[Person of Color]

AROUND GYPS, DON'T LEAVE TIPS!

[Jimmy]

I love my fucking computer. Ever since my monitor fucked up and I can't use it, I think of suicide 24/7.

[Jeff]

Quote

They even gave you complete control after you beat the game. You're supposed to debate with your buddies over which ending was the best, which choice was the most moral, which outcome would have been the superior choice...and then argue for hours over what really happened in centuries to come.

Good guy Bioware left the final interpretation up to popular debate and gave us a solid roadmap. Only to be shit on by hordes of retards who wanted CoD in space.

Was going to expand on what I said earlier. See, those people believe that the second the game asked you to decide for yourself on some things or make an actual decision (as you put it, talk with friends and decide which ending is best), you get people all over the internet stating that Bioware has to choose a "canon" official ending. Instead of deciding on one themselves. I mean, I sometimes think to myself "you're playing a game around player choice, right? I mean, you make decisions the whole series, yet when the game asks you to decide on stuff, they freeze up, and go "Me? Make decisions? Never! Bioware has to confirm whether X was true for me. Bioware has to explain X to me because it was confusing. Bioware has to give me a 5 hour expansion pack detailing what happens, for free, etc. etc".

It's weird, Bioware brought back more RPG elements in this game and one RPG element is using your imagination. Reminds me of that time when Bender tries to role-play and he can't because he has no imagination. That's what some of these people are like. I mean what kind of person plays an RPG and doesn't want to role-play or use their imagination a bit? Like you said, COD in space. Some of these guys spend more time doing this (aka goofing around, they don't take the game seriously), than actually playing the game or paying attention to the story.

[----]

Jeff, on 19 December 2013 - 12:07 AM, said:

... people all over the internet stating that Bioware has to choose a "canon" official ending. Instead of deciding on one themselves.

If most people were capable of deciding for themselves 95% of all humans wouldn't be stupid Lemmings longing for others to guide them through their existence as a small gear in a huge machine. As soon as they have to think for themselves they are out of their comfort zone.

[Jeff]

fuegerstef, on 19 December 2013 - 01:05 AM, said:

If most people were capable of deciding for themselves 95% of all humans wouldn't be stupid Lemmings longing for others to guide them through their existence as a small gear in a huge machine. As soon as they have to think for themselves they are out of their comfort zone.

I guess so. That's why we have leaders, and followers.

[Person of Color]

I loaded an ancient save (The only thing done was retaking Omega), and saved Jack, I'm gonna slowly rebeat the game over the next few months and get an absolutely perfect ending. Full Paragon and Jack romance.

Then before ME4 comes out I'm going to beat the game over again how I wanted to the first time, but didn't (Full Paragon/Liara/Everyone lives).

I love how this series lets your create your own canon.

[Jeff]

Last I checked we should hear some news about ME4 (or whatever it may be called, not necessarily that) sometime in the new year. Only screenshots that have been released are these. Can't see much of anything though. As of yesterday, I did hear the game is in a playable state.

[xMobilemux]

No ME3 sucked and sucked hard, ME1 and 2 had me replaying the games constantly to get ready for the epic climax to see what my choices resulted in, but only to find out that no matter what I did in past games always lead up to that same cheap ending, plot holes, meaningless cameos and side discussions.
What is the point in playing the franchise or even ME3 again if I'm always gonna get the same ending no matter what choices I make?

Not to mention all the gameplay problems that ME3 had, repetitive and boring firefights, broken cover system, crap AI, lacking weapon customization and the RPG elements of the inventory was just gone, ME1 had all these armor and weapon choices, ME2 had less but still a lot, ME3 had little to none.

Mass Effect 3 sucked and I doubt I'll be getting the 4th one.

Keep in mind that I played it day 1, before all those fixes and DLCs showed up, so I had the awful original experience, not the fixed experience everyone else likely had.

