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Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, KOTOR, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, Anthem
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Post by therevanchist25 on Feb 24, 2020 21:59:47 GMT
So, just speculation on your part of what might happen if Shepard were to make a return. Also what you're posting wouldn't be very promising for Ryder. It might end up with little Ryder being worse than what he/she was in MEA as well as the other characters in the game. Sure, and this is an inherent risk with any character. Difference is, however, that Shepard's story is properly over. Sure, people may not like it all that much, and will forever whinge that they were wronged a much deserved happy ending [option], but the fact remains that the story of Shepard had its climax, and now it's ended, and the state the last game leaves our hero in doesn't lend itself to more adventures for the character, no matter what that daft star geezer says to the kid in the post-credits epilogue. So, let's say BioWare decides, fuck it, we'll blow the dust off of Shep for one more go. What does the story pull together to justify this? The issue I have is that Shepard isn't a purpose-built combatant doomed to remain in this combat death loop forever. Now I'm just speaking from my own personal feelings on the story implications here, but there's something I find inherently unsatisfying in that Shepard is basically unworthy to be promoted to a position that removes them from basic ground combat. You'd think at this point, Shepard would be worth assuming the command of a bigger ship and taking charge of a larger crew, becoming a proper captain of their own dreadnought perhaps, and maybe even becoming an admiral (I still prefer retirement but advancing doesn't hurt). Having our character's accolades actually amount to something more than just some NPC's gushing about how big a fan they are and thanking our PC works a lot better for me than this character basically defying all that retirement dialogue I selected in ME3. Shepard was already enough of a Jesus by ME3. This new game would just compound on that ten fold. Unless....they do like Picard, and basically hollow out the old character to the point where everyone can talk down to you and you just take it. That's actually exactly what I would want from the next Mass Effect. Shepard is now in Hackett's job, the old scarred up bad ass geezer that is head of the Alliance fleet. While you play as some new young hot shot who may or may not be full of themselves (depending on player dialogue choices) I would basically move Mass Effect into the TNG phase, where the Trilogy was TOS. The big bad would likely be the Yahg who may or may not have been slightly uplifted by Leviathans or another new race that discovered the wider galaxy in the In-Between period and slowly took over large portions of the Terminus while the galaxy was weak and recovering. Maybe Aria used the galaxy's weakness as opportunity to forge her own empire in the Terminus as well, perhaps have a three way power deadlock with each border basically mirroring the 38th parallel in space. Because I do not subscribe to the thought of "The stakes must always go up!" Have this new young hot shot you play as be part of Admiral Shepard's Exploration division, who go forth and chart new sections of the Milky Way using their new Warp Drives that were made from studying Reaper Dreadnoughts, the ship is of course armed to defend itself, as is the ground vehicle they use to explore, because only morons sail off into the unknown with no means of self defense. There are plenty of ideas that could be utilized in a new Milky Way game that can have Shepard be present for marketing reasons but not still relegated to grunt work. You say you would prefer Shepard be retired, well maybe thats an option they provide at the beginning, and they swap out Shepard for some other important character from the trilogy having Hackett's job, like the VS or Miranda, or just some random nobody who took the job. I myself, my Shepard would never retire and would love to have Hackett's job.
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Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, KOTOR, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, Anthem
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Post by therevanchist25 on Feb 23, 2020 21:05:13 GMT
Yreah it definitely needs it's lightre moments ME1 and 2 never really di dhave any of tha tME 3 had at least hte Citadel DLC. Granted MEA may have been a little too light hearted in places butit never really struck me as a problem i tfelt moer like a breath of fresh air tbh. Though I can see why some didn' t like it. They jus tneed t ofind a good balance bewtween telling a story of us being a hero solving a dark mystery or whatever and giving us a fwe lighter moments like say the Citdael DLC or quests like Liam's loyalty mission. Hopefully they'll find that balancve eventually. Maybe they should look at their own DA games for inspuiration as I think they hit the nail right there most of the time in terms of finding a good balance. If there is one thing Bioware has gotten really good at, it's overcompensating. People don't like ME1's inventory system? ME2 removes inventory entirely! Complaints about the Mako? Cut out vehicles completely! Or replace the slow plodding Mako with the faster, but tissue-thin Hammerhead! Don't like how Shepard's death and return were addressed in ME2? Fill ME3 with brooding, wangst, and silly dreams about dead kids! Complaints bout lack of deaths in the Suicide Mission in ME2, bring about the deaths of whole worlds and force Shepard's death in ME3! DAO has too much "shuffling" movement? Bring on the ninja-flips and "pew-pw" of DA2. Placing DA2 entirely within the confines of a single city, put DAI in a massive but largely empty semi-open world setting. DA2's plot was too restricted nd "personal?" Make DAI about saving all of reality from a demonic invasion and dump that whole mage/templar war by the end of the first act! Oh, I could go on. People complain about plastic hair? Here, take 13 varieties of Bald. Healing magic makes combat too easy? remove healing magic almost entirely and create a BS lore excuse why suddenly mages cant cast heals in combat. ironically, the one complaint their always consistent about, is the horrifically ugly hats. watch, Dragon Age 4 will have like 15 Casual camp outfits, likely including an ugly hat for each, because Skyhold Pajamas. trial and error, moderate improvement, most other companies understand the concept. I cannot understand why Bioware seems so unique in it's knee-jerk reactions to feedback.
