Mass Effect 3: DAM* IT ALL!!

[Ian Caronia]

I hate Mass Effect now. I hate it so much. I hate what it's become. Bunch of bullcrap pseudo choices that seem to make little difference other than being mentioned. Bunch of boring cover-shooting.
Know what I'm playing now? Alice: Madness Returns. Yes, the screen cracks and gets kinda red when you nearly die, but there's no regenerating health. There's no COVER SHOOTING. It takes skill to play through even a single fight. Know the patterns. Learn them. Use them to survive and dominate. You get too complacent and WHAM, you're down!
...Played through ME2 with a single gun. >_>

The premise is ripped-off, and the latest enemy designs look even more ripped-off from popular games (one Cerberus operative looked like a female Grey Fox. No joke. Cyborg friggin ninja almost to a T). The story looks like it'll be the same "gather blank for the blank" Bioware trend, the Reapers walking around don't look ominous they look stupid, the hypocricy from Bioware on "But Thou Must" in other RPGs (especially JRPGs) is thick enough to choke on-
What if I didn't want to help Liara with the Shadow Broker? What if I didn't want to [insert spoiler for ending of Arrival DLC]? Why the fuck is the Illusive Man after me no matter what I did in ME2? WHY ARE ALL OF MY DECISIONS BEING MADE FOR ME IN A SERIES BASED ON THE PLAYER MAKING DECISIONS?!
-and worst of all: it's being made to target a wider audience when, since it's the final act of a trilogy, it should be focusing solely on concluding the story sensibly and coherently.

Yet, with all of this...and with my own feelings on the series, the game, and Bioware/EA as well...
I pre-ordered Mass Effect 3. V_V

I feel dirty. Bioware has me by the balls, and it knows it. EA and Bioware own my wallet's ass ONLY because of the investment I've made in the characters of the series.
I care about Tali, about Garrus, about the Counselor... Jack, Samara, Joker- hell the list goes on. It's been years. I've replayed ME1 ten times since I first bought it, and despite my disdain for the gameplay I've even replayed ME2 three times (once per character). It's pathetic to go against your better judgement over something so trivial, but I think it's also unfair to make yourself wait until you can find a copy used, at which time you'll surely have had everything spoiled for you about the characters since, let's face it, ME3 Used will be a hard find for several months and the minute you turn on the net everyone will as usual be shouting out their favorite parts as they're entitled to.

Who else feels this way? Anybody else torn over Mass Effect 3? Am I the only one who hates where the game is going, but cares too much about the cast to just let it go?

 

[MisterShine]

...Played through ME2 with a single gun. >_>

You should try upping the game from Casual setting. It might be more engaging that way. That came off bitchier than I meant it too.

The premise is ripped-off,

Tell me one that isn't. No, "putting back together your sanity from inside the delusion" is not original. Not done very often but.. not original.

The story looks like it'll be the same "gather blank for the blank" Bioware trend, the Reapers walking around don't look ominous they look stupid, the hypocricy from Bioware on "But Thou Must" in other RPGs (especially JRPGs) is thick enough to choke on-
What if I didn't want to help Liara with the Shadow Broker? What if I didn't want to [insert spoiler for ending of Arrival DLC]? Why the fuck is the Illusive Man after me no matter what I did in ME2? WHY ARE ALL OF MY DECISIONS BEING MADE FOR ME IN A SERIES BASED ON THE PLAYER MAKING DECISIONS?!

You also have to be human, an Ex-Officer, a Spectre and had to kill Saren and Sovereign. There is no game in existence where most of what your character does isn't decided for you. Except DnD. And even then, if you don't do what the DM wants you to, he'll probably drop rocks on your head or make you fight the Tarrasque at level 7. And if I may add, we don't know crap about the story other than the Reapers are here and we need to get help so Earth doesn't get squashed flat. And considering DA2 and ME2 have both intentionally avoided the Prologue-4interchangablePlotLocations-Ending Bioware staple, I think we can safely say ME3 won't play that either. And we have no idea why TIM is after us, assuming he's even in charge of the Cerberus guys who are after us. You're judging too harshly on too little information that was released to attract new people to the series, not cater to the old fans. They already know they have our purchase, as you said

-and worst of all: it's being made to target a wider audience when, since it's the final act of a trilogy, it should be focusing solely on concluding the story sensibly and coherently.

THIS however... I agree with you. My main gripe with ME2 was that it only acknowledged your decisions of ME1, it very rarely acted or changed because of them. I was hoping they did that just so new people wouldn't feel so left out, and so they could save up all the cool reactions and twists for ME3. However this lust they've shown to be more open to new players again is sort of disheartening. Now it will probably only be a very good sequel to a very good series, instead of the singular gaming achievement of this generation it could have been.

