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Post by Warhammer Gorvar on Mar 31, 2013 9:51:19 GMT 1
Yeah we paid the ransom - doesn't make the kidnappers look any better though... I totally hear you about Leviathan. And yeah, I would put a parody chapter in for it! If nothing else, the prawn thing is good for a laugh! Or failing that - they think he's Cthulu. I know I bloody did. "THREE CTHULUS?!?! START THE CAR, STEVE!" Dude, the Leviathan was so Cthullu you dont even know! ...how do they travel across sapce though?
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Post by Mister Buch on Mar 31, 2013 16:53:52 GMT 1
Using thralls I guess? Lieden - I totally agree about the atmosphere. I felt that too.
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Post by Mister Buch on Apr 1, 2013 2:56:30 GMT 1
I'm a few hours into the 'Citadel' DLC now and I think it may be the worst thing ever created by humans.
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Post by lieden on Apr 1, 2013 7:40:03 GMT 1
Well... I kinda expected this.
Elaborate when you're done with it! Also, don't smash your TV.
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Post by Mister Buch on Apr 1, 2013 8:04:15 GMT 1
BIG SPOILERS!I finished the quest part, but I switched it off. I don't think I'm going to be doing the party. As for elaborating, I actually had a giant essay prepared but accidentally deleted it, so count yourself lucky I didn't get to give you that! I just thought the entire quest was horrendous. The constant comic relief was very annoying, the plot made absolutely zero sense and the two villains seemed to have no purpose in plot terms or within the story itself, the acting by both villains was very poor, the justification for them taking shore leave was miserable, Wrex and Shepard both seemed very out of character, I saw that miserable attempt at a twist coming three hours before it arrived, the 'stealth' sections were just implausible, the 'full squad combat' we were promised turned out to be 'the ME3 squad plus Wrex make jokes from a balcony while you lead two men as usual - lasts about fifteen minutes', which was disappointing. The fourth-wall-breaking and self-referential jokes, which were so many that I'm wondering if this whole thing is intended as a parody and not an actual quest. I don't know. Probably not. There was potential - I like the idea of sneaking into a fancy party and distracting guards, or fighting on the Normandy itself, but both of these were handled so poorly. I think the guards at the party reported me 'behaving suspiciously' (repeatedly trying to hack cameras an then yelling, "I've been spotted, Brooks! What do I do now!" into an earpiece) about twenty times and they didn't even keep an eye on me. I noticed a lot of bugs as well - game freezes, bad animations, lines being cut off by other dialogue. And then there were bizarre plot holes by the ton and the one big reveal (Brooks and Evil Twin telling you that they orchestrated the events of Mass Effect 2) which is essentially a giant rewrite of that whole game. But more than anything - just the fact that there is a straight-up evil twin in Mass Effect now. No clever trick, no interesting take on the idea - an evil twin. And the stripe on her armour is blue instead of red. It's just the most infantile, horrible piece of writing I've ever seen from BioWare. Or in A games in general. An evil bloody twin?! Whose plan is to kill Shepard in a public place and then somehow steal her identity for Cerberus because she's jealous of the good twin being popular? Hooooly hell. The money and time and games I sacrificed for that swill. For the first time with a game, I'm outraged. Commander Shepard's final adventure - my favourite videogame by far and away - ends with her fighting her cartoonish palette-swapped evil twin, for deeply confusing reasons which have nothing to do with the plot or any of the characters of this game. And her death is animated poorly. And then they have a god damn party while Thessia burns. I switched it off when I found Traynor playing that comedy relief chess game and the camera actually did a Kung Fu movie-style zoom in and letterbox effect on her eyes, with a dramatic music cue. I was just, "Yeah, that's it. If it gets worse than this then I just don't want to see it. You found my limit, Citadel." Even Jar Jar didn't have his own camera effects, man... EDIT: Uh, and breathe. There were some good moments. I was quite moved by one of Anderson's little recordings, and few of the many, many, many, many jokes were good. I loved the bit with Zaeed playing the arcade game. At one point he said, "I'm gonna hunt down the shit-for-brains inventor of this crooked 'game' and push the fucking inspiration out through his arsehole," and I felt that. I knew exactly what he was feeling. Seriously though, Lieden what did you think of the DLC? I'm just curious since I like your opinions - not looking for an argument.
