Mass Effect 3

[Orv]

Unfortunately, I have suspicions of progressive, objective-based cover shooting. And this on top of finding it hard to care about a third Mass Effect (even after my near 180 on ME2) is just. . .eugh. We'll see, as always, but expectations remain middling.

[mikemariano]

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Now with more turret sequences!!!


(I don't like turret sequences.)

[Roderick]

Mass Effect 3's Kinect support is an embarrassment and should be ignored/forgotten as quickly as possible.

For Mass Effect 3, I really hope Bioware manages to recapture that nerdiness and sense of adventure that was prevalent in the first game and largely absent in the second, which focused on tightly scripted cinematic events. They promise more 'RPG' this time around, so I trust them to get this right.

[mikemariano]

Mass Effect 3's Kinect support is an embarrassment and should be ignored/forgotten as quickly as possible.

Oooh, Kinect support!

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[elmuerte]

Mass Effect 3's Kinect support is an embarrassment and should be ignored/forgotten as quickly as possible.

For Mass Effect 3, I really hope Bioware manages to recapture that nerdiness and sense of adventure that was prevalent in the first game and largely absent in the second, which focused on tightly scripted cinematic events. They promise more 'RPG' this time around, so I trust them to get this right.

unless it's more DA2RPG :/

[Forbin]

oh wow Bioware's marketing team never disappoints.

[a purple future]

I trust them

I don't. I want ME3 and TOR to be amazing, I really do, but everything from the dumbing down of ME2, lackluster ME2 dlc, DA2, to the terrible promotional materials for ME3 are not filling me with confidence.

ME2 did a lot of things right but in the process removed the best features of ME1, which I don't see making a return.

Classic Bioware games always had a large hub first area like the Citadel in ME1 or the planet that begins with T in Kotor. You spend time in a familiar setting, meeting people, doing missions, learning about the game world. ME2 just shuffled you off from place to place to place and few, if any, of them were memorable. The combat was fun. The character interaction was good (even if the new characters weren't as good as the ones from ME1). The plot and narrative weren't as good.

Every piece of promotional material so far has seemed to hint that you'll constantly be dashing around doing chains of crazy things and to me, that's the least appealing part of a Bioware game. Maybe I'll be wrong and there will be lots of character-driven drama compared to combat. Hopefully.

[juv3nal]

I don't.

I'm kind of on the fence with this. I don't really trust them to make the kind of game I'd want them to make, but at the same time, I do trust that even so what they end up will be fun and worth my money, even more so if they aren't gimped by weird scheduling/budgeting issues (looking at you, DA2, and your 18 month turnaround time).

[Roderick]

Bioware marketing stuff is rarely indicative of what the product will be like. They're catering to the shooter crowd with it, and at least with ME1 they hid this totally awesome RPG in it in secret. There's really no telling what ME3 will turn out as.

Holy shit it's a long wait until March 2K12 though.

[mikemariano]

Bioware marketing stuff is rarely indicative of what the product will be like.

Bioware marketing just keeps getting better!

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This reminds me of the news broadcasts in Willy Wonka. I hope Shepard wins the golden ticket.

But to kill the buzz of your expectations, Rodi, the gameplay trailer showed off at least one turret sequence, which is always lazy gameplay and is something that Mass Effect 2 did horribly (kill the monkeys on Tuchanka!). My expectations are not high for anything combat-related. I'm just hoping for more advances in conversation. Mass Effect 2 improved conversation in ways I didn't expect.

[a purple future]

I'm kind of on the fence with this. I don't really trust them to make the kind of game I'd want them to make, but at the same time, I do trust that even so what they end up will be fun and worth my money, even more so if they aren't gimped by weird scheduling/budgeting issues (looking at you, DA2, and your 18 month turnaround time).

yeah. I guess what I'm saying is that there's very few companies who I implicitly trust to make great games, and Bioware used to be one of them. unfortunately now I'm approaching each new game of theirs with increased caution.

at least I still have the TES/Fallout teams from Bethesda to have unwavering faith in. for now...

[Roderick]

Oh shit, Europe is first! Here come the Reapers!

I've been conditioned by Westwood to really love real actors playing in games, so this is good marketing as far as I'm considered.

[mikemariano]

at least I still have the TES/Fallout teams from Bethesda to have unwavering faith in. for now...

Exactly. Look at the Skyrim footage: it clearly shows updates and gameplay changes that take into account how people have played their past games.

Mass Effect 2 responded to aimless Mako driving and inventory Hell, but added random features that couldn't have possibly been based on player reaction. Who wanted to planet scan?

For example, this twitter post:

@asponge: You didn't ask for it and you've got it--an on-rails turret sequence in Mass Effect 3. #video #games

It means what we'll get in Mass Effect 3 is totally unpredictable. That may not be a bad thing, but it definitely requires some caution.

[brkl]

Hold on, all features should be based on player reaction?

Not to dispute the shitness of a couple of the minor aspects of ME2.

[mikemariano]

Hold on, all features should be based on player reaction?

No, it's just difficult to talk about or have faith in features that don't respond to or improve something we've seen before.

We just have to cross our fingers and hope the Mass Effect team knows what they're doing. Based on Mass Effect 2, we can proudly say..."sorta!"

[Lu]

Cool, it's what everyone wanted.

[toblix]

Everything is coming together. They're pulling out of Steam while at the same time removing my desire to play any of their games.

[elmuerte]

Mass Effect MP

[Roderick]

I gotta say that is not at all what interests me. But I still fully expect to be surprised by a significant dose of RPGing in the main singleplayer game. I don't see a real reason to start worrying just yet.

[Murdoc]

Not to sound like a negative nelly, because I loved Mass Effect 1, but Mass Effect 2 kind of showed a new path for the series and it's one Im not really interested in. Here's hoping 3 will be alright so I can lay it to rest.

[miffy495]

Some of the enemies were confirmed as well: Geth, Marauders, Husks, and a new enemy type called Brutes. The source described them as insanely “huge ass”.

Hahahahahaha!

[mikemariano]

Hey, a Wired interview with a Bioware person gives a little more detail.

Houston says that rather than remove the customization feature entirely, BioWare will make it more intuitive. Instead of juggling a screen full of numbers, players will be able to alter specific, functional aspects of a weapon like the size of its ammo clip or the frequency of its firing rate.

Bringing back weapon modifications is a good thing. Mass Effect 1 had surprisingly useful mods when fighting against synthetic vs human enemies.

Every story detail still sounds silly, though:

SHEPARD: "Millions of humans are dying every hour. But sure, I'll sit in on these negotiations between Turians and Krogans."

[Roderick]

That's just your human-centric thinking. Why shouldn't a treaty between the Turians and the Krogans be a thing of importance?

[Lu]

How did it come to a point where a Spectre agent saves the galaxy like twice, proves his loyalty many times over, tells everyone on Earth that a race of giant destroyers is coming for them and is then brushed off as silliness?? That is what pretty much happens, right?

[Wubbles]

I'm pretty sure it's a combination of bigotry about Shepard's humanity, the Council's unwillingness to accept the Reapers as real without clear evidence (preferring to call Sovereign a Geth ship), and the fact Shepard never actually told the public about the Reapers.