Mass Effect 3

[Zombie Fred]

Futher detailed info is now here

Mass Effect 3 multiplayer has been planned since the original Mass Effect.

- Mass Effect 3 represents the first time that Casey Hudson had felt comfortable implementing multiplayer into the series.

-The multiplayer experience boils down to a four player co-op survial style mode that lets you fight increasingly difficult waves of Cerberus foes.

- The enemies you’ll encounter can range from your most basic foot soldier to “assassin-like Phantoms and even the hulking metal titan-esque Atlas mechs”.

- Each “stage” allows you to go up against eleven waevvs that must be finished in order to complete that section. The mode reminds quite a few of Gears of War’s horde mode, allowing you to net experience points regardless if you finish the wave alive or not.

-The “Galaxy at War” mode gives you a reward system, character-progression suite, and a “stake in the larger battle that’s taking place in your single-player campaign.

- How you perform in the multiplayer missions has a result on your success in the main storyline as Shepard, but only if you want it to.

- Everything you do in the singleplayer campaign will earn you in-game currency called “War Assets”. War Assets allow you to purchase things such as allies, friendly fleets, or even a facility such as a radar station.

-Successfully completing various side-missions, larger plot points, and destroying your enemies will net you the War Assets needed to purchase the upgrades.

-“The more you play and build up your multiplayer characters to surive increasingly tough odds, the more power and influence your single-player Shepard will wield by the time the endgame comes based on the amount of War Assets earned.”

- If you’re one of those gamers that loves to complete every piece of a game, then you’re in luck. By doing enough in the singleplayer campaign, you will be able to earn enough War Assets, you won’t phave to participate in the “galactic war”.

- While you’re going through a variety of locations in singleplayer, you’ll see first-hand how the war has hit different colonies. Galaxy at War mode follows suit, allowing your individual character and team to take up arms to defend these various locations. Your squad is under the command of the Alliance Navy officer Admiral Hackett, making his return from each game. Fighting in each various area will and successfully defending it will “win for interstellar freedom”.

- As you complete each area or defend newly freed areas, your progress will be detailed on a color-coded map that you’ll be able to view while you’re in the game or a few other platforms. iOS devices, Facebook, and more will allow these to be viewable and have their own “unique hooks” into the Galaxy at War mode.

- In the build described in the magazine article, four character classes were mentioned: Soldier, Infiltrator, Engineer, and Sentinel. The final version of the game has been confirmed to have more classes than this to initially choose from, as well as unlockables.

- Each class that you select from will allow you to select from a variety of races. Ranging from the likes of a Krogan to a Drell, you’ll have a good bit of variety to choose from. Yes, a drell, the same race as Thane from Mass Effect 2 (we’re excited).

-As you can probably figure, each class will allow you to possess “specific abilities” as well as the ability to upgrade a few. Krogan soldiers were described as being able to use a charge attack to known down enemies, along with Soldiers being able to use the Omni-blade for a few rather lethal attacks. For those wondering, you’ll also be able to choose your gender when choosing any class.

- There’s a set level cap of 20.

- While you can stockpile characters, the experience you earn only records for that character’s specific class. Once you level up, you’ll be able to assign those earned points to different abilities.

-Before heading into action, you can select your weapon & biotic-powers from the available options.

- Armor and weaponry can be upgraded to your individual tastes.

- Points can and will be earned for assists, kills, and other similar actions during multiplayer.

- When an ally goes down, you’ll have a limited amount of time to revive them. The article mentioned “spamming the A button” while down to increase the amount of time before bleeding out.

- Along with killing your enemies, mission objectives will be sprinkled here and there. Retrieving data packets around the map and protecting an ally while they hack a series of terminals were a few of the described mission objectives.

link

[rehunk88]

I love the whole multiplayer i wasent planning on buying this game but now i want to 100%

[Shadow Stalker]

Ah, I'm not really interested in the whole ME3 Galaxy At War multiplayer thing. However I did recently managed to pre-order the Collector's Edition of Mass Effect 3 for the PS3.

Can't wait for the Official Fem-Shep Trailer to arrive.

[Mr. Spencer]

I'm glad that Zaeed is coming back.

[aris13]

He has a godamn galaxy to save.

[Mr. Spencer]

Let's just focus on being big goddamn heroes.

[Shadow Stalker]

I'm glad that Zaeed is coming back.

You and me both. Robin Sachs has done an excellent job in doing the voice of this character. Plus he has the most interesting lines of dialogue, apart from Legion that is.

[Mr. Spencer]

"Zaeed you're standing in the open, maybe you should find some cover?" - "Nah, I'm fine right here."

