16751 réponses à ce sujet

[Thrazesul]

Interesting blog post for sure. Rewoke my anger about the whole thing and I linked it around a bit.

As for the bit with groups, I feel it's easier to convey what you think in a FORUM. That's what forums are about aren't they? We're not even allowed to create character threads anywhere either now... just a poor of solving it. I'm not a fan of groups and half of them aren't even active anymore.

I'll go back to playing AC3... less frustrating at the moment.

[giftfish]

Yeah, I feel the same way, for all the reasons that Coldi mentioned. Groups are a poor way to go if you really want to keep things open to the community. Groups are great for focused projects, or if you want to keep the discussion between specific people. But, if you want to be able to dialogue with the community at large, then you want a forum for it.

[Roxy]

coldwetn0se wrote...

@Roxy - those are great! Even though Thursday is over, @giftfish might be interested in adding a couple of them. At the very least, the last one with Ash. I will let her know tomorrow, if she doesn't spy these before I have a chance to inform her. I still haven't learned how to use the slide show function. *derp*

I might even suggest that we just use your pics for next week. We are doing a sort of best of week since it will be Thanksgiving, but we are going to schedule a few things for the site. Thanks again!

...oops haha sorry didn't even pay attention to what day it was and when that was posted I was just so ready for Friday to get here!

That's Great if you want to use them next week np! ^^

@giftfish  your welcome!


About the forum bieng closed down yea to me I really think it's more of an excuse to shut people up,I mean yeah groups are alright but it's not out in the open if you know what I mean!

[DragonSlayer63]

Read the Focus Friday and posted a reply under name Hirmu. A great article indeed. In some perverted way it's satisfying to read about all that's wrong all over again, LOL. But it also leaves me quite wordless. Like... really, what were they thinking when removing femShep's LIs? I'd honestly want to know -- because there's no way that was intentional. That's what I want to believe, anyway.

[giftfish]

It left me wordless while I was writing it, lol.

[giftfish]

This:

http://www.pcmag.com...,2412214,00.asp

Is not good news for the Mass Effect franchise. Not so long that EA is in charge anyway.

[Roxy]

@giftfish You really hit the nail on the head with that Focus Friday post you did on the blog! I think BW needs to read that,they could totally learn something from reading it!

Modifié par Roxy, 17 novembre 2012 - 12:13 .

[giftfish]

@Roxy -- Thanks

[JECW]

giftfish wrote...

This:

http://www.pcmag.com...,2412214,00.asp

Is not good news for the Mass Effect franchise. Not so long that EA is in charge anyway.

Bioware can only dream about making that kind of money in 24hours.  They just don't seem to listen to their fans anymore, and I'm sure EA has a lot to do with that.

I absolutely agree with everything you said on Focus Friday.

[coldwetn0se]

This page needs more Thane.......



".....I'm Cool like that....."

[giftfish]

/drool

[Sable Rhapsody]

JECW wrote...
Bioware can only dream about making that kind of money in 24hours.  They just don't seem to listen to their fans anymore, and I'm sure EA has a lot to do with that.

There's nothing wrong per se with being financially successful or trying to bring new players into a relatively niche gaming market.  The problem is more in the execution.  This phenomenon is not unique to BioWare, and it's something most non-indie developers must tackle at some point or another if they want to stay afloat.

For example, BioWare's jump to developing for consoles in JE and KOTOR after being exclusively PC raised eyebrows, but it proved to be a great business decision, and those two games were very well received.  KOTOR in particular is now considered one of the best WRPGs in the last decade, and it brought in a ton of new fans.  The shifts in development focus for ME3 are proving to be much more of a mixed bag.

Modifié par Sable Rhapsody, 18 novembre 2012 - 09:14 .

