Mass Effect 3 Spoiler Thread

kexx wrote:

Well, the recent talk about a new trilogy, and also that some goodjers are firing up the trilogy again, got me going. So I started once more. I absolutely loathed the ending, and it soured my experience in retrospect, so to change things up a bit, this time around, I'm playing the game with full DLC. Now, I'm about to start the Virmire mission on ME1, and I'm not interested in DLC for that game, but I have just bought the 4 DLC's that stand out from ME2: Shadow Broker, Arrival, Overlord, and Kasumi. While I've played through ME2 about 4 times, this 5th round will be my very first playthrough ever with the DLC. I've heard lots of good things, especially about Kasumi and Shadow Broker, so I'm excited.

Question would be, should I wait to see if I'm still excited BEFORE I buy From Ashes, Leviathan, and Omega for ME3? Or should I go ahead and get them now?

From all reports From Ashes was excellent and added a lot to the game.

I'm not really happy with Bioware's apparent happiness with putting important world-changing lore into DLC. ME1->2 was fine but ME2->3 saw Overlord, Arrival and Shadow Broker all being major lore in the universe that shaped the story in ME3 but were barely mentioned in the third game and which made things confusing... then there's From Ashes which basically explains *everything* in the context of the history of the galaxy and the protheans....

billt721 wrote:

Yeah, somehow the Reapers went from mysterious and interesting enemies in ME1 to boring ones in ME3, despite barely existing in ME2. Though for me, the problem might have been the second and third games themselves, rather than the Reapers specifically. The games went from RPG-with-shootery-elements to shooter-with-light-RPG-elements, which isn't what I'm interested in (though was probably good for their bottom line, so I don't blame them). Also, the first game had a sense of exploration that the sequels lacked. Even if the planets generally had nothing on them, being able to land and explore made the universe feel much larger and (for me) more enjoyable to spend time in.

I thought the addition of a better shooting mechanic was a good one. I was always frustrated when, in ME1, I had the crosshairs over an enemy's face and missed because the dice roll didn't go in my favor. That's the one thing I thought they fixed in the system. The rest of the stripping out of RPG elements always rubbed me the wrong way. You hit the nail on the head with the way the series went from rpg to shooter. That actually may sum up my frustrations with the game as a whole.

Sadly, it seems to be a popular move. ME2 and 3 sold a metric #@*% ton.

I guess it was all a while ago that it might have been discussed, but I wonder how a comparison between ME1 shooting and Fallout3 combat fares, seeing as they both bring stats and dice rolls into point and click combat, compared to ME2+ "what you see is what you get".

Scratched wrote:

I guess it was all a while ago that it might have been discussed, but I wonder how a comparison between ME1 shooting and Fallout3 combat fares, seeing as they both bring stats and dice rolls into point and click combat, compared to ME2+ "what you see is what you get".

I think the difference is that VATS makes the Fallout 3 combat feel almost turn based, and it lists a hit percentage for each shot, so if you miss it somehow feels ok.

billt721 wrote:

I think the difference is that VATS makes the Fallout 3 combat feel almost turn based, and it lists a hit percentage for each shot, so if you miss it somehow feels ok.

This. I also don't remember straight up missing through a sniper scope in Fallout. I believe you will hit if the reticule is on the target in real time, but the dice roll determines what damage you do. I may be mistaken though.

I like the action-oriented shooter mechanics in Mass Effect, but then I like FPSes in general. A system where it's optional like in Fallout might have been cool though.

complexmath wrote:

I like the action-oriented shooter mechanics in Mass Effect, but then I like FPSes in general. A system where it's optional like in Fallout might have been cool though.

Oh I actually like what they did with the shooting mechanics. It's just the other things that they took out that took away some of the appeal to me. I love shooters... but I loved that ME was an RPG too.

JillSammich wrote:
complexmath wrote:

I like the action-oriented shooter mechanics in Mass Effect, but then I like FPSes in general. A system where it's optional like in Fallout might have been cool though.

Oh I actually like what they did with the shooting mechanics. It's just the other things that they took out that took away some of the appeal to me. I love shooters... but I loved that ME was an RPG too.

I think there were two directions they could have gone after ME1, and they chose one of them. I guess something like Xcom is what might have resulted from going down the other road.

Scratched wrote:
JillSammich wrote:
complexmath wrote:

I like the action-oriented shooter mechanics in Mass Effect, but then I like FPSes in general. A system where it's optional like in Fallout might have been cool though.

Oh I actually like what they did with the shooting mechanics. It's just the other things that they took out that took away some of the appeal to me. I love shooters... but I loved that ME was an RPG too.

I think there were two directions they could have gone after ME1, and they chose one of them. I guess something like Xcom is what might have resulted from going down the other road.

