[Nirolak]

Update:

Someone on the Bioware forums summarized some info from the new Xbox World magazine: SQUADMATES: "Twelve was a big number in Mass Effect 2 - almost too big", Hudson concedes. "We're focused on a smaller squad with deeper relationships and more interesting interplay in Mass Effect 3' he explains. "We're not going to have twelve again but we are going to do more with the characters on your squad including Liara, and Kaidan or Ashley. And we're bringing everyone back - every main character is in Mass Effect 3 somewhere" ON CHARACTER RE-DESIGN: "We have to update the look," Watts continues, referring to Jack, Ashley and Kaidan's refesigns "And the people who redesign the characters are the same people who did the original characters; and they know best how these things are supposed to mature. Stuff changes. Garrus' armour is going to change. Even Shepard has changed quite a bit. His armour has changed a lot since the first Mass Effect" CERBERUS "Regardless of how you finished ME2, Cerberus are now your enemy and are throwing their black and yellow-clad commandos at Shepard for reasons he'll discover later in the game when, as Bioware confirm then Illusive Man returns" "You were begrudgingly working for Cerberus in ME2" Explains Casey Hudson, "but they've gone a bit further and Shepard has returned to the Alliance so Cerberus troops are a major threat" "Cerberus heavy troopers wear enormous armour, Assassins use the same Biotics as Shepard and Phantoms use blades." COMBAT "Cerberus Troopers can do everything that Shepard can do now" says Designer Corey Gaspur. "So your fighting a force that's a lot more punishing" "We wanted to make it so that when the player's fighting in the moment they feel like they have more options than aiming shooting and using powers says Lead Gameplay Designer Christina Norman. "We really want to make mobility a factor that plays into combat. You'll always ask yourself, 'am I in the right position on the battlefield? Where are my enemies? How am I going to get from point A to point B?' Players should never be walking tino these safe places with great cover and stay there for the whole fight. It's about how you're going to move through the battlefield as the enemies through the battefield move through the battlefield and how they're reacting to one another and to you" LOCATIONS (we obviously know more than article mentions) -"Turian homeworld Palaven and theQuarian homeworld Rannoch are early new destinations." -Returning to Tuchanka -Mining base on the edge of a Martian crater -BUT "it's Earth cities which form the game's showpiece locations" "The Seatle/Vancouver megacity on the west coast of North America is a truly gigantic space which Shepard will visit before and after the Reapers take it apart." "If you Google Map Vancouver the layout is pretty much the exact same as our map" says Level Artist Don Arceta. "Geographically it's very true to the real world" "You play a game like Gears or War and they just have sandbags everywhere, and we really don't want to do that. We really want to get away from arbitrary things placed just for the people working there, and we're just trying to really make sense of these spaces" "We try to design the arhitecture first before we blow it up" says Arceta. "Like, really thinking about how did they actually design this building, and does it function well?" BIG LEVELS: "These spaces large enough to accommodate a six hundred foot Reaper bossfight, and a fifty foot Cerberus Atlas mech Shepard himself pilots later in the game." "Over and over Bioware's team mention the scale of ME3 - every fight every enemy and every space is bigger than anything you've ever seen rendered in Mass Effect - or by the Unreal Engine - before" LEVEL VARIETY "I think Lair of the Shadow Broker is a good look at how we design levels now" says Hudson [...] "It's all about sudden shifts in the action. There's a section on Earth where you're running a narrow walkway and there's a war going on all around you and a ship is in the distance. Suddenly its nuclear core blows up and its suchs a shockwave that it knocks you off the walkway and you end up sliding down the glass face of a knocked over high-rise and then you kind of roll and catch yourself and all that happens in a moment of gameplay. You have control thoughout and that's when you'll realise annything could happen at any time" FOR NEW PLAYERS Similar to what PS3 owners got for ME2...BUT: "It might not be comic style, but we'll do something in the same style to recap the story", says Hudson. "It's essentially a really fancy save game generator REWARD FOR LOYAL FANS? "Absolutely," he says. "Definitely. The challenge is to make the game better than ever before, to make it a great entry point for new players, and to make it the ending fans deserve. It's about making sure it starts the way a great story should start versus just being a continuation. And thats tough becaus there is no canon except for what the player has chosen. In the end, its their game". END. I tried to cut out some of the stuff we've heard about already, full post is here: http://social.bioware.com/forum/Mass...7352856-1.html

Original Post:

I felt there were probably enough new details here to justify a new thread.

