232 réponses à ce sujet

[AlanC9]

chemiclord wrote...

It was foreshadowing... in the barest minimal sense in that it kinda sorta set the stage that SOMETHING maybe perhaps might be a central "leader" to the Reaper menace.

That doesn't mean it was good foreshadowing or done well.

Which leads to the question of when, why, and how much foreshadowing is necessary.

[chemiclord]

AlanC9 wrote...

chemiclord wrote...

It was foreshadowing... in the barest minimal sense in that it kinda sorta set the stage that SOMETHING maybe perhaps might be a central "leader" to the Reaper menace.

That doesn't mean it was good foreshadowing or done well.

Which leads to the question of when, why, and how much foreshadowing is necessary.

As much as there is a "science" to writing... there's also a great deal of fuzzy math involved.  There's no real set "amount" of foreshadowing that makes something "bad" to "good."

Good foreshadowing is a balancing act... you want to subtly give people enough pieces that once the "big event" happens, everything clicks into place and in future experiences they start seeing all those little pieces they overlooked before.

If you give them too many, the reveal loses its impact because too many readers have put it together.  Too few, and you lose too many people.  It's a general problem with all literature... it's never going to work for everyone.

That said, I haven't seen any work yet where one piece of foreshadowing is enough; especially when the end result doesn't really seem to follow what had been presented before.  Everything had set up Harbinger as the leader of the Reapers, and there wasn't the barest hint at any point that wasn't the case.  Hell, even the revelation provided by the Prothean VI could be interpreted to mean Harbinger was at the heart of it all.

Leviathian retroactively added more of that foreshadowing... but DLC (after the story is long finished) really is a very poor way to present said foreshadowing.  It might help someone who had never played the game before until then... but that's about it.

[Wayning_Star]

chemiclord wrote...

AlanC9 wrote...

chemiclord wrote...

It was foreshadowing... in the barest minimal sense in that it kinda sorta set the stage that SOMETHING maybe perhaps might be a central "leader" to the Reaper menace.

That doesn't mean it was good foreshadowing or done well.

Which leads to the question of when, why, and how much foreshadowing is necessary.

As much as there is a "science" to writing... there's also a great deal of fuzzy math involved.  There's no real set "amount" of foreshadowing that makes something "bad" to "good."

Good foreshadowing is a balancing act... you want to subtly give people enough pieces that once the "big event" happens, everything clicks into place and in future experiences they start seeing all those little pieces they overlooked before.

If you give them too many, the reveal loses its impact because too many readers have put it together.  Too few, and you lose too many people.  It's a general problem with all literature... it's never going to work for everyone.

That said, I haven't seen any work yet where one piece of foreshadowing is enough; especially when the end result doesn't really seem to follow what had been presented before.  Everything had set up Harbinger as the leader of the Reapers, and there wasn't the barest hint at any point that wasn't the case.  Hell, even the revelation provided by the Prothean VI could be interpreted to mean Harbinger was at the heart of it all.

Leviathian retroactively added more of that foreshadowing... but DLC (after the story is long finished) really is a very poor way to present said foreshadowing.  It might help someone who had never played the game before until then... but that's about it.

Like any mystery, the clues to the endgame must uphold the endgame. In ME the endgame is a floater, there is no "set" endgame, as that is the endgame. Sent many off on different IT's.

As far as foreshadows, the story switched back'n forth between who's the baddest of them all, up until the Cat blew in on an energy beam. Then to find the HeroShep, limited in scope compared to the 'enemy' left folks just wont for more information. Such is life tho...but all in all, there is a limit to head canon, and it's 'rewards' commentary is reflected in tens of thousands of posts on that very subjective.

Bioware may of just bit off more than fans could chew..without losing some teeth... as in hard tack, probably good for you, but hard to digest...etc.

Maybe many fans of VG stories in RPG simulated reality just want their stories read to them? (verbatim)

[SpamBot2000]

AlanC9 wrote...

