Mass Effect 3

[Jimbob]

Just completing the finishing touches to my ME2 playthrough, on the last missions now. Doing Legions loyalty then onto the Omega IV, should have it all done tomorrow. Nice little break then awaiting the Reaper invasion.

[Aimless]

I'm feeling surprisingly little hype for this game. No doubt that'll change once I and others start playing it, but right now I think all the little things are dulling the excitement a bit.

 

For instance, it actually seems like facial animation has taken a step back in some regards whilst the faces themselves seem a bit... off. Fish-lipped Ashley Williams being an obvious example:

 

More specific to me there's also the fact that the PS3 version seems to have some rather annoying performance issues, but if I want to go PC I'll need to go down the save editing route, forego the use of a controller and probably won't get much mileage out of the multiplayer; I actually own the first two games on PC, but I don't have time to play through them again and lack all the DLC for the second.

 

Considering it's the conclusion to one of my favourite series of this generation, I'm strangely indifferent to its imminent release.

[gaggle64]

Cannot wait to get stuck in to this. One thing I don't understand is people's need for a "perfect" playthorugh. I get they want the "good" ending but it almost seems like it's missing the point. I've made decisions in the first 2 games that I knew probably weren't the best game-wise but I took because I imagined what I would do in a similar situation. The end result was a dead council and a half-empty Normandy but the way these things play into the story - my character's story - really imbues the whole experience with an extra sense of something special. I ended my ME2 experience with my guy looking tired & beaten to hell standing next to the table where the family man looking forward to seeing his daughter used to sit. It just fits.

[Happenstance]

Looks like Gamespot are doing a live Mass Effect 1 and 2 marathon as well. Hopefully this one will be better than the last:

 

http://uk.gamespot.com/shows/gamespot-live/?event=mass_effect_3_marathon20120305

 

Starts at 4pm

[Jimbob]

Cannot wait to get stuck in to this. One thing I don't understand is people's need for a "perfect" playthorugh. I get they want the "good" ending but it almost seems like it's missing the point. I've made decisions in the first 2 games that I knew probably weren't the best game-wise but I took because I imagined what I would do in a similar situation. The end result was a dead council and a half-empty Normandy but the way these things play into the story - my character's story - really imbues the whole experience with an extra sense of something special. I ended my ME2 experience with my guy looking tired & beaten to hell standing next to the table where the family man looking forward to seeing his daughter used to sit. It just fits.

 

I am like yourself, i played Mass Effect 1 + 2 as i would play it. My own decisions like i was the one calling the shots. What i ended up with was 2 dead crew on the original Normandy + a dead council. With ME2, i had 1 dead crew member and a seriously strong dislike to Cerburus. Oh, and the entire Citidel hating me from my actions from the original.

 

To be fair, my 2nd play of ME2, i still got that dislike for Cerburus.

 

So, i will be playing 3 with a clear mind like i did with the first 2. Only afterwards, will i get the "perfect" play-through.

[Magnus]

Wait, you killed Wrex? Remind me never to be on your crew. :p

[flameboy]

Really good recap here of ME1 and links to ME2:

 

 

Worthy checking out if you need a recap of the story.

[Happenstance]

Looks like Gamespot are doing a live Mass Effect 1 and 2 marathon as well. Hopefully this one will be better than the last:

 

http://uk.gamespot.com/shows/gamespot-live/?event=mass_effect_3_marathon20120305

 

Starts at 4pm

 

Unfortunately this feed doesnt seem to be what I was hoping. Instead of just a playthrough of both games they just seem to be jumping around from spot to spot which seems weird.

[Jimbob]

Wait, you killed Wrex? Remind me never to be on your crew. :p

 

Would the incentive of "Free Alcohol" and your choice of female crew member enable you to choose effectively.

[Ellmeister]

I am like yourself, i played Mass Effect 1 + 2 as i would play it. My own decisions like i was the one calling the shots. What i ended up with was 2 dead crew on the original Normandy + a dead council. With ME2, i had 1 dead crew member and a seriously strong dislike to Cerburus. Oh, and the entire Citidel hating me from my actions from the original.

 

To be fair, my 2nd play of ME2, i still got that dislike for Cerburus.

 

So, i will be playing 3 with a clear mind like i did with the first 2. Only afterwards, will i get the "perfect" play-through.

 

I was pretty sure Cerberus were going to hate you whatever happened in ME2...

[Jimbob]

I was pretty sure Cerberus were going to hate you whatever happened in ME2...

