Sorry, Mass Effect 3 complainers

[Tono Makt]

Sorry guys. I really am. I may have said some things about you that were not entirely fair. Forgive me, for I knew not what I did.

The whole controversy has been going on for a while now, regarding whether fans have any right to demand that a game (or any other work of art) ending be changed simply because they didn't like it. I don't think I agree with that. I was firmly on the side of the naysayers, believing that such a thing was just a bit childish, equivalent to stamping your feet because you didn't get what you wanted.

Last night (yes, I know I'm late to the party. I have other things to do, like...er...stuff) I finished Mass Effect 3. My views on the subject suddenly became a lot more clouded. It's a lot harder to retain the moral high ground now that I've actually seen what everyone was complaining about (before playing the game I had ardently avoided every spoiler that came my way, and so had no idea what the basis of the contention was) and come to the conclusion that the ending was really, truly, genuinely terrible. The people who want to "take back Mass Effect" have a lot of good points. Then again, so do the people opposing them. I've been thinking about which side of the the fence I fall, and I think I've made up my mind.

Better late than never. Now if we could just get the industry folk to play through the parts of games we don't like instead of dismissing our anger as irrelevant... I know, I know, I should just wish for a Unicorn Pony and have done with it. Got about the same possibility.

There are still people campaigning for a "fix". I don't want that. Changing the ending won't erase what we all played through, and whatever happens we'll still remember it and know that the rushed, crappy, illogical ending was what we were meant to see. I'm done with the game, and my (previously very high) respect for BioWare has taken a big knock. I just want to know why we were given the ending we were. ME3 was a solid game almost all the way through. The gameplay was great, tense and challenging. The story was suitably epic, and I've never been more emotionally invested in a video game. What caused it all to fall apart at the end, as if the development team just couldn't be bothered anymore? Everything we were told, all the cheap gimmicks we were assured wouldn't happen, we had to sit through. Was it for some planned super-DLC that EA wanted? Did the writers lose interest? Was there someone, somewhere, who actually thought that epic-sized plot holes and fundamental lack of choice was being true to the spirit of Mass Effect?

The whole thing, unlike some, hasn't made me furious or butthurt or turned me into a lifelong BioWare-phobe. I'm just sad, and I want to know why we were let down like this. Am I the only one who doesn't want BioWare to "fix" the ending, because it's already too late for that?

EDIT: captcha - "perfect world". What the hell is with the ironic captchas lately? :-/

We will never get an accurate answer to the question "Why did we get that ending?" for the same reason that we will never get a different, new ending - there is too much at stake. Maybe if Bioware goes out of business and the people who worked on ME3 have left the industry, we might get a decent answer. But as long as the people who made ME3 rely on this industry for their livelihood, they can't afford to give us the truth.

Those on the inside of the industry - game creators - have to keep their reputations as clean as possible. The producers need to keep their reputation as being able to guide a game from conception to completion smoothly and with the least amount of internal troubles. So if the producers of ME3 were to come out and say "We screwed the poochie on this one." that tarnishes their reputation. If they continue to say "We made an excellent game, but it was too high-minded for the average fan to understand." it gnaws at our guts, but when it comes right down to it how many people - without Googling it - can name who the producers of ME3 were? Who were the ones who said "This is the one we're keeping." to that shiatastic ending? Casey Hudson and... well, it's a multi-million dollar game. One single guy isn't going to have that sort of control over it. But I'll be damned if I could name even one other Bioware/EA person involved in the game off the top of my head. So all Casey Hudson has to do for the next game or two is to take a pen-name, or go by his middle name, or do something to make sure that "Casey Hudson" isn't in the credits of a game for a little while, and this blows over for him... if he sticks to his story that the game ending was great and the fans just didn't get it.

The writers on ME3 need to keep quiet about what really happened to the ending because they are easily replaceable, and unlike wizards they don't taste very appealing dipped in ketchup. One writer apparently came out and said it was just Casey Hudson writing the ending, and that article has been denied in a dozen ways since it came out. Why? Because that writer needs to be hired again, and few, if any, producers will hire a writer who spills all the backroom secrets of the game development. "Well, Writer A wanted to add a female Krogan named "Kang", and since we had never seen a Krogan before he had his anime-loving artist friend design this really kawaii shark-girl with huge tits! Which is what he always brings to a new female character, they're all like 15 years old with GG sized gazoongas." is hilarious for us to read here on the Escapist, but is rather bad for Writer A to read, and for Producer A (who hired Writer A for this project), both of whom will have a tarnished reputation for it. So writers aren't going to say much about this situation in the near future.

