I, like most of us, hate the ending to mass effect 3. I'm not gonna go into it because its been talked about a lil too much to be honest. But i've always wanted to bring up the people in the "I loved the ending... shut up" camp. I felt their arguments were a lil too zealous at times and usually led to a high horse being mounted, followed by the mounted person in question calling everyone immature and entitled (and similar shit). A noticed a large majority of this crowd were video game journo's ( but thats probs because they have a louder voice in the community ). I felt at time this scandal was both polarizing and unifying. I cant help but feel there was a giant wedge jammed between the community and the journos ( I personally unsubed to a few Youtube channels and blogs over this).

Just wondering if this had a similar impact on anyone else?

I'd just like to also show my respect to the giant bomb guys for leaving that horse alone.

( Forgive my poor spelling and grammar. I could lie and say that english is my second language but the truth is, i just fucked around in school )

To each their own.
 
Different people like different stuff, that's how I felt about the whole thing.

In my ideal ending, Wrex and Garrus would drive an exploding quad bike into a Thresher Maw's mouth.

Beers on the beach with Garrus. Or..what ever is their equal to beer. 

@The_Laughing_Man: Space beer

I do agree that a lot of people who favored the ending acted like that but I myself dugg the ending simply because in my opinion the ending was a true sci-fi ending (especially the new endings). It leaves a questions with some answered and might make you happy or depressed in this case it left me depressed but that was something new I had never experienced with a game. Like most people will say to each their own.

@The_Laughing_Man: Space beer

@The_Laughing_Man: YOLO

I'm just going to go ahead and flag this because I have no idea what else this thread is supposed to bring to a table already full of similar goddamn threads. I didn't like the ending/borderline hated it but I'm seriously getting tired of these threads. I felt like that podcast was the perfect end to those talks because it said what needed to be said, let the dead horse decompose in peace.

I never really understood the issues that people had with the ending. To me, the rest of the game was far worse. Mass Effect 3 was kind of a disaster, top to bottom. The ending was the least offensive part.

Did that sound too self righteous?

I still preferred the ending to losing the Mako and free-roaming sections.

Also unlimited ammo.

@eccentrix said:

I still preferred the ending to losing the Mako and free-roaming sections.

Also unlimited ammo.

The unlimited ammo made more sense though, considering 1.) offensive powers weren't all that damaging and took forever to cool down and

2.) It's the god damn future and the guns shot superdense crumbs at relativistic speeds!!

I wouldn't say I hated the ending, but I was underwhelmed by it and I didn't think it was up to the overall standard of the rest of the game. However saying that I didn't like a lot of what was going on in ME3 overall. For all the peaks of certain parts of the narrative (Thane and Mordin for instance) there was a lot of drek thrown in as well.

I think this video summarizes a lot of the games core problems, that fall outside of the ending tbh: -

They definitely cut back on a lot of the conversational options and it did really drag away from the sense of 'Your Shepard' Vs 'Bioware's Shepard' as a result. it's easy to get caught up in the minutiae of these things, but I'm with Jeff in that the game wasn't as good overall as ME2 in terms of cohesiveness.

As regards the high horse issue, the attitude by several members of the gaming press to vilify the unhappy fan base Vs putting even a modicum of effort into at least attempting to understand their concerns rather than give them short shift definitely stands out as a low point in the year for sure. I don't hold that Bioware owed it to anyone to make a completely new ending, and that they at least attempted to address some of the problems people had with the original with ending via the EC is kind of a positive move in a way. Ultimately I don't think there would of been any way to salvage things entirely without abandoning the whole god/child choice issue and although that makes a lot more sense to me (I'm entirely down with the activate catalyst, sit down and bleed out with Anderson fan cut), I recognize that that degree of capitulation would set a dangerous precedent for future development.

