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[Gorth]

I don't get the whole hubbub over the ending of Mass Effect.

The lack of any decent ending didn't ruin the game for me. Kai Leng did a much better job of that. To be fair, the ME3 had some pretty good bits of story in between the bad parts. Some of them I even found awesome.

[Keyrock]

Yeah, the whole Kai Leng thing was triple facepalm worthy

 

[Raithe]

I think that was the problem with ME3. It has some incredibly excellent portions, but scattered around with equally dismal portions. So the good bits make the cruddy bits stand out even more. But I can generally sink into the enjoyable space opera b-movieness of the whole thing.

[redneckdevil]

With all this talk about mass effect 3, I should go and replay the first one again and see if I still love it and then play the second one and see if I get disappointed it's more actiony and then replay the 3rd and see if I loathe it still.

 

First one I feel in love with and couldn't stop playing it. The others weren't so good imho to me for some reason.

Edited December 14, 2016 by redneckdevil

[HoonDing]

Kai Leng was the annoying book character copy paste.

Like Jarlaxle in BG2. I always chunked that annoying git.

[Blodhemn]

 

I don't get the whole hubbub over the ending of Mass Effect.

The lack of any decent ending didn't ruin the game for me. Kai Leng did a much better job of that. To be fair, the ME3 had some pretty good bits of story in between the bad parts. Some of them I even found awesome.

 

Both Kai Leng and the catalyst kid were cringeworthy to the core. I played the game after the endgame update, and it didn't bug me. I can't say I was much invested in the story though as Bioware's writing does nothing for me to begin with, so that might be the reason(or maybe I'm just not enough of an insane gamer nerd riddled with 1st world problems to overly care). The extended content wrapped it up enough, so I thought but it should've been there from the start.

[HoonDing]

Do disc versions of Mass Effect (and Dragon AGe, for that matter) even work anymore now Bioware social network is gone?

[Humanoid]

My disc copy of ME2 turned into an Origin copy automatically, but no idea about the first game as mine is on Steam, but I don't think it or Dragon Age relied on the BSN in the first place (I think they pre-dated the BSN?).

 

I probably could've registered my disc copy of DA1 on Origin but since they gave it away free on Origin anyway I can't test that.

[Lexx]

That's good to hear, ME was amazingly good at making me feel like my decisions were carrying over to each title.  Best character development over a series since Quest for Glory.

 

Huh, I dunno. Maybe it's because I am rather experienced with game dev, but I always right away noticed how little your choices mattered. The e-mails with "hey, thx for doing stuff for me in the last game kthxbye" weren't helping the issue much either.

 

Now that doesn't mean I didn't enjoyed the games-- played all 3 of them once and liked it a lot, despite the flaws. Still, the games never felt big on choice & consequences for me.

 

/Edit: Alright, just saw that about a million people said basically the same now in this thread. :>

Edited December 14, 2016 by Lexx

[Humanoid]

Even early on they boxed themselves in for seemingly no reason: that little segment at the end of the first game for example where you decide on the composition of the next council was completely needless and illogical. The writers simply set themselves up a trap, it was a part of the game that added no value and merely served to sabotage their future continuity.

 

However, I'm more forgiving of that type of retcon than I am of lazy ones like the Rachni queen returning in ME3 no matter your previous decision. To add insult to injury, making the correct decision in hindsight actually punishes you, because ME3 had the philosophy of "paragon = good outcome" in the most boring, predictable way possible. Releasing the Rachni queen, blowing up the Collector base, curing the Genophage, all the types of grey decision that really could have gone either way were turned into simple black-and-white Paragon is Good yay puppies outcomes in the end. In the same way, characters who used to occupy a grey middle-ground between good guy and obvious villain were turned into the latter, because ME3 doesn't do subtlety. The treatment of Udina probably being the best (worst) example of this extreme heavy-handedness.

[kirottu]

I played ME3 through after they patched the end cinematics and I found them to be okayish. It's dialogue with star child that I have problem with. It's just so unbelievably stupid.

 

"We kill you so you can't build machines who would kill you."

"But I made peace with the geth and stuff."

"In the end there will always be war between the organics and machines."

 

Oh wow, what a shocking revelation. We sure had no wars for thousands of years before the machines came.

[213374U]

I doubt they were thinking about a trilogy when they made ME1. That's why they didn't know what to do for a story in ME2, they didn't know what to make of the Reapers (and therefore nobody can know, heh), they couldn't properly develop characters without substantially re-writing them between games, they couldn't find a common tone for the whole trilogy, etc. Throw in the gameplay changes between titles and the very mixed reception is no wonder. Bioware excel at convincing people that their RPGs are good, rather than at making good RPGs. Why ME3 wasn't taken more broadly as a lesson in the deceitful nature of marketing, I don't know.

 

That being said, I have to admit I had great fun playing Captain Space A$$hole, journalist assaulter extraordinaire.

