Soooo....Mass Effect 3

[Taelas]

Considering that I haven't been charged anything for preordering a game... ever... I don't see how that even begins to make sense. Especially since the vast majority of games these days are distributed digitally. But even when I got a physical copy (such as DA2, DAO, ME2), I have never been charged simply for preordering.

I guess if you insist on supporting your FLGS, it depends on the store in question, but I have never felt that need.

If you give someone your $60 at the time you get the game, then this is no different from any sale. They get your money, you get their asset.

If you give someone your $60 six months in advance, then they get to earn half a year's interest on it, and you don't. If you could have earned 5%/yr on it, then that's a net transfer of an extra $1.50 to them.

It's not much, but the further in advance you preorder, the more you lose and they gain. If there is no added value in preordering (no extras, no convenience), then you should keep your money and just buy it when it comes out, or take Bolty's advice and just wait a year until it's cheap.

-Jester

As Quark said, you don't have to pay when you preorder. If they want you to do so, it shouldn't be a problem to find a different store that does not demand the money up front.

[Roland]

As Quark said, you don't have to pay when you preorder. If they want you to do so, it shouldn't be a problem to find a different store that does not demand the money up front.

Every game store I've ever shopped at (back when I bought games in a store) required a minimum deposit (usually $5.00) when pre-ordering. Care to enlighten me as to where you can pre-order a game without putting a deposit down (aside from Amazon)? Even Steam requires you to pay for the game in full in order to pre-order it (although very often they run a discount special for pre-ordering, or some other DLC-esque incentive, though not always).

Personally, I don't mind paying full price for certain games (Skyrim, for example). However, I must admit I am completely spoiled by Steam. I find it much better to wait 6 months to a year and scoop up the game on a huge discount (like I did with Rage the other day - $10 or $15, I think? Something like that), possibly with all the DLC included for an even better bundle price. Not only do I never have to worry about having the disc on hand, but the size and frequency of discounts just makes it flat-out unattractive for me to shop elsewhere most of the time. It's even better when I can shop elsewhere and get a game that works within Steam (like when I bought Deus Ex: Human Revolution a few weeks ago for $10 from GreenManGaming).

As for Mass Effect 3, I haven't played either 1 or 2 (although I own both). I suppose eventually I'll get it, but I'm in absolutely no hurry. Maybe when (if?) Steam drops it down to $10 I'll pick it up. For now, I have Tribes Ascend Beta to play when I'm not hopping on World of Tanks.

[Bolty]

As for Mass Effect 3, I haven't played either 1 or 2 (although I own both). I suppose eventually I'll get it, but I'm in absolutely no hurry.

I totally envy you. Nothing like that first playthrough.

Tip: every ME decision you make has SOME ramification (some tiny, some major). Don't play Mass Effect 1 in a vacuum - your game will carry over to ME2 and ME3, so choose knowing that it carries forward.

[Chesspiece_face]

As Quark said, you don't have to pay when you preorder. If they want you to do so, it shouldn't be a problem to find a different store that does not demand the money up front.

I'm not sure what stores you have in your area, but around here if you want to preorder a game it's a minimum $5.00 deposit. I went into gamestop around Christmas to grab a League of Legends point card for a friend and I even overheard the employee trying to manipulate the customer into paying the full price for a preorder claiming that "We are only going to get small supply for these games and people that have paid the full price are guaranteed to get it release day. If you only put down the minimum you may have to wait for later shipments." After hearing that I walked out and got my point card at Best Buy.

It's all one giant scam.

[Roland]

I'm not sure what stores you have in your area, but around here if you want to preorder a game it's a minimum $5.00 deposit. I went into gamestop around Christmas to grab a League of Legends point card for a friend and I even overheard the employee trying to manipulate the customer into paying the full price for a preorder claiming that "We are only going to get small supply for these games and people that have paid the full price are guaranteed to get it release day. If you only put down the minimum you may have to wait for later shipments." After hearing that I walked out and got my point card at Best Buy.

It's all one giant scam.

