Mass Effect 3: Shepharder

[Anthile]

Let's just have one general discussion thread for ME3.

I assume that if you read this thread, you have played ME1 as well as ME2 and no spoilers will be marked for these games. However, for ME3 I'd like everyone to mark spoilers and/or white them out.

First, even if you are non-American (or from any other country that it has already unlocked), you can play it now if you unlock it with a proxy (as seen here, link provided by Silver in the WIT). The first one didn't function but the second proxy worked just fine. After you activate the game, make sure to disable the proxy again, since it's a potential security risk. Starting up ME3 without the proxy worked and without causing any trouble.

Second, if you import a character created in ME1 and didn't change the appearance in ME2, ME3 won't be able to use it and you have to make a new face. You can still use a face code, however. A bit of an obvious problem to have in the game but apparently Bioware are working on this.

Additionally, here is a link and tutorial for Gibbed's ME2 save game editor, which allows you to change most decisions made in the previous games.

[The JG Man]

I think I accidentally screwed up the copying between my 360, which had a few characters from 1 and 2, onto my USB to the extent that I may have sent them into the void. This...disappoints me, greatly. Nevertheless, I'm eagerly looking forward to missing the post-man drop it round on Friday and having to go to the sorting office and back again so I can install it and play.

I also love your title. God bless you Die Hard 2.

[Smashbox]

I think I accidentally screwed up the copying between my 360, which had a few characters from 1 and 2, onto my USB to the extent that I may have sent them into the void. This...disappoints me, greatly. Nevertheless, I'm eagerly looking forward to missing the post-man drop it round on Friday and having to go to the sorting office and back again so I can install it and play.

I also love your title. God bless you Die Hard 2.

Okay, so I was just about to do this, using this tool, but the thought of losing my beautiful, beautiful, cruel Shepherd is too much to bear. What went wrong/should I still try to move my save?

[Ninjafoodstuff]

Okay, so I was just about to do this, using this tool, but the thought of losing my beautiful, beautiful, cruel Shepherd is too much to bear. What went wrong/should I still try to move my save?

It works fine. There are a couple of issues related to actually importing the PCSave, see this thread for a solution.

[KauhuK]

Is it safe to activate the game trough proxy? I read that ppl had activated their copies of BF3 without problems. I fear that if I activate ME3 trough proxy then EA will ban my account or something.

[Dolphan]

Is it safe to activate the game trough proxy? I read that ppl had activated their copies of BF3 without problems. I fear that if I activate ME3 trough proxy then EA will ban my account or something.

I did it, using TunnelBear rather than anything complicated, and it's been fine. I highly doubt they'll do anything about it - EA don't have any stake in the EU release delay themselves, they have no incentive to pursue something like this.

[Beeblebrox]

Can anyone tell me how do you get From Ashes DLC? Can you buy it direct through game itself, or do you need to go to Origin? Or, some other way?

Also, can you change class if you import ME2 save?

Can't wait to get my hands on it, and knowing that I'll have to wait 7-10 more days until mine arrives is driving me nuts :(

[Sketch]

I'm a little worried about the mission time limits, I didn't mind the Reaper IFF thing, but I would rather go at my own pace.

[Kadayi]

Good call Anthile. I will avoid this thread like the plague until the weekend.

[lasikbear]

All I've noticed so far is the Sentinel's Tech Shield no longer appears in cutscenes like it did in ME2. If you didn't play a sentinel sure this doesn't matter, but My Commander Sheppard wore that shield during every single scene that wasn't in civilian clothes in ME2, and now it gets removed to open a door dramatically or talk to a boy. =(

[Althea]

This sums up my thoughts with regards to ME3's demo:

Overall, I'm still very much on the fence with Mass Effect 3. They've improved it yet managed to make it worse. I'm now definitely sold on it, but I'm a little concerned as to BioWare's inability to stay consistent with any aspect of it, and this is perhaps influenced by the loss of Drew Karpyshyn after Mass Effect (he moved to BioWare Austin to work on The Old Republic). The tone, setting, style and, well, everything else changed, often for illogical reasons or for the sake of change. I doubt they've addressed the issues of Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2, instead just pushing their way forward rather than stepping back and looking at ways to fix the existing issues.

[The JG Man]

You could see that with the loss of the Mako in 2. The theory was actually pretty cool and on many planets, it was fine and pretty good fun. It needed to be fixed, not removed. Then we had Firewalker which was...not as good.

I didn't play the SP portion of the demo because I knew I'd be getting the game anyhow, but the shooting certainly felt a hell of a lot better from what I played of MP. Nothing to make me think it would be letting down the game as a whole, for example.

[Althea]

You could see that with the loss of the Mako in 2. The theory was actually pretty cool and on many planets, it was fine and pretty good fun. It needed to be fixed, not removed. Then we had Firewalker which was...not as good.

Pretty much. The change between ME1 and ME2 is bigger than ME2 and ME3, but I feel ME1 should have just been improved, not diverted from.

I didn't play the SP portion of the demo because I knew I'd be getting the game anyhow, but the shooting certainly felt a hell of a lot better from what I played of MP. Nothing to make me think it would be letting down the game as a whole, for example.

On the contrary, I only played the SP as it wouldn't let me into the MP.

[PeteC]

I was going to hold off getting this game for a few weeks but I've just cracked and pre-ordered from Amazon. It's the one game I'm looking forward to most this year. Can't wait any longer to see how my shep's story plays out.

[Tritagonist]

I'll be interested in hearing some actual user reviews over the coming days. While I did have some fun with ME and, to a lesser extent, ME2, the ME3 last month demo left me thoroughly unimpressed - as have the leaks that have surfaced over the past few weeks.

Let us know what you think!

[deano2099]

Ahh, lovely. Lots of people getting angry about the fact that you have to do everything in the game to get the best ending. Because the planet scanning is rubbish. Perfectly reasonable complaint, every ME game has had an annoying sub-game that Bioware stuck in for some strange reason that's just repetitive and dull.

But of course, because instead of doing that, you can play MP instead (which has optional microtransactions) or play the iOS game, the narrative becomes that they're doing it on purpose to make people spend more money. And not just because Bioware suck at making interesting exploration sub-quests.

[Althea]

play the iOS game

This also happened with ME2 but no-one actually noticed because the difference was barely there. Basically, if you completed ME:G on iOS and signed in to your EA Account, you unlocked a conversation with Jacob, one I probably overlooked many times.

At least this time it's something a bit... better?

[deano2099]

This also happened with ME2 but no-one actually noticed because the difference was barely there. Basically, if you completed ME:G on iOS and signed in to your EA Account, you unlocked a conversation with Jacob, one I probably overlooked many times.

At least this time it's something a bit... better?

At the risk of bringing out the rage, the iOS game has microtransactions this time around too!

(Although it's actually fairly cool, just had half an hour on it, third-person shooter with the emphasis on killing stuff in cool ways.)

[Althea]

At the risk of bringing out the rage, the iOS game has microtransactions this time around too!

What.

U srs, brah?

[deano2099]

What.

U srs, brah?

You earn coins in the game to upgrade your guy with, but you can buy extra coins too. The most expensive package (which I presume will net you nearly all the upgrades) is a cool £34.99.

The game itself is £4.99 too, already a premium price for an iOS game without the mirco-payments. At least there's no ads, I guess. And it is good. Far better than Galaxy, and actually quite impressive for an iOS title graphically.