Mass Effect 3 Message Board  

It's a Prothean. You want me to elaborate on why that ruins a story based game like Mass Effect?

You saw their last crying out. You have an iron will. This is why Shepard is special. He's hyper-competent, sure.

But he knows what's going down, and can understand the only race that's ever had a chance of winning what he has to. What you want to.

Oh, whoops. Turns out, we've got the real thing, Shep. Flesh and blood! I know! He even knows about what's going on, and everything! Yeah... We're not giving the Normandy back. You can fight and stuff bro, but, well, maybe you can be his liason or something when the war's over.

Because he knows everything you do about the enemy, so he's calling the shots now. Heheh. Shots! Right, here, this is your new ship, the Normandy! And your new commanding officer. You can shoot what this new guy tells you to.

The new guy can speak English, fight, and knows a lot more than you do. That last part is bolded by the way, because if you don't get the point by now, here's some of his dialogue: Link

For anyone who does comprehend basic story implications at this point: Who is better off? People who have the DLC, or people who don't?

Without it, my Shepard wouldn't be completely irrelevant because of a completely new guy.

Yes, sorry if I did not make that clear enough what I meant. I had a longer post than that, but I got a page cannot be found error when I clicked the submit button after previewing it. So I did not make much of a reference to the previous DLC squad members like I was going to.

After checking it out on YouTube, and the concept art, doesn't really seem to match up with the statues on Ilos, or the Prothean husk.

I am sure all will be explained, eventually.

[Edited by ZZGashi, 2/24/2012 12:27:31 AM]

Yes I have already listened to the prothean dialogue and I see nothing there that is special or unique. Also since the game has not even come out yet we have no idea on how much information the prothean has and how he will help out. It is pure speculation and you are jumping to conclusions. Wait until the game comes out and if the game is a poor value for the money then people will have a good reason to avoid it. However, getting upset before a game has been released is just a knee jerk reaction as no one knows how the game will play out.

Also, just because he is prothean doesn't mean he has all the secrets. We don't know how he survived or what he did or how much special knowledge he has.

Here is what bioware said, people can take it as they wish.

As most of you know, yesterday there was a leak that revealed the upcoming DLC “ME3:From Ashes” on the
Xbox LIVE Marketplace. This leak took place before we were prepared to make an announcement about the details of that pack (slated for this Friday).

There has been a lot of discussion about the DLC offering but we wanted to clarify a few things...

- “From Ashes” includes the Prothean squad mate, an adventure on Eden Prime, a new weapon, and an alternate
appearance for every squad mate. Note that these alternate appearances are in addition to the ones already advertised in the CE.

- The Collectors Edition has been advertised from the beginning as containing a bonus character/mission, but we were not at liberty to provide the details. The Prothean is optional content that is certainly designed to appeal to long-time fans, which is why he is part of the CE offering (the version many fans would be likely to purchase). Mass Effect 3 is a complete – and a huge game - right out of the box.

- The content in “From Ashes” was developed by a separate team (after the core game was finished) and not completed until well after the main game went into certification.

- The Collectors Edition has been sold out in most places for some time now, and is becoming very hard to find (many players prefer not to purchase the digital version). As such, we wanted to make this content available so that SE buyers could also incorporate the Prothean into their game.

I haven't even watched that video, because I know it'll be the same whiny, pointless arguments I've heard over and over all over the place. I always find it funny when people complain about Day One DLC, or DLC released shortly after the full games' release.

"They removed this content to sell separately to make more money!"

"This should have been part of the full game!"

"They were working on DLC when they could have worked on the full game, that's why it's short!"

...Just no.

Day One DLC is NOT removed content, nor were a part of the development team working on the DLC instead of the full game.

You do realise that games aren't completed the day before they're put on sale right? More often than not, months can go by between the completion of a game and the release date due to all of the procedures a product has to go through - especially when it comes to games - before they can be sold to whiny people in stores.

What do you think happens during that time between completion and release? The devs just sit around drinking and laughing about all the money they're going to reap from you personally? No, they work on something like Day One DLC. So it's not removed content at all.

