Worried about Mass Effect 3

[otakon17]

Why? It's mass effect 2 with more plot holes even more deus ex machina? Who could possibly dislike that?

Actually, in all seriousness what plot holes do you refer to? I'm not trying to start an argument, I'd just like to know because for some reason I never can see them out like others can.

Most obvious one is Shepard and his team leaving for an "important destination" so the Normandy can get invaded by collectors. This is right after the reaper iff thingy in ME 2.

Your right. Hell, what did they do after going off in the Shuttle anyway is it ever mentioned in-game?

It's because the ship needs to be out of order for a little while whilst they rejig the systems and install the IFF. Hey, it's better than no explanation.

By that point in the game you probably still have a few sidequests on the go so it's pretty reasonable that Shepard takes the ground team out in the shuttle.

But that's the thing, I don't remember doing any side quests or anything with Shepard & Co. after departure it went straight to Joker's desperate run.

Well, would you rather do a sidequest then return to the ship and have Joker go "Oh no, everyone is dead" or would you rather see it happen? Think of it as an interactive cutscene. It was a story decision, one which I quite enjoyed. The whole thing with the shuttle to do with sidequests is irrelevant, there's no gameplay in the shuttle. That was just extrapolation on my part, sorry if I confused you. The whole reason that Shepard and the ground team left was because the Normandy was out of action whilst they installed and tested the IFF. No plot holes at my end.

Well, it was a nice twist I didn't really see it coming to be honest but they could have let us do a Shepard mission, then after it's completion go "Meanwhile, back on the Normandy..." and then cut to Joker's scene. But I digress, let us leave this be for now. My questions have been received and answered amicably and for that I'm happy.

 

[King Toasty]

Please please PLEASE do not judge a game by the pre-pre-pre beta gameplay. It's a stupid idea and it'll get you nowhere. ME3 isn't coming out 'till what, March 2012? So hold yer horses thar.

It's already out? Quick, someone find it and tell us what it's like!

(Sorry, couldn't help it.)

Bioware secretly owns a TARDIS. They got the future to write for them.

 

[Imbechile]

Well I am, since Mass Effect 3 has been on development probably 2 years only.... I mean, look at Dragon Age2, I haven't played any dragon age game, but people were pissed for DA2 and what was the problem, 1 1/2 years on development, I saw a gameplay trailer of mass effect3 today... it kindaa looks bad...

It is bad. Biotard's games are steadily declining in quality.

 

[lostlambda]

why cant people just let a developer create their game with out fussing over it before you even get to play it it creates a negative mind set going into the game. you just sit their think your going to hate it or waiting for the game to impress you but you have it stuck in your mind that its going to suck and then just write of a good game.

 

[badgersprite]

I love the lengths people go to to find faults with this game. It's almost comical.

I know, right? This game isn't even coming out for, what, another six and a bit months? People are acting like it's coming out tomorrow and nothing we see can possibly still be in the process of being tweaked or polished.

 

[Nostalgia Ripoff]

To be fair, many games are on the 2-3 year dev cycle: Mass Effect 2 included (and that game was spectacular).

I disagree. It was an all right game, but far below other games made by Bioware. Shoddy storytelling and horrendous railroading were two of the nails on the coffin of this game.


EDIT: HOooooooooooooooooooo there... Wait one second. In that demo, did he really say:

Spoiler

the Geth are working with the Reapers

? I undid that in Mass Effect 2, for fuck's sake. They better have a damn good reason for having them turn sides.

To be fair, he may be referring to the Paragon ending to that mission, where

Spoiler

Legion said that there is a possibility they could go back to the Reapers if you reprogram.

If you took the Renegade route, they probably won't be a problem.

OT: I dunno, I've been watching a lot of gameplay footage and interviews on the game, and it looks like the best of both games are making it into this one. The gameplay from 2 and the customization from 1. Dammit, March, get here sooner!

 

[darktapper]

cut

cut

cut

cut

cut

cut

Well, would you rather do a sidequest then return to the ship and have Joker go "Oh no, everyone is dead" or would you rather see it happen? Think of it as an interactive cutscene. It was a story decision, one which I quite enjoyed. The whole thing with the shuttle to do with sidequests is irrelevant, there's no gameplay in the shuttle. That was just extrapolation on my part, sorry if I confused you. The whole reason that Shepard and the ground team left was because the Normandy was out of action whilst they installed and tested the IFF. No plot holes at my end.

Well, it was a nice twist I didn't really see it coming to be honest but they could have let us do a Shepard mission, then after it's completion go "Meanwhile, back on the Normandy..." and then cut to Joker's scene. But I digress, let us leave this be for now. My questions have been received and answered amicably and for that I'm happy.

While this is a small perhaps irrelevant plot hole that can be covered by witty story telling there are larger holes which exist.

