Soooo....Mass Effect 3

[Lissa]

Before diving into spoilers ... got an N7 Valiant from the Commendation Pack awarded for this weekend's MP activities. Ho boy, this thing is *awesome* in multiplayer.

Lucky you, I got an N7 Eagle!

Also, EA just announced that an Epilogue (not changes - explanations) is coming for free. I wonder if anyone who has said (I don't recall any here, but it's certainly happened everywhere else) EA designed this to force you to pay for DLC will take back what they said.

(I feel sorry for anyone still reading who hasn't finished the game yet).

Better have some really good explanations as to why a squad member that is looking down with you on the transporter to the citadel somehow got on the Normandy. There also better be a good reason for the Normandy to be in the relay network.

Personally, I would have been fine with the reapers winning or the races of the galaxy beating them back. The whole pyrric victory ending is pretty hollow.

and maxing out on War Assets only nudges you over 6,000 if you're lucky)

Nit: I had about ~7300, I believe, and a GameFAQs post says 7515 is possible, but it depends on choices all the way back to the original Game, of course.

All paths are available with their general best results at 2800 EMS (so 5600 Assets w/ no multiplayer).

The small bit added at the end for one specific path IGN says requires 4000 EMS and saving Anderson (by saving I mean either convincing TIM *or* Renegade interrupt, so you get to talk with him after the fact), *or* 5000 EMS. Neither of these is possible without multiplayer (or any of the minigame crap that adds to Readiness). I kind of wish it didn't exist at all, though.

Edit: bad math

I was around that as well when I finished with my first play through. I made sure I did everything and found everything I could since the reapers would reset their alert level after any major mission was completed, but the found items wouldn't.

And you don't save Anderon, if you go through the renegade path, TIM makes you gut shot Anderson as there is a very distinctive gun shot sound with both you and Anderson wincing. Just that you both survive long enough to have the chat.

---

Spoiler for Geth/Quarian-storyline:

On my first play-through, I was able to secure the alliance between the two. On the second one, I intentionally wanted to see what happened when I sided with the Geth. Didn't give me a happy feeling at all. Now on my third, I sided with the Quarians (as I apparently hadn't fulfilled the prerequisites from ME2 on this save), which was equally heartbreaking. ME3 is a bit bland at times, but there are some moments in the game that are just pure hell (in a good way). Same with the end of Chuchanka and what happens atop that tower. These characters and the way their end was portrayed really got under my skin.

"Does this one have a soul?"

What happened on Tchuncka got to me, but not so much what happened on Ranouck. I looked at it as both did their part to save a race, but one is effectively still around. What happened on the Citadel with Udina and the council, that one hurt as well, but was awesome at the same time.

[Taelas]

Tuchanka and Rannoch are both brilliantly well done; I had no qualms with what happened there in my Paragon-playthroughs.

[[wcip]Angel]

He's not around in my ending..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KItcd7Dx_rU

[Kevin]

Yep, I'm playing thread necromancy, because really it wasn't worth a new thread.

I got ME3 on sale a few weeks back and my first play through was without any of the extra DLC and I'm on the side of not getting all the angst at the game or ending. I actually played ME1 - ME3 with my Shepard the way I wanted her, it was all very enjoyable. I also loved that in ME3 they acknowledge the bug with Conrad Verner in ME2 that didn't recognize how you actually handled him in ME1, and did it in a fun way.

I'll see if I feel differently now that I have a bunch of extra DLC (thanks to a gift). There was nothing new for me for ME1 so I used the Genesis DLC for ME2 to make some of the key choice. I've also got the Kasumi, and Arrival stuff for ME2 I've never seen. I do also have Shadow Broker which was relatively new only ran through that once and got it just before I was about to hit the Omega 4 relay. I also have all the stuff like Firewalker and Zaed that came with the digital deluxe that I had from the start with ME2. So that is another reason to go through ME2. For ME3 I've also now got From Ashes, installed the free Extended Cut for this go through, Leviathon, and then installed all the free multiplayer stuff.

So I figure I'm going to get quite a bit more out of this series. At some point I will end up doing another full ME1 through ME3 run. I've just found that after playing 2 and 3 I miss some of the inventory and combat changes when I go back and play 1 so I have to take a break to unlearn that. Of course the menu system issues in 2 that they fixed in 3 are bugging me (let me double click darn it!).

I've only dabbled a bit with multiplayer but I did have fun with it. If anyone is still playing ME3 and wants to try some more multi I'd be up for it. I've only done like 3 random matches on bronze challenge, and I shouldn't have gone with an adept, but it was fun.

[Kevin]

OK played through with From Ashes and Leviathan as well as the extended endings. I still need to reload and see the changes on the control and destroy. I've watched the synthesis and the don't use the crucible at all ones, and I still kinda like the don't bother user the crucible one (shoot the kid) best. I didn't really have an issue with them before, and I have even less of an issue with them now.

I will say that I think Leviathan added more lore than From Ashes did, though I can certainly understand the arguments that both of them should have just been part of the base game.

I'm still interested in multi if anyone is still playing (though I have figured out how to make sure the datapad actually gets to the Galaxy at war so I can keep readiness at 100% fairly easily, though it's still a bit annoying).

But I like the story and the universe they have set it in. Sure it can be ham fisted, but I don't mind that in interactive movies (and that is what I class ME as). I know 8 months after the release but it's a single player game and while I didn't get a good DLC bundle, I still waited till it was on a sale and I'm happy with what I got for what I paid.