Ha, just as valid as anything we got officially as far as I'm concerned. As for EA, they didn't smartly manage the game to start with, so I find it hard to take their side here.
Mass Effect 3
- Thread starter PsychoPere
- Start date
Ha, just as valid as anything we got officially as far as I'm concerned. As for EA, they didn't smartly manage the game to start with, so I find it hard to take their side here.
And Bioware knows it, and still committed to being able to hit the date. That's their failure.
This is my take on it too. EA isn't to blame for ME3's craptastic ending, nor any of the other dumb creative decisions in the games, but they are to blame for putting Mass Effect on a 2-year development cycle. That might be enough time to churn out a shooter with an 8-hour campaign that nobody actually plays, but for games with the scope and detail of Mass Effect that isn't enough time.
I'm hopeful for the next ME game because it seems like they've been given extra time to work it out, which seems to have resulted in the return of exploration and vehicles (if these rumours are true). Besides, this new game will be a fresh start in terms of story and wont have to write its way out of a corner in the same way ME3 did.
^No we'll have to wait for ME6 to relive that particular pleasure. 
It is encouraging that Bioware appear to be taking their time with both the new Dragon Age and Mass Effect games. If they're sensible, they might be able to alternate these two franchises to one every two years as opposed to one every year, giving the teams a good 4 year cycle with a separate team handling the DLC & MP side of things.
That shouldn't hurt the production of the next game since it'd be mostly done in the first 6-12 months and by people who's skills won't be needed on the next game until production gets into full swing.
Speaking of vehicles; anyone remember when they said the vehicle sections we saw in 'Firewalker' & 'Shadow Broker' were test beds for what they were planning for ME3? And what did we get out of it?...Three or four pointless turret sections.
It is encouraging that Bioware appear to be taking their time with both the new Dragon Age and Mass Effect games. If they're sensible, they might be able to alternate these two franchises to one every two years as opposed to one every year, giving the teams a good 4 year cycle with a separate team handling the DLC & MP side of things.
That shouldn't hurt the production of the next game since it'd be mostly done in the first 6-12 months and by people who's skills won't be needed on the next game until production gets into full swing.
Speaking of vehicles; anyone remember when they said the vehicle sections we saw in 'Firewalker' & 'Shadow Broker' were test beds for what they were planning for ME3? And what did we get out of it?...Three or four pointless turret sections.
^No we'll have to wait for ME6 to relive that particular pleasure.
It is encouraging that Bioware appear to be taking their time with both the new Dragon Age and Mass Effect games. If they're sensible, they might be able to alternate these two franchises to one every two years as opposed to one every year, giving the teams a good 4 year cycle with a separate team handling the DLC & MP side of things.
That shouldn't hurt the production of the next game since it'd be mostly done in the first 6-12 months and by people who's skills won't be needed on the next game until production gets into full swing.
Speaking of vehicles; anyone remember when they said the vehicle sections we saw in 'Firewalker' & 'Shadow Broker' were test beds for what they were planning for ME3? And what did we get out of it?...Three or four pointless turret sections.
Ugh, tell me about it. I was so pumped about that, since I adored the Hammerhead. But then no more roving bfg with a shark-themed name. Major sadfaces
I wouldn't have minded the turret sections so much, but a few of them felt so out of place. Take the one on the Geth tank: you can't do *any* damage to the reaper whatsoever and it only lasts like 20 seconds. It's only purpose was to convey an moment of epic scale as you're trying to outrun the thing.
Then there's that one mid-way through the London interlude section...I mean, why?! You're going through a series of heartfelt last goodbyes to your crew...and they slap a pointless turret sequence where you shoot a few waves of husks smack in the middle of them. Talk about spoiling the mood!
Then there's that one mid-way through the London interlude section...I mean, why?! You're going through a series of heartfelt last goodbyes to your crew...and they slap a pointless turret sequence where you shoot a few waves of husks smack in the middle of them. Talk about spoiling the mood!
I didn't mind the one on Rannoch, really. It was basically pointless, but it didn't hurt anything. If you don't fire it, everything continues as normal. The only point in firing is to see if it does anything or just for the hell of it.
But the one on Earth was so stupid. It was boring, and it didn't mean anything since no matter if you hit one enemy or all of them, they get swept away by fighters anyhow. And besides that, like you said, this was when we're having all these (honestly fantastic) conversations with friends we've spent years with. The "storming heaven" and "gift" conversations REALLY did not need a pointless pew pew pew interlude.
