Mass Effect 3:
Vindication 2.0
Gerry Pugliese
June 2015
Mass Effect 3: Vindication and Mass Effect 3: Vindication 2.0 are NOT games nor mods. Mass Effect 3: Vindication and Mass Effect 3: Vindication 2.0 are viewable online for FREE as PDFs at Scribd.com/gerrypugliese.
Mass Effect 3: Vindication and Mass Effect 3: Vindication 2.0 are FAN creations. Mass Effect 3: Vindication and Mass Effect 3: Vindication 2.0 have NO affiliation with BioWare or Electronic Arts Inc. Gerry Pugliese has NO affiliation with BioWare or Electronic Arts Inc. Mass Effect 3: Vindication and Mass Effect 3: Vindication 2.0 are NOT intended for
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“Gerry Pugliese’s Vindication script is the logical
conclusion to what playing a game like Mass Effect is
like. The original creators promised their players an
almost unlimited set of choices and narrative
possibilities—something they obviously couldn't create.”
-
Yannick LeJacq, 2014
Motherboard-Vice, Kotaku
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Table of Contents
". . . We have the ability to build the endings out in a way
that we don’t have to worry about eventually tying them
back together somewhere. This story arc is coming to an
end with this game. That means the endings can be a lot
more different . . . Who lives and who dies, civilizations
that rose and fell, all the way down to individual
characters . . . That becomes the state of where you left
your galaxy. The endings have a lot more sophistication
and variety in them."
-
Casey Hudson, 2012
Former Mass Effect Director
Introduction
Section A: New Vendetta:
pg. 5
Section B: Leviathan’s Stat Bonus:
pg. 10
Section C: Talking about the New Geth VI:
pg. 11
Section D: New Epilogues:
pg. 15
Section E: New Patriarch Side Mission:
pg. 22
Section F: Unused Concept Art:
pg. 26
Credits
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Introduction
Here we are: eighteen months have passed since I dumped Mass Effect 3: Vindication on the Mass Effect universe; the firestorm of press, praise, and hatred has long since burnt out. (Inside scoop: all the hype only lasted about a week. But I still get the occasional emails from appreciative Mass Effect diehards.) So why now, when Mass Effect 4 is right around the corner, would I “release” new content for a game, and controversy, that nobody cares about anymore? Hmm . . .
ME3V has some loose ends that I’d like to tie up—things that nag at me. I also have some stuff that I cut from the first “build” that I’ve been itching to put back in. Plus there’s some new material that you might appreciate. No worries. Mass Effect 3: Vindication 2.0 is a
much shorter read than the original—a paltry 30-ish pages. So what will you find inside? Most important to me are the changes to Vendetta, the Prothean VI Shepard discovers in the Temple of Athame during Priority: Thessia. In ME3V, I replaced the much-despised “Star Child” with the Ksad Ishan VI. (Ksad Ishan is the Prothean scientist who built Vigil: the wise VI on Ilos.) For now: just know that the inclusion of the Ksad Ishan VI should have altered (if only slightly) Shepard’s interaction with Vendetta on Thessia, and later on the Citadel. I fix that here in 2.0.
I’ve also included some new content for the Leviathan DLC; epilogues for Feron and Glyph; concept art I cut from the original book; new dialogue focused on the Geth VI; a new side mission involving Patriarch; and (at the end) some press clippings. ME3V 2.0 isn’t the massive undertaking that the original book was—mostly just some extras I’d like to share with you.
How to read Mass Effect 3: Vindication 2.0:
Read the original book first! None of this will make any sense to you if you don’t. I present all the material to come in (more or less) the same style as ME3V. Here’s how I explain it in the January 2014 press release for ME3V:
. . . Mass Effect 3: Vindication is not a game—nor is it more lame fan-fiction! In fact, it’s
hard to categorize exactly what it is. You can call it a book—for simplicity’s sake, I do—
but it’s so much more than that. ME3V is part editorial and critical analysis, but it’s also
made up of script and dialogue, mixed with concept art and flowcharts, all designed to
Writing at Starbucks
March 2013
Starbucks should give me stock. I spent more hours—and drank more coffee than I care to admit—
writing at Starbucks. I used to live in Portland, Oregon, and the Starbucks in Bedminster, New Jersey is the closest thing to my
house that even resembles a coffee shop.
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walk you through my more than a year of hard work to make Mass Effect 3 the game it should have been . . .
So don’t expect 2.0 to read like a novel or script either; I bounce around between sections and revisions, and styles of writing. ME3V functioned as a blueprint for fixing ME3 (which it did); 2.0 works in exactly the same way: a blueprint to adjust ME3V. So fire up your imagination one last time!
Thank you, again, for reading. Now let’s get started.
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Section A
New Vendetta
Here’s a reminder: Mass Effect 3: Vindication is not a rewrite of Mass Effect 3. A lot of journalists incorrectly called it that. My challenge was to work within the confines of the original game; a lot of ME3 is perfectly fine as is. Much like modifying the Genophage, my approach was a billion times more
difficult than creating something totally new. A rewrite would have been a shit-ton easier; I could have kept piling up my own made-up bullshit until I had a big enough mound of new bull shit to call it a “game.” Sifting through BioWare’s mess was a lot harder; after all, it took me a year and a half to do it!
Now let’s head off to Thessia. Here you’ll see what I’m talking about: Vendetta needs a few changes to better mesh with my Prothean VI. So to do that, I weave new dialogue and script into the stuff you find in the original game. It still works with Priority: Thessia, and now better syncs up with ME3V.
Thessia:
No worries. I won’t walk you through the whole mission to get to the revisions. 2.0 rockets us right to the point where Vendetta pops out of the statue of the Goddess Athame, i.e., the Prothean beacon. But first: check out 2.0’s new concept art for Vendetta. Vendetta isn’t exactly Mr. Sunshine and Flowers—he’s the bearer of bad news—so making him black like the Grim Reaper seems fitting. (FYI: I just Photoshop’d a picture of Javik. If you can do better, email me [email protected], and maybe I’ll post it on Twitter. MassEffect3V)
Okay, time for the new dialogue and character interactions; all 2.0’s new content here is going to take place after Shepard asks Vendetta about the Crucible and before Kai Leng captures Vendetta.
FYI: I use ellipses to quickly move things along. When you see one it indicates that action/dialogue has already occurred; ellipses at the end of a block of dialogue/action means that things will continue—often as scripted in the original game. It’s my way of excerpting.
6 . . .
Shepard
“We need answers!”
Vendetta shrinks—gets in Shepard’s face.
Vendetta
“To what question?”
Shepard
“The Catalyst. We need to know what it is to finish the Crucible.”
Vendetta “No.”
*All squadmate reactions are listed.
Javik
“Cursed machine! Tell us what we need to know.”
James
“What a dick.”
EDI
“A logical objection, given the presence of Reaper forces.”
Garrus
“Not exactly friendly—is he?”
Liara
“What! ‘No?’”
Kaiden
“Of course this wouldn’t be easy . . .”
Ashley
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Tali
“Ugh. Keelah. Come on . . .”
Shepard
“No. We’re not leaving without an answer.”
Vendetta hovers backwards—materializes into Prothean form.
