I agree that a cut and dry simple DLC would be a hard sell, especially for those fans who continue to wish for more closure, more resolution, more answers, or a happier, more complete ending to the Mass Effect series and find none in simple straightforward DLCs that will only continue to drive home the point that no matter what happens in the DLCs, none of it will matter in the end or would make a difference to the endings you get. Telling "untold stories" to expand on the legend of Shepard, as the message at the game’s end suggests, is all well and good, but in general, players won't care so much because a) they already know how it all ends, how Shepard finished the war against the Reapers and
adding the accomplishments from the DLC to war assets is not enough motivation to have players play through, yet again, the Cerberus attack mission and the whole London mission when say, even without it, their EMS is already high enough and they already got the best possible ending scenario in their minds. DLCs are fine to insert at that point before the Cerberus attack if the player hasn't played the entire game or they wanted a higher EMS for a better ending. But if they have already achieved both, what motivation would they have to play the DLC? They don't need the war asset. Would we play it for simply finding out more info about the Reapers? More background into Shepard's life? Sure. But if it doesn't impact things beyond the DLC, if we still already know how it all ends, we might not be willing to pay for it much, unless we are completionist, die hard Mass Effect fans. But people who simply play Mass Effect for enjoyment won't necessarily buy the DLC unless it offers really exciting, new gameplay or a unique, tremendously riveting storyline. Changing the endings will only lead to more controversy, more people bickering and fighting, more cupcakes and what-not. So why not just leave the endings as they are but expand from them and explain them in more detail through DLCs? One way to do this would be to add cutscenes or even gameplay that takes place after the end of Mass Effect 3. My suggestions (most of this is based on the assumption that Shepard survived and the destroy option with high > 5,000 EMS was chosen):
1) Cutscenes or even gameplay after the Mass Effect 3 ending wherein we find out how the DLC mission, the "untold chapter or story" of Shepard that took place before the Cerberus attack led to Shepard's survival and helped him in his journey back home. Perhaps this is my clinging to continued hope that my Shepard will physically rise out of the rubble and reunite with his LI, but it doesn't have to deal with this, though I am sort of maybe kind of pleading here that it would somehow. But below are a few more ideas about post-ending DLC plots.
2) There were a few comments about how players and critics would love to have DLC where you get to play a different Mass Effect 3 character. Maybe Miranda, Jack, Jacob, Garrus, etc. Having the timeline of their missions take place after the ending would be a way to add a unique gameplay experience without abandoning the ending message promising to continue to "Build on the Legend of Shepard" with future content. My thought goes like this: you play an untold story mission about the legend Shepard before the Cerberus attack mission, and you play as Shepard. If you already completed the game, you then segue into some Dragon Age II type narration-shenanigans detailing the ending you got, then you skip to later missions that details a storyline after the Mass Effect 3 ending, and how the outcome of Shepard's earlier DLC missions affected the later missions of his allies. It could be a piece of intelligence or artifact of some kind that Shepard gave his allies that could help achieve the later missions. Some mission ideas for these characters:
a) It could be the player is controlling Garrus, or Miranda, and they have a mission to fix a mass relay and eliminate bad guys who are maybe opportunists and want to take advantage of the current chaos going on after the Reapers are defeated.
If you picked destroy as your choice, wouldn't it be cool if Tali, with the help of Shepard's intel or piece of
technology from an untold mission before the Cerberus attack, strove to rebuild or remake the Geth, or restore EDI? Maybe she can go back to that virtual world Shepard visited on that Legion mission. Except this time there are some "viruses" that they encounter which are virtual bad guys that Tali and her allies can fight.
c) If the indoctrination theory is still alive and kicking, Shepard's untold mission prior to the DLC could show him obtaining something that would help him become immune to indoctrination and surviving an indoctrination attempt. And then the later missions could be his other teammates trying to revive him from his indoctrinated trance, to recover his body, and various other missions to save him, ultimately culminating in a final battle with Harbinger as some has been clamoring for
d) If the indoctrination theory is not pursued, there are other ways to get a final showdown with Harbinger like so many fans have been requesting. Could be Harbinger can adopt other forms, not just a Reaper. Shepard knew this somehow from a pre-Cerberus DLC mission and did something to help his allies battle it out with Harbinger if he’s dead, and if he’s alive, he fights alongside his allies or something
3) Exploring plotpoints about how Shepard's untold missions somehow helping or affecting Jack's, Jacob's, or Miranda's fronts in the final battle. Their successes could then link to explain how Shepard survived or how the Normandy managed to not blow up when it got caught in the blast. There are plotholes everywhere that I’m sure many fans have discovered. Bioware can try to explain or rationalize those by using these DLCs and have characters recount events to explain the plotholes. Cutscenes in the missions taking place after the Mass Effect 3 ending could simply explain these plotholes by characters recounting events.
