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I thought the ending was very rushed - but only the last 5 minutes or so. It just felt like they looked at the ending of Human Revolution and thought 'We can do that!'. Don't get me wrong - I love the game, and the rest of the series, and I still believe Bioware are brilliant developers, but the last 5 mins look like a total hack-job. Not only are the free choices almost identical in presentation, but there's also multiple resulting plot-holes, Shepard is completely out of character, the explanation of the Reapers needed a lot more thought, not to mention that as a whole it was out of line with the tone of the series.
I urge everyone reading who has finished the ending and still like it to spend a minute reading this gamefront article - it pretty much summarises everything that was done wrong:
http://www.gamefront.com/mass-effect-3-ending-hatred-5-reasons-the-fans-are-right/
I urge everyone reading who has finished the ending and still like it to spend a minute reading this gamefront article - it pretty much summarises everything that was done wrong:
http://www.gamefront.com/mass-effect-3-ending-hatred-5-reasons-the-fans-are-right/
@Dreaming - Sorry, book tie-ins don't help his reason for being there. Forcing an unfamiliar character into the plot that late into a series is poor no matter how many cash grab books he was in.
Harbinger had the build up from ME2. He picked up where Sovereign left off and all he gets to do is zap Shepard on the way to the beam?
The leader of the invasion just gets a cameo? Really?
Harbinger had the build up from ME2. He picked up where Sovereign left off and all he gets to do is zap Shepard on the way to the beam?
The leader of the invasion just gets a cameo? Really?
@Fugly Duckling
"Everyone who I thought deserved a proper ending already had one by the time the ending cutscene barrage happened."
Pretty much this. Legion and Mordin had their moments.
"Everyone who I thought deserved a proper ending already had one by the time the ending cutscene barrage happened."
Pretty much this. Legion and Mordin had their moments.
My main problem is, star child states the reason for the Reapers actions is because biological and synthetic life cannot get along. Yet, both the geth and EDI are not only helping me but, (at least in my play through) are pretty friendly. However, that info cannot be relayed or explained. Other than that I enjoyed the rest of the game.
It's ok to have a sad/grimdark ending. That's not my problem with it. The problem is that in the last 10 minutes the game completely contradicts established canon, pulls the ass pull of all ass pulls via deus ex, makes Reaper motivation contradictory and stupid, offers you no chance to argue with the retarded magic space kid, offers no exposition or anything to solidly close the can of worms it opens up by raising a hell of a lot more questions and plot holes (why are people who died with me running into the Normandy and leaving me behind, why is joker flying away?), and the most damning of all: it invalidates all of your choices after that point. Three games worth of choices and you are greeted with which color space laser you want to see with minimal difference to another player's ending since they don't close it off with showing you the aftermath of anything you did or accomplished.
I mean, if you broker peace between synthetics and organics via geth and quarians and EDI and Joker, why doesn't Shepard use that to argue with space god kid as a means to show peace can happen instead of blinding choosing the options the kids gives him? Why don't reapers just come in and kill the synthetic lifeforms that arise and tell organics to cut that shit out? Why the hell was the dark energy plot that was hinted at in 1 and 2 completely dropped in favor of this bullshit? It's just an awful way to end a series. I can't wait until "LOL ENDING DLC" comes out, because I can't believe someone at the developer meetings didn't say "hey guys, this is goddamn retarded." There has to be a method to the madness. Unless they want to just go with the ass pull ending to make thing easier for another game set in the same universe. I don't believe they are that incompetent.
I mean, if you broker peace between synthetics and organics via geth and quarians and EDI and Joker, why doesn't Shepard use that to argue with space god kid as a means to show peace can happen instead of blinding choosing the options the kids gives him? Why don't reapers just come in and kill the synthetic lifeforms that arise and tell organics to cut that shit out? Why the hell was the dark energy plot that was hinted at in 1 and 2 completely dropped in favor of this bullshit? It's just an awful way to end a series. I can't wait until "LOL ENDING DLC" comes out, because I can't believe someone at the developer meetings didn't say "hey guys, this is goddamn retarded." There has to be a method to the madness. Unless they want to just go with the ass pull ending to make thing easier for another game set in the same universe. I don't believe they are that incompetent.
Fucking horrible. Throws away many of the concepts and systems the series was built on, along with causing galaxy-wide genocide and destroying the post ME3 universe. It's a bad, bad ending all around
Mass Effect 1. Average gameplay, great story, amazing ending.
Mass Effect 2. Better gameplay, great story, fantastic ending.
Mass Effect 3. Best gameplay, best story, confusing and jarring ending.
So, great game, bad ending.
Mass Effect 2. Better gameplay, great story, fantastic ending.
Mass Effect 3. Best gameplay, best story, confusing and jarring ending.
So, great game, bad ending.
All in all, I like it and I think it's a fitting ending for the trilogy. That being said, the last couple hours of that game are intense and emotionally exhausting, and I would have appreciated a more cathartic ending. It should still be bittersweet, I'd just love a little more sweet to balance out the bitter.
The ending is dreadful.
I'm not going to lobby to change it, and I'm slightly baffled by the people raising money for charity to have it changed, but it's still dreadful.
I also have very little time for people who haven't played all three games and finished the last one weighing in on this topic. Saying, "It's just a game, how bad can it be?" or "It's art! You can't demand that someone change art!" (Schoville) or "You're acting like you're entitled to the ending that YOU want, and you're not!" (Sterling / Long) is completely missing the point.
I thought people were overreacting too, and some of them are. Then I finished the game, and I was really taken aback by just how bad it was.
Here's the ending in a nutshell: you've got to the end. You're just about to deal the final blow that will save the galaxy. You've overcome trials and ordeals that no-one has ever faced. You've lost friends and comrades, but you've made It's so close... just a few more steps...
Then a magical child turns up and tells you that you have to kill yourself.
The magical child tells you that you have to do this for a reason that is obviously stupid. But there's no option of calling it stupid. You just have to accept it, OK?
You're then given three choices of which other things, along with yourself, you are going to kill. These amount to: 1) kill what you've been trying to kill for ages, but also some friendly robots; kill *everything* and replace it with... something else; or take control of the thing you've been trying to kill, even though you've been told you can't do that.
So I went for the one where you just kill the thing you've been trying to kill for ages. All the NPCs I'd picked up along the way were then shown crash-landing on a jungle planet (despite one of them clearly being dead). And then it turned out that Commander Shepard hadn't been killed either, and was actually alive in some rubble, so maybe none of it had happened at all.
And then there's a magical grandpa talking about stories. That's it. The end.
If it'd been a two hour film, I would have probably thought "well that was crap" and not bothered getting the DVD. But this is a three game, 120-hour time sink of utterly wonderful story. It'd been exciting. It'd been dramatic. It'd been dark, and it'd been light. It had been funny, and mysterious, and occasionally sublime.
But the ending is like the writers shrugging their shoulders and going,
"Well, I've run out of ideas, how about you guys?"
"Same here. Let's just nick that bit from the Matrix where the Architect turns up and says it's been going on for ages because humans keep fucking up".
"You sure?"
"Yeah, and if we making it a bit dreamy, then if people don't like it we can always say that it was just a dream"
"Sounds good. Hey, story done! Let's hit the pub"
In other words, the ending is dreadful. I don't want to see it changed- after all, they've made it clear that I have no choice in the matter. Leave it as it is. Bioware have chosen for Mass Effect 3 to be a game that had the potential to become a modern classic, talked about for years, but they just couldn't be bothered to finish it off properly.
I'm not going to lobby to change it, and I'm slightly baffled by the people raising money for charity to have it changed, but it's still dreadful.
I also have very little time for people who haven't played all three games and finished the last one weighing in on this topic. Saying, "It's just a game, how bad can it be?" or "It's art! You can't demand that someone change art!" (Schoville) or "You're acting like you're entitled to the ending that YOU want, and you're not!" (Sterling / Long) is completely missing the point.
I thought people were overreacting too, and some of them are. Then I finished the game, and I was really taken aback by just how bad it was.
Here's the ending in a nutshell: you've got to the end. You're just about to deal the final blow that will save the galaxy. You've overcome trials and ordeals that no-one has ever faced. You've lost friends and comrades, but you've made It's so close... just a few more steps...
Then a magical child turns up and tells you that you have to kill yourself.
The magical child tells you that you have to do this for a reason that is obviously stupid. But there's no option of calling it stupid. You just have to accept it, OK?
