Mass Effect

[Fixer]

Instead of just automatically having your two companions die on the final mission, it would be better if they took a page from ME1 and ME2 and assigned your companions to various side objectives in support of your final mission (instead of doing... whatever the heck they were doing in ME3). A certain number of deaths would be inevitable (you don't assault an eldritch abomination without casualties), but the manner of deaths & consequences would be tied to your decisions in-game.

Instead of just depending on the number of 'War Resources', they should be tied to the actual type of war resources available. Sending Krogan to jam a Reaper signal, or having Salarian STG to bottleneck a wave of heavies, are not wise uses of resources. The Rachni was a lost opportunity - there should have been a mechanic where the Rachni only appear if a Paragon Shepherd in ME1 saved the Queen, while killing her worked to deprive the Reapers of another resource.

Likewise, having Shepherd live or die, plus the ending slides, should be tied to those same decisions. If you want the best ending galaxy-wide, you have to be willing to send Garrus or Tali or Liara on an actual suicide mission to save the galaxy. If you prioritize protecting your friends ahead of the mission, there should be consequences there, too. Heck, make that an endgame conversation with your love interest - you have the option of assigning them to an extremely dangerous task which they are well suited for. You can coddle them, or put your trust in their skills and send them into danger. Make their survival dependent on which support resources you obtained in-game (sometimes depending on your decisions in the previous games), and make some of them mutually exclusive. You can still save them at the end, only at a cost to someone else.

That's how many of us were expecting the ending to go. A Suicide mission redux, but with the combined military forces of the galaxy instead of just your companions. Entire fleets and armies being wiped out or sacrificed to achieve victory.

Your choices would determine what forces you would have and how you could fight the final battle.

As it was, every thing you gained went into the big pile of war assets regardless of what it was. Add in multiplayer, it was possible to have your Shepard intentionally sabotage the war effort at every stage and still get the "best ending" by promoting N7 operatives.

[CharlesPhipps]

I did a "Genocidal Dick Shepard" runthrough where he wiped out the Geth, Quarians, Hanarr, and Drell. Still got the best ending.

[Fixer]

That post credits conversation Buzz Aldrin had with his grandson must have been great.

"So tell me more Stories of the Shepard."
"Well, after betraying the Quarians, allowing them to be wiped out by the machines they created, he then wiped out all the machines as well."
"but did he bang the hot alien chick?"
"You're damn right he did."

[TGLS]

hang the hot alien chick

0_0

[Fixer]

Sorry, phone autocorrect. Will fix

[MissKittyFantastico]

I was totally ready for Earth to be taken out during ME3 - not just buildings knocked down and non-specific death toll, I mean humanity has no homeworld after the Reaper War. I felt like that would've been a nice counterweight to us just blundering onto the scene out of nowhere as, basically, apes who only just figured out how to use a hammer, and becoming one of the four most powerful governments in the galaxy in the space of a generation - one war later we're the next quarians, scattered all over and having to just hope the aliens take pity on us. I mean there was some of that, with Earth being hit first (apart from Khar'shan, but screw the batarians) and Udina stressed out of his mind (being generous) trying to keep what's left of the Alliance afloat, but I didn't feel like it really went anywhere - the Citadel got dragged to Earth (WTF) so that's where the final battle happened, and the posters all have 'Save Earth!' on them regardless of whether anyone thought humanity was worth saving or not. It would have been a satisfying arc, I think.

At least, that's the expectation I kind of put in place in my head beforehand, so I wouldn't feel too bad if ME3 ended up with the choice of saving Earth or saving Liara, because sorry Earth, little blue babies...

[CharlesPhipps]

I was totally ready for Earth to be taken out during ME3 - not just buildings knocked down and non-specific death toll, I mean humanity has no homeworld after the Reaper War. I felt like that would've been a nice counterweight to us just blundering onto the scene out of nowhere as, basically, apes who only just figured out how to use a hammer, and becoming one of the four most powerful governments in the galaxy in the space of a generation - one war later we're the next quarians, scattered all over and having to just hope the aliens take pity on us. I mean there was some of that, with Earth being hit first (apart from Khar'shan, but screw the batarians) and Udina stressed out of his mind (being generous) trying to keep what's left of the Alliance afloat, but I didn't feel like it really went anywhere - the Citadel got dragged to Earth (WTF) so that's where the final battle happened, and the posters all have 'Save Earth!' on them regardless of whether anyone thought humanity was worth saving or not. It would have been a satisfying arc, I think.