[Jeff]

xMobilemux, on 19 December 2013 - 11:27 PM, said:

No ME3 sucked and sucked hard, ME1 and 2 had me replaying the games constantly to get ready for the epic climax to see what my choices resulted in, but only to find out that no matter what I did in past games always lead up to that same cheap ending, plot holes, meaningless cameos and side discussions.

Spoiler

It's not as bad as you might think

This is my own personal take on the ending, and it's actually quite brilliant.

Quote

What is the point in playing the franchise or even ME3 again if I'm always gonna get the same ending no matter what choices I make?

Spoiler

The final minutes of the game decides the fate of Shepard, and the Reapers. The proceeding 20 hours deals with your past choices. Guaranteed, the game as a whole that you played is vastly different than mine. Little subtle differences, even though it may appear the same. I mean, this game sold 4 million copies. People don't really expect Bioware to make an individual ending for everyone who bought this game. Even if there were 100 different endings at the end, there is a 1:45,000 chance that two people playing the game would get the exact same outcome.

Well, actually, it's not exactly the same, even though it may appear similar. Destroying the Reapers, isn't the same as the other options. The level of destruction may be different in the bad ending, than the good one. The fate of the Normandy also plays out differently, even if people think it's exactly the same (Normandy crashes, and no one survives. Or everyone can survive). Earth may be a smoking hole in the ground (neutral ending), or it gets completely vaporized (bad ending).

Even if you rewind, the TIM scene plays out differently (shoots himself, or you shoot him. TIM shoots Anderson, or you shoot TIM. Even shoots you if you don't renegade interrupt him). Starchild may be nice to you, or mean, depending on your EMS. There may only be one or two options to choose from at the end (see IGN chart). In the Extended Cut, there are different slides which play out differently based on your EMS, different choices, choice of love interest, etc.

What this really comes down to is people just expected way too much. Even with the Dark Energy plot (one ending idea that never materialized), there were two choices to choose from (harvest humanity, or help the Reapers stop the dark energy). Nothing you do in 3 games affects the last 5 minutes, and the reaction would probably be similar. Might affect the game as a whole though, like I said. Some people might make up things like they recruited human squadmates or had a human LI, but in the end they get harvested and turned into that human Reaper thing. It'd be the same reaction.

I did read the original script, and it refers to the final minutes as the final decision of the game. The final decision isn't affected by every little thing you've done in the course of 3 games, but the game as a whole is. It's still unchanged as far as it being about dealing with Shepard and the Reapers.

I know I said I would tone down the spoiler tags, but a lot of that stuff is covered for people who've never played the game before. Or might think about picking it up.

[Ronin]

I don't think people get it, Mass Effect 3 is the ending.

[Jeff]

Ronan, on 20 December 2013 - 08:36 AM, said:

I don't think people get it, Mass Effect 3 is the ending.

This is what I've been hearing all last year or so:

Fans: The last 5 minutes is the ending
Bioware: The whole game is the ending
Random BSN user: The last 5 minutes is not the ending. Try to have an attention span longer than 10 minutes.

Fans: Ending doesn't make any sense.
Bioware: Answers are there, you just have to look.
Random internet guy: Unable to recognize foreshadowing when you see it. Unable during the course of the entire game, to understand the clues (to the ending) as they are presented to you during the course of the game. Because they're there!

Fans: I didn't get any closure.
Bioware: The entire game is a series of end-points for different things
Random BSN Mod: How much hand-holding through a story do you people need?
Random internet guy: It's a story after all. It's a story. You've got to give it a little something. You've got to meet it half-way.
Random internet guy: Isn't this an RPG? Use your imagination and decide for yourself what happened. Not everything has to be shown.

Mass Effect 3's story structure is like a book. Each mission is a chapter. End of each chapter, is a resolution to previous choices, etc). Final chapter decides how to deal with Shepard and the Reapers.

[ReaperMan]

Jimmy, on 18 December 2013 - 11:08 PM, said:

I love my fucking computer. Ever since my monitor fucked up and I can't use it, I think of suicide 24/7.

