BioWare "Considering" Calls for New Mass Effect 3 Ending

[Keava]

How an otherwise excellent game crashes and burns in spectacular fashion in the last ten, grossly unsatisfying minutes.

No. The ending is just the straw that broke the camel's back.

Maybe you'll get purple explosions this time.

How about a

Spoiler

Multi-colored ending?

Wouldn't work. There still is an issue of colourblind people only getting one ending.

 

[Matt King]

I'm still a firm believer of the indoctrination theory.

If Bioware manage to pull off what I think they're pulling off, it will be awesome.

yeah i will be really impressed

now that i've noticed the humming on the normandy it's bugging the shit out of me, i mean isn't it a silent ship

 

[Fappy]

Good thing I didn't pay for the Mona Lisa

This combined with your avatar is pure gold.

Well you have one of the best user names on here so I consider us even. Nobody fucks with a CR 24.

 

[Ross Fixxed]

I'm not completely colour blind, but I'm really bad. I didn't realise there was a difference in the beams until I read it online! That changes everything, it all makes sense... Except the bits that don't.

 

[DarkhoIlow]

As long as they deliver what we were promised "an satisfying ending to the trilogy where all your choices/war assets will matter" then I'm all for it.

And I still fully support the indoctrination theory and hope they run with it.I think it's the only path for their "redemption".

 

[Mikeyfell]

It's cute that Bioware calls their fan base "Loyal" when they already have a lawsuit in the works.

Bioware is really good at offering player choice and then retroactively changing all your choices or just contriving some reason to make them not matter.

I'm firmly on the side of them needing to change the ending, because that was not wroth 150 hours of my life. (and it's actually way more because I have 7 Shepards)

Why does your personal investment of time mean the ending needs to be changed? In any other media, I expect you wouldn't make the same demand. Do you go back and demand that Saving Private Ryan have a happier ending? Did you make a demand that the book Survivor end in something other than a suicidal plane crash? Assuming that you are generally a rational person, I'd wager the answer is no.

Um...I guess "need" is a strong word. But if Bioware's actually listening to all the pissed off fans you can bet your ass I'll add my voice.

And also note that I don't think the ending needs to be "happy" to be good. The end of ME 3 had such a severe disconnect from the point of the rest of the series that it was meaningless. That's why it sucked. Not because it was sad (Which it wasn't, really)

The heavy use of choice as being a major draw to the game is likely the cause of the problem. Somehow, it would seem, being asked to make a handful of minor decisions from a pre-determined list of actions has convinced thousands (millions) that they are a part of the creative process. I suppose we are, in a way. Our role is to buy (or not) a product as a commentary of quality.

Bioware aren't good storytellers. (They never have been, they never will be) What they are are good script writers. For the most part the stories they write are irrelevant enough to give the player free reign over how it unfolds. When they do decide to do something plot related they assume control of certain parts of the narrative. (EG: Mass Effect 3 only makes since if you played Paragon in ME 2 and picked Udina for the council seat at the end of ME 1)

So in effect their should be a version of Mass Effect 3 where Shepard is on Cerberus's side if you played Renegade in ME 2.

But, more to the point, I don't particularly understand why people think the game deserved a happy ending. The saga revolves around a pattern of extinction that has occurred at least 700 times. At least 700 races rose to power and were annihilated in an instant. The only difference is that this time around, the sentient races had a little more time - that is, in reality, the only thing any action the player performs actually achieves. The reapers still achieve complete strategic surprise. The reapers still have a fleet that is more massive and more powerful than anything the sentient races could muster.

The ending provided is already far too happy to be reasonable. It already leans heavily on deus ex machina in order to make what the player does count for anything more than one last shout of defiance in the face of annihilation. To give me an ending where the sentient races are saved, even in part, is more than the fiction could justify. To give me an ending where my player character and my allies and friends all survived and lived happy ever after goes beyond unreasonable.

Yes, I never said I wanted a happy ending. Just a better one. Maybe an ending where you actually make a last stand against the Reapers. Or maybe one where the Crucible is actually just a giant gun instead of just a giant "Reaper off button." Mass Effect was (To me) a personal experience. It's Shepard and his team doing the impossible. Bring in some hither-to unknown "god" character right at the end just to say "Stop the Reapers by A, B or C" just felt out of place. In 1 you spend the whole game dealing with Saren and the Council, at the end you deal with Saren and the Council. In 2 you spend the whole game dealing with the Collectors and The Illusive Man, at the end you deal with the Collector's base and The Illusive Man. In 3 you spend the whole game building alliances to form a massive army, at the end you sacrifice your self to beat the Reapers. It doesn't fit. The entire game was filling up a progress bar so you could go push the "win" button. Dealing with the Krogan, the Salarians, the Geth, the Quarians or the Asari didn't have any baring on the final choice you make.

