The next gen trend of prioritizing having moments of visual fidelity over qualities like visual consistency and overall immersion, it's scaring the shit out of me.
It's been headed that way for years, though.
I see the texture pop-in as a result of hardware limitations, not the engine. I'm amazed it looks like it does with no dedicated texture memory and only half a gig of total RAM.
Did the female staff at Bioware have input on Carth and Sky from Jade Empire as well, since those guys have pretty much the same backstory regarding romance? If so, then Bioware have some quite protective ladies on their payroll ;-)
Not sure this is spoiler at this point, but to be safe...
I honestly don't know. KotOR was before my time, and I only arrived in the last six months or so of Jade. I do know that since I arrived, the male:female ration has improved quite a bit. We have three actual female writers (and two editors) now!
Here's the problem; different universes work in different ways. In a kids' show the power of love and friendship will overcome all obstacles, in Planescape: Torment it will probably get you killed in a tragic and pointless manner. Ashley's opinion is ever so slightly - not by much - out of whack with Bioware's universe.
(ending spoilers)
The game makes allusions to realism, but when you save the council as a paragon they don't continue to deny the Alliance a seat among their number. If they did, Ashley would be spot on. But they don't, so the pattern is - yes, for the most part, paragon actions will spread peace and harmony. This is true virtually all the way through the game; at no point (that I came across) does a paragon (i.e. pan-species communal, as opposed to more nationalistic) action net you an unexpectedly negative outcome. So Ashley is an unfair pragmatist in a fairly idealistic universe, and that's what makes her seem like a pointless racist.
I thought this was a very astute observation. It definitely merits further thought.
Ashley's conversational dialogue didn't make me think she was xenophobic, just very guarded, which is appropriate for a soldier who
just lost her entire unit to a Geth surprise attack, and saw Eden Prime colonists converted into Husks, and whose grandfather was ruined at the hands of excessively forceful Turians.
What DID make me think she was a xenophobe were a couple of the "out of conversation" comments she made while on the Citadel. The foremost being "Nice lake. I wonder how many bodies are in it." That comment made me think "alien hater" even before it came up in this thread.
I honestly don't know. KotOR was before my time, and I only arrived in the last six months or so of Jade. I do know that since I arrived, the male:female ration has improved quite a bit. We have three actual female writers (and two editors) now!
Are you twelve?
EDIT
Oh, wait. Before your time being employed at BioWare. Stupid me. Sorry.
Thanks for making such a fucking bad ass game, though.
Ashley's conversational dialogue didn't make me think she was xenophobic, just very guarded, which is appropriate for a soldier who
just lost her entire unit to a Geth surprise attack, and saw Eden Prime colonists converted into Husks, and whose grandfather was ruined at the hands of excessively forceful Turians.
What DID make me think she was a xenophobe were a couple of the "out of conversation" comments she made while on the Citadel. The foremost being "Nice lake. I wonder how many bodies are in it." That comment made me think "alien hater" even before it came up in this thread.
"I can't tell the aliens from the animals" was another remark that didn't exactly make her shine in my eyes..
Ashley was definitely the worst character of the party members.
Closely followed by Wrex.
I mean, that doesnt mean they were bad, per se, but just not as awesome as the others. Garrus in particular. I think the tone of garrus was just right. He aspires to be a Spectre his whole life, and is now given the chance of accompanying you, a Spectre, on a super important mission.
I genuinely hope they make Garrus a Spectre in future content. It would just fit the tone of that character just right. I played with him from the first moments you meet him on the Citadel (Good shot) till the very end. Both with his plot subquest and out of dialogue tree comments (like when walking around and in elevators) he definitely felt like a 'partner' in the way cops have partners. When he gets Nihlus' armour and the Spectre prototype weapons he looks completely badass.
Tali was also a good character. Both plot wise and gameplay. Shes a good example of Bioware leaving 'hooks' all over the game for a sequel content. We know at some point we are gonna get to visit/see the Flotilla. Plus all kinds of backstory to do with the Geth.