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Post by therevanchist25 on Feb 23, 2020 17:45:58 GMT
I do too to an extent when it's designed as a multi part story like the ME trilogy is even if I just wantto play ME2 o rME3 I always feel the need to play ME1 before playing them. As much as ME1 is my least favourite of the series I still put up with it for the story it tells as for me that is ME1's strongest part. I will say though that had I not bought ME2 at the same time as ME1 and played through that as well and seen how the 2 games and their stories connected I may not have felt quite so invested in the series as I do now. So for me ME2 saved ME1's hide because when I was playing ME1 befoer playing ME2 it just felt like another COD type shooter to me except in space it was only when playing ME2 did I really notice what kind of game I had on my hands. If it's an independent game where you're playing an independent protag in each game like in DA I can accept playing seperate games individually though I must admit when I do want t oplay DA2 I do have a tendency to play DAO first. DAI I find it easier to treat as an independent game becauuse I just use the DA keep to create a world state to play with at random. Wait, what? So ME2 was the first game you bought/played, I take it, right? Because ME1 can only give the impression of a COD game, maybe from it's cover art but certainly, the moment you start the actual game, that impression would go out the window. I mean, once you start the game up, you spend your first 30 minutes in a character creator and in dialogues before you even get a chance to shoot anything.
therevanchist25 : I see where you are coming from but I never felt Andromeda was that bad with the cheese/meme stuff. Maybe it's because mostly chose the serious dialogue options with my Ryder. Sure, it has quite a lot of cheese but I did enjoy the more light heartet tone, even if I agree that it wasn't always appropriate. And you think I didn't? after I just described my preferences for fiction? I found even the "serious" options to be laced with goofy nonsense. The serious Ryder options feel like a damn sitcom, like Ryder is Rey from Everyone Loves Reymond, trying to be King of the house and lay down the law as his companions totally ignore him and crack jokes at the expense of his authority to a laugh track. For example, every single scene involving the black hole known as Liam Costa. His idiotic "loyalty" mission is the epitome of this. The bad guy is trying to monologue and keeps getting comedicly cut off with Ryder and Liam firing off stupid, wholly inappropriate jokes given how serious the situation is suppose to be. Worse still, Liam suffers no consequence for his idiocy, Ryder just ultimately shrugs it off and is like "don't do it again". Peebee is another example, lures you into the escape pod and just ejects it because "fuck it, I want the thing!" and Ryder acts mad for like all of 3 seconds despite the fact she could have killed them, again at missions end no consequences at all, another slap on the wrist and another "don't do it again m'kay?" Ryder, to me, is a pathetic joke of a character. Who was wholly neutered by the writers decision to be slap stick and whimsical. Maybe that was the writers intent, if so, congrats. However given Biowares history of Power Fantasy I find that unlikely.
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therevanchist25
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, KOTOR, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, Anthem
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Post by therevanchist25 on Feb 23, 2020 16:11:29 GMT
Before Infinity War came out, I had to go back and re-watch the entire MCU in proper order in marathon fashion from Iron Man 1. How did you survive that with enough brain cells intact to write this post? Just kidding, I am the same. Hate to go into the middle of something. I also always need to go back and start at the beginning.
As for Andromeda, I actually enjoyed my second PT better than the first. I had gotten used to its quirks by then and the way they messed up the lore wasn't quite as much of a shock anymore, so I could focus on the good parts, which IMO is some of the humor and the general gameplay. Sure, it's got a lot of problems but most of them were fairly specific and should be easy to address and fix. I actually see the game's general structure as a solid basis to build on.
Oh, the lore changes weren't shocking for me. Not in the slightest. ME3 made me permanently numb to any retcons, hack jobs or whatever else Bioware does to ME, because anything they do from ME3 onward will never be as mind bendingly dumb as The Ending. It's "quirks" to me, are entirely un-immersive, and so is it's pedantic meme-humor, which is a big turn off for me 99% of the time. Andromeda's writing was basically Bioware sitting in a room going "okay so, everyone loved the ridiculous memes and cheese in Citadel, so lets just do that!" Which is fine for some people, but I will NEVER embrace a setting or franchise that takes such a writing approach as it's primary tone. I need my fiction to take itself seriously, and Andromeda to me is best described as "Goofball Ryder and Bland Brigade taking a casual road trip in the Tempest Machine". Cheese and meme jokes have their place, to be sure. But imo that place is at the end of the journey, celebrating the series history and it's fandom, y'know, like what Citadel did. It was Cheese that was earned, through 5 years of dedication. Andromeda, to me, has not earned the right to be goofy and silly like that.
