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'Expanse' Co-Creator on Writing, Star Citizen, and Why He Hated Mass Effect 3

109 points by photon-torpedo 10y ago

TillE 10y ago
Mass Effect 1 is one of my favorite game stories; it's like a pretty good light sci-fi novel, which puts it head and shoulders above the vast majority of videogames. The reveal towards the end is beautifully creepy. Mass Effect 2 forces the player to join a racist terrorist group and does nothing interesting, and then Mass Effect 3 is pure anticlimax. As Franck says, it just seems like they had no idea where to go after the first one.
- Fej 10y ago
  They knew where to go after the first one. The lead writer got a diminished role in ME2 and was removed for ME3. His original ending was far better than the trash we got.
  - ajmurmann 10y ago
    First time I've heard of that. How do you know about his original ending?
    - kirrent 10y ago
      It got leaked at one point. If I remember correctly, the use of biotics and eezo was supposed to be destructive to space/stars/reality in general and continued use would eventually lead to the end of the galaxy and all life whether space-faring or not. The reapers were created to end advanced life, with its dependence on mass effect technology, before the effects were catastrophic in each cycle. The sun with irregular behaviour that Tali was investigating in ME2 was supposed to be showing early symptoms of its eventual destruction from these effects.
      - Null-Set 10y ago
        This sounds very much like the plot of Gurren Lagann.
      - Fej 10y ago
        (Spoilers) The way I remember it - the universe was dying of entropy. The Reapers were created to solve the problem of entropy, but could not do so by the time of the events of Mass Effect. The purpose of the Reapers was to combine the intelligence of each species in order to attempt to solve the problem. Each cycle, species would be harvested to add to the computing power of the Reaper fleet. The final choice of the series was to be: 1. Acquiesce to the demands of the Reapers, and join them in their quest to save the universe; or 2. Do not acquiesce, end the cycle of destruction, and trust that the races of the galaxy will be able to solve the problem. This is an infinitely better ending than what we got. Although...the indoctrination theory would have been breathtaking as well. Too bad BioWare wasn't that clever.
        antisthenes 10y ago
        What if Shepard just tells Reapers that the phrase is "Let there be light!" ?
      - shepardrtc 10y ago
        That sounds amazing. It would make the Reapers not so evil, and it would give you a difficult - but absolutely necessary and fitting - choice to make. I was a huge fan of ME1, and I even read all the books by Karpyshyn. When I saw that weird sun in ME2, I absolutely knew it had to do with something related to the entire series. But when ME3 came out and I read how much they screwed up the story, I couldn't bring myself to play it. Even ME2 wasn't quite where it should have been. Forcing Karpyshyn out really messed things up. It could have been such a great story.
- douche 10y ago
  Mass Effect 1 was also more fun to play. The weird retcon to justify introducing boring regular ammo mechanics was dumb. Also, people love to hate on cruising around in the Mako, but I loved it. ME1 was so much more sandboxy than the sequel - I probably played it more to see what kind of crazy jumps I could make, or just how far away I could snipe someone from.
  - speeder 10y ago
    In my opinion the only flaw in ME1 was the broken relationship between weapons and classes. I played with engineer class, and it kinda sucked, none of the engineer powers were that useful, and engineers couldn't use any decent weapon, in the end I finished the entire game with the starting pistol (yes, even the final boss I killed with the starting pistol). Oh... and those elevators... but in a way I missed them in ME2 too.
  - WillPostForFood 10y ago
    Bioware included a very amusing conversation in Mass Effect 3 with recurring character Conrad Verner where they debate the absurdity of the change of ammo type. I usually don't go for this type of meta humor, but it worked here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEnIQWXCgzQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEnIQWXCgzQ
  - ekianjo 10y ago
    > ME1 was so much more sandboxy than the sequel Yeah the sequel was as long, boring corridor with virtually no freedom at all. That's a good example of how games have changed throughout the years.
  - sgift 10y ago
    For me it was the exact opposite with ME1 to ME2. Sure, ME1 was more sandboxy, but it was an empty sandbox. 90% of ME1 simply was empty, so all you did was drive around, drive around, drive around and find nothing. ME2 was far more focused with the sandbox parts (planet scanning + finding anomalies) leading at least to something with a certain regularity. Exploring a sandbox is only interesting when it's actually filled with something to find. Still, I think the game play of both ME1 and ME2 (and ME3) actually fit their respective points in the story line. ME1: You don't really know what's going on, you have a vague feeling, but it's mostly "let's stumble around and see what we can find" ME2: Okay, you know what will happen, but almost everyone else is in denial and doesn't want to help you, so you have to be laser-focused to fix the immediate problem with whatever you have at hand. ME3: Denial is over, the problem is squarely in everyone's face and even if some people still want to ignore it your focus is more on showing people that your way to deal with the problem is in their best interest as much as in yours.
- zzalpha 10y ago
  Eh, I dunno, I've played the whole series twice through and loved it both times. Yes, each game is its own beast, but no one can claim any of them isn't flawed in their own ways. ME1 had mediocre combat and a brutally bad inventory system. Not to mention th elevators. ME2 streamlined a lot of things but the game lost its RPG elements as a consequence. The scanner game was moronic. ME3 struck a slightly better balance but the "side quests" were ridiculous. The real problem is, story wise, the latter two games could never live up to the first. Hell, The Expanse demonstrates that very phenomenon. The first two books are fantastic, but Abaddon's Gate and Cibola Burn are only decent by comparison.