What I didnt like about Wrex was that he was a little too brooding. I mean yeah, having your entire species being wiped out is annoying and brutally painful, but he came off like a whiner most of the time. His main subplot to find his fathers armour though was much more interesting than the whole genophage thing. The problem with that was that he has this almost generic 'smoldering' feel that he is just pissed off with everything and everyone. I would have preferred him to have been a bit more 'rogue' as it were. The scenes on Virmire were great and I wish they had more of that kind of stuff. I mean for the most part he is 'I hate you sheperd, my species is dying and I have nothing to live for. but ill stick around and risk my life for you anyways, just 'cause
All in all the party members' plotlines were less developed than in previous BioWare games. Garrus' kinda just spluttered and died, Wrex didnt even get to wear his armour which would have been a perfect payoff for the quest. Tali too had really no questline at all other than 'kill a fuckton of Geth'
Still, the romance plots were much better. Except you cant talk about them on forums without the discussion devolving into 'lol nerd masturbation' or 'what are you, twelve'
They were well developed and the impact it had on the game was certainly more thorough than in previous games. KOTOR is a great analogy.
Im not saying I want a standard 'keep talking to them until you have to go somewhere to kill someone' like KOTOR. Just mix things up a little. It still had that feeling of after every major storyline planet you visited you did a whip around of the Normandy to make sure you got all the new dialogue from the party members. It was like housekeeping.
I was fully prepared to hate Wrex. I thought he was going to be the Constable Odo of the game: Constantly bitching about how lost his people are while halfassedly helping the good guys, but not really. It turned out he kept the bitching to a minimum, kicked generous amounts of ass, and had some of the best lines in the game. One of the comments he made to the Salarian administrator on Noveria regarding Asari commandos was so awesome.
I hate you sheperd, my species is dying and I have nothing to live for. but ill stick around and risk my life for you anyways, just 'cause
i didn't get that feeling at all and his later one on one dialogues really don't support that theory.
Which one are you talking about. I havent stuck with Wrex through the whole game I might have missed it. To be fair I have probably judged his character from the very start and ditched him. I guess it turns out awesome?
Also, BioWare. Kidnap Jack Wall and keep him locked in a sealed room in Edmonton towers. This OST is incredible.
Wrex is definitely one of my favorites, if not my absolute favorite.
When you bring up what happened to his people, asking how he feels, he basically calls you a dumbass for having to ask, but otherwise he almost never mentions it. It's clear that, while he IS upset about the genophage, and all, he has accepted that things are the way that they are, and he just wants to go on making a living.
I was fully prepared to hate Wrex. I thought he was going to be the Constable Odo of the game: Constantly bitching about how lost his people are while halfassedly helping the good guys, but not really. It turned out he kept the bitching to a minimum, kicked generous amounts of ass, and had some of the best lines in the game. One of the comments he made to the Salarian administrator on Noveria regarding Asari commandos was so awesome.
"You let in people who can kill you with their brains and then complain about our guns?"
Wrex was my favorite character. How can you call him a whiner? You practically have to force him to reveal any of his backstory. And he had some of my favorite lines in the game. Particularly
(NOVERIA SPOILERS):
When (if?) you confront the paid-under-the-table hitjob security people in the Turian guy's company offices, and if you were forced to kill the first guards (dunno if it's possible to talk them down, but there were charm/intimidate options - grayed out for me)...
The head of security comes in with her posse and makes some threats and ends with "You know what we do to cop-killers on my world?"
Which honestly made me feel kinda bad, since I was playing a mostly Paragon type. Until Wrex counters with, "You were taking bribes from the administrator to take out his trash. You know what we do to dirty cops on my world?"
Wrex was my favorite character. How can you call him a whiner? You practically have to force him to reveal any of his backstory. And he had some of my favorite lines in the game. Particularly
(NOVERIA SPOILERS):
When (if?) you confront the paid-under-the-table hitjob security people in the Turian guy's company offices, and if you were forced to kill the first guards (dunno if it's possible to talk them down, but there were charm/intimidate options - grayed out for me)...
The head of security comes in with her posse and makes some threats and ends with "You know what we do to cop-killers on my world?"
Which honestly made me feel kinda bad, since I was playing a mostly Paragon type. Until Wrex counters with, "You were taking bribes from the administrator to take out his trash. You know what we do to dirty cops on my world?"
Hi5, Wrex.
I enjoyed killing those ECRS jerkoffs far more than any Paragon should. Starting with the blonde chick, who got off on the wrong foot by talking trash to us when we first arrived at the spaceport.
Wrex was my favorite character. How can you call him a whiner? You practically have to force him to reveal any of his backstory. And he had some of my favorite lines in the game. Particularly
(NOVERIA SPOILERS):
When (if?) you confront the paid-under-the-table hitjob security people in the Turian guy's company offices, and if you were forced to kill the first guards (dunno if it's possible to talk them down, but there were charm/intimidate options - grayed out for me)...
