Normally I would post this in the game thread but given that this is a long winded thing I felt it deserves its own small thread. Let it be known that I am a fan of bioware in general, and Mass Effect is my personal favorite video game series.
Mass Effect 3 had a terrible ending, we know that. The original t am was fired/left the company midway through the development of the game. Which is why we saw it come out over a year early, and missing key things that was originally in the game. (Some of which can still be datamined)
These include
-Larger squad
-more dialogue written
-different original ending
-lack of the star child
-actually able to command the armies on Earth ala Dragon Age: Origins
We know that. The issue is twofold.
First of all: the endings were so terrible behind that which was already stated. Beyond the characters of the game comes the aspect of the Reapers. These machines have existed for a billion years, their science and tech is so far beyond anything else out there that the Milky Way races could essentially conquer the universe given enough time. That was bad writing there first off, becuase now you have no threat for the original galaxy to face. Which leads to andromeda
People can't identify with Andromeda becuase it isn't home, it doesn't have earth or omega or thessia or anything. It has the kett and the Angaran with no big cities, no mass technology (NO RELAYS AT ALL IN THE GAME??) and no real attachment. And only 80000 Milky Way people give or take, since an ark is missing.
So the ending was so bad they felt they had no choice but to go to another galaxy becuase the Milky Way was fucked.
Which leads to problem 2: the writing team for ME:A was Bioware Montreal, which consists of, no joke, fan fiction writers. Not professionals. That's a dealt step down in itself, not to knock fan fiction, I like fan fiction. But it's not the originals.
The dialogue is different and clunky at times, new words that irritate. Calling synthetics bots now, always saying Mass Effect Relay instead of mass relay, etc. but it's biggest fault is not that, it's the fact that the people don't fee attatched to the new galaxy or it's people's, squad is fine, they're social and nice and the combat is fine. But the new people's and plot lines are flat. The Kett are second rate Cpllextors, the remnant are way less gripping than the Protheans and the old galaxy, and there's no way to expand the storylines enjoyably, when most of the fun of the game comes from interacting with plot lines and people's from the old galaxy
Which brings us to this, they can't go back to the Milky Way becuase the writers don't know what to do, they don't want to call one of the endings of ME3 canon, and they have an all powerful Milky Way galaxy that could easily roll over all of andromeda if they reconnect. The players are rebelling hard against Andromeda not because it's not Shepard, but becuase it's badly written to an extreme. And if they chose to go bad and make an ending canon, it brings up the old flame with the ME3 endings
Now bioware is in trouble, one of their flagship series has had its first serious dud, even if Andromeda sells well the flak it's taking in will certainly hamper the next game in the series, so how do they repair it?
As someone who greatly enjoyed Andromeda I can say it's future is seriously in doubt. The game was ok. Not great. Which is what they were banking on. (Nomad. I like exploring but a lot of people didn't want open world skyrim mass effect)
Bioware needs to seriously do damage control at this point, becuase DA:I and ME:A have really angered a lot of fans. And though I'll buy the next games, I can say my faith was shaken after the end of ME3, and DAI and MEA haven't done much to rekindle it. In fact, I'm more worried than ever.
Just my thoughts
Peebee is hot as fuck tho
I heard that Bioware patched Andromeda so that the faces are now a bit less fugly. But yeah, unhappy fans and/or damned by faint praise seems to be the running themes of the latest ME installments.
I enjoyed Mass Effect 1 and ME 2, but not as much. Did not bother with ME 3. I loved and still do, Dragon's Age, Origins. I thought it was beyond the cutting edge in graphics, dialogue, story and character development. I still take it out of mothballs and play it. I liked the entire line of the DA games, but each one seemed to be less than the one it followed. It seems Bioware has this disturbing tenancy to come out with a fantastic first game. Then each game after seems to be lessor, not better than what came before. I expected to be delighted beyond belief with the second game in each series came out. Not to be. In DAO, why was Morrigan not used? Their dialogue was fantastic in DAO--giving gifts, romancing, developing relationships--these were unique. And I have seen few, if any, games that can match that combo of that game. But all those elements were discarded--that seems just plain bad business. I would love to love Bioware, but right now I just don't trust them.
