Top 10 Worst parts of the Mass Effect Series part 2
And now, continuing from Part 1
5. Who designed the Crucible. Mass Effect 3.
Alright, so your kinda obligated to mention the ending of ME3 in one of these. But honestly, with the Extended Cut and Leviathan, they did manage to make some significant improvements. Sure its not the ending everyone wanted (although arguably it’s the kind of ending we should have expected) and still not a great ending, but its at least decent now.
However despite the fixes, there is still one major major annoying hole in the ending, as even now when you ask the Starchild who designed the Crucible, he says you wouldn’t know them and their isn’t time.
Isnt time? What the fuck is this? In game there is literally all the time left in the world at this point.
And from a game play point of view this is inexcusable. Consider the Crucible is the Deus Ex Machina invented by the writers which was needed to finish the story.
Problem is, for it to be remotely believable, it needs to have some kind of explanation…..especially as the game sets it up as a weapon…only to have it secretly be a new processor for the Reaper AI. So it’s a Deus Ex Machina that is also a bait and switch.
Any decent writing requires that to have an explanation.
Like say for example, the original designers were the Leviathans who escaped the Harvest, who wanted to fix the programming error that created the Cycles and turned The Intelligence against them. Of course, as they were trying to stay hidden the Leviathans used their powers to influence “lesser species” to work on, and improve the design. As part of the deception needed to get the lesser species to work on the design without direct Leviathan control (which would be much more efficient) the Leviathans created the lie that the design was a weapon.
And holy crap, just like that in a paragraph, I have suddenly made more sense of the one remaining major explanatory fail and Deus Ex Machina device of Mass Effect 3 than the developers ever attempted.
4. Human Reaper. Mass Effect 2
Speaking by the way of fuck-ups related to the Reapers, we get to the end boss of Mass Effect 2, the Human Reaper.
Now like most things in Mass Effect 2, this makes no god damn sense at the end of the day.
Ok so in fairness, at the time you encounter the Human Reaper, the idea behind it works. In that the only reaper you have actually seen at this point is Sovereign. So the idea that a Reaper is made in the form of the race used to make it, is actually viable, if we just assume the species used to make sovereign looked like it did.
The problem emerges about 6 minutes later however, at the end of the game. Shepard is seen staring out the porthole of the Normandy and the scene shifts to the invading Reaper fleet, ALL of whom look like Sovereign…which means within 6 minutes Mass Effect 2 destroyed its own damn lore and explanation.
Now I know in the real world this was done due to technological limitations, but still, they couldn’t have seen that problem coming and/or altered the Human Reaper to a generic “proto-reaper” that looked like a partially finished version of the normal design.
And then of course, as the final insult the Human Reaper returns in Mass Effect 3 in the Priority Cerberus Headquaters mission….even if at the end of Mass Effect 2, you chose to destroy the collector base, which would have vaporized the Human Reaper. I guess, after tossing out the final choice of mass effect 1, Bioware decided Mass Effect 2 needed equal treatment.
3. N7 Missions. Mass Effect 2
Jesus fucking balls the N7 missions in mass effect 2 were pointless.
Now don’t get me wrong, I get that side missions are a critical part of Mass Effect (and RPGs). But usually they have some kind of rational or plot. In Mass Effect 1 for example, a character or clue would be found to give you the mission (most of the time) in Mass Effect 3 the N7 Missions were all given their own mini briefings about hurting Cerberus’ Operations
But then there is mass effect 2, in which ALL the N7 missions, were literally just there. By which I mean, in order to find any of them, you had to planet scan every freaking planet, because no part of the “core mission” would ever give you a hint as to where they were.
And theoretically several of the N7 missions were sequenced, with a plot. Of course I say in theory, because in practice none of the missions had a plot at all, and the sequenced ones could be played in any order and make the same amount of (read: No) sense.
