214 réponses à ce sujet

[Iakus]

Who cares about file sizes?

I think the implication is that they could have done more with EC and still be under the download limit.

[Navasha]

The only lesson they should take away from the ME3 ending controversy is to actually HAVE an ending.   That was the problem with ME3.   They told us it was the END of a trilogy and then still left the darn thing on a cliffhanger.   An end requires a bit of closure.    Would have been an entirely different outlook if there were going to more Shepard stories coming down the pipe.   Then leaving things open and completely unexplained would make some sense.

[Spectr61]

Shooting the stabrat in the refuse ending is neither passive nor ends in a cliffhanger.

Our cycle ends, but the next cycle uses Liara's Beacon to destroy the Reapers.

This in turn sets up the species from our cycle to eventually return to the Milky Way from Andromeda.

Reapers defeated, Milky Way repopulated with both the species from our cycle and the next.

Shepard succeeds in the (lengthy) end, becoming "The Shepard".

[AlanC9]

I think the implication is that they could have done more with EC and still be under the download limit.

Ah, right. Thanks; as a PC player I always forget that the download limit is a thing.

[Oni Changas]

Who cares about file sizes?

Over 2gb of slides shows...?

 

[AlanC9]

I'm still not precisely sure what you're getting at there. Like I said, I didn't even notice the file size myself, so I don't have a good frame of reference for this. Did you, perhaps, look at the file size, make assumptions about what was in the DLC, and then have those hopes cruelly dashed?

[SKAR]

Our cycle ends, but the next cycle uses Liara's Beacon to destroy the Reapers.

Or do they? How do you know if they picked control or synthesis?

[ld1449]

Quoted for Truth. My thoughts exactly. I had a massive problem with the ending and the things and lorebreaks that lead up to it (puts Derpception in a new context since those fixes never came). The whole Shepard dying thing just felt like a turd atop the spoiled cake. It was inconclusive, EC or not, and the slideshows were laughably bad for the size of the EC file. 

 

 

Who cares about file sizes?

 

 

I think the implication is that they could have done more with EC and still be under the download limit.

 

 

Ah, right. Thanks; as a PC player I always forget that the download limit is a thing.

 

Datamining the EC download showed that the DLC was:

 

A. Largely uncompressed, the file size could have been reduced by an additional 70% of what it was (meaning it would have been 800-1000 MB or so, not 3.5 gigs)

 

B. Over inflated. Rather than have code that picked out the pictures of the slide show individually (meaning that it would pick out the Krogan picture based on the Krogan decision and the Geth/Quarian picture based on the decision there, independently of one another) they made INDIVIDUAL videos for all possible ending variations. Meaning that the DLC's content ballooned drastically in size to what we saw, rather than what it was.

 

In short, the EC DLC, if done properly *at best* could have taken up 300MB. More likely than not it would have been 250 or less.

 

They ballooned the DLC size in order to claim that they were under the constraints of download limits imposed by Microsoft. Trying to shift some of the blame away from them and not take *another* PR hit, making it seem like they really worked hard to fix the ending.

 

In short, they lied.

[AlanC9]

Got a link to that claim? I never saw them make it. I did see a lot of people jumping to conclusions, but that's it.

I never saw any way for the EC to be much bigger than it was, considering that there were only about two months to work on it ( start date around April 1, DLC certification in early June).

[In Exile]

Datamining the EC download showed that the DLC was:

A. Largely uncompressed, the file size could have been reduced by an additional 70% of what it was (meaning it would have been 800-1000 MB or so, not 3.5 gigs)

B. Over inflated. Rather than have code that picked out the pictures of the slide show individually (meaning that it would pick out the Krogan picture based on the Krogan decision and the Geth/Quarian picture based on the decision there, independently of one another) they made INDIVIDUAL videos for all possible ending variations. Meaning that the DLC's content ballooned drastically in size to what we saw, rather than what it was.

In short, the EC DLC, if done properly *at best* could have taken up 300MB. More likely than not it would have been 250 or less.

They ballooned the DLC size in order to claim that they were under the constraints of download limits imposed by Microsoft. Trying to shift some of the blame away from them and not take *another* PR hit, making it seem like they really worked hard to fix the ending.

In short, they lied.

Why can't it be incompetence? Is Bioware all that good at compression? How much more expensive would it be to compress files this way? Would it take more time? More hours? They're doing this for free - presumably EA intended it to be as cheap as possible, or gave a very limited budget.

