Mass Effect BioWare Montreal's Mass Effect: Andromeda - where element zero meets trisomy 21

[Yosharian]

Nah the Reapers were an amazing idea initially. It's just that the series was put in the hands of writers that didn't know what they were doing. In ME2 the series lost focus on the 'space exploration' and old-school sci-fi concepts that ME1 was grounded in, and, as much as I love the Terminator references, I'll admit they are a bit hokey. And in ME3 the story and character development just went off the rails completely, not to mention the gameplay going full retard.

 

[The Dutch Ghost]

Nah the Reapers were an amazing idea initially. It's just that the series was put in the hands of writers that didn't know what they were doing. In ME2 the series lost focus on the 'space exploration' and old-school sci-fi concepts that ME1 was grounded in, and, as much as I love the Terminator references, I'll admit they are a bit hokey. And in ME3 the story and character development just went off the rails completely, not to mention the gameplay going full retard.

The thing with the Reapers, the writers had to decide with if they wanted the reapers to remain incomprehensible and something intelligence on our level would never be able to understand, so also not Sovereign addressing Shepard directly and boasting about itself and its kind.
Or that the Reapers can be understood, that their reasons and motivations are comprehensible and can even be counter-argued. Not so much as gods but rather single minded machines like they eventually turned out to be in ME3.
Ugh, what I forgot to add was, the writers not making them out to be returning ancient alien gods that created everything.

Like we have been discussing, this is a problem that occurs when a game series switches writers per entry.

Also this... obsession with making everything including any mystery comprehensible to humans. Like wanting to "ground" everything.
The idea with something truly alien is that we can't understand it or really understand it, perhaps just getting glimpses or hints but never a clear picture.
But I think that that is a little beyond the scope of space opera, we are getting a bit into the realm of hard sci fi with this in which the Other truly is something disturbing because us humans/baselines can't understand it, making it frightening.

 

[Theldaran]

I can understand that ME1 was pretty underwhelming, I struggled to complete it. But it was very successful, and possibly the most promising out of the 4.

Yes, a bit of the same happened with DA:O... But both were mostly playable while the sequels are... ugh...

 

[Yosharian]

I got chills when I met the Reaper in ME1. The Collectors freaked me out in ME2. In ME3 I was utterly bored.

 

[The Dutch Ghost]

The Collectors freaked me out in ME2

I think the Collectors were more interesting as a concept than what their execution ended up as.

I am trying to think up why Mass Effect 3 was such a disappointment.
Well one of the reasons is definitely all the nonsense with Cerberus. The plot in Mass Effect 2 with them should never have been done other than that the writers thought it be exciting that the player now works together with the unethical renegade black ops/secret organization because they sound cool.

 

[HansDampf]

I got chills when I met the Reaper in ME1. The Collectors freaked me out in ME2. In ME3 I was utterly bored.

Noticeable difference between the confrontation with Sovereign in ME1 and this exchange with Harbinger at the end of The Arrival DLC of ME2.

Spoiler

Why does he even know Shepard's name, lol?

 

[The Dutch Ghost]

Why does he even know Shepard's name

Good question, why did Shepard matter so much to Harbinger and the other Reapers?
Shepard and the others mostly learned about the Reapers through Sovereign and his agents' incompetence.
Had they played it smarter Shepard had just come over as some nut to the council and the human governments with his paranoid delusions of ancient alien killer machines that are returning.

Him managing to defeat Sovereign and his agents was not because Shepard was that necessarily more intelligent, cunning, and resourceful.

Harbinger should not even give a fuck about this single baseline bipedal organism. It is physically not interesting and if it is such a problem, drop a fucking bomb on it or an asteroid.

They say good is stupid. Well it seems evil took that as a challenge and seeks to outdo it.

 

[samuraigaiden]

Never played any ME game. I have a morbid curiosity about Andromeda, but I'm afraid I'd just be bored to death.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Never played any ME game. I have a morbid curiosity about Andromeda, but I'm afraid I'd just be bored to death.

The shooty parts are surprisingly fun. Rest is meh to shit.

 

[Latelistener]

I am trying to think up why Mass Effect 3 was such a disappointment.

