Do I need to point out that poll on the Bioware social forums (the website dedicated to Bioware games) where 90% of the voters said that they hated the ending? Or am I being too entitled?Mage of Doom said:
BioWare Knows It Can't Please Everyone
- Thread starter Cognimancer
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I think this whole EC business has (hopefully) taught Bioware not to underestimate its fanbase. Prior to the release of 3, they had a fanbase that even in spite of its missteps (DAII, I'm looking at you) was willing to fork over $70-80 blindly for a new installment of a series.
Now, the fans who pushed for an ending that made sense are being called "entitled", in spite of the fact that the EC is material that should have been in the game in the first place. The same thing happened with the Fallout 3 ending - the gaming media at large just doesn't get that you alienate your readers (and prove that you're just saying things for the developer kickbacks) when you support lazy or shoddy writing, especially in the ending of a game. Just because they released new content three months later doesn't diminish the fact that the game was a rushed, bug-filled mess that concluded on a pessimistic and downbeat note. Most people who defend it rationalize it by either believing the Indoctrination Theory (and admitting the end of the trilogy never happened) or ignoring the rest of the problems prevalent throughout the game so they can focus their hatred on the ending.
I mean, you can't get negative press like Bioware did over the last three months. When you have CNN, Forbes and the New Yorker calling you out for handling the situation unprofessionally, you know you've got a problem. You can't "take back" the 75,000+ people who voted in polls and complained en masse (a sample size, by the way, that is impossible to get in this day and age, and goes far beyond just the Bioware Social Network). This whole situation was like nothing else I'd ever seen before in terms of release controversy. The only example I can think of that comes close is the Daikatana marketing controversy and subsequent release.
I'm at the point now where I'm not so willing to buy a Bioware game on good faith alone. I'll check out the reviews and wait until the game is in the used market before springing for it.
Now, the fans who pushed for an ending that made sense are being called "entitled", in spite of the fact that the EC is material that should have been in the game in the first place. The same thing happened with the Fallout 3 ending - the gaming media at large just doesn't get that you alienate your readers (and prove that you're just saying things for the developer kickbacks) when you support lazy or shoddy writing, especially in the ending of a game. Just because they released new content three months later doesn't diminish the fact that the game was a rushed, bug-filled mess that concluded on a pessimistic and downbeat note. Most people who defend it rationalize it by either believing the Indoctrination Theory (and admitting the end of the trilogy never happened) or ignoring the rest of the problems prevalent throughout the game so they can focus their hatred on the ending.
I mean, you can't get negative press like Bioware did over the last three months. When you have CNN, Forbes and the New Yorker calling you out for handling the situation unprofessionally, you know you've got a problem. You can't "take back" the 75,000+ people who voted in polls and complained en masse (a sample size, by the way, that is impossible to get in this day and age, and goes far beyond just the Bioware Social Network). This whole situation was like nothing else I'd ever seen before in terms of release controversy. The only example I can think of that comes close is the Daikatana marketing controversy and subsequent release.
I'm at the point now where I'm not so willing to buy a Bioware game on good faith alone. I'll check out the reviews and wait until the game is in the used market before springing for it.
No Bioware, you cannot please everyone. Nobody can. Even the best-made and well-received games have detractors. Though perhaps you should have did what you set out to do when you started ME1, and made the ending where the players' cumulative choices mattered.
But perhaps that could never happen in the first place.
I'm pretty sure EA would have busted your balls for trying that because it doesn't conform to their system of marketing-driven-design.
But perhaps that could never happen in the first place.
I'm pretty sure EA would have busted your balls for trying that because it doesn't conform to their system of marketing-driven-design.