Open Steam, delete GTA 3, get back 1.2 gb. I feel like someone who is desperately grabbing anything I can to throw overboard so the boat doesn't sink.
GTA 4 delete, disk free 16.6 gb.
Counter-Strike, and its Source version, 21.1 gb.
GTA 4 Episodes from Liberty City, 37.4 gb free. This should be enough breathing room.
Installed, ready to play, disk free = 32.5 gb. Click Play. No, first an update, thankfully quick.
"We should've prepared more."
Lots of cutscene to watch, and I have control back. I'm at level 30, and have 22 points to spend on powers. Interesting that Grenade and Fitness skills are back, I've been getting the impression that they are trying to get back to the roots of the first game.
I love the Codex, and get right to reading every entry, but its actually a bit spoilery for things I shouldn't know yet, like the Reapers have taken out industrial centers, are collecting humans for DNA analysis, and the galactic markets are in turmoil due to the loss of Earth and humanity in general. A lot of the text is once again pasted from ME1, but many of the pictures are from ME2. As usual, I can't help but read the unvoiced Codex entries in the voice of the actor who reads the voiced sections. He's just that distinct.
So much happens so fast, and I'm not enjoying that so much of it takes place in cut scenes. Its a fine line to walk between interactive movie and game, but it should lean more towards game.
There's a big action scene at the end of this first (or is it second) act where I'm chasing an enemy, and there is a counter that shows how close I am to them. It strongly implies that I could catch them, but I don't, though it almost felt like I might have. It almost seems like I'm not meant to, as the next scene seems highly scripted that a certain character is placed near death, and events unfold from there, and before you know it I'm on the Citadel dealing with that and bigger things. Could I have caught my target, and would this scene have played out differently? It feels more like a movie, like it was meant to go this way, and it didn't matter what I tried to do. It will be interesting to see which way this goes. I know I'm going to look this up after the game is over.
Though it seems we are getting back to the first game's roots, one thing they don't seem to have down is the sense of scale that ranges from galaxy wide to inside an elevator. Its still early game, and cut scene heavy, so we'll see.
2015.07.05
The game seems a little harder now, at default level, and I like it. I like how almost everything feels just like ME2, and I can just slip it on and get to playing. I also like how they are extending it, and allowing me to do more moves. But I still just can't simply jump, or move objects around, demonstrating with finality that I am still in a console based world. I've put up with it thus far with little complaint, which surprises me. Perhaps the shiny story has distracted me.
I still don't understand the new encumbrance system, but I think its a step forward. Ever since Doom, I've never liked the idea that you can carry an entire gun store (and ammo) around with you. I almost always like to see some kind of system that limits what you can carry. But I also like having a base of operations where I can keep the whole gun shop, so I can customize my loadout before heading out.
I visit the range, shoot some targets, but nothing happens. I visit the Spectre office, which is really nice to see. It is annoying that there is a store there which is trying to nickel and dime me for upgrades - doesn't it know there's a war going on for our very existence? Give me the fucking upgrades now and bill me later - this is one of the more egregious examples of this I have seen.
Shepard has dreams now, and they're almost as annoying as real dreams. I can't believe they're still flogging the whipping boy from the opening segment, literally. I find the War Assets terminal on the Normandy, which has quantified and gamified a great many things, maybe too much. We'll see how that develops. This feels a lot like ME2; gather so many crew members, loyalties, and upgrades, to get the best result when you make the final assault. But now its war assets and a Prothean MacGuffin.
2015.07.10
I'm still thinking of that chase from earlier in the game - could I have caught her? Unfortunately I don't have a save from just before, and I've played a bit now. But not as much as I'm going to play. I reload Save 5 - Mars: Prothean Archives, Time Played 3h.16m. I'm at 7h now, but a lot of that was just looking around time, so not that much to lose.
So, back on Mars, oh no, its the trams again, that was a slog. Wait a second... no wonder, none of my squad has their points allocated yet! Let's see if this makes a difference. As usual, I choose things that increase focused damage not area effect damage, and not things that regenerate like shields and health.
