On March 15 2012 20:06 Vaelone wrote: Only got the game at monday and started playing at tuesday, 12 hours in and have been playing pretty much all of my free time past couple days, enjoying the game so far and taking my time to do all the little things. Regret not starting on Insanity instead of Hardcore though.
Can't recall previous games having this annoying spawns but that might be just me, feels like enemies keep appearing from no where right behind. And the game could have used more graphics options and space has too many functions bound on it for some situations.
Yet to try multiplayer as I'm not a big fan of co-op kill endless waves of bots type of games which MP looked like to me in the brief gameplay video I saw, I could be wrong. Hope not playing MP doesn't screw my single-player though.
Won't comment too much on the story yet but loving the cameos from previous games at least. Definitely not a disappointment for me at least and I thought I was losing interest to Bioware. No it's not another Baldur's Gate or even a RPG for that matter but it's what I expected and I feel like I'm getting proper return for my money.
Actually MP does screw over SP. You cannot get best ending without playing MP and getting readiness above 50% so your total fleet score is 5000+.
You can. You just have to have done almost all ME2 DLC's and every side-mission in ME3 though. Some choices in ME1 can also increase your Effective Military Strength.
It's impossible without cheating or doing the MP. I imported my ME2 shepard with everything done, did all ME3 sidequests, got every single war asset I could possibly get, and was around 7000 war assests. So naturally with the 50% readiness rating, I only got ~3500 instead.
Well in my first playthrough I imported my first ME2 char, which hadn't done anything in ME1 & no DLC's in ME2. He got about 3650 EMS with 50% readiness. I'm playing my second playthrough now with a char that has done everything from ME1 & ME2. I haven't played much yet, but I can already feel an EMS increase with about 9h played, compared to my first char.
On March 15 2012 20:06 Vaelone wrote: Only got the game at monday and started playing at tuesday, 12 hours in and have been playing pretty much all of my free time past couple days, enjoying the game so far and taking my time to do all the little things. Regret not starting on Insanity instead of Hardcore though.
Can't recall previous games having this annoying spawns but that might be just me, feels like enemies keep appearing from no where right behind. And the game could have used more graphics options and space has too many functions bound on it for some situations.
Yet to try multiplayer as I'm not a big fan of co-op kill endless waves of bots type of games which MP looked like to me in the brief gameplay video I saw, I could be wrong. Hope not playing MP doesn't screw my single-player though.
Won't comment too much on the story yet but loving the cameos from previous games at least. Definitely not a disappointment for me at least and I thought I was losing interest to Bioware. No it's not another Baldur's Gate or even a RPG for that matter but it's what I expected and I feel like I'm getting proper return for my money.
Actually MP does screw over SP. You cannot get best ending without playing MP and getting readiness above 50% so your total fleet score is 5000+.
I just found another use for Cheat Engine! Change galaxy at war score!
Tried that and could not get it to work. There's a coalesced file flying around that increases the amount of warscore you get per asset though.
On March 15 2012 20:06 Vaelone wrote: Only got the game at monday and started playing at tuesday, 12 hours in and have been playing pretty much all of my free time past couple days, enjoying the game so far and taking my time to do all the little things. Regret not starting on Insanity instead of Hardcore though.
Can't recall previous games having this annoying spawns but that might be just me, feels like enemies keep appearing from no where right behind. And the game could have used more graphics options and space has too many functions bound on it for some situations.
Yet to try multiplayer as I'm not a big fan of co-op kill endless waves of bots type of games which MP looked like to me in the brief gameplay video I saw, I could be wrong. Hope not playing MP doesn't screw my single-player though.
Won't comment too much on the story yet but loving the cameos from previous games at least. Definitely not a disappointment for me at least and I thought I was losing interest to Bioware. No it's not another Baldur's Gate or even a RPG for that matter but it's what I expected and I feel like I'm getting proper return for my money.
Actually MP does screw over SP. You cannot get best ending without playing MP and getting readiness above 50% so your total fleet score is 5000+.
You can. You just have to have done almost all ME2 DLC's and every side-mission in ME3 though. Some choices in ME1 can also increase your Effective Military Strength.
