Mass Effect 3 Omega

2012/11/29 in gaming, screenshots, spoiler

The biggest, most important difference, for me, between Omega and LotSB is (they like to give the impression it’s gonna be at least as good as LotSB because everyone knows this was the best ME DLC they ever made), that I was curious and wanted to find out who the Shadow Broker was and what was going on there. Omega has no such elements. From the start it’s clear that Aria will retake the station and regain her old position. One thing happened that surprised me and that didn’t even get any further elaboration.

Nyreen somehow was afraid (?) of Adjutants and it sounded like there would be a reveal at some point (concerning the why), but that never really happened. This character could have been very interesting, but… There are a couple things like that, that are introduced, seemingly to make the player wonder, but then they are ignored/forgotten. Adjutants, btw, are kinda oversold, they are described as these super-tough enemies, but once they attack, they are a joke compared to e.g. Banshees. It’s great that they built them at all, because after Mass Effect: Invasion everyone had to expect their presence AND it’s always cool when they make the effort of bringing new enemies into the game, but a little less exaggeration before their actual appearance certainly wouldn’t have been the worst choice.

Omega is, for the most part, a long shooting corridor. I would have expected a more narrative approach, I do like their combat system a lot (and I usually have nothing against interesting fights), but if I just wanted to shoot things, I can always play multi-player. So this base is certainly already covered… Nothing except the single-player campaign can deliver something else. So it’s a little sad, that most of the narrative can be summed up by just saying “Aria retakes Omega”, without leaving anything vital out. It’s disappointing enough, that the way the story is presented, it doesn’t make much sense anyway. During the whole fighting, even during the arrival on Omega, Aria looses lots of troops, so some war assets would have to be smaller after this DLC. It’s stated several times that Aria lost many people. It looks like a fools errant to start another front during such an important war, without the necessity to do so.

There’s also no clue whatsoever, as to why this General, who was in control of Omega, is now the sole operative in Cerberus who’s not indoctrinated. Why was he allowed to remain normal? Why would TIM allow that? He even seems to be a somewhat level-headed guy (all things considered), why would he still serve Cerberus, considering the state it’s in at this stage? Only few things seem to fit and make sense.

At the end Shepard simply walks through the Afterlife exit and is back on the Normandy. Nothing remains (except General Petrovsky‘s chess set in Shepard’s cabin – can’t be activated), it’s not possible to return to Omega and walk through the place you just helped to liberate. Doesn’t even show up on the galaxy map. Aria herself is not removed from the Citadel however, she sits in the same place as before and the answer she gives, when asked about Omega, has changed.

The DLC is roughly 2.5 – 3 hours long, if everything is explored. The only thing left for me to wonder, is if they’ll now add the Adjutants to multi-player. The fact that Reapers were the sole faction to not receive a new unit during the last DLC seems to allow it.

I liked it more than Leviathan, because at least it had nothing to do with the Reaper-stuff (ugh), but I don’t think it’s as good as some of the DLC added to ME2. That doesn’t make it bad or anything, but I hardly think it’s “mandatory” to play it (go for it if one of your friends has it :P). Unless someone is a die hard ME fan, of course. The best part is the level design/art and atmosphere. They always nail that part.

Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines Unofficial Patch 8.4

2012/11/01 in gaming

v8.4
—-
+Recreated library, thanks for beta testing to vladdmaster and Stosh.
+Unrestored library props elsewhere and fixed warform missing model.
+Fixed dead beachhouse dog doing damage and getting extra gallery XP.
+Added Humanity loss for killing Ash or Johansen at Leopold Society.
+Improved warehouse boss perception and swapped model with bartender.
+Removed Giovanni sarcophagus shortcut and added missing Bertram XP.
+Restored two spiderchick and fatguy animations, thanks EntenSchreck.
+Made Kiki leave Red Dragon and corrected original music at SM pier.
+Modified Potence and Thaumaturgy animations, thanks to EntenSchreck.
Improved TV and radio state consistencies in SM and downtown havens.
Fixed Humanity loss of Hollywood thugs and missing Heather options.
Prevented ways to break hospital, Mandarin and Romero quest scripts.
Fixed Cabbie’s seating on some maps and people not giving jewelery.
Restored Johansen dialog Humanity changes and cut-off Beckett lines.
Fixed Venture Tower cameras and restored one Asylum elevator sound.
Added magazine quest state for killing Flynn and aborted getting it.
Corrected Hallowbrook Hotel door opening at and moved two spawners.
Fixed Isaac/Gargoyle quest state bug and adjusted several histories.
Removed bad sentence of Mercurio and one of Isaac’s two “evening”s.
Fixed Ocean House double ghost encounter and moved elevator buttons.
Corrected floating Mercurio and passive guard inside Venture Tower.
Added newpaper for stealth Glaze and changed Fu newspaper condition.
Corrected King’s Way details and a Hollywood Asian theater trigger.
Fixed Ash, Jack, Vandal, Romero, Mercurio and Therese dialogue bugs.
Restored unaccessible Prince, Damsel, Flynn, Hatter and Ming lines.
Decreased Fu Syndicate’s cross guy timeout and fixed a bad doorknob.
Disabled buggy spawner in warrens level and fixed Noir cop problem.

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