23455 réponses à ce sujet

[Himmelstor]

I loved the entire trilogy save the last ten minutes...
...hell's bells I didn't even mind shooting TIM myself.

That said, standouts:

The Reveal of Sovereign. (honestly one of the best villain reveals in any history of the medium.  The first time I played through ME1, I went from sitting in my chair content I was kicking ass to a 'holy crap' moment I have no memory of anything before or since shocking me that much.)

"I am the very model of a...." (Both times, once for the humor, the other for the tragedy.)

Tali romance in both ME2 and ME3. (I was not among those calling for a Tali romance from game one, but the writing and Sroka's voice acting sold me on it. Hard.)

KALROS, MOTHER OF ALL THRESHER MAWS VS. MINI-REAPER! (Do I really need to explain this?)

On that same note SHEPARD STARING DOWN A MINI-REAPER WITH A TARGETING LASER! (Again, self-explanatory.)

Garrus having your back all the way through. (...no. That covers it.)

There are more! I can't list them all without this taking up the page!

Which is why the ending of the trilogy felt like being gutted and fileted like a fish. I am unsatisfied, but I will go back to Bioware for more games (with some caution.)  I did not hate Dragon Age II, and hope the eventual Dragon Age III kicks just as much ass as DA:O.

But Bioware...I've been asking the people on my Xbox Live friends list from this forum.  None of them find the current ending in any way acceptable.  Some of them already sold ME3 and won't buy from you again.
Your company is the only one I am a fan of. Other than that, I like games - not developers.
Don't drive us away like this. Please.

[Lunaris_wind]

As I posted on facebook Mr. Priestly (and you are obviously evil since your avatar is the Illusive Man)

I loved the series up until the absolutely horrible ending. If the 'indoctrination' theory is right, and dlc shows what happens next, I will be supemely happy (though also feel ripped off that the ending isn't on the disc). Until then, as they say, 'Hold the Line'. Thank you for writing this thouh Bioware. Was for Shep, my favorite part about Shepard is that, how I played my femshep, she could be tough as nails when the going got tough, but when she had down time to spend with the crew and friends, she could be caring and compassionate too. And I will admit, no matter the ending, Shep, as well as many other characters (Liara, Tali, Garrus, and others) will stick with me for a long time. Here's to hoping there is more to the ending coming in dlc, and if not, here's to you bioware, for a great and amazing game trilogy, except for the last ten minutes.

As for favorite moments, the thresher maw was sweet, but my favorite moment was uniting the Geth and the Quarians, especially after seeing in the guide how much from ME2 and ME3 went into making it possible. I love every scene with Liara (favorite character in the series, followed by Tali and Garrus), and the sniper shootout with Garrus on the Citadel was great too, not to mention catching Garrus and Tali making ou.... checking Tali's mask... and the scenes with Tali and Ash getting drunk were also amazingly funny XD. Mordin's singing Gilbert and Sullivan was great too XD, and I'll always remember sacrificing Kaiden in ME1, one of the harder decisions I've ever made in gaming.  Again, great game (cept the ending)

Modifié par Lunaris_wind, 16 mars 2012 - 03:51 .

[Chitzen Itza]

Shermos wrote...

Bioware, please leave the endings as they are. I beg you. The people demanding the that the endings be changed are being ridiculous and simply have no right to do so whatsoever. It is Your creative work, not theirs.

The endings are fine as they are and set things up for a new Mass Effect game set after the events of ME3 very nicely. I'll happily buy DLC which expands on what is already in the core game, but not anything which significantly changes it. It will set a very bad precedent.

I sincerely believe the people demanding a change are a vocal minority. The Bioware forums and your twitter accounts don't give a fair representation.

Just for interest sake:

www.atomicmpc.com.au/Feature/293874,it8217s-not-okay-for-developers-to-8216patch8217-an-ending.aspx

I do think that patching the ending would not be a good move, but releasing a DLC or expansion that continues after Shepard wakes up (I am a firm beliver in the "indoctrination theory") for free would be good form to give an actual conclusion to the story. 

