I'm more wary of BioWare because of what they did to the Dragon Age series (with Dragon Age II), and, in a way, what happened with SW:TOR. Mass Effect 3 I'm fine with, for the most part.
Mass Effect 3
-
-
We were at one point promised 19 different endings.
Now, did they promise 19 distinct fully rendered multi-minute cinemas each with vastly different outcomes?
Or did they promise 19 text scrawls where the ending is basically identical except for a little flavor text?
Cause thats what Dragon Age (the first one that everyone liked) did. If you saved or didn't save the werewolves, led to a different ending. Who you put on the dwarf throne? Different ending. Who you made king or queen? Different ending. If you sacrificed Alistair or Logain or yourself, technically the same ending. The only visual difference was it swapped out the character that got the killing blow on the archdemon, even though the animation was the same. (The "three colors" variation if you will.)
But still something like 20-30 different possible endings. (or possibly like 80 given all the combinations.)
I get that the ending is rushed and they didn't quite explain what they wanted, or so as much as they had planned, and I'm playing the expanded version so I won't be going through with that anyway…
but how much is what they actually promised… and how much is what fans read into and assumed on that promise?
Especially now that they've gone in and backloaded it with expanded DLC?
Cause I've seen results of every action I made in the previous games. Yes, the choices may not matter in terms of the final choice, but they certainly seem to affect the rest of the game.
-
! Yeah. I agree that people seem to be too nitpicky when it comes to how drastically choices change ME3. They had a time limit and a budget, so it's not like they could just make entirely different missions due to the choices, though the rachni choice is pretty lame. I don't know about the '19 endings' promise, but not having an 'A, B, C' ending was promised which was pretty much exactly what it was. The only thing that does blatantly tick me off though is how they originally said you could get all the endings without playing multiplayer. Then, to unlock a scene in the 'destroy' ending, you had to play multiplayer to get enough GR points. I would have been fine with it if they admitted they may have miscalculated the points or said they didn't count that as an ending, but they just continued to vehemently deny multiplayer was needed. Even when it was fixed with the extended cut, they acted like the scene was a reward for people playing multiplayer and not something that was promised before release.
! As for the ending, originally they had the 'Dark Matter' or whatever ending, but it was even worse than the endings we got. Then, they apparently even had Martin Sheen doing lines in December at the last minute for the ending, so it's very obvious they had no idea what they really wanted to do with the ending the closer they got to it. I suppose that's my problem whenever people try to claim artistic integrity with the ending. It would be one thing if it was some grand planned ending to reflect the series as a whole…...but it wasn't. It was just trying to find some way to scrap together an ending at the last minute because they really weren't sure how they wanted to end it. I still wouldn't want them to have changed it if they didn't want to, but I dislike acting like the ending is some great feat of art when I thought the universe as a whole was a better example of art. -
@RobbyBevard:
Now, did they promise 19 distinct fully rendered multi-minute cinemas each with vastly different outcomes?
Or did they promise 19 text scrawls where the ending is basically identical except for a little flavor text?
Cause thats what Dragon Age (the first one that everyone liked) did. If you saved or didn't save the werewolves, led to a different ending. Who you put on the dwarf throne? Different ending. Who you made king or queen? Different ending. If you sacrificed Alistair or Logain or yourself, technically the same ending. The only visual difference was it swapped out the character that got the killing blow on the archdemon, even though the animation was the same. (The "three colors" variation if you will.)
But still something like 20-30 different possible endings. (or possibly like 80 given all the combinations.)
I get that the ending is rushed and they didn't quite explain what they wanted, or so as much as they had planned, and I'm playing the expanded version so I won't be going through with that anyway…
but how much is what they actually promised… and how much is what fans read into and assumed on that promise?
Especially now that they've gone in and backloaded it with expanded DLC?
Cause I've seen results of every action I made in the previous games. Yes, the choices may not matter in terms of the final choice, but they certainly seem to affect the rest of the game.
Most of it was promised, as fans found all these quotes from various interviews. (as only super-obessed fans can)
But Angry Joe can cover it for you (pre-DLC ending):
-
Robby! Lets be PS3 friends! My PSN name is Confuzor and I still play ME3 multiplayer!
