@BurningStickMan: I read that in Commander Bailey's voice

@AdMordem said:

@Jay444111 said:

@AdMordem said:

@Jay444111: Actually one bloke screwed it up at the end, and your journey analogy is a bit weird because the 60 hour travelling part was fantastic, not shitty.

What do you mean one bloke screwed it up at the end?

Also, my analogy is still perfect because this game series if over 5 years old now. Since the first mass effect we were expecting a very awesome ending. Instead, we got quite possibly the most disspointingly terrible endings to a franchise... ever.

There was this thing posted up on the Penny Arcade Forums that was pulled shortly after, posted by one of the senior writers.

SPOILER WARNING: Click here to reveal hidden content.

The short was the lead had complete control over the ending, including the earth sequences. Everything else in all 3 games went through the entire team of writers, and was fixed for tone, continuity and other things. The last segment wasnt.

This guy had seen the plans earlier, and didn't know why most of the plans of it wasn't implemented.

The end basically was sposed to be a much more diverse version of what we got.

16 endings, with tie ins - like for the destroy there were 3 variants - low score would reveal success would be victory but with everyone basically dead anyway, middle was earth getting smashed bad by the superweapon, high score victory, earth hurt but repairable, not complete destruction of fleet.

He also said had it gone through the usual process with the writers, they would have tried to do things with the last 2 earth segments by having things happen related to who was fighting with you. like if you had the krogans on side, maybe a Rachni army charging to one side, then Wrex leading a massive charge of krogans into them to help you progress, or things like asari warships dropping in to clear out enemies. He mentioned a few other things that really would have sold the ending.

He mentions petitioning successfully for a final goodbye to your crew and friends, and a couple other examples.

He mentions his and the teams pain at getting badmouthed and insulted by the likes of you, when noone but the lead had any control over the end.

When I get home tonight, I will PM or post here the copy paste of it before it was deleted. (its in my browser history at home)

Also dude, ME1, ME2 and all of ME3 besides the last 15 minutes can hardly be compared to a shitty walk. If your analagy was 'walked through a zoo, a time portal, historical spain, another time portal, wonderland while laughing/crying/delighted/completely engaged and then rocked up at the shop to realise you forgot your wallet' then it would be closer. Forgetting the wallet would sting, but still cant erase the wonderful adventure you just had. Unless you were going to the shop for memory pills :P

EDIT: Here is a pastebin of the post (SPOILERS)

http://pastebin.com/i2cNVDp4

I thought that forum post was proven to be fake.

The best part of the ending was the Buzz Aldrin cameo in the post-credits scene.

@Jay444111: I don't get your metaphor exactly, but I think I essentially agree.

@Hailinel: Actually the denials look to be false not the post. It WAS Weekes account (one of the writers account), that is proven. His account would have had to have been hacked, which noone has come out and said that was the case.

He basically got busted, as the post was only up for an hour, and he did not want people to publish it or his name. Of course it got on to reddit, along with his name. He's said 'I didn't do it' to you know, keep his job.

It looks like actually and true candid remarks from Weekes.

My most central point is that lay off hating on the entire Bioware team. The large majority just spent half a decade fighting to give you really well written, choice driven games. They have fought to get changes and additions for things they know the fans would want. The story arcs that are concluded before the very end of ME3 are amazing, the last 15 minutes isnt the only conclusion to be had in a game of conclusions.

@AdMordem: If Weeke's story is in fact true, then I can only surmise that Casey Hudson had to be utterly clueless when approving the ending, especially considering that it was Hudson himself that said that the ending would not come down to choices A, B, and C, when that's in fact what happened.

@Hailinel: Exactly! What an arsehole right?

Like it may have been budget, it may have been time. Bioware has a history of saying 'when we are ready'.

He may have just been 'busy' to make good to his promise. Personal lives can do that, he should have stepped back from his control though in that case. Why was doing what he said he wouldn't acceptable with him?

Some of Weekes comments suggest he cared more for a very meta ending than something that was representative of the gameplay experience. BAD! WRONG!

