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[Dresden]

8.5

 

[Moaradin]

Remember when 8.5 used to be a good score?

 

[Dresden]

Remember when 8.5 used to be a good score?

8.5? I wipe my ass with the BD cases of 8.5 games.

 

[hateradio]

oh my god what the fuck

I have no idea what even happened. All I feel is sadness, confusion, and disorientation.

Welcome back?

So, anyone not watching Cartoon Network here...

Adult Swim doing a Toonami nostalgia block.

Even recorded a TOM game review for ME3.

"Admittedly, the ending is pretty weak."

So good.

Is it on youtube?

edit: April fools?

 

[Moaradin]

This Toonami thing is the best and most cruel april 1st joke ever made =(

I can't believe they would make new content(like the ME3 review) just for april 1st.

 

[Big-E]

I had no problem with them using Earth as the main battle ground. The problem is how they handled it. Earth was more meaningless than vent kid. I get it, I'm from Earth in real life, I should care. But it's a video game. I had no attachment to it in the game. It's never mentioned in the first two and you barely see it in the intro.

What makes Earth more special than Palaven, Thessia, Tuchanka or any other of the species homeworlds? That Anderson was born in London with his non-existent accent? Cool.

You spend the first to games getting attached to the universe/characters and then in the 3rd, they just throw it all away. Everything is pretty much forced. Garrus is like a brother-figure to you, and yet you don't give a shit that Palaven is getting destroyed. It's all "cool story bro, but I need the Turians at Earth."

Don't forget that Vancouver and London is all you see and as someone who is born and raised in Vancouver, they only show one small landmark to indicate it is Vancouver. Granted I didn't play the game and just watched the intro on video but I am pretty sure from other spoilers that this is all you see.

 

[Bowdz]

So I just finished Thessia on my second playthrough and it is just as enjoyable as the first time ... until you think about the ending. In my first run, I got the Quarians and Geth to coexist, but in this one, I lost the Quarians and Tali. It is depressing until I realized they would be dead in the end no matter what (either they die on Rannoch, die from the Relay supernova, or die from starvation at Earth). I love the core game of ME3, but it really is incredible how much of a negative impact the ending has on the entire series.

Beyond that, the best glitch in the game has to be when the dialogue takes an inordinately long time to load mid conversation. After Thessia, Traynor brought up Sanctuary and then EDI chimed in with something only to have my Shepard give her the death stare for 15 seconds without saying anything before finally responding to Traynor like nothing had happened. It completely changes the mood of the conversation.

 

[Cagey]

Is it on youtube?

edit: April fools?

If it's not already, it will be soon.

It's their April Fools prank. It's simultaneously quite awesome and quite cruel.

 

[brandonh83]

I mean, I don't know how I feel about it. Everything else was so fucking awesome. I just need time with it. Mainly because I literally had no idea what that kid was blabbering on about, or even what choice I made because Shepard was walking so slow and I just picked the one that I decided to slumber over to first. I didn't know what I was doing, what I was about to do, and what really came of it.

 

[Freeza Under The Shower]

In which case it gets replaced with a puppy barking. I would quite honestly prefer not knowing what he said.

OMG I FUCKING WANT THIS

BARK! BARK BARK! BARK BAAARK!

*d'aaaaaaaaw, how adorable*

and then he puts it down (renegade) or takes it in as his dog (paragon)

oh yeah and Reapers kill everyone, but fuck that, we got puppies to deal with here.

/druknthread

 

[Dresden]

I mean, I don't know how I feel about it. Everything else was so fucking awesome. I just need time with it. Mainly because I literally had no idea what that kid was blabbering on about, or even what choice I made because Shepard was walking so slow and I just picked the one that I decided to slumber over to first. I didn't know what I was doing, what I was about to do, and what really came of it.

Welcome to the support group.

We know how you feel.

The hugs are paid DLC.

 

[Rei no Otaku]

You only like the ending because you think IT helps it? Hrm . . .

Anyway, yes, the poll is still going. I added your data.

