Mass Effect 3 Outrage Causes Unrelated Game to Change its Ending

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

I understand the general sentiment for doing this but I don't really agree with it. I also don't think that Bioware should change their endings or Tali's face. It should be left as it is as a permanent reminder of Bioware being exceedingly lazy but I am more so referring to Tali's face than the ending on being lazy.

 

[Ganath]

I... did not like Frozen Synapse. Not because it was bad, but because my girlfriend absolutely raped me everytime I played it with her. That and apparently I have to give soldiers an order to stand up, breathe, eat, drink-- You get the point. Conclusion? Try firing a rocket into a waist-high barricade. You'll see.

On topic, more or less. This.. This ending. Is awesome. So much time spent saying game is art and then... Yeah. I do hope they don't cave in. The ending wasn't great, that's not it. But I personally don't feel I'm entitled to demand they change it. They made it. If I saw a painting I didn't like, I wouldn't start drawing on it to make it better now would I? That and security would probably beat me down harshly, that would hurt.

 

[Somebloke]

Don't expect the ending to change - expect there to come an epilogue.

 

[TheDrunkNinja]

No we are not, but if the owner of a restoraunt punches you in the face with absolutely no reason whatsover, you will inquire and go "WTF, Man?" and consequently demand at least an explanation or more to the point an apology.

Dear god, this entire controversy has led people to make just the worst kind of analogies.

Anyway, if people are actually angry at this little stunt, then it's pretty clear that this whole situation has cost people more than just their senses of humor. Being indifferent is another story entirely.

 

[Something Amyss]

Seems less like an experiment and more like a troll. But oddly enough, I smiled anyway.

So they are going with the "happy ending" argument.

Well, if they had said "It's okay for a company to lie to you about their product. Get over it, crybabies!" Then their message would sound rather dickish.

 

[FinalHeart95]

I think the reason people are so angry is that Shepard is a character the player creates (within Bioware's given boundaries), so they feel more personal connection to the story. Needless to say, the crappy ending has caused a shitstorm for this reason, which is understandable really. People always have the right to complain about something they don't like, and that's not really the issue.
The issue is that people have the nerve to demand that Bioware change ME3's ending. I'm sorry, even if you FEEL like it's your story, it's not. Bioware's writers crafted the story, and it belongs to them. Even though it sucks, you are not entitled to an overhaul of the entire ending just because you don't like it. This is where Frozen Synapse has it right: Bioware can make the creative choices to do whatever it wants. And I know someone will say "oh, don't play the ART card, this game isn't art!". Well clearly you were emotionally invested in the story/environment/characters if you cared about the ending so much, so I'd imagine there was at least a modicum of creativity involved.
Again though, those who just really hate the ending are fine in my book. Go ahead, complain about the ending a bunch, please. I know "complain" usually has a negative connotation, but I mean no negativity here; if you want Bioware to hear your message, complain on their forums. Or, even better, don't buy their future games.

NOTE: Bioware did break some promises, which I forgot about in the original post, so I understand the outrage there as well. It's still their product, so they really don't have to change the product regardless, but the best you really can do there is take anything they promise from now on with a Peter Molyneux sized grain of salt. And don't buy their products.

 

[Something Amyss]

They made it. If I saw a painting I didn't like, I wouldn't start drawing on it to make it better now would I?

Of course, fans aren't drawing on a painting. They're asking the artist to change it, something customers have been doing for centuries. This idea that it's specific to Gamers, specific to mass effect, or specifically entitled is pretty ridiculous. It's odd to see people both play the special snowflake card (Mass effect shouldn't be changed, though this is not unprecedented in other media) AND the entitlement card (gamers are entitled for asking the same thing that other media has done) at the same time. The "entitlement" argument is a novel concept.

Comparing it to actually changing the art in question yourself is also pretty weak.

 

[zinho73]

Just change the ending. Game development is a collaborative effort, why not take input from the people that matter, your fans. People need to stop defending Bioware, they fucked up and need to fix it. That ending is not art, Mordin's death was art, Grunts last stand was art. These things evoked emotions, the ending evoked nothing and then because of that nothingness people became angry.

Because under no circumstance are you actually part of the creative process. The choices you made throughout those games were designed BY BIOWARE. There is only one type of art where the consumers/fanbase gets a part in creating it: bad art.

