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Amateur Saboteur posted:I just had a sudden flashback to reading the epilogue of the last "The Dark Tower" novel where Stephen King basically writes "well, I couldn't think of a good ending so well here ya go, but reading the books up to here was pretty sweet right?". That pissed me off beyond words. If King had physically been there I would have said "gently caress you" to his face. The whole journey is more important than the destination bit is done by writers who can't come up with good endings.
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| # ¿ Mar 11, 2012 10:57 |
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| # ¿ May 21, 2013 21:20 |
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I wish to god that they hadn't gone down the Illusive Man is indoctrinated route. There's a reason BSG didn't do something similar with Baltar and that was to show how hosed up human beings are. It would have been amazing to see him being right and you the player as wrong. Walters deserves to be the new Hepler.
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| # ¿ Mar 11, 2012 13:11 |
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Drake Bate posted:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=booBmcFw_Lk I don't loving know, I heard this prior to launch and was expecting it. What the gently caress Bioware. It's like Walters got dumped by his wife and decided to take it out on the audience, Anno style.
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| # ¿ Mar 11, 2012 18:03 |
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The Unnamed One posted:Yes, Mac Walters cut a dialogue that was already recorded. Walters is the one responsible for the ending. So it's either on him or Hudson. I mean the endings were trash early on but they somehow made it even worse.
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| # ¿ Mar 11, 2012 18:21 |
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Malrauxs Place posted:You keep bringing this up and I still don't understand why you're so hellbent on this being true. There's nothing to indicate that there aren't numerous self-sufficient planets in the galaxy where civilization could survive, inter-system space travel remains feasible within reasonable ranges, interstellar communicaton is also still possible, and most of the homeworlds had their populations decimated anyway - you're really just making things up here, and that's not even taking into consideration the fact that it's all just fiction anyways and the writers can always make up another plot point to re-establish galactic travel. There is no equivalent in human history in regards to what the Reapers did. You're talking destruction of large amounts of the population, infrastructure, trade, communication, and government. It would take thousands of years for society to recover if it ever did. It's not just the Reaper ships that are killing but the husks too. The husks are probably the main methods for rounding people up as the Reapers can't exactly get everywhere. It's also hard to deduct how long all of ME3 would have taken in real time. My guess is minimum of 6 months going to a year. The reason I'm stating that long is because of the Crucible. The way they described the project would require extreme amounts of time even in ideal situations. Yes there are more available resources than any other project in history but it would still be an enormous undertaking as you can see from the scale when compared to other ships or even the Citadel itself. So let's go with 6 months of the Reapers able to do whatever they want. On Palaven we know the Reapers took 3 million in the first day and 5 million in the second. Palaven wasn't also hit as hard as Earth and had a stronger military and populace protecting it. We know atleast that 9 million died on Earth in a week due to the intro trailer. I would actually argue that the 9 million dead is based solely around the London metropolitan area. The reason I state this is because of the lack of communications that Anderson and Hackett mention in ME3 itself so therefore the sniper in Big Ben would not have had access to the full number and probably neither would have Anderson. So the current London metropolitan population size is 13 million. Now there would obviously be an increase in the size of London but even if it increase to say 20 million(which I doubt just due to congestion issues), 9 million dead in a week is extremely devasting. Either way within two weeks you could state that most metropolitan areas are looking at over 50% dead if not higher. Now this would obviously decrease due to diminishing returns for the Reapers but you're definitely looking at billions dead on Earth alone. Now we know something similar is happening on other capital worlds so population numbers across the galaxy are going to be extremely diminished right out the gate. Not to mention colonies numbers being wiped out due to Reapers or nuclear suicide. As for food supplies, there's going to be serious issues with that as well. The grocery stores as a viable supply source could easily be wrecked due to wreckage from the huge battle that happened right outside the atmosphere or the Reapers themselves destroying buildings simply by walking around. Yes it could possibly support