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Mass Effect 3: The good, the bad and the ugly.
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Jhagiti Tyran
Caldari Provisions
Caldari State
#61 - 2012-03-12 03:19:49 UTC
For a reasonable publisher it would be an overreaction but we are talking about EA, they wouldn't think twice about labelling a little tweak like that as piracy and reaching for the banhammer.

I suppose it is technically piracy anyway, obtaining the use of a DLC you don't have a licence for. Decent publishers would simple fix it but you never know how EA would react.
Reiisha
#62 - 2012-03-12 07:24:16 UTC
Arcosian wrote:
I have been following the "ending hallucination" thread on BSN and while they make some compelling arguments, I really don't think Bioware made fake endings. I think the fans are just trying to tie all the plot holes together into a fake ending as they can't grasp that Bioware just put a crappy ending on the series.

1. If they intended to make a fake ending why would they go through the trouble to make 3? With 3 somewhat different cut scenes? All ending with the whole goal of mass effect "Stop the Reapers." In all 3 Shepard sacrifices himself to stop the Reapers and protect organic life. Yes, the mass relays are destroyed and it would cause a lot of problems since the fleet would be stuck in the Sol system but life does go on as we see from the ending scene with the Stargazer telling to story to the kid.

2. Making a fake ending means everyone would have to download a DLC later so the people who don't have internet would be screwed. Not to mention they wouldn't be able to charge for it otherwise fans would be more outraged that Bioware sold them a game with the wrong ending just so you would have to pay more for the real one later. While an alternate DLC ending isn't out of the question since we saw this with Fallout I don't think it would be released specifically to replace the current ones.

3. The argument of Shepard being indoctrinated by Harbinger seems stupid to me. Why would he try to indoctrinate Shepard instead of just kill him? What purpose would it serve if the reapers hell bent on destroying all organic life? Also why try to indoctrinate him in the middle of the battle?

4. The argument that Shepard starts to turn into a husk in the synthesis and control endings because he is getting indoctrinated but not in the destroy ending doesn't make sense. He doesn't look like he turns into a husk but "burns" which makes total sense as he is "electrocuted" in one and in an energy beam in the other. In the destroy ending we don't see him die. All we see is the explosion engulf him so he could have survived.

This also makes the "secret" ending of him being alive only possible in the destroy ending as it's the only one we don't see him getting vaporized. I believe he is still on the Citadel as he is buried under rubble and it's quiet. People have been saying he woke up on the street after breaking Harbinger's hold but that doesn't make sense. He would have passed out in the middle of a warzone on the street yet it's quiet and he is buried under rubble?

5. The infinite ammo gun/dream feeling makes sense as the ending is supposed to be more cinematic and you aren't supposed to run out of ammo. And the slow motion seems to add more of a "I'm half dead and making a last stand mood."

6. People claim the Guardian tries to keep you from going to the destroy ending and killing the reapers but there is a youtube video where the player only gets the destroy ending and the Guardian says "you only have one choice." To me this shows the endings are in fact real since there is no way one can claim the reapers would indoctrinate Shepard and then get him to destroy them.

7. I really don't know what the scene with the Normandy crashing on the planet is other than bad writing. I guess it shows not everyone in your team died and is sort of an epilogue? However, it doesn't make sense that people in my team on Earth would magically appear on the Normandy flying away from battle; maybe it's just random.

All in all I think Bioware just put a bad ending on their game and people are grasping for straws to make sense of it. Granted Bioware could run with the indoctrination theory and spin the situation claiming it was their plan all along and offer a pay for DLC ending. But I hope it's not a "pony and sunshine" happy ending as I think the best way to end Mass Effect is for Shepard to sacrifice himself to save everyone not show him on a beach having a drink with his LI watching his kids run around like some people want.

As for Bioware they have been quiet since release probably due to everyone going on vacation and the major ****storm people have raised over the endings which can't be dealt with until their staff gets back. We saw something along the same lines with CCP when the NEX store hit and P2W fiasco. I bet we will hear something next week and it will either put the nail in the coffin for Mass Effect or be a "We got you so good" spin on the ending.



If you did everything right and choose the right ending you get a scene where Shepard lives.

