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Geostomp posted:I agree about the Javik criticisms. I like the character and his weapon, but he was a huge waste of potential standing in the background when he should have been earth-shattering in impact. Maybe if they hadn't cut him out and made him DLC he could've been more important. It's kinda like the Leviathan DLC, you learn some important poo poo regarding the Reapers but (Ending spoilers) Space-Baby just handwaves that away as "That's not important after all"
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Jul 31, 2014 23:46
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Hitlers Gay Secret posted:Maybe if they hadn't cut him out and made him DLC he could've been more important. It's kinda like the Leviathan DLC, you learn some important poo poo regarding the Reapers but (Ending spoilers) Space-Baby just handwaves that away as "That's not important after all" I read that he was originally supposed to be found on Mars and inform you of the Crucible, but he was cut out for some reason. I have no idea why, because doing so would have improved him and made the Crucible a lot palatable by letting somebody who actually knew what they were talking about be the person who suggests it. It wouldn't change the fact that the writers deliberately didn't assign it an actual function in hopes of being a backdoor for their as-of-yet unwritten endings, but it'd be a start.
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Aug 1, 2014 00:08
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I think this is where the game really starts to run off the rails. Corinthian: don't know who the leader is. Shepard: I don't care if your planet is getting destroyed, I need your help to save mine! Just terrible. It really clearly shows off how stupid a storyline it was for Shep to wander around recruiting to "Save the Earth!"
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Aug 1, 2014 01:26
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Waltzing Along posted:I think this is where the game really starts to run off the rails. I don't fully agree myself - I think "fight for Earth" is shorthand for "get the Reapers now before they wipe out humanity and take out one of the four galactic superpowers, crippling any future resistance", but the game doesn't do a great job of spelling that out. Shepard ends up seeming a little callous in their word choice.
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Aug 1, 2014 09:41
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Lt. Danger posted:I don't fully agree myself - I think "fight for Earth" is shorthand for "get the Reapers now before they wipe out humanity and take out one of the four galactic superpowers, crippling any future resistance", but the game doesn't do a great job of spelling that out. Shepard ends up seeming a little callous in their word choice. If only Shepard were some sort of word-using warrior--you know, someone who could argue/defeat ideas and receive support based on debate and arguments. Not that such people exist in the ME universe.
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Aug 1, 2014 09:58
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Lt. Danger posted:I don't fully agree myself - I think "fight for Earth" is shorthand for "get the Reapers now before they wipe out humanity and take out one of the four galactic superpowers, crippling any future resistance", but the game doesn't do a great job of spelling that out. Shepard ends up seeming a little callous in their word choice. It's just that the humans aren't really more boned than the turians here, and their fleet is actually bogged down fighting the war in the homefront instead of fleeing to safety. Although obviously the Mass Effect logic is that infantry is somehow infinitely more important than spaceships, so I guess it makes somehow sense to help the diminishing guerilla forces on Earth.
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Aug 1, 2014 12:16
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BioMe posted:It's just that the humans aren't really more boned than the turians here, and their fleet is actually bogged down fighting the war in the homefront instead of fleeing to safety. Not to mention that the turians have a much bigger fleet and larger economy than the humans, so they'd be more important on a galactic stage. It's not like there's anything special about the Reapers' attack on Earth to justify making it of paramount importance other than the writers expect us to simply because it is Earth. If someone had called Shepard out on being so myopic when the invasion is spreading so fast, that would really help the story. Instead, Shepard just expects everyone to drop their own issues to save Earth and anybody who doesn't do so is seen as a selfish, short-sighted fool by the story despite usually being equally desperate.
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Aug 1, 2014 12:27
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OAquinas posted:If only Shepard were some sort of word-using warrior--you know, someone who could argue/defeat ideas and receive support based on debate and arguments. Not that such people exist in the ME universe. I'd play Udina Effect.
