The gamer intelligentsia have led me astray. Mass Effect 3’s ending is relatively alright (heavy emphasis on “relatively”) – it’s near enough everything else that’s the problem.
Enough time and post-release patches have passed now that its stronger aspects have started to overshadow its shortcomings, which to an extent isn’t without merit. Intergalactic supersoldier Shepard no longer struggles to breathe after jogging for three seconds and has learned how to dodge roll, making movement less restrictive in general. The game makes full use of his enhanced agility through a legitimately great enemy roster which sports all sorts of new dynamic behaviours, whether it be homing projectiles or lunging attacks or setting up turrets to create chokepoints on the fly. Feedback on attacks is probably the most cathartic it’s ever been, in no small part thanks to power combos, which also go some way toward making the RPG mechanics feel the most relevant they’ve been since the original.
You might notice that that’s all to do with combat, which is because it’s about the only respect in which ME3 isn’t an unequivocal step back from its predecessors. The already simplistic dialogue wheel’s stripped down even further, the player barely having any control over what Shepard says most of the time and the middle option often being axed in the few instances where you do. This kind of railroading wouldn’t be so egregious if Paragon and Renegade choices weren’t as polarised as they are; alternating between the two within the same conversation feels akin to a series of mood swings, with Shepard going from Aslan one moment to Judge Holden the next, now with no in-between. No part of the game better illustrates how poor a roleplaying avatar Shepard has become than the fact that you can choose to murder a longtime friend, doom his billions-strong race to extinction and proceed to lie about it in the most aloof tone possible, only to then have to sit through PTSD-induced nightmares over the implied off-screen death of some kid he’d only seen for the first time a few minutes prior.
The impressively lame Kai Leng and the inability to shove him into a locker would be enough to dock several points on its own, but many of the other side characters aren’t inspiringly handled either. I laughed when a certain somebody died in the main quest’s finale, not because I particularly disliked him, but because of the contrast between Shepard’s mournful head shake and my trying to remember what his name was. Tali’s Joss Whedon-isms feel similarly misplaced aboard a ship controlled and staffed by hostile AI in the midst of a battle for the fate of her species. Ashley and Liara continue to suffer from essentially becoming different characters in each game of the trilogy, though Javik is a saving grace and his deconstruction of the latter’s naive preconceptions about his people is about the only personality she’s afforded. James also exists, supposedly, though you could be forgiven for thinking otherwise given that you can’t actually speak to him or anyone else anymore once you’ve exhausted all the dialogue they’re generously granted for whichever point in the main quest you’re at.
I praised the combat earlier, but no amount of bolted on, marginal improvements can offset how woefully uninteresting the scenarios you fight through are. Prior to the release of Dragon Age II, someone at Bioware was infamously misquoted as saying they “want the Call of Duty audience,” but what's on offer here doesn't feel far removed from this hypothetical philosophy. Much more often than in either of the prior games, control’s wrestled away from you for such invigorating setpieces as sliding down a small pile of rubble, the stakes these are obviously trying to communicate rendered inert by how it’s impossible for you to be in danger during them. Just about every situation, from making your way down to the hideaway of ancient sub-aquatic alien giants to aiming missile batteries at the weak point of a starship, is solved through wave-based survival sequences in square arenas that wear out their welcome within the first hour. The return to Omega is the epitome of this sort of design, and a microcosm of ME3 in general, because for all intents and purposes it’s not actually Omega – it’s a series of linear shooting galleries that happens to look like Omega, with all the merchants, quest givers, decision-making and everything else resembling an RPG snuffed out.
It’s staggering how dreary the first few parts of this game manage to be considering it opens with a full scale invasion of Earth, but I caution against wanting it to be over with as soon as possible like I did. As a result, I skipped a certain sidequest, not initially knowing that they’re effectively just excuses to catch up the cast of ME2, and it led to one character making a reappearance as a standard, unaltered enemy who happens to share her name and reuse that one voice clip from ME1. It’s so shoddy I like to imagine it’s intentionally so, to really drive home what a punishment for lazy players it is, but even this rationalisation can’t shake the feeling that I would’ve preferred nothing at all.
I’ve written before about how I prefer to avoid negativity unless I can use it to highlight something else I care for, and I hold to that – cynically tearing down somebody else’s hard work is as effortless as it is exhausting, both to do and to read. But nothing’s made me appreciate what lightning in a bottle ME1 was quite like experiencing firsthand how hard its potential was fumbled. From the HUD, to the composition of your squad, to the ending’s attempt to bring back ME1’s focus on organic vs. synthetic life (for which I give it credit), ME3 is drenched in the feeling that it really wants to be ME1 again. I wish it wasn’t, because I’d rather just replay that instead, even knowing where it leads to.
I should go.
Enough time and post-release patches have passed now that its stronger aspects have started to overshadow its shortcomings, which to an extent isn’t without merit. Intergalactic supersoldier Shepard no longer struggles to breathe after jogging for three seconds and has learned how to dodge roll, making movement less restrictive in general. The game makes full use of his enhanced agility through a legitimately great enemy roster which sports all sorts of new dynamic behaviours, whether it be homing projectiles or lunging attacks or setting up turrets to create chokepoints on the fly. Feedback on attacks is probably the most cathartic it’s ever been, in no small part thanks to power combos, which also go some way toward making the RPG mechanics feel the most relevant they’ve been since the original.
You might notice that that’s all to do with combat, which is because it’s about the only respect in which ME3 isn’t an unequivocal step back from its predecessors. The already simplistic dialogue wheel’s stripped down even further, the player barely having any control over what Shepard says most of the time and the middle option often being axed in the few instances where you do. This kind of railroading wouldn’t be so egregious if Paragon and Renegade choices weren’t as polarised as they are; alternating between the two within the same conversation feels akin to a series of mood swings, with Shepard going from Aslan one moment to Judge Holden the next, now with no in-between. No part of the game better illustrates how poor a roleplaying avatar Shepard has become than the fact that you can choose to murder a longtime friend, doom his billions-strong race to extinction and proceed to lie about it in the most aloof tone possible, only to then have to sit through PTSD-induced nightmares over the implied off-screen death of some kid he’d only seen for the first time a few minutes prior.
The impressively lame Kai Leng and the inability to shove him into a locker would be enough to dock several points on its own, but many of the other side characters aren’t inspiringly handled either. I laughed when a certain somebody died in the main quest’s finale, not because I particularly disliked him, but because of the contrast between Shepard’s mournful head shake and my trying to remember what his name was. Tali’s Joss Whedon-isms feel similarly misplaced aboard a ship controlled and staffed by hostile AI in the midst of a battle for the fate of her species. Ashley and Liara continue to suffer from essentially becoming different characters in each game of the trilogy, though Javik is a saving grace and his deconstruction of the latter’s naive preconceptions about his people is about the only personality she’s afforded. James also exists, supposedly, though you could be forgiven for thinking otherwise given that you can’t actually speak to him or anyone else anymore once you’ve exhausted all the dialogue they’re generously granted for whichever point in the main quest you’re at.
I praised the combat earlier, but no amount of bolted on, marginal improvements can offset how woefully uninteresting the scenarios you fight through are. Prior to the release of Dragon Age II, someone at Bioware was infamously misquoted as saying they “want the Call of Duty audience,” but what's on offer here doesn't feel far removed from this hypothetical philosophy. Much more often than in either of the prior games, control’s wrestled away from you for such invigorating setpieces as sliding down a small pile of rubble, the stakes these are obviously trying to communicate rendered inert by how it’s impossible for you to be in danger during them. Just about every situation, from making your way down to the hideaway of ancient sub-aquatic alien giants to aiming missile batteries at the weak point of a starship, is solved through wave-based survival sequences in square arenas that wear out their welcome within the first hour. The return to Omega is the epitome of this sort of design, and a microcosm of ME3 in general, because for all intents and purposes it’s not actually Omega – it’s a series of linear shooting galleries that happens to look like Omega, with all the merchants, quest givers, decision-making and everything else resembling an RPG snuffed out.
It’s staggering how dreary the first few parts of this game manage to be considering it opens with a full scale invasion of Earth, but I caution against wanting it to be over with as soon as possible like I did. As a result, I skipped a certain sidequest, not initially knowing that they’re effectively just excuses to catch up the cast of ME2, and it led to one character making a reappearance as a standard, unaltered enemy who happens to share her name and reuse that one voice clip from ME1. It’s so shoddy I like to imagine it’s intentionally so, to really drive home what a punishment for lazy players it is, but even this rationalisation can’t shake the feeling that I would’ve preferred nothing at all.
I’ve written before about how I prefer to avoid negativity unless I can use it to highlight something else I care for, and I hold to that – cynically tearing down somebody else’s hard work is as effortless as it is exhausting, both to do and to read. But nothing’s made me appreciate what lightning in a bottle ME1 was quite like experiencing firsthand how hard its potential was fumbled. From the HUD, to the composition of your squad, to the ending’s attempt to bring back ME1’s focus on organic vs. synthetic life (for which I give it credit), ME3 is drenched in the feeling that it really wants to be ME1 again. I wish it wasn’t, because I’d rather just replay that instead, even knowing where it leads to.