Dragon age origins is another one of my favorite games, I have easily played a thousand hours of it, dragon age 2 was horrible, couldn't even beat half the game. And inquisition was..eh. It was okay. But I've only beaten it once. Just once. It really wasn't as good as origins.
And for some reason inquisition seems to be the formula for the current generation of bioware games, when it really wasn't that great. DAO and ME were amazing, groundbreaking in a way. ME2 was easily one of the best games I ever played. Then came DA2: Awful
And ME3, rushed, really fun game, but ruined by an atrocious ending due to the writing staff being done away with midway through. And forced multiplayer, and rushing the game over a year earlier than what was originally intended.
Bioware is hurting now, they might be banking on remastering the mass effect trilogy and dragon age origins at this rate
Let's not forget KotOR, perhaps a top 2 rpg of all time. So what they do? Make it an MMO, of course, and keep on locking the story in flash backs and hundred year later cameos instead of letting us finish it for ourselves.
Ah yes, kotor.
Don't get me wrong I've put a lot of time into TOR, it's fun, but it should have been done single player. As an mmo it's not that good. The story per class is fun, but it completely lost its uniqueness per class after the first expac, and the non story gameplay is meh. The pvp was great but ruined by an NGE type update recently, though not to the same degree at all it's a similar concept
(If you played SWG you remember the horror of NGE)
Bioware is hurting on all 3 fronts. It needs a solid game from each series , a really good one.
The ME3 endings represent a fundemental decline in quality of bioware games, and I don't say that as a hater for endings. I say that as a point of reference sinc every game and expand since then has been at lost "good" and at worse, atrocious.
And believe me, Andromeda has a lot of fans, but a lot more hate than any ME game has before. I haven't seen rage like this since the opening days of ME3.
Quote from: GrinningYMIR on April 17, 2017, 10:46:59 PMthe non story gameplay is meh.
You take that back! Pazaak is love. Pazaak is life!
Maybe if pazaak was in TOR it would do better!!
This whole time I thought TOR was an abbreviation for Kotor. My bad. Kids these days and their bae dubstep slang lingo. It's cray-cray.
Quote from: GrinningYMIR on April 17, 2017, 10:04:21 PM
Dragon age origins is another one of my favorite games, I have easily played a thousand hours of it, dragon age 2 was horrible, couldn't even beat half the game. And inquisition was..eh. It was okay. But I've only beaten it once. Just once. It really wasn't as good as origins.
And for some reason inquisition seems to be the formula for the current generation of bioware games, when it really wasn't that great. DAO and ME were amazing, groundbreaking in a way. ME2 was easily one of the best games I ever played. Then came DA2: Awful
And ME3, rushed, really fun game, but ruined by an atrocious ending due to the writing staff being done away with midway through. And forced multiplayer, and rushing the game over a year earlier than what was originally intended.
Bioware is hurting now, they might be banking on remastering the mass effect trilogy and dragon age origins at this rate
I would love for them to do a true DAO sequel. It would be ground breaking if they would bring back Morrigan and improve upon the dialogue and character interaction of DAO. I see huge potential, but Bioware does not agree with I guess.
Quote(If you played SWG you remember the horror of NGE)
Plz no remind me...
NGE + bioware = I cri
Also, people who say MEA is too easy clearly haven't beaten it on insanity
I have only played the Dragon Age series.
Mass Effect is fps, right?
I abhor fps.
I prefer my games to be more geared toward rpg.
Quote from: Sorginak on April 18, 2017, 10:47:21 PM
I have only played the Dragon Age series.
Mass Effect is fps, right?
I abhor fps.
I prefer my games to be more geared toward rpg.
I prefer rpg myself. But I did enjoy ME--the first game. It was worth playing twice.
Mass effect is not FPS. The first is RPG, the second two are a mix of more just action-rpg.
Andromeda feels like an FPS, or at least a lot more towards FPS on the 3PS/FPS hybrid.
I'm worried about the franchise