Was Mass Effect 3's really that bad? (SPOILERS)

[Nadia Castle]

Apart from the annoyingly bland ending I really thought the pacing of the game was off. Like the first Mass Effect it put way too much emphasis on urgency. Its hard to focus on running around doing side quests and having fun when the plot is screaming 'there's no time to loose!' 'millions will die' 'PANIC'. Mass Effect 2, Jade Empire and Knights of the Old Republic were much better with their focus on exploring and team building.

Throwing the reapers aside for 'oooooh it was an evil AI on the citadel' at the end was also one of the worst narrative decisions I have ever seen. You don't spend three games telling us how the Reapers are the biggest evil in existence then change it at the last possible second. Having the mysterious new big bad showing up halfway through a game can be a fun twist (Fallout 3) or in the third act it can spice things up a bit (Gears 3). In the last ten minuets of the game? Just pointless.

Was it really that bad? Probably not, but Bioware were like Pixar when it came to solid gaming narratives. Even the average ones were better than what everyone else churned out. Im still convinced it was rushed because the multiplayer was crowbared in. If I wanted an online shooter i'd but Call of Duty, you wouldn't shove a musical number into a horror movie to give it broader appeal.

 

[Pickles]

Eh, it's your opinion if you disliked it or not.

I personally don't care for the ending, because of the fact that the choices you make in the game don't affect the ending. At all.

True, there is the "Indoctrination" theory involved. (Something about the Reapers affecting Shepherd's choices?) But to me, that makes it even worse, it's like s/he had no say in the final outcome anyway.

Or maybe that's because I don't like the idea of being a slave to one's destiny...

As much as it sucks, the indoctrination theory actually makes for a much better ending.
Even though it kind of wrecks the flow of the series, its the only way in which the ending makes any kind of sense... even if its still not enough.

Also because it seems like they kind of planned it. There are WAY too many indications that bioware were working along those lines, and I really hope that the ending was EA's fault. If I'd bookmarked the link I'd share it here but theres a lot of stuff that points towards an indoctrination ending.

Depending on how the additional ending DLC pans out, im sticking with the indoctrination theory

 

[Ironbat92]

Honesly, I didn't think it was good, but I didn't thing it was bad, nor as god aweful fans made it out to be.

 

[Acton Hank]

Eh, it's your opinion if you disliked it or not.

I personally don't care for the ending, because of the fact that the choices you make in the game don't affect the ending. At all.

True, there is the "Indoctrination" theory involved. (Something about the Reapers affecting Shepherd's choices?) But to me, that makes it even worse, it's like s/he had no say in the final outcome anyway.

Or maybe that's because I don't like the idea of being a slave to one's destiny...

As much as it sucks, the indoctrination theory actually makes for a much better ending.
Even though it kind of wrecks the flow of the series, its the only way in which the ending makes any kind of sense... even if its still not enough.

Also because it seems like they kind of planned it. There are WAY too many indications that bioware were working along those lines, and I really hope that the ending was EA's fault. If I'd bookmarked the link I'd share it here but theres a lot of stuff that points towards an indoctrination ending.

Depending on how the additional ending DLC pans out, im sticking with the indoctrination theory

I still don't see how the ending could be EA's fault.
Even if they came up with the ending in 5 minutes it still should have been better.

 

[T3hSource]

Nope,it just genuinely frustrated my at the time,now I think of the moments during the actual game,not the ending.

 

[tautologico]

No, it's not that bad. It has its problems, and it feels like the game was rushed in the end, but it's not as terrible as people say. It's one more effect of the Internet echo-chamber negative feedback machine ("and now the whole trilogy is ruined forever!!!!!1111").

 

[Pickles]

I still don't see how the ending could be EA's fault.
Even if they came up with the ending in 5 minutes it still should have been better.

Sorry, I wasn't really that clear. The impression I got when I was reading up on the ending was that the development team was forced to release the game earlier than they wanted, and that one guy basically wrote the ending without consulting anyone else. As EA now owns bioware, they would be the ones pressuring them to release at a given time.

That said I could be very very wrong, that's just the impression I got.

 

[AnarchistFish]

Starting to get annoyed with these "Was the ending really that bad" threads every few weeks

 

[Loken321]

The only real problem i had with the endings was that their was no closure. I mean after you make your final choice you get a very big ending cutscence, Joker crashes Normandy on some random jungle planet, role credits, then show that really stupid bit at the end with the kid and his grandpa.

I just want to know what happens to the galaxy i saved.

 

[Snotnarok]

It wasn't a great ending, however there's far far worse endings. It's far from a deal breaker I think.

 

[EquestrianGeneral]

This was my problem with the ending:

You, as Shepard, spend the entirety of three games protecting the galaxy. You put yourself in immense danger for the sake of keeping the inhabitants of space safe.

Suddenly, you get to the end of Mass Effect 3. Suddenly, Shepard blindly follows the explinations of a random Star-Child who had had no previous foreshadowing or character. Suddenly, you destroy the entire Mass Relay system. Suddenly, you have NO CHOICE but to cause immesurable damage to the galaxy, which you had been trying to save this entire time!

My point is not that you don't have choice. My point is that your actions go against EVERYTHING that you, as Shepard, had been doing up until those last five minutes.

