Tuchanka almost makes up for the first half of the game. Almost.

 

As does Rannoch. I still haven't decided which one I like better - Tuchanka is always good, but under the right circumstances, Rannoch can be even more interesting.

 

Yeah, if all of ME 3 had been like Tuchanka and Rannoch, it would've been the most epic game ever. I think that's part of what makes people so unhappy about how it turned out; it does just enough right that it makes the things that it gets wrong all the more glaring.

 

Darn, was pretty disappointed about the lack of a dlc on the 29th. Its definitely looking like indoctrination theory is wrong now and we were just picking up on the foreshadowing to the indoctrination gameplay that they could never get to work(this was mentioned in some making of ME3 thing). I'm still headcanoning it that my Shepard fought off indoctrination, stands up, Harbinger blasts him, and the reapers win since it makes more sense to me than what supposedly actually happened. I disagree that indoctrination theory was all about wishing plotholes away, there's also weird crap like the boy running through a locked door on Earth. I blame bioware being lazy and not taking that type of stuff out once they decided to scrap the indoctrination part.

@Midnight tbf you get rep instead of war assets for taking someone's side in most arguments which makes slightly more sense.

Tuchanka was definitely my favorite part of the game, mostly because of how much I like Wrex and Moridin.

Spoiler

Rannoch peace requirements:
Tali and Legion must be loyal and alive at the end of ME2
4 bars of rep
minimum of 5 out of 7 points for the following:
2 points for destroying Heretic Geth in ME2
2 points for preventing Tali being exiled in ME2
1 point for resolving argument between Tali and Legion via paragon/renegade in ME2
1 point for saving admiral in ME3
1 point for destroying Geth fighters

Theoretically Tali could be exiled and you still achieve peace, I'm not entirely sure how the dialogue would change if at all.

Wasn't so much directed at you coleam as an earlier post commenting about the Tali req but good point about the lack of tags. My main Shepard can't make peace regardless as i failed requirement one. Ironically it made my final decision much easier.

For Liara romancers, the its been years comment even if you reconnected in LotSB is actually a glitch. There's an alternate scene where she says its been over half a year, apparently some value isn't being set correctly and it can be fixed with gibbed for pc users. That's basically the only difference though.

 

^^should probably be in spoiler tags.

Spoiler

Based on dialog (and, I think, some peoples' experiences), Tali has to be an admiral. If she isn't, you still get the two chances to stop the download, with the paragon/renegade options if your rep is high enough, but when you call the fleet off the second time, Tali doesn't have the authority to back you up and the Quarians all die. I've seen at least one person say that they did everything right, except for Tali being exiled, and the above happened. I can't remember if he listed all of the choices you mentioned though. My second playthrough had all 7 I think.

Regardless, that's not really what I meant when I said that Rannoch could be interesting under the right circumstances. Actually, the "perfect solution" is the less interesting alternative since you aren't forced to choose, though the implications are pretty neat (and made completely worthless by the fact that the "best ending" requires you to kill off all synthetics - ffs, ME3 endings :facepalm). Being in a relationship with Tali also adds some complexity and extra dialog (which is pretty entertaining).

 

Was watching this again for the chuckles and catchy music, when I really noticed just how incredibly stupid the entire fight sequence is. Why are Shepard and his/her two other companions just spending the entire minute-long fight standing in the background with stupid expressions on their faces while Kai Leng and Thane fight? There were several very easy opportunities to just shoot him. Hell, you can even see Shepard going into her idle animation in the background of the fight.

Then again, it's pretty obvious that part of Leng's ridiculous cutscene powers is the ability to turn Shepard and his/her companions into complete and utter dumbasses.

 

So this is happening.

Unfortunately it's definitely not changing the ending at all. It does address part of the complaints though (the complete lack of information on what the fuck happens to everyone after you make your randomly assigned choice), or at least they're saying it does.

 

Some old. Some old. Seems that their egos are too big to even think that there is a (big) chance that the ending is really that bad. I mean, how many people need to say it before the creators at least consider this possibility?

The artistic choice, heh.

