Mass Effect 3 Outrage Causes Unrelated Game to Change its Ending

[Ganath]

They made it. If I saw a painting I didn't like, I wouldn't start drawing on it to make it better now would I?

Of course, fans aren't drawing on a painting. They're asking the artist to change it, something customers have been doing for centuries. This idea that it's specific to Gamers, specific to mass effect, or specifically entitled is pretty ridiculous. It's odd to see people both play the special snowflake card (Mass effect shouldn't be changed, though this is not unprecedented in other media) AND the entitlement card (gamers are entitled for asking the same thing that other media has done) at the same time. The "entitlement" argument is a novel concept.

Comparing it to actually changing the art in question yourself is also pretty weak.

That was a bit of a hasty write up admitingly. No, they're not drawing on a picture, neither is this about a single person, but rather a horde of angry gamers. It still strikes me as odd when I try to picture all these people who've been defending games as art (I realize all those angry gamers don't feel this way) try to have this ending changed. Isn't that against what they stand for?

I personally wouldn't be bothered if they changed the ending. Colour me weird, but what would bother me is if they added a fairy tale ending. The ending I'm sure the more derpy part of those who want it changed would like. That ending would be worse than what we have. Plenty of these gamers raise very valid points though. More closure would've been nice for example.

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? Perhaps that is why people play such..Uh. Cards. 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. I'm such a basement dweller.

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.

 

[woodlandwoods]

Those idiots. Well, consider Mode 7 on my blacklist of game developers. They couldn't pay me to play their games.

 

[ResonanceSD]

hahahahaha, this is pretty crafty. XD

well played, Frozen Synapse guys!

I had the exact same reaction, nice stuff guys! The response to the me3 has been hilarious. People gve money to ea expecting to be treated like consumers?

 

[Darkcerb]

That's hilarious!

We're supposed to be laughing at how blatantly they missed the point right?

And we may be fans but we're also consumers. And you can talk about artistic integrity until the cows come home but you have to:

A: Make something that's artistic to begin with, as much as I don't mind endingtron 9000's as long as they include your actions leading up to it. That's not very artistic, ME3's especially for the aforementioned lack of actions on the players part mattering it's pretty much the opposite of a well told game narrative.

B: Said artists need basic freedom of speech to express there own opinions on the mess we got, which as we all know they're opinions need to get the thumbs up from management.

 

[poiuppx]

When I said a new Mass Effect 3, I perhaps wasn't getting across what I intended to. Again, going back to Broken Steel, with the exception of being able to convince your immune-to-radiation companions to do it for you, the end of the game did not change... the game just CONTINUED past the point where you fell over from radiation exposure. So where's the break point for that here? How do you Broken Steel ME3, where do you start from? It can't be from the ending-ending, since from what I've seen, that mainly involves everything being exploded and/or dead. So at what point does one declare the original game non-canon and start anew?

I would say that's Bioware's problem.

Bethesda found their way out quite elegantly because the problems were not that big to begin with. Bioware dig themselves into a huge hole but the fact remains that it has been done before.

I think that's really underselling the problem, though. Here you have guys who have let you down once already, and you're expecting them to tackle a rather unique problem. And yes, Broken Steel is in the same DIRECTION, but it's clearly not the same. No one is asking them to go 'lol Shepard lives here's more missions'. They want a redo, a full revoking of the ending and something 'better' in its place. They want what exists currently to be undone. That is NOT the same as Broken Steel, where the only real issue was you dying and your story being over. That's painfully easy to fix. This doesn't strike me as being in the same wheelhouse accordingly.

When you say it's Bioware's problem, that honestly concerns me. No, it's not just Bioware's problem, because Bioware aren't the ones demanding a redo. How exactly can Bioware put forward something new, something expanded or different or completely oppossed to the ending they provided, without feedback on what that ending needs to be to satisfy the upset fans? If they listen enough to change it, then they also need the feedback that clearly says what the players would be satisfied by. Otherwise, odds are we'll be right back here again, complaining about how in the new ending Shepard becomes a Grey Warden and teams up with the Reapers to defeat the Sith, or some other desperate attempt at pandering to an irate fanbase.

tl; dr: if you want them to fix this, then you need to ask yourself what actually WOULD fix it, WHERE that fix should start from, and communicate that reasonably. Otherwise, don't be shocked if their Broken Steel stays broken.

 

[Mikeyfell]

I just thought of something that would put a stop to all this Mass Effect ending controversy.

They could release a patch that after the big ending event that everyone hated (No spoilers)
the screen just changed to Comic Book Guy from The Simpsons saying: "Worst ending ever." then the credits roll in the Simpsons font with that music in the back ground.

That would be awesome.

