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Livestream was today. Many threads on BSN, but here's the rundown:
-Awakened Collector is an Ultra-Rare Adept with some interesting new biotics (Dark Sphere, Seeker Swarm)
-Geth Juggernaut is a Rare Soldier, immune to all sync-kills, and capable of sync-killing certain enemies in its own right (Phantoms, notably). Very slow movement, cannot run, cannot take cover, cannot dodge.
-Talon Mercenary is a Rare Engineer. Whole bunch of grenade-type powers, melee is an Omni-Crossbow.
-Krogan Warlod is a Rare Sentinel with a massive Hammer that is linked to one biotic power and one tech power. Oh, and he has health regen. Similar mobility penalties to the Juggernaut, but can run.
-Infiltration unit is like EDI, Rare Infiltrator. TC-like powers with motherfing SHOTGUN damage boost (Claymore is getting nerfed after this, plus there's now ULM Shotgun materials apparently). Defensive Matrix is among her powers.
-Turian Cabal is a female Rare Vanguard. No Biotic Charge, but features 3 new powers (one is similar to BC but with AOE effect and requires no lock. Character is built around stackable poison damage, and has extremely high manueverability (greates in the game according to a couple devs).
I must have the Cabal Vanguard immediately. A high-mobility, high-damage character that doesn't rely on BC obtaining a lock? That sounds like a high-risk, high-reward Vanguard that's actually fun to play off-host, instead of my relatively boring Krogan and Batarian.
Oh yeah, and Shotgun ULM. The Claymore is so getting nerfed.
There are also other gear items, several new (UR) weapons, but honestly, who cares, the characters are what I'm after...
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Where is my purple sun!? :nervous:
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I havent played in awhile due to uni, but this might make jump back in for awhile. too bad it takes forever to unlock things
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Who's still playing this on PC? I'd like to play some games with you guys after I finish reinstalling.
Skype's been the preferred method of voice chat for this game, although I don't think we ever actually made any sort of calling group for it so I have no idea who bothers anymore. :P
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I'll be getting a few rounds in once my pc is completed. This weekend, in other words.
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Well, if you're going to jump back in, should do it shortly. They're giving out a free pack with a guaranteed kit unlock for one of the new characters.
Been playing a bit ever since A:CM was such a disappointment.....gotta say, I'm not thrilled with the direction it's taken. There's obviously been significant power creep, plus the weird unlock system means that people who have played longer always have better stuff.
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I'm ok that players who have played longer get better stuff. After all, it's not a competitive, player vs player game.
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sigh i no haz this for pc. power clases offer an easy way in for new players though
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I have it and you are on my friends list, Sparda... though we use in-game voice or TeamSpeak in my little group of regulars.
I have 1.3 million in credits saved up for this. Between that and the gift pack, I will cry and possilb yuninstall the game if I don't get the Cabal Vanguard unlocked as soon as I have this installed.
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I've heard that sentiment before from a fair number of people. Can't agree with it though - that argument would basically remove any need for balance at all.
That said, I'm not totally opposed to any power gain over time mechanic, just think that ME3 has gone overboard. Ultra-rare weapons are innately better then common ones to begin with, and the level-up-your-guns mechanic further pushes that advantage. Combine it with the "Collectible Trading Card Game, except you can't trade" motif they use for upgrades, and you're looking at a damn long time before you're gonna be of use to anyone.
Power classes aren't as bad off, but the starting ones aren't great, and the vast number of kits mean the chances of getting a good class unlocked has gone down steadily since launch.
MP-Ryan, you gonna uninstall all the other DLC before spending your packs then reinstall it?
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No; aside from URs, I have my manifest maxed. No point uninstalling the other DLCs.
I'll be first to admit that I hate the store mechanic, but I'm not opposed to it taking longer to unlock the most powerful items. The inherent randomness without a fixed drop rate in the current store is the problem. I also refuse to spend cash to support it.
That said, while the game has been overwhelmingly balanced to favour weapon classes on the higher difficulties, there are a few powers classes that nearly negate the need for weapons entirely.
The Human Vanguard (Novaguard) is one of the best characters in the game - it is nigh-invincible (on-host) on Bronze and Silver, very survivable on Gold, and pretty decent on Platinum. And it's a baseline character, available to all players from the moment they open multiplayer. The Human Sentinel is also a beast on Bronze and Silver, and available from the get-go. And once you get into the unlockable classes, there are several other characters that basically can get by on powers alone. The N7 Fury is amazing on every difficulty; the Demolisher got nerfed but is still excellent; the Turian Sentinel and Paladian can survive with powers alone; while most of the Infiltrators rely on weapons damage, the Huntress doesn't need it, and at least 2 other Vanguards can be effective with base weapons too - the Slayer (specced for PD) and the Asari (specced for lift grenades).
