Ulythium
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Post by Ulythium on Jan 11, 2023 21:46:17 GMT
Mass Effect 3.
They couldn't quite stick the landing.
Slight digression: anytime you immerse yourself in a given branch of popular culture, especially during the internet age, you're bound to absorb certain "facts" as received wisdom. This is particularly true of art that's afforded a negative reception - the worse something is perceived to be, the more likely it is that you'll come to know about it, even if your experience remains 100% second-hand. (For example, I've never heard Squeeze by The Velvet Underground, or Cut the Crap by The Clash, but I "know" they're dreadful albums that ought to be airbrushed from history.)
Prior to last month, my only direct experience of the Mass Effect franchise involved messing around in the Andromeda demo one weekend when I had nothing else to play; even so, I was aware that the ending of ME3 wasn't all that popular among the series' fans, to put it mildly.
As I neared the end of Legendary Edition, my trepidation grew. Was the ending truly as bad as I'd been led to believe?
Before some of my fellow Font Geeks encouraged me to give the Mass Effect games a shot, I hadn't cared in the slightest; now, having spent 60-odd hours with Shepard and company, I was invested. I needed a satisfying conclusion, dammit! And, well...
... It was okay.
By no means amazing, but also not the worst thing since unsliced bread - rather, it did what many third parts of trilogies do, and wrapped everything up reasonably well without shitting the bed in the process.
Gameplay-wise, it was basically the same as ME2, but not quite as good. In fact, thinking about it, "ME2, but not quite as good" is how I felt about pretty much the entirety of ME3 (although I absolutely adored the Citadel DLC, which elevated the entire experience to a significant extent).
8.5/10.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 11, 2023 21:51:24 GMT
The main problem was the presentation. If you had dialogue choices that chose the endings it wouldn't have been so jarring. But they literally went "pick green blue or red"
Not even "choose paragon renegade or neutral". It was just such a weird and bizarre way to end a trilogy that was always so good on the choices you made mattering.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 11, 2023 22:00:43 GMT
I was always a supporter of the original ending. Was pretty upset that they went and expanded it after the backlash, which now I think of it, is almost certainly the version they included on Legendary Edition. The original ending worked within the entire mood and theme of the main story, much moreso than 2’s suicide mission where everyone survives. I didn’t think it needed to be expanded upon, and I hate the precedent it sent that if gamers bitch loud enough, developers will bend to their mold.
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Post by Aunt Alison on Jan 11, 2023 22:01:58 GMT
The other issue is that Shepard only survives in one ending from what I remember
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Ulythium
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Post by Ulythium on Jan 11, 2023 22:18:26 GMT
Does anyone know why Tali put Shepard's name on the memorial wall in my ending? I've read that it was supposed to be your love interest, but mine was Miranda, so I don't know what the hell happened there!
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Post by Aunt Alison on Jan 11, 2023 22:20:07 GMT
Means you chose poorly
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Ulythium
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Post by Ulythium on Jan 11, 2023 22:24:00 GMT
But seriously, what happened - does anyone know? I spent almost literally no time with Tali across all three games!
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Post by Deleted on Jan 11, 2023 22:25:53 GMT
Did you have the romance completion event in ME3? Not sure what it is for Miranda as I romanced Jack. That said, I can’t remember who placed the plaque in my playthrough.
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Ulythium
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Post by Ulythium on Jan 11, 2023 22:31:49 GMT
@spookyxelectric Yup - woke up in bed with her after the party and everything. I'm at a loss!
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Post by RadicalRex on Jan 12, 2023 1:39:21 GMT
Was the ending truly as bad as I'd been led to believe? Note that the big backlash was a reaction to the original ending as it was on release--they patched in an extended ending in reaction to that, which is the one you saw in the Legendary Edition. That at least softened the hatred a little. Personally I didn't mind even the original one because I thought the entire game was a shit show and I was just glad it was finally over. Not sure if I've mentioned this before.
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Duffman5
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big cook, little cook welcome to our cafe
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Post by Duffman5 on Jan 12, 2023 6:47:29 GMT
Hi Mate re ElexYes, what can I say, I love eurojank ARPG's*. As I said and I mean this, it did not click for tens of hours and I have played and completed most of PB games, so I know "their" games and game mechanics. The story was engrossing, even after all those hours, the sides were pretty good, although obviously you had your generic rpg fare mixed in with that. I enjoyed the quest lines for your companions. I had no bugs until around the 60 hour mark, the ones I did have were the falling through the world and Jax losing his legs! I am looking forward to the 2nd game as by all accounts it is a good sequel. *I'm one of the only people in the world that loves/loved TWI and TWII
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EMarkM
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Post by EMarkM on Jan 12, 2023 7:23:50 GMT
I’ve always taken it as one of the (many) forms of proof that I’m genuinely quite stupid, that I didn’t mind the original ending to ME 3 at all, and really couldn’t understand what all the fuss was about.
