ME3 First Impressions *Spoiler Free*

[KrossBillNye]

My pros of ME3
-Combat is fun.
-I can use a sniper as a weapon as a Adept (OMG I LOVE THIS!)
-The heavy punch or how I like to call it (Falcon punch) with Adept is fun and funny to watch when it contacts.
-Characters are looking not bad compaired to the demo. The only slight negative is that some of the characters look a little constipated.

Cons
-If you have not played ME1 or ME2 or if you have decided to play this game without the previous save file the choices in the game are just.... dear... God. I mean some of the events in the game just made me drop my mouth for a second and ask Bioware... Why?

Spoiler

When you choose at the beginning of character creation you have the choice to choose between multiple characters, Kaiden, or Ashley as the people you got killed. Despite I put down Kaiden as the KIA. Somehow Wrex was dead too. wtf?

-The whole buy the From Ashes DLC. I wanted the character you get in it. I found charging you was stupid though. As well the accent for this character I find odd....

-Not much details on Shepard's past actions. I mean really? If you jump right into ME3 and not have any knowledge of the other two games and play this alone. You will be staring at the screen and think, WTF is her problem? Or, why is my character angry at this group, or why is that character angry at me?

Edit:

Oh one last Con.

-James Vega

10 minutes in the game and I want to have him fly back to Earth to 'hold the line'

More hopefully spoiler-free questions - The DLC, how is it? Is the game lacking without it? Is the character still in the game (albeit not as a squadmate) if you don't have the DLC?

I'm curious to see how much of the pre-release rage was unwarranted.

Spoiler free? So far I am getting this impression.

As a quick summary with no spoilers. I have not seen any reason why s/he is NEEDED to be in the game as with or without this character, your progress is on the same level to stop the reapers.

The character will add in flavor (comments from Joker about Liara made me laugh my ass off) but aside from that the character is just one more added to the squad role.

In my opinion the character is fun to have because of their history in the game and their interactions with other characters (Liara in particular) but overall with or without this character your mission remains the same with no added benefits for the war effort. Aside from an extra hand to help.

 

[Zhukov]

How weird does Liara look exactly...?

She looked fine to me. I actually liked the texture work they did on her.

ANDERSON looked weird. SHEPARD looks weird. Liara looks fine.

It's funny. In the trailers she looked downright weird. The first time I saw her my reaction was, "Holy crap, what did they do to her face? She looks like a plastic fish!"

But in-game she looks fine and normal.

Might be a resolution thing.

*shrug*

 

[Spitfire]

I know that the planet scanning mechanic is back, but what changes have been made to it? Also, is there any planetary exploration involved?

 

[boag]

I must say I enjoy having

Spoiler

EDI in the Group, she contributes so much PLOT,

Spoiler

Just look at all DAT PLOT!!!

Spoiler

NSFW

Spoiler

 

[Nimcha]

I must say I enjoy having

Spoiler

EDI in the Group, she contributes so much PLOT,

Spoiler

Just look at all DAT PLOT!!!

Spoiler

NSFW

Spoiler

It is very cool. I especially like all the comments from the other squadmates, it's really funny sometimes.

 

[boag]

I must say I enjoy having

Spoiler

EDI in the Group, she contributes so much PLOT,

Spoiler

Just look at all DAT PLOT!!!

Spoiler

NSFW

Spoiler

It is very cool. I especially like all the comments from the other squadmates, it's really funny sometimes.

And Ass good as she is, the DLC Squadmate is the best character in all 3 games combined.

 

[Nimcha]

I must say I enjoy having

Spoiler

EDI in the Group, she contributes so much PLOT,

Spoiler

Just look at all DAT PLOT!!!

Spoiler

NSFW

Spoiler

It is very cool. I especially like all the comments from the other squadmates, it's really funny sometimes.

And Ass good as she is, the DLC Squadmate is the best character in all 3 games combined.

Really? I wouldn't know, haven't bought the DLC yet. I'll maybe do that for a later playthrough.

 

[PinochetIsMyBro]

Pros:
Calibration jokes.

