Re: Mass Effect 3
 

Or people could just learn to use the spoiler tags. :p

Re: Mass Effect 3
 

Wow, 3 Mass Effect threads? when did that happen? also it just seems 2 people are just complaining about it a lot without actually playing it. Should just have 1 giant thread for them to post in.

Re: Mass Effect 3
 

Thanks for splintering the spoiler / ending talk, BaB.

From what I've played so far, ME3 is a bigger and better game than ME2 or ME. It also has the inclusion of a good (certainly not great) multiplayer mode.

The whole ordeal over this DLC character strikes me as rather silly. I didn't buy the DLC and have no intention of doing so. From what I've read, the DLC character is not intricate to the main story at all, certainly not necessary, and I don't feel like I've been screwed over by my purchase (conversely, shouldn't those who buy absolutely shitty games for $60 be in constant rage?).

The bottom line is that ME3 and it's approach to DLC will succeed or fail via the marketplace. Let's see how the sales numbers compare to ME1 and ME2, and then we can have a conversation as to if the "DLC Debacle" had any effect.

Re: Mass Effect 3
 

I've heard the exact opposite about the DLC, the people who have played it say they can't imagine the game without that component of the story.

@Fox6: I think I've been pretty careful with my wording and haven't made any assertions about the quality of Mass Effect 3, just been posting links to videos and articles about the subject, and making my own interpretations based on that.

That being said, my wife couldn't hold out any more and bought Mass Effect 3 today. -_- So I guess I'll be playing it, because why not at this point.

Re: Mass Effect 3
 

Dont forget to get the DLC...

But no, the DLC is not necessary to the story of ME3, its just there to show some Prothean history and add more Mass Effect lore. I think its mainly for hardcore Mass Effect fans, but its still BS the way they went about dealing with it. Another thing that I dont think has been mentioned at all is that the DLC also comes with a very powerful Prothean assault rifle, if that makes it worth a little more to anyone.

Re: Mass Effect 3
 

AND new costumes for your squad mates

Re: Mass Effect 3
 

To be fair
1 was created before the game came out dealing with a completely different discussion
And the second was something Bond asked for.. so people who wanted to discuss the ending could without spoiling it for the rest

Two very different discussions.

Re: Mass Effect 3
 

Yes, but thats been mentioned before, the gun had not been.

And yet I think all of them have mention about the DLC. :p

Re: Mass Effect 3
 

Well.. again

I don't think mentioned the DLC in this thread personally..
And two.. we can't control what people post and where!

Re: Mass Effect 3
 

Ya, sorry for the confusion ... I was just afraid to keep reading this thread after I saw a few allusions to spoilers. Definitely looking forward to talking about the ending after I beat the game though.

Re: Mass Effect 3
 

Special online multiplayer event!

Free content can be won that was only available in the collectors edition. For 360 and PC only

http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2012/03...-n7-challenge/

Re: Mass Effect 3
 

Some fun tense games earlier tonight.

Re: Mass Effect 3
 

Okay, okay. I just saw the picture of Tali without her helmet that is used in the game.

This has been my biggest WTF moment so far. It's just some random stock photo that they spent a few minutes photoshopping. Are you kidding me? Why does she have finger nail polish on?

Re: Mass Effect 3
 

Didnt you know? The Quarians are widely known throughout the galaxy for their large variety of nail polishes.
Ya its pretty stupid. On the plus side, they are coming out with a new ending soooo...
Looks like you might be right. :p

Re: Mass Effect 3
 

What would you have preferred? Her to have a giant sucker mouth, and beady spider eyes?
They've always alluded to Quarians being very human-like - and in every reflection you can see into their visors they have very human-like features and facial configuration.
Plus you can bang Tali in ME2, and Shep doesn't bang ugly broads with creepy alien features.
Nomatter what they made Tali/Quarians look like, some fans were bound to go "aww, what the fuck. She looks too human/too alien/nothing like I had hoped or expected or wanted."

They could have released a picture of Alf, and someone would be like "Aw, yeah. This universe needs more Wookie-like creatures. I didn't see that coming!" and someone else would say "This was the dumbest thing ever. They put no time into it. Everyone knows satisfaction equates from differences you work on in hours of photoshop and character modelling."

