Mass Effect 3

[Yong]

It's not so much hard to understand, it's that, looking at it from the shoes of someone who didn't play and doesn't know what happened in the Arrival, why Shepard would suddenly be in trouble for something the player apparently didn't do. Then again the "big moral choice" in the Arrival was essentially taken out of the player's hands, so it definitely is a "this happened to Shepard and you have no control over it, whether you were there or not" situation, much like the 2 background properties you pick for him/her. Bioware will most definitely recap for those that didn't play it. I've bought the DLC so I'm good, but I know many others will have not, especially given how poorly reviewed the Arrival was.

[turbojet]

What is the point of keeping everybody alive when you can't use them again? And where the hell could Tali go if she has been exiled from the Flotilla? And why the hell did they have to go and make Ashley fine as all hell and make me have to reboot Mass Effect 2 story so I have to sleep with her? Bioware, WHYYYYYYYYY?

[Patticus]

Wait so does that mean that the Arrival DLC is going to be "required" DLC, despite the $7 pricetag? Cause I'm sure there's gonna be a lot of confused people who start up Mass Effect 3 and haven't played the DLC.

If you don't like it, YouTube it.

Since they didn't do it in ME2 proper, Arrival is necessary to bring Shepard to Earth, where ME3 begins.

Some more low quality pics:

I love this one!

A set-piece spoiler:

Only other thing I realized I left out is that they watched a video of a segment involve a krogan vehicle train with Shepard riding along, and as it goes a Reaper comes down from the sky to attack. Shepard's vehicle is destoryed, and fighting the thing is impossible on foot. Then a Thresher Maw comes out of the ground and attacks the Reaper. The Thresher gets the upper hand by coiling itself around the Reaper, then drags it underground. It gets quiet, and seems to be over, then laser fire begins erupting from the ground, and Shepard decides this is a good place not to be.

That sounds pretty mental.

I thought Reaper ships dwarfed even the Destiny Ascension, that Thresher must be huge!

[Patticus]

GameInformer scans:

Wow. Just... holy shit wow. A full-blown galactic war. All of the things Shepard's going to be doing. Those set-pieces. A replacement for the Mako and generic surveying. Can't wait to see more of this game, it's shaping up nicely to be a fantastic GOTY contender.

Don't let me down now, Bioware!

[turbojet]

GameInformer scans:

Wow. Just... holy shit wow. A full-blown galactic war. All of the things Shepard's going to be doing. Those set-pieces. A replacement for the Mako and generic surveying. Can't wait to see more of this game, it's shaping up nicely to be a fantastic GOTY contender.

Don't let me down now, Bioware!

Well shit. I am going to be gamed out this year. I seriously need to just take my parents PS3. They don't need it.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

This is quite a work from your usual video-game as far as well-written plots go.

It's not as if a good choice leads to a good outcome and vice versa for a bad choice. All the things you've done in the previous games, be it good or bad, can seriously jack you up despite your intentions. Sacrificing entire civilizations?! This isn't your usual plot with a happy ending...things are going to be pretty bittersweet.

I seriously have to finish ME1 and go to 2.

[Saint Nathan]

This is quite a work from your usual video-game as far as well-written plots go.

It's not as if a good choice leads to a good outcome and vice versa for a bad choice. All the things you've done in the previous games, be it good or bad, can seriously jack you up despite your intentions. Sacrificing entire civilizations?! This isn't your usual plot with a happy ending...things are going to be pretty bittersweet.

I seriously have to finish ME1 and go to 2.

Mass Effect has always been like that. The line between Paragon and Renegade is not one of how evil you are, but how much of a dick you are.

[Dobkeratops]

Mass Effect has always been like that. The line between Paragon and Renegade is not one of how evil you are, but how much of a dick you are.

This.

The drive behind every para/rene choice for my Shepard is just how tired she is of this bullshit. Needless to say, punching in the face wins by a landslide - yet I rarely was locked out of a "good ending" by doing so. Ended with the alignment bars at roughly 50 / 100.

I was doing a male 100% paragon soldier run in ME2 and oh boy that's triple the boredom. It's like I'm playing fucking Carrot with all the generic goody-two-shoe responses. Guess that's why Bioware tends to favor paragon players, to compensate; but I'd love for a MAJOR renegade choice to have a surprisingly positive outcome in 3.

I'm looking at you,

Collector Base

.

Edited April 11, 2011 by Dobkeratops

[turbojet]

So I read that melee is going to be a huge part of combat and after looking at Patticus's scans which I saw a guy with a sword, I just have to say this....

Make this happen Bioware and I will buy every game you guys ever made. I mean shit. Who wouldn't want to play a game with a Zero expy with an energy sword while searching the galaxy chopping bastards up? YES PLEASE!

[Flint]

Some better versions of the screenshots from those scans. Mainly just some rather uneventful and non-revealing combat shots.

That krogan husk is rather oh my tho.

Edited May 4, 2011 by Flint

[turbojet]

Some better versions of the screenshots from those scans. Mainly just some rather uneventful and non-revealing combat shots.

That krogan husk is rather oh my tho.

Might have to do with the Reapers invading Tuchanka.

[Flint]

Delayed until Q1 2012.

[Saint Nathan]

Delayed until Q1 2012.

Aw it's not too bad. Delayed three months at most. At least it's not a whole year.

Besides, they have to REALLY work at this. they can't just make the endings the result of one or two decisions at the end, they have to make it a cumulative climax and ending to the story based on EVERY DECISION YOU MAKE. That's gotta take a while.

[Flint]

Gives me more time buy some of the DLC and play it, at least.