Also, your "vocal minority" statement falls flat on its face when you look at the polls. Even on this site an overwhelming majority (>90% of about 26k people last I checked) have voiced disappointment with the endings and a desire for a better ending.

[Rulycar]

Sam Axe (after kissing the girl) saying it was better than a kick in the teeth.
You turned three immersive games into crap.

RE: Enough about how we kicked you in the teeth, what do you like about us?
... PR BS to divert attention from the fact nine days after release their product is selling at 1/2 price.

[RadiantLegend]

I haven't been able to sleep well in 4 straight days that is how much the game meant to me. You betrayed my trust. For that you have lost a fan.

[Sinapus]

sagequeen wrote...

 Another thought:

The reason the ending hurts so much is BECAUSE the rest of the game is so damn good.

This isn't Star Wars Episode 1 where the moment the opening scroll-text starts you're like..."okay, what?" and then your face falls from there until you're grimacing over jar jar binks and then going cross-eyed that anakin is a vigin birth, etc. That movie died from moment 1. 

Mass Effect 3 was nearly perfect until the last 5 minutes - heck, i think even the last 5 minutes might be perfect, too, IF they're part of some larger whole - something more that gets started right after they end.

....when did Gainax take over Bioware?

[Painaid]

In the meantime, let's give appreciation to Commander Shepard. Whether you loved the ME3 ending or didn't or you just have a lot of questions, he/she has given many of us some of the best adventures we have had while playing games. What was your favorite moment?

I wish I could agree Chris. In fact, I would have agreed if I had turned off the game 10 minutes before the credits rolled. But that ending....it ruined the ENTIRE series. You made our choices absolutely pointless.

[Game_Fan_85]

People wonder why Chris or any other BioWare person hasn't posted. There is another thread about the ending, isn't this supposed to be about the moments we loved from the game?

Modifié par Game_Fan_85, 16 mars 2012 - 03:50 .

[Kiyosuki]

Favorite scenes?

The apex of the Tuchanka story arc, assuming Mordin and Wrex are alive and you don't betray them. It's just such a beautiful end to both the Krogan story, and Mordin's story as well. 

The Quarian resolution, pretty much all of them are heavy too. Some of my favorite scenes though are the onest hat show a more increasingly vulnerable Shepard, I felt the game really stepped it up in showing the toll everything is taking on your character. 

On the endings...there are many conflicting opinions even on why people dislike them. Personally, I didn't absolutely want a perfect, happily ever after ending. I feel that would have been somewhat weak too. I love endings that leave lots of new questions, and I certainly can imagine many of the pretty interesting directions this universe could go in this new era regardless of the ending. I feel many do assume the worst a bit much, there's also many good things that could happen to, it's all pretty unlimited. I like to think a new era of reconstruction could bring about just as many good things as bad, maybe even a new race to create a new form of deep space travel...amazing things are possible from survivors if they work together and technology still exists after all, but I'm ranting now, this is getting into another topic.

Regardless, despite the ideas and possibilities within the endings to be interesting, I felt the execution of the endings was relatively poor. Some say the rationality of the reapers was weak, but even then you can come to the conclusion that the Reaper "solution" is just cold...maintaining the existence of organic life at any cost even if it means destroying the advanced ones so the younger ones can continue. I get that.

But then...why is the Normandy out in space, outrunning an explosion, and with your squadmates on it? I'm sorry that's not a small little ignorable plot hole, that's huge, and stilll remains in my opinion the most inarguably weakest aspect of these endings. The crash leads to a strange but beautiful conclusion in the Synergy ending at least, but for the most part it just feels like it's missing setup. It's confusing, and not in the good way it's just disjointed narrative.

And on the tone and themes of the endings....open ended, vague endings are fine, I love many of that kind in fact, but you still have to justify what triggers it all. While the ending of Space Odessey seemed odd, the context of it was built up to in a very subtle but solid way so I didn't feel like it was abrupt or disconnected. While the three decisions are interesting, I feel they just have such little build up. There's no comment about the repercussions of destroying ALL synthetics, including EDI. I felt it was extremely important to at least allude to this possibility before hand. A little more elaboration into controlling the reapers and the repercussions of that to would have helped. The Synergy ending, while a pretty interesting idea...just sort of comes out of nowhere and flies in the face of so much of what we've seen before hand should you make peace with the various synthetic characters or be on good terms with them. I also felt the relationship between synthetics and organic life in general was a little mishandled in this because the events of the ending just throw out the window so much of what you potentially see in the game as far as organics and synthetics living together go. It could work, but it just has such little context.