Hey.... if you haven't written a will yet... put me down for you desktop computer.

[OpenMaw]

Mass Effect is great. Mass Effect 2 is pretty great. Mass Effect 3 is pretty great.

The ending to the series is not so great. And it has nothing to do with it being "hard to understand" or being "bittersweet" or a "downer" or any of that nonsense. It's not particularly fulfilling, it's full of holes and contradictions. Hell, i'm totally okay with a down or vague or bittersweet ending, the problem is that this doesn't tie things together well enough between what was established in the first two games, and everything that leads up to the end. It just sorta gives you a choice that contradicts the entirety of the experience up to that moment, and then it peeters off. It's a damn shame. I'm glad some of you enjoyed it, found meaning it, and take it to be the greatest thing evar, but don't tell me i'm an idiot and wasn't paying attention, because I was.

[Person of Color]

xMobilemux, on 19 December 2013 - 11:27 PM, said:

No ME3 sucked and sucked hard, ME1 and 2 had me replaying the games constantly to get ready for the epic climax to see what my choices resulted in, but only to find out that no matter what I did in past games always lead up to that same cheap ending, plot holes, meaningless cameos and side discussions.
What is the point in playing the franchise or even ME3 again if I'm always gonna get the same ending no matter what choices I make?

The game is the ending.

Quote

Not to mention all the gameplay problems that ME3 had, repetitive and boring firefights, broken cover system, crap AI, lacking weapon customization and the RPG elements of the inventory was just gone, ME1 had all these armor and weapon choices, ME2 had less but still a lot, ME3 had little to none.

Uhh...what? Boring firefights? Broken cover system? The gunplay was better than ME2 by far, it was deeper, more complex, and frantic. The AI was never very good in any of the games. It's a cover shooter, it doesn't need to be. It's still way better than 1 or 2. The weapon customization was far superior to ME2, which was terrible in that department. In ME3 everything from weight, to upgrade level, to add ons is a factor with every weapon. There's three times as many weapons and hundreds of upgrade combinations. ME3 has full blown armor customization, there are more ways to spec yourself out than 1 and 2 combined. Did you even play with Shepard's wardrobe at all? Did you grab the armor kits found on missions? Did you buy armor in stores? There's hundreds of different combinations. There's also premade sets you can buy, but they aren't customizable and very expensive.

I played as a Vanguard and specced light weapons for faster recharge, used a custom armor set to increase weapon damage and boost shields, and I was pretty much unstoppable. I had 89% recharge speed boost by the end and I could end enemies quick as shit, or damn near immediately with biotics.

Quote

Keep in mind that I played it day 1, before all those fixes and DLCs showed up, so I had the awful original experience, not the fixed experience everyone else likely had.

Yeah I can imagine the original release being kind of half assed. Thanks, EA! But with all the DLC, it plays as Bioware originally intended, and it is downright amazing.

Commando Nukem, on 20 December 2013 - 02:43 PM, said:

Mass Effect is great. Mass Effect 2 is pretty great. Mass Effect 3 is pretty great.

The ending to the series is not so great. And it has nothing to do with it being "hard to understand" or being "bittersweet" or a "downer" or any of that nonsense. It's not particularly fulfilling, it's full of holes and contradictions. Hell, i'm totally okay with a down or vague or bittersweet ending, the problem is that this doesn't tie things together well enough between what was established in the first two games, and everything that leads up to the end. It just sorta gives you a choice that contradicts the entirety of the experience up to that moment, and then it peeters off. It's a damn shame. I'm glad some of you enjoyed it, found meaning it, and take it to be the greatest thing evar, but don't tell me i'm an idiot and wasn't paying attention, because I was.

The game is the ending.

All of the DLC fixes the issues it had originally.

I don't really see any plotholes with the ending, except for one.

Spoiler

I do not believe in the indoctrination theory at all. Control and synthetics are trick endings, it's their final attempt to indoctrinate you, but everything aboard the Citadel happened. I picked synthetics at first and a day later I realized what happened to me.

