This post will contain spoilers for the ending of the Mass Effect trilogy, and the underground caverns section of Dust, including the second boss of the game. Don't read anymore unless you've played both of them, or you simply don't care about spoilers.

Okay, so shortly after you defeat the first boss in Dust, you end up visiting an underground cavern community where you meet a bunch of people who are quite alarmed that the source of their water has dried up. One of them is already quite ill, and without the water, there's a good chance that he will die. You agree to see what's going on with the water, and eventually meet a deity who is responsible for the flow of water in the underground village.

Once you meet her, she explains that she turned off the water because of an evil general who was using the water to support his campaign to kill the underground cavern citizens. She's decided that she didn't want the underground community to be killed by the general and his army, so she blocked the flow of water to everyone, in the hopes that the general and his men would die of thirst. The deity explains that she would rather people in the underground community die, if it means that the general won't be able to kill people in the underground community.

To put that in internet meme speak: "Yo dawg, I heard you don't want to be slaughtered by a genocidal army, so I arranged for your community and the genocidal army to both die of thirst, so you won't be killed by a genocidal army."

Anyhow, Dust then argues with her that it's a stupid plan, and it doesn't make any sense. Then they fight, Dust wins, she comes to her senses, and she agrees that she was crazy to think that way in the first place.

So, did anyone else go through this section of the game and get reminded of ME3?

Intentional or unintentional, shit's hilarious.

I don't think that relation was intentional. I'm paraphrasing here, but Ahrah said something like "Justice, when not tempered with mercy, is little more than revenge." to the "Lady" after Dust defeated her. I don't think the Reapers are getting revenge in ME3; they're just doing what they are programmed to do, which is keep a cycle going to prevent ultimate destruction (in their eyes). I think that is what differentiates the issue from Mass Effect 3.

I love that people are still mad that they disagreed with the villain of Mass Effect. You ever hear that about any other antagonist, ever? "I was like 'Dracula stop eatin people' and he was like 'no!' can you believe that?"

The villain picked a horrifying solution to a complex problem. That's why you can press the button that blows him up. It has consequences, and if you aren't ready to do that, then that's you blinking.

Did not get the mass effect feel, but for some reason the game kept reminding me of donkey kong country with some of its small details. In a good way.

Like small bits of music, or underground bits with lamps hanging everywhere.

@MURDERSMASH said:

I don't think that relation was intentional. I'm paraphrasing here, but Ahrah said something like "Justice, when not tempered with mercy, is little more than revenge." to the "Lady" after Dust defeated her. I don't think the Reapers are getting revenge in ME3; they're just doing what they are programmed to do, which is keep a cycle going to prevent ultimate destruction (in their eyes). I think that is what differentiates the issue from Mass Effect 3.

Oh, I don't think it was intentional either. I just found it kind of funny.

DUST: AET = TRUE ME3 ENDING? CONFIRMED!

Now nobody is allowed to complain about ME3 anymore.

@Brodehouse said:

I love that people are still mad that they disagreed with the villain of Mass Effect. You ever hear that about any other antagonist, ever? "I was like 'Dracula stop eatin people' and he was like 'no!' can you believe that?"

Hey, remember that one vampire movie where at the end the hero met Dracula, and then was given an ultimatum?

Dracula said, "Well that wooden stake in your hand isn't really going to change anything, but since you made it though my army of monsters, I'm going to go ahead and make you an offer. You can either become the head vampire yourself, and my vampire army will follow your every command, or you could mix human DNA with vampire DNA and make us all the same, or you can kill me and all other vampires, but then all the ware-wolves will die as well, including the ones that you're now good friends with.

I know none of that makes even a shred of sense--and that I should probably just kill you where you stand, and go about continuing my genocide and all--but I just can't say no to arbitrary bullshit."

WORST. ENDING. EVER.

*ahem* But yeah, Dust: AET is pretty damn awesome.

@SpaceInsomniac: No, the option you want is the "kill all vampires" option. You just aren't ready to make the sacrifices necessary to do it. Yeah, it kills all the werewolves. Because that's how it works. I'm sorry it doesn't turn all the Reapers into ice cream cones. I'm sorry that saving the galaxy comes at a price, and that you aren't ready to pay it. Maybe you didn't play this game to make tough choices.