I should go.
I'll be writing a review on my thoughts for the series as a whole with the collection, so this will be a short one.
I thought this was a really amazing end to the series. While the combat is still not great it does feel like a bit of an overall improvement. The animations outside of real cutscenes are still a bit jank/some scenes are cut really quick and can take away from the urgency or impact sometimes but this has plagued the entire series and I'm kinda used to it by now. Then theres the whole ending debate. I am pretty satisfied with the "Destroy" ending and ngl I cried a bit during it, but I still feel like it could of been stronger given the storytelling capabilities the series has already illustrated. Other than that honestly it was just a great end to the trilogy. It ties up some series-spanning plotlines really well and is full of both heartfelt and badass moments.
Trophy Completion - 87%
Time Played - 39 hours
Nancymeter - 95/100
Game Completion #35 of 2022
April Completion #4
I thought this was a really amazing end to the series. While the combat is still not great it does feel like a bit of an overall improvement. The animations outside of real cutscenes are still a bit jank/some scenes are cut really quick and can take away from the urgency or impact sometimes but this has plagued the entire series and I'm kinda used to it by now. Then theres the whole ending debate. I am pretty satisfied with the "Destroy" ending and ngl I cried a bit during it, but I still feel like it could of been stronger given the storytelling capabilities the series has already illustrated. Other than that honestly it was just a great end to the trilogy. It ties up some series-spanning plotlines really well and is full of both heartfelt and badass moments.
Trophy Completion - 87%
Time Played - 39 hours
Nancymeter - 95/100
Game Completion #35 of 2022
April Completion #4
i'm always thinking about how space george w bush embeds a fox news journalist with your crew to make uplifting propaganda about the end of the known universe and this isn't played for comedy even a little bit
in fact there's a lot to be said about how this whole series belongs to the genre of post-9/11 entertainment that very sincerely treats the space us military as an overall morally positive and well-intentioned institution and that's just the funniest bit. but mostly it's just a boring nothing cover shooter
in fact there's a lot to be said about how this whole series belongs to the genre of post-9/11 entertainment that very sincerely treats the space us military as an overall morally positive and well-intentioned institution and that's just the funniest bit. but mostly it's just a boring nothing cover shooter
My favourite of the trilogy, went in with mild expectations due to criticisms of the ending and came out incredibly surprised with how the finale of the entire trilogy turned out. Sure, the ending was just okay and could’ve been better but wow everything else in this game was riveting as HELL.
The gameplay was fun as hell, the story and characters are at their absolute best here and the culmination of storylines in the prior two games were wonderfully wrapped up in ME3, and it left me feeling emotional at times too. I adore the cast a lot and they truly shine in the Citadel DLC as well as their interactions throughout the game. I do have complaints yet they feel minor in comparison to just how much I can praise this game in regards to being an epic finale, and being a perfect sendoff for the series. A masterpiece, one of the best works of art I’ve seen and I already miss playing it, phenomenal experience.
The gameplay was fun as hell, the story and characters are at their absolute best here and the culmination of storylines in the prior two games were wonderfully wrapped up in ME3, and it left me feeling emotional at times too. I adore the cast a lot and they truly shine in the Citadel DLC as well as their interactions throughout the game. I do have complaints yet they feel minor in comparison to just how much I can praise this game in regards to being an epic finale, and being a perfect sendoff for the series. A masterpiece, one of the best works of art I’ve seen and I already miss playing it, phenomenal experience.
There's a common consensus that the ending of Mass Effect 3 was what's bad, and that everything beforehand was actually pretty good. Understandable at that may be, I completely disagree with it. Mass Effect 3 was not just the culmination of the game's own problems, it was the culmination of the entire trilogy's problems. It was the ticking time bomb that was destined to blow up in everybody's faces, one way or another.
While it's very easy (but very accurate) to blame Mass Effect 3 on EA, I think most of it's core problems are also to be blamed on BioWare for how they helped put it into a tight corner over the course of 3 games. The over-reliance on set-up in the first two games, the over-ambitious scale, the weightless choice and consequences, confused mismatch of RPG and shooter mechanics, the need to streamline all of it paved the way for something like Mass Effect 3 to limp its half-dead body to the finish line. Only barely making it as someone shows up and pulls the trigger by surprise. Killing it before it had the chance to ever shine.
Auto-dialogue is at an all-time high to the point there's even an option in the menu to remove any choices you make in dialogue so everything plays out like a really long cutscene. The interactivity is almost completely gutted out and gone, exploring worlds is never as engaging anymore. There's too many loading screens to get from a simple point A to point B (looking at you Normandy). There's hardly any real side-quests other than eavesdropping on people in the Citadel, or doing multiplayer maps which are actually required in order to get the best possible ending.
There's a couple of good moments with long-time and beloved characters like Garrus, Liara, Mordin, or Wrex that are all actually pretty solid...inspite of being roped up into lazy big action emotional set-pieces that don't make sense at all if you think about it for more than 10 seconds. Most of the characters in Mass Effect 2, easily the best part (even if it's not saying much), are completely sidelined from the plot. Which is incredibly disappointing because it seemed like they would be far more important to Shepard and be involved in the war against the Reapers.
The combat is the best of the trilogy, too bad the newly designed cover system blows massive chunks. Whenever I want to dodge or evade enemy attacks, the game has a habit of registering it as hiding behind an object to take cover, or some dodge roll. Making the gameplay all the more tedious whenever swarms of enemies spawn, which is often.
The last couple hours of the game are some of the worst I've experienced while playing a video game. Gameplay wise, it's just a massive rinse and repeat of spawning swarms of ridiculously unbalanced enemies at you, to the point "covering" doesn't even work anymore and is rendered useless.
I'm not going to pretend that I have some deep passionate love for Mass Effect, because I really don't. But that last 10 or so minutes is still a massive slap in the face for retconning the entire point of the trilogy by shoehorning some last-minute Organic vs Synthetic conflict which was very clearly never the main focus. And the game forces you to choose one over the other, even though a third option where both can coexist without violence is very plausible since in the game you can literally do that with two alien species who were at war with each-other. I shot the Star Child and I got the bad ending, which I didn't care at all because I found out all the other endings are exactly the same except with couple seconds of different footage.
None of the choices you've made in the trilogy so far really factor in to these endings. The game doesn't care. Starchild doesn't care. It all lends to the exact same endpoint for anybody playing, barring the color of an explosion changing.
Worst of all, I don't even care anymore.
While it's very easy (but very accurate) to blame Mass Effect 3 on EA, I think most of it's core problems are also to be blamed on BioWare for how they helped put it into a tight corner over the course of 3 games. The over-reliance on set-up in the first two games, the over-ambitious scale, the weightless choice and consequences, confused mismatch of RPG and shooter mechanics, the need to streamline all of it paved the way for something like Mass Effect 3 to limp its half-dead body to the finish line. Only barely making it as someone shows up and pulls the trigger by surprise. Killing it before it had the chance to ever shine.
Auto-dialogue is at an all-time high to the point there's even an option in the menu to remove any choices you make in dialogue so everything plays out like a really long cutscene. The interactivity is almost completely gutted out and gone, exploring worlds is never as engaging anymore. There's too many loading screens to get from a simple point A to point B (looking at you Normandy). There's hardly any real side-quests other than eavesdropping on people in the Citadel, or doing multiplayer maps which are actually required in order to get the best possible ending.
There's a couple of good moments with long-time and beloved characters like Garrus, Liara, Mordin, or Wrex that are all actually pretty solid...inspite of being roped up into lazy big action emotional set-pieces that don't make sense at all if you think about it for more than 10 seconds. Most of the characters in Mass Effect 2, easily the best part (even if it's not saying much), are completely sidelined from the plot. Which is incredibly disappointing because it seemed like they would be far more important to Shepard and be involved in the war against the Reapers.
The combat is the best of the trilogy, too bad the newly designed cover system blows massive chunks. Whenever I want to dodge or evade enemy attacks, the game has a habit of registering it as hiding behind an object to take cover, or some dodge roll. Making the gameplay all the more tedious whenever swarms of enemies spawn, which is often.
The last couple hours of the game are some of the worst I've experienced while playing a video game. Gameplay wise, it's just a massive rinse and repeat of spawning swarms of ridiculously unbalanced enemies at you, to the point "covering" doesn't even work anymore and is rendered useless.
I'm not going to pretend that I have some deep passionate love for Mass Effect, because I really don't. But that last 10 or so minutes is still a massive slap in the face for retconning the entire point of the trilogy by shoehorning some last-minute Organic vs Synthetic conflict which was very clearly never the main focus. And the game forces you to choose one over the other, even though a third option where both can coexist without violence is very plausible since in the game you can literally do that with two alien species who were at war with each-other. I shot the Star Child and I got the bad ending, which I didn't care at all because I found out all the other endings are exactly the same except with couple seconds of different footage.
