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[Fixers0]

While we're on the subject of stupidity in the  ME3 opening; Let's just talk about how amazingly absurd it is that nobody in the Alliance fleet could inform earth that the Reapers have entered the sol system, or that no communications operator on earth noticed that the fleets in orbit had engaged in battle. 

[goishen]

 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.

 

 

Right, like killing 300,000 innocent batarians with little more than a dream to back it up?

 

I mean, I don't wanna sound like a dick here.  However, the alliance has got the council telling them that the reapers probably aren't real.  That the only "proof" that Shepard has is a vision that he/she saw on Eden Prime.  Add to that it can't be independently verified. 

[Fixers0]

 

I mean, I don't wanna sound like a dick here.  However, the alliance has got the council telling them that the reapers probably aren't real.  That the only "proof" that Shepard has is a vision that he/she saw on Eden Prime.  Add to that it can't be independently verified. 

 

Mind you. It is retroactively revealed in ME3 that both the Council and the Alliance were in at least in some capacity aware of the coming Reapers, they just didn't tell Shepard because he/she was cooperating with a terrorist organisation.  

[Linkenski]

I just realized from reading some lines from that leaked and outdated script that there's evidence that the intro was indeed made more "nonsensical" just to make it more accessible to newcomers:
 
Here's the part I'm talking about, and no I won't be giving links to where I found it. Google is your friend:

From the Leaked Script:
Earth: Vancouver
"The leaders of Earth have grounded you and are demanding you answer for his actions while with Cerberus. Alone in your "cell," you gazes wistfully at the idyllic view of Vancouver, Earth's gleaming capital city.
 
The hearing begins and your are summoned; escorted from you cell by an elite young soldier, James. On the long walk you are accompanied by your mentor and friend, Admiral Anderson. Just as you are about to enter the hearing, your old friend (lover?) Ashley/Kaidan arrives; but there's little time for reminiscing as you are whisked inside. James and A/K wait outside while you face your accusers. The hearing is a witch hunt; nobody seems interested in the truth. Even with Anderson defending you, it's clear the leaders won't listen to reason.
 
Before the trial can conclude, your warnings are proven true as earth is rocked by the advanced guard of the Reaper forces. Chaos ensues as you and Anderson attempt to rendezvous with the Normandy and escape the carnage. Your initial plan is foiled and you're forced to find a new pickup location. Meanwhile, A/K and James find an alternate route and reach the Normandy ahead of you. As Reapers forces bear down on you and Anderson, the two veteran soldiers stand back to back to repel the overwhelming enemy numbers. At the last possible moment, the Normandy arrives; Alliance troops poor out of the Normandy, you leap on board and encourages Anderson to join him. Anderson refuses -- Earth needs him here! He vows to stay and fight while Shepard searches the galaxy for a way to defeat the Reapers once and for all. In the midst of the battle, Anderson grants you access to all Alliance military facilities... including the archives on Mars.

 

As the Reaper forces converge, you, A/K, Joker, and James blast away in the Normandy and head for Mars in search of answers."

 
Priority: Mars
"Tension on board the Normandy is high as your team races to Mars. James wants to stay and fight on Earth... and though A/K trusts you, they're confused about the need to go to Mars. But you have a plan.
 
The small team takes the shuttle down to Mars while Joker remains in orbit as a lookout. Shepard, A/K, James and the Alliance Multi-Purpose-Bot (AMP) exit on to the dusty surface of the red planet. After taking in the stunning vista, the team realizes something isn't right; the Alliance forces are absent. In their place are Cerberus operatives with an order to shoot on site. You dispatch the first few waves, but discovers that Cerberus has taken over and his Alliance Access only gets him so far.
 
The sudden and mysterious appearance of a blue alien on Mars is the key to their problems. Liara has a plan; your plan actually. It was her job to find a way in if you could not free yourself of your captors on Earth. With Liara's appearance, James is sent back to the shuttle while you and your old mates proceed to the facility. More Cerberus operatives appear, but they present little resistance, and you easly finds what your looking for; the prothean archive. Accessing the data proves to be more difficult. The information is being deleted. As you and Liara desperately try to stop the download they are confronted by the all too familiar visage of the Illusive Man. He's aligned himself with the Reapers, but wants the prothean data in case the deal goes badly.
 