[Purple_Lobster23]

Hi everyone. I decided today to check out this site and the forums after being absent for a few months. I've been incredibly busy with school and such and since I haven't been able to get ME3 up and working on my computer, I haven't really had much to do with Mass Effect lately (although I did replay the first two games around a month ago). I got a message from JECW saying that the majority of you have moved to this thread since the ME3 forum is locked and I think it's great that you're all still here even though we all know it's been a pretty rough journey. I just wanted to drop in and say hi and hope that you're all going well. Oh, and I think I'll always be hopelessly obsessed with Thane's character, no matter what. <3

[mythlover20]

PURPLE!!!!! You're back!!!

*TACKLEHUG*

Hi. How're you doing?

[mythlover20]

Gah! Writing the ME3 section is so much harder than the ME2 section was... So many mistakes (their part).... it's making my job so difficult. Especially the Kepral's Syndrome section, since ME2 Kepral's symptoms are just as similar to emphazema as CS, and Mum has emphazema... and it was one of the things that killed dad.... gah!

And there are so many details of it missing! Even in ME2. I realise that there is no way our wonderful ME2 Chris could put in so many details, but was kepral's a bacterial infection to start with, or did the lungs go into over production of mucus trying to deal with the bacteria in the air that was able to grow because of the excess humitity, or did the excess water itself directly damage their lung tissue... and how did this all lead to cancer, and if it was the water why were antibiotics a viable treatment (actually I think I may have answered this: the antibiotics don't fight kepral's, but the continual infections a suffer get's due to the lung blockages causing.... oh hold on I'll copy paste from the Aus CF foundation page....

About CF

    Cystic Fibrosis (CF) is the most common life threatening, recessive genetic condition affecting Australian children.
    Symptoms can include poor weight gain, troublesome coughs, repeated chest infections, salty sweat and abnormal stools.
    Cystic Fibrosis is a genetic disease that affects a number of organs in the body (especially the lungs and pancreas) by clogging them with thick, sticky mucus.
    Repeated infections and blockages can cause irreversible lung damage and death. Mucus can also cause problems in the pancreas preventing the release of enzymes needed for the digestion of food. This means that people with CF can have problems with nutrition.
    CF is an inherited condition. For a child to be born with CF both parents must be genetic carriers for CF. They do not have CF themselves.  See Causes.
    In Australia, all babies are screened at birth for CF.
    At present there is no cure for CF, but the faulty gene has been identified and doctors and scientists are working to find ways of repairing or replacing it. One of the main objectives of the CFA Research Trust is to fund this work.
    With today’s improved treatment most people with CF are able to lead reasonably normal and productive lives. A great amount of time is being directed towards finding new and improved ways of treating CF and of finally finding a cure.

Okay, does anyone understand that, cause I can't make the correlation
between excess moisture and antibiotics in drell (course that could be
sleep deprivation.... and the fact that I'm playing the ME2 romance
youtube playlists in the background, with Thane's utterly sexy
voice..... for research. No, really, I was fact checking! I WAS!!! [smilie]http://social.bioware.com/images/forum/emoticons/angel.png[/smilie]). 
Though thanks to the tretments page I do understand the "continue to
remain active and engage with other team members to remain physically
and emotionally stimulated" bit from the medical report.

I don't
know. I think I may be reading too much into this... even more than I
did writing the first two versions of this section, but... GAHHHHHH!!! 

Writing the ME2 romance was fun.... but this isn't.... I want this to be over!!! 

Okay... whining over. [smilie]http://social.bioware.com/images/forum/emoticons/tongue.png[/smilie]

Cookies? [smilie]http://social.bioware.com/images/forum/emoticons/sideways.png[/smilie]

Oh, wait, I can do better. Here: have a Thane (and his Siha).

Hands are going a-wanderin! [smilie]http://social.bioware.com/images/forum/emoticons/devil.png[/smilie]



http://my.deviantart...sages/#/d5l62h6

This pic is still sweet, even with the wandering hand. Thane is getting a little possessive, it seems.


[url]http://www.cysticfibrosis.org.au/aboutcf/[url]

Modifié par mythlover20, 18 novembre 2012 - 05:24 .

[giftfish]

Sable Rhapsody wrote...

