tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886868484666652260.post763463756917630715..comments2024-03-09T03:49:50.699-05:00Comments on Your Critic is in Another Castle: It's Mass Effect 3, People!K. Coxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06554183349391372039noreply@blogger.comBlogger49125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886868484666652260.post-31780536688598612602012-03-20T23:27:32.406-04:002012-03-20T23:27:32.406-04:00 Yeah. I'm a little incoherent with disgust a... Yeah. I'm a little incoherent with disgust at this ending. Its just so fucking inane, and it forces the player down a set of paths all stupid, and all of which boil down to "the only way to prevent the reapers from killing everybody is to do it yourself"<br /><br />Because that's what happens in all of the endings. Even if the relays don't destroy all those systems there in, the total collapse of civilization GALAXY WIDE is going to lead to the vast majority of people starving to death, and the rest wearing loin cloths and wielding pointed sticks. And 50,000 years hence, when they get back together, then it really might be the same stupid cycle.<br /><br />And its not like you need to do any of that for a bleak ending. Having almost every planet in the galaxy look like Europe and Japan at the end of the second world war is pretty damn bleak.James Anoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886868484666652260.post-83113033358853918532012-03-20T23:22:09.217-04:002012-03-20T23:22:09.217-04:00 I may or may not have more thoughts about this wh... I may or may not have more thoughts about this when I calm down. I just now finished the game, after a) staying unspoiled, but hearing rumors of a really shitty ending and therefore, b) stalling. I had a brief hope that the complaints were just fan entitlement, but no.<br /><br />I FUCKING HATE that fucking ending. HATE. Among other things, it completely spits on the idea of that you can save civilization. No matter what you do, that multi-ethnic, multi racial civilization you were fighting to save? Gone. No more Asari raising families with human women. No more Turians making out with Quarians, no more spaceships, no more high technology. And I hate that. I don't mind Shep dying. I wish there was an option where it doesn't happen, but it makes story and thematic sense; I can live with it. But breaking the entire game universe? No, I think that truly sucks. Putting an ending on it that says "no future mass effect games can be coherent with this"; you can't have a game set 200 years hence, when the results of the war and the alliance are still shaking out. <br /><br />FUCK it makes me mad. Sci writers! Do not break your universes as part of your story endings! It was stupid when Dan Simmons did it, it was stupid when Ronald D. Moore did it. It is ALWAYS stupid! Always! Its never, ever clever. Also, stop being "shocking". Being shocking is just a way that slow witted people cover for their lack of ideas.James Anoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886868484666652260.post-78183215129664524732012-03-20T16:46:02.617-04:002012-03-20T16:46:02.617-04:00 Yeah, I was romancing Garrus during my first play... Yeah, I was romancing Garrus during my first playthrough, and missing on purpose just seemed like a woman hiding her talents to make her boyfriend feel better about himself. Shepard wouldn't have done it, and I don't think Garrus would have wanted her to.Tessnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886868484666652260.post-29644524993111231242012-03-19T12:16:13.850-04:002012-03-19T12:16:13.850-04:00I agree. I really liked that sequence, but felt th...I agree. I really liked that sequence, but felt that it would have been much more immersive if either you were required to do the shooting yourself, or it was based on your accuracy percent (or even class, soldier and infiltrator bullseye it, all other classes miss).Evan Cardennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886868484666652260.post-65478400772075476112012-03-19T02:51:47.262-04:002012-03-19T02:51:47.262-04:00 oh chobot. i forgot to mention how much i hated c... oh chobot. i forgot to mention how much i hated chobot. she will be hate #6, then, and to balance it out, i will make love #6 drunk tali and her "emergency induction port".