Zero Punctuation: Mass Effect 3

[Nicolairigel]

You know, When it comes to the Mass effect games ans Yatzhee he always struck me as saying that while he knows they're good games HE personally isn't a huge fan of them, so he deosn't really bother making a big deal if it is a "good" or "bad" game.

On another topic, I respect Yahtzee quite a lot for not bashing on the ending that much

 

[Nicolairigel]

Mass Effect 3

This week, Zero Punctuation review Mass Effect 3.

Watch Video

I'd really like to hear your thoughts on the next-to-last sequence, since it kind of rides that line between "taking control away" and "putting meaningful limitations on control."

Spoiler: I'm talking specifically about...

...when Shephard gets blasted, wakes up, and staggers toward the transport beam.

To me, best moment of the series. It was the first time I really felt that this whole "save the universe" business was really a challenge to Shepard. It was the only time during the whole ending sequence that I really felt any true sense of peril. I wish the ending had lived up to that lead-in.

You didn't find it illogical that he not only survived, but managed to walk and talk just fine after being hit by a stream of molten metal traveling at a fraction of the speed of light? Same stream of molten metal that can pierce through a dreadnought and obliterate 3 ships in one blow?

Even if you don't believe the indoctrination thingy, it never showed him being hit head on, he was just injured by the shockwave.

 

[daxterx2005]

Source fed tells me they may be adding a DLC ending since all the fans complained.

 

[Abedeus]

Mass Effect 3

This week, Zero Punctuation review Mass Effect 3.

Watch Video

I'd really like to hear your thoughts on the next-to-last sequence, since it kind of rides that line between "taking control away" and "putting meaningful limitations on control."

Spoiler: I'm talking specifically about...

...when Shephard gets blasted, wakes up, and staggers toward the transport beam.

To me, best moment of the series. It was the first time I really felt that this whole "save the universe" business was really a challenge to Shepard. It was the only time during the whole ending sequence that I really felt any true sense of peril. I wish the ending had lived up to that lead-in.

You didn't find it illogical that he not only survived, but managed to walk and talk just fine after being hit by a stream of molten metal traveling at a fraction of the speed of light? Same stream of molten metal that can pierce through a dreadnought and obliterate 3 ships in one blow?

Even if you don't believe the indoctrination thingy, it never showed him being hit head on, he was just injured by the shockwave.

He was injured by the shockwave... when beam was traveling straight at him... and it ripped off his armor and degraded whatever weapon he had to a pistol with unlimited ammo... And his teammates who were right behind him died, then magically appeared on Normandy. And trees and shrubs from his dreams, which weren't there before the blackout, mysteriously appeared in the middle of the field of destruction.

Again - it's a freaking beam made of molten metal traveling with, if I check codex

Estimates put its destructive power anywhere from 132 to 454 kilotons of TNT.

Even if he was hit by a shockwave of 132 kilotons... that's 131 kilotons too many to survive, even with kinetic barriers and armor.

 

[42]

Personally, I'm getting to sit back and laugh smugly, because EA hasn't gotten my money in about 10 years. EA is a paint by numbers video game company that slowly absorbs other companies and then devolves them into paint by numbers productions, as well.

It's like the Borg, except in reverse.

you can still play the first one considering that it wasn't published by EA. a win for you maybe?

Its nice that to hear criticism about anything else about Mass Effect 3 other than the fucking ending. And i also love how some people were expecting him to rail on about the ending, only to get disappointment. i call this a laughably predictable response.

 

[DioWallachia]

Shame on you, Benjamin Yahtzee Sebastian Godzilla Croshaw. How dare you to not steamroll "Dio Brando Style" the endings of ME3 for not being well executed not even in you trademark "Moral Choice System is Bullshit".

Bleh! I say, BLEH!

 

[FFHAuthor]

And trees and shrubs from his dreams, which weren't there before the blackout, mysteriously appeared in the middle of the field of destruction.

