Mass Effect 3

[Keven]

Dang, I have to finish ME3 this weekend so I can see what everybody is talking about.

[Keven]

I just met the gay character on the Normandy.

It's handled pretty stupid. I don't have a problem with gay characters in video games but they basically slap you over the head with the fact that he's gay after you talk to him twice. I thought that issue was handled much better in Fallout: New Vegas where the Arcade Gannon character sort of casually mentioned he was gay after chilling with him forever. He didn't announce he was gay in the second conversation you had with him.

I'm sure BioWare will get all sorts of commendations from GLAAD or whoever for including a gay character that isn't super campy. But, the way they introduced his sexual preference was silly. Might of well had him making out with a dude or wearing a t-shirt that said "I'M GAY!"

[Activate: AMD]

I just met the gay character on the Normandy.

It's handled pretty stupid. I don't have a problem with gay characters in video games but they basically slap you over the head with the fact that he's gay after you talk to him twice. I thought that issue was handled much better in Fallout: New Vegas where the Arcade Gannon character sort of casually mentioned he was gay after chilling with him forever. He didn't announce he was gay in the second conversation you had with him.

I'm sure BioWare will get all sorts of commendations from GLAAD or whoever for including a gay character that isn't super campy. But, the way they introduced his sexual preference was silly. Might of well had him making out with a dude or wearing a t-shirt that said "I'M GAY!"

I sort of agree, but you wouldn't have thought twice if he had said "I left my wife down there on that planet to die" instead of "I left my husband'... admit it. and thats how they introduced it too, its not like he said "hey shep, I like dudes, hope thats ok!" and shep was like "A-OK Cortez, I'm an equal opportunity hero!"

[Keven]

I sort of agree, but you wouldn't have thought twice if he had said "I left my wife down there on that planet to die" instead of "I left my husband'... admit it. and thats how they introduced it too, its not like he said "hey shep, I like dudes, hope thats ok!" and shep was like "A-OK Cortez, I'm an equal opportunity hero!"

Yeah, you're right. Plus, I was Googling around and saw on some other forum somebody said that BioWare had to introduce the fact that Cortez was gay early and be upfront about it so you knew he was a same-sex romance option and so male sheps don't waste their time hitting on Vega.

Speaking of Vega, he's great. I honestly didn't expect much because he's a huge musclehead guy and he's voiced by former teen heartthrob Freddy Prinze Jr., but he's actually a great character and a cool guy. "Hey loco."

[Activate: AMD]

ha, I was right on the "OMG why did Bioware put the Jersey Shore in ME3?!" bandwagon when I saw early screens of him and ashley. I still can't stand what they did to Ashley, but Vega wound up being a decent character. He was definitely entertaining. I enjoyed the banter between him and cortez in the hanger bay

[kbohip]

Rofl. Is this a game or a soap opera?

[Keven]

Rofl. Is this a game or a soap opera?

Heh. Good point.

[Keven]

Terrible helmet

[Activate: AMD]

Rofl. Is this a game or a soap opera?

not a soap opera, but its a lot more character driven than most single player games. Compared to games like HL2 or Skyrim, which are also heavily story-driven SP games, the ME series is almost as much about your interactions with squadmates and other individuals as anything else

[Keven]

Okay, after a 9 hour marathon today, I finished ME3. wut I thought about the ending/other spoilers:

Spoiler!

I liked the ending, but I know why people don't like it. It gives you no closure and leaves everything intentionally ambiguous. I like that in stories, see Children of Men for the first example off the top of my head. My Shepard set out to stop the Reapers, and he did that. He may of set technology back and destroyed galactic civilization, but in sort of a Nihilistic way, maybe that's okay. It's like the one ending in the original Deus Ex where you stop the New World Order but also blow up the internet and all forms of communication in the process.

The game really had an effect on me. Like I said, I play renegade Shepard who's a ••••• and shoots people, but he basically wants to save the day and doesn't do the most horrendous stuff (for example, I refused to kill that Turian general to get the Blue Suns on my team. BTW, what happened to Zaeed? He was cool!).

But, over the course of the game, I had to betray the Krogran, shot Mordin in the back, then had to kill Wrex. Then betrayed Legion and the geth. It really put me in a blue mood and I had to chill out and quit the game for a minute and think about some stuff.

