Mass Effect 3

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

People who have finished the game and enjoyed it are much less likely to go post a few hundred words about it on the internet than someone who feels short changed by an ending though.

The problem it is not a few people though and these are from people who finished the game. It is quite a few though and this is getting nearly as bad as the DA2. There are other games which have sold loads of copies too and people moan,but this seems much larger than normal. Very few games have seen this IMHO and usually it is down to restrictive DRM too. Bioware's own forums are full of it and almost every forum,video site and many blogs I have read seems to be going on about this.

And to be fair, as much as people have a right to complain about the story Bioware also have as much right to do what the hell they want with it...

Except you are paying for it ,so as a customer you have a right to be critical. If you just accept flaws,companies have no impetus to improve next time over. At very least they will not be aware of problems. You are just screwing yourself over in the long term.

An example could be disabled gamers complaining about controls in games - by complaining companies have actually implemented changes to help that section of the gaming community. OTH,if they just said,sigh,thats the way it is,those companies probably would have not have done a thing. After all it was not in the original vision of those companies to cater for such gamers otherwise the control options would be there. In fact even Bioware did this for ME3 for colour blind users who complained about the lack of options and that at least is something positive. So in that sense I hope Bioware takes the concerns on board.

Personally, I can only post about what I've seen so far which has been very good for the most part and I think a lot of people holding off should give it a chance. I'll be really interested to see what I do make of the ending and I'll be sure to come back here when I'm done but it's going to have to be very, very, very bad to outweigh not just the twenty some odd hours of fun I've had with ME3 but the enjoyment the series as a whole has given me. Only time will tell I suppose

Thats the thing as I mentioned,it is the ending which is the issue. The ride seems to be not the issue(a bit like BSG and its hippy ending) and I think it comes across as people getting the impression that three games worth of ride ended up in a pile of fail. As this an RPG not an FPS I can see why people can feel annoyed at the end.

However,some people did like the ending so of course YMMV.

I personally think people should wait a bit longer especially since it looks like there might be an additional DLC/content for the end(at least Bioware is hinting this now). This way the game can be judged more fairly.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I literally was sitting at my computer in a state of confusion at the ending. Mass Effect has been one of my favourite game series ever and both Mass Effect 2 and 3 I have played more or less continually doing nothing else on those days until they were complete.

Not sure what the spoiler etiquette has been on this thread but to me the ending video only seemed to match with the Renegade choice, either of the other two choices the video which was practically the same made absolutely no sense for.

I actually prefer the Mass Effect universe and IP to the Shepard story itself (which isn't to say I don't like the Shepard story). And so the ending video if indeed it is not to be retracted via DLC was a bit of a kick in the teeth because it seemed to imply all further Mass Effect content would have to be set in the past and even then it would all feel a bit pointless!

People are indicating that Shepard might be indoctrinated by the Reapers and this might explain the ending.

Almost all the endings are listed in the link in this post:

http://forums.hexus.net/2351133-post43.html

There are at least 16 different variations to the ending and these diverge from the destruction of the Collector Base in ME2.

Since you finished the game I would read the following if you want a better ending.

Spoiler Start
Remember your effective Readiness level is only 50% of the score on screen and there are 8000 points. To boost the effective Readiness level you ideally need to MP,as its nigh on impossible to get the best 4000 point ending(perhaps with a perfect game?),so perhaps if you replay through the game you with some MP action you can get a better ending. I have listed details about it in this thread. If you don't play at least one MP game a day the effective Readiness multiplier drops
Spoiler End

[Knoxville]

Personally the backlash is about what I was expecting now EA have pushed the franchise to true triple A status. Especially as it's a sequel to something people care about, and while I agree that they have every right to raise concerns if they found the content they paid for was unsatisfactory they aren't fighting a glitch or a lack of control options it's someone elses artistic expression and that can be very difficult to nail down as wrong or bad no matter how rubbish we might think it is because of attatchment we have to it ourselves.

Just some multiplayer to plough through now though and you'll all be able to disassemble my opinion on the ending, whatever that might be

Just thought I'd add something I was thinking about yesterday...

CAT made a good point, RPG's hinge more on the story and it's conclusion than the kind of mechanical satisfaction derived from say a shooter or a racing game for instance and I agree, that's certainly why I get drawn into games like Mass Effect, Skyrim etc.

How many of them actually reach a satisfying conclusion though? I was trying to come up with a few last night and it's not easy, especially this console generation...

Fallout 3's ending was terrible, I didn't care for Dragon Age/2's finales either, Dead Island's was handled abysmally, Mass Effect 2's final mission was great until you got to the "boss" and even then the main storyline paled in comparison to the character development of your squad in my opinion... Even going back to KOTOR, one of my all time favourite games, the conclusion was weak sauce next to the journey.

I can think of a couple, Mass Effect for one and Skyrim (I haven't quite finished Skyrim actually but I haven't heard any complaints yet) but by their very nature do we get more attatched to RPG's only to be disappointed because the story the writer wants to tell can't measure up to the one we build up around our character in our minds?

I'm not saying that means people can't complain or that it's ok, just throwing it out there to see if I'm alone in my experiences tbh

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

More news from Bioware:

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/sho...postcount=2513

They are intending to produce content to clarify the ending.

It also seems people are returning their games via Origin and Amazon,according to this link posted by Terbinator:

http://forums.hexus.net/2367257-post62.html

Edit!!

