The Mask of Norro

Am home and going on now. Let's see who turns out!

Stepping out for a bit with Lorina. When I come back home I will be inviting whatever EWBers are online to a Party so we can at least get a small match going. Be there! (Y)

Whenever everyone can reach a consensus I suppose. I'll be wrapping up on ME1 soon to hop back onto ME3 so I can try to unlock my damn Geth Infiltrator. Would be nice.

Well I'll be on randomly throughout the day. I'm replaying ME1 and ME2 so if anyone wants to play multi with me just shoot me an invite and I'll hop on ME3. For those that don't have it my GamerTag is Mask Of Norro (Y)

Oh, and I have a mic now. Just traded some things in and picked up a default Microsoft wired one until I can get the damn cable for my Turtle Beach back.

So, gentlemen: what time today shall we begin?

Hahaha that was amazing. It seems like there's a lot of good videos from that series looking through them.

So yeah confirmed, totally have the day off. We need to figure a time we're starting this! Damn excited

I'm so in. The 10th is Tuesday right? I think I have Tuesday off this coming week. Can't wait for the Geth Infiltrator!

Planet exploring started in ME1. Don't care what spin they put on it, it's all the same to me-- perfectionistic gameplay that happens to cater perfectly to me And yes I called him an assuming little shit (didn't really call him a prick-- "I always think people just give you too much of a hard time for being such a pessimistic prick"-- was more saying others did). Because he was being one in his last sentence there. If he called me one I wouldn't suspend/warn/blah him, that's just stupid and the only reason you're even making the comment is because I'm a mod. My 'rank' here doesn't exactly prohibit me from interacting with other posters the way they'd interact with each other, and I'm certainly not going to try and say something that I'd only get away with because of it. If Matz thinks I'm being anything negative then by all means he can call me on it, it's not like others have been warned in the past because they expressed distaste towards a mod. It's when they go overboard with it that it's an issue, so let's not try and play that card here. Also I know he's like this but it's hard for me not to play into it a bit when he's basically judging me because I bought the Collector's edition, which was where calling him an assuming little shit came from in the first place. His little snippet was unnecessary and intended only to aggravate and I called him out on it Anyway, agree to disagree on the ending really. I think it's about time games with multiple endings and one 'perfect' ending require you to bust your ass and play 'perfectly' to attain it, and not just work really hard at it. The multiplayer helping it part, to me, was nice because it made an easier outlet to attain it, but really if I had no means of going online with the game I wouldn't be too fussed, a perfect ending should be as the name implies.

