Mass Effect 3 Outrage Causes Unrelated Game to Change its Ending

[psicat]

Love it. And, further proof gamers need to get over themselves.

 

[Muspelheim]

Well played, there! It's more than I expected from Frozen Synapse of all things. It's a fun game, alright, but I didn't even know it -had- an ending.

Of course, I'm afraid this will come back to haunt them. Fans are sensitive creatures.

 

[Draconalis]

"This is the ending to a computer game," the new final cut scene reads beneath a hand-drawn picture of the aforementioned animal duo. "We don't care if you like it ... but at least the pony and dinosaur are happy." As the screen fades to black, the message continues in a small, but stark white font. "We go through a lot of things in life," it reads. "Not all of them are under our control. But that's ok because it's all water under the bridge, right? We can't expect the outcome of our stories to conform to our own perceptions."

"This is not a criticism of Bioware or anything they have said/done," Taylor remarked. "It is an experiment: I wanted to know how this felt. Honestly, it felt like vandalizing my own work, which was interesting."

This reads more like an insult to the ME fan base that are unhappy than a "personal experiment" and that's what annoys me more than anything else. He's bullshitting everyone.

 

[Acier]

-snip-

Ah, sorry for taking it personal, heh.

I was talking mostly about the devs who been talking down gamers for wanting to change the ME3 ending. I don't think a new ending will improve or save ME3 (Don't take me wrong, ME3 itself is a very good game.) I was actually talking about the Bioshock creator and now the guys from frozen synapse. The whole "Devs created this world using their vision, so don't complain if you didn't liked it" thing. Why we can't complain about it, when Star Wars fans have been complaining about what Lucas does to the original trilogy since the remasterization? That's why I said all that.

Ah, makes more sense then, not a lot of people are that sensible though.

"Whoever bought that game failed as a consumer the second they bought the game without doing proper research. The endings were leaked before the release with people talking about bad they were."

Well, you kinda said it there. And it wasn't know if the ending were going to be the ones from the leak, since the leak was months before the game launch. So we didn't knew if the ending really were going to be that way, sou you couldn't judge it.

Sorry, but I never said that, and quoting me just proves that. You thinking I "kind of" said something. Doesn't mean I said it, or even meant it. My only point was, that people brought up that the endings were terrible before launch. If someone just blindly buys a game when there were already complaints, then is surprised when the ending is exactly as others said it was, then they didn't do research and wait for more opinions to come out.

I was about to type a long explanation about my beef with some of the more angry viewpoints concerning this debacle, but it's not specifically aimed at you and this thread is so long no one will read it :'(

 

[Icehearted]

"We go through a lot of things in life. Not all of them are under our control. But that's ok because it's all water under the bridge, right? We can't expect the outcome of our stories to conform to our own perceptions."

"This story arc is coming to an end with this game. That means the endings can be a lot more different. At this point we're taking into account so many decisions that you've made as a player and reflecting a lot of that stuff."

Not even in the same ballpark here, unless they were being ironic or something, in which case it's not very funny.

 

[vxicepickxv]

"We go through a lot of things in life. Not all of them are under our control. But that's ok because it's all water under the bridge, right? We can't expect the outcome of our stories to conform to our own perceptions."

"This story arc is coming to an end with this game. That means the endings can be a lot more different. At this point we're taking into account so many decisions that you've made as a player and reflecting a lot of that stuff."

Not even in the same ballpark here, unless they were being ironic or something, in which case it's not very funny.

They(Mode 7) is well, I don't know what they're doing. I'm not sure if they're doing it to be attention whores, or to defend Bioware, or to troll, or because they want to. I don't think they got it.

As for Mass Effect 3, I'm going to have to go ahead and say that the game stopped making sense right about the time you leave Mars. The story was a little bit odd here and there, but nothing that brought the story that started 5 years, and 150+ game hours ago crashing to a halt until the very end.

