Mass Effect 3

[KingIsaacLinksr]

This game has, easily, the most accessories, collectibles, comic books, (apparently movie), and other materials to go along with this game than any other franchise I can think of.  Well, except Wow I suppose....and I can't go through a single email from other companies without tripping over a ME3 "offer".  (Buy X and they'll give you multiplayer-"items").

King

[Jobydrone]

Finally about to dive in to ME 3.  I am so excited, cannot wait to see how the story ends!  I have been diligently avoiding spoilers, it's been so hard especially not listening to my gaming podcasts the past two weeks! 

Anyone that want to play some multiplayer hit me up at Jobythehutt, please, I need friends on Xbox live!

[ChrisMC]

Finally about to dive in to ME 3.  I am so excited, cannot wait to see how the story ends!  I have been diligently avoiding spoilers, it's been so hard especially not listening to my gaming podcasts the past two weeks! 

Anyone that want to play some multiplayer hit me up at Jobythehutt, please, I need friends on Xbox live!

I'm up for some Co-op, my gamertag is Kryptonian 74.

[ChrisMC]

Well, I beat the game. I have been hearing non-specific things about nerd-rage regarding the ending. I didn't feel bad about the ending...[spoiler]I chose to merge with the beam, something I figured my Shepard would do. I think it's a nice sacrifice and end to the character. I have looked at the others and I guess Shepard dies no matter what, so maybe folks are pissed about that. I was just glad that Joker and EDI can be happy together, ha. Anyway, great series, loved every minute of playing these for the first time. It's a cool universe and I'm sure we'll see more stuff in it. [/spoiler]

[Jobydrone]

Not reading that spoiler box...just finished the[spoiler]Fall of Thessia[/spoiler] mission so I think I am close to the end.  I'm very intrigued about all the controversy surrounding the ending.  After how freaking good the game has been so far I can't believe it is so terrible to have caused such turmoil amongst fans of the series.

The only thing that truly infuriated me was the inability to import my Mass Effect 1 Shepard's face into this game.  That was one of the most fun and surprising things about going from ME 1 to ME 2 when you started the game with the same character model you used for the whole first game.  I read there's some sort of bug and it's getting patched in but that doesn't help me now that I'm almost done!  I managed to make my 3 character look pretty close but the first couple hours were kind of jarring until I got used to her. 

[Jobydrone]

Hey Chris-El and Chris-X and/or anyone else that has finished this game:

I am very close to the end, [spoiler](the only mission left in my log is to go to the Cerberus Base and it says in the description that this is the point of no return)[/spoiler]
But I wanted to know when was the last opportunity to raise my galactic readiness through multiplayer before I have to finish the game.  Is it now or can I still up those points later on?

[X]

Well, after a certain point you can't save anymore, but it goes by your current GR level, so build it up before or right after that mission.

[Jobydrone]

Thanks X.  What did you think of the ending, without spoiling?

[Jobydrone]

Murmurs I'm getting so far is that ME3 DLC is way overpriced for the little that you get.  I guess I shouldn't be surprised at that.  Still waiting for other sources atm...

King

I can say without hesitation that this is untrue, the From Ashes DLC is far and away worth the ten dollars.  The character you get weaves his way in and out of the story, and like all the Mass Effect characters, you get out of him what you put in.  If you go to his area of the ship in between every mission, like  all the characters in your crew, you get unique dialogue and sometimes full cut scenes that fully enrich and expand the story and lore of the series.  I am very glad I paid the extra money for the DLC, and unlike the downloadable characters from ME 2, I can't really imagine the experience of playing the game without this character.

[ChrisMC]

Murmurs I'm getting so far is that ME3 DLC is way overpriced for the little that you get.  I guess I shouldn't be surprised at that.  Still waiting for other sources atm...

King

I can say without hesitation that this is untrue, the From Ashes DLC is far and away worth the ten dollars.  The character you get weaves his way in and out of the story, and like all the Mass Effect characters, you get out of him what you put in.  If you go to his area of the ship in between every mission, like  all the characters in your crew, you get unique dialogue and sometimes full cut scenes that fully enrich and expand the story and lore of the series.  I am very glad I paid the extra money for the DLC, and unlike the downloadable characters from ME 2, I can't really imagine the experience of playing the game without this character.

Agreed.
As far as the readiness rating, if you have over 50 percent readiness, the achievement will pop once you get to the end...although that may have been for scanning the planets for war assets. I say go for the end, afterwards, it will load you up right before the raid on the Cerberus base, so you'll have another shot to do it again.

