Mass Effect 3 Director Addresses Ending Controversy

Earnest Cavalli

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Mass Effect 3 Director Addresses Ending Controversy



Because this Mass Effect 3 ending controversy simply refuses to die, here's the game's director, Casey Hudson, offering his official take on the matter.

If you've been living inside a cave for the past few weeks, you may be the only person on the planet spared the ongoing saga of the 'net's collective anger at BioWare over the ending of Mass Effect 3. Seriously, people are pissed about this thing.

In reaction, Mass Effect 3 director Casey Hudson took to the official BioWare forums to offer his opinion on the issue. Odds are solid it won't quell any rage you might have, but if anyone is benefiting from this hoopla it is we game journalists who subsist entirely on your delicious pageviews.

Have a look:

For the last eight years, Mass Effect has been a labor of love for our team; love for the characters we've created, for the medium of video games, and for the fans that have supported us. For us and for you, Mass Effect 3 had to live up to a lot of expectations, not only for a great gaming experience, but for a resolution to the countless storylines and decisions you've made as a player since the journey began in 2007. So we designed Mass Effect 3 to be a series of endings to key plots and storylines, each culminating in scenes that show you the consequences of your actions. You then carry the knowledge of these consequences with you as you complete the final moments of your journey.

We always intended that the scale of the conflict and the underlying theme of sacrifice would lead to a bittersweet ending-to do otherwise would betray the agonizing decisions Shepard had to make along the way. Still, we wanted to give players the chance to experience an inspiring and uplifting ending; in a story where you face a hopeless struggle for basic survival, we see the final moments and imagery as offering victory and hope in the context of sacrifice and reflection.

Continuing, Hudson points out the positive critical reactions the game has received, before adding that BioWare values the opinion of its fans. "Throughout the next year, we will support Mass Effect 3 by working on new content," he says. "And we'll keep listening, because your insights and constructive feedback will help determine what that content should be."

Notably absent from Hudson's spiel is any word on how BioWare intends to honor fan opinion in the future. BioWare is listening, he claims, but whether the company will make any moves to adhere to your collective opinions on what direction the saga of Shepard et alia should take is still largely up in the air.

Feel any better now? You're being heard! No idea if that will actually change anything, but at least the company is aware of your existence beyond the idea that you're all just self-sustaining money fountains, right? That's something, isn't it?

Source: G4 [http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/324/index/10089946]

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Soviet Heavy

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I believe they intend to wait for the Russian sales to finish up and complete the ending before Bioware comes out to actually say anything without dancing around the issue.
 

Klitch

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Earnest Cavalli said:
We always intended that the scale of the conflict and the underlying theme of sacrifice would lead to a bittersweet ending-to do otherwise would betray the agonizing decisions Shepard had to make along the way.
Actually, you know what would betray all those agonizing decisions? Completely ignoring them and giving us three "push the button" endings that all give us the same, palette-swapped endings and leave us with absolutely zero closure.
 

Fappy

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I just feel really bad for the Community Manager. You have to imagine... all the complaints Casey read before writing that PR piece had to be filtered by someone before they reached his desk. D:
 

Bloodtrozorx

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I am trying to remember a time when a company had to answer to the fan base like this. This is truly remarkable. I don?t know if this is the right direction and I don?t have a stake in this but it?s a hell of show.
 

deathbydeath

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Why are people being surprised that Bioware rejects gamer choices and opinions? They've been doing it since they were absorbed into EA.

*insert rimshot here*
 

Simalacrum

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Apr 17, 2008
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Apparently I HAVE been living under a rock, because this is the first I've heard about any controversy...
 

Zhukov

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Dec 29, 2009
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I wish they could get through a single press release, just one, without spouting about how great their game is.

We know. We played it. That's half the reason why we're sad/angry/entitled/disappointed about it.

"It got good reviews" is not a valid response to "the ending sucked donkeys".

The "bittersweet" thing is missing the point somewhat, and probably intentionally so. The lack of a super-duper-perfect-happy ending is not the problem. I admit, that notion has a definite appeal, but most people including myself are fine with the ending involving a healthy dose of sacrifice and misery.

No, the problem is everything else. The inconsistency. The plot holes. The last minute ass-pull. The ill-considered consequences (mass relays destroyed, think about it). The Endotron 3000 approach. The pick-your-colour cutscenes.