None of the choices you've made in the trilogy so far really factor in to these endings. The game doesn't care. Starchild doesn't care. It all lends to the exact same endpoint for anybody playing, barring the color of an explosion changing.
Worst of all, I don't even care anymore.
An excellent ending to one of my all-time favorite stories in gaming. I think my appreciation for this game has grown since I last played it almost 10 years ago, as I was better able to connect with the emotional weight of this game as an adult. The ending I chose (with no spoilers) moved me deeply and really made me feel like I had taken this grand space-faring adventure that just came to an end. I remember playing this series as a teenager and appreciating it for its cool sci-fi setting and the (at the time) interesting combat, but now I can appreciate Mass Effect on a deeper level entirely. There's a maturity to the writing and story of this game that I was able to connect with this time around, and I'll be thinking about this game, and this series, for a long time moving forward.
My favorite moment was then Joker said "It's joking time!"
He really said that.
He really said that.
(Original review written May 6th, 2021. Currently reorganizing my journal)
I really don't care what people say, this is my favorite Mass Effect game. Now obviously you can make a good argument for the second or even the first as being the best one in the series, but ever since I first beat this game back in 2018 when I was binging the series, this game was my favorite in the series and even among one of my favorite games ever. Now that I finished replaying it on PC with mods, it's even better than I remember. While I don't think Mass Effect 3 is necessarily perfect and does have some valid issues, I feel like most of them are either outweighed by the good stuff or fixed by the free Extended Cut DLC. Yes, I even like the ending. Well, only one of them in particular but the other two don't bother me since I always pick the ending I like. The characters are as amazing as ever, it has some of the best moments in the series, the DLC is all great, it expands upon the romances to make them actually extremely fleshed out and the best I've seen in a game without being forced, the character and party interactions are very natural, entertaining, and there are a lot, the gameplay is the the series, and the story is fantastic with a great sense of finality.
I'm going to start by saying the gameplay has the best third person shooter combat I've ever played. Mass Effect 1's gameplay was honestly really janky and not good, but could be fun sometimes. Mass Effect 2 improved by a whole lot and was genuinely good, but it felt dated. Mass Effect 3's gameplay is perfect. Now in this game, you're not bound by weapon class restrictions and any class for Shepard could use any weapon type and gun you pick up. It combines the load outs from Mass Effect 1 and 2 by bringing back the weapon modding from Mass Effect 1 with an emphasis on stats like ammo capacity, damage, accuracy, and weight. The weapon load outs were brought back from Mass Effect 2 where there were distinct weapon types that all felt and played different. However, the draw back of being able to use every single weapon is that the more weapons you have or using specific weapons with heavier weight is that the more weight you carry, the slower your powers take to recharge, but depending on your class the amount of weight you can carry varies and you can even reduce the weight of your weapons by using mods, upgrades, or upgrading Shepard's fitness to be able to carry more. I love how customizable Shepard is in this game with armor, casual clothes, and even the ability to customize your squad with different armors with stat modifiers, different weapons, upgrades, and abilities.
Another thing I love about the gameplay is now melee attacks are a major aspect with the combat. The light fast melee attacks are a lot more naturally pulled off and the heavy melee attacks are extremely satisfying and I like how every class has their own unique heavy melee attack that are very distinct in how they function. It also feels like each party member's A.I. is even better than ever before and you can make very quality and overpowered builds for your squad if you think smart enough because I was able to turn Garrus into a complete powerhouse. The gameplay is just fantastic and playing it on PC with 60fps is even better than it was on the Xbox 360 when I first played it two years ago.
One of the downsides though is how in Mass Effect 3 it feels like dialogue choices are less common compared to the previous two games and that neutral responses were removed, however with this downside I feel like a positive was created and that is how Shepard now has more personality than ever before and they feel like a completely and fully realize character. Shepard now has natural back and fourth banter with characters on missions during gameplay, talks with the crew, or interacting with other characters both major and minor. It's honestly great, but it's just a shame dialogue choices are a bit less common. Though I do feel like the Paragon/Renegade morality system got better in this game. Paragon/Renegade is now one meter called reputation instead of two separate meters that measure it out. This way, it's a lot better in my opinion and it makes gaining reputation a lot easier. You can gain reputation by completing side quests or character interactions without dialogue choices, and depending on which morality system is higher you gain points in either Paragon or Renegade. Even though I play mostly paragon in my play throughs, certain renegade decisions are always tempting and fun. The inclusion of bringing back the Paragon/Renegade interruption quick time events was a great choice because they can make for some genuinely great moments that outshine Mass Effect 2 in some ways.
While it's hard for me to choose which Mass Effect game in the trilogy has the best story, I think the third game is my favorite as well. The first game has a great story, the second game was more about the characters and felt like a T.V. show, but the third game really felt like it was on a grand scale even bigger than the last two. Each priority mission really feels amazing with its impact and scale with some of the most gut wrenching and heart pounding moments the series has had. The highpoint in the series for me has got to be Priority: Rannoch. I won't spoil anything, but the build up and payoff is just perfect and it makes it even better depending on your relationship status with Tali. Each mission had some level of grand scale. From the first mission on Earth, to Mars, Palaven, Sur'kesh, Tuchunka, Rannoch, Thessia, Eden Prime, Horrizon, and the final mission on Earth for everything to come around full circle. Not to mention the side quests I feel like are better than ever with lots of given context, character interactions, and more than I'd expect given how they are just side missions. It's also great how they used the opportunity for certain side quests to bring back characters from Mass Effect 2 so we see how they were doing in the meantime since the events of the last game. Yeah, there are fetch quests on the Citadel but I honestly did surprisingly enjoy them because of the context behind the side quests with the dialogue.
Another thing that the story does great is how it integrates with how Shepard is trying to put together the largest fleet and unite all the races, and part of doing besides the main story are the side quest missions I mentioned, meeting up with old characters, and doing the fetch quests that bring in some great dialogue and story moments that will help build up the army to raise your effective military status that will impact the outcome of the endings. This is also further helped by more content that is added by transferring your save file from the last game.
The DLC is also pretty great for the most party. While a lot of it did end up being free DLC for the awesome four player co-op multiplayer, there are others worthy of note for the main story. From Ashes, Omega, Leviathan, and my personal favorite DLC ever, Citadel. I already wrote reviews for each of these DLC except for From Ashes. The reason I didn't review From Ashes was because it essentially just adds a new character, Javik. While I think the DLC is great and Javik is a great character, there's not much to talk about except how he's a good character. He really should have been a part of the main story to begin with and EA's day one DLC bullcrap was so stupid. I always hate it when companies release DLC on the day of the game's release. Each of the DLC though are pretty great and offer a lot more story, war assets to build armies, and just fun moments overall.
The new Citadel hub area was also great honestly. While the Citadel in Mass Effect 1 felt the most expansive and arguably the best, Mass Effect 3 did make it more compact with distinct locations, however more things to do. It's honestly a toss up between which one I like more between the first or third game's Citadel. The second game's Citadel was just disapointing.
The characters are also pretty amazing and even better than ever. Joker is just as snarky as ever, EDI is just as witty as ever, Garrus is still the best space best friend you can ask for, Tali is still the adorable mechanical genius we all know to love, Ashley and Kaidan really have grown ever since Mass Effect 1. Kaidan was honestly my least favorite character from the first game because I found him to be a bit boring, but he's really improved a lot and became a better character in this game, same with Ashley, and of course Liara is still pretty awesome.
The return of other non-party members like Wrex (at least until you play Citadel he becomes usable), Legion, Samara, Jack, Grunt, Kasumi, Zaeed, and not Jacob. Even newcomers like James are definitely welcome. While James isn't a great character and feels awkwardly put into the story, I honestly kinda like him thanks to his great voice work. He's just a simple guy with simple goals and I really respect that. He's still leagues better than Jacob. Even new non-party members like Steve Cortez are pretty likable, though I honestly am not a fan of Samantha Traynor. While she has her moments and can be useful within the plot, she's kind of annoying especially when her sexuality of being lesbian is brought up so many times where it got kind of annoying, especially in Citadel. Cortez I feel like was a far better written gay character.
I also can't finish this review without mentioning how amazing the music is. While the composition is all over the place and completely different a lot of the time, the music is fantastic including the OSTs from the DLC. The game smartly re-uses tracks from Mass Effect 1 such as the iconic track "Vigil". The new iconic tracks such as "Leaving Earth", "An End, Once and For All", "A Moment of Silence/Resolution", "We Face Our Enemy Together", and "Betrayal". The soundtrack is amazing and pulls no punches with the correctly timed emotional impact. It's definitely one of my favorites.
Completing Mass Effect 3 again was a treat. Hell, completing the whole trilogy again was. It's my favorite video game trilogy of all time and that's saying a lot considering a few other favorite trilogies include the Halo trilogy and the BioShock trilogy. This game, while flawed, has some of the worst and best writing in trilogy, best moments, gameplay, character interactions and moments, scenes of laughter, heart warming scenes, fear, and excitement. And once Mass Effect Legendary Edition comes around, this trilogy can finally be experience by so many newcomers who can experience how much of a masterpiece this trilogy is in all its new amazing glory. Keelah se'lai.
