7052 réponses à ce sujet

[JosephShrike]

My main problem is that the writers created a story that, realistically, is just depressing. People that you've cultivated relationships with throughout the series die, and you're emotionally invested, so it hurts. But you expect some kind of pay off in the end. You can't have down point after down point after down point, ending with a down point, because people will stop caring. Sacrifice is all well and good, and against an enemy like the Reapers, it has to be expected, but you give absolutely no pay off for that emotional beating.

Directly focused on the ending, with the control/merge ones, your crew abandons Earth for some reason. Sure, you stop the Reapers, but the ONLY effect it has is Joker running away in the Normandy to parts unknown, stranding everyone. This may have been what was supposed to elicit hope, but it FAILS. You don't find out what happens in the long term to YOUR galaxy, and as a player in Mass Effect, that's very much what it is. Shaped by your choices and your decisions, except for what should be the very biggest one. That goes undeveloped. Your closest friends and allies are stranded far away from any of their family and loved ones, so you die and, because of that, you make them suffer for your decision. That might be the worst interpretation of it, but that's the problem. All we have is our interpretation, BECAUSE BIOWARE DIDN'T GIVE US ANYTHING ELSE.

And with the destroy ending, it's even worse. Shepard wakes up and finds that the people he was closest to, his family and loved ones, abandoned him at the end. He's fighting for all life in the galaxy, and the Normandy crew couldn't even stick around long enough to see if he's dead or alive. Bioware, you crafted an incredible story, until the very end, where instead of giving players a message of hope and victory, your gave them success at the cost of every thing that they did for years. You asked us to become emotionally invested in this franchise, you gave us the ability to do so, but in the very end, you abused that because you wanted to craft what you felt was a 'bittersweet' ending.

I respect your artistic integrity, but 'bittersweet' does not mean 'depressing and void of all hope', which is what you delivered. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. Maybe you thought that the Normandy crashing so far away from everyone would give us hope. Maybe you did that because the relays all exploded and blew up every solar system they were in, but the problem is that you did not explain any of it. All you did was show us a cut scene and left it open to player interpretation. Well, here's news for you: players don't want to interpret everything. And in the ending you gave us, we really can't. It's just a 180 from the normal Mass Effect universe, and you give us absolutely no information to base any kind of assumptions off of. And because of that, despite the enormous love and respect I have for Bioware's writers and staff, the ending is broken.

It is broken because instead of creating the emotion of "Wow. That was an amazing experience. I'm glad I spent years on it" all you've done is created an amazing game that ends with...well, nothing. The only emotion I felt at the end was apathy. I couldn't care. I didn't want to care. Because you gave me absolutely not reason to at the end. Shepard's story ended when Anderson died, and the continuation you added trivialized the entire rest of the experience which, just to say again, was amazing.

I know you were hesitant to create a happy go lucky everyone runs away together ending, and I understand, and players don't need that. What they need, at the end of such an emotional journey, is a pay off. Not more of the same downer vibe. What could possibly have been wrong if, in the ending where Shepard lives, he takes his breath and then a hand extends from off screen and pulls him/her up. And there he/she leans against Liara while Garrus and the VS (if it's the LI, maybe they hug or something) run over. Camera pans back as the Faunts song plays. showing the reapers falling, and you can see the other ground crew moving through krogans and turians, and quarian and geth (depending on what occurred), celebrating on their way to Shepard. Then queue the credits. That's the kind of ending I think most people wanted. Not something with Shepard on a beach drinking mojitos with Garrus, or sitting on Rannoch with Tali, or sitting about as blue babies run around, but something that actually illicit hope, not the stupid (and yes, it's very dumb) twist you decided would accomplish that. And it actually leaves the future of Shepard up to player interpretation without demanding the leaps in logic and desperate hope (resulting in the Indoc theory) that we're required to do now.

I'm glad Casey Hudson is happy with the endings. And I'm glad that major publications are happy with the game. You know what? For 20 some odd hours, so was I. I LOVE Mass Effect 3, up until the very end, where instead of an ending, we got a conclusion that did a disservice to all the time, love, and effort not only us as fans put into the game, but really what you, as developers, accomplished with the franchise.

[LoneWolfz0r]

 Thanks for giving us this opportunity. I echo the general sentiment in this thread - the ending should be changed. I'll leave the mechanics out for others, but I just wanted to add one thing:

Make it challenging, hell, make it a nightmare, make it require an Insanity run on a NG+, but please, please give us the possibility of a happy ending.

