Mass Effect 3 for $2.99 Gamestop (xbox 360 only)

thehoweller said:
How far Bioware's IP has fallen. :)
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Bioware isnt even Bioware anymore. They started going downhill shortly after Jade empire kinda, but really went to shit after they got bought by EA after the first ME. First ME was one of my fave 360 games.. never played 2 or 3. Pretty soon they'll just be making gears of war clones with a few branching dialog trees

 
Kenshindono said:
Bioware isnt even Bioware anymore. They started going downhill shortly after Jade empire kinda, but really went to shit after they got bought by EA after the first ME. First ME was one of my fave 360 games.. never played 2 or 3. Pretty soon they'll just be making gears of war clones with a few branching dialog trees
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You should give 2 & 3 a try. It's kind of hard to believe one's opinion on Bioware when one hasn't even given their later games a chance. I know 3 didn't have the most well received ending, but Mass Effect is as big as it is for a reason. My personal opinion though is that ME1 was the best of the trilogy and I hate EA. No shots fired, by the way. ha

 
Jardarpp said:
You should give 2 & 3 a try. It's kind of hard to believe one's opinion on Bioware when one hasn't even given their later games a chance. I know 3 didn't have the most well received ending, but Mass Effect is as big as it is for a reason. My personal opinion though is that ME1 was the best of the trilogy and I hate EA. No shots fired, by the way. ha
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I thoroughly enjoyed 2. 3 was almost as great as 2...but the ending was just terrible...terrible.
 
Kenshindono said:
Bioware isnt even Bioware anymore. They started going downhill shortly after Jade empire kinda, but really went to shit after they got bought by EA after the first ME. First ME was one of my fave 360 games.. never played 2 or 3. Pretty soon they'll just be making gears of war clones with a few branching dialog trees
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ME1 was a good game but it was a clunky prototype in comparison to ME2. ME2 is much better in every way.

The 'RPG' elements of ME1 were pretty weak. The armor system/item system was dated and not intelligently implemented at all.

 
Yeah, but even with the horrible ending, Mass Effect 3 has some of the most memorable moments in the series.  It's worth the experience.

 
I must be the only one who didnt have a problem with the ending...would have liked to seen a continuation though.
 
I might be a PC gamer and all...

...but no matter how you cut it - $3 for ME3 X360 pre-owned sounds like a killer deal.

 
I actually bought this at $4.49 a month or so back just to have a backup copy  :wall:

I still rate the series ME1>ME2>ME3 as I loved 1's exploration.  Yeah the Mako had problems and the inventory management was awful but there was still a ton of epicness.

 
foxbatkllr said:
ME3 was amazing. The ending was less than satisfactory but don't let that stop you from picking up the game.
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I agree 100% w/ this.

The last 10-20 minutes just can't ruin entirely the other 40-50 hours that I spent w/ the game.

Sure - IMHO, the ME3 base-game's ending was not good at all.

But the rest of the game's great.

Overall from start-to-finish, though - for me, ME2 is where it's at.

 
I agree with this. From what I've seen, Mass Effect 2 seems to have better enemy placement and isn't quite as bleak. Mass Effect 2 was an obsession for me; I dare say that it was the best game of the last console generation. Mass Effect 3 is just a pretty good follow-up.

 
MysterD said:
I agree 100% w/ this.

The last 10-20 minutes just can't ruin entirely the other 40-50 hours that I spent w/ the game.

Sure - IMHO, the ME3 base-game's ending was not good at all.

But the rest of the game's great.

Overall from start-to-finish, though - for me, ME2 is where it's at.
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Yes it can. Watch the last episode of Six Feet Under and you'll see how to close out a series - it's the sort of thing that should have been done here. There's also the problem with your decisions having negligible impact on the plot, and requiring you to play online or the IPhone game to get the best ending (which isn't much of an improvement) and the poorly explained/implemented love interest system which caused many to hook up with the wrong person and can't get out of it. There were a lot of good things, I'll admit - the Quarian-Geth conflict coming to a conclusion, the tense atmosphere surrounding the impending (and seemingly unstoppable) mission that awaits, among others, and the gameplay improvements (being able to jump short distances and over walls, and can use ladders) as well as graphical upgrades and more interesting and varied areas.

