Mass Effect 3: Every Dialog Choice Can Be Answered with "Charge"

[Moomba]

ME3 confirmed to have day one character and story DLC only available in the collectors or for a price of $10 for download.

http://www.vg247.com/2012/02/21/mass-effect-3-from-ashes-dlc-spotted-on-xbox-live/

This always bugs me. They've literally shaved off a part of the content they created and are now selling it back to us on top of the price of the game. It's not like it's supreficial content either, it's actually pretty central to the whole Mass Effect mythos.

[Melbu Frahma]

ME3 confirmed to have day one character and story DLC only available in the collectors or for a price of $10 for download.

http://www.vg247.com/2012/02/21/mass-effect-3-from-ashes-dlc-spotted-on-xbox-live/

This always bugs me. They've literally shaved off a part of the content they created and are now selling it back to us on top of the price of the game. It's not like it's supreficial content either, it's actually pretty central to the whole Mass Effect mythos.

Same; I'm more than a little annoyed about it. It'd be one thing if this was content that wasn't going to be available on release day - if it was content they needed a few extra months to finalize it, or was something they needed to wait and see how the rest of the game worked before they could best decide how to integrate - but it isn't, it's something that can and will be available on release.

Which is a little strange when you look at how they handled DLC on the past Mass Effects (in particular, look at how Zaeed was handled). That was far more reasonable.

[Native Jovian]

Mass Effect's actual gameplay has never really clicked with me, and the multiplayer distills this into pure controller-snapping frustration -- made all the worse by the fact that you can still see the potential behind all the crap.

The game is a cover shooter, and the cover controls are bleh. It's difficult to make your character do what you want them to do. I constantly find myself ducking into cover when I want to run past something, standing around getting shot when I'm trying to duck into cover, doing a dive-roll (usually into the line of fire) when I'm trying to switch to a new piece of cover, etc.

The weapons feel weak. Mass Effect has always been this way, but it's such an annoyance in multiplayer that it's worth mentioning again. I'm sorry, but when I shotgun a basic mook in the face from two inches away, they should die. An armored mook, or a mook with a riot shield, or a ninja-mook -- sure, they should be able to take more hits. But when the most basic enemy in the game takes two/three shotgun blasts or half a clip of SMG ammo to go down? Makes me feel like I'm using a popgun.

The dying mechanic infuriates me. I get the idea of having a brief period where a teammate can revive you after you die, that's fine. But the fact that they expect you to do some literal button mashing to say alive longer -- unless an enemy happens to be nearby (which they will be, because they just killed you), in which case they'll just execute you anyway -- is stupid. It just means that it's not worth the bother of saving a teammate unless they happen to fall right at your feet. It's smarter to just finish off the enemies and bring them back for the next round than it is to risk getting yourself killed trying to save them, which renders the entire feature frustrating instead of entertaining.

That said, I'm sure I'll eventually pick up ME3 anyway. Like I said, the gameplay has never been the major draw of the series in the first place.

This always bugs me. They've literally shaved off a part of the content they created and are now selling it back to us on top of the price of the game. It's not like it's supreficial content either, it's actually pretty central to the whole Mass Effect mythos.

That's generally not how day-one DLC works. They don't create a whole game, snip out part of it, and then laugh maniacally as they sell you that snipped-out part for extra. Once the game goes gold (ie, "ready to sell, manufacture the discs and ship it out to stores") no changes can be made to the game, but you've still got a bunch of developers that you're paying to sit around. So you have them whip up something in the time between when the game goes gold and the actual release date, and drop that content as a day-one DLC.

[Hyperion5182]

I guess it had to happen here as well.

Before the rage machine ramps up let me tell you a bit of an insider story.

I know a game dev. I cant and wont say who because he values his privacy and he's currently working on a couple of projects. People are gonna know this guy in the next few years. He worked for sony for a while before going on his own. He gets into exclusive stuff during events. During a recent convention -I cant and wont say which for privacy issues- he was able to talk to some bioware devs. One of them let slip that the THIRD DLC planned for Mass Effect 3 was...MULTIPLAYER! Approximate launch date of june/august range.

The same multiplayer that was added to LAUNCH. What would easily rate as a 15 dollar DLC got moved to a main component of the title. So before this jumps the rails and people truly start complaining. Bioware/EA made a choice. To give the user a better experience up front and give them a component they'd have to pay for otherwise. Then what would take the place of that first DLC? They decided on THIS. Honestly I get with the spoiler information out there why people might be upset but before people go into rage mode they need to be reminded that they're not ENTIRE assholes.

Plus at this point if people looked over the Collectors edition they oughtta be buying that. A far better value if you ask me. 80 bucks for approximately 120 worth of stuff. (including that DLC)

I can understand to an extent the frustration on the way this was done but Day one DLC has happened before in games and it will continue to happen.

