Mass Effect 3's Ending Was Intended To Polarize

Aisaku

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I feel... sick, manipulated... and above all, ANGRY! If this is it, if this was an intentional attempt to spark controversy for the sake of it. Screwing with the story, the characters, the setting, and the fandom.

Again, for those in the peanut gallery, THIS IS NOT ABOUT NOT HAVING HAPPY ENDINGS, this is about the endings being limited to a last moment decision presented by a deus ex machina character, that goes against the main character's principles and whose repercussions are shown in the cheapest possible way. Not to mention the glaring plotholes.

Like Hammeroj said, as a Mass Effect fan I think only way I can deal with this anger is forgetting the franchise exists at all, and moving on to other things. Good job Bioware, you got my money three times... Not anymore.
 

Hat Man

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Nov 18, 2009
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Sure the endings are memorable, memorable because they were monumentally bad.

And I use the word bad in every sense I can use the word bad. I literally mean every way I can possibly use the word bad, I can not stress that enough.
 

Vrex360

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Mar 2, 2009
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So wait you actually wanted an ending that would leave thousands of gamers with a bad taste in their mouth over something satisfying that would make everyone happy?
I don't get that logic, not one bit. Say what you will about how it's not the ending but it's the 'journey' but ultimately the ending is what people will remember so if that goes bad, that diminishes the entire effect of 'the journey'.

Kroxile said:
Its just a bunch of people who have a sad that Shepard actually fucking dies at the end of her trilogy.
There is a lot more to it then that. People are mad because this undermines whatever choices they ever made in the past. They are mad because it denies them closure with beloved characters. They are mad because the ending is rushed and stamps all over many of the established themes and messages that the series was centrally about.
People are also mad because this ending is the opposite of what the developers promised

Sorry not everything is shit rainbows and vomit skittles in magic fairy wonderland, but sometimes shit just doesn't end that way.
Oh for god's sake. I'm not asking for a perfect Disney ending where Shepard and Ashley cuddle together and kiss while the rest of the crew of the Normandy in all past games get together and have a massive ensemble song about the defeat of the Reapers.
What you have to understand is that even without the BS with the relays and such, Mass Effect 3 would have a sad ending. Millions, maybe even billions, of civilians have died. Untold damage has been done to many worlds. Major characters have died, some sacrificing themselves to do the right thing others killed by other circumstances. There are broken hearted families, entire races have been decimated and the galactic government will be a mess and it may take centuries to truly repair everything.
No one left this war without some kind of damage, physical or mental.

What I want and what a lot of other players want (I imagine) is some kind of shining ray of hope out of all that. Some indication that what we did actually mattered, that our emotional attachments and relationships to characters were ultimatley worth it, that our choices actually impacted it in some way. That character's sacrifices weren't in vain and that despite all this loss there still remains hope for the future.

I don't see that as asking for 'everything is shit rainbows and vomit skittles in magic fairy wonderland'.

That said; they ought to at least put something in to detail the outcome of the player's choices throughout the game.
Now that, we can agree on.

Other than that the endings were good; leave them alone.
I disagree and think they should be changed. However I am resigned to the knowledge that they probably won't be.
Monoochrom said:
Seriously, I don't even play Mass Effect, but people like you or that other guy that keeps bringing up space waifus are being ignorant. I haven't seen many people being annoyed by Shepards death or not being able to ''ride into the sunset with their space waifu's'', as the other guy puts it.
To be fair that aspect does actually kind of piss me off. I should explain that it's not the primary reason but it's still one that saddens and annoys me on an emotional level. Largely because I am an Ashley fan (shut up she's awesome) and I had to ultimately wait two years to see her return to the game so my Shepard could conclude the romance with her proper. In addition to many other plot threads in Mass Effect 3, this was one I really wanted resolved.
Hence I am a little bit peeved at the ending. Plus there's the fact that it's just depressing, I mean remembering the context of their relationship. Seperated for two years due to Shepard dying, the misunderstanding of Horizon driving them apart, the conflict regarding Udina... finally they get to be together again and then, it ends the way it does.
I just watch the following video with this context in mind:
... and I'm rendered speechless in how depressing it is that I already know how this turns out. Shepard dies again and Ashley gets to be stranded on a distant planet. Even if I brought her with me on Earth for the final mission she still somehow magically teleports back on the Normandy which is for some reason near a relay.
That's just throwing the drama dial up to ten million in the stupidest and cruelest way possible. So the star crossed lovers get to be together again only to lose each other again because of a game bug. Nice.

