Mass Effect 3

[koro]

On a completely different note, when Ashley's new ME3 face got revealed, I joked with friends that they were going to be making her the new Miranda with her whole makeover. Well, I guess they went for the total package:

[LK]

Wow.

[Simond]

I'd say "stay classy, Bioware" but lifting the 'good' endings wholesale from another game sort of rules that out anyway.  

Alt: "Stay assy, Bioware!".

[Triax]

Regarding the Multiplayer requirement for the Galactic Readiness
From the ME3 forums

[tmp]

No word that this has changed.

When you think about it, their explanation goes along the lines of "that penetration thing? It is just an alternative way to get to the orgasm, while our single player game includes the reach-around which allows you to achieve levels of satisfaction just as well".

[TripleDES]

On a completely different note, when Ashley's new ME3 face got revealed, I joked with friends that they were going to be making her the new Miranda with her whole makeover. Well, I guess they went for the total package:

You've got to be shitting me. Mass Effect is one of the franchises that had at least somewhat of a semblance to make games look less like nerd shit. I guess not.

[tmp]

Mass Effect is one of the franchises that had at least somewhat of a semblance to make games look less like nerd shit.

I... have some trouble agreeing with that i guess, between Tali and the concept of Asari on the whole

(although that's possibly a different interpretation of the "nerd shit" so, well)

[Fabricated]

On a completely different note, when Ashley's new ME3 face got revealed, I joked with friends that they were going to be making her the new Miranda with her whole makeover. Well, I guess they went for the total package:

You've got to be shitting me. Mass Effect is one of the franchises that had at least somewhat of a semblance to make games look less like nerd shit. I guess not.

I dunno, the nerdy, mousey alien with the schoolgirl crush on Shepard and big birthin' hips kinda shoots that right through the heart. Nevermind the blue female-only race of aliens that have a bad reputation for promiscuity, and the "ugh, I'm so perfect and pretty, that sucks!" genetic uberwench.

[Paelos]

Yes, the asari backstory of going through phases, one of which is blantant whore phase. Mmmmm.

[Stormwaltz]

I was hoping the asari would come off as like witch coven - wise, powerful, a bit scary, and - when called for - sensual rather than slutty. I don't think they ever recovered from Matriarch Benezia's Biotic Lift and Separate dress. -_-

I will say in their defense that they are but one incarnation in a tradition of "blue-skinned space babe" races - the Syreens of Star Control and the Elerians of Master of Orion.

[Sjofn]

Asari struck me more like faux-lesbian space elves than anything. If it makes you feel better, ME2 took the asari (to me) from fanfic nerd wankery and more into just a quirky race. Ilum helped a ton, because the whole planet seemed to have a sense of humor of how goofy a race like the asari sounds.

[Lantyssa]

It really didn't help that the sensual/sexual was accentuated in almost every serious interaction with them.  ME2 made it worse by portraying them as galactic cougars.

[HaemishM]

Yeah, polyamorous, poly-gendered space cougars is a perfect description of how they were portrayed. Making every Asari built like a brickhouse didn't help one bit either.

[Paelos]

They may have started out as something else, but the Asari devolved into space slut race pretty quick.

[Sjofn]

Benezia's dress, by the way, barely registered with me at all. That was certainly not why I saw them as the Fanservice Species. That impression was pretty well solidified well before I even met her.

[Ingmar]

It really didn't help that the sensual/sexual was accentuated in almost every serious interaction with them.  ME2 made it worse by portraying them as galactic cougars.

Definitely disagree about ME2 making it worse; I think it ameliorated (but didn't solve obviously) the issue. You get a lot more stories about what asari relationships are like, etc., that help offset the spaceskank thing a bit. Morinth doesn't help though for sure.

[tmp]

Benezia's dress, by the way, barely registered with me at all. That was certainly not why I saw them as the Fanservice Species. That impression was pretty well solidified well before I even met her.

To me it was mostly the "twi'lek effect" -- i.e. seeing what felt like majority of the species work in some sort of sex-related business or presented in some other sex-related context. ME2 did address that somewhat, but by that time the first impression (and damage) was already done. It's like putting stuff like gungans in your first installment of the series, there's no real chance of recovery from that 

And ME2 had its own share of issues with reinforcing the shallow species stereotypes, imo... it's just mostly the other, "secondary" species though, not the asari.

[Sjofn]

Yeah, I mean the first asari I can remember talking to was the receptionist for the Consort. That is the first impression you present to me for this race?


Basically, I hated the asari in ME1. ME2, they were funny enough about it (and I really liked Samara's deal, in spite of her fucking stupid clothing), it made them much more tolerable. Liara suddenly becoming remotely interesting in LotSB probably helped too.

[UnSub]

Benezia's dress, by the way, barely registered with me at all.

Same with me. When she was introduced, I barely saw her dress at all.

[TripleDES]

My point, shot to bits immediately. 

I guess I mentally blended out these things and only remembered the praise ME2 started getting outside of shitty gaming blogs and sites.

