TV Discussion LACWAC Member Interviews (★☆★ SpecialOpsUnit & Fives_Says_No_To_Sixes ★☆★)

Thanks Todd! It's been a blast. You even let me keep a little piece of soul, so that'll be a nice souvenir.

I also learnt that I can't stop myself from highlighting text if it's hidden, even if it's really obvious what it's going to say. You've found my weakness.

 

You should save those pieces of soul to create a Horcrux (or two, or more)!

Pssshhhh, I highlight text almost all the time. Must be an artifact from playing a lot of RTS games (where APM is king) when I was younger. Might not be so good a habit on forums where spoilers must be hidden through highlighted text...

So I guess I'll begin the round of audience questions for 07jonesj.

To expand on your interests in Mass Effect, including all three games in the series, what is your favorite DLC, and why?

Please elucidate on your answer as much as possible. Sorry, bad pun!

 

Circular_Logic

Damn it. Here I am throwing my soul away cavalierly and I could have been making my way towards eternal life! I'd hide 'em in better places too. Gringotts is obvious, under my monopoly board - no teenage wizards would think to look under there.

Look, I love Mass Effect, but I don't dream about it... that much.

It's pretty common for people to go for the latest one, but I truly believe Citadel to be the height of what BioWare has been able to deliver using the DLC format. I'm a "slow" gamer (in that I spend a bunch of time looking at the environments, and the sky, and people's clothes), and it clocked up to a whopping 11 hours for me.

But Citadel is what ME3 needed to finally be complete. It's a story in two parts - the first sending you around the Citadel to deal with a threat that is really quite amusing. I'll be the first to admit that I loved ME3's dark tone. The entire galaxy is falling apart; do you expect people to be happy and carefree? Citadel, though, manages to deliver a strong adventure that doesn't take itself too seriously.

The Citadel was beautiful as always, and just like it's Coruscant counterpart in SW, I'm excited to visit new areas of it. The gameplay was well paced throughout, with a stealth-lite section followed by "proper" ME action, but there are slower, dialogue-heavy sequences in the apartment and in the casino (nice callback to Kasumi: Stolen Memory).

I actually found the villain pretty cool, as despite it being a fairly comical situation, there's still seriousness in the story here. Dark revelations of how exactly Project Lazarus was able to succeed, and what the clone was forced to go through sell the character. In the end, you may even feel sorry for him/her.

It even gets pretty epic towards the climax, as the clone is about to take your life and you're forced to fight upon the greatest ship ever built - your own.

But the surprising thing is that this isn't why I like Citadel. That's all just an added bonus. Citadel is the final DLC in the final installment of the ME trilogy - it's the last chance we'll get to see these characters (presumably, I feel the franchise needs to move on and give us something fresh).

Every companion from the entire trilogy is given additional character moments on the Citadel. Some funny, some poignant. Some of our friends get kickass biotic dogs, others have died, and a funeral is held. New romance scenes for almost every potential love interest.

Not content with that, BioWare added Pinnacle Station 2.0 Armax Arena, which is honestly pretty fun, especially because you can fight (well, holographically) with companions from previous games one more time. Collectors are available for the only time in the single player, and fighting 50 clones of yourself is actually really difficult.

There's also some difficult mini-games that give you rewards, and because you've got OCD, you just have to get them. They're a nice little extra though, and you really don't have to do them.

The story ends with a party, a 90-minute dialogue sequence that has all of the surviving main characters meet for one last time. Pretty much every line of dialogue can change depending on the relationships established in your save. Character arcs are finished. More hilarity ensues as everybody gets more and more drunk.

Citadel can be summed up by the three words, "One last time...". It's more carefree and upbeat than much of the other storylines available in ME3, but it's also ideally played right before the finale, and thus that happiness carries a lot of weight to it. You know these characters are living what could be their last days to the fullest, and so it doesn't clash with the feeling of the rest of the game.

Citadel completes ME3. Citadel completes the trilogy. I'm very glad BioWare had the guts to make a DLC focused entirely on characters, and nobody should finish ME3 without it.

Honourable mention goes to Lair of the Shadow Broker, a DLC I didn't think they'd be able to dethrone. I'm not betraying my avatar! Liara's in Citadel, too.