  - douche 10y ago
    The Expanse novels have picked up a little with the last two, Nemesis Games and Babylon's Ashes, but it's hard to beat those first two. My favorite of all might be the novella The Churn, which explores the backstory of Amos, the Laconic muscle of the Expanse crew.
    - aaronblohowiak 10y ago
      Did you read the novellas? I've read all the novels but haven't tried the smaller works yet..
- a_bonobo 10y ago
  What I loved most about Mass Effect was that in its universe, humanity was the new kid on the block, the weirdo completely ignored or mistrusted by all the other species - in the SF I'm used to it's usually mankind who's the savior and the good guy (think Star Trek). io9 has a nice writeup around this: http://io9.gizmodo.com/5886178/why-mass-effect-is-the-most-important-science-fiction-universe-of-our-generation http://io9.gizmodo.com/5886178/why-mass-effect-is-the-most-i...
  - ocdtrekkie 10y ago
    In Star Trek, humans are also very much the new kids on the block. When we were first discovering warp drive, the Vulcans were already regular interstellar travelers, and a lot of our technology was thanks to them. From various indications, many of the other races encountered in Star Trek have been spacefaring for a long time, whereas humans are relatively recent upstarts. Arguably in both Star Trek and Mass Effect, humans came from being relative newcomers to becoming legendary leaders and saviors of the universe.
    - flukus 10y ago
      Same with Babylon 5, Robotech and probably most sci fi. Humans being the dominant force just doesn't make for a good story.
- jobu 10y ago
  > As Franck says, it just seems like they had no idea where to go after the first one. That seems to be the case. Drew Karpyshyn, the lead writer of ME1 and ME2, admitted that his original planned ending wasn't "super fleshed out" http://www.pcgamer.com/mass-effect-3-series-former-lead-writer-reveals-original-ending-ideas/ http://www.pcgamer.com/mass-effect-3-series-former-lead-writ... Karpyshyn left BioWare shortly before the conclusion of Mass Effect 2, with Mac Walters taking over as lead writer for Mass Effect 3. Even so, Karpyshyn defended series' real ending, pointing out that his planned version was just as likely to disappoint.
  - WillPostForFood 10y ago
    I read that as suggesting the problem wasn't lack of planning, but the guy with the story vision left the project.
    - jobu 10y ago
      In the glixel article, Ty Franck made this comment: "... because endings are so important – you better know what your ending is and you better be setting that ending up right from the beginning. Otherwise it just feels muddy and unsatisfying." The point I took from both articles was that the Mass Effect series never had a solid vision for the ending (which Karpyshyn admitted), and it showed in the way many (most?) people reacted to ME3.
- camus2 10y ago
  > a racist terrorist group a racist terrorist group that lets you recruit aliens? that let's you protect human colonies when the council don't bother allocating any resources to their protection? this is about survival, like Shepard says himself.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
  - WillPostForFood 10y ago
    I dunno, it is portrayed in an unambiguously racist way in the games. Cerberus is a human-survivalist paramilitary group led by the enigmatic Illusive Man. Cerberus' core belief is that humans deserve a greater role in the galactic community, and that the Systems Alliance is too hamstrung by law and public opinion to stand up effectively to the other Citadel races. Cerberus supports the principle that any methods of advancing humanity's ascension are entirely justified, including illegal or dangerous experimentation, terrorist activities, sabotage and assassination. Cerberus operatives accept that these methods are brutal, but believe history will vindicate them. Nevertheless, both the Systems Alliance and the Citadel Council have declared Cerberus to be a terrorist organization and will prosecute identified Cerberus agents accordingly. http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Cerberus http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Cerberus
    - camus2 10y ago
      Then every other alien races are also racist and think first and foremost about the well being of their own race. It's only a problem for the human race apparently.
      - WillPostForFood 10y ago
        I agree, I thought the whole Cerberus thing was really weak.
- synicalx 10y ago
  Uhhh, I think you might have played a different Mass Effect 2 to everyone else - there aren't any racist terrorist groups in any Mass Effect game, unless you count the Reapers who are kind just genocidal in general. EDIT: Cerberus is xenophobic, not racist. I am fully aware of the existence of Cerberus.
  - mejari 10y ago
    Cerberus grew more anti-alien throughout the series.
  - jsiepkes 10y ago
    Errrr Cerberus?
    - synicalx 10y ago
      Well Cerberus isn't racist, they're xenophobic. It's like Shepherd joined the Nazi party or something.
      - sgift 10y ago
        More like "used the Nazi partys resources to do what needs to be done while all other people in the galaxy say 'what? There's a problem? Can't see it, can't hear it, go away, you bother me.'" Does it suck that you have to work with Cerberus? Yeah. Does it pose an interesting ethical dilemma? I think so. After all, the question if it's right to use the resources of people you profoundly disagree with (if you do! You can be a mankind-first person in ME after all) if you have to to stop a greater evil is far more interesting than having all the resources you want without any strings attached.
  - visakanv 10y ago
