Amazon Says Mass Effect 3 Refunds Aren’t Unique

Patrick, it's not a polarizing response when the poles are "THIS IS THE WROST GOD DAMN THING EVER" and "eh... it wasn't that bad"

@pwnmachine said:

@Crono:

I believe the refund is less shipping...and you have to ship it back on your own.

Not if you tell them the game "didn't work" instead!

@pingolobo: yeah, mock people for caring about their choices having an effect on the game. replaying ME2 and having the final mission play out differently was fun due to your choices making a difference. in ME3 you dont care to replay it cus, well, why? you're just gotta get the same broken logic based ending everytime.

I guess now we just wait and see how prevalent this practice is. Would never have guessed any retailer would give a full refund in this instance. Even Amazon.

That's why Amazon is the best, they have a no questions asked return policy. It's why I almost exclusively shop there now.

@Napalm said:

@Scotto said:

It's their story. You chose to partake in it. Not only is "art" a valid excuse, it's the beginning and end of the conversation as far as I'm concerned.

It's been noted on many occasions that the endings we got isn't what BioWare wanted or intended. So, you'll have to excuse us for being able to see the incredibly fallible, ham-fisted, half-assed endings as a disappointing way to close out a trilogy.

So, you're wrong.

Can't argue with this kind of bulletproof logic. They could change the ending so the Reapers do a vaudeville routine while a rainbow appears behind them - it's Bioware's story. You're not entitled to a certain kind of ending, that "meets your expectations". Whether Bioware planned this ending all along or not, is COMPLETELY IRRELEVANT. You're paying for the experience, whether you like it or not.

@Pinworm45 said:

@Scotto: They weren't satisfied, and Amazons policy is to refund you if you aren't satisfied.

the vast, vast majority of products and even services offer refunds if you aren't satisfied. Buy a hammer and its broken? refund. Watch a terrible movie at the theatre? ask for a refund, and you'll get it. Was a food product terrible? Complain, and you'll get a refund and usually coupons.

That's just how it works.

This is just straight up nonsense. Movie theatre employees will laugh in your face if you try to get a refund after you watched an entire movie. You can usually get a refund if you leave within the first half hour, tops.

Your hammer and food analogies are completely inapplicable. Mass Effect 3 isn't "broken" - it's a completely functional game with a narrative twist at the end you decided you didn't like.

And as people have illustrated - accepting opened video games actually isn't covered by Amazon's official return policy. So this is either a lapse in communication among some of their employees, or a one-time concession due to the incessant whining of a vocal minority who didn't like their new video game's story.

@Scotto: Nope.

It's amazing what the Internet hive mind can do to anything. An ending to a game that's arguably good or bad can eclipse everything else within the game. I think that until games can give people orgasms, it's almost good sense for developers to underhype their games as much as possible to avoid giving people incredibly unrealistic expectations.

Damnit. It's going to be a while until I have the time to sink into this game. But all this talk about the ending makes it really difficult to resist the temptation to just look it up on YouTube to see what all the hype is about.

@dyong: But if you underhype it, how can you know about it? :)

I kinda wish this Mass Effect 3 ending thing would go away. I was as invested in this story as everyone else and I thought the ending was fine.

I wish people would just shut the fuck up about the ending of Mass Effect 3. Nothing is so bad that it's worth all of this. Nut up and shut up, these complainers are getting horribly stupid and ignorant to anything.

Meh...the game overall was great, just they story was dissapointing and a drag to get through. The ending wasn't great, but there have been way worse endings of a game. I thought inFamous 2's was pretty dumb and similarly contrived...still had fun with the game. Come to think of it inFamous 2 was also a great game with a dissapointing plot.

This is getting really stupid.

@thebazel said:

So how did this game get all those perfect scores again? I don't see many reviewers complaining about the ending or deducting points for it.

Because everything up to that point was fantastic, it was only the last ten minutes that was dreadful. I guess the reviewers were able to determine that ten minutes doesn't ruin the 30+ hours before it?

I wish I could return my Origin copy. I hope the ending is complete garbage just so I can feel anything about the game. The next Bioware game has to be the greatest of all time before I consider bying it.

This rediculous! Okay, the ending of ME3 sucked, we all wish there was more closure(i know i do!) but the game itself isn't that bad! Inspite of the disapointing ending i'm perfectly satisfied with my $80 purchase.

My only question is whether they'll do "partial" or "full" refunds. I can see that being case-by-case.

@depecheload said:

@buckybit said:

I am 20 hours in - enjoying the game mostly.

People are crazy?!

I love the "I haven't beaten it yet and I don't get the anger" comments.

Just wait, you'll see.

