#another unpopular opinion but i actually like ME3 ending

[other-cullen-ficrecs]

Unpopular opinion, I know, but perhaps if you know you won't be able to continue the series because the amount of choices is simply impossible to keep... Maybe you should just end it? 🤷

[rhaenyratargeryn]

001 | Send me a fandom and I will tell you my: Mass Effect

Mass effect my beloved

Favorite character: This is actually HARD??? I love so many of them. I will go with a tie between Tali and Garrus.

Least Favorite character: Uhhhh probably like... Jacob or something? Idk it's not his fault they did the man so dirty in ME3. Really dropped the ball on a lot of ME2 characters carrying forward when ME2 was SO fantastic.

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon): Shakarian, Shenko...whatever Shepard x Tali is called... also a fan of Javik x Liara and Kal'Reegar x Tali.

Character I find most attractive: .... I mean. The raptor man. It's his voice and his personality and his values tho completely. He is a very handsome birdboy, but at the end of the day everything I love about Garrus relates to who he is rather than what he looks like.

Character I would marry: Garrus I MEAN--

Character I would be best friends with: Tali ;; she is so sweet and nerdy and also she has a shotgun.

a random thought: that Jack and Tali were not options for fem!Shep haunts me to this day.

An unpopular opinion: I don't think it is an unpopular opinion more just a Strong opinon but DESTROY IS THE ONLY VALID ENDING.

My Canon OTP: Shakarian <3

My Non-canon OTP: HMMM-- idk. Tali x Kal'Reegar?

Most Badass Character: GOD how can I pick just one?! I mean. It's Shepard. But also like high contenders are Miranda, Jack, Wrex and Garrus.

Most Epic Villain: Saren. Best villain of all three games full stop.

Pairing I am not a fan of: ... I honestly can't think of any. I did get lowkey jealous when Garrus and Tali hooked up on my shenko playthrough LOL

Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): Thane and Jacob in ME3. They could have done so much more with those two but they really got sidelined.

Favourite Friendship: Liara and Tali's friendships are my favorites.

Character I most identify with: Probably Tali! She is a tech geek, I'm a... well. Geek.

Character I wish I could be: Oooo Kasumi. Cool thief gagets and a neat outfit.

[zet-sway]

Ash and Kaidan for the ask

ASH!!!

favorite thing about them: Her rich background and dialogue in ME1. How that carries over to ME3. Also her love of poetry.

least favorite thing about them: The devs did her dirty in ME3. Boobs huge and hair down for sex appeal and nothing else. I'm not feeling it - she can be sexy if she wants to, but she's a soldier, and I don't think she would run around in the field with her hair down if she had any say in the matter.

favorite line: "Why is it whenever someone says 'with all due respect' they really mean kiss my ass?"

brOTP: Wrex. I feel like they have a healthy respect for one another.

OTP: fShepley c:

nOTP: ???? Ash can date who she wants.

random headcanon: She's super good with kids probably. She's definitely the cool aunt, at least.

unpopular opinion: I don't like the phoenix armor. I feel like the devs gave her white and pink armor cause she's a ~*girl*~. I think at the end of the day Ash doesn't actually care what color her armor is, as long as it works. But Idk why they had to dress her like the pink ranger straight out the gate.

song i associate with them: jfslfjslfd

favorite picture of them: I don't have a favorite picture, but I so love the scene in ME3 where she's hungover in the starboard observation lounge lol

KAIDANNNNN!!!

favorite thing about them: Biotic booty c: also my favorite flavor of Kaidan is "respect." If you write fanfic where Kaidan respects Shepard and their LI, please know I am hugging you personally right now.

least favorite thing about them: "You cheated." >:[

favorite line: When you talk to him in ME1 and he says the tiles remind him of a bathroom floor lmao

brOTP: Post ME2 I bet he develops an unexpected friendship with Jack. Also Thane, because hospital bros and Thane is such a cool guy, always protecting Shepard's allies

OTP: I ship mShenkoooo

nOTP: I'm so bad at this question I'm sorry :c

random headcanon: Kaidan is a great cook and gives the best footrubs. Also he's the designated alcohol picker-outer guy cause he has great taste.