I turned down the Salarian fleets because I couldn't betray Wrex again. I wanted that to mean something other: 100 war assets instead of 200.

It treads dangerously into children's fantasy. The story demanded sacrifice. The story demanded that there be a cost for choice. For two games we were told that annihilation was one decision away; but that was a lie. The choice between Ashley and Kaiden was hardly a choice (The situation demanded securing the bomb site or the whole mission was for nothing). Saving Wrex was the result of a speech check. Surviving the suicide mission was trivial. In a fight for the survival of advanced life itself, in a fight where the machines won hundreds of times in a row, the best any could hope for was for a little extra time. One does not get to simply walk into hell time and again without there being a cost and one does not get to break a cycle that has persisted for so long as to effectively be a process of the galaxy itself without expecting to pay something dear.

I honestly hesitated when it came to putting the disc in to see the final chapter through. Even with the best laid plans, how could the game end well? In the end, friends and allies were dead. Two entire races were gone and the legacy of countless more were shattered. The outlook for our heroes was grim at best. But this wasn't a fight for the people on the Normandy. It was a fight for people. The sacrifice of billions bought entire generations yet unborn the opportunity to live and make mistakes and struggle and die. The sacrifice bought them life itself.

Is it the happy ending I wanted? No. But it was happier than a reasonable man would dare hope.

Honestly, at this point. I don't care how childish or immature it seems. I want a different ending. I don't care how, I don't care what, anything is better than the crap they gave us. And ruining such an excellent series that way isn't fair.

 

[Muphin_Mann]

Ahh yes, the "fandumb" we have dismissed that claim.

People make me sad. It also makes me sad that Bioware has to cater to the masses of idiots out their. Although they surely saw this coming. If a million people play the game, they would need to write a million endings to please most of them, since some would still complain that their ending didnt have enough tits and explosions for their moronic little brains.
This is pathetic. Psych 101, if they give in to the fan-dumb, it will just cause them to complain more.

 

[SweetLiquidSnake]

What's taken them so long? They should realized this in the first week. Just make a new one or have it like Fallout 3 and extend it from the time Shepard wakes up after being indoctrinated. At least every one got to save before making the color choice, this way if they picked the wrong color they go back and do it again. My pure paragon chose red only because I didnt want her to die.

P.S. I though Recaptcha was shit, but this new Solvemedia is total horseshit

 

[Sonic Doctor]

Are you seriously saying that, if you were promised something and so put your money on the table only to have that promise gone back on, you would just shrug and say: "Fair enough"?

If that did happen, I'd shrug and say "lesson learned they do that sort of thing". I wouldn't go on a tirade, calling for them to change the ending, starting up silly charity drives(I'm not against giving to charity, but the reason this one was started it was one of the silliest I've seen), or ask for a refund(doesn't matter what happened in the game, if I was able to play through the whole game without any game breaking glitches[story parts I don't agree with don't count], I don't deserve my money back because I got to play the whole game like everybody else, so I have to pay like everybody else), and finally I certainly wouldn't bother the FTC with a trivial complaint that really isn't true, so I am making a false allegation.

I followed the development of Mass Effect 3, ever since I got and started playing the first two games back in late December 2010. And now that I've played it, it lives up to all the hype and promises that I heard from them. All I remember them saying about choices, was that they mattered. They didn't say that they mattered for the ending. And looking back at my first play through, I did feel like my choices mattered.

People were angry about the DLC, another stupid incident. People knew full well for almost 5 months that there would be exclusive DLC, that others would have to purchase later. And then of course the subject matter of it was an issue, and after seeing the DLC, all the belly ache people did was for nothing, because the DLC didn't add a thing to the main story. Oh, but now the belly ache is about that in a way, the DLC was already on the disk. Well boo-hoo, I don't care if it was fully planned to be on the disc and in the game, if they wanted to take it out to be an extra for the CE copies then they are well within their rights. It isn't underhanded or evil, it is just a business decision, it is their property to sell, and they can sell it as they see fit.

Besides, it is the one that brings the case to light "the one with the complaint" that has the burden of proof, and nothing I have seen warrants all the actions, complaining, and refunds.

 

[Varrdy]

If that did happen, I'd shrug and say "lesson learned they do that sort of thing". I wouldn't go on a tirade, calling for them to change the ending, starting up silly charity drives(I'm not against giving to charity, but the reason this one was started it was one of the silliest I've seen), or ask for a refund(doesn't matter what happened in the game, if I was able to play through the whole game without any game breaking glitches[story parts I don't agree with don't count], I don't deserve my money back because I got to play the whole game like everybody else, so I have to pay like everybody else), and finally I certainly wouldn't bother the FTC with a trivial complaint that really isn't true, so I am making a false allegation.