I must say, if anybody reads this and hasn't played Mass Effect, but has the ability too, you should really go do that right away. One of the best experiences I've had in gaming so far. My passion for it is evident, and if you like the idea of a strong story with a large cast of characters whose development and relationships with one another can be influenced by you... this is it. This is the one.

EDIT: Goddess. Mentioning Mass Effect really does seem to spawn walls of text out of mind. If you want a discussion with 20 minute pauses between participants, I'm your guy. Hope you enjoy this Circular_Logic! I might be expected to answer the questions, but I'd love to hear your favourite in return.

 

07jonesj

I see you've turned the tables on me now. But I guess there's no rule saying that the interviewee can't interview the questioning audience member user in turn, so I'll entertain this discussion. I too, love Mass Effect and like you, am what you would call a "slow gamer" as well, feeling the urge to explore areas and talk to people and being an all-in-all completionist.

What is my favorite DLC of the trilogy? First off, I must qualify my answer. I do not possess the third game of the series (Mass Effect 3), so I can only vouch for the DLCs from the first two games. Although if I did have ME3, I'd almost certainly have to say the Citadel DLC. Anyways, with this qualification I'll have to go with Lair of the Shadow Broker. I'm sure you already know all of this particular DLC's selling points, i.e. reuniting with and getting Liara as a temporary squadmate, and even rekindling the relationship if you romanced her in ME1.

Of course, this DLC has far more to that than just being Liara-centric, which I'm sure was a big part of its appeal to you nonetheless. I liked how you could explore Liara's apartment and investigate a mystery, while seeing plenty of references to her archaeological work in ME1, something we are quick to forget after she becomes a ruthless information broker. The DLC had more challenging combat compared to the main game, with the Shadow Broker's private army seemingly possessing better AI than most of the main game's mercenary enemies. I especially liked the first boss battle with Tela Vasir, a Vanguard enemy with a proclivity towards spamming Biotic Charge. A fun if sometimes frustrating boss battle, to be sure. And the Shadow Broker ship over Hagalaz was pretty awesome as well, culminating in a great fight scene with the Shadow Broker where Shepard is forced to get down and dirty in order to penetrate the brute's defenses. Finally, the dialogue between Shepard and Liara, and even the Shadow Broker himself, was top-notch. Shenanigans ensue if you cheated on Liara and you try to rekindle the relationship!

So LotSB is at least, my favorite DLC of ME2. I intend to purchase ME3 as soon as I have a new PC capable of supporting it (I know, my desktops are rather old), as my current laptop can only barely support up to ME2. I don't possess any consoles, and I grew up with PC gaming, for reasons best left to a future interview here if/when I decide to do one. I promised myself that I won't buy the game and PC until I've found myself a job, and have stayed true to that promise for over a year now (ME3 is already 16 months old!). Delaying self-gratification may at times be difficult, but it can be quite rewarding in the long run. I've already spoiled myself silly of everything ME3, but I kind of did that before purchasing the first two installments of the series, and it did not detract from my overall enjoyment of the games. I guess I'm not one to ever be bothered by spoilers.

I want to end this with a brief addendum. Discussing Mass Effect also tends to spawn walls of text from myself, and in many ways the franchise is like a smaller, more intimate version of Star Wars, containing its own "Expanded Universe" of novels and comics outside of the main game. I've devoured all of them, and particularly liked Drew Karpyshyn's novels. They are not necessary to read to enjoy the games, but like the SW EU, they expand upon the universe and give us additional backstory to many of the characters you see in-game, like David Anderson, Saren Arterius, and the Illusive Man. I did not like the way Kai Leng was portrayed in ME3 though, especially compared to Retribution. The most Asian-looking character of the series being a walking stereotype for Yellow Peril? Not to mention, many of the other good Asian characters get killed off like Fai Dan and Emily Wong (via freakin' Twitter of all places). That's just something that peeves me. Anyways, I recommend reading the novels (well, probably skip Deception unless you want some laughs) and comics if you are a big fan of Mass Effect, they are generally quality entertainment.

Now, if you are curious to read more of my own commentary on the game, I've posted a critical analysis of the franchise here. If you want to watch a video compilation of all the death scenes, just for feels or perhaps to engage in schadenfreude, be my guest and watch here. What I really love about the ME franchise is how your decisions resonate and have some potential long-term as well as short-term consequences.

