Calax

How can you say "I don't want it to end like WoW" when WoW hasn't ended? And MMO costs a lot of time and money and manpower to create and operate. If bioware were to magically hand off the entire thing to another crew, that other crew would be lost on any other project. You do realize that the game takes place like 200 years after KOTOR right?

Well, the city should be less of a hole in the wall at least... and there'll be more colors available in clothing.

I'm sorry but i'm going to have to strongly disagree with you because your statement aside from erroneous, its irrational. Firstly; you do get something out of it, the troops that are the main purpose of you being there. Plus having the generals from different species running their battle theater from one single location its kind of ridiculous. They came, added their bit to the story and moved on to make way for the new guys. It seems to me that you are simply upset that you didn't get to see more of those guys. I would understand if your complaint was that the Quarians was basically a repeat of the Krogan situation and didn't do much in the way of advancing the plot. Or if you had said that Thessia was constrained,offered no choice whatsoever and was ridiculously short with no recurring characters or a semblance of an organized resistance. Apparently if the asari aren't fulfilling the green girl trope the writers don't have much use for them. But IMO you are nitpicking at one of the strongest parts of this story. My point was that the Krogan and Turian militaries basically "checked out" of the story as soon as their segment was done. After that they were little more than a number in your "I win" meter. Sure they showed up still, but they didn't seem to be making a visible effort towards helping out your military etc. It would have felt better for integration and consequence if, after you'd finished that segment, you had a small Turian and Krogan contingent put into your war-room to act as Liason between the forces. Show that they're actually a part of our united front against the reapers, don't just tell me "Oh hay, they're part of your armada now!" Hell, do what they did with the Quarian Geth segment and have Grunt pop up and say "I'm a squad member now!". I don't see why i have to accept a number moving slightly to the right as an object of consequence. I mean I can understand that for the more bit players (Batarians, former party members, that sort of thing), but when a good 1/3rd of your story revolves around this particular conflict, you expect to see some adjustments to the universe when it's resolved if this is going to try to exist as "universe toppling epic". Compare it to Fable, or Suikoden V or Dragon Age even. After you've completed a segment of the story, and the "status quo" has changed so that somebody is helping you, your throne room (or camp) has at least an NPC pop up to represent that allegiance. Fable having one of the worst implementations of this (basically you have only one guy changing, but you still have a graphic representation of your treasury), with Dragon age in the middle, and Suikoden V at the other extreme (you get generals arguing over strategy, with newer voices being heard, and newer units being put into your army for the strategic bits. And before you go off saying that Suikoden V's having the new allies show up only as army bits is the same, realize, in Suikoden, one of the three main battle systems revolved around using that army to beat the tar out of enemies in actual army on army combat, while Mass Effect, dispite it's attempts to be on a grand scale and "EPIC", has most of it's large scale actions (fleet or army) taking place offscreen (probably because the Xbox couldn't handle processing the massive epic fleet battles or an actual ground fight that needed more than 10-12 enemies active).

IIRC, very early in the game you get an ominous sounding report about the Quarians from either the Shadow Broker terminal or the Spectre terminal. Made me think I'd be heading there first. But However, Bioware tried to instill a sense of urgency in bringing the krogan onboard, in the sense that soon there wouldn't be anything left of the Turians or Palaven. You do take the Normandy to the citadel first, and it is the turian councilor who first asks for your help. That is sort of one odd thing about the universe. The Krogan and Turians are "OMG HALP US!" and that's of world shattering importance, but once that's done, there's no real, visual effect of their having been rescued. You don't get the Turian Boss or Wrex parked in your strategic quite, instead you're just left with nothing and it feels like you're starting from square one again.

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?! Only if they all talk about their fruits not being forbidden.

http://kotaku.com/5900341/penny-arcade-pranks-ocean-marketing-nemesis-here-we-go-again http://kotaku.com/cornfield/forum?comment=48722190 The second was originally attached to the first. Have fun.

I don't remember He's talking about when Cerberus makes it's coup attempt.

Well, Jon Snow is supposed to be sixteen but looks to be mid20's.

This is Cliffy B. He's known for being a bit of an egomaniac. That said, it's obvious that the game was at least a TINY bit known in the industry/gaming circles.

How is EA worse than half of those other companies? People take gaming way too seriously. It isn't. It's a pretty good indicator of the kind of negativity that surrounds EA lately though, although whether that will have financial repercussions we'll have to see, and I'm still a tad skeptical (stuff like Kickstarter is happening though, so I tend to be a little less cynical these days). According to the Article, it's basically because EA has had several monetary schemes that have gone bad. Project 10 Dollar, Day 1 DLC, that sort of thing have been the main reason for the hatred.

I think it's more "who wants to know about mechanics when we have BEWBS!"

Wow...after people posted about googling, I googled myself to see what was up about that. I had no idea that's how they marketed the game!!! I originally heard about the game through the grapevine and got it because it sounded like a pretty cool strategy game, but with ideas from Phantasy Star III (you have several generations, each one depending on who you choose as the lucky couple from the previous generation). Yeah, when the 360 version was released I remember we had to keep the box behind the counter becuase it was to M to be on the floor at gamestop. And the "extremely naughty edition" (the disc version basically) came with... an egonomic mousepad where the wrist rest was one of the characters breasts, and a body-pillow case with one of the ladies. It's like they tried to scientifically drive off anyone who thought of buying it. seriously

Thing is, that's only the american marketing... with the actual GAME playing out more like Final Fantasy Tactics, and having a generational story... that allows you to adjust the stats of your next protagonist based upon the partner of the current protagonist. Basically actually giving the game a reason to have a romance plotline, and providing consequences for your actions (kinda)

Gonna say, the marketing campaign that was behind Agarest is sot of... embarassing if you wanted to pick up the game (I did... the phyiscal copy)

