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[heliosRAzi]

You know....i've seen plenty of complaints on ME3 being about bad writing and I think that subverts the issue of the actual content. I feel like saying X writer is shit and should be fired really undercuts and generalizes the issue most people have with the game.

I agree. No one should be fired because they wrote a bad ending. They should take it as criticism and strive to do better with the next game.

However, someone must answer/apologize for all of the statements before the game was released. Those were blatant lies.

I might love everything about ME3 but I will still say that the ending is one hell of a trainwreck. I'm glad that people are calling them out on that.

I feel that this whole ordeal could elevate the medium higher. Let's strive for greatness.

She deserves credit for such a retraction. Both for being big enough to apologize, and for the swiftness. That's how you do damage control.

She gets a lot of points for doing that and it's a shame that no one else has apologized. Instead of getting into a discussion with the fans, they just insult them.

 

[LightofRohan]

Can't wait till friday. I keep having bad dreams about the ending DLC... it just makes it worse. In one, the Universe had a brain and it absorbed everything into it, turned into an Icecream truck and all your squad mates drive away. Credits roll.

Make it stop!

 

[heliosRAzi]

Can't wait till friday. I keep having bad dreams about the ending DLC... it just makes it worse. In one, the Universe had a brain and it absorbed everything into it, turned into an Icecream truck and all your squad mates drive away. Credits roll.

Make it stop!

Cue Faunts. End scene.

 

[Lime]

Bioware (or the people in charge) should do this at E3 for the "blatant lies" as heliosrazi puts it:

 

[Antiochus]

One aspect that has not been discussed about, which one would find quite puzzling, is just how awful of a job the game does in immersing the player into the Reaper War and caring about the galaxy. A quote comes when confronted with the siege of Pahlaven and the destruciton of Thessia:

" Mourn ya? We barely knew ya!"

 

[Karl2177]

One aspect that has not been discussed about, which one would find quite puzzling, is just how awful of a job the game does in immersing the player into the Reaper War and caring about the galaxy. A quote comes when confronted with the siege of Pahlaven and the destruciton of Thessia:

" Mourn ya? We barely knew ya!"

Seeing the Reapers take Thessia struck a chord with me that made it feel like invasion. Comparing this to Halo:Reach, ME3 did it right.

 

[Dany]

Seeing the Reapers take Thessia struck a chord with me that made it feel like invasion. Comparing this to Halo:Reach, ME3 did it right.

Yeah, Thessia did an fantastic job in showing the impact of a reaper invasion. They really blew it at Earth in the beginning.

 

[heliosRAzi]

One aspect that has not been discussed about, which one would find quite puzzling, is just how awful of a job the game does in immersing the player into the Reaper War and caring about the galaxy. A quote comes when confronted with the siege of Pahlaven and the destruciton of Thessia:

" Mourn ya? We barely knew ya!"

Yeah, although they were kind of emotional, it could have been a lot more if we were able to visit these worlds back in the first or second game. Hell, they could have swapped Illium for Thessia in ME2.

And they kept trying to talk about a sense of urgency, but we don't get to experience it, especially when we run errands all over the place.

 

[rdrr gnr]

Posted? I can never tell.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6e9nokg1NQ&feature=g-u-u&context=G2617fa4FUAAAAAAASAA

 

[RedRedSuit]

One aspect that has not been discussed about, which one would find quite puzzling, is just how awful of a job the game does in immersing the player into the Reaper War and caring about the galaxy. A quote comes when confronted with the siege of Pahlaven and the destruciton of Thessia:

" Mourn ya? We barely knew ya!"

I don't know. I was fairly into it. Somehow they got me in all the locations to care about the Reaper attacks.

One exception: Earth. It felt like a leisurely stroll in the park at the beginning of the game. Made up for it in the final section though.

 

[HollovVpo1nt]

Seeing the Reapers take Thessia struck a chord with me that made it feel like invasion. Comparing this to Halo:Reach, ME3 did it right.

The only thing Halo: Reach did right in terms of 'sense of desparation' was the last mission.. Other than that, meh.

 

[Jake Tower]

Posted? I can never tell.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6e9nokg1NQ&feature=g-u-u&context=G2617fa4FUAAAAAAASAA

I love that second version.

 

[Replicant]

Seeing the Reapers take Thessia struck a chord with me that made it feel like invasion. Comparing this to Halo:Reach, ME3 did it right.