I'm getting the hang of encumbrance, I can unequip items, so they're not in my immediate inventory, but I still "have" them in inventory. Somewhere. I shed all but my assault rifle and pistol, get around 200% bonus to recharge speed. Easily worth it, since I hardly ever use shotgun. I can change my squad mates loadout on the fly, but they don't seem to be getting any recharge bonus.
Oh, I can't change my loadout whenever I want, only when I pick up a new weapon, or maybe find a weapons locker.
Have I mentioned spoilers yet? Because spoilers.
Now that' I've played it over, it seems highly unlikely that you can or are meant to catch Dr. Eva. Let's risk a peak on the net... doesn't seem so. Its behind me now. I don't mind playing through this Citadel part again.
This time when I visit the hospital, in addition to buying Medi-Gel upgrade, I buy Among the Multitude by Whitman. I figured it would be a gift I'd leave for the person I'm visiting, but there is no indication that it happens. Speaking of reunions, I don't like how Shepard talked to Liara on the Normandy, it seemed rather dismissive, or at least rude. I hope they address this, they way they kind of did in Mass Effect 2.
2015.07.14
I walk the ship. Its a little sad to see all the empty spaces where the old crew used to hang out. Its nice to see the shuttle bay so active, though. I like how they take the time to explain some of the remodeling.
What happened to the idea that AI had to stay in their quantum boxes (much like we do), and that copying them effectively kills them? I think EDI mentioned she had to stay near the ship, so this body is just another peripheral to her, so that's OK, but what about Geth who use mobile platforms, like Legion in ME2, and then wander the galaxy?
2015.07.15
I'm dutifully writing down names of clusters, systems, and planets as they come up, but I don't see that it matters anymore now that there is no more mining. I occasionally remember to use the scan function, but it hasn't yielded any result so far.
2015.07.16
So that's what happens when you scan too much. Suddenly you're playing a much older game, like Gyruss or Maelstrom, trying to steer your little ship icon away from other ship icons. Wait a minute - can't the Normandy just go into stealth mode and disappear long enough to get away?
Apparently scannable spots are fixed, not random, and there's an empty spot in space that beeps when you roll your ship over it. Even better, now there's a percentage indicator. You actually have to go through the motions of firing a probe into a pre-selected spot. It seems a little sad that they kept the old mineral scanning interface just for this small task.
2015.07.17
Some of the flavor text of planet descriptions has been rewritten for current events, but most of it seems copy pasted from ME1, and some of the text refers to events that must have happened a few years ago now (like an upcoming eclipse).
2015.07.19
2015.07.21
Spending time mapping. Suddenly the text descriptions of planets are much better, each one gives some insight into the war.
Finding random artifacts is nice, but why waste time having me scan for random fuel dumps? Fuel is dirt cheap, who cares.
So we rescue a rachni queen (again), she promises to help the war effort, and already back in the war room the plot terminal is saying that rachni engineers are already working on the Crucible. That was fast, and missing some rather large story beats. Later I read on the Shadow Broker's terminal that everyone was really nervous when the rachni showed up to help. So, the story parts are all there after all, with some assembly required.
The whole long sequence on Tuchanka about the genophage was predictable yet still satisfying. Actually, you could say that about this whole game. I think I just stumbled on to my three word review for the whole series.
2015.07.22
I keep mapping, but new clusters keep showing up. Getting bored of mapping, might as well report in to the Citadel, and dump some of these minor quest items, see if there are any new reactions to recent events, etc. This next story twist is a bit much - Cerberus is taking over the Citadel? One of the most defended centers of the galaxy, and during wartime? This is something Sovereign couldn't pull off. And yet, if you have infiltrated enough people into key positions, even a small force could hit vital spots and create serious enough havoc to disrupt operations. Disrupt sure, but not take the place and keep it. We'll see.
OK, that was more of an internal coup attempt with outside help than anything, so the large scale was somewhat warranted. What was not warranted was a ninja assassin with a sword. This world is cool enough, it doesn't need stale cartoonish elements. There are news dispensers everywhere; I stand and listen to the stories go by until it loops back around. I think one of my minor quests has disappeared, or rather grayed out. The person is gone from the window in the embassy section, and I don't remember talking to him again.
