BioWare's New Game

[Purkake]

I want an epilogue where Shepard is a down and out alcoholic, having horrible Promethean flashbacks and nightmares about the people he lost along the way.

 

Then you pull out and show that the world didn't learn anything from the experience, the council is still a bunch of backstabbing politicians, no one trusts the humans and Shepard is just another symbol to be used for whatever agenda they're pushing.

 

End with Shep grabbing for his gun.

Edited December 13, 2010 by Purkake

[Oblarg]

I'm actually excited to hear about Mass Effect 3. I came here because I thought other people would be excited about it too... what was I thinking??

 

You were being optimistic?

 

I know. This is hardly the forum where one can be optimistic without being instantly denounced as a fanboi or loser! Sometimes I get excited and forget...

 

You don't really have any legitimate grounds for that argument when you yourself were surprisingly quick to denounce those expressing doubt about the direction BioWare was taking the series.

[Jaesun]

*sigh*

 

I give up.

 

It's ok sweetie. I know how you feel. :hugs:

[Hell Kitty]

Is the ending of a story you interact with different than one you just passively view? What kind of question is that?

The kind I asked and you didn't answer.

 

Sorry I wasn't clear, but I was implying the question was stupid. Is something you watch different from something you do? Of course it is. I didn't think there was a need to point out that being an active participant is different to being a passive viewer.

 

I think there's a difference between a happy and a satisfying ending.

You can have both. A happy ending that comes out of nowhere isn't satisfying, but a happy ending that comes from making the right decisions and having your plan work is satisfying.

Which was my point. I want a satisfying ending, whether it's happy or not.

 

Then you aren't making yourself very clear. Before you said happy endings are cliche (or boring or overused) which is bad but now you're apparently okay with a happy ending as long as it is satisfactory. That's exactly what hurlshot is asking for, unless you think he wants an unsatisfying happy ending, which makes no sense.

 

In ME2 I did all the companion missions and made the right choices in the end battle, and all my team members survived. To me this is a "happy" ending because all my teammates survived, and it's also a satisfactory ending because they survived based on my actions. I expect the same sort of thing from ME3. As Di pointed out, having failure forced on you means the choices you make are irrelevant. Forced failure is as bad as forced everybody lived happily ever after.

 

I want an epilogue where Shepard is a down and out alcoholic, having horrible Promethean flashbacks and nightmares about the people he lost along the way.

 

So your argument this whole time was just "I don't want that cliche, I want this cliche".

Edited December 13, 2010 by Hell Kitty

[Enoch]

I want an ending where the Turian Councilman saves the universe, and Shepard is convicted for violations of interspecies sodomy laws.

[Purkake]

Is the ending of a story you interact with different than one you just passively view? What kind of question is that?

The kind I asked and you didn't answer.

 

Sorry I wasn't clear, but I was implying the question was stupid. Is something you watch different from something you do? Of course it is. I didn't think there was a need to point out that being an active participant is different to being a passive viewer.

Does that make games inherently more emotionally involving than say books or movies? What about linear games, does just controlling the character make the whole narrative different?

 

I think there's a difference between a happy and a satisfying ending.

You can have both. A happy ending that comes out of nowhere isn't satisfying, but a happy ending that comes from making the right decisions and having your plan work is satisfying.

Which was my point. I want a satisfying ending, whether it's happy or not.

 

Then you aren't making yourself very clear. Before you said happy endings are cliche (or boring or overused) which is bad but now you're apparently okay with a happy ending as long as it is satisfactory. That's exactly what hurlshot is asking for, unless you think he wants an unsatisfying happy ending, which makes no sense.

 

In ME2 I did all the companion missions and made the right choices in the end battle, and all my team members survived. To me this is a "happy" ending because all my teammates survived, and it's also a satisfactory ending because they survived based on my actions. I expect the same sort of thing from ME3. As Di pointed out, having failure forced on you means the choices you make are irrelevant. Forced failure is as bad as forced everybody lived happily ever after.

