Mass Effect 3 Gets An Ending

[tautologico]

How long has Mass Effect been help up as a series that shows amazing story, difficult choices and actual repercussions for those choices?

Then they piss it all away in the last 10 minutes, I think I'm just as annoyed that they did this to the franchise as I am that they did it to the fans.

Mass Effect could've been something really special, but now at it's best, it's a great series will a pretty disappointing ending, at it's worst it's a series killer.

But maybe I'm rambling...

I get the disappointment and how the ending not being so good affects the overall quality of the experience, but I still think Mass Effect is something special as a series, and ME3 in particular. So what I'm saying is that I don't think the ending ruins the whole series. Actually, ME3 has the most difficult choices to make, with more far-reaching consequences than anything on the series before.

It's also the first time a game trilogy tells a single story sticking to a continuity based on the player's character, instead of a general canon continuity that is fixed. I still think that's pretty good.

 

[tehweave]

He's right you know. This is the ending they wanted, it's the ending we got. Deal with it.

I expected Shepherd to die and lo and behold, he did. The relays were destroyed. Alright. What's the problem? I don't see one. It's the inevitable ending that was going to happen. It concluded. I'm actually pretty okay with it. It isn't perfect but it's at least finished. Done. Concluded. Is that the big problem?

 

[Erttheking]

He's right you know. This is the ending they wanted, it's the ending we got. Deal with it.

I expected Shepherd to die and lo and behold, he did. The relays were destroyed. Alright. What's the problem? I don't see one. It's the inevitable ending that was going to happen. It concluded. I'm actually pretty okay with it. It isn't perfect but it's at least finished. Done. Concluded. Is that the big problem?

Funny, I don't recall ever asking for Shepard to die at the end.

 

[Stalydan]

"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.

Oooo snap! I like you

And yeah, I agree. The themes of cycles are present in the game but they are in no way implied that everything will be repeated over and over again. The fact that the story is telling you on multiple occasions "Things can change if they're given a chance" tells that brilliantly. The species that everyone fears is given a second chance because they won't learn from their mistakes otherwise. A race of Synthetic beings finally gets to express its reasons for rebelling against its creators and possibly work towards a better future for the two of them. The species that have for so long been separated from one another, in a time that could possibly tear them apart like it has in the other cycles, has grouped together to protect one another.

None of those bits ever said to me "The fate of the Galaxy is inevitable" but more "We're all responsible for our actions and all choices have consequences, good or bad". That's what Mass Effect has always been about, how our actions shape the worlds around us. Being forced to sit through those last five minutes or so where I was completely taken out of my Shepard and put into somebody else who didn't act them same... it felt wrong. Without any explanation or even the option to say "No", that ending did not feel like the game I had just been playing before.

http://www.gameranx.com/updates/id/5695/article/mass-effect-3-writer-allegedly-slams-controversial-ending/

Here, have a look at this. If it's true, it explains a lot and even breaks the argument of "artistic integrity".

 

[Rocktel]

I agree with Yahtzee's point about the bigger picture, I just don't want to buy anything from BioWare again.

 

[applesandoranges]

edit

 

[Ticonderoga117]

And at what point did, say for example, Yahtzee say that the ending was well-written? I don't remember him saying any such thing. So then what is the "it" to which he is not privy?

True, he did not say it was well written. It is also true that it's a matter of opinion. However, how can someone excuse bad execution and lies? While it is true that some game devs can't quite hold true to everything, it's a bit of a different thing when this little detail concerns ending a series such as this.

And most of them suck. Or come across as whining. Or are poorly supported. Or are just infuriatingly arrogant. The thing is, people who don't like the ending have been so damn vocal about it for so many damn days that it's impossible to not hear their reasons for being upset. That doesn't mean I have to agree with them 100%.

They suck? A matter of opinion. Same goes for whining. Now at the badly supported point, I can see that. However, is this because you simply didn't agree with it or was the post like "Endings suck, bye"? Arrogant kinda goes under matter of opinion depending on what you saw.

I think it makes sense so many people are vocal about this. It's a game that a lot of people have been looking forward too and frankly didn't like what they saw for reasons that have been said elsewhere. Then of course other chime in arguing against? Is it really that big of a deal?

