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[The Artisan]

Good news is that the entire trilogy is playable on a current gen console.

that is true. lucky them, unlucky fucking us.

 

[DeadlyParasite]

The trilogy is technically playable on my XB1 yes, but man would it feel great to be able to play them and earn achievements all over again. I've already maxed them out.

 

[Garlador]

The trilogy is technically playable on my XB1 yes, but man would it feel great to be able to play them and earn achievements all over again. I've already maxed them out.

The same. I 100% all three games.

 

[diaspora]

Yes, but rebuying the trilogy again on PC is one of the most frustrating experiences, especially all the still-expensive DLC and possibly dealing with Bioware Points. Just the story DLC alone is still roughly a $80-90 investment.


And it's dated on modern consoles too compared to what could be done. Replaying ME1 right now on Xbox One and it's a ROUGH game that, while improved from 360, is still a technical disaster of texture pop-in, bloated loading times, framerate issues, other performance flaws across the board.

Let's not pretend that the games could not benefit GREATLY from more polish, care, and optimization.

I wouldn't know. 90% of my experience has been between 1080p-8k resolutions.

 

[The Artisan]

I wouldn't know. 90% of my experience has been between 1080p-8k resolutions.

clearly not everyone was as fortunate as you

 

[Poodlestrike]

Oh god, somebody made a thread for that piddly little side activities article. Somebody look and see if it's got anything other than DA:I THO comments.

 

[Lt-47]

Oh god, somebody made a thread for that piddly little side activities article. Somebody look and see if it's got anything other than DA:I THO comments.

Anything that sounds even remotely like an open world is going to make people say "It's like DA:I"... Better get use it because we will hear that until the game is release

 

[Yeul]

Oh god, somebody made a thread for that piddly little side activities article. Somebody look and see if it's got anything other than DA:I THO comments.

This is the exact reason why I can barely stand those threads.

 

[BrassDragon]

Oh god, somebody made a thread for that piddly little side activities article. Somebody look and see if it's got anything other than DA:I THO comments.

To be fair, I can't see 'Scanning' and 'Navigating with the Nomad' as interesting side-activities, they just read as polished mechanics... not sure why they're needed to pad out the list and it weakens the article.

The other four activities (unlocking Drop Zones, epic encounters, enemy bases and loyalty missions) sound perfectly fine. I think people are forgetting how satisfying the core combat loop of recent Mass Effect games has been compared to the clunky party/cooldown management of Dragon Age... I can definitely see myself attacking bases just for the fun of blasting stuff and flying around with my jetpack.

The main problem with DA:I is that a lot of side activities didn't feel meaningful to the characters or the storyline but more like time sinks to fill up meters that might unlock better content down the line.

In-character feedback matters, and BioWare's increasing reliance on things like planet scanning, Galactic Readiness or Power Points to grind out story progression is cause for concern.

 

[Heckler456]

More shtuff.

 

[Poodlestrike]

To be fair, I can't see 'Scanning' and 'Navigating with the Nomad' as interesting side-activities, they just read as polished mechanics... not sure why they're needed to pad out the list and it weakens the article.

The other four activities (unlocking Drop Zones, epic encounters, enemy bases and loyalty missions) sound perfectly fine. I think people are forgetting how satisfying the core combat loop of recent Mass Effect games has been compared to the clunky party/cooldown management of Dragon Age... I can definitely see myself attacking bases just for the fun of blasting stuff and flying around with my jetpack.

The main problem with DA:I is that a lot of side activities didn't feel meaningful to the characters or the storyline but more like time sinks to fill up meters that might unlock better content down the line.

In-character feedback matters, and BioWare's increasing reliance on things like planet scanning, Galactic Readiness or Power Points to grind out story progression is cause for concern.

I mean, I wouldn't call "going from point A to point B in the car" and "pressing A on glowing things" fun side activities either, but I'd point to those as a deficiency of the article, not the game. Including them makes very little sense.

