Mass Effect 3 (Seriously, Use Spoilers People!)

[An Enraged Platypus]

Download at 20%. US proxy locked on.

Anyone who's used the proxy method, does multiplayer work?

[VectorZero]

Anyone else been following @AllianceNewsNet all day while they've been livetweeting the Reaper invasion of LA?

Spoiler:

I think Emily Wong is about to die! T_T

Yeah. That was fantastic use of twitter, kept me glued to my phone.

[SlyReaper]

Download at 20%. US proxy locked on.

Anyone who's used the proxy method, does multiplayer work?

You don't need the proxy to preload the game. In fact it would probably go quicker if you don't.

[Belial]

Anyone else been following @AllianceNewsNet all day while they've been livetweeting the Reaper invasion of LA?

Spoiler:

I think Emily Wong is about to die! T_T

Yeah. That was fantastic use of twitter, kept me glued to my phone.

It was very War of the Worlds. Or maybe Cloverfield. Either way, it captured the Reaper invasion from a totally different mood and I liked it.

[maybeagnostic]

Didn't have time for any of the story yet but I tried out the multiplayer before work and it was... kind of exactly the same? Quick game doesn't allow me to choose difficulty, enemy or location and despite seeing one new map I still only got the same Cerberus enemies. Maybe extra locations/enemies are unlocked by buying Spectre packs? Creating my own game also didn't allow me to choose place or enemy so that seems very likely.

Oh, yeah, now you can buy veteran and spectre packs (60,000 credits) with real money too.

[An Enraged Platypus]

Spoiler for first impressions:

Spoiler:

I'm actually disappointed with the first hour or so. I have yet to feel in real danger (on hardcore), and some of the dialogue and exposition is clunky. I'm worried about the rest of the game.

[Xanthir]

Didn't have time for any of the story yet but I tried out the multiplayer before work and it was... kind of exactly the same? Quick game doesn't allow me to choose difficulty, enemy or location and despite seeing one new map I still only got the same Cerberus enemies. Maybe extra locations/enemies are unlocked by buying Spectre packs? Creating my own game also didn't allow me to choose place or enemy so that seems very likely.

In the demo you could choose all the aspects of a quick game too. It would be kinda useless if you couldn't choose difficulty, after all - golds are *impossible* without a good character and good teammates.

Oh, yeah, now you can buy veteran and spectre packs (60,000 credits) with real money too.

Expected, and fine with me.

[maybeagnostic]

In the demo you could choose all the aspects of a quick game too. It would be kinda useless if you couldn't choose difficulty, after all - golds are *impossible* without a good character and good teammates.

How can you choose them? And, yes, every gold game I have started I was completely unprepared for. My favorite was when my level 1 vanguard was dropped into a wave 4 gold match surrounded by 3 bleeding teammates, two engineers and three phantoms. That lasted about three seconds.

Oh, yeah, now you can buy veteran and spectre packs (60,000 credits) with real money too.

Expected, and fine with me.

I didn't mean it was a bad thing, it was just the only major change I noticed. $2.50 for a specter pack seems reasonable assuming it's an order of magnitude better than the veteran pack like how the veteran pack gives you so much more than... whatever the useless one is called. It seems weapons and upgrades still come from the veteran pack (assuming rare items are the yellow character bonuses that sometimes appear) so there's use to buying both of them.

[An Enraged Platypus]

Yeah, plus it gives a nice outlet for the random fractions of BW points. I think I spent either £15 or £20 last year on BW points to buy LotSB and Arrival, and I had 240 left over. I just bought a spectre pack and a veteran pack (not going to do anything else with that small amount), and now I have the Paladin pistol.

Any and all PC version owners, feel free to add me for MP (username "Labyrinths"). I've been bashing out a few games and it's much better than the demo; it feels like they picked the blandest maps and enemies for the teaser. Fighting Reaper armies is intense, and if you thought the Phantom was bad, well - I laugh at you. The hollow, broken laugh of a man who has seen too many mission failed screens for one day. I love MP already.

