7 réponses à ce sujet

[Cutter10]

 
That ending isn't just dumb – it is flat out rancid. How in the world did this stream of bad ideas make it through so many (seemingly) smart individuals. Here are the problems that should've been immediately apparent:

-the idea that there is some inevitable, cyclical destiny that life will create murderously rebellious synthetics is silly. The Quarians and the Geth can actually come to peace in this very story.

-while we're at it - “solving” the problem of inevitable organic/synthetic conflict by killing everyone isn't really a solution, is it?

-significant time is spent in Mass Effect demonstrating that synthetic life is still life (and, really, at some level the cellular and molecular phenomena in all of us is weirdly machine-like.) The strange insistence of separating organic/synthetic right at the end as some sort of irreconcilable set of characteristics is already nonsensical by the time it happens in the story.

-there is no such thing as “Evolutionary Destiny.” I weep that I have to explain such basic science to a team of creators that put such thought into every other small detail of the physics behind the science fiction here – but here goes. Evolution is not a process that has a start or end point. It is not anything that can be predicted, because the forces that drive it are chaotic and require constant adaptation. There is no strait line – life explodes in every direction, and the most successful lines go on. Only looking back does it seem like an intentional direction.

-”creating” a mixture of synthetic and organic life via a magical near-instant shockwave is stupefyingly silly. What exactly did this wave bring with it? Apparently it was like the Radioshack God Wave – and pressed circuit patterns into all life. What, exactly, does that accomplish? It was meaningless, pointless, arbitrary and left me dumbstruck at how utterly creatively bankrupt this story somehow ran.


PS: let's reflect back on the latest Mass Effect novel - the debacle of which makes way, way more sense now.  Clearly there is no directive for story writers working on Mass Effect have even a cursory knowledge of their own universe, or the things that transpire within it.

Modifié par Cutter10, 11 mars 2012 - 03:49 .

[Cutter10]

Seriously - the more I think about it - the more it seems like the ending was from a completely different story. Did the writing staff quit, and somebody else came on to "wrap things up?" Was there a science advisor for the first game, and you just didn't hire him or her back? Was it just mindless groupthink, or did we have a "George Lucas" situation where an overbearing control freak could not take critisism? The ending is inexplicably bad - and I'm trying to at least explain the badness in my head.

[United_Strafes]

Know what ya mean, it's like myself just playing the games is more invested in the stories, characters, and decisions than they are making it which is sad.

[deathscythe517]

Indeed, and it feels ripped from many better "man or machine" stories. Mass Effect was never about transhumanism or the dangers of creating life. People who try to rationalize this as deep do not seem to realize that they shouldn't have to, the story should be resolved in and of itself, and some actual variety in the ending would have served to quell all the frustration and betrayal going around.

[RxP4IN]

It's all made worse by the fact that Shepard seemingly gives into the will of the catalyst...you know, the MASTER OF THE REAPERS! The entity that caused everything!!!

But auto-dialogue Shepard does what auto-dialogue Shepard do.

[Reign762]

RxP4IN wrote...
But auto-dialogue Shepard does what auto-dialogue Shepard do.

Sums it up.

[Cutter10]

deathscythe517 wrote...

Indeed, and it feels ripped from many better "man or machine" stories. Mass Effect was never about transhumanism or the dangers of creating life. People who try to rationalize this as deep do not seem to realize that they shouldn't have to, the story should be resolved in and of itself, and some actual variety in the ending would have served to quell all the frustration and betrayal going around.

Yes!  That is very well said.

The story was always about martial victory.  Where was the giant space fight?  Where was the giant ground fight?  At what point do we stop using MacGuffins to kill a reaper (Thresher Maw/Laser Painter/Missile Battery) and start slugging it out!?  The pre-rendered cinematic team had more of a grasp on what Mass Effect is about than the "writers" (who couldn't possibly have done any real reading into what had previously been done in this world.)

Now that I think about it - the newest Mass Effect novel makes a lot more sense.  The writers are just completely removed from the material that has previously been created.

[Cutter10]

RxP4IN wrote...

It's all made worse by the fact that Shepard seemingly gives into the will of the catalyst...you know, the MASTER OF THE REAPERS! The entity that caused everything!!!

But auto-dialogue Shepard does what auto-dialogue Shepard do.

Another good point.  2.94 games spent spitting in the face of "inevitable choices" and being backed into a corner... newp.  This time - he's just gonna throw in the towel and climb into onna them Collector pods.  It's destiny, I guess.