#mea critical

[omegastation]

GamingBolt just did a vid about being worried about the next Mass Effect game based on what they saw in DA:TV. The video has critical content and spoilers, and at some point there is a comment about MEA. It's one example of what I saw recently. My post here is without spoilers really, it's more about what makes a game a "good" addition to a franchise and about the next ME game in this context.

I don't know how to formulate this in a way that is clear enough, but I think there is a difference between a less quality game in a larger franchise and a game that is not recognizable as a part of the whole, that makes players feel like there is a disconnect, like they're no longer in the same universe, either because of the tone, lore, dialogues, etc.

And it's all up to interpretation but I can't help but think MEA, for all its flaws and faults, was very much a Mass Effect game. How you can achieve that ME essence with added immersion, I don't know, it's quite magical, but I think they did it with MEA. If you ask me, it's a solid part of the franchise. It wasn't a perfect game though, and that's the thing: there are some things it did right, and some that could have been better.

But point is, a game that creates a disconnect with players is off to a bad start, because a successful franchise and immersive universe are all about consistency and coherence. And that is how you create a fanbase, with people who really love your universe. If it falls apart and people no longer feel connected to the universe, it seems like the content itself could still be quite good but it wouldn't matter that much to fans. It's not about rejecting change - because it can be quite good - but you have to have that essence, you have to make it all "fit" somehow.

Games also cost a lot and there is a trust that we sorta put in companies when they give us franchise titles. You buy a Mass Effect game because it's a Mass Effect game, but you don't plan on buying "not really has that Mass Effect essence I like but still called Mass Effect" game.

And so I find the recent and general criticism of MEA not as interesting as it could be - to me, MEA did a lot of things right. I can take a game that has a lot of flaws if it's part of a whole and it feels like a solid universe to step into. I don't feel like it's the ultimate example of Bioware messing it up, basically. And sure, we could argue about linear vs open worlds, but even so.

In the end, my worry about the next game is what I'm talking about here: that it could potentially not feel like a Mass Effect game. And that's probably why Gamble tried to reassure us, even if done in a sort of awkward way. Let's hope it will be fine; and if not, I think I'll just rely even more on what feels like Mass Effect to me (trilogy and MEA).

[stormcallart]

Hiii I noticed that you really like Mass Effect, and I was curious how you felt about Mass Effect: Andromeda? I really liked it but it seems like everyone who’s a Mass Effect fan hates it

Hi! thanks for the question & sorry my answer is a bit long winded.

When it first came out I was a huge fan of Andromeda. The promise of DLC for the quarian arc and more was exciting. I only played it once to completion and haven't been able to bring myself to play through it again so i am only going off of how the game played right at the beginning (within the first few weeks).

It's a great game but to me it just isn't a mass effect game. The combat is vastly improved and switching between biotics, tech,etc is really fun! but I think the game suffered greatly from huge empty worlds. Like yea, there were enemies but it didn't feel like the grind/driving was worth the outcome. there wasn't that looming threat that was felt throughout the trilogy for me. That and the RPG aspect as well as the "your choices really matter" seemed to be little to none. the squadmates were subpar compared to the OG crew to me. though i love vetra.

There was so much promise and I think I suffered from hype quite a bit, so take my opinion with a grain of salt. But when they dropped the game altogether to focus on anthem is when a piece of my joy for ME:A died.

so I don't HATE it, but its kinda like a "eh, okay well...that happened."

[gxldencity]

"Andromeda actually respects the lore unlike veilguard!!" anyway remember in the prologue and your dad suddenly has fucking biotics despite never being a biotic in his life so he never was exposed to eezo in utero and never had the second exposure that triggered his biotics which is like....the lore for botics since ME1 and the reason behind this truly is bc the robot in his head can do everything, including somehow, somehow giving him the eezo nodes on his neck to allow for biotic manipulation

And then, and then, he transfers this to you so you too can be a biotic without the sufficient eezo exposure and no body, not even the powerful biotic in your ship, who was trained by asari bc her biotics are that powerful says anything about this specifically

