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[Tsukumo]

Your regularly scheduled Game Informer update.

As usual an info-mercial of no worth at all with PR talk that says nothing.
The fact that they are going Xur's Week with the store doesn't surprise me at all, but granted they were already doing this in Galaxies at War only now it's for everyone to see.
The prestige thing reminds me of Inquisition: didn't like it there, don't like it here. One of the greatest things of Galaxies was the fact that you could really go crazy with the builds, thanks to the equipment and the mods, and each character, well maybe not all of them, but each character had a unique playstyle. The idea of "terraforming" stats across all characters doesn't seem to fit that design.
The fact that they drum on the link between single player and multiplayer also doesn't bode well, since they are trying to pass the whole thing as people misunderstanding the concept of the multi in ME3. Thing is the real problem was in the vagueness surrounding the connection between the two pre-release, which was ALL ON THEM: they wanted to force people onto the multi, because that was what was in fashion at the time, only to watch the thing gloriously backfire in their face when people got pissed thinking they had to complete the multi to get the real ending.
Honestly, the more I hear about the game the more terrified I am it's going be your average sandbox on single player and Destiny on multi.

 

[Maledict]

Yes, the prestige system is flat out bad. It was horrible in DA:I, it will be horrible here. It meant higher difficulties weren't viable until you had grinded out tons of levels to up your base stats, and was balanced around that. It wasn't fun, and it made the game worse all in the name of filling a pointless bar.

I spent more on ME3 multiplayer than I did on the actual game, and played huge amounts of it. It doesn't seem a shitty progression system that affects gameplay. Just give me more titles, images, banners and sprays like other games.

 

[Poodlestrike]

Honestly, so long as it's not outrageously poorly balanced, I don't mind the sound of the prestige system. DA:I's multi was bad all on its own, I'm not going to condemn exterior systems bolted on to that without seeing how they interact with a proper core gameplay loop first.

Besides, so long as there's plenty of non-grindy difficulty varieties, I don't mind; have Bronze, Silver, Gold come back, but then keep going with Platinum, Diamond, etc. that are balanced around prestige'd classes.

 

[JohnnyFootball]

What a surprise!!

Origin is having a (joke of a) Black Friday sale and once again Mass Effect DLC is still full price.

 

[DeadlyParasite]

Makes you wonder just how much money EA as a publisher makes from all the Mass Effect DLC. I wouldn't be surprised if the amount of money they still rake in 4 years later is more than an indie title makes in its lifetime.

It's probably healthy for BioWare as a whole, they've probably made back their development costs ages ago.

Which is why I firmly believe a full trilogy collection would probably shatter records for remasters. The thirst is out there, even more than Skyrim.

 

[Poodlestrike]

Makes you wonder just how much money EA as a publisher makes from all the Mass Effect DLC. I wouldn't be surprised if the amount of money they still rake in 4 years later is more than an indie title makes in its lifetime.

It's probably healthy for BioWare as a whole, they've probably made back their development costs ages ago.

Which is why I firmly believe a full trilogy collection would probably shatter records for remasters. The thirst is out there, even more than Skyrim.

MUCH more than Skyrim; I don't remember anybody clamoring for that before it happened. Now that I know that a trilogy remaster won't threaten BC, I'm 100% on board.

ed: ME1 playthrough continues! Finished Noveria, sitting pretty at around 24 hours so far. Just gotta finish up Virmire, then it's on to Ilos. Gunplay remains garbage, even with Spectre weapons. Though at least now my guys can kill stuff.

Does it strike anybody else as weird that you can turn down communications from the Council, but Hacket can just phone you up and that's that?

 

[DeadlyParasite]

Does it strike anybody else as weird that you can turn down communications from the Council, but Hacket can just phone you up and that's that?

I see it as a situation where you may answer to the council but their hold over you is less direct and therefore communication is less relevant whereas you are a Commander in the Alliance and you have no choice but to directly answer to an Admiral/superior officer like any branch of military.

Either way Hackett is awesome, I don't know why anyone wouldn't want to talk to him.

 

[Garlador]

I see it as a situation where you may answer to the council but their hold over you is less direct and therefore communication is less relevant whereas you are a Commander in the Alliance and you have no choice but to directly answer to an Admiral/superior officer like any branch of military.

Either way Hackett is awesome, I don't know why anyone wouldn't want to talk to him.

Yeah, that's my take on it. Hackett is a chill dude and never gave Shepard grief. No matter the outcome too, he always says he trusts Shepard did their best.

He's basically the anti-Council in that regard.

 

[Poodlestrike]

I see it as a situation where you may answer to the council but their hold over you is less direct and therefore communication is less relevant whereas you are a Commander in the Alliance and you have no choice but to directly answer to an Admiral/superior officer like any branch of military.