Cons:
Dialogue doesn't start getting good until three storyline missions in.

 

[RJ 17]

I must say I enjoy having

Spoiler

EDI in the Group, she contributes so much PLOT,

Spoiler

Just look at all DAT PLOT!!!

Spoiler

NSFW

Spoiler

It is very cool. I especially like all the comments from the other squadmates, it's really funny sometimes.

And Ass good as she is, the DLC Squadmate is the best character in all 3 games combined.

I like how he basically proves everything that Liara had theorized about his race to be completely incorrect...and that really they were a bunch of arrogant, self-righteous pricks.

Also, as mentioned in my previous post, I like the beam rifle he comes with...frickin' awesome. That and his skill set is just rediculous.

How weird does Liara look exactly...?

She looked fine to me. I actually liked the texture work they did on her.

ANDERSON looked weird. SHEPARD looks weird. Liara looks fine.

It's her eyes. They did something weird to the shape/size of her eyes.

Can't say I really noticed anything different about her eyes...the only difference I've seen is the textcure of her face, and personally I like it more detailed like that...makes her stand out more as an alien and not just a blue human with a messed up head. I agree with whoever said that Anderson looks weird in this game, though. All in all, though, I think that considering what things USED to look like, this game is absolutely beautiful. My FemShep has never had a more attractive face. :3

I'm really interested, though, in how my pure 100% RenegadeShep is gonna do...at least from what I've experienced so far, if you went pure Renegade in the first two games, this game might be quite different depending on if you load up a Paragon or Renegade. Gonna be interesting to see what happens in my 2nd playthrough.

Oh, I also really like that if you import a character from ME 2 you straight up start on the same level they were on your ME 2 game...pretty nice starting out already at lvl 30 with all my powers from ME 2.

And one last thing: FUCK Cerberus!

Captcha: What's this? A new captcha system? One that I can actually SEE the frickin' letters? Well I'll be damned, and thank you New Captcha for warning me about "bad books"

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

I'm 11 hours in. It's a good game overall. So I won't focus on the good stuff in these posts. And I can't comment on the story until I finish it. There are other things worth mentioning.

Mass Effect 2 is so much more polished and better looking. I don't know where to begin to explaining all the things that ME3 does wrong. I knew that adding multiplayer will take away something from the single player experience. And it's the actual gameplay, polish and visuals. Some of the textures in this game are worse than the ones in ME1! And the animations. Half of them are actually from Mass Effect 1. Laziness! PC version doesn't need a texture pack as much as it needs a god damn animations pack. They've cut too many corners in order to make the game WITH MULTIPLAYER in time. If not for co-op mode you can bet your ass Bioware would have more time and resources to make the single player better. I blame EA of course. I just wish someone would drop a fuckin' nuke on them. Let's just hope the ending doesn't disappoint. This game already feels like a one way trip (meaning I wouldn't want to replay it again). It's good, but it's not that good unfortunately.

 

[Erttheking]

More hopefully spoiler-free questions - The DLC, how is it? Is the game lacking without it? Is the character still in the game (albeit not as a squadmate) if you don't have the DLC?

I'm curious to see how much of the pre-release rage was unwarranted.

Well the guy gives you a few scraps of exposition about the Protheans, but I would hardly call it necessary. I suppose if you want to ask yourself if it was needed or not, ask yourself if ME2 would have been lesser if you didn't know that Drell had perfect memories.

 

[RJ 17]

I'm 11 hours in. It's a good game overall. So I won't focus on the good stuff in these posts. And I can't comment on the story until I finish it. There are other things worth mentioning.

Mass Effect 2 is so much more polished and better looking. I don't know where to begin to explaining all the things that ME3 does wrong. I knew that adding multiplayer will take away something from the single player experience. And it's the actual gameplay, polish and visuals. Some of the textures in this game are worse than the ones in ME1! And the animations. Half of them are actually from Mass Effect 1. Laziness! PC version doesn't need a texture pack as much as it needs a god damn animations pack. They've cut too many corners in order to make the game WITH MULTIPLAYER in time. If not for co-op mode you can bet your ass Bioware would have more time and resources to make the single player better. I blame EA of course. I just wish someone would drop a fuckin' nuke on them. Let's just hope the ending doesn't disappoint. This game already feels like a one way trip (meaning I wouldn't want to replay it again). It's good, but it's not that good unfortunately.