Unfortunately I can't link the site since it has scans.

-Tali is a confirmed squadmate "Garrus, Liara, Kaidan, Ashley and (newly confirmed) Tali are all full time members of your team if they survived the previous games." -Wrex? "I asked point blank about Wrex and got as close to a 'no' as I think Bioware will come at this early stage: exceutive producer Casey Hudson simply re-emphasised that such characters canplay a role and fight alongside you without necessarily being permanent squad members." -No new Romance in ME3 -Biotics are more potent in combat "Biotics can use their Pull ability to rip a shield out of someone's hands" -Multi Layered combat areas "The games combat spaces have graduated from the often-familiar open areas dotted with low walls. They're now multi layed encouraging you to seek high ground for a better vantage point...[the rest is about Cerberus rocket boot dudes using this to their advantage] -class Specific Melee attacks Engineer: Omni-tool fire lash attack Adept: Melee (biotic) attack that knocks everyone near them away and stuns -Powers Evolve more than once "In ME3 this is just the start. A Vanguard player can customise their devastating Charge move first to slam people harder, then do more damage, then to reduce the cooldown. -Powers combine Example given with Soldier: "Soldier still has an arcing attack called Concussive Shot, but it now behaves differently depending on the ammo ugrade he/she is using. Cryo ammo lets you use that same trajectory to deliver a blast of ice that canfreeze every enemy in the area." -Story is more like ME1 than ME2 -Places being visited (at least what the Magazine reports): [...]mission takes you to the Salarian homeworld, the Quarian homeworld, the Asari homeworld, and the human homeworld - Earth. You'll even go to Mars [...] -Every major character you have met will play a role in the last game -Why is Cerberus after Shepard? They are working with the Reapers "If your wondering why we were fighting Cerberus, having worked closely with this shadowy organisation in Mass Effect 2, the answer just raises further questions. They are wokring with the Reapers" -Reaperized enemies include Asari, Krogan, Rachni "In Mass Effect 3 we'll fight the Reapers other experiments, with other species. One is a hideously bloated pregnant Asari, her gums stripped away and a robot skeleton showing through her rotting flesh" "The Reapers take on the Rachni, who were already viscious insect monsters,are covered with bulging savs of lesser creatures. Rather than hitting their weak spot for massive damage, you want to avoid it like the plague: bursting any of these sacs before the creature is dead wit will unleash a swarm of horrible mini-rachni that crawl all over your body" "The Reaperised Krogan wears heavy armor plates that can shear off with enough focused fire. Once you do the creature changes its behaviour to be more defensive clutching its lurid blue intestines to its stomach as its lumbers towards you" "One Reaper creature draws life force from anything that dies near it. The time-honoured strategy of taking out the easy enemies first ends up being counter-productive: you make the creature stronger than it would have been with its allies alive." Casey Hudson summarizing ME3 (This is an article quote): "Casey sums up Mass Effect 3 as being about victory through sacrifice, the scale of that sacrifice has been increasing with each new chapter" [Rest is authors speculation about saving(or not saving) Wrex and Rachni consequences]

Here are a few more quotes from the article about combat. "To deal with the last few elites, Shepard [using the freezing concussion shot] freezes them solid to hold them still, then lines up sniper shots exactly through the eye-slits in their shields." "Put a shield in front of an enemy, and suddenly the ability of the engineer class to place a combat drone behind someone and blow it up gains a new significance. Namely, knocking a guy on his face and shooting him in the head." "Shepard commando-rolls out of the elite's way - a new move, by the way - and sneaks behind a partition running alongside the main corridor. Liara springs out of cover and pins the elite with a biotic singularity, while Garrus snipes him from cover. Neither kills the elite, but now Shepard is behind him. Rather than fire, he lashes out with his omni-tool, which emits a blade of flame that cuts through the elite's exposed back. He drops."

This preview mentions that 70% of people weren't faithful to their ME1 romance, and that this will come back to bite them.