a lower population but I'm sure a good amount of food is simply going to be buried in rubble. Then most of the farmland will be wiped out as well not to mention the people needed to actually farm the remaining the land. Yes it should be survivable but not without an extremely harsh transition period. Here's the kicker though, I was only taking into account humans with the above food calculations. Now Earth and possible nearby habitable planets(which there are pretty few) have to provide for the entire remaining fleet which can comprise of Krogans, Quarians, Turians, Rachni, Asari, Salarians, Drell, Hanar, and Elcor. Let's hope you didn't give those Krogans that genophage cure otherwise that population boom is now happening on Earth. Now since earth is obviously not a dextro-based planet, the Turians and Quarians have two main options. They either come up with some sort of food converter which would put even more of a strain on the limited food supply or they find a planet via FTL that could possibly work for farming purposes. This would also have to be organized relatively quickly due to having to provide for these large populations before they starve to death. Now for an average human being it takes 30 days before starvation kills you, I'm assuming a similar time span for the alien species except the Salarians due to a possibly faster metabolism. Hopefully in regards to water, humans have come up with a more effective means of converting salt water to fresh water otherwise that would become a serious issue as well due to the destruction of transportation centers. It's easy to forget even know how much civilization depends on trade due to specialization of economies. As for the colonies, they're up poo poo creek without a paddle. Illium almost certainly depends heavily on trade, Omega definitely does and Noveria obviously. Even if they have the farmable land doesn't mean that a large portion of the population knows how to farm or even has the infrastructure or technology in place to utilize it. That's also excluding the amount of damage that Cerberus and the Reapers themselves did to these colonies. Then you have the lack of communication and government that might make it possible to reorganize in a timely manner. I would assume most of the government leaders are trapped on Earth. Even with FTL it doesn't make the situation any less grim. This is because the distance is still so large. It would take 25 years to cross from one end of the galaxy to another and that's just a one way trip. Now to an Asari or Krogan that's not that big of a deal, excluding psychological issues of course from long peiods on a space ship, but for a human or Turian whose life span is 150, that's a good chunk. For a Salarian that's obviously a one way trip. Then there is supplying food for that long of a trip, something we in modern times are having issues with in regards to long voyages. It's very hard to plan for a 5 or even 10 year trip in regards to food supplies. Those time frames also only calculate in a direct trip not taking into account problems or temporary pitstops. It makes enforcement of government policies impossible even if communication is somehow reestablished. As for reverse engineering the Reapers, you're looking at a good long while before this becomes even remotely possible. Scientists have absolutely no clue how the Blackstar, a Reaper weapon works. I believe the codex stated that all they could do was guess how it works. Now try that on a much larger scale. In the mean time the galaxy falls into chaos. Oh and I hope those scientists that worked on the Crucible are in the ships escorting it otherwise the brightest minds in the galaxy are trapped in the rear end end of nowhere. Jarmel fucked around with this message at Mar 11, 2012 around 19:07 |
| # ¿ Mar 11, 2012 19:01 |
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Shimrra Jamaane posted:That was a post on the Bioware forums. It's true though. That was my post, I edited it though. I sure as poo poo don't feel like retyping it twice.
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| # ¿ Mar 11, 2012 19:05 |
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CaptainCarrot posted:Except that EDI, the Normandy, and Thanix guns are all based partially on Reaper tech, and the matriarch bartender on Ilium, Aethyta, says that she told the asari they needed to start building their own mass relays, so I don't think t's quite as bleak as you're suggesting in that area. As for the mass relays, there are mini ones used for communication purposes but it's on a much smaller scale. As any scientist would tell you, size does matter. When you increase the scale of any project, complexities arise both in the form of necessary material as well as the mathematics of it. Especially when you involve living subjects. It would be like saying because we have the LHC, we can in a few years have humans moving at a similar speed. Don't forget that the relays are shot to poo poo now so it's not like they have a working model to try and reverse engineer from. Is it possible? Sure but it's going to be a long while before any sort of progress is done. This is also assuming that the scientists are on Earth instead of the station where the Crucible was built, which is the logical assumption as why would they go into the warzone.
