1966 réponses à ce sujet

[res27772]

Wish Bioware would honour us with some kind of reply to this issue, cuz it looks like they're completely ignoring us.

Must be sorting out the DLC they want us to pay for before deeming us worthy...

[pbaq]

So first, some background.  I am in my forties, and have been an avid gamer since Space Invaders.  I have watched Bioware grow into what became my favorite game company ever (three of their titles are on my top ten of all time list).  I have been disappointed recently (DA2), but will share my opinion on this game, and not the developer.

Overall rating: 6/10

As a stand alone title, this game is really, really good.  The writing hits you right where it aims, the action is the best I've seen for what would be considered an RPG, and the game itself is gorgeous. 

The problems are big ones, though.  Several exchanges with EDI and Joker in the cockpit resulted in having to reload past saves, because my Shepard got glued to the floor, spinning like a carousel.  Always in the same spot.  Garrus disappeared from several conversations, so I was discussing the fate or civilization with a blank screen.  The improved cover mechanic only worked well when there was no other option in the environment; several times instead of taking the cover I was aiming for, I rolled like an idiot into the line of enemy fire.  The issues with disappearing quests was bothersome as well.

As I said, as a stand alone title, it's a good game.  The trouble is, it's not a stand alone game (see the "3" in the title), and as such, the technical improvements don't make up for the problems with the gamepay, not to mention the narrative and the story, which all come down to the elephant in the room, the ending.

I thought maybe it was just me, but then I log onto the forums and see the truckloads of vitriol and anger relating to the end, and while I am not as angry as some or happy as others, the end did the one thing to me that really hurts any game.  It totally killed the replayability.  I have replayed ME1 and ME2 more times than I can count, and ditto with DA:O and DA:O:A, and even DA2.  Just don't know if I'll give ME3 the time though, considering where it leaves me.  If BIoware's intent is to end the franchise, and I totally understand if they mean to, one of the surest ways is to give you (the audience) no reason to pursue the title any further.  Mission accomplished if that was your intent.  It reminds me very much of KotOR 2.  Great story, great characters, but completely unresolved.   Rest in peace, Mass Effect.  Rest in peace. 

[EL1TE xWILDYx]

After much wait and anticipation, Mass Effect 3 had finally arrived.  Considering that most of us have played all of the other games, it was the beginning of the end.  I knew that this might be Shepard’s last adventure, my crew’s last adventure... and I was eager to play, so more that this has been the first midnight launch of a game that I have ever attended.  Not considering the personal problem I had when I found out that my reservation got messed up, and that the retailer reserved me a PS3 copy of what was supposed to be an Xbox 360 N7 copy I did not hesitate in taking home a normal copy until a miracle were to happen to be able to get my collectors edition.

 
As I started playing with my femshep, I knew this was gonna be one hell of a ride.  I enjoyed every second of game play.  Reuniting with my old crew, and seeing familiar faces along the way.  I had encouraged all my friends to get the game.  I took my time to finish as much as I could (I found the scanning unnecessary unless you wanted to finish those little missions on the Citadel).  I was amazed of how many of the choices I had taken in previous games were brought up in this one.  I can say that this game made me feel sympathy, despair, hell it made me cry several times...  it made me laugh, it was awesome.  And so, I finally got to the final mission...



In anticipation, I thought to myself how can BioWare top what they have done so amazingly right in the other games?...  In my honest opinion, I was enjoying the final mission, up until all goes to hell when me and my group (I thought they had died, in my case Garrus and Kaiden were with me) get shoot down by a reaper  that I suppose is Harbinger.  Then it all went downhill from there... how can the final moments of this epic saga be finished with a mere 10 minutes of dialogue scenes that don’t even offer the answer to different types of questions.  I still don’t understand the description the Catalyst offers of its existence, how can Reapers exist to eliminate Organics so that they don’t create synthetics, and so stop chaos...  my only expression at that moment was POKERFACE!!  Some things don’t need to be explained!!  The thing is that we cannot accept these choices given to us, how can Shepard just accept something like that? Destroying the Mass Relays, what happens to all the species that came to fight at Earth?  How did Garrus and Kaiden miraculously end up at the Normandy with Joker and escape the blast, ending up in a random planet with no type of technology, probably no food and no water?  And remembering the Arrival DLC, isn’t an explosion from destroying a mass relay supposed to destroy a whole system?? I decided to destroy the Reapers, so apparently my Shep is still sort of alive??  They just don’t make sense to me... The ending provided more questions than closing answers to what were to happen after we took back Earth. 



 In summary the journey was better than actually getting there.  But what makes me sad the most is how the final 10 minutes of the game has actually made me forget all those different feelings I had during the experience.

Modifié par EL1TE xWILDYx, 13 mars 2012 - 08:45 .

[theycallmeryan]

Score: 6/10.

Mass Effect 3 was by far the best game in the series... until that abomination called the ending. It was the worst ending to anything I have ever seen. The Lost ending, the Sopranos' ending, the Matrix trilogy's ending, etc. all look like genius writing compared to it. The whole game was a 10/10 and my favorite game ever until the final 10 minutes. I have no idea who thought the ending was a good idea, but I beg of you guys to release a new ending. The ending was so bad it ruined not only Mass Effect 3, but the whole trilogy and series.

Please do the 97% of your fans a service by releasing a new ending that has closure. When that ending comes out (if it comes out), the franchise will not be ruined for me anymore and I will be able to replay it many times more (I played ME1 and 2 10+ times).

[Favourite store on the CitadeI]

Making Shepard die 3 times (twice in ME2 once in ME3) makes his/her death watered down and CHEAP.

[Zonzez]

+
ME3 had A LOT of good and awesome things in it, Example some of my favorite was the new improved combat, and the flashlight! Also the Citadel. Even all the "love to hate" i had towards Cerburus.
I'm acually suprised and force to eat my own words, but Co-op Multiplayer was great.

-
The whole "Take Earth Back" theme.. Well that kinda sucked, we barely even got to scratch the surface of London..

BTW Kai Leng... SERIOUSLY why is there a character from Deus Ex: Human Revolution in this game?! LOOK AT HIM!!

And WHY do we have to buy a DLC with a character that should be in the main game, also Consider there already were so few companions. And i loved the idea to travel back to Eden Prime. But there were like nothing that indicated we had been there before! Eden Prime was the freaking place that started the whole story in ME1. And this was a DLC.....

