This is the general view most seem to have on the complainers, but it's all about people wanting choice, consequences and closure, not necessarily a happy ending, but an ending that was different in every option, not just a recolour. It's been posted probably 6 times over in this thread.
On top of that it was stuff that bioware actually did promise many times over, that is the core, otherwise people would've just silently whined like with any other disliked game or ending.
Whether or not someone expected x, y or z is neither here nor there, what does seem to be true from the evidence is that they cut content and went back on promises... if eld said that he expected the endings that are present would you somehow use that to demean the previous issues?
Whether or not someone expected x, y or z is neither here nor there, what does seem to be true from the evidence is that they cut content and went back on promises... if eld said that he expected the endings that are present would you somehow use that to demean the previous issues?
Absolutely not. I was also genuinely curious, since he has been asked twice already what exactly he was expecting and not really given a concrete answer as to his personal expectation.
I would've picked a sacrificial ending, those endings are sex!, but much like sex I'd rather not be forced into it without choice.
Also a much bigger ACTUAL presence of choices during the end rather than just a number, the war assets became a disguise for your choices not actually mattering in any way.
B. It is no different than what you had to do in ME2, and no one complained about that.
Bioware never promised anything this radical with ME2, but what they did promise was that your choices in ME2 would have permanent consequences, which they did deliver on.
And with ME3 they actually didn't have a sequel to try to stich together on, so they could go in any kind of direction, and that's what they said, that due to being the last they could have so much variation to every ending that no one could really say that they got the a,b, or c ending.
correct me if im wrong but you did have the choice to sacrifice yourself... didnt you.
They're nearly all sacrificial endings, except the hint that he lives which you can get if you maximize readyness via MP in two or so of the ending-variations.
where else would you have wanted it to go? and i mean that as a genuine question. im interested to hear what people who didnt like the ending wouldve preferred.
Because when you get to the end it really isn't about the choices you made along the way as it is a numbers game.
I helped the Quarians and Geth become BFFs
Welp, that's 700 points. Cure the genophage? 500 points. Save the rachni? 800 points. And the only thing that does is unlock an ending that you're not locked into in the first place. If you have enough numbers on your side you get three options instead of two. Even with that, you get to choose the ending. If the endings were truly based off of choices you had made, it should throw you into one and that be it.
As for what people wanted wasn't necessarily a happy ending or some type of award ceremony congratulations. People wanted to see their choices come to fruition past an arbitrary number and colored explosion. I want to see a platoon of Geth Prime stop a Cannibal assault and save a group of civilians. I wanted to see the Quarian Flotilla unload a concentrated blast into a Reaper and one shot it. Could you imagine a hive of Rachni saving an army of Krogan? Just the epic scale of choices made from the first game to the last game playing out in a final battle based solely on what you did or did not accomplish. Imagine every one of these scenarios playing our differently if you had not made the same choice. That's what people wanted to see.
fair enough praetus. that wouldve been amazing to see, but as previously stated by vargatom
Yes, saving X or allying with Y does not give you a different cinematic. But at least here on Polycount we should be able to see how the possible variations are far too many to deal with, and incorporating every major decision into the ending in any significant way is simply not possible.
even though there was not that epic battle at the end of the game that had every choice youve ever made taken into account, its still almost impossible (for me at least) to deny that this game was amazing, as was the ending (that i had).
even though there was not that epic battle at the end of the game that had every choice youve ever made taken into account, its still almost impossible (for me at least) to deny that this game was amazing, as was the ending (that i had).
And no one is saying otherwise, it's a wonderful game, it's just about the ending.
there shouldnt be anything wrong with a special ending for those who dedicate themselves to it. i can understand the mp stuff is kinda pushing it by forcing people to play but there are quite a few people out there that invest their time into this story.. because they really care about it. i mean, bioware created an entire universe, 1. why would you not want to explore and learn all about it, and 2. it only makes sense for them to reward those who do.
there shouldnt be anything wrong with a special ending for those who dedicate themselves to it. i can understand the mp stuff is kinda pushing it by forcing people to play but there are quite a few people out there that invest their time into this story.. because they really care about it. i mean, bioware created an entire universe, 1. why would you not want to explore and learn all about it, and 2. it only makes sense for them to reward those who do.
I myself stopped my gold account on 360, since it was essentially just sitting there ticking, costing money.
Others simply don't play multiplayer games.
