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[Mass Effect] SPOILER ALL ME3 DISCUSSION. EVERY SINGLE BIT. EVEN HINTS.

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Posts

  • grim sbgrim sb Registered User regular
    We ran a full Asari Infiltrator group on Silver this weekend and we went through the first 8 waves like butter. After that, it was a bit slower because we'd have a couple of Primes running about and the majority of our Infils were melee-specced.The lackluster ranged dmg meant things slowed down a bit, but we finished Silver with no real problems.

    Then we took on a Gold round and Braut swapped to his Salarian Widow-spec Infil for a more ranged dmg.
    Our downfall was not picking a specific map and getting the Reactor one (i.e. "Why is it so dark in here?")
    That one went pretty smoothly until 7 or so, then we just couldn't kill stuff fast enough to keep from being over-run on the catwalks. We eventually found a better spot to base from (still catwalks, but in-between two of the reactor doors) and we wiped at level 10.

    We might've been able to finish it out, but I got dropped from the game, and by the time I got back in, it was CQB time and super-hectic. And I forgot that I had two *new* missles I could have used to get some breathing room.

    It was fun as hell, though.

  • Captain CarrotCaptain Carrot Alexandria, VARegistered User regular
    Didn't Bioware say that somebody would shout "You should have killed me when you had the chance, Shepard!"?

  • Mild ConfusionMild Confusion Smash All Things Registered User regular
    Anyone up for some MP games? Doing bronze to level up some guys or silver if not. Haven't tried gold yet, but I could be convinced otherwise.

    Name is MildConfusion on Origin.

    steam_sig.png

    Battlenet ID: MildC#11186 - If I'm in the game, send me an invite at anytime and I'll play.
  • SoundsPlushSoundsPlush yup, back. Registered User regular
    Didn't Bioware say that somebody would shout "You should have killed me when you had the chance, Shepard!"?
    I ran into Balak on my paragon. I think he might have said something like that, hard to hear over all the shooting him in the face.

    s7Imn5J.png
  • joshgotrojoshgotro Deviled Egg The Land of REAL CHILIRegistered User regular
    Didn't Bioware say that somebody would shout "You should have killed me when you had the chance, Shepard!"?
    I ran into Balak on my paragon. I think he might have said something like that, hard to hear over all the shooting him in the face.
    But he gives you his ships! PARAGON4LYF

  • AsiinaAsiina ... WaterlooRegistered User regular
    The more I think about it, the less I think that the ending ruined the game, but I'm just baffled I guess. I can't understand what they could have possibly have been thinking making something so complicated that explains so little.

    Not really to create my own fanfic ending, but an ending I would have been happy with that would have taken maybe a couple of days from concept to final product:
    We could have Shepard die next to Anderson as the crucible works or even keep the Star Child nonsense, it doesn't matter. But the point is that the crucible works, Reapers destroyed by one form or another, Shepard dies, fade to black. Then have a Fallout 3/NV style ending in voice over, maybe from your love interest, talking about how Shepard will forever be remembered as a hero. Give a sentence or two about the Krogan and the Geth/Quarians (ie the Geth are working with the Quarians to build a new home together, the Krogan population is expanding at an alarming rate, causing some tension amongst other races). Meanwhile we show a couple of seconds for each person. Tali back on Rannoch directing Geth in construction, Jacob and his new baby, Jack ordering her students around, etc. These don't even have to be animated as literally still pictures could do the job of giving a vague update on where everybody is. The voice over from your love interest ends with them saying how they'll miss you. If you wanted it to be super sappy they could be at the SHEPARD STATUE that was no doubt built in your honor before walking away. Credits fucking roll.

    Is it sappy? Damn straight. But it's an emotional game. And it would have taken basically no time to actually do in the grand scheme of things.

    That ending right there would have basically made it the perfect game, at least for me.

  • kaidkaid Registered User regular
    Warlock82 wrote: »
    Ugg... anyone else have a problem with the 360 version occassionally hard-locking during a load? It's happened like 5 times now :(

    yes I have had that happen to me a few times during my first play through.

  • Mild ConfusionMild Confusion Smash All Things Registered User regular
    Didn't Bioware say that somebody would shout "You should have killed me when you had the chance, Shepard!"?
    I ran into Balak on my paragon. I think he might have said something like that, hard to hear over all the shooting him in the face.
    This confused the hell out of me when it happened. I killed his ass in ME1, so I didn't know who he was at first.

    I think he suffers from the Conrad bug in ME2.

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    Battlenet ID: MildC#11186 - If I'm in the game, send me an invite at anytime and I'll play.
  • DracomicronDracomicron Registered User regular
    Fairchild wrote: »
    Oh hey, the Save the Elcor mission:
    The Elcor planet doesn't become available for travel until after Rannoch, but after traveling to it twice I haven't seen anything that triggers a Save the Elcor mission. Is there something that I need to do to unlock it or is this a bug ?

    You've stumbled upon one of my biggest criticisms of the actual gameplay.