unpopular opinion: Kaidan and Mshep both look fucking weird in ME3 without their shirts on. They look like they're made of plastic.

song i associate with them: jfslfjslfd

favorite picture of them: I don't have a favorite picture, but I so love the scene in ME3 where she's hungover in the starboard observation lounge lol

[a-curious-wednesday]

Today! On Unpopular Opinions: Destiny 2, Warmind

Destiny 2′s newest DLC, Warmind is borderline trash.  Now, when I pre-ordered it, I, initially, went through the usual rigmarole.  Foolishly placing my hopes and expectations that this $20 DLC would right all the wrongs that have plagued D2 since its outset, and then coming to the cold realization that by the time Bungie was willing to entertain listening to its Destiny fanbase, Warmind was likely all-but completed.  Meaning that it would either be the same as DLC1, Fall of Osiris or negligibly better.

I realize there’s a lot of reasons for this.  Bungie agreed to a ridiculous content schedule with Activision, where they were forced to pump out new content and games on a schedule that disallows for proper development and growth.  That, the new direction of Destiny is Call of Duty w/Space Losers.  That, because, for the second time, Bungie changed D2′s game direction in the eleventh hour; brought in new people who did not understand the lore or what the game was supposed to be, etc, etc, etc.

And yet, here we are.

The campaign Warmind is alright.  And I mean that in the loosest of senses of the term ‘alright.’  I have many problems with its story direction. Some of them, a lot of you have previously heard before: silent protagonist, uptight, kiss-ass ghost, stiff character development.  There are other issues I take up, however. Issues that just left me scratching my fucking head in a general mystified and annoyed manner. (Note: there be spoilers)

1)  Once again your Guardian follows along with some half-assed plan to save the universe. (Which, if I’m being honest, the Universe never felt threatened during Warmind.  It’s more of a, “hey, can you help me get rid of these guys who’re crashing my place? They smell bad, eat all my food, don’t clean up after themselves and are generally ungrateful jerks.”)  This plan, borders the epitome of asinine, mind you. It amounts to:

Zavala: “Hey, let's take a piece of the Traveller and bait this giant-ass snake-god thing.”

Ghost/Guardian: “...”

Ana: “Then, what?” (Ana, who is suddenly an expert in the Hive asks curiously.  Meanwhile, your ghost, who should have wised up and remembered that you fought ORYX, the Black Garden, Skolas, SIVA (which, were, generally betterish plans) should have had concerns.)

Zavala: “We wing it.”

Ghost/Guardian: “...”  (Both of you should have protested, citing how we winged it with the Almighty and Ghaul and that didn’t really work out.  The Almighty is still slowly destroying Mercury, but NOBODY mentions that.  The next time you’re on Mercury, stop what you’re doing and look around.  The planet is still being ripped to chunks and pulled into the Almighty.)

Ana: “What?  We could use Rasputin--”

Zavala: “No! Absolutely not.”

We use Rasputin.  

How?  His “relic weapon” a super-heated/conductive spear that we literally chuck at a god.  I mean, why not, right?  We took down Oryx who was (pre-”established D1 canon is hearsay and folklore and not fact”) literally the strongest God we’ve fought since the quasi-para-casual tentacle thing that was supposed to represent the Darkness embodied.  At least, in the Black Garden, they had the good sense to have us beat the damn god by proxy.  Defeating Xol was just lazy writing. He’s a fucking Worm God!  You know, the thing, Auresh/Oryx took/consumed to become the taken King and literally lead the Hive out of the Fundament/Deep.

But, hey, it’s cool in the end. After all, Xol was the weakest, puniest Worm God of the bunch.  It's not like it/he had power only rivaled by the OTHER WORM GODS. Let’s chuck a nuclear spear at it.  That’ll kill it. Because science!!

