BioWare Co-Founder Promises Closure For Mass Effect 3

[Dastardly]

BioWare Co-Founder Promises Closure For Mass Effect 3

And what more could we ask of them, really?

The ending is out there, and they can't take it back. Nor should they. Nor would it do the least bit to please the complainers. However, they're recognizing what they can do: not change the ending, but clarify it a bit.

The problem with the ending is just how it was delivered. It robbed itself of much of its own weight by failing to deliver a sense of consequence, and by failing to show us "the stakes" while we were moving through it.

I compare it to the ending of the second X-Men movie: Professor X is allegedly in the middle of frying the brains of every human on the planet. This should be causing everything from vehicle crashes to botched surgeries to entire nurseries of newborns in agonizing pain -- I mean, clearly, the stakes are supposed to be extremely high. But we see none of it. We're left to just take the movie's word for it... or we're expected to relate to the more immediate peril of the heroes themselves, which just doesn't work in that movie.

The best move from here is to create content that shows the impact of Shepard's actions and choices. There could also been some "meanwhile" DLC, which allows players to act out what various other characters were doing while Shepard was bringing an end to the conflict, and that might add some gravity to the events surrounding the ending.

I think some free cinematic content would go over quite well, in addition to paid playable content.

 

[STARSaIphaTeam]

Our first instinct is to defend our work and point to the high ratings offered by critics - but out of respect to our fans, we need to accept the criticism and feedback with humility.

Well, here's the thing. With a much-anticipated triple-A game of significant length that every video game media site pretty much has to have a review out on ASAP lest they get left in the dust by their competitors- how likely is it that every reviewer who posts a review has actually made it to the ending?

A lot of them did. They just don't let the ending discredit the rest of the game, which is amazing.

 

[Worr Monger]

I'm utterly ashamed to be a person that was genuinely disappointed by the ending. I don't want to be part of this BioWare "fan" crowd that spits the same annoying venom at them day in and day out. I'm already sick of hearing everyone constantly whine about ME3's ending to the point that I'm actually kind of OK with it. I've put things into perspective.

Bioware doesn't need to change the endings... as they're saying in this article, all I would like to see is some closure, some results of my choices.

Spoiler

ME1 gave you 2 choices in the end - Save the counsel or let them die
ME2 gave you 2 choices in the end - Destroy the Collector ship or give it to the Illusive Man

Both games had a lot of gooey before these decisions that made your character more unique... such as who dies.... but we all decided on those 2 final choices.

ME3 gives you 3 choices.... now the problem is not the endings themselves... but the lack of consequence. I think the only choice that bothered me is that I had to destroy the Geth in order to destroy the Reapers.... But I'd need more explanation on the benefits/consequences of choosing synthesis... just showing them glowing green doesn't tell me much. And what is the long term benefits/consequences of taking control of the Reapers/Letting them live?

I don't need saving the Krogan to necessarily affect my ending... but at least show me the results of those choices... what happens to the ME universe after everything I done? Closure is all I need... an understanding of what may come. (A bit more explanation of the Catalyst AI and the origin of the Reapers would be kinda nice too).

Destroying the Mass Relays had a real affect on me... I was genuinely sad and I thought it was an amazing feeling to get from a game. I thought their destruction and having Shepard be sacrificed made for a powerful ending. I'm proud to see BioWare have the balls to end their trilogy like that, effectively preventing further true sequels.... not another wishy-washy Halo-ending.

I'm officially claiming not to be part of the whiny "Change the Ending" crowd.

All I would like to see is a bit more closure.

 

[Kungfu_Teddybear]

Our first instinct is to defend our work and point to the high ratings offered by critics

For some reason that just translates to me as "Well look the game got high ratings, so we don't care what you think".

If we do get some sort of change to the ending, or closure, or whatever. They better give it to us for free. I cannot imagine the shit-storm that would kick off if we had to pay for it as DLC.

I have yet to complete the game so I can say nothing on how bad the endings are. But from what I have heard from friends I can imagine why people are angry.

 

[teh_gunslinger]

Our first instinct is to defend our work and point to the high ratings offered by critics - but out of respect to our fans, we need to accept the criticism and feedback with humility.

Well, here's the thing. With a much-anticipated triple-A game of significant length that every video game media site pretty much has to have a review out on ASAP lest they get left in the dust by their competitors- how likely is it that every reviewer who posts a review has actually made it to the ending?

A lot of them did. They just don't let the ending discredit the rest of the game, which is amazing.

The rest of the game is indeed alright for the most part. But to me, the end overshadows it all. It makes the entire series pointless and I've uninstalled them and stopped my ongoing fem Shep run of ME2. I just don't see the point. I know it will end in a literal deus ex machina of epic stupidity and a choice of color and assorted plot holes.