The Normandy's escape, however, does need some closure.

The starchild exists because it was used as the original means to influence and indoctrinate Shepard. Replay the beginning of the game. No one notices the kid except for you. In your dreams, you have all the textbook signs of indoctrination, including reaper sounds, whispering, and dark figures.

The starchild is their last attempt to indoctrinate you, and if you give into it's advice, it will. It was selected because it had an continuing emotional impact on you. The Reapers are trying to save themselves.

If you pick control or synthetic, Shepards eyes glow as if he has been indoctrinated. Notice how both Saren and TIM have the same glow, as do the husks. TIM's original cybernetic eyes looked completely different.

The Citadel and mass relays need to be rebuilt, in the meantime the current average faster than light speed of the ships in game is 15 light years/day, so going from one end of the Milky Way to the other will take 37 years. The Normandy can go faster but it's never stated what it's top speed is. Reapers top out at 30 LY/day so it's possible to go even faster by analyzing their carcasses.

In the meantime everyone is stranded in the Sol system, and they will need fuel and time to get out (FTL is slow).

The biggest issue is that mass relays are difficult to construct, and only the Protheans ever pulled off building one, and it was small (The Conduit in ME1).

They are also very hard to study since they are made out of a material that prevents then from being dissected. Now that they are broken that barrier is gone and they can be studied.

Keep in mind that in the Arrival DLC for ME2 you took out a special mass relay that could shoot you anywhere in the galaxy, so building longer distance relays is possible and might speed up the process dramatically.

Humans, Quarians, and Turians have a lifespan of 150 so many will see the new relay system begin to form, the Asaris live for 1000 most will see it all be reset, and the Salarians stranded in Sol are fucked because they only have a 40 year lifespan. They will die away from their home planet.

[Jeff]

Commando Nukem, on 20 December 2013 - 02:43 PM, said:

It's not particularly fulfilling, it's full of holes and contradictions. Hell, i'm totally okay with a down or vague or bittersweet ending, the problem is that this doesn't tie things together well enough between what was established in the first two games, and everything that leads up to the end. It's a damn shame. I'm glad some of you enjoyed it, found meaning it, and take it to be the greatest thing evar, but don't tell me i'm an idiot and wasn't paying attention, because I was.

Different sides have been playing tug of war with each other on this subject. Some people say the ending does make sense. Some say it doesn't. Certain people (not you) who say it doesn't, wanted Bioware to fix the ending, but if Bioware takes out certain things then it doesn't make sense for those who say it does make sense. There's no winning here. So Bioware essentially took the middle road. Didn't rewrite it, didn't just sit on their hands and do nothing. They wanted to explain it better. Like I said, not everyone hated it, so they wanted to not make those upset who liked the original ending. Believe me, there was some people who liked it.

They did sort of clarify the ending with some DLC. Leviathan takes care of most of it, so I'd suggest replaying that. I think the main problem is people are taking the ending too literally. It's either real and poorly written. Or unreal, and merely a product of Shepard's mind.

Quote

It just sorta gives you a choice that contradicts the entirety of the experience up to that moment, and then it peeters off.

Shepard's goal has always been to destroy the Reapers. Ever since the first game. Like I said, the final minutes decide how you deal with the Reaper threat. You can end the cycle (destroy), or allow the cycle to continue (control, synthesis, refuse). Much like Vigil states in the first game, your job is to stop (or kill) the Reapers. You are not there to give into their ideas or methods. People might say, well there is only one right choice. Well, that's it. It's set up like a test.

The word Crucible means a severe trial or test. Kind of like military lingo. Shepard is in the military, so this is his final test. If you are alive at the end, you pass the test. If not, then you die and lose everything. This is an all or nothing decision. You either keep all that hard work intact. All those alliances, all those squadmates, all that stuff that you busted your ass for the last 5 years. Or pick the other three options and the Reapers harvest most people, and flush it all down the toilet in one fell swoop. Squadmates get used for slave labor (see new synthesis ending or read the codex entry "Harvesting"). Harbinger uses this option to taunt you (the player mostly since, Shepard can't see all what's happening). The epitome of "choices mattering".

