1966 réponses à ce sujet

[o iRusH]

they were probaly hoping to add dlc to continue from where you left is what im thinking

[PrimeOfValor]

The game of ME3 was very overall fanastic, the game made itself a 9/10, no problem. Until when i got to the ending, only the ending manages to make the game look like 4/10. After that, i literailly have no desire to replay the game and it kinda of ridulicous that certian top dog game critics rates very highly and gives a satisflying conclusion when the ending wasn't satisflying at all, it contradicts itself to the entire mass effect franchise. What happened to the 16 endings that we promised, so far I have seen ONE ending with different colored fireworks and slight variations. And CERTAIN game crtitics call this "artistic ingretity",  in the end it nothing more than an advertised product that uses our money to make a profit. I'll be better with Bioware give a new ending (I Hope!!) or follow the indontrination theory in a dlc. Please Bioware, I don't care if I have to pay more just to get 'real' ending.

[sticknoia]

In any Fantasy or Scifi universe the mythos of that universe is what makes it wonderful. Starwars, Star trek, Lord of the Rings, etc.  The fun, wonder, fantasy of that mythos is what ties that universe together. Mass Effect matched or excedded all the aforementioned in Mythos. UNTIL that ending. 
Here is an analogy of how terribly concieved I consider the ME3 ending to be using another beloved by many universe. Imagine you are watching the end of the original Starwars trilogy.  Luke has just dealt with the Emperor. saved his father, and escaped in an Imperial shuttle from the Death Star. Han has just blown the power control at the center and is flying away as the Death Star explodes. Instead of the ending everyone expects, a purple sphere of energy(sry green, red, and blue are taken) flys out from the Death Star. The Emperor has placed a doomsday failsafe to wipe out all life in that galaxy far, far away if he is defeated. It envelops Luke, Han, and everyone else in the galaxy and you pan back to see the cinders of what is left. THE END. Roll credits.
In my opinion the ME3 ending was equally destructive of the heart, soul, and character of the Mass Effect mythos.

[Qutayba]

I actually already wrote a review in this thread back in the first week (story, endings, etc.).  But I just played through the whole trilogy back-to-back again, and had some thoughts on gameplay that I want to share.

BioWare clearly decided to make ME3 a little slower and more contemplative this time, which I appreciate.  I'm not sure that the combat and area design was a step forward, however.   One of the great things about ME2 was the variety of ways that the plot and combat was propelled forward.  The pulse-pounding music, the incredible sound effects (rockets making your ears ring!), and the need to move to closer cover to get some of the more pesky adversaries.  Some levels even had gimmicks like the valves during the Long Walk to ramp up the pressure to move forward.  Even Shepard's running animation was fast.

So, ME3 doesn't need to be a ME2 clone, but many of the design choices ramped down the satisfaction of the action, at least for me.  The additional mobility of rolling and dodging was a great feature, but many of the combat situations are defensive, rather than aggressive.  Room, defend the room for several ways, move to next room, rinse, repeat.  The music, although great, is generally a slower pace (the new tracks anyway), and the sound overall feels rather muted, particularly in comparison to ME2.  Perhaps this was on purpose, to give the sense of a siege rather than an assault.  But in any case, I think more variety was needed.  The combat spaces were great, but felt under-utilized.  And unlike fast Shepard in ME2, we have more of a mosey Shepard in ME3.

That being said, the combat design is certainly a step up from DA2 with its waves materializing from thin air.  But it still falls short of DAO's (and ME2's) adversaries that felt like they inhabited the spaces they were found in.

Don't get me wrong.  I thought the combat in ME3 was great on its own, but it wasn't as pulse-pounding as most of the combat in ME2.

[Soviet Rei]

All in all? I'd give Mass Effect 3 a 5 or so out of ten.

I was frankly disappointed. And I cannot claim to be satisfied with the end product. Major gripes: the RPG aspects and the choices. I can hardly point to where my choices over the last few games made ANY impact (especially in the end, but that train wreck deserves a paragraph of its own). And I can count the number of times the dialogue wheel came up on my two hands. Why was the dialogue wheel so down-played? For me, a big part of RPG games is the ability to craft my character's personality based on their responces to other characters, and other characters' responces to those responces, etc. This becomes impossible when 99% of what my character says is said with no input from me whatsoever and the few times I DO get to choose what they say, it doesn't actually change how the other person reacts. The game has become more linear in regards to the main character. I'm playing your Shepard. I don't want to. I want to play my Shepard. :v

Another gripe: the characters. Specifically, interactions with them. I don't even want to start with James Vega; I normally made a practice of routinely speaking to characters in ME2 I didn't even care much for (Samara, Jacob, etc) but I didn't even give a **** enough to talk to Vega more than once. I'd've rather had Jack. Or Thane. Or Conrad Verner. Or that pissed-off Batarian on the Citadel. Or, you know, anyone but Vega.

Well ****, I just started with Vega, didn't I? Anyway. The handling of ME2 characters was also pretty bad. Speaking for myself, I romanced Jack. I expected an interesting, emotional ending to her romance arc. What I got was light years from that. After meeting Jack at Grissom, it all went downhill. I did not much like her characterisation in the Purgatory bar scene, but it was...tolerable. That isn't what pissed me off. What pissed me off is that afterwards Jack doesn't get so much as a mention. Not up until that little bit at the communications officer on Earth, which I still can't believe is REALLY SUPPOSED TO BE THE LAST THING JACK SAYS TO SHEPARD. Really? I can't even begin on all the things wrong with that last bit of interaction (except, of course, that it WAS the last). And after that? No Jack. Nothing at all. I'd've thought at that last bit Shepard would AT LEAST be thinking of Jack in that last sequence of images before he destroys/controls/synthesises the Reapers or whatever crappy ending you chose. Except he didn't. Apparently my Shepard didn't give two ****s about the woman he was supposed to love. He was too busy thinking of Joker and Anderson and Liara.

Which brings me to the question of what is it with Bioware and Liara? It's obvious that she was given WAY more focus and thought than ALL the ME2 characters combined, which pisses me off all over again. Glad you're weirdly obsessed with Liara, Bioware, I'm not, nor is my character. His last seconds would be spent thinking of Jack, not of the Asari he regarded as a friend and absolutely nothing more. Not even a particularly close comrade (that one goes to Garrus). I can go on more about how badly Bioware ****ed up the characters. At least in ME2 I could occassionally talk to them before they reverted to endless calibrations and lots of work. Now I hardly even get any decent conversations out of the characters whilst on the ship, made even more dissatisfying by the disappearance largely of the dialogue wheel. Very disappointing.

Hell, I got so caught up on that I ran out of time for all the things I could've ****ed about XD

[Creylin]

So, I just finished my first play through of Mass Effect 3, and felt compelled to make my voice known to Bioware on what I thought. This forum is the only way I know to do it. I'm not looking for agreement, disagreement, or debate. I just gotta get this out.

I've been playing the Mass Effect games since Mass Effect 1 was released. Knights of the Old Republic is still my favorite game of all time, and when Bioware released a sci-fi RPG that wasn't a Knights of the Old Republic squeal, I was very disappointed. But I felt I had to give it a try anyway.

From the start, you could see the same KotOR game play and mechanics in Mass Effect, only it was evolving and maturing. Same with the story telling. Mass Effect was the next generation of what I've come to recognize as the Bioware way. You can see it in all their games (Dragon Age, The Old Republic, and the Mass Effect series). Each new game is a refinement of the style, and Bioware's style is the best in gaming.

