1382 réponses à ce sujet

[Deibert13]

This was by far the most amazing piece of work on a video game I have ever played. The writing and storyline for this DLC went above and beyond the expected. I just didn't want it to end!

So many great moments, an absolutely brilliant way to send off the game.

I'd also like to add, I hope that you folks are going to release the music used in the Citadel DLC. It set the mood perfectly and really brought out the emotion in every sense. That said, I would love to have a copy of it!

[basbaker]

I thought it was wonderful. Thank you for wrapping the series up in such a touching way.

[Jovian09]

Personally I loved Citadel; the tone of it was light and that's what I expected from the release material. I didn't mind the villain in the combat part of the DLC; the purpose was to give Shepard and team an excuse to go flying around the Citadel like an interstellar pimp squad and the antagonists provided a sufficiently compelling backdrop for that.
The party dialogue and characterisation were great... it was nice to see folks like Jack and James, Javik and Wrex hanging out together. The meetups on Silversun Strip were downright hilarious (Zaeed and Traynor were particular favourites), but the 'invite ups" were a little strange. Tali singing? I wasn't sure if that was meant to be serious!

Personally though I'm on my umpteenth playthrough of ME3, and having re-imported my main file and played this just after completing Rannoch, I don't have the willpower to follow the game through to conclusion. The moments here were so positive and hopeful that, as many have said, it would have been exactly how a lot of people would want to end the trilogy. I don't mind the EC endings, but having experienced that and now having experienced this? It is cruel in a sense, but since it's the last chronological content release I feel happy to end my Mass Effect 3 experience this way -- on a high.

[tilusN7]

Despite the clone, I really enjoyed this DLC.

Really made me reminisce on the entire series, and I loved all of the multiplayer shout outs from the NPC's chatting at Silversun Strip. The arcade is fun and it was really great to see all of the old characters come back for one last hurrah.

Having the whole team there to fight during the archives mission was interesting, and I loved the addition of the record holograms we see. This is simple stuff that people love and was done well.

I'd like to give Ike a shout out, Javik is one of my favourite characters from the series, and his writing and Ike's performance really make this character as endearing as any from the previous two games. The apartment is cool too.

I felt the memorial service for Thane was very tasteful, as well as the morning after recordings from Mordin.

Despite how I feel about the ending of the series, I greatly enjoyed this DLC.

Thank you BioWare.

[Dean_the_Young]

There's something to be said about how a story is crafted, and something to be said about how it makes you feel, but there's also something to note about how a game mechanics are played. Citadel DLC has been approved for the first, lauded for the second, but it's the third that most impressed me.

Citadel DLC has some good mechanics in its content: mechanics that should fill you with optimism for future Bioware games, be it Mass Effect related or otherwise. There are dialogue and cinematic mechanics, there are combat mechanics, and even content mechanics. What follows is some of what I see as emerging trends for Bioware’s style, some new and some just developing, that should definitely be recognized and encouraged.

===

Dialogue/Cinematic

Cinematic is a dirty word on BSN, but I think the narrative components of the DLC have some strengths. I’m not talking about the humor, the in-jokes, or the overall tone, but rather the tools and tricks used to introduce variability and uniqueness in each playthrough. Things that make each playthrough a bit different than the last. Things such as…

===

class Interrupts

It’s not a new idea. It’s not even the first of the series: that goes to the previous DLC, Omega and the Engineering Interrupt. But the use of the biotic/non-biotic class distinction for an interrupt in the DLC’s final battle buildup is a welcome strengthening of an emerging trend of modern Bioware games: using the player’s very class selection as a distinction element.

class interrupts offer a welcome bit of uniqueness to your class selection, and without needing to drive the plot they can be a welcome tool in the RPG game arsenal for world or narrative recognition of your playstyle. Compared to most games, in which the playing class is barely if ever recognized, cutscene advantages or narrative differences could yet become a new staple of Bioware games.


Romance Interrupts

It’s like a class interrupt, but with kissing. Literally, in the Specialist Traynor romance. As far as decision-making goes, this one’s only as important as any other character-specific option in a circumstance, but as far as setting the tone of an encounter? Defusing an argument with a kiss is certainly memorable, and rare enough in Bioware games to be a notable addition.


