Okay, here is what I asked Patrick Weekes, and his answers as best as I can remember them. I've paraphrased but I'm doing my best to stick to what he said rather than introduce any interpretation.
THESE ARE NOT DIRECT QUOTES.
-Is there still a setting to explore after the ending? Is everything ruined?
The setting is definitely not ruined. We still have a big, lively galaxy.
-Will long-distance superluminal travel still be possible post-Ending? (will Tali or Wrex or Garrus see their homeworlds again? Will everyone starve?)
Galactic civilization will rebuild. The mass relays were not necessary for interstellar flight. Remember, what does it say in the Codex about the speed of ships? That's right, 12 lightyears per (day? hour? minute?). And that's only the cruising speed, not the maximum speed.
People have never needed to research basic FTL improvements before because they have mass relays. With the relays gone, new technology will increase that speed. Additionally, the element zero cores of the dead/controlled Reapers can be used to improve FTL drives. :siren:Starflight will continue using conventional FTL.:siren:
-Why did Joker leave Shep behind?
Joker would never abandon Shep without a good reason. Hopefully this will be clear in the Expanded Cut.
-Why can EDI survive the Destroy ending?
We argued a lot about this, I said that she was made of Reapertech and should therefore be destroyed, but (unclear, don't remember - wish I'd been able to ask a followup as his response doesn't make much sense)
-Did anyone on the Citadel survive?
Yes. We would never, ever do anything that made the player feel, on replay, that it would be better for everyone on the Citadel if they just died. The Citadel has emergency shelters and kinetic barriers - even if it blows up, millions might survive. :siren: You should assume that everyone plot-important on the Citadel survived. :siren:
-Is it better for Kelly Chambers if we talk her into suicide?
No, see above.
-Who wrote the death of Joker's sister?
I did! We intentionally did not connect the dots. We were very interested to see how fast gamers figured it out.
-Whose idea was it to make the Rayya fall out of the sky if you destroy the Quarian fleet?
Someone in the audio department, it was brilliant.
-Did the mass relays pull an Arrival and go supernova?
No, they didn't. (i'm paraphrasing here, please don't interpret this too hard) They overloaded, they didn't rupture. :siren:We really didn't mean to imply that the whole galaxy had been destroyed. People interpreted the ending in ways we really didn't expect. :siren:
(Mr. Weekes dropped a lot of hints that he really didn't like the ending. He also said something that was almost 100% verbatim from the Penny Arcade Forum post often attributed to him)
-Why did Legion pull a 180 from his Mass Effect 2 philosophy?
He and the Geth were backed into a corner. They'd been made a lot dumber by the attack on the Dyson swarm. There was no other choice for Geth survival.
-What was up with the Rachni story? Why did we get railroaded?
Welcome to game development. In some games (Alpha Protocol) they make a bold choice where some decisions can knock entire missions out of the story. At BioWare, we never want people to be locked out of content due to a decision several games ago. We just didn't have the resources to do an alternate for the Rachni mission, so we decided that the Rachni mission could occur whether or not players saved the Queen.
-Why didn't (X squadmate from ME2) return?
There was a very ugly month of development where we fought out who would return. We knew we had to have a smaller cast so we could fit in more squad banter. Eventually we decided to bring Garrus and Tali back, so they could be squadmates in all three games. We also knew we'd have Vega in order for new players to have someone dumber than they were.
I was very resentful of Vega at first because I thought he was taking a slot that could've gone to a ME2 character, but he grew on me.
-Why did EDI have cameltoe?
We don't get a lot of feedback from the art department but (unclear, wish I remembered this better )
Lots of discussion about how he was uncomfortable doing Pinocchio stories for both Legion and EDI because 'EDI was fine, she was an AI, she was cool - do we really need her to turn into Commander Data? We had seven seasons of Data, that was enough.'
-Why did you write Pinocchio stories for all the synthetic characters?
See above
-What was up with the Human Reaper in ME2? Why did it look so dumb?