On the last bit there we can both agree. You don't have to agree with me, I don't have to agree with you. Best thing about conversations eh?

Besides, look at the number of people who just post, "Point? Missing it," or something similarly snarky and then fucking off to do whatever it is they do. Am I supposed to take them seriously? Am I supposed to believe that they really have some kind of lucid, intelligent argument if I just opened my mind up to their brattiness and saw the tormented soul within?

True, those who just say "X" without supporting it with "Y" are not helping any. However, I could argue that they might have posted this long explanation elsewhere, and simply feel like copy-pasting into another ME3 thread yet again. Does that always fit? Hell no, but disregarding ALL arguments just because of those isn't helping anyone, on both sides.

 

[Therumancer]

The problem Yahtzee is that your sounding off without understanding the issue. The spirit of Mass Effect is supposed to be upbeat, the point is that these cycles are NOT unchangable. You can avert the Krogan cycle by having the right people in charge (like Wrex and his girl) and even broker peace between the Geth and The Quarians to end that cycle.

The ending of the game does not fit with the theme of Mass Effect at all, invalidating 90% of what your saying.

The rest is simply invalidated by the fact that the ending of Mass Effect was created entirely to make money, as opposed to end the story. EA/Bioware decided it wanted to draw this out into a franchise and created an ending that effectively does as little as possible (since it could all also be in Shepard's mind) to make that as easy as possible. They also set the ending up to be as monetized as possible, I am actually apalled that no reviewers have noticed that to get all the variations on the ending you need to buy DLC to obtain more war assets when they release it, play the multiplayer which is monetized with an "I win" button in the form of buying weapon packs for cast, or invest in their planned apps to have alternative ways of raising galactic readiness.

It's important to note that Bioware also planned this as a triology way back with "Mass Effect 1" and said flat out they had the storyline already written and planned, and were not making this up as they went along. The planned/leaked $3 ending app made it clear that the developers were writing the ending towards the end of the development process, which definatly seems to imply that they canned the original ending given their new plans to further monetize the series. This is before you get into Bioware itself saying that the ending would answer all the questions, and not simply be an A B or C type desician/resolution when that is exactly what they did. Given Bioware's own statements, the leaked interviews saying that they intentionally planned to not give all the answers and were lying, is why there is a complaint against them going to the FTC, and also apparently a civil lawsuit in the works that is already being filed.... for fraud and false advertising, not just because the ending sucked. Bioware very much WAS involved in lying to it's customer base and was caught red handed this time.

 

[Valok]

He's right you know. This is the ending they wanted, it's the ending we got. Deal with it.

I expected Shepherd to die and lo and behold, he did. The relays were destroyed. Alright. What's the problem? I don't see one. It's the inevitable ending that was going to happen. It concluded. I'm actually pretty okay with it. It isn't perfect but it's at least finished. Done. Concluded. Is that the big problem?

You should take a look here.


The sad part is, that's not all, but the vid does show some of the biggest problems with the ending.

 

[Gigatoast]

Well you certainly haven't been looking very hard for explainations, there's one at the top of this page and probably about a hundred others on this site alone.

Or maybe I don't find the explanations to be all that good. It is possible to read an argument and still not buy into it.

There's VOLUMES written about the ending, short ones, long ones, simple ones, exaustive ones, humorous ones, over-zealous ones, and they don't all say the exact same thing. If you are capable of understanding then there's someone out there that you can understand and identify with. If you just don't feel like understanding then you shouldn't try to wheigh in on something that's none of your business.

Also, the majority of the "retake" crowd don't hate Bioware or even the game itself, just the ending. So yes, I'm pretty confidant this can be considered you "not getting it".

Maybe I'm just sick of hearing it. I have no problem with people who just plain didn't like the ending. What I have a problem with is the people who won't shut the fuck up about it and move on with their lives. The people who insist that the ending must be completely redone to appease them (though thankfully those are becoming fewer in number). The people who react to anyone with an opinion other than their own with, "You don't get it. Also you're an asshole."

So your problem is with people talking about it at all? This is just like the brony wars, you can ignore them, if you argue with them about it then you're just keeping the discussion from moving to something else. You're just tired of people being passionate about something? Well tough s**t, you can't just say "I'm not interested in what you're talking about so stop talking about it." you're the one who got yourself involved.

