7052 réponses à ce sujet

[Phattee Buttz]

Brief Note: I don't care if it takes you 6 months or a year to do this, just don't rush it!

[Panicomatic]

The biggest change that needs to occur is the game ending. There needs to be clarification on what had transpired. Here are some of my person critiques on the game, and its ending:
 
#1 The Citadel
It was very difficult to believe that the heart of the galaxy, the citadel, was taken to the sol system within the time that you stormed Cerberus HQ. The citadel houses so many people, even with the reapers it would take them a long time to "cleanse" the citadel. On top of that, the sheer size of the citadel would make travel cumbersome to take it likely. I understand that the Citadel doubles as a relay but the receiving end of the relay, if all logic set up in the story holds true, is somewhere in dark space beyond the Batarian systems. And can a relay jump itself? Furthermore if the citadel used a different relay then how big would the citadel's Eezo core have to be? If the Citadel traveled without use of a relay then it would have taken years, even at FTL speeds, to reach the Sol system. 

#2 The Conduit is on Ilos
I do understand that the conduit on earth differs from the conduit on Ilos, but if someone wanted to send a strike team onto citadel wouldn't it have been easier to send that strike team through the Ilos conduit, instead of sacrificing the bulk of the offensive's ground troops to the meat grinder? The only reason I could see that not working is if the conduit doesn't work anymore because the citadel was moved. But it's an option I'm sure they would have explored, especially given the Normandy’s stealth capabilities and how the stealth system does appear to work against the reapers (but not the collectors) throughout the game.

#3 Marauder Shields
I found the ending to be very anti-climactic from a game play point of view. We didn't need a final boss battle but the ending could have been much more satisfying if you actually saw your gathered army doing targeted strikes on the reapers. Admiral Hackett led the attack, it would have been interesting to have cut scenes where you saw him issuing orders each fleet, and compoundingly more interesting if the decisions you made during the game to win support would have their own cut scenes during the battle. For example, say helped the Quarians. So Admiral Hackett needed to divide a force of reapers so he had Quarians and Asari flank one of the reaper fleets while the Salarians took out strategic key positions and the Turians kept the fire focused on them. I'm sure with the entire galaxy's fleet it would give even the reapers pause, especially if only the Turian and Krogan forces could affect the reapers ability to take Palaven. A lot of the codex's since the first game would discuss space warfare and how each class of ship played a role in penetrating specific defenses. To a further degree I almost expected to have a war room meeting with Hackett to discuss war strategy and depending on how you planned the offensive you'd get varying results. In terms of actual game combat there should have been some form of intervention on Harbinger's behalf. I know it's a common formula to end games in this style but you've been shaping Harbinger up to be this infamous bad guy... why let that momentum go to waste? We already hated the guy; he killed hundreds of thousands of people trying to make that Human reaper. Putting a bullet in Harbinger would have just felt gratifying. Not to say that the ending portion of the game was not intense in terms of gameplay combat. It was great. A final showdown between Harbinger and Shepard, even if only verbal, would have made the ending even better.

#4 Indoctrination Theory
When this first came out I hated the thought of it. I couldn't really rationalize how the endings could be the way they are, but it was my opinion that people who thought that he was indoctrinated were just seeing what they wanted to see. 

But then I came across this video:

I still don't want to believe it, but it's pretty well thought out and has to be the only explanation of the ending that makes any real sense. But if it is true then I want to see what happens afterwards. This has been a great trilogy, the best game series of all time, but if that's the end and it's just a cliff-hanger segway into mass effect 4 then I am going to be very angry; angry to the point where I will abandon the series all together. The reapers have to end in this game for the series to have any credibility at all. Furthermore there are several past quotes from game developers posted earlier today about the ending of ME3 will provide a proper ending to the series and the close of the story for Commander Shepard. So we need some clarification: what happened at the end? Is it indoctrination or does the ending really only vary in color? Bottom line the expectation is that the trilogy would end, and as a fan I expect a proper ending(i.e. an epilogue, a greater explanation of why I have to commit suicide  to save the galaxy, some verification that as earth is decimated the entire galactic fleet isn't stranded there, etc.) 
 
#5 My Expectations
I would like to start by saying that this game, prior to its release, consumed my idle time with speculation and anticipation. Every day at work on my lunch and on my breaks I would check the internet for updates on this game. My friends all had that special game we were looking forward to. My friend Ryan was super hyped up for Skyrim and is now anticipating Guildwars 2. My friend Russell is crazy anxious for Diablo 3. For me, it’s MASS EFFECT 3. Finally the conclusion to the series! It was going to be filled with struggle, an uphill battle, and a race against time to stop the reapers from dominating the galaxy. I expected lots of friends to die. I expected that the ending would mean Shepard sacrificing himself to save not just humanity, but to save life in all its forms. 

Prior to release I pictured the game ending as follows: Shepard made a great deal of sacrifices to get to where he’s at, and the entire galaxy is at his side to prevent the fires of life from being extinguished.  There’s some kind of showdown, some form of intervention where the only thing that separates Shepard from ending the war is Harbinger. Throughout the battle Harbinger wins, and it looks as if all hope is lost. Then The Illusive man steps in, in a final act of redemption and allows Shepard to be able to defeat the reapers. This defeat comes with a price though and will claim Shepard’s life. Just as he “pulls the trigger”, Shepard gives Harbinger “the middle finger” and Halts the invasion in its tracks, or deals a blow so severe to the reapers that it cause the reapers to fully retreat. Then queue Miracle of Sound:

Seriously, why is this not the ending song to this game? I get pumped every time I hear it. Can I get a hell yeah?