I also missed all diffirent places you could go and revisit, ME3 "only" had Citadel. While ME2 Had a a minor Citadel, Omega, tuchanka and Illium.

Also the thing with all the races, I diden't like the thing where you meet them once and then barely no more (Main Quest) Before i played ME3 I acually thought the salarian, Turian and Asari homeplanet would be like ME2 had tuchanka for Krogans, which i now see could be problems since Reapers invade them.




These are just some of the things i thought of the game. The game gets an 7/10 Its a good game and great to the serie. and even though the game had more "played time" for me then ME1 & ME2 had. It still feelt to short and rushed.
And the Ending really sucked tbh. After i had played it i felt like my heart was crushed. Bioware may have plans to release more DLC that explains the story, But WHY!? The game should already had the complete ending. Were it not possible for EA/BioWare to just realese the games a few week/months later ?! That they really screwed up.
Atleast ME3 diden't sink as low Dragon Age 2 did

I do really believe the ME3 ending was BioWare way of saying. "Hey lets not end it here, we can still get more money out of shepard's story!" -.-'

Excuse me for my bad grammar. //Zonzez

Modifié par Zonzez, 13 mars 2012 - 09:06 .

[zarnk567]

I would give a review but with the endings the way they are right now it just skews my score far too much......

[Marcin K]

oh i forgot to add a number to my review-so here goes: ME1 99/100
ME2 87/100 ME3 until ending 100/100 ME3 plus ending -200/100

[wesr]

2/10 Controls are good, feeling of desperation during war is good. Some combat sucks and of course the ending is horrid. You guys and Bioware might want to prepare for a mass exodus of fans.

[Mastone]

ME3 rating:    6,5 out of 10

The Good:
I really liked the fast pace in the beginning which gave a sense of urgency.
Gameplay was slightly more dynamic, there still wasn't any need for tactical planning or any repurcussions which companions you choose, but it was more fun than the previous 2 installments.
Seeing all your companions again was nice as well.
The Prothean
Graphics where okay ( to bad there aren't high rez texturepacks for PC owners with a GTX 580 with 3 gb of ram.....)
Your companion AI wasn't as half arsed as in ME 1+2 where they just stood in the open getting blasted every time.
Garrus had more lines than calibrating the guns ...
I really liked the level on Tuchanka where the bombshells hit all around you which added realism

The not so good:
-Story/ending-
The whole story arc came over to me as a copy of the Matrix in the starwars universe and the ending is not satisfactory none of the choices are taken into account, I am well aware that the whole crucible thing could be another controlmechanism of the reapers to give organics the illusion that they have a figthing chance and that the destroy option could be the only viable option since I saw that some people had a cutscene of shepard drawing breath on earth, my biggest issue with this is( if it's true at all) why bother?If you are a synthetic race which are bound to destroy advanced civilizations every 50000 year just do it like you did before and just destroy everyone.
If you were indoctrinated I wish there were more markers ( like a fellow specter hunting you ), I still don't believe this is the case since EDI would definitely have seen it ....

There was no depth in the story altogether, in ME1 you really had the feeling /excitement when you discovered there were entire civilizations destroyed before you , I missed such a revelation in both ME2+3

-Lack of choice:
I don't mean big things like help or don't help the Krogan, but more like relative small things like in ME1 where you had to choose between Ashley or Kaidan.
Or at the end of ME2 where you had to pick certain people for certain missions.
I still feel the best moment in the whole mass effect  series was when you had to choose which one died Kaidan or Ashley...why? Because you had to choose.
This is something I heavily missed in the sequels I would love to have a part in the game where some of your team need to hold a position at all cost  and you have to choose between telling them to stay there ( which means 50% of the squad dies -randomly chosen-) or retreat which means a base/position will be taken at the cost of a planet/system, this way you really get pulled in by the game and it really depicts the atrocity of war.

-No excitement:
The only thing that kept me going is to see it end and seeing all my companions again, as said before the game started at the right pace, but  gradually became same old same old again, where you scan a planet find resources/allies/funding and do assignments for councimembers in order to gain their allegiance, there was no reall diversity in it, you just fill up your meter and jump on the rails again


-Paragon/Renegade:
Just get rid of it, it's an old system which heavily resembles Light side vs dark side/good -vs bad , while in reall life there are a lot ore shades of grey, I played full paragon fo instance but still killed Kai leng, Udina and TIM, mostly picked the good answers in order to fill up some bar so I could coerce people to what I wanted.
I think coercien should be more dynamic look at LA Noire where you see that some people get coerced by lies other by threats ..

-Lack of diversity :
Still no kids running around in game , there was some improvement but still not at "starwars Cantina level"
No reall dynamic environment where you can blow certain stuff up, I would love to see that you can blow a hole on some spots in a level to get an alternative route or create a possibility of an ambush or find hidden stuff.
I missed a diversity in level design and gameplay it was all very grim, I know there is a war going on but I would love to go to a research mission on a lush planet where you just have to find stuff and avoid detection , this diversity would enhance the game considerably.
A different character doesn't really play different , I did like the fact that Nemesis, Banshee and Brute had different mechanics, but don't like the fact that none of my characters evolved  in that way ( EDI being more like a nemesis, James more like a Brute and Liara like a banshee).

-picking favorites not punished:
I recently read Band of brothers and beyond band of brothers and there I read about combat fatique, this could be employed in game so that you donýt pick the same people all over again, I would also recommend that on every 1 out of 3 missions one character is mandatory for a part of the mission.
If you don't know what combat fatique is, it is a condition where the strain of combat seeing buddies die leaves you numb and you just stop take of your helmet lower your gun and basically you breakdown mentally..


This al being said I did enjoy myself  the ending was not what I expected and it's probably a way to leave another installment/DLC open ( as long as its not an MMO), but I probably won't be buying a ME title anymore, I enjoyed Shepards story and that's all that kept me going, the main story kept deteriorating  steadily and for me there is nothing compelling anymore to get into another adventure, I also have a feeling that this franchise is being milked  for the sake of milking and in some way I do understand, I just hope that passion will regain its footing back in the triple a gaming industry instead of budget and Return on investment ( which I call the reapers LOL)

[Lenzman]

For context I have played every Bioware RPg since Baldurs Gate and they have always given me the games I wanted and enjoy playing.

I even Liked DA2

However I have just finished the game and for the majority I thoroughly enjoyed the Gameplay
Interaction with Companions as usual.