I've already gone too far with this WoT, my bad. But I find it very gratifying to discuss this franchise with others.

 

Circular_Logic

Congrats for being able to hold off. Some people might say it's just entertainment and not essential, and they're right, but it's quite challenging to hold off purchasing something you quite want. I'm sure I wasn't helping, sorry about that!

I'm glad I decided not to directly mention any specific character moments in Citadel now, though. You may have seen many of them, but I wouldn't like to be the one to do the spoiling.

Yeah, I really enjoyed exploring Liara's apartment, and then later exploring the ship you gain as a mini-hub of sorts at the end. Both contained interesting lore tidbits. In today's action-heavy gaming market, it's nice to have slower moments where you can just be curious and search around - Mass Effect is an action-RPG after all. Evidently, BioWare liked that type of gameplay too, as it's used in both Leviathan and Citadel for ME3. Credit has to go to the one that used it first. I agree that the combat was very intense, more so than usual. I think this is due, in part, to the stellar combat music composed by Chris Lennertz. I also concur that the boss battles were well done. Again, there was an intensity to the combat in this DLC, and that peaks in the boss battles, naturally.

Dialogue was, yes, top-notch, and I like the way that the conversation between Liara and Shepard can change depending on your past relationship with her, and what path you choose to pursue in the DLC. I have seen the different outcomes where you cheated on her or turn her down, but I was faithful for my main Shep. I swear BioWare really tear out your heartstrings for those scenes, especially in ME3. Miranda's is the worst, I think.

Yeah, Mass Effect is kind of a smaller, more mature version of Star Wars. Lair of the Shadow Broker feels a lot like Attack of the Clones on Illium, in terms of the environment. I have read Karpyshyn's novels, and Deception, which wasn't written by him and showed (that cereal scene may be the most unintentionally amusing scene I've ever read in a book). Apart from the aforementioned novel, they were pretty good. That they were written by the lead writer was clear, he had a great understanding of the universe. A lot of game tie-in novels are just crap because they don't feel like they're even in the same universe.

Haven't read any of the comics. I know that one of them is about the Illusive Man's past, which sounds quite intriguing. Might pick them up one day.

Also, I agree about your sentiments on ME2. Fantastic game, but it hurt them in the long run as it was all about the characters rather than the core threat. Simple to fix too; introduce the Crucible and have the power source holding the Collector Base stable be required for the Crucible. To answer something in that post that may or may not have been answered in the meantime - I was under the impression that Vigil's virus installed in ME1 prevented the Reapers from shutting down the Citadel and the Relays. It'd likely take some time for them to get around the virus.

 

I also tend to write walls of text whenever that particular series of video games comes up.

 

Haven't really been paying attention to this thread.

 

Actually, as it turns out I have been discussing it. Just on different forums.

 

ImNotAStarWarsFanboy

Hope that's not the BSN.

 

Nope, Reddit.

 

I'll jump right in! Thanks Todd the Jedi!

1. Nexumaster: Welcome to the Interviews! Why did you choose your username and what inspired it?

 

I retitled the thread with the username of the next victim interviewee.

 

@AkashKedavra_93

Thank you; I haven't really been up to date with the interviewee list so it was a bit of a surprise to see me get tagged. Anyway...

Well, it's been many years since I registered and if I recall correctly, I wanted something uncomplicated as a username so I thought of 'Jedi Master' and changed the 'Jedi' to 'Nexu' because the Nexu is a pretty cool Star Wars creature. I've been thinking of having my username changed but I can't come up with something to top the current one.

 

Nexumaster

If I can chime in with a question: If you are the Nexus Master, which one do you have - One, Four, Seven, or Ten?

 

2. Nexumaster: Which are your top five moments from the Star Wars saga and why do they hold such special importance for you?

 

Narutakikun

None of them, actually. Sorry to disappoint ya.

