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[phimseto]

As I play the game, I will post updates on impressions and any bugs I find.  

Pros:

- It's a shame that you're pitching this game as an entry point for new players.  The story is a reward for people who played the first two games.  I guess it's a case of "they don't know what they are missing", but still.  Whatever other gripes I or any of my friends have, we are all uniformally enjoying and appreciative of the different nods and cameos. 

- The weapon modding system is good, and an appreciated return.  Still getting used to the weight limit thing, but it hasn't been a hinderance.   And it's strangely nostalgic to see my old friends the Blood Dragon and Terminus Armors again. :-D

- Though I have my issues with autodialogue, in general I enjoy the conversations with the party characters and returning characters, too.  In particular, it's great to team up with Admiral Hackett again - the one guy who has had Shepard's back no matter what through all three games.  

- The Normandy memorial on Deck 3.  This was a nice touch, and I dread the moment we start adding to it.  I would have loved to return to the crash site.  My understanding is that Omega isn't in this game, but might be a DLC.  If that's the case, I hope you would consider tacking it on.  It was one of the more compelling locations I have ever visited in a RPG, and now with so much returning crew, it would be nice to go back there with them, perhaps find other characters there visiting.  The SR1 is never out of my thoughts as I play the game.  

- Two words: Space Hamster.

- Oh, and thank you for the Shepard VI.  It is as delightfully terrible as I hoped it would be.  "Do I really sound like that?!?"


Cons:

- Face.  I won't lie: that the game launched with the face creator bug really, really bothers me.  I've had to make due recreating the face as best I can, but I don't understand how something as essential to the Mass Effect experience as this got bugged and stayed bugged until it was in consumers' hands.  

- Autodialogue.  I don't want to spoil parts of the game if I don't have to, so let me take early on as an example.  There are a succession of conversations: Liara and Traynor in the captain's quarters, the Citadel Council, Udina and the Turian Ambassador, Dr. Chakwas, and...gah...I'm already forgetting (the perils of staying up until 2am to power through the game).  The point being that in each of those conversations, my character responded in ways that I wouldn't have chosen.  I think the game is a few of those moments away from being so much better and in line with past games.  As much as I detest DLC, I would honestly pay for Bioware to put out an enhanced RPG mode that goes back through the game and adds some of that nuance back into certain dialogues.  Some people think it's just cosmetic, but for myself and a lot of others, those small choices are what define the character and story for us.  
 
- When I examine planets in systems, they don't stay marked on my map like in ME2.  This is distracting, especially since (like in ME2), I key on that as a mental flag for where I have left to explore.  With the Reapers ready to swoop in all the time, this would be especially nice to have back.  

- Systems don't mark 0%.  On that front, if a system doesn't have secrets to find, it would be nice if it was automatically marked at 100%.  I've wasted a chunk of time going around a few systems trying to get something to ping, only to discover that they simply have no hidden treasures to uncover.  

- Side quests.  Found only one so far (Grissom Academy) that seems substantial.  The rest just involve the scanning process.  To a certain extent I don't mind that, but I do miss the thrill of being able to land on a planet and investigate after finding something.   


Hopes:

- Well, I found my beloved Kelly Chambers.  Given her reasons why, I can't blame anyone for her not being able to come back on the ship with me.  That being said, I kind of screwed myself.  I broke things off with Miranda to initiate a romance with Kelly in ME2, but that ported into ME3 as "had no romance in ME2".  This altered the nature of my relationship with Miranda.  Heck, it altered my relationship with Liara, who I had to break up with *again* (first time after LotSB).   Sigh.  

I don't know where things are going with Kelly.  I got her to change her ID (a strange dialogue choice, but when I saw it, it made sense so I went with it), have talked with her the couple of times I have had a chance, and hope there's some way to initiate some kind of romance for her, even if just to a small degree.  It's been my hope since ME2.  That's she there and still as flirtatious as ever gives me hope.  Whatever my character's fate, that's the one relationship I want to end on.  And I did tell her I prefer her as a redhead, so if I can ever secure her safety, I hope that triggers a change back to her classic look. 

Ok, that's it for now.  More later.

I should go.

Modifié par phimseto, 09 mars 2012 - 05:03 .