Either way Hackett is awesome, I don't know why anyone wouldn't want to talk to him.

Oh, I don't MIND talking to him at all, it's just a little strange considering that as a Spectre, you're not really subject to Alliance jurisdiction any more.

 

[Big Nikus]

Well I always find that they push a little too much the pro-human stuff. I may be remembering wrong but I think Anderson or Udina tells Shepard to not forget that he's a human first and his/her loyalty lies with humanity, after he/she's made a Specter.
It has always rubbed me the wrong way. And I tend to be understanding with the Council. Humanity really needs to learn some humility. Did anybody kill the Council to try to put an all-human Council ? That sounds crazy. (did BioWare really want to do that at some point ? it got retconned quickly in ME2 iirc, though I never let the Council die in ME1 so I'm not sure)
Anyway, it may sound stupid but in my current playthrough, with everything that has happened this year, the pro-human stuff in ME turns me off even more than before, I could never play a full Renegade I think, I've tried but some of the answers are straight up racist bullshit. And the way some characters talk about humanity sound like "human privilege", if you see what I mean. So, it's cool that it's in the game because I can relate it to real stuff and do my best to talk and act agaisnt that in the game.
(I saved the rachni queen on Noveria yesterday, it felt good)

btw, great posts from Garlador two pages ago, about ME3 ending and the fact that humanity isn't really painted in a perfect way - I agree with most of your points

Oh and I disagree strongly with diaspora, as a fan of Lovecraft works, I love what they achieved with Mass Effect and I continue to think that they achieved it already in the very first hour of the game.
I'm currently reading At the Mountains of Madness, it's too heavy on the descriptions but it's great. Reading it and re-playing the mission on Noveria the same day was funny. And I also want to watch The Thing again...

 

[diaspora]

"We're better because we are."

I used to love the Sovereign encounter on Virmire but I've come to realise it's really quite boring because I think the Reapers are boring. Game would've been much better if Saren was someone who thought for himself and had proper ideological differences from the council and that leads to him going rogue. Then every game could've been standalone and had a better crafted story...

Though I know BioWare always wanted to do some epic sci-fi trilogy with galaxy ending stakes. Ah well, hopefully we'll be getting that this time around.

This is a pretty good outline as to what made Sovereign and the reapers more broadly somewhat asinine since game one. People keep talking about how great your first encounter with it is, but I'm not impressed with a bot giving me a Trump-style speech about how great he is because he's a winner and you just can't get how great he is.

 

[Big Nikus]

This is a pretty good outline as to what made Sovereign and the reapers more broadly somewhat asinine since game one. People keep talking about how great your first encounter with it is, but I'm not impressed with a bot giving me a Trump-style speech about how great he is because he's a winner and you just can't get how great he is.

It's not just that. Again, it relates to Lovecraft's belief that humanity is actually a big pile of nothing, and that it's terryfing to achieve a high level of technology, only to realise that you were far from being the first, and actually other species were better and more powerful than you billions of years ago, and can still come back to remind you that you've never been anything more than an insignificant, shitty speck of dust.

 

[diaspora]

It's not just that. Again, it relates to Lovecraft's belief that humanity is actually a big pile of nothing, and that it's terryfing to achieve a high level of technology, only to realise that you were far from being the first, and actually other species were better and more powerful than you billions of years ago, and can still come back to remind you that you've never been anything more than an insignificant, shitty speck of dust.

Right, and the Reapers completely failed at this. The only thing that comes close is the incomprehensibility of the Protheans in the first game. A robot literally telling you directly how much better he is than you is funny and not in a good way. The Protheans in the first game at least had the benefit of being unknowable, and incomprehensible, and far beyond the galaxy at the time. They communicated in a way that nobody could even conceive.

Meanwhile Sovereign drones on about how great he is.

 

[DevilDog]

This is a pretty good outline as to what made Sovereign and the reapers more broadly somewhat asinine since game one. People keep talking about how great your first encounter with it is, but I'm not impressed with a bot giving me a Trump-style speech about how great he is because he's a winner and you just can't get how great he is.

No, but in all seriousness Trump can't control space time. You just don't like the reapers. It's ok to not like things.

 

[diaspora]

No, but in all seriousness Trump can't control space time. You just don't like the reapers. It's ok to not like things.

Neither can the Reapers, and that was clear in the first game when your Shepard can point out that it's just a robot and it's only response is you don't even, like, get us man".

 

[DevilDog]

Neither can the Reapers, and that was clear in the first game when your Shepard can point out that it's just a robot and it's only response is you don't even, like, get us man".

The mass relays and the Citadel was constructed by them. The mass relays control the very fabric of space and time. Ergo the reapers can control space time.