If you're going to suggest that ME could have ended like something as different as XCOM, then there are lots of theoretical directions they could've gone.

The direction I wished they'd gone is to keep the series the way it began, as primarily an RPG with a little bit of shooter mixed in.

Scratched wrote:

I think there were two directions they could have gone after ME1, and they chose one of them. I guess something like Xcom is what might have resulted from going down the other road.

I don't think that was ever in the cards. BioWare has never done a turn-based RPG. Either way, they were really locked into the interface after ME1. ME2 and ME3 just tweaked things. That isn't to say that I wouldn't like a turn-based space RPG though. Tower of Elemental Evil is one of my favorite RPGs ever from a mechanics perspective.

I don't think I would really enjoy a turn based ME as much. I would have preferred if they had just left in everything from ME but made the shooting better and put more stuff on the planets. I really miss the sense of exploration even if the Mako sections were a little tedious.

I think NPC relationships tend to work better with a close-up view, so from that perspective I'd say that BioWare made the right choice. Regarding BioWare's pile of real-time turn-based games though (like DA:O), I think I'd have preferred them as pure turn-based games. The tactics could have been deeper without significantly altering the combat experience.

There's a lot made about how ME2 is "less of an RPG," but I think that has to do with what you mean by "RPG" to begin with. From a particular perspective, ME2 is a better RPG than ME1 was.

Let's take the equipment situation. Why in the blue blazes would a Spectre operative be required to purchase his own guns, when he's freely being given the command of an experimental starship that would have surely cost a great deal more? In particular, why would Spectre Ops not equip a Spectre with even basic equipment? We can make excuses for this, and even create in-game lore to justify it, but the basic reality here is that this is a loot game mechanism better cast for down-on-their luck bandits or mercs in uncivilized areas being recast for use by what is supposed to be a well-funded and well-supported operative.

ME2's take on it is much better. You work with the guns Cerberus gives you because you are their man and you use the equipment they give you, period.

I feel similarly about the skills situation and the gun reticle issue. For isometric or third person view play of RPGs that have detached battles (Fallout counts because of VATS), an initially low percentage hit chance is acceptable, and increasing that percentage gives you a directly observable and satisfying sense of character progress. The same mechanic used to model gun accuracy was an inspired and risky move in ME1, but it's an experiment with a negative result - it's NOT good to model a neophyte adventurer by having his reticle the size of Saturn. Why?

The reason is that it's not fun to play a shooting game where your bullets are not going where you're pointing. It is still possible to play that strictly as an RPG, but what's happening is that your RPG part is hamstringing the shooter part for a significant part of the gameplay duration. Not fun.

Rather than express increasing expertise with sheer percentage numbers, ME2 expresses it by giving you powers that affect the shooter part of the game by giving you deadly effects that augment your shooter play. This is a dramatic improvement from merely making the shooter part tolerable from a start that makes you want to strangle your sniper rifle.

Both approaches are equally valid and just as much of RPG leveling concepts, but the latter is more in tune with what the rest of the game is doing.

So I've been reading forums and listening to podcasts and discovered that not only was the reason the beginning was confusing with my shepperd being grounded seemingly for no reason and him being best buddies with a complete stranger a result of me not paying for "optional" DLC but also everyone is saying that the "optional" prothean DLC was one of the highlights of the game and really added to the overall story. I can't help but feel ripped off.

Why didn't I buy the DLC? Because I can't afford to buy everything and I'd already bought Mass Effect 3.

I'm thinking much the same thing, but I'm going to wait until after the ending to decide whether to get the DLC for my next playthrough - if there is one..

I'm waiting for a sale on that DLC (which may be a long time.)

strangederby wrote:

So I've been reading forums and listening to podcasts and discovered that not only was the reason the beginning was confusing with my shepperd being grounded seemingly for no reason and him being best buddies with a complete stranger a result of me not paying for "optional" DLC but also everyone is saying that the "optional" prothean DLC was one of the highlights of the game and really added to the overall story. I can't help but feel ripped off.

Why didn't I buy the DLC? Because I can't afford to buy everything and I'd already bought Mass Effect 3.

The best buddy part is still a mystery. I really don't like James. Next to Kaiden he is one of my least favorite characters in the series.

One thing that has been bugging me lately is the Ardat-Yakshi. Seems like I remember in ME2 that Samara said that there were only three of them known to exist and all three were her daughters, but then in ME3 you visit that temple which is apparently full of them.

Rykin wrote:

One thing that has been bugging me lately is the Ardat-Yakshi. Seems like I remember in ME2 that Samara said that there were only three of them known to exist and all three were her daughters, but then in ME3 you visit that temple which is apparently full of them.

Incorrect information?

