Mass Effect 3

Earlier today, I realized that the entire problem with the final act of ME 3 was perfectly summed up by Mordin in the second game:

"Hard to care about two armies fighting...one wins, one loses. For this fight, want personal connection. Can't anthropomorphize galaxy. But can think of favorite nephew. Fighting for him."

That, right there, is the nutshell of this entire series. Fighting for "the galaxy" is nice and all, but most of the people remember the personal effects of the game. Their love interests. Their favorite NPCS. Their favorite hub worlds. The same way Mordin had a hard time fighting for the galaxy but could fight for his nephew is the same problem that a lot of us have: yeah, we appreciate that the Reapers were stopped and all, but it feels hollow considering that everyone we care about is either dead or screwed over with no apparent hope to fix it.

edited 22nd Mar '12 8:02:18 AM by KingZeal

That, right there. They spend two games building relationships and connections and then just throw it all away in the final one. Squadmates? Most tell you to piss off they have better things to do. Relationships? Hell no, not even being your LI will get most back on your ship. Nightmares? Forget the people you know the places you've been, one random kid in a generic forest, that'll shake you up. Just so weak.

"Tyyr's a necessary evil. " Spirit

There goes our goal of beating the Kingdom Hearts thread.

So I finished my second playthrough yesterday and I couldn't help but notice that TIM thought that mashing together a homicidal VI with parts of Sovereign would be a good idea. Yes, EDI didn't actually hurt anyone in Cerberus until they betrayed Shepard, but I'll never understand how we're supposed to take Cerberus seriously when they make such stupid experiments.

It is totally in character with them though.

But I didn't see the point or need of adding that to EDI's backstory.

"Tyyr's a necessary evil. " Spirit

But what about blueberry? She came back to the ship.

I would make a joke about how dangerous Ceberus' workplace is, but this was even more driven to the ground than Marauder Shields.

edited 22nd Mar '12 8:07:27 AM by fakeangelbr

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"Most" Liara, Tali, Garrus, and the VS will be back but everyone else is MIA, even Kelly. Alright, maybe like half. Still, it's glaring when Jack and Miranda just have better things to do, Jacob is a dick, and Thane is dying. Half your LI's are MIA. Thane has an excuse, Jack and Miranda are just bad writing/lack of vision, and Jacob is a big fuck you to part of the fanbase. So really, a lot of the people who picked the game up in ME 2 have had their LI's just written out (poorly) of the story.

edited 22nd Mar '12 8:10:40 AM by Tyyrlym

"Tyyr's a necessary evil. " Spirit

Jack is commanding an elite biotic squad. But Jacob and Miranda are being selfish dicks.

Anyone feel that Miranda should have returned to the squad? She's be a good representative of ME2, and would provide a good perspective on Cerberus.

Miranda goes to Hackett to give Cerberus intel, if I remember right.

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I wouldn't have minded having Miranda back in the squad. I liked the smaller squad selection in Mass Effect 3, but at the same time I miss being able to mix a max squadmates in between missions. Now it just feels like I can just find two and stick with them the entire game.

Wonder how Miranda would have reacted to working beside ED-I.

"I know where I am, I just don't know where I am in where I am." - Me

If it was me, I would find the whole notion awkward.

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To be fair, I stuck with two squaddies in the first two games too after I got them.

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That time I felt like I was being forced into bringing certain people. I buffed up Kaiden's Security or Decryption or whichever one he had and dragged him along because I wanted to loot everything. Then I would bring Wrex because...he was Wrex.

Then I made the mistake of chickening out on Virmire and leaving him to die, so Tali had to because my looting expert for Illos. I don't know why you need a high level of Decryption or Electronics when you just end up smearing gel on the items in the end.

...How does that work, anyway?

"I know where I am, I just don't know where I am in where I am." - Me

Mass effect fields.

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I know what she's doing and I wouldn't call a bunch of students from Grissom academy "elite". They're more talented than anything. And I still don't like it. It reduces Jack to just a number in the EMS, same with Miranda.