Because it feels like a fanfic and overall a low effort. Even visuals were a bit worse than ME2.

The story goes in a direction that had nothing to do with what they originally had in mind.

Dying stars got no explanation, although originally the mass effect is what causing the stars to age faster and the reason for Reapers to do what they do.

The human Reaper got no explanation, although Reapers supposedly found a solution in humans and it's the reason they were concentrated on them in ME2.

 

[Cyberarmy]

I got chills when I met the Reaper in ME1. The Collectors freaked me out in ME2.

Those are my favorite parts as well.

 

[J1M]

Nah the Reapers were an amazing idea initially. It's just that the series was put in the hands of writers that didn't know what they were doing. In ME2 the series lost focus on the 'space exploration' and old-school sci-fi concepts that ME1 was grounded in, and, as much as I love the Terminator references, I'll admit they are a bit hokey. And in ME3 the story and character development just went off the rails completely, not to mention the gameplay going full retard.

Yes. Reapers should not have been the antagonists of 3 games. They just can't stay mysterious for that long.

Collectors without any reaper involvement would have worked better for ME2. Wouldn't take a lot of edits to do that either.

Then ME3 could lean more heavily on the themes of exploration and frontier justice with a plot centered around opening a new mass relay instead of round 3 with the same antagonist.

 

[Yosharian]

Nah the Reapers were an amazing idea initially. It's just that the series was put in the hands of writers that didn't know what they were doing. In ME2 the series lost focus on the 'space exploration' and old-school sci-fi concepts that ME1 was grounded in, and, as much as I love the Terminator references, I'll admit they are a bit hokey. And in ME3 the story and character development just went off the rails completely, not to mention the gameplay going full retard.

Yes. Reapers should not have been the antagonists of 3 games. They just can't stay mysterious for that long.

Collectors without any reaper involvement would have worked better for ME2. Wouldn't take a lot of edits to do that either.

Then ME3 could lean more heavily on the themes of exploration and frontier justice with a plot centered around opening a new mass relay instead of round 3 with the same antagonist.

Hmmm maybe. I just think that 'final showdown with the Reapers!' could have actually been a cool game instead of the piece of shit we got.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

fact:
if you think ME3 is bad because it has a shit ending, then you think nearly every RPG ever made is bad because it's a genre completely filled to the brim with shit endings

 

[Yosharian]

I think the whole of ME3 is shit, not just the ending

 

[rusty_shackleford]

I think the whole of ME3 is shit, not just the ending

yes, well, your mom is shit

 

[just]

video games are shit

 

[ekrolo2]

Nah the Reapers were an amazing idea initially. It's just that the series was put in the hands of writers that didn't know what they were doing. In ME2 the series lost focus on the 'space exploration' and old-school sci-fi concepts that ME1 was grounded in, and, as much as I love the Terminator references, I'll admit they are a bit hokey. And in ME3 the story and character development just went off the rails completely, not to mention the gameplay going full retard.

Yes. Reapers should not have been the antagonists of 3 games. They just can't stay mysterious for that long.

Collectors without any reaper involvement would have worked better for ME2. Wouldn't take a lot of edits to do that either.

Then ME3 could lean more heavily on the themes of exploration and frontier justice with a plot centered around opening a new mass relay instead of round 3 with the same antagonist.

Hmmm maybe. I just think that 'final showdown with the Reapers!' could have actually been a cool game instead of the piece of shit we got.

Their insistence on making a trilogy is the problem. A logical story progression is to have the Reapers attack in the second one and climax the story there before they wear out their welcome. Or if it has to be a trilogy, make ME2s collector plot the first game with foreshadowing to something bigger coming, second is ME1 as we know it except it ends with Sovereign invading the citadel and letting the Reapers arrive and third game is fighting them off. As it stands, the Collector stuff feels like filler bullshit so a second game can exist without finishing 1s plot threads.

 

[Aarwolf]

Imagine making that 3000 word article and not including any concept art for said cut content.

There's your answer:

“However, I'm pretty sure those ideas are still property of BioWare, so even though I'm 100% certain they won't be used, I can't talk about them without getting some kind of permission.”

