For sure, yea. But just an odd thing to publicly state; "Squad mates can't die" When the shit hits the fan I want to feel that tension and fear. Now I'm less likely to.
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The Mass Effect Community Thread
- Thread starter shinobi602
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For sure, yea. But just an odd thing to publicly state; "Squad mates can't die" When the shit hits the fan I want to feel that tension and fear. Now I'm less likely to.
DeadlyParasite
Member
Of course, but that's merely a single example in a single civilization. BioWare isn't writing for one planet and one race, they're writing for an entire galaxy, and the galaxy isn't going to be filled with with friendly passive examples like yours. The life of organics is chaotic and unpredictable. Civilization A in one corner may create a benevolent A.I that's harmless, Civilization B in a different circumstance probably won't. Sooner or later those two will intersect and bad shit will happen.
Which is why I firmly believe you'd have to do some extremely impressive writing gymnastics to say that in Andromeda, a galaxy larger than the Milky Way and filled with intelligent life hasn't had at least one race fuck up and create a machine problem they couldn't fix, whether they have Mass Effect technology or not. You don't just magically overcome the problem of living beings creating other advanced beings to do the tasks they couldn't by escaping the story into another galaxy.
Arguably the majority of modern science fiction is based around or has featured an aspect of this issue. Terminator, Halo, Overwatch, System Shock, Star Wars, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Battlestar Galatica, Star Trek, etc etc. Trying to avoid it is not an option.
So yes, the topic is important, it is relevant, and I want BioWare to address it in-game, or at least in the Codexs.
The Geth were content to chill in servers for the rest of eternity ffs.
It requires a greater level of disbelief to assume there needs to even be a story much less a conflict surrounding AI rather than the natural progression of them simply retreating and living in servers for the rest of eternity. Not to mention we're not exploring a new galaxy- not really, only a cluster. Not to mention they're virtually non-existent in the galaxy now despite it being billions of years old.
exmachina64
Banned
Have you seen Black Mirror season 3 episode 4? I'd want to chill in a server for eternity also.
DeadlyParasite
Member
Except they weren't? They sure seemed ok with creating and maintaining a series of warships and combat forms to ensure control over their territory and their safety. If "hanging out" undisturbed was truly their main goal they would have done so, beyond the fringes of the Milky Way where no one would touch them.
But instead they fought to control Rannoch and Quarian space, a seemingly irrelevant location for a race of machines capable of existing in servers as you say.
Conflict was guaranteed, machine vs the living. Both sides were in error.
They had no problem merely living in servers, they wouldn't abide by people forcing them down one path or another which the Quarians tried to do. Peace on the side of AIs is both obvious and guaranteed. Every reason given by any piece of media regarding AI aggression has consistently been both illogical and asinine.
Yep, people turn into AIs and live out the rest of their lives in a computer. No nuclear war, harvesting or anything.
DevilDog
Member
I think they covered that as well. Still I don't like the idea of having permanent squadmates.
That feeling of being afraid that someone is going to die, and if they do, the thought that they could actually still be there, is quite frankly one of the best things in Mass Effect.
Can we chill out on the spoilers here? I'm trying to get into this series.
DeadlyParasite
Member
So they don't want others forcing a destiny upon themselves, but they did choose and continued to maintain a new destiny upon the Quarians. Certainly doesn't seem like the paragon of peacemakers you make them out to be. It also definitely doesn't explain why they needed Quarian worlds or space either.
Poodlestrike
Banned
Because if they didn't take them the Quarians would keep trying to wipe them out.
Geth being the counterfactual to the "AI always try to kill their creators" was obvious way back when ME3 first dropped, and it annoyed me endlessly that I couldn't point that out to the Catalyst.
DeadlyParasite
Member
They seemingly kept doing so even without their world so again I fail to see what purpose holding onto to Quarian homeworld and space territory served other than to antagonize and further deepen the rift between the two factions.
But it's all moot anyway because it's possible to kill them off in ME3, whether that be from siding with the Quarians or exacting revenge via the Destroy Ending. ¯\_(ツ
_/¯Poodlestrike
Banned
They seemingly kept doing so even without their world so again I fail to see what purpose holding onto to Quarian homeworld and space territory served other than to antagonize and further deepen the rift between the two factions.
But it's all moot anyway because it's possible to kill them off in ME3, whether that be from siding with the Quarians or exacting revenge via the Destroy Ending. ¯\_(ツ
Well, for one thing, it's a lot harder to wipe somebody out when you're stuck without a planetary infrastructure to draw on. So there's that.
Season 3 Black Mirror spoiler below:
@diaspora, spoilers aren't cool man.
Seeing as this game no longer has a strict class system do you guys think we'll be able to use abilities like Sentinel Armor and Vanguard Charge at the same time? Excited to see this gameplay trailer, hopes its more than 2 minutes.