[Lantyssa]

Definitely disagree about ME2 making it worse; I think it ameliorated (but didn't solve obviously) the issue. You get a lot more stories about what asari relationships are like, etc., that help offset the spaceskank thing a bit. Morinth doesn't help though for sure.

Yes, you learn tons about what asari relationships are like.  That's just about all we're told about their culture.  Asari are defined by their relationships instead of their accomplishments.  Those are just footnotes.

[UnSub]

The conversation in that bar somewhere in ME2 that all males see the Asari as looking like particularly attractive versions of their race, just with head tentacles, was an interesting bit.

I don't think it makes the Asari look particularly trustworthy, however.

[tmp]

Yes, you learn tons about what asari relationships are like.  That's just about all we're told about their culture.  Asari are defined by their relationships instead of their accomplishments.  Those are just footnotes.

The helpful thing was seeing the asari performing wider range of (often mundane) jobs, i think. Wasn't just HOOKERS, HOOKERS EVERYWHERE.

edit: the mental manipulation bit was just a joke on three drunk guys talking shit, i thought. Since whatever they were discusing could be promptly verified (false) by watching any picture with asari on it, rather than actual specimen.

[kildorn]

Definitely disagree about ME2 making it worse; I think it ameliorated (but didn't solve obviously) the issue. You get a lot more stories about what asari relationships are like, etc., that help offset the spaceskank thing a bit. Morinth doesn't help though for sure.

Yes, you learn tons about what asari relationships are like.  That's just about all we're told about their culture.  Asari are defined by their relationships instead of their accomplishments.  Those are just footnotes.

I may have been skimming the relationships part, but the Asari world painted them more as completely ruthless businessmen, and the rest of it being a phase they go through in college.

I will admit I tended to roll my eyes when Asari showed up in ME2, just because of my experiences in ME1. But if anything the horrible fanservice shit was entirely built into Tali in ME2. And Miranda's LeerCam.

[tmp]

and the rest of it being a phase they go through in college.

Gotta keep in mind that college phase lasts something like 300 years.

(plus the very idea of having "species-wide slut phase" in the first place, but that's already mentioned)

[Ingmar]

Definitely disagree about ME2 making it worse; I think it ameliorated (but didn't solve obviously) the issue. You get a lot more stories about what asari relationships are like, etc., that help offset the spaceskank thing a bit. Morinth doesn't help though for sure.

Yes, you learn tons about what asari relationships are like.  That's just about all we're told about their culture.  Asari are defined by their relationships instead of their accomplishments.  Those are just footnotes.

Nah, there's lots more than just the relationship stuff, I was just mentioning it because that's what specifically offsets the spaceskank thing. There's plenty of development that has nothing to do with that in, for example, Samara's recruitment mission, the ads on Ilum, etc.

I get what they were trying to do with the 'set up the stereotypes in the first game, then broaden/play around with stuff in the second', the core of the issue to me is how they set it all up in the first game was just too ridiculous.

[Sky]

I was hoping the asari would come off as like witch coven - wise, powerful, a bit scary, and - when called for - sensual rather than slutty. I don't think they ever recovered from Matriarch Benezia's Biotic Lift and Separate dress. -_-

That's what I got from it. It also makes some sense from a species-perpetuity standpoint, I guess.

Some people have issues with promiscuity.

And a lot of people read a LOT MORE into games than I'd have ever imagined. The Mass Effect threads are some of the most bizarrely disturbing threads on these forums.

[Ingmar]

Nothing to do with promiscuity specifically, more about portrayal of women in general given that Asari are like 98% of the female characters in ME.

EDIT: I don't see any female writers credited on either game. I think that goes a long ways for me towards explaining why DA:O/DA2 do a better job on that front.

[Sky]

Yeah. Sorry I mentioned it, I don't want to get involved with this thread right now.

*backs out slowly*

[tmp]

Nothing to do with promiscuity specifically, more about portrayal of women in general given that Asari are like 98% of the female characters in ME.

Even more specifically, how the concept of 100% female race composed entirely of specimens looking like young, hot human females who will sleep with anything no matter its gender and/or species, and who just happen to go through few hundred years long "experimenting phase" ... is hard to be viewed as anything but a silly nerd wank fantasy.

And not an actual issue, just an observation. Although combined with /facepalm, true.

[Velorath]

Yeah. Sorry I mentioned it, I don't want to get involved with this thread right now.

*backs out slowly*

Pretty much.  I checked in this thread to see if anyone mentioned the iOS game that just got announced, or that none of the achievements require mutiplayer.

Nope.  Instead we're on day 3 of the "Asari are space sluts" debate.

[Ingmar]

I have an idea, maybe you could just talk about those things without passive-aggressively whining that you don't like the current topic?

[Velorath]

I think I'd rather follow Sky's example of slowly backing out of the thread.

[Ingmar]

Alright, don't get any splinters from that cross then.

On the achievement thing, hopefully that means the earlier rumor about the "readiness" meter is bullshit.

EDIT: Also, no Android version of their tie-in game, yet again. 

[Zetor]

They obviously need to release a Symbian version.