I guess I wasn't too clear. My problem was asking for a happy ending, because you supposedly earn it by actively playing the game(as opposed to just reading/watching it). Which would imply that every game where "work" for your ending should have a happy one.

 

I, on the other hand want a satisfying ending, whether its "everyone dies" or "everyone skips off into the sunset".

 

I want an epilogue where Shepard is a down and out alcoholic, having horrible Promethean flashbacks and nightmares about the people he lost along the way.

 

So your argument this whole time was just "I don't want that cliche, I want this cliche".

Again, that was a joke.

[~Di]

Again, that was a joke.

 

You should stop. Clearly, you're not very good at them.

[Purkake]

You just can't appreciate my cynical genre-deconstructing humor.

[~Di]

You just can't appreciate my cynical genre-deconstructing humor.

 

Otherwise known as snideness and sarcasm, which is why you have to keep pretending they were jokes when you get called on them.

[Purkake]

I thought we were all about snideness and sarcasm over here? Towing the party line and all that

 

Plus, it's not like I haven't been snide and sarcastic the two last years...

Edited December 13, 2010 by Purkake

[Malcador]

Again, that was a joke.

 

You should stop. Clearly, you're not very good at them.

 

 

You people have crappy senses of humour.

[WILL THE ALMIGHTY]

I wish the whole game was about gathering allies, but the more time you take and the more allies you gather, the more casualties there are on Earth. So if you get everyone to help (Paragon path, of course), you realize sacrificing Earth was necessary to unite the Galaxy and take down the Reapers. If you just rushed in (Renegade, maybe with the aid of Cerberus and the Collector Station/other MacGuffin) you'd wind up beating the Reapers. Two things could happen here: either the Reapers decide to go after other unprepared races and there are many, many casualties while Shepard and Cerberus gradually take out all the Reapers with whatever MacGuffin they picked up (Collector Station, maybe) or the Reapers would be truly defeated at Earth. In either case, humanity proves it's superiority (and in the first scenario all the other races are weakened) and establishes some sort of dictatorship lead by Cerberus/Shep.

 

The Paragon path seems easy enough to implement, but the Renegade path might be too much to ask for one game.

[Hell Kitty]

My problem was asking for a happy ending, because you supposedly earn it by actively playing the game(as opposed to just reading/watching it). Which would imply that every game where "work" for your ending should have a happy one.

 

You seem to be ignoring what kind of games the ME series are, games in which the story will change because on the actions you take, or as you put it, the work you do. The goal of these games, more or less, is to "save the galaxy". The work you put in is to that end. In ME2, if you put the work in (do companion quests to earn their trust, put people in the right roles in the final mission) then you will win. No one is asking to win by default.

 

You people have crappy senses of humour.

 

Purkake gave an example of the type of downer ending he'd like to see. What's the joke? That he wouldn't like that type of ending? That he was purposely offering up a cliche despite arguing against cliches? Because as Di says claiming "it was a joke" just comes across as a way to avoid backing up what you say.

Edited December 13, 2010 by Hell Kitty

[Purkake]

@Will: Not bad, not bad at all. I could see that happening.

 

@HK: I've been here long enough that you should know the kinds of jokes I make...

 

 

The joke was proposing a somewhat realistic scenario of what would happen to Shepard after the last game that Bioware would never make because they don't/can't take risks

 

Edited December 13, 2010 by Purkake

[Nepenthe]

You don't really have any legitimate grounds for that argument when you yourself were surprisingly quick to denounce those expressing doubt about the direction BioWare was taking the series.

Since CLEARLY this thread exists in a vacuum, where the same guys don't actually whine about everything Bioware does. Don't start playing the victim, it's not becoming.

Edited December 13, 2010 by Nepenthe

[Oblarg]

You don't really have any legitimate grounds for that argument when you yourself were surprisingly quick to denounce those expressing doubt about the direction BioWare was taking the series.

Since CLEARLY this thread exists in a vacuum, where the same guys don't actually whine about everything Bioware does. Don't start playing the victim, it's not becoming.

 

Because I totally wine about everything BioWare has ever done, and haven't stated in the past that I thought ME1 was quite a good game.

