Well, the case is here. That why should there only be one ending? With a set path of events?? This should not be the case in a game like mass effect. The player should be able to influence and CHOSE their Shepards own destiny. I hope that bioware changes this. Because that is the theme of mass effect. Player choice, and the fight against all the odds. Like the game is now, we only have one ending(because the 3 we have, are identical).
And the last hour or so, is locked on one path, not being able to change anything. I really hope they change this. Because the mass effect series is not like other games, but some other games also have different endings. While most have a set ending. And movies are set, sure i understand that they won´t remake a movie because some people don´t like it, or rewrite a book, for that reason.
But this is not the case here. Sadly i think that bioware has forgotten this along the way, that all players care about their shepard. There isn´t really a fixed, pre determend mold of shepard. Look at Dragon Age Origins.
The warden was agains´t all the odds, much like in ME3. But you got tho choose the outcome of the game.
Both for your warden, your companions, the world of the game. And you got to see what happend next, the results of your actions. A long ending. That left the player touched and satisfied. So, please bioware. You have done it before, why not do this with ME3 to??
You are a good videogame company, you listen to your fans. And i think that it is great that you are changing/adding to the ending. I just wanted to share my thoughts. Keep up the good work!
Indoctrination Theory + some affectionate scenes in the actual ending. And what happened to the people we care about? (not just your team, but on a larger scale as well)
I thin the game was great and the endings were fine. I just felt that it is incomplete as is. I want to know what happens to the crew. If the salarians were right about the kroggran. So my thought is that shepard blacks out during the scene with anderson looking at earth. You get to know what happened to your teammates will you where running into the beam to the citadel. Etc. Etc. I think Shepard should live, but is handicapped in someway. You find out that the beam got a lot of the reapers, but not the ones that stayed behind in dark space. So Shepard can't fight anymore, but the next game is about the new N7 team that Shepard is training to be Spectres and sends them on missions and finding clues that the reapers are devastated but not destroyed. You also find a reaper where they harvested everyone from earth and made a complete human reaper.
Please feel free to comment and expand on the idea. Again give some closure, and this idea is a good setup to continue the series on a good path. Shepard is around, but more like admiral heckett.
I could go on, but want to know someone is actually listening to my comments and ideas.
As other gamers in here, I want more closure to the ending (some sort of post-Archdemon scene in DAO). I want to see what happens to squadmates and allies (Garrus+Tali, LI, James receiving N7, Wrex and Eve etc.). Plus, Shepard gave so much promises to drink with people (Jacob, Kasumi, Chakwas).
However, if Shep does die, he/she deserves a proper mourning (with everybody present).
Finally, I'd like to see plotholes fixed. Normandy cannot flee battle just like that with squadmates that were just present in Shep's team. And I want to see what REALLY happened to Anderson ( who follows Shep through the Conduit, but manages to outrun him/her). Besides, in subs throughout the game Anderson was referred as "Anderson", and in endgame "Admiral Anderson" (don't you find it strange?). Also, Im big David+Kahlee fan. Make them happy!
Thanx
I did not have any major problems with the ending and would think it strange if they where changed, exept maybe some extra information. I don't want it to become Star Wars with constant changes.
What I would like changed is the journal. It is never clear whether you already have found something and just need to deliver it or if you haven't found it.
Well, as this thread wears on - some of these ideas, I just... The dev staff has to be feeling better and better about their choice of endings, is what I'm getting at.
We need more Jack in ME3. She won poll for the hottest character in ME3 and she dominated poll "Which NPC should be a squadmate?".
She is the most distinctive character in a whole franchise. She shouldn't be treated like that. Please, make a DLC that will fix this. She has to be a real companion.
I'm sorry but compared to ME1 and ME2, this game was horrible.
Completely tossing the dissappointing endings and MASSIVE plot holes aside, this game just felt really rushed.
ME 1 was an amazing RPG adventure, and ME2 is quite frankly the best game I have ever played in my life....ever. ME3 just made me feel like some corporate big whig was standing behind the development team screaming "I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU DO, JUST GET IT DONE NOW!"
James Vega was a horrible addition to the game. There were many times where I wished I could've opened the airlock and tossed him out of the Normandy. The ME2 character appearances were random and felt awkward at times.(Oh, Hi Thane, it's nice to see you just...hanging out in the hospital.) Why couldn't we have had at least some of them join us? Honestly, if you needed a female shepard love interest, wouldn't you have rather had Jacob join the squad instead of Vega? At least you have had some sort of previous connection with Jacob.
That being said, as far as new characters, I really liked the Prothean. He had a story and a history. I really felt like he had a reason and a purpose for joining the team, (Unlike Vega). I'm not sure why he was Jamaican, but I really liked his "spirit of revenge, I'm a top notch, badass, advanced prothean, but not sure what's going on right now with the lesser species ruling the galaxy" personality. He was a character, and an interesting add-on to the game. He was someone who made me say "hmmm what kind of input will he have if I bring him with me on this side mission?"
Which brings me to my next point. Where's all the side missions? Remember ME2 when EDI would say "Anomoly detected" during the planet scanning process? There was a feeling of excitement inside you that said "YES I GET TO LAND AND ACTUALLY DO SOMETHING!" This game was lacking that feeling. Sure it was cool to see you scan Feros and gain the ExoGeni Scientists War Asset, but wouldn't it have been better to actually LAND on Feros and have to the save the ExoGeni Scientists to gain them as a war asset. Think of the nostalgic feeling of landing on Feros for just one more time. No, instead we are stuck with being forced to scan planets and have a little box pop up in the right hand corner saying, "Congratulations, you've gained 'insert any name' war asset." It was a horrible system that went like this: listen in on conversation between two people on the citadel, scan a planet, gain a war asset. (yay).
