Mass Effect 3

[Dachs]

The multiplayer is apparently not compulsory, but the Defender achievement is multi-player only and the "secret" rubble scene is not unlocked by bringing back 7000 war assets at 50% readiness. Even the ending seems to be changed by the "non-compulsory" multi-player.

The claim that the "best" ending is achievable without multiplayer is false, unless BioWare's reps are engaging in some sort of sophistry about whether "synthesis" or "control-with-Shepard-surviving" is "best". At 50% readiness, one would need 8000 war assets to survive "control", and you can only get within a few hundred of that (successfully trick Wreav about the genophage cure, achieve geth-quarian peace being the most important decisions). This has been supported both by testing and by datamining.

So the multiplayer isn't as segregated from the single-player experience as people might have hoped. It's still nice that you can get almost all of the achievements without playing multiplayer, unlike virtually every other game with a multiplayer mode on the market. Also, it's nice that the multiplayer is so damn fun that there's little point in avoiding it unless you have a bad/nonexistent internet connection. And I have a suspicion that the extra war assets will be made up with future DLC (similar to the way in which you get the Eden Prime war assets from the "From Ashes" DLC) if you really want to avoid multiplayer that much.

 

[Arakhor]

I don't mind the multi-player aspect, which is quite fun in small doses, but I do object to it being near-compulsory to get a "perfect" ending, in as much as an explosion in one of three colours can be considered in any way perfect. I tend to think that the green ending is the "nicer" one, assuming that the god-child isn't lying (yeah, right), but only the red option actually achieves what you set out to do.

 

[TheLastOne36]

Speaking of multiplayer, anyone else fiending it atm? Such a good multiplayer.

 

[Dachs]

Speaking of multiplayer, anyone else fiending it atm? Such a good multiplayer.

I am. Not that much - I'm only N7 190, and the only Gold weapons I have are the Claymore I, Arc Pistol I, and the Falcon I, all of which are effectively useless to me - but it is a helluva lot of fun.

 

[Dreadnought]

I did like multiplayer. What I didn't like, however, was the grinding aspect of it as it related to single player.

Remove the latter, and I'd rate the multiplayer very highly.

 

[TheLastOne36]

Gonna take forever to get the higher leveled Claymore's, Widows and other guns though.

Loving the Krogan. Such a fun character to play as, he is beast as well.

Asari Vanguard is really weak in my opinion.

 

[Dachs]

Asari Vanguard is really weak in my opinion.

Give her a Carnifex, and she can rip anything up. She's much better - at least, less fragile - than the drellguard, which is best suited to precision attacks. Plus, her set-up-biotic-explosion ability, Stasis, is miles better than the drellguard's, which is Pull; for the drell, you'll be using grenades more than Pull, but for the asari, either is viable in most circumstances.

Also, on Gold - even on Silver, really - unless you play Novaguard, the point of playing a Vanguard isn't really Charging. You Charge pretty much only to refill your barriers and take down stragglers quickly. Most of the time, you'll be setting up biotic explosions or doing gunplay.

 

[TheLastOne36]

Yah, that would make sense.... I still don't have the Carnifex though... Which pack does it come in?

 

[Dachs]

It's a Gold gun, so you have a low chance of getting it in Vet packs and a higher chance of getting it in Spectre packs.

 

[LightSpectra]

 

[~Corsair#01~]

I had heard (don't remember from where) that EA were planning to make Mass Effect a permanent franchise like CoD and thus stretch the plot out forever forcing players to hand out as much cash as possible to see the ultimate ending of the series. So just the fact that they've actually released a final Mass Effect with an ending at all (other than "And so the reapers were defeated... for now") makes me quite happy.

Having said that, I am going to wait until they release the game in a cut-price bundle with all the DLC included before I buy it. Releasing the game with content cleaved off and sold separately at launch for me just isn't an acceptable way to treat customers.

I got the DLC for Mass Effect 2 with the game when I bought it (for a reasonable price) and that's what I'm going to get with ME3, no matter how long I have to wait. It's not like there's a shortage of other games out there in the meantime.

 

[Maniacal]

Shepherd's story ends with ME3 (and its DLC), but they do intend to make more games in the universe.

 

[TheLastOne36]

Quoting myself from the Bioware forums:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You know what would be a good 4th edition to the Mass Effect franchise?

A game set on Earth during the Reaper Invasion!

Forget the concept of flying around in space doing missions and side quests to achieve some goal, focus entirely on Earth. Be a young recruit or maybe a man of position leading a squadron of commandos or something on Earth following David Anderson's orders. You'll be sent on missions around earth doing everything you can to slow down the Reaper Invasion until Shepard arrives for the final battle.