One large example is the inclusion of the dead Reaper which contradicts the story given to us by Sovereign in ME1, which was the reason that there were no records of the Reapers were that the Reapers took meticulous care in removing any existence of their race from the galaxy which begs the question: how could they have missed the body of a Reaper?

This then leads into further plot holes through Commander Shepard?s decisions regarding the Reaper. The council doesn?t believe him about the Reaper threat anymore, telling Shepard that they lost much of Sovereign due to looters. Which makes me wonder why of all things would Shepard decide to destroy the Reaper? Being the definitive proof he needs to prove that there is something out there and that something needs to be done about it. This would not have just cleared his name but could have potentially given him access to the citadel fleet allowing him to stop the attacks on the human colonies all together.

 

[Savber]

If you're worried about the short development time, look at it this way.

It took them years to craft the universe, the story, the characters, and gameplay of the first game. Several years of backstory and design, finally accomplished in November 2007. Boom, ME1.

After that, they looked at what worked and what didn't and made tweaks to the story-telling, gameplay, graphics, etc. No need to spend years crafting the universe, it's already established. Most of the work goes into improving the engine, looking at feedback, and developing the gameplay. ME2 released in February 2010. Time between sequels: 2 years, 3 months.

Now all that's left is to wrap up the story. Make the necessary upgrades to the engine. At this point they have a good idea of what works and what doesn't. Take the best parts of both games (story-telling, gameplay, etc.) plus 4 years of feedback, and hone your product into the most polished game possible. ME3 will be released in March 2012.

Time between sequels: 2 years, 1 month.

So yeah, did you like ME2? Considering that the turnaround time between 1-2 and 2-3 is almost identical, are you really that worried?

Quoted for Truth.

 

[Magicman10893]

Well, it was a nice twist I didn't really see it coming to be honest but they could have let us do a Shepard mission, then after it's completion go "Meanwhile, back on the Normandy..." and then cut to Joker's scene. But I digress, let us leave this be for now. My questions have been received and answered amicably and for that I'm happy.

The thing is it would be impossible (or really hard) to pull of right. If you do the mission first, then the Joker section, then it gets confusing because people will think that they should have been able to fight off the Collectors because they are already done with everything at their destination and should theoretically either be back or close to it. If you do the Joker thing first then the mission it will have you wanting to go back to the ship and forget about the mission.

One way it would work well would be for Shepard to go on a sort of mission that must be done to advance the story and can ONLY BE DONE AT THAT POINT IN THE GAME so that at the end of it Shepard tells Joker he is ready to return to the Normandy only to get no response, then it cuts to the Normandy being invaded.

While this is a small perhaps irrelevant plot hole that can be covered by witty story telling there are larger holes which exist.

One large example is the inclusion of the dead Reaper which contradicts the story given to us by Sovereign in ME1, which was the reason that there were no records of the Reapers were that the Reapers took meticulous care in removing any existence of their race from the galaxy which begs the question: how could they have missed the body of a Reaper?

This then leads into further plot holes through Commander Shepard?s decisions regarding the Reaper. The council doesn?t believe him about the Reaper threat anymore, telling Shepard that they lost much of Sovereign due to looters. Which makes me wonder why of all things would Shepard decide to destroy the Reaper? Being the definitive proof he needs to prove that there is something out there and that something needs to be done about it. This would not have just cleared his name but could have potentially given him access to the citadel fleet allowing him to stop the attacks on the human colonies all together.

Technically Shepard didn't choose to destroy the Derelict Reaper. He got inside of it and then the kinetic barriers went up which made it impossible for the Normandy to pick them up. Not knowing anything about the controls meant that the only way they could possibly get out would be to destroy the drive core that powered the kinetic barriers, but unfortunately that meant that it also wouldn't be able to maintain an orbit around the brown dwarf star and would fall into it.

 

[Magicman10893]

Sorry, double post.

 

[Cridhe]

I started a Bioware binge in May with DA:O, I have since played KOTOR 2, KOTOR, ME, ME 2 and just an hour ago finished DA2. My very first play-through for all of them. I have to admit I loved every one of those 6 games equally but for their own individual reason, they were all fantastic.

There's no doubt in my mind I will feel exactly the same way about ME 3 when it comes out. Just keep an open mind and enjoy it for what it is. I know sometimes as gamers change makes you feel intense fear, but you just need to enjoy the game you are playing for everything that it is.

I <3 you Bioware!

 

[darktapper]

--cut--

Technically Shepard didn't choose to destroy the Derelict Reaper. He got inside of it and then the kinetic barriers went up which made it impossible for the Normandy to pick them up. Not knowing anything about the controls meant that the only way they could possibly get out would be to destroy the drive core that powered the kinetic barriers, but unfortunately that meant that it also wouldn't be able to maintain an orbit around the brown dwarf star and would fall into it.

