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Never even thought to look for an Extended Cut version. Thank you for this.
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Jan 24, 2014 20:53
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When I first beat ME3, it was with a Shepard I had built up through multiple replays of 1 and 2 trying to make sure I had every decision I wanted made. Played through it in about 2 or 3 days, but the thing is, before I finished it, I took some time off for an 8 hour mushroom trip with some friends. I was coming down off of that and my friends had gone home when I fired it back up and beat it. Suffice it to say, I was very confused at the abrupt slide into a pile of poo poo and it took me a couple days to really piece it together - it wasn't my muddled brain, the ending was just bad.
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Jan 25, 2014 09:39
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Fag Boy Jim posted:Did the Spoiler Thread seriously get archived? I actually prefer the original; the EC's version, in my opinion, lacks the kind of progression that makes the original so emtionally resonant. It doesn't quite seem to know where it's going until two-thirds through, and even then I feel it dwells too long on the build-up for a satisfying climax. I do like The Construct and especially the Synthesis theme, though.
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Jan 25, 2014 14:50
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Admiral Bosch posted:When I first beat ME3, it was with a Shepard I had built up through multiple replays of 1 and 2 trying to make sure I had every decision I wanted made. Played through it in about 2 or 3 days, but the thing is, before I finished it, I took some time off for an 8 hour mushroom trip with some friends. I was coming down off of that and my friends had gone home when I fired it back up and beat it.  I had avoided all the raging threads on ME3 until I was done and the night I beat it I was ripping bong hits for the first time in forever in celebration of a personal achievement. I went through the ending and there was a pause for around a minute or so after the Buzz Aldrin epilogue bit and I'm all like "Wait, what the gently caress was that??!" I then laughed uncontrollably for around 15 minutes. Funny enough, I didn't get mad about the ending until I joined those previously mentioned raging threads on this board. Nerd style kicked in and I started analyzing anything and everything and it was all over...Just done.
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Jan 25, 2014 14:56
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Sombrerotron posted:Praise the Lord. I noticed it creeping down my bookmarks list and held myself back from commenting about it for fear that it would spark interest in the thread again.
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Jan 25, 2014 17:56
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I don't know if what I'm asking is technically impossible or not, but I'm trying to run through ME1 and it looks like absolute rear end on my computer. Is there a way to get it to run in 1920x1080 at all? I feel like this is a retarded question but if I can't get it to be prettier I'm not gonna play it. It looked better on my Xbox 360.
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Jan 26, 2014 08:01
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Sharzak posted:Is there a way to get it to run in 1920x1080 at all? Mass Effect/Binaries/MassEffectConfig.exe -> Video Set your aspect ratio first, then your resolution.
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Jan 26, 2014 08:09
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Bioware's going to go with the Indoctrination Theory for the canon ending. Just you watch. In Mass Effect 4, you'll discover that Shepard was fully indoctrinated by the time he arrived at the Crucible. The Reapers abruptly left the galaxy, taking the indoctrinated Shepard with them. The official story is that Shepard sacrificed himself activating the Crucible, which caused the Reapers to leave, but Shepard's crew is never fully convinced that this is what actually happened. Flash-forward decades later (or centuries, if you prefer). The galaxy is rebuilding. Old rivalries re-emerge, while new threats appear. But nothing compares to the terror brought by the arrival of REAPER SHEPARD, SWORN ENEMY OF THE GALACTIC ALLIANCE! If you're going to write a poo poo story, Bioware, you might as well pay me to do it.
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Jan 26, 2014 09:12
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Sharzak posted:I don't know if what I'm asking is technically impossible or not, but I'm trying to run through ME1 and it looks like absolute rear end on my computer. Is there a way to get it to run in 1920x1080 at all? I feel like this is a retarded question but if I can't get it to be prettier I'm not gonna play it. It looked better on my Xbox 360. ME1 has an odd bug / issue where changing graphical settings takes a restart of the game to settle in properly despite the game not telling you so. You can absolutely set a 1920x1080 resolution in the in-game options menu (you can scroll on down the resolution list) and also set all the textures and stuff to the highest quality. Then exit the game, restart it, make sure the settings have stuck around (possibly restart again if they didn't) and you should be set. Besides resolution this sometimes affects the texture quality so that's why it may look like rear end. Either way, as long as you've set everything to high it should most definitely not look worse or even as bad as on the 360.
