I consider Mass Effect an action RPG. It's funny, but despite my love for the series, I don't hold it to the same lofty RPG standards that so many others seem to do. Maybe because I'm far too cynical on the matter and never expect anything from BioWare to live up to the standards of old. Maybe because I don't care. I don't know. But, as someone who grew up on Fallout and Planescape, fact of the matter is from the very, very start I've not once expected similar depth to choice and consequences from this series.\
My annoyance with MGS4 (spoilered for those who haven't played it) isit went out of the way to re-write previous games. This didn't, so it didn't break my rule.
And this doesn't bother me, because the entire series has been goofy, high fantasy sci fi slosh, and the magic super weapon seed had been sewn from the opening levels.
Keep in mind I'm not praising the ending, nor do I even consider it particularly good. I just didn't find it offensive, poor taste, or series destroying like so many others have. It didn't bother me.
The standards of old are just that: the standards of 15 years ago. Baldurs Gate 2 was a great game, but goddamn did it not age well at all. I take current Bioware games (well except DA2) over those D&D games any time. ME3 blows everything they did before out of the water (except for the ending).
How could you not find it offensive? Just because it didn't retcon things as much as MGS4? I'd say it's pretty offensive in how it egregiously rips off Deus Ex and summarizes the entire universe under an overarching synthetic vs organics argument that literally didn't exist until space wizard child introduced it.
I'm honestly not a big Baldur's Gate fan, but mostly because the D&D world does nothing for me and never has (Planescape the exception). But in terms of WRPGs I generally fall back to the likes of Fallout, and Troika's work with Arcanum and Bloodlines.
BioWare's RPGs always have a greater emphasis on streamlining for greater production values, as well as tons of fat that usually needs trimming. I generally consider them action RPGs, the latter in greater or less quantity depending on the game.
Not sure if I believe this or not, definately don't believe about BioWare concocting a new ending. But this kinda makes sense.. (Or am I just clinging on for desperation's sake)
http://social.bioware.com/forum/Mas...ss-Effect-3-Ending-Explanation-9817450-1.html
Couple that with Shepards last dream of him holding the child in the baptism of fire. Sorta makes sense
Shepard has a massive ego, it's still in his head.Except this doesn't account for the post credit thing with The Shepard and the granddad
How is control not the only logical paragon ending? Instead of murdering the Geth and EDI(who by the way, helped you along the way), you sacrifice yourself instead.
Shepard has a massive ego, it's still in his head.
Unless he wakes up at the end of mass effect 1 and they retcon 2 and 3 and redo the series rghtI really hope they didn't pull a "it was just a dream" on us. Seriously, that would make things worse for me.
But do you think they harmed the future of the franchise with the events of the ending? I still can't believe they blew up the Citadel and the Mass Relays, two of the most iconic elements of the series.
I'm honestly not a big Baldur's Gate fan, but mostly because the D&D world does nothing for me and never has (Planescape the exception). But in terms of WRPGs I generally fall back to the likes of Fallout, and Troika's work with Arcanum and Bloodlines.
BioWare's RPGs always have a greater emphasis on streamlining for greater production values, as well as tons of fat that usually needs trimming. I generally consider them action RPGs, the latter in greater or less quantity depending on the game.
Synthetic vs. organic, creator vs. created, has been an underlying theme for the series since the beginning. ME3 ham fisted it in pretty tack fashion. But it didn't offend me because, unlike MGS4, it was a twist/them that didn't come out of completely nowhere, regardless of how silly it might be.
Its the fact that it is so ridiculous that im willing to believe it. It would be a masterstroke of a troll and one which will probably costs them a shitload of fans, but i will buy all DLC for ME3 if thats really what they planned. :lol
As a very minor theme, maybe, but as the theme? No it hasn't. The only species that has had problems with synthetics are the Quarians, and they don't play much of a role in the first two games. The problem of creator vs. created, synthetic vs. organic – there had been no emphasis on this until the last fifteen minutes of ME3. There were no problems or worries of organics vs. synthetics within the first two games.Synthetic vs. organic, creator vs. created, has been an underlying theme for the series since the beginning. ME3 ham fisted it in pretty tack fashion. But it didn't offend me because, unlike MGS4, it was a twist/them that didn't come out of completely nowhere, regardless of how silly it might be.
