Hello Lineguards,
some thoughts about the end and the discussion. I was not exactly sure where to post, it is imo not worth a thread by its own, so i will post it here. And this thread moves fast enough to bury this post if it does not fit:
The End: Jawot - Just another wall of textIt is funny or shocking how a game can capture ones attention. Not that i play the game at all after my first playthrough, but i visit this forum – especially this thread - now on an almost daily base. I would say this is a clear prove that Bioware delivered something really special, that the Mass Effekt franchise is really special. Unfortunally in this case the attention is paired with bad feelings, at least by some of the people here, especially towards one small but important part of the game – the end.
I really liked the game until i reached the end. Ok some parts, like the journal, the soon fixed face import bug or the faith of some minor characters, still need some love, but the greatness of rest of the game made this to minor “problems“. And certainly most of this points will be fixed sooner or later, either by patch or paided DLC. Not perfect, some of the points certainly would have caused minor uproars, but in the long term nothing serious. But than the end really crushed the experience.
I still would say Mass Effect – also with the end – would be fair rated with 8/10 or even 9/10. Honestly, most of the game is great, i had some really enjoyable hours playing Mass Effect 3 and the overall length of the good parts of the game justify a good rating. But also honestly, because of the end i would not longer recommend the game, like said haven´t played it since reaching the end and wouldn´t consider to buy any DLC. It is quite sad to see how some minutes can dominate the opinion.
Now it would be really easy to say: Too bad, not an satisfying end like i hoped. But ok some like it, i not, so leave the game and go on. But like said before Bioware delivered something really special – something less special couldn´t have such an uproar. And the situation already changed and Bioware will provide a closure DLC.
Now it would be easy to accept Bioware decisions and accept this extended cut as last word. Sure, somehow it seems possible to accept the extended version as an acceptable end. It will provide, at least it is advertised, closure and answer to open questions together with an epilog. And it will be for free. So it should be a great news. But somehow this doesn´t look like a real solution of the topic.
There is a saying about politicians and serious scandals: Not the scandal itself will bring the politician to fall, it will be how he will handle the scandal. I fear something similar happend here. The handling of the situation made the situation more troublesome than it has to be.
I´m quite sure that the planed extended cut version of the delivered end would have worked as original end of the game. Perhaps even this end had been loved in this case. It seems quite possible that the anouncement of the extended cut had solved the tension arised by the end, if the extended cut had been anounced one or two weeks after the release of the game. It would be perhaps not the really loved ending, but at least an acceptable one. But now, one month after the release, the actual end has become already to an symbol what went wrong and is much more than an ending.
And as symbol this end will almost always cause bad feelings. Only a really sensational awesome extended cut could even try to counter this feeling. And there will be some more weeks until this extended cut will be delivered, which makes the situation, considering the reception of the extended cut, much more complicated. I fear to force everybody to see the starkid seems not really suiteable to clam down the tensions. Sure the discussion will sooner or later stop, but most likely the tensions will be there, still boiling under the surface.
But i don´t think that it can be really expected that the actual end will be removed from the game. The entire indoctrination theory seems to be build as workaround to still have the old ending in a creative way as part of a really new ending in the game. But i fear such a wide reaching change of the end will not be really possible and that the actual end must be – at least – part of the final set of endings. It is not really unlikely that already some follow up storys which include or build upon this end are planed and the complete removal of the actual end would require a cost intensive and complete rework of this plans. Of course this would also explain why Bioware sticks to the actual end.
Another reason is that the game was released and there are people who like the end. A complete removal of the end would affront them. And exactly like i would see my opinion honored, their opinion should also be honored.
Of course there will be no way that the end of Mass Effect 3 will make everybody happy. But given the restrains – the actual end must be one end but it can also no be the end that everybody will see – only additional added ends seems like a really satisfying solution. Some would like to see a real bad end – losing the fight, there could be a Javik-like defeat in the cycle with hope for the next, than the could be the existing end (the reaper end) and than there could be one or more new Shepard ends which completely skips the starkid.