The cameos with previous comanions were good and seemed to indicate that closure was coming

Liked the idea of the Scanning ( But see below)
Good to see some of the major issues resolved
Like
Quarian / Geth at peace
Genophage cured
Romance continued and developed.
Ceratinly likes the scenes when the Quarians recalimed Rannoch. The scene with Dorn(?) dying was touching.
Even accepted Mordins Suicide

I even liked the Multiplayer element I playe don the Demo

Disliked

As above I liked the idea of the Scanning but became too repetative when trying to boost the EMS rating.

On this subject I had an EMs rating of only 3000+ prior to going to the Illusive man's base. SO despite having done 99% of the Quests I felt I would have to do at least another 4 hours of scanning to reach the magic figure of 5000 or do multiplayer which we were told was not neccesary for the SP. I did some MP and reached an EMs in excess of 5000

Now for the really bad part the ending where I felt let down and betrayed by Bioware,

Why did Shepherd just accept the Catalysts word.

We were told on numerous occasions the player would get the ending they wanted
with full closure.

Mike Gamble even said in an interview there were many endings. I counted three.

What happened to the rest of the companions, the galaxy etc

I chose the destroey ending and I am not even sure if Shepherd actually lived which is what wanted.

So to Bioware i would ask where's my ending as promised.

I don't mind a dark ending for those who like that but why were there not more options giving lighter ones for those who have invested their time and money in this series over the last five years.

It really needed a feelgood factor rather than feeling let down.

Thanks for reading

In short enjoyed the game immensely hated the lat 10 minutes

[conorrory]

Dont Like Review Scores, so gonna leave that out for the moment:

I must admit I was a bit worried by pre-release developments of mass effect 3, and kept my expectations low, which was a good thing as I found myself enjoying the experiance a lot more, however like many people I have some major gripes aswel as good things to say about the game.

please bare in mind the fans myself included would not be annoyed if we did not believe this was a game worth getting annoyed about.

Pros:
Better Written than I expected. with Drew Karpyshyn exiting the mass effect project I was worried, for the most part unjustly, however not quite, I will elaborate on this later.

From a technical Standpoint the game ran quite smoothly for me hardly crashing and with a steady frame rate.

Wrex back in more than a camio role.

Characters I could hate aswell as love(see dalatrass for hate, aswell as that idiot quarian general who decided to bomb the geth destroyer with shepard on board)

A Scenic Journey with nice locations and a genrally please asthetic aswell as much needed and noticeable character model upgrades.

Edit: Wepon mod system and vastly increased wepon selection options was a much welcomed and well implemented system, the ability to choose the exact loadout I wanted without class restriction was great.

I suppose multiplayer is a well implemented horde mode.


Cons:
Well lets start with the obvious, the ending to borrow from family guy "grinds my gears"
Completely abandoned the choice and consequence of mass effect, made my time collecting war assets and getting my galactic rediness feel like a complete waste of time as they had no bearing on the situation. Felt rushed, convoluted and poorly executed while at the same time not answering anything and creating tons of unanswered questions, but I suppose thats what the "extend your game thorugh dlc message at the end was about".

Also why did the normandy suddenly feel the need to leave the battle and jump through a mass relay to get itself stranded on a random planet?
nevermind the fact that all the galaxy's fleets are now stuck at earth.
How did my ground team magically end up on the normandy?
I could keep going but I think the point has been made by countless others at this stage.

Technical: Stuck in the environment more than I would like causing me to reload a save.
Over useage of sprites, while I can see this as a good way to keep the frame rate smooth and aliviate other technical aspects of the game, at times it was poorly implemented, most noticeably the start of the game where if you looked at it at all it was clear it was a 2d sprite and there was no variance to it.
Holstering my wepons would have been nice

Animation: Ranging from good to downright bisare, mostly the walking and running animations, was pointed out pre-release by countless fans and yet, well, you know.......

Lacked the same character exploration as mass effect 1 or 2, characters felt more like the dlc characters from me2 which while saved some time, also made them feel less alive, some characters need more to say like vega for example. In short felt like it went backwards in this department.

Writing at time's let the game down, due to its inconsistancy. became noticeable as some aspects of the game were very well written so it was noticeable when it was off.

Collecting War assets was a waste of time.

Where have the veichcles gone? you patched them back into me2, so why remove them again for me3?(oh wait, their gonna be paid dlc)

I know after 2 games it would be hard to maintain, but that sence of exploration and discovery was seemingly abandoned.

Edit:
Multiplayer is just one mode without any variety, maybe think about adding different play style maps, maybe a left4dead style a to b run with four player co-op would be fun and a change from just horde mode.

Ill edit, add and spell check later but I think its pretty comformist to other fans opinions on the game.

Modifié par conorrory, 13 mars 2012 - 09:49 .

[afie]

I don't usually post in forums, but i feel that i have to say something about how i experienced ME3 (the ending specifically) and though i am sure everything i have to say has probably already been said by someone else (and probably better to) so i'll try to keep this short.
I will also say that english is not my first language and so if this post is difficult to understand, or has a lot of spelling mistakes i apologise.

Firstly i want to say that i absolutely LOVE the Mass Effect world, the characters and the story. I have 10 different shepards, 5 fems, 5 males, all with different love interests (three with none in ME1 & 2 as i wanted to leave options open for new LI in ME3, especially a gay male romance option, which you delivered and it was AWESOME, i had been waiting for Kaidan since ME1 and was ecstatic to see that he could finally be romanced by male shepard.) and as different choices as i could make to get as diverse gaming experience as possible and I have loved playing them through ME1 and ME2 for i don't even know how many 100+ hours and have been waiting for ME3 with baited breath.

And ME3 delivered up to the last 15ish min of the game.
Up to the end it actually surpassed my expectations, though there were a few things that made me go "huh?" (like Vega's introduction- it was like, "this is James, you already know him and you're basically friends" which made me a little confused) the characters, the fact you could interract more with the characters and that they talked more (though i was disappointed that Kaidan was one of the characters that had the least to say, even when you romanced him) and everything really made me happy.
Though i must say that the child nightmares was annoying and i thought it was redundant, i could see what they were trying to say with it, so it was something i accepted and could live with; a small annoyance in vast awesomeness that was the rest of the game.
I genuingly loved the game... until the end.

