Mass Effect 3 (Seriously, Use Spoilers People!)

[ArgonV]

I dunno, but I also seem to get lots of shotgun and machine pistol upgrades (both guns and mods), and those are the two classes of gun I don't use.

[Yakk]

Create a Krogan or Turian Sentinal. Upgrade armor to max, and passive weapon damage and toughness skills to max. Equip a shotgun, and either a sniper rifle or an assault rifle.

You'll have a ridiculous number of HP/shields -- in bronze, by the time I was half way, I could stand in the open for the first 1-6 waves and rarely bother to take cover.

It is a good way to use up your shotgun upgrades for something.

[skeptical scientist]

Now I realize a year or two from now when the ME3 authentication server goes the way of its ME2 predecessor I won't be able to play my legally purchased version of the game at all.

Probably some hacker will figure out an exploit to bypass authentication.

Are asari supposed to be extremely hard to unlock? I have almost everyone else (except turian soldier) unlocked to at least 'lights' level of appearance customization but still haven't gotten an asari adept or vanguard. Or does the game just prefer 'randomly' giving you already unlocked classes?

I don't know how the RNG is programmed. I would think it would randomly determine rarity, and then randomly choose from available unlocks of that rarity. But yesterday I bought ~15 recruit packs in the hopes of leveling some weapon mods, and got ~10 human characters, 2 nonhuman characters, ~3 weapons, and 0 weapon mods, which casts this hypothesis into doubt. Then again, this wasn't the first time I purchased a bunch of recruit packs, and it was the first time I noticed the results being so skewed, so it may just have been bad luck.

Can you still get a specific weapon/weapon mod card once it's max level? Can you still get a specific species/class card once you have all the appearance unlocks for that species/class? If it would give you X but you already have X maxed, what does X get replaced with?

[Dropzone]

Replaying ME2 was extremely annoying because every time I opened the main menu I'd have to wait for a minute while the game tried to connect to a server that was no longer there- almost made me give up replaying it.

Is there an actual source confirming that the server has been taken down? I'm dubious, because I just launched ME2 and it appeared to connect with no problem (on the second attempt - the first one always fails, for some reason). It might also be worth noting that BioWare is still running the authentication server for Neverwinter Nights, which was released nearly ten years ago.

[Yakk]

Google me3 multiplayer rarity. Asari adept drell vanguard and krogans are all rare. As in spectre pack gold rare.

[SecondTalon]

Now I realize a year or two from now when the ME3 authentication server goes the way of its ME2 predecessor I won't be able to play my legally purchased version of the game at all.

Probably some hacker will figure out an exploit to bypass authentication.

Best of both worlds it.

Legally purchase, then download from the not-legal parts of the internet.

[maybeagnostic]

Replaying ME2 was extremely annoying because every time I opened the main menu I'd have to wait for a minute while the game tried to connect to a server that was no longer there- almost made me give up replaying it.

Is there an actual source confirming that the server has been taken down? I'm dubious, because I just launched ME2 and it appeared to connect with no problem (on the second attempt - the first one always fails, for some reason). It might also be worth noting that BioWare is still running the authentication server for Neverwinter Nights, which was released nearly ten years ago.

Huh, yeah, I can manually connect to the server. I guess I never tried because I didn't need anything from it. My complaint about having to wait however long for it to fail every time still stands though.

[skeptical scientist]

Google me3 multiplayer rarity. Asari adept drell vanguard and krogans are all rare. As in spectre pack gold rare.

"Gold rare" is redundant, and there's no difference as far as I can tell between rares from Spectre packs and veteran packs, except that Spectre packs are more likely* to contain one.

*i.e. guaranteed, unless you get an ultra-rare.

[skeptical scientist]

Yesterday I bought ~15 recruit packs in the hopes of leveling some weapon mods, and got ~10 human characters, 2 nonhuman characters, ~3 weapons, and 0 weapon mods, which casts this hypothesis into doubt. Then again, this wasn't the first time I purchased a bunch of recruit packs, and it was the first time I noticed the results being so skewed, so it may just have been bad luck.

