Mass Effect 3

[Psychotic]

That photo of [spoiler]Tali[/spoiler] is, in fact, [spoiler]a stock photo.[spoiler]Seriously: http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/pho ... /123488108[/spoiler][/spoiler]

Troll'd?

Oh well, doesn't change my low opinion of the "too human" races in Mass Effect.

[Siva]

Btw for anyone that like me didn't want to believe that actually is Tali

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYOeaV0D ... _embedded#!

[Psychotic]

Btw for anyone that like me didn't want to believe that actually is Tali

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYOeaV0D ... _embedded#!

See, now I won't believe this until I actually see it when I get the game myself.

But I'm gonna laugh pretty damn hard if that is totally true (could be any other character for all we know, or completely fake).

QUARIANS ARE ALL HOOMANS?

Sorry, what I mean is:

Quarians = HOOMANS WITH ONLY TWO FINGERS/TOES/WHATEVER?

[James]

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAH STOCK PHOTO.

I have an announcement: Mass Effect 3, like ME2, is still a fun shooter. Thank God.

[James]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vNJZMH2B6I[/youtube]

Serious talk begins at 1 minute 50 seconds in. Good amateur analysis for people wondering "Why the fuck do people hate Mass Effect 3 and Bioware?!".

[Gishank]

Mass Effect 3 itself is a well built game packed with content, I managed 25 hours on my first playthrough (thereabouts). However the ending, is just so disappointing. Coupled with the matter of Dragon Age 2, I think they've finally blew all trust and faith I ever had in them.

I outright refuse to buy another Bioware game. >_>

[James]

Sweet, give me your copy for multi-player.

[James]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOsshD4-pR0[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1U0Wnbsc0s[/youtube]


B'AWWWW

[James]

http://www.gamefly.com/news/article/209 ... evelopers/

[Psychotic]

The only thing I hate about DLC is the standard for such content seems to be very low. But that seems to be the case for most games these days.

10-15 years ago, if some of the things we have now came out, there'd be a massive outcry amongst gamers. DLC is applauded by some people but frankly, the lack of content most DLC is absolutely appalling.

Norman also asks us to "judge our games based on what they are." but frankly, the world isn't black and white like that. Games can be bad for various reasons, just like your house, your TV or that couch you got from eBay.

People have been judging games based on what they are, but since most games are crap these days (especially DLC), can you honestly sit there and expect people to not rant and rave about the "good ol' days"? Or is this just me?

[e] From what I've read, this sums up every single possible ending you can achieve in Mass Effect 3 (spoilers are a-given).

[spoiler]

No epilogue is given. No conclusion for your characters. The universe is screwed either way and nothing you ever did matters.

And they totally copied Deus Ex.[/spoiler]

[Mastakilla]

DLCs are just very lazy expansions to me [/list]

[Psychotic]

DLCs are just very lazy expansions to me [/list]

Except in Mass Effect 3's case, the entire game is lazy.

More laziness by BioWare (the first point, not the second).

[spoiler][/spoiler]

[James]

http://www.digitallydownloaded.net/2012 ... sumer.html

GOD FORBID US TO HAVE RIGHTS OR SERVICE

SHAME ON US

Also, not exactly proof as it is labelled but it does throw some worthy speculation:



More, the writer (Drew Karpyshyn) who left the ME team for TOR's original ending for ME3:

[spoiler]"The Reapers' goal was to find a way to stop the spread of Dark Energy which would eventually consume everything. That's why there was so much foreshadowing about Dark Energy in ME2.

The Reapers as a whole were 'nations' of people who had fused together in the most horrific way possible to help find a way to stop the spread of the Dark Energy. The real reason for the Human Reaper was supposed to be the Reapers saving throw because they had run out of time. Humanity in Mass Effect is supposedly unique because of it's genetic diversity and represented the universe's best chance at stopping Dark Energy's spread.

The original final choice was going to be "Kill the Reapers and put your faith in the races of the galaxy in finding another way to stop the spread with what little time is left" or "Sacrifice humanity, allowing them to be horrifically processed in hopes that the end result will justify the means."

