BioWare Co-Founder Promises Closure For Mass Effect 3

[DigitalAtlas]

People really care so much about an ending that went over their heads? Jeeez.

Protip: When oily screens start happening and things stop making sense, it's generally a hallucination.

Protip #2: When a loading screen tells ya to save your file, it seems a future title will let you know the results you're waiting for.

 

[Wanderhome]

Translation:
We are busy making DLC things, go... buy something we made...

Conspiracy Theory:
BW planned this all along, desperate gamers buying "Ending" DLC will add nicely to their mountian of cash.

Co-conspirators Conspiracy Theory:
This is all a wild marketing test to see the lengths a gamer will go to to gain the product they were told they were getting in the first place... all is going according to plan.

 

[Dresos]

First you gave me what I would discribe as a masterpiece (ME1), then a great game (ME2) and then you end the series with an average game with a truly horrible ending. I was thinking about buying ME3 when it went on sale, since I wasn't going to buy it full priced because of the content they cut from the disk. But now I can safetly say I won't buy it at all, there are loads of average games out there and I won't buy this one just because I liked the first two...

 

[RJ Dalton]

Good God. What was so horrible about the ending that it garners this sort of attention and demands this sort of a response? You'd think the game disc had been designed to explode and fire shards of glass into your head or something the way people bang on about it.
I mean, Hollywood has produced one disappointing pile of lazy shit after another, but nobody gets on Hollywood's case. Wassup wit dat!?!?

 

[Abedeus]

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.

Problem is, we already know the impact of his decisions.

Even if Mass Relays didn't obliterate systems they were located in, like in Arrival, everyone in the galaxy is more fucked than if Reapers just destroyed them.

Because now, they all either die or suffer, and there won't be more evolutionary cycles, uplifting of species, galactic civilizations or communities.

Difference with X-Men and other movies and Mass Effect is that ME is INTERACTIVE and is about OUR CHOICES.

Stop comparing interactive media to narrative media...

Good God. What was so horrible about the ending that it garners this sort of attention and demands this sort of a response? You'd think the game disc had been designed to explode and fire shards of glass into your head or something the way people bang on about it.
I mean, Hollywood has produced one disappointing pile of lazy shit after another, but nobody gets on Hollywood's case. Wassup wit dat!?!?

There's not a single movie that lasts 90 hours, consumes a lot of money, and then leaves you with a shitty ending after promises of "interactive action" and "making important decisions".

Again, movies and books aren't video games. Don't defend terrible ending because developer claims it's "art" and shit.

 

[Machine Man 1992]

Oh I can see it now: the ending is just going to be the same ending but slightly longer and with just text screens explaining what happened to everyone ("game content initiatives that will help answer the questions, providing more clarity for those seeking further closure to their journey," I take as fancy talk for, "we ain't changing shit")

The flames will put Tsar Bomba to shame. Bioware will never sell another game again.

 

[Wanderhome]

Good God. What was so horrible about the ending that it garners this sort of attention and demands this sort of a response? You'd think the game disc had been designed to explode and fire shards of glass into your head or something the way people bang on about it.
I mean, Hollywood has produced one disappointing pile of lazy shit after another, but nobody gets on Hollywood's case. Wassup wit dat!?!?

I'm all for movie-watchers raging about films, maybe we'd get more "good" ones, some one needs to get on this!

 

[krellen]

Singing your praises until you make one mistake? no thanks.

One? Try three.

Mass Effect 2
Dragon Age 2
Mass Effect 3

But I've never really been a Bioware fan anyway (NWN 2 > NWN; KOTOR 2 > KOTOR; never played JE).

 

[Brad Shepard]

"We want to hear your feedback"

"Comments are closed"

Yea, Something tells me this is just damage control and nothing will come from it.

 

[Frotality]

all i hear is "so the PR guy handed me this speech so i dont have as many death threat emails to delete."

another placating non-answer in a tiring series of placating non-answers. thats all bioware has really been saying since the bloody ad campaign for ME2. i just cant play this game anymore bioware. your thin veil of integrity has become too thin and i can see right through it. you have said absolutely nothing other than "ME3 got good reviews and you can buy DLC soon."

