Anyone know whats up with the teleporting beam in Priority Earth
that really annoyed me
we never saw something like that before and why are the reapers using it ?
the entire final run sequence didn't make any sense to me
Remember Collector pods transferring humans to the goo center? Beam makes the process faster.
Anyone know whats up with the teleporting beam in Priority Earth
that really annoyed me
we never saw something like that before and why are the reapers using it ?
the entire final run sequence didn't make any sense to me
There's about 6 left, mainly for tourists to do photos in. So yes, I assume it is for Americans to realise they were in London. Surprised they didn't have the Coldstream Guards manning the FOB.
That actually would have been cool in a way. I recall a scene in the Posleen war books where the Arlington cemetery guards fight (and die) in their ceremonial uniforms.
I think there is a difference in admitting the mistakes in public and doing so for themselves. I haven't read ME:Deception but the complaints I heard about it were almost entirely about it being lore-breaking not about its writing being worse than that of the other books'. Accepting a mistake publicly will result in people demanding compensation, either in the form of money or in the form of additional content and they can provide neither. Extended Cut was a pretty generous offer on their part. As I recall they claimed that it will become paid after a year, yet here we are with almost three years passed and it still being free.
I say the writing in Deception is bad specifically because of all the lore breaks. If might be okay in of itself but in this same vein I might say Avatar The Last Airbender was a decent movie. Within the context of what its supposed to be about it is written terribly. That doesn't mean it has to have a bunch of sloppy typos. The plotholes are part of bad writing. Look at the ending of Mass Effect 3, for example. Taken by itself it isn't that bad of an ending. Infact its like a fantasy version of Dues Ex Human Revolution's ending which was pretty great, imo. Yet when viewed within the context of the lore its supposed to be based in the writing is rubbish.
I do give Bioware credit for the EC, however. I'm not ungrateful for what we do get.
Faith in Bioware or any other gaming company is something mythical to me. I judge a product after it is released and I spend about 1-2 months studying the reviews (user and gaming sites), watching gameplay etc. to get the game. If I like it I become more interested in their future products. I never understood people who paid about twice the price for the same gaming content, some side items and a gamble with the possible bugs and shortcomings that are only fixed in later patches.
We all place a certain amount of faith in things, though. If someone has a history of being consistent and honest its reasonable for you not to worry about them lying to you. That doesn't mean they can't or wont or that you should never question them. Just that you place more creditability on them based on past experiences. ME2 blew me away. It was also the first Bioware game I'd ever played. I was so enamored with ME2 that Bioware earned a lot of credibility in my eyes; they gave me a great product that I thoroughly enjoyed and had tons of content for it.
So when they come out and promise this and that for ME3, for example, I believe them. Is it naive? Probably. But is it really wrong of me to expect respectable companies to be honest and not lie to me about something? Bioware isn't Comcast, they didn't have a history of shady practices. Infact, reflecting back on it, they had a lot of love from the fan community for titles like Star Wars and Baldur's Gate. I didn't see any reason I should distrust them. Yet so much of what they hyped and promised us turned out to be lies. Is it my fault for buying into it or is it there fault for lying in the first place? Is it really right that I should have to distrust and doubt everything people say? More rational, perhaps, but also seems a bit disconnected from reality for most people.
So when I say I'd have faith in them not making the same mistakes if they admitted to it I don't mean that I'd just blindly worship them and claim they do no wrong. It just means I genuinely wouldn't expect them to make the same mistakes again. I'd have some confidence that they'd take more care to not mess the next one up.
As for waiting for reviews for games before buying... for me its a bit of a double edged sword. I stumbled into ME2 by accident. I had /zero/ expectations and honestly no idea what kind of game it really was. That meant every moment in that game was a completely new experience. No spoilers whatsoever. With ME3 since I watched and followed everything there were scenes I already knew about. I wasn't surprised that Cerberus were suddenly the enemy - I had already seen it online. I wasn't surprised when the reaper landed outside and the window blew up during the beginning. I had already seen it. I can't help but feel that going into a game too informed risks losing part of the experience.
