Mass Effect 3 (Seriously, Use Spoilers People!)

[An Enraged Platypus]

I usually play female characters anyway, but god Maleshep's voice acting is just really grating to me. Can't make it through a playthrough with him.

It depends on the scene. I used to be rabidly down on Mark Meer's voice acting in ME1, but by ME2 he was on top form. The male shepard voice acting for LotSB, especially the car chase, is brilliant. By contrast, FemShep sounds like she's someone's shrewish mother-in-law coming along for a drive.

[Chewbaccawacca]

I've played as both and I enjoyed both, I can say I tend to play male characters simply for the added immersion. Though I never had any issues at all with his appearance I don't know if I ever played as the generic maleshep, I almost allways edit the pre-sets to something I prefer better. For instance my maleshep in the ME playthrough I'm working on now looks like the not-Kevin-Bacon guy from Tremors with a broken nose. Mostly no matter what I'm playing I want my "tough guy" to look like he/she's been through some stuff. Typically bad stuff, like shot and stabbed a couple times stuff.

[ArgonV]

Something completely different; anti-Reaper guessing!
How is Shepard gonna defeat the Reapers? Here's my guesses:

Spoiler:

-Thanix cannons to the max
-Some Prothean relic
-Anti-eezo weaponry (It's mentioned in ME that Sovereign needs a huge eezo core to safely land on a planet, so being able to neutralize it, would be effective), possible combined with all the dark energy stuff from ME (especiall Haestrom). Also a combination with the above.
-Thresher Maws. Yes, I'm serious.

[Belial]

Spoiler:

There's actually a video of them using a thresher maw. On Tuchanka, I think.

That said, I don't think she'll terribly need a gimmick. The reapers have never been invincible or unbeatable. They've stated all along that the reason they've won every previous conflict is that they were able to immediately cripple transit and communication throughout the galaxy before anyone even realized what was going on, and then erase the records so the next wave of sentients would be just as surprised. Their strategy has always been carefully crafted around never having to face any significant, organized, informed portion of the milky way's might at the same time. Shepard and the Protheans have royally fucked that strategy for them, twice or three times over depending on how you count it. Which means the reapers are stuck with a fight in which they are individually much stronger, but drastically outnumbered. In other words, a fair fight.

From there, I expect it's mostly just a matter of getting everyone in the galaxy lined up in a row and throwing mass driver shells at the problem until it curls up and dies.

[Will]

From there, I expect it's mostly just a matter of getting everyone in the galaxy lined up in a row and throwing mass driver shells at the problem until it curls up and dies.

If I've learned anything from playing StarCraft, it's that they'll be more effective if they get a good concave around them than if they just line up to die.

[Loadstone]

If I've learned anything from playing StarCraft, it's that they'll be more effective if they get a good concave around them than if they just line up to die.

And using good force fields.

Which means the reapers are stuck with a fight in which they are individually much stronger, but drastically outnumbered. In other words, a fair fight.

Spoiler:

What makes you say that the reapers will be drastically outnumbered? It's not like Team Milky Way have absurdly large standing fleets (a la treaty limiting the number of massive ships for each species), and IIRC the cutscene at the end of ME2 showed hundreds of Reapers incoming. Sure, there'll be lots of frigates and cruisers but it's doubtful that anything but the capital ships will have been upgraded like the Normandy.

[Belial]

Spoiler:

I don't think the reapers are super worried about dreadnoughts, honestly. It seems like the entire point of a dreadnought is to have bigger weapons than whatever your enemy has in the fight, and that's a losing strategy for team milky way. Against the reapers, dreadnoughts are just big sitting targets. The much less limited number of smaller, faster, more numerous ships, however...

Also, last I checked the Turians had basically been released from the requirements of the treaty (either when the council died, or following some human/turian joint exercises in 2185), and the humans have been creating dreadnought-sized ships and calling them "carriers" to get around the treaty since day one.

In addition, factor in the Geth.

Regardless, the Reaper strategy is not one you pursue if you think you can achieve an easy victory by just rolling over everyone, which means the fight could easily just come down to the traditional: who can grab the most advantages and slug it out harder.

