BioWare "Considering" Calls for New Mass Effect 3 Ending

[Sonic Doctor]

BioWare, don't kowtow to a minority of whiners. You can't please them all; it is all rather silly anyway. Be strong in what you created; it is just fine.

Stick to your guns and you will get more respect, I know I will respect you more. You make the games, we don't. The players only play them, if they don't like what you do, they can go somewhere else. It won't be a problem because you won't lose that many players.

 

[sumanoskae]

If Da Vinci decided to change the Mona Lisa, for whatever reason, isn't that his right? In the example you gave, you suggest that power is held somewhere other than with the artist. That isn't the case.

A "demand" is still a request, by definition. Requesting better work from an artist isn't whining, it's the only positive response you can give to poor art.

Do you think Da vinci expected people to never voice their opinions on his work?

EDIT: It's also worth noting that to assume even BIOWARE liked this ending could be false. There are lots of reasons they might have ended up writing an ending they weren't proud of but had to use anyway. Consider not only how limited and contradictory the ending is to the rest of their design philosophy, but also how little it has in the way of production value compared to the rest of the game. It's basically a palate swap. This would be the last cutscene of the FRANCHISE, doesn't it strike anybody as strange that THIS is where they decided to cut corners?

 

[Seatownstriker]

All I gotta say is read the codex on Indoctrination, then watch the ending. I'm sure they planned closure, just not in a way everyone expected. And the doesn't mean its "wrong" or "needs to be fixed".

 

[grigjd3]

Ok, I don't think they should change their ending, but comparing it to the Mona Lisa is ridiculous and should be treated as such. One is a small portrait that happened to catch a lot of attention for the emotion shown by the subject while the other is a play-tested and process developed video game with a massive advertising budget paid for by one of the biggest video game corporations in existence. This "high art" mentality is a load of crap. I've been coming to The Escapist because you all tend to show a little self control and forethought. This, however, is getting old. Game developers who work for large production companies are NOT comparable to da Vinci and suggesting that this is anything other than a commercial enterprise is ridiculous.

 

[krellen]

I'm down with the idea of open and productive communication with fans [although runaway incivility rarely seems far behind] but I still think the idea of demanding a new and "better" ending is ludicrous. I don't really have a stake in either side of this debate, although I think it's absolutely fantastic that the Retake Mass Effect - Child's Play [http://retakemasseffect.chipin.com/retake-mass-effect-childs-play] donation drive has so far raised over $67,000, but you don't paint a new smile on the Mona Lisa just because the original's a bit flat.

Professionally speaking, Mr. Chalk, this paragraph has no place in your article. Your commentary on the news is welcome, but it belongs in the same place as ours: in the comments.

The Escapist has a place for opinion columns, over in the "Features" (or "Videos") section. Your news reporters should stick to reporting the news.

 

[PeterDawson]

Yes, a video game and a painting are easy to compare since you spend hundreds of hours going through every detail of the painting, and its previous sister paintings, only to discover they were all secretly created using feces instead of paint. You want Da Vinci, not the works of Colin Mocherie (if you get this joke, good on you).

 

[Undead Dragon King]

As our favorite Drell assassin would say:

How interesting.

 

[AbstractStream]

Even though I didn't like the ending, I'm not for changing it either. Adding onto it would be nice though. We'll just have to wait and see what Bioware decides.

Watching Jim's new video has made me feel a whole lot better about this mess.

 

[Doug]

I'm fine with the ending I got, granted there's some questions unanswered for me, but it was good enough for my experience with it

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

Spoiler

I would agree with you, but the child-god thing does an extremely poor job of saying why it's necessary. In fact, -why- is it necessary? In fact, why can't you say to the child-god thing 'umm, hate to blow a bubble in your 'solution', but we managed to get the creators and the created to calm down and play nice with each other this cycle. I don't see you're logic as being proven'.

As for the Geth and EDI needing to die, why? How? Sure, he's bound to have some form of off switch for the Reapers for this very scenario, but how is he going to kill all Geth and EDI in a single go?

It's bad because the logic either isn't their at all, or is poorly described at best.

 

[Jodah]

I honestly don't have a problem with demanding a new ending. Let's face it, it is extremely difficult to get the numbers to make such a demand. I can only think of one time the online community has been up in arms to such a degree and that is the real name on forums nonsense Blizzard tried. It's not like it is just a handful of people complaining. The vast majority of those who played ME3 are upset.

