Mass Effect

[VelikyNovgorod4]

I recently started playing the Mass Effect trilogy and I have to say it's awesome. I've never been more obsessed with a game series at least not since I played through Resistance 2 and 3. What I made this forum for is because of the all to infamous Mass Effect 3. Am I the only disappointed with not just the end but the game overall? As I played through it the first time I noticed a lot of stuff felt missing and they're was a lot of parts where something was revealed but never spoken of again. Now i'm on my second play through and it's only gotten more disappointing, it has honestly gotten to the point that I just wish they would completely redo Mass Effect 3. Am I the only one who feels this away about the game? I know i'm only what? 5 to 6 years late but hey better late then never.

[KingGuy420]

I loved 3. Some of the best moments in the series came from it. Not to mention, at the time, it had the best gameplay and the most depth in the series. I also LOVED the multiplayer, definitely sunk close to 1000 hours into it lol. Overall I thought it was a great experience.

[RadiantFlamberge]

I liked the ME trilogy also.  I'd buy a re-mastered version on PS4.  I was late to it also, playing the first two in 2016 & the third in early 2017 on Origin.  The 3rd-person shooting action in it is well done, with some nice power combos.

 

Mass Effect Andromeda didn't deserve most of the flack it got.  It may not be perfect, but it's still good.  The jetpack jumping mechanic in it got to be fun.  I missed being able to tell your squadmates to use a power like in the original trilogy, but at least you can carry 4 sets of 3 powers to switch between.     The morality system has been reworked- it's not Paragon/Renegade anymore.  I need to finish this one sometime.

[VelikyNovgorod4]

9 minutes ago, KingGuy420 said:

I loved 3. Some of the best moments in the series came from it. Not to mention, at the time, it had the best gameplay and the most depth in the series. I also LOVED the multiplayer, definitely sunk close to 1000 hours into it lol. Overall I thought it was a great experience.

So far my experience with the multiplayer has been ok however I noticed that our loot box troubles definitely didn't start recently 

Just now, gameoverDude189 said:

I liked the ME trilogy also.  I'd buy a re-mastered version on PS4.  I was late to it also, playing the first two in 2016 & the third in early 2017 on Origin.  The 3rd-person shooting action in it is well done, with some nice power combos.

 

Mass Effect Andromeda didn't deserve most of the flack it got.  It may not be perfect, but it's still good.  The jetpack jumping mechanic in it got to be fun.  I missed being able to tell your squadmates to use a power like in the original trilogy, but at least you can carry 4 sets of 3 powers to switch between.     The morality system has been reworked- it's not Paragon/Renegade anymore.  I need to finish this one sometime.

Anything on the 3rd though?

[KingGuy420]

8 minutes ago, VelikyNovgorod4 said:

however I noticed that our loot box troubles definitely didn't start recently 

 

Those loot boxes funded 5 massive free DLC's that rival most full price expansions lol. Besides, most people only complain about loot boxes when they give a competitive advantage, no competitive in ME3 so they were fine. I got everything unlocked without buying one. This is one of the few games that did loot boxes right IMO. No one considered them troubles then lol.

[VelikyNovgorod4]

2 minutes ago, KingGuy420 said:

 

Those loot boxes funded 5 massive free DLC's that rival most full price expansions lol. Besides, most people only complain about loot boxes when they give a competitive advantage, no competitive in ME3 so they were fine. I got everything unlocked without buying one. This is one of the few games that did loot boxes right IMO. No one considered them troubles then lol.

Dude all I want is a Batarian but I can't get that cause I gotta get the right loot box how is that still right? Not to mention you can't just say it funded huge DLC's because what about the game sales? Or the sales of the DLC themselves

[Elvick_]

18 minutes ago, gameoverDude189 said:

Mass Effect Andromeda didn't deserve most of the flack it got.  It may not be perfect, but it's still good.  The jetpack jumping mechanic in it got to be fun.  I missed being able to tell your squadmates to use a power like in the original trilogy, but at least you can carry 4 sets of 3 powers to switch between.     The morality system has been reworked- it's not Paragon/Renegade anymore.  I need to finish this one sometime.

Gonna disagree there. It deserved all the flack it got. Some pretty awful writing, acting is all over the place, character animation for gameplay is ambitious but ended up with a loooooot of derpy animations. Facial animation was atrocious, not much better after the patch, launched super glitchy.

Is it the worst game ever? No. Does it deserve the insane amount of criticism, yes.