The promise of achieving something this remarkable, of an end more sweet than bitter, should drive us to achieve what many would not even consider otherwise. Make us feel like we have done something incredible - that we have outdone ourselves and reward us for it.

Make us go through hell to do it, but:

Show our Shepard enjoying a bottle of Serrice Ice Brandy with Chakwas.

Show us Anderson's reunion with Kahlee Sanders. Hell, allow us to "gently nudge" (by which I mean "force at gunpoint") the admiral into speaking his mind.

Show us that house on Rannoch, or Liara reminding Shepard of the little blue children.

Show us Shepard enjoying a vacation on a tropical beach with Garrus.

Finish the sequence by Shepard going back to his spectre duties alongside his companions, flying in the Normandy to another crisis. Shepard's tale is done as far the series goes, but he didn't just disappear in the meantime.

Few sensible people expect you to release a new end DLC for free - charge for it, but at the same time - work for that money. Make the new ending meaty, give us resolution and closure. But please consider the idea of a ridiculous to obtain happy ending.

Thank you for your time.

[ColdFury96]

 I want to state that first off, I really loved this game.  Up until the last few moments, this was positioned to possibly be my favorite game franchise of all time.  It wasn't a perfect *game*, but the story you were telling was quite possibly one of the best things ever.

I'm going to break my post into three parts, things I loved about the game, things I wish could have been better in the game, and the ending.

Things I loved:
The combat system.  I absolutely love everything about the system in three.  From the fluidity to the increased pace, it was brilliant.

I loved the interaction with your squadmates.  The fact that Normandy and the Citadel felt like living, breathing places, with people showing up in different spots, and people having random conversations.  The scenes with your squadmates, particularly the ones who had been around the longest?  Brilliant.  The jokes, the callbacks.

The stories that interconnect (Joker's family and the Asari with PTSD.), the codex mentions, just... the world was brilliant.

I didn't use the weapon customization system much, but I think if I had played as a soldier it would've been more fluid.  As it was, playing as a vanguard I basically figured out what I wanted in my two slots and went with it.  I loved the concept.

I loved the armor customization, and the sets, and the fact that you could toggle the helmet in cutscenes.

The plot, up until the last 15 minutes, was brilliant.

The emotional ties with characters was extremely well done.

What I wish the game had done a bit better:
I felt that the game didn't quite have enough combat scenarios.  Multiplayer helps make up for this, but 1 & 2 had many more side missions.  DLC will help with this, but a dozen more side missions that were optional would've been, I think, a worthwhile addition.  Maybe I go get that Banner of Aethos at the bottom of a mine shaft, a la 1.  DLC will help with this, naturally.

I know I'm in the minority here, but I miss the outdoor/mako bits.  Wish there was a compromise, like in the DLC in ME2.

Dropping the dark energy plotline was disappointing.  It felt like that was being setup for plot revelations in three, but it dropped off the map.

Kal'reegar's fate being off camera was disappointing.  Wish he'd shown up first, at least.

The Ending:

I have to admit, the ending really disappointed me.  It's not that I can't take my character having a bittersweet end, I enjoyed the ending to FFX and to Kingdom Hearts.  I thought those were good games.  But for the end of a trilogy, you need a sense of what you've accomplished.  You... didn't really get that in the endings as they are today.  You topple over the coffee table of the galaxy, and walk out of the room.  Yes, you had an impact, but it's not clear how.  Some games, that's an okay thing.  But with Mass Effect, I don't know.  This whole series has been choices, and then seeing the *impact* of those choices.  We got implications, but we didn't really see the impact.

The fact that all three endings are *so* similar that they're almost 100% recolors of one another?  That's really a clue that your dynamic endings are not dissimilar enough.  I know it's a lot of work and assets, but it's really something that you HAVE to commit on a game based on branching choices.

The ending... also felt *really* disjointed.  Like, really REALLY disjointed.  It all starts as soon as the Harbinger beam hits.  Your squadmates, if your score is high enough, disappear and there's NO indication as to why.  Then on the citadel, it's confusing why there's so many human corpses and no others.  If the reapers wiped EVERYONE out on the citadel, we need the other races there as visual cues, maybe even Bailey's corpse.  If they didn't, we need that explained too.  

Then the boy.  I understand that it's been said that Shepard originally asked more questions, but it was cut to keep things 'high level'.  That was a mistake.  I know Shepard is suffering from injuries and blood loss, but you plop him down in front of the personification of the leader of the Reapers and you think he's going to sit there and just let it talk to him?  He's not going to drill it for the who's, why's, and what's?  A lot of people are making fun of the making synthetics to kill you so that synthetics don't kill you bit... that's a clear example of the game not communicating clearly enough.  I get what it was trying to say, but it was too brief, so a lot of people missed it.  