Gotta say that I disagree with you on the visuals, if anything I think it looks even more polished than the previous games. The animations are quirky at best, I'll give you that, but as far as polish and look are concerned I think they've stepped forward from ME 2 the way ME 2 stepped forward from ME 1. Since you didn't really comment on the gameplay - rather you just mentioned it - all I'll say is that I like it. I do wish that Shepard had a speed in combat other than "leisurely walk" or "full on sprint" (the standard movement pace during combat in ME 2 was fantastic), but over all I think the gameplay is fine. Combat is a lot tougher with enemies that actually push the line and try to flank you hard rather than everyone just taking cover and having you play long range whack-a-mole.

It's fine if you don't like the game, those are just my thoughts on the issues that you brought up.

 

[boag]

I'm 11 hours in. It's a good game overall. So I won't focus on the good stuff in these posts. And I can't comment on the story until I finish it. There are other things worth mentioning.

Mass Effect 2 is so much more polished and better looking. I don't know where to begin to explaining all the things that ME3 does wrong. I knew that adding multiplayer will take away something from the single player experience. And it's the actual gameplay, polish and visuals. Some of the textures in this game are worse than the ones in ME1! And the animations. Half of them are actually from Mass Effect 1. Laziness! PC version doesn't need a texture pack as much as it needs a god damn animations pack. They've cut too many corners in order to make the game WITH MULTIPLAYER in time. If not for co-op mode you can bet your ass Bioware would have more time and resources to make the single player better. I blame EA of course. I just wish someone would drop a fuckin' nuke on them. Let's just hope the ending doesn't disappoint. This game already feels like a one way trip (meaning I wouldn't want to replay it again). It's good, but it's not that good unfortunately.

what animations are rehashed from ME1?

 

[Ordinaryundone]

Cons
-If you have not played ME1 or ME2 or if you have decided to play this game without the previous save file the choices in the game are just.... dear... God. I mean some of the events in the game just made me drop my mouth for a second and ask Bioware... Why?

Spoiler

When you choose at the beginning of character creation you have the choice to choose between multiple characters, Kaiden, or Ashley as the people you got killed. Despite I put down Kaiden as the KIA. Somehow Wrex was dead too. wtf?

It makes sense if you think about it from a newcomer's perspective. The people most likely to be making brand new characters are people who are coming into the series for the first time, and after 2 other games full of characters as well. They didn't want newcomers to have to stop every five seconds to read a codex entry every time some random person came up and said "Shepard! Hey it's me! Remember when we did this and this, and you totally did this! Man, those were the times". Better to just remove ancillary characters and plot threads, like Wrex and the Rachni. It also avoids making decisions for the new player. Maybe they wanted to save Wrex, maybe they didn't, but having him dead makes it a non-issue, while leaving him alive would only raise questions as to "Why did I save this guy?"

The choice between Kaiden and Ashely was likely left in so you could pick your romance to fit your gender preference.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

I'm 11 hours in. It's a good game overall. So I won't focus on the good stuff in these posts. And I can't comment on the story until I finish it. There are other things worth mentioning.

Mass Effect 2 is so much more polished and better looking. I don't know where to begin to explaining all the things that ME3 does wrong. I knew that adding multiplayer will take away something from the single player experience. And it's the actual gameplay, polish and visuals. Some of the textures in this game are worse than the ones in ME1! And the animations. Half of them are actually from Mass Effect 1. Laziness! PC version doesn't need a texture pack as much as it needs a god damn animations pack. They've cut too many corners in order to make the game WITH MULTIPLAYER in time. If not for co-op mode you can bet your ass Bioware would have more time and resources to make the single player better. I blame EA of course. I just wish someone would drop a fuckin' nuke on them. Let's just hope the ending doesn't disappoint. This game already feels like a one way trip (meaning I wouldn't want to replay it again). It's good, but it's not that good unfortunately.

what animations are rehashed from ME1?

