Mass Effect 3's Ending Was Intended To Polarize

[MrHide-Patten]

For all the ire its recieving Im at least happy to see it come to an END. Not a good end, but an end none the less.

 

[Antonio Torrente]

Back to Bioware and Mass Effect, what's with "The Truth" DLC rumor that's floating around?

Is this some sort of Fallout 3: Broken Steel DLC plot fix?

Will it be free?

I hope so.

Basically it's a rumor that Bioware had this planned from all along. That the end of ME3 was really Shepard fighting against indoctrination.

The actual content of this will be a scene after the player wakes up on earth and is actually given a proper ending. It supposedly also comes with all the multiplayer DLC that was leaked a while ago.

It's also completely free.

If any of this is true it's going to help a lot in the way of Bioware's image. I think to do it any other way would make a lot of people very, very angry.

So you are saying it's some sort of retcon of the stupid endings.

It's really Bioware's Broken Steel huh?

If it is true, when it will be released?

If this does help reestablishing Bioware's image and reputation with gamers, will it save Dragon Age 3 from a hypothetical failure of sales?

 

[Sesambrot]

Okay folks, I'm new to these boards, so be nice to me

I thought I'd share my thoughts on the topic...
While I haven't played it through yet, there was no way all the ruckus about the ending could have gone by unnoticed.
What I don't get in terms of certain arguments being brought up over and over again, like "everyone will starve to death" doesn't make much sense to me...
The thing is that I just recieved a codex-entry labled "Desperate Measures" which states the it was considered to use the relays as weapons against the reapers by blowing them up, which was dismissed due to the fact that the explosion of a mass relay, would equal that of a supernova, releasing enough energy to wipe out all life in a whole system like sol!
In fact this means, the destruction of the mass releays would have wiped out pretty much everything in their respective system, so you don't have to worry about billions starving to death, most of them are actually dead anyway. The only ones that could have survived are people/aliens on colonies which are in a different system than the relays (same cluster/nebula but different system).
That is aside of a lot of other things that actually don't make any sense...

Now about the "post-ending-dlc" I/we've heard about.
I've found indications for that in several places over the internet. Let's assume they put out a DLC that doesn't change the current ending, but extends it by releavling some sort of twist.
Wether that's timetravle, hallucination, or indoctrination remains to be seen. If that's actually how it's going to be I would assume that they had this planned all along, and it actually kind of makes sense from a narrative point of view. You couldn't do something like this with a movie, or a book, but in the age of videogames, internet and digital media, with DLCs and patches, it can actually be a great way to imerse people in a story and have them really care about it. In fact, if this was planned all along, the shitstorm that has been happening over the past few days would have been expected by Bioware.

I for one want to believe that Bioware isn't that stupid, they did a great job with ME1 and ME2 and actually as far as I have played ME3 it really seems to be even better than those two. I don't think they would be that stupid to ruin everything by completely fucking up the ending!

Now I really want to believe that they are currently holding back something, planning to supprise everyone, because to be honest, that is the only thing that keeps me playing ME3. I didn't touch the game for a whole day when I found out, until I had time to think about it.

The only thing I'm really concerned about right now is, will it be free, or will we have to pay?
In case it'll be free, I say this is the most epic, most awesome, example of trolling in the history of videogames and the internet ever, and actually something everbody should be able to laugh about in the end...
However, if people will have to pay additional ten bucks, which seems just as likely to me (considering EA is the publisher), this would be the most despicable and evil form of milking a franchise for money, as that would also most likely destroy it completely in the process.


Now about the ending itself, I think I just have to agree with everyone who thinks it's not what we deserve.
I for one don't need a happy ending as long as it's still a good one and makes sense.
From what I have heard so far the current ending is neither good, nor does it make any sense.

I think it remains to be seen if "The Truth" DLC is actually true or just stage three of this:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/comics/critical-miss/9476-Mass-Effect-3-The-Process

I know it's been posted before, so please forgive me

Sheesh, first post and already a wall of text lol
hope you guys didn't mind to read through all of it...

 

[survivor686]

The ending had potential, but suffered from sloppy execution. I would argue that majority of fans expected Shepard to die. But at least we'd at least get a preview of how their previous actions affected the galaxy at large.

Instead we get a bratty reaper-child-space baby hybrid, who might or might not be trolling us and using some rather bizzare logic to justify their actions(So...rendering organics into techno-zombies to prevent synthetics taking over, was the best idea?). Instead we get an ending with more holes than Swiss cheese and a cutscene that leaves us confused at best.

Worse all the endings are the same!

So yes its polarizing, in the same way a random dude shitting on your carpet polarizes you and the afore mentioned random dude.

