65 réponses à ce sujet

[Darkhour]

Omega-202 wrote...

Here we stand in the year 2186 or 2187 and we're watching the news.  

The news broadcast comes up with the "Alliance News Network" opening displaying different cities from around the world.

A) The first thing I notice: All of the cities listed currently exist.  There is not a single new city name on the screen.  Not a even a slight permutation of current city names.  

What are the odds that in nearly 180 years, not a single additional important new city will have developed?  What are the odds that currently important cities would remain important?   Case in point, Dubai was one of the city names in the opening.  180 years ago, Dubai was nothing.  It was a trading port city with no importance to the world.  Today, its the pinnacle of opulence. 

OK, I can forgive the cities.  No big deal....Wait.....Did they just show a map of the world?  Were all of the country boarders ALL STILL THE SAME AS TODAY?  No, how could they be so brainless?  I mean, we have countless codex entries and timeline information detailing all of the wars that supposed to have occurred during the 180 year time between now and the games.  

I mean, most obvious is we that we know there is no longer a US and Canada in ME lore.  US/Canada/Mexico was supposed to become the United North American States.  

THINGS CHANGE, and I would have expected BioWare's creative staff to reflect something so simple in their trailer.  

How could the writers, designers and director have been so lazy?  

And you call this a "lore gripe"? 

[Gravbh]

You go on and be annoyed at the city "lore", I'll be nerd raging about the real issues, like Ash's hair being different.

[Omega-202]

Medhia Nox wrote...

But the question is - "Why"?

Making a new city just for the sake of "This is science fiction." Seems like poor reasoning.

I prefer my fiction (be it sci-fi, fantasy, or something more tame) to have analogues I can identify with. Science fiction (unlike most fantasy) has the luxury of being based in our real world most of the time. Why not use cities I can be familiar with?

What does - "Port Leos" mean to me? It's just another sci-fi name where I land and blow stuff up. At least places like NY or London have some frame of reference... "Oh crap, that's Big Ben! *BOOM*"

I'm not talking about the actual destruction footage itself.  

I'm talking about the opening to the ANN broadcast where it shows all of the names of the cities and then the map.  Would throwing in 2 fake names really have destroyed your sense of "attachment"?  

It seems so unreasonable that Earth would have been stuck in a time capsule for nearly 200 years without even the style of suits worn by broadcasters changing.  

[Occulo]

Aris Ravenstar wrote...

I didn't even notice the map. I was too distracted by all of the white guys in modern-day business suits.

That caught my eye too.

Omega-202 wrote...

What are the odds that in nearly 180 years, not a single additional important new city will have developed?

The trailer never said anything about new cities not existing. What, just because London and other major cities are there you jump to the conclusion no new cities have been built evar?

Omega-202 wrote...
Did they just show a map of the world? Were all of the country boarders ALL STILL THE SAME AS TODAY?

If all of Africa was the same I guess I would understand, though I wouldn't approve of the developers randomly drawing lines on the continent. A lot of those countries you see on there, are really just "artificial" constructs imposed by the colonists, whose borders were not determined by the cultural differences between the cultures and people already living there. If you want an example, you can just look at Nigeria and the tensions between the Igbo and the northern Muslims there. If the Nigerian Civil War ended differently then the new state of Biafra would be on the map.

I don't expect BioWare to thoroughly research African or any other continental politics for Mass Effect though. I'd rather they focus on the galaxy than just Earthian geopolitics.

[Omega-202]

Occulo wrote...

The trailer never said anything about new cities not existing. What, just because London and other major cities are there you jump to the conclusion no new cities have been built evar?

*sigh*

At the beginning, they do the classic "globe + names of cities around the world" that a lot of news stations open with.  It was a very nice effect that clearly told the viewer that they were watching a news broadcast.  

BUT 

The cities listed during the news opening are all currently important cities.  There are NO new city names shown.  

THAT indicates that there hasn't been any kind of new important urban center to rival the ones shown.  

Modifié par Omega-202, 10 juin 2011 - 04:20 .

[Rake21]

Omega-202 wrote...

Occulo wrote...

The trailer never said anything about new cities not existing. What, just because London and other major cities are there you jump to the conclusion no new cities have been built evar?

*sigh*

At the beginning, they do the classic "globe + names of cities around the world" that a lot of news stations open with.  It was a very nice effect that clearly told the viewer that they were watching a news broadcast.  

BUT 

The cities listed during the news opening are all currently important cities.  There are NO new city names shown.  

THAT indicates that there hasn't been any kind of new important urban center to rival the ones shown.  

But, again, it's a trailer built to bring people in.  I could give a damn what's going on in the fictional city of New Boise, but if something is happening in Tokyo (even future) Tokyo, I can go "Wow, I know that place.  Look it's on fire and the newscaster **** his pants.  Something interesting is going on."

[aksoileau]

OP is looking a New Mombasa somewhere. Wrong IP!

[Yakko77]

Isn't North America one big country in the ME universe? Or at least Canada and the U.S.A.?

[Shotokanguy]

Is there something else to this topic, or are you really whining about this?

[Massadonious1]

Our world is already cramped and overpopulated. I doubt there would be any room for new sprawling mega-cities like New York 200 years from now.

[Occulo]

Rake21 wrote...

