Mass Effect 3 Gets An Ending

Sandytimeman

Brain Freeze...yay!
Jan 14, 2011
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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.
 

Seventh Actuality

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Apr 23, 2010
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This is kind of what happens when "games journalists" get their takes on stories from eachother instead of looking straight at the subject. The best coverage of this has actually been in Forbes, of all places.

I'm not going into all the details of why ME3's ending is objectively atrocious storytelling, because there are (sane, eloquent) people who have already done so extensively. That said...

So was the objection that audiences wanted things to finish with multiple different outcomes?
Why the fuck would you think that?

The ending was terrible because it came right the fuck out of nowhere, had literally nothing to do with anything that had previously happened in this game or the first two and did not work on any level. It wasn't bad because it was too limited or bittersweet or artsy or complex or erudite or sad. It was just fucking bad, stupid, balls-out incompetent writing that would not be tolerated or defended in any other medium.

I can understand being worried about setting a precedent for games changing due to fan demand, because whatever people are saying gamers frequently are entitled shits, but it is completely unbelievable that we're at that point to begin with. This is a fuck up so unique, so thorough and so utterly stupid that I doubt it will ever be repeated. There are no comparable instances of people known for making stories suddenly, not between installments, but a minute and a half before the end, forgetting every single thing about storytelling.

So it might sound silly to change an ending based on fan demand, but...what the hell else is going to happen when "artists" fail at their jobs so completely after leading people, not just in the marketing, but in 99% of the actual game, to expect better?
 

PsychedelicDiamond

Wild at Heart and weird on top
Legacy
Jan 30, 2011
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You know, i agree with you: Every writer should have the right to end a work of fiction the way he wants to. But i really don't think that BioWare ended ME3 like that because it thought it was a decent ending to the series but because it wants to sell DLCs that way. I mean, just look at the fanbase: A lot of people who said that they hate BioWare for releasing a DLC right at the games release are now practically begging the company to offer them a different ending. It's would be funny if... well, to be honest, it _is_ pretty funny.
 

tautologico

e^(i * pi) + 1 = 0
Apr 5, 2010
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I think I'm much more into Mass Effect than Yahtzee, but I still don't think the ending is a heinous crime against humanity.

The general idea of the ending makes sense in the setting, although it was badly executed. It's another game/trilogy with a kinda-bad, rushed ending, not the end of the world.
 

soren7550

Overly Proud New Yorker
Dec 18, 2008
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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.
 

Ticonderoga117

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Nov 9, 2009
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"But I doubt the fanbase of Mass Effect were dismayed because they wanted an appropriate ending to the story. Rather, they wanted some kind of appropriate closure for the many-storied and I would argue unnecessarily lengthy process up to this point."

We wanted both, we got neither. We instead got some mystical and nonsensical ending. Not in themes, but in execution. The themes are easy to get.
 

WanderingFool

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Apr 9, 2009
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PsychedelicDiamond said:
You know, i agree with you: Every writer should have the right to end a work of fiction the way he wants to. But i really don't think that BioWare ended ME3 like that because it thought it was a decent ending to the series but because it wants to sell DLCs that way. I mean, just look at the fanbase: A lot of people who said that they hate BioWare for releasing a DLC right at the games release are now practically begging the company to offer them a different ending. It's would be funny if... well, to be honest, it _is_ pretty funny.
While I support the choice of the artist, It doesnt take a genius to see that the ending was off. Im still thinking it was EA's fault.
 

Loop Stricken

Covered in bees!
Jun 17, 2009
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an epilogue appendix style thing just to square away the subplots.
Which is exactly what was missing.

I mean, let's put aside the fact that we were told there'd be multiple endings up until about a month before release; this one thing would've made the current endings slightly more bearable.
 

BlueJoneleth

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Feb 8, 2011
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MOGWORLD SPOILERS


This is very ironic coming from someone who wrote a book where the MC feels that the ending is not right and it gets remade 5 times until the MC is happy. :p



END SPOILERS
 

Little Duck

Diving Space Muffin
Oct 22, 2009
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Mass effect 3's ending is architecture. After an architect's initial job is done he no longer yields power over the building. Any changes to it are at the whim of the owners and though he may have had a fantastic idea, if they want it done different it will be done different. The users are unhappy in this situation, but the designers are in a situation where they can change it as they see fit. It's not nice no, but I support it regardless. If my fire exits were designed with a 3 foot jump to the fire doors, I would need to redesign the building or have very few people use it again.
 

Mausenheimmer

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Feb 11, 2008
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"Curing the Krogan Genophage implies that the Krogan Rebellions would start again"

No, they wouldn't because Wrex and Eve survived on my playthrough and they were determined to guide the krogan along a different path. Similarly, the geth and quarians started to get along and help each other, undermining the point that synthetics will inevitably fight organics.

But I guess paying attention to differences between playthroughs would require you to spend more than half a week thinking about it. And that requires way more effort than I've come to expect from you.
 

SonOfVoorhees

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Aug 3, 2011
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None of your choices mattered in the ME series. The ones you made in ME1 just got you an email in ME2. An you would have to be rushing the ME2 game to kill your team anyway. Although what team mate survived the mission didnt even matter to ME3. Even saving/killing the rachni queen in ME1 didnt matter cos there is still one in ME3 regardless. So stop bitching people. Its not the amazing game you thought it was. I completed ME1 and ME2 5 times each and ME3 twice only because not one choice you make matters in all three games matter. Im not talking about the ending, just in general.
 

tautologico

e^(i * pi) + 1 = 0
Apr 5, 2010
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TsunamiWombat said:
Point. Missing it. Thanks for not understanding, Yahtzee.

