Hey guys, in the coming days I'm faced with a choice - whether or not I switch my platform for Mass Effect 3 from Personal Computer to PlayStation 3 or not.

And I'd like you guys to give me some advice about doing it or not, since I have little to no experience with a platform beyond the Personal Computer.

Recently I've purchased a PlayStation 3 because my partner is a gamer whose sole platform is the PlayStation 3. Of course who am I to not buy a few games to play on that platform!

Seeing as Mass Effect 2 has a great significance to me, I decided to get it for the PlayStation 3 and see for myself the interactive comic and what the experience is like on the PS3.

I have yet to finish it, but I'm really growing accustomed to the PlayStation 3 experience. Yes I notice hiccups and slowdowns that my PC normally wouldn't have.

And yes I notice the lesser graphics compared to the ones from the PC. But the PlayStation 3 experience is quite good, I can sit on my bed with a lot of pillows piled up and be extremely comfortable. There's no wires no nothing in the way, there isn't a massive keyboard that I have to find a place for or anything.

Problem is, my partner likes her PlayStation - so I'm reluctant to hog it all the time. It's not that the PC is uncomfortable, so I'll definitely keep it as my own form of entertainment.

But for this particular game, Mass Effect, I really have problems deciding what platform is superior. It's so interactive and immersive, I wouldn't mind playing the game on either platforms.

What do you guys think? I am personally hinging towards the PlayStation 3 experience, but having played the demo I already notice that I really am a Keyboard and Mouse gamer.

I don't have a problem with a controller, heck - I love using one from time to time, but they really made it a shooter experience and I aint the one to use a controller for that.

Having played Mass Effect 1 & 2 on the PC, I also know that I honestly wish I had controller in my hands every now and then and just laying on my bed playing games.

EDIT: Sorry for the weird formatting - Opera and Parchment don't seem to like eachother.

The PS3 doesn't have Mass Effect 1, the choice is obvious, for the most complete experience you want to use a save that is from the first game. In your case, the PC version is the clear winner and also offers superior graphical fidelity and frame rate. (well, provided your PC is half-decent)

I don't really understand why somebody would want to play the PS3 version of this game unless it was a last resort, as in, ME3 or no ME3. Technically ME2 had a spottier frame rate and screen tearing issues on PS3 too; compared to 360, I imagine ME3 will be much the same.

@Sooty said:

The PS3 doesn't have Mass Effect 1, the choice is obvious, for the most complete experience you want to use a save that is from the first game. In your case, the PC version is the clear winner and also offers superior graphical fidelity and frame rate. (well, provided your PC is half-decent)

I don't really understand why somebody would want to play the PS3 version of this game unless it was a last resort, as in, ME3 or no ME3. Technically ME2 had a spottier frame rate and screen tearing issues on PS3 too; compared to 360, I imagine ME3 will be much the same.

PS3 version had that comic thing to let you make your choices in ME2 from ME1, so that's not really a big deal.

You're also wrong on the technical things, which is odd. A quick google search could have corrected you there, the PS3 version had no screen tearing whereas the 360 version did, and both had similar framerate drops albeit under different circumstances (360 struggled with combat, PS3 with some of the more busy environments.)

While I will always agree that the PC version is definitely the choice to go with if your PC can handle it, if it cannot the 360 and PS3 versions of ME2 are pretty much on par with each other (with PS3 sporting the lighting from ME3 rather than 2 for some slightly unclear reason.)

In an actually on topic part of my post (I'm assuming Sooty just read the title since his post has very little to do with the first post), I'd probably say get the PC version. That way you don't hog your partner's PS3 and you still get to play the game :P

It would obviously look better on the pc, but I would go with the ps3 for comfort, like you mentioned you can lay on your bed with a lot of pillows.

@NoXious: I always thought PC were a necessary for personal things and for gaming and a console for their exclusivities. I would say go for the PC, will look better and all AND comes to worse, connect it to your screen and use a wireless controller to play it comfortably. All works ;) Either way just make sure you don't regret your decision and enjoy whatever you get =D

I thought that they just say that the PC version won't do controller support? That's weak, I would do it on PS3.