All of that doesn't negate the store being crap, though. I thought the store should have been modelled this way:
-All packs are available when you first start MP. When your commons max, recruit packs are locked, and all drops are guaranteed uncommon or higher in all other packs.
-When uncommons max, Veteran packs are locked out and all drops are guaranteed Rare or higher for weapons/characters/gear while consumables can still drop uncommons.
-When rares max, Spectre packs lock out. All subsequent packs (PSP, RP, AP) have a 50% chance to drop a single UR. All other items will be uncommon or higher (including level 4 ammo).
The broken part of the store at present really begins after Rare cards max - once you've done that, the UR drop rate is so low and there's almost no incentive to continue playing if all you're interested in is maxing everything. I still enjoy the game, so I tend to save up and then buy a whole bunch at once in the hopes of seeing Talon and Scorpion upgrades (as I don't care much about the other URs).
EDIT: Also, once you get a Hurricane to unlock in a weekend event, there is no other weapon you truly need for any power-based class.
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got the krogan warlord. the hammer swinging dude. quite a bit of fun to play as. Electrical hammer seems to be more useful overall, compared to biotic hammer, which does more damage, but can only hit one target. Also it seems to not affect banshees half the time(biotic hammer that is, electric hammer works fine)? anybody else notice that? Also using the hammer in regards to units with insta-kills is tricky. seems just stay away from banshees (duh), or let someone else distract if you're going to hammer away. You cannot take cover, which can be extremely frustrating at times. but oh the regeneration! so handy! so useful! combined with general tankyness means he is a massive meat shield. Think I found my new favorite class right there.
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I've got at least level 1 of all the new stuff unlocked, except the URs. Instead I got a harrier 5 and Indra 4 in my massive spend-spree. Would have liked a Lancer, but meh.
Anyway, haven't touched any of the new characters except the Cabal, who I'm still trying to figure out. She's pretty awesome in general, and offers a lot of build variety. The teleports are not so reliable off-host, though, and her minute shield restoration does not work well against certain enemies (Phantoms suck).
Anyway, I have all the rest unlocked but I'll let BSN settle on the optimum builds while I help figure out the Cabal.
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Got the Cabal in the free pack. Didn't care for her at all, but I never even like normal Vanguards. Pick up Gethzilla in a later pack, but I don't have the weapons to make him good.
Ah well, back to the Paladin. Just wish there weren't so many Sexbots around now competing for freezes.
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Unlocked everything already. I had 2.6 millions creds ready to spend when the DLC came out. I'm at the point where the only thing left to unlock are ultra-rares, a couple silver gear I don't have yet because they drop quite rarely in premium specters, and the N7 Mastery banner (the one where you need 60 promotions, I am at 43).
Am up for HLP games this week-end ! Ready to help people farm gold to unlock what they haven't unlocked yet. Favourite build so far is sexbot infi with reegar. I love infis, and with the magic Repair Matrix you just don't need medigel ever again.
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Unlocked everything already. I had 2.6 millions creds ready to spend when the DLC came out. I'm at the point where the only thing left to unlock are ultra-rares, a couple silver gear I don't have yet because they drop quite rarely in premium specters, and the N7 Mastery banner (the one where you need 60 promotions, I am at 43).
Am up for HLP games this week-end ! Ready to help people farm gold to unlock what they haven't unlocked yet. Favourite build so far is sexbot infi with reegar. I love infis, and with the magic Repair Matrix you just don't need medigel ever again.
That is so getting nerfed :P Enjoy it while you can =)
Anyway, I'll be around for a few hours here and there. Hit me up if you see me online. I haven't maxed all the new rares quite yet, but I'm getting closer. Just need to unlock the new URs (come on Lancer...)
Anyway, I'm going to keep practicing with my Cabal. She certainly turns Collectors Silver into EZ Mode, but that wa sonly during my test games. She's harder on Gold and Platinum, and I'll probably end up going back to some of my old-standbys when I get tired of her.
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Well, I hadn't played much since a little after launch, but I've been having a good time. Decide to give the old human engineer a whirl, expecting to suck. Instead ended up on top of the scoreboard. Admittedly, silver random matches ain't exactly high-level play, but still.
