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When It's Over, It's Over

Mass Effect 3's ending has sparked an enormous debate, one that highlights the problem with endings, the role of creators, and what it means to be a fan.

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(Note: This article does not contain spoilers for the endings of Mass Effect 3, Lost or The Sopranos).

Suddenly, a bright light appears, and it’s all over. After years of investment and hours of discussion with friends, just a few minutes of credits later, it’s like it never happened.

Whether it’s putting the the Island to rest during the series finale of Lost or witnessing the final moments of Commander Shepard’s fight against the Reapers in Mass Effect 3, endings have seemingly impossible tasks.

Mass Effect 3 has only been out for two weeks. Most players haven’t seen how the trilogy ends, but players who've already made it back to Earth have awfully strong opinions about how BioWare chose to take a bow.

BioWare chose to break its silence yesterday in a blog post by BioWare co-founder Ray Muzyka. The Mass Effect 3 team is listening to player feedback, Muzyka explained, and more details would be available in April. At no point did Muzyka announce the ending to Mass Effect 3 would see alterations, and Muzyka contends BioWare will maintain the “integrity of the original story while addressing the fan feedback.”

Lost, just like Mass Effect, relied on dramatic tension to be fulfilled in each's final moments.
Lost, just like Mass Effect, relied on dramatic tension to be fulfilled in each's final moments.

“Endings often just can’t win,” said Entertainment Weekly senior writer, game player and once regular Lost columnist Jeff Jensen to me recently. “Most screenwriters will tell you the hardest part of any movie, any story to tell, is just the end. It’s the thing that changes the most, it’s the endings that are the most fought over among collaborators. They’re the things that are just the hardest to land.”

Retake Mass Effect is a petition by fans asking BioWare to provide alternate endings to Mass Effect 3 that, in their eyes, better represents the choices made by players across all three games, explains the final, twisty, head-scratching moments, includes a “heroic” finish in line with the series’ themes of success against incredible odds, and much more. To make their point, Retake Mass Effect has raised $77,514 for the Child’s Play charity.

“We would like to dispel the perception that we are angry or entitled,” reads a statement on Retake Mass Effect. “We simply wish to express our hope that there could be a different direction for a series we have all grown to love.”

Other fans, like Spike Murphy in California, went a step further. Murphy filed a false advertising complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Better Business Bureau (BBB). You can read Murphy’s BBB filing here, in which he contends BioWare and Electronic Arts mislead the public about what would be in Mass Effect 3’s ending.

In his complaint, Murphy pointed to comments from BioWare designers, writers and producers about how player choices would directly impact the ending in very nuanced ways, creatures like the Rachni would play a huge role, the endings would not be as simple as A, B, C, and big mysteries would finally be answered.

Many of Murphy's arguments fall into semantic buckets, however, which makes his case difficult to make.

The response to Murphy’s decision by other fans was not completely supportive. Members of Retake Mass Effect pushed back on Murphy, painting his move as childish and over the line, but Murphy defended his decision.

“I figured this would be a big way to keep some pressure on BioWare and EA to actually respond to the fan base and give them a real response or explanation for what happened,” he told me.

Murphy, who works in advertising and political outreach, admitted to not expecting much to actually happen because of the filings--it’s a PR move on his part to push BioWare towards addressing his feelings about the ending.

“My hope is that we see some kind of change or addition to the ending that explains it,” he said. “The first step would certainly be an acknowledgement that this ending was not the ending that they said they were going to give us. That legitimizes the complaints.”

It’s unclear if BioWare’s statement yesterday accomplishes that, but Murphy said it felt “pretty good.”

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Jensen, who’s finished the first two games and is currently working through Mass Effect 3, has seen audience reactions like this many times before while covering TV and film. Jensen had a weekly column at Entertainment Weekly analyzing each new episode of Lost, including its polarizing finale. The ending to Lost prompted an intense dialogue, which left one batch of fans satisfied, another batch of fans still yelling at the showrunners through Twitter.

Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof, who helped write Ridley Scott's upcoming Prometheus, even commented about Mass Effect 3 on Twitter, a humorous tip of the hat to fans, the reaction and the developers at BioWare.