10/10
I really don't care what people say, this is my favorite Mass Effect game. Now obviously you can make a good argument for the second or even the first as being the best one in the series, but ever since I first beat this game back in 2018 when I was binging the series, this game was my favorite in the series and even among one of my favorite games ever. Now that I finished replaying it on PC with mods, it's even better than I remember. While I don't think Mass Effect 3 is necessarily perfect and does have some valid issues, I feel like most of them are either outweighed by the good stuff or fixed by the free Extended Cut DLC. Yes, I even like the ending. Well, only one of them in particular but the other two don't bother me since I always pick the ending I like. The characters are as amazing as ever, it has some of the best moments in the series, the DLC is all great, it expands upon the romances to make them actually extremely fleshed out and the best I've seen in a game without being forced, the character and party interactions are very natural, entertaining, and there are a lot, the gameplay is the the series, and the story is fantastic with a great sense of finality.
I'm going to start by saying the gameplay has the best third person shooter combat I've ever played. Mass Effect 1's gameplay was honestly really janky and not good, but could be fun sometimes. Mass Effect 2 improved by a whole lot and was genuinely good, but it felt dated. Mass Effect 3's gameplay is perfect. Now in this game, you're not bound by weapon class restrictions and any class for Shepard could use any weapon type and gun you pick up. It combines the load outs from Mass Effect 1 and 2 by bringing back the weapon modding from Mass Effect 1 with an emphasis on stats like ammo capacity, damage, accuracy, and weight. The weapon load outs were brought back from Mass Effect 2 where there were distinct weapon types that all felt and played different. However, the draw back of being able to use every single weapon is that the more weapons you have or using specific weapons with heavier weight is that the more weight you carry, the slower your powers take to recharge, but depending on your class the amount of weight you can carry varies and you can even reduce the weight of your weapons by using mods, upgrades, or upgrading Shepard's fitness to be able to carry more. I love how customizable Shepard is in this game with armor, casual clothes, and even the ability to customize your squad with different armors with stat modifiers, different weapons, upgrades, and abilities.
Another thing I love about the gameplay is now melee attacks are a major aspect with the combat. The light fast melee attacks are a lot more naturally pulled off and the heavy melee attacks are extremely satisfying and I like how every class has their own unique heavy melee attack that are very distinct in how they function. It also feels like each party member's A.I. is even better than ever before and you can make very quality and overpowered builds for your squad if you think smart enough because I was able to turn Garrus into a complete powerhouse. The gameplay is just fantastic and playing it on PC with 60fps is even better than it was on the Xbox 360 when I first played it two years ago.
One of the downsides though is how in Mass Effect 3 it feels like dialogue choices are less common compared to the previous two games and that neutral responses were removed, however with this downside I feel like a positive was created and that is how Shepard now has more personality than ever before and they feel like a completely and fully realize character. Shepard now has natural back and fourth banter with characters on missions during gameplay, talks with the crew, or interacting with other characters both major and minor. It's honestly great, but it's just a shame dialogue choices are a bit less common. Though I do feel like the Paragon/Renegade morality system got better in this game. Paragon/Renegade is now one meter called reputation instead of two separate meters that measure it out. This way, it's a lot better in my opinion and it makes gaining reputation a lot easier. You can gain reputation by completing side quests or character interactions without dialogue choices, and depending on which morality system is higher you gain points in either Paragon or Renegade. Even though I play mostly paragon in my play throughs, certain renegade decisions are always tempting and fun. The inclusion of bringing back the Paragon/Renegade interruption quick time events was a great choice because they can make for some genuinely great moments that outshine Mass Effect 2 in some ways.
While it's hard for me to choose which Mass Effect game in the trilogy has the best story, I think the third game is my favorite as well. The first game has a great story, the second game was more about the characters and felt like a T.V. show, but the third game really felt like it was on a grand scale even bigger than the last two. Each priority mission really feels amazing with its impact and scale with some of the most gut wrenching and heart pounding moments the series has had. The highpoint in the series for me has got to be Priority: Rannoch. I won't spoil anything, but the build up and payoff is just perfect and it makes it even better depending on your relationship status with Tali. Each mission had some level of grand scale. From the first mission on Earth, to Mars, Palaven, Sur'kesh, Tuchunka, Rannoch, Thessia, Eden Prime, Horrizon, and the final mission on Earth for everything to come around full circle. Not to mention the side quests I feel like are better than ever with lots of given context, character interactions, and more than I'd expect given how they are just side missions. It's also great how they used the opportunity for certain side quests to bring back characters from Mass Effect 2 so we see how they were doing in the meantime since the events of the last game. Yeah, there are fetch quests on the Citadel but I honestly did surprisingly enjoy them because of the context behind the side quests with the dialogue.
Another thing that the story does great is how it integrates with how Shepard is trying to put together the largest fleet and unite all the races, and part of doing besides the main story are the side quest missions I mentioned, meeting up with old characters, and doing the fetch quests that bring in some great dialogue and story moments that will help build up the army to raise your effective military status that will impact the outcome of the endings. This is also further helped by more content that is added by transferring your save file from the last game.
The DLC is also pretty great for the most party. While a lot of it did end up being free DLC for the awesome four player co-op multiplayer, there are others worthy of note for the main story. From Ashes, Omega, Leviathan, and my personal favorite DLC ever, Citadel. I already wrote reviews for each of these DLC except for From Ashes. The reason I didn't review From Ashes was because it essentially just adds a new character, Javik. While I think the DLC is great and Javik is a great character, there's not much to talk about except how he's a good character. He really should have been a part of the main story to begin with and EA's day one DLC bullcrap was so stupid. I always hate it when companies release DLC on the day of the game's release. Each of the DLC though are pretty great and offer a lot more story, war assets to build armies, and just fun moments overall.
The new Citadel hub area was also great honestly. While the Citadel in Mass Effect 1 felt the most expansive and arguably the best, Mass Effect 3 did make it more compact with distinct locations, however more things to do. It's honestly a toss up between which one I like more between the first or third game's Citadel. The second game's Citadel was just disapointing.
The characters are also pretty amazing and even better than ever. Joker is just as snarky as ever, EDI is just as witty as ever, Garrus is still the best space best friend you can ask for, Tali is still the adorable mechanical genius we all know to love, Ashley and Kaidan really have grown ever since Mass Effect 1. Kaidan was honestly my least favorite character from the first game because I found him to be a bit boring, but he's really improved a lot and became a better character in this game, same with Ashley, and of course Liara is still pretty awesome.
The return of other non-party members like Wrex (at least until you play Citadel he becomes usable), Legion, Samara, Jack, Grunt, Kasumi, Zaeed, and not Jacob. Even newcomers like James are definitely welcome. While James isn't a great character and feels awkwardly put into the story, I honestly kinda like him thanks to his great voice work. He's just a simple guy with simple goals and I really respect that. He's still leagues better than Jacob. Even new non-party members like Steve Cortez are pretty likable, though I honestly am not a fan of Samantha Traynor. While she has her moments and can be useful within the plot, she's kind of annoying especially when her sexuality of being lesbian is brought up so many times where it got kind of annoying, especially in Citadel. Cortez I feel like was a far better written gay character.
I also can't finish this review without mentioning how amazing the music is. While the composition is all over the place and completely different a lot of the time, the music is fantastic including the OSTs from the DLC. The game smartly re-uses tracks from Mass Effect 1 such as the iconic track "Vigil". The new iconic tracks such as "Leaving Earth", "An End, Once and For All", "A Moment of Silence/Resolution", "We Face Our Enemy Together", and "Betrayal". The soundtrack is amazing and pulls no punches with the correctly timed emotional impact. It's definitely one of my favorites.
Completing Mass Effect 3 again was a treat. Hell, completing the whole trilogy again was. It's my favorite video game trilogy of all time and that's saying a lot considering a few other favorite trilogies include the Halo trilogy and the BioShock trilogy. This game, while flawed, has some of the worst and best writing in trilogy, best moments, gameplay, character interactions and moments, scenes of laughter, heart warming scenes, fear, and excitement. And once Mass Effect Legendary Edition comes around, this trilogy can finally be experience by so many newcomers who can experience how much of a masterpiece this trilogy is in all its new amazing glory. Keelah se'lai.
10/10
This review contains spoilers
It took me like 3 years to actually finish this replay good god. Got a big essay about these coming... soon, so look forward to that!
I did play it on the highest difficulty, but this is a supremely cool action game. They finally figured it out. Big, expressive classes with bombastic powers that interact in simple but strategic ways. This is the least expressive ME as an RPG, which was already slim, but goddamn it feels so good! Shooting infantry with fiery ammo and then exploding with them a biotic attack... Truly never gets old.