Even if he is the project lead, he reports to Bioware bigwigs - why did they not provide their own QA? Surely the Dr's play every game before it is released - and provide feedback with the wieght of their positions behind them.

It seems that the higher Bioware management were to busy with SWTOR, as the last stages of development for this coincicide with its release. Why have one of the best writing teams in games there if you aren't going to use them for the big final conclusion? This isn't normal, and someone above Casey should have stepped in, but as I said, I reckon they were busy with SWTOR.

The sad thing is that Weekes will prolly get fired and Casey will get another ME project.

I didn't have any problem with the ending. Sure maybe its not 'true' enough for some people but god I really don't see why everyone is so freakin pissed. Either way people are getting what they think they want so hopefully it won't make this whole situation worse when its released.

Some people just want to complain and will never be happy.

It's really sad that the developer is even going to bother at all with such a sense of entitlement. But hey, if Bioware can make a little extra money off of it, why not? Oh well, a fool and their money are soon parted.

It's pretty much known now that Shepard was indoctrinated, and the entire Crucibe God Child bullshit is his internal struggle to fight it off. If you pick Synthesis or Control Shepard has the eyes of a machine, much like a husk, the Illusive Man, or Saren. Destroy doesn't have that. Also when Shepard shoots Anderson how come when Anderson dies Shepard is hit in the exact same spot he shot Anderson. Yes he was shot by a Marauder while walking to the Conduit, in the shoulder though.

This entire thing was a ploy to sell additional DLC. To sell an ending. Should people be angry about that? Yeah. But they should also be frightened that EA and BioWare are going to get away with it. What next, buying individual levels for a full retail priced game? Or am I giving them ideas now?

And who said kicking and screaming like little petulant children never got you anywhere?

I must've got the good ending as I only finished it this weekend and it was excellent. Maybe there's something to be said about the players who rush to the finish line without taking the time to emerse themselves in the experience. ME3 had some of the best moments of the series, unfortunately it wasn't perfect so I guess we can look forward to them getting it right for the next trilogy on a new gen. of visuals.

The developer decided during the third game's production to change the narrative structure and ending of the entire franchise. The developer then went on and made a tactical decision to cut a bunch of scenes and dialog from the end of the game to make it more ambiguous. It's their right to do it, and it is our right to complain about it. Whether or not they 'succumb' to our demands is neither here nor there... The ending isn't 'changing' it's just being fleshed out, meaning the original vision still stands if only with less ambiguity, and gamers will get more of the resolution they were looking for. There shouldn't be any 'artistic integrity' or 'entitlement' arguments at all, and I feel like people that use either of those terms in a serious way are deluded. We have the right to bitch, and hopefully always will, and whether or not a developer caves in to us is their own prerogative and nobody else's.

I know the pendulum swings both ways but people who are hoping on the 'hate the haters' bandwagon this late in the game are obnoxious as fuck to me. If you're echoing game journalists and using terms like 'entitled' you're as bad if not worse than the people you are bitching about. Being a corporate schill is no better than being a strongly opinionated idiot. Try to see the issue from both sides and come to a more reasonable assessment of what's right or wrong with the ending rather than jumping on any given bandwagon and riding it to bitchy-town.

I know the pendulum swings both ways but people who are hoping on the 'hate the haters' bandwagon this late in the game are obnoxious as fuck to me. If you're echoing game journalists and using terms like 'entitled' you're as bad if not worse than the people you are bitching about. Being a corporate schill is no better than being a strongly opinionated idiot. Try to see the issue from both sides and come to a more reasonable assessment of what's right or wrong with the ending rather than jumping on any given bandwagon and riding it to bitchy-town.

I just don't want the mass relays to have been destroyed. I want more story not a new ending. Realign them instead. That should screw over galactic travel, politics, and everything else enough for a few decades. Then more story!

Pay more money to unlock the real ending.

The way the game ended will open the way for mass effect 4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kevgkTcS03k

Pretty good summation of the Bioware Social Forums at this point...