23455 réponses à ce sujet

[Cornish_S]

The good? That it manages not to ruin some of the improvements made in Mass Effect 2 and adequately reintroduces some of the mechanics that made Mass Effect 1 an RPG, rather than a TPA.

The game still suffers from bland and uninteresting locations, lack of game-play choice, tunnel design in locations, etc.

It was fun to play, but between part 1 and 2 there was a huge technical/design leap. Mostly for the better. From part 2 to 3 there wasn't a leap, if we add and subtract everything, 2 and 3 are about the same. The only difference being that 2 is a bunch of years older than 3 and has a decent ending.

So with that, the best part is probably that I paid €15,- less then I normally would.

[quiksilver723]

I got hint of the endings before finishing the game this week. And while playing I was blown away by how the story drove my emotions so I couldn't really believe that the ending could be that bad. I mean this is the same Bioware that made KOTR, Jade Empire, ME1 & 2 and DA:O right? How could a company like that known for it's superb story writing get it so wrong? I gave them the benefit of the doubt....then I finished the game. And I was left scratching my head asking WTF was that? It just was not good by any standards, it completely blew the Mass Effect fiction away and that's a travesty. While it would be nice if the endings can get revised I somehow doubt that will happen and I'm just going to have to accept what happened as just the way it is. What else am I to do? I don't feel it's appropriate to demand Bioware to change it's IP despite how I'd like them to. I just hope that they can learn something from this whole debacle for future projects. I'ts been said many time that Mass Effect 3 is a great game...until that last 20 minutes or so then somehow it all falls apart in a spectacularly colorful (red, green, or blue) fashion.

[Dessalines]

It could just be bad writing mixed with a way to sell future games. I think they are betting that the money is in the universe, not the characters. If you remove the emotional moments which are beautiful base on the choices your character made through the trilogy, you are basically doing the same thing you did in Dragon Age. You are gathering an army to fight an ancient evil. Even the Reapers are just alien darkspawn. There are variety of different darkspawn base on the races of the broodmother. There are variety of different reapers base on the races they absorbed. Someone told me that Dragon Age: Awakenings was just like a Baldour's gate game The first DLC that is annouced is for a multiplayer game where you can buy packs to improve your character. I
I am thinking all there are going to do is add a variety unique and cool characters to the following plotlines:
1)Dragon Age 3 will be about the illusive Morrigan or the Illusive Flemeth recruiting you to break into the Grand Chantry in Orlais to stop the coming  war. You will need to recruit various people from around the world to do this, and complete their loyalty missions too. The loyalty missions will basically be fetching stuff, and the main quest will be 27 hours.
2) Mass Effect 4 will be you are one of the descendants of the survivor of the Reaper War. Players will see you rise to the become the Hero of the Terminus system. Older Aria T-Loak will be one of your squadmates, and to make sure that you feel that emotional connection to your previous games, you get to uncover those time capsules that reveal some of your deeds in past games. Since this game will be out latter, the main quest will be only 22 hours

Modifié par Dessalines, 16 mars 2012 - 01:03 .

[Ashtarth1]

Bantz wrote...

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?

anyone else read this as "We're glad your talking about this, and we'll be happy to explain to you simple minded folks the brilliance of our work after we've had enough time to ****** off another entire country of fans. Thank you for your patience."  ?

Hope i'm wrong and Chris is being genuine but it just seems based of twitter comments and such that you expect us to head cannon everything. IE I picked red and destroyed the reapers, geth and EDI (although if you listen to twitter the star child may have been lying!). My crew is stranded and I'm laying battered bruised and, 5 minutes before meeting star child I was bleeding out. So I take a half a breath which means i"m alive! So disregarding my dire medical situation and unknown location I'm to head cannon that I'm found, nursed back to health and find a pilot to fly me out on a wild goose chase to find my crew. Hey STEEEEEEEEVE !!!! crashed on earth somewhere and apparently "he's ok!" so maybe he'll help after all he'll do "anything for me".