To be honest, that was my biggest gripe, the lack of side missions. I swear (and I know this will appease EA) I would honestly pay more than $100 to actually have some decent side missions to replace the ridiculous "scan planet, gain war asset" system that was developed.
The endings sucked...plain and simple, but this has already been established. If this game needed another year for it to be developed properly, I would've gladly waited.
I would have honestly liked to have seen the money that was spent on multiplayer (useless) and kinect (even more useless) spent on the single player experience.
I love Mass Effect. I haven't been considered a "gamer" in long time because of how many games nowadays lack a good storyline. (Call of Duty?....boring). This is the one franchise that actually offers the consumer everything he or she is looking for. (Story, Action, Adventure, RPG). I'm just disappointed that Bioware KNEW what their fans wanted and ignored them.
There are dozens of great options listed here but some of it is started to write the game for Bioware. So to put it simply, we want:
1. Multiple endings based upon the different choices made throughout the games
We should not be able to play the game as a 100% Paragon saving everyone and everything (Rachni, Geth, Krogan, Collector Base etc) and get the same ending (or "choice" of endings) as a 100% Renegade who destroyed and slaughtered everyone and everything (Rachni, Geth, Krogan, Collector Base etc). Nor should we get the same endings if we went in with every war asset available as we currently do going in with the bare minimum of assets.
2. Expanded interaction with our squad, especially our Love Interest
Not only in the epilogue but throughout the game, particularly leading up to and during the Battle for Earth
3. Sequences in which our War Assets play out
We want to see our Krogan allies fighting alongside us on Earth (pref while riding Kakliosaurs), we want to see our Geth and Quarian fleet engaging the Reapers in Space, the STG doing their part, but again, make these scenes dependent upon the choices we made and thus the assets we collected.
4. Closure
This includes the fate of the galaxy at large, especially Earth and the other planets/races we have had a direct hand in saving, and double especially for our squadmates.
The actual story/climax I would be happy if Bioware used all, some, or none of the options listed in this whole thread, just so long as we get these 4 issues sorted
I definitely would like to see more love interest content. Certainly I feel happy ending with Love Interest should be on the cards. RPG's should have multiple endings and one of these endings should at least be a happy ending in my book.
on a whole I really like ME3... yes I hated the ending but I don't think you need more of that on this thread as there's loads already dedicated to peoples feelings on that...
constructively the faults I had with the game were :-
1: the secondary quests and the log for tracking them
a friend of mine actually kinda liked the system of just overhearing stuff and not having to sit through some random citizen telling you why x item is needed and why you should get it and I do see his point however I think Angry Joe's review Shepard is one nosy git and the lack of updates to quests or a inventory to track what you have can be frustrating, ok if you check the map of an area it dose help pointing out people to talk too still this felt very dumbed down and ultimately sloppy and you kinda have to figure out the map for yourself.
2: Conversation felt dumbed down
over all I felt that my team had more to say even if a good part of that chat was now outside of dialogue cut scenes and personally I didn't mind that it was certainly better than ME2 where I quickly ran out of conversation options with my team, however when talking to other people is where I got a little annoyed choices seemed to be boiled down to 2 options and a investigate more before you answer choice, with maybe a paragon renegade thrown in and some times the 2 choices were so similar as to be essentially the same thing just worded slightly differently more options would have been appreciated
3: Anderson
again a minor issue but I set him up as earth alliances representative on the council however with no explanation in ME3 he is back to Admiral and Udiena was on the council a line or two of explanation there would have been nice, no real issue with the change as the way the game goes it had to be that way around but still a reason even if it was just a throw away line would have been great
4: War Assets
it did bug me how they seemed kinda pointless in the finally battle but that's an issue about the ending, however during play I was a little disappointed at how easy they were to get and I never seemed to lose any, my bar only ever went up, some choices and points in the game that could conceivably lose me assets would have been interesting.
5: Team
The team felt small after ME2 and also it seemed any and all ME2 characters I met were automatically relegated to support/cameo rolls at least 1 or 2 being recruitable would have been nice and made it less formulaic as very soon I realised the way it was going and it turned into "hey there old friend want to join up? no? well not surprised go on them become a war assets as I sure don't already have more of them than I know what to do with"
still overall this was a fun game and these for me were minor faults and nothing that got to much in my way of enjoying the game.
I definitely would like to see more love interest content. Certainly I feel happy ending with Love Interest should be on the cards. RPG's should have multiple endings and one of these endings should at least be a happy ending in my book.
Well, as this thread wears on - some of these ideas, I just... The dev staff has to be feeling better and better about their choice of endings, is what I'm getting at.
It would be so much simpler if everyone just said "We would just like to feel as if we were working towards some set of tangible goals so that we would feel better about a second play through.", which is I believe the nub of the problem. As much as I would like to see the war assets play out (and have an Elcor say something like "(grim determination) Let's roll") this is not going to materially address the main problem with the ending. It's just window dressing.
I've been keeping up with this closely, and having found thread, I feel I should do my part to help the developers make a fitting ending for this great series. First I want to commend the folks at Bioware on the great work they did with the whole Mass Effect series. That being said, I am also one of the many that think the ending wasn't in line with the themes of the series.