I don't see how that would be possible unless the endings were a hallucination.... ;p

If you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all...
Kacer Xenro
The Scope
Gallente Federation
#63 - 2012-03-12 10:12:18 UTC
@Relisha

Dont you need a rating of 4000+ to get that ending?

I am fairly sure that you need to do some multiplayer to get a rating that high.
So Sensational
Ventures
#64 - 2012-03-12 13:58:40 UTC
Jhagiti Tyran wrote:
stoicfaux wrote:
2bhammered wrote:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRRpGlmtws8

Requiem for EA/Bioware

All you need is one code to unlock the day 1 DLC on your disc, the DLC Bioware said was made after the game went to certification.

Seriously, people need to stop buying games with EA label on it.

Ouch, a simple regedit change is all it takes to enable the DLC?

On the positive side, it means that Bioware didn't waste a lot of time on DLC "security."

edit: I wonder how long until that workaround gets patched.


Unless you have a pirated copy of the game in the first place its not worth doing, EA will probably ban the Origin accounts of anyone they catch doing it. Bye-bye any games you tied to that Origin account.

I remember not so long ago when that guy got banned from actually playing Dragon Age II after his BSN account got banned because he criticised DA II on the BSN forum. I can see the same **** happening with Origin accounts now they are all tied in together.

You can just firewall the .exe anyways, unless the official version requires that you're connected to play Singleplayer?
Arcosian
Arcosian Heavy Industries Corp Holding
#65 - 2012-03-12 14:58:13 UTC
Reiisha wrote:
If you did everything right and choose the right ending you get a scene where Shepard lives.

I don't see how that would be possible unless the endings were a hallucination.... ;p

Well just because we get a scene with Shepard taking a breath at the end doesn't mean it's all a hallucination. If you look closely at the video you will notice he is buried in a large amount of rubble. Some of this rubble looks rectangular implying it's part of the support structure of the Citadel. And unfortunately a good example of this is that the rubble looks a lot like what they showed on TV after the World Trade Centers fell.

If Shepard was waking up on the street after Harbinger almost killed him with the laser there wouldn't be that much rubble laying around him and it would look more like what we saw when Shepard is running toward the beam. It seems to me like it's a way to continue the story if Bioware chooses to like Halo 3 did when MC gets in the stasis pod.
Sellendis
The Ares project
#66 - 2012-03-12 16:20:14 UTC
The ending sucks at so many levels, no matter the effort we did in 3 games with building a perfect Shep, it all comes down to 3 choices, Shep dies, reapers gone (possibly Geth and EDI also) and mass relays gone (space goes back to stone age) in all of them.

Link

Best i could do in first pass, and i have no will to play anymore.

On the account of "best ending", we just killed all Geth + EDI, blown everything up to hell.
And then Shep takes a breath of air, how did he survive the citadel explosion at point blank? No station means no air (and he breaths), no gravity (nothing floating around Shep) and no heat (space is cold usually).

And even if he survived all of that, he somehow made it in atmosphere reentry without roasting himself to hell, he smacks the earth in god knows what speed, doesn't splatter himself across the continent, he manages to land in some rubble, and take a breath of air...not to mention he was injured like hell and if we take into account his last scenes with Anderson, Shep had a "bullet" wound in his left side (around kidney) and was bleeding like a pig.

People have confirmed, that if you romanced Tali, you screwed up on Rannoch, Tali takes a cliff dive, she is dead, and in the end she walks out of the crashed Normandy....
Same thing with your 2 teammates that vanished before the Beam charge, i lead EDI and Tali to final battle, we all got "wiped out" and they walk out of Normandy. Plot holes all around.

So "dream" ending or epic laziness from bioware. Dunno whats worse.
Valei Khurelem
#67 - 2012-03-12 19:39:52 UTC
Quote:
If you did everything right and choose the right ending you get a scene where Shepard lives.

I don't see how that would be possible unless the endings were a hallucination.... ;p


It looks like mass effect fans are portraying the same signs of denial as the people they were trying to save from the reapers, I think that EA have indoctrinated Bioware and they're trying to enslave us with DLCs and then eventually will harvest our bodies too.