Ok sarcasm and lack of faith aside. Chris you asked what my favorite parts of ME3 were? Just about all of it. I romanced tali, I LOVED the flirtations between her and shep all game. It really made the romance feel more organic. Now it would have been nice when i went to speak to her if i got something other then "shepherd". even in ME2 when you started romancing her you got a change in dialog when you asked "got time to talk". It went from "not now need to fix the engine", to "Ofcourse, always have time for you".    I loved the missions on rannoch and Tuchanka. And even though I romanced Tali I think the Tuchanka missions were your finest work. Between Moridins "Metal in tank excellent supliment for thresher maws diet", to his "I MADE A MISTAKE!" or "Would have liked to run tests on seashells". That series of quests had moments of absolute hilarity and moments that made you completely choke up and fight back tears.

Oh and being able to punch that headstrong quarian admiral that ordered the fleet to fire on the dreadnaught while I was still inside. GET THE HELL OFF MY SHIP MR. QUIB QUIB!

Han'Gerrel is the Admiral that did that lolol

Quib Quib wants peace.

[Nomad619]

Loved ME3, the ending wasnt what i expected, but can live with it. Would much rather have bioware finish the game properly, by having an ending that seals commander shepards fate and the rest of galaxy and crew.

[mullinavat]

I play games, listen music, read books and watch films to FEEL something. Good, depressing, uplifting or bad. What I don't want is to be bored. And I think that I wasn't bored for a second with ME3.

And yes, the ending is weird, depressing and thought provoking. And I understand why a lot of people hate it. But personally for me it's better a bitter ending than an average/ predictable ending that don't make me feel/ think anything. But maybe it's just me.

[/quote]

i agree with this I dont mind Shepard dying its just there are more questions than answers after this and if this was the final game then there should not be as many as there are. there would have to be  a new game or something based after the event to explain things because people want to know what happens to the galaxy after this. However, this could be Bioware plan to have a mysteroius ending so the can bring ouy another game which I have no problem with, but untill then these questions will wreck my head

[JasmoVT]

First of all thanks for the post. More importantly thanks for what is all in all one of the best crafted games I have played. It was well crafted both cinematically (visiuals and sound) and well as in terms of the dialog, both the main dialogs and the side dialogs. The game allowed a deeper more real development of the relationship with new and old characters.

The ending is at best baffling. I know you guys are very creative and able to create clear long term story arcs. As I sort through the wide range of emotions the endings have evoked I come to the following.

The endings would have been great as a "to be continued" fade to black (as if ME1 had ended with the opening scene to ME2), but Bioware has told us absolutely this is the end of the triology and this story arc will not be continued. As a result, many of us feel we have been left with no ending at all, just a beloved story line that stopped in mid flow with no explanation. Given my respect for the creative team working on ME I am baffled since i know you can do this right.

Now I ponder:
1) Is this really not the end and the whole thing has been a set up and this really is a "to be continued fade to black"
2) When my cynical mind kicks in I wonder if this is all a con to force us to pay for the real ending, thoughts I supress because I have too much respect for Bioware.
3) Did the creative team think this was some sort of high art leaving everything unresolved which runs counter to all the times you told us everything would be resolved.


So I am baffled Chris, I am a well educated senior who knows a lot about plot design and I am baffled. Having worked through the anger, frustration and all the other emotion and am simply left waiting with the question "Is this all there is?"

[RiGoRmOrTiS_UK]

Subject One wrote...

I play games, listen music, read books and watch films to FEEL something. Good, depressing, uplifting or bad. What I don't want is to be bored. And I think that I wasn't bored for a second with ME3.

And yes, the ending is weird, depressing and thought provoking. And I understand why a lot of people hate it. But personally for me it's better a bitter ending than an average/ predictable ending that don't make me feel/ think anything. But maybe it's just me.

Thing is, its not thought provoking because its deep, multi-layered or clever. Its thought provoking in that there are certain things that make absolutly no sense. There are 4 huge "slap you in the face" things which clearly don't make sense..

..i.e. Dead Squadmates appears on the jungle planet...

shepard just "accepting" everything the star child says..

