Mass Effect 3

[katmai]

They have been tweaked a little, but essentially the same ya.

[FunkMonk]

I enjoyed the way the guns handled, the sound design, and the characters of the first two MEs. I just can't get past the Okay Shepherd run this way to pick up NO DON'T GO INTO COVER THERE STOP ROLLING AROUND AARRGH I'M DEAD moments. Ruins an otherwise solid game.

[garbon]

I'm really trying to delay buying this but I might be weak.

[Syt]

Warning for the non-MP types among us. And I was actually willing to pull the trigger after all, but this makes me reconsider. Besides the bonus DLC madness I already complained about this is a serious enthusiasm killer for me. It's like Bioware is deliberately pushing all the buttons that turn me off about games.

YMMV, of course.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/03/06/mass-effect-3-review-pc/

Right, I'll assume you're here because you're cool with me talking about the mechanics of this. I'm the best person to talk about it as I don't know anything about the story, so there's nothing about it in here. Really, I can only name Shepard and that's it. I don't even know if that's the correct spelling of her name, frankly.

It turns out it's all about playing multiplayer and gaining War Assets. As you play the single-player, when you help people you accrue war assets. Despite completing all the quests he could find, PCG's man still suffered an overwhelmingly bleak, dark finish to his game. Why?

   

That's because I'd never played the multiplayer. It's a co-op mode where you and up to three other players have to survive waves of AI enemies and complete objectives. If you succeed, you get an increase to your Readiness rating – a percentage by which your single player War Assets are multiplied by. These are specific to each sector of the galaxy, so if you have a lot of War Assets in the Terminus Systems, you'll gain more by playing on a multiplayer map set in the Terminus Systems.

Please, read the rest of Tom's post before you comment here – obviously we don't want to nick all his comments, but he has much more to say on how he played and why he was surprised by the outcome. This being Mass Effect, a certain bleakness is inevitable regardless, but apparently there's bleak and there's bleak. Now it's a particularly cruel trick because it allegedly ignores your choices to some degree: you either need to be a crazy completionist in single-player, which entails completing all the grindy scanning minigames, which are apparently as dull as this photo of a rock, or jump extensively into the multiplayer, a part of the game that traditionally people would play after completing the main. Why do this? Why make people play the game in such a way? Can you guess what part of Mass Effect is apparently suffused with helpful microtransactions that you can opt for instead of gradually unlocking everything?

Another option still is to buy $7 iPhone game Mass Effect: Infiltrator, which offers an additional way of increasing war readiness in the main game.

Admittedly, this does mean there are multiple ways to achieve maximum war readiness, which may appeal to some – but it's a long way distant from the old ways of doing your best to do the right thing throughout the quests (or the worst thing, if that's your style).

[viper37]

I enjoyed the way the guns handled, the sound design, and the characters of the first two MEs. I just can't get past the Okay Shepherd run this way to pick up NO DON'T GO INTO COVER THERE STOP ROLLING AROUND AARRGH I'M DEAD moments. Ruins an otherwise solid game.

The first one was made for the Xbox first&foremost, then ported to the PC.  So it's made to work with a gamepad, not a keyboard primarily.
I'm having the same problems as you do, albeit less in this one than in ME2.

[viper37]

Warning for the non-MP types among us. And I was actually willing to pull the trigger after all, but this makes me reconsider. Besides the bonus DLC madness I already complained about this is a serious enthusiasm killer for me. It's like Bioware is deliberately pushing all the buttons that turn me off about games.

you need to complete all the quests, and explore the galaxy, at the risk of attracting the Repear's attention, to increase you War readyness, wich is used to take the fight to the Reapers on Earth.  This is what you get when you trust reviews made by a guy who doesn't care about the story

It's much more RPGesque than the other 2, imho.

[Tamas]

Yeah, like MINOR SPOILER ALERT



if you give the Paragon answer to that journalist chick on the Citadel, she beccomes a resource in the war.


So I am not subscribing to the negative shrill on this, not yet. But also, the story is way more predictable so far than I would have preferred. Still at quite the start though.

[Faeelin]

Hrm. So I have the prothean DLC, but how do I know that it was installed properly?

[Tamas]

Hrm. So I have the prothean DLC, but how do I know that it was installed properly?

I just researched this - you need to click on the small info button below the game, in Origin.

[viper37]

you need to complete all the quests, and explore the galaxy, at the risk of attracting the Repear's attention, to increase you War readyness, wich is used to take the fight to the Reapers on Earth.  This is what you get when you trust reviews made by a guy who doesn't care about the story

It's much more RPGesque than the other 2, imho.

I'm quoting myself.

So the War readyness never goes below 50%.  If you get it up to, say, 65% one day, and then stop playing multi, it will go down.

It is useful for the final fight, but not essential.  It might not hurt to boost this score just before taking on the readers.

[MadImmortalMan]

So, what it decays over time?

[FunkMonk]

From what I understand having read through practically all the spoilers and endings, War Readiness will affect the type of ending you receive.

[Neil]

From what I understand having read through practically all the spoilers and endings, War Readiness will affect the type of ending you receive.

To some degree.

[syk]

First impression: ME3 cannot import the individualized face I used in ME1 and 2. 

[viper37]

So, what it decays over time?

never below 50%.  So, if you want to play MP for the best in-game result, do it only when you're ready for your final mission(s), or do it every day.