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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Gaming Mass Effect Series

Discussion in 'Community' started by Valyn, Sep 7, 2012.

  1. DarthCane

    DarthCane Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    May 30, 2002
    If said apartment didn't get crushed when the Crucible fired ...

    We'll see how good this proves to be, but quite frankly in the words of Jack - "... hey, why the **** not?"
     
  2. Darth_Invidious

    Darth_Invidious Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Jun 21, 1999
    To sum it up, more fail DLC from BEAware. :confused:
     
  3. A'den Skirata

    A'den Skirata Jedi Knight star 2

    Registered:
    Sep 26, 2012
    I don't know about a new game, ME3 drained me of nearly all interest for the series.
     
  4. Darth_Invidious

    Darth_Invidious Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Jun 21, 1999
    Why not? Oh let me count the whys...

    Seriously, it just feels like the final insult. It's been common knowledge since forever that we were not getting an ending-changing DLC. So what are we getting instead? A new pad that Anderson thought to acquire for you all the while he's bunkered down on Reaper-occupied Earth?! And you're getting this new pad to hang with all the buddies that you couldn't hang with during the original release or to have improved love scenes with all LIs. But since there needs to be some action, this is provided by facing of against...Joker-loving mercs? Did BEAWare forget all about the ongoing war with the Mecha-Cthulus? I mean, what is the point of spending money to put all this in the middle of the game when, in the end, the apartment will be destroyed and all actions/events in the DLC's "story" are rendered, again, meaningless. What a frakking joke...:mad:
     
  5. DarthCane

    DarthCane Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    May 30, 2002
    I get the impression (haven't started playing yet, that may have to wait until the weekend) that it's Anderson's apartment he's had for a while. Obviously he won't be using it on account of him being tied up on Earth. The DLC starts off with Hackett ordering the Normandy into drydock for refits, so Shep and his team are out of the war for a bit. Might as well kick back - until **** starts hitting the fan.

    As far as people griping about the price - heck, do you want to talk about being let down by an investment? I don't even want to think about how much money I spent on the Star Wars EU over the course of a decade or more, only for the multiple clusterscrew of DNT, LotF, and FotJ to make a mess of things to the point where I view the Disney takeover like the Destroy option - if erasing the last few years of the EU from continuity means vaping the Thrawn Trilogy as well, I'm about at the point where I'll consider it a necessary sacrifice.

    By another metric - shoot, I remember being young, foolish, and easily spending AU$200 to stock my flat in Australia with liquor. My liver, or rather what was left of the original material afterwards, thought that a questionable expense :oops:
     
  6. Clone_Cmdr_Wedge

    Clone_Cmdr_Wedge Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Mar 18, 2006
    ^^Yeah, I seem to remember hearing that Anderson had an apartment on the Citadel. I do believe that's the apartment Shep gets.

    Been watching it, and... oh boy.... you are not going to believe what happens. The Big Bad, and leader of the COG Cosplayers, is none other than...

    A Cerberus-created clone of Shepard.

    My slightly edited reaction upon hearing this: "Are you frakking kidding me!?" o_O There are not enough facepalms in the world...
     
  7. I Are The Internets

    I Are The Internets Shelf of Shame Host star 9 VIP - Game Host

    Registered:
    Nov 20, 2012
    I think Bioware not only has jumped the shark but has gotten eaten by it as well.
     
  8. Darth_Invidious

    Darth_Invidious Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Jun 21, 1999
    Wow, so besides it being the final insult, you also get a fat and hairy middle finger thrust into your face followed by a childish neener-neener gesture just in case you didn't feel dismissed enough.
     
  9. DarthCane

    DarthCane Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    May 30, 2002
    Played through up to the point of infiltrating the casino - I have to admit the escape from the restaurant was fairly well done. Alone, down to your last health bar, no medpacs, and with nothing but a silenced pistol that's crap unless you land a headshot (then it takes out a fully-shielded trooper in two hits). Kind of glad I decided to do this with my engineer first - overload and combat drone got me out of a few scrapes.
     
