Spoiler Warning 17: Kilotons for Kaiden

By Shamus Posted Tuesday Apr 13, 2010

Filed under: Spoiler Warning 24 comments

We’re in the home stretch now. In fact, not to spoil things or anything – perish the thought! – but I have it on good authority that there are exactly three episodes left.

Unfortunately, the Stream was really delayed for me while we were recording this. Normally, Josh and I see things about three seconds after they happen. But this time I had an eight second delay, and it wasn’t until halfway through the show that I even realized it. This creates an amusing temporal distortion where Randy saw things live, Josh saw them on a three-second delay, and I saw them on an eight second delay. But our conversation is concurrent. This can be disorienting if you think about it too much.

 


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24 thoughts on “Spoiler Warning 17: Kilotons for Kaiden

  1. Randy Johnson says:

    But Shamus, that would mean that this ends at exactly 20 episodes!

  2. Low-Level DM says:

    What a tragedy that will be when (if) it happens. This series has been really very interesting and very entertaining, and I tip my hat to the three of you. (Of course, it’s not a coder’s hat, nor a game-reviewer’s hat, but a Low-Level DM’s hat. So it doesn’t mean much. But it’s the thought that counts!)

  3. Kristin says:

    Two things I’d never seen before.

    1. The one time I did Ashley as my love interest, I let her die on Virmire so that my Saint Shepard was free to romance Tali in ME2.
    2. I always go back for the guy at the bomb.

    Quite interesting to see them both, yay!

    …Y’all are doing Mass Effect 2, right?

    1. Galad says:

      that would be totally awesome..

  4. Rick W says:

    * Actually, when Paragon/Renegade choices give different amounts of points, Renegade usually gives slightly more. For instance, sparing the rachni queen is 24 Paragon, killing her is 25 Renegade. To balance that, there are a bunch of opportunities for Paragon points with no equivalent Renegade option, such as most of the opportunities for helping the salarians.

    * “I have never tried for a Paragon option, ever.” That’s not true. You did Wrex’s sidequest then talked him down, without using the Intimidate option. :-)

    * The batarians are in the Bring Down the Sky DLC for Mass Effect. Sadly, the only followup to that in ME2 is a news report. So far, anyway.

  5. Jabor says:

    While you’re at the Citadel, you might be interested in knowing that there’s a pretty neat sidequest where you go undercover for a weapons sting, and then get a bunch of Renegade points by killing the dealer instead of bringing him in.

  6. Valar says:

    This is the first time I’ve watched one of these before many of the timestamp comments came up. Currently there is only one, and I suddenly realise how cool they actualy are. So thanks to everyone who put up comments in the previous episodes.

    Oh and I realy hope you do Mass Effect 2, or at least do something like this with another game, because this has been an excelent series. You guys rock.

  7. Daemian Lucifer says:

    Say what you will about elevators,but they somehow increase the immersive experience of the game.The second game seems so much smaller because it lacks these small transitions between locations.They somehow seem disjointed.

    Also you can play the “shoot first,ask questions later” character in mass effect 2,thanks to all those neat interupt renegade actions.And I think thats the first bioware game with this way of exiting dialogues,which is pretty awesome.

    That explosion was really,really overdone.The biggest bomb we ever detonated was 50Mt,and its blast radius was around 30km.This one seemed more like 300+km.And Im not talking about the initial flash.

    The choice of who will die was so much better in the second game because if you upgrade your ship and choose the right comanders/bitics/techs you can actually save everyone.Oh,and in dragon age,you at least get the equipment back.

    I love it how well bioware does the villains.They are not just evil for the heck of it,they have reasonable motives.Even the reapers who play this game with every single sentient being in the galaxy do so because of evolution.So even if you disagree strongly with the vilains motives,you can still understand why they are acting like that.They are almost never evil just for the heck of it.And the same applies to the good guys as well.Though this greyness in all the characters in the game kind of makes the main character with their black and white decisions kind of bland and robotic.Its weird how the weakest character is the one you are playing.

    PS:+1 for the hoping(pleading)you guys do ME2 after this.