2)  Your Guardian is sent to the Deep/Fundament by a fucking God.  Xol literally transports you to another plane of existence, cutting you off from the Traveller’s Light (because your plan is so asinine) in order to kill you slowly.  Mind you, this place is a horror show of horror shows. The Deep makes Hell look like a vacation to Mazatlan. There are things there that preyed on the Krill/Hive, things that we, humans and guardians could not comprehend without the Books of Sorrow/Toland.

Do you understand the wasted potential for story this was? It was monumental.  Monumental! Me, an Exo, was transported to the Hell of Hells by a literal God, because I wasn’t worth its time.  I’m there, floating around for, I don’t know, minutes? My annoying ghost is freaking out. Meanwhile, Xol has had enough of our shit.  He’s gone to destroy Rasputin (which, he might have done anyway, but hey, nothing like 3rd party intervention to up the timetable). With the Warmind removed from the gameboard, Xol has a clearer line to solar conquest.  Why? Dunno, it's never mentioned why a God would wish to conquer Sol. It never really seemed to care that the Traveller slept above Earth before it awoke.

It didn’t seem to care that the Traveller had.

Meanwhile, my Exo titan is floating in something that vaguely looks like blood.  There’s some weird stills of probably torture? Good thing, I’m an Exo. Don’t feel pain, because robot.  Don’t need to breathe or eat, because robot. Don’t get tired, because robot. And, then, miraculously, my guardian climbs up from a crevasse, obviously drained and near death.  My ghost is quick with the first aid and I’m good to go.

...Seriously?  Okay.  Okay. I can kind of see how that works if your guardian is an Exo.  Because robot.  But, human?  Awoken?  How?  Just how?  You were in literal mortal danger *again*.  Presumably, you needed to figure out what the Hellscape the Deep was and how to navigate it. You would need a way back to your native dimension, which would require you to seek aid from the natives.  Except, the natives have never seen your kind and they all want to kill you. And this would take time. Somehow, against all odds, you find someone who’ll help you escape and you make the journey together, because let's be realistic: there’s always that one person who knows the way, but was too chickenshit to go it alone.  That person dies getting you to the “portal” which’ll take you back to your dimension. By the way, you’ve got no Ghost. No Light. Limited ammo. No food. Nothing to repair your weapons and armor. No oxygen to breathe.

Somehow, you climb your way out, just like the Kratos climbed out of Hades.  Or, from an actual literary standpoint how Orpheus and Eurydice.  Dante and Virgil.

Except, not, because you get treated to a 30 second cut-scene of flashing images and your guardian clawing their way up a crevasse.

Kudos, Bungie.  Good job.  If the fanbase of Mass Effect could flip shit over the ending of ME3 to such a degree that they had the game’s actual ending redone (via post-production patch that was FREE) to better please them and work with the meta of the MEU, what do you think the fanbase of Destiny will do?  Don’t answer.  I know its buy shit from Eververse.

3)  Rasputin.  The titular reason we’re even on Mars.  The whole reason Anastasia Bray (Clever, Bungie.  Clever.  Rasputin and Anastasia.) has gone to the Hellas Basin.  She didn’t go there to go home. Not really. She went there to connect to a thing that she built that transcended all known laws and bounds.  It was alive, but alive in a Godly sense. Not bound by the constructs of Human morality.  Oh no.   Ana might not initially know for sure why she was drawn to Clovis Bray.  Sure, she awoke to her second life with her name badge on her person. And then was summarily told not to investigate her past. As if she were an Exo or concerned about DER.  She might not have consciously known she was seeking Rasputin, but she always was.

Meanwhile, Rasputin is a God, created by man to protect Us All.  Given sovereign to do so as he saw fit. Think about that. Think about Humanity as a whole currently.  In what universe would all of Humanity greenlight the creation of something like this? Never mind that, think about Humanity collectively since the dawn of science fiction writing.  When has it ever benefited Humanity to place their safety in the hands of others? My Skynet senses are tingling. But, wait, it's okay guys. Moon X/the Traveller is here! None of us understand what it is, but let’s go meet it.  While they’re doing that, let’s sanction a civilian company to build a guardian that thinks for itself, learns independently, is prudent, wise and plays the long game. Let’s make it so its not bound by Human morality so it can make the hard choices, us Humans would flinch at.  Nobody knows how a Moon is moving on its own or terraforming whole planets!  But, we’ll put our faith in a machine.