The SomethingAwful guy then goes on to say that all the foreshadowing about dark energy in ME2 (including Haestrom) is never brought up again in ME3.[/spoiler]

Now, as you know it is:

[spoiler](Most of this paraphrased from what a guy on BSN said)

The Reapers new goal is that they are working to prevent a technological singularity. The quick definition of a "technological singularity" is basically a point when the machines of a civilization become more advanced than their creators and they are able to outdo their creators in pretty much every way imaginable.

The game attempts to justify the Singularity Motivation because all it takes is ONE incident with A.I. to bring about an apocalyptic war that would destroy all organics. Project Overlord was a very, very clear example of this: Cerberus nearly destroyed the entire galaxy. Organics lucked out big time that the Geth were so understanding and that A.I. like EDI are tame (and even then, EDI did something in the past before ME2 that may make you view her in a very different light: Mass Effect 3 reveals this).

The Reapers aren't hypocrites (in concept) in the Singularity Motivation because they don't perceive themselves as machines wiping out organics. They see themselves as immortal vessels that preserve a civilization forever that just happens to be synthetic. They see themselves as the saviors of organics for letting them grow and prosper and then harvesting them before they evolve to the point of singularity. "Imposing order on the chaos of organic evolution" as Sovereign said.[/spoiler]

People say over and over that the Mass Effect trilogy was planned out in meticulous detail when it launched. While they may still be following the outline they had at one point, it is clear that the change up of the writing team during Mass Effect 2 left the story flailing in the wind significantly.

At this point, there are only 2 writers from Mass Effect 1 still with the series: Mac Walters and Patrick Weekes. Please look at what happened to all the writers from the ME series:

ME1
Drew Karpyshyn (lead writer) - went to Bioware Austin sometime during ME2's development; he quit Bioware on Feb. 15, 2012, and left the video game industry
Chris L'Etoile - quit Bioware in 2008 to go to ZeniMax Online (the parent company of Bethesda)
Luke Kristjanson - moved to Dragon Age team
Patrick Weekes - still writes for Mass Effect games
Mac Walters - still writes for Mass Effect series, currently lead writer as of ME2

ME2 (In addition to those listed above, ME2 has these writers on the credits):
Malcolm Azania - left Bioware for Maxis
Chris Hepler- Unknown
Brian Kindregan - left Bioware for Blizzard
Jay Turner - Unknown

Therefore of all the original ME1 writers, only 2 remain (Patrick Weekes and Mac Walters). And Patrick Weekes didn't even do much for ME1.

In any case, what we can say for certain is that Bioware did not have such a significant change in the story planned out from day one.

[Psychotic]

http://www.digitallydownloaded.net/2012/03/discussion-mass-effect-3-and-consumer.html

I'm not a big fan of that type of ignorance.

That article's author, and everyone like him, are people who basically enjoy complaining about other people complaining. It's an oxymoron. Not only this, but it's usually perfectly fine for them to complain about a dissatisfying product, but only them.

Considering that it's pretty much the consumers who pay BioWare and EA's bills (I understand there's also people called "investors" and the like, but they're less likely to spend money on something when the consumers aren't), I'd like to consider myself entitled to an opinion, at the very least. And hey, even if I'm not, that's the beauty of free speech! Win-win for me, baby!

I also definitely can't agree with the author on his argument that game's "aren't expensive". It wholly depends on what you consider expensive and where you're buying games from. I buy retail copies of games for less than a US retail store, like GameStop. However, the "average" price for video games where I live in around $80 USD.

Compare that to the price it would cost me to buy a $60 US game from something like Amazon and have it shipped to New Zealand. It'd cost me $75-80 US. Funny that.

Also consider that peoples ideas have changed dramatically with the idea that we're currently in a "recession". Ultimately, the term "expensive" is really, really objective.