“In entertainment, and especially in the mediums of television and video games, they are ultimately service industries,” said Jensen. “Which is to say the customer is always right, and that’s going to be frustrating for storytellers to hear because ultimately you exist, your product exists, at the whims and desire of your consumer base. If they’re happy, if they’re unhappy, they’re right. Even if they’re wrong, they’re right. You have to deal with it.”

Whether it’s happening passively on TV or actively through a video game, endings to massive epics become about catharsis, a deeply personal release from everything that’s built up over the time you’ve spent inside this narrative.

With Lost, I spent every week watching that show with friends. We laughed, cried, and yelled at the show for years. I watched the series finale with the same friends, and we mostly cried. That moment with Jack? With his...? Man.

“Here, we really do see analogs to things like Lost or The Sopranos,” said Jensen, “where a fanbase that’s large and rabid and loyal and passionate and really, really invested--they’re not only getting the final game or final episode, the end of a story, they’re getting the door slammed on a huge part of their lives, a significant thing in their lives. To that end, an ending, then, must give you something more.”

The
The "numbers" were important to Lost, and mythology was key to some people's enjoyment.

I’ve been unable to fill Lost’s void after it went off the air, and maybe I never will. While I sympathize with those who didn’t find it to have the necessary amount of catharsis, I don’t agree with them. Though I cannot muster the same passion about Mass Effect 3, I get it.

“There seems to be a similarity here with Mass Effect 3,” said Jensen, “with a fanbase that has gone through these games and come to the end, and they want the full meal catharsis--they want everything. They want a heroic end, or the possibility of a heroic end. They want an emotional sendoff, they want resolution of certain mysteries, and they all want it to be coherent and skillfully done. It sounds like Mass Effect just didn’t nail that landing.”

The Sopranos and Lost's endings both caused waves. It’s an important moment for a game to cause the same level of ire, resentment and discussion, even if much of it seems negative at the moment. As Jensen pointed out, most people came around to appreciating what The Sopranos creator David Chase tried, and maybe the same thing will happen to Mass Effect 3 one day.

“I think Mass Effect, as a franchise, these three games taken together, I just can’t see how it’s not regarded as anything less than a landmark,” said Jensen. “There’s so many things to enjoy about these games and this world and the creative accomplishment of this series than just those final moments.”

For many, though, those final moments were everything.

Patrick Klepek on Google+

440 Comments

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Atomicvideohead

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Edited By Atomicvideohead

@Sword5: I think those are excellent sentiments.

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Tennmuerti

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Edited By Tennmuerti

This was a much better read then Alex's article "subtly" mocking part of the ME fanbase.

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flammverit

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Edited By flammverit

Patrick Klepek, you wrote a great article! keep up the excellent work.

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ross2075

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Edited By ross2075

There was one ending with different colors.

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dyong

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Edited By dyong

I haven't even started playing the single player campaign yet because I'm waiting for the patch that will fix importing faces.

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permastun

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Edited By permastun

 Thanks Patrick, this is a much more mature and appropriate look into all this, compared to the juvenile garbage Alex posted yesterday.

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MrMazz

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Edited By MrMazz

I am fine with the ending to ME3. Why dose the last 15 minutes have to be the end? Why not the entire game with the interactions with your former crew why isn't that considered THE end?.That's where your choices are shown.

Besides the last part is totally all in his head. Thats not even taking into the excellent indoctrination video THERE IS A GHOST CHILD!! If some all knowning AI or whatever came before you why would it be a child?

Good Job Patrick

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selbie

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Edited By selbie

I'm satisfied with the game because I was expecting a grand finale and I got it. I chose the "middle way" ending as this seemed to be the most logical choice. In doing so Shepard changed the course of the entire galaxy. I'd say that's a pretty fucking final conclusion.

Sure there were inconsistencies with the locations of team members etc, but because of the gravity of the situation I didn't really care. Whatever Bioware does next is simply icing on the cake for me. NEVER has a game sucked me in so deeply into its lore and held me there for so long. Bravo Bioware. You may have stumbled a little, but you still hit a home run. I can't wait to see more games set in the ME universe.

