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[Mass Effect] Operation Beachhead Next Weekend. Fun in the sun? MARK SPOILERS

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Posts

  • GoodKingJayIIIGoodKingJayIII They wanna get my gold on the ceilingRegistered User regular
    I unlocked the Wraith last night, and decided to give my shotgun infiltrator another go. Went with quarian. It was not very effective (I finished last) but pretty amusing. I'm going to get her to 20 to see how it works. I have a feeling it will go something like this: sabotage -> sticky grenade -> shotgun.

    Also the Wraith is so accurate it's like a mid-range sniper rifle, which is interesting.

    Battletag: Threeve#1501; PSN: Threeve703; Steam: 3eeve
  • EnderEnder Registered User regular
    hoooooray, finally unlocked asari adept

    jesus criminy christ is this the overpowered adept class

    having an ability for every enemy type is just awesomesauce

    and stasis makes phantoms turn from psycho-crazed ninja insta-killers to lawl-bait headshot kill count increasers

  • CouscousCouscous Registered User regular
    edited March 2012
    Maddoc wrote: »
    Couscous wrote: »
    Sorce wrote: »
    Shadowhope wrote: »
    kedinik wrote: »
    Kai Leng was Kai-lame.

    You wouldn't think that if you were made of cereal.

    Kai Leng was awesome for being not awesome.
    Basically, the whole point of his character is that he's what the Illusive Man used to try to replace Shepard. Like Shepard, he's part synthetic, and if I understand it correctly he's more enhanced than Shepard was. He's designed to look cool, like a JRPG or Deus Ex character and he carries a bad-ass sword. He's supposed to be Shepard 2.0. Despite that, he doesn't hold a candle to the real deal. He loses a fight to Thane, he's getting torn apart by Shepard before the gunship intervenes, and the one time he and Shepard really go toe-to-toe without an opportunity on his part to escape, in the Cerberus base, Shepard destroys him.

    Kai Leng is a poor man's Shepard, and he gets put in his place.
    Even TIM doubts Kai Leng, which I think is telling in and of itself.

    Everything that has been said here.
    Kai Leng works because its just so clear he's outclassed by Shepard and the company Shepard keeps in every possible way, and that literally the only reason he even has a chance is because Shepard is also in the middle of fighting a galactic war.
    Or because Shepard just won't shoot the fucker when he obviously should.
    Maybe I'm just more pessimistic, but I think they were trying to write Kai Leng as being this super badass cyborg ninja, and just failed spectacularly.

    He seems like the sort of character that the writer thought was really cool, but nobody else did or does and it just comes out as cheesy because of it.

    And now I'm disgusted with myself because I kept telling myself I wouldn't discuss anything but the multi.
    Nah. They totally thought he was cool. He was supposed to be really fucking cool in Deception. Due to the shitty writing, he came off as really retarded instead.

    tRMca.jpg

    Couscous on
  • CouscousCouscous Registered User regular
    edited March 2012
    Goddamn drafts.

    Couscous on
  • NeliNeli Registered User regular
    edited March 2012
    Maddoc wrote: »
    Couscous wrote: »
    Sorce wrote: »
    Shadowhope wrote: »
    kedinik wrote: »
    Kai Leng was Kai-lame.

    You wouldn't think that if you were made of cereal.

    Kai Leng was awesome for being not awesome.
    Basically, the whole point of his character is that he's what the Illusive Man used to try to replace Shepard. Like Shepard, he's part synthetic, and if I understand it correctly he's more enhanced than Shepard was. He's designed to look cool, like a JRPG or Deus Ex character and he carries a bad-ass sword. He's supposed to be Shepard 2.0. Despite that, he doesn't hold a candle to the real deal. He loses a fight to Thane, he's getting torn apart by Shepard before the gunship intervenes, and the one time he and Shepard really go toe-to-toe without an opportunity on his part to escape, in the Cerberus base, Shepard destroys him.

    Kai Leng is a poor man's Shepard, and he gets put in his place.
    Even TIM doubts Kai Leng, which I think is telling in and of itself.

    Everything that has been said here.
    Kai Leng works because its just so clear he's outclassed by Shepard and the company Shepard keeps in every possible way, and that literally the only reason he even has a chance is because Shepard is also in the middle of fighting a galactic war.
    Or because Shepard just won't shoot the fucker when he obviously should.
    Maybe I'm just more pessimistic, but I think they were trying to write Kai Leng as being this super badass cyborg ninja, and just failed spectacularly.

    He seems like the sort of character that the writer thought was really cool, but nobody else did or does and it just comes out as cheesy because of it.

    And now I'm disgusted with myself because I kept telling myself I wouldn't discuss anything but the multi.

    Not the impression I got. Shepard even
    calls Kai-Leng out at the final battle about how Kai-Leng ran away all the time and was basically a chump and Kai-Leng basically goes "SHUT UP :(:(". Then you shatter his sword and stab him in the ribs. He was always just there to taunt you, provide a quick bossfight and ultimately a satisfying kill. He barely shows up in the game to begin with and his main interaction with Shepard in the game is through a passive aggressive EMAIL :D

    Neli on
    vhgb4m.jpg
    I have stared into Satan's asshole, and it fucking winked at me.
    [/size]
  • ForarForar #432 Toronto, Ontario, CanadaRegistered User regular
    Ugh, this is going to draw some flak for being that guy, but Kai Leng shows up in the second and third Mass Effect novels, as I recall.

    Well, and the third where he's a cereal eating monster, but I digress.

    To be fair, I'm not defending him as a good character in ME3, but him and the other references to those novels in the game had a little more meaning for me, having just read the novels the week before hand.

    So, yeah, stupid 'unstoppable ninja biotic badass' that flops hard in terms of game mechanics and reeks of trying too hard, but I thought I'd mention my take on the matter as a counterpoint, minimal as it is.