The bad writing of the ending has retroactively ruined the series for me. It has gone from a series I quite enjoyed for the most part to close to 100 wasted hours. Much like the ending of Battlestar Galactica makes me not want to watch the series again, despite me owning the entire thing on DVD.

Endings are important. The wrong ending will ruin what came before, to me at least. But even if it didn't I'd still be annoyed by the shoddy writing and delivery. A deus ex machina can work, if you do it right. Whatever fool wrote this, clearly don't know how to do it right.

If this had been a book I'd be just as annoyed, as would I if it was a movie. I don't mind a bleak ending. I do mind one that makes no sense and pulls shit out of it's ass in the last seconds.

Edit: I don't want Bioware to make alterations. I want this ending to stand as a monument alongside Dragon Age 2 of how they can't write any more. I'm done with them now. Let it be, I say.

 

[Lillowh]

Holy crap this man knows how to PR like a boss. Even though they love what they made and what their first response based on instinct was, which the admittance of shows that they're actually looking at themselves instead of just shutting us out. Honestly, nobody should be able to insult them for what their first instinctive response was because almost everyone does the same thing with something they're really proud of making and from their position it was probably like presenting a painting of your senior class that all your relatives and friends said was beautiful that you made to signify how you'll miss them, and everyone in the room snickers and calls it shitty). To me the biggest surprise of this statement was that although they believer what they made was great, he's taking legitimate criticism of his work into account constructively, and not being completely arrogant about it and saying we're "playing it wrong" or something like that, he's actually admitting they might have made some mistakes and using the word humility in regards to something they need to have? I hope this is a sign of Bioware getting knocked back to reality from the "everything we make is instant gold bars financially and review-wise," attitude it seems they've been slipping into that was probably the cause of the lower quality of their work that has been happening since they started getting into that phase. Maybe they'll return to the quality of work that they used to produce.

On the other hand, and I know he says they want to have artistic integrity with this. I feel they threw that out somewhere between the freshly dead corpse after DA2 (I still loved DA2, not nearly as much as DA:O and DA:O:A, so if a frash corpse of a Bioware writer is what caused the game to be what it was, the body was already picked apart by crows by the end of 3. Seems like ending of Neon Genesis all over again. Even though this technically makes more sense then the ME3 ending, imagine if this was in the last few pages of The Return of the King (would make more since Magic actually exists here and the "most important character in the universe" has been introduced in the series before this page). Do you think people would accept this ending if it was the artist's vision that Tolkien wrote?

Spoiler

Yeah, I didn't think so...

 

[WanderingFool]

"We're working hard to maintain the right balance between the artistic integrity of the original story while addressing the fan feedback we've received.

Hmm, that all anyone really wants.

This is in addition to our existing plan to continue providing new Mass Effect content and new full games, so rest assured that your journey in the Mass Effect universe can, and will, continue."

That right there, is what I wanted to hear.

No I only hope the contiuned games arent in the same vein as Halo Wars and C&C Renegade (though it was fun... Renegade, not Halo Wars).

*Edit*

The rest of the game is indeed alright for the most part. But to me, the end overshadows it all.

Oh, I just thought of a good analogy. Imagin yourself in a resturaunt. You order a expensive, 4 course meal. Theres an appitizer, soup & salad, the main entree, and the dessert. You have eaten at this resturaunt before, so you know their food is worth the money. So you get your meal, piece by piece. after a nice appitizer, ths soup/salad, and a delicious entree, you get the dessert... which is basically crap. The entire meal was great, but the dessert just down right sucked. So what do you do? You complain!

Basically, Mass Effect is a great meal, but the dessert, which we wanted and paid for, was just awful.

Now granted, this is not the best analogy, but it has to be a sight better than some of the anologies being thrown around...

 

[burningdragoon]

I'd be very impressed if whatever they do to change/clarify/expand upon the ending is done without it being super sloppy.

 

[zinho73]

Our first instinct is to defend our work and point to the high ratings offered by critics - but out of respect to our fans, we need to accept the criticism and feedback with humility.

Well, here's the thing. With a much-anticipated triple-A game of significant length that every video game media site pretty much has to have a review out on ASAP lest they get left in the dust by their competitors- how likely is it that every reviewer who posts a review has actually made it to the ending?

A lot of them did. They just don't let the ending discredit the rest of the game, which is amazing.

What is not so amazing is the fact that most of them failed to point out the ending shortcomings.

In any case, I found this declaration much more to the point. They acknowledge there is a problem and that they are working to solve it.

