I would seriously pay money to hear Mark Meer do lines from Othello as Shepard.
... Yeah, money. I can't think of a way that could be bad. But I want Krogans as supporting cast. (Someone just heard Krogans in multiplayer screaming "FOR TUCHANKA!" and whatnot. I about died.)
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AegeriTiny wee bacteriumsPlateau of LengRegistered Userregular
I would similarly pay money for that.
Especially if he WAS acting as Commander Shepard in an Elcor rendition of Hamlet.
While I love 99% of ME3 like most others do, I do have a few small nitpicks/things that could have been improved:
I wanted to see more of Joker/EDI's relationship. To my knowledge the most we get is listening to them talk about who Joker would bang in Purgatory. Which was cute... but I kind of just wanted to hear more of their couple-talk or address the fact that Joker is trying to date a robot. Isn't he pretty much the first human in the ME universe to EVER date an AI? They act like its no big deal. There was never really any conversation "meat" with Edi/Joker like you get with the rest of the characters.
Not enough money in the game. I got to Lv58 by the end and did 98% of everything in the game, checked everywhere and I still had way, WAY less than enough money to buy everything in the game. While its certainly realistic not to be able to buy up every item in the game, you pretty much could in the previous 2 games and the completionist in me really wanted to be able to upgrade every weapon to max, and buy every item/armor/weapon.
The meat of that conversation would be she's a robot so he's dating a fancy sex doll so welcome to Creepyville. They walked the line between that and cute/funny and did a pretty good job.
I'm not certain what you mean by that. EDI was a true sentient AI. True, the body she was using was only part of her and her core functions were housed inside the ship. But a relationship between an Synthetic Intelligence and an Organic Intelligence is just as valid and meaningful as organic/organic.
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AegeriTiny wee bacteriumsPlateau of LengRegistered Userregular
While I love 99% of ME3 like most others do, I do have a few small nitpicks/things that could have been improved:
I wanted to see more of Joker/EDI's relationship. To my knowledge the most we get is listening to them talk about who Joker would bang in Purgatory. Which was cute... but I kind of just wanted to hear more of their couple-talk or address the fact that Joker is trying to date a robot. Isn't he pretty much the first human in the ME universe to EVER date an AI? They act like its no big deal. There was never really any conversation "meat" with Edi/Joker like you get with the rest of the characters.
Not enough money in the game. I got to Lv58 by the end and did 98% of everything in the game, checked everywhere and I still had way, WAY less than enough money to buy everything in the game. While its certainly realistic not to be able to buy up every item in the game, you pretty much could in the previous 2 games and the completionist in me really wanted to be able to upgrade every weapon to max, and buy every item/armor/weapon.
The meat of that conversation would be she's a robot so he's dating a fancy sex doll so welcome to Creepyville. They walked the line between that and cute/funny and did a pretty good job.
I'm not certain what you mean by that. EDI was a true sentient AI. True, the body she was using was only part of her and her core functions were housed inside the ship. But a relationship between an Synthetic Intelligence and an Organic Intelligence is just as valid and meaningful as organic/organic.
But next you know we'll be marrying animals or chairs. CAN'T YOU SEE THE SLIPPERY SLOPE HERE?
While I love 99% of ME3 like most others do, I do have a few small nitpicks/things that could have been improved:
I wanted to see more of Joker/EDI's relationship. To my knowledge the most we get is listening to them talk about who Joker would bang in Purgatory. Which was cute... but I kind of just wanted to hear more of their couple-talk or address the fact that Joker is trying to date a robot. Isn't he pretty much the first human in the ME universe to EVER date an AI? They act like its no big deal. There was never really any conversation "meat" with Edi/Joker like you get with the rest of the characters.
Not enough money in the game. I got to Lv58 by the end and did 98% of everything in the game, checked everywhere and I still had way, WAY less than enough money to buy everything in the game. While its certainly realistic not to be able to buy up every item in the game, you pretty much could in the previous 2 games and the completionist in me really wanted to be able to upgrade every weapon to max, and buy every item/armor/weapon.
The meat of that conversation would be she's a robot so he's dating a fancy sex doll so welcome to Creepyville. They walked the line between that and cute/funny and did a pretty good job.
I'm not certain what you mean by that. EDI was a true sentient AI. True, the body she was using was only part of her and her core functions were housed inside the ship. But a relationship between an Synthetic Intelligence and an Organic Intelligence is just as valid and meaningful as organic/organic.
But next you know we'll be marrying animals or chairs. CAN'T YOU SEE THE SLIPPERY SLOPE HERE?
Just completed the game - after more or less hiding from the internet for the past week while playing it (so many near-misses with spoilers).
Ending thoughts:
I chose to control the reapers (I played a goody-two-shoes Shep all through, didn't want to kill off the geth, didn't want to become a hybrid synthetic/organic like the Illusive man).
Speaking in general terms for a bit, I think that ending a series such as ME was always going to piss a lot of people off. That some fans are throwing all their toys out of the pram isn't surprising - it would've happened regardless. All in all, I like the ending as I think it suitably rounds off the brief snapshot of time that the series focused on, but I can sympathise with some of the complaints. For example, I do want to know what happened with Miranda (romantic interest). That said, all of what happens post reaper-destruction is by-the-by. It's not the point of the series and the ending shouldn't focus on that, but round off the grander themes, which it did. I think that little lull in London where you go and talk to everyone is a suitable 'ending' for your relationships.
Even if you were jumping at the chain about it, I don't get what whining your dick off is meant to achieve. Ending DLC to retconn the ending as given? =/
In gameplay terms, very similar to ME2 and that's fine. Super enjoyable to play, glad they got rid of the endless hacking minigames; weapons had good variety, new powers were fun etc etc. Basically I had a blast with it.