You're then given three choices of which other things, along with yourself, you are going to kill. These amount to: 1) kill what you've been trying to kill for ages, but also some friendly robots; kill *everything* and replace it with... something else; or take control of the thing you've been trying to kill, even though you've been told you can't do that.
So I went for the one where you just kill the thing you've been trying to kill for ages. All the NPCs I'd picked up along the way were then shown crash-landing on a jungle planet (despite one of them clearly being dead). And then it turned out that Commander Shepard hadn't been killed either, and was actually alive in some rubble, so maybe none of it had happened at all.
And then there's a magical grandpa talking about stories. That's it. The end.
If it'd been a two hour film, I would have probably thought "well that was crap" and not bothered getting the DVD. But this is a three game, 120-hour time sink of utterly wonderful story. It'd been exciting. It'd been dramatic. It'd been dark, and it'd been light. It had been funny, and mysterious, and occasionally sublime.
But the ending is like the writers shrugging their shoulders and going,
"Well, I've run out of ideas, how about you guys?"
"Same here. Let's just nick that bit from the Matrix where the Architect turns up and says it's been going on for ages because humans keep fucking up".
"You sure?"
"Yeah, and if we making it a bit dreamy, then if people don't like it we can always say that it was just a dream"
"Sounds good. Hey, story done! Let's hit the pub"
In other words, the ending is dreadful. I don't want to see it changed- after all, they've made it clear that I have no choice in the matter. Leave it as it is. Bioware have chosen for Mass Effect 3 to be a game that had the potential to become a modern classic, talked about for years, but they just couldn't be bothered to finish it off properly.
I like it if it is the last "Shepard"'s Mass Effect or if my Shepard can be recloned or something (though it would be stretched thin). Its provocative, I miss my character but if it closes the loop, it's a nice sacrifice sequence.
I would have loved to play another character though that goes through all surviving characters that honor Shepard for all he's done and know what they are aiming towards doing... you know, see how the ME universe will move on.
It would give nice closure to the whole trilogy.
I would have loved to play another character though that goes through all surviving characters that honor Shepard for all he's done and know what they are aiming towards doing... you know, see how the ME universe will move on.
It would give nice closure to the whole trilogy.
For the ga-jillionth time, my biggest problem with the ending is that my choices throughout the series are suddenly cut out of the equation and hardly have an impact on how it plays out. Despite everything Shepard has struggled, fought and sacrificed for, everything that's happened now boils down to choosing 1 of 3 options given to me by some stupid Deus Ex Machina character, which play out virtually identically. The whole "16 different endings" is simply a marketing ploy. While technically true, well....yeah exactly, its merely TECHNICALLY true.
But like I was saying, our choices throughout the game, and indeed throughout the series, don't seem to matter all that much. They have little effect on the ending, and even some of the big choices we made are rendered null-and-void by the nature of the endings. Made peace between quarian and geth? No longer matters. Ended the genophage and allied the krogan and turians? No impact. Or, going back even further.... sacrifice/save the council? Doesn't matter. Save/Destroy the Collector base? Who cares? No matter what you've done, it all comes down to picking one of the choices that SOMEONE ELSE gives you. Honestly, that last 5 minutes felt so alien to the series that I honestly had trouble believing it.
I could go on and on, but this is my biggest problem with the ending. Thanks for providing this spot for us to share our thoughts :)
But like I was saying, our choices throughout the game, and indeed throughout the series, don't seem to matter all that much. They have little effect on the ending, and even some of the big choices we made are rendered null-and-void by the nature of the endings. Made peace between quarian and geth? No longer matters. Ended the genophage and allied the krogan and turians? No impact. Or, going back even further.... sacrifice/save the council? Doesn't matter. Save/Destroy the Collector base? Who cares? No matter what you've done, it all comes down to picking one of the choices that SOMEONE ELSE gives you. Honestly, that last 5 minutes felt so alien to the series that I honestly had trouble believing it.
I could go on and on, but this is my biggest problem with the ending. Thanks for providing this spot for us to share our thoughts :)
The only complaint I have is that it could have used a little more closure, it’s the finale of the trilogy, I don’t see why they couldn’t go all out and show a bit of what happened to the cast at least, like in Dragon Age: Origins.
That’s the only complaint, I’m not mad about the end, I wasn’t expecting every decision and surviving cast member to culminate and affect the last five minutes, lots of decisions and surviving cast members culminated and affected the whole game, which is much better in my opinion. My favourite characters like Thane, Morden, and Legion all got wonderful bittersweet send-offs and that enriched the whole experience for me, the last five minutes can’t spoil that.
That’s the only complaint, I’m not mad about the end, I wasn’t expecting every decision and surviving cast member to culminate and affect the last five minutes, lots of decisions and surviving cast members culminated and affected the whole game, which is much better in my opinion. My favourite characters like Thane, Morden, and Legion all got wonderful bittersweet send-offs and that enriched the whole experience for me, the last five minutes can’t spoil that.
In my opinion, the ending is one of the worst I've ever seen, because it doesn't deserve to be called one. There's no conclusion whatsoever to all the story lines that were meticulously crafted during the course of the trilogy. The choices I made during the 150+ hours I played it do not matter the slightest.
I get what the developers were trying to make, but the presentation is incredibly bad. The ending is full of incoherency and plot holes, and just feels out of place in comparison to the outstanding writing of the rest of the game. They say it is open to interpretation, I say it was just rushed and unfinished.
I feel sad and angry and the same time because I invested a lot of time and emotion in the Mass Effect games, and I feel let down by Bioware, who was just unable to finish properly what it wonderfully started.
I get what the developers were trying to make, but the presentation is incredibly bad. The ending is full of incoherency and plot holes, and just feels out of place in comparison to the outstanding writing of the rest of the game. They say it is open to interpretation, I say it was just rushed and unfinished.
I feel sad and angry and the same time because I invested a lot of time and emotion in the Mass Effect games, and I feel let down by Bioware, who was just unable to finish properly what it wonderfully started.
I havent seen the ending, but i do hate when endings are abrupt, especially at the end of a trilogy.
I love the ending just thought it was told incredibly poor.
Only problem I have with the ending is how abrupt it is and lacking in explanation of what happens to the characters you've grown to love in the past three games. The star child comes out, makes a huge reveal, you make a choice, your crew and Normandy is in a mass relay for no apparent reason, all the mass relays get destroyed, and get then stranded on a distant planet. End.
I'm not asking for an hour long Metal Gear Solid 4 ending. But I do want a little satisfaction by giving me some closure to the Mass Effect universe that I've grown to love. BioWare didn't give me that and that's what saddens me.
The meanings of the three endings are quite different but the actual shown ending ends up being a quick color pallet swap.
Only problem I have with the ending is how abrupt it is and lacking in explanation of what happens to the characters you've grown to love in the past three games. The star child comes out, makes a huge reveal, you make a choice, your crew and Normandy is in a mass relay for no apparent reason, all the mass relays get destroyed, and get then stranded on a distant planet. End.
I'm not asking for an hour long Metal Gear Solid 4 ending. But I do want a little satisfaction by giving me some closure to the Mass Effect universe that I've grown to love. BioWare didn't give me that and that's what saddens me.
The meanings of the three endings are quite different but the actual shown ending ends up being a quick color pallet swap.
Frankly, it blew, all of your time in this universe, your choices, and relationships boil down to the same ending? The 3 choices at the end are crap, you basically choose which color you like best and that's fuckin it. All the mass relays explode regardless of what you do, all of the tech in the universe is gone, and earth is basically a giant husk. I don't mind the sad ending, but what happens to everyone? Are all of the ships trapped in the sol system? What happens to the crew of the Normandy on jungle island planet? The left too many things in the air, and that is what sours me the most about it.
The problem with the ending is not that it's sad/sacrificial. Everyone was prepared for that. Most people think a happy ending would have been atypical for this series.
The problem with the ending is that it simply doesn't fit with the brilliance of the rest of the trilogy. It's like they handed the script to an intern who had never played any of the three games and let him write the ending.
It's disconnected, it's full of loopholes, it offers absolutely no closure for all of the characters/people/species we've grown to know and love, and it just feels like a deus ex machina thrown in at the last minute because they ran out of time or something.
Fortunately, there's a lot of evidence indicating that what we saw in the final ten minutes of the game was actually an indoctrination attempt by Harbinger, and that we'll be getting the real ending (if you successfully resisted the indoctrination by making the correct choice) shortly. If that ends up being true, it's absolutely brilliant. Definitely on par with Bioware's legendary status leading up to this point, albeit a little bit poorly handled on the business/marketing end of things.
