Mass Effect 3

[GoodSarmatian]

She wasn't really racist, just a bit too patriotic and distrustful. And she did have a point: letting all these aliens -including Benezia's daughter- run around freely on your top of the line warship is quite careless.
Also the Turians are basically Nazis without the overt genocidal racism and started a war by opening fire on an unknown species and not asking questions at all. Ashley migh be belligerent, but she's more sensible than Paragon Shepard.

 

[Maniacal]

More xenophoboic than racist at least anyways.

I strongly disagree that the Turians are nazis. Nazism includes the whole holocaust thing, the Turians are just highly militaristic and I wouldn't put it past humanity to do the same thing (indeed the other species are, as is par to the course with sci-fi, more like a different species of human then a true alien).

 

[Kozmos]

I was hoping for humans to be ruthless arses (yay for autocen) ala Terran Empire and not Alliance blokes but whateversz.

 

[LightSpectra]

I was hoping for humans to be ruthless arses (yay for autocen) ala Terran Empire and not Alliance blokes but whateversz.

Er, have you seen the renegade ending to ME1?

 

[GoodSarmatian]

More xenophoboic than racist at least anyways.

I strongly disagree that the Turians are nazis. Nazism includes the whole holocaust thing, the Turians are just highly militaristic and I wouldn't put it past humanity to do the same thing (indeed the other species are, as is par to the course with sci-fi, more like a different species of human then a true alien).

I said "Nazis without the genocidal racism", but maybe this also goes too far. How about fascists ? Might still go too far...
Ok, how about "WW2 era space Japanese" (without the genocidal racism)" ?

 

[Kozmos]

Er, have you seen the renegade ending to ME1?

Yep, my gal Sarah is a renegade...the ending was pretty tame.

 

[Maniacal]

I said "Nazis without the genocidal racism", but maybe this also goes too far. How about fascists ? Might still go too far...
Ok, how about "WW2 era space Japanese" (without the genocidal racism)" ?

They aren't Japanese. They are a highly militaristic probably facist people.

 

[Dachs]

She wasn't really racist, just a bit too patriotic and distrustful. And she did have a point: letting all these aliens -including Benezia's daughter- run around freely on your top of the line warship is quite careless.

Yes, it is. That, of course, wasn't her actual point, which you rapidly discovered in the next few lines of the conversation. I personally blame Udina, who was very careless with military equipment for forcing you to take Tali and Liara along with you. I never understood why Shep's response to Mikhailovich's complaint wasn't just that "yeah the ambassador made me take these people". Don't remember it being the int response. Or you could blame Karpyshyn for being a lazy writer.

Also the Turians are basically Nazis without the overt genocidal racism and started a war by opening fire on an unknown species and not asking questions at all. Ashley migh be belligerent, but she's more sensible than Paragon Shepard.

I strongly disagree that the Turians are nazis. Nazism includes the whole holocaust thing, the Turians are just highly militaristic and I wouldn't put it past humanity to do the same thing (indeed the other species are, as is par to the course with sci-fi, more like a different species of human then a true alien).

I said "Nazis without the genocidal racism", but maybe this also goes too far. How about fascists ? Might still go too far...
Ok, how about "WW2 era space Japanese" (without the genocidal racism)" ?

Turians are very obviously Space Romans, from the language to the government structure to the, yeah, outrageous nationalism and shoot-first mentality. If you read through CDN stuff on the war on Taetrus, that ought to have been pretty blatantly clear. Just like how asari are Space Greeks.

 

[LightSpectra]

Yep, my gal Sarah is a renegade...the ending was pretty tame.

So you think the humans aren't ambitious enough, even though within thirty years of discovering the Council, they've effectively become the rulers of Citadel space?

 

[Kozmos]

So you think the humans aren't ambitious enough, even though within thirty years of discovering the Council, they've effectively become the rulers of Citadel space?

I just think the way the Alliance is set up...is unsatisfying. Cerberus is more like what I would have expected to be humanity's official government. Say what you will about humans, but deep down we're all wired to be space hicks and rednecks in regards to aliens.

 

[Maniacal]

If our government was like Cerberus we would have been wiped out (or mostly wiped out) by the Turians. Cerberus HATES aliens and aliens AND many humans HATE cerberus.

 

[Dachs]

I just think the way the Alliance is set up...is unsatisfying. Cerberus is more like what I would have expected to be humanity's official government.

Stop playing Deus Ex

Cerberus HATES aliens

Not according to Kelly :3

 

[Maniacal]

Kelly isn't Cerberus, she's a member of it and one of many who are not total racists. She'd never be able to rise high up in Cerberus though.