Narratively this is. well. hmm. All of ME3's core conflicts boil down to "can't we just get along?!" Shepard as UN ambassador to the stars. Nice to have some moments where they get legitimately humbled that cannot be negotiated away, but this is as vapid a power fantasy as the series has ever been. The thing that ME1 has over all the others is tone; it's melancholy and spacious. Basically all that is evacuated here in favor of Naughty Dog blockbuster design. This is also maybe the weakest core cast of the series, which is admittedly helped a lot by the frequent cameos from previous party members.
Thane is still MVP. The only person in the franchise that really feels three-dimensional and it's nice that he just gets a lot to do. His deathbed scene is the single most moving part of the franchise to me and it's the only moment that questions Shepard in a resonant way.
The other thing that emotionally works here is despair. The flickering moments Shepard spends on the ground of massive scale conflicts underline that, no matter how "good" you are at the game or how many persuasion checks you pass, a lot of people are dying. This has some political... issues. The only thing that can defeat the reapers is throwing lives into the grinder, accelerating the war machine. There's a mission where you recruit child soldiers and then they turn into numbers in your spreadsheet! But if you can take it on its own terms (I can't personally lol) there's some legitimate melodrama!
The ending itself both tries to make you powerful and weak and therefore it doesn't really succeed at either. You HAVE to be the galaxy's most special boy or girl, but also you can't just win outright. Think the game does a fine job with that incredibly tough hand, but it would help a lot if the stakes weren't scaffolded by being the GREAT MAN who is willing to make the HARD CHOICES.
This is moment-to-moment the most successful Mass Effect I think, but it gets that through a slickness that lacks some of the last twos compelling edges. Despite it all, I thought a lot about ME1's empty spaces. Would make a big difference to have that kind of emotional room here.
I did play it on the highest difficulty, but this is a supremely cool action game. They finally figured it out. Big, expressive classes with bombastic powers that interact in simple but strategic ways. This is the least expressive ME as an RPG, which was already slim, but goddamn it feels so good! Shooting infantry with fiery ammo and then exploding with them a biotic attack... Truly never gets old.
Narratively this is. well. hmm. All of ME3's core conflicts boil down to "can't we just get along?!" Shepard as UN ambassador to the stars. Nice to have some moments where they get legitimately humbled that cannot be negotiated away, but this is as vapid a power fantasy as the series has ever been. The thing that ME1 has over all the others is tone; it's melancholy and spacious. Basically all that is evacuated here in favor of Naughty Dog blockbuster design. This is also maybe the weakest core cast of the series, which is admittedly helped a lot by the frequent cameos from previous party members.
Thane is still MVP. The only person in the franchise that really feels three-dimensional and it's nice that he just gets a lot to do. His deathbed scene is the single most moving part of the franchise to me and it's the only moment that questions Shepard in a resonant way.
The other thing that emotionally works here is despair. The flickering moments Shepard spends on the ground of massive scale conflicts underline that, no matter how "good" you are at the game or how many persuasion checks you pass, a lot of people are dying. This has some political... issues. The only thing that can defeat the reapers is throwing lives into the grinder, accelerating the war machine. There's a mission where you recruit child soldiers and then they turn into numbers in your spreadsheet! But if you can take it on its own terms (I can't personally lol) there's some legitimate melodrama!
The ending itself both tries to make you powerful and weak and therefore it doesn't really succeed at either. You HAVE to be the galaxy's most special boy or girl, but also you can't just win outright. Think the game does a fine job with that incredibly tough hand, but it would help a lot if the stakes weren't scaffolded by being the GREAT MAN who is willing to make the HARD CHOICES.
This is moment-to-moment the most successful Mass Effect I think, but it gets that through a slickness that lacks some of the last twos compelling edges. Despite it all, I thought a lot about ME1's empty spaces. Would make a big difference to have that kind of emotional room here.
Mass Effect 3 is a perfect way to wrap up Bioware’s storied space epic. Earth is gone, Palaven is gone, the entire universe is at the mercy of an ancient threat reawakon, how does one man (or woman) end this enemy once and for all? The answer is with the help of every damn species from the Milky Way onward (except for those dang Batarians!) While many had justifiable qualms with the ending of the game the first go around, it has since been adjusted to do more justice than I could have ever imagined. I won’t get into spoilers because ME is a series I wish everyone could experience (and it feels like everyone has) but I don’t think this game deserves the hate it gets for the way it wrapped the legendary story up.
The only thing I don’t like about ME3 Is the UI but outside of that? The game is damn near perfect. You spend the last time you’ll ever have with the Normandy crew, and thanks to missions like the Citadel DLC you get to witness soldiers being humans, partying and living their lives as it if were (and for some is) their last day alive. Visiting and checking in on your crew has been a mainstay of the ME series and in game number three it feels even more bittersweet and important than ever before. Checking in with Ashley, Tali, Garrus, and Liara makes it feel like visiting an old friend before they move away for good. These characters, and credit to the original Bioware crew, have an insane amount of depth and intricacies to make them feel unique in a species of trillions. You go from a run of the mill space commander in ME1 to the person responsible for the fate of every living being, synthetic and organic. I think a novel could be written about why Mass Effect is so special, and in particular this game, but I will let the game itself do it justice. There’s a reason that Jennifer Hale (English VA for Femshep) hosts an N7 day call with most of the cast every year on November 7th, it’s because the game has a special sense of unity and belonging for so many. The voice acting is leagues above most of the gaming landscape and particularly was for time, bringing to life some of the most colorful and impactful characters in the history of the medium.
I’m Commander Shepard and this is my favorite game in the Mass Effect universe.
The only thing I don’t like about ME3 Is the UI but outside of that? The game is damn near perfect. You spend the last time you’ll ever have with the Normandy crew, and thanks to missions like the Citadel DLC you get to witness soldiers being humans, partying and living their lives as it if were (and for some is) their last day alive. Visiting and checking in on your crew has been a mainstay of the ME series and in game number three it feels even more bittersweet and important than ever before. Checking in with Ashley, Tali, Garrus, and Liara makes it feel like visiting an old friend before they move away for good. These characters, and credit to the original Bioware crew, have an insane amount of depth and intricacies to make them feel unique in a species of trillions. You go from a run of the mill space commander in ME1 to the person responsible for the fate of every living being, synthetic and organic. I think a novel could be written about why Mass Effect is so special, and in particular this game, but I will let the game itself do it justice. There’s a reason that Jennifer Hale (English VA for Femshep) hosts an N7 day call with most of the cast every year on November 7th, it’s because the game has a special sense of unity and belonging for so many. The voice acting is leagues above most of the gaming landscape and particularly was for time, bringing to life some of the most colorful and impactful characters in the history of the medium.
I’m Commander Shepard and this is my favorite game in the Mass Effect universe.
And so my journey with the Mass Effect trilogy has come to an end. Going through these games for the first time throughout this past year has been nothing less than a wonderful experience, a great opportunity to finally catch up with some of my largest gaming blindspots, and it has also lead me to discovering some new favorites. I went into the divisive third game skeptical but also incredibly excited. I was excited to jump back into a world that i loved so much, excited to spend more time with the characters that I grew to care about across the span of the first 2 games, excited to see how bioware would seal off Shepard’s story that i felt so deeply and intrinsically invested in. Finally having played the game though? I can say with certainty that I thoroughly enjoyed Mass Effect 3 and I would even feel comfortable declaring that I loved it. This is a flawed game that lacks the sheer quality and butter smooth pacing of Mass Effect 2 (which is incidentally one of my top 5 favorite games) but there's still a lot to like here. There are a handful of genuinely poignant emotional beats that make this game well worth experiencing. Certain character moments (Mordins sacrifice just as an example) have stuck with me even after finishing the game and they rank among my favorite moments in the entire trilogy. The action set pieces are by and large excellent while the visual presentation remains top notch. This game is also comparatively much darker in tone than the prior Mass Effect games, both in its stark themes, and its focus on a more somber story. This is a game which really stews in a gradual sense of dread and harrowing despair, particularly towards the climax of the story where all of your best efforts appear to be rendered futile as all hope seems lost, further galvanized by the games frequent emphasizing of mortality and bloodshed. The culminating ending (while imperfect and messy in its execution) ultimately provided me with a measure of well earned emotional catharsis, allowing me to reflect on just how much this story, this world, these characters, and this trilogy in general has meant to me. All of these aspects i’ve mentioned all point to the same conclusion. That Mass Effect 3 is not a bad game at all and it is in fact worthy of greater consideration. The gameplay alone is incredibly polished and engaging but the narrative, world building, and thematic weight, further elevate the experience, providing some intellectual meat to chew on. This game offered me a lot and if nothing else it deserves better than to be carelessly dismissed entirely on the basis of its ending.
(Notice: I completed this before Senua's Sacrifice in case of any journal and review timeline confusion)
Although I had some problems with the changes from Mass Effect 2 to Mass Effect 3, I really enjoyed the ending to the trilogy. I didn't like how they kept changing the layout of the Normandy, especially considering I played all 3 games in under 2 weeks. This made it particularly annoying as I wasn't able to accustom myself to a singular interior layout design.
