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Mass Effect 3: Welcome To Our Thread, Here Are Your Complimentary Tasers and Cyanide Pills

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    WeedLordVegetaWeedLordVegeta Registered User regular
    edited March 2012
    Cambiata wrote: »
    Hullis wrote: »
    Ending
    Yeah, the whole indoc ending thing is Bioware going "uhhhhh, how do we explain this ending casey wrote?"

    Bioware didn't come up with it. Fans did.
    ending
    From what I've heard, there are hints dropped in some of the codex e-mails on the iphone app. So, yeah, fans are piggy-backing off some major backpedalling.

    WeedLordVegeta on
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    CambiataCambiata Commander Shepard The likes of which even GAWD has never seenRegistered User regular
    Re: the fan explanation.

    I actually think it's a clever explanation, even though I sincerely doubt it was intended by Bioware or any of the writers.

    Kind of reminds me of an old Cracked article. If they decide to revisit the idea only with video games, I expect to see the Mass Effect fan theory listed.

    "If you divide the whole world into just enemies and friends, you'll end up destroying everything" --Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind
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    Speed RacerSpeed Racer Scritch scratch scritch scratch scritch scratch scritch scratch scritch scratch scritch scratch scritch scratch scritch scratch scritch scratch scritch scratch scritch scratch scritch scratchRegistered User regular
    ending
    I kinda like the indoctrination interpretation but there's a few big problems with it.

    First there's how Joker still crashlands even if you do it, which implies that it's not part of a hallucination or something

    secondly and far more importantly, it's possible to finish the game and have Destroy be your only option. That's a pretty shitty indoctrination attempt.

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    ZayZay yes i am zay Registered User regular
    Hullis wrote: »
    Zay wrote: »
    look

    Banshees are fucking terrifying, ok???

    Banshees are annoying at best

    RAVAGERS, however

    Hell no Ravagers ain't shit

    sthbuf0g7b7y.png
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    UnbrokenEvaUnbrokenEva HIGH ON THE WIRE BUT I WON'T TRIP ITRegistered User regular
    the only MP bug I've encountered is the "whoops we're going to pretend that last round didn't happen please give back the credits and experience points. What, you already spent the ability points from the two levels you gained? Looks like your character has negative points available until you earn them back."

    And the not being able to re-map powers to different hotkeys in MP, but I think everyone has that.

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    WeedLordVegetaWeedLordVegeta Registered User regular
    edited March 2012
    ending
    I kinda like the indoctrination interpretation but there's a few big problems with it.

    First there's how Joker still crashlands even if you do it, which implies that it's not part of a hallucination or something

    secondly and far more importantly, it's possible to finish the game and have Destroy be your only option. That's a pretty shitty indoctrination attempt.

    ending
    Yeah, the latter part is my major quibble with the idea. It ALMOST works, because you can imagine the catalyst going "yeah that's red red is bad why would you do that you'd be killing geths and a sexy robot and also you might die??? why would you want to do that"

    WeedLordVegeta on
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    WeedLordVegetaWeedLordVegeta Registered User regular
    Zay wrote: »
    Hullis wrote: »
    Zay wrote: »
    look

    Banshees are fucking terrifying, ok???

    Banshees are annoying at best

    RAVAGERS, however

    Hell no Ravagers ain't shit
    Ravagers are asshole snipers

    Banshees are in your face and expose themselves to a ton of fire

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    Speed RacerSpeed Racer Scritch scratch scritch scratch scritch scratch scritch scratch scritch scratch scritch scratch scritch scratch scritch scratch scritch scratch scritch scratch scritch scratch scritch scratchRegistered User regular
    ending
    I kinda like the indoctrination interpretation but there's a few big problems with it.

    First there's how Joker still crashlands even if you do it, which implies that it's not part of a hallucination or something

    secondly and far more importantly, it's possible to finish the game and have Destroy be your only option. That's a pretty shitty indoctrination attempt.

    and what's more
    even if that is what happens, it still does a really poor job of getting that across and doesn't give you any particular sense of failure for picking one of the "indoctrination" endings or a greater sense of success for picking Destroy, other than Shepard living which I don't really see as all that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things.