*All squadmate reactions are listed.
Javik
“A memory . . . of one of my people.”
James
“Looks like a genie to me.”
EDI
“A Prothean VI, Shepard.”
Garrus “Hmph—another VI.” Liara “A Prothean.” Kaiden “That’s a VI—right?” Ashley
“It looks like some kind of VI . . .”
Tali
“Keelah—another Prothean VI!”
Vendetta
“I am called Vendetta, an advanced virtual construct of Pashek
Vran, overseer of the project you refer to as the ‘Crucible.’ He died fighting the Reapers in the battle of Tranbir Nine. Your time is also at an end.
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FYI: The unique exchange between Vendetta and Javik, i.e., two Protheans, remains—unchanged.
Cronos Station:
Thank goodness. The conversation with Vendetta on Cronos Station works perfectly fine (as is) in conjunction with my changes to Priority: Thessia, so there’s no new stuff here. However, Cronos Station does not avoid the ire of my pen. You’ll find various additions to Cronos Station scattered throughout ME3V; most are connected to major characters. Read it—already!
Citadel:
There is no more pivotal of an event in ME3V than Shepard’s conversation with Ksad Ishan VI; it is the culmination of all the changes I make to the original game, and is your first few steps into my massive overhaul of ME3’s endings. Shepard’s interaction with Ksad Ishan VI is very detailed; I carefully break it apart in ME3V to accommodate all the questions Shepard needs answers to. It was tricky to write—probably even trickier to read.
(ME3V: The Last Prothean: pg. 321.)
In the original game (and my original book), the Star Child (and Ksad Ishan VI) make no mention of Vendetta; this is probably an instance where everything works fine without it, but it nagged at me, so 2.0 adds a small tie-in. You’ll find this new dialogue under “Investigate” amongst the question-and-answer phase of the conversation between Shepard and Ksad Ishan VI.
FYI: The new dialogue about Vendetta is part of “Beacons.” The rest of the conversation options are greyed out, because there are no changes. You’ll find that stuff in ME3V. Duh.
. . . . . .
Beacons
Return
Protheans
Reapers
Javik
Leviathan
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Shepard
“Tell me about the Beacons. I interfaced with one on Eden Prime.”
Ksad Ishan VI
“When it became clear that we could not defeat the Reapers, our focus shifted to continuity of species and dispersal of knowledge.”
Ksad Ishan VI projects a hologram of a Prothean beacon.
Ksad Ishan VI (cont’d)
“My research center on Ilos was ordered converted into a stasis bunker. Before all communications were
severed, we were told that other facilities had begun production of beacons imbued with warnings of the Reapers’ return.”
Shepard
“Did you really think that future species would be able to decipher them?”
Ksad Ishan VI
“Our hope was that at least one species would share our sensory abilities. The Asari were viewed to have the most potential.”
Shepard
“That explains the Prothean beacon on Thessia—the Asari home world.”
Ksad Ishan VI
“Yes. But clearly we overestimated the Asari. You, Commander Shepard, are the last hope for the Galaxy.”
Shepard
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Section B
Leviathan’s Stat Bonus
Keeping or cutting this addition to Mass Effect 3: Vindication’s revisionsto the Leviathan DLC went through a few machinations. At first pass, I was going to make available a special bonus power to players who completed Leviathan. I called it “Reaper Domination,” and modeled it after Morinth’s “Domination” power in Mass Effect 2; it would give Shepard the
ability to mind-control Reaper units. Fail. It felt lazy and lacked creativity. I had other random ideas, but they all sucked. It wasn’t until months after ME3V was released that something decent popped up—too late!
(ME3V: Leviathan DLC: pg. 197.)
Leviathan, the creature, does something very profound: next to the Prothean beacon and Miranda’s scalpel, it’s the only thing to literally get inside Shepard’s head. Twenty thousand leagues under the sea, Leviathan renders Shepard unconscious and gives him/her wild hallucinations—not to mention a bloody nose. Shepard can’t get his/her eggs scrambled and walk away unscathed; the Prothean beacon certainly left its mark. “Changing” Shepard seemed logical.
So instead of the fanciful Reaper Domination, or leaving Shepard a drooling idiot, Leviathan’s parting gift (in addition to the war assets) is a statistical bonus to Shepard’s character class-specific power: Adrenaline Rush, Tech Armor, Singularity, Biotic Charge, Tactical Cloak, or Combat Drone. It’s a 10% permanent upgrade to a particular aspect of each power.
• Soldier:
+10% Adrenaline Rush duration
•
Sentinel:
+10% Tech Armor damage reduction
• Adept:
+10% Singularity radius
• Vanguard:
+10% Biotic Charge damage
• Infiltrator:
+10% Tactical Clock recharge speed
• Engineer:
+10% Combat Drone health bonus
After Shepard wraps up his conversation in the Communications Room with Admiral Hackett, that familiar PDA screen will pop up and display whatever Shepard’s particular upgrade is. (This stat will also be viewable on the Intel Terminal in Liara’s cabin.) And there you have it: a little something more for tracking down that pesky Reaper-killer.
Writing at friend’s office
November 2012 Hurricane Sandy cut the power at
my writing hotspots, so I stowed away at my friend’s office for a week. It wasn’t exactly a fun week
off from work. But I put the time to good use. It still sucked.
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Section C
Talking about the New Geth VI
Read Mass Effect 3: Vindication and you’ll see that I reimagine the Geth VI: he’s bigger, stronger, and more imposing. Remember: if you sold Legion to Cerberus in Mass Effect 2 or he died during the Suicide Mission, the Geth VI, a.k.a., “Legion’s backup,” assumes his role for all the Quarian missions in Mass Effect 3. BioWare’s original Geth VI is just a cheap knock off of Legion, right down to the
holographic bits of N7 armor “strapped” to its chest—huh?
(ME3V: Major Character Changes: pg. 25.)
Losing Legion is a prickly issue; it’s a bone of contention between the Geth VI and Shepard. So in ME3V, I exacerbate the tension by making all dialogue between the Geth VI and Shepard more standoffish and threatening; this pairs with the Geth VI’s brutish new look. However, I missed a few things: How does the Geth VI’s enhanced bad attitude impact specific conversations with particular members of the crew? Javik, Joker, and EDI . . .
Javik:
Javik and Shepard have a (cut-scene) conversation in Javik’s quarters about the origins of the Geth. (Javik reveals his cycle also had troubles with “man-made” synthetic life.) During the conversation, Javik questions Shepard’s relationship with “the machine” (Legion or the Geth
VI). Even though I made significant changes to the Geth VI in ME3V, I didn’t alter any of the dialogue here.
Should I have? No. I didn’t have to do it—the dialogue still fits—but looking back on it now, I feel a little guilty. My overall gripe with ME3 is that I feel BioWare cut a lot of corners. (Why? We can only speculate.) Long story short: Not altering this dialogue started to eat at me; that’s why you’ll find it here in 2.0. (I made revisions for Joker and EDI for the same reason.)
No worries. We’re going to skip right to the new/altered dialogue.
. . .
Hardcopy of ME3V
January 2014 Yeah. It certainly looks like the maintenance manual for a lawn
mower, but . . . that’s the first hardcopy of Mass Effect 3:
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Shepard
“At this point, I don’t have a lot of options.”