[cityandking]

not to compare apples and darkspawn but it's so odd to come back to andromeda after veilguard and be like. yes the maps are enormous. yes the tangential fetch quests are kinda annoying. but the scale of the game and the choices you can make and the character flavor (and the way the game tracks it) and the balance of canon events and personal imagination is just so much better. like I'm having an excellent time extrapolating situations and character dynamics and feelings over here in andromeda that I'm not getting out of veilguard cause there's simply not enough Opportunity for it

[coffeeworldsasaki]

Veilguard is full of flaws sure, just like every other game in the series, but as BioWare fans have done since me3 it's all shitting on the new game and changing their minds when a new one comes out

[persephinae]

i know this video is 7 years old but man it's satisfying to hear someone talk about how creatively bankrupt MEA was

[enlichened]

All the posts in the mea tag keep just being people criticizing datv... illness inducing

[clericofshadows]

getting a comment notification on AO3: ヾ(⌐■_■)ノ♪

getting a comment notification on nexus mods: ┬┴┬┴┤(･_├┬┴┬┴

[ulkaralakbarova]

Shadow of a Film: A Critical Review of Tyler Perry’s 'Mea Culpa'

⭐ Rating: 1 out of 5. I try to avoid criticizing films negatively, not just out of fear of hurting anyone’s feelings but also from a clear understanding that what I might dislike could be loved by someone else. Personal bias is always present when you pen a piece like this. However, when it comes to Tyler Perry’s “Mea Culpa,” I must pause to reflect and sift through the entire film I’ve seen to…

[splendidemendax]

one of my fav pieces of classical scholaship is a.e. housman's series of five (five!) articles ripping arnold palmer's edition of the heroides to absolute shreds.

i love them dearly but they do kind of go on (again: five) and he's made his point that palmer was a shitty editor within like. the second page of the first one so by the time i get to the fifth i'm like "stop stop he's dead already!" which i meant in a metaphorical sense.

however.

i just opened up a copy of said edition and realized palmer was literally fucking dead when housman wrote these articles (the edition was finished by his mentee and published posthumously) and now i simply cannot stop laughing

[omegastation]

Similar to the Khalisah thing it's always bothered me how much some people in the fandom relish shooting Sloane in the back in andromeda, like all the underhanded things Reyes does is justifiable but the black woman being rude to you is an unforgivable sin

Ah, let's be honest here. Sloane is a bit more than just rude, she does terrible things.

And it's not the same situation (because Khalisah is an innocent civilian) but I agree Sloane is not seen as fairly as Reyes is. I tend to think both can be terrible but before my hiatus, Reyes was a bit idolized and Sloane was always the villain of the story. Sloane's flaws were relentlessly pointed out and if, like me, you weren't a fan of denying said flaws, you had to acknowledge them in discussions. You had to say "yes, Sloane can be this or that". But no one would ever really do the same on the other side of that conversation, at the time, so it didn't really feel fair or even interesting to discuss those two. I hope things have changed a bit? It's hard for me to tell. Maybe people who are really cool about those characters tend not to get involved in discussions. Too much energy spent.

Another point to consider: when people don't see Sloane so negatively, they focus more on the turian by her side than on her. Sloane's relationship with Kaetus is really special, but Sloane on her own is fascinating enough.

Anyway, I highly recommend reading the book Nexus Uprising to those who haven't read it yet and want to know more about her and why she's like this in MEA.

