Mass Effect: San Diego Comicon Panel Recap

In which nothing really important happens:

http://www.newsarama.com/games/sdcc-2012-mass-effect-past-present-future.html

Still, worth a read.

Interesting. 5:52.. I guess they have some underwater DLC planned no surprise there.

But what’s this about the breath scene?
5:47
Q: What's the motivation with the teaser survival of Shepard in one ending?

5:48
Ley said "We did make it ambiguous on purpose..."
Hepler: "It could just be a last gasp before death, yeah."

So what? Shep maybe doesn’t survive now on High Ems Destroy?
Bioware needs to get on the same page with their endings..I feel like nobody fraking knows what happened. It’s a little too ambiguous for my tastes. Bioware,keep your DLC. I tire of speculating about the fate of the main character.

I was there today, unfortunately...

I live like ten minutes away from CC and UCSD gives all their lit majors free passes with their student IDs. I've been going in and out all weekend, just having some of my profs drop me off on the way to work ETC so I didn't have to bother with parking.

God, the entire conference was horrible and I saw EA/BW guys reading everyone's questions to make sure they were not asking them "why they lied" or "why cop-out in the end?" types of questions. My prof was actually going to ask why they "thematically changed the entire series literally in the last ten minutes" but one of the guys said to him (PHD professor here) that his question was inappropriate.

Why in the hell did BioWare even go to CC this year? They didn't announce anything and apparently decided to continue their odd tradition of being infuriatingly vague. No announcements, nothing new. Just promotion for a game that's already $30-40 dollars at most retailers, less at Best Buy (LOL $18.)

Maybe this will lighten the blow a bit...

Can you elaborate more on this? I thought the Q&A section was supposed to be people going up an asking questions.

Did you go to the BioWare booth/room?

It's a large conference room that seats around 400/500 people, the center holds about 15 of these rooms. During the Q&A sections they line the people up who have questions and while one is being answered a couple guys will go down the line and check the question to make sure they are not inappropriate or sexual in nature.

Now how EA and BW wish to utilize that system is up to them... Apparently my prof asking why the themes were blasted away in the closing moments of ME3 was inappropriate in that setting.

Why did they go? Because their EA overlords told them to duh!

Ehhhh. I kind of understand what they wanted to do for the high EMS destroy ending. In one hand, having any reunion scene or interpretation of the endings allowed "canon" for your play through seems pretty nice. But if I'm feeling cynical, it just sort of seems like a cop out. "You want a reunion scene in the EC? Eh, anything you'll think of would be better than what we'd do. Have at it." I mean, they are trying to incorporate some things that movies and books do into video games. Not just any video game either. It is an entire trilogy that people invested a lot of time in. It's part of the reason why people got so pissed off at the ending of the Sopranos. It simply does not mend in well most of the time. I really hope they realize that lesson after this whole fiasco.

To be honest, I'll still get the DLC. EC sort of got me invested into the franchise again. To be honest, it's really reading all the negativity on BSN that kind of got me pissed off at Bioware and life in general, and it put me in a really unhealthy mood all around. I don't know why I keep going back there, it's like watching a train wreck.

I mean, there is still negativity here. But at least it's less infuriating then BSN.

It's only infuriating because most of it is based in truth.

It is. But the positive aspects can also be interpreted as truth as well. I mean, when I think about it, the EC did pretty much give me what I wanted. But when I read comments on BSN or even here, other people convince me that I didn't get what I want, even though in my first initial playthrough I clearly did.

My stance on these things flip flop so much that I get some type of emotional whiplash. It's not a very good feeling. I know that obvious solution is to simply not go on BSN. But that's like saying the obvious solution to not get involved in internet flame wars is to avoid the internet all together.

The EC gave me exactly what I wanted...

And BW can go fuck themselves if they mean to take that away from me.

From what I've heard from them, I highly doubt that they would intentionally want to do that.

I just really want them to take a story arc into the future and try to avoid making prequels. If there really are "no canon endings" then just incorporate something general that each ending provided. Like if you picked destroy, have some archive of what shepard might of did with their LI after the reaper invasion. Or if you picked control or synthesis have them still flying around doing something out there.