I think the biggest (but hardly only) problem with the ending is that the characters and your decisions are pretty much forgotten by the time it comes around.

Maybe it's the original Fable syndrome - making promises impossible to keep, but that doesn't mean it still doesn't suck.

 
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thehoweller said:
I thoroughly enjoyed 2. 3 was almost as great as 2...but the ending was just terrible...terrible.
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2 was the best in the series. 3 was very close behind, a 9 out of 10, and is more action oriented. I love the ending of 3, and I'm referring to the entire 2 hour finale, not just the final dialog of just a few lines. But I'm probably in the minority here.
 
@RBenns2

Well, 6 Feet Under certainly did close well. True Blood in its final season so far, hasn't been that great, honestly - I don't really like where it's headed so far, either.

My complaints w/ ME3 were...

I wasn't happy w/ how battling Jack seemed to be a throw-away Boss Fight in the mission as a Phantom before the Final Mission, as well. That could've been done so much epic + importantly + uniquely, since she was an important character.

Your decisions from ME1-3 didn't matter much in the end + there was no real final epilogue. There wasn't those epic BG2: TOB type of endings/epilogues to tell you how everything went after the end to wrap things up.

Granted, I ain't played any of the ME3 DLC's, either. 

Other than the crummy + disappointing as hell end, ME3 was great.

 
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Sorry to bump this, but did anyone else get a new copy? It looked like the shrink wrap was just torn off so it would be "used" as there were still shards of plastic wrap stuck on it. Also, the seal was fully in tact. I didn't know GS ever did that.
 
Got my order today. For some reason they sent me a brand new copy, the COA seal has never been broken.

 
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Jardarpp said:
You should give 2 & 3 a try. It's kind of hard to believe one's opinion on Bioware when one hasn't even given their later games a chance. I know 3 didn't have the most well received ending, but Mass Effect is as big as it is for a reason. My personal opinion though is that ME1 was the best of the trilogy and I hate EA. No shots fired, by the way. ha
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When 2 came out i was not buying any game published by EA. So never played it I wound up playing DA and hating it because of all the serious bugs that never got patched (guess they did EVENTUALLY but not before i quit playing.. serious stuff like dex not working with daggers, ect)

I never missed playing 2 and 3 though because i hear they got dumbed down more and more, removing almost all RPG elements from the inventory and gear, and just turning it into a shooter pretty much. I have 2 and 3 so i may play them eventually, but everything ive seen from Bioware looks like they really aren't the company that made such great games as KOTOR and stuff. The founders and most key devs have long since left the company. They seem to just make action games now with some rpg elements

 
@Kenshin

RPG's often have two elements:

1. The RPG elements involving building-up your stats, skills, experience, etc (anything really number-based); and

2. RPG decision-making (like most BioWare games, CD Projekt games, etc) - where your decisions can change the game's game-world, inhabitants, actual game-ending, etc.

Now, onto Mass Effect series.

If you're talking decision-making stuff (where you make a choice that will have an effect on the story, game-world, actual game-endings, etc) - Mass Effect series has plenty of that, from ME1-3.

ME2 removed the Inventory completely. You basically select your load-out before each mission, since missions are often split-up on certain planets entirely or are in a specific "Mission area" found on the planet you're on. ME3 does the same, as well - but sometimes while in a mission, especially the longer ones - you'll run into a load-out spot; which is where you can switch your weapons + items out at that spot only.

Here's the problem - ME1's combat controlled like a third-person shooter, but had a fair deal of problem w/ the feel of its combat b/c it relied too much on dice-rolls + stats. So, that made the combat feel very wonky + could frustrate when you shot an enemy but the game rendered sometimes zero-to-little damage. ME2 fixed this problem - and made the game rely less on that stuff.

ME1 felt more like a RPG w/ shooter elements + controls;

while ME2 felt more like a shooter w/ the RPG decision-making elements;

and ME3 is harder to figure out b/c it lies somewhere b/t ME2 and ME1's style of gameplay (b/c they put back in the weapon modding, so you can tweak weapons, bullets, scopes, etc).

