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[Beth Cyra]

Of course, but it's all subjective...

...isn't it?

Thank god I never saw that. I do agree that it's subjective.

I'm starting to wonder if the person I romanced is the only one who doesn't do some nonsense like that.

 

[The Technomancer]

On this note, here is one more quote from the PC Gamer article:

EDIT: Nvm really

 

[WanderingWind]

Uh, is that Tali thing legit or the byproduct of some Bioware forum creepers obsession?

 

[Fimbulvetr]

Uh, is that Tali thing legit or the byproduct of some Bioware forum creepers obsession?

It might be Kelly's "romance" dance 'cept Kelly's model is replaced by Tali's.

 

[WanderingWind]

It might be Kelly's "romance" dance 'cept Kelly's model is replaced by Tali's.

...god. What hath Bioware wrought?

 

[Jerk]

It might be Kelly's "romance" dance 'cept Kelly's model is replaced by Tali's.

Looks like ME1 Tali.

 

[Jarmel]

It might be Kelly's "romance" dance 'cept Kelly's model is replaced by Tali's.

Yep. However there are some serious creepers in the Bioware forums.

 

[WanderingWind]

Yep. However there are some serious creepers in the Bioware forums.

To be fair, regardless of the model used, I can't imagine a context in which that isn't entirely creepy.

 

[MaddenNFL64]

ME2 was a better game.

I am ME1 fan all the way too though. It's not that big of a deal, geez.

 

[MaddenNFL64]

To be fair, regardless of the model used, I can't imagine a context in which that isn't entirely creepy.

It's a dance animation from ME1, at the club.

It looked fine.

 

[Jarmel]

To be fair, regardless of the model used, I can't imagine a context in which that isn't entirely creepy.

 

[Kitschkraft]

That gif is funny but it looks really good (Image quality wise)....even has shadows lol. And the fish tank in the background is moving as well. How the hell did somebody make that?

 

[Thunder Monkey]

Turning my sweet Tali into the creepy stalker Kelly?

Bad things have happened.

 

[Choabac]

On this note, here is one more quote from the PC Gamer article:

That sounds pretty cool.

I wonder what the 'correct' option for the Rachni, Krogan and Geth decisions are going to be, or even if a combination of them together are good or bad.

 

[thetrin]

I remember someone summing Gafs reaction to ME2 with this video pretty good up.

HA! I actually disliked ME2 while I played it!

 

[Speedymanic]

OXM Info...

- you can jump and roll, and blindfire has been introduced.

- As well as gaining civilisation's alliegance, you can lose them to the Reapers if you don't play right, similarly to losing squadmates in the suicide mission.

- Your weapons have three upgrade slots -scope barrel and grip, and you can change the colour and camoflage of weapons.

- Cerberus and husks will be main enemies, and cerberus is divided into three main types of troops - heavy bruisers, medium and light.

- You may be able to get an eyepiece, like Garrus's, that will allow non-sniper weapons to scope in further, which also hints at armour having more of an effect on gameplay.

- Bioware are going to announce something big at E3 - a lot of the gameplay features and more squadmates.

Major spoiler...

Spoiler

- The magazine suggests that Garrus is being built up to a dramatic death.

Huh, jump took me by surprise. Happy about blind-fire though. And who didn't see the weapon modding limitations coming? :/

 

[Nirolak]

Major spoiler...

Spoiler

- The magazine suggests that Garrus is being built up to a dramatic death.

Spoiler

I suspect it depends on whether you use the blue option or not.

 

[Mr_Zombie]

I wonder what the 'correct' option for the Rachni, Krogan and Geth decisions are going to be, or even if a combination of them together are good or bad.

I hope there's no "correct" option; that, for example, if you recruit Rachni you can't recruit Krogans, if you recruit Geths you can't recruit Quarians etc. Many conflicts between races were shown in both ME1 and ME2 and I hope BioWare won't ignore them now. I want more situations like Ashley/Kaiden from ME1, where you can't simply use win button, aka blue/red dialogue option.

 

[HadesGigas]

OXM Info...

It'd be neat if the visor things actually effected gameplay.. I had my Shepard use the sentry interface one you could get from Dr. Pepper cause I thought it looked good.

They all were just like "extra 5% in random stat" so I didn't really bother thinking what one would be more "helpful". Though thought the other ones looked mostly ridiculous. So if they are more important now I hope there's not one superior one that happens to look awful.

 

[Snuggles]

Spoiler

I suspect it depends on whether you use the blue option or not.

I'm sure at some point or another we'll have to make the decision to send one of our squadmates on a true

Spoiler

suicide mission

it's bound to happen

 

[Nirolak]

I'm sure at some point or another we'll have to make the decision to send one of our squadmates on a true

Spoiler

suicide mission

it's bound to happen

Well, they are constantly talking about how the game centers on

Spoiler

sacrifice, but they keep implying that your choices in previous games can end up with you sacrificing vastly less. Given how most BioWare games go, I suspect the blue button ends up being what's ultimately rewarded.