@diaspora, spoilers aren't cool man.
Seeing as this game no longer has a strict class system do you guys think we'll be able to use abilities like Sentinel Armor and Vanguard Charge at the same time? Excited to see this gameplay trailer, hopes its more than 2 minutes.
EatChildren
Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
BioWare reduced the intrigue and complexities within exploring artificial versus organic intelligence to dumb, contradictory, childish bunk.
This was the worst thing to come from the story IMO. IIRC they don't even refer to the singularity as the singularity.
Poodlestrike
Banned
ExceptME1 was the most simplistic; ME1 had the implacable enemy Geth who were for some reason religious, ME2 gave us Legion, ME3 gave us the Geth side of the story of their rebellion. It's ME3's ending that's the problem, which honestly you can pretty easily file under "the Catalyst is just insane."
I agree but I think he's saying that the series as a whole kinda did a shit job with the singularity conceptually.
Poodlestrike
Banned
I guess? The singularity as a concept might not pan out, seeing as Moore's Law seems to be breaking down. ME not really addressing it directly, as such, isn't so odd.
EatChildren
Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
My disappointment is how the trilogy reduced the Geth to a Pinochio story. Singularity or otherwise, the Geth by nature are truly alien and while ME2 steers their narrative in an interesting direction, ME3 turns it back around. Beyond the Geth the concept of inevitable-organic-synthetic-conflict is never really explored in the way ME3 tries to enforce. It's not convincing and the arguments are weak, made redundant in its own arc. Instead of extrapolating on the nuances and deepening the discussion, ME3 scales it back like folding your arms and going "no this is how it is now and that's that".
DeadlyParasite
Member
Probably a lot of PC players here but do you guys think they'll adopt the BF1 approach to variable resolution on consoles where it changes based on system load? I was really impressed with the way it worked on my XB1.
Obviously it's Bioware's modified version of Frostbite but I think if they took the same approach to Andromeda it could look pretty stunning.
Obviously it's Bioware's modified version of Frostbite but I think if they took the same approach to Andromeda it could look pretty stunning.
Melchiah
Member
DevilDog
Member
One of the good things about Frostbite is that each studio can keep adding on it, and the other studios can benefit from the progress the other ones make.
I think that this isn't true however, not to the extent that they want you to believe, so I really don't know.
DOWN
Banned
That's typical in an FPS but not in a TPS
It is possible the Geth arc ran out of potential after A House Divided. What else could writers do with predictably hyper-rational AI? They already did self-determination and humanized them with politics (House Divided).
DevilDog
Member
That's up to good writers to find out. And good writers can deliver what we can't imagine right away.
... I think it's time I jumped back in myself. Been far too long.
Poodlestrike
Banned
ME1 playthrough CONTINUES!
You can TASTE the worldbuilding.
And now I'm poking pyjaks on another world, and you know it's another world because the 2 ground textures are different colors now. Clearly the best game in the series.
edit: Oh hey it's that mine again!
edit2: and then I died during the geth ambush so naturally it reloads to my last save which was when I first landed on this goddamn rock. How this game sold me on the series I'll never know.
You can TASTE the worldbuilding.
And now I'm poking pyjaks on another world, and you know it's another world because the 2 ground textures are different colors now. Clearly the best game in the series.
edit: Oh hey it's that mine again!
edit2: and then I died during the geth ambush so naturally it reloads to my last save which was when I first landed on this goddamn rock. How this game sold me on the series I'll never know.
I was N7 ~150 throughout most of my time with the game.
Then sometime after the last DLC I decided to go ahead and get Best of the Best.
My final rating is somewhere around N7 2100. Soloed Platinum more times than I soloed Gold.
Damn those were good times.
Haha. I feel that. This game is so archaic in so many was. I don't know how I managed to play it over a bazillion times.ME1 playthrough CONTINUES!
You can TASTE the worldbuilding.
And now I'm poking pyjaks on another world, and you know it's another world because the 2 ground textures are different colors now. Clearly the best game in the series.
edit: Oh hey it's that mine again!
edit2: and then I died during the geth ambush so naturally it reloads to my last save which was when I first landed on this goddamn rock. How this game sold me on the series I'll never know.
There are so many memorable moments in the game.
DevilDog
Member
No idea, but doing all that shit in ME1 was better than shooting geth clone #111111203954
Poodlestrike
Banned
There are, it's true. The writing really is pretty good, but so many parts of it are AWFUL.
Ugh, maybe. The gunplay has... improved... since I got worthwhile weapons and leveled up. The squad AI's weird aversion to cover means that it's mostly about opening up opportunities to just repeatedly drill in rounds rather than having actual gunfights, though. That mostly just results in my party getting picked apart. So I'm happier (as opposed to happy) with the combat. Meanwhile the planets are all nigh-identical mountains landscapes with largely irrelevant fetch quests that I'm powering through because I need every paragon point I can lay my hands on for 2.
