87 réponses à ce sujet

[Mister J]

We all know what we think about 3's ending, but I thought the opening was pretty good. Actually very good: with Hackett's 'it's incomprehensibly powerful' and Andersons 'God help us all' and everyone rushing through the building. It really builds up the tension to the moment the crap hits the fan. And then the introduction of the Normandy with the 'Normandy Reborn' soundtrack - awesome.

 

It stopped being awesome the moment I started shooting Cerberus soldiers. At the time that made no sense to me at all.

[cap and gown]

We all know what we think about 3's ending, but I thought the opening was pretty good. Actually very good: with Hackett's 'it's incomprehensibly powerful' and Andersons 'God help us all' and everyone rushing through the building. It really builds up the tension to the moment the crap hits the fan. And then the introduction of the Normandy with the 'Normandy Reborn' soundtrack - awesome.

 

It stopped being awesome the moment I started shooting Cerberus soldiers. At the time that made no sense to me at all.

 

Come on, admit it. You probably agreed with the Defense Committee, "That's it? That's our plan?"

[Mister J]

I do agree with them: Shepards talking is rather hollow.

[RoboticWater]

While you might argue that it's too soon, I think that by giving it more time, they add to the believability of the Crucible. It makes sense for lots of time to pass while they're throwing people at the Crucible to make it work, rather than finding something near the end of the story and using that to suddenly win everything.

 

While I'll agree that it was abrupt, the game kind of had to be, unless they wanted it to be a lot longer (which I would not have minded, but it was already normal ME length).

To me, that's what the finding the Crucible felt like, suddenly stumbling upon the perfect weapon near the end of the trilogy. Given what we know about the Reapers' strategies surrounding ancient tech, I half expected the Crucible to be a trap. I honestly wish it had been, at least that would be a decent plot twist.

 

I get it; at some point it takes a bit of contrivance to kill Über Machine Gods, but I'd prefer something that emerges more naturally from the narrative. For example:

-Reapers are a hive mind and Shepard only has to kill the king, Harbinger

-Bits from the Genophage project can be used to kill the organic bits of the Reapers efficiently

-Investigation of the Reaper's past shows their creators left a safeguard within their original creation

-Research into Keepers reveals a computer virus thing that... you get the idea

My point is: if you need to give the player an ultimate weapon or Achilles heel, don't just shove one in our face and call it a day. Give a little time for investigation, especially for game like Mass Effect which is known for its mysteries.

[Linkenski]

We all know what we think about 3's ending, but I thought the opening was pretty good. Actually very good: with Hackett's 'it's incomprehensibly powerful' and Andersons 'God help us all' and everyone rushing through the building. It really builds up the tension to the moment the crap hits the fan. And then the introduction of the Normandy with the 'Normandy Reborn' soundtrack - awesome.

It stopped being awesome the moment I started shooting Cerberus soldiers. At the time that made no sense to me at all.

The first three good things you mention are exactly the kind of things I hated. It felt overdramatic and silly.

Nevermind Shepard's scare talking but the defence comitee is a friggin JOKE. Don't they have any competent high-rankong officials on Earth? Are these three sentimentalists the best they got? Not much military about them, and the defense committee is supposed to be like Pentagon, right? I just don't buy that you have these 3 people are in charge of military strategy and they don't even have a basic plan to deploy when they're suddenly struck by an unknown force.

I understand they're dumbstruck by something as massive as the Reapers, but I just don't buy that they can't at least come up with something, other than sit with sob-faces and say "what do we do?!"

[Mister J]

It's not meant to be logic, it's meant to be dramatic. But if you don't like that way that's your opinion...

[goishen]

I agree with the OP, on some points.  One point I don't agree with him is, with what TIM said.  TIM, IMO, is fine.  What TIM says is fine, and it has a nice tie-in with the second game if the war didn't start that early. 