While I agree Shepard didn't have a choice in deciding on the Reaper about the fate of the Derelict Reaper, I find it odd that considering that Cerberus has just given Shepard the definitive proof he/she needs why wouldn't Shepard go back to the council and show them this Reaper?

Edited for clarity.

 

[MAUSZX]

You're obviously not much of a Mass Effect fan as you stated you only watched one gameplay vid. I've been watching them nonstop since they announced the release date. I'm really looking forward to this, they said they updated the combat, gameplay, and they even managed to throw in more customization for your powers AND your weapons. The only part that I think looks tacky is that one in one of the videos where you're on the back of a vehicle shooting at a reaper with a mounted machine gun. I mean, it's awesome in its own right, but it just seems so out of place in the Mass Effect universe. Of course, gameplay means nothing with a game as deep and rewarding as Mass Effect, I mean look at the first one. The Mako absolutely sucked, yet I loved everything about that game.

I'm a fan and a loved the first 2 games, and I really really hope this one to be great... but yeah the trailer I saw wasn't that great, the movement of the other characters looked like glitched.

I hope this game take the same way of the other games.

 

[back pain]

As long as ME3 doesn't have Ewoks I think everything will be fine.

 

[Rogue426]

I'm sure someones mentioned this already, but I can't be bothered reading through everything right now.

Mass Effect 3 was in development long before ME2 even came out, so they've had plenty of time.

And according to one of the guys that worked on the music for DA2 (It was something posted on a forum ages ago, no idea if its true or not) EA told them to build the entire game from scratch and in less then a year. So they had to cut major corners.

Personally I think they'll do fine with ME3, the fact that they postponed it a few months is a good sign IMO.

 

[octafish]

Really? Maybe this video will help (it's spoilerific, but the video does a good job of warning you. Just make sure you read the description before watching if you're like me and don't want to know story and character-related stuff).

Is it too early for the 'shut up and take my money' image? The more I hear about this game, the less worried I get.

I second this. Not that I worried about the game to begin with.

I have negative numbers of worrying.

Hooray for optimism!

Also, I'm interested in the new design of the Paragon/Renegade bar... is it going to be more of a sliding scale thing? Or am I just blind and it's something completely different?

That morality meter looks like a KoTOR sliding scale to me.

That combat trailer did look like crap. I hope that was console footage because I don't recall ME or ME2 running that unevenly. I'm playing through ME2 at the moment trying to get through a second time. I hope they bring back crouch for ME3 and let PC gamers map more than one action key. Oh and let us scroll the codex with the mouse wheel.

 

[NinjaRock]

I am looking forward to the reintroduction of weapon mods. As long as you don't have to worry about deleting/selling 50 copies of the same thing.

I just hope that 'Improved combat' doesn't mean that there will be less RP in the G, because my favorite thing about the series has been the story and roleplaying

 

[NickCaligo42]

Well I am, since Mass Effect 3 has been on development probably 2 years only.... I mean, look at Dragon Age2, I haven't played any dragon age game, but people were pissed for DA2 and what was the problem, 1 1/2 years on development, I saw a gameplay trailer of mass effect3 today... it kindaa looks bad...

Ehhh. There's good reasons to be concerned, just not any of the ones you're raising. Dragon Age 2 had less than a year and a half of development and was re-inventing a formula that nobody wanted to see re-invented, in addition to imposing a completely different game flow. It needed more testing and iteration desperately in order to be successful. They were also moving the team to a completely new engine from the one they spent YEARS working on with Dragon Age 1, recipe for disaster...

Mass Effect's structure, format, and engine are pretty darned well stable at this point, and it's difficult for me to see them suddenly screwing it up in the third installment. The combat... well, what do you want? It's Mass Effect. It wasn't exactly the biggest stud on the ranch to begin with. For what it's worth this looks a lot better, like they worked in at least a bit more variety with the enemy types. Don't really know, though.

My concerns are more that 1) the story is too monumentally huge and full of spectacle to be any good, and 2) they're going to pull back on the exploration element instead of actually finishing it and properly integrating it with the game. We'll see how it goes, but even bigger than that, I'm hoping they don't try to make me get Origin to play this game, because if they do then I'm not buying it.

 

[RA92]

Eh, I didn't think DA:II was all that bad, so feel free to disregard what I say.

Disregard you?

DISREGARD YOU?

Why, sir, the very thought of DA2 being 'not bad' is an affront to my internet honour! This can only be resolved through a duel to the death!

Meet me at dawn, and bring a pistol and pogostick. Pistol to scare the meddling people away, and the pogostick for the duel!

 

[SomebodyNowhere]

The only thing I'm worried about is that I won't have time to finish my play through of 1 and 2 before 3 is out.