#6 99% AMAZING
There has been a lot of negativity and sarcasm in dealing with the disappointment from the ending, of which I have contributed to. The ending of a trilogy is probably the most crucial place in a story where you really need to “hit it”. The ending caused so much discord that it’s causing people to lose sight of why we’re upset in the first place: Mass Effect is one of, if not the best, game series of all time. I loved Mass Effect 3 right up to the conduit. My Shepard is a 100% true blue Paragon. Throughout the entire series I was able to help so many people and thusly make the galaxy better equipped to deal with the reaper invasion. But not only that, he was a great leader and diplomat who would stand up to injustice and preserve peace. Corny as hell, but he’s the great noble hero. And I loved that mass effect could make it happen. Your decisions could not only impact the game you play, but also the sequels. Mass effect manages to create a beautiful garden of a universe filled with all kinds of different places and forms of life. The action is top notch, too. I’ve enjoyed playing the multiplayer because of that. The best part of the series is the humor. You guys really know how to tell a good joke. So many times I would laugh in real life at something happening in game. Plus the story besides the ending is phenomenal. So if you are really listening please hear our pleas and give us a proper ending. We adore this game, love this game, and want to see it have a proper send off. Thank you for the most epic gaming experience of my life.
- Panic
Edit: Formatting.

Modifié par Panicomatic, 17 mars 2012 - 05:58 .

[KiganMatsuei]

I'll start with what I liked: The game was fantastic. I missed some of the RPG elements, but at the same time the story and everything surrounding it kept me from really noticing. The story was great - Curing the Genophage (Mordin's scene was...perfect for such a moment), uniting the Quarians and the Geth, etc. Loved it.

Also, the love interests (or, at least Kaidan) were great as well. I've had that music on repeat in my head since I first heard it.

Now for where I have trouble:

 - The ending (starting by entering the conduit) was problematic in many ways. I'll start with this: No conquering all odds option.

I have played (credits rolling now, in fact) Mass Effect 2's suicide mission just for how great it was. Especially as Shepard is escaping and the base is exploding - the music was perfect and it gave a sense of accomplishment when Shepard survived and the base exploded. The music was fantastic for such a champion.

In Mass Effect 3, there isn't even such an option. Every ending feels like failure - like a compromise Shepard would never be willing to make. It is like we are told by this Starchild "Every ending is bad, so here's a color system allowing you to pick what color you'd like to cause untold devastation with."

 - The Starchild

He doesn't make any sense at all. Why was Sovereign necessary if this thing exists as part of the Citadel? Why does it look like the boy Shepard saw die? This is not explained, makes no sense, yet Shepard never even questions it.

 - The Destruction

In every ending, we cause destruction.
 
 The Citadel only survives if you take control.

Why? This comes out of left field and serves no real purpose.

Why must we destroy the Geth, EDI, etc. to achieve the goal we've been striving for all along? What is the point of uniting the Quarians and Geth if the Geth die anyway? The Geth really throw a wrench in Starchild's little plan, as they are AIDING organics rather than destroying. If keeping Starchild's inane reasoning, this could be something to use in conversation.

What happened to the allied fleets? Why was Joke abandoning Shepard, something made clear he would NEVER do. He flew to Ilos, fought Sovereign, flew to the Collector Base, and abandons Shepard now? And even evacs the team members at the beacon right beneath Harbinger?

 - Harbinger

Why is nothing done with this? Harbinger followed Shepard all throughout ME2, but without the Collectors suddenly we have nothing to with it. No ending, no confrontation of any kind.

 - Fate of all Races

We know NOTHING about them, assuming the relays didn't act as the one in the Arrival DLC and wipe out all life in their respective systems. < - - -  Arrival brings concern over being forced to destroy the Mass Relays. Doesn't wiping out life via Mass Relay destruction defeat the purpose of stopping the Reapers?


The above and more questions need to be addressed. The ending is the weakest part of the entire trilogy.

We were told our choices mattered, but someone could pick up ME3 right now, blast through it, and get the exact same ending I did after taking careful care with my choices.

We need a range of endings. They should have been there to begin with.

From:

Total destruction of everything

to

Shepard surviving with his/her crew and retiring with love interest. I greatly enjoyed the romance with Kaidan, especially at the end when he said he would fight to hold Shepard in his arms again. Then there is nothing for them at the end besides the completely absurd crash landing on some garden world.

The two extremes, and a range between, all based on chocies could have put Mass Effect 3 in the history books as one of the best game trilogies. I still think it can be. I'm still holding out hope for Shepard's survival, retiring to be with love interest, see the fate of the crew and the galaxy.

I haven't given up hope, but it is fading faster than Mordin can speak. I don't know how long I or anyone else can wait for the choice-based endings on the bad-perfect range that may never come.

Modifié par KiganMatsuei, 17 mars 2012 - 05:29 .

[joshko]

Take the essence of our suggestion to heart, but don't copy them verbatim. I would like to be a little surprised, on more than one occasion(based on my decisions).

[tenojitsu]

 This is just my personal opinion here, but I don't see why the ending of the series should allow you to choose anything. For me, I would much rather the ending be selected for me based on the decisions i've made throughout the series. I've already made my choice of how my character would repsond, you would think they can figure that out. This would actually make it so the people that have multiple characters saved who played each character very different didn't waste all their time doing so. This would sure make me go back to the beginning of the series and play through very different. I shouldn't be able to reload a save from a half hour ago and see each of the endings with the same character.

If they want to leave the current endings in place for those who are new to mass effect and didn't import a save from ME1 to ME2 to ME3, that's fine. But come on, people that have been following this series from the beginning should have an ending that relflects our decisions, and if you want to see altertive endings, replay the series (or catch it on YouTube if that's your thing).

What do you guys think?

Link to thread

http://social.biowar.../index/10102827

[Ticondurus]

How to help the ending:

Would have been MUCH better if when your Shephard was going up on the platform at the very end that you would find out that YOU were the Catalyst, therefore the need to sacrifice your life heroically to kick in the Crucible and save the galaxy.  I actually thought that was what was going to happen until Starchild showed up.