Oh, something that did bug me though - what's the deal with James? He's super boring and just seems to occupy the same 'tank' role that krogans used to in ME 1 + 2. Kinda hard to give much of a shit about him, but maybe that's just me!
My Origin ID is Chidona, feel free to add 'cause I'm gonna start the multiplayer and have zero origin friends atm.
AegeriTiny wee bacteriumsPlateau of LengRegistered Userregular
edited March 2012
@chidona You know I disagree with your characterization of people "throwing their toys out of the pram" because it's firstly rather insulting - most longer arguments against the ending have been polite, coherent and very well reasoned (as opposed to those for it actually, which usually go to some kind of insult). The real crux though is that the majority of disappointed users - especially those I've been following on twitter have said "This was a great game, but the ending disappointed me" and that was it. I've actually not seen a ton of people making huge demands or throwing any kind of toys. Some of it is "Man, I love the game but the ending just makes me not want to play ME again" and such forth, but there are very few "Man bioware you guys are total baby eating monsters for ruining everything" kind of rants - just outright disappointment.
Simply stating something is disappointing is not throwing your toys out of the pram at all if you actually follow what people are saying. I go somewhat further when I state that I don't want to buy further bioware games or ME3 DLC - but that's just because with the ending as it is I just don't want to play any more ME.
Woo! Finished my first playthrough. I'm not really... anything at the ending. I'm just... I'm... well, it -was- an ending. I just don't understand. Maybe I'm too tired to make sense of it.
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AegeriTiny wee bacteriumsPlateau of LengRegistered Userregular
Woo! Finished my first playthrough. I'm not really... anything at the ending. I'm just... I'm... well, it -was- an ending. I just don't understand. Maybe I'm too tired to make sense of it.
Being not tired is not going to change anything I can assure you.
Also, I have no idea what ending Casey is talking about when he said "inspiring and uplifting". I can't see that at all. Inspid, clearly rushed and incoherent*? I can see that. I'd like to see this mythical great ending he is talking about, unless of course:
In his version of ME3 it ends with Shepard/Anderson dying as they fire the crucible defeating the reapers and none of the deus ex machina crap that follows is a part of it. I can fully see that ending as being a sad but ultimately triumphant moment.
*Without a fan theory anyway, which may or may not be entirely full of it.
I would have much preferred that ending to what we got.
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AegeriTiny wee bacteriumsPlateau of LengRegistered Userregular
Also, I have no idea what ending Casey is talking about when he said "inspiring and uplifting". I can't see that at all. Inspid, clearly rushed and incoherent*? I can see that. I'd like to see this mythical great ending he is talking about, unless of course:
In his version of ME3 it ends with Shepard/Anderson dying as they fire the crucible defeating the reapers and none of the deus ex machina crap that follows is a part of it. I can fully see that ending as being a sad but ultimately triumphant moment.
*Without a fan theory anyway, which may or may not be entirely full of it.
I would have much preferred that ending to what we got.
I would have totally defended that ending and thought it appropriate (especially for a renegade Shepard). If it took into account your war assets (which is the most pointless aspect of ME3 by far) then all the better!
@chidona You know I disagree with your characterization of people "throwing their toys out of the pram" because it's firstly rather insulting - most longer arguments against the ending have been polite, coherent and very well reasoned (as opposed to those for it actually, which usually go to some kind of insult). The real crux though is that the majority of disappointed users - especially those I've been following on twitter have said "This was a great game, but the ending disappointed me" and that was it. I've actually not seen a ton of people making huge demands or throwing any kind of toys. Some of it is "Man, I love the game but the ending just makes me not want to play ME again" and such forth.
Simply stating something is disappointing is not throwing your toys out of the pram at all if you actually follow what people are saying. I go somewhat further when I state that I don't want to buy further bioware games or ME3 DLC - but that's just because with the ending as it is I just don't want to play any more ME.
I agree with you man - there are good arguments out there regarding the ending (see Orik's post in the awesome forum), and yeah, people are entitled to feel whatever they want.
But I never said there weren't good arguments, and I never said that simply not liking an something was an overreaction. But I've seen a fair bit of 'omg game sux', or personal insults against the developers/EA. Hell, apparently there's a group raising money for Child's Play to 'be taken seriously by Bioware' ( http://uk.xbox360.ign.com/articles/122/1220712p1.html ). It's like, great that you're giving to a good cause, but what do they realistically want EA/Bio to do? It all seems to miss the point that the overarching story is an exogenous factor here, even if you're able to alter the detail.
I mean, this isn't something about ME, or even just videogames, but it happens in any media. Books, Films, whatever, there will always be people acting in a similar manner at the closing credits. I'm down with discussing it and highlighting flaws/whatever, but when it gets to the point where you're insulting the people who made it, or are demanding the ending to be rewritten for you, it crosses a line for me. Again, not saying that there are a lot of people doing this, but it's out there.
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AegeriTiny wee bacteriumsPlateau of LengRegistered Userregular
edited March 2012
You should totally read what the people who are donating for childs play actually think before making assertions about them. They actually wrote something that no matter how rapidly bioware fanboy/apologist someone wants to be is actually entirely reasonable. It's being done to send a message and it's an extremely effective one at that. Otherwise just explore the @masseffect twitter account for a while and note the number of "OMG this game is awesome, but the ending sucked" posts.
Plus if you have time, go and read up on what the endings were like before Casey Hudson stepped in (Mass Effect 3: Final Hours) and basically deliberately made the ending awful to "Generate Speculation". In effect, he willingly made his own mess and now they have to deal with it. Especially because the ending - as has been mentioned many times - wasn't peer reviewed like the rest of the game. There is a severe disconnect in the quality of writing of the last part of the game to the rest of it. How would you feel as a writer who worked on the game to have one guy (albeit your boss) just screw over the last part of the game? Especially if that creates a wide amount of your fanbase disenfranchisement and making them upset with you (even if this had nothing to do with you).