-
Got a GREAT pack tonight. Gave me three characters I didn't have before, including my first Krogan! Adept shaman. Who I may have built slightly wrong first time around… kind of slow, but decent. hard to get the Krogan rage thing going with it. just not fast enough to melee 3 things very quickly... at least not with the build I gave it.
Also got a turian soldier, which is much more weapon based and not totally my thing... at least not right now while my weapon choices still kind of suck. But hey, if I want to use a sniper or machine gun character, he's the one. And got an N7 Demolisher engineer. And while I don't really like any of the characters with grenades due to their limited capacity and constant refill needs... his ability to caryr like 9 grenades and restock them himself makes him VERY interesting, and rather cool.
And, while simply testing out all three new things I got, I accumulated enough cash to buy another character set... and got a Krogan Vanguard! WOOT! One of the things I've been REALLY looking forward to... and he works EXACTLY like I'd hoped! Went for damage rather than nigh-unbreakable shields and it is scary, he can get like a 200% bonus to his melee after all the bonuses are in place... AND the vanguard biotic charge counts as a meelee hit! Three shots of that (and eventually 2) if it managages to kill a thing counts towards Krogan rage, so he CAN activate it fast and easy and then stack even MORE healt and damage bonuses. Really scary stuff.
Excellent night for unlocking stuff!
Now if only I can unlock female quarian engineer... I wanna play with incinerate, cryo blast and sentry turret all on one character... that sthe last unlock I know I want, though some other things have looked interesting... and I want at least one Geth, Vorcha and Vorlus...
Also, due to some weird ass experience glitch, my Asari Huntress at level 18 suddenly was given access to fifty stat points. I... filled out every category and still had points left over. After playing a round it now displays as -27 points to spend. ...This probably means I can't ever promote the infiltrator group, because I'll lose out on this randomly maxed out character.
-
The newer characters often have that glitch where it gives them more upgrade points than they should get. Leveling up should fix that, or just use one of those reset cards.
-
The newer characters often have that glitch where it gives them more upgrade points than they should get. Leveling up should fix that, or just use one of those reset cards.
Why would I want to FIX that? I have BONUS stats, all my bars are full, that's a good thing!
-
@RobbyBevard:
Why would I want to FIX that? I have BONUS stats, all my bars are full, that's a good thing!
Because it will get you banned from multiplayer if someone catches on.
-
Because it will get you banned from multiplayer if someone catches on.
Shouldn't that be the developer's fault or responsibility if it's a glitch?
Still though, yeah. I do remember hearing about that when a glitch was going around that allowed you a bunch of whatever currency you use to buy packs.
-
Because it will get you banned from multiplayer if someone catches on.
You can't even tell. Its not like it breaks the character or gives them abnormal one hit kill super stats or infinite invisibility. It just brings one more move up to full power instead of partial.
Now if it let me go in and fill out all the branch path options so I was getting both sets of bonuses on every ability, yeah, that'd be pretty messed up.
And… its not as if I hacked the game to do it. Its on the developer's side.
-
I'm not saying I agree with it, I've just heard people got banned for using it so it's more of a warning. I had a Volus Engineer who would constantly have this problem so I would have to not play him until he got a level where he didn't glitch.
-
Because it will get you banned from multiplayer if someone catches on.
I like the logic though ban somebody for cheating in a co-op multiplayer game.
-
Considering its been out for a year, thats a pretty good amount of time to keep getting DLC.
Tho hopefully the online mode keeps adding stuff occasionally. I've still got a ton of stuff to unlock personally, but EVENTUALLY that's gonna fill out…
-
Yep….Gotta admit that while I'm waiting for a GOTY version of ME3, it is pretty nostalgic for me since I followed the series even before ME1 came out back when I was in Middle School. Let's see.....yep. Here's the trailer I watched that got me into Mass Effect in the first place.
-
So I finally clocked some more itme in the actual game, not just multiplayer mode. (And was amused to notice that three of the four jobs I had in a row happened to be in locations that were multiplayer levels…)
And... I got to the part with Mordin and the genophage.
Damn. That's some good writing.