Also, the "retake" crowd hasn't deminished in size, they've actually grown since people have started finishing the game for themselves. BSN isn't exactly slowing down on the issue, and I've seen several 'defectors' who recently beat the game and joined up with the retakers. The community's just become less vocal since getting confirmation Bioware's going to do something. If that something is just more deflective PR bulls**t you can bet your ass this rage is going to continue.

 

[Stalydan]

He's right you know. This is the ending they wanted, it's the ending we got. Deal with it.

I expected Shepherd to die and lo and behold, he did. The relays were destroyed. Alright. What's the problem? I don't see one. It's the inevitable ending that was going to happen. It concluded. I'm actually pretty okay with it. It isn't perfect but it's at least finished. Done. Concluded. Is that the big problem?

How about the problem that everyone who was on Earth at the time, you know the Asari, Quarians, Turians, Krogans, Salarians, all those people, are now stuck there and have no way to get back home? Because that's a big one. What happened afterwards? Why was Joker and the rest of my crew flying away? Where did they land? Who are the old man and young boy at the end talking about "The Shepard"?

You see, so little explanation in a poorly executed ending.

 

[the_pleasure_is_mine]

I get the disappointment and how the ending not being so good affects the overall quality of the experience, but I still think Mass Effect is something special as a series, and ME3 in particular. So what I'm saying is that I don't think the ending ruins the whole series. Actually, ME3 has the most difficult choices to make, with more far-reaching consequences than anything on the series before.

It's also the first time a game trilogy tells a single story sticking to a continuity based on the player's character, instead of a general canon continuity that is fixed. I still think that's pretty good.

It really is special, it's 3 games, 89 hours and 50 minutes of brilliantly constructed story and gameplay that syncs.

Unfortunately the last 3 minutes leave a very bad taste in your mouth.

Which wouldn't be so bad, but as you might see all over the place, there were people, including me, that wanted to restart Mass Effect 1 with a wildly different character then go through all three games to see how everything ends up.

I no longer want to, and, surprisingly, a hell of a lot of other people no longer want to either.

This is what makes the ending viably series destroying, the great thing about 1 and 2 were that once I was done, I wanted more, I wanted to experience other things, and 95% of ME3 does this too, while exploring the internet before finishing it I saw and heard of things happening, wildly different that what happened to me and sometimes I was amazed how much I didn't realise could've happened.

Now, I have no motivation to see those differences, when an ending goes so nuclear that it ruins the past 99% of the experience, something is seriously wrong.

 

[Fr]anc[is]

anc[is]So EA gets to fuck with the writer's (btw, the head writer for ME1 was gone for ME3) story, but the fans don't?

The point is that it's Bioware's (not EA's) story, and not the fans' story. You're allowed to have your opinion of the story, you're even allowed to write fanfiction that changes the ending if you're displeased with it, but he's addressing anyone who feels entitled to a different ending. It's figuratively like reading a book, and then after finishing it crumpling it up and throwing it back at the author, yelling "No! You got it all wrong! Do it again!"

It's the author's story. They are entitled to end it with whatever message they want. Now if you don't feel entitled to a different ending, but you feel like the current one was poorly mishandled, that's an entirely different story.

I am very much aware of what the point that's been made by everyone and their grandmother about ME3 is. MY point is that Bioware isn't just one guy doing his own thing. Remember Tali's recruitment mission? That whole dark energy thing was supposed to go somewhere that makes the larval reaper seem less retarded. But the 'author' in your analogy is gone, EA waltzed in and changed things, put different guys in charge, and then probably butchered THEIR work to sell later as DLC. It's already been tampered with, someone already came in and made changes. And yes, if the book was crap I would throw it back telling them to do it again. They don't have to of course, which everyone who makes that tired point fails to mention. But I'm not just going to pat them on the head and give them a cookie like a condescending grandmother and say good job. We don't want our ending, we just want one that doesn't fucking suck.

 

[Zagzag]

Listen, I have empathy for my fellow gamer for most things. But not this.

This whole ME3 ending thing was blown way way out of proportion. I can understand you are upset and saddened by the ending but that's where my empathy ends.

You can be dissatisfied with a game, you can be pissed all your questions weren't answered, you can be upset with bioware and even boycott future games. But you aren't entitled to tell the developers what to do.

