Mass Effect Megathread: I should *go*. *I* should go. I *should* go. - Games

[QUOTE=JustGman;39958011]didnt they put out some free post-ending dlc or something? i remember bioware hitting the damage control pretty hard.[/QUOTE] They did, it's just that many players were still outraged by how your previous choices do not really have a say in what goes on. Not to mention that the ending throws so many ongoing themes throughout the window.

Dearest OP: I updated the old banner, if you should choose to use it. It could use some creativity, though. [t]http://i.imgur.com/HDzPbds.png[/t]

[QUOTE=JustGman;39958011]didnt they put out some free post-ending dlc or something? i remember bioware hitting the damage control pretty hard.[/QUOTE] They did, and all it fixes is the vagueness. The choices are still shit, and the way they throw out so much for a pointless deus ex machina with reasoning that flies in the face of facts from all three games wasn't resolved. There's somebody with a rather long post on the ending that explains what I'm trying to say, only better. With any luck they'll post it because I have no clue where it went since threads are so short now.

[QUOTE=Estolle93;39958187]Dearest OP: I updated the old banner, if you should choose to use it. It could use some creativity, though.[/QUOTE] You've done the Megathread a great service; added.

[QUOTE=JustGman;39958011]didnt they put out some free post-ending dlc or something? i remember bioware hitting the damage control pretty hard.[/QUOTE] Here's what you do: Buy ME3 + Citadel Play up until the Point of No Return Mission Play the Citadel DLC in it's entirety Stop playing. Also, "From Ashes" is absolutely worth it.

[QUOTE=dogmachines;39958244]They did, and all it fixes is the vagueness. The choices are still shit, and the way they throw out so much for a pointless deus ex machina with reasoning that flies in the face of facts from all three games wasn't resolved. There's somebody with a rather long post on the ending that explains what I'm trying to say, only better. With any luck they'll post it because I have no clue where it went since threads are so short now.[/QUOTE] I hope you mean my post [url=http://facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1179414&p=39127294&viewfull=1#post39127294]that got 59 winners[/url], though mine was more of an inarticulate rant so you may mean someone else.

[QUOTE=Janus Vesta;39958465]I hope you mean my post [url=http://facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1179414&p=39127294&viewfull=1#post39127294]that got 59 winners[/url], though mine was more of an inarticulate rant so you may mean someone else.[/QUOTE] It was your post, that I shall paste here in it's entirety: There was so much more wrong with the ending that I don't even know where to start. From the lack of thematic relevance, the contradictions of plot events, the fact that Shepard doesn't act like him/herself, the fact that the Star child arguably becomes both the protagonist and antagonist in the last 5 minutes, the fact that nothing that happens prior to the Citadel has any bearing on the events that happen there. The fact that the entire story for the Mass Effect trilogy, everything from characters and events to themes and ideas is completely ignored and an entirely new conflict with entirely new characters is presented and resolved in the last five minutes in place of an actual ending. The Mass Effect 3 ending fails as an ending on every level, it is entirely disconnected from the 3 games which preceed it, it it poorly written, poorly acted, there is NO player agency. Even worse the extended cut ads a huge slap in the face to people who don't like it. If you ask the Starchild why he's doing it and how it could be avoided he literally says "There's no time for that now." Fucker, this is the most impotant moment in history, we can take all the god damned time in the world if you would just tell the Reapers to calm the fuck down. Fuck. If I wasn't so insanely burned out on Mass Effect's story I could write a fucking thesis on how Mass Effect 3's ending is the worst possible way to end a story. I mean Jesus Christ, there are no redeeming elements in the ending. Every detail, every line spoken, every fucking art asset is an insult to the people who played the games and everyone who spent fucking 7 years of their live creating the universe. How do you spend nearly a decade of your life on something and get every fucking detail wrong at the end? I thought Caey Hudson was the fucking creative director for Mass Effect, why did he know nothing about the universe when he and Mac Walters sat down to write the endingin one fucking draft. And what fucking drugs were they taking when they decided to use their first fucking draft? FUCK! I begane to play through Mass Effect today, I wanted to replay the series one last time, doing everything possible. I planned to have ME2 done by the time the final DLC came out. By the time I finished Eden Prime I couldn't continue. I love Mass Effect, it's the best game in the series, which I also love. The thought of spending more time in that universe with those characters is incredibly inticing, but as soon as I remember the ending exists all my enthusiasm dies and I remember the feeling I had last year. I can't do that again. The Mass Effect 3 ending is the worst ending I have ever witnessed, Extended Cut included. It has killed Mass Effect for me. It has shattered any hope I have that Mass Effect could ever have any meaningful moments in it again. It has killed my love for Mass Effect so much that I'm actually more interested in seeing what they do with Dragon Age Inquisition than I am in seeing any details of Mass Effect 4. Don't say "there wasn't much wrong with the ending." There was nothing right with it.

