My (delayed) Response to the Expanded Endings of Mass Effect 3

Right when I just spoke to you guys about writing more and making time for it, my boss at work quit so now we're severely understaffed.  Woo!

Anyway, now we're talking about the ending of Mass Effect 3, which many of you know about but for those of you who don't, be aware that there are SPOILERS AHEAD.


So, what did the extended endings actually do?  Well in almost every option we now have available at the end, we have choices that do make somewhat of a difference to the universe that is no longer in complete and utter shambles.  The Mass Relays can be repaired, all the races can rebuild their worlds, and Shepard is considered a hero in every ending.  There is still no concrete way to officially save Shepard, the Destroy Option merely hints at it, but we don't have to sacrifice a lot to get an ending where the legend lives on and Shepard did officially save the day.  Also, you now have the Refuse option, which unfortunately dooms the current cycle but gives hopes for the next one.

What does it fix? You do get your cathartic moment.  You can say "Yes!  I did save the galaxy!"  And you get to see how the rest of the galaxy is coping and rebuilding together.  You don't have to assume the worst. You get to see the final big choice you made actually mean something as well.  Each ending has a slightly different montage, noting what your choice meant.

What does it not fix?  There are some counter arguments from the Space Child now, but the Space Child still seems out of place and unnecessary.  If they had replaced it with almost anything else that would've been relevant, I would've been okay with that.  The Synthesis ending, although appealing to my ideals of unity, does NOT make any sense, so you will have to be okay with the idea of Space Magic(tm) for that ending to work.  Considering that mass effect fields essentially filled that purpose before, it's not the hugest leap I've ever been asked to make.  Also your EMS score now means diddly squat, which is super annoying because many of us would've liked a Refuse ending where the EMS score mattered. You can't just ignore a mechanic in the game after it's released in my humble opinion, because the player will always remember it's there and remember the developer totally ignoring it.

In my opinion, this extended cut fixes the biggest problems with the original endings, and hence giving us a conclusion that in the long run makes the fans go "meh" rather than "what the hell?!".  I think a good amount of us gamers expect horrible endings because we're not used to good writing.  That's part of the reason why there was such an uproar about a well written series like Mass Effect ending on such a disastrous conclusion.  It was above average in many different ways, and that's why it had such a strong fanbase that wanted to fight for a better ending.  We now have something better, thankfully.

However, there is still a bitter taste in my mouth.  I think that this new extended cut ending should've at lease been in the game originally.  It's not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but if I had received this ending instead of the bullshit slung at me months ago, I think I would've been okay.  I don't think I would've spent weeks disappointed with the hours and money I invested in BioWare.  Part of me will never understand why the fans had to practically pull teeth to get an ending like this.  I'm not going to forget it.  I'm going to remember what happened, and now for certain companies, I know for sure I'll NEVER preorder.  It's not worth it.  It's better to wait and see what happens.

Soon, I will replay the game and figure out which ending I want to give Desdemona Shepard.  In the meantime, if anyone wants to meet me up on Mass Effect multiplayer, feel free to hit me up--d20Sapphire is my handle of course!

Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer is toying with me

Ever since the multiplayer for Mass Effect has been around, I have wanted to be the Quarian Engineer.  Not only do you get cryo blast and inferno, but I have always had a soft spot for Tali as a character.  On top of the fact that engineer is the most underestimated class in the game.  I tried being an engineer after being a vanguard, and if you have drones you kick so much ass!  It's kind of amazing what you can do with that and a little overload from time to time.

So I've been hoping with each pack I buy with the credits I earn in multiplayer that I will get a quarian engineer.  You start our with a human male and a human female, which I haven't played.  Then after some time I got the salarian engineer, who is cool but still not the same as the quarian.

Then on the 10th they added new races to the classes.  Including Geth to the engineers.  And I just got a pack that gave me a geth engineer.

So now I have every kind of engineer you can have in the game unlocked EXCEPT THE ONE I WANT.

Basically, what I'm saying is that my life is so hard.

Okay not that, but still some cruel partner of fate is laughing at me so hard right now.

Video Blog Response To Colin Moriarty of IGN

I broke down and recorded myself this morning.  I woke up to Colin Moriarty of IGN saying that Mass Effect fans like myself are entitled.  I'm arguing against many of his issues, mostly that it's not entitlement to expect high quality product from something that has had that reputation.

SPOILERS.  SO MANY SPOILERS.  DO NOT WATCH IF YOU DON'T WANT SPOILERS.

