Mass Effect 3???

[MarchHare]

I wouldn't go that far. I loved -- LOVED -- the first 39.5 hours of ME3. It was shaping up to be a fabulous conclusion to Shepard's story, but it was unfortunately undone by a very poor finale.

A rumour I heard, and I have no idea if this is true, is that there was a different ending originally written but it was leaked so they decided to re-write it. Unfortunately, this came fairly late in the process, so the writing lacked the same level of BioWare polish seen in the rest of the game. I have no way to verify that rumour, but it certainly seems plausible.

[Yeah_Baby]

Why does everyone keep bringing up KOTOR 2? KOTOR 2 wasn't done by Bioware, Lucasarts shipped it off to Obsidian.

[Blaster86]

In what may be the cutest moment in Mass Effect history....

Emergency Induction Port.

[cDnStealth]

Originally Posted by Blaster86

In what may be the cutest moment in Mass Effect history....

Emergency Induction Port.

It's called a straw. Get it right!

[MarchHare]

Originally Posted by Yeah_Baby

Why does everyone keep bringing up KOTOR 2? KOTOR 2 wasn't done by Bioware, Lucasarts shipped it off to Obsidian.

Yes, we know.

People keep bringing it up because it's a fairly well-known example of a game that shipped in a rushed state with a half-baked ending that didn't make a lot of sense, thus it's ripe for comparison to ME3.

[Lt.Spears]

I'm about thirty minutes away from finishing the game (just landed on earth and said goodbyes) and i have to say, in pretty disappointed.

The whole story just seemed so... Blah... Like i didn't really care about anything that was happening in the game, it all felt so monotonous and boring to me. And it's a trend I've been noticing in games for the past while now. They typically start out at a certain pace, rarely amp up, and then finish at the same pace, so the whole game feels really boring.

The game has the same flaws as mass effect 2, you spend 90% of the game gathering allies and then 10% actually playing out the main plot, it's such a slap in the face for fans.

[Henry Fool]

Originally Posted by MarchHare

Yes, we know.

People keep bringing it up because it's a fairly well-known example of a game that shipped in a rushed state with a half-baked ending that didn't make a lot of sense, thus it's ripe for comparison to ME3.

Dragon Age 2 is a recent game that was forced out too soon by the publisher.

The relationships between developers and publishers are extremely difficult. In a recent interview, Brian Fargo talked about this.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news...sher-Relations

The truth of the matter, according to Fargo, is that most relationships between developers and publishers these days is are pretty ugly.

"There is more tension than you can believe. You would not believe the stories you hear about how developers are treated by publishers these days," he told Ripten. "It is abysmal."

Development studios don't make more noise about the problem because if they do, they can forget about future contracts. He used the recent situation at Obsidian, which lost out on its bonus for Fallout: New Vegas by a single Metacritic point, as an example of the imbalance of power.

"They did Fallout: New Vegas, the ship date got moved up and, who does the QA on a project? The publisher is always in charge of QA. When a project goes out buggy, it's not the developer. The developer never says, 'I refuse to fix the bug,' or, 'I don't know how.' They never do that. It's the publisher that does the QA," he said.

"So, [Fallout: New Vegas] goes out buggy and they didn't do the QA, their ship date got moved up and they missed their Metacritic rating by one point," he continued. "Did they get a bonus? No. Do you think that's fair?"

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by Henry Fool

Dragon Age 2 is a recent game that was forced out too soon by the publisher.

The relationships between developers and publishers are extremely difficult. In a recent interview, Brian Fargo talked about this.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news...sher-Relations

if the main Bioware guys behind ME1 and 2 quit, start their own development house and create a Kickstarter project for a game in the Mass Effect universe, i'd be all over that like a mullet on an oilers fan

[Blaster86]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

if the main Bioware guys behind ME1 and 2 quit, start their own development house and create a Kickstarter project for a game in the Mass Effect universe, i'd be all over that like a mullet on an oilers fan

You may get that chance. Bioware will be who falls on the sword when the time comes, not EA

[Henry Fool]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

if the main Bioware guys behind ME1 and 2 quit, start their own development house and create a Kickstarter project for a game in the Mass Effect universe, i'd be all over that like a mullet on an oilers fan

The lead writer of ME1, Drew Karpyshyn, has quit Bioware, but I think he plans to write books, if I remember correctly.

But of course none of the developers own any rights to the franchise. Mass Effect is owned by EA, period. No one else is going to touch that universe.

In general, I think publishers may be slowly forcing developers out with their conduct. Digital distribution is well developed now but I think publishers still possess a sense of false security with regard to financing. In the future developers may begin using traditional funding methods combined with crowd funding which will bypass the traditional publishers and still give enough money to do big titles. We can call it 'synthesis' and it will represented by green color.