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| # ¿ Mar 11, 2012 19:13 |
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fivegears4reverse posted:You are putting more thought into assumptions about the effects of the endings than the people who wrote them. What pissed me off was that one of the writers for ME3 stated that a comparable situation for the endings would be Leningrad being wrecked after WW2 and 60 years later is doing fine. It's a bullshit statement because it's not comparable at all. I mean all of this is not assuming the obvious issues such as an Arrival style explosion wiping out all major population centers mainly because everybody would be dead.
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| # ¿ Mar 11, 2012 19:22 |
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fivegears4reverse posted:Which explicitly did not happen if you had your EMS high enough. I didn't think it happened anyway as the ending of ME3 has internal controlled explosions compared to the haphazard(and technically impossible) way it occurred in ME2. It is worth mentioning though as the only time we've seen a relay blow up, it wiped out a system. This obviously should have been clarified in the game before you decided the fate of the entire galaxy but too much exposition I guess. I would love though to try and trick Walters into accidentally admitting that it was an Arrival style explosion just to prove he has no clue what he was doing.
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| # ¿ Mar 11, 2012 19:31 |
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Codependent Poster posted:Yeah, apparently the millions on the citadel are dead too! Who the gently caress knows though, because nothing was explained how it was moved or what happened to everyone there. I just imagine it as the Reapers having a Reaper tow-truck that they use to drag the Citadel from the Serpent Nebula to Sol. The best part though? The Conduit on Ilos was probably unguarded and so therefore the Hammer assault was absolutely unneeded.
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| # ¿ Mar 11, 2012 19:39 |
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PhantomZero posted:I think the conduit on Ilos was shut down or lost power along with the Prothean VI after ME1. If it's just a power issue then that seems relatively fixable. As for the location issue, it seemed to work on a similar principle if not the same as the relays so location is not an issue. Now before someone states that the Protheans were able to create a relay so therefore this cycle can too, Protheans were way way ahead of us in a lot of regards.
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| # ¿ Mar 11, 2012 19:50 |
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NmareBfly posted:Why didn't the Reaper fleet shoot the Crucible itself? Did we really push them that far away from the Citadel that they couldn't take a few potshots? Maybe they figured at that point 'Hey this cycle did pretty well, let's see what this drat superweapon people have been trying to build for millenia actually does.' I just thought of it as BSG-Exodus style in that fleet ships would take shots intended for the Crucible. Yes I'm making up bullshit theories because it doesn't make sense otherwise.
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| # ¿ Mar 11, 2012 19:54 |
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CaptainCarrot posted:Yes, but a ship traveling through a relay and the planets in a system containing one are two very different things. Besides, the Normandy was only moderately damaged (albeit in the important part), not destroyed. The shockwaves seem more like artistic license than anything else, and given that it's space magic, who the hell knows what damage they did? Another great bit? Travel through the relays is instantaneous. The Normandy bit DOES NOT make sense on all level in the lore. At all.
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| # ¿ Mar 11, 2012 19:56 |
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Extra Smooth Balls posted:Plus it makes Joker look like a bit of a dick.  (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
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| # ¿ Mar 11, 2012 20:01 |
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I'm going to state something possibly unpopular. If I was in TIM's position I would have done the exact same thing he did.
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| # ¿ Mar 11, 2012 20:26 |
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Extra Smooth Balls posted:Indoctrination is apparently a slow and subtle thing that insidiously subverts your desires along a path the reapers desire. Many of his actions such as Sanctuary actually make a lot of sense. Remember that TIM was dealing with a world where the Crucible didn't exist. It's only until the beginning of ME3 does he have an alternate method.
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| # ¿ Mar 11, 2012 20:46 |
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Vincent Van Goatse posted:The worst thing about the ending is that the rest of the game is so drat good. I'm up to the beginning of the Thessia mission and so far it's been a great game. I mean sure Udina suddenly being a Cerberus mole doesn't make much sense but Thane being awesome one last time made up for the stupid anime assassin. Then there was Rannoch and Tuchanka. Everything about the Genophage cure was amazing, especially Mordin. Honest to god I would not be surprised if there was arguments in the writing room about this and Walters overrode everybody because he was the lead writer.
