ME3 ending standing up against bioware.

[Megalodon]

snip

This is easily one of the best delivered rebutals to those who object to people complaining about the ending I've seen. I salute you

 

[Madkipz]

snip.

Thank you good sir :3

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

So you thought the ending was fine. Good for you. Lots of people didn't. Their opinion is no less wrong then yours.

As far as the Child's Play thing goes. Hey, guess what? No one's holding a gun to your head and telling you have to donate. If you disagree, then don't donate. What? You feel guilty because of the children that aren't getting money because you like (or tolerate) the ending? Well, fortunately, you can donate money directly to Child's Play through their official website!
Guilt averted! Children helped! No need to support the "change the ending" drive!

...but I get the feeling you'd rather just sooner keep your money.

As far as "you can't criticize this! It's someone's creative work!". Bull. People make a living criticizing people's work. This very website does it on a daily basis. Now with something like a book or painting, there's nothing you can really do, except apologize that you felt it didn't live up to their expectations, learn the lesson for your next series, and tell your supporters you're doing so, so hopefully they'll decide to stick with you. However, this is a video game in the 2010's, that have the ability to be altered through the internet. Hell, BioWare charged for this extra "DownLoadable Content" on the first day. By all appearances, it would seem that having an alternate ending DLC would be pretty popular. They probably could even charge for it. Hell, some people said they'd pay for it. Now, some have said that would piss them off more. Bet you that they'll buy it anyway. If it delivers, they'll probably even forgive them for it.

Besides, movies have done alternate endings for YEARS. I mean, hell. They completely re-edited Highlander 2 into a "Renegade Version" that removed all references to stupid aliens, purely due to fan "bitching". I Am Legend added an alternate ending to the DVD when the producers and writers were stupid and put in an ending that was not only a huge departure from the book, but made absolutely no sense, all due to people complaining. Just a couple of examples.

Want an example outside of movies. Hal Fricking Jordan. Go watch the Big Picture and listen to Bob's history lesson about the Green Lantern comic. Not only was the character brought back to life, but was absolved of all the atrocities he committed. This was done by a HUGE fanbase drive to do so. And one writer finally listened. As Garrus said in Mass Effect 3, sometimes to get people to act, you've got to kick and scream until you get their attention.

The thing is, we're not talking about "Some game that came out". If this was the original Mass Effect, people would have just shrugged their shoulders, not supported it, and the series would have died a quiet death. This is a series of games that people have become invested in for the last five years. Have developed emotional connections to the characters with. Wanted to know more about the universe it took place in. It was their passion for the series and their support that saw the sequels made, and all these people wanted was an ending that felt complete and was dependent of their actions as BioWare had promised MANY times, or at the very least, would make sense!

But it is not out of hatred of BioWare that people are complaining (for the most part. It's not that they hate the game. On the contrary, its because of the sheer love for series for the reasons mentioned above. It could have been the Star Wars of this generation. Even more so. I mean, in Star Wars, you just got to watch Luke deal with situations he's dealt. In Mass Effect, you didn't just get attached to the character, you were the character. You got to make the decisions, whether for good, or for ill. And to have all the choices you made, all the benefits they gave, all the consequences you had to endure because of them, to have all that (to many people) taken away and made irrelevant in the last five minutes of an otherwise exceptional series, it should be understandable why people could be that upset.

"It's just a game!" I can hear. Why cry over a piece of music? It's just music. Why be excited when a kid wizard in a book gets the best of his nemesis? It's just a book. Why get upset when the villain in the TV series unexpectedly gets the upper hand of the hero? It's just a TV show. Why be passionate about any form of medium? Should just devour it unemotionally, no matter how trite it is. Should we not demand better?

I'm not trying to convince you that the ending is bad. If you find it tolerable, again, good for you. However, for people to dismiss the ones that feel that the ending did not live up to the series they are passionate about as bitching, or even self-entitled, I find these people at best, self-entitled themselves, and at worst, hypocritical.

