Mass Effect 3

[Skywalker]

A female turian? About time. They better not cheap out and just make it a male model with a female voice.

[Reverend]

Jar Jar Binks wrote:

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A female turian? About time. They better not cheap out and just make it a male model with a female voice.

Going by how they look in the comics, it'll probably just be a normal turian head, probably re-textured and sans the long crest. At most they might make the body a little shorter and/or slimmer.

ATimson wrote:

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Timed exclusive, according to that article (much like how the Skyrim DLC was). If true, it'll show up on other platforms about a month after the 360 release.

Well that'd be annoying. Honestly, what's the point of timed exclusive DLC? I mean I can't see how it encourages sales; It's not as if a PS3 or PC owner rushing out to buy a 360 and other copy of a game just so they can play DLC a bit earlier.

Mind you has that even been confirmed? Unless I missed something Gamble doesn't mention it and I can find any other sources out there.

[ATimson]

Reverend wrote:

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Well that'd be annoying. Honestly, what's the point of timed exclusive DLC? I mean I can't see how it encourages sales; It's not as if a PS3 or PC owner rushing out to buy a 360 and other copy of a game just so they can play DLC a bit earlier.

Normally if it'll happen it's announced before the game comes out, at which point someone is more likely to change their platform choice. (Another reason why this seems odd...)

[Reverend]

^Didn't they also do it with the Skyrim DLC though?

[ATimson]

Reverend wrote:

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^Didn't they also do it with the Skyrim DLC though?

That's why I said "normally", not "always".

[Angel4576]

Well I guess we know how BW got MS to agree to ME1 appearing on the PS3 now......

[Angel4576]

Panic over;

Mass Effect 3: Omega (Single-player DLC) – Coming November 27th to PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 (November 28th to PS3 in Europe).

Bioware Blog

[Reverend]

And the moral of the story: don't take journalists at their word.

Any speculation on what the next SP DLC will be after Omega? They don't appear to be in any danger of slowing down and I suspect all the free MP stuff is their way of making sure they keep a good sized install base, so they must have at least one or two more of these things pencilled in.

Personally I'd like to see something that expands the Earth campaign. Even after the EC it just didn't feel right how quickly things progressed with the Reapers taking the Citadel, moving it, and the fleet just making a beeline for London. I wanted more build-up. I wanted to go aboard the Destiny Ascension (or random Asari dreadnought it it'd been destroyed) for the big pre-invasion confab. That would have been the more logical way to see all the assents you'd gained, the former squadmates, etc. before the big push.

On the other hand another lore-relevant side story like Leviathan would be just as welcome...perhaps one entitled "Emily Wong Lives!"

P.S. Am I the only one that thinks this should have been part of the main game? I mean aside from the fact that it was obviously foreshadowed and some form of it was cut out during development. It seems like it'd fit perfectly into the "taking down Cerberus" campaign, right between Sanctuary & Cronos Station. Indeed, on my first playthrough that's exactly what I expected and was mightily disappointed that it didn't happen.

[Angel4576]

I'm pretty sure that at some point it was supposed to part of the main SP campaign. I agree though, it was fairly obvious that it would be DLC as you were playing the game.

Seeing as this will drop at the end of November we'll get either one or two more between then and March. One is almost certainly the Citadel DLC. Whether that will be the last piece, to fill in the gaps or not though, who knows. It depends on what the other piece is I guess. If they've got something special up their sleeve, then that might be last. If it's just another piece of mid-game DLC then I'd imagine that the Citadel piece will be last.

Mike Gamble confirmed last night that you'll play Omega as Shepard. There had been speculation that you'd get to play as Aria.

[Reverend]

I can't help but wonder if the supposed "Citadel DLC" will have anything to do with this cut mission?

Oh and just in case anyone doubted retaking Omega was cut...

In fairness though, just like with the cut Shadow Broker mission in ME2, this was originally going to be a much smaller affair than the DLC, which let's be honest is for the best. I mean would anyone have rather had just a single loyalty style mission for Liara in ME2 instead of 'Lair of the Shadow Broker'? Me either.
So far each story based DLC has had some kind of improvement over the others so they're clearly getting better and better at this.

[Angel4576]

TBH, I don't mind them cutting a few bits out for DLC, providing that they expand on it, which is what the Omega DLC sounds like.

The Citadel DLC - I'm still not sure on this. The most obvious plot would be that you play someone like Bailey during the Cerberus/Reaper invasion at the end of the game. However, with one small exception aside (Joker in ME2), you've ALWAYS played as Shepard.

I just hope that all of the remaining DLC isn't just mid-game content. Citadel DLC would fill an obvious POV gap from the main game, plus might impact and/or overflow with the ending(s).

[ATimson]

Reverend wrote:

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In fairness though, just like with the cut Shadow Broker mission in ME2, this was originally going to be a much smaller affair than the DLC, which let's be honest is for the best. I mean would anyone have rather had just a single loyalty style mission for Liara in ME2 instead of 'Lair of the Shadow Broker'? Me either.

That depends. I'd rather have a big post-finale DLC, but a smaller in-product mission if the DLC is going to be a flashback.

[Reverend]

Angel4576 wrote:

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TBH, I don't mind them cutting a few bits out for DLC, providing that they expand on it, which is what the Omega DLC sounds like.

The Citadel DLC - I'm still not sure on this. The most obvious plot would be that you play someone like Bailey during the Cerberus/Reaper invasion at the end of the game. However, with one small exception aside (Joker in ME2), you've ALWAYS played as Shepard.

I just hope that all of the remaining DLC isn't just mid-game content. Citadel DLC would fill an obvious POV gap from the main game, plus might impact and/or overflow with the ending(s).

That would be interesting and as you say, not unprecedented. Honestly though, it would have been nice to just see a few cutscenes showing the fall of the Citadel. I don't need to play as Bailey fighting off husks to get that. Besides, it'd be a bit of an awkward fit in terms of pacing. Even in ME1 we got to see things that Shepard didn't; Saren & Benezia post Eden Prime, Anderson laying out Udina and Sovereign's attack on the Citadel spring to mind.

ATimson wrote:

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That depends. I'd rather have a big post-finale DLC, but a smaller in-product mission if the DLC is going to be a flashback.

Post-finale? No thanks. The endings are what they are and I think they're about done adding to them in any substantial way. Personally I'm all for more mid-game content. Anything to add more scope to a galaxy wide war that we mostly only got to hear about.

This is actually what really disappointed me about Allers. Even before she'd been announced I had thought having an embedded reporter (either Wong or al-Jilani depending how how you treated them in the past) on the Normandy would be a great way to see what else was going on out there. The idea being that there'd be periodic newscasts that would vary depending on your actions, in the game and from imported plot flags. What a shame they made up a new character, cast a non-actor to play her and made her a totally useless waste of pixels.

P.S. Words fail me.

[ATimson]

Reverend wrote:

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Post-finale? No thanks. The endings are what they are and I think they're about done adding to them in any substantial way. Personally I'm all for more mid-game content. Anything to add more scope to a galaxy wide war that we mostly only got to hear about.

I'd find midgame content more compelling if I ever expected to replay the game. Right now I suspect any future playthroughs will stop after ME1.

[Angel4576]

Reverend wrote:

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P.S. Words fail me.

Written by Mac Walters. Nope.

Re Allers - agree, what a waste of a character and development resource. So, Allers fully modeled - Tali's face, a photoshop stock image. Although I enjoyed ME3 overall, there were some really lame decisions made re certain aspects of the game.