One Last look at Mass Effect 3.

[Comocat]

And I find this to be a problematic rewriting of history as well. I don't even like 99.9% of my favorite game of all time, and I most certainly do not find 99.9% of Mass Effect to be above complaint. Most certainly I do not find 99.9% of the third game to be flawless, which is an absurd statement...much has been written here and elsewhere about myriad flaws that had nothing to do with the ending. It was a workmanlike but somewhat troubled effort that can most charitably be described as "uneven", marrying moments of near-brilliance with occasional rubbish. Even the well loved first and second chapters are not without issues.

But this isn't a question of determining whether or not ME was 75% or 99% strong before it fell at the finish line and died. There is no more essential element to a story than an ending. End it badly, and you HAVE compromised the work as an entire. If at the end of LOTR Frodo woke up in the Shire and it had all been a dream, you'd not be hearing much about those books as classics. Probably the most common charge leveled against the ending presented to us in ME3 is that it turned the entire saga into a shaggy dog story. I don't know if that's entirely true or fair...if you reach, you can find traces of some of the themes they turned to in the 11th hour in some of the DLC and some of the happenings in ME3...but it certainly wasn't narratively or thematically consistent. If it was "functional", it was functional only insomuch as something ended. With a great, wet splutter and a puff of fumes.

I think it's fairly evident that someone...whose name may or may not rhyme with Macy Pudson...had been watching a lot of Moon and Solaris, and decided he didn't really WANT to finish making Star Wars for a new generation, he wanted to Arthur C Clarke that ***** up with some technological singularity and transhumanism. Make him some art! But it's rather like shoehorning the end of the Decalogue onto Die Hard. Rather than a natural conclusion, we're left with a strange atonal lurch. All themes of galactic unity in the face of overwhelming odds, writing the wrongs/healing the wounds of the past, mending fences between disparate people, etc are tossed aside while you chat with a glowing kid (who is also the primary antagonist) about which bizarro ending you want. At least one of which involves the exact horrifying bio-mechanical fusion you've spent the better part of 3 games trying to avert. It is a misread of colossal proportions when it comes to audience expectations.

I think you nailed why I dislike the ending.

Personally, I think BioWare wrote themselves into a corner and simply could not end it with a reasonable victory. Lord of the Rings did a good job setting the stage for why the ring was invincible except for this very small volcano in the heart of Mordor. The quest was challenging, but doable. BioWare never did that with the reapers. At no point in the series did I ever think, wow I really have a shot at beating these guys. 1 reaper pretty much destroyed the entire galactic fleet in ME1, how could we ever possible win against hundreds or thousands of them? Other than assuming they were killbots with a kill count limit, BioWare never created conditions for victory.

I also think this is why the ending resonates so poorly with me. I have played 3 games with a nearly invincible foe, only to find that they are controlled by a glowing child and exist for some escoteric reason. The Blair Witch Project was an incredibly popular movie- and yet you never see the villain- and that's what makes it scary. Instead imagine that rather than having the fear of the unknown, the directors had shown the Witch. There is nothing they could have down to match the expectations of the audience. BioWare "showed the witch" with the ending of ME, that is, they tried to unmask the reapers, and by doing so stripped them of their horror. The ending then became about some stupid robots and bizarre robot logic, rather than an unfeeling foe that allow us to exist.

 

[Bertylicious]

Do you know, I quite enjoyed the shitstorm. I've watched a lot of MovieBob's Big Picture series where he talked about big controversies in the comic community that resulted in all sorts of weird shit like people taking out ads to campaign against a story decision, often on understandable grounds.

This has always been something inaccessable to me directly; something I might approach as an archaeologist approaches a dinosaur with a small brush and a trowel. Now though I have been able to be a part of it, if only as an interested (and emotionally distraught) observer. I may even get a tattoo that reads; "I survived ME3's ending".

 

[Rastrelly]

I've never got to it. Ending I mean. I saw it on youtube.