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Jan 26, 2014 10:04
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I had a few free days since god knows when and I used them to finally play through Mass Effect 1 and the better half (I am guessing) of Mass Effect 2. I tried to play through Mass Effect 1 several times but always got dissuaded by the walls of text right at the beginning in the citadel (until someone advised me to just do a few missions in-between and then come back to the station later) I never followed any of the outside hype or discussion (and avoided ME threads) so I have no idea what's expecting me at the end of ME2 or in ME3. I put off the ME2 plot missions as much as possible to do all the side stuff because I got the hunch it is one of the games where you suddenly stare at the end screen with half the game unplayed if you actually follow the pace given in the missions. From what I gathered today, apparently this was a good choice. So I heard mixed things of ME3 and I guess my question is, is it worth it? I don't think I could stand another KOTOR2. Also does it have a similar pitfall like ME2 where you can screw up the entire end if you advance too fast? Please try to answer these questions with spoiling as little as possible, thank you. Police Automaton fucked around with this message at 14:47 on Jan 26, 2014 |
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Jan 26, 2014 14:32
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Police Automaton posted:So I heard mixed things of ME3 and I guess my question is, is it worth it? I don't think I could stand another KOTOR2. Also does it have a similar pitfall like ME2 where you can screw up the entire end if you advance too fast? Please try to answer these questions with spoiling as little as possible, thank you. If you liked ME2, you will like ME3. ME3 has some bumps along the way, but most of the major issues are concentrated at the end, and a good portion of that is alleviated somewhat by the Extended Cut DLC.
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Jan 26, 2014 14:44
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Police Automaton posted:So I heard mixed things of ME3 and I guess my question is, is it worth it? I don't think I could stand another KOTOR2. Also does it have a similar pitfall like ME2 where you can screw up the entire end if you advance too fast? Please try to answer these questions with spoiling as little as possible, thank you. Did you enjoy shooting people and aliens in the face when you weren't busy talking to them in ME2 and want more of that? ME3 basically improves slightly on ME2's combat, and it removes weapon restrictions on all classes without needing special training or unlocking achievements. Want to use an assault rifle with an Engineer? Go right on ahead! Of course, there is a weight system now that affects power cooldown time to discourage you from simply loading up on weapons, so power-heavy classes like Engineers and Adepts are still better off sticking to just pistols and smgs. The only really bad things about the game I can think of is how they changed scanning for minerals to pinging for war assets and having to outrun Reapers if you ping too many times, that got old fast, and of course, the terrible ending that is marginally improved by free DLC, but most say the endings soured the entire trilogy for them. You wanted to avoid another KOTOR2, so I dunno if I'd recommend this game if all you're concerned about is the end. I know I kinda regret pre-ordering this game. The multiplayer is alot of fun though, if you're into Left 4 Dead/Killing Floor style enemy wave survival co-op.
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Jan 26, 2014 14:46
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I still get a chuckle out of the fact that my Kasumi mission in 3 glitched out. I think of her perma-cloaked in that drat security office waiting for a scripted event that's never going to happen.
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Jan 26, 2014 14:49
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Police Automaton posted:So I heard mixed things of ME3 and I guess my question is, is it worth it? I don't think I could stand another KOTOR2. Also does it have a similar pitfall like ME2 where you can screw up the entire end if you advance too fast? Please try to answer these questions with spoiling as little as possible, thank you. It's a No pitfalls like in ME2 as long as you do most of the sidequests, but some sidequests can get hosed up (with bad results) if you take too much time (i.e. do too many other sidequests before attending them) so the major rule of ME1 and ME2 applies: delay the main storyline missions as long as you can (basically anything marked as "Priority: [...]" should have your lowest priority, ironically enough). Some main storyline missions can work out remarkably different and possibly with unsatisfactory results depending on your choices made in the previous games, but that's kind of the charm of it. Do make sure to install the free Extended Cut DLC and if you want to play the multiplayer (which you should because it's the best part of the game), you'll also need to download all of the free MP DLC to find games (it's like 5 bits of DLC). EDIT: * I should add that for all its technical improvements its also significantly more buggy than ME2 Burning Mustache fucked around with this message at 15:03 on Jan 26, 2014 |
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Jan 26, 2014 14:54
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Police Automaton posted:So I heard mixed things of ME3 and I guess my question is, is it worth it? I don't think I could stand another KOTOR2. Also does it have a similar pitfall like ME2 where you can screw up the entire end if you advance too fast? Please try to answer these questions with spoiling as little as possible, thank you. That being said, I would recommend that you get at least the following two pieces of DLC: - Extended Cut, or EC (free) - Citadel The EC provides "proper" endings to the game, in the sense that it actually lets you know what the hell happens once the gameplay ends. It also provides some optional, but useful, added exposition. I really would advise against playing ME3 without it, because the original ending is bound to leave you feeling far more confused, unsatisfied, and even angry than KotOR 2's ever did. The EC certainly has its own problems, but they really don't outweigh its advantages, in my opinion. Citadel is the last piece of DLC released for ME3, and is essentially a celebration of all its major characters. Without spoiling anything in particular, there's a wealth of content beside the main mission, and the whole thing is a brilliant - and often very funny and/or heartwarming - goodbye to the series. Play it after you've completed the main game (there'll be an auto-save prior to the point of no return that you can use) for that consummate feelgood ending.