 

They spent all that money reviving you, all that time rebuilding you. They needed you for the mission, so they like you. It's just that i dislike them. Hated working for them so much, that i used non-Cerburus weaponry/armour wherever possible. Helped the Alliance as much as possible. Most of the time, it was the Illusive man shouting at my decisions.

 

[Magnus]

Would the incentive of "Free Alcohol" and your choice of female crew member enable you to choose effectively.

If by "choose effectively" you mean stay as far away from you as possible, then yes.

 

I'm surprised anyone survived the suicide mission, but I'm guessing that's not for a lack of trying.

[Happenstance]

I lost Mordin in my suicide mission, gonna miss him in 3

[Jimbob]

If by "choose effectively" you mean stay as far away from you as possible, then yes.

 

I'm surprised anyone survived the suicide mission, but I'm guessing that's not for a lack of trying.

 

I'll throw in an escape pod as well, programmed to aim for the nearest planet with an atmosphere. Deal , or no Deal

[Magnus]

I would rather take my chances with the reapers. :p

[Jimbob]

I would rather take my chances with the reapers. :p

 

Please yourself, my current save has Wrex alive.

 

Just finished Mass Effect 2 once again, this time every single crew member lived to tell the tale. Should have a pretty meaty Mass Effect 3 on Friday, can't wait now. Bring on the Reapers!!!!

 

Edit

 

Who saved the Collector base and who destroyed it?. Me personally, i destroyed it. Felt that ever more satisfying doing it and sticking that final finger up at the Illusive man. My original save (with Kaiden alive), i kept the ship in-tact. And no-one liked my decision, even though i thought it were for the best at the time. I did the opposite this time, and it did feel better destroying the base. It's like he had a plan to use it against humanity, and everyone in Cerburus knew it.

 

Edited March 6, 2012 by Jimbob

[Dyson]

It's amazing. This was one of my most anticipated titles for this year. Loved playing the demo and hyping about it in store. And now my enthusiasm has turned to dread and hatred for the game because of how much misery it's put us in at work and how much shit we're taking for something that isn't our (the store staff's) fault. It's not a decision I've consciously made. My head just automatically gets down when I even hear about ME3.

 

It's so frustrating.

[flameboy]

Please yourself, my current save has Wrex alive.

 

Just finished Mass Effect 2 once again, this time every single crew member lived to tell the tale. Should have a pretty meaty Mass Effect 3 on Friday, can't wait now. Bring on the Reapers!!!!

 

Edit

 

Who saved the Collector base and who destroyed it?. Me personally, i destroyed it. Felt that ever more satisfying doing it and sticking that final finger up at the Illusive man. My original save (with Kaiden alive), i kept the ship in-tact. And no-one liked my decision, even though i thought it were for the best at the time. I did the opposite this time, and it did feel better destroying the base. It's like he had a plan to use it against humanity, and everyone in Cerburus knew it.

 

In terms of the ending did the same as you as had the same suspiscions can't remember who but some people weren't happy with my decision,I didn't give a sh!t did it for what I believe to be the right reasons.

[S.C.G]

It seems Play.com have got more stock of the N7 edition...

 

Xbox 360

PS3

PC

 

No idea how long they'll stay 'in stock' for though.

[flameboy]

For those interested Mass Effect Infilitrator went live, it's a more pricey ios game at 4.99 but if want to start building up that galatic readiness ready for later in the week then here's your earliest chance to get going.

[Jimbob]

In terms of the ending did the same as you as had the same suspiscions can't remember who but some people weren't happy with my decision,I didn't give a sh!t did it for what I believe to be the right reasons.

 

I suppose only time will tell if we made the right decision in ME3. Everyone hated my first decision, thought it was a bad call and could have massive reprecussions in the end. My Ashley save, everyone loves my decision.

 

To be honest, i quite liked

 

If you took Miranda to take on the Human-Lavia Reaper at the end of 2, you get a nice extra dialouge. Basically, if you decide to either destroy the Collector Base or save it, she either supports your decision (destroy the base) or dissaproves of it (save it). With the first one, once you decide to destroy the base, the Illusive man basically orders Miranda to stop you. Of which she quits Cerburus wth immediate effect leaving the IM fuming.

 

And in the final conversation with IM after your decision, i basically told IM to shove it, leaving him venting revenge upon you and your decisions you made. Shepards smirky grin at the end sums it up i think

 

[flameboy]

I suppose only time will tell if we made the right decision in ME3. Everyone hated my first decision, thought it was a bad call and could have massive reprecussions in the end. My Ashley save, everyone loves my decision.

