The Mass Effect thread

[Rhinox]

So hey I was just wondering... I liked Mass effect. Mass effect 2 worth buying yet?

Actually, I should probably replay Mass Effect. I waited to late to start exploring stuff and wasn't able to access/finish all the missions

[Rhinox]

hmmmmm... maybe my next purchase then. How much does what you did in ME1 effect the plot of ME2? In other words, how much do I have to obsess over making the perfect sheperd to bring over into ME2?

[Rhinox]

OK cool. I think I knew all of those. And I did that one trick to max out both paragon and renegade, if it matters. I really need to get playing. I don't like to spoil the plot, but if I wait long enough I'll just go read what happens

[Rhinox]

So turns out I already own ME2 and never played it

Its sitting on my shelf I musta bout it at gamestop used $17.99 sticker on the case at least I got it cheap

[Rhinox]

Dammit you guys now I have to go be a hermit and play through ME2 before I get spoiled ITT.

[Rhinox]

SO I'm about 8hrs into my replay through ME1. I never actually finished my first play through so I didn't get the extra bonuses you get during your second and subsequent plays, but I knew I wanted to play through again and I didn't want to just jump right to the end and finish, having forgot most of the plot points for the first 90% of the game.

Anyways, here's my dilemna. My goal is simply to get through the game in a way that will get me the most out of ME2 from my ME1 game upload. I'm going to let Kaiden die near the end and I want to go into ME2 with a relationship with ashley. I'm not going to kill Rex (or didn't, he's in my party now not sure when the plot point comes up where I have the chance to kill him). I'm playing as a super paragon, making all the noble choices and ignoring the renegade choices.

So where I'm at is I'm just now ready to leave the citadel the first time. I've done all the assignments I could access in the citadel, but I didn't do them all how I would consider "ideal", because I have not spent any of my skill points for leveling up (that means the paragon dialogue options were sometimes grayed out). A couple options I can remember off the top of my head were, In Citadel: Dr. Michel assignment, I was unable to avoid combat because I could not select the charm option, and I had to kill the blackmailer. In Citadel: Prosidium Prophet, I bought the pass for the hanar rather than using the charm options.

Do stuff like that have impacts on ME2, or do I just miss out on the +Paragon bonus I would have got for using charm in those examples? I plan on using the loop later in the game to max out paragon so I don't care about missing the paragon points then, I'm more concerned about not getting the plot points I wanted.


To eliminate this problem in the future, does it matter how I spend my skill points? For example, if I dump them all in Charm and decryption (electronics) to be able to always do the dialogue I want and access any door or crate I come across, will that negatively affect shepherd going into ME2? I'm not interested in optimizing a particular type of combat sheperd for ME1, but rather making sure I hit all the plot points I want to hit for upload into ME2.

tl;dr: TELL ME HOW TO UPGRADE SHEPERD/SQUAD IN ME1 to MAXIMISE FOR PLOT POINTS AND ANYTHING ELSE THAT TRANSFERS INTO ME2. I HAVEN'T SPENT ANY SKILL POINTS YET AND I'M GETTING READY TO LEAVE THE CITADEL FOR THE FIRST TIME.

[Rhinox]

/pre-ined for ME Mafia!


PS Still making progress in my ME1 playthrough. I'm relearning that I have to save more often. Twice I've driven the mako around a planet for an hour only to die and get dropped right back to the start of the planet...... I keep thinking, I'M WAY TOO 1337 TO DIE THIS TIME!!!1! then *boom* headshot. then NOO FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

[Rhinox]

Hurt: Legion
Heal: Tali

Because I don't know who this legion character is yet and I feel left out not playing THE GAME.

[Rhinox]

hurt legion heal liara

[Rhinox]

Then VOTE WITH ME, FOR GREAT JUSTICE.

LIARA > LEGION

SHADOW BROKER

> GETH

damn you irresistible black bar spoiler.

[Rhinox]

Then VOTE WITH ME, FOR GREAT JUSTICE.

LIARA > LEGION

SHADOW BROKER

> GETH

damn you irresistible black bar spoiler.

OMFG DID YOU LOOK!?!?!?

NOOOOOOOOOOO

haha yeah I couldn't resist but its ok I think because I don't yet understand the significance of that reveal so I don't feel anything is actually spoiled right now.

