NEWER POSTS

Deus Ex Human Revolution EP41: Did We Ask For This?

By Josh Posted Friday Mar 23, 2012

Filed under: Spoiler Warning 164 comments
Josh Plays Shogun 2 Part 17: The Battle of OkehazamaPrevious Post
Next PostSpoiler Warning: Elevator Source


Link (YouTube)

And so we have come to the end of Human Revolution. So naturally, Adobe Premiere threw a fit and I had to re-encode the video and upload it super late. Because nothing can go off without a hitch when Reginald Cuftbert’s at the helm!

It does really seem strange when I look back at this season. As I mentioned in the video, most of the time, when we’re approaching the end of a season, I just can’t wait until it’s over. There’s always a palpable urge in the back of my mind to just get on with it, because we’ve all worn ourselves out by fixating on the same flaws ad nauseum. It’s easy to stay level headed while talking about a game’s flaws for an hour or two; Try analyzing a game for twenty hours and you’ll probably want to hit someone before the end. Do that all while recording yourself on camera and you might just become marginally famous on the internet for being a massive meta-troll that shoves lit dynamite down people’s pants.

But that didn’t really happen in Human Revolution. Not just the pants dynamite, but also that we never really got to the point where the game had worn out its welcome with us. Well, except at the very end when everything went completely insane. Maybe it’s because the game was short enough that we didn’t end up spending as much time on it as with other games; this season is a good 25% shorter than our Fallout: New Vegas run. But, at least for me, I think there’s something more to it.

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Deus Ex Human Revolution EP41: Did We Ask For This?”

 

Josh Viel is the primary editor and producer of the Spoiler Warning video series. You can support the show by backing the Patreon.

Josh Plays Shogun 2 Part 17: The Battle of OkehazamaPrevious Post
Next PostSpoiler Warning: Elevator Source

164 comments

 

Experienced Points:
Mass Effect 3 Ending Controversy

By Shamus Posted Friday Mar 23, 2012

Filed under: Column 180 comments
Experienced Points:The Racism Blame GamePrevious Post
Next PostExperienced Points: The Story Doesn't Matter

splash_me3.jpg

This week I give a breakdown of why the Mass Effect 3 ending just didn’t work as a piece of fiction (as opposed to why it didn’t work logically, which we’ve been talking about for a few days now) and why I don’t think “new ending” can really fix things. The shame of it is, it’s clear that BioWare is badly missing the point. They seem to be stuck on the “fans wanted a happy ending” idea, which is going to lead them to making a different set of mistakes.

In the article, I named three elements: Affirmation, Explanation, and Closure. My point was that an ending needs to have at least one of these elements to be an “ending” and not just “a place where the story stopped being told”. These elements are the payoff at the end of the story.

Following the discussion and watching the ending again, I’ve come to the conclusion that the writers decided to leave out affirmation and closure in favor of an explanation-only ending. Okay, it’s dark, the good guys didn’t win so much as mutually annihilate the bad guys, and we don’t get to find out how things turned out for everyone else, but now we get to hear the answers to our questions. It seems like that was the plan.

An explanation ending CAN work. Heck, the murder mystery is an entire genre dedicated to explanation-based payoffs. Of course, if explanation is going to be the ONLY payoff, then it needs to be a really good explanation. A kind of, “Oh! NOW I get it!” epiphany. The Usual Suspects is a great example of this, where the final reveal brings new meaning to what the audience has already seen.

Mass Effect was manifestly unqualified for an ending based entirely on explanation. The lore is a tangled mess of conflicts and contrivances, and the only thing the central villain had going for it was “mystery”. Most people played this game because they loved the characters and the setting, not because they just couldn’t wait for the next dose of incomprehensible balderdash from The Illusive Man.