died? If you ask me they designed the game for having to play Multiplayer. Saying you don´t have to is just as silly as Bioware pointing at good reviews ignoring the ending or the two and a half players that actually liked the ending. It´s like saying in the right genetic labratory pigs could grow wings and fly. I never said they didn't center the game around multiplayer. You're right there; however, you're wrong in thinking that just because you didn't get the perfect ending because you didn't play it means that it's cheap and unfair that the 'only' way to get it is multiplayer when no, it isn't. You're lacking points because the buildup of your choices from the first two games plus your choices in the third did not get you the necessary number of points to sustain without multiplayer's multiplier. So you can bitch all you want but the fact remains that if you want the perfect ending you have to play the perfect game. Try getting a hole in one on every course in golf, or hitting a homerun every time you're at bat/pitching a perfect game, or making a touchdown pass with every throw in American Football. Can it be done? Yeah. Are you going to do it? More than likely no. The multiplayer mode is there to make it much, much easier to attain, but without it, the perfect ending is just that: the ending to playing a perfect game. So yeah, Matz, they designed the game for having to play multiplayer if you absolutely positively have to reach the perfect ending and can't be arsed to play the perfect game, but I'm not going to fault them for making it exactly as difficult to attain as it should be. Seriously? It's been in place since the first game so if you're seriously complaining about it now then Christ, where have you been? Is it for everyone? No. I personally enjoyed it but that's because I like stupid little things like that, searching around and collecting little things across the galaxy map. It's something I've enjoyed since ME1. Granted I won't defend this point too heavily-- too many games rely on the "complete every little thing to get the edge" mechanic-- but seriously? It's been around forever now. Regardless of if you think it's boring or not, it's there and in place for you to get the most war assets possible. If you're really wanting the right ending so badly just do the damn thing, it's called a perfect ending for a reason, it's not supposed to be easy. When I played through my single-player run, I didn't touch the multiplayer until after. I honestly did not notice any difference when I was playing in single-player in the maps from the other normal maps. I always think people just give you too much of a hard time for being such a pessimistic prick about things but Jesus, Matz, if you seriously think that those missions interfered so much with your single-player experience that you absolutely had to complain about them and it just ruined the flow of things then I think it's safe to say that whatever Bioware chose to do with this game would have you with your panties in a bunch regardless. There was literally no difference, it was continuing the game in the same flow and direction with the same setup. I mean shit, there've been maps in ME1 and ME2 that now feel like they could easily be added to the multiplayer mode for their layout. The map layouts felt exactly the same as they have been, if not just a little more polished. You're complaining about it now just because they slapped multiplayer on it and nothing more-- if the multiplayer mode wasn't added and the maps were the same, I'm almost completely positive we'd not hear a peep out of you about it (though I'm also certain you'll be making plenty peeps about this particular paragraph now). Of course it is, I'm not implying that. What I'm implying is that ultimately, BioWare dropped the ball because they built it up that it was going to be something more. I'm not expecting my choice involving the Rachni Queen, for example, to cause the entire Rachni branch of the game to either exist or not exist at all. That's far too grand scale and could have seriously shortened the game a big chunk with that and other areas; however, BioWare built up that my choices were going to have massive ramifications and they didn't. It changed my war asset bonuses, but that was it. A little number to add up towards that ending. Shit, I didn't even get a mention of it during the ending build-up where So yeah, I wasn't expecting game-changing results on a grand scale-- as you said, that wasn't the case with ME1 to ME2, and it wasn't going to be the case going into ME3; however, BioWare insisted that it would be, and they shouldn't have done that. They shouldn't have built up the hopes of the fanbase, because ultimately they weren't going to be able to attain that goal. They made a perfectly fine game in my opinion, one that was a worthy addition to the series and a fulfilling cap-off to the story aside from that ending. They didn't need to do anything more, but they insisted that they were going to. When you swear up and down that you're putting out the best thing since sliced bread and you put out something that's really great, but not on that level, there's going to be some amount of disappointment to be had in the aftermath. And, speaking as a manager of GameStop, I sure do hate it when I have to deal with customers like your pessimistic ass. I like the patch, figure I'll wear it to work, be a little extra thing to have around and help sell. The post-card can go up with the other bits of merchandise and posters I have scattered about so that when Lorina and I have our own home and I have my gaming room set-up, it'll be hung up with everything else. An 'incomplete comic' is a stupid complaint, did you sincerely think they were going to just give away the entire series in there? What, were they going to throw in the novels too? We got to sample something that's still coming out for free, stop being such a bitch about it. The artbook was a normal collector's edition artbook. I liked it, wasn't really expecting a strategy guide sized artbook or anything, that's for certain. So, for like $20 more I got to support BioWare for a series that I've followed since the first one and enjoyed immensely, got a few extra bits of swag and got the nicer case. Well worth it? Yeah, it was, because unlike you I actually will support the industry that's churned out classics for decades now that I've had the pleasure of buying and enjoying. Is it an industry dominated by big wigs and rich assholes getting successful off of the hard work of others? Yeah, and they'll probably see most of my money for now, but all things change in time. I'll keep supporting the industry, because I know times are changing and the industry will change with it eventually. If there's a game coming out that I love, I'm sure as shit going to see if I can't support it more by getting the Collector's. Plus, you know, I fucking collect the things, you assuming little shit. [/rant]

