Mass effect Trilogy

[NOK222]

This does nothing to solve the problem of exposition and explanation.

 

Also sounds like ME6th Sense, which would mean that Shepard really died at the start of ME2 and everything after is hypoxic hallucination [/twist].

 

Still better than StarChild, it suggest nothing of the sort of what you imply, seeing dead people is a sign of PTSD.

[lobotomy42]

What it really comes down to is that ME2 did not do the job required of it as the second game in a series in terms of advancing the main story, it was more Mass Effect: Cerberus or Mass Effect 1 part 2 than ME2- it set up stuff and did it well, but it was all peripheral stuff with the main series' storyline barely advancing. It left too much for ME3 to do what with tying up peripheral storyline loose ends as well as the whole Reaper invasion. So I tend to cut ME3 some slack not because I'm particularly happy about how it turned out (though I am, in parts) but because the blame for its shortcomings are more appropriately apportioned to ME2. Insufficient foreshadowing and groundwork means that everything gets dumped into the last game and it's too tight a fit.

 

This, a thousand times, this. Mass Effect 2 was lauded at the time for some good reasons, but everyone seemed to overlook the fact that the story in ME2 barely made sense in and of itself -- and makes almost no sense as part of a trilogy.

[Cariannis]

Did I mention day 1 DLC? I don’t have a problem with day 1 DLC so how does this affect what I said? But if you want to bring up day 1 DLC I’m ok with it as long as none of the DLC information is on the game disk. Now if I data mine my Mass Effect 3 disk I won’t find Javik on there will I?

 

Nope, you didn't. But Forbes has been championed by many of the hater crowd, yet many conveniently ignore that he was their enemy literally one day before release.

 

Essentially, the Forbes article is a columnist that can write whatever he wants, as Forbes pays him based on traffic (Forbes doesn't hide this). People seem to grant it some extra degree of legitimacy simply because it's a columnist that posts on Forbes.

 

 

You also seem to think you're educating me on the matter, and bringing me up to speed on things that I don't already know. Yes, I know that there's articles on Forbes. They were championed on an almost daily basis (since the author agreed with them). Yes, I know that there wasn't exactly a small group of people upset with the endings. You linked me to movements that I already know (and there was several more that you missed). That BioWare did anything is a direct acknowledgement that BioWare agreed that it wasn't some trivial group of individuals that happened to be very loud.

 

A columnist that can write whatever he wants is now a bad thing? Last time I checked its better to be a columnist that writes what he/she wants then a journalist that writes to satisfy the people that buy their ad space.

 

You know what they say about assuming? I just choose not to assume anything about another person. I don’t believe I’m educating you on the mater at hand but you can believe that if you want. Yea I didn’t put down a link to every Mass Effect 3 movement and I’m not going to spend my time doing that. You can if you want.

 

Yes BioWare did change the ending(s). After fans responded so negatively that they really had no choice in the mater. But it’s BioWare’s own fault for making comments like this “There are many different endings. We wouldn’t do it any other way. How

could you go through all three campaigns playing as your Shepard and

then be forced into a bespoke ending that everyone gets? But I can’t

say any more than that…” Here. Others. Also when dealing with closure I’d like to point people to David Gaider’s view.

 

Then changed to this “Our first instinct is to defend our work and point to the high ratings offered by critics – but out of respect to our fans, we need to accept the criticism and feedback with humility.” To “However, most folks appear to agree that the game as a whole is exceptional, with more than 75 critics giving it a perfect review score and a review average in the mid-90s.” in the same blog. Yea the game is exceptional…discounting the ending(s), auto-dialogue, bugs and is that disk locked content I see?

 

Mass Effect 3: How to unlock Javik The Prothean without DLC pt.1 background story

 

http://www.gamefront.com/mass-effect-3s-prothean-character-unlockable-without-dlc-pc-only/

 

Just so people know they never needed to buy Javik.

[anubite]

Alan, the people on Forbes who talk about video games are bloggers. They represent a wider category and hardly represent Forbes as a single entity. I'm pretty sure Erik Kain has spoken up against Day One DLC, while other writers on Forbes have pardoned or encouraged it. There's no real consensus to be reached.

 

The main problem with the ending I think is the developers waned an "Artsy Ending" but they failed to realize Mass Effect is not "artsy". During Mass Effect, how many times did the camera zoom in on Miranda's rear? Not that art can't be sexual, but the tone all along was never philosophical or metaphysical. Well, Harbiger was, but they abandoned that characterization of the Reapers from ME2 through ME3 until the end. That's I think what got people upset.

 

That, and the Gears of Warification of ME1. I mean, ME1 had potential to be pretty interesting - mix "space magic" with guns and you could have a cool battle system. But instead we got hallways and more hallways ME3 had a few interesting early zones that were psuedo-open, but they didn't even try to stick with that sadface. The end of ME1 even had some interesting gravity mechanics and level twists (the whole level turning upside-down). But these kind of things were never employed throughout the rest of the series - the level design was very static and narrow and I think that's what hurt... well, it hurt me the most, but I don't think most people who played the game were sensitive to this, though they may have noticed it on a subconscious level.

