Goodness me, the posts really mounted up here quickly. I'd like to respond to all of it, but I don't have the time right now.
But the reason I mention that complaining about the story seems a little iffy is because technical bugs and issues are easiest to demonstrate, and they're either there or not there: you just replicate the hardware upon which running it causes the problem and wait for it to happen.
As regards the story, this topic seems to be divisive enough to have people either claiming to absolutely despise the ending or to have enjoyed it equally, like BioWare were taking cues from the Marmite marketing department. There are people who say that the endings were identical and people who say that they weren't. On that note: looking at each of the endings myself, they each look different. The changes between them may be minor or insubstantial, but they are literally different endings even if all that differs is a colored light.
So, what I'm saying is that in a court of law the phrase "the game has multiple different endings" seems to be true. Whether the developers meant "the endings are different in that the light is either red, green or blue" or "the endings are different in that nothing is shared between the Control and Renegade options", it's not clear. Language is tricky like that.
I understand what 'false entitlement' means. I don't think that's the issue. If you buy a copy of the latest 'Harry Potter' book, should you get a refund because your favorite character dies? The game is functional. It ran on my machine without crashing and I got a lot of enjoyment out of it. Was it a pointless waste of time? Certainly. But it did what I expected it to do, and though I was unimpressed with the endings, and didn't fully understand what was happening around me or why (the relays exploding, for instance, trapping the Normandy on that lush planet - do these people even have survival training..?) until the 'Extended Cut' was released, at no time was I convinced that I'd been tricked.
But you guys were, right? It's a difference of opinion, rather than fact. Hell, I agree that it was a bad ending, but what exactly should be done about it, and is it too much to expect the game to be altered until it suits ALL of you? Yes.
BioWare looked at their fans and took their complaints on-board. I'm not used to this sort of thing happening and I don't expect it to happen; their game worked and was reviewed and received decent scores. The problem is that a subset of players weren't satisfied with it.
What exactly does this mean for me? Almost nothing. The fact that a game company listened to their fans was impressive, but in retrospect it was probably one of those manoeuvres designed to inspire the respect of people like me who consider this sort of thing practically unheard of, because that means more time in the media spotlight, and gamers who might otherwise have no interest could've picked up a copy, curiosity sparked. By this point, the game was out. It was less a matter of money and more a matter of respect and reputation. That's what makes it interesting. Publishers have never cared about anything other than cold, hard cash. Ask EA.
Comparing it to 'Aliens: Colonial Marines' as I did highlights the differences between the two scenarios: the 'Aliens' game was rushed out, barely completed, after much faffing about, re-writes and engine changes that left little but some of the original assets, a lot of them being re-made and replaced. The game was buggy and differed a great deal when compared to announcement trailers, lacking a number of the features that were expected, like the high quality dynamic lighting and shadow-mapping that contributed greatly to the ambient horror and tension. The enemy animations were pathetic and some of the unique and scripted animations were missing - aliens not crawling along the ceilings like in the trailer, but popping up already-upright. Basically, the game was terrible and everyone knew it.
With 'Mass Effect 3', these problems don't exist. It's a problem with opinions, rather than technical stuff, and opinions are just harder to pin down to anything concrete, and words can be twisted and re-interpreted in numerous different ways. The evidence is that some people enjoyed the game, whereas others didn't. That's the clincher: asking for a refund for a game that is objectively worse than its own trailer is different to asking for a refund because a game does not live up to your personal expectations. It's subjective. Yes, lots of people realize that there's a problem. But... what should BioWare do?
I get the impression that I'm saying all of the wrong things here. So, please tell me: how should I feel about this?
Thanks. This is an interesting thread, though.