We wanted to use the Suicide Mission to show several steps of the Reaper development process, from human reaper embryo all the way to cuttlefish. But the mission grew too complicated so it was cut for time.
Do the Reapers really only generate one capital ship per cycle? How do they ever break even?
Well, we never totally pinned that down. But this cycle was really anomalous. They don't normally take any capital-size Reaper losses at all.
-What was up with Kai Leng? How do you feel about him?
We really wanted to have a recurring antagonist for Shep, a 'Darth Maul' (his words). But I feel like there was some definite conflict between cutscene and gameplay there, and I think it's something we have to work on.
'He was a great antagonist in the books'
-Why did we only get top and bottom dialogue choices, no middle?
Part of it was resources. Part of it is that Mass Effect 3 is a war story and it's really hard for Shep to feel middling about the Reapers.
-How did YOU feel about the ending?
(I didn't ask this, but he seems to have gone to GREAT lengths to think ways around a lot of stuff the ending implied.)
Why no female (alien X?)
Resource limitations. They have a very strict budget for how many different characters they can use in a given area. Some are basically free - if you have human males you have Batarians because they're humans with funny heads, if you have human females you have asari, etc.
Where was Harbinger? Can we ASSUME DIRECT CONTROL of him?
I definitely want more closure on Harbinger. That'd be hilarious. Stop punching yourself, Harbinger.
How did the Reapers storm the Citadel? Why didn't they shut down the relays as per their original plan once they had control?
Originally we planned to have a cutscene of Reapers taking over, Reaper monsters punching buttons, et cetera. But we cut it, partially for resource reasons and partly because it disrupted the pacing.
The Reapers didn't shut down the mass relays because the Keepers interfered with that. (I wish I could've asked a follow-up here, it doesn't make much sense.)
Why don't Ken and Gabby have more dialogue?
They actually have a bunch more on disk, but we somehow introduced a bug where their dialogue is tied to your approval level with Ash. If Ash has low approval, or isn't present, most of Ken and Gabby's dialogue won't play.
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KwoaruConfident SmirkFlawless Golden PecsRegistered Userregular
salarian engineer is super boring when your team isn't huddled in an entrenched position
but when you gotta defend a point it feels so good
So many things there make sense but were not shown at all in the game.
Maybe that's why BioWare didn't realize the end sucked so hard, because they knew about the things that got cut and so could piece together the nonsense in a way people who came to it cold could never do.
The fact that taky spending ten minutes explaining things provides more coherent narrative closure than a fucking ten hour third act ever did is pretty damning.
That said, there's an awful lot of hand waving. Just assume everyone's OK. Yeah, I'll get right on that, thanks.
Okay, here is what I asked Patrick Weekes, and his answers as best as I can remember them. I've paraphrased but I'm doing my best to stick to what he said rather than introduce any interpretation.
THESE ARE NOT DIRECT QUOTES.
-Is there still a setting to explore after the ending? Is everything ruined?
The setting is definitely not ruined. We still have a big, lively galaxy.
-Will long-distance superluminal travel still be possible post-Ending? (will Tali or Wrex or Garrus see their homeworlds again? Will everyone starve?)
Galactic civilization will rebuild. The mass relays were not necessary for interstellar flight. Remember, what does it say in the Codex about the speed of ships? That's right, 12 lightyears per (day? hour? minute?). And that's only the cruising speed, not the maximum speed.
People have never needed to research basic FTL improvements before because they have mass relays. With the relays gone, new technology will increase that speed. Additionally, the element zero cores of the dead/controlled Reapers can be used to improve FTL drives. :siren:Starflight will continue using conventional FTL.:siren:
-Why did Joker leave Shep behind?
Joker would never abandon Shep without a good reason. Hopefully this will be clear in the Expanded Cut.
-Why can EDI survive the Destroy ending?
We argued a lot about this, I said that she was made of Reapertech and should therefore be destroyed, but (unclear, don't remember - wish I'd been able to ask a followup as his response doesn't make much sense)
-Did anyone on the Citadel survive?