 

To be honest, i quite liked

 

If you took Miranda to take on the Human-Lavia Reaper at the end of 2, you get a nice extra dialouge. Basically, if you decide to either destroy the Collector Base or save it, she either supports your decision (destroy the base) or dissaproves of it (save it). With the first one, once you decide to destroy the base, the Illusive man basically orders Miranda to stop you. Of which she quits Cerburus wth immediate effect leaving the IM fuming.

 

And in the final conversation with IM after your decision, i basically told IM to shove it, leaving him venting revenge upon you and your decisions you made. Shepards smirky grin at the end sums it up i think

 

Yeah Miranda did the quiting for me....basically because I was banging her.

[Happenstance]

Spoiler-free look at how your Mass Effect 3 ending will be affected if you choose not to play multiplayer

 

Mass Effect 3 is about a war with the Reapers, and as you play the single player game, the people and armies whose help you earn count as War Assets. The game’s still story-driven, and it doesn’t end until you’ve completed the main series of missions. But when you do, what happens in the final cut-scene depends on how many War Assets you have accumulated.

 

That part is kind of cool. But the balance is incredibly harsh: I did every proper* quest I could find in Mass Effect 3, made sensible decisions that didn’t conflict with my choices in the previous games, and brought people together. But I still got a gallingly bleak ending.

 

That’s because I’d never played the multiplayer. It’s a co-op mode where you and up to three other players have to survive waves of AI enemies and complete objectives. If you succeed, you get an increase to your Readiness rating – a percentage by which your single player War Assets are multiplied by. These are specific to each sector fo the galaxy, so if you have a lot of War Assets in the Terminus Systems, you’ll gain more by playing on a multiplayer map set in the Terminus Systems.

 

It’s all rather… dirty. Presumably they’re trying to encourage you to try the multiplayer because to do well in it, you have to buy or earn unlockable items, and you can get these for real money. But they’re doing it by hurting your single player game, slapping a good playthrough with a bad ending as a penalty for not playing co-op. Even if you like co-op, it’s not unreasonable to want to play through the single player first.

 

 

It is possible to get the best ending in single player without playing multiplayer, but it’s twice as hard. All your War Assets only count for 50% of their potential value. The biggest gains in War Assets come from a culmination of your decisions in the previous games and your decisions in this one: if you’ve helped a race before, and you help them here, it’s often possible to get their full support and resolve their conflict to get someone else on your side too.

 

In other situations, a wrong call somewhere along the line, or a Paragon or Renegade score too low to pick the right thing to say, can mean a character dies, a race is demoralised, and if they fight for you at all they’re worth much less to the war effort.

 

I said I did all the ‘proper’ quests I could find – if you want to maximise your War Assets without playing multiplayer, you’ll have to do the others. The only quests I had left were ones to scour certain systems for planets that aren’t marked on your map, scan them, then fire a probe and return to the Citadel. Even compared to Mass Effect 2′s resource-scanning, these are dull.

 

Here’s what I recommend: don’t. Don’t do any quests that are boring, don’t play multiplayer if you don’t want to, and don’t go through old save games trying to optimise your decisions for the most War Assets. Don’t let BioWare’s seedy design decision manipulate you into playing in a way you don’t want to.

 

If they’ve made a game that’s brutal, harsh and dark if you don’t play multiplayer, they’ve made a game that’s brutal, harsh and dark. That’s how I reviewed it, and it’s still phenomenal.

 

http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/03/06/mass-effect-3-war-assets-and-readiness-how-multiplayer-affects-your-ending/

[Jimbob]

Yeah Miranda did the quiting for me....basically because I was banging her.

 

Banged her on my "Kaiden" save, kept loyal to Ash on my 2nd. The way i ended ME2, it seems everyone who worked for Cerburus quit. Be it Joker, Jacob, Kelly, Dr Kenson and Edi as well as Miranda. Everyone else never worked for Cerburus as such, they worked for me. Who also quit with style.

[flameboy]

Banged her on my "Kaiden" save, kept loyal to Ash on my 2nd. The way i ended ME2, it seems everyone who worked for Cerburus quit. Be it Joker, Jacob, Kelly, Dr Kenson and Edi as well as Miranda. Everyone else never worked for Cerburus as such, they worked for me. Who also quit with style.

 

Once I have a PC up to scratch or can find a dirt cheap 360 I will buy them all to play through, I definitely think I've missed out only owning a PS3 in this regard...I learnt more from the video I posted earlier about ME1 than the interactive comic that came with 2.

 

Still I have plenty of attachment to my characters from 2 and my decisions.