One of the endings directly removes any possibility at a future in the ME universe, unless all of the sudden something similar to Mass Relays come in from other Galaxies, pretty much right to every system's doorstep. One of the endings directly removes any possibility at a future in the ME universe, and the last one actually leaves a few options here and there. I wonder if pointing out this information would help them rewrite an ending that actually has a possible future in the ME universe.

 

[MattAn24]

...I still don't care about Mass Effect at all. I'll also leave THIS right here. http://rampantgames.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/bwcliches.png

 

[Robin Stanton]

To all the people who did not like the ending of mass effect 3, do you get upset when you lose at a board game, do you call up the manufacture and tell them to make it so you win?

No!

Its a game, and honestly it was a good game with a good ending, just because its not a fluffy happy ending like something from Disney does not mean it was a bad.

Grow up and stop feeling so entitled, because that is exactly how you are acting, like an entitled child.

 

[leevio]

I did not even bother to read the article for one reason: the source is Kotaku, they have been biased and bashing Bioware fans since the start of this whole Ending fiasco.

Plus Frozen Synapse....eerm you can not vandalize a product which is already vandalism..in my opinion that is.

 

[Folix]

I think this is funny, and more devs should act like this, it's called having fun.

And all the outrage at the ending, two of my mates have completed it now, and neither of them thought it was a bad ending. I'd hate to see the reactions of all these moaning fans if they ever read a George RR Martin book

 

[Strazdas]

well done. There still are people that make bold decisions in the industry.

 

[Steampunk Viking]

Paul Taylor is a genius. This made me laugh my ass off.

Captcha: Know your rights - It's like Captcha has joined the Retake Mass Effect movement xD

 

[Micalas]

I'm not sure how we can make this more obvious of what the problem is:

A sports game that changes types in the final minutes of the play offs, and the team that performed poorly for the season is suddenly the champions.

A classical concert that suddenly ends with a Rap-Off.

A long romantic novel that ends with a psycho killing everybody on the last 2 pages.

A 5 course dinner that ends with the chief serving rotting raw liver for desert.

A long Caribbean cruise that ends with the ship sinking 10 miles from shore, causing you to lose everything you brought on board.

But I think that you don't understand that I don't understand why it has to be changed.

When a classical concert ends with a rap off and you don't like it, you boo/get up and leave, and don't spend your money at the artist's shows anymore.

With that romantic novel, you don't tell the author to rewrite it, you just throw it into a corner and again, vote with your wallet.

And so on and so on.

Like it or not, this is what Bioware decided to do, whether there were financial or artistic reasons behind the decisions. You don't tell people to re-write it or remake it until it suits your tastes.

I think the point he's also trying to make with his analogies is that video games, in this digital age, can be modified with no investment other than man hours. You can patch out digital stupidity while you can't patch out a ship sinking 10 miles from shore.

It's the ease of changing the game that makes this a unique situation similar to the above analogies, yet different enough to warrant a different response. People don't expect authors to change books because they know it's not feasible. The publisher isn't going to print off millions of copies at their expense because paper is expensive. With digital fixes, it's not only feasible but in time, the good will shall pay for itself.

 

[Something Amyss]

Isn't that against what they stand for?

Well, no.

You already covered the notion that not everyone thinks that way. But let's go for the more pertinent issue:

Art and commerce are not mutually exclusive

Film is considered art, paintings are considered art, sculpture is considered art, music is considered art. All are also commercial ventures. Some of the greatest works of art were done on commission. To consumer specification, in a lot of instances.

Why should video games as a genre be forced to be art alone, immune from the hand of the market? Why should this in any way be different from any other medium? I don't think that's your intent, but the end result of treating this game as a dividing point is that video games, unlike other media have to be one or the other.

Art is business and business is art and when you make art for mass consumption, you're lodged somewhere in the middle of the spectrum.

Additionally, when you make promises about your product, that is definitely commerce. That's kind of the big deal here: They promoted the game with lines about broader endings because it's the end of the series. Personal results, not ending A, B, or C. And they delivered an ABC choice.

I can't really recall any situation where this much fuss has been made to alter something, whether it's a movie, a game or maybe even a book?