Anderson getting to the control panel first.. Anderson's "shifting walls and rooms" comment doesn't cut it because the control panel room is in your view when he mentions it.

etc...etc.. etc..

oh and the fact the game wasn't going to have an A, B, C ending (mentioned a mere 2 months ago by bioware)

Modifié par RiGoRmOrTiS_UK, 16 mars 2012 - 01:09 .

[Riddic]

Renegade end to Kai Leng.

Don't mind the end...not endings..the one end. The part I mind about the ending is all the plot holes and it doesn't seem to matter how hard you worked to get everyone together, you're not given options from total destruction up to actually taking Earth back despite all the previous choices you made.

[Fred_MacManus]

Phobius9 wrote...
I'd be interested in know what Bioware's favourite parts were in the story? 

Apparently the ending (SINGULAR), since they stuck it to us without even using lube.

[rinoe]

Defiantfa11 wrote...
Just want that closure as most people do, Surprise us all Bioware. Hopefully they will give us some solid news about it soon.

Nooo, don't suprise us anymore. I have enough of suprises.
Just give us proper ending to the serie. And closure.

[TheRevanchist]

Alsuras wrote...

What happened to Sam Gamgee?

After the War of the Ring, Sam married Rose "Rosie" Cotton and moved to Bag End with Frodo. Sam and Rosie had thirteen children: Elanor the Fair, Frodo, Rose, Merry, Pippin, Goldilocks, Hamfast, Daisy, Primrose, Bilbo, Ruby, Robin, and Tolman (Tom). Sam was elected Mayor of the Shire for seven consecutive seven-year terms and came to be known as Samwise Gardner.
After Sam and Rose's first child was born it was revealed that Frodo would leave Middle-earth, along with Bilbo (Sam's old hero), Gandalf and most of the remaining High Elves (Wood Elves had no part of this exodus from Middle-Earth), for the Undying Lands. Before Frodo left, he gave the estate of Bag End to Sam, as well as the Red Book of Westmarch for Sam to continue, hinting that Sam might also be allowed to travel into the West eventually.
After the death of his wife in the year 62 of the Fourth Age (Shire Reckoning 1482), Sam entrusted the Red Book to Elanor and left the Shire at the age of 102. He was not seen again in Middle-earth, but Elanor and her descendants preserved the tradition that he went to the Grey Havens and sailed into the West. As the last of the Ring-bearers, he was entitled to sail across the Sea and be reunited with Frodo in the Undying Lands.

Exactly....

[tgz]

I loved this game. I completed it twice in a single week. It was great, except the ending. The first time I thought my rushing through the story and not caring about effective strength or galactic readyness was not enought to secure a satisfying ending. So the second time I explored all the star clusters, completed all search and rescue missions, got the galactic readyness up to 95%, had a final effective strength of more than 5200, and waited for the final moments, only to see the same choices presented again.

I could not choose for minutes, because there was no choice I felt like selecting. All choices cripple the great universe created. I knew Shepard had to die. I myself did not see any other way. But I can't shake the feeling that his/her ultimate sacrifice didn't make a damn difference, because the galaxy that is left behind is like a man saved, who just lost his legs, arms, tongue, sight and hearing. Yeah, sure, he was saved. But his life is over anyway. He's a vegetable.

The final cutscene with the Normandy was outright ridiculous both times (red explosions, green explosions). What was that all about? A new beginning? Of what? Will there be a Mass Effect 4 without mass relays? The protagonist will be the lovechild of Joker and EDI? Come on...

I understand that this saga can not be concluded with "happily ever after". I understand sacrifice is necessary. But make us feel it was worth it. Make us feel that life can go on. That the world is actually saved. Or destroyed. Cause this is neither. And both. And make us feel that our choices made some kind of difference.

I understand it's impossible to write an ending to a saga, that pleases every fan. It's hard to write an ending that pleases most of the fans. But it's like you couldn't come up with anything better. I have yet to hear anyone non-Bioware saying he was satisfied. You've gotta do better than that. And I'm sure you can do better than that.

