Mass Effect 3

[Hurlshort]

Never let the details get in the way of a good moment folks, and Mordin sacrificing himself to cure the Krogan while singing a tune was golden.

 

The only thing that bugged me about the story in ME3 was the ending. It was vague and incomplete. I've watched a ton of movies that left me feeling the same way, but then again a movie is only a 90 minute time commitment.

[GhostofAnakin]

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

[Majek]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BasebmHiqIo

 

edit: guess i'll have to play again. stupid addiction to unimportant things like ingame guns.

Edited April 6, 2012 by Majek

[GhostofAnakin]

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.

[Tale]

Geth are nice, but unless they surprise us with Collectors or some other enemy to fight, I can't see myself touching it.

 

How is it people aren't bored of fighting the exact same enemies ad nauseum already?

[GhostofAnakin]

 

How is it people aren't bored of fighting the exact same enemies ad nauseum already?

 

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.

[Jaesun]

Survive the 3 waves of monster spawns #357: The Game kind of turns me off playing it again.

[Majek]

How is it people aren't bored of fighting the exact same enemies ad nauseum already?

Well i can't explain it, but it's somewhat addictive once you start to play with good players. <_> I was getting bored but these new maps and characters will definitely keep me around for a while.

 

 

and LOL

Fans: Um Bioware? You should know, I liked the game and all, but the end of it was ... well I'm not gonna lie, it sucked.

 

BioWare: We will be sure to let our Developers know about your Feedback, We Are Listening! Can you tell us what you liked about the game so everyone can hear you?

 

Fans: Well like I said, the game as a whole is really great, but the ending kinda ruins the whole experience. This is a big problem for anyone who wants to enjoy the game, you really need to fix this.

 

Fans: ... hello?

 

Fans: Seriously BioWare, this is important to people. It's just like a game breaking bug, or like that Deception novel, the ending is broken and should be fixed.

 

BioWare: We understand that some of you are not satisfied with the ending. We Are Listening! In the meantime why don't you discuss what your favorite parts about the game were?

 

Fans: Didn't we already mention this? It's kinda hard to talk about what we liked about the game when the entire experience gets soured by the ending. What are you going to do about this?

 

BioWare: Look at all of these Proffesional Critics who are smarter then you; they gave Mass Effect 3 glowing reviews! Clearly this game is better then you think it is. We understand that some of you don't like it because you're spoiled and wanted a happy ending. We always intended to have a bittersweet ending to Shepards story, anything less would violate our artistic integrity!

 

Fans: ...

 

BioWare: Lots of Speculation Everywhere!!

 

Fans: Alright, you know what, enough messing around. We're organizing into a movement to campaign for better endings. Here's a letter writting campaign, here's $80,000 for charity, here's 400 cupcakes. Whatever it takes for you to admit the endings are crap.

 

BioWare: Alright well our Boss had some things to say about that; We think Mass Effect 3 is pretty swell. But we're starting to get the impression that some of you were perhaps not quite as happy with the ending as you should be. Well we still think we're awesome but we're going to throw you a bone and work on some downloadable content that clarify the endings and show you why they are so awesome. That way you can be happy and we can keep our sacred Artistic Integrity!

 

Fans: Um .... well thanks for responding and all but I don't quite think you understand what's going on. The problem was never clarification of the ending, the problem was the basis for the ending is completely wrong and should be changed for something that actually works with the rest of the game.

 

Fans: Also using artistic integrity as an excuse is kinda lame. Artistic Integrity is no excuse for a horrible ending. If anything your artistic integrity should have prevented you from releasing that ending in the first place.

 

Fans: Plus if it was really that sacred you never would have given us homosexual romance options in the game among other things. If anything, we're trying to help you make the game better while keeping your artistic integrity intact.

 

BioWare: We Are Listening! We'll tell you more around April.

 

Fans: Ok, but we're telling you right now, "clarifying" the current ending is not going to cut it. The ending needs to be something different. Don't just come out with some extended version of the current ending that simply tries to explain things. Even if you patch up every plot hole in the current ending it is still a bad ending to the series!

 

BioWare: Great News Everyone! We Listened to the Fans! We are happy to announce that we will be releasing an Extended Cut of our current endings which will further Clarify and Explain the endings in order to shu- I mean provide more closure to what we will pretend is a vocal minority among our fans.

 

Fans: ...

 

BioWare: Also we will not be changing the endings because our Artistic Integrity is more important then what you think.

 

Fans: ... ARE YOU ****ING KIDDING ME?!

 

BioWare: Don't complain, it's going to be free.

 

Fans: Great, we appreicate that you're doing something about it, and we appreciate that you're gonna privide this for free, but seriously? What Part of "THE ENDINGS SUCK" did you not understand? This isn't what we want and all you're doing is wasting development time and effort on something that won't fix the problem here.

 

BioWare: But this proves we are listening!

 

 

Fans: You might be listening, but you apperently refuse to understand.