After playing the demo on PS3, I don't think I could play the whole game on a console. I need mouse and keyboard to access all my powers and weapons and not be restricted to having 3 powers hotkeyed. Also the framerate is unbearable for me. Maybe it's the engine or maybe it's the console performance, but everything moves at a choppy pace. It certainly doesn't help in the bombastic intro part where you have giant lasers and ships flying around. Plus I just feel very constricted when playing the demo on console with a controller, which is weird because I often prefer playing third person shooters with analog sticks.

If you have a PC that can handle it, I'd say go for that version. Not just for visual fidelity, but for a better framerate.

@Protome said:

@Sooty said:

The PS3 doesn't have Mass Effect 1, the choice is obvious, for the most complete experience you want to use a save that is from the first game. In your case, the PC version is the clear winner and also offers superior graphical fidelity and frame rate. (well, provided your PC is half-decent)

I don't really understand why somebody would want to play the PS3 version of this game unless it was a last resort, as in, ME3 or no ME3. Technically ME2 had a spottier frame rate and screen tearing issues on PS3 too; compared to 360, I imagine ME3 will be much the same.

PS3 version had that comic thing to let you make your choices in ME2 from ME1, so that's not really a big deal.

You're also wrong on the technical things, which is odd. A quick google search could have corrected you there, the PS3 version had no screen tearing whereas the 360 version did, and both had similar framerate drops albeit under different circumstances (360 struggled with combat, PS3 with some of the more busy environments.)

While I will always agree that the PC version is definitely the choice to go with if your PC can handle it, if it cannot the 360 and PS3 versions of ME2 are pretty much on par with each other (with PS3 sporting the lighting from ME3 rather than 2 for some slightly unclear reason.)

In an actually on topic part of my post (I'm assuming Sooty just read the title since his post has very little to do with the first post), I'd probably say get the PC version. That way you don't hog your partner's PS3 and you still get to play the game :P

I can't speak to the PS3 version, but I've played the 360 version of Mass Effect 2 over half a dozen times and I never once experienced any drops in frame rate. Mass Effect 1 had awful frame rate issues on 360, but ME2 was flawless in this regard. I also don't recall ever seeing any screen tearing either, with the only noticeable visual blemishes being lack of anti aliasing.

As for the OPs question, I would recommend playing the game on PC, because the this is after all the end of a trilogy, and loading in complete ME1 and ME2 save files is the way it's meant to finished. Yes, I know the PS3 has the comic, but that only tracks 6 decisions out the dozens of parameters present in a proper ME1 save file. Most of the things are probably minor, but they contribute to the personalization of your save game.

Personally, I beat the first two games on PC first with maxed settings before making the switch to PS3. I'm now on my fourth playthrough of the PS3 version and I don't think I will ever look back. Sure, the PC verison ran flawlessly and looked a bit better but it just never felt 'right' to me playing Mass Effect in an office chair. Lounging on my bed or on my couch while going through the lengthy conversations (comfort) is more important to me than visual fidelity or framerate.

But if you are worried about hogging the PS3 then you should probably pick up the PC version. Chances are you'll be spending a lot of time with your copy of Mass Effect 3.

@NoXious: I always thought PC were a necessary for personal things and for gaming and a console for their exclusivities. I would say go for the PC, will look better and all AND comes to worse, connect it to your screen and use a wireless controller to play it comfortably. All works ;) Either way just make sure you don't regret your decision and enjoy whatever you get =D

If the demos are any indication on the final product I would advise not getting the pa3 version ad it has some nasty framerate problems.

I vote PC. You will both have better graphics and all that jazz as well as not hogging your partner's PS3. Plus, there's a bit of a scare going on right now that the PS3 version might not run very well at all because the demo didn't. I remember seeing the PS3 quick look of ME2 and it seemed to have some frame rate issues; if those carry over to 3, then I would strongly recommend it on PC.

And then there's the final little tidbit of having all three on one system. Normally this is a personal preference, but here it is almost a necessity as far as I'm concerned because of how the saves carry over.

@Protome said:

@Sooty said:

The PS3 doesn't have Mass Effect 1, the choice is obvious, for the most complete experience you want to use a save that is from the first game. In your case, the PC version is the clear winner and also offers superior graphical fidelity and frame rate. (well, provided your PC is half-decent)

I don't really understand why somebody would want to play the PS3 version of this game unless it was a last resort, as in, ME3 or no ME3. Technically ME2 had a spottier frame rate and screen tearing issues on PS3 too; compared to 360, I imagine ME3 will be much the same.

