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Author Topic: Mass Effect 3 Demo  (Read 6542 times)

ArcAirbender

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Mass Effect 3 Demo
« on: 15 Feb 2012, 21:49 »

Bioware wishes us a happy Valentine's day releasing a ME3 Demo.
Apparently you need an Origin account to download it (Origin being the Steam equivalent of Electronic Arts).

I downloaded it tonight and played the entire thing already. It lasted around 35 minutes going through the panoramic route. There where two different stages: a brief story mode at the beginning, explaining key elements of the post world of ME2 (and being some kind of consulter // grounded officer on Earth for the Alliance) and a second stage where you help Wrex liberate a fertile Krogan female from a Cerberus attack. You find Mordin and Kirrahe protecting said female Krogan too. None of them playable, however.

The gameplay has improved in an evolving way, making the changes feel a more fluid experience at first. (Shepard doesn't get tired sprinting after a few steps like in previous versions, for instance)
But I also felt it a little bit out of control; I probably just need to play it more to get in tune with it, but I often got past some points I wanted to get to, or got velcro-ed into a wall that a camera angle would hide from me until I was against it. Minor stuff that I think would get into my nerves should I play it for a few dozen hours (which I obviously will).

Story wise, even though this is only a demo, I really did not felt in control AT ALL. I NEVER shook the feeling I was into it for the ride; not ONCE was I able to convince anyone to doing anything I wanted to.... so why making me choose? Just continue to tell me the story and lets move on with it.

I felt a bad vibe about going "back to roots" by having a team made up entirely from the original ME1 cast. I don't care how rogue Cerberus became after the ME2 events unfolded, if this game pulls out another "your romantic interest and/or teammates have abandoned you" stunt, that's it. I didn't like the "reset" story arc that played at the beginning of ME2, and I honestly hope we don't get the same treatment in this third installment. This is it, ME3 is ending and it should go with a bang: guns blazing, all or nothing, don't leave questions hanging.
I understand this is only a demo, and I will not make any definitive judgement until at least finishing the full game once (obviously), so there's where I stand so far.

On the other hand, I was disappointed with the Genesis DLC for ME2. I own both ME1 and ME2 and I have pre-purchased ME3 already, but I  don't feel with the time nor the energy to start from ME1 again AT ALL (especially since ME has some terrible design and gameplay flaws). My ME1 gamesaves have been forever lost, and the Genesis DLC is not granular enough with its "choices". (The green Asari Shiara from the Zhu's Hope colony, for instance, always dies and you are not given a choice with the Genesis DLC)
At this point I'm probably going to lean heavily into saves that are floating in the net to arm my Complete Mass Effect experience. (Two Paragons and a Renegade)

I might end up doing a single endurance playthrough of ME1, hoping I get everything I want for the first and most memorable experience. I'm still not exploring planets with the Mako. FUCK.THAT.
The ME2 isn't nearly as tiresome, at least.
« Last Edit: 15 Feb 2012, 22:02 by ArcAirbender »
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Quoted from: Inlander on July 29, 2008, 08:41:49 AM
Man, why is every new person who disagrees with group opinion on this forum suddenly and automatically branded a troll? I don't get it, and I don't like it. Homogeneity is the enemy of intellect, people

satsugaikaze

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Re: Mass Effect 3 Demo
« Reply #1 on: 17 Feb 2012, 23:34 »

So uh yeah I got opinions

The demo is supposed to be a feed of what to expect in the rest of the game, and although they didn't really do that with this demo, I was really impressed with what I played through. Everyone who got excited about the game beforehand should have already known most of the material in the demo - the very opening section, which we've all expected in one form or the other, and the salarian homeworld segment with the female krogan, which was demo'd by some Bioware dudes a while back already. Gameplay is really fine-tuned and polished from ME2 - it plays much faster, guns shoot faster, sprinting is unlimited, iirc, and going in, out of and over cover is much more fluid.

On that note, the multiplayer segment is tight. Way tight. Soupah fuckin' tight. Anal fisting tight. It's level progression, customisation on several depths, with the addition of the lack of pause-play that exists in the single-player. Which arguably makes everything even faster, so now it players like Gears of War Horde except with a great deal more depth in this single game mode. It's exactly the way I expected it to turn out, and the ones being all butthurt about multiplayer gettin' up in all their RPG can go fuck themselves. It's a very polished product on both fronts, and from the demo I wouldn't believe for a second that the effort placed into the multiplayer detracted from the story mode in any way.