ME3 was crap. Simply so. Idiotic first hour completely ruined the game for me, so actually didn't THAT care of dumb endings. Lame multiplayer did not help either. It was boring and I had Exterminatus mode in Space Marine.

As for single, characters were swapped again and last possibility to choose anything was taken away from me. And the worst is that ME3 ruined all my impression on the series, the setting and BioWare themselves.

 

[BleedingPride]

Personally I thought it was the best in the trilogy. All the plot lines and choices and people in the universe i shaped gathered all together in one massive epic last stand, and I loved every moment of it. I'm happy with Ext. Cut endings.

 

[dyre]

I just played Mass Effect 3 few weeks ago for the first time (I postponed my purchase when I heard about the ending), so I never experienced the original endings, just the extended ones. And I've got to say, I really liked the game. That said, the extended endings still suck (I can't even imagine experiencing the original ones...), and the indoctrination theory - now that I've read up on it after playing the game - still makes more sense, but fuck that.

I'll fill in the plot holes with my own imagination, thanks much. The indoctrination theory just pisses me off because even if it's right, I still get no closure. And I honestly don't think it's right, even though it makes sense. I mean, these are the writers who didn't realize that destroying the mass relays would cause galactic isolation, so they retconned it, and didn't realize being stranded on some lush island doesn't really help when different alien races have different needs. Whoever wrote the ending wasn't thinking about some grand conspiracy....he just didn't think things through.

So anyway, ME3's extended ending, mixed with some imagination and assumption, leaves me with a, well, satisfactory ending. The rest of the game had some really great moments though. I mean, with Mordin and the genophage, and to a somewhat lesser extent, the Quarians and Geth. Fantastic storytelling, and I really love how that game gave us closure and made our choices matter for those huge issues that have been part of the story for the entire series. I don't know how the ending to the genophage mission and the ending to the game could have been written by the same person (or was it?). There are some little things that annoy me, like the Rachni Queen, and a few characters who I liked getting shafted, and that stupid kid that Shepherd cares so much about, but they're not deal breakers for the game. Hell, Mass Effect 2 had plenty of imperfections.

As for EDI, I dunno why they chose to give her a body, but I thought she was alright. Doesn't matter what her physical form is; she's still a likable character.

Overall, I had a great time with the game; the extended endings weren't good, but they weren't bad enough to ruin my otherwise really great experience. I can totally imagine the original endings doing it though. It just ends with the Normandy crew crash landed on that planet, right?

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

Mass Effect 3 is such a flawed game. But the fact that the ending is so fuckin' atrocious made it seem like that's the only wrong thing in the entire game. It isn't. It's inferior to it's predecessors in pretty much every way.

As for the Indoctrination Theory and people who say that it can easily be dismissed. No. I mean, of course there is no indoctrination, but the theory isn't born out of denial. Bioware said that they planned to have Shepard indoctrinated by the end of the game, they just didn't know how to pull it off. So all the evidence that people have collected on the theory are there as remnants of Bioware's failed plan. I'm talking about actual evidence, not idiotic things that are put there for gameplay purposes like infinite ammo, or reused resources like Citadel textures etc. Those things have nothing to do with anything.

 

[Kopikatsu]

I'm extremely disappointed that the Indoctrination theory wasn't what they went with. I mean...Bioware actually went and set everything up so perfectly...

The indoctrination theory is born of denial. It just leaves us with a non-ending.

If you want to wrap around the incomprehensible minds of the bioware writers I would suggest this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiN8gL40d84
It really is the best 'last look' at mass effect. And he's done ME2 and DA2 as well.

Not really. The ending in the case of the indoctrination theory is that Shepard, deluded and controlled by the Reapers, bled out and died in front of the pillar leading to the Citadel. I'm completely fine with that outcome. They spent three games building up the Reapers as a threat that absolutely could not be fought conventionally and any attempt to do so would fail spectacularly. It also leaves the Reaper's goal shrouded in secrecy, befitting their role.

