BioWare Says Farewell With Mass Effect 3: Citadel and Reckoning

[AlexLoxate]

$15 for faffing about on the Citadel making social calls? No, thank you.

 

[Riff Moonraker]

Jeez... well, contrary to what seems to be the norm on here, I am looking forward to it, and will be buying it day one. I am also sad to see that this is the last Mass Effect 3 DLC.

 

[esutton]

You guys should check out the announcement topic on Bioware forums. It's hilarious. I can't count how many "thank you BIOWARE!" and "I'm so excited" I've seen on a single page.

Thank you Bioware for what? Excited for what? It's a $15 DLC and they won't even tell you what it's about apart from some vague description about a conspiracy and a casino. We know it's a conspiracy. Almost everything in Mass Effect has been a conspiracy of some kind. It will probably be some emotionally manipulative crap. But is it actually worth the money? Does the DLC matter at all? Does it impact the ending in any way? No one seems to be asking those questions. It's like they've all been indoctrinated.

Bio ware is... its a Reaper. Casey Hudson is basically Saren and EA is Sovereign the game is a metaphor for their entire company. O god what have we done.

 

[Kermi]

Are people still whining about the fucking ending? Holy shit, you'd think Bioware made you watch while they fucked your mothers or something.

You know what I love about comments like this? If we were all singing the ending's praises, saying how great it was and how much we enjoyed it, and thanked Bioware a million times for this great end to a great trilogy, no one would be saying things like "Are people still celebrating over this fucking ending? Holy Shit, you'd think Bioware just ended world hunger or something."

So, it's fine if people are complimenting a game, but if they are expressing their dissatisfaction with a game that's not good,? Let them talk about the ending, good or bad. Don't like it? Don't read the comment, or just ignore it.

OT: I personally will just wait until people post videos of this DLC on yahoo. It's what I did with the last two. I'll get to skip the combat and such, while seeing the content of the DLC. And save myself $15.

No, you see, you're supposed to remember the good things and let go of the bad things. People reveling in their own misery because they didn't like the end of the game, that's like forgetting what a great person your grandma was just because you cried at her funeral.

 

[keiji_Maeda]

The ending was bad enough to send me into my first "light depression" for a year.

So Bioware sure did give good on their promise to homebake me a "touching game"

just joshing, the game was good all around, had fun with it. this seems like the first DLC i might actually get.

 

[Willinium]

I like this idea and plan to get it , I also liked the ending as I did not see anything too(read in bold) wrong with it besides a lack of closure and that was fixed in the extended DLC. . . So yeah when I eventually get to a gamestop I shall buy it with MS points.

 

[Blachman201_v1legacy]

No, you see, you're supposed to remember the good things and let go of the bad things. People reveling in their own misery because they didn't like the end of the game, that's like forgetting what a great person your grandma was just because you cried at her funeral.

If you really want to go with that metaphor, then a more an accurate one would that you have this grandmother with whom you have shared many found memories, but the last time she ever spoke to you, was when she called you to her side by on her deathbed, and proceed to calling you a bastard, a screw-up, and the worst disappointment in her life, before passing on without ever giving any reasons why she would say such things. Don't you think it would be hard to view those fond memories in the same way?

The point I am trying to make in the simplest way possible:

 

[NicotineStainedSoul]

Hmm, have they still not taken the fanfiction lifeline that is the Indoctination Theory? Seriously, it's the best thing that has come about from this whole debacle. I'd take it if I were you guys. Say it was your plan from the start. Surely your writers can't be that bad?

If they did go down that route, and they really should have when they had the golden gaping gotsee of an opportunity(seriously, they REALLY should have, i mean ffs it was beautiful and they did nothing to achieve it on purpose! the fans did all the work.) It wouldn't sit well with anyone...

Those that clamored for it (hey its me! I'm important!) would be pissed off to pay extra for a three part series to get the real ending. Those happy with the ending as it was would equally be pissed off by a switch.