The only thing I would complain about is (for the PC version) the developer's insistence on giving keyboard buttons a bajillion different functions. On the default mapping, spacebar does sprint, stick to cover, unstick from cover, dodge roll, talk to people, and activate objects. Its the same issue I had with the previous game. I don't actually have a gripe with the first four things, just the last two. It's a fucking keyboard. The peripherals can handle it if you need another button or two to do some little things. Also I tend to remap the keys so that spacebar does the pause-play thing and shift does all the running and sticky-cover, but that's just my preference carried on from the very first game  :mrgreen:

I felt a bad vibe about going "back to roots" by having a team made up entirely from the original ME1 cast. I don't care how rogue Cerberus became after the ME2 events unfolded, if this game pulls out another "your romantic interest and/or teammates have abandoned you" stunt, that's it. I didn't like the "reset" story arc that played at the beginning of ME2, and I honestly hope we don't get the same treatment in this third installment. This is it, ME3 is ending and it should go with a bang: guns blazing, all or nothing, don't leave questions hanging.
I understand this is only a demo, and I will not make any definitive judgement until at least finishing the full game once (obviously), so there's where I stand so far.

On the other hand, I was disappointed with the Genesis DLC for ME2. I own both ME1 and ME2 and I have pre-purchased ME3 already, but I  don't feel with the time nor the energy to start from ME1 again AT ALL (especially since ME has some terrible design and gameplay flaws). My ME1 gamesaves have been forever lost, and the Genesis DLC is not granular enough with its "choices". (The green Asari Shiara from the Zhu's Hope colony, for instance, always dies and you are not given a choice with the Genesis DLC)
At this point I'm probably going to lean heavily into saves that are floating in the net to arm my Complete Mass Effect experience. (Two Paragons and a Renegade)

I might end up doing a single endurance playthrough of ME1, hoping I get everything I want for the first and most memorable experience. I'm still not exploring planets with the Mako. FUCK.THAT.
The ME2 isn't nearly as tiresome, at least.

Is it a wierd thing that I have the exact opposite impressions about ME1 and 2? I thought the "reset" arc as you put it, was a clever idea because it blindsides players, who've (emotionally) invested anywhere between 40 to 80 hours into this character, his/her ship and squad, and given them a motive to get back at the dudes who caused all kinds of shit to Shepard's life. It's a very clear WTF moment that really sets the right tone for roleplayers.

Also, I feel ME1 was probably the only game out of these three that deliver on the shooter-RPG hybrid. There was just infinitely more exploration, more miscellanea and more choice than ME2 had to offer (not that ME2 was lacking for choice, but definitely had that corridor feeling when it came to the combat). Also, it'd be nice if they brought back more open-world exploration, although given the direction of ME3, that's probably not really likely. The Mako sections at least had a tangible sense of exploring this bigness of outer space, discovering new shit and traversing some wild terrain using a gravity-defying vehicle; ME2 reduced that to a computer screen where you sort of bleeped and blooped over a picture of a planet and launched what we were told to assume to be probes to fill up some numbers we could spend as currency.
And in that regard, the Firewalker DLC was fucking awful. For all the flaws of the first game, I think there were some things lost in translation when it came to bringing the positives into the sequels, so I'm actually looking foward to experiencing again some of what I miss about these games. So despite the tedium, which I can't deny exists in ME1, I'll certainly have enough stomach to play it again.

Oh, and I'm really glad they gave Shepards the full range of weapons to choose from again. Really opens up a huge amount of possibilities
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ArcAirbender

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Re: Mass Effect 3 Demo
« Reply #2 on: 18 Feb 2012, 12:47 »

Everyone who got excited about the game beforehand should have already known most of the material in the demo - the very opening section, which we've all expected in one form or the other, and the salarian homeworld segment with the female krogan, which was demo'd by some Bioware dudes a while back already. Gameplay is really fine-tuned and polished from ME2 - it plays much faster, guns shoot faster, sprinting is unlimited, iirc, and going in, out of and over cover is much more fluid.

I love the Mass Effect Universe, but admit that I got completely disconnected right after the Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC, so this is all news to me. I probably didn't gave the single player of M.E. 3 enough credit: I really really like it. To only complain about some velcro cover is actually testament of how refined the experience is. I'm nitpicking, I'm sure of it.

On that note, the multiplayer segment is tight. Way tight. Soupah fuckin' tight. Anal fisting tight. It's level progression, customisation on several depths, with the addition of the lack of pause-play that exists in the single-player. Which arguably makes everything even faster, so now it players like Gears of War Horde except with a great deal more depth in this single game mode. It's exactly the way I expected it to turn out, and the ones being all butthurt about multiplayer gettin' up in all their RPG can go fuck themselves. It's a very polished product on both fronts, and from the demo I wouldn't believe for a second that the effort placed into the multiplayer detracted from the story mode in any way.
I have the weirdest bonner right now! I haven't been able to play the multiplayer on the demo, but I sure want to now that you put it like that.
I was actually against the multiplayer decision at first, but time has given me the much needed perspective I needed. I just hope is fun and a quality product.