    First they came for the Muslims, and we said NOT TODAY, MOTHERFUCKER!
  • mojojoeomojojoeo A block off the park, living the dream.Registered User regular
    edited March 2012
    Ender wrote: »
    hoooooray, finally unlocked asari adept

    jesus criminy christ is this the overpowered adept class

    having an ability for every enemy type is just awesomesauce

    and stasis makes phantoms turn from psycho-crazed ninja insta-killers to lawl-bait headshot kill count increasers

    Yeah they are boss.
    IDDQD wrote: »
    mojojoeo wrote: »
    Man am I burned out on MP.

    This random system is just draining....

    I too was hitting the glass ceiling - but I kind of attributed that to class burnout. I've been having an absolute blast playing the Salarian Infiltrator, and having unlocked the Raptor I'm all about the MP again.

    I'm hoping that Bioware releases a new type of Pack that is just rares, it's seriously about time already. Make them 100,000 credits or something, but give us a better chance at something we actually want..

    i dunno- I was never wow'd by any game system that had 'prestige do over' to it. Why would I do it again? So I can relive the greatness that is bronze and make my number go up? That doesn't add longevity for me.

    Normally i would be playing SP but the ending kinda... sapped the will to play out of that.

    mojojoeo on
    Chief Wiggum: "Ladies, please. All our founding fathers, astronauts, and World Series heroes have been either drunk or on cocaine."
  • GyralGyral Registered User regular
    Kai Leng wouldn't have been so bad if most of us didn't immediately think "Grey Fox was a better cyborg ninja".

    25t9pjnmqicf.jpg
  • evilthecatevilthecat Registered User regular
    Agusalim wrote: »
    aye i watched yougottawanna's video and some of it i like but im no exactly convinced, sorry man
    i mean you p arbitrarily say scifi can be divided into three categories, lump the me series into one of these three which you dont actually define except by giving a single example (ie trek) and then say it disnae satisfy the requirements of that genre. as for the film grain effects proving thats what they were going for, loads of games have that, quick google tells me banjo-kazooie and viewtiful joe had film grain effects and thats no exactly a star-trek aping pair of games

    synthetic ending's p dumb for sure, but i dont know what youre talking about with the other two endings - you really think a massive infodump about the exact mechanisms of the destroy/control endings would have helped? cause im pretty sure that wouldve been terrible as hell. man sheps exhausted and dying and talking to what is p clearly a crazy as hell ancient maybe-machine-maybe-not hologram dude, theyre not exactly about to get a blueprint out for you and tell you whats going on. under the circumstances i def dont want all the invented tech details, what good would it do?

    i sure didnae get the idea that we were supposed to (let alone told to) replace our attachment to the characters with attachment to ~organic life~ either. maybe its implied by the catalyst avatar (but cf 'crazy as hell', above) but not by the game.

    the central conflict thing? man we're not told from the start that the reapers are trying to kill everyone, we dont even learn that reapers exist for a couple more hours and we dont learn that sov's a reaper til virmire! you even detail this in the next part of the video and it says p much the opposite of the what you just said! also um the main weak point of this section is that you say that the goals suddenly been changed from 'stop the reapers' to 'resolve the conflict between organic and synthetic life' but uh all the endings stop the reapers and most of them prob wont do anything to resolve the conflict between organic and synthetic life.:

    - control the reapers, they go away, they have been stopped! will there be organic/synthetic conflict? who knows, maybe?
    - destroy the reapers, they blow up, they have been stopped! will there be organic/synthetic conflict? if we build synthetic life again then who knows, maybe?
    - synthesis, well, this is p dumb and i dinnae really ken whats up here and im no certain anybody does so fuck it

    i agree to that the crashlanding scene is terrible as hell and makes v little sense wrt how the hell did the squaddies get back on the normandy, for sure. and the funny thing is the vid disnae even touch on the buzz aldrin sting post credits which might well be the worst thing about the ending, voice acting was gash, 'the shepard' is fucking cringeworthy etc.

    but aye, overall i dinnae like it much, sorry

    Ok then, here we go..
    The genre categorisation doesn't really matter. The underlying principle he highlighted is still true. People will put up with plot holes and the like if the story being told and dramatic elements being used are entertaining/distracting enough. His point was that the ending presents the player with waaaaaaay too much "hole" than the game can counterbalance with mood and setting. An info dump at the end would not have worked, nor did he imply that. It should have been built up to over the course of the game(s).

    You say you did not realise that you were supposed to replace character focus with attachment to organic life. Well duh. As the video points out, ME has always been about conversation and character interaction and these things were simply tossed out the window at the last moment to make way for an entirely different moral/philosophical dilemma.

    I had difficulty in making out what you were trying to say with your "central conflict" argument. I cannot tell whether you're scottish, drunk, illiterate or a mix of all three. Furthermore you seem to bring up arguments that support what the video is saying despite seemingly thinking that they do the opposite. I formally request a rewriting.

    tip.. tip.. TALLY.. HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
  • milathmilath Registered User regular
    mojojoeo wrote: »
    Ender wrote: »
    hoooooray, finally unlocked asari adept

    jesus criminy christ is this the overpowered adept class

    having an ability for every enemy type is just awesomesauce

    and stasis makes phantoms turn from psycho-crazed ninja insta-killers to lawl-bait headshot kill count increasers

    Yeah they are boss.
    IDDQD wrote: »
    mojojoeo wrote: »
    Man am I burned out on MP.

    This random system is just draining....

    I too was hitting the glass ceiling - but I kind of attributed that to class burnout. I've been having an absolute blast playing the Salarian Infiltrator, and having unlocked the Raptor I'm all about the MP again.