Wait...what? I've never heard THAT Point brought up in the Indoctrination theory...

 

[Abedeus]

And trees and shrubs from his dreams, which weren't there before the blackout, mysteriously appeared in the middle of the field of destruction.

Wait...what? I've never heard THAT Point brought up in the Indoctrination theory...

And the vehicle that lies next to where Shepard wakes up looks like a dead-ringer of Mako, only flipped upside down.

But look around Shepard when you get to ending scene, you can clearly see same scenery as during dream sequences.

Also - if Harbinger wanted to kill Shepard, why did he fly away when Shapard got hit? And Hackett telling everyone to retreat, didn't he see Shepard and Anderson making it to the beam?

And THEN after everything Hackett somehow knows Shepard is in the control room... PLOTHOLES.

Not to mention, why was Normandy flying away from combat, already traveling through Relay even though the explosion was not forewarned by anything, relay is too far from Earth to reach in a split second, and he was JUST FIGHTING THE REAPERS. Sounds like mutiny or desertion.

 

[Dfskelleton]

ZP and Mass Effect 3? Well, Escapist, say good by to your servers because this will cause some trouble.

Yep, it's time to retreat to the fallout shelters. I give it 20 minutes until the thread is 100 comments long, 80 of them complaining about how he didn't trash the ending as much as they wanted him to (which he will probably do in Extra Punctuation), 10 of them complaining about the people complaining, 7 people actually trying to talk about the video, two spambots, and a brony in a pear tree.

Should be fun. I'll get the popcorn.

You're just now getting out the popcorn? I've already gone through like three bowls throughout this entire ending freakout ordeal! Oh well, could you grab me some too? I guess my love of popcorn has it's merits.
Amusing review, as always.

 

[Something Amyss]

Surprised you didn't go into how batshit insane the ending was. For someone who espouses video game writing as being an important factor in a good video game, not highlighting the staggering failures in basic narrative structure seems like an oversight.

But then how would he sneak in a shot at fanboys in the credits?

It does amaze me how mercurial Bioware seems to be, though. I was one of the people who hated the MAKO, but I liked the idea. It's just the handling and terrain and that crap were awful. I expected them to fix it or something, not go "fine, you don't like our stupid and half-realised ideas? We'll get rid of them and replace them with NEW stupid and half-realised ideas!"

It's funny that people would go crazy defending Super Smash Bros Brawl but when it comes to one of the most excitingly anticipated game made by a company people have been throwing roses at the feet of for years everyone is like who cares.

Quite possibly because the Nintendo fanboy lacks the faculty to admit a Nintendo product sucks. If Bioware fans are like Star Wars fans, Nintendo fans are like radical terrorists who froth madly at cartoon depictions of Shigeru Miyamoto (pbuh)

 

[Arcane Azmadi]

Gotta admit I like the Mako in ME1. It makes the galaxy feel like it's full of stuff, gives you a lot to go around and see other than on scan results, adds a different kind of shooting action (albeit a simple, rather easy one) and to be honest I found the crazy bouncy control a lot more fun than smooth, precise steering would be- it's like navigating on a space hopper and do you remember what space hoppers are? That's right, they're not transportation, they're TOYS- and fun.

Mind you, I still haven't even beaten ME1 yet, let alone ME2, so ME3 doesn't exactly mean much to me at the moment. And since the PC version requires Origin to play, I honestly don't give much of a fuck about it right now anyway. Fucking EA.

 

[Something Amyss]

Ah, I was waiting for this. I needed this laugh about ME3.

Captcha: Face the music.

I feel like captcha has been reading my mind lately.

You've been indoctrinated. It's just a matter of time now.

 

[irishda]

I say all trilogy bashing is proven wrong simply by mentioning Toy Story, but outside of that if it's really so near impossibly hard to keep up a series past the first story, how do you explain TV shows, comics, and books then?

Lord of the Rings. The second film was the worst, first the best overall, and the third was the most emotional.