But again, the core of the promise is that bioware had that as yet another promise:
...EMS = success. EMS can be maximized via collecting war assets alone, even if your Galactic Readiness is 50%...
Which means you cannot get the special shepard lives ending.
Don't get me wrong, the game is amazing. I really do enjoy it as a whole. But the final mission and ending falls on it's face for me. With all the different cinematics during the suicide mission on ME2 for people living or dying, to all the different cinematics in 3 for different choices you make (how many different ones can play on the final mission on Tuchunka) and they couldn't craft something more for the ending? I'm not looking for a 45 minute exposition but some quick cuts of a final battle that show off my accomplishments and choices is too much?
Yes, saving X or allying with Y does not give you a different cinematic. But at least here on Polycount we should be able to see how the possible variations are far too many to deal with, and incorporating every major decision into the ending in any significant way is simply not possible.
For all the cinematics they've made in the game previously that cater to previous choices I have a hard time believing this. I mean, if you saved Wrex in the first game, how many cut scenes for him alone are there in ME2 and 3. Or any character from 2 since any one of them could have died. They essentially created an entire game worth of cutscenes for any number of characters that lived or died from choices you did or didn't make. It is precisely because of that I have a hard time believing they couldn't have made a medley of scenes that string into three minutes of awesome space battles that make you feel like the choices you made as a player mattered in the end. Even if everyone died and burned to a crisp and the reapers won, it's because of what you did.
Just the epic scale of choices made from the first game to the last game playing out in a final battle based solely on what you did or did not accomplish. Imagine every one of these scenarios playing our differently if you had not made the same choice. That's what people wanted to see.
So you've just spent $2 million on cinematics, about 60-80% of which a player won't get to see through his first playthrough.
That was never a valid option and I can't see how people could have expected something like this...
So you've just spent $2 million on cinematics, about 60-80% of which a player won't get to see through his first playthrough.
That was never a valid option and I can't see how people could have expected something like this...
You mean like the choice of male and female shepard?, which is just cosmetical and a waste of money.
The witcher 2 basically gives you a ton of different content depending on choices, heavy rain chopped up the otherwise linear ending in a ton of different ways depending on what you had done or had you failed with a character.
In the end developers have learned that cost of variation matters, otherwise the ME series had not been filled with them to the brim.
So you've just spent $2 million on cinematics, about 60-80% of which a player won't get to see through his first playthrough.
As opposed to how many other cinematics I won't see anyway based on choices I've made from previous games? That argument to me is besides the point since it applies to the entire game. How many cutscenes will I miss or see differently in ME3 if I go all the way back to the first game and play it again with different choices? Even on a third or fourth playthrough I am sure there are scenes that will be different if I played the game differently. So with all those different scenes and possible outcomes why is skimping on the end ok?
For all the cinematics they've made in the game previously that cater to previous choices I have a hard time believing this.
There are three quality levels of cinematics in the game, or rather two if we don't count the CG trailers (which aren't actually on the DVD).
The game can easily replace Wrex with Wreav in the ingame movies. But those have serious constraints on image quality and content variety - I don't think the game can handle more than 10-12 different characters at the same time, with effects. Shepard and 2 squad mates already take 3 slots so that's why you usually only get 5-6 enemy types at once.
These are created with mostly canned animations and a lot of scripting. You can even recognize some moves from Shepard performed by others after the 3 games. This is also why the large scale stuff you'd like to see can't be done with this cheap scripted ingame cinematic. The engine and the tools are too limited to handle such epic scenes.
The other type of cutscenes are pre-rendered using UE3 and included on the DVD as bink video files. For example all space battle scenes are done this way, with some heavy post processing, higher quality assets, and they can easily be intercut with ingame content (custom Shepard and exchangeable characters). What you outlined would have at least doubled this type of cinematics work and the disc space requirements.
I myself stopped my gold account on 360, since it was essentially just sitting there ticking, costing money.
i see. however, the xbox game did come wtih a fre 2 days of gold. i imagine thats some incentive. but for those who dont bother with multiplayer in general.. yea i guess that kinda sucks.
As opposed to how many other cinematics I won't see anyway based on choices I've made from previous games?
They've actually been quite clever with this type and you'll see every one of them no matter what you decide.
Reapers attacking Palaven, Geth and Quarian ships fighting, end sequence - they make pretty good use of this type of content.