 

[diaspora]

The mass relays and the Citadel was constructed by them. The mass relays control the very fabric of space and time. Ergo the reapers can control space time.

By that same token, so can fucking Biotics. They're just gigantic mass effect generators that nobody until the Protheans bothered to try to figure out how to build.

 

[Big Nikus]

Right, and the Reapers completely failed at this. The only thing that comes close is the incomprehensibility of the Protheans in the first game. A robot literally telling you directly how much better he is than you is funny and not in a good way.

Yeah, they failed after countless cycles, and thanks to the effort of countless species that conttributed to something that could defeat them. Of course they fail during the cycle we play, that doesn't take away from what they achieved. The protheans used their technology, like everyone else before, and without it humanity would have stayed stuck in the Sol System forever. Every civilisation that achieves galactic travel across the galaxy owes it to them.
Sovereign can talk about our how insignificant we are to him because without him and his buddies, we woud never have been there, in front of him, far away from our home planet. Every lintelligent life in the galaxy revolves around what the Reapers have put in place, so yeah I think he can tell the individuals in front of him that they're worthless. There are villains that you can easily argue with, but you can't really tell Sovereign that he's factually wrong.

 

[diaspora]

Yeah, they failed after countless cycles, and thanks to the effort of countless species that conttributed to something that could defeat them. Of course they fail during the cycle we play, that doesn't take away from what they achieved. The protheans used their technology, like everyone else before, and without it humanity would have stayed stuck in the Sol System forever. Every civilisation that achieves galactic travel across the galaxy owes it to them.
Sovereign can talk about our how insignificant we are to him because without him and his buddies, we woud never have been there, in front of him, far away from our home planet. Every lintelligent life in the galaxy revolves around what the Reapers have put in place, so yeah I think he can tell the individuals in front of him that they're worthless. There are villains that you can easily argue with, but you can't really tell Sovereign that he's factually wrong.

How ridiculous, being militarily superior makes them Lovecraftian? Sure. Not to mention they ultimately lost- both to the council races and the protheans. Worse still, the Protheans ultimately cracked their mass relay tech and could have conceivably outstripped them. They weren't really ever unknowable, or mysterious.

edit: Not to mention there's the Geth's complete domination of the Quarians and being obscured and hidden from the rest of the galaxy for 200 years where nobody would even try to approach them.

 

[Big Nikus]

Ugh, yeah, I'm done lol, you win
edit: stupidly wrote a post and closed the window by mistake instead of posting... So late reply, sorry

How ridiculous, being militarily superior makes them Lovecraftian? Sure. Not to mention they ultimately lost- both to the council races and the protheans. Worse still, the Protheans ultimately cracked their mass relay tech and could have conceivably outstripped them. They weren't really ever unknowable, or mysterious.

You're talking like it happened over the course of a few decades... We're talking billions of years. iirc Protheans cracked their tech thanks to clues or notes left by species during a previous cycle, and so on...
It's not "Lovecraftian to the end", no, but it draws heavily from Lovecraft's themes, symbols and psychological approach. Few games evoke those themes so well, whether you like it or not, it's there.
(Apparently Bloodborne is basically a Lovecraftian game and does it amazingly well so I can't wait to play it)

Right, gotta finish Virmire and Ilos tonight and boot up ME2 tomorrow. Can't wait, I've missed Mordin and Thane.
edit: ah, I forgot the Asteroid X57 DLC. I've played this one only once before. Here goes.

 

[DevilDog]

By that same token, so can fucking Biotics. They're just gigantic mass effect generators that nobody until the Protheans bothered to try to figure out how to build.

No, we don't really know what Mass Relays are. We don't know how they work. All we know is that they can transport us simulaneously across huge distances.
Even the protheans didn't know exactly what they were, although they came close by building the conduit.

Biotics have nowhere near the impact that these things have.

 

[diaspora]

No, we don't really know what Mass Relays are. We don't know how they work. All we know is that they can transport us simulaneously across huge distances.
Even the protheans didn't know exactly what they were, although they came close by building hte conduit.

Biotics have nowhere near the impact that these things have.

Yes we do, and no they don't. They use mass effect generators to create mass-free corridors. Protheans figured out exactly what they are by ultimately building one.

Also, Biotics shape space and time.

 

[Nostremitus]

No, we don't really know what Mass Relays are. We don't know how they work. All we know is that they can transport us simulaneously across huge distances.
Even the protheans didn't know exactly what they were, although they came close by building the conduit.

Biotics have nowhere near the impact that these things have.

Weren't the relays based on Leviathan tech, though? The Reapers just use their creators' technology. And, after countless millennia, were never able to make any notable advancements.

