Mass Effect 3 Gets An Ending

[Something Amyss]

Yes, Yahtzee, and after they changed Dallas due to fan browbeating, it was a slippery slope to the modern-day chaos we see these days. That dangerous precedent is running wild in television, film, and video games. Everywhere you look, you see cases of this happening.

Fan browbeating rarely works, even if we're not talking an ending retcon. That's why Firefly stayed off the air. That's why Tara from Buffy stayed dead. That's why Star Wars 1-3 still exist. Well, that and they made an arse-load of money.

It's not going to run wild because Bioware does it.

 

[nYuknYuknYuk]

Yahtzee, all the charm and wit of a brick to the nut sack.

I vote you as a replacement for Yahtzee. Can you speak quickly?

Uh, any particular reason you felt the need to say that three times?

I smell voter fraud.

 

[TheProfessor234]

I'm also surprised at this but at the same time, considering how little Yahtzee went over it his video review, I figured he just didn't want to get into the whole debacle.

I suppose Yahtzee's hatred of fans overshadows the butchering of a story, which I indeed can see. Other than that, not much else to say, except I wonder what he's reviewing for tomorrow!

 

[mfeff]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBETU-uOGh8&feature=player_embedded#!

Here we go... pass it along.

 

[OManoghue]

Yeah, I feel like most journalists / critcs are on a completely different wave length then us gamers.
.

This makes me change my tune I guess, as a journalist I totally do not understand the crusade against the game.

 

[Sandytimeman]

Yeah, I feel like most journalists / critcs are on a completely different wave length then us gamers.
.

This makes me change my tune I guess, as a journalist I totally do not understand the crusade against the game.

It sucked, and that's a bad thing that costs 60 bucks + 10 dollars if you want the rest of the game with the prothean bits.

It's kinda like how..two human sucked but unlike two human, people actually cared about the IP meaning..you know it hurts when you see something you care about beaten like a rag doll.

 

[Dr_of_Journalism]

This is all fucking ridiculous. There are more important and pressing matters in the world. Who gives a fuck if the end of a video game series wasn't what you wanted, or what you had an expectation of. If video games are to be considered ART you can't demand an artist change their vision. This isn't the fucking Ford Motor Company manufacturing a product for the masses. Its ART, and therefore arbitrary by definition. If only people got this fucking upset about the state of affairs our world is in, Jesus Christ.

 

[Gigatoast]

At this point I have to point out that you guys really could have picked a better name than "Retake Mass Effect." I hear the complaint that your critics saying it sounds like entitled fanboy bullshit isn't accurate, but I have to wonder what exactly the person who came up with that name thought was going to happen. Calling yourselves "retakers" isn't helping either.

For the record, the name "Retake ME3" is a tongue and cheek reference to the "Take Earth Back" ME3 ad campaign. We're not trying to sound self-righteous, just ironic.

You and I can tell the difference. But do you think EA is going to care enough to tell the difference? They're going to hear an ultimatum, and they're going to call your bluff. Of course, now that the ultimatum has been sent, you're going to need a little finesse and a bit of luck for this to turn out well. Best case scenario, Bioware releases a DLC that adds an addendum to the ending for closure. Worst case... well, I guess given EA's position losing more money has kind of lost its sting as a negative consequence.

If they don't take the movement seriously now, they're likely going to start once they feel the pinch. This is one of the worst PR disasters in gaming history and the damage is going to cost them a lot. Not just in lost sales from disenfranchised fans, but word-of-mouth has completely decimated the game's and studio's reputation. We're afraid if they fail to appease the masses the damage may be irreversible, if they know this, they'll likely try.

To repeat, the people who are being rational adults aren't the ones I'm against. I still have mixed feelings about wanting the ending changed in some way, but maybe I'm just old-fashioned that way.

To let you in on a not-so-secret, I'm debating whether or not to buy anymore games with the EA logo on them. I'd love to support the devs, but EA's corporate culture and the way they treat their people makes me feel dirty when I hand over my cash. I'd love to complete the Dragon Age trilogy when the next game comes out, but I'm starting to wonder if the entertainment will be worth taking part in perpetuating EA's unscrupulous practices.

I generally don't talk about it much because I don't think many people care what my decision will ultimately end up being. I'm not out to make a scene because I wouldn't have anything to gain by doing so.

Not many people do trust EA, Bioware games haven't really been the same since they showed up on the scene. And while I don't like their business practices or how they treat their developers I always tell myself "at least they're not Activision". They at least allow their dev studios to make good (if totally mainstream) games, instead of driving every franchise they own into the ground and firing anyone who makes them money.

Origin still sucks though.

Totally fair, but I hope you can understand why this is happening. A bunch of vocal, whiny fuckwits are doing everything they can to monopolize the conversation, they're making headlines for filing lawsuits and demanding their money back from charities, and when anyone comes along with a complex or nuanced opinion that doesn't agree with theirs they accuse the speaker of "not getting it" while simultaneously refusing to actually define what "it" is.