*sigh

Ah well. But I mean really, who starts a series in the THIRD installment? Really? Who would do that?

P.S., Madness Returns really is fuckin' good isn't it?

 

[Caedus]

Well, every time I hear/read something about Mass Effect, I'm like "Woohoo! Mass Effect 3! \o/" in my head so I can't say I'm objective and all. Anyway, I've played a lot of good games (and crap games) but Mass Effect 2 wasn't a crappy game (hell, I really loved it).

Sure, the combat is kind of broken (try playing Vanguard...) and stunlocks (yeah, those flamethrowers dudes and the husks) were unnerving. But the rest of the game makes these bugs, all the small negative aspects, look so puny.

Mass Effect is not about making decisions on a basic level. It's about guiding Shepard through his quest to save the galaxy by making some choices for him. There it is. (And come on, why wouldn't you want to help Liara with the Shadow Broker? He tried to sell your Shepard to the Collectors!)

 

[LordRoyal]

I'm not excited for ME3 because it doesn't look all that different from ME2

The Reapers don't look mysterious or intimidating if we have railshooter sequences where we blow them up. It is resembling more Gears of War with giant squid monsters.

Here I was thinking it was a "Space Opera" you know, what the original game was marketed as.

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

I'll admit, I don't like the sound of the story (DA:O revolving around Earth). And I'm skeptical of how they will make a Reapers' defeat believable. But I'm too invested in the series now to quit.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I'm not really torn about ME3, I just don't care about it as much as I did the previous games. I'm still going to buy it, but I'm not going to dive in headlong as with ME1 and ME2. I'm simply going to consume it and have that be the end of it.

 

[ultrachicken]

Your choice regarding whether or not to help Liara with the Shadow Broker lay in not talking to her in the first place. Why would you buy the DLC and then not want to do it?

I agree that the Reapers look... not as cool as I was expecting. They're not very ominous when you can escape them on a train track.

 

[ImprovizoR]

That's why I play Mass Effect on Insane difficulty.

 

[DR3AMCATCH3R94]

i'm afraid i have to disagree with OP expect for the alice part because ive never played prolly will pick up tho tha aesthetic looks intriguing, but everything else not for me. i fuckin love the mass effect series especially 2 cuz it expanded more of the over arching story and deeper exploration of the characters who have been around since the start like garrus or tali. i also cant wait for ME3 to finish the amazing story with a bang. also i lol'd at the fact ur saying one thing and then turning around and doing that one thing (sorta)
P.S. it happens to be 4 in the morning so im really tired so forgive the grammar issues and the fact that i cant remember the phrase i described at the end of the post

 

[Blondi3]

That's why I play Mass Effect on Insane difficulty.

This, although even then it's not that difficult.

 

[ReaperzXIII]

Wow someone raging about a game where there are currently no real details and the story is practically unknown, hahahahahaha have fun, the game isn't even out or near being released and you are calling it crap when you haven't played it.

 

[The_Blue_Rider]

You have to remember, you arent playing you, you're playing Shepard on his quest to save the galaxy, so some things will happen, its just you can alter what happens leading up to those and during those events. And by the way, lets wait for Mass Effect 3 to be released, okay?

 

[Flailing Escapist]

No. I am not torn about Mass Effect.
Mass Effect is easily one of the best rpg series of all time.
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Am I the only one who hates where the game is going, but cares too much about the cast to just let it go?

And ^this^ is why Bioware does a better job at storytelling (more specifically companion making) than most RPGs. I can't remember his name, and I don't feel like looking it up, but one of Bioware's lead writers said his goal was to make you, the player, to make choices against logic to help your fellow team mates. Because making you bond with a bunch of lines of code and couple pixels and getting you to choose to do something "harmful" to your player in the game because you sided with Tali, Garrus, the Counselor... Jack, Samara, and Joker over simple logic is a win for them. They are winning.
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What if I didn't want to help Liara with the Shadow Broker? What if I didn't want to [insert spoiler for ending of Arrival DLC]? Why the fuck is the Illusive Man after me no matter what I did in ME2? WHY ARE ALL OF MY DECISIONS BEING MADE FOR ME IN A SERIES BASED ON THE PLAYER MAKING DECISIONS?!

1).You DO want to help Liara. If you didn't you wouldn't have bought the dlc. Or you could've reverted to a previous save and not helped her. Or you would've stopped playing the game. Boo hoo.
2). Then don't. It's a hard choice to make. If you can't make it ask one of your friends to do it for you.
3).Because he's a dick, /story. and spoilers much?

