial that i stand on both sides of the field with both the developers on one side and the fans on the other. (1) On the first side (the developers), I feel that it is in the end the developers who have the last words in the making of their creation, and that the fans should have respectfully and kindly requested additional endings instead of trying to violate a companies as well as individual free will by demanding ,with little to no respect at the behest of the fans for such a outstanding game series, they create new endings.(2) On the other side (the fans), I believe that the mass effect franchise is not a simple collaboration of games, but an individual experience for each and every gamer. For this reason, I believe that the fans are not as outraged as they seem, but confused, saddened, and believe it or not heartsick that the endings were what they were, very identical and spotted with uncertainty. The fans would love descent closure to multiple oversights in many different ways, whether it be to only correct the issue of the plot holes, insure more hope, or for those who are inclined to be stubborn and a little unrealistic (myself included) wanted an ending that had Shepard and his/her friends( including love interest) survive, go to a bar, get treated like the heroes they are and get blind drunk because of their victory over the reapers. I speak for all the fans, who will allow me to speak for them, when I say that as the fans who still respect the staff of bioware we ask bioware with all possible kindness of them to consider the idea of refined endings. Even if this ideology is not considered, I KeAaron Roberts would like to thank any bioware staff member and fan for reading the perspectives of just one simple Mass Effect fan.

[kkr]

Overall 99/100

[tg0618]

Until the endings 10/10

with the endings 5 maybe 6/10

[The Fazzle]

I'd give ME3 a 6/10 and that's not including the ending.

Overall I felt that ME3 lacked in several key areas where 1 and 2 excelled.

First and foremost, I felt that there was heavy dialogue with very little player control on the direction of the conversation, and it seemed like this was a way to progress the plot as it needed to go, which is understandable in certain cases. After playing for several hours, however, I had checked, then rechecked to see if I had the game set to story mode or action mode. Having the dialogue wheel often reduced to two options, in addition to the lack of paragon and renegade options/interrupts, made me feel like I was being railroaded through most of the conversations.

Second was the layout of the main missions. In both 1 and 2, the player was given a choice as to which mission they wanted to do and when, and that was always one of my favorite aspects of the games. In 3, I had to help the Turrians first, then the Krogan, and after that it was the Quarians. I found it odd that there wasn't an option to pick who you wanted to help first.

Third was the lack of interaction between NPC's. Many of the secondary missions were picked up by just walking by people talking, no interaction with them what so ever, just a little pop up saying you have a new mission. Even talking to main characters felt reduced. When I first realized that they moved around the ship and talked to each other, my first reaction was "Oh sweet! That's totally awesome!" but when I found out that I couldn't actually partake in their conversation, such as Tali and Garrus saying their goodbyes, or Kaiden and Muscles McSquatsToMuchh playing poker, I felt took away some of the cool factor. Lastly when my yeoman tells me that Tali is upset and that I should go talk to her after an important mission, I was excited to find her at the bar betting hammered. I thought that it would make for an awesome dialogue seeing as how she was my LI and all. Instead it was like having a conversation with Zaeed or Kasumi. For a main character, and a LI at that, it came off as a little lazy in my opinion.

Revealing Tali's face. I was honestly fine with whether her face would be shown or not, but if you're going to show it, SHOW it. Come on, she's been a main character from the beginning, a LI, and has a HUGE fan base. Make the effort to actually render her face in the game, it's the last of the series, go all out. You guys have done a fantastic job on designing all the alien races of mass effect, seriously, they're amazing. So why does Tali get a hastily photo shopped stock photo?

The rest is all minor stuff.
-The journal, it was fine in one and two, why not keep the same system.
-No Krogan squad mate

Now for the good stuff.

Level design was awesome. I felt that all the zones were very beautifully done and they were all extremely fun to play through. They felt much more dynamic in the fact that I was able to use ladders to gain high ground if I wanted too.

Enemy variation was also very well done. While I know many complained about Cerberus becoming your enemy again, I felt that quite a bit of variety. Combining that with the mixed reaper forces, and some geth, It was definitely nice change up from the different colored Mercs that we had in two. Also a plus was the ways in which killing enemies was varied. Cerberus guardians were a nice touch. When fighting reapers, life was much easier when you took out the marauders first. Always having that mix up made for a nice change pace through out combat.

Item variety was very done in my opinion. I like having lots of options all the different types in both looks and function. Being able to mod them was also pretty nice as well.

Multiplayer adds a nice bit of replay value and is a nice addition to the game.

Overall I really enjoyed playing ME3 but I felt that it lacked in certain key areas when compared to 1 and two. Still very fun though and I feel that Bioware did a good job.

And then the ending...yea...enough people have gone in to extensive details on that whole debacle and I really don't feel to reiterate them, and I'd also like to keep this as a positive review.

[Fossil309]

My Mass Effect 3 score:  96/100

At the ME3 launch I was playing ME1, then ME2 to max out my BroShep so the story and decisions made would all be fresh in my mind for ME3, and I read all the Mass Effect novels written by Drew Karpyshyn. I also didn't read any of the news being posted relating to ME3 until after I completed it as to not ruin the experience.

Overall I am very satisfied with how ME3 played out.  I think it was a combination of the best features from both ME1 and ME2.  It was easy to become immersed in the ME3 universe and I enjoyed the adventure.  I liked that there wasn't a time limit before being forced into the final mission like in ME2 and I could spend all the time I wanted to explore.

The character interactions were good and quite funny at times.  I also liked how the characters would interact with each other and have conversations of their own on the Normandy.   The characters felt the most real in ME3 compared to the rest of the series.  I'm glad that all the main characters from ME1 and ME2 made an appearance.  The Prothean squad member was not what I expected.   However, I thought it was cool and the character's perspective was very interesting regardless.

The enemies were creative and challenging at times, espeically the reaper enemies.  I had hoped that a big Soveriegn size reaper would have been killed at some point, and that Harbinger would have had a larger role given the personal hate for Shepard in ME2. 

