Only about 1% of the Milky Way had been explored by the combined races by the time of ME1.
Galaxies are really, really big.
Mass Effect: ANDROMEDA
- Thread starter HotRod
- Start date
Galaxies are really, really big.
If I recall history correctly, the vast tracts of unsettled or sparsely populated wilderness in Europe didn't stop explorers from crossing the Atlantic, circumnavigating the globe or reaching the poles. Indeed today we are still making new discoveries about our own planet almost fifty years *after* landing on the moon and yet we continue to explore our solar system and actively look for life orbiting around other stars.
I don't see how this is any different.
I don't see how this is any different.
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No, it was a failure on only one level: to satisfactorily conclude the trilogy. That's it. As a game in it's own right it was well above average and exceeded it's predecessors on a number of fronts.
I never understood the criticisms of Mass Effect 3. I had a blast playing it.
Uh, let's see: -
Day One DLC that contained a massively significant story element.
No loyalty missions to speak of, resulting in truncated character arcs for most of the companions.
Utterly pointless and wasteful stunt-casting of a web presenter who is terrible at acting and playing a banal non-character.
Revealing the face of a main character for the first time with a badly photoshopped stock image.
An over abundance of hollow and pointless fetch quests.
Wildly inconsistent standards of facial animation.
Hmm...what else? Oh yeah, the ending!
Now I know some people still say "but the ending worked great for me!" And that's all well and fine for them. Congratulations, you lucked out!
For most of us I think we were expecting something a little more meaningful. Like say an ending that took into account the sum total of our decisions up until that point and NOT just meaningless point system followed by a "choose your favourite colour" option. Using the "galactic readiness" to make the most "complete" ending only possible by playing a lot of MP jst added insult to injury, especially for those that had no interest in MP.
For those of us that played all the way though from the beginning, everything from the Cerberus station onward felt increasingly underwhelming, with that last conversation being something of a slap in the face. The London mission especially felt like a massively wasted opportunity. What could have been an epic ground battle with Shepard acting as a general, deploying the forces she'd spent the whole game pulling together and assigning the crew to specific roles as leaders in their own right, was instead a fairly bland trudge topped off by a lazy swarm-mode climax.
It's a bit of a giveaway just how rushed this part of the game was when they had to introduce the reaper killing super-weapons in radio chatter *about 10 mins before you get to fire one*.
Don't get me wrong, for any other game of this sort, that whole sequence would have been passable if not particularly remarkable. But this was supposed to be the climax of a trilogy and it utterly fell flat.
It doesn't matter that some of this was mitigated in patches and the "extended cut" DLC. For those of us that played it at launch, the original ending is what we got and it was crap. Indeed, the very existence of the EE is a tacit admission that the ending was incomplete as shipped.
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It's set roughly six hundred years after ME3, the PC is a member of a civilian-led expedition to the Andromeda galaxy which launched some time between ME2 and ME3. The PC's job is to seek out resources and habitable planets for the expedition, and of course Things Happen.
It looks promising but I'm gonna wait to hear some word of mouth about it before I decide to buy. ME3 was a narrative mess and MEA still has Mac Walters in charge of the writing room.
I love ME3 up until the meh ending. I really enjoyed the other two games and everything up to the end, so I'm really looking forward to MEA. As long as I enjoyed everything before it, I'm content with a meh ending and will happily revisit the story.
I tried to replay ME3 a few months ago, and I only had to stop because the damn thing kept freezing on me.
I tried to replay ME3 a few months ago, and I only had to stop because the damn thing kept freezing on me.
As someone who found ME3 reasonably enjoyable (even very enjoyable in parts), I need to add the dream sequences (why, why would you make the playable, they would be terrible enough as cutscenes) in conjunction with the failed attempt to humanize the battle for earth with Some Kid Died to that list of grievances.
Some Kid Died makes me feel contempt towards the writers in a way other low points don't, because it's one of the most inept, ineffectual attempts at emotional manipulation I have ever seen in a video game.
It wasn't really about the kid specifically, he was just a symbol for Shepard's guilt and sense of personal failure about *everyone* who had died and was dying.
Personally I felt that while the execution was by no means flawless, giving the PC an inner struggle was a welcome addition. That said I think it would have been more effective if the dreams were more dynamic based on your choices and personality (read
aragon/renegade ratio) beyond who's currently dead determining which voices you hear.
I never understood the criticisms of Mass Effect 3. I had a blast playing it.
Same with me. I really liked it and i also liked the ending enough and didn't get out the pitchforks.. it wasn't an amazing end to the series but serviceable (which may have put fans over the edge expecting an end that would blow them away).
I liked the whole game.. travelling around trying to get all the major races to work together, building the Crucible and assembling the biggest fighting force ever in history. The cut scene when the fleet arrives at Earth and engages the Reapers is just goosebumps all over and then you get to fight on a devastated Earth where everyone is stretched to the breaking point.
In fact i was much more disappointed by the universally acclaimed ME2.. for me it was just a huge member hun for 80% of the game. Find a person and accomplish a quest to earn their trust and then on to the next one. In the grand scheme ME2 was extremely light on story and the only saving grace was the end mission, especially the first time you play it not knowing how your decisions will turn out for the characters you assign on certain tasks.
I'm really excited for the new game.. fresh characters, fresh setting and updated tech. I just hope the story is as good.
