No offense but despite what all these "I will never buy from Biowre again" people say they most likely will.BloatedGuppy said:
all the previous game boycotts that have been tried usually turn out were 50%+ of the people in it buy the game day 1.
Well, Retake Mass Effect 3 is pretty much over. What have we learned from this experience?
- Thread starter BreakfastMan
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all the previous game boycotts that have been tried usually turn out were 50%+ of the people in it buy the game day 1.
Well, there's "buying from Bioware" and there's "buying from Bioware". I've been a day 1, pre-order guy from the very beginning with them. If they keep shitting the bed with their storytelling, I'm going to be a day 300, sale day guy. No more $100 Collectors Editions. No more DLC or MP packs. That's about as much of a consumer threat as I'm prepared to issue. I'd really rather they just stopped screwing up, and then I can keep giving them lots of money, and everyone is happy. We'll see how the DLC goes.SajuukKhar said:
Your point would apply if people were upset with ME3's ending specifically BECAUSE it ended the story, and that's not the case. People were upset with the ending because of how it was executed. People wanted to see a conclusion to the war with the Reapers, and Bioware attempted to give them one. However they failed in the execution of that conclusion and that's what pissed everyone off.BreakfastMan said:That is my point: the price of failure is far too great. Bioware has gotten a lot of bad press, and a lot of fans are jumping ship because of this (see above). Bioware is going to be weaker after this. They have lost reputation in the eyes of the fans, their main source of revenue. This is something they cannot gain back, no matter what they do. Wouldn't it have been better, business wise, to have the series not be a trilogy and just continue on without end? They would not have pissed off the fans nearly as greatly then.RJ 17 said:The true question isn't "Did you like the way they ended the trilogy?" but rather "Did you like the entire story over all?" Just as ME 3 proved that you can love a game but hate the ending, it also proves that you can love an entire series but hate the ending. Which comes back to my point: the best you can hope to do - if you decide to write a trilogy - is come up with an ending that you think MOST can appreciate. And if you fail at that then you'll get what ME 3 gave us: an ending that very few can appreciateP I've seen topics pop up around here from people saying they liked the ending so far enough).
As an example, lets take the opposite of the situation into consideration. Suppose that ME 3 had a fantastic ending that absolutely EVERYONE loved...do you honestly believe people would still be pissed off just because the story is now officially over? I'd argue they wouldn't be. I'd imagine if Bioware had pulled off a beautifully executed ending then people would be satisfied with the story as a whole. Would they want more? Sure, Shepard is a great character in a great universe (it feels sooooooo good to be able to say that without having to worry that Zeel is going to come in here and burst a vein in his forehead screaming about how wrong I am!
), and while lamenting the fact that it was all over, they'd be satisfied with what they experienced.
Pretty much this. For me, it's the difference between "paying in full, six months in advance, for the super-awesome collector's editions and strategy guides and stuff, then passing the time till launch day by singing Bioware's praises to everyone I meet" and "I dunno, maybe I'll get a used copy from Gamestop a few months later, if I've got nothing better to do."BloatedGuppy said:
You clearly haven't been in many fan communities before then. Go look at the forums on Cinema Blend or IMDB, any comic forums, or music forums. Consumers in general are a very divided group who anger easily about what they have spent money on.BreakfastMan said:
It's true that some people wanted tailor made stuff, but to dismiss the entire thing as such is really short sighted. People have differing opinions but Retake Mass Effect was on a whole new level. Sure, people have been upset over ending before but nothing of this scale has ever come from it. Fallout 3 was the closest but not even it got this much support from the community. Then again, it didn't have to because Bethesda didn't say "Fuck off" in PR speak.
Well, if we are pretending Dragon Age 2's rushed production and DLC heavy tie-ins with crap like Dead Space (EA) and Star Wars TOR: hiding the "unsubscribe" button, didn't happen I would be. But instead this is like the last action I am prepared to sit by and dismiss the obvious. This was Bioware's flagship series and I think it is apparent that they made the ending cryptic as a measure to sell more DLC. Concerning DLC for Mass Effect, "Wait till you see what they have lined up for this summer." Could the end of Mass Effect actually be a setup to DLC instead of an actual ending to the series? I think so.
I'll put it this way.Savagezion said:
Would there have been some people unhappy with ME3's ending(s) no matter what they did? Yes there would be.
BUT I can assure you if the series had ended with say, Shepard & Anders dying on the Citadel as the device destroys the Reapers and there's a montage ala Fallout:NV that showed the longterm results of the major decisions you made throughout the series?
There wouldn't have been some huge "RETAKE" movement, because while some may dislike a 'heroic sacrifice' they're few & far between compared the number of people who dislike "Wait... where the hell did this come from? What-HUH?".
