Mass Effect 3

[Green_vs_Red]

Spoiler:

That's the general consensus among fans right now. Unless the ending gets revamped (preferable with a Refuse(aka "Fuck You Star Child") option where you let your army destroy the Reapers without destroying the Mass Relays), there is no reason to buy new Mass Effect DLC or a prequel. If they do intend to make a ME4, there had better be a DAMN good explanation of what happens to the galaxy. Even then it would probably be too depressing to play.

Spoiler:

It's not like the destruction of the relays makes it hard on every species that now calls our system home and any of the survivors (potentially) left behind in the other systems. Plus I already explained how "We Beat The Reapers Conventionally" wouldn't really fit.

Spoiler:

Well, nice that they're providing "clarity" and making it free, but:

1. This doesn't sound like a revamping of the ending or adding further choices. It just sounds like they're going to spell things out like we're kindergarteners.

Spoiler:

Given the way the fans are throwing tantrums like Kindergartenders...

But that aside I don't know why people (after already doing it once before) jumped to the conclusion as to what Bioware was going to do with the endings beyond giving them the closure they wanted along with explaining things which for once weren't completely explained if at all.

Spoiler:

This is pretty much my take on this. This whole situation feels like a TV show that that set up all this plot and then gets cancelled, so to have a somewhat actual end to the show, the writers scramble to cram as much as possible into whatever they have left to finalize the main story arc. Shit comes out of nowhere, plot points are handwaved away with single lines of dialogue, too much happens at once to be processed regularly. And alot of plot points that were set up get left by the wayside to focus on "the big picture".

THATS exactly what happened to ME3. This is why the ending is so different when juxtaposed with the rest of the game. The ground work had been laid down, but Bioware simply did not have the time to finalize it all. They slapped together some half assed resolution of the immediate issue and prayed people would except with it until they could finish what they(Bioware) had begun work on and release it as paid DLC later.

They miscalculated. We know what happened next.

Spoiler:

I think that's selling them short Bioware had to know in advance people would be upset at the ending it's not like they thought to themselves "everybody's going to like how we tied up the trilogy with this ending". The thing they probably miscalculated on is the huge amount of blowback they wound up getting either because some had other ideas about how the ending(s) should've unfolded or because they didn't fee thel endings had too much closure or clarification to certain details. It is weird though to see people complain more about the endings lacking depth,clarification, & clousure but not the other various instantances that show the game being rushed or Bioware simply thowing things in whether it be Harbinger having no lines or Tali's face or body never being shown outside of photshopped picture

Spoiler:

Unless the Indoctrination Theory is correct, then BioWare seems to genuinely want a universe without Mass Relays.

Spoiler:

I don't they do especially if they would have Aethyta mention how she suggested to the other Asari that they build their own Mass Relays. Though I believe Bioware always intended to destroy the Mass Relays as far back as ME1 I don't think they intended to do away with them on a permanent basis.

Spoiler:

I feel that if they had just excised the inconsistencies in the first place and just ended with a for real "To be concluded in DLC, coming soon" people would be far less upset.

Spoiler:

I can tell you right now people would still be pissed if they did that. Especially if they just paid 60-120 dollars for a game that will have it's story finished up by way of DLC free or paid.

I'd just really really like to no longer need to re-unlock a character class to get the secondary colors. You know, those random unlocks? Where you keep getting guns and stuff and maybe if you're lucky you get a new character class and not even one you care about? Yeah that. I'm at the point where I'd pay real money to unlock extra colors on my existing character set.

Stack up on microsoft point or PSN cards and hope you get lucky.

I like the Multiplayer side of the game :X Wish they added new type of enemies like mercs or collectors.

Well all the prominent merc groups or either busy helping against the reapers as for the collectors Shepard killed them all. It is weird though that there isn't a Geth Soldier Class

[Megadoomer]

Just beat ME3, and I only really have a few complaints.