 

Also, did any of you notice...   "Sir, we've lost contact with Luna!"  "The moon, how did they get so quickly?"   Later on with Liara, "We were all sitting here watching what was happening on Earth..."  You mean, we could send signals out, but couldn't receive any?  Or wait, what?  How does that work?  But they did.  Like I've said before, in other threads, by the time I got to Earth, I was just like, "Yah, yah.  Big war on.  Yah, I get it, I get the gist." 

 

I'll be the first one to defend their ending, but some of their choices baffle even me.  It is my favorite game of the series though.

[goishen]

The Crucible's execution was fine, it would've been better if it was mentioned back at ME2, if the game had moved the Reaper's plot forward.

Now, the Catalyst? That's a whole new story.

 

 

It was mentioned in an earlier game.  You're just not thinking back far enough.  ME1.  "What if the Conduit is some sort of weapon of mass destruction?"

 

It's a stretch, I'll give you that.  But not far of a stretch.

[Andrew Lucas]

It was mentioned in an earlier game. You're just not thinking back far enough. ME1. "What if the Conduit is some sort of weapon of mass destruction?"

It's a stretch, I'll give you that. But not far of a stretch.

Wait, are the Crucible and the Conduit the same thing now? I thought that the Conduit is what helped Shepard to get directly in the Citadel to stop Saren, and the Crucible a weapon that was being made for centuries, but never got finished.

What am I missing?

[RoboticWater]

Wait, are the Crucible and the Conduit the same thing now? I thought that the Conduit is what helped Shepard to get directly in the Citadel to stop Saren, and the Crucible a weapon that was being for centuries, but never got finished.

What am I missing?

Nothing, the two aren't connected in the slightest.

[Andrew Lucas]

Nothing, the two aren't connected in the slightest.

I thought so.

[goishen]

/facepalm

 

That's why I said it was a stretch.   It's not that far of a stretch to think that we don't know everything there is to know about the Protheans.  Like if they have hidden a design for a weapon of mass destruction in their writings.

[RoboticWater]

/facepalm

 

That's why I said it was a stretch.   It's not that far of a stretch to think that we don't know everything there is to know about the Protheans.  Like if they have hidden a design for a weapon of mass destruction in their writings.

Certainly. The concept that the Protheans could have some super weapon we didn't know about is entirely plausible. I just think the Crucible was introduced rather abruptly. Whether or not the Crucible is technically a Deus Ex Machnia doesn't matter to me. What does matter is that the Crucible feels like a Deus Ex Machina. Immediately after the Reapers come in, we're given the perfect weapon specifically designed to kill the Reapers. That's way too convenient in my mind, and I'm sure there are plenty of ways BioWare could have introduced it more naturally.

[Linkenski]

IMO a quick fix for introducing the Crucible would've been if you're told that the Alliance and Liara T'Soni has been secretly working on uncovering the blueprints for many months prior to ME3 instead of *BOOM* Reapers everywhere,"Oh nooo!" - "oh we just found out there's a 'kill all Reapers device' on Mars that the Protheans hid, nevermind... "

[Linkenski]

It's not meant to be logic, it's meant to be dramatic. But if you don't like that way that's your opinion...

no matter how dramatic something is in storytelling it HAS to make sense first or it's the writers trying to trick the audience.

Imagine a movie where there's 3 people in a room screaming and yelling like they're in pain or in grief for 30 minutes or something. Very dramatic, but You have no idea why and you're wondering why they're all in the same tiny room. It simply doesn't make sense and the absurdity makes it laughable. Now it no longer matters how dramatic it seems, because there is no apparent reason why these people are screaming and yelling - we're never told in the movie - it just makes no logical sense. SO DRAMATIC

[Mister J]

Inapproprioate analogy. The opening to ME3 is not overflowing with illogicalities, unless you look too much into it, or just decide for yourself that it is too illogical whereas another person may think differently.