Can you still get a specific weapon/weapon mod card once it's max level? Can you still get a specific species/class card once you have all the appearance unlocks for that species/class? If it would give you X but you already have X maxed, what does X get replaced with?

I just bought another 13 recruit packs, this time deciding in advance to record results. Every pack contained 4 consumables and 1 unlock: 6 characters and 7 weapons total. No weapon mods. Going through my mods, I notice that I have 5 mods at level V, one for each weapon, and everything else is at level I-II mostly, with two level IIIs. This makes me wonder if only those 5 mods can be ranked through recruit packs, even though other weapon mods are listed as being common.

I think I got a character card for a character who already had all appearance options unlocked, but I'm not 100% certain. I'll do another couple of runs and collect more data.

Edit: I just got another character, this time one I'm certain was already maxed. No more recruit packs for me.

[An Enraged Platypus]

Now I realize a year or two from now when the ME3 authentication server goes the way of its ME2 predecessor I won't be able to play my legally purchased version of the game at all.

Probably some hacker will figure out an exploit to bypass authentication.

Can you still get a specific weapon/weapon mod card once it's max level? Can you still get a specific species/class card once you have all the appearance unlocks for that species/class? If it would give you X but you already have X maxed, what does X get replaced with?

Yes, you can. I have a fully unlocked Turian Sentinel, but that's all I ever get in my Veteran packs.

Incedentally, how does everyone spend/save for packs? I try to play Gold matches, buy one Spectre pack with the ~70k, save the ~10k. Every three matches the change usually adds up to enough to buy a Premium Veteran pack after the Spectre pack. Rinse and repeat.

[Obby]

I pretty much just save up until I can buy the Premium Veteran pack. I typically only play Bronze and Silver, because I don't feel like constantly getting stomped into the ground and it's really only 2 Silver matches at most before I can afford the Premium pack anyway.

[skeptical scientist]

I mostly play silvers. My favorite unlocked character is an Asari vanguard, and I pretty consistently win silvers with her. But I rely on constantly charging into the fray to refill my barrier, and I don't think that would really work in golds. So I think I'm going to hold off on playing gold matches until I unlock my Asari adept.

To start with I mostly just bought veteran packs, because there were a lot of uncommon weapons/mods I wanted. Once I unlocked every uncommon I cared about, I switched to buying spectre packs, except for a brief hiatus I took to buy a bunch of recruit packs to level my common weapons/mods. Now I'm planning on going back to only buying spectre packs, at least until the next "special" pack becomes available.

[Yakk]

Google me3 multiplayer rarity. Asari adept drell vanguard and krogans are all rare. As in spectre pack gold rare.

"Gold rare" is redundant, and there's no difference as far as I can tell between rares from Spectre packs and veteran packs, except that Spectre packs are more likely* to contain one.

*i.e. guaranteed, unless you get an ultra-rare.

Well, "gold"/"rare". The "cards" color border apparently determines how common the card is?

(And yes, there are the ultra-rare N7 ones. No classes, as yet, there).

I was distinguishing it from "rare" as in "I get unlucky and rarely see it".

[Belial]

What is in the ultra-rare category, anyway? I've never seen anything of the sort.

[VectorZero]

Just finished the game and wanted to note my thoughts before reading other people's opinions.

Spoiler:

I liked the ending (I took the synthesis). It didn't feel the need to lay out everything again: the entire game is the ending of each plot thread, and the ending is the finale for Shepard's. I don't think the deus ex machina complaints are really justified: it's established from the get go that there are elements beyond (human? alien? this cycles?) understanding, certainly beyond Shepard. One thing I really liked about the series is that although Shepard is the galaxy's ultimate badass, s/he still operates within a living, breathing world with others around playing their part and the relationships to characters like Hackett, Anderson, the councillors or Aria show that. Shepard doesn't have to understand Prothean science for the Crucible to be made. S/he makes it so others can. S/he's a guide, a ... shepherd, if you will.