1. the lack of squadmates. I realize that it would be difficult to balance the amount of squadmates that were in Mass Effect 2, both in terms of story and gameplay, but I think Grunt, at the very least, could have been brought back. Given that there's been a krogan party member since the first game, it's odd to not have one in the last one - particularly since, unlike the other Mass Effect 2 squadmates, Grunt didn't seem to be doing anything that was keeping him from joining Shepard.

2. I wish the multiplayer wasn't effectively necessary to get the "best" ending. I'm using an Xbox Live Silver account, so I can't actually play the online mode (I'd rather not spend $50 or so to be able to play multiplayer online for one or two games), and despite getting just about everything that was available to me (my Mass Effect 1 and 2 data is on another system), my Military Strength (with the default 50% multiplier) was just under 3000, which locked me out of the better endings.

3. ENDING SPOILERS

Spoiler:

Unlike a lot of people, I wasn't too pissed off about the ending when I got there. The fact that you couldn't turn down the Catalyst's options was understandable - those were the only things that the Crucible was capable of doing, Shepard was barely conscious or dying, and presumably if you just sat there and waited, the Reapers would take notice and blow up the Crucible while leaving the Citadel intact for the next cycle. Even the lack of a final boss wasn't too bad, seeing as it was a similar problem with Halo 3 - of the two possible final boss candidates, one (the Illusive Man) wouldn't be able to put up much of a fight, and the other (Harbinger) would have been impossible to fight. Knowing that it's possible for Shepard to survive in at least one of the endings helps to soften the blow.

It was only a few things that annoyed me - Harbinger leaving, for one (it doesn't explain why Harbinger does that, and it doesn't make sense), and the whole ending cinema sequence. A lot of it didn't make sense (Joker fleeing Earth with the rest of the party apparently on board the Normandy somehow, the fact that the only difference your choices make are what colour the beam turns, the lack of any closure on the part of any of the cast or any of the forces that you had built up over the course of the game); I assume some of it will be covered by that Extended Cut DLC, though. The scene at the end, with Buzz Aldrin, seemed to indicate that galactic civilization got back on its feet, so it's not like all possibility for sequels or spin-offs have been destroyed.

Of the three endings, I have no idea what Synthesis involves, but the other two seem fitting - though they jumble with the Paragon and Renegade options a bit (the colour schemes and who the endings are represented by are completely contradictory), both seem to be rather effective ends to the trilogy. It seems to evoke Legion's loyalty mission in Mass Effect 2, as there isn't really a right answer and the choice is between brainwashing or destruction, and while the Control ending sees Shepard sacrificing himself for the needs of many, the Destroy ending potentially sees Shepard sacrificing many for the needs of a relative few (depending on whether the Catalyst's prediction of a robot uprising that results in the extinction of all life in the universe, technologically advanced or not, comes to pass).

All in all, though, I'd say it was on par with the other games in the series, if not surpassing it on some levels (in ME2, I was really only concerned with the fates of the characters at the very end - in ME3, there were multiple points throughout the game where I thought that someone would get killed off, though that wasn't always the case, thankfully)

[Green_vs_Red]

2. I wish the multiplayer wasn't effectively necessary to get the "best" ending. I'm using an Xbox Live Silver account, so I can't actually play the online mode (I'd rather not spend $50 or so to be able to play multiplayer online for one or two games), and despite getting just about everything that was available to me (my Mass Effect 1 and 2 data is on another system), my Military Strength (with the default 50% multiplier) was just under 3000, which locked me out of the better endings.

The multiplayer isn't necessary to get the best endings though, if you've been doing missions on the citadel,scanning planets, and doing quests properly across all three games you're Effective Milatary Strength should be at least between 5000-6000+ by the end game.

Spoiler:

It was only a few things that annoyed me - Harbinger leaving, for one (it doesn't explain why Harbinger does that, and it doesn't make sense)

Spoiler:

Harbinger left because he thought he succeeded in killing Shepard and all the ground forces trying to use to beam to get to the Citadel. And because he was leading the Reaper forces in space.