[Mr. Spencer]

Sorry for double posting but I've been watching trailers and gameplay footage of Mass Effect 3, and a rather interesting theory has come to mind. First of all, allow me to place spoilers down for what we know so far:

Spoiler:

show spoiler

According to Casey Hudson, Cerberus are working with the Reapers. So, here's my theory. You try to save a female krogan in the ME3 gameplay footage I saw. The sole survivor of a salarian experiment to cure the genophage, she represents the future of the krogan people. Shepard must protect her from a Cerberus onslaught and safely escort her to Tuchanka. Now, what if the Illusive Man brokered a deal with the Reapers to have them spare humanity but get all the other alien races, e.g. krogan, etc. So if he brings them Shepard, they spare humanity and wipe out everything else that isn't human. It would tie in with his agenda to make humanity ascendant above all other races as there would be no other races. It makes sense considering that in the footage I saw, Shepard has to save this female krogan since she's the only fertile female of the species, think Children of Men and you get the idea. So, the Illusive Man is pretty much fucking over the whole galaxy to protect humanity. It coincides with his human supremacist policies.

In other news, time for Amanda Shepard to take on the Arrival DLC and rescue Dr. Kenson from a batarian prison facility.

[Darkmoon]

Sorry for double posting but I've been watching trailers and gameplay footage of Mass Effect 3, and a rather interesting theory has come to mind. First of all, allow me to place spoilers down for what we know so far:

Spoiler:

show spoiler

According to Casey Hudson, Cerberus are working with the Reapers. So, here's my theory. You try to save a female krogan in the ME3 gameplay footage I saw. The sole survivor of a salarian experiment to cure the genophage, she represents the future of the krogan people. Shepard must protect her from a Cerberus onslaught and safely escort her to Tuchanka. Now, what if the Illusive Man brokered a deal with the Reapers to have them spare humanity but get all the other alien races, e.g. krogan, etc. So if he brings them Shepard, they spare humanity and wipe out everything else that isn't human. It would tie in with his agenda to make humanity ascendant above all other races as there would be no other races. It makes sense considering that in the footage I saw, Shepard has to save this female krogan since she's the only fertile female of the species, think Children of Men and you get the idea. So, the Illusive Man is pretty much fucking over the whole galaxy to protect humanity. It coincides with his human supremacist policies.

In other news, time for Amanda Shepard to take on the Arrival DLC and rescue Dr. Kenson from a batarian prison facility.

Interesting theory...my only issue is;

Spoiler:

show spoiler

What would the Illusive Man have that they want, or scares them, badly enough to even pretend to make a deal? The Illusive Man would know under normal circumstances he wouldn't trust them - they'd Reap the other races and then eat Earth too, so he'd need to feel he's in a position that would keep them from betraying him too. Of course, if this is true, they will anyway...but that's another matter.

I haven't seen the new trailer, so it might have something that negates this, but is it possible that the Illusive Man is trying to off the Korgan because he doesn't want the Korgan becoming a real power again? It would be very much against his policy of Earth first, especially given the problems they caused before the genophage.

[Mr. Spencer]

Well...

Spoiler:

show spoiler

I've heard that there IS a way to defeat the Reapers, there would have to be. They can't be immortal, Sovereign's destruction in Mass Effect has proven that they are killable. Now, after all the research that Cerberus has done on Reaper technology, what if the Illusive Man discovered the weakness to the Reapers? What if he DID know the way to destroy them or cast them back into dark space? They would certainly fear that. But, what if upon realising this, he decides to use it as a bargaining chip in his own bid for power. He makes a deal with the Reapers to spare humanity, in exchange he gives them the rest of the galaxy and perhaps even enough humans to last the Reapers, including Shepard him/herself. With all the other races gone, humanity would be the only - and therefore the dominant - species in the galaxy. We know that Cerberus has Reaper technology, and the Illusive Man himself has invested considerable time and resources into researching it. So here's the arrangement - the Illusive Man gives the Reapers the rest of the galaxy, some humans and Shepard.

In exchange, what's left of humanity is spared. Here's something that supports the theory, BioWare themselves stated that the Illusive Man was inspired by the Cigarette Smoking Man from the X-Files. Now, what was the CSM a part of? The Syndicate - and what did the Syndicate do? They collaborated with the Colonists, powerful aliens who wanted to return to Earth and reclaim it at the expense of every human. Now, the Syndicate (much like Cerberus) made a deal with the Colonists (or Reapers in this case) offering them humanity while saving themselves, though the Syndicate would attempt to find a cure for the alien virus that would be used to kill off humanity. One of the specifics of the arrangement was that the Colonists gave the Syndicate an alien embryo (Reaper technology) , which the Syndicate would research. So there you have it, if the Illusive Man is anything like the CSM, chances are he's looking out for his own skin and trying to save as many humans as possible.

