Mass Effect 3 - Impressions Incoming! Leviathan DLC released!

[CeeKay]

Mine Effect 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=mMXUUsIXLfs

[CeeKay]

the next MP DLC, Rebellion Pack, is due out May 29th.  it'll be free for online pass holders.

[CeeKay]

potential DLC info:

The fighting is fiercest when it's your home at stake! Mass Effect 3™: Earth adds mods, gear, and new maps for Rio, Vancouver, and London. It features 3 new weapons: Piranha assault shotgun, Acolyte pistol, and Typhoon light machine gun. Six new human N7 classes are also available: Destroyer, Paladin, Demolisher, Slayer, Shadow, and Fury!

they also mention the new ending DLC, but nothing more specific than what is already known.

[CeeKay]

extended cut FAQ:

How much is the Extended Cut?

    The Extended Cut is available to download at no additional charge.

When does the Extended Cut release?

    The Extended Cut will release on June 26th on Xbox 360, PC, and PlayStation 3 in North America and July 4th for PlayStation 3 in Europe.

How large is the Extended Cut?

    The Extended Cut requires roughly 1.9 gigabytes of storage.

How do I get the Extended Cut?

    The Extended Cut can be downloaded from Xbox LIVE, Origin on PC, and PlayStation Network at no additional cost.

What is included in the Extended Cut?

    The Extended Cut expands on the endings of Mass Effect 3 through additional scenes and epilogue sequences. It provides more of the answers and closure that players have been asking for. It gives a sense of what the future holds as a result of the decisions made throughout the series. And it shows greater detail in the successes or failures based on how players achieved their endings.

Does the Extended Cut change the endings?

    The Extended Cut is an expansion of the original endings to Mass Effect 3. It does not fundamentally change the endings, but rather it expands on the meaning of the original endings, and reveals greater detail on the impact of player decisions.

What save game should I load to play the Extended Cut?

   

Spoiler for minor event spoiler:

To experience the Extended Cut, load a save game from before the attack on the Cerberus Base and play through to the end of the game. The Extended Cut endings will differ depending on choices made throughout the Mass Effect series, so multiple playthroughs with a variety of different decisions will be required to experience the variety of possibilities offered by the new content.

Where can I learn more about the Extended Cut?

    To learn more about the Extended Cut, please enjoy the Extended Cut interview podcast with Community Manager Jessica Merizan, Executive Producer Casey Hudson, and Lead Writer Mac Walters.

so I have to replay through the ending to see the extended cut endings?  I may just wait for them to hit Youtube.

[Teggy]

Worse - if you had high galactic readiness at the time, it's probably crappy now, so you need to go play a bunch of MP.

[CeeKay]

Worse - if you had high galactic readiness at the time, it's probably crappy now, so you need to go play a bunch of MP.

oh fuck.... yep, Youtube.


or maybe a save game editor.

[Blackadar]

Worse - if you had high galactic readiness at the time, it's probably crappy now, so you need to go play a bunch of MP.

Or just download the free app and bump it up in a day or two.

No one has been harder on the ending than I, but I'll give this a go.  It's free and the last time I played a changed ending (the FO3 DLC), it was well worth it.

[CeeKay]

sonofa-  I just realized I might not even have a save from before the spot they require;  I have a tendency not to have a ton of saves beyond the quick and auto ones, although occasionally I'll make a manual one before big decisions so I might be OK there.

I just need to re-download the game to see.

[Greggy_D]

1.9 GB?  Holy shit.

[namatoki]

Also, when you beat the game, it makes an autosave right where the new DLC wants you to be to see the extended ending.  As long as you keep that autosave, you should be okay.

[TiLT]

What, we need a save from before attacking the

Spoiler for Hiden:

Cerberus base?

Isn't that at least two whole missions before the end sequence? Two HARD missions? I'm not sure I want to replay that much content.

[CeeKay]

What, we need a save from before attacking the

Spoiler for Hiden:

Cerberus base?

Isn't that at least two whole missions before the end sequence? Two HARD missions? I'm not sure I want to replay that much content.

it's at least:

Spoiler for Hiden:

1) getting your Galactic Readiness from MP back to 100%
2) the Cerberus base with the Kai Leng boss battle
3) The Battle for Earth

[Roguetad]

What, we need a save from before attacking the

Spoiler for Hiden:

Cerberus base?

