Brilliant!
An interesting post from the Penny Arcade forums.
Débuté par
Tsantilas
, mars 14 2012 08:29
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#27
Posté 14 mars 2012 - 11:36
xeNNN
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wow a long read but a brilliant one. excellent.
#29
Posté 14 mars 2012 - 11:41
AtreiyaN7
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Interesting post, and the author make his/her points well. Sadly, posts equivalent to that analysis are in short supply around here. *looks at the hundred other threads with insults thrown around by everyone and sighs*
Modifié par AtreiyaN7, 14 mars 2012 - 11:43 .
#30
Posté 14 mars 2012 - 11:45
Muezick
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Tsantilas wrote...
OP
*snip*
At first
I was all:
but then i...
#31
Posté 14 mars 2012 - 11:46
Tony208
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Yeah good read.
Modifié par Tony208, 14 mars 2012 - 11:52 .
#33
Posté 14 mars 2012 - 11:48
kiritateru123
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God dammit after reading this I need to go reinstall Deus Ex, thanks a bunch. =\\
#34
Posté 14 mars 2012 - 11:50
Muezick
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kiritateru123 wrote...
God dammit after reading this I need to go reinstall Deus Ex, thanks a bunch. =
i thought about doing this
but then
1040x720 max resolution
NOPE.JPG
#35
Posté 14 mars 2012 - 11:53
Silvren555
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Muezick wrote...
kiritateru123 wrote...
God dammit after reading this I need to go reinstall Deus Ex, thanks a bunch. =
i thought about doing this
but then
1040x720 max resolution
NOPE.JPG
Aye, Deus Ex was awesome in its day, along with the storyline, but those graphics nowadays... sigh
#37
Guest_frudi_*
Posté 14 mars 2012 - 11:54
Guest_frudi_*
Guest_frudi_*
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I'm just blown away by how spot on this final part is. I've been trying for days now to first analyze and then find the right words to describe what bothered me about the ending. It's like this guy read my mind and made more sense of it than I could...Tsantilas wrote...
For two and a half games, Shepard has been the one with unflappable confidence. Determination may actually be her middle name. It's certainly her defining trait, even next to 'soldier' - she gets **** done, even if the cost is grievous, even when it threatens those she cares about most.
And for the first time, it might not be enough.
It's where she makes the jump from "player stand-in" to "actual character." If there's one thing we know about as humans, it's not knowing if things are going to work out. Hell, you say as much to EDI when encouraging her to jump Seth Green's fragile bones. You begin to realize exactly how much strain Shepard is under in that moment - not even the hamfisted dreams or occasional Tense Holoconversations manage that. She might not ****ing win and she is the Big Goddamn Hero. Makes the buildup to the ending mean that much more. When she settles down next to Anderson, it's two soldiers resting after a mission accomplished, comrades under fire patiently dying after a long, long career. She's headed to heaven to bro out with Garrus, who is laying thousands of miles below in a puddle of green blood. We're sad, but also we're satisfied. Big damn hero, big damn heroic death, martyred for the good of the galaxy.
And then the phone rings.
She staggers to her feet, bloody and scarred, half-robot, and mumbles "What do you need me to do next?" Hit number two, right to the gut. We echo her pathetic sentiment. What more can you ask from this woman? She waves at the console, nothing works, she collapses. Cue capcom: BAD END.
And then the platform raises into the air. This is where things start to go off the rails, so to speak. Let's pause and examine what's happening here - in her extremity of need, her determination has failed her. She didn't quite make it. And that doesn't seem to matter. In the lingo of the romance, she failed her trial, but gets to reap the reward anyway.
That's really where the ending falls down. Everything after seems hollow because it is - there's no reason why she deserves to save the galaxy when she beat the big bad and it didn't matter. The endings don't work because they don't address what people have been told to care about through the entire series - the themes that the writers have been reinforcing, mission after mission. They've been shaping Shepard into what they wanted to be most - a better person, a better lay, maybe only the person willing to be ruthless and stretch the rules where it counts - and it doesn't seem to matter at all.