By the way, none of us truly understands or can comprehend this thing that we’ve built.  Oh, and there’s no way for is to. All of which, happened during the Golden Age, before the Collapse.  Interestingly GA mankind already knew of the Vex, so most likely reverse engineered Vex tech went into the creation of Rasputin.

Oh, and it's just Rasputin.  Whose always been on Mars. Sure, they retcon/bungiesplain it away well enough, but still.  Where the hell is Charlemagne, Jys or Virgil? It was established that Charlemagne was the Warmind of Mars, but now its a submind.  They’re all Submind. In other words, the children of Rasputin.  Story potential!

...Never mind, that’s not D2’s development team’s prerogative.

Fast forward to the present and Rasputin has become active because the Traveller has awoken.  His old foe, his biggest threat. The one thing Rasputin still doesn’t comprehend. Its awake/alive again.  Its parasites (guardians) have been doing a terrible job of policing Sol and protecting Humanity. Not their fault, their still human.  Rasputin was fine with letting the parasites struggle. It could focus on (presumably) the triangle ships, holding back the Red Legion, Eliksni colony convoys, Tomb convoys and other nightmares.  It was smart, cunning. Playing a very real and deadly game of chess. He couldn’t reveal too much of his might or himself, that would draw unwanted attention. Then the Traveller awoke and the rules changed.  So, he throws off his disguise and swings into full production/activity. Warsats activate that have been dormant for centuries. Orbital strikes occur all throughout Sol, hammering the Legion, Hive, Vex, Fallen, Taken.  And Xol thaws.

Yet, still, Rasputin is incomprehensible to us.  And we, “the” guardian, aid a shortsighted, single-minded Doctor in unshackling it. Yup, we did that.  Nearly killed him in the process, but we did the damn thing.  Doesn’t matter, though, in the end, right?  Because Rasputin is a machine, built for us.  Except, not.  No.  He’s more than that now.  Now, Rasputin is completely Free and he proclaims that he’s going to protect his ants.  Yeah. Good job, Ana.  Oh, and Zavala still has complete faith and trust in us.  Despite!  Despite having solid reservations in utilizing Rasputin.  Despite the fact that we ignored our Commander and leader.  It’s cool, though, right?  We’re celebrity status.  We’ve taken down 2, count ‘em, 2 Gods.  Crota was a Demigod at best.  (But, he got his own Raid... Nokris.)

Does Anastasia know this?  Nope.  She never mentions it. Never mentions Oryx or Crota or the Black Garden or how we did what no one else could.  And we did it with no plan and 3 to six other insane guardians with annoying, uptight ghosts.  To her, we’re just a guardian with a ghost that has a stick up its USB port.  Weird, right?  We’re Iron Lords for crying out loud!  Young Wolves. Bounty Hunters for the Reef Queen.  Prison of Elder gaolers.  Emissaries of the Cult of Osiris and now the Nine.  Oh, and some of us are Faction Heralds.  Standard Bearers for Dead Orbit, Future War Cult or New Monarchy.  If you got the exotic class item from DO, FWC or NM in D1, youse a Herald and Standard Bearer.

Is there ever mention of this?  Nope.

4)  The Hive finally gets snipers/sharpshooters and shield-wielding swordsman.  Both of which seem like obvious no-brainers to have always been incorporated.  Except!   That goes against the Sword Logic. So, sincerely, you get a plus for adding them to the heretical, “cowardly” faction of the Hive. 

Question for you, though. Why would you knowingly (God, I hope it was knowingly) honor previous canon in this instance, but not with others? Like, where Xol is concerned?  Or the Deep/Fundament? Or Rasputin? Why the cherry picking?

5)  Why even bother naming yellow-bar area and mission bosses or units if you won’t bother explaining who they are, what they do and what they want?   Because, I honestly, lost interest in reading the named enemies once I realized there was no information about them in or out of the game.