SpamBot2000 wrote...

Bleachrude wrote...

I always thought it weird in ME1 how Saren simply did absolutely nothing while you did every side quest...same thing with Dragon Age origins...the archdemon is very helpful in that you can literally walk from one end of Ferelden and back multiple times and the game doesn't see to acknowledge it

Yeah, that's RPGs for you. So it makes no sense for their plots to insist on urgent timing. An individual mission, sure. But not the whole thing.

I mean, what's the alternative? Not allowing you time for side quests and traveling around? There are different games for that.

You're right... I don't like RPGs, if this is how you define RPG.

Well, that's not how I would define an RPG... but that's a playing style I would associate with RPGs. Tighter pacing is one of those cinematic elements in vogue now that can conflict with the reasons many people play RPGs to begin with.

[RedBeardJim]

chemiclord wrote...

AlanC9 wrote...

chemiclord wrote...

It was foreshadowing... in the barest minimal sense in that it kinda sorta set the stage that SOMETHING maybe perhaps might be a central "leader" to the Reaper menace.

That doesn't mean it was good foreshadowing or done well.

Which leads to the question of when, why, and how much foreshadowing is necessary.

As much as there is a "science" to writing... there's also a great deal of fuzzy math involved.  There's no real set "amount" of foreshadowing that makes something "bad" to "good."

Good foreshadowing is a balancing act... you want to subtly give people enough pieces that once the "big event" happens, everything clicks into place and in future experiences they start seeing all those little pieces they overlooked before.

If you give them too many, the reveal loses its impact because too many readers have put it together.  Too few, and you lose too many people.  It's a general problem with all literature... it's never going to work for everyone.

Which is one big reason why the review/editing process is so important.

OH WAIT.

[InvincibleHero]

The story was always going to come down to a contrived way to beat them if the ending had to happen quickly and neatly and end in Shepard's lifetime. It is fine to be dissatisfied with the crucible plot. Always knew a conventional victory was off the table.

[AllThatJazz]

 Yeah, I think they did. In ME1 they introduced a conflict with this massive, awe-inspiring villain race, that has never been defeated in billions of years of existence, and then had to write a way to defeat this undefeatable thing. From the moment we learned about the Reapers, there was always going to be a DEM/Macguffin type thingie that would help do the job.

Then in ME2, they made the bizarre decision to have the game be not much about the Reapers really, when the entire game should have been about finding weaknesses in the Reapers (that could have included this mysterious device called the Crucible); then ME3 could have been about exploiting these weaknesses in various ways, leading to eventual victory. ME2 was a brilliant experience in terms of gameplay and characters, but it was a great big mess of ideas (Collector base, Dark Energy, Indoctrination, SB dossiers such as Keeper 20 etc) many of which went nowhere in ME3. Meaning that ME3 had to resolve the main storyline all by itself, instead of being helped by ME2.

Always easier to see what went wrong in hindsight, though  

[Bleachrude]

SpamBot2000 wrote...

AlanC9 wrote...

SpamBot2000 wrote...

Bleachrude wrote...

I always thought it weird in ME1 how Saren simply did absolutely nothing while you did every side quest...same thing with Dragon Age origins...the archdemon is very helpful in that you can literally walk from one end of Ferelden and back multiple times and the game doesn't see to acknowledge it

Yeah, that's RPGs for you. So it makes no sense for their plots to insist on urgent timing. An individual mission, sure. But not the whole thing.

I mean, what's the alternative? Not allowing you time for side quests and traveling around? There are different games for that.

You're right... I don't like RPGs, if this is how you define RPG.

Well, that's not how I would define an RPG... but that's a playing style I would associate with RPGs. Tighter pacing is one of those cinematic elements in vogue now that can conflict with the reasons many people play RPGs to begin with.

I don't think this is something "new" though...

