|
exquisite tea posted:There's nothing really to the events of ME3 itself that are so out of the ordinary. Like if you asked a normal person to predict what would happen at the end of the trilogy after playing Mass Effect 1, they would be like "Shepard will probably get rid of the Reapers and galactic civilization will be damaged" which is exactly what happens and incidentally a perfect starting point for ME4 regardless of what flavor of Reaper-doing-away you chose. The issue was the immensely hacky way it all came together, but the plot in terms of what actually happened were fairly predictable. yeah, the idea isn't really unusual but the execution was like ...well, it was the ME3 ending. Shep dying to save the galaxy? Expected that from the minute I heard it was a trilogy. There being some secret easter egg breath cutscene? Also expected. All of the broad strokes are whatever, totally expected storytelling, but the way they went about it was, uh, unorthodox.
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2015 01:43
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 30, 2024 09:40 |
|
|
I guess Geth and Quarians are not going to be in the new game.
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2015 01:46
|
|
|
Psion posted:yeah, the idea isn't really unusual but the execution was like ...well, it was the ME3 ending. blowing up the mass relays (or at least having the choice to do so) makes so much thematic sense, and immediately backing off of that is creative cowardice
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2015 01:48
|
|
|
Pattonesque posted:sending an expedition to another galaxy as part of continuity of civilization plans in the event the Reaper War is lost makes a lot of sense The beginning of ME4 sounds like it will be pretty exciting, a ship carrying various races setting off to escape the galaxy during the events of ME3. This ARKCON project could have been set in motion after the First Contact War, as an Alliance contingency measure in case one of the alien races turned on humanity again in the future. I think its a great concept, but I don't like the sound of the campaign structure itself. Seems like ME2 on steroids, lots of little short missions rather than the grand 2 hour long ones in ME1 like Virmire.
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2015 02:01
|
|
|
Alain Post posted:blowing up the mass relays (or at least having the choice to do so) makes so much thematic sense, and immediately backing off of that is creative cowardice I wish they had come up with a way to blow up the mass relays without every character you came to care about being metaphorically and then literally shipwrecked. The original ending would've worked great as the ending to a completely different story than the one they were telling. The extended cut was just a fart. This is the truth! This is my belief! At least for now.
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2015 02:49
|
|
|
The problem with destroying the mass relays is that, apparently, we'd invented a much more impressive technology (intergalactic travel) and did so without the reapers assistance. Mass relays should be a cake walk compared to that.
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2015 03:25
|
|
|
The best way to start off would be a last ditch multi-racial sleeper ship or flotilla launched in the middle of the Reaper Invasion, because there are too many issues carried over from ME3 even leaving the choice of ending aside. Did you Genocide the Quarians or the Geth? Did you stop the Genophage or not?
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2015 05:29
|
|
|
It always strikes me how Bioware game fans seem to constantly go back and forth between "They should just pick a thing and run with it; this reactivity hurts X" and then "They copped out and went with [thing]! My reactivity!" I was not expecting to go to a different galaxy, but I did want a clean start of some kind with a focus on exploration and palling with a new crew. I wanted unexplored territory, but I was along the lines of a cluster, cut off from the rest of the galaxy or something because of the destroyed relays. I share the trepidation that it sounds like they're going to spread too thin with too much shallow stuff and busy work. I'll want to know more before I make that judgment, of course.
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2015 05:40
|
|
|
Lotish posted:It always strikes me how Bioware game fans seem to constantly go back and forth between "They should just pick a thing and run with it; this reactivity hurts X" and then "They copped out and went with [thing]! My reactivity!" Isn't that more a case of the fanbase not being a singleminded entity? Some would prefer a, others b.
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2015 05:47
|
|
|
Lotish posted:It always strikes me how Bioware game fans seem to constantly go back and forth between "They should just pick a thing and run with it; this reactivity hurts X" and then "They copped out and went with [thing]! My reactivity!" Like in the original game, you had Element Zero. Does it make sense? No, but it was a convenient placeholder for all the technological advanced we'd need to be able to jet around the galaxy and throw kamehamehas with our minds. We know how it makes Mass Relays work, and we know its limitations. Now we can take an even larger leap and somehow get to a totally different galaxy, which even the Reapers may or may not have been capable of. We know almost nothing about the game so far, but I hope they can figure out how to fit these new ideas into the existing setting without just deciding to throw out all the sci-fi elements they had built up in the past.
