I take out my ME2 PS3 disc and poke it now and then. At some point I'll probably finish it. I wish the GameStop people would stop annoying me about preordering ME3, tho -.-

Well, that's EA. I'm hardly surprised.......
In general, I don't like game company making countless short little DLCs to milk player's money. They kill the good old fashion big expansion pack. Sometimes those DLCs combined offer much less content comparing to an expansion pack, but charge more money.
Gearbox and Bethesda are the better ones amoung them though, at least their DLCs really add some cool and big new contents. EA's ones make me feel they cut out contents from the product and release them as DLC.

None of those things sound like dealbreakers for me.

First article is a good thing, especially if you're new to the series. It's not being dumbed down.

Second article is kind of a duh moment. Did you think Bioware meticulously planned out Baldur's Gate II at the same time as the first one?

Third article has been contradicted by numerous sites already. The majority are saying that multiplayer opens up a route to the best ending, but it can be achieved in a different way by your lonesome. Plus I'm excited for the multiplayer, assuming it's coop.

$200 of DLC? I'd love to see a source for that.

Just noticed, but the second two articles both come from the same site which just seems to be selectively quoting. I'm just guessing, but it's a Sony fan magazine and I know plenty of Sony fans who still hate Mass Effect because the first one never came out on PS3. Draw your own conclusions I suppose.

Glad I'm not the only one that thought all of this was hyperbole. Nothing in any but the last article "sucked", as you said, and the last one seems to be widely disputed. A lot of games (I'm looking at you morality system games) require you to do things in a complete manner to get your ultimate ending/skill/weapon. It's not surprising ME3 is going to require you do actually save the entire universe to get a video show you saving the entire universe, that actually seems a lot more sane than the morality system games that punish you for not going to either extreme.

Same here. Bioware's being bashed for all sort of things lately, but they still do great stuff. Like you said, none of these things are a dealbreaker. The only thing that worries me is the Origin system. Hopefully, things will be sorted out when I'll be ready to buy the game (when the prices will be a bit lower. The only game I (recently) bought the day it came out was The Witcher 2.

to be fair I never had any hope for Mass Effect 3 to begin with

And to be fair, I think Bioware does plenty of stuff "wrong", just none of this shit is wrong.

typical pre-release alarmist BS.

ME 1 and 2 were both fantastic games with a presentation unmatched by most games in the genre, and they are among the most replayable games ever. i must have replayed the original ME 4 times now.

as for the abundant pre-order DLC, it pisses me off but the stuff can usually either be unlocked in alternate ways or simply downloaded off you-know-where.

I just don't care anymore. And why should I when Bioware themselves have stopped caring? Selling out to EA was one thing, but after Dragon Age 2, TORtanic and their response to criticism over the last year, I've lost what little respect I still had for them.

I didn't even like Mass Effect that much, so I don't care how the series "ends" (I know that EA is going force another one out of them soon afterwards, because money).

So yeah, Bioware is dead to me.

End of line.

I gotta tell you, the series died with ME2 for me. I doubt I will ever play a BiowarEA title again. Mass Effect was for a long time tied with Chrono Trigger as my favorite RPG. It had this neat "Star Trek" vibe, and was so cinematic, it really blew me away. After getting back into console gaming last year, I picked up ME2, but got stuck hard into Fallout 3 and only started ME2 a month ago.

Within an hour I was ready to trade it in. First off, the little "Cerberus Network" prompt coming up if you are offline, which I almost always am, telling me it could not connect is VERY irritating, since the network has no use if you are just continuing a saved game, which is my main use of the title screen. Secondly, the combat engine switched from a real time tweaked KOTOR, to a dumbed down Gears of War cover shooter system. I also vehemently disagree with these stupid download code special editions, which require you to deal with XBox live, hard drive storage, DRM, etc, just to enjoy the game as designed. This entire console generation, and the DLC Devolution turns me completely off gaming. I miss the days of expansions, which typically came out a year after the initial release, and buffed the original game by 40-60%. This new scene reeks, because now my game disc is not the game. My hard drive is, and the disc is simply enabling me to play. Not cool.

Anyway, sorry for the long rant, but I have to say, I am severely disappointed that one of my "go to" developers have sold their soul so swiftly. I worry now about trying out any major franchise by a major publisher that's not Bethesda, out of fear that I am just going to get attached just before the EA/Activision buyout.

I must say, I really lost my faith in the series in the second one as well.What annoyed me the most was the retcons and plot contrivances though-right from the getgo they kill Shepard and blew up the Normandy to railroad Shepard into working for Cerberus. None of those three plot developments made any sense to me. The Normandy was rebuilt, and so was Shepard, so both those two developments lack any sort of impact. They could have used that opportunity to let us play as a new character, or to get a new ship. As is it was completely pointless and somewhat silly and only served to get Shepard and Cerberus working together, which was silly in itself. Any number of other Mass Effect organizations could have filled the role Cerberus did, and served it better. This was all in the introduction of the game to boot.

That sort of thing really drew me out of the game because it felt disconnected from the original. Other stuff that irked me was the Geth being replaced by the collectors, the wierd holographic armor, and of course, the thermal clips.

That's just the problems I had with the setting and plot, not even mentioning the gameplay, which I felt was a step downward as well. I also felt that the removal of planetside exploration and the customization and inventory options was a step backwards as well, it made the player options seem mroe limited, and made the scope of the game, and the size of the setting feel much smaller.

Honestly, I do not understand what so many people praise the sequel so much, it seemed to be a step backwards in just about every category compared to the original. I don't have much hope for the third, what I have seen so far looks liek they are going to keep on going down that path, the silly holographic armor evolving into silly holographic knives, for instance.

I feel the exact same way. I reckon I'll probably replay ME1 someday, but not ME2.

ass effect rly

I really don't see the problem with the first point. It's just exposition. The second point ignores how the writing process works, and the third seems to be misinformed.

And where did you get "200 dollars of DLC"?