Mass Effect 3

[Dachs]

Um, dragon's teeth can probably make more than one husk/tooth. Otherwise, yeah, they wouldn't make any sense.

 

[Maniacal]

They don't when you first encounter them in ME1.

 

[RJMooreII]

Just saw the teaser trailer/announcement on Spike's VGA's. Mass Effect 3 involves this (and my impressions from the trailer).

Earth is under attack by the Reapers, who are, despite having done this a multitude of times before, really not doing well with their attack. Earth has a population of 9 billion people but apparently only 2 million died on the first day and 7 million in the first week.
Big Ben in London is still standing though, the narrator is a wounded sniper who is up there, he picks off some thing that was chasing a women through the rubble of a neighbouring building during the trailer and says that Shepherd needs to hurry up and convince the other species to form a massive armada capable of taking out the Reaper fleet that has laid siege to Earth before the planet is destroyed.

So, it's going to be another dating sim with brain-dead combat AI?

 

[Dachs]

I expected you to make a comment about "Gears with dialogue wheels" or something.

They don't when you first encounter them in ME1.

Um, that's because nobody else was put on them.

 

[Maniacal]

It was a hit and run attack though, it still just seemed pointless. But whatever its not a big deal.

 

[LightSpectra]

I'm happy Ashley can come back as a squad mate.

So far, none of the ME2 companions are confirmed to return, which makes me think that my theory that they'll be non-squad associates is coming true.

 

[aukrest]

I'm happy Ashley can come back as a squad mate.

So far, none of the ME2 companions are confirmed to return, which makes me think that my theory that they'll be non-squad associates is coming true.

My opinion on the matter is that I think they will start as non-squad associates but some (or all) of them will be (re)recruitable to physically join the squad later.

 

[Dachs]

I'm happy Ashley can come back as a squad mate.

Rasist.

So far, none of the ME2 companions are confirmed to return, which makes me think that my theory that they'll be non-squad associates is coming true.

Um, Garrus is totally confirmed. Tali is listed as a probable due to a recent comment by Jarrett Lee on the BW Social Network.

 

[Yui108]

So all the stuff posted above is confirmed? I'm still confused as to why Shepard doesn't just tell the Alliance where they can shove it in regards to a war crimes trial.

 

[LightSpectra]

Rasist.

Say what you want; Garrus didn't become a total badass until ME2, which means the only cool non-Shepard protagonists in ME1 were Ashley and Wrex, and the former is preferable because I like Bruce Campbell, Alfred Tennyson and theism.

Um, Garrus is totally confirmed. Tali is listed as a probable due to a recent comment by Jarrett Lee on the BW Social Network.

OK then. I retract my comment.

So all the stuff posted above is confirmed? I'm still confused as to why Shepard doesn't just tell the Alliance where they can shove it in regards to a war crimes trial.

Presumably, he does if he's Renegade. Paragon would try to justify himself.

 

[Maniacal]

I never liked Ashley that much, I preferred Kaiden.

 

[Dachs]

Say what you want; Garrus didn't become a total badass until ME2, which means the only cool non-Shepard protagonists in ME1 were Ashley and Wrex, and the former is preferable because I like Bruce Campbell, Alfred Tennyson and theism.

I think her one good moment in the entire game was when she quoted Ulysses. Then I remembered she was a rasist and left her to die on Virmire. :<

OK then. I retract my comment.

Also, interesting screencap from the GameInformer article says that there'll be some kind of "balance" with squadmates: if you lose some in the Suicide Mission, apparently there are potential replacements? Whatever that means, there's a very strong implication that possibly other squaddies will be returning.

 

[LightSpectra]

I never liked Ashley that much, I preferred Kaiden.

Kaidan is easily the worst squadmate in the series. He's so boring. Say what you want about Jack's repulsiveness or Jacob's narminess, at least I didn't doze off while talking to them.

I think her one good moment in the entire game was when she quoted Ulysses. Then I remembered she was a rasist and left her to die on Virmire. :<

So you left a racist to die, fighting with other alien species for the good of the galaxy?

See what I did there?

To be fair, it's more fitting for Ashley to die on Virmire, since it redeems her family line's alleged cowardice at Shanxi. But she's a pretty cool squadmate and I loathe Kaidan, so I let her live.

Also, interesting screencap from the GameInformer article says that there'll be some kind of "balance" with squadmates: if you lose some in the Suicide Mission, apparently there are potential replacements? Whatever that means, there's a very strong implication that possibly other squaddies will be returning.

That makes me sad. Now I have to go do a kill-everybody-but-Morinth-and-Kasumi run in order to see everything in ME3 now, don't I?

 

[Dachs]

So you left a racist to die, fighting with other alien species for the good of the galaxy?

See what I did there?

To be fair, it's more fitting for Ashley to die on Virmire, since it redeems her family line's alleged cowardice at Shanxi. But she's a pretty cool squadmate and I loathe Kaidan, so I let her live.

Oh, don't get me wrong, I can't stand Kaidan. Too many bad memories from Carth. But since I really didn't connect all that well with any of the ME1 squadmates except possibly Liara, I never loathed him like you apparently do.

Also, no, I don't see what you did there.

That makes me sad. Now I have to go do a kill-everybody-but-Morinth-and-Kasumi run in order to see everything in ME3 now, don't I?

If you don't already have one, you ought to be ashamed.