They are in no position to say more nor show concept art, it's Bioware's property and no one will show anything done by former employees.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Imagine making that 3000 word article and not including any concept art for said cut content.

There's your answer:

“However, I'm pretty sure those ideas are still property of BioWare, so even though I'm 100% certain they won't be used, I can't talk about them without getting some kind of permission.”

They are in no position to say more nor show concept art, it's Bioware's property and no one will show anything done by former employees.

Can't expect a journalist to actually do a journalism, he might lose access to the company for statements/early reviews.
This is perfectly normal behavior and not at all a sign of absolute rot in video games journalism.

 

[J1M]

Imagine making that 3000 word article and not including any concept art for said cut content.

There's your answer:

“However, I'm pretty sure those ideas are still property of BioWare, so even though I'm 100% certain they won't be used, I can't talk about them without getting some kind of permission.”

They are in no position to say more nor show concept art, it's Bioware's property and no one will show anything done by former employees.

That's where the journalism job starts and the author contacts said company asking for a couple of images. Either leveraging the indirect Legendary Edition coverage, another puff piece angle, or just a simple personal contact so the article has some value.

 

[J1M]

Nah the Reapers were an amazing idea initially. It's just that the series was put in the hands of writers that didn't know what they were doing. In ME2 the series lost focus on the 'space exploration' and old-school sci-fi concepts that ME1 was grounded in, and, as much as I love the Terminator references, I'll admit they are a bit hokey. And in ME3 the story and character development just went off the rails completely, not to mention the gameplay going full retard.

Yes. Reapers should not have been the antagonists of 3 games. They just can't stay mysterious for that long.

Collectors without any reaper involvement would have worked better for ME2. Wouldn't take a lot of edits to do that either.

Then ME3 could lean more heavily on the themes of exploration and frontier justice with a plot centered around opening a new mass relay instead of round 3 with the same antagonist.

Hmmm maybe. I just think that 'final showdown with the Reapers!' could have actually been a cool game instead of the piece of shit we got.

Their insistence on making a trilogy is the problem. A logical story progression is to have the Reapers attack in the second one and climax the story there before they wear out their welcome. Or if it has to be a trilogy, make ME2s collector plot the first game with foreshadowing to something bigger coming, second is ME1 as we know it except it ends with Sovereign invading the citadel and letting the Reapers arrive and third game is fighting them off. As it stands, the Collector stuff feels like filler bullshit so a second game can exist without finishing 1s plot threads.

There's no reason it needs to be a reaper trilogy instead of a Shepard trilogy.

It's so easy to come up with other ideas:
ME1: Shepard proving himself and earning the Spectre designation.
ME2: Rooting out corruption and internal affairs intrigue at the 1000 year old spy police
ME3: Credibility established, Shepard takes on more of a leadership position leading a squad of other Spectres, trilogy ends with him retiring into a high level Director's job

Or:
ME1: Humanity joins the list of big players by earning a council seat
ME2: Growing pains of a new empire
ME3: Things come full circle and humanity is in the position of evaluating if another race should be elevated to full membership

 

[RepHope]

The fucking hilarious thing is no one is cosplaying as the Angara or Khett anyway because they’re boring, nobody gave a flying fuck about them. Bioware has lost their fucking mind, COSPLAY is now a factor in making a game? That’s completely retarded.

 

[Testownia]

I never understood the raving fanbase of the Mass Effect franchise. Other than the first game, they're just run-of-the-mill cover based shooters with very light RPG mechanics - a game which is mass-produced by a dozen of different companies year in, year out. The moment I found out CERBERUS was made a major military threat, I burst out laughing.

 

[RepHope]

I never understood the raving fanbase of the Mass Effect franchise. Other than the first game, they're just run-of-the-mill cover based shooters with very light RPG mechanics - a game which is mass-produced by a dozen of different companies year in, year out. The moment I found out CERBERUS was made a major military threat, I burst out laughing.

No one else was or is making that Star Trek space opera kind of RPG. Western fantasy games are a dime a dozen but space opera has about 1 or 2 at the moment (ME and TOW).