Lets start at the final fight. While I enjoyed it thoroughly, it left me wanting more. When I came to Earth, I thought I was going to be involved in a battle on several fronts much like the missions on Tuchanka and Rannoch. Instead I went straight to the final fight in London. The news reports and teaser trailers suggested that epic battles would play out on Earth. We were also told that we would get a chance to take control of the Mako and the Hammerhead. Thats just wishful thinking though. Maybe that can be addressed with DLC farther down the road. My real grievances started with the encounter with The Illusive Man. I was surprised that I could simply talk him into shooting himself in the head. I was expecting Harbinger to take control of his body and I would have to fight him in a drawn out battle similar to my fight with Saren in ME1, instead, that was it. Next is the part with the catalyst. The problems I had was the choices. In a universe full of choices, I only get three. Once I make my choice, that's it. Aside from a few minor differences, the endings are all the same. Shepard dies (unless military score is high enough), mass relays are destroyed, Normandy crash lands on some random planet. Here is where the whole thing gets dicey. Shepard dying, personally don't like it. Hell, he already died at the beginning of Mass Effect 2. I'm not saying he needs to ride off into the sunset, but can we at least have an option where we don't kill the poor guy? It's already been established in the Arrival DLC that if a mass relay goes up, it takes the whole star system with it. Something having to do with an explosion the equivalent of a supernova, which brings me to my next point. The Normandy just so happens to be in the middle of a jump between relays when they go up and it ends up crash landing on some jungle world. This makes no sense for a number reasons. First, it has been established that the Normandy is the command and control ship as Shepard was the one to unite the races into one fleet, there is absolutely no reason what-so-ever for the command and control ship to leave the battle space, so the Normandy being in the middle of a mass relay jump makes no sense at all. Second, and most importantly, all of my squad members were at the FOB before I embarked on the final push. Not only that, but Jarvik was in my fire team in the final push up to the towers, yet I see him exiting the Normandy after the crash. This also makes no sense. Let's be honest here, the ending could use a serious over haul. That much is obvious what with all of the attention it's been getting. Now I'm not going to piont out the flaws without trying to offer up some ideas as to how to fix them, so here goes.
1. Instead of Shepard being mortally wounded in the run up to the transport towers, perhaps we could see a boss battle. How about Harbinger comes down, decimates the task force, and takes off. Shepard and his two squad members are able to survive the attack scathed, but more or less in tact. We get to the base the tower, broken vehicles and bodies litter the landscape, a cut scene plays where we are attacked by a hoard of husks led by a single Marauder. We spend a few minutes fighting off an almost endless supply of husks. We finish of the last few husks, and another cut scene plays. The Marauder enters the field to do battle personally, we think this is going to be easy, but then something else happens. The Marauder startes to glow, and we hear that familiar voice speak those familiar words, "Assuming direct control." Now this isn't like fighting the Collector General from ME2. This is a bit harder. We have to use quite a bit of what we've learned here. Not only does this guy use heavy biotic attacks (I'm thinking defensive abilities similar to what Matriarch Benezia used, and offensive abilities similar to the Specter we fought in the Lair of the Shadow Broker), but he's also carrying ordnance. After a long protracted fight with this guy, Anderson shows up with a few survivors and hits Harbinger hard weakening him, Shepard moves in and finishes him off with his omni blade. Another cut scene plays. Up in space, Harbinger loses shields (similar to what happened to Sovereign after we killed Saren). EDI detects this, and Joker directs the fleet to focus fire on Harbinger. The Normandy unleashes its Thanix cannons on Harbinger, and finally finishes him off with a torpedo when he opens his body to fire his main weapon. Back on the ground, we see Shepard and Anderson enter the beam, while our squad and the few survivors take up defensive positions around the beam to defend it against a wall of husks trying to stop us. We are transported to the Citadel, but Anderson isn't there with us because he was transported to a different section. We make it to the central chamber only to find The Illusive Man, thoroughly indroctrinated, waiting for us. It plays out the same as the original ending here, if our paragon or renegade scores are high enough, we should be able to not only talk him into shooting himself, but to avoid killing Anderson as well. We open the Citadel, the Crucible is attached, but we can't seem to activate it. Instead of being spirited away to another chamber, the Catalyst manisfests itself to us. It tells us about how we are the first organics to make it this far, why the Reapers follow their cycle, and that we are doomed to destroy ourselves. We can explore more about the Reapers through the investigate option, or we can continue on through the conversation. At the end of the conversation, we are given the option to either 1) fire the crucible and disrupt the Reaper's signal so they can't control their forces or communicate with each other, leveling the playing field for the allied forces, or 2) merge with the catalyst and take control the reapers, unfortunately this will be the end of Shepard. Now I understand that I just went from 3 choices to 2 choices, but bear with me. We'll say I told the catalyst to screw off and fired the crucible.