Edited December 7, 2012 by anubite

[Calax]

There are very few complaints about, say, Mordin or Legion dying precisely because their situations were set up well across multiple games with the main themes introduced in ME1 and expanded upon in ME2 leading to a fulfilling ending to the storylines in ME3.

*insert trend bucking here*

 

I was ok with Mordin. He went out well, and we'd gotten to know him fairly well. However LEGION I was kind of pissed about. Not because he died, but because we basically didn't get to interact with him all that much. He shows up on one mission, then you have just enough time to get his loyalty up and do that before you end the game in ME2. And ME3 has him pop up only as a non-squaddie who WILL die (in one form or another). Legion is, overall, my favorite character, and showing my bias I am annoyed that he gets so little screen time... especially in comparison to Tali. I don't mind that he went out overall... it's just that in comparison to MANY of the other characters in 2 and 3, he wasn't allowed to visit with the players nearly as much as any other squad member in the game.

You can insert pretty much any ME2 squaddie here, really. Thane is very similar, and the Jacob fangirls were fairly royally pissed, too. Then there's the "we really don't have a good reason for not giving them to you even as temporary squaddies for the final climax, but we still won't do it, haha" crowd of Miranda, Jack, Wrex, Grunt etc.

Except that you had each of those characters almost entirely through the game. Legion was only retrieved after the IFF mission, which gave you enough time to wake him up, get his loyalty up, go flying off for the Collectors to attack Normandy, and do his loyalty mission. Even though he was one of the most interesting and different characters from the others in that game. I was fine with Mordin and the others because they got to run around during the majority of the game, but Legion is rolled out for the last little bit and doesn't get that much on his own to work with.

[Nepenthe]

Except that you had each of those characters almost entirely through the game.

No.

[Malcador]

ME2 really should have been The Hunt for the Crucible.

[Tale]

There are very few complaints about, say, Mordin or Legion dying precisely because their situations were set up well across multiple games with the main themes introduced in ME1 and expanded upon in ME2 leading to a fulfilling ending to the storylines in ME3.

*insert trend bucking here*

 

I was ok with Mordin. He went out well, and we'd gotten to know him fairly well. However LEGION I was kind of pissed about. Not because he died, but because we basically didn't get to interact with him all that much. He shows up on one mission, then you have just enough time to get his loyalty up and do that before you end the game in ME2. And ME3 has him pop up only as a non-squaddie who WILL die (in one form or another). Legion is, overall, my favorite character, and showing my bias I am annoyed that he gets so little screen time... especially in comparison to Tali. I don't mind that he went out overall... it's just that in comparison to MANY of the other characters in 2 and 3, he wasn't allowed to visit with the players nearly as much as any other squad member in the game.

I was okay with Legion at first. But it's one of those "until you sit down and start thinking about it" scenarios. Which probably would not have happened if the ending wasn't terrible.

 

Legion's death doesn't make any sense. I don't even know how to explain it to rebuke it. It just fails me fundamentally. And his entire character is a 180 from the Mass Effect 2 presentation.

We will make our own way without any shortcuts from the old machines (ME2)... unless they're really cool (ME3)

All must be judged on their own merits. Treating every species like one's own is racist. Even benign anthropomorphism.(ME2) I want to be a real individual. (ME3) And I think one of the reasons I will forever refuse to play the Extended Cut is EDI's "Now I am alive" line for that version of synthesis. What was she before?

 

He was a bit of a fan favorite and it's sad he didn't get a better part.

[anubite]

Legion had to die because he lacked hardrive space or something, if I recall correctly. A shame they didn't have any spare thumb drives for him to back up his personality core.

[Zoraptor]

You can insert pretty much any ME2 squaddie here, really. Thane is very similar, and the Jacob fangirls were fairly royally pissed, too. Then there's the "we really don't have a good reason for not giving them to you even as temporary squaddies for the final climax, but we still won't do it, haha" crowd of Miranda, Jack, Wrex, Grunt etc.

The most likely reason for lack of ME2 peeps as main line companions almost certainly goes back to the structure of ME2 with the suicide mission and most of the cast potentially being interstellar fertiliser, meaning that resources spent on them might be 'wasted'; and they're (rightly) seen as less important than Tali/ Garrus who were in the first game as well. Wrex is treated much the same, after all, and Ashley gets far fewer lines than Lt Beefcake or Liara since she might be dead too. Having said that, as I understand it there wasn't even going to be the short near end game conversations with your companions at one point which would have been an utterly baffling omission, so the treatment of some of the ME2 people may have been Developer Disconnect.

 

I think that something like Bos_hybrid suggested of them turning up to help out (or end those annoying and seemingly endless attack waves earlier) would have been a good compromise, albeit a pretty much entirely cosmetic one.