That entire series infantilized the player by always giving them a fix-everything option where nothing bad happens. And no wonder, people expected that they'd be able to destroy all the Reapers at no cost to anyone.

@Brodehouse said:

@SpaceInsomniac: No, the option you want is the "kill all vampires" option. You just aren't ready to make the sacrifices necessary to do it.

The fuck I wasn't. In my first playthough, before I knew ANYTHING about anyone else's opinion of the ending, I shot reaper kid. When that didn't work, I instantly went with destruction.

@Brodehouse said:

I'm sorry it doesn't turn all the Reapers into ice cream cones. I'm sorry that saving the galaxy comes at a price, and that you aren't ready to pay it.

Forget a happy ending, I wanted a REAL ending. Real villains don't offer the good guys several choices that lead to the good guys winning at the cost of a great sacrifice,and lead to the villains essentially killing themselves. Both the vampire and Lord of the Rings examples make no damn sense, and neither did ME3. I didn't care who lived or died, I just wanted the plot to make sense.

Someone here once said that a better ending would have been the destruction of all lifeforms in the galaxy, obviously other than the ones who were harvested. They thought it would have been an amazingly powerful conclusion to find out that there was nothing that could have been done. In the end, Shepard simply goes down fighting alongside his/her friends and loved ones, and on his/her own terms. I agreed even that would have been a much better ending.

You, Penny Arcade, and anyone else who thinks this is about a "happy" ending have all missed the point.

But really, if you want to continue talking about this, please bump one of the other 100 ME3 ending threads. This really was just meant to talk about the link between Dust and ME3.

Again, did anyone else notice the connection?

I can't think about the Mass Effect link for the sheer stupidity of that Dust: An Elysian Tail plot point. What sort of drug do you have to be on to think that makes any sort of fucking sense at all? What train of logic was that guy on!?

I came into this topic expecting the comparison to be "they're both made by furry fanfiction writers/artists".

I'm subtly disappointed.

@Terramagi said:

I came into this topic expecting the comparison to be "they're both made by furry fanfiction writers/artists".

I'm subtly disappointed.

What furry fans made ME3?

@SpaceInsomniac: I don't remember Lady Tethys saying anything about stopping the general to save the people in the caverns. She cut off the flow of water to stop the general from killing the Moonbloods, she wasn't concerned about anything else. Unless you took it as the cavern people were Moonbloods, which I did not.

The deity explains that she would rather people in the underground community die, if it means that the general won't be able to kill people in the underground community.

@believer258 said:

I can't think about the Mass Effect link for the sheer stupidity of that Dust: An Elysian Tail plot point. What sort of drug do you have to be on to think that makes any sort of fucking sense at all? What train of logic was that guy on!?

I guess you've never heard of Russia vs Napoleon.

@SeriouslyNow said:

@believer258 said:

I can't think about the Mass Effect link for the sheer stupidity of that Dust: An Elysian Tail plot point. What sort of drug do you have to be on to think that makes any sort of fucking sense at all? What train of logic was that guy on!?

I guess you've never heard of Russia vs Napoleon.

I'm talking about the water plot point, where the deity cuts off the water supply to both the general and the underground people so that the general and his men will die of thirst - but the underground people would also die of thirst. And then changes her mind after getting her ass kicked? I don't see how cutting off the water supply really helps the underground people. Apparently, though:

@vhold said:

@SpaceInsomniac said:

The deity explains that she would rather people in the underground community die, if it means that the general won't be able to kill people in the underground community.

The reason she gives is that the water is being used by the army on the surface by the army to wage a war. The main reason she changes her mind is because after you kick her ass, she realizes her plan didn't work, and was only harming innocents. But while she was crazy she really didn't care about the underground dwellers, she is quite clear that they are insignificant.

the OP either misunderstood the story or really didn't communicate the plot points he was trying to very well. Still doesn't sound like a well-thought out idea, but I guess this makes it clearer.

On the subject of Russia and Napoleon, I know that Napoleon tried (and failed) to invade Russia but not much more about it than that.

@Terramagi said:

I came into this topic expecting the comparison to be "they're both made by furry fanfiction writers/artists".

I'm subtly disappointed.

So... what makes you think that Mass Effect 3's writers were furries? As far as I remember, most of your teammates don't look very furry at all.