In terms of the game's ending, my personal take is it makes it easier for Bioware to start a new game or future trilogy with a new main character and companions. The plot twists in this game were amazing and the characters were as good as always.
Eventually, I want to purchase and play through the Mass Effect Legendary Edition, so I can experience the additional DLCs and play in a different style to get a new and alternative perspective to the main storyline.
Although I had some problems with the changes from Mass Effect 2 to Mass Effect 3, I really enjoyed the ending to the trilogy. I didn't like how they kept changing the layout of the Normandy, especially considering I played all 3 games in under 2 weeks. This made it particularly annoying as I wasn't able to accustom myself to a singular interior layout design.
In terms of the game's ending, my personal take is it makes it easier for Bioware to start a new game or future trilogy with a new main character and companions. The plot twists in this game were amazing and the characters were as good as always.
Eventually, I want to purchase and play through the Mass Effect Legendary Edition, so I can experience the additional DLCs and play in a different style to get a new and alternative perspective to the main storyline.
um pacing inconsistente, conclusão decepcionante para narrativa da saga junto de uma simplificação dos elementos de rpg, tornam este o jogo mais fraco da trilogia shepard
I actually had a pretty good time with this. The decade of hearing people complain endlessly about it certainly kept my expectations low which probably helped me see it in a better light. Sure there's plenty of dumb things like EDI's cringe hookup with Joker, Kai Leng hopping out of a naruto fanfiction into a mostly-serious sci-fi world, and the unbearably goofy child PTSD dreams, but there's plenty to like as well. The rest of the game is still Mass Effect and it's still enjoyable to go on missions with your squad and make choices in the story, regardless of it just building up to the "choose your ending" scene. There's plenty of solid interactions, especially in the Citadel DLC, and I quite enjoyed how high-stakes the story felt leading up to the final confrontation with the reapers. Also Javik is cool.
Acredito que a franquia tem padrão de qualidade, ela é boa.
Esse terceiro jogo pra mim foi o pior no quesito interface para missões e contém a pior exploração de todos mas é o que coleciona missões mais "épicas" e diversificadas de ambientação. Uma conclusão maneira. Acredito que vale a pena jogar a trilogia
Esse terceiro jogo pra mim foi o pior no quesito interface para missões e contém a pior exploração de todos mas é o que coleciona missões mais "épicas" e diversificadas de ambientação. Uma conclusão maneira. Acredito que vale a pena jogar a trilogia
When Mass Effect 3 originally came out I hated it. This was more than just because of the infamous ending but I had a lot of issues with it as a whole. I never went back to it when the extended version was released or when any of the DLC came out and I've been kind of bitter about it for years. I built it up in my head to be an unplayable mess and yet going back to it 10 years later with fresh eyes and a different temperament with age... I found myself having a really good time with it.
Oh sure, the problems I had with it are still there. The stripped back quest system is painfully stupid, the dialogue being cut back to almost simple good or bad answers with nothing in-between, the Reapers chasing you on the map, the playable cast feeling like a step back, not being able to put your gun away, Kai Leng's edgy '14 year old boy's idea of cool' existence etc. The game is plagued with little issues that seemingly come from pulling the game together at the last moment. Bioware themselves referred to this as the "Bioware Magic":
"BioWare former executive producer Mark Darrah has shared his thoughts on the so-called “BioWare magic.” The expression, which was used at the company, means getting stuck during the development process for an indefinite time and then finishing the project shortly before launch as if by magic."
And in my opinion Mass Effect 3 is the first game Bioware made where the cracks of this are plainly visible for players to see. (Well maybe Dragon age II...) The game doesn't feel quite finished in a lot of areas and it's a shame because despite much younger me being bitter about it for not reaching the hype I'd built in my head, there is actually a lot of good here.
The combat is excellent, the best in the series in my opinion. It's pretty fast paced, being able to map abilities, roll, direct team mates, launch cool abilities and combos etc. It takes all the best parts of Mass Effect 2 and builds on them. What really makes them good though are the combat arenas, tight well designed battle areas pushing you to use strategy and cover especially on harder difficulties. My issue with Andromeda's combat despite smoother animations and movement was just the areas you fight in were often so large, empty and bland. Mass Effect 3 has the right balance to make each fight feel intense and fun.
Some of the moment to moment dialogue and story beats are also great, bringing back all the cast and decisions into the game must have been extremely difficult and yet I think it's done well overall to link it all together. Mass Effect 3's biggest issue isn't even Mass Effect 3, it's Mass Effect 2. The ending of 2 as awesome as it was would have been better as the ending of 3 to finish the trilogy. As it is, 2 wrote Bioware into a corner due to the suicide mission. Having to account for the possibility of not every character being alive. (No one gets left behind on my watch) limits their appearances and who is playable and also accounts for a slightly weaker playable cast. Despite this though I feel they did a good job in the story beats with Mordin, Tali, Legion etc. Some are stronger than others but to take account for everything was accomplished better than I remember and I do feel Bioware deserve credit for this.
I genuinely had fun meeting the cast, seeing the huge set pieces as the galaxy overcomes it's differences. Most of my complaints that seemed big at the time I actually see as a lot smaller replaying it now. The DLC adds a lot to this with the inclusion of Javik as a playable character, playing the citadel to relink up with everyone was amazing and how Leviathan, such an important part of the game was pushed to DLC is beyond me as it does give more context to Mass Effect 3's initial awful ending.
Speaking of which, I had to address this at some point but the ending to this game even with additional DLC and content is still awful. I got the destroy ending with enough military force behind me for the best possible outcome and it's still insanely unsatisfying. There is a point where things were fine, it would have been a good place to stop. Lacked the adrenaline pounding moments of storming the citadel or the suicide mission, but it was fine. Then it goes a step further and that's where it crumbles. It's a real shame Bioware couldn't hold it all together in the end, even with that ending it's still one of the best trilogies in gaming but this is where Bioware's magic started to run out. I hope they can recapture their glory years going forward with the next Mass Effect game in development.
Mass Effect 3 isn't a bad game though, in fact completely revising my opinion, I think it's a good one, just a little flawed.
+ Combat encounters are fantastic.
+ Story beats linking to earlier games are generally well done.
+ Great visuals, music and voice acting.
- Quests are still awful.
- Ending is terrible even with additional content.
- Plethora of smaller issues.
- Kai Leng.
Oh sure, the problems I had with it are still there. The stripped back quest system is painfully stupid, the dialogue being cut back to almost simple good or bad answers with nothing in-between, the Reapers chasing you on the map, the playable cast feeling like a step back, not being able to put your gun away, Kai Leng's edgy '14 year old boy's idea of cool' existence etc. The game is plagued with little issues that seemingly come from pulling the game together at the last moment. Bioware themselves referred to this as the "Bioware Magic":
"BioWare former executive producer Mark Darrah has shared his thoughts on the so-called “BioWare magic.” The expression, which was used at the company, means getting stuck during the development process for an indefinite time and then finishing the project shortly before launch as if by magic."
And in my opinion Mass Effect 3 is the first game Bioware made where the cracks of this are plainly visible for players to see. (Well maybe Dragon age II...) The game doesn't feel quite finished in a lot of areas and it's a shame because despite much younger me being bitter about it for not reaching the hype I'd built in my head, there is actually a lot of good here.
The combat is excellent, the best in the series in my opinion. It's pretty fast paced, being able to map abilities, roll, direct team mates, launch cool abilities and combos etc. It takes all the best parts of Mass Effect 2 and builds on them. What really makes them good though are the combat arenas, tight well designed battle areas pushing you to use strategy and cover especially on harder difficulties. My issue with Andromeda's combat despite smoother animations and movement was just the areas you fight in were often so large, empty and bland. Mass Effect 3 has the right balance to make each fight feel intense and fun.
Some of the moment to moment dialogue and story beats are also great, bringing back all the cast and decisions into the game must have been extremely difficult and yet I think it's done well overall to link it all together. Mass Effect 3's biggest issue isn't even Mass Effect 3, it's Mass Effect 2. The ending of 2 as awesome as it was would have been better as the ending of 3 to finish the trilogy. As it is, 2 wrote Bioware into a corner due to the suicide mission. Having to account for the possibility of not every character being alive. (No one gets left behind on my watch) limits their appearances and who is playable and also accounts for a slightly weaker playable cast. Despite this though I feel they did a good job in the story beats with Mordin, Tali, Legion etc. Some are stronger than others but to take account for everything was accomplished better than I remember and I do feel Bioware deserve credit for this.
I genuinely had fun meeting the cast, seeing the huge set pieces as the galaxy overcomes it's differences. Most of my complaints that seemed big at the time I actually see as a lot smaller replaying it now. The DLC adds a lot to this with the inclusion of Javik as a playable character, playing the citadel to relink up with everyone was amazing and how Leviathan, such an important part of the game was pushed to DLC is beyond me as it does give more context to Mass Effect 3's initial awful ending.