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    -Tal-Tal Registered User regular
    Is there any online archive for the Datapad texts?

    PNk1Ml4.png
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    Speed RacerSpeed Racer Scritch scratch scritch scratch scritch scratch scritch scratch scritch scratch scritch scratch scritch scratch scritch scratch scritch scratch scritch scratch scritch scratch scritch scratchRegistered User regular
    edited March 2012
    Hullis wrote: »
    ending
    I kinda like the indoctrination interpretation but there's a few big problems with it.

    First there's how Joker still crashlands even if you do it, which implies that it's not part of a hallucination or something

    secondly and far more importantly, it's possible to finish the game and have Destroy be your only option. That's a pretty shitty indoctrination attempt.

    ending
    Yeah, the latter part is my major quibble with the idea. It ALMOST works, because you can imagine the catalyst going "yeah that's red red is bad why would you do that you'd be killing geths and a sexy robot and also you might die??? why would you want to do that"
    Yeah but it doesn't do that, all it says is "the path is open, there is only one choice."

    So evidently if you destroyed the base in 2 you can avoid indoctrination by... playing poorly?

    Speed Racer on
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    WeedLordVegetaWeedLordVegeta Registered User regular
    ending
    I kinda like the indoctrination interpretation but there's a few big problems with it.

    First there's how Joker still crashlands even if you do it, which implies that it's not part of a hallucination or something

    secondly and far more importantly, it's possible to finish the game and have Destroy be your only option. That's a pretty shitty indoctrination attempt.

    and what's more
    even if that is what happens, it still does a really poor job of getting that across and doesn't give you any particular sense of failure for picking one of the "indoctrination" endings or a greater sense of success for picking Destroy, other than Shepard living which I don't really see as all that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things.

    Well, yeah. Because it wasn't the intended ending.

    ENDING
    Really, the indoctrination ending would need some DLC to flesh it out, lay some groundwork for Shepard turning. And maybe some post game DLC where you play as someone else.

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    LawndartLawndart Registered User regular
    I seem to be getting my wish for class/race unlocks, just not the ones I was hoping for.

    Wanted Asari Adept, got Asari Vanguard.
    Wanted Salarian Infliltrator, got Salarian Engineer.

    Ironically, the one I've been enjoying the most is the one I didn't want at all, Turian Sentinel.

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    SeptusSeptus Registered User regular
    Hullis wrote: »
    You can be all about charge without it being your opener. People are too used to that style from Humans. Drell and Asari are just as competent, but in different ways.

    Well, it's two things mainly: 1)It at least feels like on silver and gold, charge isn't valuable enough for offense given that it puts me into proximity of tons of damage(though I don't have stasis bubble yet) 2)Stasis is so damn helpful to my team members, that it seems I should be using all, or a majority of my cooldowns on that.

    PSN: Kurahoshi1
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    SquallSquall hap cloud Registered User regular
    we ran into a bug over the weekend where there were a couple enemies left but we couldnt find them

    since there was more than one enemy left the game wouldnt show where they were

    we could hear then shouting commands at each other but couldnt pinpoint where it was coming from

    right as we're about to disconnect and retry the match i look up and notice two enemies stuck in the rafters

    bizarre

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    Speed RacerSpeed Racer Scritch scratch scritch scratch scritch scratch scritch scratch scritch scratch scritch scratch scritch scratch scritch scratch scritch scratch scritch scratch scritch scratch scritch scratchRegistered User regular
    Hullis wrote: »
    ending
    I kinda like the indoctrination interpretation but there's a few big problems with it.

    First there's how Joker still crashlands even if you do it, which implies that it's not part of a hallucination or something

    secondly and far more importantly, it's possible to finish the game and have Destroy be your only option. That's a pretty shitty indoctrination attempt.

    and what's more
    even if that is what happens, it still does a really poor job of getting that across and doesn't give you any particular sense of failure for picking one of the "indoctrination" endings or a greater sense of success for picking Destroy, other than Shepard living which I don't really see as all that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things.

    Well, yeah. Because it wasn't the intended ending.

