Mass Effect 3 Demo Available.Follow

Not up for the PS3 yet, but you can download the PC (and 360?) version at TakeEarthBack.com.

I'm excited. Because it's the last one, as BioWare says, there's potential to allow the player to cause real, tangible, long-lasting change in the ME Universe. Though they also recently said it wouldn't be a bad idea to keep your ME3 saves...

Anyway, I'm downloading it now. Will report back.

Edited, Feb 14th 2012 11:23pm by idiggory

Sweeet, will have to queue it up. I love the ME series so much. It took way less of a downturn than DA did in it's part 2.

Holy f*cking hell.

It's like they took everything awesome about ME, made it 10x better, and made that into a game. The combat system is vastly improved. It's essentially the ME2 system, but with kinks worked out, systems refined, and additions added.

For instance, I was playing as a Sentinel (like I did in ME2). Throw is now a very short CD, but does significantly less damage (with a strong knockback). Makes it super viable--it's perfect for reducing ammo consumption or peppering the enemy to keep them off guard.

They also have some new systems regarding conversations for those who want to take advantage of them (not me). If you choose the "action" setting, conversations will play as cutscenes instead, so you don't need to make decisions. Think it also makes them faster pace, but IDK (didn't test it, since part of what I love about BioWare games are the choices).

The game is absolutely beautiful. Pold, it uses the same engine as ME2, and I think the graphics specs are the same, actually. But if you could run ME2, you can almost certainly run ME3 at about equal fps. I'm on a laptop using the new Sandy Bridge i5, with the associated Intel HD graphics and it was completely playable. But all the envioronments are great, as are some of the work they did on character models. One note, though, the new female Shepard is really ugly. But the old Shepard female default is one of the preset options.

Kaidan's hot.

They added some platforming to the game, which really makes some nice breakup to the levels. They aren't one plane anymore, you'll be climbing up/sliding down ladders, jumping off ledges, and running along platforms. There's also a longjump feature (just sprint), but no actual jump option.

But the thing I really care about is the story telling. I actually stopped the demo after the first area, because I didn't want to spoil anything in the latter game (it's a combat demo and I played too much into it already when I shut off the game). But the storytelling of the first area was frickin' amazing. And it isn't broken up so significantly as in the earlier games. The narrative blends really well with the gameplay, with more events happening outside of dedicated cutscenes, and plenty of the cutscenes are fastpaced and blend well with the tone of combat. I started tearing up after the end of the first demo, actually.

SpoilerWhen you are making a mad dash for the Normandy, after the Reaper invasion begins, you find a little boy hiding in a vent, scared because "everyone's dying." He's the same little boy you see in the intro, before the Reapers land, playing with a spaceship (who Shepard is watching from a window). You have two options, one to help him, one to tell him to run. I chose the first, but he disappeared down the vent, too afraid.

When the Normandy is leaving, you see him scared as a reaper approaches. He runs to board a military transport trying to evacuate people. Shepard watches him board, and then same transport get shot out of the air. Shepard shuts her eyes and looks away, then turns to enter the ship. That's when the hatch closes, and the Normandy leaves.

If they can keep that up the whole time, I'd be absolutely AMAZED if it wasn't an easy pick for game of the year.

And now I'll stop fangirling all over the thread.

Oh, cool discovery for people who romanced Kaidan or Ashley. The actors voiced the letters from ME2 (after the fact--it was a Thanksgiving gift from BioWare, apparently).

Definitely makes them a LOT more emotional.

Kaidan:
Spoiler

Ashley:
Spoiler

Makes me happy that I didn't romance anyone else in ME2. :P

Also, I need to level up a male Shepard through ME and ME2. I played female (particularly because I preferred her VA, and also because I wanted to romance Kaidan). I'm hoping they open him up for males in ME3...

[EDIT]
Missed a bracket in spoiler tag.

Edited, Feb 15th 2012 1:28am by idiggory

There's one DLC that's actually really important (can't remember the name, because I haven't done it yet), because it sets up the events at the start of ME3. You won't understand what's going on (well, you can piece it together, but still) without having played it.

Think it was... Arrival?

I just hope they dropped that godawful mining minigame.

One thing I'm really disappointed about is that your squad seems to be solely those who assisted in the first game, plus the new character (James Vega). Everyone else is involved, but I think it's just cameos (for the most part--they might be included extensively outside the story).

Kinda feels like a huge slap in the face. I get them wanting to keep the squad small, to allow for real relationships, but they should have AT LEAST allowed for one or two additions from the second game. Especially the romances.

Plus, 3 of your squad members are completely dependent on earlier choices. You get Kaidan or Ashley, but Garrus and Tali might before the events of ME3. That means you can be reduced to Liara, Kaidan/Ashley, and James. Would adding two more (especially when contingent on ME2's outcome) have REALLY changed things?