Tell me how. I'm running through the game on a pirated version the second time. Went full paragon the first time, my EMS was 3.6k+. And I did everything I could. I changed up some things now but they are giving meager bonuses. Don't see how I can get 8k TMS to get 4k EMS with 50% readiness. I saw the same general idea basically everywhere I looked - Bioware lied about MP not effecting the SP ending. You cannot get enough without MP.
First and most obvious, 100% scan of the entire galaxy to find all War Assets. Next you need to have done all side-missions on the Citadel (Artifacts, Aria and what not). Saved the Rachni Queen in ME1 and release her in ME3 (NOTE: Killing the Queen in ME1 and releasing the "fake" Queen in ME3 will cause the "fake" Queen to be unreliable and leave you after a couple of missions and all War Assets she gave will be lost). Find the Indoctrinated Hanar @ The Citadel with Kasumi (ME2 DLC character). Befriended & saved Major Kirrahe in ME1. Saved Wrex in ME1. Having all ME2's loyalty missions done and they all survived the suicide mission. Making sure to do as many side missions on the Citadel as possible before Cerberus attacks... There is probably more, but I hope you get the point.... =D It can be done, but it's not easy.
The most important question is - have you done it yourself?
On March 15 2012 20:06 Vaelone wrote: Only got the game at monday and started playing at tuesday, 12 hours in and have been playing pretty much all of my free time past couple days, enjoying the game so far and taking my time to do all the little things. Regret not starting on Insanity instead of Hardcore though.
Can't recall previous games having this annoying spawns but that might be just me, feels like enemies keep appearing from no where right behind. And the game could have used more graphics options and space has too many functions bound on it for some situations.
Yet to try multiplayer as I'm not a big fan of co-op kill endless waves of bots type of games which MP looked like to me in the brief gameplay video I saw, I could be wrong. Hope not playing MP doesn't screw my single-player though.
Won't comment too much on the story yet but loving the cameos from previous games at least. Definitely not a disappointment for me at least and I thought I was losing interest to Bioware. No it's not another Baldur's Gate or even a RPG for that matter but it's what I expected and I feel like I'm getting proper return for my money.
Actually MP does screw over SP. You cannot get best ending without playing MP and getting readiness above 50% so your total fleet score is 5000+.
You can. You just have to have done almost all ME2 DLC's and every side-mission in ME3 though. Some choices in ME1 can also increase your Effective Military Strength.
Tell me how. I'm running through the game on a pirated version the second time. Went full paragon the first time, my EMS was 3.6k+. And I did everything I could. I changed up some things now but they are giving meager bonuses. Don't see how I can get 8k TMS to get 4k EMS with 50% readiness. I saw the same general idea basically everywhere I looked - Bioware lied about MP not effecting the SP ending. You cannot get enough without MP.
First and most obvious, 100% scan of the entire galaxy to find all War Assets. Next you need to have done all side-missions on the Citadel (Artifacts, Aria and what not). Saved the Rachni Queen in ME1 and release her in ME3 (NOTE: Killing the Queen in ME1 and releasing the "fake" Queen in ME3 will cause the "fake" Queen to be unreliable and leave you after a couple of missions and all War Assets she gave will be lost). Find the Indoctrinated Hanar @ The Citadel with Kasumi (ME2 DLC character). Befriended & saved Major Kirrahe in ME1. Saved Wrex in ME1. Having all ME2's loyalty missions done and they all survived the suicide mission. Making sure to do as many side missions on the Citadel as possible before Cerberus attacks... There is probably more, but I hope you get the point.... =D It can be done, but it's not easy.
The most important question is - have you done it yourself?
No, I haven't. So I cannot argue with a 100% security that it can be done since I don't have first hand experience of it. But I have seen it from people who haven't had more than 50% readiness and in my second playthrough, which I'm doing right now, I'm going to find out. But no. You are right. I cannot say with a 100% security that it can be done.
On March 15 2012 18:52 Praetorial wrote: Wait holy hell, can Cheat Engine still be used to change multiplayer credits?