 

[Sarge034]

notice how you people don't care for their defenses of the game's ending? they don't care for your nerd rage either

Which "they" are you referring to? If you are referring to Frozen Synapsis then I would like to point out that they intentionally screwed up the ending of their game with the intent of releasing the real ending for free later on. If you are referring to Bioware then... Well we really don't know what Bioware did. They could have intentionally messed up the ending at the behest of EA to ensure high sales of the "new ending" DLC or they simply could have had a "pants on head retarded" moment.

However, if you were talking about Bioware I have a question for you.

If Bioware does not care about our "nerd rage" (way to ostracize a very large group of people by the way) do they care about remaining a profitable company? If they do not handle this right they might get hit with a FTC fine for false advertising, loose vast amounts of brand loyalty, and even completely loose paying customers.

I bet that if Bioware/EA does not care about our "rage" that they sure care about our wallets.

Spoiler: It is the difference between this....

Spoiler: and this...

 

[KrabbiPatty]

@ Poiuppx

Actually there is a thread on Bioware's own forums about, precisely, what people would like to see in the ending. It's quite exact and extensive. But I for one think that, and mind you I don't speak for everyone, but I think what people really want is a chance to tell the Star Child "no".

In fact that is basically what the forum pole said: that the primary gripe people had was with the insidious--and insipid--finality and absolute tone the whole thing is presented in. After all this time and all these years and all the choices we made, some magical "thing" appears from nowhere and tells us what is and isn't so based on...what? Whose authority?

That is why this whole Frozen Synapse "protest" they're editing into their game is retarded, because it misses the point.

If they really wanted to accurately grasp the problem they'd have the pony sit you down and explained how Bronies and Brony-Haters will always destroy one another so Lauren Faust comes through the galaxy every 50,000 years and creates breakout animated series to destroy both sides for some impenetrably convoluted reason...because that basically is what happened in Mass Effect, only this would at least be adorable.

 

[Aprilgold]

I want to say that they are jumping in front of a oncoming train to save their imaginary friend but thats really what it is, their defending nothing nor teaching their audience anything.

Simply put, Mode 7, your ending made more sense then Mass Effect 3s, so by default people will care less about whatever happens since you at least made it make sense.

 

[James Raynor]

What a bunch of immature jerkoffs. My god, they don't even understand what it is about, but by golly will they shove their ignorance and immaturity in everyone's faces.

 

[ezaviel]

Hah, nice. Well played Mode 7. Well played.

 

[malestrithe]

For the love of Saint Peter.

Let me see if I covered all of the things that I've seen.

Don't like how the game ends: Don't buy anymore from the company. Don't demand the makers to remake the game to your liking. It does not matter if they still make millions from the product because you are no longer supporting it.

It's about getting your money's worth. What about all those people that were satisfied with the ending? You know all of us whose opinions you are trying to quash? Are you so selfish that you are going to force everyone else to see an ending they may not like because you did notget your money's worth?

Bioware needs to answer to me because I paid for it. This was not a kickstarter project. You did not commissioned the game at all. You did not contribute one cent to the game's production. You bought the end product and that is it. Bioware was only answerable to EA because EA paid for the game and not you.

Sherlock Holmes came back from the dead because Sir Arthur Conan Doyle changed his mind on his own terms. It was not because a ton of angry fans talked his ear off for 4 years.

This whole Mass Effect 3 ending fiasco makes me think that Lucas made the right move when he told everyone, "This is how I always wanted Star Wars to be. Deal with it." He did not listen to any of the millions of whiny little Star Wars fans who still cling to this 15 year old hurt and act like it's the defining moment in their lives. He ignored all complaints about Han firing first, about Mannequin Skywalker, Jar Jar, CGI Yoda, and every other little nitpick that Star Wars fans complained about. When he changed the product he did it on his own terms and not because of some angry, juvenile, piss ants told him to.

 

[zinho73]

When I said a new Mass Effect 3, I perhaps wasn't getting across what I intended to. Again, going back to Broken Steel, with the exception of being able to convince your immune-to-radiation companions to do it for you, the end of the game did not change... the game just CONTINUED past the point where you fell over from radiation exposure. So where's the break point for that here? How do you Broken Steel ME3, where do you start from? It can't be from the ending-ending, since from what I've seen, that mainly involves everything being exploded and/or dead. So at what point does one declare the original game non-canon and start anew?

I would say that's Bioware's problem.

Bethesda found their way out quite elegantly because the problems were not that big to begin with. Bioware dig themselves into a huge hole but the fact remains that it has been done before.