[alanschu]

Alan, the people on Forbes who talk about video games are bloggers. They represent a wider category and hardly represent Forbes as a single entity. I'm pretty sure Erik Kain has spoken up against Day One DLC, while other writers on Forbes have pardoned or encouraged it. There's no real consensus to be reached.

 

Yes I know that.

[Nepenthe]

and they're (rightly) seen as less important than Tali/ Garrus who were in the first game as well.

While you're probably right, it still grates on me and just makes me think that Bioware were too afraid of the psychotic fans of the two mentioned characters..

 

Getting to pick them up for even the final rush to the Pillar of Light would've made a major difference to me.

 

And Lt. beefcake.

[Azure79]

I don't even remember that guy's name. He seemed unnecessary and I never used him. Cortez the pilot was a better character. I always rolled with Garrus and EDI.

 

Anyone know if this will be the last single player DLC for ME3?

[Serrano]

I don't even remember that guy's name. He seemed unnecessary and I never used him. Cortez the pilot was a better character. I always rolled with Garrus and EDI.

 

I think Casey said in an interview that James Vega was added to the roster for players who hadn't played the last two games, as he was as new to everything as the player might be he could ask a lot of the questions Shepard wouldn't have reason to. Vega isn't badly written or acted or anything, he has some great lines and fits well with the rest of the companions. I think if the game had been longer people would have got more use out of him and he'd be more popular.

Edited December 8, 2012 by Serrano

[Nepenthe]

Anyone know if this will be the last single player DLC for ME3?

Well, they haven't even announced it officially, so... But signs (game lifespan etc.) could point towards it.

Vega isn't badly written or acted or anything, he has some great lines and fits well with the rest of the companions.

I seem to have missed completely both of these aspects. *squints* Nope, still sticks out like a sore, stupid thumb. Additionally I think freddie prinze jr was horribly miscast.

[NOK222]

OH HEI GUYS, MY NAME IS VEGA, I'M THE NEW GUY BUT WATCH ME GET ALONG WITH EVERYONE.

 

Mary Sue if I've seen one

[Gorth]

Vega isn't badly written or acted or anything, he has some great lines and fits well with the rest of the companions.

I seem to have missed completely both of these aspects. *squints* Nope, still sticks out like a sore, stupid thumb. Additionally I think freddie prinze jr was horribly miscast.

I seriously missed a number of my companions from ME2. Even EDI was more interesting when she was the ship

 

At least the Kaidan guy wasn't too bad (and less whiny than Ashley) once you got him on board the Normandy. Vega was like something out of a bad comic (only Kai Leng was worse), Liara isn't my thing, nor is Garrus. Leaving those behind I dislike means Javik wins by default and the empty second party member slot becomes a toss up between EDi and Kaidan. I think I mentioned something similar a long time ago (e.g. Master Wade in DA:O and others), but the guys writing the "incidental" characters, like the refugees etc. seems to have more fun/creativity when it comes to creating characters.

[Bos_hybrid]

I just had a gander of the ME 3 forums and found something quite amusing.

 

People are still talking about the IT theory and how it's still going to be revealed by Bio...........

 

It takes a special type of person to still actually believe that it's real.

[Serrano]

Okay, maybe it's just me then.

[HoonDing]

Beefcake was like Canderous Ordo's dumb little brother. Until he unmasked himself as Carth's dumb little brother when he didn't want to bang Femshep. What an idiot.

[Cariannis]

I liked Freddie Prinze jr in She's All That (mainly for Rachael Leigh Cook, that red dress, hello?) also Anna Paquin is in She’s All That…hmmm sookie sookie now.

[Calax]

The issue with Vega is that while he had a good bit of character. It never really came out that much. It seemed like they were trying to make him into sort of a "mini-Shepard" that was just starting on the path that Shep had taken, and thus had a unique connection to Shepard, but they already had somebody filling that role in Garrus.

 

I'd have preferred if they'd kept him as an entire non-romance (not even flirting) and then had him as more of a grunt leader. So while Shep and Garrus were doing high level "This is how the universe will save itself!" style stuff, he's running combat sims against a room full of geth.

[Raithe]

While I understood the whole point of Vega ( the character that can get all of the basic exposition/what has gone before questions and all of that) and he didn't have any egregiously bad dialogue or acting, he just didn't seem to have much beyond that. He had a kind of bland Mary-Sue/Mini-Shep vibe and no really standout feel beyond asking the questions if you hadn't played the previous games.

[GhostofAnakin]

I think quite a few of the single player fans have left the BSN. A lot of the threads there recently are co-op and MMO fans pleading with BioWare to make ME4 co-op/multiplayer. Which, as a single player gamer, makes me sad.

[Hurlshort]

There are always a few characters in every Bioware game that I really don't connect with. Vega was the one in ME3, for sure.