This may get a little bit long, for which I appologise in advance. I've been silently lurking in these forums for some time now. On 9th March I recieved my pre-ordered copy of Mass Effect 3 that I had been waiting to play for a very long time. To put this in context I bought Skyrim as something to "tide me over" until it was released. While it was a very enjoyable game all the time it was really just a distraction until my copy of ME3 arrived. I'd avoided any kind of spoilers, even the demo, so that nothing would ruin my experience.
When it did finally arrive I cracked on with my male paragon Shep first. I was hooked again very quickly. The limit on choices in conversation grated somewhat and quests tracking was a nightmare but it was tollerable. As for the story it seemed to be picking up on some key characters and telling some interesting stories as you progressed. All the time that war assets were building up I was getting more excited. The potential for them to feature in an exciting and truly grand ending was huge.
By Monday evening I was reaching the end of the game with around 3500 war assets (and that bar was clearly full - note I hadn't touched MP since for me this was a SP game). So I prepared for what was likely to be a long, gruelling final mission. Taking Earth back would clearly require a series of long missions. It's a whole planet after all right? Well...not so much. The mission aspect seemed to mainly be about getting to, defending and then setting off some missiles. That was fine but little did I know that as far as real combat goes it was over at that point.
As things progressed I hung on to the idea that these war assets would mean something and I would see them in action. That the characters I'd spent a long time in game building relationships with would have some kind of final end, be that victory or defeat. Instead suddenly a white light comes down and I am presented with 3 choices, a very odd illogical reason for the reapers, a child who I'd been dreading would be a bad plot device since the start of the game and no way of questioning anything.
Synthesis was my choice but to be honest with you it felt at that moment like whatever I picked was entirely random. I didn't really know the implications of the choice I was being asked to make and none of what was happening felt right. It felt as though there had to be something more beyond this that I wasn't getting. Ultimately the ending played out, with all the plot holes that made no sense to me, and it was suggested I continue playing with more DLC.
I sat for a long time and contemplated what had just happened. Then I decided to look at the other endings on YouTube to see if it could provide me more context as to how this ending fitted in. After viewing them I felt cheated. In truth the endings were so close as to be identical, seemed rushed and really left behind a feeling that the storytelling had gone out of the window for the last mission. Friends asked me my opinion and I gave them an honest appraisal (without spoilers). For their part they are considering buying only if it becomes cheap at some point.
Since that time (12th March) I've lurked on these forums. I was comforted somewhat to know that others felt the same as I did about these endings. The fact that people felt strongly enough to take action impressed me, although I've seen the internet for long enough to know how ineffective a rage based protest can be. What happened in this instance turned out to be different. As a fan base ME3 clearly has great numbers of more "mature" (I use the term to be kind to others as well as myself as I get older) gamers.
Tactics that were used in this instance were often innovative (certainly the charitable donations was not something anyone expected from a game's fan base) and the restraint en mass was applaudable. There was some temptation to join the cause but I decided to observe, at least semi-independently, to see how things developed. Clearly there were some websites which were baiting the movement with what can only be described as insulting commentary but for the vast majority of people things remained steady.
In recent days a few things have happened to cause small fractures (such as people returning their copies of games while others are pained at seeing a developer they care about being hurt). To address this directly people need to make their own choice and should be free to do so. For those who are saddened by this I would suggest encouraging those who are returning copies to stay as part of the movement. You never know, if BioWare did decide to fix this ending then perhaps these fans may one day come back to the company you are a fan of. Keep things positive.
As of today I finally found the BBC had finally picked up the story. The article was reasonably fair but didn't cover a few aspects that should be mentioned. I posted there to add in these few points (and yes the spelling mistake makes me want to claw my own eyes out before anyone else says anything!) :
http://www.bbc.co.uk...mment_112042141Anyway after adding my comments I realised that as independent as I wanted to be my personal preference was very strongly in favour of a new ending. So now here I am posting to add my voice in support for what it is worth.
That was all probably rather long and likely to get lost in a matter of moments within this monster thread but I wanted to share my experiences and thoughts so far with you all. One final thought for all involved (fans wanting change, fans happy with the endings, developers, journalists and reviewers):
Always keep your words soft and sweet, just in case you have to eat them.
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