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Mass Effect 3 SPOILER THREAD: LOTS OF SPECULATION FROM EVERYONE

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She's a human super model with grooves on her head. Most people outright laughed at it as presented in the game, so I don't know where you're getting "people thought she looked great" from.
 

jediyoshi

Member
Not sure if I missed it, but do they expand on Shepard's parents, outside of Hackett mentioning real quick that your mum is working on the crucible out of nowhere?

Also a little bummed at the last minute they made chakwas anti ai being considered alive. She was a pretty cool bro through and through up till then.
 
So, the Destroy ending is the one where you get the "special" ending, huh?

So, you essentially make the worst possible decision in terms of loss in order to get what fans might consider the "best" ending, because Shepard lives.

Kinda messed up.
 

Enduin

No bald cap? Lies!
She's a human super model with grooves on her head. Most people outright laughed at it as presented in the game, so I don't know where you're getting "people thought she looked great" from.

Really, you has as much and as little evidence as I do as to what people thought of her. While anecdotal, most topics and posts I saw on BSN and here of reactions to her were positive, with then most of those that were negative were almost all in response to its origins and close examination outside of its original presentation and context.

There are serious issue with ME3, the origin and finer details of Tali's face are not one of them.
 
Even if quarians were "technically" described as humanoid in the Codex (or in the tie-in novels) all along, it is a total cop out to make her look almost identical to a human woman. People have gone, "oh she's so beautiful" but it's still stupid because she barely looks like an alien besides her eyes being weird and the cybernetic circuitry. And insult to injury she has a full head of hair despite quarians having always been imagined as bald in both concept art and even fan art. Total cop out.
 
Really, you has as much and as little evidence as I do as to what people thought of her. While anecdotal, most topics and posts I saw on BSN and here of reactions to her were positive, with then most of those that were negative were almost all in response to its origins and close examination outside of its original presentation and context.

There are serious issue with ME3, the origin and finer details of Tali's face are not one of them.

Nope it's really dumb and a lot of people thought it was dumb, sorry.
 

kirblar

Member
Not killing Grunt if you chose to save the Rachni was such a cop-out on their part. What happened to having to make hard choices? (a la Ashley/Kaiden)
 
Not killing Grunt if you chose to save the Rachni was such a cop-out on their part. What happened to having to make hard choices? (a la Ashley/Kaiden)

I think he actually dies right there if you didn't do Grunt's loyalty mission in ME2 (that is what I read, anyway)
 

Enduin

No bald cap? Lies!
Nope it's really dumb and a lot of people thought it was dumb, sorry.

You have a right to your opinion, however insignificant I may find it. I just feel like its silly because its so minor compared to the other problems with the game that BioWare really needs to be aware of like the poor excuse of an opening and even poorer excuse of an ending which happens to pretty much kill a series most of us love.
 
They took a stock photo and then photoshopped it... I don't think they gave it much thought.

Precisely. People were expecting more from Bioware, especially since Bioware made such a big deal about it (having fan polls about whether or not to show Tali's face, always keeping the quarian faces hidden away), and that she turns out to be a generic humanoid is simply disappointing.

I don't even care for Tali and honestly I would've been stoked if she got a Cthulhu starspawn tentacled maw or giant bird beak, because that'd piss off the Talimancers. I just don't like disappointing secrets.

You have a right to your opinion, however insignificant I may find it. I just feel like its silly because its so minor compared to the other problems with the game that BioWare really needs to be aware of like the poor excuse of an opening and even poorer excuse of an ending which happens to pretty much kill a series most of us love.

Point is though it shows how little effort Bioware put into a lot of little places. It's like those videos mocking the sprites of fleeing people or of the terrible running animations or the fact that Cortez's back is the exact same as male Shepard's. It's like Bioware didn't even bother to fix these little details which would have taken them little to no time that shows for an AAA title, there's a lot of sloppiness and lack of care.
 

kirblar

Member
I think he actually dies right there if you didn't do Grunt's loyalty mission in ME2 (that is what I read, anyway)
Ah. Who doesn't do loyalty missions? They never really recaptured anything close to the Ash/Kaiden decision because the stakes were never high enough- too many win/wins. Would have liked the screws put to me more than they were. Like in Jacob's mission- "Save scientists or Save families."
 