<br /><br />it's funny you mention how much more of the human side we get to see of shepard, because i actually totally agree. it's one of the reasons why the moments where people talk about him as superhuman grate on me so much. a good example of this is in the scene with garrus on the citadel where they go shooting on top of the presidium: i would have loved for there not to be a choice of whether to hit the bottle, or miss the bottle, and just have you miss it as part of the sequence instead. there is a moment of real friendship and depth if you choose "miss", but for some reason the "miss on purpose" part of it bothers me. it feels like it cheapens the friendship.enstarstarstarnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886868484666652260.post-53533820425144860212012-03-19T00:23:34.508-04:002012-03-19T00:23:34.508-04:00The implications really are mind-boggling, and not...The implications really are mind-boggling, and not in a good way. I mean, let's face it, organics are doomed to a repeating cycles of war and destruction IN GENERAL, not just in regards to synthetic life. When it comes down to it, why does the eventual war with synthetic life have any bearing? We can kill ourselves and the galaxy no problem without synthetics aver getting involved. If the real problems occurs when synthetics get involved, why not wipe out synthetic life and leave the organics alone? flabbergheistnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886868484666652260.post-43509832546292718332012-03-19T00:12:45.941-04:002012-03-19T00:12:45.941-04:00The idea that that is the "best" ending ...The idea that that is the "best" ending really bothers me. Especially as I don't cotton to indoctrination theories. flabbergheistnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886868484666652260.post-50261096999567856812012-03-19T00:03:05.089-04:002012-03-19T00:03:05.089-04:00I think Ashley and Kaidan had a lot of the same di...I think Ashley and Kaidan had a lot of the same dialogue w/r/t not trusting Shepard, based on my youtubing. My Shep was faithful to Kaidan, so I found it particularly annoying (aren't a lot of human options for the ladies; in retrospect should've romanced Garrus, but blah blah blah the paragoniest). It was one thing on Mars--ok, fine, A/K need to reacquaint themselves or whatever. But then assuming that Shepard was trying to assassinate the council? Really? <br /><br />Though I loved how FemShep just hoisted that fella over her shoulder after he went down. Work it. <br /><br />(Also, still better than the deal with Jacob. If he'd been my Shep's LI I'd have been PISSED.)<br /><br />Loved: 1) the npcs in general, even Prinze Jr. 2) basically all the priority missions were very well done, though Earth was kind of eh 3) Jack's story arc was a real highlight 4) the combat was much smoother all around 5) I thought in general there were more references to Shepard being a real human--more references to the background, people actually asking how Shep was holding up, Joker snapping at Shep after Thessia, etc.<br /><br />Hated, ending aside: 1) FemShep seriously had a boob job somewhere in there. Is that part of how she's synthetic? Also, the casual dress option was hideous. 2) Chobot! 3) Having whoever sniping about how you were with Cerberus 4) EDI getting anthropomorphized 5) The whole dying between 1 and 2 thing started to irritate me retroactively. EDI comments at one point that she's surprised by Shep's continued existence, as the likelihood of Shep surviving everything is slim. Well, she didn't survive everything. She died! I almost feel like it complicates the concept of the heroic sacrifice, which is basically what the endings amount to as it is--she already died once! Now she has to go do it again? She's totally willing, don't get me wrong, but geez, universe, she really got a raw deal there. Should there have maybe been more psychological repercussions from all that?flabbergheistnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886868484666652260.post-48928201260595854192012-03-18T21:51:27.237-04:002012-03-18T21:51:27.237-04:00 five things i loved, and five things i hated, abo... five things i loved, and five things i hated, about <i>mass effect 3</i>.<br /><br />loved: the ambient/non-cutscene conversations, both with your crewmates and with random denizens of the galaxy. and while i loved the hanar/elcor buddy cop drama, i thought the beleaguered embassy worker talking to the older woman was a brilliant little touch. given the way these things usually work, i expected it to be a joke--oh look, here's an elderly woman who can't remember anything--but the sincerity and compassion in the worker's voice, and the moment of hurt when she sees that the woman has forgotten her, brought it to a very different place. bravo, bioware.