Also, ME1's naming system for the weapons in the Inventory was not that good. When you got Version 1 of an item then Version 2, pretty much made it useless to copy V1. They should've named items more along the line of other RPG's (i.e. most items have different names), so that it didn't render their Inventory + items mostly useless + junk-y. Thing is - ME2 streamlined this probably a bit too much, as now you only have a few weapons there that you can barely mod-up. ME3 put some of the weapon modding and stuff in that was found in ME1 - and made it much more meaningful.

Which Dragon Age are you talking about - DAO or DA2?

If you're playing DAO (Dragon Age: Origins)...you really should play it on the PC b/c it's known where that version is harder (on the same named difficulties) + requires more strategy + usage of the tac-cam - when compared to the console versions. If you dug BG1+2 on the PC, you should be playing DAO on the PC.

About DA2 - while I liked the game, despite its problems. I liked it b/c of its experimentation w/ its format, structure, storytelling + character. For its laundry list of problems: removing strategy elements + tac-cam that made DAO PC great - that stuff drove me nuts; how often enemies just drop nowhere + from the sky in the game's city. Since they removed the tac-cam and it has more of "I control a team" w/ an action-y ARPG feel (think like say Dungeon Siege 2 on the PC) - I don't think it matters too much if you played DA2 on PC or consoles (PC version's advantage for DA2 is if you have DX10 or above, enjoy better graphic-quality if you have a decent PC). They aimed to make the console version + PC version have more parity across both platforms, gameplay-wise.

Yes, BioWare is not the same - the founders left; Brent Knowles left (he's been titled Lead Designer + Creative Director for games such as BG series + Dragon Age: Origins); and now Casey Hudson left (Creator + Lead on Mass Effect series).

Say what you want about how ME3's ending sucked - but, for the rest of the series, most of it to me was great. I hope EA don't screw-up ME's direction, w/ Casey gone.

 
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MysterD said:
@Kenshin

RPG's often have two elements:
1. The RPG elements involving building-up your stats, skills, experience, etc (anything really number-based); and
2. RPG decision-making (like most BioWare games, CD Projekt games, etc) - where your decisions can change the game's game-world, inhabitants, actual game-ending, etc.

Now, onto Mass Effect series.

If you're talking decision-making stuff (where you make a choice that will have an effect on the story, game-world, actual game-endings, etc) - Mass Effect series has plenty of that, from ME1-3.

ME2 removed the Inventory completely. You basically select your load-out before each mission, since missions are often split-up on certain planets entirely or are in a specific "Mission area" found on the planet you're on. ME3 does the same, as well - but sometimes while in a mission, especially the longer ones - you'll run into a load-out spot; which is where you can switch your weapons + items out at that spot only.

Here's the problem - ME1's combat controlled like a third-person shooter, but had a fair deal of problem w/ the feel of its combat b/c it relied too much on dice-rolls + stats. So, that made the combat feel very wonky + could frustrate when you shot an enemy but the game rendered sometimes zero-to-little damage. ME2 fixed this problem - and made the game rely less on that stuff.

ME1 felt more like a RPG w/ shooter elements + controls;
while ME2 felt more like a shooter w/ the RPG decision-making elements;
and ME3 is harder to figure out b/c it lies somewhere b/t ME2 and ME1's style of gameplay (b/c they put back in the weapon modding, so you can tweak weapons, bullets, scopes, etc).

Also, ME1's naming system for the weapons in the Inventory was not that good. When you got Version 1 of an item then Version 2, pretty much made it useless to copy V1. They should've named items more along the line of other RPG's (i.e. most items have different names), so that it didn't render their Inventory + items mostly useless + junk-y. Thing is - ME2 streamlined this probably a bit too much, as now you only have a few weapons there that you can barely mod-up. ME3 put some of the weapon modding and stuff in that was found in ME1 - and made it much more meaningful.

Which Dragon Age are you talking about - DAO or DA2?

If you're playing DAO (Dragon Age: Origins)...you really should play it on the PC b/c it's known where that version is harder (on the same named difficulties) + requires more strategy + usage of the tac-cam - when compared to the console versions. If you dug BG1+2 on the PC, you should be playing DAO on the PC.