Ah. Who doesn't do loyalty missions? They never really recaptured anything close to the Ash/Kaiden decision because the stakes were never high enough- too many win/wins. Would have liked the screws put to me more than they were. Like in Jacob's mission- "Save scientists or Save families."

I'd say Mordin comes close. Whether you refuse to tell him about the sabotage to get the full salarian support and trick Wrex into giving you the full krogan support, or warning him and letting him do his sacrifice for the Krogan. I think that hit me a lot harder, course Mordin is a more interesting character than space racist and carth.
 
My main gripe with the Tali isn't the photoshoped stock picture. If you are going use a picture fore something fine take stock photo who cares if it gets the job done. its that they didn't bother render a face they take the laziest way possible to show a Quarians face. I honestly expected that once you finished Rannoch you'd see all the Quarians remove their helmets and get to see what they look like. Bioware has no intention of doing this ever though because Tali has a conversation on the Normandy about how important their suites are to their culture and how they will keep using them regardless of the fact the Geth were repairng their immune system. If Mass Effect continues with the same species the Quarians will still always where their suits even though they don't need them.
 

Bowdz

Member
I just beat the game with the "destroy" option and definitely understand where the hate is coming from. I felt like the story was going along about as well as it could given ME2's writing up until you meet the Cipher. After that, it all goes down hill. I will echo most of the complaints by stating my issues with it:

- What on Earth compelled Bioware to have the most lore important dialogue by voiced by a terrible, terrible child voice actor? I feel like as a rule of thumb, avoid using voiced children in anything you can and if you have to use them, make it a small piece of ancillary dialogue, not the explanation of the universe's origins.

- I personally wouldn't have minded the Reaper's intentions remaining a mystery to the player. The conversation with Sovereign is still one of the highlights of the series simply because their is such a sense of awe and fear of the unknown. Trying to come up with any reasoning after that conversation (especially after Sovereign states it is beyond our comprehension) was pointless because nothing could possibly properly satisfy the player. What they came up with was such a poorly thought out reason, ESPECIALLY after the events of ME3 (Shepard ended a 300 year long war between organics and synthetics and brokered their peace deal AND was able to push an unshackled AI to emoting similar to humans), that not only raises more questions than it answers, but comes across as dumbing down the mystic of the Reapers. Not to game developers: Some things are better left a mystery. It works for Half Life.

- Why the hell was Joker trying to escape through the Sol relay in the first place? And to where? Shouldn't he have been either sparring on Earth with the Normandy or battling in space? It seems completely ham-fisted to have the Normandy get stranded on another planet.

- It would have been nice to had some closure with the series even if Shepard died regardless. Having the friends and crew rebuilding on Earth at Shepard's funeral would have been more satisfying that just scattering all of the characters across the galaxy.

Overall, I loved the game, but the ending was definitely a disappointment. I like the comparison with MGS4 because in both instances, I felt like the ending pushed a few things too far (MGS4 would have been perfect with Snake committing suicide IMO and this should have definitely not gone the extra step to dismantle the crew). Also, the post credit scene was the definition of cringe inducing.
 
The ending was... err.. odd. It really felt like they took a writer who had no knowledge of the Mass Effect universe, gave him a general idea of what the story is about, gave him some buzz words, and told him to make up some endings.

The dark tone and sense of helplessness at the end was really great, and the game easily has the best moments, from an emotional standpoint, in the entire series.

However, as much as I thought the game was 100% brilliant for the most part (up until the very end,) I would have been very happy if the Crucible just ended up being a super-weapon that destroyed the Reapers and they all lived happily ever after. Hell, I would have had less of a problem if the ending had come down to something dumb like eradicating the Reapers and Mass Relays, or choosing to "reprogram" the Reapers.

