228 réponses à ce sujet

[NukeZen]

ncknck wrote...

Good thing he was fired.

Not so sure

Mass Effect is not an answer to his problems in life or lack of imagination. Its an immersive and epic drama story. Deal with it.

For Sure

[abaris]

hornedfrog87 wrote...

While I agree with what he is saying and recognize Origins as being a gem, I can't help but wonder why I only hear about him when he's addressing something negative about Bioware... can't put my finger on it...

Doesn't change the fact that he's hitting the nail right home.

Especially with his piece about videogames not being a movie and everyday life being **** enough to not needing another downer when escaping into a game world.

Modifié par abaris, 17 mars 2012 - 02:12 .

[aj2070]

Cadwallen wrote...

Keeping this spoiler-free, even though others have not.

In all honesty, I liked the way the ending was presented, even if certain parts of it seemed "magical." Particularly if a certain popular alternative theory was intended. It's difficult for a cynic like myself to believe that it was, though. It's great that some of Mass Effect's fans are more imaginative writers than those employed at BioWare and they have used their own creativity to pick up the slack and make themselves feel better. I'm glad they did, too. It makes a great "fix" for the story's ending. If this premise is what was intended and BioWare didn't want me/us to have these doubts, they should have made it a bit less ambiguous.

That said, the only thing wrong with the ending -- in my opinion -- is that it is MUCH TOO BRIEF. Such a brief epilogue to hundreds of hours of gameplay and story-immersion is incredibly unsatisfying.

The only way I can rationalize the way I feel about the ending is to look at Mass Effect 3 *in its entirety* as the cumulative ending to the series. And until BioWare addresses the teenytiny ending that's already in place [did the game's budget dwindle to nothing toward the end of development, or what?], for your own sanity and satisfaction, I suggest that everyone do the same.

And a couple of grains of arsenic in the salad won't ruin it...

I respect your view on the ending but speaking for myself, the presentation is exactly what makes the ending so hollow.

[Darth Death]

He just spoke common sense that a lot of people don't have, I'm afraid. I've been saying stuff like this for a while now, but since I'm a nobody on the forums my opinion has no value. You have to be 'someone' for people to even consider you. Forum celebrities.... Pathetic.

[Aggressor01]

Darth Death wrote...

He just spoke common sense that a lot of people don't have, I'm afraid. I've been saying stuff like this for a while now, but since I'm a nobody on the forums my opinion has no value. You have to be 'someone' for people to even consider you. Forum celebrities.... Pathetic.

I agree with you. Most members seem also to behave like  a 16 year old  who belives they are gods gift to the forums.

Brent for President!

[Aulis Vaara]

ncknck wrote...

Good thing he was fired. Mass Effect is not an answer to his problems in life or lack of imagination. Its an immersive and epic drama story. Deal with it.

No. Mass Effect is an epic, a space opera. You don't change genres in the last minutes. Not everything is a drama, there's enough of that in real life and we don't want it in our escapism. If you want more drama, watch a soap or something.

Modifié par Aulis Vaara, 17 mars 2012 - 02:59 .

[OdanUrr]

Darth Death wrote...

He just spoke common sense that a lot of people don't have, I'm afraid. I've been saying stuff like this for a while now, but since I'm a nobody on the forums my opinion has no value. You have to be 'someone' for people to even consider you. Forum celebrities.... Pathetic.

Completely agree with what you've just said. And, you know what they say, "common sense is the least common of all senses."

[Ostagar2011]

hornedfrog87 wrote...

While I agree with what he is saying and recognize Origins as being a gem, I can't help but wonder why I only hear about him when he's addressing something negative about Bioware... can't put my finger on it...

Not sure what you mean. I stay in touch with him on twitter and via his blog, and I can tell you this - trying to get him to say anything about BioWare is like trying to draw blood from a stone. What he has said now is a rare event. In general, he wants to move on, and feels that 2008 (when he was still with BW) is ancient history.

Either way, he knows how to make a good RPG, which is more than these muttets can do. I welcome his insights and think that his retirement from gaming is a loss to all RPG fans. If BioWare wants to end the war with its core customers, it should either create a new brand or get people like Brent back.