Coming from tabletop RPGs (I started with 1st edition AD&D and moved on to Traveller and GURPS), I always found this aspect of videogame RPGs downright weird...In tabletop RPGs, time was ALWAYS tracked and a mark of a good campaign world was one where if you did something at Xat time Y, the rest of the world would continue on and you would lose access to hints/NPCs/quests.

It's only when I started playing videogame RPGs that I saw the "world stops and you can explore everywhere and no quests expire", but my understanding was that the early videogame RPGs couldn't keep track of time and that's why quests never expired....

[Rhayak]

To OP

I think that's an appropriate metaphore.

Or more precisely: they were chewing fine but at some point started jamming more food in their mouths before they could finish, f...ing up the entire meal's flavor in the process.

And yes, by entire meal i mean all 3 games.

[Dorrieb]

txgoldrush wrote...

Dorrieb wrote...
Fine, you win. Most people didn't get the ending of ME3, but you did, didn't you, because you are special. You are smarter, paid more attention, had better understanding, and crucially will never, ever, ever tire of saying so though the weeks turn into months and the months become years. There was nothing wrong with the ending of ME3, it was a work of genius, and the only reason there was ever any controversy is because the rest of us are tasteless fools who cannot appreciate excellence because we are just not even a fraction as sophisticated as you. To argue with the likes of us is pointless, as your ideas are far too complex and our crude vocabulary far too limited for you to be able to communicate with our addled minds. Do pick up your aura of eternal superiority at the gates of Heaven, and if you're feeling kind, you might condescend to let them take your picture.

To the rest of us unworthy mortals... yeah, I think they wrote an amazing narrative, and probably knew how good it was as they were writing it, which perhaps made them overconfident and led them to take it just that tiny, little bit too far, adding a last minute twist ending that came out of nowhere and turned the entire story on its head at the worst possible point. It must have seemed like a clever idea at the time, and maybe it was, but it was the wrong place for it.

Please....almost nothing came out of nowhere.

The Reapers' motive is revealed to be a solution to the perceived inevitability of synthetic intelligence turning against their organic creators, a problem that not a single character had worried about or even considered until suddenly, at the final moment, it turns out to be the defining question for the history of the galaxy. That is pretty well 'out of nowhere'.

txgoldrush wrote...
The dilemmas in the ending came up THROUGHOUT the narrative. How will the Crucible fire, how do we do it in a way where it doesn't wipe everything out? Are you willing to let millions die to save millions and millions more? Are synthetic beings truly alive? Should we force evolution to attain our goals? Should we use the technology of the enemy against them (EDI taking over Eva for example)? I got all this throught the entire game, not the ending.

Those are possibly very interesting ideas, but ideas do not a narrative make.

txgoldrush wrote...
The probelm is that fans want to cling to positive themes and ignore the negative ones...sorry but Bioware didn't.
Yes, concepts of hope, unity, and overcoming the odds are there....but so is sacrifice, loss, seperation, difficult moral decisions, and the fact that you cannot save everyone. Javik can be just as right about certain things as Hackett.

Oh, so that is my problem, is it? Thank you for explaining me to myself. And to think I said you were snooty!

txgoldrush wrote..
They didn't change the ending past the Extended Cut because they didn't need to. It DOES work, but the
vocal minority of the fanbase still refuses to get it. It isn't that flawed, it just did not go your way...get over it.

Sorry? I don't want them to change anything, where did you get that ?

Modifié par Dorrieb, 21 mars 2013 - 06:45 .

[hiraeth]

Dorrieb wrote...
To the rest of us unworthy mortals... yeah, I think they wrote an amazing narrative, and probably knew how good it was as they were writing it, which perhaps made them overconfident and led them to take it just that tiny, little bit too far, adding a last minute twist ending that came out of nowhere and turned the entire story on its head at the worst possible point. It must have seemed like a clever idea at the time, and maybe it was, but it was the wrong place for it.

Agreed.

[Dr_Extrem]

chemiclord wrote...

AlanC9 wrote...

chemiclord wrote...

