New Projects!

Photos of some new projects I'm working on.  First up, I'm doing a Raven Guard army, here is the "test" model:

This model was done to test the colour scheme, for me to get the techniques down for black and white (neither of which I've ever done on power armour before) and also just because I had him kicking about in a box of junk models.

I'm also doing a Blood Angels Command/Honour Guard Squad for eBay.  Here they are:

These have so far been sprayed with the Army Painter Leather Brown spray and brushed by hand in liberal amounts of Citadel Mechrite Red wash (now called Carroburg Crimson shade).  I'll post some WIP shots of these as they progress.

I also have a Catachan Command Squad, "Sly and the Expendables", which may be the beginnings of an Imperial Guard allied detachment for my Raven Guard, or I might just ebay them when they're done.  Haven't decided yet.

These have also been sprayed with Leather Brown, then washed with Devlan Mud (don't know what the new name for this is), and the packs and pants have had a coat of Vallejo Model Colour Brown Sand.  These guys were originally built as a bunch of NPCs for a Dark Heresy game, hence the ridiculous mixture of weapons.  I don't think they're a legal squad in 40k as they stand, but the addition of five chumps with lasguns will make them a game-legal veteran squad.

The objective with these guys is to have a go at camouflage/DPM clothing, I think I'm going to go with the classic 'jungle' colour scheme.

Finally, the Raven Guard have a veteran squad and a captain model, all from Forgeworld, waiting in the wings to be painted.  From my experience from the tester model, I've decided to use a grey undercoat (which I don't currently have), so they're sat patiently waiting until that arrives before I can get cracking on them.  Here they are on temporary bases, and also the actual bases they're going to get mounted on.  I've decided to paint these separately and do a proper job of them.

Space for comments below, or pester me on Twitter!

Cheers

NS

Mass Effecting Ending

At the risk of flogging a dead horse, I finally finished Mass Effect 3 (WITHOUT the extended cut, which I've not seen yet), and I now want to make some comments on it, given the controversy which has surrounded it.

First a warning.  I've tried to keep this spoiler free, but may not have completely succeeded.  You have been warned!  Also I should say from the off that most of the ensuing discussion refers to the final five to ten minues of cinematic/dialogue; right up to that point, the story follows a progression that is as epic and engaging as you'd expect.

With that said, here we go...

I get why people think it's a shit ending.  I get why people were so upset about it.  For me, mainly, it's because the writers have dropped in the most ludicrous 'deus ex machina' (literally 'God in the machine') right at the very end, in both the literal and literary sense of the expression.

Deus ex machina endings are frequently a mark of poor storytelling.  Generally speaking, this is because deus ex machinas often (always?) serve to rescue the primary protagonist(s) from a predicament which the characters themselves are unable to resolve.  As a result of finding themselves up the proverbial creek, our characters would be unable to complete their objective and so the story would come to a premature end.  The DEM, then, is a literary device which acts to save the story from the failure of its characters; a failure which, because the characters are fictional, represents a failure of the writer to adequately plan for the heroes to 'save the day', and thus corresponds with poor storytelling.

In Mass Effect 3, not only do the characters find themselves backed into a corner which they are unable to get out of (many are dead or MIA, and even Shepard is... 'shackled'), but they are quite literally faced with a machine which they hope will solve their problems.  The writers even go one step further, but I'm at a loss to explain this without giving it away.  Suffice to say the deus ex machina is so huge, so glaringly obvious, that it made me sick to my stomach.  It's ludicrousness stems from the very literalness of the execution. 

"I wish I hadn't signed that three-movie contract."

Okay, it didn't actually make me sick but it was extremely disappointing.  In the end, Shepard's trilogy of struggles and sacrifices amount to precisely squat, and that my friends is the crux of the matter - irrespective of the fact that the final choice he makes has little to no bearing on the end result, the very situation he finds himself in to be faced with that choice in the first place is utterly ridiculous.