Instead, we get Shepard out in space without a helmet or anything, a talking magic-space-boy-ghost, weird space magics ("synthesis,") the Normandy crew on a strange planet, the Mass Relays destroyed, and Shepard gasping for air (apparently he didn't die!)

I don't have enough of a problem with the ending to form a vendetta against Bioware, as it seems some do, but it really was just disconnected, entirely, from the rest of the series, both in tone, and in lore. The game tried to put realistic military FPS atmostpheres and seemingly fantasy-style elements into a Sci-Fi series, and it came out really weird.
 

Enduin

No bald cap? Lies!
Point is though it shows how little effort Bioware put into a lot of little places. It's like those videos mocking the sprites of fleeing people or of the terrible running animations or the fact that Cortez's back is the exact same as male Shepard's. It's like Bioware didn't even bother to fix these little details which would have taken them little to no time that shows for an AAA title, there's a lot of sloppiness and lack of care.

Again, both those examples are things I find completely insignificant, if not ridiculous, compared to the other issues with the game. Most people never bothered to even look down during the opening, let alone notice there were sprites running around. And seriously complaining about a back texture?

BioWare put a lot of effort into this game for the most part. It comes across in so many ways all throughout the game. Making Cortez a unique back texture is a complete waste of time and money, and yes it would take time and money, every minute and every hour of dev time is planned out and structured, as is disc space and the lot. Making sure his moles are in different areas so people on the internet examining screenshots are pleased is not something they should worried about.

They should worry about taking agency away from the player at the end of the game, destroying or ignoring everything players love about the series. Completely glossing over a major event in the story in favor of a rushed and overly dramatic yet underwhelming introduction. Failing to ever bring in any of the ME2 squadmates in for more than just a NPC role and not using a few of them as temporary squadmtes. Shit like that is what BioWare should have been spending their time on and making sure to get the detail right.

My main gripe with the Tali isn't the photoshoped stock picture. If you are going use a picture fore something fine take stock photo who cares if it gets the job done. its that they didn't bother render a face they take the laziest way possible to show a Quarians face. I honestly expected that once you finished Rannoch you'd see all the Quarians remove their helmets and get to see what they look like. Bioware has no intention of doing this ever though because Tali has a conversation on the Normandy about how important their suites are to their culture and how they will keep using them regardless of the fact the Geth were repairng their immune system. If Mass Effect continues with the same species the Quarians will still always where their suits even though they don't need them.

This a good a complaint, though at the same time I cant completely blame BioWare for this, Im even surprised by the photo existing at all. Whatever they chose to do with how the Quarians look is going to fail because so many people have a completely different view on how they should look. Theyre damned if they do and damned if they dont. The photograph for those people who romanced her was the lesser evil since only those major Tali fans would see it and not everyone who played the game.
 
I was utterly baffled at the ending. It summed up perfectly the main folly of Mass Effect, that is a game world with huge potential that for the most part is lived up to adequately, creating decent games.

The ending of the trilogy, of course, had huge potential, and to my chagrin, failed on every level. It made Human Revolution's ending look good, which I thought would never happen. (That being said, both DX:HR and ME3 are both good games, in spite of their endings)
 

zonezeus

Member
My main gripe with the Tali isn't the photoshoped stock picture. If you are going use a picture fore something fine take stock photo who cares if it gets the job done. its that they didn't bother render a face they take the laziest way possible to show a Quarians face. I honestly expected that once you finished Rannoch you'd see all the Quarians remove their helmets and get to see what they look like. Bioware has no intention of doing this ever though because Tali has a conversation on the Normandy about how important their suites are to their culture and how they will keep using them regardless of the fact the Geth were repairng their immune system. If Mass Effect continues with the same species the Quarians will still always where their suits even though they don't need them.

Lazy design all the way, even footage from Quarian-Geth war don't show Quarian faces because lol Shepurd it's all in your head! I thought it's because they want to do some big reveal afterwards, but it turns out they just couldn't be bothered.
 

Bowdz

Member
The ending was... err.. odd. It really felt like they took a writer who had no knowledge of the Mass Effect universe, gave him a general idea of what the story is about, gave him some buzz words, and told him to make up some endings.