Having worked at Gamestop (many years ago), I can tell you that's part of the corporate literature that employees are forced to press upon "customers." Gamestop has always, and will always, treat customers like shit. The employees, for the most part, absolutely hate it. Gamestop as a corporation is a vile company, and I would hold no sympathy over their loss. They flat out do not care about anything except profit, and that has been consistently eroded over the years. I was sad enough to see EBGames / EBX go away, because they were the main competitor to Gamestop. These days, I'd be happy to support and old-school brick 'n' mortar game store that actually stood for games the way Newbury Comics used to stand for music, but those times are long gone.

As I said before, I don't know where you can pre-order a game for free aside from Amazon, as even Steam requires the payment in full ahead of time (although no one seems to mind it then, probably because they are guaranteed a game, without question or hassle). I can honestly say the only time I've gone to Gamestop recently was to get the Zelda branded 3DS (after I said I would pass on the system entirely), and even then it was because they were the only ones who had any left. They're just a horrible, rotten company right to the core, and they will never, ever change. Don't take it out on the grunts, though - I assure you they despise their employment as much as, if not more than, you do. The only reason I know of anyone staying in Gamestop is out of passion for games, and not any sort of corporate loyalty. They used to have an extremely high turnover rate (about the only people who ever stay were manages). I doubt that has changed, either.

[Bolty]

[Lissa]

So basically we're missing Jack and Miranda from one of the ME 3 trailers. Everyone else has been accounted for (with this latest one showing that both Jacob and Samara/Morith are around and we've seen Grunt, Wrex/Wreev, Garrus, Liara, Tali, Ashley/Kaiden, Mordin, Thane, and Legion). Now to play through the game 6 times once it comes out...

Female Shepard Soldier that romanced Kaiden (and kept the romance)
Female Shepard Biotic that romanced Jacob
Female Shepard Infilitrator that romanced Liara
Male Shepard Vanguard that romanced Tali (by far the best romance IMNSHO)
Male Shepard Sentinel that romanced Ashley (and kept the romance)
and Male Shepard Engineer that romanced Miranda
(See what I did there? :p)

[Renzocooken]

I only pre-order collector's editions or those RPGs that tend to disappear off shelves. I pre-ordered the ME3 CE. I hate to say it, but I am a sucker for those things. That said, it can be worth it to wait. Take the Borderlands GOTY, you can get it for about $30 and it comes with 4 DLC which are still priced at $9.99 each if purchased separately.

I've never had an instance of a Gamestop employee trying to push a game on me. Heck the one I usually shop at encouraged me to buy a used AC: Brotherhood and return it in a week for a refund.

I will admit that I'm not a fan of the whole "pre-order here get this fancy skin/gun/armor/pet" for one store and repeat it for a different skin/gun/armor/pet from another. I'd rather they roll all that into one CE.

[Bolty]

Called it.

The announcement of From Ashes, a downloadable content pack for Mass Effect 3 that will be available when the game launches on March 6th, has brought about accusations that Electronic Arts and BioWare are exploiting their customers through unethical business practices. This day-1 DLC contains a new playable character and a new mission, and the character in question is so vital to series mythology that its very nature represents a spoiler. The apparent importance of this squadmate has led many to speculate that the DLC is vital to the game's story, all but coercing fans to buy it, and popular community galvanizer TotalBiscuit has gone so far as to call for a boycott.

[kandrathe]

Called it.

Yeah. There is no reason to buy this game until the hype is over and I can get it at a reasonable price compared to other entertainment dollars.

[Lissa]

Called it.

The announcement of From Ashes, a downloadable content pack for Mass Effect 3 that will be available when the game launches on March 6th, has brought about accusations that Electronic Arts and BioWare are exploiting their customers through unethical business practices. This day-1 DLC contains a new playable character and a new mission, and the character in question is so vital to series mythology that its very nature represents a spoiler. The apparent importance of this squadmate has led many to speculate that the DLC is vital to the game's story, all but coercing fans to buy it, and popular community galvanizer TotalBiscuit has gone so far as to call for a boycott.

If you buy the CE, you get it as part of the CE. Also, I doubt the spuadmate is really going to be that integral. I have a feeling (and I know what said squadmate is), that it's (the squadmate) more like Zaeed, an add on if you want it, and nothing more. Right now, everything about said squadmate is supposition by those that haven't played the game.