I don't regret buying this game. But I don't feel like completing it again, I don't even feel like playing it again, and no new team member DLC is going to change that.

[JulienJaden]

FOX216BC wrote...

Angry JOE Review

http://angryjoeshow....angry-review-2/

That's the most accurate overall game review I've heard so far.

Which actually made me remember a few more things I hated: Diane Allers (she's a horribly flat character), Vega (I think you could have done a lot more with him than that; I only ever talked to him when I was down there to talk with Cortez, whom I liked a lot; Cortez is a statement and a good one at that; I have no tolerance for people who are biased against homosexuals; if you don't like it, don't talk to him and don't romance him, you're not forced to!), the confusing (and NOT updating) quest log, the Normandy always looking like it's in a state of disarray... You know, little things. Nothing I couldn't live with.

Multiplayer's not the greatest thing since sliced bread and has some serious bugs (which may be engine related - for example, when you can't shoot, melee attack or use an ability but still can run around, get into cover and aim - REALLY infuriating when something like that happens at a crucial moment), but overall, it's okay, as long as nobody forces me to actually pay for those packs. And I'm only playing right now because I hope that those leveled-up characters will help me once the real endings are released. Without such an incentive, I would not keep playing.

And, as I said so many times before: The endings are unacceptable. So is, by the way, Tali's picture and that scene in bed. Seriously, what the ****? She was intimate with Shepard and dresses up again, immediately? It's the end of the world. For all she cares, she could catch a deadly decease and it would still be worth spending the night cuddled up with him. If you go over the endings, this definitely should be changed; the things above should be reviewed, at the very least.

Also - Day One DLC? Not cool, BioWare. But then again, I guess, in retrospect, Javik wasn't the deepest character, either, so I guess I can forgive you for that. But since he wasn't deep and you didn't put that much effort into it: 10 bucks? Really? Not cool either.


There's a lot of good in ME3. Come on, you don't really want to ruin all of that with an ending like that, right?

[Subject One]

Xerkysz wrote...

Here are some facts I'm putting together, that if people simply went to their Codex, down to Reapers, and hit Indoctrination, took notes of how it affects you, then looked back on the game, at your nightmares that contain the catalyst and the ghosts (As time passes, they have feelings of "Being watched" and hallucinations of "Ghostly presences"), they would realise it.

The high pitch ringing noise after you get hit by the reaper beam (Organics undergoing indoctrination may complain of headaches or ringing and buzzing in their ears. This is out of the Codex).
The fact that I was in Collector armor when I got hit, woke up in the N7 armor, then destroyed the reapers and woke up in London, back in my collector armor, the fact that I had Garrus and Javik on my squad during the run, yet when I got up and continued moving to the beam after being hit by the reaper, they were no where to be seen, and then Javik gets out of the Normandy after the crash landing? I never knew Javik could get from the earth, to the normandy, in the middle of a dog fight in space, in the short time it takes you to destroy the Mass Relays.

The fact that the Catalyst says...
"You can wipe out all synthetic life if you want, including the Geth. Even you are partly synthetic." (Trying to stop you from destroying them by saying you will die too.) This is where BioWare indoctrinated the player base, not Shepard.

If you choose control/synth, you're not destroying the reapers, which has been the aim of the game since the beginning of the series.

There's also the part where you just get onto the Citadel, and Anderson describes what he see's as you're about to go to it, yet you cannot see him.

The Indoctrination theory has solid facts proving it, and people just need to see it.

Maybe that's the point: the end is open to interpretation. I understand that most people are upset, but I suppose that they want that Stanley Kubrick changes the 2001 film '****ty' ending as well

Anyway: an epilogue for squadmates/ races will be good IMHO.

[Polat995]

[quote]kiiiiii wrote...



Hello everyone, re joining the lines only now...

Could anyone tell me why the "Rent Effect" ?

Thank you very much..


