I received a disapointing email today from GAME (UK) telling me that they can no longer send me my pre-ordered collectors edition of ME3. I thought this was an issue of them over-ordering copies till I read on gamesindustry.biz that they are having a dispute with EA over future launches. I'm a bit pissed off about this, but and I'm also feeling sorry for the people who work for GAME (UK) because the company is already in troubled waters, and this dispute, which caused their stock to drop 15% today, brings them one step closer to administration.
I want to know what's happening to all these peoples' pre-ordered N7 editions... they must have been produced by now so where will they go? Call me a sneaky b@$tard if you like, but I'd like to track one of those down!
So, what's up with the terrible reception on metacritic? I'm already sad about seeing that multiplayer will affect single player and having seen that the writer was inspired by twilight books (which might or might not be true).
So, what's up with the terrible reception on metacritic? I'm already sad about seeing that multiplayer will affect single player and having seen that the writer was inspired by twilight books (which might or might not be true).
Dragon Age 2 also burned me quite badly.
does it really affect it? i am just about to wrap up i guess my first mission in mars... and so far nothing that has effected my gameplay.
Ah... i read the pc gamer article... sounds like Valkyrie Profile syndrome.. where you have to send off some of your characters to win the war. Dunno what to think about it just yet.
The story.... amm... no complaints so far. Seems very dramatic, but i like that about the series, and the conversations seem very well written so far. I like it that you don't get bad or good options in dialogue... which makes them feel more like you are in control of what to say, not making you stick to just the one option if you are playing either. At least that is from playing the game an hr and a half.
On the contrary, i felt pretty bad ass when i used a power that teleports me and hits enemies and sends them flying while Sari used her powers. Pretty awesome stuff so far.
Playing it on PC, and its just like ME2. I certainly do like that you can hold F to charge your hits. Makes it even more exciting.
So, what's up with the terrible reception on metacritic? I'm already sad about seeing that multiplayer will affect single player and having seen that the writer was inspired by twilight books (which might or might not be true).
Dragon Age 2 also burned me quite badly.
Well, to be fair they wanted dragon age to be more like mass effect with dragon age 2, so with mass effect 2's success I don't think they need to change that much to get money for it.
Also, people are generally angry about stuff, this time it's the enforced multiplayer and recent dlc events that people are mad about, which causes the lower score.
generally i dont know what the big fuss is about. then again i got it for xbox. the multiplayer i found to be extremely fun because you could play as new classes. and the single player experience is still just as awesome as ever!
I still have it preordered (not released in EU yet) and I certainly hope I'll love it as the other two. Just a bit of trepidation and shock from those scores.
So, what's up with the terrible reception on metacritic? I'm already sad about seeing that multiplayer will affect single player and having seen that the writer was inspired by twilight books (which might or might not be true).
Dragon Age 2 also burned me quite badly.
People are trolling metacritic over the DLC issue and being general asshats. You see this kind of thing on major releases that people like to hate on. The twilight shit is taken out of context from what I remember and she doesn't even work on the mass effect series. Bioware being multiple studios and all.
so he's crying because he made bad decisions in 1 or 2 and/or didnt play the game to its full potential.. its an RPG.. if you dont want to involve yourself in a story.. go play call of duty. in mass effect 1 where u have the choice to
kill wrex.. i couldnt save him. i went back to an earlier save and got more paragon so i could use that option to save him.
thats what it takes to actually give a damn about the choices you make which is the most important thing in a choice based game.
i know people are complaining about origin and whatnot but ive gotten over it altogether. the multiplayer "horde" gametype is one of the funnest ive played of that nature. you get a chance to play different classes AND it helps your story.. why wouldnt you play it..
i guess it really comes down to how much do you care about this game. if someone wants to be spoonfed and not actually have to work at it.. they've put in a gameplay mode for that. no need to worry about the story. but if you want the BEST experience.. then play the game how its meant to be.
I certainly want to try some multiplayer. I don't dislike Origin, i just like having all my games in one place. But i don't really mind if i am playing the game already.
I certainly want to try some multiplayer. I don't dislike Origin, i just like having all my games in one place. But i don't really mind if i am playing the game already.
soon as it goes live here in europe id also love a game with fellow polycounters (r_fletch_r)
Here's how the multiplayer works into all of this, you have three values:
War assets * Galactic readiness = Effective military strength
The final value determines what endings are available to you when you decide to take on the Reapers.