Agreed that the rest sounds great, though. Especially the drop zones thing, if they add some actual substance to the bases.

 

[Bisnic]

One more week until the first gameplay trailer. Are you guys hyped?

 

[DeadlyParasite]

I'm not, only because I know whatever they show will probably be too little for most people and we'll have to listen to everyone complaining until the next marketing dump.

They said whatever they'e showing is not story related so I'm either expecting a battle with one of those "boss battle" encounters on planets they mentioned or something indicative of what you'll encounter when roaming around.

 

[Yeul]

One more week until the first gameplay trailer. Are you guys hyped?

I'll take anything at this point tbh.

 

[Cranster]

Not that you're entirely wrong... but here's how I think of it now.

The Starkid isn't really a "new" character as he's the AI created by the Leviathans that initially rebelled and his presence and will were in place directly and indirectly in all three games, through the Reapers and Collectors. He is Sovereign, and Harbinger, and every Husk and Cannibal and Harvester... extensions of its will. He's not a singular character so much as he is just a glorified AI networked to all the other Reapers and his "form" of a kid is only assumed to mess with/calm Shepard. It could've taken the form of anything, and it chose the form of the kid to best connect to him.

Leviathans were a last minute creation sold as DLC to give Bioware an excuse for there ending. The Starchild was added last minute, either because Bioware couldn't deliver what they promised or because EA wouldn't allow the game to be delayed. Eitherway the entire trilogy suffers because of it.

Now, here's the thing though. His circular logic is absolutely flawed... by DESIGN. That's the problem with him. He's not human. The DLC with Leviathan affirms this; that the AI glitched. That its reasoning is inherently faulty and thus they could not reason with it themselves. They screwed up when creating it and thus logic that works with people fails with it because it inherently disbelieves that nature and organics can change, even if you reunite the Geth and Legion. Its conclusion is this alliance will not last, and it cannot be swayed.

By design or not it's still a shitty reason especially compared to what was planned before and what was vaguely promised to us. The Dark Energy storyline that was dropped when the lead writers switched was a far better explanation and Bioware should either implement it if they decide to remaster the Trilogy or go with the indoctrination theory..

 

[DevilDog]

One more week until the first gameplay trailer. Are you guys hyped?

Not really. I only get hyped when I see good gameplay, let's hope it will deliver.

By design or not it's still a shitty reason especially compared to what was planned before and what was vaguely promised to us. The Dark Energy storyline that was dropped when the lead writers switched was a far better explanation and Bioware should either implement it if they decide to remaster the Trilogy or go with the indoctrination theory..

Classic case of people thinking unreleased content is better than what they have now. If the original writer of ME1 says it isn't that good, you have good reason to believe him.

 

[Maledict]

As much as I loathe the ending to ME3, the dark energy plot line was equally stupid. Firstly, it was hardly talked about at all in game - only us obsessive actually noticed the clues dropped in ME2. Secondly, the idea of making the great Cthulhu evil space monsters into secret good guys trying to save the universe is beyond dumb. Not everything needs to be good!

 

[BrassDragon]

One more week until the first gameplay trailer. Are you guys hyped?

I think my hype has been deflated by following this development too closely and being left wanting at every reveal milestone so far.

Also, the gameplay is the thing I'm least worried about: it all sounds great and I trust BioWare Montreal to deliver based on pedigree. Assuming they iterate smartly and add exciting new mechanics (particularly traversal), I'm already sold... but that's not the main reason I love Mass Effect.

It's the story and setting that leaves me cold at the moment; nothing shown so far grabbed me or made me think 'yeah, this is a world I'd like to spend time in'. The game has no distinct personality, tone or narrative drive in my mind because of the weird way they're revealing the details - sure, they talk about all these things quite a bit but they're not actually showing it.Just the brand name and some distinctive visual flourishes is not hitting me in the feels.