JackJL said:
Can't blame him for defending it - after all he's still trying to get people to buy the game and DLC. Just wait a year and he'll admit it was derped somehow in the production process. Also cognitive dissonance can mess up the best of us.

Of course the only DLC I'd buy is one that fixed the *DIVISIVE* endings.
As much as I would like that I both doubt it will ever come into existence and even if it did I'm not sure we should really be encouraging perspective game developers to believe that they can make long running series have crappy endings because they know we'll pay extra for a different one.
That said while I bemoan it, I totally would still buy it.

That said I am in the 'bargaining' stage of ME3 grief right now but my attention is towards these:


The Mass Effect 3 play arts Kai figures that just so happen to be my favorite trio in the game. They are still in prototype stage and pending licensor approval so I've decided to invest all my emotion into hoping Bioware approves these. Because that seems a more realistic hope right now.
Come on Bioware, if I can't have a happy ending I should be able to have this.
 

Aiddon_v1legacy

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at this point I wish people would shut up and move on. Maybe if people were a bit more constructive and respectful instead of acting like mean-spirited little brats who abuse User Reviews I would take them seriously. Whoever resorts to insults first is usually the side not worth siding with. And, of course, it's the gamers. It's ALWAYS the fucking gamers.
 

Ceratops

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I feel like most of the division is not "what happened, what does this mean, what's going to happen next" but more "jesus fuck are you kidding me how is this the trilogy ending". I haven't finished it either but I find that is not a good ploy to get people to talk about your game, but a way to look like idiots. And what's sad is that they'll release some single player DLC and it will be better and most will be forgotten. But I have a bit of a sour taste in my mouth that I don't think is going to go away.
 

AstylahAthrys

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You're only saying that to sell more copies, Hudson. Please tell me you don't actually think those endings were well done.

He must realize by now that the ending was poorly executed. They must know they goofed. I suppose sometimes well after launch we can hope for them to explain themselves, but it looks like they're trying to save face for potential buyers who have already been warned.
 

The Genius

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Jul 24, 2010
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If it's all a plan to be fixed later with DLC, they are effectively admitting they intended to ship a game without an ending so they can make us pay for it later.

A dangerous precedent.
 

Alandoril

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The endings aren't divisive though...all three of them are essentially the same. They took the easy way out with those endings. They didn't really have to write a solid conclusion to the game, which no dev company actually seems capable of doing these days. Why do they all seem to have so much trouble with simply resolving a narrative?
 

Aisaku

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I used to feel bad about fans spamming amazon reviews to lower the game's score. After this statement, not anymore.
 

Acton Hank

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JackJL said:
Can't blame him for defending it - after all he's still trying to get people to buy the game and DLC. Just wait a year and he'll admit it was derped somehow in the production process. Also cognitive dissonance can mess up the best of us.

Of course the only DLC I'd buy is one that fixed the *DIVISIVE* endings.
Sorry only after a ludricous amount of unrelenting denial can 98% of people hating the ending cannot be described as "DIVISIVE".

The Ending was awful, and at the risk of sounding arrogant I will say that that's not my opinion, it's a cold hard fact.

I guess he succeeded in making a memorable ending, but the way he did it isn't gonna help Bioware when it comes to DLC or future games.
 

The Wooster

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Jul 15, 2008
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Alandoril said:
The endings aren't divisive though...all three of them are essentially the same. They took the easy way out with those endings. They didn't really have to write a solid conclusion to the game, which no dev company actually seems capable of doing these days. Why do they all seem to have so much trouble with simply resolving a narrative?
You're thinking of "diverse."
 