Spoiler:

Of the three endings, I have no idea what Synthesis involves,

Spoiler:

Shepard sacrifices himself to turn all life in the galaxy into a hybrid of sythtic-organic DNA like himself.

[Megadoomer]

The multiplayer isn't necessary to get the best endings though, if you've been doing missions on the citadel,scanning planets, and doing quests properly across all three games you're Effective Milatary Strength should be at least between 5000-6000+ by the end game.

Is that without playing multiplayer, though? I wound up with almost 6000 in terms of Assets before the Galactic Readiness level was taken into account, but with the 50% multiplier that came from being unable to get to multiplayer, my Effective Military Strength was about 3000. I'd gotten basically everything that I could through scanning (I think what was left was mostly fuel anyways), did as many Citadel sidequests as possible (though the Hanar diplomat sidequest glitched, so I couldn't access one of the terminals and I couldn't complete it), and did the best I could with what I had available to me (seeing as Wrex and half of the ME2 cast were dead by default and I couldn't solve the Geth-Quarian war peacefully).

[Bobjr]

Not unless you have the ME3 datapad app, you need to play multiplayer to get the best ending. You can usually get 5-6000 war assests, but without playing MP you'll get a score of about half of that for the endgame.

[Green_vs_Red]

Is that without playing multiplayer, though?

I had to look this up because of the complexity of the details, but here's how Galactic Readiness, Effective Miltary Strength, & Total Military Strength work.

Readiness Rating & Effective Military Strength

1. Total Military Strength is just the total number of War Assets you have acquired. These are collected during your choices in the game, by completing side-quests, how you solve problems during the single-player campaign, and through exploration of the Galaxy Map.
2. The Readiness Rating can be increased through online co-op play. It starts at a base 50% rating that can be increased. The higher the rating, the fewer War Assets you’ll need for a perfect EMS score.
3. For example, if your Readiness Rating is at 100%, you’ll need half as many War Assets. The Readiness Rating works with a simple algorithm. A 50% Readiness Rating multiplies your Total Military Strength score by .5%.
4. If you play the co-op multiplayer and increase your Readiness Rating to 75%, your Total Military Strength score will be multiplied by .75%. Your Readiness Rating will increase through online co-op play, but will steadily decrease as time passes, giving you a very narrow window to play with a 100% Readiness Rating.
5. There are enough extras, collectibles, and side-missions in the single-player campaign to earn the maximum EMS rating without having to play online.

So yes it's possible to get the best ending without multiplayer (multiplayer just makes it easier). Though I believe you might have a slightly harder time getting the best ending being that you're not using your ME1 & 2 save data.

[Zack]

From what I've gathered, it appears that there's one scene that's only possible to get through MP though the main endings themselves are all possible without multiplayer.

[Bobjr]

You would need to get about 10,000 war assets to get the best endings without playing MP, and there aren't that many in the game. I think it caps at what, 7000 or something?

[Zack]

Looks like EA sent out a new ad.

Hidden:

[Green_vs_Red]

You would need to get about 10,000 war assets to get the best endings without playing MP, and there aren't that many in the game. I think it caps at what, 7000 or something?

I think you're referring to the Effective Milatary Strength I know enough of the fact that there aren't 10,000 War Assets in the game. Not sure
what the cap is though.

Looks like EA sent out a new ad.

You gotta give EW credit though eventhough most of the fan reaction was directed towards the endings (and most of it being negative) they're right when was the last a video game invoked so much public reaction towards it's story/ending and not it's violent gameplay or nicheness.

[Satsuki]

*arches eyebrow* That is true, but they're obviously selectively quoting so that the ad looks like it's nothing but praise. When the reactions were anything but.

Looks like EA sent out a new ad.

Hidden:

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e1...rkettingBS.jpg

Sneaky, sneaky bastards.

[Johnnay]

Satsuki, have you actually played ME3? I remember you mentioning you haven't bought it / planned on buying it, so I was just wondering if you haven't played it or if you had but just borrowed it from someone or rented it.