(Side note: Even if a „happy end“ for Shepard and his crew will happen. Honestly this is not really a happy end, this is bittersweet. Most home planets of the known races are battlefield and devasted, most cities utterely destroyed and already millions or billions death. Some former crew members died, other crew members most likely lost relatives. If this already is considered as happy end, than i would say only a complete defeat would count as bittersweet end. But to confuse a classical heroic suicide rescue the day end with a bittersweet end is not that hard.)
Not sure if it is acceptable for Bioware, from the financial and artist point of view, to make far reaching changes. The financial acceptable size for an ending DLC can´t be really determined. But it seems there is at least some free money for the ending. And the art part of the question is even more difficult to answer.
Games can be art, stories can be art. Even if they are products, they can be art. A bit nitpicking: Making an end which is able to create such a strong reaction must be the work of a true artist. One of the mentioned reasons for not changing the end or adding additional ends to the game is the artistic vision for the game. Some nice points about changing stories can be found here:
http://techgnotic.de...ET_StorytellingMy opinion: Art is precious. No artist ever should be forced to change his art against his will. But art shall be always open to critism (which shouldn´t be confused with damnation). Therefore no artist should ever expect or demand that his vision is liked or shared. But if or if not the artist changes his art because of the received feedback is only his decision. If art is made for others – not as commercial product - perhaps a change is more likely: Why should an artist risk to alienate a big portion of audience if a change is acceptable for him? But this certainly depends on the kind of audience and the exact kind of art.
If art is also a product, a commercial product, the situtation is a bit more difficult. Still, no artist shall be forced to change his art against his will. But - strongly simplfied formulated - the artist should try to deliver a product which is acceptable for both sides: for him and his customers. If he fails, he can try to cover the issues later, immediately or never. His reaction will than determine if he will be successful in the long term. By contract work it is not really uncommon that the contractor demands changes and , up to a certain level the artist fullfils this demands. And if both sides can´t find a solution, which is acceptable for both, the artist can lose or doesn´t get the contract. While we are not really contractors in this case, this is certainly an interesting aspect in the future of gaming with all this crowd funding games, but also shows that changes to art which is a product are tolerable, as long as the artist can accept the change.
Video games are special and allow a quite immediately reaction and are now not really static. Every DLC is a change of the product and can alter the art, for example a story DLC expands the story and can greatly change the experience a certain scene generates. Both aspects make games different from films and non digital books, where changes or expansion of the content after the final release are much more difficult and must be released separate. All video games also share an interactive part. In story driven games, an active action from the player is necessary to progress in the story. More precisely, the gameplay is part of a video game and of its art. Depending how interactive the game and the story is, the player can also influence how the story progresses. He than is no longer only a consumer of story, he becomes a (minor) coauthor of his own story. The most interactive part of games is surely enabled by modding, which allows the creation of entire new stories by the customers itself.
And what does this mean for Mass Effect 3? We only heard the claim that the actual end was the artistic vision for the game. The artists didn´t engaged in an active discussion to defend their art so far. Why we should accept the end they gave us when nobody of the creators wants to defend it? Perhaps it should be also stated that so far it was never said that the actual end was their only acceptable artistic vision for the game.
(Disclaimer: the sense of parts without must be lost in translation

)
PS: And a fan fiction end: Shepard would never go on a mission without his mighty hamster, therefore Space-Boo was hiden in the body armor. He also survided the beam and arrived together with Shepard on the citadel. Seeing spacekid he runs for cover and gnawed on a cable. Unfortunally it was a high-voltage cable and Boo was killed instantly (there must be a said part ...). But this heroic action shut down the starkid KI and also deactivated the reaper network. This deactivated their shilds and gave the allied fleet a change to reduce the reapers to dust. Mighty Boo saved the day.