It was foreshadowing... in the barest minimal sense in that it kinda sorta set the stage that SOMETHING maybe perhaps might be a central "leader" to the Reaper menace.

That doesn't mean it was good foreshadowing or done well.

Which leads to the question of when, why, and how much foreshadowing is necessary.

As much as there is a "science" to writing... there's also a great deal of fuzzy math involved.  There's no real set "amount" of foreshadowing that makes something "bad" to "good."

Good foreshadowing is a balancing act... you want to subtly give people enough pieces that once the "big event" happens, everything clicks into place and in future experiences they start seeing all those little pieces they overlooked before.

If you give them too many, the reveal loses its impact because too many readers have put it together.  Too few, and you lose too many people.  It's a general problem with all literature... it's never going to work for everyone.

That said, I haven't seen any work yet where one piece of foreshadowing is enough; especially when the end result doesn't really seem to follow what had been presented before.  Everything had set up Harbinger as the leader of the Reapers, and there wasn't the barest hint at any point that wasn't the case.  Hell, even the revelation provided by the Prothean VI could be interpreted to mean Harbinger was at the heart of it all.

Leviathian retroactively added more of that foreshadowing... but DLC (after the story is long finished) really is a very poor way to present said foreshadowing.  It might help someone who had never played the game before until then... but that's about it.

and even leviathan did not reveal enough to not to think of harbinger as the reaper overmind.

it is not that far fetched, that the ai and the minds of the lviathans merged to form harbinger as the new reaper entity. its still very possible. the leviathans themselves have no idea what happened to the ai or where it went after they were harvested.

the leviathans dont know very much - or they dont say everything .. what would be illogical, because their survival depends on shepards success.

Modifié par Dr_Extrem, 21 mars 2013 - 06:56 .

[Giga Drill BREAKER]

txgoldrush wrote...
 but the vocal minority of the fanbase still refuses to get it. It isn't that flawed, it just did not go your way...get over it.

Jesus! in what world are you living in vocal minority, lol. It is statements like that, that makes no one take you seriously.


Vocal minority. Hahahahahaha

Your funny I'll give you that.

[txgoldrush]

Dorrieb wrote...

txgoldrush wrote...

Dorrieb wrote...
Fine, you win. Most people didn't get the ending of ME3, but you did, didn't you, because you are special. You are smarter, paid more attention, had better understanding, and crucially will never, ever, ever tire of saying so though the weeks turn into months and the months become years. There was nothing wrong with the ending of ME3, it was a work of genius, and the only reason there was ever any controversy is because the rest of us are tasteless fools who cannot appreciate excellence because we are just not even a fraction as sophisticated as you. To argue with the likes of us is pointless, as your ideas are far too complex and our crude vocabulary far too limited for you to be able to communicate with our addled minds. Do pick up your aura of eternal superiority at the gates of Heaven, and if you're feeling kind, you might condescend to let them take your picture.

To the rest of us unworthy mortals... yeah, I think they wrote an amazing narrative, and probably knew how good it was as they were writing it, which perhaps made them overconfident and led them to take it just that tiny, little bit too far, adding a last minute twist ending that came out of nowhere and turned the entire story on its head at the worst possible point. It must have seemed like a clever idea at the time, and maybe it was, but it was the wrong place for it.

Please....almost nothing came out of nowhere.

a) The Reapers' motive is revealed to be a solution to the perceived inevitability of synthetic intelligence turning against their organic creators, a problem that not a single character had worried about or even considered until suddenly, at the final moment, it turns out to be the defining question for the history of the galaxy. That is pretty well 'out of nowhere'.

txgoldrush wrote...
The dilemmas in the ending came up THROUGHOUT the narrative. How will the Crucible fire, how do we do it in a way where it doesn't wipe everything out? Are you willing to let millions die to save millions and millions more? Are synthetic beings truly alive? Should we force evolution to attain our goals? Should we use the technology of the enemy against them (EDI taking over Eva for example)? I got all this throught the entire game, not the ending.

