Did ME3 ruin Mass Effect for you?

[Korten12]

Depends on how they handle the next game... If it's a prequel then I won't bother since we know how it ends. But if they try to do a sequel (not a sequel to continue Shepard, but after ME3), then it depends on how they handle it if it will kill it or not.

 

[Dahemo]

Another way to look at this question is: Would you ever buy a Mass Effect product again even in best case scenario? (EA losing the IP being a start)

Or did the story ruin it for you?

I take it by "best case scenario" that you will not be buying another Mass Effect game, which saddens me.

Lets break it down, break it down old school:

It took you, bare minimum, 30 hours to complete the trilogy on the easiest setting rushing through the main quest. 30 hours! That's crazy! In the age of 4 hour main plots (i.e. MW3 which I did enjoy) this should be hugely applauded. Personally, I just finished a huge replay of the trilogy and clocked in at 40 hours for ME1, 30 for ME2 and 35 for ME3, so I spent 105 hours with my Shepard, roaming the galaxy, getting into epic struggles and listening to Mordin sing Gilbert and Sullivan mad-libs. I loved every hour of this game, every kooky alien, every second spent considering choices, every headshot and if I get the chance to re-enter this very well conceived universe, I would do it in a heartbeat.

The reason I've given you a paragraph of gush is this, you're the first person I've ever seen questioning the story of ME3. There's nothing wrong with the story! It's a great story, the only problem I can conceive is the ending, which to be honest I enjoyed even before the extension. I enjoyed it because it perfectly fit the tone of not only the game but the series.

That may be controversial but hear me out. Did anyone read the descriptions attached to the War Assets? Did you notice that you previous choices had affected how effective these various forces could be in the final battle. Yeah, you did the right thing and saved the Council, but the Fifth Fleet got shredded and it's a shadow of it's former self. We don't get it all our own way, things don't have cut and dry fairytale solutions just because we want them to, and when I stared down those three paths (well, two, my Shepard was a goody two shoes, he could never destroy!) I knew that this was it, that sacrificing a character I had really bonded to and travelled with through some rough times was slowly shuffling towards the end of his story.

I agreed at the time that I would like to see what happened to my crew afterwards but in all honesty I felt I had fully said goodbye to them during the last hour, I took the time to call every surviving crew member to have that final word. I didn't need a happy ever after because frankly, I didn't get one so I wasn't expecting one.

So to answer your question, yes, I will buy the next ME game, you should too. Replay the trilogy and let us all know if you change your mind...

 

[bojackx]

Yes, It's kind of killed the series for me. I just hated most of mass effect 3. The extended cut was kind of the final nail in the coffin for me,

I thought the Extended Cut fixed a good amount of the problems caused by the original ending, how can it be viewed as a negative addition?

OT: I liked the ending originally, so I will still be buying more Mass Effect if a sequel comes along. Like others have said, the ending had problems, but it was blown way out of proportion by angry fans.

 

[Creator002]

My opinion probably isn't a good one to listen to because Mass Effect 3 was the only Mass Effect I completed.
I didn't enjoy it as much as other BioWare games (Dragon Age Origins and 2 to be specific), but I'd buy another if it's as good as 3. The ending (didn't play with the "extended" or "fixed" or whatever it is DLC) wasn't horrible, though I didn't actually see any choices. All I could do (from what I could see) was shoot the power source.
Knowing me, I probably just missed someone/something super obvious. :/

You only received that option because you didn't do too well throughout the rest of the game, and had fairly minimal war assets. If you

Spoiler

made peace with the Quarians and Geth, cured the Genophage with Wrex or sabotaged the cure with Wreave, completed side quests and made a few other key choices along the way, you would have unlocked the ability to grab hold of lightning poles and be disintegrated, or jump into the beam of light and be disintegrated. Great choices eh?

Aha, I see.
I'm pretty sure I did most of those, but not the side quests. Just skipped past all of those.

 

[crazyrabbits]

You're the first person I've ever seen questioning the story of ME3. There's nothing wrong with the story!

There are not enough emoticons to express how much I laughed at this statement.

Where have you been the last six months?

And, just in case, you wanted to stick your fingers in your ears and pretend nothing's wrong, you don't have to take my word for it. Take [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiN8gL40d84] all of [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MlatxLP-xs] theirs [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=go4fx5Gf4LY].

 

[Dahemo]

You're the first person I've ever seen questioning the story of ME3. There's nothing wrong with the story!

There are not enough emoticons to express how much I laughed at this statement.

Where have you been the last six months?

And, just in case, you wanted to stick your fingers in your ears and pretend nothing's wrong, you don't have to take my word for it. Take [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiN8gL40d84] all of [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MlatxLP-xs] theirs [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=go4fx5Gf4LY].

If I missed one of the major branches of the massively overblown, nonsense riddled branches of the ME3 hate tree that sprouted up upon release, then I apologise, this was genuinely the first instance I personally have seen of the actual ME3 story being criticised, rather than the last 5 minutes. I was not aware this was something others had decried, of course I was aware some would not like the story because there are always those who do not enjoy "x" in every game, but I was not aware this is an issue.

