Blacklight and Ravens

*Me*: “Gives some ‘wise’ advice to crush.”

*Crush*: Um, thanks for the advice. But it seems that what you did is counter-effective. It just makes me more disturbed than relieved.

My inner reaction:

It hurts… a lot… T_T

And so… the awaited “fix” for the crappy ending of ME3 has arrived.

I haven’t downloaded it yet because, damn, that costs 1GB space in my bro’s laptop and I don’t want to waste my time DL-ing something that I’ll regret seeing later on. So, for the meantime, I ventured into the BSN forums for some juicy spoilers.

And I found it here: http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/355/index/12756781/8

There are added cut scenes as well (and most of them, IMO, are directed to debunk Indoctrination Theory) but I won’t tackle it here. I’m concentrating on the new choice during your confrontation with the Catalyst.

Initial reaction: I don’t really know….this is what you call mixed feelings, right? But it reminds me of the endings of Deus Ex: Human revolution where you have three options to broadcast and one “I-choose-nothing” option. So the ME3’s options are now like that.

BioWare has granted its fans’ no.1 desire: shoot the damned Starbrat in the head. It’s basically your brand-new choice; and guess what it does: makes you lose the war. In short, THE REAPERS WIN AND THE CYCLE CONTINUES.

So, two birds in one stone, huh? Some fans want a “Reapers-win” ending and some want to put a bullet in the Starchild’s head. BioWare granted their wish, and they put it in one ending option. Brilliant, just brilliant.

Now, the fans are divided: some are content, while some are now dropping the F-BOMB on the forums. I can’t blame them, actually. For me, Shepard rejecting the Catalyst’s solution is in accordance with Shepard’s character. Shepard is known for being the one who defeated the odds. The person who’s like: “Impossible because no one’s done it, heh, watch me.” Remember Omega 4 Relay? But now, if you choose to say “no,” it screws up everything you’ve worked for in 40+ hours or so. So it’s like, regardless of your hard-worked EMS, if you choose “SHOOT THE DAMN BRAT!”, it falls to nothing—and the cycle goes on.

I would’ve appreciated the “Reapers Win” ending when Shep’s EMS is Very Low. It’s the way of saying, “You had it coming, Shepard. You’re such a lazy ass in collecting War Assets, did bad decisions, and just rushed to the battle without much of anything: so here’s your reward.” It may look like the conditions in ME2 to have a good ending; but it’s more logical isn’t it?

For the record, REAPERS ARE NOT INDESTRUCTIBLE. They’re just over powered machines. We’ve seen two fall down, right? So why—ah forget it.

It also irks me on why does it all boil down to THE CRUCIBLE? Isn’t the Crucible a third-party one-button solution for this war? And I actually hate that—it destroys the unity and heroic concept of ME3. I was quite glad when the Crucible didn’t work because that will mean that Shepard will have to battle Harbinger head-on to defeat the Reapers. And then, while Shepard and the squad are trying to destroy Harby from the inside, the ground units on Earth and the Sword fleet are doing their best to keep the other Reapers away from Harby. THAT’S THE USE OF WAR ASSETS, RIGHT? And then when Shepard have defeated Harbinger, the commander may assume direct control over the Reaper forces. Sweet, isn’t it?

But as sad as it may seem to be, the devs decided to stick to their beloved Catalyst and Crucible and made everything more painful to witness. I think I’ll just watch the other cut scenes on YouTube. There’s no way that I’ll make my Renegade Shepard be in her character for one last time and screw up everything she’d worked for.

I don’t know but it felt like this: “No matter what you do. the Reapers—the strongest force of nature—will win.” And I don’t think the original 3 endings are much “clarified.” But that’s just my personal opinion. 

*sigh* I think the only endings I’ll have are the Marauder Shields: Shepard’s Last Foe by koobisimo; endings made by fans on Hold the Line forums; and the ending I wrote (well, it’s NOT actually an ending but on what my FemShep would actually do, hehehe).

I never thought writing a good action scene can be this so mind-blowing!!! Maybe I’m not used to doing this. Apparently, this is the first time I’m going to write one. After sitting in front of the computer for about 3 hours, I haven’t even made a single line!

I dunno if that’s the right face for this; but here you go..

Just heard this audiobook while I lurk around the hiddlestoner’s den here in tumblr. It has been said that his voice in the audibook was enough to blow your ovaries away. So I said to myself, “Maybe I should find a copy.” Sure enough, I found one. I downloaded it, put my headphones on, and tried to immerse myself in the story.

 At first, it’s really hard to concentrate since Mr. Hiddleston’s rich voice is stronger than any kind of space magic known in the universe. Everytime I hear his voice, my heart will go SWOON!!! Hearing his angelic voice for a few hours is quite an experience; but ,IMO, it will be quite shallow if I’ll just listen to this one just because of my forbidden fantasies with Loki—ahem—I mean Mr. Hiddleston. So I stopped for awhile and started again from disc 1 the next day.

Then I tried to relisten the audiobook. And it was—beautiful. Mr. Hiddleston is a great VA. It’s awesome how he can put up different voices for the stories. I can feel every emotion in the story; and Mr. Hiddleston portrayed it beautifully. He can bring his listeners into the story. He’s just like a storyteller around a campfire in a dark of the night. Now I want to see him read this. I wonder what he looks like while doing this?