Please understand, that I'm trying to help you with this. People want this thing to make sense, and I'm trying to do that.

[xMobilemux]

Dial V for Viper, on 20 December 2013 - 02:56 PM, said:

Uhh...what? Boring firefights? Broken cover system? The gunplay was better than ME2 by far, it was deeper, more complex, and frantic. The AI was never very good in any of the games. It's a cover shooter, it doesn't need to be. It's still way better than 1 or 2. The weapon customization was far superior to ME2, which was terrible in that department. In ME3 everything from weight, to upgrade level, to add ons is a factor with every weapon. There's three times as many weapons and hundreds of upgrade combinations. ME3 has full blown armor customization, there are more ways to spec yourself out than 1 and 2 combined. Did you even play with Shepard's wardrobe at all? Did you grab the armor kits found on missions? Did you buy armor in stores? There's hundreds of different combinations. There's also premade sets you can buy, but they aren't customizable and very expensive.

I played as a Vanguard and specced light weapons for faster recharge, used a custom armor set to increase weapon damage and boost shields, and I was pretty much unstoppable. I had 89% recharge speed boost by the end and I could end enemies quick as shit, or damn near immediately with biotics.

It's been a long time since I played it on day 1 and I haven't played any of the Mass Effect games since, so I can't really remember everything perfectly since I tried to just forget about it, but I just got the whole trilogy back cheap recently in a bundle of games I bought so I think I'll give the series another shot.
But no, back when I played it the cover system was broken and often annoying, the AI was downright moronic, the game was buggy as hell and no the customization was very lacking, in ME1 I could always find these new armor sets and new weapons, it was a little less in ME2 but still enough, ME3 had very very few weapons to choose from and the customization was just lacking, plus in ME3 the armor choices are little to none, the only armor choices I got was my N7 armor and some pre-order armor, I looked a lot for new armor in the game and really all I got was 2 or 3 different sets.

Again it's been a year and a half since I last played it and people are saying that things have changed since then, so I'll replay the whole trilogy again with the DLC intact and see if it does change anything, because I have yet to see the extended ending.

[Jeff]

I can't really wrap my head around the idea of ME1's combat system being better than ME3's (or anything pre-ME3). ME1 didn't even have a cover system so to speak. You'd run up against something and it'd put you in cover. Unlike later games, where you could go in cover (using a keybind), leap over cover, grab enemies from over cover.

As for the armor thing, I think they toned it down since ME1 because people found that rooting through hundreds of inventory items was too time consuming.

Here is a flowchart for the Extended Cut. *spoiler*

[xMobilemux]

Jeff, on 20 December 2013 - 05:07 PM, said:

I can't really wrap my head around the idea of ME1's combat system being better than ME3's. ME1 didn't even have a cover system so to speak. You'd run up against something and it'd put you in cover. Unlike later games, where you could go in cover (using a keybind), leap over cover, grab enemies from over cover.

As for the armor thing, I think they toned it down since ME1 because people found that rooting through hundreds of inventory items was too time consuming.

It's called "dumbing down for the Gears of War crowd".

[Ronin]

xMobilemux, on 20 December 2013 - 05:13 PM, said:

It's called "dumbing down for the Gears of War crowd".

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but are you not one of DNFs biggest fans? If so your opinion relating to the quality of games is questionable. That may seem like an attack but when you say that Mass Effect "sucked hard" you kind of lose any credibility, as the game was so much more than the last 20 mins. I have play Gears of War (all of them actually, great fun with my brother on coop) and enjoyed it, are they dumbing down Mass Effect for me? Because I would rather they kept in loads more customisation and even more complex rpg elements. In fact I wasn't aware that their was a "Gears of War crowd" I know of the CoD crowd as in people who don't really play games that much but they love CoD, and I don't believe that Gears of War has a similar following. What about DNF are you part of the DNF crowd? What does that say about you? Or do people just play different types of games depending on mood? Did you ever consider that?