JECW wrote...
Bioware can only dream about making that kind of money in 24hours.  They just don't seem to listen to their fans anymore, and I'm sure EA has a lot to do with that.

There's nothing wrong per se with being financially successful or trying to bring new players into a relatively niche gaming market.  The problem is more in the execution.  This phenomenon is not unique to BioWare, and it's something most non-indie developers must tackle at some point or another if they want to stay afloat.

For example, BioWare's jump to developing for consoles in JE and KOTOR after being exclusively PC raised eyebrows, but it proved to be a great business decision, and those two games were very well received.  KOTOR in particular is now considered one of the best WRPGs in the last decade, and it brought in a ton of new fans.  The shifts in development focus for ME3 are proving to be much more of a mixed bag.

Sable, I  completely agree with your point that there is nothing inextricably wrong with a company being financially successful.  My issue is when development decisions seem to be made with a purely financial perspective in mind, which is what seems to be the case with EA much of the time.

My personal opinion is that they would love nothing more than to have all of their games make this much money.  Yet, at the same time, historically, RPG games have never broken the bank, so to speak, in profits. Despite this fact, they develop hordes of incredibly loyal fans that have a strong love for the genre, and willstick by the companies that make them.

EA's goal seems to be to bring the Mass Effect franchise, and other franchises closer to the action/shooter genre that tends to make more money.  They implemented auto-dialogue in ME3 to cut costs (and likely appeal more to this fanbase), and in my opinion, probably pressured BW into implementing the changes in appearance to FemShep, Ashley, Kelly, etc.  Again, to being ME more in line with how women are depicted in other action/shooters (that make a lot more money).

All of these actions serve to alienate the loyal, RPG-loving fanbase that BW has built up over the last decade, and honestly, it greatly saddens me.  My worry is that future BW titles will have no semblence to past titles as EA slowly chips away at the RPG  elements that made Mass Effect and Dragon Age so great.  The core motivation seems to be to make the game everyone else is making, so that they can attract more fans and rake in the profits.  In the process, BioWare will lose the original fans that got them to where they are today, and they'll release games that will be nowhere near as good as what they achieved in their previous titles.

Damn....grocery list is calling. Blarg.

[wildannie]

@giftfish I totally agree, also, gamers only have so much money so to compete with more shooter focused games and win the big money, they need to excel at them and I'm not sure that they do.

I only buy certain kinds of games, and brand loyalty will not change that (although any brand loyalty I did have left with the release of ME3). Within my chosen genre, I only preorder or buy the games I trust to be the best at full price. BW have lost my trust and therefore my money by the way they have chosen to develop, I do wonder if they have lost more fans than they have gained.

[BeanieBat]

@myth - you're right, even in ME2 there weren't enough details to fully understand what Kepral's Syndrome actually is. If I were to guess based on all the information we were given, I'd say that prolonged exposure to humid environments caused an alteration to the mucus layer in the lungs (making it thicker than normal) and therefore the cilia were unable to clear bacteria efficiently and this lead to a bacterial infection, which I would then say was Kepral's Syndrome. If I remember correctly, we were told it was caused by prolonged exposure to humid environments but wasn't specifically mentioned that the humidity was what caused the disease? I'm not sure how water would cause damage to the lungs itself, further than upsetting the osmotic balance of the cells which I think would be what would alter the mucus. And the lungs wouldn't produce excess mucus to get rid of the bacteria, that's not something that will be altered by the presence of bacteria as far as I am aware... Antibiotics would be used to fight the bacteria.

Cystic fibrosis is caused by a mutation in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator gene (CFTR). There's more than one type of mutation in this gene that can cause disease, which also causes a range in severity. If I remember correctly, the deltaF508 is the most common, but that's not important. The gene encodes a protein involved in chloride transport. With a CF mutation, chloride transport does not function correctly resulting in production of very thick mucus in the lungs, which then leads to bacterial infections that are hard to clear. Bacterial infections in CF patients start from a very very early age. Once Pseudomonas aeruginosa infects, it cannot be permanently erradicated. Once Burkholderia gets in, this leads to higher levels of morbidity and mortality and again is unlikely to be eradicated. CF patients are often segragated from each other to avoid spreading pathogens, especially if they have a Burkholderia infection.