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Experienced Points:
Mass Effect 3 Ending Controversy”

 

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

Experienced Points:The Racism Blame GamePrevious Post
Next PostExperienced Points: The Story Doesn't Matter

180 comments

 

Josh Plays Shogun 2 Part 17: The Battle of Okehazama

By Josh Posted Thursday Mar 22, 2012

Filed under: Spoiler Warning 63 comments
Deus Ex Human Revolution EP40:Capitalism EnduresPrevious Post
Next PostDeus Ex Human Revolution EP41: Did We Ask For This?

splash_shogun2_josh.png

And so our protagonist, Oda Nobunaga, finds himself in a precarious position. Completely untested in battle, he now faces off against two of the most skilled and renowned generals in all of Japan, and the strongest single army in the country.

shogun16-22thumb.jpg

There’s a certain irony â€" or perhaps, poetry â€" to how all of these elements have managed to fall into just the right place.

In real life, Nobunaga’s first decisive battle was the Battle of Okehazama. Imagawa Yoshimoto, who you may remember as one of the first opponents we had in this campaign, was leading an absolutely massive army (allegedly some 25,000 to 40,000 men) towards Kyoto to “lend aid” to the Ashikaga Shogunate. Winning a string of victories as he marched his forces east towards Kyoto, Yoshimoto entered Nobunaga’s Owari Province and took several border forts without much difficulty. Nobunaga, on the other hand, only had some 2,500 to 3,000 men to stand against the Imagawa army â€" impossible odds, or so his retainers thought.

Other samurai might have tried to fortify the remaining forts in the province and wait out the aggressors, or charged the Imagawa center in a suicidal attack to satisfy their honor, or â€" indeed â€" simply surrender, as many of Nobunaga’s retainers urged him to do. But Nobunaga was nothing if not shrewd and ambitious, and he viewed this as an opportunity to become the greatest warlord in all of Japan practically overnight.

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Josh Plays Shogun 2 Part 17: The Battle of Okehazama”

 

Josh Viel is the primary editor and producer of the Spoiler Warning video series. You can support the show by backing the Patreon.

Deus Ex Human Revolution EP40:Capitalism EnduresPrevious Post
Next PostDeus Ex Human Revolution EP41: Did We Ask For This?

63 comments

 

Deus Ex Human Revolution EP40:Capitalism Endures

By Shamus Posted Wednesday Mar 21, 2012

Filed under: Spoiler Warning 100 comments
Deus Ex Human Revolution EP39:Plot RocketPrevious Post
Next PostJosh Plays Shogun 2 Part 17: The Battle of Okehazama


Link (YouTube)

Here we are, on the threshold. The next episode will wrap up Human Revolution, and I have to say I’m sorry to see it go.

Next week we’ll be doing a special one-off episode. The week after that is right after PAX, so we’re not going to have any Spoiler Warning. Josh and I will both be at PAX, so if you want us to say mean things about video games you’ll have to catch up with us there. I’ll be posting my PAX itinerary next week.

 

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

Deus Ex Human Revolution EP39:Plot RocketPrevious Post
Next PostJosh Plays Shogun 2 Part 17: The Battle of Okehazama

100 comments

 

Mass Effect 3 Ending Deconstruction

By Shamus Posted Wednesday Mar 21, 2012

Filed under: Game Reviews 821 comments
Borderlands:The Loot LotteryPrevious Post
Next PostSaints Row The Third vs. The World

It should be obvious, but this post is going to be complete and total spoilers for Mass Effect 3. Also, most of what I say here is just a re-hash of points that have been made elsewhere. The problems with the ending are very obvious, and I don’t think it takes a keen analysis or a deep understanding of the Mass Effect lore to uncover these issues.

The truth is, my nitpicking skills are wasted on this, and I don’t have a lot to add to the conversation. I’m writing this mostly to get it off my chest.

And to deflect the likely objections: Yes, the rest of the game is often quite good, and there were many “fanservice” moments where players got things they had been hoping / waiting for since the original game. But right now we’re talking about the ending to Mass Effect 3, which I rank as the worst ending I’ve ever personally played. Worse than KOTOR 2. Worse than Neverwinter Nights 2. It fails thematically, it fails logically, it fails at basic coherence, and it fails to be consistent with what has come before.

