It's good. Playing a bunch of the co-op and recently finished my 3rd gold run with randoms of all things. Still haven't gotten the Widows or Javelin so that's bumming me out, but at least I got the Geth Infiltrator and an N7 Valiant to go along with it.

I finished the game today, and after watching all three endings, I decided that the best ending is where Shepard throws herself into the beam, and her DNA merges with the reapers and geth. It allowed Edi to live, and be with Joker. But, I was disappointed that despite which path you choose, it's basically the same. The Normandy crew ends up on a new planet, and then it ends.

Overall, I loved the game, and I found the ending to be confusing, but not terrible. My journey with my female Shepard is now complete.

I really enjoyed my first play through, yeah the ending was hard to swallow and it made the 2nd play through a little less fun because just how terrible it was. I still dont understand who in their right minds would have everything that led up to the ending be so awesome and then decided to halt the momentum of the ending with "the choice".

I enjoyed the game immensely but I wasn't a big fan of the ending either. I thought they could have at the very least done a much better job with it. Hopefully the extended cut actually changes my mind. Also, I hope it really is an extended cut and not at all a retconning of the ending.

The payoffs in the game came well before the weak ending. And the multiplayer turned out far better than I expected. So yes, I thought the game was great.

There wasn't that much variation from ME2 put in to ME3 e.g the geth still fight against you even if you rewrote or destroyed the heretics. Plus bioware used false advertising to get our hopes thinking that our choices will matter and everyone's ending will be different. But it was still an awesome game and one of the best games i have ever played.

I was disappointed by the ending(s) and the squad members, I preferred the members you had in 1 and 2, no Krogan squad member = :( . Aside from those issues, I enjoyed the game as a whole.

I just finished the PC version, and taking the whole trilogy as a complete story, I wasn't let down. Sure, the ending was abrupt, but the last hour or so of ME3 was some of the best gaming I've had in a long while.

Still boycotting it. Call me a hater, but I had to take a stand on this one.

I know I'm missing out on, what could be, a great game; but I don't like what EA did to the franchise, so I'm not playing it. Simple as.

@biggiedubs: What exactly did EA do to the franchise? Are you super-opposed to this game being multiplatform, or ME3 having multiplayer?

@Potts: It was a number of things to be honest. I'm not super-opposed to it being multi-platform, or even it having multi-player. Something being multi-platform never really bothers me, and whilst I'd much prefer there not to be multi-player, I'm not also not too bothered about that either. Horde mode sells, no matter which game it is in. And micro-transactions make you a lot of money. I understand that that business mentality is needed at this level of games, it's just I really hate it.

To me, everything about the game leading up to it's release, seemed like EA rushing this game through and trying to turn it into something it was not, and never should be. Bioware's games before Dragon Age 2 and Mass Effect 3 took several years to make, and despite knowing this, (I presume) EA told them that wasn't possible. Just rush it out, people will buy it anyway. I was really disappointed in Dragon Age 2, in pretty much of all aspects, and as I thought they were doing much the same thing to Mass Effect I didn't want to support it. Maybe I'm completely wrong, but that's what it felt like, so that's what I did.

I also couldn't stand the day one DLC stuff, there's no way I would support that. I refuse to buy something that they, probably, just tore out of the game and sold for extra.

Whether or not I'm simply making EA a scapegoat for something they shouldn't, I am unsure, but for just once I wanted to take a stand on something.

I loved practically every second of that game. That's why the ending felt like such a pimp slap.

i loved it.

i would argue it was the best of the series. it had the best story and the best gameplay in my opinion.

and the multiplayer is very good. not just tacked on, but proper good.

I haven't played it, nor do i plan to. So I'll say I haven't played it, but if I did, I don't think i would enjoy it.

@biggiedubs said:

@Potts: It was a number of things to be honest. I'm not super-opposed to it being multi-platform, or even it having multi-player. Something being multi-platform never really bothers me, and whilst I'd much prefer there not to be multi-player, I'm not also not too bothered about that either. Horde mode sells, no matter which game it is in. And micro-transactions make you a lot of money. I understand that that business mentality is needed at this level of games, it's just I really hate it.

To me, everything about the game leading up to it's release, seemed like EA rushing this game through and trying to turn it into something it was not, and never should be. Bioware's games before Dragon Age 2 and Mass Effect 3 took several years to make, and despite knowing this, (I presume) EA told them that wasn't possible. Just rush it out, people will buy it anyway. I was really disappointed in Dragon Age 2, in pretty much of all aspects, and as I thought they were doing much the same thing to Mass Effect I didn't want to support it. Maybe I'm completely wrong, but that's what it felt like, so that's what I did.