I followed the development of Mass Effect 3, ever since I got and started playing the first two games back in late December 2010. And now that I've played it, it lives up to all the hype and promises that I heard from them. All I remember them saying about choices, was that they mattered. They didn't say that they mattered for the ending. And looking back at my first play through, I did feel like my choices mattered.

People were angry about the DLC, another stupid incident. People knew full well for almost 5 months that there would be exclusive DLC, that others would have to purchase later. And then of course the subject matter of it was an issue, and after seeing the DLC, all the belly ache people did was for nothing, because the DLC didn't add a thing to the main story. Oh, but now the belly ache is about that in a way, the DLC was already on the disk. Well boo-hoo, I don't care if it was fully planned to be on the disc and in the game, if they wanted to take it out to be an extra for the CE copies then they are well within their rights. It isn't underhanded or evil, it is just a business decision, it is their property to sell, and they can sell it as they see fit.

Besides, it is the one that brings the case to light "the one with the complaint" that has the burden of proof, and nothing I have seen warrants all the actions, complaining, and refunds.

To go through your points one at a time:

- The ending makes bugger-all sense and that is my main reason I want to see it fixed. I personally have not demanded anything, i've asked politely.

- Asking for a refund, I agree, is daft. I'm of the opinon that, if someone feels that things were so bad that they don't want the game anymore and want a refund, that's their statutory right but they should also refrain from taking any further part in the discussions on the ending.

- Another reason I am not demanding a refund is that I encountered no glitches that were immediately apparent. Sure there were little things, like the questing system for example, that could use a bit of work but, on the whole, Mass Effect 3 was awesome!

- With regard to the FTC thing, I'm...ambivalent. I can see where the people who made the report are coming from but I also think that, now we apparently have BioWare's attention, the last thing we need to do now is distract them from the key issues we hope are resolved. in short, I don't agree with it but I don't blame them for trying. As for it being "untrue", I'm sorry but I must respectfully disagree. There are plenty of on-the-record comments from the dev team that assured us that the endings would reflect our choices.

- Again I am not entirely convinced with the charity drive. Yes it's raised a lot of dosh for a worthy cause, and I donated my own little bit, but I can also understand why people see it was distasteful.

- Day-one DLC. I have to admit that this one nearly slipped be by. When I first pre-ordered the N7 Collectors Edition I must have missed the part where it mentioned the Prothean character. I am also guilty of burying my head in the sand as the release loomed but that was merely down to avoiding spoilers because it came out in the USA several days before it did Europe. I know it's irrelevant of me to be bent out of shape about the DLC because I pre-ordered it and paid my money but I feel the timing was very iffy. I suppose it wouldn't have mattered so much if the team-roster wasn't so small! As for it being on the disc...all I can say in my own case is that it saved a lot of downloading time but again that's because I got the CE and also why I've not really commented on it like some have.

- Burden of proof: Yes we have that burden and, like I said, we are backing it up with a lot of valid points. Without wishing to be rude, how anyone can look at all the points and evidence that has been presented and still see nothing wrong is completely and utterly beyond me. In any case, my problem was with those who called us all names without justification, not people who liked / accepted the endings.

I thank you for your prompt and honest response. I still do not agree with you and will not change my attitude no matter what names people call me but thank-you all the same.

 

[Acton Hank]

I'm still a firm believer of the indoctrination theory.

If Bioware manage to pull off what I think they're pulling off, it will be awesome.

They already pulled it off. They have yours and everyone elses money. Thats it. Thats the plan.

What you thought it was about the art? It was never about the art, never about sheppard.

It was about the money.

God damn it, it was always about the money!!!!

Hyperbole is fun, no?

We'll have to see what Bioware has up their sleeves.

Sorry when did Hyperbole become a more common word than Exaggeration?

 

[Daystar Clarion]

I'm still a firm believer of the indoctrination theory.

If Bioware manage to pull off what I think they're pulling off, it will be awesome.

They already pulled it off. They have yours and everyone elses money. Thats it. Thats the plan.

What you thought it was about the art? It was never about the art, never about sheppard.

It was about the money.

God damn it, it was always about the money!!!!

Hyperbole is fun, no?

We'll have to see what Bioware has up their sleeves.

Sorry when did Hyperbole become a more common word than Exaggeration?

I use a rule, whereby when someone uses excessive exclamation marks, their statement is upgraded from exaggeration, to hyperbole.