Isn't that at least two whole missions before the end sequence? Two HARD missions? I'm not sure I want to replay that much content.

it's at least:

Spoiler for Hiden:

1) getting your Galactic Readiness from MP back to 100%
2) the Cerberus base with the Kai Leng boss battle
3) The Battle for Earth

Most of #3 is an unimaginative slog of a fight that seems slapped together and lazy in design.  I've done it a few times with different classes.  I'm curious about the extended endings, but that part of the game isn't fun.

[Purge]

I'm still at the first 25% of ME2. I should be fine.

[CeeKay]

What, we need a save from before attacking the

Spoiler for Hiden:

Cerberus base?

Isn't that at least two whole missions before the end sequence? Two HARD missions? I'm not sure I want to replay that much content.

it's at least:

Spoiler for Hiden:

1) getting your Galactic Readiness from MP back to 100%
2) the Cerberus base with the Kai Leng boss battle
3) The Battle for Earth

Most of #3 is an unimaginative slog of a fight that seems slapped together and lazy in design.  I've done it a few times with different classes.  I'm curious about the extended endings, but that part of the game isn't fun.

next DLC should be a 'skip to the end' function.  I'd pay 5 bucks for that 

[Teggy]

Stupid EA Mobile servers have been busy for a few hours, meaning I can't work on increasing my readiness with the app.

[CeeKay]

helpful tip:

To cut out the middleman (and potentially any fresh content included in the missions prior to the end of the game), players who have completed the game can load up an auto-save that zips Shepard to the end of the game, labeled (spoilers!) "Citadel: The Return." Again, while you might miss added scenes during the final missions in the game, you'll go straight to all the explanatory stuff at the end.

also, metallicorphan posted these in the console forum:

3 extended and 1 all new ending

Refusal
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PThzItSAT5c

Destroy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fLEEHhnBgA&feature=relmfu

Synthesis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vewK7UwDTyI

Control
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyDF_9NTvPA&feature=relmfu

[lex]

I couldn't find any of my post game saves so I loaded up one of the last saves during the Earth mission and got the extended ending.

I'm happy with how the ending was fleshed out a bit more and the epilogue was a nice touch.

[CeeKay]

I couldn't find any of my post game saves so I loaded up one of the last saves during the Earth mission and got the extended ending.

I'm happy with how the ending was fleshed out a bit more and the epilogue was a nice touch.

I'm just wondering why they didn't do this in the first place, then everyone could have complained and we'd have gotten even better endings

I like Synthesis the best, followed by Control, Refusal and Destroy.

here is a better version of the Control version, for some reason the audio got screwed up in the one linked to earlier: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_jAleBdSug&feature=related

[Ralph-Wiggum]

I don't remember: can 

Spoiler for Hiden:

EDI die in the game

?  If so, I wonder how that changes the synthesis ending.

[CeeKay]

I don't remember: can 

Spoiler for Hiden:

EDI die in the game

?  If so, I wonder how that changes the synthesis ending.

if I remember correctly no.

[Teggy]

Son of a...I don't know what I did wrong, but somehow the download didn't register right with my game and I played 2.5 hours of game and got the old ending. I was trying to avoid spoilers but I should have come in this thread :/

[Ralph-Wiggum]

I don't remember: can 

Spoiler for Hiden:

EDI die in the game

?  If so, I wonder how that changes the synthesis ending.

if I remember correctly no.

I didn't think so either, but one of the linked endings (the control one, maybe?)

Spoiler for Hiden:

showed her face when going over who didn't make it and she wasn't there in the when putting the Sheppard plaque on the wall.

[TiLT]

I don't remember: can 

Spoiler for Hiden:

EDI die in the game

?  If so, I wonder how that changes the synthesis ending.

if I remember correctly no.

I didn't think so either, but one of the linked endings (the control one, maybe?)

Spoiler for Hiden:

showed her face when going over who didn't make it and she wasn't there in the when putting the Sheppard plaque on the wall.