It would be great to see something about the First Contact War with the Turians.

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NipCrip66

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Edited By NipCrip66

Excellent article Patrick. I haven't played ME3 yet but I expect the upcoming alterations will be minor changes giving more exposition on what occurred rather than any fundamental changes. It sounds like that won't please the vast majority of people complaining but will at least give some people some better closure.

I find it fascinating that the trend of sloppy QA testing which has led to this pattern of patching has now turned into people being able to cry out for changes to a shipped product unlike any other medium. No-one who is unhappy with the ending of a TV series, film or book can expect any changes or improvements (possibly a director's cut of a film maybe) but fans of games can demand fixes, improvements, tweaks and now, changes to a game's ending.

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me3639

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Edited By me3639

I dont want my games going down the "Alternate ending route". The proper response from Bioware should be, "it is what it is" and leave it at that. True artist, and creators do not make changes after a finalized release to appease fans when it weakens their credibility now and for the future.

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walter_sobchak

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Edited By walter_sobchak

@GrandHarrier said:

Patrick. What about the reactions of journalists during all of this? Isn't it telling that members of the game media have to a large degree, lashed out against people asking for a fixed ending. Just go back and look at both Giant Bombs, IGNs, Penny Arcades and other assorted outlets absolutely ripping into fans because they might actually get what they want. In many ways more childishly than the "entitled" gamers they are labeling.

Why is the games media ignoring that this isn't a precedent. It's happened throughout human history. Authors. Painters. Directors. Games producers. All have taken feedback and changed their works. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle with Sherlock Holmes. Charles Dickens with Great Expectations. Movies like Clerks, Bladerunner, Return of the Jedi. Games like Fallout 3 and Prince of Persia 2008.

You realize Lost responded to fan feedback too, Patrick. Do you feel its "artistic merit" is diminished because of that?

I'd enjoy seeing if you could objectively write an article from the other side. I respect you and hope that you could.

Wait, what? What is the other side you speak of? "People for the ending of stories in only a favorable way"? Ending stories is hard. It is not always going to work out the way you want. That's is part of the human existance. There is no reality where we could all be happy with every ending to every story, so you are arguing for the impossible. I think most critics posses critical thinking to be able to realize that... maybe that's why most critics are approaching it that way. Those demanding a reality in which all story endings are favorable and rewarding are delusional and wasting their time. ... aaaaand I'm arguing on the internet, wtf.

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TentPole

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Edited By TentPole

Mass Effect is not this "important"

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Jayzilla

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Edited By Jayzilla

I have a few different character saves down different paths and professions for ME1 and ME2. I didn't buy ME3 though and was looking forward to it. I always wait for reviews and what not before I make a purchase. I think I like the way I ended my time with Shepard and Co. I will leave my ending with ME2. The ending of that game was really gratifying.

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mutha3

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Edited By mutha3
@walter_sobchak said:


Wait, what? What is the other side you speak of? "People for the ending of stories in only a favorable way"? Ending stories is hard.

"its hard"  has never, ever been a good defense for incompetence. 

 

 There is no reality where we could all be happy with every ending to every story, so you are arguing for the impossible.
 


Thankfully, Bioware wasn't asked to create an ending to every story that can satify everyone. 
 
They were asked to write a competent ending to their 3 game-long running scifi epic. They failed spectacularly and produced a mess that doesn't hold up to logic or stays true to the series' themes.
 
@walter_sobchak said:

"People for the ending of stories in only a favorable way"?

"people for the ending of stories in a logical, non-plothole ridden way"
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walter_sobchak

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Edited By walter_sobchak

@jakonovski said:

@walter_sobchak said:

Spike Murphy filing a complaint to the FTC is definitely over the line. He's wasting OUR tax dollars because a story someone told didn't live up to his expectations?!? GET A FUCKING GRIP, SPIKE! Come back to planet earth and maybe try to use that energy to solve some real problems here, maybe? I'd hate to be the person who has to read his crap as part of their job for the federal government, decide if it legally has merit, etc... waste all that time on something so amazingly frivolous in the grand scheme of things. Get a fucking grip on reality, Spike and stop wasting my money because you are butt-hurt that some imaginary character in some imaginary world wasn't somehow fulfilled with imaginary rewards.