The head of security comes in with her posse and makes some threats and ends with "You know what we do to cop-killers on my world?"
Which honestly made me feel kinda bad, since I was playing a mostly Paragon type. Until Wrex counters with, "You were taking bribes from the administrator to take out his trash. You know what we do to dirty cops on my world?"
Hi5, Wrex.
I enjoyed killing those ECRS jerkoffs far more than any Paragon should. Starting with the blonde chick, who got off on the wrong foot by talking trash to us when we first arrived at the spaceport.
Same here. I don't care how righteous I was trying to be. Bitch started shit when I landed, her thugs were crooked cops (the one thing a good cop hates?) and they started blasting at me the moment I walked in the door.
Something to the effect of "I wonder if the non-essential staff knew about this contingency." It nails the paragon/renegade theme so well. I bet they had other characters say it if Wrex isn't part of the party but I can't imagine anyone saying it better or even as well as he does
Something to the effect of "I wonder if the non-essential staff knew about this contingency." It nails the paragon/renegade theme so well. I bet they had other characters say it if Wrex isn't part of the party but I can't imagine anyone saying it better or even as well as he does
Tali said that line on my playthrough. It seemed a little out of place coming from her.
Wrex was my favorite character. How can you call him a whiner? You practically have to force him to reveal any of his backstory. And he had some of my favorite lines in the game. Particularly
(NOVERIA SPOILERS):
When (if?) you confront the paid-under-the-table hitjob security people in the Turian guy's company offices, and if you were forced to kill the first guards (dunno if it's possible to talk them down, but there were charm/intimidate options - grayed out for me)...
The head of security comes in with her posse and makes some threats and ends with "You know what we do to cop-killers on my world?"
Which honestly made me feel kinda bad, since I was playing a mostly Paragon type. Until Wrex counters with, "You were taking bribes from the administrator to take out his trash. You know what we do to dirty cops on my world?"
Hi5, Wrex.
I enjoyed killing those ECRS jerkoffs far more than any Paragon should. Starting with the blonde chick, who got off on the wrong foot by talking trash to us when we first arrived at the spaceport.
Oh man, seriously. Noveria made me really look forward to my second playthrough so I can be a total dick.
Something to the effect of "I wonder if the non-essential staff knew about this contingency." It nails the paragon/renegade theme so well. I bet they had other characters say it if Wrex isn't part of the party but I can't imagine anyone saying it better or even as well as he does
Tali said that line on my playthrough. It seemed a little out of place coming from her.
Garrus in mine, and I thought it fit him well, actually.
Something to the effect of "I wonder if the non-essential staff knew about this contingency." It nails the paragon/renegade theme so well. I bet they had other characters say it if Wrex isn't part of the party but I can't imagine anyone saying it better or even as well as he does
Tali said that line on my playthrough. It seemed a little out of place coming from her.
Garrus in mine, and I thought it fit him well, actually.
Tali was also the one to tell me, at the very very end,
That I shouldn't rescue the council, because then I might not have enough firepower to bring down Sovereign.
I'm on my second play through as an Adept and he's definitely taking a little longer to come into his own. There's little glimmers of awesome in big firefights but he's still not reaching full potential. I've been focusing more on individual powers then just leveling them all as a whole so while he does a few things really well there's also a lot of downtime waiting for stuff to recharge.
I'm on my second play through as an Adept and he's definitely taking a little longer to come into his own. There's little glimmers of awesome in big firefights but he's still not reaching full potential. I've been focusing more on individual powers then just leveling them all as a whole so while he does a few things really well there's also a lot of downtime waiting for stuff to recharge.
He'll get there, don't worry. I'd recommend you upgrade your pistol skill along with biotics, though. It helps a lot in firefights when the AI stutters.
rchou on
0
AxenMy avatar is Excalibur.Yes, the sword.Registered Userregular
I'm on my second play through as an Adept and he's definitely taking a little longer to come into his own. There's little glimmers of awesome in big firefights but he's still not reaching full potential. I've been focusing more on individual powers then just leveling them all as a whole so while he does a few things really well there's also a lot of downtime waiting for stuff to recharge.
Stay the course! They become ungodly later on.
Axen on
A Capellan's favorite sheath for any blade is your back.
0
Waka LakaRiding the stuffed UnicornIf ya know what I mean.Registered Userregular
edited November 2007
*BAM*
*Monkeys go flying from explosion"
Wrex - "Nice shot Shepard!"