You could argue that the reapers are actually in a really bad position here: their element of surprise has been blown, their proven winning strategy is lying in tatters, and they're basically forced to attack now anyway because sentient life isn't going to become less advanced if they wait around, and it'll eventually come out and find them in dark space and kill them in their sleep. Shepard has put them in what is, curiously enough, a defensive, reactionary position.

[Jessica]

As usual I'm late for the party.

I have a question for you folk. Since EA is being a bucket of dicks, and not putting the game on steam like the other two, I need to figure out the best way to get this game. I also recently purchased a 360.

So, would you suggest getting the game for the 360, or the PC? I own Mass effect 1 and 2 on the PC through steam. There will probably be issues getting old save games from the steam directory, as I find interfacing steam and non-steam games often is a hassle. EA may have considered this or not. Hard to say.

[Ghostbear]

I dunno about the whole numbers thing there. Sovereign was basically completely unaffected by an entire human fleet in the first one until he (does he make since here?) lost his shields due to Shepard. Even then, it seems Sovereign could have beaten them if he had been in a combat position. Of course, non-reaper fleets have possibly been upgraded significantly since then. I'd think the number issue will come down to how many reaper ships are sized like sovereign, and how many are like the one shown facing a thresher maw in the trailer. Even then, I expect they'll get defeated by a convenient plot device found by Shepard, probably involving the Protheans (they've been involved too much in the background of the story otherwise); it is Shepard's story after all, so it'd make more sense (to me, anyway), if Shepard is the one to save the day. And s/he can't isn't really able to build more ships, or command large armadas- Shepard is a special ops soldier, so it'll have to be something that Shepard can do on the ground.

As usual I'm late for the party.

I have a question for you folk. Since EA is being a bucket of dicks, and not putting the game on steam like the other two, I need to figure out the best way to get this game. I also recently purchased a 360.

So, would you suggest getting the game for the 360, or the PC? I own Mass effect 1 and 2 on the PC through steam. There will probably be issues getting old save games from the steam directory, as I find interfacing steam and non-steam games often is a hassle. EA may have considered this or not. Hard to say.

If your concern is save game importing, then I'd think getting it on PC won't be an obstacle for you (you'll just need to find your saved games from ME2- which should be in \Documents\BioWare\Mass Effect 2\Save regardless of Steam. If your issue is Origin, then you won't be able to get around that (legally) on the PC, I believe, so the 360 would be your best bet.

[Yakk]

And remember, it took them centuries to finish off the Protheans. And that was after decapitating their race and destroying their ability to travel.

This time, the mortal races have access to actual combat-worthy Reaper weapons, and know what the Reapers are planning on doing. Not everyone believes, but many know.

Then again, the Protheans where more advanced (than pretty much everyone -- they where the first(?) race in Reaper history to crack how to build their own relays).

[Belial]

I dunno about the whole numbers thing there. Sovereign was basically completely unaffected by an entire human fleet in the first one until he (does he make since here?) lost his shields due to Shepard.

I think that was largely a time issue. They could have eventually worn him down. They were also caught somewhat unawares and weren't in any sort of attack configuration.

I mean, we know reapers are vulnerable to plain old "accelerate a chunk of metal really fast at the enemy" weapons, because that's where the derelict came from.

Even then, I expect they'll get defeated by a convenient plot device found by Shepard, probably involving the Protheans (they've been involved too much in the background of the story otherwise)

I don't think this is as obvious as you seem to think it is. The protheans' omnipresence in the storyline kindof dropped off after the first game. As I see it, they've already played their role by fucking up the citadel relay and offering a chance to break the cycle. They don't really need to be involved anymore. Also, Shepard just finding and using random prothean trash to end the war would be a direct contradiction to the recurring theme of the games: that relying on other peoples' tech is a weakness.

it is Shepard's story after all, so it'd make more sense (to me, anyway), if Shepard is the one to save the day. And s/he can't isn't really able to build more ships, or command large armadas- Shepard is a special ops soldier, so it'll have to be something that Shepard can do on the ground.