I would be wary of taking the high ground here:

Yes it ruined not only Mass Effect but bioware. i sold all my ME copies for cheap and never going to buy bioware game again.

those sharing it with you aren't doing you any favours.

Look, I've consistently been of the view that Bioware were entitled to finish the game however they wanted. I enjoyed it, I'm definitely not the only one and I think that those who rabidly attacked the game did not come out of the issue looking like saviours of gaming, rather spoiled children who wanted things all their own way.

We were allowed to consistently make choices throughout the ME experience, each one of us building a unique Shepard who we felt was entirely our own. So much so that many of us wanted the ending on our terms, to play out how we desired. This was never going to happen, you were living in a dream world of lollipops and rainbows if you ever thought that could come to pass. If you didn't like the ending or the story, that's absolutely your right, but thinking enough complaining will get artist to change their mind is a nonsense.

Coincidentally, I just set up a Kickstarter for a time machine so we can go back and force Tolkien to let Frodo stay in the shire at the end, so he can get married and have babies. It'll be so much better...

 

[Jason Rayes]

You're the first person I've ever seen questioning the story of ME3. There's nothing wrong with the story!

There are not enough emoticons to express how much I laughed at this statement.

Where have you been the last six months?

And, just in case, you wanted to stick your fingers in your ears and pretend nothing's wrong, you don't have to take my word for it. Take [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiN8gL40d84] all of [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MlatxLP-xs] theirs [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=go4fx5Gf4LY].

But you can pick apart any story if you want, the thing is that if you love it, you have no desire to. The only reason it has been picked so clean in this case, is an almost mob mentally ground swell of hate because you didn't get the ending you wanted.

I have no problem with you hating it, just don't treat it as a religion you have to convert others to. I'm not going to preach that you should like it.

 

[Kekkonen1]

I do find myself much less inclined to pay any notice of news regarding DLC and I shrugged when I read the headline regarding rumors of the next Mass Effect game... so yeah, it probably has.

 

[mad825]

Yes, It's kind of killed the series for me. I just hated most of mass effect 3. The extended cut was kind of the final nail in the coffin for me,

I thought the Extended Cut fixed a good amount of the problems caused by the original ending, how can it be viewed as a negative addition?

It only made it worthwhile viewing the ending cutscene on youtube other than that, it has caused more narrative problems.

 

[Kingjackl]

I didn't jump on the Mass Effect 3 hate bandwagon because for all the flaws of the final 10 minutes (which you can at least get some interesting discussions out of) the rest of the game was so good and wrapped everything up so nicely. Gameplay is vastly superior, most of the new characters were awesome and it was satisfying to see just about every old character return. Plus, Extended Cut more or less resolved the major ending issues and vindicated my unpopular view that Control is the best ending.

Destroyers get to commit genocide and wake up in rubble, Synthesisers get to force benign mutations on everyone in the galaxy, Refusers get to doom the galaxy and be massive wankers...Controllers get to become God and fixe everything without violating everybody's rights. How come so few people liked it?

 

[Gizmo1990]

Yes, It's kind of killed the series for me. I just hated most of mass effect 3. The extended cut was kind of the final nail in the coffin for me,

I thought the Extended Cut fixed a good amount of the problems caused by the original ending, how can it be viewed as a negative addition?

OT: I liked the ending originally, so I will still be buying more Mass Effect if a sequel comes along. Like others have said, the ending had problems, but it was blown way out of proportion by angry fans.

To many people (myself included) it took a pile of shit and gave it a bit of a polish. All the choices we made still had no impact on the ending. It was stil choose A.B,C or D. And I still think that it made no bloody sense. That being said I am sick and tired of people saying another person is wrong for liking it/ disliking it (not saying that you are). It's called opinion people!

OT: After the kick in the balls that was the original ending I was unable to have any fun playing any of the ME games but a month after the EC came out I downloaded it an dplayed ME 3 and I had fun. Still hated the ending more than a Rino kick to the balls but I had fun. But my faith in Bioware is at an all time low. If they can pull off DA 3 then I would give another ME a go (asuming they keep Casey Hudson out of the writers room) but if they screw up DA3 i would not.

 

[Denamic]

Kind of.
I loved ME3, but the ending kinda took a retroactive shit on everything I've done previously in the ME universe. I played and replayed ME1 and 2 at least 6 times each. After finishing ME3, I tried replaying it as asshole Shep, but just got depressed and lost all motivation. I can't play any of the Mass Effect games any more.

The ending DLC made the ending better.
Terrible is better than atrocious, but still not anywhere near good.

 

[Karoshi]

I was a big fan of ME and expected the last one to be the best game EVAH, but sadly I was disappointed.

Im still kind of interested in ME franchise, but right now I feel "meh" about any DLCs that are coming. Maybe the next installment will reignite my love, but I sincerely doubt it.

 

[Legion]

It tainted the story for me, because up until then I'd have said it was the most enjoyable gaming story I have ever played. The ending was so bad that whenever I think about the game I remember how much I disliked playing through it.

The ending wasn't the only bad part of the third games story anyway, it was just the most glaringly obvious.