There are also more simple ones like landing on the Citadel or on various planets but you never see any change in them because they don't show Shepard or squad members.
The content that's varied is always scripted engine movies which are cheap.
The content that's more epic is always pre-rendered and costs more, but they made sure you'll see all of it.
i see. however, the xbox game did come wtih a fre 2 days of gold. i imagine thats some incentive. but for those who dont bother with multiplayer in general.. yea i guess that kinda sucks.
No, I can see the possibilities to get through MP without having to pay, but it's more about the fact that bioware was and is still ready to lie their fans in the face about a clear and simple question like that.
Their official faq still states that you don't need to play MP for it.
The content that's more epic is always pre-rendered and costs more, but they made sure you'll see all of it.
It shouldn't be an imminent need to get everyone to see everything, everyone gets their own ending, everyone will experience all that worth put into it, and even then they'll play the game again to experience all the different endings.
It basically becomes a bit "lazy" in the economic way to do such a thing for a best selling trilogy that has most likely made way more back than it cost on every title.
And again, cd projekt red manages to bring different endings and different content due to choices AND bring even more free dlc on top of that, and they're not pulling the same sold numbers as bioware has.
im sure if bioware could allow you to play multiplayer without paying.. they would. but thats entirely based on microsoft. maybe ps3 gamers had a better experience with this?
im sure if bioware could allow you to play multiplayer without paying.. they would. but thats entirely based on microsoft. maybe ps3 gamers had a better experience with this?
It's more about bioware allowing players to be able to reach the optimal military strength without having to play multiplayer, then everyone would've been fine with it.
If you guys have an iOS device there's the free Datapad app. It has a very primitive strategy minigame which you can use to gain readiness points.
A bonus part is that if you check it while playing through the game you get some extra emails from the squad members and other characters after certain game events. Some of them are good for a laugh, like EDI mentioning she has a question - well actually 1.6 million questions but she's pacing herself
BTW. Did anyone was surprised how fun the multiplayer was?
yea absolutely! when the demo came out i played the multiplayer for almost a week. i even had a friend who never played mass effect play it and said he enjoyed it a lot. it was one of the better "horde" games that ive played.
If you guys have an iOS device there's the free Datapad app. It has a very primitive strategy minigame which you can use to gain readiness points.
A bonus part is that if you check it while playing through the game you get some extra emails from the squad members and other characters after certain game events. Some of them are good for a laugh, like EDI mentioning she has a question - well actually 1.6 million questions but she's pacing herself
I do want to get that one, it's not compatible with my touch 2nd gen though
BTW. Did anyone was surprised how fun the multiplayer was?
Oh man, yeah. I was expecting it to be really forced but I was surprised with how much fun it was. I really like the simple way it tied in to the story as well.
im sure if bioware could allow you to play multiplayer without paying.. they would. but thats entirely based on microsoft. maybe ps3 gamers had a better experience with this?
yup, it works in their favour. more players more micro transactions.
Because when you get to the end it really isn't about the choices you made along the way as it is a numbers game.
I helped the Quarians and Geth become BFFs
Welp, that's 700 points. Cure the genophage? 500 points. Save the rachni? 800 points. And the only thing that does is unlock an ending that you're not locked into in the first place. If you have enough numbers on your side you get three options instead of two. Even with that, you get to choose the ending. If the endings were truly based off of choices you had made, it should throw you into one and that be it.
As for what people wanted wasn't necessarily a happy ending or some type of award ceremony congratulations. People wanted to see their choices come to fruition past an arbitrary number and colored explosion. I want to see a platoon of Geth Prime stop a Cannibal assault and save a group of civilians. I wanted to see the Quarian Flotilla unload a concentrated blast into a Reaper and one shot it. Could you imagine a hive of Rachni saving an army of Krogan? Just the epic scale of choices made from the first game to the last game playing out in a final battle based solely on what you did or did not accomplish. Imagine every one of these scenarios playing our differently if you had not made the same choice. That's what people wanted to see.
I was not very fond of the whole multiplayer game affecting the single player outcome. For one thing it wasn't stated as obviously as it should, I had to look it up in order to find out since I hadn't touched the full game MP yet. Playing the same levels over and over again with a bunch of random people was just tedious to me(it was more fun while playing with people from the forum though).
The Fermi Paradox, or Where Is Everybody? did a video game come up with the best answer yet?