    From the Mass Effect Wikia: > Cerberus is a human-survivalist paramilitary group led by the enigmatic Illusive Man. Cerberus' core belief is that humans deserve a greater role in the galactic community, and that the Systems Alliance is too hamstrung by law and public opinion to stand up effectively to the other Citadel races. Cerberus supports the principle that any methods of advancing humanity's ascension are entirely justified, including illegal or dangerous experimentation, terrorist activities, sabotage and assassination. Cerberus operatives accept that these methods are brutal, but believe history will vindicate them. Nevertheless, both the Systems Alliance and the Citadel Council have declared Cerberus to be a terrorist organization and will prosecute identified Cerberus agents accordingly.
- edem 10y ago
  They are not racist and the only turn xenophobic after ME2. The Illusive Man makes you recruit xenos on ME2!
shmerl 10y ago
Interesting read. Looking forward to Star Citizen and Squadron 42 releases for Linux.
- zyxzkz 10y ago
  2037 will be a great year for games for sure.
  - shmerl 10y ago
    You mean they'll be making them that long?-) Despite their huge development cycle, they'll probably release them this or next year.
    - scrollaway 10y ago
      As a SC backer, I'm losing hope a bit on the Linux release. They don't really talk about it, I'm not sure they'll have it ready by the time they do release (whenever that is).
      - shmerl 10y ago
        I'm not a backer, but I tried to find out about their Linux plans. Linux support was their reached stretch goal, so they should fulfill it. But no one says anything definitive. The last thing I've heard, Chris Roberts mentioned something that they'll make it after the initial release. They planned to use Vulkan in the engine in general, but it seems that Lumberyard doesn't even support it yet (and Linux is only listed as an upcoming supported OS in Lumberyard FAQ).
    - mnarayan01 10y ago
      > You mean they'll be making them that long? Well it's way too late for them to make it in a short time.
  - flukus 10y ago
    2016 was a great year. There are more steam games in my library that run on linux than I have time for and that includes most of my favorites. If the drivers would just catch up...
kchoudhu 10y ago
So glad The Expanse is back on. Last night's episode was amazing; I'm surprised there hasn't been more coverage of the show in the press. A fine return to form for SyFy.
- enraged_camel 10y ago
  Ars Technica is what got me into it. https://arstechnica.com/the-multiverse/2017/02/the-expanse-is-the-badass-epic-space-opera-you-need-right-now/ https://arstechnica.com/the-multiverse/2017/02/the-expanse-i...
caconym_ 10y ago
The thing I most hated about ME3 was the fact that the "galactic readiness score" depended not just on achievements in the single player mode, but also on time spent in multiplayer. It totally wasn't clear in (earlier release builds of) the game, and I didn't want to Google it because I was afraid of spoiling the ending. I felt like I had done a pretty good job getting the whole galaxy together under my banner, and my readiness score was quantified by the game in a way that made it seem decent, so I initiated the final sequence and found that I'd been denied the best outcome simply because I had never played multiplayer. Whatever I thought about the actual ending, the fact that EA and Bioware decided to pull the rug out from under me at the last second after I'd spent something like a decade really invested in their story and universe was a real blow. To me, it demonstrated an astonishing lack of integrity as storytellers. I was so upset that I just couldn't get myself to go back in and replay the re-done ending or any of the DLC.
- zzalpha 10y ago
  That's not true. I never played multiplayer and got the best ending. I believe you need most (all?) of your crew alive, among other things, but it's absolutely doable (I did it by accident... I just assumed that was the proper ending... and honestly, wasn't really a fan :S).
  - caconym_ 10y ago
    > Keep most of your crew alive through the three games and you can do it I did that. I just Googled it and the general opinion seems to be that in the original release with no DLC, no multiplayer, and no messing around with phone apps (?) it was at best extremely difficult to do (scan every single planet, that sort of thing) and at worst impossible. People seem to disagree on the exact degree of impossibility, but it seems that some early DLC brought the threshold down into a more reasonable range. I guess my mistake was being so excited to play it that I finished it before they "fixed" the ending.
    - zzalpha 10y ago
      Honestly I never bought any DLC for my first run through either. Maybe my completionist tendencies and 100% paragon with no crew deaths meant I got lucky...
major505 10y ago
I really didn't hate ME3... it was not the best ending.... but I saw worst before.
- on_and_off 10y ago
  That's not really saying much though. Sadly game stories are often an afterthought at best.
LyalinDotCom 10y ago
I'm so glad he agrees with me and my wife on Mass Effect 3 ending, I don't get anyone who can play the first two games and then not be totally heart broken by ME3 ending. What's more disgusting is also how the studio didn't ever apologize, they totally blew off everything ever said about the direction of the story and blamed the fans.
- AdeptusAquinas 10y ago
  It seems to have been completely polarizing. I thought the ending was great, and could not understand at all comments like 'blew off everything ever said about the direction'.
ekianjo 10y ago
> The ending of Mass Effect for me was like the ending of Lost, where [you] became aware that they really didn't know where they were going the whole time and they'd kind of just been making things up. Finally someone who says clearly how embarrassingly bad the Lost ending really was.
- wingerlang 10y ago
  I think this is the general consensus about Lost isn't it? Apart from those few people here and there saying it was amazing and clicked and whatnot.
  - mercer 10y ago
