One Last look at Mass Effect 3.

[DioWallachia]

But dont those people make the research on Wikipedia or Tv Tropes to know if the shit they heard was true?

It all comes down to who you trust the most. A site written by random strangers on the Internet, or the word of a person you have a relationship with.

If the former is becoming the norm, then I weep for humanity.

You do realice that Wikipedia HAS people trying to make sure the crap written there is up to date and trustworthy, right?

 

[BreakfastMan]

Really? This is still worthy of massive discussion, even after literally everything that could be said about the ending has been said? Really? I just don't understand... Seriously, people; get over yourselves. There is nothing left to say about the ending, just drop it already and move on. Good god.

 

[Maze1125]

Maybe the original ending caused them to drop their standards by so much that they were willing to accept any new ending as good enough, which was Bioware's evil plan all along.

I don't know, I don't care. The point is simply that they were satisfied.

So you follow this.....

And here you're just trying to dismiss people being satisfied with the new ending. "Oh no, they didn't really like the ending, they were just bullied into saying they liked it."

....with this? Just listen to yourself, you are making my point here. People were lied into not taking a stand for what they actually believe.

(a parody of the real thing but not less sad and pathetic)

"The principle and which is quite true in itself and that in the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily." In short: "The bigger the lie, the more it will be believed."

-Joseph Goebbels

But who cares right? they love it!! they took it in the ass and loved it like any good Stockholm syndrome victim. soon they will love Mein Kampf and Birth of a Nation too

They may even love Mass Effect: Deception.

The Ur-EA Masters are pleased.

You're quite clearly so obsessed with your point that you're not listening to mine.
I don't care why they were satisfied. Not in relation to the point you disputed.
I'm not making any statement about Bioware or anyone else, just myself.

You can carry on with your conspiracy theory on how everyone really would hate ME3 if only they hadn't been brainwashed all you want, and how you, and a few people on Youtube, are the only people in the whole world who really gets it thanks to your blatantly superior understanding of artistic merit. Knock yourself out with it.
It doesn't change the simple fact that...
I... Don't... Care.

 

[Eclectic Dreck]

Someone on the executive side IS going to notice the drop in numbers.

Actually, that trend isn't unexpected. Few games manage to consistently sell in the weeks following release. The vast majority of sales tend to happen in the first few weeks. There are exceptions - many Nintendo titles tend to sell consistently well for months.

 

[Sigmund Av Volsung]

While it definitely isn't the best in the series(many have varying interpretations, but I consider ME2 to be the best), the game could've been a hell of a lot worse, disregarding the ending, the game barely ever disappoints and maintains a ME2 vibe around it for most of it's duration; a strong game, in my perspective, and certainly not a disappointment, a fine addition to the series, if you may.

By some force incomprehensible to me(also known as SPAEC MAGIK)I still like the game, despite the ending; some weird part of me wasn't as pissed off by the ending as it should've been, so again, the ending was average at best and disheartening at worst.

Nonetheless, such a Lord of The Rings-esque trilogy will have a fond place in my cold, uncaring, obsidian heart, regardless of its many flaws, as bitching about the ending seems pointless: it happened,(Casey Hudson apparently went FUBAR on the ending, so I'll blame him if I ever have to complain about it again) and nothing will change for now.

I hope that fans will do what they always do and try to mod the ending to some degree; KoTOR had The Brotherhood Of Shadow, Dragon Age Origins has countless mods as well, including Jade Empire.

Be proud Bioware, for thy games will forever be remembered by me.

 

[Varrdy]

Am I the only person who liked Mass Effect 3...I did and still do...apart from the original ending, obviously.

I got into Mass Effect a few years late and, after a false start, was sucked in so comprehensively I became a fanboy overnight! For me at least, Mass Effect 1 & 2 managed to be two very different games and yet still be familiar enough to avoid the sense of disconnection; each game had it's own USP's that would keep me playing both until the day came - Mass Effect 3.

Yes I pre-ordered the N7 Collectors Edition. I was not that thrilled with the dog or the hoody - both were lame. Jaavik? Interesting wrinkle - I thought he was a bit of a knob but I kinda liked the way we were led to believe that the Protheans were so bloody great, only to find they were a rather brutal, arrogant bunch. Still, it was a good twist and maybe I should have heeded the warning - prepare to have your expectations well and truly dashed!