 

[diaspora]

Weren't the relays based on Leviathan tech, though? The Reapers just use their creators' technology. And, after countless millennia, were never able to make any notable advancements.

Not really clear, they were supposedly more advanced than the reapers. And yes.

 

[Nostremitus]

Not really clear, they were supposedly more advanced than the reapers. And yes.

They created the Citadel and the IA that controls it. That means that the citadel and the Mass Relay leading to it predate the Reapers.

 

[DevilDog]

Weren't the relays based on Leviathan tech, though? The Reapers just use their creators' technology. And, after countless millennia, were never able to make any notable advancements.

I'm talking from the perspective of ME1, where things still made sense. If I take into account the other games there is nothing of worth talking about.

Yes we do, and no they don't. They use mass effect generators to create mass-free corridors. Protheans figured out exactly what they are by ultimately building one.

Also, Biotics shape space and time.

Can we stop lying here? In-game dialogue from Vigil said that the Protheans were close to solving the relay puzzle, but ultimately they ran out of time.

Also biotics are random on people. They throw it at people and see who survives, not exactly the pinnacle of undestanding the science behind it.

 

[diaspora]

Can we stop lying here? In-game dialogue from Vigil said that the Protheans were close to solving the relay puzzle, but ultimately they ran out of time.

Also biotics are random on people. They throw it at people and see who survives, not exactly the pinnacle of undestanding the science behind it.

Unless you're making the ridiculous suggestion they engineered a mass relay without knowing how...

And they threw it at people to see if it works. IIRC, the L5 and 5X implants and beyond are generally fine.

 

[Big Nikus]

I didn't see the discussion had continued, I edited my post from earlier.

 

[Nostremitus]

I'm talking from the perspective of ME1, where things still made sense. If I take into account the other games there is nothing of worth talking about.



Can we stop lying here? In-game dialogue from Vigil said that the Protheans were close to solving the relay puzzle, but ultimately they ran out of time.

Also biotics are random on people. They throw it at people and see who survives, not exactly the pinnacle of undestanding the science behind it.

Your headcanon stops at ME1 because you didn't like finding out what the Reapers really were...


I think the Reapers are a prime example of how things can seem so much more evil and powerful until the veil is pulled away and you can see them for what they really are, a broken system.
I actually like that about the story.

Also, I'm not sure that Vigil had any knowledge of what happened to the Protheans after his last contact with them.
Vigil had no way of knowing they had succeeded, or his memory was spotty following millennia of dormancy. They built a small relay, otherwise you wouldn't have been able to drive the Mako through it to get to the Citadel.

 

[Ivory Samoan]

I don't understand, if someone wanted to kill you and every single one of your people and didn't care at all what you wanted to say, wouldn't it make your blood boil?

Hey you're a Han Solo fan, didn't it make you mad that in star wars the tyrranic empire could destroy whole planets without having a single care in the world? It made them boring to you?

Or even in real life, don't you hate it when superpowers stomp all over weak nations and don't give a damn about them? I think ME did quite a good job at being a metaphor for this.

This is a good post, I like this post.

In other news ME related, half way through my BC trilogy run and getting amongst the ME2 loyalty missions, feels so good man.

I always mean to play a different class other than Vanguard, but never do...I think this marks my 8th full trilogy run as a charge-loving, reave smearing, locust and eviscerator loving Shepard

 

[Big Nikus]

Oh, so you are creating your own head-canon and arguing it's validity over the actual canon... carry on, then...


I think the Reapers are a prime example of how things can seem so much more evil and powerful until the veil is pulled away and you can see them for what they really are, a broken system.
I actually like that about the story.

Yeah, obviously that's were the Lovecraft influence stops but I'm not against the idea. I just wish it had a better execution in ME3.

I always mean to play a different class other than Vanguard, but never do...I think this marks my 8th full trilogy run as a charge-loving, reave smearing, locust and eviscerator loving Shepard

Same. I can't live without charging like a mad krogan everywhere. It's just so satisfying, and the few frames of invulnerability you get afterwards to pull the trigger or to take cover... so good.

 

[Nostremitus]

Yeah, obviously that's were the Lovecraft influence stops but I'm not against the idea. I just wish it had a better execution in ME3.

I'm in the minority, but I thought it was alright... Granted, I waited and played 3 after most of the DLC was already out, so my first experience included a more complete story.

 

[DevilDog]

Your headcanon stops at ME1 because you didn't like finding out what the Reapers really were...


I think the Reapers are a prime example of how things can seem so much more evil and powerful until the veil is pulled away and you can see them for what they really are, a broken system.
I actually like that about the story.