I know it’s childish and melodramatic when fans say, “This new thing has RUINED this series FOREVER!” I don’t want to go that far, but I will say it’s done a lot of damage. I just finished a re-play of Mass Effect 1, and it’s shocking just how many things seem stupid, contrived, inconsistent, or pointless now that I know how they turn out.

And no, I’m not a believer in the “indoctrination theory“. I think that would be better than the ending we got, but I don’t think it it was ever intended by the writers. This theory involves an incredible level of subtle symbolism, which goes against just how ham-fisted the rest of the story is. To wit: If these writers thought Shepard was indoctrinated in the last stage of the game, we would know it.

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Mass Effect 3 Ending Deconstruction”

 

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

Borderlands:The Loot LotteryPrevious Post
Next PostSaints Row The Third vs. The World

821 comments

 

Deus Ex Human Revolution EP39:Plot Rocket

By Shamus Posted Tuesday Mar 20, 2012

Filed under: Spoiler Warning 193 comments
Deus Ex Human Revolution EP38:
Naked Muscle ManPrevious Post
Next PostDeus Ex Human Revolution EP40:Capitalism Endures


Link (YouTube)

So, as far as we can tell, Megan lives in the pure white room, which is directly between the naked muscle man room and the launch pad with the space rocket. Does she even have a bathroom? What does she do on the weekends?

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Deus Ex Human Revolution EP39:Plot Rocket”

 

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

Deus Ex Human Revolution EP38:
Naked Muscle ManPrevious Post
Next PostDeus Ex Human Revolution EP40:Capitalism Endures

193 comments

 

Experienced Points:The Racism Blame Game

By Shamus Posted Friday Mar 16, 2012

Filed under: Column 265 comments
Experienced Points: Marketing Effect 3Previous Post
Next PostExperienced Points:
Mass Effect 3 Ending Controversy

brown_hair.jpg

From this week’s article: “In the past I’ve argued that that we could use more diversity in games. We have a truly shocking, perhaps even an embarrassing number of white male protagonists in this hobby. I’m sure most of us have seen that one image floating around the internet, showing a grid of pasty, unshaven protagonists from the last few years. Note how this is a list of white guys with short brown hair and stubble. If we open it up to other hair colors the list gets bigger, and if we include the long-haired guys then we end up with an army of thirty-something white dudes. […]This is not what’s pissing me off.”

I titled the article with “racism”, but it’s actually a more generalized rant about lack of diversity and who gets blamed for it. Read the whole thing.

 

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

Experienced Points: Marketing Effect 3Previous Post
Next PostExperienced Points:
Mass Effect 3 Ending Controversy

265 comments

 
OLDER POSTS
From The Archives:

The Brilliance of Mass Effect

What is "Domino Worldbuilding" and how did it help to make Mass Effect one of the most interesting settings in modern RPGs?

 

Crash Dot Com

Back in 1999, I rode the dot-com bubble. Got rich. Worked hard. Went crazy. Turned poor. It was fun.

 

Bowlercoaster

Two minutes of fun at the expense of a badly-run theme park.

 

The Plot-Driven Door

You know how videogames sometimes do that thing where it's preposterously hard to go through a simple door? This one is really bad.

 

The Terrible New Thing

Fidget spinners are ruining education! We need to... oh, never mind the fad is over. This is not the first time we've had a dumb moral panic.

 

Starcraft 2: Rush Analysis

I write a program to simulate different strategies in Starcraft 2, to see how they compare.

 

The Witch Watch

My first REAL published book, about a guy who comes back from the dead due to a misunderstanding.

 

The Best of 2015

My picks for what was important, awesome, or worth talking about in 2015.

 

Shamus Plays WOW

Ever wondered what's in all those quest boxes you've never bothered to read? Get ready: They're more insane than you might expect.

 

Best. Plot Twist. Ever.

Few people remember BioWare's Jade Empire, but it had a unique setting and a really well-executed plot twist.