The problem with the ending is that it simply doesn't fit with the brilliance of the rest of the trilogy. It's like they handed the script to an intern who had never played any of the three games and let him write the ending.
It's disconnected, it's full of loopholes, it offers absolutely no closure for all of the characters/people/species we've grown to know and love, and it just feels like a deus ex machina thrown in at the last minute because they ran out of time or something.
Fortunately, there's a lot of evidence indicating that what we saw in the final ten minutes of the game was actually an indoctrination attempt by Harbinger, and that we'll be getting the real ending (if you successfully resisted the indoctrination by making the correct choice) shortly. If that ends up being true, it's absolutely brilliant. Definitely on par with Bioware's legendary status leading up to this point, albeit a little bit poorly handled on the business/marketing end of things.
People have been linking the Gamefront article, and I have to endorse it as well - its a perfect summation of why people are pissed off about the ending. It has nothing to do with the ending being sad.
I'm tired of explaining this so I leave this article here
http://www.gamefront.com/mass-effect-3-ending-hatred-5-reasons-the-fans-are-right/
http://www.gamefront.com/mass-effect-3-ending-hatred-5-reasons-the-fans-are-right/
I was fine with the ending. Won't say I liked it, as it wasn't really very good, but it was servicable. Certainly nothing to freak out over.
I'm fine with others hating it. To each his/her own. I don't think all the criticisms are valid, but some might be.
I'm not fine with petitions to have someone else's work changed. I find that to be in very poor taste.
I'm VERY VERY not fine with those that would flaunt a charitable contribution in an effort to deflect criticism as SOME (not all) have done.
I'm fine with others hating it. To each his/her own. I don't think all the criticisms are valid, but some might be.
I'm not fine with petitions to have someone else's work changed. I find that to be in very poor taste.
I'm VERY VERY not fine with those that would flaunt a charitable contribution in an effort to deflect criticism as SOME (not all) have done.
I think it's weird that everybody is complaining that the ending invalidates all of your previous choices. Hasn't basically every decision in the entire trilogy been rendered irrelevant by the writers at some point?
I mean, if you killed off the Rachni Queen in Mass Effect 1, that doesn't mean there are no Rachni in Mass Effect 3 (somebody just cloned one). If you blew up the Collector Base in Mass Effect 2, Cerberus has exactly the same amount of Reaper Technology as if you didn't. If various characters died in previous incarnations, other characters fill in for them and all of the same things happen, it's just that the dialogue and other cosmetic details are different. This is totally consistent with the ending. All "saving the Destiny Ascension" from Mass Effect does is makes aliens nicer to you in Mass Effect 2, and distribute your war assets differently in Mass Effect. All "choosing door #3" in Mass Effect does is change the color of the ending and make different people wander off the Normandy. This is pretty consistent throughout.
The choice you have that's meaningful is 'what kind of person is Commander Shepard' and that's very mucb reflected in the ending.
I mean, if you killed off the Rachni Queen in Mass Effect 1, that doesn't mean there are no Rachni in Mass Effect 3 (somebody just cloned one). If you blew up the Collector Base in Mass Effect 2, Cerberus has exactly the same amount of Reaper Technology as if you didn't. If various characters died in previous incarnations, other characters fill in for them and all of the same things happen, it's just that the dialogue and other cosmetic details are different. This is totally consistent with the ending. All "saving the Destiny Ascension" from Mass Effect does is makes aliens nicer to you in Mass Effect 2, and distribute your war assets differently in Mass Effect. All "choosing door #3" in Mass Effect does is change the color of the ending and make different people wander off the Normandy. This is pretty consistent throughout.
The choice you have that's meaningful is 'what kind of person is Commander Shepard' and that's very mucb reflected in the ending.
I've browsed many of the comments here and noticed that some people mentioned that they have no finished the game. They are assuming that this ending "backlash" is just coming from a bunch of angry babies. To be completely honest I was one of these people until I completed the game.
*SPOILERS BELOW!!!*
I was pretty disappointed with the endings mainly because there is really no player choice. None of my decisions over the past 3 games mattered. I had little to no dialogue when speaking to the Catalyst. My Shepard simply just accepted the options given to him. That is not how my Shepard would act. He would fight til the very end.
Ultimately, regardless of what option you choose, the ending is the same with very little variation. It also lead me to have more questions than answers and absolutely no closure. It also created a massive amount of plot holes. What happened to the galaxy I fought so hard to save? Where are my squad mates? What impact did my final choice have on everyone? How did some of my friends and practically family end up on the Normandy all of a sudden?
What the f*** :[
*SPOILERS BELOW!!!*
I was pretty disappointed with the endings mainly because there is really no player choice. None of my decisions over the past 3 games mattered. I had little to no dialogue when speaking to the Catalyst. My Shepard simply just accepted the options given to him. That is not how my Shepard would act. He would fight til the very end.
Ultimately, regardless of what option you choose, the ending is the same with very little variation. It also lead me to have more questions than answers and absolutely no closure. It also created a massive amount of plot holes. What happened to the galaxy I fought so hard to save? Where are my squad mates? What impact did my final choice have on everyone? How did some of my friends and practically family end up on the Normandy all of a sudden?
What the f*** :[
It's ok to have a sad/grimdark ending. That's not my problem with it. The problem is that in the last 10 minutes the game completely contradicts established canon, pulls the ass pull of all ass pulls via deus ex, makes Reaper motivation contradictory and stupid, offers you no chance to argue with the retarded magic space kid, offers no exposition or anything to solidly close the can of worms it opens up by raising a hell of a lot more questions and plot holes (why are people who died with me running into the Normandy and leaving me behind, why is joker flying away?), and the most damning of all: it invalidates all of your choices after that point. Three games worth of choices and you are greeted with which color space laser you want to see with minimal difference to another player's ending since they don't close it off with showing you the aftermath of anything you did or accomplished.
I mean, if you broker peace between synthetics and organics via geth and quarians and EDI and Joker, why doesn't Shepard use that to argue with space god kid as a means to show peace can happen instead of blinding choosing the options the kids gives him? Why don't reapers just come in and kill the synthetic lifeforms that arise and tell organics to cut that shit out? Why the hell was the dark energy plot that was hinted at in 1 and 2 completely dropped in favor of this bullshit? It's just an awful way to end a series. I can't wait until "LOL ENDING DLC" comes out, because I can't believe someone at the developer meetings didn't say "hey guys, this is goddamn retarded." There has to be a method to the madness. Unless they want to just go with the ass pull ending to make thing easier for another game set in the same universe. I don't believe they are that incompetent.
I mean, if you broker peace between synthetics and organics via geth and quarians and EDI and Joker, why doesn't Shepard use that to argue with space god kid as a means to show peace can happen instead of blinding choosing the options the kids gives him? Why don't reapers just come in and kill the synthetic lifeforms that arise and tell organics to cut that shit out? Why the hell was the dark energy plot that was hinted at in 1 and 2 completely dropped in favor of this bullshit? It's just an awful way to end a series. I can't wait until "LOL ENDING DLC" comes out, because I can't believe someone at the developer meetings didn't say "hey guys, this is goddamn retarded." There has to be a method to the madness. Unless they want to just go with the ass pull ending to make thing easier for another game set in the same universe. I don't believe they are that incompetent.
My biggest problem with the ending is that this many people have already beat the game twice 0.0
Didnt buy it cuz I dont approve of EA's business practices(gunna wait to buy a complete edition used) but it still bums me out that you can blaze through the whole thing over the weekend.
Didnt buy it cuz I dont approve of EA's business practices(gunna wait to buy a complete edition used) but it still bums me out that you can blaze through the whole thing over the weekend.
While I haven't read the stance of those who disagree with the ending, and know nothing about it beyond what I see here on the front page, I personally am very happy to see that Bioware took a chance and went beyond the traditional 'happily every after' ending that a lot of games take. It did a better job with transhumanism themes than Deus Ex: HR did, in my opinion.
Mega Spoilers inc:
However, I would love to see an expanded epilogue for the synthesis option. This is the only ending I've gotten so far, and it felt too brief, leaving a lot of what happened up to interpretation. There's a fine point between leaving things open and just not explaining what the hell happened. It seemed like everything after you choose your ending was cobbled together in the final stretch of development, with tons of plot details just left behind to finish the product on time. I'd like to see what the surviving characters have to say about Shepard's sacrifice, about the future of civilization, and just general musings about how they did what no one was able to do for millions of years: defeat the reapers. I wanted to see Bioware really revel in the ending of its massive space opera, but instead it concludes without any real impact beyond giving you 3 difficult choices to make.