I would say the most interesting sections that the Prothean add to the game are his introduction on the ship (a few amusing lines from everyone involved) and if you take him and Liara on the mission to Thessia (Asari homeworld) when you get to the temple. Wonder now if he has anything interesting to say about the Salarian homeworld as well.

Otherwise, really, I barely used him and avoided him because he's kind of a surley and regretful dipwad and I get enough of that in ME3 from Shepard.

strangederby wrote:

So I've been reading forums and listening to podcasts and discovered that not only was the reason the beginning was confusing with my shepperd being grounded seemingly for no reason and him being best buddies with a complete stranger a result of me not paying for "optional" DLC but also everyone is saying that the "optional" prothean DLC was one of the highlights of the game and really added to the overall story. I can't help but feel ripped off.

Why didn't I buy the DLC? Because I can't afford to buy everything and I'd already bought Mass Effect 3.

The "optional" DLC was a lot of fanservice. I really don't feel like it added much.

I do agree that the grounding needed better exposition for people who didn't play that bit of DLC. Not sure how they could have worked that in without making the opening drag, though. On the other hand, I'm not sure they should have written Shepherd being grounded at all.

beeporama wrote:

On the other hand, I'm not sure they should have written Shepherd being grounded at all.

Yes. It would have worked just as well if not better if Arrival never happened and it was just Shepard visiting earth trying to convince the admirals of something. It plays out exactly the same, but without the "huh, what?"

I bought the DLC for ME3 through the Bioware BSN website, logged in as a different user name than the one I used for Origin. With one account, I have the ME3 game, no DLC. On the other account, I have the 3 DLC´s, but NO game, just the demo appears.

I hate this. I´ve sent an email to support I believe. It was impossible to navigate through ME website, Bioware website and EA website to find something that spelled CUSTOMER SUPPORT, but I finally found one, sent an email Saturday explaining in detail what happened. Haven´t gotten a response yet.

My full campaign run has been interrupted horribly, and there´s a vacuum left. I´m almost ready to shell out another 30bucks to buy the DLC properly, but I keep reminding myself that I have to be patient.

To you guys who have had issues with stuff like this, and sent word to support, did you ever get a response back? How long did it take, average? Was the problem solved? Do you think there´s a chance they´ll understand my situation and help me out, or will they flat out tell me: your bad for using 2 different email accounts, suck it up?

Back when they had the DA2 sale and you get ME2 free with it, I bought. I figured that since I had the ME2 Digital Deluxe on my account, I would get a code I could give to a friend. Nope. They added it to my account. So I had an account sitting with ME2 and ME2 Deluxe.

I complained, at first they didn't want to do anything, but after a bit more prodding I think they gave me a $20 credit, what ME2 was going for.

They're very sensitive with digital products, especially when it has a code you use for it. Because you want to transfer it, I wouldn't think it's a problem, but you never know.

I had some issue with DA:O when trying to install it on my wife's computer in the living room. Specifically NONE of the addons would work. Spoke with their CS, and because it was a Steam Install, they actually credited me the Origin version free... of course that didn't work either, and eventually they instructed me on how to hack around the verification of the addons in the .ini files, but they're weirdly helpful at times, and then very NOT helpful at other times.

Should I send them another email today? Or be patient and maybe wait, say, til Wednesday?

kexx wrote:

Should I send them another email today? Or be patient and maybe wait, say, til Wednesday?

I think they have a support chat where you can talk to people in real time

kyrieee wrote:
kexx wrote:

Should I send them another email today? Or be patient and maybe wait, say, til Wednesday?

I think they have a support chat where you can talk to people in real time

If this is true, can you help me find it? I swear I looked around on the Bioware website, the EA website, their specialized help sections, and couldn´t find anything other than FAQ´s and the email service. Even a phone number would help.

Welcome to the reason I am loathe to play ME2, ME3, and DA:O again. My games and DLC are spread across 2 accounts/logins (happened when Bioware merged with EA and Origin) and it's always such a huge hassle to get things figured out and working smoothly.

Found the Live Chat help feature. It says my current wait for someone to help me is 5 - 10 mins. I'm quietly waiting. This feature is awesome by the way. Glad to have someone live helping out. We'll see how it turns out, if they can help me with my issue.

Stand by...

mwdowns wrote:

Welcome to the reason I am loathe to play ME2, ME3, and DA:O again. My games and DLC are spread across 2 accounts/logins (happened when Bioware merged with EA and Origin) and it's always such a huge hassle to get things figured out and working smoothly.

The thing is with that is you're spreading the risk if your account is ever compromised, or banned.

Bannings have happened to people stepping on EA behaviour taboo landmines, such as discussing stuff in a negative light in their forums and a forum ban/suspension also banned their account as they weren't separate. They've supposedly fixed that little issue now, but I can appreciate apprehension of accounts with hundreds of games on them.