I assumed it would be that other thing Shepard is good at: getting people to follow her. One of the big themes they seem to be harping on in this game is uniting the galaxy. I can definitely see "try to get everyone on the same page" as her big mission in this one.

[Will]

I don't think this is as obvious as you seem to think it is. The protheans' omnipresence in the storyline kindof dropped off after the first game. As I see it, they've already played their role by fucking up the citadel relay and offering a chance to break the cycle. They don't really need to be involved anymore. Also, Shepard just finding and using random prothean trash to end the war would be a direct contradiction to the recurring theme of the games: that relying on other peoples' tech is a weakness.

Also, if the Protheans already invented a MacGuffin capable of destroying the Reapers...why didn't they use it to destroy the Reapers?

[Ghostbear]

I think that was largely a time issue. They could have eventually worn him down. They were also caught somewhat unawares and weren't in any sort of attack configuration.

I mean, we know reapers are vulnerable to plain old "accelerate a chunk of metal really fast at the enemy" weapons, because that's where the derelict came from.

That doesn't apply to the human fleet though, only the citadel fleet. The humans were completely prepared and definitely in an attack configuration. Though, yes, we do know they're just as vulnerable to weaponry as everyone else, just having the advantage of more advanced defenses.

I don't think this is as obvious as you seem to think it is. The protheans' omnipresence in the storyline kindof dropped off after the first game. As I see it, they've already played their role by fucking up the citadel relay and offering a chance to break the cycle. They don't really need to be involved anymore. Also, Shepard just finding and using random prothean trash to end the war would be a direct contradiction to the recurring theme of the games: that relying on other peoples' tech is a weakness.

Certainly not obvious, but they were still kind of a big deal in the second game too, being the principle villains. Even ignoring the relay and the keepers though, they still keep playing a background role. That doesn't guarantee them being the deus ex machina, but I'm not convinced it's hugely unlikely either. They seem like a Chekhov's Gun to me, maybe not a perfect fit (since they certainly weren't meaningless in either game), but they seem to have more appearance in the story than their importance would otherwise justify. It doesn't even have to be something they invented, it could just be something they found out or know; some groups of them might have had the ability to study reapers for hundreds of years, after all.

I don't really think the technology thing has played too big a role in the series, however. We find out about it in the first game, and in the second game, all the new tech we hear about is either derived directly from reapers, or derived from already existing tech, which was also derived from the reapers. Even the end of the second game has the space station billed as a great place to get more tech from! I'd say the weakness is more: relying on the tech of others to the exclusion of your own is a weakness.

I assumed it would be that other thing Shepard is good at: getting people to follow her. One of the big themes they seem to be harping on in this game is uniting the galaxy. I can definitely see "try to get everyone on the same page" as her big mission in this one.

That's a good possibility too. Who knows, maybe it'll be both? Shepard finds useful gizmo, uses it successfully once, and then uses that to get everyone else to stop bickering? I'd say that the sentient races still have a rather significant disadvantage from a combat perspective; even if their fleets are exactly capable of matching the reapers, they have vast stretches of territory to defend, whereas the reapers can afford to defend nothing, while making strategic attacks on undefended locations. Based on that, while everyone coming together will certainly play a part, I expect it'll be more than just that.

Also, if the Protheans already invented a MacGuffin capable of destroying the Reapers...why didn't they use it to destroy the Reapers?

For the same reason the protheans didn't use their changes to the citadel to save themselves: it was already too late to save themselves by the time they discovered it. Not saying it's guaranteed that they'll play a part, but I think it's quite plausible, and definitely not far fetched.

[Belial]

They seem like a Chekhov's Gun to me, maybe not a perfect fit (since they certainly weren't meaningless in either game), but they seem to have more appearance in the story than their importance would otherwise justify. It doesn't even have to be something they invented, it could just be something they found out or know; some groups of them might have had the ability to study reapers for hundreds of years, after all.

