Topic: Mass Effect 3

[EmergentSystem]

I wouldn't drive yourself crazy over it though, since there is no such thing as a "perfect" play-through across the board.

Except there totally is.

There are choices in ME1&2 that have no actual impact upon the story, but also many that have very clear 'best' choices, such as:

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Every team member kept alive at the end of ME2 is a good thing, and keeping Wrex alive in ME1 is also a good thing - most of the best results for side-missions also have some minor benefits, though they're usually limited to an email and some war assets

[Mostly Harmless]

I agree that many individual choices have what you called "best choices," but I was referring to the way the game doesn't have a catch-all perfect playthrough.  There are only a small number of cases where you might be locked out of content if you screw something up. Really the only place that happens in each game is if you don't have a high enough Paragon or Renegade score and can't choose certain responses.

To point to something specific Moj mentioned that is a spoiler for ME2 and ME3:

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Miranda not being loyal before the end of ME2 means she can more easily die in the Collector base mission, but its not guaranteed.  If she dies, her death can be seen as a big consequence on a story level, but at the same time her death doesn't mean you can't do the Sactuary mission in ME3.  Furthermore, she can survive ME2 un-loyal, and survive ME3 depending on the choices you make in your conversations with her in ME3.  In light of this, Moj repeating the entire ME2 campaign just to get her loyalty would be overkill.

[jaypee]

I finally started playing this game over the weekend. I've barely scratched the surface, but things that bother me are: Why do they have to completely change the layout of the Normandy in every subsequent game? Why do they have to keep tweaking the inventory system? Now I have to worry about cooldown rates again? That's BS. I'm glad they got rid of that horribly inefficient planet scanning thing from ME:2.. that was such a PoS feature... I'm really on the fence about this whole "scanner" thing.. has anyone found anything of value by scanning planetary systems yet?

Beyond that.. I don't know. I'm really hoping that I can get into this game as much as I was into ME:2. I think ME:2 was such a huge improvement over ME:1 that I guess it's sort of inevitable that ME:3 is a letdown.

Having said that, one thing I'm sort of looking forward to is raising an army and the political stuff.. which I know is weird.

[jaypee]

Oh.. and is there an explanation that I missed as to why the Reapers are staging a galaxy-wide invasion and yet they didn't shut down the Mass Relays which they created and left behind so that they could control the flow of shipping through the galaxy?

[moj]

I'm in the same boat. I was loving and playing a lot of ME2. I didn't finish it till after ME3 came out so I noticed the differences right away. I kinda liked the planet scanning in ME2 as a way to harvest minerals, I liked the research and tech base on the Normandy so having all that go away sucked. The work station seems to random and fallouty. Also they seem to add(I'd guess triple) the amount of cut scenes. It seems more like a chose your own adventure movie, then a game at times.
   All that said it's still fun, I still play it, just not nearly as much as ME2. Hell I may go back and play ME2 again just to roll anther toon. I think it is some what of a let down, but it almost had to be, because ME2 is such a solid game.

[jaypee]

Does anyone else think that the interactions with computers and doors, etc.. is a lot more glitchy than in ME2? I feel like if you don't approach a door at exactly the right angle and then stop the exact correct distance away from it you won't be able to open it.

[jaypee]

OK.. just finished the game, I'd been playing it in one hour installments every morning before work.

I actually sort of liked the ending. At least, I liked it better than the ending of ME:2 with that stupid "Human Reaper". One thing I disliked was

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the lighting effects on your two choices. I don't think that the choice to destroy all synthetic life should have necessarily been a "Renegade" choice, since the "Paragon" choice also meant that galactic civilization was doomed to a pre-FTL existence and that the entire foundation of interstellar commerce and government would thus collapse. Also didn't like that I could have saved Anderson's life if I had just chosen the Renegade option and killed the Illusive Man.. I usually wait to see if right after the Renegade choice there is a Paragon choice, but by that time he had already executed Anderson and all I had left was the choice to kill him. Ah well.

[Guillermo]

I Just finally finished Mass effect 3 last night. I did not see the original ending, since I had the extended cut, and let me say that that was the most satisfying ending in a game after Modern Warfare 3.

I learn of the changes in the extended cut after I finished, and the extended cut completely fixes some shortcomings of the original ending.

[Guillermo]

OK.. just finished the game, I'd been playing it in one hour installments every morning before work.

I actually sort of liked the ending. At least, I liked it better than the ending of ME:2 with that stupid "Human Reaper". One thing I disliked was

(click to show/hide)

the lighting effects on your two choices. I don't think that the choice to destroy all synthetic life should have necessarily been a "Renegade" choice, since the "Paragon" choice also meant that galactic civilization was doomed to a pre-FTL existence and that the entire foundation of interstellar commerce and government would thus collapse. Also didn't like that I could have saved Anderson's life if I had just chosen the Renegade option and killed the Illusive Man.. I usually wait to see if right after the Renegade choice there is a Paragon choice, but by that time he had already executed Anderson and all I had left was the choice to kill him. Ah well.

Play the extended cut.