This isn't something we will see every time there is a controversial ending. This is something we will see when a developer truly does something spectacularly stupid. Everyone knows how difficult it is to unite the online community. It takes something truly remarkable to do it. To me, those are the things that should be challenged.

 

[scorptatious]

I'm fine with the ending I got, granted there's some questions unanswered for me, but it was good enough for my experience with it

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 agree, with most choices throughout the series, there is usually a few choices in which there will be a catch. i.e. Curing the genophage, but losing the support of the majority of the Salarian fleets.

OT: All I can say is that Zeel is probably going to have to eat his words if his last thread was any indication. At least for now.

hell, even earlier in ME, when you could get the cure of the genophage but it was done so that the newborn krogan would basically be slaves to the reapers to a genetic degree

But you couldn't choose whether or not to get the cure. Shepard's mind was pretty much set to destroy the cure if it meant preventing Saren from raising an army of indoctrinated krogan.

You could choose whether or not to kill Wrex though. As he opposed the idea of destroying it.

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

 

[N_of_the_dead]

How can the game be compared to the Mona Lisa when that is a finished piece of work yet bioware says they are still making new things for ME3? I get the ending was finished but I'd compare that more to if Leonardo da Vinci finished the Mona Lisa by putting a straight line instead of an actual smile.

 

[gundamrx101]

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.

I think it would be silly for them not to run with it honestly. Most the work is done for them.

Exactly. If that wasn't their idea to begin with, they'd be foolish not to follow up on it and claim that it was always the case.

I have never seen a more compelling conspiracy theory in fiction before. There is so much evidence! :O

Yeah, I think there's too much evidence for it to be just speculation.

I just want to some damn closure, I don't care if Shepard has to die for it.

The thing that sticks in my craw with this one is that the main write of ME3 resigned just before ME3 was released. I still simply cannot belive that there is not a connection there. One I have not seen others really highlighting yet. I don't think there was a good plan, I think he quit over the ending and Hudson's reluctance to change it. My 2 Cents anyway.

You might be onto to something, the original ending Drew wrote revealed the Reapers to be combating the spread of dark energy and that without their interference, Dark Energy would spread and wipe out ALL existence. So detailed in the original script leak you had a multitude of choices that boiled down to allowing the Reapers to harvest everyone so they can be prepared to combat the surge of Dark Energy, work alongside the Reapers, beat the Reapers and leave fate up to chance, or damn everything just to sooth your own ego.

Script leaked, bioware changed it and then Drew retired.

 

[Doug]

I'm fine with the ending I got, granted there's some questions unanswered for me, but it was good enough for my experience with it

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 agree, with most choices throughout the series, there is usually a few choices in which there will be a catch. i.e. Curing the genophage, but losing the support of the majority of the Salarian fleets.

OT: All I can say is that Zeel is probably going to have to eat his words if his last thread was any indication. At least for now.

hell, even earlier in ME, when you could get the cure of the genophage but it was done so that the newborn krogan would basically be slaves to the reapers to a genetic degree

But you couldn't choose whether or not to get the cure. Shepard's mind was pretty much set to destroy the cure if it meant preventing Saren from raising an army of indoctrinated krogan.

You could choose whether or not to kill Wrex though. As he opposed the idea of destroying it.

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

I didn't destroy the cure myself, but I'm impressed with that cutscene.

This is partly what annoyies me so much about the ending; most of the game was superb, and scenes like that really impress me with their emotion - alot of questions where answered and many plot threads where resolved.

But then the ending undoes quite alot of the work you did and is wholly unsatisfying. To use the Mona Lisa analogy, its like they where nearly finished with a masterpiece, and then out of the blue, they had a fit, splashed random colours in the final corner, and fell over. Then the landlord just sold the painting as was when clearing out the body.

I loved Mass Effect 3, it really delivered on alot of stuff I wanted, but it spoiled it all with the nonsensical ending. Maybe no ending would have been satisfying - after all, its the climax of 3 games over 5(?) years; but honestly, this is pretty poor, and they could have done a much better job.

 

[martyrdrebel27]

*spoilers*

I thought, nay prayed the ending wasn't as terrible as I heard it was.

Unfortunatly, it was. Instead of feeling triumphant, I was instead wondering what the fuck Bioware had been smoking, and how they could miss this bad.

I'm not demanding Shepard be on the beach with Liara in bikini's (though god knows that would be awesome!) but even if it was just Reapers/Shepard dead, but now civilizations can rebuild for the future would have been good.