I'm going to give a cut scene based on my Mass Effect experience. We see Jacob and Miranda leading a squad of Alliance soldiers against a force of cannibals and marauders, they are attacked by a group of harvesters only to be saved by Cortez leading a fighter squadron. Allied soldiers are engaged in heavy fighting against a force of cannibles, husks, marauders, and brutes. They are being protected by barriers from Jack and her team, but the barriers can only take so much, the barriers fail, but just as all seems lost, they are saved by Zaeed Massani leading a mercenary force composed of Blue Suns, Eclipse, and Blood Pack. Turian and Salarian soldiers are being overwhelmed by Ravagers and Brutes, but are saved by the Krogan led by Grunt and Urdnot Wrex. Asari commandos are surrounded by Banshees, but Samara and a group of Justicars move in and lay waste to the Banshees with powerful biotic attacks. Samara grabs the last Banshee by the throat and says her line, "Find peace in the embrace of the goddess," and then smashes her head with a biotic punch. Finally we see the members of our squad fighting off the entire Reaper ground force. They are inflicting heavy losses, but they keep losing ground. It is here that we will see which of our squad members survived. Whomever we didn't gain the loyalty of will die in this scene. At the last moment when all seems lost, the crucible fires. There is a blinding light, a wave of energy, and the Reaper controlled ground forces fall to the ground lifeless. Cut to the battle in space. The Allied Navy is taking a beating, but the crucible is fired and the fight slowly starts to turn in their favor. Alliance dreadnoughts and cruisers, and the remants of the Batarian navy start blasting away at Reaper destroyers. The Destiny Assension and some Asari cuisers blast a Reaper capital ship to pieces. The Turian navy destroys several Reaper capital ships and destroyers. The Qurians and Geth attack enmass destroying several Reaper destroyers and a capital ship. The Reapers are beaten back until there are only a few remaining. Admiral Hackett's ship lines up with the last Reaper capital ship. Admiral Hackett gives the fire command and we see a shot pass through the Reaper annihilating it. Cut to the Citadel. Firing the crucible is shaking the Citadel to pieces. If the military readiness was high enough, and mine was, we see Shepard and Anderson running through the falling debris to the docking ports. At the last moment, the Normandy flies in. Shepard and Anderson jump in the hatch and the Normandy flies off just as the Citadel begins to break up. The war is over, the Allied races return to their homeworlds and begin to rebuild. The Normandy lands and Shepard learns what became of his squad. We get to see a short memorial service for any squad members that fell in battle. Shepard re-unites with this love interest if he had one, in not we see Shepard and Garrus on a tropical island enjoying drinks. Hackett, or Anderson if he survived, takes up the mantle of leadership and begins leading the efforts to rebuild Earth and the Alliance. The credits roll, the end.
That would've been my Mass Effect ending based on my experience throughout ME 1,2, and 3. Some may say that it was too happy, but I worked my butt off for that ending, so I think it is quite appropriate. It should change according to the various factors. If you didn't bring enough assets to the battle, you lose, and the cycle begins again. We get to see the Yagh taking to space flight and eventually colonizing the galaxy. If your readiness score wasn't high enough, some of the characters you enlisted to help fight from ME2 may not survive, and you or Anderson, or both of you won't make it off the Citadel.
These are just a few ideas. You might like it, you might hate it, but I am trying to offer up what you asked for, and that is ideas to help fix this problem, and no offense, but I think almost anything could be better than the red, green, blue ending that we currently have.
I can understand why Bioware didn't actually show us what happened wih the krogan, etc (cutting out the fact that the endings invalidate it anyway). They probably wanted to avoid a situation where there was obviously a 'best' solution to all of the problems. You could look at Dragon Age: Origins for this with the case of Bhelen. Most people who've completed the game more than once frequently side with Bhelen in subsequent playthroughs despite him being a dictatorial bastard, because the epilogue-slide suggests that he's better for Dwarven society as a whole. They likely wanted to avoid a situation like this, hence the lack of "Under the leadership of Wrex and Bakara, the krogan underwent a new renaissance, becoming model citizens of the galactic community" or "Under Wreav, the the cured Krogan expanded violently and began the Second Krogan Rebellion. Eventually the turians were forced to exterminate them all."
This is presumably what little things like Javik's story about the AI of his time, combined with Tali's comments after brokering Quarian-Geth peace were likely to instill. A sense of 'did I really do the right thing?' without ever really finding out. Of course at least 2/3 endings nullify this choice anyway.
This is really the primary issues with the endings. Its not just that they're bad, and they most certainly are, its that they *don't* leave these things open to speculation because they invalidate them. Mac Walters wanted 'speculation from everyone', but he seems to have gone for the wrong sort of speculation. Speculating on whether we really made the best decisions for galactic future is good speculation, speculating as to whether our choices even mattered to begin with is not.
This is the huge combined work of francophone and anglosaxon incredible fans.
If you approve our letter, so don't hesitate to support and show the letter to everyone who could be interested in or to the responsibles in charge of the ME3 project.
Just a quick thought..
What about a Shepard that, as he realize all the picture, orders suddenly to concentrate the fire on the citadel to destroy the god child abomination and its worthless theory once for all and then, with the citadel blown away, let the war continue and ending coherently with the effective EMS reached from the player?
I do still believe that a 7500+ ems could at least pull the reapers away from the galaxy (at least), and without the child and the citadel they lose their meaning to fight organics and survivors will live in the void till their inner energy get exhausted once for all..
With Shepard dying on the Citadel, this could have been a good solution for your desired bittersweet finale, Casey...
That said, I worked hard in all three chapters to reduce all the possibilities that may bring to a bitter side of things, so I'd have been disappointed anyway, but the satisfaction of this kind of ending would have been way bigger.. isn't it?
However:
I haven't saved geth and quarian for nothing.
I haven't lost Mordin to cure krogans for nothing.
I haven't lost Thane for nothing.
I haven't saved Rachni for nothing.
I haven't gave to my love, Tali, a proper goodbye.
I haven't fight for this...