Also, there's a bunch of strange plot elements that I need to be explained, and anyone is welcome to contribute any answers they have to my inquiry.
First off, if the Catalyst was always there then what really was the point of the first game? How could the Catalyst not do Saren's job for him if it was able to control the Reapers? Also, why is Harbinger a massive bitch and not able to control the Illusive Man and just wreck you at the end? Is it because there just wasn't enough implants in the Illusive Man for Harbinger to control despite the fact he looked like a brunt out stick of RAM? Also, for double the points, why is there a human Reaper at all? If it's leftovers from whatever the original plot was going to be before the leak a while back, isn't there some way it could be explained beyond having to read this year old GI interview? (http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2011/04/21/mass-effect-a-q-amp-a-for-hardcore-fans.aspx?PostPageIndex=1)
Mega Spoilers inc:
However, I would love to see an expanded epilogue for the synthesis option. This is the only ending I've gotten so far, and it felt too brief, leaving a lot of what happened up to interpretation. There's a fine point between leaving things open and just not explaining what the hell happened. It seemed like everything after you choose your ending was cobbled together in the final stretch of development, with tons of plot details just left behind to finish the product on time. I'd like to see what the surviving characters have to say about Shepard's sacrifice, about the future of civilization, and just general musings about how they did what no one was able to do for millions of years: defeat the reapers. I wanted to see Bioware really revel in the ending of its massive space opera, but instead it concludes without any real impact beyond giving you 3 difficult choices to make.
Also, there's a bunch of strange plot elements that I need to be explained, and anyone is welcome to contribute any answers they have to my inquiry.
First off, if the Catalyst was always there then what really was the point of the first game? How could the Catalyst not do Saren's job for him if it was able to control the Reapers? Also, why is Harbinger a massive bitch and not able to control the Illusive Man and just wreck you at the end? Is it because there just wasn't enough implants in the Illusive Man for Harbinger to control despite the fact he looked like a brunt out stick of RAM? Also, for double the points, why is there a human Reaper at all? If it's leftovers from whatever the original plot was going to be before the leak a while back, isn't there some way it could be explained beyond having to read this year old GI interview? (http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2011/04/21/mass-effect-a-q-amp-a-for-hardcore-fans.aspx?PostPageIndex=1)
Woo, finally a place to put all the inflammatory back and forth, other than every other article pertaining to Mass Effect 3. Seriously, I'm pretty sure that everything that can be said on the subject has already been said with varying degrees of colorful language, but once more can't hurt. Unless every time an internet flamewar gets reiterated an angel loses its and falls on an elderly woman, but that seems pretty unlikely.
The problems people have with the ending are gaps in context that it would seem Bioware thought their audience would use imagination to fill in rather than having the whole thing spelled out all neat-like, as well as a shift in tone that some seem to interpret fatalistically as a complete misinterpretation on the part of Bioware of what Shepard would really do in that kind of situation. And there are demands for over-arching closure, even though most of the closure was written into the meat of the game.
So, first off: the logical platforming, which has to keep in mind the phrase "any sufficiently advanced technology is indiscernible from magic." With that in mind the fact that the mass relays explode doesn't necessarily equate to nova destroying every system with a relay, because the RGB space-magic color shift signifies a conversion wave or some such technobabble that doesn't destroy everything. Or maybe it does.
Then people have a problem with Joker fleeing the scene, which I see as a strategic getaway from the death machine which was never fully understood and should've logically been seen as a threat to everything in the general vicinity. The whole fleet should've been getting the fuck out of there. The second problem with this development is how crew members that were in the war zone on Earth somehow made it back onto the Normandy before it bailed the system, which forces the player to assume that the Normandy was close enough to the ground battle to evacuate people. Kinda makes sense, except for the part where characters that were in party leading up to the Harbinger runway somehow got away scott-free. Guess they thought it wasn't their responsibility to run into the meat grinder with Shepard and just hid while everybody else got blasted with death rays. It's hard to think of a way this was supposed to work. Just not enough information.
I personally didn't have a problem with the way the Deus ex Machina was presented, but a lot of people believe that Shepard would have tried to argue or find a fourth way to solve the problem considering potential plot developments and treaties made. It seems to me like that's a lot like arguing with the trigger on a gun, asking it do something other than fire bullets when pulled. Considering that Shepard was becoming progressively more dead as time passed and the Reapers couldn't be defeated conventionally, the choice was either to use the space magic offered by the smarmy trigger and hope for the best, or welcome a slow, painful death with a great view of the destruction of the allied battle fleet and Earth in flames. The options were all pretty grim, but eventual death by reapers was worse.
Overall, I like the concept of the ending, but in execution there really should've been more information given regarding what was shown. Being esoteric's nice and all, and ambiguity can be used to make an ending more thoughtful, but without connective narrative for the immediate events, it comes out as a confusing, muddled mess. Too many ideas and consequences were introduced all at once to have so little stated plainly about what was going on. With that in mind, I believe the ending should be accepted as-is. It shouldn't be altered, but it will inevitably be extended with paid DLC, which seems like a climate Bioware has deviously designed to extort those that wanted a more cut-and-dry finish. They've got people clamoring to pay more for the game so they don't have to think about all the what-the-fuck. And I will be very disappointed in myself when I buy it as well. Unless they do the honorable thing and give the ending addendum freely to anyone with the online pass registered, but I don't think that's going to happen.
The problems people have with the ending are gaps in context that it would seem Bioware thought their audience would use imagination to fill in rather than having the whole thing spelled out all neat-like, as well as a shift in tone that some seem to interpret fatalistically as a complete misinterpretation on the part of Bioware of what Shepard would really do in that kind of situation. And there are demands for over-arching closure, even though most of the closure was written into the meat of the game.
So, first off: the logical platforming, which has to keep in mind the phrase "any sufficiently advanced technology is indiscernible from magic." With that in mind the fact that the mass relays explode doesn't necessarily equate to nova destroying every system with a relay, because the RGB space-magic color shift signifies a conversion wave or some such technobabble that doesn't destroy everything. Or maybe it does.
Then people have a problem with Joker fleeing the scene, which I see as a strategic getaway from the death machine which was never fully understood and should've logically been seen as a threat to everything in the general vicinity. The whole fleet should've been getting the fuck out of there. The second problem with this development is how crew members that were in the war zone on Earth somehow made it back onto the Normandy before it bailed the system, which forces the player to assume that the Normandy was close enough to the ground battle to evacuate people. Kinda makes sense, except for the part where characters that were in party leading up to the Harbinger runway somehow got away scott-free. Guess they thought it wasn't their responsibility to run into the meat grinder with Shepard and just hid while everybody else got blasted with death rays. It's hard to think of a way this was supposed to work. Just not enough information.
I personally didn't have a problem with the way the Deus ex Machina was presented, but a lot of people believe that Shepard would have tried to argue or find a fourth way to solve the problem considering potential plot developments and treaties made. It seems to me like that's a lot like arguing with the trigger on a gun, asking it do something other than fire bullets when pulled. Considering that Shepard was becoming progressively more dead as time passed and the Reapers couldn't be defeated conventionally, the choice was either to use the space magic offered by the smarmy trigger and hope for the best, or welcome a slow, painful death with a great view of the destruction of the allied battle fleet and Earth in flames. The options were all pretty grim, but eventual death by reapers was worse.
Overall, I like the concept of the ending, but in execution there really should've been more information given regarding what was shown. Being esoteric's nice and all, and ambiguity can be used to make an ending more thoughtful, but without connective narrative for the immediate events, it comes out as a confusing, muddled mess. Too many ideas and consequences were introduced all at once to have so little stated plainly about what was going on. With that in mind, I believe the ending should be accepted as-is. It shouldn't be altered, but it will inevitably be extended with paid DLC, which seems like a climate Bioware has deviously designed to extort those that wanted a more cut-and-dry finish. They've got people clamoring to pay more for the game so they don't have to think about all the what-the-fuck. And I will be very disappointed in myself when I buy it as well. Unless they do the honorable thing and give the ending addendum freely to anyone with the online pass registered, but I don't think that's going to happen.
@TheRedComet
People liked New Vegas' ending?? I've only heard people speaking bad about it and I didn't really like it either.
People liked New Vegas' ending?? I've only heard people speaking bad about it and I didn't really like it either.