Yes. We would never, ever do anything that made the player feel, on replay, that it would be better for everyone on the Citadel if they just died. The Citadel has emergency shelters and kinetic barriers - even if it blows up, millions might survive. :siren: You should assume that everyone plot-important on the Citadel survived. :siren:
-Is it better for Kelly Chambers if we talk her into suicide?
No, see above.
-Who wrote the death of Joker's sister?
I did! We intentionally did not connect the dots. We were very interested to see how fast gamers figured it out.
-Whose idea was it to make the Rayya fall out of the sky if you destroy the Quarian fleet?
Someone in the audio department, it was brilliant.
-Did the mass relays pull an Arrival and go supernova?
No, they didn't. (i'm paraphrasing here, please don't interpret this too hard) They overloaded, they didn't rupture. :siren:We really didn't mean to imply that the whole galaxy had been destroyed. People interpreted the ending in ways we really didn't expect. :siren:
(Mr. Weekes dropped a lot of hints that he really didn't like the ending. He also said something that was almost 100% verbatim from the Penny Arcade Forum post often attributed to him)
-Why did Legion pull a 180 from his Mass Effect 2 philosophy?
He and the Geth were backed into a corner. They'd been made a lot dumber by the attack on the Dyson swarm. There was no other choice for Geth survival.
-What was up with the Rachni story? Why did we get railroaded?
Welcome to game development. In some games (Alpha Protocol) they make a bold choice where some decisions can knock entire missions out of the story. At BioWare, we never want people to be locked out of content due to a decision several games ago. We just didn't have the resources to do an alternate for the Rachni mission, so we decided that the Rachni mission could occur whether or not players saved the Queen.
-Why didn't (X squadmate from ME2) return?
There was a very ugly month of development where we fought out who would return. We knew we had to have a smaller cast so we could fit in more squad banter. Eventually we decided to bring Garrus and Tali back, so they could be squadmates in all three games. We also knew we'd have Vega in order for new players to have someone dumber than they were.
I was very resentful of Vega at first because I thought he was taking a slot that could've gone to a ME2 character, but he grew on me.
-Why did EDI have cameltoe?
We don't get a lot of feedback from the art department but (unclear, wish I remembered this better )
Lots of discussion about how he was uncomfortable doing Pinocchio stories for both Legion and EDI because 'EDI was fine, she was an AI, she was cool - do we really need her to turn into Commander Data? We had seven seasons of Data, that was enough.'
-Why did you write Pinocchio stories for all the synthetic characters?
See above
-What was up with the Human Reaper in ME2? Why did it look so dumb?
We wanted to use the Suicide Mission to show several steps of the Reaper development process, from human reaper embryo all the way to cuttlefish. But the mission grew too complicated so it was cut for time.
Do the Reapers really only generate one capital ship per cycle? How do they ever break even?
Well, we never totally pinned that down. But this cycle was really anomalous. They don't normally take any capital-size Reaper losses at all.
-What was up with Kai Leng? How do you feel about him?
We really wanted to have a recurring antagonist for Shep, a 'Darth Maul' (his words). But I feel like there was some definite conflict between cutscene and gameplay there, and I think it's something we have to work on.
'He was a great antagonist in the books'
-Why did we only get top and bottom dialogue choices, no middle?
Part of it was resources. Part of it is that Mass Effect 3 is a war story and it's really hard for Shep to feel middling about the Reapers.
-How did YOU feel about the ending?
(I didn't ask this, but he seems to have gone to GREAT lengths to think ways around a lot of stuff the ending implied.)
Why no female (alien X?)
Resource limitations. They have a very strict budget for how many different characters they can use in a given area. Some are basically free - if you have human males you have Batarians because they're humans with funny heads, if you have human females you have asari, etc.
Where was Harbinger? Can we ASSUME DIRECT CONTROL of him?