(I actually saw almost that exact comment on some mega-fan forum when I was searching up what Quarians looked like a few weeks ago. :lol: )


Edit:

It seems sort of funny to me that everyone is complaining about the ending of the game. (I literally mean everyone, with all that petitioning shit and whatnot)

It's not your game. Sure, you paid for it and spent your time playing it - but they spent the time making it, it's their creation which they (apparently) had future plans for - which is why they had holes in the ending cutscenes/story. They were leaving themselves openings for future DLC in order to be able to keep the game relevant - according to quotes I've read by the 'creators' of the game.

Complaining about the ending is one thing. Fuck, I've got no problem with that. If it sucks, it sucks. If you don't like it, tough balls for whoever made the game and wrote the story. What I'm hung up on is just all the people demanding a new ending. I hope whoever grades those kids' papers refuse to mark their next essay and publicly calls them out until they re-write the ending of it because the teachers have all decided that kids' story sucks and his writing ability is vastly sub-par.

I say 'kids' because something as immature as asking a storywriter to rewrite a story because it made you unhappy/displeased seems so childish.
"Mommy, why'd Bambi die?"
"I'm not sure, honey. That seemed awfully sad. I'll call up the studio and start a petition to see if we can get them to make a more satisfying ending where everyone lives, and everyones dreams are fulfilled, and they all become millionaires."

Hell, I should petition for a different ending to Red Dead Redemption. I didn't know I as a consumer could (after purchase) tell the creator of the story of the book/game/movie I'm reading/playing/watching that the studio who signed off on the project and saw through every stage of it's development was wrong, and the story too, was in fact wrong. Hell, the main character gets shot and dies before the end of the game. That wasn't fun. I wanted to keep playing as him. And what was with the man in the black suit? Was he the devil? I want answers, damnit. How dare they have creative freedom over their own story, especially if it interferes with my enjoyment.


Remember back in the day when you didn't like a game, and it was simply:
"I don't like the direction they took _______, because I thought it would be so much better when I was imagining the possibilities of the story. I guess I just don't like this game as much anymore, or maybe I just built it up too much in my own mind"
and not:
"I don't like the direction they took ______, because I thought it would be so much better when I was imagining the possibilities of the story. I guess it's time to petition those dicks and make them change the game they spent so much time lovingly creating for my enjoyment so I can then enjoy it how I was imagining rather than move on to something else like an adult would."

"Oh, Schindler's List wasn't that good. Let's tell them to re-write the movie with a happier tone. Maybe a comedy this time. Something I can watch with the kids. It was too dark. Too much sadness. Too many people died."


This will start a dangerous slope of a petition being formed every time there is a large number of like-minded individuals (which there always will be thanks to the internet) who thinks the ________ (plot point) of ________(game) was _________(adjective) and demand a new _______ (plot point) for ______ (game).

Re: Mass Effect 3
 

No ones complaining about what she looks like, we're complaining about the fact that they found a photo on the internet, photoshopped it, and threw it in the game.



So, again, why dont you find out what youre bitching at before bitching at about? :p

Re: Mass Effect 3
 

My post (on that topic) was about; How does the way they came to the conclusion of how a character looks in any way change the perception of that character in the Universe it was created for.
Who cares if they fucking formed her face out of a box of Cheerois and it only took 5 seconds to do.
It was more "So what if they spent no time, and it was a quick photoshop. What the hell did you expect, and how does the time spent or the method used change any of it at all - the creators created it they way they did, it is what it is - why does it matter."


Would you [I'm not really directing this at you, just towards the screen] prefer if they airbrushed a real model with those same features, then put those little white motion tracker balls on her, got her to move around and took many pictures of her face, then digitally enhanced it so that in the end it looks exactly the same, but they've only spent more time on it? Would that be better, because they simply didn't "Quickly photoshop a picture", but spent weeks and time getting to the same conclusion?


I just find most of the internet complaints to be silly complaints. I honestly don't mean that as a knock on anyone here, or even anyone on any site complaining about the game. I just....find it all to be a very silly list of complaints. Like I said before, complaints with the ending are fine, don't like the story - that's cool by me. That's legitimate. But to complain about the method used to model a fake character on, or complaining enough to actually warrant the company to alter the story they made and actually petitioning on it simply because you didn't like it - silly. Silly silly silly.

