General Video Game Thread

[Three-Eyed Crow]

I'm just gonna confess I didn't hate the ending for ME3. Granted, I played it a couple years late after all the patches and DLC were out. I know it was one of many things about the game that was kinda fixed in post, as it were.

I suspect, conversely, that a lot of my frustration with Andromeda was due to buying it when it came out. Lesson learned!

[Ganymede]

@thenomain said in General Video Game Thread:

Like DA2, I didn’t feel that ME:A was about anything. It’s story was stronger than DA2’s, but that’s like saying this sheet of paper is stronger than a used toilet wipe.

Andromeda was okay as a video game, but it failed as a Mass Effect game.

"I think you and I are destined to do this forever."

I liked Dragon Age 2 a lot. I liked Andromeda a lot. I liked Mass Effect 3 and its ending just fine. And you know this.

Y'all just snobs.

I'll be over here playing Fallout Shelter.

[AeriaNyx]

@sparks
My favorite fan theory was the Indoctrination Theory.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZOyeFvnhiI

I worked on the multiplayer parts of ME3, and my husband who did a lot of the writing in ME2 and I would just have epic bitchfests about the whole thing. When I saw this theory I was like 'If there is anyone left in Edmonton with half a brain, they would confirm this so fast.' but... yeah.

[ixokai]

@sparks said in General Video Game Thread:

I still think ME3 would've had a more interesting ending if they went with Simulation Theory; the universe of the Mass Effect trilogy was a simulation, thus everyone was synthetic life; the program was to run various civilization models, and the Reapers were the code that every so often came through to wipe it clean on a cycle and see what happened with the remains of those civilizations as the 'seeds' for the next ones. And so the Crucible would've let you reach out to try to convince the entities who were running the simulation to let this round of civilizations live.

I mean, it wouldn't necessarily have been a good ending, but it would've been an interesting one.

Doesn't that run into the same problem that the RGB ending had? That it suddenly dumped some brand new story on you that basically invalidated all your choices and work up to that point?

[AeriaNyx]

@ganymede said in General Video Game Thread:

@thenomain said in General Video Game Thread:

Like DA2, I didn’t feel that ME:A was about anything. It’s story was stronger than DA2’s, but that’s like saying this sheet of paper is stronger than a used toilet wipe.

Andromeda was okay as a video game, but it failed as a Mass Effect game.

"I think you and I are destined to do this forever."

I liked Dragon Age 2 a lot. I liked Andromeda a lot. I liked Mass Effect 3 and its ending just fine. And you know this.

Y'all just snobs.

I'll be over here playing Fallout Shelter.

Here's the thing. I think if you take ME3 as a whole as the goodbye to that series, it is freaking beautiful. As long as you ignore the last twenty minutes and the absolute bullshit Blue, Red or Green palate swap ending. (One of the enduring reasons I have maintained such bile for Casey Hudson. He makes me want to punch him in his Zachary-Quinto-looking face. So, so much.) The whole of ME3 was a beautiful, glorious farewell to those characters. Man, if you've never romanced Thane you have no idea what you're missing. I freaking wept. I bawled like a baby during ME3 and the letters you get from Thane.

I loved that whole game. And even though it's not real, I will forever make the Indoctrination Theory cannon in my head.

Double post!

[Ganymede]

@aerianyx said in General Video Game Thread:

I think if you take ME3 as a whole as the goodbye to that series, it is freaking beautiful.

I agree with you, but that's not why I liked it so and not what I'm getting at.

(And, obviously, I romanced Liara all the way through the series.)

We can cut apart and dissect every portion of the story and game, but I prefer to just enjoy the experience. If I don't enjoy something, I honestly don't spend much time considering why or why not; so, I don't do the same if I enjoy it.

I liked when Samara is reunited with the daughters she left. I liked that Jacob had a chance to be the father he never had. I liked Thane's redemption.

I just liked it.

But I also like Merrill, and I liked Varric, and I liked the entire disconnected story of oppression that was Dragon Age 2, as much as I loved the dystopian terror of The Last of Us.

[Roz]

DRAGON AGE 2 IS THE BEST BIOWARE GAME FIGHT ME

[Pyrephox]

@roz It was beautiful but flawed. I really wish they had continued to refine the friendship and rivalry system, though. It was one of the things which should not have been dropped.

[Thenomain]

@aerianyx said in General Video Game Thread:

So. Are you suuuuuure you want him back in charge?

If he's responsible for the amazing writing teams like DA:O, DA:A, ME, ME2, ME2:Lair of the Shadow Broker, ME3, ME3:Fuckin' The Citadel Fuckin' best DLC of any game ever, then I don't care how big of a douchnozzle he is.