    Many systems don't unlock right when you get the quests to go to them, leading a significant amount of frustration for me, since I have always systematically done every system I can and cleared all side quests before moving on with missions. Having active side quests and no more systems to explore bugged the shit out of me.

  • SoundsPlushSoundsPlush yup, back. Registered User regular
    joshgotro wrote: »
    Didn't Bioware say that somebody would shout "You should have killed me when you had the chance, Shepard!"?
    I ran into Balak on my paragon. I think he might have said something like that, hard to hear over all the shooting him in the face.
    But he gives you his ships! PARAGON4LYF
    SUFFER NOT THE BATARIAN TO LIVE

    I was actually sort of torn on that one sick batarian who wanted you to end his suffering, but I figure he might recover and a dead batarian is better than a crazy one.

    I grimaced when he thanked me and almost reloaded.

    s7Imn5J.png
  • Rhan9Rhan9 Registered User regular
    edited March 2012
    What the fuck is this obsession over using the word bittersweet?

    Ending stuff:
    Bittersour, more like it. Many moments in the game were genuinely bittersweet, such as the deaths of Mordin, Legion and Thane, but the ending has nothing sweet about it. The galaxy is fucked, damn near all the civilizations are going to collapse/go extinct, and none of your choices mattered in the end.

    Also, how come many people are so opposed to there being a genuinely happy ending? At least one that gets as happy as can be considering the circumstances. Is it some sort of new thing about being edgy or something, that happened some years back with comics? It should be an option. Playing through the game in a certain way should enable the player to reach a happy, if a little generic ending, while also providing proper grimdark depression fuel sort of ending for those playing particularly spectacular failsheps. Add those two endings and the choice to get closure on your choices, and the ending of the game would be fixed. Wouldn't even have to do anything to the current endings, leaving them as they are for the people who like them now.

    Providing choice for the ending would make it so much better. For the people who don't see this as necessary, well... They can just opt out from fulfilling the requirements to those endings. Nobody loses.

    Rhan9 on
  • AsiinaAsiina ... WaterlooRegistered User regular
    joshgotro wrote: »
    Didn't Bioware say that somebody would shout "You should have killed me when you had the chance, Shepard!"?
    I ran into Balak on my paragon. I think he might have said something like that, hard to hear over all the shooting him in the face.
    But he gives you his ships! PARAGON4LYF

    Yeah, I never used one renegade prompt the entire game which actually kinda screwed me in the end
    since for some reason I couldn't convince TIM to kill himself (I'm still pretty sure that's bugged) and if you don't do either of the renegade QTEs he shoots Anderson and then he shoots you. GAME OVER LOL! and you have to hear his whole speech again.

  • Dharma BumDharma Bum Registered User regular
    GONG-00 wrote: »
    Dharma Bum wrote: »
    Pouring all my forties for my homie
    Space hamster, R.I.P. You're with Tupac now.
    In Hell.
    Did you find Boo wandering the Normandy?
    In the end mission, there's a skeleton on a bed in one of the buildings. On his night stand is the space hamster tank, with a trail of blood leading into his little hidey hole.

    olgafjpg.jpg
  • TTODewbackTTODewback Puts the drawl in ya'll I think I'm in HellRegistered User regular
    edited March 2012
    It would be more like this
    hundreds of giant reaper corpses rained down onto Earth, their ruptured element zero drive cores spreading a toxic cloud of Eezo over the planet. A similar situation happens on the Asari and Turian home worlds. The galaxies most prominent races must enact a mass exodus to their colonies and establish new capitals.

    TTODewback on
    Bless your heart.
  • kaidkaid Registered User regular
    Didn't Bioware say that somebody would shout "You should have killed me when you had the chance, Shepard!"?
    yup and that does happen. Its the batarian terrorist from the DLS from mass effect one you have the choice of renegade killing him and a bunch of civilians die or let him go and save the people.

    He pops up after doing one of the run around the citadel quests right before the end game stuff kicks in.

  • DragkoniasDragkonias That Guy Who Does Stuff You Know, There. Registered User regular
    edited March 2012
    Rhan9 wrote: »
    What the fuck is this obsession over using the word bittersweet?

    Ending stuff:
    Bittersour, more like it. Many moments in the game were genuinely bittersweet, such as the deaths of Mordin, Legion and Thane, but the ending has nothing sweet about it. The galaxy is fucked, damn near all the civilizations are going to collapse/go extinct, and none of your choices mattered in the end.

    Also, how come many people are so opposed to there being a genuinely happy ending? At least one that gets as happy as can be considering the circumstances. Is it some sort of new thing about being edgy or something, that happened some years back with comics? It should be an option. Playing through the game in a certain way should enable the player to reach a happy, if a little generic ending, while also providing proper grimdark depression fuel sort of ending for those playing particularly spectacular failsheps. Add those two endings and the choice to get closure on your choices, and the ending of the game would be fixed. Wouldn't even have to do anything to the current endings, leaving them as they are for the people who like them now.