I don't particularly agree with Tom Chicks decision here (although the man admits to not having played TWD yet). However I do agree with his sentiments in that there's likely a silver lining to this whole situation in terms of future game narrative. I doubt EA were particularly happy with the ending furore and certainly they're going to be more interested in rebuilding the reputation of Bioware going forward by ensuring that future titles deliver on expectations and promises.

Best ending: Mass Effect 3
Whether you liked the ending of Mass Effect 3 — I liked it, but that’s neither here nor there — the reaction to the ending raised important questions about how games end, about what fans are owed, and about a developer’s responsibility to its audience. I disagree with the answers that many fans concluded from Mass Effect 3, but I’m glad the topic was raised and I’m glad Electronic Arts pretty much stuck to their guns. If the end result is gamers expecting better writing and more meaningful payoffs in their games, the ending of Mass Effect 3 is a win for everyone concerned

http://www.quartertothree.com/fp/2012/12/12/2012-the-year-in-gaming/

Positivity and negativity are both infectious.

Before a big game is received negatively, it is usually received positively. Especially so before release.

When you get an early copy and are all hyped up, and you write a glowing review and then you put your name on it, it's probably hard to accept that you might have had hype blinders on if your reputation is now invested in the opinion of this game.

- and I'm not trying to say it happens all the time and to all reviewers, but I'm sure it happens sometimes. And I bet ME3 got a few.

@ExplodeMode said:

Positivity and negativity are both infectious.

Before an anticipated game is received negatively, it is usually received positively. Especially so before release.

When you get an early copy and are all hyped up, and you write a glowing review and then you put your name on it, it's probably hard to accept that you might have had hype blinders on if your reputation is now invested in the opinion of this game.

True enough. I think GTA IV suffered from this, with a lot of reviewers declaring it the best thing since sliced bread and then the game releasing to less than stellar reaction by the larger player base.

Doom 3 also got hyped to the gills by reviewers IIRC and similarly underwhelmed when it hit the shelves.

I think the big difference this time is that Bioware had a forum where people could air their grievances and also realise they weren't alone in being underwhelmed by the whole thing and thus get organised to vocalise their issues . Rockstar don't do forums, and Doom 3 was released in a period when forums were the exception rather than the rule.

Less "high horse", more "fucking delusional".

Especially everything about the indoctrination theory.

I feel the same way about people that hate the game just because of the ending. To each their own.

I think the ending was not bad, but it wasn't great either. It really bothers me that Sheppard has to die (over and over again :D) BUT I think the game that led up to that was fuckin' awesome!:) I love ME3 and still think it's the best game of the year 2012. Maybe I'm just too weird but that's OK, 'cause I don't really care.:)

@Kadayi said:

I don't particularly agree with Tom Chicks decision here (although the man admits to not having played TWD yet). However I do agree with his sentiments in that there's likely a silver lining to this whole situation in terms of future game narrative. I doubt EA were particularly happy with the ending furore and certainly they're going to be more interested in rebuilding the reputation of Bioware going forward by ensuring that future titles deliver on expectations and promises.

One could argue that they are doing this now with Dragon Age 3 with it being delayed to next gen consoles and release date somewhere in 2014. Personally I haven't lost any faith with Bioware as I still think they put out quality product. I for one liked Dragon Age 2 overall. Yes dungeon design was bleh, but I personally liked Hawke and the more personal focused story they did. Did it get bat shit crazy? Absolutely it did but it's all the more reason I liked it more.

I think they really are taking the criticisms to heart though and that Dragon Age 3 and whatever future Mass Effect titles will be better because of their predecessors.

Can we not?

@believer258 said:

Especially everything about the indoctrination theory.

The main problem with the IT was the simple fact that the game ended. If they'd done a rug pull where you go through an elaborate sequence and then it's all revealed to in fact be a case of you battling against indoctrination and then you wake up to finish the game proper...that would of actually been utter fucking genius (up there with the system crash sequence in Batman:Arkham Asylum in terms of gaming gotcha's). However the plain simple fact that that doesn't happen pretty much was the nail in the coffin to the whole thing. The idea that they were going to sell the 'real' ending as DLC down the road was just the most idiotic thing ever. Even the press would of been in uproar over that idea.

the ME3's ending helped me reset my idea of what a bad ending is.

