T w e n t y S i d e d
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I remember a time when I believed there was no way Bioware could possibly replace the Mako with an exploration mechanic that would be anything but a complete improvement.
I was wrong. I was so very wrong.
Mass Effect 3 EP33: Burst Vanguard
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I don’t know what to think of Horizon / Sanctuary. Did they install a gun out in the boonies, away from a population center in Mass Effect 2? Was that area the ONLY rural area? Or did the collectors invade the only rural area with a huge space-gun? Or was this new massive population center / Cerberus base built in the few months since the events of ME2? Or was this an existing Alliance base that Cerberus took over so they could build a secret underwater husk factory?
If Horizon had been built around characters the way Zhu’s hope had been, I might have felt like there was an emotional stake in this place. But at the end of Mass Effect 2, we don’t even know what happened to the colonists. Did we rescue them? Did any live? Did some escape? Going by what was shown us, it seems reasonable to assume everyone was turned into Reaper slush. But then why is this place so much bigger?
It doesn’t matter. None of it matters. It’s not connected, nobody thought about it, nobody cared enough to give a name to a single person on Horizon. The writers just re-used the name of the place without bothering to explain what happened here. Re-using the name just serves to make the galaxy feel smaller without taking advantage of that smallness to build characters, relationships, or stories.
Well, we got Miranda’s sister. There’s that.
Behold, the nunchuck gun!
Plot Holes Part 2: Story Collapse
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Film Crit Hulk said something really important in his great big thing on plot holes. Something I haven’t commented on yet. I can’t grab a nice neat quote, because it’s a point that’s more or less woven through the whole article.
But first, let’s get back to that whole “trust” thing I was talking about last time. One thing I find really interesting is how variable our tolerance for plot holes is, even to the point where we can’t agree on what they are or if they matter.
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Plot Holes Part 2: Story Collapse”
Mass Effect 3 EP32: Challenge Mode
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I still consider myself to be under the restrictions of the challenge mode declared in this episode, which means… I basically can’t say anything about this. I had no idea what would happen when I declared challenge mode here. Would the show go silent? Would we praise trivial silly things? Go off-topic? Grunt and curse under the strain of rage?
As it turned out, the show just got very awkward and lame. So, not as funny as I expected. I’d wanted to avoid having a solid twenty-minute block of pure bile. Then again, anyone still watching this season by this point is probably here for exactly that.
I leave it to you: How many things here strike you as wrong, unsatisfying, frustrating, awkward, arbitrary, or emotionally flat?
Mass Effect 3 EP31: You Should Not Have Charged That
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Josh talked about the FOV thing in this episode. This is one of those usability issues (like invert mouse) that’s either crucial or completely irrelevant, based on your gaming habits, history, play style, muscle memory, eyesight, and equipment. One person finds the thing to be almost unplayable, and another can’t imagine a situation where they would even notice, much less care.
I played shooters back in the days when an 85 degree field of view was standard. I don’t actively notice the tight FOV the way Josh does, but when I switch from 60 to 90, it does create an incredible sense of relief, like turning off a light that was shining in your eyes or silencing machine noise that had been going on for so long that you’d forgotten about it.
The Champions Online bit we were talking about can be found here.
Plot Holes Part 1: Trust in the Storyteller
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About two months ago we turned a critical eye towards the ending of Mass Effect 3, and also criticized Film Crit Hulk for criticizing the critics of the Mass Effect 3 ending. Basically, it was a giant critique ouroboros, as you get on the internet.
Now Hulk has written a follow-up post: HULK VS. PLOT HOLES AND MOVIE LOGIC. Like a lot of Hulk’s work, this isn’t some scrawny essay on plot holes. This is a Hulked-out treatise that weighs in at about 12,000 words. I do not say this to scare you off. I suggest reading it. But I’m also going to try to summarize it, because I know how you are about reading long articles, internet.
Fair warning: Summarizing something this large is unavoidably a lossy process. If FC Hulk’s point could have been made in 100 words, he wouldn’t have written thousands. Moreover, I skipped stuff that talked about movies I haven’t seen yet. So understand that you’re about to read an overview of an article, written by someone who didn’t even read the original in its entirety. Here it is:
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Plot Holes Part 1: Trust in the Storyteller”
Mass Effect 3 EP30: Playdate
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WARNING: There is an extended segment of this episode where we do not complain about the game. There is unqualified praise and positive things are said about the scenery. Viewer discretion is advised.
The mention of Elcor Jamie in this episode reminded me of the old Myth Effect joke Dan made last year:
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Mass Effect 3 EP30: Playdate”
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