And finally those who depend on the game industry for their livelihood won't want a new ending to be made either, as it invalidates their own writings on the subject. "9.5, Game Of The Year!" in March followed by "Due to Fan Outcry, the ending of the game has been Totally Rewritten!" in April, and readers go "Well if the ending was so terrible... how the hell did you give it a 9.5 AND call it Game of the Year?". A rather huge blow to the reputation of the reviewer, and to anyone who was paid (in one way or another) to write comments on the game but didn't mention or glossed over the ending that was so terrible that the game creator made a new one. It comes across either as being an industry stooge ("I knew the ending was garbage but I gave it a high score anyway because I need to keep the game creators on my side.") or that your opinion is now suspect. ("I loved the ending, what are you talking about?")


Regarding a "fix" to the ending, I'm waffling on that now. I used to want a new ending that tossed out the old one entirely, but now I'm more wanting for some things to be more useful. I get a 3700EMS (no multiplayer for me; I've gone on X-Box live a few times over the years and each time I come back more convinced that Microsoft is keeping it around so that they have a huge pool of test subjects for the "Electrocute Moron" feature that they will someday release. It's illegal to test deadly things on human beings, but we're talking about X-Box live users - history will eventually side with Microsoft on that.), I get the Geth, Quarians, Rachni, Krogan, Batarians, hell everyone is now coming with me. I don't care about seeing new units - I want to see 10,000 Krogan charging across the ruins of Hyde Park. I want to see 100 Asari Commando's using Slam all at once against charge of Husks. I want to see those same Commando's making a whole line of Singularities against a charge of husks and then see a line of Turians pick them off in the air with sniper rifles. I want to see a Brute attacking a group of Marines and then suddenly blow up, only to have a Salarian take off a cloaking device while holding onto a mine. I want to see a Geth ship sacrafise itself to save a Quarian Liveship. Etc.

And I want to see that charge of husks appear to be unstoppable if I don't have the Krogan on my side. If I don't find the Banner of the First Legion (or whatever it is), I don't want to see those Turian Snipers. If I don't get the Geth to fight along side the Quarians, I want to see that Liveship be destroyed. If I don't have a high enough EMS, I want to see the Normandy destroyed, sacrificing itself to ensure that the Crucible can get into place.

In short? I want to SEE what my EMS score means. I want to SEE what all my efforts bring to the end-game. And I want there to be real, visual, obvious consequences for my choices. I didn't get enough ships (Geth didn't come, Quarians didn't come, Salarians didn't come, Asari didn't come, didn't get all of the Warships) so the Normandy dies, or someone else that I've grown to care about dies to ensure that the Crucible gets into place. I don't get enough ground support so the final scenes in London are tough-to-nigh-impossible because the Reapers can throw more at me. (that 10,000 Krogan charge is something the Reapers can't ignore, after all.) I want to see that what I've done in the game to this point truly matters in the end game. Lastly, I don't want to see the Normandy fleeing the battle.

Give me that, and I'll accept the annoying Starchild, and the leaps of logic that it requires.

 

[Tono Makt]

If you read a book set in Japan do you imagine the main character as Japanese unless specifically stated otherwise?

That depends on whether or not I like the main character. If I like the main character, I tend to think of them as Ruri Hoshino. If I dislike the main character, I tend to think of them as Shinji Ikari. If I'm not sure if I like them or not, I tend to think of them as The Dude.

/end threadjack
//if anyone decides to hack my computer, I really don't recommend looking in that "Thai LB" folder that comes preinstalled on all Windows 7 Professional Home editions.

 

[Lugbzurg]

Stop calling it art. STOP. Its a video game. More importantly, its a product that they're selling. Who the hell cares about artistic integrity? I, as a savy consumer, only care about one thing. MY MONEY and what is important enough to spend it on. If something isn't to my liking, then I'm not buying it. That doesn't mean that things should change for me to buy them, it just means that not everyone is going to appreciate and like the product.

Game doesn't meet my standards so I'm not going to buy it. Why is that anyone elses problem? if you like the game well fine, like it. You already bought it, so Bioware and EA don't give 2 shits about your opinion.

"Games are not art"?

Erm. Ok. Better remove all films, novels, songs, paintings, sculptures, and all other forms of creative expressions from "art", and see what we're left with.

What I'm saying is its not an excuse. I didn't like the ending, and them going "oooooh but its art" doesn't mean anything. Since I don't like it AND its art then all negativity and criticism is invalid? It's an excuse that is going to become more and more popular as video gaming grows. Doesn't mean they should change anything, its just an "artistic" decision in the series that everyone hated.

Wow... So messed up. Something being art doesn't automatically mean you should love it. I never said it excuses anything. Don't make up words I never said.

A child's scribbling and the endings to Mass Effect 3 are both art. They're not good, but, they're still art. A single line on a piece of paper is art. But, no one can tell you weather or not you should enjoy it.

Mass Effect 3, like all videogames (even Big Rigs, for crying out loud), is art. That doesn't mean everything about it is perfect.
Stop putting words in my mouth.

 

[Mikeyfell]

Morning drinking games? Hardcore. Although basing a take-a-shot game off things that make geeks angry will probably leave you with some serious liver function issues...