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Aug 1, 2014 12:47
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I notice no one really delved into what sort of gameplay might come of some of these alternate ideas on how to defeat the reapers. I'm not going to say the current story is art. It's serviceable and effective enough. It would have been better if they did more tying of various themes into the prior two games. Scattering some direct references and side quests related to discovering the Crucible through the other games. But though simple I think the Crucible and what it represents is effective enough in framing the main thrust of the story. Which is to gather all together and present a united front. And honestly? Nationalism is a good enough reason to be callous about the fate of other races. Not to mention the long running theme of Shepard facing a certain discrimination and disregard from the Council. Warnings not heeded and so forth. I don't see it as implausible that in answer to all of that, which is the very reason why the Reapers rolled in uncontested and now Earth is being pummeled, along with many other worlds. It's a matter of 'I told you so, so now what are you going to do for me?'. Besides, it's not like Shepard doesn't do things to facilitate what is required. The character's focused pursuit of what is needed to save Earth might be callous, but the character itself does lend aid to get aid.
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Aug 1, 2014 13:08
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BioMe posted:It's just that the humans aren't really more boned than the turians here, and their fleet is actually bogged down fighting the war in the homefront instead of fleeing to safety. Actually, I got the impression that Earth was where most of the combat was happening since the Reapers have had a strange fascination with humanity ever since Shepard killed their asses. Twice. Like, they sent all their best to Earth and send in their weaker forces to the rest of the galaxy, it's just the weakest of a supposedly invincible race of super monster are still a group of invincible super monsters.
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Aug 1, 2014 13:15
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The Codex entries essentially explain that, yeah, and also how Shepard's actions temporarily result in the liberation of Palaven. I think the key point is that the Reapers are interesting in Reaperification, rather than glassing planets from orbit. Hence as long as Palaven can hold out against Reaper ground forces, it's something of a stalemate. (Spoilers, obviously) http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Codex/The_Reaper_War Fangz fucked around with this message at 13:42 on Aug 1, 2014 |
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Aug 1, 2014 13:40
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Flytrap posted:Actually, I got the impression that Earth was where most of the combat was happening since the Reapers have had a strange fascination with humanity ever since Shepard killed their asses. And spreading your forces and charging the biggest Reaper force you can find is such a good idea because..?
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Aug 1, 2014 13:40
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Flytrap posted:Actually, I got the impression that Earth was where most of the combat was happening since the Reapers have had a strange fascination with humanity ever since Shepard killed their asses. I believe this is what is supposedly happening; I recall some vague references in-game to the brunt of the Reaper forces attacing Earth because they are sick of Shepard's poo poo. Harbinger in particular has an obsession with Shepard after the events of ME2. Considering Harbinger is the first Reaper there might even be a good reason to save Earth first, but don't expect anyone to ever actually explain this.
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Aug 1, 2014 13:42
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BioMe posted:And spreading your forces and charging the biggest Reaper force you can find is such a good idea because..? It's not like the Turians are attacking the Reaper forces around Earth immediately. The point is that Shepard is getting them on board with the entire concept of coordinating with the Alliance. The core of the plan is the Crucible, not let's charge Earth.
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Aug 1, 2014 13:49
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Green Intern posted:I'd play Udina Effect. While I wished Udina would get off my case (and still made Anderson ambassador), I always just felt like he was kind of pitiable compared to any other  "Politicians". He's trying to do normal politician man things while he's got the Council on one side jerking him around. On the other side is DAMNIT SHEPARD, YOU ARE A LOOSE CANON THE SPACE MAYOR IS ON MY rear end BUT YOU ARE THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN GET RESULTS. His job sucks, his life sucks, and I think deep down he knows exactly what situation the narrative has stuck him with.Then they made him go full Space Hitler because we needed an excuse to kill the mean man who yells at us guilt free. While Ashley calls ME, Full Paragon bar Mc Space Jesus, Mister space terrorist over and over. Ash, stop making me regret leaving Kaiden on Virmire. I don't even think you are racist, I just think you got hit in the head a little too hard on Eden Prime and were never quite at full speed since. EDIT: Speaking of why I left Kaiden on Virmire, is there any way without mods or cheats to make Sentinel not make me want to kill myself in ME1? That lack of a pistol skill, or even basic armor skill is a bitch with how braindead your AI pals can be at actually shooting things (Ash, Ash. Why are you dead already. Why can't you kill anything with the best assault rifle and second best sniper rifle we own?). At least you have lift in ME1, my favorite biotic power. Then they take away lift from everybody in Part 2, and part 3 only a couple people get limited use "Lift grenades", Adept still can't lift. I ask, because My initial full series play was with Engineer. Overload is my very favorite power/crutch to have on my character and I know I can count on my own being the best (and actually going where I want them to). Sentinel is the only other class with Overload. Section Z fucked around with this message at 14:31 on Aug 1, 2014 |