Anyway, back to the point. I loved Mass Effect. KotOR was still my first love, but Mass Effect was my new obsession. I have no idea how many times I played through it. I nearly cried when my computer hard drive crashed and I lost all my save games.

Mass Effect 2 was a continued refinement of Bioware's game making mastery. I think the walking conversation between Liara and Shepard on the balcony in the Shadow Broker DLC is one of the greatest storytelling sequences in the history of gaming. I've played through ME2 again and again.

I couldn't wait for Mass Effect 3. I envisioned myself playing ME1, ME2, and ME3 back to back to back like watching a movie trilogy over and over again. Then, Mass Effect 3 came out, and I started playing.

It was continued refinement of the Bioware style. The multiplayer part worried me. I didn't want to have to play multiplayer to get the best ending. Multiplayer wasn't a part of the story. It wasn't in ME1 or ME2. It was an unwelcome visitor in the game franchise that I loved. But I put aside my misgivings and just played the single player.

The whole time I played, I played with trepidation. I was afraid to play the game too fast, because once it was over, it was over. There's only ever one first time, and no matter how good the ending was, there would never be another new Mass Effect game with Commander Shepard. I was kind of afraid to play because I didn't want it to end, but I played on.

The entire time I played, the emotion of the past several years kept building and building and building. Then the end was in sight. All those years waiting. All those hours playing. That time wondering and daydreaming about what would happen. What would my ending be like? I had been told I was crafting my story through my choices, after all. Not to mention all the money spent. I bought every game (twice...I actually lost my ME1 and ME2 discs in a move, so I repurchased them for a second time off Steam), every DLC, every book, every comic. I even bought a ME2 t-shirt. All that emotional build up was about to come to a climax at the end.

And then I got...that. That utter let down that was the realization that no matter what I did, how hard I tried to find everything, do everything, make all the right choices...that nothing I did was going to affect the end of the game. After ME1 and ME2, I felt great. I was the conquering hero who'd just pulled off the impossible and came out alive. And here...the climax of all those years and all that emotion...and it's a depressing, “Sorry, no happy ending for you, and you can't do anything about it!” The bottom of my stomach just dropped out. I wanted to vomit.

Now, 24 hours later, I still can't look at the Mass Effect logo and not feel like I want to vomit. Instead of coming out of the game feeling sky high happy and excited with all the built up emotion of years, screaming about how great the ME franchise is, all the emotion just turned into dark, negative feelings about the game franchise I once loved. Why would I want to play a game and spend all that time and money to feel like that?

I'm sorry I didn't like the endings. I wanted to love this game. I wanted it to be great. But I feel like I've wasted so much time now on this franchise. If I'd known it was going to end this way, I would have never even started playing. I feel like it was all for nothing. Maybe someday I can play the game again, but right now, just thinking about it makes me sick.

Anyway, as I said in the beginning, I just wanted somewhere at Bioware to know how I felt, and this was the only place I knew to come and pass along my experience with the Mass Effect franchise and what I thought of it's ending. If this isn't the right place, I apologize for wasting everyone's time.

I think I'll go play through KotOR again.

[Disciple888]

my review:

[SanguiniusUK]

My blog review of ME3 and the series as a whole looking back:

Mass Effect 3: It's art, oh yes

Modifié par SanguiniusUK, 05 avril 2012 - 11:49 .

[Cambot96]

 My mass effect 3 score 10/10  this is because I couldn't have asked for anything better                                                Things I liked : classic bioware writing and storytelling of an excellent standard.                                                                So many little moments with characters I've helped and seen before in the previous games (Garrus on the citadel etc.).                      A genuine feeling of rising stakes and an epic battle for a universe I've came to love.                                    Remembering characters like Conrad and that girl who was undercover in choras den in ME1. ( forgot her name sorry)   Things I didn't like : The ending, people have said enough about this and is a bit of a dead horse                                     Jarring amount of auto dialog with characters ( I got over this quickly though)

[FalconDare]

 To start my Review of Mass Effect 3 I believe that it is important to review the series as a whole. The
Mass Effect series is a great example of a fleshed out world, which is populated by believable characters that the player has grown attached to over the course of the past 5 years. The effort put into creating a sci-fi universe with a set of coherent rules is one of the features that I have enjoyed the most of this game, the attention to the details in both the way the universe work and the characters we meet along the series is astonishing and has reached a level of sophistication that few titles have managed.

Mass Effect 3 as a whole is a great game, gameplay wise it has improved much since the original Mass Effect the combat is more fluid, the abilities feel more powerful and the level design has improved considerably. There are some hiccups though, the customization is still lacking in my opinion, much better than the extremely streamlined Mass Effect 2, the inability to mod armors, the small selection of gear in comparison with Mass Effect 1 are let downs but missteps easily forgivable thanks to the rich world in which the player is immersed.

The big amount of auto-dialog and the eavesdropping quests were quite jarring in my opinion, afterall it is
an RPG I like to talk with the people in the world, to find out their motivations, even if it is a silly fetch quest I want to be able to talk with them, just a few lines is good for me. The lack of exploration also was a bit disappointing, both the Mako and the Hammerhead had their flaws but they allowed for interesting changes in the gameplay and for some creative mission structure, that final run in Ilos the discussion on if it was possible to make the drop or not was a great scene. I know that it can be fixed with DLC but I was hopping it would have been part of the game, I know that in the context of a galaxy ravaged by war it is a bit silly to go exploring a planet in the middle of nowhere, but it can be intertwined with the story creating very interesting scenarios, and also allowing for more challenging combat.

The Graphics have considerably improved and the engine runs better than ever, some technical hiccups now and then but overall the game looks terrific, the set pieces are incredible and the cutscenes flawlessly done, running trough Menae and seeing Palaven burn is probably one of the most outstanding set pieces on the game.

The Score was amazing and I still find myself hearing it from time to time, the music has the same great sci-fi vibe from Mass Effect 1 but is emotionally charged, one can feel the sadness in it, it is like in a way it is also saying goodbye.

And now we come to what it is possibly the most important part in a RPG and specially in a Bioware RPG the story. I must admit I was completely hooked, coming home from work around 10pm every night and staying up late just to see what was going to happen, the characters, the world it all seemed more well rounded this time. Such beautiful experiences going to Ranoch to help Legion and the Geth solving the long Geth-Quarian dispute, Mordin's redemption and death were poetic. It was truly art I have never been more moved by a video game before (maybe KOTOR Revan's reveal), it was wonderful and I extend my most profound congratulations by that, it was great storytelling and precisely why I have always bought Bioware games with any doubt.

Sadly as many other fans of the series once the final mission started the Narrative started to loose coherence, many things started to happen and I was not quite sure of why or how they were happening. But the story had me hooked I wanted to see how(if) Sheppard managed to stop the Reapers, I wanted to see what happened to the characters that I have known for 5 years. I never expected my Sheppard to survive I thought that the quest was going to take his life and I was ready for that, quoting Gandalf from the LOTR movies (do not remember if he said it on the books it has been a while) “there was never much hope, only a fools hope”, but I wanted to see his sacrifice rewarded, the galaxy was never going to be the same, but thanks to Sheppard the Reapers were never going to terrorize future cycles.