Books: Sherlock Holmes, the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Were either changed because of fan outcry? Unclear. But the outrage exists.

TV: Dallas, Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Both retconned important issues due to the outcry of fans. Note that these are both successful instances, not just fan outrage. There are probably more, but the fact that it worked--and twice!--demonstrates that this is not unprecedented.

Can't think of any movies or games off the top of my head. Though the last highlander abomination was recut and I think some of the scenes were even refilmed after overseas release due to fan reaction. Maybe you won't count that, and it didn't exactly save things, but it exists.

Perhaps that is why people play such..Uh. Cards.

As I was told when I was like five, "ignorance is no excuse."

Of course, I'm not really a very active person, considering the Escapist is one of the few sources I go to even skim worldly news.

Where this sort of thing has been mentioned ad nauseum, including above examples.

Alter does not mean add onto of course. Changing an event in X is what I'm talking about here. Retconning, if you will. I guess that's what I'm finding silly here. If they decided to expand onto the ending, I'd probably even welcome it with open arms and money.

Also, if you only count retconning and not necessarily the response, Fallout 3's ending is retconned by the DLC. Just saying, even if we're not counting fan outrage, there's a precedent for an ending change.

 

[OniaPL]

I think the point he's also trying to make with his analogies is that video games, in this digital age, can be modified with no investment other than man hours. You can patch out digital stupidity while you can't patch out a ship sinking 10 miles from shore.

It's the ease of changing the game that makes this a unique situation similar to the above analogies, yet different enough to warrant a different response. People don't expect authors to change books because they know it's not feasible. The publisher isn't going to print off millions of copies at their expense because paper is expensive. With digital fixes, it's not only feasible but in time, the good will shall pay for itself.

As I understand it, his and many others' point is that the story should be "patched" because it's possible and because Bioware should do it since the public doesn't like the current ending.

People have the right to be pissed about this whole thing, I don't mind. But don't go telling to the makers of the story that they ruined "your" story.
The reason why I oppose this whole charade is that if it happens, we cross into a dangerous territory and things will go downhill from there.

 

[Micalas]

I think the point he's also trying to make with his analogies is that video games, in this digital age, can be modified with no investment other than man hours. You can patch out digital stupidity while you can't patch out a ship sinking 10 miles from shore.

It's the ease of changing the game that makes this a unique situation similar to the above analogies, yet different enough to warrant a different response. People don't expect authors to change books because they know it's not feasible. The publisher isn't going to print off millions of copies at their expense because paper is expensive. With digital fixes, it's not only feasible but in time, the good will shall pay for itself.

As I understand it, his and many others' point is that the story should be "patched" because it's possible and because Bioware should do it since the public doesn't like the current ending.

People have the right to be pissed about this whole thing, I don't mind. But don't go telling to the makers of the story that they ruined "your" story.
The reason why I oppose this whole charade is that if it happens, we cross into a dangerous territory and things will go downhill from there.

I understand the concern but the thing about BioWare games is that while there is a cohesive story and strong characters it still is "your story." Within reason of course. I will be honest, I haven't played any of the Mass Effect games but I have played BioWare games. From what I understand, the ending was basically a deus ex machina that rendered all of your past choices worthless. In a game made by a company that prides itself on it's moral choice dialogue wheel, that's a pretty big problem. You don't buy Call of Duty to play Cooking Mama mini games and you don't buy an epic BioWare rpg to have everything you've sunk into the game suddenly dissapear like a corrupted save file.

This is all of course based on an outsider's view of what I understand to have happened.

 

[LetalisK]

Also, if you only count retconning and not necessarily the response, Fallout 3's ending is retconned by the DLC. Just saying, even if we're not counting fan outrage, there's a precedent for an ending change.

This. I actually enjoyed Fallout 3's ending and I didn't see a whole lot of hullabaloo over it, but they did change it and made it even better. My only reservation with Bioware changing the ending is they might find a way to fuck it up even more.