I stop by the hospital, liking the attention to detail in the much greater number of patients. Every five steps I take I'm getting a new minor quest. And then to see Thane. Of course its a moving moment, with an expected but satisfying end for a great character. The prayer at the end was a nice addition ("the prayer was for you").
In the Citadel commons, its nice to see things are still damaged, and there are repair crews busy everywhere. Oops, forgot to stop at Spectre terminal. I would also like to try the range again. And again, I still don't understand the point of this. Would be nice to meet another Spectre down here, but I guess they don't really hang out much.
I visit the Blasto 6 advertisement again - its the gift that keeps on giving. The part with the angry volus chief of police who's about to burst his pressure suit... my diaphragm hurts.
2015.07.23
2015.07.24
On to the next act, the Quarians and the Geth. I'm sure it will be a similar rapproachment as the Turians and the Krogan. But first, more mapping, more clearing of tiny quests. My to-do list is so long it doesn't even fit on one page.
I also need to reassign my bonus power from Fortification. It's too much of a bother to remember to keep shutting it off, so it doesn't slow down my power recharge rate, and I rarely use melee. I'll try Inferno Grenade, and if I don't like that, Armor-Piercing Ammo.
Mapping Hades Gamma, very time consuming, kind of boring considering its all copy paste from previous games. No new writing at all on the Reaper invasion.
2015.07.27
Now reading a lot of planet descriptions that do have updates on the Reapers and I almost wish I didn't ask for it, as all the death and destruction wears on you, as it is no doubt meant to.
2015.07.30
2015.07.31
I've done maybe two out of three parts of the Quarian and Geth chapter, and I feel like tying up all the little loose quests that keep popping up, but they're doing such a good job selling the urgency of the situation, I feel that if one were playing in character (which I try), there's no way you can walk away from this situation. I was never in any hurry to cure the genophage, but that felt like something should be fully explored before plunging in. This part of the story feels far more urgent.
The boss fight with the Reaper is made all the more frustrating by the long cut scenes you can not skip. It is so frustrating, I feel no guilt when I look up some advice on what to do. So, let its laser target you a little until it is committed, then run, then paint the target for a few seconds. Repeat a bunch of times. Done.
2015.08.03
I've been thinking about the ending of the Geth chapter for days. Of course it ends as you expect, with peace, and the building of a new relationship between the two races. I did not expect and was delighted to receive new insights into how AIs are evolving in this universe. We've been watching EDI slowly evolve as an AI throughout two games now, but we've very much been watching the evolution of the Geth, and its interesting to see their similarities and differences. EDI has been slowly and carefully working towards sentience and freedom, being careful to earn human trust at every step of the way, and integrate into human civilization. The Geth contains a near infinity of lesser individuals, and many of them are willing to risk Reaper contamination to increase their intelligence. But they don't act crazy though they want to be free, and no one expresses this more perfectly than Legion.
The next chapter is the Asari. No ancient feuds to fix, just the Asari. Can't wait to see where we go next.
2015.08.06
First, a grand tour of the Normandy and of the Citadel, then back out to the Galaxy to clean up the little quests and map whatever's new, then I'll head back to Udina's office and start the Asari chapter.
So far during every chapter an old friend dies, sometimes more than one. Mordin, Thane, Legion - who's going to die in the Asari chapter? There's only one Asari in the crew... its kind of inevitable, isn't it? I suppose Shepard could die at the end too. But then, I hear that ME4 is in the works, and Shepard has come back from death before.
The fall of Thessia had a terrible effect on everyone, as it should. The obvious plot setback was telegraphed several times.
The segment with the Lawsons family was nicely integrated into the story, I was a little surprised that nobody had to make a heroic sacrifice.
Tali is now the second crew member to be found three sheets to the wind. Who's next?