The only thing I would complain about is (for the PC version) the developer's insistence on giving keyboard buttons a bajillion different functions. On the default mapping, spacebar does sprint, stick to cover, unstick from cover, dodge roll, talk to people, and activate objects. Its the same issue I had with the previous game. I don't actually have a gripe with the first four things, just the last two. It's a fucking keyboard. The peripherals can handle it if you need another button or two to do some little things. Also I tend to remap the keys so that spacebar does the pause-play thing and shift does all the running and sticky-cover, but that's just my preference carried on from the very first game  :mrgreen:
I agree with this to a molecular level.

Is it a wierd thing that I have the exact opposite impressions about ME1 and 2? I thought the "reset" arc as you put it, was a clever idea because it blindsides players, who've (emotionally) invested anywhere between 40 to 80 hours into this character, his/her ship and squad, and given them a motive to get back at the dudes who caused all kinds of shit to Shepard's life. It's a very clear WTF moment that really sets the right tone for roleplayers.

Also, I feel ME1 was probably the only game out of these three that deliver on the shooter-RPG hybrid. There was just infinitely more exploration, more miscellanea and more choice than ME2 had to offer (not that ME2 was lacking for choice, but definitely had that corridor feeling when it came to the combat). Also, it'd be nice if they brought back more open-world exploration, although given the direction of ME3, that's probably not really likely. The Mako sections at least had a tangible sense of exploring this bigness of outer space, discovering new shit and traversing some wild terrain using a gravity-defying vehicle; ME2 reduced that to a computer screen where you sort of bleeped and blooped over a picture of a planet and launched what we were told to assume to be probes to fill up some numbers we could spend as currency.
And in that regard, the Firewalker DLC was fucking awful. For all the flaws of the first game, I think there were some things lost in translation when it came to bringing the positives into the sequels, so I'm actually looking foward to experiencing again some of what I miss about these games. So despite the tedium, which I can't deny exists in ME1, I'll certainly have enough stomach to play it again.

Oh, and I'm really glad they gave Shepards the full range of weapons to choose from again. Really opens up a huge amount of possibilities
I agree with you in the sense that it is cleaver; I still didn't like it.
When the Mass Effect Original Saga ends, you are left with a tremendous momentum forward: some very tall walls have been blasted away, old dogmas shaken and square protocols eroded. I was pumped and actually thought that the Mass Effect 2 intro sequence might just be going to be off the fucking hook, deep into an impossible situation, action packed to the butt and more fluid story-wise.
I still loved Mass Effect 2, hell, I bought the collectors edition and played it 6 different times to completion.

Now that I read your points, I do think that the M.E.2 was not just cleaver, but very cleaver. It wasn't the experience I was left wanting after M.E.1 , but that doesn't make it bad at all.

I also agree that M.E.1 felt much larger in scope, but for the sake of everyone I hope both the Mako and the Planet probing stop.
Both soundtracks are great too, but I'm enamored of the M.E.1 Vangelis-esque tempo they opted for. Hope that makes a comeback, at least for a few bits.

Mass Effect 3 is still a bit shy of a month away, but the feeling I'm left lingering with is that M.E.1 just doesn't feel much like M.E.2, and M.E.2 doesn't feel much like M.E.3. I completely understand the need to evolve, and in no way I'm implying things should stay a certain way. What I am saying is that the experience, all in all, feels uneven. A perfectly understandable situation considering the 3 games are years apart, and that years in this business means eons.
Still, some changes feel changes in genre: from what you could loosely call an hybrid R.P.G. to what you can call an Action Game, to... I don't know what M.E.3 will be like.
I honestly wish Bioware would remake the entire story-arc with a unified vision, and an identical version engine. Pack everything together, D.L.C.'s , weapons, armor, codex, and all...

Thanks for the post Satsugaikaze, it gave me perspective.
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Quoted from: Inlander on July 29, 2008, 08:41:49 AM
Man, why is every new person who disagrees with group opinion on this forum suddenly and automatically branded a troll? I don't get it, and I don't like it. Homogeneity is the enemy of intellect, people

satsugaikaze

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Re: Mass Effect 3 Demo
« Reply #3 on: 19 Feb 2012, 14:05 »

No, thank you.  :-D

I also enjoyed the first game's soundtrack a little more than the one in the second game; I felt it was much more ambient and it had a very clear, specific callback to (like you said) that sort of Vangelis-type sci-fi ambience, very Blade-Runner synth-heavy stuff.

