Why didn't more people complain about Kai Leng in Mass Effect 3?

[hermes]

People did complain about him a lot, but he is the antagonist of the game, so I guess he was made to be hated.

Also, not to go with the cliche "I was into it before it was cool" cliche; but I hated his sorry ass long before ME3. He is a big character in 3 of the 4 novels, and all I ever wanted was someone to give him some brain ventilation. I haven't hated a character more since the "Song of Ice and Fire" books... So, kudos to them, I guess.

 

[burningdragoon]

It's completely absurd that all the characters seem to treat this guy like he's this huge threat even though every single one of them has a firepower advantage over him.

I know. I have no idea why The Illusive Man and even the Reapers thought that Commander Shepard was some super threat to them.

 

[Ravinoff]

He was definitely one of the worse aspects of the game, along with the Phantoms in general. They just felt so cheap, what with the palm blasters that can kill you in two or three good hits. Kai Leng's awfulness was slightly redeemed by the Renegade interrupt after the final fight with him, though. One of the more badass Shepard moments, that one.

 

[Fr]anc[is]

Because there was one other massive example of Biowares lazy incompetent storytelling that everyone else latched on to.

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

Bioware fans are clearly a very vocal community that claims to care about good writing in their games, Mass Effect 3 in particular. So it boggles my mind that I've seen pretty much no mention of Kai Leng.

I liked the ending (well, mostly, discussed elsewhere). The worst thing about ME3 was Kai Mother-Fucking Leng.

I've said so before.

He's the worst character in all the Mass Effect universe. I hated him SO much in the novels, and I hated him more in the game.

And while silly, stabbing that mother fucker with my holo-blade was the most fucking satisfying kill in the entire game.

Hate Kai Leng. So. Fucking. Much.

Edit: Almost forgot to say: Kai Leng - [sub](one of the)[/sub] worst Marty Stu ever.

 

[Legion]

He would be described as the second worst thing about Mass Effect 3, I believe. Not only is he cliché, but he looks like Nightwing, is no threat in the game even on the hardest difficulty, and only manages to win via magical cutscene power.

Then to top it off he turned my Shepard into an angsty teenager rather than the kick-ass war veteran they are supposed to be.

People did complain about him a lot, but he is the antagonist of the game, so I guess he was made to be hated.

That is not the same kind of 'hate'. You can hate a villain for being evil, but love the character. Just like Heath Ledger's version of the Joker. Almost every fan of the film agrees that he was superb, but I doubt many of them actually rooted for him to win.

There is hating a character design because it is poorly done or they are annoying, then there is hating a character. The former is bad, the latter is all about how well a character is made.

 

[Souplex]

The swords used by cerberus are monomollecular blades, meaning that the end of the blade is so fine it can cut through pretty much anything.
The existence of space-armor makes guns less useful than they are today, so melee is more plausible.

 

[DugMachine]

Was not a fan of the character personally and how they kept dragging him out having him run away like the ***** he is every time I started to whoop his ass. Actually now that you mention it, the ending was amazing compared to the shitfest that was Kai Leng. I disliked his 'backstory' and overall shitty plot. Granted, I understand why he is in the game seeing as I was destroying hundreds of cerberus troops without even batting an eyelid, just needed a powerful baddie is all.

 

[Canadish]

How to introduce a villain - by Mac Walters

Step 1: Introduce him in some spin off material that only a handful of people bought. Have him do something badass, like steal someone's cereal, eat it and then clean up after himself. Goldilocks herself would be proud.

Step 2: Have him only show up in the last game of a trilogy. Who needs forethought or planning? Save yourself time by just making shit up on the fly. Some might say these cheapens the impact he leaves and doesn't leave the player feeling rewarded. But ignore them, they're entitled.

Step 3: Make sure he's SUPER BADASS. The kids like that chinese animu shit right? Make him a ninja. A ROBOT ninja. With some super sword made with magical space steel.

Step 4: Make him scary! Have him beat the players over and over, and make sure they can't ruin your perfect story with a thing like "interaction" or "choice".

Step 5: Make sure the players know he's serious! Have him contact and laugh at the player. An angry email is the best for this, so you don't have to have the artists do any work then! I'm such a genius.

Step 6: Make sure the players feel SUPER COOL when they beat him! Have them like...breat his sword or something...with their fist! Huh? Oh right it's made of that bullet deflecting space steel....ah fuck it, I think it's cool!

And there you have it! The PERFECT bad guy!|

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

I have plenty to gripe about re: ME3, but Kai Leng isn't one of them. His character is actually quite interesting, with his being the main antagonist in the 3rd ME novel. Particularly after the decision Miranda made regarding Cerberus at the very end of ME2.

BW could have handled him better I'll grant, but then all of ME3 was basically medicore and could have been better.

