Considering that in a couple months, there is the upcoming game of the year highlights of the good & bad games that came out (as well as personal favorites) & it came out this year, get over it. When they start getting in the worst/disappointing games of the years there will be shots fired all over the place at just about any game in range.

The idea that ME3 could be considered as 'biggest disappointment' is CRAZY. Yeah, some may have preferred the second and have been a little let down by the third but that's totally due to an over-inflated sense of expectation. ME3 was nowhere near a bad game, nor even a mediocre one. It was really, really good, just with some issues. How that's even contemplated as 'biggest disappointment' by Jeff is beyond me. I mean, he gave it a 4 star review for crying out loud. Same as Saints Row the Third and that was up for GOTY...

@Vitor said:

The idea that ME3 could be considered as 'biggest disappointment' is CRAZY. Yeah, some may have preferred the second and have been a little let down by the third but that's totally due to an over-inflated sense of expectation. ME3 was nowhere near a bad game, nor even a mediocre one. It was really, really good, just with some issues. How that's even contemplated as 'biggest disappointment' by Jeff is beyond me. I mean, he gave it a 4 star review for crying out loud. Same as Saints Row the Third and that was up for GOTY...

Here's a tip: if you ever need to start justifying shit to this degree, you're probably fucking wrong and the thing you're defending is shit.

@DeShawn2ks said:

@glyn said:

@TheDudeOfGaming said:

@Wipeout said:

I'm surprised anyone would actually want ME3 to get any nods for GOTY. It was kind of a bad. Like not badly produced, but just bad at being a Mass Effect game, and not fun. There were no exploration and quest hubs AT ALL, just the Citadel's awful fetch quest depository in which you had to talk to EVERY npc multiple times to even find them. The story beats were very disappointing steps backward from ME2. The game consisted entirely of just shooting sections, one after another, with almost no diplomacy. And all the plot points just revolved around "Hey remember me?" moments.

Its no wonder that I never finished it, feeling tired of the monotony just past halfway through so I haven't experienced this ending debacle the internet complained about. But, I felt the story just lost all of the bravery in it's fiction, settling for regular action tropes, leaving me no impulse to play the game. And since it was barely recognizable as any kind of role-playing game anymore, there was nothing for me there either. All the roots of brilliance that ME1 seeded and ME2 sprouted, simply bloomed into mediocrity.

There have been better games this year for sure, but none that really stand out to me as THIS WAS AWESOME. Diablo III really didn't do it for me either, while Darksiders 2 was "different" it isn't what I would call "better" than Darksiders 1. Borderlands 2 was certainly longer than it's predecessor, but so very similar its hard to really make it stand out. AC3 is not out yet, but we've already had SO MANY of those games its hard to imagine its really going to blow me away.

So far my year has been spent more enjoying mods as that is where the innovation has been. DayZ I've spent a VERY large portion of the year enjoying because the experience there is so unique. I haven't played too many indie or downloadables but I'm sure there is plenty of quality to choose from there, too. It will be an interesting GOTY discussion indeed since I can't really put my bets on any horse this year, I just don't see any clear winners.

EDIT: However! The multiplayer was fantastic and a LOT of fun.

I fucking called that shit, I said and I quote

It's gonna be a lot closer to a third person shooter than an RPG. Even more so than Mass Effect 2 if that's even possible.

But people called me insane, they called me a hater, they called me a sad, bitter man. WELL WHO'S THE SAD BITTER MAN NOW!?!?!

Seriously though, if they f***ed up the story, which a lot of people seem to think that they did, then ME has lost the only really good thing it had going. Then again, this year isn't as crazy as the last one. Diablo III, Dishonored, AC3 with possibly Far Cry 3 or Borderlands 2 as GOTY contenders. ME3 might just very well make a GOTY list, just not Giantbomb's GOTY list. Oh and Walking Dead, that game is awesome.

Best posts ever!

The whole reason people bought into Mass Effect in the first place was because of the story and characters and exploration and rpg. Developing your character and finding things out for yourself. Why the hell did Bioware get rid of these aspects.

All Mass Effect had to do was have shooting mechanics as fun as gears of war. With a continued consistent great story.

I always felt the exploration and RPG elements in the Mass Effect games weren't that good. The mako stuff was terrible in my opinion, inventory menus were a mess and I felt I never even had to use more than half the stuff I got. Do I wish they would have tried to refine the RPG stuff? Yes I do but I was also perfectly ok with them going the more shooter route. I never felt as a whole any of them were bad games and I always felt I got the character and story stuff from all the Mass Effect games excluding the ending of ME3.

Mass Effect 1 ----- People bought into the idea that this would be something amazing. === It had its faults but the potential was there. EXECUTION NOT AMAZING.

Mass Effect 2 ---- People wanted refinement and development of what was in the the first game === It scrapped the exploration. Turned it into a shooter. And introduced many ridiculous / unrelated/ worthless plot points (filler). EXECUTION WAS NEAR PERFECT.

Mass Effect 3 ---- People were so invested they just wanted to see the end. === The game was developed in a beautiful way but for all the wrong reasons. It didn't resonate with me. THEORETICALLY POOR -- EXECUTION FANTASTIC. --

To me it seemed like due to the scope of the original concept they had. They became wayyyyyyy too conservative with their ideas and approach in the sequels. It felt more like you were riding a roller coaster rather than building your own destiny.

DA:O also suffered this with it's sequels.

Two of my fav games of all time, but whether it is down to money, or laziness. These ideas were never followed up properly. There were reasons why mass effect 1 and dao were some of the most critically acclaimed games this generation. Why do developers always insist on straying away from what got them there in the first place. Creating a great product which has originality, character and creativity and is different.

Gonna lock this now since we've had a lot of topics over the months concerning this and the end result is very much a repeat of previous discussion. Feel free to revive an older topic but please refrain from creating new ones about the same thing, thanks! :)