My Shepard was cutting corners to save the galaxy, but at what point does the end stop justifying the means? In ME1 and ME2, I had fun kicking guys out of buildings or torturing that guy at the police station or killing the rachni queen (just a bug, who cares), but in ME3, the renegade choices got harder and harder.

The death of Mordin hit me hard, and the death of Wrex was hard too. When Wrex said, "I should of known you were lying to me on Virmire, Shepard," that hit me like a sledgehammer to the stomach. I felt so ashamed of myself.

Stuff I didn't like - Miranda's involvement in the plot felt added at the last minute. Miranda was cool and I should of been upset at her death, but I wasn't. It felt totally forced in. Plus, I think she had all 5 minutes of screentime.

As for changing the ending, I don't think they'll do it. Bethesda changed the ending in Fallout 3 to necessitate the inclusion of DLC. I think BioWare will stick to their guns with this ending, and I think they'll just add DLC by having you do it during the final mission.

Also, my save game didn't import right. I didn't figure this out until about 10 hours in, but Grunt and Thane were dead when they survived ME2 in my game (their names were on the wall in the Normandy, couldn't figure out why) and my romance with Ashley didn't carry over for some reason. It was weird because I had something special with Ash in ME1, and had that tense in encounter in ME2, and now she's acting like we're just friends in ME3 with no discussion of what was between us. Just like my real life, AH, too much information! Anyway, that ruined the romance stuff for me because Ashley was in the "friend zone" for the whole game when I expected us to be bunk buddies.

[Activate: AMD]

Okay, after a 9 hour marathon today, I finished ME3. wut I thought about the ending/other spoilers:

Spoiler!

I liked the ending, but I know why people don't like it. It gives you no closure and leaves everything intentionally ambiguous. I like that in stories, see Children of Men for the first example off the top of my head. My Shepard set out to stop the Reapers, and he did that. He may of set technology back and destroyed galactic civilization, but in sort of a Nihilistic way, maybe that's okay. It's like the one ending in the original Deus Ex where you stop the New World Order but also blow up the internet and all forms of communication in the process.

The game really had an effect on me. Like I said, I play renegade Shepard who's a ••••• and shoots people, but he basically wants to save the day and doesn't do the most horrendous stuff (for example, I refused to kill that Turian general to get the Blue Suns on my team. BTW, what happened to Zaeed? He was cool!).

But, over the course of the game, I had to betray the Krogran, shot Mordin in the back, then had to kill Wrex. Then betrayed Legion and the geth. It really put me in a blue mood and I had to chill out and quit the game for a minute and think about some stuff.

My Shepard was cutting corners to save the galaxy, but at what point does the end stop justifying the means? In ME1 and ME2, I had fun kicking guys out of buildings or torturing that guy at the police station or killing the rachni queen (just a bug, who cares), but in ME3, the renegade choices got harder and harder.

The death of Mordin hit me hard, and the death of Wrex was hard too. When Wrex said, "I should of known you were lying to me on Virmire, Shepard," that hit me like a sledgehammer to the stomach. I felt so ashamed of myself.

Stuff I didn't like - Miranda's involvement in the plot felt added at the last minute. Miranda was cool and I should of been upset at her death, but I wasn't. It felt totally forced in. Plus, I think she had all 5 minutes of screentime.

As for changing the ending, I don't think they'll do it. Bethesda changed the ending in Fallout 3 to necessitate the inclusion of DLC. I think BioWare will stick to their guns with this ending, and I think they'll just add DLC by having you do it during the final mission.

Spoiler!

thats why I never played the renegade path in ME, especially in 2 and 3. I mean, shooting your friends in the back just seems over the top. I like the characters too much to do that. I think after a certain point, the betrayals just seem unnecessary and a bit unbelievable. I don't think renegade shep would screw over the krogan just because their return might be bad in the long run, that just seems counter to the "whatever it takes right now" mentality that I imagine for him. I do like to do the odd renegade interrupt now and then, like shooting Udina and killing Kei Lang or kicking the dude out of the window in ME2, which is really most of the fun in playing renegade anyway.

I agree, Miranda's little sideplot seemed like a total afterthought, her inclusion and the wrinkle that sanctuary was run by her father really added nothing to the story. I think they could have added a more substantial sideplot that wasn't built directly into the main story arc that would have done her character much more justice.