Now, as you know it is:

<spoiler>

I don't think I'd have minded the "original" ending that much, the actual one just doesn't make sense to me. To me, it basically reads as:

[spoiler]"The Reapers want to stop organic life from creating synthetic life that then becomes much more advanced and independent than their organic creators (like the Geth). To do this, they destroy virtually all organic life and "restart" the whole process."

That's how I understand it, from what I've seen from the ending and from what I've read online. I understand the dangers that devices like AI can cause, but destroying most of the organic races seems extremely counter-productive. Yes, the world is "reborn" as such, but what's the point? It's reborn to die again in ~10,000 years. It never gets any older, and the races never actually learn from their past mistakes. They're simply wiped out to make them the next time round.[/spoiler]

It's the old adage: How can one learn, if one never makes mistakes?

[Siva]

31<Ruuube>30 fuck it i am downloading mass effect
31<Ruuube>30 i must experience the terrible ending for myself, and the only way I can do this properly is by replaying the first two games

[James]

It has received attention from the guys at Red Letter Media.

The Forbes treatment against Bioware and the possible Red Letter Media review of the Mass Effect series? Hang tight for shit storms, people outside the videogame industry are laying the smack down on this piece of shit.

[Siva]

The guy from Forbes isn't actually Forbes, he's just a dude that runs a blog hosted by Forbes.

[James]

It is still a fantastic article: http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/20 ... titlement/

[Psychotic]

Absolutely fantastic article. Don't have much else to say other than I agreed with most of what that guy said.

31<Ruuube>30 fuck it i am downloading mass effect
31<Ruuube>30 i must experience the terrible ending for myself, and the only way I can do this properly is by replaying the first two games

I agree with this, though I'm skipping the first two games and just heading straight in, I already replayed the second one recently, anyway. The only recap I needed was for Arrival, namely because it's been a while since I played that.

Gameplay wise, I don't find it too bad. I didn't mind the second's gameplay and the third doesn't differ too greatly from that. Whilst I'm only a short way in, the biggest problems I've encountered so far is deciding what class to pick (always a problem for me in any RPG) and the fact that the new "Roll" button is also attached to the "Cover / Storm" button, which is bloody annoying. If you're not careful you can accidentally roll out of cover and find yourself a quick trip to Hell.

Storyline wise? Eh, well, I already know the basic jist of the ending so I suppose it loses some of the tension. As stated by other people, it's not so much the game that's an issue, just the unsatisfying ending. I haven't reached that far yet, but frankly, if the majority of the game is fine then I still consider it a decent game, worthy of my money.

Storylines are nice, and it's disappointing that this one ends pretty un-spectacularly, but as far as I'm concerned, I play the game for the gameplay first and the storyline second. If I get 20+ hours of enjoyment out of it, I can live with that horrible 20 minutes at the end.

Currently, my biggest problems with the game are:

• It uses Origin. Not surprising, but I still don't like Origin.
• It's mediocre ending, but at least I knew what I was getting into when I paid for the game. I also still have 7 days to return it - full refund, no questions asked. That's the beauty of EB Games here (owned by GameStop) - it also includes Steam/Origin games (which means they can get ripped off pretty easily, and they don't seem to mind that too much).
• Having to play the multiplayer mode to get a "perfect" ending in the quickest and easiest fashion. It's not necessary, but it can take up to twice as long to see that ending with singleplayer alone.

[James]

So Geoff Knightley did some behind the scenes...

http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic ... /9999272/1

... and it turnws out to be worse than ever haha.

[Psychotic]

Like "How long have they been reaping?" You don't need to know the answers to the mass effect universe. So we intentionally left those out"

That's just silly. There's so much other information that we "don't need to know" yet we can choose to get told it anyway. I would argue that knowing the history behind the Reapers is a lot more important than some of the other lore we can learn.

We eventually decided that she gives you a memento of her pictures, but the team was throwing around a lot of pictures and designs until we decided on something and said "Yup, that's her".

So in the designers minds, quarians basically look like humans who chopped up some of their fingers and toes and forgot how to breathe oxygen?

