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I'm very interested in this LP. Mass Effect was one of the games I couldn't play when it came out due to having an ancient PC, and when I tried after upgrading, it just bored the hell out of me. Not enough variability in combat, copy/pasted dungeons that only differed in what doors were locked and what open (to this day, I have no idea how Bioware managed to get away with that) and a really generic SF plot with the same cast of characters as every single Bioware game since KOTOR. I just couldn't bring myself to finish it and didn't even bother trying the sequels which supposedly improved on the lovely gameplay. Basically it's the perfect "you play it so I don't have to" game now. Plus I loved your NWN2 LP and the way it turned its boring and padded plot into a good read, so here's hoping for another one. edit: Come to think of it, another reason why I disliked the first game so much might be that the Reaper plot is straight out of Alastair Reynolds, except with way less interesting universe and way shittier writing. anilEhilated fucked around with this message at 20:51 on Jul 21, 2014 |
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Jul 21, 2014 16:37
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I didn't find a single likable character in the entire cast of ME1. Closest was a tolerable Garrus. Yeah, I really didn't enjoy that game.
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Jul 22, 2014 18:32
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sheep-dodger posted:Personally I would however have preferred if hostilities would scale up over the course of the game and lead to the great climax that is the current end of the game instead of opening with the worst case scenario happening and then just... being there for the rest of the game until the player decides he wants to do the last mission. Fallout kinda did this and it went pretty well. Of course, that was a different time.
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Jul 23, 2014 21:36
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One would think they'd bother with an actually interesting universe if they wanted people to think about it.
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Jul 25, 2014 18:26
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Not to bar the tides of righteous anger, but one other thing sticks out of that video like a sore thumb for me: that dream sequence. We know Bioware aren't exactly subtle, but that thing wouldn't be out of place in a loving JRPG.
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Jul 28, 2014 09:09
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My real issue is the way they're handling it. If you're right - and I still don't think Bioware is capable of including a serious plot theme of something like PTSD in a B-Movie Super Soldier universe like Mass Effect - there have to be better ways to show it than a child on fire. It's blunt, it's cheesy, it's a really stupid appeal to the lowest common denominator.
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Jul 28, 2014 17:02
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Promontory posted:The third game immediately jumps into 'war is hell and innocents are dying'-territory, which is a jarring change. Bioware is not good at serious. Period.
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Jul 28, 2014 22:12
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"I'm Commander Shepard and this is my favorite store on the Citadel." edit to add a bit more substance: So this LP actually made me retry the games, ME1 is still poo poo (copypasted dungeons, biotics that don't work half the time, flooded by identical guns), but I'm having a decent amount of fun starting from the second one. So thanks I guess. anilEhilated fucked around with this message at 10:22 on Jul 29, 2014 |
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Jul 29, 2014 10:02
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Fedule posted:There was some slight collateral damage consisting of, uh, the Batarian homeworld and most of their race. Feelings on the subject are mixed. I'm not very far into ME2, but every single Batarian I met so far was a dick. This could be fun. e: It strikes me that giving this particular choice to the player might not be the best stimulant of conscience. anilEhilated fucked around with this message at 19:12 on Jul 29, 2014 |
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Jul 29, 2014 19:09
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A Curvy Goonette posted:Is it possible you're all giving the writers too much credit when it comes to the council? It could be that they were just created to be simple strawman politicians who act as nothing more than a plot obstacle to the action-based solutions of the player. I'd agree with this. They really only seem to be there to reinforce the POLITICIANS BAD SOLDIERS GOOD theme. I mean, do we ever see them actually do anything? I find it kinda telling that the default ending of ME1 (ie starting from ME2 like I'm doing now) states that Shepard saved Citadel but let the Council die.
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Jul 30, 2014 18:26
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RickVoid posted:So I don't bring this up very often, but Mass Effect seems to have literally been about taking the antagonists from this, stripping out most of the Hard Sci-fi (because it takes some serious effort to understand the books and you really couldn't have Sheppard flying around a galaxy that ages 100-200 years minimum between system hops, of which the crew experiences maybe a third of, and expect that to work in this format), mashing it together with elements of Starflight, and molding it into an action RPG. Yeah, I think I already mentioned that in this thread, apparently no one caught it. Seriously, folks, if you like the ME Reaper plot for whatever reasons, go read Reynolds. He's great. I think I'm in a bit of a unique position here in never having finished ME1 despite trying twice (the actual gameplay is just bad) and not having beaten ME2 yet, but I'm liking ME2's writing and plot a lot more. I mean, okay, it pits us against generic insectoid aliens, but it manages to be way more engaging than anything that went on with Saren. The fact we're out of Council space helps a lot too since you get away from the completely nonsensical establishment that constantly ruins your immersion by telling you there's no way in hell it could work in reality and is just a game/plot mechanic. I obviously can't comment on the spacing of the plot in the trilogy, but given the overall quality of it (or lack thereof), pacing would be the last of my worries.