I liked the ending; it reminded me that, although I was important, I was still one man in a much, MUCH larger war. My Shepard stood at a pivotal moment and made a decision, everything else be damned. Thats what the ME series always allowed the player and thats what I played the ME series for.
I've been trying for days to find the right words to use to describe why the ending was so jarring for me from the moment after I beat the game. Finally, (credit to the person who first linked this in the comments) This article - http://www.gamefront.com/mass-effect-3-ending-hatred-5-reasons-the-fans-are-right/
Does it for me. Specifically, reason 2, the theme of the ending just didn't fit the theme of any of the rest of the game. That article gives all the examples I would use, and puts it more eloquently then I can. I don't mind the messy plot-holes, I don't mind the unhappy ending, I don't mind the brevity. I just wish I had an ending that felt like it belonged at the end of the game I was playing up to that point.
Anderson got a better ending in my game. Why couldn't he have been the main character?
Does it for me. Specifically, reason 2, the theme of the ending just didn't fit the theme of any of the rest of the game. That article gives all the examples I would use, and puts it more eloquently then I can. I don't mind the messy plot-holes, I don't mind the unhappy ending, I don't mind the brevity. I just wish I had an ending that felt like it belonged at the end of the game I was playing up to that point.
Anderson got a better ending in my game. Why couldn't he have been the main character?
@Sonintega: No. what people dislike about the joker part is it makes no sense logically.
The people on the ship were just on earth. Joker was just in space. Unless shepards magical dalliance with the Catalyst took so long that there were hours of time for Joker to happen for no explained reason to pick up your entire crew midway through a desperate fight for survival and flee through a mass relay to god knows where conveniently right before the mass relay network explodes without warning, it makes about as much internal logical consistency as a schizophrenic.
The people on the ship were just on earth. Joker was just in space. Unless shepards magical dalliance with the Catalyst took so long that there were hours of time for Joker to happen for no explained reason to pick up your entire crew midway through a desperate fight for survival and flee through a mass relay to god knows where conveniently right before the mass relay network explodes without warning, it makes about as much internal logical consistency as a schizophrenic.
I don't like the ending.
At the moment the laser hit Sheppard, everything that happened was completely out of place and surreal. The illusive man went completely ape shit. Didn't even managed to make one cohesive argument, rambled to the point where I didn't even know if I should pity him or the writer, because he wrote himself into a trap.
Then the fucking child appeared and told some cool concepts that I like as BSG fan but seemed extremely drastic in the mass effect world. Still, I thought, whatever. Death to the reapers.
At this point only a fraction of what is really happening is told. My Sheppard died. Tragic, but I can live with it. What's up with the rest? I thought this was a AAA title? The whole games was poor from an asset point of view. Rehashed, every world was a lab or a brown desert. When I think the imaginative worlds that I have witnessed in ME1 or 2. Man, some of them were just breathtaking.
For me ME3 seems so tucked together. The main story is around 15 hours, the rest is planet scanning and deathmatch maps which nets around 25 hours.
But Mass Effect perfectly describes the current console generation. Inconsistent beyond belief. Why? Because on every turn money is saved with cheap tricks. I hate this. Make a fucking consistent game from start to finish. Their whole ambition from writing, level design (rehashed DM maps), graphics has up and downs in the complete series, but never have I've seen so many taken shortcuts taken like in ME3.
And for the shortcut you've taken at the end, for not explaining what the rest is doing now, a big FUCK YOU!
At the moment the laser hit Sheppard, everything that happened was completely out of place and surreal. The illusive man went completely ape shit. Didn't even managed to make one cohesive argument, rambled to the point where I didn't even know if I should pity him or the writer, because he wrote himself into a trap.
Then the fucking child appeared and told some cool concepts that I like as BSG fan but seemed extremely drastic in the mass effect world. Still, I thought, whatever. Death to the reapers.
At this point only a fraction of what is really happening is told. My Sheppard died. Tragic, but I can live with it. What's up with the rest? I thought this was a AAA title? The whole games was poor from an asset point of view. Rehashed, every world was a lab or a brown desert. When I think the imaginative worlds that I have witnessed in ME1 or 2. Man, some of them were just breathtaking.
For me ME3 seems so tucked together. The main story is around 15 hours, the rest is planet scanning and deathmatch maps which nets around 25 hours.
But Mass Effect perfectly describes the current console generation. Inconsistent beyond belief. Why? Because on every turn money is saved with cheap tricks. I hate this. Make a fucking consistent game from start to finish. Their whole ambition from writing, level design (rehashed DM maps), graphics has up and downs in the complete series, but never have I've seen so many taken shortcuts taken like in ME3.
And for the shortcut you've taken at the end, for not explaining what the rest is doing now, a big FUCK YOU!
I love how everyone's argument hinges on this "god child" bunk.
Did it EVER occur to anyone that the "god child" was simply appearing to Shepard in the most relatable form a human can understand, that being another human? Would you rather have had it appear as Gozer or Stay-Puft? The Reapers seem to be the masters of emotional trolling, therefore, it makes sense from a story perspective. On the plus side, I'm glad to see people using "deus ex machina" in the correct way, now!
Secondly... It's a universal-wide war! Did anyone truly think that long-standing conflicts wrap up neatly with a ribbon on top? I could make a drinking game out of how much "This-is-really-it-isn't-it?-fatalistic-forshadowing" occurred through ME3, as well as the original and ME2! Sure, it's not the perfect wrap-up we all likely wanted, and EA will probably stuff the poor IP with even more DLC (which, yes, I will buy), but seriously...
Campaigning, petitions, whining, bitching and complaining over the ending to a story? That you didn't actually write, but simply helped complete by putting in bits and pieces of plot here and there? I disliked the endings, but I take them for what they are.
Feel free to complain. You're within your right. But I'm within my right to see you as childish. Enjoy the series for what it is; a sci-fi trilogy. If you can do better, you're welcome to hit Kickstarter. I'm waiting.
Did it EVER occur to anyone that the "god child" was simply appearing to Shepard in the most relatable form a human can understand, that being another human? Would you rather have had it appear as Gozer or Stay-Puft? The Reapers seem to be the masters of emotional trolling, therefore, it makes sense from a story perspective. On the plus side, I'm glad to see people using "deus ex machina" in the correct way, now!
Secondly... It's a universal-wide war! Did anyone truly think that long-standing conflicts wrap up neatly with a ribbon on top? I could make a drinking game out of how much "This-is-really-it-isn't-it?-fatalistic-forshadowing" occurred through ME3, as well as the original and ME2! Sure, it's not the perfect wrap-up we all likely wanted, and EA will probably stuff the poor IP with even more DLC (which, yes, I will buy), but seriously...
Campaigning, petitions, whining, bitching and complaining over the ending to a story? That you didn't actually write, but simply helped complete by putting in bits and pieces of plot here and there? I disliked the endings, but I take them for what they are.
Feel free to complain. You're within your right. But I'm within my right to see you as childish. Enjoy the series for what it is; a sci-fi trilogy. If you can do better, you're welcome to hit Kickstarter. I'm waiting.
It felt unfinished and not thought out at all, simple as that.
The concept behind the problem presented in the ending was good and was clearly in the minds of BioWare from the beginning of the series. But in the end, the ending went like "oh fuck, here's a thing we wanted to do, remember? let's just stick it in here and leave it at that". They pulled a Neo, in a bad way, destroyed all the seriousness of the stroy by the entire ending arc and the dialogue with the Catalyst. And the ending gave you no satisfaction whatsoever. Also, everybody with Arrival DLC saw what happens whn a Mass Relay gets destroyed. Yet, it seems that here they just went with (well, this is green thingy, it's different, it won't anihilate the star systems".
To be honest the entire "retake the Earth" arc was godawful. Like the main game was made by the same people, who made previous games, who knew how to make a great and engaging story, and the Earth arc was made by some 15-year old kid with a twisted sense of patriotism, full of stereotypes and generic tear-jerking moments. I mean - who gives a fuck about Earth in particular? Or that kid? (the only kid BioWare were arsed to model in the entire series) That's few billion people, somehow still surviving under the main bulk of Reaper forces, while all the other worlds, full of billions of people are killed of without much drama or fight. And don't even get me started about the strangely 20th century looking London with an obligatory Big Ben, which looks retarded even without Vancouver in the beginning of the game.