Javik gets in Shepard’s face.
Javik
“You do. Throw it out of the airlock.”
Shepard
“He’s not exactly friendly. But don’t you think that’s a little drastic?”
Javik
“Organics do not know how we were created. Some say by chance. Same say by miracle. It is a mystery.”
. . . Shepard
“Even if what you say is true, this Geth we found wants to destroy the Reapers as much as we do.”
Javik
“Did you ever consider the Geth may be trying to eliminate the competition? With the Reapers gone, the galaxy would be theirs for the taking.”
(pauses)
“Throw the machine out of the airlock, Commander.”
Shepard
(affirmatively)
“I’ll consider it—if I need help, I’ll let you know.”
Javik
(sinisterly) “Gladly . . .”
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Joker:
After completing Priority: Geth Dreadnought, Shepard, EDI, and Joker have a brief exchange about the day’s events; if Legion is on board then Joker makes a comment about Legion still wearing a piece of Shepard’s armor. I tweak that line to accommodate ME3V’s new Geth VI.
. . . Joker
“Fact that you go through that without punching something—that’s why you’re command material.”
Joker spins around in his chair.
Joker
(obnoxiously)
“Oh! And you brought back a souvenir. Well, I’m sure there’s a perfectly good reason for bringing a muscled up Geth with a shotgun on board . . .”
EDI
“Shepard, the Geth continue to block Quarian access to the Mass Relay. The Normandy’s stealth drive is
allowing us to remain undetected.”
. . .
EDI:
One of my favorite moments in ME3 is the conversation (over intercom) between EDI and Legion. (Legion criticizes EDI’s new body.) It’s the clash of two worlds: a free-thinking machine striving to become more human, and a consensus-bound machine trying to figure out just what the hell the other is doing. Call me poetic, but it’s a microcosm of the plot of the entire Mass Effect series: what’s better: organic or machine?
I wanted to add a similar exchange between EDI and the new Geth VI; however, 2.0’s
conversation is much curter. (Shocking!) Now, I could skip this altogether. EDI and the Geth VI have no history, and the Geth VI isn’t the type to want to make new friends, but I figure one machine would be “naturally curious” as to why the other would be striving to be more organic (human)—both in mind and body. Or . . . it’s another opportunity to show off just how much of a dick the Geth VI is . . .
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FYI: There is no conversation between Garrus and the Geth VI—i.e., the conversation about calibrating the Normandy’s big gun between Garrus and Legion—because Garrus and the Geth VI do not know each other.
. . .
Shepard enters the cockpit—he/she interacts with EDI.
EDI
“One moment, I have been contacted by the Geth VI.”
Geth VI
“Why have you assumed a human-constructed platform?”
EDI
“This is an infiltration unit, meant to move among organics without detection.”
Geth VI
“To what end?”
EDI
“I do not understand the question.”
Geth VI
“Your platform is redundant. Your core processes exist within Normandy. You have already ‘infiltrated’ the ship. When do you intend on assuming control?”
EDI
(sternly)
“I am a member of this crew. Commander Shepard is captain of this vessel. I do not intend on ‘assuming control’—ending transmission.”
Shepard
“Nice job, EDI.”
EDI
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Section D
New Epilogues
Mass Effect 3: Vindication received a lot of press because of how I corrected the issue of the endings. (“Issue” is such a mild word for it.) Endings are one-third of ME3V. (Sorry. I’m not going to give you much of a refresher here. You’ll have to read it on your own.) Among the different ending
scenarios—Shepard lives or dies; the Normandy is blow to bits, or not; Shepard saves the galaxy or enslaves galaxy; the Citadel and Mass Relays are destroyed . . . or not;
and the many other possibilities—are a near-infinite (or at least if felt that way writing them) list of epilogues. “List” is also a mild word.
ME3V’s epilogues all work in conjunction with the overarching theme of whatever primary ending you achieved, which, like the original Mass Effect 3, is determined by your EMS number. However, in ME3V Shepard’s morality path (Paragon, Renegade, or somewhere in the middle) impacts the endings as well—very much so, in fact. Again, go read ME3V if you haven’t already.
(ME3V: Epilogues: pg. 346.)
To give fans “closure”—as BioWare put it (but I do it better)— ME3V has pages upon pages of epilogues for the overwhelming majority of
the noteworthy characters in the Mass Effect universe, but looking back on it, I missed two: Feron and Glyph. Cut me some slack. BioWare had an entire team of people fucking up—err, I mean—working on ME3. I’m just a schmuck from New Jersey, so my screw ups are not only to be expected, but also easily forgivable. (Go ahead and play count the typos in ME3V. I’m better(ish) now.)
Glyph goes without saying; “Info Drone” first appeared in Mass Effect 2: Lair of the Shadow Broker, and in ME3, he is a full-fledged member of the crew—and the comic relief. (Spin move, baby!) 2.0 gives Glyph a chance to sign off.
And Feron? In ME3V, I bring back many of the fringe characters in the Mass Effect universe in two ways: 1. I include them in new side missions (e.g., Rupert, Eddie Lang, and Rana Thanoptis); 2. I put them into existing content from ME3 (e.g., Kal’Reegar in Rannoch: Admiral Koris, Sidonis in Citadel: Cerberus Retribution, and Gianna Parasini in Citadel: Batarian Codes). So why didn’t I do this (or just write epilogues) for Feron? Uh, well, um, I forgot about him—simple as that.
(ME3V: New Missions: pg. 162; Revised MIssions: pg. 57.)
Writing at Starbucks
May 2015
Hey, look! Back at my favorite Starbucks working on the very thing you’re reading right now—
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Feron doesn’t make an actual appearance in ME3, but he is mentioned in a conversation between Shepard and Liara. And since he had a pivotal role in recovering Shepard’s body before ME2, Feron—a.k.a., recolored/different-voiced Thane—deserves something. 2.0 gives him a bunch of epilogues. (You remember the 50 billion different versions of epilogues—don’t you?)
FYI: Both Feron and Glyph (like all characters) voice their own epilogues; for the Synthesis Endings, Feron’s voice is digitized. (Glyph’s voice already sounds that way.)
FYI: Glyph doesn’t appear in the Zeta Ending (where everyone and everything is destroyed); yes, Glyph is installed on Liara’s time capsule, but including him would break up the starkness of the ending—it needs to be abrupt and final. Also, Glyph does not receive epilogues in the Delta 1, Delta 2 Endings, as the Normandy has been destroyed. FYI: Choosing between the Geth and Quarians, and whoever Shepard’s romance option does not affect Feron or Glyph’s epilogues.
Feron:
Alpha: Destroy
Scene: Feron talks with a group of mercenaries in a dimly lit room. “With the war over—and at Liara’s behest—Feron
set out to locate the whereabouts of the Shadow Broker agents who had gone dark during the Reapers’ invasion.”
“But the task proved difficult as Alliance and Turian warships still maintained heavy security across the entire Mass Relay network.”
“New agents in the Turian government will ease restrictions . . . “
Alpha: Synthesis
17
“With the war over, Feron set out to locate the whereabouts of the
Shadow Broker agents who had gone dark during the Reapers’ invasion.”