Really feels like in an effort to balance the techies with the LoLBioticExposions of launch, they vastly overcompensated. Biotics can only explode once every other power, while techies can rotate explosions so that every power after the first is an explosion. Plus, the best Biotic explosion powers are all dodgeable, while many of the good tech powers can't miss. Heck, snap freeze can hit them through walls with no chance of missing. It's practically criminal vs. warp/throw, where 1/4 of all casts miss and there's nothing you can do about it.
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shh fire explosions are da best. Agree though, I hadn't played an engineer in forever, and I was astounded at how much better they seem than I remember. I agree now with the afore mentioned people about power creep. I feel like part of that though is just that it takes a while to both acquire good guns and then level them up because of the stupid store
I had a lot of fun today using the avenger, phaeston, and vindicator and schooling teamates by more at least a 10000+ score margin. on silver, because they dont do **** on gold
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Really feels like in an effort to balance the techies with the LoLBioticExposions of launch, they vastly overcompensated. Biotics can only explode once every other power, while techies can rotate explosions so that every power after the first is an explosion. Plus, the best Biotic explosion powers are all dodgeable, while many of the good tech powers can't miss. Heck, snap freeze can hit them through walls with no chance of missing. It's practically criminal vs. warp/throw, where 1/4 of all casts miss and there's nothing you can do about it.
The problem isn't so much that but the layering system of priming and detonation that ME3 uses. Let's take a detonator, Throw is good example here because it can detonate anything. Let's say you have a Brute as target which has been impacted with following powers: Snap Freeze, Dark Channel and Incendiary ammo. Now you use your Throw and it hits. What is detonated? Incendiary ammo. All primers are detonated in the opposite order. Whatever was applied last is detonated first. In this example, if you want to detonate Dark Channel, you'd have to use Throw twice. If you want to go extra mile and detonate Snap Freeze too, use Throw three times.
The problem comes when you have detonated Incendiary ammo and someone else applies a new tech or ammo primer on target, let's say Brute is now impacted with Incinerate. Incinerate detonates Snap Freeze and applies its primer. Your next Throw would detonate Incinerate instead of Dark Channel. And so it happens. But the Brute is also under weapons fire. You now use your Throw for third time to get Dark Channel detonated, but you now detonate Incendiary ammo again. Well, the Brute is probably dead now anyway but you never got that biotic explosion off.
If you end up in a pug that has tech kits and use ammo that applies an effect, you have a lot of trouble detonating your biotics which sucks because your biotics would be doing a lot more damage. People, including me have begged Bioware to change the detonation system to throw biotics a bone. But Bioware has kept silent on the issue. Because of this, I've found that if you want to play a biotic bomber, N7 Fury and Asari Valkyrie are probably the best thanks to annihilation field. Their playstyle is risky though.
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just played as the n7 fury. utterly destroyed everything. and I dont think i used the class to a tenth of its potential. wow.
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so anyone do citadel DLC, thoughts?
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apparently you get to see Drunk!Javik and get a "SHEPARD" contest from wrex and grunt
sounds good to me
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The trailer is actually awesome.
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it's the best thing. proof is contained in the following spoiler box but it's a HUGE spoiler
the villain is an evil clone of shep and s/he says 'I should GO' menacingly
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OMG :lol: :lol: :lol:
Now I've GOT to see the walkthroughs :D
(That merc's line about the tonight's performance being brought to you by random acts of violence was probably one of the best one liners of Mass Effect)
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Lots of humor and inside jokes in the Citadel DLC. For some reason I found fights in this DLC to be harder than any previous DLC or original campaign. And for the first time in ME3, we have an opponent who actually uses powers, excluding banshees.
Well, now that Bioware is done with ME3 in both singleplayer and multiplayer content, I guess we can now sit back and wait for ME4 news. I'll keep playing ME3 multi more or less though.
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it's the best thing.
well, they checked off another Sci-Fi trope ... It's well made but
come on, there was no way around having Brooks figured out after the casio mission
For some reason I found fights in this DLC to be harder than any previous DLC or original campaign.
Disrupter Drones and the multi-grenades made a lot of difference, otherwiese the mercs are not much different from the Ceberus Troops
Lots of humor and inside jokes in the Citadel DLC.
That's the best part, once again they managed to get some really comic and touching moments in there ... Krogan Birthday Party FTW :D
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Tell me Batts is truthful.
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Tell me Batts is truthful.