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Jan 26, 2014 15:10
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Ok, thanks for all the sift replies. I guess ME3 it is then. I personally found the difference between ME1 and 2 pretty jarring, but in a good way. In ME1 I ended up not finishing every sidequest and rushed to the ending because every sidequest was essentially the same thing and the combat was very unfun and pointless at higher levels, the inventory managament was also downright annoying. I am glad I did not just start with ME2 like I considered for a while because I am entirely sure I would have not been able to go back to 1. Also seeing how many references 2 makes to you playing 1, it would have been a pity to miss out on that. I am glad to hear that trend continues in 3. I do like both games but the dialog and pacing of the whole thing really just makes me wonder sometimes. Some places could have gone with a lot less dialog (you have situations where different characters explain the same thing to you over and over again or outright spell out things that don't need to be spelled out) some others with more. (your crew, for example. There would have been chances to squeeze in a lot more characterization than they did so far) Both games also pretty much expect you to ignore the pacing of the story to get the most out of them, and hearing that three does the same thing just seems weird. This could have been easily done differently. I am also very surprised they just end the whole storyline after three games, and that without even having played the third one. Normally the video game industry just loves squeezing blood from a stone and dislikes trying new things and taking on risks very much. Oh well, we will see I guess. E: I also finally get  j. christ
Police Automaton fucked around with this message at 15:59 on Jan 26, 2014 |
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Jan 26, 2014 15:51
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Police Automaton posted:Both games also pretty much expect you to ignore the pacing of the story to get the most out of them, and hearing that three does the same thing just seems weird. This could have been easily done differently. EDIT: On second thought, that's not quite true: a few of the NPCs in Baldur's Gate (and maybe Baldur's Gate 2 as well, but I can't remember) required you to go X and do Y within a certain number of days before they'd start complaining. In the case of Minsc, failing to rescue Dynaheir in time would actually cause him to go berserk and turn on your party, forcing you to kill him. BG was a long, long time ago though. quote:I am also very surprised they just end the whole storyline after three games, and that without even having played the third one. Normally the video game industry just loves squeezing blood from a stone and dislikes trying new things and taking on risks very much. Oh well, we will see I guess. Sombrerotron fucked around with this message at 16:05 on Jan 26, 2014 |
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Jan 26, 2014 16:02
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Sombrerotron posted:It's BioWare's modus operandi, really; I can't think of any game of theirs that either hurries you to get on with the main plot, or requires you to do anything besides the primary quests. Seems sensible to me, too, even if it puts a bit more strain on the suspension of disbelief and takes away from the dramatic tension. How would you have designed it? You could easily put in a few roadblock plot devices that require you to go off to do some side quests before the story advances. The more I think about it though, ME1 did not really particularly push you to the end like two does. Don't know about three, I just took something Burning Mustache said here. I played Baldurs Gate back when it was new (yes, I'm old) and still have the CDs around here somewhere. I really wonder how many people got the Boo references from Tali in ME2 without reading about them somewhere. The first time I heard it I was laughing out loud and almost got murdered in the game. Now that I think about it even back then Bioware really loved their characters being very verbose about everything. Police Automaton fucked around with this message at 16:30 on Jan 26, 2014 |
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Jan 26, 2014 16:27
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Police Automaton posted:You could easily put in a few roadblock plot devices that require you to go off to do some side quests before the story advances. The more I think about it though, ME1 did not really particularly push you to the end like two does. Don't know about three, I just took something Burning Mustache said here. Virmire speeds up the pace a fair bit, but depending on what mission you have left to do after it, the game slows right back down.