There are dozens of great options listed here but some of it is started to write the game for Bioware. So to put it simply, we want:
1. Multiple endings based upon the different choices made throughout the games
We should not be able to play the game as a 100% Paragon saving everyone and everything (Rachni, Geth, Krogan, Collector Base etc) and get the same ending (or "choice" of endings) as a 100% Renegade who destroyed and slaughtered everyone and everything (Rachni, Geth, Krogan, Collector Base etc). Nor should we get the same endings if we went in with every war asset available as we currently do going in with the bare minimum of assets.
2. Expanded interaction with our squad, especially our Love Interest
Not only in the epilogue but throughout the game, particularly leading up to and during the Battle for Earth
3. Sequences in which our War Assets play out
We want to see our Krogan allies fighting alongside us on Earth (pref while riding Kakliosaurs), we want to see our Geth and Quarian fleet engaging the Reapers in Space, the STG doing their part, but again, make these scenes dependent upon the choices we made and thus the assets we collected.
4. Closure
This includes the fate of the galaxy at large, especially Earth and the other planets/races we have had a directt hand in saving, and double especially for our squadmates.
The actual story/climax I would be happy if Bioware used all, some, or none of the options listed in this whole thread, just so long as we get these 4 issues sorted
First of all, I'd like to congratulate everyone from the ME team for creating an incredible series.
This is by far the best game that I've ever experienced.
As far as my syggestions:
1. Please expand on the current endings. I would not expect you guys to re-wite the current ending as it would not be fair to people that like them, but adding a new ending or continuing with the one where Shepard lives would be great.
If you were to release a small DLC that basically has a narrative of the consequences of Shaprd's final selection (current endings), that would help.
There you can decide on the 'attempted indocrination theory' or something else.
Additional Ending where Shepard lives.
This could be a larger DLC where Shepard searches for his/her lost crew.
After that, or in the same DLC, you could release something where Shepard would fight the final battle with Harbinger. This is assuming that in the ending where Shepard lives, Harbinger would somehow survive as well. As an example, Shepard would need to hunt down Harbinger before it escapes from the galaxy (before it leaves to get some more of his friends).
2. A 'Happy Ending' ( as an option ) would be great as well.
I would very much like to see an ending similar to ME2 where the game continues and Shepard can finish off some side missions, etc.. Basically this is the 'ride off into the sunset' and have blue babies ending.
3. Pre-ending DCLs. These would take place before the current endings.
There could be several of them (it's up to you guys).
'Take Back Omega' , explorations to gather some resources or anything to help with the EMS points. I find it difficult to get to the 4000EMS (in SP), that would be required to get the 'Shepard Lives' ending.
Maybe a DLC with a new squadmate (same thing that you did in ME2) , or perhaps the ability of recruiting some of the ME2 squad members.
There could also be a DLC that deals with relationship building. Maybee where the characters are interested in Shepard (similar confrontation as one between Liara and Ash in ME1).
BioWare,
Please keep in mind that if you were to release and pre-ending DLCs before addressing the current endings , it would be hard to play any any of them if we don't know what are you going to do with the current endings.
Don't know if this has been posted yet, but it's a letter from our French brothers and sisters. Bioware, PLEASE take note of this letter as it summarized quite nicely (I believe) what the Retake Mass Effect movement is all about. Please see letter here http://social.biowar...ndex/10578487/1 and here http://social.biowar...ndex/10594841/1
The copy in English is below
---
Hello Bioware.
The Anglosaxon and Francophone fans of the web have something to say.
First, thank you very much for the opportunity you gave us to react about the Mass Effect 3's ending.
Few hours ago, the french community on the french bioware social network wrote a letter meant to the french responsibles in charge of the ME3's future add closure.
Then, we humbly came into the english community of the BSN to ask help and support about a translation and visibility.
The answer was totally incredible and full of hope.
We receive a very big and devout support and we don't know how to say our gratefullness.
So, the present letter is a combined work and supported by hugely fans, and be sure we thank you for your devout time to our words.
A letter from fans to the Bioware teams in charge of Mass Effect 3 (v.1.3)
Hello to the creative and production teams of Bioware.
We are the French, Belgian, and Francophone players who have finished the Mass Effect saga, through completion of the last episode of the series: Mass Effect 3.
We are aware of the controversy generated by the ending of Mass Effect 3, and have spent the last few weeks expressing our concerns about the issue through various threads on the French Bioware Social Network forum.
Our initiative to open a dialogue with you is very important to the French/Francophone players of the community.
For some time, a segment of the players have reacted in violent, aggressive, and, sometimes, downright offensive behavior towards your teams; however, a majority of us obviously condemn this despicable behavior. We want to adopt a more constructive approach, as you have given us the opportunity to express ourselves on this subject.
We are very thankful for this opportunity.
We intend to be humble, respectful, and open, and our objective is to ease the process of understanding player complaints throughout the French speaking communities. In addition, we believe that our opinions reflect those of many players throughout the world as well.
We all consider the Mass Effect trilogy to be a huge saga of rare quality, and we are deeply aware of the sizeable efforts you must have taken to give fans the games they wanted to play.
Mass Effect has deeply touched a huge quantity of players on the emotional level, more than many other video games. So, it is not a surprise that many people have waited patiently for this third and final episode.
The reaction of your most loyal fans may have shocked you, and some have been able to voice their feelings better
than others. We are a part of those fans, and we implore you to believe that our initiative is not just an immature
reaction – especially, since this feeling holds true for a majority of those who have finished the game – but a reflection of our feelings on the ending of Mass Effect 3.