And at the end I must admit I was disappointed, I reached the ending and I was left with more questions than answers, and not in a good way, I love a story that leaves some room for the imagination of the player/reader but in this case I didn't see how this was possible, as I mentioned starting this review you created a series of rules for your universe and from all the sudden they weren't there anymore, the coherence of the story was lost and I was left in front of my screen wondering if maybe I had missed something but it turned out that I hadn't this was indeed the ending that was intended and I completely respect that and I applaud the fact that you wanted to create a larger than life feeling in the end, by changing our perspectives on the conflict, but sadly I believe that the execution was lacking, probably it made more sense for you guys that have all the information and hold all the answers as developers, but for my as a player I was left utterly confused and a bit disappointed. Sheppard this incredible character passed from being this soldier that takes nothing for granted and that fights against all odds to being someone that just kind of accepts without questioning what the enemy leader tells him, again no problem with some room for discussion and imagination, just the complete change of personality was irritating. 

All in all Mass Effect 3 is a terrific game, it has some serious issues at the end, not with the end per se, if not with the way in which it was implemented, the addition of some technologies in the end that make no sense within the universe of the game (I'm looking at you synthesis, no matter how much you change DNA you are not going to be able to grow glowing circuits into people) without explanation are some of my more serious complains. All in all it was a very fun ride, sad that it has ended specially because of the way it ended, hopefully some of my questions will be addressed in the coming Extended Cut, but the mere fact that the Cut is needed embodies many of the problems that I had with the game, problems which I must admit I did not expect from a Bioware game.

Edit for format

Modifié par FalconDare, 05 avril 2012 - 05:39 .

[Spiral_Blue]

I know a lot of people are loving the mechanics, but I still prefer ME2. There are plenty of improvements, the weapon mods, the weight system, the new enemy types, grenades, improved scanning, multi-player, all good stuff and welcome improvements, but the interface on PC was terrible. Don't know if it was better on consoles or not, but the first thing I noticed was that everything was smaller. Buttons were smaller so choosing squad powers took more precision and meant you spent longer in a pause screen which really broke up the flow of combat. Enemy models seemed smaller as well. It might have been a consequence of playing Infiltrator and constantly being at range but it felt like I was hitting small targets at twenty feet rather than making good long range shots and it wasn't satisfying. The quest menus were terrible, shopping was awkward and the system for kitting out and modding weapons was awful. I should have been spending seconds changing loadout rather than minutes scrolling forwards and backwards through all the options and trying to compare.

I missed a lot of the enemy protection on Insanity as well. Most of the fun in the second game for me was in using powers to tear defences apart, manoeuvre and control the position of enemies, picking them off one by one without getting overwhelmed. It's fun to toss loads of enemies around like ragdolls now and again but most fights felt like a constant stream of unshielded bullet sponges with a few specialist units thrown in. That in turn made the environments in the fights feel less important since you were rarely at risk from the grunts and so had less positioning to worry about. The grenades and smoke helped a bit but I would have preferred you to mix it up a bit more: one fight using tons of infantry, the next with a smaller number of specialists, the next with a combination, switch back to infantry and then start throwing in more of the heavies.

It's good, and maybe I'd have had more fun with a biotic class but it could have been great. Just a little disappointed that all the tools and parts are there to make a third person shooter that far surpasses ME2 but the assembly wasn't done well enough.

[pnuk23]

 I thought the game was truly amazing. The 4th best game I have ever played (1st ME2, 2nd Skyrim, 3rd TOR). I didn't find the ending that horrible as most people say (and I know a lot of people are angry with what I just said, please don't make annoying replies). I just thought that at least you could give us a little cinematic to explain what happened next. Bioware it's not your fault, everyone makes mistakes and with how great your previous games have been (except DA2) I think people should realize nobody if perfect, but eventhough Bioware is great, they are aloud to make mistakes too. Similar to normal humans you fix those(DLC). I thank you for that and great job on the game, was very epic and that is what I wanted an epic game. I had a blast with it and the entire series truly compelled me to the heart. I was only angry that Thane died in ME2. Otherwise great great great job on the entire series 93/100 because the ending was not that great, if it would have been better than this game would have been a masterpiece.:alien:

[Vakarian89]

 alriiight... so my review, well let me just get the obvious outta the way, No i didnt like the Ending, at first when i finished the game i was kinda in disbelief like "huh... thats it?" i just think that compared to sooo many epic and emotional moments that lead up to it the end just seemed so bland and uninspired,  made me sad for the wrong reasons really and afterwards the more u think about it the more u hate it.. 

only other thing that bugged me was the last mission. it just wasnt as Epic as the suicide mission in ME2 first time i played that mission i was completely into it. everything about it made you feel just as desperate as Shepard and his team the whole time your hoping u didnt do something thatll get your buddies killed! the last mission in ME3 just didnt have the same effect oh and uh........ WHERE THE HELL WAS HARBINGER through all this!!??!?

The Good: (and yes there was alot more good then bad)
 
The Story:
 well first off i gotta say this has been and incredible gaming experience! i loved the game as a whole it had happy moments, sad moments, moments that had you at the edge of your seat waiting to see what happens. some of my favorite moments were also some of the saddest, with that let me say i have Never played a game that had me tearing up over a character before. and man did i cry when Mordin died i had heard rumors about him dying a while back but i figured " ahh what ever my paragon shep will save him!".... but even my trusty paragon interrupt wouldnt stop him from going up in that elevator and his "it had to be me, someone else might have gotten it wrong" line was so sad but it wasnt till he started singing that really got to me. then there was Thane *sigh..... the hospital scene, my god that was sad when Kolyat then shepard started praying then Kolyat tell u Thanes prayer was for you at least he went out a Hero hey just like!...... Legion  another favorite character of mine dammit!! you know i kept seeing the ads "Not Everyone Will Survive" but dam... Grunt almost had me too haha i was so relieve when he came out alive!

• i played all 3 game full Paragon but i didnt give it a second thought when that Renegade interrupt came up to stab Kai Lang!! god ive never wanted to kill a character so much!! and shepard really took the words right outta me " this is for Thane you S.O.B!!!"  thank u for that!! also tali's scene after the reaper on rannoch i got both geth and quarrians so she lives that was a nice moment. Bakara whipping the Krogans into shape Speech, Hackitt's speech, and Shepards were cool
• outta all the goodbye even my LI Liara it was Garrus that was the most emotional (its like saying goodbye to a childhood freind!)
• also andersons death was heartwrenching! seem more like a father/son moment which i think wouldve been great as the end with andersons final word "im proud of you' before Shepard pulls a Bruce Willis in armegeddon sacreficing himself to activate the crucible

Gameplay:
 really liked the improvments to combat namely the cover system though now when i play ME2 its fustrating cause i keep trying to jump from cover to cover haha there was stuff about all the missions i liked but Tuchanka, Rannoch and Jacks mission were probably my top three But again the final mission didnt match up to ME2

overall i LOVED this game but as much as i have tried to replay it the knowledge of the ending just keep me from going through it

[Malordus]

Dear Bioware.

I know this is perhaps not stricly a review as such but I needed a place to express my thoughts and this seemed more appropriate.

Allow me first to say that you have been my favourite games developer for years - right back to Neverwinter Nights, when I first bought my own PC, right through to the KOTOR titles and of course, Mass Effect. I have loved them all, the latter perhaps more than all others combined. Even now I am starting another play-through of the first title.

I do not wish to cast unhelpful critisizm or 'moan' about the ending to the game - you were always going to have your hands full providing a satisfactory ending to such an immense journey - but I feel I must echo many of the sentiments of fellow fans about how it ended.

