Did ME3 ruin Mass Effect for you?

[47_Ronin]

It did somewhat. Forget about the ending; it was ME3's linearity and streamlined mechanics that ruined it for me a bit. I could just as well have watched an interactive movie because the storytelling at least was very well done.

 

[White_Lama]

There was nothing wrong with the ending, i don't know why people get so worked up over it.

Thank you sir, at least someone who doesn't whine like a crazy ***** about an ending that was perfectly fine.

 

[crazyrabbits]

But you can pick apart any story if you want, the thing is that if you love it, you have no desire to. The only reason it has been picked so clean in this case, is an almost mob mentally ground swell of hate because you didn't get the ending you wanted.

I have no problem with you hating it, just don't treat it as a religion you have to convert others to. I'm not going to preach that you should like it.

And that's fine. I don't go around telling other people they should automatically hate the game, just like I don't expect people to try to impose that it's the greatest game in history.

What I'm stating is that the fanbase is largely ignoring problems, both from a gameplay and story perspective, much moreso this time around because it feels as though they're trying to posthumously vindicate it of any wrongdoing.

It has nothing to do with whether I wanted a certain ending or not. I haven't yet seen one person who has defended the ending using anything other than theories or fanwanking. They certainly can say they enjoyed it as a personal preference, but at the end of the day, it's still a colossal mess from a writing perspective. Introducing new elements, conflicts and solutions at the last possible moment (both within the ending itself and its narrative in the game itself) is not the way you write a story unless you know for sure how it's going to pay off and explain itself.

ME2 had some of these problems, and it was generally ignored because the sum was greater than it's individual parts. People were willing to overlook things like the changed ammo mechanics (which resulted in lots of continuity problems), weak final boss or general irrelevance to the Reaper threat because it was a character-driven experience with lots of alternate content, a good mix between action and RPG, and a good narrative. ME3 took all of those problems, exacerbated it with even more retcons, continuity issues and resolutions almost entirely pulled from left field, and wrapped it up with a capper of an ending that destroyed everything else narratively that came before it.

So, you're right. I don't go around telling people to hate the game. I just ignore people who blindly yell "98% of the game is awesome" because, almost all of the time, they can't adequately explain themselves or prove why they like it beyond personal preference.

 

[kingthrall]

In a sense, yes. Origin software ruined all EA games for me and I wont be buying none of their products until the remove the computer intrusive software from their products.

That goes for this new dragon age 3 as well, even though the 2nd was just terrible.

 

[4RM3D]

I never bought ME3 because of EA (Origin and stuff). So in a sense ME3 did ruin the series, but not because of the ending. I have heard about the ending and I probably would have been okay with it. I wouldn't have liked the ending but I would have accepted it.

So, if Bioware goes independent then I might consider buying again. This also means I won't be buying Dragon Age 3... ever.

 

[Keith K]

Nah. I quite liked it. The ending did indeed suck, but most endings suck so I won't hold it against the game or series. The thing I disliked most about 3 were the reduction of usable characters and the crappy cast as compared to 2.

My least favorite Mass Effect game remains the first one. I really disliked the combat in that game. It clearly wanted to be a shooter but was absolutely terrible at it. I wanted to like it more than I did. I still do. I liked the characters and what the story was doing, but ultimately the game is only as playable as the combat and I could never stomach playing through the whole thing.

 

[In Search of Username]

I'd definitely buy more. I'd rather there weren't any more, because I feel like the ending (extended cut) basically worked, and any further continuation would just be milking it. But I'd buy it anyway out of curiosity, what with it being one of my favourite game series of all time.

 

[Bertylicious]

There was nothing wrong with the ending, i don't know why people get so worked up over it.

They get worked up because they like to ***** and moan. They think they are in the "right" and "deserve" an ending they had perceived. When in reality, they don't own the IP. They aren't the developers and they can't control the ending they get, which pisses them off. So instead of doing the logical thing that is, grow up and get used to it, they instead decided to throw the largest hissy fit in gaming and ***** until they got their way.

Thus they made the gaming community as a whole look like they were three years old.

The ending was indefensible because it was shoddy and half arsed.

It was akin to being a nice, christian, girl who is resolved to save her virginity till her wedding night. She meets a nice, young, good-looking and God-fearing boy who is an accountant and fan of comedy panel shows. They shyly court one another and one day, one beautiful day, he tells her that he loves her.

A year passes and they have saved up enough for the wedding and their parents will be helping them buy a house. It's small but sensible, a first rung on the property ladder but the wedding is all bought and paid for by them!

All their friends are there, the weather is perfect and the groom looks so wonderful it's all she can do not to cry as she says her vows on the day that is just like her dreams.

