Mass Effect 3 - Review @ GameBanshee

GameBanshee writes they have a review of Mass Effect 3. The overarching plot is heavily criticised but, otherwise, it seems many systems have been improved. On the other hand, quests, exploration and dialogue have been pared back:

The side-quests in Mass Effect 3 have also taken a big blow. Most of them take the FedEx format, and are often built to maximize the travel time between A and B. These are most commonly found on the Citadel, and despite offering little fun or variety, eat up several hours of game time and are generally necessary for players who want to get the best ending or who want to afford as many upgrades as possible. Because many of them can only be obtained after completing a certain number of other side-missions, this also leads to constantly re-treading the same areas of the Citadel over and over in order to find NPCs who have quests to offer, or to trade completed ones in. Those side-quests that feature actual gameplay are almost always given during the main plot at set intervals, and generally take the form of shooting galleries in the game's multiplayer maps, with little narrative content or context.

Players who were frustrated at Dragon Age 2's "find an item in a box and bring it back to someone" quests will find that these make up the vast majority of Mass Effect 3's optional content - not only is it obviously a way to pad out the game without providing any "real" content, it's also colossally disappointing to players who were drawn into Mass Effect by its promise of a near-infinite galaxy to explore, or even RPG fans who just want to have fun outside of the main plot. While creating meaningful optional content is difficult, BioWare didn't even try here. The main sequences of the game are more polished than ever, but all this does is draw attention to how anemic the rest of the experience is.

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More information.

Glad to see at one of these sites being honest.

Mass Effect is a good game, but it's not the award winning great game other publications keep claiming it is. The game has lots of niggling little problems, like clipping during the animation, and so much content has just been thrown out. All these flaws add up. The lack of side quests, and not being able to talk to people when I wanted to definitely affected my enjoyment of the game.

I do agree with them that the game looks great visual wise, and the combat is the best it has ever been.

So like I said, good game. Certainly doesn't seem to deserve all the 0/10 fan votes on metacritic. Just doesn't quite deserve all the glowing praise from the review sites either.

I'm getting this game eventually, like I did with me2. However gamebanhee's review truly hit the nail's head when it mentioned fans "who were drawn into Mass Effect by its promise of a near-infinite galaxy to explore". I am one of those fans. I was thrilled by the sheer size of the first game. It was absolutely fantastic how bioware managed to tell a majestic story despite the game's non-linear structure and open world exploration. In some way this reminded me of baldur's gates which were also somewhat open and yet story heavy games.

I get that the planets were empty and maybe occasionally reminded eachother a bit too much, yet I loved this exploration aspect. I felt like i was constantly pushing on the borders of known space and gathering knowledge for the humankind or galaxy as a whole. Driving a mako and watching sights like these below didn't get old ever.

http://images.wikia.com/masseffect/images/e/e1/EdolusScreenshot.jpg

http://imageshack.us/f/818/masseffect2011051717003.png/

http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/541764581823880297/CE65E4508B3F308CD2F7FAB428B6E97B578545EF/

http://666kb.com/i/bww6od8aoz7jxsrgp.jpg

http://666kb.com/i/bww6g6ld1lqu0okqx.jpg

http://images.wikia.com/masseffect/images/b/bd/MavigonScreenshot.jpg

http://666kb.com/i/bww6rsenpbhtf2hah.jpg

I hoped bioware to improve exploring gameplay, but they put focus on other areas. ME2 was a fun game alright, but it didn't felt that memorable because it offered fewer places to explore. the sidequest locations were better and i quess a fair compromise between quality and quantity, but if i have understood it right, mass effect 3 cut side missions to fed ex missions and thus offers even less opportunities to explore planets etc? If so thats surely dissapointing.

To be fair, I found the review somewhat harsh. When we talk about a game or a movie, we don't always have to judge in terms of absolute quality, but rather compare to what else is available today.

For example I really like "Sopranos" but if I start comparing every single new mini-series to it, I will just end up watching nothing. And quite frankly, ME series (well, we are talking about ME3 specifically here, but so far I didn't find ME3 that much different from ME2) is still better than most recent games. May be Bioware should just stop advertising it as an RPG game but honestly, in our post-modernist age all genres in art are mixed anyway - there are well-made and there are poorly-made games, that's all.

And re-watching a certain death scene on Youtube and reading all the sad comments there got me thinking - how many recent games actually succeeded in getting players attached to game characters as much as ME did?

Dez said:

but if i have understood it right, mass effect 3 cut side missions to fed ex missions and thus offers even less opportunities to explore planets etc? If so thats surely dissapointing.

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No, it's a bit misleading, optional side-missions are of the instanced combat variety like most of the ones in ME2 and can now directly influence the main quest missions. What you're referring to is just a bunch of "misc quests": npcs scattered in the citadel mumbling to themselves about their dilemma and who will reward you with a couple of lines of dialog and credits or war assets if you find whatever item they're looking for during one of your missions or planet scanning mini-game.

I'd say there already was no sense of exploration left in ME2 and now ME3 only has the one diminutive hub.