When it comes to finding other intelligent life in a universe as old as ours, the Fermi Paradox is a particularly tough puzzle. Probability says there should be a huge number of intelligent civilizations, but why, even after billions of years of various supposed beyond-Earth planetary evolutions, has no one contacted us?
Theyre clearly just waiting out there to harvest our civilization as soon as we get far enough from home? Or something. I havent played video games in a while. From Caleb Scharfs take:
Without going into all the colorful details, the central premise is that a hugely advanced and ancient race of artificially intelligent machines harvests all sentient, space-faring life in the Milky Way every 50,000 years. These machines otherwise lie dormant out in the depths of intergalactic space. They have constructed and positioned an ingenious web of technological devices (including the Mass Effectrelays, providing rapid interstellar travel) and habitats within the Galaxy that effectively sieve through the rising civilizations, helping the successful flourish and multiply, ripening them up for eventual culling. The reason for this? Well, the plot is complex and somewhat ambiguous, but one thing that these machines do is use the genetic slurry of millions, billions of individuals from a species to create new versions of themselves.
Its a grand ol piece of sci-fi opera, but it also provides a neat solution to the Fermi Paradox via a number of ideas: a) The most truly advanced interstellar species spends most of its time out of the Galaxy in hibernation. b) Purging all other sentient (space-faring) life every 50,000 years puts a stop to any great spreading across the Galaxy. c) Sentient, space-faring species are inevitably drawn into the technological lures and habitats left for them, and so are less inclined to explore.
These make it very unlikely that until a species is capable of at least proper interplanetary space travel (in the game humans have to reach Mars to become aware of whats going on at all) it will have to conclude that the Galaxy is a lonely place.
^
So basically, the anime plot to almost all Sci-Fi anime, even a couple of episodes from Star-Trek, and others 80's genre movies, but with the added bonus of "Eating" is what makes ME a story to behold for the Fermi Paradox?
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...
...
Excuse me while I go ahead and put the Tumblr populace alongside Facebook on my list of "Don't ever read what anyone writes on that site again".
Okay sooo overall it's a good game, but the end is questionable for some.
/thread
But seriously I hoped for a little more explanation of what happened after I blew everything up.
I mean you basicly just gathered most of the military forces of every bigger civilisation in the galaxy around earth and then blew up all the mass effect relays. How is everyone supposed to get home after the party is over?
And why the hell was the normandy traveling away from earth? Weren't they supposed to fight amongs the others agains the reapers?
Oh and could someone please tell me how low the chances are to crash land on a planet that has a life supporting atmosphere? Because I don't think they would survive long if there's no food and breathable air around.
You know what was secretly really deep, intelligent, and meaningful?
Halo 2's ending. Nobody GETS it.
And RAGE's ending! The philosophical implications of all those vaults opening up!
Thank you!
Ever since Valve couldn't write its way out of a paper bag in regards to providing an ending with closure, lots of games have adopted the cliffhanger as the infuriating de facto standard. Often for business reasons (rampant sequelitis).
I mean you basicly just gathered most of the military forces of every bigger civilisation in the galaxy around earth and then blew up all the mass effect relays. How is everyone supposed to get home after the party is over?
Conventional FTL travel is still possible, which is at least 100-200 times as fast as lightspeed. So for example Quarian ships will probably not be able to get home within a lifetime - unless someone manages to invent a better FTL drive. The Reapers were able to reach the batarian systems within a few months after they abandoned trying to gain control of the Citadel relay.
And why the hell was the normandy traveling away from earth?
Yeah that's kinde unexplained, although all ships were ordered to retreat...
^
So basically, the anime plot to almost all Sci-Fi anime, even a couple of episodes from Star-Trek, and others 80's genre movies, but with the added bonus of "Eating" is what makes ME a story to behold for the Fermi Paradox?
...
...
...
Excuse me while I go ahead and put the Tumblr populace alongside Facebook on my list of "Don't ever read what anyone writes on that site again".
Such a shame that the ending of ME3 went off with such a whimper rather than a bang. The game in near perfect but falls so far short at the end. Its like they sacked all the writing team just before the ending and got a new lot in to finish it.
Now I wasn't asking to survive in a classic American big blockbuster style kind of ending. I actually though the catalyst was going to be shepard from the start serving as some sort of a sacrifice.
There should've been an alien ending a la Silent Hill. haha on a more serious note....