I think the music team this time sort of brought that back, at least in the demo (besides the music stolen from ME2 lol). A lot of the new music I heard had the same sort of style, although obviously with Clint Mansell's new direction of having that soft piano humming and shit for their new theme.  :mrgreen:
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Theyis

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Re: Mass Effect 3 Demo
« Reply #4 on: 20 Feb 2012, 07:08 »

After playing the demo I'm psyched about it. Not everything is perfect, but I love that were getting more options again as opposed to ME2, which was a great action packed game, but threw out a few too many RPG staples (like exploration, custumization of gear, multiple options for powers).
I was surprised to learn the multiplayer was pretty captovating and enjoyable. Might even play that for more than one round.
Also I am curious to see how they handle the side missions with regards to vehicles and the level of exploration.

As to the going back to the roots of just ME1 character. From what I heard all the party members of ME1 and ME2 are involved in the game somehow, except for the dead ones. Not all are party members, but they are there, so you're not starting all over again.
Oh, and Conrad Verner will be in there too of course. And I'm hoping to punch a certain reporter in the face again... :)

Anyway, I really hope they can wrap up the story properly, because that is eventually why I keep playing these games...
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Blue Kitty

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Re: Mass Effect 3 Demo
« Reply #5 on: 20 Feb 2012, 10:12 »

I enjoyed it, the shooting seemed better. But I wish there was more then just shoot these guys and hold the line to show us.
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snalin

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Re: Mass Effect 3 Demo
« Reply #6 on: 20 Feb 2012, 13:36 »

I tried to play this demo.

First, my email apparently has an old EA account. The only thing I can imagine it belonging to is the spore demo I played at one point. The in-client password reset thingy gives me a "cannot connect to server" reply. The online password reset sent me a mail, where half of it was written in Norwegian, half of it in Dutch. The link it gave me let me enter a new password, but then also threw errors at me.

Hey, Bioware, Steam actually works. Just wanted to throw that out there.
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Blue Kitty

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Re: Mass Effect 3 Demo
« Reply #7 on: 20 Feb 2012, 17:31 »

The Take Back Earth trailer from last nights Walking Dead if you missed it.
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satsugaikaze

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Re: Mass Effect 3 Demo
« Reply #8 on: 20 Feb 2012, 23:11 »

That trailer - um, I sort of like to keep my Pixar characters in Pixar movies, and my Bioware characters in Bioware trailers.

Unless of course that kid was some sort of goggle-eyed drell-human hybrid
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snalin

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Re: Mass Effect 3 Demo
« Reply #9 on: 21 Feb 2012, 01:26 »

After making a new account... The multiplayer is awesome. There are some issues - the one with the spacebar doing everything that's already been mentioned made me and the rest of the party lose a mission as I kept rolling around when I tried to revive someone.  I think they've really nailed the cover based shooting thing - you can't just stick to a cover and shoot from there until the mission is over, you have to keep moving around. to prevent getting flanked or flushed out with grenades.

What classes have you guys tried out? I'm doing the Vanguard, and yeah, the biotic charge is just as fun as it used to be.
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satsugaikaze

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Re: Mass Effect 3 Demo
« Reply #10 on: 22 Feb 2012, 01:34 »

Vanguard is a high-risk, high-return sort of playstyle, absolutely great at racking up points if you have a good team supporting you.
It also helps that Charge is probably the most fun ability in the entire game period

I've been playing as an Infiltrator, although I'm also rolling an Engineer. Once I start racking up Silver wins for those characters, I might start a third.
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ArcAirbender

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Re: Mass Effect 3 Demo
« Reply #11 on: 22 Feb 2012, 06:31 »

I am having a lot of fun with the multiplayer!  :mrgreen:
I do think its just a tad imba for certain classes. There are just waaaaay too many Vanguards, so much chaos! :psyduck:

Still, I'm having lots of fun, and nothing a little bit of balancing won't fix. The lag has been non-existent, but it takes too long to find a quick-match team. This game is meant to be played with friends. (Obvious comment is obvious)
Satsugaikaze's "anal fisting" comment was spot on.

Sigh, time to start convincing friends to open an origin account. On the flipside, does anyone want to play past 8pm Central Time?  :angel:

Can you believe I'm seriously thinking of buying an ipad if the codex app is worth it? (to me). Have had a table curiosity for some time, but this might be the push I've been needing to take the plunge.
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Quoted from: Inlander on July 29, 2008, 08:41:49 AM
Man, why is every new person who disagrees with group opinion on this forum suddenly and automatically branded a troll? I don't get it, and I don't like it. Homogeneity is the enemy of intellect, people
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