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| # ¿ Mar 11, 2012 21:26 |
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Oh and this article is now laughable if it wasn't before. http://io9.com/5886178/why-mass-eff...-our-generation
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| # ¿ Mar 11, 2012 21:28 |
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Slim Killington posted:This is incredibly likely what happened. I remember a post from one of the devs that stated that one of the writers was highly annoyed when Ashley in the opening level on Earth stated over the radio that a destroyer was being blown up in the atmosphere when in reality it was actually a cruiser. Some of those guys do care about the lore then we get an ending that breaks it. This was definitely an executive decision and we know Walters was responsible for the ending. So either it boiled down to Walters overriding everybody or Hudson doing it.
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| # ¿ Mar 11, 2012 21:34 |
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Pladdicus posted:Synthesis is nonsense and is completely undefendable in anyway. Nanomachines. Ambiguatron posted:Mass Effect 3, the game with an ending so awesome that shooting a kid in the face is a better option. I take that option whenever it presents itself.
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| # ¿ Mar 11, 2012 21:36 |
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Pladdicus posted:no, gently caress you. I kinda like the concept of it. It's the execution that is complete poo poo. It boils down to a wizard did it instead of say an actual down to earth logical explanation.
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| # ¿ Mar 11, 2012 21:39 |
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Charlie Mopps posted:Shes also half Krogan, so that makes Liara quarter Krogan. I find that kinda sexy. Asari Charge!
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| # ¿ Mar 11, 2012 21:42 |
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Pladdicus posted:I thought it'd be an organic shift. Like it'd stop the reapers and show that Shepard could...I don't know. Instead it was like, this green wave transforms people's DNA's to robotics???? I mean the underlying premise is basically transhumanism so it's that out of the world. The problem is indeed the green space magic. I was sorta joking when I said nanomachines but also sort of serious in that obviously a person's DNA wouldn't be changed but it's possible to have nanomachines alter an organic to possible communicate with synthetics via some form of wireless communication.
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| # ¿ Mar 11, 2012 21:45 |
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Vincent Van Goatse posted:I think Udina's whole coup attempt would've worked better if there'd been some explanation of his actions beyond "help TIM, get paid". Like he was doing his coup thing because Cerberus had some sort of blackmail thing going or had a hold on him through a loved one or something embarrassing in his past and, being a stereotypical politician, he was too short-sighted to tell TIM to gently caress off because Reapers and galactic extinction are a more important problem than his own career. They did preface it with Udina's first private chat with you when he discusses how humans are still second rate and showing his anger with the Council. Cerberus is promoting humans first and were working on a solution to the Reaper problem.
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| # ¿ Mar 11, 2012 21:48 |
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Slim Killington posted:All this talk of resolution, but nobody seems to have a problem with TIM shooting himself in the head, like that's even remotely believable. Years and years of pro-human ideology, years of conflict, all that personal investment, the incredible conflict against Shepard, all on top of severe indoctrination, and you're somehow talked into shooting yourself in a four-minute conversation. To be fair you can only get the suicide option if you use charm on him from the very beginning of ME3. It's also very Saren-like in that Saren believed what he was doing is correct but realized he wasn't capable of making a rational decision. The poo poo writing part is making TIM indoctrinated at all but they needed the player to be correct.
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| # ¿ Mar 11, 2012 21:49 |
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Vincent Van Goatse posted:But I'd been sending in reports on how full of poo poo Cerberus was for the last three years since they murdered Admiral Kahoku. Didn't he read any of those? Desperate times I guess. Earth is being ravaged and the other Council races are, "Tough poo poo dawg". To be fair I personally wanted to kill the Salarian council member so I can't exactly blame Udina.