They are in it, and I expect Jacob will be available as a temporary companion. I'm also expecting them to be more intricately involved with the story than the ME1 squad was in ME2--I don't expect Miranda, for instance, to just get a one-scene cameo like with Kaidan/Ashley.

But your established squad--the ones generally available throughout the game--are only the ME1 people. These are the ones who will have kinect controls available, for instance.


As for flirting with Jacob...
1. lol
2. I never got that feeling (was playing a Femshep that was still in love with Kaidan). At least I don't remember it ever playing out that way. Unclear dialogue choices are often a problem (and the "type" icon of DA2 was a great feature that I don't think was implemented in ME3, but there aren't any extended conversations in the demo, really).


As for the characters? Yeah, I generally liked Jacob. But he was also a fool. "I'm working with Cerberus under the condition they don't do anything terrible."

...

Cerberus does terrible stuff. It's just part of what they think is justifiable. Out of sight, out of mine isn't an acceptable theory, imo. I like that he was vocal about bashing the Illusive Man's poor choices, and I'll give him credit that he's not willing to sanction the darker aspects of the group. But his situation isn't like Shepard's. He joined willingly, knowing it was a pro-human group, before he knew about any larger threat. Shepard never joins, and makes it clear that their relationship is only because it's preferable to the Reapers wiping out all life.

If he's still with Cerberus in ME3, I'll be very unhappy with him. I'm hoping he went back to the Alliance (who, I assume, might be willing to accept him in the same unofficial capacity that Shepard is "serving" at the start of ME3.

I'm REALLY interested to see what happens with Miranda, though. From the trailers, you know she seems to be shouting your name in worry at some point, so I'm doubting she's on board with the Cerberus attacks against you. And at the end of ME2, she was firmly on board with my decision. So that suggests that she wasn't as highly pro Cerberus as before.

Just because it made me lol, this was my exact reactions to Kaidan's appearances in ME2 and ME3's demo.

I can see that. Lack of ME1 was the main reason I didn't play on the PS3. I actually had ME2 for the PC (having gotten it for free from buying DA2). But my PC at the time was unable to run it. Was a long time before I upgraded to a new laptop. Debated playing on the PS3, but ultimately new I'd want to play ME1 first.

To give you some context (ME1 stuff):

SpoilerIn Mass Effect 1, your squad was small, and there were only a handful of important characters. You start the game with Kaidan and another guy (Jenkins) who dies off right away. Then you gain Ashley. So all of your earliest time spent playing is with these two squad members, so you have a bunch of scenes that feature them and develop their characters/relationship with Shepard. Kinda makes them important companions for the story.

After Eden Prime, you head to the Citadel, where you'll still be traveling with Ashley/Kaidan. In time, you'll recieve Wrex, Tali, and Garrus. But they all come during quest chains, so definitely not instant. And there are more scenes with Ashley/Kaidan/Shepard in the meantime (one, in particular, has the opposite sex companion comment accidentally on how attractive they find Shepard).

It's a while before you recieve Liara. And the all-human squad is actually very well rounded, regardless of Shepard's class choice, because Kaidan is a Sentinel (Tech/Biotics) and Ashley has high damage as a Soldier, so it's not surprising for at least one of them to be featured in many squad compositions.

Liara, Kaidan, and Ashley are your romances. And since Liara comes later, it's not surprising that people may focus on the humans instead (though you can't initiate the romance before getting Liara).

The end result is that the two of them get focused on a lot. Garrus and Tali get a fair amount of development, but it's all through their side quests, really. Liara gets a lot, because she has a strong tie to the story. Wrex gets more than Garrus or Tali, because of the events on Horizon.

Which brings us to... the events on Horizon. :P If you did the comic on the PS3, you know that only one of the two will survive it. These events are actually after you can initiate the romance, so it's possible that you are forced to choose between someone you are falling in love with, and a close friend. And the actual point where you make the choice is fairly emotional. The death scene particularly so. Ashley, for instance, is fighting to hold off forces from disabling a bomb close by. She ends up getting shot and goes down, but still keeps firing away. She sees the Normandy fly off, and smiles to herself before the bomb explodes.

Afterwards, the survivor (wracked with guilt) confronts you to say you made the wrong choice. The response varies if you are in a relationship or not, and if you were in a relationship with them, which makes it more poignant. But, ultimately, it really adds more to their character development that the others didn't have. Liara, like I said, wasn't as undeveloped as the other characters (who weren't strangers, but not as central).

In this time, they end up opening up to you a lot (if you prompt them to). You actually do begin to feel like they are close friends (or more) because of the kinds of things they reveal. Ashley will talk to you about her father's death, her family, her faith. Kaidan will tell you about the traumas of his childhood, having grown up a biotic, and some of what he says really tells you that he has trouble forming close relationships (as all his earlier ones led to him being abandoned by them).