I just finished the game this morning. What a game. I was thrilled all the way through! The last part where you are all messed up after Harbringer shoots the laser at you guys made me think of MGS4 part where Snake walks down the hallway and his suit is blowing up. I think that bit could've been done a little better. Then you go up the beam, everything is different and i think this is where the ending detaches itself from everything you have accomplished in the 3 games!
Where did the Illusive Man come from? They don't expand on this. After you take on his base he just kinda drops out of the radar. His being there is like the Architect in the Matrix. He is just there, trying to tie some things that have no repercussions to the ending. Nothing after you go up the beam ties to the ending. AT ALL! i saved Sanders, he falls asleep (in my mind he does, cuz he was way too cool and he looked like he just had a bad hangover, the way he was hovering in place while the Illusive Man monologued). I try to see whats up with the citadel not shooting the cannon and i go up in this fancy elevator only to meet this AI kid. Honestly... i would've been more shocked if the kid was the kid from the Sixth Sense. Whats with that? Why did it take that form? Did the sould of the kid from the first 20 mins of the game ended up being such a massive wavelength of drama that the citadels AI Catalyst had to pick that up only to bring it up at the end? No explanation to, hey Shep... i am just a graphic representation of who you fear so you don't destroy me. So whats up with that? He then monologues some more and i don't feel any attachment to what they are saying. Correct me if i am wrong. But through out all of ME 1, 2 and 3 until this point i never skip conversations. They are smart, they grasp my attention, and ultimately i believe that if i am part of the conversations i CAN make a difference. This AI is just telling me... you know... everything you just did since 2007 is an illusion, and here are (in my case 2 choices, blue and red) 2 paths that you can take that are related not to you or your actions, but to 2 different characters. I can understand the Illusive Man wanting control... but why would you want that? There is no ulterior motive... maybe some flashbacks of things that you did, say maybe if you had to kill mordin, lie about the genophage... give you some incentive that this is the option you should pursue since you are this kind of guy... but nothing... its like Deus EX ending... just close your eyes and push a button. At the end of the day. You can get here by playing Average Joe and you would still be a hero.
I won't even go to some of the plot holes on why the Normandy left with people that where with me when everything went down to hell. But the ending in ME3 didn't resonate with me. I didn't feel like i was part of the story after EVERYTHING i did.
I think thats what people are complaining about. I think the endings are fine... but they were sloppy and presented in a weak way. Seriously... even a montage a la Rocky would've tied the knot a little better. All the attention to role playing to be a hero, to be the good guy... to feel sad that some of my fav characters from ME2 remained as casualties as i moved steadily to saving humanity ended up in a very detached moment.
I can't see how some DLC will fix this... unless they rewrite the hole presentation?
To me... MGS4 had this kind of expectations for me... and they were resolved by an epic battle of the 2 constants in the game.... it was reminisce and nostalgia as i battle to prevail and prove myself. You feel attached to it.... you feel for the characters. I don't think this was the case for the most part in ME3s ending. It was all going well, until i took the beam up to plot hole land.
Anyways.... after that rant... you can agree or disagree... that is just my opinion, and it doesn't take away that i really enjoyed all 3 games! I had a lot of fun, and i thought the gameplay and narrating was amazing. I played a little of multiplayer and thought it was a lot of fun, i shall be playing that and revisiting my ME3 file after i have more galactic readiness!
I'm actually pretty cool with this. They're not "changing" the ending. They're just adding more explanation. Best of all, they're not charging for it, which was one of my main concerns.
Just finished it tonight. I liked the ending actually..well Let me rephrase that. I like the themes..and tone of the ending. I thought it was presented and explained kind of poorly. The scene of Shepard shooting that engine thingy to blow up the reapers was incredible and gave me chills. I haven't felt like that since Solid Snake crawling through the Microwave in MGS4. Really powerful moment. I especially loved that final push to get to the Citadel and Shepard was practically melted and limping.
Replies
Thats fine. So what were you expecting?
Absolutely not. I was also genuinely curious, since he has been asked twice already what exactly he was expecting and not really given a concrete answer as to his personal expectation.
I would've picked a sacrificial ending, those endings are sex!, but much like sex I'd rather not be forced into it without choice.
Also a much bigger ACTUAL presence of choices during the end rather than just a number, the war assets became a disguise for your choices not actually mattering in any way.
Bioware never promised anything this radical with ME2, but what they did promise was that your choices in ME2 would have permanent consequences, which they did deliver on.