I'd say the focus on character was easily ME2's greatest strength. As for the larger plot: in the second act of a trilogy you really want to focus on expanding the scope of the universe, give the main characters room to develop and set the over arching plot to a low simmer.
Take 'Empire Strikes Back'. So far as the larger story of the Rebellion and the Empire is concerned, not a lot happens plotwise. A base is attacked and evacuated, the fleet regroups and...that's it. Roll credits! There was however a ton of character development for all three of the principle cast and we got to see a lot more of the galaxy than in ANH.
Without that development in ME2 we wouldn't have had adequate context for some of the major events in ME3. The tragedy of the Krogans, the genophage, Mordin's sacrifice, the conflict between the Quarrians & the Geth, the threat of Cerberus, all leap to mind. Yes, these are all seeds that were planted in ME1 but ME2 is where they were allowed to grow and--if you'll excuse the heavy-handed analogy--ME3 is where they all bore fruit,
Remember, the Reaper War wasn't the whole point of the story anymore than WWII was the point of 'Saving Private Ryan'. It's the backdrop against which the intertwining stories of the characters are told.
Take 'Empire Strikes Back'. So far as the larger story of the Rebellion and the Empire is concerned, not a lot happens plotwise. A base is attacked and evacuated, the fleet regroups and...that's it. Roll credits! There was however a ton of character development for all three of the principle cast and we got to see a lot more of the galaxy than in ANH.
Without that development in ME2 we wouldn't have had adequate context for some of the major events in ME3. The tragedy of the Krogans, the genophage, Mordin's sacrifice, the conflict between the Quarrians & the Geth, the threat of Cerberus, all leap to mind. Yes, these are all seeds that were planted in ME1 but ME2 is where they were allowed to grow and--if you'll excuse the heavy-handed analogy--ME3 is where they all bore fruit,
Remember, the Reaper War wasn't the whole point of the story anymore than WWII was the point of 'Saving Private Ryan'. It's the backdrop against which the intertwining stories of the characters are told.
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That's probably why ME2 is my least favourite. With the recruitment and loyalty missions it is very character focused but I didn't particularly care for any of the new characters except for Miranda & Samara on first play. After ME3 I came to appreciate some of them more - Thane & Mordin - in particular and that has enlivened later playthroughs but initially I found it disappointing.
The story missions are fine though I've never been as fond of the suicide mission as some, possibly as I made the right choices first time round so never got the full experience. I've killed off people in later goes but it's not the same when you have to go out of your way to kill off characters.
The story missions are fine though I've never been as fond of the suicide mission as some, possibly as I made the right choices first time round so never got the full experience. I've killed off people in later goes but it's not the same when you have to go out of your way to kill off characters.
I don't know what you're talking about. The Citadel DLC was the perfect ending to the series.
Seriously, ME3 with all the DLC has such wonderful character moments that I can forgive the fact that dialog choices often didn't matter and the original endings weren't so great.
My head canon is just fine, too. Destroy all AI and then just repair EDI and the Geth again. They're artificial. Can't be so hard to reactivate.
Seriously, ME3 with all the DLC has such wonderful character moments that I can forgive the fact that dialog choices often didn't matter and the original endings weren't so great.
My head canon is just fine, too. Destroy all AI and then just repair EDI and the Geth again. They're artificial. Can't be so hard to reactivate.
I don't know what you're talking about. The Citadel DLC was the perfect ending to the series.
Seriously, ME3 with all the DLC has such wonderful character moments that I can forgive the fact that dialog choices often didn't matter and the original endings weren't so great.
I'd say "forgive" is slightly too strong a word for me, but I can let it go. I was never really angry with it as some seemed to be but I was very disappointed. Just to be clear though, for almost any other game that would have been a great ending, but IMO Bioware and Mass Effect should be held to a somewhat higher standard.
It wasn't even so much that I didn't get the ending I might have wanted as it was the final chapter itself was so obviously rushed that it bordered on lazy.
It was like reading an amazingly enjoyable novel then turning to the last chapter only to find two and a half pages written in crayon and then Poochie goes back to his home planet...
Plus, as I listed above, there were a number of odd decisions, sloppy executions and half-baked ideas that while innocuous on their own, added up to an overwhelming sense that they just weren't really finished and that a lot of potential material was cut, truncated or dramatically altered mid-production.
^Same, but with the added addendum that my Shepard lived. I don't care what anyone says, I saw her breath dammit!
see, this kind of not-racism is exactly why we needed to build the Reapers!
I mean, they. fuck these guys. yeah.
Man that kid stuff was fucking bizarre, it was like the work experience guy's contribution to the script. I actually liked a lot of ME3 story elements, even if the gameplay was a little shit and there was a little too much pandering to new players to the series - which again is fucking bizarre.
Bioware isn't the same company it was when EA bought it sadly and the drop in quality between DA/ME1+2 to ME3 and to now shows it.
I liked ME3 for the most part. The original ending was horrendous, no doubt about that. It was redeemed by the Extended ending DLC and the rather amazing Citadel DLC though so I give Bioware some credit for trying to fix their original cock up. As a shoot 'em up it was a fun game although the RPG element became almost nonexistent. Hopefully we'll see better RPG gameplay and storytelling in ME:A, similar to the original.
I assume it has to do with it being a different engine. The new one might not be up to the task. Inquisition was made with the same engine, and it has similar issues with plastic looking characters.
As I understand it, EA owns this current engine, where they had to buy a license for the old one from one of their competitors.
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