If you don't like how they do business/make games/talk to customers/make videos/listen to music than you are fully within your right to not support them don't buy their products, don't visit their forums and don't hang onto their every word like it's a promise.

but don't buy their game and then complain you don't like it and they need to change it, it's asinine. I have a copy of alone in the dark but you don't see me petitioning Atari to take out the driving sections and replace it with something better.

not to mention the whole 'retake mass effect' movement couldn't be any more disorganized, other than 'we want a new ending' everyone involved seems to have a different idea of what should happen.

can we just move on now?

I love how every time someone speaks against this whole retake ME3 nonsense people just dismiss everything with 'Meh, s/he just doesn't get it'

because obviously the hatred for Mass Effect 3's ending must be unanimous across all gamer culture.

Here is why I have a problem with what you are saying; I was personally disappointed with the ending of ME3, although this is the first time I have expressed that on the internet, so I am not one of these so called whiny fans. (I would like to believe in the Indoctrination Theory, but I'm not sure Bioware can be that subtle.) The vast majority of people who disliked the ending don't actually believe that they control it, and should get to decide what happens, as various people on this site who shall remain nameless keep telling us. We are simply disappointed and are telling the creation of the content that we personally didn't like it. This is an entirely acceptable thing to do in any form of creative medium. The backlash against the ending has been mind blowing, but perhaps this should tell Bioware something.

We are not expressing our entitlement to have Bioware do what we want with the series, we are simply telling them that we didn't enjoy it. If they subsequently choose to alter the ending in some way, then they are doing that to fix what we didn't like. This, again, is entirely reasonable.

tl;dr People are giving Bioware legitimate feedback, what they choose to do with that is their business, and it shouldn't be seen as people thinking they own the content themselves.

 

[boag]

I hope a lot of us consumers learn not to trust bioware again, this whole experience has been souring.

And if the big lesson from the ending is "you dont always get what you want", then I hope people take notice of this lesson and apply it to all related things.

Bioware isnt selling enough games, "well tough you dont always get what you want

Internet Reviewers arent getting enough hits on their pages or videos "well tough you dont get what you want"

I hope people that read this get the not so subtle hints.

 

[Krantos]

Somebody Send this to Movie Bob. This is (more or less) the appropriate way to respond to shit like this. I say more or less, because he make comments like "Idiot fans" and "Cock heads." This being Yahtzee though, I assume that was added for comedic effect since the rest of the article isn't in that vein.

The difference between this and Bob's response is Yahtzee is being perfectly reasonable about this. He doesn't like what people are doing and explains why. He even, almost, convinced me. He's not throwing a fit. He's not attacking people (except, again, at the very end, and that feels intentional). He's just stating his opinion and why.

Someone tell me why Yahtzee is the only "Journalist" being sensible about this. The fuck is the the world coming to?

 

[Taunta]

anc[is]

anc[is]So EA gets to fuck with the writer's (btw, the head writer for ME1 was gone for ME3) story, but the fans don't?

The point is that it's Bioware's (not EA's) story, and not the fans' story. You're allowed to have your opinion of the story, you're even allowed to write fanfiction that changes the ending if you're displeased with it, but he's addressing anyone who feels entitled to a different ending. It's figuratively like reading a book, and then after finishing it crumpling it up and throwing it back at the author, yelling "No! You got it all wrong! Do it again!"

It's the author's story. They are entitled to end it with whatever message they want. Now if you don't feel entitled to a different ending, but you feel like the current one was poorly mishandled, that's an entirely different story.

I am very much aware of what the point that's been made by everyone and their grandmother about ME3 is. MY point is that Bioware isn't just one guy doing his own thing. Remember Tali's recruitment mission? That whole dark energy thing was supposed to go somewhere that makes the larval reaper seem less retarded. But the 'author' in your analogy is gone, EA waltzed in and changed things, put different guys in charge, and then probably butchered THEIR work to sell later as DLC. It's already been tampered with, someone already came in and made changes. And yes, if the book was crap I would throw it back telling them to do it again. They don't have to of course, which everyone who makes that tired point fails to mention. But I'm not just going to pat them on the head and give them a cookie like a condescending grandmother and say good job. We don't want our story, we just want one that doesn't fucking suck.