The best, most beautiful moment in the game happens when Mordin sings for the last time. it's the time i honestly started crying and felt deep connection with the story and characters. After that, disposal of the entire Citadel population and all the worlds in the ending, that makes no sense, feel of accomplishment... or, fuck it, it doesn't even feel like you lost or won. You feel *nothing* after it. It's just *there* for no apparent reason.
I would honestly be more happy with Earth lost, or, hell, even reapers winning, but with hope given to the next cycle. At least, that would've made sense.
The concept behind the problem presented in the ending was good and was clearly in the minds of BioWare from the beginning of the series. But in the end, the ending went like "oh fuck, here's a thing we wanted to do, remember? let's just stick it in here and leave it at that". They pulled a Neo, in a bad way, destroyed all the seriousness of the stroy by the entire ending arc and the dialogue with the Catalyst. And the ending gave you no satisfaction whatsoever. Also, everybody with Arrival DLC saw what happens whn a Mass Relay gets destroyed. Yet, it seems that here they just went with (well, this is green thingy, it's different, it won't anihilate the star systems".
To be honest the entire "retake the Earth" arc was godawful. Like the main game was made by the same people, who made previous games, who knew how to make a great and engaging story, and the Earth arc was made by some 15-year old kid with a twisted sense of patriotism, full of stereotypes and generic tear-jerking moments. I mean - who gives a fuck about Earth in particular? Or that kid? (the only kid BioWare were arsed to model in the entire series) That's few billion people, somehow still surviving under the main bulk of Reaper forces, while all the other worlds, full of billions of people are killed of without much drama or fight. And don't even get me started about the strangely 20th century looking London with an obligatory Big Ben, which looks retarded even without Vancouver in the beginning of the game.
The best, most beautiful moment in the game happens when Mordin sings for the last time. it's the time i honestly started crying and felt deep connection with the story and characters. After that, disposal of the entire Citadel population and all the worlds in the ending, that makes no sense, feel of accomplishment... or, fuck it, it doesn't even feel like you lost or won. You feel *nothing* after it. It's just *there* for no apparent reason.
I would honestly be more happy with Earth lost, or, hell, even reapers winning, but with hope given to the next cycle. At least, that would've made sense.
Also, as a side note, no matter how good the ending was the vocal Bioware fans would have complained anyway, they are a miserable, unpleasable shower.
But that’s not to say everyone who doesn’t like it is wrong.
But that’s not to say everyone who doesn’t like it is wrong.
I think the problem is the ending is anticlimactic compared to the other huge missions in the game and to the whole series itself. I can see where they were going with it (based on my interpretation of coarse) and like the idea, but it was poorly executed. It felt like they were close to the deadline and just had to finish it and get it out.
but the easiest way to fix it without changing... well, make it less retarded at least, is to make Epilogues. Like BioWare used to in BG, or NWN, or Dragon Age. Character and places epilogues. The ending will still look rushed and created by a 15-year old Matrix Reloaded fan, but at least the aftertaste will be given by the epilogues, not the ending.
P.S. Also, change the post credits scene voice actors. It sounds like they were found on the street and worked for food
P.S. Also, change the post credits scene voice actors. It sounds like they were found on the street and worked for food
Great!!! Now I know Mass Effect has an ending. Way to ruin the surprise thanks guys. Frmmp!
i jus playin'
Why are people so butthurt about this? I guess I'll go beat Mass Effect 3 and see if I start petitioning Bioware's offices. But I doubt it.
i jus playin'
Why are people so butthurt about this? I guess I'll go beat Mass Effect 3 and see if I start petitioning Bioware's offices. But I doubt it.
@Slave2Machine: by the same token, why should a magic space child coming up at the last second be considered good writing? Speaking as someone who loves art and writing, this ending is the sort of deus ex machina bullshit thats usually indicative that your writers are fucking incompetent and writing their way out of a corner they painted themselves in.
@D0-Nez: gamefront has a rather long and comprehensive article on why a lot of us feel extremely betrayed by the ending. Mega spoilers, though.
The ending gave no closure and has the player commit mass genocide because all endings involve the destruction of the relays. How are billions going to survive on Earth when the planets resources are gone?
Further, Shepard gives up. He just accepts that what the AI says is true. Where was the screw you option? The option to win the battle with the entire galactic civilization on your side? The option to ride off into the sunset with your squad? Really there doesn't have to be a happy ending, but after uniting every race, it would have been nice to have that option.
Also, why do you have to play multiplayer to survive in a single player game? If you don't get 4000 EMS, you're screwed. If you don't play multiplayer, it is nearly impossible to survive. That's stupid.
Further, Shepard gives up. He just accepts that what the AI says is true. Where was the screw you option? The option to win the battle with the entire galactic civilization on your side? The option to ride off into the sunset with your squad? Really there doesn't have to be a happy ending, but after uniting every race, it would have been nice to have that option.
Also, why do you have to play multiplayer to survive in a single player game? If you don't get 4000 EMS, you're screwed. If you don't play multiplayer, it is nearly impossible to survive. That's stupid.
Before reaching the end I thought those complaining were probably overreacting, but after finishing the game, I felt like every choice, everything I did in the 3 games was irrelevant and meaningless, that's how bad the ending was.
It was a poorly written, rush-job affair. I've said this multiple times, it was hackneyed writing that destroyed this game's ending. You don't need to end it on a happy note, or even a victorious note, but you, at the end of a trilogy, have to give the series and the player closure. In this case, it wasn't given, and now people are pissed.
The star child idea had no exposition surrounding it, the motives were using non-sensical, circular logic that had never been alluded to in any of the previous games, and the overall ending was just plain stupid, as you were no better than the star child, choosing to play god, instead of fixing the problem and letting the universe play out the way it should; naturally, using your free will and having the ability to make real decisions, instead of the shit we got handed, where we were shoehorned into old ideals that pretty much destroyed galactic civilisation as we knew it, pretty much ending any and all existence and condemning the entire galaxy to a lonely, hellish attempt to build back up societies that haven't got a chance of survival now. The gamefront article surrounding this actually got everything right, and I agree 100% with it.
On top of that, Harbringer, the antagonist of ME2 was seen once, had no lines of dialogue, and was then forgotten about. Any and all 'interpretation' you can take from this is total and comeplete bullshit. This isn't just any game, it's the ending to a trilogy, where closure is the one thing you do not fuck up. This game fucked that up, and now Bioware are coming out and saying 'we meant to do that'. *rolls up newspaper and smacks them on nose* No! Bad developer, you don't do that anymore! While I think the game itself has its merits, I don't play Mass Effect for anything other than the story, and after five years and three games, if the story is reduced to pointless backburner, decisions are pushed aside and outright ignored, and the player is left with a sense of emptiness, not joy or sorry...nothing. It doesn't evoke emotions because it isn't an ending, it's a fucking cop-out, and not even the worst author in the world would have reduced themselves to such a pathetic, childish ending, even if it was the easiest way out possible. This game needed a lot more development time, because it is both too short, and devoid of any and all impact of real emotional resonance.
Guess this is what Bioware meant by "we're going to tell a great story, no matter what your choices are".
The star child idea had no exposition surrounding it, the motives were using non-sensical, circular logic that had never been alluded to in any of the previous games, and the overall ending was just plain stupid, as you were no better than the star child, choosing to play god, instead of fixing the problem and letting the universe play out the way it should; naturally, using your free will and having the ability to make real decisions, instead of the shit we got handed, where we were shoehorned into old ideals that pretty much destroyed galactic civilisation as we knew it, pretty much ending any and all existence and condemning the entire galaxy to a lonely, hellish attempt to build back up societies that haven't got a chance of survival now. The gamefront article surrounding this actually got everything right, and I agree 100% with it.
On top of that, Harbringer, the antagonist of ME2 was seen once, had no lines of dialogue, and was then forgotten about. Any and all 'interpretation' you can take from this is total and comeplete bullshit. This isn't just any game, it's the ending to a trilogy, where closure is the one thing you do not fuck up. This game fucked that up, and now Bioware are coming out and saying 'we meant to do that'. *rolls up newspaper and smacks them on nose* No! Bad developer, you don't do that anymore! While I think the game itself has its merits, I don't play Mass Effect for anything other than the story, and after five years and three games, if the story is reduced to pointless backburner, decisions are pushed aside and outright ignored, and the player is left with a sense of emptiness, not joy or sorry...nothing. It doesn't evoke emotions because it isn't an ending, it's a fucking cop-out, and not even the worst author in the world would have reduced themselves to such a pathetic, childish ending, even if it was the easiest way out possible. This game needed a lot more development time, because it is both too short, and devoid of any and all impact of real emotional resonance.