    I think it is, although I know quite a few people who, over time, found the ending more palatable. Far from great great, but not as bad as it seemed at first. What fascinates me is that there's another show that had a similar, contentious ending, but for some reason that one didn't bother me so much. I didn't like it immediately after, but the next day or so I changed my mind and thought it was a perfect ending, considering the themes and general approach. And I can't quite put my finger on what it did differently. Spoiler alert (BSG)
  - ekianjo 10y ago
    > general consensus about Lost isn't it? Is it really ? I remember when the last Episode was out, everyone was like "wow it was awesome" and all, while I seemed to be the only one who did not like it one bit.
    - prawn 10y ago
      No, most things I read pointed towards it being a bit of a dud. After a few seasons, I got the feeling they didn't know where they were headed and bailed. Asked myself prior to that point, "Am I going to regret not seeing through the next 100 hours of this content when I'm 80?" Answer was a quick no. Quit it, read the spoilers, left it at that and never regretted it. Did the same with Walking Dead early on. Too much fussing about in that show.
synicalx 10y ago
I think ME3 did a couple of things very right, most prominently the pacing and characters. You never feel like you have a moment to relax, and the game almost forces you to have this huge emotional buy in for the crew of the Normandy. I mean who can honestly say they didn't have a bit of a cry after "Had to be me. Someone else might have gotten it wrong."? Galactic readiness being half tied to multiplayer was a stupid idea, and the ending, which I thought was good, did feel like it was rushed. I also get the feeling that they wrote themselves into a corner with the Reapers, I mean how the hell is one man supposed to kill something that imposing without having to resort to the old "Destroy the single point of failure"? If they had have given the Reapers some kind of actual weakness, they could have avoided the ending they wound up with.
edem 10y ago
I had no problems with the readiness score in ME3 (I did not play multiplayer) or the final ending but the way you get there? Absolutely horrible. In my case I had every fleet (including the geth and the quarian) I had Leviathan, I basically maxed out the game...and the last mission on Earth still sucks. Nothing changed. The same struggle with the same outcome. I actually played through all 3 games last year and despite the fantastic missions and DLCs I just uninstalled when I reached the Earth mission. This is nowhere near as satisfying as the suicide mission in ME2.
baq 10y ago
in case you haven't seen it, The Expanse is the best space opera sci-fi TV since firefly and/or bsg and arguably the best ever. the books are very good, too.
- Vaskivo 10y ago
  Is it more like Firefly or BSG? I loved Firefly. But I dropped BSG after two seasons.
  - tshannon 10y ago
    I would say the look is more BSG, but the characters and story are more Firefly, although darker.
  - baq 10y ago
    i also loved firefly. the expanse is much more noir and the crew is getting to know each other throughout the first season, so it's not really similar. i can't really say it's like firefly, but it's at least as good - as in, i can't wait for the next episode.
  - dagw 10y ago
    I'd say more like BSG, but also much better. Was never a huge BSG fan, but I'm loving the Expanse. There is much more focus one the world at large in The Expanse, compared to Firefly, and the intrigue and diplomacy between the players in that world. The rag-tag crew of do-gooders thrown together by fate in the small spaceship which half the show focuses on (and where the firefly comparison come in) are more shown as a tiny (but important) player, way out of their depth, in huge expansive conspiracy they can barely comprehend.
    - mercer 10y ago
      That sounds awesome. I loved the bit of 'world-building' that Firefly did manage to do and wished there was more of that.
  - yttrium 10y ago
codesnik 10y ago
"Expanse" is nice, especially setting, but could be so much better with less talking (which isn't believable anyway) and a faster pace. Comparing it to Firefly is almost ridiculous.
- dagw 10y ago
  I love the pace of Expanse. It really gave time for the plot and mystery to grow at what felt like a more natural pace. Any faster and it would just feel rushed and forced. For me they could have slowed it down even a bit more and added more scenes of diplomacy and intrigue.
  - throwanem 10y ago
    The books do.
    - dagw 10y ago
      I guess I'll have to check out the books then
      - throwanem 10y ago
        I strongly recommend them!
  - mercer 10y ago
    Is it perhaps more comparable to (new) Battlestar Galactica? I liked how much of the show was just politics.
    - dagw 10y ago
      Yea, BSG is probably a more apt comparison than Firefly (that being said I prefer Expanse to BSG). As much as I love Firefly it was essentially a monster of the week show with only a little in the way of larger scale plot building going on.
codesnik 10y ago
"Expanse" is nice, especially setting, but could be so much better with less talking (which isn't believable anyway) and a faster pace. Comparing it to Firefly is almost ridiculous.
on_and_off 10y ago
Anybody knows what is the coop focused gaming site he is referring to ?
- veli_joza 10y ago
  Cooptimus, most likely. www.co-optimus.com
  - on_and_off 10y ago
    Thanks !
masklinn 10y ago
> Right now, we're playing through a little indie game called Tales of the Sword Coast that's kind of a re-envisioning of the Baldur's Gate games from back in the day. "Tales of the Sword Coast" is the Baldur's Gate I expansion[0] so that can't be it, anyone knows what they're talking about here? Sword Coast Legends maybe?[1] [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baldur%27s_Gate:_Tales_of_the_Sword_Coast https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baldur%27s_Gate:_Tales_of_the_... [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sword_Coast_Legends https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sword_Coast_Legends
EddieSpeaks 10y ago
So this guy must be a massive entitled neckbeard just like the rest of us who hated Mass Effect 3 ending.

