[UPtimist]

Being forced to play online in a multiplayer campaign to get a better result in the single player portion is something that's just not done. Especially if you go through the trouble of including a very easy "narrative" game mode where the difficulty is so low you could go through the entire game unarmed and come out unscathed. The multiplayer campaign reeks of DRM.
And the multiplayer isn't even good (well, at least not for me). It's exactly the type of multiplayer FPS that I don't like: surviving swarms of AI's on a small map - not my thing.
Luckily my Google-fu is strong and I was able to bypass the entire multiplayer portion of the game by doubling all war asset values in the game files. That meant that my Galactic Readiness of 50% now gave me as many war assets as I would have originally had with 100% Galactic Readiness. If you think that's cheating, bite me. It's basically me giving EA the finger.

I'm with you. It just shouldn't be done like that. In a game with multiple endings all endings should be at least somewhat sensibly attainable within that game - that is, without the need for certain decisions in previous games or help from multiplayer (it should in max only be there to make it easier, but right now it seems to be highly unlikely to get the best ending without multiplayer).

Other than that, love the game. Massively better than ME2, and for most parts better than ME1 too.

Still haven't finished it.

[Oscar]

I don't know who said what, but only if they said it was really really, REALLY bad then I would say yes, it is as bad as they say. And I enjoyed ME1 and ME2, I thought they were both pretty good games. ME3 is just... no.

[UPtimist]

So... Any reasons for that? Or is it just the ending again?

[Schneckchen ^.^]

Ok I've played the game now and I can confirm that it's the best of the trilogy and I didn't notice anything wrong at all with the ending.

Everyone who's crying is probably just mad that the series came to an end and so they have to nitpick the game and desperately find something to complain about. I don't know how else to explain this embarrassing nerd rage about the game.

So if you're a normal gamer and liked the previous Mass Effects, definitely get this one as well.

[Crunchy in milk]

Originally Posted by Schneckchen ^.^

I didn't notice anything wrong at all with the ending. Everyone who's crying is probably just mad that the series came to an end [...] I don't know how else to explain this embarrassing nerd rage about the game.

Here is a pretty quick, narrated video listing 10 frequently discussed reasons. If you're genuinely interested.

Obviously its loaded with ending spoiler content... also developer quotes, and somewhat reasoned argument. I'm guessing the theatrical countdown is an intentional spoof of those cheaply made TV countdown shows.

Don't watch it if you're happy giving the ME3 ending a casual glance. You're not required to like ME3 for the story, its got fun, shooty bits too.

[UPtimist]

So, I just finished the game. Thought it was a decent ending. Greatly better than I expected from all the hate. I understand the disappointments, but I don't get why people are raving mad about it.

I guess the decisions you did and war assets didn't really count for much, and I guess if they promised that everything would affect everything in every way, then it's very silly (not that it's any news that developers promise everything to heavens and then don't deliver), but as an ending, the ending isn't any worse than any others. Also some plotholes, as always, but nothing out of the ordinary.

Sure, developers shouldn't promise stuff that they don't deliver, but they very often do. I'd guess those quotes were from interviews from who-knows-when. And it's the stuff before that really counts, and the stuff before was good. Considering how little criticism ME2 recieved, this is ridiculously out of proportion.

Also, that video in the last post, god that narrator fellow is annoying. I can barely listen to him And he goes on, and on, and on... When he's already made his point three minutes ago. And he doesn't even get obvious things



Aaanyway, I still liked ME1 as an experience the most, but I guess ME3 is a better game as far as gameplay and such goes. Ending is fine though maybe not enough effort in it. As far as I'm concerned, solid game, massive improvement over #2, maybe a tad less interesting than #1.

To me the biggest complaint in the game is the forcing of multiplayer on you, it's just not a way to make a single-player game. Luckily it didn't really end up affecting the ending.

[kuze]

Originally Posted by UPtimist

To me the biggest complaint in the game is the forcing of multiplayer on you, it's just not a way to make a single-player game. Luckily it didn't really end up affecting the ending.