Those are possibly very interesting ideas, but ideas do not a narrative make.

txgoldrush wrote...
The probelm is that fans want to cling to positive themes and ignore the negative ones...sorry but Bioware didn't.
Yes, concepts of hope, unity, and overcoming the odds are there....but so is sacrifice, loss, seperation, difficult moral decisions, and the fact that you cannot save everyone. Javik can be just as right about certain things as Hackett.

c) Oh, so that is my problem, is it? Thank you for explaining me to myself. And to think I said you were snooty!

txgoldrush wrote..
They didn't change the ending past the Extended Cut because they didn't need to. It DOES work, but the
vocal minority of the fanbase still refuses to get it. It isn't that flawed, it just did not go your way...get over it.

Sorry? I don't want them to change anything, where did you get that ?

a) Did you not play Overlord? Do you not have Javik? Did you not see the "Report Illegal AI" signs all of the Citadel? Wrong again.....you did not pay attention to the narrative.

Signal tracking in ME1 also brings up this theme...a mad AI that thinks organics will always seek to destroy and control synthetics.

Also notice that Starchild never places blame on synthetics turning on their masters....this means organics can give synthetics reason to kill them, like the geth.

Wrong, these ideas drive the narrative. Why was TIM doing what he was doing?

c) Yep, it is

[txgoldrush]

DinoSteve wrote...

txgoldrush wrote...
 but the vocal minority of the fanbase still refuses to get it. It isn't that flawed, it just did not go your way...get over it.

Jesus! in what world are you living in vocal minority, lol. It is statements like that, that makes no one take you seriously.


Vocal minority. Hahahahahaha

Your funny I'll give you that.

So to disprove me, are you going to use self selected sampling such as polls on this board?

You would really be funny doing so.

I take Biowares scientifically done research over self selecting fan polls.

[hiraeth]

txgoldrush wrote...

DinoSteve wrote...

txgoldrush wrote...
 but the vocal minority of the fanbase still refuses to get it. It isn't that flawed, it just did not go your way...get over it.

Jesus! in what world are you living in vocal minority, lol. It is statements like that, that makes no one take you seriously.


Vocal minority. Hahahahahaha

Your funny I'll give you that.

So to disprove me, are you going to use self selected sampling such as polls on this board?

You would really be funny doing so.

I take Biowares scientifically done research over self selecting fan polls.

Where is this research? I wasn't a part of it.

[Dorrieb]

txgoldrush wrote...
a) Did you not play Overlord? Do you not have Javik? Did you not see the "Report Illegal AI" signs all of the Citadel? Wrong again.....you did not pay attention to the narrative.

Signal tracking in ME1 also brings up this theme...a mad AI that thinks organics will always seek to destroy and control synthetics.

Also notice that Starchild never places blame on synthetics turning on their masters....this means organics can give synthetics reason to kill them, like the geth.

Wrong, these ideas drive the narrative. Why was TIM doing what he was doing?

c) Yep, it is

Oh, I... see. Excuse me.

Gentle readers, we ask for your help and understanding. A year ago today, a community was torn apart by a conflict so fierce and widespread that it shook the foundations of nothing very much. The ending of Mass Effect 3 divided the hearts and minds of the nations of Man. Was it the greatest mistake ever made since faded pink bell-bottomed jeans, or a stroke of ineffable genius to be enshrined in literature along with the works of Shakespeare and the Rubaiyat? An elite and uncompromising few stepped up to affirm the latter, armed with nothing but their own smugness and contempt. Beleaguered on all sides, they stood firm in their conviction that they were simply better than you, and that you probably had not even heard of their favourite bands anyway.

To the rest of the word this is now but a footnote in history. But for some unfortunate souls, the struggle never ended. Their minds shattered by the stress of endless circular arguments and words that do not mean what they believe them to mean, they are unable to move on, condemned to repeat the same old rote phrases and talking points over and over and over and over, incapable of coming to terms with the passage of time or of forming a coherent new thought.

