Comments for Cruise Elroy http://cruiseelroy.net Wed, 21 Mar 2012 18:13:26 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Comment on Storyteller by Paul S http://cruiseelroy.net/2012/01/storyteller/#comment-945 Paul S Wed, 21 Mar 2012 18:13:26 +0000 http://cruiseelroy.net/?p=1285#comment-945 I think no game is truly an open world. There must be limits at some point. Be it cliffs which keep you confined in a box canyon or the inability to go beyond whatever island or planet on which your character lives. Usually, I just take it as a given. Books and movies have more open worlds by simply omitting the boundaries. One game which has no side quests, and actually almost no other characters other than the hero and three supporting roles, is PS2's "Shadow of the Colossus." It is the most minimalistic game, in terms of gameplay, I have ever played: seek and destroy the only 16 enemies in the whole game using your sword, bow and horse. It has an intriguing and haunting, yet simple, story. It is visually and musically beautiful. If you have never played it, give it a shot. And a listen. I think no game is truly an open world. There must be limits at some point. Be it cliffs which keep you confined in a box canyon or the inability to go beyond whatever island or planet on which your character lives. Usually, I just take it as a given. Books and movies have more open worlds by simply omitting the boundaries.

One game which has no side quests, and actually almost no other characters other than the hero and three supporting roles, is PS2′s “Shadow of the Colossus.” It is the most minimalistic game, in terms of gameplay, I have ever played: seek and destroy the only 16 enemies in the whole game using your sword, bow and horse. It has an intriguing and haunting, yet simple, story. It is visually and musically beautiful. If you have never played it, give it a shot. And a listen.

]]> Comment on The ending by birthofthecool http://cruiseelroy.net/2012/03/the-ending/#comment-944 birthofthecool Tue, 20 Mar 2012 14:41:15 +0000 http://cruiseelroy.net/?p=1304#comment-944 I personally want to be able to achieve a happy ending, like in DAO, where sacrificing yourself was only one of the choices available, since Mass Effect as a series was way more about different choices creating different outcomes it comes off like a bad joke to restrict the ending this way. It's not even about getting the ending I wish for myself, but at least I want an ending that doesn't seem forced, has lots of plotholes and is OOC, both for Shepard accepting the three choices at face value and for Joker and the squad running away during battle. What bioware promised wasn't just that all things in the earlier games were resolved in some way (which did indeed mostly happen in ME§), but also that our choices and decisions would lead to one of many, endings, so many that you couldn't even see it as endings in the usual way. I personally want to be able to achieve a happy ending, like in DAO, where sacrificing yourself was only one of the choices available, since Mass Effect as a series was way more about different choices creating different outcomes it comes off like a bad joke to restrict the ending this way.

It’s not even about getting the ending I wish for myself, but at least I want an ending that doesn’t seem forced, has lots of plotholes and is OOC, both for Shepard accepting the three choices at face value and for Joker and the squad running away during battle.

What bioware promised wasn’t just that all things in the earlier games were resolved in some way (which did indeed mostly happen in ME§), but also that our choices and decisions would lead to one of many, endings, so many that you couldn’t even see it as endings in the usual way.

]]> Comment on The ending by Valk http://cruiseelroy.net/2012/03/the-ending/#comment-943 Valk Sun, 18 Mar 2012 17:07:08 +0000 http://cruiseelroy.net/?p=1304#comment-943 "If I had to guess, I’d say that BioWare takes this one on the chin and tries to manage expectations better in the future." They better not, because in this case they will lose a lot of fans or at least one ( me ). Why? Just go read that post: http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/355/index/10056886/1 Can you see how much BW has lied to us pre-release? How can you expect us to believe in BW anymore after all this fiasco? You can't. If BW fix the ending, they would at least not lose a huge part of the ME fanbase. That wouldn't stop for not trusting them anymore, but i would give them a chance to redeem themselves. “If I had to guess, I’d say that BioWare takes this one on the chin and tries to manage expectations better in the future.”

They better not, because in this case they will lose a lot of fans or at least one ( me ). Why? Just go read that post:
http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/355/index/10056886/1

Can you see how much BW has lied to us pre-release? How can you expect us to believe in BW anymore after all this fiasco? You can’t.

If BW fix the ending, they would at least not lose a huge part of the ME fanbase. That wouldn’t stop for not trusting them anymore, but i would give them a chance to redeem themselves.