<br /><br />hated: kaidan alenko. seriously, i don't care what ashley's character is like, it has to be better than listening to this whining motherfucker. it's like, "oh, i have doubts if i can trust you. i have doubts if i can trust me. i have doubts if i can trust anyone. i have doubts about my sexuality." not that any of those doubts are trivial, but that by the end of the game i was starting to consider spacebarring my way through every conversation of his, it got to be so tedious and grating.<br /><br />loved: the combat/combat skill mechanics. they clearly put a lot of thought into making this ready for multiplayer, because this is the best of the trilogy by a long shot. i finally got to be the shepard i wanted to be, popping in and out of cloak every few seconds to blast someone's head off with my sniper rifle. i rarely even carried a second weapon, so my recharge time could be that fast.<br /><br />hated: the edi gets a body story. though it certainly does open things up for some neat battlestar galactica crossover fanfiction.<br /><br />loved: jack's side mission. she got, by far, the best treatment of all the minor characters. i literally laughed out loud when her students yelled out "I WILL DESTROY YOU!" as a battle cry. and her character arc was eminently believable, and really sweet.<br /><br />hated: the romance. mine was with liara, who has been with me since the first game. and while there is one really nice scene with her (she makes time capsules about the reapers, in case everything goes wrong, and saves the entry on you for last), the rest of it is really bland and shallow. i did some youtubing, and it seems like just about all the romances are as bland as that one, too. i dunno--i know it's hard to write characters well when you have so many different choices and options, but i guess i was hoping for a bit more depth.<br /><br />loved: mark meer. he's no jennifer hale, and i am deeply looking forward to finishing my female shepard's story someday, but through a combination of a better script and a comfortability with his role, i thought his performance (as paragon shepard) was genuinely excellent. part of this i think is also due to the game's tone, which is utterly epic, and therefore suitable for meer's epic paragon voice.<br /><br />hated: all of the people fawning over how wonderful and awesome i am. i mean, shepard is. it's one thing to have someone like the admiral tell me that the galaxy is counting on me; it's another entirely to have like every damn person ever keep saying "no one but you could have done this". it kind of undercuts the more intimate side of the character that the game was trying to show, when it constantly reminds you that you are superhuman.<br /><br />loved: the action set pieces. this is one of the most visually stunning games i have ever seen, and the design for the levels made you feel intimately a part of it. the only other game i've played that had even one or two sequences as harrowing and tense was <i>uncharted 2</i> (i still have yet to finish that trilogy). <br /><br />hated: that i recognized vega's voice as freddie prinze jr. character ruined for me.enstarstarstarnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886868484666652260.post-17573012790983730352012-03-18T20:48:48.148-04:002012-03-18T20:48:48.148-04:00 okay, some other spoilers will follow this commen... okay, some other spoilers will follow this comment, so i will place a separate warning here, too.enstarstarstarnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886868484666652260.post-38083671638812881442012-03-18T20:35:44.887-04:002012-03-18T20:35:44.887-04:00The whole galaxy explodes, every time, because of ...<i>The whole galaxy explodes, every time, because of an arbitrary decision I can't see my Paragons accepting.</i><br /><br />yep. it's so frustrating.enstarstarstarnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886868484666652260.post-50793079577762624712012-03-18T20:32:34.599-04:002012-03-18T20:32:34.599-04:00 Also, my ParagonShep never wanted to be a messiah... <i>Also, my ParagonShep never wanted to be a messiah. She really was just a<br /> soldier, when it came down to it. I actually would have liked it <br />better ending with her and Anderson next to each other, bleeding out, if<br /> only the darn crucible had just worked. Then, I really could <br />extrapolate out good endings for all the other characters. Making it <br />get all metaphysical felt really out of place.</i><br /><br />that would have been an ending i could get behind. would have fit the paragon path perfectly.