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Post by therevanchist25 on Feb 23, 2020 10:33:16 GMT
I feel option 4 is the only thing that I would even be remotely interested in at this point. Otherwise my interest in the series is at absolute zero. Andromeda is just too half baked and underdeveloped for me to ever care about it going forward. Andromeda was the chance for them to sell me on the idea, and for me, they failed on an epic scale. i cannot foresee any situation where I would mentally buy in to Andromeda going forward. I don't think this is as much a problem as you say it is. Let me give you an example: I LOVED ME2. Loved it. But when I first played it, I had never touched ME1. ME2 was complete enough a package that I was fine with no knowledge of its predecessor. And I think they could do the same with an MEA:2. Obviously, the overall story has to be somewhat coherent, but I don't think it would be as dependant on me:a as you think it is. I cannot buy into a narrative halfway through. My mind is too OCD for that. Every time I find a new show I like for example. I have to stop, and start from Episode 1, otherwise I can't do it. The way my mind works, I have to be invested from the beginning. It's like when Witcher 3 came out, I couldn't just play Witcher 3. I had to go play 1 and 2 first. Which I admit made me nervous for 3 because 1 was god awful and 2 had a lot of promise but felt very irrelevant. Dragon Age is another example. If Dragon Age 2 was my first Dragon Age experience, I personally would have never touched another Dragon Age game again. Luckily I played the near masterpiece of Origins first, which gave me confidence that 2 was a fluke. Inquisition ended up being my favorite of the 3 despite 3's many many flaws. However considering I find Origins to have aged SO poorly from a combat perspective I can't even bring myself to play it anymore, idk how much weight that even holds. Before Infinity War came out, I had to go back and re-watch the entire MCU in proper order in marathon fashion from Iron Man 1. When I start a new MMO. Before I even start playing the game, I have sit on my computer for weeks, researching and learning everything about the history of the setting leading up to the games time period, and if that history does not interest me, I don't even bother with the game. I am all about the lore, the story, the world building. All of those things in Andromeda, for me, are a pathetic joke. Which, for anyone on this forum who is aware of how die hard of a mass effect fan I once was, speaks volumes. Even Spiders Studio, those poor Double A guys with basically no money sell these things better than Andromeda did. War Logs is a horrible game from a gameplay PoV, but I stuck with it and finished it because they sold the setting to me, and because they sold the War Logs setting to me, I bought The Technomancer and actually enjoyed how they further built upon the foundation that War Logs made. What this means is, even if the first entry in a series is bad, if I personally see potential I'm more often than not willing to give it another chance. For me Andromeda did almost everything wrong, almost everything poorly. Andromeda is the only Bioware game, in my life, that I have never replayed. As bad as Anthem is, I actually got enjoyment from Anthem, and would happily play it for a hundred hours rather than ever put my Andromeda disk into my PS4 again. For the record I uninstalled Anthem months ago. Even during my 1 and only play through of the game, I was never excited, I was never, for one instant, invested in anything that was happening. I often found myself laughing, in a bad way, about how ridiculous everything was. Then I finally made it to Kadara, and dear god above, thats when I started to just get pissed off. Just from that stupid ass double door loading screen alone, I was screaming at the TV and wanting to snap the disk, because I had to keep sitting through it over, and over, and over, and over, because Bioware games always send you back to base for almost every quest phase. There is literally 2 things, from Andromeda, that I enjoyed. One, this one song, which is just a remix of Uncharted Worlds. And two, a single line of dialogue at the beginning of the game, which perfectly encapsulates the ideal dream of Mass Effect that for some reason, I can never have. "You only get one chance to be First, let's go make history." ME1 teased that dream, ME2 abandoned that dream entirely, and ME3 drove past the gutter that 2 left it in. Meanwhile Andromeda showed up at the park so damn late, he only heard stories about the dream, paid it lip service but did nothing to try and find it. Ultimately my point is, that the game left such a bad first impression, for me, that the entire premise is a lost cause.
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Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, KOTOR, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, Anthem
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Post by therevanchist25 on Feb 19, 2020 7:46:01 GMT
Yes, yes it is. No one in their right mind would ever argue that Sharknado is a high quality movie. The Mario Brothers movie, The Room, the live action Last Airbender movie. These are all horrible, horrible movies. Just because a small group of people like them, does not mean they are good. Just because you get enjoyment from something does not mean it's well made. Unless your going to try and argue that the quality of McDonald's is the exact same as a $50 Filet mignon from a high end restaurant. Your allowed to like McDonald's, but do not dare try to argue that there is no difference in quality. Entertainment media is no different. You're allowed to like bad things, just stop trying to act like something is good just because you like it. I'm sorry, not every aspect of life is subjective, that is a fairy tale that people subscribe to because people don't want to feel bad for liking bad things. Everyone wants validation that things they like aren't bad, so they can feel justified in their opinion. However the truth is, there is no shame in liking bad, crappy things. None what-so-ever. People just need to be honest, and stop trying to justify everything. Lets say you go to a museum to see paintings, you see one with literal holes in the canvas. Clearly, something went wrong somewhere, it's now an objectively flawed piece. However you can still say to yourself "Objectively that painting has holes in it. Subjectively I don't mind and the holes mean things to me." Both of these statements can be held at the same time. This idea that objective quality does not exist just because people don't want to admit they enjoy bad things is frankly silly. MauLer has a great monologue on this idea of objective vs subjective in this video. So name something that YOU like that is "objectively