Then there is the complete lack of resolution regarding the characters' various fates. How does Joker react if EDI dies? Do Liara and Javik ever write that book? Does Wrex manage to headbutt the Krogan into a renaissance or does their history tragically repeat itself? Does the human race manage to rebuild a ravaged Earth or do we become the new Quarians?

...

Yes, I'm venting. Apologies.
 

Proverbial Jon

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Nov 10, 2009
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Earnest Cavalli said:
So we designed Mass Effect 3 to be a series of endings to key plots and storylines, each culminating in scenes that show you the consequences of your actions. You then carry the knowledge of these consequences with you as you complete the final moments of your journey.
Yes, Mr Hudson, you are right. I DID carry that knowledge with me to the final moments of the game. I carried the knowledge that I had been well and truly betrayed.

Picture this: You craft an elegant and epic Sci-Fi saga over eight years, one that is adored by fans across the globe. You tout choice and consequence as the driving factors, saying that this is a fully customisable game, this is our story and no one Shepard will be the same.

Then you stick a knife in our collective backs. Then you take the controller from our eager, sweaty little hands, patronise us by saying we're playing the game wrong and then try to placate us by showing everyone excatly the same cutscene. Tell me, how does my story differ from average Joe down the road? How did my choices truly matter in the end? How dare you insult us by calling this closure.
 

Dandark

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So he completely missed the point of why people didn't like it? No surprise there. It also sounds like they are going to coninue to pump out masses of DLC for it so make sure you buy all of that.


For the positive side of things people should watch the latest Jimquisition which address this issue in what im pretty sure is a unique but valid way. It'd be nice if we could just move on already.
 

Lyndraco

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I really just want to know why Joker was taking MY ship and flying through the mass relays when he should have been ready to save my a$% from the citadel. Unless of course my character just hallucinated/dreamed the ending...(just saying, there are some interesting points to the indoctrination theory).

After I beat the game I just sat there, expecting there to be something else...the whole sequence lacked a sense of finality for some reason (even though I sacrificed my shep, so it was pretty final). I will say that Bioware did a good job with an ending that caused an emotional reaction in the players...
 

Jodah

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Bloodtrozorx said:
I am trying to remember a time when a company had to answer to the fan base like this. This is truly remarkable. I don?t know if this is the right direction and I don?t have a stake in this but it?s a hell of show.
I was talking with some friends last night and the only similar situation that comes to mind is when Blizzard was going to use real names on their forums. It is the only time I have seen such a unified reaction against a company. Sure there are dissenters but there always will be. The majority of people, however, seem to be of one mind.
 

martyrdrebel27

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Feb 16, 2009
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again, they skirt the real issues here... i wish i could lock them in a room, and FORCE THEM to read and acknowledge every point on

http://www.gamefront.com/mass-effect-3-ending-hatred-5-reasons-the-fans-are-right/

that list. don't just give us some god damned politician's answer.

and if you haven't read that article, it's a great read and i recommend checking it out.
 

Dastardly

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Apr 19, 2010
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Earnest Cavalli said:
Feel any better now? You're being heard! No idea if that will actually change anything, but at least the company is aware of your existence beyond the idea that you're all just self-sustaining money fountains, right? That's something, isn't it?
Nah, they're "hearing" the wrong people. I don't think the stronger complaints are about how the game ended, really. I think it's far more about how hollow the actual execution of that ending was.
 

Emiscary

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Sep 7, 2008
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This is hardly new information. Retake ME's supporters tore it apart awhile ago. Bottom line was: not good enough.
 

Saviordd1

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Seriously, just fire Casey bioware. He isn't doing you any good. He's just making things WORSE.
 

bossfight1

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Hudson, when are you going to actually TRY to justify this shitty ending? How it makes no sense, how it kills the themes set up by the previous games, and how it takes the choices we made over the course of the series and throws them into a fire?

You promised, FUCKING PROMISED, NO LESS, an ending that would widely vary depending on the choices we made, but then... THIS.



I'm not trying to sound entitled, but a series as amazing as Mass Effect deserves better than this. Yahtzee put it perfectly in his Splatterhouse review; "Seems there's an obvious way to avoid this: make the intro first, the ending second, then everything in between. That way if anything feels rushed or cut down, it'll be one of the bits in the middle no one cares about, while the ending is what people will remember."