[Elea Rossi]

Also, I think the default "choices" (from ME1) it gives you when you start a new character for ME2 aren't the greatest. Although I think there's a cheap DLC to let you mock up an ME1 save. Hmm.

I know there's also a free mod/program that lets you fiddle with save settings. I used it, and it worked perfectly. Don't remember the name of it, though. I think the only reason I installed it was because it let you change your Shepard's face.

http://www.moddb.com/games/mass-effect-2/downloads/mass-effect-2-save-editor

Also, should I buy Shadow Broker/Arrival for ME2? I don't know why I should get Shadow Broker, but Arrival apparently connects ME2 and ME3 storywise, and in the demo when you're

Spoiler

suddenly in the Alliance and retired

I had no idea what was going on.

[Jessie Butterfield]

Also, should I buy Shadow Broker/Arrival for ME2? I don't know why I should get Shadow Broker, but Arrival apparently connects ME2 and ME3 storywise, and in the demo when you're

Spoiler

suddenly in the Alliance and retired

I had no idea what was going on.

I bought Arrival once I realised this. I do think it makes things clearer...

Also I just played the demo with Ashley instead of Kaidan. They've really......[censored]ted her up haven't they?

[Britta Gronkowski]

I bought Arrival once I realised this. I do think it makes things clearer...

Also I just played the demo with Ashley instead of Kaidan. They've really......[censored]ted her up haven't they?

She's a Lt. Commander and Shepeard still has not got promoted?
He needs to up his game!

[Kaley X]

My son and I played the multiplayer demo yesterday and we loved it. Yes I know this series is known for its RPG single player but I think they are on to something with the multiplayer.........would love to see it become successful.

[Eilidh Brian]

I tried to buy Mass Effect today (I rented it once before) and the one guy at Gamestop was going to get it and the other employee was like "oh we don't have any copies that aren't defective.." so I ended up getting Mass Effect 2 (which I also rented once, even though I never finished the first.) Lol. I have Mass Effect 2 on my PC from when it was on sale on Amazon once but never really played it (never wanted to really put hours in and not get any achievements out of it).

So do you think I can play through ME2 and be ready to play ME3, or is the first game essential?

Only if you're interested in the plot. But this is a Bioware game. Their games are all about plot (Usually), but if you aren't interested in the plot there's really no reason to.

Although the game kinda of punishes you for not playing the original all the way through in that, without a save, the game assumes that you made the worst possible choices at every turn. Every. Time.

[Nick Tyler]

She's a Lt. Commander and Shephard still has not got promoted?
He needs to up his game!

I knew I should have bought that man-cleavage DLC outfit and gotten those special pre-order assless chaps.

[Joe Alvarado]

She's a Lt. Commander and Shepeard still has not got promoted?
He needs to up his game!

How does the ranking system work? I assumed commander was higher than lt commander and that it was only one rank under admiral?

Ashley has had 3 years to advance while shep has been all dead/cerberusy so it's natural she would have moved up the food chain. What's not natural is how Real Housewives of New York she would have got while doing so

[Oyuki Manson Lavey]

How does the ranking system work? I assumed commander was higher than lt commander and that it was only one rank under admiral?

Ashley has had 3 years to advance while shep has been all dead/cerberusy so it's natural she would have moved up the food chain. What's not natural is how Real Housewives of New York she would have got while doing so

Heres the ranks for the Alliance.
ENLISTED

• Serviceman 3rd Class/Private 2nd Class
  
• Serviceman 2nd Class/Private 1st Class
  
• Serviceman 1st Class/Corporal

NCOs

• Service Chief
  
• Gunnery Chief
  
• Operations Chief

OFFICERS

• 2nd Lieutenant
  
• 1st Lieutenant
  
• Staff Lieutenant
  
• Lieutenant Commander
  
• Staff Commander
  
• Captain/Major
  
• Rear Admiral/General
  
• Admiral
  
• Fleet Admiral

So as you see a Staff Commander(IIRC is what Shepard's rank is) is just below Captain. Which is of course is below an Rear Admiral. I agree Ashley does not look good with her new look.