Variable Boss

The Clone is a rather unique Bioware experiment, and one I hope continues: a boss who’s appearance, gender, class, and possibly even character is shaped by the player. Without saying all such bosses must be player clones, the idea of having non-static bosses shaped and influenced by player choices should be encouraged: appearance, cutscenes such as the biotic-interrupt, and otherwise. If this sort of variable-boss concept develops further, we could see enemy characters that show greater reactivity to player choices and player influences in the plot as well.


Player-selection-history Reactions

Remember that scene when you choose to companions to take in the car, and leave the rest alone? Remember how the two least-used companions then looked depressed at how little they were used? That’s a reaction to player selection-history, and that is a device that could be used to great affect. In some games, including ME3, it’s used to help score an affection system: who you help most becomes Character A in a cutscene, while second-most is Character B. But imagine if we took it to other, more narrative, implications: if the least-used member of a party became the one selected for some tragedy, or a jealousy conflict driven between the Most Used and Least Used characters of a team.


Setting Scope

Sometimes we’re told something is bigger than it actually is: the size of the Citadel, worlds in the galaxy, etc. Hubworlds of ME2 were supposed to be great cities or space stations, but were surprisingly small in area and visible space. Citadel’s areas are consistently Big with a capital B, resulting in an affect of reinforcing the position that the Citadel is a massive space station. From Anderson’s apartments to Citadel catwalks to even the multi-level casino, and of course the strip, Citadel used space and the illusion of space (high ceilings, rounded corners, color pallets) to help make the Citadel bigger than ever. That’s the sort of sense of scale that will help in future works as well.


===

Combat Mechanics

Combat can help carry a story, and set a tone. It’s one thing to have Shepard and a team of two destroy all enemies: it’s another to have help along the way as you fight new and more varried enemies.

===

ME3 Reskins

This is a personal admission, but for the longest time I felt that ME3’s combat balance had been done in such a way that different enemy groups was infeasible: that new enemies wouldn’t be varied enough to distinguish from the vanilla Cerberus/Reapers/Geth, and that all we would have would be re-skins. Well, we did have reskins (Cerberus troopers/snipers/guardians, honestly), but we did have re-mixing of powers and design to make them feel fresh and new.

Enemy Weapon diversity

One of the big differences between the Cat6 mercs and Cerberus analogs was the type of weapons they used: Guardians with machine guns, rather than pistols. In a sense this is a throwback to ME2, when enemy weapon selection was the big dictator for difficulty. People who remember merc armies with Revnants know what I mean. Citadel goes a step beyond this in expanding the diversity of enemy weapon types, and no one goes more into this than the Clone. The Clone’s weapon of choice depends on class, all of which are wielded effectively. Expanding the diversity of enemy weapons in the future will help future games keep their factions distinct not just by the skin on the model or the powers, but the weapon types as well.

Enemy Power diversity

A good strength of Citadel was the strength of its enemies: the strength of its enemies came in the introduction of new types of powers, types and experiments that can be taken into the future as well. Cluster grenades, the newfangled attack drones, the Clone’s use of class-specific powers like warp (and a fast warp at that), these helped keep the enemies distinct and fresh from older foes. Perhaps my favorite re-configuration of old powers are the snipers, who combine visual stealth and smoke screens to good effect: expanding the repetoir of useful enemy power-combos will help future games keep up the challenge and the freshness, especially when enemy powers are quick and deadly: the Clone using warp is no longer one of those ever-slow balls from ME2, but a rapid and immediate threat.


Introducing weapons/challenges

In a surprise for me, the first level of the game turns a nominal ‘but thou must’ weapon restriction into a chekov’s gun plot development. Accompanied by the loss of medigel for the mission, I was pleasantly surprised at both the spike of difficulty and the planning of the sequence of events that give you your new pistol. Bioware doesn’t often mix up the combat style, and the experiment effectively used the cutscene of the attack on the resteraunt to affect both gameplay AND the narrative in a single scene. It flowed well.