From a Gameplay standpoint, it's what you’d expect from Destiny 2.  Up-tempoed action with moments of intensity and hopeful triumph.  If you play smartly, it rewards you. If you overextend yourself, prepare to get ganked.  Horribly. Progression is more inline with its predecessor, which might make the casuals pause.  Thankfully, it isn’t like Day 1, Vanilla Destiny, where it was impossible to reach Light Level Cap solo and without completing Raid/Nightfalls.  Except, no one would take you if you didn’t have G-horn or Icebreaker. Ah, the Good ol’ days of the Grind and the Loot Caves.  My point? The action is more reminiscent to that feel, just with all the current bells and whistles, which is a good thing.

Exotic weapons finally feel fucking worthwhile.  I played the whole Warmind Campaign with the combination of Sweet Business and Actium War Rig and I absolutely love it!  Add the Galliard-42 or the Kibou AR3 for some added fun and thrills. Pairing the Tractor Cannon with Sentinel is immensely satisfying.  That punk, Nokris didn’t stand a chance. And neither did his minions. Melts the opposition. Plus, its just really satisfying to watch 5 charging Knights (with sword and/or shield) get punted halfway across the room or into a wall or over a ledge.  I finally feel like how those damned Taken Phalanxes must feel. The Borealis is a fun choice, too. Although, I haven’t spent much time with it. The payoff for matching damage types and busting shields is well worth it.

The added cosmetic gear is neat.  My new favorite jumpship, hands down, is Currus Gloriae XLII.  As a Titan, having a spaceship that looks like it can go to war and do some damage is a welcomed plus.  The sparrow, Azure Azazyel looks really awesome. Even though it doesn’t have an interesting contrail effect, it still is fun to ride.  It feel like it belongs in Akira or Bladerunner and I dig it.  What I’ve seen from the new emblems, they’re decent.  

The updated effects of the new guns is much needed. Dragonfly on an autorifle?  Yes, please. Rampage on a Handcannon that you don’t have to grind for? I’ll take it.  The new Ghost shells are blase at best. The emote wheel is a nice touch, but seems a bit late.

Hoo boy, Override Frequencies and Memory Fragments.  Gotta hand it to you there, Bungie. I could not figure out how to get those until you unlocked them.  And those Fragments? I didn’t even figure out how to unlock them. Or I did, but it didn’t work?  Don’t try shooting them until after you unlock Hellas Basin.  Found that out by accident.  Thank you, random Guardian who was just shooting at a ledge!

So, like I said on the outset: Warmind, as an expansion is alright bordering on trash.  It is entirely redeemed in its Gameplay, but woefully drops the ball where the story is concerned.  Is it worth the $20? Eh. You’d probably still be better off waiting for the comet expansion to drop and for Bungie/Activision to repackage and re-release Destiny 2 this fall/winter.  There will be some that will find it a $20 well spent and others who won’t, who’ll swear off the franchise completely.  As for me? Its an investment. Like investing in Roseart and hoping they turn into Crayola. One day, they just might.

[griffinsanddragons]

I'd recommend looking up the alpha footage from MEA. I'm sure its on YT with actual in-game comparisons. BW deserves the criticism. It was a Beta game that consumers had to pay for. And, for me, this started with DAI or even ME3s ending... Sure, it looked great and was big (tedious) open world, but it lacked heart. It lt lacked the story. DA2 may have had a lot of technical issues, but the story/characters were great. That's where BW shines but they seem to have forgotten that.

I agree.

And it’s a real shame too, but I expected this to happen once DA:I became game of the year, or whatever.

I knew someone at bioware studios would want another big win and decided that this was the direction they wanted to go in.

Why else would their main bragging point for months be how big the maps were?

We knew nothing for so long except it was going to be massive. Larger than Inquisition ever was and I, for one, wasn’t interested in such a thing lol

It isn’t just being big that’s the problem. DA:I has some major issues with the story–its lackluster.

ME:A just…fell into the same trap and yeah, they should be criticized so maybe next time they can look back at what made the original trilogy so good instead of being something they’re not.

Because when I look at DA:I and ME:A, I’m just…not feeling it anymore.