I remember in my first CF lecture, the professor quoted 'woe to the child who when kissed on the head tastes salty, for he is betwitched and soon must die'. It's from a long time ago when CF was pretty much a death sentence. We've come a long way since then.

I believe that Kepral's Syndrome is similar except the thick mucus is caused by humidity rather than a gene mutation. Based on that, there's no logical explanation as to why that would progress to cancer (though was cancer actually mentioned, or was it just 'metastatic spread' and 'lesions' that lead to the assumption of cancer? As that can be explained by bacterial infection). What can't be explained is the new blood based disease. Again, no logical explanation whatsoever. One thing that doesn't make sense based on ME2 information though, is that Kepral's Sydrome cannot be spread to other Drell. If it's bacterial, that's unlikely. If the other Drell have healthy lungs, then they can probably clear it and be ok, but if they have damaged lungs too, bacteria would probably spread and infect them...

I hope that makes sense and helps a little!

Modifié par BeanieBat, 18 novembre 2012 - 03:53 .

[mythlover20]

Beanie my love, you are once again a life saver. I think if I ever have another problem with this section I will have to come directly to you. I can actually understand you. I think I even understood "transmembrane conductance regulator gene."

But, how exactly does a thick mucus layer lead to... oh, wait, never mind. I figured it out. I'll put it down to my thinking about it too hard and it being 3.32AM. :S

You're right too. It was said that it was the prolonged exposure to humid enviornments. That's why I was playing all the Thane romance videos, trying to recheck everything. I think my latest version of the into to the ME2 symptoms said something like... hold on I'll get my notebook......

"...... Thane Krios explains that Kepral's Syndrome was a degenerative lung disease. His species, reptiles native to an arid desert world, were unable to adapt to the primarily aquatic environment of their Hanar benefactor's homeworld, Kahje. Their lungs were unable to cope with the excess moisture in the air, and became very susceptible to the bacteria which caused the disease."

Okay. that to me feels like a very unfinished summary of the disease. The first version also said that "eventually the lungs began to deteriorate, loosing their ability to process oxygen. Continued exposure to the excess humidity excellerated and exaccerbated the condition." Was treatable, not curable, all prognosis terminal... yada yada yada.

I think you're right, Beanie. The lack of details even in ME2 don't really help. There isn't enough for me even to write about. And the lack of details in ME3 make it worse. Even I, with my distinct lack of medical knowledge, was pretty certain that Kepral's could not go from lung disorder to blood disorder, at least not without a serious amount of exposition on the medically based logic of it all.

Oh, and you were right. I checked the Shadow Broker files again. It is "metastatic spread" and "legions" (I mean "lesions"). So... how is it explained? I don't understand that, and now that you mention it, the fact that KS isn't communicable is a bit of a problem.... maybe it's the alteration of the mucus layer that is Kepral's? A thick mucus layer would impede oxygen processing, wouldn't it? And the bacterial infections just complicate the issue?

Then there is the progression of the disease I have to think about. From what I can understand, the symptoms Thane describes seem accurate: the dizzyness, the short-breathedness, the coughs, etc, and my father had all them, and they definitely sound accurate for a lung disorder, but what about SCD? Though the intensity of them..... from the way Thane acts he should have had these symptoms while still on the Normandy, they're DEFINITELY not intense enough to warrant a permanent stay in hospital. I know there is no real timeline for symptom progression, but there is an average we can compare to Thane, isn't there?

Oh, all this is starting to give me a headache... or that may be the lack of sleep, since it's now 3.51AM. Apparently. Oh well, another picture won't take to long.



Kay, I'm going to bed. Night allzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Modifié par mythlover20, 18 novembre 2012 - 05:56 .

[BeanieBat]

I had problems trying to figure out whether Kepral's was the bacterial part or the lung part... at one point I'm sure it's described simply as a bacterial lung disease, which kinda contradicts what Thane tells you about it.