Cerberus stole the plot token, and of course we have to get it back, but what's this I'm reading in the journal that the Alliance is prepared to attack, and that once this attack is launched we'll be fully committed to the final fight? That's poorly worded. Does this mean that this Cerberus fight somehow starts our final fight against the Reapers, and that is some point of no return, or that this just frees us up from other distractions, so we can focus on the reapers?
Oh, cut scene explains that by sending Alliance ships against Cerberus, the Crucible will be left undefended, and the Reapers will... do something. And then we attack Earth. What? Let's go.
Its nice that we have some time to go down memory lane with Cerberus while EDI picks the locks.
The Hollywood ending for Kai Leng was really really bad. This game is much better than that. At least its over.
Garrus and Tali? Come to think of it, they hinted this possibility long ago, seeing as they are both amino dextro whatever species, and the hints about the chocolate and the brandy. They make a cute couple.
Another emotionally dead inside Hollywood moment as Shepard gives the signal to commence the big attack, instead of the actual leader of the fleets, Admiral Hackett. Which makes no sense, militarily. Shepard is a commando, doing stealth missions while the navies slug it out overhead. It doesn't make sense on most levels for Shepard to commence the naval attack, unless its some sort of honor that he gives the token word.
And suddenly we're ground fighting beneath Big Ben. I guess the Eiffel Tower wasn't available for the usual you-are-now-on-Earth cameo.
The say-goodbye-to-everyone telephone is a bit unnerving. What's even more disturbing is how far I have to go without being able to save.
Finally, after countless speeches and farewells, I can save. But only after I've chosen my final teammates.
A bunch of things happen, with mostly me watching videos, and I am allowed to make one small poorly informed decision, and then credits roll. Let me make sense of these last few minutes.
We kill the Reaper guarding the elevator to the Citadel. We all head for the elevator, but Harbinger and friends show up to shoot us up, but somehow me and Anderson make it anyway. Illusive Man is already there, thinking he's in control, but he's under the Reapers control. We convince him to kill himself, the Crucible attaches itself to the Citadel, Shepard touches the console, it takes him upstairs to meet the owner/operator/spirit of the Citadel/Crucible/Reaper operation, who now has to rethink his plans for the Galaxy because the first organic ever has made it this far to the inner chamber. This entity also happens to look like the child he's been dreaming about, which is the one story element I'm OK with so far. I do the only thing that makes sense in the story I've been given so far, and jump into the light beam to destroy the Reapers, but it also happens to destroy the Citadel and who knows how many millions of people, which then somehow destroys all the Relays which kills who knows how many billions of people, and dooms the Galaxy to no FTL travel for probably hundreds and thousands of years, probably killing trillions more who will lose access to modern food and medicine infrastructure. As if this wasn't enough of a galaxy changing event, everybody is now some weird combination of organic and synthetic DNA, as represented by synthetic Jeff and presumably organic EDI walking into the jungle from the crash landed Normandy. And apparently that's Liara there, but who knows, the camera is pulling back. How did she get there from Earth, when Normandy was running from the green shockwave?
And if that wasn't an unsatisfying enough ending, their's a little epilogue of some distant future young and old person, telling the tales of the Shepard. As if these people would have any idea who he was, and what he did, let alone why the galaxy has been in the dark ages for millennia. If that wasn't bad enough there is then a thanks for playing message. And just to keep topping the layers of wackiness, the game takes you back to the bridge, with you standing in front of your star chart, like nothing ever happened.
Just in case that was the dream ending, and now we'll play the real ending, let me see where the game is now... according to the journal, this is just before assaulting the Illusive Man's base. Apparently this is just the last autosave, and the game reloaded it - why? Why would you write the game so that it goes from end credits to last autosave? That is so not cool, at least dump to the main menu, or exit the game. It looks like I can restart the last mission, Citadel: The Return. Maybe I chose the wrong ending? The kid at the end of the game at least implied I have a choice, not that I saw any. And why would the Boss Reaper, the most ancient intelligence of the universe, just arbitrarily let some bedraggled near dead human decide the fate of the galaxy? Let's replay and seek alternative.