Spoiler for Hiden:

I believe that's the ending where all synthetics are destroyed. Now ask yourself: Is it coincidence that EDI isn't there after that event?

[SkyLander]

Basically to me it's still shit, shinier shit. But still shit. Would I of been this disappointed if these were the original endings? No, probably not. It still doesn't deal with:

Spoiler for Hiden:

A quarter of the game is proving that synthetics and organics can be peaceful, EDI and getting peace with the geth and quarians prove this. So don't give me shit about there never being peace. All of these seems out of spite from the developers, that they had to do all this.

Is it better than what was originally there> Yeah.  Are they still crummy endings? Yeah, they are just more of a "meh" instead of nerd rage.

[Ralph-Wiggum]

I don't remember: can 

Spoiler for Hiden:

EDI die in the game

?  If so, I wonder how that changes the synthesis ending.

if I remember correctly no.

I didn't think so either, but one of the linked endings (the control one, maybe?)

Spoiler for Hiden:

showed her face when going over who didn't make it and she wasn't there in the when putting the Sheppard plaque on the wall.

Spoiler for Hiden:

I believe that's the ending where all synthetics are destroyed. Now ask yourself: Is it coincidence that EDI isn't there after that event?

[Teggy]

They didn't really fix the ending, they just added/changed a few things to make it less completely WTF.

Spoiler for Hiden:

1. They inserted a scene showing Shepard's assault team getting sent back to the Normandy, explaining how they got back on the ship
2. They inserted a scene showing the Normandy being ordered away and Joker protesting
3. They changed the scene where Joker is trying to outrun the wave - the Normandy is no longer coming apart and he is more calm
4. Due to 3, the Normandy now has just temporarily landed on the jungle planet and later takes off and leaves
5. They changed the way in which the mass relays shut down, no longer exploding, and saying they can be repaired.
6. You still get the Shepard breathing scene in the destroy ending, but it is also implied he/she is dead due to the funeral scene.

There's also some additional dialog from the ghost kid saying he was created by someone else or some other nonsense.

Basically they agreed that there was a lot of nonsense in the original ending and did the best they could to fix some of the most aggregious errors without actually changing the ending story at all.

[TiLT]

I think the new stuff is pretty solid. It's obvious that they had to take things in a different direction than they originally intended though,

Spoiler for Hiden:

as the crash landing no longer serves any purpose,

but it all feels much more connected than before, and now really feels like the end of the story. There's not much in there to tie together your actions throughout the trilogy, except for the standard "several drawings are shown quickly after one another to give you hints about the consequences of your actions" thing that Fallout 3 started.

My favorite part of the extended ending is

Spoiler for Hiden:

your love interest silently mourning Shepard as the plaque is placed on the Normandy. For all the time that was spent on the romance a bit of closure was sorely needed, and this new ending provides.

It's also good to see that whereas the old endings seemed to

Spoiler for Hiden:

fuck up the galaxy for the current races forever, the extended ones show that there is actually hope.

[CeeKay]

I think the new stuff is pretty solid. It's obvious that they had to take things in a different direction than they originally intended though,

Spoiler for Hiden:

as the crash landing no longer serves any purpose,

it didn't feel like it served any purpose before.  I do agree that the Control one kind of makes the 'perfect' ending scene different if it still pops up with that choice:

Spoiler for Hiden:

where they show the wreckage and possibly Shepard alive.  I'm not sure if you get that if you choose Control now.

[Teggy]

I think the new stuff is pretty solid. It's obvious that they had to take things in a different direction than they originally intended though,

Spoiler for Hiden:

as the crash landing no longer serves any purpose,

it didn't feel like it served any purpose before.  I do agree that the Control one kind of makes the 'perfect' ending scene different if it still pops up with that choice:

Spoiler for Hiden:

where they show the wreckage and possibly Shepard alive.  I'm not sure if you get that if you choose Control now.

I'm pretty sure that was unique to Destroy (and still is).

[CeeKay]

I think the new stuff is pretty solid. It's obvious that they had to take things in a different direction than they originally intended though,

Spoiler for Hiden:

as the crash landing no longer serves any purpose,

it didn't feel like it served any purpose before.  I do agree that the Control one kind of makes the 'perfect' ending scene different if it still pops up with that choice:

Spoiler for Hiden:

where they show the wreckage and possibly Shepard alive.  I'm not sure if you get that if you choose Control now.