[Rhinox]

So Jahudo, are you still on your first playthrough of ME1? Just wondering how far you've progressed.

I've made it out of the citadel and picked up liara and have basically been exploring and clearing all available systems before doing feros and noveriaProbably finish exploring available systems, then make one last run through the citadel to close out a few assignments and see if there are any new dialogue or assignments available, then feros, then noveria unless more systems have opened up for exploring after feros. At that point I think I'll definitely get more systems to explore - I printed out a systems guide to cross of places I've finished, and there are still many many more systems than I have available to explore currently. First time I played the game, I did all the main plot line up to

the point of no return, Ilos jump I think?

and decided that was the time I should start exploring other worlds, only to find I missed out on some stuff due to

not being able to return to the citadel

. So, this time, I'm doing all the side stuff I can before doing the main missions.

Anyways, just wondering if I've caught up to you yet . Just have to decide if I'm going straight into ME2 after this playthrough, or if I need to do another playthough of ME1 to level up higher, get achievements, or fix any plot points I might have messed up for transfer into ME2. I also wanna do the female renegade sheperd with a Liara love interest <3<3<3 and an apathetic sheperd with no love interest, to take through ME2, and with ME3 being delayed looks like I'll have plenty of time!

[Rhinox]

Yeah I beat my first playthrough about 2-3 days ago, paragon vanguard. I've kept away from this thread until now so I don't catch any spoilers. I have to buy ME2 now.

I did Noveria right after leaving the citadel, and wondering why the boss battle was so hard. So then I got Liara and did all the side missions before doing another main mission

haha cool. I might actually finish my playthrough tonight or tomorrow. I'm in the middle of Virmire right now. I've done every sidequest except the couple I known can't be accessed until citadel lockdown. I'm at level 46 or 47 Soldier (shock trooper) right now and my paragon meter is full. Nothing in the renegade meter. Credits are maxed at 9999999 . I did noveria last and it was rediculously easy. I remember my first play through last year I did noveria first and got destroyed over and over again haha. I'll bump up the dificulty if I do another playthrough with this sheperd. Looking foreward to plow nito ME2 though before I learn everything about it ITT.

[Rhinox]

Uh, Mass Effect movie's already been greenlit. It's supposed to come out the end of 2012.

I might do that casting thing for the lulz, but it'll be pretty much all genre actors cuz I pretty much don't follow anything that's not sci-fi.

I thought the actual movie was supposed to be about humans discovering the protheon technology and discovering the turians sparking the first contact war?

(ok ok so I just read that in the IMDB forums don't know if its really true at all )

[Rhinox]

what about Zoe Saldana as Liara? we already know she can kinda pull off the blue alien look

[Rhinox]

So, I'm well into my ME2 playthrough now. I imported my level 50 sheperd from ME1. Thoughts so far are mixed.

The story is excellent so far. Good stories in general will keep me in games even if the rest of the game is annoying.

I'm glad the ME1 equipment system is gone. It took way too long to manage weapons and armors and upgrades. The new system isn't as annoying, but its so simplified. I'd have rather kept the same concept as ME1, but revamp the user interfaces to make it more user friendly. I liked collecting weapons and upgrades and selling the extras for profit. Is there a good way to make money in ME2? I haven't found it yet.

Upgrading is also simplified. I'm not sure I like this as much. I didn't think anything was wrong with the old upgrade system, other than not being able to upgrade your crew/see what they can do unless they were already in your party. ME2 fixed this, but leveling up is so boring and pointless now its almost like you could take it away and the game wouldn't be lacking. Then it'd just be another 3rd person shooter.

Hacking/overriding - SOOOO annoying. This is a case where more realistic isn't better. The ABXY mini game from ME1 was just fine.

Resource scanning - Also annoying. Mostly because I have an obsessive compulsive need to continue sending out probes until the screen says depleted. And even then, its not REALLY depleted, it just doesn't make the controller vibrate anymore. I mean, at least give me the option to spend some credits or something to put an icon on the planet where the hotspots are.

