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ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL: The Discussion Thread

post #1 of 37
Thread Starter 

Bring Down The Sky Review

A new article series on Mass Effect starts now, leading all the way up till ME3's launch. Gird your loins.

post #2 of 37

Great piece, Mr. Clark, and I look forward to more. I never played any dlc for the first ME, but remedied that with ME2.

post #3 of 37

Fuck that final, goddamn fusion torch. Think I reloaded more on that one single section than any time during my actual "Insanity" runthrough.

 

But yeah, otherwise agree 100% with this piece.

post #4 of 37

The latest in the series, covering Pinnacle Station!

 

I think it's interesting how the Batarians wanted to slam an asteroid into a human colony, then Shepard (spoilers) slams an asteroid into a mass relay, eradicating over three-hundred thousand Batarians. Sweet, sweet justice, lol.

post #5 of 37

Great pieces, guys. Bring Down the Sky was good fun, but I skipped Pinnacle Station due to bad reviews. Glad to hear I wasn't missing much. This kind of thing is exactly why I avoid these 'season pass' things; I kind of want to know DLC is worth playing before I pay for it.

post #6 of 37

     Quote:

Originally Posted by Robot T-1 View Post

The latest in the series, covering Pinnacle Station!

 

I think it's interesting how the Batarians wanted to slam an asteroid into a human colony, then Shepard (spoilers) slams an asteroid into a mass relay, eradicating over three-hundred thousand Batarians. Sweet, sweet justice, lol.


My alien-hugging goody-goody ParaShep at least threw 'em "heads-up!" fair warning before I did it -- ain't my fault they didn't believe me. When *I* genocide a third-of-a-million innocent people, I'm all about the token gestures.

I only hope Kelly managed to "CC:" Hackett a copy of the transmission as potential defense evidence for my ME3 war-crimes trial.

post #7 of 37

Lol, I've gone through both games 4 times, and twice I threw 'em a heads-up, twice I just called the Normandy. Something this game series does better than other is subtlety. Shepard's reaction to calling one over the other shows a lot, emotionally, for a video game. A weird note, I know, but a note nonetheless.

post #8 of 37

I've already posted in the ME3 thread about my newness to the whole phenomenon, and thought I'd give you pros a laugh.

 

Still lovin' my first ME1 experience, but c'mon, that Mako.

 

Fuck.

My.

Life.

 

Am I gonna be driving that POS the whole time?

post #9 of 37

Not only that, but at a pretty big moment you're gonna have to weave through a winding corridor with a short time limit as a ton of Geth try to blow you up.

post #10 of 37

The same ones who always manage to stand beneath the traverse of the turret?

post #11 of 37
post #12 of 37
Thread Starter 
post #13 of 37
Quote:
Originally Posted by Justin Clark View Post

http://www.chud.com/83283/assuming-direct-control-the-reinstated-trailer-and-why-the-world-needs-femshep/

 

Tell your friends she's comin' for 'em.


Knocked this one out of the freaking planet, Justin; even though I play ME games with the default male Shep model (I have issues with Bioware's hair graphics, i guess), I will give it a go with Fem Shep ona  second playtrough.

While I have my issues with Whedon, his quote is perfect when it comes to this stupid, senseless argument...plus, im glad im not alone in being dissapointed with Metroid: Other M's story and characterization.

post #14 of 37

A piece which pulls together all the threads pretty damn nicely, including most of the sexual politics that go along with this type of thing. I haven't gotten back to my short-haired-brunette, wife-clone-lookin' FemShep since my second ME1 runthrough, but think I might be busting it out again (er...so to speak) once I put ME3 to bed (again, so to speak).

 

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by ryoken View Post

While I have my issues with Whedon, his quote is perfect when it comes to this stupid, senseless argument...plus, im glad im not alone in being dissapointed with Metroid: Other M's story and characterization.

 

Speaking of Other M, it utterly surprises me that they didn't bring Jennifer Hale back for another go-'round as Samus. Like...WTF? I always saw Samus as a strong-willed, badass heroine. But in a attempt to make this game appeal more to the creepy-stunted-manchild Japanese gamer-audience, they turned her into a whiny, submissive little girl constantly seeking Adam's approval.


Edited by Leto II - 2/13/12 at 5:36pm
post #15 of 37

The latest in the series! My coverage of the multiplayer demo!

post #16 of 37
Thread Starter 
post #17 of 37

Nice one, Justin. I'm not holding out much hope for the graybox paying off in a big way either but you never know - there was some kind of Reaper schematic buried in those files after all...

 

One thing I never understood was the general reaction to Hock's accent, it just sounded like a bog standard South African one to me but I seem to be in the minority as a lot of players a) couldn't tell what it was supposed to be; and b) had a hard time understanding it.