[Jobydrone]

I finished the Cerberus raid last night but still didn't complete Priority Earth yet, and it appears I was able to save before starting that mission.  I have my readiness up to 94% after four hours of multiplayer yesterday.  I'm going to get it all the way up to 100% before I finish the game.

I still haven't finished the game, but I think I might understand what people are complaining about regarding the controversy over the ending.  I'll tell you, I am pretty annoyed about the way they integrated multiplayer into the single player game.  I don't know all the ramifications of going into the end game of the single player with a low galactic readiness rating, but without any information or explanation out there (not even an instruction manual in the box!) and not wanting to research the info on the internet to avoid spoilers, I feel obligated to play multiplayer in order to achieve the most positive outcome in the single player mission. 

I am not a multiplayer gamer, in fact most of the time I don't even pay for Xbox Live Gold (I am currently on a three month free trial that came with my new Slim model) so people like me wouldn't even have the capability of playing that content without incurring an extra charge.  But in general I just don't like playing with strangers and I have a limited list of friends that play games.  I find the Mass Effect 3 multiplayer tedious, very very long (almost 20-30 minutes to complete a single silver challenge) and extremely difficult.  There's no limit to the frustration to play for 30 minutes or more, slog through ten waves of multiplayer, only to have the whole team die during wave ten or extraction and not get any readiness points.  I feel like smashing my TV when that happens, and it's happened about three or four times to me. 

Finally, I am pretty annoyed by the model they are using to require the use of one time only consumables on higher level multiplayer challenges, and making those items tied to a system where you have to purchase those items using in game credits which you either earn over time (taking about three or four rounds to earn enough to puchase the highest level pack, translating to about two-three hours of play time) or purchase with real world funds.  There's only so much I can abide game developers deliberately implementing a model to squeeze a dollar here, two dollars there, out of their loyal customers.  You can't even argue "Well if you don't like it you don't have to play multiplayer" because it seems so inextricably tied to a successful ending to the single player mission.

I prefer single player games, I always have.  I don't like competing with strangers, or the pressure involved with being depended on to play at a certain level to avoid ruining other people's experiences.  If I suck at a single player game, it only affects me, and that's the way I like it.  I resent feeling coerced into playing this multiplayer portion in order to achieve the most positive conclusion to the single player game I've enjoyed so much over the previous two games.  If the ending of the game is even slightly unsatisfying, I believe it might be these issues with multiplayer that makes it seem like such a bigger deal and cause such a big controversy among players of this franchise.

[Jobydrone]

As far as the readiness rating, if you have over 50 percent readiness, the achievement will pop once you get to the end...although that may have been for scanning the planets for war assets. I say go for the end, afterwards, it will load you up right before the raid on the Cerberus base, so you'll have another shot to do it again.

I got that achievement for getting "most" of the war assets.  There's another one for getting the whole galactic map up to 100% which I hope to get tonight before I finish Priority Earth.  I can't help myself, I guess I am a little OCD when it comes to this kind of thing.

[X]

The difference between the ending for having more than 50 assets is so minor that it really isn't needed to play multiplayer. I won't say much more without spoiling, but if you understand the story, the ending, all of them, makes sense after the smoke has cleared.

[Jobydrone]

The difference between the ending for having more than 50 assets is so minor that it really isn't needed to play multiplayer. I won't say much more without spoiling, but if you understand the story, the ending, all of them, makes sense after the smoke has cleared.

Yeah I'm sure you're right, but I still feel manipulated by the company, and that's not really a good feeling to have.  Those percentages are definitely there to get people into the multiplayer.  I'm not saying theres a conspiracy or anything, it's actually a pretty interesting way to get people who wouldn't otherwise be interested in multiplayer to try it and it's the first time I've seen anything like this tried.  I just hope they see it as a failure and don't do it any more in games that I love ;)

I still love probably 80% of what I've played otherwise, with the multiplayer comprising the other 20%.  The story arc, writing, mission design, characters, combat, inventory system, RPG elements, and especially the way your previous actions from the prior two games carry over and are meaningful in this one, is all masterfully accomplished and practically genius in the single player component of this game.

[KingIsaacLinksr]

Spoiler box, but I don't spoil anything in-game, just making sure.  I only "spoil" game mechanics I suppose. 

[spoiler]From what I understand about the ending is that people are upset that no matter what you do in the game, the end result is the same.  Bit of a slap in the face for some people who are used to ME1 and ME2's endings being different depending on your actions. 

And people believe that the game's ending sucks.  So that doesn't' help them either. 

I don't have an opinion on it because....I have no idea what happens lol. 
[/spoiler]
And yes, the in-game-purchases for multiplayer are annoying, everytime I see that business model I cry a little inside by the sheer greed of it.

King