[Chewbaccawacca]

The game rocks. I won't spoil it, unless you want.

I got your message last night, sorry for no response. I was mad because I have to wait till friday before I can get my copy (It's been 5 weeks and I still haven't gotten my tax-return!), plus I just hate hunting/pecking on the xbox live keyboard interface.

I'm stoked the game's good though! I can't wait to give it a go!

[maybeagnostic]

Any and all PC version owners, feel free to add me for MP (username "Labyrinths").

Same here. My username is maybeagnostic.

Some spoilers about game mechanics follow but nothing at all to do with specific events in the story.

Spoiler:

So I just read this article that explains how multiplayer can have a very significant effect on the ending and I am a little upset but for very different reasons than the author. Having mp affect the outcome of the story is definitely a weird decision and I don't like it because now I can't play co-op until I finish the game (twice!). I know it's kind of weird but I have my Shep that made all the 'right' choices and my Shep that made all the 'wrong' ones (reducing the chance of getting future allies by pissing off or killing everyone but Cerberus) and I want to play through both of those without getting my chances artificially raised by playing multiplayer. I want to see how I do so I know if 1. the 'good' Shep's actions actually paid off long term and got him the best possible ending and 2. the 'bad' Shep, though earnest and driven, ended up shooting herself in the foot through her short-sightedness and general tendency to solve problems by shooting them.

The problem is that if I play mp I can up to double the score that determines what ending I get. It means that I never find out if I could have gotten the best ending 'fairly' and it means that my very different choices don't matter because in the end I will likely get the best ending for both characters. Of course by the time I finish playing through the game twice people will have likely abandoned the mp almost entirely so then I don't get to play the really fun mp. There is some setting that prevents mp affecting the story, right?

[Belial]

For Xbox, I would recommend

Spoiler:

Simply playing on a different user account than the one you multiplayer on

Otherwise, I have no idea.

[Dark567]

For Xbox, I would recommend

Spoiler:

Simply playing on a different user account than the one you multiplayer on

Otherwise, I have no idea.

Spoiler:

But it sounds like you can't get the best ending, unless you play multiplayer. Which makes the entire point of doing a lot of the single player stuff to help out your side seem a little trivial. That said, I do think its a pretty innovative idea.

[Belial]

Spoiler:

As far as I understand, it's entirely possible to get the best ending without ever touching MP. You just have to complete a lot more sidequests and avoid shooting yourself in the foot

[Dark567]

If your interested Alienware is giving out free sniper rifle promo codes(registration required):
http://www.alienwarearena.com/giveaway/mass-effect-3-giveaway

EDIT: Also I thought this was a cool io9 article describing how Mass Effect treats scifi differently then other media (hint:humanity your not that important in the grand scheme of things):
http://io9.com/5886178/why-mass-effect- ... generation

[maybeagnostic]

Spoiler:

As far as I understand, it's entirely possible to get the best ending without ever touching MP. You just have to complete a lot more sidequests and avoid shooting yourself in the foot

Spoiler:

You may also need to have made specific choices in previous games. If the Council races, krogan, rachni, and geth are all weakene, destroyed, or mistrustful of you then it may be that no amount of side quests are enough to get you the best ending without getting mp assistance. I'm sure a default character with all side quests will definitely be able to get the best ending but I am not sure that any character would. In fact I hope that is the case because then choices from previous games affect this one in a major way.

[Belial]

Frabjous day, some motherfucker stole my copy off my front porch.

[Xeio]

Frabjous day, some motherfucker stole my copy off my front porch.

BURN THEM, BURN THEM WITH FIRE.

[Belial]

Don't know who they are. Am I allowed to cauterize this miserable planet?

[Xeio]

Just as long as you don't hit me or my copy.

Which I didn't steal from you.

