The Artisan
Member
i wish Me2 got the collectors's edition for Ps3. i'm thinking of getting a used 360 copy of it on ebay, just to have the collector's edition of this game.
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
The Mass Effect Community Thread
- Thread starter shinobi602
- Start date
- Status
I think it's possible we might see something at the Games Awards at the end of this year, but I honestly don't expect to see the full details we want to see until E3 next year, at which point we'll likely be drowning in information.
I was thinking N7 Day. But the game Awards is a good bet.
Although I'd imagine a lot of what they'll have to say at next E3 would have already been covered with those leaked surveys.
JohnnyFootball
GerAlt-Right. Ciriously.
The later the better. No need to start promoting it when it's over a year away from release.
Hey y'all, I just got around to finishing ME3. I took a year long break from the game but I remembered the plot well enough for it to be coherent. I finished the game by destroying the Reapers.
Only thing I'm left confused by is why there was such outrage against the ending in the first place. I don't get it.
Only thing I'm left confused by is why there was such outrage against the ending in the first place. I don't get it.
Are you connected to the internet and fully patched up?
The ending you saw was not the ending we saw when the game launched. For an idea of what was changed, see this.
I didn't DL the extended cut. I wanted the vanilla ending.
Catalyst = the boy (for whatever reason). Told Shephard it controls the Reapers, which are an amalgamation of species used to hit the reset button on the galaxy every 50k years. The aim was to prevent organic life from destroying itself at the hands of its synthetic creations. Etc., etc. Am I getting that right?
edit; I could have gotten bits about the Reapers wrong. I was up really late and tired.
Poodlestrike
Banned
That's basically it. The idea is that through the Harvesting, the Reapers ensure that organic life is preserved in at least some small fashion, vs. the (supposedly) inevitable total annihilation it would face at the hands of synthetic life. Organic civilizations rise and are struck down before they can create an artificial life form potent enough to end the cycle of natural evolution completely.
It works for me, if you view it as the warped logic of a malfunctioning AI, but without that explicitly getting called out I can see why it pissed people off.
Honestly, it works for me whether the Catalyst operated on warped logic or not. I can see how it makes sense. It's reminscent of the Forerunners in Halo. I get why the Reapers did it even if I don't agree with it. It's very consistent with the themes of the entire Mass Effect saga.
Poodlestrike
Banned
See, the reason I mentioned the warped logic bit is that the core assumption (synthetic life cannot coexist with organic life and will always destroy it) is demonstrably untrue. The entire Geth storyline proves that. The Catalyst's actions only make sense if it is, itself, defective, operating off of faulty premises.
Ah.
Well, there were many people perfectly happy with the vanilla ending.
I took issue with the total eradication of all organic life in the Milky Way when the relays exploded, personally.
The Catalyst was statistically correct though. The Geth storyline only proved it wrong because Shephard is the anomaly to do so. The odds of coexistence working were probably astronomical, but Shephard made it work because they're the hero.
Wait, that happened? I must have been more tired than I thought. That's really shitty.
Bioware didn't intend for it, but it can be implied.
It's established lore that Relays explode with about the power of a Supernova. After all, that's the whole crux of the moral question in Arrival, and how Shepard destroys that Batarian colony. So this isn't some deep lore thing, it's a major plot point of a major DLC that is referenced in ME3.
So the ending has all the Relays exploding. I don't really see a way that doesn't involve the destruction of any system that has a Relay on it.
I guess some colonies may have survived, but Earth's toast, at the least.
Bioware kind of acknowledges that they fucked up, because in the Extended Cut the Relays no longer explode, but kind of fall apart.
Always hated the endings and never even realized this. Guess I'll still stick with indoctrination theory for my headcanon...
I met the lead writer of the first two games Drew Karpyshyn in 2012, talked for a while and he seemed clearly not happy with how things turned out.
Edvardelis
Member
Also, travel between systems is impossible without functional relays, so people will die off when they run out of supplies. Doubly so if you're a race like Quarian or Turian with flipped amino acids in a system without a lot of your kind.
Ganzlinger
Member
The relay destroyed in Arrival had an asteroid crushing it, causing an explosion. In the ME3 ending, the relays don't explode, the energy that came through the crucible cause a damage that brokes them. The survivors even repair them (I don't even know how, though). In the very final, Shepard is still breathing after that. If a supernova was happening, there should be no body to remain.
JohnnyFootball
GerAlt-Right. Ciriously.
Thats was one of many reasons why people hated the ending.
It was fucking confusing.
I am not going to get into the nitty gritty of why the ending sucked, but people had a HUGE problem with space child because he was essentially a deus ex machina that was never hinted at nor did anything you had done in ME3 (let alone the previous games) hinted at. It was clearly something that Mac and Casey (the main writers) pulled out of their asses.