I feel like the gun has already been fired. As far as we know there was only one surviving enclave, and they were on Ilos. That information is now gone. To surprise-discover a second enclave would be kindof ludicrous. I would probably flip a table.

I don't really think the technology thing has played too big a role in the series, however. We find out about it in the first game, and in the second game, all the new tech we hear about is either derived directly from reapers, or derived from already existing tech, which was also derived from the reapers. Even the end of the second game has the space station billed as a great place to get more tech from! I'd say the weakness is more: relying on the tech of others to the exclusion of your own is a weakness.

It's the whole reason organic life is in this position in the first place, and it's the point of Legion's little speeches to you later. It's also why the space station you're referencing was presented as such a devil's bargain.

[maybeagnostic]

So, would you suggest getting the game for the 360, or the PC? I own Mass effect 1 and 2 on the PC through steam. There will probably be issues getting old save games from the steam directory, as I find interfacing steam and non-steam games often is a hassle.

ME2 just used the save game file from the first game so steam/origin shouldn't make a difference. I would definitely recommend getting the game for PC though- I played ME2 on my not-exceptionally-powerful laptop and my roommate played it on the 360 and the difference in visuals, loading times, and smoothness was huge.

The way I see it, ME3 will be about Shepard putting together a massive fleet that eventually faces the reapers in an epic final battle. Presumably then we discover some massive Reaper dreadnought that dwarfs Sovereign and the only solution is to have a crack commando squad board it and take it down from the inside. On second thought, that sounds an awful lot like the ending of ME2 so hopefully they come up with a better way to frame it but I do expect Shepard's team to have some comparatively small yet absolutely critical task in the midst of the biggest space battle in galactic history.

P.S. I take it Origins is an attempt by EA to create a distribution platform to compete with Steam? Why do people hate the idea so much?

[Ghostbear]

I feel like the gun has already been fired. As far as we know there was only one surviving enclave, and they were on Ilos. That information is now gone. To surprise-discover a second enclave would be kindof ludicrous. I would probably flip a table.

It very well could have been fired already, but I think there could be more to it as well. I didn't mean another Ilos like base that managed to hide from the reapers, I meant something like, maybe they had a planet that held out for a long time, or maybe one of the last places attacked by the reapers- those people, while they ultimately would have died, would have also had time to study the reapers. If they were lucky or careful, their data could have survived as well.

It's the whole reason organic life is in this position in the first place, and it's the point of Legion's little speeches to you later. It's also why the space station you're referencing was presented as such a devil's bargain.

I thought the question with the collector base was attached to two things. One- the ethics of it, as it had relied, in part, on reducing humans to base organic matter, and two- that you would be giving control of the base over to the illusive man, who is kind of an asshole. I think the time frame that the ME games deal with is just too small to expect cultures to suddenly start to adapt new, non-mass effect based technology, so any sudden advances are going to need to be derived from someone.

P.S. I take it Origins is an attempt by EA to create a distribution platform to compete with Steam? Why do people hate the idea so much?

For me, I detest the thought of a publisher being involved in distribution in a major way- the advantages to them for exploiting their platform at the expense of their rivals is too great (this is a danger with Valve as well, but since they create so few games themselves, it doesn't factor in very much). For another, I don't trust EA at all. That trust doesn't matter for buying stand-alone games; I only need to rely on the game working and being fun, both of which I only need to find out once and be set. If they own my access to games, however, that requires a significant amount of trust for them to not fuck me over- not just now, but for the entire time I use their service.

[pseudoidiot]

I agree a lot with this for why Origin sucks.

[Will]

That, and the horrible data harvesting.

Honestly, I don't see the need for "competition" here. Having multiple services means I have to have all those services on my computer, and deal with multiple services when I want to play different games. If ME3 is only on Origin, I can't "vote with my dollars" by buying ME3 somewhere else, so competition actually ends up with worse outcomes for me, the consumer. Steam already exists and is already awesome.

But this is becoming a rant about markets and not Mass Effect, so continue your rampant speculation.

[Xeio]

I agree a lot with this for why Origin sucks.