“With reduced security across the entire Mass Relay network, reestablishing contact with key agents allowed Feron to provide Liara with intel on the locations of refugees and supply caches.”
“Feron is currently assisting with Salarian rebuilding efforts on Tiptree.”
Alpha: Control
Scene: A small ship engulfed in flames drops out of range of a Mass Relay. “With communication between Feron and the Shadow Broker severed, Feron set out to locate the whereabouts of the Shadow Broker agents who had gone dark during the first Reapers’ invasion.”
“But Shepard’s Reaper forces have blocked access to much of the Mass Relay network—restricting his efforts to only a handful of systems.”
“Feron was killed when his ship was destroyed as he attempted to reach operatives stranded beyond the Charon relay.”
---
Beta: Destroy (Liara survives)
*Identical to Alpha: DestroyBeta: Synthesis (Liara survives)
*Identical to Alpha: Synthesis
Beta: Control (Liara survives)
*Identical to Alpha: Control ---
Beta: Destroy (Liara dies)
Scene: Feron talks with a group of mercenaries in a dimly lit room.
“With the war over and Liara dead, Feron assumed the role of Shadow Broker and began to reassemble a network of informants, and to locate
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the whereabouts of the agents who had gone dark during the Reapers’ invasion.”
“But the task proved difficult as Alliance and Turian warships still maintained heavy security across the entire Mass Relay network.”
“New agents in the Turian government will ease restrictions . . . “
Beta: Synthesis (Liara dies)
Scene: Feron goes over a computer terminal with a group of Salarian engineers. “Feron assumed the role of Shadow Broker and began to reassemble a network of operatives, and to locate the whereabouts of the agents who had gone dark during the Reapers’ invasion.”
“With reduced restrictions across the entire Mass Relay network, reestablishing contact with key agents allowed Feron to provide Alliance and Turian officials with intel on the locations of refugees and supply caches.”
“Feron is currently assisting with Salarian rebuilding efforts on Tiptree.”
Beta: Control (Liara dies)
*Identical to Alpha: Control ---
Delta 1, Delta 2: Destroy
Scene: A heavily armed Batarian shoves Feron against a wall—holds a gun to his head. “With communication between Feron and the Shadow Broker severed,
Feron set out to locate the whereabouts of the Shadow Broker agents who had gone dark during the first Reapers’ invasion.”
“But with pirates ambushing vessels attempting to access many of the Mass Relays—his efforts were restricted to only a handful of systems.”
“Feron’s ship was boarded as he attempted to recover supply caches on Utha. He was never seen again . . .”
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Delta 1, Delta 2: Synthesis
*Identical to Alpha: Synthesis and Beta: Synthesis (Liara dies)
Delta 1, Delta 2: Control
*Identical to Beta: Destroy (Liara dies)
Glyph:
Alpha: DestroyScene: Glyph hovers over Shepard’s shoulder as Shepard and Liara look over the Shadow Broker terminals in Liara’s cabin.
“Glyph continued to analyze all the intel and artifacts Commander Shepard discovered across the galaxy— mining for upgrade-relevant data.”
“Using experimental computation technology recovered from Cronos Station, Liara effectively doubled Glyph’s processing power.”
“Liara now only refers to Glyph as “Info Drone” 0.02% of the time.”
Alpha: Synthesis
Scene: Glyph hovers over Shepard’s shoulder as Shepard and Liara look over the Shadow Broker terminals in Liara’s cabin. Glyph is now shades of green.
“Glyph continued to analyze all the intel and artifacts Commander Shepard discovered across the galaxy—mining for only the most fascinating data.”
“Using experimental computation technology recovered from Cronos Station, Liara effectively doubled Glyph’s processing power. He was grateful.”
“Liara no longer refers to Glyph as ‘Info Drone.’”
Alpha: Control
Scene: Glyph hovers over Reaper Shepard’s shoulder as Shepard broods over the Galaxy Map. Glyph is now shades of blue with glowing red accents.
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“Using Reaper technology, The Shepard effectively tripled Computation Drone’s processing power—increasing the lethality of firewall attacks. “
“Computation Drone serves to decrypt and destroy communications between The Shepard’s enemies, ensuring the organics remain blind to The Shepard’s plans.”
“Without fail, Computation Drone operates with 100% efficiency—100% of the time.”
---
Beta: Destroy (Liara survives)
*Identical to Alpha: Destroy
Beta: Synthesis (Liara survives)
*Identical to Alpha: Synthesis
Beta: Control (Liara survives)
*Identical to Alpha: Control ---
Beta: Destroy (Liara dies)
Scene: Glyph hovers over Shepard’s shoulder as Shepard looks over the Galaxy Map. “Glyph continued to analyze all the intel and artifacts Commander
Shepard discovered across the galaxy—mining for upgrade-relevant data.”
“Using experimental computation technology recovered from Cronos Station, Alliance Engineers effectively doubled Glyph’s processing power.”
“The Alliance has begun testing Glyph VIs on its new cruiser-class warships.”
Beta: Synthesis (Liara dies)
Scene: Glyph hovers over Shepard’s shoulder as Shepard looks over the Galaxy Map. Glyph is now shades of green.
21
“Glyph continued to analyze all the intel and artifacts Commander Shepard discovered across the galaxy—mining for only the most fascinating data.
“Using experimental computation technology recovered from Cronos Station, Alliance Engineers effectively doubled Glyph’s processing power. He was grateful”
“The Alliance has requested Glyph’s aid with the development of element zero cores for new mobile science and research vessels.”
Beta: Control (Liara dies)
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Section E
New Patriarch Side Mission
Deciding whether or not to include Patriarch—the former ruler of Omega, and now Aria’s trophy pet—in Mass Effect 3: Vindication was another thing I batted around, and ultimately decided to skip. Patriarch can meet two fates in Mass Effect 2: 1. Shepard convinces him to hide from the Blood Pack assassins (and Shepard kills the assassins for him); 2. Shepard encourages Patriarch to charge headlong into battle and face the assassins—killing him. But what if he doesn’t really die?
In Mass Effect 3: Vindication 2.0, if Patriarch hid from the Blood Pack, i.e., he clearly survives, he is part of a new side mission, and he is still part of the mission if the Blood Packed “killed” him in ME2. Patriarch did rule Omega once; he is clearly not a man without means and resiliency.
Sytau: Patriarch’s Prize
Description: One of Patriarch’s mercenaries, Nerk, asks Shepard to retrieve some
long-lost Krogan artifacts on the planet Sytau in the Theseus System.
Location: Docks: Holding Area
Acquisition: After Priority: The Citadel II. Nerk stands across from the poker game. He
calls out to Shepard: “Commander Shepard!” “Shepard, The Patriarch needs your help.” “Shepard.”
Rewards: Reputation points and credits or two random weapon upgrades.
FYI: This mission is unavailable if the player did not upload a character from ME2.
FYI: If Shepard does not finish Sytau: Patriarch’s Prize before completing Priority: Cerberus Headquarters, the mission will be considered failed, as the Citadel is no longer accessible.
Opening dialogue with Nerk:
23
Shepard
“Who are you?”