But, you know, some people like this sort of thing. I might not understand but some people truly love those two games and that’s fine. I have quite a few unpopular opinions concerning these franchises.

They’re just not for me.

There was a time when I was so willing to let Bioware have all my money and now….not so much.

So, moving forward, my biggest hope is that the DA4 team looks back to DA:O and see what’s gone wrong since. (They’re probably not going to look at DA2 ecer again but…I wish they did lol)

But until then…

[rexmajestatis]

🔥

(Unpopular Opinion meme | Accepting)

I actually liked the ending to Mass Effect 3.

Hear me out! The ending was actually foreshadowed from the beginning, since people were pretty consistently shouting ‘destroy them,’ ‘control them,’ and ‘there must be another way’ the entire fucking time. And as far as I was concerned, Bioware didn’t “owe us a happy ending.” In ME1, you have to let a squad mate die. In ME2, unless you’re playing on casual and kind of neurotic, it is really easy to have squad mates die, to such an extent that you can wind up with a total party kill. One of the driving themes behind ME3 is ‘sometimes there is no “best” choice, just “less awful.”’ Even at their most tongue-in-cheek, the games never pretended to be particularly happy. These are games where convincing the villain to kill himself is the charismatic thing to do. Twice.

And please, you can’t tell me that after everything that happened in ME3, because it was a dark fucking game, it wouldn’t have felt really cheap if DAH DAH DAAAAAH, Shepard just waltzed out of the rubble at the end. I would’ve felt insulted.

[casino-lights]

For the fandom thing: 001 Mass Effect and 004 Mass Effect / BBC Sherlock! Xx

001 | Send me a fandom (Mass Effect) and I will tell you my:

Favorite character: Definitely Commander Shepard.

Least Favorite character: Liara. More on this below.

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon): Shepard with Jack, Garrus, Tali, or Joker, and Garrus/Tali.

Character I find most attractive: JACK.

Character I would marry: Garrus.

Character I would be best friends with: Tali!

a random thought: Why does Zaeed only say like four things? Why can’t Shepard talk to him? I want to have an actual conversation with that old bastard, dammit.

An unpopular opinion: I don’t like the asari. I mean, I really don’t like the asari. I’m frustrated that such a creative plot to a sci-fi game has such a male-pandering cliche in it. The asari shouldn’t be a race of blue and purple babes. According to Liara herself, the asari don’t require physical contact to mate and they are a monogendered species. As such, human-like sexual characteristics are not necessary. I really would have connected with them more if they weren’t treated like multicolored sex goddesses. The Consort, every asari stripper ever, Matriarch Benezia’s dress... literally. every asari everywhere, even Liara, gets treated like a sexual object at least once throughout the game and it makes me sick. I also just don’t like how damn superior they act to everyone.

my canon OTP: Shakarian

Non-canon OTP: Shoker

most badass character: Commander Shepard. Zaeed, Wrex, and Garrus are close, though.

pairing I am not a fan of: EDI/Joker. Nope nope nope.

character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): Jack, because it is completely canon that she’s bisexual and yet only a male Shepard can romance her. Give me a goddamn break, Bioware.

favourite friendship: Joker and Shepard. He’s the last thing they see before they die in the beginning of ME2, and he’s the last one to salute them before they go groundside at the end of ME3. Something about the connection between those two really gets me in the feels.

character I want to adopt or be adopted by: I want Doctor Chakwas to be my wine aunt and I want to adopt Tali and be her friend.

004 | Send me 2 fandoms (BBC’s Sherlock and Mass Effect) and I will give you my crossover OTP

I actually have only watched two episodes of Sherlock, and I’m not really a fan. I love Martin Freeman, but I haven’t liked Butterscotch Candybatch in anything I’ve seen him in and I don’t like what the writers have done to Sherlock Holmes. I can’t give you any OTPs, but I do think if there were to be a Sherlock/Mass Effect crossover, Holmes would be a salarian scientist who dabbles in mystery-solving and Watson would be the turian pilot of his small starship. They’d chat about their missions and cases in the bridge while Watson flies.