Picking up ammo - laaaaaaame. If I wanted a strictly shooter, I'd stick to halo. Oh right, its not ammo, its some magical thermal clip that stores heat and when it can't store any more, you're SOL. Oh and right, of course it makes sense to track it as number of shots rather than # of clips and a heat meter, that totally doesn't make it seem like collecting ammo for weapons that have infinite ammo built into them Oh, and I can run out of thermal clips for my pistol and I have to switch weapons, even though these magical thermal clips work on any weapon and I still have some via still having shots available for my other weapons. Thats TOTALLY not picking up ammo at all So lame. I'd have had much more respect for it if they'd have just presented it as a full ammo gathering retcon, rather than a half assed "oh look you now have thermal clips that store heat and limit your shots for each weapon individually even though all clips work for all weapons" retcon.

Linearity of missions - not the overall story, but, for example,

when I go into the Omega quarantine zone, I go pick up the professor, and then it forces you back to the normandy. I get they want to have that conversation in the control room each time, but I wanted to go back and get archangel and finish the the omega side quests without having to go back and forth to the normandy 40 times.

The map - not there durring missions - I wanna know where I can go and what buildings I can go into. I miss being able to set a waypoint and the radar on the HUD in general. When the map is there, its useless.

I remember trying to use it to navigate around omega and afterlife, and aside from pointing out the general location of points of interest, the map doesn't help you get there at all.

No staircases labeled, no upper/lowel level discretion, no doors. Hell, it doesn't even really show you clean boundaries of where you can and can't walk to.

Loading screens - yay these are a plus for me. I got so tired of standing around in elevators in ME1. I enjoy the computerized loading screens that show whats going on - elevator changing levels, shuttle landing, picking up the shuttle, etc.

Navigating the galaxy - driving the normandy around at the solar system level is pretty fun. I don't like how much I have to think about it though - I keep overshooting planets and stuff. I haven't gone on to explore other systems in a cluster yet so I don't have an opinion on the fuel system used, but I'm guessing I will find it pretty annoying. I'll get there eventually because I'll want to explore everything and finish every side quest like like ME1. At least buying fuel is pretty cheap, and its kinda like the only thing to spend credits on.

Anyways, thats my first impression. I've made it as far as

picking up the first round of dossier crew members, and did horizon last night for first contact with the collectors. I'm going to go check out the citadel and start doing some loyalty missions and maybe do some random exploring before picking back up with the main plot assignments.

The story's got me hooked enough to overlook the annoyances above, but I hope ME3 finally gets everything right.

[Rhinox]

Minor ME2 spoiler:

Why is the citadel so lame in ME2??? Zakera ward is ok I guess but thats it? The citadel side-quests were so easy and lame, and I really wanted to be able to explore the presidium, maybe go see Sha'ira, talk to some other familiar faces, go up in the tower to meet with the council, etc. Instead, its like, oh look, here's the human embassy, and trying to exit forces you into the citadel mass transit. I was like NOOOOO FFFUUUUU and then I left the citadel so I could forget about how lame my experience of going there was.

Now I'm gonna waste a bunch of time completing sidequests, DLC, loyalty missions, exploring, etc, before picking up the rest of the dossier crew members. I think. Are there any one-way doors or points of no return where if I pass through or do (or don't do) something at the right time I'll miss out on being able to complete all the side missions?

[Rhinox]

I did get lost in ME1 citadel the first time I played. But I figured it out. Omega was trickier because of the bad quality of the map, but I didn't get as lost because I sort of have a system now of making sure I explore one area and get my bearings before I go through any doors. If I think I might be going through a door that advances the plot before I've explored other areas first, I save first so I can just reload. Still, in ME2 I don't like how just talking to someone initiates a mission and takes you somewhere. I ended up going into the

quarantine zone

on omega before I wanted to because I went down and talked to the guard. Fortunately, I had an autosave not too far back, because my last real save was a ways back.

[Rhinox]

I bet PS3 sells a comparable amount of CoD copies. But that's a discussion for the gaming thread.

I just did Samara and Thane loyalty missions. That was a nice change of pace.

Also I'm starting to think I have about 100,000 more Iridium than I need.

Wow you've really pulled ahead of me I think. I don't even have Samara and Thane in my squad yet. I just finished Grunt's Loyalty mission, and I'll finish up Mordin's as well while I'm there. I also need to do miranda's, and I just got a message that garrus is ready for his. I'm going to explore the hell out of everything I can before I go pick up the rest of my squadmates I think.