Still don't care about the kid. Of all the characters in the game ... I think I literally had the least emotional response to that kid that Shep's apparently having nightmares about. Far more emotional attachment generated to ... say, the Salarian warrior whose friend sold her car to buy him a decent set of armor.

Anyhoo, off to read spoilers.

[Belial]

The ending gets worse the longer you think about it. It's fridgeterrible. It's been like two weeks since I finished and I'm only just now reaching the point of diminishing returns where further thought fails to return further terrible.

And I started out thinking it was pretty okay. Not great, but okay. I think now I'm just waiting to see what their next big announcement is before I declare Casey Hudson dead to me.

[Yakk]

What is in the ultra-rare category, anyway? I've never seen anything of the sort.

Of course you haven't. It is just. that. rare:
http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Mass_E ... ultiplayer
There are "N7" level rarity items that are rarer than gold.

Spoiler:

Rares "consumables":
Cobra Missile Launcher Capacity Upgrade +1
Thermal Clip Pack Capacity Upgrade +1
Ops Survival Pack Capacity Upgrade +1
Medi-Gel Capacity Upgrade +1
Reset Powers

Rare classes:
Asari Adept
Quarian Engineer
Salarian Infiltrator
Krogan Sentinal and Soldier
Drell Vanguard

Rare Weapons (that you can get from buying packs):
Geth Pulse Rifle, M-37 Falcon, M-76 Revenant
Arc Pistol, M-6 Carnifex
Disciple, Geth Plasma Shotgun, Graal Spike Thrower, M-300 Claymore
M-98 Widow
M-25 Hornet

All weapon upgrades are common/uncommon.

N7 weapons (ultra-rare, apparently):
M-99 Saber
M-77 Paladin, Scorpion, M-358 Talon
M-11 Wraith
Black Widow, Javelin
(no SMG)

---

Has anyone unlocked the Krogan Sentinal? I've been having fun with my Turian Sentinal -- Raptor sniper rifle, 40% damage reduction from tech armor, maxed out passive damage bonus. On bronze by level 16 or so I can tank multiple rocket trooper shots without losing shields. The Krogan can hit something like 75% damage reduction (I forgot exactly), and apparently has higher shields/health than a Turian...

It might be a viable tactic to "tank" at silver or gold at 1000+ shields and 75% damage reduction (effectively 4000 shields!), where you deliberately draw fire off of your allies.

---

I wonder if they confused the "crowds aren't wise" with "you don't need an editor". :p

[Dark567]

The ending gets worse the longer you think about it. It's fridgeterrible. It's been like two weeks since I finished and I'm only just now reaching the point of diminishing returns where further thought fails to return further terrible.

Honestly I thought it was bad the whole time. Seeing the ending made me immediately sick to my stomach, in much the same way a unexpected breakup causes me to be sick. Generally I've only felt better by thinking that it was rushed which makes me feel a lot better than the alternative, that there exists so much incompetency of writers and editors that I don't really want to claim to be part of the same species as them.

[Gellert1984]

Spoiler:

I also went for the synthesis option, control didnt strike me as a paragon option and destruction seemed more of a stop gap than a solution. I also didnt like the idea of offing the Geth.

The Geth really dissappointed me. In ME2 EDI states that the Geth cover a full arm of the milky way, in ME3 the Quarians supe up their busted ass fleet and over power all that in a few months but get hungup on a dreadnaught and the remains of the Geth fleet? No. Don't believe it.

I get the impression that they screwed the pooch on the ending, I remember hearing somewhere that Shepherd was originally going to be indoctrinated but that bioware couldnt get the gameplay to work properly, so I think the ABC option was a last minute addition.

Also, where are my little blue babies damnit!

[Belial]

Honestly I thought it was bad the whole time. Seeing the ending made me immediately sick to my stomach, in much the same way a unexpected breakup causes me to be sick. Generally I've only felt better by thinking that it was rushed which makes me feel a lot better than the alternative, that there exists so much incompetency of writers and editors that I don't really want to claim to be part of the same species as them.