Unless he wakes up at the end of mass effect 1 and they retcon 2 and 3 and redo the series rght
As a very minor theme, maybe, but as the theme? No it hasn't. The only species that has had problems with synthetics are the Quarians, and they don't play much of a role in the first two games. The problem of creator vs. created, synthetic vs. organic – there had been no emphasis on this until the last fifteen minutes of ME3. There were no problems or worries of organics vs. synthetics within the first two games.
if a future Mass Effect game comes to fruition, watch it be a game set 50,000 years later!
I mean, what would be the "villains" in a game, if the Reapers are out of the picture? The race that created it all? The "Dark Energy" thing mentioned?
As a very minor theme, maybe, but as the theme? No it hasn't. The only species that has had problems with synthetics are the Quarians, and they don't play much of a role in the first two games. The problem of creator vs. created, synthetic vs. organic – there has been no emphasis on this until the last fifteen minutes of ME3. There were no problems or worries of organics vs. synthetics within the first two games.
Which was only at the insistence of Sovereign! And even then, it was only a small fraction of the Geth collective. It even says in ME1 that after the Geth rebelled, they stayed within the veil and didn't bother anyone...until Sovereign arrived. There wasn't a problem. And the Geth weren't created by humans.Uh, do you forget that the major enemy you fought for pretty much all of ME1 was the Geth?
Ok, well, just finished it. Why, dear God, why did they pull a Deus Ex ending. The fight for the galaxy (let alone for Earth) was never the meat of the series; at the end of the day, we only care for the people we know best (the way Mordin thinks about his nephew in ME2), which is the Normandy crew. Deus Ex is about the nature of humanity; Mass Effect is about characters. Why couldn't they understand it.
Ah well.
So if you haven't noticed, theMass Effect[/i] fans are none too happy. There are a few issues of major contention: first, the DLC issue (which has gotten downright ugly), and second, the endings, none of which people seem to like.Now, there's no doubt the game is amazing. Most every critic and in truth, even most of the complainers, will tell you this. But the endings are really getting people riled up and series producer Mike Gamble has had a rough time on Twitter. The fans have been pretty relentless over the past 48 hours or so, and Gamble just recently updated with:"Hardest. Day. Ever. Seriously, if you people knew all the stuff we are planning…you’d, we’ll – hold onto your copy of [Mass Effect 3] forever."But that isn't smoothing things over, as the franchise followers continue to heap criticism atop the game's multiple endings. Many say the endings don't differ enough from each other, while others say player choices don't matter enough. One particularly irate fan, referring to the DLC in question, said- "You know, the one where you charge people $10 for a proper end to your plotless game." ...ouch.Well, annoyed fans can be tough to deal with. And you know, after completing FFXIII-2, I sort of understand where they're coming from... At any rate, I really think we should at least commend BioWare on producing one hell of a game; I'm not even a fan of the series, and I thought ME3 was pretty damn incredible. Can't we at least be optimists about this? ...please?
How the heck did you get 9120? I did pretty much everything and only got 7000.I got 9120, 4560 EMS by doing about everything in the game. It's doable. Dunno how to get to 5000 though.
Oh god. I just realized.
The "Mass Effect and Bioware" panel at PAX East is going to be FASCINATING.
As a very minor theme, maybe, but as the theme? No it hasn't. The only species that has had problems with synthetics are the Quarians, and they don't play much of a role in the first two games. The problem of creator vs. created, synthetic vs. organic there had been no emphasis on this until the last fifteen minutes of ME3. There were no problems or worries of organics vs. synthetics within the first two games.
Bioware am the reapers
"Join developers for an exciting look at the evolution of the series. Bring your burning questions about Mass Effect 3"
ahaha, if they havent come out with either a really good explanation about the ending or a promise to fix it this will be amazing.
The Quarians created the Geth, and were near destroyed by them. The Salarians uplifted the Krogan, and were forced into a war that almost killed them. Cerberus resurrected Shepard, and she (in my file) ignored them. Meanwhile gigantic, incomprehensible machine gods are wiping out organic, lesser life (that they guided to a specific technological evolutionary point), while proclaiming to be the pinnacle of all evolution themselves.
It's been there since the beginning. But it wasn't done very well.
Which was only at the insistence of Sovereign! And even then, it was only a small fraction of the Geth collective. It even says in ME1 that after the Geth rebelled, they stayed within the veil and didn't bother anyone...until Sovereign arrived. There wasn't a problem. And the Geth weren't created by humans.
When is pax??