Without IT the ending makes no sense. Even before I noticed people claiming that IT was the answer I assumed that's what it was. I saw way too many signs showing that to be the case.

 

[Bowdz]

I mean, I don't know how I feel about it. Everything else was so fucking awesome. I just need time with it. Mainly because I literally had no idea what that kid was blabbering on about, or even what choice I made because Shepard was walking so slow and I just picked the one that I decided to slumber over to first. I didn't know what I was doing, what I was about to do, and what really came of it.

The more you think about the ending and its various repercussions, the worse it gets. I beat the game a few days after launch day and I am still finding/hearing about plot holes and details that contribute to making the ending the gigantic mess it is.

 

[hao chi]

Another Indoctrination Theory debate coming up?

 

[brandonh83]

also, can someone tell me what happens if you don't pull the renegade option when Illusive Man is about to shoot Anderson?

it just seemed like every decision in the last 10 minutes or so were so scrambled and confusing that I just didn't know what I was doing at all.

like does Shepard die with the other choices as well?

 

[Dresden]

Another Indoctrination Theory debate coming up?

Did you know that there's a warning sign next to the vent where Shepard meets the vent kid?

 

[Dany]

also, can someone tell me what happens if you don't pull the renegade option when Illusive Man is about to shoot Anderson?

it just seemed like every decision in the last 10 minutes or so were so scrambled and confusing that I just didn't know what I was doing at all.

You can talk TIM into killing himself resembling Saren killing himself.

I believe that Anderson is always going to be shot with shepard pulling the trigger.

 

[brandonh83]

You can talk TIM into killing himself resembling Saren killing himself.

I believe that Anderson is always going to be shot with shepard pulling the trigger.

ah, that's kinda neat. I guess.

 

[Freeza Under The Shower]

also, can someone tell me what happens if you don't pull the renegade option when Illusive Man is about to shoot Anderson?

it just seemed like every decision in the last 10 minutes or so were so scrambled and confusing that I just didn't know what I was doing at all.

You die.
(renegade promt, no input: TIM shoots anderson, second renegade prompt, no input, TIM shoots shep, game over)

Yes, that's right. A normally optional decision suddenly turns into something you can't avoid (although technically Kaiden / Ashley shooting Udina instead of you would have been a warning of sorts that this would occur eventually)

 

[brandonh83]

damn. it's almost like they wanted the most depressing ending possible.

I don't even think it was bittersweet. that was just downright cruel. I think I would have liked it more if the Reapers had just flat out won.

 

[Dany]

Watch the other endings

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPelM2hwhJA

 

[Bowdz]

Did you know that there's a warning sign next to the vent where Shepard meets the vent kid?

Don't forget about the kid using sign language to message danger to Shepard.

 

[hateradio]

Earth is in danger.

Don't forget about the kid using sign language to message danger to Shepard.

You're telling me that BW worked on hand signs? :lol

 

[Freeza Under The Shower]

Don't forget about the kid using sign language to message danger to Shepard.

I always figured he was just trying to swat some imaginary fly, because like, what else does he have to do besides keeping shuttles grounded that might have escaped if he had gotten on board in time...

There will be a glorious future for 'vent kid sucks' in future games.

 

[Bowdz]

You're telling me that BW worked on hand signs? :lol

If there is one thing Bioware knocked out of the park in ME3, it was the animations. Watch out Naughty Dog, because there is a new king of animations.

 

[hateradio]

If there is one thing Bioware knocked out of the park in ME3, it was the animations. Watch out Naughty Dog, because there is a new king of animations.

 

[Dresden]

Don't forget about the kid using sign language to message danger to Shepard.

I must inform my indoctrination brethren of this startling revelation.

 

[Bowdz]

Dem moves. At least 50% of my dance moves came from Mass Effect.

 

[HadesGigas]

Cut Joker some slack. If he gets down any harder he'll bust his hip.

 

[hao chi]

damn. it's almost like they wanted the most depressing ending possible.