[vulpixelates]

re: last rb, wyll reminds me so much of liam costa in that if he was a white man (or an alien/fantasy race but voiced by a white man 🙃), he would have been the fan favorite amongst people who are attracted to men and i would have to block his tag bc of how insufferable y'all would be about him flfkfjdjd

if astarion wasn't literally the whitest possible man no one would like him - just a HINT of browness or blackness would have branded him unlovable and problematic in the eyes of the fandom at large. he would get zero grace. and yet, what is wyll even guilty of? being NICE? get out of here lol

do you know what it takes for me, a misandrist lesbian, to defend a cis man in a video game. it takes so much to get me to give a fuck about men. but y'all do this EVERY FUCKING TIME and it's so exhausting

DO BETTER

[mioakem]

shut up i’m talking patreon episode summary (only 7 dollars btw)

jack starts it off explaining the lead up to the situation and saying how dream involved himself out of nowhere. he said it was all very lighthearted leading up to dreams involvement (they don’t like mizkif or xqc very much but found the whole thing funny)

tommy said he didn’t think it would escalate very far and started off talking the piss out of it but after the 3 hour stream he realized it was getting serious. he didn’t want to involve himself with dream very much because a lot of people around him were saying that he shouldn’t speak to dream because of the way he took advantage of him when he was 16. tommy said he attempted to resolve it privately in the past but after the if youtubers were honest video dream sent him very mean and awful messages and after that he told dream he was going to block him everywhere (which he did)

jack says that it’s nearly impossible to resolve drama with dream privately because he makes everything public (and also it’s incredibly hard to talk to him) jack said that after the episode with phil he had a 2 hour long call with dream where they basically just went back and forth and nothing was really resolved

jack says that this episode was filmed right after dreams video dropped. tommy makes fun of the title (i’m sorry but not to tommyinnit). jack then admits that he does talk about dream a lot and he does it because he feels like before everything he was one of the only ones who openly disliked dream. jack says that everytime jack has criticized him in a non joking manner it hasn’t been a rumor. the only time jack has mentioned pedo rumors was when he was drunk and a fan asked if dream was a pedo and he said he couldn’t legally answer that. he said he was drunk and put on the spot. jack said that though he doesn’t think dream is a pedo he does think that messaging fans is inappropriate and strange. jack said that when the allegations came out dream messaged in the discord saying they were false and said he’s open to any questions. jack answered saying that even though he didn’t think dream was a pedo it was a little weird to be messaging fans (especially underaged ones). dream talked to jack privately after that saying that the message annoyed him because jack was being skeptical.

jack then talks about how on dreams stream he said that he knew some rumors about jack but wasn’t gonna say them but then said that there were rumors about jack being unfaithful. jack said that the point of that was that when jack had rumors it was handled privately but when dream had rumors it was very public- which is incredibly hypocritical because dream made jack’s situation public knowing it was false but jack kept dreams rumor private in his own regard.

tommy then jokes about cheating on molly and then goes into the editor thing. jack said that it’s a lie and then passes it over to tommy. tommy said he has nothing to say because there’s physical evidence that he didn’t underpay them (actually very graciously paid them). tommy says that it feels very weird that all his private messages keep going public. jack then starts talking about how the unpaid editor situation was actually about him. he said that he was one month into doing youtube and worked a minimum wage job and asked an editor what they wanted to be paid and they agreed on 50 quid. they said they both were young and didn’t know how much she should’ve been paid and he didn’t make any money from youtube at the time anyways. he said that now youtube is his job and he is much more knowledgeable in appropriate payments.

they then bring up how dream skipped over george and also how the only clip he took from tubbos stream was the one of him agreeing with him. jack says he can’t believe that dream tried to “win” by using straight up lies and brings up how dream has a reputation of lying and he doesn’t know why he did it.

tommy says he said all he needed to say in the video and the video was meant for dream rather than the viewers (except for the promo at the end). he says that dream knows why tommy called him sexist and he said that there’s so much that isn’t out and it’s incredibly miserable. tommy said that he doesn’t wanna do this anymore and he doesn’t feel happy with youtube anymore because of the creators in the space. he says that he won’t be doing the whole youtube thing in a couple years, he will still post videos but he’s not gonna interact with all the shit going around, especially when the people involved used to be his friends. he said that the dream video was kinda meant to be the last time he gets involved with everything. he says that it feels incredibly childish and that he’s appalled that people are pushing 30 and are doing this. tommy said that he makes jokes about mega famous people being dickheads because it’s how he puts his feelings into words. he says that dream is one of the most self indulging person he has ever dealt with in his life and he cannot believe he’s been dealing with him for nearly 5 years- and he doesn’t not intend to continue dealing with him. he says he doesn’t find the whole situation funny anymore and he finds no joy in it- which he did during the logan and mizkif situations. he says that this is no way to live and it’s all pointless to be creating drama like this online and whenever he punches up he’s not trying to cancel anyone he just wants to make a joke. he again says that it’s all childish and that they’re both adults now