[Rhinox]

I also need to do miranda's, and I just got a message that garrus is ready for his. I'm going to explore the hell out of everything I can before I go pick up the rest of my squadmates I think.

The game lets you recruit Thane/Samara/Tali and keep on doing side missions until you are ready to move forward with the main story.

Alright maybe I'll pick them up sooner rather than later then. I just don't want to lock myself out of being able to do anything like what happened in ME1 my first playthrough when I waited until after virmire to start doing side missions and couldn't do a bunch of the citadel ones.

[Rhinox]

hmph. Thats actually not very helpful if I don't read the spoiler

But I read it anyways.

On which planet/mission/etc. do I obtain the

Reaper IFF

, whatever that is. Just so I know to avoid it until last.

[Rhinox]

It says "Reaper IFF" right under the planet name.

You know, how they always list the missions under the planet name? Yeah.

Ah thanks. That makes sense.

Or, you could just pay attention to the plot...

Well, you know, when I'm wandering around omega, I don't expect to be pulled off to a mission just because I strike up a conversation with some random NPC standing in a hallway. I wanted to make sure it wasn't something like that, or something where I wouldn't see it to know it until like 2 hours into a mission where I can't go back to a previous save because I'd already overwrit the save file 20 times since actually hitting the point of no return. "Paying attention to the plot" doesn't always fix stuff like that.

[Rhinox]

So I'm getting close to the ending sequence of my ME2 playthrough. I've done all the side missions. All my current characters are loyal (I have all characters except Legion, who I know is coming up eventually I just don't know when). I've bought/found all upgrades and researched them. I've done all the DLC except for the firewalker mission. I haven't mined every planet yet, but I don't think its worth it to try - there's no achievement or anything for doing so and I don't have anything left to spend resources on anyways, so, I'm not going to do it. Scanning planets sucks anyways.

So I'm going to do the firewalker mission next, then off to the reaper IFF and the rest of the game. Is it going to be an epic ending?

[Rhinox]

Wait, you even did Arrival already?

Yeah. Should I not have?

Just make sure you do Legion's loyalty mission.
If you don't, or give him away, you will be killed.

Yeah I was planning on doing it, but wow harsh penalty for not doing it

[Rhinox]

Haha. You won't necessarily die if you don't do Legion's loyalty mission. Mute is on crack.

Well, Arrival (and Shadow Broker too, I think) are meant to be played after the ME2 finale.

I played Shadow Broker before, and Arrival after. I don't think it REALLLLLY matters, but.

idk, there was that cutscene with shepard and hacket at the end of arrival where hacket tells shepard to keep doing what he's doing but eventually shepard is going to have to

go to earth to answer for blowing up an entire batarian system

- I haven't seen the ME2 finale yet but it seems like that cutscene wouldn't make sense after the ME2 main plot was finished.

As for shadow broker, after you beat it you get access to lots of stuff that would help you complete the ME2 main plot but seems more or less useless otherwise, so...

idk, like you said probably doesn't matter but plotwise and gameplay wise I think they make sense to be played before the ME2 finale.

[Rhinox]

Actually Rhinox, that part of things actually does kinda only make sense AFTER the "end" of ME2.

Maybe I need to finish the game first then.

[Rhinox]

Actually, the only DLC ordering that disrupts logic and canon is if you do Overlord before Firewalker. Which I did...

Yeah I understand what you mean. I read the description in the assignment list and it said something about securing the hammerhead and not allowing it to fall into enemy hands and I was like wait I already have the hammerhead

But I didn't read that until AFTER I did overlord, and the assignment descriptions wouldn't have helped me to know which order to do them in since the overlord description didn't say anything about the hammerhead.

Oh, and Mako >>> Hammerhead.

[Rhinox]

shiiiiiiiiiiiiit, I'd rather spend the money on an xbox elite or PS3 before I pay 330 bucks for a single game, no matter what comes with it. I wouldn't even shell out the money for the halo legendary editions. And they were what, half that?

[Rhinox]

I lol'd


by the way, when is mass effect mafia gonna start? I keep seeing it listed under your current games and then panicking because I didn't get a role PM.