 

Don't make generalizations, it makes you look bad when you're wrong.

[TheHarlequin]

hmmm reading this thread as someone has has never played me1, 2 or the soon 3 I find it reassuring I spent my gaming time elsewhere. Seems I didn't miss a lot but a cliched scifi plot.

[Azure79]

hmmm reading this thread as someone has has never played me1, 2 or the soon 3 I find it reassuring I spent my gaming time elsewhere. Seems I didn't miss a lot but a cliched scifi plot.

 

True, the plot was nothing to write home about, but it's not the main reason I enjoyed ME2. I think Bioware did a good job adding in various powers to standard 3rd person cover/shooter gameplay. Playing with a Vanguard, Adept, Sentinel was especially enjoyable in ME2 due to some of their unique powers. It's fun mixing the shooting and power aspects together.

 

I have a couple save games at various points in the game and replay those missions from time to time just because I find it fun. My favorite is the Vanguard with the charge ability. Its really satisfying to fly across to battlefield and deliver a point blank shotgun blast to the enemy.

[Nepenthe]

I'd definitely say that the strengths of ME aren't in the originality of its plotline. Hell, their stated aim was to build games drawing heavily on 80s scifi movies (which can be seen down to the design of the MAKO essentially being a clone of Big Trak*). But then again, there is no story that can be trivialised to the point of sounding uninteresting (Torment: You're some guy with amnesia, trying to regain his memory. BORING, DONE TO DEATH. etc.)

 

Don't make generalizations, it makes you look bad when you're wrong.

Oh, I think most people here think I look bad even when I'm right.

 

 

*again many apologies for using Wikipedia in this scientific debate, I'm finishing a paper on the subject they actually pay me to work on, so time is, alas, short.

Edited December 13, 2010 by Nepenthe

[Orchomene]

hmmm reading this thread as someone has has never played me1, 2 or the soon 3 I find it reassuring I spent my gaming time elsewhere. Seems I didn't miss a lot but a cliched scifi plot.

 

You don't lose anything, I think. ME2 may be the worse gaming investment I made this year. It's kind of a mix between a poor FPS, a RPG with poor mechanics and a level of storytelling equal to the one of NWN OC. I can't even understand how people can love it. With some games I disliked, I may understand why other people love them.

[Malcador]

Purkake gave an example of the type of downer ending he'd like to see. What's the joke? That he wouldn't like that type of ending? That he was purposely offering up a cliche despite arguing against cliches? Because as Di says claiming "it was a joke" just comes across as a way to avoid backing up what you say.

 

 

What's the joke ? Hm, I dunno maybe the entire post ? I'm not really in his head, but I did chuckle a bit reading his post.

[sorophx]

It's kind of a mix between a poor FPS, a RPG with poor mechanics and a level of storytelling equal to the one of NWN OC. I can't even understand how people can love it.

that's exactly how I feel about ME2. it was a step backwards compared to ME. while I can agree that ME2 had it's moments, and it definitely looked very good graphics wise, how can people say that they love it, I don't understand.

[Nepenthe]

It's kind of a mix between a poor FPS, a RPG with poor mechanics and a level of storytelling equal to the one of NWN OC. I can't even understand how people can love it.

that's exactly how I feel about ME2. it was a step backwards compared to ME. while I can agree that ME2 had it's moments, and it definitely looked very good graphics wise, how can people say that they love it, I don't understand.

Sometimes liking things is determined by your gut or your heart, not your head.

[sorophx]

true. I'm not supposed to understand. it just clicks with some people

 

what I want to know is why?

Edited December 13, 2010 by sorophx

[Nepenthe]

true. I'm not supposed to understand. it just clicks with some people

 

what I want to know is why?

 

I wish I had an explanation why I've enjoyed playing it so much. I don't, I never do, not for ME(2), not for Deus Ex, not for Baldur's Gate 2. I just know what I like, and a bunch of internet know-it-alls won't change that for me. They might lessen my enjoyment for talking abou the games, but not for playing them.