The violation isn't of the player's decisions. It's of Shepard's role as the player's ideal hero. It takes the interactivity of the game, perhaps its most unique and evocative feature, and utterly ignores the immense potential to take the romance genre to its most extreme catharsis. Every step to this point has been another drop in the Care Bucket, and it just got set gently to the floor instead of poured out in one big release. (yes this is all sexual)
So, players take to the internet, tension unrelieved, and vent it against Bioware and Catalyst instead. I was expecting Shepard to end up being the Catalyst, because that would make sense in terms of the tautology of the game - Shepard is the person who is the most necessary to save the galaxy, because we spend the entire trilogy making her that way. It doesn't matter how that's expressed, only that it is. We didn't get that moment. Instead, we get an epilogue talking about 'the Shepard', an abstract concept that doesn't have a lot to do with the "reality" of the game we've played.
She might as well be anyone. And that's the thing that nobody wanted said about their Shepard.
mind == blown
Modifié par frudi, 14 mars 2012 - 11:55 .
#38
Posté 14 mars 2012 - 11:55
vigna
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It wasn't really missing though..it was already there until the elevator screwed it up.BahamutZ wrote...
That says much about what many of us I think were expecting from the conclusion. We wanted that conclusion that epic catharsis be it: 1) Shepard is a badass and kills all in the way to 2) Self-sacrificing hero who dies at the end for the sake of the people met along the way.
It was the catharsis that was missing... and we ended the game dazed and confused and filled with tension that we didn't know had build up that hadn't been let go.
Well said... well said. I agree 100%
Excellent write up though!
Modifié par vigna, 14 mars 2012 - 11:57 .
#39
Posté 15 mars 2012 - 12:05
LordAsael
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Reading that post was cathartic! Bravo to whomever composed that wonderful piece!
#41
Posté 15 mars 2012 - 12:11
loungeshep
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Damn. Thats the most rational thing I've read about why the ending is bad.
It doesn't change my opinion, however unarticulated and unspoken it is.
But I agree, I want a dlc that fixes the ends.
It doesn't change my opinion, however unarticulated and unspoken it is.
But I agree, I want a dlc that fixes the ends.
#42
Posté 15 mars 2012 - 12:16
loungeshep
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The end could've easily bypassed the Guardian/Child to where you as shepard stagger to the Destroy point or the Control point, where your 3 game paragon/renegade score would matter +Reputation at that point.
Then instead of relays blowing, Reapers blow, instead of Normandy random crashing, NOrmandy is part of a search party, and epilogue is instead either Shepard grave or Shepard recovering in a hospital.
Then instead of relays blowing, Reapers blow, instead of Normandy random crashing, NOrmandy is part of a search party, and epilogue is instead either Shepard grave or Shepard recovering in a hospital.
#43
Posté 15 mars 2012 - 12:38
wesr
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How'd he manage to end up on Penny Arcade? That post might get him banned for being too smart for that site.
#45
Posté 15 mars 2012 - 12:42
Lawliet89
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Good read.
I can't believe I'm spending time on forums talking about the ending. We must all be really invested in the game to care so much. BIOWARE, take note!
I can't believe I'm spending time on forums talking about the ending. We must all be really invested in the game to care so much. BIOWARE, take note!
#46
Posté 15 mars 2012 - 12:56
GBGriffin
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Muezick wrote...
At first
I was all:
but then i...
My reaction as well!
Lawliet89 wrote...
Good read.
I can't believe I'm spending time on forums talking about the ending. We must all be really invested in the game to care so much. BIOWARE, take note!
I think I've spent more time on the forums now than playing ME3 o_O
#48
Posté 15 mars 2012 - 02:05
EmGo
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I agree completely
:/ the same is true for me ;/ HOW WRONG IS THAT?
GBGriffin wrote...
I think I've spent more time on the forums now than playing ME3 o_O
:/ the same is true for me ;/ HOW WRONG IS THAT?
#49
Posté 15 mars 2012 - 02:55
Zen_Mojo
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My default Shep (since I'm new to Bioware's boards despite being a member for years) only let Legion die. This Penny Arcade guy's default Shep is kind of a loser.
