Did ME3 ruin Mass Effect for you?

[Something Amyss]

Oh, I am not saying the ending wasn't dissapointing. I was just pissed at how the community took a hold of the issue:

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH THE ENDING SUCKED! WE DEMAND A NEW ENDING! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH WAH WAH WAAAAAAAAAAH".

Seriously, nearly everyone sounded like a bunch of spoiled little children.

Yeah, if that had actually happened they would have looked like spoiled little children.

 

[Jason Rayes]

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.

And that's fine. I don't go around telling other people they should automatically hate the game, just like I don't expect people to try to impose that it's the greatest game in history.

What I'm stating is that the fanbase is largely ignoring problems, both from a gameplay and story perspective, much moreso this time around because it feels as though they're trying to posthumously vindicate it of any wrongdoing.

It has nothing to do with whether I wanted a certain ending or not. I haven't yet seen one person who has defended the ending using anything other than theories or fanwanking. They certainly can say they enjoyed it as a personal preference, but at the end of the day, it's still a colossal mess from a writing perspective. Introducing new elements, conflicts and solutions at the last possible moment (both within the ending itself and its narrative in the game itself) is not the way you write a story unless you know for sure how it's going to pay off and explain itself.

ME2 had some of these problems, and it was generally ignored because the sum was greater than it's individual parts. People were willing to overlook things like the changed ammo mechanics (which resulted in lots of continuity problems), weak final boss or general irrelevance to the Reaper threat because it was a character-driven experience with lots of alternate content, a good mix between action and RPG, and a good narrative. ME3 took all of those problems, exacerbated it with even more retcons, continuity issues and resolutions almost entirely pulled from left field, and wrapped it up with a capper of an ending that destroyed everything else narratively that came before it.

So, you're right. I don't go around telling people to hate the game. I just ignore people who blindly yell "98% of the game is awesome" because, almost all of the time, they can't adequately explain themselves or prove why they like it beyond personal preference.

I'm not saying there are no problems, either with plot holes or with the ending. I just dont let them spoil the series for me. ME 3 isn't even my favourite game in the series. When I made my comment to you it was more out of concern that the thread was going to go OT with people arguing over each others opinions. That should go in a different thread, this one is for people to say their opinion on whether the game spoiled the series. If it goes off into a slinging match it will never end.

 

[Eternal_Lament]

I told myself afterwards that it wouldn't, but going back through the previous games I just couldn't do it again, knowing that all of it doesn't matter in the end puts a sour note on the whole experience. So I guess in some ways it did ruin the series for me, but at least now I can actually look back and recognize faults in the games rather than just dismiss them.

Still though, I'm both willing and reluctant about another one. Depending on where they go with it they can easily leave behind the bad stuff, in which case I'd be willing to see where it goes next. At the same time I'm unsure at this point if Bioware can pull it off (or if Bioware under EA can pull it off). I'd have to wait to see how Dragon Age 3 turns out before I start looking forward to another Mass Effect, let's put it that way.

 

[Frankster]

Depends on what the game does and where it's located i guess. I'm not opposed to exploring the mass effect universe from a fresh perspective.

And yes, the me3 ending did ruin the me series for me Well the whole of me3 actually, i view it as a meh game that if we didn't already have strong emotional connections to the characters in it, people wouldn't be as kind towards it and realize its not just the last 30 mins of the game that sucked... It was most of the game.

There was nothing wrong with the ending, i don't know why people get so worked up over it.

They get worked up because they like to ***** and moan. They think they are in the "right" and "deserve" an ending they had perceived. When in reality, they don't own the IP. They aren't the developers and they can't control the ending they get, which pisses them off. So instead of doing the logical thing that is, grow up and get used to it, they instead decided to throw the largest hissy fit in gaming and ***** until they got their way.

Thus they made the gaming community as a whole look like they were three years old.

Nay, bioware can do what they want with their IP. And i will modify my purchasing habits accordingly. Its for similar reasons i ain't gonna preorder da3 before being damnn sure o its quality this time whereas before i had a "please take my money bioware" policy. By contrast Obsidian are now benefiting from the "please take my money" policy despite their project eternity not being entirely convincing to me yet.

So your generalization of those who didnt like the ending is worth not even 2 cents ^^ None of what you said applies to me despite being part of that category of ppl you were stereotyping.
Don't confuse those who flipped out because talis face was a stock photo with the rest of us please

 

[Cranky]

Urghh... mixed emotions about it. I loved ME1 and 2 for what they are and I seriously do not know how to feel about the IP in general anymore.

I'd still buy it if the story returned its original pristine condition.

