Havok wrote:I haven't ignored it once. You don't have reading comprehension skills of any kind.
You realize that that the AAI could have created the Reapers and yet still never actually directly help them? In fact, the EVIDENCE (not re-purposing the Keepers back to their assigned original tasks, allowing the Protheans to lock out remote control of the Citadel and then not restoring it, not assisting Sovereign, his creation, as he was destroyed within arms reach) shows that it indeed, does not take an active role in the Reapers duties and mission.
Yeha, but that's the dumb thing, isn't it? The Catalyst's objective is to have the Reapers blow up the galaxy ; Him not pursuing this objective when it would be trivial to do so is just terrible writing. Sure, we can make up in-universe justifications of various kinds, but the game doesn't seem to indicate he's some sort of impartial observer or anything. Especially since him killing off the Prothean team that boarded it wouldn't require him to reveal himself to the Reapers at all:just kill them, dispose of the bodies and continue business as usual.
And naturally, Sovereign getting murdered means he loses some of the preserved species. Which he says he wants to preserve.
He was just hamfisted in, and then it got worse because OF COURSE the Citadel had to be involved in the finale
Now, all of that could actually be made into a GOOD thing, from an artistic perspective, if it was explored. Hell, the holes in his statements could be used as an alarm bell that seeds doubt in the player, much like on Tuchanka you get to listen to Wrex make plans for the Krogan after curing the genophage, which makes you doubt the decision to actually cure it. And so you have to make your call based on trust and your own convictions about what is right.
As for people screaming on changing the ending: I think it actually speaks that the games were a stunning success and that people love the franchise. Part of it may be that in order to go through the three games you need to invest 100+ hours of your time, which is A LOT. It's like watching a series of
thirty movies. So naturally people get more angry than they would if they watched a bad episode of Full House or whatever.
Also: movies tend to focus-test their endings before release just to avoid such terrible backlash from audiences (because movies make half or more of their revenue from merchandising, so they want to make people like the franchise

). "Entitlement" is just one facet of this, and IMHO a side-effect of people getting emotionally invested in Shepard. Again, not a bad thing, from the company's perspective. As I wrote before, I bet they could SELL the "better ending" DLC and people would buy it and be grateful.
The WORST thing Bioware can do now is say "Bah eat it nerds, fuck you, that's the ending how it's gonna stay". Of course, if they did that, people will calm down eventually and just swallow the bitter pill, but I don't think it's bad they feel so invested in the series. In fact, for a marketer, it's indicative of success and means you can further monetize the fan base in the future, if you play your cards JUST right
Vendeta wrote:
Your EMS score modifies the colours of space magic you can choose from and how blowed up the earth is. Also, if you have very high EMS score and choose the red space magic (and only the red space magic) Anderson and potentially Shepard will survive.
Yes, I know, but WHY?
Again, you brought 2 dreadnaughts = Reapers explode. You brought 40 dreadnaughts = Reapers fall over dead, don't explode.
How the fuck does this follow? It's another reason to feel your work in uniting the galaxy doesn't matter, it's just an arbitrary score, despite all the Codex descriptions of your war assets
They should've made the WA list way shorter, but have them actually show up and do things in the final battle, like in Alpha Protocol, where the allies you secure actually show up and make things easier for you here and there. But then in order to make it interesting, you'd have to include a lot more tough decisions, like the Krogan/Salarian thing, where you must figure out which assets you want and which you can dispense with. They did it with SOME things, like Aria and the Krogan, but in the end it doesn't matter.
That's just another reason why an epilogue is a must: show you consequences. Oh yeah the Terminus fleet was a huge boon in the war, but now Aria T'Loak is a warlord commanding a united warfleet and will cut a bloody swath across the galaxy. The Salarians did not participate, however, and can oppose her with their full strength. Krogan are making trouble, etc etc etc etc.
You know what? I don't think the particular "big" moral choice in the ending matters all that much. Gardeners, Dark Matter energy sinks, peacekeepers, whatever the Reapers are - It would've been great to just see the consequences of all your SMALLER choices playing out post-war.
Havok wrote:
Are you going to KEEP IGNORING EVIDENCE that what the AAI/Catalyst/Little Hitler says are his reasons have a basis in the facts about Synthetics/AIs that we know about and have been shown?
When Shep angrily blurts "What the fuck Kid, look out there! Quarians and the Geth working together!", the AI could even say, "Irrelevant. One data point does not invalidate a trend established over 1.5 million years. This is the most optimal solution."
Shep really should've been angrier about it all, though. Make him a champion of choice (you know, the theme bioware was trying to pretend was big in the game) and the AI a voice of reason, caution and conservatism. Play on the themes of chaos vs. order, showing the passionate side in Shepard and the cold ruthless one in the AI, without pushing one or the other.