<br /><br />and i wouldn't have even minded a happy ending, or a real heroic sacrifice ending (like the one you mentioned), or even a dark and twisted ending. the real thing is that i wish there was an ending that was true to the tone of the series, which all of the options you are given aren't.enstarstarstarnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886868484666652260.post-70194543233551309602012-03-18T20:04:07.647-04:002012-03-18T20:04:07.647-04:00Also, my ParagonShep never wanted to be a messiah....Also, my ParagonShep never wanted to be a messiah. She really was just a soldier, when it came down to it. I actually would have liked it better ending with her and Anderson next to each other, bleeding out, if only the darn crucible had just worked. Then, I really could extrapolate out good endings for all the other characters. Making it get all metaphysical felt really out of place. <br /><br />I also just felt like there wasn't enough info on what those choices meant in order to make an informed decision. How exactly does Shep control the reapers after vaporizing? Can she make the Reapers rebuild everything? And I fundamentally don't get the Synthesis option, which is what my Shep took--EDI doesn't have DNA to rewrite. What does it mean that trees would be synthetic? What about plankton? It's dumb to let my suspension of disbelief falter there, considering it's sci-fi and therefore not meant to make perfect sense, but I couldn't envision a universe where everything was the same like that and then extrapolate out how that would be beneficial, let alone the ultimate good. I almost feel like the synthesis ending sanitizes life in a way that's sort of a betrayal to that world, wherein peaces are hard-won and precariously maintained. Is it lovely in kind of a grand way? Yes. But the enjoyment I got out of the games up until then was not about grandness, it was about the moments with individual lives, and that is left behind at the end. I almost feel bad complaining because, you know, I really loved the game. I respect the desire to go big. I'm even sympathetic to the idea that the whole game should count as denouement, and do feel that my choices had an impact. But, yeah, I'm ultimately pretty disappointed.<br /><br />Also, I want to add, that the heroic sacrifice ending is JUST AS CLICHE as the happy ending. It really is. flabbergheistnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886868484666652260.post-28432763120293686532012-03-18T18:39:13.024-04:002012-03-18T18:39:13.024-04:00Agreed.
I had heard there were "ending issue...Agreed.<br /><br />I had heard there were "ending issues" ... so I played my most scattershot renegade, figuring she could deserve reaping what she'd sowed.<br /><br />Instead, she gets Total Vindication, from her perspective! Shooting Mordin in the back? Doesn't matter. Geth eliminated? Zero consequence (other than a really heartrending scene as Tali deactivated Legion). Be a callous jerk, blow up the galaxy, wipe the bastiches out, crawl out of the rubble, it is just win-win-win-win for her. Now she'll probably unite the remaining militaries into a rapacious resource-sequestration Horde and establish the Glorious Star Empire of Shepard. Maddening for me, because I like to think Actions have Consequences.<br /><br />I just went through the other two choices, and they really aren't any better, so far as my Paragons are concerned. The whole galaxy explodes, every time, because of an arbitrary decision I can't see my Paragons accepting.<br /><br />I'll solo play my renegade Vanguard dudeshep through, because whatever (and Biotic Death Assault is just Fun), but I don't think I want my Paragon saves getting anywhere near this. And since I've been doing all this on a friend's system, it just kills any desire to buy this.Darth Thulhuhttp://boardgamegeek.com/user/Darth+Thulhunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886868484666652260.post-47652176166411919172012-03-18T15:41:43.557-04:002012-03-18T15:41:43.557-04:00 i have a lot to say about the ending, because eve... i have a lot to say about the ending, because every choice felt like a wrong one. i picked synthesis because i didn't want to exterminate the geth, who i loved dearly, but in retrospect i want to let the reapers burn because synthesis is just as bad if not worse.<br /><br />my biggest frustration is that <i>mass effect</i> was never really about shepard him/herself, but rather about the people and things that shepard represented. at least, that's what my uber-paragon shepard story was about. so when the climactic scene decides to negate all of the (game) years of work i had put into standing up for themselves, into cooperating, into making the right decisions; and instead puts me as the sole arbiter of the entire galaxy's fate--i really, really didn't like that. my first thought as the credits began to roll was basically, "wait, so what happened to all the fleets of the entire galaxy that are now orbiting earth? what about the entire rest of the galaxy who is waiting for this war to end? what about the millions of families who will never see their loved ones again, not because they died in the war but because they can <i>never go back to their homes</i>? what happened to anyone, at all, other than shepard (and joker and edi, in my ending, who apparently crash land on some jungle world with liara to go off and make a bunch of synthetic babies i guess i don't know)?"