Just in case you were wondering.

[SlyReaper]

The multiplayer is quite fun, but I resent the fact that it affects the single player. I usually don't touch the multiplayer until I've done the single player, but now it feels like I'm being forced to. Happily, it looks like you don't need to play many games to get the galaxy readiness level up to scratch. I played 3 bronze games, which got my galaxy up to about 60%.

Just as long as you don't hit me or my copy.

Which I didn't steal from you.

Just in case you were wondering.

Suspiciously specific denial...

[ArgonV]

Don't know who they are. Am I allowed to cauterize this miserable planet?

That sucks man! But maybe concentrate the cauterizing on your immediate environment? I doubt the fucker that did this lives more than 10 miles away...

[Chewbaccawacca]

Frabjous day, some motherfucker stole my copy off my front porch.

Goddamn that sucks! One of the many reasons I am terrified of ordering things online.

I... I-I'm sorry for your loss...

[Xeio]

Suspiciously specific denial...

I don't know what you're talking about.

[Lucrece]

It's really sad people are stalking others' porches to steal their shit. I'm also surprised that the people responsible for delivery didn't require personal delivery/take back to shop till personally delivered, especially if it's a Collector's Edition and those are gone from the market at their starting prices.

[Belial]

Eh, I don't really expect UPS to know that.

[VectorZero]

Re Galaxy at War

Spoiler:

I have the same question re multiplayer contribution with regards to the iOS game Infiltrator. One may upload info scrounged in the game to improve galaxy at war status, but not sure if can remove again.

And in other news, my preorder has been charged to my credit card and is awaiting shipment

[Obby]

Spoiler for first impressions:

Spoiler:

I'm actually disappointed with the first hour or so. I have yet to feel in real danger (on hardcore), and some of the dialogue and exposition is clunky. I'm worried about the rest of the game.

You shouldn't be from what I've seen so far.

Spoiler:

There are some missions where the AI is actually pretty smart, and really tries flanking, cover, etc. There are a few parts of some missions that I had to try multiple times because I just couldn't get past an entrenched position, or I kept getting flanked from different angles every time I would replay it. But, even despite multiple deaths, I was never frustrated. I kept going "ok, what did they do differently this time that I didn't account for?"

Some more of my own thoughts (I'll split out plot spoilers from game mechanics):

Game mechanics:

Spoiler:

The game still feels rather linear, at approximately 10 hours in. Yeah, I have a lot of active quests, but I still feel extremely limited in where I can go. The galaxy feels significantly smaller than it did in ME2. I feel much more like I'm on rails, playing a typical shooter-type game that already has a pre-determined plot and direction with no choice, like Halo or Gears of War or something.

Also, I'm feeling like there aren't nearly as many choices to make. Most of the places where there would have been a dialogue option in a previous game (even if it's just something simple like an "Investigate" menu), there are now mini-cutscenes that play a pre-determined response from Shepard based on your past choices (like they did in DA2, where if you typically play a jackass, the auto-response is more harsh, but if you typically choose humorous responses, the game might fill in the auto-response with a sarcastic joke). But even then, where there are choices given, I feel like they're not even really a choice. See "Plot spoiler" below for example. I get that there's supposed to be this sense of desperation and enormity about the game. But, I just feel like they removed the heart of what made the choices so interesting and powerful in this series and left the hollowed-out shell. You get "Yes" and "No", but there's no more "Why?" like there used to be. You get "Destroy it" or "Save it" but there's not a "How do you feel about it?" dialogue to accompany it to give you more information, or to put more weight into the decision.

Now, as for the space-probing thing... It's hit or miss with me. On paper it sounds like a great idea, but it just gets frustrating only being able to scan a system once or twice before the Reapers come a-knockin'. Not that I expect to be able to gather everything in one pass, but some of these systems are pretty large, and the scan only covers a fairly small fraction of it. Having to go back and scan it 6 or 7 times is annoying, especially considering I forget where I've already scanned half the time, due to needing to go and play a mission to clear the Reapers out from the system pretty frequently. But, then again, I was never really a fan of the scanning thing from ME2, or the Mako missions from ME1, either. So maybe this is just one of those areas of the game I'll never really like no matter what.