At least, that's the expectation I kind of put in place in my head beforehand, so I wouldn't feel too bad if ME3 ended up with the choice of saving Earth or saving Liara, because sorry Earth, little blue babies...

Mind you, that's how the Asari and Turians see us when it's actually just them being colonialist and extremely racist. Basically, "You can't possibly understand space travel or our technology even though you got it from the same place we stole it from." Mankind isn't the English in this but the Africans.

[MissKittyFantastico]

Mind you, that's how the Asari and Turians see us when it's actually just them being colonialist and extremely racist. Basically, "You can't possibly understand space travel or our technology even though you got it from the same place we stole it from." Mankind isn't the English in this but the Africans.

I kind of feel like they should have a point - okay the inner workings of the Citadel (specifically the big countdown clock with 'time until doomsday' written on it) are deliberately tucked away where nobody can study them, but the Reapers haven't DRM'd science in general; it bothers me that humanity seems to have got anywhere near par with the Council races despite their centuries/millennia head start. And then (Paragon path) we get a Council seat - one sympathises with the volus - and then the Reapers of all people decide we're even more extra-super-special, and merit being the one species to be Reaperised this cycle.

It's almost enough to make me sympathise with the batarians, except I really don't feel anything can make me sympathise with the batarians (they're fictional, so I don't feel bad about just Not Liking Them, darnit).

[CharlesPhipps]

I kind of feel like they should have a point - okay the inner workings of the Citadel (specifically the big countdown clock with 'time until doomsday' written on it) are deliberately tucked away where nobody can study them, but the Reapers haven't DRM'd science in general; it bothers me that humanity seems to have got anywhere near par with the Council races despite their centuries/millennia head start. And then (Paragon path) we get a Council seat - one sympathises with the volus - and then the Reapers of all people decide we're even more extra-super-special, and merit being the one species to be Reaperised this cycle.

Given the Turians are based on the Romans and deliberately keep the Volus as a client state while the Asari have libertarian capitalist paradises based around keeping people in debt slavery (literal debt slavery no less) plus the fact the Salarians have engaged in ethnic cleansing--its' a good setting for remembering that it's very much a cynical take on Star Trek's Federation in reverse. Either that or a cynical take on the United Nations in particular where it's almost a system designed purely to help the Security Council nations keep everyone else in line despite an idealistic beginning.

People accuse Ashley of being racist but she actually has a point that the Citadel Council races are self-interested in the Trump sense of "Palaven first." This isn't a sign of them being less trustworthy or "alien" versus humans but a sign that, in fact, they are EXACTLY like humans with all the nativism and corruption that implies.

So do humans play the GameTM or do they not?

I think some sci-fi fans are inclined to give the Council races the benefit of the doubt but that's forgetting how they treated the Krogan.

It's almost enough to make me sympathise with the batarians, except I really don't feel anything can make me sympathise with the batarians (they're fictional, so I don't feel bad about just Not Liking Them, darnit).

The Batarians, notably, are why humanity got their seat at the table because Humanity was willing to be cannon fodder against them. Good deal for us, not so much them.

I think the implications of the first game is that the Reapers were actually behind the majority of "Prothean" beacons and libraries with the intent of controlling human technology. Out of universe, it's just an excuse to explain why everyone's technology works the same but in-universe, it's designed to make sure everyone is on a rough technological parity.

Mind you, that's unnecessary as unlike in Star Trek, you can have it go like this.

Asari: We have technology 1000 years ahead of yours.

Human: *studies at Asari university*

*Earth advances 1000 years in a generation*

We're also supposed to believe the Protheans were MORE advanced than the Citadel Council races are today. They haven't been able to imrpove on any of it and that's why beacons are so important.

[MissKittyFantastico]

Yeah, that's why I said 'should' - I never lost my ardour for the rest of the galaxy ('cept, you guessed it, the batties) but by the end of ME3 I was thoroughly sick of humanity. (I admit, I made it worse by years of roleplaying as an asari without a mean bone in her body - the dissatisfaction with humans getting the red carpet rolled out for them canon-wise kind of built up with no opportunity to vent.)