I think that's really underselling the problem, though. Here you have guys who have let you down once already, and you're expecting them to tackle a rather unique problem. And yes, Broken Steel is in the same DIRECTION, but it's clearly not the same. No one is asking them to go 'lol Shepard lives here's more missions'. They want a redo, a full revoking of the ending and something 'better' in its place. They want what exists currently to be undone. That is NOT the same as Broken Steel, where the only real issue was you dying and your story being over. That's painfully easy to fix. This doesn't strike me as being in the same wheelhouse accordingly.

When you say it's Bioware's problem, that honestly concerns me. No, it's not just Bioware's problem, because Bioware aren't the ones demanding a redo. How exactly can Bioware put forward something new, something expanded or different or completely oppossed to the ending they provided, without feedback on what that ending needs to be to satisfy the upset fans? If they listen enough to change it, then they also need the feedback that clearly says what the players would be satisfied by. Otherwise, odds are we'll be right back here again, complaining about how in the new ending Shepard becomes a Grey Warden and teams up with the Reapers to defeat the Sith, or some other desperate attempt at pandering to an irate fanbase.

tl; dr: if you want them to fix this, then you need to ask yourself what actually WOULD fix it, WHERE that fix should start from, and communicate that reasonably. Otherwise, don't be shocked if their Broken Steel stays broken.

I really think it is all in the hands of Bioware. They simply need to do what they said they would do. It is not about a happy ending or a completely opposed ending. Its about maintaining their integrity themselves and deliver on the promises made.

How they will do it, is really their problem. Because this is not really about creative control of the franchise, this is an erroneous assumption. This is about false advertising and abusing their credit with the fans.

There is already more than enough information on the internet about why they failed their fans (google Casey Hudson's promises). Why some people still think that this is about a happy ending or an specific type of ending is beyond me.

They can do whatever they want: kill shepard, kill the whole galaxy, whatever. If it makes sense, rewards your decisions, give some closure and have less glaring plot holes, people will be satisfied and this whole thing will die. Yes, some will be more pleased than others and some will still complain, but there won't be any fuel left to add to the fire.

 

[Deathninja19]

Huh so remind me to never buy anything from this comapany ever again.

 

[Deathninja19]

Seriously? Damn, game developers are such whiny little bitches, aren't they. "Uhhh, you're making me compromise my artistic integrity, uhhh", "it's high-concept! you just don't understand me! leave me alone mum!", "hurr durr, I'm gonna putta trollface in my game to try and generate sales because nobody knows who the fuck I am".

Stop acting like rape victims, you bunch of ninnies; Fallout 3 changed their ending through DLC, and was a drastically better game for it, I didn't see Bethesda mourning their artistic sensibilities.

And for fuck's sake, game journalists; you are not theatre critics, so stop writing like them, moaning on about the ungrateful and uncultured masses. ME3 is not the Mona Lisa, it's barely the 80's movie version of The Flash, get a grip.

Ah man I wish I could play a game version of the Flash.

But you are right, the thing is about the whole games are art argument is that they blanket the whole medium as being art but just because something has the potential to be art doesn't make it so. Just like not all books are art not all games are art and critics need to realise that, I honestly think they are scared of this movement because it delegitimizes them as critics. Well for one they are not critics, anyone with writting skills and knowledge of gaming can be a games journalist and aside from that gaming is still a young medium and there is no real way yet to properly critique a game, do we judge it as a product, how it plays or what the intentions of the developers are?

There is no real message to Mass Effect series not does it have different interpretations it is a fun ride but it is not art.

 

[Sentox6]

There is no divine requirement that they shift a story they have spent over five years creating

Leaving aside the sentiments of your post as a whole, I couldn't help but feel a little amused at this line. It lends the ending narrative such a... gravitas, I guess, by implicitly borrowing from the credibility of all the writing that came before it.

In reality, there's a decent story they spent five years developing, and then a butchered mess tacked on to the end.

Bioware needs to answer to me because I paid for it. This was not a kickstarter project. You did not commissioned the game at all. You did not contribute one cent to the game's production. You bought the end product and that is it. Bioware was only answerable to EA because EA paid for the game and not you.

You must be the sort of consumer that corporate sales analysts have wet dreams about. Who actually stands up to defend and justify false marketing? The mind boggles.

Sherlock Holmes came back from the dead because Sir Arthur Conan Doyle changed his mind on his own terms. It was not because a ton of angry fans talked his ear off for 4 years.

How nice to meet someone who was a personal friend of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. That must make you, what, over 130 years old or thereabouts?

 

[Kyp]

If it was a unilateral decision to idiotically alter the ending to his own game completely independant of the wants or concerns of the fans of the game, how on Earth did this feel like "vandalizing" the developer's own game? For it to be vandalized, he would have felt that the change was not at all something that should be done; since he did it himself, then that can hardly be vandalizing it.

This is just a cheap publicity stunt conjured up by a prick.