@AltonBrown said:

In my ideal ending, Wrex and Garrus would drive an exploding quad bike into a Thresher Maw's mouth.

Prior to playing ME3, I would have thought this was an awesome idea. But while playing 3, I kept regretting keeping Wrex alive from the first one. He's the reason I did the terrible things I did, and he got what was coming to him

I can see your point and i think it comes down to journos having to have tougher skin if you will to play games back to back as they do. I feel some games along with their stories don't always impact them like someone who plays these games more intimately. A fan who can live and breath a game or franchise for a month or more is not the norm for a game journalist.

My prime example is they don't often have all the facts about a game's mechanics or story when debating these things like a super fan would. So that alone will change someone opinions on the matter. Journalist don't often have the time to care that much about a game and its lore and even if they do it buried by having to play 10 to 20 other games that month.

I do think it annoying when the high horses as you said get thrown into the mix. When people like that think they know why people are complaining who are often off base on their judgement deems the complainers as babies or idiots for not liking something. I feel it always important to try to understand another sides point of view before you go prematurely condemning them.

@Zirilius said:

One could argue that they are doing this now with Dragon Age 3 with it being delayed to next gen consoles and release date somewhere in 2014. Personally I haven't lost any faith with Bioware as I still think they put out quality product. I for one liked Dragon Age 2 overall. Yes dungeon design was bleh, but I personally liked Hawke and the more personal focused story they did. Did it get bat shit crazy? Absolutely it did but it's all the more reason I liked it more.

I think they really are taking the criticisms to heart though and that Dragon Age 3 and whatever future Mass Effect titles will be better because of their predecessors.

Agreed. I'm actually pretty positive about DA3. Similarly I liked the Hawke character, I think it added a lot more engagement to the experience having a name and a voice. One of the issues I felt with DA:O was that the lack of a name/voice to the protagonist really hindered any degree of emotion to the conversations as everyone skipping around your lack of name or using the rather neutral 'grey warden' to refer to you ('yes grey warden take me like the stallion you are to love mountain' ). Sure it was great that they gave you so many starting options in DA:O, but there was definitely a cost to it. Certainly the repeat dungeons and WTF moment towards the end of DA:2 weren't particularly stellar, but I'd say their offensiveness has been overplayed. Also I preferred the more showy combat of DA2 (even if the waves aspect was a little hokey at times) Vs the slog-a-thon nature of the combat in DA:O. The characters felt a lot more bad ass in the hero stakes in DA2, where as in DA:O I felt like it was just a case of that the protagonist wasn't any better than anyone else in a fight save for the fact that they were under my control and I had better equipment.

It's not in anyone's interest (EA, EAs shareholders, Biowares developers) to make lackluster games going forward and like you I'm confident that lessons will have been learnt as a result of events and future titles will benefit from it.

I was promised horses getting high not some indecipherable crap about Mass Effect 3. Was thoroughly disappointed, will not dine here again. 1 Star!!!

@Azalot said:

I cant help but feel there was a giant wedge jammed between the community and the journos ( I personally unsubed to a few Youtube channels and blogs over this).

Just wondering if this had a similar impact on anyone else?

Not on me.

first of all there is no such thing as the "gaming community", so many damn people game there is no way we are one "community."

Second I don't give a crap what random people think about a game and neither should anybody else. I only care what my friends think or people I respect think. And if I disagree with them,it doesn't bother me. At the end of the day I buy games for me and my enjoyment , not them or theirs.

If you like a game, like it and don't feel bad about it. If you don't a game ,embrace that too. But whatever you do don't tell other people how they should feel about it, that's their business.

I liked the ending.

Tell me I'm wrong.