Having said that, I DO think that the ending, badly written and poorly implemented though it is, is a fitting one when taken in the context of the game's mythology.  To quote a friend: "If you'd picked up anything from the first two games, or even as you played through the third, it's quite obvious there is no completely happy ending." Yes, it would've been nice for Shepard to defeat the Reapers without a scratch and with no friendly casualties but that would've only served to undermine the supposed power and strength of the Reaper threat.  Equally, it's the kind of ending you'd expect from a Disney movie, where Death Only Happens To Bad People. As such, that would not have been a suitable conclusion to the Mass Effect story, and it rightly didn't become so.  I do, however, think that the business with the Mass Relays was a step too far.  There was no need for it.  I can only assume that it was an attempt to attach a bit more gravitas to Shepard's decision, to make it seem like a more difficult choice than it really is - and the whole thing failed miserably to do so, and instead only served to highlight the fact that Shepard's Final Choice was, in fact, not a choice at all because the outcomes are all the same.

Ultimately, in my mind, what this all boils down to was that BioWare tried to use the conclusion to the story as a way of answering all the big questions posed by the series. Who are the Reapers? Where did they come from? Why are they here?  This was their mistake.  The success of the Mass Effect games was largely tied to its epic storytelling, with its focus on the characters, their emotions and motivations, the political ramifications of Shepard's decisions.  The Tuchanka sequence in ME3 exemplifies this.  The Krogan require a Genophage cure before they will pledge their support against the Reapers, and this brings to the fore all of the history and politics surrounding their race, the issues addressed by Shepard in previous games (and his corresponding decisions) and the impact it will have on the Salarians, Turians and Humanity as well; all of which combines to make it one of the most engaging and interesting sequences in the entire trilogy.

For some reason, the writers did not apply the same reasoning to the ending sequence, and chose, instead, to focus on revealing the mysteries rather than just allowing the Reapers to be a race of Really Evil Sentient Spaceships for Shepard to send back to Hell in a handbasket.  Like a magician revealing the secret of his tricks, it ruins the act.  Some questions are better left unanswered.  If BioWare had done the latter, and simply let the Reapers be powerful and mysterious villains, concentrating their storytelling on the outcome for the protagonists (Shepard and, by extension, his squad), the ending would have been much more satisfying for everyone.

"I'm Commander Shepard, and this is my favourite ending on the Citadel!"

From a gaming point of view, the lack of a 'final boss' fight really hacked me off.  BioWare could've at least put a battle with the game's primary recurring antagonist in there.  Hell, they could've done anything, apart from what they did do.  I'm a bit old-school about this, although (to be fair) in the context of the game's internal mythology I suppose you could argue that it would have been a boss fight contrived just for the sake of having one - but I challenge anyone to name a game that was as epic and awesome and successful as the Mass Effect games that didn't end with a Final Boss Fight.  I certainly can't think of any.  As it was, BioWare almost (they came so close!) set themselves up for the perfect 'final showdown', which would've made for an epic and satisfying conclusion to the series but sadly they failed to spot the opportunity.  The fact that the gameplay simply stopped, without warning, at the point it did seemed hurried and poorly thought out.

Story aside, there are some other gaming criticisms.  The linear gameplay, the lack of proper side quests (poorly made-up for by the ridiculously tedious weapon upgrading system) and the not-at-all-RPG-like RPG elements diminished it in my eyes, especially when compared with its predecessors, but the storyline made up for it.  Right up until the final five minutes, which made me want to take my Xbox and defenestrate it with extreme prejudice.  But, even so, if the entire game is viewed as one long ending to the saga, then the linearity can be, to some extent, forgiven.  I have to say though, that with the previous two games, upon completion of the story I felt an immediate compulsion to start again.  With ME3 I felt no such thing.  Actually, I have little to no interest in playing ME3 again at all, which is sad.

Did I enjoy the game? Yes, despite it's failings.  Will I play it through again, start-to-finish?  Probably not.  It only remains for me to determine whether the extended cut can rescue the extremely disappointing finale to what is an otherwise epic conclusion to the Mass Effect series.

"I'm sorry Thane, you're going to die for nothing."