Txgoldrush is one such casualty, a mind trapped into repeating the old chestnuts of an argument that is now little more than a fading memory. It is easy to look upon such a one with pity, or even scorn, but we must look within ourselves and admit that, 'There, but for a smidgen of common sense, go I.' Can such a one ever be cured, and rejoin the ranks of civilized society? Only time will tell. For now, all we can do is offer our kindness and understanding, and hope for the day when a glimmer of light will return to their eyes.

[kobayashi-maru]

Yes but not for reasons you mention. For me the stumbling block was always the suicide mission in ME2. You should have been able to do a non canon kill everyone play through but at no point in a normal canon play through should Garrus and Mordin (maybe Tali) been allowed to die. There were to many cast variables in 3 leading to Padok Wiks and multiple other characters that would or would not appear depending on your choices in previous games. So they where making multiple versions of major plot points and really that lead to them running out of time with other ending.

In future games if they use the suicide mission mechanic of anyone can died then in future games they should not be involved in major plot points so they don't need multiple versions. An example being having Padok Wiks from start and Mordin in only being squad member who helps you or does don't appear. Maybe having option for Mordin in to sacrifice himself only at final point if you have him in your play through. Still same conclusion but far less work.

Other option would simply to give Bioware time to actually finish the game. But really it all comes down to one thing they should have been working on the ending from the start of production not constantly changing it. Write game, build assets for beginning, middle and end. If running out of time you have to cut some side missions or plot points do so and add them via DLC. But make sure your beginning, middle and end are 100% complete.

Modifié par kobayashi-maru, 21 mars 2013 - 09:50 .

[txgoldrush]

Dorrieb wrote...

txgoldrush wrote...
a) Did you not play Overlord? Do you not have Javik? Did you not see the "Report Illegal AI" signs all of the Citadel? Wrong again.....you did not pay attention to the narrative.

Signal tracking in ME1 also brings up this theme...a mad AI that thinks organics will always seek to destroy and control synthetics.

Also notice that Starchild never places blame on synthetics turning on their masters....this means organics can give synthetics reason to kill them, like the geth.

Wrong, these ideas drive the narrative. Why was TIM doing what he was doing?

c) Yep, it is

Oh, I... see. Excuse me.

Gentle readers, we ask for your help and understanding. A year ago today, a community was torn apart by a conflict so fierce and widespread that it shook the foundations of nothing very much. The ending of Mass Effect 3 divided the hearts and minds of the nations of Man. Was it the greatest mistake ever made since faded pink bell-bottomed jeans, or a stroke of ineffable genius to be enshrined in literature along with the works of Shakespeare and the Rubaiyat? An elite and uncompromising few stepped up to affirm the latter, armed with nothing but their own smugness and contempt. Beleaguered on all sides, they stood firm in their conviction that they were simply better than you, and that you probably had not even heard of their favourite bands anyway.

To the rest of the word this is now but a footnote in history. But for some unfortunate souls, the struggle never ended. Their minds shattered by the stress of endless circular arguments and words that do not mean what they believe them to mean, they are unable to move on, condemned to repeat the same old rote phrases and talking points over and over and over and over, incapable of coming to terms with the passage of time or of forming a coherent new thought.

Txgoldrush is one such casualty, a mind trapped into repeating the old chestnuts of an argument that is now little more than a fading memory. It is easy to look upon such a one with pity, or even scorn, but we must look within ourselves and admit that, 'There, but for a smidgen of common sense, go I.' Can such a one ever be cured, and rejoin the ranks of civilized society? Only time will tell. For now, all we can do is offer our kindness and understanding, and hope for the day when a glimmer of light will return to their eyes.

oh...... so many big words for someone who can't get such a straightforward thing called the Mass Effect ending. LOL

and for someone who is simply wrong...lol

Modifié par txgoldrush, 21 mars 2013 - 10:24 .

[txgoldrush]

MassEffectFShep wrote...

txgoldrush wrote...