Thinking about it more, it's not so much what happens IN the ending, as it is the somewhat weak buildup to it.

The whole game is great, but I felt the lead up to the final conclusion just lacked both foreshadowing, and choice. The collectors base mission for instance had a very large amount of possible outcomes, I think the final battles on earth should have maybe been more along these lines.

Visually, the three endings being so similar doesn't help either but...it wouldn't have been as bad if there were even a little more elaboration into the context of each one before hand. So really, it's not so much what happens in the endings as it is the lack of context towards the endings which just gives the impression to me of them feeling a little detached from the rest of the story. 

So I'm sorry about the rant, but that's as best as I can put my sentiments on the ending. I loved the game overall and many of the themes explored in this series I really think make it legitimate science fiction, but while I didn't want a happy ending per se...I felt the endings as they were lacked proper context and because of that, it makes it feel like many of the themes you could explore in the game...especially if you've united so much, were sort of thrown at the window at the last minute. Maybe it's what was intended...? But regardless, I just don't feel like they supported themselves enough. Overall this is still one of my favorite game series' if not just for the characters and the world, and I've sort of started to move on already and there's room for the imagination in these endings...but I just feel like the same effect could have been done with far more supportable endings. I don't know if you guys are going to continue this or not, but it is what it is I guess. Just my overbloated two cents. Thanks for this series regardless, it was a blast. 

Still feels strange to not have a Krogan squadmate in the third game though. 

Modifié par Kiyosuki, 16 mars 2012 - 04:02 .

[Elvwood]

For me There were many moments that were great in The game
But one stood out amongst the others In regards to how I was Playing
I used a Character  that has been a Paragon Since ME1
as  side note I also had a renegade Character from the two previous games
and as I player ME3 and got to the part where I could sabotage the genophage cure
Or come clean. I wondered How the Hell could I ever play this game as a renegade
and do that to the Krogans. Not to mention the Geth and Quarians.
I had these thoughts all through the game. 
I guess because for me the way this whole series was written Made me develop deep feelings 
For all the characters. So How could I treat them badly when the universe is facing extinction.

Well Thank goodness for the ending because Now I can play renegade without the emotional 
turmoil Knowing that all turns to crap anyway  and nothing I do Matters 

And if indeed you are reading all the posts I do have possible future complaint 
If they do come out with a different ending lets hope a good one does not depend on playing multiplayer 
I don't care what other articles say, stating that it can be done without it. 
That condition can only be met if you played the other games perfectly and had all your crew
and completed 100 percent of the 3rd game. 
Well I mapped all the systems and talked to everyone I could find but still came up short in assets 
it should not be that detailed oriented to get a good ending where shepard lives
 
 

[elm]

How can we be speculating when most of the community is agreeing on indoc theory? If bioware was trying to make us speculate it worked, but only for a few days.... Bioware intentionally did this and it just deeply saddens me. Instead of a good tolerable ending, we get something that is supposed to make people say "wow, this is awsome! It makes me use my noggin." That sir is utter crap and will not be accepted no matter how you try to sugar coat it.

[Ritva]

Thank you for listening.

My favorite moment from the game? It's hard to say, really. I loved 99% of it so, so much. I can't decide if it's Eve, or Mordin's sacrifice (the first time I have ever broken down sobbing during a video game), or Jack teaching her students to be mini-Shepards, or Legion and Tali helping create peace between the geth and the quarians... the character interactions were amazing. The only thing I didn't like so much about ME2 is that your crew often felt detached from one another, you barely saw them interact. This was completely fixed in ME3 -- they talked to each other, called each other, you get to see their correspondences, they banter -- it was fantastic. It was perfect. So, thank you for that.