    ENDING
    Really, the indoctrination ending would need some DLC to flesh it out, lay some groundwork for Shepard turning. And maybe some post game DLC where you play as someone else.

    ending
    Right, but what I'm saying is that the point of that interpretation is to reinterpret and recontextualize the ending to make it better. It doesn't actually accomplish that I don't think, because of the lack of in-game support for the theory.

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    WeedLordVegetaWeedLordVegeta Registered User regular
    Hullis wrote: »
    ending
    I kinda like the indoctrination interpretation but there's a few big problems with it.

    First there's how Joker still crashlands even if you do it, which implies that it's not part of a hallucination or something

    secondly and far more importantly, it's possible to finish the game and have Destroy be your only option. That's a pretty shitty indoctrination attempt.

    ending
    Yeah, the latter part is my major quibble with the idea. It ALMOST works, because you can imagine the catalyst going "yeah that's red red is bad why would you do that you'd be killing geths and a sexy robot and also you might die??? why would you want to do that"
    Yeah but it doesn't do that, all it says is "the path is open, there is only one choice."

    So evidently if you destroyed the base in 2 you can avoid indoctrination by... playing poorly?

    Ending
    I know, I was talking about a situation where you have the 3 choices.

  • Options
    NaphtaliNaphtali Hazy + Flow SeaRegistered User regular
    Lawndart wrote: »
    I seem to be getting my wish for class/race unlocks, just not the ones I was hoping for.

    Wanted Asari Adept, got Asari Vanguard.
    Wanted Salarian Infliltrator, got Salarian Engineer.

    Ironically, the one I've been enjoying the most is the one I didn't want at all, Turian Sentinel.

    Oh man Turian Sentinel is just tops. I unlocked one the last day I was able to play the demo and it was all that I played from there on out. Just powers and a Carnifex with barrel and scope mods. So much carnage.

    Steam | Nintendo ID: Naphtali | Wish List
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    WeedLordVegetaWeedLordVegeta Registered User regular
    ALTHOUGH

    Ending/speculation
    If you believe the idea that the Catalyst is looking for someone to replace Harbinger or whatever, your playing well may be "proving your worth," or whatever.

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    HeisenbergHeisenberg Registered User regular
    edited March 2012
    Langly wrote: »
    royard wrote: »
    Heisenberg wrote: »
    this is some really compelling evidence for the something something ending theory
    Yeah. I'm almost sure that the indoc theory is correct now. But I'm really not sure about the delivery. I mean, they should have given the player a chance to talk to star child and slowly realize what is going on. Sure, letting people figure it out is rewarding if they can figure it out, but the clues are kinda vague.

    The audience is not detective novel fans, but people who likes to shoot and enjoy a story at its face value.

    There is zero chance this is correect based on how the ending is presented. The information the game gives you does not support it, and it is all supposition based on the player wanting something else.

    The things in the video absolutely support it, along with what I mentioned a few posts ago.

    But
    only having one choice if you played badly kind of messes up the theory. Still very very fascinating though.

    Heisenberg on
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    CambiataCambiata Commander Shepard The likes of which even GAWD has never seenRegistered User regular
    edited March 2012
    ending
    I kinda like the indoctrination interpretation but there's a few big problems with it.

    First there's how Joker still crashlands even if you do it, which implies that it's not part of a hallucination or something

    secondly and far more importantly, it's possible to finish the game and have Destroy be your only option. That's a pretty shitty indoctrination attempt.

    My take on the ending theory is
    That everything is physically happening, IE that Shepard says goodbye to Anderson, is lifted on the elevator, and brought to the area where she makes the choice. She actually sees Catalyst, but is heavily under the influence of indoctrination (which is why she doesn't argue with him). He offers the three choices, confident that Shep has invested too much in the Geth or at least in EDI to be willing to destroy her. He presents Synthesis - Indoctrination, or ascendance as a reaper (remember when Saren said he was the pinnacle of evolution, the perfect hybrid of man and machine? That's what the Reapers believe, and they're trying to get you to believe it). They present the second best choice as control - where you become the reapers yourself. Still good from their side of the issue. Destroy is the only risky one, but they can't stop you from getting there once you reach the place in the citadel that you're at, they can only essentially present arguments/indoctrination to try to get you to not take that choice (although they can also try to destroy the crucible while you're deciding. That did happen to me once in game). Then if you select destroy, you're thrown into the beam of the conduit as the Citadel is destroyed, and end up in London. The stuff with Joker crashing still happens, but he's within FTL travel so it's not that big of a deal.