Also, I'm not sure that Vigil had any knowledge of what happened to the Protheans after his last contact with them.
Vigil had no way of knowing they had succeeded, or his memory was spotty following millennia of dormancy. They built a small relay, otherwise you wouldn't have been able to drive the Mako through it to get to the Citadel.

Not even the writing team knew what the Reapers were, ME2 is a mess and so is ME3 from a writing standpoint, the only place were things made sense was ME1.

Vigil didn't really have any knowledge about the remaining protheans, since they didn't fully replicate relays, the prototype on Illos was a one way trip, and he suspected they starved to death on the citadel.

All your doubts can be put to rest by seeing this: Mass Effect 1: Vigil full conversation

 

[diaspora]

Not even the writing team knew what the Reapers were, ME2 is a mess and so is ME3 from a writing standpoint, the only place were things made sense was ME1.

Vigil didn't really have any knowledge about the remaining protheans, since they didn't fully replicate relays, the prototype on Illos was a one way trip, and he suspected they starved to death on the citadel.

All your doubts can be put to rest by seeing this: Mass Effect 1: Vigil full conversation

"here's a link to show you that these folks didn't figure out how this thing they reverse engineered works"

 

[Patryn]

I'm sorry to interrupt this conversation, but I'm also working my way through ME1 again (and only a scant month or so since the last time...) and what's really caught me this run are all the voiced lines of dialogue that clearly refer to stuff that was either cut or rejiggered later on.

For instance Pressley, despite clearly being an older gentlemen, talks about how he joined the service to honor his grandfather, who fought in the First Contact War.

Now I guess it's possible that his grandfather was career military and stayed in the service until near retirement, but Pressley looks to be about 50 and the FCW was less than 30 years prior to ME1. You add in stuff like how far man has expanded in that time and it makes me convinced that originally first contact was supposed to have happened way earlier in the timeline.

Then again, Pressley also says he only got his officer commission after the Blitz, which is the background event for the War Hero background, which makes you wonder how exactly he raised in ranks so fast to become XO of this hugely important ship.

And then I hit the bit of dialogue that really triggered this post when I was doing Noveria. After you land and have the confrontation at the dock and then go talk to Parasini the first time at the customs desk, you can go back and talk to Matsuo, the security chief for Noveria.

In that conversation, if you stick to the top right, Shepard talks about being a test case to see if humanity is ready to rejoin the Spectres. Matsuo then talks about hearing vid reports talking about the Council giving us a second chance.

Of course, in the actual game Shepard is supposedly the first human Spectre. There is Anderson, who either was being evaluated (according to him) or was an actual Spectre (according to Harkin), but either way the whole thing is considered to be top secret and certainly not common knowledge that would be on the news. Hell, the news refers to Shepard as the first human Spectre a bunch of times!

From what I recall, Noveria was actually one of the first missions designed, especially the beginning section where you get the key to go to Peak 15. It's why it's such a complicated mission, with by far the most completely separate routes to the same goal. If that's right, it makes you wonder if that older dialogue if from an earlier script and, if so, what that script was like.

That's not even mentioning the attract mode trailer that plays if you sit on the opening start menu that has Shepard turn down a distress call from Noveria (!) to go to a place called Calistan.

 

[Ivory Samoan]

Same. I can't live without charging like a mad krogan everywhere. It's just so satisfying, and the few frames of invulnerability you get afterwards to pull the trigger or to take cover... so good.

So good my friend, so good.

I played 2 or 3 runs as a Soldier before I saw the light... I can't go back to a non-super hero style Shep now, I'm ruined for all other classes XD.

 

[JohnnyFootball]

Makes you wonder just how much money EA as a publisher makes from all the Mass Effect DLC. I wouldn't be surprised if the amount of money they still rake in 4 years later is more than an indie title makes in its lifetime.

It's probably healthy for BioWare as a whole, they've probably made back their development costs ages ago.

Which is why I firmly believe a full trilogy collection would probably shatter records for remasters. The thirst is out there, even more than Skyrim.

MUCH more than Skyrim; I don't remember anybody clamoring for that before it happened. Now that I know that a trilogy remaster won't threaten BC, I'm 100% on board.

ed: ME1 playthrough continues! Finished Noveria, sitting pretty at around 24 hours so far. Just gotta finish up Virmire, then it's on to Ilos. Gunplay remains garbage, even with Spectre weapons. Though at least now my guys can kill stuff.

Does it strike anybody else as weird that you can turn down communications from the Council, but Hacket can just phone you up and that's that?

Skyrim sold over 20 million copies before it was remastered. Far more than all Mass Effect games combined. A lot of people wanted Skyrim remastered.

It is extremely unlikely that a trilogy remaster would shatter records.

 

[Garlador]

Skyrim sold over 20 million copies before it was remastered. Far more than all Mass Effect games combined. A lot of people wanted Skyrim remastered.