I am in the process of watching a video on the indoctrination theory and it's very interesting. I believe staff at Bioware have ruled that theory out but maybe they have for reasons involving ME 4, maybe they want to expand on that even more, very clever if that's the case.

I am still waiting for them to release the total Mass Effect package with all dlc included as I refuse to pay it as there is so much, then I will play them all again. I am also of the opinion that the ME games got better with each installment as a whole, even though I thought some bits from each games were better than elements from others like planetary exploration in ME1 even though there was feck all to do on most planets.

Either way the Mass Effect series is up there with the Metal Gear series as the greatest narrative driven games I have had the pleasure to experience.

The video is here, have a look Viper, it's pretty nuts.

[xMobilemux]

Ronan, on 20 December 2013 - 06:15 PM, said:

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but are you not one of DNFs biggest fans? If so your opinion relating to the quality of games is questionable.

Yes you are wrong. I "liked" DNF, as in enjoyed it, the game is crap yes, but like LGR put it, it's enjoyable Duke crap. I've meet a lot of people who try to use the "you like DNF so you loose credibility" argument and really it's just pathetic.
To correct you, Mass Effect 3 sucked hard, ME1 and 2 were awesome.
I say Gears of War crowd because Mass Effect 3 is trying to appeal to casual gamers by trying to be a Gears of War clone. The ending of Mass Effect 3 wasn't the only thing that sucked, most of the entire game sucked, what was the point of me going all over the galaxy to assemble this massive army when the army I assembled is completely irrelevant to the final battle, with or without the army, it's the same results. Add the awful buggy gameplay into that and you've got a crappy Mass Effect game.

Mass Effect 3 was a horrendous, dumbed down, repetitive bore that deserved all the hate it's got.

To put it simply:
Mass Effect 1 was a well done RPG game, Mass Effect 2 was a good RPG game with more 3rd person shooter elements and Mass Effect 3 was a Gears of War wannabe with Mass Effect 1 elements.

[Ronin]

xMobilemux, on 20 December 2013 - 06:32 PM, said:

Yes you are wrong. I "liked" DNF, as in enjoyed it, the game is crap yes, but like LGR put it, it's enjoyable Duke crap. I've meet a lot of people who try to use the "you like DNF so you loose credibility" argument and really it's just pathetic.
To correct you, Mass Effect 3 sucked hard, ME1 and 2 were awesome.
Mass Effect 3 was a horrendous, dumbed down, repetitive bore that deserved all the hate it's got.
To put it simply:
Mass Effect 1 was a well done RPG game, Mass Effect 2 was a good RPG game with more 3rd person shooter elements and Mass Effect 3 was a Gears of War wannabe with Mass Effect 1 elements.

Funny because I always had you down as one of those "DNF is AWESOME! It has the twins and tits, glory holes and poop" type guys.
Mass Effect 3 Gears of War wannabe? Have you played any Gears of War? (pure psychotic blood lust linear action) Sure, there is a similar cover system, one that works well) but that's where the comparison ends.
You say Mass Effect 3 sucks hard yet it wasn't that different from ME 2, so you are saying that those slight differences are enough to utterly destroy the game which seems unreasonable to me.
Commando Nukem who was dissappointed with elements of ME3, even admits it's "pretty good", yet you go for the kill and start making silly comparisons for fuck knows whatever reason, not enough moments of a giant Liara sitting on Shepards face for your tastes? (I've seen your deviantart duke page ya dirty fecker) Sure I'm using underhanded methods to discredit you but I feel like it right now.