Added to that, showing your war assets in action for the final confrontation (i.e. Jack and her biotic squad, Miranda/Jacob, the Rachni Queen wiping out a Reaper, the Geth in action for you, Aria's merc squads, etc.) and celebrations across all homeworlds, along with your team, after you disable the Reapers would have added a big emotional punch and made me smile for days after the credits roll.

Modifié par Ticondurus, 17 mars 2012 - 05:34 .

[PMC65]

I wish that I could explain how I felt when I first experienced the "ending" of ME3 ... but the only word two words that come to mind are disappointed and empty. This was the ending? I thought that I must have made a huge error by destroying the reapers so I went back and tried the other two. Nope. This was it.

I could not understand what I had just seen, done, heard ... my disc must be missing something. So I came to BSN to see what I missed. Surely the brighter minds here had understood. Nope. We were all trying to figure out what the final moments meant.

Is that what Bioware thought its fans ... the supporters of Shepard deserved? Non-ending and confusion?

What I was hoping to see was Shepard defeat the reapers and if I did everything right ... if I was as committed to her, took my time and completed the missions, made the best choices, she could survive. She could survive and finally make a life with Liara. She could honor the memory of those who had not made it by standing over a memorial to those who gave their lives and she could honor her friends who were still living by helping rebuild.

Her story was already bittersweet ... she remembered Kaidan, Thane, Mordin, Jenkins, Nihlus, the lives lost on the Normandy. She saw the effects on Kelly, Kasumi, Liara, Ashley, so many others ... they were all changed. So the story was already bittersweet. Shepard did not need to die for that to be part of the story.

But this ending left me empty and disheartened. I have not been able to play it again and the thought of purchasing a DLC that will not show my Shepard getting up ... getting up and finishing the fight ... getting up and keeping her promise to Liara ... getting up and showing me that my commitment to her made all the difference ... any DLC that does not give a proper ending will be a DLC that I'll pass on. No Shepard should be left under rubble.

Shepard deserved a real ending and if the player gave it their complete best then their commitment should have resulted in an ending of a Shepard surviving in the ME1 fashion. Strong, proud and heroic. Was that too much to ask for?

[Regan Cousland]

QwertyMusicMan wrote...

As for the LI development, you've created such compelling characters that each person playing the game really, honestly cares about their LI. Thus, we would love to see some more scenes with them, and a full circle relationship with Shepard. IMO, especially Tali and Liara.

This.

Throughout the whole build-up to the final mission in London, my main motivation for achieving a perfect ending was so that my Shepard might reunite with Jack after the final battle. And I wouldn't have minded this not being an option if he'd at least thought about her in flashback before sacrificing his life to "save" the galaxy; but apparently Joker, Liara and Anderson were more important to him than the woman he loved. This disappointed me. Especially when you consider that the ME2 LIs get far less screen time than ME1 mainstays Liara, Ashley and Tali.

I'd also like to add that, even though I'm not a Talimancer (or whatever the heck they call themselves), I thought it was disgraceful that she didn't show her face in-game to the people who chose to romance her. When I reached the scene where she removes her facemask on Rannoch, I was convinced that must be the part where those who had chosen her as an LI would finally get to see what she looked like. I'm sure all of her admirers had their heart set on speaking to a cute purple space elf. I can't believe BioWare would disappoint its fans like that. Every ME fan knew what they wanted.

Anyway, the only possible way to convince me to buy DLC before correcting the endings is to make Jack a permanent ME3 squad mate. I mean it's not as if there's nowhere on the Normandy for her to stay. Half the rooms are deserted, including her old haunt down in engineering.

[Bellemy]

 If they just told us why... I wouldnt mind so much. At what point did the endings seem like the best fit?


Why take away the very thing that kicked off the series in the first place (The Mass Effect).
The amazingly detailed intergalactic wonderland we all loved becomes nothing but a bed time story as everybody is doomed to gaze up at the stars and wonder...


If its some running commentary on the cycle of technological advancements ultimately leading to our destruction, BL Battlestar Galactica already beat you to it.

Modifié par Bellemy, 17 mars 2012 - 05:43 .

[Walzon]

most things i want to say were probably said before, but I felt like there should be more side quests rather than just fetching stuff for people, and maybe more encounters with your squad members from previous games. i guess sorta like liara in me2 with the shadow broker, i would be glad to get that dlc (please have grunt!) a lot of the things i would have liked change just cannot be changed without creating a new game, but its acceptable except the ending

[Lasciels Toys]

Oh, and for making it such a central part of the story, his caring so much about his crew and the people closest to him. Shep did not seem the least bit interested in knowing what happened to anyone in the beginning. You would think he would want to know right off the bat where his old crew was. Instead Kelly doesn't even appear unless you romanced her and Tali, who is my Sheps girl, doesn't show up or get mentioned at all till half way through the game. And since you decided to expose her face now, could you just go ahead and please render it so we can see her in a cinematic. Did not like the shy camera act then five minutes later she gives you that picture, then another shy camera scene.Just bite the bullet.

[MartinPenwald]

There's only one thing I really want: to have an ending where the reapers are beat, my Shepard survives and gets to be with the LI.

Yeah, I want a happy end. So what.

[djandyra1]

In addition to being a video game nerd, I'm also a tabletop geek as well. One thing I've learned is that sometimes when your players in an RPG start to go in a creative, intelligent direction that makes sense within the premise of the story and it's something you can make work, you should go with it. It takes a bit of extra work, but it's richly rewarding for both players and the people who develop the plot. I think the Indoctrination Theories, even if they weren't the original purpose, really are a great avenue for developers/writers and gamers/consumers to travel down together and they are very easy to work in with the best possible "destroy" out you've already written in. I wish I would have thought of that theory lol.

I would also like the opportunity to punch Harbinger in the face - that guy's a jerk. Barring a punch, how about many, many rounds of hot hot lead?

Er, and maybe slip any one of the 100s of Tali/Quarian designs from Deviant Art into that picture frame. The exposition idea was incredible, the picture itself a little lazy and embarrassing. I mean it looked like MS Paint from Win 2000. The Bioware visual are department has been amazing in the past, let those imaginations fly.