You good sir are a drama queen.

Oh yeah, maybe I'll file a report with the federal government about it. :P

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Peanut

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Edited By Peanut

I watched Lost from beginning to end. That whole show falls apart after season 3, no matter what the die hards believe. Every "mystery" in that show turned out to be nonsensical bullshit.

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agikamike

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Edited By agikamike

@me3639:First of all, they said they were going to CLARIFY the ending, not change it. Hell, an epilogue ala baldur's gate would be all that's needed for most folks to at least feel okay about the ending.

And the prominence of "hey! buy our future DLC!" pretty much shows that bioware always intended to add post-ending, "alternate" content.

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jakonovski

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Edited By jakonovski

@DarkbeatDK said:

I bet no one went up to Leonardo Da Vinci and said "'ey mate... I've seen that Mona Lisa you've done, but the backgrounds a bit depressing. Couldn't ya put a sun in there somewhere? Also, make her boobs bigger!"

Except the dude who commissioned it maybe. Because it wasn't some sacrosanct work of art to begin with, it was a rich dude giving Da Vinci a bag of coins and saying "paint my wife".

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phrosnite

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Edited By phrosnite

This whole thing only shows that humanity is doomed.

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CharlesAlanRatliff

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I've been pretty disgusted with how a lot of the gaming media has chosen to handle this situation. This is not one of those times. Great article, Patrick.

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GaspoweR

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Edited By GaspoweR

Man, there are people including Brendan Senclair over in Gamespot that's saying they are going to change the ending just by analyzing the words being used by Doc Ray in that blog post. We haven't even seen it yet and people are already making assumptions. Let's just wait and see before jumping into conclusions.

Oh yeah, the comments made by Kevin Van Ord about this game being an indication of games as an art form is starting to annoy me a bit for some reason. It's not like I disagree with the notion. It just got that kind of reaction out of me. Maybe because when I think of games, I always think of them as GAMES first before anything else and not necessarily has to be something that needs to be over-analyzed to death like one would in another form of media considered as an art form. I don't know...maybe I'm alone or one of the few who share this sentiment.

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Roger_Klotz

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Edited By Roger_Klotz

Meh, it's only a video game. So what if it sucks, just move on and play another video game. If you hate it that much, return it for a refund.

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ddensel

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Edited By ddensel

@TentPole said:

Mass Effect is not this "important"

QFT

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Sooty

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Edited By Sooty

I'm so sick of hearing about this game now. The industry still won't have shut the fuck up about it come April.

Not buying or playing any DLC put out to 'fix' the ending. My experience with the first ending was terrible and nothing can change that, I'm done. Game has been traded in and unlike 1 or 2 I will never replay the thing because it was below par as a Mass Effect game and not just because of the ending.

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DarkbeatDK

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Edited By DarkbeatDK

@jakonovski said:

@DarkbeatDK said:

I bet no one went up to Leonardo Da Vinci and said "'ey mate... I've seen that Mona Lisa you've done, but the backgrounds a bit depressing. Couldn't ya put a sun in there somewhere? Also, make her boobs bigger!"

Except the dude who commissioned it maybe. Because it wasn't some sacrosanct work of art to begin with, it was a rich dude giving Da Vinci a bag of coins and saying "paint my wife".

Eeeh? Really? I didn't know that!

Hmmm.... I wonder why he didn't draw the boobs bigger then.

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sonicrift

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Edited By sonicrift

I haven't finished Mass Effect 3 yet, but one thing I can say for the endings of Lost and Battlestar Galactica is that they resolved big mysteries with answers that depended on the viewer sharing religious beliefs I just don't share. That's one part of why I was so dissatisfied with them.

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agikamike

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Edited By agikamike

@Roger_Klotz: It's a dialogue and a discussion, about issues in this industry that matter.

Why be reductionist about it? You could say the same about any form of entertainment or art. When it comes down to it, humanity thrives by ascribing importance and interpretation to art and entertainment.