HOLDING THE LINE![/quote]

Basiclly many are ranting about the ending and to nickname their feeling its not worth buying it became "renteffect"
( plus massueffect-->kassueffect , rhymes )

bump

So I translated some comments from a japanese website regarding the ending and me3 overall .

To
be fair, I picked the first comments in the right order of the site.
I`ll quote the japanese letters here as well, dont know it will be coded
correctly. For reference you can follow the link,too.

I didnt
find really big topics about this on 2ch etc.. just here and there some
smaller discussions. so i choose one of the first hits on google to
translate. But to be said, the mood is similar at many sites.

First of all there is a "nickname" going around for me3 in the forums,
instead of Masseffect , many people call it became "rent"effect
マスエフェクト---->カスエフェクト

and
sad but true, there are many many rude comments about the homosexual
content,many feel very offended by that, so Ill avoid these.

From:http://jin115.com/archives/51856240.html

あーあこれのために２買ったのに失敗したなあ　
What a waste I bought me2 for this one

買わなくてよかったー
good i didnt bought it

これ昨日日本版でたでしょ
だれか真相はよ
This was released yesterday in Japan , somebody hurry with the "truth" ( opinion )

ＥＡは日本でいうバンナムとかカプコン
糞会社
EA in USA is like Bandam or Capcom in Japan
a"**t company" , literally translated
---> more meant like "greedy cooperations"

マルチなのにこれだけ低評価か
ガチだな
Its march and ratings this low already , lost.

なんでメタスコアは高かったの？
Why was the metascore that high?

エンディングはﾏｼﾞで洒落にならんくらい酷いぞ
最終章にしてこの終わり方かよ！って感じ
新しいＥＤを作ってもらうために海外で署名運動までできてるｗ
The ending is so bad its not even "worth a joke"
Building up perfectly to the ending then this?!
In the other countries people are demanding a new ending.

Plus, many blogs are talking about the low metascore on western game sites (and amazon etc)

http://jin115.com/ar...s/51856240.html
http://blog.esuteru....es/5996420.html
http://hotima.blogsp...12/03/1_16.html

To summerize, its pretty the same picture.
And to add on officlal sites like amazon.co.jp the ratings are pretty high.
But you have to remember that Masseffect overall isnt that popular in Japan.
The
official game magazines rates are very high,though for the bigger
magazines they even didnt bother to test the game, they simply often
translated english reviews AND gave the same score.
on the forums you see a different view of many disappointed people.

Its not from me but a indepth summary of japanese fanreaction:
http://tvtropes.org/...in/GainaxEnding



[/quote]


Will Casey Hudson still insist that "Deus Ex imitation" ending is good?

Modifié par Polat995, 16 mars 2012 - 01:13 .

[LelianaHawke]

My favorite scene: no matter what ending choice you pick, you see flashes of Joker, Anderson and your love interest as Shepard makes the sacrifice. My LI being Liara, the flashback of her looking up at Shepard and smiling just about broke my heart. Second favorite, Anderson's last words.

You seemed to always see Liara no matter who your LI was. Mine was Kelly but I saw Liara...

Took a lot of the emotional meaning away, because my Shepard hates Liara after what happened in ME2 (I always chose the "go away" conversation options). Why was she thinking about someone she disliked in her last moments?

Modifié par LelianaHawke, 16 mars 2012 - 01:17 .

[JulienJaden]

LelianaHawke wrote...

My favorite scene: no matter what ending choice you pick, you see flashes of Joker, Anderson and your love interest as Shepard makes the sacrifice. My LI being Liara, the flashback of her looking up at Shepard and smiling just about broke my heart. Second favorite, Anderson's last words.

You seemed to always see Liara no matter who your LI was. Mine was Kelly but I saw Liara...

Took a lot of the emotional meaning away, because my Shepard hates Liara after what happened in ME2.

It's not always Liara. I've seen videos with Ashley and Kaidan instead of her. Not sure if there are more than that but there's at least those three (A, B and C again, huh, Casey?).