 

[Dachs]

On the other hand...

Yeah, screw you, Kaidan. Time to replay my l60 Sheps in ME1 and import.

 

[Maniacal]

Well that looks MUCH better.

 

[GoodSarmatian]

On the other hand...

Yeah, screw you, Kaidan. Time to replay my l60 Sheps in ME1 and import.

Just linked this pic to a friend and he went off on saggy tits in Bioware games .
Dragon Age is understandable because they don't have bras, but Mass Effect...
My theory was they are in fact smaller and that's just the armor.

 

[Maniacal]

Anyway summery of the full magazine article and possibly somewhat spoilerish parts spoilered. I hope I didn't miss anything.

- Begins on Earth a few months after the ending of ME2.
- Shepherd is still have trouble getting people to believe the Reapers are attacking.
- Reapers invade the Earth with ease in a (presumably) surprise attack, everyone finally agrees they are real.
- Earth's defenses are completely and utterly overwhelmed, similar to the 7 Hour War in the Half-life universe except less complete (I think).
- Sadly no time to tell the council/court/trial I told you so due to the swiftness of the invasion.
- The Reaper fleet is not just attacking Earth, various groups break off of the fleet to annihilate the other races in a galaxy-wide war.
- Your choices in the first two games will impact what happens in ME3.
- Characters from previous games will make an appearance, even the ones who can die however this role may be only a couple of missions or as a companion (like Garrus).
- Bioware is going to keep building on the Mass Effect universe with more games and other media. Hints at a possible MMO
- Scale is supposed to be fitting to that of a galactic war for survival against the Reapers. Things are going to get ugly.
- The Illusive Man (hereby TIM) is a major character. Along with any previous major character (as long as they are alive anyway).
- All classes can use any of the weapon types, but some may be limited to 2 or 3 weapons. Soldiers can carry all of them.
- Skill points import from ME2, somehow.
- No major vehicle like the Mako or Hovercraft, probably shorter vehicle specific levels.
- Mineral scanning and planet exploration is still under development, but will be different from ME2.
- Major decisions from ME1 that didn't really appear in ME2 (like the Rachni Queen) will show up. If you didn't play ME1 or ME2 the game has a choose your own adventure comic where you get to make the important decisions.
- The entire game (or large parts of it) may be similar to the suicide mission where choices made before hand and during can change branches of the story. (Except probably more like different versions of the story than branches knowing Bioware).
- ME3 is the end of Shepherd's story arc, future games will not import choices from ME1-3.
- More varieties of husks types and races.
- Some companions will be a major part of the story and are not chooseable. While others will be 'optional' (like they were in ME2). No new update on what characters are going to be in your squad.
- You will take out at least a few massive Reapers during the game, without a massive fleet.

Spoiler :

On Tuchanka Shepherd and an armed convoy of Krogan are ambushed by a Reaper which is dragged under the sand (somehow)by a thresher maw, though that is not the end of the reaper.

- TIM and Cerberus are hunting down Shepherd and you will have to fight them a number of times, however the exact reasons are being kept a secret for the game's release.
- James Sanders is a veteran human soldier you gain as a squadmate early in the game (probably before leaving Earth). However he is naive about the seedy underbelly and political intrigue of the galaxy.
- You start out with some of the powers you had in ME2 and all abilities and powers will have upgrades or "evolve" several times.
- There will be new weapons introduced and weapon mods.
- "enhanced cover mechanics" whatever that means (includes a roll move, which I almost never use in games)
- ladders are added to battle maps along with multiple levels
- combat mechanics supposedly improved to make them on par with the "best shooters".
- No multiplayer
- You will be recruiting entire civilizations (thank goodness the majority of them have centralized government eh?) and will be intervening in a

Spoiler :

Salrian Civil war over the genophage (what? Really? I thought the Salrians were smarter than that), the war between the Geth and Quarians (who are going to retake their homeworld), etc. So it should be more involved than it was in ME2

as well as countering the Reaper attacks across the Galaxy.
- Shep's choices in the mini arcs and missions for gathering the civilizations could result in their destruction.
- Anderson will be a major character but probably not a party member (unless Bioware is lying)
- There is no grand plan like there was in ME1 (Stop Saren!) and Me2 (gather squad, kill collectors), except for "need help of other races to defeat reapers" apparently a few wrenches will be thrown in shepherd's path along the way.
- Somehow Shepherd lost the Normandy SR2 to the Alliance, who then stripped and dissected it and view it as their property. Good job, Shepherp.
- I assume this means you will be finding more upgrades, fixes and addons to the ship throughout the game.
- Still a Spectre and apparently somehow still part of the Alliance military as far as they are concerned.

 

[LightSpectra]

I think a good way to make it fair to newcomers to ME3 as well as people who people who played ME2 several times would be thus: every character from ME2 can become a squadmate. But, if you've never played ME2, then which ones are dead or alive are randomly selected when you start ME3, so that in order to play all of their missions, you need to either import a save, or play through the default ME3 game two/three times.

 

[Dachs]

Spoiler because the Canuck spoilered it :

Strictly speaking, we don't know that the salarians are in a civil war. The only word that appears in the GI article is "conflict", which could be anything from a political debate to an all out civil war.

Also, the whole Spectre thing isn't confirmed. I imagine you'd only still be a Spectre if you actually got reinstated in the second game.