So I don't know if anyone else here has looked at Mass Effect 3: Final Hours (it's an iPad App), which details some of the scrapped content from the ending and other aspects. Having found discussion on it, I'm literally infuriated with how it turned out because common sense should have won in the end here (especially if there was genuine peer review).
They had a really long and from what I can tell, even better conversation with Anderson right at the end of the game. Hudson sabotaged that, "For the moment".
Right at the end with the "Reaper Run" you would be shown a scene where your squadmate trips up and tries to get the other up - but are fried by Harbingers cannon. They would show up as corpses on the citadel. Now that would have been emotionally jarring and incredibly brutal. Of course, this is what I think happens anyway given that I still don't understand how Javik got out unscathed (or did he just fucking run away?) in the final cutscene of the game. You know, despite being right behind me when Harbinger was ruining shit.
This is one of the parts that still bugs the crap out of me when I think about it. After the whole "meet me at the bar" conversation with Garrus, I knew he was coming on the final mission without a doubt. While trying to get onto the citadel, I figured Shep was just holding on for a bit longer to do a final task before meeting him at the bar. Then the ending... then wtf, he's on the Normandy and was going through a mass effect relay?
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AegeriTiny wee bacteriumsPlateau of LengRegistered Userregular
So I don't know if anyone else here has looked at Mass Effect 3: Final Hours (it's an iPad App), which details some of the scrapped content from the ending and other aspects. Having found discussion on it, I'm literally infuriated with how it turned out because common sense should have won in the end here (especially if there was genuine peer review).
They had a really long and from what I can tell, even better conversation with Anderson right at the end of the game. Hudson sabotaged that, "For the moment".
Right at the end with the "Reaper Run" you would be shown a scene where your squadmate trips up and tries to get the other up - but are fried by Harbingers cannon. They would show up as corpses on the citadel. Now that would have been emotionally jarring and incredibly brutal. Of course, this is what I think happens anyway given that I still don't understand how Javik got out unscathed (or did he just fucking run away?) in the final cutscene of the game. You know, despite being right behind me when Harbinger was ruining shit.
This is one of the parts that still bugs the crap out of me when I think about it. After the whole "meet me at the bar" conversation with Garrus, I knew he was coming on the final mission without a doubt. While trying to get onto the citadel, I figured Shep was just holding on for a bit longer to do a final task before meeting him at the bar. Then the ending... then wtf, he's on the Normandy and was going through a mass effect relay?
What really offends me is the concept they just left Shepard there to die or actually ran away. The idea my companions were cowards and fled when it mattered is far worse to me than the idea they died.
Also, I have no idea what ending Casey is talking about when he said "inspiring and uplifting". I can't see that at all. Inspid, clearly rushed and incoherent*? I can see that. I'd like to see this mythical great ending he is talking about, unless of course:
In his version of ME3 it ends with Shepard/Anderson dying as they fire the crucible defeating the reapers and none of the deus ex machina crap that follows is a part of it. I can fully see that ending as being a sad but ultimately triumphant moment.
*Without a fan theory anyway, which may or may not be entirely full of it.
I would have much preferred that ending to what we got.
I would have totally defended that ending and thought it appropriate (especially for a renegade Shepard). If it took into account your war assets (which is the most pointless aspect of ME3 by far) then all the better!
Yea that ending with a brief cutscene after showing what happens to the universe based on your choices, paragon/renegade stuff and your war assets would be good, I would have been happy with that.
Or alternatively:
Just let Shepard shoot herself rather than listen to the flawed logic of the star child.
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Dhalphirdon't you open that trapdooryou're a fool if you dareRegistered Userregular
The fact that there was no option for
Shepard: "lol, thats the stupidest solution to a problem anyone ever came up with. You're retarded. Is there anyone smarter I can talk to? Your mum, maybe? Seriously, someone get this kid a popsicle and get him outta my face"
Shepard: "lol, thats the stupidest solution to a problem anyone ever came up with. You're retarded. Is there anyone smarter I can talk to? Your mum, maybe? Seriously, someone get this kid a popsicle and get him outta my face"
really annoys me
paraphrased, of course.
I request, nay, demand, that a popsicle interrupt be added to the end!
So just finished up a couple of rounds of Silver, killed a lot of Brutes... are you doing your part? We need you!
We killed some Brutes, but failed at wave 9
Reapers on Silver are extremely difficult.
Adding some more people to my friends list now..pubbies can be so damn infuriating.
Especially when they claim that "that Banshee was invincible!" or tell me to "stop moving around because [they] can't do headshots" or refuse to resurrect me even when they are standing right on top of me.
So just finished up a couple of rounds of Silver, killed a lot of Brutes... are you doing your part? We need you!
We killed some Brutes, but failed at wave 9
Reapers on Silver are extremely difficult.
I don't think you need to succeed in order for the Brute kill to register but you need to get at least a Lone Survivor extract to get the commendation pack. Keep at it.
Oh, and missiles are your best friends during the last two-three waves. You should be at least four peeps so you should have at least 8 of those things. Don't waste any of them on anything but the last waves.... unless it's a Termination objective and you only have five seconds to go, basically.
Playing the game, I notice a lot of people freak out as soon as a Banshee or Brute appear, not so much on Silver but a few on Bronze, and use a missile immediately and I'm like "Oy, put that thing down. We have all the time in the world, just kite them." Brutes are so easily stumped 'cause all you have to do is climb over an obstacle and they're like "Shit, gotta go around it!" which will allow a lot of people to take a lot of easy pot shots. Brutes are only a problem if there's a few of them at the same time or it's in tight quarters. Banshees aren't as tough as people say, they can just take a while to kill but they're slow and even their Charge is fairly limited, as long as you don't stand still there's not a lot they can do to you, to be honest.