 

[Antonio Torrente]

So you are saying it's some sort of retcon of the stupid endings.

It's really Bioware's Broken Steel huh?

If it is true, when it will be released?

If this does help reestablishing Bioware's image and reputation with gamers, will it save Dragon Age 3 from a hypothetical failure of sales?

It's not really a retcon, more like they planned this out from the beginning.

The rumor has it being released in April or May.

I think Dragon Age 3 will have to prove to gamers that the franchise is worth buying again. It did have a couple of pretty good DLC's for DA2, which certainly help with things.

We'll see I hope I'm wrong with Dragon Age 3 becoming a failure.

So April or May huh? Ok

Wonder how many DLC will be released.

 

[Emiscary]

I'm starting to wonder if Bioware has any option besides the free ending fix DLC moving forward.

I mean if they release in game DLC content (Take Back Omega! or some bull) the angry fans (myself included) will take it as confirmation that we ARE being patronized and ignored, then walk out on the company.

If they release an "alternate ending" for cash soas not to piss off the minority that are content with this gobshite (takes all kinds I guess) for money then all the angry fans will take it as confirmation that they planned to sell us an incomplete game from the get go. Some of us will probably spend money on that ending ("the ending was so bad I'd throw 10$ at it to make it go away"), but it'll spell the end for any brand loyalty people had to Bioware.

And if they try to claim the indoctrination theory is true, then we'll feel like they've been fucking with us from day 1. Thus retroactively making the entire bloody series an elaborate and expensive practical joke.

Sadly one of the above is almost certainly what's gonna happen. Pay attention to what the nerd griefers are saying: you're stupid to not expect disappointment from gaming.

 

[mavkiel]

Okay folks, I'm new to these boards, so be nice to me

I thought I'd share my thoughts on the topic...
While I haven't played it through yet, there was no way all the ruckus about the ending could have gone by unnoticed.
What I don't get in terms of certain arguments being brought up over and over again, like "everyone will starve to death" doesn't make much sense to me...
The thing is that I just recieved a codex-entry labled "Desperate Measures" which states the it was considered to use the relays as weapons against the reapers by blowing them up, which was dismissed due to the fact that the explosion of a mass relay, would equal that of a supernova, releasing enough energy to wipe out all life in a whole system like sol!
In fact this means, the destruction of the mass releays would have wiped out pretty much everything in their respective system, so you don't have to worry about billions starving to death, most of them are actually dead anyway. The only ones that could have survived are people/aliens on colonies which are in a different system than the relays (same cluster/nebula but different system).
That is aside of a lot of other things that actually don't make any sense...
...

1) Not everyone would starve to death. But Garrus and tali are pretty much boned. They cant eat what humans can eat. And if by some miracle the food there is edible for them, the human crew starves.

2)Blowing up relays -- What occurs in the ending is a channeled explosion. All that energy converted into your space magic color choice. So it isnt a catastrophic release like in the me2 dlc.

 

[Ross Fixxed]

I just finished it and thought I'd give a few opinions / questions:

1) The relays SHOULD destroy the area around them but I assume the crucible is purpose built to not do that.
2) Will life go on? Yes it seems, the kid asking to be told another story suggests one and now another generation can go on. Hurray!
3) The 'you are now a legend go buy some DLC' back to back with 'tell me another story' annoyed me as it seemed to be asking for more money to hear more story as you all have commented.
4) I was delighted my 2 team mates were alive on that planet the Normandy crashed on.... WAIT WHAT? This is the main thing that makes NO sense to me whatsoever (also how is EDI alive on Destruction ending?)
5) Is Shepherd talking to the kid like a little kid or is he totally wasted?
6) Wait... where did the Illusive man come from.
7) I'm actually happy that they created an ending, a definitive one that has cohesion to it, but I'm a little underwhelmed at the range between the 3. That said after such a long journey a lot of emotions specific to my character etc were felt watching the ending and this is very good. I just wish I wasn't left with so many questions that actually don't seem to make sense.
8) I was assuming he was indoctrinated as things went, so when the breath was drawn I though aha, here we go, last playable part... oh wait what? I just figured he got up and then went into the beam doing the same thing we'd seen in a way (another cycle?) but that part isn't even necessarily in the ending....


I really liked it. And after thinking about it for a bit I'm getting increasingly confused. I don't mind ambiguity in an ending, but now that I write out how I'm feeling there's a lot of things that aren't vague, artistic or ambiguous they just don't add up.

An amazing game, some truly beautiful and emotional moments. But a final feeling of ... SAAAAY WHAAAAAT?!

 

[Mrmac23]

What I care about isn't the ending, but the amazing and moving game leading up to it! Who the hell cares if the ending leaves a bit to the imagination? The journey there was still one of the most memorable experiences I've had in a game series.