I read the post of one fan on Facebook who perhaps best summed up my feelings on the series. Right from the first game, the journey has been about uniting the galaxy's many cultures and races in order to stand together against a threat that will ultimately see them all destroyed. It was difficult right from the off, losing one of your close crew members on Virmire, and then to lose the support of many of those you saved in ME2. The sacrifices continued in ME3 - heartbreaking, but as a player so heavily invested - emotionally - in the story, you understood it had to be done. Losing Mordin and indeed Legion, was hard. Especially after learning how the Geth were really little more than persecuted slaves killed for wanting to know more about their reason for being. The fact they were synthetic didnt matter, which is how you wanted it to be, I am sure - it worked so well, despite the sadness in seeing him die.
I could go on - and certainly will do if it is required - but I'll get to the point. I was fully aware that the ending would require more sacrifice, that perhaps exceeded those already made. I didnt know what to expect....but I felt sure that my rallying of all the galaxy's species through all three games would culminate in a satisfactory ending. By that I mean that the hard work MEANT something. That only together could the Reapers be defeated. This, Bioware, was not the case. Sure, one could argue that without the military might of the entire galaxy, Shepard would never had gotten to the Citadel/Crucible at the end...but all that work to unite everyone resulted in just a few seconds of cinematic with reapers battling fleets.
The choices at the end....just didnt make any sense. The litle boy confused me - I have since read the theory on Shepard's indoctrination and, while it is indeed a fabulously clever mechanic, it was not at all apparent to me whilst playing trhrough it. I will hold my hands up to this and say that it may have been me just not paying attention to the right signs, so I will withold judgement there...but I shouldn't need a Youtube video to tell me what was going on. But the choices at the end still did not work, they still made no sense and, if I am honest, flew in the face somewhat of everything I tried so hard  to achieve throughtout the many, many hours I have played the series - it was no longer about that unification at all. It became a simple matter of either controlling them - which I take to mean giving up to the Reapers' control; killing an entire race - one I fought so hard to save in the first place - or making everyone the very same through some very difficult-to-back-up theory that everyone would essentially become part-organic part-machine.
I write both Fantasy and Sci-fi, and understand that in Sci-fi, you need to adhere to theories and technologies that are 'potentially plausible' or if not, generally accepted. FTl travel is one such thing; although it is still hotly debated over as to its plausibilty or indeed lack thereof, enough potential theories exist that Sci-fi readers etc will excuse the use of it in a story. Thats one of the things I loved about Mass Effect: much of the tech in the ME universe had just enough 'theory' behind it to make it seem 'potentially possible'. The Crucible ending did not, not even the tiniest bit. But that is another matter entirely - even this I could excuse if the endings themselves made sense. All the trials underwent to bring the races together just felt flat at the end, they felt as though the only thing that would have changed had I not gone through all the trouble was a slightly different cinematic and not being able the get to the end of the game. Just not good enough - there should have been a lot more to it; actual in-game choices that would need to be made in the light of not having certain races present, or having to perform a dangerous side-mission to perhaps bolster defences somewhere else - whatever. But the player should have felt it more. And the same goes for having brought everyone together. After Legion's death, you dont see any more geth. Or Blue suns, nore Salarian STG....not even a tiny cut scene. The ending would have benefited from it greatly.
I felt...robbed, at the end. Mostly because yes, the ending sequences seemed hurried and made so light of the sacrifice I had made - not even a cut scene of Ashley whom I had romanced...it felt totally impersonal and 'thrown together'. So much was left unanswered - with the Relays destroyed, how can Bioware even release more DLC? None of the species can now travel about the galaxy! Shepard is also dead - or controlled by reapers, or has killed an entire race....which, given my previous few lines, seems the only ending that one can choose if they wish to continue within the ME universe via DLC.

With that said, Bioware - how will not changing the endings work for the future of the franchise? Be it just DLC or indeed further titles? I truly feel the entire series would greatly benefit from a re-think of the climax to the story. One that makes sense, one that allows continuity in more than just one ending. Surely you see how the endings to the game will impact any future releases? I implore you Bioware, to please re-think your decision to leave the endings as they are. You must understand how the very universe you have so painstakingly created will amount to very little if it is left as it is?

Most sincerely,

A devoted fan.

Modifié par Malordus, 06 avril 2012 - 11:00 .

[CaribbeanCLANK]

Overall Mass Effect 3 is a great game....but the ending almost ruins the entire series for me. I feel I have done the impossible for NOTHING. All my choices which meant something to me and defined my Shepard for the length of 2 and a half games was for nothing. Mass Effect 3 was not the game I expected and I fear that a lot of the talk before the game's release was very misleading. I expected to have more control over the outcome of the ending.

Bioware/EA can rant on about all the great reviews that ME3 recieved from the media but the truth is the game does not deserve these great reviews. This was to be the end of a trilogy and it is the ending of this game that is one of the most important parts of the journey. And the ending was not even close to being acceptable.

I used to admire Bioware as a developer and one of the reasons why was their attention to detail in the writing of the Mass Effect series. Unfortunately, it would seem Bioware has lost this valuable attribute in the most important moment of this trilogy. It is clear that you guys at Bioware did not think this ending through properly and any fan of the series can tell this ending was rushed. This is not something you guys should be PROUD of....YOU ALL SHOULD BE ASHAMED of yourselves.

As a fan I can't rate this game any higher than 5/10 as I feel you the developer have not properly ended the series.The many characters I have come to love deserve a far better farewell than the one you have given them. And we the gamers deserve what you promised us.

Modifié par CaribbeanCLANK, 06 avril 2012 - 11:10 .

[RoamerZA]

My 50c ....

Did you enjoy the Matrix movies? You sat through movie #1, went to see it more than once and bought the DVD when it came out. #2 came out and you enjoyed that too, and could not wait for #3 for the epic conclusion. How could they screw this up? You sat through 90% of #3 and were wondering how they were going to finish all of this, and then in the last 10 minutes it was a WTF moment. It was so bad you have not watched the trilogy since, because that last 10 minutes, despite the 6 hours before it, destroyed the franchise for you.

Welcome to my experience of Mass Effect. ME1,2 and 3 are all brilliant, but that last 10 minutes of ME3 destroyed me wanting to play ME again ever. I tried last weekend and could not. I know what is coming, and with yesterday's announcement from Bioware, they do not have a problem with it. Those of us who they hooked into the universe do.

You have read the other reviews and I agree with the sentiments. I want to add something else though. I went through South Africa's move from Apartheid to Democracy, and I helped a little with what I was doing at the time. I am very proud that we managed to turn the political system completely around without a bloodbath.

(SPOILERS!) Now here is Mass Effect 3. A few hours before the end, I managed to resolve a generational battle between artifical and humanoid life forms. Now here at the end, I have to decide to destroy all synthetic life in the universe (red ending), become the overseer of the universe (blue ending), or merge all species into one bio-synthetic life form (the green ending).
The ending not only does not make sense, it is truly offensive. In the future, we can not all live together. One of the unerlying themes from ME1 is acceptance and tolerance. From Humans acceptance into the galaxy, to sceptism about the 1st human Spectre, to gaining multi-species friends and team, and not to mention Shepard's progressive  actions throughout all three games. We get to game #3 and the answer is no ... you can not all live together in harmony.
You also only get the 'best' ending for your character if you choose the red ending and destroy entire spieces.