Other than that, the ME3 was a fantastic experience and just about everything up to the "20 min left to go" mark was some of the best gaming I've experienced in my 34 (holy crap I looked at the clock and it's now my birthday) years.

[juweee]

Thank you for giving us this opportunity to provide some more concrete feedback. (long comment is long)

1. The conclusion of an epic trilogy that we have devoted hours and hours (personally: 13 Shepards played through ME1 and ME2 = over 1000 hours of game time) and emotional and mechanical investment into deserves to have definite resolution. The story is personal for us. You guys made it so. You created this universe that we love, characters that we relate to, that we want to know what happened to. We need to know what happens, because we are not going to get a chance to explore this universe again (or at least, not from the same perspective). This game is the end of a trilogy. It needs to conclude things, not raise more questions than it answered.

2. Don't introduce new plot specific devices in the denouement. I'm not a fan of the Catalyst as ultimate arbiter of galactic survival, but the idea could have been made more palatable if it were discovered earlier on. NOT in the final 10 minutes of the game. If, for example, the archive records on Mars gave more specific information as to the fact that the Reapers were not the enemy as we were expecting them to be. I know through all three games there were vague hints that things weren't as they seemed, what with the cyclical theory and other random pieces of information, but the problem with those was that they were so random, you could legitimately not pick them up in a given playthrough. The conclusion of your conclusion is not the time to drag these random minor plot points out and beat us over the head with them.

3. Specify your adversary. The whole time over the three games we were led to believe that the Big Bad was the Reapers. That was what we were out to fight against. We even had avatars of the Big Bad to fight against in the first two games - ME1 we destroyed Sovereign, and ME2 we constantly butted heads with Harbinger, who ominously told us "he'd be back". Only, he wasn't. Harbinger doesn't even make an appearance until right at the end. We wanted a showdown with this guy - if only so he could throw more of his memorable taunts at us as we fought him. We had no specific avatar of the enemy to fight in ME3. We don't even get the chance to finally take down TIM.

4. The idea of player choice, that what you do in your actions as Commander Shepard matters, has been thrown out the airlock in the ending to this game. This series is based on choice. You progress through making decisions. Your game varies drastically based on those decisions. All the way up to the final 10 minutes of ME3 those decisions mattered. Then you get to the end and pretty much nothing you have done up til then makes a damn difference. That is a huge slap in the face to players who play the game because of the fact that they have to make choices, hard choices... who agonise over those choices, and replay to see the outcome of different choices. In the end, you've basically said "hey, you worked hard to get here, and that's great, but ultimately what you've done means nothing now".

5. We were promised many different endings. We didn't get many different endings. We got three marginally different colour coded endings with slight flavour variations based on what we'd done during the game. That's not "many different endings". Keep your promise. Even if it's endings by slide show, a la Dragon Age:Origins, at least that would show the different outcomes to the choices we'd made throughout the game. And yes, I fully support the idea that we should get some form of "happy" ending, if we'd worked our backsides off during the game in order to get it. It's not WRONG to want a happy ending of some form. We play games to escape from the disappointments of real life. If I want my Shepard to live and make a home with their LI of choice and settle down together raising a brood of children, why the heck is that not a valid choice to make? For some of my Shepards this is the only logical conclusion. Some would be all for the noble self-sacrifice. some would go out in a blaze of glory. One of them might even use this opportunity to attempt to take over the galaxy. All valid options. They all should be addressed in some way.

6. The end game reduced Shepard to a pathetic figure incapable of making a stand. Shepard does NOT passively sit there and accept what some unknown quantity has just told her/him. Shepard fights. S/He fights for the truth, for answers, for personal resolution, for her/his friends and loved ones. Shepard does not suddenly find out there's something else out there and get railroaded into making one of three equally unpalatable decisions. Shepard talked at least two individuals into killing themselves rather than face up to the fact that they were wrong. S/he ended wars just by talking. S/he made criminals regret their actions and renounce their lives of evil, just by using persuasion. There is NO WAY that Shepard walks up to the Catalyst who tells her/him about the Crucible and she/he goes "oh, okay then, no probs," and staggers off to do its bidding. NO. WAY. (and also, seeing my beloved Shepard broken and bleeding like that, oh god. way to break my heart there)

7. The conclusion to this game has destroyed the overlying theme present and promoted during ME1 and ME2, namely, hope. In all three games you work hard overcoming impossible odds, coming back again and again, building a strong team and together defeating whatever you go up against, living to fight another day. The difference between ME3 and ME1 and 2 is that the conclusion of 3 pretty much destroys the feeling of hope. Maybe you're dead, maybe not, but either way you've irrevocably destroyed the majority of galactic infrastructure. And we have all seen what happens when you destroy a mass relay, thanks to Arrival. Now, maybe it's possible to recover from this. Personally I think it's more likely that there is no recovery. I'm not usually a pessimist... but I truly don't see any other alternatives. We have just single handedly doomed pretty much the entire galaxy to extinction and lived up to the Reaper's end desire - we are the galaxy's "salvation through destruction". There is no longer any hope, and we ended up just a tool for the Reapers. And that hurts.


I hope this helps, in some way. It is a credit to your entire team that we are taking this issue as seriously as we are... without your amazing writing and developing skills, we wouldn't care so much about what has happened, we wouldn't have grown to love the characters so much as what we do and want the best for them. We love this universe. It's just a pity that it's ended up like this.

[Dolphin FFetus]

1. Make our choices MATTER. Different colored explosions and Big Ben surviving or being destroyed are barely choices.
2. Drop the star kid or make him Harbinger and the other reapers trying to fool Shepard or be an indoctrination hallucation. I know the indoctrination thing is kind of sloppy in some ways but it makes A LOT MORE sense than what we have now and it works.
3. Have Shepard act like Shepard. Mass Effect up til now was about Shep. defying the odds when everything seemed impossible, sticking up his/her middle finger when things looked impossible, kicking reason to the curb..to quote a very popular show.