The "remember the journey, not the destination" way of thinking only really works when the destination doesn't defeat the entire point of the journey and make the ending so unneededly bizarre that instead of leaving us with a sense of satisfaction that the 100+ hours we put into the story was worth it, it leaves us angrily trying to figure out what the hell just happened.

 

[Burntpopcarn]

Haven't finished the game yet. But I'm sure you're right. Mass effect 3's endings suck.

 

[Bebus]

Snip

My feelings exactly.

When I finished, I was more baffled than anything.

Then I tried to make excuses.

Then I started to think about it a bit. All the things you mention. Bioware's enormous number of Press Releases that effectively sold us a false product (should "The Truth" turn out to be wishful thinking). Marauder Shields trying to warn us [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcxaqV6jjvw].

Then you realise the ending had no cohesion. It made no sense. It ignored everything you did up to that point. It created more plot holes than over 100 hours of other gameplay and complex, interweaving story managed to (and there were several!!). It did not provide closure, and when you start up for a second time you will find yourself just wanting to shut the game down, go onto the Bioware forums and Hold The Line.

I hope Bioware can fix this, I really hope they have something in the bag. This is either Bioware declaring their Quad bigger than anybody elses, or what will go down in video game textbook history of how to kill a company.

 

[Ross Fixxed]

If I'm to be honest, the thing with the Normandy is driving me absolutely mental. It makes no sense to me.

I don't usually buy into any theories about what these companies (EA etc) do... However, this all seems like marketing genius. Forums are exploding over this, everyone wants to see and know and complain.

Seriously what the hell was with the Normandy? How was EDI on it, arrrrrghhhh!

 

[Sesambrot]

I hope Bioware can fix this, I really hope they have something in the bag. This is either Bioware declaring their Quad bigger than anybody elses, or what will go down in video game textbook history of how to kill a company.

If they actually do something about it, I'd say they had this up their sleve all along!
It would be kind of evil, but actually an interessting marketing idea.
However, I'm not going to mind if we can all laugh about it in the end...
Assuming they don't actually sell the new ending (if it exists), in which case you'll only see even more rage.

Oh btw, if there actually is a "post-ending-DLC" coming, I demand that everyone who is satisfied with the current ending, and who is acting like an imbicile towards those that disagree, to not touch that DLC at all.
I know this is purely based on the assumption that this thing actually exists and that the ending is as unsatisfying as everyone wants to make me beleive (although the facts I hear about it seem quite clear), but honestly, if you are actually 100% happy with how it ended now, then just have the balls to stick to your oppinion and be done with it.
I know this is most likely not going to happen, but let me say this, for saying the one thing and then doing the other, you deserve to be called a hypocrite!

 

[zehydra]

Wow, they raised $27,000 to change a game's ending? What the hell is wrong with these people? The absurdity and inanity of fandom knows no bounds I see.

 

[zehydra]

Why? Why would you deliberatly make an ending this "divisive"...and not even in a good way? Isn't the whole point of media to get people to LIKE your media (all of it, including the ending) so they buy more?

Only from an economic perspective. If games were to only follow this "point", then we'd end up with very boring, very stale and bland video games.

 

[Sesambrot]

Wow, they raised $27,000 to change a game's ending? What the hell is wrong with these people? The absurdity and inanity of fandom knows no bounds I see.

You are completely wrong!
First off, in the meantime, they did raise $55,282..

Secondly, they are not doing it solely for the purpose of getting a new ending!
They are mainly doing it for the kids, all of the money raised has already gone to Child's Play, even if the ending doesn't change, they will have helped a whole lot of children!

In fact I would like to ask you to refrain from calling this effort an absurdity/insanity of fandom, as those donations are actually making a difference completely unrelated to the Mass Effect Universe.
Actually I'm in no position to make demands, but I would like you to read a bit more about the subject before posting crap like that!
http://retakemasseffect.chipin.com/retake-mass-effect-childs-play

 

[zehydra]

Wow, they raised $27,000 to change a game's ending? What the hell is wrong with these people? The absurdity and inanity of fandom knows no bounds I see.

You are completely wrong!
First off, in the meantime, they did raise $55,282..

Secondly, they are not doing it solely for the purpose of getting a new ending!
They are mainly doing it for the kids, all of the money raised has already gone to Child's Play, even if the ending doesn't change, they will have helped a whole lot of children!

In fact I would like to ask you to refrain from calling this effort an absurdity/insanity of fandom, as those donations are actually making a difference completely unrelated to the Mass Effect Universe.
Actually I'm in no position to make demands, but I would like you to read a bit more about the subject before posting crap like that!
http://retakemasseffect.chipin.com/retake-mass-effect-childs-play

Look, I know the money is for a good cause, I get that. But the ultimate motive is to get the writers to change the end of a story, and that is bullshit. It's not you, the player's story, it's theirs. Deal with it.