Anyway, this is some mighty trolling. Heck, I'd even say it's a proper critique of Bioware's spineless reaction. If they're going to sell their integrity so readily it sets a bad standard for games as narrative media.

I will repeat what I said elsewhere:

The ending is art and it evokes emotion - mostly anger and disappointment. If this is not the emotion the artists intended to emulate, I see no problems with them revisiting their work.

Specially because their work is also treated as a commodity by the artists themselves with a very clear objective to get money from us.

So you consider shit to be art?

Yeah, there is bad art. And although the art in ME3 ending can be bad and already compromised in several ways (reused assets, poor writing, rushed to be launched on EA fiscal year, DLC ready, etc), the main problem with ME3 is not that it failed as art - it failed as a product.

People paid for it and were unhappy with the result, mostly because EA marketing was misleading (to be gentle). Now Bioware will have to answer not just fierce criticism on an artistic level but also the consumers of their product - this is a predicament they put themselves in, and I would hate to be in their places.

 

[zinho73]

When I said a new Mass Effect 3, I perhaps wasn't getting across what I intended to. Again, going back to Broken Steel, with the exception of being able to convince your immune-to-radiation companions to do it for you, the end of the game did not change... the game just CONTINUED past the point where you fell over from radiation exposure. So where's the break point for that here? How do you Broken Steel ME3, where do you start from? It can't be from the ending-ending, since from what I've seen, that mainly involves everything being exploded and/or dead. So at what point does one declare the original game non-canon and start anew?

I would say that's Bioware's problem.

Bethesda found their way out quite elegantly because the problems were not that big to begin with. Bioware dig themselves into a huge hole but the fact remains that it has been done before.

 

[Wintermoot]

that is very awesome of Frozen Synapse,s developers

 

[Farther than stars]

How unnecessarily smug. And missing the point, I might add, since "Happy End" or not has never been the issue.

Except that Taylor did say that this wasn't a criticism on what Bioware has said or done, so I think that's neither here nor there. But whether this was necessary or not is a different matter entirely. One could also argue that playing or even creating Mass Effect 3 in the first place is also an unnecessary act, but I think there's something to be said for l'art pour l'art, which this action of Mode 7 seems to strongly endorse. I can only applaud them for that.

Broken Steel turned out great. Maybe it happened and I didn't notice, but I don't remember anyone talking about how horrible it was that Bethesda sacrificed their artistic integrity or that they were vandalizing their own game.

Yeah, but then Broken Steel wasn't an alternate ending; it just extended the story a little longer. And as far as I can tell no one's against Bioware bringing out additional DLC, they're just against them changing the game's ending.

 

[Acier]

I think game devs are having a REALLY big ego problems.

I think THEY are the "entitled" guys in here.

They think they are entitled to do whatever the freak they want with a game, put in a box, sell to us, and demand us to like it. And if not, deal with it and shut up/don't complain.

Wow, really?
First of all, it's their game. Of course they can put whatever they want in a box and sell it. That's what they do.
I don't remember anyone demanding that the ending be liked. In fact, I don't think Bioware forced you to deal with it and shut up/don't complain. They have a right to defend their ending, just as you have as much right to complain.

What is the problem, is this false entitlement that has sprung up in the wake of this shitstorm.

Whoever bought that game failed as a consumer the second they bought the game without doing proper research. The endings were leaked before the release with people talking about bad they were. People knowingly supported this product monetarily, then they threw a hissy fit when they got what had been discovered by those before them. Complaining and bitching are completely allowed, hell expected if the product was unsatisfactory. But demanding the ending be changed like a bunch of petulant children? Then calling the devs entitled? Get the fuck off your horse or stop wondering why negative stereotypes of gamers exist.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

I didn't think Bioware were changing the ending though, just making it less vague (which wouldn't be hard let's face it)...

I also can't tell whether Mode 7 are making fun of the fans or of Bioware.

I reserve the right to think the Mass Effect 3 endings are terrible and I would prefer it if Bioware changed them.

I don't think that makes me entitled, just that I have an opinion. Remember that Tomb Raider game with the terrible grappling hook (Anniversary was it)? I'd be happy if they had taken that out because it ruined the entire game. If someone wanted to act on that then it's great but it still doesn't make me entitled.