When you're faced with the catalyst and presented with the three choices i was beyond shocked. I was horrified and i thought i must have done something wrong; my TMS/EMS was too low, i had missed something super important, there must've been SOMETHING i had done wrong to give me such an awful ending. But no, it's the same no matter what you choose (well, exception if you get high enough EMS and choose to destroy the reapers then you get a hint of life, but with eveyone else trapped on random planet i would say he's pretty much doomed anyway).
I have never cried so much at the end of a game (or anything) as i did at the end of ME3.
I cannot express in words my despair, sorrow and (eventual) bitter resentment that grew from that ending. I am not complaining over the fact that you killed Shepard, that would've just been a sad ending and i can accept sad endings (I don't particularly like them, and would of course like at least one choice to be happy, and i think shepard deserves it to), but it's everything else; normandy crashing on random planet, no info about what happens to anyone else, NO HOPE.
It's like everything you've done up until then has been pointless, it wasn't a victory against the reapers, i don't even know what it was. Everything you've been working for in all the games suddenly doesn't matter, everything that made Mass Effect the epic game it is just... it's not worth anything, you get to choose between three, to be blunt, crap endings that feels like they're not part of the game, like something someone just slapped on as an afterthought.
It's been 2 days since i finished the game and i still feel sorrow and regret over having finished the game.
I have never before wished i'd not finished a game.
There have been many who have requested a new ending DLC, and i completely support it. Add some more after ending cutscenes! And PLEASE some more choices, maybe even one that gives shepard the happy ending i really think he deserves.

I wish i could express my disappointment better, put in words the ache in my heart, describe how sad i became at realising that this was the end to this epic trilogy.

[Apathy1989]

I hate numerical scoring, but I would give it 10/10 if I ignore the ending. There are plenty of things that annoy me, but the game is so much better than anything being release that its unfair to give below that.

Good:
- Great characters (as usual)
- All missions feel well crafted and diverse
- Loads of great cutscenes
- Plot is largely plausible
- Romances are largely well handled (especially Tali and Garrus)
- Great combat. I love rolling, heavy melee and new way of handling barriers/shields/fortification etc.
- Great selection of weapons. Upgrades always replaced with new version.
- Cameos of old squadmates is well handled and integrated.

Bad:
- Worse ending I could think of. I know its clique, but players really do want a happy ending after 3 games. Bad endings only work in film, where the viewer has only invested an hour.
- Pure paragon or renegade still have best outcomes, mix has no benefit. However at least not as much rests on these scores anymore.
- Difficulty curve has not been smoothed out well. Most enemies are very easy to kill, while others are immensely difficult (eg asari husks appearing in groups).

Ugly:
- Lazy animators occasionally not using currently equipped weapons
- Some sequences possible to bug out from killing enemies too quick
- Overused of the word "conventional". Was this a word of the day or something? It appears constantly.
- Dream sequences were good, felt they needed to have the child turn into a husk or something, rather than burning every time. Got boring by the end.
- Ash romance dialogue prior to the romance scene is pretty poor. Starts out good, but most of the game it is never addressed until the end. Her calling Shepherd "Commander" also feels impersonal. The romance scene itself is great though.
- Weapons having 5 levels feels like a money sink, I would rather have less money and guns never change. Or just more upgrades and slots.
- Scanner moves too slow.
- Some scenes where camera panes over blank space (assume squadmate supposed to be there?) or pauses that last too long.
- Graphics are looking very dated on PC
- Jessica Chobot? Really?


I think there should have been more playtesting to smooth out the bugs, and a bit smack on the head for the writers to rethink the ending. Every level of development must have thought it was ****, how did it get through?

Modifié par Apathy1989, 13 mars 2012 - 10:55 .

[MorgenRiggs]

Alright. I'll start with my scores:

Game overall: 9.9/10. The best of the series.
The ending: 2/10. 1 point for the quiet moment with Anderson and the brief flashbacks in the end to Joker, Anderson and Ashley (in my case), 1 point for the music which was amazing and written for a far better ending than we got.

I'll try to break it down and give some brief thoughts on major gameplay areas:

Music 10/10: I was a little worried about having a new composer but this composer was amazing and the ME3 soundtrack may be my favorite of the trilogy.

Gameplay 7/10: The difficulty varied wildly from easy to lots and lots of reloading,particularly if Banshees were present. I also deducted points for how ran and cover were mapped to the same key. The powers and leveling up and such were great.

RPG elements 8/10: In general the game was pretty good here though I think losing the neutral choices hurt in conversations. I'm including the weapon table as an rpg element though it could really go either way. I liked the new leveling up mechanic and how you had 2 choices for half of the tree, that could only be improved by broadening the choices you have. I imagine a Mass Effect without classes but where you pick options during level up that slowly steer you towards whatever mix you want of the three broad classes (Soldier, Biotic, Engineer.)

Story Overall: 9/10: I was very impressed with the story for the vast majority of the game. Unlike alot of others I'm not going to dock the story or writing overall just for the horrible letdown of an ending. Most of the game played out closely to how I had hoped in tone if not in my own imaginings of certain events but that's fine. I actually kind of liked Kai Leng just because it's nice to have a "I really want that guy dead" type of character in the game.

[Carmen_Willow]

An addition to my earlier review.

I realize that there are only so many archetypes in a genre; however, I found it somewhat amusing to discover that the Reapers sounded much like the Martians did in the latest War of the Worlds. And as I recall, the Martians were harvesting our species as well.

It was also quite interesting to note that you call a Thresher Maw with a thumper (oh, wait, it was the Hammer) just like the Fremen call a worm on Arrakis. Too bad the Krogan haven't figured out how to ride them yet. 

All sci-fi space operas have certain unavoidable similarities but these two were a little too identifiable. Just sayin' folks.

[lv427]

Combat and controls are great. The atmosphere and characters feel exactly right for the heaviness of the plot. I'm currently on my second play through with a different Shepard and am enjoying the story differences here and there that manage to surprise me.

My one complaint (no it's not the ending ), is that the military readiness rating is so affected by multiplayer. Cutting the readiness rating by 50% seems a bit harsh. I would have rather seen bonus assets for time spent playing multiplayer, and no readiness modifier.

[ZeroCrewX]

 I remember that day... Years ago I was at the mall alone just browsing stuff looking for a game to buy to keep me from being bored, something mediocre you know?

As I was looking through the shelves of the pc section, I noticed a game - black scened, with a weird but cool alien face on the cover. It was Mass Effect, I was "meh whatever lets take it" didnt even read anything.