About what's in the spoiler-tags? - yep, that's true
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I was pretty underwhelmed by the Omega DLC - I enjoyed SP and From Ashes, but the only thing keeping my interest in Mass Effect is the multiplayer... which I'll continue to play until no one else does. Don't think I'm going to both with Citadel.
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Well, even though I found all ME3 singleplay DLC a bit underwhelming all things considered, I still like to support ME franchise and Bioware. It's not like those DLCs are going to break my wallet. Yeah, I own all DLC for all three ME games.
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it's the best thing. proof is contained in the following spoiler box but it's a HUGE spoiler
the villain is an evil clone of shep and s/he says 'I should GO' menacingly
And right after, RealShep is sitting there going "Do I really sound like that? Why didn't anybody tell me? I'm open to feedback here guys!
It's lighthearted but it is genuinely funny a fair amount of the time. Lots of meta-humor though. Overheard NPCs conversations ripped straight out of the BSN multiplayer forums, right down to the favored cheese tactics and odd behaviors - "So we had just taken down this Atlas, and out of nowhere a drell comes up and just starts kicking there air. And I think that drell stole my grenades!"
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Finished Citadel DLC last night. It was... really good. Like others have said, both very funny and very touching. Lots of "awwww!" moments, lots of fits of laughter. It's a celebration of the Mass Effect franchise past and present, and it really made me smile remembering all the good memories. A great way to send ME3 off.
Oh, and Robin Sachs may be dead, but Zaeed always makes it out alive. Big goddamn hero, he was.
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it's the best thing. proof is contained in the following spoiler box but it's a HUGE spoiler
the villain is an evil clone of shep and s/he says 'I should GO' menacingly
Having watched the walkthrough in youtube, I must say that Batts is so wrong in here. This DLC was actually very good, and the focus of the story on that spoiled tag otherwise hilarious wtf actually makes sense, given how this DLC is a "goodbye to all" from BioWare's Sheppard's trilogy. It is fitting that it focuses on Shepard and what makes him special. It's also fitting that the mood is joyful and trollish, filled with hilarious banter throughout (the scene where Shepard easily solves an "unsolvable problem" is comedy gold). The only gripe I have with it is with the ending, which steals a scene from....The Mummy Returns (JFC).
Then we are gifted with a party, with lots of things to do, chat and so on (listening to Wrex and co remembering their deeds in ME1 and ME2 was very nice). If this was included in the game itself, I'd think that most of the drama would have been avoided. Emotionally fitting. This is the best ME3 DLC by far.
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Wait why does that make me wrong
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Because the trailer is not "the best thing" of the DLC.
Or I misunderstood you.
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I was saying the
evil Shep clone
thing was amazing.
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Dangit, do I have to buy and play this damn thing now?
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Just as I thought I was out, you guys pulled me back in...
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I have to say I really did enjoy this DLC, although I haven't even finished the entire thing quite yet.
Grunt's Birthday Party was very amusing. :lol:
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My favorite part was the banter during the Archives mission.
"This is Team Mako, showing Team Hammerhead how it's done!"
"Showing? More like copying!"
"If we were copying you we wouldn't be hitting anything!"
"This is Team Prothean, I have a higher kill count than both of you combined!"
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Shepard: "Team Mako, take point!" (or whatever)
Brooks: "What's a Mako?"
Liara: "Something we could really use about now"
The whole thing is a shameless nostalgia plug for the fans, and you know what, it doesn't bother me at all. This DLC was fun.
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I was saying the evil Shep clone
thing was amazing.
My bad.
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The story of this one opens up some fun possibilities for ME4, in case it'll happen after ME3. Specifically,
running into conspiracy theory nuts would be fun.. making claims like Cerberus let loose the clone Shepard after the Collectors, and it was the clone that ultimately fought the reapers, while the real Shepard was kept in a lab, went insane, escaped, and eventually tried to take his life back by force in ME3: citadel :)
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it wont. theyd have to cannon an ending then....
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Both control and synthesis options are no-no from storytelling point in a game. That only leaves one option where events after ME3 can be as open as possible, even allowing for large-scale conflicts which probably wouldn't happen if Reapers were present as benevolent force. Thus, destruction of Reapers as canonical ending is pretty much set in stone.
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I really don't think ME4 will take place after events of ME3.
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I think it is pretty clear by now that whatever ME4 will be, it will be somewhat unconnected to the previous games (as in, events in those games do not influence stuff in ME4 directly). It'll be something set in the ME universe, but not related to the Shepard trilogy.