The dark tone and sense of helplessness at the end was really great, and the game easily has the best moments, from an emotional standpoint, in the entire series.

However, as much as I thought the game was 100% brilliant for the most part (up until the very end,) I would have been very happy if the Crucible just ended up being a super-weapon that destroyed the Reapers and they all lived happily ever after. Hell, I would have had less of a problem if the ending had come down to something dumb like eradicating the Reapers and Mass Relays, or choosing to "reprogram" the Reapers.

Instead, we get Shepard out in space without a helmet or anything, a talking magic-space-boy-ghost, weird space magics ("synthesis,") the Normandy crew on a strange planet, the Mass Relays destroyed, and Shepard gasping for air (apparently he didn't die!)

I don't have enough of a problem with the ending to form a vendetta against Bioware, as it seems some do, but it really was just disconnected, entirely, from the rest of the series, both in tone, and in lore. The game tried to put realistic military FPS atmostpheres and seemingly fantasy-style elements into a Sci-Fi series, and it came out really weird.

Agreed. The war like atmosphere throughout the game was incredible. Easily the darkest game of the series, but it still managed to have a good deal of humor in it. The ending turned this feeling on its head and sucked a good deal of the emotion out of the final minutes. It is almost like the ending was written in complete isolation from the rest of the development team.
 

firehawk12

Subete no aware
Precisely. People were expecting more from Bioware, especially since Bioware made such a big deal about it (having fan polls about whether or not to show Tali's face, always keeping the quarian faces hidden away), and that she turns out to be a generic humanoid is simply disappointing.

I don't even care for Tali and honestly I would've been stoked if she got a Cthulhu starspawn tentacled maw or giant bird beak, because that'd piss off the Talimancers. I just don't like disappointing secrets.

My main gripe with the Tali isn't the photoshoped stock picture. If you are going use a picture fore something fine take stock photo who cares if it gets the job done. its that they didn't bother render a face they take the laziest way possible to show a Quarians face. I honestly expected that once you finished Rannoch you'd see all the Quarians remove their helmets and get to see what they look like. Bioware has no intention of doing this ever though because Tali has a conversation on the Normandy about how important their suites are to their culture and how they will keep using them regardless of the fact the Geth were repairng their immune system. If Mass Effect continues with the same species the Quarians will still always where their suits even though they don't need them.

I think the fact is they didn't want to render their faces in the game itself, since that would have required actual production work and effort. Instead, take a stock photo, shrink it to hell, photoshop it, and hope no one notices.

And yeah, I'm glad I'm not one of those crazy "what does Tali's sweat smell like" people either. I can only imagine the rage.
 

Minion101

Banned
I picked the "control" choice and after watching the ending FMV, I didn't find it that bad. Though, I thought I clearly must have picked the wrong one. Really confused by the whole thing till I watched the other endings and how they were exactly the same expect for different color filters.
 
It is almost like the ending was written in complete isolation from the rest of the development team.

Exactly how it felt to me, as well.

Also, the ending combat sequences on Earth were easily the most non-Mass Effect feeling moments in the series. Easily. At one point, just before you have to activate the missiles, when you're fighting inside the buildings and allies, I had a moment where I said to myself, "this feels like I'm playing Mass Effect in a bad modern-day shooter map." Really jarred me out of the typical ME atmosphere.
 

Sober

Member
Not to mention the part just before the mission when you are heading up to Anderson and you get to interact with your squadmates on last time ...

TURRET SECTION

HEY THANKS SHEPARD

Move along...
 

Lunchbox

Banned
I picked the "control" choice and after watching the ending FMV, I didn't find it that bad. Though, I thought I clearly must have picked the wrong one. Really confused by the whole thing till I watched the other endings and how they were exactly the same expect for different color fillers.

i dont care what the "right" one was. after all the bullshit about choices by ghost boy over there i was making my own thing no matter what happened. mission was destroying the reapers, so i blew them up. the end. "humanity will continue the cycle," may be they wont how do you know?

taking out the reapers and giving living things another "choice" is the main theme of the whole series (or at least that last rant by the ghost kid), so it made the most sense
 

Tookay

Member
So, the Destroy ending is the one where you get the "special" ending, huh?

