cabelhigh

I really think it's going to be another South Park game.

1. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World

2. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

3. Inglorious Basterds

Man, King of Limbs is no way worse than Lulu. That's inconceivable!

Ok, now that we're done with that horrible pun, I just thought I needed to write this blog out about the beta backlash that's been going on this past weekend. It's been a bit of a rollercoaster ride over here, as an ME diehard: the weekend started with people getting their hands on the game, and realizing that, hey, it was pretty awesome (just as I thought a few months ago), then, as a old script got leaked took a fast nose dive as it became apparent that many of the things Bioware had promised were simple ignored. Though I have not read the script (and have absolutely no intention to), reports are that it is linear, childish, and offers little choice, with one Bioware forum poster comparing it to DA2, which is enough just to send me into a tizzy. Seriously, you say the words Dragon Age 2 in the same sentence with Mass Effect 3 and I get crazy anxious, because, like so many of you, I want this series to end on an awesome note.

This anxiety is not a new thing. It started at the end of ME2, with that last cutscene where the Reapers are approaching and BAMB; it ends. Actually, scratch that: it started just before that, when Shepard's walking down the ship towards the big windows and you can see who's survived and who hasn't. By making it able for any character to die at any time during that suicide mission, it made it basically impossible for Bioware to fully integrate those characters into the next game unless they did a full reset. Think about it; what if you created specific arcs, descisions, and romances that many a player would never see? No developer would want to do that, as awesome as that sounds to the end user. I want ME3 to be good, I want ME3 to have real consiquencial choice, but that's just an unrealistic goal, which the series hasn't really proven to be possible.

But then I begin to think about the linearity of this leaked draft, and how decisions made in previous games are simply retconned or glossed over, something Bioware has promised repeatedly not to do. Game hype is like a presidential campain: awesomness is promised, little of it is fulfilled (normally). And I've bought into the Bioware's earnest...ness on how their going to close out the series, with choice and such. When the hype curtain is pulled back, it makes me scared - ESPECIALLY since for the last few months I've been vehemently defending the game on the internets, saying that Bioware is going to pull it off after all. Now, with this leak, it seems they might not, that they'll succumb to the DA2 route, that they'll...Oh, I'm probably taking this too dramatically, but I just don't want to see a game I've really believed turn out to be a POS.

/anxiety

@Dookysharpgun: Alright, you have reason to worry. Apparently, there was a leaked version of the beta, and for story you can pick "action mode," with AUTOMATICALLY chooses conversations for you. Seriously, that's kind of gross. Who plays Mass Effect like that?

@probablytuna: I just mean that the second I saw Shepard manning that turret to fight the giant reaper in the E3 demo, I was like 'this feels wrong.' I felt like that was a very videogame-y move that didn't jive with the Commander Shepard character, who up until now has been portrayed pretty believably. I know that on-rails sections in videogames these days is pretty much a given, but still I felt like that was not something Commander Shepard would have done.

@Dookysharpgun: Ok, I see what you're saying. Hell, I felt the exact same way when they first started rolling (HA) out screenshots and videos, ESPECIALLY after Dragon Age 2. But after playing the game I have more hope, just because these improvements ARE fun. And I also think they're showing all this combat stuff because that's what demos well; you can really just have a demo of the dialog trees, or the hungry masses would get bored, or something. But yea, I do feel they've sacrificed the fiction at times in exchange for gameplay purposes (seeing Shepard in the turret section they showed off at E3 made me go 'What?') but that's sadly just the nature of games I think.

@Dookysharpgun: I feel like you're kind of using rolling as the bringer of Doom. I played the game and these improvements do make the game more fun to play, which is always a plus. I'm sure there's going to still be lots of opportunities to talk, and in response to being able to roll with the suit on it's the future. The same laws of physics don't entirely apply I think.

Amnesia, from start to finish, or the water puzzle in its expansion. My God, that game is fucking terrifying.

you know, that sounds alright. Color me excited.