A deadly Cerberus fembot is responsible for the data theft. She completes the download. you and your team must prevent her escape or risk losing the data. Amidst a blinding wind-storm of red sand they chase the deadly mech through the facility. Just when it appears the fembot might escape on a Cerberus troop ship, James appears; piloting the Normandy's shuttle on a kamikaze mission, destroying both ships and disabling the fembot. A/K reaches the mech first and attempts to recover the data; but the fembot awakens and critically injures A/K. As you and Liara face down a horde of Cerberus troops lead by the fembot, James appears from behind the wreckage. The odds slightly more in their favour, you and your team defeat the Cerberus enemies.
 
The Normandy comes to the rescue once again, warning of more Reapers enroute. The AMP drags the fembot onboard while you and Liara carefully retrieve their fallen comrade. With no clear plan and a critically wounded team mate, you are forced to make your way to one of the few places you still have friends... the Citadel."


~ Paragraphs 62. - 80.

 
Key differences:
Vancouver:
- Shepard is grounded on Earth because of his time with Cerberus (though I suppose this was still in the game with the "The **** you done" line if you hadn't played Arrival)
- Shepard does not meet with the defense commitee. He's going to a trial (which absence in the final product caused confusing continuity.)
 
Mars:
- Shepard gains access to mars when reinstated by Anderson.
- He decides to go there by his own intuition.
- No apparent reason why and he just so happens to also meet Liara there.
 
I think Earth sounded better in the outdated version but Mars doesn't completely make sense because Shepard's reason for going there is arbitrary.
 
Also. Those typos :S

[Linkenski]

didn't you hear? ME 3 is the perfect start for new players..ugh
sometimes Bioware is just stupid
NO its not the perfect start its the final chapter of the trilogy

And I know SO many people locally who were like "Nah, if I'm playing Mass Effect I want to play 1 and 2 first". Methinks the whole "3 has to be for newcomers" was a stunt pulled by former founders Ray and Greg or the higher-ups at EA, and Bioware simply had no choice.

If it were Mac or Casey I would be so pissed. They both had roles standing for the creative direction of not just 3 but the trilogy and they shoot themselves in the foot like that? Fortunately I don't think that's the case but still... they let it happen :/

 

And also fortunately, they can pull the stunt for Next Mass Effect without pissing me off. I'm so excited for a new beginning, whatever it is (unless it's a side-story within the trilogy timeline. That would literally kill all my anticipation)

[Linkenski]

on that I agree the idea of the crucible was executed horribly
it seemed way too easy and rushed we should have been given hints about it in ME 2 already and there should have been some missions to try to find it not just whoops here are the plans for the device..

and the worst part? we never learn about how it functions (with the mass relays and their energy) everyone is just like here's hoping

Here's what I think is the STUPIDEST part though:

 

 

See those arms attaching to the Citadel? All part of the blueprint the galaxy used to build it. Yeah, I wonder what the Catalyst really is! *facepalm*

 

How could they not know the Crucible was meant to attach the citadel ring the ENTIRE TIME!? This level of stupidity and oversight ruins the entire plot for me, if the Crucible in its mere existence didn't already.

 

But let's cut Mac and the ME3 writing staff some slack though. Again, in the outdated script, Javik was originally planned to be a center part of the plot and he WAS the catalyst in the original version and the Starchild was called "GUARDIAN" instead. So originally there didn't seem to be any of this nonsense of "use the citadel to activate the Crucible" (okay, the nonsense is the part where no one knows the fact, not the fact itself which is fine)

 

It's hard to decipher though. In the leaked script, should anyone happen to read it also, there are two parts and they don't connect with each other as both seem to be from two different iterations of the plot. The first is the plot summary parts, the one I linked earlier, and the other is the actual script with mission descriptions and actual dialogue. The latter is near-identical to the final game but the former shows a plot that ME3 never had and IMO it seemed to have more potential. (And it's not that it was simply cut because it was bad. It was cut because of time-constraits. This is proven in the Final Hours of Mass Effect 3 app)

 

 

So really, the reason why ME3's story seems to be so inconsistent might be because of the time-pressure and less because Mac was a hack (like everyone thought) but of course both could be factors. I just think after finding out about this I can better understand why the plot falls apart at the end and why the intro seems so messy too. A severe part of the backbone of the plot was completely cut from the main game due to tough deadlines.

