|
Post by jklinders on Aug 8, 2013 23:49:55 GMT 1
There never was. There was always a wizard turning dials and knobs behind the curtain. Sometimes it was easier to tell than others. there generally are no real choices in the narrative of a game. How well put together a game is in part decided by how hard it is to see behind the curtain. A sufficiently well put together game makes us not care that there is a curtain or someone behind it.
Closest I saw to an exception to this rule was the Witcher 2 Assassins of Kings which was ballsy enough to lock you out of nearly half the game's content based on your main choice. that was pretty awesome. Sadly my machine runs it too poorly for me to get through my second playthrough.
|
|
|
Post by spookyjacobs on Aug 9, 2013 0:56:25 GMT 1
I don't think that's true of the Mass Effect series. For big choices yeah, but it's the little continuities throughout my playthrough of the trilogy that resulted from my choices that made it a much more personal experience.
|
|
|
Post by Clint Johnston on Aug 9, 2013 5:24:48 GMT 1
You mean like the Rachni...?
|
|
|
Post by jklinders on Aug 9, 2013 10:33:31 GMT 1
I don't think that's true of the Mass Effect series. For big choices yeah, but it's the little continuities throughout my playthrough of the trilogy that resulted from my choices that made it a much more personal experience. About the only storylines that was truly impacted by previous choices were Rannoch and Tuchunka. The very fates and survival of both of those people were impacted by decisions made solely in ME 2. Just about everything else was window dressing. As Clint mentioned the biggest fuck up was the Rachni. Killing the Queen in ME 1 should have kept them out of ME 3 with a nice bonus of Krogan support to go with. Instead Bioware didn't want to offend anyone and made the Rachni story available to everyone. I was very disappointed in that. I saw the wizard's foot beneath the curtain and was taken back to reality. For the choices to mean something the storyline needs to branch. There was no branching so the choices didn't really mean anything.
|
|
|
Post by Warhammer Gorvar on Aug 9, 2013 11:01:04 GMT 1
For the Krogan thing, Wrex in ME1 so technicly thats a whole storyline thing.
|
|
|
Post by jklinders on Aug 9, 2013 22:11:24 GMT 1
thanks for the correction. I had forgotten about Wrex. That's the only decision that truly spans all three games. The rest ranged from good (Rannoch arc) to tolerable (Geth arc) to lazy (council being secretive backstabbing douches regardless of your past actions while the galaxy burns) to horrid (Rachni arc I'm talking to you).
|
|
|
Post by Mr. Glow on Aug 9, 2013 23:29:15 GMT 1
You know what sucked? I wiped out the Council's worthless asses and set up a new Human Masterrace Council, then by Mass Effect 3, the aliens had somehow found their way back into the council.
|
|
|
Post by Warhammer Gorvar on Aug 9, 2013 23:37:31 GMT 1
Gosh darn aliens. Taking our women and ur juuurbs!
Back on topic, Varric might be a party member. Thats good.
|
|
|
Post by Mr. Glow on Aug 9, 2013 23:52:23 GMT 1
He's already confirmed in the Gameinformer scans. And really, would they not put the sole unanimously liked character from DA2 who's status isn't dependant on player interaction in the game?
|
|
|
Post by spookyjacobs on Aug 10, 2013 3:34:33 GMT 1
I don't think that's true of the Mass Effect series. For big choices yeah, but it's the little continuities throughout my playthrough of the trilogy that resulted from my choices that made it a much more personal experience. About the only storylines that was truly impacted by previous choices were Rannoch and Tuchunka. The very fates and survival of both of those people were impacted by decisions made solely in ME 2. Just about everything else was window dressing. As Clint mentioned the biggest fuck up was the Rachni. Killing the Queen in ME 1 should have kept them out of ME 3 with a nice bonus of Krogan support to go with. Instead Bioware didn't want to offend anyone and made the Rachni story available to everyone. I was very disappointed in that. I saw the wizard's foot beneath the curtain and was taken back to reality. For the choices to mean something the storyline needs to branch. There was no branching so the choices didn't really mean anything. Like I said, I agree that the major choices were ultimately pointless, almost to the point of being insulting. The worst (To me) was probably the choice at the end of ME2. It was utterly pointless. It wasn't until the day after I beat ME3 that I realized I had apparently missed its impact and thought to look it up. It turned out the decision to destroy or save the base resulted in an arbitrary, nonsensical coin flip that decided whether or not the Earth would be fried if your score was low enough. (Or something to that effect.) They just threw a "major" choice in at the end of the game since I guess that's what they think each of their games requires. But anyway, the smaller choices, the ones you described as window dressings, are the ones that mattered to me because they really added up to make my ME universe mine. I liked seeing characters that I saved or spared return. I liked hearing about the repercussions, good or bad, of my decisions, even if they didn't affect the gameplay in any way. Ironically, these minor things made it seem (Again, to me) that Shepard was making more of an impact on the world around him/her than the major, supposedly galaxy-changing decision.
|
|
|
Post by jklinders on Aug 10, 2013 10:07:13 GMT 1
I did like the little atmospheric stuff they threw in. But is was far and away from the grand sweeping promises they made. I wish Drew Kapyrshen stayed with them until the end but I think because his original idea for the ending (which I still think sucked ) being rejected probably pushed him away from the project leaving us with Mac-I love Cerberus- Walters. The series could only degrade after that.
Back OT. While the combat in DA 2 was a major grind for me I still think it's worth finishing the once. If only to get the needed context for the very likely to be superior next installment. Origins was a labour of love, warts and all. The sequel looked like a cheap cash grab. They put some real time into this new one and it's actually looking pretty good.
|
|
|
Post by Warhammer Gorvar on Aug 10, 2013 11:51:02 GMT 1
The sex scenes were better then Origins though. That's it really. Nothing like Witcher 2 but hey, we dont wanna scare away the kdis from an mature game. ... Seriously the Desire Demon's boobs hang out all the time, why not go full?
|
|
|
Post by Clint Johnston on Aug 10, 2013 14:28:15 GMT 1
Really? You mean those scenes where Isabella kept everything on while she cried about her dead husband?
|
|
|
Post by spookyjacobs on Aug 10, 2013 17:14:10 GMT 1
But is was far and away from the grand sweeping promises they made. This is why I don't read or watch anything prior to a game's release. I learn just enough to know that I'll probably want it and then stop looking at articles, trailers, gameplay videos, developer diaries or interviews, or anything like that. I end up being a lot less disappointed when I don't have too many expectations. Take the original Fable. I know it's got problems, but I didn't read about any of Molyneux's promises leading up to it, and when I finally played it I wasn't let-down by the fact that none of those promises were kept. Everyone else was pissed because they didn't get the experience he promised, but I had fun with it.
|
|
|
Post by Warhammer Gorvar on Aug 10, 2013 18:50:04 GMT 1
Really? You mean those scenes where Isabella kept everything on while she cried about her dead husband? Worked for me. .... Okay now I sound like a pervert, but you guys already knew that.
|
|