[xMobilemux]

Ronan, on 20 December 2013 - 06:48 PM, said:

Funny because I always had you down as one of those "DNF is AWESOME! It has the twins and tits and poop" type guys.
Mass Effect 3 Gears of War wannabe? Have you played any Gears of War? (pure psychotic blood lust linear action) Sure, there is a similar cover system, one that works well) but that's where the comparison ends.
You say Mass Effect 3 sucks hard yet it wasn't that different from ME 2, so you are saying that those slight differences are enough to utterly destroy the game which seems unreasonable to me.
Commando Nukem who was dissappointed with lements of ME3, even admits it's "pretty good", yet you go for the kill and start making silly comparisons for fuck knows whatever reason, not enough moments of a giant Liara sitting on Shepards face for your tastes?

Then you were mistaken.

Yes I have played Gears of War, liked the first 2 and disliked the 3rd, does Mass Effect 3 have its moments? Yes it does and some are good moments, but in Mass Effect 1 and 2, your choices mattered, like for example in ME2 gaining the loyalty of your teammates for the upcoming suicide mission, I replayed the game countless times to try and save everyone and never did, but in Mass Effect 3, it doesn't matter whether I got loads of or fuck all war assets, always got the same results, what's the point in playing again?

Again this was back on the day one version of ME3, I haven't played or seen the fixed versions yet, so for all I know we could be playing different versions of ME3.

Yes you using those stupid methods is just pathetic. Guess it's a crime to enjoy tits and asses, but you'll notice I never said anything about the sex or relationships in Mass Effect, fuck I never even knew you could have relationships in Mass Effect till my 4th playthrough of the first game.

[Jeff]

xMobilemux, on 20 December 2013 - 05:13 PM, said:

It's called "dumbing down for the Gears of War crowd".

Catering to the masses is what keeps companies in business. We're not living in 1980 anymore. Gaming has gone mainstream, where everyone from this to [url=http://images.sodahead.com/polls/001457295/033833950_davetaylor_gamer1_xlarge. jpeg] pretty much plays games.

Honestly, this whole "don't cater to newcomers" is kind of like saying only PGA professionals can play golf. They wouldn't allow new people to learn the sport and become the next Jack Nicklaus.

Quote

but in Mass Effect 3, it doesn't matter whether I got loads of or fuck all war assets, always got the same results.

Read that IGN chart. If you still think it's exactly the same, then I don't know what to say.

https://twitter.com/...135137944670208

[Ronin]

xMobilemux, on 20 December 2013 - 07:02 PM, said:

fuck I never even knew you could have relationships in Mass Effect till my 4th playthrough of the first game.

Which my friend proves that you simply don't know what going on in the game.

[xMobilemux]

Jeff, on 20 December 2013 - 07:04 PM, said:

Catering to the masses is what keeps companies in business. We're not living in 1980 anymore. Gaming has gone mainstream, where everyone from this to [url=http://images.sodahead.com/polls/001457295/033833950_davetaylor_gamer1_xlarge. jpeg] pretty much plays games.

Honestly, this whole "don't cater to newcomers" is kind of like saying only PGA professionals can play golf. They wouldn't allow new people to learn the sport and become the next Jack Nicklaus.

There's no problem with trying to grow your audience, but removing the identity to do so is bad, Mass Effect is an RPG franchise with shooter elements, not the other way round. As said in Razorfists video, Mass Effect needs to "BE MASS EFFECT", not trying to be Gears of War and Halo.

If cattering to the masses is what's needed then why is Resident Evil, Splinter Cell, Devil May Cry and Dead Space in deep shit and hated by the fanbases now? You can add Mass Effect to that list now, I don't know a lot about Mass Effect 4 other than it's gonna be an entirely new story, but if it's gonna be a Halo/Gears copycat from the get go, fans are going to figure it out and abandon the franchise, it needs to be what made it great in the first place.

Ronan, on 20 December 2013 - 07:22 PM, said:

Which my friend proves that you simply don't know what going on in the game.

I knew exactly what was going on the first 2 games, I just never paid attention to the love interest part of the game until then.


As I've said multiple times, I played the day 1 version which had a lot of the things I hated, I never experienced the fixes but from what people are saying the extended cut and the DLC fixes a lot of those, so I'm gonna replay the franchise and see what's changed, I truly hope it ends up being as good as all are saying.