Personally, I am expecting it to either be a prequel or a far-future sequel (with the latter being really really unlikely, given the known issues surrounding all of the endings to ME3). There's also a slight possibility that it would run parallel to ME1-3, but that's rather unlikely as well (It would be like making a game in the LotR universe that runs parallel to the plot of LotR; it's not impossible, but as a fan, you know that the actual big story is happening off-screen).
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Whatever they come up with, I certainly hope it won't be as ridiculously human-centric as the trilogy. It was so far-fetched and borderline retarded 99% of the time.
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Whatever they come up with, I certainly hope it won't be as ridiculously human-centric as the trilogy. It was so far-fetched and borderline retarded 99% of the time.
What. What are you even saying. Of course it was "human-centric", look at the audience of the ****ing game. And what is that **** about "borderline retarded"? Mass Effect was all about giving you the captain seat of an Enterprise-like ship and making errands through various planets. It's mostly gritty Star Trek with some Lovecraftian scent done well. If you expected good science from it of course you were bound to be disappointed. That wasn't ever the point.
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What has science even to do with this. I'm talking about how unbelievably human-centric it was.
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Matt is right to a point. ME has a somewhat intricate universe with several major and a few minor sentient races all jockeying for position. Then along comes humanity, and through a combination of having agents in the right places at the right times (Shepard and the Normandy, Anderson) gets into one of the major race slots incredibly fast. Not only that, but as Mordin says "Humans are more genetically diverse", which is a "wat" moment from hell.
At several points in the story, it is remarked upon how humanity is basically the Mario of all the available races (Not as disciplined as the Turians, but organized enough to give them a good fight, not as resilient as the Krogans, but able to innovate to overcome that handicap, not as long-lived as the Asari, but flexible enough to be their equals anyway, not as brilliant as the Salarians, but able to get to the same places slower.....).
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That point was addressed in-game. Humans were rising like a behemoth due to several reasons, one of them being exactly that wtf-science-rofl thing you mention. But that's exactly why I said that science doesn't really mattered in ME. I don't really understand why having a species that is somewhat "steamrolling" the others in terms of evolutionary speed is such a "stupid plot point". It isn't. It was just convenient, and while I accept that may annoy people, I was already numbed to a lot of other scientific and inconsistent points to let that minor issue be really minor.
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Yeah. Humans FTW.
You xeno-loving fools were put in your place.
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That point was addressed in-game. Humans were rising like a behemoth due to several reasons, one of them being exactly that wtf-science-rofl thing you mention. But that's exactly why I said that science doesn't really mattered in ME. I don't really understand why having a species that is somewhat "steamrolling" the others in terms of evolutionary speed is such a "stupid plot point". It isn't. It was just convenient, and while I accept that may annoy people, I was already numbed to a lot of other scientific and inconsistent points to let that minor issue be really minor.
The issue isn't that they're steamrolling. That was happening in ME1, and wasn't a problem. The issue is all the other places where humanity is given priority for inexplicable reasons.
The collectors going so far out of there way to capture humans, for example. With the reapers already on their way, why? Surely there is something more useful to do if the reapers are going to show up and start harvesting humanity in it's totality in 9 months.
Then you've got things like the Reapers moving the Citadel to Earth to 'protect' it. That makes no sense at all. Surely tossing the thing into interstellar space would've been safer. And then the whole 'lolgeneticdiversity' thing that makes humans go from being pushy bastards to galactic chosen ones. Just doesn't make a lot of sense.
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Let's not bring the wider plot into question.... ME2 already hinted that they had no clue where to end the trilogy.
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The only thing ME2's ending was missing was to have "You could be mine" play during the end boss fight.
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It was easy to fix ME3 in ME2 though....
You just had the council and the races heavily investing in securing the galaxy against the Reaper threat, IOW, taken the events of ME1 seriously. Then you would have Shepard investigating these awkward Collector events, while the wider galaxy was worried about the bigger picture and let you focus on these apparently smaller concerns.
