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[hawat333]

BEWARE, wall of text incoming with some spoilers too

((TL;DR notice: The best game in the series, with some flaws that need to be fixed asap)

Here we go again, another BioWare game is done, so let's see the good, the bad and the ugly again.
The good represents the aspects the player likes, the bad what she or he doesn't, and the ugly are the things that were totally messed up and needs to be fixed.

The Good:
- The golden mean between Mass Effect 1 and 2
This game finally got it right. Balanced the traits of adrinaline filled shooters and the customization options of an RPG. That's right people, we have it, right under our noses. I enjoyed the gameplay very much, and tinkering with the customization options and skill revealed to me that I can indeed tailor it to my preferred playstyle.
- Visual quality
Overall visual quality is absolutely stunning. There are flaws here and there, but the other ninety-seven percent of the visuals caught me with my jaws dropped. The art direction is really great, it really shows how much effort was put into it. All that on an older computer too. The team handling the optimization did an awesome job. Thank you very much.
- Cutscene direction
We have a lot of cutscenes, and they deliver, they really do. The animation, the direction, the choice of music, the camera angles, it left me stand in awe. There's really much work put into it, and I've enjoyed the hell out of it.
- Variables
The wife and I played different Shepards of course, from time to time, we took a peek at each other's version. And it is indeed different. The basic storyline is the same, but it's highly presonalized, and we really liked that it is.
- Story arc and atmosphere
The story is much, much closer to ME1 now, while Me2 felt like an episode, ME3 feels like a direct sequel considering the story. The atmosphere is created perfectly. This game delivers it the best. When I was supposed to feel desperate, like when losing Thessia, I did. When I was supposed to feel relief, like Grunt showing up alive, covered in blood, but still, alive, I did. Actual emotions was pulled through me, even more than it did in the previous two games. That's makes ME3 the best game in the series in my books.
- Character interactions and chatter
There are far less stock answers and lines than in the previous games. When the wife took different squadmates on a mission than I did, they actually had a different conversation with Shepard instead of having the same stences. That's something I really, really approve. There's also a lot more chatter between party members on the Normandy, and I also like the idle conversation (or the sharpshooting contest) on the Citadel. It helped shaping their characters. There could be more of this stuff in the game, but it was a relief after ME2's limited interaction.
- ME1&2 references and insider jokes
Because there are a lot of them, and they are put in a very fine manner. Oh, I loved them!
- Endgame and the endings
Oh god, I love both. The Endgame was more than I expected, not just a half hour long mission with some cutscenes, but a deperate attempt with high casulties, sacrifices to take Earth back. I also liked what the superweapon turned out to be. I was afraid it will be a... simple weapon. Mac Walthers created something I didn't expect. That's because I love the endings of Deus Ex. Sadly, I remember too well, but as the theme of the games are basically the same, I can excuse the plagiarism. I'm glad it turned out this way, instead of having an all happy, everything is sunshine and bunnies ending. Because this game is not a simple RPG, it's an audiobook/movie with RPG and shooter features. It has to have a dramatic ending. I love how it turned out. I love the resolution of the conflict with The Illusive Man, and I love that Shepard can survive if you do it right.

The Bad

- Less conversation options, less persuasion options
First off, I get it. I know why they were limited - there are a lot of dialgues as it is, because really every major player shows up in the game. And they talk a lot, and these talks tend to be different based on your imported data. Still, it's marked as an Action/RPG, I like to have a lot of conversation options when I play an RPG, even if a "half" one. On the other hand, as I stated above, I'm pleased how varied the dialogues are depending on who is with you at the time. Very, very pleased. As for the other half... I like Persuasion in RPGs. It had almost none (but what it had was pretty important stuff)
- Galactic explorat...
... ok, who am I kidding with? We have no exploration. None. Not at all. Not even on the level of ME2. Instead we have  a minigame with toy ships which is easy to exploit (if the Reapers get you, the game reloads the very same system. So there's no real point of fleeing them) and -while better than scanning- is not really interesting. I know, we are at war, it's not the right time for idle exploration, but I feel it was part of the Mass Effect universe once. I miss it.
- The new and redesigned Ashley Williams.
Once upon a time we had a character named Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, a hardass, stubborn soldiers with ideas and a strong will, someone who never gives up, who, when experiences resistance, goes even harder instead of backing down. Now we have an emotional space-babe straight from Barbarella. I don't know who did the creators want to please with this new character. Those who didn't like her? Probably. I'm ok with that, but the change was too extreme. I get it, people change, their personalities change too. But that's not the Ashley Williams I looked forward to reunite with. I don't find the features that made her special and appealing.

The Ugly
- Important cut content
Priority: Omega. The storyline is established for that, we have occuptaion in the CE comic, we meet up with Aria, learn the she wants to take back her station, convince the merc forces to aid her in this and... well... that's it. That feels empty and pointless this way. It was a pretty important faction to deal with, rallying the galaxy also means rallying the Terminus Systems, and it's almost enitrely cut. That should be remedied somehow. My spider-sense is tingling, it says DLC.
- The fate of the Normandy
The escape scene with the crash and beyond... that was not right. It wasn't logical to have this scene, not even for dramatic purposes. Let me elaborate. One: LT Cmd Ashley Williams was with me during the final charge. She either died there or left lying somewhere badly wounded, or even if she miracously escaped injury... well, there's no way she could suddenly appear on the Normandy. Two: What was the Normandy doing there? The scene indicated that it was en route from one Relay to an other. For what purpose? It made no sense. The fight was there, above Earth, there's no point in running away, if we loose there we loose everything. That's completely out of place. Presonally, I prefer to tell myself that it actually crashed on Earth. But it's something that should either be explained, or exchanged with a more appropirate scene. I used to defend the entire ending saying you should play it through before judging it, but this segment it out of place. It seems like a placeholder, one possible outcome, that wasn't replaced with the proper one in the final game. That should be fixed in some way, DLC or patch, I don't care. It's not that I don't like desperate or sad ending (it isn't sad by the way, the live if you play the cards right), but this way it doesn't make sense, it doesn't fall together.
- No face importing for you, you filthy ME1 player!
That's something that shoukld have been tested, and should be remedied ASAP.
- One button above all
That was elaborated several times, and yes, after seventy hours of gameplay, it's still an issue when I roll instead of taking cover and take cover instead of reviving my squadmate. At least on PC, this should be patched. I don't know if it's hard to code or possible at all, but if it, we'd really appreciate it.



Conclusion: Yeah, you did it. Mass Effect is the best game in the series, it deserves all the praise. Yet, it has some flaws that could and should be remedied somehow.

[Drake_1000]

- Important cut content
Priority: Omega. The storyline is established
for that, we have occuptaion in the CE comic, we meet up with Aria,
learn the she wants to take back her station, convince the merc forces
to aid her in this and... well... that's it. That feels empty and
pointless this way. It was a pretty important faction to deal with,
rallying the galaxy also means rallying the Terminus Systems, and it's
almost enitrely cut. That should be remedied somehow. My spider-sense is
tingling, it says DLC.

I think the same about this. And i dont buy it unless Bioware give me what i want.

[hawat333]

Hmm. As blind as I am, I didn't spot the already existing fan reviews topic.