    Providing choice for the ending would make it so much better. For the people who don't see this as necessary, well... They can just opt out from fulfilling the requirements to those endings. Nobody loses.

    I am. I generally believe that giving a
    everyone is happy and everything worked out perfectly ending even if optional would completely under-mind the game.

    It isn't about being edgy, it's about creating a compelling narrative. While I think the ending after TIM was half-assed, I think an ending where everything was sunshine and roses afterwards would be equally as heavy-handed and half-assed.

    Dragkonias on
  • CambiataCambiata Commander Shepard The likes of which even GAWD has never seenRegistered User regular
    Rhan9 wrote: »
    What the fuck is this obsession over using the word bittersweet?

    Ending stuff:
    Bittersour, more like it. Many moments in the game were genuinely bittersweet, such as the deaths of Mordin, Legion and Thane, but the ending has nothing sweet about it. The galaxy is fucked, damn near all the civilizations are going to collapse/go extinct, and none of your choices mattered in the end.

    Also, how come many people are so opposed to there being a genuinely happy ending? At least one that gets as happy as can be considering the circumstances. Is it some sort of new thing about being edgy or something, that happened some years back with comics? It should be an option. Playing through the game in a certain way should enable the player to reach a happy, if a little generic ending, while also providing proper grimdark depression fuel sort of ending for those playing particularly spectacular failsheps. Add those two endings and the choice to get closure on your choices, and the ending of the game would be fixed. Wouldn't even have to do anything to the current endings, leaving them as they are for the people who like them now.

    Providing choice for the ending would make it so much better. For the people who don't see this as necessary, well... They can just opt out from fulfilling the requirements to those endings. Nobody loses.
    After billions and billions of years, Commander Shepard is the first organic to ever break this cycle. To have her and her crew survive, and the galaxy to remain completely intact and still be able to use all of the cycle's traps (the mass relays) without being powered by Catalyst would be cheap as fuck.

    It's not like we're dealing with an enemy that can only threaten a single planet or that has only been around as long as humanity has or whatever. We're talking incomprehensibly powerful enemy who has never been defeated across the eons. Having a Disney ending would not only remove all the threat the reapers ever had, it would be a little comedic.

    That said, I would have preferred it if everything starting at the elevator was pretty much cut, and that the Crucible was just a huge weapon. Shepard dies as it fires and kills the reapers as well as destroying the mass relays (yes, I think the destruction of the mass relays is thematically important and has been foreshadowed since the first game).

    Of course I don't think that the destruction of the Citadel and mass relays is the end of everything for everyone. They still have FTL, and they have plenty of tech around to study with the galaxy's greatest minds all in Sol to study it together. So to me, that ending WOULD be a happy one, as happy a one as you can expect from the circumstances.

    "If you divide the whole world into just enemies and friends, you'll end up destroying everything" --Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind
  • DracomicronDracomicron Registered User regular
    Rhan9 wrote: »
    What the fuck is this obsession over using the word bittersweet?

    Ending stuff:
    Bittersour, more like it. Many moments in the game were genuinely bittersweet, such as the deaths of Mordin, Legion and Thane, but the ending has nothing sweet about it. The galaxy is fucked, damn near all the civilizations are going to collapse/go extinct, and none of your choices mattered in the end.

    Also, how come many people are so opposed to there being a genuinely happy ending? At least one that gets as happy as can be considering the circumstances. Is it some sort of new thing about being edgy or something, that happened some years back with comics? It should be an option. Playing through the game in a certain way should enable the player to reach a happy, if a little generic ending, while also providing proper grimdark depression fuel sort of ending for those playing particularly spectacular failsheps. Add those two endings and the choice to get closure on your choices, and the ending of the game would be fixed. Wouldn't even have to do anything to the current endings, leaving them as they are for the people who like them now.

    Providing choice for the ending would make it so much better. For the people who don't see this as necessary, well... They can just opt out from fulfilling the requirements to those endings. Nobody loses.

    I would not have objected to a short clip of
    Liara and a blue BabyShep, telling the child about her father the Dead Space Hero.
    More optimism, more adversity, less WTF, would be nice.

  • ZzuluZzulu Registered User regular
    edited March 2012
    I just finished the game and I had no problem with the ending
    I chose the magical middle option and as I understand it I just turned everyone into a new form of life judging by Jokers robot eyes. As far as I know, this new form of life will have no issues surviving the consequences of the Mass Effect relays being destroyed. Overall it seemed to be a happy tone, kind of like "THERE'S A BRAVE NEW WORLD OUT THERE NOW AND THE EVIL CYCLE HAS ENDED!" I haven't seen the other endings yet but as far as I can remember they were either "destroy syntethics or take control" and the reaper cycle was started in the first place because they believed synths and organics couldn't co-exist. So I chose the "lets all be together koombaya" path. It's pretty weird to be the agent of such a choice though.

    Overall ME3 was superb. The setpieces were amazing and the story was interesting from start to end. Easily the best game in the series and one of the best games I've played, it seemed to hit all my sweetspots.

