I don't think that, as a whole, most of the criticisms leveled at ME3 would reflect badly on 99% of the people that worked on the game (except for the animators, because, seriously, wtf? This game has some pretty shifty animations). It's a damned fine game with, simply, some glaring plot/story/narrative design decisions that really pull the gamer out.
This is something that sticks in my craw so much because it has been that way pretty much forever. ME1, however, had one of the most wonderful and one of the most terrible moments of gaming for me. Let me lay it out for you:
I enjoy playing an evil character because it's generally more gleefully interesting. So I was playing ME1 as a character choosing mostly renegade options. The thing was, I was also romancing Liara because I thought she was pretty cool. So, because I'm romancing her, I bring Liara on every mission, along with Wrex (who was just awesome). We kill Benezia and then there is the option to kill the Rachni Queen. I choose to kill her. But then there is a quick interlude, Liara tells me that I should stop and save the Queen, she deserves another chance. Wrex, of course, says to kill the bitch. I WANTED to kill the Rachni Queen, but I also wanted to get laid, and so, putting my extensive history of getting in trouble with girlfriends to use, I decided to spare the Queen to reap the rewards of my action with my gf. Only afterards, Liara didn't say anything acknowledging my decision. Certainly not the nookie I deserved. So I loaded up the save and this time ignored Liara's plea, killing the Rachni Queen. Nothing from Liara. She wasn't pissed at all, she didn't even seem to care.
I had gotten, for one of the first times (and if something got their first, this was certainly more memorable) where I cared enough about a character rendered realistically enough that I was willing to change my mind about something based on them asking me to. That was huge. That was a giant, major deal. But then, almost as soon as that had happened, I learned that it was a game where choices didn't matter, that everything was an illusion and there was no accounting for these kinds of choices in ways that were powerful on a character level.
ME3 is still making the same stupid choices, is still lacking the same basic understanding of how to integrate player choice in a meaningful manner--the game, however, has become more polished, more interesting and more expertly executed (except for the animations) around this. I can't help but feel that there needs to be a fundamental change within the writing/game design departments that revolutionizes their formulaic approach to handling character interaction, but most everything else is just gravy.
This is something that sticks in my craw so much because it has been that way pretty much forever. ME1, however, had one of the most wonderful and one of the most terrible moments of gaming for me. Let me lay it out for you:
I enjoy playing an evil character because it's generally more gleefully interesting. So I was playing ME1 as a character choosing mostly renegade options. The thing was, I was also romancing Liara because I thought she was pretty cool. So, because I'm romancing her, I bring Liara on every mission, along with Wrex (who was just awesome). We kill Benezia and then there is the option to kill the Rachni Queen. I choose to kill her. But then there is a quick interlude, Liara tells me that I should stop and save the Queen, she deserves another chance. Wrex, of course, says to kill the bitch. I WANTED to kill the Rachni Queen, but I also wanted to get laid, and so, putting my extensive history of getting in trouble with girlfriends to use, I decided to spare the Queen to reap the rewards of my action with my gf. Only afterards, Liara didn't say anything acknowledging my decision. Certainly not the nookie I deserved. So I loaded up the save and this time ignored Liara's plea, killing the Rachni Queen. Nothing from Liara. She wasn't pissed at all, she didn't even seem to care.
I had gotten, for one of the first times (and if something got their first, this was certainly more memorable) where I cared enough about a character rendered realistically enough that I was willing to change my mind about something based on them asking me to. That was huge. That was a giant, major deal. But then, almost as soon as that had happened, I learned that it was a game where choices didn't matter, that everything was an illusion and there was no accounting for these kinds of choices in ways that were powerful on a character level.
ME3 is still making the same stupid choices, is still lacking the same basic understanding of how to integrate player choice in a meaningful manner--the game, however, has become more polished, more interesting and more expertly executed (except for the animations) around this. I can't help but feel that there needs to be a fundamental change within the writing/game design departments that revolutionizes their formulaic approach to handling character interaction, but most everything else is just gravy.