In other words, someone has to fuck it up for everyone else. You seem like a nice enough guy now that you've dropped the snarkiness, but try to understand where guys like me are coming from. You have these jibbering homunculi that rant and rave and ***** at every opportunity and they're attaching themselves to a movement that, let's face facts, really should have picked a better name. It's pretty easy to see how we'd be getting annoyed at this point and just want the whole mess to go away. I mean no offense to the reasonable people who didn't like the ending, but sweet chocolate Buddha am I tired of seeing this predictable circle jerk in almost every thread, even the ones that aren't about Mass Effect.

My thoughts exactly, this has been a fairly... illuminating experience for me too. Up until now pretty much everyone I've seen who was against the movement was just insulting, obnoxious, and acted like saying the words "artistic integrity" invalidates everyone else's arguments, so I guess we're in the same boat. Fortunately some of us are smart and respectful enough to actually calm down and talk about this instead of just resorting to strawmans and petty insults, that's a damn rare thing on the internet.

Thanks for the talk dude, next time some whiney ponce is invading someone else's thread trying to derail it into a "why ME3's ending should/shouldn't be changed" slapfight, try to remember that they don't speak for the rest of us. And the next time I find myself in a "why ME3's ending should/shouldn't be changed" slapfight, I'll try to remember how annoying it can sound.

 

[Metalrocks]

point missed.
bioware promised us several endings and we dint get it. they promised us that everything we have made in the last 2 games will have an affect at the end of ME3 and we dint get it. it was ignored completely.
instead, they give us an ending that doesnt make sense at all like why the normandy is suddenly out in space, escaping the blast instead being among the other ships fighting the reapers and so much more.

he explains it pretty well why the ending sucks:
http://angryjoeshow.com/2012/03/top-10-reasons-we-hate-mass-effect-3s-ending/

and here an explanation why the ending is like this:
http://angryjoeshow.com/2012/03/indoctrination-theory-proof-of-me3-ending-dlc/

i think that ?A made bioware to make this crappy ending, that we are forced to buy DLCs. its nothing but a bad marketing scheme.
it shoulndt matter if its affecting your opinion, but getting facts is not hard. just look at the official ME3 forum. you will find more then enough infos about the ending.

 

[Seanfall]

Yeah, I feel like most journalists / critcs are on a completely different wave length then us gamers.

That being said I don't think bioware should have to remake the ending I just don't want to buy anything they sell ever again. Almost 300+ hours of game play to give me some depressing ass story where everyone fucking dies. Could have saved myself 80 bucks and 35 hours if I had just let shepard die in ME2...

TL;DR fuck bioware and don't buy from them anymore.

Yeah I agree with the Journalists/critcs thing. It's like their so obessed with 'art' that they can't even see why we're upset. It's...just...disheartening and it shows that many of us won't/can't trust anything they say because of how far removed they are.

TL;DR: Journalists are dicks.

 

[zinho73]

I'm surprised that Yahtzee is both missing the point and isn't up in arms over the ending. For someone that has emphasized in the past how games should have good writing and that BioWare was one of the few developers that understood this, he really seems to not get it.

I think Yahtzee is just playing safe and not adding wood to the fire. Also, the appeal to bash the ending is mostly gone, since it has been thoroughly destroyed already.

And of course, he is also missing the point.
- not just about artistic integrity, also about quality and false advertising;
- Bioware said the fans are co-creators, so they opened the door.
- Media changes all the time to conform to audiences(movies pre-screening);
- Videogames endings have already been changed (Fallout 3)
- Bioware have already made changes in its work because of fan demands (Deception);
- Videogames are interactive media. what´s the problem to add one more option in a game full of options already?
- The real problem with artistic integrity with games is on the publisher side.
-Nobody is holding Bioware at gunpoint. Of course they are going to do whatever they want to. So Yahtzee and movie bob can use all the hyperbole they want but when consumers go to the same route to apply pressure when they feel cheated it is "dangerous".
- And bla, bla, bla, bla - Go read Forbes coverage, they cover this issue way more in-depth.

Either the gaming press is burnt with fanboys and disregard everything they do by default, failing to see that there's much more to go around here and that the ME3 endings are really a unique thing, or they are just not very good journalists.

I understand people wanting to stress the point about artistic integrity, but it is just silly.

The message here is:
- Do not promise one thing and deliver another;
- Do not change your lead designer in the middle of a series;
- Do not focus on DLC first and on the actual game second;
- Do not rush a game because the end of your fiscal year is coming - it will show.
- Do not underestimate gamers as consumers;
- Please, take care of your franchise or people will abandon it and loose the faith on your work.
- We still have some faith on you. Can you repair the damage you've done or I will have to take my business elsewhere?