There's a lot of solidarity between developers and they're probably thinking hard about new ways of doing things. Kickstarter hasn't revolutionised anything yet but at some point someone will come along and just blow up the old world.

[Mazrim]

Of course, at the same time Kickstarter can fall apart for developers if these first few game projects end up delivering mediocre products and people are afraid to put their money up in advance of the game's release.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Henry Fool

The lead writer of ME1, Drew Karpyshyn, has quit Bioware, but I think he plans to write books, if I remember correctly.

But of course none of the developers own any rights to the franchise. Mass Effect is owned by EA, period. No one else is going to touch that universe.

In general, I think publishers may be slowly forcing developers out with their conduct. Digital distribution is well developed now but I think publishers still possess a sense of false security with regard to financing. In the future developers may begin using traditional funding methods combined with crowd funding which will bypass the traditional publishers and still give enough money to do big titles. We can call it 'synthesis' and it will represented by green color.

There's a lot of solidarity between developers and they're probably thinking hard about new ways of doing things. Kickstarter hasn't revolutionised anything yet but at some point someone will come along and just blow up the old world.

He's an amazing writer, his books in the SW Universe have been widly acknowledged as the best written books in the EU, normally that wouldn't say alot, but if you read the Darth Bane seres, and his old republic books you'd agree.

they are exceptionally well written.

[cDnStealth]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

He's an amazing writer, his books in the SW Universe have been widly acknowledged as the best written books in the EU, normally that wouldn't say alot, but if you read the Darth Bane seres, and his old republic books you'd agree.

they are exceptionally well written.

He also wrote the first 3 Mass Effect books. He is indeed a great writer.

[Henry Fool]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

He's an amazing writer, his books in the SW Universe have been widly acknowledged as the best written books in the EU, normally that wouldn't say alot, but if you read the Darth Bane seres, and his old republic books you'd agree.

they are exceptionally well written.

I've read a lot of bad things about Revan though. I tried the first ME book but couldn't get very far. Not my kind of book-reading.

[ComixZone]

Originally Posted by Henry Fool

I've read a lot of bad things about Revan though. I tried the first ME book but couldn't get very far. Not my kind of book-reading.

the first ME book was Ascension was it not? I thought that Mass Effect 3 had a great payoff for fans who read that entry into the ME lore.

Spoiler!

Getting to actually visit Grissom Academy and have Anderson discuss it at one point was a cool tie-in. I mean it wasn't amazing, but it was definitely the best of the bunch as far as the "hey, here's a random Mass Effect 2 character getting put into the story for ME3"-missions go. It was cool to see Jack find a productive position in the universe.

[Henry Fool]

Originally Posted by ComixZone

the first ME book was Ascension was it not? I thought that Mass Effect 3 had a great payoff for fans who read that entry into the ME lore.

Spoiler!

Getting to actually visit Grissom Academy and have Anderson discuss it at one point was a cool tie-in. I mean it wasn't amazing, but it was definitely the best of the bunch as far as the "hey, here's a random Mass Effect 2 character getting put into the story for ME3"-missions go. It was cool to see Jack find a productive position in the universe.

Yeah, I did some backround reading/watching on the events and characters, many of which were referenced in ME3. I just thought the book's prose was pretty dull.

I've heard that the third book is the best one.

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by Henry Fool

Yeah, I did some backround reading/watching on the events and characters, many of which were referenced in ME3. I just thought the book's prose was pretty dull.

I've heard that the third book is the best one.

it is. the first Mass Effect book was written shortly after the first game came out, and as each book went along you could tell the author was more comfortable with the universe and characters. i found the first book a little hard to keep interested in but i stuck with it because i love the ME universe. the 2nd one was far better, and the 3rd book i found almost impossible to put down. i won't touch the 4th one since Drew didn't write it, but if he does end up writing more books in that universe then i'm sure they'll be fantastic

[cDnStealth]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

it is. the first Mass Effect book was written shortly after the first game came out, and as each book went along you could tell the author was more comfortable with the universe and characters. i found the first book a little hard to keep interested in but i stuck with it because i love the ME universe. the 2nd one was far better, and the 3rd book i found almost impossible to put down. i won't touch the 4th one since Drew didn't write it, but if he does end up writing more books in that universe then i'm sure they'll be fantastic

Incorrect. I picked up Mass Effect 1 on launch and I definitely read the first book before playing the game. Yep, book came out in May on 2007 and the game came out in November.

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by cDnStealth

Incorrect. I picked up Mass Effect 1 on launch and I definitely read the first book before playing the game. Yep, book came out in May on 2007 and the game came out in November.

well that explains it even more then, Drew was just getting started in the ME universe for the first book. comparing it to the 3rd book is like night and day

[Mazrim]

And, there we go. Bioware announces a free DLC coming this summer to clarify the ending. Good stuff.