We hope that you carefully consider what we have to say in the following statement, because we want to have an open discussion and not impose anything on you.
We respect the concept of intellectual property and your authority to make decisions; however, we want to express ourselves in the hopes that you can give us a more fitting end than what we were given.
A majority of the Mass Effect 3 ending was well done, and, for this reason, we are hurt even more by the ending.
“Why are a majority of players not satisfied with Mass Effect 3’s ending?”
We want to clarify this through 3 points:
1) What the community did not like
2) What the community would have liked, and
3) Solutions by the community to help developers for future content.
So, with that said...
1. What the community did not like:
a. The feeling that developers did not keep their promise about the impact of decisions on the game.
“There is a huge set of consequences that start stacking up as you approach the end-game. And even in terms of the ending itself, it continues to break down to some very large decisions. So it's not like a classic game ending where everything is linear and you make a choice between a few things - it really does layer in many, many different choices, up to the final moments, where it's going to be different for everyone who plays it.”
“The whole idea of Mass Effect3 is resolving all of the biggest questions, about the Protheons and the Reapers, and being in the driver's seat to end the galaxy and all of these big plot lines, to decide what civilizations are going to live or die: All of these things are answered in Mass Effect 3.”
Interviewer: [Regarding the numerous possible endings of Mass Effect 2]
“Is that same type of complexity built into the ending of Mass Effect 3?”
Hudson:
“Yeah, and I’d say much more so, because we have the ability to build the endings out in a way that we don’t have to worry about eventually tying them back together somewhere. This story arc is coming to an end with this game. That means the endings can be a lot more different. At this point we’re taking into account so many decisions that you’ve made as a player and reflecting a lot of that stuff. It’s not even in any way like the traditional game endings, where you can say how many endings there are or whether you got ending A, B, or C.....The endings have a lot more sophistication and variety in them.”
Given these promises made by Bioware, a genuine feeling of frustration, even betrayal, has emerged. Indeed, the final climax gives us three choices, choices that we can compare to endings A, B, or C.
We also wonder why the choices that we previously made throughout the adventure have no real impact, or at least not the impact that we expected, since we understand that the consequence of our choices are reflected in the Total Military Strength (TMS).
However, it is regrettable that everything depends on a numerical value, that our choices to save the Rachni, cure the Krogan or betray them, side with the Salarian Dalatrass, save the Collector base or not, end the war between the Quarian and the Geth, all come down to War Asset score. We feel that in the end, all we have done is accumulate points, not help galactic allies.
Our choices do write the core of the scenario, our scenario, but why are the consequences of these choices not reflected in the ending itself? The only element that reminds us that we have rallied all the races is a scene where Admiral Hackett asks for a report from each fleet before the assault on Earth.
We are aware that our choices affect game mechanics, but we would have liked that our choices affect scenario possibilities.
For example, whether or not we have the Krogan as allies, as long as we have a certain amount of Effective Millitary Strength points, the three options are offered to the player.
Our point is that we no longer feel like we have to face the consequences of our choices. Another example would be the final dialogue with the Illusive Man. We feel that our dialogue choices have no influence on the conclusion of this confrontation, that results inexorably in the death of the Illusive Man.
The many plotholes and inconsistencies.
The frustration is amplified by a disturbing Deux Ex Machina, the Catalyst Child or Starchild. We have the feeling that everything we have accomplished thus far is negated by the sudden apparition of an entity that gives us the illusion of choices in a finite arc in which, no matter what we decide, we feel trapped and smothered.
The experiences of each player is certainly personal, their stories written by their own choices, but all converge to a single endings arc regardless of the story molded by the player.
Furthermore, the Starchild’s explanations fail to be convincing. Harvest organics to protect them from synthetics? Why then don’t the Reapers destroy synthetics? And even that would not be coherent, given that the Quarian and the Geth can find a durable resolution to their conflict.
With this point, we want to point out a series of inconsistencies within the scenario:
- Why does Hackett call for retreat after Shepard gets struck by the death ray, even though the way is now open due to Harbinger vacating the grounds?
- Why are there no enemy troops protecting the Citadel? ... Considering that the conduit represents a great risk to the Reapers.
- In addition, why does the conduit bring us directly to the central unit that opens the arms of the Citadel? Wasn't this type of immediate access a careless decision by the Reapers?
- How did Anderson arrive safe and sound before Shepard, even though Anderson was supposed to have crossed the conduit after Shepard? Also, why was he teleported to a different room than Shepard?
- Why doesn't the Illusive Man control Shepard and force him to commit suicide if Shepard was such an obstacle to his goal?
- After Anderson dies, why is Shepard wounded on the same exact place as Anderson? Nothing indicates that he was hurt on this side. How is this possible?
- How is Shepard's radio still working, even though his armor is completely destroyed?
- How is Admiral Hackett aware that Shepard has made it to the Citadel? Shepard penetrates the conduit after all the human troops fell back. How could anyone have seen him going into the Citadel?
- What happened to the two teammates who accompany us during the rush towards the conduit? How did they end up back on the Normandy?
- How is it possible for Shepard to survive the explosion of the Citadel and the Crucible after the ending sequence where he destroys the Reapers?
- Why does the Starchild even give Shepard the option to destroy the Reapers, even though the Starchild believes that "reaping" is necessary? Doesn't this completely destroy all his work in the preceeding cycles?
- Why does Joker quit the fight? It is not his nature to be a coward... in fact, it's quite the opposite!