You should totally read what the people who are donating for childs play actually think before making assertions about them. They actually wrote something that no matter how rapidly bioware fanboy/apologist someone wants to be is actually entirely reasonable. It's being done to send a message and it's an extremely effective one at that. Otherwise just explore the @masseffect twitter account for a while and note the number of "OMG this game is awesome, but the ending sucked" posts.
Plus if you have time, go and read up on what the endings were like before Casey Hudson stepped in (Mass Effect 3: Final Hours) and basically deliberately made the ending awful to "Generate Speculation". In effect, he willingly made his own mess and now they have to deal with it. Especially because the ending - as has been mentioned many times - wasn't peer reviewed like the rest of the game. There is a severe disconnect in the quality of writing of the last part of the game to the rest of it. How would you feel as a writer who worked on the game to have one guy (albeit your boss) just screw over the last part of the game? Especially if that creates a wide amount of your fanbase disenfranchisement and making them upset with you (even if this had nothing to do with you).
Alright, I'm gonna spoiler this just because I've made my overarching point and don't want to drag people into the minutiae of the debate:
The Retake Mass Effect - Child's Play donation drive is a community driven effort to bring positive attention to our petition for an alternate ending to the fantastic Mass Effect series.
I'm sorry mate, but that's not raising awareness, that's making an explicit demand for the ending to be retconned. I mean, it goes back to what Gabe said in his news post; it's fine if you're not happy with the CYOA ending you choose, but you're not the author. I mean, if they're asking for an extension to the ending, or for some more clarity on it, fine - in fact, that's part of their petition. Fine, cool, I agree. But they're also explicitly requesting "A heroic ending which provides a better sense of accomplishment". It's all respectfully done, which is great, but they're still asking for a different story. It's like making a petition for the last Harry Potter book to be re-released, but let harry die in it.
Yeah, I wasn't aware of Casey or his comments pre-ME3; I agree, that's pretty bad PR and he'll have to deal with it. But it's also somewhat beside the point; I'm not talking about the end in terms of the expectations placed on it by the developers - hell, I'm not even really saying anything about the quality of the ending (having read some arguments, I agree how it was fairly poorly executed), but I'm stating that it's unreasonable to act as if you're the creator of the series, responsible for it's broader direction.
I don't really understand the last part of your post and how it relates to what I wrote. As I've maintained all along, it's fine to say you don't like it and give reasons - it acts as feedback so that the developers don't make the same mistakes again.
Finally, to just re-iterate, I never said that it was a lot of people who were calling out for alternative endings or acting like wankers, but they are out there - and there will always be people out there who act like that. I never applied it to everyone who didn't like the ending, so pointing me to twitter feeds or whatever is nice, but it's like, so what? I never said people shouldn't be upset about it.
I dunno man, it seems like there's some communication thing going on, I apologise if I didn't articulate myself properly, but I feel like I'm taking fire for things I didn't say (although may have inadvertently implied).
So I don't know if anyone else here has looked at Mass Effect 3: Final Hours (it's an iPad App), which details some of the scrapped content from the ending and other aspects. Having found discussion on it, I'm literally infuriated with how it turned out because common sense should have won in the end here (especially if there was genuine peer review).
They had a really long and from what I can tell, even better conversation with Anderson right at the end of the game. Hudson sabotaged that, "For the moment".
Right at the end with the "Reaper Run" you would be shown a scene where your squadmate trips up and tries to get the other up - but are fried by Harbingers cannon. They would show up as corpses on the citadel. Now that would have been emotionally jarring and incredibly brutal. Of course, this is what I think happens anyway given that I still don't understand how Javik got out unscathed (or did he just fucking run away?) in the final cutscene of the game. You know, despite being right behind me when Harbinger was ruining shit.
This is one of the parts that still bugs the crap out of me when I think about it. After the whole "meet me at the bar" conversation with Garrus, I knew he was coming on the final mission without a doubt. While trying to get onto the citadel, I figured Shep was just holding on for a bit longer to do a final task before meeting him at the bar. Then the ending... then wtf, he's on the Normandy and was going through a mass effect relay?
What really offends me is the concept they just left Shepard there to die or actually ran away. The idea my companions were cowards and fled when it mattered is far worse to me than the idea they died.
This really hits on anther thing about the ending really. I had Liara (my LI) and Garrus with me for that final run. And a big part of that is undermined by the fact that apparently despite being two steps behind me, they're both alive and fine on the Normandy.
Like, obviously I the player and Shepard don't want them to die, but yeah - the whole Shepard "just one more thing to do" kind of feel would have worked a lot better if it was obvious my ground team had actually died. Because that would suck, a lot, but for Shepard at least it would explain why he was about ready to die himself. I imagine it as one of them is already dead, and the other is just barely alive (having dragged the other up there - except EDI, in which case you should witness her panic as the Normandy is blown away and she just shuts down) and dies mid-sentence.
I mean, after losing Liara and Garrus, the only thing my Shepard would have left in the world to do is make sure he beats the Reapers.
I'm just imagining a final line where Garrus is sitting next to the body of Liara, trying to apologize that he couldn't save her. Right before he dies he just says "I'll see you at the..." but that's it, his eyes just stop moving. So Shepard finishes it for him: "...bar...you won't be waiting long Garrus."
the broader strokes and I'm okay with them keeping it the way it is if they minor alterations such as:
Introduce the Starchild a bit earlier. He is literally a deus ex machina they pulled from nowhere and for a game that most people have put about 100 hours into per playthrough, to have such a major thing be revealed ten minutes before the end? They seriously need to introduce him somehow a bit earlier. Do it like they did in Aliens where they talk about how the aliens breed and about hive structure and similar, who lays the eggs and all that. At least have someone somewhere go "But who leads the Reapers anyhow?"