Bacteria are capable of causing lesions. The best example I can think of is TB (technically they form granulomas in the lung). And if the bacteria get into the lymphatic system from the lungs, then they can spread to other organs. They wouldn't cause the same type of infection in other organs though, but I don't think that's stated in the SB files anyway? There's not enough information there for it to imply that oxygen uptake is further reduced in the other infected organs and as I don't think that's possible, I am choosing to assume that's not the implication! =P

The thing that bugged me most about ME3 is that there was NO mention of the lungs being involved at all, therefore it wasn't even implied that the blood thing was a progression! It actually seemed like they had changed the disease!! (If I am wrong there, please let me know, I don't remember ME3 terribly well and I may be making that up!) But yes, the thickened mucus layer would limit oxygen transfer across the cells in the trachea resulting in reduced oxygen intake. And this would get worse with bacterial infections present as well. So the symptoms of coughing, dizziness and short breaths all make sense. But the only way I can think of it advancing to a blood problem is if the bacteria get into the blood... but that would cause septicaemia and pretty shortly afterwards, death. And he would be in a hospital bed high on medication if he had septicaemia! There is just no way I can understand how bacteria, or damaged lungs, would cause a protein similar to haemoglobin to suddenly stop folding correctly. And my answer to that is simply that Chris Hepler didn't understand Kepral's and just added something that sounded really bad to make the condition seem worse, or he didn't even research Thane or Kepral's so made up something entirely new. I'm incredibly disappointed to say that I'd go with the latter, seeing as Thane's character was also different from ME2 Thane and the fact that lungs weren't mentioned at all, so there is nothing to suggest it is a progression (if I am correct on that point).

Anyway, have a good sleep @myth! And that's a wonderful piece - love her work! =D

[coldwetn0se]

BeanieBat wrote...

I had problems trying to figure out whether Kepral's was the bacterial part or the lung part... at one point I'm sure it's described simply as a bacterial lung disease, which kinda contradicts what Thane tells you about it.

Bacteria are capable of causing lesions. The best example I can think of is TB (technically they form granulomas in the lung). And if the bacteria get into the lymphatic system from the lungs, then they can spread to other organs. They wouldn't cause the same type of infection in other organs though, but I don't think that's stated in the SB files anyway? There's not enough information there for it to imply that oxygen uptake is further reduced in the other infected organs and as I don't think that's possible, I am choosing to assume that's not the implication! =P

The thing that bugged me most about ME3 is that there was NO mention of the lungs being involved at all, therefore it wasn't even implied that the blood thing was a progression! It actually seemed like they had changed the disease!! (If I am wrong there, please let me know, I don't remember ME3 terribly well and I may be making that up!) But yes, the thickened mucus layer would limit oxygen transfer across the cells in the trachea resulting in reduced oxygen intake. And this would get worse with bacterial infections present as well. So the symptoms of coughing, dizziness and short breaths all make sense. But the only way I can think of it advancing to a blood problem is if the bacteria get into the blood... but that would cause septicaemia and pretty shortly afterwards, death. And he would be in a hospital bed high on medication if he had septicaemia! There is just no way I can understand how bacteria, or damaged lungs, would cause a protein similar to haemoglobin to suddenly stop folding correctly. And my answer to that is simply that Chris Hepler didn't understand Kepral's and just added something that sounded really bad to make the condition seem worse, or he didn't even research Thane or Kepral's so made up something entirely new. I'm incredibly disappointed to say that I'd go with the latter, seeing as Thane's character was also different from ME2 Thane and the fact that lungs weren't mentioned at all, so there is nothing to suggest it is a progression (if I am correct on that point).

Anyway, have a good sleep @myth! And that's a wonderful piece - love her work! =D

Hey Beannie!  Okay, here is the first dialogue regarding Kepral's in me3.  As for anything stated at Huerta AFTER the coup (and before the prayer), I don't have that dialogue (ie, anything added by the Doctor or Kolyat...if there is any..).


