Mass Effect 3 - - - Part 12

[Upset Spideyfan]

In the video I just posted he said it'll "tie-in" to the ending and that there will be some "easter eggs".

[RavenX]

ah, thanks!

can't say I'm too excited about it.

as others have said here, the whole ending debacle left a real sour taste in my mouth, and kind of dampened my whole enthusiasm for anything ME 3 related.

[Master Chief]

Originally Posted by Paladin-Hoss

Yeah, i don't really trust them either...but a couple of new lines from Casper the friendlyAI seems plausible.

Agreed. The reason i brought up New Vegas was because , initially, the fans were angry because of the reason you mentioned. they thought that Bethesda should've learned from previous controversy, namely FO3 ending prior to broken steel. But in the end, they were okay with it because the overall conclusion to NV was satisfactory enough.

So i thought that since they're sticking to their guns regarding the ending...because of 'artistic integrity'...but had they fixed the war assets/ems and better closure towards the end ( like Fallout NV) with the EC,that even though the catalyst/casper still there, fans might be more forgiving...

Overall i wouldn't say that the whole ending controversy ruined my enjoyments of the ME universe, but it left a kind of bad taste.

For sure. I'm fairly certain that most of the rational fans would have been forgiving if they simply issued an apology instead of pretending what we were given was what the fans deserved. Clamming up and hoping all the internet activism would fizzle out was the worst thing they could have done lol but EA making stupid decisions isn't news.

Originally Posted by Upset Spideyfan

Have to totally disagree there. There were some misses definitely, but all you need to do is go back to when we were first playing the game and how many people were posting with essentially tears in their eyes whenever they finished up a segment of the game, the culmination of what had essentially been years worth of emotional investment.

I've never seen so much outright bawling over a game, and that's because Bioware nailed a lot of home runs out of the park prior to the original ending.

That still doesn't change the fact that the majority of choices amounted to nothing more than a number and a war asset terminal entry. I'm still very fond of what they did with Tuchunka, and I appreciate what they did with a handful of moments but that doesn't make me feel any better about all the missed opportunities.

On the video:

Spoiler!!! Click to Read!:

That deep sea part looks like it could be rad.

[Upset Spideyfan]

Still disagree, reuniting warring factions/helping the Krogan, keeping my ME2 squad alive - all of that stuff still felt worthwhile simply because BW made me care about those things and those people a great deal. The problem was that the original endings in the sheer scope of the relays being destroyed made all of that feel worthless.

I felt the EC thankfully went and corrected that and gave us proper epilogues like getting to see Tuchanka and Rannoch under construction, the fates of the ME2 squads, etc.

[Master Chief]

But now do you understand why someone could be upset that the game is painfully linear when it didn't have to be?

[Upset Spideyfan]

And again I disagree with you that it was painfully linear, certainly no more so than any other ME game and I liked the both of those a great deal - besides as I've pointed out there was more variation as the result of previous choices than in ME1 or 2.

[Master Chief]

Less dialogue choices, more scripted sequences and ME3 has about the same amount of variation that ME2 did. That's the problem. Feel free to disagree but I was just offering up some perspective since you don't get what the issue is with the lack of consequence.

[Upset Spideyfan]

I've already pointed out to specific examples, on the previous page, so I'll just defer to those for my response but you are certainly entitled to your opinion.

[Soapy]

Regarding whether or not the choices mattered, yes the Quarian/Geth war and the genophage stuff was great, but they're the exception that proves the rule. The fact that that your choices from previous games only mattered in a small handful of instances only serves to illustrate how terrible Bioware is about that stuff in the majority of the game where your choices are turned into "war assets" and they force certain things on you.

Mass Effect is a fantastic series of games and a great trilogy, but if the games are to be judged on how well they executed on the original promise of the series (which of course they won't) then Mass Effect has mostly been an abject failure.

[Donut]

[Master Chief]

Originally Posted by Upset Spideyfan

I've already pointed out to specific examples, on the previous page, so I'll just defer to those for my response but you are certainly entitled to your opinion.

wtf, I'm claiming that they didn't do enough.

Originally Posted by Soapy

Regarding whether or not the choices mattered, yes the Quarian/Geth war and the genophage stuff was great, but they're the exception that proves the rule. The fact that that your choices from previous games only mattered in a small handful of instances only serves to illustrate how terrible Bioware is about that stuff in the majority of the game where your choices are turned into "war assets" and they force certain things on you.

Mass Effect is a fantastic series of games and a great trilogy, but if the games are to be judged on how well they executed on the original promise of the series (which of course they won't) then Mass Effect has mostly been an abject failure.