That said, since the next game seems to be plot disconnected, they can technically kill off as many people as they want without worry.

 

[Sblargh]

Funny that my main game (the one where I am stupid and try to pretend the choices are actually choices instead of "up = good" and "down = bad") I don't romance anyone. So in Mass Effect 3 it will be just my nice story of space people shooting space people on the face.
I started a new game going for some romance and I made it through the first one, but on ME2, cringe got the best of me and I gave up, I just can't go back to that save file knowing my slutty shepard is there with her crazy eyes being the less subtle person in the world.
*sigh* I just wish all karma systems get blown up in favor of "actions -> consequence" type of stuff. Even the Witcher that is bad at it is better than most games out there.
By the looks of Mass Effect 3, they are not even trying to pretend your choices matter anymore.

 

[Bowdz]

I hope there's no "correct" option; that, for example, if you recruit Rachni you can't recruit Krogans, if you recruit Geths you can't recruit Quarians etc. Many conflicts between races were shown in both ME1 and ME2 and I hope BioWare won't ignore them now. I want more situations like Ashley/Kaiden from ME1, where you can't simply use win button, aka blue/red dialogue option.

Agreed. I remember pre-ME release, much of the buzz about the game was about the grey choices and not black and white morality. While ME1 didn't pull it off perfectly, moments like the Ashley/Kaiden situation that were somewhat surprising (if you abstained from any media) definitely delivered a solid punch. I would love to see more no win scenarios.

Also, am I the only person that thinks "Exit" from the ME1 OST is one of the best tracks in the game? The first 14 seconds of the song managed to be some of the most tense music I have heard and singlehandedly made the choice between two squadmates into a veritable "Oh shit" moment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54hkP3a2SyQ

 

[Cyborg]

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



Bugger.

So...if you gave the

Spoiler

the spaceship to the illusive Man

you are fcked

 

[Kitschkraft]

I'm interested in knowing if this game is going to have a canon ending. Even though the game is plot disconnected as Nirolak said, if the universe as a whole varies too much, wouldn't this basically mean that any games further in the IP will be screwed (Assuming they take place after the events of these games)? Of course, they can base a ton of stuff in pre-ME1 universe, so I guess it's not too huge of a deal.

 

[Nirolak]

I'm interested in knowing if this game is going to have a canon ending. Even though the game is plot disconnected as Nirolak said, if the universe as a whole varies too much, wouldn't this basically mean that any games further in the IP will be screwed (Assuming they take place after the events of these games)? Of course, they can base a ton of stuff in pre-ME1 universe, so I guess it's not too huge of a deal.

They have mentioned that there are a couple of plot points that must be hit overall, so I imagine the game canonically ends with at least the reapers being defeated.

 

[ThoseDeafMutes]

That gif is funny but it looks really good (Image quality wise)....even has shadows lol. And the fish tank in the background is moving as well. How the hell did somebody make that?

Animations can be applied to other models. In this case it's the Tali model animating using one of the club dancer animations. If you think that's good, then check out this video. (probably NSFW, but no nudity)

 

[MrTroubleMaker]

Spoiler

I suspect it depends on whether you use the blue option or not.

lol I hope that fixes it, I'm not going to be to happy if this is some forced thing on you that you have no say in it.

 

[Diablohead]

In other news, Garrus > Wrex, always has been.

 

[Mister_Bubbles]

If you think that's good, then check out this video. (probably NSFW, but no nudity)

My. God.

:lol

 

[Nirolak]

Major spoiler...

Spoiler

- The magazine suggests that Garrus is being built up to a dramatic death.

Okay, so I just read the actual article, and whoever took the squadmates description block seriously forgot to note that James Sanders wears a space bikini.

 

[Lifejumper]

I just read the article, and blindfire isn't actually mentioned?

 

[Lothars]

They have mentioned that there are a couple of plot points that must be hit overall, so I imagine the game canonically ends with at least the reapers being defeated.

I agree, I think that will be the ending as well, though I would like one ending where the reapers win but have it an offshoot ending like the ME2 ending of

Spoiler

Shepard Dieing.

 

[Lakitu]

Casey Hudson (lead on ME 3) is on Twitter now.

http://twitter.com/#!/CaseyDHudson

 

[Nirolak]

Casey Hudson (lead on ME 3) is on Twitter now.

http://twitter.com/#!/CaseyDHudson

He's definitely working on it: http://twitter.com/#!/patsquinade

Edit:

Oh hey, speaking of Twitter, look who just came on: http://twitter.com/#!/CaseyDHudson

Old.

I like how they renamed Sanders to Vega randomly.

 

[Lakitu]

Old.

I like how they renamed Sanders to Vega randomly.

Damn cold is getting to my head.

And yeah, I think that pretty much dispel's the rumours that he was related to Kahlee Sanders then.

 

[Wiggum2007]

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

Spoiler

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

Spoiler

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-Effect/Mass-Effect-General-Discussion-NO-SPOILERS-ALLOWED/Xbox-World-Magazine-ME3-info-ULTRA-Spoilerific-7352856-1.html

 

[WanderingWind]

Oh, joy. An entire universe to create worlds in, and we're back on Earth.