[Golferguy758]

My favorite part of the thee games as a whole was how it made me wonder what is really out there. We are a small blue marble floating through the vastness of space. Mass effect made me believe in the good of people. Mass effecr made me believe that through hope anything is possible.mass effect made me believe that through perseverance we can accomplish the impossible.

Because of mass mass effect it makes me believe that you wouldn't turn on your most loyal fans the the way it seems.

Please bioware. For what it's worth I still believe in you. Don't let me down
That is my favorite part of mass effect

[Slashice]

So I'm guessing ME3 failed (the ending) in Japan too? Good, good... hurry up with the "truth" BW allready!

[SMOjr]

The writing and the story in the Mass Effect universe has been flawless without plot holes throughout the entire series, it has all been so well executed and for that you've gained a huge fan base.. But what I don't get is; what happened when you were writing the last ten minutes of the story? It is full of plot holes, and people picked up on these flaws instantaneously! What went wrong? How can you go from perfect writing with almost no flaws.. to this?

Please tell me you're aware of this. If we can see it, then so can you.

And another thing, if you see this as a business strategy - then you really went with an extremely odd choice. 
You just eliminated all possibilities of any future franchise development! None of us are gonna be replaying the games or buying new DLC that happens before the ending, because you know what? It won't matter to the overall story now! 
Yes, this might be the end of Shepards story, we were prepared for that. But the end of an entire universe that we have come to love? Come on. No Mass Relays and no Galactic community = No more Mass Effect. 

[GreyLycanTrope]

Favorite moments:
-Anderson's "I'm
proud of you"
-Wrex calling Shepard his brother/sister when
curing the genophage
-Mordin's final moments, Legion becoming an
individual
- creating peace between Geth and Quarians, helping EDI
"become truly alive"
-Tali and Garrus hooking up, Garrus'
favorite spot on the Citidel
-catching up with Kelly Chambers,
helping Cortez move on
- Thane's prayer for Shepard (I liked that one
even though I'm an atheist, so great job)
-Grunt's last stand
-hanging with Jack in the bar
-Tali's photo
-getting Joker to dance
- uniting all organics and synthetics against the reapers

...to name a few

[noaxark]

Loved the game! I think PA's Tycho got it right when he said the whole thing was denoument. It ends mostly everything in the series excellently, except itself. A few points on why, in order of importance:

I was given no reason to believe the Star Child, yet I had to decide the fate of the galaxy based on what it said. This was an ancient creature responsible for unfathomable suffering, at the precipice of its demise. Despite its clear motivation to lie, the resolution hinges on that it didn't: If the Star Child can't be trusted, the choices become arbitrary because they could mean anything.

Distrust or rejection wasn't an option. My Shepard had defended synthetics at every turn, passionate both in action and argument. He'd also befriended two of them, both of whom had earned his trust and were inifitely more amiable than the reaper VI standing before him. I wasn't exactly primed to accept the notion that synthetics will inevitably destroy all organics, and I definitely didn't expect Shepard to either. But he did without question.

I never really got to see the battle for which I'd been preparing throughout the series. Sure, I got to see a battle, but it wasn't mine and it didn't express the choices I made to get there. I kept expecting my allies to show up for their crowning moments of awesome, but none did.

The endings differ only in implication and player imagination. It's telling, not showing. I liked that the stargazer sequence seemed positive in one ending and down-right ominous in another, despite its dialogue being unchanged. That, however, doesn't work nearly as well for events directly connected to the main plot, which needed less broad strokes and more scenes specific to the player's own Shepard.

I want to end this post on a positive note, though. In spite of the above, Mass Effect 3 is currently tied with Mass Effect 2 in my top 5 games ever (which would make it a top 6 now. hm.). I feel terribly unoriginal for having two games from the same series on that list, but that's just how well they resonate with me. Thank you for that.

Modifié par noaxark, 21 mars 2012 - 01:18 .

[MDT1]

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.

This.

ME3 deserves an ending that fits and gives motivations to the events of the series and has the Quality of the rest of the games.

Modifié par MDT1, 16 mars 2012 - 01:20 .

[karlchen]

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.

100% signed! Exactly this!!!!