I went home, installed it, made my char and started playing, the first time my Shepard spoke, my jaw dropped to the floor. I was used to a more Dragon Age styled RPGS, choosing text and stuff. Suffice to say I have over 150 hours on Mass Effect 1. I have double that on Mass Effect 2. And then, after so long, Mass Effect 3 arrived.

I loved the game, it made me cry, laugh, jump out of my seat, relate and feel like no other game did. 

Then... then the Ending came... it seemed as if it would be all I imagined it to be. It was till the last 10 minutes of that final mission... 

In 10 minutes, all those hours I spent on previous and said games, all those hard decisions, all that laughter, fear, anxiety and love I felt as I was adventuring, the love I was feeling for all the characters, it was all thrown in my face with a big "screw you." . When the credits rolled - I felt like an ass, like an idiot who Bioware made fun of for 5 years only to backstab my loyalty and trust.

So many promises were made for ME3... So much hype was created, I put so much faith into the team making it, and at the end, I was repaid with the worst writing in the history of video game endings. Not even HALO 2 was this bad ( and that was VERY bad, trust me). 

So, I got up from my chair, looked at my wall where I had a few limited edition comics of Mass Effect, mainly with Liara and Ashley who I had come to love so much, and the only thought through my head, that STILL is in my head no matter what is - "It was all for nothing..."

If I had to rate this game, I'd barely be able to give it a 3 due to the aftermath of just those 10 minutes.

The game was amazing till the end, problem is, the end made me not want to ever play any of the mass effect games ever again, why? Because in the end, it doesn't make JACK **** DIFFERENCE. No choices matter, no team-mates matter, no loved ones matter, completely nothing matters. 

Was a huge fan of Bioware, I swallowed the **** that was Dragon Age 2, and trusted them, now I get spat in the face with a  "**** you" from the same guys I gave 120$ to.

Serves me right for thinking Bioware wouldn't let EA ruin them, maybe they didnt, maybe Bioware was always what it is now, caring more for money rather than their fans.

It doesn't matter tho, if the endings aren't ever fixed, I have wasted the last minutes on mass effect franchise for the rest of my life.

If I had to guess, a moderator will either delete this post, or ban me, or both, cause they're getting paid to do it.

[Kreidian]

I was tempted to start my own thread, but it would be cleaner, more respectful, and simpler to post here really. Plus I would hope you're still reading this thread specifically for feedback.

I think many people are feeling very powerful emotions about what is happening with the game. It is understandable, after all, and certainly I am no different. But yelling about things doesn't help, and it's unfair to ignore everything else about the game even for such an important piece like this ending. So allow me if you will to try to provide some meaningful constructive feedback and commentary to the great folks over at BioWare.


I'm gonna start things right: This is an amazing game! 


Taken as a whole, even with the ending, this is, without a doubt, the best video game I have ever played. EVER. There is so much great stuff in this epic saga that just can't be understated. So much attention to detail, so many variations, so much amazing work put into this game. There are entire sections of the game that most people probably won't see simply because of choices they made as far back as the very beginning of Mass Effect. It's a hard thing for any game developer to put so much effort into a part of the game that only a small portion of your fan base might see. And yet BioWare did so, and I have a ton of admiration and respect for all the hard work that they put into this game for the fans. 


Given the massive amount of content and the insane attention to detail put into this game, I could have paid the collector's edition price for just the basic game and still feel like I was getting a huge deal.


I could go on and on about all the things they got right with this game, there's just too many amazing wonderful things to talk about. Deep meaningful character interactions, exciting combat mechanics, crazy fun multiplayer, hell even just being able to walk around the Citadel casually and just enjoy the atmosphere. 


Where this all falls flat of course, is the ending. 


The sad part is that the ending is actually extremely well done. This clearly wasn't a rush job, this is something that they put a lot of thought and effort into, just like everything else in the game. Were this any other game the ending would be amazing. Sad, but amazing. 


But this isn't any other game. And as such the ending was just completely inappropriate for Mass Effect.


The most significant reason for this is that your choices don't matter. It's not just a matter of getting a bigger number, even if you get the "green" ending all the choices are basically the same and you just feel like control has been taken completely out of the player's hands.


It's been said the purpose for this is simply a matter of creative direction. That BioWare devs wanted a definitive end to the Shepard story. Perhaps they also wanted a way to be artistic and creative in new and imaginative ways, to show the philosophical expression of Cosmicism. Or perhaps a way to enforce their vision of an epic story from which a legend is born. 


Whatever the intention of this ending, BioWare was so focused on that they forgot the fact that this is still a game. It's meant to be fun and meant to be entertaining. And the ending had very little of either. All too often I've seen otherwise amazing creative works boil down to total disappointment because the author felt the need to engage in excessive grim darkness or tragedy in the name of artistic integrity. Personally, I've always found that to be a crap excuse. 


Contrary to some artistic beliefs, I refuse the notion that more tragedy makes for a better drama. Frankly that sort of thinking just infuriates me. Eventually all you really end up with is a sad pathetic tragic story that no one really enjoys. And most fans really don't care at that point even if it's the greatest tragedy of all time.


What the fans do care about is all the things that make Mass Effect great. The idea of player choice and deep meaningful decisions which have significant consequences. The idea of fighting against impossible odds and finding the ultimate success only through the greatest amount of effort and dedication. 


And most importantly the idea that this isn't the Story of Shepard as told by BioWare, but rather this is the story of our own personal Shepard, a character built out of our decisions, not yours. We don't care about Shepard the Legend, we care about Shepard the person and the effect that just one single person has. BioWare has promised that our decisions matter, and you've promised that we would have a satisfying ending. But in truth we're left with neither of those. 


This isn't simply a matter of entitlement or just wanting a happy ending with sunshine and rainbows. The current endings are entirely valid, but people just want another option, they want more they want to feel those promises were fulfilled. And really what's wrong with wanting a happy ending? There's already enough tragedy and heartache through out the series, all of which has been powerfully well done. What's wrong with making it possible for Shepard to be rewarded for his efforts? Not like people are asking you to just hand it over to them either. We expect such a happy ending would require a great deal more effort then even the synthesis option. 


And it's not like people are just interested in a happy ending. Indeed people also expect a very unhappy ending as a possibility. One where the Reapers completely win, everyone is killed, and the cycle continues. Why? Because they want that choice! They want something that matters. Most of all they just want an ending that fits with the rest of the game.


Certainly BioWare has every right as owners of the franchise to do with it whatever they want. You have no reason to change the ending or to do anything that you feel with compromise the integrity of the Shepard's story. I would respect that and I would respect their decision.
Do I think they should change the ending?


