BioWare clarifies Mass Effect 3 'multiplayer in relation to the endings'

BioWare has provided some clarification about how playing Mass Effect 3's multiplayer component isn't required to achieve "the best single-player endings."

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Progressing through the overarching campaign of Mass Effect 3 affects two primary statistics that impact the "end-game" players will receive: "Galactic Readiness," and "Effective Military Strength." Shortly after the game's release, some confusion arose about Mass Effect 3's multiple endings--specifically what one would need to do to achieve the game's "best" ending. Numerous claims from users arose, who believed that it wasn't possible to be completely prepared for the game's finale without boosting "Galactic Readiness," which can only be accomplished by playing the multiplayer component (or the iOS game, Infiltrator). Not true, says BioWare.

"You do NOT have to play multiplayer to get the best single-player endings," the official statement on the BioWare forums notes.

"Effective Military Strength" is the statistic that determines a player's success during Mass Effect 3's end-game. Collecting "War Assets" during the single-player campaign boosts this rating. Furthermore, there are more assets that can be collected than are necessary, but a certain threshold must be reached to get the "best" ending.

"Galactic Readiness," on the other hand, isn't even impacted by the single-player campaign at all, but increasing the stat by playing multiplayer (or Infiltrator) will reduce the number of War Assets one needs to collect in the single-player campaign to be successful.

"If you play a lot of multiplayer, you will need less War Assets from single-player to fill up your [Effective Military Strength] bar (i.e. it will balance out the requirements to account for you playing in both modes)," senior marketing manager Jarrett Lee states.

In summary, "Effective Military Strength" is the stat that determines Mass Effect 3's end-game proceedings, and it's a stat that "can be maximized via collecting War Assets alone, even if your Galactic Readiness is 50%."

From The Chatty
  • reply
    March 9, 2012 12:45 PM

    Jeff Mattas posted a new article, BioWare clarifies Mass Effect 3 'multiplayer in relation to the endings'.

    BioWare has provided some clarification about how playing Mass Effect 3's multiplayer component isn't required to achieve "the best single-player endings."

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      March 9, 2012 1:02 PM

      This whole system is just stupid.

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        March 9, 2012 1:28 PM

        I agree. THought its going to be a story driven single player with multiplayer as an addition. So, in order to get the best ending, you will need to have all the war assets instead of making the right decision, I take it?

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          March 9, 2012 1:38 PM

          Often, the type and amount of war assets you get in SP differ depending on the choices you make.

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        March 9, 2012 1:33 PM

        [deleted]

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      March 9, 2012 1:43 PM

      i collected every single race, collected every asset, 100%'d all systems that could, maxed out my galactic readiness level and I did not get the best ending. What did I do wrong bioware?

      I still play mass effect 1 and 2, multiple times. I can count the number of games i've actually played more than once on one hand during my whole life. Mass Effect 1 and 2 are 2 of them.

      What happens when EA shuts down the multilayer servers in 6 months to a year?

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      March 9, 2012 1:46 PM

      I ended the game with a maxed readiness bar... and unless I missed something (which I doubt, because I was in such disbelief I thought I had to be missing something and looked) there are no "good" endings to ME3 (imo).

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      March 9, 2012 2:50 PM

      The end was bad the little vids was ok then the end was bad go left or right all most 100% the same effect.

      Then nothing but an old man telling his kid that says you won years ago feels rushed as the end was not so much of an end more of a GAME OVER screen,

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        March 9, 2012 2:51 PM

        I had all most maxed it out the EMS but since i did not keep saves of ME1 and ME2 i could not get the best end.

        IF you lack them you lose so much.

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        March 9, 2012 5:07 PM

        I love the game except the for last 5 minutes of actual gameplay. I understood what they were trying to go for with the ending but I wished the players experiences/choices carried more weight on the ending.

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      March 9, 2012 3:08 PM

      [deleted]

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        March 9, 2012 3:21 PM

        Really?!? Cause Jeff Gerstmann said on the Giant Bombcast that he completed the game without the DLC or playing multi-player and he got the best ending.

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          March 9, 2012 3:23 PM

          [deleted]

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            March 9, 2012 3:27 PM

            I wonder if it's somehow tied to difficulty or the game mode you play. You can do it on easy, but not on medium or hard kind of thing.

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            March 9, 2012 5:16 PM

            I'd have to agree...I think.

            I mean, I suppose if I did all the collection quests in ME1, let the council die (to avoid Alliance fleets being beat up), did the DLC...maybe I'd have a couple hundred more points?

            Which still would have left me under 4000. I think I had 3600 or 3700. And that's with (ME3 spoilers): Genophage cured with Wrex and Eve running the show, the true Rachni helping with the Crucible and Grunt alive, perfect ME2 runthrough, Geth-Quarian peace, only a few points lost from C-Sec, all scannable and quest war assets.

            So yeah, maybe there's a way to get 4000, but I'd wager that requires *everything* being perfect, planned out, and kept track of.

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            March 11, 2012 11:37 AM

            it's possible to miss side quests. i dont know how you could know that you did all side quests. just walking by and overhearing people talk unlocks new side quests.

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              March 12, 2012 9:38 AM

              There are lot of in-game achievements/badges that are tied to the side quests.

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          March 9, 2012 5:13 PM

          [deleted]

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      March 9, 2012 3:23 PM

      Unrelated, but anyone else lose Ashley Williams on the Normandy? Map says she should be in the Starboard Observation Deck, but she's not there anymore.

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        March 9, 2012 3:24 PM

        [deleted]

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          March 9, 2012 7:28 PM

          Lol thats ridiculous.

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            March 11, 2012 11:02 AM

            Honestly it took me a THIRD pass to find too, surprisingly easy to miss if you just open the door and glance in.

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        March 9, 2012 3:35 PM

        I notice the characters like to wander around a bit between missions. I've seen people in the lounge that aren't typically there, on the bridge, etc etc.

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      March 11, 2012 11:06 AM

      I agree it's impossible to get the best ending without MP. I imported a full ME1/ME2 file with all ME2 DLC played. Completed all but 1 of the "real missions" (didn't do many of the random scan and collect quests, those dont count). Even with 90% galactic readiness, my end score was 5400 effective readiness which was just a little above threshold.

      Also to put things in perspective, I've played a lot of MP. If all goes well, you can get about 20% readiness in 1.5 hours on Bronze. I'm sure Silver or Gold boosts it even faster. Readiness decays about 1-3% per day.

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