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Aug 1, 2014 14:26
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Flytrap posted:Actually, I got the impression that Earth was where most of the combat was happening since the Reapers have had a strange fascination with humanity ever since Shepard killed their asses. Yes. The bulk of the Reaper fleet is at Earth. At the moment, they're busy harvesting people, but once they're finished they will turn their full attention to the turians, asari and everyone else. The Reapers attacking Palaven are a small distraction force (see that intro cinematic for the Menae mission) - they're there to tie up the turian fleet... to "divide and conquer", as people've mentioned before. Shepard wants the Primarch (and the asari, and the salarians) to commit to a united assault under the Crucible superweapon to break the back of the Reaper fleet at Earth ASAP. The asari and salarians want to just defend their own borders and worry about the long term later. Any of you ever play a team battle in an RTS? Starcraft or something? In a 2v2 or 3v3, if your teammate gets rushed, you don't turtle up and leave him hanging, because then it turns into a 2v1, they steamroll you and you lose the match. Instead you throw everything you have to save them and punish the rusher afterwards - together. quote:And spreading your forces and charging the biggest Reaper force you can find is such a good idea because..? The whole point is that they don't spread their forces. Letting the turians fight just on Palaven and the asari fight just on Thessia and the salarians fight just on Sur'kesh is spreading your forces. Letting the Reapers destroy Earth takes humanity out of the fight, and then the Reapers can destroy Palaven and take the turians out of the fight, and then the next world, and the next... Better to rally the galaxy now while only one of the galactic powers is crippled, than to wait for humanity to be destroyed and the turians to be crippled, or the humans and the turians to be destroyed and the asari crippled, etc. Lt. Danger fucked around with this message at 15:29 on Aug 1, 2014 |
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Aug 1, 2014 15:14
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Lt. Danger posted:Yes. What you say sounds nice but none of it is in the game. It is all your own head canon or inference or however you want to put it. You just did he Palaven/Manae part. They said a few times that Palaven is getting butchered. You aren't even there. You are on a moon and there are Reapers all over. On the main planet it is just as bad, or worse than on Earth. And later on we will be seeing the same thing. There are a ton of Reapers and they aren't all focused on Earth. It is also, at this point, only a couple days after the initial attack on Earth.
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Aug 1, 2014 18:16
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Waltzing Along posted:What you say sounds nice but none of it is in the game. It is all your own head canon or inference or however you want to put it. You just did he Palaven/Manae part. They said a few times that Palaven is getting butchered. You aren't even there. You are on a moon and there are Reapers all over. On the main planet it is just as bad, or worse than on Earth.
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Aug 1, 2014 18:34
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JT Jag posted:The Reaper fleet that was harassing the Turian home system was not nearly the size of the one near Earth. Which seems kind of odd considering that Earth's military is supposed to be significantly smaller than the Turian military. But I suppose that Shepard might have changed the calculus a little bit.
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Aug 1, 2014 18:38
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Zeroisanumber posted:Which seems kind of odd considering that Earth's military is supposed to be significantly smaller than the Turian military. But I suppose that Shepard might have changed the calculus a little bit. Didn't the humans get around the Council's restrictions on their military by using a new kind of ship, carriers I think? So the human navy is actually a lot stronger than it seems by normal Council standards.
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Aug 1, 2014 18:48
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Neruz posted:Didn't the humans get around the Council's restrictions on their military by using a new kind of ship, carriers I think? So the human navy is actually a lot stronger than it seems by normal Council standards. Not only that, but considering humanity went from earthbond to galactic superpower in 30 years, and they've had a couple years as one of the autocratic bosses of the corrupt insanity that is the Council, I'd imagine they've built a lot of poo poo in the meantime. That timeframe has always been weird to me, going from a single planet to challenging the galactic superpowers in about one generation or so, when they've had centuries with FTL and colonization to outnumber the humans.