It's interesting how it damaged the story so much that a lot of people don't even want to go back and play the other 2 games. I feel that way too. It's one of the few things I know of where the ending was so bad that it managed to ruin everything related to it.

It took the Citadel DLC to make me replay the trilogy. I don't even know if I'll play past the DLC when I get to ME3. It's a much better ending if you just think of it as the last big party everybody has before parting ways and going back to their own homeworlds to rebuild and help their people.

I don't recall who it was, but I remember someone saying that the "Do nothing" ending should have resulted in the reapers being destroyed if you had an absurdly high EMS. I like that idea. Also, I'm feeling up for some MP. Hit me up on Origin: Estolle I promise I'm not [I]total[/I] garbage.

I just realised it's been over four years now since I made the original megathread ([url]http://www.facepunch.com/threads/698089[/url]) back when ME2 had recently been announced. I don't think many other games have had threads running for this long, which really goes to show how much people care about this series. Here's to four more years!

I need to get some respecs in MP. Most of my characters have the builds I slapped on them when I first got them and didn't know what I was doing. [editline]18th March 2013[/editline] [QUOTE=Wiggles;39958742]I just realised it's been over four years now since I made the original megathread ([url]http://www.facepunch.com/threads/698089[/url]) back when ME2 had recently been announced. I don't think many other games have had threads running for this long, which really goes to show how much people care about this series. Here's to four more years![/QUOTE] Looking at that OP, it's cool to see how ME2 evolved during it's development. I remember Mass Effect did the same, with the combat model changing from the early gameplay that was shown and squadmates evolving visually as well. It's nice to see that kind of thing. Devs seem to rarely show gameplay that isn't 100% final, and Bioware didn't seem to mind changing things for a better experience.

[QUOTE=dogmachines;39958749]I need to get some respecs in MP. Most of my characters have the builds I slapped on them when I first got them and didn't know what I was doing. [/QUOTE] You could promote them, that resets them to level 1. You have to build them up again though but at least you get your reset.

[QUOTE=Janus Vesta;39958465]I hope you mean my post [url=http://facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1179414&p=39127294&viewfull=1#post39127294]that got 59 winners[/url], though mine was more of an inarticulate rant so you may mean someone else.[/QUOTE] I'm glad my former opinion spawned such a rant.

There's one thing I noticed in ME3. ME3 is the only game where red light has a blue lens flare.

[QUOTE=Glorbo;39955641]Something I found on the Mass Effect wiki- "As positive or negative electric current is passed through an FTL drive core, it acquires a static electrical charge. Drives can be operated an average of 50 hours before they reach charge saturation. This changes proportionally to the magnitude of mass reduction; a heavier or faster ship reaches saturation more quickly. If the charge is allowed to build, the core will discharge into the hull of a ship. All ungrounded crew members are fried to a crisp, all electronic system are burned out, and metal bulkheads may be melted and fused together. [b]The safest way to discharge a core is to land on a planet and establish a connection to the ground, like a lightning rod. Larger vessels like dreadnoughts cannot land and must discharge into a planetary magnetic field[/b]." A little rant from an electrical engineering student here- Ugh, why? Seriously, even if we severely overestimate the capacitance of the Earth at, say, 10 Farad, that doesn't even come close to the capacitance of modern Super-Capacitors. You can literally carry several planet's worth of capacitance in your backpack. Why the [b]fuck[/b] would you need to discharge into a planet, let alone a planet's magnetic field? That's a complete waste of energy, time and money.[/QUOTE] I don't know enough about using a planet as a capacitor, but isn't it just a convenient dumping ground? Is the capacitance of the whole planet really only 10 farads? I can buy that much for about 20 pounds