To say I'd been dribbling a little bit in anticipation of ME3 would be akin to describing the Titanic as "a bit soggy". The finale was coming; the climactic battle for the Galaxy! I knew what was coming would be a ***** of a fight but did I care? No! If I could have downloaded myself into the game-universe I would have been standing on the top of the Citadel, assault rifle in hand and calling upon the Reapers to come and have a go if they thought they were hard enough.

I didn't mind too much that the core of Mass Effect 3 was more fight and less of the rest - it was a war, I wasn't expecting much else! Glad was I to see the back of the planet-scanning (more or less) but sad that the Mako did not return - not in a driveable sense anyway! What I did mind (and I will admit this is a bit irrational) is the "mode" options. Do you want to dumb it down to "all-shooting, no-talking" mode, go with the poofy "all talking and we'll handle all the nasty, shooty bits" mode or, like me and I hope you, do you opt for the "Classic Mass Effect" mode? You know it makes sense but I feel this was pandering to all-comers to maximise profits BS from EA.

Ditto Multiplayer.

Anyway, after a truly pulse-pounding and soul-crushing opening, I found myself doing surprisingly well in the war. I was making real progress, with a few stumbles along the way and I was, dare I say it, getting a bit cocky. So to be slapped down so utterly and to such devastating effect on Thessia was a hugely emotional moment and I consider it a brilliant bit of writing on BioWare's part. I swear I heard my ego deflating...

However that does lead me nicely to one issue I did have - Cerberus. I had no doubt that there was more than meets the eye with this bunch and I never trusted the Illusive Man one iota but the sudden switch of MO from ME2 to ME3 was somewhat jarring. As much as it could irritate me at times that the game was more about fighting Cerberus than it was The Reapers, I at least found it an interesting and unexpected move on the part of the writers.

Also, the quest-system was a massive pain in the arse. For starters, why did they fiddle with what was not broken? ME1 and ME2 had good, simple and FUNCTIONAL quest-journals so why bugger about with them? Why meld the quest-journal and codex together? Why go further and get rid of the "Mission" and "Assignment" categories that worked so well? Well I do know - it was yet another concession for the thickies EA were hoping to attract and they didn't want to scare them off with anything more functional and complex than a brick. Yeah, cheers...dicks! Early on I started using pen and paper to keep track of my missions, filling in checkboxes for when I had whatever the fuck it was I needed to get next and notes about who needed it, not to mention whether I had to complete the mission before Tuchanka was done with or not...and some of the objectives were ON Tuchanka. So you rock up, do your thing and yet before you strike the killer blow, you have to go back to the Citadel to wrap up the side-quests then go back to Tuchanka to do the Shroud mission - bad writing or sloppy-checking, I don't care - it's NOT GOOD!

Gripes aside though, I was loving ME3 with the epic battles, excellent dialogue and even more excellenter voice acting; I even liked Vega, unlike most. As much as I liked EDI, I never seemed to use her until I was forced to - sorry, love! Seems a bit unfair considering the shrunken-down roster and I am sure Garrus wanted more time off to calibrate stuff!

The little things also appealed; the way your shipmates would move around the ship and interact with each-other as well as just Shepard. It was these little asides that made the characters seem more real and they revealed more about themselves and deepened the connections I felt I had with them.

Then, after finally bringing the biggest can of whupass ever back to Earth with me, the whole thing just kicked off! Epic battle scenes and the desperate fight through London - not my city but MY planet and MY bloody country's capital! Personal? You bet your arse it was personal! It was ON!!!

And then...The Catalyst and his Red, Green or Blue. I always had the sense that the Crucible was too good to be true but this...?

That was it? The big finale? Despite all the promises and assurances, this is what we get?

Nope, there was that final "Buy more of our stuff!" poke-in-the-eye message, which is the straw that broke the camels back. I was all over the place, pacing the kitchen and not quite able to comprehend what I'd just witnessed and pretty soon I learned that I was not alone. Many more like me were organising into something that was gaining momentum despite many people, most of which had never so much had played the games and so had no idea what the hell they were on about, calling us "whiny, entitled gamers" yadda-yadda-yadda...thankfully they did not win.

We won! Sort of...

I allowed for the fact that the Extended Cut was rushed out (like the main game) and thus would not be perfect but I was desperate for some kind of closure and any improvement on that horrific cop-out of a broken-promises ending. I felt it was acceptable, even good in some places and overall I was satisfied to the degree that I wanted to play the whole trilogy again, which was the worst thing the A, B, C endings did - they killed my passion for the franchise as there was no point in replaying my cherished Mass Effects as the end result was always going to be the same. Sure the EC was still not the "wildly different conclusions" were were originally offered but at least it was a vast improvement on none at all and, as Angry Joe said, if we'd have got those endings from the start then I beleive that there wouldn't have been a fraction of the outcry that there was.