I also couldn't stand the day one DLC stuff, there's no way I would support that. I refuse to buy something that they, probably, just tore out of the game and sold for extra.

Whether or not I'm simply making EA a scapegoat for something they shouldn't, I am unsure, but for just once I wanted to take a stand on something.

seem like pretty pisspoor reasons to me. but hey, good luck with that stand your making.

Forcing Origin on the game is coprorate cuntery at its finest, so is having Javik as DLC, as well as making multiplayer essential to get the best ending so people require the online passes (although in the end it didn't matter that much because the ending variation was pants), and Kai Leng is a horrible antagonist and by far the worst character in the whole trilogy.

The rest of the game is ace though, gameplay is ridiculously fun, the story freaking sweet, and much to everyone's suprise, the multiplayer is actually damn good. So ye in short I did enjoy it.

I enjoyed the game, even with the ending, felt like it was leading to an epic confrontation like the battle of endor, and if you got everything right and most or all resources it, it seemed like that in the final assault on earth, that part was just epic to watch and i never got bored of that cut scene. I wonder even with the up coming ending flesh out bioware have said is coming there is room for more Mass effect, I feel we are going to see another mass effect telling us what has happened after the end of three from someone else in the mass effect universe.Just because this is the end of shepards story, it doesn't mean its the end of the mass effect universe.

@doobie: I don't really expect to change anything just by myself, maybe 'taking a stand' was a bit too dramatic. I'm just happy not being hypocrite and complaining about things later.

@biggiedubs said:

@doobie: I don't really expect to change anything just by myself, maybe 'taking a stand' was a bit too dramatic. I'm just happy not being hypocrite and complaining about things later.

Why is it hypocritical to buy something and complain about its flaws later? Mass Effect 3 isn't bad in every respect, though I do have problems with it; and that includes more than just the ending.

But it's an end to a trilogy I generally enjoyed quite a bit. I knew going in that there would be issues - by the time I bought the game, the backlash about the ending was at its peak. Yet I still enjoyed the game. I'm willing to both praise it for what it does right, and complain about the nasty shortcomings. There's nothing hypocritical about it.

You do understand you're allowed to have complaints about something you enjoy, right?

@Potts: @kingcopper: Sure, of course you're allowed to have complaints, but I have more of a problem with how the game is made, rather than the game itself. I don't want to support EA because I think they've played a large part in messing up Bioware, and two of the most promising IP's in gaming (Dragon Age and Mass Effect), so I didn't buy it. Again, I don't expect to change anything on my own, and yes you may call it 'pointless' when I could just play the damn game, but somethings are bigger and important than just our enjoyment of something.

You want EA to do this for the next series of games it makes? Forcing the development team into rushing the game out to hit meaningless targets, giving them barely any time to write up a decent ending, making us buy DLC that it not only on the disc, but is fundamental to the main game? By everyone buying it is proving to them that they can get away with things like this.

So, yeah, I might be pointless in me boycotting it, but at least by not buying it I showing them, in some small way, that it's not okay for them to do this. That's what they'll care about the end of the day; the sales. Not just the amount of people who are pissed off in some internet forum.

I made it maybe halfway and gave up. I've played through both previous Mass Effects twice each, but ME3 was a real disappointment.

@Asurastrike said:

I made it maybe halfway and gave up. I've played through both previous Mass Effects twice each, but ME3 was a real disappointment.

I have to agree with you. I made it through Mass Effect 3 but I didn't feel the urge to dive back into the last mission to see the different endings or start the game over again (which I did for Mass Effect 2). The "hub" missions in 3 are so bland and the fact that you do have to play Multiplayer for a good ending is probably the biggest disappointment of all. I actually enjoyed the ending but not what came before it (let's defend this missile battery as the game dumps every single high level enemy on us for 30 minutes)/

All-in-all: Mass Effect 2, best game in the series

@Yanngc33 said:

All-in-all: Mass Effect 2, best game in the series

I have to disagree there - I think the best ME is the original. ME2 was good, but 1 was just put together & paced better. ME2 was not much more than a bunch of unrelated personal missions all cobbled together, with some great main story stuff peppered here and there throughout.

And don't retort with how much the Mako sucked - it was passable, and you actually got to explore alien worlds, unlike in 2, where the only time you're outside on an alien world is when you're...

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...scanning it from orbit.