Bioware announced yesterday they are releasing a Ending DLC, but the endings themselves will not be changed.
This DLC will apparently expand on the events in the last 10 minutes.
It may be able to explain away certain cutscenes, but not why a game that has allows you to play as a Mother Theresa or the galaxy's biggest jerk (your choice), railroads you into the same three endings no matter how you conducted yourself over the last 100+ hours.

I am giving this game 1 star. As a game it deserves more, but for truly destroying an entire franchise and my investment in three games, books, etc, it actually deserves not a star, but some gut-wrenching award.

If you have no investment in the characters, you could probably play and when you get to the end it'll be just another game with a bad ending. Rage and DE:HR were both brillant games, but the endings too were disappointing, but I was not drawn into their worlds as heavily I was into the one Bioware built.
To me, a ME 'addict' it is truly the most disappointing ending in gaming history.

Modifié par RoamerZA, 06 avril 2012 - 04:04 .

[xxSanitysuxx]

Well, the Mass Effect series, or atleast Shepard's story is finally over (apart from the extended cut, obviously) and it was an amazing ride. ME1 and 2 are two of my favorite games of all time so ME3 had a lot to live up to. 
Will only talk about the stuff that really makes or breaks mass effect 3, here, so here it is:

Honestly, Bioware had a huge challenge on their hands to wrap up not only the main storyline, but the numerous subplots they had built up as well, especially the Genophage and Quarian-Geth plotlines which went way back not only the span of the two games, but thousands of years in the game's universe. The way they handled these two plots, in particular was simply incredible. 

Let's take the genophage plotline. Not only did Bioware need to resolve the krogan-salarian conflict, they had to make it feel as though the player's choices affected the outcome, plus they had to weave the two main race characters, Mordin and Wrex into the story,and this was done perfectly. You could choose to cure the krogan and offer mordin the chance for redemption, or betray the Krogan by sabotaging the cure, killing Mordin in the process. The sabotage choice was one i felt no one would or should take, but my opinion changed completely when i played again with an import in which wrex was dead. Without a pal like Wrex on the kroagn's side, i honestly thought they were a far bigger threat than an asset. I really felt as though my choices not only in the previous games  (regarding Wrex's survival) but also in this game affected  how the subplot would play out and conclude. Brilliantly done.  

Next, the Quarian-geth storyline... again, perfectly done, dont need to repeat stuff, but everything that i said about the genophage storyline applies here, too. One thing ive got to mention is that in my first playthrough, Tali was my LI, but in the decision on Rannoch, i chose to side with the Geth. What was i to know what Tali was about to do?
When she jumped off the cliff, and the paragon interrupt came up, i was like "Oh thank god, ima save tali", but she dies anyway!!!  Again, perfectly done by Bioware... hats off

I specifically mentioned those two storylines, becuase they are undoubtedly the high points of the game for me, two plots which id been waiting 5 years to be resolved and Bioware hit the bullseye for both.
Which makes it an absolute crying shame that the same wonderful sense of player choice affecting the outcome was completely thrown into the gutter in the final 10 minutes.Why does the godchild make no sense whatsoever?Why does shepard not question this godchilds ridiculous motive instead of taking his statements at face value? Why is the theme of "self-determination" thrown completely out of the window by gicing us three options, none of them attractive? Why the hell is Joker RUNNING AWAY???? Why are my LI and my squadmates also with him(this broke my heart) ? Is no one mourning Shepard's death? Gah... million more questions

Other stuff doesnt matter too much, coz i play ME for the narrative, but combat was surprisingly damn fun, even though there are some balancing issues (Vanguard nova+charge=god anyone?). 

Music was beautiful for the most part... especially Leaving Earth, and the romance theme, and played a big part in making conveying the sense of remembering what you love, and fighting for it, in the face of evil.

Overall: Its a game which undoubtedly ended on a really sour note for me, but i wont forget how brilliantly bioware managed to juggle the characters and resolve conflicts (especially the two i mentioned). Its because of the fact that the first 30 hours of the game are so fantastic, and deliver exactly what a mass effect fan was promised, that the ending is doubly disappointing. 9/10 

[Cernish]

I've recently completed ME3 and so now I feel able to review it. I've tried to let the dust settle a bit before writing this, after witnessing the disappointment of the ending, but I've found my feelings about the ending aren't going away.

Let me start by saying that leaving aside the ending I enjoyed the game (and series) as a whole immensely. Amazing visuals, top notch voice acting  (especially Jennifer Hale), exciting combat mechanics, great sound and music (the sound the Reapers make still chills me), fabulous story telling, believable characters, a fabulous space opera setting, engaging romances, wonderful attention to detail and a truly enthralling experience.

BUT ..... and it's a huge but ..... there's that ending.

The terrible, lazy, poorly written and senseless ending full of plot holes completely ruins everything. All my Shepard's hard work to unite the galaxy and rally everyone to the same cause, all the risks, all the heroics, all the decisions over 100-150 hours of gaming rendered completely and utterly pointless. All my choices thrown in the bin because Bioware decided their "artistic integrity" was more important than my gaming experience. They forgot they had made an interactive story, allowing me to tell *my* Shepard's story, and decided to enforce an ending on me that paid no regard to all the choices I had made and an ending which didn't even make much sense anyway.

I've been left feeling so hollow by the ending of ME3 that I cannot bring myself to replay it. It has totally wrecked my perception of the game. It might be only 10 minutes out of 150 hours of gaming, but it is what I now remember. And if I try and replay the game, I now know all my choices and all my efforts are going to be worthless. And I don't see that feeling changing, even with the recently announced free DLC, because Bioware are still sticking to the "artistic integrity" line. Don't they realise that it's their artistic integrity / credibility which is the problem here?

And I won't be buying any future DLC or spin offs either. The game died for me right there with Shepard (still breathing or otherwise), right there with the galaxy (which surely died when all the Mass Relays went supernova, or will Bioware conveniently sidestep that issue too?). So even on a purely commercial level Bioware's "artistic integrity" stance is shooting themselves in the foot.

They can tack on some extra closure via DLC all they like, but nothing can get around the fact that for many of us the actual choice of endings (or lack of) is what we aren't happy with. The way I played *my* Shepard, she would not have accepted ANY of the the three endings on offer. She would not have been willing to commit genocide on the Geth (destroy), nor willing to preserve the Reapers (control) nor willing to play god and impose change on everyone in the galaxy against their will (synthesis). Nor would she have been willing to accept any option which destroyed all the mass relays and stranded the fleets of all her allies in orbit around Earth (try and explain that one away in the forthcoming DLC Bioware). My Shepard would not have taken what the 'star child' said at face value, she would have questioned, would have rebelled, would have insisted on her own self determination. Bioware took that away with an enforced and lame 'pick a colour' ending.

After all the choice provided throughout the game, I felt like I had been forced at 'gunpoint' into having to make the Destroy ending, because this was the only one that came anywhere near what my Shepard had stood for. But if my Shepard did awake in the rubble back on Earth she would have been appalled at the consequences - Mass Relays gone supernova, Geth genocide, all of the galactic fleets stranded around Earth, Normandy having deserted (why?) and her romance partner now stranded on some alien planet somewhere. A Pyrrhic victory if ever there was one, and that's never a good way to finish a story.