AkashKedavra_93

This is a though one since there's so many moments from the saga I love. I'll try my best to pick out my top five moments/scenes from the movies (and in no special order... well, at least in the chronological order of the episodes, not in favorite order since I pretty much suck at doing that):

1. The Mos Espa Podrace (TPM) - I was debating wether I should pick Qui-Gon & Obi-Wan Vs. Maul or this one and I ultimately went with this one as it's very nostalgic to me. I know a lot of people dislike this scene and sees it as overlong and pointless but I really, really like it and I always have. When I first saw the film, this was the part that stood out the most to me; I loved the concept, the fast action and the tension & I also played the N64 Racer game a lot and I still have it in my possession. To this day I find myself looking forward to this scene every time I watch the movie and I never see it as unnecessary as the podrace was an important moment in Anakin's life since it was the race for his freedom from slavery (also, the scene was great in 3D).

2. Order 66 (ROTS) - The start of the fall of the Jedi order was so very well portrayed and one of the saddest moments in the entire saga. Together with that music, seeing Jedi after Jedi fall by the hands of their assigned clonetroopers was heartbreaking, even if we didn't know anyone of them so well, and Yoda's painful reaction made it an even more powerful scene (and to top it off, him chopping the heads off Commander Gree and that other clone was badass & it shows that you don't try to mess with him unpunished and that he really is the most powerful Jedi to have sensed that something terrible was going on which got him to be ready to take out his would-be killers).

3. Yoda Explains The Force (ESB) - As far as mystic and rather deep scenes go, this has to be one of my favorites. Yoda explaining the force to Luke ("Life creates it, makes it grow" and such) is one of those scene that is really quite transcending and the way he explains it just adds to the moment of mysticism, I always find myself really drawing it all in; this one philosopical scene really gets me every time and has me listening and also thinking about the Force itself. Easily one of the best dialogue scenes in the saga.

4. The Asteroid Field Chase (ESB) - This scene is just a perfect action/chase scene; not only is it a great concept with a chase in an asteroid field and is really well composed but it also shows off some of the very best practical special effects that are still great today and are even better than any CGI effect; I love it. It's also one of the most memorable scenes in the movie and one of those scenes that really has the right Star Wars feeling.

5. Final Portion Of Luke Vs. Vader (ROTJ) - When Vader threatens Luke that Leia might join him instead of the former, which causes Luke to lose it and savagely fight him off with raw emotion before finally getting him to his knees and cuts his hand off, realizing he's becoming like Vader himself. This is definitely one of the most powerful scenes to me and it's also one of the most important scenes in the entire saga; the choir music when Luke fights off Vader is so great and really sucks me into the moment.

Bonus pick! (Yeah, I'm bending the rules since I just had to include this one):

6. The Victory Celebration (ROTJ) - The Special Edition version of the big finale to this movie is the best conclusion ever to a movie; it's really great to see the various planets celebrating the big victory over the Empire as well as seeing our heroes celebrating on Endor with the Ewoks and consorting with each other, which is a very well-earned and rewarding scene; that music is also just lovely, fits perfectly and it really brings out the best of feelings in me and makes me feel relaxed. One of the best scenes ever and a real treat, especially when having watched the previous five movies or even just the OT.

 

3. Nexumaster: To bounce off the previous question, what are your top five moments in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, why do they hold importance for you, and how do you feel that they add to the saga as a whole?

 

AkashKedavra_93

That's possibly an even more tricky question seeing as there is more moments to choose from here. I'll try to pick out the parts in TCW that stands out to me the most, wether they add much to the saga or not or is at least worth thinking about in some way in pertaining to the saga (I'm listing them in the episode airing order, not in favorite order):

1. The Relationship Between Waxer And Boil & Numa (Innocents Of Ryloth) - I really find myself liking the moments these three share; the idea of a pair of clone troopers helping a lost Twi'lek child reunite with her family while they are trying to do the mission is great and it's handled so very well. I really like how it humanizes the clones, who are after all being born only to fight, but are here shown to have compassion as well (well, at least in Waxer's case since Boil isn't as mushy); the scene where they get to little Numa's home stand out a lot as an emotion scene and especially since the way they present how friendly and caring Waxer is to her makes it all much sadder to think that guys like these will later turn against the Jedi and kill them so it definitely makes you think of things to come. I applaud this show for humanizing the clone troopers and show that they, or at least some of them, have more in them than just being straight-up no-nonsense soldiers (I'd like to add that I really like that in episodes after this one where we see Waxer & Boil, they have an anime-ish Numa printed on their helmets; that's a great little touch).

