Mass Effect III

[David Hingtgen]

FYI, I'm not the mod who decided to do some thread-cleaning an hour before the game is released...

Anyways, just finished my ME 2 paragon run and a few last achievements tonight. Never did do an insanity run. (started, but honestly didn't think it was worth it---I still prefer ME1's battle system, and was MUCH better at it---insanity on ME1 was fine--tough, but not truly frustrating)

PS---it seems Blood Dragon armor will carry over if you've got it. WITH the new removable-helmet option. So yes, Bioware did listen. It just took a while.

[Lynx7725]

Was the Blood Dragon a biotic-enhancing armour? I think I got it, just never got around to wearing it. The bonuses it gave wasn't really compatible with my builds.

[eugimon]

just waiting for the UPS man to come. In the meantime I'm trying that Infiltrator game for the iOS. It's okay. Nice graphics but I've never played a shooter on a touch screen where the controls didn't get in the way and this isn't any exception.

[Lynx7725]

Huh got to remember to get that.

Well the concert was good, but meant I can only get to ME3 tomorrow night. Will try to level later on the multiplayer demo.

[mikeszekely]

I bought it for PC (retail, not digital), but I'm waiting to install it until I play the Kingdoms of Amalur demo... just to get the items that I probably won't use if the Blood Dragon Armor imports from my ME2 save.

[Lynx7725]

Multiplayer demo got disabled today so I just went back to the Singleplayer demo. Infiltrator-shotgunner is definitely doable, just tricky. Maxed out Overload does nasty things to an Atlas, and even a single level of Sabotage should be on priority for an infiltrator -- having it makes enemy turrets much less effective and can stall an Atlas, at normal seemingly through shields.

Kingdoms of Amalur, you get an armour item just starting the demo, and IIRC you have to finish to get the weapon. Be warned you have to run down a timer, which is actually fairly lengthy. Good luck.

[mikeszekely]

Kingdoms of Amalur, you get an armour item just starting the demo, and IIRC you have to finish to get the weapon. Be warned you have to run down a timer, which is actually fairly lengthy. Good luck.

Yeah, I played the demo seriously until I got to the timer, then surfed the net on my Mac while it run down.

Thing is, the game's not too bad. The PC controls aren't so great, and I'm not a fan of the visual style cribbed entirely from WoW, but it seemed quite fun otherwise. I might pick up the Xbox or PS3 version later.

EDIT: Finally got to a point where I can change armor. The Kingdoms set is there, but my Blood Dragon Armor that I wore the entire game in ME2 is most definitely NOT.

Edited March 6, 2012 by mikeszekely

[mecha2241]

I actually downloaded the Amular demo for the Mass Effect extras and ended up liking it enough to buy it when it came out. I managed to finish it last week just in time for Mass Effect 3 to come out.

[eugimon]

Got me3 installed and have been enjoying it but is it just me or did liara, uhm, grow a lot between games?

edit:

Re: Kingdom of Amular: I enjoyed the demo so I got the game and I enjoyed it... but by the time I finished it, I never wanted to play it again. I slogged through till the end just because I had so much time invested in it. My problem with it was that there just wasn't enough variety in the monsters, gear or combat moves/abilities to last keep me interested through the amazingly long game play.

I also didn't appreciate the dungeon designs which were basically: fight your way through a long hallway, get to the end, walk all the way back out.

Edited March 6, 2012 by eugimon

[big F]

Just played the PS3 demo for this and all I can say is how come this series passed me by, maybe I was too centered on Halo, gonna have to bag me the first two.

Question is though which format is better Xbox or PS3, I can do either.

[eugimon]

if you play on xbox or PC you can play from the beginning. PS3 has ME:2 and 3 and there's a "comic" on ME2 that lets you make the decisions for some of the key moments in ME.

[Kelsain]

As for Lyara's changes, Benezia did have large tracts of land.

GameStop got some more me2 w/ the shipment of me3. Started playing today.

(null)

[Freiflug88]

Was the Blood Dragon a biotic-enhancing armour? I think I got it, just never got around to wearing it. The bonuses it gave wasn't really compatible with my builds.

Its not just a biotic enhancer, the Armor "increases power damage by 15%" across the board.

Got me3 installed and have been enjoying it but is it just me or did liara, uhm, grow a lot between games?

Well Liara is still going through Asari puberty at 108, but I think she just looks "bigger" in her "trinity" trench coat with its belt straps that run right under her cleavage and over her hips. Still I dumped her for Tali, right before setting her up as the new Shadow Broker...

[Freiflug88]

Question is though which format is better Xbox or PS3, I can do either.

Graphic wise, The PS3 is the best. Bioware put in the extra effort to optimize Mass effect 2&3 to the Playstation3's unique hardware.

Edited March 7, 2012 by Freiflug88

[Benson13]

If anyone wants some help on xbox 360 let me know. Gamertag is Death By Benson.

