Poll: Did the ending of Mass Effect 3 ruin the whole trilogy for you?

[nathan-dts]

Regardless of what you did over 3 whole games it all boiled down to left, right or center.

 

[Flailing Escapist]

Yes and no. I can't bring myself to play 3 again since the ending means nothing and there's enough other flak (Vega, Chobit and that fucking kid) that keeps me from enjoying myself. <That's what I noticed on my last playthrough; I shouldn't play a game that makes me want to roll my eyes, skip parts of it as fast as possible or groan, because of stupid.

I can still play ME1, though, it's kind of open and shut. 2 on the other hand I've played almost too much coupled with ME3 just killing the rest of the series for me.

ME1 - Hospitalized - minor burns
ME2 - M.I.A. - last seen on Omega
ME3 - D.O.A. - stepped on a landmine

 

[kannibus]

Actually I thought the endings were great. Yes it felt like the choices you had made up to that point didn't matter, but that was what brought it home for me. The entire series had been "Commander Shepard: Making Stuff Better" but then at the very end I realized, that it didn't matter how badass Shepard was. Sometimes, there are just things were you can't win. No matter how good you are.

 

[Nihlus2]

Ruin the entirety of the triology? No.

Did it make it seem pointless? Perhaps.

Basicly... all the investment you did through the first two games, what Bioware kept empathizing as important, got thrown out of the window in the final game... -you don't do that!-.

However... I enjoyed the rest of the triology, heck until the last hour, ME3 seemed and felt like a true succesion to the series... I think that is why people got.. and still is getting this furious over how it turned 180 degrees out of nowhere.

Is it enough for me to damn the triology? Far from, but I can go back and redo ME1 and ME2... with lots of good times and excitement... ME3, I can't, even if I detach it completely and emotionally from anything i felt when viewing the ending: because I know that a replay of ME3 will leave no difference whatsoever. No consequences no alterations, just a one-trick pony.

So in short. Triology? Still good, very good.
Journey? Amazing.
Conclusion? Ambiguous, holed lore, and undoing of the triology's story.

So... I think that sums it up.
I can sit down with ME1, ME2... heck even Dragon Age 2 or some none rpg-title with 1 ending and replay it alright, because either it commits all the way in one-set-of-mind for where it is going, mechanical and theme-wise - wether high or low in content, predictable or not.

But ME3? I get a feeling of "What is the point of redoing that?"... it's a very strange feeling I haven't had for a game before... so I take that as a bad sign. The game gives you a taste of freedom... then strips it all away, everything but an fps aspect... and that leaves you sour.
But will wait and see what happens next. The journey was never anything but amazing.

 

[pliusmannn]

it maybe didn't ruin the whole trilogy but it sure as hell did steal me the want of replay from the beginning, i don't want to play anymore, up until last 10 minutes of the game i wanted to start over again to see what will change, ending stunned me and i won't probably play mass effect at all... i won't probably play any of bioware games at all, they dissappointed me for too much with da2 and now this "epic unforgettable ending"

 

[Savagezion]

They took my choices and made them not matter

from what I see, it's the choices you made that even got you there

Nah, its just your ability to play a game that got you there. All choices lead to the same place. It leads to a different means towards that place, but its the same place.

It's like saying that me deciding whether I want to jump on the flagpole with a 3, 6, or 9 to get a certain number of fireworks means my choices is why the game ends like it does. Doesn't matter how you do it, the end result is ultimately the same result. There simply isn't cause and effect in play.

 

[teh_Canape]

It does in the sense of

They took my choices and made them not matter

from what I see, it's the choices you made that even got you there

Nah, its just your ability to play a game that got you there. All choices lead to the same place. It leads to a different means towards that place, but its the same place.

It's like saying that me deciding whether I want to jump on the flagpole with a 3, 6, or 9 to get a certain number of fireworks means my choices is why the game ends like it does. Doesn't matter how you do it, the end result is ultimately the same result. There simply isn't cause and effect in play.