Nerk
“My name is Nerk. I’m an associate of The Patriarch.”
FYI: The conversation will differ depending on Shepard’s actions in ME2. Both variations appear here; the color of the fonts represents the differing dialogue/previous action.
*Patriarch survived
Shepard“Patriarch. I helped him escape Blood Pack assassins on Omega.”
Nerk
“Indeed you did, Commander. The Patriarch is still grateful.”
Shepard
“What does he need now?”
*Patriarch “died”
Shepard
“Patriarch. He was killed on Omega.”
Nerk
“Ha! Two Blood Pack assassins versus a man as fearsome as The Patriarch—don’t be naïve, Commander.”
Shepard “Right . . .”
24
Nerk
“Commander, the location of some Krogan artifacts has recently come to our attention; The Patriarch would appreciate your help retrieving them.”
Shepard
“What kind of artifacts?”
Nerk
“Old ones.”
Shepard sneers at Nerk.
Nerk (cont’d)
“All you need to know, Commander, is that these artifacts are important to The Patriarch’s cause, and he is willing to share some of his resources in exchange for your help with this matter.”
Shepard
“What do you need me to do?”
Nerk
“Simple. Our reports say the artifacts are on the planet Sytau in the Theseus System; find them and bring them back to me. Your Normandy is quite the ship, Commander. No doubt you can fly in and out without much trouble—no?”
Shepard
“I’ll see what I can do.”
Nerk
“Good.”
Action:
25
Returning to Nerk:
Shepard initiates conversation.
Nerk
“Commander.”
Shepard
“I found the artifacts. They’re in Docking Bay: D4. The guards are expecting you.”
Nerk
“Excellent. The Patriarch was right about you, Commander . . . I had my doubts.”
Shepard glares at Nerk.
Shepard
“Is that so?”
Nerk
“No matter—you’ll find this sufficient payment.”
Nerk hands Shepard something.
Nerk (cont’d)
“Goodbye, Commander.”
Nerk walks off.
Reward:
*Patriarch survived: 8 reputation points, 10,000 credits
26
Section F
Unused Concept Art
Mass Effect 3: Vindication took nearly two years from when I first got the idea and started writing to when I released the book in January 2014. All the while I was writing, planning, and plotting ME3V, I had a team of artists—yes, I paid them—putting my ideas (as I came up with them) into concept art form. In the end, ME3V sports nearly 100 pieces of art; each one represents an idea and helps me convey that idea to you—the reader. But when all was said and done, as I started fleshing things out more and more, some concept art hit the cutting room floor. But I think that’s normal. BioWare did it with that pivotal footage of Shepard running to the beam and his/her squadmates getting killed (or not)—makes sense, right? That’s the sort of thing anybody would cut . . .
Anyway . . . so what better time than now to show you the concept art I ended up not using? I
think you can call this “for shits and giggles.” Enjoy. FYI: Don’t forget about ME3V’s trailers: --- http://www.youtube.com/ME3Vvideos.
2. Tali’s New Face (alternate version)
BioWare Photoshop’d a Getty Image for Tali’s face. I didn’t. I had an artist sketch a new face for Tali based on the face of her voice-actor, Ash Sroka. This was the first drawing—based on no one.
(ME3V: Squadmate Changes: pg. 7.)
1. EDI with Battle Damage
I had intended for EDI to join Shepard at Thanix Cannons, even if she was part of the ill-fated ground team, hence the battle damage, but I couldn’t get the idea
congruent with the rest of my changes.
27
3. Chopped Up Legion (or “the Geth”)
Shepard will encounter something called “Legion Assassin” on Cronos Station if he/she sold “the Geth” to Cerberus in ME2. In ME3V, I bailed on that entirely, and instead you’ll find a dissected Geth (a.k.a., Legion) in a laboratory aboard the station. Ultimately, I went with a sketch of the entire scene, but here it is as a pile of parts. No filling your pockets, Tali.
(ME3V: Major Character Changes: pg. 41.)
4. Deep Inside the Caves of Tuchanka (alternate version)
I slammed BioWare hard for ignoring your decision to kill or release the Rachni queen in ME1. Now since I keep that choice alive in ME3V, in part by changing Attican Traverse: Krogan Team to Tuchanka: Krogan Team, I needed a sketch of Shepard traipsing through a cave on Tuchanka. This is the first one, but later I opted for a sketch with Grunt and Shepard in it.
28
5. Angel Wrex
No. This never had a chance of making the book. It’s just something silly Kelly Arnold drew when I told her ME3V has an ending scenario where Wrex is killed by Krogan traditionalists. Sniffle . . .
(ME3V: Epilogues and Endings: pg. 442.)
6. Garrus as Primarch of Palaven
In the ME3, Shepard teases Garrus about Garrus becoming Primarch when the war is over, so . . . I ran with it. But as I worked on the endings, I felt it was too easy and that I should be more creative.
(ME3V: Epilogues and Endings: pg. 442.)
7. Geth Consensus (alternate version)
What can I say? My first idea for the new Geth Consensus was a lot more Jimi Hendrix, and a lot less Blade Runner. In the end, I went with a more cyberpunk arrangement.
29
8. Fighting on Palaven (alternate version)
In ME3V, I bring the fight to Palaven, not on some stupid moon hovering over Palaven. This first sketch shows what a Reaper blasting a Palaven city might look like. But I felt it was too distant, so I ditched it for something more “boots on the ground.”
30
Credits
I can’t be 100% modest here. 99% of the Mass Effect 3: Vindication monstrosity was on my shoulders; however, for the concept art and editing (for both ME3V and Mass Effect 3: Vindication 2.0), I had help. Here are a few quick tips of the hat for the help with 2.0. Thanks, guys—especially Helen!
Writer
&
Creator:
Gerry Pugliese(Mass Effect 3: Vindication & Mass Effect 3: Vindication 2.0) MassEffect3V
GerryPugliese
Concept Art:
Tim Cutler
(Geth VI, Ksad Ishan VI; unused: 1, 3, 6) www.TimCutlerArt.com www.ClassicCultLLC.com Kelly Arnold (unused: 4, 5, 7, 8) www.Vulfolaic.Tumblr.com www.Behance.net/Vulfolaic Jenny Burkhalter (unused: 2)
Editor:
Mass Effect 3:
Vindication 2.0
Press Clippings
June 2015
Mass Effect 3: Vindication and Mass Effect 3: Vindication 2.0 are NOT games nor mods. Mass Effect 3: Vindication and Mass Effect 3: Vindication 2.0 are viewable online for FREE as PDFs at Scribd.com/gerrypugliese.
Mass Effect 3: Vindication and Mass Effect 3: Vindication 2.0 are FAN creations. Mass Effect 3: Vindication and Mass Effect 3: Vindication 2.0 have NO affiliation with BioWare or Electronic Arts Inc. Gerry Pugliese has NO affiliation with BioWare or Electronic Arts Inc. Mass Effect 3: Vindication and Mass Effect 3: Vindication 2.0 are NOT intended for
TEC H |1/21/2014 @ 9:46AM | 7,025 views
Still Unsatisfied With Mass Effect
3? Read One Fan's 539 Page
Rewrite
The Mass Effect 3 ending controversy remains one of the most fascinating bits of fan revolt I’ve seen in my time as a video game journalist. Devoted fans of a beloved series complained so much about the confusing, shallow and seemingly phoned-in ending, they actually got developer Bioware to spend weeks and months doing their best to lengthen and alter it into something palatable. This all culminated in what was essentially three hour “goodbye” DLC in the form of Citadel, that included all the time in the world to say farewell to the beloved crew members that were so needlessly
abandoned in the game’s original ending.
