Mass Effect 3

[RD-BH]

Found this interesting tidbit about Marauder Shields ...

View attachment Nobel Prize - Marauder Shields.bmp

... Gotta love The Google 8)

 

[kramerfan86]

The lies are what really get me, I remember in pre-release quotes them talking about how since it was the end they didnt have to shove everyone into the same A, B, C decisions, which of course is exactly what they did.

 

[LightSpectra]

Personally, I'm most intrigued with the notion that an electromagnetic wave can turn complex organic lifeforms into half-robots.

 

[Dachs]

Personally, I'm most intrigued with the notion that an electromagnetic wave can turn complex organic lifeforms into half-robots.

The same way that a being's "experience" can be contained within its DNA.

And, you know, the whole Cipher thing from the first game was pure space magic too (with an extremely hefty helping of plot clay).

These games have never been about hard scifi's technical aspects. There's a decent amount of hard scifi's philosophical stuff in there, especially in the ending (weirdly enough), but apparently most people consider it a Bad Thing to have the point of an ending be a question instead of closure.

 

[kramerfan86]

Nah to me you can quazi explain the cipher with hypothetical science. An advanced enough race could master how memories are formed in the brain and as such create machines capable of transmitting stored information into biological brains by using that knowledge of memory formation. The fact that it only partially works for non-Prothean species just reflects the differences in brain structure. I cannot however, even begin to make up a way the an energy pulse makes synthetics and organics into cyborg hybrids. I mean I just cant.

Now the whole wonky "know things from DNA" is silly, had they just stopped at "know things from touch" could go back to the whole mastering of memories thing, but saying from DNA was taking it too far.

 

[RD-BH]

I don't have a problem with memory from DNA.

1) a string of DNA with a specific chemical intent stored in a cell
2) cell travels arteries to brain, implants and begins decompressing
3) new cells are formed which can then
... a) represent an actual memory (electrochemical)
... b) release predetermined chemicals which build a faux memory

DNA doesn't have to be just instructions for the one person, it could be "foreign."
It is, after all, just a set of chemical instructions.

 

[Disgustipated]

I went ahead and spoiled the ending for myself. Maybe not a good idea, since there's little reason to play the game now. But I may play it at some point in the future.

I don't know enough about Mass Effect to comment on the ending, I just wanted to point out one other ending I was really disappointed in. Dragon Age 2. After that horrible ending, is it really surprising they would mess this up? The entire 3rd Act of that game was horrible. The entire game wasn't good, but there were a couple redeeming qualities. One reason I never played the Mass Effect games is I figured they were like Dragon Age 2.

As for the game, maybe when it goes on sale I may consider buying it. And only if they include any ending dlc. Knowing EA that won't happen. Dragon Age 1 dlc is still at full price. They are a bunch of ripoff artists.

 

[Dachs]

Nah to me you can quazi explain the cipher with hypothetical science. An advanced enough race could master how memories are formed in the brain and as such create machines capable of transmitting stored information into biological brains by using that knowledge of memory formation. The fact that it only partially works for non-Prothean species just reflects the differences in brain structure.

It's not even about that, necessarily; you can "quasi-explain" everything with hypothetical science, that's Clarke's dictum. The hypothetical science necessary to do something like this would be pretty ridiculous and weird, but still. It's about the fact that the Cipher is based on an understanding of sociology and psychology that has been out of fashion for decades.

I don't know enough about Mass Effect to comment on the ending, I just wanted to point out one other ending I was really disappointed in. Dragon Age 2. After that horrible ending, is it really surprising they would mess this up? The entire 3rd Act of that game was horrible. The entire game wasn't good, but there were a couple redeeming qualities. One reason I never played the Mass Effect games is I figured they were like Dragon Age 2.

I was always one of those people who never really agreed with the complaints about Dragon Age 2's ending, and thought that the other complaints - the recycled areas, for instance, or the idiotic combat system - were much more valid. While the ending was a little bit 'artsy', and wasn't a traditional wipe out the big bad and have a happily ever after, the whole structure of the game's story wouldn't have lent it to that, either. Yeah, there was a bit of railroading, but Christ, this is a BioWare game, what'd you expect? And even then, those other complaints themselves could be overblown. Much of the criticism of DA2, at least on the BioWare forums themselves, has significantly moderated over the course of the last year as players stop falling into the "they changed it, now it sucks" mentality. In my opinion, Dragon Age 2 was not a bad game at all, but it wasn't a great game, either. This is not an uncommon opinion among the fanbase, especially now.