What this game should have done is for every success story like Tuchanka and Rannoch, there should be a failure as well like the one on Thessia. So when we reach the end, we really feel that our chance of beating the Reapers is 50/50. Not impossibility but it'd be a hard one. Then by using the EMS, it'll determine how successful you'd be. Not by introducing an unknown factor like the Crucible or the Catalist.

 

[SerArthurDayne]

It's actually the same position Tycho and Gabriel from PA take. Not that they're necessarily authorities, but still.

Also Casey Hudson's excuse for the dogshit ending in his first statement. Bullshit then, too.

She deserves credit for such a retraction. Both for being big enough to apologize, and for the swiftness. That's how you do damage control.

Agreed. I don't think it is particularly well though out or reasoned, but it is a quick blog post, and it seems genuine enough.

 

[Karl2177]

The only thing Halo: Reach did right in terms of 'sense of desparation' was the last mission.. Other than that, meh.

To me it was the last half of

Spoiler

Exodus and New Alexandria, as well as the final stand thing at the end.

I'll agree with everyone saying that the first Earth battle sucked as well. Palaven was okay. Thessia was great, and the final Earth mission was pretty good.

This was the best part of the Palaven mission.

 

[90sRobots]

Posted? I can never tell.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6e9nokg1NQ&feature=g-u-u&context=G2617fa4FUAAAAAAASAA

The black sambo children might be a bit fucking much, don't you think?

 

[heliosRAzi]

The black sambo children might be a bit fucking much, don't you think?

Yeeeaaaahhh.... it was.

 

[Typographenia]

Sure it is, whether she likes it or not she's IN the freaking game, that automatically makes her a voice speaking on its behalf. If Sean Bean comes out and says Game of Thrones is shitty, it carries a lot more weight than if some random fanboy on the internet does. If someone who is IN the game is calling gamers whiners, even if she's not directly a Bioware employee, it carries a lot more weight because she represents the game in a professional fashion.

The whole thing hilariously illustrates the conflict of interest in the first place and why she should never have been included (aside from her bad acting of course).

It's just that I don't tend to let things that are written in the manner of what I would expect from an eight year old matter to me, but okay.

edit: I understand your point, but it just doesn't even seem worth getting worked up over.

 

[rdrr gnr]

The black sambo children might be a bit fucking much, don't you think?

Yeeeaaaahhh.... it was.

No -- I don't. It's Egoraptor, if you think that was too much, watch his other videos -- or any other popular animators on YT. If fact, EG is on the tamer end of the spectrum.

 

[90sRobots]

Yeeeaaaahhh.... it was.

They should rename that video as "We're Trying Way Too Hard".

Random fat shirtless guy was kinda funny. Glad to see there's other Trailer Park Boys fans out there!

 

[EatChildren]

I thought BioWare's PAX thingo was on Sunday, but it's on Friday.

Cool?

 

[Banana Kid]

I thought BioWare's PAX thingo was on Sunday, but it's on Friday.

Cool?

I cannot wait for that panel.

It's gonna be a mess!

 

[rdrr gnr]

Are we really counting on gamers to be articulate? And ask hard-hitting questions? I feel like that event is going to be a flop with nonsense answers.

 

[DTKT]

If they announce some kind of Bioware MMO...

 

[Moaradin]

SWTOR just came out. They aren't going to make another MMO any time soon.

 

[def sim]

They're still selling Friday passes and I'm considering going just for that trainwreck of a panel. It's not even about my dislike for the ending, I'm just really curious how all of that is going to turn out.

Are we really counting on gamers to be articulate? And ask hard-hitting questions? I feel like that event is going to be a flop with nonsense answers.

You know, you're probably right.

 

[Banana Kid]

Are we really counting on gamers to be articulate? And ask hard-hitting questions? I feel like that event is going to be a flop with nonsense answers.

I expect gamers to yell, boo them, and generally act like assholes until enforcers start stepping in and kicking people out. But it's gonna be hilarious.

 

[FStop7]

I love how the gaming media was absolutely silent about her being there. I mean, I know they probably just think it's bad form to bad mouth a colleague, but it's like no one sees anything wrong with her being in the game. What? Mass Effect featured in their April's fools joke as well? Yeah, there's nothing sketchy going on in there at all.

Industry advocacy.

Not consumer advocacy.

 

[Typographenia]

I actually alt-F4 when Buzz Aldrin started to talk.

Wait, are you serious? That was Buzz Aldrin at the end?

fake edit: That is simultaneously the coolest and dumbest thing ever for Mass Effect.

 

[Zen]

It's actually the same position Tycho and Gabriel from PA take. Not that they're necessarily authorities, but still.