    Synthesis and Control also show you Joker crash landing, but in those cases it would be Catalyst communicating to you, through indoctrination, "see? You saved your crew! Aren't you an awesome hero?"

    Cambiata on
    "If you divide the whole world into just enemies and friends, you'll end up destroying everything" --Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind
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    YukiraYukira Registered User regular
    Ending:
    Welp, in the interest of saving my robobros and making sure Joker can keep getting laid, I've made everyone mini-reapers.

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    -Tal-Tal Registered User regular
    something I don't like about all this ending discussion
    Everyone talks about EDI and the geth

    what about your robo-dog?!

    PNk1Ml4.png
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    OrcaOrca Also known as Espressosaurus WrexRegistered User regular
    -Tal wrote: »
    something I don't like about all this ending discussion
    Everyone talks about EDI and the geth

    what about your robo-dog?!
    Who cares about the robo-dog.

    WHAT ABOUT MY FISH

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    Al_watAl_wat Registered User regular
    The best way to deal with banshees is to have Speed Racer sit there AFK so the banshee focuses on him, while I blast it with Energy Drain and Incinerate

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    -Tal-Tal Registered User regular
    Orca wrote: »
    -Tal wrote: »
    something I don't like about all this ending discussion
    Everyone talks about EDI and the geth

    what about your robo-dog?!
    Who cares about the robo-dog.

    WHAT ABOUT MY FISH
    JOKER YOU CHECK ON THEM RIGHT NOW

    ESPECIALLY IF THEY'RE DOPE-ASS ROBOFISH

    PNk1Ml4.png
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    GokerzGokerz Registered User regular
    -Tal wrote: »
    something I don't like about all this ending discussion
    Everyone talks about EDI and the geth

    what about your robo-dog?!
    I went through the entire game and didn't see a robo-dog. Where does Shepard get a Robo-Dog?

    I also missed Kasumis mission. Where do I find that one?

    causality.png
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    DichotomyDichotomy Registered User regular
    -Tal wrote: »
    something I don't like about all this ending discussion
    Everyone talks about EDI and the geth

    what about your robo-dog?!
    it'll probably be cannibalized for spare parts to fix the normand-

    I mean

    he went to a big happy space farm

    0BnD8l3.gif
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    SeriouslySeriously Registered User regular
    -Tal wrote: »
    something I don't like about all this ending discussion
    Everyone talks about EDI and the geth

    what about your robo-dog?!
    Bad dog!

    :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

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    autono-wally, erotibot300autono-wally, erotibot300 love machine Registered User regular
    And now I am sorry for missing that side story Spoilers, obv

    kFJhXwE.jpgkFJhXwE.jpg
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    WeaverWeaver Who are you? What do you want?Registered User regular
    the dog is just a VI in a re-purposed mech body. It's fine.

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    PeccaviPeccavi Registered User regular
    Regarding the required military asset score for the "best" ending.
    It's not 5000. I know that's the number everyone is throwing around the internet, but that's wrong. I had less than 4500 effective (pretty sure it was 4200 and change) and I still got that ending.

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    HeisenbergHeisenberg Registered User regular
    I basically payed 10 dollars for that dog.

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    DichotomyDichotomy Registered User regular
    also I love that because of the multiplayer customization my quarian infiltrator is absolutely unique, to my knowledge

    she has a teal facemask light

    0BnD8l3.gif
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    HeisenbergHeisenberg Registered User regular
    Peccavi wrote: »
    Regarding the required military asset score for the "best" ending.
    It's not 5000. I know that's the number everyone is throwing around the internet, but that's wrong. I had less than 4500 effective (pretty sure it was 4200 and change) and I still got that ending.

    I had 4050 and got it.