[Rhinox]

so is tali

Not on my playthrough

[Rhinox]

Spoiler your spoilers please umbrage

[Rhinox]

oh...

I didn't play the demo.

Did

Mordin Die

in the demo or something? I just don't want to be spoiled on stuff like

which characters definitely are going to or might die.

[Rhinox]

I've been using that beam rifle thingee. Its not that bad, at least at the difficulty level I'm playing. Do you hold it in the whole time or pulse it? Because I'm pretty sure for the 6 seconds it last, the first 3 are weaker then it goes into SUPER FLASHLIGHT MODE and gets a bit stronger.

I think I'm like 8 or 9 hours in now. I think its going to take me longer than 20 to finish. It doesn't feel like i'm close to halfway through. But I'm obsessed with completing all teh missionz, so its ok.

I'm pretty sure that Cortez shuttle pilot guy is flirting with me. Like, this is my super paragon playthrough so I wanna pick the paragon choices, but I don't want to end up having to fuck him to be paragon

Oh, does anyone know what happens if the reapers catch you while you're scanning shit?

[Rhinox]

Hey greyICE I just did that mission last night. I found it the toughest one yet, and I think I'm on normal difficulty.

In related news, does anyone know the best way to take out those annoying guys that creep up on you with the big metal shield? I usually shoot their foot with infernal ammo, or wait til they get close and slot them, but... both strategies are pretty inefficient.

[Rhinox]

In related news, does anyone know the best way to take out those annoying guys that creep up on you with the big metal shield? I usually shoot their foot with infernal ammo, or wait til they get close and slot them, but... both strategies are pretty inefficient.

Adrenaline rush + sniper rifle works a treat. If you're not a Soldier, Pull works well too if you can bend it around the shield.

Thanks I'll try that. I am a soldier. I haven't been keeping a sniper rifle on me usually.

[Rhinox]

So I'm around 20hrs in now. As predicted, I still don't feel like I'm that close to the ending yet. Progress:

I'm at the part where I'm supposed to go cure the genophage, but I'm finishing up side missions firsts because I read that some become unfinishable after completing Priority: Tuchanka.

The game has been great fun so far, even though it feels more like Mass Effect 2-B rather than full 3rd evolution of the game. I appreciate the little things like tracking down all the old ship replica's for shepard's cabin, and finding the space hamster. Thing I'm dissappointed I missed:

I didn't romance that Kelly Chambers girl in ME2, so I guess there's an interaction that would have occured in ME3 with her. Not a big deal, I just kinda enjoy all the side stuff like that.

I dislike that the mission list isn't helpful in figuring out what it is you're supposed to do for a lot of the side missions, and doesn't update with any progress ever. For example, some of these missions you just have to go find things either by scaning galaxies or picking up items in other missions, but if/when you find the item I'd expect the mission list to update to something like "you've found what you're looking for now deliver it to...etc". And some minor inconsistencies with how things work. One time, a person you have to find will automatically highlight on your HUD when you're nearby, another time they don't but you can still talk to them to complete a side mission, and even one time I just triggered a weird cutscene when I walked past a person I was supposed to deliver something to to complete a side mission.

One aspect I really enjoy is how the characters move around the normandy between missions, and aren't always just standing in the same spot calibrating something all the time. I got a laugh:

right after picking up garrus and talking to someone else first and he's like "garrus is up by the main battery, he said something about "calibrations"

and I just about fell on the floor when:

mordin was talking with shepard about retiring to go sit on the beach and collect seashells and shepard was like "you'll go crazy without something to do" and mordin pauses and is like "probably will run experiments on the seashells" - probably shouldn't have been as funny as I found it but I lol'd for sure.

I like how I keep running into characters from ME2, like

kasumi and grunt - I'm guessing I might find most of the rest before I'm through as well

Regarding one of the side missions:

the one with grunt, i don't know why but I saved the rachni queen yet again, getting grunts whole team slaughtered. Probably because I'm still trying to play pure paragon for this playthrough even though paragon/renegade doesn't really matter. But it was cool watching grunt be a badass and crawl out of the whole covered in blood.