I looked in the Coalesced.bin, and the way you could get infinite stuff in the demo doesn't work anymore (modifying packs) since the store is done server side. I'm not 100% sure, but I think there's a way to get infinite credits by modding Coalesced.bin. I wouldn't try to find out though, as I've heard that EA are being their usual selves and banning people for trivial things like this.
On March 15 2012 09:41 Torrnado wrote: With Dissapointing Age II, Wow in space, and now Dissapointing Effect III I'm confident that I'll never buy another Bioware game again
My feeling too.
Biggest problem I have with the last 3 bioware games (even though ME3 was great for the first 95%) is that in the end my choices didn't mean shit, all 3 these games are 95% linear with the occasional non influential side choices.
I think Bioware's biggest problem is loss of focus. They used to be the company that made great rpg's that could end in all kinds of ways depending on the players choices. But they aren't like that anymore.
Why? I think it's a matter of resource allocation. Everything has to be voiceacted these days. Because of that it's so much more expensive to create new content compared to the Baldur's gate days. And because of that Bioware wants you to see as much content as possible during your first playthrough.
The avarage baldur's gate player didn't see at least half of the content the first playthrough, and that was perfectly fine. It allowed for great replayability. With DA2, Swtor, ME3 I don't feel like replaying it at all, since I feel that I have seen 90% of the content already anyway. But I still play the old rpg's like Planescape torment, bg2, etc from time to time and don't miss the voices at all, you get used to it fast.
If they removed all voiceacting from swtor, me3 and da2 and added 3x more content because of the extra time and resources I'd be perfectly happy.
Really worried that they will be screwing up Baldur's gate 3 because of this too. "yeah it's a lot more linear than bg1 and 2 but it has voiceacting, btw you can always buy dlc's with extra content!"
On March 15 2012 20:06 Vaelone wrote: Only got the game at monday and started playing at tuesday, 12 hours in and have been playing pretty much all of my free time past couple days, enjoying the game so far and taking my time to do all the little things. Regret not starting on Insanity instead of Hardcore though.
Can't recall previous games having this annoying spawns but that might be just me, feels like enemies keep appearing from no where right behind. And the game could have used more graphics options and space has too many functions bound on it for some situations.
Yet to try multiplayer as I'm not a big fan of co-op kill endless waves of bots type of games which MP looked like to me in the brief gameplay video I saw, I could be wrong. Hope not playing MP doesn't screw my single-player though.
Won't comment too much on the story yet but loving the cameos from previous games at least. Definitely not a disappointment for me at least and I thought I was losing interest to Bioware. No it's not another Baldur's Gate or even a RPG for that matter but it's what I expected and I feel like I'm getting proper return for my money.
Actually MP does screw over SP. You cannot get best ending without playing MP and getting readiness above 50% so your total fleet score is 5000+.
I just found another use for Cheat Engine! Change galaxy at war score!
Tried that and could not get it to work. There's a coalesced file flying around that increases the amount of warscore you get per asset though.
Wow. So there's a way to increase my military strength/readiness rating without playing multiplayer?
On March 15 2012 09:41 Torrnado wrote: With Dissapointing Age II, Wow in space, and now Dissapointing Effect III I'm confident that I'll never buy another Bioware game again
My feeling too.
Biggest problem I have with the last 3 bioware games (even though ME3 was great for the first 95%) is that in the end my choices didn't mean shit, all 3 these games are 95% linear with the occasional non influential side choices.
I think Bioware's biggest problem is loss of focus. They used to be the company that made great rpg's that could end in all kinds of ways depending on the players choices. But they aren't like that anymore.
Why? I think it's a matter of resource allocation. Everything has to be voiceacted these days. Because of that it's so much more expensive to create new content compared to the Baldur's gate days. And because of that Bioware wants you to see as much content as possible during your first playthrough.
The avarage baldur's gate player didn't see at least half of the content the first playthrough, and that was perfectly fine. It allowed for great replayability. With DA2, Swtor, ME3 I don't feel like replaying it at all, since I feel that I have seen 90% of the content already anyway. But I still play the old rpg's like Planescape torment, bg2, etc from time to time and don't miss the voices at all, you get used to it fast.