Definitely. Everything is going to hell, you're the point of the spear and someone close to you with intimate knowledge of Cerberus is on the sidelines.

My entire problem with the squadmate situation in ME 3 is that to me it felt like ME 2 was about collecting this bunch of crazy awesome lunatics and when ME 3 rolled around you'd take them into it and kick major ass, hopefully snagging the VS and Liara to round the group out. After all, what is ME 2 but one long sequence of trying to "fix" a dozen severly broken people, earning their loyalty and forging them into a team? I was sort of ok with that. Then ME 3 comes out and it turns out that ME 2 was just "Mass Effect: Dicking Around Until 3 Comes Out." It still sets my teeth on edge to walk into Purgatory and see Jack sitting there at the table, or Kelly in the refugee camp, etc. All these people I worked so hard with in ME 2 and now they're just +20 points on the EMS meter. Fucking, yay.

"Tyyr's a necessary evil. " Spirit

Can't we just unlock the other thread under the condition that we keep things civil? I mean, 45,000+ posts gone like that?

On topic: I would've liked if the devs kept the idea of your ME 2 squad returning as temporary squadmates. Would've been interesting to have one last mission with everyone before the final battle.

#IceBearForPresident

I thought Jack would be at least worth 50-75 points since she took out a damn prison stations when you first met her in two. She was calmer in three, but I don't see why she wouldn't still have a higher number.

Also, Omni gel is just tiny mass effect fields? What can't mass effect do?

"I know where I am, I just don't know where I am in where I am." - Me

They change mass.

In theory, this is limited only by imagination.

P.S.: The first time was a joke.

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I know that omni gel isn't a mass effect field. It's just talking about the squad in the first game made me question the validity of a security system that can be bypassed by smearing gel on the electrical panel. And since you can convert all your weapons, armor, mods, and biotic amps into omni gel, everyone is just carrying around a skeleton key to every safe in the galaxy. How do you keep a stable a economy when someone could hold a bank hostage, drop trow, and the hack into the bank records and transfer funds into his own account?

And how does an economy function when only electronic transactions exist? Would that make everything worthless and you're just passing back imaginary funds to other people that have no real value outside some arbitrary value assigned by the Citadel? How does the Reaper invasion change any of this when it was destined for failure anyway?

Or am I just pulling and Ugly Barnacle and being overly analytic?

"I know where I am, I just don't know where I am in where I am." - Me

Hey the The Ugly Barnacle is a work of art and you will respect it!

To be serious, you need tech experts to access the locks in the first place. Just having the Omni-gel won't get you past everything.

edited 22nd Mar '12 8:47:34 AM by Spirit

#IceBearForPresident

Forgive me. The Ugly Barnacle deserves better than my slanderous words.

But yeah, I'm looking back at some of the things in Mass Effect One that I just get. I don't dislike the Omni-Gel or the limitations put up by need a tech expert, I just don't get how they came into being and why.

"I know where I am, I just don't know where I am in where I am." - Me

...whelp.

i look away for a few hours and you guys kill the old me3 thread and now we're right back on page 1.

wonderful :|

what gives virmire survivor the conflict ball in me3 btw? something about udina i think i heard?

Cerberus is attacking the Citadel and you're trying to kill Udina. So yeah, the VS is once again completely wrong for not trusting you or your murderous intentions.

edited 22nd Mar '12 8:56:29 AM by Spirit

#IceBearForPresident

why are you trying to kill udina?

and is cerberus trying to kill udina?

way to bring spoiler tags back again ;_;

edited 22nd Mar '12 8:58:12 AM by Tarsen

I can understand their hesitation, though. Cerberus rebuilt Shepard, Cerberus attacks the Citadel, Cerberus tries the kill the Council, then Shepard shows up threatening the Council (albeit one member).

Udina started a coup to get the other members of the Council killed. Whether he's indoctrinated, whether he was in league with Cerberus the whole time, or whether he just got fed up because the Council kept blowing off Earth's invasion is left for interpretation.

edited 22nd Mar '12 8:59:31 AM by KingZeal