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Aug 1, 2014 18:55
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Night10194 posted:Not only that, but considering humanity went from earthbond to galactic superpower in 30 years, and they've had a couple years as one of the autocratic bosses of the corrupt insanity that is the Council, I'd imagine they've built a lot of poo poo in the meantime. Sci-fi writers have no sense of scale. They try to justify it by saying that because of the whole Rachni thing they're super slow about opening up new Mass Relays so each species only has a half dozen worlds or something so Humanity was able to catch up super fast but it doesn't work, the real reason is because Humans Are Awesome and the story was written by Humans to be about Humans so the Humans had to be powerful enough to take centre stage. e: It's actually kind of dissonant throughout the games because regardless of what people say what the games actually demonstrate through gameplay is that Humans Are The Best At Everything and nobody else can do anything right. Neruz fucked around with this message at 19:25 on Aug 1, 2014 |
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Aug 1, 2014 19:21
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Neruz posted:Sci-fi writers have no sense of scale. I thought that the Humans advanced super-fast because we got a major boost from the Prothean artifact that we found on Mars.
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Aug 1, 2014 19:26
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Waltzing Along posted:What you say sounds nice but none of it is in the game. It is all your own head canon or inference or however you want to put it. You just did he Palaven/Manae part. They said a few times that Palaven is getting butchered. You aren't even there. You are on a moon and there are Reapers all over. On the main planet it is just as bad, or worse than on Earth. Feel free to re-watch the Primarch video and count the Reapers. There are nine in orbit facing off against the turian fleet and two on the ground on Menae. Perhaps there are more on the surface on Palaven, which is bogged down in a ground war - considerably better off than Earth, where the defence has collapsed into guerilla warfare with civilian conscripts. e: the point of Menae is that the turians are delaying the reapers with a flank attack from their planetary defence base on the moon. if anything, the moon is tying up reapers by drawing them away from the main force proper We don't get a good look at the (massive) Reaper fleet around Earth until the end, which may have been reinforced by Reapers rallying from other theatres/diminished by Reapers splitting off to conquer the rest of the galaxy. The Codex describes roughly "a dozen" Reapers delaying the 2nd, 3rd and 5th Fleets at Arcturus while many "dozens" more plowed through the relay to Earth, destroying 1st and 4th Fleets. 400 processor ships alone are apparently present on Earth to complete the harvest. I can't find any other numbers, however, and I don't like using the Codex as evidence. On the Citadel, Udina says "Earth was the first Council world hit. By all reports, it faces the brunt of the attack." Shepard later says "The Reapers won't stop at Earth. They'll destroy every organic being in the galaxy if we don't find a way to stop them." The asari councillor then says "The cruel and unfortunate truth is that while the Reapers focus on Earth, we can prepare and regroup." The salarian councillor offers "If we can manage to secure our own borders," i.e. not homeworlds, "we may once again consider aiding you." Note that the summit to rally everyone's forces isn't Shepard's idea, but the late Primarch Fedorian's. Finally, we won't see any more Reapers plural until Thessia, towards the end of the game. drat you for dragging me down to this level of analysis, it's so boring.  Also, please don't use the term "headcanon", it triggers me
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Aug 1, 2014 19:29
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Neruz posted:Sci-fi writers have no sense of scale. Thank you for this post, it's a good and interesting point.
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Aug 1, 2014 19:42
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Neruz posted:Sci-fi writers have no sense of scale. Did anyone really want the series to go full on "human are so special and awesome" though? They didn't even need to have the "rally all the aliens to save Earth" plot, it could have been just "rally everyone" plot. The last minute plot twist pretty much forces Earth to be the decisive battlefield. I mean I don't know about you guys but I was kind of taken out of it by everyone just agreeing to Shepard's "we must abandon our self-centered goal and therefore go save my home planet first!" speeches. I mean you can come up with all kinds of fan theories but the game itself never stops to explain why Earth is so strategically important that the aliens would agree to make a suicidal attempt to retake it. It's just generally pretty loving confusing when the writers are doing a really obvious racism allegory, but at the same time make the race the audience identifies with with inexplicably more important than anyone else and have alien races who are all nothing but slimy moneylenders, religious nutcases or thugs. I mean aside from the Jewish stereotype they are at least not directly offensive in real life, but I just have trouble figuring out the cognitive dissonance of deliberately doing that theme and loving it up so badly.