bad". Why is it objectively bad? Why do you like it in spite of that? Oh, there are a number of things. Dynasty Warriors is something I've had a lifelong love affair with. That franchise is absolute garbage. It's gameplay is pathetic, nothing more than mashing one button over and over for hours. Every game is exactly the same, with the same terrible gameplay, with the same story told over and over again. Why do I enjoy this? because the period of history it covers is of massive interest to me, and until recently, there wasn't really any other options of exploring that period in video game format. The movie Commando, a movie I love dearly, but is absolute shlock in almost every way. The plot is as bare-bones as it gets, the dialogue is limited to cringe-worthy one-liners and there is absolutely no character progression, along with the completely ridiculous action scenes of a half naked oily man standing in the open, getting shot at by 50 soldiers and not getting hit a single time, while he mows them down with ease. Why do I enjoy this? I enjoy this for the same reason anyone enjoys Arnold movies. It's stupid fun that you don't think about. 1998 Godzilla- Another movie that I absolutely love to watch, it's also without question, the worst Godzilla movie ever made. Why? because Godzilla does not look like a giant Jurassic Park reject, nor is Godzilla anywhere near that small, and Godzilla sure as hell isn't able to be beaten by mankind's weaponry. The whole premise of the movie kinda flies in the face of what Godzilla represents. So why do I enjoy it? Because if you remove every mention of "Godzilla" from the movie, then it's an typical B+ grade monster movie, which I do enjoy. Unfortunately due to the name it uses, it's held to a standard that it falls miserably short of. Attack of the Clones- arguably the most hated of the star wars movies prior to the new trilogy, and is still in the running frankly. It's horribly dull and boring with many bad examples of CGI used poorly, it also has quite possibly, the worst romance ever written in film that I have personally watched. The dialogue is atrocious and much of the character direction given to the actors is wooden. To fully explain why this movie is so horrible would require an entire essay. Which has already been done countless times, by people far more articulate than I am. Why then do I enjoy this movie? Because I choose to push those things aside and see the story Lucas envisioned, but wasn't skilled enough to properly execute. The IDEA of the movie, if you will. So frankly it's nothing about the movie itself, aside from some select character moments and action set pieces. But more so the idea of what the movie was trying to be, but couldn't reach due to the creator's limitations. There are many other examples I could cite of terrible media that I enjoy, but I think I have properly answered your question.
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Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, KOTOR, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, Anthem
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Post by therevanchist25 on Feb 19, 2020 3:06:03 GMT
Is "objectively bad" even a thing? Edit: I mean, "objectively unpopular" is a thing, and "objectively disliked by critics " is also a thing; often different things. How do we get from there to a supposedly objective standard of badness, though? For starters, which one do we use, and at what date? Yes, yes it is. No one in their right mind would ever argue that Sharknado is a high quality movie. The Mario Brothers movie, The Room, the live action Last Airbender movie. These are all horrible, horrible movies. Just because a small group of people like them, does not mean they are good. Just because you get enjoyment from something does not mean it's well made. Unless your going to try and argue that the quality of McDonald's is the exact same as a $50 Filet mignon from a high end restaurant. Your allowed to like McDonald's, but do not dare try to argue that there is no difference in quality. Entertainment media is no different. You're allowed to like bad things, just stop trying to act like something is good just because you like it. I'm sorry, not every aspect of life is subjective, that is a fairy tale that people subscribe to because people don't want to feel bad for liking bad things. Everyone wants validation that things they like aren't bad, so they can feel justified in their opinion. However the truth is, there is no shame in liking bad, crappy things. None what-so-ever. People just need to be honest, and stop trying to justify everything. Lets say you go to a museum to see paintings, you see one with literal holes in the canvas. Clearly, something went wrong somewhere, it's now an objectively flawed piece. However you can still say to yourself "Objectively that painting has holes in it. Subjectively I don't mind and the holes mean things to me." Both of these statements can be held at the same time. This idea that objective quality does not exist just because people don't want to admit they enjoy bad things is frankly silly. MauLer has a great monologue on this idea of objective vs subjective in this video.
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Post by therevanchist25 on Feb 18, 2020 18:33:21 GMT
Well, at least I can take some solace in the fact that BioWare is just objectively bad at making video games now. It would be terrible if they started making games for a new target audience that didn't include me. know what would be really terrible? If people would just admit they enjoy objectively bad products, instead of making excuses about why because they like something, that it's actually high quality. THAT would be horrible.
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Post by therevanchist25 on Feb 18, 2020 9:02:55 GMT
I mean, of course DA4 CAN compete, if properly cared for. That's a ridiculous question.
The better question in my opinion, is WILL it? which is a question that no one can answer until release obviously. However if I had to speculate, I would currently say No. because for me, Bioware has not satisfied me in a very long time. Inquisition was the only exception in a long void of disappointment, and it seems Inquisition was basically a fluke that gave Bioware the impression that they don't ever need to plan things out because it just...works itself out!
Andromeda to me, is an entirely lost cause. A byproduct of a horribly mismanaged and overall poorly handled trilogy/ franchise. Andromeda is/was to me, a mistake that they left themselves no choice about making. It is a mistake they have no real choice but to continue making. I am firmly convinced, until Bioware proves to me otherwise, that Andromeda will continue to be a perpetual mistake that will, one day, eventually kill the mass effect franchise for good.