But the one on Earth was so stupid. It was boring, and it didn't mean anything since no matter if you hit one enemy or all of them, they get swept away by fighters anyhow. And besides that, like you said, this was when we're having all these (honestly fantastic) conversations with friends we've spent years with. The "storming heaven" and "gift" conversations REALLY did not need a pointless pew pew pew interlude.
It's almost emblematic of what was fundamentally wrong with the whole game. All the way through what is otherwise a world class narrative are these very very strange creative decisions that leaves one with an odd sense of cognitive dissonance. It's as if some other developer came in afterwards and (metaphorically) doodled little moustaches on the characters faces in a deliberate attempt to sabotage.
At first I just assumed that most if not all of this was down to a lack of time and things being left in an unfinished state. But the more I think about it, the more I find these things that just didn't need to be there at all. Allers, photoshop Tali, half the turret sections...Jacob's mission.
[Rant Incoming!]
I mean come on, Jacob gets hos own mission? Nobody liked that guy! Not only did he somehow manage to be even more boring than Kaiden was in ME1, his loyalty mission was the very definition of pointless. "Hey Shepard, my dad who has been dead to me for years may still be alive, let's go see him!" "Hey dad, you're an awful person and are still dead to me!" I wouldn't have minded him in ME3 so much but five seconds into the mission he sprains his ankle and spends the rest of the time sitting around and shouting at you through the radio. Hell it's even worse if you're one if the 0.001% of players that actually bothered to romance him, since he dumps Shepard about five seconds before he introduces her to his new *pregnant* fiancée. Ouch. Dick move bro!
[/rant]
Yeah, so the time and resources spent on that mission which had no interesting characters and had no impact of the larger story (being yet another Cerberus only fight!) could so easily have been spent elsewhere.
That actually makes me wonder; has anyone done a tally on how often you fight Cerberus vs. how often you fight Reapers? It felt something like a 60/40 split where really it should have been the other way around.
At first I just assumed that most if not all of this was down to a lack of time and things being left in an unfinished state. But the more I think about it, the more I find these things that just didn't need to be there at all. Allers, photoshop Tali, half the turret sections...Jacob's mission.
[Rant Incoming!]
I mean come on, Jacob gets hos own mission? Nobody liked that guy! Not only did he somehow manage to be even more boring than Kaiden was in ME1, his loyalty mission was the very definition of pointless. "Hey Shepard, my dad who has been dead to me for years may still be alive, let's go see him!" "Hey dad, you're an awful person and are still dead to me!" I wouldn't have minded him in ME3 so much but five seconds into the mission he sprains his ankle and spends the rest of the time sitting around and shouting at you through the radio. Hell it's even worse if you're one if the 0.001% of players that actually bothered to romance him, since he dumps Shepard about five seconds before he introduces her to his new *pregnant* fiancée. Ouch. Dick move bro!
[/rant]
Yeah, so the time and resources spent on that mission which had no interesting characters and had no impact of the larger story (being yet another Cerberus only fight!) could so easily have been spent elsewhere.
That actually makes me wonder; has anyone done a tally on how often you fight Cerberus vs. how often you fight Reapers? It felt something like a 60/40 split where really it should have been the other way around.
This made me curious, so I looked it up by quickly flipping through the mission list Mass Effect Wiki.
Assuming I counted right, of the main missions (the Priority ones): 6 were against the Reapers (Earth, Palaven, Tuchanka, Thessia, Horizon, and Earth). 4 were Cerberus (Mars, Sur'Kesh, Citadel, and Cerberus HQ), and 2 were Geth (Dreadnought and Rannoch).
The side missions were another story. 10 were against Cerberus (including all of Omega counted as 1 mission), 1 against the Geth (+1 if you count the one inside the Geth consensus), 3 against the Reapers (Fuel Reactors, the Monastery, and the Leviathan missions), and 1 against some pathetic merc group while on shore leave on the Citadel.
So yeah, about half of the missions were actually against Cerberus. Huh.
^Going by that, I think if you added up the total playtimes of the respective missions, (YMMV of course) I reckon I wasn't far wrong with the 60/40 split in favour of Cerberus.
Also interesting that out of the four DLCs (not counting the Extended Cut), only one actually had you dealing with the Reapers at all!
Also interesting that out of the four DLCs (not counting the Extended Cut), only one actually had you dealing with the Reapers at all!