 

[Mylinkay Asdara]

Since we're talking about this - news on the Extended Cut June 26th (apparently) http://www.masseffect.com/about/extended_cut/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3y7xk1_x8ko&feature=player_detailpage

 

[Blade_125]

It's been said already multiple times, but I want to reiterate that the mechanics of the ending are not the real problem (as bad as those are) as the Op seems to be focusing on. It's the horrible story telling. This series, and bioware games in general, have always focused on telling a story and they had done a good job of it. To suddenly change the entire direction, theme, and mood of the story in the last 10 minutes is not good story telling. I could go on about the mechanics, such as all the work that went into the war assets through the game and having it mean absolutely nothing at the end, but I still could have forgiven that if the story had been satisfying.

It was not though. I give lots of leeway to people having different opinions on what is good and what is not (there are many authors I consider terrible yet they still sell lots of books for some reason), but you cannot even give that cop out for this ending. It is not consistant with the story of everything before it, and that is simply bad story telling. You are deluding yoruself if you think otherwise, and that is the main problem with the ending and why so many people are angry with it.

 

[Eldritch Warlord]

I think that the biggest problem with ME3's endings was that you don't really get to see the impact of your decision.

 

[2clueless]

Why did 'you' play the game?

If it was for the game style, cover and shoot, get better and upgraded guns, and just beat up baddies in a fun sci-fi atmosphere, the ending probably didn;t have too much of an impact on 'you.'

If you played the game for the story, the epic three game long 75+ hour journey with engaging characters, meaningful connections and dialogue, making all those bloody hard choices, and becoming emotionally invested in the entire world, the ending is going to impact you. Hard. And not in any conceivably positive way.

I am of the latter opinion. I am in agreement with Zhukov.

I guess we're gonna be getting these threads every time another straggler catches up with the crowd. Fun times.

Anyway, yes. Yes, it really was that bad. If you want a definitive explanation of why just do a forum search or watch that one 40-minute video [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MlatxLP-xs].

If you want a quick rundown, well...

- No closure. Can you tell me what became of the various civilizations and characters? No, you cannot. That's because the ending failed to provide closure.

- No accounting for choice. Even the final A, B or C choice only changes the colour of the the explosion [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPelM2hwhJA].

- Introduces new plot elements and new conflicts in the final ten minutes of the narrative. This is bad storytelling. A good story does not introduce, explain and resolve an entire arc with the final 14 lines of dialogue.

- The motivations for the Reapers given in those final 14 lines make no sense. Perhaps that was intentional, but if so why don't we get to call them out on this?

- It invalidates and contradicts much of the previous games. For example, if the Citadel was housing an active super AI all along, why the fuck did Sovereign need to go to all that trouble to switch the damn thing on?

- Finally, well... it involves a glowing child emerging out of nowhere and rewriting the plot in the final ten minutes with 14 lines of dialogue. I should not have to explain why this is crap.

At best, you get an explosion the segregates or kills off everything. Hell, DLC for the second game, it was explained that a destroyed Mass Relay has the energy to wipe out an entire solar system. It sucks, but at least one can find closure in 'everything died.'

And at worst, you get Zhukov's analysis. Just a jumbled mess of unconnected ideas that have no real link to the games we have been playing in first place.

Mass Effect 3 broke me for Bioware games. After the complete and utter emotional letdown of that ending to their incredible sprawling epic, unless they do something amazing with the extended cut, they will get no more of my money, either through future games or DLC.

And oh my god, I had never seen that 40 minutes video, that is a perfect summation!

 

[skywolfblue]

No it's not "really that bad".

It could have been a lot lot worse.

 

[Jynthor]

I guess we're gonna be getting these threads every time another straggler catches up with the crowd. Fun times.

Anyway, yes. Yes, it really was that bad. If you want a definitive explanation of why just do a forum search or watch that one 40-minute video [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MlatxLP-xs].

If you want a quick rundown, well...

- No closure. Can you tell me what became of the various civilizations and characters? No, you cannot. That's because the ending failed to provide closure.

We do know what happened. Everyone starved to death as they were stuck in orbit around a scorched Earth which would probably not even have enough food for the humans alone.
And let's not forget the Turians and Quarians with their Dextro DNA.

Alternatively, the Krogans eat everyone.

 

[mad825]

ME3 was bad compared to ME1&2 and ending itself is mediocre however it was a betrayal to the franchise so far.

 

[Zhukov]

I guess we're gonna be getting these threads every time another straggler catches up with the crowd. Fun times.

Anyway, yes. Yes, it really was that bad. If you want a definitive explanation of why just do a forum search or watch that one 40-minute video [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MlatxLP-xs].

If you want a quick rundown, well...

- No closure. Can you tell me what became of the various civilizations and characters? No, you cannot. That's because the ending failed to provide closure.

We do know what happened. Everyone starved to death as they were stuck in orbit around a scorched Earth which would probably not even have enough food for the humans alone.
And let's not forget the Turians and Quarians with their Dextro DNA.

Alternatively, the Krogans eat everyone.

Funny thing.

The writers say that none of that happened. They also say that a significant portion of the Citadel's population survived (don't ask me how).

Apparently they just forgot to add any of that information into the actual bloody game.