Also, this little video theory gives me hope.  Even if the ending was an accident with these hints, it's a great point for BioWare to pick up and make a fantastic ending to the ending we all hated.

AGAIN THERE ARE SPOILERS.  IF YOU ARE ALLERGIC TO SPOILERS DO NOT WATCH.

Mass Effect 3: My Opinon

Part One: No Spoilers.

So you ready to kill the Reapers?  Not so fast, here comes ME3, reminding you that  team effort is necessary.  I mean, dude, there are tons of Reapers!  Humanity can't do it alone, even if The Illusive Man thinks so.

The start is kind of abrupt, but then you get into it.  Story is solidly well written and characters new and old are fantastic to have on the ship and bump into while you assemble the best war militia the galaxy has ever seen.

Also, I think this is the most complex they've actually made Shepherd.  You delve into what breaks your Shep's heart and how to pick the hero up and start punching reporters again.

Gameplay is fantastic.  Everything is smoother than ME2, which already seemed like a godsend compared to ME1, and leveling up feels a lot more compelling.  Powers are great, and strategy is still at the forefront.  That is, if you're not doing the narrative version which weakens everything.  Then you can do whatever you want.

And still scan those planets, but with half the tediousness!  Seriously if you want to win you really should scan those planets.  Just sayin'.

Multiplayer helps you with the end game part for ME3, and even if it didn't it's worth playing.  Now if only I could finally get my friggin' quarian engineer I'd be completely satisfied with the multiplayer.  Aww darn.

Don't forget that this is the end.  Some of your favorite people will sacrifice themselves, so be ready.  I've talked to grown men who admitted tearing up at parts.

And some of you, like me, will find it hard to say goodbye, even though you know you have to.  I was weeping and sniffling and wailing when I was saying goodbye to my squad before we did the last battle.  I am one to get super attached to fictional universes of this proportion.  This was it.  I will never get a chance to shoot things with Garrus, smash things with Wrex, or pontificate with Tali possibly ever again.  I am going to miss these characters.

Everything is extremely satisfying, and the end game is super epic.  Until the last five minutes.  When you think it's over, just escape before the credits roll.  There is a reason the internet rage exists.  However, this is less than 1% of the game, and luckily alt+f4 fixes it for you if you want.

Do I recommend playing Mass Effect 3?  Yes.  Sure, you'll get burned by the largest chunk of horrible writing at the end of the game, but there are so many other moments worth playing for that you'll kick yourself if you don't enjoy the other 99.5%.

Part Two: Spoilers

NO SERIOUSLY NO LIE SPOILERS IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS DON'T READ THIS.

I hope that works.  People are touchy about that on the internet.

For those fans out there who have finished the game, I want to encourage you to think about the game as a whole and ignore the last "choices" part.  I've been seeing a few arguments for this on the internet and I have to agree.  Mass Effect 3 is more than just the last five minutes.

There are so many epic parts that I do want to relive again and I will.  The little moments with Garrus, Tali, hell I even started to like Miranda and she got under my skin in ME2.  There are things you didn't realize you love.  Eve showing us female Krogan are the best!  Udina taking a bullet because now everyone sees he's a legitimate dick!  Lasering a Reaper face!  Telling Cerberus to suck it over and over again!  And of course, getting back with the man/woman/alien you love.  My first playthough was a femshep dating Garrus, and it was sweet without rotting your teeth out.  And there are parts I can't wait to play with my "Renegon" Obama shep and my full renegade Alexi shep with their different choices and outcomes.

A lot of us got burned on the ending.  It's horrible.  It's like a freshmen year philosophy major smoking weed on the quad defecated all over the end game and Bioware didn't bother to see where the foul smell was coming from.  I totally understand.  I've lost sleep over this ending, and I think I'm catching a cold because of that.

But there are too many great things about this game that I wouldn't want to miss as a die hard fan.  It's worth playing the majority of it, especially if you know the ending is going to suck because then you know to avoid it.  Focus on what made this a fantastic game, and it'll be a lot easier to forget that child VI that gave a whole finger to the universe by limiting our choices to nothing but suck.

Okay yeah I'm still bitter about it.

The only other legit critique I have is that I don't necessarily like how multiplayer is necessary to get a "decent" ending.  Which isn't that decent and I hardly found satisfying enough to consider playing.  So Shepherd possibly breathes for a second in the wreckage.  Big deal.  Doesn't mean Shep stays alive or is anywhere near the planet that the Normandy lands on to restart civilization as we know it.  Fuck that.  In other news, a whole bunch of people are now stranded on earth with no where to go and depleted resources.  Yeah, there is no way that's going to end well.