Holding the Line.
soren7550 said:
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.
You guys are sure it's Yahtzee (and MovieBob, and Devin Faraci, and Ben Kuchera from PA Report and every other journalist that has said similar things recently) that's missing the point, and not yourselves?

Saying that games should have good writing doesn't mean we should pressure a company to change a game's ending that is perceived as bad. Even excellent writers do write bad books sometimes. But there's a certain level of respect for what the author has done, even if it's bad, that no one starts demanding they change something. Demanding changes is not respecting the writing, good or bad.
 

JDLY

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Jun 21, 2008
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Am I the only person who finished it without "everyone dying"?

I mean, yeah a lot of people died; nameless people of all species if that's what you mean. But it seems like for everyone, all of their teammates died as well, when all of mine lived.
 

Dastardly

Imaginary Friend
Apr 19, 2010
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Yahtzee Croshaw said:
Mass Effect Gets An Ending

Yahtzee takes on the Mass Effect 3 ending hubbub.

Read Full Article
I think you've done a lot more to think about "What Kind of Story is Mass Effect" than the ending demonstrates, and that's the issue. It also unfortunately muddles things a bit.

On the one hand, I completely agree that an author (or team thereof) should get to decide how the story ends. The audience must then accept that ending as "real" and make of it what they will. It's important to giving a story consequence -- and consequences aren't consequences if you can get out of the ones you don't like.

On the other hand, this ending shows signs of being poorly handled. It is inconsistent with itself, and thus confuses the fans. Plenty want to accept it... but they're not sure how, because it's not clear what the ending did. And there's the question of choices mattering or not... to which I'd have to say you're right -- you can't craft an ending for every version of Shepard out there -- except that this ending doesn't really seem to follow any version of Shepard we've been shown.

If JK Rowling had decided to kill Harry Potter, there would have been angry people... but they'd just have to get over it. That's the artist making an artistic decision, and it is paramount that decisions like that stand.

If, however, JK Rowling had decided to suddenly have Tom Bombadil show up and smite Lord Voldemort at the end, and that was it? I think the fans would be justified in believing that something had gone wrong with the artistic process, and that this ending isn't even what the artists themselves would have preferred.

For better or worse, the content of the ending must stand. I hope it does. The delivery of the ending, though, is what needs a bit more finesse, and I think there's plenty of room for that while maintaining artistic integrity.
 

SonOfVoorhees

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Aug 3, 2011
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Sandytimeman said:
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.
Freedom has a price. It was both disappointing and awesome. Would have hated a "Wow we beat the reapers and everyone is happy" ending. I guess they didnt want a generic Paragon/Renegade ending. But seems everyone did. I sold my copy and have zero interest in any new ending.
 

JDLY

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Jun 21, 2008
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Mausenheimmer said:
"Curing the Krogan Genophage implies that the Krogan Rebellions would start again"

No, they wouldn't because Wrex and Eve survived on my playthrough and they were determined to guide the krogan along a different path. Similarly, the geth and quarians started to get along and help each other, undermining the point that synthetics will inevitably fight organics.

But I guess paying attention to differences between playthroughs would require you to spend more than half a week thinking about it. And that requires way more effort than I've come to expect from you.
Perhaps in his playthrough Wrex, or Eve, or both of them had died, so the Rebellions would start again. And perhaps he didn't manage to get peace between the Quarians and Geth.

Just a thought.
 

Smurf McSmurfington

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Jun 24, 2010
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While I more or less disagree with the ending of ME3, I agree with you - I can live with the ending and I don't want them to change it, but I certainly do want an epilogue, which is what was missing from ME3 for whatever reason. I mean you can't do a whole sodding trilogy and not give any kind of closure at all. If the epilogue says that everyone died and everythings fucked and everything sucks(though I went with Synthesis which shouldn't really bring that kind of result, atleast not in the long run, but my own choice on the matter is hardly the point here), I'd be fine with that, provided they describe how exactly said things happen, what specifically happens to the characters I know, et cetera, just as long as I get closure. That's where BioWare failed, and that's the only thing I think they absolutely should reconsider (I honestly see no reason why they didn't include some sort of an epilogue in ME3, it just makes no sense whatsoever).

In the end, ME3 was brilliantly composed and executed, save for the end where they just failed at the execution part(but not the composition, while I do disagree with it, it is their own, they just could've executed it sooo much better).
Dastardly said:
On the one hand, I completely agree that an author (or team thereof) should get to decide how the story ends. The audience must then accept that ending as "real" and make of it what they will. It's important to giving a story consequence -- and consequences aren't consequences if you can get out of the ones you don't like.

On the other hand, this ending shows signs of being poorly handled. It is inconsistent with itself, and thus confuses the fans. Plenty want to accept it... but they're not sure how, because it's not clear what the ending did. And there's the question of choices mattering or not... to which I'd have to say you're right -- you can't craft an ending for every version of Shepard out there -- except that this ending doesn't really seem to follow any version of Shepard we've been shown.

If JK Rowling had decided to kill Harry Potter, there would have been angry people... but they'd just have to get over it. That's the artist making an artistic decision, and it is paramount that decisions like that stand.

If, however, JK Rowling had decided to suddenly have Tom Bombadil show up and smite Lord Voldemort at the end, and that was it? I think the fans would be justified in believing that something had gone wrong with the artistic process, and that this ending isn't even what the artists themselves would have preferred.

For better or worse, the content of the ending must stand. I hope it does. The delivery of the ending, though, is what needs a bit more finesse, and I think there's plenty of room for that while maintaining artistic integrity.
Also, this.