As for Anthem? in the words of Benny, "The game was rigged from the start." They didn't have the faintest clue in hell what to do with a game like this. As is apparent from the 6 years they sat around with their thumbs up their asses going "uuuh wtf do we do?!?!" Anthem however, has a tiny, super duper tiny, sliver of hope. IF "Anthem Reborn" truly turns it into the game it was suppose to be from the beginning, then there is a small chance they'll be able to maintain a playerbase large enough to keep the lights on. However needless to say that is a herculean sized IF.
In my mind Dragon Age 4 is the only game with any hope of finding overall success, not just financial success. Why? because despite the many, MANY arguments about the direction of the Dragon Age series over the years, the many questionable decisions that the series has made, the Dragon Age team has been, up until this point, the ONLY team with any marginal sense of a "plan". You may be wondering at this point then, "Why did you say you don't think it will compete?" My answer to that is very simple. The people who came up with and managed Dragon Ages plan, are gone. I trusted David Gaider, despite his many flaws as a writer. I trusted Mike Laidlaw. To me, those two men made Dragon Age what it was. They were the ones with the plan. Once Mike left due to DA4's "reboot" I gave up on this franchise, because he was the last person in that whole company, that I actually trusted. Now, like I said, I believe obviously it CAN succeed. It can because apparently they planned Dragon Age 2 games ahead. So there is/was already a plan for Dragon Age 4. Now weather or not the team stick to that plan, remains to be seen. But given Biowares overall lack of willingness to plan fucking anything, I have no faith.
I hope Bioware proves me wrong one day, but I longer think they will.
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Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, KOTOR, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, Anthem
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Post by therevanchist25 on Feb 18, 2020 4:06:41 GMT
That lack of a consistent timeline is just further proof of Bioware never planning out the story or setting before they began. As for the Reapers not being defined in any possible way? I'm sorry, but I don't see that as a negative. I never wanted them defined. I wanted them to truly be an unknowable Cthulhu-like enemy. You may not see it as a negative... but it IS a negative when judging how well a story is 'plotted." Ultimately, they had to define them in order to end the story... and that led to the disappointing ending to the story. They needed a solid concept in their own minds at least... and they did not have that and it shows. It cannot be said, therefore, that it has a "perfect internal plot." I mean, to say any story is "perfect" is fool-hardy. NO story, idc who wrote it, is "perfect". The Lord of the Rings isn't perfect, why? Because Eagles. Theres no such thing as perfect. As for the reapers being defined. Again, you cannot tell me thats a negative. Lovecraft is proof that a lack of definition is not an automatic negative. Is it more impressive from the readers point of view when every single little detail about the universe is mapped out in painful detail first? Of course it is, again look at Lord of the Rings. A more fleshed out, detailed setting you may never find for the rest of human history. That kind of effort to go that extra mile is more "impressive" yes, but not putting forth that kind of effort is hardly a negative, because most writers don't put anywhere near that level of effort into it, for obvious reasons.
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Post by therevanchist25 on Feb 18, 2020 3:09:32 GMT
You wouldn't be the first to see things differently after a couple of years. What is this stupidity and incoherence you're talking about? There is nothing about the reapers in ME1 that doesn't make sense. They were mysterious and presented as powerful for a reason. All nonsense came in the follow-up games. I don't think BioWare is capable of doing that anymore. I don't think was necessary. Sovereign being a primary taste of the true evil is a fine setup. Look at Dragon Ball Z. Raditz was the perfect setup for Vegeta and Nappa, which in turn were a perfect setup for Freeza. A perfect 3 stair evil, which Mass Effect was capable of delivering but utterly failed during ME2. There is only one game that is constantly put on a pedestal and that's ME2. I haven't really met anyone that prefers ME1 that doesn't acknowledge ME1's issues. The same goes for ME3. Finding someone that prefers ME2 that acknowledges the issues with ME2 is another story entirely. No video game has received a Pulitzer, simply because games are not acknowledged as a form of art, which in turn makes the writing for it be neglected. Video game writing is completely different than in other media, and thus it fails to be appreciated. Even the ones that approach movies, like Heavy Rain or Telltale's The Walking Dead, have to write with gameplay in mind. It was as the first chapter. Tell me something. Is something like the writing in The Hunger Games so superior to Mass Effect 1? If so? How? I have never played the Witcher, so, I can't judge that. ME1 sure has a lot of haters... I'll be leaving this here... whatculture.com/gaming/mass-effect-2-10-reasons-its-overrated-as-hellFirst off, the dialogue blocks in ME1 do not flow naturally and they repeat themselves unnecessarily: As a small example, in talking with Pressly, Shepards asks "How did you end up assigned to the Normandy?" Pressly answers: I signed up with the Alliance as a navigator right out of school, following in my grandfather's footsteps, I guess. My first posting was on the Agincourt. We were at Elysium during the Skyllian Blitz... (line here varies depending on Shepard's background)" Then Shepard asks again: "How did you end up on the Normandy?" and Pressly replies "I got my officer's commission after Elysium. Must have made an impression on the right people. Captain asked for me when he was picking his crew."