Guess I'll have to hold out for actual character / core location / plot detail revelations before my hype kicks in.

 

[diaspora]

The concept of the dark energy plotline was daft as shit. IMO, the only things that needed to change with the Reaper plot : no indoctrination- make people side with Reapers because they want to, and the crucible, just make it a conventional war dependent on your war assets.

 

[Lt-47]

I'm not, only because I know whatever they show will probably be too little for most people and we'll have to listen to everyone complaining until the next marketing dump.

They said whatever they'e showing is not story related so I'm either expecting a battle with one of those "boss battle" encounters on planets they mentioned or something indicative of what you'll encounter when roaming around.

That's pretty much my feeling too. Thing would be a lot better if they hadn't announce/teased the game years too soon.

The concept of the dark energy plotline was daft as shit. IMO, the only things that needed to change with the Reaper plot : no indoctrination- make people side with Reapers because they want to, and the crucible, just make it a conventional war dependent on your war assets.

How would that make sense when we had 2 games worth of "One Reapers is close to invisible" let alone an army of them. By the time ME 1 ended the Reaper were made far too powerful for any non mcguffins ending to be possible

 

[DevilDog]

The concept of the dark energy plotline was daft as shit. IMO, the only things that needed to change with the Reaper plot : no indoctrination- make people side with Reapers because they want to, and the crucible, just make it a conventional war dependent on your war assets.

The reapers are Lovecraft inspired, aka, horror targeting your psyche and indoctrination amplified that perfectly.
Saren's suicide, Virmire captives and to some extent that mission on board the Reaper in ME2. All fantastic moments and frankly a nice change of pace from seeing people being idiots and wanting to destroy the whole galaxy cuz they're so edgy.

 

[BrassDragon]

That's pretty much my feeling too. Thing would be a lot better if they hadn't announce/teased the game years too soon.



How would that make sense when we had 2 games worth of "One Reapers is close to invisible" let alone an army of them. By the time ME 1 ended the Reaper were made far too powerful for any non mcguffins ending to be possible

I think the writers had much more room to maneuver, they just didn't use any of it. For one, the current cycle was already disrupted by Shepard defeating Sovereign and preventing a surprise invasion through the Citadel relay so the harvesting would be comparatively slower than what they were used to, forcing these rigid creatures to break ancient habits.

The reason Sovereign failed was mostly because he got distracted by the going after the Eden Prime beacon first instead of having Saren beeline for the Citadel - presumably, the Protheans had already done something disruptive last cycle to make Sovereign prioritise the beacon, suggesting that there were already weaknesses in the Reaper strategy.

A more thematically satisfying solution would be to somehow use their own technology, particularly the mass effect, against the Reapers, perhaps in a way they never foresaw (since the whole technology is designed to guide civlization along predetermined paths of invention.)

The whole notion of secretly building a singular super weapon is just cheesy and, even without the disjointed and rushed opening of Mass Effect 3, implausible and poorly connected to the series' themes. I suspect a lot of these poor choices were driven by the need to have the concluding game of the trilogy be accessible to new players without any prior knowledge.

Also, DevilDog is spot-on with the Lovecraft reference and, as such, the Reapers should have stayed alien and unknowable, leaving their motivations to speculation without actual confirmation from an authority figure added in the last minutes of the final game.

TLDR; 'Well, we made the Reapers too powerful to actually defeat' is not a good excuse for a poorly conceived and unsatisfying finale to the trilogy.

 

[Garlador]

Guess I'll have to hold out for actual character / core location / plot detail revelations before my hype kicks in.

I think that's what's missing for me.

ME went through so many changes, so for many it was the characters that hooked us and kept us coming back. Characters gave the games that memorable flavor and even offset main game story and gameplay issues.

Andromeda has given us squat thus far on characters. We're told about them, but 5 seconds of Peebee smiling and running away from an explosion doesn't tell me remotely who she is, what she wants, or why I should care.