@MildMolasses said:

@AltonBrown said:

In my ideal ending, Wrex and Garrus would drive an exploding quad bike into a Thresher Maw's mouth.

Prior to playing ME3, I would have thought this was an awesome idea. But while playing 3, I kept regretting keeping Wrex alive from the first one. He's the reason I did the terrible things I did, and he got what was coming to him

I has no idea what you're talking about, i kept Wrex alive and i didn't do anything terrible. Wrex was a buddy til the end.

@musclerider said:

I liked the ending. Tell me I'm wrong.

I heard the outcry about the ending before I finished the game. I didn't have it spoiled or anything, but I heard that people were really upset with it. So maybe my expectations were lowered before-hand or something, but when I got to the end my reaction was more like, "eh, that's not bad".

It wasn't the ending I would've written, but I was satisfied with it. The extended cut was fine with me too since what it clarified was pretty much just what I'd assumed on my own. Overall I was just kinda 'meh' to the whole mess. The internet being the internet, thoughtful and meaningful discussions were quickly drowned out by people who liked the ending calling others whiners and people who hated the ending screaming about "betrayal".

But then, I really liked Dragon Age 2, so maybe I'm just wacky. : )

@Slag: Thats great that you have such thick skin. But these were journos and bloggers that had opinions that i cared about. "I cared about what they think". Then they bust out with this bogus rhetoric, basically insulting my inteligence... it sounds a lil dramatic but i was kinda hurt that this happened. the arrogance was just intolerable.

but yeah, thats what this thread is really about. not whether or not i like/dislike the ending. but yeah i hated it ( the entire plot was kinda shitty to be honest)

I still find the ending clever and fairly satsifying. I would have had my Shepard sacrifice himself anyways because that just seemed like his fitting end to save the galaxy. All the decisions from the previous games were important in various parts of the story to conclude threads such as the Quarian/Geth struggle. The ending then let me decide how I wanted my Shepard to go out - destroying the Reapers, merging them all, or controlling them. I don't buy the bombcast's "the should have decided the ending for you" line of thinking, because why? Why should they have, when you can just decide yourself?

Anyways, if you didn't like it, more power to you. I enjoyed it quite a bit and found it pretty satisfying. The only real gripe I had with the game was that you couldn't bring the vast majority of your crew from 2 to join you permanently.

This whole ending arguement stopped me from playing the game entirely.

@Azalot said:

... followed by the mounted person in question calling everyone immature and entitled (and similar shit). A noticed a large majority of this crowd were video game journo's ( but thats probs because they have a louder voice in the community ). I felt at time this scandal was both polarizing and unifying...

Yo bro, Mass Effect 3's ending being bad isn't anywhere close to a scandal. If the dissenters referred to it in such a way, I would totally call them immature.

Funny, I had similar feelings about a majority of the people out there lambasting the ending.

Ok this is probably going to be my last post on any thread regarding Mass Effect 3 and its ending; I didn't like the deus ex machina and the fact that it came down to A, B or C choice (I haven't touched the Extended Cut so I don't know what they changed). However, that doesn't change the fact that the overall game was pretty strong and I felt it was a fantastic ride from start until the space platform. However crap the ending was, everything that was before was incredible and Mass Effect will still be one of my favourite series.

@Kadayi said:

Agreed. I'm actually pretty positive about DA3. Similarly I liked the Hawke character, I think it added a lot more engagement to the experience having a name and a voice. One of the issues I felt with DA:O was that the lack of a name/voice to the protagonist really hindered any degree of emotion to the conversations as everyone skipping around your lack of name or using the rather neutral 'grey warden' to refer to you ('yes grey warden take me like the stallion you are to love mountain' ). Sure it was great that they gave you so many starting options in DA:O, but there was definitely a cost to it. Certainly the repeat dungeons and WTF moment towards the end of DA:2 weren't particularly stellar, but I'd say their offensiveness has been overplayed. Also I preferred the more showy combat of DA2 (even if the waves aspect was a little hokey at times) Vs the slog-a-thon nature of the combat in DA:O. The characters felt a lot more bad ass in the hero stakes in DA2, where as in DA:O I felt like it was just a case of that the protagonist wasn't any better than anyone else in a fight save for the fact that they were under my control and I had better equipment.