[katamuro]

There were a lot of possibilities missed. The war was supposed to be more of a marathon than a dash that it felt like. And the quality of writing for the different parts seemed quite uneven. For example when Tali takes her mask off and looks at the sunset it would have been the perfect moment to pan the camera around to her face with tears in her eyes showing shepard and others in the background, making the whole homecoming theme more emotional. Then there is the salarian dalatrass, just from the codex it said that no single dalatrass is in control of the whole salarian government, so its kinda hard to believe that with a clear and present danger like the reapers they would have all agreed that getting more troops in krogan form is a bad idea. Then there is asari, spacefaring civilisation for 2700 years and they somehow did not find anything about reapers, collectors, leviathan or even attempt to work out how old exactly the citadel and mass relays were. 

It all seems a bit too strong armed just to fit the basic story and let the people who have started from the last game to just play the game without too many questions.

[katamuro]

Here's what I think is the STUPIDEST part though:

 

 

See those arms attaching to the Citadel? All part of the blueprint the galaxy used to build it. Yeah, I wonder what the Catalyst really is! *facepalm*

 

How could they not know the Crucible was meant to attach the citadel ring the ENTIRE TIME!? This level of stupidity and oversight ruins the entire plot for me, if the Crucible in its mere existence didn't already.

 

But let's cut Mac and the ME3 writing staff some slack though. Again, in the outdated script, Javik was originally planned to be a center part of the plot and he WAS the catalyst in the original version and the Starchild was called "GUARDIAN" instead. So originally there didn't seem to be any of this nonsense of "use the citadel to activate the Crucible" (okay, the nonsense is the part where no one knows the fact, not the fact itself which is fine)

 

It's hard to decipher though. In the leaked script, should anyone happen to read it also, there are two parts and they don't connect with each other as both seem to be from two different iterations of the plot. The first is the plot summary parts, the one I linked earlier, and the other is the actual script with mission descriptions and actual dialogue. The latter is near-identical to the final game but the former shows a plot that ME3 never had and IMO it seemed to have more potential.

 

It has been my feeling for a long time that the script and the story were rewritten up the point of production and even in the middle of it, parts of the story feel like they have been simplified, other parts seem to be left over from some other concept. The whole ending seems to be an attempt to move away from the easier and more conventional endings where with the same EMS system and crucible they could have made it one ending with varying degrees of good/bad things happening. 

 

I mean for example, basic good ending high EMS, most people that you care to survive do survive, shepard lives while saving the galaxy.

basic mid-EMS some people die and shepard dies

low EMS a lot of people die and shepard dies.

very low EMS, rushed ending, making bad choices leads to Reapers winning. 

That would have been an easier solution, with a clear cut ending, with the whole games choices impacting the end more significantly, or at least the choices feeling that they have had a bigger impact. But in an effort to seem clever and less ordinary they lifted the ending from Deus Ex. 

[Linkenski]

I always thought it would've been cool if there'd been more moments where you discovered that higher ups of either races or the council had known more about the Reaper threat than they let on in ME2 and they just didn't say anything becuase it was confidential or something...

 

I couldn't write that with a straight face.

 

[Linkenski]

I think though, from the very beginning Bioware intended chapter 3 to be where all the big subplots were resolved, so while ME2 clearly did some things wrong by not moving the main plot forward, really, they should've dedicated more time to ME3 being the big culmination of not only the biggest story-moments but also player-choice moments. For what little time they had (1.5 year dev cycle) they did a pretty fabulous job, but it was simply unrealistic to expect anything enormous to come out of that project with so much pressure and very little time.

 

I think the game-sequel planning is usually done while the first game is being made, so the 2010 and 2012 release target for both ME sequels was as well if it's done the traditional way (we see it in the movie industry too) and Casey and co. should've thought more ahead back in the ME1 days and told themselves "we need more time than that" and pushed back ME3 into 2013 way back then.

 

The logic is that because you have the engine and many assets established the development time becomes quicker but they probably didn't anticipate how much work would go into tying all story-threads together and then with major player choice as the baggage back in 2004 when they planned it all. That's probably the biggest misstep on Bioware's part with the trilogy; not planning ahead despite of saying they're making a trilogy.