And the rewards for the N7 missions? A paltry 125XP and maybe some rare mineral’s….which you likely already had too much of if you did any planet scanning at all (like say the amount needed to find the N7 missions in the first place)
The overall impression I get from the ME2 N7 missions was that Bioware designed a few levels they couldn’t figure out how to fit in the “core mission” or any of the recruitment or loyalty missions so they just put them in the game as is, with no attempt to link to any kind of story at all.
Maybe I’m wrong….but I highly doubt it.
2. Squadmates. Mass Effect 2.
Ok so I’ll admit one of the things I have never understood is the massive love for Mass Effect 2. Honestly its plot barely exists, makes no sense, and much of Mass Effect 3 seems to link mostly to Mass Effect 1 and glosses over any real connections to Mass Effect 2.
So perhaps not surprisingly, most of the Mass Effect 2 characters make no sense or even make a difference to the plot. Consider, Mass Effect 1 could not have happened without Shepard and his surviving the encounter with the beacon and the prothean cipher he got as a result. Without him, no one would have ever even gotten the message Saren got, or known about the threat until it was too late.
Ditto Mass effect 3, where Shepard not only has experience fighting the Reapers, but repeatedly makes use of the Cipher to again find prothean artifacts to help (namely the beacon on Thessia/Vendetta and Javik if you have the DLC)
Now here’s a question, what does Shepard do that no one else could have done in Mass Effect 2? Nothing. So why did Cerberus bring him back exactly? Don’t know.
In fact in all of Mass Effect 2, only one character is actually needed to advance the plot…Mordin Solus, and even then, only so he can counteract the Seeker Swarms. Every other characters role could be played by literally anyone else and the story still would have worked.
And then we have the fact that most of our crew never should have joined in the first place.
Cerberus is believed to be an pro human racist terrorist group. Yet a Salarian, a Drell, and an Asari don’t think twice about joining up (Garrus and Tali can at least claim to know shepard personally, and Grunt was just born so it too stupid to know better) and for no reason at all. Plus the pro human Cerberus crew apparently has less problem with aliens than the alliance crew of the Normany SR-1. What?
Consider as far as non-logical characters, the Asari, Samara. Shes got her own quest shes going on when you meet her….and shes basically the mass effect equivalent of a Jedi…..yet she drops all of that and joins up with an anti alien terrorist group just because…and no one every says anything about it.
And its not just the aliens either. Jack was a victim of Cerberus, and while I understand getting on the Normandy to get out of prison, there is literally no possible logical reason for her to stick around once shes free. In fact, she really should like try to kill everyone, according to both her character and logic given her backstory.
Alright, so your kinda obligated to mention the ending of ME3 in one of these. But honestly, with the Extended Cut and Leviathan, they did manage to make some significant improvements. Sure its not the ending everyone wanted (although arguably it’s the kind of ending we should have expected) and still not a great ending, but its at least decent now.
However despite the fixes, there is still one major major annoying hole in the ending, as even now when you ask the Starchild who designed the Crucible, he says you wouldn’t know them and their isn’t time.
Isnt time? What the fuck is this? In game there is literally all the time left in the world at this point.
And from a game play point of view this is inexcusable. Consider the Crucible is the Deus Ex Machina invented by the writers which was needed to finish the story.
Problem is, for it to be remotely believable, it needs to have some kind of explanation…..especially as the game sets it up as a weapon…only to have it secretly be a new processor for the Reaper AI. So it’s a Deus Ex Machina that is also a bait and switch.
Any decent writing requires that to have an explanation.
Like say for example, the original designers were the Leviathans who escaped the Harvest, who wanted to fix the programming error that created the Cycles and turned The Intelligence against them. Of course, as they were trying to stay hidden the Leviathans used their powers to influence “lesser species” to work on, and improve the design. As part of the deception needed to get the lesser species to work on the design without direct Leviathan control (which would be much more efficient) the Leviathans created the lie that the design was a weapon.