[QUOTE=Janus Vesta;39958465]I hope you mean my post [url=http://facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1179414&p=39127294&viewfull=1#post39127294]that got 59 winners[/url], though mine was more of an inarticulate rant so you may mean someone else.[/QUOTE] can you elaborate more on the choices and story that were discarded during the ending? how can shepard not act like himself when his actions are based on the players choices? The starchild was definitely poorly written though, they shouldn't have put that in at all but as for [sp]why they destroy organics[/sp] they could have just come up with something like [sp]"organics will eventually become so advanced that they will threaten our existence as watchers of the galaxy"'[/sp]

I don't understand why [sp]the Catalyst even takes the form of that stupid kid[/sp]. I remember seeing him those few times at the beginning and thinking "Dammit, this kid's going to play some important role, isn't he?", then he blew up and I was pleased. Then the nightmares. Then....[B][I]that[/I][/B].

[QUOTE=Estolle93;39961550]I don't understand why [sp]the Catalyst even takes the form of that stupid kid[/sp]. I remember seeing him those few times at the beginning and thinking "Dammit, this kid's going to play some important role, isn't he?", then he blew up and I was pleased. Then the nightmares. Then....[B][I]that[/I][/B].[/QUOTE] I knew a guy who was playing ME3 for the first time and hates kids; he laughed when the kid's shuttle got shot, AND criticized how shoed in the nightmares were. Asked me and a few friends (who had already played) if he's gonna matter and we all said no. Poor bastard had a huge rage-boner when he got to the ending.

thing is though he didn't matter It could have taken practically any form and the ending would have been exactly the same. ME3 wold have been so much better without the stupid kid. It's like you're supposed to feel for him, but why would Shepard feel bad about that after all he/she's seen and done, especially a full renegade shep.

[QUOTE=Mellowbloom;39961983]thing is though he didn't matter It could have taken practically any form and the ending would have been exactly the same. ME3 wold have been so much better without the stupid kid. It's like you're supposed to feel for him, but why would Shepard feel bad about that after all he/she's seen and done, especially a full renegade shep.[/QUOTE] I understand what they were going for and, to their credit, the "Leaving Earth" cutscene where the kid gets killed was very well done, but they made the mistake of thinking that the players would immediately care for this random kid. This might have worked had the intro not been so abrupt...maybe the kid could have been a fellow soldier's son and they could have built him up through some conversations or something, but as it stands it just falls flat. It was an even bigger mistake to string the kid along through the rest of the game as though he was some big deal. I like the idea, but they didn't do it right. Now if the nightmare sequences had replaced the kid with a random squadmate and it was THEM that we watched burn before our eyes...that could have kicked major ass.

Yeah, they really messed up the nightmares. You've seen people get melted into liquid but boo-hoo a random kid dies and you can't sleep because of it.

[QUOTE=Marden;39962201]Yeah, they really messed up the nightmares. You've seen people get melted into liquid but boo-hoo a random kid dies and you can't sleep because of it.[/QUOTE] I wish they had given more emphasis to your squadmates speaking to you in your dreams. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4pqgBw_exw[/media] That's some really powerful voice acting there (especially by Yvonne Strahovski. I mean DAMN), but it was criminally underused, especially because you only hear characters that have died. For a 'heroic' Shepard that hasn't gotten anyone killed, it falls pretty flat.

Go youutbe around and look at the Baldur's Gate 1 nightmares. SHit like that - a dark abyss and weapons stabbing you in the chest as you scream etc wouldn't even be hard to put in to a cinematic or a squence or something. Just, I laugh. I laugh when I compare BG1 nightmares/dreams to those of Mass Effect. [video=youtube;J6hPHtzrfCQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6hPHtzrfCQ[/video]

[QUOTE=JeanLuc761;39962130]I understand what they were going for and, to their credit, the "Leaving Earth" cutscene where the kid gets killed was very well done, but they made the mistake of thinking that the players would immediately care for this random kid. This might have worked had the intro not been so abrupt...maybe the kid could have been a fellow soldier's son and they could have built him up through some conversations or something, but as it stands it just falls flat. It was an even bigger mistake to string the kid along through the rest of the game as though he was some big deal. I like the idea, but they didn't do it right. Now if the nightmare sequences had replaced the kid with a random squadmate and it was THEM that we watched burn before our eyes...that could have kicked major ass.[/QUOTE] It's a lot like Fable 3. At the start of the game you have to choose between killing your girl/boyfriend or a bunch of random villagers. It could have been a powerful scene if a) you got to spend more than 5 minutes with him/her before making the choice and b) saving the villagers wasn't obviously the worse choice. Why do game developers assume you're going to have some emotional connection in 5 minutes, there's a reason RPGs often take 40+ hours.

