Monk For Life!

Fair comments, I don't particuarly notice it but  I do remember I picked chaos magic and swords because they just felt cool; at a visceral level I didn't like some of the other weapons. I do remember liking the rifles alot though so I'm not sure what to say about that. I feel though that Funcom has a game thjat is fundementally harder than most gamers are really willing to play, whatever they might say; I'm not sure that making the sound and combat better will be enough.

The game runs smooth, has few bugs if any, and looks fairly good. Character creation must be better at launch, end of story. A game like this lives and dies on individuality, though I feel that the animations while at times weak (elementalism second skill I'm looking at you), can impress once in a while, but the core of the the game is so solid that I'm willing to overlook the negatives for now. And besides Tera proved that no one can even come close to it in terms of combat.

The NDA drop only applies to beta weekends, anyone who is in the acutal closed beta better take care not to talk about anything from that. People have been dropped from CB for making that mistake.

Originally posted by pierth

Originally posted by Baikal

Originally posted by eyeswideopen

Originally posted by Ramonski7



I cannot wait to give my impressions for TSW, especially after Funcom rubbed me the wrong way with this promotion.

Meh. They sent me an actual full time beta invite last week. I deleted the email after laughing out loud for a solid 5 minutes.

I think it's even funnier that you must have signed up for it to get a key.

QFT, it's like people are only excited for a beta when they have to pre-purchase the entire game with no expected date of release.

 

That was beautiful! ;)

Warrior all the way. Dragonfall server. Singulare.

Speaking of moving on. Witcher 2 comes out tomorrow, then Tera on the first followed by Diablo III, Dragon's Dogma, Game of Thrones, and Secret World. This is a great 2 months to love RPGS :).

Jerokane

Let me get this straight. There is a huge used game markets for consoles because console gamers don't care and they sell their games back to Gamestop. Forgetting that the fact that Gamestop doesn't sell used PC games, at all anymore; your statement makes no sense. When the Playstation or Xbox fanboys talk smack where do they do it? When people are calling the Wii a toy where do they do it? When there's an argument about Tekken v. DOA where is the argument?

You're unhappy. C'est. La. Vie. You are not the majority simply because you're screaming the loudest. Everyone likes to assume that their way is the only way to think.

Originally posted by VowOfSilence

Originally posted by Escapehatch

But to take your point seriously... the issue here is the people who liked, or were at worst neutral to, the ending of ME3 aren't taking to the internet demanding that the ending stay the way it is.  If that were the case stuff like this post would be completely lost in the noise.

If people cared enough and could argue why the ending was awesome and should stay the way it was - that movement would exist. But it doesn't.  

 

Oh my, now we're talking. People believed that the Earth was flat, even though sailors and scholars told them ofcourse it isn't. People think that aliens visit Earth just to give them rectal exams. People belived that electricity would blow up the Earth. People believed that the Earth was the center of the universe. People will argue for anything even in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, and lets just leave it at that... ;)

There's another assumption were forgetting ofcourse. EA solid 1.3 million physical copies of Mass Effect 3, with just under 1 million on the 360. Which leaves say 300k between the PS3 and PC. Now, those numbers are at best an estimate between chains like Walmart that don't give out numbers and online sales, the number could be between 1.5 and 2.0 million copies conservatively. Walmart sales have been at times clocked at 25% of all videogame sales. Lets, assume though that Walmart was included and then tack on 200k digital sales to arive at 1.5 Million copies sold of Mass Effect 3 from March 6 - March 31.

Now we have the child's play charity signees at I believe the number is 62,000. Now lets say that the internet is not most peoples cup of tea and multiply that number by 4. You now have 248,000 customers who didn't like the ending. Do the math, that's 1/6 of your customers.

Obviously these numbers are wonky at best, still they provide clues to a certain question. How many customers, or  better yet; what percentage of customers demanding a new ending, would it take to make changing the ending a sound business decision? ;)

Exactly so he judged Heinlein from his impression of a book he never finished. I mean come on now the book is like 200 pages its not an Opus how lazy do you have to be? Besides if he had done research he would have read Heinleins' refutement of the same accusations that were leveled at him all those years ago. The movie is a lazy, basterdized and worse incompetent look at important topics that Man must deal with if we wish to survive on this world or any other.

That's so sad that I'm speechless. I see you avoided the question completely as well. Whatever I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. Well I suppose thats that. Best of luck to you.

"You can't predict how people will act, Garrus. But you can control how you'll respond. In the end, that's what really matters."

Originally posted by Suzie_Ford

Originally posted by Segun777

I loved it, every second of it; and it angers me to the core that one of the great storytellers of our generation in videogames, has been so chastisted by such arrogant fools. Like it, love it, hate it. Who the hell does it better?!

 

Drew Karpyshyn? Is that who you're talking about? He only did ME1.\ and did it brilliantly.

The writers of ME2 continued the excellence throughout 95% of ME3.

Mac Walters & Casey Hudson wrote the abomination of the ending to ME3.

So...which "great storyteller of our generation in video games" are you speaking of?

 

Bioware. Lets be perfectly honest the number of companies that can come up with a coherent story, you can count on one hand. Bioware, Bungie, Naughty Dog, RockStar, and then the list goes cold. Sometimes a company like Remedy will hit gold ala Max Payne but consistently good story telling is hard to find. It's telling that our industry sells tens of millions of copies of COD/Battlefield  and Madden every year and they get glowing reviews, while an rpgs like Dragon Age 2, Mass Effect 3, Witcher 2, etc, etc get penalized for the smallest things. Just take a quick gander at reviews of rpgs and you'll notice that they consistently score five or so points on average lower than games of similar technical skill. RPG's generally take half again as long as normal games and sell less than the big budget AAA titles, even the best ones (ME Trilogy, Dragon Age, FF, etc.)