Variable Boss

I’ve mentioned the Clone in the context of variability before, but I think it should be noted again: the Clone is unique in recent Bioware games for being both visually and tactically distinct and versatile. In the case of the clone it’s a reflection of class, but this sort of impact on other NPCs can be taken to new heights. Yes, Dragon Age already did something like it with the Hawk siblings and skin tone, but imagine the narrative opportunities if other types of player choices could shape the nature of our enemies, or our friends?


Multi-boss Boss Fight

Brooks and the Clone and a few waves of mercs: it was fun, it had a great visual backdrop outside the cargo bay, and above all it was as close to a three-on-three death match as Bioware has given, which would be about as close to a perfect matchup with Shepard as could be. Multiple bosses don’t just amp the confusion, they also help avoid the three-on-one beatdowns of the Kai Leng sort, while both Brooks and the Clone used powers to effectively prolong the match and pad their health. The Clone using medigel to restore health, or Brooks using invisibility to slink away and hide and restore shields: these are good techniques to equip bosses with not least because it’s what we the players do.

And, above all else,

Non-Squadmate Battle Support

For a galaxy at war, ME has always struggled to make battles with more than Shepard’s own team convincing. Most the time there was never even an attempt, with all potential allies conveniently mowed down before the battle starts. When ME3 had situations where it couldn’t be avoided, it got even worse: Salarians being mowed down by scripted animation in Surkesh, or Turian defenders shooting the same piece of ground during a Reaper attack. Reactivity to enemy attacks must have been difficult…

…but Citadel had your troops on the ground, hurting the same enemies you were, to the effect of really believing there were more forces in the area than just your own. The Citadel Archives are a monumental leap in Bioware’s modern aversion to having anyone help out in the PC’s battles, and a first for Mass Effect. Even in just staying back and casting, the companions (and Glyph) provided real tactical assistance at the same time as interesting commentary.

This, to me, would be a great step forward for future games: imagine a Mass Effect in which you are part of a larger battle, both sides fighting eachother, both sides killing eachother, leaving the player to dominate or slip by as need be. There’s a lot that could be done there, especially in establishing a sense of scale.

===

Content Types

On type of the already impressive amounts of dialogue, partying, relationship-specific content, and mutually-exclusive content for variability, Citadel DLC also does something else Mass Effect has been loath to do: more variable companion interaction, and indefinite content.

===

-Companion Interaction Paths

Do you prefer a Loud Party, or a Quiet one? It’s a fair question, but also part of a different sort of character interaction than ME is used to. Most of ME, even ME1, follows a pretty set character-interaction rail: the same general conversations no matter your dialogue, whether you’re rude or nice, with little tone change. The difference in partying though, from what I hear, is significant: wild excess versus sober enjoyment.

It’s not a huge thing, but the use of different tones is a good step back (or forward) to more diverse approaches to situations, and more diverse roleplaying styles. Appreciate the distinction, and encourage.


-Indefinite Content

Technically speaking, ME1 and ME2 both had gambling minigames: in that sense, the Casino isn’t that unique. The Arcade and Arena, however, provide opportunities for a much longer game than what usually occurs. Bioware games are often restricted in terms of minigames or infinite battles: you can only fight so many people or so many challenges before they’re all used up. Citadel shows that indefinite content can still be fun, and I encourage the sort to return in future products.



===


And that’s it: my rambling thoughts on mechanics I was charmed or impressed by. Post your own thoughts on what you liked (or not) about the ‘how’!

[RinpocheSchnozberry]

That was the best DLC you guys have done.  I loved everything about it.

- The way the characters interacted was perfect.  Having the whole squad part of the mission, even if they weren't your wingmen, was fantastic.  Please continue that going forward.  I loved their cross talk and banter.  There was some hilarious moments and some blue moments and that's absolutely perfect.  More!  I loved seeing them all in the cut scenes.  It really, really did a great job of rounding out Shepard and "filling" the levels at the same.  Also?  It was fantastic hearing the companions razz Shepard, especially about the clone.

- I loved the design of the Citadel ward.  The cars, the travel, the stores, the bystanders...  It felt the more like what I wanted from every Citadel section.  The Strip looked perfect for combat and for walking around.  It had a kind of noir or "low sci-fi" feel to it.  Kicked ass!

