Mass Effect 3 Message Board  

I wouldn't get my hopes too high. I mean, dollars to donuts, what're the odds BioWare will actually manage to recover from the Spoiler:

nosedive in ME2? From my own perspective as an author, I can firmly say that if we had never learned what the Reapers wipe the galaxy clean for - or even why the Collectors became 1/1 scale human replica model enthusiasts, for that matter - they'd be much, much more intimidating. Hell, just the fact that they're finite in number should've been a well-hidden twist in this one, rather than a "oh yeah btw lookit this ending" shot. If they'd held onto it just until the end of a prologue in ME3, it would be much more significant: shut those damn Council members up about the Reapers not being real by getting more precise intel on how quickly they melt everyone into the shiny, pretty glass surfaces of planets they're making! Mais, pas: Reapers are many, yes, but that makes them even less intimidating, as you're going to have to be able to defeat that significant number of them in order to "win" the game.

They're gonna liberally apply as many tropes as they can. I'll be more shocked if the key to fending the Reapers off is not a MacGuffin created by the Protheans that also created the Spoiler: It will, however, arbitrarily require someone who has experienced the visions the Beacon causes (possibly a philosophical and literal understanding thereof as well, as a failsafe) to actually activate it. However, Shepard will have forgotten everything or not have the right stuff present in the right places, due to the whole attempted atmospheric reentry without a landing craft thing. Bonus points to BioWare if you have to buy DLC in order to fit a dustpan onto the Normandy/whatever ground transport they're going to use this time to scoop up grey matter from low orbit/the ground.

It'll also require an arbitrarily exotic power source, or just a lot of power period, which will be a major part of preparing for the invasion.

I just want to finish Shepard's story, then be done with BioWare (other than TOR, which seems to adhere to their 2006 principles rather than post-EA) myself, unless they can un a third Dragon Age game. I've said it before and I'll say it again: giving ME3 the three "no story, more shooty," mode, a "less shooty, more story," mode, and a "way shootier than the first ME, same amount of story but, like, more predictable" modes is a ploy to get complete idiots to buy a Mass Effect game just to shoot stuff and not get an engaging RPG, or just to get a visual novel with as much chance of failure in combat as one. And even if you disagree with me on all my other points, I think everyone can probably concede that this catering is stripping out the "RPG" part of the Action/RPG gameplay balance the first game was pretty well into mastering. If anything, you now pick a class to choose whether or not you play a cover shooter, a run/close and gun/melee, or button mashy mashfest to use abilities - all framed within a fairly generic branching sci-fi action/adventure plot.

I honestly don't consider myself too biased against it (but not exactly for it anymore, either) - I will still buy 3, still played quite a bit of 2, and I actually wore the original's disc out completely before the PC port was even announced, and bought another one, and then a copy for PC.

Cynical much?

Personally I didn't find the Termin- er, human form Reaper too bad to be honest. It's no more ridiculous than some other things I've seen in gaming. My only real problem with it was the giant gaping hole they left with the explanation of just why it was human form. If I remember correctly, it was because they take on the form of whatever race they were liquefying in order to make it. So why does every other Reaper look exactly the same. Surely they'll have built new Reapers in the past, so why don't some look like other races? Maybe I missed a part of the explanation, but as I understood it it comes across as a half-assed explanation to justify putting a Terminator in the game.

I actually really enjoyed ME2, even with all of the generic stuff they put in to appeal to a wider audience. The cover system is a gimmick, but it works well and BioWare implemented it a whole lot better than most games do. It feels natural to run to a wall, duck behind it, then vault over it guns blazing.

The problem with all of the RPG stuff like the inventory, levelling up, skills, etc, was actually the fault of a large number of fans of the first game. Some of the major complaints about ME1 were that there was too many items and the inventory system was complicated, the skill system didn't make much sense, and the combat didn't feel combaty enough. So they simplified the inventory and the skill system, and implemented a more visceral combat system. Now everyone complaints it's too simple and more shooter than RPG.

It's like the Mako. So many people complained about the Mako itself and how the actual landing on every planet you came across was generic and pointless, except for a handful which had missions. So they took out the Mako and landing on planets in ME2 and made a handful of actual side missions (the N7 ones), only to have a whole ton of people complain that they want the Mako and landing on planets back. I mean, c'mon... you can't have it both ways.

Anyway, this is turning into a rant. I've actually played and finished ME2... I've lost count, but at least 7 or 8 times, whereas I struggled to finish ME1 a second time when the PC port came out. I enjoyed ME1, don't get me wrong, but I just can't finish it for some reason.

In my opinion, BioWare should never have teamed up with EA, and all of that about Dragon Age or the rest of the ME series not being released if they hadn't is a steaming pile. I think all of the DLC crap they're pulling is far more to do with EA than themselves. However, I still think they're one of the best developers, along with CDProjekt Red and Larian Studios. I thoroughly enjoyed DA2. They'd have to do some serious butt f*****g to screw up a game for me. Yes, I know I just sound like a fanboy, and I suppose I am, but that is my honest opinion.