Mass Effect 3

[Mr Light]

Sounds complicated. Do I have to unplug my old hard drive from my old 360 and plug it into the new one and do something then unplug it and put in the new one? What if I don't have the old one anymore? It's too much work man :sobs:

[TheGodBen]

It depends. Is your old Xbox dead? If so, did you replace it with one of the new slim models? If not, just plug the old HD and the USB stick into the new console, transfer the saves to the USB stick, turn off the Xbox, plug in the new HD and transfer the saves over from the USB. It shouldn't take any longer than 5 minutes. Here's a guide on how to transfer the files.

If your new console is one of the slim ones then it's considerably more complicated and probably involves a screwdriver, if it's even possible at all.

[Mr Light]

I'm already like 12 hours into the game, though. I'm not gonna start over at this point. But thanks

[ares93]

Gotta tell ya, i never though this game could be any batter than ME2, because that was a masterpiece. But bloody hell, this game is epic.

Although, I gotta say that I'm slightly afraid of logging on to fanfiction.net right now. I don't want to know what they can cock, pardon... cook up with the EDI/Joker pairing...

[Kaziarl]

So, I'm looking at being able to get ME3 towards the end of the month, or early April. But I was curious about something. Is the ending as terrible as I've heard? I mean, granted, I have learned a long time ago to take internet complaints with a grain of salt and just find out for myself, which I will, but I was wondering what peoples opinions are on this. And you don't have to worry about spoilers on my behalf, so be as open as you like.

[PsychoPere]

The vast majority of the game is quite excellent indeed - very effective, very emotional, very engaging storytelling. The game as a whole is a masterpiece of interactive fiction. The possible endings, however, are sadly underwhelming, and there are many aspects of each possible ending that can be downright perplexing in relation to other events in the game. Even with my disappointment, the game is still oh-so-very-close to being my favorite game of all time.


I bought a new iPod Touch tonight (4th generation, to replace my old 2nd generation one), and so I've installed the ME3 Datapad app.

Here a couple amusing messages I've received:

Javik wrote:

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Thresher maws have gotten much bigger. Too big to ride now. A shame.

EDI wrote:

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Shepard, when you have time I have another question for you. Actually, I have 1,623,058, but I'm pacing myself.

[Steven]

Question about having Javik along for the Thessia mission...

What does Javik have to say for himself in the temple when you discover that there is a Prothean beacon hidden there?

I brought James along instead and all he was doing was pointing how Prothean that Asari goddess looked.

Also...

I loved the missions on Rannoch and seeing that bit of the universe come to a conclusion. I miss Legion already, but having the rest of the geth become fully sentient and helping the quarians was worth it...

Though I did die several times facing that Reaper before I learned to roll out of the way.

[Skywalker]

Steven wrote:

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Question about having Javik along for the Thessia mission...

What does Javik have to say for himself in the temple when you discover that there is a Prothean beacon hidden there?

I brought James along instead and all he was doing was pointing how Prothean that Asari goddess looked.

I'm not going to go into too much detail, just because I think it's better to experience it for yourself, but...

Javik has a lot to say on Thessia. I brought him with me on my first run through that mission, and I can't imagine not bringing him along in any future playthroughs. He expands on quite a bit of what Shepard encounters there, and makes Liara question some pretty important things.

[ATimson]

Kaziarl wrote:

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But I was curious about something. Is the ending as terrible as I've heard? I mean, granted, I have learned a long time ago to take internet complaints with a grain of salt and just find out for myself, which I will, but I was wondering what peoples opinions are on this. And you don't have to worry about spoilers on my behalf, so be as open as you like.

Well, if you don't want to worry about spoilers, take a gander at the "Mass Effect 3 Ending" thread we have going on.

I guess I'd say it depends on what you wanted out of the ending. If you play as renegade, you'll probably be happy. If you played as paragon, you'll probably be disappointed.