Yes, Absolutely, without a doubt!


Not just for all the reasons stated above. Personally I feel the current ending compromises the integrity of Mass Effect. But that's my opinion. 


Ultimately the best reason for doing this change is because BioWare and EA are computer game companies. It is simply in their best interest to provide customers what they want. I'm not talking in some entitled sense of consumerism. 


Certainly there is more profit to be made from the changes. For now many people feel that there's just no point in playing the game after watching the ending cause nothing you do after that point matters. So there's little reason to buy any of the future DLC that has been promised, or anything else Mass Effect related, when they feel that it won't make any real difference in the end.


And that is the real terrible tragedy here. That such an amazing game, and an amazing game franchise, could potentially suffer greatly and lose all support both from fans and from the publisher who is now seeing little to no interest in future Mass Effect titles, all because of 10 minutes of gameplay which would have been amazing in any other game.


But it's more then just about the money. The core premise of the video game industry is about making something for people to enjoy and have fun with, the whole point from the beginning is about making people happy. That is why most of us got into the industry in the first place. And whether you agree with the ending or not, this is an option that will make thousands of fans very happy. Make no mistake here, I'm practically begging for a better ending as well.


What's more I would fully expect, and in fact encourage, them to make such an ending a paid DLC. I would be perfectly happy with that and - before people scream about this - I wouldn't consider it even remotely like taking advantage of their customers. Because as I said before, the ending they have now is actually a good one, and it's an entirely valid product on its own. It's just not an ending that's appropriate to the Mass Effect experience that came before it. BioWare made a mistake with that ending, sure, but they didn't explicitly do anything wrong here. They did what they thought was their best. 


We're just saying they can do better.

[Slayer299]

After having it take 33hrs to defeat ME3 here's my review of it;

The Good:

1. The story was good and I found really held me in its grip through the game.

2. BW did a good job making the Citadel actually seem alive. There were the standard people still standing about a lot, but the little bits such as the Asari Huntress talking to the therapist in Huerta Memoria, the various people who not talking to Shep you'd hear bits of what was going on and also get a side quest from. And this included the changes to the Citadel after the coup.

3. NPC dialogue was fun to listen to; seeing Garrus, Tali and others on board the Normandy actually have times they were doing something else such as Garrus telling a story in the lounge to a crewman or hearing Adams debating life with Daniels.

4. The graphics were mostly good but in more than a few earlier (earth, Mars) places they seemed very rough.

5. Humanity - I liked what was done to give Shep a human side after being 'miss stoic machine' throughout 2.


The Bad:

1. Lip syncing and models in the first 1/3 of the game were horrendous and did improve later on, but it seems rather unforgivable that this passed the testers. The lip-sync was so bad it seemed that I was watching a Chinese Kung-Fu movie rather than a AAA title and watching NPC's have their head turn around 180 degrees, faces looking one way away from who they were talking to and their eyes were in another direction on top of that..

2. The endless, annoying, and immersion breaking auto-dialogue which left me constantly broken when Bioware's Shep said something mine would not. This does not include the LONG 2 - 5 minute stretches that left me feeling I was watching a movie and not playing a computer game. ME3 had more dialogue it was just that Shep wasn't getting to choose it, Bioware did that for me...

3. The lack of any explanation about the trial that got Shepard beached and stripped of his rank to where he was an "advisor" they still didn't listen to until the Reapers were at the front door.

4. The Journal was horribly organized and never updated to help me with quests as they moved forward like the Volus ambassador or where to find 90% of the people I had stuff for to close the quest.

5. No shortcut ability to just jump to inventory or the character screen or the map as a brief example.

6. Diane Allers - why was she there at all since there was almost zero dialogue with her and she seemed to be pretty useless as written.

7. The Endings - who wrote those three things? I haven't played a game where the ending destroyed the rest of the game for me and left me with zero desire to ever play again. The ending(s) had enough holes to drive a Reaper through, they made no sense, came out of nowhere and invalidated everything done upto that point. I could have rushed through the gamje and gotten the same endings.

8. ME2 LI's - was there a point for them to even be in ME3 at all? They seemed to be so marginalized overall or even character assasinated (Jacob) with such a minor appearances it made me winder why bother with anyone who was not the VS, Liara, Garrus or Tali. This includes the rediculous non=existence of seeing anyone "but" Liara who it defaults to and I love Liara's char.

Dark Endings are fine and were expected considerinjg the stakes,  but two of them and a third where Shep acts as God and makes a decision for trillions of organics, fundamentially altering them into what they are fighting seems a betrayal.
Why did Shep just accept the Architect-boy's word at face value and essentially give up. The endings gave no closure and left me going "WTF?!?!" with the Normandy/teleporting companions/the final state of the galaxy or even why I was abandoned in the first place.


Overall:

My initial view of Mass Effect 3 was "Very Good" on a scale of "Poor", "Good", "Very Good" and "Excellent". But after the ending which was just beyond words horrendous and the list of negatives my overall view of ME3 is "Poor".

The negatives left me feeling empy and drained, with no desire to repeat ME3 at any time in the near future.

[Energycell001]

There were hundreds of posts here to gave them ideas about how fans expected this game to end, Kreidian, but nobody from Bioware cares... The end was totally inappropriate and I agree with you: they need to build an END DLC for us, i'm looking forward into it.

[ZeroCrewX]

Energycell001 wrote...

There were hundreds of posts here to gave them ideas about how fans expected this game to end, Kreidian, but nobody from Bioware cares... The end was totally inappropriate and I agree with you: they need to build an END DLC for us, i'm looking forward into it.

So sad... but so true...

So sad.... Im going to the hug thread...

[SLPr0]

Originally Posted in its own thread: To the Reviewers - A simple explanation for why the ending is ill received. - Overall Review Score from Me: 9.5 of 10, but that 0.5 that isn't there? Its a great big issue that makes the other 9.5 stink like 3 day old fish.

Since you don't seem to get it. Which leads me to believe that most
of you as professionals, have lost touch with gaming in general and now
consider yourself "art critics".

A Simple and Understandable List of Why the Ending is Ill Recieved:

• In Mass Effect(2007) Commander Shepard saves the galaxy
• In Mass Effect 2(2010) Commander Shepard Saves the galaxy
• In Mass Effect 3(2012) Commander Shepard destroys the galaxy to save the galaxy

Now,
throwing out all outstanding arguments about the differences in
choice/meaning of choice/possibility of indoctrination, I think even a
game reviewer can see the sudden departure from a trend here. I mean I'm
not a professional game reviewer and I think I can spot it.