Even from an artistic point of view all of these endings were unacceptable because they made little sense in terms of the overall plot, with the lame introduction of the deus ex machina 'star child' and poorly explained 'space magic' (how exactly does a pulse of green light instantly implant circuitry into all organics?). I felt that a game that placed so much emphasis on choice and attention to detail, suddenly threw it all away and brought everything down to an enforced and lazy 'pick a door' choice, where it didn't really matter what door you chose because all endings were equally disasterous, equally bittersweet and equally nonsensical. The fact that all three endings have more or less the same closing cinematic, just with different coloured explosions, tells you all you need to know. Bioware couldn't be bothered to give us proper choice and closure at the end. They took the easy route and dressed it up as an "artistic vision".

I can understand that Bioware wanted to make an ending that gave cause for discussion, but it backfired. With so much fan time, passion and emotion invested into this series, some arty, bittersweet and poorly explained ending that made no sense was wholly unfitting. It is not the ending the fans wanted, it is not the ending the franchise deserved and it doesn't even stand up to scrutiny anyway, it is full of gaping plot holes. I'm no fan of  Hollywood happy endings, but if ever a story needed at least one 'feel good' ending option that resulted in the Reapers gone (at least for this cycle) and the galaxy united in peace (even if it meant the death of Shepard), this was it. Bioware tried to be arty and controversial and blew it. Now they are backpeddling, but only a little and if they insist on sticking to their "artistic integrity" line it will never be enough. But the damage is done anyway. Even if the ending is completely rewritten how the fans want they cannot take away the feeling of deflation when you first complete the game, nothing will change that. However a fully rewritten ending might make the game re-playable I guess.

There's too much nerd rage over this and talk of entitlement issues etc. After all it is only a game. However, if someone has spent 100-150 hours playing then that's the same as going on vacation for a week or two. And if you had a wonderful vacation only to have some disaster befall you in the last hour of your trip, you'd mostly only remember the disaster. And so it is with Mass Effect. Just as with a bad vacation, you move on with your life afterwards. But you probably won't go back to the same place for your next vacation. And so it is with Mass Effect. Bioware can be as proud as they like of their "artistic integrity" but my trust in their ability to tell a convincing story is now shattered.

My score:
Main Game: 9/10
Ending 1/10
Overall: 5/10 (because of how the ending trashes everything that precedes it)

Modifié par Cernish, 06 avril 2012 - 04:47 .

[MrNose]

With regards to the use of former Squadmates.

I feel like it would have been great to have more missions where former squadmates joined you on missions, even if it was on a temporary basis. Anderson does this, Legion sort of does this... Why didn't Miranda, Wrex, or Jacob? The decisions for keeping them out of your squad seem (in the plot) sort of arbitrary, and it would have been great to have them come back even for a short period.

In future games, I hope you think about allowing for more "guest stars" on missions.

[alfiejr]

o iRusH wrote...

they were probaly hoping to add dlc to continue from where you left is what im thinking

Project Lazarus V2 if that's the case 

[AnuzaGray]

 7.5/10 (ME2 would be a 10/10)

Crucible Plotline is stupid, the Catalyst and end scenes are complete insult, as is the dumbed down dialogue options.

The combat is greatly improved over ME1 and ME2.

[BluSuedeNicNac81]

 I'm posting this here and in the suggested changes thread, since I have suggestions written into my review.  Here goes:

So like lots of people, apparently, I was a little let down by the time I reached the end of Mass Effect 3.  Unlike lots of people, before criticizing the game I decided to go back and play through the entire series so that I could judge the final installment in the context of the previous two entries.  What follows is a step-by-step review of the entire game written after devoting 105 hours and 24 minutes of time towards picking my way through the entire trilogy (yes, I’m a bit of a game nut ).  I’m including everything here – good, bad, or ugly – and every criticism is meant to be paired with a detailed suggestion for addressing it.  If I missed anything or if something isn’t clear, then PLEASE TELL ME.  I try to write as clearly as possible, even if that means erring on the side of wordiness, but mistakes happen.

Let’s start at the beginning.  The intro to this game was one of the best yet.  It really sets the tone for everything that follows.  The Reapers are here.  It’s time to quit fooling around and face the music.  The music, by the way, is both the highlight of this segment and the only part containing any flaws I could think of.  When “Leaving Earth” started after I got to the Normandy, I was choking back tears.  But much of the level is played without a score.  I get that silence is often used in cinematic media (which includes video games) to great effect, but the long period of time I went without music (from after the initial attack and until boarding the Normandy, with a short piece when we find the boy in the vent) dulled the effect.  The scene where Shepard and Anderson were edging along a ledge felt awkward without any sound behind it.  The final conversation with Anderson before taking off happened without a score – and that silence added layers to their goodbyes – but by this time it had been going on so long that it had lost its kick.  Adding something to the background of the combat scenes and the other cinematics would go a long way, in my opinion, towards really bringing out the emotion in Shepard and Anderson’s farewell.  It’s not a big deal, but it was a little nick in the polish that, after playing through the two EXTREMELY well polished games before it, stuck out a bit.  Everything else was spot-on, so I give this segment a 9/10.

Next up is the Mars mission.  This was probably my favorite mission of the game.  From a gameplay perspective, no other mission had the unique tactical challenges Mars had.  Sprinting between cover to avoid the defense turret, combat between moving trams, and chasing Dr. Eva had me using every aspect of the upgraded interface to push forward.  I can’t think of any other game in which I’ve been challenged to use every tool at my disposal in such a way.  Even in the first two games, I never got into the habit of using the grenades (ME1) or heavy weapons (ME2).  Hell, In ME1 I didn’t even go into cover much of the time!  The Mars mission was a crash course in how to use every aspect of the combat system and it was integrated so smoothly into the plot that I hardly even realized it was happening.  This mission was, to put it bluntly, ****ing perfect.  10/10.  

On the subject of the combat system, the upgraded leveling and context sensitive commands still make me a bit giddy with how much control I’m given over the battlefield.  I thought you guys nailed the combat and did a decent job with levelling in ME2, but you blew my mind with both in ME3.

After Mars, we’re on our way to the citadel.  At this point, I want to tour the Normandy.  Instead, I felt a bit lost as I was taken from cutscene to cutscene in parts of the ship I didn’t always recognize.  After getting Ashley to sickbay, my expectation was that I would be put back in control of Shepard and that I would have to go to the War Room and talk to Hackett before having joker take us in to the citadel (similar to how the first game made the player go from the bridge to the conference room of the SR-1 at the start of the game and then later from sickbay back to the bridge after Eden Prime).  This would have been a very smooth way to show the player around the new ship.  Locking the doors to the other rooms of the Normandy would keep the player from “getting lost” (you could also have EDI tell Shepard to get to the comm room if s/he tries to open a wrong door, or maybe have her mention that the Normandy was in dry-dock when they left Earth and that certain areas won’t be accessible until they get to the Citadel, where the crew can do the required maintenance to open them up).  Some short dialogue from Traynor after reaching the CIC (“Hackett is available on vidcomm, through security on your right”) would help as well.  Afterwards, a quick jaunt up to the bridge to speak with joker initiates the scene of Normandy docking with the Citadel.  This is just off the top of my head, but it’s something that would make my day if my reunion with my ship gave me more of a chance to explore it myself.