If they removed all voiceacting from swtor, me3 and da2 and added 3x more content because of the extra time and resources I'd be perfectly happy.
Really worried that they will be screwing up Baldur's gate 3 because of this too. "yeah it's a lot more linear than bg1 and 2 but it has voiceacting, btw you can always buy dlc's with extra content!"
Yeah I agree...I think budget/time constraints definetly play a big part in it. I mean during the game you had to make some great choices. Even though I was playing renegade I couldn't bring myself to backstab the Krogan -_-. But then at the end when you're expecting your army choices to pay off and to use all the resources you acquire through the game in an epic fight.....nothing. Only explanation is that they ran out of time/money.
On March 15 2012 14:28 antelope591 wrote: Yeah the ending sucked balls but does it completely ruin the fact that the rest of the game was awesome? For me it doesn't.
My sentiments. As well as some here but I definitely feel there's too much hate on the game just for the ending. Everything else, except the cover system/controls, is really quite worth it.
HEUG edit: Multiplayer is insanely fun, especially if you play with 3 friends.
It's just down to how much you have invested in the series. Those of us that are outraged have spent countless hours playing through ME1&2, multiple times. I've personally played through ME1 4 times and ME2 6 times. The galaxy, the characters, the stories, they've become dear to me. Some people use analogies like 'what if lucas had done the same to the original SW series?' or 'what if Tolkien had done it to the LOTR?'. Well, it's infact worse than that, because of the interactive nature of video games, particularly this series. The story of shepard belongs to the players as much as it does to Bioware. For them to screw us over at the very end, especially when they said our decisions will culminate in endings that are unique, is galling. This is not just a video game to us. For them to end it with this:
is an insult.
I don't really expect those who haven't given as much as we do to the series to understand why we're so upset. Sure, this is probably just another video game to you, and if you're happy with it, good for you.
As if you guys are the only ones that have played through the game multiple times and have developed attachments. It is clearly not over is why myself and others feel the way we do. I could clearly tell on my first play through, this story can't possibly be over. And recently, I've only felt more re-assured about it.
Imo its a little bit unfair to say the endings are similar, just because the ending sequences are. In fact the implications of the choice you make are pretty huge. Maybe not regarding your team, but regarding the future of the galaxy. And assuming the AI is not some kind of hallucination, i don't see why the blue ending is not the paragon ending. Choosing the "control" ending will lead to change the pattern, where the "red" ending will just result in a repetition of the cycle, and thats clearly the worse choice, and in fact very different.
Yes sure, they could have made a way better sequence, which could have shown how the galaxy looks a few decades later and maybe more stuff regarding your team, but story telling wise you cant say that there's not enough diviation.
So I played as an Adept on Easy to steamroll through everything and just get the story. And wow, was it a great story. Then I got to the very last section which I had spoiled for myself long ago anyway and just shut off, not giving a shit about it since I knew I'd just feel disappointed. Oh well, the journey was well worth it.
Any suggestions on which class to play for my second run through on a much harder difficulty? I really enjoyed playing Adept but I feel like trying something new.
On the Mass Effect 3 endings. Yes, we are listening.
Chris Priestly wrote...
We appreciate everyone’s feedback about Mass Effect 3 and want you to know that we are listening. Active discussions about the ending are more than welcome here, and the team will be reviewing it for feedback and responding when we can. Please note, we want to give people time to experience the game so while we can’t get into specifics right now, we will be able to address some of your questions once more people have had time to complete the game. In the meantime, we’d like to ask that you keep the non-spoiler areas of our forums and our social media channels spoiler free.
We understand there is a lot of debate on the Mass Effect 3 ending and we will be more than happy to engage in healthy discussions once more people get to experience the game. We are listening to all of your feedback.
So yeah, i downloaded the game ( well sue me! I did the same thing for t he first 2 games and since i liked them, i bough them ) and i didn't like the ending at all. I had everything done ( all side quest, everything you could scanned had been scanned and everything ) + Show Spoiler +
i choose the synth ending ( as it made more sense than either killing every synthetic and repeat the cycle or take over but still have the reaper running around ) and i was disapointed.