jack brings up that there’s no one sticking up for dream and how everyone on the server that has spoken up has disagreed with dream. jack says that a lot of them have felt this way for years- especially him

tommy said that he feels very manipulated by a lot of these people and that it took him a very long time to realize how manipulative some of these people were. he tells a story about when he was just starting out and he did the lobby spamming in a twitch streamers lobby the guy got super mad at him and invited him to call and proceeded to scream at tommy and called him the r slur (he was 20 and tom was 14) he said he was super shaken and messed up from it- but now he’s incredibly used to it and it’s such a shame that he is.

jack said that he started disassociating with dream after the grooming allegations because he didn’t want to be friends with someone who would privately message fans (which was the case). he said that he doesn’t like being grouped in with dream because of the dsmp because he’s bad for his image so he’s tried his best to make it clear that he doesn’t like dream and that’s about all he wants.

they then start talking about how out of the blue everything was. jack said that he would understand his involvement if they had been bullying dream relentlessly for weeks but they were literally talking about mizkif and xqc at the time and

jack said that he’s made his piece why he doesn’t like him and how you don’t have to look very hard to see the manipulative tactics to get people on his side. they both say it’s painful watching him do that. jack said that he’s going to continue making jokes about what dream accused him of because they’re so ridiculous.

tommy says that it’s sad that the only thing that dream took from tommy’s video was that he was lying. he says it’s sad to see everyone come out with there bad experiences with dream and he can’t believe it got this bad.

jack says it’s questionable that dream mocked jack for jack not liking him because of things he’s heard about him and he was gonna keep joking about eveything public about him because it’s funny. jack said that there’s enough that’s true that makes him not want to associate with dream.

tommy says that dream is an impossibly selfish man . jack said that the only thing he’s gonna give to dream is that he’s clearly incredibly socially unaware and genuinely does not understand what he’s done wrong- but that doesn’t excuse being a bitch. he says that people have tried to explain that to him but he just doesn’t get it. he also then asks how willing his misunderstanding is- because he most likely is aware of some of it. tommy says he lacks alot of empathy and doesn’t have guilt for the bad things he’s done. tommy says that it’s very easy to simply apologize but just keep doing the bad things and that’s what dream always does. tommy says he doesn’t take dreams apologies seriously anymore and he doesn’t forgive him.

tommy closes saying that he’s done with the drama and this is the last he will speak on it

[leia-leek]

EA is a triple A gaming company worth billions. But BioWare? It's a subsidiary that is smaller than you think. (EA has about 13k employees, but BW has about 500).

Not pre-ordering or buying on the day of release isn't going to send a message to EA to improve its practices. It's only going to hurt BioWare and their remaining employees. (This isn't aimed at people who can't afford it, or don't like the game(s), or don't like what they've seen so far, or are very skeptical and want to hold off. I'm talking to people who are excited about the game and have the $60 to spare.)

Yes, there are things to criticize about BioWare and EA, I get it, I really do. What happened to Mary Kirby and those like her is awful. Fuck them for that, truly. The merchandise packages that don't include the game, kinda scummy. But if you don't take that as a sign that EA is pushing down, hard, on BioWare, then I don't know what to tell you. Do you think BioWare is somehow immune from EA's scrutiny? BioWare has two big misses in their recent history, after MEA and Anthem, they are on thin ice.

Will the game be buggy on release? Maybe. They do have a history of it. Hell, DAO is still buggy af, but we love it anyway. Will the game be bad? Possibly. There are story elements in each game that still piss me off to this day. It is a gamble, but if you like what you see and are excited, there is no reason not to support the franchise you love. Do you want more Dragon Age games? Do you want more Mass Effect games? If yes, then the best way to get more games is to buy this game.