Once I did get a chance to tour the ship myself, I was delighted by some things and disappointed by others.  The new feel of the Normandy is excellent.  I’ve toured a submarine and a destroyer, and the new Normand definitely evoked the feel of those military vessels.  One thing I didn’t like was the lack of EDI.  While I know that she’s added as a squadmate and you can talk to her in person, having her floating orbs around the ship gave me the sense that EDI was really integrated into the Normandy, not just an android walking around inside it.  I can’t think of a reason why her having a body precludes her from popping up at terminals around the ship when you need her.  Another mild annoyance was directed at the ship layout.  The second game, I felt, paid a lot of attention towards the little details, like how each level fit together in the ship.  The armory and tech labs as well as the crew quarters and life support room had windows linking those levels to engineering.  That sophisticated level of detail was removed in ME3.  Worse, I couldn’t kick the notion that the war room should be jutting out into engineering and the comm room should be sticking out the side of the ship!  Obviously this isn’t something I expect to be changed, but I want this review to be as thorough as possible on the things I noticed most often, and the Normandy is where the player spends more time than any other environment.  It’s just another nick in that polish I mentioned earlier.

So now we’re at the Citadel and (big surprise) the Council can’t help us (wouldn’t be much of a game if all we had to do was ask nicely for everyone’s fleets).  The idea of having us appeal directly to the leadership of each race was, in my opinion, inspired.  It gives us a chance to really explore the cultures of each of the alien species beyond mere codex entries.  The following priority missions (which I mentally grouped into “faction missions” by system) were pretty darn good, and an exhaustive review of all of them would take up even more time than I’ve already allotted to this review; which is quite a bit.  Suffice to say that even if I could come up with any grievances for them, I wouldn’t be able to offer any solutions, so I won’t waste our time.  I give the faction missions a 10/10.

That’s not to say that I wouldn’t make any changes between leaving the Citadel and the end at all.  One thing that I really liked from the first two games was the freedom of choice in how, when, and why you did each mission.  Feros, Noveria, Therum, and Virmire could be completed in nearly any order.  The Dossier and Loyalty Missions could likewise be done in whatever pattern the player chose.  I don’t know how to explain the feeling this gave other than to say that it made the galaxy seem so much more *open*.  I was free to do what I wanted whenever I felt like doing it, and there were enough little dialogue changes tying the missions together that I decided to change up the order on subsequent playthroughs to get the slightly different experiences.  There was even the twist in ME2 that the majority of the squad building missions were completely optional.  This added to the feeling of satisfaction I got from completing all the loyalty missions before grabbing the IFF and trotting through the Omega-4 relay to take down the collectors.  The plot-hungry part of me wanted to rush off to face them, but delaying my journey to build a rock solid team and upgrade the Normandy to be nigh-unstoppable meant that I was rewarded with a “perfect save” in which everyone got out alive.  “Suicide Mission,” my ass .  

Yet this isn’t present in Mass Effect 3.  While the faction missions have a few optional parts, the player is still led along from Earth to Tuchanka to Rannoch to Thessia and finally back to Earth without any real chance to decide for themselves what to do and when to do it.  After being treated to the massive amount of freedom in ME1 and ME2, I felt like I was on rails for most of ME3.  It’s not just the order in which I do the missions, though.  Many conversations, even squadmate conversations, are often reduced to linear dialogue (after two games of “dialogue wheel = important, no dialogue wheel = not important,” I was a little thrown when I talked to my squadmates and only got a few stock lines back with no chance to steer the conversation).  The result was that I didn’t feel like I was controlling the conversations.  I can’t think of anything you guys can do to change this other than add more dialogue that uses the dialogue wheel.

What I’d like to see to address this is if you guys could open most of the systems and faction missions up from the instant the player leaves the Citadel (I don’t know if any of this is realistic or not, I’m just suggesting).  After the player completes either Rannoch or Tuchanka, Cerberus attacks the citadel and Shepard has to go back to save it (ala how Horizon was triggered in ME2 after completing a certain number of missions).  After taking down Udina, the asari counselor meets Shepard right away in Udina’s office and tells him about Thessia.  Shepard can then go straight to Thessia or do the other faction mission first.  Either way, completing Thessia unlocks the assault on Cerberus HQ, which commits your forces to the final battle when the player decides to activate it.  

But instead of having that be the end of it, the player could still be allowed to finish up any faction missions they missed after dealing with Cerberus, but each one they do before going to earth could, say, cause the rest of their war assets to take a small hit.  Better yet, delaying too long could cause important characters like Anderson or Hackett or the Council to die before the ending.  The Citadel would also no longer be available after the Cerberus raid, so no fetch missions for war assets either.  Going to the galaxy map to select Earth after clearing the Cerberus base and having every other system be unselectable and covered by a Reaper felt like a contrived way of getting the point across that this was the end.  For all of these reasons, I give plot structure and exploration a 5/10 (harsh, I know, but I think this is a pretty glaring flaw in the context of the last two games.  I’ll talk even more about why this is something to pay attention to next).

No review can be complete without covering the ending, but you guys are already addressing that so I won’t go into too much detail.  While it wouldn’t have been my first choice of how to end the series, I think that more heat was directed at the ending than it deserved because, as I mentioned earlier, the player was on rails for most of the game (twisty rails that maybe doubled back a once or twice, but still rails).  You guys have a fan base that you’ve spoiled with games that have huge freedom of choice and nonlinear plots, but ME3 did not have those elements anywhere near as strongly as its predecessors.  I didn’t feel anywhere near as in control of the plot as I did in the previous two games, and I believe that a lot of frustration that had been building up in me from being led along through the plot was taken out on the ending because it was the most recent in a line of instances where I didn’t feel like I had a hand in shaping the story.  I’d still like to see an ending where the Reapers are banished one way or another and Shepard can take the Normandy on a victory cruise around the galaxy to mop-up the remaining enemy forces, be congratulated by all the factions, and chat with faction leadership about how they are or aren’t working together to build a better future and whatnot, but it looks like that isn’t in the cards.  I get that Shepard has to die, but the idea of the term “has to” having any place in a game like Mass Effect feels like a betrayal of the principles the franchise was built on.  Isn’t the line on Spectres always that they can “do whatever they want?”  I’m sorry, I said I wouldn’t go into it but I seem to have done so anyway.  I’m going to reserve final judgment on the ending until I get a look at this extended cut.

Finally, I have a few suggestions for DLC.   First off is something involving the Batarians.  We hear in ME3 that they were pretty much wiped out before the game started, but in game info mentions how there is a bond among the survivors that could result in a new Batarian society.  I think it would be interesting for Shepard to get the chance to either support such an effort or ensure that the Hedgemony stays in power or even wipe the Batarians out himself as punishment for what Batarian terrorists have done to humanity over the years.  It would also be a chance to portray a few likeable Batarians, which we haven’t seen many of yet (in my opinion at least).  This could be set up as another group of faction missions like Tuchanka and Rannoch.  

My other idea is for the Terminus Systems.  My impression of the people of the Terminus as I played through ME2 was that they’re simple people who just want to have their own little corner of the galaxy away from all the noise of galactic politics, and that they’ll fight to keep it that way.  Forging an alliance between them and the Citadel – either to offer protection for the downtrodden or official authority and resources for the despots – could be an interesting chance to see how this lawless region will pull itself together (under Shepard’s subtle direction, of course) to join the galaxy against the Reapers.  This would also be an opportunity to add Omega back as a hub.  The new Citadel is very well done, but all the other games had three hubs to ME3’s one (Citadel, Noveria, and Feros in ME1; Omega, Citadel, and Illium in ME2), and variety is the spice of life, or so they say.  By the end of the game, I was getting a bit sick of always going back to the Citadel.