In this case what was added imo is far more important than what was moved to DLC. Then again this was a game i decided very early on to buy collectors so this doesnt affect me.

[Moomba]

That's generally not how day-one DLC works. They don't create a whole game, snip out part of it, and then laugh maniacally as they sell you that snipped-out part for extra. Once the game goes gold (ie, "ready to sell, manufacture the discs and ship it out to stores") no changes can be made to the game, but you've still got a bunch of developers that you're paying to sit around. So you have them whip up something in the time between when the game goes gold and the actual release date, and drop that content as a day-one DLC.

See, this may be true, but let's look at ME2 for a second. ME2 had day one DLC (well delayed-by-two-days-due-to-complications DLC). The huge difference here is that Zaeed and all the content that came with him was free for everyone who bought the game. This time we're being charged for what is essentially exactly the same situation.

[Clefairy]

See, this may be true, but let's look at ME2 for a second. ME2 had day one DLC (well delayed-by-two-days-due-to-complications DLC). The huge difference here is that Zaeed and all the content that came with him was free for everyone who bought the game. This time we're being charged for what is essentially exactly the same situation.

Mass Effect is big enough and Bioware is respected enough that EA figured they could charge for it, and enough people would suck it up and pay in spite of the backlash.

That's really all it is. EA wants your money, as much of it as you're willing to give. They've built up a lot of goodwill among the fanbase for producing quality content over the last two games, now they want to see how much juice they can squeeze out of us.

[ParanoidDrone]

The dying mechanic infuriates me. I get the idea of having a brief period where a teammate can revive you after you die, that's fine. But the fact that they expect you to do some literal button mashing to say alive longer -- unless an enemy happens to be nearby (which they will be, because they just killed you), in which case they'll just execute you anyway -- is stupid. It just means that it's not worth the bother of saving a teammate unless they happen to fall right at your feet. It's smarter to just finish off the enemies and bring them back for the next round than it is to risk getting yourself killed trying to save them, which renders the entire feature frustrating instead of entertaining.

Bind the command to your scroll wheel and laugh.

Re: weak guns, I had a similar issue with the Viper rifle. It was weak enough that it wasn't killing the basic mooks on a headshot. Switched back to the Mantis soon after. (On a related note, Tactical Cloak + Mantis can kill pretty much anything on a headshot. Can't wait until I get the Widow.) My other preferred classes (Adept and Engineer) don't care about guns as much so it's not as big a deal.

Re: DLC it turns out I'm getting it as part of the digital deluxe edition. (Don't judge me! I just decided to treat myself. Also robodog in the Normandy.) I agree it's kind of a dick move to charge for day 1 DLC though, especially given the apparent plot significance.

[Darklink42]

I guess it had to happen here as well.

Before the rage machine ramps up let me tell you a bit of an insider story.

I know a game dev. I cant and wont say who because he values his privacy and he's currently working on a couple of projects. People are gonna know this guy in the next few years. He worked for sony for a while before going on his own. He gets into exclusive stuff during events. During a recent convention -I cant and wont say which for privacy issues- he was able to talk to some bioware devs. One of them let slip that the THIRD DLC planned for Mass Effect 3 was...MULTIPLAYER! Approximate launch date of june/august range.

The same multiplayer that was added to LAUNCH. What would easily rate as a 15 dollar DLC got moved to a main component of the title. So before this jumps the rails and people truly start complaining. Bioware/EA made a choice. To give the user a better experience up front and give them a component they'd have to pay for otherwise. Then what would take the place of that first DLC? They decided on THIS. Honestly I get with the spoiler information out there why people might be upset but before people go into rage mode they need to be reminded that they're not ENTIRE assholes.

Plus at this point if people looked over the Collectors edition they oughtta be buying that. A far better value if you ask me. 80 bucks for approximately 120 worth of stuff. (including that DLC)

I can understand to an extent the frustration on the way this was done but Day one DLC has happened before in games and it will continue to happen.

In this case what was added imo is far more important than what was moved to DLC. Then again this was a game i decided very early on to buy collectors so this doesnt affect me.

I think the point here is that they chose to take something out that was already there in order to use it for DLC in the first place. DLC shouldn't be stuff that's already in the game, that's nonsense. DLC is, at least in my mind, supposed to be additional stuff that adds to the game's flavor, or stuff that they hadn't finished. When the operational thinking behind a release is "Well, we've got all this stuff here, and it's worth more than the current going rate as far as we're concerned, what can we take out in order to get a few more bucks?", that's kind of a dick move.

[Geeky Stoner]

The game is a cover shooter, and the cover controls are bleh. It's difficult to make your character do what you want them to do. I constantly find myself ducking into cover when I want to run past something, standing around getting shot when I'm trying to duck into cover, doing a dive-roll (usually into the line of fire) when I'm trying to switch to a new piece of cover, etc.