-
Haven't actually watched the scene yet, but I am really looking forward to the whole Tuchanka arc. Mordin was always my favorite character in the trilogy with Wrex being number 2.
-
Yep….Gotta admit that while I'm waiting for a GOTY version of ME3, it is pretty nostalgic for me since I followed the series even before ME1 came out back when I was in Middle School. Let's see.....yep. Here's the trailer I watched that got me into Mass Effect in the first place.
I always found it awkward how Shepard originally looked in ME1 and the fact that Shepard's original design can be seen in some of the entries of the codex.
-
@RobbyBevard:
So I finally clocked some more itme in the actual game, not just multiplayer mode. (And was amused to notice that three of the four jobs I had in a row happened to be in locations that were multiplayer levels…)
And... I got to the part with Mordin and the genophage.
Damn. That's some good writing.
Yeah, it's moments like this that endear the game to me, despite it's flaws.
Did he sing his song as he went up?
-
@Nex:
Yeah, it's moments like this that endear the game to me, despite it's flaws.
Did he sing his song as he went up?
Yes. Yes he did.
-
I've seen videos of the renegade choice for dealing with Mordin. I don't want to know you if you willing chose that option.
weeps in a corner
-
Given that Krogans are the species I like BEST… no. that's not the way it went down.
I did have to youtube the renegade choices tho. Possibly a better speech from Mordin... but I prefer the paragon option better.
-
Hearing someone playing the game for the first time is great, reminds me of how I felt when I first started playing and how much I loved the game.
Makes me a bit jealous too.
-
Renegade Shepard in 3 turns from "Whatever gets the job done" to just flat out "Evil bastard".
-
I always found it awkward how Shepard originally looked in ME1 and the fact that Shepard's original design can be seen in some of the entries of the codex.
Original Shepard looks like a skinhead Nicholas Cage.
-
Just finished the Geth/Quarian storyline. (Yeah I know, its taking me forever. I can only play a couple hours on weekends.) Whoo, somehow I managed to have enough paragon/renegade points AND had made all the proper choices before to get the best outcome on that. (Afterwards I had to check the wiki to see what the other outcomes were… I'm AMAZED I had done all the right stuff to make it work.) Yaye. (Also Tali has been my romance option, so... there's that too.)
http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Priority:_Rannoch
Also, looking at just how many particular things I actually had to do right over the last two games to get that outcome… yeah, choices matter, even if the final one isn't affected by the earlier stuff.
! But Legion, noooo! First Moridin, then Thane, now you! All my favorites from the previous game keep dying in these epic sacrifice moments! Nooooo… Why can't it just be Jacob or something.
Also, digging the geth shotgun.
Also, got the cutscene with the doctor. Amused at the lampshade hanging on no one calling Shepard by his first name.
-
@RobbyBevard:
! But Legion, noooo! First Moridin, then Thane, now you! All my favorites from the previous game keep dying in these epic sacrifice moments! Nooooo… Why can't it just be Jacob or something.
! Because then no one would care.
-
So, I got to the end of the game. CLocked some online mode time to get my readiness up to 100%, and managed to unlock a couple new classes. Quarian Infiltrator (eh) and an N7 Paladin which I tried for a round, seems like a lot of fun with its freezing and fireball powers and its special blocking shield. Will enjoy that later.
Then did the final campaign and got through the end. I know I've got the director's cut, so I had more scenes and I had some idea of what was coming in advance, but… I'm pretty satisfied with it. Great farewells leading up to the end, lots of action, the illusive man, stuff going on, a sci-fi ending, resolution to the main plot... and the other big things (The Krogan breeding and the eternal Quarian/Geth war) were dealt with earlier. No complaints on my end. I went with the green ending.
(Though that walk TOWARDS the pillar in the next to last area sucked ass. Those enemies that popped out while you had a terrible gun and wobbly aim... I died there four times! By the fourth time through I did okay cause I knew where they were in advance, but yeesh.)