I've left the story for last.  It was great and very satisfying.  Well mostly...  It was easy to become immersed in the story and it was written so well I found myself feeling how Shep would be which added depth to the experience.  The story had me hooked and I was never bored.  The gaps that stuck with me most were Aria/Omega, Harbinger, and the ending.  I had thought there would be a mission on Omega, but perhaps that will be DLC?  Harbinger I already mentioned but now I'm wondering if Harbinger's voice was really the Catalyst speaking through him the whole time?  This brings me to the ending.  Up until meeting the Catalyst I was like "EPIC EPIC EPIC EPIC EPIC" then it was "? ? ? ?".  It just felt the ending was a bit forced/rushed, and it left many questions unanswered as well as creating new ones.  I think I get why the Catalyst was the kid from Shep's dreams, just a form to manifest that represents helplessness?  Also what is the Catalyst, where did it come from, why am i only finding out about this now, why does it think it needs to force order on the galaxy?  While Mass Effect is all about choices I didn't like the ABC choice for an ending, nor did i like that once you went down a path at the end you couldn't turn around and pick a different one.  You HAD to choose it once you were there.  Oh well, I'll play through a couple more times to get the whole experience.  The ending itself (I chose the one to the left) wasn't bad.  It didn't leave a warm/awesome/champion of the galaxy feeling but instead there was emptiness/loss and there was definitely a feeling of finality to the story.  Like a 100 lb hammer.  I had a feeling Shep would die (at least in the ending I chose), but the story of this trilogy has been epic in every sense of the word and I'm not dissapointed.

If anything were to be changed I'd say the interaction with the Catalyst and choosing the ending, but not the endings themselves.  I know that's a bit premature since I haven't seen all of them yet, but I have faith.  Also some Omega/Aria, and Catalyst history/development DLC would be great.

[fgabales]

Until the ending: 5 start
with the ending: 2.5 :|

[2ndMarcus]

Veteran of ME1, ME2 and all DLC (PC versions) multiple playthroughs. Finished my first playthrough of ME3 several days ago… and felt somewhat bothered/perturbed/confused/frustrated/angered/disconsolate (still not sure which feeling pre-dominates, so I’ll mention them all). Spent some time since gauging the general reaction on the internet and on BSN forums, and at this point I’ll weigh in with my opinion on the game as an overall experience, and how it sits with the rest of the ME trilogy.

Graphics

Perfectly serviceable for the most part. The main NPCs are all pretty well done. Some of the environmental backdrops and landscapes were excellent.

Some negative points though.

The textures are a little too low-res all around for my liking.
The in-game AA is largely ineffective and its presence actually makes configuring Nvidia control a bit problematic, although when I did get it just right it was definitely worth it.

Couldn’t help but notice that my Shep’s portrait approximation (and it had to be an approximation as I couldn’t import his precise likeness WTF BioWare!) was somewhat pinheaded. This was especially noticeable in the game opening conversations and cut-scenes – his head just looked too small for his body – anyone else notice this with their Shep at all?

Although noteworthy, I didn’t feel that any of these were gamebreakers (was able to get used to the sight of my pinheaded Shep over the course of the game), and they can easily be patched up.

Sound

No problems here. Role of sound in a game like ME3 is to complement the overall atmosphere of the game, and I can’t think of a specific instance where there was any disharmony between the unfolding visuals and the background soundtrack and ambience. I know some people felt that too much was recycled from the previous two games, on reflection I think this is probably true, though it didn’t jar with me in-game.

Combat Gameplay

Though I’m more of an RPGer at heart than a shooter, I didn’t mind that BioWare chose to go the direction they did with ME2, nor that they’ve kept continuity with that going into ME3.

The shoot and cover system is an improvement on the already solid ME2 mechanics (little bit too much mapped to the spacebar though) and I again found it enjoyable.

The set-piece battles with the Reaper destroyers were exhilarating.

Also enjoyed the increased difficulty in some of the more intensive combat situations – felt this was nicely judged and an improvement on the preceding titles, where even at higher difficulties combat would rarely reduce a soldier Shep to a slither of one health bar.

The weapon customisation was ok, and tweaking with it to balance a particular weapon just the way I wanted it provided a degree of enjoyment. Whilst a welcome addition to the ME2 based mechanics, it did remind me of (and make me yearn for) the far greater options that were available in the original game.

Felt there was a bit of a balance issue with snipers and ammo. Firstly, at least at hardcore difficulty, there seemed to be a tremendous abundance of thermal clips, such that you could never really run out of ammo. Allied with the clip modification, this made everything but the higher end sniper rifles redundant in a great deal of the combat. In ME2 it was easy to exhaust the thermal clips with a sniper, forcing Shep to use the shorter range weapons or melee. Not so much in ME3, though the tougher difficulty perhaps compensated for this (especially with some of the larger reaper troops who could close on you before they could be brought down), I found there was little incentive to use anything besides a sniper the majority of the time.

Narrative Gameplay

Characterisation of the main NPCs was good on the whole. Garrus, Liara, Joker and Tali (save for the Google Photoshop) were all well fleshed out and consistent with their ME1 and ME2 incarnations.

The episodes with Mordin and Legion were, for me, the outstanding highpoints in the narrative.

Jacob, Jack, Miranda and most of the other ME2 non squad NPCs were a little undercooked, though I expect BioWare views an expansion of their respective roles as an obvious starting point for further DLC.

The new NPCs, Javik aside, neither add nor detract from the experience all that much.

The lack of a Reaper nemesis disappointed me. Sovereign and Harbinger were great antagonists

The journal is awful, and should not have made it past quality controls – It’s such a retrograde step from ME1 and ME2 – providing little by way of instruction or updates, and timing you out of side quests without warning.

Much more serious problems are presented by the way dialogue is conducted in ME3.

Firstly the sheer amount of auto-dialogue. And not just with peripheral NPCs but with core NPCs too. Why? It undermines the ability to craft Shep’s persona, as I’ve been doing all through ME1 and ME2. At the outset of the game, as I was getting my bearings, I began thinking did I hit “Action” instead of “RPG” at the character import screen? I seem to be in a world of Kasumi’s and Zaeed’s here! And it persists throughout the entire game!

Secondly, the radial dial may as well have been divided into thirds than sixths, because it sure seemed that on a majority of those occasions where I was allowed to pilot the dialogue, there were only three choices available; top right, paragon; bottom right, renegade; middle left, bit of exposition for those who might be new to ME. The single most immersive aspect of the ME franchise, the ability to control the depth and tone of the dialogue, in line with the character I’ve imagined for a particular Shep, degraded to options A, B and C, and wasn’t that just portentous!

The ending(s)

Began the charge towards the citadel conduit with high hopes and expectations. Harbinger touched down and I thought “here we go… awesome” a battle, perhaps physical, perhaps mental, perhaps both with the chief Reaper. Alas.