Alright I got into the bad zone again.  Look, loyal readers, please understand that I'm not trying to defend what happened to the end game.  But there is a lot of stuff worth loving about this game, and now that you've played it I suggest you think about all the choices, dialogue, cut scenes, and fights you genuinely enjoyed.  They have to outweigh what happened in the last five minutes enough that you cane play up to that point and then quit.  You'll feel a lot better for it.

Mass Effect 3 Demo: Multiplayer

A lot of us fans were very worried about the idea of a multiplayer.  We didn't want it to affect the universe.  We didn't want it to affect the story.  This is Shepard's story.

And it still is, but it doesn't mean there are no other people kicking serious ass.

I like the multiplayer.  It keeps a lot of the stuff you like about the game, including the powers and the weapons, and is well designed.  The maps are easy to memorize but hard to master, and making sure you have a varied team is great.  And if you're in the middle of your Vanguard playthrough but you miss using  Engineer's powers, it's a great way to feed that need.

Also, lack of glitches when I played, so win!

Mystic was nice enough to record our session, where the two of us and couple friends had a great time and then heroically all died in front of a turret we forgot existed.  Enjoy!

Quick thoughts on Mass Effect 3 Demo

I'm working through a headache for you, dear readers!

So I tried out the single player Mass Effect 3 demo yesterday while Mystic watched.  Best Valentines day ever.  It's only 2 hours worth of gameplay so I can't necessarily say what it means for the story as a whole, but I do know that it does give some impressions of the gameplay.

SPOILERS: BECAUSE SOME OF YOU WANT TO KEEP YOUR EXPERIENCE PURE

-The femshep that won the votes so long ago looks like an anime character
-The beginning part feels incomplete but it may just be due to the fact it's a friggin' demo.
-The little kid seemed obvious and annoying.  Old trope.  Not super sad he got fried.
-Health is no longer regenerating, but shields are, so be ready to actually use those medi-pacs.
-Vangaurds are going to want to use the fuck out of Nova
-Councils are a goddamn waste of time still
-You are now shooting at Cerberus, not for Cerberus
-Leveling up now has more tiers and more splits.  This is good, for strategery
-You have 3 different ways to play, and that's alright by me because I can still play the way I want
-Walking seems a little slow in the game, I'm not sure if that's just me or in general.
-Yes it's glitchy.  I hope EA allows BioWare to make this a well developed game, rather than rushing everything.  I CAN WAIT, YOU WILL STILL GET MY MONEY EA TAKE YOUR TIME!

Finally, I find that there are a lot of people being nitpicky on the demo.  I understand the high expectations, but guys, give it a break.  Ashley's face doesn't look right?  Really?  I thought she looked like a horse since day one, haven't changed that much.  Some other things have bothered people, including the kid scene and the glitches.  Luckily I don't think that's indicative of what the game will be.  The demo seems to be a repeat of what was at E3, meaning any changes since then may not have been added.  On top of that certain things may have been cut out merely for the benefit of enjoying a brief but exciting demo.  Please don't think the demo has everything.

I will say that the demo didn't suck, so I'm still going to buy the game.  And that's all I was looking to know from the demo.

She's still Shepard.

By the always entertaining Penny Arcade, I was alerted to something that has become an unnecessary shitstorm when it comes to the marketing of Mass Effect 3.  Fans are allowed to choose the next FemShep that would be on some of the advertising by voting for their favorite of 6 choices.  You like the picture (or pictures) on Facebook, and each like is a vote.  Whichever one has the most votes will "win", I guess.  Here are the 6 ladies you can choose from.

I made them big enough so you can get a good look at the differences.  Again, if you care,  you can "like" the one you want on their facebook page.

Apparently there is some controversy over the blonde one winning.  Which she is by a large margin.  I'm not surprised.  I am surprised that people are that concerned about it.  Anybody who has been engaged in western media should not be surprised that the blonde Shepard is the one that is preferred.  What makes it outrageous is that the people who are vocally opposed to blonde femShep say it's because she's too "Barbie" and suffers from a "personality vacuum".  How do you get that from one picture?  I see no high heels or designer prada bags, and right now the only personality point I get from any of these pictures is that Shepard is on the verge of using her gun on someone.

Penny Arcade recently posted their disdain for these opinions.  I have to agree.  To be perfectly honest, I'm not going to vote for one of those Shepards.  I have two female Shepards that I love to play.  Neither one of them look anything like the ones that are on facebook right now.  And my male Shepard looks just like Obama, because why not?  So why should I care what is on the advertising?  It obviously didn't affect my purchase or my enjoyment of the game.  It shouldn't affect anyone elses.