It is extremely unlikely that a trilogy remaster would shatter records.

We should test this theory. For reasons.

 

[Poodlestrike]

I'm sorry to interrupt this conversation, but I'm also working my way through ME1 again (and only a scant month or so since the last time...) and what's really caught me this run are all the voiced lines of dialogue that clearly refer to stuff that was either cut or rejiggered later on.

For instance Pressley, despite clearly being an older gentlemen, talks about how he joined the service to honor his grandfather, who fought in the First Contact War.

Now I guess it's possible that his grandfather was career military and stayed in the service until near retirement, but Pressley looks to be about 50 and the FCW was less than 30 years prior to ME1. You add in stuff like how far man has expanded in that time and it makes me convinced that originally first contact was supposed to have happened way earlier in the timeline.

Then again, Pressley also says he only got his officer commission after the Blitz, which is the background event for the War Hero background, which makes you wonder how exactly he raised in ranks so fast to become XO of this hugely important ship.

And then I hit the bit of dialogue that really triggered this post when I was doing Noveria. After you land and have the confrontation at the dock and then go talk to Parasini the first time at the customs desk, you can go back and talk to Matsuo, the security chief for Noveria.

In that conversation, if you stick to the top right, Shepard talks about being a test case to see if humanity is ready to rejoin the Spectres. Matsuo then talks about hearing vid reports talking about the Council giving us a second chance.

Of course, in the actual game Shepard is supposedly the first human Spectre. There is Anderson, who either was being evaluated (according to him) or was an actual Spectre (according to Harkin), but either way the whole thing is considered to be top secret and certainly not common knowledge that would be on the news. Hell, the news refers to Shepard as the first human Spectre a bunch of times!

From what I recall, Noveria was actually one of the first missions designed, especially the beginning section where you get the key to go to Peak 15. It's why it's such a complicated mission, with by far the most completely separate routes to the same goal. If that's right, it makes you wonder if that older dialogue if from an earlier script and, if so, what that script was like.

That's not even mentioning the attract mode trailer that plays if you sit on the opening start menu that has Shepard turn down a distress call from Noveria (!) to go to a place called Calistan.

Are you sure you didn't mishear Pressley? Ashley's grandfather also fought in the First Contact War (and famously surrendered to the Turians). That bit could just be an error rather than a retcon.

ed: Alright, just did the Sovereign encounter on Vermire, and y'know what, that shit WORKS. Yeah, it doesn't really hold up to close examination, but y'know, that's 90% of fiction, you don't get a prize for picking apart genre fluff. Better to sit back and soak in the Lovecraftian atmosphere.

Looking backwards, this first meeting really does work better with the crazy Oragnic/Synthetic Catalyst motive than the Dark Matter one. Building out the galaxy such that the various organic races would inevitably fall into using mass effect tech makes no sense if preventing organic races from using mass effect tech was the Reaper's whole purpose. This way, they're setting up the organic races such that their progress inevitably falls into the same patterns, ensuring that the Reapers always swoop in and commence the harvest right before the singularity hits, which has the added benefit of making sure that the galaxy is still underdeveloped enough that there won't be meaningful opposition. Of course, the Protheans threw a wrench into that, thus necessitating the various gambits Sovereign goes through. Honestly, you don't even need to change the motive to fix the ending, you just need to shuffle a few things around... if you made, say, Original Flavor Destroy the "basic" option (as-is), Control the plus option, axed Synthesis entirely because wtf was that, and added a Destroy+ option to reward maximum Warscore (and I mean MAXIMUM), where you just destroy the Reapers rather than also having to nuke the Geth and EDI, I really think that flys a lot better with people. Maybe even have the Catalyst surprised about the presence of the third option, and don't tell players exactly what it does. You'd still need the Extended Cut improvements re: consequences, seeing things play out, letting people who don't have the Warscore for Destroy+ just shoot the crazy little bastard, but honestly, it's not an unsalvageable plotline, thinking back.

ME2 still made it harder than it needed to be. And it still wouldn't have been as satisfying as the conclusion to a properly structured trilogy.

 

[DevilDog]

We should test this theory. For reasons.

Xbox one has backwards compatibility and the PC version is already more than fine.
The remaster would pretty much only be great for PS4 users.

"here's a link to show you that these folks didn't figure out how this thing they reverse engineered works"

Damn. Destroyed.

 

[Bisnic]

Xbox one has backwards compatibility and the PC version is already more than fine.
The remaster would pretty much only be great for PS4 users..

To be honest, the main selling point of a remaster would be that all DLCs are included. PC version still do not include all of them and I doubt the BC XB1 does too(and if you even have the option to buy them). When a single piece of DLC is almost more expensive than the base game, it's getting ridiculous.