So, you essentially make the worst possible decision in terms of loss in order to get what fans might consider the "best" ending, because Shepard lives.

Kinda messed up.

Eh I don't think destroy is the worst ending at all. I mean, they all suck, but synthesis is weird and even a little creepy to me. I really don't like how that was presented as the "right" choice by the Catalyst.

EDIT: Basically, I agree with Lunchbox.
 

firehawk12

Subete no aware
i dont care what the "right" one was. after all the bullshit about choices by ghost boy over there i was making my own thing no matter what happened. mission was destroying the reapers, so i blew them up. the end. "humanity will continue the cycle," may be they wont how do you know?
Mass Effect is actually a prequel to The Matrix.
 
what a hokey ass ending to an awesome series

2>1>3
If you forget the last 10 minutes ME3 is clearly the best game of the series, in storyline, storytelling and gameplay. Its just such a shame Bioware dropped the ball so hard with the ending.



i dont care what the "right" one was. after all the bullshit about choices by ghost boy over there i was making my own thing no matter what happened. mission was destroying the reapers, so i blew them up. the end. "humanity will continue the cycle," may be they wont how do you know?

taking out the reapers and giving living things another "choice" is the main theme of the whole series (or at least that last rant by the ghost kid), so it made the most sense
But you blew up every solar system with a mass relay, including Sol which had the combined fleets of all races. Or maybe not because ~~Space Magic~~. :lol
 

Minion101

Banned
i dont care what the "right" one was. after all the bullshit about choices by ghost boy over there i was making my own thing no matter what happened. mission was destroying the reapers, so i blew them up. the end. "humanity will continue the cycle," may be they wont how do you know?

taking out the reapers and giving living things another "choice" is the main theme of the whole series (or at least that last rant by the ghost kid), so it made the most sense

I didn't mean "right" like moral wise. I mean I didn't know what the hell I picked. Choices were not clearly "labeled." I tried to pick "control" and was shown a cutscene were the reapers seemed to get blown up in a blue explosion along with the relays.
 

TheYanger

Member
Finally finished it. I didn't think the ending was THAT bad. Bad, but the ending to 2 was awful as well, so I kind of expected it. 1 has one of the most satisfying endings in any game I've ever played, maybe I'm jaded by now. Aside from the last cutscene though, the entire last couple missions were completely epic and well done. Which is how I felt about 2, going through the Omega Relay and everything after that was amazing, just the ACTUAL ending moments were weak. Everything else about 3 felt so fucking good it hurt. I went in ready to be pissed, the intro level from the demo was shitty, and having to remake my face (even with the convoluted ass ways to get my character slider options, I had to tweak a LOT) just soured me right out of the gate. There were a lot of balls dropped here, but in the end it was a damn good game.
 

Lunchbox

Banned
But you blew up every solar system with a mass relay, including Sol which had the combined fleets of all races. Or maybe not because ~~Space Magic~~. :lol
if the systems get blown up how do you see the last cut scene where grandpa is telling the legend of shepard to his grandkid.

the mass relays get blown up not the whole system. so civilzation gets set back couple of hundreds of years. but its bad cause they will "repeat the cycle." but then again, you are giving them another choice, to repeat or not repeat. its up to them.......wasnt that the whole theme of the last 10 mins? CHOICE ....and space magic
 

vitaminwateryum

corporate swill
if the systems get blown up how do you see the last cut scene where grandpa is telling the legend of shepard to his grandkid.

the mass relays get blown up not the whole system. so civilzation gets set back couple of hundreds of years. but its bad cause they will "repeat the cycle." again, you are giving them another choice, to repeat or not repeat.......wasnt that the whole theme of the last 10 mins? CHOICE ....and space magic

The cycle can't repeat because for at least the last 50,000 years the races have been finding the Mass Relays. Now that they're destroyed everyone is for the most part, stuck. The grandpa / grandkid thing is weird. Mainly because one second they're showing the Normandy trying to outrun a giant explosion that's created a black hole, yet at the same time they were just near Earth a few minutes ago.