Maybe people are relating it more to how in American culture (and maybe others, but I'll speak about my own) the perception of what's beautiful tends to be somewhat anglo-fied.  Sure, maybe you don't like how that works.  But getting mad at a vote on facebook that is essentially "pick your favorite pretty picture"is not going to change the world.  You're expecting too much at this point.  Bioware has everyone right to figure out what people would prefer to play as in their video games.  They try to keep statistics on that stuff all the time.  God forbid they listen to what the majority of voting public would like.  Again, we're getting mad at a business for being a business when you do something like that.

If you want to push for heroes that are not always the standard pretty, go ahead and do something more proactive about it.  But if you're going to call one model of Shepard "Barbie" and a void of personality merely by hair and skin color alone, you're being just as prejudice at the culture you are trying to rebel from.  Shepard is still going to save the universe from the reapers*, regardless of his or her looks.  Mass Effect 1 and 2 proved that with every play-through every fan experienced.  One blonde model of Shepard on the advertising is not going to change what already happened in the story.  Only you as the player can.  Play with your Shepard, and move on.  The box art is not going to hurt.

Final thought: would these critics be saying this if is was a male blonde Shepard?  I think not.  Looks like ideals of beauty are not the only things we have to work on.

*That is, as long as your choices in the game didn't already fuck it up for your Shepard.  Which I can't predict right now. 

Lair of the ShadowBroker DLC for Mass Effect 2

I know I usually don't talk about DLC and expansion packs, but I am super excited about this dlc because it does everything a DLC should do.

WARNING: SPOILERS FOLLOW AFTER THIS POINT

But not super into detail.  Read at your own risk.

So, what does Lair of the Shadow Broker do right?

Freshens Up Gameplay
Everything you like about playing Mass Effect 2, but they bring some new tricks out, especially in the boss battles.  Have you fought a charging Vanguard yet?  Now you will.  Have you ever had to punch through someone's shields?  Now you will.  And you will feel like, as Zaeed would say, a guddamn hero
after you do it all.

Continues A Story in the Universe
Liara's has been chasing the Shadow Broker for quite some time.  You can finally interact with a character you haven't had a chance to connect to from ME1, and you can help her with her quest.  Your romance with Liara can continue too, if you want it to or if you had it in the first place.  And this is something that is obviously a set up for ME3.  Also, this dlc is for the endgame, so you don't have to feel stupid doing this after the big endgame mission.

Rewards You For Playing
You've probably already finished the game, so you might need more incentive than just "Another even BADDER dude" to get the dlc.  Well there are a ton of extras.  You get info about your team, hilarious videos, and a bunch of perks to use for your entire squad.  It is what makes this DLC worth every freakin' penny.

SPOILERS ARE OVER

All in all, this is a dlc worth playing because of the fact that it rewards the hardcore fans with everything they appreciate about the game and then some.  If you're on the fence about buying it, do it!  You'll appreciate it.  I give it a 9.5/10 because of course it can't be perfect, but it's pretty close.  At least, for a diehard fan it's pretty close.

I Am A Mass Effect Fangirl, And It Shows

I never posted about how awesome Mass Effect, and it's successor ME2, are basically some great RPG shooters that you could replay over and over again and have different results.  I'm not super obsessed.  I have no crushes on any quarians or turians.  You want to see how far that can go?  The bioware forums have some interesting talimancer threads from what I've checked out.

I don't feel the need to analyze the game, because there are so many ways it can go and I've only played ME2 twice.  But I do think there are a lot of humorous images and videos for Mass Effect out there that are not getting enough love.

PLETHORA OF SPOILERS AHEAD

First, who didn't get bored with mineral mining?

Did you know Shepard almost always has a right hook options for when he/she is in a conversation?




Did you know CSI is doing a cross over for the Mass Effect Universe?




So I'm sure if you played Mass Effect 1, you know that Shepard can be such a jerk.




But did you know he's still a jerk in ME2?




Of course, in Mass Effect 2, we have change we can believe in.

I'm about ready to call it a day.  Anyone up for Skyllian Five Poker?

There's more I can post, but I can see I have "fangasmed" enough for today.  Basically I like Mass Effect a lot.  On the border of too much.

I did say on the border.  I ain't no talimancer, yo.

Wait, another romance in Mass Effect 2?

OH MAN!  I didn't realize this romance between female Sheppard and an elcor was possible, but look!