[QUOTE=Janus Vesta;39962400]It's a lot like Fable 3. At the start of the game you have to choose between killing your girl/boyfriend or a bunch of random villagers. It could have been a powerful scene if a) you got to spend more than 5 minutes with him/her before making the choice and b) saving the villagers wasn't obviously the worse choice. Why do game developers assume you're going to have some emotional connection in 5 minutes, there's a reason RPGs often take 40+ hours.[/QUOTE] Other than actually roleplaying, I couldn't comprehend why they'd make you think you'd value a boyfriend/girlfriend you've known on screen for 5 minutes over a bunch of villagers. Shit, if there was ever a "sacrifice a load or sacrifice your squad mate(s)" in Mass Effect, i't'd be pretty damn good. Like, I don't know if a completely renegade character or a completely paragon character, or anythin in between (even if I felt the urge to Roleplay my character and shit) would sacrifice a beloved squad mate to save a bunch of colonists. I'd sacrifice an entire city to ensure the survival of, say, Garrus or Tali or Wrex or Zaeed or Mordin or Legion or Miranda or Samara or Thane or Liara or Jack or Grunt or Kasumi or basically everyone but Jacob. Ashley/Kaiden not included because they get semi butchered and basically stab Shepard in the heart in ME2. Javik not included because he's asleep somewhere. "Shepard, the reapers have a city and want Garrus as a sacrifice" "ok" "what will u do??" "nothing im keeping garrus fuck you all" then zaeed shepard garrus and wrex retired to a tropical beach planet and spent their final days drinking and desperately trying to ignore the sad, depressing fact that thane mordin and legion died

[QUOTE=Janus Vesta;39962400]It's a lot like Fable 3. At the start of the game you have to choose between killing your girl/boyfriend or a bunch of random villagers. It could have been a powerful scene if a) you got to spend more than 5 minutes with him/her before making the choice and b) saving the villagers wasn't obviously the worse choice. Why do game developers assume you're going to have some emotional connection in 5 minutes, there's a reason RPGs often take 40+ hours.[/QUOTE] Exactly. A proper connection to a character takes time and good pacing, whereas the intro to Mass Effect 3 didn't have that. It's completely possible to evoke an emotional response with a character you just met just a short time ago, but you have to give the player a [I]reason[/I] to care. We're expected to care about this kid not because he's important or even sympathetic, but just because he's a kid. That just doesn't work. Now if you were to say that he was Admiral Hackett's son or something, that might get a response and you could maybe buy into Shepard feeling terrible about that, but that's because of the player's connection with Hackett, not the kid himself.