/pessimist.

 

[Nirolak]

Now I really want to see the combat.

I feel like I'm the only one excited about that feature though. :lol

 

[Confidence Man]

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/art...8854-Stolen-Pixels-257-The-Electronic-Artists

EA has been saying lots of things about Mass Effect 3. Sometimes the things they say contradict their comments made on another day. Sometimes these contradictions take place within the same sentence. For example, "We're huge believers in the IP and are purposefully shifting it to address a larger market opportunity." So, they believe in the product, which is why they're changing it.

People have said that since some of these statements were made to investors, we should ignore what they were saying. But that's not a more positive way of looking at things, it's only a different sort of bad news. We're now pinning our hopes on the idea that EA executives are only pretending to betray the previous two games in order to appease investors. I don't know if that's all that encouraging. Do we really want to pin our hopes on the idea that the people driving the project are liars? No matter which interpretation you go with, they do not stand behind their earlier work.

So this is EA's bold new vision for BioWare: To shoehorn this story-and-character-driven developer into the already crowded shooter market.

Truly, these people are visionaries.

 

[MaddenNFL64]

Someone on the Bioware forums summarized some info from the new Xbox World magazine:

I have save games for many scenarios. Hope we get something unique for playing through all 3 games on the 360.

Oh, and just to add: Wrex>Garrus, but I like Garrus too. Garrus & Wrex were my ME1 bros man... Just sad Wrex won't be a permanent party member.

edit: And Mass Effect fans are crazy. Why is this shit so scrutinized? I'm just waiting to play it. Am I the only one who looks at ME1, ME2, and doesn't have some crazy extreme preference to the other, and is just waiting for ME3 without going bi-polar?

 

[Aurarian]

I have save games for many scenarios. Hope we get something unique for playing through all 3 games on the 360.

Oh, and just to add: Wrex>Garrus, but I like Garrus too. Garrus & Wrex were my ME1 bros man... Just sad Wrex won't be a permanent party member.

This. I would be so sad if he does bite it.

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 because there is no canon except for what the player has chosen. In the end, its their game".

Umm...

Spoiler

What about the fact that you ret-conned thousands of choices by making Udina Citadel councilor as part of your "canon" storyline?

 

[Mister_Bubbles]

Oh, joy. An entire universe to create worlds in, and we're back on Earth.

/pessimist.

Gotta save some planets for the MMO, right?!

 

[Jarmel]

OXM Info...



Major spoiler...

Spoiler

- The magazine suggests that Garrus is being built up to a dramatic death.

Huh, jump took me by surprise. Happy about blind-fire though. And who didn't see the weapon modding limitations coming? :/

That spoiler depresses me greatly. Otherwise looks like they really are amping up the shooter aspects. Blindfire is great news.

It actually seems to be sounding more like Uncharted rather than Gears but we'll see.

 

[Nirolak]

That spoiler depresses me greatly. Otherwise looks like they really are amping up the shooter aspects. Blindfire is great news.

It actually seems to be sounding more like Uncharted rather than Gears but we'll see.

The box that was in was full of sarcastic character descriptions for the most part, including stating stuff like James Sanders wears Ashley's skin tight suit.

In context it's pretty clear they were making a joke.

 

[The Xtortionist]

That spoiler depresses me greatly. Otherwise looks like they really are amping up the shooter aspects. Blindfire is great news.

It actually seems to be sounding more like Uncharted rather than Gears but we'll see.

Oh yeah. Uncharted combat/level design + RPG elements + Bioware conversations is a damn fine combination in theory. All Bioware has to do is execute.

 

[Jarmel]

What I really want to know is how biotics affect Shepard. Can he be throw high in the air or shoved back? That would be awesome. Shooting biotics at the enemy as you fall would be fantastic gameplay.

It also seems like there are things to break up the shooting in the game such as the mech piloting which is great. That's something that ME2 desperately needed and LOTSB showed.

The weapon mods seem a little limited but what really matters is the number of options you have for each of the choices. Even 10 choices per each option is 1000 options if I remember math correctly(probably not).

It doesn't even need to surpass Uncharted but if it comes close shooter-wise then the game is already in fantastic shape.

 

[Dice]

I'm fine with tactical battlefield movement as long as there isn't any endless enemy spawning garbage that usually comes with such a gameplay style.

 

[Nappuccino]

This. I would be so sad if he does bite it.



Umm...

Spoiler

What about the fact that you ret-conned thousands of choices by making Udina Citadel councilor as part of your "canon" storyline?

They have to start a new player somewhere. There is no cannon, just the worst beginning that gives you incentive to go back to mass effect 1 and import your own choices into 2.

Or by reading a comic.

 

[Fimbulvetr]

What I really want to know is how biotics affect Shepard. Can he be throw high in the air or shoved back? That would be awesome. Shooting biotics at the enemy as you fall would be fantastic gameplay.

It'll probably be like ME1 where any type of biotic attack makes Shepard go ragdoll for a few seconds.