My wife and I finished the game late last night and went to bed trying to characterize our feelings toward the end of the trilogy. I've never minded high-concept science fiction endings, or even open-ended conclusions that leave one really *thinking* about the meanings and consequences of what was just experienced. I particularly enjoy a lot of the bleaker, dystopian science fiction films of the last 60's to early 70's for this particular reason.

However, in spite of that, I was left feeling unsettled with the conclusion of Mass Effect 3. After spending some more time thinking, and doing some reading about what others have written on the subject, I believe the following article ultimately touches on what probably caused my uneasiness (obviously there are SPOILERS so anyone who hasn't finished the game should WAIT to read it):

http://www.gamefront.com/mass-effect-3-ending-hatred-5-reasons-the-fans-are-right

Please don't let the seemingly polarizing nature of the article's title put you off. It's a very concise examination of a lot of the issues that many people are trying wrestle with in terms of the ending. I think it is well worth reading and then discussing further.

EDIT: To be clear, up until the ending I absolutely loved the game. I wouldn't dream of returning it. My post is more just a reflection in writing of my own struggle with the ending.

People are really returning the game purely for the ending? That's stupid. I mean, yeah, the ending was annoying, but the rest of the game was awesome.

Haaaa... Nerds and their Mass Effect drama...current "hip" thing they complain about at the moment...

ME3 hate has gotten out of hand. People need better things to do with their time.

@Subjugation: Says the guy that's posting on a video game website.

This is not a story. Some people try to stir up shit with people who don't know about standard returns policies. It's the fools leading the ignorant. Giant Bomb users are neither.

To be fair this should have happened back last year when EA released Fight Night Champion...When 3 of the patches came out made the game worse. And then they completley took out the blood in the game where it was advertised for its brutality..

For me the Mass Effect 3 ending was ok if it was 1 of the choices you went through but not for all 3 of them your decisions meant absolutley nothing across the 3 games.

Also i must not be the only 1 getting fed up with all this day 1 dlc and having stuff already on your disc, that you bought being locked out especially when its central to the main storyline like the From Ashes content.. Also the Tekken X Streetfighter some people unlocked all the characters from the disc that you would have had to pay for. I dont agree with it but look at the lenths people will goto now beacuse its becoming a joke and way too expensive all the time.

As far as im concerned dlc should be completley seperate from being on a disc that you buy, so it feels like you are adding to the experience when you download it from XboxLive/Psn Compaines are getting way to greedy i dont know whether the developers are being told to do this by publishers or not but its becoming a regular thing now and its getting on peoples nerves

Im off my soap box now :D

IJust Got An Email From Amazon Denying This....

@Morden2261 said:

@depecheload said:

@buckybit said:

I am 20 hours in - enjoying the game mostly.

People are crazy?!

I love the "I haven't beaten it yet and I don't get the anger" comments.

Just wait, you'll see.

My wife and I finished the game late last night and went to bed trying to characterize our feelings toward the end of the trilogy. I've never minded high-concept science fiction endings, or even open-ended conclusions that leave one really *thinking* about the meanings and consequences of what was just experienced. I particularly enjoy a lot of the bleaker, dystopian science fiction films of the last 60's to early 70's for this particular reason.

However, in spite of that, I was left feeling unsettled with the conclusion of Mass Effect 3. After spending some more time thinking, and doing some reading about what others have written on the subject, I believe the following article ultimately touches on what probably caused my uneasiness (obviously there are SPOILERS so anyone who hasn't finished the game should WAIT to read it):

http://www.gamefront.com/mass-effect-3-ending-hatred-5-reasons-the-fans-are-right

Please don't let the seemingly polarizing nature of the article's title put you off. It's a very concise examination of a lot of the issues that many people are trying wrestle with in terms of the ending. I think it is well worth reading and then discussing further.

EDIT: To be clear, up until the ending I absolutely loved the game. I wouldn't dream of returning it. My post is more just a reflection in writing of my own struggle with the ending.

I agree with the article and with pretty much everything you said about the ending. The first 20 hours are definitely not the problem.

@kenneth01 said:

[Comment deleted by moderator]

Oh, so that's why people are returning their copies of Mass Effect 3. It all makes sense now!

i didnt know i could get a refund for something i bought, consumed and did not enjoy.

As a formerly ecstatic (now grudging at best) customer of Amazon, I'd tell anyone not to take these types of pronouncements from "Amazon of India" (a.k.a. chat-based customer service) to the bank.

I've kept an account continuously for over 10 years, was a Prime and Kindle early adopter--I was all-in on their ecosystem. But problems slowly cropped up over the last 5 years as service deteriorated to the point that I now have issue with 4 out of ever 5 orders.

If you do communicate with them via chat, I recommend a screen grab of the convo; you will likely need it later to bring them up to snuff on their promises.