And she's the most fleshed out character thus far....

I get that Bioware is playing it close to the chest, but we know next to nothing about our new friends other than a few names, no faces, and a rough summary of distilled backgrounds and personality generalizations.

Its beyond time we met the crew. Not just glimpse them, but really familiarize ourselves with the next group of heroes we'll be risking our necks alongside.

 

[Lt-47]

A more thematically satisfying solution would be to somehow use their own technology, particularly the mass effect, against the Reapers, perhaps in a way they never foresaw (since the whole technology is designed to guide civlization along predetermined paths of invention.)

What could they do with Reapers technology that isn't some variation of a super weapon ?

 

[BrassDragon]

What could they do with Reapers technology that isn't some variation of a super weapon ?

*shrug* Something other than 'a huge machine iterated on by countless civilisation with a completely unknown function that we will pour all our scarce resources and alliances into despite a huge chance of discovery and an uncertain outcome' - the point is, they went with the silliest and least plausible option available, which we conveniently stumble upon on our way out the door as Earth is being attacked.

How about instead of building something, it's using something already in place in a novel way, like the relay network or the Citadel? How about something that reprograms the Reapers or sets them upon each other or locks them out or something that lets us communicate with previous 'preserved' civilizations and lets us combine knowledge in unexpected ways etc.

The point is not 'I have a better idea', the point is 'you can write yourself out of any corner with enough thought' and I'm not giving anyone a pass for the single reason that it's hard to do so.

 

[Poodlestrike]

Leviathans were a last minute creation sold as DLC to give Bioware an excuse for there ending. The Starchild was added last minute, either because Bioware couldn't deliver what they promised or because EA wouldn't allow the game to be delayed. Eitherway the entire trilogy suffers because of it.

By design or not it's still a shitty reason especially compared to what was planned before and what was vaguely promised to us. The Dark Energy storyline that was dropped when the lead writers switched was a far better explanation and Bioware should either implement it if they decide to remaster the Trilogy or go with the indoctrination theory..

Except Dark Energy theory was even dumber than the actual logic used, which is impressive, to say the least. "Mass Effect technology is destroying the universe, so let's plant seeds and set up the Relay system (easily the largest-scale example of ME tech in the universe) to guarantee that everybody always uses Mass Effect technology." C'mon, son.

And Indoctrination Theory is the most whiny-ass thing in the known universe.

I agree with Garlador, as patchwork endings goes, the Star Child's not half bad when you account for Leviathan and the Extended Cut.

 

[diaspora]

The Reapers failed at being unknowable or Lovecraftian in the first fucking game, don't be giving me that shit.

 

[George Oscar Bluth II]

"We're better because we are."

I used to love the Sovereign encounter on Virmire but I've come to realise it's really quite boring because I think the Reapers are boring. Game would've been much better if Saren was someone who thought for himself and had proper ideological differences from the council and that leads to him going rogue. Then every game could've been standalone and had a better crafted story...

Though I know BioWare always wanted to do some epic sci-fi trilogy with galaxy ending stakes. Ah well, hopefully we'll be getting that this time around.

 

[Poodlestrike]

The Reapers failed at being unknowable or Lovecraftian in the first fucking game, don't be giving me that shit.

They could've still gone Lovecraft Lite with it. Unknowable monsters from another era that still go down when you pump enough lead (or whatever it is mass accelerators rounds are made from) into them.

The core problem is that ME2 basically punted 100% of the story threads from ME1 forward to ME3, and there is no writing team in the universe that could actually convincing wrap up all that stuff on time and on budget in one game. Like, literally, everything from ME1 gets put on hold. Rachni are the big, obvious example, but honestly even the Reapers are sort of delayed; the Collectors are what amounts to a side story. Nothing they were doing was seriously undermining the Council or even the Systems Alliance, and producing 1 more Reaper wouldn't have seriously changed anything. So you've got one game that needs to do the work of at least 2, and do it convincingly. I think that if they'd structured the plot such that the Reapers hit at the end of 2, rather than the beginning of 3, and we get to see them smashing everything in their path, that starting ME3 in a position of absolute desperation would've worked a lot better. Also if they'd set up the Crucible ahead of time.