I don't even think it was bittersweet. that was just downright cruel. I think I would have liked it more if the Reapers had just flat out won.

Epilogue after the credits: future race finds Liara's time capsule.

LOTS OF SPECULATION ensues.

 

[hateradio]

Cut Joker some slack. If he gets down any harder he'll bust his hip.

I'm glad I picked green, so he can finally dance like an Asari.

 

[brandonh83]

is there any possibility that, on the way to the teleport that leads to the Citadel, Shepard actually dies when getting hit by the Reaper before everything goes all weird? everything after that just felt kind of... well, like it could have all been in his head or something.

=\

 

[DTKT]

is there any possibility that, on the way to the teleport that leads to the Citadel, Shepard actually dies when getting hit by the Reaper before everything goes all weird? everything after that just felt kind of... well, like it could have all been in his head or something.

=\

oh god.

 

[brandonh83]

oh god.

We need to go deeper.

 

[Dany]

Here we go again.

And here I was, ready to offer you a hug.

 

[Randolph Freelander]

is there any possibility that, on the way to the teleport that leads to the Citadel, Shepard actually dies when getting hit by the Reaper before everything goes all weird? everything after that just felt kind of... well, like it could have all been in his head or something.

=\

No no no. The true ending is getting killed by Marauder Shields. If that's not the ending you saw, then you simply did something wrong.

 

[Tagg9]

Dem moves. At least 50% of my dance moves came from Mass Effect.

50%? All of my moves come from Mass Effect.

 

[brandonh83]

Here we go again.

And here I was, ready to offer you a hug.

I'm not defending it, and I just now beat the game so I'm not sure what speculation has already been tossed around.

No no no. The true ending is getting killed by Marauder Shields. If that's not the ending you saw, then you simply did something wrong.

Was kind of peeved that there wasn't a final boss.

 

[HadesGigas]

No no no. The true ending is getting killed by Marauder Shields. If that's not the ending you saw, then you simply did something wrong.

That was the first ending I got! Cause I wanted to see if they made Shepard invincible in the super slow mo shit.

 

[hateradio]

We need to go deeper.

Shep actually died at the start of Mass Effect 2. We're actually in the dream throughout the rest of the game, extending to ME3. It explains why we don't really explore many locations.

Was kind of peeved that there wasn't a final boss.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=1fpy7ls08Fo

How awesome was that? Honestly. It was pretty awesome.

 

[Dany]

I'm not defending it, and I just now beat the game so I'm not sure what speculation has already been tossed around.

All of it has

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ythY_GkEBck

 

[Bowdz]

I just found this post on the BSN which did a great breakdown of the three options. I hadn't really thought about it this way before, but Shepard really does come out feeling more like a villain in the end IMO.

Okay, I have many, many, MANY (+100) problems with the ending(s) of Mass Effect.

But one that particularly bothers me is, having seen and experienced them all, I don't feel like a hero... or that I made a good choice...

Actually, I feel the total opposite. I feel like the greatest war criminal that has ever lived that just did more damage and destruction by my own hands than the entire Reaper fleet combined.

Every single choice makes me feel sick, because every single choice seems morally and ethically wrong.

In CONTROL, Shepard is arrogant enough to believe that (S)he can control the god-like Reapers, while others with far more knowledge, skill, power, and understanding have failed to do so. Beyond the fact you're trusting the stupid kid, who tells you you'll DIE (meaning you don't even know if it'll work; you just die and hope for the best), it felt to me like that only delays the cycle for another 50,000 years or so until Reaper Shepard comes back and slaughters everyone.

In SYNTHESIS, I just feel sick about it all. It reeks of genetic homogeny, like some terrible ethnic clensing that relies on the horrid logic that it is our GENETICS that cause war, not our character or beliefs, and if we all were the same, we'd have peace. That's some World War 2 putrid maxims right there. Beyond the fact that you then forcefully violate everyone on a genetic level against their wishes and alter their very core all on your own, I wager so many of those out there dying for their cultural freedom against the Reapers would have rather died in the war instead of being mutated into some new lifeform. Even then, do you REALLY think that just because everyone's eyes glow green that they'll put aside old grudges and war will never happen again, or that this brand of synthetics won't build new synthetics that'll rebel? It's such a twisted belief, I can't actually believe it's implied to be the "BEST" ending of the three.