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A few months ago I would have agreed with you. But right now that does not seem to be a difficult thing to imagine. The only thing on the horizon is DA3, and after they threw up their arms and gave up on DA2, that's not looking so hot. There is no way TOR is doing well enough to justify the huge amount of money they spent on it. ME3 speaks for itself, and people will still be sore when it comes time for DLC. Unless Jade Empire 2 falls from the sky to save the day, Bioware's chances look slim.SajuukKhar said:
This. I disagree that it is over. Every major player in Retake ME3 has stated that they're biding their time till after PAX.Fappy said:
...Anyway, if it is over, hopefully we can realize that video games are part art, part consumer product, and to the extent that your game is a AAA title produced for purely cynical reasons by giant publishers like EA and Activision, enough fan outrage will cause ripples.
That screaming and hollering will get you anything you want!
I kid I kid...
Seriously though, I learned that this kind of controversy likes to attract the trolls. *cough* Zeel *cough* wait why am I coughing? Zeel's gone!
I kid I kid...
Seriously though, I learned that this kind of controversy likes to attract the trolls. *cough* Zeel *cough* wait why am I coughing? Zeel's gone!
That some people, finally, won't put up with mediocre anymore.
Reinforced my opinion that journalists fart out of their mouths.
That Tesco's in town will buy second hand games (yes I sold them back my copy of ME3).
That my missus doesn't care if I like a game or not after whining at her for several hours and her finally telling me to shut it (not so politely).
To never buy a game on release again but rather wait a few weeks/months and see if any big rages follow it (and save money in the process).
Reinforced my opinion that journalists fart out of their mouths.
That Tesco's in town will buy second hand games (yes I sold them back my copy of ME3).
That my missus doesn't care if I like a game or not after whining at her for several hours and her finally telling me to shut it (not so politely).
To never buy a game on release again but rather wait a few weeks/months and see if any big rages follow it (and save money in the process).
Is that an actual problem? I don't remember that AAA productions from massive companies have been historically the source of experimentation of any media, maybe the source of polish and make the things that people like fit flawlessly.DrVornoff said:
Remembering recent AAA PC games: Rage, Gears of War 3, Batman, Battlefield 3, Uncharted 3, CoD:MW 3, Elder Scrolls V, Saints Row 3, AC Revelations, Star Wars ToR, ME 3. No, i don't remember a single new idea or experimentation there that blew my mind; the boldest moves are maybe polishing old mechanics in Skyrim, trying to push a little bit the technology on BF 3 and Rage. AAA games are not there to experiment, they do proven concepts to make money, and it would only be a problem if the end was an experimental piece of art deviating from the norm and fans hated it for that, which is not the case, it's a very standard step aside and watch shitty deus ex ending with the required twist of plot that you can see in may films/books/games (god, how i hate J.J. Abrams for that).
I was actually going to slap you in the neck! Too much for a joke mateSmashLovesTitanQuest said:
I leaned to never trust EA and Bioware and to never under any circumstances buy any of their games ever again.
I Think number 1, in this case, is largely a reaction to number 4. That's how it was for me at any rate. The only thing that really upset me about this whole mess was the response from gaming "journalists."BreakfastMan said:
Prior to this, my "distrust" was mainly limited to eye rolling at the inflated review scores, etc. However, after the bulk of the media responded to fan outrage by insulting, belittling, and marginalizing their primary reader group, some things became pretty clear.
For one, the "journalists" are way too close to the industry. I agree with a Forbes contributor who suggested this is likely due to the relationships the media develops with developers during their coverage of various games. While that's innocent enough, even expected, when gaming "journalism" as a whole comes down this hard on the side of the industry, it's clear these relationships are interfering with their ability to reliably report.
The other thing this shows is that the "journalists" clearly have no respect for gamers. If you're going to deliberately insult and belittle the group that is your primary reader base, you really need to take a better look at yourself. Fan complaints about the ending have been labeled as "crying," "entitlement," and "Hissy fits" by the very people who's salaries we pay.
My question is who is really the more "entitled?" The group that paid $60 dollars for a game and are unhappy with it, or the group that relies on people for their income, insults same people, yet still expects them to keeping providing income?
Insult your reader base and the only thing you're entitled to is looking for a new job.
Honestly, I'm mostly ambivalent about the whole Mass Effect 3 thing. Yeah, the ending was stupid (They had a Deus Ex Machina that was LITERALLY A Deus Ex Machina, how dumb do you have to be to write that?), however, that's just the way it is sometimes. You just have to accept it and don't be so quick to buy the next game by the developers.
The gaming press, on the other hand, can FRO.
I've learned that when Forbes, a business website, understands the situation more than the 'games journalists', your medium still has a looooooong way to go.