[XRelakX]

Oh big deal a human speaking about something.Must be important.

[Random citizen]

OdanUrr wrote...

Doofe2012 wrote...

http://blog.brentkno.../#disqus_thread

I read one recent blog post where the writer basically said "the ending was awesome because it was just like a movie" and I think she was missing the point. It is a game. Not a movie. And more specifically, its a role-playing game. The players are *part* of the game. Part of the process of building and experiencing the game, much more so than with most other forms of entertainment. Entitlement is really a right, for the gamer, because they have participated, actively, in the game itself. Again, I can't speak to the actual ending myself, because I have not
played it but in generally I'd say a Role-Playing Video Game Trilogy Ending should (try to) do the following:

1. Reward the player's choices throughout the series. The big stuff they did should be noted. They should *feel* like they had a unique impact on the world.

2. End on a positive note. This is really important for video games... life in general is full of ****ty stuff happening all the time. When I invest a hundred hours into a game I need to walk away feeling like a hero. When you waste a couple hours of a person's life with an artsy/depressing movie or short story or even a novel, it is more forgivable because the time spent is less. And presumably the consumer knew what they were going into when they started. Certain directors create certain styles of movie. Certain writers write specific types of fiction. On the other hand somebody playing an epic role-playing video-game trilogy is going to *expect* to be the hero and save the universe. That's why they are playing the game. When expectations don't match reality, disappointment is created. It might be an artistic/creative move to go with a different style of ending but I feel its the wrong choice, especially for a videogame *trilogy*. Make your middle game bleak if you want to, but end the series on a high note.

Pay attention here, Bioware. This man is everything that was right with the company. What he is saying is exactly how most of us players feel. DA:O was one of your most successful games, and the fact that its lead designer no longer works for you is a clear foreshadowing of why you will go downhill once people are done with ME3.

Why is it so difficult to understand, I wonder?

I do not get it either.
Good to have the support of Brent.

[Atakuma]

People need to stop deifying this man. He helped make DA:O which was a generic hodgepodge of fantasy cliches that was only saved by it's strong characters. The guy isn't any more talented than anyone currently working at bioware.

[Ostagar2011]

Atakuma wrote...

People need to stop deifying this man. He helped make DA:O which was a generic hodgepodge of fantasy cliches that was only saved by it's strong characters. The guy isn't any more talented than anyone currently working at bioware.

He left because BioWare wanted to make cinematic console action games, and he felt that was the wrong thing to do. With hindsight, he was right, and BioWare would be in a much better place now if it had listened to him rather than EA.

How many people in today's world would have the mettle to say to their employer "I don't think I like where you're taking the company" and resign amicably? And then be vindicated by subsequent events?

Modifié par Ostagar2011, 17 mars 2012 - 05:19 .

[Farbautisonn]

Atakuma wrote...

People need to stop deifying this man. He helped make DA:O which was a generic hodgepodge of fantasy cliches that was only saved by it's strong characters. The guy isn't any more talented than anyone currently working at bioware.

Im sorry... havent I seen you around "deifying" Casey and the current version of ME3? And you presume that you have that right but noone else has? 

Really? 

[Atakuma]

Farbautisonn wrote...

Atakuma wrote...

People need to stop deifying this man. He helped make DA:O which was a generic hodgepodge of fantasy cliches that was only saved by it's strong characters. The guy isn't any more talented than anyone currently working at bioware.

Im sorry... havent I seen you around "deifying" Casey and the current version of ME3? And you presume that you have that right but noone else has? 

Really? 

I haven't been deifying anything and I don't know where you get that from. People on these boards see brent knowles as some sort of martyr and use him as to justify their hate of bioware.

[Valcutio]

Brent Knowles - the company really lost its heart with his departure.

He WAS Bioware. This is just one more example of his greatness being sorely missed by this shell of a company.

[Eromenos]

Atakuma wrote...

People need to stop deifying this man. He helped make DA:O which was a generic hodgepodge of fantasy cliches that was only saved by it's strong characters. The guy isn't any more talented than anyone currently working at bioware.