I'm less concerned about bioware's competency, really, and more with the way a bad ending retroactively ruins everything that came before it. I think I'm only maintaining my enjoyment of the series by segmenting the ending in my brain and treating it as not-actually-part-of-the-narrative. Otherwise I don't think I could really care about the fiction.

I think bioware is starting to see that too: just about any mention of pre-ending DLC for mass effect 3 is being met largely with "Why do I care, it's all going to blow up anyway".

"Oh, a 're-take omega' mission set? I can help Aria take omega back so she and her gangs can starve to death in deep space when the relays blow up? Yeah, that sounds like a great way to spend 10 bucks."

[Dark567]

I'm less concerned about bioware's competency, really, and more with the way a bad ending retroactively ruins everything that came before it. I think I'm only maintaining my enjoyment of the series by segmenting the ending in my brain and treating it as not-actually-part-of-the-narrative. Otherwise I don't think I could really care about the fiction.

I think that's the reason why it made me sick. I felt emotional betrayed, I spent all this time building up these characters and the ending makes me retroactively not care about them.

[VectorZero]

Meh, I found the end of thessia a worse betrayal of free choice

[Dark567]

Meh, I found the end of thessia a worse betrayal of free choice

I honestly wouldn't have cared if there were only one ending, if it were good. The (lack of)choice isn't what I feel betrayed about. It's how incoherent the ending was.

[Ghostbear]

The end of Thessia was also bad (actually, I thought the whole level except for the talking bits at the museum was bad). The problem is that the terrible ending is more overarching. It makes everything else less interesting. Thessia being bad only makes Thessia less interesting.

Also: what Dark said.

[Belial]

Wait, what was wrong with Thessia exactly? (my first playthrough was largely in a fanboy-fever where I was less critical. Am playing through again now.)

[omgryebread]

Just finished the game and wanted to note my thoughts before reading other people's opinions.

Spoiler:

I liked the ending (I took the synthesis). It didn't feel the need to lay out everything again: the entire game is the ending of each plot thread, and the ending is the finale for Shepard's. I don't think the deus ex machina complaints are really justified: it's established from the get go that there are elements beyond (human? alien? this cycles?) understanding, certainly beyond Shepard. One thing I really liked about the series is that although Shepard is the galaxy's ultimate badass, s/he still operates within a living, breathing world with others around playing their part and the relationships to characters like Hackett, Anderson, the councillors or Aria show that. Shepard doesn't have to understand Prothean science for the Crucible to be made. S/he makes it so others can. S/he's a guide, a ... shepherd, if you will.

Still don't care about the kid. Of all the characters in the game ... I think I literally had the least emotional response to that kid that Shep's apparently having nightmares about. Far more emotional attachment generated to ... say, the Salarian warrior whose friend sold her car to buy him a decent set of armor.

Anyhoo, off to read spoilers.

Spoiler:

The problem is that the Catalyst isn't really beyond understanding, except that his goal is hard to understand because it's very stupid. In order to preserve organics, we're going to kill organics! No reason why preserving organics is a desirable goal in and of itself.

And then also a problem is the lack of real choice. Shepard has spent the series kicking ass, not taking no for an answer. This is a person who given options A or B, chooses C. Sudennly, I'm presented with what is arguably the game's biggest villain, and I have to accept the narrowly tailored choices laid out before me. All the choices I made up until then do nothing to affect that last, ultimate choice.

Finally, it violates narrative principles. For example, settling the fight between geth and quarians seemed like a galaxy-shaking decision that would affect the very fate of the universe. A century long conflict between created and creator, resolved by the pure strength of one woman (or man)? What a kickass narrative. Oh hey, that's not the narrative. It's like if at the end of Catch-22, the military reformed it's policy, implemented reasonable psychological evaluations, and Yossarian was discharged and given medical treatment. Certainly makes sense in a causal way, but not in a narrative fashion. Why the hell did I [read the book/pay attention to the game's story] if I could have just [read the last page/watched the last cutscene] because they had no narrative link to the rest of the plot?

Wait, what was wrong with Thessia exactly?

Hey, here's a fight you have to win. Won it? OKAY MISSILES, YOU LOSE.