I only drink for every thread, not every post.
And only every one I see, (and post in, which is every one I see)
And I don't only check the Forums in the morning.

My liver'll be fine.

I did hear that Kaiden, Hacket and EDI were recording more dialog, so that makes me... Um, skeptical. Which is as close to hopeful as I'm willing to get.

Kaiden died on Virmire. True fact.

As for the DLC, going by the fact they've got those voice actors back in the studio, I imagine it'll be more about picking up right after the ending. You know, explaining what happens to all the poor bastards who got stranded light-years from home without any food they were capable of eating and on the same ships as long-standing enemy races with whom they've just made an extremely tentative peace pact.

Basically, if there were any degree of logic behind it, the Extended Cut would just be a huge battle between the different races over who gets control of Earth's resources

I know right, over the course of the Anderson/Illusive Man talk Joker broke off from the battle with the Reapers, picked up your squad who just saw you get blasted by a Harbinger and then booked it out of the system and got far enough away to crash land on a green planet.

I think the Normandy crashed on the Island from Lost.
There's the Indoctrination Theory, but the second best ending alternative is the Lost Island Theory. Because that theory even fixes some of the plotholes that aren't related to the end of the game. and some plotholes in Lost.
That's just what I think anyway.

 

[Risingblade]

Bioware already made it up to me by letting me play as a geth in multi player.

 

[johnnnny guitar]

well thanks for saying sorry but Im done with Bioware no matter how good or bad they "fix" the ending with The Extended Cut DLC.
On the other hand I should thank bioware for helping me find all the great personalities on the internet that were upset about the ending aswell seriously their are some great video out there that fully destroy the argument that the ending should stay the same.

 

[Darkmantle]

Wow... So messed up. Something being art doesn't automatically mean you should love it. I never said it excuses anything. Don't make up words I never said.

A child's scribbling and the endings to Mass Effect 3 are both art. They're not good, but, they're still art. A single line on a piece of paper is art. But, no one can tell you weather or not you should enjoy it.

Mass Effect 3, like all videogames (even Big Rigs, for crying out loud), is art. That doesn't mean everything about it is perfect.
Stop putting words in my mouth.

Might as well be yelling into the wind with this one. Most gamers don't understand that there is bad art and good art. Calling something art isn't a defense against criticism and it isn't assumed that something is good because it's art.

unfortunately that seems to be the stance many "industry people" have taken about ME3s ending. You can't complain about it, because it was the artists vision and you should respect that. Well I don't respect it, the ending is bad, and whoever wrote it should feel bad.

 

[Darkmantle]

unfortunately that seems to be the stance many "industry people" have taken about ME3s ending. You can't complain about it, because it was the artists vision and you should respect that. Well I don't respect it, the ending is bad, and whoever wrote it should feel bad.

I've heard that more as a stance against people who want the ending changed. I really think this whole thing is just a breakdown in communication between the average gamer and the gaming media.

Gamers seem to think that when the media says you can't demand Mass Effect 3 change it's ending because it's art, that they means they don't have the right to criticize it.

Couple things

the "we only mean the people who want it changed" thing is silly. I want it changed, because I think it's just badly written and handled, and I don't think that's the story they wanted to tell, it sounds too forced and rushed. But I know how companies work, and EA won't admit it's mistakes, so a "rewrite" is never going to come on it's own

and the defence of it's only " against people who want the ending changed" would hold up better if any of the reviewers and critics weren't singing the praises of the ending and how it all made sense and were pulling the entitled card on anyone who disagreed, whether or not "demand" was in the argument.

 

[idarkphoenixi]

It wouldn't be such a problem if people we allowed to edit the game and change the ending to a way that they preferred. However, Origin will ban anyone caught modifying the game without question. This is a lifetime ban by the way.

 

[FFHAuthor]

Actually, I'm still of the opinion that some - some! - of the complainers are being childish and acting like brats. I've seen forum posts screaming about how they deserve more than this, how BioWare are "stupid fags who hate their customers", how they will never ever buy a BioWare game again because this one was worse than the Holocaust, etc. It's hard to argue that behaviour like that isn't the work of entitled children.

Well, it's the internet, what more can you expect than there to be a larger than expected portion of over the top nutjobs.

But kudos to you for being willing to step up and say 'oh, I do see your point' after getting a better grounding in the entire issue.

 

[Savo]

You are right that we already had our ME3 playthroughs spoiled by the ending. The feeling of playing through the entire game and coming to the highly anticipated final battle only to get slapped in the face by star-kid and his poorly written monologue can't be undone.

However, Bioware can still make it up to the fans. The damage that the ending did to the rest of the series and future games can still be undone. At this point, I view it as them repairing the series as a whole so that future ME games can hold to the same quality of the first two and 99% of three.

We may have had our playthroughs of the Mass Effect series spoiled, but that doesn't mean that future fans and upcoming entries in the ME series need to suffer the same fate.