    I'm hoping that Bioware releases a new type of Pack that is just rares, it's seriously about time already. Make them 100,000 credits or something, but give us a better chance at something we actually want..

    i dunno- I was never wow'd by any game system that had 'prestige do over' to it. Why would I do it again? So I can relive the greatness that is bronze and make my number go up? That doesn't add longevity for me.

    Normally i would be playing SP but the ending kinda... sapped the will to play out of that.

    Honestly, this is the one thing I don't understand about the whole ending issue. How can some dismiss the rest of the game, which most agree is 99% pure awesome, based on the last 5 minutes that you don't like? I can understand being disappointed, angry or whatever, but I don't understand how it can 'sap the will to play' a game.

    Same goes for movies too. If a movie is 95 minutes of awesome, but the ending sucks, are you never gonna watch that movie again? Seems to me you're just denying yourself the 99% awesome time just so you don't have to experience the disappointment again. But you could always just, turn it off and still have had a good experience, no?

    steam_sig.png
    "No.. I was wrong. This must be what going mad feels like."

  • DVGDVG No. 1 Honor Student Nether Institute, Evil AcademyRegistered User regular
    IDDQD wrote: »
    mojojoeo wrote: »
    Man am I burned out on MP.

    This random system is just draining....

    I too was hitting the glass ceiling - but I kind of attributed that to class burnout. I've been having an absolute blast playing the Salarian Infiltrator, and having unlocked the Raptor I'm all about the MP again.

    I'm hoping that Bioware releases a new type of Pack that is just rares, it's seriously about time already. Make them 100,000 credits or something, but give us a better chance at something we actually want..

    The pile of cash they probably have from $2 spectre packs probably will keep that from happening. It's the Magic the Gathering effect.

    Diablo 3 - DVG#1857
  • tastydonutstastydonuts Registered User regular
    edited March 2012
    Gyral wrote: »
    Kai Leng wouldn't have been so bad if most of us didn't immediately think "Grey Fox was a better cyborg ninja".

    This, mostly. and since people keep saying it can somebody explain the eating cereal thing? I also thought about Raiden... and... bleh. Raiden.

    As far as MP goes, after playing her more I think I like playing Asari Vanguard more than my Asari Adept and other chars now. IDK. I gave her a shotgun so she could actually stagger things, Stasis Bubberu rapes Phantoms savagely... one game I went up against 3 of them at once and still walked away... o_o;

    and well, idk. She's the underdog of Vanguards.

    I also like the random card buying system. But then again, microtransactions are my weakness.

    tastydonuts on
    “I used to draw, hard to admit that I used to draw...”
  • evilthecatevilthecat Registered User regular
    milath wrote: »
    mojojoeo wrote: »
    Ender wrote: »
    hoooooray, finally unlocked asari adept

    jesus criminy christ is this the overpowered adept class

    having an ability for every enemy type is just awesomesauce

    and stasis makes phantoms turn from psycho-crazed ninja insta-killers to lawl-bait headshot kill count increasers

    Yeah they are boss.
    IDDQD wrote: »
    mojojoeo wrote: »
    Man am I burned out on MP.

    This random system is just draining....

    I too was hitting the glass ceiling - but I kind of attributed that to class burnout. I've been having an absolute blast playing the Salarian Infiltrator, and having unlocked the Raptor I'm all about the MP again.

    I'm hoping that Bioware releases a new type of Pack that is just rares, it's seriously about time already. Make them 100,000 credits or something, but give us a better chance at something we actually want..

    i dunno- I was never wow'd by any game system that had 'prestige do over' to it. Why would I do it again? So I can relive the greatness that is bronze and make my number go up? That doesn't add longevity for me.

    Normally i would be playing SP but the ending kinda... sapped the will to play out of that.

    Honestly, this is the one thing I don't understand about the whole ending issue. How can some dismiss the rest of the game, which most agree is 99% pure awesome, based on the last 5 minutes that you don't like? I can understand being disappointed, angry or whatever, but I don't understand how it can 'sap the will to play' a game.

    Same goes for movies too. If a movie is 95 minutes of awesome, but the ending sucks, are you never gonna watch that movie again? Seems to me you're just denying yourself the 99% awesome time just so you don't have to experience the disappointment again. But you could always just, turn it off and still have had a good experience, no?

    Oh please.
    It's like anything else that "rewards" you.
    You wouldn't spend 5 hours building an impressive sand castle if you knew that god was going to come along and kick it in before you could show it to anyone or photograph it.

    How about you name a movie that's 95% awesome with a lousy ending and we have a poll. Disregarding the fact that games are far more interactive than movies are, of course.

    tip.. tip.. TALLY.. HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
  • NeliNeli Registered User regular
    edited March 2012
    I think it's funny that the video starts by saying that Mass Effect is "Totally Star Trek, guys" and then the rest of the video is drawing comparisons to Star Wars instead and forgetting his own examples for convenience sake. The endings to ME1 and ME2 also ended with us not knowing what the endgame choices would lead to so not sure why he made a big deal of that specifically.

    Still, the Narrative Cohesion part was good

    Neli on
    vhgb4m.jpg
    I have stared into Satan's asshole, and it fucking winked at me.
    [/size]
  • milathmilath Registered User regular
    edited March 2012
    evilthecat wrote: »
    milath wrote: »
    mojojoeo wrote: »
    Ender wrote: »
    hoooooray, finally unlocked asari adept

    jesus criminy christ is this the overpowered adept class

    having an ability for every enemy type is just awesomesauce

    and stasis makes phantoms turn from psycho-crazed ninja insta-killers to lawl-bait headshot kill count increasers

    Yeah they are boss.
    IDDQD wrote: »
    mojojoeo wrote: »
    Man am I burned out on MP.

    This random system is just draining....