DinoSteve wrote...

txgoldrush wrote...
 but the vocal minority of the fanbase still refuses to get it. It isn't that flawed, it just did not go your way...get over it.

Jesus! in what world are you living in vocal minority, lol. It is statements like that, that makes no one take you seriously.


Vocal minority. Hahahahahaha

Your funny I'll give you that.

So to disprove me, are you going to use self selected sampling such as polls on this board?

You would really be funny doing so.

I take Biowares scientifically done research over self selecting fan polls.

Where is this research? I wasn't a part of it.

You don't have to be....its called random sampling.

[Giga Drill BREAKER]

txgoldrush wrote...

DinoSteve wrote...

txgoldrush wrote...
 but the vocal minority of the fanbase still refuses to get it. It isn't that flawed, it just did not go your way...get over it.

Jesus! in what world are you living in vocal minority, lol. It is statements like that, that makes no one take you seriously.


Vocal minority. Hahahahahaha

Your funny I'll give you that.

So to disprove me, are you going to use self selected sampling such as polls on this board?

You would really be funny doing so.

I take Biowares scientifically done research over self selecting fan polls.

"Biowares scientifically done research"

lol this is the funniest thing you have said, ever.


Its like you have never heard of media spin, if it was a vocal minority then why the EC?

all the major gaming review sites had polls and guess what, they all overwhelmingly stated that ending was crap, there was also multiple polls on facebook with the same result. I'd like to know where Bioware got this "scientific data" did they go out on the street and ask people? did they go door to door?


Honestly talking to you is like trying to tell a person from the 3rd century BC the Earth is round.

Modifié par DinoSteve, 21 mars 2013 - 10:26 .

[Dorrieb]

txgoldrush wrote...

Dorrieb wrote...

Oh, I... see. Excuse me.

Gentle readers, we ask for your help and understanding. A year ago today, a community was torn apart by a conflict so fierce and widespread that it shook the foundations of nothing very much. The ending of Mass Effect 3 divided the hearts and minds of the nations of Man. Was it the greatest mistake ever made since faded pink bell-bottomed jeans, or a stroke of ineffable genius to be enshrined in literature along with the works of Shakespeare and the Rubaiyat? An elite and uncompromising few stepped up to affirm the latter, armed with nothing but their own smugness and contempt. Beleaguered on all sides, they stood firm in their conviction that they were simply better than you, and that you probably had not even heard of their favourite bands anyway.

To the rest of the word this is now but a footnote in history. But for some unfortunate souls, the struggle never ended. Their minds shattered by the stress of endless circular arguments and words that do not mean what they believe them to mean, they are unable to move on, condemned to repeat the same old rote phrases and talking points over and over and over and over, incapable of coming to terms with the passage of time or of forming a coherent new thought.

Txgoldrush is one such casualty, a mind trapped into repeating the old chestnuts of an argument that is now little more than a fading memory. It is easy to look upon such a one with pity, or even scorn, but we must look within ourselves and admit that, 'There, but for a smidgen of common sense, go I.' Can such a one ever be cured, and rejoin the ranks of civilized society? Only time will tell. For now, all we can do is offer our kindness and understanding, and hope for the day when a glimmer of light will return to their eyes.

oh...... so many big words for someone who can't get such a straightforward thing called the Mass Effect ending. LOL

and for someone who is simply wrong...lol

Gentle readers, witness the afflicted in the throes of a typical episode. Is it not simply awful? Can you remain unmoved at the sight of such a broken mind? No, you cannot!

Modifié par Dorrieb, 21 mars 2013 - 10:30 .

[dreamgazer]

What about the violent readers? They're always ignored.

[Dorrieb]

dreamgazer wrote...

What about the violent readers? They're always ignored.

Past experience has shown that the violent ones are best not approached with appeals to kindness and understanding. Or at all, really. Obvious in retrospect.

[xtorma]

I think is was more "they bit off more than they wanted to invest in"