And I'm just using this more for my own posting entertainment to post semi-rhetorical posts. I'm more directing my posts at all the google spiders that scan the site than expecting an actual conversation, or reasonable answers to my posts other than "lol, play the game" or "lol, nope" to pop up because they rarely do on the internet these days. I cringe at the thought of the people who can't read more than a paragraph anymore without thinking "Holy fuck this is taking so much time", and will respond in 144 characters or less of butchered English.

Re: Mass Effect 3
 

I HATE "tl;dr" with a fiery passion of... hate.

Re: Mass Effect 3
 

Oh, well the way you said it made it seem like we were complaining about how she looks or that she looks too human, but I think the way she looks is just fine. And they didnt "create" anything. They took something that already existed and added to it slightly.
Yes, I would have preferred that, although time spent on it is irrelevant. They could have took the picture themselves and been done in a few mins instead of using some stock photo they found. Its just lazy half assed work is all, and my pappy always told me "if youre gonna do something, do it right or dont do it all."
Ya, petitioning them to change the ending of the game is silly, but with the way it is now its pretty much a big "fuck you, thanks for your money" kind of thing.
I considered it. :p

Re: Mass Effect 3
 

Well, to be fair taking an existing picture and photoshopping it into something new is "creating something". It's not creating something dynamically new or drastically different - but it's definitely creating something.



Well, I'll actually address this seriously this time without some dumb joke or tongue-in-cheek post;


But why. Clearly that was the type of face they wanted to go with. The style, I mean. Lines and all that shit - the person/people in charge would have had an idea in mind before and wouldn't have just been 'winging it'. So what's the real difference if they create a face from scratch, or photoshop and edit a stock picture if it will look exactly the same in the end. One of them takes significantly less time.

I just see it as a moot point as to where or how they got the picture. How does it change anything if they took the picture themselves, or if someone says "Hey, I found a stock photo that would work perfectly. I mean, if we were to get a model, we'd get this girl or a girl very similar to her anyways, and probably have her in a similar pose anyhow, so this just saves all of us some time and (probably) money."

Edit: And I get that you're against it on laziness. I can get behind you on it being lazy, because it obviously is. I cant argue that. But I can't get behind you on that lazyness being a reason for any type of complaint or negative feeling on my end. The ends justify the means for me. I was curious to what a Quarian would look like, and I didn't care how they got to the conclusion.

Re: Mass Effect 3
 

And you know thats the exact face they wanted to go with how? All I and a lot of other people see it as is lazy design work. For a game with such a huge fan base i'd think they could have put a little more effort into the reveal of one of the main characters hidden faces throughout 3 games. It would be like just using some basic stock photo and making it paler to reveal the master chief. People would be outraged over that, and its kind of the same deal here.
If I was an artist for a popular game, yes I would spend weeks creating this piece of art that would be viewed by millions of people, unfortunately I suck at art and photoshop so theres not much relevance for me here.
The main difference I see in it is that if they did the picture themselves, it shows they put the effort into it to show their fans that they are dedicated to the masterpiece they have created, instead of picking a photo seemingly at random and modifying it. Its like if a band came out with a new album, but it was just the same song again but changed differently, like ACDC or Red Hot Chili Peppers. We still like them but kinda feel a bit gipped in the sense that its already been done.


The reason for this is you love cocks. Bam!

If you were actually referring to me not quoting/responding to the other half of your first post on this topic its cause it seemed to be going off topic and I didnt feel the need to argue against that.

Re: Mass Effect 3
 

Combine hit it on the head - it's just lazy, especially for something fans of the series had been excited to see since the first game.

There's a lot of laziness in Mass Effect. The fact that they never designed a model for a single female Turian, even though we know there are female Turien soldiers (Garrus tells a story about one). The fact that they also never created a model for a female Solarian.

But choosing to reveal how Tali looks in this way is just beyond lazy.

I mean, people praise Mass Effect for how awesome and in depth the lore and universe is.....we've never seen a female Turien/Solarian!


This really doesn't mean much coming from you, lately. Any time a discussion gets serious or someone makes some points that you aren't prepared to handle, you end the argument by saying you were just joshing around and that internet discussions don't mean anything to you other than a way to pass the time while making tea.

It makes me not even want to respond to you at all.