    I too was hitting the glass ceiling - but I kind of attributed that to class burnout. I've been having an absolute blast playing the Salarian Infiltrator, and having unlocked the Raptor I'm all about the MP again.

    I'm hoping that Bioware releases a new type of Pack that is just rares, it's seriously about time already. Make them 100,000 credits or something, but give us a better chance at something we actually want..

    i dunno- I was never wow'd by any game system that had 'prestige do over' to it. Why would I do it again? So I can relive the greatness that is bronze and make my number go up? That doesn't add longevity for me.

    Normally i would be playing SP but the ending kinda... sapped the will to play out of that.

    Honestly, this is the one thing I don't understand about the whole ending issue. How can some dismiss the rest of the game, which most agree is 99% pure awesome, based on the last 5 minutes that you don't like? I can understand being disappointed, angry or whatever, but I don't understand how it can 'sap the will to play' a game.

    Same goes for movies too. If a movie is 95 minutes of awesome, but the ending sucks, are you never gonna watch that movie again? Seems to me you're just denying yourself the 99% awesome time just so you don't have to experience the disappointment again. But you could always just, turn it off and still have had a good experience, no?

    Oh please.
    It's like anything else that "rewards" you.
    You wouldn't spend 5 hours building an impressive sand castle if you knew that god was going to come along and kick it in before you could show it to anyone or photograph it.

    How about you name a movie that's 95% awesome with a lousy ending and we have a poll. Disregarding the fact that games are far more interactive than movies are, of course.


    No. I'm not going to give you 'examples'. The sand castle thing... if you love building sand castles, why does it matter if you get to photograph it or show it to others? Isn't the reward in the doing, not the approval of someone else?

    Look, don't get angry with me. I wasn't trying to dismiss people's disappointment here. I just don't understand why it makes people not wanna play the game at all anymore.

    milath on
    steam_sig.png
    "No.. I was wrong. This must be what going mad feels like."

  • NeliNeli Registered User regular
    eating cereal thing

    It's from a badly written segment in one of the Mass Effect novels where he sits down in anothers house and starts eating cereal, supposedly to show how cool he was with the situation he was in

    vhgb4m.jpg
    I have stared into Satan's asshole, and it fucking winked at me.
    [/size]
  • DVGDVG No. 1 Honor Student Nether Institute, Evil AcademyRegistered User regular
    evilthecat wrote: »
    milath wrote: »
    mojojoeo wrote: »
    Ender wrote: »
    hoooooray, finally unlocked asari adept

    jesus criminy christ is this the overpowered adept class

    having an ability for every enemy type is just awesomesauce

    and stasis makes phantoms turn from psycho-crazed ninja insta-killers to lawl-bait headshot kill count increasers

    Yeah they are boss.
    IDDQD wrote: »
    mojojoeo wrote: »
    Man am I burned out on MP.

    This random system is just draining....

    I too was hitting the glass ceiling - but I kind of attributed that to class burnout. I've been having an absolute blast playing the Salarian Infiltrator, and having unlocked the Raptor I'm all about the MP again.

    I'm hoping that Bioware releases a new type of Pack that is just rares, it's seriously about time already. Make them 100,000 credits or something, but give us a better chance at something we actually want..

    i dunno- I was never wow'd by any game system that had 'prestige do over' to it. Why would I do it again? So I can relive the greatness that is bronze and make my number go up? That doesn't add longevity for me.

    Normally i would be playing SP but the ending kinda... sapped the will to play out of that.

    Honestly, this is the one thing I don't understand about the whole ending issue. How can some dismiss the rest of the game, which most agree is 99% pure awesome, based on the last 5 minutes that you don't like? I can understand being disappointed, angry or whatever, but I don't understand how it can 'sap the will to play' a game.

    Same goes for movies too. If a movie is 95 minutes of awesome, but the ending sucks, are you never gonna watch that movie again? Seems to me you're just denying yourself the 99% awesome time just so you don't have to experience the disappointment again. But you could always just, turn it off and still have had a good experience, no?

    Oh please.
    It's like anything else that "rewards" you.
    You wouldn't spend 5 hours building an impressive sand castle if you knew that god was going to come along and kick it in before you could show it to anyone or photograph it.

    How about you name a movie that's 95% awesome with a lousy ending and we have a poll. Disregarding the fact that games are far more interactive than movies are, of course.

    The argument you are making is that "I had fun for hundreds of hours, but the last five minutes retroactively made that time period unfun" This is impossible. You still had all the fun you had, but you are choosing to focus on what you're disappointed in instead of all the fun you had. It's like if it rained the last day at the beach and you insisted to everyone that it ruined the 2 weeks you spent there in perfect weather

    Diablo 3 - DVG#1857
  • MaddocMaddoc I'm Bobbin Threadbare, are you my mother? Registered User regular
    No, Drell is definitely the Vanguard Underdog

    Asari Vanguard is really good because Stasis Bubble is one of the most potent abilities in the game and Asari isn't crippled with a massive shield penalty.

  • RonaldoTheGypsyRonaldoTheGypsy Yes, yes Registered User regular
    Does Drell Vanguard BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ?

    Cluster Grenade is so good, too. Especially if you have someone to combo it with.

  • evilthecatevilthecat Registered User regular
    milath wrote: »
    evilthecat wrote: »
    milath wrote: »
    mojojoeo wrote: »
    Ender wrote: »
    hoooooray, finally unlocked asari adept

    jesus criminy christ is this the overpowered adept class

    having an ability for every enemy type is just awesomesauce

    and stasis makes phantoms turn from psycho-crazed ninja insta-killers to lawl-bait headshot kill count increasers

    Yeah they are boss.
    IDDQD wrote: »
    mojojoeo wrote: »
    Man am I burned out on MP.

    This random system is just draining....