    My only regret is the fact that it seems they are going to let the franchise rest now. The Mass Effect gates are gone and our choices drastically changed everything in the entire universe so making some sort of spinoff might be difficult

    Zzulu on
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  • HeisenbergHeisenberg Registered User regular
    No one should feel ashamed about writing up their own fanfic ending since what we actually got was just bad fanfic grade nonsense.

  • ZzuluZzulu Registered User regular
    I didn't romance anyone and somehow that felt right for the Shepard character.
    Liara was in the friendzone, Tali and Garrus hooked up, EDI and Joker hooked up though.

    Also, in ME2 I never relased Grunt from his tube...
    The game didn't seem to acknowledge this choice in ME3 though. What happened to Grunt?

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  • ErlkönigErlkönig Seattle, WARegistered User regular
    Invisible wrote: »
    Kelly
    You can save her by telling her to change her name. At least that's what I'm told since I missed her completely.
    Are you kidding me?! Between the two options of "It's good to see you" and "Change your name", I wasn't sure which way to jump. "Change your name" seemed to brusque and "It's good to see you" didn't look like it was going to offer anything in the way of warning her to stay the hell away from Cerberus. Sigh...guess I know what I'm going to do in my male-shep adept run...

    | Origin/R*SC: Ein7919 | Battle.net: Erlkonig#1448 | XBL: Lexicanum | Steam: Der Erlkönig (the umlaut is important) |
  • SirsonSirson Registered User regular
    Invisible wrote: »
    Kelly
    You can save her by telling her to change her name. At least that's what I'm told since I missed her completely.
    She was in the game? Totally missed her and I was pretty through, hitting the Citadel constantly mashing V etc

  • OrcaOrca Also known as Espressosaurus WrexRegistered User regular
    Zzulu wrote: »
    I didn't romance anyone and somehow that felt right for the Shepard character.
    Liara was in the friendzone, Tali and Garrus hooked up, EDI and Joker hooked up though.

    Also, in ME2 I never relased Grunt from his tube...
    The game didn't seem to acknowledge this choice in ME3 though. What happened to Grunt?
    I'm assuming you just got some random krogan for that mission then?

  • CarbonFireCarbonFire See you in the countryRegistered User regular
    Zzulu wrote: »
    I didn't romance anyone and somehow that felt right for the Shepard character.
    Liara was in the friendzone, Tali and Garrus hooked up, EDI and Joker hooked up though.

    Also, in ME2 I never relased Grunt from his tube...
    The game didn't seem to acknowledge this choice in ME3 though. What happened to Grunt?

    Nothing. He's still sitting in that tube in some space warehouse somewhere. Good Job.

    Grunt has a pretty awesome moment in ME3
    against the Rachni

    Steam: CarbonFire MWO, PSN, Origin: Carb0nFire
  • Rhan9Rhan9 Registered User regular
    edited March 2012
    Dragkonias wrote: »
    Rhan9 wrote: »
    What the fuck is this obsession over using the word bittersweet?

    Ending stuff:
    Bittersour, more like it. Many moments in the game were genuinely bittersweet, such as the deaths of Mordin, Legion and Thane, but the ending has nothing sweet about it. The galaxy is fucked, damn near all the civilizations are going to collapse/go extinct, and none of your choices mattered in the end.

    Also, how come many people are so opposed to there being a genuinely happy ending? At least one that gets as happy as can be considering the circumstances. Is it some sort of new thing about being edgy or something, that happened some years back with comics? It should be an option. Playing through the game in a certain way should enable the player to reach a happy, if a little generic ending, while also providing proper grimdark depression fuel sort of ending for those playing particularly spectacular failsheps. Add those two endings and the choice to get closure on your choices, and the ending of the game would be fixed. Wouldn't even have to do anything to the current endings, leaving them as they are for the people who like them now.

    Providing choice for the ending would make it so much better. For the people who don't see this as necessary, well... They can just opt out from fulfilling the requirements to those endings. Nobody loses.

    I am. I generally believe that giving a
    everyone is happy and everything worked out perfectly ending even if optional would completely under-mind the game.

    It isn't about being edgy, it's about creating a compelling narrative. While I think the ending after TIM was half-assed, I think an ending where everything was sunshine and roses afterwards would be equally as heavy-handed and half-assed.
    What is currently in the game is in no way, shape or form compelling. At least not to many people. I'm not saying everything needs to roll back in a happy ending as if though the reapers never existed. I'm saying it should be happy as far as possible under the circumstances, as opposed to the current "Welp, we might've technically won, but everything and everyone is more or less fucked". Providing an ending with a positive air, and actual hope of recovery wouldn't undermine the game in any way whatsoever, since for many people it was exactly what they were fighting for.

    Providing a choice in the ending isn't taking anything away from anyone else, and like I said there's no reason an utterly grimdark shitfest couldn't be included for the people who'd prefer that sort of an ending(and I would make at least one playthrough that way), as well as retaining the current pseudo-profound endings for those who liked them. The responses that usually involve claims about a positive(i.e. as positive as possible in the currently messed up galaxy, not some magical "everything turned out just hunky dory"-ending) endings "cheapening" or "undermining" the experience just read to me as "Fuck you I got mine". I received no satisfaction from the ending, and if someone else did, great, good for them. Why shouldn't other people get that as well though?