 

And I also sank a bunch of hours into the ME3MP, but that was largely a fluke, judging by how bad the DAI MP thing failed.

[WorstUsernameEver]

An excerpt from the original Mass Effect reveal press release:

Players' decisions and actions will serve to shape the destiny of all life in the galaxy as you become absorbed in the story that is "Mass Effect," the first game in an epic trilogy from BioWare.

So, yeah, it was absolutely meant to be the first in a trilogy of games.

Also, you're not going to convince anyone who disagrees with you on BioWare games by telling them they're gullible fools for enjoying them.

Edited December 14, 2016 by WorstUsernameEver

[213374U]

I enjoy fast food. Therefore it's good. Because logic.

[WorstUsernameEver]

EDIT: You know what? This isn't worth the time I'd spend discussing it.

Edited December 14, 2016 by WorstUsernameEver

[213374U]

Nah, the analogy is perfect for what it is. But feel free to get your panties all in a bunch over some meaning you inferred from my post and then accuse me of not wanting a discussion in good faith after putting words in my mouth. I mean, being a passive-aggressive pantywaist really is all the rage around these parts, so why not?

[Hurlshort]

I don't really pay attention to advertising.  Or previews.  Or reviews.  I find that is the key to happiness.

[Amentep]

An excerpt from the original Mass Effect reveal press release:

 

Players' decisions and actions will serve to shape the destiny of all life in the galaxy as you become absorbed in the story that is "Mass Effect," the first game in an epic trilogy from BioWare.

So, yeah, it was absolutely meant to be the first in a trilogy of games.

 

Yes it was totally sold on the idea that it was going to be a trilogy.  Which makes its transition from heroic pulp sci-fi swashbuckling adventure to horrors-of-war military campaign war story so mystifying.  I can't help but wonder if the real difference in the games as we see them was down to the change in lead writer (Drew Karpyshyn to Mac Walters)

 

Honestly while I thought the end of ME3 was a let down on multiple levels, the thing that made the second and especially the third less replayable for me was that tonal shift, not the daftness of the immediate end.  I played ME1 (including the Mako stuff) multiple times, 2 and 3...not so much.

[Lexx]

Weird. I don't remember that ME1 ever felt like the beginning of a trilogy to me. Maybe that came much later in development, when they couldn't change a lot anymore?

[Gromnir]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/inxile/torment-tides-of-numenera/posts/1763675?ref=backer_project_update

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Wrath of Dagon]

am not sure why one would use children's cartoons to highlight ridiculous story.  stories used in kids cartoons is frequent better than adult fare, particular in fantasy and scifi context.  write for kids means you can't use anime inspired wacky plot nonsense to compensate for poor developed characters. can't trick a kid with fake depth or kewl concept.  we will gladly hold up the hobbit, spirited away, the last unicorn, song of the sea and the phantom tollbooth (and a host o' other kids fare) 'gainst storytelling in so-called adult offerings.  heck, virtual the entire chuck jones catalog is pretty much a slap in the face to those who would discount kid's cartoons.

 

HA! Good Fun!

Yeah, I didn't mean to condemn all children's cartoons, just the really dumb ones. I actually meant to say Saturday morning cartoons, which were particularly dumb and badly made, but I don't even know if they have them anymore.

[Oner]

I don't really pay attention to advertising.  Or previews.  Or reviews.  I find that is the key to happiness.

Ignore everyone, really. Games are much more fun when you play them for what they are instead of 800 people taking turns telling you what to hate them for.

[Keyrock]

 

I don't really pay attention to advertising.  Or previews.  Or reviews.  I find that is the key to happiness.

Ignore everyone, really. Games are much more fun when you play them for what they are instead of 800 people taking turns telling you what to hate them for.

 

Yeah, because being a completely uninformed consumer sounds like a great idea. 

[Hurlshort]

 

 

I don't really pay attention to advertising.  Or previews.  Or reviews.  I find that is the key to happiness.

Ignore everyone, really. Games are much more fun when you play them for what they are instead of 800 people taking turns telling you what to hate them for.

 

Yeah, because being a completely uninformed consumer sounds like a great idea. 

 

 

Your point would be more poignant if it weren't for the fact that opinions in games are incredibly subjective.  Really the only thing you will get a consensus on is whether the game runs or not, after that it is going to be individual mileage.

 

There should be a review site that just tells you whether the game will crash.  That would make me an informed consumer.

Edited December 14, 2016 by Hurlshot

[Keyrock]

Reviews of almost anything will always be very subjective, by their very nature.  That's why I like to read/watch/listen to a number of different ones from sources I know and trust (I prefer sources who try to be as objective as they can while always disclosing their own personal biases) and use that to compile my own conclusion.  But hey, I'm not here to convince you.  Go ahead and keep buying products based on zero information, I give zero ****s if you waste your money.