(click to show/hide)

They don't go Pre-FTL, since the ships still have FTL travel, they just loose the instant relay travels. In the extended cut, it is clear that the relays are just damaged, and that they will get rebuild. The destruction is a renegade choice because you willingly destroy the Geth and EDI and the surging AI that was a mayor theme in the game. They are all tough choices to make. It is indeed the toughest decision in the game because no matter what decision, there are some sacrifices to be had.

I really enjoyed this game. I'm going to see If I can play it again at some point.

[jaypee]

OK.. just finished the game, I'd been playing it in one hour installments every morning before work.

I actually sort of liked the ending. At least, I liked it better than the ending of ME:2 with that stupid "Human Reaper". One thing I disliked was

(click to show/hide)

the lighting effects on your two choices. I don't think that the choice to destroy all synthetic life should have necessarily been a "Renegade" choice, since the "Paragon" choice also meant that galactic civilization was doomed to a pre-FTL existence and that the entire foundation of interstellar commerce and government would thus collapse. Also didn't like that I could have saved Anderson's life if I had just chosen the Renegade option and killed the Illusive Man.. I usually wait to see if right after the Renegade choice there is a Paragon choice, but by that time he had already executed Anderson and all I had left was the choice to kill him. Ah well.

Play the extended cut.

(click to show/hide)

They don't go Pre-FTL, since the ships still have FTL travel, they just loose the instant relay travels. In the extended cut, it is clear that the relays are just damaged, and that they will get rebuild. The destruction is a renegade choice because you willingly destroy the Geth and EDI and the surging AI that was a mayor theme in the game. They are all tough choices to make. It is indeed the toughest decision in the game because no matter what decision, there are some sacrifices to be had.

I really enjoyed this game. I'm going to see If I can play it again at some point.

See.. this is a major plot hole for me.. if they have FTL drives then the entire passage of time is all screwed up.

[Guillermo]

OK.. just finished the game, I'd been playing it in one hour installments every morning before work.

I actually sort of liked the ending. At least, I liked it better than the ending of ME:2 with that stupid "Human Reaper". One thing I disliked was

(click to show/hide)

the lighting effects on your two choices. I don't think that the choice to destroy all synthetic life should have necessarily been a "Renegade" choice, since the "Paragon" choice also meant that galactic civilization was doomed to a pre-FTL existence and that the entire foundation of interstellar commerce and government would thus collapse. Also didn't like that I could have saved Anderson's life if I had just chosen the Renegade option and killed the Illusive Man.. I usually wait to see if right after the Renegade choice there is a Paragon choice, but by that time he had already executed Anderson and all I had left was the choice to kill him. Ah well.

Play the extended cut.

(click to show/hide)

They don't go Pre-FTL, since the ships still have FTL travel, they just loose the instant relay travels. In the extended cut, it is clear that the relays are just damaged, and that they will get rebuild. The destruction is a renegade choice because you willingly destroy the Geth and EDI and the surging AI that was a mayor theme in the game. They are all tough choices to make. It is indeed the toughest decision in the game because no matter what decision, there are some sacrifices to be had.

I really enjoyed this game. I'm going to see If I can play it again at some point.

See.. this is a major plot hole for me.. if they have FTL drives then the entire passage of time is all screwed up.

It's been hand-waved already, the mass effect field does something to the time distortion to allow for the FTL thing to work. It's somewhere in the codec or books. It's not a mayor plot-hole because the game plot is not affected directly by the ability to FTL.  It's just a tiny-plot hole. Most of the mayor plot holes from the ending where fixed with the extended cut.

[jaypee]

Bah. Hand waving.

Have the relays be the only means of FTL travel or GTFO, in my opinion.

[Guillermo]

Like it or not, that is the best way for it to work as a game, so that it can be entertaining game.

[random poet]

Ok, so I finally started playing this game over the weekend. I have not read this thread yet because SPOILERS, but I have some impressions.

- It feels like ME2 and plays much like it. I find this happens often with trilogies where the first game is a runaway hit and then the next two are planned and executed pretty much at the same time or at least in the same way, building off the first. Gears of War was like this, for example, and so was the Matrix series. (Not that this game is as bad as the two Matrix sequels.)
- How the hell did Shepard end up in the Alliance again?
- I can't wait to kick that Illusive Man's ass.
- ME2 had no lesbian romance option. My femshep was very lonely and still hung up on Liara. I thought that Jack not being into women was out of character. Then she told me to stop hitting on her and that I was pissing in her ears or something. Besides, who was I supposed to romance? That frog dude? Garrus? JACOB? (He's dead. By the way.)
- Speaking of, I still need to play through ME2 again to save the crew and my dead team members. That CAN be done, right?
- I like the whole "preparedness" thing. I am looking forward to getting each sector up to snuff.
- Still haven't tried the multiplayer. Sounds like the best part. People are still playing that, right?
- Any downloadable content worth getting for ME2? Like that spy one with the new character? That seemed interesting.

[jaypee]

- It feels like ME2 and plays much like it.

See.. I kind of disagree. I mean, there was more continuity between ME:2-3 than there was between 1-2, but I really think that something was lost in ME:3.

ME:2 was one of my favorite games.. there was just something about it that really blew me away, and that was completely missing from 3.