This would have solved a lot of things in ME3. For starters, it would have given you a glimmer of hope in the beggining (you'd start thinking "hey, they came sooner than expected but we started to prepare for this ****"). You'd have a council despairing because they had no time to prepare for the slaughter, but there was sufficient R&D and war investment to make things more interesting: you could witness new tactics and new weaponry based on the Sovereign encounter. There would be a realistic edge that the game could play with: while the galaxy not being entirely ready, it wasn't a complete downer. The battle in Palaven would have been with a lot more tension (as it is right now, the pew pew is awesome to look at, but what is the point? No Reapers will fall under Turian fire, you know that and so there's zero tension), and some twists could be arranged (a general mood of hope increases until a really nasty blow is given to some big fleet at 2/3 of the game, destroying your hopes, then a final desperate plan is arranged to get you to the end of the game).
As it stands, it's a crescendo of hopelessness and whatever-we-are-doomed-anyway put on top of a frustrated scenario where your warnings were completely ignored and belittled, almost making you want to abandon the unworthy galaxy to its fate.
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Someone has never picked a look at the Codex... Kinda dangerous when you want to discuss about the ME universe, don't you think ?
You'd have a council despairing because they had no time to prepare for the slaughter, but there was sufficient R&D and war investment to make things more interesting: you could witness new tactics and new weaponry based on the Sovereign encounter.
Already the case. Thanix cannons (http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Codex/Ships_and_Vehicles#Normandy_Weapon_Upgrade:_Thanix_Magnetic-Hydrodynamic_Weapon), which have been deployed throughout Citadel and Alliance fleets by the time of ME3, are scaled-down Reaper capital weapons, reverse-engineered from Sovereign's debris.
The battle in Palaven would have been with a lot more tension (as it is right now, the pew pew is awesome to look at, but what is the point? No Reapers will fall under Turian fire, you know that and so there's zero tension)
The Turians already "downed several Reaper capital ships" during the very first major strike of the Turian fleet, at the opening of the Battle of Palaven (http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Codex/The_Reaper_War#The_Battle_of_Palaven). They have proven Reapers can be taken down through conventional means, and that they have the firepower to do so. You can't argue that "No Reapers will fall under Turian fire".
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Someone has never picked a look at the Codex... Kinda dangerous when you want to discuss about the ME universe, don't you think ?
Someone bringing low key sarcasm into debate, kinda dangerous and unnecessary, don't you think?
To make the plot rely on codex entries is dumb at least. To look down on people's remarks because they didn't read the codex entries is even dumber.
You'd have a council despairing because they had no time to prepare for the slaughter, but there was sufficient R&D and war investment to make things more interesting: you could witness new tactics and new weaponry based on the Sovereign encounter.
Already the case. Thanix cannons (http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Codex/Ships_and_Vehicles#Normandy_Weapon_Upgrade:_Thanix_Magnetic-Hydrodynamic_Weapon), which have been deployed throughout Citadel and Alliance fleets by the time of ME3, are scaled-down Reaper capital weapons, reverse-engineered from Sovereign's debris.
Despite your condescending sarcasm, I am well aware of Thanix cannons, and have long discussed them in other fora as well. That doesn't make a dent to my point though. The Citadel species were completely denying any Reaper threat whatsoever in ME2, not only in public but also to Shepard himself.
The battle in Palaven would have been with a lot more tension (as it is right now, the pew pew is awesome to look at, but what is the point? No Reapers will fall under Turian fire, you know that and so there's zero tension)
The Turians already "downed several Reaper capital ships" during the very first major strike of the Turian fleet, at the opening of the Battle of Palaven (http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Codex/The_Reaper_War#The_Battle_of_Palaven). They have proven Reapers can be taken down through conventional means, and that they have the firepower to do so. You can't argue that "No Reapers will fall under Turian fire".
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That would bring me making a long post on why that part was completely atrociously written, since the Reapers were considered to be invincible (and how do you really manage to be "sustainable" if you lose more Reapers per cycle than you can build them - alledgedly one per cycle?). The codex entry is inane. Despite the fact that the Turians didn't "know" the Reaper capabilities, they successfully retrieved enough data to pull a winning tactic against them.
The whole thing was badly conveyed. Nowhere in the game are we given any hint on how such success was possible in the first place, how the tactics kept going, etc.
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Someone bringing low key sarcasm into debate, kinda dangerous and unnecessary, don't you think?
Perfectly necessary in this situation I'm afraid.
Despite your condescending sarcasm, I am well aware of Thanix cannons, and have long discussed them in other fora as well. That doesn't make a dent to my point though. The Citadel species were completely denying any Reaper threat whatsoever in ME2, not only in public but also to Shepard himself.
The politicians were denying it. Specters at least (as confirmed in the Kasumi side mission), and most likely other services like the STG, were perfectly aware of the threat.