Other people have gone into the reasons why the ending(s) are so unsatisfactory. Suffice to say I was dumbfounded by the nonsensical “synthesis” ending my near full paragon Shep got. Immediately afterwards I took to the internet to see if I’d missed something crucial along the way, quickly learnt that a) no I hadn’t, it would of made no difference if I had, and C) choosing either “destroy” or “control” would have altered little beyond the hue of the mass relay explosions.

Reflecting on this, I wonder if in the end BioWare just promised more than they could possibly have delivered. I’ve read that by the end of ME3 that the number of variables that are in play are northwards of 1000 – realising that they didn’t possess the resources in time or money to do justice to the variety of different narrative experiences that were available, they’ve gone for capping their trilogy with a “high level” one-size fits all pseudo-philosophical conclusion. Whilst I think this was unlikely to have been satisfactory in any event, it’s rendered unpalatable by the ineptitude of the execution. Bad endings are nothing new, but most of the time they’ve been preceded by mediocre beginnings and middles, so no one cares. The reason that I and so many others are so upset is that almost everything that comes before Marauder Shields is superb.

Seriously, BioWare have established a new standard, all of their own, when it comes to “bad endings”. I’ve played a lot of games, watched a lot of films, read a lot of books, I can’t recall anything that compares. In scarce five minutes, established lore is disregarded, momentous choices across three entire games are made illusory, immersion and replayability are destroyed so completely that I can’t fathom a way out (I know people have put forward indoctrination theory, but I don’t buy for a second that was BioWare’s original intention).

Overall 6/10

Modifié par 2ndMarcus, 25 mars 2012 - 08:03 .

[OminousFlare]

Mass Effect 3, the epic Sci-Fi conclusion to the tale of a character you have put in hundreds of hours to develop. Our Shepards' story has finally came to an end - and it's been a hell of a ride, folks, irregardless of the ending.

But despite the last five minutes, there are so many good points about the game that I'm just unsure of where to begin. The soundtrack, the characters, the massive scale of the mission, or the few emotional moments out there that really made me wished I had made better choices. But I think I'm going to touch on mostly the story and character development system (not referring to the literal skill-tree character development) in the game, as that has resonated in my heart the most. Not going to go into the game mechanics or the combat as much, I'm afraid.

To start, let me just talk a little about my FemShep. She began as my attempt to create a hypocrite character in the first Mass Effect - someone who seems to do good in front of the Council and her superiors, but is secretly a devil who seeks destruction in all life as we know it. Despite the true definition of 'Renegade,' it is possible, with the complex flexibility Bioware had input in Shepard in the third game, to create a truly evil character that causes the deaths of all his squadmates. Believe me - I've tried. But ultimately, combined with my ignorance about this flexibility and my laziness to go through the tedious process of creating a hypocrite, my FemShep ended up as a cliche badass female that selfishly looked out for herself. Things changed in Mass Effect 2.

One thing I love about the Mass Effect series is its capability of developing your character in many ways. It's not as advanced as the Sims system (another of EA's amazing production), but you could end up with quite varied a tale with your various Shepards. This allowed me to shape Shepard into seeking redemption in the middle of the second game when things went rather awry and friends started dying (won't go into details) and thus, seeking full redemption in the third game. This thus gave me a Shepard with a lot of loose ends to wrap up, a load of redemption to achieve, and a lot of room for developing her character. It also meant there would be a lot of emotional moments awaiting her as Ruth Shepard faces the consequences of her actions from the first game. But enough about me and my Shepard.

When I first played the game, things ran kinda slow for the first half of the first act... until I met Ruth's love interest, Garrus Vakarian. Straight off from the start, there was already romantic dialogue options available for my entertainment, and there were going to be a lot more all the way till the final battle against the Reapers. That's one point for Bioware for putting such emphasis on the relationship you have with your LI compared to the first or even the second game. And it was just the beginning of the team's awesome work.

When Ruth arrived in Sur'Kesh, Mordin reminded us (me and Ruth) that Maelon's data was destroyed. From then on, I had a feeling it was going to bite me back very soon. It did, at the end of the Tuchanka mission, but more on that later. For now, I would just like to say Bioware has made the game very personal for me, that I could feel the doubt when deciding whether to reveal about the sabotage to Eve (it took me fifteen minutes to decide on a dialogue), that I could feel the sense of redeeming for all the wrongs Ruth has done when Eve gave her speech to her fellow Krogan. Eve convinced me Ruth was going to be a very good person for what she's doing, despite all that she's done in the past. The emotions were that powerful that they resonated through the screen.

A prime example of this appeared at the end of the Tuchanka mission - Mordin's sacrifice. At the time, before having any knowledge of what might have happened and what might have been, I felt that iIf I had saved Maelon's data, Mordin might not have needed to sacrifice himself and Eve would definitely not have died. Bioware made me feel it was my fault, not Ruth's. It was an awesome feeling, nonetheless, and even more watching Mordin's sacrifice and thus, gaining his redemption, righting the wrong he, Ruth and I did in the second game. His singing broke my tear ducts. The Tuchanka mission showed that Bioware knows character development well, way above many mediocre stories I have experienced. And that was not the end of it.

Ruth tried redeeming herself in the second game to prevent her friends from dying, yet one by one they leave, with Thane following next. At least he too, like Mordin, went out with a bang. But then came along Grunt. In the Rachni mission, I thought another of Ruth's mistake - killing the Rachni queen and thus probably leading, somehow, to the creation of the Reapers' abormination (again I was ignorant at this point) - was going to cost the life of another past squadmate. I think I cried harder than before Mordin's death when Grunt was seemingly imminent in facing his death. Fortunately, he made it. No greater satisfaction had been felt. Except maybe other than seeing how Thane massively pwned Kai Leng in the Citadel misssion (the stab was a cheap shot).

Fortunately (or unfortunately) for me, no more emotional moments came after, not even during the Quarian or Geth decision in Act 2 (I got the peaceful resolution... bleh). I think if I had actually witnessed Tali's suicide for myself, adding that to Mordin's death, I would've really broke down. I mean, after all, Bioware really made me feel guilt when Thessia was overtaken by the Reapers after MY failure to defeat Kai Leng entirely. I mean, sure, he was, by default, set to get away, but I felt the same shame Ruth felt when the button on the comm link flashed repetitively right after the Thessia mission, while Ruth was hiding behind a wall. I was thinking, 'What was I going to say?' instead of what Ruth should or would say. The ensuing conversation between Ruth and the Asari councilor could be best described as... heavy. The silence that followed as everyone huddled around the war room was... powerful.