And holy crap, just like that in a paragraph, I have suddenly made more sense of the one remaining major explanatory fail and Deus Ex Machina device of Mass Effect 3 than the developers ever attempted.
4. Human Reaper. Mass Effect 2
Speaking by the way of fuck-ups related to the Reapers, we get to the end boss of Mass Effect 2, the Human Reaper.
Now like most things in Mass Effect 2, this makes no god damn sense at the end of the day.
Ok so in fairness, at the time you encounter the Human Reaper, the idea behind it works. In that the only reaper you have actually seen at this point is Sovereign. So the idea that a Reaper is made in the form of the race used to make it, is actually viable, if we just assume the species used to make sovereign looked like it did.
The problem emerges about 6 minutes later however, at the end of the game. Shepard is seen staring out the porthole of the Normandy and the scene shifts to the invading Reaper fleet, ALL of whom look like Sovereign…which means within 6 minutes Mass Effect 2 destroyed its own damn lore and explanation.
Now I know in the real world this was done due to technological limitations, but still, they couldn’t have seen that problem coming and/or altered the Human Reaper to a generic “proto-reaper” that looked like a partially finished version of the normal design.
And then of course, as the final insult the Human Reaper returns in Mass Effect 3 in the Priority Cerberus Headquaters mission….even if at the end of Mass Effect 2, you chose to destroy the collector base, which would have vaporized the Human Reaper. I guess, after tossing out the final choice of mass effect 1, Bioware decided Mass Effect 2 needed equal treatment.
3. N7 Missions. Mass Effect 2
Jesus fucking balls the N7 missions in mass effect 2 were pointless.
Now don’t get me wrong, I get that side missions are a critical part of Mass Effect (and RPGs). But usually they have some kind of rational or plot. In Mass Effect 1 for example, a character or clue would be found to give you the mission (most of the time) in Mass Effect 3 the N7 Missions were all given their own mini briefings about hurting Cerberus’ Operations
But then there is mass effect 2, in which ALL the N7 missions, were literally just there. By which I mean, in order to find any of them, you had to planet scan every freaking planet, because no part of the “core mission” would ever give you a hint as to where they were.
And theoretically several of the N7 missions were sequenced, with a plot. Of course I say in theory, because in practice none of the missions had a plot at all, and the sequenced ones could be played in any order and make the same amount of (read: No) sense.
And the rewards for the N7 missions? A paltry 125XP and maybe some rare mineral’s….which you likely already had too much of if you did any planet scanning at all (like say the amount needed to find the N7 missions in the first place)
The overall impression I get from the ME2 N7 missions was that Bioware designed a few levels they couldn’t figure out how to fit in the “core mission” or any of the recruitment or loyalty missions so they just put them in the game as is, with no attempt to link to any kind of story at all.
Maybe I’m wrong….but I highly doubt it.
2. Squadmates. Mass Effect 2.
Ok so I’ll admit one of the things I have never understood is the massive love for Mass Effect 2. Honestly its plot barely exists, makes no sense, and much of Mass Effect 3 seems to link mostly to Mass Effect 1 and glosses over any real connections to Mass Effect 2.
So perhaps not surprisingly, most of the Mass Effect 2 characters make no sense or even make a difference to the plot. Consider, Mass Effect 1 could not have happened without Shepard and his surviving the encounter with the beacon and the prothean cipher he got as a result. Without him, no one would have ever even gotten the message Saren got, or known about the threat until it was too late.
Ditto Mass effect 3, where Shepard not only has experience fighting the Reapers, but repeatedly makes use of the Cipher to again find prothean artifacts to help (namely the beacon on Thessia/Vendetta and Javik if you have the DLC)
Now here’s a question, what does Shepard do that no one else could have done in Mass Effect 2? Nothing. So why did Cerberus bring him back exactly? Don’t know.
