Here is the link. This.

I sense that how they put it is There will be no ending DLC, what you see is what you get. However, Shepard will continue on missions prior to the Final assault in the form of DLC missions.

I suspect they are referring to the inevitable retake Omega DLC, but nothing post endings, or post credits. Anything having to do with Shepard after or during the final assault will not happen. Anything before hand will be in the form of these missions (DLC)

GIVE UP HOPE. I will go cry myself to sleep now...

I'm content with the ending as is. Sure, it could have been better, but it's no where near the worst.

I'm content with the ending as is. Sure, it could have been better, but it's no where near the worst.

@SeriouslyNow said:

@BraveToaster said:

I'm content with the ending as is. Sure, it could have been better, but it's no where near the worst.

No it's the worst.

No, my opinion is more factual than yours; therefore, it is not the worst.

All joking aside, I understand why people want a more proper ending to a good series.

@SeriouslyNow said:

@BraveToaster said:

I'm content with the ending as is. Sure, it could have been better, but it's no where near the worst.

No it's the worst.

No, my opinion is more factual than yours; therefore, it is not the worst.

All joking aside, I understand why people want a more proper ending to a good series.

Ending wasn't that bad, guys, god damn. Ending DLC would just be dumb.

@DonChipotle said:

Ending wasn't that bad, guys, god damn. Ending DLC would just be dumb.

Again, that's just an opinion. You can't go about and tell everyone their opinion is wrong. :P

@Ghil said:

@DonChipotle said:

Ending wasn't that bad, guys, god damn. Ending DLC would just be dumb.

Again, that's just an opinion. You can't go about and tell everyone their opinion is wrong. :P

If I've learned anything on GiantBomb, it is that I can do exactly that.

ending is still lazy and bad. I would be content with it if there weren't so many errors in logic to many of the things that occurred in those endings.

@Marz said:

ending is still lazy and bad. I would be content with it if there weren't so many errors in logic to many of the things that occurred in those endings.

But don't you see? It's not supposed to make sense because Shepard has been indoctrinated!

Nope, there is no way that doesn't sound hokey and ridiculous.

This can go either way it could lead to a new ending or like u said just more side missions or new characters cause he did say that we the fans can have some sort of say in the DLC development

Ending was bad, period. That's not how you end the series. The only reason they did it was so EA can squeeze more money out of gamers. Now I realize why EA and Bioware kept saying to keep your ME3 save file *WINK WINK*. If Bioware had balls they would have ended it with a properly. There's always a way to end a series and still leave a question mark at the end. Case and point Infamous 2.

The ending came out as rushed, lazy and imo it spits in the face of any Mass Effect fan that loved and cared for that series. I get that that's their vision and Blah Blah Blah but where would Mass Effect be without it's fan base. I'll tell you where, right beside Jade Empire.

This would be my last Bioware game. The Bioware that I cared and loved and supported since 1998, which is a LONG time to support any sort of gaming company, are dead an gone. Time to to say good bye and move on.

For those who think the ending was good well then I feel envy of your delusion. I only wish I had your mind frame.

@Hailinel said:

@Marz said:

ending is still lazy and bad. I would be content with it if there weren't so many errors in logic to many of the things that occurred in those endings.

But don't you see? It's not supposed to make sense because Shepard has been indoctrinated!

Nope, there is no way that doesn't sound hokey and ridiculous.

better that then, oh hey... relays are supposed to supernova and kill people when they are destroyed, but it didn't this time because it's a special explosion! oh the relays are gone, now everyone who came to help is trapped and can't travel back to their homes without running out of resources. If anything indoctrination theory was a way out for Bioware if they wanted it (indoctrination was part of the magic in their story), but kudos to them for sticking to their guns and keeping their badly designed ending.

I'm alright with Bioware's response here. I really don't think they need to say anything else other than this. Just let people freak out for a while until they get the fomenting teen angst out of their system and another game draws their ire.

The biggest shitstorm IN THE GALAXY (Get it? Cause I don't) is going on at the Bioware Social Network. I guess...

We are Legion

We do not something (Forgive?)

We do not something (Forget?)

Except us

Sums it all up.

After about 100 games and I realized I don't even own a PC.

I kept justifying it to myself as "Getting it now as an investment for when I finally do get a PC"

@Mordukai: I would totally agree with you but I still have false hope. I still think "Next time, they are going to get it right, make it perfect". Flawed thinking, it's sad, but I guess technically there is always hope.

I'll lose a lot of respect for Casey Hudson if he doesn't stick to his guns. Sounds like I don't have anything to worry about.

From what I've seen, the ending is just awful. If what people are saying is true, then that ending should have not taken place.