Yeah, but then Broken Steel wasn't an alternate ending; it just extended the story a little longer. And as far as I can tell no one's against Bioware bringing out additional DLC, they're just against them changing the game's ending.

Actually it did change it.

Spoiler

In the original non dlc version your character died, and it explicitly said so in the end dialogue.

 

[Agente L]

I think game devs are having a REALLY big ego problems.

I think THEY are the "entitled" guys in here.

They think they are entitled to do whatever the freak they want with a game, put in a box, sell to us, and demand us to like it. And if not, deal with it and shut up/don't complain.

Wow, really?
First of all, it's their game. Of course they can put whatever they want in a box and sell it. That's what they do.
I don't remember anyone demanding that the ending be liked. In fact, I don't think Bioware forced you to deal with it and shut up/don't complain. They have a right to defend their ending, just as you have as much right to complain.

What is the problem, is this false entitlement that has sprung up in the wake of this shitstorm.

Whoever bought that game failed as a consumer the second they bought the game without doing proper research. The endings were leaked before the release with people talking about bad they were. People knowingly supported this product monetarily, then they threw a hissy fit when they got what had been discovered by those before them. Complaining and bitching are completely allowed, hell expected if the product was unsatisfactory. But demanding the ending be changed like a bunch of petulant children? Then calling the devs entitled? Get the fuck off your horse or stop wondering why negative stereotypes of gamers exist.

Sorry, but I never mentioned Bioware in that post.

This article isn't even ABOUT bioware.

I didn't said ANYWHERE that I wanted the ending to change.


Also, the "do your research by looking at leaked content" argument is beyond redonkulous. Think about what you're posting before actually posting it.

 

[Acier]

I think game devs are having a REALLY big ego problems.

I think THEY are the "entitled" guys in here.

They think they are entitled to do whatever the freak they want with a game, put in a box, sell to us, and demand us to like it. And if not, deal with it and shut up/don't complain.

Wow, really?
First of all, it's their game. Of course they can put whatever they want in a box and sell it. That's what they do.
I don't remember anyone demanding that the ending be liked. In fact, I don't think Bioware forced you to deal with it and shut up/don't complain. They have a right to defend their ending, just as you have as much right to complain.

What is the problem, is this false entitlement that has sprung up in the wake of this shitstorm.

Whoever bought that game failed as a consumer the second they bought the game without doing proper research. The endings were leaked before the release with people talking about bad they were. People knowingly supported this product monetarily, then they threw a hissy fit when they got what had been discovered by those before them. Complaining and bitching are completely allowed, hell expected if the product was unsatisfactory. But demanding the ending be changed like a bunch of petulant children? Then calling the devs entitled? Get the fuck off your horse or stop wondering why negative stereotypes of gamers exist.

Sorry, but I never mentioned Bioware in that post.

This article isn't even ABOUT bioware.

I didn't said ANYWHERE that I wanted the ending to change.


Also, the "do your research by looking at leaked content" argument is beyond redonkulous. Think about what you're posting before actually posting it.

Sorry, but when I see "game devs" in a discussion relating to ME3 surrounding a "controversy" about a consumer base complaining about the devs not paying attention , I'm going to use to most relevant example to counter your claim about developers in general. Also, Sorry that my use "your" and "you" made it sound like I was targeting you in the singular. Once again, I was talking about the general consensus that people do want the ending of a Bioware game to change, and how that's different from merely complaining or not buying a product.
And while we're playing the "I never said" game, when I say you had to view the leaked endings? Or even knew what they were? I steered clear of spoilers entirely, but I knew that people were dissatisfied with the ending waaaay in advance. Being an uninformed consumer does not mean you have to spoiler the story, and it is not an excuse for dissatisfaction.

 

[LetalisK]

Oh for fuck's sake, I'm getting tired of people in the industry not even bothering to figure out what the criticism about ME3's ending is all about before insulting the fans. If asking for a developer to spend more than 10 minutes on an ending is asking for the ending to "conform" to what we want, then so be it. You're damn fucking right we don't want an ending that looks like they spent 10 minutes and liberal use of copy/paste to make it just so they could meet a deadline. Simply on a mechanical level it's fucking garbage.