Shepard is just...so cool with everything this reaper ghost kid says, it makes NO sense. How can he not be indoctrinated? This is such a stark contrast to Shepard and Soverign's conversation in ME1.

4.Closure. There doesn't have to be a perfect "everyone lives and holds hands" ending but you could have that in ME2 even with the suicide mission so I don't see what's wrong with letting players have their happy ending. Again, this isn't as important, make Shep die in all the endings if you want, though it would be best to have him/her live in at least 1 or 2.

5. Again, this isn't absolutely needed but a last boss wouldn't hurt. Don't forget your medium, no one should ever work on a video game story board and scribble out an idea on the basis of being "too video gamey".

Seriously, fix the ending or else no one is going to want any other dlc you release. While we may be a very vocal minority, to quote your own words, we are also the people who purchase the dlc. The majority, like you say, don't even beat the games. We are your DLC market.

[Taldek]

Make war assets actually effect the ending!

Make a perfect ending "Hard to attain but something to make you do every side mission" so we can leave the game feeling like we truly came out the hero, let us see the galaxy rebuild from the rubble with all races helping eachother. give us the true sence of every choice in the previous games matterd. Let us see our hero shepard with his love intrest playing with a kid, the option to have the kid named after 1 of the characters who have died in the series would be amazeing & emotional.

Relays should only be destroyed if you fail to find certain war assets for the Crucible. same goes for the Citadel we build up the citadel defences for what? let those determine if all die or escape the reaper attack.

Let us use the Crucible to shut down the reapers not destroy them.. just shut them down, dont force us to kill EDI & the geth aswell, unless the player has low EMS then fair enough.

[eldiabs]

I enjoyed most of ME3 but I found the ending horrible because; A) I was told my choices would matter in the end, which they did not. B and C don't really have anything to do with A and revolve around day one dlc and knowing that Bioware is not going to 'fix' the endings for free. I'll always remember ME2 fondly though...as the last best game Bioware ever made. ME3 was so close...

So really, none of it matters for me personally, as you've lost this customer for good.

But on the positive side, the money I was going to spend on future ME3 dlc went to the Child's Play charity drive. ;]

[Darth_Trethon]

I think the greatest wreck in the ending is the unexplained separation between shepard, LI and party members as well as the lack of an epilogue clarifying what exactly happened and the differences between the similar looking endings. So BioWare please provide some kind of DLC that adds to the ending.....reuniting with the LI and party members is Shep survived and clarifying whether there was a dream/indoctrination scenario. At this point closure and answers should be HUGE key points and also providing larger differences between the endings not only in what's been said but also in how they play out to make them undeniably different and everyone can clearly SEE what is only a few short sentences of dialogue and a color change right now.

Nonetheless at the moment the biggest problem I perceive is the separation of Shep, LI and party.....every mass effect fans loves the characters and cutting the end off like that is a major no go. If Shep lived a reunion is a must and if he/she died a funeral is required as well as a clarification on what exactly is the status of earth and the universe.

[GiBBsBoT05]

If I could change one thing, it would be the destruction of the Mass Effect relays. Not because I didn't like that they were destroyed, but because it dampens my hopes of a Mass Effect MMO that takes place after ME3

That and I would just like to have the hope of knowing there is a possibility for more adventures in the galaxy with Shep that takes place AFTER ME3's ending - you know, if you survived.

[Vardtmardtr]

I think I'd most like the indoctrination theory to be correct, and then once you get to the real ending there is a VAST variety of endings to choose from, from rainbows and little blue babies to a living hell to a bittersweet medium. But most importantly the choices you made through the series MUST BE SHOWN.I want my war assets to be real, badass soldiers and ships rather than just numbers. Make it be more than just pick a color.

[RedTail F22]

I'll stay away from endings as I know its been covered heavily already.


The way Thane, Legion, and Mordin were handled was absolutely spectacular.  Crying is not something I, and Im sure many others, do casually but wow... Man tears were happening during those moments.

ME2 Crew
My problem is the rest of the ME2 crew. Why can I not have any of them as my ME3 crew. I bonded with them more than anyone thanks a lot to the loyalty missions. I understand I cant have them all but I would at least like to be able to pick one or two. One of them being my LI.


Speaking of relationships I must applaude/ shake hands/ whatever for the relationship between Male Shepard and Garrus. I dont care who my LI was the relationship Garrus and I had as brothers who had bonded through battle was simply perfect. All the emotion torment Shepard had to go through was made better knowing he had his battle buddy right there with him. No matter how much I write I cant applaude you enough.

Romance: and no, not the scenes
My problem is with the romantic relationships. I was looking forward to the consequences of having two romances. To say I was really excited for something and was really dreading it at the same time was something I have to give credit to Bioware for. Its not an easy emotion to try to get someone to feel. But in ME3 I felt the ball was kind of dropped. Here's why :

-My Shepard was truly in love with both LI so choosing which one shouldve been....
        1) Extremely difficult
        2)A key point in the romance storyline part of the game (instead it was easy to miss)

- I wanted to have both of my LI on the Normandy with me, or at least very active in Shepards adventures
        1) It would allow for some great dialogue between the LI and Shepard (or shepard and crew) as both are pressuring him/her to decide
        2) Another great way to add/ show the emotional pressure on Shepard as he progresses through the game and it gets the player more emotionally involved. (imo a nice gift for playing the 1st two Mass Effects)


I just thought that the consequences promised to us lacked in the consequences. What I fel we got was "pick her or her, ok move on" thats it. I was kinda dissapointed. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Other than that and the ending I thought the game was perfect. Well done
    

Modifié par RedTail F22, 17 mars 2012 - 05:42 .