Anyway, what Bioware needs to do is move on. Actually, they shouldn't make content anymore for the single player version. Just continue to support the multiplayer version and learn from this mistake. I would've actually been happy if they would have just said "Okay, the ending was bad. We're sorry about this and we're going to learn from this and not make this same mistake again.".

There really is nothing more to say. They thought they were doing the right thing...they were wrong, and instead of fixing it, and making it right, they've left the series crippled, the fans pissed, and the faith in their work shaken beyond any possible repair.

Oh, but hey, they at least stuck to what they believe in, their...'vision'...which seems to be shitting on a cupcake and telling us it's frosting. We'll hear the arguments now, swooning back to Bioware, praising them for their guts and conviction...forgetting that there's a difference between owning up to a mistake, fixing it and outright fucking ignoring it. This was such a let-down, even for me, and I was very cautious coming into it. Let them say what they like, but they have nothing for me anymore, and I know plenty of people who are in the same boat.

I hope this is the moment where developers like Bioware realise that artsy, pretentious bullshit is best left to the professionals. Shower of inconsiderate wankers, and yes, I'm pissed, I thought the one thing they wouldn't fuck up would be the conclusion...how do you even manage that? I just want to forget about Mass Effect and move on...but it's going to stick there for a while, until Bioware stop fucking twisting the knife.

Can anyone point me in the direction of threads that have proposed good ways to wrap up this trilogy? I'd love to read what the Mass Effect community thinks would constitute a good ending.

Btw, this is not me being snarky and saying, "If you're so smart, then, how would you end it?" Simply, I've read a few articles on why people are upset (and understand, though, don't totally agree with all points) but I don't really know how you make it better.

They created the universe so they should end it the way they want to regardless of what a bunch of butthurt nerds think.

@Drace: Ok, here's how. How about just a regular ending that fits the rest of the universe? I would have been fine with a more traditional ending where they simply activate the crucible, reapers die, and shepard is once again a hero. That was the kind of ending I was expecting and I was fine with that. No, instead we get some horse shit ending that makes no sense and raises more questions about what is going to happen.

The game is fantastic, but I have mixed feelings about the ending, and I'm sorry, but what makes them think I'll really care about what happens before the ending now from a DLC perspective? Everything will lead up to the same end, and no DLC that takes place before will change that. I feel like the choices in Mass Effect are there to either destroy or make the world around you better, but in the end, it doesn't even matter. This is the biggest problem with it all. You will never get a unique ending other than what's already there. I understand that people will buy this, and I'm sure I'd probably do it too, because I really enjoy playing it, but still, it renders a huge portion of Mass Effect pointless.

Here is the link. This.

I sense that how they put it is There will be no ending DLC, what you see is what you get. However, Shepard will continue on missions prior to the Final assault in the form of DLC missions.

I suspect they are referring to the inevitable retake Omega DLC, but nothing post endings, or post credits. Anything having to do with Shepard after or during the final assault will not happen. Anything before hand will be in the form of these missions (DLC)

@august said:

That is amazing.

I suspect they are referring to the inevitable retake Omega DLC,

Bioware must be lying. I was told just yesterday by internet people that there would be ending changing DLC. They wouldn't lie to me.

Penny Arcade has crawled so far up it's own ass (a long time ago) it has come full circle at least twice.

@august said:

That is amazing.

So their reply on the ending explained about just as much as the ending did :P He's completely ignoring the actual ending and just talking about how "the game is the ending". And then pulling some random qoutes as if they in any way described the ending of the game. Oh well, the Bioware brand means about as much as any other decent developer at this point. While that's still fine, it's sad to see yet another monument of game development crumble.

@Drace said:

Can anyone point me in the direction of threads that have proposed good ways to wrap up this trilogy? I'd love to read what the Mass Effect community thinks would constitute a good ending.

Btw, this is not me being snarky and saying, "If you're so smart, then, how would you end it?" Simply, I've read a few articles on why people are upset (and understand, though, don't totally agree with all points) but I don't really know how you make it better.

They needed to do one of two things. Either change ME3 to be all about building and discovering what the crucible is, taking time to actually build the story up to the conclusion we have now (and then maybe just make some minor changes to the ending cinematics), or they needed to make an ending that involved the fleet and army you built actually winning/losing in a fight against the reapers. While you do get the cutscene as you move into the end-game when they're approaching the earth, it's not really telling much of a story other than "look at all these spaceships" and it's not really diverse enough.

If you ask me a good ending would be Shepard failing, then cutting into a cutscene where you see several different cuts in space and on ground of different races (and some familiar faces) fighting reapers that eventually just pull back, into a sad clip of the rest of Shepards team finding his corpse (or maybe even finding "Reaper Shepard") , into a clip of your team uniting and continuing the fight (or more cuts on different plants of the universe continuing the fight). This would close the door on Shepard, yet still keeping the franchise open for more content with the world in mayhem. Maybe the battle of Earth was big enough to cripple the reapers to the point that it's not over, or to go a bit crazy it could go all starcraft and have you fight the new Shepard Reaper army.