<br /><br />what kills me is that, for three straight games, i have a shepard who pleads and demands and coaxes the galaxy around him into believing in freedom, autonomy, peace for all people--and then in a single moment, i wipe out all of it because i'm told i have to. <br /><br />and, i think the thing that offends me the most in all of these endings is the bizarre anthrocentrism of it all. i spend so much time uniting the entire galaxy against the reapers, and in the end the only thing i really get to see is that earth is... sort of saved. what about palaven? tuchanka? are the asari going to be okay on thessia? will the elcor get to stage <i>hamlet</i> again?<br /><br />it's not just that there are holes; it's that the stuff that's actually there, too, flies directly in the face of everything that came before. it bothers me.enstarstarstarnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886868484666652260.post-432619722369147252012-03-18T06:21:39.133-04:002012-03-18T06:21:39.133-04:00Think I somehow managed the "best" endin...Think I somehow managed the "best" ending with my fem renegade, despite dead rachni and Geth and pissed-off still-genophaged Krogan. Doing all the ME2 DLC and mining the galaxy dry apparently helped a lot, (and the friend I'm housesitting for did a lot of multiplayer this past week), so my bitter colonial renegade gets to live while the galaxy burns.<br /><br />Which is nice and all for Ms. Unrelenting Goddess of Retribution, but that is seriously not going to fly with either of my Paragons. They are not going to let the Geth be wiped out, they are not going to countenance a Geth genocide as a side effect, and they are not going to be cool with annihilating every single system with a Mass Relay. Efforts at "Controlling" the Reapers are universally bullpuckey Indoctrination according to the Prothean VI, and "Synthesis" sounds ridiculously invasive and violating.<br /><br />That is super-disheartening, and none of it sounds like what either of my Paragons would do. My Paragons talked down Wrex and made Saren commit suicide, for crying out loud, so I cannot see them accepting Reaper Overlord Boy's word without an argument. But if wiping out the Reapers really requires genociding EDI and the Geth and murdering a few trillion people who just happen to live near Mass Relays, I am not going to be able to accept that choice either.<br /><br />The more I think about it, the more it pisses me off.Darth Thulhuhttp://boardgamegeek.com/user/Darth+Thulhunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886868484666652260.post-50977495033629882482012-03-18T06:01:53.369-04:002012-03-18T06:01:53.369-04:00Just finished my first play through. Sounds like y...Just finished my first play through. Sounds like you just did as well.<br /><br />ENDING SPOILERS TO FOLLOWDarth Thulhuhttp://boardgamegeek.com/user/Darth+Thulhunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886868484666652260.post-15462732658846836372012-03-18T03:43:54.259-04:002012-03-18T03:43:54.259-04:00bioware hit it out of the park with the gay crew m...bioware hit it out of the park with the gay crew member, starting with your conversation when you first meet him ("any family?" you ask, and his response eventually gets to "and... i lost my husband on [planet i can't remember]"). the fact that it is so plain, matter-of-fact, without any fanfare, is a really classy (and <i>political</i>) move by bioware.<br /><br />similarly, the lesbian crew member comes out to (male shepard) you only when you try to hit on her, a ways into the game. she seems slightly amused at you, too, in a "you mean you really didn't notice that i was into women, not into you?" sort of way. it dishes a little dose of humility to shepard, and i think subtly but effectively criticizes the straight male gaze.enstarstarstarnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886868484666652260.post-81140834806857751512012-03-18T02:34:08.660-04:002012-03-18T02:34:08.660-04:00HOLY JESUS WHAT DID I JUST PLAY?HOLY JESUS WHAT DID I JUST PLAY?enstarstarstarnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886868484666652260.post-63144471425021948622012-03-17T20:13:01.247-04:002012-03-17T20:13:01.247-04:00Taking a pause to think and break fast at sunset b...Taking a pause to think and break fast at sunset before pushing on to Earth and finishing my first playthrough. Very spoilery thoughts follow, but not to the ending yet.