And with ME3 they actually didn't have a sequel to try to stich together on, so they could go in any kind of direction, and that's what they said, that due to being the last they could have so much variation to every ending that no one could really say that they got the a,b, or c ending.
They're nearly all sacrificial endings, except the hint that he lives which you can get if you maximize readyness via MP in two or so of the ending-variations.
Because when you get to the end it really isn't about the choices you made along the way as it is a numbers game.
As for what people wanted wasn't necessarily a happy ending or some type of award ceremony congratulations. People wanted to see their choices come to fruition past an arbitrary number and colored explosion. I want to see a platoon of Geth Prime stop a Cannibal assault and save a group of civilians. I wanted to see the Quarian Flotilla unload a concentrated blast into a Reaper and one shot it. Could you imagine a hive of Rachni saving an army of Krogan? Just the epic scale of choices made from the first game to the last game playing out in a final battle based solely on what you did or did not accomplish. Imagine every one of these scenarios playing our differently if you had not made the same choice. That's what people wanted to see.
even though there was not that epic battle at the end of the game that had every choice youve ever made taken into account, its still almost impossible (for me at least) to deny that this game was amazing, as was the ending (that i had).
yeah, as I said, special endings, I think you need over 4000 actual war assets for that one, which means 8000 war assets without playing MP.
And no one is saying otherwise, it's a wonderful game, it's just about the ending.
I myself stopped my gold account on 360, since it was essentially just sitting there ticking, costing money.
Others simply don't play multiplayer games.
But again, the core of the promise is that bioware had that as yet another promise:
Which means you cannot get the special shepard lives ending.
For all the cinematics they've made in the game previously that cater to previous choices I have a hard time believing this. I mean, if you saved Wrex in the first game, how many cut scenes for him alone are there in ME2 and 3. Or any character from 2 since any one of them could have died. They essentially created an entire game worth of cutscenes for any number of characters that lived or died from choices you did or didn't make. It is precisely because of that I have a hard time believing they couldn't have made a medley of scenes that string into three minutes of awesome space battles that make you feel like the choices you made as a player mattered in the end. Even if everyone died and burned to a crisp and the reapers won, it's because of what you did.
So you've just spent $2 million on cinematics, about 60-80% of which a player won't get to see through his first playthrough.
That was never a valid option and I can't see how people could have expected something like this...
You mean like the choice of male and female shepard?, which is just cosmetical and a waste of money.
The witcher 2 basically gives you a ton of different content depending on choices, heavy rain chopped up the otherwise linear ending in a ton of different ways depending on what you had done or had you failed with a character.
In the end developers have learned that cost of variation matters, otherwise the ME series had not been filled with them to the brim.
There are three quality levels of cinematics in the game, or rather two if we don't count the CG trailers (which aren't actually on the DVD).
The game can easily replace Wrex with Wreav in the ingame movies. But those have serious constraints on image quality and content variety - I don't think the game can handle more than 10-12 different characters at the same time, with effects. Shepard and 2 squad mates already take 3 slots so that's why you usually only get 5-6 enemy types at once.
These are created with mostly canned animations and a lot of scripting. You can even recognize some moves from Shepard performed by others after the 3 games. This is also why the large scale stuff you'd like to see can't be done with this cheap scripted ingame cinematic. The engine and the tools are too limited to handle such epic scenes.
The other type of cutscenes are pre-rendered using UE3 and included on the DVD as bink video files. For example all space battle scenes are done this way, with some heavy post processing, higher quality assets, and they can easily be intercut with ingame content (custom Shepard and exchangeable characters). What you outlined would have at least doubled this type of cinematics work and the disc space requirements.
i see. however, the xbox game did come wtih a fre 2 days of gold. i imagine thats some incentive. but for those who dont bother with multiplayer in general.. yea i guess that kinda sucks.
They've actually been quite clever with this type and you'll see every one of them no matter what you decide.
Reapers attacking Palaven, Geth and Quarian ships fighting, end sequence - they make pretty good use of this type of content.
There are also more simple ones like landing on the Citadel or on various planets but you never see any change in them because they don't show Shepard or squad members.
The content that's varied is always scripted engine movies which are cheap.
The content that's more epic is always pre-rendered and costs more, but they made sure you'll see all of it.