I keep preparing myself to be disappointed though. Its like, I can't possibly imagine how the ending can be so bad to garner so much hate for the whole game, when everything else has been something really cool so far. I haven't read any ending spoilers though so I'll keep grinding along and get there when I get there and judge for myself. I'm usually pretty easy to please as far as stories go (be it games, movies, books, etc) so I'm hoping I won't find it as bad as everyone else, but as I said i'm prepared to be disappointed.

[Rhinox]

What the hell have you been doing?

Well I'm a bit OCD, but I do every side mission I can before advancing the next priority mission at any given point in time (mass effect has a nasty habit of having missable sidequests that you can't complete on the mission list and you can't make them go away - that really messes with me). After every mission, priority or side, I make my rounds through the normandy talking to everyone in the ship to hear what they have to say - they usually have something new to say each time, often some humorous comments. Also, when I'm doing missions, I clear sections meticulously, and do my best to make sure I find every possible item pickup. Every time I go to the citadel, I make the entire rounds there, talking to everyone I can, and listen to all the proximity side stories - actually I think by now I've completed all/most of them. I like the one about the human girl leaving her husband for the asari, and the asari with PTSD. I've listened to all of Blasto already too.

So, thats why its taken me roughly 20hrs to get through only a 3rd of the game so far

[Rhinox]

"Bioware announced Wednesday on its website that it will redo the ending to its fabled space trilogy."

And if you actually read the Bioware press release and not the article, you'll see it doesn't actually say anything about redo-ing the ending at all.

"Building on their research, Exec Producer Casey Hudson and the team are hard at work on a number of

game content initiatives that will help answer the questions, providing more clarity for those seeking further closure to their journey.

You’ll hear more on this in April. We’re working hard to maintain the right balance between the artistic integrity of the original story while addressing the fan feedback we’ve received. This is in addition to our existing plan to continue providing new Mass Effect content and new full games, so rest assured that your journey in the Mass Effect universe can, and will, continue."

This is what they say they're doing. Its more than a huge stretch to say that means they're redo-ing anything.

[Rhinox]

For fuck sake i was almost at the end and now 4 hours later im still almost at the end gawd

Cant stay up nemore but i still wanna know whats going to be so disappointing because so far it seems like all the pieces are in place for a cool ending shit how are they gonna fuck this up.......

[Rhinox]

For fuck sake i was almost at the end and now 4 hours later im still almost at the end gawd

Cant stay up nemore but i still wanna know whats going to be so disappointing because so far it seems like all the pieces are in place for a cool ending shit how are they gonna fuck this up.......

It's very hard to understand

but bioware

fucked shit up

literally in the worst way possible

EDIT: I'm being overdramatic, but that's your first impression mind you.

bah I should have just stayed up and finished the game because I'm already a zombie today anyways. For context, I'm at

the earth mission - I'm fighting my way to presumably a portal beam thingee to beam me up to the citadel, unlock it, and pave the way for the crucible to come in and destroy the reaperz

At this point, I can't imagine how they could possibly fuck it up. I've played the game while in the back of my mind expecting to be disappointed the whole time so maybe I've lowered my expectations enough where it would be as disappointing?

Anyways, I think I've done all the sidequests, unless there were some I didn't activate for whatever reason. I did not play any multiplayer, but I've collected enough war assets and shit that I completely filled the green bar when I check the war room terminal. I assume that meant I was at max readiness even though I didn't play multiplayer, but now my squad is saying things like

only half of team hammer made it to the FOB on earth,

which I think might be related to the 50% galactic readiness level from not playing multiplayer. Anyways, I have a save from just before

assaulting the illusive man's base

, so if I need to afterwards I can go back, play some multiplayer, and try the ending missions again.

I have a theory for what may happen.