Also, introduce him a bit more dramatically, please, he's just like "Yo, here am I!" and I was like "Uh... okay?"
Let me banter with the Starchild at least give me the opportunity to try and tell him he's wrong in how he thinks and offer up counter arguments to his "synthetics will always want to kill organics". His thinking is flawed but he's not 100% wrong, he makes a lot of sense if you take into account how computers think today, the chances of awakening AIs freaking people out is bound to happen and in many ways, synthetics, if you assume they still think in 1s and 0s would come to the conclusion that organics are simply put inferior and Starchild has seen this happen countless times and it wouldn't surprise me if he's seen exactly what we've accomplished several times only for it to go bad. He's got the experience to prove his points so us winning such a conversation is slim but I still WANT to try.
Give me some closure as to what happened with my crew. Did the ones I charged the beam with die? What's going on with the Normandy? How did their lives turn out in the end? Did Garrus and Tali end up hooking up for life? There's a lot of questions that can be given answers too without spelling the future of the galaxy out.
And please, this is sci-fi, not fantasy, explain to me how these endings work... especially Synthesis because that makes no sense what so ever and I'd like to know how that's considered the best ending when Control accomplishes the exact same thing only without me messing with everyone's DNA.
AND, finally, have what endings you can access depend on your actions and not so much your war assets. I think that would make a lot of issues people have with the ending go away.
As for the rest, I'm perfectly fine with Shepard dying and the Mass Relays being destroyed, it sets up an interesting future where a lot of tough questions for the players to think about until the next sequel (and there will be a sequel). And I'm not even automatically against the presence of the Starchild but... give him a bit more to do, please.
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AegeriTiny wee bacteriumsPlateau of LengRegistered Userregular
What is a good class for silver against reapers? Because soldier doesn't seem to be worth jack shit.
What is a good class for silver against reapers? Because soldier doesn't seem to be worth jack shit.
Marauders are the only shielded Reapers, so Adepts are pretty good.
Add me on Switch: 7795-5541-4699
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AegeriTiny wee bacteriumsPlateau of LengRegistered Userregular
Sure, I'll give that a go because I feel so completely useless once anything with armor even remotely appears. Just can't do anything to anything of importance and relying on standing next to grenades is problematic at best.
What is a good class for silver against reapers? Because soldier doesn't seem to be worth jack shit.
Then you're playing the class wrong, Soldier is great for Silver matches as long as you don't get some kind of stupid notion in your head that you're supposed to be the one scoring the most points because your job is to divert attention away from the others and soak a LOT of damage. When I play as a Soldier I try to stay a bit away from the rest of the group (whom are hopefully a bunch of techs and biotics) so they can happily tear into them from a distance and not worry about getting too much attention.
I think it needs to be very clear that you share an XP pool. It doesn't matter who gets the most kills ( a soldier will NEVER be able to hold up against a good Vanguard ) because in the end you share the points. Soldiers are essentially there to be meat shields so go do your job properly.
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Tiger BurningDig if you will, the pictureRegistered User, SolidSaints Tuberegular
So I don't know if anyone else here has looked at Mass Effect 3: Final Hours (it's an iPad App), which details some of the scrapped content from the ending and other aspects. Having found discussion on it, I'm literally infuriated with how it turned out because common sense should have won in the end here (especially if there was genuine peer review).
They had a really long and from what I can tell, even better conversation with Anderson right at the end of the game. Hudson sabotaged that, "For the moment".
Right at the end with the "Reaper Run" you would be shown a scene where your squadmate trips up and tries to get the other up - but are fried by Harbingers cannon. They would show up as corpses on the citadel. Now that would have been emotionally jarring and incredibly brutal. Of course, this is what I think happens anyway given that I still don't understand how Javik got out unscathed (or did he just fucking run away?) in the final cutscene of the game. You know, despite being right behind me when Harbinger was ruining shit.
This is one of the parts that still bugs the crap out of me when I think about it. After the whole "meet me at the bar" conversation with Garrus, I knew he was coming on the final mission without a doubt. While trying to get onto the citadel, I figured Shep was just holding on for a bit longer to do a final task before meeting him at the bar. Then the ending... then wtf, he's on the Normandy and was going through a mass effect relay?
What really offends me is the concept they just left Shepard there to die or actually ran away. The idea my companions were cowards and fled when it mattered is far worse to me than the idea they died.
This really hits on anther thing about the ending really. I had Liara (my LI) and Garrus with me for that final run. And a big part of that is undermined by the fact that apparently despite being two steps behind me, they're both alive and fine on the Normandy.
Like, obviously I the player and Shepard don't want them to die, but yeah - the whole Shepard "just one more thing to do" kind of feel would have worked a lot better if it was obvious my ground team had actually died. Because that would suck, a lot, but for Shepard at least it would explain why he was about ready to die himself. I imagine it as one of them is already dead, and the other is just barely alive (having dragged the other up there - except EDI, in which case you should witness her panic as the Normandy is blown away and she just shuts down) and dies mid-sentence.
I mean, after losing Liara and Garrus, the only thing my Shepard would have left in the world to do is make sure he beats the Reapers.
...I made myself sad.
I love how different everyone's experience of the game was.
