GhostofAnakin

I don't think anything will be done about it, because I don't think BioWare is aware of it. Their press releases to "calm" the outrage over the endings kept hammering home the point that the game scored fantastic with professional reviewers, and that they're proud and standing behind their artistic vision. Granted, they're not likely to come out and say, "we screwed up BAD with that ending", but at the same time, they don't seem to see what the fuss is about. They believe ME3, ending included, is a masterpiece.

As much of a cop out as it is, I don't actually have that much of an issue with the Crucible being used as a plot device to lead toward the end game. Really, for me the story sunk into the realm of the ridiculous when Shepard got lifted up to see the Starchild, and the Starchild started babbling on about his nonsense. If the game has ended at around the point Shepard opened the Citadel's arms and fired the Crucible before sitting down next to a dying Anderson, then went straight to the ending cinematics with the destruction of the Reapers (minus the nonsensical Joker and Normandy flying off scene) and the ground forces cheering, I would have left the game thinking, "alright then. Not great, but not terrible". Instead, I left the game thinking "What the ... ahgaohghaohgheoe!"

East: I think the Pens/Flyers series comes down to Fleury. If Fleury doesn't give up his typical weak goals that have plagued him the past couple of playoffs, and simply plays as good as Bryzgalov (doesn't even have to play better -- just be on par), Pens win. Only way I see the Flyers winning is if Fleury craps the bed. I think the Rangers defense is too good for the Sens. It'll be a rough series, I think, as both teams have quite a few tough guys. But in the end, I think the Rangers and Lundqvist will be too much for the Sens. I think the Devils lucked out by getting, IMO, the weakest of all the playoff teams in round 1. The only advantage Florida has is their home ice advantage, where they've actually been good this year. But I just don't think they have the guns to compete with Parise, Elias, Kovalchuk, and company. Boston will wipe the floor with the Caps. The Caps have one line of offense, and that's only if Backstrom is back to 100% and Ovechkin decides to try. Otherwise, they're a fringe team that's only in because they play in a pathetic division (see: Florida). Boston's too deep, too good defensively, and too physical for Washington to match up with. West: Los Angeles can surprise, but only if their offense produces much better than it has the majority of this year. On paper, they should have quite a lot of firepower. But they've really struggled as a team offensively this year. Vancouver could be in trouble if D. Sedin can't go, or is still affected by his concussion. Kesler's also not having as good a year as he did last year. Luongo versus Quick could also be a huge factor. As good as Nashville's been this year, I think Detroit wins. I think they're a deeper team than the Preds, more natural skill that could be the difference in close, tight games where one needs to capitalize on very few chances. The edge Nashville has is in nets. Rinne can steal the series if he shines while Howard chokes. San Jose's got more top end skill than St. Louis, but St. Louis is incredibly deep. And defensively, they play such a smart, disciplined, smothering game. This one's tough to pick. I'll go with St. Louis mainly due to home ice, where they've been ridiculously good this year. Chicago has more talent than Phoenix, but Phoenix's overall team defense has been better than the Hawks. I think the Hawks come out on top due to their star players like Toews, Kane, Hossa, and Sharp. Only way I see Phoenix win is if Crawford or Emergy crap the bed.

So it was the average BW experience? This was my first BioWare experience where I came away wondering if the writers were on acid when they came up with that ending.

Even if Shepard's actual interaction (ie. dialogue) with them is very limited, I agree that just having them there with some background banter going on when Shepard walks through would have added to the atmosphere.

I'll let you know once I download and play the DLC. *ducks in shame*

Eh ... I don't think that's quite the same. Snow can pass for 16. Especially if a 16 year old decided to grow a full beard and had shaggy hair. I don't know if you follow junior hockey, but just watch what some of them look like come playoff time when the entire team goes with the playoff beard. You've got 16 to 20 year olds looking like they're 30 because of the extra facial fuzz. Michelle Fairley, on the other hand, cannot pass for anyone lower than about 40 years old. And that's at best. Which would still put her about 5 to 8 years older than what her book counterpart is supposed to be, IRC. The kids being aged a bit doesn't bother me that much, especially considering some of the stuff that is done to them or said to them. For instance, Sansa Stark's dress being torn off by Joffrey isn't quite as appalling if the actress is 17 or 18, as opposed to Sansa's book age of about 12 or so.

This was pretty much hinted at in DA2 with Sandal going there. As for the accents, you mean an entire city of people singing like Leliana isn't something you look forward to?!

I liked a few of the main story missions, and I thought some of the side missions where you meet up with old squadmates were cool. My main issues were with those ridiculous "eavesdropping" fetch quests. I'd much rather have had them spend the time making maybe one or two more N7 missions and getting rid of every single eavesdrop mission. I didn't like the London mission though. But it was your typical "throw waves and waves of enemies at the player to make it clear this is nearly the end of the game" thing that a lot of RPGs seem to employ. So while I didn't like it, I pretty much expected something like it. I just wish there was a bit more freedom in when certain missions could be done. I don't think anything from the Tuchunka mission had to be done before the Quarian/Geth mission, so it would have been nice to be able to choose which one of them to do first.