Guess this is what Bioware meant by "we're going to tell a great story, no matter what your choices are".
This is a long one...
Over 1,100 pages in an social network thread. Over 40,000 people who voted for a change. Over $25,000 raised for a charity within the first 24 hours of it starting. All of this in support of a new ending to a video game trilogy.
Mass Effect 3, Bioware’s latest, and apparently final, chapter to the beloved trilogy was just released March the 6th, but already fans are up in arms about the grand finale of the story. Another $6,000 poured into the charity ‘Child’s Play’ last night as the pages of discussion from upset gamers expanded. Meanwhile, media sources are starting to take note. Forbes, MSNBC, and many gaming sites have weighed in on their interpretations and thoughts on the whole fiasco. Some negatively toward the ME fan base and some in support.
There has been speculation as to why a video game would elicit such a strong reaction among its fans. While there were some more minor issues, such as the Day-1 downloadable content and the use of Photoshopped stock photo, the major issue that has gotten fans riled is the way the trilogy ends. In short, it doesn’t really. The conclusion of the game is ambiguous at best, and to players that have been spending their money and time working their way toward a final battle, they feel that most of what they accomplished within the game world was not taken into consideration.
Most argue that the game is a masterpiece up until the last 15 minutes. Bioware’s promise, from the start, was that all of the decisions the player made would make a difference in the finale of the game. What has caused people to feel crestfallen is that these promises didn’t seem to transpire. The music was done masterfully and the decisions that you, as Commander Shepard, are forced to face lead to some cinematic and epic conclusions to some of your current and past crew members. It’s not surprising that the players expected that level of sacrifice and meaning up through the end of the game, and many felt jilted.
In the final scenes, the player is left with three almost identical choices. There are slight differences, but mostly the cut scenes are the same and only differentiated by their corresponding color (red, blue, and green). All require Commander Shepard’s self-sacrifice: RED: you kill the Reapers, the villains of the game, and all synthetic life (which include some of your friends along the way), BLUE: you control the Reapers and essentially become what you have been fighting against since ME1, or GREEN: you merge all organic’s DNA with the synthetic’s DNA, creating a single synthetic/organic species. When the entire point of the game since ME1 has been for Commander Shepard to defend the universe from the Reapers by fighting them, even when the chances of survival are bleak, your choices are dismal.
Once your choice has been made, a cut scene plays that leaves a lot of the story open-ended. The end of the game doesn’t really feel complete and almost feels surreal. Since Bioware promised multiple endings and definite conclusion with the ending of this story, the ending has left Bioware’s fanbase dangling. A gamer used the example of Peter Jackson’s ‘Lord of the Rings’ films to express his frustration, asking how the audience would feel if Frodo threw the One Ring into Mount Doom, only for the scene to fade to black followed by the credits rolling. With no finality and no conclusion, the whole movie would have been tainted. It required multiple endings just to wrap everything up. In Mass Effect, the lackluster ending has supposedly ruined the game for several people.
Many say that gamers, as consumers, have no right to request a new ending. Since video games are a form of art, what gives anyone the right to change it?
The issue with this perception is the nature of this particular game is the definition of change. From the start, every decision you make within the Mass Effect universe has some sort of impact on the end result. Even a minor decision that you made in the very first game can cultivate into a significant encounter in the next two games. Bioware actually programmed and wrote hundreds of scenarios to cater the game experience to the player and their decisions. The maps of these decisions when creating these games must be mind-boggling – it makes my brain hurt just thinking about it.
Because players have this option, it has made the Mass Effect series wildly popular. No other games have had this sort of passionate reaction, which is a huge credit to Bioware. The world and characters they have created are a form of electronic literature that challenges the player to think outside the box, causing the player to really think about their actions and how those actions can affect others. While playing, you’re not simply a passenger… you are part of the story. A gamer can play and replay in a number of different ways with a number of different results. As a ME fan myself, I can support that they actually do.
Though I have seen postings to the contrary, I hold the opinion that these games are very well written. Are there some inconsistencies or plot holes? Certainly, but those are bound to occur when creating around 1,000 changing scenarios to be imported from one game to the next. What seems to upset the general fan base the most are the destinies of their crew. The characters encountered are so loved by the players that their main concern is not with Shepard, the hero of these games, dying. Their concern is if everyone else is okay. No, the characters are not real. But like any good book, if the characters that you grew to love don’t have a conclusion, it leaves one with a hollow feeling. You wouldn’t request that the author change it, but most authors aren’t giving you the option along the way to actually alter the outcome of the story.
Bioware has accomplished drawing people in to the point of fighting for a conclusion for their fictional characters. To help prove that they’re not just complaining for the sake of complaining and to receive positive media attention, a fellow gamer started a chip-in for ‘Child’s Play’, a “game industry charity dedicated to improving the lives of children with toys and games in (a) network of over 70 hospitals worldwide”. As of this morning, the total collected is near $32,000. http://retakemasseffect.chipin.com/retake-mass-effect-childs-play
I, for one, wasn’t terribly upset about the ending. I didn’t feel that the ending was a bad one and had completely accepted that my Commander Shepard would probably die. But the fact that she didn’t have an epic death like her old crew or any finality definitely gave me the impression that the game wasn’t finished. As I watched other player’s cut scenes on YouTube, including the ‘best’ ending showing Shepard taking a breath to indicate that she (or he) survived, I began to ponder what exactly Bioware had up its sleeve. The end definitely doesn’t match the rest of the story of ME3 and was reminiscent of the previous dream sequences. As I studied the scenes and read theories, trying to make sense of what was provided to us, I have found that the ‘dream’ or ‘indoctrinated’ scenarios make the most sense. A battle of the wits between Shepard and the main Reaper, Harbinger, would be fitting. It would explain the oddness of the scene, the uncharacteristic acceptance of Shepard, and help really show how deceptive and manipulative the Reapers really are. http://my.spill.com/forum/topics/mass-effect-3-endnig-the-indoctrination-theory-1
It’s obvious this is not a complete end, so I believe there is hope. So far, Bioware hasn’t let us down. They have spectacularly invented a story that may easily become one of the greatest games of all time. This doesn’t help player’s frustrations, and every day that passes fuels the discontent of the fans, especially when the Developers provide cryptic answers to questions on their Twitter accounts and social network. As the bandwagon collects more and more unsatisfied customers, Electronic Arts (EA) stock takes a hit. Their sales take a hit. Rumors are flying, speculating that this has been Bioware’s plan all along, some pessimistically stating that they may charge for the actual ‘real’ ending, creating a DLC that should have been included from the release date to further line their pockets.
I am one that believes this rumored ‘real’ ending has been Bioware’s plan all along, though I don’t see them charging for it. For Bioware, it’s a good thing that most of their most die-hard fans pick Paragon options – I think we’re more forgiving. They might just make it out of this PR disaster as one of the most brilliant but gutsy moves ever by a video game company. And if Bioware thought the end was good as is, they may want to take advantage of this situation or run the risk of dismal future DLC sales.
In a way, Bioware’s actions of keeping their fans in the dark are making the indoctrination theory play into real life. If this is true, in some ways, it might come back to bite them… but for me, I’ll be thrilled to have been a part of it. Either way, I will continue to hold the line until an official statement has been produced.
And I will remain hopeful.
Over 1,100 pages in an social network thread. Over 40,000 people who voted for a change. Over $25,000 raised for a charity within the first 24 hours of it starting. All of this in support of a new ending to a video game trilogy.
Mass Effect 3, Bioware’s latest, and apparently final, chapter to the beloved trilogy was just released March the 6th, but already fans are up in arms about the grand finale of the story. Another $6,000 poured into the charity ‘Child’s Play’ last night as the pages of discussion from upset gamers expanded. Meanwhile, media sources are starting to take note. Forbes, MSNBC, and many gaming sites have weighed in on their interpretations and thoughts on the whole fiasco. Some negatively toward the ME fan base and some in support.
There has been speculation as to why a video game would elicit such a strong reaction among its fans. While there were some more minor issues, such as the Day-1 downloadable content and the use of Photoshopped stock photo, the major issue that has gotten fans riled is the way the trilogy ends. In short, it doesn’t really. The conclusion of the game is ambiguous at best, and to players that have been spending their money and time working their way toward a final battle, they feel that most of what they accomplished within the game world was not taken into consideration.
