(03-01-2012, 10:53 AM)cbre88x link Wrote: Played the demo, found it alright. The multiplayer was actually kind of fun and interesting.

(03-02-2012, 02:58 PM)Ekarus Ryndren link Wrote: [quote author=cbre88x link=topic=5237.msg240065#msg240065 date=1330617189]
Played the demo, found it alright. The multiplayer was actually kind of fun and interesting.

(03-04-2012, 06:05 PM)Cloud_9ine link Wrote: [quote author=Ekarus Ryndren link=topic=5237.msg240148#msg240148 date=1330718326]
[quote author=cbre88x link=topic=5237.msg240065#msg240065 date=1330617189]
Played the demo, found it alright. The multiplayer was actually kind of fun and interesting.

(03-04-2012, 06:05 PM)Cloud_9ine link Wrote: I'm really surprised there hasn't been any Origin whining, yet.

(03-05-2012, 07:30 AM)Caffeine link Wrote: [quote author=Cloud_9ine link=topic=5237.msg240307#msg240307 date=1330902348]
I'm really surprised there hasn't been any Origin whining, yet.

(03-05-2012, 12:04 PM)Ekarus Ryndren link Wrote: [quote author=Caffeine link=topic=5237.msg240352#msg240352 date=1330950600]
[quote author=Cloud_9ine link=topic=5237.msg240307#msg240307 date=1330902348]
I'm really surprised there hasn't been any Origin whining, yet.

(03-05-2012, 02:42 PM)Spore link Wrote: [quote author=Ekarus Ryndren link=topic=5237.msg240361#msg240361 date=1330967089]
[quote author=Caffeine link=topic=5237.msg240352#msg240352 date=1330950600]
[quote author=Cloud_9ine link=topic=5237.msg240307#msg240307 date=1330902348]
I'm really surprised there hasn't been any Origin whining, yet.

Quote:First, one must accept the premise that the technology to explore the universe is a trap and a structure that forces galactic civilization to follow an invariable path. Like Descartes' mischievous demon or Hume's apathetic creator, the universe is indeed the product of an intelligence, but a negligent one at best, a malicious one at worst.

From this antagonistic framework, we see a galactic civilization that is built on the worst case scenarios of the great science fiction stories. The quarians are an exploration of a species that creates intelligent machines, neglects them, and then loses the war (contra BSG). The drell and hanar explore the world-ending impacts of climate change and the need to evolve an entire species to survive on a new, alien planet. The krogan are a reptilian war society recruited to stop an intelligent insect invasion (a la Starship Troopers and Enders Game) at the behest of an amoral science-at-all-costs species, the salarians. When the krogans have finished their task the salarians release a genophage causing 99 out of 100 krogans to be stillborn – that is, one of the leading cultures of the galaxy committed reproductive genocide against the very species it uplifted.

Within the fear of the universe comes a liberation from biological normativity. The asari are a female only species with a thousand year life span. As the cultural leader of Citadel Space and most mature of galactic civilizations, the asari are a species evolved for interstellar life. As with the Xenogenesis series, the asari can utilize alien DNA in their reproductive processes, making them the potential partner of any species they encounter. But the result is not a hybrid creature, but an asari through-and-through. What initially seems to be a species designed for intergalactic community becomes a kind of consumptive force, slowly but surely perpetuating itself at the cost of another species' offspring. The racial fear of being bred out of existence escalated to a new level.

Further, the fear associated with biological destiny translates to transcending the biological in both body and mind. Citadel Space is dominated by the same law as Dune's planetary empire: a ban on artificial intelligence. The quarian war with the geth is not merely the victory of the cylons but also an allusion to the Bulterian Jihad. As a result even the friendly EDI, who never actually does anything to indicate she is a hyper-rational decision machine (i.e. HAL 9000), is viscerally feared by the Illusive Man, Joker, and Shepard herself. Legion's playful mocking of biological limitations contains implications of organic obsolescence. Moreover, there are bountiful deviations from prosaic biology including: Jack's biotic powers; the cybernetics of the Lazarus project that resurrected Shepard; the dexo-protein biology of quarians and turians; the human computer core of project Overlord; the eugenics inherent in the perfect Miranda and her equally designed sister; and the pure engineering of Okeer's genetic manufacture of Grunt as a template for krogan clone warriors. The violations of biology and the disregard for the natural are no longer obvious evils in a universe in which the path of life and civilization itself is an artificial and designed construct.

Underneath it all, there is the Cosmic Horror of Sovereign, The Collectors, Saren's indoctrination, and the Keepers. Mass Effect has not one but two entire species – the Keepers and the Collectors – that exist as mindless drones at the beck-and-call of the Reapers. It is herein that the great flaw of the universe so often unaddressed by science fiction is elevated and exposed by the narrative of Mass Effect. The Reapers are biomechanical equivalents of the Elder Gods of H.P. Lovecraft. If the xenomorphs in Alien had a deity, it would be a Reaper. Inconceivable, immortal, uninvolved super-beings that are not divinities per se, but so far beyond our realm of existence as to drive insane those who encounter and worship them. The seat of being, the mind, becomes rent apart and irredeemably misshapen to bend to the whims of a malevolent ancient life form.

The resulting slaves, the Keepers and Collectors, act without thought, remorse, or concern. And they become all the more horrible once they are fully revealed. The Keepers are thought to be beneficent until it is revealed they serve not the inhabitants of the Citadel, or even the Citadel itself, but the purpose of ensuring the Citadel will serve the cyclical apocalypse. The Collectors are revealed to be the remnants of the Protheans – the foundation species that was thought to be the galactic civilization in the wake of which Citadel Space had formed. Instead, Mass Effect exposes the very basis of intelligent exchange in the universe, the Mass Relays, to be a Trojan Horse. Reality is a ruse. Progress a lockstep, well-treaded path to oblivion.

The Reapers and their cyclical destruction of civilization represent one of the most nihilistic interpretation of intelligence in the universe ever presented. Mass Effect answers Fermi's famous question, "Where is everyone?" with a matter-of-fact, "They have been consumed."

(03-06-2012, 07:19 PM)backfire link Wrote: Okay my problem is the progression of the series. Mass Effect 1, you save the Citadel. Mass Effect 2, you essentially save the galaxy. Mass Effect 3, you save one tiny planet. It's been a while since I played ME2 so feel free to fill in any holes I find.

So from the demo (part of which takes place at the beginning of the game), you're suddenly unlinked Cerberus, working for Earth's Defense Console or something and on a first row seat to the beginning of the end of the planet. The reaper invasion sneaks past any defense the earth had with a massive fleet of battleships many times the size of the empire state building and starts ripping earth to shreads. Now comparing this to say the combine invasion, they subdued Earth in 7 hours. I'm gunna go out on a limb and say the Combine didn't have massive battleships with giant lazerbeams of death like the Reapers have. So Earth is omega-fucked and your saying there's actually a chance at not only holding them back, but defeating them? I'm all for "beating the odds" but that's like an ant going up against an army of tigers with back-mounted rocket launchers that shoot nukes.

The whole story just seems to be all over the place here, doing whatever they can to make the player feel like the ultimate bad-ass while shattering the "suspension of disbelief" the series have built up until now into tiny pieces, most of which flew under the cabnit with no hope of ever retrieving. 

Unless they're forging a game entirely from deus-ex machinas and impossible occurrences, then someone explain how any of this makes any sense.


Edit:
And that trailer was hammy as hell. Oh no, one girl died from the aliens... ya know... along with THE REST OF THE PLANET.