The only thing that will happen if DATV sales suck, will be for EA to believe that Dragon Age games no longer sell and to nix or hold off on all future projects for it. By waiting for it to be on sale or pirating it, you could very well damn the future of BioWare and the DA franchise. You're not fucking up EA when you choose not to buy DATV, you are screwing BioWare, which is not the same as EA. BioWare can be dissolved, but EA won't. They won't care, EA will happily get rid of something that isn't making them money. EA is not gonna be hurt by DATV doing poorly in sales, they have their sports franchises that will always make them money. It will only hurt BioWare and the remaining developers. Do you like Weekes? Epler? Busche? Support them!

So if you are excited about Dragon Age: The Veilguard and want to see more Dragon Age games, don't let anyone convince you not to buy it, or pre-order it. Don't let anyone make you feel bad for doing so. If you have the money and like what you see, I encourage you to buy it and show support for your favorite franchise.

(Those worried about the SAG-AFTRA strike, don't be, DATV isn't included in the strike. More here.)

[coffeeworldsasaki]

Shit blowing up before the game came out is what ruined mass effect Andromeda (WHICH WAS A FUCKING GOOD GAME) and if people do that again with dragon age I'm going to start killing. WE HAD ONE PERSON WHO DIDN'T WORK THERE FOR WHO REMEMBERS HOW MANY YEARS SAID THEY TRIED AI AND THAT IT WAS SO BAD HE DOESN'T THINK IT CAN EVER WORK AND PEOPLE START SAYING BIOWARE IS WRITING DA4 WITH AI. SHUT UP

[queenofthekings]

Babe, wake up, new prompt coming!

I found this cute image on Pinterest and it had me thinking: what if reader spends a whole afternoon crafting these little messages and then she sneakily hides them around Eddie's stuff. Every time he finds one, goes to reader and gives her a kiss, then stores it in a tin box 🩷💋

𝓵𝓸𝓿𝓮 𝓵𝓮𝓽𝓽𝓮𝓻𝓼

Summary: You make love letters for Eddie.

Author's note: Mea I'm so sorry it took me forever to write this request! I hope you enjoy it! Also thank you to @eddiemunsons-missingnipple, @ryan-waddell11 and @orchidmunson for their endless encouragement <3

CW: None, just a whole lotta fluff and Eddie being a dork.

Word count: 1.2k

Any hate will not be tolerated, constructive criticism is welcomed.

Being at Eddie’s apartment alone while he was away working wasn’t an uncommon thing for either of you, he had given you a key to his apartment for a reason, after all. Although you two hadn’t made the full step of moving in together yet, you still spent a lot of time at his apartment whenever you could fit it into your schedule.

You were sat at Eddie’s kitchen table with every kind of stationary imaginable scattered all around you; every shade of pink and white paper, felt tip pens, glitter and endless amounts of glue.

Since Eddie’s phone had broken several days beforehand and he was far too busy with work and couldn’t fit it within budget for the month to get it fixed, you decided to make love notes for him to read every day. You made notes for every occasion; if he felt sad, if he did something amazing, he missed you or even just needed to be told he was loved.

Although your arts and crafts skills weren’t perfect and you ended up with far too much glitter and glue all over your fingers, you were still proud of the notes you were able to make. You knew your art teacher from primary school would be proud of what you’d made, even if when you had lessons with her she hated your guts.

You had almost finished the final note and put them in a jar by the time Eddie walked inside, you felt him gently scratch the top of your head before wrapping his arms around you, pressing a kiss to the side of your head. “Well this is a nice surprise to come home to.”

You felt the warm burn inside your stomach as you squeezed his arm, happy to be back where you felt like you belonged. “I missed you, of course I’d be here.”

It had only been a couple of days since you last saw each other, but it always felt like an eternity. Being with Eddie was the only place you truly felt safe, it was like coming home every time he brought you into his arms.

