Mass Effect Thread

[Darth Marsden]

Holy crap that's a lot of awards.

[Vainamoinen]

(Off topic: And the sequel, releasing in 8 days in Germany, presently gets BETTER reviews almost everywhere)

[der_ketzer]

I'll make sure to buy them once they all are available on Steam.

[Vainamoinen]

Originally Posted by Alcoremortis

I think the issue is that there's suspicion that Bioware wasn't allowed (via time constraints or what have you) to make the ending that THEY wanted to make. Kind of a KOTOR II type deal all over again. I haven't played the game, but the fact that the ending kinda looks rushed makes me automatically feel like they were pressured into releasing an unfinished product and that they had a more involved ending planned that got cut due to some factor that we will probably never heard about.

I quoted this before with the statement that the time and budget constraints are all too obvious, but there's a second factor which I'd like to mention which must have been an enormous waste of resources in Mass Effect 3's development.

The predecessor, Mass Effect 2, had an interesting ending feature that a lot of players loved. Depending on the loyalty the player had gained from his squadmates and his decisions in the final "suicide" mission, members of his team could actually die in the final conflict, ranging from zero casualties to a complete wipeout of the entire team.

The idea is certainly shocking, and that shock worked well in ME2 to keep the player’s adrenaline pumping in the finale. What a tremendous feeling of failure awaits the player who loses half his crew in that final assault.

Still, we must assume that no Mass Effect player would ever start into ME3 without importing a save game that absolutely minimizes those casualties. In fact, we can be rather sure that most - above 90% - of the players have a savegame ready in which all companions are alive.

Bioware had to pick up from here in ME3, and that is a tremendous problem in storytelling. In this final chapter, for all those reunions with the former friends, all those new situations and conversations, Bioware had to deliver an alternative path if said companion happened to be dead. And that means: a tremendous part of game development resources was put into the creation of a parallel, necessarily emptier world in which the friends have died, a world that undoubtedly delivers a far less enjoyable game experience!

The team preserving player, however, also heavily feels the repercussions of this effort. The team mate reunions are kept really short. They're only cameos. Only two of ME2’s dozen friends can be led into battle again. The game designers had no chance to really get into those relationships again, because all that content would be lost for the few players who lost some team mates at the end of the second game. What players get instead are concise wrap-up scenes for the former friends: Where are they now, what are they doing, how do they die, how can they help you? But the protagonist’s hands are completely tied in this final game. He can not influence their lives any more. Which is especially disappointing if they had been chosen as the "love of your Shepard's life".

In my opinion, it's a conceptual error BioWare has made. The Mass Effect 2 ending should, in fact, have been the Mass Effect 3 and final ending.

[der_ketzer]

Originally Posted by Vainamoinen

The idea is certainly shocking, and that shock worked well in ME2 to keep the player’s adrenaline pumping in the finale. What a tremendous feeling of failure awaits the player who loses half his crew in that final assault.

Well I guess most players just chose a faq to make sure to get the lowest possible amount of casualtis.
I kept everyone alive except the "real crew" because I took too much time doing all kinds of stuff before going to the end of the game.

I guess a big reason for the lmited crew in ME3 is that they didn't want to include too many members that could possibly die in ME2.

And savegames in that Shepard died at the end couldn't be imported (which is a shame to be honest). I'd have loved to see them get out of this situation.

Has anyone tried importing a savegame in which Tali is dead? Or Garrus? I am sure no ME player would do that first try because these 2 are actually quite popular.

[Gman5852]

I hated the fact that characters died in ME2, not because of the fear of people dieing, but because I lost 2 characters for no reason. Thane died because apparently you need a "tech specialist" to press a button and open a door(there was no computer to hack or anything, it was a button) so I fail to see the logic there. AND LEGION NEVER DIED! HE CONGRATULATED ME ON A JOB WELL DONE WHEN AT THE END!

[Shadowknight1]

That's one of the big reasons I do NOT want to go for ME3 on the Wii U, I'd hate to see how bad off you'd be with just default choices all the way through...Why don't they just cancel ME3 and just put the whole damn trilogy on the Wii U? It's obviously not a licensing issue with Microsoft anymore since the first game is coming to PS3 soon.

[der_ketzer]

Originally Posted by Shadowknight1

That's one of the big reasons I do NOT want to go for ME3 on the Wii U, I'd hate to see how bad off you'd be with just default choices all the way through...Why don't they just cancel ME3 and just put the whole damn trilogy on the Wii U? It's obviously not a licensing issue with Microsoft anymore since the first game is coming to PS3 soon.

