Now that I've finished playing Mass Effect 3, I can finally read all of the essays and watch all of the videos about the ending. Fair warning: THERE BE SPOILERS HERE! so stop reading and don't watch any of the videos if you haven't played ME3 yet.
There's an essay on the Penny Arcade Report which breaks down the common complaints of the ending and rebukes them, and I quite like it.
http://penny-arcade.com/report/editorial-article/why-the-ending-of-mass-effect-3-was-satifying-and-worthy-of-the-series-mass
My favorite video has to be this one, which lays out a really good explanation for the main character suffering from the effects of the Reapers' indoctrination ability. I really like this explanation for the ending, not just because it makes sense (with one slight hiccup) but because it means my Shepard got indoctrinated. Tragedy is awesome!
Then there's this episode of the Jimquisition where he points out that so many people being upset about the ending legitimizes video games as a modern adult artform. Very good stuff here.
And that's pretty much it. After talking about the ending with Jake, and then reading/watching these essays/videos I am firmly convinced that the ending of the game is a hallucination and that I lost to the Reapers. And if Bioware changes that interpretation with their "extended ending DLC" later this summer, then I'm just going to ignore them because they obviously lost sight of what they were doing: telling an awesome story. AND TRAGEDY IS AWESOME!
> bonebox = nerdwerds AT gmail
Showing posts with label Mass Effect. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mass Effect. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
complaining about Mass Effect 3
I have to say that I am pretty disappointed with Mass Effect 3, and I haven't even gotten to the hugely controversial ending that I have done very well to not spoil for myself. But now I'm going to spoil a few things about the game for you, so stop reading if you plan on playing this game in the near future.
My most recent save places me in the final battle, I think. My squad is in the no man's land between Alliance forces and the Reaper tower-light beam-transport whatever. They never show the fucking thing except for transparent holograms so I have no idea what it is that I'm trying to travel to. It's some place that will take me to the Citadel so I can hook up the Crucible, our death weapon, which will presumably transfer energy throughout the relays and disrupt the Reaper forces throughout the galaxy. The Crucible is technology older than the Protheans, that has been improved upon and refined over the millenia and passed down cycle to cycle in the hopes that the next species will use it to destroy the Reapers.
THIS IS THE PLOT AS IT HAS BEEN EXPLAINED THROUGH CHARACTER DIALOGUE!
It's the stupidest resolution not only because it effectively uses magic to overcome the final enemy but also because not a single character within the game shows the slightest hint of skepticism that the Crucible might actually be a part of the Reapers' plans. From the very first moment the weapon was explained I thought "This is too convenient." And then later on we learn that the secret to using the Crucible is to hook it up to the Citadel? Right, I don't buy it.
In the first game, the Citadel was the key to Reaper forces invading the galaxy and harvesting humanity, but now in this third game the Citadel has been completely ignored by the Reapers while they've sat themselves on every other planet. That is a plot hole, a HUGE FUCKING PLOT HOLE bigger than a semi-truck, it's the size of the Reaper army that plot hole is.
Then there's the combat. It's not fun. I am bored with having to kill so many enemies over and over and over again. Combat feels less tactical and more of a slog through an endless mire of bodies.
Once I'm done playing through the ending I'll update this entry with my final thoughts, but I can predict right now that the game ends for me once I return the Quarians to their homeworld. It's the only plotline I was emotionally invested in, and the way I see it, having Reaper-enhanced geth as a military ally should be enough to turn the tide of the war.
After playing all three games in quick succession, I have to say I like the interface of the 3rd, the combat of the 1st, and story of the 2nd. Too bad there was never one solid game in the series that outshone the rest. From what I've read, most gamers consider the 2nd one the best. For me, the 1st one is the best. That's the only one that evoked the excitement of an epic space opera saga and when I was done playing, it left me wanting more.
UPDATE: Just finished playing. The ending is dumb. Apparently magic fixes everything.
My most recent save places me in the final battle, I think. My squad is in the no man's land between Alliance forces and the Reaper tower-light beam-transport whatever. They never show the fucking thing except for transparent holograms so I have no idea what it is that I'm trying to travel to. It's some place that will take me to the Citadel so I can hook up the Crucible, our death weapon, which will presumably transfer energy throughout the relays and disrupt the Reaper forces throughout the galaxy. The Crucible is technology older than the Protheans, that has been improved upon and refined over the millenia and passed down cycle to cycle in the hopes that the next species will use it to destroy the Reapers.
THIS IS THE PLOT AS IT HAS BEEN EXPLAINED THROUGH CHARACTER DIALOGUE!
It's the stupidest resolution not only because it effectively uses magic to overcome the final enemy but also because not a single character within the game shows the slightest hint of skepticism that the Crucible might actually be a part of the Reapers' plans. From the very first moment the weapon was explained I thought "This is too convenient." And then later on we learn that the secret to using the Crucible is to hook it up to the Citadel? Right, I don't buy it.
In the first game, the Citadel was the key to Reaper forces invading the galaxy and harvesting humanity, but now in this third game the Citadel has been completely ignored by the Reapers while they've sat themselves on every other planet. That is a plot hole, a HUGE FUCKING PLOT HOLE bigger than a semi-truck, it's the size of the Reaper army that plot hole is.
Then there's the combat. It's not fun. I am bored with having to kill so many enemies over and over and over again. Combat feels less tactical and more of a slog through an endless mire of bodies.
Once I'm done playing through the ending I'll update this entry with my final thoughts, but I can predict right now that the game ends for me once I return the Quarians to their homeworld. It's the only plotline I was emotionally invested in, and the way I see it, having Reaper-enhanced geth as a military ally should be enough to turn the tide of the war.
After playing all three games in quick succession, I have to say I like the interface of the 3rd, the combat of the 1st, and story of the 2nd. Too bad there was never one solid game in the series that outshone the rest. From what I've read, most gamers consider the 2nd one the best. For me, the 1st one is the best. That's the only one that evoked the excitement of an epic space opera saga and when I was done playing, it left me wanting more.
UPDATE: Just finished playing. The ending is dumb. Apparently magic fixes everything.
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