Edited April 6, 2012 by Majek

[Volourn]

Fans are stupid. This is fact. Heck, youc an't even really get multiple fans who both hate the ending to 100% agree on whyn they hate the ending. BIO's biggestw eakness has always been listening to the stupid internet fans. Their games would be much better if they simply ignored internet geeks.

[Krookie]

Fans are stupid. This is fact. Heck, youc an't even really get multiple fans who both hate the ending to 100% agree on whyn they hate the ending. BIO's biggestw eakness has always been listening to the stupid internet fans. Their games would be much better if they simply ignored internet geeks.

 

no

[Gorgon]

I agree, up tp a point. Nothing good ever came of trying to please everyone. Although apparently nothing good came to begin with so where to begin.

[Deraldin]

For those interested in the multiplayer the PSN Blog has some details on the pack.

 

New maps

This new multiplayer pack will include two new maps, available immediately for play after downloading the pack: Firebase Condor and Firebase Hydra. Condor is a Turian warzone outpost and a crucial asset in the defense of their homeworld, Palaven. The cool thing about Condor is you can actually see the galactic war happen all around you. Ships are taking off, Reapers are looming in the background, and in the distance Palaven is burning. Hydra is located on an abandoned Quarian colony that has since been converted to an enormous power station. Protecting both of these firebases is absolutely critical in the defense against the Reaper attack.

 

New character classes

Asari Justicar Adept

[Zoraptor]

7-How did Udina end up on the Council if you picked Anderson in ME1?

That one at least is explained in game- in the codex, I think, since I noticed it and went looking for an answer. Resigned from the council to prepare for the reapers when the council did it's standard sit-on-hands routine one time too many.

 

10-Why did Legion suddenly call itself "I" and what did that have to do with it becoming a "fully realized AI?"

Shows self awareness. Certainly not unique:

ZEN: -- dysfunction on computer banks three and six. All resources now concentrated on maintenance of teleport facilities. I-- I have failed you.

VILA: He never referred to himself before. He never once used the word "I".

ZEN: I have failed you. I am sorry. I have--

Also Nordom the Modron from PST, a lot of Borg episodes (wossname, Hugh?) from ST.

 

But that wouldn't actually be possible since they had no idea what a cure would be like or how the Shroud could be modified to distribute it. The only way for the sabotage to work is if it prevented any kind of tampering with the Shroud.

They'd almost certainly have a good idea in a general sense of what a cure would entail, at least if ME science works at all similar to Real World science. If you were weaponising a virus you'd know with near total certainty that the cure (well, preventative really) would be a vaccine of some sort, for example.

[Giantevilhead]

The whole Anderson / Udina councilor thing is actually part of one of the books they did.. So it's in extra media that you don't come across if you only play the games.

 

Something Anderson does basically results in him taking action where a councillor shouldn't... and thus he resigns to not cause trouble, leaving Udina to take his place.

 

There's a lot of that in ME3. It's a really cheap tactic.

 

Hm, my theory on the Shroud sabotage is that it relates to the thermal issues - ie, the Salarians had modified it to vary the temperature when expelling whatever organisms were involved - thus any potential genophage cures (which by all that is known would be some form of biologically tailored virus like the original genophage) would therefore be stressed/altered/destroyed so as not to work). In fact, that might have been part of what was slowing down the Reaper poison?

 

Or if it wasn't slowing down the poison, the Reaper's might have been using some form of nanotech, which would have been immune to those sorts of temperature variations that the sabotage caused....

 

See, wild speculation abounds..

 

But more specific they make the trigger, the more complex the sabotage will have to be, which would make it easier to detect. It makes much more sense for the sabotage to be designed to detect general tampering.

[greylord]

I could give two $%!#'s about MP DLC. In fact, bad as it is, I hope almost no one gets it. It's a blatant slap in the face. Sure it's free...I'm thinking most everyone is actually wondering...where's the end?

[GhostofAnakin]

I could give two $%!#'s about MP DLC. In fact, bad as it is, I hope almost no one gets it. It's a blatant slap in the face. Sure it's free...I'm thinking most everyone is actually wondering...where's the end?

 

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.

[Krookie]

I could give two $%!#'s about MP DLC. In fact, bad as it is, I hope almost no one gets it. It's a blatant slap in the face. Sure it's free...I'm thinking most everyone is actually wondering...where's the end?

 

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.

 

Yeah that's what I was most worried about. The fact of the matter is I just hated the ending. I hated the fact that there wasn't an option for a super-happy 'Shepard rides into the sunset with his whole team alive and well' (even if it wasn't the canon I think it should have been an option) kind of thing and that sucks, but I feel dumb complaining about that. Adding extra cutscenes won't make me enjoy the ending anymore, but I accept what the ending was regardless of whether or not I hated it.

[213374U]

From the DLC press release, this is more or less what we should expect as far as "clarification" goes:

 

 

 

I kind of admire that they are sticking to their guns, but that doesn't excuse the fact that the ending(s) are nonsensical, feel forced, don't work with the overall tone of the series, and pretty much fall short of being adequate for a RPG. Good thing it's just the last 5 minutes.

Edited April 7, 2012 by 213374U

[Volourn]

To be a god or not to be a god.