Notes On Decisions:

"Mass Effect 3 will have an equivalent of loyalty missions - the personal quests you could take on for your crew in Mass Effect 2, in order to gain their trust. But their significance won't be quite the same: you're not determining whether a crew member is loyal enough to you to do their job when the time comes. Instead, these quests and your decisions within them count towards the war effort. The 'war effort' is a key term BioWare uses to characterize the impact in Mass Effect 3 of your various decisions throughout the series. There are hundreds of these to track, and this is the game where they all pay off - or otherwise. But they don't want a bad call in Mass Effect 1 to render the third game uncompletable. So the wisdom or foolishness of the choices you've made determine not the difficulty of the game, but the range of endings available to you for the finale of the series. In other words, how winnable the war is."

[Lakitu]

It all sounds pretty good, thanks... except this:

-Why is Cerberus after Shepard? They are working with the Reapers "If your wondering why we were fighting Cerberus, having worked closely with this shadowy organisation in Mass Effect 2, the answer just raises further questions. They are wokring with the Reapers"

Bugger.

[Oreoleo]

-Story is more like ME1 than ME2

So, like, worth a damn?

[-COOLIO-]

360 controller support?

[bishoptl]

They are wokring with the Reapers"

I KNEW IT

CAN'T TRUST A SHEEN

[dwebo]

-No new Romance in ME3.

... Not gonna lie - this makes me sad.

[Sober]

It all sounds pretty good, thanks... except this:

Considering TIM was pretty much kissing the ground you were standing on in ME2 than decides it's time to kill you is pretty much telegraphing his indoctrination.

Extra evolution of powers sounds interesting, but are the evolutions one after another or do they need another set of 3-4 "regular" ranks to continue?

[shadyspace]

-Why is Cerberus after Shepard? They are working with the Reapers "If your wondering why we were fighting Cerberus, having worked closely with this shadowy organisation in Mass Effect 2, the answer just raises further questions. They are wokring with the Reapers"

y u no like good writing Bioware?

[Jerk]

The combat improvements sound...impressive...

... Not gonna lie - this makes me sad.

Really? I thought it to be the best piece of news in the entire OP (aside from confirmation that Tali returns).

[Nirolak]

Considering TIM was pretty much kissing the ground you were standing on in ME2 than decides it's time to kill you is pretty much telegraphing his indoctrination. Extra evolution of powers sounds interesting, but are the evolutions one after another or do they need another set of 3-4 "regular" ranks to continue?

Christina Norman the other day was implying they dropped regular ranks.

[ThoseDeafMutes]

-Why is Cerberus after Shepard? They are working with the Reapers "If your wondering why we were fighting Cerberus, having worked closely with this shadowy organisation in Mass Effect 2, the answer just raises further questions. They are wokring with the Reapers"

[IMG]http://i53.************/33w1cue.gif[/IMG]

That is literally the worst possible thing they could have done with Cerberus, plotwise.

[a Master Ninja]

They are wokring with the Reapers.

How are they going to explain this? Just blame everything on "indoctrination"? Have the Illusive Man steal the motivations of Saren?

[JonCha]

Combat improvements sound nice, as do the new range of reaperised enemies. They sound pretty gruesome, actually.

[TacticalFox88]

Cerberus is working with the Reapers? Really, Bioware? REALLY!? FUCKING REALLY!?

Good god, I have no faith in the plot now.

[ThoseDeafMutes]

How are they going to explain this? Just blame everything on "indoctrination"? Have the Illusive Man steal the motivations of Saren?

In the stupid dumb comic books they started shitting on about how the First Contact War was actually something to do with the Reapers and TiM has something happen to his eyes that cause them to become semi-huskified.

We all knew it was coming, but it still fucking stings when they shove it into your ass.

[shadyspace]

God forbid Bioware take the interesting route and make the morally questionable ultra-nationalist organization an important ally.

[a Master Ninja]

In the stupid dumb comic books they started shitting on about how the First Contact War was actually something to do with the Reapers and TiM has something happen to his eyes that cause them to become semi-huskified.

Why, Casey Hudson, why?

[bhlaab]

So wait, the pro-Human militants are siding with the things that want to kill all humans and are helping them destroy Earth

Makes sense...?

[Zeliard]

Couldn't you guys tell by Illusive Man's eyes he was up to no good? I mean them shits were glowing ominously. Clearly a sign that a person doesn't have positive intentions.