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Aug 1, 2014 19:43
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Lt. Danger posted:Feel free to re-watch the Primarch video and count the Reapers. There are nine in orbit facing off against the turian fleet and two on the ground on Menae. Perhaps there are more on the surface on Palaven, which is bogged down in a ground war - considerably better off than Earth, where the defence has collapsed into guerilla warfare with civilian conscripts. This is completely incongruous with what we are actually shown. You are seeing entire coastlines of Palaven burning and characters are even pointing it out, so it's not definitely just the art direction getting carried away. And that's in addition to the game constantly reminding you how hosed the turians are during that mission. The game tries to tell you Earth is more important, yes, that's exactly the problem, because what it's actually showing is telling a completely different story.
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Aug 1, 2014 19:49
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I was just under the impression that shepard saying "look at how bad it is here, double that for earth" was merely to point out to mr Turian that they're getting hosed over by a fraction of the reapers power and the only way to survive is to get everyone onboard operation build-a-giant-superweapon-because-ohgod-we're-dead. I feel that the new Primarch responding by demanding even more races get in on this helps support that view. I never really got an earth first vibe from the game, it just seemed to be the big battleground. Maybe I'm just clueless 
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Aug 1, 2014 20:12
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BioMe posted:It's just generally pretty loving confusing when the writers are doing a really obvious racism allegory, but at the same time make the race the audience identifies with with inexplicably more important than anyone else and have alien races who are all nothing but slimy moneylenders, religious nutcases or thugs. I mean aside from the Jewish stereotype they are at least not directly offensive in real life, but I just have trouble figuring out the cognitive dissonance of deliberately doing that theme and loving it up so badly. It's a pretty cool attempt at deconstruction of genteel NPR liberalism's internal dissonance. Actually, most "good" paths in post-KOTOR Bioware games do that. With a bit more self-awareness it would even be kinda brilliant, but instead it wallows and doesn't really go anywhere remotely interesting.
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Aug 1, 2014 20:22
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I don't think there's anything wrong with the story of Shepard running around uniting everyone into the Intergalactic Superfriends, it's the same basic structure as the other two games, just on a larger scale. The issue is that the game expresses this all via too much telling and not enough showing, in my opinion. Your view of the conflict as a whole is basically just text reminders and Hackett/Anderson telling you everything sucks. I don't want to sound like I'm totally bagging on this game, I liked it and I think a lot of the criticism levelled at the mechanics/particulars is misdirected. I think the story's lack of success among fans stems from the disconnect of what the game is telling you is going on in the background vs. what the player is shown and does from Shepard's perspective on the ground. Ultimately it coheres and wraps up the setting, but it requires a lot of imagination from the player to put it all in perspective at the end.
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Aug 1, 2014 20:29
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BioMe posted:This is completely incongruous with what we are actually shown. You are seeing entire coastlines of Palaven burning and characters are even pointing it out, so it's not definitely just the art direction getting carried away. And that's in addition to the game constantly reminding you how hosed the turians are during that mission. Indeed. I never quite understood some of the story driven art direction decisions for this game. Earth is getting taken over, but we're only told this and not really shown it. Meanwhile, having a huge section of Palaven burning in the background on Menae really illustrates better than the generic space battle cutscenes just how destructive the Reapers are. Even when we do see Earth, it never quite looks as hosed as Palaven does. I keep thinking they should have reversed that part with Menae. Instead of being on Manae with Palaven burning in the background while trying to evacuate the Turian Primearch, what if Shep had to find and evacuate Anderson or Hackett instead off of a Luna base with Earth burning in the background? That would have made for a pretty epic mission, both showing the immense power of the Reapers and pumping the player up to help defend and retake Earth. In any case, I mean, it still works alright for setting up a more blunt reason why the Turians don't leap at the chance to help the other civilizations besides space racism, but within the overall narrative of the story it somehow feels much more like a footnote than it should be as things continue to transpire, especially after Act I is over.