I feel like a lot of these people on this "campaign" to change the ending remind me a lot of the worst Ron Paul spammers earlier this year. I have seen the Amazon taking ME back viewed as some groundbreaking "victory" for them. Same goes for any frickin mention of their "cause" by other websites.

So people think they deserve a refund on a game they played to the finish? hahahah

I thought companies have pretty much said if the game is opened and not broken then congratulations on owning that game. I haven't managed to get a company to accept a returned, non-broken game since the early gamecube era. 
 
Also, isn't playing a game until the end and then complaining kind of ridiculous? I mean, you enjoyed until that point, right? Otherwise you wouldn't have played that far. This is like eating a delicious meal at a restaurant and then complaing that everything was ok except the last mouthful wasn't what you were expecting. You know what the chef would do if you refused to pay for it? He would piss in your dessert. Is that what you want? Do you want Bioware to piss in your dessert? They will do it. Ask Mass effect 2 if you don't believe me.

I like the multiplayer, so no point in me taking it in. The ending was poorly contrived, to the point I don't want to play through it again, but I still get enjoyment out of the squad based / leveling up multiplayer.

@caseyg said:

ME3 hate has gotten out of hand. People need better things to do with their time.

@Subjugation: Says the guy that's posting on a video game website.

Pot, meet kettle? Didn't really think that through did you?

If I have to read the word "entitled" one more time I'm going to scream

At first, I thought Patrick was silly for posting such an obvious story. Then i searched Google news and found dozens of articles wrongly reporting "mass effect 3 for bad ending returns" as fact. Someone had to post the corrected story. I actually gained some new respect for Patrick because it shows he at least does some minimal fact checking before posting a news article.

@Scotto said:

@Pinworm45 said:

@Scotto: They weren't satisfied, and Amazons policy is to refund you if you aren't satisfied.

the vast, vast majority of products and even services offer refunds if you aren't satisfied. Buy a hammer and its broken? refund. Watch a terrible movie at the theatre? ask for a refund, and you'll get it. Was a food product terrible? Complain, and you'll get a refund and usually coupons.

That's just how it works.

This is just straight up nonsense. Movie theatre employees will laugh in your face if you try to get a refund after you watched an entire movie. You can usually get a refund if you leave within the first half hour, tops.

Your hammer and food analogies are completely inapplicable. Mass Effect 3 isn't "broken" - it's a completely functional game with a narrative twist at the end you decided you didn't like.

And as people have illustrated - accepting opened video games actually isn't covered by Amazon's official return policy. So this is either a lapse in communication among some of their employees, or a one-time concession due to the incessant whining of a vocal minority who didn't like their new video game's story.

No they won't. If you bitch you'll get a refund, I guarantee it.

And no, that analogy is applicable, because the end IS broken. Not only is it objectively terrible and nonsensical, but it absolutely is broken. Various people magically teleporting around at the end, to areas they could not have (nevermind would not have, given their characters) is nothing less than a bug. That constitutes 30% of what happens in the ending, and it is simply broken and wrong. More to the point of the analogy anyway, it's not satisfactory, and most places will offer a refund if your product isn't satisfactory - return business is more valuable than pissing off a customer who will then not come back, over some small sum the company can afford to lose. Which is exactly why Amazon is doing this.

I've been trying to ignore all this Mass Effect bullshit but this is silly. Fucking get over it.

@DG991 said:

IJust Got An Email From Amazon Denying This....

Hunh, I got an email from Amazon confirming the credits I was getting back. Not sure what exactly you did but I just used the normal interface option to request a return. Chose other as a reason and listed "I'm extremely dissatisfied with this product." Used their pre paid mailing label and 2 days later got an email confirming the details. There was a $5 charge taken out for mailing fees which is fine. I was honestly expecting to get less back since I got a $10 credit issued to the account. Maybe that will be corrected later.

If you're unhappy with this and want a refund, go ask for it. The worst they can say is no.

I wouldn't be surprised if they consider your purchase history and make the choice on a case by case basis. If you get denied I suggest either selling it via ebay or amazon or possibly trading it at Goozex. (can earn an EA!) Seems to be getting approx $42 on amazon if you sell it there. I would guess you'll get $35 out of that if that helps....maybe a bit more.

@Tumbler: Digital version for me.

I guess people didn't like it. I liked it, but it's fine if people didn't like it. It's fine if people want a refund for it.

What's not fine is the weird desperation of using the fact that people are getting refunds for it to somehow try to 'prove' that it's terrible. That's just creepy. It makes me feel deeply uncomfortable.

Thanks guys for ruining video games. Now no one will ever make a game with it's story based on one man's idea. Now everything will be designed by committee to satisfy the most customers possible while insulting the least. If 20 years from now, people complain that games are soulless droves like recent movies, I will point at these loud people who want an ending that only satisfies them, rather than the creator.