I definitely want more closure on Harbinger. That'd be hilarious. Stop punching yourself, Harbinger.
How did the Reapers storm the Citadel? Why didn't they shut down the relays as per their original plan once they had control?
Originally we planned to have a cutscene of Reapers taking over, Reaper monsters punching buttons, et cetera. But we cut it, partially for resource reasons and partly because it disrupted the pacing.
The Reapers didn't shut down the mass relays because the Keepers interfered with that. (I wish I could've asked a follow-up here, it doesn't make much sense.)
Why don't Ken and Gabby have more dialogue?
They actually have a bunch more on disk, but we somehow introduced a bug where their dialogue is tied to your approval level with Ash. If Ash has low approval, or isn't present, most of Ken and Gabby's dialogue won't play.
well that explains why I never heard anything from ken and gabby
If you give me your Valiant I can paint gold
trust me
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PaperLuigi44My amazement is at maximum capacity.Registered Userregular
RE: That interview (ending stuff)
There were dots to connect to Joker's sister being dead? Last I remember he was hopeful because she was a teenager and the survivors from Tiptree didn't include adults
There were dots to connect to Joker's sister being dead? Last I remember he was hopeful because she was a teenager and the survivors from Tiptree didn't include adults
The PTSD Asari in Huerta Memorial talks about it
and then taky straight up said it in a post a while ago
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BugBoyboy.EXE has stopped functioning.only bugs remainRegistered Userregular
There were dots to connect to Joker's sister being dead? Last I remember he was hopeful because she was a teenager and the survivors from Tiptree didn't include adults
There were dots to connect to Joker's sister being dead? Last I remember he was hopeful because she was a teenager and the survivors from Tiptree didn't include adults
PTSD Asari in Huerta Memorial. She's got a great ambient to listen to.
There were dots to connect to Joker's sister being dead? Last I remember he was hopeful because she was a teenager and the survivors from Tiptree didn't include adults
ambient dialogue spoiler
the PTSD asari in the hospital killed his sister
the asari only names her once or twice and it may have been deep in the conversation line but i dont remember
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chiasaur11Never doubt a raccoon.Do you think it's trademarked?Registered Userregular
There were dots to connect to Joker's sister being dead? Last I remember he was hopeful because she was a teenager and the survivors from Tiptree didn't include adults
I think I missed this part entirely
anyone mind elaborating?
The PTSD Asari mentions murdering a teenage farmgirl on Tiptree so a banshee wouldn't find them.
The girl's name was Hilary. She wanted to be a pilot.
You know, I think a lot of people don't pay attention to the ambient conversations
and it's a shame, because they're some of the best in the game
Can't believe how many people missed
Conrad Verner's talks about thermal clips and conversation trees
I think its a bug that he wont show up at all / if you do a batarian fetch quest too quickly
I think
but yeah the ambient dialogue is amazing, there was one I couldn't listen to though
the old lady in I think the first or second act trying to find out about her son and she can't remember that she's already asked like a million times and her son is super dead
because mental illness scares the shit outta me
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PaperLuigi44My amazement is at maximum capacity.Registered Userregular
There were dots to connect to Joker's sister being dead? Last I remember he was hopeful because she was a teenager and the survivors from Tiptree didn't include adults
ambient dialogue spoiler
the PTSD asari in the hospital killed his sister
the asari only names her once or twice and it may have been deep in the conversation line but i dont remember
Oh fuck.
I went all the way through that ambient dialogue because a friend pointed out how good it was, but I had long forgotten the details of the farm girl.
Goddamn.
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Olivawgood name, isn't it?the foot of mt fujiRegistered Userregular
So many things there make sense but were not shown at all in the game.
Maybe that's why BioWare didn't realize the end sucked so hard, because they knew about the things that got cut and so could piece together the nonsense in a way people who came to it cold could never do.
The fact that taky spending ten minutes explaining things provides more coherent narrative closure than a fucking ten hour third act ever did is pretty damning.
