Extra Credits Takes a Stab at the Mass Effect 3 issues

[Atmos Duality]

If they have to explain what their artistic vision was, they didn't succeed in achieving it.

In art as in politics: If you're explaining, you're losing.

Small wonder nothing gets done via politics.
Everybody wants to talk and get their way, but never talk about 'WHY'.

 

[Jesse Billingsley]

http://extra-credits.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=2008

Nothing much to say except that Extra Credits decided to respond to this issue, and they have some pretty good views.

While I think it would be stupid if they changed the ending (I don't care about "artistic integrity", the damage was done, the series ruined - you can't fix it), I really, REALLY hate people who in any way defend it.

It's especially ridiculous because it's almost ALWAYS followed by a "well, yes it could have been done better, but this is what they chose! it shows growth in the industry! Why are people so angry!?"

As the guy who does Experienced Points has shown, this ending is not a mature ending in anyway. It broke with consistent Lore, broke with the themes and ideas presented in the Mass Effect lore, this was a literary cope out - Bioware essentially said, "we don't want to take the hard route and account for the 1,000 different choices players made, so we're just gonna end it all." It was the equivalent of dropping an atomic bomb on everything they had worked for. It's like reading Lord of the Rings right up until the part where Frodo drops the ring into Mt. Doom and then going into your backyard and burning the book, claiming it somehow was a good ending.

It just wasn't good. Look at it artistically, look at thematically, look at it any which way you want to and you have to admit, it's not good. The guys from Extra Credits admitted they never played the damn thing - how can they truly understand the core issue here? They can't. It's akin to writing off Lord of the Rings as "generic" fantasy and never reading it because you heard it has elves and goblins and orcs in it - even though LOTR was one of the first series to truly propel "generic" fantasy into the foreground in the first place! No. Looking at it from the most objective, unopinionated point of view, where your ideas are formulated by centuries of artistic and literary theory, the ending of Mass Effect was down right abysmal. Stop making excuses for it. Stop defending it. Just let the damn thing die!

The Guy writing the post played it, so I think that means he can say whatever he wants about the endings.

 

[Vault Citizen]

Which is a whole load of crock, as it is not an unprecedented practice in either the literary or film medias to alter a product after a release to appeal to public demand. In fact some of the greatest works of literature and film have done just that. People taking this route of argument are arguing for a holier than thou point of view that is completely disconnected from reality. Fact of the matter is, it's special pleading and pure ignorance that forms this argument. Neither of which is good justification to make such an uninformed and pompous claim.

I?m confused, by uninformed and pompous claim do you mean the people that claim Bioware shouldn?t change the ending or what I said?
I didn?t realise that literary works had been altered post released to suit fan demand (besides retcons in comic books) so I take back what I said about the difficulty in changing the ending of a movie or book.

 

[ralfy]

Put simply, the C&Cs throughout the game should be connected to one of various endings.

 

[him over there]

Umm... Doesn't Bioware have to have some sort of Artistic Integrity to begin with regarding the ending in order for it to be ruined?

 

[Shavon513]

I respect what Bioware has done, and I hope they don't cave in to the massive amount of whining.

Sure, I am disappointed in how they didn't uphold everything they said they would, but the best thing I can do is to express my disappointment and not purchase their products until they shape up.

Leave the past as it is and focus on the future, bringing back the Bioware we once knew.

This reflects my opinion more than anything.

Yes, I'm pretty upset about the endings, and take many opportunities to voice my displeasure. I think Bioware needs to own that decision, but they don't need to give new endings. What's done is done, as they say. I really hope this results as a wake up call to the studio, and that the folks at Bioware focus on doing what they did well in the past.

 

[MrHide-Patten]

I love how when they left the escapist, everyone was wanting to burn the escapist down and the community hated Jim Sterlings guts when he got here. Now it seems people are quoting him forbadum on the whole games as art thing. Escapist you confuse you.

Although it could probably be that if you don't want BioWare's head on a pike, any words sound like; "I touch kids".
Truth, ends not good by any means. I'm just not that passionate to devote time to whining about something I can't change.

 

[WonderWillard]

I desperately hope Bioware doesn't overwrite what they've done. Not because I think it's perfect (I don't), but because they made an artistic choice.

No, fuck this, im done. Im never reading anything remotely related to EC again. I knew it was coming, I read it anyway, fuck this, fuck EC, fuck everything.

*Leaves tossing over random objects and kicking doors*

(Seriously though, I disagree. I knew EC would role out the pretentious artistic vision shit.)

Lol, you mad bro?

I knew EC would have something to say about Mass Effect 3. They referenced the first two games in many of their previous videos and obviously loved and respected the series. They also know games incredibly well, so I am happy that they believe that the ending should not be changed. I think that this is the best stance that fans can take. Some of my friends who don't play Mass Effect are sick of seeing fan rage all over the internet, and have actually been turned off from trying to get into the series because of it. The ending would benefit from some additional closure though, and it does sound like Bioware has something like that in store for us.