Not all audiobook readers I’ve heard can do such a great job bringing a book to life. I now applaud Mr. Hiddleston for being such an awesome reader!

I Am A: Neutral Good Human Cleric (1st Level)

Ability Scores:
Strength-10
Dexterity-11
Constitution-11
Intelligence-12
Wisdom-12
Charisma-13 

Alignment:
Neutral Good A neutral good character does the best that a good person can do. He is devoted to helping others. He works with kings and magistrates but does not feel beholden to them. Neutral good is the best alignment you can be because it means doing what is good without bias for or against order. However, neutral good can be a dangerous alignment when it advances mediocrity by limiting the actions of the truly capable.

Race:
Humans are the most adaptable of the common races. Short generations and a penchant for migration and conquest have made them physically diverse as well. Humans are often unorthodox in their dress, sporting unusual hairstyles, fanciful clothes, tattoos, and the like.

Class:
Clerics act as intermediaries between the earthly and the divine (or infernal) worlds. A good cleric helps those in need, while an evil cleric seeks to spread his patron’s vision of evil across the world. All clerics can heal wounds and bring people back from the brink of death, and powerful clerics can even raise the dead. Likewise, all clerics have authority over undead creatures, and they can turn away or even destroy these creatures. Clerics are trained in the use of simple weapons, and can use all forms of armor and shields without penalty, since armor does not interfere with the casting of divine spells. In addition to his normal complement of spells, every cleric chooses to focus on two of his deity’s domains. These domains grants the cleric special powers, and give him access to spells that he might otherwise never learn. A cleric’s Wisdom score should be high, since this determines the maximum spell level that he can cast.

Find out What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?, courtesy of Easydamus (e-mail)

Just saw the ending of Prototype 2. I really thought that this game will be my “saftey net” of some sort after the 10min fallout of Mass Effect 3. After all, Prototype 2 is my second most anticipated game of 2012 (ME3 being the first).

I know it, even before I played the game, that the devs are already planning to dissolve Alex by the end of the game. The heck, if anyone can remember the tagline of Prototype 2, it’s MURDER YOUR MAKER. What kind of explanation do we really need to have?

But still, it’s so hard to swallow.

After playing the first [PROTOTYPE] game, it’s kinda hard for me to get Alex Mercer out of my head. Fangirl syndrome, maybe. But for me, Alex kind of a different main character. He’s not the goody-two-shoes hero who knows he has to save the day starting from day one. He has his struggles, doubts, and problems. Yes, I know that the plotline is kind of “predictable,” still Radical has succeeded in making Alex Mercer one of the most badass character in gaming history. If there’s anything I really like about the Alex Mercer character, it’s the fact that it’s all about finding himself. And it even delights me that even up to the end of the game, that he’s somewhat eager to find his place in humanity.

Then came [PROTOTYPE2]…

I almost broke the screen upon reading the announcement that there will be a new protagonist for the game—and Alex Mercer is the villain. The devs explained that the [PROTOTYPE] series will be about the virus’ effect on people. As said in here:

…And we kind of analysed the game for a bit and the most interesting thing is how the virus affects people, and how it affected Alex Mercer and what if it infected somebody new? I think the most interesting story is how somebody grows over time to be someone like Alex Mercer and that was what was really intriguing about the first game and I think we wanted to capture that again in the second game. And really the only way we could do that was with a new character….

~ Interview with Radical Entertainment producer, Jonathon Lim by Rocket Chainsaw on February 24, 2012.

Well sure, sure, they want to do things ala-Dragon Age, where the game isn’t about the protagonists, but rather on the setting or catalyst of the situation, something. So I said to myself, “Maybe I should give James Heller a chance.” And quit whining.

Playing the game isn’t that bad. In fact, I enjoyed it; though I kinda feel the generic aura on Heller (getting revenge because his family got killed…blah, blah, blah). And Alex looks more badass now, especially in the CG’s where it’s all grey, black, and red. And yet, I still feel nostalgic on Alex.

But by the time the epic moment has arrived… it felt like: WTF JUST HAPPENED?! Alex Mercer (Zeus) has gone psychopathically mad and now wants to spread the virus. And of course, we have no choice but to kill him—through James Heller. And what’s worse, Heller consumed Alex and Mercer’s final words are, “Welcome to the top of the food chain.” 

I suspect that consuming Elizabeth Greene has something to do with the sharp character change. But when I found out about the Prototype comic that covers the events between Prototypes 1&2, it kinda says otherwise. For me, it’s suggesting that all that Alex saw in his travels are only just the evil and phony nature of humanity—and because of that, he wants to destroy them and renew the human race through the virus. And I was just like, “Wow Alex, you’re just the luckiest man on earth. You traveled around the world and all you saw was this?”

I don’ know what others feel about this, all I know is that the one who makes me remind of the badass looking guy with the red, white, and black colored leather jacket wielding a huge blade-arm whenever I hear the word “prototype” has just been erased from his own fanbase. And I don’t know how to cope with that, actually. Because for me, Alex Mercer is a one-of-a-kind protagonist… :(