I fully agree.

[Valcutio]

Eromenos wrote...

Atakuma wrote...

People need to stop deifying this man. He helped make DA:O which was a generic hodgepodge of fantasy cliches that was only saved by it's strong characters. The guy isn't any more talented than anyone currently working at bioware.

I fully agree.

It's people like you that allow mediocrity to thrive. Brent Knowles left the company when he seen the direction it was heading - the same direction that allowed the creation of DA2 and the ending to ME3.

[Lee T]

NB : I haven't seen the end yet.

GME_ThorianCreeper wrote...
I
completely disagree with this, ending each video game with a happy
ending is expected, boring, and cliche.  I think it is great when games
end with like the main character dying or you get defeated or something.
 It makes it way more original then a "HEY, YOU WIN!" sort of thing.

I
do not think that what Brent Knowles meant. You can have game killing
your character and the full party of merrymen at the end provided the
ending of the game show the player how important and worthwile this
sacrifice was. From what I've read so far it seems many players are a
disapointed by this way more than by the death of such and such
including possibly the main character.

GME_ThorianCreeper wrote...
I bought Halo Reach knowing full well what the fate of my spartan would be.

I think this quote from wikipedia will show you my point then :

"The post-credit scene puts the player in control of Six's last stand against overwhelming Covenant forces. After sustaining heavy damage,
Six drops his or her shattered helmet and is overwhelmed. Years later,
Six's helmet remains on the grassy plains of a now-restored Reach. A
narration by Halsey eulogizes Noble Team, who ultimately enabled
humanity's victory over the Covenant."

A bleak ending done right can be satisfying.

[Gibb_Shepard]

Atakuma wrote...

People need to stop deifying this man. He helped make DA:O which was a generic hodgepodge of fantasy cliches that was only saved by it's strong characters. The guy isn't any more talented than anyone currently working at bioware.

This man created one of the most gratifying RPGs ever created. He knows his ****.

[Alithinos]

I think that the reason we get that ending was because the main writer of past games of the series and also including games like Baldur's Gate,Drew Karpyshin was removed from the Mass Effect team he was in originally from the first game,and Bioware assigned him on the STAR WARS MMO team.

The outcome is that the STAR WARS MMO gets rewarded as the MMO with the best plot ever,and ME3 gets a bad ending.
Drew Karpyshin is a talented writer,and this shows because every game he touched got very positive feedback for its plot.
If only Drew worked on ME3 as he did in ME1,and ME2...

[lumen11]

While he has a valid point and articulates it very well, I also disagree.

For one, in the context of a trilogy the whole game is pretty much the ending, so you can't simply apply his arguments to the last few minutes of ME3.

Also, it's perfectly valid to focus on symbolism for an ending, instead of purely a conclusion of the gamer's game experience, especially for a scifi game.

Finally, dramatic, even outright tragic endings can be very cathartic. So no, even a computer game doesn't have to end on a positive note. By the way, in many ways ME3 does end on a positive note.

PS.
It's not like DA:O had such a brilliant ending. In many ways the climax of the game was the landsmeet. Which I actually rather liked, but it goes to show that there is no such thing as straightforward conventions.

Modifié par lumen11, 17 mars 2012 - 06:20 .

[Subject M]

Atakuma wrote...

People need to stop deifying this man. He helped make DA:O which was a generic hodgepodge of fantasy cliches that was only saved by it's strong characters. The guy isn't any more talented than anyone currently working at bioware.

Yes, swo.. I mean deifying is baaad...

But I am not, I would just like to point out that he is pointing out some very basic stuff that somehow seems to have been forgotten. They are largely true pretty much regardless of rpg genre.

Modifié par Subject M, 17 mars 2012 - 06:36 .

[Blastback]

I agree with this completely.

[SafetyShattered]

This guy is awesome. To bad he isn't still at bioware. He just summarized in a couple paragraphs what I have felt ever sice I started playing the ME trilogy. Good job sir. Good job.

[Dansayshi]

Ahhhh DAO.... it was awesome. If only the combat was a little more exciting.