Video Games | Mass Effect 2 | Secret Romance Gameplay HD

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

I'm going to have to replay this game ALL OVER again, starting TODAY! I suggest you all try for it too!

The world has to stop giving me ideas.

I just finished Mass Effect 2 and can't stop talking to The Boyfriend about it.  we have both finished the game and loved it.  Specifically we love the universe.  It's amazing and in depth.  And when I fall in love with a certain universe, I need to give it a story.

So... the answer that has come to me is a Mass Effect RPG. 

There are so many ways you can go with it.  It would be amazing! 

This has to happen.... along with all the other stuff the real world is delaying me from doing. 

A lot of love to go around in Mass Effect 2

I should've posted earlier that I am playing Mass Effect 2.  I'll let you know what I think when I finished that.  I know I said that for Dragon Age, and I will do that first, since I have enough time.  I think...

By the way, I have enough time to talk about Mass Effect 2 because I'm sick and have to rest up to go to my job because I'm in a situation where if I can't go in, there is NO ONE to replace me.  So my work better appreciate me, because I would've gone LARPing and compromised my health today if I wasn't such a nice person. 

Sorry, I try not to get that bitter in my posts.

Anyway, Mass Effect 2 is definitely darker and grittier than before.  I'm not going to get into why until I'm done with this game, but trust me, it really is.

However, there is always a silver lining to every space cloud, and that silver lining in ME2 is the incredible amount of space lovin' available.  In the last game a character of either gender had only 2 romance options.  I mean, that's more than enough for me but whatever.  But now, you have a plethora of options.

This video pretty much covers all of them.

WARNING: SPOILERS!  IF YOU WANT TO BE SURPRISED ABOUT WHO'S A ROMANTIC OPTION DON'T WATCH THIS

Video Games | Mass Effect 2 | *SPOILER* Massive Effects Gameplay Montage HD

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

On Finishing Mass Effect

I'm very slow to playing video games recently because I'm a college student who cares about her grades.  This means 1) I don't have a lot of time to play them because I'm busy studying, and 2) when I finally do get to them, they're old news.  So I understand if this Mass Effect stuff is old news to you by now.  But there is something that kind of bothers me about this game, and I want to rant about it.

Spoilers Alert Even Though This Game Has Been Out For About A Year

As many of you may know, this game is all about choices.  I like this in a game.  It helps with your investment in a character that you should sincerely by invested in.  You choose your characters background story, her gender, her career, what her face looks like... and then you choose how the stories goes from choices there on.  You can even get a love interest, which has sparked some unnecessary controversy from FOX that I'm only going to dignify with this link here.  You can choose between the path of Paragon, a genuine good guy, or Renegade, an anti-hero. Or you can be in the middle ground.  This helps make the story your own.  Of course, for all of you who are not hiding in an academic cave, you know this by now and don't need another advertisement for it.

This is the thing that bothers me: how little an ending can change from what I deem to be a HUGE choice.  At the end fight with Sovereign, a force that could end all of humanity as your character sees it, you can choose to either have the space fleet heading towards you aid the Council that you have been serving for a good part of the game and not head straight for Sovereign, or have them focus solely on Sovereign and essentially let the council die.  

I, being the trekkie that I am, remembered Spock's famous line" "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one."  The universe could go on without a council.  So I take the gentler response that results in the Council dying under attack by a ton of enemy ships. (I could be an asshole and say "Let them die!" or be tactful and say "Focus on Sovereign".  My character said the latter.)  The Boyfriend tells me at the end soon after that killing the council affects absolutely nothing when it comes to the final fight with Sovereign.

Um, excuse me?

That's a huge deal tactically.  Sending all your manpower to save one ship while trying to destroy another even bigger ship that is planning to destroy all of humanity (I repeat, destroy all of humanity) makes a big deal on the battlefront.  And BioWare decides to give the space fleet fight the same outcome regardless?  What the hell?  Every other choice before that makes a bigger deal down the line.  Ugh!  At least punish me for being an super duper altruistic Council saver if I put all of my force there instead of killing the main bad guy that will kill all of civilization!  

I was a bad gamer and went back and changed my decision so that when the sequel comes out, that decision doesn't bite my character in the ass.

All in all, I did like Mass Effect.  The game play is good, the story is great and of course being a stereotypical girl the romance thing was appreciated.  I will still recommend it to my friends who haven't played it yet.  And recommend it to my readers who haven't played it yet.  It's a great feeling knowing you're playing a character that's very much yours in a video game that isn't the Sims 2.