thormir wrote...
still angry 24 hours later
Still angry 48 hours later.
[Begin obvious sarcasm] You know maybe we're just not getting the true genius of these endings. I know. It's hard to fathom Shepard simply accepting these options out of hand seems wholly uncharacteristic. Think about it. The job of an ending is to make an attempt to tie off any loose ends of the story and provide some sense of completion or closure. Well Bioware may not have done all that with the approach but maybe they deserve the benefit of the doubt with this approach. This ending really makes me feel like I'm done with the game, how about you? That's something Mass Effect 1 and 2 endings couldn't do. I felt the need to improve on my ME 1 & 2 playthroughs every so often and try different routes. It's a bad ending structure if you think about it. You just couldn't feel completely finished with the first two games. Well, Mass Effect 3's ending made up for that. It so hit the spot that not only do I no longer feel any inclination to replay Mass Effect 3, I no longer harbour the slightest interest in playing Mass Effect 1 & 2. Job Well Done! [/end sarcasm]
Seriously, though. As someone who has all relevant DLC for the Xbox 360 version of 1 & 2 and the Collector's edition of 3, how could they have left this as is? All that work to make the gameplay of all three so incredible and the ending feels so empty. I even did the multiplayer thinking the original three choices with an EMS of 3300 was some sort of joke. I don't care about the ending being happy or sad or dark or disney. All I wanted out of the ending of Mass Effect 3 was what I really got out of the endings of Mass Effect 1 and 2; A compelling reason to play the game again. That's usually a standard with any good RPG. When I finished ME 1 I immediately started a new game it was that good. This ending is so horribly bad and insulting that I will likely not play ME 1 or 2 or 3 again. I'm contemplating turning in all three toward my Assassin's Creed 3 pre-order.
I do have one question that I'm sure no one at Bioware will ever see in such a fast growing thread; With as much
obvious backlash from the ending as is seen, can you really hold out any hope in terms of sales on future Single Player DLC? To not have foreseen any of this backlash at all suggest they're a little out of touch with their fan base. To expect people to want to buy DLC in numbers like LotSB without some resolution would be idiotic. Retaking Omega could be a DLC as epic as LotSB but why bother as we all know Omega survives largely off traffic through the doomed relay. BW may come to the conclusion to not make anything of the sort as an expansion DLC of the ending would just about be a prerequisite for a lot of people. Right now I can't even recommend someone start into this series.
I'm not suggesting BW change there endings. That's changing artistic vision to suite the personal tastes of others. Maybe some will disagree but as a musician that feels wrong. However I sure would like an explanation of their vision in the form of an expanded ending. Please. Make me understand the ending as something other than the total doom and segregation of the intergalactic community (though Mass Relays can be rebuilt, Protheans proved it). Make me understand whether the Normandy was piloting the Relay or simply at FTL speeds (the former making me wonder how they even knew to head to the Charon relay in the first place) and, for that matter, where the Normandy ended up. Make me want to keep and play this trilogy again and recommend it to others.
Sorry for that essay... had to vent. Feel a little better now.