You may not think it's a dialogue worth having, and you're allowed to not participate. In fact, you're allowed to do whatever you want. But the fact that people care about this, on both sides of the argument, is not something uprising.

I'm curious, actually. For everyone that's saying this is just a game (which of course it is, it's not a life or death issue, but this is a GAMES website), what would you rather be having a dialogue about? What would you rather people be talking about, what would you rather people be writing about?

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cikame

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Edited By cikame

A good ending to a video game for me is one that confuses, has insane scale or shows you something different.
 
Metal Gear Solid 1, you sneak around the base cracking peoples necks, then you fight a walking nuclear equipped tank.
Assassin's Creed 2, the story takes a dive into crazy town when Minerva talks to Desmond through Ezio which happened hundreds of years ago because of something that happened millions of years ago :S.
Kingdoms Under Fire: Circle of Doom :P, you fight a shadowy figure inside a spinning brain.
 
I feel like Mass Effect 3 could have done something crazy, pull you out of the dialog wheel and cover based shooting, make you do something you didn't know the game could or would do.

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Undeadpool

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Edited By Undeadpool

This Jensen fellow has clearly NEVER worked in the service industry or he would have vomited blood before saying anything like "The customer is always right." As someone who's been in retail for most of his adult life, I'll tell you the customer is almost never right, but OOOOH do they ever LOOOVE thinking they are.

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kyrieee

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Edited By kyrieee

@mutha3 said:

@walter_sobchak said:

Wait, what? What is the other side you speak of? "People for the ending of stories in only a favorable way"? Ending stories is hard.

"its hard" has never, ever been a good defense for incompetence.

I blame EA. This game was originally planned for an 18 month dev cycle. It's painfully obvious that the whole London section was rushed. Your war assets count for nothing. BioWare can do so much better. I blame EA.

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ltcoljaxson

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Edited By ltcoljaxson

This situation reminds me of Stephen King's, 'Misery.'

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WinterSnowblind

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Edited By WinterSnowblind

There's no artistic integrity. The original writer had nothing to do with the ending, it was changed because some moron thought it would be more mysterious or intellectual to end it in the way they chose.. and obviously so they could charge us $15 for the true ending later. It has nothing to do with fan pressure, this was obviously the intention from the very beginning.

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LordAndrew

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Edited By LordAndrew
This whole ending controversy has left me indoctrinated (whatever the hell thst means).
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mrbubbles

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Edited By mrbubbles

@kyrieee: actually your war assets determine what happens in the ending its my big problem with the game i looked it up and to get the ending that is kind of what i was looking for i would have to play multiplayer to get my readiness level up to a certain percentage which is bull shit.

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rm082e

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Edited By rm082e

@LtColJaxson said:

This situation reminds me of Stephen King's, 'Misery.'

Really? Why? Misery seemed pretty open and shut to me. Didn't leave me wanting more...

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ltcoljaxson

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Edited By ltcoljaxson

@rm082e said:

@LtColJaxson said:

This situation reminds me of Stephen King's, 'Misery.'

Really? Why? Misery seemed pretty open and shut to me. Didn't leave me wanting more...

She demands he change the end of his story or else he'll die. I didn't mean to change the ending of Misery.

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MuddyDonut

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Edited By MuddyDonut

Ctrl+F: Entitled

1 Result and its used in a quote. Good Job Patrick, +1 respect.

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niccoles

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@WinterSnowblind said:

There's no artistic integrity. The original writer had nothing to do with the ending, it was changed because some moron thought it would be more mysterious or intellectual to end it in the way they chose.. and obviously so they could charge us $15 for the true ending later. It has nothing to do with fan pressure, this was obviously the intention from the very beginning.

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jakonovski

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Edited By jakonovski

Artistic integrity? Mass Effect 3 ends with "buy more DLC!" The integrity boat sailed long before the game was released.

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Grimluck343

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Edited By Grimluck343

You cried watching Lost? That seems a tad over the top.