<br /><br />The game has simply nailed all the characters thus far. Really enjoying the moral knife-twisting on Renegade choices.<br /><br />- Javik is a great subversion of the All-Wise, Benevolent Precursors stereotype that the Protheans slotted into. Having the focus character for them be a bitter and unforgiving supremacist stormtrooper thug from a fascist slave empire is pure genius. Playwise, he is biotically delicious, and I am really looking forward to my eventual Vanguard-save playthrough using him and Liara, for it will be non-stop biotic annihilation.<br /><br />- Shooting Mordin was brutal. Dude coughed up about a gallon of blood before dying, oh so tantalizingly close to the dispersal controls. Got me a Salarian fleet, but great job on making clear how morally bankrupt the decision is.<br /><br />- Ashely makes a fun drunk, but Tali takes the cake. Emergency. Induction. Port.<br /><br />- Speaking of Tali, her response to Legion while destroying the Geth was heartbreaking. (Legion repeated the original Geth-to-Quarian question to her about "do I have a soul?" while layed out to be deactivated, and before pulling the plug Tali replies "yes, you do" ... devastatingly well done).<br /><br />- Garrus remains cool and super smooth, and his budding romance with Tali was funny to walk in on.<br /><br />- Liara has been pretty quiet, but her interactions with Javik have been gold. She is so much kinder and wiser and more enlightened than he is, but every time she talks proudly about some Asari culture he just dumps all over it with 50,000 years of historical condescension.<br /><br />- Blasto 6 is the movie of the millennium. Badassedly, indeed.<br /><br />- The ME2 peeps have been backgrounded more, but good to see. Good to see Grunt while wiping out the Rachni yet again, Miranda's arc was poignant, and Thane's was heartbreaking. Nice to see Jacob moving on, and Jack absolutely took the cake with her biotic blast corps cadets.<br /><br />- Enjoyed the banter of Cortez and Vega in the shuttlebay. Cortez is pretty clearly flirting with Vega at a couple of points, though Vega seems oblivious.<br /><br />- Traynor has been fun to romance. Very flirty innuendo, starting with sweaty Chess and escalating from there.<br /><br />- Joker and EDI have a complex thing going on, which is interesting to see. Talk about loving your ship. EDI's background as the rogue AI from ME1 was a neat twist.<br /><br />- Killing Kai Leng was just so satisfying, especially after his behavior on Thessia. Best renegade interrupt in the game, I think.<br /><br />Combat has been challenging, but fun enough so far. The constant crouch and snipe is somewhat tiresome, but I am looking forward to a Vanguard playthrough. I absolutely adore all the Reaper-in-the-background shots. From Earth to Palaven to Tuchanka and onward, just seeing them on the horizon and hearing their vibrating Brown Note drone is compelling.<br /><br />Really enjoying the heck out of the game.Darth Thulhunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886868484666652260.post-76416087053134032952012-03-15T20:14:31.746-04:002012-03-15T20:14:31.746-04:00House-sitting for an old friend this long weekend....House-sitting for an old friend this long weekend. He's a fellow long-term BioWare goob from back in Ye Olde Days of Baldur's Gate, and will graciously let me play his copy. As he's happy to let me import a game or two of ME2, I'm looking forward to quickly burning through my heartless renegade soldier, Ms. Morrigan Shepard. She's probably in for a bad ending, since she has reflexively burned many bridges in harsh loyalty judgments (rachni queen dead, romanced Kaiden but let him die before consummation since Ashley was a better paired combat asset, Ashley shot Wrex and Morrigan is fine with that, et cetera). Though she certainly was as much of a mining completionist and DLC queen as any of the other savefiles, so maybe not <i>too</i> bad.<br /><br />Since I'm hearing more and more leakage about the endings being unsatisfying, quickly playing through a character who doesn't deserve a super-happy ending will hopefully mitigate things somewhat.<br /><br />Updates as I proceed.Darth Thulhuhttp://boardgamegeek.com/user/Darth+Thulhunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886868484666652260.post-76087744996558926572012-03-15T14:28:29.738-04:002012-03-15T14:28:29.738-04:00Thanks for this.