It's sorta funny that he mentions getting ME1/2 for free if you have them on steam... you can get 2 for free, because you can register the CD key with Origin (it's probably already registered with the EA account since you have to get one anyway to even play ME2). Though I believe ME1 is past the date where CD keys are activatable on Origin for some reason (haven't actually tried it, as I didn't origionally play ME1 on the PC thus didn't have a key).

In any case, playing ME1 again* since I bought it on the PC. I forgot about the mako. MAKOOOOOO.

*Save game sites? Never!

[maybeagnostic]

It's the whole reason organic life is in this position in the first place, and it's the point of Legion's little speeches to you later. It's also why the space station you're referencing was presented as such a devil's bargain.

I thought the question with the collector base was attached to two things. One- the ethics of it, as it had relied, in part, on reducing humans to base organic matter, and two- that you would be giving control of the base over to the illusive man, who is kind of an asshole. I think the time frame that the ME games deal with is just too small to expect cultures to suddenly start to adapt new, non-mass effect based technology, so any sudden advances are going to need to be derived from someone.

There was a clear implication that any technology coming from the subversive intelligent machines is really a Trojan horse and shouldn't be trusted. The series never presents technology itself is a bad thing just foreign technology which you don't understand and can't really control. The Illusive Man is definitely too black ops to really trust but I thought the organic matter was just used to grow the ridiculous baby reaper? On that note if you can take down some reapers with handheld weapons, surely a huge spaceship would be able to hurt most of them.

Personally I would really like the edge in the fight to come from some unexpected synergy between the different races. I don't know how that would work out for a renegade Shepard but I saved the Council, the rachni, the krogans, and the geth and if they combine all their forces with humanity... well, that would be quite an armada. Maybe a renegade Shepard would have the Illusive Man research the technology used to enslave the protheans and apply it to create an army of zombie allies?

[Xeio]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pShKKOV_gA

I want it to be March so bad.

[Ghostbear]

There was a clear implication that any technology coming from the subversive intelligent machines is really a Trojan horse and shouldn't be trusted. The series never presents technology itself is a bad thing just foreign technology which you don't understand and can't really control. The Illusive Man is definitely too black ops to really trust but I thought the organic matter was just used to grow the ridiculous baby reaper?

Sorry that was poor phrasing on my behalf; I meant that the technology there that related to reapers was all based on that. So presumably to get the most benefit from that tech (which you would expect someone like the illusive man to want to do), you would need to continue that practice. For my purposes, I decided to blow the whole station because:
(1) I didn't think I could trust him- he had lied to Shepard already, and was never fully truthful. His anger when I did decide to blow the station just reinforced that conclusion.
(2) I didn't think Bioware was actually capable of balancing the options available to you with such a decision. If that situation was presented to me outside of a video game, I would definitely have kept the station intact, because of all the tech you could get in simple ways. Bioware usually keeps things to binary choices, with all/most of the potential good of an option or all/most the potential bad of an option carrying out- in this case, you can see it in that you couldn't keep the station intact and hand it over the council, or to the alliance, or fuck, keep it as your own and party cause you just got yourself your own star damned space station! This is always going to be a limitation of games, of course, but it's due to my expectation of how that limitation would play out (e.g., some devs, such as Obsidian or CDProjekt, I would consider going with what I really would have done), that I reached my conclusion.

The idea of the tech being "bad" because it would still be reliant on the reapers didn't enter my thought stream at all, and honestly, I didn't feel like that was conveyed at all. Of course, we're all allowed our own interpretations of events, and maybe mine isn't the one that was intended, but I definitely didn't feel that fact was of any concern to anyone in the game.

On that note if you can take down some reapers with handheld weapons, surely a huge spaceship would be able to hurt most of them.