 

So, yeah, this is what we all feared, but expected. I'm surprised it's free, to be honest, but I suppose even the most devoted Biodrones would raise hell if they had to pay for it.

 

"Same old. Same old."

I never even seen someone make that mistake before.

On topic though; though I dislike the ending I haven't found myself actively angry at Bioware or even "disappointed" really. The ending just kind of baffles me, because they've kept saying how the wanted to explore the ME universe more after Shepard's story is done and I just don't see how that's possible with the ending as they currently are. Except in Prequels.

The ending was just such a limiting decision that I really can't comprehend what made them choose it, If it had been me in the writing room and I just didn't want to come up with something that didn't require a lot of work I probably just would have copy and pasted ME1's ending and called it a day.

It had to be free. The amount of coverage given to the issue not just by the "Gaming Media" but by the mainstream media as well created a situation in which actually charging for it would have been a disastrous PR nightmare.

 

Well, I think the ending is bad and disappointing, but that happens sometimes. What I really dislike is Bioware attitude and how they treat fans. Or at least how it seems to me, because I may be biased.

What I'd like to hear is them explaining why they think this ending is so great in their minds, since many people clearly don't get it. Who knows maybe they are right. But I doubt it will happen, because of, you know - the artistic choice.

 

I don't even give two fucks anymore. They're soured the story for me. I was pissing my pants in excitement for ME3 and they fuck me over with that shit. First TOR with Revan and The Exile's ending, now the ME universe? Bioware, get your shit together.

 

You can only act surprised when you expected better from them.

 

Seems like Bioware missed the last Chance to improve the end... A few Cutscenes and a bit of dialog will not fix the end... But maybe, with a lot of luck, it will explain what Bioware wanted to do with the ending.

Somebody should tell those people that they work for us consumers and that we have every right to voice critic if the product is not what we were told.

 

Yeah, Bioware's entire reaction to this has made it pretty clear that the people at the top of the pile are just completely incapable of admitting that they screwed up the ending. Being incapable of admitting error seems to be a fairly common corporate disease.

Even their press releases sound less like "We get that people don't like the ending, and we're going to fix it" and more like "You dumbasses don't get our wonderful artistic vision! Fine! We'll explain our artistic brilliance again, with small words for your feeble idiot brains."

 

You do have the right to criticise, but they still have the right to not listen.

 

Spoiler

I'm not sure if Tali being an Admiral is a requirement or not. However, saving Admiral Koris in the assignment preceding Priority: Rannoch is an immediate pass/fail check, from what I've seen. I'm also not exactly sure about the point system as well, since it's also been reported that Rannoch: Fighter Squadron may also be pass/fail as well, since people have gotten 6 of the 7 points and still did not get the choice, despite having everything else.

Not exactly true. I think there are more arguments that give war assets than don't. Dock Officer/Refugee, Reluctant Civilian/Gung-ho Civilian, Worried Merchant/Angry Merchant, Patient C-Sec Officer/Angry C-Sec Officer, C-Sec Officer/Apollo Cafe Manager off the top of my head.

 

Bioware's actions seem to lend some credence to the whole Mass Shift sequel series rumor. I really hope that is not the case. After establishing that the Geth were pretty much the victim of the Quarians the whole time, I don't see the logic behind the anti-synthetic life theme of the endgame and this possible sequel.

 

They may have the right, but it's stupid thing to do in a game making business. Or any business. I mean, with DA2 I stopped buying their games on the first day. Now I was waiting with getting ME3 till the whole situation with ending cleaned a little. How long till I will stop buying them at all? I'm just one person, but it seems that there are others that are also displeased with Bioware recently. You start to ignore a big population of the customers and they might start to ignore you.

That said, I hope it will not happen. Bioware is still great developer making great games, even if they have some faults. They just need to remind themselves that the best ones are done not for money or the artistic choice, but for gamers.

 

Have to say, Bioware's plummet from grace with a big chunk of their fanbase happened at a pretty stunning rate. It's hard to believe that just two years ago Bioware was just about universally loved by fans who believed the company was pretty much incapable of putting out a bad RPG. Now Bioware has to run their forums with infamously restrictive rules and draconian punishments just to keep people from constantly lashing out at them.