Like everyone else, I too had a difficult time comprehending the plot Not because it was hard to understand but because it was poop. If you haven't played through the entire story, please feel free to not click the below. [sp]I felt like the beginning of the game was cool but then as it progressed, everything felt rushed and poorly written. Lets start where Legion appears. It's a huge Geth ship possibly as large as a Reaper itself. From what we know, the Reapers took control of the Geth. So why is Legion strapped to some metal harness and for what purpose? The Geth are software and are free to use or dispose of whatever hardware platforms they use. When you open the harness, Legion says "help us" and we established from Mass Effect 2 that the Geth Consensus are composed of thousands of "software Geth minds". I will assume that "us" refers to the Consensus. Are they all trapped? If so, then who's left to operate the hundreds of platforms attacking you and the Quarians? Or maybe "us" refers to the much majority of the consensus controlled by the Reapers. In that case, why is Legion here and friendly? By Legion talking to you, the writers contradict their own plot. Why "help us" when "us" reached an overall consensus by allying with the Reapers? Even then, if by going along that many of the Geth Consensus agreed to ally and are controlled by the Reapers, it contradicts Legion's existence. In the previous game, it is established that with each Geth "mind" contributing to their hardware, their perspective increases as do their overall awareness hence why Legion is able to comprehend Organic language. With most if not all Geth controlled and fighting, Legion is nothing and ceases to operate. Then there's the Dreadnought. For whatever reason it has gravity (which makes no sense because we established in Mass Effect 2 that Geth do not require air nor GRAVITY). It's also as huge as a Reaper as far as I know and by whatever godly miracle, Legion wants to help retake control and fight the Reapers. And then the Quarians want to blow it up. The ship is in no longer possessed by the Reapers, and for some unmentioned reason, Legion lowers its shields. And then it's obliterated when the Quarians could have taken an opportunity to turn it against their enemies, or better yet, use it to wipe out the real threat: the Reapers. Then there's a side mission where for whatever physically impossible universe, you have to upload yourself to eliminate Reaper code. Okay so there's a lot of things wrong with this. In a previous side mission with Jacob, it was said that they did something similar in the past and it went wrong because our brains couldn't comprehend information being thrown at them figuratively and literally at the speed of light (which is how fast they communicate actually). In the side mission at Rannoch, how and when did the Geth obtain that pod? You don't take a broken to shit microwave, put it in the back of your truck, head home, and put it into working condition except it can sorta heat other things now. And for what purpose? Did they know that Shepard would come eventually to "liberate" them? Even if so, why use an organic to solve your own problems? Why not disconnect for a few seconds and eliminate the rogue code yourself? Legion clearly knew what they were and how they looked like. It was already established in Mass Effect 2 that Legion believes communication between organics are insufficient and cannot talk directly like the way they do. So for what good reason you need an obviously virtually inferior living thing for? Then there's the last scene where you take down a reaper with a couple of shots (and I'll get into that at a different time perhaps). Legion and Tali come out from behind out of nowhere and Legion starts holding a blue hologram that serves no purpose. Then he explains "direct personality dissemination required". What does that even mean? Why does he need to sacrifice himself and compare it with crucification to save his people? I can at least be okay with the fact that he can upload part of their own Geth Consensus but the plot starts to make the least sense here. From what I can guess that was established previously in Mass Effect 2, there's not a huge difference in personality between the Consensus because they share the same memories and knowledge and themselves especially. So how does uploading that Reaper code kill Legion if he's many in one? Again, the plot starts to magically throw ideas at you with background music to give it a feel, but come on. What also gives away the bad writing is that Legion lives in a HARD DRIVE. He is a software and nothing more, so why not just copy and paste yourself and turn THAT copy into ashes? I know this idea seems rudimentary but you have to stop and ask yourself: if the Geth are able to manufacture their own weapons and giant spaceships with technology constantly improving further than their Quarian counterparts and let alone travel across the galaxy with a high understanding of trajectory courses and physics, what's stopping themselves from copying and pasting? And now supposedly you chose an action that stopped both Geth and Quarians from attacking each other, instantly after that is another scene where Tali explains that the Geth ignored reality and "uploaded" themselves into Quarians to speed up their immunity to viruses. Tali and Shepard joke about "I hope I can see a Tali in there instead of a mind controlled subject", but after both Geth and especially QUARIANS (who were born and raised to believe that the Geth are the spawns of Satan himself) forget the reality and the past few centuries, I think I'd be more inclined to believe that joke.[/sp] I feel that the above is just part of the "rushed plot" syndrome Mass Effect 3 has. I'm going to take the time later to explain more loopholes later, and I feel that my explanation of the horrid ending should deserve a separate post, so let me know what you guys think about the above and I'll come back again.

[QUOTE=HighdefGE;39963015]I feel that the above is just part of the "rushed plot" syndrome Mass Effect 3 has. I'm going to take the time later to explain more loopholes later, and I feel that my explanation of the horrid ending should deserve a separate post, so let me know what you guys think about the above and I'll come back again.[/QUOTE] Yeah, I've got to say [sp]Legion's death is one of the most pointless, bullshit moments of the trilogy. We're talking ME3's ending level of stupidity and drama for the sake of drama.[/sp] I'd say the first half of the game (up through Tuchanka) is decent. Good even, if a bit lacking. The opening on Earth is probably the only really terrible part of ME3's first half. Tuchanka is the highlight of the game. The main problem is that the game not only doesn't get better after that, it gets considerably worse. The game is basically trash from the ending of Rannoch and on.

[QUOTE=BloodFox1222;39960923]can you elaborate more on the choices and story that were discarded during the ending? how can shepard not act like himself when his actions are based on the players choices? The starchild was definitely poorly written though, they shouldn't have put that in at all but as for [sp]why they destroy organics[/sp] they could have just come up with something like [sp]"organics will eventually become so advanced that they will threaten our existence as watchers of the galaxy"'[/sp][/QUOTE] You should probably do some research. Like a shit ton, and it's really not anyone else's responsibility to do it for you.