EDIT:

When asked about the delay, EA boss John Riccitiello said, "Essentially, step by step, [bioWare is] adjusting some of the gameplay mechanics and some of the features that you'll see at E3 that can put this into a genre equivalent of shooter-meets-RPG, and essentially address a far larger market opportunity than Mass Effect 1 did and Mass Effect 2 began to approach."

http://www.joystiq.com/2011/05/04/mass-effect-3-delayed-to-adjust-mechanics-for-larger-market-opp/

Uh oh.

Edited May 5, 2011 by Flint

[Sega DogTagz]

It's weird that we can legitimately look at Q4 of this year, remove a surefire AAA game like Mass Effect 3, and still refer to whats left as "stacked".

Sucks that I won't get to take it to the Reapers again till 2012, but its not like this year is so hurting for games that we actually needed it. I'll be lucky if I have money in 2012. I might have to take out a second mortgage to pay off the debt I'll find myself in at the end of 2011.

[Patticus]

Never mind. If that's what it takes, that's what it takes.

Here are a couple of new images to cheer you up:

[Saint Nathan]

Gives me more time buy some of the DLC and play it, at least.

EDIT:

http://www.joystiq.com/2011/05/04/mass-effect-3-delayed-to-adjust-mechanics-for-larger-market-opp/

Uh oh.

Er. Okay.

Didn't... didn't they already say this was what they were trying to do? Make the combat better? I mean in Mass Effect 1 it was okay at best, Mass Effect 2 was pretty good though. If they just expand on that I'm not seeing too much issue.

They won't cut down on story, as that takes away the best selling point of the game, and the chances of their planned leveling system is more than likely still on. That's... well that's the RPG aspects worth keeping. Everything else is shooter. Working on what is essentially the second biggest part of the game is not a bad thing.

[Remy]

That quote doesn't exactly fill me with confidence, but hopefully the RPG bits will still be in there

More time in the cooker is probably a good thing for the game though, might get rid of that "bioware rushed this shit" feeling most of their games have.

[Saint Nathan]

More time in the cooker is probably a good thing for the game though, might get rid of that "bioware rushed this shit" feeling most of their games have.

They tend to have a problem where they go "Okay we can get this shit DONE within ____ amount of time."

And then later on they go "holy shit I did not know time had real, physical limitations, we can literally not get this done" and so they kinda rush it. And then they convince themselves they can do it AGAIN.

Mass Effect in itself is a very big representation of this. Very grand, actually epic scale, but that takes a lot more time to perfect than they seem to have given it. They just happened to get it pretty close to the bullseye.

Sonic Chronicles is when they completely miss both the bullseye and the dartboard itself, and the dart just flies into a neighbor's window, and hits someone in the eye.

[turbojet]

Okay, I can see my gimped up Shepard now. Tearing up Husk bastards with his boomstick and energy sword. Oh yes. Give it to me.

Also, where the fuck is this? I was thinking that this was the Asari homeworld.

Sonic Chronicles is when they completely miss both the bullseye and the dartboard itself, and the dart just flies into a neighbor's window, and hits someone in the eye.

Don't forget Dragon Age 2.

Edited May 6, 2011 by turbojet

[Patticus]

Also, where the fuck is this? I was thinking that this was the Asari homeworld.

Looks like it, doesn't it? I can't wait to see the Salarian and Quarian/Geth homeworlds.

This game is going to be so epic. I don't care if it's seen a short delay, that's just more time to read the expanded universe books!

[Saint Nathan]

Okay, I can see my gimped up Shepard now. Tearing up Husk bastards with his boomstick and energy sword. Oh yes. Give it to me.

Also, where the fuck is this? I was thinking that this was the Asari homeworld.

Really? It's super familiar looking... And looking at what appear to be explosions in the background, I think this might be Earth.

It's the building, I could SWEAR it's the building that Earth has in it's picture in either ME1 or 2.

Don't forget Dragon Age 2.

Haven't played it. Is it really as bad as Chronicles?

[Patticus]

@Galaxy Man:

(Contains some ME1/ME2 spoilers for those still playing through them who care about the plot)

Mass Effect 3 is all about a full-scale galactic war with the Reapers. Shepard travels to numerous worlds, and on most of them we should expect to face/witness the full might of the Reaper fleets brought to bear. Odds are that is the Asari homeworld under attack; look at the flowing architecture of the foreground structure, and the sky, and notice how everything is blue-tinged. Very Asari. There's an outside chance this may be the Salarian homeworld, but I doubt it.

[Saint Nathan]

@Galaxy Man:

(Contains some ME1/ME2 spoilers for those still playing through them who care about the plot)

Mass Effect 3 is all about a full-scale galactic war with the Reapers. Shepard travels to numerous worlds, and on most of them we should expect to face/witness the full might of the Reaper fleets brought to bear. Odds are that is the Asari homeworld under attack; look at the flowing architecture of the foreground structure, and the sky, and notice how everything is blue-tinged. Very Asari. There's an outside chance this may be the Salarian homeworld, but I doubt it.

I think what I'm finding familiar about it is actually the way the path/road thing curves into the building. It's like SUPER familiar, and my mind keeps going to Noveria, as you're pulling up to the labs, but that makes no sense at all.

[turbojet]

Haven't played it. Is it really as bad as Chronicles?

Dragon Age 2 isn't bad,per say, but clearly rushed. It had many glitches that effected the storyline and compared to the first one, it was condensed into a frame story that didn't offer the player many options. It was a glorified hack & slash with a few RPG elements. Mass Effect 2 for the PS3 was definitely rushed, but they recently patched everything up and it looks pristine.