I have yet to purchase the Omega DLC but I will soon as I have just been paid and I look forward to it. Leviathan was pretty cool but, like so many, I would have like to have seen it, and all the other war-assets, play a more meaningful role in the finale.

So yeah...all issues aside, I liked it and, thanks to the EC, I can play the games again. Am I disappointed in the way things went down? You bet I am but then I also have the many hours that were a pure joy and ones I look forward to re-living through artwork, stories, fan-creations and, of course, the games.

Happy Holidays, everybody!

 

[Machine Man 1992]

Super ultimate snip of righteousness!

"Totally irrelevant mewlings"? You're the one who keeps responding, so I guess they're not so irrelevant after all!

I still don't see the point you're trying to make, other than the fact you love to read your own writing.

 

[Machine Man 1992]

I just wanted to know what people thought. You know, one last look before the new year and we can forget this fucking game forever. One last hurrah for the biggest cock-up in video-game history since the Crash.

But no, it seems some people need to re-argue the same points over again. Ironically, it seems they haven't gotten over it either.

Thing is, I didn't enter into the experience for the mechanics, or the pacing, or the graphics, or the design aesthetics. I was there because I wanted to hear a story. And between the beginning and the end, I thought there was a story WORTH hearing. Something that moved me. Something that made me think. Something that compelled me. It was less about the hour the story took to start and the hour it took for the story to end and more about the 45+ hours that happened in between.

Much the same is true for me for Mass Effect. I went into the experience not terribly concerned about the destination. I was there for the journey. And, for me, the journey was spectacular. That the end point of that story was not the Garden of Eden but instead Hoboken, New Jersey, was never really a consideration. For me, the payoff was in the way the story unfolded, not in how the story ended.

Now, I can absolutely understand how people could be disappointed in the ending. When you invest 100+ hours into another world - its characters, its setting, its history, its evolution, its culmination - then you haven't simply invested your time into the experience. You've invested yourself into the experience. So when the culmination of that investment is less than perfect, which the ending for ME3 most assuredly was, the experience hasn't simply wasted your time. It has taken the portion of your soul that you invested, crumpled it up like so much waste-paper, and thrown it into the trash.

I suppose that maybe I didn't have that kind of investment in Mass Effect. I was there not for the beginning or the end but for everything that was inbetween. And for me, everything that was inbetween was exemplary. Just my two cents.

Mass Effect rendered 5 fucking years of emotional investment and repeated playthroughs totally irrelevant. This game took 100/200 hours off my life; that's basically murder. All that time and effort wasted in fifteen minutes of Casey Hudson's and Mac Walter's ego trip. Looking back now, at all the interviews, and promos, and hyperbolic screeching of how this is going to be the biggest, most explosive, and most characterful Mass Effect game ever... I wouldn't trust these Bioware monkeys to fetch my morning coffee!

The ending is extremely important in a story; ideally, it's supposed to wrap up all the loose threads, provide closure and denouement to the characters and leave the audience satisfied. Of course, how exactly you satisfy the audience is dependent on the work. A tragic tale will leave them sad, but will have provided some catharsis. A comedy will have a wacky ending to leave the audience with the giggles on the way out. An ending can color a viewer's perception of a work retroactively, which is why a bad ending can make a whole story suck, even if it was awesome up until then.

Ever see Repo Men? Its about Jude Law running around and repossessing people's organs for a cybernetics company. I won't spoil much, but let's just say the movie completely pulls the rug out from under the audience's feet at the very last second, and renders the entire last half of the movie completely pointless. It's the very definition of a twist for twist's sake, and now whenever I think about about it, all I can focus on is the M-Night-Shamalyan-to-the-point-of-parody end scene.

Bioware basically pulled a Repo Men on their fans.

 

[FFHAuthor]

I think it's amazing that this one issue has managed to encompass just about every tenet and aspect of Gaming culture that a reasonable player is aware of and has issues with. It's more than just the Mass Effect 3 ending, it's gotten to the point that it is the embodiment of everything that we feel is 'wrong' with the industry.

-EA's corporate policies
-Creative input and control
-Games as Art
-DLC content
-Relationships between the Journalistic Community and the Games industry

We can quibble on and on about what the endings were and weather we liked them or not, but if you peel it all back, the ME3 debacle brings us back to those issues more than anything else, and it shows us all just how rotten things are getting in the industry.