This is why you plot out your trilogies all at once, people.

"We're better because we are."

I used to love the Sovereign encounter on Virmire but I've come to realise it's really quite boring because I think the Reapers are boring. Game would've been much better if Saren was someone who thought for himself and had proper ideological differences from the council and that leads to him going rogue. Then every game could've been standalone and had a better crafted story...

Though I know BioWare always wanted to do some epic sci-fi trilogy with galaxy ending stakes. Ah well, hopefully we'll be getting that this time around.

Personally, I still love it. Single best bit of game writing I've ever seen, for sure.

 

[Renekton]

The core problem is that ME2 basically punted 100% of the story threads from ME1 forward to ME3, and there is no writing team in the universe that could actually convincing wrap up all that stuff on time and on budget in one game. Like, literally, everything from ME1 gets put on hold.

Ya ME2 was effectively a side-story in the Reaper saga.

They could do the Star Wars thing of having Reapers push our sht in during ME2 with Shepard spending the entire game trying desperately to survive/regroup, then make a comeback in ME3.

 

[Patryn]

"We're better because we are."

I used to love the Sovereign encounter on Virmire but I've come to realise it's really quite boring because I think the Reapers are boring. Game would've been much better if Saren was someone who thought for himself and had proper ideological differences from the council and that leads to him going rogue. Then every game could've been standalone and had a better crafted story...

Though I know BioWare always wanted to do some epic sci-fi trilogy with galaxy ending stakes. Ah well, hopefully we'll be getting that this time around.

Except that Bioware has been very clear and very firm that Andromeda is NOT part of a new trilogy.

 

[Garlador]

Ya ME2 was effectively a side-story in the Reaper saga.

They could do the Star Wars thing of having Reapers push our sht in during ME2 with Shepard spending the entire game trying desperately to survive/regroup, then make a comeback in ME3.

Since we're in this hypothetical speculation stage, I think that would've worked pretty good.

And imagine the ending of the ME2 if THAT was where Shepard was killed, instead of the opening, and it just ends on that note when it seems all hope is lost.

Granted, the Suicide Run was SO GOOD, I wouldn't trade it for the world, and gamers would have howled at the initial ME2 ending, but it would have really fit the Empire Strikes Back vibe before ME3 focused on the counterattack.

 

[DevilDog]

The Reapers failed at being unknowable or Lovecraftian in the first fucking game, don't be giving me that shit.

lol k

"We're better because we are."
I used to love the Sovereign encounter on Virmire but I've come to realise it's really quite boring because I think the Reapers are boring. Game would've been much better if Saren was someone who thought for himself and had proper ideological differences from the council and that leads to him going rogue. Then every game could've been standalone and had a better crafted story...

Yeah I don't understand how anyone would find reapers boring. They are smarter than you, more powerful than you, they don't give a fuck about you and are ruthless. They played organics like a damn fiddle and it's hard not to be impressed at the plan they have constructed.
What would the reaction to this being boring be?

Meh, reapers, all we have to do is fight you with our super advanced weapons that... you gave to us and want us to have....

And I still stand by what I said about indoctrination. It's not some marvel gimmick where a switch is being turned and now the good guy is a bad guy.

Indoctrination is change towards madness that can happen to anyone due to the extreme circumstances, eating away at the weaknesses of the person.
Even if they are a good person overall with noble intentions, they can still be lead to do horrible actions. That's why they say that the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

In the case of Mass Effect, the reapers are both the extreme circumstances and they also happen to be the ones that cause the indoctrination.
Which is a tautology, the only reason it is stated that they can "indoctrinate" is so that you can blame someone for it, rather than the random environment.
So when you kill that "someone" in the end of ME1, it feels extremely catharctic and satisfying, like purging your fears.