The real reason people hated the endings is because next to nothing that they did in ME or the previous games mattered. For people who created multiple characters, underwent multiple playthroughs of the previous games it was about as insulting an ending as possible. Most of the people who didn't mind the ending are the ones who didn't have that deep of a connection to the previous games and did maybe one playthrough or started the series way later.
In all honesty, the entire plot of Mass Effect 3 was pretty weak, it always felt like mini arcs were being pasted together around this macguffin prothean weapon (the catalyst) that conveniently was discovered right before the reaper invasion. My opinion (and I know I am not alone here) is that Mac Walters is simply not cut out to be a lead writer and the task of writing Mass Effect 3 was more than he could chew. I certainly feel like Drew K could have pulled together something better and that includes the dark energy ending. Mac is decent at telling smaller stories as demonstrated in Mass Effect 2, so I am not going to completely hate on him.
Tuchanka in and of itself was excellent, Rannoch was pretty good (IF you managed to broker peace), but final third act of the game and turning Cerebus into this irredeemable crazy evil corporation, instead of being an "ends justify the means" corporation.
Having said that, ALL of that would have been overlooked if the ending had manifested itself into a satisfying conclusion. Yes, I am well aware of the "journey is more important" argument, but the journey still needs to manifest itself and it has to feel like the journey accomplished something. The original ending (for many) failed at that. The extended cut made the ending serviceable, but nowhere close to perfect.
Barrow Roll
Member
FYI peeps, the long sold out Talking Elcor Plush is back in stock at the Bioware store.
http://www.biowarestore.com/brands/mass-effect/elcor-plush.html
http://www.biowarestore.com/brands/mass-effect/elcor-plush.html
ThoseDeafMutes
Member
I just bought three.
God international shipping is expensive when the Australian dollar sucks so bad.
Oh well they'll be great gifts for some people.
Barrow Roll
Member
The Canadian dollar is tanking really hard right now so I feel your pain, but my girlfriend is going to love it.
You're talking Extended Cut. What I was talking about was original Vanilla ending, where there are no scenes showing them being repaired and those fuckers EXPLODE instead of just falling apart.
The Canadian dollar is crashing faster than Arkham Knight PC.
I didn't know I wanted an Elcor this much until now.
Opens wallet and moth escapes.
Okay
Ganzlinger
Member
Oh, my bad! We should bury that vanilla ending lol
The worst thing about the ending is that the Galaxy now is so fucked up and with three possible endings that ruins a proper sequel, as BioWare won't choose a "canon" one. So now we have to go to Andromeda and Shepard practically was erased from the game history.
Barrow Roll
Member
They were never going to return to Shepard, even if they did a sequel.
That was the one fact that was 100 percent certain. The trilogy is Shepard's story, it's time for something new.
Next cycle means they need to design new species, new technologies and everything.
Too much work that they might as well do a reboot.
The vanilla ending is just... the worst. It is the ending that was so bad for me that it almost destroyed my love for the series, and make no mistake, Mass Effect was EASILY my favorite franchise around the time ME3 was coming out. I was hyped as hell and utterly let down.
It wasn't just the deus ex god child... it wasn't just the exploding relays... it was everything in that finale. The characters that teleport from Earth to the Normandy without explanation. The utter lack of any meaningful consequences for three games worth of choice. Joker fleeing the final battle. A total lack of closure for nearly everybody. A, B, C endings when we were explicitly told there'd be no A, B, C endings. The god child's circular logic (that we couldn't even question). Being forced (at the time) to play multiplayer to get the "best" ending. Your last thoughts being of Liara regardless of who you romanced. Ending the entire series with a final message saying "buy more DLC". The entire Earth: Priority mission just being a gauntlet run of enemies to shoot; no choices or decisions to make, just turret sections and waves of enemies. It was just so very, very, very unsatisfying.
But... the Extended Cut does address most of those complaints. It's not a great ending, but it's a solid "B" effort that's only disappointing in comparison to the former two games. That original, though... I wish I could get one of those Men In Black mind erasers and get my memory of it out of my head, because I just can't disconnect my utter disappointment and outrage at that point from anything else. It retroactively made the earlier games less awesome because I now knew what they were buildings towards.
Honestly, the Extended Cut is fine, and if it was the first ending I received, I doubt I'd be anywhere near as upset or disappointed. But that first one was just the perfect example of being nonsensical, inconclusive, and unsatisfying.
That being said, if they ever did a re-release (PLEASE, Bioware), it would be really nice to see an Elcor tank or a biotic Volus involved in the final conflict, but I imagine all story details have long since passed.
