Post by Rankkor
6:)
Identical Cutscenes (this one was a major offender)STATUS: Fixed.
I'll not accept excuses from bioware on this one. The Vanilla cutscenes showed pure unadulterated LAZINESS. Their production values for their games have always been top notch, and even on their most crude games they've never EVER resorted to this cheap tactic of using the exact same cutscene for different outcomes just tweaking the color a little bit.
This was something that royally pissed me off in the vanilla game. Regardless of what you choose, you get the same cutscene. Couple this with the points 1 and 2, and you get an ending that its entirely irrelevant of your choices.
It doesn't matter what you pick because the outcome is the same (with the galaxy isolated forever, it makes no difference if synthetics are destroyed, or if we're combined, or if the reapers are controlled) and if the cutscene showing this is the same as well.
Now, they changed it, and boy did they changed it. The original cutscene showed a bunch of soldiers fighting the reapers when suddenly there's a massive lightwave (color depends on your ending) that either disables the reapers (red) or makes the take off (blue and green), this is followed by the citadel exploding as it shoots a beam (color dependent) onto the mass relays (while the fleet was still fighting the reapers, showing they would be stranded) which are destroyed in the process.
This is then seen being sent across the whole galaxy like a domino-effect. Next thing we know, joker is outrunning a fireball (color dep----- you get the point) frantically piloting his ship while looking back (as if looking back had any effect...... you're on a ship joker, not a car, there's no rear window to be looking at here.)
Next normandy is on a planet, crew gets out, stare at the rising sun. Fade to black. The end.
BOOO >=(
Here's the revised ending:
Starts different than before, with that cutscene that explains why joker was leaving, as the whole fleet quickly flees the battlefield as the catalyst is activating, and slowly covering earht with the big light wave.
We then get treated of that cutscene we saw originally of those soldiers fighting reapers, wave of light, reapers either take off (blue and green) or fall down (Red), and this is then followed by a new scene, of 2 soldiers fighting husks, one of these jumps on a soldier and starts scratching his face when the wave light hits them both.
Depending on the ending several things happen next.
If the control ending was chosen, the husks simply flee (Likely commanded by shepard to do so), if the synth ending is chosen, they both (soldiers and husks) stop fighting and stare at each other scared and confused over what the hell just happened, and if the destroy ending was chosen, the husks are vaporized by the wave.
Then the citadel shoots a light beam to the relay, and while it shows some explosions the citadel itself isn't destroyed, just damaged. Ditto for the relay which shows damage but its not destroyed either. We get that Domino-effect cutscene, as the beam of light spreads across all relays, and then we get new scenes.
If the control ending was chosen, we see asaris on Thessia fighting reapers when they too get hit by the blue wave, and flee. Cue lots of asari cheering and celebrating (Sadly no hugging or kissing...... what? >_>). Cue scene on Tuchanka, where again, reapers get hit by the blue light, they flee, Krogans cheer and celebrate (sadly no bro'fists or chest-bumps U_U)
If the Destroy ending was chosen, then the scene described above is almost identical. Again, shot of Thessia and asaris fighting when the reapers are hit by the red wave, they fall over and die, asari celebrate, shot of tuchanka, reapers hit by red light, they fall over and die exploding, krogans celebrate. I'd like to note however that while these 2 scenes are similar at least they are somewhat different, its not just a color swap, in one the reapers flee, in another the reapers die. That's a difference.
If the Synth ending was chosen, a similar cutscene is seen. This time Turians on Palaven fighting reapers when they suddenly all get hit by the green wave, reapers flee, but the turians instead of celebrating, look at each other a little puzzled over what the hell just happened. Cue the same shot from tuchanka, except the Krogan also look at each other slightly puzzled over what happened.