    I too was hitting the glass ceiling - but I kind of attributed that to class burnout. I've been having an absolute blast playing the Salarian Infiltrator, and having unlocked the Raptor I'm all about the MP again.

    I'm hoping that Bioware releases a new type of Pack that is just rares, it's seriously about time already. Make them 100,000 credits or something, but give us a better chance at something we actually want..

    i dunno- I was never wow'd by any game system that had 'prestige do over' to it. Why would I do it again? So I can relive the greatness that is bronze and make my number go up? That doesn't add longevity for me.

    Normally i would be playing SP but the ending kinda... sapped the will to play out of that.

    Honestly, this is the one thing I don't understand about the whole ending issue. How can some dismiss the rest of the game, which most agree is 99% pure awesome, based on the last 5 minutes that you don't like? I can understand being disappointed, angry or whatever, but I don't understand how it can 'sap the will to play' a game.

    Same goes for movies too. If a movie is 95 minutes of awesome, but the ending sucks, are you never gonna watch that movie again? Seems to me you're just denying yourself the 99% awesome time just so you don't have to experience the disappointment again. But you could always just, turn it off and still have had a good experience, no?

    Oh please.
    It's like anything else that "rewards" you.
    You wouldn't spend 5 hours building an impressive sand castle if you knew that god was going to come along and kick it in before you could show it to anyone or photograph it.

    How about you name a movie that's 95% awesome with a lousy ending and we have a poll. Disregarding the fact that games are far more interactive than movies are, of course.


    No. I'm not going to give you 'examples'. The sand castle thing... if you love building sand castles, why does it matter if you get to photograph it or show it to others? Isn't the reward in the doing, not the approval of someone else?

    Look, don't get angry with me. I wasn't trying to dismiss people's disappointment here. I just don't understand why it makes people not wanna play the game at all anymore.

    You're the one making the movie argument, you provide the example. Basics of an argument, you know?

    The thing is people that claim to enjoy "doing something for the sake of doing it" are full of .. fecal matter.
    At some level they're investing effort into something and feeling great about the result.
    If the result is undesirable or not worth the projected amount of effort required to get there then people will simply not engage in that behaviour.
    This is why people are likely still playing the multiplayer but not doing their 18th SP playthrough.

    tip.. tip.. TALLY.. HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
  • YougottawannaYougottawanna Registered User regular
    Neli wrote: »
    I think it's funny that the video starts by saying that Mass Effect is "Totally Star Trek, guys" and then the rest of the video is drawing comparisons to Star Wars instead and forgetting his own examples for convenience sake. The endings to ME1 and ME2 also ended with us not knowing what the endgame choices would lead to so not sure why he made a big deal of that specifically.

    Still, the Narrative Cohesion part was good
    The comparison to Star Trek was for genre purposes, the comparison to Star Wars was for overall storytelling purposes. It's not an easy comparison to make since Mass Effect took inspirations from more than one place.

    And in the ME1 and ME2 endings, you had the means to understand the possible consequences of the choices you made - in ME3 they're so confusing that you're not even sure what it is that you're doing.

  • RonaldoTheGypsyRonaldoTheGypsy Yes, yes Registered User regular
    Soldier with mattock feels fun to me. It's very battlefield-y since I am rolling with this semi-auto rifle and I have to place my shots but I can still plink-plink-plink for good damage and focus solely on that instead of my salarian engy days ... DECOY DRAIN INCIN INCIN INCIN INCIN DECOY INCIN INCIN DRAIN DRAIN DRAIN INCIN INCIN DECOY

  • G RolG Rol Dorsia? Nobody goes there anymore... Nell'sRegistered User regular
    Just unlocked the Locust the other night but haven't had a chance to mess around with it yet. I hope it shreds as much ass in MP as it does in SP...my other sub machine guns are all garbage.


    G%20Rol.jpg
  • milathmilath Registered User regular
    evilthecat wrote: »
    milath wrote: »
    evilthecat wrote: »
    milath wrote: »
    mojojoeo wrote: »
    Ender wrote: »
    hoooooray, finally unlocked asari adept

    jesus criminy christ is this the overpowered adept class

    having an ability for every enemy type is just awesomesauce

    and stasis makes phantoms turn from psycho-crazed ninja insta-killers to lawl-bait headshot kill count increasers

    Yeah they are boss.
    IDDQD wrote: »
    mojojoeo wrote: »
    Man am I burned out on MP.

    This random system is just draining....

    I too was hitting the glass ceiling - but I kind of attributed that to class burnout. I've been having an absolute blast playing the Salarian Infiltrator, and having unlocked the Raptor I'm all about the MP again.

    I'm hoping that Bioware releases a new type of Pack that is just rares, it's seriously about time already. Make them 100,000 credits or something, but give us a better chance at something we actually want..

    i dunno- I was never wow'd by any game system that had 'prestige do over' to it. Why would I do it again? So I can relive the greatness that is bronze and make my number go up? That doesn't add longevity for me.

    Normally i would be playing SP but the ending kinda... sapped the will to play out of that.

    Honestly, this is the one thing I don't understand about the whole ending issue. How can some dismiss the rest of the game, which most agree is 99% pure awesome, based on the last 5 minutes that you don't like? I can understand being disappointed, angry or whatever, but I don't understand how it can 'sap the will to play' a game.

    Same goes for movies too. If a movie is 95 minutes of awesome, but the ending sucks, are you never gonna watch that movie again? Seems to me you're just denying yourself the 99% awesome time just so you don't have to experience the disappointment again. But you could always just, turn it off and still have had a good experience, no?

    Oh please.
    It's like anything else that "rewards" you.
    You wouldn't spend 5 hours building an impressive sand castle if you knew that god was going to come along and kick it in before you could show it to anyone or photograph it.