Then afterwards in the bedroom the groom suffers erectile dysfunction.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

No, it didn't ruin the series. It sucked true. The ending was abysmal, the whole premise of the game taking into account all our choices from ME1 thru the conclusion was proved hot air and the game itself was just "above average", EA turned a sci fi action RPG into CoD in space and so on ad nauseam. Were it standalone, it would have been swiftly forgotten about, instead it was a lacklustre conclusion to an otherwise great series.

ME - A- Great but can be better
ME2 - B Not sure if it's the right direction but I'll go with it...
Me3 - C+ Passed, but could have been so much better.

 

[Something Amyss]

ME2 ruined Mass Effect for me (as a series). ME3 is something I'm considering picking up for the multiplayer only, but I don't give a damn about the story or series as a whole anymore.

 

[Something Amyss]

Oh, I am not saying the ending wasn't dissapointing. I was just pissed at how the community took a hold of the issue:

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH THE ENDING SUCKED! WE DEMAND A NEW ENDING! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH WAH WAH WAAAAAAAAAAH".

Seriously, nearly everyone sounded like a bunch of spoiled little children.

Yeah, if that had actually happened they would have looked like spoiled little children.

 

[Jason Rayes]

But you can pick apart any story if you want, the thing is that if you love it, you have no desire to. The only reason it has been picked so clean in this case, is an almost mob mentally ground swell of hate because you didn't get the ending you wanted.

I have no problem with you hating it, just don't treat it as a religion you have to convert others to. I'm not going to preach that you should like it.

And that's fine. I don't go around telling other people they should automatically hate the game, just like I don't expect people to try to impose that it's the greatest game in history.

What I'm stating is that the fanbase is largely ignoring problems, both from a gameplay and story perspective, much moreso this time around because it feels as though they're trying to posthumously vindicate it of any wrongdoing.

It has nothing to do with whether I wanted a certain ending or not. I haven't yet seen one person who has defended the ending using anything other than theories or fanwanking. They certainly can say they enjoyed it as a personal preference, but at the end of the day, it's still a colossal mess from a writing perspective. Introducing new elements, conflicts and solutions at the last possible moment (both within the ending itself and its narrative in the game itself) is not the way you write a story unless you know for sure how it's going to pay off and explain itself.

ME2 had some of these problems, and it was generally ignored because the sum was greater than it's individual parts. People were willing to overlook things like the changed ammo mechanics (which resulted in lots of continuity problems), weak final boss or general irrelevance to the Reaper threat because it was a character-driven experience with lots of alternate content, a good mix between action and RPG, and a good narrative. ME3 took all of those problems, exacerbated it with even more retcons, continuity issues and resolutions almost entirely pulled from left field, and wrapped it up with a capper of an ending that destroyed everything else narratively that came before it.

So, you're right. I don't go around telling people to hate the game. I just ignore people who blindly yell "98% of the game is awesome" because, almost all of the time, they can't adequately explain themselves or prove why they like it beyond personal preference.

I'm not saying there are no problems, either with plot holes or with the ending. I just dont let them spoil the series for me. ME 3 isn't even my favourite game in the series. When I made my comment to you it was more out of concern that the thread was going to go OT with people arguing over each others opinions. That should go in a different thread, this one is for people to say their opinion on whether the game spoiled the series. If it goes off into a slinging match it will never end.

 

[Eternal_Lament]

I told myself afterwards that it wouldn't, but going back through the previous games I just couldn't do it again, knowing that all of it doesn't matter in the end puts a sour note on the whole experience. So I guess in some ways it did ruin the series for me, but at least now I can actually look back and recognize faults in the games rather than just dismiss them.

Still though, I'm both willing and reluctant about another one. Depending on where they go with it they can easily leave behind the bad stuff, in which case I'd be willing to see where it goes next. At the same time I'm unsure at this point if Bioware can pull it off (or if Bioware under EA can pull it off). I'd have to wait to see how Dragon Age 3 turns out before I start looking forward to another Mass Effect, let's put it that way.

 

[Frankster]

Depends on what the game does and where it's located i guess. I'm not opposed to exploring the mass effect universe from a fresh perspective.

And yes, the me3 ending did ruin the me series for me Well the whole of me3 actually, i view it as a meh game that if we didn't already have strong emotional connections to the characters in it, people wouldn't be as kind towards it and realize its not just the last 30 mins of the game that sucked... It was most of the game.

There was nothing wrong with the ending, i don't know why people get so worked up over it.

