Poll: How many here liked ME3 as a whole.

[Raven's Nest]

When that one percent it the final one percent. Yes.

Would you take the private limo ride to a kick in the nuts?

You sort of shot your self in the foot with the sex argument.
The food one would be closer to the last bite you ate left a bad taste in your mouth.
(Also eating has survival tied to it so that would be necessary regardless)

When you experience something and are ultimately left with unpleasantness you're at a lower point than when you started. It doesn't matter how good the middle was, if you don't come out of it better off than you started it wasn't worth it.

Just to be clear I'm not saying an ending has to be "happy" for it to be good. The end has to be satisfying.

Well i have to disagree. If you can find no value in the beginning or middle of something, be it a book, film, meal, holiday or relationship I think you are missing a lot of what life has to offer.

From my perspective, most experiences are transient and never-ending. You can look back, re-evaluate and take meaning from all the events in your life big or small.

According to your ideology, the only worthwhile things in life are those that end satisfactorily. If that were the case for us all, no-one would try again after a failure. No one would strive to perfect something that cannot be truly perfected.

I learned many things during my last relationship. Experienced many pleasures, shared many dreams. Were those moments spoiled for me in anyway because we broke up horribly several years later? Not at all. My relationship with Mass Effect is longer than any of my personal relationships, would I let something/anything change how i feel about the first time I blasted some Geth, saved the citadel, romanced Tali, sent Mordin to his doom? No, I would not, because I choose not to...

 

[Jumplion]

Not including the ending; Pretty damn great. I wasn't as much of a fan of ME2, but ME3 gave that same sense of galaxy or worldliness that ME1, to me, had. It felt like everything was much bigger than you, and I actually wanted to keep playing it to see what happens next just like I did with ME1, but not ME2. It really felt that everything was at stake, and sections like the Quarian and Geth scenario were brilliantly handled.

Spoiler: Just for those who didn't finish

As Legion was uploading the Reaper intelligence stuff, even though I would have plenty of time to choose my option, I was panicking the entire time. I romanced Tali, and by Keelah I did not want to lose her by destroying her entire race. The fact that I built up that relationship made it all the more epic when I succeeded in getting the two factions to cooperate. Keelah Salai indeed. I'd imagine if one romanced Liara, the fall of Thessia would be all the more heartbreaking.

Now, the ending? Yeah, it kind of sucked. I mean, I didn't rage like other people, but it just left me...empty. Like, it was just a hollow feeling at the end. There was no conclusion, nothing wrapping up all the various relationships I built up. There's a difference between an ambiguous ending and an a hanging one, where it just gives you nothing while trying to be all ambiguous and artsy n' whatever.

Nothing I did over the past 70+ hours total in all the games mattered in the end. My Shepard became the same Shepard as everyone else. It didn't matter that I romanced Tali, or that I saved the Collector Base despite my Paragon alignment, it had no effect in the overall conclusion. It all came down to 3 buttons. I wanted to eventually replay the entire series from the start as Renegade, but there is just no reason to anymore.

 

[MrMixelPixel]

Wow... I'm actually very surprised.

From what I've seen... I expected a lot of hate. Glad to see I was wrong =D

I myself haven't played it yet. But I will... as soon as I can...

 

[Jumplion]

Wow... I'm actually very surprised.

From what I've seen... I expected a lot of hate. Glad to see I was wrong =D

I myself haven't played it yet. But I will... as soon as I can...

Yeah, don't confuse hate of the ending for hate for the entire game, the game itslef is pretty damn good. Just...you know, dat ending. Damn.

 

[Screamarie]

Here are my feelings on the game: It was AMAZING...until the ending.

Look I still LOVE Mass Effect 3, I will continue to buy Bioware games if I find something interesting and I get that Mass Effect was going to end in a way to piss alot of people off, I get that it couldn't live up to everyone's standards and while I'm not going to RAGE that the writers have their heads served up on a silver platter I have to say I'm disappointed.

I JUST finished the game a few minutes ago and so I kind of have to be angry about this somewhere and this gets into spoiler town so if you haven't finish I suggest not opening this.