[straykat]

Why can't it be incompetence? Is Bioware all that good at compression? How much more expensive would it be to compress files this way? Would it take more time? More hours? They're doing this for free - presumably EA intended it to be as cheap as possible, or gave a very limited budget.

 

The rest of the game is compressed at least. It takes quite a long while to decompress. That's all I know.

[Spectr61]

Or do they? How do you know if they picked control or synthesis?

??

I reference the next cycle using Liara's Beacon to defeat the Reapers. Our cycle selects refuse thus ending our cycle.

Your first question - "or do they?" - who is the they here addressing? Our cycle selecting refuse or the next cycle using the Beacon?

Your second question - "How do you know if they picked control or synthesis?" - Who are you addressing with the "they" in this? If it's the next cycle, it's species presumably wouldn't have to make the Hobson's choice of endings because they use Liara's Beacon to defeat the Reapers.

Two "theys" addressing two different cycles has me confused, and my post never bringss up Control or Synthesis, as they become irrelevant with the Reaper's defeat.

[ld1449]

Why can't it be incompetence? Is Bioware all that good at compression? How much more expensive would it be to compress files this way? Would it take more time? More hours? They're doing this for free - presumably EA intended it to be as cheap as possible, or gave a very limited budget.

 

Well, you tell me, does the EC look like anything close to resembling 3.5 gigs of content? When the entirety of Dragon age Awakening, compressed as it is in the digital downloads is a little less than 2.5 gigs???

 

New zones, new companions, powers, mechanics, etc 2.5 gigs.

 

A bunch of cut scenes with hacket saying we can rebuild everything 3.5 gigs.

 

Yeah... No. It smelled fishy to everyone who played the EC back then and it was quickly revealed just how much **** they were shoveling.

 

Hell, the entirety of SWTOR is 29 gig download. Does anyone seriously believe the EC is over 10% of the SWTOR content?

 

Got a link to that claim? I never saw them make it. I did see a lot of people jumping to conclusions, but that's it.

I never saw any way for the EC to be much bigger than it was, considering that there were only about two months to work on it ( start date around April 1, DLC certification in early June).

 

After 4 years... yeah, I'll take a look at the old Bioware forums where the claim and the numbers were on display, but I'm seriously not making promises.

[They call me a SpaceCowboy]

Why can't it be incompetence? Is Bioware all that good at compression? How much more expensive would it be to compress files this way? Would it take more time? More hours? They're doing this for free - presumably EA intended it to be as cheap as possible, or gave a very limited budget.

 

Compression is trivial. Noone can be 'not good' at compression. It's a one click process.

 

I suspect they did as much as their tiny budget allowed for.

 

That's all I have to add to this thread. Carry on.

[Spectr61]

I've been playing:
 
Total War games since the original Shogun ~ 16 years
XCOM games since the original on a DX2/66 ~ 21 years
The Civ series since the original on the Amiga... ~ 25 years.
 
Mass Effect is still a young pup

Dungeon. 1981.

Mainframe computer. DOS command line only. Of course no video or graphics.

PC gamer from the outset....

[SKAR]

??

I reference the next cycle using Liara's Beacon to defeat the Reapers. Our cycle selects refuse thus ending our cycle.

Your first question - "or do they?" - who is the they here addressing? Our cycle selecting refuse or the next cycle using the Bacon?

Your second question - "How do you know if they picked control or synthesis?" - Who are you addressing with the "they" in this? If it's the next cycle, it's species presumably wouldn't have to make the Hobson's choice of endings because they use Liara's Beacon to defeat the Reapers.

Two "theys" addressing two different cycles has me confused, and my post never bringss up Control or Synthesis, as they become irrelevant with the Reaper's defeat.

I wonder what they did then. If they didn't use the crucible what the hell else did they use?

[straykat]

Dungeon. 1981.

Mainframe computer. DOS command line only. Of course no video or graphics.

PC gamer from the outset....

 

No tape based mainframes though?

 

 

I think I remember dungeon.. my brother had a vic-20. I think he had that. Not that I could touch it.

[Spectr61]

No tape based mainframes though?
 
 
I think I remember dungeon.. my brother had a vic-20. I think he had that. Not that I could touch it.

Only thing that could run it was a VAX mainframe at college. Terminals in the computer science school hooked to the VAX was only way to play it. Command Line text only. We hand drew huge maps based on the responses. Great fun.