In fact in all of Mass Effect 2, only one character is actually needed to advance the plot…Mordin Solus, and even then, only so he can counteract the Seeker Swarms. Every other characters role could be played by literally anyone else and the story still would have worked.
And then we have the fact that most of our crew never should have joined in the first place.
Cerberus is believed to be an pro human racist terrorist group. Yet a Salarian, a Drell, and an Asari don’t think twice about joining up (Garrus and Tali can at least claim to know shepard personally, and Grunt was just born so it too stupid to know better) and for no reason at all. Plus the pro human Cerberus crew apparently has less problem with aliens than the alliance crew of the Normany SR-1. What?
Consider as far as non-logical characters, the Asari, Samara. Shes got her own quest shes going on when you meet her….and shes basically the mass effect equivalent of a Jedi…..yet she drops all of that and joins up with an anti alien terrorist group just because…and no one every says anything about it.
And its not just the aliens either. Jack was a victim of Cerberus, and while I understand getting on the Normandy to get out of prison, there is literally no possible logical reason for her to stick around once shes free. In fact, she really should like try to kill everyone, according to both her character and logic given her backstory.
Kasumi has a similar problem, there is no reason for her to join up at all, what kind of galactic combat mission is going to require a thief? And these are just some examples.
And actually to that end, why do we need any of these people? Except for Mordin we are never told what any of these people are supposed to bring to the mission ME2 makes a great deal about how we have no idea whats on the other side of the Omega 4 relay….so how do we know we need a team of ground combat forces? It could have been a fleet of ships on the other side; some combat pilots might have been a good idea? At least a better idea than an assassin or a newborn Krogan or a mass murdering biotic. Just saying.
At least in Mass Effect 1 and 3 the characters had some reason, no matter how minor, to have a spot on shepards crew (Liara and Tali as potential information sources in ME1, Vega was “kidnapped” by Shepard by virture of being on the Normandy at the time, and later decides Shepard is right ect)
At the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter how good or bad any of the ME2 characters are as characters if I am given no reason to want to get them (other than the game wont advance if I dont) no reason to care about why they are coming along and no reason to really want to see them survive.
1. Joining Cerberus/Killing Shepard. Mass Effect 2
So what is Cerberus? According to Mass Effect 1, they are secret Alliance black ops organization that may be involved in some unethical tests and experiments.
According to Mass Effect 2, they are a small band (about 150) of people who believe in doing what is best to advance human interests, although they arnt inherently opposed to helping aliens if it also helps humans.
Oh and also according to Mass Effect 2, they are a massive galaxy known terrorist organization. Which happens to also be the role they fill in Mass Effec t 3.
Now leaving ME2 out of it, the progression from the Mass Effect 1 to Mass effect 3 version of Cerberus actually makes sense, and mirrors to some degree the origin of Al Qauda from its days being funded by the American CIA to now.
So the problem here is really Mass Effect 2. Or more to the point the designers decision to have Shepard basically join Cerberus in Mass Effect 2, with no real objections (which is especially odd if your shepard was a “sole survivor” as that would make him a previously a victim of Cerberus) and for no real reason. And as a result they needed to paint a friendlier face on the group so as to attempt to make their totally illogical choice not seem as bad.
Yes the game would try to make you believe that only Cerberus was trying to stop the collectors….but the game also repeatedly tells you this isn’t true. You first go to Freedom’s Progress and your outright told this is Cerberus’ best chance to get answers to date, because the alliance hasn’t made it there yet. And why do you encounter the Virmire Survivor on Horizon? Because they were there as part of the Alliance investigation as to what was going on.
So again, WHY exactly do you need to work with Cerberus? The game itself dispels the needed illusion that only Cerberus is doing anything here, and therefore it’s a [poorly explained] marriage of convenience.
