Mass Effect

[Vargras]

 

 

The dialogue between Liara and Aethyta has quickly become some of my favorite in the entire game.

Aethyta: "Most species only pay attention to you if they wanna have sex with you. You gotta be available, mysterious..."

Liara: "That's not true! Shepard listens to me!"

Aethyta: "And how many times have you popped his thermal clip?"

 

Aethyta: "Look, kid. I called in some folks. Commandos, Eclipse girls who owe me some favors. They're all yours. Just tell 'em where to go."

Liara: "You're... giving me asari commandos?"

Aethyta: "Well you're too old for me to buy you a damn pony."

 

 

[Vargras]

Next N7 Challenge announced.

 

Operation: Raptor

5 PM PST Friday, March 30 – 5 AM PST Monday, April 2

The Reaper horde is growing, so we must as well. Effective military strength needs to increase, and veterans must train conscripts so that they, in turn, can train others.

Allied Goal: Promote 150,000 characters. Victory Packs awarded to all players upon successful completion.

Individual Goal: Promote 2 characters. Commendation Pack awarded to individual players upon successful completion.

[Thorgi Duke of Frisbee]

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/03/29/mass-effect-3-ending-hinted-at-by-mass-effect-1-after-all/

Huh. Even as a stern defender of the ending, I had no idea they had planted bits of it all the way back to Mass Effect 1.

[Waldorf and Statler]

The finale was written by Casey Hudson and one other person, and it is different from the original intent of Dark Energy by the original writer. Those that write the codex entries and lore are not remotely on the same group as those that wrote this ending.

 

In fact the ending all this time was going to be the one by the original writer, but it was changed at the last second to this other stuff. So yeah they may have hinted at this topic through a planet entry before, it doesn't make it any less shitty as the Reapers had always claimed their intent and mission was too complicated for organics to understand.

[deanb]

Here comes devil advocate to save the day:

Except:

1. That's most likely a Prothean VI(bearing in mind up until the events of ME1 onwards it was assumed they were the only preceding species)

2. It's just random chunks of lore and there's plenty of stuff like this thrown about.*

3. The new ending was randomly thrown together last minute, this was a codex entry written 5 years ago.

4. The Catalyst is on the Citadel, not on that planet.

5. If it truly was planted that far back, then Bioware would have come out and gone "look see, we told you about this ages ago".

 

*ME3 version:

Klencory is famously claimed by the eccentric volus billionaire Kumun Shol. His once-ridiculed visions of "beings of light" protecting organic life from synthetic "machine devils" don't seem quite so far-fetched now. His private army of mercenaries are well-established on the planet, waiting for husks to come knocking in on their door. In all likelihood, they will be obliterated by the molten metal of a Reaper orbital bombardment, on its way to somewhere important.

[TheMightyEthan]

Well and even if one small aspect of the original planned ending remains doesn't mean they didn't change the fuck out of the rest of it.

[Vargras]

Follow-up to the cupcake post I made earlier.

 

From: http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2012/03/29/this-is-what-400-cupcakes-looks-like.aspx

The people at Bioware Edmonton got a large, tasty delivery today. The 402 cupcakes that were ordered earlier this week as part of a fan protest have finally been delivered.

 

The photos were sent to Game Informer this afternoon courtesy of Fuss Cupcakes, the bakery that made and delivered the order. They are lettered A, B, and C to poke fun at Casey Hudson's comments about Mass Effect 3's endings. "It’s not even in any way like the traditional game endings, where you can say how many endings there are or whether you got ending A, B, or C…The endings have a lot more sophistication and variety in them.”

 

Notes from contributors were also made with the delivery.

 

Community manager Chris Priestly posted the following statement on BioWare's

forums:

Today, we received the 400 cupcakes you collectively sent us through your donations to express your feelings about the endings of Mass Effect 3. We want you to know; we are indeed listening to all fan response and acknowledge your feedback. We appreciate creative and thoughtful attempts like this one.

 

The gesture certainly gained our attention both with its creativity and deliciousness. However, while we do appreciate that fans were creative in how they expressed their views, after a lot of discussion, we decided ultimately the reason that they were sent was not done in the context of celebrating the work or accomplishment of the Mass Effect 3 team. This is a subtle, but important aspect in determining how to pass the feedback to the team.