    How about you name a movie that's 95% awesome with a lousy ending and we have a poll. Disregarding the fact that games are far more interactive than movies are, of course.


    No. I'm not going to give you 'examples'. The sand castle thing... if you love building sand castles, why does it matter if you get to photograph it or show it to others? Isn't the reward in the doing, not the approval of someone else?

    Look, don't get angry with me. I wasn't trying to dismiss people's disappointment here. I just don't understand why it makes people not wanna play the game at all anymore.

    You're the one making the movie argument, you provide the example. Basics of an argument, you know?

    The thing is people that claim to enjoy "doing something for the sake of doing it" are full of .. fecal matter.
    At some level they're investing effort into something and feeling great about the result.
    If the result is undesirable or not worth the projected amount of effort required to get there then people will simply not engage in that behaviour.
    This is why people are likely still playing the multiplayer but not doing their 18th SP playthrough.

    *sigh*

    I gave you the example. Movie is 95 minutes of awesome and it's being dismissed based on the last few minutes. You want a specific example and I don't feel like providing one because then we get into personal tastes and I'm not interested in doing that.

    As for the rest, I guess if you're going to call me full of shit for saying the reward is in the doing and not the result, we don't have much to discuss. My only question is how a great game can be dismissed based on the last 5 minutes. Is the ending the 'reward' to everyone? Or is the playing and enjoying a good game the reward?

    I guess you're saying the end is the reward. Fair enough.

    steam_sig.png
    "No.. I was wrong. This must be what going mad feels like."

  • GoodKingJayIIIGoodKingJayIII They wanna get my gold on the ceilingRegistered User regular
    Maddoc wrote: »
    No, Drell is definitely the Vanguard Underdog

    Asari Vanguard is really good because Stasis Bubble is one of the most potent abilities in the game and Asari isn't crippled with a massive shield penalty.

    I don't get any of the drell classes. Drell Vanguard seems objectively bad, but I'll grant that I haven't given it a lot of time. There's probably a way to make drell Adept good, but I haven't figured out what it is yet.

    Battletag: Threeve#1501; PSN: Threeve703; Steam: 3eeve
  • MaddocMaddoc I'm Bobbin Threadbare, are you my mother? Registered User regular
    Does Drell Vanguard BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ?

    Cluster Grenade is so good, too. Especially if you have someone to combo it with.

    No Reave, that might actually help their issues.

    Drell Vanguard gets Charge, Pull, and Cluster Grenade

    It synergizes kind of poorly, and you don't even get Reave's damage reduction to make up for Drell starting with a piddling 250 base shields.

    I suspect they did it because Cluster Grenade has an upgrade that requires Pull, but it really feels like they jacked it up because Reave feels really integral to Drell survivability in light of their paper thin shields.

  • NeliNeli Registered User regular
    edited March 2012
    And in the ME1 and ME2 endings, you had the means to understand the possible consequences of the choices you made - in ME3 they're so confusing that you're not even sure what it is that you're doing

    Only
    Synthesis is confusing and it was the first time we got a third choice in an ending for a mass effect game. It was basically the "wild card" choice so of course it was going to be a little wild. The Child does say exactly what it will do as well...Problem isn't that the choice isn't outlined, the problem is the choice itself. It wasn't a satisfying choice.

    The other two endings, "control" and "destruction" are fairly damn clear to me, though certain things like having EDI walk out of Normandy during the Destroy ending and stuff really makes a mess of everything. :whistle:

    Neli on
    vhgb4m.jpg
    I have stared into Satan's asshole, and it fucking winked at me.
    [/size]
  • ShenShen Registered User regular
    I'm waiting on Gibbed's save editor to get polished up into a format I can understand without digging through raw tables for my subsequent ME3 playthroughs.

    ME3 killed my desire to replay ME2 mechanically, and I'd rather play the multi than spend time looking through the collection of online saves.

    Also holy shit, did not even register that you can buy packs with real money. Bioware are probably making a killing!

    3DS: 2234-8122-8398 | Battle.net (EU): Ladi#2485
    ladi.png
  • AgusalimAgusalim Registered User regular
    this time i will remember to put in spoiler tags at the start!
    if the genre categorisation isnae important then why spend five minutes of the video setting up & supporting the slotting of me into a particular genre (one that hadnae even been posited before this video as far as google can tell!) by constant referral back to the single exemplar of talky & techy? sure seemed like a central plank of the video's first thesis to me.

    obviously "entertaining/distracting enough" depends on the player, different folk can suspend disbelief to different extents at different times. i didnae feel that the ending presented us with more hole (lol) than it can support, at least not if we distinguish between hole as simple lack of detail (which the explanation offered by the catalyst avatar definitely lacks) and hole as something that contradicts an earlier component of the plot (which im pretty certain the catalyst explanation does not). i dont mind a lack of detail, like i said and you seem to agree, it would make the finally conversation very clunky and p much a straightup infodump. but furthermore i dont really mind not finding out about exactly where the catalyst avatar comes from, how long ago it was created/born/whatever, how it made the reapers, all that stuff. like i said, shepard's on deaths door, that is not a time when people are apt to be ready with their wittiest and most insightful repartee, it makes perfect sense that she would not be up to challenging the avatar on what its saying

    as for the 'replacing character focus' thing, i think we might be talking past each other a bit here. the video is saying that the game asks you to do that, and you seem to agree with it (am i right?), while what im saying is that this is not the case. the catalyst asks you (or rather asks shepard) to make a decision about the whole organic/synthetic business, but that is because that is what that character thinks is important. whether you/shepard thinks that is the most important thing is up to the player.

    my point wrt the central conflict is pretty straightforward, sorry to have made it unclear: the video asserts that the final section replaces the goal "stop the reapers" with the goal "end synthetic/organic conflict". what i was trying to put across is that, with the exception of the synthesis ending which is terrible, the endings do resolve "stop the reapers" but do not resolve "end synthetic/organic conflict". so i dinnae see in what sense this initial conflict (which is resolved by the endings) has been replaced by another conflict (which is not resolved by the endings).