PS3 version had that comic thing to let you make your choices in ME2 from ME1, so that's not really a big deal.

You're also wrong on the technical things, which is odd. A quick google search could have corrected you there, the PS3 version had no screen tearing whereas the 360 version did, and both had similar framerate drops albeit under different circumstances (360 struggled with combat, PS3 with some of the more busy environments.)

While I will always agree that the PC version is definitely the choice to go with if your PC can handle it, if it cannot the 360 and PS3 versions of ME2 are pretty much on par with each other (with PS3 sporting the lighting from ME3 rather than 2 for some slightly unclear reason.)

In an actually on topic part of my post (I'm assuming Sooty just read the title since his post has very little to do with the first post), I'd probably say get the PC version. That way you don't hog your partner's PS3 and you still get to play the game :P

The comic misses out some of the smaller decisions and you miss out on certain references, and well...the comic is pretty bad too.

PS3 version does have tearing, more so than the 360.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-masseffect2-demo-analysis

The PS3 game is completely different. Like most games on Unreal Engine 3, when it slips below 30FPS, v-sync is turned off completely and noticeable tearing kicks in. Also, rather oddly, the frame-rate appears to be completely unlocked. To get a better idea of what we're talking about, here's a performance analysis covering off a range of different scenes from the intro of the game.

So there's good news and bad news here for the new PS3 version. On the plus side, a great many of the drops to 20FPS in the cut-scenes appear to have been ironed out, running nicely at the default 30FPS. The minus side is that the tearing is much more apparent in the new game - both in-game and in the cut-scenes.

and in the quick look for the PS3 demo there's noticeable FPS drops which I didn't experience on 360. I like my PS3, but it's quite clear it's an inferior version, I guess it depends how much you value FPS/tearing vs. slightly better lighting.

@Sooty

@Protome said:

@Sooty said:

snip

snip

The comic misses out some of the smaller decisions and you miss out on certain references, and well...the comic is pretty bad too.

PS3 version does have tearing, more so than the 360.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-masseffect2-demo-analysis

Irrelevant Quote.

and in the quick look for the PS3 demo there's noticeable FPS drops which I didn't experience on 360. I like my PS3, but it's quite clear it's an inferior version, I guess it depends how much you value FPS/tearing vs. slightly better lighting.

Nice attempt at saving your hide there. Yes the PS3 demo for ME2 had a bunch of screen tearing and frame rate issues, the final game has no screen tearing and frame rate issues on par with the 360. I'm going to assume you chose to use DFs demo comparison rather than game comparison because the full game one proved you wrong, yes?

Edit: Not on my phone anymore so I can link the proper analysis (I mean, the full game comparison is the first result on google, so why you chose the demo one is beyond me other than some kind of hatred of the PS3 but you claim to own one so....)

Anyway, Digital Foundry's full analysis says quite clearly that the framerate is similar with admittedly some minor advantage to the 360, with no screen tearing. The only real difference between the two was the lighting, with the PS3 version using the lighting systems from ME3 for some reason.

Then there's also Lens Of Truth's Analysis who are generally a bit less accurate, but still bring up some good points, who say

...both versions were capped at 30 FPS most of the time. Scenes with chaotic firefights seemed to take some type of hit in terms of performance on both platforms. However, as seen in our analysis video on page two, the Xbox 360 version seemed to have the slight advantage maintaining a more stable frame rate throughout these chaotic scenes – but not without a hitch. Although the PlayStation 3 version did have slightly more frame rate hitches, the Xbox 360 had noticeable screen tearing in those scenes. Nothing too extreme, but enough for you to notice. The PlayStation 3 version had zero screen tearing in these same scenes. So pick your poison. While the Xbox 360 version had the slight advantage with its frame rate throughout some hectic scenes, it also had some screen tearing to go along with it.

So, you're hatred against the PS3 version is unfounded except for some poor research or something. Either way can we stop sidetracking this thread?

@MB: Wow that sucks :/ well the mod community should hopefully come out with something soon enough... so my choice is still PC :P