Also, this thing.
http://social.bioware.com/n7hq/?name=Robby_Bevard&platform=ps3 -
@RobbyBevard:
So, I got to the end of the game. CLocked some online mode time to get my readiness up to 100%, and managed to unlock a couple new classes. Quarian Infiltrator (eh) and an N7 Paladin which I tried for a round, seems like a lot of fun with its freezing and fireball powers and its special blocking shield. Will enjoy that later.
Then did the final campaign and got through the end. I know I've got the director's cut, so I had more scenes and I had some idea of what was coming in advance, but… I'm pretty satisfied with it. Great farewells leading up to the end, lots of action, the illusive man, stuff going on, a sci-fi ending, resolution to the main plot... and the other big things (The Krogan breeding and the eternal Quarian/Geth war) were dealt with earlier. No complaints on my end. I went with the green ending.
(Though that walk TOWARDS the pillar in the next to last area sucked ass. Those enemies that popped out while you had a terrible gun and wobbly aim... I died there four times! By the fourth time through I did okay cause I knew where they were in advance, but yeesh.)
Also, this thing.
http://social.bioware.com/n7hq/?name=Robby_Bevard&platform=ps3Robby what did you think about the choices you had to make? or better yet why did you make them if you remove the whole paragon/renegade factor. Like for example what did you think about the geth reveal in relation to the quarians?
-
Robby what did you think about the choices you had to make? or better yet why did you make them if you remove the whole paragon/renegade factor. Like for example what did you think about the geth reveal in relation to the quarians?
Hard to say since I had some idea that it was coming all along, (though I didn't quite remember the specifics) and was looking for clues and ideas towards "the crucibal, and the reapers, aren't what you think" all along.
I thought they were all pretty interesting moral choices that actually had to be thought about… and depending on how you played the character a different direction would seem appropriate. I also LIKED that the "Just fight the war to its conclusion with your giant army against their giant army" mostly doesn't work out.
It was a more thoughtful, sci-fi sort of ending than just "shoot and blow everything up!"... and was more in line with Moridin's sacrifice than just "killing em all".
! Well, I wasn't about to destroy all artificial life, not after I'd just gone to all the trouble of saving the Geth and making peace between them and the quarians. Plus it was strongly indicated it would screw up anyone that had tech in them as well… and destroy the relays... plus it would only solve the problem briefly and new mechs would rise to be problems again.
! Control I thought about because... despite what the story forced on me, I personally agreed with and like the Illusive Man, and would have been allied to him the whole game if I'd had any say in the matter (I left him the station at the end of part 2). But I'd been playing a Shepard who started out good and then turned renegade by the end of part 2, and since the story wouldn't let me agree with Illusive Man, I decided that I didn't think the guy I was playing would have gone for the "leave the reapers alive" choice.
! (Though to be honest, I was waiting for a dialogue wheel choice, I didn't realize the decision was actually walking towards a thing in the hallway.)
! The "merge em all together" option was very sci-fi. And while I had ahard time making that choice for everyone in the universe... it left everyone alive and seemed overall a happy and optomistic ending. Hey, Joker and Edi after all!
! I also reloaded and tried the "screw you option", and again, was amused that just fighting them head on just gets both armies destroyed.All in all, I liked it. I can see why a lot of people didn't like it, especially if it was way less complete than that earlier. (I looked up some of the differences.)But I did.
Really, my only complaint with the series is on me… that I played it on the PS3, and so I didn't start with part 1. I didn't get all the original character meetings, universe setup or world building. And then like two weeks after I finish part 2 they announce and release the trilogy package... Ooops. I don't forsee myself buying that and replaying the whole story at this point, especially since I know that most of the decisions, while they have an effect, are just sort of split down the middle.
Especially since the biggest changes I could make is getting everyone killed in part 2 and having their stand in proxies in part 3.
-
Woohoo, unlocked a Vorlus! "Ultra rare" black card. Nice. And it was the one I wanted too, the adept, extra nice. (That and the vanguard one.)
Pretty fun but hooooly crap is it frail and unable to hurt things. I get that its totally a medic character, (Between the invisibility, the shield wall, the fast shield regeneration, the alternate group shield regeneration…) and it has a LOT of fun stuff. But man. If something manages to break its shields it is so dead. Worked really well once I got next to a krogan though. It's very much a synergy character, but seems fun.