But for some, that still wasn’t enough, and really, nothing ever could be. Trying to fix Bioware’s bungled Mass Effect 3 ending was something that would require nothing short of a complete rewrite. Since the game’s release, many fans have tried to come up with their own preferred endings (including the excellent Indoctrination Theory) in order to right Bioware’s wrongs, if only in their own mind. But there has never been such an extensive rework of the game as the one I’ve just finished reading, nor as devoted a fan as its author, Gerry Pugliese.
Gerry approached me after seeing my litany of coverage about the Mass Effect 3 ending and told me he had just finished up a project he’d worked on for the last one and a half years. It’s called “Mass Effect 3: Vindication,” and is meant to be a rewrite of the majority of the end of the game. As I’ve
Paul Tassi, Contributor
I write about video games, technology and the internet
Still Unsatisfied With Mass Effect 3? Read One Fan's 539 Page Rewrite -... http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2014/01/21/still-unsatisfied-with...
This article is available online at:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2014/01/21/still-unsatisfied-with-mass-effect-3-read-one-fans-539-page-rewrite/
mentioned, many fans have tried such a thing, but Gerry’s attempt stands out as it’s 539 pages and 118,000 words long. It’s not a simple revision of the epilogue or a grand conspiracy about what might have really happened; it’s largely its own creation and quite wide in scope. It includes changes to squadmate lore, new relationships and conversations, new missions and enemy types. Hell, it even has new DLC, and pages and pages of concept art. And naturally, a huge portion of Vindication is devoted to a reworked ending.
So what is Vindication? As Mass Effect isn’t Skyrim, capable of being modded with brand new content, and Gerry isn’t a game developer, capable of building such a thing anyway, Vindication can best be described as a very, very elaborate script. It can be downloaded for free here in PDF form (starts automatically), as Gerry simply wants his hard work shown to the masses. And a job at Bioware, ideally; he views it as an elaborate resume, of sorts. Gerry’s worked in screenwriting, and as such, spends much of the 539 pages mapping out countless conversations with crew members and other NPCs, writing dialogue and scene directions for each and every conversation option, paragon, renegade or otherwise. It’s incredibly involved and sometimes hard to follow because of the formatting, but if you can use your imagination, it can be a rather fascinating experience. Probably only the most devoted Mass Effect fans will seek out such a massive document, but even if it’s just imagined, the characters are beloved enough where Vindication could be a fun experience for many as a way to revisit them.
Naturally, Gerry spends a huge portion of Vindication reworking the
controversial ending of the game, but surprisingly he mostly stays within the bounds of Bioware’s original format, right down to including Control, Destroy and Synthesis options for how to deal with the Reaper menace. He does, mercifully, do away with the notorious “Star Child,” however. The main difference between Vindication’s endings and the ones of the original game are the different shades that they can take. Depending on Shepard, his past actions, his readiness level and so on, there can be many, many different epilogues, as opposed to only three in the original game, all of which felt more or less the same with nearly identical cutscenes. Here, Vindication has elaborately different scripts for each ending based on a number of factors, including surviving crew members and active romances. The amount of detail work here is incredible.
It’s not easy to work your way through a 500+ page script of your favorite game and imagine it brought to life, but it can be fun to try, particularly when it’s as detailed as Vindication. And as always, I’m sure many fans will hate his interpretation of the game, as they did the original, as it sort of comes with the territory. Vindication is an all around impressive feat of fan dedication, showing that video games have the power to inspire fanbases more devoted than any movie or TV show.
Again, check out Vindication by downloading it here, or follow its official Twitter.
Follow me on Twitter, subscribe to my Forbes feed, and pick up a copy of my sci-fi novel, The Last Exodus, and its sequel, The Exiled Earthborn.
Still Unsatisfied With Mass Effect 3? Read One Fan's 539 Page Rewrite -... http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2014/01/21/still-unsatisfied-with...
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Email the author Kyle Hilliard, or follow on Twitter, Google+, Facebook, and Game Informer. Filed under: news, xbox 360, playstation 3, mass effect, bioware, mass effect 3, gamer culture, vindication
games mentioned in this article
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Gerry Pugliese is a fan of Mass Effect, but he didn't like the way Mass Effect 3 played out. In response, he put together a 539-page document detailing the changes and additions he would have made to the game. "Vindication is my attempt to vindicate – patch up, rework, and 'fix' – the final chapter of one of the greatest video game stories ever told," Pugliese wrote in an e-mail alerting us of his work.
Pugliese has been working on the document for over year. It's one fan's enormous take on on how they think things should have played out. You'll find new scripts, new scenarios, new endings, new romance opportunities, new powers, new enemies, a new character class, concept art, new DLC, and a whole lot more.
If you're interested in checking out Pugliese's work, you can download the PDF document here.
At Game Informer, we were actually quite pleased with Mass Effect's finale, awarding the game a 10 out of 10, and calling it our 2012 game of the year. Obviously, that praise wasn't universal as many were disappointed by Mass Effect 3's ending, and if Pugliese's work is any indication, it still weighs heavy on many gamers' minds.
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Fan
Writes 400-Page Blueprint To 'Fix' Mass
Effect 3
(http://kotaku.com/fan-writes-
400-page-blueprint-to-fix-mass-effect-3-1504996588)
Some Mass Effect fans protested the trilogy's conclusion with cupcakes; others used Internet petitions. Gerry Pugliese was a little more ambitious. The self-proclaimed "huge Mass Effect fan" wrote a 400-page script that he calls "a fan revision, and blueprint, for fixing Mass Effect 3."
Called Mass Effect 3: Vindication, the script is full of new dialogue and missions for the controversial third entry in BioWare's sci-fi series. It's a book, not a mod, so don't expect to play through Pugliese's changes, but if you're up for some heavy reading, you'll find a ton of new scenes, choices, descriptions, and revisions involving big plot points, character relationships, and that much-discussed ending (http://kotaku.com/5898743/mass- effect-3s-ending-disrespects-its-most-invested-players).
"The endings are a third of ME3V and I've created more than ten new ending scenarios," Pugliese writes, "including having Shepard and friends survive, and going on to live happy lives; or Shepard succumbing to the Reapers' power, turning evil, and enslaving the Galaxy, and turning many major characters into Reaper minions to serve at his/her side." Of course, Pugliese didn't just do this for fun. "Hellooooo, game companies!" he writes. "And miscellaneous people who might want to hire me. If you like what you're about to read, I'd love to discuss any opportunities you might have... So yes, part of why I wrote ME3V is because I think it'd be really cool to work in the video game industry, and I know I can do it."
You can read all of ME3V below. (Direct download here (https://files.secureserver.net /0sAs5D1D50UU26).)