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Post by Warhammer Gorvar on Apr 1, 2013 9:27:20 GMT 1
I actually liked the DLC for what it was...just one big gag at the franchise's expense and you just roll with it. Its like Orignal Star Trek, you just go with the flow. I didnt expect a Masterpiece of storytelling, just something nice with the characters. One final trip with the gang.
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Post by Tillian Panthesis on Apr 1, 2013 10:37:58 GMT 1
Is it me, but I don't expected you to throw so much anger ME3? That's a lot, even from me.
I was about to make a search for the attic for the disc and try to get ME3 up and running again, just for that DLC. No, not out of spite, I've been contemplating about it for a while now, really.
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Post by lieden on Apr 1, 2013 12:25:09 GMT 1
Emphasis on 'breathe', Buch. Okay; I've played the Citadel DLC twice now. The first time was a good while after I had last touched ME3, and I'm mentioning this because I think it matters. As I said right afterwards, I had much fun playing it. It made me laugh. I liked the music during the mission, too (game music is important to me as an immersion factor). I found just as many moments cringe-worthy, but I was in a 'have-fun' mood so I waived them off, and registered the overall experience as good enough. And then I started thinking about it, and it boiled down to a huge WTF. It's really a fanfic mash-up. NOT the best kind of fanfic, either. Which brings me to the second time I played it - towards the end of my latest complete ME3 playthrough. You recall I had trouble figuring out where to fit it in. After Leviathan came out, I sort of managed to come to terms with ME3's storyline even when it comes to elements I don't like - the Crucible and RGB choices in the end. It more or less made some sense, without too many glaring loopholes, even though I still find the premise somewhat naive and contrived. But the Citadel just doesn't fit ANYWHERE. Not in continuity, not in mood, not even in a logical sense. I might have said it before, but I just couldn't imagine Shepard - who can't sleep, can't rest, wonders if she/he's done enough (Paragons do, anyhow) - drop it all to lounge about in Anderson's luxury apartment. Not while refugees are cramming in the station's docks. Not while the Geth and Quarians are at each other's throats, not when Thessia is burning, and certainly not when they're running out of time to find the last bit of information they need about the Crucible. I don't think I'm being unreasonable. I think the main game addresses the need to take a break well enough. There's a talk you can have with Ashley where, if I recall well, she says it's good to just catch your breath a bit, yet still feels somewhat guilty about it. But you do need to get away from all that's going on, have a laugh, and I think it's well-handled. The Citadel DLC forces Shepard and the whole team to be callous, oblivious, and revert to a state of adolescence. I don't like that at all. In the end, I'm really left wondering whether all this is not some sort of trolling on the devs' part. When it came to all the hullabaloo about ME3's ending, the rallying point was the serious faults in the narrative, or so I thought - but in the end I suspect it really was about the lack of 'sunshine and rainbows'. The overwhelmingly positive response to the cheerful nonsense that is the Citadel DLC strongly suggests that this may have been the case. Edit: I've not addressed the whole deal about the clone/evil twin because I think it's entirely stupid. No excuses, no nothing.
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Post by lieden on Apr 1, 2013 12:29:21 GMT 1
Uh... also, I think all this should have been said over at the Citadel DLC thread.
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Post by Warhammer Gorvar on Apr 1, 2013 13:26:21 GMT 1
Evil clone should;ve had a goate...espcially Femshep.
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Post by Tillian Panthesis on Apr 1, 2013 13:58:14 GMT 1
I agree on that clone thing. Both the goate part and the ridiculous element.
That almost made me wanna play ME3 again, but I'm not sure I want to play as Elly Shepard or re-roll a different Shepard that I can be sure I won't get too attached.
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Post by Clint Johnston on Apr 1, 2013 15:11:28 GMT 1
I still say Zaeed & Garrus planning to booby trap the apartment was fun.
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Post by Tillian Panthesis on Apr 1, 2013 15:36:03 GMT 1
I don't expect the DLC to be a masterpiece. But still, that sounded like fun.
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Post by lieden on Apr 1, 2013 15:56:05 GMT 1
It's impossible not to laugh at some of the gags. It's just that they're so crowded and out of touch with the setting.
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Post by Mr. Glow on Apr 1, 2013 15:59:23 GMT 1
Since they were apparently lampooning themselves so much and joking around in this DLC, did there happen to be any jokes at the expense of the ending? Or the Starchild? Or Jessica Chobot?
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