Mass effect 3

[alhoon]

I've been playing the latest ME3 lately. Darker than the rest and more ... imposing. More RP elements than the previous one, although I would still call it mostly an action game. IMO it's the best of the series (so far at least, clocked about 20 hours)

[Jester of the FoS]

It's a lot more linear than others of the series, especially ME2. But I'm enjoying it. Having to make some hard choices in the game, which is good.

[alhoon]

Linear? I would say definetly less linear than the other 2. Choices you make (and some are hard) affect the whole thing. You're bound to lose some War Assets here and there by saying "Nope, I won't do that" or by taking the "wrong" choice.

ME2 was more or less the most linear of the series: Pick up your team, do their loyalty missions, go fight Collectors and save humanity.

[Jester of the FoS]

Linear? I would say definetly less linear than the other 2. Choices you make (and some are hard) affect the whole thing. You're bound to lose some War Assets here and there by saying "Nope, I won't do that" or by taking the "wrong" choice.

ME2 was more or less the most linear of the series: Pick up your team, do their loyalty missions, go fight Collectors and save humanity.

But in ME2 the order you did things changed, and also impacted the story. You started the game and had a half-dozen places to do (more for DLC). The order of the loyalty missions was also up to you.

ME3 is very much "do a couple missions, then unlock the next couple, then unlock the next couple." You're not given a choice of allies to choose first. You can't go get the Geth then the Quarian then the Turians. Which, after playing DragonAge is what one might expect for a "preparing for war" Bioware game.

I agree things change and are very responsive to choices made. Or even made earlier. In my ME1 run through one of the first missions I did involved the Rachni, when I killed the last queen. A choice that's bound to bite me in the ass now with less assets.

[alhoon]

Far less. I would suggest ask your buddies to give you a save where she survives.

I agree on the mission choice though. Yeah, it seems it's "chapter X: 2-3 core missions and 3-4 subquests and then it's chapter Y". Under that light, yeah, it's linear.

[Jester of the FoS]

Far less. I would suggest ask your buddies to give you a save where she survives.

I agree on the mission choice though. Yeah, it seems it's "chapter X: 2-3 core missions and 3-4 subquests and then it's chapter Y". Under that light, yeah, it's linear.

I'm sticking by my choice. I'm a completist and playing the iPad game so I should have enough forces to win.

[alhoon]

Yeah, you would be fine. The iPad gives you battle readiness?

Truth be told, I hate this "battle readiness" thing. I don't have friends in the area to lan-play it with them and I don't actually like multiplayer. Also finding it at "50%" it's a terrible bite!

They could accomplish the same by putting the ME at 100% and it could go up to 150% with multiplayer. That way you wouldn't feel penalized, just that you don't get the bonus.
Or MP could give you some extra assets and be done with it.

I'm not even in the half of the game and I have like 3900 War assets (about 1950 ME). Even a +5% to my Battle readiness would give me the equivalent of 400 War assets (i.e. +200 ME)! ! !
You play the game. You know what it takes to get 400 war assets.

EDIT. I'm after a certain Citadel event that I won't relay here for fear of spoilers.
After that, as in immediately after that, they all jumped me giving me a ton of quests. I felt overwhelmed. I wasn't even looking for them. I couldn't turn a corner without someone running to me asking for help. So... it's not that linear anymore. I have more quests that I can do.

Also, I really, really like the short stories that you listen in the citadel or other places. Helps with immersion. Like the PTSD Asari in the citadel, or the teenager and the Turian. I keep coming to these places after a couple of missions to catch up.
So far I've stumbled upon the following conversations/stories:
- Asari PSTD Disorder commando
- Turian official / Teenager human (I'm quite early in this one)
- Wife of soldier/Mistress (I've lost them! Do you know where I can find them to know what happened?)
- Alliance male soldiers / Alliance female soldier in Purgatory (that girl can't take no for an answer)
- Turian Smuggler and human pilot
- Salarian soldier and Asari

BTW Something spoily I would like to discuss. Don't read if you haven't dealt with the Citadel incident:

VIEW CONTENT:

I had some very troubling discussion with EDI. She realizes that she's different, concerned she will "die" and thinks the reapers are superior forms of beings that live from 50K to 37M years as synthetics (technically they're not really synthetics, they're 70% synthetic 30% organic in my book).
When I told her more or less "WTF!? That's what you want from your life? Disolving organics to paste?" She said she will think on it.
I wish I could do something about her. Perhaps I will be able to do something about her. Who knows. In case you do know, don't tell.