These questions may be small details, but, once accumulated, they provoke a feeling of a botched ending. One that is rushed, incoherent, fuzzy, disconnected from the rest of the game, and does not answer some of the important questions -- on top of adding new questions, such as:
What happens to all the characters? What happens to all the races? How does the galaxy evolve without mass relays? How does life continue to exist if the destruction of all the mass effect relays means multiple explosions that destroy the entire solar system (as seen on Mass Effect 2's Arrival DLC)?
With all of this said, let's move on to our next point.
2) What the community would have liked
Whatever ending we choose, there seems to be a missed opportunity for a meaningful epilogue that explains what happens to the characters, the different races, to Shepard and his/her LI, and the choices we have made. The ending cinmeatic shows that the Normandy crashes, followed by a scene of a grandfather and a child. It seems like there is something lacking, and this leaves us feeling extremely unsatisfied.
An epilogue would end the adventure. It would provide a way for players to say goodbye to the world they created with passion and love. Our hopes as players perfected by two elements: gameplay and story.
a) Gameplay
This point overlaps with the problems linked to the lack of choice referred to in the last paragraph. The end gave us a huge space battle occuring in Earth's orbit and a fierce ground battle that involved Shepard and his squad.
This is what we expected, but the problem in the execution is that we are given the impression of simply being spectators and not actually undergoing the events.
We expected to take part in a sort of galatic war game, where we would be able to deploy our troops and choose which race/fleet fought whom. This is where our decisions could have been reflected!
The idea is not to transform the gameplay into a simple board game (as Mass Effect is still a TPS), but something as simple as utilizing the dialogue wheel could have made this work.
Here is an example to better illustrate this idea:
The Reapers' force puts pressure on the Human-Turian alliance.
The player would then be given the option to choose which fleet will provide aid, depending on the ones available (i.e. Asari, Geth, Quarian, Krogan, Rachni, etc.) Each fleet has it's own advantages and disadvantages. Each deployment would be crucial!
We could also deploy ground troops to aid the resistance's fight. Here, we would also have the choice to deploy another army. If we decided to send the krogans to aid in space, then we would not have the option to mobilize them on Earth, etc. Essentially, the battle plays out like a giant chess board, where we are able to command our armies and establish strategies that determine the outcome of the battle -- resulting in loses or victories, depending on our decisions.
You have already used a similar system during the Suicide Mission in Mass Effect 2. The choices we made regarding which squad member to place in charge of certain tasks were extremely important for survival. This idea was absolutely amazing and engaged the player on a strategic and emotional level.
We were expecting something similar at the end of Mass Effect 3: the choice to coordinate the different battle fronts via acquired War Assets, and see how they impacted the war.
Concerning the scenario
There are events that we would have liked to experience during the ending of Mass Effect 3.
First of all, a confrontation with Harbinger. After Mass Effect 2, two enemies became clear to us: The Illusive Man and Harbinger.
The Illusive Man (TIM) was incorporated in a very satisfactory way in Mass Effect 3, even though we would have liked to see him play a more important part in the grand finale; however, Harbinger was always the real threat as he is the head entity of the Reapers. Other than a description in the codex and a brief appearance during the final battle, Harbinger was absent during a majority of the game.
In the same way we confronted Sovereign, we would have liked to be confronted by Harbinger via dialogue and also combat (physical or psychological.) There should have been a fight against him where all the companions we met during the adventure are given a role in the battle -- as this is as much their fight as it is Shepard's.
We also have some regrets concerning our companions.
The possibility to communicate one last time with the companions of Mass Effect 2 through an intercom was a great idea, and we felt that this was an emotional moment; however, we would have preferred it if we could have just said our goodbyes in person. The idea of being on the battlefield at the head of a squad that included all our companions seems justified: everyone fighting together in an epic and emotional battle where the collective desire to overcome the enemy is mixed with the fear of losing the people we have come to love throughout the years.
Imagine: receiving the ongoing assault of marauders, weakening under their fire, and suddenly seeing Jack and her students make the enemies burst with biotics. Suddenly, enraged brutes emerge from the blazing grounds. Soldiers begin to feel fear... until the powerful krogan and rachni army, led by the Rachni Queen, Wrex/Wreave, and Grunt, appear and assault the enemy. During this, a violent fight could be taking place between the banshees and the asari commandos led by Samara and the other matriarchs.
Just imagine it.
Everyone would be united and all the choices we made throughout the game would be really meaningful. New choices would naturally come to us, such as what strategy to adopt for the ground battles, as everything leads to the final confrontation between Shepard and Harbinger.
In regards to moral choices and the endings:
The ones presented to us at the end don't seem to make much sense and are too confining. We understand your position in wanting to conclude on a bittersweet note, but the problem is that no matter what we choose... there is only one ending. Bittersweet. No matter what.
We would have liked to see very different endings. For example: a happy one, a bittersweet one, and a tragic one, with all the subtlety and complexity that each of our decisions would have made.
Moreover, you could have further exploited the repercussions of using Reaper tech and artifacts in fighting the Reapers, or the decision to keep the Collector base.
In conclusion, the writing seems to be the problem.
The staging of the story has always been, throughout the games, a complete success. We just think that all the emotion you managed to create at the end of the game would have been better amplified by different endings and developments.
We hope that this opinion, shared by most of our community, will help you understand our reactions, interrogations, and doubts surrounding the endings. Following this controversy, we have decided to act. To propose content to enlighten the endings and bring something that will satisfy the fans.