[Jarmel]

It all sounds pretty good, thanks... except this: Bugger.

It's actually relatively easy to explain. The Reapers made them a deal at gunpoint and Cerberus didn't have an option in the matter. Such as if they help catch Shepard, humanity may be spared.

[L0st Id3ntity]

-Why is Cerberus after Shepard? They are working with the Reapers "If your wondering why we were fighting Cerberus, having worked closely with this shadowy organisation in Mass Effect 2, the answer just raises further questions. They are wokring with the Reapers"

[dwebo]

Really? I thought it to be the best piece of news in the entire OP (aside from confirmation that Tali returns).

Because you don't like the romances or you don't want new characters? Personally, I was just hoping to bed all sorts of fantastic new alien ladies.

[thetechkid]

I regret my final decision now.

[Nirolak]

Is it just me, or do the reaperized enemies and the combat strategies surrounding them sound surprisingly like Dead Space?

[Zeliard]

I regret my final decision now.

I would be shocked if the Illusive Man decision you made in ME2, or any decision, will have much of an impact on your ME3 playthrough.

[EatChildren]

"We wont spoil why Cerberus is after Shepard ;)"
*spoils why Cerberus is after Shepard*

*reason is as absolute gutter shit as you would expect*

Well there goes any faith I had at all that Walters and his team of hacks would salvage the story.

[shadyspace]

Calling it now. ME3 final boss fight will be a re-tread of ME1's with TIM standing in for Saren and for some insanely stupid contrived reason killing him will destroy all of the Reapers.

[Zeliard]

Is it just me, or do the reaperized enemies and the combat strategies surrounding them sound surprisingly like Dead Space?

Somewhat though this is also apparently promising multi-tiered environments which the Dead Space games don't really have either. Would be nice to see that in Mass Effect.

[ZombieFred]

"We wont spoil why Cerberus is after Shepard ;)" *spoils why Cerberus is after Shepard* *reason is as absolute gutter shit as you would expect* Well there goes any faith I had at all that Walters and his team of hacks would salvage the story.

I've got to feel sorry for Drew if this is the case, after the stuff he put into the series with Mass Effect. I am just hoping it's not as it seems to be and that's what they just said to keep the true answer from coming out (I hope D:)

[Papercuts]

Tali and Garrus, back in action. Calibratin' all up in this bitch.

[Nirolak]

Somewhat though this is also apparently promising multi-tiered environments which the Dead Space games don't really have either. Would be nice to see that in Mass Effect.

Yeah the rest of the gameplay details definitely don't, but I meant specifically stuff like avoiding shooting yellow glowy parts on the Rachni, the Krogan dismemberment, and the Asari puker.

I really want to see a gameplay video though since the combat sounds like a ton of fun.

[Des0lar]

Just as I had a little bit of faith for Me3s story...

[Nirolak]

Calling it now. ME3 final boss fight will be a re-tread of ME1's with TIM standing in for Saren and for some insanely stupid contrived reason killing him will destroy all of the Reapers.

Hmm, actually, did you ever see the ending of Voyager?

[ThoseDeafMutes]

God forbid Bioware take the interesting route and make the morally questionable ultra-nationalist organization an important ally.

[IMG]http://i56.************/2aa0zd3.png[/IMG]

[shadyspace]

Hmm, actually, did you ever see the ending of Voyager?

Voyager and ENT are the only Star Trek I haven't seen, actually.

[Nirolak]

Voyager and ENT are the only Star Trek I haven't seen, actually.

Hmm, nevermind then. I wouldn't want to spoil it.

[Izayoi]

That better be a fucking red herring.

Are you shitting me, Bioware? Really? Cerberus working for the Reapers?

Wow. Fuck off.

[Jarmel]

Honestly everything other than the Cerberus bit is good news and Cerberus working with the Reapers is the only logical outcome after it was announced that they were enemies in the game. The reason however should be interesting as TIM being indoctrinated is almost certainly not the answer unless all of Cerberus is indoctrinated.

[shadyspace]

Hmm, nevermind then. I wouldn't want to spoil it.

No, go ahead. I have no interest in watching it.