[Tonymac]

I was a member of the US Navy.  I've served on Nuclear Submarines and toured on Carriers, PT boats and the like.  The control centers on these vessels is what I always thought of as the "Situation Room".  Now that I work for the Navy as a Civillian in the DOD I get to see more.  I've been to real Ops centers and situation rooms, even the Pentagon.

 

In all of my time in those rooms, totalling years of my life having been spent in them - I have never seen a bunch of dumbards as clueless as the cats in the beginning of ME3.  Sure, Reapers are supposedly impressive.  They locked out the Char relay, and they are attacking all over the world all at once.  They are hitting cities, taking down power grids, comms, infrastructure and causing havoc.  No military person would sit there and just stare or play "what do we do, I'm so stupid, oh my god."  

 

The people that run joint defense comitties or are members of them are big time strategists who think on their feet.  They would be doing what Admiral Anderson ended up doing.  I mean, this is supposedly the top guys in charge of the Alliance - so why are they freaking morons?  

[KaiserShep]

The people that run joint defense comitties or are members of them are big time strategists who think on their feet.  They would be doing what Admiral Anderson ended up doing.  I mean, this is supposedly the top guys in charge of the Alliance - so why are they freaking morons?  

 

This kind of goes to how Mass Effect depicts leaders so that our warrior protagonist can be the one to do everything and save the day. Just look at the Council and politicians. They're all corrupt or incompetent.

[Tonymac]

This kind of goes to how Mass Effect depicts leaders so that our warrior protagonist can be the one to do everything and save the day. Just look at the Council and politicians. They're all corrupt or incompetent.

 

Very good point.  I suppose it had to be done that way.  Hence the squabbling, the bickering, no help for earth, we have to protect our own borders - fat lot of good it did them.

 

I was not expecting them to be THAT incompetant though.  

 

In fact, it might have looked better had they been more competant and still got pasted by the Reapers.  It would have made our situation seem much more desperate.    

[themikefest]

Very good point.  I suppose it had to be done that way.  Hence the squabbling, the bickering, no help for earth, we have to protect our own borders - fat lot of good it did them.

 

I was not expecting them to be THAT incompetant though.  

 

In fact, it might have looked better had they been more competant and still got pasted by the Reapers.  It would have made our situation seem much more desperate.    

At least they got killed that way their incompetence won't interfere with trying to stop the reapers

[KaiserShep]

 I wish that the defense committee, instead of asking Shepard what to do, were actually telling Shepard what to do. After all, Shepard sitting in a cell during a galactic war isn't going to do any good for anyone, and Shepard is clearly capable of running strike missions. They could have formulated the plan right then and there, only to be interrupted by a sudden reaper bumrush and then we go to the mad dash to get off the planet. Even if we ended up in the exact same place, the prologue would have been much better for it.

[themikefest]

They're just plain stupid.

 

Shepard: What's the situation?

committee: We were hoping you could tell us

Shepard: Let me get this straight. You're asking me, who's being locked up for the last 6 months, to tell you what's going on? You dirtbags really are stupid

committee: Now, now. There's no nee...

Shepard: Shut up clown. You have me locked up and now you expect me to have some kind of plan. 

committee:There's no need to get upset

Shepard: Really?  All you clowns have done is sit around taking the shape of your chair doing a whole lot of nothing. Too bad you can't be thrown in jail for being stupid. One last thing. You're about to be killed by that beam. Hahaha

[Drone223]

This kind of goes to how Mass Effect depicts leaders so that our warrior protagonist can be the one to do everything and save the day. Just look at the Council and politicians. They're all corrupt or incompetent.

Which unfortunately they've all been like that since ME1.

[Faerlyte]

Shepard sacrifices 300,000 batarians to prevent the reapers from coming in the back door so that he/she can sit in house arrest for 6 months and wait for the reapers to come through the front door. 

 

Sounds legit. 

 

And that's just the tip of the ice berg of absurdities that are carried out or said in ME3.