Re: Mass Effect 3
 

I love you Typh, but this is kind of true.

P.S. I love tea.

Re: Mass Effect 3
 

On topic Off-topic forum heart to heart time:

Oh, I'm totally aware it's true and how the forum perceives me. I'm doing it to myself, after all. I'm usually just 'posting'. Simply responding to the words said rather than those who say them unless I'm referring to someone by name or leaving their quote in the post or something hopefully-obvious.
You've also got to understand that since my back has been fucked over the last 2 years and I can't get out and do anything - this forum is really the only chance I get for daily 'talking to/at other human beings/expressing what's on my mind'. Which is why my posts have been getting longer and longer over the last while to now, and more debate-like and appear to be on every topic.
I don't get real conversation anymore, because I'm always stuck inside left to simply attempt to entertain myself, and post. The world becomes very small when you can't use your lower back properly. So I just tend to post what I'm thinking on whatever because it passes my time, and I have had 24 free hours every day for the last 800-ish days. It just happens that I was a dink when I was a drugged-up teenager, so whenever I say anything now I seem much more confrontational than I'm really intending to be. I'm not intending for anything remotely malicious. If I aim a joke at someone, it's always in 'fun' [from my end]. British-like. You poke fun at the people you're comfortable around, and not the people you're not.


The reason for that is because when I'm just doing it because I see an opening for conversation I don't really give an invested crap in that side, and am simply expressing my current opinion on it. And if it starts getting out of hand, of course I want to diffuse the situation and back down. I'd be crazy not to. If it's something I'm being legitimate about, I'll usually try to explain it out like a normal person. I'm not doing it because I feel defeated, I'm doing it because I really don't care about what I was talking about and for everyone's sake want to end the conversation before it gets farther than it is on the confrontational end. I do that in real life, too. If a joke or ramble-bit I'm doing gets too out-of-hand with someone, I'll apologize and diffuse it immediately. I am a very apologetic person. I apologize to my table when I bump it. I kicked my shoe last night by accident when I was stretching out and as a reflex under my breath I said "Sorry" - I was the only person in the room.

------------------

Back to Adam!

I wasn't referring to the specific picture used, I was referring to the style of Tali. If they didn't model Tali on that photo - it would have been another photo. But the features would be the same, purple, blue lines etc. That's all I meant, the features would be the same, not the physical face or photograph.

Realistically maybe the person in charge wasn't very artistic, and couldn't create a backdrop, and only had schooling in photoshop and didn't really think "Hey, people are going to cram sand up my vag for this one because I'm not spending enough time on it." :p

I also find it silly how people (I don't mean you, or those here. I mean the super internet fanboys) are so legitimately agitated about it. That in itself amuses me.


Love is such a strong word. Appreciate, maybe.

That part of my post was actually just a ramble that wasnt tied to anything other than what Ginkasa said to what I had said - which is why I attempted to separate it with some snazzy hyphens to form a line. But after reading it I thought it best not to derail the thread more, and decided to delete it - but I didn't get to it quick enough.


Edit: And yes. Tea is delicious.

Re: Mass Effect 3
 

Shes not actually purple, thats just the quality of the photo on the datapad.

The they shouldnt have hired him!


Ok, thought you might been all like, "awww what a dick, he completely ignored half of my post". But if its just you rambling then its all good.
And yes, tea is delicious.

Re: Mass Effect 3
 

No - you don't get it.
I dont really think that people are dicks if they ignore part of a post. I don't honestly expect everyone on the internet to respond back to every single line of question posed by everyone else. :lol:
That paragraph wasn't serious, just pointless rambling. That's why I deleted it. I was trying to avoid this. :p



See. That. That I agree with.

Edit: It's not really like I was (trying to) disagree with anything. Since it seems so silly to me I was trying to pry into why "They didnt spend a lot of time on this photograph of this character" is such a big deal considering the character would have looked relatively the same because I doubt when they make the characters they just do it on the fly. They probably agree on the features beforehand, and then go and make it.



Editedit:
I agree. But is that the case because of legitimate laziness or because they just wanted to leave in some mystery? Because I'm sure if you had hordes of people clamoring for some pictures of female Turians/Solarians some would get photoshopped up right quick. Maybe that's entirely not the case and it's pure laziness. I wouldn't doubt that at all. Maybe there are hordes of people clamoring for female Turians and Solarians. I wouldn't doubt that, either.