Certainly, I would think in a realistic scenario (the discussion is purely academic here, of course, because we know everything is going to work out in the end no matter what the specifics of the reapers is), it'd matter at lot how many of the reapers were like that, and how many were like Sovereign. Sovereign was able to shrug off an entire fleet for a pretty decent period of time; presumably, a small handful (3-8ish) Sovereign-class reapers could take apart any single fleet thrown at them after the recent council upgrades. The council races seem to represent the good thumb-rule of 80% of military might, or thereabouts, and I suspect they could only field somewhere between one and three dozen fleets at once, based off codex entries and apparent fleet size. If the reapers have 50 Sovereign-class members, they'd have an upper hand but not a huge one. With 100, with their ability to concentrate force and attack wherever they wanted, they'd probably have a significant upper hand. With 1,000 of them, they would likely just straight up outnumber the ships against them. What then if there's only a dozen, or half a dozen? Then they'd be vastly outgunned by sentients in all likelihood. And all of that assumes that every other class of reaper is useless for space battles, but I didn't factor the geth in either (since we have so little data to work with, with respect to their numbers and space capabilities), so I consider those two parts a wash.

In short, it isn't just the numbers that matter, but the numbers of each sub-group as well.

[Vaniver]

The idea of the tech being "bad" because it would still be reliant on the reapers didn't enter my thought stream at all, and honestly, I didn't feel like that was conveyed at all.

It's not like mere proximity to Reapers is dangerous.

[Belial]

Also, if you keep the station and then talk to legion about it, it has choice words regarding why that's an idiotic move.

Was I the only one who talked to Legion every chance I got?

[Ghostbear]

It's not like mere proximity to Reapers is dangerous.

A fair point to consider, though I'm not sure the collectors would have been functional at all if they were under indoctrination constantly for that long.

Also, if you keep the station and then talk to legion about it, it has choice words regarding why that's an idiotic move.

Was I the only one who talked to Legion every chance I got?

I talked to everyone every chance I got, even the stupid squadmates (and crew, for that matter) that didn't have proper dialogue. I just didn't leave the station intact for Legion to tell me about it.

[grythyttan]

Also, if you keep the station and then talk to legion about it, it has choice words regarding why that's an idiotic move.

Was I the only one who talked to Legion every chance I got?

He was constantly building consensus! But yeah, I talked to everyone every time I got back on the ship, especially mordin and legion. Oh and listening in on the engineers on the lower deck.

[Obby]

For those of you who may not have heard, there's a thread on Reddit that's giving away Mass Effect 3 demo codes early (yes, they work, I got one already and am downloading the demo now). They're for the 360, but all you need to do is snag a code when they're posted. The first post updates every time a new batch is posted. They're posted in batches of about 20, every 15-20 minutes approximately. Make sure you have the XBox Live website open when you do this, they go VERY fast!

[Jack21222]

EA is saying that it will require a "one time" validation on Origin if you purchase the game from a retail store. Does this mean I'd get to uninstall Origin immediately afterwards and still play the game? If so, I don't have too much of a problem with that. If I need to keep Origin installed on my computer to play ME3, that is not going to happen.

[Dark567]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pShKKOV_gA

I want it to be March so bad.

I am fairly disappointed with the voice acting in that trailer, its subpar compared to Jennifer Hale's normal work.

[Xanthir]

I'm just glad that my wife is going to be at school all night on the 14th, so I'll get to spend Valentine's Day with my Shep.

[Belial]

Am playing the demo now. So pretty. Combat so nice. Skill system so full of choices worth making.

[Xeio]

Am playing the demo now. So pretty. Combat so nice. Skill system so full of choices worth making.

Curse you! I have to wait a whole 3 days, this is terrible.

EA is saying that it will require a "one time" validation on Origin if you purchase the game from a retail store. Does this mean I'd get to uninstall Origin immediately afterwards and still play the game? If so, I don't have too much of a problem with that. If I need to keep Origin installed on my computer to play ME3, that is not going to happen.

I thought it was linked like BF3, where it needed to be running, but I don't know for sure, what is your source for the one time activation? My guess would be that's just a release date check that requires online activation, but it will still require Origin to run (even if only in offline mode).

[SlyReaper]

Is it not coming out on Steam? For a game that's coming out next month, Steam certainly has been keeping quiet about it. I'd expect it to be pre-orderable by now.