I see
then again, I didn't make my reply too... fundamented
I only had a single shepard I made since the first game so I can't particularly compare by myself =P

 

[Nihlus2]

Actually I thought the endings were great. Yes it felt like the choices you had made up to that point didn't matter, but that was what brought it home for me. The entire series had been "Commander Shepard: Making Stuff Better" but then at the very end I realized, that it didn't matter how badass Shepard was. Sometimes, there are just things were you can't win. No matter how good you are.

Can actually agree on that. Only problem I had is... why force us in that tragedy direction then? When the rest of the game was: Make a choice, face a consequence. Everything from here on out is on YOUR hands!

But the finale was "You can do this one approach. Now go! ... ...Ehm, you're still here? What? I said you can do this one approach, why are you looking at me like you have another choice?"

They could've expanded the spectrum a bit... rushing to the goal seemed so redundantly stupid in my head that when I did it, I could only think "The only way Shepard survives this, is because "Bioware Wills It" he's not hit-*Gets hit* ... why did I not take cover here, instead of running straight into the line of fire?"

So... I would've been fine with all of this if it was like... an fps title, from the very start of the game - one way the story can go. But here, it seemed more like Bioware wanted to force one reaction, one emotion. A good emotion considering the new theme of ME introduced in ME3... but we have already felt it subtlely throughout the entire game in all the sacrifices and tough choices... I think anyone but the most daft got it - and if they didn't get it then, the ending won't either.

In ME2, I could sit feeling it was a huge succes at the ending... or feel remorse for the people that died. Or heck. Even feel like it was a massive failure (everyone dies). Now THAT's the spectrum where ME3 was only... the worst case scenario of ME2... that's why it seems a bit half-arsed - because they prooved they raised the bar in ME2 about the ending options. It does not feel like Bioware... and that's what worries people including myself - if they've gotten tired of it or something.

"It's not good story telling if you shove it in our face"

 

[iLazy]

No... even though the ending sucked, the rest of the game was beautiful.

I'm just disappointed and a little bit sad.

--sigh-- Bioware seems to enjoy making me sad D:

 

[ThatSwedishGuy]

No, it just made it harder for me to work up the energy to play the game with my other Shepard's or even start over because I now know all roads lead to Rome. There's nothing inherently bad about the endings, poorly implements and trite writing, maybe, I just didn't think they fit the theme or message of Mass Effect.

And that's sort of the problem, everyone had their opinion on what the themes or message of Mass Effect was, hence the polarizing response to the ending, I guess. People who have been making the right and good choices all along haven't been treated to a sad, depressing story of how life is shit and in the end you have to make tough choices. My tale has been one of happiness, facing adversity and overcoming them, coming out the other end farting butterflies and pissing rainbows. To suddenly have that be shifted to "Life's shit, in the end you die no matter what, pick your poison!" was a bit of a tonal shift for me.

Still, gonna give it a rest for a while then continue on my other Shepard's and just treat the ending as a "Whatevz, done!"

 

[Ishigami]

I say yes it ruins the trilogy for me.
It demoralizes me to the point that I no longer care to import my other two Shepards saves and that I can't bring myself to replay the first or second game.
Everything good that I remember of the trilogy is overshadowed by the shitty ending.

 

[Matt King]

ehh not enough to make me not to want to play it anymore
plus i have faith in bioware to fix it

 

[Erttheking]

A little, it's like getting to the center of a tootsie pop only to discover that the tootsie roll has been replaced with shit. After that you can't really focus on anything before it, no matter how good it was, because when you start again with another one the experience is kind of ruined by knowing that there is shit at the center.

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

Nope. i enjoyed all three games. The choices you made got you to the ending. An, lets be honest, the only reason you were given the opportunity to cure the Krogans, destroy or save the Geth or Quarians, was to get their armies to join you to protect earth. So they dont matter, they just got you to the ending, and their are still Krogan and Quarians/Geth on their homeworlds. The reapers left and took their ball (tech) with them. There was always going to be a heavy price tag for freedom, and the galaxy has just paid that price. Would have hated a "We one, yay, hug me Garuss and lets all live in a galaxy full of love and happiness". That would have cheapened the series for me as it would be to cliche.