The bond of trust between your studio and us players has always been special. We feel like we are being listened to and want to help you in building this adventure that has lasted for over five years.
We do not know the nature of the content that you are working on, but what we do have are some ideas and solutions that might come in handy.
3) Solutions brought by the community to help the developers in their future artistic journey
We understand that it is very hard for you to change the endings. We also know that the content in preparation will be extra content, and not an actual change. We can only assume that whatever will be released will take place after the events of Mass Effect 3.
The question we ask ourselves is:
"How do you overcome player deception and, at the same time, include elements they would like to see?"
An answer to this question has emerged on the web, and it is probably something that you have already heard about: the indoctrination theory.
Here are a few links that explain what this is all about:
The indoctrination theory is extremely interesting for 3 different reasons:
- It solves the problems addressed in point number 1.
- It provides a way for Bioware to keep the endings that they created, and
- It opens the possibility to directly include elements from point number 2.
If you take a look at the forums, you'll realize that this theory is highly praised by the fans. They see it as an intelligent and coherent way to explain the endings.
There is also another solution provided by the community: the chance for Shepard to refuse the Catalyst's solutions and ignore them. Shepard would make his own decision to fight the Reapers the conventional way. Such a reaction makes sense with the character of Commander Shepard, who, throughout the games, has always refused to give in to the Reapers and is determined to find another way.
In conclusion,
We are aware that you are in a delicate position. We also know that gamers should not impose their decisions on the developers. Nevertheless, we hope that you take the ideas in this letter into consideration.
The ball is in your court and the choice is ultimately yours.
We have no intention to put you under pressure, despite the content of this letter.
We emphasize that our goal is to provide vision, clarity, and aid.
We are aware that it is difficult to respond positively to these comments and requests, but we also believe that consistent and realistic solutions have been provided in this letter.
We hope to have an open dialogue with you that will lead to an ending that satisfies not only the fans, but also, you, the Bioware team.
To end on a positive note, we wish to sincerely thank you for this saga that has been such a profoundly influencial and fascinating experience for us during these past five years. The journey will remain in our memories for a long time.
A BIG "THANK YOU!" FROM,
The English, Anglosaxon, French, Francophone community of Bioware Social Network.
I've already complained about the endings, so enough said there (from me.)
The one other thing I would change is this: Please provide a way other than Multiplayer or buying an IOS device to raise galactic readiness. The team did a fine job on the multiplayer section, but for a lot of folks (myself included) multiplayer just isn't our cup of tea. Also, my iPod touch is tiny and I can't justify shelling out for an iPad just to play a minigame to get my readiness up.
1.) Journal update thingy - better tracking/updates. It was kinda annoying. Negligible, but annoying.
2.) Fall of the Citadel - felt too abrupt/forced. Couldn't we have done something to affect/change that event or mitigate the consequences (esp. for those in the Citadel)? Like a few other parts in the game, this 'resolution' felt 'forced'/heavy-handed, esp. in how it feels like the efforts made to help Citadel defenses were useless (and even if the efforts were ultimately to prove futile, to show the gravity of the odds against the Reapers, I think there should've been an option to act on it, even if it's a short mission to 'buy people time to leave the Citadel' or something. Heck, they could 'reuse' elements from the first game for such a scenario...as it is, tho', just being told that the Citadel just fell felt cheap/rushed)
3.) Expanding on the roles of previous shipmates (esp. those that were available as love interests). The much smaller pool of shipmates in ME3, IMHO, also gives the feeling of stuff being cut out, regardless of the actual reasons.
4.) Endings: a.) Keep existing endings, but clarify them/expound on them (BUT maybe do away w/ the whole Joker/Normandy running away and crash landing bit as that one felt VERY out of place and definitely elicited a 'W-T-H' from me when I saw it)
b.) Add more ending options: - perhaps one where Shepard disregards/opposes the use of a completely unknown device (i.e., the Crucible) and opt for a more 'conventional' approach (e.g., up-gun/up-armor and expand existing 'conventional' forces. I mean, they were able to build the Crucible in a relatively short time. Considering the kind of tech that had, imagine if those resources were used to 'beef up'/expand the existing fleets/forces) This path would forego notions of indoctrination or discussions w/ the 'star/god child' and would probably be more 'traditional' (build up forces -> boss fight w/ Harby -> resolution depending on actions: be thorough/decisions that unify the allied forces = decisive victory; less thorough/divisive or selective alliance = marginal victory or decisive victory at the cost of other races/factions; very divisive/destructive options but still thorough playthrough = pyrrhic victory; or, for a bad playthrough or whatever = Reaper victory) - any 'new endings' should reflect options/choice/decisions made by Shepard from all 3 games. Are the Rachni a factor? Were the Geth and Quarians brought to peace and cooperation? Etc. Show, don't 'tell'/'hint', please.
c.) a comprehensive/detailed epilogue. It IS the finale of a trilogy, after all. Please provide 'proper resolution', instead of one that just generates wild speculation (or at least PROVIDE the OPTION for such an epilogue/denouement, as I'm sure there are those who may prefer something more open-ended or open to interpretation/speculation).
Just my two cents.
Oh, and I'd love for any changes to be like an 'Enhanced Edition' from CD Projekt RED (i.e., Free and chock full of 'extra stuff'). Unlikely, I know, considering the publisher of ME3, but I can hope/wish, yes? :innocent:
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The many plotholes and inconsistencies.