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RE_Player1

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@Niccoles

@WinterSnowblind said:

There's no artistic integrity. The original writer had nothing to do with the ending, it was changed because some moron thought it would be more mysterious or intellectual to end it in the way they chose.. and obviously so they could charge us $15 for the true ending later. It has nothing to do with fan pressure, this was obviously the intention from the very beginning.

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microshock

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Edited By microshock

The more annoying thing is with people who don't get it. Mass Effect isn't a book, it's not a movie. It's a choose your own adventure game. A game that was supposed to lead into vastly different endings by the end of it depending on your choices and playing.

This did not happen. No matter how you played any game in the series, it ends with one ending for everyone. This is literally Bioware going full retard. AND LYING.

Then we have press who don't pay for their games, tell us we're entitled, and we have idiots who just think we're whining.

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LiK

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Edited By LiK

Good stuff Patrick.

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Skald

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Edited By Skald

I love how divisive they made the ending. It really got people thinking, and talking.

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Tylea002

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Edited By Tylea002

@Grimluck343 said:

You cried watching Lost? That seems a tad over the top.

I cried playing Mass Effect 3.

At least twice.

Some people just get more obviously emotional.

@jakonovski said:

Artistic integrity? Mass Effect 3 ends with "buy more DLC!" The integrity boat sailed long before the game was released.

Also this.

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Humanity

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Edited By Humanity

@patrickklepek the ending to Lost was a great example of how the series got completely lost(the irony..) in it's own convoluted storytelling and ultimately offered nothing to the fans except a feel good copout to end what at that point in the series was basically an unendable story.

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mutha3

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Edited By mutha3
@Skald said:

I love how divisive they made the ending. It really got people thinking, and talking.

Divisive? I don't think I've ever seen the internet unanimously agree about something like this.
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walter_sobchak

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Edited By walter_sobchak

@mutha3 said:

@walter_sobchak said:

Wait, what? What is the other side you speak of? "People for the ending of stories in only a favorable way"? Ending stories is hard.

"its hard" has never, ever been a good defense for incompetence.

Yeah, I didn't mean to trivialize it like that. I know "it's hard" isn't a good defense, but I think you calling the Bioware team incompetent is an unfair trivialization as well. I understand that some people are very upset about this matter. I'd hope they could ultimately see all the factors that went into making any video game. Time pressure, money constraints, too many chefs, the fleeting aspect of joy and fulfillment in one's job...

I'm going to sound condescending when i say this, so I apologize. But seriously, everyone complaining about ME3 in a way other than just saying they didn't like it... I mean those people demanding re-writes, contacting the government to complain, boycotting Bioware, etc... those people... should actually try to make something like a video game on this scale. I'm serious here. Collaborate with hundreds of people across dozens of disciplines. Manage everything successfully within the constraints of time, budget (yes even huge games like this have to ship within a budget), real life issues, etc. Have that creation consumed and dissected by hundreds and thousands of people. If someone can survive all that and still complain about something like the ending to this amazingly crafted experience, more power to you.

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Hass

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Edited By Hass

I guess for a linear shooter, like Mass Effect 3, the ending's are alright.

The mediocre pseudo existent rpg elements foretell what you can expect of the end.

Just think of it like playing Doom, and your expectations will be adequate.

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fustacluck

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The guy who brought the lawsuit's in advertising? I knew I smelt evil. Please refer him to Bill Hicks' views on those in advertising and marketing.

On a serious note (not that the previous paragraph is wholly un-serious), all this reaction from the "fans" and the subsequent press releases from BioWare are doing is stopping me from buying the game anytime soon. I mean what's the point? Now that they're changing the ending (or selling a new ending) all reviews are now null and void. I'm just gonna wait a year or two and hope that a "bundle" version is released on PSN, hopefully at a cheap enough price that makes it an impulse buy. If not, ME2 is my whole ME experience, for better or worse.

I can also say that if BioWare is lacking such vision that they weakly crumple under the jackboots of an internet mass that counts for a minority of buyers of the game, ME2 will probably be my last BioWare game, as no release of their's can be taken as the final product. Also means they don't have to work so hard writing these games as they can always change the story after release if somebody doesn't like it.