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2015 09:55
|
|
|
e: gently caress it I assume there's at least one person that doesn't want to read it. Spoilers for the stuff related to the next Mass Effect that was posted earlier. Assuming that what has been said so far is true, I started off thinking it might be good but my excitement has been dampened a little. I can't shake the feeling it's just the same game again. Humanity is exploring a new galaxy and you are at the forefront leading your expedition. (Initial suggestions for "Sheepdog" were rejected.) Travel with your space buddies and explore planets with this exciting new thing we call a "Mako". Woah, make sure you don't trip over all this powerful technology left behind by an ancient alien race shrouded in mystery. They don't tell you that when you sign up. I mean, I'll probably like it regardless, but come on, seriously? Hopefully this is just a result of not having all the details yet. My Q-Face posted:The best way to start off would be a last ditch multi-racial sleeper ship or flotilla launched in the middle of the Reaper Invasion This seems like something that could work. I always wondered if it was possible to try and get "behind" the cycle and I would have no trouble believing that at least one group gave it a shot. Kaislioc fucked around with this message at 11:33 on Apr 21, 2015 |
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2015 11:29
|
|
|
Kaislioc posted:This seems like something that could work. I always wondered if it was possible to try and get "behind" the cycle and I would have no trouble believing that at least one group gave it a shot. Didn't the Protheans try this? They tried to go into sleep in Ilos and Eden Prime, but poo poo hit the fan everywhere and there were only a handful of survivors who went into 'fling a light into the future' mode rather than 'rebuild the Prothean Empire to destroy the Reapers in the future'.
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2015 12:37
|
|
|
The plot of Mass Effect was ruined when they decided Earth was important (as opposed to Humanity), so the further they can get away from that the better. The Collectors are going to target Earth! with their piddly little spaceship yeah, okay guys.
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2015 12:52
|
|
|
sassassin posted:The plot of Mass Effect was ruined when they decided Earth was important (as opposed to Humanity), so the further they can get away from that the better. I partly agree, it was Shepard and his crew who ampered them, not Earth (or even Humanity). But as for the Collector targeting Earth, that was only one of your crew's assumption. I don't think it was ever mentioned directly by Harbinger. As you say, I don't understand how they could do it with just one ship. Two or three fleets were enough to bring down Sovereign, after all.
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2015 13:48
|
|
|
Technomancer posted:I partly agree, it was Shepard and his crew who ampered them, not Earth (or even Humanity). It was a damp squib of a revelation, so they doubled down and built ME3 around saving the planet, when it wasn't all that important to Humanity or (galactic) Community (the central debate of the Paragon/Renegade alignments in the first two games). So we got a plot where a Renegade (as defined by the game systems) wouldn't care, since Earth was no longer essential to Humanty's growth and survival, and a Paragon wouldn't care so much that they would sacrifice other worlds and system to prioritise Earth's defence. The third act of their series and they centered the threat on something we should technically care about, but don't because of their own writing. sassassin fucked around with this message at 13:56 on Apr 21, 2015 |
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2015 13:52
|
|
|
sassassin posted:It was a damp squib of a revelation, so they doubled down and built ME3 around saving the planet, when it wasn't all that important to Humanity or (galactic) Community (the central debate of the Paragon/Renegade alignments in the first two games). ME3 was full of that kind of lazy writing. They wanted us to get so upset about Earth that they forgot that the series has done next to nothing with it beforehand and this game didn't do much of anything to build that connection. Much like how they tried their hardest to toss in as many wrap ups for plot threads all at once, the geth going all Pinocchio, Cerberus suddenly being powerful enough to fight the entire galaxy, the Reapers losing all weaknesses and personality, ME1's ending being forgotten, nobody caring about Shepard coming back from the dead or committing genocide (which was pointless because it only bought six months), alongside many other issues. Geostomp fucked around with this message at 14:15 on Apr 21, 2015 |
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2015 14:10
|
|
|
Alain Post posted:blowing up the mass relays (or at least having the choice to do so) makes so much thematic sense, and immediately backing off of that is creative cowardice Creative Cowardice would be a really good rename for the writing forum.