Amazing that this crappy little Kindle I'm using for this post probably has more power than that 1980 state-of-the-art VAX mainframe.

[straykat]

Only thing that could run it was a VAX mainframe at college. Terminals in the computer science school hooked to the VAX was only way to play it. Command Line text only. We hand drew huge maps based on the responses. Great fun.


Amazing that this crappy little Kindle I'm using for this post probably has more power than that 1980 state-of-the-art VAX mainframe.

 

If I'm not mistaken, wasn't VAX running VMS? And NT ("new technology") Windows is like the child of VMS. So there's another thing to laugh about, besides the Kindle. You're still using it.

[Dr. Rush]

Hopefully they will learn the real lesson of the ME3 ending fiasco. The solution is not to "play it safe." 

 

The real solution is to spend the money and commit to a really meaningful and satisfying ending with divergent consequences that reflect the choices the player made throughout the entire game.

 

ME3's ending was cheap and rushed. The story was bad and the consequences were bad. We don't need a safe disney ending, we need an expensive ending that is thorough and substantial and carefully planned months in advance. No more rushing the endings and pinching the pennies at the end of the pipeline. You're owned by a billion dollar company, start developing like it. 

[Spectr61]

If I'm not mistaken, wasn't VAX running VMS? And NT ("new technology") Windows is like the child of VMS. So there's another thing to laugh about, besides the Kindle. You're still using it.

Yes. The other mainframes, all IBM's, were all punchcard input, so useless for our "power gaming" Dungeon sessions.

That doesn't address why I'm using this PoS Kindle though. Something's wrong with me....

[AngryFrozenWater]

If I'm not mistaken, wasn't VAX running VMS? And NT ("new technology") Windows is like the child of VMS. So there's another thing to laugh about, besides the Kindle. You're still using it.

I started with CP/M at the end of the 70s. BTW: Increment each character value in VMS and you'll get WNT (Windows NT). Coincidence? Maybe, but Dave Cutler was a software engineer who worked on VAX/VMS and later became the lead developer of WNT.

 

On topic: The ending was too dark for me. Having a player character who survives and not be crippled would be nice for a change.

[nfi42]

I started with CP/M at the end of the 70s. BTW: Increment each character value in VMS and you'll get WNT (Windows NT). Coincidence? Maybe, but Dave Cutler was a software engineer who worked on VAX/VMS and later became the lead developer of WNT.

 

On topic: The ending was too dark for me. Having a player character who survives and not be crippled would be nice for a change.

 

Snap,  first game i played was on CP/M in 1980,  can't remember what it was though.

[straykat]

I started with CP/M at the end of the 70s. BTW: Increment each character value in VMS and you'll get WNT (Windows NT). Coincidence? Maybe, but Dave Cutler was a software engineer who worked on VAX/VMS and later became the lead developer of WNT.

 

On topic: The ending was too dark for me. Having a player character who survives and not be crippled would be nice for a change.

 

Yeah, I read up more on it. Kind of interesting. It's funny that he still works at MS and worked on the OS layer for the XOne as well.

[Seival]

I'll be the first to admit that the ending to ME3 was very bad. But I worry that the lesson BW will take from the outcry is to make the next game as safe and uncontroversial as possible. I like my stories to have a little bite and something to chew over. There were interesting ideas in the ending, and I actually liked that there was no way to successfully end the war without giving up something significant. I also consider DA2 my favorite of the modern BW games, even if it's deeply flawed from a level design standpoint. Again, it tried to do something we don't see very often in videogames, with a hero who is not larger than the events surrounding her and is just trying to hold on.

By contrast, I don't like DAI very much at all. Oh, I like the LGBT content well enough, but the game as a whole felt bland and soulless. I felt like I couldn't make a meaningful choice and that Corypheus was never in danger of winning. Even the Fade choice had very little impact because the Inquisitor has only the faintest idea who these people are. The worst thing they could possibly happen is getting dumped by your boyfriend, and that's just not world shaking. I hated Citadel with the burning passion of a thousand suns. So yes, I worry that the writers have overreacted and MEA will be a nice, safe, story that takes no risks. I'd rather have the interesting failures back.

I have the similar concern even though I like the ending very much. After the first promo video I thought ME universe is finished, but the recent video gives me some hope. I really want to know what are they trying to do with the original story in MEA. And I really hope they will not turn MEA into some childish adventure like Star Wars. In other words, I expect to see instructive sci-fi story, not a space opera.