Jun 11, 2008
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So essentially they did what Fringe did at the end of the last season? They do one massive, huge what the fuck ending and then proceed to retcon everything before hand over the next season making what happened before kind of meaningless back story. That or you can say they did a Lost on it.
 

putowtin

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Jul 7, 2010
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Vrex360 said:
That said I am in the 'bargaining' stage of ME3 grief right now but my attention is towards these:


The Mass Effect 3 play arts Kai figures that just so happen to be my favorite trio in the game. They are still in prototype stage and pending licensor approval so I've decided to invest all my emotion into hoping Bioware makes these. Because that seems a more realistic hope right now.
Come on Bioware, if I can't have a happy ending I should be able to have this.
OH MY GOD MUST HAVE GARRUS STATUE!!!!!
(falls on floor in state of absolute delight)

OT: Now at $29,937.01, my 5 bucks are in, a good cause (and one I support every year) gets a little more money!
 

Still Life

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I was satisfied with the ending and I got to see the major character arcs completed before the final, moral dilemma. War stories don't often give the sort of materialistic 'closure' that people (including myself) look for, so I admire that Bioware finished on a philosophical note.

Really, at the end of the day, people should just move on. I can understand the distaste, but I'm sure there are other things better suited to the collective tastes of the so called 'masses'.

I really like what that charity group is doing by focusing all that 'First World' butthurt into something that properly distills the legitimate concerns and produces something positive from all the other consumers who need to get on with their lives.
 

Zortack

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Looks like bioware is going through it's own stages of grief. This is the denial phase right here. Soon to be followed by anger: our retarded fans just don't get the "intellectuahl" ending. Then they'll throw some meaningless freebies our way. Followed by depression, some people will quit, and ultimately apologies.
 

Adam Jensen_v1legacy

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Sep 8, 2011
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So their idea of making the game memorable is to destroy the very essence of it, and their entire reputation in the process? Great job then. Because I sure as hell won't be buying any Bioware product ever again. Or EA product for that matter. They just destroyed my favorite video game series. Why would I ever trust them again?

How come people still remember Baldur's Gate and their other games so fondly without them having to screw up in the end?
 

JackJL

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ChrisRedfield92 said:
Sorry only after a ludricous amount of unrelenting denial can 98% of people hating the ending cannot be described as "DIVI
The Ending was awful, and at the risk of sounding arrogant I will say that that's not my opinion, it's a cold hard fact.

I guess he succeeded in making a memorable ending, but the way he did it isn't gonna help Bioware when it comes to DLC or future games.
Yeah, I was only using divisive in an expletive deleted sort of way. The endings are terrible and taint an otherwise great game. For example I just started up a new playthrough to try out the other classes & choices. Was going OK until the 1st dream sequence and that bloody kid shows up. Where before I was moved by these sequences, now I am angry. I'll be in the anger dome
 

Starke

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Vrex360 said:
So wait you actually wanted an ending that would leave thousands of gamers with a bad taste in their mouth over something satisfying that would make everyone happy?
I don't get that logic, not one bit. Say what you will about how it's not the ending but it's the 'journey' but ultimately the ending is what people will remember so if that goes bad, that diminishes the entire effect of 'the journey'.
The whole "journey not the ending" thing is sort of predicated on the ending being bad. Now bear with me for a second. The ending of Mass Effect 3 isn't so much bad, as offensively subversive. It's more of a middle finger directed at the player rather than a normal bad ending.

Honestly, the best contrast and compare I can think of is any Obsidian game. I'd be the first to admit Alpha Protocol's ending (for instance) is bad. There isn't a lot of closure, and a lot of the decisions don't really lead into it. But in that case, you can credibly say it's "the journey not the ending." We can't really say that about ME3.

The reason seems to be sort of three fold.

First, ME3's journey isn't really that unique. There's some nice spectacle, but not a lot of real substance. It's a railroad with a few opportunities to stop and gab with people at the stations on the way.

Second, and this I'm a little less certain of, but, second, Mass Effect 3 is about endings. In a very real sense, the entire game is endings. Every major quest node is built around ending story arcs set up in the first or second game.

Finally, the end is offensively stupid. It makes fundamental philosophical arguments about the setting that the player may have already invalidated, and, in contrast to every other major encounter in the series (except for Timmy in 2), forces the player to accept this philosophy at face value with little more than a half-assed, "but you're wrong".

In a game that is literally about endings, which are honestly handled pretty well, the finale, ironically suffers from a terminal case of teh stupids.