Pressly is grey-haired and appears to be around 55 to 60 years of age. Anderson, who appears to be younger, is 46 (born 2137). Hackett, who appears much older than either of them, was born in 2134, making him a mere 49 years of age during ME1. The Skyllian Blitz occurred in 2176 and this is the battle for which War Hero Shepard receives the Star of Terra. Shepard was born in 2154, making him a mere 29 years of age. Yet, Pressly claims the Agincourt was his first posting after signing up as a navigator "right out of school." The Systems Alliance was formed in 2149, so I doubt Pressly was following in his grandfather's footsteps since the Alliance probably didn't exist while his grandfather was still of an age to serve.
We are also told in ME1 that humans can line to be 150 in that era... yet Hackett, at 49, is portrayed as an old man.
A well written story would have at least worked out a feasible timeline. I could go on and on. The story plot also starts several totally irrelevant sub-plots and it never even remotely defines it's major antagonists. If fact, it deliberately avoids defining them as anything more than "unknowable" even in their own minds - which is a cheap cop out and ultimately why the series failed in the end to deliver a final boss antagonist that would meet the expectations of the fan base.
I'm not a "hater" of ME1. I like it as a game, but it is NOT a perfectly plotted story or even a particularly well written one.
That lack of a consistent timeline is just further proof of Bioware never planning out the story or setting before they began. As for the Reapers not being defined in any possible way? I'm sorry, but I don't see that as a negative. I never wanted them defined. I wanted them to truly be an unknowable Cthulhu-like enemy.
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March 2017
therevanchist25
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, KOTOR, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, Anthem
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Post by therevanchist25 on Feb 15, 2020 16:54:36 GMT
I feel option 4 is the only thing that I would even be remotely interested in at this point. Otherwise my interest in the series is at absolute zero. Andromeda is just too half baked and underdeveloped for me to ever care about it going forward. Andromeda was the chance for them to sell me on the idea, and for me, they failed on an epic scale. i cannot foresee any situation where I would mentally buy in to Andromeda going forward.
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therevanchist25
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Mar 15, 2017 23:07:06 GMT
March 2017
therevanchist25
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, KOTOR, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, Anthem
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Post by therevanchist25 on Feb 14, 2020 2:23:11 GMT
We shall see. Anthem was the absolute last straw. I will never take anything game related on faith, ever again. Show me the released, finished product first, then I'll decide.
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March 2017
therevanchist25
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, KOTOR, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, Anthem
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Post by therevanchist25 on Feb 4, 2020 1:16:07 GMT
Still a good thing. Humanity needs true leadership to overthrow the tyranny of the Xenos Council. As much as I like to rag on the alien lovers here I can never bring myself to kill the council in Mass Effect 1. Save them and that big ass Asari ship every time. Yes I am a traitor to the human race I am so very sorry.
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therevanchist25
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Mar 15, 2017 23:07:06 GMT
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therevanchist25
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, KOTOR, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, Anthem
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Post by therevanchist25 on Feb 3, 2020 20:26:06 GMT
Well, that is in keeping with how the place is run: Join the echo chamber or we'll run you out of here. It will quickly became mob/echo chamber/etc. if the person in question is just spewing his vitriol without actually saying anything new or just spamming because. And I think who is in question. Good riddance. I also distinctly remember another individual, a rabid Bioware fanboy, who would go to every thread in every sub-section, and viciously mock, name call and ridicule anyone who said anything even slightly negative, about anything. This person was eventually perma banned after breaking forums rules over and over again. However, this person got massive amounts of thumbs ups for every post for a long time. So let's stop acting like the childish toxicity is only from "haters".
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therevanchist25
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Mar 15, 2017 23:07:06 GMT
March 2017
therevanchist25
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, KOTOR, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, Anthem
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Post by therevanchist25 on Feb 3, 2020 11:11:00 GMT
I honestly cannot even recall enough games to cover that much time. ME2 would surely be on the list, as would Skyrim, Horizon Zero Dawn, Red Dead 2, DOOM reboot, Kingdom Come Deliverance, Breath of the Wild, and finally, Elite Dangerous, for being the first game to generate the whole milky way galaxy, to scale.
DAI? i love the game, it's a personal favorite of mine. But I cannot in good faith, say that it was objectively one of the best or most influential games of the entire decade.
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therevanchist25
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Mar 15, 2017 23:07:06 GMT
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therevanchist25
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, KOTOR, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, Anthem
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Post by therevanchist25 on Jul 30, 2019 3:35:22 GMT
Well given that it's Iakus, he's surely talking about the Politics Thread which was nothing but an endless shouting match, as all political discussions end up as in this day and age. Doesn't change the fact that it was by far one of the most populated, visited and posted upon portions of the forum and its removal has not done anything good. Oh I don't deny it was one of the more popular threads on the forum. I visited it myself on occasion. I'm also cynical enough to fully believe that due to the majority conservative/ anti-SJW opinion in said thread is why it was shut down. However, just me personally, being still so upset about it's closure after all this time is a little much. I get it, I really do, but it's hardly worth acting like site management are "tyrants" for one foolish decision.