The ending of ME3 was dismissive and trite, but it was fine. The rest of ME3 was not as fantastic as its predecessors but it was good.

I can tell so many stories about the ins and outs of the drama behind the Mass Effect games.

The genius of Steve Jobs wasn't that he was an innovator, but that he created a teams that were. And the man was a drama-factory.

So no, as an end user I couldn't care less about the drama. This isn't to be dismissive to people who had to live through it; I truly sympathize with them. My goal, however, is to enjoy the games that I enjoy, and when something like ME:A or DA2 come around I'm going to speak out as a member of the audience.

For instance...

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@ganymede said in General Video Game Thread:

@thenomain said in General Video Game Thread:

Like DA2, I didn’t feel that ME:A was about anything. It’s story was stronger than DA2’s, but that’s like saying this sheet of paper is stronger than a used toilet wipe.

Andromeda was okay as a video game, but it failed as a Mass Effect game.

"I think you and I are destined to do this forever."

I liked Dragon Age 2 a lot. I liked Andromeda a lot. I liked Mass Effect 3 and its ending just fine. And you know this.

I liked ME3's ending just fine too. I liked it better when it destroyed the Universe.

***=Mass Effect 3 ending spoiler***

click to show

On my first play-through, I didn't score enough points for the "merge" ending. My options were: Reprogram the Reapers or destroy them. I sat around for about 5 minutes thinking about it, and I destroyed them.

Before the patch, my ending was this: All mass effect technology was destroyed. Not "and it will be easy to fix", just destroyed. Done. Explode. All the dextro-protein aliens on Earth would starve and die. The Universe would be broken up into systems, and technology would have to be created from scratch.

And I thought: Holy fucking shit, I did it. I saved the Universe by damning it.

I felt like a god.

Then the patch came out, and it turned a major ending into a minor hiccup. It was boring.

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addendum: I think Indoctrination Theory is terrible. To me, Mass Effect is a Space Opera, grande and personal. It's about the same level to me as finding out it was all a dream.

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@roz said in General Video Game Thread:

DRAGON AGE 2 IS THE BEST BIOWARE GAME FIGHT ME

Troll's gotta troll!

... Wait, you're serious aren't you. Should we make a new thread for this, so it could be me vs. you and Gany? 'Cause it's not. And I said so.

[peasoupling]

@thenomain said in General Video Game Thread:

Like DA2, I didn’t feel that ME:A was about anything. It’s story was stronger than DA2’s, but that’s like saying this sheet of paper is stronger than a used toilet wipe.

DA2 works as an exploration of character and place rather than plot. I mean, it's super janky and terrible in a lot of ways, but also great, precisely because it doesn't really do a conventional gamey plot.

Plot is overrated anyway.

[Thenomain]

@peasoupling said in General Video Game Thread:

@thenomain said in General Video Game Thread:

Like DA2, I didn’t feel that ME:A was about anything. It’s story was stronger than DA2’s, but that’s like saying this sheet of paper is stronger than a used toilet wipe.

DA2 works as an exploration of character and place rather than plot.

Then the place should've been more than five rooms large.

Peebee was a more interesting Isabella. Hell, Isabella in DA:O was more interesting, more nuanced, and she was just an NPC in Bioware's nod to putting a brothel in all of their fantasy games. Don't even get me started on how they absolutely ruined Anders. (Incidentally: They absolutely ruined Anders.)

[ixokai]

@thenomain said in General Video Game Thread:

Don't even get me started on how they absolutely ruined Anders. (Incidentally: They absolutely ruined Anders.)

If by ruined you mean he was always awful and they doubled down on him being awful.

[Thenomain]

@ixokai said in General Video Game Thread:

@thenomain said in General Video Game Thread:

Don't even get me started on how they absolutely ruined Anders. (Incidentally: They absolutely ruined Anders.)

If by ruined you mean he was always awful and they doubled down on him being awful.

Sure, in the same way that two completely different awful people are the same because they're both awful. By which I mean: No, don't be silly.

[AeriaNyx]

@thenomain said in General Video Game Thread:

@aerianyx said in General Video Game Thread:

So. Are you suuuuuure you want him back in charge?

If he's responsible for the amazing writing teams like DA:O, DA:A, ME, ME2, ME2:Lair of the Shadow Broker, ME3, ME3:Fuckin' The Citadel Fuckin' best DLC of any game ever, then I don't care how big of a douchnozzle he is.