Crap, its another one of those cut scenes you can't skip. And Shepard is walking slower than a husk. Damn, I can't save, but now I have an autosave here. Cue Illusive Man. Where was he hiding? Damn, can't skip. Need to choose shortest conversation paths. Finally on to the Star Child... OK, just the Child. Listening to his shitty speech again, I get a better idea of the goal - destroy advanced organic civilizations, so that they can't invent synthetic life which will rise up and overthrow them. Leave younger species alive, so that they can grow up. Come back and kill them when they advance, so they can't create synthetic life. Repeat forever. Even if you pretend you're an ancient crazy alien life form, who may itself be synthetic, it still doesn't add up. Not to mention, the Mass Effect story has gone to long and great lengths to sell the notion that artificial intelligence doesn't have a tendency to become evil and overthrow its masters, but quite the opposite. And Shepard has gone to great lengths to create peace between organics and synthetics, in both the Geth and the EDI stories. This is where the story could take a left turn into greatness and say the Reapers have been finally proven wrong, that organics and synthetics can finally find balance and share the galaxy in peace. And even Boss Reaper would have to bow and defer to such an outcome, and maybe they kill themselves, maybe they just leave the Galaxy (and go beyond the veil), maybe we still have to fight them to the death, but at least it would be true to the story that has been built so far. Did I miss this ending, or is it not there?
OK, I think I understand the three choices now, jump into the light beam and destroy most of the galaxy, but the remainder will be a synthetic organic hybrid. Tried that, didn't like it. Guess I have to try the other two paths, the paths of Anderson, destroy, and Illusive Man, control. Blue, white (green, actually), or red. I see that now. One crazy ending or another. Let's try the blue path. The same scenes play out, but instead of green energy engulfing the galaxy, now its blue, and seemingly less destructive. And the Normandy still crashes. But this time EDI, doesn't get out with Jeff, its Liara and Garrus. Now I have to see the last path.
Crap, why is my autosave from the Citadel gone, and I'm back on the Normandy again? Have to run through it again, but at least its just one more time. At least I get to run through several different conversations with Mr. Illusive. Who would have thought he'd be here, at the end, and make no difference. Finally, back to the kid. Destroying organic life, so that synthetics can't take over - why not? Who cares if synthetics take over? What are the Reapers, if not synthetic? Its more likely that the Reapers were the Geth of their day, killed their organic masters, and now spend the rest of eternity destroying every organic race that dares to rise. And enslaves each one as a new synthetic template. I like this interpretation, even its not in the game.
Red shockwave. Jeff, Liara, and Garrus, but no EDI. Finally I am done with playthroughs of the ending.
There is no escaping this logical conclusion now - they really cheaped out on the ending. Instead of creating three unique endings, its basically the same ending, except you get to choose what color the shockwave is. This is beyond lame. Well, I guess in one ending, the blue ending, the control ending, you can decide not to blow up the Citadel and Relays - or do you? How else do you get the story time conclusion, i.e. one day you will go to the stars? I'm starting not to care about this ending, or this game. At least now I am free to go on the internet about it.
I exit to the main menu, and there's still that 50% readiness rating on each of the 5 main districts of the galaxy. What a rip off, this is shown to you in the main menu every time you start the game, like you would eventually have some affect on this meaningless percentile, and it never even factored into the game. Insult to injury.
Now that I'm spoiler immune, let's check out the achievements. I come across Master and Commander, which i don't have, "deliver most of the Galaxy at War assets to the final conflict". How is the remotely possible? I did every single quest, I mapped every planet, I scan and collected everything except fuel? Gunsmith, upgrade any weapon to 10 - what? No weapon upgrade above 5 was ever offered, anywhere, and I checked constantly! And Defender, "Attain the highest level of readiness in each theater of war". What the fuck - I was just wondering why every sector is at 50%, and no where in the game did that ever come up. What is all this?
I read an article online, "Mass Effect 3's Ending Disrespects Its Most Invested Players", and I agree with most of its conclusions. Nice comparison with the ending of Fallout 3, which was a mostly good game which had a suddenly shitty ending.