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Mar 15, 2017 23:07:06 GMT
March 2017
therevanchist25
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, KOTOR, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, Anthem
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Post by therevanchist25 on Jul 29, 2019 19:27:05 GMT
The OT boards used to be a lot more lively too. Until a sizable chunk of the posters were chased away by Sofa and his cronies when they took over. The place has been withering ever since. Sofa chased everyone away? Any topics that came to mind for the OT board? Well given that it's Iakus, he's surely talking about the Politics Thread which was nothing but an endless shouting match, as all political discussions end up as in this day and age.
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Mar 15, 2017 23:07:06 GMT
March 2017
therevanchist25
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, KOTOR, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, Anthem
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Post by therevanchist25 on Jul 29, 2019 17:15:12 GMT
Oats StudiosTake a look behind the scenes of the making of our trailer for Anthem - Conviction A film based on Anthem? I'm not sure how I feel about that. The game was a wreck at launch with no real roadmap for the future and they're putting out a movie?! It just makes me more mad about the game itself, sigh!!! It's not a movie, it was a trailer, a 3 minute trailer, for a movie that does not exist. It was frankly the most ridiculous marketing stunt I've seen in awhile. Set years before the story of the game itself, it teased a complex story of betrayal and the unexplained arrival of a mysterious woman from the Dominion. I don't even know why it was made honestly, because the story it teased has nothing to do with the lackluster narrative the game provides.
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Mar 15, 2017 23:07:06 GMT
March 2017
therevanchist25
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, KOTOR, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, Anthem
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Post by therevanchist25 on Jul 24, 2019 7:36:16 GMT
That is frankly why I don't play the game anymore period. EVERYTHING is too easy now. Everything has been nerfed to hell and back. I faceroll GM2 solo, even in a Purple Ranked Storm Jav. Never mind my main Colossus Jav which treats GM2 attacks like tiny bugs in his face. The combat and the challange was the main draw for me, since the game has basically nothing else to provide. Now it no longer even has that, because apparently I'm the only player on Earth who didn't struggle with everything and think all the enemies were cheap and OP. To be fair, they had to adapt to the fact that the common player now is forced to solo most content Their change to the difficulty for the main campaign can have affected "end game" without them realizing or having a workaround True, but the big nerfs to enemies started MONTHS ago, when the population wasn't yet a problem. Titans were only a challenge for like 2 weeks before they were reduced to the ridiculous joke they now are. The game hypes them up as this big bad boogeyman enemy you never wanna come across, and for 2 weeks they were exactly that. Now everyone's In Universe fear of them is completely cartoonish.
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Mar 15, 2017 23:07:06 GMT
March 2017
therevanchist25
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, KOTOR, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, Anthem
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Post by therevanchist25 on Jul 24, 2019 4:34:45 GMT
I will start by saying that I am against a reboot. (I hate reboots in general and I think there is plenty that can be done with ME without a reboot). However, if there were one, I'd basically tell a similar story as the trilogy in the broad strokes (reapers and all) but: a) diverge from the story as we had it significantly at about the point where ME2 starts. No destruction of the SR1, no Lazarus, Cerberus gets a much smaller role, very different role for the collectors, etc. b ) I would not make such extensive choices and consequences through the games. It was a great feature and makes the trilogy stand apart from pretty much any other game series out there but it also produced an almost unmanageable array of variables over just three games and in some ways, I think if the devs went the Dragon Age route and confined the consequences to fewer central ones, they would have had more opportunities to diverge more within the games themselves (talk about ME3 auto dialogue and such). Also... c) I'd be liberal about the use of protagonists. You may play one for just one game in the series, another might return for 2-3 games, etc. because ... d) I would expand the story A LOT. First of all, I'd start earlier in the timeline. I'd make the tutorial of the first game about finding the prothean ruins on Mars and then have a time jump of 10-20 years and make the game itself about the first contact war. I'd also expand the timeline for humanities development, so if the prothean ruins were found in 2149 and, say the first contact war happens a little later in about 2165, then the events equivalent to ME1 would not happen before around 2220. You could even throw a sidequel trilogy in that timeframe with one game about humanities cold war with the batarians, another about how you need to try and keep humanities illegal AI research a secret from the council and yet another where you play through events that are a reinterpretation of the Revelation novel. Think Ezio trilogy in Assassin's Creed. In fact, I'd take the early AC titles as an example for how to structure the story (not the gameplay mind you). You'd have all these self-contained story but together they tell us how humanity develops in the new reality of a universe where the Mass Effect exists. e) The reaper plot itself should also take place over a longer period than just 3 years in universe and one could easily make more than 3 games out of it IRL. Of course, I see the problem with all of this and why it couldn't work in the real world and the industry as it exists today: What I am talking about would require at least 6 or 7 AAA games to be produced, so it's like a 12 year plan. You'd need someone or a small team with a definitive vision of the whole thing, which would be quite incredible in scope. They'd need to keep focus for that long, reliable funding, no interference from above and talented devs beneath them. But hey, you asked what we'd wish for, not what's realistic.
