Delphic

@TentPole said:

@Marokai said:

Click on the link, people.

Never

Editied the OP to show the article text.

@Mordukai said:

Hold the fuck on. Did Casey Hudson just basically said that Bioware trolled their entire fanbase so they could generate discussion?

That's sort of how I read it.

Over on IGN this morning an article was published where the director of Mass Effect 3, Casey Hudson, is defending the ending to Mass Effect 3. According to him the ending was designed to be left up to interpretation. He goes on to claim that the fan feedback is very important to Bioware and that future single player and multiplayer DLC will be designed around fan feedback. So we may get our new ending, but it sounds like it would not have been planned, as some Bioware faithfuls have hoped for. For me this puts a bit of a damper on the Indoctrination theory and makes it seems more unlikely. I would say that Bioware's biggest mistake is that is seems like the creative team was aiming for an ending that would make everyone happy, but instead that backfired and ended up enraging the entire fanbase. Here's the actual article

Casey Hudson defends "polarizing" ending, while promising single-player DLC.

Update: In a response to the huge fan feedback regarding Mass Effect 3's ending, Chris Priestly, Bioware's community coordinator, wrote on Bioware's official forums that they are waiting for the appropriate time to respond.

Priestly wrote: "we appreciate everyone's feedback about Mass Effect 3 and want you to know we are listening. Active discussions about the ending are more than welcome here, and the team will be reviewing it for feedback and responding when we can.

"Please note, we want to give people time to experience the game so while we can't get into specifics right now, we will be able to address some of your questions once more people have had time to complete the game. In the meantime, we'd like to ask that you keep the non-spoiler areas of our forums and our social media channels spoiler free.

"We understand there is a lot of debate on the Mass Effect 3 ending and we will be more than happy to engage in healthy discussions once more people get to experience the game. We are listening to all of your feedback."
Bioware Director Casey Hudson has responded to enraged fans that have criticised the game's endings and day-one DLC. In an interview with Digital Trends, Hudson said, "I didn't want the game to be forgettable, and even right down to the sort of polarizing reaction that the ends have had with people–debating what the endings mean and what's going to happen next, and what situation are the characters left in.
"That to me is part of what's exciting about this story. There has always been a little bit of mystery there and a little bit of interpretation, and it's a story that people can talk about after the fact."

Casey Hudson on Up at NoonParticularly aggrieved fans have launched a campaign to get the Mass Effect 3 ending changed. There is even a Retake Mass Effect movement which is raising funds for the Child's Play Charity, in the hope of being taken seriously by Bioware. So far they have raised over $29,000. Their mission statement reads "We would like to dispel the perception that we are angry or entitled. We simply wish to express our hope that there could be a different direction for a series we have all grown to love."

When asked if Bioware listen to feedback, Hudson said, "We pay very close attention to it. It's very important to us and we will always listen to feedback, interpret it and try and do the right thing by our fans."
Hudson went on to promise fans single-player DLC, and that fan feedback will shape its content: "We have some really great multiplayer content and some really great single-player content coming over the air, (fan) feedback will become part of how we design that."

Regarding the From Ashes DLC, Hudson thinks fans are starting to see "common sense". "Initially, it was spun in a direction that suggested that we had taken the lore out of Mass Effect 3," he said. "Now the people who actually have played Mass Effect 3 and the DLC they know that that's not true."

Link to actual article: http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/122/1220712p1.html

So what do you guys think about this?

I'm calling fake on this one as well. The last "rumor" about the DLC seemed more legit than this does.

Mostly seem to think this is fake, so I'm inclined to go with the majority here. Still it would be pretty awesome if it were true. It would make BioWare the biggest trolls of all time.

@believer258 said:

FUCKIN'

HELL

YEAH!!!!!

Yeah, I'm just a bit excited. Unlike most, though, I'd like to see Deadlocked, Size Matters, and Secret Agent Clank included. Not because they're the best of the series, but just to have the collection complete.

seconded. When I first got my PS2 I could not stop playing the original Rachet and Clank.

Well this put some of my concerns to rest.

I pre-ordered it, but can't remember if I have it paid off yet or not. I actually might just cancel it honestly.

@kyrieee said:

Everything after you get hit by Harbinger's laser takes place inside Shepard's head.

TIM's choice (Control) and Saren's choice (Synthesis) are presented by the kid as the good choices, while he presents the 'destroy' choice as the bad one. That's of course only an interpretation, but if you listen to his dialogue I think you'll agree.

The kid is a Reaper (harbinger?). He says "I know you've thought about destroying US"

If you listen very carefully to the kid's dialogue, you can hear that Jennifer Hale and Mark Meer are also reading the lines. I'm not making that up. Jennifer Hale is in the left ear, Mark Meer in the right. That further suggests that it's just inside Shepard's head.

When you pick Synthesis or Control, Shepard drops her gun, which is symbolic of giving up. In the Destroy ending, Shepard shoots the power conduit, which makes no sense in the context of triggering the crucible, but it's a rebellious act and represents Shepard breaking free of Harbinger's attempt to indoctrinate her. If you pick the Destroy ending and have high enough EMS, there is a cutscene where Shepard wakes up in London.

Indoctrination is described in the codex as making the indoctrinated think that the Reapers are divine, that they have a good purpose and that you must help them. Throughout the games we also learn that it causes strange dreams, and hallucinations, ghostly images etc.

Shepard's dreams could be PTSD, but it could also be the Reapers beginning to invade her mind. Each dream gets increasingly dark, and in the later ones you see those black smoke pillars kinda shaped like humans. When TIM is controlling you in the end, you see kind of similar black lines invading the screen. It's not super similar, but maybe something.

Also, throughout ME3 there is a constant theme of questioning Shepard, whether she's herself, if she's felling alright, if she's still Cerberus etc.

Some people also speculate that the kid is a pure hallucination from the beginning. He runs through a locked door into the house that gets blown up, after he says "you can't help me" (which is a weird line for a kid), Anderson calls your name and you snap out of your thoughts. Strange reaper noises can be heard at that point (quite different from the other ambient reaper noises). In the 3rd book that's described as happening when Greyson is fighting his indoctrination. Furthermore, no one seems to ever interact with the kid, or even notice that he's there. When he boards the shuttle, no one helps him even though it's a freaking kid! Everyone else gets helped aboard.

Wow that actually makes more sense than anything I've come up with.

@Vinny_Says said:

Just tell me why it was a child....I dont care if it's supposed to be god why does it manifest as a child?

The closest explanation I can come up with to that question is that the Reaper VI took on a form that was familiar to Shepard. Why it choose that particular memory I do not know. It's sort of the same thing that happened on the Tron level when removing the Reaper code from the Geth. Legion was showing Shepard recordings from several years in the past when the quarians created the Geth, but the Quarian's still appeared in their body suits because that was how Shepard perceived the Quarian's at large.