 

[Lovely Mixture]

So many camps to this:

1. The ending ruined it, if the end of the journey is pointless why did the journey even matter?
2. The ending didn't ruin it, if the journey was a good experience the ending shouldn't invalidate those feelings.
3. Mass Effect 3 has problems, not just with the ending.
4. The ending wasn't even bad, it's just blown out of proportion.
5. Indoctrination Theory bitches! If you accept that it's all much easier.
6. Indoctrination theory? That was scrapped, stop trying to justify that the game had awful writing. Indoctrination doesn't even work that way lul.
5. You supported Retake Mass Effect? YOU'RE AN ENTITLED CRYBABY THAT DOESN'T UNDERSTAND ARTISTIC INTEGRITY AND YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO COMPLAIN, YOU ARE EVERYTHING WRONG WITH VIDEOGAMES AND ARTISTIC RIGHTS, I BET YOU WALKED OUT OF CITIZEN KANE.
6. You didn't support Retake Mass Effect? YOU'RE A SOUL-LESS SHEEP WHO GAVE IN THE CORPORATE WHOREISM OF EA AND HATES THE COMMON MAN, YOU ARE EVERYTHING WRONG WITH VIDEOGAMES AND ART, I BET YOU DOWNLOADED ALL THE DLC AND PLAY COD EVERY AFTERNOON!

ME3 didn't ruin the my images of the characters, I still remember quite fondly when first seeing Tali, Garrus, Wrex, Thane, Mordin, and Legion.

ME3 ruined the chance at coherent discussion with two many vitriolic and generalization on either side.

They get worked up because they like to ***** and moan. They think they are in the "right" and "deserve" an ending they had perceived. When in reality, they don't own the IP. They aren't the developers and they can't control the ending they get, which pisses them off. So instead of doing the logical thing that is, grow up and get used to it, they instead decided to throw the largest hissy fit in gaming and ***** until they got their way.

Thus they made the gaming community as a whole look like they were three years old.

Case in point.

 

[CrazyGirl17]

I try to let it not to, I just ignore the ending and move on.

 

[OldNewNewOld]

I like the ending.
Sure, it had it's bad sides, it had some plotholes, but I still loved it. I could overlook some plotholes, so other were filled with my fantasy.

Also, I really liked how even tho you did everything you could, the universe got fucked. Yes, you won, but a huge part of the universe was still destroyed.

Finally a game that tells you "Sometimes, not matter how much you try, no matter how much you want it, it's not gonna happen. You will fail." I'm sick and tired of games telling me I can do anything just if I really want to. No, go to hell. You can't do anything just because you really want it. Life doesn't work that way. And if the ending of a journey is the only thing you care, you don't even deserve that ending.

Captcha: Umbrella corporation
No captcha, this isn't Resident Evil. It's Mass Effect.

 

[Brotha Desmond]

You people still going on about that? The ending was good, stop complaining, find something else to talk about.

 

[PirateRose]

I'm still a fan of parts of it(drell, femShep), but as a whole yeah, ME3 really took a crap on things. I'm one of those people though that it's not over that ending. The whole thing is a miserable mess and as fun as the gameplay is, I just can't stand the story. Too much shock value.

It's even made me extremely hesitant about buying a game day one. There have been one too many disappointing game series for me now. It's too expensive to risk $60 on a new series as well as an established series that the creators might have decided to push their creativity in a new and very wrong direction. Pushing ones creativity isn't wrong itself, it's just people are capable of bad creativity.

So as I've said before: No EA, Steam didn't train me to wait for games to drop in price before purchasing. Bad games did.

Besides, some of the best games I've played were games I bought a long while after release.

 

[SFMB]

Nah, ME2 killed it for me.

Same here. Third one was only icing on the crapcake.

 

[crazyrabbits]

Oh, I am not saying the ending wasn't dissapointing. I was just pissed at how the community took a hold of the issue:

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH THE ENDING SUCKED! WE DEMAND A NEW ENDING! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH WAH WAH WAAAAAAAAAAH".

Seriously, nearly everyone sounded like a bunch of spoiled little children.

Yeah, if that had actually happened they would have looked like spoiled little children.

What do you mean "if"? It did happen, just not as bluntly as I put it.

I remember those first few days quite well. The people deriding the ending were much, much more reasoned and articulate than the knee-jerk fans yelling "You can't complain about this game! You're just a hater!" If that was really the case (as you described), we never would have gotten the EC in the first place. The outlets covering the story were on the fans' side more than Bioware - I read an article in The New Yorker, for instance, trashing Bioware's poor response to the reasonable fan outcry.

Sure, there were extremists (on both sides), but by and large, the people complaining about the ending were much better behaved than the people "complaining about the complaining". Anyone who says otherwise is either looking through rose-coloured glasses or just doesn't know what happened, period.