Then the choices... they just don't make any sense.   Our goal the whole game is renegade?  Illusive Man's goal is paragon?  And synthesis?  That sounds like it was thrown in because you guys wanted a third ending and thought that people merging with AI's sounded cool.

In short, the discussion with Godchild was too brief, too passive, and too confusing.  

Next on the disjointed part... as we see the repurcussions of our actions, things aren't quite spelled out.  How did our crew suddenly get back on the Normandy?  Why is the Normandy in FTL or a ME jump?  Joker looking behind him is a pretty silly animation error.  There's a door back there, dude, quit looking.  Why does the blast damage the ship at all?  Does it damage the fleets above Earth?  Where did the ship land?  Earth?  Some random garden world??  

Not explaining what happens to our crew is one of the biggest mistakes you made.  We were fighting to save the Galaxy.  That means we need to know "Did we save the Galaxy?" and "What does the supporting cast set out to do next" or at least "What are they thinking about the things that just happened".  As it stands, we don't know any of that.

Finally if Shepard's intended to survive the destroy ending with a perfect score, it really doesn't make sense.  I know you were trying to be dramatic, but... some sort of bone would be helpful?  I know its almost nitpicky but... he survived being on an exploding space station without his suit?  Huh?

Finally, my last bone with the ending is the lack of a boss fight.  They're a staple of Mass Effect.  You had Boss fights in Mass Effect 3.  *Not* having an end boss fight in the final level?  Is really dumb.  I know it's "video gamey" but... you're making a video game.  Yes, you want it to be a natural final boss, not one you add just because, but you NEED to have one.

Which brings me to my last point.  You have this antagonist, Harbinger.  You didn't use him at all in the third game, which is fine... to a point.  But seriously, the guy couldn't shut up in the second game, but now you don't get a peep out of him in the third?  It's... not well concieved.  All accounts had set Harbinger up as at least the second in command of the Reapers, if you assume they had a hidden, off the stage leader (as was the case).  He should've been a final boss.  Using the illusive man in a way similar to Saren would've been the natural fit, but it's not the only one.  Harbinger should've been the last physical threat you fought, in either case.

I just want to end by saying that I love this game.  You guys crafted a masterpiece.  It's like a perfect 10 gymnastics performance... except you didn't stick the dismount.

The indoctrination theory does provide you an out.  If you truly didn't intend for it to be the ending, it still could be adopted.  You'd have to craft a last level on say the Citadel or something.  But its certainly doable, and a proper end boss that pays homage to Mass Effect 1 (or 2, or both!) would be a brilliant way to salvage this.

Just remember, even if our Shep goes down fighting. we want her to go down FIGHTING.  He doesn't have to get a perfect win, and she doesn't have to see those blue little kids with Liara, but our Shep goes out with a FIGHT.  Not quietly accepting the end, and certainly not at the direction of those she's fought against for the past three games.  Our Shep, whether he lives and saves the galaxy, or dies and only manages to salvage it, our Shep fights to the bitter end, with their crew and the Normandy at their side, as they do they impossible one last time.

Make this right Bioware, please.  Fix the endings.  Thank you for the games, and for a wonderful series.

Modifié par ColdFury96, 17 mars 2012 - 09:06 .

[Fulgrim88]

Make our decisions matter.

Don't get me wrong: I loved the Mass Effect series, and I loved 95% of ME3. It's a terriffic game, and it gives us all we've come to expect from the series. A grim undertone, a struggle against seemingly unsurpassable odds, but also shimmers of hope, feelings of accomplishment.
The endings to the Krogan and Quarian subplots were incredible. They offered a feeling of accomplishment, a feeling of closure, and the feeling that even if the price was high (and would likely rise further), you did your part to secure a better future.

THAT'S what Mass Effect is all about. And that even ME3 capitalizes on that up until virtually the very, very end  is what makes the ending so shockingly unacceptable.

It's a 180° turn away from the spirit this series has been building.
It's not bittersweet, or tragic. It's simply pointless. It renders everything we did, everything we hoped for moot.

I can see such an ending happening if I screwed up. I made the wrong decisions, the war is lost (or won in a way that can only be seen as pyrrhic). And  that's fine.
But If I made smart decisions, I want to be rewarded. This was true for everything else in the ME series, even ME3.