Now ive been reading everywhere that if you get your readiness higher, the ending change, is that true? Since i have a cracked version, it always stays at 50% and i would consider buying the game if it would make a difference ( even though Bioware wrote all over the place that the MP wouldn't influence the SP )
On March 15 2012 20:06 Vaelone wrote: Only got the game at monday and started playing at tuesday, 12 hours in and have been playing pretty much all of my free time past couple days, enjoying the game so far and taking my time to do all the little things. Regret not starting on Insanity instead of Hardcore though.
Can't recall previous games having this annoying spawns but that might be just me, feels like enemies keep appearing from no where right behind. And the game could have used more graphics options and space has too many functions bound on it for some situations.
Yet to try multiplayer as I'm not a big fan of co-op kill endless waves of bots type of games which MP looked like to me in the brief gameplay video I saw, I could be wrong. Hope not playing MP doesn't screw my single-player though.
Won't comment too much on the story yet but loving the cameos from previous games at least. Definitely not a disappointment for me at least and I thought I was losing interest to Bioware. No it's not another Baldur's Gate or even a RPG for that matter but it's what I expected and I feel like I'm getting proper return for my money.
Actually MP does screw over SP. You cannot get best ending without playing MP and getting readiness above 50% so your total fleet score is 5000+.
You can. You just have to have done almost all ME2 DLC's and every side-mission in ME3 though. Some choices in ME1 can also increase your Effective Military Strength.
It's impossible without cheating or doing the MP. I imported my ME2 shepard with everything done, did all ME3 sidequests, got every single war asset I could possibly get, and was around 7000 war assests. So naturally with the 50% readiness rating, I only got ~3500 instead.
Well in my first playthrough I imported my first ME2 char, which hadn't done anything in ME1 & no DLC's in ME2. He got about 3650 EMS with 50% readiness. I'm playing my second playthrough now with a char that has done everything from ME1 & ME2. I haven't played much yet, but I can already feel an EMS increase with about 9h played, compared to my first char.
There is room to squeeze out a couple 100 more probably i mean there are a few things that i did my first time though which cost me assets, + Show Spoiler +
the asari commando/hundress community suicide in the hospital cuz i approved the gun, allowing more refugees etc all cost points. either way you still only need 3k to get the best endings. I looked over the consolidated file the highest valve needed to get ends is 3k, maybe there are other things that rely on war assets but the endings only take 3k that crap on the Internet is based off the guide which was written off a early release like most guides. it's doubtful anyone tested it yet, although it shouldnt be too hard just edit the consolidated files to hit certain numbers and just replay the ending off a old save
On March 15 2012 18:52 Praetorial wrote: Wait holy hell, can Cheat Engine still be used to change multiplayer credits?
I looked in the Coalesced.bin, and the way you could get infinite stuff in the demo doesn't work anymore (modifying packs) since the store is done server side. I'm not 100% sure, but I think there's a way to get infinite credits by modding Coalesced.bin. I wouldn't try to find out though, as I've heard that EA are being their usual selves and banning people for trivial things like this.
I can confirm the bit about them banning people for cheating for credits...firsthand.
On March 15 2012 14:28 antelope591 wrote: Yeah the ending sucked balls but does it completely ruin the fact that the rest of the game was awesome? For me it doesn't.
My sentiments. As well as some here but I definitely feel there's too much hate on the game just for the ending. Everything else, except the cover system/controls, is really quite worth it.
HEUG edit: Multiplayer is insanely fun, especially if you play with 3 friends.
It's just down to how much you have invested in the series. Those of us that are outraged have spent countless hours playing through ME1&2, multiple times. I've personally played through ME1 4 times and ME2 6 times. The galaxy, the characters, the stories, they've become dear to me. Some people use analogies like 'what if lucas had done the same to the original SW series?' or 'what if Tolkien had done it to the LOTR?'. Well, it's infact worse than that, because of the interactive nature of video games, particularly this series. The story of shepard belongs to the players as much as it does to Bioware. For them to screw us over at the very end, especially when they said our decisions will culminate in endings that are unique, is galling. This is not just a video game to us. For them to end it with this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPelM2hwhJA&list=LLWrtHvcid9GmSxgB343B8WQ&index=2&feature=plpp_video is an insult.