Ben
Kuchera tweeted that he wanted to "Change the ending of Max Payne so
Max gets a nice party with his wife and child there", which would be
fundamental and blatant change to the character of Max Payne that would
make no sense. I simply state in obvious counterpoint to Ben Kuchera
that Commander Shepard destroying a galaxy is as fundamental a shift to
the character of Commander Shepard as Max Payne actually having a family
again would be.

Now for the Not So Simple Stuff:

But, you say, Commander Shepard got rid of the Reapers, whatever ending you choose, he saved the galaxy.

But
we, as long term fans of the franchise, can look at the results of his
"saving the galaxy" and see that he hasn't saved the galaxy, he has
doomed the galaxy. In every ending the Mass Relay network gets burned
out/destroyed. It is well established that in the period of time we're
in, no race in the galaxy is able to replicate the technology of the
Mass Relays, they can simply harness its capabilities. Throughout three
games the only race that is even shown to have come close to
understanding the technology of the Mass Relays are the Prothean's, and
that was just a scientific team on Ilos, so don't immediately trot out
the "Javik is the solution!", Javik was a soldier, he doesn't understand
the Crucible, he sure as hell doesn't understand what the Prothean
research team was doing at Ilos, and neither does anyone else.

So...there
are no Mass Relay's. And there are thousands if not hundreds of
thousands of  individuals of combined alien civilizations now camped out
in the Sol System with no potential way to get home.

Wait they have Faster than Light Travel...they can get home! It will just take time! Wrong again.



This
is the Local Cluster, its the closest stars to the Solar System, even
if we assume that FTL travel in Mass Effect is 199% the effective speed
of light (which is completely impossible but I'm being generous in the
spirit of science fiction), it would take any ship from the fleet that
massed at Earth 8 years minimum to travel from Sol to Sirius. Less time,
of course to travel to closer stars in the Local Group but, there is no
lore that places human colonization efforts outside the relay network.
Which either indicates that in the time period of Mass Effect, no
habitable planets were found within the Local Group, or we can remember
that its scientifically impossible for a Mass Effect drive to travel at
FTL speeds for extended periods without discharging their drive cores.
Discharging an eezo drive core, according to Mass Effect lore requires a
planet or stellar body with a high magentic field (not a gas station)
and in case you weren't paying attention in science class there aren't
any of those in between stars.

Now stretching the envelope to
accept the fact that we commonly pilot the Normandy between star systems
in a cluster without relay travel, in what apparently is very little
time at all, lets push the envelope on the impossible and say that FTL
speed is 1000% faster than the speed of light. So all these ships in the
Sol system, to reach Sirius get there in 8 days rather than 8 years.
Great, thats fine. Are any of the planets in the Local Cluster
habitable? Are they dextro/levo DNA sustainable? Who knows, its not part
of the lore of the game.

Now lets take some closer to home stuff. Well lets take some further from home stuff thats closer to home.



This
is our galaxy. Given the orbit of our solar system and its general
postion on the galaxy Map in Mass Effect 3, we can start making some
fairly educated assumptions from there.



This is Garrus Vakarian,
his homeworld is Palaven, in the Trebia system of  the Apiens Crest
Cluster. Given the approximate distance between Sol and Trebia on the
Galaxy Map is 3000 Light Years. At 1000% FTL travel, Garrus Vakarian and
the rest of the Turian Fleet will require 300 years to get home. Garrus
though potentially crash landed on some unknown planet with the
Normandy crew, so he may not get home at all.



This is Urdnot Wrex,
we liked him so much we helped cure his entire race of a little thing
called "the Genophage". It is likely that Wrex was still on Earth at the
time of the Normandy's escape, as were most of the able bodied males of
the Krogan race. Regardless, he lives on Tuchanka, in the Aralakh
system. Given its position on the galaxy map, if the Krogan on Earth are
lucky enough to be able to secure mass passage home, it will only take
425 years, at 1000% faster than light, to get back home. Good thing most
Krogan live 1000 years eh? But not so much, given the fleet losses at
the battle, its not very likely that there are enough ships to transport
the surviving Krogan armies back to Tuchanka to allow them to rebuild
their race without the Genophage to hold them back. And none of the
females came to Earth, so I think we can assume the Krogan at Earth are
pretty much done for, for any number of reasons.



This is Liara T'soni,
her homeworld is Thessia, in the Parnitha system. Though its fairly
well established that she somehow ended up on the Normandy with Joker,
if she did not, at 1000% faster than the speed of light it would take
her nearly 600 years of the rest of her life to return there. Hopefully
by that time someone will have put the fires out by then eh? Regardless
according to most ending cinematics, Liara is on some unknown paradise
world where the only space ship around happens to be one that probably
won't get back into space in anyones life time on that world, or at
least if you infer that from the Star Gazer ending, that is the case.



This is Tali'Zorah Vas nar Rayya,
she only just regained her homeworld of Rannoch in the Tikkun system on
the furthest edge of galaxy. Her, along with the rest of the Migrant
Fleet, came to Earth to face the Reapers because of Shepard's efforts
which helped them regain their home world. It is uncertain whether
Tali'Zorah was on the Normandy when it escaped the destruction of the
relay network. But it is quite certain that the remains of the Migrant
Fleet will require another 1000 years, at 1000% the speed of light, to
see Rannoch again. And unfortunately Quarians don't live that long.
Granted of any race the Quarians are best suited for a covered wagon
trip across the galaxy to get back to Rannoch, but no Quarian alive at
the battle of Earth will see Rannoch, neither will their children, or
several generations of children after that.

Summary Statement:

In
this post I've tried to simply line out what the core issue of the
endings of Mass Effect are, to me, and to many people I know. You spend
three games trying to save the galaxy, only to pretty much destroy it in
the end. The galaxy after Shepard's decision with the Catalyst, is
effectively no longer the galaxy we've come to love since 2007. And the
chances of it regaining any sembelence of the galaxy we grew attached to
are slim.

In short, there is no Mass Effect, without mass
effect relays. There is no large, interconnected galaxy of races and
imagination to explore. There is simply the empty void of space which we
cannot cross even now, because of a lack of technology to do so, and
thats not a science fiction premise to base this franchise on further,
its a reality simulator that we very much live in today.