I can see that. there have been a few moments where I've been trying to revive people and i end up grabbing walls, but it's few and far between for me.

The weapons feel weak. Mass Effect has always been this way' date=' but it's such an annoyance in multiplayer that it's worth mentioning again. I'm sorry, but when I shotgun a basic mook in the face from two inches away, they should [i']die. An armored mook, or a mook with a riot shield, or a ninja-mook -- sure, they should be able to take more hits. But when the most basic enemy in the game takes two/three shotgun blasts or half a clip of SMG ammo to go down? Makes me feel like I'm using a popgun.

The thing is that the multiplayer has rpg/upgrade mechanics in it, and it's mostly because you have a weak character right now, i have two maxed out classes and all the other are over level 10 and something like a soldier i can two hit most people with a shotgun (especially my krogan which is fun as hell to play as),also you should be going for headshots you inflict about double or three times as much damage (depending on how you've leveled). Which difficulty were you playing on as well? The health ramps up on enemies quite a bit on silver and gold compared to bronze.

Smgs do feel a bit weak though no matter how much you turn upgrade them.

The dying mechanic infuriates me. I get the idea of having a brief period where a teammate can revive you after you die' date=' that's fine. But the fact that they expect you to do some [i']literal button mashing to say alive longer -- unless an enemy happens to be nearby (which they will be, because they just killed you), in which case they'll just execute you anyway -- is stupid. It just means that it's not worth the bother of saving a teammate unless they happen to fall right at your feet. It's smarter to just finish off the enemies and bring them back for the next round than it is to risk getting yourself killed trying to save them, which renders the entire feature frustrating instead of entertaining.

It's the same in gears of war (which i feel the movement in this game is borrowing heavily from)

The mahsing mechanic never bothered me too much imo (maybe it's a pc thing lol jk)

I've gone across the entire map to save a teammate from dying, sometimes i've gotten myself killed trying to save someone but it's a calculated risk.

alot of these problems you seem to be having i think are mostly due to having a lower level character and getting used to the mechanics.

I honestly thought when i first saw multiplayer in mass effect 3 that it was going ot be some kind of gimmicky death match tack on but i was pleasantly surprised.

The decision to make it nothing but co op was really smart imo, it eliminates any issues with having overpowered classes/builds where pvp would be broken

(think of going up against a team of nothing but krogan soldiers ugh)

[ParanoidDrone]

I'm sure I'm not the only person who is/has been/will be scrambling to complete some form of an "ultimate" run through of ME1/ME2 for importing to ME3. But have the new dodge controls, unlimited and easier-to-steer running, and weight-based cooldowns spoiled anyone else?

ME3: 1.5 second Singularity cooldown, yes please.

ME2: WHY YOU TAKE SO LONG TO RECHARGE?

ME1: Too different to be worth commenting on. Although biotics in general were broken as hell.

Also does anyone else have issues with Shockwave not always working properly? I swear about a third of the time it will just pass harmlessly through the target. Biotic effects won't detonate, guardians won't stagger, etc. I suspect it's related to lag or other network issues, but I can't be sure.

[Sengin]

I can't be THAT upset about day 1 DLC in this case. Now, if it was on disk DLC, that's different, because that was completed in time to make gold. But they mentioned a couple months ago that the collector's edition was going to have an extra character/mission. No one threw a fit then. But they decide to offer it as DLC and all of a sudden the shit hits the fan.

That said, sure, it would have been nice to be free for those that buy the game new, but really, what wouldn't be nice to get free?

[Geeky Stoner]

yeah there are alot of little glitches and things i notice (like not being able to move at the beginning of a game , not being able to heavy melee, your gun constantly firing without stopping,

not being able to run up ladders, and a few more i can't think of right now)

i mostly attribute this to it being a demo.

I will have a playthrough with every class in ME1 2 and 3 once it's all said and done.

i think the fast recharges are mostly for multiplayer sake, it's not like you're a super soldier like shep in the multiplayer so the cooldowns are needed , yeah sure it feels overpowered on something like bronze,

but in gold try getting rushed by 6 atlases and 8 phantoms among several combat engineers, centurions, assault troopers, and nemesises ... nemisi?

and that was only wave 6 we never made it to wave 10.

I for one like the new controls, it's heavily reminiscent of gears of war as i said before.

For me Mass effect 1 will always be my favorite of the series i'm sure 3 will be good but they are never bringing back an inventory system which is a shame imo.

1 just had the perfect story arc it was quick and to the point you never felt like you got bogged down with all this side mission junk like in 2.

not that i don't like pursuing all of the back stories with the side characters in 2 but i hate it when it seems to detract from the main arc.