I don't really expect those who haven't given as much as we do to the series to understand why we're so upset. Sure, this is probably just another video game to you, and if you're happy with it, good for you.
As if you guys are the only ones that have played through the game multiple times and have developed attachments. It is clearly not over is why myself and others feel the way we do. I could clearly tell on my first play through, this story can't possibly be over. And recently, I've only felt more re-assured about it.
http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/355/index/9999272 A little insight to how they worked on the ending. It seems like what we got was pretty much the real deal. Anything now will probably be Bioware trying to make amends. Oh and I didn't know Casey was such an idiot......
On March 15 2012 18:52 Praetorial wrote: Wait holy hell, can Cheat Engine still be used to change multiplayer credits?
I looked in the Coalesced.bin, and the way you could get infinite stuff in the demo doesn't work anymore (modifying packs) since the store is done server side. I'm not 100% sure, but I think there's a way to get infinite credits by modding Coalesced.bin. I wouldn't try to find out though, as I've heard that EA are being their usual selves and banning people for trivial things like this.
I can confirm the bit about them banning people for cheating for credits...firsthand.
Ah well, I had to have expected it.
Man I tried out cheatengine after I saw it and now I can't log on =[
Finally finished the game on Veteran. I will only comment on the gameplay once I do at least one playthrough in Insanity, but from what I felt the gameplay is very fun, but Overload tend to be OP. The soundtrack is amazing for the most part, if a bit repetitive for some reason. Felt like a good mix between ME1 synth and ME2 orchastra. About the story: + Show Spoiler +
Mixed bag. Some very beautiful moments (Garrus and Shepard on the bridge in the citadel, Tali is getting drunk), but the dialog felt 2 dimensional unlike the first two games which had alot more Paragon/Renegade options. The tone is much more lonely and desperate as the Normandy feel like a sad, empty, scrambled together mobile base. A far cry from the cool small stealth ship feel of ME1 and the pimped out ride on ME2. Everything about EDI in this game is cheesy and it felt like Bioware only tried to satisfy the weird requests from BSN. On the contrary I loved Liara and Garrus. The buildup to the ending was so good, as you preparing a doomsday weapon, Cerberus with unknown agendas try to get in your way, and you rallying every fleet in the galaxy. And there comes the ending. I liked the Idea of a mind fuck ending because I think this is the only real way to end Mass Effect series, Especially the synthesis ending. But the execution was a slap to the face of the fans, mainly because of 2 reasons: 1. No real endgame boss. Like: ALL THIS BUILDUP WAS FOR NOTHING?? I didn't really wanted to fight the Illusive man, I wanted to fight a 5 km long Harbinger and make it ultra explosive. All I got was crawling the last 5 minutes and a renegade interupt to shoot the Illusive Man... REALLY? and I thought Arrival's end boss was bad... 2. Crappy 3 minutes video that is basically the same to all the endings. Even the best ending ends with a sequel hook but no sequel will come. This series deserve LOTR style epilogue with 10 minutes showing the fate of the characters involved. As a stand-alone game it may be acceptable barely but not for a huge trillogy. Kinda reminds me of C&C4 ending. (EA *cough*). 2 side notes: * I felt Kasumi's part was far too small as she was my favourite squadie of all 3 games. Expected as she is a DLC, but disappointing for me nonetheless. * I like Bioware's handling of Tali's face issue and it was pretty bold to make her look human without showing it directly (let alone look like Miranda), and it still lives room to interpretation. Well, here goes away alot of credit of Bioware's story telling, but what did you expect when EA treat them like shit? It will be interesting to see Biowares first attempt at RTS with Generals 2. I don't expect it to be in the caliber of Blizzard's RTS games, but it will be interesting to see how it will turn out
EPT
I'm playing my second playthrough now with a char that has done everything from ME1 & ME2. I haven't played much yet, but I can already feel an EMS increase with about 9h played, compared to my first char.