THAT was Bioware's storytelling at its best. Rather than just merely read about the guilt in a book or see and hear it on a television, you feel it and experience it in a videogame as if you are the one bearing the guilt yourself. Bioware has geniusly mastered this art of storytelling very nicely... and I simply could not believe what they did with the ending. I mean, I REALLY could not bring myself to accept that Bioware has left the fans hung to dry like that, and I believe that the indoctrination theory is true. I believe that the ending was a crazy publicity stunt (Mass Effect 3: Space Edition, anyone?) meant to even more emphasize how serious Bioware is in bringing players closer to the universe of Mass Effect by performing real life indoctrination. Sounds like I'm indoctrinated, I know. Sounds like I'm a deluded douche, I know, but there it is.

I praise you, Bioware, for not just granting me an awesome character I take a very huge part in developing, but allowing me this mind-boggling experience that's the most personal one of all experiences. I really felt like it was my story, rather than Shepard's, and I thank you.

9.5/10. Minus a few points for some minor bugs and some (still) limited content. Aside from that, this is truly deserving of Game of the Year.

[alandavidson]

85 / 100

How can you get so much right but then end it in such a lackluster way ?

Combat is better and much more exciting. Power tree is better and adds a little bit more customisation to the game as does the new weapon refitting. Still liked the original armour, weapon customisation more but a great improvement on ME2.

The ending of a few story lines was beautiful. The Krogan genophange story line was faultless. The Geth story line was also brilliant.

The Cerberus story lines didn't really work for me, how did they get so big and Kai Leng was kinda pants.

The ending was a rushed job, it didn't fit in the mass effect universe and it puzzles me how it actually got made.

The journey to the end is important and still makes this game worthwhile.

[NovaM4]

I just wanted to say that bioware has done a great job. The endings weren't that nice. But the overall score is good for me. 

So i made a VID to remember Mass Effect.

I appreciate it that you watch my VID. 

www.youtube.com/watch

Thanks.

Modifié par NovaM4, 25 mars 2012 - 01:04 .

[Bocks]

The gameplay was nice, but I felt as if the designers didn't stray that far from the general tps gameplay mechanics. Not enough creativity in this department.

I also felt there was little to no choice in regards to how the story progressed. In ME1 you could choose which part of the story you wanted to start out in. In ME2 you could recruit people, and sometimes you were forced to do a story mission, but up to that point you had a choice of where you went. In ME3 you have no choice on how the main story progresses. I can't go to Rannoch first thing and THEN to Tuchanka and Palaven. It just feels like this whole aspect of choice was abandoned. It's disappointing because I'd have loved to hear some more dialogue between some of my squadmates depending on who I picked up first.

Another low point was the auto-dialogue. I get that you're trying to improve the narrative, but ripping player choice from the dialogue was just disgusting. The player has absolutely no control over what Shepard says. This is especially true on Mars and Palaven, where Shepard just tells Vega/Liara to leave so that the player can "experiment" with a new squad.

This brings me to the whole part of appealing to a new audience. This is what destroyed ME3 for me. New players will ALWAYS be confused to a series. You need to let them experiment, or create a "the story up to now" segment so that they won't be left in the dark. You DON'T ignore the people who have played the game until then.

I was also severely disappointed in the lack of character interaction. Even between characters, there's very, very little, especially compared to ME1. I thought you had learnt from ME2 that players wanted more dialogue with characters. Why can't you learn from what your fanbase is saying? It's extremely frustrating.

The ending was the final insult. I suggest you completely reboot the series past ME2 (past ME1 would be ideal), get the old Mass Effect team back on board and go work for Valve. At least then you'll spend some time working on making the game good. It's a shame because this series had the potential to be the next Star Wars and ultimately led to you profiting a LOT in the long run. But no. You had to butcher it because of your corporate concepts regarding MAKE MONEY FAST.

You don't gain respect that way. You don't gain anything except for money, a childish fanbase and the hatred of people.

5/10.

[Murdock 4000]

The only thing I have to say to people who haven't played/beaten the game is; don't have high expectations for the ending. Everything else is magnificent, but the ending just does not match up with that praise. To that end the game has little to no replay value, and after you beat the single player the mulitplayer seems kind of pointless.

[Eylos]

I dont know how to score this game so i will give 2 scores
The game 9,5/10
The game was what i expected, a lot of action and scenes that gives goosebumps, awesome story

The ending 0/10
Man i like a lot of bad endings, cliches, that doesnt make sense, on drugs ending, for god sake i liked one of Uwe boll movies, the end of Twilight is better and i hate it
the ending of ME3 ruins the game

[ZombifiedJake]

I was hooked throughout, and I would have ended up giving a score of 8/10 (I'll elaborate further on that) but the ending took that down to 6/10. Yes, that's how much of a negative impact it had.

All in all, maybe my high score is due to my emotional investment into the characters and my decisions, or rather, a score of the trilogy as a whole. As a game Mass Effect 3 is quite mediocre.

What I liked:
- Excellent squadmate conversations and interactions.

- Enjoyable combat.

- Sidequests involving familiar faces.

- DLC character was actually involving and felt like an integral part of the team. I would nearly put this in the bad side because it goes to show how badly the game needed this character, and instead we got day one DLC.

- More love for the citadel.

- Main quests packed a punch.

- Multiplayer is actually fun.

- Lots of Admiral Hackett.

What I disliked/hated:
- Need at least one more hub world/environment like the citadel. We all know we're getting Omega DLC.

- Poor sidequests that are an excuse to get some more use out of planet scanning.

- Less dialogue trees than there should have been.

- Paragon/renegade choices are nearly absent.

- The Virmire survivor had virtually no presence aboard the Normandy. I don't recall any proper conversations with them.

- Decisions from past games lacked impact. Regardless of your choices there is a linear path that has been set forth. Examples being the Rachni Queen and the Collector Base.

- Multiplayer affecting single player component. Just a cheap tactic.

- Weapon customization, whilst a welcome addition, wasn't very good.

- Had serious problems with the journal.

- For a game featuring the reapers, their presence doesn't feel that important.

- The end cinematics should have shown a MUCH longer battle sequence with the reapers, showing what war assets you've acquired and how they're utilised.

- The game opening was atrocious: no impact - c'mon, it's a reaper invasion on Earth and it's made dull. The child was laughable and I was very annoyed that such a weak element of the intro was made into a burden through dream sequences. Seriously, the kid sucked.

