I've previously predicted that ME3's plot would be a matter of gathering allies to team up and fight the Reapers, as well as probably finding some research data or some other macguffin that will help bring down the Reapers. If that prediction holds true, I would expect Cerberus to be a potential ally if you go renegade, but an enemy if you go paragon. Maybe the Alliance or the Specters replace Cerberus as trying to kill you if you go renegade. That's probably more branching pathways than Bioware wants to make though. They have a habit of writing their stories so that things play out pretty much identically until the very conclusion of a plot thread so that they can keep the alternative animations, character models, voice recordings, etc. to a minimum. They need to keep the game's size down after all, and I assume they want players to have comparable gameplay experiences whether they go paragon or renegade rather than missing stuff.
They did say that ME3 was going to have several different endings that branch off because it's the last game. Besides, they could always have more discs! ;D The thought about the Alliance/Cerberus ally/enemy decision would be pretty interesting. Your enemies would be radically different, and the plot would be much more fluid.
The Alliance/Council and Cerberus do seem mutually exclusive. Just because I'm bored, I'm going to speculate on potential allies for ME3 based on ME1 and 2 history. Considering we're fighting a full scale Reaper invasion, the most likely allies would be races that can bring militaries to fight Reapers head to head with whatever macguffin Shepherd is sent to retrieve that can threaten a Reaper. -Rachni if you freed the queen. -Geth if you woke up Legion (also modified by the results of Legion's loyalty quest) -Shadow Broker/Liara if you have done that DLC perhaps. -Cerberus: possibly modified or decided yes/no based on the ending of ME2 -Alliance: possibly alternative to Cerberus depending on the ending of ME2 -Council/Specters: depends on what you do when you visit Anderson in ME2 and who you put on the council in ME1 perhaps. -Krogan: modified by whether Wrex lived through ME1 as well as Mordin's loyalty quest (genophage cure) I can't think of any others that would possess enough military strength to matter against the reapers. Then again, this is a third person shooter we're talking about. The Reapers are obviously going to be launching ground invasions trying to finish what they started in ME2 and build a human Reaper rather than just glassing planets like crazy. Theoretically, the potential allies would not be restricted to races/organizations with full militaries. Instead it would be anyone who could bring infantry to the fight That adds: -C-sec -Aria?
Wait, why are the Reapers fighting a ground war in the first place? I'd figure they'd just want to exterminate all of us from orbit. Even if it was to make another Human-Reaper...seems smarter to just eliminate any hostiles with orbital bombing, and then come in when humanity is defenseless. Also, why would it be so hard to get allies against the Reapers once they invade the galaxy? PEOPLE THERE ARE GIANT CUTTLEFISHES RAPING US, WE ALL NEED TO KILL THEM
I can't come up with really good plot explanations for either question. They're not going to suddenly make this a space combat game where we play as Joker though, so the Reapers are definitely going to be landing ground troops of some kind. Seems reasonable that they want intact living humans to build the reaper Shepherd killed in the last game. And Shepherd is definitely going to have to do roughly what he's been doing for two games now. Somehow the Council is going to have their heads up their asses and refuse to order the whole galaxy to war despite Earth being assraped by giant cuttlefishes. And since they're Reapers and clearly we couldn't win in a head to head war against them, Shepherd is going to be tasked with finding a weakness or something. Maybe Tali will do a Jeff Goldblum impression and upload a virus or something. After all, ME1 and 2 both had themes of the humans and quarians trying to combat and control A.I., and ME2 showed that EDI is capable of interfacing with their machines. Actually now that I'm thinking about it, EDI was unlocked in ME2, and was balls deep in Collector/Reaper computer systems. Who the hell knows what she's been up to. I bet she plays a huge part in ME3. If the big twist/reveal of the game is as predictable as her turning evil I'm going to boycott Bioware forever though.
This game looks so sick. I hope your choices from the previous games actually influence the outcome more in this one.
Don't forget about the Quarians though. That could be affected by Tali's loyalty quest, or on whether or not you woke up Legion.
Im surprised nobody has begun to bring this up: Mass Effect now features multiplayer. The Co-op only mode allows you to play as one of many (Asari, Drell, Human, Solarian, and Turian confirmed) races, all classes, and with 4 friends over live (no local play has been mentioned so I cannot assume it is involved) Watch the video for more info, its really quite exciting to me personally. Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer Gameplay Video - YouTube
There's really no need for a mode like this. That said, I have faith in Bioware, and the mode should serve as an interesting distraction from the singleplayer. The quality and length of the singleplayer campaign had better not suffer from this though. Hopefully we'll get to see some more information on ME3 soon.
Doesn't the video say they had another team, focused solely on multiplayer, working on it? (Not watching it again to check, lol). I think it was a Kotaku interview with a Bioware dev that confirmed singleplayer will be its full self, with it taking priority over everything and that they wouldn't consider secondary "campaigns" so to speak, without knowing the had the story mode in the bag.
If this is the case, fantastic. I have full faith in Bioware, they make amazing games. If it's not, then ****. Everyone's jumping on the "You need multiplayer in every game" bandwagon.
Mass effect along with halo has the best story of any game I've played and I don't want to see that ruined with multiplayer that has anything at all to do with the single player. I have however been saying for ages that the mass effect series would be great for co-op missions and world of warcraft style 'dungeons' because each player is needed for their unique contribution. i.e engineer to remove protection, adept to immobilise enemies and control the field and soldiers to deal serious pain. Also what class will you be playing as in ME3? I know I'll be playing adept but what about you?
The thing with multiplayer that I'm especially excited for is the fact that they said that outcomes of multiplayer will affect singleplayer.
See, I thought this was a cool idea as well, until they detailed it. They said that participating in Co-Op missions will fill a galactic readiness meter, and the higher the meter is the better your ending is. I really don't want a bar visibly filling up throughout the game telling me how good my ending will be. Part of the allure of Mass Effect is not knowing whether you made the right choices, and a meter filling up sort of kills the immersion. I'm not gonna jump to any conclusions though. We'll just have to wait and see how they handle it.
Does anyone know anything about the replacement shepard? (the one you play as if shepard died in ME2)
If Shepard dies it is the end of his story so the new player you'll be in Mass Effect 3 is Joker. Somewhat reliable source... Too lazy to actually go searching for a legit link to the article.
Ah I thought it was the generic looking soldier guy in the screens. Playing as joker would suck, he's got that weak bones disease (no disrespect to suffers intended)