-
From what i've heard. The Volus Engineer is the best of his race. But still plays better as a support from commentary i've seen.
I still haven't unlocked one… but then again... i'm not to worried about it. I have most of all the other classes I need.
Oh and: http://social.bioware.com/n7hq/?name=Gekko135&platform=ps3
-
And amazingly coincidentally, I just unlocked one of those this morning! Yaye. So that covers both of the "ultra rare" unlocks, that good.
Female Quarian engineer is about the only thing left that I KNOW I want (with fire and freezing and turrets) though the novelty is probably diminished by my already having the amazing Paladin unit which does the same thing and has crazy shield stuff.
My main users right now
Adept Drell (will probably switch to second Asari once I get her) Cause Reave is fun
Adept Volus
Engineer N7 Demolisher (hate grenades on everyone else, love em on her)
Engineer Volus (just unlocked)
Sentinel N7 Paladin (Cryo blast, fireball, super shield)
Infiltrator Asari Huntress (warp and dark channel)
Vanguard Human (nova!)
Vanguard Krogan (does a rage buffed tank that regens their shields with every attack really need explanation?)I haven't found any soldiers I really like yet since they're all so heavily gun based (Turian is okay) and the Infiltrator class doesn't do much for me for the same reasons (cloaking is okay for reviving people but meh otherwise, and I'm not a huge fan of sniping) and Sentinel I was not liking until I got the Paladin, who is a lot of fun.
A couple other things I'm interested in, (like maybe the OTHER adept Asari) but I've mostly got everything I want now and almost one thing in every class. (Still no Geth, Vorcha or Batarians though… missing like 25 things yet) Maybe I should invest in weapon upgrades the next couple times... I would reeeeally love to get my grenade carrying capacity up a notch or two, and more than a shotgun.
-
Favorite classes are:
-Drell Adapt (reave, reave, cluster grenade, reave, reave…)
-Geth Infiltrator (cloak, proxy mine which also adds debuff damage, n7 piranha shotgun, repeat)
-N7 Shadow (build for melee and 100% focus on shadow strike... you will kill everything but bosses in one hit. Eats phantoms for breakfast)
-Drell Assassin (recon mine... whoop!)
-Batarian Soldier (Ballistic blades + n7 hurricane = dead reapers)
-Geth Engineer (flame thrower turret and overload are great for holding off large numbers)
-Turian Ghost (This class was made for using the cerberus harrier)
-N7 Demolisher ('nades man) -
Yeah I recently picked this back up and all I got to say is Platinum isn't shit though the the extra credits you make is somewhat nice.
-
I finished finaly me 1 and 2, I still have to see what DLCs I have with the deluxe edition.
I.. wasn't strong enough to wait to get the 3rd, and had to see the endings and some of the plots clousure, with the level of clousure that the plot threads got, I.. don't see the issue with the ending, I mean, the extended cut is better, but what did they want? the galaxy was in a very bleak state, the DEM was the ONLY thing that could save them.
I watched the regular endings before without context and was apropiately dissapointed, but after understanding how the game worked, and that EVERY character and species got their time in the light, even lightly (I mean, other than actualy showing the Elcor battle tank mode, the mission was enough), I came to accept it before watching the extended cut, and the 4th ending.
Leviathan DLC spoilers:
! The reject ending, the situation WAS unwinnable, they put EVERYTHING in the crucible, they pardoned the Geth, pirates, slavers, Batarians, ex-Cerberus, even the things that released the Reapers in the beginning, just for a chance, they sent everything that they could have had if they had prepared for the invasion to defeat the Sol invasion, and were losing, in one city and one space battle, there was no way to do anything else, except the time capsules, and making sure that they didn't do the same mistakes of the protean (AKA putting all the eggs in ONE basket, a sexy, blue basket)
! The synthesis ending (Beyond of how it worked, I guess that it was "Magic"), what else? It's apropiate. I liked the Reject one better, as a sci-fi accepting that you fucked up badly, and that it was beyond your scope to solve things it's very mature, but this is a close second, your surviving friends will get the chance to be happy and lots of issues of the universe are eliminated.