No, I can see the possibilities to get through MP without having to pay, but it's more about the fact that bioware was and is still ready to lie their fans in the face about a clear and simple question like that.
Their official faq still states that you don't need to play MP for it.
It shouldn't be an imminent need to get everyone to see everything, everyone gets their own ending, everyone will experience all that worth put into it, and even then they'll play the game again to experience all the different endings.
It basically becomes a bit "lazy" in the economic way to do such a thing for a best selling trilogy that has most likely made way more back than it cost on every title.
And again, cd projekt red manages to bring different endings and different content due to choices AND bring even more free dlc on top of that, and they're not pulling the same sold numbers as bioware has.
You don't need to play multiplayer to finish the game. The satisfaction of the ending is subjective.
BTW. Did anyone was surprised how fun the multiplayer was?
It's more about bioware allowing players to be able to reach the optimal military strength without having to play multiplayer, then everyone would've been fine with it.
And then there's this in the same faq:
And just as a touch of irony, beneath it:
A bonus part is that if you check it while playing through the game you get some extra emails from the squad members and other characters after certain game events. Some of them are good for a laugh, like EDI mentioning she has a question - well actually 1.6 million questions but she's pacing herself
yea absolutely! when the demo came out i played the multiplayer for almost a week. i even had a friend who never played mass effect play it and said he enjoyed it a lot. it was one of the better "horde" games that ive played.
I do want to get that one, it's not compatible with my touch 2nd gen though
Oh man, yeah. I was expecting it to be really forced but I was surprised with how much fun it was. I really like the simple way it tied in to the story as well.
yup, it works in their favour. more players more micro transactions.
This times a thousand
especially the second paragraph...
The Fermi Paradox, or Where Is Everybody? did a video game come up with the best answer yet?
When it comes to finding other intelligent life in a universe as old as ours, the Fermi Paradox is a particularly tough puzzle. Probability says there should be a huge number of intelligent civilizations, but why, even after billions of years of various supposed beyond-Earth planetary evolutions, has no one contacted us?
Theyre clearly just waiting out there to harvest our civilization as soon as we get far enough from home? Or something. I havent played video games in a while. From Caleb Scharfs take:
Without going into all the colorful details, the central premise is that a hugely advanced and ancient race of artificially intelligent machines harvests all sentient, space-faring life in the Milky Way every 50,000 years. These machines otherwise lie dormant out in the depths of intergalactic space. They have constructed and positioned an ingenious web of technological devices (including the Mass Effectrelays, providing rapid interstellar travel) and habitats within the Galaxy that effectively sieve through the rising civilizations, helping the successful flourish and multiply, ripening them up for eventual culling. The reason for this? Well, the plot is complex and somewhat ambiguous, but one thing that these machines do is use the genetic slurry of millions, billions of individuals from a species to create new versions of themselves.
Its a grand ol piece of sci-fi opera, but it also provides a neat solution to the Fermi Paradox via a number of ideas: a) The most truly advanced interstellar species spends most of its time out of the Galaxy in hibernation. b) Purging all other sentient (space-faring) life every 50,000 years puts a stop to any great spreading across the Galaxy. c) Sentient, space-faring species are inevitably drawn into the technological lures and habitats left for them, and so are less inclined to explore.
These make it very unlikely that until a species is capable of at least proper interplanetary space travel (in the game humans have to reach Mars to become aware of whats going on at all) it will have to conclude that the Galaxy is a lonely place.
So basically, the anime plot to almost all Sci-Fi anime, even a couple of episodes from Star-Trek, and others 80's genre movies, but with the added bonus of "Eating" is what makes ME a story to behold for the Fermi Paradox?
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Excuse me while I go ahead and put the Tumblr populace alongside Facebook on my list of "Don't ever read what anyone writes on that site again".
Halo 2's ending. Nobody GETS it.
And RAGE's ending! The philosophical implications of all those vaults opening up!
/thread
But seriously I hoped for a little more explanation of what happened after I blew everything up.
I mean you basicly just gathered most of the military forces of every bigger civilisation in the galaxy around earth and then blew up all the mass effect relays. How is everyone supposed to get home after the party is over?
And why the hell was the normandy traveling away from earth? Weren't they supposed to fight amongs the others agains the reapers?
Oh and could someone please tell me how low the chances are to crash land on a planet that has a life supporting atmosphere? Because I don't think they would survive long if there's no food and breathable air around.
Thank you!