Possible DLC based on content cut from the main game:

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/sho...postcount=2462

[Knoxville]

Well, mission accomplished. To be honest I expected to be given one of those choices and have that be the end based on how I'd played rather than a three way Deus Ex style "pick a console" deal in the final moments, that was a trifle disappointing. Two of the three were the objectives of the last two games villains though so it was kind of a no brainer for me and to be fair I'm ok with how things played out

That might be because after some of the things I've read and heard my expectations were lowered slightly and I can see how people are angry with what amounts to a 30 second montage (of which I've since watched all three) that really doesn't say a great deal considering what you've just been through but the jist is pretty much what I expected for my ending - *spoiler* reapers gone but at the cost of mass relays, earth safe but in ruins, cheeky hint towards Shepards survival, roll credits.

It's worth mentioning that I put the hours in on multiplayer and rolled into the last mission with a galactic readiness of 100% and around 7000 points worth of war assets though, so I don't know how negatively not doing that might affect the ending.

But, yeah, it could have been a lot more grandiose and part of me very much wanted a New Hope style victory ceremony... Something, anything to show how the different species reacted, whether events had truly united them. Honestly though? There've been much, much worse endings to games than this one in my opinion!

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

You got one of the better endings AFAIK,a lot of people at the beginning did know about the MP part and got worse endings!

Anyway,it looks there might be some action regarding the endings from Bioware,in the next few months.

[sweey]

Quite pleased I've held off on starting this one. I'm continuing to do so until I know whether they'll change the endings or not - just so that I can experience it the way it is going to end up..

I'm also avoiding spoilers :>

[Hicks12]

Must admit its extremely hard to avoid spoilers, ive read a fair few now as some people just dont seem to be able to mask a spoiler with //spoiler or something(on other forums). One week togo and ive finished uni so the decision is whether the games in a state to play from next week or do i continue to wait?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

It seems that on the Bioware forums the poll about the endings are any good has hit over 50000 votes!!

[Knoxville]

Anyway,it looks there might be some action regarding the endings from Bioware,in the next few months.

I really, really hope not. Not because I'm ok with the end and hence everyone else should be. But, if they go back and retcon the ending now over this it will set a terrible precedent for fiction in games. Why would any decent writer want to work in an industry where an extremely vocal minority feels so entitled to their version of your story that they openly verbally abuse you and your staff on twitter and start campaigns on kickstarter until they get their vision instead of your vision?

It's ok to not like Mass Effect 3's ending, that's perfectly acceptable, I can totally see why you wouldn't, I got to a point where I had a choice of the three "best endings" and there was one in particular I wouldn't have been happy with at all, luckily I didn't make that choice first time. But the level of disrespect being thrown at staff, some of whom have sacrificed eight years of their life to bring gamers this trilogy, not because it's technically broken in any way but over a matter of opinion... It irks me that 50,000 out of 3.5 million people feel the need to change things for everyone else in such a disrespectful fashion...

I'd love some DLC that fills in the gaps in the final moments of ME3 for other characters. But no matter how slighted people feel about the ending I think it's a dangerous precedent to set to say that if you whine enough about a piece of art you can make the artist change it and in an industry that needs all the good writers it can get, writers that can easily go and ply their trade elsewhere, this backlash could end up being counter productive in the long run if you want games with ambitious storylines or good writing. If I were really that disatisfied I'd be doing the logical thing and simply voting with my money by not purchasing another Bioware/EA game.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

It seems there was a poll on the Bioware forums about the ending and well over 50000 people voted on it!! This is bigger than DA2!!

snip

If you think ME3 is bad,then just read about the fallout from the Neon Genesis Evangelion ending(felt sorry for the creator). That would open your eyes.

[Knoxville]

Double that number though and it's still less than 10% of the audience and that's only based on the first week of sales figures.

It might be a bigger fallout than there was for DA2 but it's still a very vocal minority at best. One that has not only acted in quite a childish fashion at times in my opinion but one that with their actions has tainted the experiences of many of their fellow players. I didn't get to play Mass Effect 3 with no preconception of the ending, I couldn't go into it as a blank slate as I'd have liked and neither could many many others. Yes, there have been worse backlashes, it didn't stop me enjoying the game immensely, but that doesn't justify the behaviour.

Plus, for those fifty thousand there are probably a million plus that don't know or don't care, that are happy with their game, that didn't moan about launch DLC then demand more to their own specifications, that didn't turn on the writers they've lauded over for two previous games and flood social networking sites with torrents of verbal abuse because what the writers wanted to do didn't match up to what they wanted to see. Those are the people I'd like to see rewarded with meaningful DLC to be honest. *spoiler* There are things I'd love to see, like what happened to the two squad members I rolled into the final mission with, they're presumed dead but their fate is never explored and they were my favourite party members to have around, it doesn't give me the right to demand that content from Bioware though.

I'll defend anyones right to dislike something to the hilt, but this has gone way beyond that imo and if Bioware do let the inmates take over the asylum and start re-writing their game I'll be considering voting with my money next time and avoiding their games because of that decision.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Still nothing compared to NGE though!

[Knoxville]

I was just reading about that to be fair, death threats? At that point I'd have pulled all my work from the shelves and George Lucas'd the hell out of it for re-release just to spite the fans!

[chuckskull]

I agree with you knox, I was disappointed with the ending but abuse is out of order. I don't think it's even the creators fault, it stinks of micromanagement from on high. Moving writers around etc. Not even to denigrate the new guys, I think Shakespeare's a great writer but I still wouldn't him to turn up and write the last chapter of a book I was reading by someone else. Especially not to change the original ending after several years of anticipation and a few hundred hours of concious effort on my part.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The original ending is already known though - I linked to it in this thread.

It seems Bioware were more concerned with SWTOR and moved the ME series lead writer over to that project.