[Dark567]

Is it not coming out on Steam? For a game that's coming out next month, Steam certainly has been keeping quiet about it. I'd expect it to be pre-orderable by now.

Not sure if trolling.....

[Ghostbear]

Is it not coming out on Steam? For a game that's coming out next month, Steam certainly has been keeping quiet about it. I'd expect it to be pre-orderable by now.

ME3 on the PC is an Origin exclusive. I wouldn't get your hopes up about any future Bioware (and probably all of EA, for that matter) games showing up on Steam.

[Belial]

The xbox version also apparently requires you to hook it into an origin account to get to any of the online stuff

[Obby]

The xbox version also apparently requires you to hook it into an origin account to get to any of the online stuff

If you're talking about the error you get when you launch the demo, my guess would be that it's because none of that stuff is active yet. It won't become active until the 14th if you own BF3 or else the 17th. Though it will more than likely require an Origin account, yes.

Also, loved the demo. It's really hard to get used to playing on a console though, as I always have played ME on the PC. Very difficult to aim properly. The skill tree changes seem (to me at least) to be a very good balance from how oversimplified they made it in ME2. At level 12 or so (the second part of the demo) Vanguard Shepard had about 7 or 8 different skills to choose from, and each skill had an available 6 upgrades. The first three choices are similar to the way the first three choices for each skill were in ME2, but after that the choices branch out, so you can customize each ability with the last three tiers.

Combat-wise, it plays almost exactly the same as in ME2 (at least on normal difficulty). Find cover, pop out of cover and shoot enemies/throw biotics until your shield breaks. Though, the enemies seemed to be a little more intelligent and did actually try to flank me a couple times.

Maybe they took it out because it's a demo, or because it's on the 360, but I did enjoy some of the hacking and decryption elements from ME2. Here it was simply "Press A, wait 5 seconds for door to open" instead of having to do some basic matching game.

Overall, judging by the story that's set up in the beginning of the demo, and the peek at where we will be later on in the game, it looks to be a very fitting end to the series. I can't wait for March 6th.

[Ryom]

Promo code: EMCYTZT1174 - $47.99 with free 3-day shipping
PC GAME

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6832130281

[Belial]

Other things I loved from the demo: the Heavy Melee. The Vanguard's is just a quick biotic slam to the face, which is so utterly in character and also really, really satisfying.

[Jack21222]

EA is saying that it will require a "one time" validation on Origin if you purchase the game from a retail store. Does this mean I'd get to uninstall Origin immediately afterwards and still play the game? If so, I don't have too much of a problem with that. If I need to keep Origin installed on my computer to play ME3, that is not going to happen.

I thought it was linked like BF3, where it needed to be running, but I don't know for sure, what is your source for the one time activation? My guess would be that's just a release date check that requires online activation, but it will still require Origin to run (even if only in offline mode).

My source for the "one time activation" thing was any number of about a dozen reports from January 16th when I googled it. The original source is here: http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic ... ex/8975536 and things become much more clear in the follow-up posts.

Origin is required for any PC version of Mass Effect 3. Single or multiplay. Physical or digital edition.

I tried dealing with Origin once, when pre-ordering SW:TOR. I had to cancel my preorder, and it was a tremendous mess trying to get the cancellation through. I tried going through their online chat customer service, but after waiting for 20 minutes, the person on the other end HAD NEVER HEARD OF THE GAME. He said he was only trained for BF3, even though I did not go through any specific BF3 channel. He also said he could not transfer me anywhere else. So, I had to make a phone call and reached a rather rude person on the other line after another 10 minute wait.

This was after trying to scour their website for a half an hour trying to find out how to cancel the preorder.

So, I will never be using Origin for anything. Despite this, I was looking forward to buying a hard copy of the game, but not now. There is absolutely no reason to require Origin to play the game other than to try to cram this service down our throats. It would be as if I bought a DVD of a movie, and every 15 minutes the movie would go on commercial break, advertising other movies by the same studio.

I've given EA upwards of 500 dollars in my life, but they're not going to see another penny from me. It's a shame, because I really like Bioware, but this is too much.