  10. GenAntilles

    GenAntilles Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Jul 24, 2007
    Wow... just... wow...

    Though honestly...
    it would be awesome if Clone-Shep's character altered depending on how you play. If your a paragon he's the ultimate renegade. If your a renegade he's the ultimate paragon. Fighting the mirror you would be cool, but I have a feeling it's just a 'haha, I'm your clone, better in every way, and completely insane!'
     
  11. Saintheart

    Saintheart Jedi Grand Master star 6

    Registered:
    Dec 16, 2000
    [​IMG]


    You can just about visualise the thinking at BEAware...

    [​IMG]

    "Well, hey, if Star Trek can do it, we can too!"

    EDIT: On the upside, I have been Garrus Vakarian online. Got my first Phaeston, loaded it with Incendiary Ammo III, and gave it to the level 18 Turian Soldier with Concussive Shot maxed out, on Silver.

    I topped the leaderboard for the first time. After a savage match where, halfway through level 11, I blew away three Cerberus troopers off a downed opponent, resurrected him, and went on to smack down a Phantom. My god, tech detonations are fun. Sorry, I know this is probably sort of like cheering over being able to add 1 + 1 among you l33t people ;) but I've never pwned like I did in that match. Didn't have to switch on Marksman once - in fact I'm better off without it, Concussive Shot sets up tech explosions and buys me extra time. I can hold off a Phantom alone, now -- on one Firebase White level that's exactly what I did.
     
  12. Clone_Cmdr_Wedge

    Clone_Cmdr_Wedge Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Mar 18, 2006
    The playthrough I saw:
    Was done by a fairly paragon BroShep, and the CloneShep was pretty renegade-y, so you kind of had that. Though I'd be surprised if the personality changed based on your Paragon-Renegade score. I think a couple of scenes are slightly altered if you are a biotic or not, but other than that, yeah it looks like it's just 'haha, I'm an evil insane clone!'.

    Resident Evil 6 did this (slightly) better. (then again, that may just be me being slightly bitter about ME3)

    Having now seen all of the story bit, I can say... I might have gotten it, if it was post-ending. The plot, and Big Bad's motivations, would make a little more sense that way. Just re-write a couple of lines, and boom! A nice little send-off (despite the stuff with the Big Bad...) with some pretty good squad banter. Thought part of me can't help but feel as if this was fanservice that was too little, too late.

    Couple of spoiler thoughts:
    1) So it was only the ME3 squad+ Cortez and Wrex who show up. Still, pretty good stuff going through the Archives, and somewhat reminiscent of the Collector Base. This is closer to what London should have been like.

    2) Okay, leaving aside the shark jumping (or being eaten by of said shark) with EVIL!Clone Shepard, what exactly was CloneShep's plan? Wouldn't it have been better to, I don't know, wait until the Reapers were done with in order to go about this plan? Let Shep do all the hard work, then take their place and get all the credit? I mean heck, in most, if not all, the endings, Shep's dead anyway.

    3) So you want to save CloneShep? It might be pretty nice, having someone else around with at least some of Shep's abilities... Or not.

    <sarcasm>Mass Effect, where your choices matter. </sarcasam>

    Saintheart I had the same thought as well. :p
     
  13. Miana Kenobi

    Miana Kenobi Admin Emeritus star 8 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Apr 5, 2000
    This was like the best worst fanfiction ever. I thoroughly enjoyed it, though.

    Though I won't lie that I was sobbing like a baby at Thane's memorial and upon finding Mordin's messages.
     
  14. DarthCane

    DarthCane Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    May 30, 2002
    Still shooting my way through the archives - with the M-7 Lancer, Kaidan, and Wrex at my side. Ahh, nostalgia ... although seriously, "Uncle Urdnot" Wrex has become a Leeroy Jenkins since ME1. Unless you tell him to take cover he banzai-charges the bad guys, which doesn't always work. Good thing I gave him a heavy shotgun with an omni-bayonet.