Was it me, or was the 3rd dream, with another shepard "burning" with the kid, implying something about Shepard's Death at the beginning of ME2? Like it's possible that Shepard is in fact, a replacement that was created with the memory of Shepard's past?
Cause I can't think of another reason to have the 2 Shepards.
But maybe that was why they did it. So they can continue the "Mass Effect" series with a fairly clean slate.
As a very minor theme, maybe, but as the theme? No it hasn't. The only species that has had problems with synthetics are the Quarians, and they don't play much of a role in the first two games. The problem of creator vs. created, synthetic vs. organic there had been no emphasis on this until the last fifteen minutes of ME3. There were no problems or worries of organics vs. synthetics within the first two games.
Control is the renegade ending. The IM argued for it, and he represents renegade.
Space Wizard Child's justification was meaningless. The citadel banned synthetics and the central synthetic vs organic conflict in the series was the result of the organics being immense assholes anyway.
You bring up an interesting point. Each of the endings can represent a person involved with the Reapers and what they were fighting for.
Renegade = TIM and control of Reapers
Neutral? = Saren and the melding of organics and synthetics
Paragon = Shepard and the destruction of synthetics
Not sure if I believe this or not, definately don't believe about BioWare concocting a new ending. But this kinda makes sense.. (Or am I just clinging on for desperation's sake)
http://social.bioware.com/forum/Mas...ss-Effect-3-Ending-Explanation-9817450-1.html
Couple that with Shepards last dream of him holding the child in the baptism of fire. Sorta makes sense
I'd say it's pretty offensive in how it egregiously rips off Deus Ex and summarizes the entire universe under an overarching synthetic vs organics argument that literally didn't exist until space wizard child introduced it.
This is why Javik is so important to the story. He specifically mentions an instance during his cycle where synthetics and organics failed to co-operate.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kl-BBeC5KFo&list=FLcRKhusIoldqiyCXIgjfpqA&index=1
It's also worth noting that getting the Geth and Quarians to co-operate is HARD. It factors in a variety of choices from ME2 and ME3. Just look at the the amount of people complaining that they couldn't broker peace between them.
The Quarians created the Geth, and were near destroyed by them. The Salarians uplifted the Krogan, and were forced into a war that almost killed them. Cerberus resurrected Shepard, and she (in my file) ignored them. Meanwhile gigantic, incomprehensible machine gods are wiping out organic, lesser life (that they guided to a specific technological evolutionary point), while proclaiming to be the pinnacle of all evolution themselves.
It's been there since the beginning. But it wasn't done very well.
Yes and all of what you posted is the result of science or organics' mistake and not of an AI. The Salarians gave the atomic bomb to the Krogans which destroyed Tuchanka. They also introduced the genophage to control their population. They also reference how the same atomic bomb almost ravaged Earth completely.
The Geth had a rebellion simply because the quarians didn't consider them as equal (they didn't have a soul). And the geths that attack everyone outside the quarians in ME1 are simply indoctrinated by Sovereign.
It's poorly executed as it was never the central plot to the game. In the end they simply throw at you this explanation and you can't even argue with the space kid by proving that you changed EDI from a rogue and murderous AI into a teammate or helped the Quarian and Geth make a truce. The genophage was also a subplot of the series and the destructive power of science would have lead to a much better explanation than an imminent AI revolution. It would also have made sense with what you learn in ME1 about how the reapers steal/destroy all technologies.
The whole crucible/catalyst thing was a huge deux ex machina and the ending has many plotholes. It's also hilarious how the reapers attack every world except the Citadel. Isn't their main plan about controlling the citadel and the mass relays? Like how they use Saren in the first game to do that? The only do that in the second game with the Illusive Man at the end while it was the first thing they should have done. They also never explain how harvesting people preserve their legacy inside reapers? How do reapers even function or are changed by organic DNA?
It's also weird how your party members are teleported back to the Normandy after being blasted by the reaper's beam and how the Normandy crashes into a jungle planet while there are none in the Sol System.
This is why Javik is so important to the story. He specifically mentions an instance during his cycle where synthetics and organics failed to co-operate.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kl-BBeC5KFo&list=FLcRKhusIoldqiyCXIgjfpqA&index=1
It's also worth noting that getting the Geth and Quarians to co-operate is HARD. It factors in a variety of choices from ME2 and ME3. Just look at the the amount of people complaining that they couldn't broker peace between them.