Spoiler

Because he is (and he is) a dick and because he will do anything to ensure tha humanity dominates (see Mass Effect Evolution comics for more details) he will betray you. I believe Bioware already announced this and thats why you're pissed. He will betray you if you handed him the collector base or not because (probably) you're the only threat left to him. Did you see the way you end your last conversation with him?

And thats what brings me to my next point:
4).Bioware makes interactive storytelling which means like those "Choose your own adventure books" we all read as kids there are many different ways to get through a story and many different endings but the theme is going to be the same.
If you want a game thats more open to "letting you make you own decisions" play a grand theft auto game. Bioware gives you 2-3 tones that YOU can choose for each conversation and interaction. Thats more than most games. Like I said, it's a "choose your own adventure" video game. If you didn't know that going in to Mass Effect, I'm sorry, go ask for a refund.
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Know what I'm playing now? Alice: Madness Returns. Yes, the screen cracks and gets kinda red when you nearly die, but there's no regenerating health. There's no COVER SHOOTING. It takes skill to play through even a single fight. Know the patterns. Learn them. Use them to survive and dominate. You get too complacent and WHAM, you're down!
...Played through ME2 with a single gun. >_>

Good for you. I'm going to assume Bioware has regenerating health in Mass Effect fo the same reason they had it in DragonAge2: it's a shortcut. You were going to heal yourself when you took cover or finished the fight anyway, Bioware just did it for you. And they assumed that you were smart enough to have enough medpacks on you to heal you at the time. "You would've, right?"
If Mass Effect isn't hard enough for you play it on Insanity. If thats not enough for you play a different game or quit whining about it.
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Speaking about sed ^^^ gameplay:

I hate Mass Effect now. I hate it so much. I hate what it's become. Bunch of bullcrap pseudo choices that seem to make little difference other than being mentioned. Bunch of boring cover-shooting.

Bioware has vowed to do better:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.277254-BioWare-Mass-Effect-3-Combat-Perfected
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Here's a qoute from their website:
The Collector's Edition of Mass Effect 3 is now available for pre-order and it is burning up the charts at Amazon. In the USA and in Germany, the ME3 Collector's Edition is the number one best seller! Have you preordered your copy yet?

Yet, with all of this...and with my own feelings on the series, the game, and Bioware/EA as well...
I pre-ordered Mass Effect 3. V_V

And you preordering Mass Effect 3 even though you have an obvious "detest" for it at the same time means that you let them win. Way to go.
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TL;DR -> Mass Effect is a great game and all the points you complained are just that, you complaining. You're looking at an interactive adventure, an RPG in the wrong light. I hope you see your faulty reasoning and come to understand this. Bioware is one of the few companies that a). do their hardest to please their audience without alienating them. (we all know they don't always succed. SeeragonAge2) b). make one of the only WRPGs in space. and c). put more time and effort (and money) into their games than most companies.


And was this the Grey Fox you were talking about?

He sees what I did there and he can spot the end of this thread from here.
/ <- its right there.

If you want to learn more about Bioware and the things they do go here:
http://www.bioware.com/
or here:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/
Read a little, you'll learn a lot.

 

[AlternatePFG]

Meh, as an RPG series, Mass Effect was never very good, but looking at them as action games they are great. I didn't like the first one because it was too clunky, but ME2 was fun to play. The only problem is that there is very little choice or roleplaying, you are just playing two variations of Shepard and that's it. It doesn't bother me much anymore, I guess I'm kinda looking forward to ME3, as long as they improve the combat because I think cover based shooting gets incredibly boring after awhile.

 

[shadowmagus]

I don't get this argument on the cover-based shooting thing. Granted it's been years since I played through ME1, mostly because it's an inferior product to ME2, but I seem to remember pressing against walls and hiding behind cover during fights, especially in the higher difficulty levels BUT since the mechanics were even worse then they were in ME2, you couldn't get into decent cover half the time.

 

[Flailing Escapist]

Meh, as an RPG series, Mass Effect was never very good, but looking at them as action games they are great.

I think something is backwards here.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Apart from story Mass Effect was never much of anything, the first one was a frankenstein bodge job and in the second they improved it by cutting off all it's limbs... I still can't figure out how Bioware forgot everything they learned about game making sofar.

But it does leave the door open for others to come along and show the world how it's done.

 

[AlternatePFG]

Meh, as an RPG series, Mass Effect was never very good, but looking at them as action games they are great.

I think something is backwards here.

No, they aren't good. I don't how you can call them good RPGs, because BioWare remove any pretensions of being more of an RPG than an action game once they released 2.

 

[JediMB]

After the showing on E3, BioWare have restored my faith in them and Mass Effect 3. The video showcasing the power upgrade system was especially interesting, since it makes me feel like I'm going to be playing a game with an actual customizable character again.

Pre-ordered the N7 Collector's Edition.