Mass Effect 3: "Extended Cut DLC"

...I can't speak for the additions/changes made to the standard ending choices. But they gave me my ending.

THEY GAVE ME MY ENDING, YOU GUYS

I'd been waiting for this to come out before reviewing Mass Effect 3. Now I'm starting to realize that, there's no way I could review the same game as you. All I can really talk about is My "Mass Effect", My "Shepard", and my version on these events. And I shall. A 3-part series of articles will loosely sum up my experiences with each of the games in the series, and my thoughts on them.


For now though, let's get back to the Extended Cut DLC:

No, it doesn't fix a lot of the stupid, contrived bullshit. It doesn't give satisfying answers to every question(even though it finally lets us ask those questions). And it's pathetic that it took this long, and this much banging of pots and pans just to get a complete fucking product we paid for months ago.

But they finally gave us a real choice to make. It's finally over for me. It's done.


"I can die free."


END OF LINE

 ~A.H.

Final Bosses

I "collect" Final Boss tracks from video games. Either physically, or just listening to it over and over. Until it essentially becomes a piece of the life I've lived, listening to video game music instead of becoming a productive member of society.

I believe, with the exception of a strong opening or conclusion, the final boss of a game should be the best part of that game. Ideally, everything should be leading up to that moment, every trick you've learned, every weapon and ability you've mastered should be acquired in service of that inevitable confrontation. It should be what 90% of the game is preparing you for. A final boss ought to be the biggest challenge, and part of the biggest payoff.

Via mariowiki.com

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Mass Effect 3: "Not Bad, For A Human"

Lance Henrikson talks about the extended Mass Effect 3 Ending DLC in the works. I'm surprised, since I'd heard they weren't going to bring back any of the voice cast for it. Tricia Helfer's coming back for it too, apparently.

This is going to be another addition to my series of rants about why the Mass Effect 3 ending is garbage, but it's also an excuse to gush about Lance Henrikson. What can I say? The man's paid his dues in a cruel line of work, and brought a lot to science-fiction. And as Alien Vs. Predator showed us, he can make the most out of crap. "Not bad, for a human."

But he's got his work cut out for him here.

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Mass Effect 3: "Things I Liked"

This may sound hard to believe, but the ending to Mass Effect 3 didn't go back and destroy everything that was good and pure about this series. But that's not for a lack of trying. I can still enjoy the events that lead up to it, even as it tries desperately to make everything I did across 90 hours completely pointless.

Here is a small list of things the ending could not ruin for me(in no particular order).

(MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD, YOU BEEN WARNED):


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Mass Effect 3: "Why The Ending Sucks"

MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!!

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Mass Effect 3: "Insanity"

I REALLY need something to focus on right now that isn't Mass Effect 3. I'm going to lose my mind if I keep this up. Days and days of nonstop playing the game, writing about the game, drawing stuff for the game, talking about the game, analyzing and joking about the game. Still so much to do, but I need some relief from this. I need closure, but I need a break.

This isn't like when I get the sudden urge to draw cast mugshots for a zombie story. I seriously think I'm starting to go insane here. It just won't escape my thoughts. I'm having a hard time accomplishing even basic rotary functions human beings do every day around the house, because Jennifer Hale is squatting in my brain like a hobo.

EB Games

There is nothing a publisher like EA hates more than used game sales. It means they don't get a penny for when they release rushed, idiotic, childish, pandering bullshit. It means they resort to backhanded business practices(usually by chopping up a game's content and selling it back to you, like a ransom note that comes with your son's finger). And most of all, it means John Riccitiello has to wait a little while before buying another solid-gold yacht he paid for by closing a development studio.

Because of this, I no longer see used-game sales as the industry-destroying problem it's made out to be. As Chris Kohler pointed out, it seems more like a scape-goat for business execs who don't want to try very hard. There's only so long you can release garbage for ridiculous prices, in a recession, before people start going to pawn-shops. If publishers aren't willing to make games for less(or at least just not waste millions of dollars into rendering James Vega's ass-cheeks), and as long as they keep trying to lock out customers who aren't Scrooge McDuck, places like EB Games are just going to keep eating into their profits. They have no one but themselves to blame for not properly adapting to the demands of their customers.

One would think the best way to combat this would be to not buy anymore EA products. Or Activision, or Capcom, Square-Enix, BioWare, etc. Any corporation that handles customer relations the way Jodie Foster was handled on that pinball machine in "The Accused".

But I think I have a better idea. It's just in the testing phase right now, but tell me if you think this makes sense:

For companies I like, I'll buy games new. 
For companies I don't like, I'll buy games used.




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Mass Effect 3: "Whores"

I think everyone can agree that the ending to Mass Effect 3 is just about the worst conceivable ending for anything. I don't think I'm being controversial in saying that. I think that's something we as a species has decided unanimously. Even the people who reviewed it on professional gaming rags seem to think so, but that didn't stop them from giving it Infinity out of Ten.

There's always been a long-standing suspicion that Publishers of games can buy good review scores. We've never had anything to prove it, and we might not have it now. But when I look at the disparity between the things the critics have to say, and things the fans have to say, it's getting harder and harder to hide.

Something is definitely wrong with games criticism, and for once it's not Yahtzee.

Via "Mass Effect 3 in a nutshell".

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7 Better Endings For "Mass Effect 3"

~~~~~
-Powerless, the survivors have no choice but to defeat the Reapers... THROUGH THE POWER OF DANCE!

*Cut To: All of the Reapers exploding
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