Mass Effect 3 Controversy

[The Praetorian]

I've heard a few people say the ending wasn't bad.

Sure people have different opinions, but have you heard anybody talking about how great the ME3 ending is? No, because it simply isn't. Even if you like the idea of what Bioware thought the ending should be, and disregard the fact that it doesn't deliver what was promised it still suffers from plot holes, errors, lore inconsistencies, etc etc.

Besides saying the ending wasn't bad doesn't make it a good ending either. Next time you see those people you mention, ask them if the ending could have been better and if it should have been better.

I don't understand why this seems to be the unifying issue that people have with the game.

I'm guessing you haven't played the games and the ending?

I can suggest these articles: http://www.gamefront.com/mass-effect...ans-are-right/ and http://jmstevenson.wordpress.com/201...mass-effect-3/ or the series of articles on forbes.com if you want to know more (yes the ending is so bad, even Forbes felt it needed to highlight this disaster and the bad business practices).

The second article is a lengthy one but very good.

A video game is about the journey.

Personally I see Mass Effect more as an (interactive) story. And Bioware fails miserably when it comes to the most important part of the story.

I do relish Bioware's response. Here is some free dlc that explains the ending because you didn't get it. Paraphrasing of course.

I'm curious what they make of it. It's damage control. Will it be enough? We'll see.

But what surprises me is why they even let themselves get into this situation in the first place. An experienced company like Bioware must have known that what they released was substandard and would not be well received. Pissing of your fans seems like such a stupid thing to do and a bad idea for any business.

[Rob Van Der Sloot]

I do relish Bioware's response. Here is some free dlc that explains the ending because you didn't get it. Paraphrasing of course.

Well I don't think that is what is going on here. This is not a case of people "not getting" the ending. This seems to be a case of fans understanding the game better than the people who wrote the ending. Oh we got it alright, and it sucked. It didn't make any sense regarding all the events that happened before the ending. It breaks continuity in several places, and during the ending puts characters of the franchise in places we know they weren't a few seconds ago, and couldn't possibly be in. I don't see how they can fix that with a bit of DLC.

They might be able to explain what happens to the rest of the universe, and they might be able to answer the question if the indoctrination theory is correct. But even if it is, that still doesn't make the ending any better. The plotholes remain, and the deux ex machina ending that is basically stolen straight from another game, also remains.

Why don't they simply replace the ending entirely? This is all running on the Unreal 3 engine as far as I know, so at least for pc users I know it is possible to sneak in a replacement file. (Granted, Sony and Microsoft would probably have objections, because of their strict policies regarding DLC)

[RD]

you also have no complete control over what you're doing and what you want.

How is this different from any other form of entertainment? If you're reading a book or watching a movie, you have no control over what happens, but you still enjoy it. Lots of video games only have one ending, but we still enjoy them. Still haven't beat ME3 (waiting for the DLC patch), but it seems like people just didn't like what happened and then threw in the "Our choices didn't have an impact" almost as an afterthought.

[sorudo]

How is this different from any other form of entertainment? If you're reading a book or watching a movie, you have no control over what happens, but you still enjoy it. Lots of video games only have one ending, but we still enjoy them. Still haven't beat ME3 (waiting for the DLC patch), but it seems like people just didn't like what happened and then threw in the "Our choices didn't have an impact" almost as an afterthought.

ME3 is all about choices, what you're using as an example is really good.

[Rob Van Der Sloot]

but it seems like people just didn't like what happened and then threw in the "Our choices didn't have an impact" almost as an afterthought.

Keep in mind that the choices are what made ME1 and ME2 such great games. Its no wonder players go back to this, and try to understand why the ending was so disappointing compared to any of the previous games.

I am of the opinion that a sequel should always atleast come close to, or surpass the original in some way. As soon as a sequel takes several steps back, you have to wonder if the sequel should be made in the first place.