That would bring me making a long post on why that part was completely atrociously written, since the Reapers were considered to be invincible (and how do you really manage to be "sustainable" if you lose more Reapers per cycle than you can build them - alledgedly one per cycle?).
Invincible ? Sovereign died. ME2 shows us a dead Reaper (the one where we find Legion), slain down by a harvested species though conventional means.
Reapers become sustainable by taking harvested species entirely by surprise, beheading the top of their leadership at the Citadel, and then pick off the remaining, scattered and disorganized hostile forces one by one before they have even time to react and regroup. The current cycle is a highly irregular one (confirmed by the devs), because that "beheading" never happened, as the Keepers were successfully reprogrammed by the Protheans, the one stick in the otherwise perfectly greased wheel. Everything went downhill from there, as each of their contingencies were stopped : Sovereign that tried to manually reactivate the Citadel relay, the Collectors that tried to build a Reaper, the Alpha Relay that was supposed to let the Reapers strike everywhere before we could react.
Because all those contingencies failed, the Reapers have to resort to cruder tactics, ie frontal assaults and mass firepower, against a prepared enemy. Of course they're going to sustain more casualties than usual. But they can absorb them, and then make sure such a situation never repeats again. They're counting on the future cycles to go back to normal and slowly regrow their losses.
The codex entry is inane. Despite the fact that the Turians didn't "know" the Reaper capabilities, they successfully retrieved enough data to pull a winning tactic against them.
Yup. Turians are awesome like that.
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Should we really discuss Sovereign? The one whose avatar had to be destroyed so its shields suddenly flicker, vanish and allow an entire fleet to bombard one single capital ship?
You keep bringing up details that allegedly "solve" the main problems of the narrative arc between ME2 and ME3. But they are details either hidden in the codex or by a slight reference to what the Specters thought by the middle of the game. That doesn't cut it. There's never a clear shout by the council or by other formal entities that the problem is taken seriously, not only by lone agents but by the war machinery throughout the galaxy.
I am talking about the larger arc that wasn't handled correctly. The initial mood in ME3 was desperation. The continuous mood throughout the game was "let's keep surviving, perhaps we'll think of something", iow, desperation. The building of the Crucible was desperate ("IDK what this thing does but it's what we have, the hell with it"). The ending was desperate, throwing everything we had against the Reapers, only to get a small contingent surviving in London and getting into the Citadel, betting everything on an unknown. The entire game is weary, and I really disagree with the notion that this constant desperate mood was desirable in the first place.
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I agree with Luis. If the game had been structured around a core of hope, even if it turns forlorn during the story, it might have been stronger.
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As long as we've veered far enough off the beaten path to discuss general ME plot flaws, I'd just like to state for the record that what disappointed me most in the end was the Reaper's motivation. In ME1 we were told they were so far above us, their reasons aren't even comprehensible to us. In ME3, it's all reduced to the same tired old premise of organics vs. synthetics. I was hoping for some grand cosmological reasoning that would in part justify what the reapers were doing, and leave us the hard choice of sacrificing ourselves to enable them to solve an even greater problem, or take them down and see if we can face the problem we're not equipped to face on our own. Something that felt grander and deeper than another iteration of the Cylon / Skynet / Geth / Whatever threat.
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Gotta agree with that. Explaining the Reapers was a big risk that didn't pay off. There's a reason Shivans in FS are interesting, and Bioware missed that point entirely.
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Exactly. Though a lot of players would probably complain if the Reaper's ultimate motivations and goals remained at least partly shrouded in mystery, I really think this would have been better, with some hints on some grand cosmologically - scaled problem they're trying to solve on a level that's far beyond the current race's ability of reasoning.
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Ya. If you're not capable to come up with an explanation that is better than the mystery, then keep the mystery. It's safer that way.
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So at the risk of dragging this back on topic, I've been playing through he Citadel DLC. From my understanding, it's generally divided into 2 parts: an action-y part, and a dialog-heavy part. I just finished the action-y part, and have begun preparations for the party.
So far - totally worth it. The humor is top-notch nostalgia/sarcasm/friendly jabs stuff. It only makes me sincerely wish they had had that type of humor throughout the entire series... perhaps not at the same level of intensity, but something. It certainly helps develop the bonds of friendship between the crew better.
