The new Mass Effect 3 thread.

[MSTJedi]

I don't know, I thought the "green" choice was plenty Paragon.

[Smith Dr John Smith]

Which one was that again?  Was that the one where you wipe out a whole race,enslave a whole race,or force everyone to become part of that race?

[Henry88]

"green" choice is sending  them back to dark space.

[Smith Dr John Smith]

I must not have been able to get that choice since I don't have multiplayer.  I have one where you take over them,one where you force everyone to become part reaper,and one where you kill them all.  I also think Sci-Fi and fantasy have to be stripped of their details and boiled down to their ideas,every story is about some real world idea if you get rid of distracting details.

[MSTJedi]

The '"green" one is

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

assimilation of synthetic and organic life.

The "red" one is

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

destruction of all synthetic life.

The "blue" one is

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

controlling the Reapers.

Not sure why it didn't bother me, but I had no problem with the story boiling down to three choices. Maybe I've just read enough Arthur C. Clarke that I'm used to weird-ass endings.

[Smith Dr John Smith]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Weird doesn't make it any less morally revolting that Shepard chooses one of those options for the whole galaxy just because he is dieing.  We know that last time it took the Reapers over one hundred years to wipe out the galaxy and at this point in ME3 it is less then one year into that so for Shepard to take star kid's word for anything and make one of these awful choices is not only the highest form of hubris but it is out and out evil for him to take free will away from the galaxy and just assume that because he is dying no one else in the next hundred years will find away to defeat The Reapers or change the cycle so just be cause he is dying he has the right to kill every member of a race,enslave them,or force everyone to become a member of that race with magic.  That makes Shepard much more evil then the Reapers who seem to know nothing of free will and that is why the ending makes me feel sick and why I am moving on and pretending ME3 never happened.

When it came out that this ending was a complete last minute rewrite of the ending the team had been talking about since 2009 by two people who didn't allow the rest of the team to have any input I was not shocked,it shows.  I just think between the way EA is rushing games out the door and Casey Hudson's ego that Bioware has been run into the ground so I am moving on.

Honestly thinking about the kind of mind that thinks these endings are anything other then morally wrong makes me feel kind of ill so I just think it is healthier to move on and I am trying not to give this series or Bioware any more thought.

[ScottotD]

Wait, so your problem isn't that the ending(s) don't suit the game but a moral stance?

Classic sci-fi very often has lose/lose endings

[MSTJedi]

Wait, so your problem isn't that the ending(s) don't suit the game but a moral stance?

Classic sci-fi very often has lose/lose endings

Exactly. That's my point. It didn't really surprise me that a sci-fi series came down to a tough choice. Well, okay, it did surprise me the first time I played through, of course, but it didn't ruin the story for me. Facing an impossible foe, Shepard is forced to either let all advanced sentient life die (do nothing), or defeat the enemy in a way that's not a total win for anyone.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Honestly, I still don't see your problem with the green choice. Humanity will most likely move to integrating synthetic with organic over the centuries to come, especially in the Mass Effect universe, so I don't see any real problem with hastening it in order to stop the Reapers and put everyone on common ground. Seems like a pretty good compromise to me. A no-brainer when I played my Paragon Shepard.

[ScottotD]

Kobayashi Maru

[MontyServo]

I guess the fanboys would have rather had something a bit more cut and dry like this:

[Smith Dr John Smith]

Wait, so your problem isn't that the ending(s) don't suit the game but a moral stance?

Classic sci-fi very often has lose/lose endings

Exactly. That's my point. It didn't really surprise me that a sci-fi series came down to a tough choice. Well, okay, it did surprise me the first time I played through, of course, but it didn't ruin the story for me. Facing an impossible foe, Shepard is forced to either let all advanced sentient life die (do nothing), or defeat the enemy in a way that's not a total win for anyone.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Honestly, I still don't see your problem with the green choice. Humanity will most likely move to integrating synthetic with organic over the centuries to come, especially in the Mass Effect universe, so I don't see any real problem with hastening it in order to stop the Reapers and put everyone on common ground. Seems like a pretty good compromise to me. A no-brainer when I played my Paragon Shepard.

It makes Shepard the greatest war criminal in history,he dwarfs all others in history put together.  If you have no problem with someone either killing,enslaving,or forcing people to become members a race then I don't know what to tell you.  As I said all stories come down to basic moral choices and the fact that Shepard makes his based only on the facts giving to him by the person who created the reapers makes it even worse.  The fact is the message of the series is now that different races can not get along in any way and the only real world solution is to wipe out or enslave everyone who is not a member of your race and the only other answer is if everyone because members of the same race.  The endings may have well have been written by the KKK or the NAZI party.  It's the sort of sick so called choice but belongs in our past.  In fact in the story it self it feels like Shepard only makes the choices because he is dying and wants to take everyone else with him or at least leave them in chains,how is that not evil.

Let me put it this way if the story was set in modern times and it was about a race war between black and white Americans and in the end in the hero who was dying choose to either Enslave all black people,force everyone to become white,or kill all black people with magic would you really not have a problem with that.  Like I said all stories boil down to their moral choices and the ones at the end of Mass Effect 3 make me sick they are the sort of thing that only makes sense if you buy into the ideas of the KKK and Nazis and every other race based hate group out there ,I have said this many times before but people can't be bothered to read because it is easier to mock people for wanting a happy ending.  I am fine with everyone dying as long as they dying fighting for something that is not Hitler's wet dread. The ending of the game sends a message that racism is okay and I know most gamers don't have a problem with that so I am sorry that I offend you but I do.  Sorry but I believe what a story says and the ideas it promotes are important.