 

[Gone Rampant]

As a Troper, Kai Leng is the second worst antagonist via appearance in the entire Mass Effect series- hell, ANYTHING BioWare has done!

Cutscene Power To The Max, The Scrappy, Creater's Pet, Too Dumb To Live...

Ugh, just thinking of him makes me wanna buy my fifth copy of Mass Effect Deception so I can kill it.

 

[llew]

You're right no one criticized the "cereal killer"

I didn't mind his plot armor that much because they constantly slapped plot armor on characters so I got used to it by he did seem cartoonishly evil. I disliked him in the game but disliked him because he killed Thane and then taunted me with his email after Thessia.

oh god after he killed thane i said i would make his death painful but after thessia i vowed to make it as drawn out and humiliating as possibles o when the final onfrontation came i made sure to use nothing but melee (and not heavy melee, the simple punch melee) and made him die slowly and horribly

OT: his plot-armour was solely to drive the game forward so i didnt mind it as much but he was far too easy an opponent

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

He is terrible. But he serves a purpose. He's the kind of villain you love to hate. Which is a first in ME games. Saren was awesome, I didn't hate him. TIM is awesome and I fuckin' love him. I don't hate the Reapers either. They are just machines. And machines can be broken. Kai Lang is a fuckin' bastard and as much as I hated his over the top design and battles with him, killing him felt so good. Mass Effect is full of morally gray characters. It needed someone like that for a change.

And it's kind of obvious that Bioware based him on me. A little bit. But they could have done it with some taste at least.

Because he wasn't the problem that shines as soon as anyone mentions Mass Effect 3.

If only he was.

 

[DioWallachia]

How to introduce a villain - by Mac Walters

Step 1: Introduce him in some spin off material that only a handful of people bought. Have him do something badass, like steal someone's cereal, eat it and then clean up after himself. Goldilocks herself would be proud.

Step 2: Have him only show up in the last game of a trilogy. Who needs forethought or planning? Save yourself time by just making shit up on the fly. Some might say these cheapens the impact he leaves and doesn't leave the player feeling rewarded. But ignore them, they're entitled.

Step 3: Make sure he's SUPER BADASS. The kids like that chinese animu shit right? Make him a ninja. A ROBOT ninja. With some super sword made with magical space steel.

Step 4: Make him scary! Have him beat the players over and over, and make sure they can't ruin your perfect story with a thing like "interaction" or "choice".

Step 5: Make sure the players know he's serious! Have him contact and laugh at the player. An angry email is the best for this, so you don't have to have the artists do any work then! I'm such a genius.

Step 6: Make sure the players feel SUPER COOL when they beat him! Have them like...breat his sword or something...with their fist! Huh? Oh right it's made of that bullet deflecting space steel....ah fuck it, I think it's cool!

And there you have it! The PERFECT bad guy!|

Mac Walters, mein good friend, you are a.....


(I feel bad for doing this but i HAD to be said)

 

[WashAran]

I nether though of him as an antagonist. TIM was an antagonist, Kai Leng was just a henchman, he wasnt much of a character.

 

[orangeapples]

I don't complain about him because I like to just forget he ever existed. Thanks for reminding me >_>

 

[hermes]

I nether though of him as an antagonist. TIM was an antagonist, Kai Leng was just a henchman, he wasnt much of a character.

He is not THE antagonist, but definitely a mayor villain. Close to The Dragon http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheDragon

 

[minarri]

One wonders what forums you have been reading to have heard almost no complaints about him, as I've heard rather a lot of them around here?

He certainly had nothing on Saren from the first game, but I had no issue with the equipment he uses. My issue was more to do with the fact that the game kept pulling increasingly cheap ways for him to beat me or escape from me right out of it's arse in cut scenes, despite him never actually posing much of a challenge to me in game play.

My soldier Shepard could shoot the wings off a fly at 500m, and yet at the citadel he can't hit Kai Leng at close range while he runs away in a straight line. My vanguard could have charged him so hard he could have knocked him right off the Presidium, and yet he chooses to just jog after him like a lemon. My adept could slap him off the roof of that speeder with a warp or singularity any day of the week, and yet she just lets him get away. It was stuff like that that bothered me, not the fact that he uses a sword. Maybe that's just his preference. Maybe he just prefers the physical feedback of solid steel to a weightless Omni-blade.

THIS.

Just about any time that a game relies on characters that are invincible, I feel that they're propping themselves up with sloppy and/or poor writing. I can spend all the time I want grinding XP and refining my gameplay skills, but then whoops! Along comes a cutscene that has my character arbitrarily acting like an amateur.

While I understand that there's a need to keep the story somewhat uniform, and that the writers want to make you feel powerless or helpless, this lack of consistency never fails to irk me.