Basically, the Reapers winning was a foregone conclusion from the beginning of the series. They had wiped out countless inhabited galaxies previously, why should this one be any different? I mean, Sovereign would have destroyed the CDF and recaptured the Citadel had Shepard not dealt with Soren. It took the entire Geth/Quarian fleet (One of the strongest in the galaxy on both counts) multiple salvos to take down a single low class Reaper ship, hitting it's weak point with every salvo. Every soldier that fell in the defense against the Reapers merely increased the size of their army. Chance of victory was 0%.

 

[V1rax]

I didn't hate the ending but as someone mentioned before Bioware kind of threw themselves in a corner creating an enemy that could not be defeated through normal battle. I had a weird feeling that they would need to take a weird more philosophical approach to get victory before Mass Effect 2 was even released. Mass Effect series will ALWAYS be my favourite series to date because of the characters, the universe, and Garrus (fuck I love that blue alien).

I understand everyones anger and "lack of faith" towards Bioware and EA though and I think Dragon Age 3 will be the deciding factor on the future of the company. If everyone who likes Bioware plays DA 3 and it lets us down than it'll be a very dark age for gaming.

 

[Basiritz]

Everybody else has already pointed out everything I hate about the endings. But for me, I didn't completely lose faith in Bioware and Mass Effect until the Ad for DLC after the credits. It was like " Fuck you, and the game you love, give us more money." It was that moment I knew the Bioware I loved, whose games I was always supremely excited for, was dead.

 

[sanquin]

I liked ME3 as a whole. The ending left me disappointed, empty and angry but still the rest of the game was awesome. Yes there were some pretty damn poor side-missions. But the missions that dealt with the main plot, and most of the ME2 character missions were fantastic in my opinion.

What truly got me angry and heavily on the side of the retake mass effect movement was how EA/Bioware and gaming reviewers and such responded to the outrage.

-Artistic integrity? Artistic Integrity also involves giving people what they want. It's not 'I do things my way and my way alone because I'm a special little snowflake'.
-A detriment to the industry as a whole? If anything, the response of everyone against the ending showed how much of an impact games can have on people of all ages these days. How much more mature it has become and how it isn't just a kids game or geek hobby any more.
-Entitled and whiny? Expecting the same quality we saw in the first game, and for a large part in the second, to also be in the third? Apparently integrity only counts when it's artistic, not when it's a company's integrity. Also, how is it entitled to want a company to actually deliver on it's promises? (As they very clearly made promises in press releases, the trailers and interviews that they didn't keep.)

Yea, I would not be surprised if years from now ME3's debacle indeed will be used as an example for PR/marketing classes. As I have yet to see a better example of how NOT to do it.

 

[spartandude]

Everybody else has already pointed out everything I hate about the endings. But for me, I didn't completely lose faith in Bioware and Mass Effect until the Ad for DLC after the credits. It was like " Fuck you, and the game you love, give us more money." It was that moment I knew the Bioware I loved, whose games I was always supremely excited for, was dead.

/thread

THERE IS NO MIDDLE FINGER BIG ENOUGH

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

Also, how is it entitled to want a company to actually deliver on it's promises? (As they very clearly made promises in press releases, the trailers and interviews that they didn't keep.)

They flat-out lied about the ending. For example, they said that the rachni will have a huge impact on the final battle, our decisions will matter and it won't be an A, B, C ending. It was the exact opposite. There were no rachni in the ending, our decisions didn't matter and the ending was A, B, C.

captcha: geez louise

Indeed.

 

[Souplex]

In spite of the lack of 1's Mako and Weapon Heat System, and 2's Hack/Bypass minigames, the gameplay of Space Wizards 3 was the best in the series.
It cranked up the RPG systems, made Shepard durable enough to not spontaneously combust the second he left cover, it made Shepard mobile, so you didn't sit behind a single piece of cover for every fight, making other strategies valid, and the weight system made power based classes better all around.
I'm still playing the multiplayer.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

I'm still playing the multiplayer.