! Destroy is prefectly valid, there's no need to go deeper.
! Control gives me the impression that it all depends on shephard not getting corrupted with infinite power, or the universe not fucking things up into frustrating the physical god of thousands of non reemplazable machines.
! It was interesting to see that the sapient races need to delegate menial tasks, either getting slaves (Battarians, other races in their past), creating technology (almost everyone), or mindcontroling slaves (the plant thing and the leviathans). -
Some of the things I think people wanted out of the endings The Allied forces crushing the Reaper threat in one big battle which wouldn't have been very believable. Endings that weren't as bleak as the originals were though no one seems to know what Bioware's intentions were concerning the Relays. Shepard not sacrificing him or her self though given theme of the game this shouldn't have been a shock to them. A better explanation for certain things like the Synthesis ending or The Normandy leaving Sol. I personally had no problems with the original endings but with all the investment others put into the game shit was going to be lost.
-
Some of the things I think people wanted out of the endings The Allied forces crushing the Reaper threat in one big battle which wouldn't have been very believable. Endings that weren't as bleak as the originals were though no one seems to know what Bioware's intentions were concerning the Relays. Shepard not sacrificing him or her self though given theme of the game this shouldn't have been a shock to them. A better explanation for certain things like the Synthesis ending or The Normandy leaving Sol. I personally had no problems with the original endings but with all the investment others put into the game shit was going to be lost.
That's what a lot of people wanted. "19 different endings" my ass.
-
! -Krogans repopulate
-Krogans don't repopulate (And with three variations each depending on if Wrex or Eve or both lives or not)
-Geth are destroyed
-Quarians are destroyed
-Geth and Quarians live together
-Rachni survive
-Rachni don't survive
-what happens to the illusive man
-About 10 romance variations depending on what crew survived the first two games
and more…Then apply those variations to destroy, control, merge, and later the added on "fight to the death"… There's more than 19 resolutions, and the course of the game itself gives ending and resolution to most of the plotlines, and your choices matter... even if the last 30 seconds of cinematic don't display all those things again in a quick listing like the end of Dragon Age did. I really don't get the massive complaint there... your choices, and the resolutions to storylines... are throughout the game. The giant gathering of armies? Is there. The big cinema where there's a giant space fleet fighting a battle with both sides blowingup real good, both in space and planetside? It's there. (And moreso in the extended version.) There just weren't 19 distinct cinematics at the end, since they were obviously hurried on that bit. (And they released FREE dlc that expanded on it just like, 2 months later, so... whats the big deal?)
-
! Haven't played it yet, and the EC seems to have at least gotten rid of the more worse parts of the original ending like sending the galaxy into a galactic dark age, and the Normandy being stranded on that one world.
Anyway, to me, it seems like the reapers were honestly the weakest parts of the series. It's the universe that everyone loved so much about Mass Effect, and at least in the original ending, it pretty much ruined that universe. …..Really though, if you were to ask most people what their favorite parts of the Mass Effect series were, the reapers would be pretty low. Also, as much as I loved Mass Effect 2, it didn't really forward the main plot all that much. It was more like the filler in a TV series. I even say Mass Effect 2 stays a lot of people's favorite because it focuses on the universe more.
......Also, it would have been nice to have foreshadowed the ending before the final bit of the trilogy, but the ending itself wasn't even conceived until the final game. .....Personally, at the moment, the photoshopped Tali picture still annoys me the most.
-
The thing with the relays is symbolic, they were the chains that binded galactic society, limiting the progress to the path set by the reapers.
Not deffending the Normandy part, that was both cruel and lame in the original ending.The 2th game was good to set up the characters interactions, at least to Shephard, the 3rd one does a better job giving them interactions with eachother, something lacking in the 2th one. But TWELVE party members, plus EDI Joker and the crew was too much. But I don't want to live in an universe where Mordin didn't exist. Jacob was too forgettable, Miranda was good mostly for admiring her merits, how she followed Shephard's lead and her ass, Jack was awesome but somewhat underdeveloped, Grunt was fun, Legion a riot and revealing, Tali and Garus were cool, Samara and Thane interesting (the flashback thing was anoying, though), Kasumi seems cute, Zaed is the only one that I don't like, I have his dlc but I don't care to install it.