  • MaddocMaddoc I'm Bobbin Threadbare, are you my mother? Registered User regular
    I totally admit that I threw a couple bucks at them to grab a bunch of Special Veteran Packs before they vanished.

    I regret nothing, those packs unlocked Asari Vanguard, Drell Adept, and Turian Soldier for me.

  • G RolG Rol Dorsia? Nobody goes there anymore... Nell'sRegistered User regular
    milath wrote: »
    evilthecat wrote: »
    milath wrote: »
    evilthecat wrote: »
    milath wrote: »
    mojojoeo wrote: »
    Ender wrote: »
    hoooooray, finally unlocked asari adept

    jesus criminy christ is this the overpowered adept class

    having an ability for every enemy type is just awesomesauce

    and stasis makes phantoms turn from psycho-crazed ninja insta-killers to lawl-bait headshot kill count increasers

    Yeah they are boss.
    IDDQD wrote: »
    mojojoeo wrote: »
    Man am I burned out on MP.

    This random system is just draining....

    I too was hitting the glass ceiling - but I kind of attributed that to class burnout. I've been having an absolute blast playing the Salarian Infiltrator, and having unlocked the Raptor I'm all about the MP again.

    I'm hoping that Bioware releases a new type of Pack that is just rares, it's seriously about time already. Make them 100,000 credits or something, but give us a better chance at something we actually want..

    i dunno- I was never wow'd by any game system that had 'prestige do over' to it. Why would I do it again? So I can relive the greatness that is bronze and make my number go up? That doesn't add longevity for me.

    Normally i would be playing SP but the ending kinda... sapped the will to play out of that.

    Honestly, this is the one thing I don't understand about the whole ending issue. How can some dismiss the rest of the game, which most agree is 99% pure awesome, based on the last 5 minutes that you don't like? I can understand being disappointed, angry or whatever, but I don't understand how it can 'sap the will to play' a game.

    Same goes for movies too. If a movie is 95 minutes of awesome, but the ending sucks, are you never gonna watch that movie again? Seems to me you're just denying yourself the 99% awesome time just so you don't have to experience the disappointment again. But you could always just, turn it off and still have had a good experience, no?

    Oh please.
    It's like anything else that "rewards" you.
    You wouldn't spend 5 hours building an impressive sand castle if you knew that god was going to come along and kick it in before you could show it to anyone or photograph it.

    How about you name a movie that's 95% awesome with a lousy ending and we have a poll. Disregarding the fact that games are far more interactive than movies are, of course.


    No. I'm not going to give you 'examples'. The sand castle thing... if you love building sand castles, why does it matter if you get to photograph it or show it to others? Isn't the reward in the doing, not the approval of someone else?

    Look, don't get angry with me. I wasn't trying to dismiss people's disappointment here. I just don't understand why it makes people not wanna play the game at all anymore.

    You're the one making the movie argument, you provide the example. Basics of an argument, you know?

    The thing is people that claim to enjoy "doing something for the sake of doing it" are full of .. fecal matter.
    At some level they're investing effort into something and feeling great about the result.
    If the result is undesirable or not worth the projected amount of effort required to get there then people will simply not engage in that behaviour.
    This is why people are likely still playing the multiplayer but not doing their 18th SP playthrough.

    *sigh*

    I gave you the example. Movie is 95 minutes of awesome and it's being dismissed based on the last few minutes. You want a specific example and I don't feel like providing one because then we get into personal tastes and I'm not interested in doing that.

    As for the rest, I guess if you're going to call me full of shit for saying the reward is in the doing and not the result, we don't have much to discuss. My only question is how a great game can be dismissed based on the last 5 minutes. Is the ending the 'reward' to everyone? Or is the playing and enjoying a good game the reward?

    I guess you're saying the end is the reward. Fair enough.

    I fall somewhere in the middle of this discussion. I loved the first 99% of this game as much as the next guy, but haven't really felt that drive to run my other four Sheps through single player yet. I don't dig the end as is, and am awaiting this whatever the hell it is DLC before I pick SP back up.

    The previous MEs built up to a great climax that you knew would carry over into future games. I don't know if it's the ho-hum ending, increased linearity, or the lack of ME4 on the horizon, but I don't feel any incentive to run through ME3's single player component any time soon (despite how badass the bulk of it is).


    G%20Rol.jpg
  • BobbleBobble Registered User regular
    So I went and did a silly thing. I wasted a bunch of what would have otherwise been productive time making a Redlettermedia-style review of the ending. Here it be (spoilers for all three games):

    Thank you.

  • tastydonutstastydonuts Registered User regular
    edited March 2012
    Maddoc wrote: »
    No, Drell is definitely the Vanguard Underdog

    Asari Vanguard is really good because Stasis Bubble is one of the most potent abilities in the game and Asari isn't crippled with a massive shield penalty.

    Yeah, the more I think about it you may be right. But then again, the only Drell I've seen are the bees, so idk. :P

    I'll have to play it and see.

    I tried a soldier but I'm not sure what to do to make it work. When I played it I just wound up spamming concussive shot a whole bunch so I think I may be doing it wrong.

    edit: I didn't die, and I was successful, but my score wasn't as high as other soldier's I've seen in play.

    tastydonuts on
    “I used to draw, hard to admit that I used to draw...”
  • NeliNeli Registered User regular
    Wasn't RLM supposed to make a video for ME3's ending as well?

    vhgb4m.jpg
    I have stared into Satan's asshole, and it fucking winked at me.
    [/size]
  • MaddocMaddoc I'm Bobbin Threadbare, are you my mother? Registered User regular
    Maddoc wrote: »
    No, Drell is definitely the Vanguard Underdog

    Asari Vanguard is really good because Stasis Bubble is one of the most potent abilities in the game and Asari isn't crippled with a massive shield penalty.

