You know something is up when Yahtzee, of all people, takes up a more reasonable response to the game than the squawking fanbase of the series.
Zero Punctuation: Mass Effect 3
- Thread starter Yahtzee Croshaw
- Start date
++.marscentral said:
I adore the brightness and "get out there and explore" feeling of ME1 that the others are simply lacking. It's the reason I like ME1 the best.
(driving along) ******! THRESHER MAW!!!
Everything I've read/heard about Mass Effect 3 screams 'Matrix Revolutions' all over again. That movie left me completely unimpressed with its cheap attempts to evoke gravitas by killing old characters, holding the stakes as 'the fate of all humanity' and having a rather pathetic ending - and pretty much all of that seems to have been jammed into Mass Effect 3, and all the non-Yahtzee reviewers have eagerly gobbled it up and regurgitated it as 'an epic conclusion to the saga'. At least Zero Punctuation isn't blind to the kind of shallow emotional manipulation that passes for 'compelling narrative' in modern games.
The ending was a bit lame, but it was nothing to have a crybaby meltdown over. Plenty of other highly regarded games have equally bad or worse endings. Bioshock, Deus Ex Human Revolution, and Fallout 3 prior to the expansions all come to mind. Even the venerable Half-Life 2 had an ending that would have been pretty damn depressing if they hadn't come along later with the episodes to elaborate on what happened. Yahtzee nailed it when he said "I've seen worse."
The ending of Mass Effect 3 is a symptom of a more general problem of writers these days knowing how to build hype, but not really knowing how to write a good ending. There are so many examples of this, like the Matrix Trilogy, the Battlestar remake, or Lost, where there's so much build up and everything just fizzles out at the end.
And for what it's worth, I still enjoyed the game itself. In some ways, I thought it was the best in the series. The shooting mechanics were much improved, and I'm glad all of the tedious inventory micromanagement from ME1 and the tedious planet scanning from ME2 are gone. In fact, my only big complaint was that I wanted to see the Mako tank make a return. I loved that thing and never understood all of the hate. But then again, I also played ME1 on PC where the controls are substantially better than on the consoles.
The ending of Mass Effect 3 is a symptom of a more general problem of writers these days knowing how to build hype, but not really knowing how to write a good ending. There are so many examples of this, like the Matrix Trilogy, the Battlestar remake, or Lost, where there's so much build up and everything just fizzles out at the end.
And for what it's worth, I still enjoyed the game itself. In some ways, I thought it was the best in the series. The shooting mechanics were much improved, and I'm glad all of the tedious inventory micromanagement from ME1 and the tedious planet scanning from ME2 are gone. In fact, my only big complaint was that I wanted to see the Mako tank make a return. I loved that thing and never understood all of the hate. But then again, I also played ME1 on PC where the controls are substantially better than on the consoles.
Yay for not spoiling the story! I know I could have just not watched it but I would rather have it spoiled for me than miss a ZP, it'd be like standing over the toilet trying not to, well, you know. Damn it, now I'm doing Yahtzee jokes!
"You did say all life in the galaxy, right? Because they're leaving us alone." I haven't played the whole thing yet, but the first half of the game is everyone saying "Dude, we're dealing with the same shit, we can't help you." And you convincing them that Earth is extra super special. My big complaint about the game is that Shepard and everyone on the ship doesn't seem to realize that the aliens homes are being invaded too, so stop being so pissy when they don't help your planet out.
I have a feeling he didn't rip on the ending because he didn't want to agree with everyone else.
Actually, Thessia and Sur'Kesh aren't under full Reaper attack during the first half of the game. The Reapers are just "encroaching" on their respective species' space.Blueruler182 said:
The thing that kills me about the ending is that they're not making high art here.
They are making an entertainment product where the PRIMARY GOAL is supposed to be pleasing the consumers of that product.
Instead of even attempting to do this they kicked every fan square in the nuts (or ovaries, as the case may be) and destroyed 5 years of a franchise in 10 lazy, idiotic, totally fucking insulting minutes.
They are making an entertainment product where the PRIMARY GOAL is supposed to be pleasing the consumers of that product.
Instead of even attempting to do this they kicked every fan square in the nuts (or ovaries, as the case may be) and destroyed 5 years of a franchise in 10 lazy, idiotic, totally fucking insulting minutes.
What? Could it be he didn't rip on the ending because, while the fanrage is not unjustified, the scale and venomousnous of it is completely bloody absurd and disproportionate and even Yahtzee isn't that much of a prat?
So i think every game "critic" has to say -Well, the ending wasn't so bad- nowadays. From Penny Arcade, to CAD, to zero now.... this is an annoying pattern, seeing as most gamers couldn't give a shit... but the will of the masses will slowly be swayed by these loud voices we so cherisly, foolishly, follow.Yahtzee Croshaw said:
I'm shocked that there was no mention of how many times you had to switch the disks in ME3. If you're someone who likes side missions (and I am.), then it was hard to tell when you had to switch. They only made you switch the disks in ME2 3 times that I counted. In ME3, I've already counted 6 times, and I don't think I'm halfway through the game yet. This breaks game flow, and takes away from the game as a whole.
Overall, from what I've played, I like ME3. I like how that the gameplay seems to move faster, BUT I haven't seen this "ending" everyone is talking about, so I might want to hold back on my full opinion of the game until then... To me, the ending of a game is supposed to be the climax, and in most cases, it's what makes the most impact on someone, and what most people will remember from their gaming experience, so if the ending is truly bad enough, it can ruin the entire thing as a whole.
Overall, from what I've played, I like ME3. I like how that the gameplay seems to move faster, BUT I haven't seen this "ending" everyone is talking about, so I might want to hold back on my full opinion of the game until then... To me, the ending of a game is supposed to be the climax, and in most cases, it's what makes the most impact on someone, and what most people will remember from their gaming experience, so if the ending is truly bad enough, it can ruin the entire thing as a whole.
The ending at every stage of it expects you to believe characters teleporting around like a star trek crew and like a star trek crew pulls last minute crap right out of it's arse.
I can't accept sheperd suddenly becoming an apathetic puppet for a literal deus ex machina in the form of the "god-child" nor can I make my brain accept my crew would teleport to the normandy and they and joker would then flee just as fast as they could.
I didn't expect my shep to walk away from 3 intact so that any "happy" ending was already gone, but what I got was a color coded illogical mess that gave no answers. For an ending to a saga that every step of it's development we were told would have closure there's a remarkable lack of anything resembling it.
And then at the end it turns out your story is a tale told by a grandpa to his favorite grandson and that all you achieved not only made no difference to the ending but probably didn't happen the way you played it anyway.
Yahtzee summed the ending up perfectly in a short sentence that after harbingers beam the entire ending is a balloon slowly, squeakily letting out air as it just gets worse until a final farting noise.
I can't accept sheperd suddenly becoming an apathetic puppet for a literal deus ex machina in the form of the "god-child" nor can I make my brain accept my crew would teleport to the normandy and they and joker would then flee just as fast as they could.
I didn't expect my shep to walk away from 3 intact so that any "happy" ending was already gone, but what I got was a color coded illogical mess that gave no answers. For an ending to a saga that every step of it's development we were told would have closure there's a remarkable lack of anything resembling it.
And then at the end it turns out your story is a tale told by a grandpa to his favorite grandson and that all you achieved not only made no difference to the ending but probably didn't happen the way you played it anyway.
Yahtzee summed the ending up perfectly in a short sentence that after harbingers beam the entire ending is a balloon slowly, squeakily letting out air as it just gets worse until a final farting noise.