I do hope you take into serious consideration doing something about the ending. This isn't just people being petty. When games revolve around your choices, you invest a good deal of yourself into them. People are crushed by the end of the game. They're hurt, they're depressed, all the things that Bioware taught them that they could do -- that they could pull off the impossible if they fought hard enough, prepared well enough, traveled far enough -- suddenly, it turns out they couldn't. That they're stuck. That life will screw them over anyway. And sure, that's true in reality. But it's a game -- it's not reality! It's not meant to be reality! If you want reality in it, have that be a possible ending option... but allow for brighter ones too, the ones that Shepard has pulled off before.

I have a hard time believing that the writers honestly thought we would be happy with speculation. Speculation doesn't make us happy. Theorizing doesn't make us happy. It's what we cling to in order to ease the sting. And now the indoctrination theory -- which would have been such an incredible, groundbreaking gaming experience had it been true -- has been taken from us as well. So now we don't really have anything. What's the point of doing all that work, of going through that journey, if we know we have nothing to look forward to?

I'm sure it sucks right now for Bioware employees, and I'm sorry for any crap you may be dealing with. Just, please don't underestimate how emotionally affected many fans are. They aren't doing this just to be ****s.

[Himmelstor]

Shermos wrote...

Himmelstor wrote...

Shermos wrote...

Bioware, please leave the endings as they are. I beg you. The people demanding the that the endings be changed are being ridiculous and simply have no right to do so whatsoever. It is Your creative work, not theirs.

The endings are fine as they are and set things up for a new Mass Effect game set after the events of ME3 very nicely. I'll happily buy DLC which expands on what is already in the core game, but not anything which significantly changes it. It will set a very bad precedent.

I sincerely believe the people demanding a change are a vocal minority. The Bioware forums and your twitter accounts don't give a fair representation.

Against all polls, user reviews, etc. to the contrary.

From my previous post.

"The Bioware forums and your twitter accounts don't give a fair representation."

In other words, the polls are meaningless because they don't reflect the majority or people who have played the game or even fans of the series. And if you link to Metacritic you deserve only to be laughed at. The user section of that site is even less meaningful.

That may be true. However, a vocal minority would not have nearly as much influence as you imply. By dint of being the minority, It shouldn't be possible for these kinds of numbers. It should still be skewed the other way in the polls, in the reviews. Yes, in the forums, hateful voices tend to trump the majority opinion.

This....I have never seen this before. And I agree with the vocal majority.

[kleindropper]

Chris Priestly wrote...

We appreciate everyone’s feedback about Mass Effect 3 and want you to know that we are listening. Active discussions about the ending are more than welcome here, and the team will be reviewing it for feedback and responding when we can. Please note, we want to give people time to experience the game so while we can’t get into specifics right now, we will be able to address some of your questions once more people have had time to complete the game. In the meantime, we’d like to ask that you keep the non-spoiler areas of our forums and our social media channels spoiler free.
 
We understand there is a lot of debate on the Mass Effect 3 ending and we will be more than happy to engage in healthy discussions once more people get to experience the game. We are listening to all of your feedback.

In the meantime, let's give appreciation to Commander Shepard. Whether you loved the ME3 ending or didn't or you just have a lot of questions, he/she has given many of us some of the best adventures we have had while playing games. What was your favorite moment?

Thank you for the acknowledgment Chris. I also thought ME3 was amazing, from the major conflict plots (geth-quarian, genophage etc...) to the difficult situation of resolving so many personal interactions with ME2 squadmates.  My romance with Liara was also top notch although hers is probably the best due to her critical part in the story.   The combat was also amazing.  As a Vanguard I had  major difficulty with Banshess initially and when I saw 3 Brutes  coming at me at the final push it was a major sense of accomplishment when I defeated them. I was with you right up to the final desparate sprint with Harbinger lording over me.  After that it was a major WTF and the end depressed me so much I refuse to reopen the game.  This is coming from a guy who probably played and replayed the demo at least 30 times tweaking face codes and observing everything possible within the demo.  I am fine with the MP but am a little po'ed that my uber Renegade Femshep did not seem to amass enough GAW points to get the "best ending", but again the endings are so depressing and illogical that this doesn't even matter.  Please, Please, Please fix the ending as I want at least some of my Sheps to go out the right way.