I don't know if BW will change the ending. I really really really want them to, I think this ending is half-baked and has no resolution It offers only a thin veneer of "choice" and completely cheapens all the decisions you made in the entire game. I think its trying way too hard to be angsty simply for the sake of being "deep". I think its ok to have ambiguous endings in movies, but in a game where the fans have clearly invested quite a bit of emotion and bonded with the characters, forcing them into this ending is kind of sour. Not only that, but the whole theme of ME (particularly the paragon path) is that there is always hope. By destroying the mass relays and basically destroying galactic civilization, how much hope is left? All the people you rallied together are stranded near earth with no way home and no hope to survive. It just seems so incredibly jarring when taken in the context of the whole series.

I could go on, but I think this guy actually does a pretty good job of summarizing a lot of people's (mine included) feelings on the issue **EDIT: I will note, he says he wants the DLC to be free. I'd like that, but I understand there are economic realities. i would pay for DLC to fix this ending, thats how strongly I feel about how crappy it is

Again, I really want bioware to do an about face and throw us a bone, but deep down I don't think they'll do it

[Keven]

Spoiler!

thats why I never played the renegade path in ME, especially in 2 and 3. I mean, shooting your friends in the back just seems over the top. I like the characters too much to do that. I think after a certain point, the betrayals just seem unnecessary and a bit unbelievable. I don't think renegade shep would screw over the krogan just because their return might be bad in the long run, that just seems counter to the "whatever it takes right now" mentality that I imagine for him. I do like to do the odd renegade interrupt now and then, like shooting Udina and killing Kei Lang or kicking the dude out of the window in ME2, which is really most of the fun in playing renegade anyway.

I agree, Miranda's little sideplot seemed like a total afterthought, her inclusion and the wrinkle that sanctuary was run by her father really added nothing to the story. I think they could have added a more substantial sideplot that wasn't built directly into the main story arc that would have done her character much more justice.

I don't know if BW will change the ending. I really really really want them to, I think this ending is half-baked and has no resolution It offers only a thin veneer of "choice" and completely cheapens all the decisions you made in the entire game. I think its trying way too hard to be angsty simply for the sake of being "deep". I think its ok to have ambiguous endings in movies, but in a game where the fans have clearly invested quite a bit of emotion and bonded with the characters, forcing them into this ending is kind of sour. Not only that, but the whole theme of ME (particularly the paragon path) is that there is always hope. By destroying the mass relays and basically destroying galactic civilization, how much hope is left? All the people you rallied together are stranded near earth with no way home and no hope to survive. It just seems so incredibly jarring when taken in the context of the whole series.

I could go on, but I think this guy actually does a pretty good job of summarizing a lot of people's (mine included) feelings on the issue **EDIT: I will note, he says he wants the DLC to be free. I'd like that, but I understand there are economic realities. i would pay for DLC to fix this ending, thats how strongly I feel about how crappy it is

Again, I really want bioware to do an about face and throw us a bone, but deep down I don't think they'll do it

Spoiler!

I disagree that renegade Shepard would of let the Krogan be. What sealed it for me was when Wrex started talking about a Krogan empire before we even have cured the genophage. I just thought "oh god, space Hitler in the making" and I knew then that I would have to screw the Krogan. I hoped that I could convince Mordin, but, he wasn't having any of it, and I had to shoot him too.

As for the ending, I'll agree that it does seem out of place. Like that youtube video says, there's no Mass Effect dialogue wheel. It almost seems like they were dedicated to having their angst ending from the start. I didn't know this when I watched it, but in the after-credits scene, the old man/grandpa/storyteller is voiced by Buzz Aldrin. I dunno if they were so excited when they got Buzz Aldrin that they decided they would have to have a "bad" ending so they could use Buzz Aldrin as the wise old sage. I also saw somebody say that the snowy planet at the end is the same jungle planet where the Normandy crashed, and old man Buzz Aldrin is Joker. Ha! Dunno if I believe it but it's kind of funny.

[Keven]

Think I'm going to do another playthrough (with New Game+).

[Keven]

Spoiler!

[Activate: AMD]

Spoiler!

I saw that comic before (not sure its a spoiler so much since its introduced or apparent almost immediately), and I don't know that I care at all. Its a bit of a retcon but its not too implausible.