Half-Life Fallout: Mass Effect 3 - Half-Life Fallout

^^Ah ok that makes sense. I only finished playing ME2 yesterday and when I tried to access the DLC I was asked to sign up with EA so I just turned away... will have to think about it. What I think Valve should do is that when Origin opens up to non-EA games they should make their catalog available on it. That would send a strong message... I know it's extremely unlikely to happen as both companies probably want $$$

I think Eat is right. Especially now that they're going the way of Steam requiring you to have Origin to play EA games.

To be honest, though, it would be a lot better if neither Origin and Steam was required just to start a game.

As long as they do away with the BioWare points I'll be happy. I ended up not buying DLC from them on more than one occasion because the process was so confounding between their poorly designed website which didn't work half the time, and the broken in-game integration of the points.

Horde mode multiplayer trailer.

Looks good, still wish they had focused solely and exclusively on SP tho..

^^Hmmm balancing the multiplayer is going to be a challenge.

El Inspector, on 16 January 2012 - 07:35 AM, said:

Agreed, although I love Steam it is still too heavy and slow to open/close. Needs to be optimised.

Well it's been only a week since I finished Mass Effect 2. I think Bioware deserves a lot of credit for eliminating a lot of the annoyances of the first game. It's definitely more polished and better paced. The first game had terribly recycled side quests and non-essential planetary exploration was boring and time consuming.

The story in ME2 is nothing brilliant creatively but it does keep the player engaged. Sometimes in games what's more important that the overall story is the micro stories which keep the player motivated from mission to mission and ME2 certainly does that well. The characters once again were quite original and engaging and you will find yourself liking some more than others.

Combat is very fluid and natural especially for an RPG, a bit more freedom of movement it terms of jumping around etc would be appreciated. I'm glad that ME3 is going to have ways of directly comparing weapon stats.

Graphics are incrementally better than ME1 and with a good PC you can tell the difference, art direction is top notch.

I do have one major gripe however and that is the way the mappers just use the same props and assets everywhere. It's not subtle at all and very obvious to seasoned gamers. It doesn't matter where you travel in the universe you will see the same bunk beds, the same crates, the same chairs and walls everywhere! Maybe in different colours. Extremely lazy work.

Still enjoyed the game a lot. Some screenshots I took...

Did you play any of the DLC?

Nope not yet- I'm wondering if they are worth spending money on, was considering Shadow Broker. What would you recommend with decent playtime?

They're all pretty short for their price.

Overlord and Shadow Broker are the best. The former plays a lot like Bring Down The Sky. It's a small but fun self contained story with a simplistic hub and three or four 'missions' to go on. Shadow Broker is a lot more relevant to the overall lore. Its got more variety than Bring Down The Sky and higher production values. People seem splintered between the two in terms of enjoyment and length, though I'd say Shadow Broker just edges out Overlord.

Kasumi has one of the best loyalty missions in the game, but that's all you get. If you're not actually using Kasumi as a character, or her unlock SMG, her value drops as the as you can breeze through her mission very quickly.

Arrival ties into the start of Mass Effect 3 but its by far the worst playing of all the DLC missions. Its pretty crap, actually.

Shadow Broker is the best.

I found Overlord overall just about worth it's time.

Kasumi's Loyalty mission is great as is the SMG, but overall I did not think it was its money's worth.

Arrival is a bit of mixed bag. The execution left a lot to be desired and ends up feeling tagged on to set up Mass Effect 3. You could just watch it one Youtube and keep that money.

I also disagree on the ME 1 side quests. Despite a lot of copy paste design in both planets as well as bases, the quests themselves were varied, a few of them offered you non-violent and less linear options. ME 2 had mostly very linear shooting gallery side-quest and only a few hub quest broke that mold.

Humbug, on 28 January 2012 - 08:20 AM, said:

True. The micro stories (loyalty missions) are the most interesting part of the second game. It kinda makes sense to have them for the middle of a trilogy with the first game having a much better overall story arc.

Berrie, on 29 January 2012 - 08:26 AM, said:

This.

http://youtu.be/YG9otVyV6GI

So I know I am a geek, I am OK with that, I'm reading the new Mass Effect Novel that came out last week... I am glad I am not the only one to notice the complete **** up the novel appears to be....

Shiploads of Errors in Latest Mass Effect Novel

Also, yeah I double posted, big whoop, you wana fight about it...

Yeah, Deception is a weirdly huge **** up of pretty basic lore. It's not even small, trivial things, but really, really obvious staples that anybody following the series would be aware of. I felt similar about Evolution.

Yep I heard about the problems with the novel. EA and Bioware are to be held responsible for this- not caring enough to protect their franchise. You would think that the people responsible for writing the games would at least have to proof read the novels.

Here's the google doc error log so far
https://docs.google....?pli=1&sle=true

Some errors are just embarrassing. e.g. claiming the Asari discovered the citadel before the mass relays