It's not in anyone's interest (EA, EAs shareholders, Biowares developers) to make lackluster games going forward and like you I'm confident that lessons will have been learnt as a result of events and future titles will benefit from it.

I completely agree on everything you just said. I liked having a voice and name for my character. Just made everything about the interactions feel better and more fleshed out. I keep thinking about how much better the interactions with Alistar and Morrigan would have been had the main character had a voice. I've never been a fan of the silent protagonist and it's one of the biggest reasons I couldn't get into Dragon's Dogma or Kingdoms of Amalur.

I am with Jeff that the ending isn't the most offensive part about that game, and I'm not with Jeff in saying that it's still a very good game because I don't think it is.

When someone call another person entitled, I stop listening right then and there. They're usually followed with some self-imposed importance that I couldn't care less about. I have my opinions whether they are liked or not.

My take,

It's just a video game, as much as I love them, I'd never let this kind of thing bother me.

I guess the most I can offer is, the fact that all the promises about how you will ultimately shape the outcome of the trilogy didn't matter at all in the end is a shitty thing to do to the players.

But it's a fucking game.

@RetroMetal said:

My take,

It's just a video game, as much as I love them, I'd never let this kind of thing bother me.

I guess the most I can offer is, the fact that all the promises about how you will ultimately shape the outcome of the trilogy didn't matter at all in the end is a shitty thing to do to the players.

But it's a fucking game.

Last time I checked this was the Mass Effect 3 sub forum, so I'm pretty sure we're all aware that 'it's a fucking game'. However some people (myself included) like to discuss it because consider it an interesting topic. In the same way that some people like to discuss politics, or TV shows, or Ballet. As far as I'm aware we're not running out of internet space anytime so I'm not really seeing why it's seemingly a crime to talk about it in truth.

I dno, maybe if different choices affected the final scene(not the final cutscene). Like if they branched off that Ellusive man speech and the hardcore choices you can take there into slightly different possibilities that would have been good enough for me. Anyway, Bioware is on my life-support list, 2 consecutive mediocre games isn't good enough for blind purchasing.

@AltonBrown said:

In my ideal ending, Wrex and Garrus would drive an exploding quad bike into a Thresher Maw's mouth.

This.

Also, don't believe the lies!! We're all indoctrinated!!!!

@AltonBrown said:

In my ideal ending, Wrex and Garrus would drive an exploding quad bike into a Thresher Maw's mouth.

to be fair, that wouldn't be as cool as the Biggest Monster Truck Jump In The Galaxy that was in Mass Effect 1. But yeah that would still be better than what we got.

Kind of thinking about this the last few days made me think man it would have been cool if when you left Earth you had to make a decision. Join the Alliance and help humanity by working with Anderson and Hackett, join Cerberus and work with the Illusive man, or join the reapers and kill everyone. Still could lead you to towards the same end goal but the journey there would be completely different. Hell make it so the squad mates you can recruit are based off that choice as well.

@Azalot said:

@Slag: Thats great that you have such thick skin. But these were journos and bloggers that had opinions that i cared about. "I cared about what they think". Then they bust out with this bogus rhetoric, basically insulting my inteligence... it sounds a lil dramatic but i was kinda hurt that this happened. the arrogance was just intolerable.

but yeah, thats what this thread is really about. not whether or not i like/dislike the ending. but yeah i hated it ( the entire plot was kinda shitty to be honest)

Hey man

ok I think I understand where you are coming from a little better now.

That is a little different than what I was thinking your beef was, if they directly condescended you or talked down to you personally, than yeah you have every right to be pissed.