I just felt the whole campaign felt rushed and simplified to an extent... there was so much more to do in 1 and 2. the multiplayer has now gotten boring with just the horde mode.... And as for the ending Casey Hudson commented numerous times that the decisions you have made across the previous 2 games would count....yeah ok whatever...

Bioware was expecting fantastic comments on how the experience was....They got comments alright on how red green and blue would haunt them for a long time to come.

Definitely, a lot of the game was excellent although some things could have been better but overall it was amazing. The story was brilliant until that last 10 minutes in which it was completely botched. I still love Mass Effect, I just hated the ending.

I preferred it to ME2, so yes.

@Potts

We don't even need to talk about the Mako. The combat in the original Mass Effect is pretty janky and the inventory system is horrible. Mass Effect 2 may not be too special as a shooter, but it's an improvement. They were going for a simplified game and they nailed it. Though i'm happy to concede that Mass Effect 1 has the best plot in the entire series.

@kingcopper said:

@Potts

We don't even need to talk about the Mako. The combat in the original Mass Effect is pretty janky and the inventory system is horrible. Mass Effect 2 may not be too special as a shooter, but it's an improvement. They were going for a simplified game and they nailed it. Though i'm happy to concede that Mass Effect 1 has the best plot in the entire series.

Yeah, the plot and overall experience was more what I was going for there. ME1 felt very 80s sci-fi, with the molded armor, film grain, alien sex and political intrigue. ME2, while amazing in it's own right, felt like it lost all that - like if ME1 came out in '86, and never got a sequel until 3 years ago, and the makers of 2 didn't quite get what made 1 so appealing. Remember how everyone was saying "the moon mission was the most awesome thing EVAR" about the first game? Well, if you remember back, the mission itself wasn't that good. You ran around in the Mako on the Moon, shot some turrets, went in some buildings and killed some rogue synthetics. But what was awesome about it was that YOU WERE ON THE FREAKING MOON, and you could drive around, and look up at the Earth, and it was really cool rolling around on the Moon in your sweet Moon-car. It's what every kid in the 60s, 70s & 80s wanted to do when they grew up, and that mission really scratched that itch. ME2 didn't really have any moments like that. The game did simplify the inventory & skills, and tightened up the shooter mechanics, certainly, but at the same time it took a lot of the classic RPG out of it too.

I dunno, I guess I just really liked exploring alien worlds in ME1, and 2 just completely took that away. I get that it wasn't a big thing, and while 2 did have some amazing settings, (the derelict Reaper mission was pretty cool, as was the collector ship/base.) it seemed that most places you went in ME2 were Human-ass Human settings. Lots of crates & space-trailer homes and not enough alien shit. While the Citadel in ME1 felt like a fucking SPACE CITY, in ME2 it was a lot more Blade Runner. Same with Omega. Even Tuchanka felt like Fallout-Earth, and Illium felt a bit too mundane to be an alien world.

tl;dr, Not enough alien-ish settings in ME2 for what I felt Mass Effect should be. 3 did it better, with more outdoor areas like the Turian moon and Thessia (which actually looked alien, unlike Illium) but 1 still did it the best.

Also, the Mako wasn't that bad, it was just all the pointless planet exploration you had to do in it that got tedious. The planet scanning is horrible no matter how you spin it. (see what I did there?) ;D

I loved it. I played for about somewhere between 40, and 45 hours, and I loved every minute of it. The ending was too depressing for me, but that's the only flaw I can think of.

I only just now finished the game. When the game just game out I was still finishing another title and with all the talk about the bad ending I sort of let Mass Effect 3 slide for a while. Despite it probably being my favorite series this generation. And in hindsight that was a dumb thing to do. I can honestly say I really enjoyed part 3. I do think it has some flaws, but nothing that kept me from thinking this was one of the most enjoyable games I have played in a long time.

I mostly was disappointed the side missions where just picked up by passing conversations with generally just a scanning mini game attached to it (which was less fun then the scanning in 2). I would have preferred to really talk to these people and done some real side-missions for them. some did involve talking yourself and I got all excited for example when the Elcor asked me to help with their homeworld being under attack. Only to find out it was a scanning mission. I literally dropped everything else I was doing to go and help these gentle giants...

Other minor nitpicks where the simplified currency system and dialog trees. But I did like how you had to find upgrades around the missions. I just never really got into the entire, upgrade your gun thing. In that sense I am glad they simplified things since ME1.