As i said the lack of any kind of inventory system in 2 sort of rubbed me the wrong way in 2 i think it was a big overreaction to the issue with the inventory system in 1

(which you only just need to tend a bit and get rid of old junk on a regular basis and it will be fine. You could of updated the inventory in 2 but instead they just scrapped it altogether)

3 looks like it will be a fitting end to the shepard/reaper saga which at the end of the day it's what all of us really want out of this.

[prophetik music]

I'm sure I'm not the only person who is/has been/will be scrambling to complete some form of an "ultimate" run through of ME1/ME2 for importing to ME3. But have the new dodge controls, unlimited and easier-to-steer running, and weight-based cooldowns spoiled anyone else?

i had three playthroughs of ME1, four of ME2, and now ME3 coming up... can't wait.

[JackKieser]

As far as the day 1 DLC goes, the Penny Arcade ME thread pretty much beat that horse to dead and back.. granted, a lot of the discussion was pretty emotionally charged, and I think DLC discussions can happen as long as people don't get too emotionally invested, but whatever. All I will say is that I doubt that day 1 DLC is a trend in the industry that's good for anyone but publishers.

That being said... it's super hard to avoid spoilers this close to release. I know some people already know who the DLC character is, but I want to go into the game on the 6th with completely fresh eyes (I've gone so far as to not play the single player demo at all, and have avoided EVERY trailer for the game, only seeing ones that my GF has pre-viewed to verify for no spoilers). Staying on the internet and avoiding ME3 spoilers are becoming more and more mutually exclusive.

[ParanoidDrone]

That being said... it's super hard to avoid spoilers this close to release. I know some people already know who the DLC character is, but I want to go into the game on the 6th with completely fresh eyes (I've gone so far as to not play the single player demo at all, and have avoided EVERY trailer for the game, only seeing ones that my GF has pre-viewed to verify for no spoilers). Staying on the internet and avoiding ME3 spoilers are becoming more and more mutually exclusive.

Sometimes I'm glad I don't care terribly much about spoilers since it means I don't have to worry about any of this, plus I love the speculation phase that inevitably follows a leak. (Well, minus the legion of "RUINED FOREVER" posts.) Then again it's been ages since I've played through a game without at least a vague idea of upcoming plot twists. Bit of a double-edged sword.

[Darth Lime]

Crossing my fingers in hopes that they change the sound effects of the guns. It feels like I'm firing a high-powered Nerf gun at times, even if the setting is futuristic.

[JackKieser]

Oh, they did. DICE was commissioned to do the gun sounds, so the Revenant has a real DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA sound. All of the guns sound really, REALLY good now.

...though not as good as Shockwave sounds. WUB WUB WUB WUB. In matches, I've taken to calling it "the Dubstep Cannon". It's nice to think that adepts / vanguards are killing mans with the pure power of dubstep.

[prophetik music]

as borderlands says,

96.5%

MOAR

WUB-WUB

or, in my words, more wub-wub than a colony of jawas.

[ParanoidDrone]

Speaking of Shockwave, I'm kind of underwhelmed by it. If nothing else, the range was cut dramatically from ME2, and this is after maxing it out and evolving its radius and range.

It does sound very nice though. And detonating biotic effects is a plus.

[Moomba]

It seems GAME and Gamestation in the UK aren't going to be stocking ME3, or any other EA March release for that matter. I know quite a few people who are pretty angry over their now-cancelled pre-ordered collectors editions.

I don't think GAME are going to last much longer...

Also...

ME3 DLC gun for Xbox 360... tell me that's not the real RRP.

[Hyperion5182]

Seems like someone.

Needs to call the Qwib-Qwib.

xD

[JackKieser]

Oh my god, I am NEVER playing Arrival again. My last cheevo to get was the Object Rho fight on Insanity, and I decided my best bet was to do it with a Vanguard, since I'm so trash at long range shooting.

It took me 7 hours.

I got it, eventually. But, it was like pulling teeth. Fuck that DLC, I will never again do that. My other save files don't need Arrival; it isn't worth it.

[ParanoidDrone]

I don't think I've ever touched Insanity. I've done Tali's recruitment in ME2 on Hardcore for the Geth Pulse Rifle, but otherwise I stick to Veteran. I have better things to do.

I finally unlocked the Asari Adept in the ME3 demo and holy fuck Stasis is broken. Granted only 2 Cerberus enemies actually use Armor, and one of them (Turrets) is stationary anyway. But it completely trivializes Phantoms. And if you max out force, Throw can stagger an Atlas.

[prophetik music]

insanity is broken in ME2. anything you do gets you killed, and the unblockable knockback animation is like five seconds long.

also, arrival works on linsanity because there's a little picket you can tuck into where they don't really go near, so you can snipe all day. vanguard is tough, though, because they tear you up hard.

[Gollgagh]

I did a vanguard on insanity and had no one die on the suicide mission.

ya'll babies