If that makes sense

 

[George Oscar Bluth II]

Except that Bioware has been very clear and very firm that Andromeda is NOT part of a new trilogy.

My bad, u phrased that badly. I meant that hopefully we'll get a nice standalone story with Andromeda.

Yeah I don't understand how anyone would find reapers boring. They are smarter than you, more powerful than you, they don't give a fuck about you and are ruthless. They played organics like a damn fiddle and it's hard not to be impressed at the plan they have constructed.
What would the reaction to this being boring be?

Meh, reapers, all we have to do is fight you with our super advanced weapons that... you gave to us and want us to have....

Well...

They are smarter than you, more powerful than you, they don't give a fuck about you and are ruthless.

This is what I find boring. Having the main threat be so indifferent annoys me because I don't have much to hate in them beyond their wanting to purge the space faring species of the Milky Way.

 

[DevilDog]

This is what I find boring. Having the main threat be so indifferent annoys me because I don't have much to hate in them beyond their wanting to purge the space faring species of the Milky Way.

I don't understand, if someone wanted to kill you and every single one of your people and didn't care at all what you wanted to say, wouldn't it make your blood boil?

Hey you're a Han Solo fan, didn't it make you mad that in star wars the tyrranic empire could destroy whole planets without having a single care in the world? It made them boring to you?

Or even in real life, don't you hate it when superpowers stomp all over weak nations and don't give a damn about them? I think ME did quite a good job at being a metaphor for this.

 

[Poodlestrike]

Except that Bioware has been very clear and very firm that Andromeda is NOT part of a new trilogy.

IMO, this is the best bit of news about Andromeda. Episodic is the way to go with these, not serialized. Gives them way more flexibility to pick and drop plot threads as needed, while implicitly lowering the stakes such that choice is easier to carry forward.

 

[Bisnic]

Yeah, it's nice when the villains logic isn't just "KILL EVERYONE BECAUSE WERE BAD, ALSO SCREW EMOTIONS, IT MAKES YOU WEAK.".

When they actually have a reason, or hell, even emotions, it makes the whole thing better. Like that batarian terrorist in ME1 DLC who wanted to send a meteor on a planet filled with innocent people. He was a maniac sure, but at least you somewhat understood why he was acting that way when he was talking to you.

 

[Maledict]

IMO, this is the best bit of news about Andromeda. Episodic is the way to go with these, not serialized. Gives them way more flexibility to pick and drop plot threads as needed, while implicitly lowering the stakes such that choice is easier to carry forward.

I absolutely disagree in every respect.

Being part of a trilogy, flawed as it was, is what pushed Mass Effect into the stratosphere for me. Watching my team and my main character develop over the course of the trilogy allowed for a much stronger emotional bond than a single game allows. It also hurts the sense of scale and wonder that came with Mass Effect.

Dragon Age is their episodic game, and I would say it hugely suffers for that reason. Being a trilogy was a massive strength of mass effect even though they fucked it up.

 

[DevilDog]

IMO, this is the best bit of news about Andromeda. Episodic is the way to go with these, not serialized. Gives them way more flexibility to pick and drop plot threads as needed, while implicitly lowering the stakes such that choice is easier to carry forward.

Poodlestrike, I think you know how unbelievably good ME can be if they keep on save importing, and plan out the plot in advance.

Just the absense of a person that got killed before, and could be here with you if you made different choices gives an incredible feeling.

 

[Garlador]

I absolutely disagree in every respect.

Being part of a trilogy, flawed as it was, is what pushed Mass Effect into the stratosphere for me. Watching my team and my main character develop over the course of the trilogy allowed for a much stronger emotional bond than a single game allows. It also hurts the sense of scale and wonder that came with Mass Effect.