[Conekiller]

*arches eyebrow* That is true, but they're obviously selectively quoting so that the ad looks like it's nothing but praise. When the reactions were anything but.



Sneaky, sneaky bastards.

They're just spinning the controversy as a "most talked about" situation. Also recal, the rest of the game is perfect, it's just the lackluster ending that has people pissed. Try to avoid falling into that "raging fanboy"trap there Sats, it doesn't look good on you ^_-

[Satsuki]

*sigh* I know. But EA's handling of the situation so far isn't winning them any points either.

(@ Johnay: I haven't played it yet, but I watched a playthrough.)

[Corson D. Burley]

A break from the doom and gloom...


This is some of the best cosplay I've ever seen. What a great costume!

[DarthAsthma]

Wow that's insane, blizzard events normally have some really high level stuff but this is like up there with the best of the best Oo.
Might be a developer success benchmark xD, - fans making insanely detailed cosplay, check.

[Zack]

Bumped for awesome cosplay.

Hidden:

[Johnnay]

Starting my insanity playthrough today, since I've finally found the time to be able to just sit down and play it without being interupted... Gonna be good. After I'm finished, then it's back to the first game so I can play through all of them again with a few different choices, but most likely not a whole lot.

And yeah, that is a pretty fantastic cosplay. Forgot to post a comment on that when I first saw the post.

[Megadoomer]

Since it should be coming out in the next few months, what do you all want to see from the extended ending? (I'm spoiler-tagging my comments, just in case)

Spoiler:

I don't really have any issue with the game until the encounter with the Catalyst, so that's what I'll be focusing on. First, I'd want to feel like my choices mattered, particularly on Rannoch. Even if it's just a single line from Shepard, I'd like to see that mentioned. Were the geth destroyed? That gives Shepard a bigger reason to choose the destroy option - not as much would be lost. Were the geth spared? Then Shepard wouldn't have as much reason to pick the destruction option - it would mean that the quarians would have been sacrificed for nothing. Did both sides survive? I'd like Shepard to at least bring that up, even if the response from the Catalyst would likely be something along the lines of "you may have stopped it, but some day, a race will create synthetics that won't just sit on the home planet and maintain it."

As well, the synthesis ending should get a better explanation than "humans and synthetics merge blahblahblah new DNA". I don't know what it would be, but the other two endings at least have explanations that (your mileage may vary) work within the game's universe - the synthesis ending is the one that reeks strongest of "space magic".

For the ending cutscene, after the choice is made, I'd like some degree of explanation as to why Joker appears to be fleeing the battle. Put that scene into different context, include a throwaway line, cut it entirely - I don't care, as long as we get some degree of explanation as to what's going on. Also, according to people working at Bioware, nobody starves to death in spite of (in the fleets' cases) being stuck on or around a ruined Earth, or (in the case of the Normandy crew) trapped on a planet with an unknown type of food on it (since the engines are damaged regardless of the ending). That's nice, but that sort of thing should be stated, or even implied, in-game.

As far as the crew - some explanation as to how they appeared on the Normandy would be welcomed. It seems unlikely that Joker would fly through the Reaper forces to pick them up and completely forget about Shepard. A reaction of some kind to Shepard's sacrifice (or apparent sacrifice, if the destroy ending is chosen with a really high EMS score) would be nice, but not absolutely necessary.

I might be asking for a bit much, but some of this should have been included in the game to begin with, really, and only a few extra lines would be needed to cover these points.

[Johnnay]

Finding out if

Spoiler:

the "destroy" option killed the geth or not

is probably the biggest thing I'm hoping to find out, just because that's what I was thinking about the most before I actually decided what to do.

As long as I find that out I'll be pretty satisfied, since that's what I wanted to know the most while actually playing the game. Everything after that is gravy, and I'd probably have minor hope for finding out about the stuff you've mentioned, but it's not as big a deal for me as what I first mentioned.

I was totally cool with the ending, so yeah. Extended ending is just a bonus for me.