Both of my squad-mates bit it from the reaper beam - both of them were laying there in pools of their blood (although I guess because one of them was EDI, it wasn't really "blood" or "hers") when you come to. It gave the ending quite a bit of punch, and I can easily see how the "happier" ending would have been much weaker in that sense. I assume that this is related to my war readiness or whatever. I'm no kind of completest when it comes to video games, and my bar was only maybe 60% green when I started the final mission.
The ending was decent, and I appreciate the ambition, but I would have liked more exposition if they were going to "go big" like that. As it is, it's "You win, but turn the entire galaxy right the fuck upside-down. The End."
Okay, so I finally unlocked the Salarian Infiltrator, and I've had some time now to experiment with the Widow vs. the Black Widow. Here's some background information on both weapons, just for the sake of completion: the Widow is the most powerful sniper rifle in Mass Effect 3. It can fire a single, incredibly powerful round before it needs to reload; the Black Widow is a modified version of the same weapon. It's a little heavier than the standard version, and can fire 3 shots before it needs to reload, but none of those shots are as powerful as the ones fired by the Widow. Both weapons have a natural penetration value, meaning they can blast through thin cover (like Guardian shields) without Armour Piercing Ammo or the Piercing Mod (adding either of those things allows you to penetrate even thicker surfaces).
The main advantage of the Widow is that it can push out more damage per bullet than anything else in the game. If you can make every shot count, the Widow's an amazingly powerful weapon. However, the Black Widow can out-pace it, because it can fire 3 shots per clip. Sometimes the Widow's damage is actually overkill, and any one of the Black Widow's 3 shots would have taken down the same target. Those extra shots also help when your first one misses. They allow you to be a lot more consistent. So the extra firepower that the Black Widow brings to the table is an enormous advantage.
Having played with them both, I prefer the Widow. I played some games with Vacorsis, though, and he prefers the Black Widow. On certain games, he would out-score me, and on other games, I would out-score him. So, that leads me to believe that both weapons are more-or-less equal, and that it really comes down to playstyle and technique. Here's why I prefer the Widow, though: sometimes, you only have time for 1 shot. Sometimes, you're taking heavy fire, or you have to move, or you need a target taken down right now, and only the Widow can deliver that kind of on-demand damage. It allows you to pick and move, and that's sort of what keeps you safe. The Black Widow will do more damage if you put all 3 rounds on target, but that requires more time, and it means you'll be exposed for longer while you take those shots.
It's definitely a trade-off, and I encourage you guys to really play around with both guns, because they're both awesome. I'll keep playing around with the Black Widow (and it'll be my go-to gun for Bronze, hands-down), but at this point, I definitely prefer the standard Widow (especially on Silver and Gold). Just for reference, with the Armour Piercing mod equipped, I can cloak-shot over half of a Brute's armour off in a single shot. It's ... incredible. I'm very happy with its ability to tear Ravagers apart, too.
What is a good class for silver against reapers? Because soldier doesn't seem to be worth jack shit.
Then you're playing the class wrong
Well, then I must have bad allies because nothing seems to die even though I'm the one getting the shit belted out of them. If I could get grenades more often I would probably be fine, but having lots of health means jack shit when you get one shot by banshees that absolutely *refuse* to die.
Edit: Basically, I need to make things die myself and not rely on others to do it for me.
Posts
... Yeah, money. I can't think of a way that could be bad. But I want Krogans as supporting cast. (Someone just heard Krogans in multiplayer screaming "FOR TUCHANKA!" and whatnot. I about died.)
Especially if he WAS acting as Commander Shepard in an Elcor rendition of Hamlet.
Next time, though. Meer.
Gleefully: Yes, this.
But essentially, he's the true hero of Mass Effect 3: The one standing between us and a mediocre ending. May we never forget.
Ending thoughts:
Speaking in general terms for a bit, I think that ending a series such as ME was always going to piss a lot of people off. That some fans are throwing all their toys out of the pram isn't surprising - it would've happened regardless. All in all, I like the ending as I think it suitably rounds off the brief snapshot of time that the series focused on, but I can sympathise with some of the complaints. For example, I do want to know what happened with Miranda (romantic interest). That said, all of what happens post reaper-destruction is by-the-by. It's not the point of the series and the ending shouldn't focus on that, but round off the grander themes, which it did. I think that little lull in London where you go and talk to everyone is a suitable 'ending' for your relationships.
Even if you were jumping at the chain about it, I don't get what whining your dick off is meant to achieve. Ending DLC to retconn the ending as given? =/
In gameplay terms, very similar to ME2 and that's fine. Super enjoyable to play, glad they got rid of the endless hacking minigames; weapons had good variety, new powers were fun etc etc. Basically I had a blast with it.
Oh, something that did bug me though - what's the deal with James? He's super boring and just seems to occupy the same 'tank' role that krogans used to in ME 1 + 2. Kinda hard to give much of a shit about him, but maybe that's just me!
My Origin ID is Chidona, feel free to add 'cause I'm gonna start the multiplayer and have zero origin friends atm.
Item rarity list and checklist: http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/343/index/9729342
You can get any rarity in any pack, but Veteran packs guarantee one uncommon or better and Spectre packs guarantee one rare or better.
How to pull off biotic and tech combos: http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/343/index/9629730
Weapon values spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Aor1WdVV3kD6dGw1SlNDUzFjODlheGl5a3JLdXZZVXc#gid=0
Not yet updated for patched values, check those here: http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/343/index/9544143
Simply stating something is disappointing is not throwing your toys out of the pram at all if you actually follow what people are saying. I go somewhat further when I state that I don't want to buy further bioware games or ME3 DLC - but that's just because with the ending as it is I just don't want to play any more ME.
Origin ID is MazPA if you haven't added me already.
Being not tired is not going to change anything I can assure you.
I would have much preferred that ending to what we got.