That said, it doesn't mean that I would never play a Mass Effect game if it seemed decent, I am not going to boycott a game just because they screwed up a previous one, not if it seems like it is worth getting.

I just won't be buying it on the basis that "It's a Bioware game, they are always good" like I used to.

 

[Thomiroth]

In all honesty, the people who said that ME2 was what did it for them before me are the ones I'm agreeing with. After ME2, I just lost interest.

Don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed ME2, but I played and replayed ME1 for hours and hours (not something that usually happens) and enjoyed the feeling that, end game, I had enough powers to work with to make a good build (like the adept, starts off with wizard syndrome, ends with wizard syndrome out the rear. I loved that.) and I still liked the storyline and cared enough about the characters that it made replaying it fun. (To this day, I still hate my renegade playthrough for just one thing, what I had to do in 'The Fan'. I felt so bad. )

ME2 just didn't have that for me, so, as I said, I lost interest and just never bothered with 3. I'm sure it's a good game and all, but I don't care enough to go out and get it, which is a pity, considering how much fun I had with the first one. =/

 

[WarCorrespondent]

The only reason I didn't like the ending was because as a fan of the series, I was raised on the details. The characters would talk to you about a lot of things in great detail, there was little info text snippets full of even MORE info. There was info lying around in space waiting to be found.

And then ME3's end told us so little. There was an explosion, and the Normandy crashed. But I want to know what happened. Do Tali and Garrus die because they probably landed on a planet with none of their food? Do they live on that planet until they die?

But, they expanded on the ending. And they could've said that horrible things happened, like the stuff I just said. But it would've slackened my thirst to know. And they did, and they could've done it with a text snippet. But they went to the trouble of doing it properly.

But if they had not had polished up the ending? I think I'd be OK with the series.

 

[Quijiboh]

The Extended Cut won back a lot of the goodwill I had towards Bioware and the Mass Effect series. I would advise people refusing to pick it up to at least try it out - I was extremely skeptical too.

Do I like the ending now? Not really. Conceptually it works (now), but I don't think it's a fitting denouement for the series. That said, it hasn't stopped me replaying ME3 several times since the EC came out and I will definitely be buying anything Bioware makes in this series or any other.

Also, EA hasn't killed Bioware. Bioware has evolved with the times, as have we all. I think we'd all be pretty tired of it if they were still only making classic number-crunching RPGs out of other people's IPs.

 

[Arina Love]

You're the first person I've ever seen questioning the story of ME3. There's nothing wrong with the story!

There are not enough emoticons to express how much I laughed at this statement.

Where have you been the last six months?

And, just in case, you wanted to stick your fingers in your ears and pretend nothing's wrong, you don't have to take my word for it. Take [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiN8gL40d84] all of [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MlatxLP-xs] theirs [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=go4fx5Gf4LY].

If I missed one of the major branches of the massively overblown, nonsense riddled branches of the ME3 hate tree that sprouted up upon release, then I apologise, this was genuinely the first instance I personally have seen of the actual ME3 story being criticised, rather than the last 5 minutes. I was not aware this was something others had decried, of course I was aware some would not like the story because there are always those who do not enjoy "x" in every game, but I was not aware this is an issue.

I would be wary of taking the high ground here:

Yes it ruined not only Mass Effect but bioware. i sold all my ME copies for cheap and never going to buy bioware game again.

those sharing it with you aren't doing you any favours.

Look, I've consistently been of the view that Bioware were entitled to finish the game however they wanted. I enjoyed it, I'm definitely not the only one and I think that those who rabidly attacked the game did not come out of the issue looking like saviours of gaming, rather spoiled children who wanted things all their own way.

We were allowed to consistently make choices throughout the ME experience, each one of us building a unique Shepard who we felt was entirely our own. So much so that many of us wanted the ending on our terms, to play out how we desired. This was never going to happen, you were living in a dream world of lollipops and rainbows if you ever thought that could come to pass. If you didn't like the ending or the story, that's absolutely your right, but thinking enough complaining will get artist to change their mind is a nonsense.

Coincidentally, I just set up a Kickstarter for a time machine so we can go back and force Tolkien to let Frodo stay in the shire at the end, so he can get married and have babies. It'll be so much better...

So it's artistic vision to create bad ending, and not in meaning sad but in meaning poorly written,directed and paced. Without diverse choices they PROMISED in interviews they would implement. All we got is 3 colours of shit.

 

[StormShaun]

Frankly, I liked it. I loved Mass Effect 2 more, but Mass Effect 3 was good as well.
It was good most of the way through until the ending.

It wasn't the ending itself since Bioware some what corrected that.

When I finished it for the first time...to be honest, I was angry with them. Being the person I was, I researched the ending and found out this.

To get the best ending, I had to play online. I HAD TO, to get the best ending. What the hell is with that. I don't want to play the online (Especially since it is 360, so I have to buy live) just to get the best ending.

That was the only point that annoyed me. Still I loved it and I count the best ending as my ending.

Hopefully the next one might be based into the future/past/whatever but WILL NOT contain the bloody 'You need multiplayer to get the best ending' feature.

Other then that, the series has been good to me.