[eugimon]

Graphic wise, The PS3 is the best. Bioware put in the extra effort to optimize Mass effect 2&3 to the Playstation3's unique hardware.

that's really only true about ME2 on the PS3 but that's because it's running an updated engine that incorporates some of the improvements that made its way to ME3. The developers have said that there won't be a difference between 360 and PS3 for ME3 and so far, the comparison videos are baring that out.

http://www.g4tv.com/videos/57603/mass-effect-3-xbox-360-vs-ps3-comparison-video/?quality=hd

of course, there's disc swapping on the 360 version which is a pain, so there's that.

[anime52k8]

I've yet to play a single Mass Effect game, and I probebly never will, but this made me laugh none the less.

source:

Edited March 7, 2012 by anime52k8

[BeyondTheGrave]

I've yet to play a single Mass Effect game, and I probebly never will, but this made me laugh none the less.

Why?

Any decisions carry over outside of major plot points?

Note wasn't able to pick mine up due to work.

Edited March 7, 2012 by BeyondTheGrave

[anime52k8]

Why?

I don't know. When ME1 came out I didn't particularly care since it didn't jive with my interests at the time. Back in '07 I was mainly into multiplayer/co-op games with vertually no interest in RPGs, and the asthetic of the game didn't really click with me all that much. Then when ME2 came out I was just activly avoiding getting into new open-world/RPG games since I had too many unfinished games sitting around. And now, it's a combination of being too busy to play very time intensive games like this; being interested in more consise, narative driven games right now; and really being turned off by all the hype.

:edit:

If I can even sneek in any amount of game time right now (which is a MASSIVE if) that time is going to finally finishing Dead space 1 and 2. And if I actually had the time to marathon through an entire searies of games I'd be more interested in Assassin's Creed (considering I started the first one and really enjoyed it but never finished)

Edited March 7, 2012 by anime52k8

[David Hingtgen]

but I think she just looks "bigger" in her "trinity" trench coat

Nope, Liara's "Shadow Broker" model is "bigger"---you can basically overlay the ME1 model with mods on PC and do a direct comparison. And from playing ME 3 all day, it seems ALL the female models were "enhanced"...

Anyways---I'm now thinking all the ME2 DLC armors are simply AVAILABLE if you import a character. I've now found all the ones I ever had---for purchase at the Citadel. I don't think I'm going to buy any, as they're expensive and not new. Well, maybe Collector's armor--I always did think it looked cool, and it has the best bonuses.

Overall non-spoilery impressions:

After the opening sequence, it seems kinda slow for a while. Of course, since ME always makes you go to the Citadel for a while fairly early on, that always slows things down. The "weapons affect cooldown" is the best improvement they could have possibly made to the battle system---makes adepts and techs fun again. (I'd carry just 1 gun if I could, but you max out at 200% cooldown bonus, so might as well bring 2, so long as you stay in the 190-200% range)

Just looking at the squad screen, it seems they're going for about the same number of companions as ME1.

I was planning on bringing along Tali like always for my techy-anti-geth member, but I just found a new one I think I'll replace her with. (I haven't seen nor heard of Tali at all yet, strangely, while I've already got several of the "main" ME squadmates)

Finally----importing didn't seem to work quite right with mine. It's a save going back to ME1. Pure renegade, did all the "bad" things in ME1 and 2----yet I started out with like 1/8 bar of paragon points. Hmmmn. Also the face didn't import right at all. Darn near random selections I think there. So I just had to type in the code. The actual decisions all seem correct though--it actually gives you a list of what you did to help you pick which save file to import.

Protip: You don't need to use the sliders for making the face. Scroll all the way down, and you can just type in the code directly if you know it. Don't need dashes or periods or anything either. Much faster that way.

[kaiotheforsaken]

Importing your characters look is completely borked, especially if you didnt alter your character in ME2 after importing. It's 100% game breaking as far as I'm concerned. I won't even be playing it until the address the issue (which they said they are doing).

[renegadeleader1]

I picked up my copy yesterday. Its going to be awhile before I get to it as I have to go back and finish my runs on Mass Effect 1, and 2. The DLC missions screwed me up especially on the first one since you can't continue to play after the game ends.

[Lynx7725]

GRrr. My local screwed my order up. So I won't be getting it till Friday. I am NOT a happy camper.

Yes, the cooldown vs. Firepower is an interesting concept I found in multiplayer. Which is why I just run with a sniper rifle in the demo, no backup piece. I cool off faster, meaning I can cloak faster. Against bots that's more important than having a backup piece, since the bots usually immediately disregard you and go elsewhere (though there are a few occassions when the bot just continued shooting "just in case"). If you are a heavy biotics/ power user, or if you have a particular reusable technique (such as Cloak or Vanguard/ shottie), going light might be better.

EDIT: Just how big a difference? Well.. In multi, I can cloak for >10s now IIRC, and recharges in 4s IIRC... before the cooldown bonus, which is about 40~50%? So.. yeah. Big difference. I just wish I got a better sniper rifle, but that would come in time with the lucky draw.