- The ending. Need I really say more? It was one of the worst that I've had the misfortunate of playing - a true trilogy killer. Knocked out replayability and the promises that we were given. And using that god awful brat as an avatar? Weak and pathetic. Up until Shepard gets blasted by the reaper beam, I was hooked. After that point, the game died.

The confrontation with the Illusive Man wasn't good, and for some reason I couldn't use the final paragon option despite a full paragon bar and having tried to use paragon options on him before (must have missed one, yet that ruined it).

Now, the explanation by the avatar was terrible. I didn't want a huge detailed backstory on the reapers, but I wanted something, and got nothing. The final three choices were unforgivable. Ending cutscene, whilst having amazing music, did nothing for me either.

[RampantBeaver]

90/100 which is still a very high score, and I literally give it that because there is nothing out there like it.

Still it wasn't the game I hoped it to be.

Pros:

+ Amazing characters as always.
+ For the most part fun and enjoyable gameplay.
+ Dynamic enemies.
+ Choices that carry over from two games.

Cons, with a brief explanation for each.

- Same graphics; for the epic finale it needed a new engine to do it justice.
- Poor companion AI; show cased excellently in the Kai Ling fight. Perhaps drop in players is a point for discussion?
- Parts that made me go what?; Taking 5 seconds to free the Rachni queen gets all grunts men killed? Sheps casually sitting down in a chair and both companions trying their hardest not to notice that the samurai wielding maniac is clearly still alive.
- Cheap ending; I liked the direction it went, think space odyssey, but to echo everyone else the choices I'd made had no affect on it.

Modifié par RampantBeaver, 25 mars 2012 - 04:06 .

[thetawaves90]

I was looking forward to seeing some aspect of the war trial for Shepherd, but considering the pace of the start of the game I can appreciate it would have been rather incongruous.

Although most possible candidates are being decimated by the space-kraken, I would have thought ME3 would have built upon the variety of hubworlds that were available in ME2.

Storyline is Bioware; extremely engaging and had me laughing, teared up and pissed off. Music was so well done, Clint Mansell deserves a hug.

Loved the dialogue, though missed having options in some cases (noticed the "press use-key to get a sound bite" aspect creeping in with the character DLCs in ME2, shame that they were occasionally applied to lead characters in ME3). Conversely, I really appreciated not having a squaddie/NPC spout their life story to me in the midst of an intense mission; far prefer the contextual approach that was used throughout these sections.

Gameplay was subliminal. Powers felt vicious and guns felt lethal; with pacing and challenging AI that reprimanded me for being an idiot. Well done with that.

Endings lacked closure but were so inkeeping with the recurring themes of loss and sacrifice, it's no wonder there are a whole lot of irrate fans. I'm hoping that any changes made are simply to add more depth in regard to the plot and player-choice, and definitely not to alter them.

Multiplayer is a hoot, although I wish the majority of gamers' attitudes would reflect the majority of paragon playthroughs: there are some serious ****s out there. Some actual server selection would have been nice as latencies and player levels have varied widly in my experience, making for some infuriating gaming experience.

Modifié par thetawaves90, 25 mars 2012 - 04:54 .

[Methanoid666]

2/10

Im a colossal fan of ME1 and 2, however im honestly gutted i bought ME3 online, why? because if id bought it physically at a shop id have just said the dvd was scratched or didnt work and returned it asap.

imho the ending(s) is just like the rest of the game, honestly felt like a reduced budget game of
obvious allround shortcuts, probably due to knowing full well that after the
success of the first 2 games that every man and his dog would leap to
buy the 3rd one, altho who knows, either way its poor quality on a whole, it just feels like ME2 with its guts torn out.

No
real side missions at all, just "finding another useless war asset",
and the assets dont mean a thing, take a look at ME2 and theres loads to
do, even if only short ventures out, theres also quite a lot of well thought out eye catching moments in ME2, ME3 i can think of maybe 2 places 1 of which being the start where i thought "oooooh" altho the start mission just reminded me of "Resistance 2".

No Crewmate Missions for
loyalty etc, just a quick chat, "alright there how are you doing? yeah?
cool? ok so your abilities in the med bay for selection? cheers", yet again felt like time and cost cutting shortcuts.

Planetary
travel?  Easymode fly around, pinging everything, reapers jump you,
just keep pinging everything anyways, then run away, do a mission come
back and its all there to investigate afterwards.  Theres not even much
point to flying around, theres no depth or point even manually flying the ship, they should have just gone the whole way and removed it.

Rehashed Max Payne melodrama in the form of dream sequences,
utterly disappointing and added nothing but wasting time, gave nothing interesting or useful to the game as a whole.  The
overkill way all your crew members get killed off is also beyond silly (if
you even see any/many ME2 crew members, as i played ME2 on the psn so
have no me2 pc save, as i refused to run steam and soon when multiplayer
bores me ill be removing and treating origin the same).

Have
your choices mean utterly nothing except some brief cutscenes to watch, only to
eventually get a choice of door number A/B/C at the end regardless of
everything youve done beforehand, i mean cmon, you cant have honestly thought its what people wanted to see?

Hubs? where are they, a
minimalistic citadel and nothing more, more evidence of not even
attempting to give some serious content, again ME2 makes ME3 look like
an unfunny joke.

The weapons/unlocks, tbh when the games so short
with nothing to do why even have the weapons and unlocks, by the time
you have anything useful bought/found the games over with no actual
playable missions to do after the games complete.

Replay value?   zero, why bother, ill just get door A/B/C, each with a booby prize at the end again regardless of how i play anyways, same applies to DLC packs, the games that hollow why bother with any future DLC content, whereas on the PSN on ME2 i happily bought every pack going.

Multiplayer is surprisingly actually a fun co-op mode, but let down by a lot by the limited qty of maps, rubbish random unlock system, coulda done with having the armour sets added in for more variety and not just the weapons/mods.

I
seriously cant understand when i read posts here stating that ME3 was
good, if not better than ME1/2 when its just so far from that its
unreal, i mean the games been gutted of absolutely everything you can
imagine comapred to ME2, its yet another indepth game churned out for the casual player thats totally destroyed it for the fans.

Most gripes i see are regarding the endings, im shocked that theres not many asking where the rest of the games vanished too, even if a magic DLC appeared "fixing" the endings, its still not worth playing imho until the game doesnt feel "hollow and void" of content as a whole.

I honestly finished it in virtually no time and thought? is that it? where the hells the rest of the game gone, it feels like mass effect has gone the way of spore, wow, eve online, and countless other games i looked forward too or used to enjoy only to have the "casual gamer" ruin everything (IF casual gamers is their reasoning for stripping the game bare).