109 points by photon-torpedo 10y ago

TillE 10y ago

Mass Effect 1 is one of my favorite game stories; it's like a pretty good light sci-fi novel, which puts it head and shoulders above the vast majority of videogames. The reveal towards the end is beautifully creepy. Mass Effect 2 forces the player to join a racist terrorist group and does nothing interesting, and then Mass Effect 3 is pure anticlimax. As Franck says, it just seems like they had no idea where to go after the first one.

Fej 10y ago
They knew where to go after the first one. The lead writer got a diminished role in ME2 and was removed for ME3. His original ending was far better than the trash we got.
- ajmurmann 10y ago
  First time I've heard of that. How do you know about his original ending?
  - kirrent 10y ago
    It got leaked at one point. If I remember correctly, the use of biotics and eezo was supposed to be destructive to space/stars/reality in general and continued use would eventually lead to the end of the galaxy and all life whether space-faring or not. The reapers were created to end advanced life, with its dependence on mass effect technology, before the effects were catastrophic in each cycle. The sun with irregular behaviour that Tali was investigating in ME2 was supposed to be showing early symptoms of its eventual destruction from these effects.
    - Null-Set 10y ago
      This sounds very much like the plot of Gurren Lagann.
    - Fej 10y ago
      (Spoilers) The way I remember it - the universe was dying of entropy. The Reapers were created to solve the problem of entropy, but could not do so by the time of the events of Mass Effect. The purpose of the Reapers was to combine the intelligence of each species in order to attempt to solve the problem. Each cycle, species would be harvested to add to the computing power of the Reaper fleet. The final choice of the series was to be: 1. Acquiesce to the demands of the Reapers, and join them in their quest to save the universe; or 2. Do not acquiesce, end the cycle of destruction, and trust that the races of the galaxy will be able to solve the problem. This is an infinitely better ending than what we got. Although...the indoctrination theory would have been breathtaking as well. Too bad BioWare wasn't that clever.
      - antisthenes 10y ago
        What if Shepard just tells Reapers that the phrase is "Let there be light!" ?
    - shepardrtc 10y ago
      That sounds amazing. It would make the Reapers not so evil, and it would give you a difficult - but absolutely necessary and fitting - choice to make. I was a huge fan of ME1, and I even read all the books by Karpyshyn. When I saw that weird sun in ME2, I absolutely knew it had to do with something related to the entire series. But when ME3 came out and I read how much they screwed up the story, I couldn't bring myself to play it. Even ME2 wasn't quite where it should have been. Forcing Karpyshyn out really messed things up. It could have been such a great story.
douche 10y ago
Mass Effect 1 was also more fun to play. The weird retcon to justify introducing boring regular ammo mechanics was dumb. Also, people love to hate on cruising around in the Mako, but I loved it. ME1 was so much more sandboxy than the sequel - I probably played it more to see what kind of crazy jumps I could make, or just how far away I could snipe someone from.
- speeder 10y ago
  In my opinion the only flaw in ME1 was the broken relationship between weapons and classes. I played with engineer class, and it kinda sucked, none of the engineer powers were that useful, and engineers couldn't use any decent weapon, in the end I finished the entire game with the starting pistol (yes, even the final boss I killed with the starting pistol). Oh... and those elevators... but in a way I missed them in ME2 too.
- WillPostForFood 10y ago
  Bioware included a very amusing conversation in Mass Effect 3 with recurring character Conrad Verner where they debate the absurdity of the change of ammo type. I usually don't go for this type of meta humor, but it worked here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEnIQWXCgzQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEnIQWXCgzQ
- ekianjo 10y ago
  > ME1 was so much more sandboxy than the sequel Yeah the sequel was as long, boring corridor with virtually no freedom at all. That's a good example of how games have changed throughout the years.
- sgift 10y ago
  For me it was the exact opposite with ME1 to ME2. Sure, ME1 was more sandboxy, but it was an empty sandbox. 90% of ME1 simply was empty, so all you did was drive around, drive around, drive around and find nothing. ME2 was far more focused with the sandbox parts (planet scanning + finding anomalies) leading at least to something with a certain regularity. Exploring a sandbox is only interesting when it's actually filled with something to find. Still, I think the game play of both ME1 and ME2 (and ME3) actually fit their respective points in the story line. ME1: You don't really know what's going on, you have a vague feeling, but it's mostly "let's stumble around and see what we can find" ME2: Okay, you know what will happen, but almost everyone else is in denial and doesn't want to help you, so you have to be laser-focused to fix the immediate problem with whatever you have at hand. ME3: Denial is over, the problem is squarely in everyone's face and even if some people still want to ignore it your focus is more on showing people that your way to deal with the problem is in their best interest as much as in yours.
zzalpha 10y ago
Eh, I dunno, I've played the whole series twice through and loved it both times. Yes, each game is its own beast, but no one can claim any of them isn't flawed in their own ways. ME1 had mediocre combat and a brutally bad inventory system. Not to mention th elevators. ME2 streamlined a lot of things but the game lost its RPG elements as a consequence. The scanner game was moronic. ME3 struck a slightly better balance but the "side quests" were ridiculous. The real problem is, story wise, the latter two games could never live up to the first. Hell, The Expanse demonstrates that very phenomenon. The first two books are fantastic, but Abaddon's Gate and Cibola Burn are only decent by comparison.
- douche 10y ago
  The Expanse novels have picked up a little with the last two, Nemesis Games and Babylon's Ashes, but it's hard to beat those first two. My favorite of all might be the novella The Churn, which explores the backstory of Amos, the Laconic muscle of the Expanse crew.