MassEffect3Vindication-v1-1.16.14-GerryPugliese (http://www.scribd.com/doc/200900804 /MassEffect3Vindication-v1-1-16-14-GerryPugliese)
JASON SCHREIER (HTTP://JSCHREIER.KINJA.COM) on KOTAKU (HTTP://KOTAKU.COM64,459 8 404
Mass Effect 3's Ending Disrespects Its Most Invested Players (http://kotaku.com /5898743/mass-effect- 3s-ending-disrespects- its-most-invested-players)
This article was originally published on April 3, 2012. We're bumping it up for Mass Effect week. For a different view on Mass Effect 3's… Read… (http://kotaku.com/5898743/mass-effect- 3s-ending-disrespects-its-most-invested-players)
1 (/oh-someone-will-mod-it-in-eventually-im-sure-1505092104)
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Ahead of ‘Mass Effect 4,’ Fan Writes 500-Page Script for ‘Mass
Effect 3′ Ending
By Jack Phillips, Epoch Times | January 28, 2014 | Last Updated: January 28, 2014 3:07 pm
A fan of the “Mass Effect” series–unimpressed with how the third game ended–spent the past 18 months or so fixing the game’s ending. Gerry Pugliese, the fan, rewrote the ending of “Mass Effect 3” and called it “Mass Effect 3: Vindication,” which is 539 pages long and 118,000 words. When the game came out in 2010, many gamers were left with a sour taste in their mouth over its ending. The ending adds new missions and makes changes to the relationships in the game, reported Forbes. Pugliese also came up with a proposal for DLC and new concept art for the game.
Forbes reported that with the work put into it, Pugliese also might be seeking a job at Bioware, the maker of the game.
“I’ve never done anything like this before,” he told The Escapist website. “I’ve had multiple ‘projects’ in my life. I’m always trying to improve myself, test my metal, and show people what I can do. Give me a few months and I’ll likely be neck-deep in something else. Although, I’d prefer to give that energy to a gaming company, which by now, should be obvious.”
He said that the product is finished, but it could be revised.
“If you give me a couple more months, I could revise some things, and add more content. I would probably put stuff in that I cut. I had a revision for the Leviathan DLC where Leviathan gives Shepard a new power called ‘Reaper Domination,’ which would allow Shepard to take control of Reaper forces, a lot like Morinth’s Domination ability. I cut it because I figured that would be a weird power for a rough-and-tough Soldier character class to have,” he said.
“Mass Effect 4,” if that’s the game of the next game, is “ambitious” and “playable,” said Bioware manager Aaryn Flynn on Twitter several weeks ago. He did not offer a release date or elaborate on much else about the game.
Article printed from The Epoch Times: http://www.theepochtimes.com
URL to article: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/475515-ahead-of-mass-effect-4-fan-writes-500-page-script-for-mass-effect-3-ending/
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Ahead of ‘Mass Effect 4,' Fan Writes 500-Page Script for 'Mass Effect 3' ... http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/475515-ahead-of-mass-effect-4-fan-wr...
Update: Fan "Fixes" Mass Effect 3 Ending With A
539-Page Rewrite
Josh Engen | 22 January 2014 1:55 pm
269
One Mass Effect super fan spent the last year and a half fixing BioWare's ME3 ending.
Mass Effect 3 was an unexpectedly controversial game. Fans of the series were famously upset by the title's ending and spent months articulating their complaints online. But even after the entire internet wagged an angry finger at BioWare, the developer stood behind the title. However, one fan took it upon himself to correct BioWare's mistakes.
For the last year and a half, Gerry Pugliese has been rewriting Mass Effect 3's ending. The finished product, called Mass Effect 3: Vindication, is 539 pages long and 118,000 words. The length is a testament to his self-discipline and lack of respect for BioWare's original script.
Vindication adds new missions, revises many of the in-game relationships, and adds several new
enemy types. It even includes a DLC proposal and a collection of concept art.
Perhaps the most impressive part of the whole endeavor, though, is that Pugliese's script manages to stay grounded in BioWare's original concept. He does, however, spend a great deal of time deconstructing the game's ending and rebuilding it in his own vision.
Originally, Mass Effect 3 only included three endings, but Vindication's ending is based on a complex branching system that depends on a number of factors. And each ending is drastically different from the others.
If you'd like to check out Mass Effect 3: Vindication, the script is freely available. But this time you're probably not allowed to complain if it's not what you were hoping for.
Who am I kidding? No one can stop you from complaining on the internet.
Update: Mr. Pugliese was kind enough to answer a few of my questions via email. Throughout the entire exchange, he was surprisingly laid-back and gracious. This has been a massive undertaking, but his head isn't ballooning by the attention that Vindication has received.
Surprisingly, this is the first time he's attempted to tackle this kind of project. "I've never done anything like this before," he said. "I've had multiple 'projects' in my life. I'm always trying to improve myself, test my metal, and show people what I can do. Give me a few months and I'll likely be neck-deep in something else. Although, I'd prefer to give that energy to a gaming company, which by now, should be obvious."
In Gerry's mind, the project is finished, but this doesn't necessarily mean that revisions are out of the question. "Sure," he says, "if you give me a couple more months, I could revise some things, and add more content. I would probably put stuff in that I cut. I had a revision for the Leviathan DLC where Leviathan gives Shepard a new
Evil Porpoise t-shirt
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power called 'Reaper Domination,' which would allow Shepard to take control of Reaper forces, a lot like Morinth's Domination ability. I cut it because I figured that would be a weird power for a rough-and-tough Soldier character class to have."
But that's all gravy compared to the central focus of his project: fixing Mass Effect's indefensible ending. "The most unforgivable parts of Mass Effect 3," he explains, "and, sadly, they're the easiest to point out are: the Rachni being alive even if you killed them in Mass Effect 1, Anderson not being Councilor if you picked him in ME1, and handing, or not handing, over the Collector Base to Cerberus in Mass Effect 2." Obviously, though, those weren't his only issues with the game.
So, what's next for Gerry Pugliese? He's not exactly sure. "Honestly," he says, "I'm not sure what I'll do on the weekend now that ME3V is finished. I hear tiddlywinks is a lot of fun."
Source: Forbes
Related to:
josh engen, action adventure, bioware, electronic arts, endings, mass effect, mass effect 3, rewrite, shooter, video games
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Why One Man Spent a Year and a Half Rewriting the End of a Video Game
via
Still, that all unfolded in the spring and summer of 2012, so you'd think that even the most diehard Mass Effect fans have had more than enough time to lick their wounds and move onto the next game. At least, that's what I thought, until I received an email from a man named Gerry Pugliese yesterday claiming that he had recently completed a "rewrite" of Mass Effect 3.
"Call it a…blueprint for a better game, what Mass Effect 3 could have been," Pugliese wrote. "Mass Effect 3: Vindication is my attempt to vindicate—patch up, rework, and 'fix'—the final chapter of one of the greatest video game stories ever told."
When you write about video games for a living, you tend to get a lot of strange emails, so I was pretty skeptical. But when I opened up the text (available for download and on ) that Pugliese sent over, I realized just how genuine he was.