 

BioWare regularly works with many deserving charities, as such it was decided that rather than passing out the cupcakes to staff or wasting good food, to donate them on behalf of our fans to a local Edmonton youth shelter. We know that for the kids that have to use this facility, something as simple as a cupcake is a rare treat and would definitely brighten up their day. Thank you to the fine folks at the local youth shelter for accepting the donation and to the fans who donated the cupcakes.

 

Please keep providing your feedback on Mass Effect 3, we’re still listening.

[Hot Heart]

Figured out what I was doing wrong when playing as Sentinel: I was putting points in tech armour. Overload spam FTW.

 

Also, unlocked Krogan soldier. Woo! Now to promote that class tomorrow...

[Strangelove]

The cupcake thing is such a dickhead move.

[Vargras]

Also, the reaction to Bioware donating the cupcakes to a youth shelter has been predictably idiotic. Fans have been equating it as being the same as a 'kick to the balls'.

 

For fuck's sake, they got the message AND they donated all 400+ cupcakes to a youth shelter... and you guys are MAD? I hate people some days.

[Strangelove]

Bioware just countered snark with snark.

[Hot Heart]

They won't be happy until BioWare report 'We have transformed the local youth shelter into a programmer sweatshop and have those kids working round the clock to get you the new endings.'

[jimmuhpage]

I can't bring myself to play turian or krogan sentinel. If I'm playing with a fellow sentinel, I use my human "Splosion Man" sentinel. We decide who constantly warps and who constantly throws. Coordinating targets and multiple biotic explosions galore That's on silver though, I usually do 2 salarian infiltrators and 2 asari (adept or vanguard, doesn't matter) on gold. The name of the game is tactical cloak headshots and revives, and biotic explosions with stasis on those finicky enemies.

[deanb]

The gesture certainly gained our attention both with its creativity and deliciousness. However, while we do appreciate that fans were creative in how they expressed their views, after a lot of discussion, we decided ultimately the reason that they were sent was not done in the context of celebrating the work or accomplishment of the Mass Effect 3 team. This is a subtle, but important aspect in determining how to pass the feedback to the team.

I don't understand this bit. I mean they knew who they came from, so what discussion was required in deciding in what context they were sent the cakes? Also is the subtle difference mentioned here, the subtle difference in "We think the ending sucked" versus "we think your game is great", or "here's some cupcakes" instead of "here's a forum post"?

 

Seriously, they should be grateful. If the fans really love you they don't send you cakes.

They send you potatoes.

[Strangelove]

Quote from the Bioware forums...ahhh...humanity.

 

"So again. Will there be proper proof of these cupcakes being delivered to those promised local youth shelters...an not just biowares word...biowares word is worth nothing now.

 

I'm actually starting to get pissed now. Not that these kids got free cupcakes, but the fact that Bioware could've EASILY told us what they were planning on day 1 of this campaign. Instead they gave us various replies of "YUMMMMM cupcakes."

 

Bioware you are a disgrace. You trolled us for no reason. This is a ****ty way to treat your fans..just saying."

 

 

"Ok, enough. You decided not to accept the cupcakes because they didn't celebrate ME3, and therefore you won't eat them--and implicitly, won't accept the feedback.. That's truly remarkable, and yes, it is a fair reading of what you wrote.

 

This is the first moment where I have begun to actively dislike the company, Bioware. This is PR fail, again, and smacks of attempting to protect egos and not deal with customers. I hope to hell I'm wrong, and may well be proved wrong in April, but I really doubt it.

 

A large # of people think Bioware screwed up an important part of a game. You refuse to accept that they might be right, over and over again. That's worse than insulting and wrong, that's a mistake and it will be paid for in cold hard cash terms over the next few years."

 

 

"I can already see it now. All the journalist articles talking about how great and generous Bioware are and how their evil fanbase who only wants to use children's charities for their own gain are now upset with their decision (which is due to the pretentious response, not the worthy cause). Well played, I suppose. I for one am done with reasoning with this company though, I'm sick of this holier than thou attitude."