I'm pretty sure that was unique to Destroy (and still is).

I could have sworn I saw that in one other ending the first time through.  I even remember thinking 'how the hell?' considering what happened.  maybe the game glitched on me.

[CeeKay]

the extended cut soundtrack is now available for free: http://social.bioware.com/me3ecsoundtrack.php

[CeeKay]

Leviathan DLC outed by a voice actor.  possible spoilers in the link.

[Lockdown]

So with the  Earth DLC  hitting tomorrow, is anyone planning to log into multiplayer to give it a go again?  The new kits sound pretty cool.  If anyone feels like playing the next few nights, let me know.  I'll run some coop with ya.  I'm loving my male quarian engineer - and would like to get some more practice with him.

[USMC Kato]

So with the  Earth DLC  hitting tomorrow, is anyone planning to log into multiplayer to give it a go again?  The new kits sound pretty cool.  If anyone feels like playing the next few nights, let me know.  I'll run some coop with ya.  I'm loving my male quarian engineer - and would like to get some more practice with him.

I haven't played in almost 2 months, and I was going to trade it in for some steam wallet dollars. But if there is enough interested with other GT folk I would like to play

[Nonnahob]

I haven't played in ages but would be game for some multiplayer!

[USMC Kato]

So with the  Earth DLC  hitting tomorrow, is anyone planning to log into multiplayer to give it a go again?  The new kits sound pretty cool.  If anyone feels like playing the next few nights, let me know.  I'll run some coop with ya.  I'm loving my male quarian engineer - and would like to get some more practice with him.

I haven't played in almost 2 months, and I was going to trade it in for some steam wallet dollars. But if there is enough interested with other  GT folk I would like to play

Finally downloaded all the free DLC (think there are 4), and non-suprisingly it's still very fun. All of the new classes and races look great, as do the new map locations and mission objectives. Since GT really doesn't play this anymore, I'm going to see if I can get some interest at QT3 or maybe just okay with randoms.

[metallicorphan]

Leviathan DLC outed by a voice actor.  possible spoilers in the link.

Now Official

EA has officially confirmed the heavily-rumoured Mass Effect 3's 'Leviathan' download expansion.

According to the official blurb: "Mass Effect 3: Leviathan is the first story-driven, single player DLC to be made available since Mass Effect 3 Extended Cut. Leviathan expands upon the events of Mass Effect 3 with gripping and emotional storytelling, compelling new characters, powerful weapons and unique upgrades.

"Players will be able to discover more about the origins of the reapers as they race across the galaxy to unravel the mystery that surrounds the fabled Leviathan."

No release date was announced.

[metallicorphan]

Further changes to the end with Leviathan DLC
**Leviathan DLC Spoilers in the link**

Mass Effect 3 script information hidden within the game's Extended Cut DLC suggests further ending dialogue changes for players who download the upcoming Leviathan add-on.

Those with Leviathan installed will be privvy to extra snippets of information about the Reapers' origin - information that will be touched upon within the Leviathan DLC pack.

Seems it hasn't gone down too well in the Eurogamer comments,LOL

[Scraper]

Further changes to the end with Leviathan DLC
**Leviathan DLC Spoilers in the link**

Mass Effect 3 script information hidden within the game's Extended Cut DLC suggests further ending dialogue changes for players who download the upcoming Leviathan add-on.

Those with Leviathan installed will be privvy to extra snippets of information about the Reapers' origin - information that will be touched upon within the Leviathan DLC pack.

Seems it hasn't gone down too well in the Eurogamer comments,LOL

I can't help but feel like the commentators on Eurogamer are right. The ending truly did ruin the entire trilogy for me. The story makes absolutely no sense, it's as if they wrote the beginning and the middle of the story, and had no idea what the end should be, so they just winged it. The lack of consequences from your decisions sucks, but that's not what ruins it for me. It's the piss poor writing about the Reapers motivation. I've played both the original ending and the new ending now and nothing in the new ending changes it. In fact it actually made the piss poor writing even worse for me.