I actually did not really have a problem with the ending. It's not great, but all in all.. it was an ending. I was a bit disappointed with the options I had as none of them where what I wanted. Plus it's odd cut scene at the end about the people who fought directly at your side. But I didn't hate it. I kind of saw it coming. It was hinted at before through ME3 (I think the reaper you fight who controls the Geth kinda mentions it) and in ME2 as well. But hey I also liked the ending of Enslaved and everybody seems to hate that one too.

Spoiler in regards to the end:

What I found daft about the options is that: the synthesis didn't run with me because I felt I would force this choice upon all living beings without them wanting it and the destroy option would kill the Geth and EDI. While I was proving that synthetic and organic could co exist. So I picked control as in that case everybody could live, except for shepard. Main gripe might be however is that I loved the universe setting and the ending definitely changes that. I would have loved a post reaper invasion game where the universe you've come to known and love is still there. Be in war-torn... Now that's pretty much not an option anymore. But I did have a good sense of closure.

no. i have shit for brains and let the people on the internet sway my opinion of the game even before i started playing it.

I enjoyed it until the part where i had to walk wounded to the beam to go to the citadel. i was armed with a pistol and the enemies kept killing me instantly. i'm level 40 or 42.

yup i liked it a lot it was fun and the ending was not perfect and could be elaborated on /explained more but the all around experience of it was great..

ding.

I am pretty much at the last mission an dI find myself not wanting to play it. I know what to expect, and I kinda.... dont want to see Mass Effect end like that, I quit half way through ME1, and loved ME2 and played it multiple times (I loved the Ocean's Eleven style of story of getting together a gallery of space badasses). It make me kinda upset that this amazing Space Odyssey goes out the way it does, and I dont want to see go out like that. I dont care if BioWare changes the ending or adds an epilogue for most people, the damage is done... you can't undo what was already done.

Edit: Although ME3 was more "condensed" than previous games, I enjoyed making my way through it. THe worlds were awesome, and the stuff you did was interesting. And new the characters felt like they belonged and hell the MP is great... but man... that ending.

@OneManX: I actually really like the ending outside of the cookie-cutter pre-rendered crap/ crazy twist.

@Animasta said:

It's alright, nothing fantastic but ya know... they can't all be binary domain after all.

Just picked that up on Steam...after listening to the bombcast. why do you think it's so great? Just looking for another opinion. Will probably crank it up tonight.

Overall, it was alright. Nothing amazing. The ending and opening sequences are really awful though. I came away thinking ME2 was a far better experience. I enjoyed the MP more than the SP which I guess speaks to the failures of building a good world or story and the success of gameplay improvements.

I enjoyed it, this thread will become an argument about the ending. It is impossible to make a ME3 thread on this website without that happening.

@Potts said:

@Yanngc33 said:

All-in-all: Mass Effect 2, best game in the series

I have to disagree there - I think the best ME is the original. ME2 was good, but 1 was just put together & paced better. ME2 was not much more than a bunch of unrelated personal missions all cobbled together, with some great main story stuff peppered here and there throughout.

And don't retort with how much the Mako sucked - it was passable, and you actually got to explore alien worlds, unlike in 2, where the only time you're outside on an alien world is when you're...

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...scanning it from orbit.

To me that's what made the whole Mass Effect original game seem appealing.

It was paced in a way I felt like I had control. It made you feel like you were actually exploring space and the nuances in the different real planets.

I also felt a connection with the characters and the story was epic. The reapers / protheans were some god-like unkown mystery.

Not bad, not great. Pretty middle of the road. BioWare's ability to tell a compelling story and/or create interesting and well rounded characters is degrading at an alarming rate, so I felt all of that was weaker than Mass Effect 2 (which was weaker than Mass Effect 1). Side quests were pretty terrible, as was the method you received them with the creepy eavesdropping on random people. Combat was pretty good, though.

And of course there's the infamously terrible ending. I almost want to download the extended cut this week just to see how they try and spin that shit ending, but I don't think I care enough to actually take the time to download it.

I didn't even get to the ending because two hours in I realized that this game was just crap.

I have no idea what the "The ending didn't ruin the 30 amazing hours that came before" people are on about.

I really enjoyed my first play through of ME3 but the ending ruined it fo me to be honest. I mean I completed ME2 easily over 10 times... ME3 completed it once and got half way through a 2nd play through before getting fed up with it.

Looking back, I loved the game overall. Going back in the world is gonna be strange. The ME Series at this point feels like one of those myths that neer actually happened, but now I'm going to experience it again. Honestly I'm a little nervous over the extended cut tomorrow...