- Armax Arsenal Area was fun as hell.  I was expecting to do it once or twice, but I ended up cleaning that thing out and I suspect I'll be going back for some time.  I like all the options it presented and I like how it filled up as Shepard progressed.  The Casino was sweet!  Varen Racing is fun and it was nice to see Quasar come back.  The claw machine... is an evil invention.  I'm going to keep going back to that too.  The boxing is wierdly entertaiing as well.  Good stuff!

- The main story was great.  I get boners for ancient knowledge and revelations of secret histories, so the entire archive section was perfect for me.  Also, seeing a used car dealership was hilarious.  I love the Mass Effect cars for no reason I can explain by using brains, so that was both amusing in a "what the hell are we doing at a used car dealership on a space station" and from a fan service perspective.  The way combat mixed into the story was fantastic as well.  Shepard being almost nothing without his friends got me right in the feels.

- The Party.  Big Letters on both words.  I enjoyed the hell out of that!  I liked seeing the different characters have conversations.  The mix of personalities and histories led to some real entertaining moments between some of my favorite characters.  Everything from the krogan chatting with Zaeed and Javik to Miranda and Jack getting razzed by Shepard was all fantastic.  The dancing, the goofing around...  Perfect.

- There was what seemed to be an ADEPT moment in the cutscene!  KICK ASS!  I love my Adept and feel like they never get enough love.

- When this ended, I realized the game really is done.  Shepard is gone forever.  I'm going to miss this series more than anything since Thief.  I loved it.  Great job.

 

Modifié par RinpocheSchnozberry, 07 mars 2013 - 02:53 .

[Vajraja]

Appreciate the hard work on it Bioware team. Loved it and renewed my confidence in you future projects!

Thank you for doing it (I know it was fan service - but it was awesometacular!)

[digoutyoursoul]

Finally finished it, best DLC for Mass 3 hands down, the character interactions were so good and the whole DLC flowed brilliantly. The EDI " Im ok " still cracks me up. Well done Bioware, pure brilliance.

[Ectosage]

Loved it, best damn DLC you guys have released. Big time felt like it was worth the 15$ this time. I say this, not only because it was a long DLC that made me feel like there was allot of content there, the content was very VERY polished. I adored all of the party scenes & just talking to people at the part, and hearing what they had to say. So much so by the time I finally stopped playing, probably around eight hours of play time or so later, I had almost forgotten that it started with a ridiculous but still monumentally fun & intriguing mystery story revolving around a clone.

Even the after the part bit was probably one of the best send offs to the end of a game franchise I have ever seen, and even though I never cried throughout this thing, I felt the love between these characters, and laughed endlessly as many of them had their identities expressed in different ways.

In the end, I cannot wait to see what the Next Mass Effect game has to offer if its like this. 3 cheers for the first piece of truly outstanding DLC for ME3, can't wait for the NME.

[Zkyire]

Honestly laughed more in this one DLC than I have in the entire trilogy.

[Serp86]

Great DLC and although the ending of the actual game is still not to my liking i can now pretend it never actually happened and have my happy ending party. Which is very nice.

I'm skeptical about future ME games though . I personally loved the game's for it's well written characters. ( only in the first one the story was the thriving factor ) , especially 2 and now 3.

Having a Mass Effect game without the characters that kept me motivitated throughout is hard to imagine ( It's not even Shepard its the whole crew overall ) . So whoever gets to make the next ME4 or whatever it's called has his work cut out for him .

[ebevan91]

Can you throw another party after finishing the first one? I just did the "loud" one or whatever, and want to see what the quiet party is like.

Modifié par ebevan91, 07 mars 2013 - 03:08 .

[MKfighter89]

Awesome DLC, really enjoyed will now go and cry out cause I have to say bye to my crew.

[Serp86]

I wish you could have people around at the appartment more often after finishing the quest line.

Just throw all the non-sense out the window that is to follow at the Cerberus Assault / on Earth.  Yeah it makes not sense with the Reapers and all that stuff yada-yada-yada . But i'm just sick of that knowing how it'll develop .

Modifié par Serp86, 07 mars 2013 - 03:13 .