I don't like spoilers. If I'm already interested in a game and have good experience with that studio delivering good content I'd rather put faith in them and get a completely unspoiled experience from it. Honestly for a long time I wish I could wipe my memory of ME3's ending so I could enjoy the story again. I shudder to think what it'd had been like if I actually played the game for the first time fully aware of the ending ahead. That would had gravely robbed from the experience for me personally.
Anyone know whats up with the teleporting beam in Priority Earth
that really annoyed me
we never saw something like that before and why are the reapers using it ?
the entire final run sequence didn't make any sense to me
They were transporting the bodies to the Citadel to be processed into reaper ships.
We kinda did see /something/ like it before in ME1. Coincidentally called the same thing: the conduit. The beam ray bit is new but the concept behind it isn't. The conduit was able to teleport Saren and a army of geth to the Citadel without any ship or shuttle being observed by us. We drive a mako into it and get spat out in the other end. Really the conduit behaves more like a teleporter than it does a mass relay. Funny though, I never really thought about it before now.
I loved the final battle. In fact, I love the game.
But I do have a few gripes:
1. Where the hell is the rest of my crew? Would've been a lot more fun if they had placed everyone with you. Maybe you form a core team and the rest support you. Sort of what the battle in the Citadel DLC was like (when you were chasing the double Shepard and got stuck in the vault).
2. The Normandy flying out of the shadows, coming to the rescue of my LI. A touching scene. But somewhat impossible.
3. I didn't mind the "extended" ending. Of course, the only 2 that made any scene in my mind was green and red. But, I mean "Synthesis"? Not that the idea is a bad one... but I'd have a few questions? like "ALL" life is effected. Include virus and such? What about the trees, bears, dogs, etc, etc.
That ending wasn't explained enough. And frankly, I think that's part of the up-roar. Every player was like. WTF?
3. I didn't mind the "extended" ending. Of course, the only 2 that made any scene in my mind was green and red. But, I mean "Synthesis"? Not that the idea is a bad one... but I'd have a few questions? like "ALL" life is effected. Include virus and such? What about the trees, bears, dogs, etc, etc.
That ending wasn't explained enough. And frankly, I think that's part of the up-roar. Every player was like. WTF?
Green is synthesis btw. Incase you weren't sure.
Also yes, ALL life is effected. Even the trees. Yes. The trees. Look closely in the ending and you can see the trees on the garden world the Normandy crashed o nhave the same glowing green motherboard pattern everyone else has.
I was one of those few people that didn't mind priority earth the way it was. The jump of the galactic fleet through the relay to take on the reaper fleet was pretty epic and London itself had alot of gritty street to street building to building fighting. Not to mention the atmosphere of the place did have an end of the world vibe to it. Though I will say this. They should have used or at least shown some war assets in action. Would have been nice having some krogan or rachni guarding our flank as we were trying guard the missile battery, especially when we started getting swarmed with brutes and banshees.
Green is synthesis btw. Incase you weren't sure.
Also yes, ALL life is effected. Even the trees. Yes. The trees. Look closely in the ending and you can see the trees on the garden world the Normandy crashed o nhave the same glowing green motherboard pattern everyone else has.
Hum I thought green was control. Must be blue. 
Thanks.
Hmm, I knew the beam run death scene was deleted, but I didn't know it was still on the disc, and could be modded back on. And that there was another scene they deleted where you see your companions limp away.
If there's anything I'd ever want a mod for, it's that scene, since I prefer it over the Extended Cut scene. Don't get me wrong, I like the goodbye with your LI. But every time I get to the beam now, I see Shepard's friends get hurt, and instead of calling the Normandy to distract Harb so someone could get to the beam, he instead evacs his buddy (and says screw you to the other injured soldiers), which Harb standing there being perfectly cool with it, and then continues to run to the beam, and gets blasted like everyone else.
There's also deleted lines like this, that claim Anderson made it up first, before they changed it to Anderson following you up.