Edgarstrong said:

And quite frankly, ME series (well, we are talking about ME3 specifically here, but so far I didn't find ME3 that much different from ME2) is still better than most recent games. May be Bioware should just stop advertising it as an RPG game

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Minor quibbles about beginnings or endings aside it's a good and fun game, to me the fact that it doesn't does little as an rpg is a horse that's been dead for over 5 years.

Edgarstrong said:

And re-watching ******'s death scene on Youtube and reading all the sad comments there got me thinking - how many recent games actually succeeded in getting players attached to game characters as much as ME did?

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Spoilers!

This ME3 review by Eric Schwarz at GameBanshee is clearly a labor of love; filled with original, well thought out, and meaningful observations. As to the comments that the review is too harsh/critical, I respectfully disagree. Schwartz does point to a number of areas where ME3 dropped the ball and/or became confused as to what game was being played. Nevertheless Schwartz also points out significant areas of excellence found in different areas of ME3.

Someone said in a prior post in a different thread on these boards that they didn't trust reviews consisting entirely or nearly entirely of praise. I agree completely. Say what you will about Schwartz's review, but one thing this review clearly has; integrity. Its also clear that Schwartz invested a great deal of time and thought in the review, and with a goal (successful IMO) of providing objective journalism.

As to the ending of ME3; it's a real problem. It's not a "quibble" or a "minor quibble" (lol) in any sense of the word(s). The simple, if not obvious, fact is that good stories have endings that are well fit to the rest of the work. Ill conceived endings that don't match or fit with other parts of the work have ruined more than a few artistic efforts. That's just the way it is. Story writers and game developers understand this.

Drew Karpyshyn, the lead writer of ME1 and ME2, clearly understood the importance of ending and the importance of how the ending matches and fits the story to breathe life into the whole. That's clear from the fit between content and ending in both ME1 and ME2, and the value of those endings to the whole of each story. Karpyshyn's absence from ME3 is most apparent in the obvious disconnect between ME3's content and ending. Schwartz identifies other disconnects present in ME3; further reflections IMO of Karpyshyn's absence from ME3.

Schwartz's review is IMO an insightful and objective journalistic review of ME3, and well worth the read.

__

This review is the most accurate one I have read yet. The others just gush praise without pointing out its negatives. To many 9/10 or 10/10 scores.

I'm going to quote Penny Arcade here-

There’s a countercharge now, in response to anger about the endings, that describes Bioware’s output as sacrosanct in some way - beyond criticism. This is fundamentally batshit

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I don't agree with everything, but I share the overall impression. Also, the review mentioned one thing I completely forgot to mention myself that really frustrated me:

More frustrating for me is the way in which gameplay and story have been so obviously segregated in places. There are many, many situations where Shepard will stand idly by while some character is brutalized by a random low-level enemy, or where a fleeing villain escapes because of a sudden onset case of cutscene incompetence, and they are as offensive as they ever are in RPGs, especially as so many of these situations are things players expect to easily deal with in actual gameplay.

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Spot on! Every time that happened I was stuck with the feeling: "That would've been easy for me to handle if I had been in control of Shepard, so why is he suddenly acting like an idiot?"

A little post from another forum that describes a scenario that deals with Bioware and the internet community-

I once ordered a well done steak because I enjoy eating stuff that's not still breathing. The waiter, however, brought me a steak that in fact wasn't well done.It was rare.

Politely, I pointed this out to him and asked him to return to the kitchen and get the chefs to work on it some more. The waiter did not respond. Instead I realized, much to my surprise, that several of the customers who had ordered the same well done steak who were quite happy with their blood-stained plates had gathered by my table, and they were staring at me with anger and shock!

"How dare you?! The chef doesn't owe you a nice, well done steak! It's his steak!" they chanted.My mouth was awfully dry, I was nervous, but nonetheless I tried to give them a piece of my mind.

"B-but p-p-p-please I-I… give steak p-p-please, I have money."
"Chefs are people too! Stop trolling!"

The spaghetti I had stored in my pockets in case of an emergency started oozing out of my pants and drop onto the floor of the restaurant as Gordon Ramsay picked me up and as he was guiding me towards the exit, a pair of cute girls laughed at me.

"Listen, you miserable git, you must understand that even five-star restaurants experience very stressful deadlines and they are forced to cut corners." he explained and gestured at the plastic cups and paper plates.

Then he threw me out on the street and I landed in a pool of my own sweat and spaghetti. I curled up in my miserable state and cried.
"No one cares about your opinion. Go troll somewhere else."
"Y-y-you too…"

I can still hear the laughter.

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I find it quite fitting with the attitude of gamers and Bioware in general.

Couchpotato said:

A liitle post from another forum that describes a scenario that deals with Bioware and the internet community-



I find it quite fitting with the attitude of gamers and Bioware in general.

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It's that whole psychological thing with branding. You'll see the same stupid crap with politics. People somehow identify with brands and when one of those brands comes under attack, it's like they are under attack. So they get defensive and try to attack anyone who criticizes or points out something wrong with the brand. They become less objective and less receptive to reason. It's crazy.