    Although Wrex did make me cackle madly after that entire-squad-opens-up cutscene massacre from the trailer. "Why shoot something once when you can shoot it another 47 times?"

    And CAT6 Heavies. I really hate these guys. Take a Cerberus Guardian, replace that riot shield with an energy version that can't be pierced, just destroyed after a lot of damage, then give him armor and a frakking M-76 Revenant LMG. First time I ran into those guys was the first time I've gotten killed in a long while.
     
  15. DarthCane

    DarthCane Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    May 30, 2002
    Just finished the Archives mission. Probably won't finish the plot-related missions until later tonight and I may spend the whole weekend going through the side fluff, but here's my impression.

    If you would only be satisfied by a complete rewrite of the ending and you are basically the guy on the other end of the phone in this comic -
    [​IMG]
    - don't get this DLC. It's not what you're looking for.

    If on the other hand, you are perfectly fine with a final (not in terms of the plotline, but in terms of your experience with Shepard and his team) romp with some good gameplay and quite frankly some of the funniest dialogue in the series, and don't really give a varren's arse how it fits into the overall ME3 plot, you'll love it. I've laughed out loud multiple times so far.

    Hell, I even forgive BW for pulling out the evil clone trope, just because she tells realShep "I should go" shortly before sealing her and the squad in the archive vaults to die. The whole sequence of the camera pulling out from the darkened vaults, the squadmates grimly commenting on how screwed they are (Wrex: "Didn't we used to win these things?") ... and Shep keeps asking if she really sounds like that and trying different ways of saying the line. It's not until a squadmate asks why Shep isn't more worried that she absentmindedly calls Glyph up and gets the little drone to unlock the vault.

    Then there was the part where you select your two teammates to retake the Normandy. As you get into the aircar with Joker everyone else is looking on dejectedly, saying they wanted to go. (Javik: "Fifty thousand years and I still never get picked.")
     
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  16. BLemelisk

    BLemelisk Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Aug 19, 2003
    Since you haven't finished the plot I won't spoil anything, but I laughed out loud at something Garrus says about his calibrations at one point toward the end [face_laugh]
     
  17. DarthCane

    DarthCane Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    May 30, 2002
    Dunno where that bit is; I picked Kaidan and EDI for my counter-boarding unit. You know what that meant - tech, fire, and cryo explosions FTW! My engineer's clone got beaten to a flaming, sparking pulp, although it was still a slugfest. I only saw her use a drone twice (defense drone, I think - bet at one point she was wishing she'd picked inferno grenade as a bonus power like I did, because I hit her right in the face with one), otherwise she just kept coming at me with an N7 Hurricane. Since this Shep was romancing Traynor, she got a great paragon interrupt after Traynor got kicked off the Normandy for "fraternization." Next it's party time.
     
  18. Clone_Cmdr_Wedge

    Clone_Cmdr_Wedge Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Mar 18, 2006
    Yeah, I watched a playthrough on YT, and after some thought... I kinda like it. But I probably won't get it (at least for the immediate future).

    The plot is... silly, but the mission is kinda done in a cheesy fashion, so it kind of fits. I suppose my biggest problem is the fact that this dlc is pre-ending. Everything just feels like it would be better, story and tone, if it took place after the Reapers were dealt with. Heck, the small conspiracy theorist in me thinks that someone did actually plan or want this to be post-ending, but Executive Meddling (either from EA or Hudson/Gamble/WhoeverAtBio) nicked that idea, beacause... art. I don't know. Something else that gets me is that with the amount of fanservice in it (I swear you almost drown in it at times), why didn't they do anything with the ending? Was ~4gig not enough space?

    My opinion, if you have ME3 on PC, get the EC and MEHEM (EC is needed for it) and Citadel. Play through the game, but do not do Citadel. After the credits, and the game takes you back to the pre-Cronos save, go to the Citadel and treat the dlc as a post-game mission set some time after the Reapers are gone.
     