Any ending that removes the Reapers from play also hurts bystanders. Either the Geth and EDI get destroyed, or all life gets forced into synthesis.

[TheGodBen]

Kaziarl wrote:

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So, I'm looking at being able to get ME3 towards the end of the month, or early April. But I was curious about something. Is the ending as terrible as I've heard? I mean, granted, I have learned a long time ago to take internet complaints with a grain of salt and just find out for myself, which I will, but I was wondering what peoples opinions are on this. And you don't have to worry about spoilers on my behalf, so be as open as you like.

I heard about the backlash to the ending too, but I put it out of my mind while playing the game and the experience was damn-near perfect. Then I finished the game. At first, I thought that it wasn't great, but it was okay. After a a couple of hours of thinking about it and reading other's opinions online, I came to the conclusion that the ending is barely even coherent.

The final revelation flies in the face of several major storylines and character arcs throughout the three games, and you're not allowed to point this out because Bioware decided to remove the dialogue options they had planned, instead preferring to keep things vague and mysterious. Your choices throughout all three games barely matter, they're melted down into a number, and that number causes very slight variations in the final cutscene and that's it. To add insult to injury, the final cutscene places characters in a location where they couldn't possibly be so that the game can end on an optimistic note, but if you scratch the surface even slightly you'll realise that the ending is highly pessimistic.

There is a theory which explains all this and it manages to make considerably more sense than taking the ending at face value, but it's highly unlikely and in order for it to be valid it would require DLC to confirm it and complete the ending.

The game is well worth playing, for the vast majority of the 40 hours I played it was an amazing experience. It's just the final 10 minutes that lets it, and the entire trilogy, down.

[HotRod]

Kaziarl wrote:

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So, I'm looking at being able to get ME3 towards the end of the month, or early April. But I was curious about something. Is the ending as terrible as I've heard? I mean, granted, I have learned a long time ago to take internet complaints with a grain of salt and just find out for myself, which I will, but I was wondering what peoples opinions are on this. And you don't have to worry about spoilers on my behalf, so be as open as you like.

Yes, it's that bad.

[LeadHead]

HotRod wrote:

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Yes, it's that bad.

No, it's worse. And that's tough for me to say, since I'm an absolute diehard Mass Effect fan. The game itself is off the charts amazing, the ending is off the charts awful.

[Kaziarl]

I'm still going to get it anyway, I only played the first one a few months ago, and the second one shortly after that. I love the story, and the universe, and there are some aspects of it that I really think are even superior to Star Trek. And for me being pretty much raised with Kirk, Picard, and the others as proxy babysitters, that's saying a lot.

As for the backlash, like I said, I'll find out for myself soon enough. I was mainly just curious because a lot of the backlash I've seen seems, well, a little ridiculous. Many of the ones I've read, I get the distinct impression that they feel the ending was a personal stab in the back directed solely at them. I figured I'd as here because, while it is a trek board and we are all so very passionate about our various fictional obsessions, there's still usually some rationality to be found.

[throwback]

Was the ending bad? Yes, it was very bad. The designers wanted an ending that would be open to speculation and interpretation. However, for the ending to work, the rules that they had created for this universe and the characters that lived in this universe had to either be contradicted or ignored.

Do I expect them to fix this situation? No. Why should they when they thought they did a good job? As of now, they are containing a situation they didn't anticipate, and hoping that the small number of disgruntled players will become discouraged and move on with their lives.

[FPAlpha]

Gamers and die hard fans are sometimes hard to please, sometimes unfair to producers and sometimes they are right.

Concerning ME3 all of the above is true.. the ending is bold and everybody should judge for him/herself. I don't put much stock in fan reaction to anything because i tend to make up my own mind and found that often enough i have a different view than the majority.

I enjoyed the ending for what it was and didn't analyze it to death.. it was something unexpected and time (and maybe future DLCs) will tell if it holds up.

Enjoy the game, it is truly one of the best gaming experiences i ever had and no ending could ruin that.