 

[Patryn]

Are you sure you didn't mishear Pressley? Ashley's grandfather also fought in the First Contact War (and famously surrendered to the Turians). That bit could just be an error rather than a retcon.

I am 100 percent positive that Pressley says grandfather. He mentions it twice, in fact: once when talking about his background, and later if you ask him why he doesn't like aliens.

 

[Maledict]

It wouldn't surprise me - the current timeline makes absolutely no sense. On any level. There just isn't enough time for everything to have happened in the time they allocated - in 30 years humanity goes from literally nothing to a multi-planet power with a fleet strength greater than most species and vying for a council seat.

I'm sure originally there was a good 100 years between the contact war and shepherd, then for some reason they truncated it massively.

 

[Garlador]

Xbox one has backwards compatibility and the PC version is already more than fine.
The remaster would pretty much only be great for PS4 users.

I greatly appreciate the Xbox One BC, and I'm currently in a new playthrough on the system...

... But that playthrough is only AFFIRMING my belief that the games (especially ME1) are in dire need of a remaster.

Even with improvements across the board - faster loading, less texture pop-in, less screen tearing - the game is still hobbled by framerate issues and jank, texture pop-in is still readily apparent at times, and certain textures and shadows are so sharp and pixelated that you look like you could cut yourself on them. That's just the immediately apparent things.

Pie-in-the-sky improvements could readily improve the dire inventory system, tweak combat, or at the very least make the "plastic helmet hair" more natural for characters. That's just ME1.

There are features that have been requested across the board for all three games. Someone out there would pay just for the ability to holster weapons in ME3, or for Bioware to put some female Turians across the Citadel or Omega from time to time, or to actually have an in-game model of Tali's face instead of a photoshop stock photo, or fix the import face bugs or the hair that still clips through my skull, or to re-insert all the cut content from ME2 (that's still on the discs) due to the Xbox 360 disc size limitations and restore the ability to recruit any teammate in any order, or to make people stop taking showers in their underwear during romantic scenes, or actual controller support for PC for once... little cosmetic or gameplay tweaks that would go a long way.

But as Bisnic said, the main reason - for either a remaster or just a re-release - is to include ALL the DLC, because I STILL can't believe this series has never had a complete release before. No release has ever included all the DLC or all the content. Even if you just get the base games, there's still nearly $80-90 worth of story content alone not included (and that doesn't include cosmetic packs if you want the women to go into battle in more than skin-tight or skin-bearing fetish gear).

Now more than ever a remaster would be a good idea. The original series remains great, but it's clear every time I revisit it how much of its potential - either due to time, budget, or system limitations - was stunted during development. It's a series I truly wish could get one more polish pass to truly elevate it to modern gaming standards.

 

[Poodlestrike]

I am 100 percent positive that Pressley says grandfather. He mentions it twice, in fact: once when talking about his background, and later if you ask him why he doesn't like aliens.

Huh. I guess either Pressley is younger than he looks or Ashley is older, because otherwise it's a bit tough to match up the timelines of 2 people who each had grandfathers serving in the First Contact War, lol.

Maybe the racism aged Pressley super fast. But no, Ashley's kina racist in ME1 too...

It wouldn't surprise me - the current timeline makes absolutely no sense. On any level. There just isn't enough time for everything to have happened in the time they allocated - in 30 years humanity goes from literally nothing to a multi-planet power with a fleet strength greater than most species and vying for a council seat.

I'm sure originally there was a good 100 years between the contact war and shepherd, then for some reason they truncated it massively.

We had multiple planets before the First Contact War tho. The world that surrendered was Shangxi, a minor garrison. The whole reason that the Council found out about it and put a stop to it was because humanity offered up shockingly high resistance to the Turians, and they couldn't hide the increased mobilization they had to undergo to put us down. We were already badass by that point.

ed: Aaaaand that's a wrap! Finished at level 39 on Hardcore, with some 8 million odd credits in the bank and a maxed out Paragon meter, plus a little extra on the top. Garrus, Wrex, and my bitchin' mustache were my constant companions.

I know I bitch about ME1 a lot, but I enjoyed my time overall. There really isn't anything like it. In some respects I'm glad of that. The sidequest planets are like the blander, uglier, emptier version of Ubisoft Game Syndrome. The play spaces are coated with resused assets scattered haphazardly around, making "taking cover" and "tactics" largely pointless; just aim your gun at that group of dudes rushing you, unload all your powers, and start shooting. This is not helped by the party AI's absolute braindeadness. Guys, when I'm using a piece of cover, you should probably stop trying to bump me out of it and, I dunno, find your own? Oh, I see you've been hit by a rocket, nevermind. And oh my god the loot. Guys, a loot system where you BUY the best stuff in the game is a BAD loot system. Giant heaping piles of garbage, stretching into the sky. Like, I'd already scraped up enough cash to outfit my guys with Spectre weapons before I hit Noveria, and from there literally 3/4 of the drops were useless. And after I found the best armors (Colossus for Garrus and Wrex, Predator L for me), all the armor drops became useless too! From there, it was incremental improvements in armor and weapon mods. Ye gods, that was dull.