The amount of war assets acquired in the game depend on main story missions and side missions and the saved game you import / the past you select for your character. Also, completing some DLC also adds asset points, and even ME1/2 choices can have an effect on the ending.
Multiplayer can boost galactic readiness up to 100%. Which means that you can basically trade single player content for multiplayer scores, but it is not necessary.
You're required to play multiplayer only if you really FUBARed the single player missions - didn't do any side quests, lost most of your squad in ME2, made really bad calls etc. - and you still want the best possible ending as an option. Although as I've heard they're not really representing good or bad, but various moral stances instead.
I mean this is Mass Effect, does anyone really expect it to end like, Shepard gets lotsa medals in front of a cheering crowd and then rides off into the sunset with all the possible romance subjects?
I post this now as a warning, and perhaps for you to all laugh at my pain.
I, for a reason I will never know, chose not to import my ME1 character when I played ME2. I just booted up ME3 and went to load my character from ME2, should be no problem right? Well, then it tells me that I basically did absolutely everything wrong in ME1, even though I didn't import my character (again, my fault). Doing some research I find out that if you don't import your ME1 character into ME2, and ME2 character into ME3, the game will default you to what bioware has decided, that being, every single person you probably ever liked in the previous games is dead. All of them. You are basically boned when it comes to ME3. Now, I have the pleasure of watching my Mass Effect 3 copy gather dust as I try and find copies of ME1 and ME2 so I can unfuck my profile before I even attempt to play ME3. I don't even know why I posted this, I am an idiot, and I deserved this outcome for not just importing my ME1 character into ME2, I realize I messed up.
I still think it's pretty shitty of Bioware/EA to not give you the choice to say, hey I didn't play ME1, but here's what I would have chosen. I'm going to go cry in a corner.
Actually, I could have sworn I saw that option in the character creation screen. If you choose not to import any character, there's some screen where it asks you about the character's history. And it gives like 3 options, one being all your ex-partners died, another where they all lived, and another where some died.
Unless I'm hallucinating I'm pretty sure I saw that screen (in the demo at least)
It gives you some options, but it only pertains to which characters lived or died. It doesn't let you choose whether or not the rachni queen survived, or if you saved that colony on feros? or other situations like that. Anyways, I found a sort of workaround. I bought a copy of ME2($20.00) and downloaded the Mass Effect: Genesis DLC($5-6?). Basically it allows you to choose what happened in 1. Now all I have to do is a speed run of ME2, and I can play ME3, which still sorta sucks lol.
14 Pounds. The arts great, print quality is great, paper quality is great. Worth picking up.
thanks for the link fella, definitely gonna grab a copy for that price. After playing ME3 for a few hours I was blown away by the artwork and composition of the levels :d
Now, I have the pleasure of watching my Mass Effect 3 copy gather dust as I try and find copies of ME1 and ME2 so I can unfuck my profile before I even attempt to play ME3. I don't even know why I posted this, I am an idiot, and I deserved this outcome for not just importing my ME1 character into ME2, I realize I messed up.
There are various save game editors around the net, although if you have an Xbox version it might be a bit tricky to utilize them. But as far as I know you can even customize your Shepard's face using them and edit every variable from side missions to romantic interests and all decisions, if you remember your choices.
If you only use the character creation menu, or the comic-based Genesis stuff, you might still miss out on a lot of the smaller side characters and events.
@vargatom Yeah, I play on a 360 so the editor stuff isn't really in my realm of possibilities, I'd rather just pony up the cash. Besides, it's not like 1 and 2 were terrible games haha, thank you though. Your kindness has been greatly appreciated in these dark times.
I post this now as a warning, and perhaps for you to all laugh at my pain.
I, for a reason I will never know, chose not to import my ME1 character when I played ME2. I just booted up ME3 and went to load my character from ME2, should be no problem right? Well, then it tells me that I basically did absolutely everything wrong in ME1, even though I didn't import my character (again, my fault).
a friend of mine had a similar situation. he played mass effect 1 for pc.. and got 2 for xbox. when he realized that all his decisions were essentially reversed, he was pissed but he played through it anyway. about 2 weeks ago though he bought mass effect genesis for xbox (i think it came out quite a bit after the ps3 version was released), and was able to choose all his choices correctly from the first game. so it is a bit of extra money and playing, but for those who never got through 1.. it could be an option to choose.