I am Holding the Line.

EDIT: Once again, to be clear, I ran my Femshep (one of 5 Sheps) through ME2 THREE TIMES  to get her ready for ME3.  I have not opened or played ME3 since I finished with this character due to the uper-depression of the ending.  Does this make things clear?

Still Holding.

Modifié par kleindropper, 16 mars 2012 - 03:58 .

[8666737]

My favorite moment was shooting a Cerberus solder between the mail slot with a sniper rifle moving without the slow time ability.

Now fix the damn ending and kill the star child!!! All I want is the crucible to destroy the reapers and leave the relays intact.

You can make ME4 5 and 6 about re-building the entire galaxy.

[Muezick]

Shermos wrote...

Bioware, please leave the endings as they are. I beg you. The people demanding the that the endings be changed are being ridiculous and simply have no right to do so whatsoever. It is Your creative work, not theirs.

The endings are fine as they are and set things up for a new Mass Effect game set after the events of ME3 very nicely. I'll happily buy DLC which expands on what is already in the core game, but not anything which significantly changes it. It will set a very bad precedent.

I sincerely believe the people demanding a change are a vocal minority. The Bioware forums and your twitter accounts don't give a fair representation.

Just for interest sake:

www.atomicmpc.com.au/Feature/293874,it8217s-not-okay-for-developers-to-8216patch8217-an-ending.aspx

We see through your disguise Mac Walters...

[Squadrito]

oh, and my favorite moment?

turning the game off and giving it to my parents:
"do not let me see this ever again. sell it if you have to..."

[Rulycar]

Game_Fan_85 wrote...

People wonder why Chris or any other BioWare person hasn't posted. There is another thread about the ending, isn't this supposed to be about the moments we loved from the game?

Well, this is the problem ...
... it is all fecal matter now.
So, the "best" is fecal matter ...
... and the "worst" is fecal matter.

The "ending" is both the best and the worst ...
... because it is the last thing I'm ever going to remember.

As you puke up your meal the waiter comes over and asks you what your favorite part of the meal was.
... How do you think people are going to respond?

Modifié par Rulycar, 16 mars 2012 - 03:58 .

[Asepsis]

I really liked the part when the Krogans were arguing outside of the shroud, and then Eve yells out "Enough!" and gets them to shut up and get the job done.

I also LOVED the part with Legion and Tali on Rannoch, and I enjoyed Thane's last battle a lot.

There were a TON of great moments in the game. The whole game (minus the ending) was pure brilliance. I'm really depressed about the lack of variety/explanation/total randomness of the endings (did them all, they don't make much sense or fit the storyline at all imho), but I'm looking forward to hearing what you guys have planned once more people play through the game. Hopefully a DLC or something because I love Mass Effect and I don't want it to end like this.

Oh yeah the part where Samara's daughter blows up the monastery was really awesome too.

Modifié par Asepsis, 16 mars 2012 - 04:01 .

[DoubleP1243]

There are a large majority of players that don't use an internet connection to play their games, including Mass Effect 3.

Bioware, is there any consideration about releasing any DLC for Mass Effect 2 and/or 3 on a disc to retailers?
A lot of people (personal friends of mine as well) would really appreciate that kind of move so they wouldn't miss out on any experience from this fantastic universe surrounding the Mass Effect franchise.

What's your take on that?

[8666737]

@Shermos The ending was utter and complete crap not based at all in the ME1,2 or even 3 universe. Ya bioware can choose not to listen and keep their "artistic license" I can also choose to never touch another one of their games again and watch them go bankrupt cause it's not a minority that dislike the ending, read the the 30,000 + posts from people hating the ending

[Shermos]

BTDUBS wrote...

Shermos wrote...

Bioware, please leave the endings as they are. I beg you. The people demanding the that the endings be changed are being ridiculous and simply have no right to do so whatsoever. It is Your creative work, not theirs.