 

[Agente L]

-snip-

Ah, sorry for taking it personal, heh.

I was talking mostly about the devs who been talking down gamers for wanting to change the ME3 ending. I don't think a new ending will improve or save ME3 (Don't take me wrong, ME3 itself is a very good game.) I was actually talking about the Bioshock creator and now the guys from frozen synapse. The whole "Devs created this world using their vision, so don't complain if you didn't liked it" thing. Why we can't complain about it, when Star Wars fans have been complaining about what Lucas does to the original trilogy since the remasterization? That's why I said all that.


"Whoever bought that game failed as a consumer the second they bought the game without doing proper research. The endings were leaked before the release with people talking about bad they were."

Well, you kinda said it there. And it wasn't know if the ending were going to be the ones from the leak, since the leak was months before the game launch. So we didn't knew if the ending really were going to be that way, sou you couldn't judge it.

 

[JoesshittyOs]

Uh... Wut?

I'm not even sure what side they're taking. It seems like a tongue in cheek insult to the Mass Effect 3 ending, and at the same time telling people to "get over it". I'm thinking the latter. And it that's the case, I think it's safe to say they missed the point.

 

[PhantomEcho]

Of course they missed the point. That's the whole problem with this bullshit back-and-forth about 'entitlement'.

Somewhere along the way, Devs went and got it in their head that they're 'artists'... which is fine and good. I believe that there's an 'art' to everything. But what comes with the label of 'artist' is this smug, condescending "You just don't understand my vision" response whenever someone says that what you made is shit.

And let's be honest here, there's a LOT of shit art out there. Sometimes more literal than we'd care to admit.

But equally imbecilic is this customer mentality of "Give me what I want or else" that has arisen in the wake of our 'The Customer Is Always Right' marketing strategy from yesteryear. There are a LOT of people out there who really DO only hate the ending because it doesn't end the way that they want, and for them... nothing short of a custom-tailored finishing sequence with all their personalized choices and opinions on full display could ever make them satisfied.

But again, let's be honest. That's a VERY SMALL PORTION of the folks who are complaining. In fact, I'd wager to say that you could give EACH of those folks their own shitty piece of artwork (from our global collection of shit art, no less) three times a year, every year, until they died... and we'd STILL have secret underground warehouses of self-enshrining crap art designed by people who just don't 'get' why people hate their work.

For most everyone else, it's a lot of the same.


Here's why people hate Mass Effect 3's Ending in a Nut-Shell:

1. It grotesquely deformed the plot of the series, throwing out all conventions and themes within it's genre at the VERY END in order to fall back on the most trite of all Sci-Fi cliche's.

2. Blatant lies from the developer regarding the nature of the end of the game. So blatant, in fact, that the FTC has actually received complaints of False Advertising.

3. It's not an ending. It's a cliffhanger, with blatant hooks installed for continued content or series progression. This only works when there is the ASSUMPTION of continued content or progression, where-as this was marketed as the end of a trilogy.

4. Because no matter how many times someone repeats their VERY REASONABLE complaints for why the ending of this game is an atrocious violation of not just the FANS' expectations of what the game should be, but also the LITERARY elements of what make up a good story, some smug bastard who fancies himself an 'artist'... or some troll looking for lulz... snaps back with a "It's sad when a creator's artistic direction is received so negatively, when..." line which never even comes close to addressing the problem.


The problem isn't that the ending was bleak. The problem isn't that the ending didn't appeal to us. The problem is that the ending is a nonsensical break from the reality and intensity of the universe. It's a complete Deus ex Machina, revealing in the final moments some divinely inspired being whose logic is too infallible to question or deny, which summarizes itself in presenting to the player three choices of colored bows with which the wrap up all the lose ends and plot holes while never once stopping to explain its own flawed logic.

It's a twist ending with no lead-in or causality, created for the sole purpose of glossing over all the questions that never get answered by presenting demi-god logic and a choice of finality.

And let me be clear: I don't -want- a different ending. No ending they could cobble together in the coming months can possibly undo the damage done here by whatever executive force thought this was a good idea.

But I certainly can understand why some people would. The way they chose to 'end' this series was a disgrace to the entire brand's name.

And that's a shame, because the game itself is GREAT. I absolutely loved every second of playing it.