]]> Comment on The ending by Ari Puurunen http://cruiseelroy.net/2012/03/the-ending/#comment-942 Ari Puurunen Sun, 18 Mar 2012 17:05:30 +0000 http://cruiseelroy.net/?p=1304#comment-942 I'll put it shortly with Ron Moore's words: “It’s the Characters, Stupid.” BsG was a tv-series, a form of entertainment where there is no interaction between what happens and the person who watches it. Compare that to ME3, where player is in the world, drives the story. An ending that removes player from the equation is bound to cause emotional disconnect with the story. I’ll put it shortly with Ron Moore’s words: “It’s the Characters, Stupid.”

BsG was a tv-series, a form of entertainment where there is no interaction between what happens and the person who watches it.
Compare that to ME3, where player is in the world, drives the story. An ending that removes player from the equation is bound to cause emotional disconnect with the story.

]]> Comment on The ending by Aleksander http://cruiseelroy.net/2012/03/the-ending/#comment-941 Aleksander Sun, 18 Mar 2012 16:03:00 +0000 http://cruiseelroy.net/?p=1304#comment-941 I would not mind a happy ending, there is nothing wrong in believing in rainbows and ponies. There too much pain in real life as it is. I would not mind a happy ending, there is nothing wrong in believing in rainbows and ponies. There too much pain in real life as it is.

]]> Comment on The ending by Drew http://cruiseelroy.net/2012/03/the-ending/#comment-940 Drew Sun, 18 Mar 2012 10:02:21 +0000 http://cruiseelroy.net/?p=1304#comment-940 For me the big issue was indeed that all previous choices had no effect on the final choice. I didn't like that after working with cerbures and the Elusive Man so closely in the previous game, here you were forced into direct action against him. He was painted as truly without morals and "evil" and not wanting to save the universe but just wanting power for himself, were previously he was the only one willing to act against the collectors. Then after forcing you against him and having just shot him dead not a minute or 2 earlier, you are offered as one of the possible choices to do what he wanted. This is the very definition of pointlessness, why have the choice at all? Who after fighting against cerbures for hours of gameplay would then choose to complete there mission. For me the big issue was indeed that all previous choices had no effect on the final choice. I didn’t like that after working with cerbures and the Elusive Man so closely in the previous game, here you were forced into direct action against him. He was painted as truly without morals and “evil” and not wanting to save the universe but just wanting power for himself, were previously he was the only one willing to act against the collectors. Then after forcing you against him and having just shot him dead not a minute or 2 earlier, you are offered as one of the possible choices to do what he wanted. This is the very definition of pointlessness, why have the choice at all? Who after fighting against cerbures for hours of gameplay would then choose to complete there mission.

]]> Comment on The ending by xxskyshadowxx http://cruiseelroy.net/2012/03/the-ending/#comment-939 xxskyshadowxx Sun, 18 Mar 2012 09:45:44 +0000 http://cruiseelroy.net/?p=1304#comment-939 This is very well written and I agree with many things articulated within it. I disagree that many folks want a happy ending per se however. I strongly disliked the ending for some of the reasons illustrated in this article, but one thing folks are missing is the fact that regardless of your choices, your Shepard will commit mass genocide. The writers abandoned their own lore, even though there is a reference to that very lore in the codex of ME3. If the Relays are destroyed they blow up the system with them. No matter what you choose, all the Relays are destroyed. So in the best possible scenario (all scenarios really) everything dies (except a few people on the Normandy because they are protected by space magic and abandoned the war) but instead of it being the Reaper's fault, it's Shepard's. And Shepard choosing any of those options would have gone against her character completely, because she already did it once with one Relay and it utterly devastated her. Maybe she would have told the admiral to just fire everything on earth (there was the whole took the whole game to unify the galaxy, but in the end they just sat there and watched fleet available after all) and sacrifice earth to save everyone else....or she would just head back down and shoot till she died....but instead we don't get to choose that and she becomes Space Hitler. Nice ending. This is very well written and I agree with many things articulated within it. I disagree that many folks want a happy ending per se however. I strongly disliked the ending for some of the reasons illustrated in this article, but one thing folks are missing is the fact that regardless of your choices, your Shepard will commit mass genocide. The writers abandoned their own lore, even though there is a reference to that very lore in the codex of ME3. If the Relays are destroyed they blow up the system with them. No matter what you choose, all the Relays are destroyed. So in the best possible scenario (all scenarios really) everything dies (except a few people on the Normandy because they are protected by space magic and abandoned the war) but instead of it being the Reaper’s fault, it’s Shepard’s. And Shepard choosing any of those options would have gone against her character completely, because she already did it once with one Relay and it utterly devastated her. Maybe she would have told the admiral to just fire everything on earth (there was the whole took the whole game to unify the galaxy, but in the end they just sat there and watched fleet available after all) and sacrifice earth to save everyone else….or she would just head back down and shoot till she died….but instead we don’t get to choose that and she becomes Space Hitler. Nice ending.