Later, you end up cementing your relationship by sleeping with them. Throughout the whole game, you are mostly hardcore flirting and making future promises, because of no fraternization regulations. But you pretty much comfort each other after the Alliance grounds your ship (and you escape, which is probably treason), and then end up sleeping together.

Both Ashley/Kaidan are actually very well written, and very human/realistic. And some things, like when Ashley tentatively asks Shepard if her faith is making the commander uncomfortable, are quite real (to me), and Shepard's responses are equally so ("Keep it to yourself/ no proselytizing", "you have every right to believe without fear of judgment, and
I believe in god as well").

Now note that throughout this whole game, you are dealing with Cerberus a lot. Infiltrating their labs, shutting down their experiments, etc. They kidnap people and turn them into monsters, they lure soldiers into Thresher Maw pits to observe the creature's behavior. That kind of stuff.

So when they are freaking out on you for joining up with Cerberus on Horizon, it's not crazy. To them, it would be like telling your significant other that you were joining Al Qaeda (only assume that your other was a soldier who served in the Middle East). If they were in a relationship, they also have the shock of seeing you alive. Which, unsurprisingly, makes them think you've been just hiding from them for 2 years, as they grieved. And I think it's natural that shock alone would keep them from instantly accepting Shepard's explanations (which you won't even necessarily give, depending on your convo choices).

It pissed me off. But it did so in the exact same way I imagine Shepard was feeling, so that's pretty great.


Which is why, in the demo, Spoilerwhen Kaidan replied that he "used to" know Shepard, it was so poignant for me. Because it's true. It's been well over 2 years since they last really spoke (I think 3 years in the ME timeline). And the last time, he was furious with her. He still hasn't heard her side of the story. And when they meet again, she's both rushed (unsurprisingly) and probably still angry with him, which makes her curt. Plus, ME defaults to renegade (or it did in the last demo), so it's possible that interaction was influenced in that way.

Still, made me go "KAIDAN <3. You are such an idiot and can't even realize that she still loves you."

I killed Kaiden.

I never used or particularly liked Ashley, I just liked Kaiden less.





What?

And the reason I never finished ME2 (though I'm going to rectify that in the next few days) is because everything just felt like an endless fetch quest. Go here, recruit this crew member, even though you'll likely never actually use him in combat. Go here, repeat. Run into squad member from the first game, endure their shock that you're working with Cerberus, claim it's just because of the Reapers, they ignore you. Go here, repeat again.

That, and when I finally found Liara, she went from timid, shy nerdy girl to (actual quote) "Pay up, or I will flay you with my mind."

What the hell happened to her? Was there some in-between material I missed? What happened to the Asari I romanced in the first game?

The lair of the Shadow Broker DLC fleshes out the change, and Mass Effect: Redemption adds to it. Quick summary:
Spoiler-Cerberus hires Liara to retrieve Shepard's body, because the Shadow Broker is working for the Collectors, who want the same thing. Cerberus wants to know why, and it's her job to find out.
-A friend of hers, named Feron, was assisting her in finding Shepard's body when he was kidnapped by the Shadow Broker.
-She believes Feron to be dead, and essentially embarks on a mission for vengeance. Shepard and her meet again when she's become obsessed with tracking down the broker.

And, of course, there are the events of the first game. She went through quite a bit of trauma, due to her mother, that she wasn't able to deal with until Shepard's mission broke apart. She's grieving over Shepard, who was either her close friend or a lover. Even at the end of ME1, you can see the beginnings of a hardening personality--she advises Shepard to let the council die, because it would be good for humanity, instead of saving them. You'll also find, in ME2 (if you romanced her) that she's wracked with guilt over Spoilergiving Shepard's body to Cerberus, as she doesn't know if it was the right decision--she knew they would force him/her to work for their own ends, but she couldn't deal with her grief and accepted restoration (knowing that she had no way to protect Shepard from, for instance, being implanted with a control chip). That's less of a motivator for her if you weren't romanced, but I think it still applies.

Finally, I think it's partly her forgiving her mother. She has notably adopted some of Benezia's traits, where before she worked to distance herself from her.



It's almost all side missions, with some more important than others.



Edited, Feb 16th 2012 12:19am by idiggory

But what about Jack? Sure I romanced brunette barbie Miranda on my good side play through, the sister thing was sort of interesting.

But Jack... Jack on my renegade play through was a great story. When she finally breaks down and lets you in that was some real good emo right there.

I never save my saves though since I rebuild my PC usually before new ME's come out and always forget to grab them. So I end up starting from scratch and hoping that my first play through can be my canon good side choices and favorite romance. Suppose I could grab a save from a download site like I did for Witcher 2 this time to get the right previous choices from default.

I usually end up playing ME games 2-3 times though to choose different outcomes, relationships and paragon/renegade scenarios.