Also what happened between Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3 to make Cerberus “switch sides”? In Mass Effect 2, they at least do genuinely want to stop the Reapers….in Mass Effect 3 they now want to control the Reapers. Now Mass Effect 3 suggests this is because TiM has been indoctrinated…and flat out refers to Kai Lang as such. But Mass Effect 3 also shows that TiM’s indoctrination was self-induced, and happened towards the end of the game. So what is the explanation up until that point? Especially if you destroyed the collector base, as if you didn’t it is possible Cerberus found something/got indoctrinated while investigating tha
And oh yea, based on the information about Cerberus in Mass Effect 2, they actually shouldn’t exist at all in Mass Effect 3. Ok so again in Mass Effect 2 you are told Cerberus is only about 150 members strong. Of those some 30 or so are likely on the Normandy….and presumably all defect when Shepard does at the end of the game. Another 70 or so are seen a corpses in the Overlord DLC. 20 more show up as defectors in Mass Effect 3 (the Ex-Cerberus Scientists) with mentions of a few more having been killed by Cerberus. So that leaves what, about 20 people?
But yet somehow Cerberus is still strong enough to not only exist in Mass Effect 3, but also in Mass Effect Retribution and Infiltrator as the primary antagonists.
Now sure, perhaps when Miranda told you how small Cerberus was she was lying, but youd think shed mention that at some point after her loyalty shifts from Cerberus to you….or you know, EDI would bring it up?
Also, as a final note, why did Cerberus bother to bring Shepard back in the first place? As I mentioned before, there is no reason in the story that ONLY Shepard could have filled his role. Anyone could have done it. So why bother? And why give him the most advanced warship in the Galaxy…..especially if the expectation was he would die as a result of the mission anyways (the suicide part). Seriously there had to be cheaper and better ways of figuring out what was on the other side of the Omega 4 relay then that…..
For that matter, why kill Shepard at all? this was clearly a decision the designers made only for shock value, and to shoehorn in working for Cerberus and really didnt have to be done at all. There was no reason for shepard to need to die, and his death seems to have had no impact on him.
Like I said without Mass Effect 2, Cerberus makes some sense. A former Black Ops group that the alliance lost control of, who after learning of the Reaper threat, devise a way to end to threat while gaining more power for themselves by taking control of the reapers.
But the minute you try to fit their motivations, size and actions from Mass Effect 2 in there…well shit it all goes to hell cause somehow you have to make them the good guys for a little bit.
So there you have it. The top 10 worst parts of the Mass Effect Universe. And yes, Mass Effect 2, normally considered the best game in the Series is responsible for 6 of these....including the top 4.
So yea, anyone want to guess what my least favorite Mass Effect game is?
And actually to that end, why do we need any of these people? Except for Mordin we are never told what any of these people are supposed to bring to the mission ME2 makes a great deal about how we have no idea whats on the other side of the Omega 4 relay….so how do we know we need a team of ground combat forces? It could have been a fleet of ships on the other side; some combat pilots might have been a good idea? At least a better idea than an assassin or a newborn Krogan or a mass murdering biotic. Just saying.
At least in Mass Effect 1 and 3 the characters had some reason, no matter how minor, to have a spot on shepards crew (Liara and Tali as potential information sources in ME1, Vega was “kidnapped” by Shepard by virture of being on the Normandy at the time, and later decides Shepard is right ect)
At the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter how good or bad any of the ME2 characters are as characters if I am given no reason to want to get them (other than the game wont advance if I dont) no reason to care about why they are coming along and no reason to really want to see them survive.
1. Joining Cerberus/Killing Shepard. Mass Effect 2
So what is Cerberus? According to Mass Effect 1, they are secret Alliance black ops organization that may be involved in some unethical tests and experiments.
According to Mass Effect 2, they are a small band (about 150) of people who believe in doing what is best to advance human interests, although they arnt inherently opposed to helping aliens if it also helps humans.
Oh and also according to Mass Effect 2, they are a massive galaxy known terrorist organization. Which happens to also be the role they fill in Mass Effec t 3.