Dragon Age is their episodic game, and I would say it hugely suffers for that reason. Being a trilogy was a massive strength of mass effect even though they fucked it up.

I lean this way too. I think there are merits to both approaches, but Mass Effect's strength was that it built over the three games. "Shooting the bottles with Garrus" they said is what they're aiming for in Andromeda, but that was the culmination of THREE GAMES worth of development for you and Garrus together, multiple suicide missions to save the galaxy, and countless experiences that forged that bond of friendship into something incredible. "There's no Shepard without Vakerian". That was EARNED, but it took its time to get there. It would not have worked in ME1 or even ME2.

While they won't commit to a "trilogy' per se (perhaps they realize the console generation will end before the third game hits), being built on the backs of prior games was Mass Effect's strength. Tali is one of my favorite characters, but she's actually kind of a wash in ME1 and only exists as an exposition dropper for Quarian culture. She doesn't form her own identity until ME2 after we got through the necessary culture baggage of ME1. ME2 gives us the payoff.

So I hope Andromeda does its best, but I also hope it doesn't think it's a one-and-done, because multiple games will always forge stronger relationships and more memorable moments because the player and their allies will have endured so much together, beyond a single journey.

 

[Sou Da]

Poodlestrike, I think you know how unbelievably good ME can be if they keep on save importing, and plan out the plot in advance.

Just the absense of a person that got killed before, and could be here with you if you made different choices gives an incredible feeling.

All save imports ever do is force them to marginalize plots, I will never get the love for them.

 

[Garlador]

All save imports ever do is force them to marginalize plots, I will never get the love for them.

Those plots weren't going to be bigger without the save importing either. That's inherently the problem of any game that reaches three games and tries to allow for a new player in the third game to get a complete story. Save importing never marginalized the Rachni Queen plot and its absence wouldn't have suddenly made the Rachni Queen plot even better.

 

[DevilDog]

All save imports ever do is force them to marginalize plots, I will never get the love for them.

You act like this is it's nature, not the studio not planning things out or anything.

The genophage arc was fucking fantastic. So many options, so many ways for it to pan out, I don't understand how you can't see the potential. Wrex, Wreav, STG, Virmire, Mordin, Maelon, the salarian councillor, they all merged so well.

Save imports, even in cases where they don't change that much make the experience all that much more powerful and unique. There isn't much like mass effect out there and I want more storytelling that takes advantage of the interactivity of the medium.

Also what Garlador said.

 

[Poodlestrike]

I absolutely disagree in every respect.

Being part of a trilogy, flawed as it was, is what pushed Mass Effect into the stratosphere for me. Watching my team and my main character develop over the course of the trilogy allowed for a much stronger emotional bond than a single game allows. It also hurts the sense of scale and wonder that came with Mass Effect.

Dragon Age is their episodic game, and I would say it hugely suffers for that reason. Being a trilogy was a massive strength of mass effect even though they fucked it up.

Being a trilogy is what introduced all of ME3's critical story weaknesses. The need to resolve every plot thread from the past 2 games damned it. Yes, in some respects it really paid off, but you could have quite easily accomplished most of its strengths without needing to stick to the three act format. Like, developing your cast and crew can be done without necessarily forcing the overarching plot down into 3 games. Look at all the episodic television that developed their casts throughout their runs.

I think maybe there's a disconnect? I'm not suggesting they go DA's anthology route, with a different cast and problem every game. You can still have a continuous cast and reoccurring plot threads in an episodic series, you just don't have to make the main plot of the game be about those reoccurring threads. I would actually suggest that Bioware looks at semiserialized shows; have "myth arc" episodes that play into major series plots, and regular ones where they're just taking care of business.

Poodlestrike, I think you know how unbelievably good ME can be if they keep on save importing, and plan out the plot in advance.

Just the absense of a person that got killed before, and could be here with you if you made different choices gives an incredible feeling.