You just want one that "doesn't fucking suck", presenting one as an objective term.

First of all, whether or not it "fucking sucks" is your opinion. So when you say you just want a story that doesn't suck, you mean that you want one that is tailored to your interests. A story made to appeal to you. And that's not how writing works. You may not like it, but the writers aren't writing to please you.

And yes, there are multiple writers on a team. I'm aware of how these things work. I am referring to them as a conglomerate "artist", assuming that they communicate with each other and work on the same wavelength.

And sure, you'd throw the book back at the artist and tell them to do it again, but you'd still be wrong for doing it. What you fail to grasp is that there is a very large difference between wishing they would change it, and demanding. Critics who give constructive criticism are doing it because it is their job to do so, not because they have some sense of entitlement as fans. Yes, Bioware still has the option of listening to you, but that still doesn't make you look any better for demanding it. Why does only one party require choice?

 

[Blade_125]

"fuck bioware and don't buy from them anymore."

This was the third or so post I saw on here, and several more like sentiments after, and this is why they need to consider their fans.

I get what Yahtzee is saying, and he is saying it better than any other rabid critic I have heard from, but the key issue is I don't want Bioware to stop making games. They make good games. But if people invest 150+ hours into a series (and seriously to the people saying 300+ hours, how the hell are you doing that?) they want to feel it was worth while. I generally enjoy the journey more than the destination, but even so a bad ending can leave a sour taste in your mouth. It makes it hard to go back to that well since last time it tasted horrible.

What I would prefer to see is gaming companies takinga step from movies and get test audiences to view the ending and tweak as needed. I haven't gotten ME3 yet, but I still plan to when the price drops. I haev heard the rest of the game is great. I do hope Bioware learns frmo this and works better at all aspect of the games and gives us a quality product.

 

[the_pleasure_is_mine]

That assumes that you were one of the ones making a decent argument and then moving on with his/her life. At this point, how should I know if you were one of them? I don't know you from Adam.

Here's the thing, if you're one of the people who said, "I didn't like the ending and here's why. It's a shame, but nothing to do now but move on," then the words of people like Yahtzee and Shamus Young don't apply to you. If on the other hand you're not one of those people, then don't assume that your argument is perfect and it's everyone else's fault and that they're too ignorant to understand.

Why should I say 'It's a shame, nothing to do now but move on', someone doesn't have a decent argument unless they accept that what they're arguing for will never change anything, they just accept inevitability?

People don't sit there and spend a good amount of their time writing out a constructed argument that takes everything into consideration, points out flaws, discusses what could've been done better/what was done worst, just to say 'Oh but it doesn't matter, such is life'.

That's completely backwards logic.

Spoiler: This is a summation of your argument.

Have you read the post about the most recent Mass Effect book?

If not, go read it, you can see how passionate the fans are, the amount of plot holes and inconsistencies with the series and fans dedicated their time to list every single one.

And then they were promised that the book would be revised for future editions.

Mass Effects ending was bad.

Many endings out there are bad.

When you have a fan base this dedicated, a series, this good, then you piss it away in the last 10 minutes, damn right you're going to get a backlash, that ending should never have existed, it's an affront to all the time the developers but in and all the time the fans put in.

As you may tell, I had very high hopes for the Mass Effect franchise.

 

[Athinira]

I don't think any of these people writing about the controversy is saying you don't have a right to not like the ending, to complain about it, to never buy Bioware games again, etc. No one is telling you what to think about the game or the ending.

The problem is that some fans feel that Bioware "owes" them a better ending or some such, and try to demand a new ending from them. This is what most journalists are talking against, not the fact of not liking the ending.

...except for that fact that BioWare PROMISED things they things they didn't keep.

There is nothing wrong with people feeling that a company "owes" them something if they sold them a product based on false pretences. If a seller showed up on your doorstep offering to sell you a product, you purchase it and it doesn't live up to the expectations, you are actually legally entitled to either a refund or a new product (unless you in some way are responsible yourself).

It's admittingly a bit harder to translate this to an entertainment product, bnut the principle is the same, and I'd be surprised if it was impossible to win a court case on this if you have actual evidence (advertisements, developer interviews) that they sold you a product under false pretences.