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2015 14:20
|
|
|
I could understand how they might have chosen to hit Earth first because Shepard was there when they attacked, but then why would they focus so much effort on it after Shep escapes? And seriously, there were apparently thousands or millions of Reapers attacking everywhere, Palavan was wrecked, Thessia was wrecked, did Harbinger have a huge sign on him that said "I'm the leader", or did all these civilizations that were fighting interstellar wars during Humanity's bronze age only need a half-dozen reapers to wipe them out? And only one for Tuchanka? And somehow they (humans, or the alliance or the council races or whatever) moved the Citadel into orbit around the Earth to complete the crucible, which was apparently built next to Mars, even though the bulk of the Reaper fleet were supposedly attacking Earth (but I guess not the other human colonies and stations in the solar system?) and the super-stealth Normandy II couldn't fly through a system with only one or two Reapers nearby without arousing their suspicions? Lazy writing? Noooo, couldn't be. It's just that they looked at the hundreds of pages of lore built into the 120+ hours of gameplay that preceded the game and said "gently caress it, we're doing HALO!"
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2015 14:40
|
|
|
That said you still got to "hang out" with your "space bros" and laugh whenever someone said 'calibrations' and everyone had sex with someone at the big party that all your friends showed up to. You pushed buttons and awesome explosions happened! ME3 was still good apart from 5 minutes at the end, guys!
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2015 14:47
|
|
|
Here's something for you to understand: it's 2015 and no one gives a poo poo.
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2015 14:47
|
|
|
Part of the reason I enjoyed the first game so much was the space archaeologist portions with the Protheans, so I'm fine with going to a new galaxy, especially if the rest of the game mimics Mass Effect 2. I don't know if there was any one particular thing that was wrong with the third game, but I simply don't feel as fondly about it as I do the other two.
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2015 15:08
|
|
|
Mass Effect 4: Opening scene: An Alliance dreadnaught, in battle. Horrible battle. We discover that it's during the Reaper invasion of Earth. Ships blowing up left and right. Hackett is in the flag chair. Steady as a rock while his ship is being pounded. Hackett: Report! What's happening with the strike team! Crew 1: Sir, it's confused...Shepard seems to have disappeared. It's believed s/he was transported to the Citadel by that Reaper beam. Crew 2: Sir, report from the Normandy! Shepard's team has been retrieved, but Shepard is unaccounted for! *battle battle* Crew 1: Sir, transmission from the Citadel! It's Shepard! Hackett: Shepard, what's going on!? We need the Crucible deployed! Shepard: (obviously pretty hosed up) I'm on it...wait... *battle battle* Crew 4: Sir, I'm getting strange readings from the Citadel! Something's happening!' Hackett: What's happening? Is it Shepard? Crew 3: Sir, look! *The Citadel/Crucible combo opens, and becomes a giant-rear end classic 80's anime wave motion gun, and starts obliterating the ever-living gently caress out of reapers.