Edgarstrong said:

And re-watching *spoiler* scene on Youtube and reading all the sad comments there got me thinking - how many recent games actually succeeded in getting players attached to game characters as much as ME did?

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But that's just it: we are attached to those characters because of Mass Effect 1 & 2. So where ME3 capitalizes on previous installments and closes the stories introduced there, it's works well. When ME3 is left to do on it's own, it falls short. This time characters are nowhere near as interesting (and oh god, Ashley romance was so weak), stories are not as good, etc. I found handling of Kai Leng particularly jarring.

Maylander said:

I don't agree with everything, but I share the overall impression. Also, the review mentioned one thing I completely forgot to mention myself that really frustrated me:

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There are many, many situations where Shepard will stand idly by while some character is brutalized by a random low-level enemy,

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That's easy : It is merely there to evoke emotions.

"Emotional bonding" seems to become the new trend in gaming, at least on the Bioware side.

Just look art the Dragon Age saga : Emotional bonding (read : poducing of strong emotions) at its finest …

Grimlorn said:

It's that whole psychological thing with branding. You'll see the same stupid crap with politics. People somehow identify with brands and when one of those brands comes under attack, it's like they are under attack. So they get defensive and try to attack anyone who criticizes or points out something wrong with the brand. They become less objective and less receptive to reason. It's crazy.

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Interesting. Didn't see it that way yet, but yes, you are right.

Edit : Is this the way totalitarian systems work in which the members identify themselves with the state ?

Alrik Fassbauer said:

That's easy : It is merely there to evoke emotions.
"Emotional bonding" seems to become the new trend in gaming, at least on the Bioware side.

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It's not a very good trend, however. This trick doesn't really work, it always feel forced, particularly in games, when the usually extremely capable an heroic protagonist is forced to stand and watch as bad guys do this, kill that and/or escape via the power of the plot. Assassin's Creed 2 (yeah, not crpg) had an extreme case of this illness.

Alrik Fassbauer said:

Interesting. Didn't see it that way yet, but yes, you are right.
Edit : Is this the way totalitarian systems work in which the members identify themselves with the state ?

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Yeah. As do cults, gangs, and suchlike. Fanboyism is a problematic, and in fact, dangerous thing.

Alrik Fassbauer said:

… Is this the way totalitarian systems work…

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Media and media control are important elements of real world battles.






Meanwhile the battle at Bioware features either:

or​

An organization of 38,000+ gamers… who have raised more than $50,000 for charity to show that they’re serious.​

verses​

The Mass Effect team…​

or​

Bioware, a for profit corporation wholly owned by Electronic Arts… ​

Interesting times.

__

Alrik Fassbauer said:

Interesting. Didn't see it that way yet, but yes, you are right.

Edit : Is this the way totalitarian systems work in which the members identify themselves with the state ?

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Probably. There are a variety of ways to manipulate people.

I just recently read an article on psychology and branding. Some study they did that pointed all that stuff out and it's pretty much true. You can see it yourself in life, the study just confirmed it.

For example go to the news articles on the guy who reported EABioware to the FTC and BBB. There are a bunch of dumb people coming to the defense of Bioware even though they are trying to protest to get a better ending. They think reporting Bioware for false advertising goes too far and puts a new ending from them in jeopardy. Bioware could release a new ending and charge the people asking for a new ending $10-15 for it and they would all buy it and be back to being loyal fans who defend Bioware. It makes me sick.

Yes. It is disguising, I have to agree. I can understand that people may think that petition is a better way to handle things (that's debatable, but not really the point) are ridiculing a person that is using his rights as a customer, by reporting to an institution that exists for the sole reason of protecting customers is sickening and absurd. Especially as reporting to FTC is just a first step, and if the claim is to weak (or rather, not very strong, I doubt they want to enter a long legal battle if things aren't clear-cut) it will be dismissed. To be honest, it looks like some kind of abusive relationship.

They also think they did something good by donating a bunch of money to charity. I just don't understand how it helps their cause or why they are so proud of it. It just tells EABioware that they are willing to pay money for an ending that should have already been included in the original game.

But Bioware, their Overlords, have to make money. Am I right?

KapitanUnterhosen said:

Spoilers!

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My apologies, I've re-edited my post. Will be more careful in future!

Grimlorn said:

They also think they did something good by donating a bunch of money to charity. I just don't understand how it helps their cause or why they are so proud of it. It just tells EABioware that they are willing to pay money for an ending that should have already been included in the original game.

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Well, you know, there is never any harm in donating to charity. Doesn't change the fact that many people would (or are at least declaring they would) buy an ending DLC, to get rid of that crappy ending. Well, I would love to have some real ending, but no way I would pay so it. It would be irresponsible and set up an awful precedent.

I am approaching the dreaded "horrible ending" of ME3. So far my biggest disappointment about Bioware was DA2. Am I approaching the newest historical lowest?

I think however that those 300 1-star reviews on Amazon just because of the ending are an overreaction, because judging an entire product by the last 20 minutes is not always fair. Do you remember "Dark City"? It is still among my favourite movies despite having probably the worst ending I've seen in a movie.