I could give a damn what's going on in the fictional city of New Boise, but if something is happening in Tokyo (even future) Tokyo, I can go "Wow, I know that place.  Look it's on fire and the newscaster **** his pants.  Something interesting is going on."

This is LA.

This is LA after the Reapers come in.

Modifié par Occulo, 10 juin 2011 - 04:51 .

[Aimi]

Yakko77 wrote...

Isn't North America one big country in the ME universe? Or at least Canada and the U.S.A.?

Yeah.  It's acknowledged in the news broadcast - the ticker mentions the North American Union - but on the world map, Canada and the USA are shown with a border between them.  Yet another reason why we shouldn't be pointing at the map as canonical.

[Haristo]

this is what we call Breaking the 4th Wall to attract emotionally the player/spectator. it is simple : you use something from the real life that has cultural relevance and destroy it/do something on it so peoples feel like ''OMFG ! I live here !''. Same for the London's destruction in the VGA teaser. Look at the In-Game earth and compare it to London : nothing similar.

Every Roland Emmerich movies does it.

You're technically right and Bioware showed it to you by setting what happens on Earth in a Vancouver-Seattle urban megalopolis that has nothing to do with both cities AT ALL. 

Modifié par Haristo, 10 juin 2011 - 05:19 .

[Aimi]

That's not really breaking the fourth wall. Breaking the fourth wall is when the characters in a work of fiction, TV show, or movie consciously act as though they're talking to the audience. So when Bugs Bunny asks, "Ain't I a stinker?", he's breaking the fourth wall. Emotional involvement per se doesn't break the fourth wall.

[Srast]

I'm sorry, I think you're all taking this a bit too seriously. It's a cool-looking trailer for a sci-fi game. We don't know, it's not fact regardless, so it's really pointless. Just enjoy the action and curse the fact we have to wait many more months to play this game.

[Yakko77]

Occulo wrote...

Rake21 wrote...

I could give a damn what's going on in the fictional city of New Boise, but if something is happening in Tokyo (even future) Tokyo, I can go "Wow, I know that place.  Look it's on fire and the newscaster **** his pants.  Something interesting is going on."

This is LA.

This is LA after the Reapers come in.

You sure that isn't modern Detroit?  Large parts of it already look like something from Fallout 3.

[Yakko77]

Massadonious1 wrote...

Our world is already cramped and overpopulated. I doubt there would be any room for new sprawling mega-cities like New York 200 years from now.

I think future mega-cities will grow UP instead of outward.  Aren't there mega apartments in countries like China and Japan that resemble skyscrapers which are normally used for business and commercial purposes?

[Not Bambi]

Did you really expect them to invent new cities and political borders just for an early teaser trailer? I mean, it's like one minute long and it's only there to get your attention. The actual game staff were probably not even involved with it's creation.

[Father_Jerusalem]

I..... really?

Just.... really? You're honest to whatever picking this as something to complain about?

This... this utter whinery for the sake of whinery is why it is so depressing to come here. So congratulations, OP, for pushing me one foot out the door of this forum.

[FluffyScarf]

Pretty sure the OPs being sarcastic given the other threads where some were moaning about the slightest change/introduction as a retcon.

[Silver]

KotorEffect3 wrote...

Geez talk about nitpicking

This...

Having a united global government does not automatically bring with itself the dissolution of borders.
They might not be important on a global scale per se, but I guess it's easier saying "I live in New York" or some country in Europe like "Germany" for instance.

[silentassassin264]

This isn't even nitpicking. This is stupid. Baring some war radically changing the culture and border lines, the majority of the modern city names would remain the same. You didn't see London, Paris, etc. change because of the Industrial revolution to now and they would not change in another 180 years baring some catastrophic remodeling human society.

[nphyx]

They used present day cities for emotional impact places people know and can relate to. Made up fictional cities would have less of an affect same reason human like aliens are used in a lot of fiction.

[LGTX]

Omega-202 wrote...


A) The first thing I notice: All of the cities listed currently exist.  There is not a single new city name on the screen.  Not a even a slight permutation of current city names.  

What are the odds that in nearly 180 years, not a single additional important new city will have developed?  What are the odds that currently important cities would remain important?   Case in point, Dubai was one of the city names in the opening.  180 years ago, Dubai was nothing.  It was a trading port city with no importance to the world.  Today, its the pinnacle of opulence. 

OK, I can forgive the cities.  No big deal....Wait.....Did they just show a map of the world?  Were all of the country boarders ALL STILL THE SAME AS TODAY?  No, how could they be so brainless?  I mean, we have countless codex entries and timeline information detailing all of the wars that supposed to have occurred during the 180 year time between now and the games.  

I mean, most obvious is we that we know there is no longer a US and Canada in ME lore.  US/Canada/Mexico was supposed to become the United North American States.  

I've never been personally annoyed by a hate thread on these forums, which is quite a feat already, but this got me hard. I'll try to keep my tone civil.

Bioware are not going to retcon or otherwise develop their lore according to your subjective views on what *SHOULD* have happened. Where there are odds ivolved, and in all your points they are, an exclusion as you see here is fundamentally plausible. As for your arguments on the codex entries, I suggest you read them again, carefully.

But the funniest thing is, you're forgiving stuff now, wow... quite a honor for Bioware...

Thanks, and sorry if I came off too harsh...

Modifié par LGTX, 10 juin 2011 - 10:34 .