This has gone far beyond tl;dr. That's my two cents. Take it or don't. I don't give a damn if you didn't ask for it.

boom exactly, there are so many reasons to care/want this, yet people refuse to see why.

honestly i don't care about spoilers and stuff, so i went and checked out all the stuff, and as soon as i saw/read the endings...i lost all motivation to want to beat the game, let alone go back and play me1 and me2...why? because apparently to bioware, it doesn't mean jack shit, nor does the tone/theme from the first two games, apparently that all went to shit in the shite endings that were released. (hell they can still be there, just do what fallout 3 did and do an expansion for the ending to give additional endings to those that go the extra mile in everything.)

 

[Fappy]

There is no way to know if this was actually the ending that the writers intended/wanted for the franchise.

There could have been a crunch, they could have run out of time, whatever it was the fact of that matter is: the executives and publishers call the shots. They want a functioning product out and are willing to release it to the market in an incomplete state.

There's a contradiction in your statement. You have no way of knowing what went on in any specific amount of detail during the development of Mass Effect 3, but you still posit an assumption without evidence?

On your last point, the choices that I had made over the previous two games and throughout the third, informed my final decision at the end. I got to see the culmination of all the character arcs that mattered to me; I daresay that is the very definition of player choice within the constraints of a directed narrative. It was my version of Shepard story.

I don't begrudge you for disliking what was presented, but I don't see any breach of ethics which is what a lot of people are puffing into hyperbole. I would say that there has been a fundamental dissonance in expectation.

I think I may have gotten a little ahead of myself there, it was 2 am after all >.>

That last little quote of mine should have been a bit more generalized. The point I intended to get across was something along the lines of: in most cases executives and publishers (not specific to EA/Bioware) want to get their product out the door, even if it is an incomplete state.

 

[AD-Stu]

Think I mentioned this in another thread somewhere too, but to a certain extent I think Bioware brought this upon themselves by making such a big hairy deal of taking fan feedback on board in the past. Let's look at just a few of the examples:

- Pretty much everyone hated the Mako sections in ME1, so they were pulled for ME2
- Absolutely everyone hated the planet scanning in ME2, so it was all but removed from ME3
- People complained we didn't get any planet exploration in ME2, so we got the Hammerhead DLC packs
- Fans raged over the inaccuracies in the latest spinoff novel, and within days Bioware had made a public statement saying they'd fix it and reprint the book (still waiting on that, BTW)
- People bitched and moaned that there weren't proper gay romance options in ME1 or 2, so they got added for ME3
- There was apparently a huge uproar over the leaked script to ME3, and again IIRC, Bioware came out and officially said they were taking the comments on board and changing the script

Given Bioware's history of doing things to please/appease fans of this series alone, is it really surprising that fans are turning to them again expecting them to do something?!?

 

[Sexy Devil]

It's fine if you don't want the ending changed, but can we please stop pretending that they actually worked hard on that ending? It was clearly thrown together because they couldn't think of anything. I don't care that Shepard died but I do care that every choice made up to that point is disregarded.

Also, didn't Bioware overhaul the script in November when it was leaked and the fans figured out it was crap? What's wrong with trying to do the same thing after release?

 

[Geeky Anomaly]

I don't see how its a bad ending, its not great and they kinda backed themselves into a corner that they will have to pull out some fancy stuff to continue the series.

thats why i like the ending. means that Mass effects over and bioware can move on to something new.

Did you watch the easter egg after the credits? Did you know that Bioware has recommended that you keep your ME3 save file for some undisclosed reason?

 

[Fappy]

I don't see how its a bad ending, its not great and they kinda backed themselves into a corner that they will have to pull out some fancy stuff to continue the series.

thats why i like the ending. means that Mass effects over and bioware can move on to something new.

Did you watch the easter egg after the credits? Did you know that Bioware has recommended that you keep your ME3 save file for some undisclosed reason?