In DESTROY, which does what we set out to do, I'd thought this as the best ending... if we didn't go with overkill and slaughter an entire race of sentient creatures, along with a personal close friend like EDI. That's like firebombing a house because of a few termites. It's given as a "all I know is how to kill" option, the "evil" option with the renegade color scheme, and I felt awful at the notion that I'd commit mass genocide against a benevolent species without even giving their fate more than a single protest.

Regardless, even after these three choices are so ethically morose and disgusting, we then blow up the Mass Relays. You all know the score by now. You've heard the arguments.

Either 1) we just reduced everything to cosmic dust (because Arrival SAYS that's what happens) and exterminated everything we know and love, or 2) we assume it's a "different" explosion (somehow, someway) that just destroys the relays (though Joker wasn't fleeing a "benevolent" energy beam), yet we still strand billions of races far from their homeworlds over a desolate and destroyed hunk of burning earth that can in no way support it's own population, let alone billions of others alien species that can't even EAT our food.

Either way, we've firebombed the whole universe into a dark age of pain, death, and despair. There is no victory to be had, really. We stripped the victory from them. At this point, I would even take a "victory through death" approach, where all these species could've lived and died on the worlds they cared about, with the people they knew and loved, rather than being stuck on the ass-end of the galaxy, doomed to a slow, painful fate of starvation, disease, and in-fighting.

And all of this is because Shepard made that choice to do so. It wasn't the Starkid or the Reapers that made the choice; it was Shepard. It wasn't what any of these cultures, species, and races wanted, fought for, and died for, but it's what Shepard forced upon them. The Krogan never can return to Tuchanka to see their race have a future. The Quarians can never reclaim Rannoch or make true peace with the geth. The Asari lose their homeworld, never to return to its beauty and prestige. The Turians will die from lack of dextro-based meals. The Volus can't even breathe our air. And earth is a scorched pile of rubble that even Wrex thinks is beyond saving, so all of humanity is pretty much screwed. We can't go colonize new planets or find a new home; we're stuck on a hunk of burning, dead rock like the rest of the entire armada.

Again, all because of Shepard.

I did not feel like a hero... because I wasn't one. I was a villain. A twisted, misguided, psychotic villain that assumed that blowing up civilization would be okay in the name of the greater good. I didn't feel like my Shepard saved anyone; I felt unworthy of the Stargazer refering to me in such a reverent manner. I'm not a hero.

I'm the guy who nuked the galaxy into ignorance, death, and dissolution.

All because Shepard couldn't be bothered to question a shady, illogical AI brat who didn't even give us a single, solitary reason to believe any of the vile crap he spat out of his glowing mouth.

http://social.bioware.com/forum/Mas...-the-end-I-become-the-VILLAIN-10861926-1.html

 

[Randolph Freelander]

Shep actually died at the start of Mass Effect 2. We're actually in the dream throughout the rest of the game, extending to ME3. It explains why we don't really explore many locations.

And the dreamer is none other than... yep, you guessed it - Frank Stallone.

 

[harriet the spy]

Somewhat serious question: do you guys think the writers actually liked the ending, or were they time-pressured to produce something and came up with something they don't like?

I finished reading the last hours of mass effect 3 (which i recommend, it's pretty interesting), and I am actually leaning towards the former. I find it interesting and surprising that the ideas behind the ending are pretty much all there, jotted on a piece of paper that basically looks like a restaurant napkin - kind of like the guy wrote this in five minutes and thought it was super genius and rolled with it.

 

[dominuece]

No no no. The true ending is getting killed by Marauder Shields. If that's not the ending you saw, then you simply did something wrong.