[Jeff]

Quote

I believe staff at Bioware have ruled that theory out but maybe they have for reasons involving ME 4, maybe they want to expand on that even more, very clever if that's the case.

I don't think it'll ever be made really obvious, but like those links I posted, they've been hinting at it a lot. Like the codex states, indoctrination is very subliminal. Most people did not even realize it was happening. Much like Saren or TIM did not know they were being indoctrinated until it was too late. That would put roughly 90% of the people who played this game in the same shoes as TIM or Saren. Bioware successfully indoctrinated their own customers with an indoctrination ending. How many companies have been able to pull something like this off?

Do you know that the game actually has infrasonic noise put in the game? This is another subliminal symptom of Reaper indoctrination.

[Ronin]

Jeff, on 20 December 2013 - 07:42 PM, said:

I don't think it'll ever be made really obvious, but like those links I posted, they've been hinting at it a lot. Like the codex states, indoctrination is very subliminal. Most people did not even realize it was happening. Much like Saren or TIM did not know they were being indoctrinated until it was too late. That would put roughly 90% of the people who played this game in the same shoes as TIM or Saren. Bioware successfully indoctrinated their own customers with an indoctrination ending. How many companies have been able to pull something like this off?

I'm with you on the indoctrination theory, there is simply too much evidence at this point. Either that or the developers made so many coincidental errors that it's actually comical. If I was them I would run with it, it's actually pretty profound if true, anyway that's what I want to think so I'm good with that, after all it was my Shepards story. I would love if in ME4 they introduced a new character, maybe even different races like Dragon Age Origins and Commander Shepard (your created character) was the boss you worked for. I think Shepard has had enough for now, someone else needs to pick up the fight as he has earned his rest, and I do mean rest because my Shepard survivied and makes Duke Nukem look like a choir boy compared to his achievements, A FUCKING CHOIR BOY!

[Person of Color]

Ronan, I'm going to watch that IT documentary later. Thanks for the link.

MobileMux, as for not having relationships? PFFFT. Did you even talk to anyone?

Dude, you can even have casual sex with Jack, but if you do she will never respect you again. And she brings it up. Either the first or second time she talks to you she lays her cards on the table. Plus the women in that trilogy are hella flirty, as is Shepard. I'm starting to wonder if you've ever been with a girl before.

Jesus Christ, did you even try to get to know your team members after they came about? I'm pretty sure it's impossible to miss the whole exchange with Jack. Besides, didn't you know the series is literally famous for hot, kinky, alien sex? When ME1 came out it was actually on the mainstream news for that.

Speaking of her, I've decided to pull an "everybody lives" ending on ME2 and then create a "Jack canon" and "Liara canon" save file just for the fuck of (possibly) exporting them into ME4. I lost Thane, who was cool, and Miranda, who was a total cunt in ME2. I think Miranda is my least favorite "friendly" character in a game ever. She's just an absolutely awful person, narcissistic and manipulative, with zero empathy. The whole conflict she started with Jack was so juvenile and mean spirited that when I saw she was dead on my squad screen I literally said "Good. Fuck her."

[Jeff]

In the first game, Tali mentions how quiet the Normandy is, and by the third game, the Normandy gets increasingly louder.

Quote

If I was them I would run with it, it's actually pretty profound if true

Half the internet believes that this is what actually happened. That, the game isn't over yet. Shepard didn't really destroy the Reapers, etc. Who's to say, it really didn't happen like that. It may have gone down like that link I posted in this post (first spoiler tag)

Second, there have been some movies which had certain fan theories that they have later told was the case, but some movies just sort of left it open. Next Mass Effect game has nothing to do with Reapers or Shepard, so my guess is Bioware just left it open enough for us to decide, instead of saying "yes it happened. This is the real ending". Think it was Viper who said that the game doesn't force a canon ending upon you, and lets you decide what it all means.

[Ronin]