Joker and the Normandy also helped Hammer make it to the beam at some point. Sadly that was never used.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bxnja9v_wG8
Stuff like this really hits home how rushed the final level was.
Still believe neither him nor the illusive man was on the Citadel I mean:
Why did the Citadel have elements of the Shadow broker ship.
-How did he get so Reaper-like between Chronos Base and Earth?
-Why was Shepard bleeding from the same place Anderson got shot?
-Shepard was limping the whole time until he started the destroy option then he walked normal as if he was never hurt.
i think it was all in his head Harbinger wouldn't fire on the Citadel as the need it the only logical option would be to trick shepard into getting himself killed.
I like interesting theories like this, but I don't think the writers intended this. Anderson and Illusive Man represented destroy and control so I think they wanted to get the ball rolling with their conflict before the ending choices.
Hmm, I knew the beam run death scene was deleted, but I didn't know it was still on the disc, and could be modded back on. And that there was another scene they deleted where you see your companions limp away.
If there's anything I'd ever want a mod for, it's that scene, since I prefer it over the Extended Cut scene. Don't get me wrong, I like the goodbye with your LI. But every time I get to the beam now, I see Shepard's friends get hurt, and instead of calling the Normandy to distract Harb so someone could get to the beam, he instead evacs his buddy (and says screw you to the other injured soldiers), which Harb standing there being perfectly cool with it, and then continues to run to the beam, and gets blasted like everyone else.
There's also deleted lines like this, that claim Anderson made it up first, before they changed it to Anderson following you up.
Joker and the Normandy also helped Hammer make it to the beam at some point. Sadly that was never used.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bxnja9v_wG8
Stuff like this really hits home how rushed the final level was.
Wow, this makes me really happy somehow.
I have always been grumpy about the fact that the original endings seemed to have plothole because Bioware hadn't paid attention to their own writing but this sort of proves that a lot was simply cut because of resource constraints... which means the EC wasn't a complete asspull they made once they heard what fans said they should do.
ME3 needs a full-on restoration project at some point. I've already got the extended Anderson Dialogue mod installed as well as the Gabby and Ken recruitment mod but some day we need a full collection of all cut lines of dialogue and perhaps even a mod that revamps Priority Earth to incorporate our EMS properly. It's possible.
Wow, this makes me really happy somehow.
I have always been grumpy about the fact that the original endings seemed to have plothole because Bioware hadn't paid attention to their own writing but this sort of proves that a lot was simply cut because of resource constraints... which means the EC wasn't a complete asspull they made once they heard what fans said they should do.
ME3 needs a full-on restoration project at some point. I've already got the extended Anderson Dialogue mod installed as well as the Gabby and Ken recruitment mod but some day we need a full collection of all cut lines of dialogue and perhaps even a mod that revamps Priority Earth to incorporate our EMS properly. It's possible.
Yeah, Priority Earth was one big "Sorry, we wanted what you wanted too, but we ran out of money and time". Because with the old script, and the audio files, we know there was a plan for a 3rd level where we battled our way to the beam using assets we gained Suicide Mission style, but they didn't have the time to finish it. And since EC was free, they couldn't do it then either.
Emphasis on "exactly"
I don't necessarily disagree, but I am actually a bit uncertain about what specifically it is people don't like about the mission.
My personal opinion:
Good:
- The tone and visuals.
- The bleakness and realism of not being able to win conventionally is so well conveyed.
- The lack of music works in its favor IMO.
- The goodbyes.
- The final struggle resolves the "gameplay theme" much better than any one-on-one boss-fight could ever have.
Bad:
- The triumphant combat theme by Sam Hulick sucks.
- Major Coats.
- Tonal inconsistencies in the radio-chatter.
- Rushed writing here and there and "I was born in London".
- Very small and disconnected payoff for assembling the biggest fleet (the premise of the game)
Besides wanting to see more War Asset-specific scenes, the music. Which you mentioned as a point in its favor. I thought the lack of music and the combat music used was just kind of a drag. After the amazing epic music of the climaxes of the first two games, I was expecting something more. Not upbeat necessarily, but more... something.