That said, there's an awful lot of hand waving. Just assume everyone's OK. Yeah, I'll get right on that, thanks.
Yeah, uh, I'm gonna go ahead and assume that everyone is dead, because that is what the game shows
interview talk (warning shoe: includes talking about the ending!!)
that was pretty disappointing
a lot of just kinda glossing over things, handwaving stuff away
like everyone actually survived the citadel getting attacked and exploding after all? really?
I mean it's not his fault, god damn I would hate to be put on damage control for that ending
In fairness
there's no indication the Citadel was ever actually attacked - just closed up and carried off. We're given no sign that Reaper ground forces have stormed the Citadel
There were dots to connect to Joker's sister being dead? Last I remember he was hopeful because she was a teenager and the survivors from Tiptree didn't include adults
ambient dialogue spoiler
the PTSD asari in the hospital killed his sister
the asari only names her once or twice and it may have been deep in the conversation line but i dont remember
Oh fuck.
I went all the way through that ambient dialogue because a friend pointed out how good it was, but I had long forgotten the details of the farm girl.
Goddamn.
Yeah I didn't catch it the first time through either, if I would have felt really bad for a bit
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BugBoyboy.EXE has stopped functioning.only bugs remainRegistered Userregular
interview talk (warning shoe: includes talking about the ending!!)
that was pretty disappointing
a lot of just kinda glossing over things, handwaving stuff away
like everyone actually survived the citadel getting attacked and exploding after all? really?
I mean it's not his fault, god damn I would hate to be put on damage control for that ending
In fairness
there's no indication the Citadel was ever actually attacked - just closed up and carried off. We're given no sign that Reaper ground forces have stormed the Citadel
except for
the dead bodies all over the place when you get up there
Man if y'all want to bitch about your degrees, I've got one in culinary arts
It's just about the most useful education you can have
And it pays for shit. Even with job experience.
So now I'm going back to school for something else, blaaah.
A trap is for fish: when you've got the fish, you can forget the trap. A snare is for rabbits: when you've got the rabbit, you can forget the snare. Words are for meaning: when you've got the meaning, you can forget the words.
interview talk (warning shoe: includes talking about the ending!!)
that was pretty disappointing
a lot of just kinda glossing over things, handwaving stuff away
like everyone actually survived the citadel getting attacked and exploding after all? really?
I mean it's not his fault, god damn I would hate to be put on damage control for that ending
In fairness
there's no indication the Citadel was ever actually attacked - just closed up and carried off. We're given no sign that Reaper ground forces have stormed the Citadel
I'm pretty sure there's a shot of a pile of dead folks towards the end though
still, no reason to assume it's ALL the people on the citadel
So many things there make sense but were not shown at all in the game.
Maybe that's why BioWare didn't realize the end sucked so hard, because they knew about the things that got cut and so could piece together the nonsense in a way people who came to it cold could never do.
The fact that taky spending ten minutes explaining things provides more coherent narrative closure than a fucking ten hour third act ever did is pretty damning.
That said, there's an awful lot of hand waving. Just assume everyone's OK. Yeah, I'll get right on that, thanks.
Yeah, uh, I'm gonna go ahead and assume that everyone is dead, because that is what the game shows
Sorry Taky, that shit just don't fly
Exactly. If everyone is actually not dead, then that big explosion was just for effect. It was the shallowest kind of spectacle, with zero emotional weight. An excuse to show off some nice particle effects. That makes it worse.
It's absolutely a retcon. I mean, aside from Mac Walters literally saying 'nah, everyone's dead' on twitter like a day after launch, there's no way they intended that to be the case.
The_Scarab on
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KwoaruConfident SmirkFlawless Golden PecsRegistered Userregular
interview talk (warning shoe: includes talking about the ending!!)
that was pretty disappointing
a lot of just kinda glossing over things, handwaving stuff away
like everyone actually survived the citadel getting attacked and exploding after all? really?