As for dlc for me3... couldn't give a monkeys arse. I watched the highlights of leviathan on youtube and that gave me all i needed (it was actually ok...mediocre, but should have been in the game to lessen the starchild reveal blow), ill do the same for this new one even if wrex is involved. If bioware is smart and wants to do prequels, do a Wrex prequel; i will literally fling money at u EA. This is unlikely to happen. And I'm glad because i don't want Wrex overexposed and milked for ever dollar till were all sick of him.

 

[V da Mighty Taco]

I don't usually watch TV series. Last time I watched a TV series it was House and I stopped watching back when Season five was new.
For me the fucking kid... just it betrayed everything. I hated him even when he was real because he was a cheap emotion manipulating ploy, then I hated him even more when he continued to appear in Shepard's dreams, but the starchild... by god, it's so stupid. They pulled him outta the fucking nowhere, made Shepard ready to do what he says and the victory (?) is achieved through space magic. I mean, what? Did they hope to weird themselves out of this? The lack of closure was only icing on a cake, but the cake itself, filled with plothole cream was the Catalyst himself. I'm probably not making sense, but a person smarter than me summed it up pretty nicely: in the last minute the themes of whole trilogy take a 180, turning defiance into submission. I mean... Watch Mass Effect 3 Happy Ending mod. The removal of the Catalyst makes it all look so much better. And as for Shepard dying - I'm mostly OK with that, but still, doesn't the player who spent the whole trilogy with Shep and the whole third game collecting war assets deserve happy ending? Come on. And the endings... they kinda crippled me Mass Effect-wise. I didn't play a single Mass Effect game since. I reinstalled them numerous times and uninstalled them, sometimes right after installing.

There's that term again, "Space Magic".
You mean like how Infiltrators can literally cast the spell fireball? Or how Mass Effect Fields are essentially plot filling magic where the mana is Eezo? Biotics are mages, omnitools are made of light and are somehow sharp, omnigel could be used to do everything that Mass Effect Fields couldn't, Tech Armor is, again, solid light capable of stopping bullets somehow, Space Magic has been a staple of the Mass Effect universe since the opening credits of the first game, and you are just now complaining about it in the final game.

And as for Shepard dying, no, the player doesn't deserve Shepard living, since that takes away from the games whole purpose of showing how far Shepard will go to stop the Reapers. I've never played the Extended Cut ending out of principle of not entertaining the whims of a retarded fanbase whose bitching will never cease, and nothing got me as emotional in the entire series, save for helping the girl from Mindoir, than watching Shepard sacrifice himself on the catalyst to stop the Reapers. It was powerful and emotional and all the fans did was ***** about Shep dying and Star Child being space magic. Not all stories need a happy ending in the same way not every movie needs a big choreographed dance number.
The ending was fine, the Fanbase ruined it.

You really don't know why people hate ME3's ending, do you? I don't even play Mass Effect (played an hour of ME2 - that's it), and I can tell you that for just about everyone it is not because Shepard dies in the end. The fact that you yourself stated that for most of the whole series you were not emotionally invested (unless I'm misinterpreting the bold quote, which is possible) as well as thinking that people are mad because Shepard died really makes you come across as someone who simply doesn't get at all why people cared about and played Mass Effect.

The main issues from what I've heard and seen are the following:

- The last-minute asspull of the Starchild (introducing the main antagonist in the last 0.5% of story is never a good idea)

- The sudden shift in the overall themes of Mass Effect

- The ambiguity and apparently grim fates of everyone else that the player worked so hard to save (again, not Shepard)

- Shepard's closest friends abandoning him to flee for their lives

- The Mass Relays exploding

- The pick-a-color ending making all the previous events of the entire series have no impact on how the story ends

- The fact that in a series all about the player's choices the player suddenly has to accept everything that the Starchild says without question (the "Reject" ending in the EC didn't help this one in the least, due to it being an "Everyone dies, Reapers win" ending)

- The fact that the Starchild's arguments for why the reaper cycle exists doesn't make any sense at all (making synthetics to kill organics so that the organics don't get killed by synthetics? If the player made peace between the Geth / Quarians, then it only makes the Starchild's point even more nonsensical)

- Last but not least, my favorite and why I've paid any attention to the ME3 debacle. The fact that Bioware wouldn't stop making a boatload of promises about the ending and slapping it all over the game's marketing just to turn around and not have anything they said turn out to be even remotely true (just like Gearbox recently did with ACM)


All of this I've gathered by just listening to both sides of the argument, which it definitely seems like you haven't. I do know that the EC addressed a couple of these issues like the Mass Relays, but many of them still exist today even with the EC.