Since I live in a 3rd World Country, I was one of the lucky few that only knew the extended ending when I got the game. I couldn't get my copy until a few months had passed after the release date and I had in been in the dark about details and spoilers about the game.
The (ExCut) ending was alright, just like you said, not a stellar "A+" ending for me, but it made sense and was more or less well put toghether. After reading about all the fuzz online I went ahead and checked the original ending.
I just can't undestand how anyone on Bioware even expected the fans not to outrage. I mean, It was missing a lot pieces. To add injury to insult, I felt the plot around de crucible felt a litlle weak, like something or someone was missing. And I looked for the Day One DLC character and read about it...
I understand that some of the anticonsumer practices around this game were publisher related, but some of the misfires were Bioware's. Both EA and Bioware knew that after the success of ME2 (both on Xbox360, PC and PS3), ME3 was bound to sell a lot.
I just hope that ME:Andromeda will be a better product, with both EA and Bioware learning from their mistakes. If you tell us, our choices matter, make'em matter. I get it, sometimes, somethings are innevitable, just like in real life, and I can live with my character and my choices being powerless before certain events. Just, not like this.
Also, is it true that the Extended Ending is no longer available to download for free if you buy the PS3 or 360 versions? I was thinking of lending it to my brother
Ganzlinger
Member
I agree. I don't want Shepard's story to continue but I'd appreciate a world where his/her legacy exists.
Barrow Roll
Member
Except for all the Prothean/Reaper tech/locations, I think that would be pretty rad. New species, new characters, you could have Reapers that look like Turians, Krogans and Asari, our new squad could find Liara's capsule, maybe a character from the original trilogy could be preserved in stasis like Javik was, they could tell you about Shepard and everything she/he accomplished in their cycle. I think it'd be neat, but at the same time I'm sure everyone's probably sick of Reapers by now.
Shepard was always going to be lost to history, too. Be it virtually or definitely.
A game where people keep making vague references to Shepards achievements and escapades wouldn't be as great as some folks seem to think. It wouldn't be good at all.
Ganzlinger
Member
Why?
Gotta let a knew hero shine and have their own legacy.
No one gave a fuck about Hawke, when it was always going back to all about how the Warden saved the whole freaking continent from destruction.
Just my view at least.
That's because people had all the attachment to Hawke of a potato. A character from an incredibly poorly recieved game has a slightly different impact to one from a massive hit trilogy who we know people obsess and care over.
Personally, I'd love to know my Shepherd is enjoying retirement, tucked away somewhere having awkward, badly stilted gay sex with Kaiden whilst Garrus's makes cocktails.
WanderingWind
Mecklemore Is My Favorite Wrapper
I've just been marathoning through the series again (first time back after finishing ME3). ME3 has a host of problems that I had forgotten about because of how the terrible ending sort of overshadowed it all, but it really did a lot of little things right.
- The growth of the world as you continued. Things like the hospital slowing filling up, the number of refugees growing, etc.
- The weight and sound of combat is easily the best in the series.
- The CItadel DLC is basically better than most of the rest of the game.
- The oppressive feel of danger really influences emotional responses while playing the game.
- Kelly Chambers' PTSD (and potential death)
- The feeling of characters moving on with their lives, existing outside of Shepard: Space Jesus. (Jacob settling down, Jack turning respectable)
Stuff I forgot about that sucked
- Way too much combat. ME2 suffered from this too, but the added complexity of ME3's combat led to much, much, much lengthier encounters. By 2/3rds of the way in, it was definitely too much of a good thing.
- HUMANS ARE AWESOME was really disappointing. Too many new human characters and not enough diversity among the characters you end up being able to play with. EDI, Vega and Javik are the only new ones (EDI only really half counts).
- Vega remains the worst character in the entire series. Probably because playing as FemShep, about 5 minutes in this Lt. (lowest officer rank, basically means he just started) is calling a ship commander "lola" and talking about how she really isn't all that before talking about how she fills out a uniform nicely. Negging little manchild wouldn't gotten launched into space for that shit.
- I forgot all about Allers. She has the worst voice acting of any character in the series.
- The eavesdropping mission collection was really pretty terrible.
Basically, I'm just super excited for Andromeda. Mass Effect was at one point, my favorite series going. I still feel like it ultimately fumbled the final chapter, and the ending remains easily the biggest gaming disappointment of all time, but there are a lot of little things that ME3 did right, too.
I'm glad Andromeda is a fresh start. Honestly, they sort of forced themselves to do that, with the way the series ended. I'm a little worried that we're going to get a shipload of info dump characters because it's the "first" in the new series, but other than that concern I simply don't see a downside to starting over. We've seen the Krogan, Asari, Salarian, etc. We've been to the Citadel a bunch. It's definitely more exciting to know we're getting a fresh start, with a fresh, infinite universe of character possibilities.