[Greed1914]

As others have said, this was easily the best DLC for the series, and it's only fitting to go out like that. I'm never going to completely get over the ending, but this really did help. Some meaningful character interaction was one of the biggest complaints that I had about the game overall, so a DLC that primarily focused on that was great. I'm not going to lie, I was a bit teary eyed at the end just knowing that this was the end of what I would see from all these characters that I had spent so much time with. Also, I give credit for making this DLC feel like it was worth the money. It felt like this was truly polished, the campaign was decently long, and then there was the party and all the other interactions, along with the arena. Plus, when I arrived back on the Normandy, I received messages that there were even MORE interactions to be had.

I liked the final boss battle. It didn't feel "too video gamey," but it did feel good. I felt like it actually offered a decent challenge for people who were obviously well-versed in the gameplay by now.

The comedic moments were truly great. Things like general silliness to in-jokes, to just ragging on Shepard kept me laughing all the time and really made it feel like these were characters that knew how to have a good time instead of just always shooting things. Every time I thought I couldn't laugh harder, the game would hit me with something like the "I should go" scene, or being on the set of Blasto 7. Seriously, I flipped out when Blasto appeared.

Also, the extra LI interaction was great.  Tali singing was awesome. 

Modifié par Greed1914, 07 mars 2013 - 03:22 .

[LeandroBraz]

The DLC already got me on the apartment, with Anderson's recordings, at the very beginning I was pleased. Then in the first mission I saw that the DLC would be harder than the vanilla game, which is awesome since ME3 lack on the difficulty department. Then I got to the clone.

At first I strange it, I mean, a clone? WTF? Then I saw what Bioware did, the DLC so far had a tone of comedy, then I understand it wasn't serious, it was a DLC to relax and have some fun, to enjoy this last moments with the characters we love, which is perfect. I felt like Bioware was telling us "you take this too serious, have some fun for a change", like it was a last stand on all the controversy of the game, and I like it.

This DLC is the best thing you guys had to do, it's the perfect solution, the perfect answer to the things ME3 flaws caused. A last moment of pure fun, to remember us the amazing adventure we had with this characters.

Great job, but I'm sure there was alcohol involved on the production of this game, no way a sober person would say "you know what? Why not a Shepard's clone as villain?", and other sober persons would agree with it =D You guys probably had a lot of fun doing this DLC..

 edit: Novaguarding all the things on the Normandy was the most amazing thing that could happen, it made my day =D

Modifié par LeandroBraz, 07 mars 2013 - 03:26 .

[Errationatus]

I think I have a better handle on this DLC now. I'm calmer. 

I look at it like this:  

The ME franchise was like that uncle of yours that you met later in life, and man, he was cool and fun, and took you great places and you had a ball.  You loved the guy, and he loved you. Well, he said he did, anyway.

Then, toward the end, he started to hit the sauce a bit, got a little tired, got a little gray, but you supported him, because man, that guy used to be fun, and you've got some great memories.

Then that day came.  The day he told you he had to go away, but, hell - for old time's sake, you two were gonna go out and have one last blast.

When he shows up at your house, however, he steals your last fifteen bucks, smears sh!t all over that album of memories you two had and screams "Fvck you, Toxic Boy!!" in your face, kicks you in the nuts and calls your wife a wh0re, and that you deserved this day ever since you called him a d!ck once because you didn't like that navy blazer with that stupid pea-green hat with the dumb tatty feather, then when he got a different hat with a red, green and blue feather to appease you, you ungrateful pr!ck - you said it was better, but not by much.

You still love the guy, though, because you had a seriously good time.  It was an effen blast, regardless of how it ended.

But you're glad it's done, glad he's gone and you really never want to see him again.  You love him, but you just don't like the mad bastard anymore.

Later, he has the sheer massive testicular audacity to call you and -  the magnificent, splendid gall! - ask if you had a good time anyway.

No, Uncle Chris.  I didn't.  I was one of the ones who wasn't distracted by the purile jokes and "Aw this is the end" bovine instant nostalgia. 

I also won't be the only one, given time, to see what y'all actually did there.

[daigakuinsei]

Last line of the DLC sums it up: "The best."

I really wish this wasn't the last SP DLC or the last time we saw Shep.

[SupremeLegate]

I really enjoyed this DLC, was laughing for most of it. there is one thing that I am confused about. Before the party I had several messages from my squad that wanted to meet up, like Liara and Tali, but I could not figure out how to hand out with just them like I did with Tryanor, Javik, and Ashely.