Also, it's becoming more and more frequent that a development studio will have a small team completely seperate from the main development team to work on DLC and DLC alone, so there's no loss of content or effort in the main game at all.

Sometimes it's as simple as finishing a product that you think can't get any better, then suddenly realising there's something major you could have put into it, so you release it as separate content, but you have no choice but to charge for it to make up for the extra man-hours you put into it and lost from another project. That situation may or may not apply to a big development studio - but remember that they're a company too, they have to make money to stay in business - but I've heard these arguments thrown at small indie devs too.

As for selling Day One DLC and giving it freely to people who buy the CE of a game, it's a reward. It's a "thank you" to all of those who spend a little more to support a studio and its games. People who just buy the regular version of a game are supporting the studio, but they're not going that little bit further, so they don't get freebies. Quit *****ing. And before someone says "well some of us can't afford to buy the CE of a game", that goes for anything else. Hell, it's the most used argument when it comes to piracy. If you can't afford something, you do without and don't complain when someone else gets something because they CAN afford it. That's how the world works. Simple as.

Not to mention, as Drakonis pointed out in his post, it's been advertised from the beginning that there would be an extra character/mission/content with the CE of the game. The fact that it's a Prothean doesn't mean anything. It's no different than Zaeed (who was also free content) and Kasumi (which everyone paid for) for ME2. The only arguments I'm hearing is "it's a Prothean!"... well so what?

My apologies to those of you who haven't said anything against this subject and find this post a little brash, but having taken these kinds of accusations from people who have used things I've made in the past, I'm getting sick of hearing it. People need to read up before they open their mouths. Or fingers... whatever.

/Rant

[Edited by Skyheart, 2/24/2012 5:07:32 AM]

It's not that nobody understands how day one DLC works. Or, at least, I have a pretty thorough understanding of why it can be neat if the developer is, say, actually just really intensely focused and crunches time or really need the extra profits. I fail to see how BioWare could need to charge for it, but my main point is this:

It's the contents here that have me miffed. I wasn't exactly forthcoming with that in my first post because, well, I'm a science fiction fan/writer. I was mad. I had no problem with any DA:O DLC because it was really not meant to have major far-reaching consequences.

For whatever their reason here, adding a Prothean - the enigmatic and cold, calculating special old race I've detailed previously - as a living, breathing character, is frankly the laziest move you can make in fiction. X is dead. He knows Y, and Y has empirically given X the edge they needed to beat Z - but too little, too late. X is now alive again.

I only see four possible outcomes coming of this.
1: Prothibuddy fights the good fight until the end, then dies, regardless of what you do. -This is the only one that can be salvaged by a good writer with goodwill. But the guy you've paid money for is still dead.
2: Prothibuddy really doesn't like the Reapers for a good reason, but knows life will restart without them. You have to kill or charisma hero Prothibuddy because he has a superweapon that will go all Halo on everyone. Then Mordin adapts it to work only against the Reapers at just the right time. If Mordin is dead for whatever reason in your game, Prothibuddy/Scientist McOneLine does it. -This is lazy, but it makes the most sense from a gameplay perspective. Buy DLC, collect a Galaxy At War bonus.
3: Prothibuddy survives with no superweapon, but is still a member of an enigmatic, dead race. That knows more about technology than anyone. Cue ME4 opening, where society has advanced much, much further, but you still have to shoot people to make them dead, and bullets don't go through knee high walls. -This makes the most sense from the money perspective, but is really lazy. Only other solution without this last option I see is him surviving no matter what and leaving some universal trump card for the next Citadel race/collective to come along, if you "lose the game."
4: Prothibuddy survives and... ME4: Nothing Actually Came Of It. For whatever reason, he simply does not help anyone in the universe out. Maybe he gets mindwiped during the same mission you get him in, maybe he runs off to some other end of the universe to find an unknown threat while Mandalore prepares...