I can see the potential there, and it's a shame EA doesn't care about quality products. There were some talented people obviously working on the game, the rain on armor looked insane.

[RadiantFlamberge]

22 minutes ago, VelikyNovgorod4 said:

Anything on the 3rd though?

I'd say it's good, while admitting it's not perfect.  ME3 does do some things a bit better, like the power wheel.   With the Reapers being no more, the Kett are the main enemy.  Later you learn some nasty secrets about them.  Loyalty missions must be done to unlock level 6 on your squadmates' powers.  You get the Nomad, a vehicle to drive over the planet surfaces.  Unlike ME1's Mako, it isn't armed & you need to jump out to fight if there are enemies.  In combat, your allies will call out if they're going to use a power.  You can still tell them to go to a certain spot on the field.  There are some good combos in this one as well.

 

With the Trilogy games using Unreal 3, I wonder how it would've been if EA had allowed BioWare to go with Unreal 4 instead of Frostbite for the engine.  Maybe better?

 

The price has come way down on Andromeda.  Amazon has a physical PS4 copy for $11.50.  The digital version is around $10 standard/$15 deluxe at PSN if you've got PSPlus.

[Redgrave]

Yeah, Mass Effect 3's problems are more than just the endings, and as much as I loved Mass Effect 2 I think that game is also to blame. But I think a large part of it is because the main writer for Mass Effect 1 didn't really have anything to do with it since he was busy with The Old Republic MMO and the Revan tie-in novel for it, and Mass Effect 2 was pretty much just a build-up for ME3 in the way Dragon Age II was for Inquisition in which there was a lot of filler content that didn't matter that much in ME3 or they would handwave a lot of the issues from the first game away. Like despite everything that happened, the ending of Mass Effect 1 made it seem like some big thing was going to happen in ME2, but nope, everything is just reverted to a sort of blank slate because the story handwaves a lot of things that happen in the first game. ME3 sort of does this too, and I really feel like it's because the main writer wasn't on board so whoever was put in charge of ME2 and ME3 weren't really sure what to do, so when ME2 happens almost everything gets set back, yet a good majority of the events in ME2 don't matter that much in ME3, so Mass Effect 3 also takes a hit from it because there wasn't really much to go on apart from the basics.

 

And a lot of the issues from the writing also comes in the form of the characters as well in which the characters from the first game feel completely different in both the second and third. For example, Ashley is a hypocrite because in the first game she's all "I don't like aliens" but when she learns you're in Cerberus she shames you for it even though Cerberus sounds like it would be right up her alley. And apart from The Illusive Man, there wasn't really an interesting villain. You're supposed to pretend Kai Leng is cool, but he's really just a lame jobber that gets beat up by a dying Thane (I also want to include that in a novel he snuck into Anderson's apartment and ate his cereal. I will not let anyone not know about this). If you want a game with a cyborg ninja that's actually cool, play Metal Gear Solid 4 or Revengeance.

 

I'm sure there are plenty of other examples but it's been so long since I've played the games, and I don't want to make this post a big essay. The basic gist is yes, Mass Effect 3 has a lot of issues that are more than just the endings, but I think the cause can also be pointed towards Mass Effect 2 and the changing of the writers.

 

Gameplay-wise, I did feel the cover-shooting stuff was a bit better than the others but I might be remembering it differently. But in terms of side-quests and whatnot yeah, a lot of them were just generic fetch quests that didn't really matter in the long run.

 

However thinking back on it, Mass Effect: Andromeda makes all the issues from Mass Effect 3 seem pretty tame by comparison. Like I wish Mass Effect 3 was the way the series went out, but Andromeda had to hit the ground so hard that it would have to look up to see rock bottom.

[VelikyNovgorod4]

28 minutes ago, Redgrave said:

Yeah, Mass Effect 3's problems are more than just the endings, and as much as I loved Mass Effect 2 I think that game is also to blame. But I think a large part of it is because the main writer for Mass Effect 1 didn't really have anything to do with it since he was busy with The Old Republic MMO and the Revan tie-in novel for it, and Mass Effect 2 was pretty much just a build-up for ME3 in the way Dragon Age II was for Inquisition in which there was a lot of filler content that didn't matter that much in ME3 or they would handwave a lot of the issues from the first game away. Like despite everything that happened, the ending of Mass Effect 1 made it seem like some big thing was going to happen in ME2, but nope, everything is just reverted to a sort of blank slate because the story handwaves a lot of things that happen in the first game. ME3 sort of does this too, and I really feel like it's because the main writer wasn't on board so whoever was put in charge of ME2 and ME3 weren't really sure what to do, so when ME2 happens almost everything gets set back, yet a good majority of the events in ME2 don't matter that much in ME3, so Mass Effect 3 also takes a hit from it because there wasn't really much to go on apart from the basics.