 

[spartan231490]

What ruined ME for me wasn't the story, though that was close, what ruined it is the fact that the best part of the game was the tacked on multiplayer. When a single player IP is eclipsed by the quality of it's hastily added multiplayer, it's time to abandon it.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

What do you mean "if"? It did happen, just not as bluntly as I put it.

It didn't happen at all like you put it, really.

Except for the constant strawmen and hyperbolic shit flinging. That happened pretty much exactly as you put it, so well done on that count.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

Technically Mass Effect 2 ruined it for me. Mass Effect 2 wasn't one I could buy when it first came out since I was between 360 but I strongly disliked the direction ME2 took the franchise. I played the demo of ME3 and even though I have a Shepard from ME1 on my 360's hard drive, I don't plan on playing ME3 proper until I have it on the Wii-U. So when it comes to game-to-game saving, I guess you can say ME3 is the one wherein I stopped caring about that aspect of gameplay (which I think was supposed to be the main selling point of the ME sequels)

When it comes to Mass Effect 4 or, some new Mass Effect title that may or may not come into being; I'm taking it on a wait-n-see basis. It all depends on what Bioware comes out with honestly. I'd be all in on a space-combat sim based around the ME universe but another 3rd person shooter or, 1st person shooter isn't something I'd be interested in.

 

[The Heik]

There was nothing wrong with the ending, i don't know why people get so worked up over it.

*sigh* wow, that's not going going to start a flame war.....

Suffice to say the reason why the MeE3 ending was so hated was twofold

1) Implementation. A lot of the game's canon (both stated and implied) was ripped up to work this ending in, and it still didn't work. The whole last 15 minutes was so full of plot and logic holes I'm amazed that no one at Bioware brought it up. The crux of this issue is that a Paragon Shepard could literally point out the Citadel's window at the Geth and Quarians and indisputably prove the Star Child's entire argument wrong. That should never be able to happen in the climax of a 100+ hour series. A good villain should at least be arguably right on one regard or another, but the Reapers are so stupid and ignorant at even the most basic level that they've practically become Saturday morning cartoon villains. You can't take them seriously, and that's inexcusable in a series so previously well grounded.

What's even worse is that even the Extended Cut DLC didn't fix this. Not only did Bioware do a second run of the ending, but they had 3 million fans telling them how to fix it, and all they managed to accomplish was more description of the results (which though genuinely appreciated, was more pandering than fixing). Bioware quite simply does not get the point of the problem here.

2) The Player. It seems a lot of the industry seems to forget the role of the player as the driving force of a game's evolution, but in Mass Effect's case it's a particularly big problem. The player is given quite a lot of agency over a lot in the game. They can choose Shepard's name, gender, looks, personality, fighting style, personal history, romantic involvements, and most importantly the fate of the galaxy. That's a lot of influence over the trilogy's narrative for one person to have and it has to be carefully considered, as with that amount of power the game becomes as much the player's as the developers'. Bioware did not even give this any amountthought. The ending of the series pretty much took that from the player and shits all over the amount of time and effort they invested in that story. That is one of singular most major mistakes that a game could do.

Yes the EC did try and fix that, but that's an after-the-fact bit of work for something that should have been integral to the game's ending (and like mentioned before, it wasn't even done that well)

So it all comes down to Bioware being ignorant of what they were doing. Trying to get this back OT, I could still buy another game from them (Mass Effect or otherwise), but until they have proven that they've learned from their mistakes, I simply can't rust them to deliver what they promise, so any game they release I'm damn well not going to get without a truckload of salt and some well trusted sources giving me a full recommendation (meaning they've played all the way through)

 

[itsthesheppy]

Since I refuse to play the third one, I guess you could say it's ruined for me.

I know going into it that it has a lame, totally hamfisted and stupid ending. I know that there's no meaningful resolution. I know that only disappointment waits at the end of the tunnel, so I choose not to go down it. I really enjoyed the first two games, but for me I guess the story will be left untold. I'll never get to save the galaxy and that makes me sorta sad.

Not as sad, as I would have been, however, if I'd paid $60 to be disappointed.

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

I'd judge a new ME product without prejudice (wouldn't just buy it straight away), but the ME3 ending sort of left a bad taste in the mouth. Part of the series, for me at least, was making choices and imagining the consequences they'd have. They never did have consequences, and that saddens me immensely. If there were a new ME game, I'd buy it as a game on its own merits, and any overarching series-long promises would be disregarded entirely.

All it would have taken is a f***ing cutscene, honestly, and you'd only have the handful of people going "Wait...this makes no difference to the game" rather than every single player going "Wait...this makes no difference at all".