Speaking of which, I had to address this at some point but the ending to this game even with additional DLC and content is still awful. I got the destroy ending with enough military force behind me for the best possible outcome and it's still insanely unsatisfying. There is a point where things were fine, it would have been a good place to stop. Lacked the adrenaline pounding moments of storming the citadel or the suicide mission, but it was fine. Then it goes a step further and that's where it crumbles. It's a real shame Bioware couldn't hold it all together in the end, even with that ending it's still one of the best trilogies in gaming but this is where Bioware's magic started to run out. I hope they can recapture their glory years going forward with the next Mass Effect game in development.
Mass Effect 3 isn't a bad game though, in fact completely revising my opinion, I think it's a good one, just a little flawed.
+ Combat encounters are fantastic.
+ Story beats linking to earlier games are generally well done.
+ Great visuals, music and voice acting.
- Quests are still awful.
- Ending is terrible even with additional content.
- Plethora of smaller issues.
- Kai Leng.
Yes the ending leaves a lot to be desired, but the journey is one that has stuck with me forever. These characters become your friends and this game is the culmination of one of the greatest stories told in video games. The missions are consequential, combat is refined and the pacing is pushed along great by the inevitable reaper threat. It also has a collection of the best dlcs of the series that probably shouldn't be dlc to begin with but that is solved by the Legendary Edition!
Regardless of what your feelings on Mass Effect 3 are, it's safe to say the debacle and controversy surrounding the ending gave it and BioWare one of the biggest set of kicks around. Anyone and everyone had somethin to say about it, even if you weren't a fan of the series or, in my case, didn't even know about its existence until it finally happened. I'm far from the first to talk about the woes and inevitable blowback ME3 has faced due to the inherently troubling idea of Making Choices Matter just, causing so much issues to create an ending to satisfy the playerbase. Every now and then we unearth something new regarding original ending ideas, but even still that just sort of goes back to how again, putting so much pressure and emphasis on player choice just creates a deeper hole and bigger shoes to barely fill meaningfully.
I initially wasn't this dismissive to ME3. Like most people who were getting into the trilogy for the first time after that simmered down, I was very much into it. Yet, the more I thought about it, the more I looked into the writing problems, the more I replay this trilogy over the years, the more the cracks started to sprout all over the place, to the point all I can see now, is a structurally messy and underdeveloped game, and for something that's supposed to be THE ending point of a longrunning and popular franchise, that's an undeniable problem. I won't go over every mismanaged aspect of the game, quite frankly you've more than likely heard it all before especially in the three links I first provided, but I do want to talk about a few things regardless.
Firstly, this is one of, if not the schmaltziest, most melodramatic movie-style frame BioWare has done in their entire time existing. Yea, I know this makes sense, but when the opening prologue is a Sad Piano Piece playing during the bombardment of Earth, a planet my recent Shepard shouldn't even care that much about since they were of the Spacer background, as you see a transport car carrying a small child you just met blow up from a Reaper blast, I seriously can't see it as anything other than unintentional hilarity at that point. This isn't even getting into how jolted and frankly bizarre the PTSD segments are centering around this child that you once again just met, something that wouldn't even make much sense for a Renegade player since, ya know, their ruthlessness is sort of the point of them all. ME1 mostly stuck these grand, momentous setpieces and sequences to more important beats, specifically during climactic battlegrounds, opting to stick as grounded as possible. ME2 throws it out the window with its opening what with the whole Lazarus Project spiel, but even then that still attempted (and granted, succeeds in) keeping some of that ground aspect in different interludes and moments to maintain that sense of buildup. ME3, I struggle to think of moments where the game relaxes - and I mean FULLY, relaxes - from the ongoings of the story.
Secondly, side questing is like an after thought, turning into mundane fetch quests you get by awkwardly standing still and overhearing someone, then go out to the Galaxy Map in order to find these relics or items or whatever they want, then go back. Oh but wait, there's also these random and Obviously Not Multiplayer Promoting missions where you go to an area and do... whatever it is the people need you to do there. I did like ME3's multiplayer, but the inclusion of these doesn't really help matters, especially with Legendary Edition opting to get rid of the feature entirely making these even more of an outlier than ever. Character interactions are still there, but they feel downplayed, and while this makes sense for most of the cast due to more or less being fully developed, characters like Cortez - who, quite honestly, is my main sticking point as to why BioWare's inclusion is somewhat of a farce even relative to the other AAA studios' attempts at the time, due to the whole romance part being taken after his husband has died and remembers him almost every encounter, also doubling to the rather crude power-dynamic nature of romancing hard subordinates - Traynor, and even the Virmire Survivor (AKA, Ashley or Kaiden) don't really get this opportunity unless you go out of your way to romance them. Vega is cool, mainly cause having the most dudebro character in the trilogy ironically makes him rather endearing due to how out-of-place he tends to get, and EDI's arc with Joker is one of my favorites here, but it's not enough unfortunately.
Back on the setpieces though, after the prologue finish they turn into either Oorah, Chest-Beating Kickass glory, or the stupidest and most contrived sequences of events to pad out and force in tension and drama. Understandable as these can be for a story, the utilization of them comes to a point where it just becomes eye-rolling and obnoxious. What once gave me joy in seeing a quasi-Kaiju fight against a Thresher Maw and a Reaper now turned into stoneface apathy due to knowing how the rest of the story goes, literally everything to do with Kai Leng is a massive headache, and Cerberus turning into the most generic Big Evil Sci-Fi Corporation Focused On Humanity's Prospects is still one of the most disappointing things to have happened here. It only truly gets broken near the end since even disregarding the actual ending, not only does the final fight barely muster the energy of a final bout and last chance, but the sudden shift from unification and togetherness through the face of uncertainty to a tertiary theme of Organics Vs. Synthetics that you can be able to solve almost 15 hours prior is.. bewildering.
With all that said, I do want to highlight a final note about this game, this time not only positive but outside it. While not as extensive or in-depth as some other notable PC games, the situations surrounding ME3 gave way to multiple people wanting to do what they can to make the most out of the bad, and seeing the modding community work on both the original release and now Legendary Edition remaster over on NexusMods has been a legitimate delight of mine. I don't want to hype it up too much, especially since even with some of these mods my feelings on the game ultimately ended up the same, but it's been such a blast seeing different content creators do a big project to try and enhance and fix up the finale, to the point I even referenced a couple during my prior retrospective reviews. I'm pretty sure most have heard about one of the ending mods, Expanded Galaxy Mod, and/or ThaneMOD, but touches to the Spectre role via Spectre Expansion, the MirandaMOD, and different revamps to the final mission to actually give it the edge it needs has been so cool to see as well.
When I finished ME3 last year, I said that it would've been better if it was made in a 3-year period, instead of what Bioware did and making it a 1-year deal into a twofer. While the ending more than likely still wouldn't have been as satisfying - I'm tellin y'all as someone that has somehow still stuck by here, that would always end up representing and culminating all the problems the studio's obsession with continuity and fetish for hard-armed choices - I do at the very least think the seams and cracks wouldn't be as noticeable as they are now. I know a lot of people, despite everything, like and perhaps even love this like I once did, and more power to you folks, but quite frankly, I can't really reinvigorate those same feelings for this again. The bridges have been burnt to a crisp for a good half-decade at this point.
I initially wasn't this dismissive to ME3. Like most people who were getting into the trilogy for the first time after that simmered down, I was very much into it. Yet, the more I thought about it, the more I looked into the writing problems, the more I replay this trilogy over the years, the more the cracks started to sprout all over the place, to the point all I can see now, is a structurally messy and underdeveloped game, and for something that's supposed to be THE ending point of a longrunning and popular franchise, that's an undeniable problem. I won't go over every mismanaged aspect of the game, quite frankly you've more than likely heard it all before especially in the three links I first provided, but I do want to talk about a few things regardless.
Firstly, this is one of, if not the schmaltziest, most melodramatic movie-style frame BioWare has done in their entire time existing. Yea, I know this makes sense, but when the opening prologue is a Sad Piano Piece playing during the bombardment of Earth, a planet my recent Shepard shouldn't even care that much about since they were of the Spacer background, as you see a transport car carrying a small child you just met blow up from a Reaper blast, I seriously can't see it as anything other than unintentional hilarity at that point. This isn't even getting into how jolted and frankly bizarre the PTSD segments are centering around this child that you once again just met, something that wouldn't even make much sense for a Renegade player since, ya know, their ruthlessness is sort of the point of them all. ME1 mostly stuck these grand, momentous setpieces and sequences to more important beats, specifically during climactic battlegrounds, opting to stick as grounded as possible. ME2 throws it out the window with its opening what with the whole Lazarus Project spiel, but even then that still attempted (and granted, succeeds in) keeping some of that ground aspect in different interludes and moments to maintain that sense of buildup. ME3, I struggle to think of moments where the game relaxes - and I mean FULLY, relaxes - from the ongoings of the story.