Ashley - "I would have just thrown stones at them"
I'm on my second play through as an Adept and he's definitely taking a little longer to come into his own. There's little glimmers of awesome in big firefights but he's still not reaching full potential. I've been focusing more on individual powers then just leveling them all as a whole so while he does a few things really well there's also a lot of downtime waiting for stuff to recharge.
Stay the course! They become ungodly later on.
Exploding canisters suddenly become more useful when you get Singularity. :P
Something to the effect of "I wonder if the non-essential staff knew about this contingency." It nails the paragon/renegade theme so well. I bet they had other characters say it if Wrex isn't part of the party but I can't imagine anyone saying it better or even as well as he does
Tali said that line on my playthrough. It seemed a little out of place coming from her.
Garrus in mine, and I thought it fit him well, actually.
Tali was also the one to tell me, at the very very end,
That I shouldn't rescue the council, because then I might not have enough firepower to bring down Sovereign.
I guess she is slightly Renegade-ish.
More end-game:
I had Ashley and Garrus from Ilos to the end. He wondered aloud about the contingency plan and ignoring the Council's ship as well. I thought that was about perfect. Sympathetic to innocent victims, not so much for big government. Ashley yelling to save the council threw me off a bit though.
And more on Ashley...also includes plot stuff
I imagine it depends on how you talk to her, but by the end I thought she more or less changed her outlook on the other races. I wish I would have made her say more one-liners while grounded at the Citadel. She also talked shit on Terra Firma while I was talking to that one guy.
I imagine it depends on how you talk to her, but by the end I thought she more or less changed her outlook on the other races. I wish I would have made her say more one-liners while grounded at the Citadel. She also talked shit on Terra Firma while I was talking to that one guy.
She admits to being prejudiced but she believes in a higher power and shows hesitancy in killing other species just because they are an other species (with the Rachni queen). It's not really that she changes, it's more like her do-goodery has more grit to it. And that makes sense to me, she is the archetypal soldier.
I imagine it depends on how you talk to her, but by the end I thought she more or less changed her outlook on the other races. I wish I would have made her say more one-liners while grounded at the Citadel. She also talked shit on Terra Firma while I was talking to that one guy.
She admits to being prejudiced but she believes in a higher power and shows hesitancy in killing other species just because they are an other species (with the Rachni queen). It's not really that she changes, it's more like her do-goodery has more grit to it. And that makes sense to me, she is the archetypal soldier.
They need a framling, utlanning, ramen and varelse reference
Just finished my second playthrough on Hardcore, and godamnit I'm still not 60 - currently sitting at lvl 59 with like 30-40k XP left to go.
Honestly though, I have to say Hardcore wasn't that bad at all. I never used the Mako to fight anything, I did it all on foot (fighting Colossus and Armatures on foot is fun as fuck) which doubled my experience gain, plus it got me in the habit of constantly spamming my abilities.
Favorite character for me so far has to be Wrex, mainly because he kicks all sorts of ass wherever you go, has good one liners and all around I think he's pretty cool. Second place would have to go to Garrus.
Posts
It's been headed that way for years, though.
I see the texture pop-in as a result of hardware limitations, not the engine. I'm amazed it looks like it does with no dedicated texture memory and only half a gig of total RAM.
Virmire was crazy.
Not sure this is spoiler at this point, but to be safe...
While I'm here:
I thought this was a very astute observation. It definitely merits further thought.
What DID make me think she was a xenophobe were a couple of the "out of conversation" comments she made while on the Citadel. The foremost being "Nice lake. I wonder how many bodies are in it." That comment made me think "alien hater" even before it came up in this thread.
Are you twelve?
EDIT
Oh, wait. Before your time being employed at BioWare. Stupid me. Sorry.
Thanks for making such a fucking bad ass game, though.
Closely followed by Wrex.
I mean, that doesnt mean they were bad, per se, but just not as awesome as the others. Garrus in particular. I think the tone of garrus was just right. He aspires to be a Spectre his whole life, and is now given the chance of accompanying you, a Spectre, on a super important mission.
I genuinely hope they make Garrus a Spectre in future content. It would just fit the tone of that character just right. I played with him from the first moments you meet him on the Citadel (Good shot) till the very end. Both with his plot subquest and out of dialogue tree comments (like when walking around and in elevators) he definitely felt like a 'partner' in the way cops have partners. When he gets Nihlus' armour and the Spectre prototype weapons he looks completely badass.
Tali was also a good character. Both plot wise and gameplay. Shes a good example of Bioware leaving 'hooks' all over the game for a sequel content. We know at some point we are gonna get to visit/see the Flotilla. Plus all kinds of backstory to do with the Geth.