    I mean, these kinds of endings were shit when they happened in Evangelion and Deus Ex:HR, no reason they'd be better when stuck to a Bioware game. They're just inherently dissatisfying to many people, and they're nowhere near as intellectual as they pretend to be.

    Rhan9 on
  • AsiinaAsiina ... WaterlooRegistered User regular
    Zzulu wrote: »
    I didn't romance anyone and somehow that felt right for the Shepard character.
    Liara was in the friendzone, Tali and Garrus hooked up, EDI and Joker hooked up though.

    Also, in ME2 I never relased Grunt from his tube...
    The game didn't seem to acknowledge this choice in ME3 though. What happened to Grunt?

    Grunt
    Wrex gives you a mission where you go release the rachni queen who's been trapped by the reapers and are forcing her to produce reaper-babies. Grunt leads the Krogan team already on the ground when you get there. At the end you get to make a decision which you think will either release the rachni queen to help you but will get Grunt and his men killed, or leave her to die but save Grunt.

    But then it's cool, cause Grunt is a boss and fights his way through. I think it's the only time the game fakes you out on someone dying. You get to talk to him at the end via the comm guy when you talk to everyone else individually.

  • SirsonSirson Registered User regular
    Well said by Tycho, and especially true for the crazy drama queens on the Official Social forums. The I haven't ate in 24 hours because Mass Effect 3 is over crowd.
    "Mass Effect 3 succeeds, and succeeds, and succeeds as it unfolds; for it to be over, for it to stop at all, must certainly be seen as failure of a sort. The reaction to the endings is an index of player investment and seeming ownership over the narrative, years in the making, and is as much Bioware’s creation as the game itself. "

  • Dharma BumDharma Bum Registered User regular
    Rhan9 wrote: »
    What the fuck is this obsession over using the word bittersweet?

    Ending stuff:
    Bittersour, more like it. Many moments in the game were genuinely bittersweet, such as the deaths of Mordin, Legion and Thane, but the ending has nothing sweet about it. The galaxy is fucked, damn near all the civilizations are going to collapse/go extinct, and none of your choices mattered in the end.

    Also, how come many people are so opposed to there being a genuinely happy ending? At least one that gets as happy as can be considering the circumstances. Is it some sort of new thing about being edgy or something, that happened some years back with comics? It should be an option. Playing through the game in a certain way should enable the player to reach a happy, if a little generic ending, while also providing proper grimdark depression fuel sort of ending for those playing particularly spectacular failsheps. Add those two endings and the choice to get closure on your choices, and the ending of the game would be fixed. Wouldn't even have to do anything to the current endings, leaving them as they are for the people who like them now.

    Providing choice for the ending would make it so much better. For the people who don't see this as necessary, well... They can just opt out from fulfilling the requirements to those endings. Nobody loses.
    Some guy on Kotaku wrote derisively about the fan campaign to change the ending, and mentioned he would be "proud" if he was the writer who provoked such a strong negative reaction. That was a ridiculous statement. The whole game was great, multiplayer was excellent, but the ending was terrible. I haven't read one full endorsement of it anywhere. Maybe a few people playing devil's advocate defending it a little, but that's it.

    That writer shouldn't be proud that they hurt the franchise. That's like saying the Brannon Braga should be proud of his work on Star Trek: Enterprise, or that Sam Raimi should be proud of Spider-Man 3. The hook of the franchise is that choices will have consequences and carry over from game to game, and I thought they were hinting that there was a big master plan to end the trilogy in a beautiful ballet of continuity porn. That didn't happen - the ending seemed rushed and gimmicky.

    It's like if you're showing a kid the Star Wars moves sequentially, and he sees Boba Fett as a kid learning how to dogfight in an asteroid fields and fight Jedi Knights mano a mano from his dad, and then watches his father's head get cut off after taking out like 20 dudes with lightsabers, and watches him take up his father's mantle and silently swear revenge to his severed head, and then he show up in A New Hope as a badass flanking Jabba and maddogging the audience, and then that scene in Empire when he seems to scare the shit out of Vader because he can't seem to stop straight up disintegrating people, and the kid is thinking, this guy's awesome, he's going to do something so cool in Return of the Jedi, he's going to torch Lando with the flamethrower on his wrist or something, and then he gets accidentally bumped into the fucking Sarlacc pit and induces a comical burp. That's the ME3 ending for me. It's the Sarlacc belching Boba Fett gas.

    I think there shouldn't have been a choice at the end of this game. If they wanted to end Shepard's story and move on to developing the next sequel for next generation consoles, there should have been one spectacular, canonical ending that would unify story canon to the point the galaxy is saved, and set up the universe for the next game. Let Shep and his squad live so they can go off and do post game DLC.