-EA's Corporate policies
We see over hype and over sell of a title, creating a burden that can't be lived up to, but we see a bastardization of what the core mechanics of a game are about. We see forced deadlines, we see creative control hampered, we see decisions forced rather than approached reasonably, we see the desire to broaden the 'market' and 'target demographic' as much as possible to sell as much as possible, and we see a game boiled down to a mere money making endeavor...all these things growing from a company that doesn't care about gaming as entertainment. A company whose 'growth' continues despite the failings of it's business model. I don't think EA is going to stop buying successful companies anytime soon, but we've seen with Bioware what's happened to Maxis, Pandemic, and countless others...whose body is next on that pile?

-Creative input and control
How many people think that the team at Bioware had the final say in everything about Mass Effect 3? I don't. I don't think any reasonable person can say that they did. I think the ME3 issue shows us just how out of control and still how disjointed even excellent teams can be. We look at ME3 and see golden examples of excellent storytelling and gameplay, set alongside repetitive and nonsensical mechanics and aspects. Perhaps it's an innane thought, but video games still aren't made in the best way thy should be.

-Games as Art.
How many people think 'Artistic Integrity' is profanity? I know I do. I know that's wrong, but it's still true. I think ME3 did more to damage the place of art and the value of games as art in the eyes of GAMERS than anything else has. This is on the heels a the US Supreme Court ruled that Games are art, that major art exhibits are beginning based around video games, and yet among our own ranks, the ME3 issue has made many of us dismiss the concept of games as art. Now many of us see it as a crutch for bad writing or a shield for nonsensical and wasted effort, or we see it as a shallow and pointless phrase tossed out that will automatically brand anything associated it with sinister overtones, not giving it a reasonable showing.

-DLC content
Perhaps it's not as big an issue, but I vaguely remember a Final Fantasy game with DLC content that took place after the ambiguous ingame ending. Content that had you fighting the end boss and receiving a different (or at least more complete) resolution to the situation. They charged for this. It sounds like charging players for the ending to a game to me. But I hear nary a word over that...but then Mass Effect 3 does Day 1 DLC for integral characters who provide large swathes of information throughout the story, expanding scenes and interactions in many ways. They add DLC to provide closure, a download that was rushed because of fan outcry, a download that had been planned before release, and perhaps a download that they had planned on charging for. Perhaps most galling was the fact that the last bit of relevant text to be read in the entire game is a pitch to purchase DLC. Bioware, master of storytelling, EA grim reaper of the Videogames industry, sits there and tells us that Javik was not necessary and that the extended cut was not necessary.

I don't know. I had Javik, but I never brought myself to play to the end of the extended cut.

-Relationship between Journalists and the industry
Now, I spend most of my time studying politics, reading the news, CNN, MSNBC, FOX and the like. So seeing collusion, conflicts of interest and general favoritism in journalism isn't something that shocks me. Of course, I'm used to Fox favoring Republicans, CNN and MSNBC favoring Democrats, so on and so forth. I'm used to seeing blatant lies covered up and party lines parroted in a way to twist the minds of what the readers think. I don't think I've ever seen the mainstream media side with the politicians against their readers though.

Seeing games reviewers and online publications turn against their readership is amazing. I'd expect to see that from online cartoonists, who let's face it, make money by making outrage. But IGN and others...they're supposed to be that important 'fourth estate' the watchdogs, the impartial arbiters and reporters of the information...now of course, they're all in it for money...and we see just who those journalists hurled themselves forward to defend, the people that get them their money apparently, the major producers. I'm not saying that they should have been joining the angry mobs, far from it in fact. They've killed their credibility worse than any Dorritos add or bag of swag and day at E3 could manage, they showed absolutely no regard or desire to as a whole report on what was the biggest story in gaming...and when they did, they did it in such a blatantly biased way that it was beyond reprehensible.

FORBES did, and let's face it, how many gamers look to Forbes for their release and review news?


Perhaps I'm taking this issue a bit deeper than intended, but this issue isn't about Mass Effect 3 anymore, it's about the core of our passion, our hobbies, and our interest in gaming, and it touches each and every one of us. How games are made, how the corporations involved in gaming operate, the quality we expect from games and the quality we expect from games Journalists. It's all been laid bare to us in this messy debacle and the point of this isn't that we as gamers should be 'holding the line' for a better ME 3 ending or arguing the Indoctrination theory. The point of it is we need to demand batter of our games producers, and reviewers, or the media that reports to us, and of the companies that get our money, because we've let it all slide. We haven't' cared, we haven't made the painful stand to demand better products, and the end result is the Mass Effect 3 debacle.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

Glowbrat conned Shepard in to committing suicide. That's what the ending boils down to.