My workmate pointed out something I found quite amusing today...
In the demo/game when the reapers first invade, the screens on the wall show London being invaded just before they fly down and fry the tower you're in...
But in real life the USA is getting the game 3 days earlier than England. Wouldn't it have been really cool to release it in the UK earlier and then we could have all posted online to wail about the reaper invasion! Oh well...
a friend of mine had a similar situation. he played mass effect 1 for pc.. and got 2 for xbox. when he realized that all his decisions were essentially reversed, he was pissed but he played through it anyway. about 2 weeks ago though he bought mass effect genesis for xbox (i think it came out quite a bit after the ps3 version was released), and was able to choose all his choices correctly from the first game. so it is a bit of extra money and playing, but for those who never got through 1.. it could be an option to choose.
Yeah, I posted earlier that I had downloaded genesis, and gotten a copy of 2, but after doing research, which I should have done in the first place, realized that a there's some other important choices that it doesn't let you make, such as the Thorian, the colony on Feros I believe, and a few others. My buddy is going to lend me his ME1 copy and I'm just going to do a power run through ME1 and 2. Shitty and time-consuming, but in my opinion worth it to get the ultimate ending.
Been playing this a little bit. Honestly, I had tons of fun just running around the citadel, talking to the NPCs, looking at the environment. I got the feeling I was in that world. Did anyone else get that feeling?
I'm almost wishing they made a game that takes place in the ME universe that had no combat. Just travel and trading and whatnot. Make it online too, and I know I'll play it.
I guess. I'm just saying I'd like to see a non-combat game. I'd like to see more non-combat games in general actually. And ME3 reminded me of how much fun that can be with their non-combat sections of the game.
Could be an MMO. Could be something smaller too, I don't know. Maybe a civ-effect? Or world of mass-effect? Either way.
If there was a Civilization "mass effect" edition, where the different races were represented as the different cultures. Oh dear...wait......wait...do you hear that? Thats all the sand in the hourglass known as Time that would be lost to that game if it existed.
Yeah, in many ways it feels like coming back to a familiar place and seeing guys you've been friendly with. Makes the presence of war a lot more serious, too.
Wouldn't it have been really cool to release it in the UK earlier and then we could have all posted online to wail about the reaper invasion! Oh well...
On the launch night there was a twitter feed from one of the game characters, Emily Wong (a reporter) who was sending live updates from LA as the Reapers invaded. It was of course a lot more effective to follow in real time but I think some of the cleverness of the writing comes through even if you read it now.
Mae sure you start at the bottom and don't spoil the end for yourself.
I guess. I'm just saying I'd like to see a non-combat game. I'd like to see more non-combat games in general actually. And ME3 reminded me of how much fun that can be with their non-combat sections of the game.
Agreed.
I've actually taken up the trader career in Eve online just for a break from the whole shooting thing. A game like that with tasty characters and environments like in Mass Effect would be amazing.
I don't disagree either. Something like a smuggler's game, where there's a lot of emphasis on your character's connections, interaction and actions. It provides some real level of threat, the possibility for some more minor action, and most importantly a nice big web of tangled interests to get stuck in.
I don't disagree either. Something like a smuggler's game, where there's a lot of emphasis on your character's connections, interaction and actions. It provides some real level of threat, the possibility for some more minor action, and most importantly a nice big web of tangled interests to get stuck in.
that, and games where you got to remember a lot of little details to use later in the game are cool. When the game can make you feel like you got past a certain situation because of your own personal intelligence and attention to detail, it is a very cool feeling.
man, they've really improved on the exteriors!
has anyone noticed there are some really odd decisions on polycount, its like they want some of the elements to look low poly. the dropships guns really suffer from this.
I've noticed that the textures on things like characters are lower resolution than the previous title, and it is particularly jarring. The animation is diabolically awful and there are some painful graphical artifacts.
Painful visual problems aside, it's ok thus far, but not not brilliant. I'm two hours in, and the game seems to be picking up however. I've noticed a distinct lack in conversation options, as well as the chocies you pick being very disconnected to what you actually say, which is proving to be frustrating. I've also already had to awkwardly dodge one relationship encounter - not because the character is coming on to me, but because I didn't really have the options not to encourage it!