Yup because the DLC is a campaign containing the back story behind Marauder Shields. It's about how one indoctrinated Turian fought through everything to stop the savior of the galaxy.

Spoiler

He is also Garrus' long lost brother yada yada.

 

[firehawk12]

Yup because the DLC is a campaign containing the back story behind Marauder Shields. It's about how one indoctrinated Turian fought through everything to stop the savior of the galaxy.

Spoiler

He is also Garrus' long lost brother yada yada.

Actually, Marauder Shields is

Spoiler

Garrus' former lover, come to take revenge on FemShep.

Somewhat serious question: do you guys think the writers actually liked the ending, or were they time-pressured to produce something and came up with something they don't like?

I finished reading the last hours of mass effect 3 (which i recommend, it's pretty interesting), and I am actually leaning towards the former. I find it interesting and surprising that the ideas behind the ending are pretty much all there, jotted on a piece of paper that basically looks like a restaurant napkin - kind of like the guy wrote this in five minutes and thought it was super genius and rolled with it.

Based on the "Lots of speculation" note, I think they believe they had a high concept ending that people would think is awesome. The problem is that these last minute info dump endings require a soft touch, and even when they work, someone will inevitably hate it - the final episodes of Evangelion immediately spring to mind.

 

[Psychoward]

Somewhat serious question: do you guys think the writers actually liked the ending, or were they time-pressured to produce something and came up with something they don't like?

I finished reading the last hours of mass effect 3 (which i recommend, it's pretty interesting), and I am actually leaning towards the former. I find it interesting and surprising that the ideas behind the ending are pretty much all there, jotted on a piece of paper that basically looks like a restaurant napkin - kind of like the guy wrote this in five minutes and thought it was super genius and rolled with it.

I think Mac and Casey and a few others didn't mind the concept, but I'm guessing very few like the final product.

 

[Bowdz]

Somewhat serious question: do you guys think the writers actually liked the ending, or were they time-pressured to produce something and came up with something they don't like?

I finished reading the last hours of mass effect 3 (which i recommend, it's pretty interesting), and I am actually leaning towards the former. I find it interesting and surprising that the ideas behind the ending are pretty much all there, jotted on a piece of paper that basically looks like a restaurant napkin - kind of like the guy wrote this in five minutes and thought it was super genius and rolled with it.

If the posting on Penny Arcade is accurate, Patrick Weekes (one of the character writers) said that the entire game was a collaborative writing effort except for the ending in which Walters and Hudson locked themselves in a room and churned out the ending without allowing anyone to revise it. Weekes' post said he didn't like the ending, but I definitely think Hudson and Walters thought that they were ending the series in an emotional and thought provoking way.

 

[Dresden]

Somewhat serious question: do you guys think the writers actually liked the ending, or were they time-pressured to produce something and came up with something they don't like?

I finished reading the last hours of mass effect 3 (which i recommend, it's pretty interesting), and I am actually leaning towards the former. I find it interesting and surprising that the ideas behind the ending are pretty much all there, jotted on a piece of paper that basically looks like a restaurant napkin - kind of like the guy wrote this in five minutes and thought it was super genius and rolled with it.

Lennon wrote Imagine on a napkin! Or something.

I prefer the Patrick Weekes version of the story (ala the supposed leak on PA) where Hudson and Mac Walters shut the other writers out of the process for the ending.

 

[DTKT]

Somewhat serious question: do you guys think the writers actually liked the ending, or were they time-pressured to produce something and came up with something they don't like?

I finished reading the last hours of mass effect 3 (which i recommend, it's pretty interesting), and I am actually leaning towards the former. I find it interesting and surprising that the ideas behind the ending are pretty much all there, jotted on a piece of paper that basically looks like a restaurant napkin - kind of like the guy wrote this in five minutes and thought it was super genius and rolled with it.

Patrick Weekes, one of the writer on the ME team, wrote a post on the PA forums. He basically said that the ending was the brainchild of Casey Hudson and Mac Walters. The rest of the writing team had no input whatsoever on the final product.