[Hydralysk]

To who this may concern,

This is my personal plea for an ending
that does better to wrap up one of the greatest trilogies I've ever
played. You came up with an ending and a lot people were unhappy with,
and I don't think it's because they didn't get the exact ending they'd
hoped for. Some people are undoubtably mad that they didn't get their
'happy' ending, but if Mass Effect 3 had ended on a tragic note that
actually fit I don't believe the backlash you'd get would be anywhere as
vehement as what's happening now. The ending to Mass Effect 3 just
seemed to be an antithesis to the entire rest of the series, and that is
why I think you should change it. I'm sure my opinion has been echoed
by many people but here it is anyways. I'll tell you as best I can why
the ending felt wrong, and steps I feel could be taken to rectify it via
ending DLC, which I'd be very willing to pay for.


Up
until you get hit by Harbinger's beam ME3 is fine, I feel there's some
issues
with the cover mechanics being too slippery but you nailed the writing
right up until that point. You did a fantastic job with the story up
till that point and you should be commended on that. Mordin's death
scene was beautiful and brought tears to my eyes, it was a perfect
conclusion to his arc. Thane's death was also well represented and his
last prayer for you was frankly genius. Shouting "That was for Thane you
son of a bi***" while avenging him was also very satisfying, definitely
one of the most memorable moments. Talking down the Quarians and
Legions sacrifice we also pure narrative gold. That scene had me so
incredibly tense at the beginning and by the end I was in open tears. I
found that his reason for dying was a bit out of the blue, but it was
presented so well I didn't care. Legion's establishment of his own
identity and his reconciliation with Tali was as emotional an end to his
character arc as I could have hoped. These are the most standout
moments to me in this game, but the whole thing in general up till the
ending was a non-stop stream of enjoyment.


That being said I'll
start my criticism of the ending.

First point: There are a number of inconsitencies/plot holes in the ending, many of which are listed in the gamerant article
that I'm sure you've all seen by now. First and foremost the mass
relays blowing up and not causing a supernova, which is what we were all
told up until the end would ineveitably happen. I saw Jessica tweet
that the explosion is supposed to be a different kind of explosion, but
that's not something that should be told on twitter after the fact. If
you are going to change established cannon you need to at least explain
why in the game itself, counting on your audience to assume that is not
acceptable. I may be sounding harsh here but you must be able to
understand how telling us "No, you see this is a different kind of explosion" in the 11th hour sounds like a pretty hollow explanation.

The
second big plot hole is the teleporting squadmates. I heard in the
Final Hours that the squadmates with you during the final rush were
supposed to be killed, and I have to ask, why did you change that? Yes
it would be sad, but given the incredibly bleak outcome we get in every
ending (more on this later) I don't see how tragic deaths could make
things worse. You even said at the beginning of the final mission
something along the lines of "Be careful who you choose for your squad",
so it's not like squadmember deaths were going to come out of the blue.
As we have it now, we are forced to assume Joker apparently teleports
them onto the ship off screen which might not be as sad, but also makes
much less sense.

The third big plot hole is the god-child. The
whole "Reapers (synthetics) kill/harvest organic species to stop them
from creating and being killed by synthetics" doesn't really make any
sense. You spent an entire earlier plotline showing the Quarian (organic
creators) fighting their geth children (synthetics), and through my
choices I was able to forge peace and willful cooperation between them
proving that this theory doesn't hold up. EDI is another example of a
synthetic that goes on to show she not only values organic life, she
views them as friends and in Joker's case a lover. Now I've heard an
argument that the villains (in this case the reaper commander) regularly
believe in flawed logic, as is displayed by Saren in ME and TIM in ME3.
This is true but Shepard was able to refute both their claims and tell
them to their face "You're wrong that just doesn't make sense", the
whole point of villains having flawed logic is so that the protagonist
can refute that logic. Shepard however just calmly accepts the
god-child's claims despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary and
the fact that he is talking to the proverbial king reaper.  Every other
exchange with the reapers (Sovereign, Harbinger, destroyer on Rannoch)
had Shepard refuting the reapers claims, right up until the one moment
where it really mattered.

Second point: In the statement Casey issued he stated "We
always intended that the scale of the conflict and the underlying theme
of sacrifice would lead to a bittersweet ending—to do otherwise would
betray the agonizing decisions Shepard had to make along the way. Still,
we wanted to give players the chance to experience an inspiring and
uplifting ending; in a story where you face a hopeless struggle for
basic survival, we see the final moments and imagery as offering victory
and hope in the context of sacrifice and reflection."

Now this is perfectly fine. I would personally like there to be a happier ending as an option,
since up until this point the whole Paragon Shepard routine seemed to
be that of an idealist whose idealism worked out in the end because this
is a game universe where the unlikeliest miracle outcome could, and
often is actually more likely, to happen. However I'm not opposed to
Shepard having to die in all outcomes, even though in the 'best' ending
he can survive for some unexplained reason, but in order for Shepard's
sacrifice to work we actually need what you called an "inspiring and uplifting ending" , and unfortunately that's the exact opposite
of what we got. Each ending has Shepard make his choice, 'die' in one
of 3 ways, and then we get a scene of the relays blowing up with
whatever color you picked. Now I won't go into too much detail since
it's definitely been mentioned  before, but this implies a horribly
depressing future for the universe. You have not only destroyed the
supply line for every ship in the armada you brought with you to earth,
but also every single colony in the galaxy. The only logical conclusion
to this monumental event which no one was coming is that there will soon
be mass starvation and civil war on any planet that was not already on
or near a planet that was self-sufficient. Far from seeing "the final moments and imagery as offering victory and hope in the context of sacrifice and reflection"
we are forced to conclude that through Shepard's actions the galaxy is
doomed to a period of incredible strife and suffering, and unless you
take the most insanely optimistic view ever reflection on this only
makes it seem more likely. This isn't even mentioning the fact that,
since Turians/Quarians are not able to eat the same food as the rest of
the crew, depending on the type of planet you crashed on either Garrus
and Tali or the entire rest of the crew will inevitably starve.