 

To be a jedi or to be sith.

 

 

DEEP

 

 

No wonder ME3 ending couldn't match up to the awesomenss of past BIO endings.

 

 

LMAO

[213374U]

At least those didn't force you to endure endless unskippable cutscenes. D:

[Giantevilhead]

7-How did Udina end up on the Council if you picked Anderson in ME1?

That one at least is explained in game- in the codex, I think, since I noticed it and went looking for an answer. Resigned from the council to prepare for the reapers when the council did it's standard sit-on-hands routine one time too many.

 

That's just lazy. At least they some lip service was paid to the other inconsequential choices. This was one of the bigger decisions in ME1, not to mention how it's the last choice you make in that game.

 

10-Why did Legion suddenly call itself "I" and what did that have to do with it becoming a "fully realized AI?"

Shows self awareness. Certainly not unique:

ZEN: -- dysfunction on computer banks three and six. All resources now concentrated on maintenance of teleport facilities. I-- I have failed you.

VILA: He never referred to himself before. He never once used the word "I".

ZEN: I have failed you. I am sorry. I have--

Also Nordom the Modron from PST, a lot of Borg episodes (wossname, Hugh?) from ST.

 

Except Legion isn't a single individual, it's a network composed of a thousand different AI's.

 

But that wouldn't actually be possible since they had no idea what a cure would be like or how the Shroud could be modified to distribute it. The only way for the sabotage to work is if it prevented any kind of tampering with the Shroud.

They'd almost certainly have a good idea in a general sense of what a cure would entail, at least if ME science works at all similar to Real World science. If you were weaponising a virus you'd know with near total certainty that the cure (well, preventative really) would be a vaccine of some sort, for example.

 

Except they have advanced nanotechnology in the ME universe so how do they know the cure won't use nanites? Plus if they were going to use the Shroud to spread the cure over the entire planet then the cure would already have to be designed to retain its effectiveness after being shot into the upper atmosphere where it would be exposed to extra solar radiation and be able to sustain Tuchanka's harsh environment.

[greylord]

That's how the Reaper's should have come to Tuchunka!

 

"Join us, we will cure you of the genophage...and anything else...forever!!!"

 

Forget indoctrination, the Krogan would have been begging to join the Reapers!!!!

[Oner]

That's how the Reaper's should have come to Tuchunka!

 

"Join us, we will cure you of the genophage...and anything else...forever!!!"

 

Forget indoctrination, the Krogan would have been begging to join the Reapers!!!!

Nah, the Krogan read Vlad Tepes' story, they wouldn't fall for it.

[Zoraptor]

Except Legion isn't a single individual, it's a network composed of a thousand different AI's.

Thematically it makes sense that taking decision making code from individualistic AI like Sovereign or Harbinger and adding it to collectivist AI like geth would convert them to an individual model. Practically too it's perfectly believable that adding code from an individualistic AI (reaper) to a collectivist AI (geth) would have that effect. That is not a particularly novel idea since things like self preservation, personality and individual identity are often used in fiction as indicators that something has moved from being a sophisticated tool to being an actual 'person'. The real reason for it is, of course, to have an enhanced Emotional Impact but it is not really inconsistent.

 

Except they have advanced nanotechnology in the ME universe so how do they know the cure won't use nanites? Plus if they were going to use the Shroud to spread the cure over the entire planet then the cure would already have to be designed to retain its effectiveness after being shot into the upper atmosphere where it would be exposed to extra solar radiation and be able to sustain Tuchanka's harsh environment.

In that case just replace 'vaccine' with 'nanites' and 'virus' with 'genophage'*- it's still probable that they would have a very good idea of what a potential cure would entail and could tailor a preventative towards that. Nanites would also have the advantage that they could (presumably) be made to self replicate so even if the survival rate in the upper atmosphere were very low you'd still get good effective dispersal.

 

*presuming Bioware just used 'phage' as a cool scientific sounding name, else it actually was a virus

Edited April 7, 2012 by Zoraptor

[213374U]

Except Legion isn't a single individual, it's a network composed of a thousand different AI's.

Thematically it makes sense that taking decision making code from individualistic AI like Sovereign or Harbinger and adding it to collectivist AI like geth would convert them to an individual model. Practically too it's perfectly believable that adding code from an individualistic AI (reaper) to a collectivist AI (geth) would have that effect.

I feel more inclined to believe it's the Enhanced Emotional Impact than a code injection thing as, from what we know about them from what Legion says, Reapers are in fact closer to the geth AI architecture than, say, EDI's.

 

Frankly, I wasn't impressed by Bio's blatant attempt to ingratiate Legion to players even more by making it an individual in the traditional sense, thus undermining the defining trait of geth sentience. "Anthropocentric bag of ****", to quote an actually interesting character.

 

It's funny because Bio writers seem to go from doubting their work enough to revise it to conform to trite conventionalism, to huge ego demonstrations, as illustrated by the way the endings were devised -if rumors are to be believed- and how the fiasco is subsequently being handled.

 

edit: oh yay censorship.

Edited April 8, 2012 by 213374U