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Aug 1, 2014 20:37
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Are we in the "good" part of the game yet? Because so far our two introductions to the galaxy destroying menace hyped for the last two games has been a) a claustrophobic series of tunnels on earth (with a pretty skybox to hide the fact that you're in a loving tunnel) while flavors of husk charge you. b) a series of less-claustrophobic but almost identically designed arenas on a featureless moon (with a pretty skybox to hide the fact that there isn't much else going on in the actual game) while flavors of husk charge you, most of them in a several minute long turret sequence that was mercifully cut for time in this LP. What's striking me most so far is how small everything feels! Oh my god guys, the Reapers are finally attacking. It's happening, its here, we're on the ropes its the end of days. Now fight one dozen husks again, its really important this time. Now here's a miniboss. Its a husk but big. Not like the big husks in the last game, no, these are different. Now you know we aren't loving around this time.
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Aug 1, 2014 20:38
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Willie Tomg posted:
The feeling of smallness isn't going to change. There is no actiony part of the game that isn't a corridor or a small shooting arena. It's especially bad in parts where Shepard is supposed to be one part of a larger battle, since you almost never see any evidence that a larger battle is even happening, with the exception of the occasional fighter crashing near you or flying over like happened on Menae. At no point do you interact with or influence any part of any struggle that you aren't directly responsible for. Most of the time this is fine since you're doing commando-y things or sneaky things or otherwise being a lone wolf, but there are a couple occasions where you are actually one part of a major effort and the game just does an abysmal job of making it look like there's anything actually going on. Crigit fucked around with this message at 20:46 on Aug 1, 2014 |
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Aug 1, 2014 20:43
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Willie Tomg posted:Are we in the "good" part of the game yet? Because so far our two introductions to the galaxy destroying menace hyped for the last two games has been There are two fights against Reapers on foot, which I assume is what you're hoping for. They aren't that fun. e: also, thank you for making a post that isn't I-Spy Reapers on Palaven Lt. Danger fucked around with this message at 20:51 on Aug 1, 2014 |
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Aug 1, 2014 20:48
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Mr. Soop posted:Indeed. I never quite understood some of the story driven art direction decisions for this game. Earth is getting taken over, but we're only told this and not really shown it. Meanwhile, having a huge section of Palaven burning in the background on Menae really illustrates better than the generic space battle cutscenes just how destructive the Reapers are. Even when we do see Earth, it never quite looks as hosed as Palaven does. Also thank you for this post, which is also thinking in-depth about why the game makes choices. You bring up an important point about Menae largely being a stopgap in the story - a mission that exists to tell the player what's going on with the turians, why they didn't just run over to defend their ally, how they suffer under the Reapers and how they react (incredibly stoically, as it happens). Menae forms a somewhat clumsy transition from the Reapers invading to the genophage arc - it's clear Bioware really wants to do something on the krogan and the genophage, but can't find a way to get there from the invasion of Earth. So the turian councillor sends you to the turian primarch, who decides that the only way he'll help you is if you get the krogan on side, and next video we'll see the only way the krogan will help you is if you sort out the genophage. I don't think it's bad that ME3 focuses on the krogan and not the war, but it's not a smooth transition (unlike the quarian arc). I mean, strictly speaking there's no reason Victus couldn't have just asked for Alliance infantry squads to help fight the war on Palaven, or asari commandos or the Blue Suns or whoever - no, he's firm, it has to be the krogan.
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Aug 1, 2014 20:58
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Lt. Danger posted:Also thank you for this post, which is also thinking in-depth about why the game makes choices. Well to be fair, a single squad of Krogan is hyped up to be stronger than any other races full military (something they will continue to hype up regardless of how many worthless Krogan cannon-fodder you effortlessly mow down).
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Aug 1, 2014 21:03
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Oh definitely, and Alliance squads would probably be too busy defending human colonies, the asari have turned isolationist, the Blue Suns are horrible mercenaries... Victus is fully aware its an unconventional gambit, and everyone describes him as a maverick who plays fast and loose with strategy, but it's always struck me as quite a transparent hard left-turn into Kroganville.