But the problem is that the suicide mission was trying to communicate "hell yeah, we're gonna beat the collectors!" but ME3's final mission is trying to communicate "we're losing and hope is all we got."
If there was some kind of suicide music to get you pumped the final mission in ME3 would kind of get a completely different tone. I firmly believe the silence works to it's favor.
Not saying music couldn't have made it better but if there was more music it would've been bleak and depressing... not spectacular and bombastic.
But the problem is that the suicide mission was trying to communicate "hell yeah, we're gonna beat the collectors!" but ME3's final mission is trying to communicate "we're losing and hope is all we got."
If there was some kind of suicide music to get you pumped the final mission in ME3 would kind of get a completely different tone. I firmly believe the silence works to it's favor.
Not saying music couldn't have made it better but if there was more music it would've been bleak and depressing... not spectacular and bombastic.
Interesting. I always felt ME2's suicide mission kept trying to communicate "its a suicide mission!"
Yet Shepard can survive and overcome the odds despite that. For me that was the biggest driving point about the suicide mission. They kept putting emphasis on how it was a suicide mission with little hope of succeeding, that lives would be lost. Then it comes and you can completely shatter that. Commander Shepard achieves the impossible.
This was actually a point I've used in the past to argue why ME3 deserved a happier destroy ending. They had no problems giving us a happy send off in ME2 despite the story hammering home to us that its supposed to be a suicide mission but suddenly in ME3 everything has to be more bleak. Geth die, EDI die, Shepard is just a gasping plate under some rubble somewhere and we never see a reunited Normandy squad.
Hmm... this question is going to require a two part answer.
1) Fighting through the ruins of London just didn't do anything for me. It didn't particularly make any sense to me either, as there were no hints that the city was particularly important in any real capacity. Fighting through Vancouver (which was supposedly the Alliance base of operations, iirc) would have made more sense.
I also expected something similar to the conclusion of Dragon Age: Origins, where the alliances you formed would at least have a superficial impact on that final mission. That it all was a neutral cinematic regardless of how you played through the games... meh. Disappointed, would be the best I can describe it.
2) Narratively... it was simply too disjointed, jumping from one cutscene to the next without providing much context about how everyone off-screen got from Point A to Point B to Point C. While the Extended Cut filled in some of those potholes, some now make LESS sense, especially if you have a High EMS. For example, how does the Normandy become damaged to the point it makes a crash landing when your cinematic clearly shows it outrunning the shock wave?
At the end of the day, it's a bunch of little things that add up to a fractured experience. There's no one thing that "broke" it.
Interesting. I always felt ME2's suicide mission kept trying to communicate "its a suicide mission!"
Yet Shepard can survive and overcome the odds despite that. For me that was the biggest driving point about the suicide mission. They kept putting emphasis on how it was a suicide mission with little hope of succeeding, that lives would be lost. Then it comes and you can completely shatter that. Commander Shepard achieves the impossible.
This was actually a point I've used in the past to argue why ME3 deserved a happier destroy ending. They had no problems giving us a happy send off in ME2 despite the story hammering home to us that its supposed to be a suicide mission but suddenly in ME3 everything has to be more bleak. Geth die, EDI die, Shepard is just a gasping plate under some rubble somewhere and we never see a reunited Normandy squad.
Well there is seriousness in ME2 a lot but admittedly the game is very edgy and rule of cool all throughout and while there's a lot of tension in the final mission it's still very badass. The speeches, the teamwork and the music etc. it comes across as "awesome" to me.
Perhaps Priority: Earth would've been amazing if it was "awesome!" too but I feel like what it tried to communicate with conventional victory being out of reach that it had a very fitting feel to it with limited music and such.
Interesting. I always felt ME2's suicide mission kept trying to communicate "its a suicide mission!"
Yet Shepard can survive and overcome the odds despite that. For me that was the biggest driving point about the suicide mission. They kept putting emphasis on how it was a suicide mission with little hope of succeeding, that lives would be lost. Then it comes and you can completely shatter that. Commander Shepard achieves the impossible.
