Tuesday 13 March 2012

Mass Effect 3: Part 3

After playing through the game, I am happy to report that there are considerably less things in the main game itself that I would change, though there are still some things I'd say need fixing...1) Dialogue. A major problem with the game that I found was the dialogue. The vast majority of it went on without any player input, which was extremely disappointing based off the experiences offered in other Bioware titles. In addition to this, there are fewer options when you actually are granted a choice - generally only 2, occasionally 3 or 4. The 2 consist of your Paragon and Renegade responses, the 3 of a Paragon/Renegade unlocked special option and one option for those without a high enough Paragon/Renegade score to use the other two options, and the 4 of a Paragon/Renegade default answer for those without enough Paragon/Renegade score to use the other two options - special Paragon/Renegade options unlocked with a high enough P/R score. There are, thankfully, some more normal conversations, with 'Investigate' options and optional inputs after some of these, but they are not as prominent as in the previous games.
2) The Crucible. I really don't like it. It is a Deus Ex Machina added in seemingly only to allow the final choices, which are absolute balls. It had some potential to be OK, but what it ends up being and how it is used ends up ruining it for me. I would have preferred one of two changes to its base concept to find it acceptable:
a) It is not a Magical McGuffin deviceamagig. Instead, it is a battleship larger than a Reaper Capital Ship, with an Eezo Core larger than any seen before. This battleship of unprecedented power would lead the charge against the Reapers, whilst the Normandy deployed its squad onto the ground to fight back Reaper ground troops. It acts as a large, powerful war asset, much like the Fleets the other species grant you.
b) This I'd like implemented with 'a)' for best effect, but I wouldn't mind if it was implemented on its own. Buildng the Crucible is no simple process. There are numerous things that engineers don't understand, or that could likely be improved. Throughout the time that the Crucible is in construction, Hackett comes to Shepard numerous times asking for his advice on whether to implement certain 'fixes' that have been proposed by team members. Some of these 'fixes' are necessary for the device to work, and if not implemented the Crucible will lose power, or explode, when used. Some, however, are bad ideas that end up making the Crucible unstable, so that if they are implemented, the Crucible loses power or explodes when used. This would help to detract from the whole infallible Deus Ex Machina that the Crucible is, as now it has a chance of failing rather than being 100% assured to work.
3. Choices. The choices in ME3 are somewhat satisfactory. Contrary to my previous cautions, neither Paragons nor Renegades are screwed over, or given all their choices working without backfire. However, I would have preferred to see more of these choices backfire more often, and it actually be hard to save everyone throughout them. As is, it s=is quite easy to save pretty much everyone, except for in a few cases where it is impossible to please everyone.
4.  Wasted opportunity with missions. At the end of ME2, you had to make choices for who would lead the other firing team, who would be your tech expert, who would be your biotic powerhouse. This provided some interesting opportunities for your teammates to die because you chose wrong, and I would have loved to have seen more things like this in ME3. Sadly, no such missions to be found.
Then there was LotSB, with the car chase. There is also a car chase at one point in ME3, however you are not in control at all of the car. It is a wasted opportunity where potential gameplay was turned into a cinematic. Flying around the Citadel chasing Kai Leng would be awesome, but alas, it is only a cutscene.
Finally, vehicle sections. In ME1, people had problems with how the Mako handled, so it was removed for 2, but the Hammerhead was added as a replacement through DLC. People had lots of problems with the Hammerhead being made out of tissue paper, and rightfully so. So it was taken out in ME3. Sadly, there is no replacement. It woul have been nice if Bioware had of fine tuned what made the Mako sections great, and what made the Hammerhead sections great, and put it together to make an amazing vehicle section add in.
I understand that some of these will have come down to time restraints, as I believe the endings did (There was apparently an ending based around Dark Energy instead, no idea what happened to it but judging by the seemingly rushed ending, a lack of time was likely to blame).

And that is probably it. Pretty much everything else felt right to me. People will likely complain about Allers, but she can be kicked off the ship without much consequence. People didn't like the Death of Emily Wong, though the way it was presented probably made it more powerful than if it had been presented in game, and her death was appropriate to the whole 'Reapers are unbeatable' feeling, and hit home for emotional impact. Some people found combat too hard, but everyone was warned of this, and there is an easy mode for a reason. The game itself I can find barely anything to complain about (Except technical issues like REALLY bad lip syncing, and a few texture issues), but the endings... Yeah...

No comments:

Post a Comment