So its
not that Shepard dies, its not even that everything you do boils down to
nothing in the end (though that in and of itself is horrible) its the
simple feeling a lot of people get from the end which pretty much leaves
you punched in the gut realizing that no matter what your intentions
were, you just doomed the entire galaxy. And thats not how Shepard does
things. Shepard saves the galaxy....thats what we bought into...even
with the nearly guaranteed chance of his death, we bought into that. And
while its safe to say that organic/synthesized life goes on after the
end of ME3, the end of ME3 simply precludes any conceivable notion of
the Mass Effect Galaxy ever being the same, or even viably being similar
enough to produce another good game on.

[BlaiidDrwg]

I went to my first midnight release to get this game. And I was very happy that first early morning running early missions, learning my new squaddies, new tricks (love the mail slot achievement), the new art and mixed action and cut scenes (my PCs RAM limitations aside) and was hurrying home to get on with more and more...

I initially liked the new scanning (though it got tedious dodging reapers and reentering systems) especially because of the detail in the units I was finding.. ooh, Elcor ground troops, vorhca hordes, sniper units.. adding that to the trailers and I was VERY VERY exciting for the return to earth. This is going to be super. I had played all three games pure Paragon and with perfect endings so I was gathering EMS like crazy, the green bar was filled and I still had tons more to do. woo hoo. So much so I got worried and checked in a forum... there is the designer saying the green bar is what matters, fill it for good ending. woo hoo.

I am not too proud to admit I cried in this game. yup. Thane.. Mordin.. Legion.. those were some outstanding moments. The dream sequences music really hit a tone too.. I was invested. This was epic. I remember going into a cerberus mission loading up a shotgun (normally I sniped) just because I was so mad at cerberus and galactic ****heads, I wanted their deaths personal.. That is a good game that can do that to a player. The death of Kai Leng could have gone down as one of the most satisfyingly epic moments in video gaming. Let's go get earth...

After DA, I knew that Bioware could make a good ending involving lots of factions. Not that I wanted a 'summon Krogan' button, but I was thinking there might be some thing similar. Maybe you chose who to ride to the front with. whatever. How about some advanced cerberus fighter air support. After ME2, I knew Bioware could make and ending where you make good choices along the way and take YOUR WHOLE SQUAD with you. Artificial in ME2, but satisfying. The landing was awesome.. loud, scary.. good war feel I thought. Then some more good fights... but I was waiting for my inputs to matter... (the geth missing from the cut scene, no Aria troops, these were worrying me, but I had Banshee to kill). Then the cut scene of the Asari and Krogan going after the Destroyer,... Hell yes, I recruited them, they are going to kill something for me.. epic. Um.. No. Sorry folks to get you killed for nothing. And how were they so far forward of the line.. just wondering. Then the last battle at the missiles... (which, be honest.. who though that was the last fight? anyone? anyone?) Nuts. Fun nuts.. Glad I took an infiltrator btw. Then the ending... um.. um..

First off.. I get the philosophy they were trying to go with.. (cosmicism??) and I don't mind the sadness of it all - after all, conversations with sheppard and traynor really showed that my Sheppard was done. But... one of the conversation choices depended on galactic readiness?!?! My galactic readiness was not enough for good ending?!?! The choices?!?!.. ok I actually got the whole reapers saving humanity argument... they sacrifice the advanced so that SOME life can live.. I don't buy it, but I understood the point. Then the inexplicable Normandy flee scene.. the lack of any real catharsis.. and oh yeah, that missile battery fight, that was the boss fight.. who knew. After DA and ME2 I know you can write phenomenal endings to games. But this, seemed to be written by someone who hadn't read the script for the rest of the end battle or series. That can't be true, but that is how it felt. I don't mind a sad ending... sometimes melancholy is a great emotion, and I even expected a sad end with my sheppard dying, it would have been epic. Maybe even sheppard hold's the line and dies righteously so others made it through to wipe out the reapers.... but this ending was 'deflating'.


Here is my review in one sentence, and after the greatness that I was fealling for 95% of it, this is the harshest thing I can think of:

After my first ME2 I had to play again right away to fix my errors and save my whole team. After ME3, I took the CD out of my comp and put it on my shelf.

[Aceldema]

I have thought about this for a long time and, because I hate delivering bad without delivering good as well, I shall first take a moment to say that the vast majority of this story is excellently done. I am attached to Shepard, the world and her friends. I guess this attachment makes the next part, where I must give critical criticism, harder.

Mass Effect 3 drops the ball in creating an ending that is not at all satisfying. This is unfortunate because humans remember the beginning and ending of this the best and the position of this grave error in storytelling ensures its enshrinement as one of the biggest let-downs in gamer history. It is a huge let down precisely because the prior games were so very satisfying.
 
The ending does not have to be happy but it should give a sense of closure and satisfaction to a gamer who has participated in all 3 stories. I will trot out Dragon Age: Origins as proof of this concept. The choice of final boss was very poor. The Illusive man represents a tangent to the main thrust of the whole story. The story at its simplest is Shepard versus the Reapers. The final battle should by corollary be Shepard versus the Reapers as it has been in every other Mass Effect.

The thing that pains me most is that you have the elements in place for a remarkable ending but you chose to go into some odd sort of morality Kabuki at the end with no relevance to the main arc of the story, Shepard versus the Reapers.

I will now rewrite the end as it could have been.

Shepard enters the Crucible which uploads her into the Reaper data world ( A concept you already introduced with the Geth) along with two squad mates. Once there, Shepard meets a virtual army, a cyber-warfare program, consisting of every race that has worked on the crucible ( given cost constraints, it could be all Prothean too). The Prothean general of the army tells Shepard they will attack the data and processing cores of the lesser reaper units and that it is up to Shepard to tak out Harbinger. Shepards loads up with virtual weaponry and the core and data of the virtual Harbinger is a monstrosity consisting of a warping of every sentient race welded into a monster that will haunt her dreams should she survive this battle. Battle ensues. Shepard wins but at the cost of her own health in order to save her squadmates. A cut scene happens showing reapers going dead and silent and crashing to the ground on the various worlds they have conquored. The Love interest ( if no love interest, Garrus- her oldest and most loyal friend) then risks thier life to bring Shepard out of the crucible alive. This could involve playing as the love interest ( who is hobbled by carrying Shepard out). Alternatively Shepard could die at the end, too. I am not lobbying for happiness, just satisfaction.

This game had so much potential and has been so good for so long, I almost makes me cry to watch it fail so hard at the end.