And then a revised scene of the normandy fleeing, this time with the whole crew doing stuff and looking busy (pfft, as if EDI couldn't run the whole ship by herself with joker as demonstrated in ME2 xD) With Joker flying the ship like a pro' and outrunning the wave. This time thank the heavens they removed that stupid scene of him looking back, ITS A SPACE SHIP not a car, there's no rear window to be looking at here. keep your eyes on the control board. (yes I'm a detail nutjob like that, small touches like that one can get on my nerves if they become excessive)
And lastly, that scene on the unknown jungle world, we've seen this one before, and it has almost no changes, pan of the normandy landing (but in much better shape than the original cutscene, showing she can take off again) door opens, joker gets out followed by your romance interest, and your most used squadmate (or alternatively if the synth ending was chosen, Joker gets out, followed by EDI and just your romance interest). Cue the clichéd staring off at the sunrise, and fade-to-back. The end.
Just kidding xD there's more.
What follows, is a slideshow, with someone providing a narration. Admiral Hackett for the destroy ending, EDI for the synth ending, and Reaper!Shepard for the Control ending. (Curiously, Admiral Hackett sounds A LOT like Optimus Prime on this scene). Now, I don't particularly like slideshows, but hey, its totally understandable this time, I mean, the time constraints, and budget of a free DLC wont leave room for that much, so even if I don't particularly like slideshows, I'll let this one slide (hehehe puns =D).
The last scene is inside the normandy, where all your squadmates gather on the memorial wall. Admiral Anderson's name has been added to it (T_T) and one of your crewmates (either your love interest, or if you had none, your most used squadmate) will place your name plaque on the center of the memorial wall. However, should you choose the destroy ending, and have a sufficient EMS, your love interest/friend will refuse to place the plaque on the wall, signifying that they still believe you are alive.
Last scene is of the normandy TAKING OFF from that jungle planet (yay!)
And should that destroy ending with high EMS was chosen, you get that lame 3-second cutscene of someone in N7 armor, lying on a pile of rubble taking a single gap of breath.
All in all, the new cutscenes look fantastic, and are WILDLY DIFFERENT FROM EACH OTHER, no more palette swap, so yes they fixed this one BIG TIME.
I'll keep the next 2 short, since they're so related to each other.
7 and 8:)
Ending felt like a cliffhanger rather than a closing ending and No Closure.STATUS: Fixed.
On the slideshow, the narrating voice explains (and shows) the outcome of your choices, so we get actual closure on the events on the game. While its not as character-specific as "Garrus became a cop again" or "Jacob became an ambassador" it did added closure to the events on the game. Cured the genophage? good for you, here's an image of krogan society rebuilding, this time they have kids, and their planet looks gorgeous instead of a wasteland. Unified the Quarians and Geth? Great for you, here's this image of Rannoch rebuilt, with Quarians and Geth living together as friends.
You also get pictures of your individual squad members from all games past and present (sadly not all of them get one, from my memory alone, there was none for Liara, Tali, Ashley, Kaidan, Garrus, Javik, or Grunt) showing how they moved on with their lives, and pictures of each race, rebuilding, we see pictures of earth, of palaven, of thesia, of tuchanka, ect.
We get CLOSURE, the ending feels like it wrapped things up instead of leaving us with more questions as cliffhangers tend to do.
9:)
Explanation of why the reapers exist. (it was plain stupid)STATUS: Mended, though not fully.
I gotta hand it to the writing team for this one, because the original explanation for the reapers and the cycle of extinction were plain STUPID, reliant on circular logic, and felt empty. They managed to make that very same explanation suddenly not seem so stupid by using a better wording, and adding more dialog without actually changing anything. That's not easy to do. When a writer screws up, the easy way out is simply retcon the mistake and fix it with something new. They instead chose to stick to their version, but did a much better job into making it something we can digest.
In as few words as I can manage: The Godchild is crazy, and its a genocidal maniac.
The original race that created the reapers had their own Organic vs Synthetic war. They made the Catalyst as a way to mediate peace between the 2 factions, a middle ground so to speak, the Catalyst responded by taking full control of their synthetics, and fusing them together into those amalgamations called reapers, he then used these as tools to cull every race that became too advanced because it simply knew no better.
That's all there is to it. It was a flawed AI that turned against its masters, and that's all there is to it.
Simple, I like it.
Sadly this is where the good news ends, and its where my grievances with the DLC beging. Because the last 3 issues I had with the vanilla endings were in fact not fixed.
10:)
Plothole that nullifies the entire plot of ME1.STATUS: Not Fixed.