I want them to expand on the universe rather than sticking with what already happened. If they do that, I will be a happy panda.

Seriously, we are discussing themes, story arc, coherence WAY MORE than Bioware. It's not our job to tinker the game story until it makes sense, while they just enjoy themselves. It's the other way around.

Instead of making an epic effort to make ME enjoyable again, just let it go and move to something really finished.

The truth about all of this is that Casey Hudson got impressed with the CoD speech that Riccitiello made, and tried to make ME3 a gold-egg chicken by using the CEO cookie-cutter on the franchise. He stood by this with EC, completely proud about how perfectly he copied J.R. model.

Thing is J.R. just stated that he don't know why no one wants to buy his worthless shares of EA. First, why the hell the CEO show such lack of confidence on his company by offering to enough people HIS shares, to the point of exclaiming NOBODY wants it? Second, how can a CEO NOT KNOW what's making those shares unattractive? How he expects to make a profitable company when he isn't aware of what works and what doesn't?

Now think on how proud Gamble, Hudson and Muzyka might be NOW, knowing they followed a blind man to the abyss... "OMG, he looked so certain, so secure about his ways, what have we done?"

@Reptilian Rob Hey Thanks for the picture! Do all panels screen their questions like EA did?

Well looks like all the teasing does lead to Omega and the Leviathan stuff but that gathering didnt have anything that hasnt been datamined and such. But still why the trolling about the breath thing....*sigh* Well sad to say at least Ill have my fic done soon enough. Well part 1 anyway. Plus? At least Weeks is doing some of the comics. Should be abit better but Ill probably be evil and read it at the bookstore before I think about any purchases.

Oh god! Now we must fight underwater cerby peeps. Anyone got any pokemon on them? Preferably the bubbly ones? That way I can get some help WaterAltus hijacking and curbstomping them. Seriously Timmeh! Was Miri the only smart person you had in your arsenal? *facepalm* Truly the Team Rocket of ME.

Dang, thats sad stuff Rep. So your PHD prof wasnt able to ask the buring ??? at all. Bummer.

Funny thing is that J.R. is about to be invited to step down his position as CEO, and still everyone in EA keep the behavior as if he was the messiah that will bring them to land of riches. And everyone follow his cookie-cutter politics on how to deal with the consumer market (both players and retailers).

Seriously, the guy is days away from being kicked from the company, specially after he shot his own foot by saying something like "I don't know why no one want to buy my shares of the company".

1) Don't know what's happening with his own company.
2) Don't have confidence on his own shares, and want to sell.
3) Is so desperate to get rid of those shares that offered to multiple persons.

And yet those people still following a policy that ruined the man and the company. Go figure those mouthbreathers.

It's not just ambiguous. It's stupid. The "last breath scene" only makes sense as a flashback. It is shown after the entire epilogue and makes no sense chronologically/sequentially.

What would be the logic or purpose of seeing a flashback, after the entire epilogue, of Shepard dying?

Just plain stupid.

I feel sorry for the fools that plan on buying Dragon Age 3 after hearing about this. That's all I can say on this matter.

So, Shepard is dead but maybe not but yeah s/he's dead although there's a chance that s/he's not but mostly s/he's dead. But not.

Much in the same way Miss Trunchbull think schools would be better with no children, I sometimes think that BioWare would be better without the people speaking for them.

Worst.
Fucking.
Cop-out.
Ever.

What a bunch of reckless, worthless losers. This has convinced me they have no idea what they're doing let alone what they're publicizing, don't give a shit about their own characters, those same ones that have paid their salaries for over eight years now, and that I am irrevocably, irreversibly, anti-Bioware now.

Hey Bioware - fuck you. Fuck you with a fistfull of dollars. I hope they paper cut you IN THE COLON.

It. IS. OVER.


P.S. "WE MADE IT AMBIGUOUS ON PURPOSE"
"I'M TELLING YOU TO FUCK YOURSELVES IN THE EYEBALLS ON PURPOSE"
Fuck Bioware. For reals, forever.