In a compelling stroke of irony the multiplayer was the best part of the game.

 

[gwilym101]

I really liked the Indoctrination theory.

However what I would have done for the ending, was not have a choice at all at the end. I'd have had the final battle with all you allies then you activate the crucible. Depending on your decisions made through out the series would alter what it did (you could argue that the different people left alive interpreted the blueprints differently or something). On top of that I would have used the EMS score to determine how much damage the reapers manage to do to the crucible before it fires, the lower the ems the higher the damage and the crucible has nasty side effects.

So a really high ems and paragon, it would shut down the reapers and cause no damage to anything else. Slightly lower and shepard dies, lower still it also destroys the relays, lower and it also wipes out all synthetic life including EDI and the Geth and lowest of all it kills almost everyone.

High renegade, could cause the reapers to turn on fly into stars, the lower your ems and the less reapers affected so the controlled reapers fight the normal reapers and cause lots of destruction.

I would not have synthesis at all, it is bullshit. If organics have no weaknessess anymore then they are immortal, which would eventually mean the galaxy would become over populated and people would clamour over eachother to stay in the sunlight. Plus how the hell does a greenlight simulatneously make AI's alive somehow and make organic life partially synthetic. If have other reasons why synthesis is bullshit but can't be bothered to list them all.

One final note to bioware if they read these (they won't but I feel better for saying it): DON'T USE DEUS EX MACHINA TO END A SERIES!!!! Plot twist is fine but never a sudden random change to the lore that makes no sense at all.

 

[Aurora Firestorm]

Sigh. Why? Why are we doing this again? Do we have to? We've beaten this horse into the ground, resurrected it, and beaten it again, until the only thing that's left to bring back are maybe its teeth and a hoof, and we're still beating those.

I liked the endings. I thought they were clever, neat, and any plot holes were pretty minor. I thought the Internet was a bunch of sillies for reacting the way they did. I thought that even if the endings had been a total piece of flaming donkey poo, that this fact would never negate the rest of the games. And I just wish everyone would shut up about this and move on with their lives.

Authors will do what they want. They don't owe anyone anything. I'm not going to use the E-word here, because the OP explicitly said not to (heh), but honestly, I don't give fans really any credit. I also loved the big middle finger that Bioware put there in the form of the Rejection ending.

 

[DioWallachia]

The indoctrination theory is born of denial. It just leaves us with a non-ending.

If you want to wrap around the incomprehensible minds of the bioware writers I would suggest this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiN8gL40d84
It really is the best 'last look' at mass effect. And he's done ME2 and DA2 as well.

Not really. The ending in the case of the indoctrination theory is that Shepard, deluded and controlled by the Reapers, bled out and died in front of the pillar leading to the Citadel. I'm completely fine with that outcome. They spent three games building up the Reapers as a threat that absolutely could not be fought conventionally and any attempt to do so would fail spectacularly. It also leaves the Reaper's goal shrouded in secrecy, befitting their role.

Basically, the Reapers winning was a foregone conclusion from the beginning of the series. They had wiped out countless inhabited galaxies previously, why should this one be any different? I mean, Sovereign would have destroyed the CDF and recaptured the Citadel had Shepard not dealt with Soren. It took the entire Geth/Quarian fleet (One of the strongest in the galaxy on both counts) multiple salvos to take down a single low class Reaper ship, hitting it's weak point with every salvo. Every soldier that fell in the defense against the Reapers merely increased the size of their army. Chance of victory was 0%.[/quote]

Well, since the Reapers acted like idiots for not going after the Citadel FIRST (until TIM told them to), no wonder why people though they could defeat them. Then again, we just killed one with a Cain so.....maybe we can??? this narrative is just plain painful to understand, and i havent even brought up the "smudboy" videos yet.