The weird thing about Mass Effect 3 was that, before the final five minutes, the game was anywhere between an 8.5 to a 9.9 out of 10, by general estimation. The two major story arcs, those of the genophage and the geth-quarian war, were wrapped up exceptionally well. Interpersonal interactions were dramatically improved over the previous two games. In terms of gameplay, the third game crushes even the second game (the first game doesn't even enter into the conversation). Hell, the writers seemed to have an excellent handle not only on what they should be doing to wrap these plot lines up, but on what the community felt about some of these things - Mass Effect 3 referenced a ton of community memes. ("Your 'Joker' pilot insists I call myself 'Prothy the Prothean'. I insisted that he allow me to throw him out the airlock.") The writing team was very self-aware, and seemed to have a good handle on what the community would be expecting out of the game...you know, except for the last few minutes.

So the ending wasn't really a case of "the whole game sucks", because it doesn't; it was a massive disconnect between the last few minutes (which did suck, whether you think it was a decent idea that was executed extraordinarily badly or a terrible idea that was executed extraordinarily badly) and the entire rest of the game (which absolutely didn't). That's why there's such a vocal group of people who've got this mass hysteria form of headcanon going specifically to invalidate the last five minutes of game time in the hopes that BioWare had a 'real ending' DLC planned all along.

Also, insert standard comments about how the Dragon Age and Mass Effect teams are completely different, with different design philosophies and objectives, and that the problems of one don't equate to the problems of the other (DA2's weakest link was gameplay, which is absolutely not a problem in ME3).

 

[kramerfan86]

Yes but the point is I can think of some hypothetical hyper advanced space science for that, I cant even begin to come up with something remotely believable for magic colored rays that change everything into cyborgs.

 

[TheLastOne36]

What I don't get is why the ending? What were Bioware trying to do with it?

Did they think this ending was 'smart' or something?

I am sure the vast majority of people would be completely 100% content with an ending with Shepard and Anderson looking through the window and seeing the Crucible destroy all the reapers and then some closure after that as we see a clip of the galaxy and it's races being rebuilt. Sometimes simple is better, and it would've given potential for games to be developed in the Mass Effect universe after the reaper invasion.

 

[Dachs]

Yes but the point is I can think of some hypothetical hyper advanced space science for that, I cant even begin to come up with something remotely believable for magic colored rays that change everything into cyborgs.

You can think of some hypothetical hyper advanced space science that changes how psychology works and makes the collective unconscious a non-stupid idea?

 

[Maniacal]

Link to video.

Javik had his moments, but I think I would have preferred Moe.

 

[Akka]

Isn't it the voice of Henpecked Hou in Jade Empire ?

 

[kramerfan86]

You can think of some hypothetical hyper advanced space science that changes how psychology works and makes the collective unconscious a non-stupid idea?

Everything that makes a psychology is chemicals and electrical impulses, so no, I dont find it hard to believe that an advanced species found a way to manipulate to a degree that creates memories or alters brain function. There is nothing beyond science about the brain, everything in there is controlled by some sort of physiological process, and processes can be controlled if they are discovered.

 

[RD-BH]

Link to Video
Javik had his moments, but I think I would have preferred Moe.

ROFL -

Thanks, for the link 8)

 

[Kozmos]

Cmon man stop talking about science. This a game that used power cells as ammo to power flamethrowers and all other sorts of heavy weapons.

 

[Dachs]

Everything that makes a psychology is chemicals and electrical impulses, so no, I dont find it hard to believe that an advanced species found a way to manipulate to a degree that creates memories or alters brain function. There is nothing beyond science about the brain, everything in there is controlled by some sort of physiological process, and processes can be controlled if they are discovered.

There is no way you can possibly manipulate science to make the concept of the collective unconscious workable.

Cmon man stop talking about science. This a game that used power cells as ammo to power flamethrowers and all other sorts of heavy weapons.

My point, exactly.

 

[Perfectionist]

Though I desperately want the last five minutes to be the hallucinations of a dying Shepard, still sitting next to Anderson, this is a AAA release in 2012, and so it seems terribly foolish to ascribe to subtlety what can be adequately explained by incompetence. The one thing I don't get, though, is Shep waking up in the rubble. Taking the endings as real, how can that scene happen? The Catalyst explicitly tells Shep that Destroy will kill him, and even if it was lying there's no way Shep could survive the gigantic explosion and subsequent loss of air, not to mention reentry. If it's not a hint that the ending's not real, what the hell is it?

 

[Dachs]

If it's not a hint that the ending's not real, what the hell is it?

"The Collectors killed you once, and all it did was piss you off. I can't imagine they'll stop you this time."

It doesn't have to make sense any more than Joker's pizza run does, or the whole synthetic ending. It's just an ill-thought-out "reward" for bringing a lot of military assets and picking the only ending that doesn't kill Shepard in the process of making the choice.

 

[Arakhor]

The multiplayer is apparently not compulsory, but the Defender achievement is multi-player only and the "secret" rubble scene is not unlocked by bringing back 7000 war assets at 50% readiness. Even the ending seems to be changed by the "non-compulsory" multi-player.