Before you and Eddie had gotten together; you’d never believed in that kind of stuff, that home could be a person instead of a place and you thought the people who said that stuff were talking nonsense. But now you understood them, and you just had to wait to find your person.

Eddie glanced over at the mess on the kitchen table, not daring to touch anything with his dirty fingers from working on cars all day. “Whatcha doing here, princess?”

You leaned into him, rubbing his arm with your hand. “It’s a surprise.”

He placed a hand over his eyes once you revealed it was a surprise. “I’m not looking, I swear!” he moved away from you, keeping his hand over his eyes, causing you to laugh. “I’m gonna go have a shower, you wanna order a pizza?”

“Sure,” you answered through your continued laughter as Eddie felt around his apartment to get to the bathroom, hitting his feet and legs on various pieces of furniture along the way. Your boyfriend was an absolute dork, but you loved it far too much, although you knew he acted like that just to make you laugh and he couldn’t ever get enough of that laugh.

You waited until he was safely in the shower to finish the last note and put it into the jar before promptly hiding it in your backpack, being sure Eddie would never find it accidently, not that he’d ever go through your belongings, but you were still cautious. After washing your hands thoroughly, you cleared the kitchen table of your project and grabbed your laptop to order pizza.

Sure, phoning Dominos to place your order was easier but Eddie’s pizza orders were always special to put it simply. That man couldn’t settle for a simple margarita pizza to save his life, nay, he had to have some weird combination that changed in a frequent basis. His current favourite pizza? Tandoori chicken and burger sauce with stuffed crust. As odd as it sounded, you did have a slice and it was pretty good, so you couldn’t exactly hate him for that.

You’d just finished placing the order when Eddie came out donned in just a towel, another towel in his hair trying to dry it before lowering it to cover his face completely. “Is it safe to come out?”

You let out another laugh, nodding your head. “Yes, you muppet, it’s safe. Pizza’s been ordered and it should be here in a bit.”

Taking the towel away from his face, he smirked at you and began to slowly walk across his apartment towards you, deliberately allowing his towel to slip down his body. Watching him with a smirk matching his, you shook your head. “Don’t even think about it, mister, we got pizza coming and I don’t wanna get interrupted by the doorbell again.”

He pouted and pulled up the towel, sulking his way into the bedroom. He came back a few minutes later in his usual jeans and dark red hoodie, one you’d frequently steal from him to wear when the weather got a bit cold.

You closed your laptop lid as he wrapped his arms around you again, leaning down to press a kiss to the top of your head once you rested your back against his chest. The pair of you stayed in content silence until the loud knock on the door to signal your pizzas had arrived. You began to get up, but Eddie placed his hands on your shoulders to keep you seated, “I’ll get them baby,” he murmured into your hair before answering the door.

Eddie had fallen asleep after devouring his pizza and watching a season and a half of Derry Girls while cuddling with you on the couch, his head nestled into the crook of your neck, feeling his breath on your skin with his arms wrapped tightly around your middle, keeping you close to him.

You slowly got out of his grasp, being careful not to wake him up, although Eddie was quite a deep sleeper and not a lot of things woke him up. As quietly as possible, you moved around his apartment, tidying up the pizza boxes before turning off the TV and putting a blanket over Eddie.

Getting the jar out of your backpack, you began to place the notes around Eddie’s apartment; on every table, in some books, in the wardrobe, on the fridge and in every single pocket you could think of. Once you’d finished, you gently shook Eddie awake just enough to get him in bed and properly asleep before you followed him soon after, cuddling into him as you easily fell asleep.

In the morning, you were woken up by an endless amount of kisses all over your face, lips, neck, chest, and hands. At first, you were too sleepy and groggy to fully realise what was happening but as you slowly started to wake up, you moved Eddie’s kisses up to your lips and kissed him back. “What’s all the kisses for?” you whispered against his lips.

Eddie gave you a couple more kisses before answering your question. “I found some of your notes, and I thought since my girl was being so loving with her notes; I thought I would be loving back and wake her up with as many kisses as I can give her before work.”