* *The crew goes nuts, cheering* Hackett: (quietly, proudly) You did it, Shepard. You saved us all. (Louder) Get me Shepard! Get a link open, now! Crew 1: (that cliché, proud, post 'we did it' diction) Yes, sir! Opening channel! Hackett: Shepard, you did it! Shepard! We're coming to get you! Can you give us your location? Shepard: (weakly) des...troy....control..... Hackett: Shepard! Crew 2: Sir, his armour telemetry...he's hurt, sir, badly. I'm not even sure if he's conscious, not sure he can hear you. *crew gets really quiet* Hackett: All available ships! Converge on the Citadel! Emergency evac! Shepard, we're coming for you! Shepard: (weakly) star....child.... Hackett: Shepard! Hold on! Crew 2: (quietly) Sir, the telemetry..he's gone. *camera slowly pans out from the bridge, through the viewport, outwards. As it zooms out, we see reapers blowing up, drifting, dead. Alliance and alien ships are mopping up. Voice over: "Ten years ago, the Reapers invaded our galaxy. Artifical intelligences, gone insane throughout eons of time, carrying out a faulty program, they believed that the only way to save life in the galaxy was to destroy it. Countless cycles of death and rebirth passed. Slowly, civilizations learned of this cycle. Some tried to stop it. Some tried to delay it. Some tried to pass warnings to the future. When the Reapers came for us, we had something none of those countless civilizations had. We had a Shepard." (recap like clips from the three games.) The previous cycle was dominated by a galactic empire called the Protheans. They left behind warnings, in the form of beacons. Commander Shepard found one of these beacons, and was touched by it. S/he learned of the coming threat, and learned of a way to stop it. The Crucible. A weapon, designed over the cycles. The Protheans weren't able to build it in time, but they left plans, hidden in their beacons, throughout the galaxy. Shepard bought us time, time to build the Crucible, and deploy it." "No one knows exactly what happened on the Citadel, during the Battle of Earth. Commander Shepard and Captain Anderson boarded the Citadel, and activated the crucible. They died, knowing that they'd saved the galaxy. And we are grateful." "It is a time of exploration, of rebuilding, of renewal. The council has authorized the opening of new mass effect relays, and exploration of new systems. The crew of the exploration ship Shepard's Gift prepares to explore a new area of the galaxy....." (Stealth edit: Call it a retcon, or just consider that ME2 and 3 both assume that the bad/renegade major plot points happened, so why not carry on with 4? Throw in a thing like at the beginning of two where people 'ask' you things like 'say, remember the quarrian/geth thing?') TheCenturion fucked around with this message at 15:30 on Apr 21, 2015 |
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2015 15:20
|
|
|
TheCenturion posted:Mass Effect 4: ps the actual story won't be this good
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2015 15:22
|
|
|
Dan Didio posted:Here's something for you to understand: it's 2015 and no one gives a poo poo. I'm still playing ME3MP regularly with hundreds of other people on one of the three different networks it's available on. In fact, we just got a new patch a few weeks ago. In this, the year of our lord, etc. etc.
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2015 15:32
|
|
|
I was talking about your opinions.
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2015 15:40
|
|
|
One (other) thing they seemed to have forgotten in ME3 is that at the end of ME2, EDI made it pretty clear that the Reapers were not machines, but sapient constructs made of mechanical and organic parts. So in a way, they already represented Star Child's green option, and it was crap. Of course they forgot everything about it in ME3 (just like the dark matter stuff), and the Reapers were back to being 100% pure machine. I really like ME3 for the gameplay and for hanging out with my star buddies, but they completely flubbed the story. I mean, you know the moment the Reaper fleet shows up, the only way to defeat it would be by Deus Ex Machina - i.e. the Crucible. At least they were pretty honest about it by shoving it in your face in the first mission.