*gets assault rifle*

"don't get us wrong, we don't want to screw new players, on the contrary. The core problem here is that tech 1 frigates and cruisers should be appealing enough to be viable platforms in both PvE and PvP."   - CCP Ytterbium
Roosterton
Sebiestor Tribe
Minmatar Republic
#68 - 2012-03-12 21:09:29 UTC  |  Edited by: Roosterton
Quote:
It doesn't make any sense! It's like someone had a really detailed plan on what was going to happen in the third game then they got booted from the project and some moron took over instead, in fact, knowing EA I wouldn't be surprised if that's what happened.


Funny you say this, actually. You know that guy who wrote KOTOR, ME1, and ME2? He had nothing to do with ME3.

And goddamnit, I want to play KOTOR now.
Nuala Reece
Deep Core Mining Inc.
Caldari State
#69 - 2012-03-12 23:00:16 UTC
I'm compelled to reply to this thread, but I won't read it - I'm only 3 days into playing the game and, while I hope I'm wrong, experience has taught me to never trust the Eve forum community to maintain a thread like this beyond a page or two without some asshat posting spoilers without warning. Hopefully I'm wrong, but I'm not taking the chance Blink

All I'll say is, I'm enjoying it immensely. Not being able to import my character's appearance (by virtue of playing the game as it was intended, from ME1 - shame on you EA for f*cking that up) was an early frustration. And EA needs to do some work on getting Origin to actually work properly for buying DLC via PayPal. But once I was past that and into the game I haven't looked back.

The storytelling is just as good as ever. The pacing is spot on. I've swung from excitement to fear to joy to tears and back again more than once. And I really have no idea how it's going to turn out, for me or for any of the other characters I've come to know over the series.

It's got some flaws, to be certain, but it's a bit like pointing out the scratches on a lightbulb - when it's shining you don't notice them at all Smile
Arcosian
Arcosian Heavy Industries Corp Holding
#70 - 2012-03-13 01:28:16 UTC
Nuala Reece wrote:
It's got some flaws, to be certain, but it's a bit like pointing out the scratches on a lightbulb - when it's shining you don't notice them at all Smile

Just be ready for when the light bulb burns out rather suddenly. But in all honesty I understand what Bioware was trying to do with the ending. They just didn't do a good job conveying the message.
Valei Khurelem
#71 - 2012-03-13 07:22:19 UTC  |  Edited by: Valei Khurelem
Roosterton wrote:
Quote:
It doesn't make any sense! It's like someone had a really detailed plan on what was going to happen in the third game then they got booted from the project and some moron took over instead, in fact, knowing EA I wouldn't be surprised if that's what happened.


Funny you say this, actually. You know that guy who wrote KOTOR, ME1, and ME2? He had nothing to do with ME3.

And goddamnit, I want to play KOTOR now.


I hate beng right :(

No seriously, it sucks, because I'm always predicting scenarios like this, just once I'd love to have someone slap me and go "Valei you silly idiot! They're rewriting the Mass Effect 3 endings and fixing things up with a patch! You don't need to rage on the forums anymore now! Oh and they fixed EVE just like you suggested by adding a seperate server with much better game mechanics!".

Anyway, apparently the same thing happened with Dragon age 2, whoever wrote the story for Dragon Age 1 was pretty brilliant but it immediately started sucking when Dragon Age 2 waltzed in with it's nerfed sex and stupid dialogue. Mass Effect 2 wasn't bad despite the fact they nerfed the sex to keep fox news happy and the dialogue held up even though no matter who you picked most of the characters said all the same things unless you talked to them privately. Part of Bioware game charm was that all the characters started randomly chatting to each other and arguing about things depending on the situation whenever you engaged in dialogue or just wondered around a bit.

Actually, you know what? I really want to make a Fallout mod now, I need something creative to do that isn't drawing.