Even rpgs like Skyrim with weak storys can slide by by showing great graphics, it's not that story is dead it's simply that it doesn't sell games. Much like the big popcorn movies of summer, the videogame industry is inundated with shooters, sports games, action games, and fighters. I hate the ending of Memento, couldn't stand that movie for it. And yet not once did I believe that the movie wasn't a impressive achievement. I read fantasy and sci-fi and lately, some of my favorite authors are writing little more than romance novels cloaked in supernatural fiction. It's completely irritating to me, but the fans want it and so the writers write it, but I still love the authors, even if I only read their early stuff.

What I'm trying to say is that this is not a popularity contest, videogames are tethered enough as it is by the business model, what does a videogame writer take from the hateful speech of the last month against Bioware? How many writers do  you think thought to themselves it aint even worth the hassle? Actions have consequences, they reverberate long after we've forgotten them. How has this last month helped the videogame industry at all? If we don't like you're ending we'll shout it from the rooftops until you do what we say?

If you didn't like the ending fine, that's your right. But remember there are only a few companies that even care about you enough to write a good yarn. Did this last month gain you any more companies or help chase them away?

As someone who has said they're no longer going to buy Bioware games anymore I'd simply like an answer.

Ahh so no response then? Color me surprised...

And yet it was logical. Logic dictates that synthetic sentients can't build themselves, and can't become sentient without having been built by organics. The endings coincide perfectly with the Reapers. Remember you've been told over and over again that without the Reapers there is chaos, that organics will always make synthetics and then be overthrown by them. The Proteans had the Metacon War. The Reapers were likely made by an organic race, the Geth and the Quarians, even EDI disobeyed her maker. Note the Asari had outlawed AI's even before the Quarians had created the Geth. It's like organics have racial memories passed down eon upon eon to not mess with Synthetics.

All of which leads to the three choices. One, to believe that organics will always follow the same patterns each and every cycle as the Protheans and the Catalyst believe and thus control the Reapers to ensure that synthetics never wipe out organics. Two, to believe that organics are worth more than synthetics and the Catalyst is not to be believed.Thus the choice is to wipe out all synthetic life in the galaxy, including the Geth and EDI. Or Three, to believe that Syntetics and Organics can be more than the sum of their beginnings and can coexist in harmony, as Sheperd can demonstrate with the Quarians and the Geth who become allies if not friends.



Addendum: Wow Valas I don't even know where to start. Sales figures should dictate artistic content?! Can you imagine Paul releasing Beatles Albums to a become hip hop albums or Michael's Thriller becoming country? If Bioware was concerned with making the most money, they'd have made it an FPS from the getgo. Read my response to Suzie's last post, don't think I should repeat myself...

As for the Ewoks and Wookie things, you just might find a decent amount of support for that. But then again, you'll have more success if you work on the whole Greedo/Han shot first bit. And I do have to warn you, that Lucas like to wave his Artistic Integrity flag around as well. And he isn't exactly known to listen to his fanbase.

(One could argue that he's the poster child for why Artistic Integrity/Vision is sometimes a non-defense.)

Which is amusing. If Lucas changes things, its heresy but if the fans call for a change its perfectly alright for Mass Effect. Ahh yes I understand now. Basically I'm the center of the universe, and everyone else is wrong. Yes, yes I can see the light finally...

Amusing because even in the book, Heinlein says he's not saying the military is better just that they have learned to sacrifice for the common good. Heinlein didn't believe himself to be a hawk. Either way no one got the hamfisted BS he was trying to pull in the movie, so Heinlein got the last laugh anyways.

100% completion percentage, for the second time in this trilogy. I love this game.

Bioware. Lets be perfectly honest the number of companies that can come up with a coherent story, you can count on one hand. Bioware, Bungie, Naughty Dog, RockStar, and then the list goes cold. Sometimes a company like Remedy will hit gold ala Max Payne but consistently good story telling is hard to find. It's telling that our industry sells tens of millions of copies of COD/Battlefield  and Madden every year and they get glowing reviews, while an rpgs like Dragon Age 2, Mass Effect 3, Witcher 2, etc, etc get penalized for the smallest things. Just take a quick gander at reviews of rpgs and you'll notice that they consistently score five or so points on average lower than games of similar technical skill. RPG's generally take half again as long as normal games and sell less than the big budget AAA titles, even the best ones (ME Trilogy, Dragon Age, FF, etc.)

Even rpgs like Skyrim with weak storys can slide by by showing great graphics, it's not that story is dead it's simply that it doesn't sell games. Much like the big popcorn movies of summer, the videogame industry is inundated with shooters, sports games, action games, and fighters. I hate the ending of Memento, couldn't stand that movie for it. And yet not once did I believe that the movie wasn't a impressive achievement. I read fantasy and sci-fi and lately, some of my favorite authors are writing little more than romance novels cloaked in supernatural fiction. It's completely irritating to me, but the fans want it and so the writers write it, but I still love the authors, even if I only read their early stuff.

What I'm trying to say is that this is not a popularity contest, videogames are tethered enough as it is by the business model, what does a videogame writer take from the hateful speech of the last month against Bioware? How many writers do  you think thought to themselves it aint even worth the hassle? Actions have consequences, they reverberate long after we've forgotten them. How has this last month helped the videogame industry at all? If we don't like you're ending we'll shout it from the rooftops until you do what we say?

If you didn't like the ending fine, that's your right. But remember there are only a few companies that even care about you enough to write a good yarn. Did this last month gain you any more companies or help chase them away?