  - aaronblohowiak 10y ago
    Did you read the novellas? I've read all the novels but haven't tried the smaller works yet..
a_bonobo 10y ago
What I loved most about Mass Effect was that in its universe, humanity was the new kid on the block, the weirdo completely ignored or mistrusted by all the other species - in the SF I'm used to it's usually mankind who's the savior and the good guy (think Star Trek). io9 has a nice writeup around this: http://io9.gizmodo.com/5886178/why-mass-effect-is-the-most-important-science-fiction-universe-of-our-generation http://io9.gizmodo.com/5886178/why-mass-effect-is-the-most-i...
- ocdtrekkie 10y ago
  In Star Trek, humans are also very much the new kids on the block. When we were first discovering warp drive, the Vulcans were already regular interstellar travelers, and a lot of our technology was thanks to them. From various indications, many of the other races encountered in Star Trek have been spacefaring for a long time, whereas humans are relatively recent upstarts. Arguably in both Star Trek and Mass Effect, humans came from being relative newcomers to becoming legendary leaders and saviors of the universe.
  - flukus 10y ago
    Same with Babylon 5, Robotech and probably most sci fi. Humans being the dominant force just doesn't make for a good story.
jobu 10y ago
> As Franck says, it just seems like they had no idea where to go after the first one. That seems to be the case. Drew Karpyshyn, the lead writer of ME1 and ME2, admitted that his original planned ending wasn't "super fleshed out" http://www.pcgamer.com/mass-effect-3-series-former-lead-writer-reveals-original-ending-ideas/ http://www.pcgamer.com/mass-effect-3-series-former-lead-writ... Karpyshyn left BioWare shortly before the conclusion of Mass Effect 2, with Mac Walters taking over as lead writer for Mass Effect 3. Even so, Karpyshyn defended series' real ending, pointing out that his planned version was just as likely to disappoint.
- WillPostForFood 10y ago
  I read that as suggesting the problem wasn't lack of planning, but the guy with the story vision left the project.
  - jobu 10y ago
    In the glixel article, Ty Franck made this comment: "... because endings are so important – you better know what your ending is and you better be setting that ending up right from the beginning. Otherwise it just feels muddy and unsatisfying." The point I took from both articles was that the Mass Effect series never had a solid vision for the ending (which Karpyshyn admitted), and it showed in the way many (most?) people reacted to ME3.
camus2 10y ago
> a racist terrorist group a racist terrorist group that lets you recruit aliens? that let's you protect human colonies when the council don't bother allocating any resources to their protection? this is about survival, like Shepard says himself.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- WillPostForFood 10y ago
  I dunno, it is portrayed in an unambiguously racist way in the games. Cerberus is a human-survivalist paramilitary group led by the enigmatic Illusive Man. Cerberus' core belief is that humans deserve a greater role in the galactic community, and that the Systems Alliance is too hamstrung by law and public opinion to stand up effectively to the other Citadel races. Cerberus supports the principle that any methods of advancing humanity's ascension are entirely justified, including illegal or dangerous experimentation, terrorist activities, sabotage and assassination. Cerberus operatives accept that these methods are brutal, but believe history will vindicate them. Nevertheless, both the Systems Alliance and the Citadel Council have declared Cerberus to be a terrorist organization and will prosecute identified Cerberus agents accordingly. http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Cerberus http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Cerberus
  - camus2 10y ago
    Then every other alien races are also racist and think first and foremost about the well being of their own race. It's only a problem for the human race apparently.
    - WillPostForFood 10y ago
      I agree, I thought the whole Cerberus thing was really weak.
synicalx 10y ago
Uhhh, I think you might have played a different Mass Effect 2 to everyone else - there aren't any racist terrorist groups in any Mass Effect game, unless you count the Reapers who are kind just genocidal in general. EDIT: Cerberus is xenophobic, not racist. I am fully aware of the existence of Cerberus.
- mejari 10y ago
  Cerberus grew more anti-alien throughout the series.
- jsiepkes 10y ago
  Errrr Cerberus?
  - synicalx 10y ago
    Well Cerberus isn't racist, they're xenophobic. It's like Shepherd joined the Nazi party or something.
    - sgift 10y ago
      More like "used the Nazi partys resources to do what needs to be done while all other people in the galaxy say 'what? There's a problem? Can't see it, can't hear it, go away, you bother me.'" Does it suck that you have to work with Cerberus? Yeah. Does it pose an interesting ethical dilemma? I think so. After all, the question if it's right to use the resources of people you profoundly disagree with (if you do! You can be a mankind-first person in ME after all) if you have to to stop a greater evil is far more interesting than having all the resources you want without any strings attached.
- visakanv 10y ago
  From the Mass Effect Wikia: > Cerberus is a human-survivalist paramilitary group led by the enigmatic Illusive Man. Cerberus' core belief is that humans deserve a greater role in the galactic community, and that the Systems Alliance is too hamstrung by law and public opinion to stand up effectively to the other Citadel races. Cerberus supports the principle that any methods of advancing humanity's ascension are entirely justified, including illegal or dangerous experimentation, terrorist activities, sabotage and assassination. Cerberus operatives accept that these methods are brutal, but believe history will vindicate them. Nevertheless, both the Systems Alliance and the Citadel Council have declared Cerberus to be a terrorist organization and will prosecute identified Cerberus agents accordingly.
edem 10y ago
They are not racist and the only turn xenophobic after ME2. The Illusive Man makes you recruit xenos on ME2!