I burst out laughing at that.

Pity how that really is the ending to a massive epic tale.

While it definitely isn't the best in the series(many have varying interpretations, but I consider ME2 to be the best), the game could've been a hell of a lot worse, disregarding the ending, the game barely ever disappoints and maintains a ME2 vibe around it for most of it's duration; a strong game, in my perspective, and certainly not a disappointment, a fine addition to the series, if you may.

By some force incomprehensible to me(also known as SPAEC MAGIK)I still like the game, despite the ending; some weird part of me wasn't as pissed off by the ending as it should've been, so again, the ending was average at best and disheartening at worst.

Nonetheless, such a Lord of The Rings-esque trilogy will have a fond place in my cold, uncaring, obsidian heart, regardless of its many flaws, as bitching about the ending seems pointless: it happened,(Casey Hudson apparently went FUBAR on the ending, so I'll blame him if I ever have to complain about it again) and nothing will change for now.

I hope that fans will do what they always do and try to mod the ending to some degree; KoTOR had The Brotherhood Of Shadow, Dragon Age Origins has countless mods as well, including Jade Empire.

Be proud Bioware, for thy games will forever be remembered by me.

Unlikely that there will be any sort of modding due to the multiplayer content in the game. EA policy and Origin don't help things either.

 

[Maze1125]

You have never, ever, had the right as a consumer to demand a full refund for, a product you purchased, that works as intended, because you dislike one or more aspects of it.

Maybe not in America.
Other counties, on the other hand, have a little thing called "Consumer Rights".

 

[votemarvel]

I've been replaying Mass Effect 3 recently and all the issues I had with the game are still there.

The was a handful of great story moments wrapped up in a very mediocre overall story. Returning characters felt like caricatures of themselves and the new squad-mate, Vega, felt as if Bioware wanted us to like him but forgot to give a reason why. Though given he's the star of the Paragon Lost movie that is understandable, if a little cheap.

A big part of what hurt the story for me was that despite my Shepard going from 1 to 2 and finally into 3, it felt as if the game had been created solely for those of whom Mass Effect 3 was their first entry. Nowhere in the game is this more obvious than the encounter with the Rachni queen. Where if you released her in ME1 the little dialogue referencing that event feels absolutely forced in, as if it were an afterthought to the conversation.

I lost a little attachment to my Shepard from the start because even with the 'fix' the face import just didn't work correctly. It was like my Shepard had been replaced by a look-a-like, recognisable as but definitely not the same person.

Perhaps I am the only one but I felt the animations were better in the first game. Shepard actually walked and ran like a human being in ME1 instead of a hunchback gorilla as in 2 and 3.

Of course the ending must be mentioned. While there are many issues for me I could go on about, the big one is hologram kid.

Putting aside the nonsense of its "yo dawg" argument for the harvest, why is Shepard trusting this thing? It has just told us that it created and controls the Reapers, why on Earth would you trust it to tell you how to stop it?

"Oh but vote it realised that its solution no longer worked!" Really? Because from my eyes the solution was going great, the Reapers were winning quite convincingly, and the only reason Shepard reached the hologram kid is because it brought Shepard there. It made more sense that the console below was where Shepard needed to be and the "new possibilities" the Crucible created were electrocution, disintegration and blow yourself up. Three great ways to get Shepard to commit suicide.

The Crucible itself was also puzzling. Many species over several cycles built a device to make use of a part of the Citadel no-one, other than Shepard, even knew existed? Why would you build a weapon that can only be activated in the secret chambers of the hologram kid, which you don't know is there?

You wouldn't! You'd build it to be activated by that damn console below.

Overall I don't think Mass Effect 3 could be described as a bad game. Just a very mediocre way to end Shepard's trilogy.

