Why do people completely ignore how great 98% of Mass Effect 3 was and just focus on the ending?

[bobhome2]

Just mirroring what some have already said.

The rest of the game wasn't that great. It mainly felt lazy and boring to me.

It was good to see returning characters, and it was nice to get a few major plot points out of the way, but it was such a slog that it just wasn't fun.

Then the ending came along, and while I didn't like it I was so GLAD that I was done. Haven't played it since.

 

[LetalisK]

No, it's not a GOTY level game. For me, it was a GOTY level game up until they dropped the ball hard at the ending. Hence the "Most of it's awesome, but..."

I just think that's overrating it big time.

It was essentially a linear story, with some shoddy writing, no sense of exploration or mistery/investigation, everything spoonfed to you.
And it's big innovation, importing saves, didn't pan out for me...

Honestly, it doesn't raise the bar in any genre standards... I see people using "amazing" and "awesome" but everyone is failing to explain to me what´s so awesome about it?

Probably because it would be impossible due to drastic difference in perspective. A lot of the things you and others cite as bad(story, plot holes, combat, etc) either don't bother others nearly as much or they actually enjoyed it. So they give you the same list back that totals up to "Awesome" in their mind, but when you total it up in your mind it equals up to less than awesome, thus leaving you once again perplexed. I base my personal assessment on how much enjoyment I got out of the game and I got a lot of enjoyment out of ME3, more than I usually get out of games.

Just saying, more than usual isn't game of the year...
And you ignore the very things that make an RPG an RPG.
And combat is really fun, better than most military shooters (Biotics add a different flavor to it).

Would you be further confused if I told you I agree with all three of those statements?

 

[LetalisK]

Pretty confused, Yeah lol.

Just to show you my perspective...

"Just saying, more than usual isn't game of the year..."

I pretty much said this myself. ME3 was on track to be a GOTY contender for me, but fucked up. So, it was simply a game that I enjoyed more than most. To use an analogy, to me, it was an Olympian that got 6th out of 30 or something like that. Enough to be better than most, but not enough to get a medal.

"And you ignore the very things that make an RPG an RPG."

Considering I don't particularly care about what makes a RPG a RPG(typing it this way feels wrong...), it would only make sense that I'm more likely to ignore it. Don't get me wrong, I've played my fair share of RPG and I enjoy a good RPG, but it's not my primary genre. Hell, even if something marketed itself as the quintessential RPG experience and it turned out to be a platformer, I'm not going to care as long as I enjoyed it for what it actually was.

I think the third is self-evident.

 

[DioWallachia]

Oh please, you could do what he's doing with every story in existance if you examine every single detail with a microscope and obsessive compulsive disorder.

Interesting how the other videos are even SHORTER compared to the one with the last 10 minutes of the game (it took him 1 hour and 30+ minutes to go with every detail that its wrong) and lets not even begin how you can kill Spider Reapers with the Cain and never mentioned again during the playthough.

I know, so what? What's your point?

That the ending is just like the last drop of a glass of water that was being filled with every single plot hole found around the 98% of the game. People thought that at least, in the end, the series would have a satisfing resolution to compensate the horrors of a rushed and a buggy release.............and BOY they were wrong.

It may be nitpicking for you, but if the sum of all the parts of a work of medium makes something greater than its total, and therefore "art", then it isnt wrong to take apart every part of the game to see if each one contributes to the greater whole.

captcha: frankly my dear
I dont give a damn?

 

[Dr_Cuddles]

ME3, as with TDKR, was good if it had been a standalone product, but as the ending to a great trilogy, it was a massive letdown.

It's like watching 'The Lord of the Rings' and just as Bilbo finally pulls himself up to Mount Doom, some random hobbit child pops up and says..

 

[Superior Mind]

You could have the most brilliantly spun story and ruin everything with a simple 'And then I woke up". Endings are bloody important, that's why I despise films or games that don't end for the sake of possibly one day tacking on a sequel.

As for Mass Effect 3 - I haven't played it. Loved the first two, refused to buy the third because of the mandatory Origin thing. I can be petty. Mass Effect was a brilliantly created universe and a great story. I can fully appreciate those who's Mass Effect experience was largely ruined by a poorly constructed ending.

I'm sure I'll have more to say on the subject if I ever play the thing.

 

[ImSkeletor]

Do you mean 30% passable, 60% Aweful, 10% putrid bile?

 

[Acton Hank]

Oh please, you could do what he's doing with every story in existance if you examine every single detail with a microscope and obsessive compulsive disorder.

Interesting how the other videos are even SHORTER compared to the one with the last 10 minutes of the game (it took him 1 hour and 30+ minutes to go with every detail that its wrong) and lets not even begin how you can kill Spider Reapers with the Cain and never mentioned again during the playthough.

I know, so what? What's your point?

That the ending is just like the last drop of a glass of water that was being filled with every single plot hole found around the 98% of the game. People thought that at least, in the end, the series would have a satisfing resolution to compensate the horrors of a rushed and a buggy release.............and BOY they were wrong.

It may be nitpicking for you, but if the sum of all the parts of a work of medium makes something greater than its total, and therefore "art", then it isnt wrong to take apart every part of the game to see if each one contributes to the greater whole.

captcha: frankly my dear
I dont give a damn?