But after the party those messages disappeared, as well as a message from Thanes son. So am I missing something?

[Preliatus]

I was expecting an option to bring along the Pizza Volus for the Citadel Archives mission.

That was the only thing I didn't like about the Citadel DLC. I demand just a bit more work to make this possible.

Anyways, I loved the DLC and I can't believe this came so soon.

+1 for the Armax Simulator. It felt like Pinnacle Station all over again, and that was my favorite DLC for the first Mass Effect!

[SRP]

I know a lot of the things I'm going to say have already been said, but I'll still toss in my two cents.

While the clone story was a bit shallow, the true heart of the mission was the character interactions. They were very well written and I was laughing through most of it.

There was a nice touch of nostalgia during the hacking section. My Shepard romanced Liara in the first game. Before the point of no return in that game, you and your LI could dance together in the club. I was pleased to discover that taking Liara during the hacking part in this dlc and dancing with her generated the exact same dance animations they used in the first game when dancing together. Nice touch.

Thank you for making the only living ME1 squad mate to not join the party post ME1 a temp. Wrex was a beast.

While Drapehs (my name for evil Shepard) didn't have enough time to have his motivation fleshed out, you succeeded in something I wasn't expecting. I actually felt sympathy for him near the end. I expecially felt bad for him when Brooks chose not to try to save him. You could see the pain in his face when he saw Shepard had friends while he realized that he had no one.

The party was a blast the chance for one on one time with your friends was very much appreciated.

For what it was supposed to be, this was a very enjoyable piece of dlc. However, this was clearly something that was best suited for post game content. I know that this would only work for a high rating Destroy ending, I felt that if since you took the time to hide an easter egg scene with Shepard breathing, you could have made it so that if you got that scene, instead of going back to just before the point of no return, you get to go in to this dlc with some minor tweeks to dialogue. For the non destroy players, they can just have it like it is now. Obviously that can't happen now, but again I'm putting in my two cents.

Overall, you guys did a great job with sending these characters off on a positive note. Just keep in mind that as part of the overall narrative, this doesn't work. It feels from the tone of the rest of the game. As mentioned before, this would have been perfect epilogue content. Here's hoping that during your next batch of ME games, you give those characters the same level of care and respect throughout their series up to and including the ending that you gave the Normandy family in this dlc.

[saracen16]

Best DLC ever! The dialogue was witty and humorous, the level design and settings were awesome! It was fun going through the wards, the Council Archives, the Docking Bay. The Easter Eggs (Chora's Den music, for example) was very welcome. The villain was suitable: we needed a figure who showed us the necessity and importance of having squadmates such as these.

[SUPERF0RCE]

daigakuinsei wrote...

Last line of the DLC sums it up: "The best."

I really wish this wasn't the last SP DLC or the last time we saw Shep.

Couldn't agree more,

I have a question for the folks that made the dlc possible, what is it that you most wanted to acheive with this dlc?

Im curious because with all this talk about finality, the dlc just made me feel more attached to the characters, it has universally left people wanting more  Would you rather the fans just accept it as a heartfelt goodbye or is there a potential for more of Shep and the Normandy crew?

Even the chronic ending haters are not tired of the characters themselves but is Bioware still in love with them after the release of their finest work? Why part ways now?

Modifié par SUPERF0RCE, 07 mars 2013 - 04:34 .

[spRluigi101]

Besides the ME2 squaddies getting less attention again, I genuinely enjoyed this DLC. Very entertaining with the witty comments and banters between squad-mates that really had me laughing. I didn't really touch any of the mini-games (except the combat arena which is awesome).

I didn't mind the clone at all, but the main story did feel a little short. Still, this is definitely the best ME DLC I've ever played. Great stuff.

Modifié par spRluigi101, 07 mars 2013 - 04:37 .

[Yumi50]

Good time with Squadmates.

Story is unconvincing. Everyone can tell from the start there was something wrong with that woman.

But best Boss fight in ME trilogy.Especially when you play Vanguard on Insanity. Freaking Nova and Charge.

Great DLC, but it doesn't matter because we all die in the end.