 

[Suncatcher]

First, I'd just like to say that anyone calling the fans unpleasable, immature, or whiny for not liking the ending is wrong. This isn't a dark ending, or a sad ending, because I'd be fine with either of those. Many of my favorite stories have ended with the heroes losing, or a sacrifice too dear for what was accomplished, or just the world going to shit, and because they were appropriate endings given what had gone before, fit the story, and make me honestly think and feel, they ultimately added to the experience. This is an ending that breaks many established points of canon, contradicts most of the themes of the series, and fails to deliver on the biggest promise of the franchise: that your actions shape the universe and your decisions matter; it's not an artistic expression or a grim end to a mature, thoughtful storyline, it's throwing out everything that came before because somebody wanted to tell this fifteen minute yarn about a glowing kid fucking the universe and he was somehow given a billion-dollar franchise with millions of fans as his soapbox.

To me, the ending felt like one guy with an unrelated shitty "artistic" idea and too much authority taking a story that dozens of people had lovingly crafted for years and tacking on his own close. I've read reports, as I'm sure most of you have, claiming that the rest of the writing team have said just that, that the new lead writer had done it alone and against objections from the rest of the staff, but I don't know how authentic they are and I honestly don't care enough to find out because it won't change anything. I blame EA maybe not for the ending itself, but definitely for the response to the fan response, and for putting that guy in charge (if that guy actually existed).

Now, the main plot of the game, since it had to accommodate the ending, was not great. But the 90% of the game that wasn't tainted by that one gigantic cock-up? Was beautiful. Mass Effect 3 is a good game. A great game. Thinking back to moments like Mordin's sacrifice, the unification of the Quarians and the Geth, and Thane's blaze of glory, combined with the general improvements to gameplay and such, I'm tempted to say that it's objectively the best game in the trilogy that I've been a fan of for years.

But because all the crap was piled into the ending? I can't bring myself to play it again. The last moments, the ones that leave the strongest impression on your mind, were entirely made of crap. I played the first two games in the series at least three full times through each, but I can't convince myself to pick up the third again despite all the fun I had and all the things there still are for me to do, because I know that any story I begin will end the same way regardless of my actions. So I haven't played the DLC, I spent less than a tenth of the time on this game than I did on either of the others, I am pretty much done with the Mass Effect series as a whole, and I have a strong aversion to giving EA money in the future no matter what magnificence they manage to pull together.

 

[Machine Man 1992]

"Totally irrelevant mewlings"? You're the one who keeps responding, so I guess they're not so irrelevant after all!

The irrelevant part is the fact that you simply keep repeating that Mass Effect is a "product" as if the fact that you've said it enough times makes my argument invalid. You're simply not addressing my arguments and going on and on and on about "consumer this" and "product that" and "complaining whatever" without any central point. You have never, ever, had the right as a consumer to demand a full refund for, a product you purchased, that works as intended, because you dislike one or more aspects of it. This would be like purchasing a vacuum-cleaner, using it for three weeks, then returning it demanding a full refund because you don't like the color.

I still don't see the point you're trying to make, other than the fact you love to read your own writing.

If at this point in time you don't see the point I'm trying to make then you're deliberately trying not to. You're not dense so I refuse to believe you just can't understand it.

It's not irrelevant because Mass Effect 3 is broken! I have a right to return it (even though I didn't, I sold it back) if my product is broken which in deed it was. A crucial part of this game was a broken mess (that's not going into the whole DLC bullshit which was basically us being sold an incomplete game) And besides, the fact that several people have already received full or partial refunds for the game makes your point that "people can't return a product if their unsatisfied with it" is MOOT! That's the whole point of a refund! You buy a product, find out it sucks, and take it back! If you're so worried about retailers (many of whom are multinational corporations) losing money, then they shouldn't have offered refunds in the first fucking place!

http://videogamewriters.com/confirmed-amazon-offering-refunds-to-dissatisfied-mass-effect-3-customers-41956

http://www.gamesthirst.com/2012/03/21/origin-now-issuing-refunds-over-mass-effect-3-ending-scandal/

Here's my fucking proof.

 

[Suncatcher]

It's not irrelevant because Mass Effect 3 is broken! I have a right to return it (even though I didn't, I sold it back) if my product is broken which in deed it was. A crucial part of this game was a broken mess (that's not going into the whole DLC bullshit which was basically us being sold an incomplete game) And besides, the fact that several people have already received full or partial refunds for the game makes your point that "people can't return a product if their unsatisfied with it" is MOOT! That's the whole point of a refund! You buy a product, find out it sucks, and take it back! If you're so worried about retailers (many of whom are multinational corporations) losing money, then they shouldn't have offered refunds in the first fucking place!

http://videogamewriters.com/confirmed-amazon-offering-refunds-to-dissatisfied-mass-effect-3-customers-41956

http://www.gamesthirst.com/2012/03/21/origin-now-issuing-refunds-over-mass-effect-3-ending-scandal/

Here's my fucking proof.