The collectors, the alpha relay and the shadow broker do seem filerish, but we got to see Omega, Tuchanka, and the core of the galaxy. It would have worked better if the reapers got a few more back-up plans, that you find out during the game.
–- Update From New Post Merge ---
…...Also, it would have been nice to have foreshadowed the ending before the final bit of the trilogy, but the ending itself wasn't even conceived until the final game.
The only one not foreshadowed was Synthesis, the WHOLE GALAXY wanted Destroy, Cerberus wanted Control, no one wanted Reject but was the one that they were going to get anyway, Having not actualy played the 3rd game Synthesis was only foreshadowed slightly, with Saren's transformation, Legion's attitude, Shephard's syntetic body, and the Reaper's nature.
-
The three main things I remember I had a problem with is not understanding why joker flew away and how the teammates I took with me survived the reaper laser and actually not being a fan of starchild from a storytelling standpoint(the device is just cheap in my opinion, very much not fitting the tone of ME).
From what I've heard/know all of those get solved by the extended cut and the leviathan dlc.As for people not understanding what the outcry was about, well don't know if it's really that hard to imagine with all the stuff missing you got now that the ending was subpar in quality to the rest of the game, I'm sorry but how can you excuse the lazy colour swap between the ending cinematics. I can understand that you can't have 19 ending cinematics but dunno 3 different ones depicting very different outcomes as the consequences seem to implicate would have been nice to say the least. As for me I can imagine easily that ME3 in it's current form wouldn't have made me as apathetic towards it. I mean I would still dislike the starchild but at least I wouldn't be confused about the final resolution of 200+(summing up all ME games) hours of play.
I very much believe that it could have been way better without changing the content just the presentation.Well dunno the argument goes in circles, people belittling the outcry and people still feeling strongly about it. As for me I confess I really can't see how someone wouldn't see any problem(which does not mean I can't understand how people can like it) whatsoever with the last minutes(regarding execution) in it's original form, and I say this very much with the intention of distancing myself from the lunatics harassing the developers because of it as the game websites riding the high horse and shitting all over everybody for it.
Damn, maybe I shouldn't read this thread anymore :ninja:, it's just sickening how much I associate it with these two camps of extremeness with them both lacking massivly in empathy for each other. -
As for people not understanding what the outcry was about, well don't know if it's really that hard to imagine with all the stuff missing you got now that the ending was subpar in quality to the rest of the game, I'm sorry but how can you excuse the lazy colour swap between the ending cinematics.
Dragon Age did the exact same thing and no one had a problem with that. It was all the choices and side stuff surrounding the ending that you influenced… but only in flavor text. The actual ending cinematic was exactly the same no matter what final choice you did, just swapped the character out. Same in DA2.
-
I feel dragon age can get away with it, because for one they had the ingame epilogue scene which was fairly different depending on if you sacrificed yourself, which guys you took with you and what not. (For me it was the wedding celebration hall where I could talk to everyone again, others had a funeral, etc). Also no confusing elements in the ending.(For me, if the presentation of your ending makes me question what just happened that's just no good, I mean that's the place to put your resolution to some of the things not to throw new questions in.)
But most importantly and I'm sorry if I remember it wrong but I'm almost sure I don't, no matter what doesn't the arch demon die(at least the surface outcome is always everyone thinks the thing is dead)?
The main outcome is fairly the same that it doesn't really need different "cinematics" if you add to that the ingame epilogue it's in way better shape.
And I feel like destroy, control and synthesis mean massively different things in outcome, but maybe that's just me(also just to be safe I'm very much arguing this on the basis of the original experience).As for dragon age 2 there was also outcry about the ending(admittingly it was more about the cliffhangar than the presentation), it just wasn't as strong as the outcry about the rest of the game and it wasn't fueled by 6 years of anticipation and 150+(just guessing the average playtime over three games dunno should be at least 100+) hours of playtime.
So bottom line I don't feel it's the same thing with dragon age 1/2. The Witcher games are also in the same line where the ending is pretty much the same outcome, so that it doesn't demand a showcase of a different cinematic.