The endings are fine as they are and set things up for a new Mass Effect game set after the events of ME3 very nicely. I'll happily buy DLC which expands on what is already in the core game, but not anything which significantly changes it. It will set a very bad precedent.

I sincerely believe the people demanding a change are a vocal minority. The Bioware forums and your twitter accounts don't give a fair representation.

Since we the consumers are the ones who fund these products through our hard earned money, we have the right to demand a better ending since we paid $60+ for this game. Mad fans = bad business.

Mass Effect 3 =/= a broken toaster still in warranty.

To quote what i said in a recent poll:

"Mass Effect is a piece of art, not a defective toaster. Surely people
here realise how rediculous it would be to ask an author to change the
ending of his novel because they didn't like it. He'd have every right
to politely tell you to get f'd. The same is true here. "

Let's say I don't like the ending to a movie I saw at the cinema. Do I have a right to dammand the makers of the movie change it to suit my wants? No. Absolutely not. It is their creative work and they can do what they wish with it. If I don't like, I simply don't buy it and look for something I like more.

I'm trying to be polite, but honestly, grow up people.

[Vikali]

bwFex wrote...

I really have been trying to let myself get over this nightmare, but since you guys promise you're listening here, I'll try to just say it all, get it all out.

I have invested more of myself into this series than almost any other video game franchise in my life. I loved this game. I believed in it. For five years, it delivered. I must have played ME1 and ME2 a dozen times each.

I remember the end of Mass Effect 2. Never before, in any video game I had ever played, did I feel like my actions really mattered. Knowing that the decisions I made and the hard work I put into ME2 had a very real, clear, obvious impact on who lived and who died was one of the most astounding feelings in the world to me. I remember when that laser hit the Normandy and Joker made a comment about how he was happy we upgraded the shields. That was amazing. Cause and effect. Work and reward.

The first time I went through, I lost Mordin, and it was gut-wrenching: watching him die because I made a bad decision was damning, heartbreaking. But it wasn't hopeless, because I knew I could go back, do better, and save him. I knew that I was in control, that my actions mattered. So that's exactly what I did. I reviewed my decisions, found my mistakes, and did everything right. I put together a plan, I worked hard to follow that plan, and I got the reward I had worked so hard for. And then, it was all for nothing.

When I started playing Mass Effect 3, I was blown away. It was perfect. Everything was perfect. It was incredible to see all of my decisions playing out in front of me, building up to new and outrageous outcomes. I was so sure that this was it, this was going to be the masterpiece that crowned an already near-perfect trilogy. With every war asset I gathered, and with every multiplayer game I won, I knew that my work would pay off, that I would be truly satisfied with the outcome of my hard work and smart decisions. Every time I acquired a new WA bonus, I couldn't wait to see how it would play out in the final battle. And then, it was all for nothing.

I wasn't expecting a perfect, happy ending with rainbows and butterflies. In fact, I think I may have been insulted if everyone made it through just fine. The Reapers are an enormous threat (although obviously not as invincible as they would like us to believe), and we should be right to anticipate heavy losses. But I never lost hope. I built alliances, I made the impossible happen to rally the galaxy together. I cured the genophage. I saved the Turians. I united the geth and the quarians. And then, it was all for nothing.

When Mordin died, it was heartwrenching, but I knew it was the right thing. His sacrifice was... perfect. It made sense. It was congruent with the dramatic themes that had been present since I very first met Wrex in ME1. It was not a cheap trick, a deus ex machina, an easy out. It was beautiful, meaningful, significant, relevant, and satisfying. It was an amazing way for an amazing character to sacrifice themself for an amazing thing. And then it was all for nothing.

When Thane died, it was tearjerking. I knew from the moment he explained his illness that one day, I'd have to deal with his death. I knew he was never going to survive the trilogy, and I knew it wouldn't be fun to watch him go. But when his son started reading the prayer, I lost it. His death was beautiful. It was significant. It was relevant. It was satisfying. It was meaningful. He died to protect Shepard, to protect the entire Citadel. He took a life he thought was unredeemable and used it to make the world a brighter place. And then it was all for nothing.