Well technically if the ending video was over an hour and a half long then then the first videos should be the drops and the last one be the big jug that tips everything over.

I don't see the "horrors of a rushed and buggy release" I counted the number of bugs I encountered, 3 that's it... 3.

Plus I didn't think bugs and glitches meant much to Mass Effect fans considering the first game had almost twice the development time for half the content and despite that it was still a bugfest:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YMMtBA6ii8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9NvLmnjPPw&feature=related

And it is nitpicking, it can be done with every work of fiction ever made:
I could point out how ME1's story completely fell apart at the end and how the conversation with Vigil creates gigantic plot holes.

I could point out a Deus ex Machina in Return Of The King that made most of what happened in the first 2 pointless

I could point out giant plot holes in Shawshank

I could say that all the drama is killed at the final battle against the Death Star because of the retarded design that leaves a very exposed single hole that if hit causes the whole station to explode.

I could list everything that's wrong with any work of fiction if I analyse every single scene with a microscope, but it will not change the way I feel about it and it won't change how others felt about it either.

 

[Danceofmasks]

Yeah I was let down, and even hated, the original ending to Mass Effect 3, but does that mean Bioware is now the worst triple A developer in the world and I will never buy any product they make ever again? HECK NO! Am I going to ignore the rest of the GOTY-potential game that had points that literally made me laugh out loud and cry tears of sadness for the characters? Hell no! Developers sometimes trip and make mistakes, and just because you didn't like the ending to the game doesn't mean that Bioware will never make any decent product again.


That is just how I feel about the whole cluster-f. Just my opinion on the matter and I hope at least 2% of the raging escapist community agrees with me.

The next time you're having the best sex of your life, I hope your mom walks in just before the end.
Then maybe you'll get it.

 

[DioWallachia]

I could list everything that's wrong with any work of fiction if I analyse every single scene with a microscope, but it will not change the way I feel about it and it won't change how others felt about it either.

And is for that very reason that writers NEED to get better in their job. IF we dont call them out of it, it will be a snowball of problems waiting to hit them in the face at terminal velocity.

It may be the most emotional tale EVER, but if there is flaws on logic in that tale then saying that has "no problem" is ridiculous.

 

[White-Death]

I'd say 70% of it was good, 20%(Side missions existing) were cut to make way for multi-player,5% was cut for DLC,and the last 5% was a guide on how not to end a trilogy.
Fuck Casey Hudson.
This guy should never have any involvement in writing anything, let alone writing the whole ending.

 

[Cpu46]

I feel it was mostly because of the fact that you get the same ending no matter what you did prior to the end. It doesn't matter if you lost Grunt, Garrus, or any of the characters because you get the same ending sequence with the same choices and the same cutscenes.

Spoiler: Also Because It didn't end like this

 

[Proverbial Jon]

I have just wiped the "canon" ending from my mind. The indoctrination theory is still my favourite ending. My Shepard chose destroy and fought back the Reaper's control. In my mind she blew them all out the sky and everyone lived happily ever after.

But seriously, I understand everyone's reasoning for hating the whole game. Sure, I was enraged for MONTHS and although the DLC did soften the blow it still doesn't change the fact that the ending was a result of some shit writing. Somehow it doesn't ruin my enjoyment of the rest of the game. Maybe it's just because I'm used to imagining myself out of terrible situations.

 

[Acton Hank]

I could list everything that's wrong with any work of fiction if I analyse every single scene with a microscope, but it will not change the way I feel about it and it won't change how others felt about it either.

And is for that very reason that writers NEED to get better in their job. IF we dont call them out of it, it will be a snowball of problems waiting to hit them in the face at terminal velocity.

It may be the most emotional tale EVER, but if there is flaws on logic in that tale then saying that has "no problem" is ridiculous.

I never said it was perfect, it wasn't, and guess what, neither were the first 2 games.
To me ME3 is an 8.5.

I just find it more than a little hypocritical when ME2 and 3 are subjected to fan ire for flaws that are completely given a free pass in ME1; flaws that are there in equal or greater extent.

Also the kind of wrath they endure is unfair to me considering that even at their worst those games are light years ahead of some of the truly awful games that are merely tolerated and ignored.

 

[DioWallachia]

I never said it was perfect, it wasn't, and guess what, neither were the first 2 games.
To me ME3 is an 8.5.

I just find it more than a little hypocritical when ME2 and 3 are subjected to fan ire for flaws that are completely given a free pass in ME1; flaws that are there in equal or greater extent.

Also the kind of wrath they endure is unfair to me considering that even at their worst those games are light years ahead of some of the truly awful games that are merely tolerated and ignored.

Well, smudboy DID analyze ME1 so there is that if you feel the need to look deeper into the flaws of that game.

I suppose that people are either: A) being pissed of at Mass Effect for being called "an RPG" compared to games like Planetscape Torment or Sacrifice, in short, games that already did what Mass Effect did a looooooooooong time ago and hasn't brought anything new to the formula.

B)They gave ME1 a free pass just for being the first of a series and were dissapointed on how the developers fixed the problems brought up by it. It later snowballed into something that was bound to get bigger and bigger by the minute.

Just for curiosity, what other worst games are out there that make Mass Effect look better in comparation?