Basically, it felt like a lot was removed and utterly nothing was added to the series.

If bioware or EA honestly wanted a facebook generation or sims version of M-Effect they should given them a totally different game and left the actual fans alone to enjoy their proper game.

Even tho i liked the new combat system, and mechanics etc it was not enough to hold the "story" together, so so so disappointing. 

Modifié par Methanoid666, 25 mars 2012 - 05:09 .

[Beerfish]

Just finished last night I will not go into massive detail just post some random things I liked and didn't.

Voice acting of Meer was a full notch up from the other games, outstanding job.

Quest log was way way way worse. Excellent in the previous game just a big mashed together list in this game. Hated it.

Maps - Areas I wanted a map, no map. Areas where I did not need a map at all...map.

A few of the companions where short shifted others true justice was done to them.

Good twist on the protheans as far as what they were like,

By the sounds of it a lot of controversy on the endings. I also have to fall into the lot that didn;t like them. My choices essentially ended up being die and have mass relays destoryed or die and have mass relays destroyed or die and have mass relays destroyed. (I guess I should gloat a bit about the ending though as I called the mass relays destoryed and going back to low technology ending years ago.)

The ending with the machine organic rewrite was kind of cool but having no happy ending sucked for me especially in the replay department. I played each of the 1st two games 6 or 7 times at least. This is I am left thinking 'what's the point?' Everytime I'mtalking to a squadmate and promising we will meet in a bar after all this or continue a love interest etc I will just be looking at my screen saying 'bull****, I'm dead and probably so are you.'

I can see that this was probably the vision that the developers had for the ending but for as often as the happy happy joy joy ending was considered cliche I now find that in many games the endings are the opposite with agnst pain and sacrifice being the theme.

Some good stuff in the game but the ending was not great, even the Illusive man was not done justice at all. He ended up being Saren 2.0 even down to his lines at the end.

[AnoXxi]

Campaign 93/100

and for multiplayer

Multiplayer 100/100

[Cobretti ftw]

Well, overall ME3 is a GREAT game. But there are some issues with it that are very annoying.
I will try to give a quick version about the pros and cons, focusing on the cons because thats what i would like to see fixed/improved, and there are things that had a good and a bad side aswell. I will comment them both:

Pros:

- Graphics and scenario: AMAZING graphics, very beautiful and well built scenarios wich IMPROVE the experience and the imersion into the game, and that is REALLY important in RPG's. Really awesome stuff here.

- Sound: Very nice job here aswell. This also is very important in ANY game, specialy if the intention is to give the players an amazing imersive experience. The soundtrack is also worth GOLD. THe sounds in the combats and battles really gives the player an adrenaline pump, creating an atmosphere that further increase the experience of playing.

- Good written dialogues: The dialogues in the game are REALLY amazing in most parts. One of this franchise's most important atributes, is the development of relationships. And for that, VERY good characters and dialogues are ESSENTIAL. And i REALLY mean it, its one of the most important features in the game. Glad bioware did a great job with the writing here ( but its something that could ALWAYS see some improvement in future games, given its huge part in the players attachment to the franchise itself). THe dialogues and conversations are what makes the ME franchise an amazing experience.

- Improves in customization: Although it wasn't perfect, it coud've been better, the customization system improoved from the second game, and that was really nice to see. The various options avaiable for simple things like colors, creates many possibilties for the players ( even though i didnt use them, the fact that they ARE available is very good).

- Combat system: The combat system was a very good surprise. The combat now flows better and its more agile. That further improoves the imersion into the game, wich is very nice especially for an RPG.

- VIsiting home planets and talking to old friends: In my opinion, that was a basic need for ME3, glad to see it wasnt overlooked. As the imersion into the game is one of the most important points of the franchise, this creates a bound between the characters and the players.

-Reputation system: Very interesting. That makes the game feel more realistic. Gives you the oportunity to be a paragon or a renagade in MANY situations, and you're not stuck anymore with just one kind of behaviour.

- CInematics: Awesome. very welldone. BUT, i kinda feel like some interactions could be made from those scenes. I dont know how, but maybe something like have a little more active participation in the space battles ( nothing big, just a little, just to help create the atmosphere for the upcoming battles).

Now for the things i didnt liked. CONS:

- Questlog system: That was a very annoying problem. The quest log system is terrible. I cant get updated objectives, Plus, the objectives aren't separeted anymore. There is no "sidemissions" and "main quests" at the questlog, they are all together, making it VERY confusing and disorganized. Couldn't believe how something like that could be overlooked.

- Boring "go fetch it" quests: That was a HUGE problem already in the DA series (DA2 more specifically). MOST part of the quests are like that. Honestly, its boring and it kinda takes away some of the "atmosphere" of the game, since there is nothing much to do, and an oportunity to make players bound with an specific character/place or like an specific quest is lost with this. SOME quests like this = fine. But MOST of the quests? That's unnecessary to say the least.

- Acquiring new quests: That stuff of "overhear" peoples talk, and get most of the quests from doing so its a TERRIBLE idea. Specially in an RPG franchise like mass effect. Its very forced too. The sidemissions are VERY important for players to create a connection to the game.

- Excess of "Zaeed style" dialogues: Although the dialogues in general were VERY well written, THAT problem of the "zaeed style" dialogues has taken away SOO MUCH of the experience. Its one of the the things that can make a game score a perfect 10. It was like the control was taken from us. That was one of the things that i didnt expected at all, because the dialogues are VITAL to the franchise. THAT's what make people bound to the characters, to the game, and make them want to buy future products to see again his favorite characters. By taking away part of our interaction with the characters, the game looses some of the power of getting the player's attention and make them love the series.

- Knowing characters "better" at cost of a smaller roster: Honestly i had NO PROBLEM with the reduced roster. But, it was said that it would be necessary to improove your connection with the main charcters by giving you the opportunity to get deep into their history's. And i kinda felt like that opportunity was wasted. Partiially because the very well written dialogues were countered by the already mentioned "zaeed style" conversations, but also because the cost of the smaller roster should be balanced by a huge amount of conversation oportunities. It feels like we lost many characters, and in exchange we got just a few more conversations. Kinda fews like we're at a loss here =/
Things like quests involving the characters should be in the game to give an opotunity to know them even better and boudn with them even more. That was also a HUGE opportunity that got wasted =/
Maybe not loyalty missions, because you've already earned the respect of your squad (most of them at least, since there are some new squad members and some old ones that we never had a loyalty mission with, like Ashley and kaidan), but misssions with specifics characters should have been included for sure. ( not talking about the missions like thessia were you HAVE to get liara, something more personal, to help you comrades would be very welcome).