ME3 functions, albeit not in the way you might have expected. If you got a defective disc or your download from origin wasn't actually a game? Yeah, that'd entitle you to a refund or replacement. But if that had happened, you wouldn't have gotten to the ending to complain about it. The fact that you bought a game with a shitty ending does not change the fact that it was a functional game, and you bought it. You aren't entitled to a refund any more than I would be if I bought a book and didn't like one of the characters, or bought a car without test driving it and discovered that the seats were uncomfortable, or bought a steak at a five-star restaurant and then decided I hated steak.

As for day one DLC? The current console market dictates that every game be exactly $60, and every DLC be exactly 10$, with very few exceptions. So if a publisher wants to sell a 70$ game that isn't PC exclusive, their only option is to cut a segment. They aren't robbing you, they're setting the price higher and giving you the option to play without certain elements to save money. You're the one who decides whether you want to buy a $70 game, or 86% of a $70 game, or save your money (and honestly the prothean asshole was a lot less that 14% of the game). Continuing to complain about being given that choice makes you sound more spoiled and entitled than any complaint about the ending could.

Finally, saying something happened once does not in any way qualify as proof that it should happen. I can prove people have punched police officers in the past, but that doesn't mean I'm entitled to a free swing.

Where you do have a case is if you claim false advertising. They said from the beginning that the choices you made over the whole series determine what happens in the ending, and that was simply false. But good luck getting anywhere with that.

 

[DioWallachia]

-Relationship between Journalists and the industry
Now, I spend most of my time studying politics, reading the news, CNN, MSNBC, FOX and the like. So seeing collusion, conflicts of interest and general favoritism in journalism isn't something that shocks me. Of course, I'm used to Fox favoring Republicans, CNN and MSNBC favoring Democrats, so on and so forth. I'm used to seeing blatant lies covered up and party lines parroted in a way to twist the minds of what the readers think. I don't think I've ever seen the mainstream media side with the politicians against their readers though.

Seeing games reviewers and online publications turn against their readership is amazing. I'd expect to see that from online cartoonists, who let's face it, make money by making outrage. But IGN and others...they're supposed to be that important 'fourth estate' the watchdogs, the impartial arbiters and reporters of the information...now of course, they're all in it for money...and we see just who those journalists hurled themselves forward to defend, the people that get them their money apparently, the major producers. I'm not saying that they should have been joining the angry mobs, far from it in fact. They've killed their credibility worse than any Dorritos add or bag of swag and day at E3 could manage, they showed absolutely no regard or desire to as a whole report on what was the biggest story in gaming...and when they did, they did it in such a blatantly biased way that it was beyond reprehensible.

FORBES did, and let's face it, how many gamers look to Forbes for their release and review news?


Perhaps I'm taking this issue a bit deeper than intended, but this issue isn't about Mass Effect 3 anymore, it's about the core of our passion, our hobbies, and our interest in gaming, and it touches each and every one of us. How games are made, how the corporations involved in gaming operate, the quality we expect from games and the quality we expect from games Journalists. It's all been laid bare to us in this messy debacle and the point of this isn't that we as gamers should be 'holding the line' for a better ME 3 ending or arguing the Indoctrination theory. The point of it is we need to demand batter of our games producers, and reviewers, or the media that reports to us, and of the companies that get our money, because we've let it all slide. We haven't' cared, we haven't made the painful stand to demand better products, and the end result is the Mass Effect 3 debacle.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand here is the part where i ask you: Can i have your babies?

At least someone understands the future (and actual) implications of all this bullshit. In the same way that gamers havent made a stand when the Ultima series (one of the many victims of EA) got fucked up, and the same way that gamers havent made a stand when that sick fuck murderer Anders Behring Breivik, the man responsible for the Utøya summer camp massacre and Oslo bombing in Norway, claimed that "He used COD as training". History repeats itself (shall we say....the cycle of destruction continues?? OMG SO DEEP BRO!!) now that ME3 got fucked up and this new tragedy happened in the school shootings.

http://metagearsolid.org/2011/07/video-games-in-the-master-plan/
You may want to read that for the lulz. Probably with your background on politics you can dig something even WORSE.

Seriously people, if you love this medium then we have to make absolutely clear what is our place in this world.