Most argue that the game is a masterpiece up until the last 15 minutes. Bioware’s promise, from the start, was that all of the decisions the player made would make a difference in the finale of the game. What has caused people to feel crestfallen is that these promises didn’t seem to transpire. The music was done masterfully and the decisions that you, as Commander Shepard, are forced to face lead to some cinematic and epic conclusions to some of your current and past crew members. It’s not surprising that the players expected that level of sacrifice and meaning up through the end of the game, and many felt jilted.
In the final scenes, the player is left with three almost identical choices. There are slight differences, but mostly the cut scenes are the same and only differentiated by their corresponding color (red, blue, and green). All require Commander Shepard’s self-sacrifice: RED: you kill the Reapers, the villains of the game, and all synthetic life (which include some of your friends along the way), BLUE: you control the Reapers and essentially become what you have been fighting against since ME1, or GREEN: you merge all organic’s DNA with the synthetic’s DNA, creating a single synthetic/organic species. When the entire point of the game since ME1 has been for Commander Shepard to defend the universe from the Reapers by fighting them, even when the chances of survival are bleak, your choices are dismal.
Once your choice has been made, a cut scene plays that leaves a lot of the story open-ended. The end of the game doesn’t really feel complete and almost feels surreal. Since Bioware promised multiple endings and definite conclusion with the ending of this story, the ending has left Bioware’s fanbase dangling. A gamer used the example of Peter Jackson’s ‘Lord of the Rings’ films to express his frustration, asking how the audience would feel if Frodo threw the One Ring into Mount Doom, only for the scene to fade to black followed by the credits rolling. With no finality and no conclusion, the whole movie would have been tainted. It required multiple endings just to wrap everything up. In Mass Effect, the lackluster ending has supposedly ruined the game for several people.
Many say that gamers, as consumers, have no right to request a new ending. Since video games are a form of art, what gives anyone the right to change it?
The issue with this perception is the nature of this particular game is the definition of change. From the start, every decision you make within the Mass Effect universe has some sort of impact on the end result. Even a minor decision that you made in the very first game can cultivate into a significant encounter in the next two games. Bioware actually programmed and wrote hundreds of scenarios to cater the game experience to the player and their decisions. The maps of these decisions when creating these games must be mind-boggling – it makes my brain hurt just thinking about it.
Because players have this option, it has made the Mass Effect series wildly popular. No other games have had this sort of passionate reaction, which is a huge credit to Bioware. The world and characters they have created are a form of electronic literature that challenges the player to think outside the box, causing the player to really think about their actions and how those actions can affect others. While playing, you’re not simply a passenger… you are part of the story. A gamer can play and replay in a number of different ways with a number of different results. As a ME fan myself, I can support that they actually do.
Though I have seen postings to the contrary, I hold the opinion that these games are very well written. Are there some inconsistencies or plot holes? Certainly, but those are bound to occur when creating around 1,000 changing scenarios to be imported from one game to the next. What seems to upset the general fan base the most are the destinies of their crew. The characters encountered are so loved by the players that their main concern is not with Shepard, the hero of these games, dying. Their concern is if everyone else is okay. No, the characters are not real. But like any good book, if the characters that you grew to love don’t have a conclusion, it leaves one with a hollow feeling. You wouldn’t request that the author change it, but most authors aren’t giving you the option along the way to actually alter the outcome of the story.
Bioware has accomplished drawing people in to the point of fighting for a conclusion for their fictional characters. To help prove that they’re not just complaining for the sake of complaining and to receive positive media attention, a fellow gamer started a chip-in for ‘Child’s Play’, a “game industry charity dedicated to improving the lives of children with toys and games in (a) network of over 70 hospitals worldwide”. As of this morning, the total collected is near $32,000. http://retakemasseffect.chipin.com/retake-mass-effect-childs-play
I, for one, wasn’t terribly upset about the ending. I didn’t feel that the ending was a bad one and had completely accepted that my Commander Shepard would probably die. But the fact that she didn’t have an epic death like her old crew or any finality definitely gave me the impression that the game wasn’t finished. As I watched other player’s cut scenes on YouTube, including the ‘best’ ending showing Shepard taking a breath to indicate that she (or he) survived, I began to ponder what exactly Bioware had up its sleeve. The end definitely doesn’t match the rest of the story of ME3 and was reminiscent of the previous dream sequences. As I studied the scenes and read theories, trying to make sense of what was provided to us, I have found that the ‘dream’ or ‘indoctrinated’ scenarios make the most sense. A battle of the wits between Shepard and the main Reaper, Harbinger, would be fitting. It would explain the oddness of the scene, the uncharacteristic acceptance of Shepard, and help really show how deceptive and manipulative the Reapers really are. http://my.spill.com/forum/topics/mass-effect-3-endnig-the-indoctrination-theory-1
It’s obvious this is not a complete end, so I believe there is hope. So far, Bioware hasn’t let us down. They have spectacularly invented a story that may easily become one of the greatest games of all time. This doesn’t help player’s frustrations, and every day that passes fuels the discontent of the fans, especially when the Developers provide cryptic answers to questions on their Twitter accounts and social network. As the bandwagon collects more and more unsatisfied customers, Electronic Arts (EA) stock takes a hit. Their sales take a hit. Rumors are flying, speculating that this has been Bioware’s plan all along, some pessimistically stating that they may charge for the actual ‘real’ ending, creating a DLC that should have been included from the release date to further line their pockets.
I am one that believes this rumored ‘real’ ending has been Bioware’s plan all along, though I don’t see them charging for it. For Bioware, it’s a good thing that most of their most die-hard fans pick Paragon options – I think we’re more forgiving. They might just make it out of this PR disaster as one of the most brilliant but gutsy moves ever by a video game company. And if Bioware thought the end was good as is, they may want to take advantage of this situation or run the risk of dismal future DLC sales.
In a way, Bioware’s actions of keeping their fans in the dark are making the indoctrination theory play into real life. If this is true, in some ways, it might come back to bite them… but for me, I’ll be thrilled to have been a part of it. Either way, I will continue to hold the line until an official statement has been produced.
And I will remain hopeful.
I loved the ending choices to Deus Ex... wait that was Mass Effect 3? Oh boy, how embarrassing for Bioware...
Seriously though, well the above was serious too... anyway, I hated the endings not because they were dramatic, or sad, but because the series touted your "choices" as the defining feature of the games. Those choices at the end of ME3 are stripped away, and you are left with the feeling of a cheesy game show, Door 1, Door 2 ORRRRRRR Door 3, what will it be?!?!
I don't particularly want a happy ending, I'm fine with Shepard becoming a martyr, but what I do want is an ending shaped by the choices I made in all 3 games... otherwise why did I pump so much money into this trilogy? I could of just bought ME3 got a save state at the end, made a uninformed and unexplained choice and went,"Wow, what a long and crazy adventure that was!"
Seriously though, well the above was serious too... anyway, I hated the endings not because they were dramatic, or sad, but because the series touted your "choices" as the defining feature of the games. Those choices at the end of ME3 are stripped away, and you are left with the feeling of a cheesy game show, Door 1, Door 2 ORRRRRRR Door 3, what will it be?!?!
I don't particularly want a happy ending, I'm fine with Shepard becoming a martyr, but what I do want is an ending shaped by the choices I made in all 3 games... otherwise why did I pump so much money into this trilogy? I could of just bought ME3 got a save state at the end, made a uninformed and unexplained choice and went,"Wow, what a long and crazy adventure that was!"
I took the middle path and enjoyed the ending. I wish that it had been longer and shown the fates of more characters, but it was mostly satisfying and beautiful.
That being said I also agree with the community that for those of us who have a renegade character none of the endings truly fit the characters personality (the control option was probably the closest, but I didn't take it so I haven't actually seen what happens yet). My Shepard would've refused any of the three options and instead chose to fight and make his own destiny without a per-determined "solution."
All-in-all I truly loved the Mass Effect series. I too really invested in it. I played 2 characters through all 3 games, infiltrator, and now the ME tablet micro-game. No matter what the ending turned out to be I knew that I would be sad that it was all over.
That being said I also agree with the community that for those of us who have a renegade character none of the endings truly fit the characters personality (the control option was probably the closest, but I didn't take it so I haven't actually seen what happens yet). My Shepard would've refused any of the three options and instead chose to fight and make his own destiny without a per-determined "solution."
All-in-all I truly loved the Mass Effect series. I too really invested in it. I played 2 characters through all 3 games, infiltrator, and now the ME tablet micro-game. No matter what the ending turned out to be I knew that I would be sad that it was all over.
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