I really can't decide which ME game I like the most. They all have some really strong points and then a bunch of stuff that drag them down. In this one, the gameplay improvements were a welcome addition, but they seemed to sacrifice a lot of the story and writing in return. It feels super lazy for them to establish these new characters like Javik, James and Kai, just to give them close to no development or impact whatsoever. I really liked how in ME2 you were given optional missions focused on specific characters to give them the depth they need, but in this you get nothing. James is such a hollow and pointless character, Javik could have been really interesting, but the writers just completely wasted him and Kai was an incredibly pointless villain. We learn nothing substantial about any of them. Harbinger was another character that was wasted. Nothing happened with them in the end.
I feel like the story focused too much on Shepard honestly. The squad members you choose are often secondary in the grand scheme of things. You don’t even get to find out what happened with most of them in the end. I guess you can assume they were all aboard the Normandy when it crash landed, but it wasn’t clear. Also, the whole starchild thing and the model of it being the kid from the beginning of the game felt super silly. The scene of the father and child “recounting Shepard’s story” was also stupid as shit. Made me roll my eyes.
I thought there were some weird inconsistencies with the reapers as well. It was likely just a decision made for spectacle, but it felt strange that the reaper ships were easily capable of destroying the original Normandy at the start of ME2, yet Shepard can simply dodge to the side to avoid the laser with ease.
I wanted to go for the green ending, which I later found out you achieve by going down the central path, but I literally did that and nothing happened, so I ended up getting the blue ending. No idea why it didn’t work.
In the end, I was definitely left quite disappointed by the ending. I think I understand why the controversy was so large upon release. Even the extended cut I’ve read about doesn’t seem to fix the main issues.
I feel like the story focused too much on Shepard honestly. The squad members you choose are often secondary in the grand scheme of things. You don’t even get to find out what happened with most of them in the end. I guess you can assume they were all aboard the Normandy when it crash landed, but it wasn’t clear. Also, the whole starchild thing and the model of it being the kid from the beginning of the game felt super silly. The scene of the father and child “recounting Shepard’s story” was also stupid as shit. Made me roll my eyes.
I thought there were some weird inconsistencies with the reapers as well. It was likely just a decision made for spectacle, but it felt strange that the reaper ships were easily capable of destroying the original Normandy at the start of ME2, yet Shepard can simply dodge to the side to avoid the laser with ease.
I wanted to go for the green ending, which I later found out you achieve by going down the central path, but I literally did that and nothing happened, so I ended up getting the blue ending. No idea why it didn’t work.
In the end, I was definitely left quite disappointed by the ending. I think I understand why the controversy was so large upon release. Even the extended cut I’ve read about doesn’t seem to fix the main issues.