[cheryl wright]

Ah thanks for that Snore. I never really did look at the ranking system but that does make sense.

Wow...she has come a long way in 3 years hasn't she? How do you generally go from being an NCO to an officer....? Didn't think it happened much but admittedly I don't know an awful lot about military ranking systems.

I also have YET another question. I've just seen there's a blood dragon armour for ME2 if you've registered DAO. I have both registered according to my Bioware Social Network account but the armour hasn't shown up in game for me? Is there something else I have to do?

[Mario Alcantar]

Also, should I buy Shadow Broker/Arrival for ME2? I don't know why I should get Shadow Broker, but Arrival apparently connects ME2 and ME3 storywise, and in the demo when you're

Spoiler

suddenly in the Alliance and retired

I had no idea what was going on.

Shadow Broker is a nice DLC though.

[Tammie Flint]

I was shocked by how bad the demo for Mass 3 was. But after doing some digging, I've come across a few things that should make people feel a little better:

1) Dialogue choices were deliberately reduced in the demo to keep the download size below 2GB. So next your smashing your head against the wall because Shep is talking without your permission, don't worry. Seems it's only for the demo.

2) The trial section at the beginning was trimmed. Although it is true that this section was one of the areas targetted for a recent re-write, as far as we're aware it wasn't cut completely. Shep is called upon to be questioned about 'pushing the button' in the Arrival DLC of Mass 2. They cut it down in the demo to just "OMG Shepard! What do we do?" to get to the action faster.

Still, the animations were god awful, the water looked like oil, and I cringed so much at the dialogue. Especially Anderson's: "The [censored] you've been through" line. Apparently Mass Effect is being relegated to CoD/Battlefield levels of intelligence, where we're all just dudebro soldiers.

Multiplayer was awesome, but that just makes me more annoyed. The time spent making multiplayer THIS good, should have been put into perfecting the singleplayer, because it CLEARLY needs extra TLC. Makes me appreciate Bethesda even more

[Alex [AK]]

AFAIK the guys who did the multiplayer are a different team than the ones who make the singleplayer, so time spent developing the multiplayer shouldn't have impacted the singleplayer.

[Tanika O'Connell]

So, i played the intro part of the demo, and it seems to be ME2 with the final part of the story. Good enough

[Paul Rice]

Honestly I can't say that I'm super excited about ME3. I loved ME1 and I liked ME2, but I can't really see how ME3 will be that interesting. I will be getting it on or near release though, as I want to complete the trilogy.

[Laura Simmonds]

Some things I noticed playing the MP demo:
Sentinels are just tanks in the MP demo despite being nerfed. Lately, I've been investing quite a bit of time upgrading my Engineer and find that they're a good support and relief class but don't really carry the team as much as combat-orientated classes do. Infiltrator cloak is extremely useful for picking up fallen comrades. I've noticed that a number of online players are horrid with the Vanguard and will end up dying most of time from suicidal charging. Stasis also makes quick work of annoying Phantoms.

[Gemma Archer]

Here are a few tips to being a pro at ME3:
1. Don't try for gold or silver at Lvl 1. Your not ready for it.
2. Don't run away on your own. Your putting more pressure on the rest of the team.
3. Don't melee Guardians. End of story.
4. Use your powers properly! Stop using incinerate on Centourians.

You are now a Pro at ME3.

[Tina Tupou]

3. Don't melee Guardians. End of story.

Pffft. I play an Infiltrator with high melee damage. All I have to do is cloak, walk up behind them, and smack them a couple of times. I've saved my team at least twice by doing that.

[Richard]

Cleared up a lot of my issues. I still suspect the full game will have a good amount of flaws, but its looking good so far.