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Jul 31, 2014 08:52
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I wouldn't lose hope yet; you managed to do an amazing job on reselling everyone on NWN2 and that's probably a worse game. Of course, ME3's DLCs doesn't seem to make it all right the way MotB did but still - this LP got me playing ME2 after hating the hell out of the first game just so I can follow the plot better. I imagine I'm not the only one eagerly awaiting some reinterpretation of what seems to be the most generic SF plot possible.
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Aug 1, 2014 21:43
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I don't know, I mean, I haven't finished ME2 or played ME3 yet, but ME2 seems decently engaging on its own. For a Bioware game, that is - one can't set his expectations too high. I think they realized that the Reaper storyline is pretty weak and tried to expand it in different ways in what I've seen of both ME2 and this. Whether they succeeded or failed is obviously up to discussion, but I wouldn't fault ME2 for exploring a different aspect of the plot as opposed to simply continuing/tying up the previous one.
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Aug 5, 2014 15:30
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Veib posted:So when is the retroactive goon backlash on Bioware expected to hit the point where Baldur's Gate II is the Worst Game Ever, and Baldur's Gate is Literally Hitler? Hopefully never, Bioware started using the same stock set of characters with KOTOR.
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Aug 5, 2014 16:24
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Mr. Soop posted:Morrigan is actually an Objectivist.
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Aug 6, 2014 17:23
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Jade Empire is the best post-BG2 Bioware game and I will White Demon Bitchslap anyone who disagrees.
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Aug 10, 2014 21:43
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Earth assailed by instectoid aliens, insectoid aliens nuked by genius child strategist, genius child strategist finds last surviving queen, last surviving queen gets hatched on a foreign planet. A lot of terrible writing inbetween.
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Aug 14, 2014 20:40
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Thwomp posted:I'm more interested in why have a save where Grunt's loyalty mission was not completed (and now we're missing one of the best moments in ME3) and yet Lt. Danger opted to also have Mordin dead in ME2 to get his replacement's super-funny ME3 moment. As someone who only played ME2, I was about to ask that - Grunt made a reference to not going through the initiation rite, is that the only effect it has?
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Aug 14, 2014 21:17
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2house2fly posted:I haven't played Planescape Torment(the first Chris Avellone Joint) but I've heard a similar concept was used in that game, and the slave collars in Dead Money aren't a million miles away. Do yourself a favor and play it. If you can stomach the graphics at all; I still maintain it's the best videogame story ever done. I would however suggest not doing what Lt. Danger is talking about in the last video and just react your way as opposed to roleplaying - the game doesn't have an influence system per se but tracks certain events and varies the final section depending on it and a lot of it is based on questioning the player's beliefs, not the character's. It's got a lot of text written in an faux-1900s slang and the combat is pretty bad but that's one case where the story and setting makes up for it so much. Even the random NPCs with no plot significance will give you stuff to think about. anilEhilated fucked around with this message at 11:09 on Aug 31, 2014 |
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Aug 31, 2014 09:58
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Lt. Danger posted:I remember the Mass Effect writers coming out and being very specific that the asari weren't lesbian, they were 'mono-gendered' and these women that liked other women didn't really count as homosexual. I'm still not quite sure whether that was a defence against Jack Thompson or just a weaselly dodge to avoid tackling the subject. Which is pretty weird since there was totally human homosexual romance in Jade Empire.
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Sep 21, 2014 11:01
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Neruz posted:But then again most of the artistic and narrative decisions made surrounding the Asari ruin everything. Sad thing is, game usually doesn't let me.
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Sep 27, 2014 08:59
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How about the pseudo-intellectualism of dissecting phrases? I may be just a filthy undeducated European peasant, but I find a lot of thought-provoking stuff in this LP.
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Oct 13, 2014 10:59
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