Re: Mass Effect 3
 

Coffee is better than tea.

I think this conversation has revealed to me what I dislike most about Mass Effect. I should note that I haven't played ME 3 yet, but when I do I'm sure I'll enjoy it a lot.

My biggest gripe is that they had an opportunity to create the greatest game and game series of this generation, and they squandered it. What we're left with is still really good, but when I look at all the potential it had I can't help but be more critical of it than I would of any other game.

Mass Effect 1 started off extremely strong. It was the first game I had played in a long time that really sucked me in. I'd be thinking about it while in class, just waiting to get back home to re-enter the world. It did have some problems though. The Mako had horrendous controls, the inventory system was bad.

ME 2 rolls around and they have a chance to fix that stuff. But for some reason they completely remove the mako instead of fixing the controls and replace it with a boring as hell scan system. Instead of fixing the inventory they remove it and pretty much remove the gear aspect of RPG's, which is my favorite part.

So ME3 they have a chance to do everything right. Instead it's pretty obvious that the game is rushed out. Mass Effect is such an important series to the entire video game culture, and they rushed it out. It deserved so much better. Just from the outside looking in I can see areas where they cobbled together pieces from the previous two games to make some half-hearted attempt at a new system. The way space travel and reaper encounters work, the way side quests are picked up, the way the ending is handled. They invested in multiplayer when they should have invested in the single player.

Is it still a great, fun game? I'm sure it is. It looks good, I'm excited to play it.

But it won't be remembered as the greatest game of this generation, and the tragedy is that it could have been.

Re: Mass Effect 3
 

I see where youre coming from. Complaining about it seems trivial, but im arguing as a fan, and as a fan I expected better.
No!
Also no, Mass Effect is good, but I like Halos story and universe soooo much more.

Re: Mass Effect 3
 

Probably its own thread.. but I'm curious as to what you think is the greatest game of this generation?

Re: Mass Effect 3
 

Not sure off the top of my head - I could probably think for a while and come up with my personal favorite, but nothing comes to mind immediately.

I mean that Mass Effect 3 could have been as culturally significant to video games as Ocarina of Time was during that generation. Something universally praised by critics and users alike as a masterpiece representative of what games an art form mean.

But it isn't that. It's just another good game. I don't know if this generation has a game like that.

Re: Mass Effect 3
 

IMO, Bioshock. It turned the structure and implausible linear nature video games into the main plot device of the game. Makes you wonder why you accept the lack of real choice in the entire medium. Perhaps it's not popular enough for Ocarina of Time status, but artistically it fits the bill.

Re: Mass Effect 3
 

Dylan lent me the game, so I'll just post my feelings on wherever I am in it and what's going on, something to do. I'll post some of the decisions I make, maybe other people can riff off it with theirs, get some thread activity going.


The opening scene felt to me like it was meant for a movie, as opposed to part of a game, there's nothing wrong with that - just sayin'. Everyone just seemed to be talking more intensely, enunciating the important parts with deepening bellows, very theatrically spoken. I don't even like that over-the-top-stuff in gimmicky action movies. :lol:


So far it seems like a typical 3rd movie/game. The cast from the first game is (so far) re-introduced for the most part with some uplifting musical score behind them, everything has a more epic, darker, grittier, war-like feel to it (as it should) and just feels like it has nothing to do with conversation, but will be ___+ hours (I don't really want to know how long the game takes, I prefer not knowing) of combat, again - nothing wrong with that.


While I feel like every single decision I make on where to go and when to go there in this game has a negative effect on the rest of the game - I feel like I have vastly less actual choice, and I'm just watching things occur. I don't feel like I am affecting any mass. I feel like I have the illusion of choice, just like when I played MGS4 I had the illusion that it was really a video game and not a movie simply because I would occasionally have to tap X.