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    King RiptorKing Riptor Registered User regular
    edited March 2012
    -Tal wrote: »
    something I don't like about all this ending discussion
    Everyone talks about EDI and the geth

    what about your robo-dog?!
    Its not an AI its fine.
    Also in my ending the catalyst only mentioned the Geth not EDI

    King Riptor on
    I have a podcast now. It's about video games and anime!Find it here.
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    CambiataCambiata Commander Shepard The likes of which even GAWD has never seenRegistered User regular
    And now I am sorry for missing that side story Spoilers, obv

    Wooooooow.

    Mind. Blown.

    "If you divide the whole world into just enemies and friends, you'll end up destroying everything" --Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind
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    NaphtaliNaphtali Hazy + Flow SeaRegistered User regular
    Heisenberg wrote: »
    Peccavi wrote: »
    Regarding the required military asset score for the "best" ending.
    It's not 5000. I know that's the number everyone is throwing around the internet, but that's wrong. I had less than 4500 effective (pretty sure it was 4200 and change) and I still got that ending.

    I had 4050 and got it.

    What kind of readiness % did you guys have

    Steam | Nintendo ID: Naphtali | Wish List
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    ShenShen Registered User regular
    Ending talk:
    Hate that people seem to think that choosing to not destroy the Geth somehow means that the indoctrination succeeded and you get a BAD END for being Paragon. A change to that effect would make me hate the ending more, because whoops, guess you played through three games wrong!

    3DS: 2234-8122-8398 | Battle.net (EU): Ladi#2485
    ladi.png
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    HeisenbergHeisenberg Registered User regular
    edited March 2012
    Naphtali wrote: »
    Heisenberg wrote: »
    Peccavi wrote: »
    Regarding the required military asset score for the "best" ending.
    It's not 5000. I know that's the number everyone is throwing around the internet, but that's wrong. I had less than 4500 effective (pretty sure it was 4200 and change) and I still got that ending.

    I had 4050 and got it.

    What kind of readiness % did you guys have

    70% for me

    multiplayer sometimes bores the shit out of me so finishing a few games before
    assaulting TIM
    was a chore

    though I think now that I've finished the game, mp might be more fun. I think I really just wanted to finish to see what the entire internet was up in arms about. Now that I know, it's different.

    Heisenberg on
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    LanglyLangly Registered User regular
    Cambiata wrote: »
    ending
    I kinda like the indoctrination interpretation but there's a few big problems with it.

    First there's how Joker still crashlands even if you do it, which implies that it's not part of a hallucination or something

    secondly and far more importantly, it's possible to finish the game and have Destroy be your only option. That's a pretty shitty indoctrination attempt.

    My take on the ending theory is
    That everything is physically happening, IE that Shepard says goodbye to Anderson, is lifted on the elevator, and brought to the area where she makes the choice. She actually sees Catalyst, but is heavily under the influence of indoctrination (which is why she doesn't argue with him). He offers the three choices, confident that Shep has invested too much in the Geth or at least in EDI to be willing to destroy her. He presents Synthesis - Indoctrination, or ascendance as a reaper (remember when Saren said he was the pinnacle of evolution, the perfect hybrid of man and machine? That's what the Reapers believe, and they're trying to get you to believe it). They present the second best choice as control - where you become the reapers yourself. Still good from their side of the issue. Destroy is the only risky one, but they can't stop you from getting there once you reach the place in the citadel that you're at, they can only essentially present arguments/indoctrination to try to get you to not take that choice (although they can also try to destroy the crucible while you're deciding. That did happen to me once in game). Then if you select destroy, you're thrown into the beam of the conduit as the Citadel is destroyed, and end up in London. The stuff with Joker crashing still happens, but he's within FTL travel so it's not that big of a deal.

    Synthesis and Control also show you Joker crash landing, but in those cases it would be Catalyst communicating to you, through indoctrination, "see? You saved your crew! Aren't you an awesome hero?"
    except that, game mechanics wise, that is a really stupid ending. You only get the other two options if you have a high score. You always can destroy the citadel, and sometimes you can only destroy the citadel, which in this theory, is the only correct choice.

    So the game would be punishing you by opening up worse options by you playing the game.

    That is stupid.

This discussion has been closed.