Reeally? So the conversation on Virmire with Wrex, where he could be killed or saved, had no influence on the outcome of the Tuchanka arc? The decision to save or destroy Maelon's data in Mordin's ME 2 loyalty mission had no effect on the outcome of the Tuchanka arc?
The destruction or rewrite of the heretics in Legion's loyalty mission had no effect on the numbers of Geth you faced on the Rannoch missions? Whether Tali was exiled or exonerated in her loyalty mission in ME 2 had NO effect on deciding whether or not peace was a possibility? How about the presence or absence of Legion?
None of these directly affected the Tuchanka and Rannoch arcs? Are you sure?
Still, the point is taken. Because ME 3 was written to be as stand alone as possible, the entire arc is summarized and resolved in the third game, and there are default states that the story uses.
With some benefits to the player's story if previous games were played and imported.
Starcloud, the way you put it, yes, the previous games do have an effect on the 3rd (looking at Tuchanka and Rannoch here). But I would argue that they still (primarily) work like the way saving or destroying the Collector base does by having an effect on the 3rd game (giving you an additional ending choice by way of a checksum).
I just finished Rannoch in my current playthrough and did not get an option to make peace between the Quarians and the Geth (apparently because I chose to rewrite them in 2). Now regardless of what I did in 2 (activating Legion, Legion not dying in SM, destroy/rewrite heretics, Tali's LM) the game still starts on the same premise. The Quarians attack and the Geth run to the Reapers with Legion/not-Legion trying to be Pinocchio. And the choice to make peace also depends on whether you have a high enough reputation and whether you do the Geth matrix mission. I see Rannoch (and Tuchanka) as self contained stories of the 3rd building upon the backstory relayed to you in previous games. Whether they should have been central story missions of the game itself is up for debate because then it forces them to *try* to incorporate prior *choices* (I tend to think they should have been resolved organically rather than through the Godly Force of Shepard ™).
Anyway, I acknowledge that I am standing on a wavering platform by attacking arguably the 2 best things about ME3's story. But you admitted it yourself in the 2nd post that these arcs were meant to be self contained stories in this game.
Agree with Kathryn. One of the major faults of ME3 was that they forced the "best place to start" thing, which was done purely for marketing reasons (i.e. it was stupid).
The problem here is that on the one hand, trying to force this idea put some really heavy constraints on the writers who were in enough trouble as it was.
On the other hand, it just didn't really work either because either you don't really care about the whole story and then it doesn't make a difference or you do care about the story and then there is just no reason you wouldn't at the very least have played ME2. The lore of ME is so massive by the time ME3 rolls around that there is no way to capture it all for people who are new. IMO they shouldn't even have tried.
Look how Assassins Creed Brotherhood starts. If you didn't play AC2, you'll be so completely lost, you probably won't even get through the tutorial. Was that a problem for the game? Of course not because people would have played AC2. If you want to make a trilogy (or any coherent series for that matter), there is no way around going all in and make sure that your previous games are good enough that you can assume that there will be enough of an audience so that you don't need to jeopardize continuity for the sake of adding new people at the last minute who are not willing to catch up.
Ultimately, this shows a great deal of insecurity and a lack of respect for your own work, which the ME series really did not deserve. I tend to lean in the direction that this was a management issue more than a development issue though. It looks to me like there were too many choices made for the sake of marketing rather than for the sake of the product itself.
That said, I think given all these constraints that were put on the writers, the Tuchanka and the Rannoch arc are brilliantly made. Even if you don't agree with certain aspects of them (and I do have issues e.g. with how the geth are handled), one has to admit that the way the massive impact of ME1/2 choices (different main plot relevant characters, decision options and outcomes) are expertly woven into the new and original plot for these arcs that the game demanded. Just in terms of sheer complexity, the Tunchanka arc for example must have been a massive undertaking and getting it all to come together is indeed a stroke of writing genius, maybe not in every single line of dialogue but at the very least as a whole.
I must agree with the sentiment you present in the first half of your post. Bioware tried to please *everyone* and managed to make it an underwhelming spectacle for everyone. ME2 (and even ME1) put the series on the map. The 2nd game was competing with Red Dead Redemption for GOTY and there is no conceivable way a majority of fans and newcomers to the series wouldn't already have played (or at least heard of the awesomeness of) the middle entry. Indeed, by saying that the preceding two games (or at least the immediate predecessor) would be vital to the 3rd, they could have increased sales.
This seems to be a recurring theme with Bioware decision making that by pretending (or trying) to take care of every thread, they manage to half-ass everything for everyone. This is also reflected in their *intense* desire to cater to every permutation of squad deaths in ME2's SM, thereby destroying (or diminishing) (almost) every character's role in the 3rd.
Now, coming to Tuchanka, saving Wrex/killing Wrex, saving the data/deleting the data, Mordin dying/living in ME2 doesn't have an impact on the main Genophage story of ME3, does it? You still have to save Eve, you still synthesize the cure, you still plan to disperse it through the Shroud, you still get an offer to sabotage the operation. I argue that the only thing the previous games do is manage to influence the way you *feel* during this story in the 3rd. Indeed, I think Rannoch has more claim to ME2's decisions having a bigger impact on its arc in 3 than Tuchanka does. I have equal concerns about Tuchanka as I do about Rannoch (magic particles in the air modifying genes of living beings in a matter of seconds vs the Geth having a Pinnochio complex).
Again, I repeat, I acknowledge that I am standing on a shaky platform by attacking arguably the 2 best things about ME3's story. Like you said, many of these issues were probably down to marketing decisions taken by management (Bioware rather than EA, IMO).
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