BioWare Co-Founder Promises Closure For Mass Effect 3

[Bvenged]

"So, it's incredibly painful to receive feedback from our core fans that the game's endings were not up to their expectations. 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."


I feel really bad now after berating the games ending. But they were sub-par in comparison to, well, anything really; and they were a huge let-down after such an epic trilogy. I know how "heartwrentching" (for use of a better word) it is to pour your life into a creative piece and have it ripped apart. Is this situation more fool me, or them?

 

[gphjr14]

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.

See the problem with that is people would actually have to find something else to do with their time. Like play outside, or learn a language. Or you know move on and play something else.

The ending was anti-climatic and made little sense, but it didn't break the game nor was it like the Sopranos, Shepard eating in a space diner with Journey playing the background for no damn reason.

 

[Pandabearparade]

Atleast this guy seems to know how to talk PR bullshite without managing to piss even more people off.

Nope, he doesn't. You don't appease angry fans by pointing to reviews (who have EA advertisements plastered all over their sites) twice, or claiming your rushed, obscurantist mess is 'artistic'. It's not, it's garbage.

Granted, -I- think it's hilarious garbage. A bit like ending Empire Strikes Back with ten minutes of dancing sumo wrestlers; yeah, it might completely betray the material up to that point, but it would be -funny-.

 

[Ashoten]

I now have a new appreciation for MovieBobs fanboyism. Sure he gives nintendo way to much credit but at least he is loyal. I wouldn't want fans if they were the Mass Effect fans. Fair weather and all that. Singing your praises until you make one mistake? no thanks.

 

[VonKlaw]

Atleast this guy seems to know how to talk PR bullshite without managing to piss even more people off.

Nope, he doesn't. You don't appease angry fans by pointing to reviews (who have EA advertisements plastered all over their sites) twice, or claiming your rushed, obscurantist mess is 'artistic'. It's not, it's garbage.

Granted, -I- think it's hilarious garbage. A bit like ending Empire Strikes Back with ten minutes of dancing sumo wrestlers; yeah, it might completely betray the material up to that point, but it would be -funny-.

Yeah, I spoke too soon. xD Atleast he's showing some sembelance of being apologetic though, rather than "STFU, your ruining our russian sales" like...certain other Bioware team members.

 

[Fappy]

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

I am ashamed to say the same. I'd pay 10$ just to make these endings go away.

 

[Ignatz_Zwakh]

So legions of fans have essentially bullied the shite out of a group of artists until they caved and decided to rewrite the ending to THEIR series.

Great.

 

[Paragon Fury]

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 problem is context. Just picking up ME3, playing through and finishing, the game is pretty good. The ending a bit odd and un-fulfilling, but passable.

However, to people have invested time, effort and money into both previous games with multiple playthroughs, etc., the ending is a complete smack in the face and about as big an insult as Bioware can make without breaking out the "Yo' Mamma" jokes.

How many critics played through the whole game? How many actually played through with a character they had invested through the last 2 games?

How many of the critics they got to review the game weren't scared shitless that if they panned the game they would be litigated and obscured out of existence by EA?

 

[Fr]anc[is]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2012/03/21/bioware-co-founder-apologizes-to-fans-for-the-mass-effect-3-ending-sort-of/

Oh, to be sure, there is such thing as destructive commentary. True ad hominem does exist in the wild. But the notion that artists ought only respond to constructive criticism is delirious. If games are truly art, and the teams who develop them truly artists, why should they be treated with kiddie gloves?

"There is no need to take a "constructive" attitude with talented artists," writes Stephen Bond, "if anything, they find such an attitude more offensive. As H.L. Mencken said: "I do not object to being denounced, but I can't abide being schoolmastered, especially by men I regard as imbeciles." The constructive critic is a crow who takes it upon himself to educate the eagle; one who tries to force his own limitations on those who can soar far higher, unencumbered."

Constructive criticism, Bond argues, is a "mass hallucination." It is "inimical to the purposes of criticism as art. I'll say it again: the point of criticism is not to improve you, but to express me. And each time I digress to offer you helpful suggestions, encouraging remarks and other pep-talk, I am not truly expressing myself. I'm merely being polite, nice, even a bit condescending ? in other words, I'm being aesthetically repulsive."

I'm starting to really like forbes.

 

[Explorator Vimes]

I now have a new appreciation for MovieBobs fanboyism. Sure he gives nintendo way to much credit but at least he is loyal. I wouldn't want fans if they were the Mass Effect fans. Fair weather and all that. Singing your praises until you make one mistake? no thanks.

So you prefer blind obedience instead of someone who will actively call you on something that doesn't make sense? Well, I guess that's something, but really, I would entirely disagree. I don't see anything fair weather about these fans. Sure you can point to one or two who are indeed out of line, but that's an obvious strawman you use to discredit a movement/group/etc when you have no real standing.