Bioware would have to really spoof up the combat system to make it really worth buying, as well as make it an interesting campaign with big(long?) missions and maps. Biotics and Tech powers would have to have whole new meaning, as would battlefield tactics, and maybe a dynamic omni-tool? In such a game, they would also really have to uplift the multiplayer to a whole new level.

If that wasn't enough to be worth a new game, Bioware could also bring out the development team and finally give us a Palaven, Sur'Kesh and Thesia. We would finally see how these planets are like (development and design team will really have to go wild) and we can go way more in depth into Turian, Salarian and Asari society. The game would be similar to the Earth campaigns, we would similarly be controlling Turian Soldier, Salarian Infiltrator and Asari Vanguard characters on missions throughout their respective planets in their attempts to stop/slow down the reaper invasion, and in Salarian case, the civil war(I think? Haven't gone that far in game yet).

The game could switch between characters similarly to how in Call of Duty Modern Warfare games switch between American and British forces following campaigns if you get what I mean.

The choices made in ME3 saves could directly affect events in this game as well. Shepards influences would be felt (for example, on Palaven, with the influences of Krogan groundtroops should Genophage be cured) throughout the game.

For tl/dr people, basically Mass Effect meets Gears of War would be good comparison? Dunno, never played Gears of War series... Anyway, thoughts?

 

[Arakhor]

It's already quite enough of a shooter for me. I'd rather read an ME book than play a pure shooter.

 

[Kan' Sharuminar]

All I wanted was an ending where Jack and myself go off to be space pirates on the Normandy. Was that too much to ask?

 

[Dachs]

Having said that, I am going to wait until they release the game in a cut-price bundle with all the DLC included before I buy it. Releasing the game with content cleaved off and sold separately at launch for me just isn't an acceptable way to treat customers.

I got the DLC for Mass Effect 2 with the game when I bought it (for a reasonable price) and that's what I'm going to get with ME3, no matter how long I have to wait. It's not like there's a shortage of other games out there in the meantime.

Are you a PS3 player?

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

The multiplayer would be so much more fun if it didn't keep disconnecting me randomly and wasting my efforts so far.

 

[Azale]

The multiplayer would be so much more fun if it didn't keep disconnecting me randomly and wasting my efforts so far.

Hasn't happened to me yet, and I am of the console untermenschen.

I wish I had a 360 or PC so I could play with youse guise though

 

[Dreadnought]

Quoting myself from the Bioware forums:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You know what would be a good 4th edition to the Mass Effect franchise?

A game set on Earth during the Reaper Invasion!

Forget the concept of flying around in space doing missions and side quests to achieve some goal, focus entirely on Earth. Be a young recruit or maybe a man of position leading a squadron of commandos or something on Earth following David Anderson's orders. You'll be sent on missions around earth doing everything you can to slow down the Reaper Invasion until Shepard arrives for the final battle.

Bioware would have to really spoof up the combat system to make it really worth buying, as well as make it an interesting campaign with big(long?) missions and maps. Biotics and Tech powers would have to have whole new meaning, as would battlefield tactics, and maybe a dynamic omni-tool? In such a game, they would also really have to uplift the multiplayer to a whole new level.

If that wasn't enough to be worth a new game, Bioware could also bring out the development team and finally give us a Palaven, Sur'Kesh and Thesia. We would finally see how these planets are like (development and design team will really have to go wild) and we can go way more in depth into Turian, Salarian and Asari society. The game would be similar to the Earth campaigns, we would similarly be controlling Turian Soldier, Salarian Infiltrator and Asari Vanguard characters on missions throughout their respective planets in their attempts to stop/slow down the reaper invasion, and in Salarian case, the civil war(I think? Haven't gone that far in game yet).

The game could switch between characters similarly to how in Call of Duty Modern Warfare games switch between American and British forces following campaigns if you get what I mean.

The choices made in ME3 saves could directly affect events in this game as well. Shepards influences would be felt (for example, on Palaven, with the influences of Krogan groundtroops should Genophage be cured) throughout the game.

For tl/dr people, basically Mass Effect meets Gears of War would be good comparison? Dunno, never played Gears of War series... Anyway, thoughts?

Interestingly enough, this is the type of game my brother was anticipating.

 

[Maniacal]

All I wanted was an ending where Jack and myself go off to be space pirates on the Normandy. Was that too much to ask?

Maybe Jack seized control of the Normandy and forced Joker to leave the system?