-
no matter what doesn't the arch demon die(at least the surface outcome is always everyone thinks the thing is dead)?
The main outcome is fairly the same that it doesn't really need different "cinematics" if you add to that the ingame epilogue it's in way better shape.In Mass Effect, no matter what, aren't the reapers defeated? The main outcome is fairly the same that it doesn't really need different "cinematics". There's a big laser from the crucible, and they're beaten.
All DA does is switch our your hero, Alistair, or Logain for the cinema. All the consequences and side effects and meaning and discussion and sacrifices and choices are dictated and laid out BEFORE that moment.
You get the context and choices and how that will affect things BEFORE that moment. You don't then get to actually SEE your choices on the throne doing stuff or Morrigan having a baby that grows up to be a megademon or something… you just sort of have to assume and make up your own follow up from what the game presents.
Does it really matter if its the hero, Allistair or Logain in the cinema since the choice came prior to that. I mean, red, blue or green laser in the cinema? Heck, if you don't go back and replay it three different ways, or get told about it, you'd never even know about that change in the first place.
In any event, like I already said, they expanded the ending two months later, for FREE, so that there's still outrage to the original product a year later seems weird to me.
-
well but that's the thing were I feel very differently(and I'm sorry if that wasn't clear before). The point that the reapers are defeated is not the focus in the mass effect ending.
The way you deal with them doesn't just avert the threat it has effect on the galaxy as a whole. When you kill the arch demon you just avert the threat (at worst just in the eyes of the public, if you decide to do the ritual.)I mean if you feel that synthesis, control or destroy has the same level of revelance/consequence for life within their respective worlds as we survived a another arch demon threat(literally if I remember right there have been ones before with long periods of time in between), I can see why you'd think it's the same. But for me it's very much worlds apart. Just thinking about what the consequences for synthesis should be(Identy disorder, moral implications, adaption problems or what not) vs the consequence of banishing the arch demon (peace returns "for a while")
Also the difference between the outcomes of the ME endings I feel is much more pronounced.
Destroy leaves the galaxy in uncertainty and ruins, but leaves hope for an unlimited future(well except you believe star child).
Control means that the galaxy has these super powerful reapers as allies that have technology built in far superior to anything else.
They may serve as lawkeepers or as helpers. As lawkeepers they might fail, depending on what humanity shepard brings to them, as helpers they might speed up the technological evolution of all the races too fast. Or they might do something else entirely after rebuilding.
Synthesis, just has me in ruins about the consequences there are too many for me to wrap my head around(bit of hyperbole there).Dunno Dragon Age seems pretty simple compared to that.
-
I mean if you feel that synthesis, control or destroy has the same level of revelance/consequence for life within their respective worlds as we survived a another arch demon threat(literally if I remember right there have been ones before with long periods of time in between), I can see why you'd think it's the same.
They're fairly different, but the entire point is that Shepard only discovers the new path at the last second, and doesn't have time to think over how much the universe will be affected by this slim choice he has. And neither should the audience.
He/you make a new choice with large consequences with very little time to think about it… and that's that. The universe will change dramatically no matter what, but as huge and nuanced as full of history as their world building was, that's not something that can be shown well even in a 10 hour epilogue. That's a mystery for the viewer to sit with and contemplate, or a subject for an entire new game.
There's a countless number of sci-fi books, or fantasy books, that do the same sort of thing. MOST of the time, the ending is the ending, and the follow up or epilogue is non-existant. And sometimes epilogues suck a ton because they stop your own imagination or don't fit the narrative well (like Harry Potter's)
Any way you do it though, the reapers are beaten, Shepard made a sacrifice befitting the personality you gave him, and that's the point.
I'm more interested in the inevitable Krogan expansion wars, myself.
-
@RobbyBevard:
I'm more interested in the inevitable Krogan expansion wars, myself.
! That's why you shoot Mordin and kill Wrex later. :ninja:
-
! That's why you shoot Mordin and kill Wrex later. :ninja:
Even if you do, Mordin has a replacement, and Wrex has his brother, who is EVIL. That would just… make things worse.