[Jester of the FoS]

I didn't get that conversation with EDI. I got something similar but different.
Maybe I'm thinking of a different Citadel event.
I just dealt with Quarian and Geth, if that sounds familiar.

There's an iPad game that raises readiness. The 50% looks like it hurts but at this point my forces bar is almost max, so getting over 55% would push me off the chart. They give you lots (LOTS) of room to lose resources and assets and not explore or do side quests and still win. If you do everything victory is all but assured.
Having played all the DLC I get tonnes of small quests reintroducing familiar faces and giving me extra assets.

I'm curious if you did the Krogan home world yet and how you handled their one request.

[HuManBing]

A significant number of gamers I know are boycotting ME3 for some reason. From what I can gather it's something to do with their policy of paying extra for DLC which is actually already included in the original game, you just can't unlock it normally.

I've also heard that the ending is static and has very little to do with your choices during the game.

I enjoyed ME1 but never played ME2. This is less of an ethical issue with the DLC and more because I only really have time to play in quick short bursts, so I usually have forgotten what I'm doing by the time I get back to the game after a break.

[Jester of the FoS]

Here's the thing, it's not really DLC. Like in DragonAge: Origin's, its an extra quest and companion and perk for people who ordered the Collector's Edition, but was made available as DLC for people who didn't notice or were gifted the regular edition or could only find the regular copy in stores. So they wouldn't miss out, which is the alternative.
I snagged the collector's edition for extra weapons, so the DLC was a happy bonus.

EA has a policy mandating DLC on most of the games, so BioWare has little choice but comply. Honestly, with the amount I'm paying for the game, $5-10 is nothing, especially after a few months. I mostly play MMOs, so I'm used to dropping $15 monthly just to play, $20 quarterly is cheap.

I'm just sad I'm getting into the game on time. Normally I'm 2-3 months behind and can snag a chunk of extra DLC. Now I have to wait.

[Jester of the FoS]

I've also heard that the ending is static and has very little to do with your choices during the game.

There are a couple endings, as mentioned in Penny Arcade. There might be more but I've avoided reading more.
I imagine there'd be the Renegade (selfish/ evil path) and the Paragon ending. Possibly a range of success.
But other than that, I can't imagine all the possible choices being reflected. There's just too much.

Did you cure the genophage and save Eve? Save Eve but not cure the Krogan plague? Cure the genophage but let Eve die? Let her die and fail to cure the plague? Four outcomes for one mission based on a choice in this game and a choice in a previous game.
There's simply too many options to reflect and have impact or detailed after, short of doing what DragonAge did and just giving a list of what happened after.

[alhoon]

There are -16- Endings

The really good ones are over 4000 Military strength from what I gather.
I think victory is assured but how costly and whether you or your crew survives depends on Military str

I enjoyed ME1 but never played ME2. This is less of an ethical issue with the DLC and more because I only really have time to play in quick short bursts, so I usually have forgotten what I'm doing by the time I get back to the game after a break.

Sad. I haven't found the time to play ME in like 3 days, my friends that started after me are near the end. Including Jester here!

[Jester of the FoS]

So I beat the game. I was well under 4k military strength but things seemed okay.
Checking out spoilers, it seems like most of the endings are fairly similar. I can see why a lot of people hated it. It certainly resolves some of my concerns over the end of the second game, tying the lore together.

I have my complaints, but they're small. Maybe they'll be tweaked via DLC.

[alhoon]

OK, finished the game. About 3500 Military strength. Can't say I see the fuss about the endings. OK, they're kinda lamish but nothing terrible. I frankly expected the ending to be far less enjoyable from what I've read.
My only gripe is that from the 3 endings I got, mostly what changes is... the color. Yeah the implications are vastly different, but a bit ingenuity wouldn't hurt.

Also, I can't say I figured what will happen next in the galaxy, but that's OK.

[Jester of the FoS]

Spoilers!!

Also, I can't say I figured what will happen next in the galaxy, but that's OK.

Which is part of my problem. After making so many empire shaking decisions, I want to know what happens next. What happens with the Quarians? do the Krogan start new wars and get a new homeland?

It's odd, because after making So many hard choices to make the galaxy a better place instead we end space travel and have armada of ship stuck on Earth. And the choice of whether or not to wipe out the Geth seems meaningless when you have to do it a second time.

I'd really have liked a Dragon Age style "what happens after" montage.