So basically: BioWare went "bad" because of some horrible choices during development. I wonder how many people are still on the team that actually were with BioWare when games like KotoR were made.

[James]

Read the ending scrapnote too!

[Psychotic]

I'm not that surprised that they didn't have a complete ending after 6 years.

Some writers start at the ending, which I feel is a good place to start because then you have a definitive stop. Knowing the end first should help you restrict the rest of the writing to fit that ending.

Some writers don't. I feel it's pretty noticeable especially with virtually all the modern television series we have on now. They might understand how to get there, but not where they're actually going. This isn't a problem in and of itself, unless you've been writing the last story for years and still haven't figured it out.

I do agree on scrapping the boss fight in general though, to be honest. I'd like it if more and more games gave you more of a choice whether you do a boss fight or not (similar to how The Witcher 2 does it). Simple "mini-boss" style fights (basically any "boss fight" against non-main characters) would be fine, but I think that an all-out fight with main antagonists feels too gimmicky in a video game, and not very creative anymore. It's an "easy way out", in a sense.

Still, I'd appreciate it if they answered a few unanswered questions.

I'd love to know how the Reapers came to be and what made them do what they thought they had to do. Was it always their way of thinking, or was something "before"? From the sounds of some of those snippets it sounds as if the creative team actually thought up some of these by the end.

Another thing is:

[spoiler]I understood and respected the fact that Shepard would probably die in the third game. I'd feel it a little cliche if s/he didn't, but one thing I never got was why the hell the Mass Relay's have to be destroyed/deactivated in every single ending. Why?

Nothing I've seen leads up to the inevitable idea of them being "gone", they just are. It's also fairly restricting if they ever did decide to go beyond ME3 because they'd have to retcon that entire shit out, unless the next game was related to rebuilding the Mass Relay's and even then it would require outside help from other races that people simply wouldn't have contact with (the actual planets themselves, anyway, as there'd be tons of aliens left on other planets like Earth).[/spoiler]

[Spiderbot01]

I apologise for the absence and I also apologise that it appears my return focuses primarily on the defense of this game.

I would argue I have got the most enjoyment out of this trilogy of games out of any franchise I have played. People complain that ME3 punishes you for not having played the previous two, but personally it appears to me that it rewards you for doing exactly that.

I can't say I know what the DLC is like (I never bother with DLC), but if I'm entirely honest with you, no set of games has managed to get me as emotionally involved as the ME series. I based the entire way I played in ME2 to ensure the characters that I liked the most lived, simply because the backstory they had all been given and the relationship with Shepherd was worth working for.

So the space mining was labourious, but it set everything up for ME3.

The opening chapter on Earth made me genuinely resent the reapers and for some reason I honestly cared about what was going to happen to Anderson. Every time I saw a dead Turian, I worried for Garrus. [spoiler]When I had to shoot Mordin to get the support of the Salarians and the scene that ensued after, I genuinely felt guilty and honestly regretted my decision, having loved Mordin from ME2. The same goes for Geth/Quarians. I thought the Geth would be more useful long game and I didn't have the paragon to broker a peace, but I couldn't have imagined Tali committing suicide. Me and my flatmate both yelled "NO TALI" when it happened.[/spoiler]

I rushed through the story and as such at the end [spoiler] when I was stumbling towards the beam and I saw the bodies of Garrus and Ashley, having fought ridiculous amounts of brutes and banshees - I had to pause the game in shock. The same goes for the ending when the normandy went down and earth got decimated. I didn't play enough of the game (or continue from ME1 and ME2) and I got the ending I deserved) [/spoiler]

The music, the visuals, the story and immersive nature of the story (whether you like the endings or not), the depth of the characters - genuinely made me care about the game and what I did. Yes the cover system was annoying and other bits and pieces were flawed, but to be honest with you, the only other game that has genuinely made me care about the story, the characters and the outcome is Deus Ex

I'll probably get some hate for this post, but I honestly loved it and the trilogy.

(Even if the concept behind it was basically taken from Gurren Lagann)

x

[Psychotic]

Actually, all your opinions are shared by a lot of people.