Spoiler: theory

Something like, the crucible works but doesn't destroy the reapers, it destroys the mass relays. That would completely fuck everything, but it would stop the cycle, reboot the galaxy basically. I know there's a major choice at the end, I'm thinking the choice will be something like whether to go ahead and do it, or to not do it and accept being enslaved by the reapers to give the next cycle a chance to figure out what to do. I'm kinda thinking that due to a) the citadel being connected to the mass relays and being the catalyst, and b) the parallelism with halo (or whatever sci-fi both series draw from). Halo had the whole "halos don't destroy the flood they destroy their food" twist, it would make a hell of a lot of sense to see the same kinda twist now. I can see how that could piss people off - do it and credits roll and there's no closure because OH LOOK REAPERS STILL BE REAPING ALL OVER THE GALAXY, don't do it and lose everything and everything you've fought for has been fucking pointless. At the same time, it seems like the only logical ending there could be at this point, besides the completely lame CRUCIBLE FALLS, EVERYREAPER DIES direct ending, which while lame, probably wouldn't piss people off as much, because CLOSURE. I think I'd be OK with the twist ending though, but I don't know if thats really what will happen. I don't know what illogical bullshit the game will pull out at the end to piss everyone off. I figure I'll probably meet up with the illusive man in the locked down citadel I'm sure that'll lead to some unexpected bullshit or something.

Anyways, thats my theory, and kinda what I'm hoping will happen actually.


Aside from the ending, I've come to a conclusion about the prothean squadmate - IMO, he was 100% relevant to the story, and I feel like a big part of the game would have been missing were he not there. He absolutely should have been included in the game, and its absolutely bullshit that we had to pay $10 for him. It'd be like if they left Tali or Liara or Garrus out unless you paid for them. He's more important to the story than James, who had some pretty good character development early in the game, but added nothing really the longer the game went on. He'd also be more important than ashley/kaiden, unless you are pursuing a romance with them then they're about even. Now, maybe I have this opinion because I took him on every single mission just because I liked the perspective he brought, and all the comparisons to "how things were in HIS cycle". Maybe its such that if he's not there, you don't miss that dialogue because you don't know what you're missing. But, for example I don't know how the hell the

Thessia

mission even works without Javik there, and the conversations that happen in the normandy immediately after. And even some of the interactions with just shepard and javik, some pretty neat stuff there and no less relevant than shepards interactions with any other character. Its not like Zaeed from ME2 where once you have him aside from his loyalty mission he just leans there in his compartment telling useless war stories. Javik was integrated quite nicely into ME3 to the point where I feel like having experienced the story with Javik in it, it would be pretty fucking incomplete without him. In ME2, Zaeed could fucking disappear and it wouldn't have changed the game experience at all. Not so in ME3, at least if you actually used Javik a lot. Complete bullshit.

On a lighter note,

Drunk Tali: e-MERRRRR-gen-cy in-DUC-tion port

<-OMFG I don't know if I was really just that tired at that point last night but damn.. you know for all its faults and bullshit bioware fucking bullshit, this has been a really great game and really cracks me up at times. There are certainly a lot of things the game has got 100% right. I can probably say up to this point, most enjoyable game I've played in, well probably ever.

[Rhinox]

I don't think I made it to 5000, even though I scanned the sht outa the galaxy and did every sidemission I could find.

But its ok, I'll get this ending, then I'll load my old save and play some multiplayer and do it again.

[Rhinox]

finished..

read the comments in thread, watched the 40min vid posted here (and the 20 min follow up on the indoc theory)..

Just letting it sink in for now. Thoughts when I'm more awake.

[Rhinox]

After sleeping on it.... yeah I just don't like the ending. I've been trying to rationalize a way for it to make sense, and no I just can't.

Spoiler: My thoughts

Everything up to the godkid thing was fine.

At first, I didn't really think there was anything wrong with the godkid - after reading things yeah he's stupid.

Upon first being given my 3 choices - well first thing was wait which ramp is which? I don't want to go to destroy if I want to control and vice versa and synthesize at least thats pretry obvious...

but.. wait what? I wanna destroy the reapers, thats what I've been trying to do for 3 games. But.... I don't wanna destroy the geth or edi - my shepard has been all about "synthetics are life too" and I even got the geth and quarians working together and all my conversations with edi, and poor joker her and edi are in love... those synthetics aren't the problem it would go against everything I've done to destroy them. So what are my other options again?

control? control the reapers? did I like, 3 seconds ago have a conversation with the illusive man about how no one can control the reapers? Haven't every indoctrinated character in the whole series

thought

they had some degree of control, at least at first? Controlling the reapers goes against everything built up in the whole series.