The point about proud, game ratings and artistic integrity is a little bit of PR, but, to be honest, I think they should be proud of their work with the series: liking it or not, it is a fantastic accomplishment. One that deserves to end on a high note.

 

[StriderShinryu]

I must say that I appreciate the statement. At this point, who knows what will come of the comments made, but I think what was said was said well. While, yes, I am disappointed with the ending as it stands, I am overall very satisfied with ME3. If things do change, great. If not, great, but at least the co-founder of the company itself is responding to the complaints. You can't really ask for much more than that especially given how early we still are.

 

[mattttherman3]

That reads like they won't change the ending and just add on some squad stuff, better than nothing I guess.

 

[TheProfessor234]

I'm going to use this term lightly but is this current event making history?

I know that people have been upset about how bad video games have been before, that will always be there. I've recently discovered that this also happened with Fallout 3 and how Broken Steel was the remedy to that.

I dunno, this just seems bigger than anything else before it but then again, this is the first time I've payed attention to it.

 

[Fr]anc[is]

Artistic integrity? That's what fans are asking for in the first place.

Creating an ending that adds plot holes, opens up new questions and contradicts previously established lore, all the while completely ignoring the choices made throughout the game and leaving Shepard and the crews fate on a cliffhanger is hardly full of it.

This. The rest of your painting is really good Bioware. But the bottom right hand corner, where you apparently just ran out of time and drew a dick and a dog turd in MS paint? Not so much.

 

[OManoghue]

I'd patch in about 2 minutes of text saying all this shit that characters did after the explosion, then told everyone to fuck off. The game isn't perfect, live with it.

 

[Valanthe]

Is anybody else beginning to see the words "Artistic Choice" and "The right to suck" as being synonymous?

I'd patch in about 2 minutes of text saying all this shit that characters did after the explosion, then told everyone to fuck off. The game isn't perfect, live with it.

You know what, I'd be fine with that. Yeah I might still grumble about the ending, but something, hell -anything- that made me feel like the choices I made in this damned game actually mattered would be better than what we've currently got.

 

[Denamic]

Really?
They're surprised?
It's strange to them that a great story that players literally have hundreds of hours invested in angers players when there's literally no good ending no matter what you do. You just pick an ending at the end, and nothing you've done so far will be reflected upon even slightly.

Spoiler: Shitty ending A

Sheppard die, relays blow up, all species stranded where they are, including the Kogan in Sol, which will not only doom Tuchanka, but inevitably Sol as well due to virtually guaranteed overpopulation. And then there's the Quarian and the Turians, who can't eat human food and will die of starvation eventually. And the crew of the Normandy is stranded on some jungle planet for some reason.

Spoiler: Shitty ending B

Sheppard dies, everything's the same as in shitty ending A, except now everyone's apparently machine hybrids because Sheppard committed suicide in a magic beam of light. I dunno.

Spoiler: Shitty ending C

Genocide of the Geth. The 'best' option, because Sheppard survives and the reapers are destroyed, but the problems of eventual Krogan overpopulation and Quarian/Turian starvation remains. Still, as we've seen in the earlier games, Reaper copses are still dangerous, and now there's billions of them.

There's a difference between a bittersweet ending and a complete bullshit cop out that not only does not leave an untold number of things unanswered, but prompts even more questions.

 

[XMark]

I've gotten over my initial hate for the ending. Really, I'm totally okay with the Mass Relays blowing up. It means hard times for everyone in the Galaxy for a few decades at least, but they survived and the cycle is finally broken.

A proper explanation of the Normandy running away is all I need to be satisfied.

 

[Right Hook]

"Our first instinct is to defend our work and point to the high ratings offered by critics", NO FUCKING SHIT, Mass Effect 3 was a great game and the type that always gets high scores regardless, most rational people won't argue that. The endings were trash and that is all most people have a problem with. I'm not asking for a new ending, Bioware can stick with what they gave us for all I care, I just want them to add more to it. You can't just give us those endings and expect us not to be pissed, as any teacher grading a paper would say, "YOU NEED TO ELABORATE".

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

The ending is out there, and they can't take it back. Nor should they. Nor would it do the least bit to please the complainers. However, they're recognizing what they can do: not change the ending, but clarify it a bit.

There is nothing to clarify. We are not idiots. We understand the ending. And we understand that it doesn't make any sense unless that indoctrination theory is correct. There is nothing they could possibly clarify that we didn't already think of.

This attempt to give us answers without giving us actual answers, plus their cryptic messages about holding on to your save files and not knowing what they have in store for us, and the analysis of the ending leads me to believe in the indoctrination theory even more. They are trolling us.

 

[McMullen]

I know I will pay for the DLC.
I'm a weak man.

This is why we can't have nice things. Is it really that hard to just do something else?