 

[Contradiction]

People are reacting to this like self-entitled twits.
Its not like you've hired someone to paint a portrait of you and you've walked over to have a look and found a painting of a stickman patting a giraffe. You've gone into a store looked around decided on a chair, brought it home sat on it and said 'It should have thicker stripes'. Even if this were to happen, one would go back to the store and say they weren't entirely happy with the chair can they please have a refund, not, run into the store and demand that it be reupholstered free of charge so the stripes are larger.

Seriously, its like going to a play then getting up in the third act and saying 'Sir? Sir! You on the stage! There's no way Rory would say that to George! Change it now'. NO, you walk out and tell your friends how shit it was and not to waste their money.

In short get over yourselves; you're entitled to a whinge but not to control their work.

 

[Char-Nobyl]

"This is the ending to a computer game," the new final cut scene reads beneath a hand-drawn picture of the aforementioned animal duo.

Great way to establish yourself in the 'games are art' category: assert that this is just a mere computer game, and thus not worth getting upset over. Appeal to the irrelevance of your medium. Makes your profession out to be so pathetic that nobody will care about it. That'll protect your integrity as artists.

"We don't care if you like it ... but at least the pony and dinosaur are happy."

And look: a great way to endear yourself to customers and your fanbase. Nothing says "We care about your continued support" quite like "we don't care if you like it."

As the screen fades to black, the message continues in a small, but stark white font. "We go through a lot of things in life," it reads. "Not all of them are under our control. But that's ok because it's all water under the bridge, right? We can't expect the outcome of our stories to conform to our own perceptions."

Oh, right. The Macbeth defense. "What's done is done," eh? Unfortunately, Broken Steel proved that this isn't the case in the slightest. So unless you're talking about murder, I think what's done can certainly be undone, or at least redone.

The game then shifts gears, and informs its community that they are both "moist and dolphin-proof."

Yes, this is the new, non-optional, total replacement ending for Frozen Synapse ... at least for about a week. After that, things will supposedly revert to normal. Paul Taylor, co-founder of the game's developer, Mode 7, has already commented on the potentially controversial decision, claiming that the move was mostly a personal experiment.

Jesus tapdancing Christ. With all the talk about "dangerous precedents," I think this is far more caustic than anything that Bioware might end up doing. Developers remotely changing the content of their game to make quasi-political statements?

"This is not a criticism of Bioware or anything they have said/done," Taylor remarked.

Yes it is. It clearly is, and you are the worst kind of liar for saying it isn't: a smug liar.

"It is an experiment: I wanted to know how this felt. Honestly, it felt like vandalizing my own work, which was interesting."

Imagine getting to the end of a great book, only to discover that as you slept, the author broke into your house and ripped the final pages out, replacing them with some snarky-ass commentary on an issue that wasn't even tangentially related to the book you wanted to read.

This is that.

 

[Lancer873]

Okay, now I have to beat Frozen Synapse. Soon. Just for this ending. I'd been playing a few multiplayer matches with friends (I call it "Guns with Friends") but I never got too far into the story. Now... Now I have to. I just need to see the sheer awesomeness of this raptor-cat combo before it goes away.

Anyways... since a few people seem to be getting their panties in a bunch over this, lemme clarify a few things about Frozen Synapse:

One: This game has been out for a while. There really aren't that many people that even play the multiplayer that often anymore, and I doubt there are more than a handfew of people who would be actively playing the single player if not for this. I guarantee there will only be more people playing as a result of this.

Two: This game's story has quite a bit of snarky humor in it, and this ending joke is far from out of place. It's not like Lord of the Rings ending with Frodo turning into a rocket ship and then flying into the eye of Sauron and nuking it anyways. It's obviously not exactly one that makes any sense but it's not a blunt and uber-serious story ending with a whoopie cushion.

Three: It's only for a week people. Jeez, learn to take a joke. Seriously, how many of you have ever actually played Frozen Synapse? It's not a game that sells by its story.

Edit: One last thing, check to see what day it will be in three days. That is all.