... okay, yeah, don't say "go away" when it's a debate about something that has been proven to work already. I'll say this: yes, Mass Effect is a game series purely built around your choices for your character; however, in making certain choices, outcomes will happen that might not benefit you in the long run. Playing ME3 for the first time, never touching the past two titles? Yeah, probably going to be harder to achieve a perfect ending without building a story over multiple games first and not touching multiplayer. Played through ME1 and ME2? What were your choices in them? See, because, if you fucked up somewhere along the way, you're not getting that 'glorious' perfect ending just because you worked so hard in the self-contained ME3. Bioware dropped the ball on the pure scale of how your choices affect ME3, sure, but there's one thing that held true: your choices fucked you over big time if they weren't the right ones leading up to this and you're someone who doesn't want to touch multiplayer. If you make every choice right, and get every nook and cranny covered in all three games (including every side mission, every resource, every war asset that can conceivably be earned to obtain the maximum score despite a non-multiplayer readiness multiplier knocking it down), then you will get the required number of resources regardless of your readiness rating. Is it hard? Damn right, that's why it's called a "perfect ending", even if it might not necessarily be worth the effort in the end. You have to fucking earn the thing, not just "try really hard". Like it or not, Mass Effect as a series has a set path to obtain a perfect ending. You have a ridiculous number of options that can take you in a vast number of directions but, ultimately, only one of them's gonna get you where you want to be if you're against playing through ME3's multiplayer. EDIT: Oh, also-- since I never actually put in my own two cents on it here-- yes, the ending was heartbreakingly bad. I really can't wait to see what Bioware comes up with in future DLC, because for such an amazing game that capped off such an amazing series, the ending was one of the most lackluster things I've ever played. Hell, I honestly didn't even mind a moment of any of it up to But yeah, despite that ending? Still worth my buying the Collector's Edition. Worth every damn penny. This game was fantastic and I'll choose to remember it as the worthy sequel that it was with an amazing story built up through three games coming to a crescendo here. The ending was awful, but damn it, the ride made the rest wonderful.

Getting 5000 is the most difficult thing to do in the game without Multiplayer but yeah, it's not impossible in the slightest. Just because it's harder to do than anything else doesn't mean it's not fair. As an aside: I am absolutely addicted to the multiplayer now. Even if it's repetitive in that it's waves of constant enemies, the fact remains that it's fun as shit and I've never enjoyed a multiplayer co-op setting as much as this. I'd love to see them expand on it with more of an open multiplayer where you can face other players, but right now? This is good. I definitely like this.

I'll be on a bit later still! Although I suck and I have no mic either since my current one is missing its 360 cord

Popping online now-- wasn't expecting responses that fast, was just seeing if anyone would be on tonight If you're online, friend request me and let's get this shit started!

So who's down for some multiplayer? Am good to go if anyone else is on. Gamertag: Mask of Norro

As mentioned in my status update a few days ago, I got about 30 hours into the game before I wound up deciding to start over again. Hit the Citadel: Hanar Diplomat mission and got the bug where you can't move forward in the mission because I visited the Normandy during it. Tried to reload a older quicksave but apparently I'd accidentally quicksaved while doing the mission, so that was no help. Until they put out a patch for it I'm pretty much out of luck so hey, replaying the first 30 hours. Really not that bad though, being honest. Changed a few decisions here and there, loaded up the N7 weapons I forgot to get in my first attempt, and I also was able to make a Shepard that looks much closer to mine in ME2 than my first attempt at it. That's another bug I wish they'd have fixed already, thinking of it-- would have been nice to have a successful conversion, but since I've brought mine from ME1 to ME2 to ME3, apparently it corrupts something in the process. Ah well. So yeah, still loving the game. Can't wait to recruit Javik again and give him the Collector's gun, he was ripping shit to pieces with that thing.