Now, despite all the negative stuff said above, the game is intense. Combat is fluid, the AI can be challenging, and the different enemy types do a good job of forcing you in to different tactics and mixing things up. It's not always a game of finding cover and shooting until the enemy dies (though there is still a lot of that). There are now enemy types that charge your position and force you out of hiding, enemies that cannibalize the corpses of those you've already killed to regain life and shields, enemies with literal riot shields that you need to find a way around (which, as a Vanguard isn't too bad, but some classes will have trouble with these guys). There's also a much bigger emphasis on team coordination. In ME2 it was pretty important, but there were only so many ways you could combine powers. Here, it seems like every ability has some kind of synergy with something else, which means you're mostly free to pick and choose who you want for each mission. With all the new additions to the skills and powers (and the ability to respec everyone!), there's really no limit to what kind of combination you want. Warp and Warp Ammo react wonderfully with Singularity, Pull, Charge, and many other powers, and it's a beautiful sight. Yanking someone to you with Pull, freezing them with Cryo from another party member, and then watching them shatter as they hit the floor when Pull wears off... it makes you wonder how people have been playing games like this without this kind of fluid interaction and seamless coordination.

I also LOVE how they handled cooldowns. I tend to only walk around with two weapons, so I have a -196% cooldown timer, which is amazing. I can use Biotic Charge every 3 seconds, and it's beautiful. Charge in, shoot an enemy or two, use Nova to knock people away, then charge back in to the next group to recharge my shields and reset for another Nova. It doesn't always work, since some enemies have pretty powerful armor and shields, but on most groups it's wonderful.

Plot spoiler (clarification of a point made above):

Spoiler:

For instance, on the mission you get from Wrex to go check out a possible Rachni invasion: You meet up with Grunt and have to fight your way through caves infested with Reaper-ized Rachni forces. You end up meeting the queen, who has been enslaved by the Reapers to make Reaper-Rachni babies. You basically are given the choice to rescue her or kill her...

Which is that even really a choice? Either you want her help against the Reapers, or you don't... Why would you not want her help? Your stated goal from Anderson in the beginning of the game is to gather everything and everyone to help aid in Earth's liberation. Wouldn't killing the Rachni queen be directly counterproductive to that? And even then, all of that aside, why would you release her in the first game only to kill her now? Just from a simple character continuity standpoint, that doesn't make sense either.

[An Enraged Platypus]

Some impressions from further in (radioactively spoilerific):

Spoiler:

The first couple hours were a false alarm. The main meat of the game is brilliant, and although I've yet to die on foot there have been several near-death experiences for my Shep. The mission on the Grissom Academy where you meet Jack was great, especially the shootout right after you meet up with her. My only gripe at this point isn't even really a complaint - it's that the "story mode" seems justified, even appealing. As an infiltrator, I'm finding that clearing out enemies is really easy even on Insanity, to the point where combat is almost irrelevant. Just pop cloak, walk brazenly out of cover, headshot whatever is out there with the world moving at 70% normal speed, take cover, rinse and repeat. The challenging part comes with uber enemies that can't be trivially headshot, like the Brute, or when you're forced into being outflanked etc. by the geography.

[ArgonV]

GAH! Postman come on already! It was supposed to be delivered yesterday. I still don't have it!

Yes, I realise this makes me sound like some spoiled brat. So be it

[SlyReaper]

No it doesn't. I know all too well what it's like having to wait for a highly anticipated item to be delivered, while the courier company don't give a shit about actually doing their job.

This is why I chose to buy it straight off Origin. More expensive, but no stressing about incompetent couriers.