Edited March 29, 2012 by Strangelove

[TCP]

If video games are art, and Bioware are truly artists, I sincerely hope they do what musicians, writers, and painters do, and quit listening to what people say they should do, and do what they want.

[TheMightyEthan]

I'd agree with you, except they're already doing what EA tells them to do, so as long as they're not letting that creative spirit fly we might was well try to direct their shilling into improving the game.

 

As for the cupcake thing: that was kind of an impressive display of dick-jitsu. Fans criticize the game in a way that's nice and not hateful, but still somehow manages to seem like a dick move, so Bioware turns their own force against them by giving the cupcakes to homeless kids. Pretty awesome.

[TCP]

Only jokes on them, there's no homeless people in Edmonton, they'd freeze to death.

[TheMightyEthan]

Not if they're in a shelter.

[Vargras]

I'd agree with you, except they're already doing what EA tells them to do, so as long as they're not letting that creative spirit fly we might was well try to direct their shilling into improving the game.

 

As for the cupcake thing: that was kind of an impressive display of dick-jitsu. Fans criticize the game in a way that's nice and not hateful, but still somehow manages to seem like a dick move, so Bioware turns their own force against them by giving the cupcakes to homeless kids. Pretty awesome.

 

Seriously. I'm still trying to wrap my head around this. You sent them cupcakes, specifically made in such a manner as to poke fun at the endings. Alright, fine. You then include additional messages, which... probably weren't helpful to your cause.

 

Bioware knows we're not happy with the endings, and they still want us to give feedback. They gave a reason as to why they wouldn't accept the cupcakes, and instead of throwing them out, they gave them to a youth shelter.

 

...and somehow, they're the bad guys? I mean, almost EVERY ARGUMENT I've seen people make in that topic is completely invalid, because Bioware has repeatedly stated that they KNOW people aren't happy with the endings, and they WANT us to keep sending feedback. At this point, it seems like everyone still whining about it is being a self-entitled cunt who is looking to pick a fight.

 

I really hate people sometimes.

[Strangelove]

Why did they even send the cupcakes in the first place? Isnt it common knowledge that there definitely is going to be ending dlc or changes to the ending? Seriously, do people really think theyre NOT going to change it? They have to now.

[Eleven]

The gesture certainly gained our attention both with its creativity and deliciousness. However, while we do appreciate that fans were creative in how they expressed their views, after a lot of discussion, we decided ultimately the reason that they were sent was not done in the context of celebrating the work or accomplishment of the Mass Effect 3 team. This is a subtle, but important aspect in determining how to pass the feedback to the team.

I don't understand this bit. I mean they knew who they came from, so what discussion was required in deciding in what context they were sent the cakes? Also is the subtle difference mentioned here, the subtle difference in "We think the ending sucked" versus "we think your game is great", or "here's some cupcakes" instead of "here's a forum post"?

 

Seriously, they should be grateful. If the fans really love you they don't send you cakes.

They send you potatoes.

 

I think the cupcakes are a way to mock Bioware for the "shit they've done".

Edited March 30, 2012 by elev3n

[Thursday Next]

they're already doing what EA tells them to do.

 

That's not the way it works, I've said this plenty of times before. Studios make their own decisions as to artistic direction and story. Unless you work for either the studio or publisher involved or can produce a quote from either one to that effect please stop saying "X makes Y do Z."

[deanb]

Why did they even send the cupcakes in the first place? Isnt it common knowledge that there definitely is going to be ending dlc or changes to the ending? Seriously, do people really think theyre NOT going to change it? They have to now.

Errm nope. There is actually nothing at all that's a certainty, definitely, set-in-stone at all with regards to Bioware and their plans with the ending. Until the further DLC is announced, no one but Bioware will know what they're doing.

[CorgiShinobi]

There's something down the line, but we're only hoping it's what we want, or really what someone personally wants. So even if we receive an Epilogue DLC, I can still see some fans being pissed that the multiple choice "ending" is still part of the game because rather than an extension, some wanted a completely revamped ending in the core game.

Edited March 30, 2012 by Atomsk88