Edited March 7, 2012 by Lynx7725

[eugimon]

Cool down vs firepower is in the campaign as well. So no more class restrictions on which weapons you can carry. Certain power upgrades increase how much weight you can carry if you choose that branch so you can have a vanguard running around with assault rifles and sniper rifles if you want.

[Lynx7725]

Only reason I can think of to run Vanguard with a sniper is to get to places you normally can't and start sniping from there.. But it's nice to know that you got options.

BTW, in case nobody is aware, if you try Action mode (at least in the Demo) you default to Soldier class and auto levels, so can be a bit sub-optimal to play style.

[David Hingtgen]

BTW, for those importing a character:

The game will auto-assign powers (as in, pick which one of the two versions of the higher-level powers for you) but you do get one free power-reset quite early in the game, so don't worry about it. (I was for a little bit, because I *strongly* wanted the denote version of warp, and not the other one)

[Freiflug88]

of course, there's disc swapping on the 360 version which is a pain, so there's that.

Dam it not again. I hate that Bioware had to divide Mass Effect 2 into two parts just to compensate for the Xbox 360 disc swap

Nope, Liara's "Shadow Broker" model is "bigger"---you can basically overlay the ME1 model with mods on PC and do a direct comparison. And from playing ME 3 all day, it seems ALL the female models were "enhanced"...

Figures. I think there is “mass effect” phenomimum that comes with editing female character designs. Cause almost everytime a male designer gets a chance to tweak a female character design a little more mass is mysteriously added... Its like the added noise from re-compressing jpegs, only more pleasing to the eyes.

[big F]

Looks like I will be buying the Xbox version for ME1 and the rest of them on PS3. Either way I may have my new Halo

[eugimon]

Nope, Liara's "Shadow Broker" model is "bigger"---you can basically overlay the ME1 model with mods on PC and do a direct comparison. And from playing ME 3 all day, it seems ALL the female models were "enhanced"...

Not all the females.

miranda and jack are the same size... though, miranda would have to be renamed Dolly if she got any bigger

Edited March 8, 2012 by eugimon

[David Hingtgen]

Yes, disc-switching is a pain. It seems to me that (so far) "main" missions are on disc 1, and most side missions are on disc 2. (plus the discs are in the new 7+ gig version, so I don't have room to install both on my 20GB HDD)

Tali is still conspicuously absent. I have now either gotten a personal message or actually met almost everyone on my team from ME2--but not a word even mentioning Tali's existence.

Had a major decision today, actually made me pause---since I am being pure renegade this time, and it would seriously affect the final battle/ending I believe, I did go with the renegade option---but if there's one place in the game to go paragon, that's probably it. Can't say more without spoiling, other than it occurred on Tuchanka.

Weapon upgrades seem easy---you can pretty much just buy your way to top of the line stuff, and it's fairly cheap IMHO. Since you never have to buy armor, you can pretty much budget 95% of your credits to new pistols etc.

PS---some characters that could die in ME2 seem to have MAJOR roles in ME3, I'm quite curious how it plays out without them. You're certainly missing a LOT of plot/dialogue on some planets otherwise.

[eugimon]

It's not just the dialogue I'm wondering about. Some of the characters are tied to some pretty big war assets, I wonder if those are just closed off to you if they're dead?

[Freiflug88]

Tali is still conspicuously absent. I have now either gotten a personal message or actually met almost everyone on my team from ME2--but not a word even mentioning Tali's existence.

In case you or anyone else really wants to know Tali is at:

Rannoch, fighting to retake the Quarion homeworld and depending on how her ME2 loyality mission was played is now a member of the Quarion Admiralty Board in place of her father.

[David Hingtgen]

I just now realized I haven't seen/heard anything about Jacob, either. Funny, I did a mental check of everybody in ME2, and it took a day later until I noticed I forgot him! (and that's even with a codex entry mentioning his loyalty mission)

PS---I am surprised at how the ME1 Rachni option turned out in the end. Can't say more than that without spoiling. (there may be another Rachni quest/mission in the future, but I think I just did the main one that secures what kind of support you get at the end)

[Benson13]

I just ran into Jacob in my ME3 game. Pulled him out of a nice little "situation". I never really used him in ME2 unless I had too. In fact, I didn't really care for any of the ME2 characters except for Jack. Legion was kinda cool but that was it. I pretty much just stuck to the original ME characters as much as I could through out all three games.

[Lynx7725]

Any ETA on the ME2 savegame Import issue? I skipped the main game for now as hopefully Bioware can solve it soon. Been working on multiplayer, got my infiltrator up to level 17 already.. just need a handful of successful missions (maybe 5), However thanks to the poor connectivity I have, wasted a number of games and right now I don't have anything better than a Mantis II... which is good enough, actually, depending on who I team up with. .

(Technically I do have, but that's an Avenger V.. not something an infiltrator would likely use.)

Tactical Cloak cooldown of 3s or less FTW.