 

[Machine Man 1992]

Translation:
We are busy making DLC things, go... buy something we made...

Conspiracy Theory:
BW planned this all along, desperate gamers buying "Ending" DLC will add nicely to their mountian of cash.

Co-conspirators Conspiracy Theory:
This is all a wild marketing test to see the lengths a gamer will go to to gain the product they were told they were getting in the first place... all is going according to plan.

This is so crazy, it might actually be true.

 

[Chairman Miaow]

Ya'know, I've always been skeptical about the extent of corruption in game reviewing, but when there is this much of a fan backlash and I have yet to see a single review even mentioning the ending in a negative light, it's hard to trust reviews at all. Not that I've ever really based purchases on them, I just assumed they were mostly honest. And while I understand that some of the reviewers probably did enjoy the ending, I find it very difficult to believe all of them did.

 

[Don quixote's mule]

This is a complete shame. One of the few times Bioware tries to do something legitimately artsy and the nerd collective turns all NASCAR and big gulp on them, "We Ned a endin' that gone done make sense," I will concede that one's understanding of the ending is a matter of general intelligence and reflective nature. After all a series about the endless web of choice and consequence has to be wrapped up in a straight foreword, simple, happy go lucky, package. The ending fits so beautifully, Bioware present the player with the simplest choice that has the most unforeseeable consequences. Everything about that ending is internalized by the player, every decision made up until that point is brought to bear on the player. I have NEVER been as satisfied with a gaming experience as I was with that choice. Was the rest of the game perfect? no. Was the ending how I imagined it would play out for "my" Shepard? No. Did they stick the landing? Yes.

Personally, I hope the "closure" that is eventually delivered turns out to be a big "fuck you" to the fan base, but I highly doubt it. As much as it might be personally gratifying to call gamers out as the "basement dwelling troglodytes, with superiority complexes," that they are proving themselves to be here, to say that Bioware "over estimated the public's intelligence" is a poor business decision. If you are in the business of selling crap to Self-important, spoiled brats, then it is best not to call them that. The best course of action is to either be content with taking their money, or find another line of work. This controversy does however suggest that despite all the claims of artistic potential, the video game industry is really in the business of making electronic junk food.

 

[CoL0sS]

Aaah cryptic as always Bioware.
Isn't this the same PR-generated response that was already issued, only this time with a signature of somebody "higher up".

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.

Yeah, but many critics (if they mentioned it at all) said that ending was confusing and overall not satisfying but that game as a whole shouldn't suffer for it (something I agree with). Ergo the great scores.

I borrowed ME3 and played it to the end. To me, ending wasn't bad even though I recognized most of its faults. In fact it fit perfectly with my Shepard who was plagued with guilt and regrets over certain events that were direct consequence of his previous decisions. Everything after that including sad ending with 3 samey depressing choices felt strangely in place with the rest of the (my) story. There was about 1:1000 chance of things falling together like they did and perhaps my imagination made sense of the rest of it. Yeah it was confusing, but so was a lot of things in that game, especially since I had zero knowledge of extended universe (books, comics, DLC).

Still, from what I've seen of the other endings I'm very surprised they didn't expect this much of a fan backlash. They are really not that good, and I don't know what happened. Either it was a product of their incompetence, indecisiveness or artistic disagreements or a genius marketing scheme created to sell future DLCs. Or perhaps that indoctrination theory is correct. Or maybe someone at Bioware really thought that people will like it.

Whatever the reason, I don't think changing the ending is such a good idea. Too many unpleasant implications. If they choose to do so instead of explain and expand upon it I just hope they won't be foolish enough to try to sell it as DLC. Ensuing shitstorm would be hilarious.

Captcha: bangers and mash
Don't mind if I do.