The Panthers being rewarded with the third seed for winning their division is a perfect example of how the NHL needs to reassess the reward for winning your division. Currently, the Panthers are arguably the worst team in the playoffs. In effect, despite finishing SIXTH in the conference, the New Jersey Devils arguably have the easiest first round opponent. Something is wrong with that. My personal feeling is that if the NHL wants to "reward" division winners, reward them with automatic playoff berths. But not necessarily one of the top three seeds. For instance, since Florida won their division they are guaranteed a spot in the playoffs. However, where my thinking differs from the current system, is that they'd then be ranked in terms of their points. So instead of being the 3rd seed, Florida would actually be the 6th seed. IMO, it's the best of both worlds. The division winner is still rewarded with a playoff spot, but it makes sure that weak divisions don't benefit by getting a higher seed than their point total suggests they should have.

I wasn't a fan of how they chose to make a lot of the characters older in the television series than they were in the books. Two stark (pardon the pun) examples are Catelyn Tully (Stark) and Cersei Lannister. Both were, I believe, in their early to mid thirties in the books. But the actresses they chose are closer to their late thirties/early fourties. Catelyn, especially, looks way older than I imagined. I pictured an attractive 30-something from the book, but instead I'm looking at a woman who looks like my mom's age.

I kept Jayne alive because she's cute. If she was ugly, she would have hung.

KoA is taking me longer than I thought it would. When I saw it was an EA published game, I figured it'd be really short. But it's actually quite long. I'm probably only half way through and I've already logged more hours than I did playing DA2 or ME3 (two other EA published games). After this, finish my play through as Katarina in Dungeon Siege III.

I thought the exact same thing when I read that part. I actually wished they went the "Alpha Protocol route", rather than what they did. If a player misses out on a mission because of a decision he made previously, that's a good thing in my books. It's a perfect example of choice and consequence.

Interesting interview with BioWare's Patrick Weekes http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/355/index/11154234 Surprisingly more candid than the PR stuff we've been getting lately.

What kind of build did you use for him? Because he tended to be the weakest of my characters.

No offence to Guard Dog, but I was hoping both the Caps and Sabres would get in and Florida would miss the post season altogether. Out of curiosity, why? How can anyone hate the Panthers? They've been so bad their entire franchise history that it's like wishing someone down on his luck who finally found a job that he lose it right away.

They are coming out with an expanded content pack for the ending ... ...the only question remains how much it actually adds. Cinematics and slideshows, likely. It doesn't sound like there will be additional gameplay or even dialogue options for the player.

Kind of pissed that Buffalo is out and Washington is in. I'd have loved to see the Craps miss the playoffs.

This is exactly why I don't play MP anymore. It was a novelty the first little while, but once I'd played all the maps and faced all the enemies, it became boring. Same game mode, same objectives, same everything. I really don't see this new map pack changing much for me. I might play to see the 2 new maps, but the new classes don't interest me. Even now, I've yet to unlock the majority of the current classes since I tend to stick with one character for each class.

Those banshees are a pain in the ass in MP. I had trouble with them on bronze difficulty. I can't even imagine how tough they'd be on gold difficulty.

See? Casey was right! Lots and lots of speculation about why the story was a mess!

I'm going to be interested to see how this DLC manages to explain the following stuff: 1-Joker and the Normandy racing away from Earth like cowards, instead of trying to rescue Shepard. 2-How squadmates who were right beside me when Harbinger shot me with a giant beam are onboard the Normandy when it crash lands on a jungle planet. 3-What the hell the starchild was babbling about. 4-Why Shepard never tried to disagree with the starchild's assertions (then again, maybe Shepard was as confused as the rest of us about what was going on). I'm sure there's other plotholes as well, but those are the key ones that stick out to me as being overtly troublesome about the ending.

BioWare's solution to the mass outrage is to give us more cut scenes and slideshows that make no sense at all. Maybe the Starchild will bring a friend along in these new scenes. Perhaps his glowing dog, stardog. And we'll have to listen to it bark, while Shepard nods at it. And instead of us just seeing Joker flee like a coward, they'll cut to a shot of his pants and see that he actually wet himself, too. Hopefully they'll show the scene where Scottie beams the landing team up to the Enterprise ... err Normandy, to explain how the squadmates that were right beside me on Earth when Harbinger fired on me are suddenly aboard the Normandy as it flees the explosions (that I caused, by the way. RIP Mass Murderer Shepard).

Up to level 27 in KoA. I've finished only one faction questline, and still have quite a bit of the map to go. It's a lot longer a game than I first thought. I was expecting since it was EA produced that it'd have the same short streamlined feel of DA2/ME3, but it's actually quite lengthy.