Mapping out my four playthroughs...Thanks for this.<br /><br />Mapping out my four playthroughs to import, my female paragon Adept stayed loyal to Liara as Shadow Broker, and my female renegade Soldier and male paragon Engineer are pretty stable in their ME2 romances, I think ... but my male renegade Vanguard Shock Trooper has been a real wolf on the romance front. Definitely up close and physical and aggressive both in combat and in dialogue choices. If there's anyone who'd try to gay romance Garrus and James and Blasto, along with any new characters, it would be him. Knowing I don't need to fret the polite/paragon dialogue choices trying doomed romance efforts with him when I get around to ME3 is a relief.<br /><br />Thanks again.Darth Thulhuhttp://boardgamegeek.com/user/Darth+Thulhunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886868484666652260.post-52308045228491339122012-03-14T02:41:54.956-04:002012-03-14T02:41:54.956-04:00So, I apparently got the best ending (despite the ...So, I apparently got the best ending (despite the guides saying you need 5000+ rating for it, I only had 4300ish). I have to admit, my first reaction when presented with the choice was one of guilt. Liara talked about having a story to tell all those little blue children later down the line, and I felt *guilty* that Shephard might not make it through due to my choices.<br /><br /><br />SO I thought, "Okay, I might survive destroying them. He didn't say I'd die."<br /><br />Then I immediately felt guilty for betraying Legion's spirit, who in my game had sacrificed himself to give the geth sentience. <br /><br />Despite the looming genocide, I carried on with my grim decision. My Shep was going to live! Boom, boom, BOOM! *cutscene*<br /><br />*gets to Normandy trying to outrun the blast* "Oh no! EDI!!!"<br /><br />I've never had a game made me feel so awful about the endings. I think we needed some more character centric epilogue, particularly if this is the end of the line for this game universe, we should find out how things turned out for our squad. This was a game about relationships, and the finale fell flat in that regard.<br /><br />Other than the ending, this was a masterly crafted game. The character moments were plentiful, the relationships were awesome, and the combat system was fun.<br /><br />(Tip: If you take Liara & Garrus to Sur'kesh for the Krogan female mission, you get a scene where Garrus & Shephard are teasing Liara about the Yahg Shadow Broker.)<br /><br />I am disappointed that after having an awesome boss fight at the end of Mass Effect 1, we got zip for ME3. No Harbinger love?Chris Finchhttp://twitter.com/ColdFurynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886868484666652260.post-49725953673079450202012-03-14T02:41:10.299-04:002012-03-14T02:41:10.299-04:00So, I apparently got the best ending (despite the ...So, I apparently got the best ending (despite the guides saying you need 5000+ rating for it, I only had 4300ish). I have to admit, my first reaction when presented with the choice was one of guilt. Liara talked about having a story to tell all those little blue children later down the line, and I felt *guilty* that Shephard might not make it through due to my choices.<br /><br /><br />SO I thought, "Okay, I might survive destroying them. He didn't say I'd die."<br /><br />Then I immediately felt guilty for betraying Legion's spirit, who in my game had sacrificed himself to give the geth sentience. <br /><br />Despite the looming genocide, I carried on with my grim decision. My Shep was going to live! Boom, boom, BOOM! *cutscene*<br /><br />*gets to Normandy trying to outrun the blast* "Oh no! EDI!!!"<br /><br />I've never had a game made me feel so awful about the endings. I think we needed some more character centric epilogue, particularly if this is the end of the line for this game universe, we should find out how things turned out for our squad. This was a game about relationships, and the finale fell flat in that regard.<br /><br />Other than the ending, this was a masterly crafted game. The character moments were plentiful, the relationships were awesome, and the combat system was fun.<br /><br />(Tip: If you take Liara & Garrus to Sur'kesh for the Krogan female mission, you get a scene where Garrus & Shephard are teasing Liara about the Yahg Shadow Broker.)<br /><br />I am disappointed that after having an awesome boss fight at the end of Mass Effect 1, we got zip for ME3. No Harbinger love?Chris Finchhttp://twitter.com/ColdFurynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886868484666652260.post-65194002181458807792012-03-14T02:35:40.430-04:002012-03-14T02:35:40.430-04:00***Spoilers about the end of the game******Spoilers about the end of the game***Chris Finchhttp://twitter.com/ColdFurynoreply@blogger.com