Well, that’s it.  Everything I liked and everything I didn’t.  Overall, I give the game an 8/10.  For it to get a perfect score, a game has to *be* perfect, and that means a complete lack of flaws, not just perks that make up for them.  As I pointed out previously, there are a number of cracks in the polish that preclude a perfect score even if the ending was perfect and the control of the plot was every bit as complete as in the previous two games.  You guys showed me how good you can be with ME1 and 2, so if the bar is unreasonably high, it’s only because you set it there .  I hope that this review has been informative and I look forward to seeing what Bioware does with this wonderful piece of IP in the future.  Thank you.

Modifié par BluSuedeNicNac81, 07 avril 2012 - 04:05 .

[Talhren]

I absolutely loved Mass Effect 3. The graphics and animations seem greatly improved and the action seemlessly moves into cutscenes. The story was phenomenal and the music score greatly enhanced it, especially the Leaving Earth and the ending pieces: very moving.

All in all I found the game to be the perfect end of the trilogy, except the ending like many people.

I can accept that Shepard dies...in fact it does seems fitting. A sad, yet triumphant ending for the hero. I can even accept the similar endings as well. In fact, the best ending for the series in my opinion would be the destroying the Reapers. It's one of the most striking and theatrical endings, except for one little issue of it wiping out ALL synthetic life.

I'll state why this is an issue for me.

The Reapers are responsible for the genocide of entire species for probably millions of years if not longer. So if they've been doing this for 5 millions years (a conservative number), with a cycle of 50,000 years. That would be 100 cycles. Let's say there's an average of 5 species advanced enough to be harvested or destroyed (another conservative number) per cycle. Also let's say the average species population is 10 billion (yet another conservative number). That means the Reapers have killed 5 trillion people (100 cycles x 5 species per cycle x 10 billion per species). And that's a LOW estimate. 5 trillion is a hard number to imagine. A trillion is a million times a million. In fact, if you were to kill a person every second it would take almost 160,000 years to reach 5 trillion.

Destroying the Reapers would be justice done for trillions of lives. Plus, you don't know if you can control them forever, nor do you know the ramifications of combining organic and synthetic life. It is the safest route. However, I should not have to destoy EDI or the Geth. Both are friends and allies. I proved AI and organics can recover from war in my story, because I convinced the Quarians and the Geth to cooperate. I wanted to yell that at the Catalyst.

So basically I think the ending can stay the same, but be able to specifically target the Reapers. If I can specifically control the Reapers, I should be able to specifically destroy the Reapers.

Modifié par Talhren, 07 avril 2012 - 05:33 .

[redmenace8]

I just finished my first playthrough, so I thought I would share.

PS3 Imported Male Shep Paragon, no love interest (waited for Kaidan) Entire Team survived.

Continued Paragon, romanced Kaidan, Green.

I enjoyed ME3 a great deal. The gameplay was just as fluid and fun as the 2. I thought that the levels were challenging and designed in fun and innovative manner. I felt like I was off balance many times, which made sense given the circumstances. I did run into the occasional issue where I wanted to move forward but kept rolling side to side. Overall I thought the more dynamic movements of Shepard worked, though. I also enjoyed the more customization possibilities with weapons. It was fun to tinker with and to learn to balance things.

The atmosphere of the game really worked for me. Given the nature of the Universe ending attack by the Reapers, I thought the appropriate feeling was conveyed as in the sense of desperation and degradation of normal society. It is a dark place and the music helped set the tone as well.

Voice acting was great all around. When so many emotional moments depend on the quality of the vocals, you really need quality.

The game is certainly streamlined. I usually take a great deal of time to wander and gather and double check and I got through the game in less than 50 hours. The change in resource gathering was fine, I admit I enjoyed the ME2 version, which would be redundant here.

Since I didn't romance anyone in 2, I really enjoyed the appearances of past characters. They were more than just a couple line cameos (I'm talking to you DA 2-in re Alistair) It felt like their appearances mattered. I did greatly enjoy the romance. I am open to all the different options presented and felt that this one was well done.

The game really knew how to work your emotions as well. From sad, to dark, to angry, I was right there with Shepard. When the Asari Councilor was contacting me, I just stared at that blinking light full of dread, sadness, frustration and anger. That was the point I knew how well the game was written and executed.

Minor Issues:

1: After all the War Resource gathering I would liked to have seen more evidence that it made a difference. I expected some sort of battle on the Citadel to be honest, after so many resources I gathered for it. With Dragon Age Awakening I know that what resources I allocated to Amaranthine made a difference. Here, I don't know what if any effect they had.

2: I would have like to see more of the resources I gathered in action. From the Aria's gangs, to the Volous, Hanar, Elcor, Jack's students, the Quarians, even a small cinematic would have made me smile if I had seen them in action.

3. Why was the Normandy where she was at the end when she was part of Sword?

4: The closure issue, and yes, by closure, I mean the obvious unanswered questions about companions and the various civiliations now that they are more isolated from each other. Why some people are confused by the concept is strange to me. A simple text screen, ala DA Origins would have worked for me. Maybe just because I want more, I really did love the characters and universe of Mass Effect.

Major Issue

I didn't have any problem with the concept of the ending. I had a notion after playing 2 that any solution would very likely mean the destruction of Reaper Tech including the Mass Relays. I can accept what happens to Shepard as well.

I am just puzzled most of all by this - How does an AI come into being that values organic life above non organic life? This deus ex machina seems to come out of nowhere. Though, maybe that is an avenue for further exploration.

Overall, I really enjoyed the game. I find the idea to make the series, a closed series, with a definite end, good actually. Bioware stuck to their guns to make the series they wanted to make. The easy solution isn't always the easy solution for the authors of a creative work. Sometimes the characters and situation just lead you to a place that even the author might not be comfortable with, but is demanded by the story. I get that. I understand not everyone will be happy, because simply everyone is different and has different ideas of how they want 'their' story and 'their' Shepard to be presented as. If there had been more info about the state of things at the end, I think much of the criticism would have been muted. I am easy to please, so I have to give the game a score of 8.75 until the additional ending content is made available later on.

[SPR000X]

Finally completed the campaign today.Indoc theory makes no sense. The Citadel AI could have easily achieved its possible motives to let the reapers win with the illusive man which was already indoctrinated.They god child's motives were crappy writing IMO:Bit disappointed to be honest.
Taking control made no sense to me, i simply wanted to get rid of the reapers after everything they have done.Synergy, i did not want to play god and it just was unfair against everyone, removing free will etc. Also space magic.Destroy was the only option that made sense.
I think i managed to get the best ending (for me anyway) with getting the breathing cut scene and My love interest (Tali) stepping out of the normandy with Liara. No idea where they were or why joker was running, or how even tali got on the ship since she was in London with me.The epilogue after the cut scene was just unnecessary and made shepard look like space Jesus which i didn't like. I wish they wouldn't have made it.Overall a pretty descent ending with some writing that could have been much better.It gave hope for my shepard and my crew. I feel like i survived with my friends.
Not as bad as i thought from reading the spoilers, but definetly a few WTF's in there.


From 1-10 id give this game a fair 8.
What brings it down from being "perfect" was the clear technical problems on the playstation 3 version, framerate problems mostly. Also the writing in the end just didnt make sense as i explained above.

Other than that i feel like the gameplay was solid, the journey was great. exploring the galaxy was a little annoying with the reapers unlike ME2.

Thank you Bioware.