"don't get us wrong, we don't want to screw new players, on the contrary. The core problem here is that tech 1 frigates and cruisers should be appealing enough to be viable platforms in both PvE and PvP."   - CCP Ytterbium
Sellendis
The Ares project
#72 - 2012-03-13 09:45:04 UTC
Nuala Reece wrote:
I'm compelled to reply to this thread, but I won't read it - I'm only 3 days into playing the game and, while I hope I'm wrong, experience has taught me to never trust the Eve forum community to maintain a thread like this beyond a page or two without some asshat posting spoilers without warning. Hopefully I'm wrong, but I'm not taking the chance Blink


I understand you, i was in same boat, i kept complete info blackout, everywhere i look everyone is pissed about the endings.
Kept saying to myself, they rushed the game, they just played wrong, they didn't build a perfect Shep in ME1 and ME2 like i did.
And in the end, i got the same kick in the quad like he rest of them.
Roosterton
Sebiestor Tribe
Minmatar Republic
#73 - 2012-03-14 00:30:28 UTC
Don't let it get to your head, Valei. Most of your ideas about EVE are still **** P
Reiisha
#74 - 2012-03-14 08:35:27 UTC
Arcosian wrote:
Reiisha wrote:
If you did everything right and choose the right ending you get a scene where Shepard lives.

I don't see how that would be possible unless the endings were a hallucination.... ;p

Well just because we get a scene with Shepard taking a breath at the end doesn't mean it's all a hallucination. If you look closely at the video you will notice he is buried in a large amount of rubble. Some of this rubble looks rectangular implying it's part of the support structure of the Citadel. And unfortunately a good example of this is that the rubble looks a lot like what they showed on TV after the World Trade Centers fell.

If Shepard was waking up on the street after Harbinger almost killed him with the laser there wouldn't be that much rubble laying around him and it would look more like what we saw when Shepard is running toward the beam. It seems to me like it's a way to continue the story if Bioware chooses to like Halo 3 did when MC gets in the stasis pod.


That would be an excellent conclusion if a) the citadel was made of stone (which it isnt) and b) the rubble didnt look exactly like the rubble you were passing on your way to the beam.

You're very intent on denying even the possibility that it's a hallucination ;p

If you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all...
Reiisha
#75 - 2012-03-14 08:37:08 UTC
Sellendis wrote:
The ending sucks at so many levels, no matter the effort we did in 3 games with building a perfect Shep, it all comes down to 3 choices, Shep dies, reapers gone (possibly Geth and EDI also) and mass relays gone (space goes back to stone age) in all of them.

Link

Best i could do in first pass, and i have no will to play anymore.

On the account of "best ending", we just killed all Geth + EDI, blown everything up to hell.
And then Shep takes a breath of air, how did he survive the citadel explosion at point blank? No station means no air (and he breaths), no gravity (nothing floating around Shep) and no heat (space is cold usually).

And even if he survived all of that, he somehow made it in atmosphere reentry without roasting himself to hell, he smacks the earth in god knows what speed, doesn't splatter himself across the continent, he manages to land in some rubble, and take a breath of air...not to mention he was injured like hell and if we take into account his last scenes with Anderson, Shep had a "bullet" wound in his left side (around kidney) and was bleeding like a pig.

People have confirmed, that if you romanced Tali, you screwed up on Rannoch, Tali takes a cliff dive, she is dead, and in the end she walks out of the crashed Normandy....
Same thing with your 2 teammates that vanished before the Beam charge, i lead EDI and Tali to final battle, we all got "wiped out" and they walk out of Normandy. Plot holes all around.

So "dream" ending or epic laziness from bioware. Dunno whats worse.


My bet is on dream ending. The rest of the game is too consistent to make it not true >_>

If you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all...
Sellendis
The Ares project
#76 - 2012-03-14 09:41:06 UTC
Reiisha wrote:


My bet is on dream ending. The rest of the game is too consistent to make it not true >_>


Still, i am afraid to get my hopes up. This was a massive "F you" to the fans. Still cant get how the hell could they even imagine showing this, after the leak months ago when they said its just temporary ending, and to be revised. Then it goes live...

If they didn't have the end ready, they should have said so, not take this hit from the fans, unsubs from SWTOR and shitstorm all around.

If they plan to release it as a DLC, and even charge for it, that's a new low.
2bhammered
Cyberpunk 2077
#77 - 2012-03-14 11:14:11 UTC  |  Edited by: 2bhammered
Sellendis wrote:
Reiisha wrote:


My bet is on dream ending. The rest of the game is too consistent to make it not true >_>


Still, i am afraid to get my hopes up. This was a massive "F you" to the fans. Still cant get how the hell could they even imagine showing this, after the leak months ago when they said its just temporary ending, and to be revised. Then it goes live...

