Mass Effect 3

[TheBeagle]

I've just finished the game after putting nearly 45 hours in it. What can I say... Bioware died a long time ago.

Being that I'll play it eventually, I've avoided spoilers, but I've seen enough reviews to know that this game was an epically epic fail. Mass Effect 1 and Dragon Age: Origins were the last "games" Bioware put out. Let us now sing their requiem.

[bing!]

I'd suggest you wait at least until April, seeing as they've promised to revise/expand upon/clarify the utterly abysmal ending. The game, in and of itself, is fun. Sadly, it has more in common with ME2 than ME1, but it's playable and entertaining nonetheless. The writing, on the other hand, has taken a dive alongside the VA performance by some of the cast. Cutscenes are poorly edited and the seams are clearly showing, which can break the immersion somewhat. The story development and the gameplay structure is bite-sized, with short missions involving a contrived enemy wave-summon mechanic in the form of activating a console or disabling an AA gun emplacement etc. It features a single hub populated by dull NPCs whose conversations you're supposed to overhear in order to start simple fetch-quests which get quite boring once you note down the pattern in which they're presented.

All in all, it's a good game (the worst of the trilogy, though) but I'd wait for the revised ending if I were you... either that or simply shut down your console/PC once you hear Anderson utter the words "You did good, child" and imagine that the game ended right at that moment (it's fitting and that way you get to avoid the worst deus ex machina ever employed in fiction).

[ziggy]

I just finished the game and man oh man was that a weak ending.

Back to Skyrim.

[bing!]

Which colour did you choose?

I went with the "destroy" ending since I was kinda mad and wanted to smash something, so it seemed the right choice.

[ziggy]

I chose the destroy ending also, were any of the other endings any better?

I was in a particularly foul mood after having to deal with Marauder Shields

[bing!]

These might be a wee bit too large...

[TheBeagle]

Well, a year later and I got it for $15 brand new and bought the From Ashes and Leviathan DLC when XBL had them half price during Christmas, and just finished it last night.

I think I finished with 42 hours and the bulk of it was really disappointing and boring. Like bing says through his posts, the writing is so subpar, especially Shep's dialogue...the things he says sometimes just don't fit. The combat was mostly poor, and apeing Gears of War with the roll, stick to cover and leaping over cover mechanics was poorly executed...if you're gonna do it, do it right like Gears. Many times, I was trying to dodge roll to get away from fire, and it would stick me to wall just to be shot to death...obviously during the banshee/marauder combat finale. Also, unlike ME1 and 2, you couldn't loop powers over cover...at least it wouldn't work for me; I'd target a dude and aim a little over cover, and my power or squadmates power would fire at cover and not over.

The most disappointing of all was, what to me is the hallmark of BioWare games, the character interaction like bing discusses. I mean, ME2 excelled at this to perfection, and the stark lack of meeting new folks and old, and having very little to do with them was extremely disappointing. In my first playthrough Shep, I have a good thing going with Miranda (I mean, come on, look at that ass!) and she was just a peripheral character and, like all ME2 characters, was not even playable!!! For my playstyle, Miranda is the best squadmate in combat in series history and I get nothing...and the only chance to rekindle with her is in a fucking hotel room, and you have the option to sex her up but the timing seems totally off, so I took the other dialogue option, thinking I'd have a chance to spend time with her after her "secret mission" only to find out otherwise. Wow!

You only have 4 (5 if you bought Ashes DLC) squadmates you can use throughout, and for me none of them complemented me all that well. Garrus (overload)and Liara (warp) were good enough but not great. I liked EDI but she had same weapon loadout as Liara and I needed her biotics, so I had to swap EDI out for Garrus though he has inferior powers. Javik was cool but I had no use for his powers since he couldn't do shit against shields or barriers or armor. Likewise the other new guy, the roided up dude who was a complete zero of a character and a squadmate in combat...a very poor man's Wrex or Grunt. And this was your squad....the entire game. Boooooooooo!

The ending is where I differ from most everyone else. I wanted to see what all the hubub was about, so I didn't download the "extended cut." I honestly don't know what the talk of marauder shields is about. I admit I was playing on normal difficulty my first playthrough, and I'm sure it's a pain in the ass on higher difficulties, but I just overload their shields with Garrus and then incenerate with my Shep and marauder is buzzard meat in two moves. Probably was an update to make it easier, I'm guessing, or there's just something I'm missing because the banshee's were the pains in my ass at the end.

I chose to take out Illusive man before he takes out Anderson though that was considered a renegade action? Didn't get that. And then I chose synthesis at the end and actually made for a beautiful ending. I didn't see this as a deux ex machina at all. Considering all that had come before in the trilogy, the ending wasn't unreasonable. It was set up pretty early in ME1 that this was sort of all boiling down to a man vs. machine scenario what with the quarians and the geth, and as we learn near end of ME1, the protheans and reapers, so it didn't seem ridiculous at all that reapers were created as the best solution for man vs. machine. I frankly thought it was a poetic ending and had a certain elegance to it...especially if you chose the synthesis ending (which, after downloading the extended cut and playing through the end again, you clearly see is the ideal ending...though actually, I found the original ending better because it was obvious you made the right call, and left your imagination open to how the galaxy would be affected).

No, I thought the ending made up for what was a pretty boring and disappointing game.