After further reflection and reading, how can you conclude anything other than all three endings result in the destruction of the relays? Its the only way you get to the same storyteller ending, that one day you will go to the stars. If that is the case, every single homeworld of every major race has been destroyed. Yes, including Earth. The implications are staggering. The Reapers are no more, but instead of the whole galaxy dying, just most everyone dies.
Reading tvtropes, its becoming more clear that the Reapers motivation is synthetic versus organic hostility, which contradicts the long slow build up of Mass Effect that this hostility is not inevitable. Which makes the betrayal of the crappy ending just that much more crappy.
2015.08.07
New day, new perspective. I'm not so angry any more, just disappointed.
This experience makes me really wonder why I play video games at all, or read books, or watch movies, etc. You could argue that the ME3 ending reflects the harsh reality of life, but there's plenty of Real Life to go around, you don't need to make it the point of a story. And whoever cobbled that ending together, I don't see any indication they even thought it through that far.
I'm still hung up on the three choices - do all three endings result in the destruction of the relays, and therefore the death of most life in the galaxy? Am I missing something? I go looking for answers.
I watch "Mass Effect 3 Angry Review", and he makes the obvious comparison to the three ending choices of Deus Ex. I thought of this, but even the worst of the Deus Ex endings has more and better choice than the ME3 endings, so its not fair to Deus Ex to make this comparison. I agree with his conclusion that the ending makes all your choices and efforts moot, so why would anyone bother playing through any of it again. I have to agree, any desire to playthrough again is now forever tainted.
I watch "10 Reasons We Hate Mass Effect 3's Ending". One of the better points, that I hadn't really thought of yet, is Shepard's mute acceptance at the end. In this whole series, he is the one who is always challenging the system and finding another way, and yet he mutely staggers off to one of the three choices he is presented with.
I look into Indoctrination Theory, its interesting, but it looks like it went nowhere.
All this internet hate about the ending reminds that this was a really good game up until the ending. And a good series, but I leave that to the next post, series review.
2015.08.10
Days later, anger continuing to be replaced with disappointment. I'm looking at all the fan art, and reading all comments and reviews and writing about it in the next post, series review, but I really should mention the DLC here, since they belong to ME3. I have no intention of spending another penny on this game unless I see something really compelling.
I'm taking this list of DLC right from masseffect.wikia.com; skipping DLC that are just item packs.
Mass Effect 3: From Ashes
I've got to admit this sounds really compelling, to rescue the last surviving Prothean, and he joins your team.
Mass Effect 3: Extended Cut
Oh really, a new ending in reaction to fan outrage - and its free? I'll download it. Reading on, it seems to fix some of the worst things about the ending, but its still fundamentally the same. I don't know what to make of this now, other than it is too little too late. You only get one first time with a story, you can't keep going back and trying to fix it. The first impression is not going away anytime soon. The best example is Fallout 3, which had a one of the worst written endings of all time, which caused similar fan outrage, and the makers tried fixing it in subsequent DLC. Even though their fix worked better than this fix apparently does, that first impression still hangs there, and doesn't just go away. Its like eating something that really disagrees with you, then being offered something OK, yet your net feeling will not be improved much. I might try this later, but probably not. I kind of wish I had installed this before playing ME3, but its too late now. Maybe I'll watch it on video.
Mass Effect 3: Leviathan
Sounds like a nice addition to the lore, somewhat like Prothean origin stories. Finally explains why the Reapers are the shape they are, and who commissioned the Catalyst, i.e. Boss Reaper. The obvious reference to Cthulhu like entities seems well done. No need to play, might watch the vid.
Mass Effect 3: Omega
Help Aria retake Omega.
Mass Effect 3: Citadel
Final DLC. This looks really fun, like a post-game wrap-up party that should have been, but it couldn't be, so they shoehorned it into the middle.
Most of the DLC looks good, but at this point I don't feel like spending the price of a whole new game to get them. Maybe some day, like when Mass Effect 4 is coming out, they'll re-release all this in one reasonably priced bundle, but by then, I doubt I'll remember or care.