Ever since Valve couldn't write its way out of a paper bag in regards to providing an ending with closure, lots of games have adopted the cliffhanger as the infuriating de facto standard. Often for business reasons (rampant sequelitis).
Conventional FTL travel is still possible, which is at least 100-200 times as fast as lightspeed. So for example Quarian ships will probably not be able to get home within a lifetime - unless someone manages to invent a better FTL drive. The Reapers were able to reach the batarian systems within a few months after they abandoned trying to gain control of the Citadel relay.
Yeah that's kinde unexplained, although all ships were ordered to retreat...
LAWL
take yourself too seriously much ? :P
I'm pretty sure that tumblr post originated on Scientific American anyways:
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/life-unbounded/2012/03/15/mass-effect-solves-the-fermi-paradox/
Yeah it was.. it was posted on Tumblr by one of the science editors there
Where did the Illusive Man come from? They don't expand on this. After you take on his base he just kinda drops out of the radar. His being there is like the Architect in the Matrix. He is just there, trying to tie some things that have no repercussions to the ending. Nothing after you go up the beam ties to the ending. AT ALL! i saved Sanders, he falls asleep (in my mind he does, cuz he was way too cool and he looked like he just had a bad hangover, the way he was hovering in place while the Illusive Man monologued). I try to see whats up with the citadel not shooting the cannon and i go up in this fancy elevator only to meet this AI kid. Honestly... i would've been more shocked if the kid was the kid from the Sixth Sense. Whats with that? Why did it take that form? Did the sould of the kid from the first 20 mins of the game ended up being such a massive wavelength of drama that the citadels AI Catalyst had to pick that up only to bring it up at the end? No explanation to, hey Shep... i am just a graphic representation of who you fear so you don't destroy me. So whats up with that? He then monologues some more and i don't feel any attachment to what they are saying. Correct me if i am wrong. But through out all of ME 1, 2 and 3 until this point i never skip conversations. They are smart, they grasp my attention, and ultimately i believe that if i am part of the conversations i CAN make a difference. This AI is just telling me... you know... everything you just did since 2007 is an illusion, and here are (in my case 2 choices, blue and red) 2 paths that you can take that are related not to you or your actions, but to 2 different characters. I can understand the Illusive Man wanting control... but why would you want that? There is no ulterior motive... maybe some flashbacks of things that you did, say maybe if you had to kill mordin, lie about the genophage... give you some incentive that this is the option you should pursue since you are this kind of guy... but nothing... its like Deus EX ending... just close your eyes and push a button. At the end of the day. You can get here by playing Average Joe and you would still be a hero.
I won't even go to some of the plot holes on why the Normandy left with people that where with me when everything went down to hell. But the ending in ME3 didn't resonate with me. I didn't feel like i was part of the story after EVERYTHING i did.
I think thats what people are complaining about. I think the endings are fine... but they were sloppy and presented in a weak way. Seriously... even a montage a la Rocky would've tied the knot a little better. All the attention to role playing to be a hero, to be the good guy... to feel sad that some of my fav characters from ME2 remained as casualties as i moved steadily to saving humanity ended up in a very detached moment.
I can't see how some DLC will fix this... unless they rewrite the hole presentation?
To me... MGS4 had this kind of expectations for me... and they were resolved by an epic battle of the 2 constants in the game.... it was reminisce and nostalgia as i battle to prevail and prove myself. You feel attached to it.... you feel for the characters. I don't think this was the case for the most part in ME3s ending. It was all going well, until i took the beam up to plot hole land.
Anyways.... after that rant... you can agree or disagree... that is just my opinion, and it doesn't take away that i really enjoyed all 3 games! I had a lot of fun, and i thought the gameplay and narrating was amazing. I played a little of multiplayer and thought it was a lot of fun, i shall be playing that and revisiting my ME3 file after i have more galactic readiness!
SPOILERS within article:
http://www.giantbomb.com/news/mass-effect-3-extended-cut-dlc-coming-this-summer/4072/
I'm actually pretty cool with this. They're not "changing" the ending. They're just adding more explanation. Best of all, they're not charging for it, which was one of my main concerns.
which either makes the baldurs gate games not as good as mass effect or bioware the biggest hyperbole abusers there ever were.
Free* DLC Pack to Provide Additional Cinematic Scenes to the Ending of Mass Effect 3 this Summer
http://investor.ea.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=662095