Spoiler

I'm sorry Bioware but fucking forgive me if I actually wanted *GASP* a happy ending. Yes I know it's cliched and I know it's "unrealistic" and blahity blah fucking blah but for fuck's sake I worked on my Shepard for years! I'm sorry I'm so simple as to actually think of what my Shepard's life would be like after her service years and hoped that she might get to go to a fucking sunny beach for once! And at the very least you could have provided an ending that gave a little more insight into what the fuck is going on! Who lived? Who died? What happened to everyone when they couldn't get back to their home worlds? Did they all just live in peace? And what the fuck was up with the old man and the little boy? Are you trying to tell me now this shit wasn't real? That maybe it's all just made up by some old man? Yeah...no I'm not buying it. I loved the game, it was awesome, but I like happy endings. That bitter sweet ending was TOO bitter and too vague.

 

[Arina Love]

Bad. Ending is the worst ending i have witnessed in any games i have played. Conversation interaction slashed. They forgot to hire a talented animators, animations looks horrible.
Not enough choices. New characters are unnecessary and boring. ME3 ceased to feel like Mess Effect. They spent all money on tweaking combat and marketing but forgot to actually improve or include good "Mass effect" aspects like story character interactions choices and ending.
Me3 ending not just ruined ME3, it ruined all ME franchise for me.

 

[Mikeyfell]

Well i have to disagree. If you can find no value in the beginning or middle of something, be it a book, film, meal, holiday or relationship I think you are missing a lot of what life has to offer.

I'm not trying to say there's no value to be had in beginnings and middles. I'm saying that a dissatisfying end negates any enjoyment of the beginning and middle. There can be value in a bad experience. Taking something and not judging the whole experience is something I just can not wrap my head around.

From my perspective, most experiences are transient and never-ending. You can look back, re-evaluate and take meaning from all the events in your life big or small.

According to your ideology, the only worthwhile things in life are those that end satisfactorily. If that were the case for us all, no-one would try again after a failure. No one would strive to perfect something that cannot be truly perfected.

Are you saying a failure can't be satisfying?
Dragging this away from storytelling and into the realm of life wasn't my intention.
In life things aren't over until you give up or succeed or move on. Giving up would make the end of that endeavor unsatisfying and ultimately not worth it. Succeeding or moving on could be satisfying conclusions to what ever it is you were doing. Whether it's a relationship or inventing a light bulb.

I learned many things during my last relationship. Experienced many pleasures, shared many dreams. Were those moments spoiled for me in anyway because we broke up horribly several years later? Not at all. My relationship with Mass Effect is longer than any of my personal relationships, would I let something/anything change how i feel about the first time I blasted some Geth, saved the citadel, romanced Tali, sent Mordin to his doom? No, I would not, because I choose not to...

In the context of some sort of structured finite experience that you're trying to get entertainment out of you start out at some level of emotional enjoyment (Happiness, sadness, excitement, what ever) If at the end of that you don't feel better (Happier, sadder, more excited, what ever) it failed.

The example I use is Clannad. That was without parallel the most emotional powerful thing I've ever seen, then the last episode rolls around and completely destroys any semblance of weight it carries. 51 out of 52 amazing episodes but the series wasn't good

Mass Effect was the same way (Unless they ret-con the ending) it was a trilogy the story was leading up to the end of the third game so I can't even say that the first two games are good because they didn't have an ending. You wouldn't tell somebody the first two thirds of a movie was worth watching? Would you?


(Now I can still take away individual character arcs as being worthy experiences in and of them selves because the ending of the series didn't have anything to do with them. All the characters I came to know and love remained largely untainted by the end of the third game but the series as a whole suffered for it)

 

[Shepard's Shadow]

I loved it. I liked the ending too. I can understand why people don't like it... but that's just because they didn't get the ending they wanted.

 

[Vanitas likes Bubbles]

It's a shitty fanfic turned into a game.

Fucking terrible. Really not interested in big-budget shit games being called 'game of the year'

I'm sensing some hostility.

Don't ask me how I know. Trade secret.

It did come off a little fanfictiony to me. Ashley and Tali getting drunk. Or Garrus and tali hooking up. I'm sorry fangirls and boys. GARRUS HATES TALI. HE WOULDNT HAVE HOOKED UP WITH HER.

It's like straight out of a bad shipper fic. I was expecting Shepard to start humping a dog next.

And what the fuck was with all the "i love you". Like Shepard couldn't walk into a room without someone professing their eternal love for Shepard.