Third point:
We have absolutely no closure on any of the characters and races in the
game. I don't think anyone could realistically expect fully in-engine
scenes for the characters and races detailing exactly what happened to
them in the near future. However, we at least expected something along
the lines of DA:O endings where we get a short paragraph detailing the
gist of how the fates of the MAJOR characters and MAJOR plotlines you
influenced along your journey played out. As it stands, once you get hit
by the beam all the choices you've made along the 3 games you played to
get there cease to exists for all intents and purposes. All we get is a
fatalistic and incredibly vague ending that is in no way influenced by
or even reflects our previous actions. Frankly, after putting in all
that time and agonizing over so many choices it just feels like a kick
in the teeth that none of it influences the outcome of this trilogy
(except the EMS #). This is the reason I can't even bring myself to play
through ME3 again, even when I must've replayed ME-ME2 a half dozen
times at least. How am I supposed to feel any weight to any decision I
make when I know that in the end any decision I do make will not be
referenced or expanded upon at all? The only REAL contribution I can
make to influence how it all pans out is through a progress bar.

Now the hard part, how could you go about fixing it.

First: Get rid of the scene of Joker getting marooned on a mystery planet thing. If you absolutely
need to have the "trying to outrun the blast" scene for flair have it
happen in sub FTL speeds in orbit around Earth. Basically have Joker
crash on Earth rather than the Mystery Planet. That way you sidestep the
question of why Joker was running from the fight while simultaneously
giving the crew of the normandy a potentially brighter fate than having
the survivors live out their lives as hermits on an unknown world.

Second: If you must keep the god child we need to option to point out the flaws in his logic and refuse to obey him. Here's
a deviantart user who came up with an ending which gives an acceptable
outcome to this where if you have an incredibly high EMS score you can
win through martial might, preferably only if you have enough reputation
to pull off a 'Rally the Troops' speech. If you don't have a high
enough EMS score and chose refuse, then you lose the war and you get a
voice over saying the reapers won and are exterminating the galaxy, all
hope is lost. Or maybe only unlock the refuse option if your EMS is high
enough to win it in the first place so you don't need to spend time on
the bad ending. Even if he wins you can justify Shepard dying by him
succumbing to his wounds like Anderson, and a final scene with him dying
with a smile on his face while seeing the Reapers are being routed
would nail the tragic-but-beautiful ending much better than him being
disintegrated.

Now I realize that this clashes with "We can't
defeat them through martial might" theme stated throughout the game, so
I'll give you my second option: you can convince the god-child of his
logical fallacies if you have a maxed reputation (maybe add EMS into
this if you want, i.e. you can only convince the god-child if your
forces pose enough of a threat to him or the sight of so many inspires
him). Given that the god child never expected an organic to make it
there in the first place, it provides a decent enough reason for Shepard
to point out that if he got that wrong his logic isn't as perfect as he
believes. This gives him room to put doubt in the god-child's mind that
this 'solution' of his is undeniably necessary. Once again you could
justify Shepard dying from his wounds, but in this case smiling as the
reapers stop enaging your allies and depart. Hell this even gives you
cause to reuse the ending sequences where the reapers leave earth
(blue/green explosion ending).

Both these endings wouldn't
require the Mass Relays be destroyed and therefore wouldn't plunge the
galaxy into an era of unnavoidable turmoil and death. As such they
really would be "an inspiring and uplifting ending"
which you seem to desire, and would be a much better reward for maxing
EMS than a 2 second clip of Shepard taking a single breath in one of the
endings.

Third: Give us
closure in the same way DA:O did, a short paragraph detailing the
outcome/fate of KEY choices/characters. This would probably be the
easiest change to implement, and if you only take one of my suggestions
out of these three to implement this one should take precedence. Show us
that our choices throughout this trilogy had an impact on the galaxy
instead of just telling us "sure you're actions mattered but we're not
going to let you see why or how".

And there it is Bioware.

That's
the best I can come up at the moment. Now
I know you guys are able to put out quality writing, everything you've accomplished up
until the last few minutes of ME3 is a testament to that fact. The
ending you gave us ended on a sour yellow note
though, not just according to me, but to a very large amount of people
(won't throw around majority/minority in here because I don't have
enough data not to be talking out of my ass) who were left very unsatisfied. Give Mass
Effect an ending it deserves. I love this series more than any other I
can think of, and it kills me to know that as of right now I can't start
up any chapter of the trilogy without a part of me thinking "What's the
point if it's going to end horribly no matter what?".

I hope
this gets read and considered because if ANY company can rectify this
situation (which I'm sure is painful for both us and the developers) it
would be the company who always says it listens to it's fans.

Keelah Se'lai

Modifié par Hydralysk, 17 mars 2012 - 05:15 .

[Ravax]

I would love this to be one of the possible endings: you wake up from
indoctrination (after having picked destroy, as this is the 'refusal' of
indoctrination, then JOKER swoops all heroic in and blows a 10meter
hole on the side of Harbinger, and you realize what happened, get a
surge of adrenaline, and rush INSIDE harbinger, wreak havoc on him from
within fighting hoards of reaper husks, and ultimately on a final
platform, as a final boss, you see that harbinger 'assumed control' of
one of your squadmates (effect for drama), then beath the boss, head on
to the 'control center' and rip out his big red eyes from inside, assume
control of him, fly him up to the crucible, and hook him up to the
crucible/citadel, and finally kill him, which ultimately sends a 'death'
signal to all reapers (as he is connected to them being the leader,
etc...) and they all die, and then you jump from the explosion with your
helmet on, and EDI is on the launching bay door of the Normandy, and
pulls you in the ship.. followed by la-di-da happy ending smooching and
celebrating all over the galaxy....

(utlimately learning that THAT was the crucible's actual purpose, that it can duplicate a signal, and amplify it enough to reach all the corners of the galaxy - through the mass relays - and NOT destroying them in the process:P )

Modifié par Ravax, 17 mars 2012 - 05:38 .