When Wrex and Eve thanked me for saving their species, I felt that I had truly accomplished something great. When Tali set foot on her homeworld, I felt that I had truly accomplished something great. When Javik gave his inspiring speech, I felt that I had inspired something truly great. When I activated the Citadel's arms, sat down to reminisce with Anderson one final time, I felt that I had truly accomplished something amazing. I felt that my sacrifice was meaningful. Significant. Relevant. And while still a completely unexplained deus ex machina, at least it was a little bit satisfying.

And then, just like everything else in this trilogy, it was all for nothing.

If we pretend like the indoctrination theory is false, and we're really supposed to take the ending at face value, this entire game is a lost cause. The krogans will never repopulate. The quarians will never rebuild their home world. The geth will never know what it means to be alive and independent. The salarians will never see how people can change for the better.

Instead, the quarians and turians will endure a quick, torturous extinction as they slowly starve to death, trapped in a system with no support for them. Everyone else will squabble over the scraps of Earth that haven't been completely obliterated, until the krogans drive them all to extinction and then die off without any women present. And this is all assuming that the relays didn't cause supernova-scaled extinction events simply by being destroyed, like we saw in Arrival.

And perhaps the worst part is that we don't even know. We don't know what happened to our squadmates. We didn't get any sort of catharsis, conclusion. We got five years of literary foreplay followed by a kick to the groin and a note telling us that in a couple months, we can pay Bioware $15 for them to do it to us all over again.

It's not just the abysmally depressing/sacrificial nature of the ending, either. As I've already made perfectly clear, I came into this game expecting sacrifice. When Mordin did it, it was beautiful. When Thane did it, it was beautiful. Even Verner. Stupid, misguided, idiotic Verner. Even his ridiculous sacrifice had meaning, relevance, coherence, and offered satisfaction.

No, it's not the sacrifice I have a problem with. It's the utter lack of coherence and respect for the five years of literary gold that have already been established in this franchise. We spent three games preparing to fight these reapers. I spent hours upon hours doing every side quest, picking up every war asset, maxing out my galactic readiness so that when the time came, the army I had built could make a stand, and show these Reapers that we won't go down without a fight.

In ME1, we did the impossible when we killed Sovereign. In ME2, we began to see that the Reapers aren't as immortal as they claim to be: that even they have basic needs, exploitable weaknesses. In ME3, we saw the Reapers die. We saw one get taken down by an overgrown worm. We saw one die with a few coordinated orbital bombardments. We saw several ripped apart by standard space combat. In ME1, it took three alliance fleets to kill the "invincible" Sovereign. By the end of ME3, I had assembled a galactic armada fifty times more powerful than that, and a thousand times more prepared. I never expected the fight to be easy, but I proved that we wouldn't go down without a fight, that there is always hope in unity. That's the theme we've been given for the past five years: there is hope and strength through unity. That if we work together, we can achieve the impossible.

And then we're supposed to believe that the fate of the galaxy comes down to some completely unexplained starchild asking Shepard what his favorite color is? That the army we built was all for nothing? That the squad whose loyalty we fought so hard for was all for nothing? That in the end, none of it mattered at all?

It's a poetic notion, but this isn't the place for poetry. It's one thing to rattle prose nihilistic over the course of a movie or ballad, where the audience is a passive observer, learning a lesson from the suffering and futility of a character, but that's not what Mass Effect is. Mass Effect has always been about making the player the true hero. If you really want us to all feel like we spent the past five years dumping time, energy, and emotional investment into this game just to tell us that nothing really matters, you have signed your own death certificate. Nobody pays hundreds of dollars and hours to be reminded how bleak, empty, and depressing the world can be, to be told that nothing we do matters, to be told that all of our greatest accomplishments, all of our faith, all of our work, all of our unity is for nothing.

No. It simply cannot be this bleak. I refuse to believe Bioware is really doing this. The ending of ME1 was perfect. We saw the struggle, we saw the cost, but we knew that we had worked hard, worked together, and won. The ending of ME2 was perfect. We saw the struggle, we saw the cost, but we knew that we had worked hard, worked together, and won.