shmerl 10y ago

Interesting read. Looking forward to Star Citizen and Squadron 42 releases for Linux.

zyxzkz 10y ago
2037 will be a great year for games for sure.
- shmerl 10y ago
  You mean they'll be making them that long?-) Despite their huge development cycle, they'll probably release them this or next year.
  - scrollaway 10y ago
    As a SC backer, I'm losing hope a bit on the Linux release. They don't really talk about it, I'm not sure they'll have it ready by the time they do release (whenever that is).
    - shmerl 10y ago
      I'm not a backer, but I tried to find out about their Linux plans. Linux support was their reached stretch goal, so they should fulfill it. But no one says anything definitive. The last thing I've heard, Chris Roberts mentioned something that they'll make it after the initial release. They planned to use Vulkan in the engine in general, but it seems that Lumberyard doesn't even support it yet (and Linux is only listed as an upcoming supported OS in Lumberyard FAQ).
  - mnarayan01 10y ago
    > You mean they'll be making them that long? Well it's way too late for them to make it in a short time.
- flukus 10y ago
  2016 was a great year. There are more steam games in my library that run on linux than I have time for and that includes most of my favorites. If the drivers would just catch up...

kchoudhu 10y ago

So glad The Expanse is back on. Last night's episode was amazing; I'm surprised there hasn't been more coverage of the show in the press. A fine return to form for SyFy.

enraged_camel 10y ago
Ars Technica is what got me into it. https://arstechnica.com/the-multiverse/2017/02/the-expanse-is-the-badass-epic-space-opera-you-need-right-now/ https://arstechnica.com/the-multiverse/2017/02/the-expanse-i...

caconym_ 10y ago

The thing I most hated about ME3 was the fact that the "galactic readiness score" depended not just on achievements in the single player mode, but also on time spent in multiplayer. It totally wasn't clear in (earlier release builds of) the game, and I didn't want to Google it because I was afraid of spoiling the ending. I felt like I had done a pretty good job getting the whole galaxy together under my banner, and my readiness score was quantified by the game in a way that made it seem decent, so I initiated the final sequence and found that I'd been denied the best outcome simply because I had never played multiplayer. Whatever I thought about the actual ending, the fact that EA and Bioware decided to pull the rug out from under me at the last second after I'd spent something like a decade really invested in their story and universe was a real blow. To me, it demonstrated an astonishing lack of integrity as storytellers. I was so upset that I just couldn't get myself to go back in and replay the re-done ending or any of the DLC.

zzalpha 10y ago
That's not true. I never played multiplayer and got the best ending. I believe you need most (all?) of your crew alive, among other things, but it's absolutely doable (I did it by accident... I just assumed that was the proper ending... and honestly, wasn't really a fan :S).
- caconym_ 10y ago
  > Keep most of your crew alive through the three games and you can do it I did that. I just Googled it and the general opinion seems to be that in the original release with no DLC, no multiplayer, and no messing around with phone apps (?) it was at best extremely difficult to do (scan every single planet, that sort of thing) and at worst impossible. People seem to disagree on the exact degree of impossibility, but it seems that some early DLC brought the threshold down into a more reasonable range. I guess my mistake was being so excited to play it that I finished it before they "fixed" the ending.
  - zzalpha 10y ago
    Honestly I never bought any DLC for my first run through either. Maybe my completionist tendencies and 100% paragon with no crew deaths meant I got lucky...

major505 10y ago

I really didn't hate ME3... it was not the best ending.... but I saw worst before.

on_and_off 10y ago
That's not really saying much though. Sadly game stories are often an afterthought at best.

LyalinDotCom 10y ago

I'm so glad he agrees with me and my wife on Mass Effect 3 ending, I don't get anyone who can play the first two games and then not be totally heart broken by ME3 ending. What's more disgusting is also how the studio didn't ever apologize, they totally blew off everything ever said about the direction of the story and blamed the fans.