The simple fact that the catalyst is the leader of the reapers, and that he was in the citadel all this time, nullifies the entire plot of ME1. Think about how the reapers do their cycle of extinction.
They arrive, they kill everyone, put them on a blender, make reapers out of them, erase all evidence of their actions, flee to darkspace, leave behind a single scout, who will monitor the state of galactic civilizations, and when the time for the next culling arrives, this scout will wake up the dormant reaper army on darkspace and summon them back by sending a signal to the Keepers in the citadel, and making them activate its giant relay.
Very nice, very neat, very effective. This was thwarted by the protheans though, because they modified the citadel's keepers to ignore the scout's voice (Sovereign). So when the time for the next culling arrived, nothing happened, sovereign couldn't get the keepers to open the citadel and activate the relay so, there was no way to activate the dormant army.
k, that's cool, there's only one problem.......
THE DAMNED LEADER OF THE REAPERS WAS IN THE CITADEL THE WHOLE TIME! And not only this leader wanted the cycles to continue, IT HAD CONTROL OVER THE CITADEL, remember that the protheans permanently modified the keepers to ignore reaper commands, so how exactly did the citadel managed to close its arms? how did it got to earth? =O that's right, the godchild did all that.
So, if the godchild was in the citadel the whole time, if the godchild could control the citadel, if the godchild wanted the cycles to continue
WHY THE HELL WAS SOVEREIGN NEEDED AT ALL? why didn't he monitored the state of galactic civilization? why didn't he opened the giant portal? he had no problems shutting the citadel (again that was not the keepers, those were permanently made immune to the reaper signals) or moving it. This plot hole goes unexplained, and its a hole big enough to make the first game pointless
SO there it is, a plot hole still open, and sadly its likely to remain open, because they've said they have no more plans for DLCs that change the ending. Man that really sucks. I guess I'll have to apply the
MST3K Mantra here.
11:) War Assets that are never seen in use. This one I don't consider it a spoiler because rather than being something happening, its something NOT happening. So its undisclosed.
STATUS: Not Fixed.
What was the point of getting all those assets if we're not gonna see them? one of the cardinal rules of storytelling is
SHOW, DON'T TELL. Krogans riding Dinosaurs into battle? yeah we make it happen but wont see it. Elcor carrying anti-tank weaponry on their backs? made it happen, never saw it. Elcor Bombers? they're there, but we wont see them. Salarian Fleet? there but unseen. Drell&Hanar special forces? there but unseen. Rachni forces? same deal. To make the list short, during the battle for earth all we see is exclusively the human fleet, and human soldiers.
During the entire big badass war sequence we only get a grand total of 1 scene where we see non-humans fighting and its just Turians Asaris, and Krogans. That's it, the other races are implied to be there but never shown. MALO MALO MALO MALISIMO!.
We spent a great deal of time building the largest army the galaxy had ever seen (excepting the reapers of course) and we don't see them fight? da'hell? Come on, a few cutscenes of at least 1 minute each showing all the races I collected fighting together would had been awesome, seeing the Geth and Quarian fleets unleash hell on the reapers, seeng an elcor ramming up a Brute, watching a combined team of Salarians Rachni and Batarians take down a pack of Cannibals and a Harvester. Seeing the Hanar&Drell Special forces take out those Marauders. See the famed Elcor Bombers in action.
Come on bioware, what happened? You didn't spared any details elsewhere in this game, on tuchanka we saw plenty of action with other krogans fighting, on Rannoch same thing happened with the quarians. Now on earth, after getting the most badass army ever, we only see humans fighting? da'hell? seriously, what the hell?
No, I'm most displeased with this. When I first read the concept of the war assets back when the game was in development, I believed we would actually see this army fight, even if it was a small bunch of 30seconds-to-1min cutscenes, but no such luck. Greatest battle ever, and its offscreen. Tsk tsk tsk.
And finally, last one, I saved this one for last because its the one thing that upset me the most about the ending, and its something the DLC STILL DID NOT FIXED. And its grave enough to warrant its own separate post.
Shepard's Fate.
Hatman, I love you. I love you so so so so much.
may I ask why? Inquiring minds wants to know