  19. Nobody145

    Nobody145 Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Feb 9, 2007
    Honestly, as someone who misses a lot of ME1 (ME2 is great and all, but it started the trend that led towards ME2, or rather revealed all the flaws in Bioware's multi-game choice strategy), I enjoyed a good deal of the DLC a lot.

    Probably the funniest (though not always the most fun) DLC yet. Which clashes with the ending, but less said about the ending the better. Lots of good character moments from various people too, they really called back a lot of the actors, far more than just a normal DLC back in the days of ME2 (which basically had Shepard and bunch of random people). A lot of the combat was annoying, but I always found ME3 combat annoying (Bioware really hates the Soldier in single-player now, don't they?). Have to try to play through it from an earlier save file, although being just before the Cerberus base and having mostly maxed out powers helps... a lot.

    A lot of the lines cracked me up. I'm still looking online, but haven't found a playthrough with a mostly dead crew, but this feels a lot like the Conrad Verner quest, where if you did a ton of sidequests, it all pays off. As someone who kept most most of my crew alive if possible as a Paragon, it was great.

    Especially at the party afterward you take a nice group photo and hang it over the fireplace.

    I'm only playing on normal, but the early fights were so annoying. I have a weak gun, no medigel, no squad mates and I'm a Soldier so only Concussion Shot isn't going to run out of ammo... next playthrough I'm going Engineer or something. And so glad to have Wrex back, missed having a krogan in the squad (another of ME3's weaknesses). Especially his lines like Uncle Urdnot. And every time those stupid shields popped up Wrex could usually take out at least one of them before falling, although I'm only playing on normal.

    Its random having Wrex join up again, but its great to have him back for the mission. Too bad that seems to be the extent of the extra squadmates, but at least its something. Javik is still great, especially during the Team names section (Team Prothean and future corpse over there), and the mercs are also somewhat self-aware, complaining about not having a krogan or wondering if they sided with the wrong Shepard. I brought EDI along a lot of the time, curious to see if she could slow the Normandy theft, but nope. Its a weak excuse, considering she could deal with Collectors, but her face after she lost her connection was memorable.

    The clone thing is... odd. Its hard to tell, but I think Brooks was just using the Shepard clone as a way to steal Shepard's life (Spectre authority, the Normandy, maybe trade off his reputation) as a way to get away from the war as much as possible, at least she was smart enough to flee Cerberus once the Illusive Man really went off the deep end. Funny Miranda never knew about the Shepard clone, but guess it was another cell. The DLC is humorous enough that I can let the clone thing go (its brought up in the original game when Shepard storms the Cerberus base, being worried about being a clone or the original, so guess there was something there originally). Still silly, but it fits in with the atmosphere of the DLC.

    It would have been great to have this part of the game itself instead of DLC, already found a few easter eggs and references to ME1 that ME2 and ME3 skipped out on, and the DLC ends on a nice note, one last party before the end (and no slow-motion nightmares about that random kid), so it was worth playing through. Hm, wonder how the PC version looks, and if the price has dropped enough by now. Too bad there won't ever be any Steam sales for this one.
     
  20. DarthCane

    DarthCane Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    May 30, 2002
    Actually, the M-11 pistol in the first mission has a very high headshot multiplier. On Normal, if you double-tap the Specialists or Snipers in the head the first shot will crash their shields and the second will take them out. I played as an engineer my first time through; powers are a nice equalizer but you tend to alert the whole bunch when you unload. Best to try and pop lone troopers with the pistol and thin the herd unawares, then reserve powers for groups (if your cooldown is fast enough to execute combo detonations). I imagine when I get to New Game+ with weapon upgrades, a scope, and a heavy or cranial trauma barrel I might be able to one-shot them. Given the ridiculous amount of damage boosts my soldier has from intel and class powers, I imagine he'll do just fine.