I would have totally defended that ending and thought it appropriate (especially for a renegade Shepard). If it took into account your war assets (which is the most pointless aspect of ME3 by far) then all the better!
I agree with you man - there are good arguments out there regarding the ending (see Orik's post in the awesome forum), and yeah, people are entitled to feel whatever they want.
But I never said there weren't good arguments, and I never said that simply not liking an something was an overreaction. But I've seen a fair bit of 'omg game sux', or personal insults against the developers/EA. Hell, apparently there's a group raising money for Child's Play to 'be taken seriously by Bioware' ( http://uk.xbox360.ign.com/articles/122/1220712p1.html ). It's like, great that you're giving to a good cause, but what do they realistically want EA/Bio to do? It all seems to miss the point that the overarching story is an exogenous factor here, even if you're able to alter the detail.
I mean, this isn't something about ME, or even just videogames, but it happens in any media. Books, Films, whatever, there will always be people acting in a similar manner at the closing credits. I'm down with discussing it and highlighting flaws/whatever, but when it gets to the point where you're insulting the people who made it, or are demanding the ending to be rewritten for you, it crosses a line for me. Again, not saying that there are a lot of people doing this, but it's out there.
Plus if you have time, go and read up on what the endings were like before Casey Hudson stepped in (Mass Effect 3: Final Hours) and basically deliberately made the ending awful to "Generate Speculation". In effect, he willingly made his own mess and now they have to deal with it. Especially because the ending - as has been mentioned many times - wasn't peer reviewed like the rest of the game. There is a severe disconnect in the quality of writing of the last part of the game to the rest of it. How would you feel as a writer who worked on the game to have one guy (albeit your boss) just screw over the last part of the game? Especially if that creates a wide amount of your fanbase disenfranchisement and making them upset with you (even if this had nothing to do with you).
Yea that ending with a brief cutscene after showing what happens to the universe based on your choices, paragon/renegade stuff and your war assets would be good, I would have been happy with that.
Or alternatively:
Shepard: "lol, thats the stupidest solution to a problem anyone ever came up with. You're retarded. Is there anyone smarter I can talk to? Your mum, maybe? Seriously, someone get this kid a popsicle and get him outta my face"
really annoys me
paraphrased, of course.
I request, nay, demand, that a popsicle interrupt be added to the end!
We killed some Brutes, but failed at wave 9
Reapers on Silver are extremely difficult.
Adding some more people to my friends list now..pubbies can be so damn infuriating.
Especially when they claim that "that Banshee was invincible!" or tell me to "stop moving around because [they] can't do headshots" or refuse to resurrect me even when they are standing right on top of me.
I don't think you need to succeed in order for the Brute kill to register but you need to get at least a Lone Survivor extract to get the commendation pack. Keep at it.
Oh, and missiles are your best friends during the last two-three waves. You should be at least four peeps so you should have at least 8 of those things. Don't waste any of them on anything but the last waves.... unless it's a Termination objective and you only have five seconds to go, basically.
Playing the game, I notice a lot of people freak out as soon as a Banshee or Brute appear, not so much on Silver but a few on Bronze, and use a missile immediately and I'm like "Oy, put that thing down. We have all the time in the world, just kite them." Brutes are so easily stumped 'cause all you have to do is climb over an obstacle and they're like "Shit, gotta go around it!" which will allow a lot of people to take a lot of easy pot shots. Brutes are only a problem if there's a few of them at the same time or it's in tight quarters. Banshees aren't as tough as people say, they can just take a while to kill but they're slow and even their Charge is fairly limited, as long as you don't stand still there's not a lot they can do to you, to be honest.
Alright, I'm gonna spoiler this just because I've made my overarching point and don't want to drag people into the minutiae of the debate:
I'm sorry mate, but that's not raising awareness, that's making an explicit demand for the ending to be retconned. I mean, it goes back to what Gabe said in his news post; it's fine if you're not happy with the CYOA ending you choose, but you're not the author. I mean, if they're asking for an extension to the ending, or for some more clarity on it, fine - in fact, that's part of their petition. Fine, cool, I agree. But they're also explicitly requesting "A heroic ending which provides a better sense of accomplishment". It's all respectfully done, which is great, but they're still asking for a different story. It's like making a petition for the last Harry Potter book to be re-released, but let harry die in it.
Yeah, I wasn't aware of Casey or his comments pre-ME3; I agree, that's pretty bad PR and he'll have to deal with it. But it's also somewhat beside the point; I'm not talking about the end in terms of the expectations placed on it by the developers - hell, I'm not even really saying anything about the quality of the ending (having read some arguments, I agree how it was fairly poorly executed), but I'm stating that it's unreasonable to act as if you're the creator of the series, responsible for it's broader direction.
I don't really understand the last part of your post and how it relates to what I wrote. As I've maintained all along, it's fine to say you don't like it and give reasons - it acts as feedback so that the developers don't make the same mistakes again.
Finally, to just re-iterate, I never said that it was a lot of people who were calling out for alternative endings or acting like wankers, but they are out there - and there will always be people out there who act like that. I never applied it to everyone who didn't like the ending, so pointing me to twitter feeds or whatever is nice, but it's like, so what? I never said people shouldn't be upset about it.
I dunno man, it seems like there's some communication thing going on, I apologise if I didn't articulate myself properly, but I feel like I'm taking fire for things I didn't say (although may have inadvertently implied).
Had an amusing match last night where three of us carried a Falcon apiece, the AR grenade launcher. Everything died in fire.
Like, obviously I the player and Shepard don't want them to die, but yeah - the whole Shepard "just one more thing to do" kind of feel would have worked a lot better if it was obvious my ground team had actually died. Because that would suck, a lot, but for Shepard at least it would explain why he was about ready to die himself. I imagine it as one of them is already dead, and the other is just barely alive (having dragged the other up there - except EDI, in which case you should witness her panic as the Normandy is blown away and she just shuts down) and dies mid-sentence.