This seems to have gotten away from me. I was trying to talk about the stuff I liked. The writing really is excellent. Not so much the character writing (i.e. dialogue, though there is a few good examples of that), but the overall plotting is pretty tight. And it really does have a ton of atmosphere. Sure, most planets are just barren dustballs covered in obnoxious mountains, but every so often you get dropped into a blizzard or something and you really do feel it, that sense of venturing into the unknown. And the combat isn't entirely bad. I really enjoyed fighting my way up the Presidium Tower, mostly because I could short circuit the combat in amusing ways with Biotics. Watching a Geth Juggernaut or a pair of Krogans sail off into the distance will never not give me the warm and fuzzies.

Now onward, to better things!

As soon as it finishes downloading. Any time now.

 

[Tekomandor]

It wouldn't surprise me - the current timeline makes absolutely no sense. On any level. There just isn't enough time for everything to have happened in the time they allocated - in 30 years humanity goes from literally nothing to a multi-planet power with a fleet strength greater than most species and vying for a council seat.

I'm sure originally there was a good 100 years between the contact war and shepherd, then for some reason they truncated it massively.

The Systems Alliance had a ~200 ship fleet prior to the FCW and multiple colonies (obviously); and industrial capacity in Mass Effect is pretty crazy. If private interests can build the ~25km Nexus and multiple ~3km Arcs in only a few years; or the Alliance Navy the Crucible in a few months a rapid fleet build up isn't really that implausible.

 

[Maledict]

It is 7 years between the founding of the first colony and the first contact war. It's then only another 26 years to the events of mass effect 1.

I'm sorry, but under no circumstances are those timelines even vaguely sane. In a grand total of 33 years humanity goes from having no contact with any other species or extra-solar colonies, to multiple colonies and the fourth largest fleet in known space, as well as being one of the galaxies major powers?

i mean, to put it bluntly we simply don't even breed that fast. Plus the technology catch up doesn't work - there is absolutely no way humanity would be capable of doing anything against the Turians when they first met them, never mind beating them in a war.

I've always thought Mass Effect'/ background and humanities rise was very similar to how B5 did it, with a young humanity bursting onto an established galactic scene. But it took a *lot* longer than Me did (and we got our asses kicked the first time we tried to go toe to toe with an established race).

 

[Poodlestrike]

It is 7 years between the founding of the first colony and the first contact war. It's then only another 26 years to the events of mass effect 1.

I'm sorry, but under no circumstances are those timelines even vaguely sane. In a grand total of 33 years humanity goes from having no contact with any other species or extra-solar colonies, to multiple colonies and the fourth largest fleet in known space, as well as being one of the galaxies major powers?

i mean, to put it bluntly we simply don't even breed that fast. Plus the technology catch up doesn't work - there is absolutely no way humanity would be capable of doing anything against the Turians when they first met them, never mind beating them in a war.

I've always thought Mass Effect'/ background and humanities rise was very similar to how B5 did it, with a young humanity bursting onto an established galactic scene. But it took a *lot* longer than Me did (and we got our asses kicked the first time we tried to go toe to toe with an established race).

I mean, why wouldn't we be able to challenge the Turians? The whole point of the Reaper's systems is to advance tech to a certain predictable level then have it stagnate. We would have lost the war, ultimately, but I don't see why the events as they play out is so unbelievable.

 

[Maledict]

I mean, why wouldn't we be able to challenge the Turians? The whole point of the Reaper's systems is to advance tech to a certain predictable level then have it stagnate. We would have lost the war, ultimately, but I don't see why the events as they play out is so unbelievable.

Because you don't go from first discovering the mass effect and having 0 ft ships or knowledge to standing toe to toe with the galaxies most significant military power in 9 years. Yes, technology is guided along a similar route, but not that fast! Similarly, I don't think technology stagnation means going from 0 to max level in 9 years - do we think that there has literally been zero advancement by council species in the last 2200 years? (And then suddenly all the non-reaper tech advancement we see within the series from Me1 to ME3?).

I love the setting, but nothing about the timelines works. I just mentally add a couple of centuries to everything... ;-)

 

[diaspora]

Putting aside the lore nonsense in Halo, it took like 500 years for Humanity in that series to get to where they were, and they still almost got BTFO by the Covenant.