Kingjackl said:
They don't change the plot - none of the choices in this series truly change the plot and they never have. The story in Mass Effect has always been linear, while the various choices let us customise the world.
As was bought up previously in this thread I believe, each iteration had us under the impression the next would be where the changes occurred.
In ME1 there wasn't the timespan for our decisions to change a ton, but we knew things would change in ME2.
In ME2 we thought "Ok, things didn't change a lot. They need it this way so that making ME3 is possible, and there they are going to have wildly varying outcomes". Bioware's statements about ME3 also hinted at this.
In ME3, the advertising had quotes such as:
[The presence of the Rachni] has huge consequences in Mass Effect 3. Even just in the final battle with the Reapers.
Interviewer: [Regarding the numerous possible endings of Mass Effect 2] ?Is that
same type of complexity built into the ending of Mass Effect 3??
Hudson: ?Yeah, and I?d say much more so, because we have the ability to build the endings out in a way that we don?t have to worry about eventually tying them back together somewhere. This story arc is coming to an end with this game. That means the endings can be a lot more different. At this point we?re taking into account so many decisions that you?ve made as a player and reflecting a lot of that stuff. It?s not even in any way like the traditional game endings, where you can say how many endings there are or whether you got ending A, B, or C.....The endings have a lot more sophistication and variety in them.?
There are many different endings. We wouldn?t do it any other way. How could you go through all three campaigns playing as your Shepard and then be forced into a bespoke ending that everyone gets? But I can?t say any more than that?
It gave the impression that, since there was nothing they needed to tie the decisions to in a sequel - as there was no sequel - they would have decisions that actually mattered. I can't think of a single one of the above quotes that is actually true.
In regard to the Council, why would the races change if the previous ones died? The asari and salarians founded the council, and the turians have surely earned their place dealing with the Krogan Rebellions.
Who knows their reasons? Bioware would likely have written something better than I could, however the Volus had been pushing to have a councillor, as had the humans to a lesser extent, and the current Council had failed to defend the Citadel, and died, whilst the human Councillor was left to twist things whatever way he wanted.
They may have earned their places 1000 years ago, but that says nothing for today. The whole ending speech if you killed the Council made it sound a bit like the Cerberus coup. A single race making up the Council: Humanity. The Volus and another race were just an idea to add a bit of variety - the Volus would probably push as hard as humanity to get themselves on the Council, and there was talk among Citadel populace that they might deserve a place.
If you change the game too much based on a single choice, it's just unnecesary extra work for the devs.
Under that mentality they shouldn't design each level based off what planet its on, they should just copy and paste every single mission, do a light recolour and call it a day. Its unnecessary extra work creating all these carefully designed levels.
What you label as "Unnecessary extra work" is what I, and many others, label as quality. Sure, its not necessary for the most basic and mediocre game to have these options, but if it does include it it gains replayability, it gains personalisation and it gets praise for putting in the extra effort.
It's the same principle that had them clone the dead rachni queen and change the script and consequences accordingly - you don't put all that effort and resources into designing a level that only half the player base even get the oppurtunity to play.
Yep - and its a stupid decision. Following that mentality there should only have been pistols and SMGs in ME2, as if you picked a certain classes you wouldn't be able to use the other weapons [Until the Collector ship, but that's unnecessary extra work allowing you to get another weapon].
This is what we call being lazy. You do the bare minimum because the rest is "Unnecessary" and won't be experienced by many players in a single playthrough.
I don't doubt they had a time limit and a budget - that is irrelevant in my eyes. It does not increase the quality of the game by virtue of the fact they only had 2 years to make it, and 10 million dollars or W/E. It just means that they were under arbitrary restrictions that could be lifted if EA weren't so tight assed. Bioshock Infinite has been delayed over a year so far, and you know what? I'm happy it has been. It means the Devs aren't just saying "Got to get it out. Cut this, Cut that. Do bare minimum", but they're actually taking their time to make the game satisfying for those who play it. Quality Trumps Quantity in my books, any day of the week.
You're actually almost spot on about the salarians though. If I recall correctly, the new Salarian councillor is in favour of the genophage cure, while the old one isn't, but gives you the benefit of the doubt because you saved his life once.
Do either of them get in the way of the Dalatrass, and send 100% of the Salarian forces to your aid even if you do cure the Genophage, or do they both only hand over a lesser amount to what would have been given had you not cured the Genophage?
Also, saving the Council gives you the Destiny Ascension and a greater reward for saving the salarian councillors life, while sacrificing them gives you stronger Alliance forces. You can say thats just numbers on a screen, but you can't say they don't have an impact.
I never said they don't have any impact at all, only no story or plot impact. TBH, the way in which those war assets were handled was done quite well IMO. Pitty we never actually got to see any of this happening or affecting anything [And no, a 2 second clip of the Destiny Ascension flying away from a relay does not satisfy this].