Secondly, side questing is like an after thought, turning into mundane fetch quests you get by awkwardly standing still and overhearing someone, then go out to the Galaxy Map in order to find these relics or items or whatever they want, then go back. Oh but wait, there's also these random and Obviously Not Multiplayer Promoting missions where you go to an area and do... whatever it is the people need you to do there. I did like ME3's multiplayer, but the inclusion of these doesn't really help matters, especially with Legendary Edition opting to get rid of the feature entirely making these even more of an outlier than ever. Character interactions are still there, but they feel downplayed, and while this makes sense for most of the cast due to more or less being fully developed, characters like Cortez - who, quite honestly, is my main sticking point as to why BioWare's inclusion is somewhat of a farce even relative to the other AAA studios' attempts at the time, due to the whole romance part being taken after his husband has died and remembers him almost every encounter, also doubling to the rather crude power-dynamic nature of romancing hard subordinates - Traynor, and even the Virmire Survivor (AKA, Ashley or Kaiden) don't really get this opportunity unless you go out of your way to romance them. Vega is cool, mainly cause having the most dudebro character in the trilogy ironically makes him rather endearing due to how out-of-place he tends to get, and EDI's arc with Joker is one of my favorites here, but it's not enough unfortunately.
Back on the setpieces though, after the prologue finish they turn into either Oorah, Chest-Beating Kickass glory, or the stupidest and most contrived sequences of events to pad out and force in tension and drama. Understandable as these can be for a story, the utilization of them comes to a point where it just becomes eye-rolling and obnoxious. What once gave me joy in seeing a quasi-Kaiju fight against a Thresher Maw and a Reaper now turned into stoneface apathy due to knowing how the rest of the story goes, literally everything to do with Kai Leng is a massive headache, and Cerberus turning into the most generic Big Evil Sci-Fi Corporation Focused On Humanity's Prospects is still one of the most disappointing things to have happened here. It only truly gets broken near the end since even disregarding the actual ending, not only does the final fight barely muster the energy of a final bout and last chance, but the sudden shift from unification and togetherness through the face of uncertainty to a tertiary theme of Organics Vs. Synthetics that you can be able to solve almost 15 hours prior is.. bewildering.
With all that said, I do want to highlight a final note about this game, this time not only positive but outside it. While not as extensive or in-depth as some other notable PC games, the situations surrounding ME3 gave way to multiple people wanting to do what they can to make the most out of the bad, and seeing the modding community work on both the original release and now Legendary Edition remaster over on NexusMods has been a legitimate delight of mine. I don't want to hype it up too much, especially since even with some of these mods my feelings on the game ultimately ended up the same, but it's been such a blast seeing different content creators do a big project to try and enhance and fix up the finale, to the point I even referenced a couple during my prior retrospective reviews. I'm pretty sure most have heard about one of the ending mods, Expanded Galaxy Mod, and/or ThaneMOD, but touches to the Spectre role via Spectre Expansion, the MirandaMOD, and different revamps to the final mission to actually give it the edge it needs has been so cool to see as well.
When I finished ME3 last year, I said that it would've been better if it was made in a 3-year period, instead of what Bioware did and making it a 1-year deal into a twofer. While the ending more than likely still wouldn't have been as satisfying - I'm tellin y'all as someone that has somehow still stuck by here, that would always end up representing and culminating all the problems the studio's obsession with continuity and fetish for hard-armed choices - I do at the very least think the seams and cracks wouldn't be as noticeable as they are now. I know a lot of people, despite everything, like and perhaps even love this like I once did, and more power to you folks, but quite frankly, I can't really reinvigorate those same feelings for this again. The bridges have been burnt to a crisp for a good half-decade at this point.
End of the legendary trilogy.
As like the previous games, it has an amazing casts of characters. The ending could be better, but other than that, it is a really epic finale for the trilogy. The Citadel might also be one of the best DLC I have ever played.
my wife died
Low key my favourite of the trilogy.
Not without faults but I feel that mechanically it's the closest to to what I think the trilogy wanted to be.
A few nitpicks are - the map still sucks.
There are a ton of neat weapons to try but the game doesn't really want you to? Guns are hella expensive and require upgrades on top of it, you also can't freely change your loadout during missions and are severely limited by carrying capacity.
Galaxy scanning ia somehow worse - hot and cold with reapers on your tail got dull very fast.
I really liked the story - there are a few sore spots like the Metal Gear Reject and a couple beats at the ending but overall I felt there were good dramatic beats and most of the cast recieved a satisfying arc conclusion.
I liked that none of the endings are perfect, it felt true to the theme of the game.
Citadel DLC was a breath of fresh air, it's very wheadon-ish but I think it works well as a pallet cleanser and a momentarily pause before shit goes down.
I have some hot takes about choices and romances in the trilogy but I'll keep it for the Legendary Edition.
Not without faults but I feel that mechanically it's the closest to to what I think the trilogy wanted to be.
A few nitpicks are - the map still sucks.
There are a ton of neat weapons to try but the game doesn't really want you to? Guns are hella expensive and require upgrades on top of it, you also can't freely change your loadout during missions and are severely limited by carrying capacity.
Galaxy scanning ia somehow worse - hot and cold with reapers on your tail got dull very fast.
I really liked the story - there are a few sore spots like the Metal Gear Reject and a couple beats at the ending but overall I felt there were good dramatic beats and most of the cast recieved a satisfying arc conclusion.
I liked that none of the endings are perfect, it felt true to the theme of the game.
Citadel DLC was a breath of fresh air, it's very wheadon-ish but I think it works well as a pallet cleanser and a momentarily pause before shit goes down.
I have some hot takes about choices and romances in the trilogy but I'll keep it for the Legendary Edition.
imagine bitches hating an entire game bc the ending was a bit lacking
"Jeg kan gøre det her hele dagen." -Loki "Steve Rogers" Laufeyson
Thor ankommer tilbage til Jorden igen, men det er ligegyldigt, for han havde ingen at kalde småt og småt
klip tilbage til captain america "Jeg kan gøre det her hele dagen." siger han, da Loke forvandler sig til Tony stark. *danser mod thor"
"hvad er det for noget, kammerat? MC hammer? kan du ikke røre det her? don
't touch this." loki fjerner sin illusion for at afsløre The Inquippable Ron Man, der spørger fra hjertet (skærmen springer tilbage til slutningen af Ron Man III (3))
"whats wrong buddy howsit happening MC Hammer (publikum klapper i lårene ved samme vittighed)" siger steve america til stark man
hele prutverdenen falder ned på jorden og begynder at lave armbøjninger "HAKADAAKAKKAKAAKAKAKA CHUCKAKAKAKA SNEEDOKALA" siger prutterne
(Amerikas note: Jeg forstod denne reference)
hulk lukker døren og forlader rummet.
jim lee: 'nuff said!
Thor ankommer tilbage til Jorden igen, men det er ligegyldigt, for han havde ingen at kalde småt og småt
klip tilbage til captain america "Jeg kan gøre det her hele dagen." siger han, da Loke forvandler sig til Tony stark. *danser mod thor"
"hvad er det for noget, kammerat? MC hammer? kan du ikke røre det her? don
't touch this." loki fjerner sin illusion for at afsløre The Inquippable Ron Man, der spørger fra hjertet (skærmen springer tilbage til slutningen af Ron Man III (3))
"whats wrong buddy howsit happening MC Hammer (publikum klapper i lårene ved samme vittighed)" siger steve america til stark man
hele prutverdenen falder ned på jorden og begynder at lave armbøjninger "HAKADAAKAKKAKAAKAKAKA CHUCKAKAKAKA SNEEDOKALA" siger prutterne
(Amerikas note: Jeg forstod denne reference)
hulk lukker døren og forlader rummet.
jim lee: 'nuff said!
Society would be better if the team behind ME made this in a 3-year time period, instead of initially making it a one-year deal extended into a two-year.
I liked it a lot but yeah that ending is....not great. I was kind of hoping that y'all were over hyping it but it was a bummer and left me pretty hollow when the credits rolled. I think it would be easy for me to rate this lower just on that alone, but when I think of ME3 I will think of the journey not the destination.
Great game for the time, the multiplayer was awesome, great community, with DLCs it really feels like a proper send-off to the trilogy. Play it in the remastered version
Not nearly as bad as some people say, brilliant. Maybe the base game is a bit lacking but the legendary edition is fantastic with all the additional DLC. I can see why the end is underwhelming for some but it didn’t bother me much personally, at least with the extended DLC. The game is clearly rushed tho which is a real shame, I think with a year or more in the oven this could be on the same level as Mass Effect 2. Hopefully the new one is actually good too, I guess we’ll see but I doubt it.
A controversial opinion I know, but this is the best of the trilogy. The combat is slightly improved, beloved characters all return and the stakes have never been higher. The Reapers are genuinely terrifying and provoke an atmosphere of desperation throughout the entire game. Decisions really do have a mass effect, affecting entire races and civilisations. Unfortunately the squad size is smaller than previous installments (Also, I wish I could romance EDI...) and the ending is not good to say the least. But the unsatisfying ending often unfairly overshadows the rest of this amazing game.
Even though it's a less focused experience with some glaring pacing issues compared to the tightly paced second installment , it's an undoubtedly worthy final conclusive journey to Shepard's epic intergalactic adventure .