I mean, after losing Liara and Garrus, the only thing my Shepard would have left in the world to do is make sure he beats the Reapers.
I'm just imagining a final line where Garrus is sitting next to the body of Liara, trying to apologize that he couldn't save her. Right before he dies he just says "I'll see you at the..." but that's it, his eyes just stop moving. So Shepard finishes it for him: "...bar...you won't be waiting long Garrus."
...I made myself sad.
Introduce the Starchild a bit earlier. He is literally a deus ex machina they pulled from nowhere and for a game that most people have put about 100 hours into per playthrough, to have such a major thing be revealed ten minutes before the end? They seriously need to introduce him somehow a bit earlier. Do it like they did in Aliens where they talk about how the aliens breed and about hive structure and similar, who lays the eggs and all that. At least have someone somewhere go "But who leads the Reapers anyhow?"
Also, introduce him a bit more dramatically, please, he's just like "Yo, here am I!" and I was like "Uh... okay?"
Let me banter with the Starchild at least give me the opportunity to try and tell him he's wrong in how he thinks and offer up counter arguments to his "synthetics will always want to kill organics". His thinking is flawed but he's not 100% wrong, he makes a lot of sense if you take into account how computers think today, the chances of awakening AIs freaking people out is bound to happen and in many ways, synthetics, if you assume they still think in 1s and 0s would come to the conclusion that organics are simply put inferior and Starchild has seen this happen countless times and it wouldn't surprise me if he's seen exactly what we've accomplished several times only for it to go bad. He's got the experience to prove his points so us winning such a conversation is slim but I still WANT to try.
Give me some closure as to what happened with my crew. Did the ones I charged the beam with die? What's going on with the Normandy? How did their lives turn out in the end? Did Garrus and Tali end up hooking up for life? There's a lot of questions that can be given answers too without spelling the future of the galaxy out.
And please, this is sci-fi, not fantasy, explain to me how these endings work... especially Synthesis because that makes no sense what so ever and I'd like to know how that's considered the best ending when Control accomplishes the exact same thing only without me messing with everyone's DNA.
AND, finally, have what endings you can access depend on your actions and not so much your war assets. I think that would make a lot of issues people have with the ending go away.
As for the rest, I'm perfectly fine with Shepard dying and the Mass Relays being destroyed, it sets up an interesting future where a lot of tough questions for the players to think about until the next sequel (and there will be a sequel). And I'm not even automatically against the presence of the Starchild but... give him a bit more to do, please.
Finally was in a halfway decent game (the Noveria map seems to be pretty good for dealing with Reapers) and then I get fucking disconnected on wave 9.
Marauders are the only shielded Reapers, so Adepts are pretty good.
Then you're playing the class wrong, Soldier is great for Silver matches as long as you don't get some kind of stupid notion in your head that you're supposed to be the one scoring the most points because your job is to divert attention away from the others and soak a LOT of damage. When I play as a Soldier I try to stay a bit away from the rest of the group (whom are hopefully a bunch of techs and biotics) so they can happily tear into them from a distance and not worry about getting too much attention.
I think it needs to be very clear that you share an XP pool. It doesn't matter who gets the most kills ( a soldier will NEVER be able to hold up against a good Vanguard ) because in the end you share the points. Soldiers are essentially there to be meat shields so go do your job properly.
I love how different everyone's experience of the game was.
The ending was decent, and I appreciate the ambition, but I would have liked more exposition if they were going to "go big" like that. As it is, it's "You win, but turn the entire galaxy right the fuck upside-down. The End."
do not fear the sword, fear the one weilding it.
thats what i love about you buggy, you're sun tzu with more eyes.
The main advantage of the Widow is that it can push out more damage per bullet than anything else in the game. If you can make every shot count, the Widow's an amazingly powerful weapon. However, the Black Widow can out-pace it, because it can fire 3 shots per clip. Sometimes the Widow's damage is actually overkill, and any one of the Black Widow's 3 shots would have taken down the same target. Those extra shots also help when your first one misses. They allow you to be a lot more consistent. So the extra firepower that the Black Widow brings to the table is an enormous advantage.
Having played with them both, I prefer the Widow. I played some games with Vacorsis, though, and he prefers the Black Widow. On certain games, he would out-score me, and on other games, I would out-score him. So, that leads me to believe that both weapons are more-or-less equal, and that it really comes down to playstyle and technique. Here's why I prefer the Widow, though: sometimes, you only have time for 1 shot. Sometimes, you're taking heavy fire, or you have to move, or you need a target taken down right now, and only the Widow can deliver that kind of on-demand damage. It allows you to pick and move, and that's sort of what keeps you safe. The Black Widow will do more damage if you put all 3 rounds on target, but that requires more time, and it means you'll be exposed for longer while you take those shots.
It's definitely a trade-off, and I encourage you guys to really play around with both guns, because they're both awesome. I'll keep playing around with the Black Widow (and it'll be my go-to gun for Bronze, hands-down), but at this point, I definitely prefer the standard Widow (especially on Silver and Gold). Just for reference, with the Armour Piercing mod equipped, I can cloak-shot over half of a Brute's armour off in a single shot. It's ... incredible. I'm very happy with its ability to tear Ravagers apart, too.
Well, then I must have bad allies because nothing seems to die even though I'm the one getting the shit belted out of them. If I could get grenades more often I would probably be fine, but having lots of health means jack shit when you get one shot by banshees that absolutely *refuse* to die.
Edit: Basically, I need to make things die myself and not rely on others to do it for me.
Oh my god that is excellent.