As for ME4... I'd love to see something set before/during the First Contact War. For any of those who have read them, think Timothy Zahn's Conqueror trilogy. :)
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I just want ME4 multiplayer to get rid of the bull**** sync kill mechanics. ME3 multiplayer is surprisingly fun and fresh, but it has three major flaws:
1. BioWare doesn't know how to support a multiplayer game. Valve, Activision, etc all do. BioWare's support is abysmal. There are still game-breaking bugs in multiplayer.
2. The store is completely random (gambling) and the end-game aspect of it is such a slog that it's not a compelling reason in-and-of-itself to play. Honestly, the only reason I still play multi is because it's generally fun and I have a number of friends that still do as well. If I wasn't playing with people I know, I would've shelved multi a long time ago.
3. Sync kills are abysmal. Several of them are buggy (Hello, banshee, you were 10 feet away yet you're still picking me up? Hello Phantom, I was actually in the middle of Nova or Charge, but by all means, totally ignore their stunning effects and put a sword through me anyway... oh yes, and Mr. Atlas, I'm thrilled that my shields didn't regen when I charged you, but it's even better that you didn't actually melee before syncing me either), all of them are situational, and simply playing "smart" is not a way to avoid them. An entire class is dedicated to CQC/melee combat, and yet sync kills are entirely predicated on proximity to the enemy (supposedly).
As long as the next Mass Effect installment has SP/MP I'll probably buy it, but if its MP-only, BioWare is going to have to prove they can actually build and support a multiplayer title. I know patching on consoles is expensive, but that's why every other MP publisher maintains separate codebases so they can patch the PC version at their whim, then role out to consoles after they've let them test out on PC.
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Rumor is that next-gen consoles allow publishers/developers to patch their own games without having to go through MS/Sony validation process.
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Rumor is that next-gen consoles allow publishers/developers to patch their own games without having to go through MS/Sony validation process.
Really? That would certainly make developing games for consoles much more attractive an option for developers.
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1) Who sez reapers only build 1 each cycle?
2) Desperation is kinda what makes more sense. Of course, it's hard to argue mood, since different people have different preferences and ideas.
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Rumor is that next-gen consoles allow publishers/developers to patch their own games without having to go through MS/Sony validation process.
Really? That would certainly make developing games for consoles much more attractive an option for developers.
The console makers want to get in on that sweet Indie action, charging thousands of dollars for updates is not a good idea for that crowd, as they are used to releasing in-development versions of their products. In this console cycle, only Mojang managed to negotiate an exemption for the X360 version of Minecraft, and that's rather unsatisfying.
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1) Who sez reapers only build 1 each cycle?
IIRC, the Codex speculates that Reapers build one capital ship from the main target species of the cycle, and destroyers from the secondary species.
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Still, that is only speculation.
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Restricting themselves to one big reaper when there's enough.. raw materials to build more would be silly. The codex may have speculated that in most cycles there's one dominant species and a bunch of smaller ones (like in the Prothean cycle), so that makes for one giant Reaper and a bunch of destroyers per cycle - on average. This wouldn't make much sense in the "current" cycle, though, as the Asari, Turians, Salarians, Humans and possibly the Krogan might all make for the big reapers. Not that sure about the Krogan, but they were one of the more represented races in the series so maybe. But each of the council species would make for a large reaper, imo. I think that they do end up with one big reaper per cycle on average, but I doubt they have a rule against making more of the cycle allows for it.
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This wouldn't make much sense in the "current" cycle, though
Except if you listen to Harbinger's commentary on the people you bring along for missions in ME2 where he insults most of your nonhuman squad as unsuitable for ascending.
EDIT: Also Leviathan (http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Leviathan) outright says there's one per cycle and he's got some inside knowledge on the subject.
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That doesn't make much sense to me. The Asari, at least, are way ahead of humans in pretty much anything. Just because humans have The One doesn't negate thousands of years of civilization achievements made by other races. I took Harbinger's comments as general bad guy monologuing where the bad guy just has to insult his enemies, and Leviathan could have very well meant that on average there's one (admittedly, I don't recall the actual conversation, only went through it once). Not saying you're wrong, but if you're right that was just silly on the writer's part.
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That doesn't make much sense to me. The Asari, at least, are way ahead of humans in pretty much anything.
Asari. Reliance upon alien species for reproduction shows genetic weakness.
I took Harbinger's comments as general bad guy monologuing where the bad guy just has to insult his enemies
Except he goes on to praise humans as viable possibilities for ascension. So he's not just insulting every species he fights.
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True. I guess I just find that part silly so I ignored it. Then again, the entire premise of making large crab like ships by turning civilizations into goo is silly :)