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Mar 15, 2017 23:07:06 GMT
March 2017
therevanchist25
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, KOTOR, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, Anthem
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Post by therevanchist25 on Jul 24, 2019 4:25:17 GMT
Yeah, I don't see any reason why you should not take advantage of an OP weapon as much as possible. It's not like it's a PVP game where you are being unfair to other players. Everything is supposed to scale to your item level anyway. You can play in Hard mode more easily and get better rewards for doing so.
When I created my second pilot I already had the means to craft my own masterwork weapons and gear, which I'd earned on the first pilot, and I certainly didn't hesitate to use them!
The game wasn't enjoyable. I got too easy at that point. The weapon you get with the LOTD edition is that gold one in the picture, and that was somewhat OP, but not game breaking. Getting this weapon at the level I did was game breaking. I would have probably ended up worse at the game because there were no tactics involved in winning fights. Anything without shields/barriers was pretty much one shot, and everything else was dead before it could get to me or do any real damage.
I didn't start using it again until after I finished the Main Story, because at that point I was just trying to finish missions as quickly as possible to get to level 30.
That is frankly why I don't play the game anymore period. EVERYTHING is too easy now. Everything has been nerfed to hell and back. I faceroll GM2 solo, even in a Purple Ranked Storm Jav. Never mind my main Colossus Jav which treats GM2 attacks like tiny bugs in his face. The combat and the challange was the main draw for me, since the game has basically nothing else to provide. Now it no longer even has that, because apparently I'm the only player on Earth who didn't struggle with everything and think all the enemies were cheap and OP.
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therevanchist25
1,741
Mar 15, 2017 23:07:06 GMT
March 2017
therevanchist25
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, KOTOR, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, Anthem
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Post by therevanchist25 on Jul 24, 2019 0:26:42 GMT
On PC … it is bugged … the conversation icon doesn't show up on the map … you have to walk up to Faye to get the bubble to trigger, then have the talk. Overall, it's a minor issue, compared to game and server stability, but if you haven't played PTS and you're on PC, you won't know to have that conversation with Faye … unless you stumble into it.
I don't specifically recall if this one was bugged in PTS or not … if it was, they didn't fix it before adding to the base game. That seems to be a thing … bugs identified in PTS not being fixed before going live. I'm not sure how BioWare thinks that is a good idea … I thought one of the motivations behind PTS was to help prevent these kinds of things.
Most of the conversations in PTS triggered the icon on the map … but there were also issues in PTS with conversations triggering, but not being able to complete them. After a while, the icon and the bubble above the NPC just disappeared (had one with Brin, one with Harken … both reported in PTS feedback).
Some conversations were out of sequence in PTS … but as the story progressed, they seemed to get the sequence sorted out … I attributed that to seeing the development process evolve and updating stuff in PTS as it became ready. We'll see if that's actually the case.
The game instability and server issues we are seeing now were also present in PTS … and they mostly got those sorted out … they tended to reappear with a content update, then additional efforts restored both game and server stability/reliability. Again, I thought part of PTS was to ID those issues and prevent them from showing up when the new content went live in the base game. I understand that not all the bugs could get fixed before going live … but some of the major issues identified in PTS … like server and game instability?? Not good. Not good at all. The icons not appearing has been a consistent problem for me on PS4 for literally months. I've also had Icons over Matti and Dax for months, for them to disappear when I get near them. The icons are just another broken joke that I've been living with since Launch. So for people to imply that the game works smooth as butter and I just need to pull up my map to see it is a little ridiculous.
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March 2017
therevanchist25
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, KOTOR, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, Anthem
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Post by therevanchist25 on Jul 23, 2019 0:05:03 GMT
I've been saying it for years. Mass Effect 2 is truly where all the problems for the trilogy, and I guess by extension the whole series, truly started. While it is far and away the best stand alone experience of the series, it is imo at least, one of the worst sequels ever made. Because I personally don't care if new players don't understand whats going on in a game with a 2 on the box. If you skipped Fellowship of the Ring and started at Two Towers would you really understand whats happening? No, nor should you. If you wanna know go read Fellowship first. IMHO sequels should not try to cater to new comers. The only exception is something like Final Fantasy, where the numbers don't really imply a sequel, but merely the next game in the series.
ME2 should have focused on a galaxy trying to unify and come together to fight the inevitable Reaper menace going on in the Meta background. While Shepard and company focus on exploring uncharted space and ancient ruins and such, trying to uncover all of the Reapers secrets, and their weaknesses with the Collectors hot on their heels, trying to destroy all of said secrets and weaknesses before Normandy can find them.
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1,741
Mar 15, 2017 23:07:06 GMT
March 2017
therevanchist25
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, KOTOR, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, Anthem
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Post by therevanchist25 on Jul 22, 2019 21:50:50 GMT
I stand around shooting giant crystals for reasons that the game does not really bother explaining. Faye discusses it with you in the Fort, so yes there is an explanation. Yea, and how am I, as a player, suppose to know that Sofa, when I log in and see absolutely Zero Conversation icons anywhere, just like I have the last 3 months? Nor is is stated anywhere on their frankly pointless, unhelpful News Feed when you log in? Fayes Icon did not appear at all until I was literally 3 inches from her face, which was pure luck that I even got that close because I was checking the now pointless Job Board looking for these promised 2 new missions which aren't here.
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