Wait, when did Garrus say he hated Tali?

OT: It was great right up to the last 10 minutes. I just made up my own ending.

 

[Vuljatar]

It's a phenomenal game. Honestly, if the ending hadn't sucked quad, it would take third place in my "greatest games ever" list (behind Deus Ex and Morrowind).

Some of the small, non-ending-related gripes I have about it include:

Morinth's insultingly brief cameo appearance as a Banshee. Sure she's an optional squad member in ME2, but I expected MUCH better for her in ME3. They missed a great opportunity to put her in Samara's place in the mission to the monastery, I would have loved to see the interaction between her and her sisters.

Kai Leng's cutscene superpowers. Now, I didn't read the books that introduced this cowardly, incompetent fuckwit, but I understand that he was supposed to be a badass (and also an adrenaline junkie who got his rush by eating the cereal of his enemies). Instead all I saw was a Conrad Verner-esque screwup who barely is able to defeat a terminally ill Drell twice his age, has his pet gunship "defeat you" in a cutscene after you curb-stomp his ass, sends you an unbelievably narmy gloating email like some sort of preteen console gamer, and finally goes out like the ***** he is in a fight where the only real threat are the cerberus goons who come in shooting at you while Leng does acrobatics in the corner.

The fact that you have to play multiplayer in order to get the "good" ending. I know people say this isn't true, but I have yet to see proof that 8,000 military strength is obtainable.

 

[Jumplion]

And, according to the poll, the loudest demographic is also the smaller one.

Not too many people are complaining about the overall game (which is what this poll is), just the ending. A lot of these comments are "The game overall was great, except the ending," it's not really a loud minority, I don't think.

 

[ecoho]

Here are my feelings on the game: It was AMAZING...until the ending.

Look I still LOVE Mass Effect 3, I will continue to buy Bioware games if I find something interesting and I get that Mass Effect was going to end in a way to piss alot of people off, I get that it couldn't live up to everyone's standards and while I'm not going to RAGE that the writers have their heads served up on a silver platter I have to say I'm disappointed.

I JUST finished the game a few minutes ago and so I kind of have to be angry about this somewhere and this gets into spoiler town so if you haven't finish I suggest not opening this.

Spoiler

I'm sorry Bioware but fucking forgive me if I actually wanted *GASP* a happy ending. Yes I know it's cliched and I know it's "unrealistic" and blahity blah fucking blah but for fuck's sake I worked on my Shepard for years! I'm sorry I'm so simple as to actually think of what my Shepard's life would be like after her service years and hoped that she might get to go to a fucking sunny beach for once! And at the very least you could have provided an ending that gave a little more insight into what the fuck is going on! Who lived? Who died? What happened to everyone when they couldn't get back to their home worlds? Did they all just live in peace? And what the fuck was up with the old man and the little boy? Are you trying to tell me now this shit wasn't real? That maybe it's all just made up by some old man? Yeah...no I'm not buying it. I loved the game, it was awesome, but I like happy endings. That bitter sweet ending was TOO bitter and too vague.

you know i think the game was the best in the series but, yeah if theyd of done that it would have been the best game ive ever played.

 

[Jubbert]

You know, there's one thing I noticed about the game as a whole and people arguing for the ending.

Some people have said that the reason a lot of people are unhappy about the ending is because Bioware couldn't hold up to people's expectations and that they couldn't live up to the hype.

But how, how the hell did they do it for the rest of the game, then?

The rest of Mass Effect 3, in my opinion, COMPLETELY lived up to ALL the hype. I was AMAZED at how well they pulled off the entire game, they had so many amazing moments and I was incredibly immersed and holy crap it was awesome. The game lived up to my personal expectations, which were already high, and then some.

How, how did they make such a bad ending to a game that so completely blew my expectations out of the water? How did they make a game so good, and then take a sledgehammer to its foundations in the last ten minutes?

WHY, Bioware? WHY?

WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

 

[Jandau]

Loved it as a whole, best ME game thus far. It was a bit on the depressing side for my tastes, but the fact that it managed to affect me in such a way is something I acknowledge as a strong point. Gameplay was the most polished in the series thus far, the "RPG elements" (gear, abilities, etc.) are also the best in the series (for instance, combining the best parts of ME1's weapons system with the best parts of ME2's weapon system is win). The fact that pretty much all characters who had any part to play in the previous 2 games get some closure is great.