Eggsactly.

[Upset Spideyfan]

Originally Posted by Master Chief

wtf, I'm claiming that they didn't do enough.

No need to get rude about it, dude.

Originally Posted by Soapy

Mass Effect is a fantastic series of games and a great trilogy, but if the games are to be judged on how well they executed on the original promise of the series (which of course they won't) then Mass Effect has mostly been an abject failure.

I can see this, I think the fact is that from the perspective of resources and budget a series that is going to fundamentally change based on player choice from 30-40 hr game to game is not wholly feasible, at least not in the current gen while looking like and playing like a AAA game.

[Master Chief]

Originally Posted by Upset Spideyfan

No need to get rude about it, dude.

lol

Originally Posted by Upset Spideyfan

I can see this, I think the fact is that from the perspective of resources and budget a series that is going to fundamentally change based on player choice from 30-40 hr game to game is not wholly feasible, at least not in the current gen while looking like and playing like a AAA game.

Obsidian could do it. And they did it in one game. With less people. And less money.

[Upset Spideyfan]

I'm talking about across a series of games, as in not one, hence why I wrote that.

[Master Chief]

Ooooh, so because they had dozens of choices made across two games to map out consequences for, they... didn't have the time, or the resources, to bother with a branching narrative, or hell, to even simply show the consequences of more than a couple of those choices. Makes sense. I'll leave now, you make my head hurt.

[Upset Spideyfan]

If you're going to act like a child then you should go.

Otherwise: AP is a solo game. AP does not incorporate past decisions while simultaneously working as a standalone game that somebody can pick up off the shelf. Hence your example is invalid.

AP is also roughly 15 hrs long. AP was not a AAA game (in regards to production values)

The EC was 2 gigabytes alone. AAA game content takes longer to produce, costs more and takes up more disc size - hence my specific statement.

/lesson.

[Spider-Vader]

I was fine with how my choices were shown. Anyone who thought Bioware would drastically change the game to show changes is an idiot. If they did that, the game probably would have been shorter because they would have had to make so many different outcomes. It would have been like making multiple games instead of one game.

Though, I do think they should have showed the War Assets (which are basically your choices) more in the final battle.

[Upset Spideyfan]

Yup, totally agreed. Choice in the ME games have always been about personalization of the narrative rather than totally upheaving it.

Moving on -

I'm intrigued by these new areas that Leviathan is going to add to the Citadel:

"@gamblemike will the new citadel areas be one time only. or extend the citadel hub (ie new floors, people ect)

"@davvb more than one time. That's all I'm gonna say "

https://twitter.com/GambleMike/statu...50083834097664

[Balthus Dire]

I don't care if it's pessimistic: I just can't take Bioware's tweets seriously after the endless tweets regarding the EC that were just plain wrong. Even if they were from Jessica whats-her-face, she still works for Bioware and most of the stuff she tweeted was just hot air.

[Master Chief]

Originally Posted by Upset Spideyfan

If you're going to act like a child then you should go.

Otherwise: AP is a solo game. AP does not incorporate past decisions while simultaneously working as a standalone game that somebody can pick up off the shelf. Hence your example is invalid.

AP is also roughly 15 hrs long. AP was not a AAA game (in regards to production values)

The EC was 2 gigabytes alone. AAA game content takes longer to produce, costs more and takes up more disc size - hence my specific statement.

/lesson.

lmao.

So you're saying it's easier to write a branching narrative for one game, than it is to write a branching narrative for one game that has had two games before it to use as a template? And because Mass Effect 3 was such a lengthy game, and had such a big budget, that a branching narrative couldn't be done? lmfao. If that makes sense to you, cool.

[El Bastardo]

Originally Posted by Spider-Vader

I was fine with how my choices were shown. Anyone who thought Bioware would drastically change the game to show changes is an idiot. If they did that, the game probably would have been shorter because they would have had to make so many different outcomes. It would have been like making multiple games instead of one game.

Though, I do think they should have showed the War Assets (which are basically your choices) more in the final battle.

[Upset Spideyfan]

Definitely. Vader pretty much hit the nail on the head.

[Nathan]

Again, the suicide mission on steroids. That's all I wanted. Was that too much to ask for? See your war assets and team members in action, and depending on your choices, they either live or die.

[Upset Spideyfan]

I think everyone agrees on that, going by some of the deleted files it sounds like that was the plan at some point but it wasn't implemented and it is certainly a shame - its really the only thing I'm still Hmm about in regards to the ending.

[El Bastardo]

I'm fine with Earth.