 

And a lot of the issues from the writing also comes in the form of the characters as well in which the characters from the first game feel completely different in both the second and third. For example, Ashley is a hypocrite because in the first game she's all "I don't like aliens" but when she learns you're in Cerberus she shames you for it even though Cerberus sounds like it would be right up her alley. And apart from The Illusive Man, there wasn't really an interesting villain. You're supposed to pretend Kai Leng is cool, but he's really just a lame jobber that gets beat up by a dying Thane (I also want to include that in a novel he snuck into Anderson's apartment and ate his cereal. I will not let anyone not know about this). If you want a game with a cyborg ninja that's actually cool, play Metal Gear Solid 4 or Revengeance.

 

I'm sure there are plenty of other examples but it's been so long since I've played the games, and I don't want to make this post a big essay. The basic gist is yes, Mass Effect 3 has a lot of issues that are more than just the endings, but I think the cause can also be pointed towards Mass Effect 2 and the changing of the writers.

 

Gameplay-wise, I did feel the cover-shooting stuff was a bit better than the others but I might be remembering it differently. But in terms of side-quests and whatnot yeah, a lot of them were just generic fetch quests that didn't really matter in the long run.

 

However thinking back on it, Mass Effect: Andromeda makes all the issues from Mass Effect 3 seem pretty tame by comparison. Like I wish Mass Effect 3 was the way the series went out, but Andromeda had to hit the ground so hard that it would have to look up to see rock bottom.

Thank you for the paragraph actually lol. Some of the problems I see though don't come from the story of ME2 but the fact that the game seems rushed. The true side quests were very few and the ones we got were very uninteresting. Then we have all the "go scan this planet and retrieve this for me" quests. Some of those scan and retrieve quests could have been legit quests like saving the rest of the Elcor Flotilla or stopping Balak from sabotaging things on the citadel. Like imagine getting a distress call from Khar' Shan and you get to go down there and investigate what it is. Then as you get down there it ends up in you finding Balak and what's left of the Batarian military that didn't escape when the reapers invaded. Then you get the chance to save him or kill him for his actions in the first game. But no we don't get that it's a simple scan these locations and then TADA I'M ALIVE BITCH. That's what i'm talking about though the game feels rushed and a lot of opportunities like with Balak are completely wasted. Then the squad is reduced to 6 again which I don't mind having a smaller squad from ME2 but it's mostly characters from ME1 and no one from ME2 (technically EDI but you couldn't play her in ME2) and a lot of the characters from ME2 have lame reasons for not joining you. Like Jacob doesn't join because he has to protect his people even though they were sent to the safest place in the galaxy or Miranda because she has to watch out for her sister even though once again she's kinda in the safest place in the galaxy. I really thought that while I didn't mind the squad being smaller it became to small. A perfect fit would have been 9 or 10 not 6 (or 7 if you include the DLC) and that's just another example of the game feeling rushed or that they possibly couldn't have cared enough. Also an example of there being no small details would be at the final battle on earth. Where are the batarians that joined me? Where are the Elcor that joined me? The Drell and Quarians aren't anywhere to be seen either (The Quarians in space but that's it). But I don't see how any of that fits with ME2's story because I felt the main story line was fine up until that terrible ending we all know and love. Although brushing off the collectors for the most part sucked since it didn't give ME2 any obvious impact.

[Redgrave]

13 minutes ago, VelikyNovgorod4 said:

Thank you for the paragraph actually lol. Some of the problems I see though don't come from the story of ME2 but the fact that the game seems rushed. The true side quests were very few and the ones we got were very uninteresting. Then we have all the "go scan this planet and retrieve this for me" quests. Some of those scan and retrieve quests could have been legit quests like saving the rest of the Elcor Flotilla or stopping Balak from sabotaging things on the citadel. Like imagine getting a distress call from Khar' Shan and you get to go down there and investigate what it is. Then as you get down there it ends up in you finding Balak and what's left of the Batarian military that didn't escape when the reapers invaded. Then you get the chance to save him or kill him for his actions in the first game. But no we don't get that it's a simple scan these locations and then TADA I'M ALIVE BITCH. That's what i'm talking about though the game feels rushed and a lot of opportunities like with Balak are completely wasted. Then the squad is reduced to 6 again which I don't mind having a smaller squad from ME2 but it's mostly characters from ME1 and no one from ME2 (technically EDI but you couldn't play her in ME2) and a lot of the characters from ME2 have lame reasons for not joining you. Like Jacob doesn't join because he has to protect his people even though they were sent to the safest place in the galaxy or Miranda because she has to watch out for her sister even though once again she's kinda in the safest place in the galaxy. I really thought that while I didn't mind the squad being smaller it became to small. A perfect fit would have been 9 or 10 not 6 (or 7 if you include the DLC) and that's just another example of the game feeling rushed or that they possibly couldn't have cared enough. Also an example of there being no small details would be at the final battle on earth. Where are the batarians that joined me? Where are the Elcor that joined me? The Drell and Quarians aren't anywhere to be seen either (The Quarians in space but that's it). But I don't see how any of that fits with ME2's story because I felt the main story line was fine up until that terrible ending we all know and love. Although brushing off the collectors for the most part sucked since it didn't give ME2 any obvious impact.

 

Like I said, I don't think ME2 was the sole reason for it but I think how ME2 pretty much has a blank slate from the first game didn't help that much along with a good portion of the game being filler material for the third game that mostly didn't matter too much anyway. Dragon Age also suffered this in it's own way with Dragon Age II not really having anything going on up until the final act and as far as I remember, almost nothing you did in Dragon Age: Origins or Dragon Age II didn't matter for Inquisition except influence some dialogue options and I guess slightly change the way the political structure of the world was built.

 

But yeah, Mass Effect 3 did have signs of it being rushed. I remember a video a long time ago showing that the game had re-used textures and some assets from the previous games. And yes, definitely the biggest issue with the final battle for Earth was how you don't really get to see all those assets you built up put to good use. It would have been great seeing Elcor artillery or something where if you don't have them the final battle changes a bit more. The space battle portion was okay, but the ground battle was the real meat of it and you don't really get much out of it apart from seeing Krogan and Asari in a couple cutscenes that they were probably already going to be there in anyway.

 

Thinking on it, they really missed an opportunity to have it like the way the last battle in Dragon Age: Origins was done where you could select to summon reinforcements from whatever faction you were allied with. It would have been a cool mechanic to be able to call in Asari snipers to pick off Reapers or Krogan brutes to charge in and take damage. Ah, what could have been :[

[VelikyNovgorod4]

2 minutes ago, Redgrave said:

 

Like I said, I don't think ME2 was the sole reason for it but I think how ME2 pretty much has a blank slate from the first game didn't help that much along with a good portion of the game being filler material for the third game that mostly didn't matter too much anyway. Dragon Age also suffered this in it's own way with Dragon Age II not really having anything going on up until the final act and as far as I remember, almost nothing you did in Dragon Age: Origins or Dragon Age II didn't matter for Inquisition except influence some dialogue options and I guess slightly change the way the political structure of the world was built.

 

But yeah, Mass Effect 3 did have signs of it being rushed. I remember a video a long time ago showing that the game had re-used textures and some assets from the previous games. And yes, definitely the biggest issue with the final battle for Earth was how you don't really get to see all those assets you built up put to good use. It would have been great seeing Elcor artillery or something where if you don't have them the final battle changes a bit more. The space battle portion was okay, but the ground battle was the real meat of it and you don't really get much out of it apart from seeing Krogan and Asari in a couple cutscenes that they were probably already going to be there in anyway.

 

Thinking on it, they really missed an opportunity to have it like the way the last battle in Dragon Age: Origins was done where you could select to summon reinforcements from whatever faction you were allied with. It would have been a cool mechanic to be able to call in Asari snipers to pick off Reapers or Krogan brutes to charge in and take damage. Ah, what could have been :[

 

I thought a huge missed opportunity was to implement the system they had for the suicide mission in ME2 where you have certain squad members break off to hold off enemy troops for you while also pulling someone off to hack a console at the same time. I think they could have evolved it to be bigger and better in ME3. Also it's why I really wish they'd bite the bullet and possibly redo the 3rd one or at least make some major changes if they remaster it but that might be to much to ask for even though i'm sure it'd sell well.