You can carry on with your conspiracy theory on how everyone really would hate ME3 if only they hadn't been brainwashed all you want, and how you, and a few people on Youtube, are the only people in the whole world who really gets it thanks to your blatantly superior understanding of artistic merit. Knock yourself out with it.
It doesn't change the simple fact that...
I... Don't... Care.

I dont understand artistic merit (lets all admit it, NOBODY fucking does), i just post simple facts that:
1)this shit happened in other mediums
2)bad art also exist

As for "Conspiracy Theory".... you do realise that people are STILL stupid enough to fall for the Appeal to Popularity AND the Appeal to Authority? as in: "You are an entitled little shit who doesnt know any better. We, the writers of BW and the game Journalist do. People like us deliver UNBIASED information and up to date research for everyone, that is why when you hear about the killer being influenced by videogames to kill kids, it must be true. Trust the thousands of sheeps that pressed the LIKE button"

http://kotaku.com/5968683/mob-blames-mass-effect-for-school-shooting-is-embarrassingly-wrong

And lets not forget that Bioware ISNT the only one manipulating the fans into thinking that they can deliver joy to their fans:
Remember when the Overthinker was good and useful? it didnt take long to fall from grace

This isnt conspiracy, this is HAPPENING RIGHT NOW! So are you slow or forgetful? whicht one is it?

Oh wait, you dont care. Of course you dont.......hard to care when you have nothing to bring, right?

 

[Machine Man 1992]

It's not irrelevant because Mass Effect 3 is broken! I have a right to return it (even though I didn't, I sold it back) if my product is broken which in deed it was. A crucial part of this game was a broken mess (that's not going into the whole DLC bullshit which was basically us being sold an incomplete game) And besides, the fact that several people have already received full or partial refunds for the game makes your point that "people can't return a product if their unsatisfied with it" is MOOT! That's the whole point of a refund! You buy a product, find out it sucks, and take it back! If you're so worried about retailers (many of whom are multinational corporations) losing money, then they shouldn't have offered refunds in the first fucking place!

http://videogamewriters.com/confirmed-amazon-offering-refunds-to-dissatisfied-mass-effect-3-customers-41956

http://www.gamesthirst.com/2012/03/21/origin-now-issuing-refunds-over-mass-effect-3-ending-scandal/

Here's my fucking proof.

ME3 functions, albeit not in the way you might have expected. If you got a defective disc or your download from origin wasn't actually a game? Yeah, that'd entitle you to a refund or replacement. But if that had happened, you wouldn't have gotten to the ending to complain about it. The fact that you bought a game with a shitty ending does not change the fact that it was a functional game, and you bought it. You aren't entitled to a refund any more than I would be if I bought a book and didn't like one of the characters, or bought a car without test driving it and discovered that the seats were uncomfortable, or bought a steak at a five-star restaurant and then decided I hated steak.

As for day one DLC? The current console market dictates that every game be exactly $60, and every DLC be exactly 10$, with very few exceptions. So if a publisher wants to sell a 70$ game that isn't PC exclusive, their only option is to cut a segment. They aren't robbing you, they're setting the price higher and giving you the option to play without certain elements to save money. You're the one who decides whether you want to buy a $70 game, or 86% of a $70 game, or save your money (and honestly the prothean asshole was a lot less that 14% of the game). Continuing to complain about being given that choice makes you sound more spoiled and entitled than any complaint about the ending could.

Finally, saying something happened once does not in any way qualify as proof that it should happen. I can prove people have punched police officers in the past, but that doesn't mean I'm entitled to a free swing.

Where you do have a case is if you claim false advertising. They said from the beginning that the choices you made over the whole series determine what happens in the ending, and that was simply false. But good luck getting anywhere with that.

So basically a company can fuck us however they want. Good, glad we cleared that up.

Because god forbid I-....

You know what? No, I'm not justifying this shit with an a counter argument. You are basically saying I should just lie down and accept video game corporations fucking me and everyone else up the ass. I refuse to accept that. There are certain lines you do NOT cross, and these companies have been hopscotching over that line like schoolchildren on summer break. If I have to be whiny and entitled to get the bloated piles of cartilage running this business to realize that I'm not taking anymore of their shit, FINE! I don't care what "horrible precedent" is being set, I don't care what "damage to the medium" it'll do, and I really don't care how "anti-art" it is. If I have to go through THIS to see their art, then that art ain't worth the trouble. The only damage this could do to the medium it the same kind of damage a wrecking ball does to a decaying, cockroach infested condemned building.