Nepenthe

If this forum software supports merging, this would be a prime candidate to go with the "ouch bioware" thread... unless you're gonna merge that, too. /back seat moderator

that's a big part of the point, though, the rest of the game is really (or "pretty", depending on how jaded you are) good, it just comes entirely apart in the last five minutes (apparently because the project director and lead writer are idiots).

Well, I found myself a lot more invested in the story of this game trilogy than I generally do (in fact, probably the most after baldur's gate, which was more due to the major effort it took me to actually get to play all the games), so I probably took it a lot harder than most "serial gamers" would. I feel pretty vindicated in everything I've said by the posts of "non-"Patrick Weekes, since they essentially display the amount of hubris and disconnect game "auteurs" have. The industry knee-jerk just strengthens this impression. Also glad to see that there are some competent people with right ideas, even if they aren't listened to at crucial moments.

Green water or no sale!

Yes, pretty much confirmed seems to be the case. Also dual wielding.

Yeah, not looking forward to playing swtor soon again after a couple of months.

Time to check for Alzheimer or narcissism. I think it's both, alzheimer for forgetting, narcissism for posting it here.

I think you're right.

Was reading a thread on Bioware Social. Saw a remarkable lucid post with an excellent point. Realized it was my own.

Is that the enhanced version? Looks pretty vanilla BG 1998 to me.. Hopefully there will be some screenshots soon. The character sprites are BG2- style... Though, tbh, I can't recognise the area, so I guess it could be BG2 with a fully-created party.

Kind of hard to imagine Mac Walters wrote Wrex, after the "fake" background info on the ending.

Mmh, agree with GhostofAnakin, not a really pretty picture. And makes sense, too. Didn't really feel any attachment to most of the characters this time. Possibly exception being my "romance" option from ME2, but then she was the only one who ever cared about my Fish (and she didn't want to go back to the Normandy) I'll never understand why they dumped more or less the whole ME1 cast in ME2. The ability to play some of the same characters over the course of the trilogy is what made them so endearing in BG. But then the only memorable character from ME1 was Garrus, so it was probably for the best. I think it was a side-effect of the suicide mission shtick. They wanted to keep some people definitely alive for 3 - even if it's really just Liara and one of Kaidan or Ashley. Kind of like all the "new" ME2 companions being reduced to cameos (well, apart from the two with creepy-obsessive fans) in ME3 was, as well.

To quote Mordin, theory fits evidence. If it's a hacker/fake, it's advanced trolling on the level of the guy who launched the Truth DLC theory on 4chan. Also, Patrick just left for a "vacation".

Is that the enhanced version? Looks pretty vanilla BG 1998 to me.. Hopefully there will be some screenshots soon. Looks like vanilla bg with the bg2 gui? *license for opinions revoked*

http://kotaku.com/5895620/youll-be-able-to-play-baldurs-gate-on-your-ipad-this-summer/gallery/1

http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2012/03/22/is-bioware-setting-a-dangerous-precedent-by-considering-alternative-endings/ *laughs hysterically*

I think there's no contest that a lot of people wanted a happy ending. I also think that in general, it's a lot easier to accept a poorly executed happy ending over a poorly executed unhappy one. Of course, after the analysis Weekes or somebody with an exceptional grasp of story and crpg design posing as him posted, nobody else (including myself) needn't really bother.

I dunno, based on the last novel, I was assuming it'd be about a holy war between tevinter and orlais, but since the axed expansion was called "Holy march", I have no idea.

And there I was, wondering why I'd liked the game.

That's sad, if true. Means their project lead is a wacko, heh. Also puts a kind of kink in the "it's art, you can't criticise it" when crucial "artistic" staff is ignored and marginalised. And is criticising the ending. Having followed Patrick Weekes for a while, I have little trouble accepting that as genuine. IIRC he also made a rather odd tweet yesterday evening which seems to be missing from his feed, but frankly, I'd been up for almost two days straight so I could've been hallucinating. Anyway, I believe he's a stand-up guy (and a skilled game writer), so I hope he doesn't catch any fallout for that, in any case.

Well, considering what they are undergoing with ME3 now, and the info they released about the DA3 development process, some things might change. Going to be interesting, at any rate.

If that is true... Well, it does show, Patrick Weekes was behind essentially all of ME2's good bits. (Though to be fair, Mac Walters was similarly behind ME1's good bits, having written Wrex among others).

If you go with "indoctrination", you almost certainly have to continue the story. I think it boils down to what they've been doing and if they can repurpose it/cut content for post-ending DLC, or if they're just gonna go with *drumroll* slides. I'm kind of wondering if the reason for axing the DA2 expansion was "You can code?! You're on the ME3 ending DLC team now!" Heh, time for heads to roll You guys do realise that the lead in writer mostly means that he's in charge of coordinating the writers' pit and that overall strategic story etc. approval is done by people above him?

Bah, there's nothing established about the endings, they were a last minute ass-pull which went terribly wrong. If it'd been their intention since, say, the beginning of ME3 development, never mind the whole trilogy, this would never have happened. Instead, it's something Walters and Hudson decided a couple of months ago when they were dead-ended. This also shows in the execution. That's probably right, but they still packaged it and put their "reputation" behind that (bad) call. If the original creators had no idea where to take the story, and couldn't even be bothered to give it a meaningful ending who's going to do it? The fans? What's the point of that? Eh, movie's have focus testing, get reshot, get director's cuts. I just believe they made a bad judgment call in a massive crunch, which they now have the opportunity to correct. I dare say this has taught me to never be emotionally invested in a game to not be able to accept it letting me down in a colossal way. Should've learned it from women years ago.

I was responding to Deathdealer's above post where he feels its a great idea to hide the "real" ending until weeks down the road and then springing it will rewrite gaming history. My positon is that it is not a good idea as most users will never get to know the "real" ending because they are not forum dwellers. Im not sure what you were responding to initially if not that. oright. I think you underestimate the amount of people who still get plenty of information about games without being "forum dwellers", though. It sure would rewrite gaming history, but considering the gamestop-induced lifespan games have these days... sigh.