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2015 16:05
|
|
|
I realize this has been brought up already, but I'm really confused as to how this entry will have representation from the various memorable species of the first three games, if this is just one ship exploring past anything those civilizations ever touched. Even if the party consists of various token alien members (which it almost certainly will), that still means you're limited to experiencing that race with just one person (or very few people). The only way around this would be an even bigger cop out of some kind. I feel like what we know of the plot of this new game so far, ultimately requires even more arduous explanations and semi-retcons than a new game that took place in the Milky Way and just said "Ending A is canon, B and C never happened." Also, considering how effective Dragon Age Keep has been at both narrowing down that series' choices to the most important ones, and technically achieving a smooth save game transition, it seems kind of weird to not use that technology again to create a Mass Effect Keep. Nichael fucked around with this message at 16:21 on Apr 21, 2015 |
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2015 16:16
|
|
|
Nichael posted:I realize this has been brought up already, but I'm really confused as to how this entry will have representation from the various memorable species of the first three games, if this is just one ship exploring past anything those civilizations ever touched. Even if the party consists of various token alien members (which it almost certainly will), that still means you're limited to experiencing that race with just one person (or very few people). The only way around this would be an even bigger cop out of some kind. I feel like what we know of the plot of this new game so far, ultimately requires even more arduous explanations and semi-retcons than a new game that took place in the Milky Way and just said "Ending A is canon, B and C never happened." It sounds like your ship will kind of be the vanguard, but you won't be alone -- there'll be a large number of other colonists from various races present as well
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2015 16:23
|
|
|
Pattonesque posted:It sounds like your ship will kind of be the vanguard, but you won't be alone -- there'll be a large number of other colonists from various races present as well Even if your ship isn't alone, the population of familiar races in Andromeda will still be limited. I'm probably over-thinking this, and I'm sure if the story calls for a new Asari character (outside the inevitable one in your party), there will be a new Asari character. But I still think this is an overly difficult way to get around the problem of ME3's endings. It should be as simple as Bioware saying either blue or red happened, and if red happened, the part about Edi and the Geth dying was bullshit (or they survived through the power of space love, it really doesn't matter). Both the blue and red endings were actually a pretty decent foundation for a follow up, and weren't as ridiculous as green.
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2015 16:27
|
|
|
TheCenturion posted:Mass Effect 4: yeah, I definitely read this bit of fanfiction
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2015 16:33
|
|
|
That's take out the starchild mumbling and it would seem like a decent place to begin.
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2015 17:18
|
|
|
Geostomp posted:That's take out the starchild mumbling and it would seem like a decent place to begin. I just wanted to make it cannon that the whole starchild thing was a hallucination. Now, for bonus points, bump it to thirty years in the future, and it's Shepard's kid leading the expedition (maybe biological, maybe adopted, depending on who you claim to have banged.)
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2015 17:25
|
|
|
TheCenturion posted:I just wanted to make it cannon that the whole starchild thing was a hallucination. Or clone. The Alliance/Cerberus could have scraped up the meat smear of nuShepard from the sidewalk and started over.
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2015 18:29
|
|
|
This is weird. The thread is really active for the first time in a while and it's not because someone else had their hopes and dreams shat on and is in here for solace.
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2015 19:06
|
|
|
tribbledirigible posted:Or clone. The Alliance/Cerberus could have scraped up the meat smear of nuShepard from the sidewalk and started over. Nah, that's already been overdone. It gets silly. 'In case of trouble, break glass, activate Shepard clone.' That said, there'd likely be an in-universe 'Church of the Holy Shepard' who think he'll come back YET AGAIN in a time of need. Priest: I'm Commmmmanderrrr Shepard Congregation: And this is my favourite store in the Citadel. Priest: And that concludes our services for today. Congregation: I should go.
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2015 19:10
|
|
|
Mass Effect 4 will follow star child strictly. You die in the beginning and wait around in spooky mind-woods until Shepard comes around and you run away from her. Then after about 25 hours you turn blue and translucent and just chill in space on the crucible waiting for Shepard to show up again.
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2015 19:59
|
|
|
We are the kid from the space grandpa epilogue, all grown up on stories of the Shepard.
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2015 20:28
|
|
|
We are Sheparda, the love child of Shepard and Matriach Liara.
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2015 20:33
|
|
|
TheCenturion posted:Priest: I'm Commmmmanderrrr Shepard I'm so glad they made a joke of that in the DLC. With the departure of Casey Hudson and the guy whose name escapes me atm (wrote Tuchanka and Mordin) it will be interesting to see if things improve or take a big dive into the shitter. I probably won't learn my goddamn lesson and end up preordering this, but I've enjoyed the hell out of DAI so maybe things won't turn out terribly 
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2015 20:39
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 30, 2024 09:40 |
|
|
The Scenarios and setpieces in DA:I were really well done, the only real issues are the gigantic free roam slogs. If they can tighten those up then it will hopefully be a good game.
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2015 20:42
|
|