]]> Comment on The ending by Marauder Shields http://cruiseelroy.net/2012/03/the-ending/#comment-938 Marauder Shields Sun, 18 Mar 2012 09:26:18 +0000 http://cruiseelroy.net/?p=1304#comment-938 The folks at BioWare are out of their minds if they think the fans are going to invest in DLC story arcs that take place before or during Mass Effect 3 (obviously before the ending) . It seems like the general consensus is that BioWare needs to earn the trust of its fanbase back and address the endings before releasing such content - if DLC is released that has no effect on the endings, I can see it as the beginning of the end for BioWare. They have our money now, but the trust of your fanbase is one thing that you just can't mess with in this industry - and to that end, BioWare cannot let EA assume direct control. It really boils down to the issue of whether or not they're going to do right by their fans and fix the ending, or risk both the integrity of the ME franchise and the integrity of their studio as a whole. This is not something that people are going to just "get over" without BioWare feeling the effects of it down the road. Retcon the ending, a la Fallout 3, and move on. Please your most loyal of players, and they won't go anywhere...don't betray them like you did with this ending and make it look like you went out of your way to make it known that their loyalty meant nothing outside of the money they spent. The ball is in BioWare's court now. The folks at BioWare are out of their minds if they think the fans are going to invest in DLC story arcs that take place before or during Mass Effect 3 (obviously before the ending) .

It seems like the general consensus is that BioWare needs to earn the trust of its fanbase back and address the endings before releasing such content – if DLC is released that has no effect on the endings, I can see it as the beginning of the end for BioWare.

They have our money now, but the trust of your fanbase is one thing that you just can’t mess with in this industry – and to that end, BioWare cannot let EA assume direct control.

It really boils down to the issue of whether or not they’re going to do right by their fans and fix the ending, or risk both the integrity of the ME franchise and the integrity of their studio as a whole. This is not something that people are going to just “get over” without BioWare feeling the effects of it down the road. Retcon the ending, a la Fallout 3, and move on. Please your most loyal of players, and they won’t go anywhere…don’t betray them like you did with this ending and make it look like you went out of your way to make it known that their loyalty meant nothing outside of the money they spent. The ball is in BioWare’s court now.

]]> Comment on The ending by Skurkanas http://cruiseelroy.net/2012/03/the-ending/#comment-937 Skurkanas Sun, 18 Mar 2012 09:25:19 +0000 http://cruiseelroy.net/?p=1304#comment-937 Spot on, good sir. Spot on. Spot on, good sir. Spot on.

]]> Comment on The ending by JD http://cruiseelroy.net/2012/03/the-ending/#comment-936 JD Sun, 18 Mar 2012 09:16:44 +0000 http://cruiseelroy.net/?p=1304#comment-936 It's worth noting that it's no longer looking like it's a "vocal minority" speaking out against the endings - it is looking more like a large majority. And as more people finish the game...I can only imagine even more discontent and outrage at the poorly written ending. It's one thing to not have a "happy ending," and entirely another to have CLOSURE. You can't build three games all based on CHOICES and REPERCUSSIONS, and then throw that entire idea away when it matters the most - not only that, but go on to explain NOTHING about the outcome of your actions, even at that final moment. And then there's the issue of plot holes so large that the entire Reaper AND Galactic Armadas could fly through them...but anyone who was even half-paying attention would notice them. Anyway, good read, thanks for sharing! It’s worth noting that it’s no longer looking like it’s a “vocal minority” speaking out against the endings – it is looking more like a large majority. And as more people finish the game…I can only imagine even more discontent and outrage at the poorly written ending.

It’s one thing to not have a “happy ending,” and entirely another to have CLOSURE. You can’t build three games all based on CHOICES and REPERCUSSIONS, and then throw that entire idea away when it matters the most – not only that, but go on to explain NOTHING about the outcome of your actions, even at that final moment.

And then there’s the issue of plot holes so large that the entire Reaper AND Galactic Armadas could fly through them…but anyone who was even half-paying attention would notice them.

Anyway, good read, thanks for sharing!

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