Soul Calibur is a great example, it surpasses the original Soul Blade in many ways. However, the latest addition to the franchise looks bleak even when compared to the original Soul Blade. I think that is a very valid argument. In that regard, Bioware really dropped the ball with ME3. The ending had no final showdown, no impactful choices, and no follow up of your past decissions. The original Mass Effect 1 did all of that and more. How can you conclude such an epic franchise by not even coming close to the ending of the first game?

Here is how I would have ended the franchise possibly: (warning, still contains massive spoilers regarding ME3's ending)

Spoiler

Shepard has a dialogue with the godchild, with renegade/paragon options to reject all of his choices, and see through his deception. Upon realising that the deception isn't going to work, and Shephard refuses to be indoctrinated, we suddenly find Shephard inside an indoctrination chamber together with Anderson (The Godchild thing was just an indoctrination sequence). Shephard frees him/her self with a bit of violence, and now has to take on a Giant reaper hidden within the Citadel. Depending on your choices, Anderson may or may not have been indoctrinated, and might help you or you'll be forced to kill him yourself.

The battle seems futile, until the Normandy comes to Shephards aid and blasts a hole in the Citadel. The player must now make use of his full team, and hand out orders to every crew member. Much like ME2's ending, this is where crew members can die if they are not loyal, or if the player simply picks the wrong person for the job. The player also selects his squad, which ends up fighting the reaper in an epic end battle.

The player might have other squads at his disposal as well during this battle, like the Geth, Ragni, etc. Depending how you handled all the side stories in ME3, your final battle might look slightly different (just like with the finale of Dragon Age 1).

Shephard may or may not still die at the end, but regardless, the universe is saved, and none of the Mass Relays are destroyed. We see an epilogue of what happens to the other races and the other crew mates. No ending of Joker and Edi landing on a random planet for no reason what so ever.

Just a random idea how it could have ended. See? It is not difficult at all to come up with a better ending. Add a boss battle and some choices, and scrap the deus ex machina ending, and you come a long way. You don't have to introduce plot holes to end the story.

[Zayren]

How is this different from any other form of entertainment? If you're reading a book or watching a movie, you have no control over what happens, but you still enjoy it. Lots of video games only have one ending, but we still enjoy them. Still haven't beat ME3 (waiting for the DLC patch), but it seems like people just didn't like what happened and then threw in the "Our choices didn't have an impact" almost as an afterthought.

Uh, nah.

When you beat the game, you'll see.

What you did has literally zero impact on the ending, which is a glaring flaw when the entire point of the series is how your decisions impact stuff.

I wouldn't have minded the incredibly stupid ending if it just gave some closure for the multiple decisions that you made through the games, but it simply did not.

[Jez]

I think Bioware did right by not having your choices mean anything. But I'd rather them drive the point home saying that your struggle was futile, that you can't go against your destiny type. I think I'd rather they used that ending. This is an aside though.
I understand that fans are upset, but you don't start a name with the word fanatic for nothing. I'm not going to buy it based off of the principle of how they handle dlc... make a whole bunch of extra content and split it off in many money grubbing ways.

[Zayren]

I think Bioware did right by not having your choices mean anything. But I'd rather them drive the point home saying that your struggle was futile, that you can't go against your destiny type. I think I'd rather they used that ending.

I'm really glad you're not a writer.

[Jez]

Why should everything flow how you think it should flow? I mean't the eventual conclusion to Shepard's story, the rest of the stories should have been wrapped up over the course of the story for a trilogy. I think a good example is when David Tennent has his last episode, that's the gravity that a finale should have.

[sorudo]

a game like ME should conclude with alternative endings, not just a different effect and a small color chance.
it's a massive story and the fight to end the reapers, i would've expected at least something els then "you saved the galaxy, now you die, bye bye"
it's like doing the survivor title and just when you need only 100XP to get max the devs decide your character dies for no reason, you simply did all that work for nothing and wasted allot of time just to end up like that.