That last one makes the most sense from the BioWare perspective. "Cool! Possibly radically substantial character idea! Nah, we don't need him. WAIT! HAHAHAHA! WHAT IF HE DIDN'T HAVE ANY IMPLICATIONS?"

It's just a stupid move to make the character not in the main game. Period. Either he should be there and be able to affect the franchise for everyone, or not at all. Not that deep in the lore. No. Just. No. Full. Stop.

I respect your opinion Shotgun, and more often than not I agree with you, but on this you sound like a lot of other people. I made the point in my post: it's DLC, he's no different than Zaeed or Kasumi. He's just a side character who's survival probably depends on your actions. Like Zaeed or Kasumi.

Everyone's making a big deal out of it because it's a Prothean. I've bought the CE, yes. But I know that if I hadn't, I wouldn't be complaining because I didn't get a DLC character who'll have no impact on the game, and will most likely have very little dialogue. If I was that desperate for it, I'd buy it, if not, I wouldn't care.

But my main point is that the "it's a Prothean" argument only makes up a small number of the genuine arguments, like yours, and just an excuse for the rest. Most people are complaining not that he/she is a DLC character, but because it's Day One DLC and free for some people and paid for others. That's the argument I counter, not the actual content of it.

We had the same complaints about Zaeed if you look back to posts on various sites when ME2 was released. People complaining that it was Day One DLC, not what was in it. That is was cut content, or just should have been in the full game.

The whole think just stinks of a kid wanting a toy because another kid has one. I'm not saying that's everyone who's complaining, but it's the general feeling.

Your opinion is valid, as is everyone elses, but the loudest and most outspoken arguments have absolutely nothing to do with content, but the fact that it's Day One DLC. THEY are the people I was talking to.

Meh, no offense but I've said my piece, so I'm out before everyone starts nitpicking on arguments I've already pointed out, since I hate repeating myself and that's how I got in trouble last time...

[Edited by Skyheart, 2/24/2012 5:55:51 AM]

I wasn't really debating any of your points, either, as I've come to learn I pretty much just can't. Maybe that's insane troll logic, maybe not. I dunno.

But I simply think they could've handled it much more gracefully purely from the lore standpoint that there are any number of other interesting squaddies to add. Did they spend their "bright ideas" budget on hiring the guy from the Wing Commander movie as the not-DLC new guy? It just doesn't seem rational from there, or the "people are already mad at EA, don't pull a 'you need our product, dawg, you gots to buy' move" standpoint, either.

I rage about story, and about outrage.

Irrespective of viewpoint, you probably have to agree that it is kind of a weird move to pull. And then let out riiiight as it'll be a little hard to cancel orders if people are doing it in any number.

...And if he really is like Zaeed, so doesn't actually exposit any actual story. Because that would just be really, really mean. Like... EA levels of mean. C'mon, tell me about the internet in your time.

Did any extremists travel back in time with AK-47s and win your civil war? Is that why you guys were the only race on the Citadel we know about? TALK, SPACEMAN. OR SHOULD I CALL YOU SPACERACIST?

(It makes sense if you wiki "Guns of the South," because Prothibuddy conveniently has a distinct accent... and people are confusing it for Jamaican, so I assume up is also down in the ME universe)

Your post confuses me and makes little sense towards the end, which is usually a good thing... not to mention I can't quite tell if you were calling me a troll or not.

Anyway, I was going to edit this in to my post, but since you replied it probably wouldn't be seen. I was going to ask you to go to the YouTube video posted and count how many complaints were about the content of the DLC, versus how many were complaining that they weren't getting it free/that it was Day One DLC/blahblahblah.

But since I'm posting anyway... let's face it, the bottom line is that it's a gimmick. It's a Prothean, something everyone's wanted to see/talk to since ME1. However, while you may be right on the fact that it could have been handled better, they also did it right because they've only just revealed that the extra character will be a Prothean, when the N7 edition has been available to pre-order for months, with an unnamed extra character. Had they announced that it was a Prothean from the start, it'd come across as a publicity stunt to make people buy their stuff and I'd have probably agreed completely with you.