- Distance between the RPG elements from ME1 and 2: ME3 was more action like. Good action is atracting, but what gets people's involved with an RPG franchise are their characters, story and development. A chance to investigate EVERY corner of the map, customize all your itens, and talk to most of the NPC's is ALWAYS nice. Some people wont mind that, but thats one of the things that make the "replay" even more atracting.

- LAck of paragon/renagade interrupts: With the ammount of cutscenes and cinematics, i really hoped for more of those

- Opportunities wasted with some enemies: I always played as a paragade ( more paragon then renagade), so i couldnt fight some of my old allies like jack ( phanton jack) or morrinth ( wich i never recruted lol, but it is good to know that if i feel like it i CAN do that), but from what i've heard, they appear as common enemies. If thats the case, its like a great oportunity has been wasted. It could have been the difference between a VERY tense moment that will be rembered for the players, or just another moment, that being remebered will depend on other aspects of the scene.
THey should permform differently in battle AND have good cutscenes to "introduce" them as enemies, creating some expectation.

- THe map: It is a little bit cofusing. I think, something that shows the locations of characters more specifically would be better, since the map only is used in no combat moments.

- THe endings: My biggest issue with the ME3 was, without a doubt, the endings. I wont comment on everything i didnt like about the endings, because most of it was already discussed here.
It was SO weird,terribly and non sense that i just cant help to think that there is more too it. But, the way it was done just got everyone frustraded. i REALLY hope something is being done to fix that mess.
The lack of choice was very sad, aswell as the lack of closure and explanations.
The franchise most compelling thing was the chance to make our own story. So i've felt like it was taken away from me in the last minutes of the game.

I also would like to make 2 sugestions about the endings. I dont know how bioware plans to deal with it, but one of the most atractive features in the game is that we can get different endings. THAT is something that has the potential of pleasing MOST fans. With some happy endings, with some sad endings AND with some terrible endings. THATS one of the most important reasons for players to replay the game. It is such a waste to limit the endings to "shepard dying heroically", since it has the potential of having good endings aswell and endings in wich we would be defeated by the reapers. I probably would've wanted to play them all, but i dont fell like it with the actual endings. I know that its hard to do that when there are probably plans to continue to use the ME universe in future products, but i also believe that its TOTTALY possible. May that future frachises take place YEARS after the events of ME3, for example. That would make things much easier for bioware to make many different endings in ME3.
Also, something in the final battle. It has the chance of being EPIC, but we just dont fell like that was the case. Some more extreme battleship scenes would be very nice. And most importantly, as the game is centered in the relationships that the player's build with other characters, i think that each main character should have his/hers own epic final scenes. Glorious moments. Maybe its a little cliche, but in a game that got people SO involved in the story, it would FIT like a glove. That's why the suicide mission in ME2 was SO great, but in ME3, it had the chance of being SO MUCH MORE INTENSE, and it wasnt =/

i really hope at least some part of my suggestions and comments are taken into consideration.

[Orynes1]

 Hello Bioware,

First off, some background: I used to game quite a bit as a teenager, but I rarely ever pick up a game anymore- few games have the quality writing and immersive environment that it would take for me to be interested in
them.  That said, I picked up Mass Effect when it came out, and I’m glad I did.  I loved the setting, the story, the dialogue, even the combat.  I convinced my brother and even my sister to play it, and the series has become something we can always talk about, even though we now live in different cities and lead different lives.  When Mass Effect 2 came out, I thought it was among the best games I’d ever played.  I got all the DLC, and I especially loved the film-noir setting of the Lair of the Shadow Broker.   Also, the conversation with Liara in the Normandy afterwards is one of the best in ALL 3 GAMES.   My siblings also loved the game, and we’ve been waiting for Mass Effect 3 with bated breath.

Well, I finished Mass Effect 3 last week.  My brother is just starting his first playthrough, and my sister finished a few days ago.  It’s taken me a while to get my thoughts together; I’ve been thinking about the game on a pretty consistent basis after finishing it.  Anyways, here’s my ‘fan review.’

9/10

First off, I had trouble importing my character.  That was a huge downer, especially since the game is all about creating your own personal Shepard.  I guess I came close to recreating him, but he still looks slightly chimpish.  I got used to it, but I really would have appreciated my own character.  My brother is experiencing this problem now, and he is also understandably frustrated.  This is the sort of thing that really should have been fixed before shipping.

As far as graphics go, the games looks great.  It’s one of the first things I noticed – the game looks great.  Human faces could use some work, though – especially the women.  Also, my Shepard sometimes gets the ‘Frodo’ look when he’s mad – with eyes rolling up into the eyebrows.  But I guess that’s more amusing than anything.   

The sounds are great- I loved the soundtrack, and the sound effects were very good.  Biotic powers sound epic, reapers sound menacing, the banshee scream is terrifying.  Obviously the voice acting is incredible- though I did notice ‘recycled’ voice actors, it wasn’t something that upset me. 

Now! Onto the experience.  The game feels fluid, dynamic, and streamlined (in a good way).  It’s like a book you can’t put down – the story just sucks you in, with hardly enough space to catch your breath.  It feels fast-paced and frantic, which is exactly how it needed to feel.  I was very impressed with the citadel – I enjoy ‘hubs,’ and though there weren’t a great deal of very interesting citadel quests, I did enjoy talking to my companions on the citadel and noticing the small details that had been painstakingly added- the asari refugees with their arms around each other, the endless conversations you could evesdrop on, the way that the people shifted positions every time you visited – that was incredible.  Definitely one of the better parts of the game.

Speaking of talking to companions, I did think that this dialogue system is the best so far.  I don’t open up a dialogue with people I’ve already talked to, which is good – though sometimes I’ll accidentally interrupt them if no dialogue scene is opened and they take a pause in their sentence.  Still, I liked knowing when my party wanted to have deeper conversations with me, and knowing when they didn’t have anything new to say.  It does seem like a good solution to the ‘endless calibrations’ issue.

The reputation system: LOVED IT.  I played all the games by making my own choices, NOT going full paragon or full renegade.  So I always felt like I was missing out on some of the charm/intimidate options.   This way, the ‘powerful’ options are still available to you, no matter if you’re paragon, renegade, or somewhere in between (like myself). 