Aside from the blabbling rageheads you see primarily on comment feeds for blogs and such, I do see more "intelligent" responses where people claim not to hate the game, just the ending.

The "Retake Mass Effect" ChipIn fund is one of the groups that don't share a huge dislike for the game, just the ending itself. The creators, and all who sign the petition, largely feel that the ending did not stand up to the standards of BioWare's previous games, and hence they would like an alternate ending.

I personally think the game itself is rather good. It's entertaining and much of it is moving. Not many stories have actually "moved" me in such a way that the loss of a fictional character is actually rather heart-breaking (the only other stories to do this for me are The Witcher series and The Black Company series - both of these are books).

But it ends on a horrible note, and BioWare have even admitted in behind the scenes talks to making multiple bad design decisions. All of the good the game has just simply does not make up for these downfalls, in my opinion.

[James]

(Forgive this post if it is ham handed, hayfever at 6am.)

It is widely noted that while Mac Walters is a fantastic character writer (I always cite Garrus for this, because Garrus is awesome), he is terrible when trying to piece a compelling plot.

Max, as Magniir said those opinions are shared by a lot of people including myself. But I disagree that the ending is only the problem, there's stuff that has existed since the first Mass Effect that bothers me however that is another tale. Three things bother me about Mass Effect 3; the illusion of choice, the laziness worse than Dragon Age 2 proportions and the forced drama.

The forced drama is mostly attributed to the emotional scenes between characters and of course that kid. I don't think a warhardened soldier would actually be that distraught at a child's death especially when your settings could be sole survivor of two slaughters, not to mention your Shepard can be a brute. What ME3 did well were the little things like the corpses lying about, burning refugee camps, crew interaction even if it wasn't the player itself. The Reapers also seemed powerless compared to Drew's Sovereign, I feel they were barely a threat and such an ending was literally shoehorned on.

[spoiler]As previously mentioned the ending Drew made was put above, but here's scrapnotes from Mac Walters and his team for the new ending:



It seems they mistaken Matrix for Matrix 3, and he actually thought speculation would be good by making ALL THREE ENDINGS THE FUCKING SAME NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO AAAAA[/spoiler]

I think the thing people are annoyed at is that it isn't just the endngs are terrible, they're all the same no matter what even after the 80+ hours you put into your Shepard.

Oh, and Max. Along with the spoiler box made below for you as a present, Javik the Prothean was in an earlier script for ME3, is found on Eden Prime, and is actually pretty darn important to the plot. He should have came with the game.

[spoiler]Even if how the original game ended better, here's Garrus getting his shit wrecked in a cutscene.



Happy Birthday!!!

Check out the video's top comments for additional laughs.

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[Siva]

Replaying Mass Effect now

I find it hilarious how foreshadowed the Reapers are within like the first 10 minutes of the game.

Everyone's shitting themselves about the beacon but everyone ignores the MASSIVE ALIEN SHIP that was present

[James]

At that point you don't know much, assuming it's a giant Geth flagship is plausible.

[Psychotic]

Shepard's face in that scene has to the weirdest/funniest thing in there.

Mass Effect 3 actually has some amazing scenes during the playthrough, and the character design is pretty damn awesome. Again though, it all comes down to how disappointing the ending is. It just sucks so much that it ends how it does.

[e] God I hate Kai Leng. He has to be one of the biggest dicks in fictional character history, which actually reminds me that I totally knew about him and his dick-y-ness ages ago, and then conveniently forgot all about ME3.

[spoiler]But seriously, how can you call yourself "good" when you need a bloody gunship hanging around behind you for half the fight?[/spoiler]

I will say though, I wish I had friends like Garrus. Seriously, that guy is fucking awesome. Screw Krogan in a fight, I'd want Garrus.

[James]

Kai Leng was horrible in the novels.

Also hilarious and fits with my Congratulations! video a few pages back:
http://tubedubber.com/#6AdWqlsQjWo:vEq8 ... :100:0:0:1