 

[pfeffa]

Unless the whole indoctrination thing is true, and they're going to expand on that, they should just leave the endings alone. We don't need a happy ending. Hell, I would actually think less of the game if the ending has us turning the reapers to sunshine and candy, being named lord protector of earth and drinking with Garrus on some sunny beach. Allthough that might be 'cause the animation for drinking looks horrible...

If they want to flesh out the existing endings, on the other hand, I guess I wouldn't object. I would like to see what happened after I activated the crucible, and just what I bought with my life (I didn't make it. Went for synthesis).

 

[Varrdy]

Ahh yes, the "fandumb" we have dismissed that claim.

People make me sad. It also makes me sad that Bioware has to cater to the masses of idiots out their. Although they surely saw this coming. If a million people play the game, they would need to write a million endings to please most of them, since some would still complain that their ending didnt have enough tits and explosions for their moronic little brains.
This is pathetic. Psych 101, if they give in to the fan-dumb, it will just cause them to complain more.

Just a small point but one I made many times, if you are going to call people "dumb" then making an elementary grammar mistake doesn't exactly help your cause.

You said: "It also makes me sad that Bioware has to cater to the masses of idiots out their"

Sorry but in this context you should have used the word "there" so I consider your assertion that I am dumb to be completely irrelevant as well as bang out of order.

Also, your claim that if a million different people played the game then a million different endings would need to be made is just not true. There are only so many choices one can make throughout the series and, even though there may be countless possible combinations of those choices, many are left open by the ending...or lack thereof. Fallout: New Vegas had many different choices to make / paths to follow but at least the game addressed the consequences of my actions at the end of the game. I fully accept there would be no way to please everyone but at least I had closure.

 

[Acton Hank]

I'm still a firm believer of the indoctrination theory.

If Bioware manage to pull off what I think they're pulling off, it will be awesome.

They already pulled it off. They have yours and everyone elses money. Thats it. Thats the plan.

What you thought it was about the art? It was never about the art, never about sheppard.

It was about the money.

God damn it, it was always about the money!!!!

Hyperbole is fun, no?

We'll have to see what Bioware has up their sleeves.

Sorry when did Hyperbole become a more common word than Exaggeration?

I use a rule, whereby when someone uses excessive exclamation marks, their statement is upgraded from exaggeration, to hyperbole.

so does everyone else apparently.

 

[putowtin]

Speaking of which, has anyone else seen what happens if you sabotage the cure with Wrex alive? Made me really sad...

Oh no, why did I watch that? Now I'm blubbing like a baby!
[sub](never betrayed Wrex, now never will)[/sub]

 

[Doug]

I thought everyone was overreacting. Then I saw the ending. The choices are sort of interesting on paper, but they are executed so poorly. One general cutscene that tries to blanket all the outcomes just isn't acceptable. I also would have liked to see Charm/Intimidate options available based on your Paragon/Renegade, decisions, and EMS. I also wanted a chance of failure, for the cycle to continue.

And did anyone else hate that child/catalyst/AI as much as I did. I so wish we could converse with Harbinger instead.

Indeedie, same with me - before I finished the game, I'd thought the ending was likely to be not great but not awful, based on the assumption everyone was overreacting.

I didn't necessarily hate the child/catalyst/AI, but I did feel he was rushed on stage, given 1/10th of his lines, and shoved onto the stage to give a dance that was wholly un-amusing.

To be honest, it could have been acceptable with abit of tweaking, a handful more options, and abit more logic. Oh, and some bleeding closure with the character's you've spent 3 games with.

 

[Torrasque]

Good thing I didn't pay for the Mona Lisa

This combined with your avatar is pure gold.

Well you have one of the best user names on here so I consider us even. Nobody fucks with a CR 24.

Chromium ftw... ?
Master of magnet is a pretty trolltacular title as well, and every time I see your avatar, I remember that I still have to finish watching Darker than Black, lol.

Captcha: brush your teeth (in what looks like blood ink drawn with a fingernail...) ._.

 

[FFHAuthor]

Spoiler: speaking of the ending

I find it pretty silly of people saying that the "destroy the reapers" ending, which also kills the geth, is bad because they put so much effort into saving the geth only for them to be destroyed as well
it's not bad, it's the catch
you can save the galaxy from being exterminated but you will exterminate an entire race to do it

I think there are a litany of things that the ending can be called, many constructive, many not constructive, all of the heartily believed in.

Spoiler

Two races actually, one deserving (if you want to destroy it) the other undeserving...and I wondered how that 'kill all synthetics' button actually worked...or are we just sticking with the 'space magic' answer?