    Yeah, the more I think about it you may be right. But then again, the only Drell I've seen are the bees, so idk. :P

    I'll have to play it and see.

    I tried a soldier but I'm not sure what to do to make it work. When I played it I just wound up spamming concussive shot a whole bunch so I think I may be doing it wrong.

    edit: I didn't die, and I was successful, but my score wasn't as high as other soldier's I've seen in play.

    That's pretty much doing it right.

    Other soldiers will probably score higher on bronze by focusing on shooting things, but as the difficulty rises you're far better off spamming Concussive Shot. If you use disruptor ammo you can also use it to set off your own detonations by shooting and then following it up with concussive shot.

  • gjaustingjaustin Registered User regular
    Maddoc wrote: »
    Maddoc wrote: »
    No, Drell is definitely the Vanguard Underdog

    Asari Vanguard is really good because Stasis Bubble is one of the most potent abilities in the game and Asari isn't crippled with a massive shield penalty.

    Yeah, the more I think about it you may be right. But then again, the only Drell I've seen are the bees, so idk. :P

    I'll have to play it and see.

    I tried a soldier but I'm not sure what to do to make it work. When I played it I just wound up spamming concussive shot a whole bunch so I think I may be doing it wrong.

    edit: I didn't die, and I was successful, but my score wasn't as high as other soldier's I've seen in play.

    That's pretty much doing it right.

    Other soldiers will probably score higher on bronze by focusing on shooting things, but as the difficulty rises you're far better off spamming Concussive Shot. If you use disruptor ammo you can also use it to set off your own detonations by shooting and then following it up with concussive shot.

    Would giving Concussive Shot the ammo power upgrade allow you to get detonations just by spamming it?

  • ShenShen Registered User regular
    Maddoc wrote: »
    Maddoc wrote: »
    No, Drell is definitely the Vanguard Underdog

    Asari Vanguard is really good because Stasis Bubble is one of the most potent abilities in the game and Asari isn't crippled with a massive shield penalty.

    Yeah, the more I think about it you may be right. But then again, the only Drell I've seen are the bees, so idk. :P

    I'll have to play it and see.

    I tried a soldier but I'm not sure what to do to make it work. When I played it I just wound up spamming concussive shot a whole bunch so I think I may be doing it wrong.

    edit: I didn't die, and I was successful, but my score wasn't as high as other soldier's I've seen in play.

    That's pretty much doing it right.

    Other soldiers will probably score higher on bronze by focusing on shooting things, but as the difficulty rises you're far better off spamming Concussive Shot. If you use disruptor ammo you can also use it to set off your own detonations by shooting and then following it up with concussive shot.

    Also, using Adrenaline Rush immediately reloads your weapon, so it's pretty nifty with stuff like the Black Widow or the Revenant.

    3DS: 2234-8122-8398 | Battle.net (EU): Ladi#2485
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  • gjaustingjaustin Registered User regular
    So I'm trying to come up with a Vanguard build that can do something other than run around spamming Charge and Nova. That works great on Bronze, but starts to get sketchy on Silver, and I can only imagine the problems on Gold. I have two ideas at the moment:


    Human Vanguard
    Charge 6 (Area, Power Damage, Shields)
    Nova 6 (Damage, Half Barrier, Pierce)
    Alliance Training (Power/Weight, Headshot, Weight)
    Fitness (Shields, Shields, Shields)

    Mantis X (Damage / Piercing)
    Shuriken X (Extra Ammo / Heat Sink) - Once they fix Ultralight Materials, I'd probably go for a Locust instead
    Weight - Roughly +175%

    Strategy: Stick with the group and headshot enemies. If we get overrun, starting spamming Charge and Nova everywhere.


    Asari Vanguard
    Charge 6 (Area, Power Damage Shields)
    Stasis 6 (Damage, ????, Bubble)
    Lift Grenade 3
    Justicar 5 (Power/Weight, Headshot)
    Fitness (Shields, Shields, Shields)

    Mantis X (Damage / Piercing)
    Weight - Roughly +155%

    Strategy: As above, stick with the group and use Stasis. In case of getting overrun, spam Charge, Stasis, and Heavy Melee.


    Thoughts? I'll take weapon suggestions, but I'd prefer to stick with longer range weapons, so Snipers or Assault Rifles. I don't need close range weapons, because I have Charge and Nova/Heavy Melee.

  • SeptusSeptus Registered User regular
    My thought is I need a certain amount of charging for me to bother playing the class at all. I'm fine with a fair amount of shooting I think, but not if it's like 2/3 of all that I do.

    It would seem that a vanguard could afford to do a lot of novaing if properly teamed up? Like, with someone providing stasis bubbles, or neural shocks.

    PSN: Kurahoshi1
  • OrcaOrca Also known as Espressosaurus WrexRegistered User regular
    evilthecat wrote: »
    The thing is people that claim to enjoy "doing something for the sake of doing it" are full of .. fecal matter.
    At some level they're investing effort into something and feeling great about the result.
    If the result is undesirable or not worth the projected amount of effort required to get there then people will simply not engage in that behaviour.
    This is why people are likely still playing the multiplayer but not doing their 18th SP playthrough.

    Well...most people feel the way you do. A minority feel the milath does. I feel the way he does! Bad opinions ftw. But I've had to acknowledge that this is very much the minority opinion here. I still don't understand your point of view, but that's ok--I'm pretty sure you don't understand mine. :)

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