But if they were just writing their piece on ME3 (not directed at you personally) and happened to do a crappy job at that, well then I think you just have to shrug that off as the journo/blogger doing a crappy job on this particular story. And possibly remember that when choosing whose work to read the next time. Even pros have bad days.

I guess to boil my personal philosophy on things like this is basically this, don't take things online opinions personal that aren't personal in nature. Know what I mean?

fwiw I steered well clear of the ME3 discussion for the reasons you stated.

@Slag: There was no personal involvement, I meant collectively. A lot of people basically just got on a podium and said " if you have option A... your a fucking idiot". And these weren't internet trolls, these were ppl with a public profile.

I'm just surprised that ppl didnt talk about this more, and the last bombcast just reminded me of it (mainly because I was surprised that they weren't also on the high horse).

It was probs a perceived slight anyway, that was half the point of my post, to see if anyway felt the same and it seems not many ppl did.

The thing that annoyed me about this ending business is that noone talked about the plot. Earth was getting fucked... the Asari and Taurian homeworlds were also getting there arses handed to them, And you pulled them away from there homeworlds help earth? I must have missed something coz i found it pretty weak. What was so important about earth for the other races, This is how it would have went down

Shepard: " Garus i need your help saving earth"

Garus: " Fuck earth *points at palavan*..."

@Slag said:

That is a little different than what I was thinking your beef was, if they directly condescended you or talked down to you personally, than yeah you have every right to be pissed.

But if they were just writing their piece on ME3 (not directed at you personally) and happened to do a crappy job at that, well then I think you just have to shrug that off as the journo/blogger doing a crappy job on this particular story. And possibly remember that when choosing whose work to read the next time. Even pros have bad days.

I guess to boil my personal philosophy on things like this is basically this, don't take things online opinions personal that aren't personal in nature. Know what I mean?

fwiw I steered well clear of the ME3 discussion for the reasons you stated.

Have a read of this article by Arthur Gies that was ostensibly supposed to be a 'round table' discussion about the (original) ending of Mass Effect 3.

http://www.polygon.com/2012/10/5/3461080/reviewers-talk-mass-effect-3-the-ending-the-narrative-the-controversy

The entire article is a case of whitewashing and diminishment. It's not about gamer's hating the ending because it made no sense, or finding certain aspects illogical or narratively flawed. The uproar is portrayed simply as a case that a 'vocal minority' wanted a 'happy ending' and not getting it apparently.

Arthur: Do they dislike it because it didn't give them the Frodo laying in bed with all the hobbits jumping up and down on it ending? And I don't say that to be dismissive, but that's an ending to an epic trilogy in recent memory. This is the most successful trilogy narratively that I maybe have ever seen.

The whole thing reads like a bunch of Fox News 'Analysts' sitting around speculating on whether Obama was in fact going to build 'Death Camps' or some such. There's no sense of any real research into the subject in depth as to why gamer's were unhappy with the ending by any of the participants and there's no dissenting voices. Surely if you're going to have a round table you get in a few people who have different opinions no?

Really up to Brad openly recoiling at the paucity of the original ending and the BS nature of the choices in the podcast there's been little if anyone in the gaming press actually taking a contrary stance to the attitude of Gies and his cohorts in truth, which frankly has been rather frustrating. This whole denial that there was anything wrong or questionable with the ending felt like a case of the gaming press blatantly defending the absurdly high scores the game had been awarded. Right now ME3 has a metacritic of 93/100 making it one of the highest rated games ever, which is ludicrous given it's problems (and I'm not just talking about the ending here). Compare and contrast with Prometheus a film which although superbly constructed and shot from a highly regarded director also suffers from thematic problems and a risible ending. Metacritic average is 65/100. What is it that film critics are doing that game critics aren't?

I had no problem with the ending, my beef was with the shit boring lead up to it where you're just staying in one place fighting off husks. Also fuck kaiden i don't give a shit about him why does he have such a large part in the game. ( i hated ashley more.)