Walking and running without your weapons drawn. And other animations are very simplified. Like reload animation, power usage, ammo power setting etc. Rolling animation also sucks. Speaking of rolling around, it's pretty useless because of the control scheme. More often then not rolling function will interfere with getting into cover and it will get you killed on higher difficulties. Not to mention that level design doesn't even offer much need or space for rolling. I like the omni-blade though. It's very helpful because enemies try to flank you all the time. Without the omni-blade I'd die a lot more often. I'm playing on Hardened.

 

[boag]

I'm 11 hours in. It's a good game overall. So I won't focus on the good stuff in these posts. And I can't comment on the story until I finish it. There are other things worth mentioning.

Mass Effect 2 is so much more polished and better looking. I don't know where to begin to explaining all the things that ME3 does wrong. I knew that adding multiplayer will take away something from the single player experience. And it's the actual gameplay, polish and visuals. Some of the textures in this game are worse than the ones in ME1! And the animations. Half of them are actually from Mass Effect 1. Laziness! PC version doesn't need a texture pack as much as it needs a god damn animations pack. They've cut too many corners in order to make the game WITH MULTIPLAYER in time. If not for co-op mode you can bet your ass Bioware would have more time and resources to make the single player better. I blame EA of course. I just wish someone would drop a fuckin' nuke on them. Let's just hope the ending doesn't disappoint. This game already feels like a one way trip (meaning I wouldn't want to replay it again). It's good, but it's not that good unfortunately.

what animations are rehashed from ME1?

Walking and running without your weapons drawn. And other animations are very simplified. Like reload animation, power usage, ammo power setting etc. Rolling animation also sucks. Speaking of rolling around, it's pretty useless because of the control scheme. More often then not rolling function will interfere with getting into cover and it will get you killed on higher difficulties. Not to mention that level design doesn't even offer much need or space for rolling. I like the omni-blade though. It's very helpful because enemies try to flank you all the time. Without the omni-blade I'd die a lot more often. I'm playing on Hardened.

I thought they had taken the walking animations from ME2 :/

and Rolling is kind of hard to master, but at Higher Difficulties you will be relying on it a lot, at least in MP, you need to get a sense of your environment and know exactly where you need to roll when shit starts hitting the fan.

Last night I confront the reaper forces for the First time..... FUCK THE BANSHEES!

 

[RJ 17]

Last night I confront the reaper forces for the First time..... FUCK THE BANSHEES!

I second that sentiment. Banshees are nothing but 10 foot tall pains in the ass.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

I haven't read all of the responses and whatnot so this may have been answered (sorry in advance) but while resource mining, what happens if a Reaper catches you? Does it start a space-battle or is it an instant game over?

 

[RJ 17]

I haven't read all of the responses and whatnot so this may have been answered (sorry in advance) but while resource mining, what happens if a Reaper catches you? Does it start a space-battle or is it an instant game over?

While I haven't intentionally let them catch me so I can't say for certain, but I'd imagine it probably cuts to a Game Over cutscene of some sort.

 

[skywolfblue]

I'm about 6 hours in and holy moly am I loving it to death. Bioware really overdid themselves on this one. ME3 is now my favorite of the whole series by a large margin, perhaps contesting SC2 for my favorite game ever.

The atmosphere, scenery and mood is just a.m.a.z.i.n.g. The vista's make ME1 and ME2's scenery seem downright bland in comparison. I think I've spent more then a whole hour just drooling over it already.

The combat is quite nice. As an engineer I got a whole slew of new things to toss at the enemy. The only niggly bit is that cover is still a bit clunky, but that is a small concern when the rest of combat has improved so much. Weapons feel a whole lot less dinky now, sound awesome and have upgrades.

It's also kick-ass that your teammates can now be found hanging about in various places on the citadel whenever you're visiting there, they'll chat with you, perhaps offer minor missions, etc. In addition to being able to talk to them normally when they're aboard the Normandy. It feels like it gives you a lot more opportunities to interact with your crew, and I love it.