[Zix13]

juweee wrote...

Thank you for giving us this opportunity to provide some more concrete feedback. (long comment is long)

1. The conclusion of an epic trilogy that we have devoted hours and hours (personally: 13 Shepards played through ME1 and ME2 = over 1000 hours of game time) and emotional and mechanical investment into deserves to have definite resolution. The story is personal for us. You guys made it so. You created this universe that we love, characters that we relate to, that we want to know what happened to. We need to know what happens, because we are not going to get a chance to explore this universe again (or at least, not from the same perspective). This game is the end of a trilogy. It needs to conclude things, not raise more questions than it answered.

2. Don't introduce new plot specific devices in the denouement. I'm not a fan of the Catalyst as ultimate arbiter of galactic survival, but the idea could have been made more palatable if it were discovered earlier on. NOT in the final 10 minutes of the game. If, for example, the archive records on Mars gave more specific information as to the fact that the Reapers were not the enemy as we were expecting them to be. I know through all three games there were vague hints that things weren't as they seemed, what with the cyclical theory and other random pieces of information, but the problem with those was that they were so random, you could legitimately not pick them up in a given playthrough. The conclusion of your conclusion is not the time to drag these random minor plot points out and beat us over the head with them.

3. Specify your adversary. The whole time over the three games we were led to believe that the Big Bad was the Reapers. That was what we were out to fight against. We even had avatars of the Big Bad to fight against in the first two games - ME1 we destroyed Sovereign, and ME2 we constantly butted heads with Harbinger, who ominously told us "he'd be back". Only, he wasn't. Harbinger doesn't even make an appearance until right at the end. We wanted a showdown with this guy - if only so he could throw more of his memorable taunts at us as we fought him. We had no specific avatar of the enemy to fight in ME3. We don't even get the chance to finally take down TIM.

4. The idea of player choice, that what you do in your actions as Commander Shepard matters, has been thrown out the airlock in the ending to this game. This series is based on choice. You progress through making decisions. Your game varies drastically based on those decisions. All the way up to the final 10 minutes of ME3 those decisions mattered. Then you get to the end and pretty much nothing you have done up til then makes a damn difference. That is a huge slap in the face to players who play the game because of the fact that they have to make choices, hard choices... who agonise over those choices, and replay to see the outcome of different choices. In the end, you've basically said "hey, you worked hard to get here, and that's great, but ultimately what you've done means nothing now".

5. We were promised many different endings. We didn't get many different endings. We got three marginally different colour coded endings with slight flavour variations based on what we'd done during the game. That's not "many different endings". Keep your promise. Even if it's endings by slide show, a la Dragon Age:Origins, at least that would show the different outcomes to the choices we'd made throughout the game. And yes, I fully support the idea that we should get some form of "happy" ending, if we'd worked our backsides off during the game in order to get it. It's not WRONG to want a happy ending of some form. We play games to escape from the disappointments of real life. If I want my Shepard to live and make a home with their LI of choice and settle down together raising a brood of children, why the heck is that not a valid choice to make? For some of my Shepards this is the only logical conclusion. Some would be all for the noble self-sacrifice. some would go out in a blaze of glory. One of them might even use this opportunity to attempt to take over the galaxy. All valid options. They all should be addressed in some way.

6. The end game reduced Shepard to a pathetic figure incapable of making a stand. Shepard does NOT passively sit there and accept what some unknown quantity has just told her/him. Shepard fights. S/He fights for the truth, for answers, for personal resolution, for her/his friends and loved ones. Shepard does not suddenly find out there's something else out there and get railroaded into making one of three equally unpalatable decisions. Shepard talked at least two individuals into killing themselves rather than face up to the fact that they were wrong. S/he ended wars just by talking. S/he made criminals regret their actions and renounce their lives of evil, just by using persuasion. There is NO WAY that Shepard walks up to the Catalyst who tells her/him about the Crucible and she/he goes "oh, okay then, no probs," and staggers off to do its bidding. NO. WAY. (and also, seeing my beloved Shepard broken and bleeding like that, oh god. way to break my heart there)

7. The conclusion to this game has destroyed the overlying theme present and promoted during ME1 and ME2, namely, hope. In all three games you work hard overcoming impossible odds, coming back again and again, building a strong team and together defeating whatever you go up against, living to fight another day. The difference between ME3 and ME1 and 2 is that the conclusion of 3 pretty much destroys the feeling of hope. Maybe you're dead, maybe not, but either way you've irrevocably destroyed the majority of galactic infrastructure. And we have all seen what happens when you destroy a mass relay, thanks to Arrival. Now, maybe it's possible to recover from this. Personally I think it's more likely that there is no recovery. I'm not usually a pessimist... but I truly don't see any other alternatives. We have just single handedly doomed pretty much the entire galaxy to extinction and lived up to the Reaper's end desire - we are the galaxy's "salvation through destruction". There is no longer any hope, and we ended up just a tool for the Reapers. And that hurts.


I hope this helps, in some way. It is a credit to your entire team that we are taking this issue as seriously as we are... without your amazing writing and developing skills, we wouldn't care so much about what has happened, we wouldn't have grown to love the characters so much as what we do and want the best for them. We love this universe. It's just a pity that it's ended up like this.

This is a very good summary of everything they did wrong. If they go through with this, I hope they look at this and make sure they stay away from these points. If they do, they'll probably be fine.

Modifié par Zix13, 17 mars 2012 - 05:36 .

[Nayt Navare]

I think we should be allowed the chance to say "No", to defy all and win if we had doen well enough.

And I like the Indoctrination Theory.

I want the possibility to see my LI and watch the sunrise, or something to that effect.

Point of this all is, to me, I worked hard, and so did others, to create a story with characters I either built or grew to love. I want to see that relationship and emotional work rewarded with the possibility of a happy ending.