Even with silly semantics slight of hand, the final moments of the game (wither you want to call the entire game the 'ending', inaccurately, or not) is still terrible. The ending instance of the trilogy having a completely stupid climax that ruins the universe isn't excusable simply because the first bit of the 'ending' was decent.

 

[Dilly]

The Buzz Aldrin thing would've been cooler if the ending itself didn't suck that bad.

 

[Divvy]

Nah, all the questioners will be plants.


"Bioware, Your studio seems to have the momentum of a runaway freight train. Why are you so popular?"

 

[Splatt]

A random youtube comment I found on a random ME3 video

*In an alternate dimension somewhere where Garrus is a spectre instead of Shepard*
Catalyst: You must choose, between destruction, synthesis, and control.
Garrus: I choose........ calibrations!
*And so Garrus calibrated peace between people and reapers*
THE END!

Would have been a better ending than the one we got.

 

[heliosRAzi]

Wait, are you serious? That was Buzz Aldrin at the end?

fake edit: That is simultaneously the coolest and dumbest thing ever for Mass Effect.

MY SWEET

 

[Zen]

Let's refrain from these kind of accusations. :|

I agree that they aren't helpful, but consider:

1) The guy on BSN talked at length about how Bioware/EA PR would respond to the PR disasaster/

2) He predicted that one of the first things they would do would be to reach out to likely sympathetic elements in the media to help suppress and discredit the nature of the outburst.

3) Within the span of 3 days nearly every major website ran a new article, not an opinion piece editorial, all using some variation of the terms 'entitled', 'angry', and 'whiners' and then proceeded to misconstrue the arguments in said articles, podcasts, and subsequent reporting.

It's not as black and white as EA PR slipping journalists money or the promise of exclusives, but it's not that far off either. Remember how toxic the 'objective reporting' was when people had donated over 80k to Childs play? "In an attempt to make themselves appear as something other than entitled children...'.

Yeah. Fuck games journalism, you pathetic hacks. How about doing your job instead of having your heads stuck up your asses. Investigative journalism, being objective, and all that.

 

[Jake Tower]

Nah, all the questioners will be plants.


"Bioware, Your studio seems to have the momentum of a runaway freight train. Why are you so popular?"

"Your game is so awesome. How awesome is your game?"

 

[kingkaiser]

So, I have just finished the game too. Got the synthesis ending and as a whole I liked it, despite the major plot holes in the last 10 minutes or so. The scene with Edi and Joker at the jungle planet gave me a huge “Adam and Eve” vibe. The close shot of the half organic half synthetic leafs made feel like a new era has begun and that the cycle has finally been broken.
Nonetheless not knowing how this end affects all your friends and allies is terrible hurting, after all you have been going through with them.

Just a question for the people who believe in the indoctrination plot:

Why would the reapers give Shepherd still the chance to annihilate all synthetic lifeforms? If the whole “space child” scene really was the final part of the indoctrination process than it only means that all hope is lost and that this cycle will continue just like the others before.

 

[def sim]

Both Gabe and Tycho have always prided themselves in only advertising and working on content that they actually like. As narrow minded their views are on the ME3 ending, I can't help but be baffled people think Bioware has sway over their integrity.

Penny-Arcade is huge.

 

[Lime]

Both Gabe and Tycho have always prided themselves in only advertising and working on content that they actually like. As narrow minded their views are on the ME3 ending, I can't help but be baffled people think Bioware has sway over their integrity.

Penny-Arcade is huge.

Penny Arcade does work for Bioware and is also dependent on them for their annual show. They certainly have a conflict of interest.

 

[DTKT]

I agree that they aren't helpful, but consider:

1) The guy on BSN talked at length about how Bioware/EA PR would respond to the PR disasaster/

2) He predicted that one of the first things they would do would be to reach out to likely sympathetic elements in the media to help suppress and discredit the nature of the outburst.

3) Within the span of 3 days nearly every major website ran a new article, not an opinion piece editorial, all using some variation of the terms 'entitled', 'angry', and 'whiners' and then proceeded to misconstrue the arguments in said articles, podcasts, and subsequent reporting.

It's not as black and white as EA PR slipping journalists money or the promise of exclusives, but it's not that far off either. Remember how toxic the 'objective reporting' was when people had donated over 80k to Childs play? "In an attempt to make themselves appear as something other than entitled children...'.

Yeah. Fuck games journalism, you pathetic hacks. How about doing your job instead of having your heads stuck up your asses. Investigative journalism, being objective, and all that.