Unless they are doing what they did for ME2 on PS3 and give you a short recap in which you can choose some base things from the first (in this case 2) game(s). It didn't give you a choice for everything that was recognized in ME2 but the key points were there.

[Vainamoinen]

Originally Posted by der_ketzer

Unless they are doing what they did for ME2 on PS3 and give you a short recap in which you can choose some base things from the first (in this case 2) game(s). It didn't give you a choice for everything that was recognized in ME2 but the key points were there.

I played ME2 before I got ME1 - so not even those key decisions were made by myself. That first playthrough was rather empty, it was only after I played the first part (and installed some damn DLC) that Shepard gets to encounter so many people he/she met in ME1. And it is not because those people do not recognise you in ME2, it's that these people ARE NOT THERE if you did not play part one. Off the bat, at least four people come to mind which I did not catch, and I'm sure there's more (the irritating Shepard-fan Conrad Verner; a female spy on Ilium; a former Saren Asari secretary during the Grunt rescue; a half indoctrinated female 'embassador' from the saved Rachni queen also on Ilium)

Don't know how they'll handle it with the port though.

Because Mass Effect 1 possibly does not save between the final decision and the end sequence, I believe that they let the player decide this again after the first mission in Mass Effect 2 when Miranda and Jacob are "testing" whether the commander has his memory back, they ask about whether the council was saved. I THINK they'll stick with the answer you give, whatever you have done in ME1. FALSE

[BlankCanvasDJ]

Originally Posted by Vainamoinen

Because Mass Effect 1 possibly does not save between the final decision and the end sequence, I believe that they let the player decide this again after the first mission in Mass Effect 2 when Miranda and Jacob are "testing" whether the commander has his memory back, they ask about whether the council was saved. I THINK they'll stick with the answer you give, whatever you have done in ME1.

That decision is made before the final save (Miranda even mentions your choice in the opening cinematic of ME2). The one that happens after the save is whether you recommend Anderson or Udina for the seat on the Council. That's the choice they let you make again.

[Vainamoinen]

Originally Posted by BlankCanvasDJ

That decision is made before the final save (Miranda even mentions your choice in the opening cinematic of ME2). The one that happens after the save is whether you recommend Anderson or Udina for the seat on the Council. That's the choice they let you make again.

Ugh, you're absolutely right. I'll strike that last paragraph of mine.

[Shadowknight1]

Originally Posted by BlankCanvasDJ

That decision is made before the final save (Miranda even mentions your choice in the opening cinematic of ME2). The one that happens after the save is whether you recommend Anderson or Udina for the seat on the Council. That's the choice they let you make again.

And THAT is the choice that ticked me off in ME3 because no matter who you picked, Udina is on the council in ME3.

[BlankCanvasDJ]

Yeah that bugged me too.

[Darth Marsden]

Mass Effect 4 won't have Shepard in it.

Well, duh.

[Ribs]

...

But then what the hell was Buzz Aldrin talking about when he said there was another story about The Shepard?

[Vainamoinen]

Originally Posted by Darth Marsden

Mass Effect 4 won't have Shepard in it.

Well, duh.

In fact, the article quotes Fabrice Condominas as "We don't want Shepard 2".

Doesn't he know that technically, it would be Shepard 3?

[der_ketzer]

Originally Posted by Vainamoinen

Doesn't he know that technically, it would be Shepard 3?

We had: Shepard 1, from game one
Shepard 2, game one after becoming a Spectre
Shepard 3 after the start of ME2
Shepard 4: That behaved un-Shepard like at the end of Mass Effect 3.
So actually it would be Shepard 5.

[BlankCanvasDJ]

Originally Posted by Ribs

...

But then what the hell was Buzz Aldrin talking about when he said there was another story about The Shepard?

DLC. All of the story DLC is set before the end of the game. Buzz Aldrin is essentially saying, "Oh, but I forgot to tell you about this part that happened too."

I think it's good news. I can't wait to play another game in that universe.

[Vainamoinen]

I CAN wait. In fact, I will, until it's on gog.com.

[Darth Marsden]

Not Mass Effect news, but Dragon Age news. Hey, they're basically the same thing, right?

Here's some info on Dragon Age: Inquisition. Since I know some of you will get on my back about it - sorry for the Kotaku link, but it's better than a bunch of Twitter quotes.