About DA2 - while I liked the game, despite its problems. I liked it b/c of its experimentation w/ its format, structure, storytelling + character. For its laundry list of problems: removing strategy elements + tac-cam that made DAO PC great - that stuff drove me nuts; how often enemies just drop nowhere + from the sky in the game's city. Since they removed the tac-cam and it has more of "I control a team" w/ an action-y ARPG feel (think like say Dungeon Siege 2 on the PC) - I don't think it matters too much if you played DA2 on PC or consoles (PC version's advantage for DA2 is if you have DX10 or above, enjoy better graphic-quality if you have a decent PC). They aimed to make the console version + PC version have more parity across both platforms, gameplay-wise.

Yes, BioWare is not the same - the founders left; Brent Knowles left (he's been titled Lead Designer + Creative Director for games such as BG series + Dragon Age: Origins); and now Casey Hudson left (Creator + Lead on Mass Effect series).

Say what you want about how ME3's ending sucked - but, for the rest of the series, most of it to me was great. I hope EA don't screw-up ME's direction, w/ Casey gone.
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.


Basically a perfect post. In short, no Bioware is not the exact same as they were 11 years ago (what company is?) but you are making many assumptions and missing out on some great games by writing them off.
 
foxbatkllr said:
Basically a perfect post. In short, no Bioware is not the exact same as they were 11 years ago (what company is?) but you are making many assumptions and missing out on some great games by writing them off.
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Oh, I ain't writing BioWare off entirely here - no way can I do that.

I'm just not too thrilled w/ where ME might go (or not go), with Casey gone.

And I'm also questioning how DA:I might turn out - a part of me thinks it could be a masterpiece; a part of me is thinking I could be wrong.

Only time will tell.

I still plan to purchase Dragon Age: Inquisition + Mass Effect 4 (or whatever the hell they decide to name the next ME game). Like most games, though - I likely will NOT pay full price for it, given how crummy gaming practices are these days. Namely, I'm talking about how it doesn't benefit gamers buying ASAP. Things like Pre-Orders, Bonuses for buying a version of game from a different retailer/distributor; Day-1 DLC's; DLC's galore; Season Passes; re-released edition w/ everything (though, that probably won't happen w/ a BioWare game - hasn't since DAO Ultimate); games often being released in Alpha or Beta states; games might need more patches behind it before it's stable enough to suit me; quicker price-drops on PC b/c of digital distribution arena being competitive; BioWare's horrible DLC pricing system of BioWare Points + having a heavy lack of worthwhile sales on those Points; and/or any other non-sense you can think of.

I'm also curious about that other new thing they been teasing the hell out of, as well.

And I still am wanting + hoping for a Jade Empire 2 one day.

BioWare, CD Projekt, and Bethesda are probably some of the few companies that I might buy their game - and it ain't anywhere yet near 50% off.

 
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MysterD said:
Oh, I ain't writing BioWare off entirely here - no way can I do that.

I'm just not too thrilled w/ where ME might go (or not go), with Casey gone.

And I'm also questioning how DA:I might turn out - a part of me thinks it could be a masterpiece; a part of me is thinking I could be wrong.

Only time will tell.

I still plan to purchase Dragon Age: Inquisition + Mass Effect 4 (or whatever the hell they decide to name the next ME game). Like most games, though - I likely will NOT pay full price for it, given how crummy gaming practices are these days. Namely, I'm talking about how it doesn't benefit gamers buying ASAP. Thinks like Pre-Orders, Bonuses for buying a versino of game from a different retailer/distribtor; Day-1 DLC's; DLC's galore; Season Passes; re-released edition w/ everything (though, that probably won't happen w/ a BioWare game - hasn't since DAO Ultimate); games often being released in Alpha or Beta states, games might need more patches behind it before it's stable enough to suit me; quicker price-drops on PC b/c of digital distribution arena being competitive; BioWare's horrible DLC pricing system of BioWare Points + having a heavy lack on those Points; and/or any other non-sense you can think of.

I'm also curious about that other new thing they been teasing the hell out of, as well.

And I still am wanting + hoping for a Jade Empire 2 one day.

BioWare, CD Projekt, and Bethesda are probably some of the few companies that I might buy their game - and it ain't anywhere yet near 50% off.
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My bad for not making it clearer. I was agreeing with your post entirely, while the comment about writing off Bioware was directed at Kenshin.

 
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