Actually that sounds like a fair assumption. Very few games managed a sustained MP community. Even games like Left 4 Dead and Gears of War experience sharp drop offs after the initial months. Call of Duty and Battlefield are exceptions, not the rule. And it should be noted that those games are primarily about the multiplayer experience, rather than the single player, and that's one of the very specific reasons people bought it. L4D is a friends game, Gears is a Single Player game with some online multiplay attached... but COD and Battlefield are the equivalent of mutiplayer crack injected directly into the cerebral cortex of FPSDOUG

Why do I get the feeling somebody might have gone in and re-coded a beholder as a giant floating phallus just for kicks? >.< That said, one of the more interesting things to note is from the opposite end of things. Instead of Japanese/Euro culture infiltrating america as the focus, why not look at america infiltrating Japan? They have an entire subculture based around amping up what they see as "American" culture (nicknamed Yankeii).

Petitioned and got the late drop for that demonic class! YES!

Well we're at the point where graphics can't get much better without TREMENDOUS investment and processing power. So hopefully there'll be less of an emphasis on "Oooh pretty" nad more on "well, that's a nice story" if this all turns out to be true. Only issue is that if you (sony) are constructing a new system, why are you dialing down the processor etc? It seems to me they'd be able to do what they wanted on the current gen, and you'd only be updating firmware.

I think that the laws of the game world being consistent with the expectation with the viewer. Using fallout 3 as an example again, the hooker you meet in megaton made a lot of people annoyed because you pay her for a 'service' and she just lays down beside you... In a franchise known for being more graphic. And in the game itself it seems like most of the women you meet are prostitutes or at least a nOn-exclusive woman taking care of an entire group of men(one of the vampires in f3) As to your "child killing" thing, most games would remove the option by removing or limiting the location of children to non-combat locations. Partly because they would be throttled in the media because its considered amoral to consider anyone under 18 in a more adult light. That social taboo is also why you find things like xenogears being... Liberally translated (at least three translators quit because of the content) so that it is more acceptable in the markets. Although you are seeing this less and less as the culture around anime keeps widening the hole through which series flow into the other nations with more faithful translations. Well unless you are 4kids entertainment where you turn guns into walkie talkies, rice balls into apples, and booze into applejuice... While thourghly sanatizing any content that might be more violent or mature.

Honestly, Carla Valenti taking a shower in her underwear is kind of jarring to me. I know it's stupid but f- it I'm gonna do things how I think they should be done were the situation "realistic" (reality altering mayan dead people not withstanding)

I think part of the issue with nudes Tig's is immersion. I know that in the two Elder Scrolls games, and the Fallouts I've played, it's kind of... jarring to me to "strip" somebody (with visible effect of having their clothes removed) but they still have their "unmentionables" hidden... particularly when the locations/settings don't lend themselves to the concept of a "bra" as existing/being available. Admittedly I don't want to see some guys junk, it just doesn't make sense to me that the woman would have anything covering her chest. Although I'd never get the mods that'd have always nude. I do admit I'd probably put one in for Dragon Age if I could find one that wasn't "your characters will look like they're wearing a dominatrix outfit AT ALL TIMES! Or, conversely, it's just in a spot that flat out makes sense and has (in other markets) been entirely decensored (Indigo Prophecy and Witcher 1).

Particularly a lotto winner.

Due to the more commercial nature of the medium, I doubt you'll find many games that espouse a morality that's different from the consuming audience. And if they offer a moral path that's contrary to current ideals, the game will make it fairly clear that "you are ebil!" It would be interesting to see a game that took something that was commonplace years ago (lets say, royal arranged marraiges?) and actually toyed with it a bit. Have the protagonists be just old enough to start recognizing relationships for what they are, and the opening "act" be their wedding... Sorry i think the only major thing you'd find transmitted from the games, is the tangential learning. At least, for most of "our" generation. Maybe once the world is more globalized and children are raised with most of their social interactions done via Xbox Live (ewwww) or MMO's, you'd see a different form of moral guidelines being created/transmitted to the gamers.

I think that games do offer a window into the mental perspective of a different culture, but it requires some SERIOUS digging to get to the really relevatory bits. The thing about the Final fantasy summons would be one thing, but Japan also has some VERY strange christian systems. Sephiroth, for example, is (DR WIKI GO!) "the 10 attributes/emanations in Kabbalah, through which Ein Sof (The Infinite) reveals himself and continuously creates both the physical realm and the chain of higher metaphysical realms". Which makes a wierd perverted sort of sense when you consider that Sephiroth was basically a physical manifestation of a god, created by humans. Similarly, the Japanese form of christianity was... adjusted to make it more invisible during the Shogunate. Thus they have concepts like killing god, and god-slaying spells, as integral parts of their mysticsim and traditions. Thus you wind up with stuff like Xenogears, where you literally slay a God... with giant robots that use martial arts (and now I feel like any scholarly attitudes I had have disappeared). Hmmm *goes digging through the nets* Ah! http://penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/the-myth-of-the-gun Watch that and you'll see one way that the differing mindset/culture of the hemisphers leads to different things. Personally, I will say this, games made my degree choice. I've always been interested in history, and games have some history to be found, in even the most unlikely of places. Dynasty Warriors actually made me go out and BUY the four volume epic of the Three Kingdoms and read the entire thing. I did a spanish report on El Cid because of Age of Empires 2. And my exposure to various literary styles within by education, ends up with me looking at something like "King of Dragon Pass" or Skyrim and saying "well this is traced to Norse mythos".

Played through and beat DA1. debating picking up Awakenings etc, but will probably hold off. I do know that my second playthrough will be a human male noble of the Rogue background... Duelist is just wayyy to powerful. And I want to keep Alister as a friend.