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  • curly haired boycurly haired boy Your Friendly Neighborhood Torgue Dealer Registered User regular
    i'm with you, cambiata.
    the relays HAD to go. sovvy says from the beginning that their chief purpose is to guide organic development along a pre-determined path. fuck that shit, time to break free.

    also, anyone who things the ending makes all your work count for nothing is on SPACE CRACK.

    you have a chance to leave the galaxy in a more hopeful long-term position than it's EVER been in. you defeat the reapers, ending the cycle. depending on your choices you can solve some of the greatest interspecies conflicts of your era. so fucking what if the relays are gone - we need to determine our own path. and i can't think of a more hopeful ending than a galaxy, united - both organics and synthetics - to fight for survival and a common desire to rebel against the plans of the ancients.

    as i've said before, this ending lets bioware take some frankly amazing steps with the mass effect universe going forward. i can't fucking wait.

    RxI0N.png
    Registered just for the Mass Effect threads | Steam: click ^^^ | Origin: curlyhairedboy
  • ZzuluZzulu Registered User regular
    edited March 2012
    Kias wrote: »
    jdarksun wrote: »
    Donnicton wrote: »
    jdarksun wrote: »
    Etiowsa wrote: »
    Skull2185 wrote: »
    On normal difficulty, a cloaked Infiltrator can kill a Harvester in two shots with the Black Widow.

    Crazy. Awesome.

    Also works on hardcore, btw.

    Anyway, I gotta ask a question about the ending:
    Was I the only one who got confused by the whole setup to the final battle? TIM figures out the citadel is the catalyst, tells the reapers, who then immediately take control of it and move it to earth for some reason. Like, why the hell would he even do that? He was going on about how the crucible is the key to controlling the reapers, so what did that accomplish? Yeah, he's indoctrinated obviously, so why can't I throw this obvious illogical thing in his face to prove he's brain fucked? Also, if taking the citadel was so easy, why would the reapers wait till TIM contacts them to do so? The whole endgame of 1 is about how the citadel is a focal point for the galactic community and taking it causes a massive disruption/demoralization effect and provides a bunch of useful intel, so why not do so if it's so damn easy? Then there's them dragging it to earth. I know narrative-wise, they wanted to make it the site of the final battle, but there's really no reason for them to take the citadel there. Just felt really contrived to me. Then the ending happened and I was just wtfing for a while. I'm kinda pissed that I sprung for the collectors edition, seeing as how I have no desire to replay the game.
    Answer:
    You can throw his lack of logic in TIM's indoctrinated face until he kills himself (provided you picked all the right options in your previous interactions).

    The Reapers dragged the Citadel back to Earth because that's where their fleet is strongest. Hackett brings that up. And they didn't do it before the end, because (presumably) sending a couple Reapers out there to drag it back costs resources that could otherwise be slurping up the organic material on Earth.
    Well, if you can give me a reason to go do gruntwork when you can otherwise be relaxing on your new ruinfront property, sipping up human puree, that isn't a superweapon that can kill you, I'd like to hear it.
    It took me a bit to parse that.
    I think you're asking for the reason why the Reapers didn't drag the Citadel to Earth (their power base) before TIM told them that Shepard et al was going to use it to blow them all up?

    Could be anything, really. They don't spell it out, but I could speculate: for the same reason you don't act on every planned enemy action if you're tapping their transmissions. You give away that you're listening. The Reapers (theoretically) don't know that Shepard et al is building the Nexus at first. Eventually, one assumes that they find out - but even so, it's only half of what's needed to defeat them. If the Reapers rush right out and grab the Citadel as soon as they hear about the superweapon, they're telegraphing exact what Shep needs to know.
    I kind of just repressed this for continuity's sake, but
    Wasn't the big thing about the citadel that it controlled the Mass Relays? So, in the previous cycle, the reapers grabbed it, and locked the Protheans off from one another. At first I was thinking, ok, Citadel is easy to defend so they are not bothering. But then, they yoink the thing and fly it to earth with no real mention of resistance and the only consequence is that Shepard needs to take another conduit ride to get back inside.
    .


    The reason
    the reapers brought the citadel to earth so they could make the new reaper. Shep and Anderson speak about it briefly. The reapers goal isn't just the destruction of everything, one of their primary goals is to make a human reaper before they complete their annihilation cycle and since we denied them that in ME2 they had to scramble and improvise to make a new one in ME3

    Zzulu on
    t5qfc9.jpg
  • Rhan9Rhan9 Registered User regular
    Sirson wrote: »
    Well said by Tycho, and especially true for the crazy drama queens on the Official Social forums. The I haven't ate in 24 hours because Mass Effect 3 is over crowd.
    "Mass Effect 3 succeeds, and succeeds, and succeeds as it unfolds; for it to be over, for it to stop at all, must certainly be seen as failure of a sort. The reaction to the endings is an index of player investment and seeming ownership over the narrative, years in the making, and is as much Bioware’s creation as the game itself. "
    The thing is, there's perceived failure(the usual rabid fanboy stuff), and then there is actual failure to deliver. It should not be a wild claim to say that the series has been about choices and consequences, along with the interactions between characters, and many developer interviews and the like have built up an expectation that the players would find out how things turn out depending on their choices. The failure to deliver essentially ANY continuity makes all of these choices completely pointless in retrospect, and removes what got many people into the series in the first place.