Spoiler

Not some bullshit God-child pulled straight out their fucking arses.

What do you mean

Spoiler

godchild? It's a projection of an advanced AI, the projection is based on images from Shepards brain. And the Reapers can't be defeated conventionally. How were you to spread that kind of signal through the entire galaxy, if not through the mass relays? And civilization CAN rebuild for the future. As for space travel, finding a replacement for the mass relays will take a lot of time, but keep in mind, there is probably debris left that can, to some degree, be reverse engineered

but you're completely ignoring the biggest problem: GIANT PLOT HOLES!

SPOILERS!

when Shepard destroyed the Relay in Mass Effect 2's The Arrival, the explosion was so big that it took out the entire system it was in. If EVERY Relay were to blow up like that (as the endings show) then the entire galaxy would be destroyed.

you know what? just read this article and then try to defend the ending.

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

 

[Lord_Gremlin]

Thing about them artists... You either make your benefactors happy... Or you starve. STAAARVE!!!!

 

[Arkley]

I support the addition of new endings or the alteration of existing ones, but I wonder how much difference it's really going to make. Those who haven't yet played the game when new endings roll out might get to experience an ending worth seeing and a satisfying conclusion to gaming's first real epic. But the rest of us - we already saw the original endings, we already experienced that disappointment. Does Bioware really have a chance at making it all right now by slapping on a new cutscene and saying everything's better?

Imagine you've just eaten a delicious (and expensive) three course meal. You've paid the bill, and the waiter hands you what he insists is a slice of complimentary chocolate cake. After you take a bite, you discover it's actually a lump of human feces. The waiter then says "Just kidding!" and gives you a real slice of chocolate cake.

Sure, you have a real slice of chocolate cake now, but you already ate a mouthful of shit.

 

[Cartographer]

Have you considered that Bioware, knowing that after their 3-game contract is up they'll lose the IP to EA, who will happily contract out ME:4, ME:5, ME:World Cup Edition... wanted to make it virtually impossible to make another game; think "19 years later" but with better characters and more explosions.

 

[Doug]

I support the addition of new endings or the alteration of existing ones, but I wonder how much difference it's really going to make. Those who haven't yet played the game when new endings roll out might get to experience an ending worth seeing and a satisfying conclusion to gaming's first real epic. But the rest of us - we already saw the original endings, we already experienced that disappointment. Does Bioware really have a chance at making it all right now by slapping on a new cutscene and saying everything's better?

Imagine you've just eaten a delicious (and expensive) three course meal. You've paid the bill, and the waiter hands you what he insists is a slice of complimentary chocolate cake. After you take a bite, you discover it's actually a lump of human feces. The waiter then says "Just kidding!" and gives you a real slice of chocolate cake.

Sure, you have a real slice of chocolate cake now, but you already ate a mouthful of shit.

Indeedie - I have to admit, a new ending will have the problem of not feeling like the real ending, I think. Though it did work in Fallout 3, so maybe there is still hope.

 

[wench]

I'm down with the idea of open and productive communication with fans [although runaway incivility rarely seems far behind] but I still think the idea of demanding a new and "better" ending is ludicrous.

Please, explain why? As a customer it's Your duty to demand that the product You buy is of as good quality as it's advertised. If You pay for a 60$, so called "tripple A" title why should You be satisfied with something that doesn't meet Your expectations? When You buy a fancy TV that cost several thousand $ and find out that you can't change channels with a remote are You just accepting it is a "innovative, artistic expression"?
The game lacks an epilogue, an integral part of storytelling and writing. As customers we aren't slaves to companies and frankly if a company does something wrong we should yell about it, so next time they will think twice before making same mistake.

If you go see a movie, and don't like the ending, do they change the ending? Do they give you your money back? What if you buy a Blu-Ray? No. They don't. Feel free not to be satisfied, but that doesn't mean the company should change it for you. It's nothing like a non-functional remote - the game works just fine, and there are a lot of people who played it and aren't up in arms about the end.

Yes, I liked the ending. I thought it was appropriate. I also think people are clueless about how integrated the galaxy was - it would be insanely inefficient to use the mass relays to ship food back and forth. That's leaving aside the fact that FTL still exists - luxury goods will be more expensive, but they're not going to vanish. Do people seriously think that Earth will starve without the mass relays? The reapers harvested people - there have still got to be massive areas of Canada and Russia left untouched, as well as the oceans.