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Jan 26, 2014 17:43
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I always make sure Virmire is the fourth planet. Makes the endgame go at a nice quick pace.
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Jan 26, 2014 17:49
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I don't think I've ever done that. I might have to try it some day.
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Jan 26, 2014 17:59
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Police Automaton posted:You could easily put in a few roadblock plot devices that require you to go off to do some side quests before the story advances. quote:I played Baldurs Gate back when it was new (yes, I'm old) and still have the CDs around here somewhere. I really wonder how many people got the Boo references from Tali in ME2 without reading about them somewhere. The first time I heard it I was laughing out loud and almost got murdered in the game. Now that I think about it even back then Bioware really loved their characters being very verbose about everything.
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Jan 26, 2014 18:26
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Regarding sidequests again: You're in luck in that ME3 has further streamlined this a bit I think -- The sidequests feel a lot more meaningful and connected to the main story than in either of the previous games and it never feels like there's such an abundance of stuff you have to do before progressing the main storyline that it seems like a slog or anything. Oh, and one more thing: The journal is a bit hosed up in ME3 and it's not always entirely clear what exactly is a full sidequest mission and what is just a planet-scanning collectible quest and, more annoyingly, it will sometimes add entries for sidequests / collectible quests that you cannot complete yet. You may meet an NPC, talk to them and be given one thing or another to find and retrieve for them, but the star system the object is in hasn't even unlocked on your galaxy map yet because you'll need to progress the main story first. This is absolutely inconsequential for how should approach the game and all, but you should know about it beforehand if you're a completionist and lest you go absolutely crazy trying to finish quests ... that you just cannot finish yet :I
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Jan 26, 2014 18:52
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drat, they never fixed the broken quest log in a patch? That's a shame. Did they at least fix the bug where you can get stuck in the floor on the bridge of the Normandy?
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Jan 26, 2014 18:54
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Slate Action posted:Did they at least fix the bug where you can get stuck in the floor on the bridge of the Normandy?
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Jan 26, 2014 19:21
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A friend of mine's building a Mass Effect-themed XCOM clone (odds of success: low) and he's spent a ton of time digging around in the asset files for ME2 and ME3. Were you guys aware of this unused Reaper ship in the ME2 files? It looks a bit like a Sovereign-type reaper with a very fat rear end and smaller claws. I'm not sure what to make of it. It's apparently stored with one of the files for an N7 side mission you get by probing unknown planets. Probably just a dummied-out piece of cut content, but I thought it was cool.  e: with possible textures? General Battuta fucked around with this message at 20:57 on Jan 26, 2014 |
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Jan 26, 2014 20:49
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General Battuta posted:A friend of mine's building a Mass Effect-themed XCOM clone (odds of success: low) and he's spent a ton of time digging around in the asset files for ME2 and ME3. Were you guys aware of this unused Reaper ship in the ME2 files? That's what I imagine a Reaper made from harvested Volus would look like 
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Jan 26, 2014 21:20
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Lycus posted:Ugh, they did not.
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Jan 26, 2014 21:26
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Fifty Three posted:That only ever happened once to me, and tapping Run or Cover or something popped me out of it immediately. It would happen 100% consistently for me whenever I got too close to Joker (or Edi, for that matter) and I never managed to break out of it, always had to quickload.
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Jan 26, 2014 21:34
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Burning Mustache posted:It would happen 100% consistently for me whenever I got too close to Joker (or Edi, for that matter) and I never managed to break out of it, always had to quickload. The same for me. I always quicksaved before entering the bridge and inched my way forward to come within speaking range of Joker or Edi, but sometimes I came too close and had to load my save because I was unable to escape.
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Jan 26, 2014 21:53
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Fifty Three posted:That only ever happened once to me, and tapping Run or Cover or something popped me out of it immediately.
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Jan 26, 2014 22:54
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I'm an idiot, thought you meant at the Galaxy Map pedestal thing. Never got stuck on the bridge.
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Jan 27, 2014 07:43
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There were actually a few levels in ME2 where that would happen (there was one crate in Samara's loyalty mission where it'd happen like, all the time for me), but ME3 having one on the bridge was kind of bad.