AdeptusAquinas 10y ago
It seems to have been completely polarizing. I thought the ending was great, and could not understand at all comments like 'blew off everything ever said about the direction'.

ekianjo 10y ago

> The ending of Mass Effect for me was like the ending of Lost, where [you] became aware that they really didn't know where they were going the whole time and they'd kind of just been making things up. Finally someone who says clearly how embarrassingly bad the Lost ending really was.

wingerlang 10y ago
I think this is the general consensus about Lost isn't it? Apart from those few people here and there saying it was amazing and clicked and whatnot.
- mercer 10y ago
  I think it is, although I know quite a few people who, over time, found the ending more palatable. Far from great great, but not as bad as it seemed at first. What fascinates me is that there's another show that had a similar, contentious ending, but for some reason that one didn't bother me so much. I didn't like it immediately after, but the next day or so I changed my mind and thought it was a perfect ending, considering the themes and general approach. And I can't quite put my finger on what it did differently. Spoiler alert (BSG)
- ekianjo 10y ago
  > general consensus about Lost isn't it? Is it really ? I remember when the last Episode was out, everyone was like "wow it was awesome" and all, while I seemed to be the only one who did not like it one bit.
  - prawn 10y ago
    No, most things I read pointed towards it being a bit of a dud. After a few seasons, I got the feeling they didn't know where they were headed and bailed. Asked myself prior to that point, "Am I going to regret not seeing through the next 100 hours of this content when I'm 80?" Answer was a quick no. Quit it, read the spoilers, left it at that and never regretted it. Did the same with Walking Dead early on. Too much fussing about in that show.

synicalx 10y ago

I think ME3 did a couple of things very right, most prominently the pacing and characters. You never feel like you have a moment to relax, and the game almost forces you to have this huge emotional buy in for the crew of the Normandy. I mean who can honestly say they didn't have a bit of a cry after "Had to be me. Someone else might have gotten it wrong."? Galactic readiness being half tied to multiplayer was a stupid idea, and the ending, which I thought was good, did feel like it was rushed. I also get the feeling that they wrote themselves into a corner with the Reapers, I mean how the hell is one man supposed to kill something that imposing without having to resort to the old "Destroy the single point of failure"? If they had have given the Reapers some kind of actual weakness, they could have avoided the ending they wound up with.

edem 10y ago

I had no problems with the readiness score in ME3 (I did not play multiplayer) or the final ending but the way you get there? Absolutely horrible. In my case I had every fleet (including the geth and the quarian) I had Leviathan, I basically maxed out the game...and the last mission on Earth still sucks. Nothing changed. The same struggle with the same outcome. I actually played through all 3 games last year and despite the fantastic missions and DLCs I just uninstalled when I reached the Earth mission. This is nowhere near as satisfying as the suicide mission in ME2.

baq 10y ago

in case you haven't seen it, The Expanse is the best space opera sci-fi TV since firefly and/or bsg and arguably the best ever. the books are very good, too.

Vaskivo 10y ago
Is it more like Firefly or BSG? I loved Firefly. But I dropped BSG after two seasons.
- tshannon 10y ago
  I would say the look is more BSG, but the characters and story are more Firefly, although darker.
- baq 10y ago
  i also loved firefly. the expanse is much more noir and the crew is getting to know each other throughout the first season, so it's not really similar. i can't really say it's like firefly, but it's at least as good - as in, i can't wait for the next episode.
- dagw 10y ago
  I'd say more like BSG, but also much better. Was never a huge BSG fan, but I'm loving the Expanse. There is much more focus one the world at large in The Expanse, compared to Firefly, and the intrigue and diplomacy between the players in that world. The rag-tag crew of do-gooders thrown together by fate in the small spaceship which half the show focuses on (and where the firefly comparison come in) are more shown as a tiny (but important) player, way out of their depth, in huge expansive conspiracy they can barely comprehend.
  - mercer 10y ago
    That sounds awesome. I loved the bit of 'world-building' that Firefly did manage to do and wished there was more of that.
- yttrium 10y ago

codesnik 10y ago

"Expanse" is nice, especially setting, but could be so much better with less talking (which isn't believable anyway) and a faster pace. Comparing it to Firefly is almost ridiculous.

dagw 10y ago
I love the pace of Expanse. It really gave time for the plot and mystery to grow at what felt like a more natural pace. Any faster and it would just feel rushed and forced. For me they could have slowed it down even a bit more and added more scenes of diplomacy and intrigue.
- throwanem 10y ago
  The books do.
  - dagw 10y ago
    I guess I'll have to check out the books then
    - throwanem 10y ago
      I strongly recommend them!
- mercer 10y ago
  Is it perhaps more comparable to (new) Battlestar Galactica? I liked how much of the show was just politics.
  - dagw 10y ago
    Yea, BSG is probably a more apt comparison than Firefly (that being said I prefer Expanse to BSG). As much as I love Firefly it was essentially a monster of the week show with only a little in the way of larger scale plot building going on.

codesnik 10y ago

"Expanse" is nice, especially setting, but could be so much better with less talking (which isn't believable anyway) and a faster pace. Comparing it to Firefly is almost ridiculous.

on_and_off 10y ago

Anybody knows what is the coop focused gaming site he is referring to ?

veli_joza 10y ago
Cooptimus, most likely. www.co-optimus.com
- on_and_off 10y ago
  Thanks !

masklinn 10y ago

> Right now, we're playing through a little indie game called Tales of the Sword Coast that's kind of a re-envisioning of the Baldur's Gate games from back in the day. "Tales of the Sword Coast" is the Baldur's Gate I expansion[0] so that can't be it, anyone knows what they're talking about here? Sword Coast Legends maybe?[1] [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baldur%27s_Gate:_Tales_of_the_Sword_Coast https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baldur%27s_Gate:_Tales_of_the_... [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sword_Coast_Legends https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sword_Coast_Legends

EddieSpeaks 10y ago

So this guy must be a massive entitled neckbeard just like the rest of us who hated Mass Effect 3 ending.