DevilDog
Member
Wanna hear something lame? You have to actually order your teammates into cover, and if you're not on PC, forget about giving individual order to teammates. Thankfully that came to consoles in 2.
Also shame on you for hating the monkey planet, that was the best. After almost wiping all of their "civilization" you can bet they will be worshiping the God "Mako" in the next cycle
ME1 is a situation where there was nothing like it even though the game itself was shit. It's unique even if poorly made and designed.
Poodlestrike
Banned
Wanna hear something lame? You have to actually order your teammates into cover, and if you're not on PC, forget about giving individual order to teammates. Thankfully that came to consoles in 2.
Also shame on you for hating the monkey planet, that was the best. After almost wiping all of their "civilization" you can bet they will be worshiping the God "Mako" in the next cycle
Damn, consoles got screwed on that. I was trying to push them around earlier, even the controls that ARE there barely work. ME2 was such an improvement on that front.
I tried running them over and nothing happened... maybe after I finish the quest.
That's true.
Mars has more going on than this
And dust pits would be a step up from these ridiculous mountains. Getting from point A to B is simultaneously dull and obnoxious, since you can get like 90% of the way there just pushing the thumbstick towards the marker, but you still have to be paying enough attention to be sure the Mako doesn't get stuck on a particularly steep slope.
DeadlyParasite
Member
Belated but since we're on the topic of ME1, today was the launch of Mass Effect 9 years ago. Doesn't feel like that long but it does bring back memories of alI the precious youth I spent playing the game instead studying in High School. Worth.
Nostremitus
Member
Your comment makes me feel old...
It may be the launch day, but it makes me remember that Mass Effect was actually one of the impetuses for me to actually register on GAF, because it was here I learned that K-Mart was breaking the street date for the game a couple weeks early.
I saw the thread on a Saturday morning, rushed to my local K-Mart, saw the game out, got the person to open the case, and then waited the excruciatingly long time it took them to walk it to the register and ring it up, while they looked over the case and asked about what sort of game it was, thankfully either not noticing or not caring about the bright orange DO NOT SELL UNTIL 11/20 sticker at the top of the case.
Had a lot of fun that day.
Dandy Lyin
Member
I want that Limited Edition art book so badly, but I'm about to drop a bunch of money on a new PC, and Xmas is around the corner... Gotta be strong
The other day some people mentioned a squadmate being cut, well, it's not Drack
Tom Taylorson
@adam4wigley Drack is one of my favorite team members. However - I’m biased. Krogan are my favorite species.
https://twitter.com/taylorson/status/799810760985583616
Tom Taylorson
@adam4wigley Drack is one of my favorite team members. However - I’m biased. Krogan are my favorite species.
https://twitter.com/taylorson/status/799810760985583616
RevolverVaro
Member
The other day some people mentioned a squadmate being cut, well, it's not Drack
Tom Taylorson
@adam4wigley Drack is one of my favorite team members. However - I’m biased. Krogan are my favorite species.
https://twitter.com/taylorson/status/799810760985583616
I'm not sure if I'll ever like another Krogan as much as Wrex but as long as this Drack character is more interesting than Grunt to me, Bioware wins.
Grunt was great, what are you talking about?
DOWN
Banned
Y'all getting me emotional
Got Mass Effect Limited Edition on day one. This trailer set the tone way back in 2006 and I was waiting impatiently for the game nonstop https://youtu.be/3Li2MIGxOww
Something moody and neon about it that the game really had. Sequels went more rock out shooter with gritty people everywhere in many ways, but were still great. The first one was unusual in style at the time and still has beautiful atmosphere.
Got Mass Effect Limited Edition on day one. This trailer set the tone way back in 2006 and I was waiting impatiently for the game nonstop https://youtu.be/3Li2MIGxOww
Something moody and neon about it that the game really had. Sequels went more rock out shooter with gritty people everywhere in many ways, but were still great. The first one was unusual in style at the time and still has beautiful atmosphere.
Ivory Samoan
Gold Member
I didn't play Mass Effect until ME2 had just launched.... then I played them back to back, it was probably the most magical ~60 hours of gaming I've had in my life, ever.
Nothing beats that first run... Wrex didn't make it and half my crew died on the suicide run...but it I didn't know any better, so good.
Nothing beats that first run... Wrex didn't make it and half my crew died on the suicide run...but it I didn't know any better, so good.
Sort of same for me. I didn't really start the series until 4 months before ME2, and I bought all the ME1 DLC and managed to get 1 maleshep and 2 femshep runs in beforehand.
Did you stick to your first run for ME3?
I went back and did a perfect ME1-2 to prep for 3 and kinda regret it. Wrex survived ME1 in my first save but Thane (not a big deal) and Legion (BIG DEAL) died on my Suicide Mission.
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