The endings themselves were fine, although they shouldnt have reused the same cutscenes....bad idea that. What i would have liked added is just a cutscene of what happened on other main planets. Like, the Krogans inventing birth control? Or the Quarians making another Geth as they lack population to rebuild their planet? As far as Sol goes, its forced all the races together, they have to work together to survive and ignore past issues.

 

[DustyDrB]

No, that's ridiculous. Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 are my 3rd and 1st favorite games ever, respectively. Mass Effect 3 would challenge them if not for the ending (and for Shepard speaking too much on his own). The games are too great to be ruined by the ending. I'm just going to quit playing ME3 from now on right before Shepard gets back to the Citadel at the end, and then just make up the rest in my head.

 

[Ilikemilkshake]

Sort of... It hasn't ruined the countless times i've replayed both of the previous games, i still regard it as my favourite game trilogy ever.

However it has sapped away my will to replay them again... I had planned to do another playthrough of all 3 pretty much straight after completing ME3, to go back and make different choices and see how it all played out.. Oh well.

 

[unoleian]

Not one bit.

Actually, I just created a new character last night to play through the whole thing again in one solid go.

Remember, people, your choices do matter. They may not turn the Reapers to ice cream and you won't know if you lived happily ever after in some alien's desert cabin, but they certainly craft the experience along the way, in sometimes dramatic ways.

The series is excellent, and starting over from scratch made a lot of wonderful memories come back. It's definitely interesting "meeting" the characters I forgot about until ME3, and knowing their fates lends a certain poetic quality to the whole experience. This will be a Hell of an undertaking.

It's also interesting taking note of some of the stuff that's been evident since the start.

Spoiler

Seeing Saren now, it's obvious that he ceased being a Turian long before the game ever started. Dude's been husked and indoctrinated to such a degree it's almost worth pitying him from word one. Was an interesting thing to note. Also, why is blue so consistently the color of the Reapers? Was that an intent? Saren, TIM, Kid, Husks, all blue. Sheperd, N7, Alliance, Anderson, all red. It's been there all along...

 

[tautologico]

I already discussed this stuff a lot lately, but Ben Kuchera has written a good piece about the ME3 endings:
http://penny-arcade.com/report/editorial-article/why-the-ending-of-mass-effect-3-was-satifying-and-worthy-of-the-series-mass

I have similar opinions to him, so it saves me from typing a lot

EDIT: From the article, regarding choices:

But my choices meant nothing!

My choices were meant to mean something in the game, but they don?t! It?s all arbitrary! This is the argument that makes the least amount of sense; the forty or so hours before the ending scenes are filled with meaningful moments that deal with your choices. Characters live, or they die. You have to make tricky decisions when dealing with the many races and characters in the game, and past choices will either look wise in retrospect or come back to haunt you. Mass Effect 3 often left me stumped, sitting in front of the television with the controller in my hand, weighing my options.

The fact that players ignore an entire game that?s all but made up of consequences only to complain that a five minute movie didn?t pat them on the back for what they?d done is insane. The meaningful nature of your personal game is thrown out because you didn?t get the ending you wanted? Or because the game doesn?t give you a rehash of everything you?ve done in the final cut scenes?

Also, the final decisions you make in the game determine the fate of damn near every living thing in the galaxy. Of course your decisions matter, the result of those decision is simply not made explicit. What the game doesn?t do is rub your face in your choices. There is much left to the imagination, and in my opinion the player is given more than enough closure for a satisfying conclusion.

 

[veloper]

They were so close to a good ending there for a while. Wouldn't have minded it at all if it ended like this:

Interesting. Just cut away most of the final scenes and you have a much better ending.
Less is more, especially with Bioware.