 

[V da Mighty Taco]

Snip of Doom

- It's called the Catalyst. You were told exactly what its role would be in the story, and it fulfills the role you were told it would fulfill. You even get dialogue hinting at the existence of a creator of the Reapers. And it's far from a "main antagonist", given that the Catalyst never directly opposes you and willingly helps you stop the Reaper cycles, even if it involves means that it does not approve of itself. Calling it a different name doesn't magically undo foreshadowing.

- Mass Effect always contained the theme of organics vs. synthetics/created vs. creators, and other themes came up mere minutes before meeting the Catalyst (Anderson and the Illusive Man). It's ending-bashers who want people to believe that you're expected to agree with one character's opinion

- Which boils down to a presumption that after surmounting seemingly-impossible odds in the series itself, the galaxy will be completely unable to live without rapid transit.

- Shepard's allies would know that they were alive, given that Hackett speaks with Shepard while they are aboard the Citadel. They flee the system because of the shockwave generated from the Crucible's activation - would Shepard simply want them to stand around in the face of danger waiting for them after they've gone on alone?

- Which is part what was mentioned the point before the last and the idea that the activation of the Crucible will have exactly the same effect as an asteroid smashing into a Mass Relay.

- There are differences between the endings which reflect your choice - the Reapers are destroyed in Destroy, the visible signs of Synthesis, the Mass Relays taking less damage in Control. To say that there's no difference but colour is an objective lie. In addition, how well you unite the galaxy determines how well the Crucible's activation goes and how many options you have for the Crucible, not to mention several encounters and cutscenes during the final mission based on Effective Military Strength and specific choices.

- And what indication is there that Shepard agrees with the Catalyst? What indication that expecting another choice simply because the ones available to you aren't exactly what you want will make additional choices available? As for Refusal, the entire series made it clear that the Reapers were significantly more powerful than the galaxy's forces and that conventional warfare was hopeless against them. Refusal is throwing away everything the galaxy worked for to stop the Reapers - is it any surprise that they're wiped out without the weapon they devoted their resources and manpower to?

- Every single claim I've seen of BioWare "lying" about the ending is completely false, either based on ignorance or outright lying.

And that's what the anti-ending movement revolves around: ignorance and lies. It's why every single ending-basher goes out of their way to present a deliberately-inaccurate version of the ending, whether it is based on their refusal to actually figure out what happens and how it happens in the ending or because they are choosing to present blatant lies to intentionally mislead people.

It's why the ending-bashers come out in force every time Mass Effect fans have a reason to rejoice: because every gesture from BioWare to the fans reminds the ending-bashers that BioWare doesn't give a damn what they think and doesn't exist to cater to their whims and their whims alone, at the expense of every fan and every person in BioWare.

You forgot to address my actual argument - that you have not listened to the opposing arguments at all and that most people have way more issues with Mass Effect 3's ending than the fact that Shepard dies. I simply listed several of the arguments against ME3's ending, and nowhere along the lines did I actually say whether or not I agree with any of them with the sole exception of the last point about Bioware lying. My argument was never about the validity of the arguments against ME3's ending, only that they exist - contrary to what you were saying.

I can't help but notice that you also use the term "ending-bashers" as if it was an insult and your tone is extremely condescending whenever you refer to them, leaving the impression that you think of them as inferior to you and thus aren't worth hearing out. Added to that is the fact that you accuse all of the "ending-bashers" of constantly lying about everything, even though I have seen numerous of these "ending-bashers" provide direct evidence to back up their arguments (as all sides of this debate have) such as direct on-the-record quotes from Casey Hudson and showing all endings in their entirety.