Enjoyed the Demo. Didn't play Arrival (and don't plan on it either) but understood most of what happened via Youtube videos. It is based on a earlier version, and I can understand the removal of most of the dialogue for storage reasons, but it felt a bit more shooter and less RPG; Even more so then ME2.

Can't complain though. Got to try out the game, especially Multiplayer, and was pleasantly surprised. Planning on Pre-ordering now, instead of just renting. Looking forward to it; Might even pick up Infiltrator on IOS.

[candice keenan]

Well I was personally impressed with the demo in its entirety. I thought the graphics were beautiful, and seeing the reapers gave off this whole "Battle: Los Angeles" vibe going on for it, which was icing on the cake for me. Playing it with the Kinect was even more amazing, despite my initial hesitation to talk out loud in a room with multiple people watching me play. The multiplayer was abit intimidating at first, but I got into the Gears of War mode for Horde and I was hooked. I will say I'm personally looking forward to the pre-release.

[Eilidh Brian]

I haven't thron my lot at te demo yet, I have ME1 and ME2 I got them last year with the intent of replaying them and making the perfect legacy save for ME3, I'm still on ME1 lol, I'll probably get ME3 some time after release once I've done my replay for my ideal shep ;p.

I've read from other peeps the level of wtf ME3's plot has been, I'm hoping its just rumor or is being addressed, some of the things I read from their qoutes make me cringe followed by, you're just trolling, you didnt read that....

[Jessica Thomson]

Looking forward to the trailer tonight during The Walking Dead.

Trailer was pretty cool.

[Kristian Perez]

New Trailer was sixy..but short, hope that wasn't all of it. No matter how good they try to make ashley look I will always hate her.

[Erika Ellsworth]

New Trailer was sixy..but short, hope that wasn't all of it. No matter how good they try to make ashley look I will always hate her.

I watched the trailer again on the website later. I guess there's an extended cut tomorrow according to http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Vs7kix6_8Ks#t=90s of the trailer.

[gemma]

I thought the ME3 Demo was just fine. People seem to forget RPG is more than just Stats and Skill Trees, it is also a way of story telling. Mass Effect is unique in that you actually do Role Play by selecting what you want Sheppard to say. I have played the ME3 Demo and it feels just like the past 2 games. The co-op (which is like Horde or FireFight) is amazingly fun, it brings he fun back to that style of co op. I agree with Exorince, they don't HAVE to do anything. It is their work. I really hate how modern gamers have to have every single aspect of a game absolutely perfect otherwise it is a crap game in their eyes. Oh no the graphics don't look like real life. Who cares!? Graphics are not everything. ME 3 has better graphics than most games on the market right now.

[Niisha]

People seem to forget RPG is more than just Stats and Skill Trees, it is also a way of story telling. Mass Effect is unique in that you actually do Role Play by selecting what you want Sheppard to say.

It's the quality of dialogue, and the Michael Bay approach to story-telling that bothered me about the demo. It amounts to Anderson and Shepard acting like dudebro space marines, swearing a little to punctuate the dudebro-ness; Ash Williams being retconned from tom-boy marine who doesn't care about her appearance and makes damn sure everyone knows it, into a cake-faced supermodel with L'Oréal hair wearing tight leather; humanity's leaders saying "Oh noes, Shepard, what do we do? *whimper*" and then BOOM. EXPLOSION. FLYING TABLE. HUGE MACHINES FIRING THEIR LASERS. This continues for the next 15 minutes. Finally, the game puts the cherry on the top of its B grade movie story telling, by showing a child getting killed to flip that emotional investment switch.

Whereas Mass 1 had some incredible characters and dialogue, and filled the RPG experience with a lot of morally grey decisions while making damn sure the player got the feeling that humanity is NOT center-stage here, as much as characters like Udina would like them to be, Mass 3's demo gave me the generic Gears of War / Call of Duty vibe: Humans kick ass. Whether it's Russian ass, or Alien ass. Ass will be kicked. Also explosions.