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| # ¿ Mar 11, 2012 21:53 |
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Slim Killington posted:This. It was always dumb, I certainly didn't expect to see it twice. Better than the Resident Evil boss fight they had planned for TIM. Probably one of the few decisions they got right in regards to the end-game. TIM was always more of an intellectual opponent rather than a physical one.
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| # ¿ Mar 11, 2012 21:55 |
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Malrauxs Place posted:Tell me you're joking.  
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| # ¿ Mar 11, 2012 22:02 |
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I did like the concept art for the room itself though. The idea of an eclipse would have been very fitting.
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| # ¿ Mar 11, 2012 22:04 |
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Party Plane Jones posted:I just realized how the two starpeople would know about Shepard: all those beacons left over from when Liara sent them out in case poo poo went south. It's implied that they're the descendants of people from the Normandy due to the two planets in the background being the same.
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| # ¿ Mar 11, 2012 22:21 |
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Party Plane Jones posted:The Normandy has such a tremendously small crew that I don't see how that would be possible. Walters. I mean what do you want me to tell you? The planets in the background being the same seem to imply it along with that heavy Adam and Eve crap with Joker and EDI.
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| # ¿ Mar 11, 2012 23:01 |
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Party Plane Jones posted:That really doesn't make sense since Mass Effect was such a massive franchise for EA/Bioware and all the endings effectively kill it off. 4 million units of ME3 were sold in retail stores last I heard. This game was rushed. There is no other answer. gently caress. If it only had another solid 6 months in the oven. gently caress.
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| # ¿ Mar 11, 2012 23:05 |
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QUEEN CAUCUS posted:Also this is my favorite response to ME3 thus far. Wow that's amazing.
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| # ¿ Mar 11, 2012 23:08 |
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MegaCharger posted:I still haven't figured out how Cerberus turned from a fringe human terrorist organization with a couple tens of billion credit annual budget, into an elite army capable of fighting the entire loving galaxy at on its own, all in a span of 6 months. Sanctuary? They explained that pretty well. Also: http://imagepw33n.us/f/193/scriptw.jpg/ A LOT of this game got cut.
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| # ¿ Mar 11, 2012 23:12 |
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DFu4ever posted:On another note, the happy ending should contain a Geth dance number that plays during the credits. I would be fine with the Geth in mass doing the robot around your statue that you have made out of minerals collected in ME2.
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| # ¿ Mar 11, 2012 23:14 |
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rI1oUAUe4Qg Anderson extended scene with Femshep. Crap quality though.
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| # ¿ Mar 11, 2012 23:17 |
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The Grimace posted:What a surprise! A Kotaku writer thinks the bitching about the awful ending isn't justified. Why the gently caress do I even read Kotaku? I love it when a journalist doesn't know what the gently caress he is talking about.
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| # ¿ Mar 12, 2012 00:24 |
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WAR FOOT posted:
I thought the kid symbolically represented all the loss you've faced. It wasn't just the kid dying in of himself but the culmination of all the poo poo you've been through. Sort of the straw that broke the camel's back.
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| # ¿ Mar 12, 2012 00:57 |
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Pladdicus posted:Yeah, but renegade shepard don't give a gently caress, and it's weird he suddenly does. He's sad because he didn't get a chance to kill the kid himself?
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| # ¿ Mar 12, 2012 01:02 |
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| # ¿ May 21, 2013 21:20 |
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Eonwe posted:Nobody is denying this is true for paragon Shepard, but its really weird for Renegade Shepard. The real main problem is that the little kid thing is just plain bad storytelling. It doesn't fit in with the series at all. There are so many ways to communicate the stress and guilt Shepard is feeling. They didn't need to resort to some hamfisted attempt to make the game more emotional by putting a little kid in it. Hey I was one of the first people to suggest that they replace the kid with Ashley/Kaidan for the Guardian. I agree they could have done it better but I understand what they were trying to go for. Slo-Mo dream sequences are poo poo though and the person who thought of that should feel bad because they are bad.
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| # ¿ Mar 12, 2012 01:11 |
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