If they didn't have the end ready, they should have said so, not take this hit from the fans, unsubs from SWTOR and shitstorm all around.

If they plan to release it as a DLC, and even charge for it, that's a new low.



Selling an ending to a game as DLC? Hmm, I wonder why the movies never tried this..

Oh, that's right, gamers are idiots Sad


(Do it EA, at this point I'd bet they all buy it.)
Louis deGuerre
The Dark Tribe
#78 - 2012-03-14 13:23:26 UTC
Finished yesterday and it was 36 hours of great fun right up until the last 10 minutes.
All in all, it is a great game except the ending.

The ending is not the horror of all horrors I was led to believe but it is mediocre. As the rest of the game shines pretty brightly mediocre looks godawful however.

Lack of a decent epilogue and giant plot holes do not help. However, if you look up who voices the Stargazer in the credits Bioware gets some bonus points for epicness.

The main problem is that Mass Effect is a game about choices and in the end your choices have barely any effect on the outcome of five years of gaming.

I DO like it that the endings are not Hollywood endings and I think a large part of the fanbase is ranting because of this.

I for one will not let 10 minutes spoil over a hundred hours of epic gaming and I heartily recommend the game.
Valei Khurelem
#79 - 2012-03-14 14:05:13 UTC  |  Edited by: Valei Khurelem
Quote:
I DO like it that the endings are not Hollywood endings and I think a large part of the fanbase is ranting because of this.


Hi, don't speak for other people please, you remind me of that stupid 99% soundbite that the occupy movement was throwing around, I happen to believe the central banks are the route cause of the problem and have more power than the actual government which is why all their buddies got bailed out while the other ones failed.

Anyway, I personally was hoping for endings much like Fallout New Vegas for a number of reasons:

. New Vegas finally proved that multiple choice endings can in fact work if they actually are endings and don't tie in to some silly expansion or sequel

. The endings are actual endings, not cliff hangers designed to make it so that the devs can churn out more DLC content and make it so players have to pay more in order to get to the real ending which I think this is exactly what EA had in mind for Mass Effect 3

. Even though there were some bits left out like what happened to the Van Graffs etc. the game went into a lot of detail into what happened with the various people and factions with how your choices affected them I felt really satisfied after having gotten to the ending and still do

. It left you feeling as though your choices actually made a difference and you interacting with people was worthwhile, I found myself getting annoyed I hadn't gone to deal with the Vault 19 powder gangers because they kept on terrorizing people since I was too lazy to go and kill them

This is honestly what I was expecting for Mass Effect 3 and all I expected, I wasn't expecting it to be fantastically epic even though it was at the beginning and towards the middle I just wanted a good ending that finally wound the series down and gave it some closure, not being used as a source of revenue for a soul sucking corporate entity.

They could have given Mass Effect a graceful fairwell and I'd have respected them for that, but know, having to watch all this bullshit instead wherever on the internet I go.

"don't get us wrong, we don't want to screw new players, on the contrary. The core problem here is that tech 1 frigates and cruisers should be appealing enough to be viable platforms in both PvE and PvP."   - CCP Ytterbium
Jhagiti Tyran
Caldari Provisions
Caldari State
#80 - 2012-03-14 14:14:19 UTC  |  Edited by: Jhagiti Tyran
Trying to avoid all the spoilers is a nightmare, I didn't have time to play at release so I only recently started. Playing through I have realised one thing.

Mass Effect 3 has an identity crisis, it doesn't know what type of game it wants to be.

If you take away the story and characters and leave the armoury and weapon customisation, keep the character skills but remove levels ME3 would be a very solid third person shooter. Name it something scifi and it would be a good game in its own right.

Thats ignoring the story and RPG aspects, keep the combat and customisation and its as good as games like Gears of War. Better really, Gears doesn't have all the options of choosing a squad, setting their ability's and weapons. Choosing your class and skills and then upgrading and customising the guns.

ME3 has great combat like Gears and then slaps all the extra mechanics on top.

As an RPG it seems to fall short, I have not seen much of that yet though. Countless fans are saying the end is terrible. it seems more than usual forum rage to. I think the desire for multiplayer (and the DLC that brings) and to improve the combat mechanics to suit a MP game limited the development of the RPG side of the game.