He so wasn't. Not at all. He was an Artist who got an awesome idea that became Mass Effect. He was Executive Producer of the franchise, but he wasn't involved in building the writing teams.
Old BioWare had different teams on different properties, so there was a big difference between the DA and ME teams. Each had their own programmers, QA, Dev and production teams. There was very very little cross pollination between them. My husband started as an Editor on Jade Empire, moved over to writer on Dragon Age: Origins (He wrote Oghren and parts of the Deep Roads, and all the light content quests) then was moved to the Small Games Group, wrote Sonic Chronicles, the Dark Brotherhood, from there went to ME 2 where he wrote pretty much all of Omega and the DLCs for Kasumi and Zaeed.

The ending of ME3 was dismissive and trite, but it was fine. The rest of ME3 was not as fantastic as its predecessors but it was good.

addendum: I think Indoctrination Theory is terrible. To me, Mass Effect is a Space Opera, grande and personal. It's about the same level to me as finding out it was all a dream.

We shall agree to disagree!

[peasoupling]

@thenomain said in General Video Game Thread:

Then the place should've been more than five rooms large.

It would have been nice. It would also have been nice if they weren't all copy-pasted. But the vast trackless wastes of DA:I and DA:I In Space would have been worse, I think.

Peebee was a more interesting Isabella. Hell, Isabella in DA:O was more interesting, more nuanced, and she was just an NPC in Bioware's nod to putting a brothel in all of their fantasy games. Don't even get me started on how they absolutely ruined Anders. (Incidentally: They absolutely ruined Anders.)

I guess? I don't agree with everything, but I can see how someone would think that. I mean, I think the DA:O Isabella comparison is unfair, but other than that... sure, if you feel that way!

[Thenomain]

@aerianyx said in General Video Game Thread:

He so wasn't. Not at all. He was an Artist who got an awesome idea that became Mass Effect. He was Executive Producer of the franchise, but he wasn't involved in building the writing teams.

Then he can go blow for all I care. If the teams aren't cohesive and good, the game will suck. Y'know, like DA2.

We shall agree to disagree!

Just as a random peeve, I hate this term because it presumes my attitude. We disagree, but if I agree to that is up to me. (So many times I haven't agreed to disagree. So. Many. For instance...

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@peasoupling said in General Video Game Thread:

I guess? I don't agree with everything, but I can see how someone would think that. I mean, I think the DA:O Isabella comparison is unfair, but other than that... sure, if you feel that way!

How is it unfair? Isabella and Anders were established characters. Saying it's unfair is like saying, "It's unfair to compare a Jean-Luc Picard on ST:TNG to a theoretical series where he's not commanding a starship, and is now played by Morgan Freeman as an alcoholic gambler and the reason for these changes is he contracted the Klingon Gene-Changing Flu." Whether or not I'm talking about the change in Isabella or the change in Anders is an exercise I leave up to the reader.

[MagicGirl57]

Has anyone played We Happy Few yet? I was watching a couple of play throughs on it last night and I am really digging it. I'm halfway done with my FF XV obsession (Swoon, Gladio. Swoon) and have a hankering for something a little dark and interesting.

[peasoupling]

@thenomain said in General Video Game Thread:

How is it unfair? Isabella and Anders were established characters. Saying it's unfair is like saying, "It's unfair to compare a Jean-Luc Picard on ST:TNG to a theoretical series where he's not commanding a starship, and is now played by Morgan Freeman as an alcoholic gambler and the reason for these changes is he contracted the Klingon Gene-Changing Flu." Whether or not I'm talking about the change in Isabella or the change in Anders is an exercise I leave up to the reader.

I'm really just talking about Isabella. I don't think there's enough there in DAO to talk about things like nuance comparatively, I guess.

I don't disagree on Anders. Merrill also has very little to do with DAO Merrill. I'm just not that bothered by it in the grand scheme of things. I still think DA2 is a great game in spite of everything.

[Thenomain]

@peasoupling said in General Video Game Thread:

Merrill also has very little to do with DAO Merrill

DA:O Merrill was strong and quite violent against humans, so her character treatment was also pretty bad.

But she was Merrill. Anyone who doesn't adore Merrill is wrong. She can ruin the entire world for me any day. Tho of all the recurring characters, she needed to be tied into DA:O the least.

[Lithium]

I liked DA:2 I haven't touched DA:I yet, need to do that still. I didn't agree with some of the design choices, such as the change to elven facial features but I got they were trying to make them more alien and inhuman. As for the story and the NPC's, I looked at it as backstory, it was good backstory, fleshing out the theme of the main universe, and I loved it for that.

ME:3 I just... I felt lied to. The endings were shitty yes, and I loved the game up to the last 20 minutes too like most people.

Making all my choices not matter though? That did me in. I can't even replay through ME:2 anymore because I then know I'll have to replay 3.