Plus, in related news, Tali is amazing.
I even have friends who named their daughter after her!
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Post by ToomuchFluffy on Jan 12, 2023 7:26:06 GMT
See, I fucked off the busy work apart from a few gigs and focused on side quests and the main storyline. The world wasn't fleshed out enough to bother with gigs and the other stuff. Yep, what I thought. It's not just the content of the various side activities that counts for me, but running around the open world and looking at everything, finding little nooks and crannies and such.
Unfortunately the game world is still just too large overall and the content is kind of uneven in supporting that world. I feel it's a big problem that there are no support systems for the factions, so you can disable or kill whoever you want and it won't matter outside of stealth-specific missions.
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Post by Chopper on Jan 12, 2023 8:22:17 GMT
I’ve always taken it as one of the (many) forms of proof that I’m genuinely quite stupid, that I didn’t mind the original ending to ME 3 at all, and really couldn’t understand what all the fuss was about. Same here; it was totally consistent with game endings of the time which were often a simple choice like pressing a button so I didn't think anything of it. I wasn't that invested in the characters though. When the remasters came out I realised I couldn't face all that walking up and down the Normandy to chat to them after every mission, so I gave it a skip.
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Nanocrystal
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Post by Nanocrystal on Jan 12, 2023 11:28:57 GMT
I didn't hate it at the time but I do remember it left me feeling a bit empty inside, and that it could have been better. The synthesis option also stretches credulity even for a silly space opera. But the game overall still does a fantastic job of wrapping up the genophage and geth vs quarian plotlines, and your choices actually do matter for both. In some ways the reaper threat was built up far too much and was always gonna be resolved in an unsatisfying way (analogous to the Night King in Game of Thrones).
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MolarAm🔵
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Post by MolarAm🔵 on Jan 12, 2023 12:31:16 GMT
My opinion at the time was "yep this is pretty underwhelming as an ending, but it doesn't nearly ruin the rest of the experience", and I think that will hold up even now.
ME3 has some *great* endings anyway. Mordin's ending alone is worth the price of admission imo.
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Post by theguy on Jan 12, 2023 12:34:54 GMT
I think some of the pre launch hype also got a bit carried away. If I'm not mistaken one of the devs specifically said it won't just be an ending where you choose a colour and all your choices will matter, but I don't know if I'm confusing that with some other game people were disappointed with ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Then there were other controversies like Tali's reveal being a quickly edited stock photo from Google images, same with one of the ending screens, which just added to a notion that it was all a bit rushed.
I've never actually seen the revised endings, I was sort of OK with what I got but understood the disappointment. I remember thinking the indoctrination theory was sort of interesting though
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MolarAm🔵
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Post by MolarAm🔵 on Jan 12, 2023 12:41:30 GMT
I got Tali as my end memorial thing. But that was intentional, because she is the canonically best space waifu.
(yes I went there)
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 12, 2023 13:00:16 GMT
See, I fucked off the busy work apart from a few gigs and focused on side quests and the main storyline. The world wasn't fleshed out enough to bother with gigs and the other stuff. Yep, what I thought. It's not just the content of the various side activities that counts for me, but running around the open world and looking at everything, finding little nooks and crannies and such.
Unfortunately the game world is still just too large overall and the content is kind of uneven in supporting that world. I feel it's a big problem that there are no support systems for the factions, so you can disable or kill whoever you want and it won't matter outside of stealth-specific missions.
They could take some pointers from Rockstar with Red Dead and GTA. Or even their own game with the Witcher 3. This game world they create looked the part, it was just pretty soulless so I didn't have the urge to explore everything.
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Post by RadicalRex on Jan 12, 2023 13:26:35 GMT
Then there were other controversies like Tali's reveal being a quickly edited stock photo from Google images, same with one of the ending screens, which just added to a notion that it was all a bit rushed. And there was more. Remember how originally, if you wanted the green ending you were forced to play online multiplayer? That didn't go so well.