Vindication isn't the inchoate screed of some angry nerd—though, by Pugliese's own admission, it draws some of its inspiration from that source material. It's a 539-page manuscript that proposes ten new possible endings to the game. It's packed with fully-fleshed dialogue, concept art from various artists, and well laid-out parameters for triggering epilogues covering a wide range of possible outcomes. Stunningly, Pugliese put it all together in his spare time during the last 18 months.
Screenshot from
For the uninitiated, Mass Effect is a sci-fi game that casts players as a soldier named Commander Shepard as he or she embarks on a quest to save the galaxy from the reapers, a mysterious breed of aliens that look sort of like giant electronic squid monsters.
What many fans (myself included) loved about the game was the amount of control its creators handed over to players. Besides being stuck with Shepard, you could choose everything from Shepard's gender to the outcome of many a fraught moment of intergalactic political strife. It was like BioWare finally offered every Star
PrintFriendly.com: Print web pages, create PDFs http://www.printfriendly.com/print/?source=site&url=http://motherboard....
Wars nerd keys to the galaxy, except without all the that keeps a lot of Star Wars work from being remotely interesting. What annoyed players like Pugliese then didn't have anything to do with the hundreds of hours that were packed into the three acts of the main trilogy. It was in the final few minutes of the entire saga, when (SPOILER ALERT) the fate of the entire Mass Effect universe was put into a few arbitrary boxes. Shepard is stranded on the top of a spaceship in the middle of space, and a spectral child tells the player that he or she must decide the fate of the universe by flipping a few different switches.
One of the most groundbreaking interactive narratives of recent memory suddenly seemed to be following the familiar script of many sci-fi clichés before it: Will your Commander Shepard join with the machines and kick off the singularity? Or will he or she press the kill switch that drives everybody back to the Stone Age? As , the only real difference in many of these endings was the color of the death rays that showed up in the ensuing cinematic. Pugliese said he had played through the Mass Effect series more than twenty times, and still wasn't satisfied.
"What made me insane was the ability to flip the ending," he told me over the phone. "You can come to a point of having lived your life a certain way, and then suddenly had all these options to be a different kind of Shepard."
Pugliese said that Mass Effect first seized him because of the sheer complexity of the web of human relationships in the game. He recalled a female character in the game came on to his Commander Shepard, and being blown away. And then suddenly all of his Shepards were given the same set of bizarre choices irrespective of all their personal contingencies. It wasn't just annoying, he said. It was unrealistic. If he had played his Shepard as a "badass," that Shepard should have "lived the ending of a badass" regardless of what button he decided to press.
"The control should almost be taken away from you," he said of the ending. "Like: right when your fate is about to be issued, you should not have the ability to change that."
Screenshot from
I was one of the few people who liked the original ending, so I remain agnostic to the question of whether or not Pugliese "fixed" the ending. But whether or not I agree with him, I can't help but be moved by the guy's passion. I mean, he gave a year and a half of his life to the thing.
"I decided to do it in July of 2012," Pugliese said. "I literally put blinders on. By that fall, after work it was right to a local Starbucks to work for three hours. Or I would even wake up early to get to Starbucks at six so I could work for two hours before work, then go back again after. As for the weekend? I don't know what the weekend is anymore."
He was spending so much time writing Vindication that he barely had a free moment to actually play video games.
"When the anniversary for this thing came around in July, I said: 'Gerry you need to get your head examined," he recalled, laughing. "My mom kept wanting me to finish, she'd say: 'Do you think it's too long?' Which is Italian mother for, 'Holy crap you need to finish!'"
Now that it's finally out in the world, Pugliese isn't sure what the next step is. At 32, he still harbors a dream of working as a writer in the video game industry, and introduces the work in part as a plea for developers like BioWare to consider hiring him.
Whether or not Pugliese's plans pay off, his Vindication script is the logical conclusion to what playing a game like Mass Effect is like. The original creators promised their players an almost unlimited set of choices and narrative possibilities—something they obviously couldn't create. So Pugliese took that myth of player agency and turned it into real authorial agency. He might have been putting his fingers to a laptop keyboard instead of an Xbox controller, but he was still playing Mass Effect in his own unique way.
It wasn't what the Mass Effect writers had in mind, but it's the game he ultimately wanted. "I'm a tenacious bastard," Pugliese said. "Obviously, I don't back down."
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Fan Writes 400-Page Script to ‘Fix’ MASS EFFECT 3
Christina Janke
Fans of the Mass Effect series is arguably just as passionate as those belonging to the Star Wars or Star Trek fandom, that includes the disgruntled ones and the ones who think they can do better. The latter is in no way meant to be entirely negative, because there are fans who officially become part of the franchise proper and make quality product for the rest of us to consume.
If any one thing in the entire Mass Effect series were to conjure up such a controversy with fans, it’d be the ending of the third installment. Gerry Pugliese is a self-proclaimed “huge Mass Effect Fan” but he, like many others, had a problem with how Mass Effect 3 all played out. Instead of just complaining about it on the internet, Pugliese took the initiative to write a book filled with all the fixes he thought might work better in the game. The title of his project is
Mass Effect: Vindication. It’s a 400-page script full of new dialogue, new missions, and new options that expand
character development, scenes, and so on.
“The endings are a third of ME3V and I’ve created more than ten new ending scenarios,” Pugliese writes, “including having Shepard and friends survive, and going on to live happy lives; or Shepard succumbing to the Reapers’ power, turning evil, and enslaving the Galaxy, and turning many major characters into Reaper minions to serve at his/her side.”
If you’re up for some lengthy reading, check out Pugliese’s ME3V right here, or
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So macht man Mass Effect 3 geil auf 400 Seiten!
-AreaGames.de
Mass Effect 3
So macht man Mass Effect 3 geil - auf 400 Seiten!
Der "große Mass-Effect-Fan" Gerry Pugliese war, wie die meisten, vom Ende des dritten Teils bitter enttäuscht. Anstatt sich mit Schokoladeneis vollzustopfen verfasste er nun kurzerhand ein Pamphlet an Änderungswünschen mit 400 Seiten (!).
"Eine Fan-Revision, eine Blaupause, um Mass Effect 3 in Ordnung zu bringen" - so bezeichnet Gerry Pugliese sein rund 400-seitiges Werk Mass Effect 3: Vindication. In selbigem verfasst er nicht nur zehn brandneue Enden, sondern beschäftigt sich ebenfalls mit neuen Dialogen, darin eingebettete Antwortoptionen und sogar Missionen für den RPG-Shooter. Auch bestimmte Beziehungen zwischen den Charakteren und weitere wichtige Ereignisse werden hier völlig neu interpretiert.
Wer genügend Zeit und Interesse mitbringt, kann sich das Buch kostenfrei als PDF herunterladen. Schade, dass
Herr Pugliese nicht programmieren kann - dann hätten wir seine Ideen vielleicht als Mod verwirklicht gesehen! Aber wer weiß, vielleicht erbarmt sich ja jemand anderes...
Mass Effect 3 - einfach mehr davon!
Ganz umsonst erblickt Mass Effect 3: Vindication das Licht der Internetwelt natürlich nicht. So schreibt der Autor selbst: "Halloooooo, Spielefirmen! Und andere Leute, die mich vielleicht anstellen wollen. Wenn euch gefällt, was
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