I was not impressed with the new journal.  I kept wanting to press ‘j’ to bring up the journal but I had to go through the ‘esc’ menu.  Also, it was difficult to find where you needed to go for some quests – especially those in the citadel.  The journal was often no help whatsoever, and I’d often randomly enter and area to see something to interact with for a quest I had long since forgotten about.  It’s a small grievance, but it was annoying.

What I WAS impressed with, in general, was the writing.  The game was very emotional – I laughed, I cried, I was raging mad and I was frustrated.   It’s the best feeling in the game when an option pops up that you don’t even need to think about – when emotion guides your decisions.  I didn’t hesitate a moment to punch that Quarian admiral off my ship – it’s EXACTLY what I wanted to do.   Moments like that were especially powerful, and let me believe that I Shepard was a vessel for my own choices, not just choices that were presented to me.  Other really emotional parts, for me at least, were bringing Charr’s message to his Asari on the Citadel (it’s the little things, again, that have caught my attention), and raging at Joker after he makes an inappropriate joke after Thessia.  Those were really great moments in the game – after Thessia, I really felt in the mood to sulk around the ship, and that’s what the game enabled.  It was a great way of playing to the player’s emotions, and I was very impressed.

Mass Effect 3 was also a triumph as far as carrying over the choices that player had made in previous games. 
It made you feel that your choices had weight.  I felt my game was very different than my sister’s and others.  I’ll admit, I was watching a few of the other decisions you could make on YouTube and I’m blown away by the amount of different outcomes a ‘priority’ situation could have – especially Tuchunka. 

Still, there were a few things that kind of felt like the choices you made were trivialized in order to have more content for players.  For instance, when I saw the human-reaper larva in the Cerberus base, I thought ‘didn’t I destroy that? Guess my choice didn’t make too much of a difference after all…’  Still, those moments were much rarer than the moments where I was awed by the fact that my choices HAD made a difference.

I would like to talk about romance for a second, though.  My Shepard is, admittedly, a bit of a failure with the ladies.  I unfortunately messed up in ME1 and ended up alone until ME2, when I had a fling with Miranda.  I romanced Miranda throughout Mass Effect 3 as well, though I feel as though I was missing out on a lot of content – I feel like romancing Liara would provide a ‘deeper’ experience, and I plan on romancing her in another playthrough.  Also, I somehow missed the option to romance Ashley in ME3 too- bugger!  Still, I wish there was more to the romance with Miranda in ME3 – it felt a little shallow.  It almost seemed like the game WANTED me to have a romance with Liara – like many of the scenes were built around that. 

I’ve always felt that Mass Effect 3 was a character-driven story, and many of the plotlines in ME3 gave us closure for some of the characters.  And this is where I’ll jump into the ending discussion (oh boy).

Well, like many others I was disappointed when I first finished Mass Effect 3.  I was wanted a good ending, even if the ending was sad and bittersweet, and the ending I got just wasn’t satisfying.  For example, the ending to 2008’s Prince of Persia wasn’t necessarily happy by any means, but I was a huge fan of it.

 Anyways, in the past week I’ve come to terms with the ending (sure, the indoctrination theory did help me out in that regard).  As a way to end the Mass Effect trilogy, it was pretty weak.  Again, I felt that the Mass Effect universe was character focused, so I kind of expected to see my buddies at the end.  At least some shot of the ones who had survived fighting on earth would have at least let me know you hadn’t forgotten about them.  I guess part of the reason that I was upset at the ending was the thought that not only was Shepard’s story over (or perhaps not) but the universe of Mass Effect, which we had grown to love and cherished the opportunity to inhabit, was also destroyed.   I wanted to believe that even though Mass Effect 3 was over, the universe still had stories to tell.  But those endings (or ending) didn’t leave much hope for that.  The Normandy/jungle planet thing was all very strange.  So as an ending to Mass Effect 3, I was pretty disappointed.  Also, the godchild was kind of out of the blue, and the reapers were WAY more menacing when we didn’t know their intentions.  I wanted to believe that their motivations were incomprehensible to my mind, like Sovereign had stated.  I didn’t need answers in that regard – I just needed to defeat them.

Now let’s talk about the ending of Mass Effect 3 in the ‘bigger picture.’  I am much more comfortable with the ending of ME3 when I think about it in the context of the indoctrination theory.  I LOVE having my mind blown, and Bioware had done that before (KOTOR).  If you did pull it off, it could be awesome.  I still think it was a bad way to end Mass Effect 3, but if the indoctrination theory is correct, all is forgiven.  I want to believe it is true, and it gives you a second chance to do a quality ending.  I don’t want an epilogue (especially not a ‘five years later’…. Yeeeck) but I do want to see that the characters and the forces that I amassed during mass effect 3 are actually there, fighting for earth.  If not, what was the point?   I just want to see a final glimpse of the characters, if only for a second. Again PLEASE DON’T do a ‘five years later’ thing – just finish up the battle for earth.

Thanks for listening.

EDIT: I realize I forgot to talk about multiplayer.  It's pretty good, gets kind of old after a while.  Wish there was more variety in mission types and maps.

Modifié par Orynes1, 25 mars 2012 - 08:30 .

[weltraumhamster89]

BaffoStyle wrote...

3/10

simply Mass Effect 3 has the worst shooter part in a Triple A production, a futile RPG part and a bunch of bugs and graphic problems who I can't understand why there are here.

Some quest are good and also the scripture of the "historical" characters (WTF why a jersey shore's PG is here?) is awesome.

Al least, the most important part of this game (the end) is a massive failure, taking all good stuff of this brand and throw it into a big, dark hole.

THIS, though I wouldn't say 3/10, but rather 4 or 5/10..

My biggest concerns next to the ending are

- no control in dialogue (autodialogues... srsly???)

- far to few full conversations with your crewmembers

- too much Liara, too few other crew- moments

- "Zaeed"-style "conversations" that go on in circles

- no hubs

- citadel far too small and not fleshed out, felt really dead and empty

- linear "shooter" - missions á la Counterstrike

- absolutely no RPG-elements left

- small squad

- Diana Allers (who? what? why?)

- open sexism (why does male Shep get jeans and leather jacket as casual outfit and female Shep gets a useless mini-mini-dress? Why do all the female characters have to look like a 13-year old boy designed them (EDI..). Why do all the female aliens you can have a relationship with have to look sooo human/ idealised human beautiful (Tali's google stock photo..)... Why did everyone get a boobjob? Breasts don't just double in size over time!)

Modifié par weltraumhamster89, 25 mars 2012 - 08:14 .