What I didnt like about Wrex was that he was a little too brooding. I mean yeah, having your entire species being wiped out is annoying and brutally painful, but he came off like a whiner most of the time. His main subplot to find his fathers armour though was much more interesting than the whole genophage thing. The problem with that was that he has this almost generic 'smoldering' feel that he is just pissed off with everything and everyone. I would have preferred him to have been a bit more 'rogue' as it were. The scenes on Virmire were great and I wish they had more of that kind of stuff. I mean for the most part he is 'I hate you sheperd, my species is dying and I have nothing to live for. but ill stick around and risk my life for you anyways, just 'cause
All in all the party members' plotlines were less developed than in previous BioWare games. Garrus' kinda just spluttered and died, Wrex didnt even get to wear his armour which would have been a perfect payoff for the quest. Tali too had really no questline at all other than 'kill a fuckton of Geth'
Still, the romance plots were much better. Except you cant talk about them on forums without the discussion devolving into 'lol nerd masturbation' or 'what are you, twelve'
They were well developed and the impact it had on the game was certainly more thorough than in previous games. KOTOR is a great analogy.
Im not saying I want a standard 'keep talking to them until you have to go somewhere to kill someone' like KOTOR. Just mix things up a little. It still had that feeling of after every major storyline planet you visited you did a whip around of the Normandy to make sure you got all the new dialogue from the party members. It was like housekeeping.
Well, a persuasive argument probably would, actually.
i didn't get that feeling at all and his later one on one dialogues really don't support that theory.
Which one are you talking about. I havent stuck with Wrex through the whole game I might have missed it. To be fair I have probably judged his character from the very start and ditched him. I guess it turns out awesome?
Also, BioWare. Kidnap Jack Wall and keep him locked in a sealed room in Edmonton towers. This OST is incredible.
When you bring up what happened to his people, asking how he feels, he basically calls you a dumbass for having to ask, but otherwise he almost never mentions it. It's clear that, while he IS upset about the genophage, and all, he has accepted that things are the way that they are, and he just wants to go on making a living.
"Would you like me to arrest you?"
"I would like to see you try."
"Well, there was this one time my species were nearly wiped out by a genetic disorder. That was fun."
PSN: OrneryRooster
"You let in people who can kill you with their brains and then complain about our guns?"
(NOVERIA SPOILERS):
The head of security comes in with her posse and makes some threats and ends with "You know what we do to cop-killers on my world?"
Which honestly made me feel kinda bad, since I was playing a mostly Paragon type. Until Wrex counters with, "You were taking bribes from the administrator to take out his trash. You know what we do to dirty cops on my world?"
Hi5, Wrex.
http://lexiconmegatherium.tumblr.com/
Sorry. Big mistake. Meet Mr. Shotgun.
Oh man, seriously. Noveria made me really look forward to my second playthrough so I can be a total dick.
Tali was also the one to tell me, at the very very end,
I guess she is slightly Renegade-ish.
I'm on my second play through as an Adept and he's definitely taking a little longer to come into his own. There's little glimmers of awesome in big firefights but he's still not reaching full potential. I've been focusing more on individual powers then just leveling them all as a whole so while he does a few things really well there's also a lot of downtime waiting for stuff to recharge.
He'll get there, don't worry. I'd recommend you upgrade your pistol skill along with biotics, though. It helps a lot in firefights when the AI stutters.
Stay the course! They become ungodly later on.
*Monkeys go flying from explosion"
Wrex - "Nice shot Shepard!"
Ashley - "I would have just thrown stones at them"
Tumblr
Exploding canisters suddenly become more useful when you get Singularity. :P
More end-game:
And more on Ashley...also includes plot stuff
heres a wiki link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koronis_Rift
(sigh) I feel old now.
They need a framling, utlanning, ramen and varelse reference
Wrex: Do your people ever talk about creating a race of sentient machines bent on wiping out the galaxy?
Tali: Do your people ever talk about your rebellion, resulting in the Turian sterilizing them?
Wrex: All the time.
Honestly though, I have to say Hardcore wasn't that bad at all. I never used the Mako to fight anything, I did it all on foot (fighting Colossus and Armatures on foot is fun as fuck) which doubled my experience gain, plus it got me in the habit of constantly spamming my abilities.
Favorite character for me so far has to be Wrex, mainly because he kicks all sorts of ass wherever you go, has good one liners and all around I think he's pretty cool. Second place would have to go to Garrus.