 

Speaking of accents, the ME3 DLC character also features an African accent, although theirs is West African, which is enough to already get cloth-eared types thinking the character is Jamaican.

post #18 of 37
post #19 of 37
Thread Starter 
post #20 of 37
Thread Starter 
post #21 of 37
Thread Starter 

Bonus Shadow Broker Article

 

With Special Guest Star Lauren Fucking Ortega!

post #22 of 37

Lauren, I'm a straight guy, but I adore your asterisks.

 

Great article.

post #23 of 37

Whoops, wish I had seen this was a series you were doing Justin instead of just seeing the random Firewalker review on the main page...

 

Great reviews so far though! 12 more days!

post #24 of 37

Lauren Fucking Ortega wrote an article?! And I'm only NOW learning this?! This is what I get for not paying attention to video game columns.

post #25 of 37

Fantastic review, Lauren!  I don't play videogames anymore sadly but your piece made me appreciate this game.  Bravo!

post #26 of 37

Welp, just discovered this series and now I know what my lunch is going to be spent reading. I did skip ahead to read Shadow Broker and Lauren's piece right away, because, well, of course.

 

To this generic straight guy, Lauren, that was genuinely affecting. Great job, and here's hoping for more of you on the front page, writing about whatever the hell. Brava!

post #27 of 37

Hopefully I can get some loving, too, right guys? ;) The latest in the series (and my personal favorite piece of ME 2 DLC), OVERLORD.

post #28 of 37
Quote:
Originally Posted by Robot T-1 View Post

Hopefully I can get some loving, too, right guys? ;) The latest in the series (and my personal favorite piece of ME 2 DLC), OVERLORD.



You sure can - sir: Very nice piece. I loved Overlord, even though I'd gone into it skeptical off the back of Shadow broker, and doubting they could keep up the quality. It's a great little piece of self-contained storytelling.

 

And great work, Lauren. That was a damned good read, and a nice reminder of how effective that sequence is. I'm loving this series as a whole, actually. I think with the ME2 DLC, Bioware have been streets ahead of almost every other dev out there in providing material that shows how you can expand on a main game experience. Here's hoping they keep it up for #3. 

post #29 of 37

Just don't try "Overlord" on Insanity difficulty, whatever you do.

 

That final battle. Dear God.

post #30 of 37
Quote:
Originally Posted by Workyticket View Post



You sure can - sir: Very nice piece. I loved Overlord, even though I'd gone into it skeptical off the back of Shadow broker, and doubting they could keep up the quality. It's a great little piece of self-contained storytelling.

 

And great work, Lauren. That was a damned good read, and a nice reminder of how effective that sequence is. I'm loving this series as a whole, actually. I think with the ME2 DLC, Bioware have been streets ahead of almost every other dev out there in providing material that shows how you can expand on a main game experience. Here's hoping they keep it up for #3. 



 

Thanks, Worky! All 4 times I've run through ME2, I'm still floored by the quality of storytelling in the DLC and in even the minor missions. The character development is so powerful, and with Shadow Broker, they really couple high-octane action with some beautiful emotional moments. Seeing how Liara reacts to riding into battle with Shepard one more time floors me every time.

post #31 of 37


Ugh, double posts.

post #32 of 37

Just realized I've never played the Firewalker Pack or Overlord.  Yay, something to do this week!

post #33 of 37
Quote:
Originally Posted by The Dark Shape View Post

Just realized I've never played the Firewalker Pack or Overlord.  Yay, something to do this week!



Make sure you let us know what you think!

post #34 of 37
Thread Starter 
post #35 of 37

I'm a huge ME2 fan, but ultimately Arrival was pretty lackluster for me. The mechanics of the game just don't lend themselves to solo missions, particularly ones where you get those hard charging bastards with the flamethrowers. I don't think I ever died as much in any ME2 mission as I did in this DLC. The moral choice is perfunctory and lacking in resonance, but as this DLC was specifically intended to advance the canon story, I suppose that had to be expected. I don't regret buying it, but I'd take Stolen Memories, Overlord or Shadow Broker over this any day.

 

On the positive side, the ending conversation was pretty awesome, and I liked how it changed between Harbinger and the Collector leader depending on whether or not you had finished the game. I tackled it at both points in the story across my ME2 playthroughs and I liked that touch.

post #36 of 37
Thread Starter 
post #37 of 37

Excellent articles. I definitely agree that saving the universe in ME3 should come at a cost; as much as I hated losing Garrus in my main playthrough of ME2, I decided to stick with it because it would raise the stakes for me in this one, personally speaking. I like the idea of my Paragon Shepard going into Part 3 decidedly pissed off about losing his Turian buddy.

 

Some nice suggestions for future directions for the franchise as well. I'd definitely play that Kasumi game. An FPS could work, but after BF3's single-player I'm not so sure about DICE doing it. I think it'd need a more idiosyncratic take on the FPS genre, and not another COD knock off like BF3's single-player campaign was.

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