OK so whats this last option? synthesize? what the fuck is that? Everyone... becomes part synthetic? How the fuck does that even work? How the fuck does that even happen? OK, well the reapers go away at least, and I don't have to kill off edi or the geth so maybe this is the best ending for this shepard ok lets go...

cutscene, flashbacks to...

joker and anderson?

thats who shepard sees flash before his eyes when he's about to die? (OK, thats a funtion of pre-rendered cutscenes being unable to fit in the characters you really care about (or are still alive at that point of the game). Joker and anderson are.. still alive and both important to shepard no matter what his or her choices are throughout the game. Its lame, but ok).

ok ooooh bright green pulse whats it gonna do? umm... apparently not much. It makes the reapers stop reaping though. Mass relays getting destroyed - thats one thing I got right from my guess at what was going to happen. But without mass relays, isn't like the whole fucking galaxy in the sol system? Where are they gonna go? OK yeah theres still light speed but... the galaxy is fucking 100,000 light years across, and according to the map in the normandy, Ranoch is nearly all of that away from sol. How do they ever get home? (ok wiki time - FTL drives can do about a dozen light years distance in a day, that means it still takes 8333 days to cross the galaxy, which is still like 23 years.) Then.. what? the normandy? thats weird. Its flying away from this green pulse? why? Does this pulse destroy ships? what about the thousands of other ships fighting, did they get destroyed? Normandy crashes on some planet. Where the fuck is this planet? How did the normandy fucking get there? Why can't the normandy outrun it? An electromagnetic pulse can't travel FTL, normandy can. OK maybe the pulse can, how long has the normandy been running from this pulse? days? closest star to earth is like 20 light years. Where the fuck is this planet? it would take a minimum of a couple days to get to any planet traveling at just FTL speeds. And then... wtf credits roll? Thats it?

I then went back and watched the endings for the other 2 choices - I shoulda just youtubed them, but.... anyways.. they're... all... exactly the fucking same? Except for different colored pulses, oooooh, ahhhhhh. Please. What useless nonsense. You get to the ending the first time, you're given all this new information and these 3 choices and really they all suck and you have no way of logically deciding which choice to pick, and shepard just accepts it and starts limping along? And then, you make a choice, and you don't even see the consequences of the choice. You get the same generic cutscene regardless of the choice. Its a "well the viewer/gamer has to decide what happens I guess" ending. I hate those. If thats what it is, why the charade with the godkid nonsense and the choice at all? Why not just, watch the illusive man dies, and the crucible fires, and the cutscene happens and you still don't know what the fuck is happening or why, but at least there isn't a nonsense bullshit meaningless choice to make that makes no sense. Maybe something like this fan made ending, made just by editing scenes out of the ending (only 5min, the rest is the credits):



Its still kinda lame and easy, there are still a lot of unexplained stuff, but at least it makes sense.

k I think I'm done ranting for now.

[Rhinox]

Spoiler:

So my guess is that they were going for indoctrination at least up until the Starchild, because all the really weird shit happens when you're talking with TIM and Anderson.

Spoiler:

I thought that was just trying to show us that TIM was controlling shepard and anderson, but :shrug:

I think even if they come out with LOL INDOCTRINATION later on, I won't believe it was planned all along, more so than "oh look this is what the fans want lets give it to them so everyone shuts up about our ending." I mean, I kinda feel like people just want it to make sense, and the indoc theory is what people are coming up with the shoehorn sense into a nonsensical ending, unfortunately.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6M0Cf864 ... re=related - another good vid hating on the ending. Good points.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4H_A7Sea ... re=related - more ranting, some same stuff.

[Rhinox]

http://forum.mafiascum.net/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=17959

[Rhinox]

It's evil that they require multiplayer for the best ending.

Its not required if you made every best choice throughout all 3 games to get the highest war asset score.

But really the difference between the normal good endings and the *best* ending is so minimal its not worth the extra effort to get it IMO.

My suggestion is to youtube the best ending after you finish the game to see what you're missing, especially if you don't enjoy doing the multiplayer just for its own sake.

[Rhinox]

difference between the normal good endings and the *best* ending

no

Forgive me, I seem to have forgotten the sarcastic quote marks around "good endings"

None of the endings are good.

I was talking about what the gamemakers consider the "good endings" and the "best ending"

[Rhinox]

i'd be like Toy Story 3 ending with the fire

I was soooo rooting for that ending