[Belial]

That happens in video games all the time, though. Including other bioware games. The fight where you have to knock the villain down to a certain health level, thus triggering the cinematic wherein the next plot development occurs. The next plot development is often you getting thwarted anyway, to keep you on the chase.

Hell, happens in movies all the time too.

[Ghostbear]

Wait, what was wrong with Thessia exactly? (my first playthrough was largely in a fanboy-fever where I was less critical. Am playing through again now.)

The early setup had some big inconsistencies (Shepard: I need you guys to hold this spot from attacks coming from the direction that I'm about to go) early on. That's a minor issue, but I wanted to get it out of the way first.

The big issue for me was the ending of it; you fight Kei Leng, defeat him, and then the game decides "now we're just gonna pretend you lost". It was a forced boss fight, and it wasn't a good one at that, and it didn't accomplish anything. Then afterwards, Shepard is all over the top self blaming, even though, even if you had succeeded at getting the VI, Thessia still would have fallen to the reapers. Just, they could have been defeated slightly sooner. The whole area just feels off.

[Okita]

Spoiler:

The Geth really dissappointed me. In ME2 EDI states that the Geth cover a full arm of the milky way, in ME3 the Quarians supe up their busted ass fleet and over power all that in a few months but get hungup on a dreadnaught and the remains of the Geth fleet? No. Don't believe it.

Spoiler:

Legion states that they were building a megasuperstructure to hold all of the Geth consensus (presumably if everyone is networked, they'd become some giant supersmart individual or something like that. At the same time, the fleet has built up Normandy-like stealth frigates and Admiral Xen has discovered that flashbang maneuver (using garbage data against lidar sensors) which cripples geth ships.

The way I see the battle happening is that the Migrant Fleet jumps in and uses their tactics to destroy the superstructure. Due to the flashbang effectiveness against geth ships, the Quarians essentially have the advantage of surprise. The Geth basically panic and retreat (hence the loss of 4 systems). If anything, the way the Geth probably haven't had to deal with actual loss of life in a long while which is why I can believe it.

Anyway, the reaper code upgrades them so that the flashbang thing doesn't work anymore and also upgrades Geth processes so that they significantly "smarter" albeit under Reaper control. So the flashbang trick no longer works, the Geth are smarter, and they are localized in an area where they don't have to "fear" death because they can just upload themselves to servers (presumably built as part of their retreat).

[Obby]

Wait, what was wrong with Thessia exactly? (my first playthrough was largely in a fanboy-fever where I was less critical. Am playing through again now.)

Because no matter what you do throughout the mission, there is no chance that you will actually change the outcome. It doesn't matter if you destroy all the harvesters before they destroy the gunship, the gunship will still die. It doesn't matter how quickly you make it to the snipers, they still die. It doesn't matter how much damage you deal to Kai Leng, he still blows the whole temple to pieces.

From a narrative perspective, I understand why they did it. Shepard has to have some kind of moment in the game where shit seems hopeless, however briefly (in ME1 it was when the council grounded him indefinitely, in ME2 it was when the Collectors abducted everyone on the Normandy). But this was a very shoddy way to do it, I think. It would have been much better if it was possible to kill Kai Leng in the temple (even if it is extremely difficult to do, the chance would have been nice), but have the Prothean VI already be long gone by the time you reach it due to the Illusive Man having got there first.

Or something.

Edit: Holy crap I need to type faster. Le ninjas.

[omgryebread]

That happens in video games all the time, though. Including other bioware games. The fight where you have to knock the villain down to a certain health level, thus triggering the cinematic wherein the next plot development occurs. The next plot development is often you getting thwarted anyway, to keep you on the chase.

Hell, happens in movies all the time too.

Yeah, I didn't have a huge problem with it, other than that I really hated Kai Leng and was pissed he got away. Not in a "this story sucks!" way though. There's simply no good way to resolve those kind of things without other stupid devices. I can think of the bad dude leaving you to fight their minion or whatever, simply not having a gameplay fight, or having an unwinnable boss fight, all of which are unsatisfying in their own way.