As for the endings, I really don't see what the big deal is. For one thing, people seem fixated on the very last sequence and pretend that the rest of the ending never happened. As far as I'm concerned, the whole final section of the game is the ending, and your actions in ME3 and in the whole series are referrenced at least to some degree. As for the final section, you get the option to blow up the Reapers, you get the option to make them go away and you get the third option if you want something slightly more "out there". Seriously, jsut blow them up if Synthesis bothers you...

 

[Issurru]

Pretty damn great. I wasn't as much of a fan of ME2, but ME3 gave that same sense of galaxy or worldliness that ME1, to me, had. It felt like everything was much bigger than you, and I actually wanted to keep playing it to see what happens next just like I did with ME1, but not ME2. It really felt that everything was at stake, and sections like the Quarian and Geth scenario were brilliantly handled.

Spoiler: Just for those who didn't finish

As Legion was uploading the Reaper intelligence stuff, even though I would have plenty of time to choose my option, I was panicking the entire time. I romanced Tali, and by Keelah I did not want to lose her by destroying her entire race. The fact that I built up that relationship made it all the more epic when I succeeded in getting the two factions to cooperate. Keelah Salai indeed. I'd imagine if one romanced Liara, the fall of Thessia would be all the more heartbreaking.

Now, the ending? Yeah, it kind of sucked. I mean, I didn't rage like other people, but it just left me...empty. Like, it was just a hollow feeling at the end. There was no conclusion, nothing wrapping up all the various relationships I built up. There's a difference between an ambiguous ending and an a hanging one, where it just gives you nothing while trying to be all ambiguous and artsy n' whatever.

Nothing I did over the past 70+ hours total in all the games mattered in the end. My Shepard became the same Shepard as everyone else. It didn't matter that I romanced Tali, or that I saved the Collector Base despite my Paragon alignment, it had no effect in the overall conclusion. It all came down to 3 buttons. I wanted to eventually replay the entire series from the start as Renegade, but there is just no reason to anymore.

I edited your statement since I'm rather tired at the moment and probably couldn't write the wall of text I think I would. I thought ME 3 was a fantastic game, and while i'll admit the ending wasn't the greatest I didn't find it as horrid as most others seem to. I would have liked it to be longer and more RPG-esque like ME 1 but I felt that Bioware made a damn fine game.

Also while I didn't romance Tali (I totally pimped out my Sheperd to Ashley, then killed her, then Miranda, then Liara ) I'm glad to know that I wasn't the only one who was sweating bullets when I chose the option to save the geth instead of the quarians then was super stoked when I got them to stop fighting each other.

EDIT: ONE MORE THING! Also almost shed a single manly tear when Thane and Mordin died (more-so at Thane's "funeral" than Mordin blowing up) and that's coming from someone whose rather emotionally dead

 

[The Heik]

With all the ME3 hate about the ending, I'd like to know what everybody really thinks about ME3 as a whole. And if the ending(s) was bad enough to ruin the game as a whole. Looking for more yes or no type answers.

Is it a good game? Hell yes.

The combat is the best in the series, the graphics are aesthetically gorgeous, and the dialogue has never felt so natural and alive. I honestly cried 3 times in the game, and every single last time I did it was both tears of sadness and joy, that's how well it was put together. ME3 could have easily been one of my top games of all time if not the top game. Kinda make you realize why so many fans of the series were so pissed with the ending, considering how much of a change in quality it is.

As for if it ruins the series as a whole, well yeah. There's not much point in playing any of the trilogy now that we know that it all comes down to such a poorly done ending. It's like enjoying a delicious three course meal, only for someone to repeatedly kick you in the crotch when you are done. You're not going to want to eat that meal again.

 

[Ch@Z]

Loved everything about it(well except for Jessica Chobot's awful voice acting).

 

[Shavon513]

I think most of the fans can agree, that the game itself is awesome. The ending, which was done poorly, doesn't necessarily ruin the rest of the game for mot of us. But, until better acknowledgement is given by the devs, people are going to remain mad and thoroughly disappointed.

 

[Sehnsucht Engel]

The endings destroys the replay value the game could have had, but I do love most of ME3 anyway. I doubt I'll play it again though