Four DLCs? I don't think "From Ashes" counts, since it came in the box.
Anyways, from the player's POV, the Reapers had already been done & dusted when they got to the post-release DLC. Telling unrelated stories was the smarter approach there - give players a new reason to return, instead of offering them more of the same.
Amen to that.
Personally, my dream scenario would be for Bioware to pull a Bungie.
Short of that, EA's new policy of actually trying to let them make good video games might be enough for me to give a shit about Dragon Age and Mass Effect again.
Well, that's a whole rant in and of itself!Four DLCs? I don't think "From Ashes" counts, since it came in the box.
My irritation over it was mostly from a moral standpoint though, since it didn't directly affect me. I bought the collector's edition which came with it anyway.
Now, before anyone says "sucker!" I had always planned on getting it since the first two I got on steam--ME1 at a deep discount--so I wanted at least one boxed copy.
I suppose. And taken individually it does make sense; Omega was always going to be a Cerberus mission (and to be fair they did add a new/old reaper enemy), Citadel was a fun romp and Leviathan of course did deal directly with their origins. I guess
since like the balance in the main game was already tipped away from the reapers, the DLC just felt like it compounded the issue.
I guess I'm also a little annoyed that beyond the initial attacks on Earth and Palavan, you never really got to see what was actually going on out there, you only hear about it second hand. Even the fall of Thessia felt somewhat underplayed. A mission where you have to liberate civilians from a processor ship would have been great. Or boarding a live reaper to take it down from the inside! So many side missions that could have involved *not* fighting Cerberus.
Speaking of Omega, that was a *huge* missed opportunity! First off, a new hub would have been a great addition. I mean they already had the Afterlife map, all they had to do was re-dress and populate it. Having Aria re-appear on the Citadel almost immediately just felt so out of place! You'd think they'd handle it the same way they did with Liara in ME2. Secondly, it would have been fantastic if Nyreen was recruitable. Her death made no sense save to motivate Aria to go berserk and even that could easily have been done without killing her off.
How hard would it have been to record a few dozen more lines for Nyreen on the Normandy, a handful of in-mission reactions and a single exchange in London? While it would have been nice for her to interact with the others, it's not like it would have been a big deal if the budget didn't allow it. I don't think Zaeed or Kasumi ever interacted directly with anyone and I think Allers only ever speaks to Shepard or Traynor (more evidence she was an afterthought btw!)
It'd make sense to since once you take back Omega, you have to settle who gets to run things. The obvious way to do it is have it come down to a choice between installing Aria or Nyreen. Maybe full paragons & renegade being able to convince Aria to leave peacefully (thus becoming a war asset) if you pick Nyreen to stay, while paragades/renegons forced to gun Aria down. The recruitment offer for Nyreen being available regardless of course.
I mean the line-up felt so limited after ME2 that it would have been nice to have just one extra. Indeed, if like me you didn't have Kaiden and were playing as a Soldier class, your only biotics were Liara & Javvik so Nyreen as a Sentinel would have filled the gap very well.
Recruiting Aria might have been fun too, but frankly from a character standpoint it makes little sense. Aria doesn't make a habit out of taking orders. Would have been fun to see her reunited with Wrex at some point though!
P.S. Anyone else think Sumalee Montano (Nyreen) should be the female VO for "not-Shepard" in ME4?
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The problem there isn't the recording, it's integrating her into the rest of the content. For Mass Effect 2, Bioware had to include most of Zaeed and Kasumi's content on the retail disc, since all of their assets need to be baked into the various levels. I doubt Mass Effect 3 changed the engine drastically enough for that to be back on the table.
For a homegrown engine, perhaps. But apparently the modern Unreal Engine (2.5/3) does a lot of precompiling/optimization of assets, and doesn't allow for that kind of runtime swap. It's the same reason why the Bioshock 2 devs couldn't fix the silent vending machines via patch - they'd need to include recompiled versions of all of the levels in the patch.
Well that's sounds like a poor engine design. Or rather a poor engine choice for this type of game. Hopefully Frostbite will turn out to be more flexible.
Again though, this shows that there was some pretty poor planning going into ME3. It's clear that they fully intended to do an Omega DLC at some point and yet they apparently made next to no provisions for it in the main game.
Again though, this shows that there was some pretty poor planning going into ME3. It's clear that they fully intended to do an Omega DLC at some point and yet they apparently made next to no provisions for it in the main game.
I liked Mass Effect 3...