  • ZzuluZzulu Registered User regular
    edited March 2012
    Asiina wrote: »
    Zzulu wrote: »
    I didn't romance anyone and somehow that felt right for the Shepard character.
    Liara was in the friendzone, Tali and Garrus hooked up, EDI and Joker hooked up though.

    Also, in ME2 I never relased Grunt from his tube...
    The game didn't seem to acknowledge this choice in ME3 though. What happened to Grunt?

    Grunt
    Wrex gives you a mission where you go release the rachni queen who's been trapped by the reapers and are forcing her to produce reaper-babies. Grunt leads the Krogan team already on the ground when you get there. At the end you get to make a decision which you think will either release the rachni queen to help you but will get Grunt and his men killed, or leave her to die but save Grunt.

    But then it's cool, cause Grunt is a boss and fights his way through. I think it's the only time the game fakes you out on someone dying. You get to talk to him at the end via the comm guy when you talk to everyone else individually.

    Ah cool.
    Yeah I got the same mission except the team leader was just some random Krogan. Also he dies and does not fight through :(

    Zzulu on
    t5qfc9.jpg
  • ElendilElendil Registered User regular
    Didn't Bioware say that somebody would shout "You should have killed me when you had the chance, Shepard!"?
    I ran into Balak on my paragon. I think he might have said something like that, hard to hear over all the shooting him in the face.
    After zealously hoarding war assets like a dragon hoards gold, I saw those persuade options, thought for about three seconds and shot him in the face.

    Whatever I was going to get from him was not worth it.

  • HappylilElfHappylilElf Registered User regular
    Mid-game spoilers (Quarians)
    Stupid. Fucking. Quarians.

    I'd elaborate more but honestly? That sums the entire thing up pretty well from my perspective.

  • evilthecatevilthecat Registered User regular
    evilthecat wrote: »
    evilthecat wrote: »
    Skull2185 wrote: »
    OH MY GOD..... :C :C :C
    You just made me realise that I made it so that The Quarian fleet will never get to see their newly reobtained homeworld...

    I feel like such a dick now... :C
    they can, though.
    conventional FTL drives.
    just look at how far the reapers got in 2 years: darkspace to the milky way.
    might be a bit longer as non-reaper ships might not be as fast and they will likely have to detour a bit for fuelling stops but other than that it's entirely feasible.
    Only problem with that is fuel. Reapers don't use fuel when they do FTL, they are also much faster than the fastest normal ship.

    Looking at the galaxy map, Rannoch is roughly 80,000 light years from Earth. No fucking way they have the fuel for that and even if they did, I seriously doubt any Quarian would see their home in their lifetime. Next generation maybe.

    That also doesn't count food. I'm not sure how many live ships were at the battle, but even if only a couple got destroyed, feeding the fleet would be insufficient, you'd have to allow some to die so the rest could live.

    The Quarians are generally fucked.

    and hey presto
    there's loads of reaper corpses lying around.
    i think they will be able to go home, it'll likely be an epic journey but still!
    Except for the fact where dead Reapers can still indoctrinate, sure.

    The only Quarians who will survive are the ones left behind on Rannoch.

    There just isn't enough fuel left. Also be aware that the Volus, Elco, Turians, Salarian, and Asari will want to go home too. So don't expect them to share fuel. Hypothetically, the Salarians, Asari, and Elcor could stay on Earth for a while, but the Volus need air to breath, and Turians/Quarians need food to eat and nothing on Earth would give useful nutrients.

    I'm sorry, but they are fucked.

    but they aren't.
    major production centers might be gone but colonial worlds are still up and running and with the population having being killed as it was I really don't think there's alot of demand.
    the turians and quarians can easily eat the food off the live ships.

    I hadn't thought about the volus but heck, all they sent was 1 dreadnaught, it's not like there's alot of them above earth.

    I'M SORRY, but you're wanting to paint a very glum picture and believe there is no hope.
    I on the other hand think it's possible.

    and guess what, without bioware to patch in an epilogue everyone can have an opinion and be right at the same time!

    tip.. tip.. TALLY.. HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
  • TTODewbackTTODewback Puts the drawl in ya'll I think I'm in HellRegistered User regular
    What I don't get is..
    How the fuck did they even grab the citadel? Did they get like 500 reapers to hold on to it and then jump to FTL at the exact same moment? Can something that big even USE a mass relay? Or did they chant "There's no place like home" 3 times while click-clacking their tentactles together and summoned it? I mean we see the citadel open and close it's "arms", but we've never seen it being flown places.