[Belial]

If anything, the way the Geth probably haven't had to deal with actual loss of life in a long while which is why I can believe it.

Also, I think it's worth reiterating that the geth progressively get dumber the more of them you kill. Eventually it becomes like a skill-based drinking game: the more you win, the more the other guy has to drink, the less likely he is to ever win again. The whole thing ramps up really quickly to one person being the unquestioned winner and the other person being in a coma.

Except in this case, the quarians only got so far as making the geth dumb enough to accept reaper "help".

Because no matter what you do throughout the mission, there is no chance that you will actually change the outcome. It doesn't matter if you destroy all the harvesters before they destroy the gunship, the gunship will still die. It doesn't matter how quickly you make it to the snipers, they still die. It doesn't matter how much damage you deal to Kai Leng, he still blows the whole temple to pieces.

I'm still pretty okay with the final fight with Leng, but you're right, those other two parts were poorly designed. If you can't affect it, you probably shouldn't be given the illusion that you can.

Yeah, I didn't have a huge problem with it, other than that I really hated Kai Leng and was pissed he got away. Not in a "this story sucks!" way though.

I think you're supposed to be, though. Kai Leng basically exists in the story to piss you off and frustrate you. Knowing his personality from the books just made me even more eager to kill the bastard.

[Dark567]

During that fight, I didn't realize it was unwinnable, but it ends up not only do you have to do X damage, you also have to let him return to the spot in the center of the temple. When I fought him, I kept charging him preventing him from returning to the center and the fight went on for like a half hour with me just being like "Why won't you die?"

... I apparently need to understand video game mechanics better.

[Ghostbear]

I actually didn't find Kei Leng a very compelling opponent. He just felt like a generic story-necessitated anti-Shepard, not a compelling character in his own right. Maybe if I had read the books he would have been more interesting, but in game I didn't think he was. Also, I didn't like the whole space-ninja vibe to him. It works for plenty of settings, and I don't have anything against space-ninja in general, but it doesn't fit with ME at all.

[Gellert1984]

During that fight, I didn't realize it was unwinnable, but it ends up not only do you have to do X damage, you also have to let him return to the spot in the center of the temple. When I fought him, I kept charging him preventing him from returning to the center and the fight went on for like a half hour with me just being like "Why won't you die?"

... I apparently need to understand video game mechanics better.

No, thats called good tactics and bad design.

[Belial]

I actually didn't find Kei Leng a very compelling opponent. He just felt like a generic story-necessitated anti-Shepard, not a compelling character in his own right. Maybe if I had read the books he would have been more interesting, but in game I didn't think he was. Also, I didn't like the whole space-ninja vibe to him. It works for plenty of settings, and I don't have anything against space-ninja in general, but it doesn't fit with ME at all.

Honestly I didn't read them either. But I read summaries. Long story short, Kai Leng is just an intolerable bastard. He's the over-the-top racist to Ash Williams' casual racist.

[Dauric]

Like Belial pointed out though a lot of games have the "penultimate" encounter where you 'win' the battle, but you don't actually defeat the boss in the encounter. The Final Fantasy series you do it a minimum of once a game. Neverwinter Nights 2 you disrupt Black Garrius's ritual that would have turned him in to a Shadow Reaper (he believed the ritual would grant him control of the Shadow King, but he was betrayed), and after the battle he (and a bunch of his flunkies) rises as a Shadow Reaper anyway.

This in and of itself is ... annoying, especially when I'm using an anti-material sniper rifle and I peg the sunofabitch in the head with a round designed to put holes in tanks, but it's hardly unexpected that it happened. Frankly I was more disappointed that Kai Leng was such a 2-dimensional caricature of a character (violent for the sake of violence even in his bio) rather than a more substantial "Anti-Shepard", being that Leng probably had the Lazarus treatment as well. Something about how he survived a similar life to Shepard's backstory but came out a much different person. Of course that would have taken more time and effort to write and Leng's scenes come in very much towards the end of the game where their writers care for the craft seem to start wearing thin.