Extended edition makes the second one way better. I'd rank it slightly above the third one, if only because there's far less Frodo crying in number 2.

 

[endtherapture]

I say all trilogy bashing is proven wrong simply by mentioning Toy Story, but outside of that if it's really so near impossibly hard to keep up a series past the first story, how do you explain TV shows, comics, and books then?

Lord of the Rings. The second film was the worst, first the best overall, and the third was the most emotional.

Extended edition makes the second one way better. I'd rank it slightly above the third one, if only because there's far less Frodo crying in number 2.

Perhaps the Mass Effect 3 Extended Edition might be better than ME2.

It was really really good, maybe even my favourite Mass Effect game, until the Cerberus base which just started to gradually ruin everything. Point of no return was when I got to the Citadel

 

[Labcoat Samurai]

Again - it's a freaking beam made of molten metal traveling with, if I check codex

Estimates put its destructive power anywhere from 132 to 454 kilotons of TNT.

Even if he was hit by a shockwave of 132 kilotons... that's 131 kilotons too many to survive, even with kinetic barriers and armor.

Eh. There are a lot of places where the gameplay doesn't match up with the codex. The Hiroshima bomb was at most 18 kilotons. So if Harbinger's beam released that kind of energy, every single time it fired, it would obliterate everything within sight. That would not only invalidate the entire ending push to the Citadel beam, but it would also invalidate the earlier fight with the Destroyer on Rannoch.

The Reaper beam is as strong as the plot demands that it be. People who try to logically reason from this that what we're shown at the end isn't what happened, let's be charitable... are really reaching.

 

[irishda]

Lord of the Rings. The second film was the worst, first the best overall, and the third was the most emotional.

Extended edition makes the second one way better. I'd rank it slightly above the third one, if only because there's far less Frodo crying in number 2.

Perhaps the Mass Effect 3 Extended Edition might be better than ME2.

It was really really good, maybe even my favourite Mass Effect game, until the Cerberus base which just started to gradually ruin everything. Point of no return was when I got to the Citadel[/quote]

I wouldn't know. I only played the first Mass Effect a long time ago. Bioware games aren't really my cup of tea, or I just rent them. The stories are kind of interesting, but they're all sort of samey, especially in terms of gameplay.

 

[Geisterkarle]

Hm, Yahtzee seems to be talking to much ... or too fast ... lately! Strange sounding voice... or I'm just a little bit hooked on old episodes, because I currently review every episode! ... but I lost my thoughts...

MASS EFFECT 3
yeah well it wasn't completely bashing but seem to be like some "ah, ok game, nothing new here, go along" and forget it in three weeks!

 

[firas333]

Huh. I would have expected more about the ending due to how Yahtzee thought about Deus Ex:HR,
seeing as the ending of me3 was extremely similar and even worse than it at closure.
I think the ME3 ending lacked very much and introduced some new stuff wayyyyy too late to be a constructive addition(the catalyst)
There is even some stuff about how bioware had to make a new ending because the other got leaked, unfortunately if this is true it detracted alot of the buildup.

Though the *diehard* fans are going slightly overboard(returning copies because the ending sucked??).

Bioware is doing their PR dance of distraction and obtuse talk, which is probably one of the main reasons fans are so mad.

 

[pearcinator]

I had a feeling he wouldn't be hating on the endings...probably cos he was never really a fan. However, I still think the indoctrination theory is true so yeah I don't really hate on it either (because they aren't real to me)

 

[maninahat]

Finally, someone who doesn't instantly hate the ending!

And I agree that the Mako was the most interesting way to do the 'exploration' aspect. Although it did have a rocket jump yahtzee.

I still think the first is my favorite, but at least the third one has multiplayer (which is actually fun!)

It reminded me of a blander version of good old Monster Truck Madness. If they put some more scenery and foliage in the land roving sections, I could have easily spent hours driving around (not that I wasn't already doing that).