Thanks for playing. BUY DLC! >:O

 

[AD-Stu]

Did you watch the easter egg after the credits? Did you know that Bioware has recommended that you keep your ME3 save file for some undisclosed reason?

Given the game dumps you back at the point right before the point of no return on the final mission (invasion of the Illusive Man's base) I think it's pretty safe to assume that DLC content will be intended to fit before the final mission in the game's chronology.

Pretty sure I remember reading something from Bioware to that effect as well: that there wouldn't be any post-ending DLC, but that doesn't preclude pre-ending or multiplayer DLC.

Of course, that could all change if they cave to fan pressure

 

[esperandote]

In my days you couldn't even get bugs fixed, now people ***** about anything.

 

[42]

I don't see how its a bad ending, its not great and they kinda backed themselves into a corner that they will have to pull out some fancy stuff to continue the series.

thats why i like the ending. means that Mass effects over and bioware can move on to something new.

Did you watch the easter egg after the credits? Did you know that Bioware has recommended that you keep your ME3 save file for some undisclosed reason?

Yeah i know its EA and *sigh* DLC, but I just want to see this series put to bed. one can hope right?

 

[BloatedGuppy]

In my days you couldn't even get bugs fixed, now people ***** about anything.

Yep. In my day a beloved RPG series that ran for 20 years completely fell apart in the final game, which was riddled with game crippling bugs, horrible game play, and bizarre character and lore breaking retcons. It was never fixed, and the series collapsed and fell into obscurity, later to be turned into an ambitious but troubled MMO and then later into a soul destroying Facebook game.

Man, am I ever glad we're not in those fucking days any more, and games with screwed up endings, like Fallout 3, sometimes get fixed.

 

[Alandoril]

As a writer when you write a story you have a duty to the work and to your audience to actually write an ending.

That's not what Bioware's writers have done. The available resolutions to the trilogy just smack of something being cobbled together. They are entirely throw away, do nothing to resolve any of the issues in the main narrative or character arcs and don't factor in anything to do with player choice throughout the trilogy. You can't create a story as vast as mass effects and then just end it with what boils down to "And then this happened, goodbye."

 

[smokeyninjas]

It doesn't even feel like the game has an ending yet just some weird dream sequence with the star child before you wake up in some rubble after being shoot by the reaper beam

 

[Korenith]

I'm in two minds on this. One level I think authorial control should be respected and the OP has a point because it's their project and their story. But at the same time people have every right to explain why they didn't like the ending. Part of putting something up for public scrutiny is to get feedback and if you do that you should take the good with the bad.

The DEMANDING a rewrite however is just entitled childishness as far as I'm concerned and if people really want a new ending write your own. Bioware's responsibility IMHO is to take on board the criticisms and bear them in mind when working on their next project unless the ending is a product of time and budget constraints in which case fair enough.

 

[suitepee7]

I don't see how its a bad ending, its not great and they kinda backed themselves into a corner that they will have to pull out some fancy stuff to continue the series.

thats why i like the ending. means that Mass effects over and bioware can move on to something new.

this part of the story was over anyway. but mass effect isn't necessarily over, the devs have been hinting at how it might be a good idea to hold onto your save games.

the game is awesome, i am glad i paid for it, but the endings were still a bit shit. just too much left unanswered, and

Spoiler

the god child is a twat. i proved organics and synthetics can live together peacefully, stop telling me otherwise >_>

 

[thiosk]

Guess it turned out good that I made my stand against origen at ME2, so I will never know the horrors of a "bad" ending.

ME was a good game. No idea about the other two.

 

[Sandytimeman]

this is why I haven't bought the game yet. I'm sad to hear of the ending to a great franchise boiled down to a 3 choices, no epiloge ending that everyone is talking about. Since it seems like the series continued away from RPG type gameplay and more towards shooter territory, I've been more hesitant and now...well lets just say I vote with my wallet.

 

[Tony2077]

i hear a a lot of i hate this ending because its not the normal sappy happy modern day fairy tale ending. you know fairy tales weren't always like the Disney remakes.