[ArgonV]

It's also bad timing, since yesterday classes ended at three and today I was free by noon. Tomorrow I start at eight, planned end of the practical exercise is at 12:30, but then I need to finish a bunch of reports (and there's a football game I want to see). Friday I'm in the lab from 8:45 to 17:30 and I'll be catching a movie with friends later that night, Saturday is spent working and catching up with a friend visiting from London.

So yeah, yesterday would've been perfect

[Chen]

Played a bit yesterday as my Paragon Soldier. While I do like my soldier, having 3 ammo skills seems kinda wasteful. I also gotta wonder how much different the game is if you start from scratch in ME 3. Do you start at level 1? Is everything scaled appropriately? Either way it seems to be pretty fun. The fact that powers can now be used on shielded/armored enemies is nice, even if they have limited effects.

Gameplay/plot spoilers

Spoiler:

So far I only have used Ashley, Vega, Garrus and Liara. Liara seems to be the most powerful so far since Singularity and Stasis are extremely good. Stasis even works on shielded enemies. Its way too easy to just have Liara using singularity and kill the floating 2-3 guys at no risk. Combat only seems difficult in levels where enemies are coming at your from multiple angles. Then it gets pretty damn hairy. The grenades the enemies throw are also great in making you actually move around instead of just hiding behind cover and shooting when safe. They are somewhat bad at throwing them though. Often they will throw them directly in FRONT of the cover which does barely anything to you.

[Will]

I have my copy, but as soon as I started it up, and tried importing my character, I got a lovely little error message saying it can't import my character's face. Apparently this is a known issue, but I'm not going to play until I can play it with *my* Sheppard and not some impostor. I don't know how the hell a bug this big made it to the final release.

[maybeagnostic]

I got killed climbing down a ladder in a multiplayer game today. When I got resuscitated I was stuck behind the ladder and couldn't move or take cover. I could still shoot and use skills so I just killed anything within reach for the couple of waves until the round ended. Annoying but I guess not that big of a deal. When the next round started (on a different map with a different opponent) I was on the very edge of the map again unable to move. I quit that round and had to leave for work but now I am worried that I am permanently stuck. Has anyone heard of this happening before?

[Okita]

Collector's edition just came in.

I'm actually... a little underwhelmed by the collector's edition.

The 4"by6" lithographic print just looks like a post card and everything is fit to that size. The comic and artbook are pretty small as well. Basically, everything is about DVD size. I mean, I guess the print would be like that but I expected the comic and the artbook to be bigger. I probably should have bought the "Art of the Mass Effect" universe book instead.

I dunno if the in-game items will be worth it either but I think I'm regretting shelling out the extra money for it.

[Chen]

I have my copy, but as soon as I started it up, and tried importing my character, I got a lovely little error message saying it can't import my character's face. Apparently this is a known issue, but I'm not going to play until I can play it with *my* Sheppard and not some impostor. I don't know how the hell a bug this big made it to the final release.

There's apparently a difference in the way the faces a treated in ME1 and ME2 that prevents the proper importing. I gotta wonder if you import into 2 and take the code from that if it will show up appropriately in 3.

[SlyReaper]

I had no problems importing my ME2 Shepherd, although it did look a bit different than it did in the previous game.

Spoilerific:

Spoiler:

I has a sad. Mordin died to cure the genophage. He died singing Scientist Salarian.

Also, fuck reaper brutes. Fuck them with a rusty spoon. They're horrifyingly dangerous and I had to fight like a dozen of them at the same time in the cure genophage mission. I had to lower the combat difficulty to get through that bit.

[Dark567]

Man, I remember now how frustrating Vanguard is on the upper difficulties. Its definitely the most fun class, but you have to be prepared to reload. A lot.

[SlyReaper]

I'm playing an engineer. The fact that you can use overload AND incincerate is a combination of pure win. And as if that weren't enough, you can hack synthetics.