They get worked up because they like to ***** and moan. They think they are in the "right" and "deserve" an ending they had perceived. When in reality, they don't own the IP. They aren't the developers and they can't control the ending they get, which pisses them off. So instead of doing the logical thing that is, grow up and get used to it, they instead decided to throw the largest hissy fit in gaming and ***** until they got their way.

Thus they made the gaming community as a whole look like they were three years old.

Nay, bioware can do what they want with their IP. And i will modify my purchasing habits accordingly. Its for similar reasons i ain't gonna preorder da3 before being damnn sure o its quality this time whereas before i had a "please take my money bioware" policy. By contrast Obsidian are now benefiting from the "please take my money" policy despite their project eternity not being entirely convincing to me yet.

So your generalization of those who didnt like the ending is worth not even 2 cents ^^ None of what you said applies to me despite being part of that category of ppl you were stereotyping.
Don't confuse those who flipped out because talis face was a stock photo with the rest of us please

 

[Cranky]

Urghh... mixed emotions about it. I loved ME1 and 2 for what they are and I seriously do not know how to feel about the IP in general anymore.

I'd still buy it if the story returned its original pristine condition.

 

[Lovely Mixture]

So many camps to this:

1. The ending ruined it, if the end of the journey is pointless why did the journey even matter?
2. The ending didn't ruin it, if the journey was a good experience the ending shouldn't invalidate those feelings.
3. Mass Effect 3 has problems, not just with the ending.
4. The ending wasn't even bad, it's just blown out of proportion.
5. Indoctrination Theory bitches! If you accept that it's all much easier.
6. Indoctrination theory? That was scrapped, stop trying to justify that the game had awful writing. Indoctrination doesn't even work that way lul.
5. You supported Retake Mass Effect? YOU'RE AN ENTITLED CRYBABY THAT DOESN'T UNDERSTAND ARTISTIC INTEGRITY AND YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO COMPLAIN, YOU ARE EVERYTHING WRONG WITH VIDEOGAMES AND ARTISTIC RIGHTS, I BET YOU WALKED OUT OF CITIZEN KANE.
6. You didn't support Retake Mass Effect? YOU'RE A SOUL-LESS SHEEP WHO GAVE IN THE CORPORATE WHOREISM OF EA AND HATES THE COMMON MAN, YOU ARE EVERYTHING WRONG WITH VIDEOGAMES AND ART, I BET YOU DOWNLOADED ALL THE DLC AND PLAY COD EVERY AFTERNOON!

ME3 didn't ruin the my images of the characters, I still remember quite fondly when first seeing Tali, Garrus, Wrex, Thane, Mordin, and Legion.

ME3 ruined the chance at coherent discussion with two many vitriolic and generalization on either side.

They get worked up because they like to ***** and moan. They think they are in the "right" and "deserve" an ending they had perceived. When in reality, they don't own the IP. They aren't the developers and they can't control the ending they get, which pisses them off. So instead of doing the logical thing that is, grow up and get used to it, they instead decided to throw the largest hissy fit in gaming and ***** until they got their way.

Thus they made the gaming community as a whole look like they were three years old.

Case in point.

 

[CrazyGirl17]

I try to let it not to, I just ignore the ending and move on.

 

[OldNewNewOld]

I like the ending.
Sure, it had it's bad sides, it had some plotholes, but I still loved it. I could overlook some plotholes, so other were filled with my fantasy.

Also, I really liked how even tho you did everything you could, the universe got fucked. Yes, you won, but a huge part of the universe was still destroyed.

Finally a game that tells you "Sometimes, not matter how much you try, no matter how much you want it, it's not gonna happen. You will fail." I'm sick and tired of games telling me I can do anything just if I really want to. No, go to hell. You can't do anything just because you really want it. Life doesn't work that way. And if the ending of a journey is the only thing you care, you don't even deserve that ending.

Captcha: Umbrella corporation
No captcha, this isn't Resident Evil. It's Mass Effect.

 

[Brotha Desmond]

You people still going on about that? The ending was good, stop complaining, find something else to talk about.

 

[PirateRose]

I'm still a fan of parts of it(drell, femShep), but as a whole yeah, ME3 really took a crap on things. I'm one of those people though that it's not over that ending. The whole thing is a miserable mess and as fun as the gameplay is, I just can't stand the story. Too much shock value.

It's even made me extremely hesitant about buying a game day one. There have been one too many disappointing game series for me now. It's too expensive to risk $60 on a new series as well as an established series that the creators might have decided to push their creativity in a new and very wrong direction. Pushing ones creativity isn't wrong itself, it's just people are capable of bad creativity.

So as I've said before: No EA, Steam didn't train me to wait for games to drop in price before purchasing. Bad games did.

Besides, some of the best games I've played were games I bought a long while after release.