Since no one else seems to agree with me or have a problem with this I am just going go and avoid anything with Bioware,EA,or Casey Hudson's name on it from now on.

[MSTJedi]

Let me put it this way if the story was set in modern times and it was about a race war between black and white Americans and in the end in the hero who was dying choose to either Enslave all black people,force everyone to become white,or kill all black people with magic would you really not have a problem with that. 

Not the same. Assimilation would be more like making everyone mulatto, rather than making everyone white. The reason I don't see a problem with that is because all that is skin deep. It really makes no difference whether a sentient being is black or white . . . or organic or synthetic. Fighting between each other because of such differences is stupid and taking away those differences, even forcefully, seems like a compromise I'd be willing to make (or have someone make for me) in order to stop such inane conflict.

[Smith Dr John Smith]

Let me put it this way if the story was set in modern times and it was about a race war between black and white Americans and in the end in the hero who was dying choose to either Enslave all black people,force everyone to become white,or kill all black people with magic would you really not have a problem with that. 

Not the same. Assimilation would be more like making everyone mulatto, rather than making everyone white. The reason I don't see a problem with that is because all that is skin deep. It really makes no difference whether a sentient being is black or white . . . or organic or synthetic. Fighting between each other because of such differences is stupid and taking away those differences, even forcefully, seems like a compromise I'd be willing to make (or have someone make for me) in order to stop such inane conflict.

So you think forcing people at gun point to take part in breeding programs to make all races the same would be a good thing?  I really have nothing to say to that accept it is in complete violation of people's basic human rights.  Let me put it this way in my book the Borg are not the heroes of Star Trek.  Sorry but it still is the most evil thing I can think of some one doing and given that they have 100 years to play with it's just selfish and the only reason he is doing it is to screw people over with his last breath and I just don't like it that is all. I mean Shepard just shot TIM for trying to do the exact thing he does five minutes latter.

Sorry I don't think you are a bad person but for me the ending makes me feel sick so I am just leaving it behind and pretending it didn't happen.

[Henry88]

The lineup for this summer's Game Developer's Conference in Europe is shaping up, as a newly announced discussion includes BioWare on post-DLC lessons from "Mass Effect" and "Dragon Age." Video game fans have a ton to look forward to on the development side of gaming as well, with Bigpoint discussing free-to-play game design.


The conference will take place in Cologne, Germany from August 13th through 15th at the Congress-Centrum Ost Koelnmesse. At the event's Business and Marketing track, BioWare plans to detail the long-term strategy for each of its major new releases, according to a press release from GDC. The company's director of online development Fernando Melo, who has worked on titles such as "Mass Effect" and "Dragon Age," will outline the studio's future plans for these games and other major titles.

Another session known as "Leveling Up Your AAA Game- BioWare's Post Release Content Insights," delves into the strategies behind downloadable content, online game passes, microtransitions, and more. Melo will also argue as to why these elements can make big-budget titles far more successful.
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BioWare's "Mass Effect 3," which launched on March 5th, has already seen downloadable content releases such as "From Ashes" and the "Resurgence Pack." Gamers are gearing up for the DLC that could reveal more insight into the game's controversial ending with the "Extended Cut" expansion. This will include new cut scenes and cinematic sequence revolving around the conclusion of "Mass Effect 3." Another multiplayer pack was also recently unveiled, known as the "Rebellion" pack.

It will be interesting to see if the panel addresses any recent scandals surrounding DLC, such as the Capcom controversy that sent gamers into a fit. Fans were not pleased with the on-disc DLC strategy implemented into titles such as "Street Fighter X Tekken," which included characters that were exclusive to the PlayStation Vita that would need to be unlocked on console version at a later date.



"We would like to assure you that we have been listening to your comments and as such have begun the process of re-evaluating how such additional game content is delivered in the future," Capcom's Christian Svensson said pertaining to the policy earlier in May, according to GameRanx.

The Design Track of Europe's GDC will feature Jan Richter, CTO of the major German-headquartered online gaming company Bigpoint, who will examine free-to-play business models. Richter will reveal some of the positive implications from these systems in the session titled: "Free to Play Game Design Is F*#!1ng Awesome."

The Bigpoint CTO will be citing examples from games such as "Dark Orbit" and "Battlestar Galactica Online" to answer the question: What does it truly mean to make a free to play game? He will also share some "free to play design secrets" and "the latest design evolutions" that developers should know.

YoYo Games CTO Russell Kay will explain how older development philosophies relate to new technologies in a Programming Track presentation known as "Applying Retro Techniques to HTML Development."

Kay says that modern web technologies such as HTML5 make it "difficult to give consistent performance across target platforms, particularly for mobile and lower powered devices." However, he does believe that these issues can be related to those faced in the "early days of games," which will be explored through a number of tips and techniques used to improve HTML5 game performance.

Panels that have previously been announced include talks from the creators of "Dear Esther" and "Amnesia: The Dark Descent" and presentations covering the death of traditional gaming consoles. Discussions will also delve into the future of the game industry press and more

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/343537/20120521/game-developers-conference-2012-mass-effect-dlc.htm

[Smith Dr John Smith]

This whole having to pay extra for DLC just to get the whole game you paid for could do huge damage to gaming in the long run.  Games already cost a lot more then movies and this doesn't help them look like a good value for the money.