All of this put together tells me that not only have you not heard the arguments of those who disagree with you, you do so deliberately and actively ignore all of them before actually hearing them out. Add to that your penchant for trying to demean the critics of Mass Effect 3's ending on a personal level with blanket statements, strawmen arguments, and your condescending attitude towards the critics instead of addressing their arguments directly and it becomes clear that you never had any intention of making a sound counterargument. All you care for is demeaning and insulting the opposition while making sure no one hears their side of the story and trying to make it out to be a black-and-white "us vs them" scenario.

I've paid attention to and heard out all sides of the ME3 debate. I've seen so many sides make their points and back them up with evidence, and there are indeed more than two sides to this debate. This is clearly something you neither bothered with nor ever cared about. My point has been made, so I'm done here. Farewell.

 

[wooty]

I'll probably wait for them all to be released in one pack and basically blitz the lot of them in one go, the three games as well. I still love the games for what they are.

Hell, I wish they would release a dlc which was 3 hours of conversations with Tali. I know its very old news, but I could still listen to that accent all day long.

 

[Plasmadamage]

From the depths of space needs to return Zaeed, one of the most BAMF individuals to have ever walked.

Zaeed's voice actor died a few months ago.

I'm replaying ME2 at the moment, and I cry a little bit every time he speaks.

 

[Kermi]

No, you see, you're supposed to remember the good things and let go of the bad things. People reveling in their own misery because they didn't like the end of the game, that's like forgetting what a great person your grandma was just because you cried at her funeral.

If you really want to go with that metaphor, then a more an accurate one would that you have this grandmother with whom you have shared many found memories, but the last time she ever spoke to you, was when she called you to her side by on her deathbed, and proceed to calling you a bastard, a screw-up, and the worst disappointment in her life, before passing on without ever giving any reasons why she would say such things. Don't you think it would be hard to view those fond memories in the same way?

The point I am trying to make in the simplest way possible:

This only remotely begins to work if the ending was objectively bad, and not just something that didn't meet the unreasonable expectations of millions of very different people.

Since you prefer to invent ways to be miserable than actually contend with superfluous details like logic and fact, I'm going to bow out of this conversation. You win. The game was terrible and Bioware should burn in hell for it. Yay! We made a difference!

 

[Abomination]

I just don't get how a "place to hang out with squaddies" makes any sense for the setting of Mass Effect 3 where you're racing against the clock to save as many people as possible.

Every sip of that alcoholic beverage spells the death of another 1000 sentient beings. Commander Shepard, drinkin' beer and spectating genocide.

 

[bigsby]

I wouldn't play this even if they paid for my copy of it. Anything Casey Hudson touches gets a hearty "fuck you" from me still. The old Bioware is sadly dead.

I think there are a lot of people who share your sentiment, I know I do. Personally I will not buy another Bioware product until Casey Hudson gets fired.

to the OT: Seriously, what is the point? It is not like ME2 where the DLC bridged the Story between games, you cannot pretend that this is added story at the end because there is nothing at the end. And yes the ending killed the franchise, at least for me. I have nothing against bad, or sad endings on principle, but Mass Effect did not warrant it! The whole story of ME was Shepard, biggest BAMF of the universe, against the Reapers, and the epic conclusion to this majestic space opera is a little spacekid giving me 3 choices? I never, ever got the feeling that I defeated the Reapers, I never got the feeling of victory, because in the end, the Reapers let you defeat them. And don´t get me started on the EC, I got very excited when I saw the option to reject the Spacekid´s choices, only to be greeted with Casey´s giant middle finger to anyone who dared criticize the epic conclusion he wrote on his own on a piece of napkin!

 

[Blachman201_v1legacy]

This only remotely begins to work if the ending was objectively bad, and not just something that didn't meet the unreasonable expectations of millions of very different people.

Since you prefer to invent ways to be miserable than actually contend with superfluous details like logic and fact, I'm going to bow out of this conversation. You win. The game was terrible and Bioware should burn in hell for it. Yay! We made a difference!

Spare me your lame sarcasm, bucko. There are quite a few objective ways the ending makes the game and the series by extension fall through, both in terms of storytelling and as a product. Like the Matrix Sequels, Mass Effect 3 is slated to go down in history as having forever tainted its franchise. To deny that is self-delusion.

But I can tell from your attitude that it will be a waste of bytes and time discussing this. So yeah, don't let the door hit you on the way out.