Either way, none of it makes any sense. As far as I'm concerned the only ending is the one where TIM executes Anderson, shoots Shepard, and then rules the universe with space magic.
 

Pollux

Member
WHAT IN THE FUCKING FUCK!!!!! I just finished the game, and holy shit that ending. It wasn't as bad as some people were making it out to be, it was just STRAIGHT UP FUCKING COPIED FROM DEUS EX. God dammit BioWare. You're not even trying anymore are you?

What the fuck....
 

Lunchbox

Banned
Yeah "choice" within the paths given to him by the Reaper child.

no, i mean before that when they are talking. he talks about how he cant continue the cycle anymore because of choice/free will. and thats the reason why shepard an organic is standing in front of him in the catalyst. he doesnt have the ability to stop free will which drove humanity to become so advanced to even get there blah blah. so he gives shepard a final choice

aarh, i dont know. my head hurts. fuck you bioware, all i wanted was tali's face
 

Lingitiz

Member
I'm kinda confused on what happened with the Illusive Man. Was he indoctrinated or not? Was the whole controlling the reapers thing his idea or a result of the indoctrination?
 
I'm kinda confused on what happened with the Illusive Man. Was he indoctrinated or not? Was the whole controlling the reapers thing his idea or a result of the indoctrination?

Yep the child even mentioned it. How IM can't control them because they already controlled him.
 
So what happens at the end of Battlestar that people hate so much I only got into like Season 4 before I got bored with the show.

They used space theology and the ending embodied a really classic sci-fi cliche (notice that the series gets a whole section in this article).

Yep the child even mentioned it. How IM can't control them because they already controlled him.

Lame, would have been cool if he was simply insane, or mad with his own power, and if Shepard convinces him to kill himself then it was because Shepard had greater insanity powers.
 

Pollux

Member
I don't want to read this entire thread. Can someone explain what happened with the old dude and the kid at the end (the winter moon thing)? Did the kid call the man Doctor Shepard? So is the old man related to our Shepard? I'm so fucking confused. Is humanity still just stuck on Earth since all advanced tech was destroyed? Even though I controlled the Reapers. I'm so fucking confused.
 
I still think it's possible everything that happens after the being wiped out by the Reaper ray is not real.

For one thing, when the Citadel opens, wouldn't the vacuum of space suck Shepard and Anderson into space, yet there they were, sitting there talking and breathing and enjoying the view?

And also, when he goes to shoot and destroy option, he suddenly stops limping and walks firmly toward the target.
 
I don't want to read this entire thread. Can someone explain what happened with the old dude and the kid at the end (the winter moon thing)? Did the kid call the man Doctor Shepard? So is the old man related to our Shepard? I'm so fucking confused. Is humanity still just stuck on Earth since all advanced tech was destroyed? Even though I controlled the Reapers. I'm so fucking confused.

The old man told the boy the Legend of The Shepard. Its implying that scene takes place way later in their Universe and Shepard has been turned into some kind of mythical figure at that point. The answer to your other two questions are lol space magic IDK.
 
I still think it's possible everything that happens after the being wiped out by the Reaper ray is not real.

For one thing, when the Citadel opens, wouldn't the vacuum of space suck Shepard and Anderson into space, yet there they were, sitting there talking and breathing and enjoying the view?

And also, when he goes to shoot and destroy option, he suddenly stops limping and walks firmly toward the target.

I think if you got up after the Reaper hit you, you got to see your dead squadmates and then you just collapsed dead it would be a pretty great ending. You got closer than any other civilization, but still fell short.

Infinitely better than what we got, anywho.
 
But if they were controlling him, why was he trying to control them? And why did they attack his facility on Horizon?

I believe they explained it back in ME 1 were a husk like the illusive man is way more powerful when he is motivated and think he is right. In ME1 or in ME2 it was that how further someone got indoctrinated the less useful he becomes at the end just being a simple Husk.
 
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