Most of these people if you actually read their stuff, myself included, still love the series, but what they decided to crap out for the ending was a slap in the face. Normally I'd say opinions on things like this are subjective, but compared to what we were promised and what the entire trilogy was about, this isn't an subjectivity issue.

I already posted my main thoughts elsewhere, but to use something that's become a bit of a Meme, they claimed that we wouldn't get an A, B, C ending, when, that's exactly what we got. And no the fact that in 2 you could save or destroy the base means it was only an A or B ending. The entire run up to there you were making choices of who went with you and who did not and that meant who survived, those are all potentially huge branching choices. Alas, I have a feeling you will do little more than stick fingers in your ears because we have to be children/whiners/whatever because Gamespot and others told you so.

 

[Tomo Stryker]

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

I am ashamed to say the same. I'd pay 10$ just to make these endings go away.

Agreed, I've already started another character starting way back in ME1 in anticipation for the release of a patch/DLC/update whatever their going to call it.

But Bioware please, please understand we love your game. It is the best game of 2012 in my opinion and will remain that way, but like so many other have said before me. JRR Tolken would have been booed rather than praised if Sauron had pulled a move like your Godchild on Frodo.

 

[WanderingFool]

I now have a new appreciation for MovieBobs fanboyism. Sure he gives nintendo way to much credit but at least he is loyal. I wouldn't want fans if they were the Mass Effect fans. Fair weather and all that. Singing your praises until you make one mistake? no thanks.

What developer would choose fans that can and will be critical of your work, when they can have fans that will buy anything you put out?

[sub]generalization of Nintendo fans, FTW!!![/sub]

 

[Frank_Sinatra_]

I now have a new appreciation for MovieBobs fanboyism. Sure he gives nintendo way to much credit but at least he is loyal. I wouldn't want fans if they were the Mass Effect fans. Fair weather and all that. Singing your praises until you make one mistake? no thanks.

Except this one mistake not only botches the ending of one game, but botches the endings of all 3 games.
I won't play any ME game ever again since I know whatever choice I make in them doesn't amount to anything.The ending to ME3 wasn't just a mistake. It was a slap in the face to fans, and storytelling.

 

[tzimize]

Meh. Same old bullshit from a higher paid dude.

 

[AbstractStream]

Look, I'm all for "artistic integrity," but it shouldn't surprise this guy how fans reacted to the ending. Yes, it was bad, but the thing is that it didn't deliver what was promised. Might seem stupid, but this is one of the core reasons why there is so much rage. If Bioware had not promised us what they did, then most fans would have still raged but at least gotten over it much faster.

Also, pointing to high critics ratings means nothing. I don't trust them >>

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

I am ashamed to say the same. I'd pay 10$ just to make these endings go away.

I already have the money set aside just in case
I'm in this with you, Art Axiv. Fappy.

 

[CharrHearted]

I still believe in the indoctrinated theory.

 

[knight4light]

i wonder how long it would take for them to make an ending if it only started now. there would be script writing, rendering. placing. paceing. animation. details. programing etc.. dont know much about game design but i think it would probably take a few months to test and implement.

now.. if they come out with the ending maybe next month.. that would mean they already were working on it.. and the possible rumors of them cutting it off due to the leaked script might have some weight.

if they do release it fairly quickly... i would have to hand it to bioware. it would mean they perpously made the ending like it is.. and would be so awesome if it was the indoctrination theory... cuz then they just trolled us all. building up tension and anticipation for the true ending. idk. i hope they come out soon.. later would mean they were just caving into pressure. =(

 

[subtlefuge]

There's really only one thing that they need to change.

Spoiler

Mass Relays.

Some way to fix them or not destroy them.

I'm all for a downer ending, and as much as I would like 30 entirely different endings based on my previous actions, I understand that it isn't viable. I'm all for creative choice, and there's really no getting around the fact that Shepard had to die at the end. Hell, I would be fine with every squadmate and crew member dying at the end.

However, dooming everyone to seeking out viable home planets around Earth isn't a 'downer ending', it's a slower version of the Reapers' extinction plan. Eventually the krogan will kill everyone or the nearby resources will be stripped.

I don't particularly care if they change ME3. I was hesitant about it when the DLC fiasco started, so I borrowed it, planning to buy it later.

My plans have changed.

 

[Somebloke]

It seems like Bioware has, though this ending, managed to create a humungous demand (...with surrounding publicity) for an "epilogue" DLC, which people, by the looks of it, will be willing to pony up quite a bit of money for, even after the way some of them may have reacted to the opportunistic nature of the first one.

Accident?