Well, you didn't get to have the green ending without the multiplayer, which is the superior ending because it's green.

[UPtimist]

What do you mean the green ending? Do you mean

Spoiler:

jumping into the beam and doing the whole synthesis thingy, causing the green explosion?

Because that was indeed my ending.

[kuze]

Originally Posted by UPtimist

What do you mean the green ending? Do you mean

Spoiler:

jumping into the beam and doing the whole synthesis thingy, causing the green explosion?

Because that was indeed my ending.

Yeah, that's the ending I was talking about. I just assumed that you skipped the multiplayer part, which is necessary to get it.

[UPtimist]

I did skip multiplayer. I did get the ending *confused*

Maybe it had something to do with not being connected to XBox Live at all during the playthrough?

[kuze]

Originally Posted by UPtimist

I did skip multiplayer. I did get the ending *confused*

Maybe it had something to do with not being connected to XBox Live at all during the playthrough?

Wow. Well, it is possible to get it even without multiplayer, but you'd have to do absolutely every mission, collect everything and get every choice right (as I've heard). So congratulations on truly beating the game

[UPtimist]

Thank you!

At least I think I did almost everything. There was one item I may or may not have delivered to the Citadel (Power Grid, she left at that one point and I'm not sure if I had given the grids to her), and there was one argument where the result was that the police force was stretched due to focusing on petty crimes... But other than that I guess I got it pretty well

Yay!

[Crunchy in milk]

Originally Posted by kuze

Wow. Well, it is possible to get it even without multiplayer, but you'd have to do absolutely every mission, collect everything and get every choice right (as I've heard). So congratulations on truly beating the game

The confusion lies in people having differing opinions as to the 'best' ending. The green ending is NOT the best ending (its the worst!).

The need to do just about everything and still risk missing the 'best' ending without multiplayer is in relation to the 'renegade' ending, and requires an EMS of over 4000.

Spoiler:

Where you get to actually kill the Reapers (and through no fault of your own, every other Synthetic in the galaxy just because the glowing kid feels like it)... Sorry EDI and your detachable front-bottom.

If you have enough effective military strength from being a completionist, or playing multiplayer... another video plays after the confusing Normandy sequence... which implies Shepard is alive. Referred to as the best ending, because the other two are for indoctrinated wimps.

[kuze]

Originally Posted by Crunchy in milk

The confusion lies in people having differing opinions as to the 'best' ending. The green ending is NOT the best ending (its the worst!).

The need to do just about everything and still risk missing the 'best' ending without multiplayer is in relation to the 'renegade' ending, and requires an EMS of over 4000.

Spoiler:

Where you get to actually kill the Reapers (and through no fault of your own, every other Synthetic in the galaxy just because the glowing kid feels like it)... Sorry EDI and your detachable front-bottom.

If you have enough effective military strength from being a completionist, or playing multiplayer... another video plays after the confusing Normandy sequence... which implies Shepard is alive. Referred to as the best ending, because the other two are for indoctrinated wimps.

Ahh, thanks for the clarification! I'm pretty sure the green ending was meant to be at least the second best one though, as much as I'd like the indoctrination conspiracy theory to be true.

Spoiler:

And yes, I agree that the "kill the reapers" ending makes the most sense, it's also what I chose.

[Jatsie]

I enjoyed Mass Effect 3 for the most part, my problems were: it felt a hell of a lot shorter than ME2, the ending is on a Dreamfall level of awful and lacking in closure, and the multiplayer is a complete waste of time.

[UPtimist]

Shorter, really? I thought it felt a lot longer than ME2.

Could be about the difference of what most of the content in the games is - ME2 seemed to be mainly side-quest, ME3 feels (to me) more main-quest content. Or something like that

[TimovieMan]

Well, if you count all the DLC that was released for ME2, then I agree that it's shorter, but without the DLC I think it's actually longer.

My first playthrough of ME3 took me a few hours more than my first playthrough of ME2 (without DLC).

But, like UPtimist said, ME2 has more sidequests, this one has more main quest, so it may *feel* different.