I mean it's not his fault, god damn I would hate to be put on damage control for that ending
In fairness
there's no indication the Citadel was ever actually attacked - just closed up and carried off. We're given no sign that Reaper ground forces have stormed the Citadel
did you miss the part in the ending where
you walk through a hallway literally piled with corpses? I thought it was fair to assume that almost every corridor was similar to the one I walking through
Taky's explanation is what I'd already worked out the first time I saw the ending
the dumb Endor Holocaust crap is just an excuse to nitpick it beyond the point where it needs to be complained about
There's the immediate 'Endor holocaust' worry, which I never really bought into
But I did pretty much immediately start to wonder
about everyone starving to death in orbit without enough fuel to get home and Earth to wrecked to provide meaningful infrastructure
A trap is for fish: when you've got the fish, you can forget the trap. A snare is for rabbits: when you've got the rabbit, you can forget the snare. Words are for meaning: when you've got the meaning, you can forget the words.
tayvaanI always like to savor the last shotbefore popping the heat sinkRegistered Userregular
ending discussion
Its not a stretch to assume that there are survivors on the citadel, killing everyone in a city that size would take far more time than the reapers had.
nothing terribly surprising in that interview, mostly confirming what I already though.
Posts
this is why Padok Wiks is great
but when you gotta defend a point it feels so good
Maybe that's why BioWare didn't realize the end sucked so hard, because they knew about the things that got cut and so could piece together the nonsense in a way people who came to it cold could never do.
The fact that taky spending ten minutes explaining things provides more coherent narrative closure than a fucking ten hour third act ever did is pretty damning.
That said, there's an awful lot of hand waving. Just assume everyone's OK. Yeah, I'll get right on that, thanks.
Also nice to know that it might well be in the Extended Cut.
Aw yeah
Gonna rub that all over myself
either buy a tape recorder or learn to take notes
well that explains why I never heard anything from ken and gabby
all good interviews end in violence
fuck you I don't even have one Graal
oh and also hats
and then I want to paint the hats
trust me
The PTSD Asari in Huerta Memorial talks about it
and then taky straight up said it in a post a while ago
anyone mind elaborating?
a lot of just kinda glossing over things, handwaving stuff away
like everyone actually survived the citadel getting attacked and exploding after all? really?
I mean it's not his fault, god damn I would hate to be put on damage control for that ending
ambient dialogue spoiler
the asari only names her once or twice and it may have been deep in the conversation line but i dont remember
The girl's name was Hilary. She wanted to be a pilot.
Why I fear the ocean.
and it's a shame, because they're some of the best in the game
Can't believe how many people missed
I think its a bug that he wont show up at all / if you do a batarian fetch quest too quickly
I think
but yeah the ambient dialogue is amazing, there was one I couldn't listen to though
because mental illness scares the shit outta me
I went all the way through that ambient dialogue because a friend pointed out how good it was, but I had long forgotten the details of the farm girl.
Goddamn.
Yeah, uh, I'm gonna go ahead and assume that everyone is dead, because that is what the game shows
Sorry Taky, that shit just don't fly
PSN ID : DetectiveOlivaw | TWITTER | STEAM ID | NEVER FORGET
In fairness
the dumb Endor Holocaust crap is just an excuse to nitpick it beyond the point where it needs to be complained about
Yeah I didn't catch it the first time through either, if I would have felt really bad for a bit
except for
It's just about the most useful education you can have
And it pays for shit. Even with job experience.
So now I'm going back to school for something else, blaaah.
still, no reason to assume it's ALL the people on the citadel
It's absolutely a retcon. I mean, aside from Mac Walters literally saying 'nah, everyone's dead' on twitter like a day after launch, there's no way they intended that to be the case.
did you miss the part in the ending where
but I guess not
Thanks.
I havent beat the game yet.
SO.
Thanks.
There's the immediate 'Endor holocaust' worry, which I never really bought into
But I did pretty much immediately start to wonder
what the fuck are you guys doing
like
fuck
nothing terribly surprising in that interview, mostly confirming what I already though.