 

[Machine Man 1992]

This is a complete shame. One of the few times Bioware tries to do something legitimately artsy and the nerd collective turns all NASCAR and big gulp on them, "We Ned a endin' that gone done make sense," I will concede that one's understanding of the ending is a matter of general intelligence and reflective nature. After all a series about the endless web of choice and consequence has to be wrapped up in a straight foreword, simple, happy go lucky, package. The ending fits so beautifully, Bioware present the player with the simplest choice that has the most unforeseeable consequences. Everything about that ending is internalized by the player, every decision made up until that point is brought to bear on the player. I have NEVER been as satisfied with a gaming experience as I was with that choice. Was the rest of the game perfect? no. Was the ending how I imagined it would play out for "my" Shepard? No. Did they stick the landing? Yes.

Personally, I hope the "closure" that is eventually delivered turns out to be a big "fuck you" to the fan base, but I highly doubt it. As much as it might be personally gratifying to call gamers out as the "basement dwelling troglodytes, with superiority complexes," that they are proving themselves to be here, to say that Bioware "over estimated the public's intelligence" is a poor business decision. If you are in the business of selling crap to Self-important, spoiled brats, then it is best not to call them that. The best course of action is to either be content with taking their money, or find another line of work. This controversy does however suggest that despite all the claims of artistic potential, the video game industry is really in the business of making electronic junk food.

Why is it when people demand that a company's product live up to the MULTIPLE AND REPEATED PROMISES that the company made, assholes like you show up to belittle and demean us?

"Artistic License" is not a criticism proof shield that can be thrown up to justify bullshit.

The endings are nonsensical (within the context of the story), provide NONE of the closure we were promised, render the previous games completely irrelevant, and generally smack of just plain bad writing.

 

[anthony87]

This is a complete shame. One of the few times Bioware tries to do something legitimately artsy and the nerd collective turns all NASCAR and big gulp on them, "We Ned a endin' that gone done make sense," I will concede that one's understanding of the ending is a matter of general intelligence and reflective nature. After all a series about the endless web of choice and consequence has to be wrapped up in a straight foreword, simple, happy go lucky, package. The ending fits so beautifully, Bioware present the player with the simplest choice that has the most unforeseeable consequences. Everything about that ending is internalized by the player, every decision made up until that point is brought to bear on the player. I have NEVER been as satisfied with a gaming experience as I was with that choice. Was the rest of the game perfect? no. Was the ending how I imagined it would play out for "my" Shepard? No. Did they stick the landing? Yes.

Personally, I hope the "closure" that is eventually delivered turns out to be a big "fuck you" to the fan base, but I highly doubt it. As much as it might be personally gratifying to call gamers out as the "basement dwelling troglodytes, with superiority complexes," that they are proving themselves to be here, to say that Bioware "over estimated the public's intelligence" is a poor business decision. If you are in the business of selling crap to Self-important, spoiled brats, then it is best not to call them that. The best course of action is to either be content with taking their money, or find another line of work. This controversy does however suggest that despite all the claims of artistic potential, the video game industry is really in the business of making electronic junk food.

Don't suppose you watched Jim Sterlings video regarding art games did you?

I ask because your posts strikes me as the kind of post I'd expect to hear from the same kind of people that Jim mentions at the end of said video.

You should give it a look if you haven't already.

 

[krellen]

This is a complete shame. One of the few times Bioware tries to do something legitimately artsy

I don't think "take the ending of another game (Deus Ex) and paste it on ours" qualifies as "legitimately artsy".

 

[XDravond]

It sounds like we might get a DLC, I hope it will let me see what good it did to recruit all "friends" and so on don't care if they die or not I just want to see them alive or dead, happy/sad etc... not one of (bassically I know 16 "endings") 3 cut scenes that doesn't tell you anything. If they would make a two hour movie out of it don't care. And all that "subtle"/fan explained parts in the end well that shouldn't be needed for a perfect game... So now hurry up, so I can throw more money at you and buy the game 3 more times, especially that ME trilogy box they are just waiting to start selling... =D

 

[Smurf McSmurfington]

Truth be told, now that I've had time to think things over, the only real problem I had was the lack of an epilogue, that we didn't see how our choices affected the universe after the ending.

Other than that, ME3 was a GREAT game.