Let's be honest here, the gaming press has always reacted in such a way. This is not the first time that a fanbase has responded in such a way to a game. And it's not the first time that the press has dismissed the outcry.

Still, I do agree that they jumped on the "entitled" speech as soon as they could.

Either way, it doesn't matter how you look at it. Every single "news" outlet has a inherent conflict of interest. They depend on the publisher for content and the publisher depends on the press for publicity. They are both sleeping in the same bed and there is no reason for one to kick the other out. If one publication is cut from a PR list, you can bet that it would have significant impact on their site hits.

 

[Dany]

So, I have just finished the game too. Got the synthesis ending and as a whole I liked it, despite the major plot holes in the last 10 minutes or so. The scene with Edi and Joker at the jungle planet gave me a huge “Adam and Eve” vibe. The close shot of the half organic half synthetic leafs made feel like a new era has begun and that the cycle has finally been broken.
Nonetheless not knowing how this end affects all your friends and allies is terrible hurting, after all you have been going through with them.

Just a question for the people who believe in the indoctrination plot:

Why would the reapers give Shepherd still the chance to annihilate all synthetic lifeforms? If the whole “space child” scene really was the final part of the indoctrination process than it only means that all hope is lost and that this cycle will continue just like the others before.

Because Shepard is the outcast, the only person who has been unable for 3 games and countless missions to succumb to indoctrination. The reapers see this and realized that their fate has been met for 'normal means' of destroying life has changed because Shepard is different.

Do they gave up and allowed themselves to be killed,

 

[EliCash]

Was in the middle of writing another large post about the ending, but everything's been said at this stage, what's the point. Just fix it Bioware.

The fan edits of the ending that just have the Crucible firing after Anderson said you "did good son", followed by a montage of squadmates and past dialogue is infinitely better than what we were given. And that's just editing what we've already got. They aren't great, but at least they don't betray everything that's great about the series, they maintain focus on characters while bringing the Reaper conflict to a conclusive and coherent end.

They could save it if they wanted to.

 

[Dany]

Someone said it nicely on GB about the Tuchunka Mission

And what's really amazing is that it takes into account every single major interaction you had with Mordin and Wrex over the course of the three games. You know, I hate to beat a dead horse here, but as the top commenter on this youtube says "It's sad that this mission has more variance than the actual ending of the whole trilogy

 

[Moaradin]

Someone said it nicely on GB about the Tuchunka Mission

That's what happens when more than 1 person is involved with it.

 

[Sajuuk]

What is the status of the mass effect movie? Development hell?

 

[Rebel Leader]

Someone said it nicely on GB about the Tuchunka Mission

HAHAHAHAHA

 

[def sim]

Penny Arcade does work for Bioware and is also dependent on them for their annual show. They certainly have a conflict of interest.

Yes and I'm saying they aren't as dependent as people like to think. Yes, they work with, not for, Bioware but it's definitely something they both benefit from. There seems to be a presumption that PA has no say in the matter. Advertising with them is a very, very big deal.

 

[LightofRohan]

Would there be a live stream about whatever Bioware is doing at PAX? I'm so curious to see how this goes down. I'm ready for a trailer that starts with Liara saying, "Wake up!" like that fake picture. Watch hateradio rage.

 

[DTKT]

I miss there. :|

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYGiP5tpALw

And by god, the lip-sync is 10x better in ME1. wtf.

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

Finished the game last night and played through the "Kill the Reapers" and "Control The Reapers" endings and it is incredibly lame how they wrapped things up in both how the game went to hell in the final 10-15 minutes and how they didn't deliver any closure. After paling through three games, each a little progressively worse than the others, they couldn't give us five more minutes to fill in some blanks? I mean, the ending has all kinds of problems, but some of them could have been addressed with a more coherent and well thought out ending.

Nuking the Mass Effect Relays was an interesting way to end things but it is only interesting if we get a glimpse of the effects it has on the galaxy. Has anyone read the Hyperion series of Sci Fi books? Something similar happens there but we get a chance to see how it effects everyone and the universe in general. It left an unsettling feeling in your gut but it also showed you what the galaxy was up against if it was ever going to pull itself out of the new dark age. I guess that's what a Mass Effect sequel will be about.

Also, I spent three games building relationships and got hardly no closure on that front. Hell, I even met, courted, and fell in love with an Alien (in my case Tali) and at the end we don't even get to see how my death affected her.

I'm sure this stuff has been talked to death in this thread already, but as someone who just finished, I still needed a place to vent.