Mass Effect 3

[bullethead]

Herkimer Jitty wrote:

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That being said, a lot of the armor types in ME1 had much more variable stats. The ME2 armor pieces didn't do a whole ton of good for me - the most noticable equipment effects were from the Kuwashii Visor, the Off-Hand Ammo Pack and the Ordinance Pack. Then again, my main build is a soldier, and I play cautiously enough that I barely get hurt badly enough to test the limits of the N7 armor system.

Well, the whole goal of the armor system in ME2 was to give the player the ability to build a set of armor that looked good to them, so they couldn't really have the armor pieces do too much, otherwise people would've gone for the set that has the most stat boosts.

[Reverend]

^Indeed. Plus as I previously stated, in a shooter stats shouldn't really mean that much. There's few things as tedious as throwing about 5000 rounds downrange, but because the stats say you're character (a highly trained and seasoned combat veteran) isn't skilled enough and you might as well be shooting spit-balls for all the effect you're having. At most, even the best armour should only give you a few extra seconds of shields or health while under fire. Even in ME1 (which had a lot more under-the-hood dice rolling going on) they only really made much of a difference on the higher difficulty settings. I managed to play through the whole thing, sticking with the default N7 armour.

ME2 got the balance just right. Enough customisation to give it your own stamp and some either/or choices for stats boosts. Only when playing on 'Insane' did I feel the need to minmax.

[T.Geiger]

Lots of New Mass Effect 3 details revealed (some very minor spoilers).

"Gunfights are quicker and more deadly."

I don't know. Sounds like the gameplay is going in the wrong direction for me. I was already annoyed with all the chest-high wall cover-shooting, and this sounds like its even further in that camp.

[Reverend]

^I'm pretty sure the Game Informer article had Bioware saying they were very specifically not going to rely on the convenient chest high wall thing.

Not that it bothered me much because it beat the hell out of the nearly useless cover mechanics in ME1...but I suppose that had more to do with the AI as the cover itself.

IIRC there was also talk of diving over cover and climbing ladders in the middle of a gunfight to bring a little more strategic variety.

[6079SmithW]

"Normal in ME 3 will be the equivalent of Veteran in ME 2."

I don't know if this is a good thing. I get by butt kicked on normal sometimes. I hope it's not too hard. I'd like to enjoy the game.

[T.Geiger]

I was offput by the difficulty blurb also. Its not that I'll have problems on "Veteran" so much as that was always the difficulty I played on after the Insanity runthrough. So I won't be able to bump it up a notch, and Insanity will also be that much more difficult.

It also reminds me of the awful Dragon Age, where normal difficulty was just a hair under Insanity to start with. Unless, apparently, you were playing a mage.

[Jax]

The real problem was the almost lock on ability of the A.I so the combat needs to be streamlined not increased. Also they should just keep the difficulty settings as they were in ME 2 and cater to a broad base it just seems odd. I have to admit Bioware seems to be changing a lot for the sake of it and maybe they should focus on what actually needs addressing.

[HotRod]

I can't really say I'm too worried. By this point, atleast when it comes to Mass Effect, I have complete faith in Bioware not to screw up their perfect hat trick. This is not something I've ever been able to say about any other game studio, but god help me, I'm 100% sure Mass Effect 3 will be a game of epic proportions and likely take GOTY.

[-Brett-]

Shepard faces full-on bosses in the game’s story. Some are really huge. One part, you have to lure a Reaper up to a Thresher Maw so they can duke it out.

I certainly hope this makes more sense in the game than it does in the article.

[T.Geiger]

HotRod wrote:

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I have complete faith in Bioware not to screw up their perfect hat trick. I'm 100% sure Mass Effect 3 will be a game of epic proportions and likely take GOTY.

Great, now we know who to blame when it sucks because YOU JUST JINXED IT!

-Brett- wrote:

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I certainly hope this makes more sense in the game than it does in the article.

Maybe its a legendary rare spawn Thresher Maw that's half the size of a planet! Or maybe HotRod jinxed it so hard that the jinx traveled back in time to create Mecha-Thresher Mawzilla!

[Herkimer Jitty]

Eh, you're still gonna buy it.

[HotRod]

Well I'll tell ya what I'll do. If by some strange twist of fate Mass Effect 3 bombs, I will go to Edmonton and sacrifice myself to the Video Game Gods in front of the Bioware HQ. May I forever be a reminder to never jinx a game before its release date.

[TheGodBen]

The Normandy appears to have a new coat of paint, and possibly armour. The paint-job has a symbol that's slightly spoilery, so don't click if you don't want to know.

http://kotaku.com/#!5795227/mass-effects-normandy-has-a-new-coat-of-paint

[HotRod]

Very Nice!

[Reverend]

-Brett- wrote:

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I certainly hope this makes more sense in the game than it does in the article.

I think there's going to be some difference in the size of certain reapers. If you've played Arrival and let the clock tick down you get a flash of images from what looks like an early build of ME3, one of which looks like a small (and yet still colossal) reaper smashing and slicing it's way through the presidium. So that'd be about on par with a thresher maw.

Or, on the other hand, there's this.

TheGodBen wrote:

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The Normandy appears to have a new coat of paint, and possibly armour. The paint-job has a symbol that's slightly spoilery, so don't click if you don't want to know.

http://kotaku.com/#!5795227/mass-effects-normandy-has-a-new-coat-of-paint

All I want to know is; will they let me wander around the cargo bay this time!? I know it's seriously petty but it honestly bugged me that there was a part of the ship I could see but not explore.

HotRod wrote:

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I can't really say I'm too worried. By this point, atleast when it comes to Mass Effect, I have complete faith in Bioware not to screw up their perfect hat trick. This is not something I've ever been able to say about any other game studio, but god help me, I'm 100% sure Mass Effect 3 will be a game of epic proportions and likely take GOTY.

Well I wouldn't go that far, but I agree, the odds of this being crap are decidedly slim. The only thing that concerns me is what feels like a relatively short development cycle and I worry that this is something imposed by EA to cash in on the success and acclaim of ME2 while people still remember it...you know, like how Dragon Age 2 was released only three quarters done and even that with some major short-cuts.

On the other hand, assuming they've been working on ME3 for at least a year and have as rumoured been using the DLC to prototype and test certain things they wanted to include in ME3 than perhaps it's not quite as bad as it seems.