4) A romance DLC as some has been suggesting. Could be a mission where Shepard and LI are trapped in a desert island--ok, just kidding--but maybe a mission where it’s just the two of them, and their strength of character and bond to each other are really tested, and Shepard either saves the LI’s life or vice versa or gives the LI something that then ties to a post-ending mission...and this could eventually lead to Shepard and LI reuniting or if Shepard chose Synthesis or Control, a way for the LI to communicate with Shepard and say one last good-bye a la Anakin Skywalker’s specter at the end of Return of the Jedi or something of a sort.
5) There are many potential storylines to explore. Because of these possibilities, one could make a series of DLCs with these story suggestions using the supporting characters for the post-ending missions, and their success in the missions leads to how the galaxy rebuilt. Each DLC would be standalone, of course, but if you play all the DLCs, it could be almost like a "Love Actually" type thing, where each of Shepard's "untold story" mission and the supporting characters' missions taking place after the ME3 ending are all linked somehow into one big story, one that, I'm crossing my fingers, could eventually lead to extra cutscenes at the end of the final DLC that detail the story of how Shepard made it back home to reunite with all his LI and his friends. Or it could be something different entirely that is just showing how each of his allies and friends got their goals met (Garrus reunites with family in Paladin, Ashley finds her sister and mom, Liara helps refugees in Thessia, Wrex rebuilds Tuchanka). Or something else that fans really want to see get a nice resolution. Maybe a hint to future Mass Effect games. Something.
This would be a unique take on DLCs, and it will get players invested and curious about how the rest of the stories unfold. I think if DLCs were taken seriously, if it is shown that there is still a big investment in making players happy, in telling good quality stories (Lair of the Shadow Broker had a great story), then there would be a great incentive to play the DLCs, and no one will be angry for paying to play the DLCs. No one would think it was a ploy to exploit the whole ending controversy. In my book, that has been resolved, and Bioware did the best they could and we should just accept the compromise and move on through well thought out, well-written DLCs that don’t attempt to change the endings but expand from them while explaining them at the same time. Any other attempt to "poke the skunk," as it were, by messing with the endings one way or another through paid DLCs might lead to some ire from some fans.
The only tricky thing is where to place the DLCs where half of the mission is pre-Cerberus attack and the other half post-ending. I think having the DLC start point be before the Cerberus mission makes sense, and the "untold story" of the legend of Shepard DLCs should give players a sizable war asset boost, just so people who are just not into multiplayer and won't play will have an easier time getting higher EMS so they can have better endings. From there, they would have to replay Cerberus and the London battle missions to be able to choose the better ending scenarios with the higher EMS ratings. Then the rest of the DLC content can take place in sequence after the ending. But for people who already got high EMS and played through the Cerberus and London missions and got the best ending, they should be able to play the Shepard mission DLCs pre-Cerberus attack, then just be able to skip into the missions/cutscenes after the Mass Effect 3 ending. The best way to do that would be through a prompt: when you pick the Cerberus mission, it should just ask players whether they would like to play through the missions with the updated EMS ratings, or skip to the new content or the events after the ME3 ending using the legendsave that saved the game right after the chosen ME3 ending. Then Dragon Age 2 style narration and story/mission transition, and then into new cutscene and mission post-ending. I think the missions taking place after the ME3 ending can still work no matter what choice one made. Maybe the scenarios will just play differently, maybe some of the ending choices will just lead to fewer cutscenes. Maybe if Shepard picked synthesis or control, there is no Shepard reuniting with allies and LI scene, but maybe the supporting character playing in the mission can give a toast to Shepard or thank him somehow, or refer to his choice over control or synthesis. Something. But to be honest, the destroy ending that requires the highest EMS to pull off the “best” scenario where Shepard lives is the ending that everyone should hope or aim to achieve. The DLCs with war asset boosts should help players get that high 5000+ EMS without the multiplayer (this, after all, as I'm sure you're aware, is the other chafing point for many fans) so they can get this "best" ending and get the extra cutscenes of Shepard reuniting with his friends in the end. And those that don’t care for a happy ending already got the best ending they want in their minds and won’t care one way or another about the additional cutscenes anyway.
Modifié par remed, 11 juillet 2012 - 03:23 .
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