    Bless your heart.
  • Rhan9Rhan9 Registered User regular
    i'm with you, cambiata.
    the relays HAD to go. sovvy says from the beginning that their chief purpose is to guide organic development along a pre-determined path. fuck that shit, time to break free.

    also, anyone who things the ending makes all your work count for nothing is on SPACE CRACK.

    you have a chance to leave the galaxy in a more hopeful long-term position than it's EVER been in. you defeat the reapers, ending the cycle. depending on your choices you can solve some of the greatest interspecies conflicts of your era. so fucking what if the relays are gone - we need to determine our own path. and i can't think of a more hopeful ending than a galaxy, united - both organics and synthetics - to fight for survival and a common desire to rebel against the plans of the ancients.

    as i've said before, this ending lets bioware take some frankly amazing steps with the mass effect universe going forward. i can't fucking wait.
    It does invalidate your choices if you care more about the direct consequences of those choices and not some hypothetical future society that's at best marginally tied to the current setting. The defeat of the reapers and the ending of the cycle were to many people just a stepping stone towards finding out how their choices shape the galaxy afterwards, and they received nothing for it, making the choices pointless, since you can do whatever and get the same ending with a different color palette.

    The destruction of the relays is not a bad thing, in fact it's a good thing for the setting to become more interesting, but the current endings address none of the expectation for a sizable portion of the player base at the moment.

  • JepheryJephery Registered User regular
    evilthecat wrote: »
    evilthecat wrote: »
    evilthecat wrote: »
    Skull2185 wrote: »
    OH MY GOD..... :C :C :C
    You just made me realise that I made it so that The Quarian fleet will never get to see their newly reobtained homeworld...

    I feel like such a dick now... :C
    they can, though.
    conventional FTL drives.
    just look at how far the reapers got in 2 years: darkspace to the milky way.
    might be a bit longer as non-reaper ships might not be as fast and they will likely have to detour a bit for fuelling stops but other than that it's entirely feasible.
    Only problem with that is fuel. Reapers don't use fuel when they do FTL, they are also much faster than the fastest normal ship.

    Looking at the galaxy map, Rannoch is roughly 80,000 light years from Earth. No fucking way they have the fuel for that and even if they did, I seriously doubt any Quarian would see their home in their lifetime. Next generation maybe.

    That also doesn't count food. I'm not sure how many live ships were at the battle, but even if only a couple got destroyed, feeding the fleet would be insufficient, you'd have to allow some to die so the rest could live.

    The Quarians are generally fucked.

    and hey presto
    there's loads of reaper corpses lying around.
    i think they will be able to go home, it'll likely be an epic journey but still!
    Except for the fact where dead Reapers can still indoctrinate, sure.

    The only Quarians who will survive are the ones left behind on Rannoch.

    There just isn't enough fuel left. Also be aware that the Volus, Elco, Turians, Salarian, and Asari will want to go home too. So don't expect them to share fuel. Hypothetically, the Salarians, Asari, and Elcor could stay on Earth for a while, but the Volus need air to breath, and Turians/Quarians need food to eat and nothing on Earth would give useful nutrients.

    I'm sorry, but they are fucked.

    but they aren't.
    major production centers might be gone but colonial worlds are still up and running and with the population having being killed as it was I really don't think there's alot of demand.
    the turians and quarians can easily eat the food off the live ships.

    I hadn't thought about the volus but heck, all they sent was 1 dreadnaught, it's not like there's alot of them above earth.

    I'M SORRY, but you're wanting to paint a very glum picture and believe there is no hope.
    I on the other hand think it's possible.

    and guess what, without bioware to patch in an epilogue everyone can have an opinion and be right at the same time!
    The liveships stayed at Rannoch

    }
    "Orkses never lose a battle. If we win we win, if we die we die fightin so it don't count. If we runs for it we don't die neither, cos we can come back for annuver go, see!".
  • curly haired boycurly haired boy Your Friendly Neighborhood Torgue Dealer Registered User regular
    Rhan9 wrote: »
    Sirson wrote: »
    Well said by Tycho, and especially true for the crazy drama queens on the Official Social forums. The I haven't ate in 24 hours because Mass Effect 3 is over crowd.
    "Mass Effect 3 succeeds, and succeeds, and succeeds as it unfolds; for it to be over, for it to stop at all, must certainly be seen as failure of a sort. The reaction to the endings is an index of player investment and seeming ownership over the narrative, years in the making, and is as much Bioware’s creation as the game itself. "
    The thing is, there's perceived failure(the usual rabid fanboy stuff), and then there is actual failure to deliver. It should not be a wild claim to say that the series has been about choices and consequences, along with the interactions between characters, and many developer interviews and the like have built up an expectation that the players would find out how things turn out depending on their choices. The failure to deliver essentially ANY continuity makes all of these choices completely pointless in retrospect, and removes what got many people into the series in the first place.
    the continuity's already there, spread across the ENTIRETY of the game. i don't need it from the ending because from the very start bioware's hammering home the choices i've made in the first two games.

    RxI0N.png
    Registered just for the Mass Effect threads | Steam: click ^^^ | Origin: curlyhairedboy
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