The thing about Thessia is that I'd wager they were working on it when the budget/schedule started to get stretched. It doesn't have the same care of the craft as say Tuchanka or even Quarians/Geth areas had. Right after Thessia is the final confrontations with Cerberus which takes you straight to Earth.

Also, I didn't like the whole space-ninja vibe to him. It works for plenty of settings, and I don't have anything against space-ninja in general, but it doesn't fit with ME at all.

Agreed. Leng's the only "Space Ninja" and he's inserted in the third installment after two installments where bringing a knife to a gun-fight (or a knife to a krogan fight, and you're not a krogan) is a sure-sign that Darwin and his Chainsaw of Natural Selection will be having a word with you.

[Yakk]

Thessia: The codex talked about how the Reapers had to lay siege to the population, because the traditional methods of husk-based conquest don't work for a fully biotic population. You arrive, use up one small team's units in pushing for a temple.

A generic badass bad guy (from some knock-off ME fiction) shows up, and in a heavily scripted boss battle "auto-wins" once you defeat the guys shields. But the guy's shields don't act like normal shields (I think the guy becomes immune to all damage at various points?)

The room's puzzle consists of "activate everything in the room". Followed by "do it again". Then a pretty boring boss battle.

Then, because one temple was taken out, and one team was lost, the entire planet is lost? We don't hear anything about how they could manage to take out a biotic planet in a relative eyeblink (as if the codex writers and the plot writers are unconnected), nor is it explained how what we did had anything to do with the planet being lost.

You are doing a special ops raid on the planet, not defending it against reapers.

---

The general feel of the game, to me, is that they changed huge chunks of the plot as they developed it, and never reworked things to make it all connect. I think that they added in the "first thing happens, Earth is occupied" to increase narrative tension, but much of the game didn't feel like that was the backdrop, if that makes sense?

[Belial]

Agreed. Leng's the only "Space Ninja"

Eh, the phantoms are basically space-ninja too (as Kai Leng is essentially a named Phantom). And they do all have guns. My assumption with the knives was that they were for bypassing kinetic barriers. It turns out that's really handy in an assassin, given that sniping an opponent in a shielded hardsuit tends to result in them going "Oh dear, a rather high-caliber bullet seems to have pinged off my shield. It seems there is sniping afoot! Tally-ho!"

Yakk: yeah, I'm seeing that now. Suspect that will all bother me more the second time through.

[Dauric]

Agreed. Leng's the only "Space Ninja"

Eh, the phantoms are basically space-ninja too (as Kai Leng is essentially a named Phantom). And they do all have guns. My assumption with the knives was that they were for bypassing kinetic barriers. It turns out that's really handy in an assassin, given that sniping an opponent in a shielded hardsuit tends to result in them going "Oh dear, a rather high-caliber bullet seems to have pinged off my shield. It seems there is sniping afoot! Tally-ho!".

Again though, two installments of the series with personal force-fields and they still didn't have any "Space Ninjas" with swords and sword-based tactics, the only strong melee characters in 1 and 2 were Krogan who were just tanks that could absorb enough incoming fire to not care and strong enough to beat you senseless with their heads, much less the stock of a Claymore shotgun, and the husks who were disposable and deployed in overwhelming numbers by uncaring synthetics.

And suddenly in ME3 Cerberus (and only Cerberus) has a badly written Japanese guy using a sword*, accompanied by zippy ninja-types using swords, and the whole thing feels terribly cliche. If Leng was a black guy (like the Operative in Serenity) and/or not so blatantly terrible of a person (At least with a misguided sense of justice instead of "I like to kill people.") it might have come off better, but as it was executed it feels terribly 'out of left field' for the entire series and I find Leng and the Phantoms to be terribly forgettable (except that one of the rapid-fire sniper rifles has the perfect rate of fire to stun Phantoms and make them stand there to eat the next round...)

*When I first saw the scene where you see part of Leng standing behind Illusive I thought that Illusive had done some kind of advanced Lazarus on Miranda ad she was going to be a boss-battle.