I don't mind donating to child's play. I DO however have a problem with this kind of petition.

 

[Czaran]

There?s been a lot of discussion and debate about the conclusion of Mass Effect 3, so I thought I?d share my perspective with you here. I?ll avoid outright spoilers, but I?d still recommend finishing the game and experiencing it for yourself before reading this.

For the last eight years, Mass Effect has been a labor of love for our team; love for the characters we?ve created, for the medium of video games, and for the fans that have supported us. For us and for you, Mass Effect 3 had to live up to a lot of expectations, not only for a great gaming experience, but for a resolution to the countless storylines and decisions you?ve made as a player since the journey began in 2007. So we designed Mass Effect 3 to be a series of endings to key plots and storylines, each culminating in scenes that show you the consequences of your actions. You then carry the knowledge of these consequences with you as you complete the final moments of your journey.

We always intended that the scale of the conflict and the underlying theme of sacrifice would lead to a bittersweet ending?to do otherwise would betray the agonizing decisions Shepard had to make along the way. Still, we wanted to give players the chance to experience an inspiring and uplifting ending; in a story where you face a hopeless struggle for basic survival, we see the final moments and imagery as offering victory and hope in the context of sacrifice and reflection.

We've had some incredibly positive reactions to Mass Effect 3, from the New York Times declaring it ?a gripping, coherent triumph?, to Penny Arcade calling it ?an amazing accomplishment?, to emails and tweets from players who have given us the most profound words of appreciation we've ever received.

But we also recognize that some of our most passionate fans needed more closure, more answers, and more time to say goodbye to their stories?and these comments are equally valid. Player feedback such as this has always been an essential ingredient in the development of the series.

I am extremely proud of what this team has accomplished, from the first art concepts for the Mass Effect universe to the final moments of Mass Effect 3. But we didn't do it on our own. Over the course of the series, Mass Effect has been a shared experience between the development team and our fans?not just a shared experience in playing the games, but in designing and developing them. An outpouring of love for Garrus and Tali led to their inclusion as love interests in Mass Effect 2. A request for deeper RPG systems led to key design changes in Mass Effect 3. Your feedback has always mattered. Mass Effect is a collaboration between developers and players, and we continue to listen.

So where do we go from here? Throughout the next year, we will support Mass Effect 3 by working on new content. And we?ll keep listening, because your insights and constructive feedback will help determine what that content should be. This is not the last you?ll hear of Commander Shepard.

We look forward to your continued support and involvement as we work together to shape the remaining experiences in the story of the Mass Effect trilogy.

Thanks for taking this journey with us.

Casey Hudson

Hmmm...still not directly adressing how much the ending sucked.
I was actually hoping for a bittersweet ending, a sad ending where Shepard dies, etc, and has some last words with the crew.
A bittersweet ending where the whole mass effect universe actually isn't completely blown up.

I still don't see how/why they would do this, other than to gain more profit, but I think this quote should be added to the main post or something.

 

[Inkidu]

I don't give a shit about your artsy-craftsy-jerksy-offsky ending. I want to talk with you about the freaking lie. I can't achieve 5K effective preparedness in single player. I've used guides, and been meticulous to the point of absurdity, and I still come up 2k short give or take. I've thrown my bests games at it reloading and comparing gained resources damning any kind of role playing aspect. I call fucking impossible. I can't be any more thorough than I am.

However, you know who gets the free ride? People with high speed internet connections! Oh no, this isn't some great science fiction RPG epic, no it's a multiplayer game. Multiplayer is how you win it. God, you couldn't even give players the option of playing multiplayer against a CPU like Gears of War 3. Nope you've got to have high speed internet. Thanks for punishing all of us who bought it for the single-player aspect and because we can't do multiplayer games. Nope, my preparedness is stuck at half.

The kicker is I know I have options not available to the person who plays from Mass Effect 3 alone. How's anyone who starts playing from ME3 going to get the "do both things" options. So, obviously it's some kind of gross lie, because I've run all the numbers I can and it doesn't add up.

Fuck, "Fix the Story" How about, "Make it Fair for Everyone". I'm done, BioWare's never going to see another dime out of me. Go join Blizzard and Square-Enix as developers I'm never going to look at again.

 

[Insideout Ink Demon]

i youtubed the other two endings after just completing it. i was surprised my Shep died, but i'll get ove it. Really can't believe how similar the other endings are though. seems lazy
all in all, after DA2 and ME2, i was dreading this game. Having finished it i can saay i enjoyed it.