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Post by theguy on Jan 12, 2023 14:28:18 GMT
Then there were other controversies like Tali's reveal being a quickly edited stock photo from Google images, same with one of the ending screens, which just added to a notion that it was all a bit rushed. And there was more. Remember how originally, if you wanted the green ending you were forced to play online multiplayer? That didn't go so well. Ah yeah, I actually did play the Multiplayer but I don't remember anything about it. If I'm not mistaken there was also a mobile game you could play which could boost your score for those endings. This was all in addition to the usual online passes and day one DLC which was a full party member. Probably better not to think back to those dark days
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 12, 2023 14:38:02 GMT
And there was more. Remember how originally, if you wanted the green ending you were forced to play online multiplayer? That didn't go so well. Ah yeah, I actually did play the Multiplayer but I don't remember anything about it. If I'm not mistaken there was also a mobile game you could play which could boost your score for those endings. This was all in addition to the usual online passes and day one DLC which was a full party member. Probably better not to think back to those dark days Project $10. I still actually think that was a good idea poorly implemented.
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Post by dfunked on Jan 12, 2023 21:54:31 GMT
A Memoir Blue (GP) - 7/10
Quite a touching little story. What little gameplay there is can start to grate after a while, but it's always fairly obvious what you need to do, so it never really delays things from moving forward. Not sure if I'd recommend it, but I enjoyed my time with it (and it's not exactly a huge commitment at just over an hour!)
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 12, 2023 22:25:39 GMT
Mario Rabbids Kingdom Battle.
Played and binned at launch, just never got into it. This time it really clicked. Loved it BUT there is never any reason to try new characters. I would have liked it more if it forced rotation rather than just let me stick to my favourites. I also disliked the overworked, I would have killed for just a menu to go to challenges etc.
It was perfectly pitched difficulty, I loved the characters and all in all good fun.
8/10
Star wars: Jedi Knight: Fallen Order: Dark Souls
I didn't really like this. Objectively it is good, but it just wasn't what I was looking for. I wanted breezy fun in between longer RPGs and I expected a shooter but got dark souls metroidvania.
It was okay, good enough to finish but had a few massive issues. Notably stupid stupid sliding sections which were never fun, and controls always felt a little slow to respond. Demons Souls when I get hit I feel I blocked late, here I felt controls were sloppy.
I think it is a 8 or 9/10 game, but I just wasn't in the mood. The whole game I just wanted to pick up a blaster.
7/10
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Post by RadicalRex on Jan 13, 2023 3:34:06 GMT
controls always felt a little slow to respond. I've played less than an hour, but that was one of my main gripes why I abandoned. It felt like I was giving him suggestions rather than directly controlling him.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 13, 2023 8:57:05 GMT
Batman: Return to Arkham City (Arkham City remastered)
10/10
There were some annoying foibles in this. Catwoman seems to be too vulnerable to gunfire (or more likely there are too many enemies with guns). There were too many Riddler challenges and the rewards for doing all 440 (an achievement or two basically) as opposed to just a decent amount (which unlocks the Riddler ending) made it seem like a chore in retrospect.
But I can't let these little things take away from one of the best representations of Batman ever.
On to Harley Quinn's Revenge next before I tackle a re-run of Arkham Knight. I now realise a lot of my memories of this from my play through all those years ago were in fact of Arkham Knight so that one will be interesting.
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Duffman5
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Post by Duffman5 on Jan 13, 2023 9:18:37 GMT
Batman: Return to Arkham City (Arkham City remastered) 10/10 There were some annoying foibles in this. Catwoman seems to be too vulnerable to gunfire (or more likely there are too many enemies with guns). There were too many Riddler challenges and the rewards for doing all 440 (an achievement or two basically) as opposed to just a decent amount (which unlocks the Riddler ending) made it seem like a chore in retrospect. But I can't let these little things take away from one of the best representations of Batman ever. On to Harley Quinn's Revenge next before I tackle a re-run of Arkham Knight. I now realise a lot of my memories of this from my play through all those years ago were in fact of Arkham Knight so that one will be interesting. I have all the Batman games (inc Origins, although that is still in wrapper) on 360 and I bought the remastered collection for xbox. Love the AA, still one of the best superhero games, up there with Spider-Man and GotG for me, only ever played a few hours of AC (not sure why?) and have again played a few hours of AK albeit on my ps5. I really should start the collection...at some point!
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wunty
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Post by wunty on Jan 13, 2023 9:18:42 GMT
Yeah I really didn't get on with Fallen Order. I really wanted to like it but something just felt off with the controls and it didn't grip me. Gave up not too far in to the second planet I think.
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wunty
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Post by wunty on Jan 13, 2023 9:19:53 GMT
Duffman5 Same. Rebought all three a few weeks back. This is the reason that - despite some amazing games coming out in the next few months - I'm not buying a fucking thing for a long time.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 13, 2023 9:22:09 GMT
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