I'm by no means a great writer, but at least that would be an ending that would give closure, pay-off and keep the franchise alive. Sure it's probably not that original, but isn't this the kinda stuff we actually want ? Hell, they could've even just gone with cuts of Reapers ravaging all the home-planets and then showing some of the new races flourish and it would've been fine.

But... This doesn't even make sense.
 
He basically just said "Hey, thanks for sticking with us all this time for a game that makes all of your decisions more important and endearing than other games because these decisions are important and will effect other games. But for Mass Effect 3, we really needed people to pat us on the back and tell us how hard we worked and give us lots of big scores. So we'll Finish The Fight via DLC."
 
This explains nothing. He said almost this exact same thing to Joystiq a while back. THERE IS STILL HOPE.

You know what they could be doing, they could have made it so you can get another "better" ending with a high enough war assets score, but you can only get this score if you have some of the dlc as the vanilla game doesnt have enough score to achive this. this would mean that they havent added another ending just enough war assets to achieve it.

@joshthebear said:

@august said:

That is amazing.

But it's not that the ending wasn't HAPPY.  That was never the issue.  It's that the endings come out of absolutely nowhere, raise more questions than they answer, and leave you with almost no sense of closure.  As I've said before, I would have been fine if Shepard and half of her/his crew died horribly, as long as I understood what the hell just happened, and learned what my choice would actually mean for the universe.

@SeriouslyNow said:

@BraveToaster said:

@SeriouslyNow said:

@BraveToaster said:

I'm content with the ending as is. Sure, it could have been better, but it's no where near the worst.

No it's the worst.

No, my opinion is more factual than yours; therefore, it is not the worst.

All joking aside, I understand why people want a more proper ending to a good series.

Yeah, it's just such a slap in the face and seems really lazy. Sorta like pissing on fans' dreams.

The Dark Tower cycle ended much in the same sort of bleak, depressing tone where you "felt the loss" as in Mass Effect 3. The huge oversight that Bioware forgot to include with that kind of ending is Hope. The Dark Tower ends in such a way where Roland has the missing piece of the equation for the next go 'round. So although we don't necessarily see what happens, we're left with a clear indication that things will be okay. Mass Effect 3 does not even offer hope. Just raw, unfettered nastiness.

@SeriouslyNow said:

@BraveToaster said:

@SeriouslyNow said:

@BraveToaster said:

I'm content with the ending as is. Sure, it could have been better, but it's no where near the worst.

No it's the worst.

No, my opinion is more factual than yours; therefore, it is not the worst.

All joking aside, I understand why people want a more proper ending to a good series.

Yeah, it's just such a slap in the face and seems really lazy. Sorta like pissing on fans' dreams.

The Dark Tower cycle ended much in the same sort of bleak, depressing tone where you "felt the loss" as in Mass Effect 3. The huge oversight that Bioware forgot to include with that kind of ending is Hope. The Dark Tower ends in such a way where Roland has the missing piece of the equation for the next go 'round. So although we don't necessarily see what happens, we're left with a clear indication that things will be okay. Mass Effect 3 does not even offer hope. Just raw, unfettered nastiness.

@mutha3 said:

@imooumoo said:

I suspect they are referring to the inevitable retake Omega DLC,

Why should I care whether omega gets retaken or not, when everyone on the station is fucked either way because of the ending?

It'd be hilarious if they actually offer up some ''choices'' in there (or for whatever SP story DLC they release)... because we all know how much effect they'll have in the Galaxy or the war effort now don't we... But even still, I would love to head back to Omega; it was a fantastic entry into the seedier side of ME with ME2 and as a stand-alone story, it could still be entertaining. Plus I'm a huge fan of ME3's gameplay so I'd be willing to pay for more opportunities to make use of it, especially if it involves slumming through Omega again.

@SeriouslyNow said:

@Oldirtybearon said:

@SeriouslyNow said:

@BraveToaster said:

@SeriouslyNow said:

@BraveToaster said:

I'm content with the ending as is. Sure, it could have been better, but it's no where near the worst.

No it's the worst.

No, my opinion is more factual than yours; therefore, it is not the worst.

All joking aside, I understand why people want a more proper ending to a good series.

Yeah, it's just such a slap in the face and seems really lazy. Sorta like pissing on fans' dreams.

The Dark Tower cycle ended much in the same sort of bleak, depressing tone where you "felt the loss" as in Mass Effect 3. The huge oversight that Bioware forgot to include with that kind of ending is Hope. The Dark Tower ends in such a way where Roland has the missing piece of the equation for the next go 'round. So although we don't necessarily see what happens, we're left with a clear indication that things will be okay. Mass Effect 3 does not even offer hope. Just raw, unfettered nastiness.