Did anyone look up at the skydome on earth? Nasty nasty seam right in the middle and it looks compressed as well not to mention motionless. I stood there as a Reaper came towards me and couldn't figure out how that sky got passed through quality control.
However their interior work is awesome. The Citadel is by far the best looking of the three games.
Mars has the same issue - it's clearly polar mapped, as there's a dirty great black circle right in the middle of the sky dome - it's very obvious in some places.
Replies
Alot of people said they found traces of the character way before. At work so cant sift for link lol its on bioware forum i think tho
I traded in loads of stuff to save me some moneys against it aswell
[ame="
http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/03/06/mass-effect-3-war-assets-and-readiness-how-multiplayer-affects-your-ending/
Dragon Age 2 also burned me quite badly.
or even easier, just mod it .. >_> no never going to play MP
does it really affect it? i am just about to wrap up i guess my first mission in mars... and so far nothing that has effected my gameplay.
Ah... i read the pc gamer article... sounds like Valkyrie Profile syndrome.. where you have to send off some of your characters to win the war. Dunno what to think about it just yet.
The story.... amm... no complaints so far. Seems very dramatic, but i like that about the series, and the conversations seem very well written so far. I like it that you don't get bad or good options in dialogue... which makes them feel more like you are in control of what to say, not making you stick to just the one option if you are playing either. At least that is from playing the game an hr and a half.
On the contrary, i felt pretty bad ass when i used a power that teleports me and hits enemies and sends them flying while Sari used her powers. Pretty awesome stuff so far.
Playing it on PC, and its just like ME2. I certainly do like that you can hold F to charge your hits. Makes it even more exciting.
Well, to be fair they wanted dragon age to be more like mass effect with dragon age 2, so with mass effect 2's success I don't think they need to change that much to get money for it.
Also, people are generally angry about stuff, this time it's the enforced multiplayer and recent dlc events that people are mad about, which causes the lower score.
People are trolling metacritic over the DLC issue and being general asshats. You see this kind of thing on major releases that people like to hate on. The twilight shit is taken out of context from what I remember and she doesn't even work on the mass effect series. Bioware being multiple studios and all.
so he's crying because he made bad decisions in 1 or 2 and/or didnt play the game to its full potential.. its an RPG.. if you dont want to involve yourself in a story.. go play call of duty. in mass effect 1 where u have the choice to
i know people are complaining about origin and whatnot but ive gotten over it altogether. the multiplayer "horde" gametype is one of the funnest ive played of that nature. you get a chance to play different classes AND it helps your story.. why wouldnt you play it..
i guess it really comes down to how much do you care about this game. if someone wants to be spoonfed and not actually have to work at it.. they've put in a gameplay mode for that. no need to worry about the story. but if you want the BEST experience.. then play the game how its meant to be.
glottis8 / glottis8@gmail.com
I certainly want to try some multiplayer. I don't dislike Origin, i just like having all my games in one place. But i don't really mind if i am playing the game already.
soon as it goes live here in europe id also love a game with fellow polycounters (r_fletch_r)
War assets * Galactic readiness = Effective military strength
The final value determines what endings are available to you when you decide to take on the Reapers.
The amount of war assets acquired in the game depend on main story missions and side missions and the saved game you import / the past you select for your character. Also, completing some DLC also adds asset points, and even ME1/2 choices can have an effect on the ending.
Multiplayer can boost galactic readiness up to 100%. Which means that you can basically trade single player content for multiplayer scores, but it is not necessary.
You're required to play multiplayer only if you really FUBARed the single player missions - didn't do any side quests, lost most of your squad in ME2, made really bad calls etc. - and you still want the best possible ending as an option. Although as I've heard they're not really representing good or bad, but various moral stances instead.
I mean this is Mass Effect, does anyone really expect it to end like, Shepard gets lotsa medals in front of a cheering crowd and then rides off into the sunset with all the possible romance subjects?