This was actually a point I've used in the past to argue why ME3 deserved a happier destroy ending. They had no problems giving us a happy send off in ME2 despite the story hammering home to us that its supposed to be a suicide mission but suddenly in ME3 everything has to be more bleak. Geth die, EDI die, Shepard is just a gasping plate under some rubble somewhere and we never see a reunited Normandy squad.
Well there is seriousness in ME2 a lot but admittedly the game is very edgy and rule of cool all throughout and while there's a lot of tension in the final mission it's still very badass. The speeches, the teamwork and the music etc. it comes across as "awesome" to me.
Perhaps Priority: Earth would've been amazing if it was "awesome!" too but I feel like what it tried to communicate with conventional victory being out of reach that it had a very fitting feel to it with limited music and such.
Certainly. I don't mean to say ME2 had no rule or cool or awesome moments. The Suicide Mission was awesome, imo. I'm just saying that, to me, everything leading UP TO the suicide mission was putting emphasis on how low our chances are. Just incase we didn't know it was supposed to be a suicide mission they make sure to specifically call it a suicide mission during many discussions about it. They really wanted us to realize the significance of what was to come. I was certain some people were going to die. Turns out that doesn't have to be the case.
I don't even have an issue with sacrificing EDI and the geth in ME3. Sacrifices are a part of war. I just don't think it was necessary and that there should been a cheesier, happier option. They never shied away from it before. The fact that Shepard actually survives the destroy ending anyway only compounds the problem for me. He's already alive, so why not end it on a happier note than *GASP*
But the problem is that the suicide mission was trying to communicate "hell yeah, we're gonna beat the collectors!" but ME3's final mission is trying to communicate "we're losing and hope is all we got."
This is another problem I have with Priority Earth -the mindset.
The whole trilogy -especially the suicide mission- Shepard and crew went in knowing that they could very well die.
But the mindset was: 'We'll win this anyway, even if we all die!'
Shepard in Priority Earth seems to communicate "I'm dead anyway, <weak sigh>. Why don't i sit here and watch grey concrete 'till my eyeballs fall out..."
It just doesn't fit to what these people were before
ME3 as a whole is a lot darker and... gah, I really don't wanna call it sophisticated because the writing has so many roll-eyes moments... but it does have a more realistic approch sorta... which I think is actually a shame because it's a trilogy. The Lord of The Rings didn't feel drastically different.
Dreamgazer often talks about how ME2 and ME3 felt like reboots in all but name. I can relate to that viewpoint but for me it was mostly ME3, but i'd rather not get into all the nitpicky details because I'd have to analyze it over again and I'm lazy, but I think I could argue why I feel that way if I really wanted to.
But yeah, continuity feels not so good.
Besides wanting to see more War Asset-specific scenes, the music. Which you mentioned as a point in its favor. I thought the lack of music and the combat music used was just kind of a drag. After the amazing epic music of the climaxes of the first two games, I was expecting something more. Not upbeat necessarily, but more... something.
And that's why I didn't like the removal of Jack Wall. He did an excellent job in Mass Effect 1 and 2, but let's advertise Clint Mansell...
Ok, the music of ME3 wasn't bad, but it wasn't what I expected. I wish Jack Wall had done it too.
At best Clint Mansell's pieces sounded like good Clint Mansell pieces... >_>
I really didn't care that much for them in Mass Effect. I can see why Bioware picked him hoping he'd make something haunting and dissonant like in Moon (movie from 2009) but instead we got his usual "sad n epic" schtick.
It doesn't feel like Mass Effect music at all. They could've gone with those motifs but with Mass Effect-y synths and such.
Then again, I sometimes wonder if people even know that he only composed 3 pieces in total to ME3. He made Leaving Earth, an unofficial rearrangement of leaving earth that plays when talking to the child in the vent and the original An End Once and For All.
I somehow feel that I might have been missing out by always turning the music volume off in my games... lol.
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