[Zombie Fred]

That's the obvious gist of what I presume that is going on with ME3 and Cerberus; They are not indoctrinated, by far, the Illusive man has a made a deal with the Reapers so that he can save time and start his own plan on fucking the reapers up, with the resources and technology he has already received (even the latest comic issue that ties ME2 to ME3, the IM has started experiments on Omega with reaper tech, and don't forget the most recent novel and the one that is coming), and the Illusive man knows how capable Shepard is. He knows that Shepard can take what he throws at him/her. He plans on it. As long the reapers see that he's "helping them out", he can make them turn a blind eye to what he has in store. Afterall, there's hints in the planets when exploring on things that can fuck up the Reapers (one being the weapon on the destroyed reaper) through out the first two games. He's not stupid to think the Reapers will leave them alone after they are done with Earth and the other races.

If Bioware did the plot of Cerberus being indoctrinated then it would be utterly disappointing and call it the biggest cop out in story history.

[Mr. Spencer]

I mean, Casey Hudson seemed very specific. He said that Cerberus were working with the Reapers, but he never used the word 'indoctrinated'. I would be very pissed off if they were indoctrinated, it would make absolutely no sense whatsoever. I fear that ME3 will turn into another MGS4 if that happens.

[Zombie Fred]

You know what time it is? Mass Effect epic time! (In the mood)

Spoiler:

show spoiler

Just a minor gallery of things. But I'm definitely getting these printed in HD quality and have these framed in my house when all done!

[Stu]

In the US, a demo/beta has just shown up for this on the dashboard for those accepted into previewing the new 360 dash.

[Enetirnel]

I realize I'm bumping an old topic, but anyone else here pre-order the game?

I didn't expect myself to get excited... but I did. (I blame listening to the OSTs to the first two games for starting that off).

And what are the characters that everyone else is excited to probably see or even have as full and/or temp squadmates?

Hanging with Wrex again will be fun in my book.

[Dracarys]

I'm hoping Ashley turns Bi. ME series has no interesting males to romance and if ME3 is just returning characters then time to swing the other way. I don't count the blue thing as a woman personally, more an 'it'. Not much a fan of Miranda so she can stay humping my renegade male shep, he digs the cheap tart look.

[Enetirnel]

Ah, I left Ashley on Virmire so even if she did end up becoming bi in 3 it wouldn't really make much of a difference to me.

I don't mind Liara, in my Shepard's case - she's just a friend that seems a bit confused and needing any sort of love to help cope with the events at Noveria and the like.

Though, as I said - she ended up just being a friend and it's fairly understandable as to why Annette has so very few friends, considering her actions at Torfan.

Which despite attempting to make up for her bloodlust, it's most likely going to come back to bite her in the ass during the trial after her history with the Batarians.

So she'll probably be screwed over a bit there, but that's not too much of a loss considering the Batarians are mostly useless in contrast to some of the other species.

As for the relationships, Annette did unexpectedly end up with Garrus and to me I just feel that they appreciate each other's company after going through essentially what could be considered two suicide missions and are getting ready for a third and had practically thought that one another were dead (considering Garrus dropped completely off the grid) among other things. Considering her past of growing up on Earth, being a biotic and refusing to show any talent to go to Jump Zero (unlike Kaidan had) she had more bloodlust back then.

But to try and make things right about the Mass Relay explosion, she's turned herself in for the trial as the entire event on Torfan had been triggered by the Skyllian Blitz which had been uncalled for in the first place.

Anyway, rambling. Smiley already heard me rambling about how and why I play the games as I do last night. XD

Also, who gave T.I.M. the base?

I sure as hell didn't, not after seeing what sort of shit Cerberus were doing in ME1, then further backed up in the novels, ME2...

[Darkmoon]

Mass Effect 1

Recruited Everyone
Released the Rachni Queen
Saved Wrex
Killed Ashley
Saved the Council
Chose Anderson as our Councillor

Mass Effect 2

Helped Liara with the Shadow Broker
Saved David from Overlord
Recruited everyone
Entered a relationship with Tali
Got the whole crew and team through the Suicide Mission with no losses,
Blew up the Collector Base
Completed Arrival

[Enetirnel]

Haha, nearly the same with mine DM. Except instead of Tali, Garrus.

I do have an alternative save when I let the council die, but still went with Anderson.

Also, anyone else get distraced by the "Trance Turian" during Thane's mission? Everything else was more interesting than doing the mission for the most part. XD