 

[Dachs]

And the Illusive Man's favorite mistress is an asari matriarch.

 

[Maniacal]

Something NOT mentioned in the books

I'm rather surprised he has time for meetings like that to be honest. Considering he is often on the move and hides out in really remote locations fairly often and is incredibly busy running (and now restructuring) Cerberus.

 

[Dachs]

Actually, it shows up in the Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC, not any of the books.

I don't see why we should assume he's always on the run and hiding out in remote places. Every time you contact him from the Normandy, he's in the same place: that chair at that base near that blue-and-red planet/star. Which he's been using since 2183.

 

[Maniacal]

Actually, it shows up in the Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC, not any of the books.

Yeah, I know, hence my post

I don't see why we should assume he's always on the run and hiding out in remote places. Every time you contact him from the Normandy, he's in the same place: that chair at that base near that blue-and-red planet/star. Which he's been using since 2183.

Well he's not always, he's just a very busy person and I'm surprised he finds the time to do other things, like romancing an asari.

By the 3rd novel (which takes place after ME3) he's been moving it around more often. The base is the same, but he moves it to a different system after he has a guest over.

 

[Dachs]

A recap of some random thoughts:

ME1 Soldier: Bog-Standard
ME2 Soldier: Also Bog-Standard but AR is Cool

ME1 Adept: Face-Rape
ME2 Adept: Still Face-Rape Except on Higher Difficulties

ME1 Sentinel: Friggin Useless
ME2 Sentinel: Friggin OP

ME1 Infiltrator: Frustrating
ME2 Infiltrator: Slightly OP with Fun Additional Variant (CQC)

ME1 Engineer: Boring
ME2 Engineer: Limited but Sometimes Entertaining

ME1 Vanguard: Hilariously OP
ME2 Vanguard: Hilarious

It bugs me that loads of annoying people in the BW forums complain about how biotics got "nerfed" in ME2 and how they're "practically useless". According to these idiots, biotic classes are only good for Warp spamming because that's what kills protection layers, since most other biotic powers are only usable when an enemy is down to just health. If you're playing on Hardcore and Insanity - and there's no reason you shouldn't, you lazy bum - biotics seem like they aren't as good for widespread use anymore.

Except...biotics were memorably ridiculous in ME1, and are still pretty friggin ridiculous in ME2 on lower difficulties. Most missions are trivial as a biotic class, especially the Suicide Mission, which goes from being the defining moment of gameplay to a Throw fest where you can just knock Collectors off platforms willy-nilly. Even on higher difficulties, complaints that biotics are useless until enemies get down to health are outrageous. For one thing, health is the biggest bar that an enemy has. Not graphically, but in terms of actual points. For another thing, no weapons have special modifiers against health, unlike armor, barriers, and shields. Complaining that biotics are "only" useful against health is missing the point.

Besides, anybody who complains about useless biotics needs to play as a Sentinel and ride through Insanity on a goddamn palanquin with zero trouble at all.

 

[LightSpectra]

I'm doing a Vanguard insanity run at the moment. I actually think this class is quite balanced.

Aside from Sentinel (which I refuse to believe was properly balanced by BioWare, and I attribute to just being a glitch), all of the classes are about equal, though perhaps ME2 Adepts are underpowered and ME2 Soldiers are overpowered. As a soldier, all you need to do is bring Grunt on every mission as a meatshield, and kill everything with inferno ammo + sniper rifle headshot + adrenaline shot.

 

[Dachs]

Soldiers have more problems on Collector missions than most other classes, because they don't have a dedicated barrier penetrator except Concussive Shot/Blast, which is a piece of junk and you shouldn't put any more than a point into it to kill husks after you strip their armor. Rectified by taking (Squad) Warp Ammo, to an extent, but that doesn't really help you on your initial run, as you can't have Squad Warp by the time you play Horizon unless you penalize your passive and/or AR (which is prima facie bad). Soldiers also lack CC outside of Inferno Ammo (which isn't that great at it) and Cryo Ammo (which most Soldier builds don't contain).

Grunt tends to be almost redundant on Soldier missions because you can really do everything he does; I personally think Jacob is better, as he provides the possibility of Squad Incendiary Ammo just like Grunt, along with the shotgun and the (meat-)shielding bonus power, but unlike Grunt, has the useful Pull to set up Warp bombs, and which does just as well at killing unarmored husks as does Grunt's Concussive Blast. Jacob/Miri is a decent team, especially on NG+ Insanity runs. Grunt/Miri is all right, but less useful for a Soldier than Jacob.

I fail to see why Adepts are underpowered, as I mentioned above.