    And the M-7 Lancer ... LOVE the sound of that thing when it opens up. It's not as ridiculously dakka as the old Spectre Master Gear AR from ME1, but it's the same sound and at Level V with an Extended Mag I can get off 83 rounds before it overheats. Packs a decent punch too. That bad boy may have just superseded the Harrier and Phaeston as my bread-and-butter AR. Although now with the AR Ultralight Materials mod, I can shave 15% off the N7 Typhoon and make that an option for some of my characters.

    So far I've met up with Kasumi, Zaeed, and Javik on the Silversun Strip. The latter two ... oh god, I'm not sure I can even put it into words. I hope Robin Sachs had fun doing the VA for that. And Javik and Shepard getting suckered into bit parts in the unbelievably cheesy Blasto 7: Blasto Goes to War? PRICELESS.
     
  21. BLemelisk

    BLemelisk Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Aug 19, 2003
    What I'm talking about is a throwaway line by him after partyzeit but it definitely made me lose it.

    My engineer fighting the clone engineer in the hangar of the SR2 was an amazing boss battle, especially when he would deploy that drone of his and once I was out of cover, just flat out charge me with his omnitool melee. And the fact that the M-7 Lancer has that same thunder of the assault rifles in ME1 brought back a ton of memories. It's also now my go-to rifle.
     
  22. DarthCane

    DarthCane Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    May 30, 2002
    Yeah, I'm holding off on doing the party until I've played around with the combat arena and meeting up with the past and present crew around the area.

    So far I've unlocked all the extra squadmates in the combat arena; Samara and Wrex are the only two I haven't fought alongside yet. Right now I'm just racking up Silver prizes until I'm in a position where I can start tackling some of the specific challenges.

    From what I hear, the clone Sheps all have elite weapons. I know the engineer has the Hurricane, and I've heard the infiltrator packs a Black Widow. Soldier I hear packs an N7 Valkyrie, which should be interesting for me:

    Clone: Ah, now face my 1337 weapon!
    realShep: *draws N7 Typhoon*
    Clone: ****.
     
  23. SithLordDarthRichie

    SithLordDarthRichie CR Emeritus: London star 9

    Registered:
    Oct 3, 2003
    Is it worth getting all the DLC for ME3? Or are there some that aren't worth it?
    Also, should the additional content be added before playing or after completing it?

    I hear Leviathan & From Ashes are good and add to the overall story of the game which the Omega DLC does not.
     
  24. DarthCane

    DarthCane Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    May 30, 2002
    It depends on what you take to mean by "worth it." As for my rankings, From Ashes is indispensable, Leviathan is worthwhile, and Omega is kind of meh but I don't particularly regret dropping $15 on it. Then again, I can spend $15 mildly poisoning myself at the bar. Being a virtual gun nut (as opposed to an actual one), the weapon DLCs were well worth the $2. For Citadel, see above notes - well worth it for the laughs and just fooling around, not worth it if you're going to tie yourself in knots about how it doesn't affect the main storyline or ending.

    Started working my way up the Armax Arena quests - managed to hit a Gold score against Cerberus elites (includes Guardians, Nemeses, and Phantoms). Kind of fun; it's like MP but you get to play with all of your SP Shep's abilities, squadmates, and tactical pause/power slowdowns. If you're feeling gutsy you eventually get a quest to tackle a Platinum-level challenge where every heavy in the book - Atlases, Primes, Banshees, and Praetorians - gets thrown at you.
     
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  25. DarthCane

    DarthCane Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    May 30, 2002
    And the fanservice continues. Jack's new pet, Grunt's birthday run-in with C-Sec, Joker's account of his participation in stopping the Citadel coup - and Wrex at the bar. Oh Lord, I really lost it there. Having to sneak out of his bathroom window to avoid the line of females waiting to breed with him and asking for two drinks and a bag of ice. And when Shepard reminds him that there are worse positions to be in ...

    "Trust me Shepard, I've been in every position you can imagine." *head hits the counter*

    [face_rofl]