I, for a reason I will never know, chose not to import my ME1 character when I played ME2. I just booted up ME3 and went to load my character from ME2, should be no problem right? Well, then it tells me that I basically did absolutely everything wrong in ME1, even though I didn't import my character (again, my fault). Doing some research I find out that if you don't import your ME1 character into ME2, and ME2 character into ME3, the game will default you to what bioware has decided, that being, every single person you probably ever liked in the previous games is dead. All of them. You are basically boned when it comes to ME3. Now, I have the pleasure of watching my Mass Effect 3 copy gather dust as I try and find copies of ME1 and ME2 so I can unfuck my profile before I even attempt to play ME3. I don't even know why I posted this, I am an idiot, and I deserved this outcome for not just importing my ME1 character into ME2, I realize I messed up.
I still think it's pretty shitty of Bioware/EA to not give you the choice to say, hey I didn't play ME1, but here's what I would have chosen. I'm going to go cry in a corner.
Unless I'm hallucinating I'm pretty sure I saw that screen (in the demo at least)
14 Pounds. The arts great, print quality is great, paper quality is great. Worth picking up.
thanks for the link fella, definitely gonna grab a copy for that price. After playing ME3 for a few hours I was blown away by the artwork and composition of the levels :d
There are various save game editors around the net, although if you have an Xbox version it might be a bit tricky to utilize them. But as far as I know you can even customize your Shepard's face using them and edit every variable from side missions to romantic interests and all decisions, if you remember your choices.
If you only use the character creation menu, or the comic-based Genesis stuff, you might still miss out on a lot of the smaller side characters and events.
a friend of mine had a similar situation. he played mass effect 1 for pc.. and got 2 for xbox. when he realized that all his decisions were essentially reversed, he was pissed but he played through it anyway. about 2 weeks ago though he bought mass effect genesis for xbox (i think it came out quite a bit after the ps3 version was released), and was able to choose all his choices correctly from the first game. so it is a bit of extra money and playing, but for those who never got through 1.. it could be an option to choose.
In the demo/game when the reapers first invade, the screens on the wall show London being invaded just before they fly down and fry the tower you're in...
But in real life the USA is getting the game 3 days earlier than England. Wouldn't it have been really cool to release it in the UK earlier and then we could have all posted online to wail about the reaper invasion! Oh well...
Yeah, I posted earlier that I had downloaded genesis, and gotten a copy of 2, but after doing research, which I should have done in the first place, realized that a there's some other important choices that it doesn't let you make, such as the Thorian, the colony on Feros I believe, and a few others. My buddy is going to lend me his ME1 copy and I'm just going to do a power run through ME1 and 2. Shitty and time-consuming, but in my opinion worth it to get the ultimate ending.
I'm almost wishing they made a game that takes place in the ME universe that had no combat. Just travel and trading and whatnot. Make it online too, and I know I'll play it.
gibbed wrote one i think.
I guess. I'm just saying I'd like to see a non-combat game. I'd like to see more non-combat games in general actually. And ME3 reminded me of how much fun that can be with their non-combat sections of the game.
Could be an MMO. Could be something smaller too, I don't know. Maybe a civ-effect? Or world of mass-effect? Either way.
On the launch night there was a twitter feed from one of the game characters, Emily Wong (a reporter) who was sending live updates from LA as the Reapers invaded. It was of course a lot more effective to follow in real time but I think some of the cleverness of the writing comes through even if you read it now.
Mae sure you start at the bottom and don't spoil the end for yourself.
https://twitter.com/#!/alliancenewsnet
Reminds me of the legendary War of the Worlds radio play by Orson Welles.
Agreed.
I've actually taken up the trader career in Eve online just for a break from the whole shooting thing. A game like that with tasty characters and environments like in Mass Effect would be amazing.
that, and games where you got to remember a lot of little details to use later in the game are cool. When the game can make you feel like you got past a certain situation because of your own personal intelligence and attention to detail, it is a very cool feeling.
has anyone noticed there are some really odd decisions on polycount, its like they want some of the elements to look low poly. the dropships guns really suffer from this.
Painful visual problems aside, it's ok thus far, but not not brilliant. I'm two hours in, and the game seems to be picking up however. I've noticed a distinct lack in conversation options, as well as the chocies you pick being very disconnected to what you actually say, which is proving to be frustrating. I've also already had to awkwardly dodge one relationship encounter - not because the character is coming on to me, but because I didn't really have the options not to encourage it!
However their interior work is awesome. The Citadel is by far the best looking of the three games.