Shepard:(Does it hurt?) Are you in a lot of pain?
Thane: At times. The oxygen transfer proteins don't form correctly. Your human equivalent would be hemoglobin. As a result, my blood is low in oxygen. No matter how much I breathe in I get tingling, numbness ...and that is the best of it. As for my brain, I cannot track the damage. I just experience dizziness from time to time.

**EDIT** BTW, I HATE this formating on the posts sometimes!!!  Sorry..../endrant

Modifié par coldwetn0se, 18 novembre 2012 - 07:21 .

[BeanieBat]

Thanks Coldi! So from that, there's no implication that it's a lung disease at all! All of what is said can be a result of the haemoglobin thing. It would be one thing for Hepler to have this as a progression of Kepral's - yes, it would be illogical and would just show his lack of understanding of biology/medicine, which would maybe be confusing/frustrating but forgivable seeing as he is clearly not a scientist. It's quite another to just disregard what was established in ME2 and create a whole new condition. I guess it is possible he was trying to imply it was a progression, in which case it was just incredibly bad writing!

I don't think the Doctor added much, he was just there to tell us we couldn't save him =[

[Sable Rhapsody]

BeanieBat wrote...
So from that, there's no implication that it's a lung disease at all! All of what is said can be a result of the haemoglobin thing. It would be one thing for Hepler to have this as a progression of Kepral's - yes, it would be illogical and would just show his lack of understanding of biology/medicine, which would maybe be confusing/frustrating but forgivable seeing as he is clearly not a scientist. It's quite another to just disregard what was established in ME2 and create a whole new condition. I guess it is possible he was trying to imply it was a progression, in which case it was just incredibly bad writing!

Oxygen binds to hemoglobin due to its biochemistry, determined by protein synthesis in immature blood cells in the bone marrow.  Sure, if your alveoli are borked you're getting less oxygen, but the hemoglobin itself is still transporting the stuff just fine.  You simply have less oxygen in the blood due to less oxygen overall.  Perhaps the writers were somehow under the impression that oxygen's ability to bind to hemoglobin has something to do with oxygen transfer in the lungs--it's a common enough mistake.  

I don't think he deliberately disregarded ME2 so much as he made mistakes with that very narrow word budget.  Most writers aren't scientists, and IMO only people who know biology would pick up on the mistake.  Given the epic amount of biology fail in ME3 (Synthesis?  REALLY?!) something like mistaking how hemoglobin works is relatively minor.

Modifié par Sable Rhapsody, 19 novembre 2012 - 12:28 .

[BeanieBat]

It is said that the haemoglobin protein doesn't form correctly, any research that was done to come up with that would have clearly shown it was a blood problem and had nothing to do with the lungs. I fail to see how thinking a blood based protein is altered because of the lungs is a common enough mistake.

Yes, there was limited information in ME2 about Kepral's, but there are key words about the disease and Hepler failed to mention any - bacteria and lungs being the most important, in my opinion. While maybe only people who know biology might pick up on the details, I think a lot of people who didn't know the biology would wonder why the lung-based disease is all of a sudden a blood-based disease with no attempt to link the two. Synthesis was ridiculous, but Kepral's was loosely based on real diseases, therefore it wouldn't have taken much work to come up with a logical progression or simply say that the bacterial infection had gotten worse. I have no interest in synthesis, nor any of the endings, but I dislike what happened to Thane's character and I'm only taking about his disease to hopefully help Myth with her essay for the book.

It's nice of you to be optimistic about the writer, but I disagree on the matter as nothing about Thane's character seemed consistent with ME2 to me, so even if it were just a lack of understanding of biology, that isn't the only problem.

[mnomaha]

Popping in over coffee (disclaimer: I am just getting up) but I have to agree with Beanie. Sorry Sable. A GOOD writer would have done the homework. Hepler is not only a bad writer, IMO, but also an incompetent writer. His only thoughts were "I getz to writz an assassin". Well, he still hasn't written an assassin.