[Zeliard]

Yeah the rest of the gameplay details definitely don't, but I meant specifically stuff like avoiding shooting yellow glowy parts on the Rachni, the Krogan dismemberment, and the Asari puker. I really want to see a gameplay video though since the combat sounds like a ton of fun.

Hopefully it means they're looking at some other games like Dead Space to get ideas if they want to basically keep Mass Effect a third-person shooter as far as combat.

What are your expectations on the import feature? I think a lot of players are bound to be disappointed if they think their Mass Effect 2 decisions will have much bearing on ME3 beyond stuff similar to what we saw with ME1->ME2.

[Nirolak]

No, go ahead. I have no interest in watching it.

Future Janeway goes back to the past to try and help Voyager get back to Earth 17 years faster by using a Borg teleportation relay network. She also infects herself with an anti-Borg virus, gets assimilated, and ends up destroying all the Borg.

[ZombieFred]

I am hoping, if this is the case, then that it is the doing of his own free-will, and instead of being "indoctrinated" he instead offers them his service to capture Shepard alive and hand him to the reapers so he doesn't become a primary target in the first instance. However, this is only a cover to save himself time on whatever "project" he has against the reapers and is trying his best to stall time on them. I'll be happy with that.

[shadyspace]

Future Janeway goes back to the past to try and help Voyager get back to Earth 17 years faster by using a Borg teleportation relay network. She also infects herself with an anti-Borg virus, gets assimilated, and ends up destroying all the Borg.

Hah, so two different ST series ended with that plot device?

[Nirolak]

Hopefully it means they're looking at some other games like Dead Space to get ideas if they want to basically keep Mass Effect a third-person shooter as far as combat. What are your expectations on the import feature? I think a lot of players are bound to be disappointed if they think their Mass Effect 2 decisions will have much bearing on ME3 beyond stuff similar to what we saw with ME1->ME2.

Well, they mentioned that now that they don't have to worry about another game directly connected to this one, they told the writers that they could pretty much write without constraints, so I suspect it will be slightly more robust.

For example, they implied that decisions in previous games could prevent you from getting certain allies in later games, so I suspect that not taking the paragon route when dealing with the Quarian/Geth struggle results in you having to choose one side or the other instead of getting both. I also imagine that not saving the Rachni queen means you don't get her as an ally in the final battle as well.

Hah, so two different ST series ended with that plot device?

Yes, lol.

[miladesn]

Given their zealously pro-human agenda. they've probably fallen for the same trick Saren did in the first game: the total hopelessness of fighting the Reapers, combined with some subtle mind-control, sways people to believe they can save their species...

It actually explains why they might be working with the Reapers in the article,

also does that "Story so far" imply that that ME3 starts from Trial on Earth?

[FStop7]

Sounds like Dead Space Effect and I think I'm OK with that.

[thetechkid]

I want Wrex in my final party so I can have Wrex + Garrus again like I did with ME.

[EatChildren]

So lets keep a running tab of the retconning and invalidation of past events that the writers are now guilty of;

- Reapers flying back to the galaxy invalidates the entire events of Mass Effect.
- Udina is canon councillor for no reason.
- Events of Arrival basically meaningless.
- Humans and Turians could talk to one another in the First Contact War, and referred to each other by race name.
- TIM and co visit Illium right after the war without any wonder or mystery to this new alien world, nor any odd reactions from the locals who have only just learned of humans existing.
- TIM is now working for the Reapers, invalidating all of the events of Mass Effect 2.

[Kritz]

So here's what I can assume of Mass Effect 3:

Nothing from Mass Effect 1 or 2 will matter apart from a few bits of dialogue. I bet they'll pull the same shit they did in DA2 with Kaiden and Ashley by just having them disappear after the first act and never be seen again.

Most of Mass Effect 2's party will be dropped. You will have to assemble a whole new team, again.

You will have to make 3 distinct choices throughout the campaign, and they will be the only choices in the entire series to have an impact, and by "impact" I mean "different end cutscene".

You will be able to talk your way past the Reapers in the end game.

I really, really have no faith in this game's story. Mechanically, I'm sure it'll be fun. But... god if Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age 2 weren't the most bitter reality pill I've taken in quite a while. I implore some motherfuckers to make me wrong.

[Danielsan]

Cerberus brings you back from the dead to fight the reapers. Now they are working with the reapers. Amazing writing right there...