Now leaving ME2 out of it, the progression from the Mass Effect 1 to Mass effect 3 version of Cerberus actually makes sense, and mirrors to some degree the origin of Al Qauda from its days being funded by the American CIA to now.
So the problem here is really Mass Effect 2. Or more to the point the designers decision to have Shepard basically join Cerberus in Mass Effect 2, with no real objections (which is especially odd if your shepard was a “sole survivor” as that would make him a previously a victim of Cerberus) and for no real reason. And as a result they needed to paint a friendlier face on the group so as to attempt to make their totally illogical choice not seem as bad.
Yes the game would try to make you believe that only Cerberus was trying to stop the collectors….but the game also repeatedly tells you this isn’t true. You first go to Freedom’s Progress and your outright told this is Cerberus’ best chance to get answers to date, because the alliance hasn’t made it there yet. And why do you encounter the Virmire Survivor on Horizon? Because they were there as part of the Alliance investigation as to what was going on.
So again, WHY exactly do you need to work with Cerberus? The game itself dispels the needed illusion that only Cerberus is doing anything here, and therefore it’s a [poorly explained] marriage of convenience.
Also what happened between Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3 to make Cerberus “switch sides”? In Mass Effect 2, they at least do genuinely want to stop the Reapers….in Mass Effect 3 they now want to control the Reapers. Now Mass Effect 3 suggests this is because TiM has been indoctrinated…and flat out refers to Kai Lang as such. But Mass Effect 3 also shows that TiM’s indoctrination was self-induced, and happened towards the end of the game. So what is the explanation up until that point? Especially if you destroyed the collector base, as if you didn’t it is possible Cerberus found something/got indoctrinated while investigating tha
And oh yea, based on the information about Cerberus in Mass Effect 2, they actually shouldn’t exist at all in Mass Effect 3. Ok so again in Mass Effect 2 you are told Cerberus is only about 150 members strong. Of those some 30 or so are likely on the Normandy….and presumably all defect when Shepard does at the end of the game. Another 70 or so are seen a corpses in the Overlord DLC. 20 more show up as defectors in Mass Effect 3 (the Ex-Cerberus Scientists) with mentions of a few more having been killed by Cerberus. So that leaves what, about 20 people?
But yet somehow Cerberus is still strong enough to not only exist in Mass Effect 3, but also in Mass Effect Retribution and Infiltrator as the primary antagonists.
Now sure, perhaps when Miranda told you how small Cerberus was she was lying, but youd think shed mention that at some point after her loyalty shifts from Cerberus to you….or you know, EDI would bring it up?
Also, as a final note, why did Cerberus bother to bring Shepard back in the first place? As I mentioned before, there is no reason in the story that ONLY Shepard could have filled his role. Anyone could have done it. So why bother? And why give him the most advanced warship in the Galaxy…..especially if the expectation was he would die as a result of the mission anyways (the suicide part). Seriously there had to be cheaper and better ways of figuring out what was on the other side of the Omega 4 relay then that…..
For that matter, why kill Shepard at all? this was clearly a decision the designers made only for shock value, and to shoehorn in working for Cerberus and really didnt have to be done at all. There was no reason for shepard to need to die, and his death seems to have had no impact on him.
Like I said without Mass Effect 2, Cerberus makes some sense. A former Black Ops group that the alliance lost control of, who after learning of the Reaper threat, devise a way to end to threat while gaining more power for themselves by taking control of the reapers.
But the minute you try to fit their motivations, size and actions from Mass Effect 2 in there…well shit it all goes to hell cause somehow you have to make them the good guys for a little bit.
So there you have it. The top 10 worst parts of the Mass Effect Universe. And yes, Mass Effect 2, normally considered the best game in the Series is responsible for 6 of these....including the top 4.
So yea, anyone want to guess what my least favorite Mass Effect game is?
Comments
Post a Comment