I think you misunderstood me here; I am in no way advocating for the death of save imports. Not even sorta. I agree, having your choices play out across multiple titles is unquestionable one of the series' strongest traits, even if it does sometimes limit their options. That's why I think that declaring straightaway that none of your main crew can die is a good play. Avoid falling into the cascading choices trap, where they can't possibly be expected to display every possibility, while still allowing your actions to carry forward. Moderation, I feel, is the key.

 

[Cranster]

Classic case of people thinking unreleased content is better than what they have now. If the original writer of ME1 says it isn't that good, you have good reason to believe him.

I'm pretty sure he never said it was worse than the ending we got. He said it just wasn't fleshed out enough because of the fact he was moved to another project. If he down played it it's only because he's following the company line. It doesn't change the fact that the current ending is shit and out of place compared to the Dark Energy idea and the indoctrination theory.

 

[Heckler456]

Your regularly scheduled Game Informer update.

 

[Dany]

I'm sure game informer is doing their best trying to squeeze content out of their time with Bioware and seeing ME:A; but all these articles stink and don't say anything new.

Except for this; sorta neat.

The mission funds you obtain in multiplayer have “tendrils going out into the rest of the game,” according to Frazier.
In the single-player demo we saw, there was an option on the pause menu to jump straight into multiplayer.
“You will have possibilities to send teams to complete kind of side missions, or to do it yourself in multiplayer,” Condominas says. “That’s the idea.”
The team doesn’t want solo players to feel like they are obligated to play multiplayer. “If you feel cheated, we’ve done something wrong,” Frazier says.

 

[Garlador]

I'm pretty sure he never said it was worse than the ending we got. He said it just wasn't fleshed out enough because of the fact he was moved to another project. If he down played it it's only because he's following the company line. It doesn't change the fact that the current ending is shit and out of place compared to the Dark Energy idea and the indoctrination theory.

Exact quotes.

"Again it's very vague and not fleshed out, it was something we considered but we ended up going in a different direction."

The plot thread has become popular among hardcore Mass Effect fans as an example of a better solution than the widely-derided original ending, championed by Walters, the series' new lead writer. But Karpyshyn was keen to point out that his idea would likely have displeased some fans too.

"I find it funny that fans end up hearing a couple things they like about it and in their minds they add in all the details they specifically want," he explained. "It's like vapourware - vapourware is always perfect, anytime someone talks about the new greatest game. It's perfect until it comes out. I'm a little weary about going into too much detail because, whatever we came up with, it probably wouldn't be what people want it to be."

Other ideas dropped earlier in the series included series hero Shepard turning out to be an alien, Karpyshyn continued.

"Some of the ideas were a little bit wacky and a little bit crazy. At one point we thought that maybe Shepard could be an alien but didn't know it. But we then thought that might be a little too close to [Knights of the Old Republic character] Revan."

I really think that, sorry, it was going to be as dumb as Indoctrination Theory and possibly worse than what we got.

I might agree with you pre-DLC, btw, but with the post-DLC info fleshing out the experience, and some surprising easter eggs fans discovered in prior games (like the "Leviathan" planet in ME1) and the current ending - out of everything we've heard - probably is the best conclusions compared to the alternatives they were considering.

 

[DevilDog]

"I find it funny that fans end up hearing a couple things they like about it and in their minds they add in all the details they specifically want," he explained. "It's like vapourware - vapourware is always perfect, anytime someone talks about the new greatest game. It's perfect until it comes out. I'm a little weary about going into too much detail because, whatever we came up with, it probably wouldn't be what people want it to be."

Brutal. Drew's the man.

 

[Poodlestrike]

Your regularly scheduled Game Informer update.

This one I feel was actually worthwhile. For one thing, we've now got confirmation that MEA multi follows the format set by ME3 multi, which alleviates concerns it was heading more DAI-wards.

Everything sounds great.