Now, to the OP: Sooner or later, the "Artistic Integrity" card is going to pop up and be used Ad Nauseum everytime a developers feels lazy. We, the "entitled" hedonistic monsters that only care about games as our safe zone for masturbation fantasies, will be unable to stop them just like how we are unable to stop EA for raping more games since the Ultima series. Since people think that games are not art even before doing ANY research (*COUGH*ROGER EBERT*COUGH*) that means that no people of high caliber is actually analizing this monstruosity of story telling (not even Metroid Other M is being studied as an example of a platonic relationship for sexist males), we are the only vanguard that games have to be considered art.............and we are becoming more and more drained by this.

Worse yet, the following philosophy as popped up more frecuently "You cant objectively say that something is bad or good. Therefore, everything is subjective"

That is SO Orwellian that is not even funny (as i said many times):

"Emmanuel Goldstein, a strawman politician invented by the ruling party in order to draw out dissidents. Orwell uses Goldstein in order to set out his own views of totalitarian societies; in the book he is entirely
correct, but the authorities do not even try to suppress his message. Instead, they attempt to condition the population into being UNABLE TO COMPREHEND AN OBJECTIVE REALITY"

This is the gift of Mass Effect 3 "Artistic Integrity": A world where we just shut down our brains and let this shit happen because, after all, there is no way to know if something is good or bad. Right? Transformers 2, Twilight, Birth Of a Nation, Freddy Got Fingered, Mein Kampf and Daikatana are all equaly good as Melancholia, Brazil, Planescape Tormentm, Legacy of Kain, IJI and Deus Ex.

If there is any end of the world at the 21 of December, it would be the end of the world of storytelling as a whole.

 

[Blachman201_v1legacy]

In a way; I think the most telling about Bioware's reaction is their superficial answers. So far their official reactions long cavalcade of different versions of "Its art, we don't need to explain it" or "You are just too attached to Shepard."

So far, Bioware hasn't tried to answer any of the hard questions like: "Do you agree with the fans' claim that the ending violates the lore?" or "Do you understand why the audience feels that the ending lacks narrative coherence?" Well, guess what: When you make some sort of "bold artistic statement" you should at least be able to defend it when it is subjected to criticism and scrutiny. Since the release, Bioware has only answered pre-approved questions, and only does so in environments they know are controlled and 100% friendly.

Bioware's silence on these matters implies that they are well aware that they won't have a leg to stand if they were ever asked one of those questions, which in turn implies that they know at some level that know they have screwed the pooch.

 

[Flippincrazy]

Get over it. Please.

Mass Effect 3 was flawed, yes, but is it really necessary to continue reminding yourself of why you hate it? Do you take some sort of perverse pleasure from it? It wasn't a personal affront on you, the gamer, by Bioware,as the evil company out to get you. It was just a rushed title that didn't survive the pressures presented by a money-centered gaming industry unscathed, and thus unfortunately did not live up to many expectations. It happens.

And if you must think of the matter, instead of obsessing over the negatives as one big conglomerate mass, think of the entertaining debate that is caused, think of how much you invested yourself in completely ridiculous fan theories such as the Indoctrination Theory and in the whole debacle. Laugh, don't grimace.

Think of the fact that frankly, this entire fracas has given far more life to the Mass Effect universe, which would have probably ceased in your minds a while back were it not for the 'E GADS, CONTROVERSY' reaction.

 

[dementis]

Everybody else has already pointed out everything I hate about the endings. But for me, I didn't completely lose faith in Bioware and Mass Effect until the Ad for DLC after the credits. It was like " Fuck you, and the game you love, give us more money." It was that moment I knew the Bioware I loved, whose games I was always supremely excited for, was dead.

I agree, I've always thought that Bioware's artistic integrity argument goes out the window when the final thing you read is "We'll let you play some more if you give us money".