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Aug 1, 2014 21:08
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Some of the scale problems come from the fact that I don't think the engine has ever actually had AI allies who aren't your direct squad. I can't remember the last time you had allied NPCs who weren't your two Spacebros coming on a space mission with you. Everyone always got out of the way whenever it was time for you to cap a few guys, and in past games, which had a smaller scale, that never felt incongruous. Here, it might be that an engine or programming limitation on numbers of space-bros allowed for Shepard and the unwillingness to throw tons of NPC Allies into large battles and tell the enemies to react to them made it harder to portray large battles in gameplay.
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Aug 1, 2014 21:14
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Crigit posted:The feeling of smallness isn't going to change. There is no actiony part of the game that isn't a corridor or a small shooting arena. So in the act of playing Mass Effect 3, The Long Awaited Title From Bioware and Electronic Arts, you are a person in a big wide physical world looking into a box at a user-controlled representation of a character locked in a box and looking out at the end of the universe expressed through sweeping paroramas that are exquisitely rendered where they aren't kludged together with clipart? Because, when attempting a 40+ minute conversation about the aesthetics of space in general, space in games in specific and one game in particular, that's a pretty good starting point just FYI. Lt. Danger posted:There are two fights against Reapers on foot, which I assume is what you're hoping for. They aren't that fun. I do this thing with movies and the better TV episodes/series where I watch them all twice, once to get the plot beats and enjoy it viscerally along with the normal hu-mans, and then wait a while for my initial impressions and hype/disappointment to clear up, and then watch it a second time deconstructing the gently caress out of its formal parts to create My Actual Opinion. That's sorta what I'm doing here. There is no way I'm playing this game a second time since the Citadel DLC was funny but not that funny, yet you seem like a smart dude who earnestly likes this game and your posts elsewhere are pretty legit so I'm trying to leave myself open to maybe having overlooked some stuff the first time through. I'm hoping for a part of the game that looks good instead of mediocre. ME1 was okay but ME2 caught me off guard completely because in shucking most of what made ME1 ME1 (and, smartly imo, doing probably a third as much work re: assets), Bioware really dialed in to what they wanted Mass Effect to be. Instead of a sprawling space exploration adventure intended to be immersed in for hours and hours it was a tight space character drama where everyone had dad issues (which makes their drama relatable to the Core Gaming Demographic) and content was portioned neatly into roughly half-hour to 60 minute chunks. The adherence to TV format length is not a coincidence. ME2 knows exactly what it wants to be and is. ME3 seems like its trying to open the scale back up but is hampered by a) not knowing what its loving scale is which it seems like people are already talking about and b) the people making the game not wanting to do more work than they did in ME2 or, if you're more charitable, that the content sweet spot in ME2 was about as much as they could ask from the audience. I'd quibble otherwise but its kind of irrelevant either way because: That's a really big problem in this title, because if you're trying to convey an apocalyptic conflict and only put the player in tiffs they've been having since those first husks came down from those first spikes in ME1, then your story and your game and your assets are all at odds with each other and the result is a mess. What I'm seeing so far is a lot of hot mess. I want to not see that. Please help me unsee the mess. I can see why you'd say the reaper "fights" aren't fun. You aren't wrong, but the last one was one of the few times I Felt A Thing playing this. It was also a callback to the finale of ME1. In fact, most of the "good" bits of this game are callbacks to the earlier games, trying to cash in on sunk cost emotional investment in the series. That makes me kind of sad, but not too sad, which is unfortunate because if it did make me too sad it would at least mean contemporary EA was hewing to Trip Hawkins' original statement of purpose back in the day.
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Aug 1, 2014 21:20
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Lt. Danger posted:Oh definitely, and Alliance squads would probably be too busy defending human colonies, the asari have turned isolationist, the Blue Suns are horrible mercenaries... Victus is fully aware its an unconventional gambit, and everyone describes him as a maverick who plays fast and loose with strategy, but it's always struck me as quite a transparent hard left-turn into Kroganville. That and the Blue Suns are going to be working for Aira later on.
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Aug 1, 2014 21:26
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