[[wcip]Angel]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pla...UrbMDt5t4A

People who spend more time on Youtube than me say this is a faker. But holy Christ I wanted to kill him by the end of this clip. Imagine if this guy was for real. What a waste of skin.


edit: Forbes did a piece on this worth reading. Have a look: http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2...n-fault-2/


edit#2: In other news: http://www.gametrailers.com/video/new-fe...her/727300 (watch the whole thing. See how much they're going to charge PC-users for the extra content included in the X360-version of W2)

[Bolty]

The marketing machine is insane...

[[wcip]Angel]

Guess EA opened their warchest for Bioware.

----------

I thoroughly enjoyed ME1 and 2, and I was anxiously awaiting ME3 last November. However, since then, reportings about the game have left me a bit skeptical. Multiplayer and kinect-support are two resource-consuming features that could just as easily have been left out. My spidey-sense tells me EA wanted to tick those boxes on the back of the DVD-case, which is the reason for the delay. Call me cynical if you like.

Not only am I a bit anxious about the Bioware/EA partnership and how the creative process might be affected by these new partners, I've developed a distaste for the good/evil paradigm seen in so many video games. The Witcher 2 blew me away with an action/consequence-system that
1. Didn't force the player to choose between two very clearly defined "evil answer"/"good answer"-types of responses.
2. Was expertly able to hide the presumed consequences and delay them until later in the game.
3. ... and because of #1 and #2, this system produced the fantastic experience of making an actual choice that was only relevant to what you thought was the correct choice there and then.

Very often in these kinds of games, you choose one path of answers because you want to "max out evil" or "get the coolest upgrade on the side of light". The characters exist in the extremes, and therefore you end up answering the same way throughout the game simply because you're "going the evil route". This doesn't FEEL like roleplaying. The Witcher 2 on the other hand gave you options that didn't feel neither good nor evil; and it was very difficult to predict what the outcome of your actions would be. As a result, you can't choose your answers/actions from a predestined selected route, because you simply can't see it. What you're left with is the one, singular question staring you in the face, and the decision you make has everything to do with that single question, and has nothing to do with what you're trying to accomplish in the game... which DOES feel a hell of a lot more like actual roleplaying than what we see in the ME-series.

So, I don't think I'll be able to boycot the game. But I am anxious to see the extent to which Bioware has compromised their vision to serve both their new masters, but also a wider audience. The transformation of a certain female character doesn't bode well. I'll pick it up and judge the game on its own merit, but I was not this wary of 2 as I am of 3.

[Taelas]

As Quark said, you don't have to pay when you preorder. If they want you to do so, it shouldn't be a problem to find a different store that does not demand the money up front.

I'm not sure what stores you have in your area, but around here if you want to preorder a game it's a minimum $5.00 deposit. I went into gamestop around Christmas to grab a League of Legends point card for a friend and I even overheard the employee trying to manipulate the customer into paying the full price for a preorder claiming that "We are only going to get small supply for these games and people that have paid the full price are guaranteed to get it release day. If you only put down the minimum you may have to wait for later shipments." After hearing that I walked out and got my point card at Best Buy.

It's all one giant scam.

That's because you're ordering at brick and mortar stores. When I preorder a game, even if I get a physical copy, I do so through online stores, and I have never been charged to do so.

I only pay when they ship off my copy, always. Maybe that's unique to a small country like Denmark, I wouldn't know, but I don't see why it would be.

[Bolty]

Which was cooler, the ME2 Launch Trailer or the ME3 one? Pretty close, I'd say.

[Quark]

Which was cooler, the ME2 Launch Trailer or the ME3 one? Pretty close, I'd say.

http://www.gametrailers.com/user-movie/m...van/339393

[Lissa]

Which was cooler, the ME2 Launch Trailer or the ME3 one? Pretty close, I'd say.

Nah, I think ME3 has it on launch trailer.

Now, for opening sequence of the game, if what's in the demo is how the game starts, ME2 definetly was the better opening.

[Lissa]

1:26 in the launch trailer - Jack with a mohawk/poiny tail and wearing clothing on her torso

So only Miranda has gone unaccounted for so far. Everyone else is back.

[Erigion]

1:26 in the launch trailer - Jack with a mohawk/poiny tail and wearing clothing on her torso

So only Miranda has gone unaccounted for so far. Everyone else is back.

Miranda's in the FemShep trailer for about a second:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pla...V_gA#t=60s