[phimseto]

So to update after a couple of more days of playing. I am in the midst of helping the Migrant Fleet for rough point of reference of where I am in the game.

Pros:

- "Incidental" conversations. Turns out those snippets of conversation that you hear can have impact on the game after all. I clued into this when the first few that I listened through to conclusion opened up some actionable options on my Spectre terminal. This then made me reassess some of the other dialogues. There's one between a human teenage girl and a turian C-Sec officer about her missing parents that I realized wasn't just a "woe to those who lost families to the Reapers" dialogue like I thought it was, but was instead the result of me siding with customs officials to block the arrival of more refugees. That was a punch in the gut. Very subtle and very well-done.

- Not once but twice the game got me a little misty-eyed, in both cases regarding returning characters. In particular, the (SPOILERS FOR MID-GAME) farewell scene with Thane really got to me. When I am on the Normandy now, I pop into Life Support and it's absolutely compelling because I can imagine Thane sitting there. (SPOILERS END) This is something that I hope Bioware takes note of: Mass Effect 3's greatest successes are not in the multiplayer or the stand-alone story elements of the game. They are in the investment and payoff of the previous two titles. Everything that I have loved about the game most has sprung from there, and I doubt I am alone in feeling that way.

- Crew interactions. I had to play a lot of the game before I finally bought into this, but Bioware has done fans a service. There are still numerous versions of the classic crew member dialogues that we know, love, and want. However, they have thrown in some fantastic touches. On both the ship and Citadel, the crew moves around and lives their lives, prompting different scenes and interactions between them and you. They talk to each other over the intercoms (the ones with Javik are particularly priceless...and intriguing). These are great changes and promote unprecedented immersion in the story.  They've given the same of what we want, and added more and different types of stuff to keep things humming.  

- Speaking of Javik, whatever my thoughts about Day 1 DLC, the character and what he adds to the story are fantastic. His views on many different matters are stark, compelling, and good food for thought (especially regarding synthetic life, the current issue on my plate).



Cons:

- Autodialogue. Just to follow up, again - I think Bioware is thisclose to having this right. It is not that bad most of the time because they do a good job of having it in the incidental flow moments. However, autodialogue continues to make its unwelcome presence felt, particularly in significant conversations. There are numerous examples, but one I will pull out for here is David Archer, the lead scientist from the Overlord DLC. When I did that DLC, as horrified as I was with the result, I didn't overreact and understood the bleak realities that would necessitate it. In ME3, when I talked to him, my paragon-heavy rep prompted me to be an aggressive **** to him the whole way through in ways that I never, ever would have chosen (especially since I was trying to get him on my team). Again, this is a case where if BW just went through and broke up some of these conversations into more actionable chunks, it would be the best of all worlds.

- Missions menu. I feel like one thing that everyone agrees on is that the mission menu is easily the worst of all three games. The nice tracking system from the first two games is gone, leaving you uncertain about where you stand on a mission or even exactly what you have to do. The more traditional feature is definitely one that I hope BW opts to return to in a patch soon.

- Kasumi and matters of choice. I was *thrilled* when I got my Kasumi cameo especially because it seemed to result from my telling her to keep Keiji's greybox information. Imagine my disappointment when I found out that the same stuff happens for those who had her destroy the information. It made the moment feel a little less special, and I wish BW had done something different. Though keep in mind that I don't know that they didn't. We didn't discuss the nitty-gritty details, though they seemed to have the same major beats.

- Oh, and I say this with tongue planted firmly in cheek, but this Second Amendment-loving American was bemused by Canadian Bioware's take on a well-armed militia. Side with gun owner who wants to give citizens a chance to defend themselves results in a significant loss for the Citadel's defensive rating.


Hopes:

- Kelly and Shepard are back together...well as much as Shepard and a Normandy-phobic love interest can be. Props to Bioware for making sure one could end their game with Kelly as their romantic partner. I'm not sure if there's much more to her after this. If not, one thing I do hope Bioware does consider is tacking on more romance stuff as part of some DLC package. Beyond the dialogues by Kelly's little porta-hovel, it would be nice to take her out on the town...and get her some better threads...and get her hair dyed red again now that Cerberus has been given the boot!  In particular, I would like for my character to actually be able to say the words "I love you" to her.  

Modifié par phimseto, 09 mars 2012 - 07:43 .