It feels like I'll never get time/to feel okay with doing side missions - but I suppose that is 100% the point, Galaxy at war and all - trying to make you feel horrible about taking your time for trivial shit when people everywhere are being decimated. Everything is an ultimatum, or seems to be. Simply by doing one quest before another, you can doom people to die.
That's some Alpha Protocol shit which I don't mind. It makes you think realistically, about 'Fuck, what's the best outcome' and not 'Fuck, I want to get 100% game completion on all of these sidequests in one playthrough" - because that possibility is almost entirely removed (if not entirely)

I like the fact EDI has a body. When I was saying all that AI-as-life-shit in the other thread I had no idea that happened. Immediate New favourite sidekick, she is by far the most interesting.

I rarely expel sound from my face when seeing something alone in a room while playing a video game, but when Joker said "Hey, I know I used to rag on Garrus for being all angry, but I'm glad he's back. There's a whole lot of crap out there that needs a bullet between the eyes. Plus, we might need something calibrated." I giggled like a little Asian schoolgirl.

I spent a lot of time late last night smoking a joint or two and just reading what I had so far of the journals/codex and re-immersing myself in the Universe. Soooo gooood. Time to go waste my today.

Re: Mass Effect 3
 

Thats ok, it was never about affecting mass, its effecting mass thats important.

Re: Mass Effect 3
 

The only mission I know of that is time sensative is the Grissom Academy mission. If you're too late they all get ubducted and then ......... well ....... I wont ruin anything.

Also there is another multiplayer event this weekend. It involves porting over your level 20 multiplayer characters to the single player campaign, where they become war assets. if the community does 150,000 characters everyone will get a victory pack regardless if they participate or not. If you personally port over 2 characters you get a commendation pack. They didnt say what would be in them, but last time it was a rare N7 weapon that was only available in the single player if you pre-ordered that game.

Also its only available to PC and 360 owners. The Bioware blog said they are negotiating with Sony to extend these weekends to the PS3 tho.

Only problem is I dont know how to port over these characters.... and are they gone for good?

Re: Mass Effect 3
 

You just promote the level 20 characters. I believe it is the "X" or "Y" button, bro.

Re: Mass Effect 3
 

Easy peesy lemon squeezy. I already do have some level 20 characters. After some research I have found out that they do get reset to level 1 however. 150,000 total seems like a low number for the whole community to promote though...

Re: Mass Effect 3
 

I think he meant more in the sense that while youre doing these side missions, Earth is being more and more devastated, which I felt too. Like, this Volus is all like "hey, can you go to this planet and retrieve and ancient artifact so I can make some money while the rest of the galaxy is being destroyed." and im all wtf bro? But a lot of the side missions and planet scanning add to your fleet or the crucible, so doing them does help in the end.
Ill be contributing 6 characters to that, so prepare to do a lot of bronze missions. :P

Re: Mass Effect 3
 

But in the end that Volus gives you something that helps with your war assets, so you are helping in the grand sense.

Re: Mass Effect 3
 

Yeah, this.
"Hey, I know your planet is burning and is the main cause for attack, and the Salarians sent you here in order to get the Turians to convince the Krogan to buy something from the Volus to send to the Quarians in order to fight the Geth - who you failed to stop from strapping harnesses on the Hanar and riding them like elephants - so you can inevitably get all of us to help you with your initial problem - but uhh, I need some power cells from the Citadel, can you get them for me?"

It just feels like after he dies his memoir should be titled:
Commander Shepard The Human: The only sentient being in the Universe capable of running errands, taking initiative, and helping others.


Hurp-a-durr, that's the point in a play on words.

I would be the affector of the Mass. What comes after I Affect Mass would be the Mass Effect, yet I feel like I am affecting nothing and that the effect is all that mat-wait a minute.


Also:

So after reading some stuff about people's Indoctrination theory, I've been paying attention for shit that's suspicious. So far this is all I've got.

-At the beginning there's the invisible child in the vent that tells Shepard he has no hope and can't save them who gets into the shuttle that explodes - that could very well be The Reapers trying to mentally break Shepard down so he doesn't have the will to try and stop them, and feels that organic life alone is inferior.

*shrugs and walks away*

Re: Mass Effect 3
 

K, might just be me but, when Shepard is leaving Earth for the first time looking at the child, why does the Normandy just sort of chill there for a while? Its like "Shepard, we gotta leave, NOW! No hang on, I want to watch what happens to this kid. Just gimme like, 2 mins tops." Its cock balls retarded. Sure Clint Mansell makes some epic music for the scene, but when doesnt he? I just think its a stupid moment and was way too long.