This is one of those stories or games where it is kind of hard to spoil it. You go on a journey. If you don't believe that can be a spoiler or profound and can't/don't want to play it then there is nothing more to say.
Which reminds me that a friend pointed out a fun little tidbit: If this was a popular Japanese game with this ending, people would be quick to ridicule saying that it is another game that ended in nonsense but since its a Western game its serious business. I don't think he is really correct but there are some elements of truth: A highly stylized, highly narrative driven game with an ending that is based upon a lot of pseudo-philosophy instead of closure. We've seen this happen a bunch before.
Now is a great time for animation where there have been tech advances to make creating shows cheaper and more reliably. Creators are more free to focus on the show instead of production and artists aren't slaving away. This allows stuff ranging from Archer to My Little Pony Friendship is Magic to all be good.
I just have a hard time seeing the team that wrote out the Geth Story would "approve" the ending. That team might not have had the power to make much of a difference but sure it would have been discussed at that level or higher that "Hey...two of our endings don't make sense with the big finale. Isn't that a problem?"
The way the Mass Effect universe is setup could have lent itself to a better upgrade system than "buy random chances at stuff". Weapons and gear should have been built by buying plans and gathering materials out on missions. Exp progression builds character levels but once "promoted" it should have offered perks like "Unlock X race, Y class?"
If Bioware wanted a game based upon random loot then the game needs to offer way more random loot instead of a box every 3-4 missions. If Bioware wanted to offer a online game with meaningful progression then exp should be used to buy more than character skills. And lets not get started with how out of whack some of the classes and skills can be.
As is, it is hard to shake the complaint that this is just a foil against used games instead of a serious attempt a meaningful feature. It is fun for a little bit but without reconfigurability or a meaningful upgrade system I am not going to be surprised no one is playing this in April.
For classic and games without translation, I readily use walkthroughs. For modern games though I chose to not look at them and consider it a design flaw if you need one to beat a game. Everything from the rule sets to world lay out should be properly designed to be solved by the player with just the feedback from the game. If it is not then there is something off about the game.
I've always felt that this multiplayer was an interesting idea but this should have been a separate game. Imagine how interesting this could have been with expanded scenarios controls and a deeper upgrade system. The enemies and weapons are fine but there isn't enough stuff to do with just this to make it worth playing months from now even if they give us more maps.
I don't think reviewers are wrong (any more wrong than anyone else like friends and family) but by they have a unique perspective that colors reviews they create. When assigned a game, they are playing a game "for work" which is under a time constraint but for free. They have peers to edit and review the text but in cases like this they may not have anyone to actually say "Hey what did you think about the ending?" Weeks later, getting some distance and being able to talk about it with others I wouldn't be surprised if a reviewer would alter their score a little where more time and outside opinions help to reflect on what they really feel about a game.
Is there a bit of overraction? I mean it isn't that "JRPGs are dying" but that "All RPGs are dying" where it would be like seeing Two Worlds and saying "Western RPGs are in trouble".
i don't have the numbers in front of me but I bet on the whole Japan still does more RPGs than the west. It is they are not on highly visible, very expensive platforms any more. The whole genre has migrated off to portables where the small scope and budget seem to fit the style better.
Log in to comment