And not:

- If we do not like your ending we will demand you to change it.

If I was the artist I would not feel any pressure to change my thing because of that last reason, because it is ridiculous - but I would seriously consider it because of the other reasons above.

 

[zinho73]

I won't be playing ME3. The Mass Effect series has always felt bland to me. And now, knowing how ti all ends, I have no reason to continue.

I think what is most disappointing though is that the ending isn't even original. Maybe some of you have heard of FreeSpace? In the last mission you and a squad of bombers go on a suicide mission and fight through hyperspace to stop the massive death-ship from reaching Earth and culminating in the destruction of said death-ship AND the jump nodes that link back to Earth. It ends and you're more of less certain the explosion kills everyone and the epilogue states how Earth is now unreachable - which strands both humans and Vasudans (and probably a few Shivans too) there with no way to return back home.

So, yeah. Too bad about that 'epic' ending.

At least it states something.

 

[Gigatoast]

Obligatory snarky response:

Yup, Mass Effect 3 certainly got an ending, the same way JFK got a retirement plan.

 

[LetalisK]

Yahtzee and all the other game critics, journalists, and personalities are 50% right. The artist is allowed to create whatever ending he wants. On the other side of that coin, however, consumers have every right to point out that the ending is a rushed piece of shit that looks like the artists got to the end of their creation, ran out of time or money, and just tacked on "different colored rocks fall, everyone dies". You know, kinda like what game critics, journalists, and personalities do for a fucking living!

The other way that argument is complete bullshit is it assumes that simply bitching and moaning about something will make it get changed against the will of the artist and violate "artistic integrity". Bullshit. Bioware will only change the ending if they fucking want to. Wanting to appease fans or make an extra buck can provide motivation, but it's still ultimately their choice and no one can force them to do it. "Violating artistic integrity" is the biggest crock of shit I've seen in a long time. This is hardly Soviet Russia.

 

[Metalrocks]

they promised us that everything we have made in the last 2 games will have an affect at the end of ME3 and we dint get it. it was ignored completely.

It didn't have no effect; it all affected your EMS, distilling all your choices into a number that makes programming the ending either.

im not talking about the EMS. i mean the last 10 min of the game. i should have stated it more clearly.
high EMS or not, the endings are still the same.

 

[zinho73]

I don't respect this whole "you must respect the author's story the way he/she intended it to be." BS.
If a guy at E.A. had said "this ending won't do, write a new one." then that would have happened.
Where is your "respect the artist" then ?

I think that journalists do not want that the fans act like another element of pressure behaving like a suit.

However, I do think that this movement is exactly the opposite of that. What people are defending is that things like that should not be rushed at all, because if they lack the quality you promised you are going to have to answer to that.

 

[Frotality]

at this point i just have to believe that journalists are actively avoiding the issue to fulfill some ulterior motive.

for the 1,232,353,253,436,543 time, it is not about having a happy ending. some creepy talimancers might be clamoring for the sunshine and lolipops ending they had wet dreams about, but for most people that is not even close to being the issue. the issue is that the game is effectively sold on false pretenses. the issue is that there is absolutely no closure. the issue is that it MAKES NO SENSE.

you might not care for choice in games mr croshaw, but bioware cared enough to dwarf good old peter monyleux with the promises of meaningful choice they made, and most certainly dwarfed him in how they failed to deliver. you might have never been invested in it, but you cant ignore that building and developing characters for three games and then leaving their collective fates completely unresolved is bad storytelling. and you think this ending makes sense? i get what you are saying, that a bleak ending is fitting, but THIS ending most certainly is not. there was no dramatic revelation to the futility of your efforts, the game just hit a roadblock and stole deus ex's ending. it should be glaringly obvious that the futility of shepard's struggle is a result of writer's failing to come up with a resolution rather than artistic intention.

this whole "artistic integrity" BS just makes me laugh at how pretentious humans can be, to be so narrow-minded as to fail to recognize the difference between the tragedy of an intentionally sad ending and the tragedy of a poorly-written, unsatisfactory ending. bioware changing the ending isnt setting any god damn precedent because no series has ever gotten people so invested that would even suggest changing it. while i do think changing the ending is hardly a solution, this "art" shield is getting ridiculous. bioware lost that excuse when they farted out DA2. we already know that the ending we got was changed from the original by casey hudson and mac walters alone, so it actually ISNT the ending bioware intended, its the ending 2 pompous assholes who thought they were above peer review intended.

maybe you should reconsider that "ignore everyone else's thoughts" philosophy of yours: it tends to make you look like an ignorant ponce when you comment on issues you know very little about.

 

[Seanfall]

Obligatory snarky response:

Yup, Mass Effect 3 certainly got an ending, the same way JFK got a retirement plan.

Ba dum dum Pish!

I felt that was needed there.