2. Fall Of The Zillo Beast (The Zillo Beast Strikes Back) - The Zillo Beast was one of those creatures that was an really good addition to the Star Wars universe; there's not enough huge monsters in Star Wars and how they portrayed it, as more of an animal than a monster, was great (and when I think of it, it felt more of a character than just a beast). It's death by the gunships with the bombs filled with lethal gas was really quite sad; to think that they had to kill it, the last member of it's species, was rather tragic and it's last stand was one of the most well-done sequences in the series, with the dramatic music and the visuals working together. The shot of it's corpse lying on the ground was a rather powerful moment; it was a creature taken out of it's element and very unfortunately, it had to be destroyed because it turned into a menace that was threatening Coruscant and it's citizens. One really felt bad for it's fate (If I would pick out any other moment with the beast, I'd say it's when it rises from the pit in 'The Zillo Beast' and towers over everything around; it really gives a sense of scale).

3. Wookiees Vs. Trandoshans (Wookiee Hunt) - The rivalry/enmity between these two species has been known for many years, which also was something I've got an interest in, and to see the two parties finally clash together in motion on the show was an rather awesome experience. The attack on the Trandoshans' floating fortress by Ahsoka, the two jedi younglings & Chewbacca was great on its own, but it was amped up when the cavalry arrived; Bounty hunter Sugi's ship carrying Tarfful and some other Wookiee soldiers. The firefight and fighting between the Wookiees and Trandoshans was so rewarding and pretty cool to see; even the bits with Chewbacca exchanging blows with that one Trando was one of the best hand-to-hand fights on the show, even though it's rather brief; I enjoyed this so much and the fact that Chewbacca made an apperance in the episode made it feel complete.

4. Krell Takes On The Clones (Carnage Of Krell) - I'm not the only one who thinks that the Umbara arc was one of the strongest (in many ways) and most interesting arcs on the show and the part where Jedi General Pong Krell's treachery is discovered and he violently fights off the clone troopers trying to apprehend him was an really intense and violent sequence, with him cutting up, stabbing and even breaking the backs of the troopers and throwing them around; it's possibly the strongest and most memorable part in the episode, let alone in the arc and the series. The concept of an Jedi having secretly turned his back on the order and played the troopers against each other like a cruel game of chess was really interesting and it was pulled off really well here, with this scene being the climax of all the build-up; it's epic and brutal and even though the clones were outmatched and outnumbered, they still managed to take him down in the end, but not before half of them being slaughtered. I definitely liked how this arc showed another perspective on the Jedi by showing that not all of them are traditionally 'nice' and/or treat their troopers with respect, which might affect what's to come near the end of the war.

5. Ahsoka's Goodbye (The Wrong Jedi) - The Fugitive arc is definitely one of the series' best and the final scene where Ahsoka refuses to come back to the order and decides to leave was just a perfect finale; thankfully they didn't go with the clichéd route that she accepted to return to the order and that everything was fine and swell but instead went with a better and much less clichéd way to end the story, a way that gave us one of the most poignant and important scenes in TCW. Having seen what Ahsoka's gone through, it's very easy to understand her decision and her having her farwell talk with Anakin, who desperately tries to make her stay, was one of the most emotional moments on the show, seeing as we have followed her since she was first introduced as Anakin's new and cocky Padawan to now when the older Ahsoka leaves the Order and walks away from Anakin and the other Jedi. Also, all that had happened during the ordeal definitely helped to fuel Anakin's growing distrust & dislike of the Council, now when they are partially to blame for the exit of his student from the Order.

Honorable mentions go to the Force vision of Qui-Gon Jinn speaking to Obi-Wan (Overlords), the Kadavo rescue mission with Captain Rex impaling the Zygerrian warden Agruss with an electrostaff (Escape From Kadavo), Grievous being a threatening force to be reckoned with and winning (Massacre) and the epic duel to the death between Maul and Pre Vizsla (Shades Of Reason).

 

3. Nexumaster: How were you as a child? Were you more of the rebellious nature or quiet nature for example?

 

I apologize for interrupting, but I wanted to ask Jones a question.

Hey 07jonesj didn't you mention falling out a window and snapping your spine at some point? That sounds like quite a story; would you tell it, please? Was it a life ending injury? Did you get an applause? What did the French judge give you?