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Jan 27, 2014 08:12
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Police Automaton posted:Also seeing how many references 2 makes to you playing 1, it would have been a pity to miss out on that. I am glad to hear that trend continues in 3. Oh man, have they ever got a dozen "calibrations" jokes for you! 
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Jan 27, 2014 11:44
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Burning Mustache posted:ME1 has an odd bug / issue where changing graphical settings takes a restart of the game to settle in properly despite the game not telling you so. You can absolutely set a 1920x1080 resolution in the in-game options menu (you can scroll on down the resolution list) and also set all the textures and stuff to the highest quality. Then exit the game, restart it, make sure the settings have stuck around (possibly restart again if they didn't) and you should be set. Besides resolution this sometimes affects the texture quality so that's why it may look like rear end. Thank you! God, I really miss the combat & leveling from ME1, but I forgot how awful the inventory management was. I've never done a complete trilogy runthrough with the same Shep, I'm pretty excited.
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Jan 27, 2014 16:12
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Starhawk64 posted:but most say the endings soured the entire trilogy for them. That's possibly true of the people who still hang around Mass Effect forums two years after the last release, but I don't think most players overall had that experience, particularly those who didn't finish until after the EC was released. I'd say that the third game has higher peaks and lower valleys than either of the others. There are some epic, dazzling sequences like the genophage arc and the Citadel assault, which I'd say are more satisfying than anything found in the previous games, but there's also rushed stuff like the Thessia mission and the tutorial mission on Earth (which bugs me more than the ending; at least they did something to improve that). The Normandy has far more content than before, with unique dialogue after most missions, but one of the passengers is Diana Allers. The system for weapons and mods is finally intuitive and fun, but the mission journal is broken. BioWare's reach certainly exceeded its grasp by a bit in terms of what could be achieved in the development time available (a few more months might have ameliorated the worst of ME3's faults), but I found it to be a very satisfying experience overall.
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Jan 27, 2014 20:30
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epenthesis posted:That's possibly true of the people who still hang around Mass Effect forums two years after the last release, but I don't think most players overall had that experience, particularly those who didn't finish until after the EC was released. I doubt that most players finished their first run after EC came out. Also, anyone who did is pretty much by definition not very invested in the series.
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Jan 27, 2014 21:02
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An online gaming forum probably overestimates how quickly people burn through games. I've put a few hundred hours into the franchise with playthroughs of every character class but even so I didn't get around to finishing ME3 until about a year after its release (though just for a "pure" experience I made sure not to download the EC until I had beaten it once); there's a lot of other things to do than finding the time to play a long RPG campaign. Plus there's the multiplayer which offers a better gameplay experience and it's easy to spend time on that instead of making story progress. The ending seemed pulled out of nowhere but there's a long record of sci-fi stories resorting to that so whatever. The preceding final Earth section was the worst part of the game for me, just a combination of unimaginative environments, endless respawns, lack of explanations, and obviously forced attempts at evoking sympathy. Promethium fucked around with this message at 22:02 on Jan 27, 2014 |
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Jan 27, 2014 21:58
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Zoran posted:I doubt that most players finished their first run after EC came out. Also, anyone who did is pretty much by definition not very invested in the series. Much like the people who are just getting around to ME3 now. I don't think those folks are likely to have the scorched-earth reaction we saw in March '12. e: Promethium posted:The preceding final Earth section was the worst part of the game for me, just a combination of unimaginative environments, endless respawns, lack of explanations, and obviously forced attempts at evoking sympathy. I didn't care much for the combat sections, but I thought the farewells to the squad were a highlight of the series. That sequence had a bittersweet tone that I think the rest of the game tried for but only intermittently achieved. epenthesis fucked around with this message at 22:20 on Jan 27, 2014 |
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Jan 27, 2014 22:07
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Yeah it's weird when I listen to ""game journalists"" or whatever and hear them pretty much all like or love the ending. Remember that Adam Sessler round table discussion thing? It makes me start to think I've been too insulated in my little internet world and that I'm out of touch. Then I remember the rachni and joker's hat and no, it's the children that are wrong. edit: And also, how do you have a card table on your spaceship and not ripoff the poker games from TNG. Goddamnit am I the only person who can have great ideas like this. Chexoid fucked around with this message at 22:22 on Jan 27, 2014 |
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Jan 27, 2014 22:12
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