    1. Joe says:

      Yeah. This has been suitably fun to that in the eyes of the watchers (read: me) it deserves continuation. If not for ME2, than for something else. I’d love to see what you guys could do with a JRPG, (although, I guess mocking spreadsheet-based combat would only be funny for so long…)

    2. KremlinLaptop says:

      The transition I missed the most in ME2 was from ship to port. The scanning thing was irritating, but actually coming in with the ship to dock and then walking to the airlock? It felt like you were leaving your ship — it just added something that I didn’t comprehend as being there until it was missing in ME2.

      The worst in ME2 is on Omega when you dock and get teleported to the end of the docking tube. It always felt like being teleported to what felt like a random corridor in Omega having nothing to do with my ship being docked there except for being able to see it out of the window.

      also +1 for doing ME2 next. This series is great in my opinion, it’s on my weekly ‘things to watch online’ list along with Nostalgia Critic, ZP, Unskipable, etc.

    3. Jonn says:

      Personally, I found the fact the travel sequences are unskipable far more annoying. With the elevators, though stupidly slow, they at least had an excuse for doing what they did.

      ME2 though, your load times are based not on your computers capabilities, but on the length of the movie (which I’m willing to bet is based on console load times). Until you delete them, letting load times improve to less than 15 seconds.

      Quickload + unskipable movie every time you load = not a quickload anymore.

      Also hated that you can’t dock, and can’t use the airlock, yet they keep it as a prominent feature.

      Still, they did improve a lot of things. Just wish they didn’t rip out so many good things from ME1 to do it.

  8. Irridium says:

    Hm… it may be just me, but the video isn’t showing up. I checked the others and they won’t show up either. Its just a big white square where the videos should be.

    Tried in Chrome, Firefox, and Internet Explorer(ugh).

    Anyone have suggestions? Not to sure what to do :/

  9. TSED says:

    Another +1 for importing Conan into ME2. I’m unsure if I want to vote for a high mortality rate run or a save-everybody-yes-EVERYBODY approach.

  10. Velkrin says:

    On the subject of Paragon Vs Renegade points:

    You went with Spacer and War Hero when you made your Shepard, the two options which give bonuses to Paragon.

    http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Commander_Shepard#Pre-Service_History

    1. Daemian Lucifer says:

      I didnt know that.I thought it was just a starting boost,not throughout the game bonus.Interesting.

      Its also nice how being born on earth gives renegade points.I guess it is true that we earth people are jerks by default.

  11. STV says:

    Sacrificing one to save the other… I always wanted a renegade option to kill them both.
    “Shepard: Save Kaidan, save Ashley? To hell with it! Joker, get me out of here!
    Joker: But what about the others?
    Shepard: They will hold the line, duh!”
    Or something along those lines.

    1. KremlinLaptop says:

      I… I would really have liked that option, actually. I’m not sure why but I couldn’t stand Ashley with her xeno-phobia and frankly alien looking face, which is saying a lot in a game where more than half your companions are actual aliens, and I couldn’t stand Kaidan for being so… so… Kaidan.

      1. Daemian Lucifer says:

        In 1 ashley at least has and interesting backstory,so her xenophobia can be somewhat explained.So its just her attitude towards liara tats weird there.In 2 she is just a needy bitch.I regret saving her.

  12. TSED says:

    I don’t understand why you people are so disappointed in batarians. They do everything exactly like they say they do.

    They’re the outcasts of a caste-based fascist government. Of course they’re all jerks. But not the worst of the worst (those probably hold bureaucratic positions).

    1. Daemian Lucifer says:

      But they die like flies.No armour,no ultra-great weapons,nothing.They are easier to kill than vorcha.Everyone is so afraid of going to war with them,but they are sissies.

      1. TSED says:

        Play it on insanity, then tell me that.

        Oh, and don’t forget. Caste based fascist economy? In a wartime environment?

        You remember the Nazi war machine? That. In space. Without any one like Schindler. Just heartless slaughter FOR YOU.

        1. Daemian Lucifer says:

          Yes,but on insane vorcha are also stronger,and so are humans and asari.Not to mention krogans.Batarians still remain the weakest of the bunch.Yet everyone keeps referring to them as uber soldiers as dangerous as the krogans.

          1. TSED says:

            What? No. They don’t. They refer to Batarians as heartless killers, not uber-soldiers. Where did you pull that from?

            1. Daemian Lucifer says:

              My mistake then.Ive probably misinterpreted the dialogues about them.

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