The Dark Tower cycle didn't end mate. There's at least two new books coming out and frankly Wolves of Calla onwards was utter shite anyway. Hmm..maybe the comparison is apt after all.

Wait what? I had been reading those books since I was 12. How the hell are there two more books coming?

@august said:

This was pretty funny, but completely missing the point. I'm not angry that the ending wasn't happy, they could have had Shepard and most of the crew dead, leaving the remaining population of the galaxy to slowly rebuild in utter devestation. That would have been sad, effective, but there would have been some light of hope and it could have had different scenes, depending on what you did on those worlds, so it wouldn't have been a complete fucking cop out.

What we got instead wasn't thought provoking, deep or even a real ending, it was complete BS, especially the fact your entire crew abandons you to the reapers. Even if they thought you were dead, they would not have done that, even under orders. It was a complete betrayal of their characters, for the mere sake of having a stupid land of the lost style ending. It alone shows how little thought went into the ending, so please, don't defend Bioware here. It's just bad writing, not the next Barton Fink.

@WinterSnowblind said:

@august said:

This was pretty funny, but completely missing the point. I'm not angry that the ending wasn't happy, they could have had Shepard and most of the crew dead, leaving the remaining population of the galaxy to slowly rebuild in utter devestation. That would have been sad, effective, but there would have been some light of hope and it could have had different scenes, depending on what you did on those worlds, so it wouldn't have been a complete fucking cop out.

What we got instead wasn't thought provoking, deep or even a real ending, it was complete BS, especially the fact your entire crew abandons you to the reapers. Even if they thought you were dead, they would not have done that, even under orders. It was a complete betrayal of their characters, for the mere sake of having a stupid land of the lost style ending. It alone shows how little thought went into the ending, so please, don't defend Bioware here. It's just bad writing, not the next Barton Fink.

Exactly. All the people that are defending the ending by way of saying ''YOU JUST DON'T LIKE IT BECAUSE IT'S SAD!!!'' are grasping at straws. My other favourite is how people like to twist it around so as BioWare actually planned it all along to lead into something much bigger and how it all actually makes sense when you read between the lines!

I think it speaks to how bad the ending is (all ''4'' of them) that so many people are regressing and going into denial. For me personally, no amount of persuasion or bending of truth will make me believe otherwise that ME3's ending was terrible and deserving all of the criticism and outcry it's received.

@august said:

That comic might be the best example I've ever seen of someone completely missing the point of what all the bitching is about.

They're not going to make ending DLC and that's fine. I didn't like the ending - not it's not the "worst" ending in the entire world (Kane & Lynch 2's ending still takes that cake), but it was pretty short and didn't address enough about what happens to the galaxy. I'm not opposed to WHAT happened, I'm opposed to "and whelp, the entire galaxy has just undergone a massive shift and you'll never find out anything about it again. What happened to all your favorite characters? I dunno. What happens to the Turian Homeworld? What happened to the Council? Bailey? Anyone else? I dunno. And I'm not going to tell you".

Sad or "down-beat" endings aren't bad. What the real killer was that it ended so damn quickly and gives no insight or closure as to what happens to anyone else aside from Shepard and a couple (not even all) of the Normandy crew. Let me be clear: The Star of the Mass Effect Universe was NOT the "fight". As far as I was concerned, and a great deal of other fans, the Reapers and "The Fight" were an excuse to roam around Mass Effect's universe. To be honest, I couldn't give two shits about what happens to the Reapers, where they came from or almost anything about them - they were one of the most boring aspects of the Mass Effect universe. What I played Mass Effect for was the universe, the galaxy, the setting, the characters and the ending of ME3 does nothing to bring any sort of closure to those parts of the game. "Duuuuur Reapers GONE NOW!" just doesn't cut it. It was a short, meaningless ending that left me completely disappointed.

But yes, that is the ending(s) we're stuck with. They're short. They've got plot holes (how did Tali get on the Normandy, seen in the ending, when she was supposed to be with me when I attempted the final end-game sequence? Why was Joker flying away, and from what?). And they're just kinda dumb and don't really take into account the choices you made (save or not save the Rachni Queen? DOESN'T FUCKING MATTER, unless you find a slight movement in a green bar to be suitable pay off). But we're stuck with them. That's how ME ends - with a whimper and a piss-poor, lazy ending.

Still doesn't change the fact that the series was really good. A bad ending doesn't erase how good the games were.

So Mass Effect really ends like that. Heh, wow.

People thinking that others want a "happy" ending don't get it. Most just want an ending that makes sense, isn't complete trash and maybe offers some closure on major choices you've made.

Bitching about the ending ahead.