Taken at face value, the end of ME3 throws every single thing we've done in the past five years into the wind, and makes the player watch from a distance as the entire galaxy is thrown into a technological dark age and a stellar extinction. Why would we care about a universe that no longer exists? We should we invest any more time or money into a world that will never be what we came to know and love?

Even if the ending is retconned, it doesn't make things better. Just knowing that the starchild was our real foe the entire time is so utterly mindless, contrived, and irrelevant to what we experienced in ME1 and ME2 that it cannot be forgiven. If that really is the truth, then Mass Effect simply isn't what we thought it was. And frankly, if this is what Mass Effect was supposed to be all along, I want no part of it. It's a useless, trite, overplayed cliche, so far beneath the praise I once gave this franchise that it hurts to think about.

No. There is no way to save this franchise without giving us the only explanation that makes sense. You know what it is. It was the plan all along. Too much evidence to not be true. Too many people reaching the same conclusions independently.

The indoctrination theory doesn't just save this franchise: it elevates it to one of the most powerful and compelling storytelling experiences I've ever had in my life. The fact that you managed to do more than indoctrinate Shepard - you managed to indoctrinate the players themselves - is astonishing. If that really was the end game, here, then you have won my gaming soul. But if that's true, then I'm still waiting for the rest of this story, the final chapter of Shepard's heroic journey. I paid to finish the fight, and if the indoctrination theory is true, it's not over yet.

And if it's not, then I just don't even care. I have been betrayed, and it's time for me to let go of the denial, the anger, the bargaining, and start working through the depression and emptiness until I can just move on. You can't keep teasing us like this. This must have seemed like a great plan at the time, but it has cost too much. These people believed in you. I believed in you.

Just make it right.

:3

[1337Goblin]

Shermos wrote...

Himmelstor wrote...

Shermos wrote...

Bioware, please leave the endings as they are. I beg you. The people demanding the that the endings be changed are being ridiculous and simply have no right to do so whatsoever. It is Your creative work, not theirs.

The endings are fine as they are and set things up for a new Mass Effect game set after the events of ME3 very nicely. I'll happily buy DLC which expands on what is already in the core game, but not anything which significantly changes it. It will set a very bad precedent.

I sincerely believe the people demanding a change are a vocal minority. The Bioware forums and your twitter accounts don't give a fair representation.

Against all polls, user reviews, etc. to the contrary.

From my previous post.

"The Bioware forums and your twitter accounts don't give a fair representation."

In other words, the polls are meaningless because they don't reflect the majority or people who have played the game or even fans of the series. And if you link to Metacritic you deserve only to be laughed at. The user section of that site is even less meaningful.

I'll give another another example of internet feedback not giving a good representation. My state in Australia (Queensland) has an election coming up. A recent online poll showed that most people supported the Labor Party, which is clearly not the case when you consider the enitre voting population. The online poll didn't give a good representation of voter views. And the same is true for gamers and fans of the Mass Effect series.

Longer term sales comparisons between ME2 and ME3 would give Bioware a better idea of what people think.

I take it you have not seen the very serious campaigns about the ending. It's no where near a vocal minority.

http://retakemasseff...ect-childs-play
http://www.facebook....ngToMassEffect3

If -anything- the vocal minority are the people saying the ending was good and respectable to the series and it's fanbase.

[Grand Admiral Cheesecake]

Shermos wrote...

BTDUBS wrote...

Shermos wrote...

Bioware, please leave the endings as they are. I beg you. The people demanding the that the endings be changed are being ridiculous and simply have no right to do so whatsoever. It is Your creative work, not theirs.

The endings are fine as they are and set things up for a new Mass Effect game set after the events of ME3 very nicely. I'll happily buy DLC which expands on what is already in the core game, but not anything which significantly changes it. It will set a very bad precedent.

I sincerely believe the people demanding a change are a vocal minority. The Bioware forums and your twitter accounts don't give a fair representation.

Since we the consumers are the ones who fund these products through our hard earned money, we have the right to demand a better ending since we paid $60+ for this game. Mad fans = bad business.

I'm trying to be polite, but honestly, grow up people.

Yes how dare the fans feel betrayed by the ending!

I'm trying to be polite, but honestly, shut up.