- The growth of the world as you continued. Things like the hospital slowing filling up, the number of refugees growing, etc.
- The weight and sound of combat is easily the best in the series.
- The CItadel DLC is basically better than most of the rest of the game.
- The oppressive feel of danger really influences emotional responses while playing the game.
- Kelly Chambers' PTSD (and potential death)
- The feeling of characters moving on with their lives, existing outside of Shepard: Space Jesus. (Jacob settling down, Jack turning respectable)
Stuff I forgot about that sucked
- Way too much combat. ME2 suffered from this too, but the added complexity of ME3's combat led to much, much, much lengthier encounters. By 2/3rds of the way in, it was definitely too much of a good thing.
- HUMANS ARE AWESOME was really disappointing. Too many new human characters and not enough diversity among the characters you end up being able to play with. EDI, Vega and Javik are the only new ones (EDI only really half counts).
- Vega remains the worst character in the entire series. Probably because playing as FemShep, about 5 minutes in this Lt. (lowest officer rank, basically means he just started) is calling a ship commander "lola" and talking about how she really isn't all that before talking about how she fills out a uniform nicely. Negging little manchild wouldn't gotten launched into space for that shit.
- I forgot all about Allers. She has the worst voice acting of any character in the series.
- The eavesdropping mission collection was really pretty terrible.
Basically, I'm just super excited for Andromeda. Mass Effect was at one point, my favorite series going. I still feel like it ultimately fumbled the final chapter, and the ending remains easily the biggest gaming disappointment of all time, but there are a lot of little things that ME3 did right, too.
I'm glad Andromeda is a fresh start. Honestly, they sort of forced themselves to do that, with the way the series ended. I'm a little worried that we're going to get a shipload of info dump characters because it's the "first" in the new series, but other than that concern I simply don't see a downside to starting over. We've seen the Krogan, Asari, Salarian, etc. We've been to the Citadel a bunch. It's definitely more exciting to know we're getting a fresh start, with a fresh, infinite universe of character possibilities.
WanderingWind
Mecklemore Is My Favorite Wrapper
True. Still, that moment was a nice, unexpected surprise. Everybody is this hardened warrior and basically came through being kidnapped by monsters from your worst nightmare and watching people being ground into human slush with no real issues. Chambers showed what most of us would probably go through. This playthrough, I forgot to tell her to change her identity and her death actually hit me hard. Well, as hard as a video game character death really can.
Shit, you're right. But Vega is just the worst of the characters you can get. Kai Leng is the biggest dork in all of video gaming history.
I also forgot how disappointing Udina and TiM's plots went. They were nuanced characters in the previous game, but were reduced to pure evil badguy. Udina's turn was especially lazy.
You can safely lend it to your friend. The Extended Cut is both still available and still free, at least in the NA regions.
I really wish they had done more with Udina and given him (and TIM) a definite reason WHY they hold true to their humans-first beliefs. In my headcanon, I gave Udina a daughter that was killed during the Contact War. Never was able to properly figure out TIM though...
Yeah, I don't mind the guy, but would have been better if he wasn't always wearing that super tight "dudebro" shirt, but whatever.
I kind of like Vega. I understand why the character exists, and I think they did a decent job with him.
I can see why people don't like him. He does have that "dude bro" appearance, and he's often used as an excuse for exposition dumping.
However, he's really grown on me the more I've replayed the games. I keep wanting to bring him more along to get a fresh perspective on stuff, but I can't help but bring the characters that I already know and like.
I can see why people don't like him. He does have that "dude bro" appearance, and he's often used as an excuse for exposition dumping.
However, he's really grown on me the more I've replayed the games. I keep wanting to bring him more along to get a fresh perspective on stuff, but I can't help but bring the characters that I already know and like.
Cyber Caesar
Member
I want a small spin-off game in the Mass Effect universe. It hurts to only have one game in four years.
Thanks!
Ganzlinger
Member
Of course, I agree. But Shepard's war against the reapers as a background feature that happened years ago shouldn't affect anything for a new hero story. It's just for immersion. Like the Oblivion's crisis is mentioned in Skyrim and it doesn't compromise the Dragonborn's journey.
And Vega is a good character.
WanderingWind
Mecklemore Is My Favorite Wrapper
My N7 hoodie arrived today and the temperature spiked back up to summer temps. #FirstGalaxyProblems
JohnnyFootball
GerAlt-Right. Ciriously.
Dianna Allers, please remove her and replace her with Emily Wong...
There's no guarantee they even know of or care about the outcome of the Reaper war.
- Status