Gives un an ending that offers a feeling of accomplishment.
Believe me, we don't want rainbows and ponies, we can live with the collateral damage that the galaxy has suffered from at this point. But forcing us to make it worse , by destroying the mass relays and most of the technology along with it is just cruel.
And that's what happens. In every ending. It's borderline depressing and robs you of every incentive to replay the game or play any DLC that takes places prior to the Ending.

Because none of it will matter in the end.

Then, there's the whole issue of the endings' similarity. You should know that all the sequences are the same, safe for very, very slight variations and a different colour of the explosion. That's just lazy.
Especially so, given the PR prior to the game. Promising nothing short of 16 different endings.

To offer what, 6(=3=1), that in terms of general outcome are all more or less the same (Mass Relays gone, Normandy stranded) is, well...."disappointing".

This is the FINAL installments of the series. Everything we did up to this point, the way we shaped the universe, the way we united it should make a DIFFERENCE.
The way the ending is now, it is completely irrelevant what you did during the course of all 3 games.
Sure, the total number of war assets defines how many ways you are given to achieve the same outcome - but neither does the type of the war assets make any difference (how will bringing Salarians instead of Krogans change the battle? Can a Volus Bombing run bring down a Reaper?) nor does the ultimate outcome change.

Heck, why bother uniting the galactic community, just to destroy it? Why conquer Rannoch for Tali, just to have the Quarian Fleet stranded in Space again. Why bother fighting or any of this, knowing the outcome?

We wish for truly diverse endings.
- Show us the outcome of our choices. Show us the battle (the fleets arriving-part was awesome - capitalize on that), show us what allies we gathered
- Show us what happens to our crew. And stay true to their characters. The crew I know wouldn't flee battle just to crash on Pandora and smile. This feels like a travesty
- Show us what happens to the Galactic community we helped to shape. What happens to the Quarians, what happens to the Krogans and Turians?
Hell, if it's too many variables, just make a text-crawl or something.

Show us what we did mattered in some way - rather than making it all pointless, except in the veeeery long run.
Maybe I lack the mind of an arbitrary Reaper-God-Child, but saving people in a hundred thousand years isn't what I came for.

Modifié par Fulgrim88, 17 mars 2012 - 09:09 .

[Icinix]

Casey Hudson said....

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.

So...where was this inspiring uplifting ending...? Are we playing the same game?

Betray the agonising choices? Yep...you definitely betrayed them.

I don't know - but it still seems like a lot of BioWare's understanding of the ending, and large amounts of the players understanding of the ending are not lining up.

I'm so confused. Instead of Reapers and galactic alliances, we got god child and a few variations of a reset button.

[Zered]

Well it's good that this thread was created. Hope this is the first step to get the endings fixed/changed. Sorry for the bad English

1. ME series have allways revolved around hope and overcoming the impossible ods, it has been stated in every ME game. I mean Sheppard survives Sovereigin and gets out of the rubble in ME1. He survives the suicide mission in ME2 and now he is forced into something that crashes the series and regardles of his actions leaves him screwed and has nothing to do with the values of the previous instalments and so on. The endings are so bad that people prefer to create theories that this is not the true ending in fact. This shows how bad it was.

2. Lack of logic in endings and plotholes. My god this is bad. All the things people have said, deus ex machina starchild, the escape of the normandy, people getting insta-teleported. Who the hell wrote this?

3.No epilogue nor explanation what your choices mean. You get involved for hundreds of hours and in the end you learn nothing. And everything you've done is for naught. In the end notthing matters. A great way to describe this is: ME3 life sucks then you die. Nothing you do changes the outcome. Those 17 endings are a lie.
"You don’t need to know the answers to the mass effect universe. So we intentionally left those out.” - Mac Walters

How the hell can you say that in a game that ends a trilogy? Are you sane?!?!?!!?!?

3. Not enough dialogue, In ME 1 and 2 you had usually 3 dialogue options 'good' 'neutral' 'bad'. Now I see they have been reduced just to 'good' and 'bad'. Lots of railroaded dialogue.

4. unfulfilled promises - there has been a full thread about this. The Rakni choice was supposed to be big - it's totaly marginal. The endings were to be satisfactory and explain everything - they don't and so on

5. No exposition on what happens to our favorite characters

more to come soon...

[zippythecellist]

Not sure if anyone saw my thread on this or if it was already mentioned, but I would *really* like to see how a LI plays out if we get the "shepard lives" ending. (who ELSE could possibly be in that armor?) I understand the entire story is too much to include in an ending and will probably end up as an interactive movie dlc or whatnot, but I would squee like the fangirl I am if your LI literally proposed on Earth after the reapers are gone. Or more than likely, in a hospital after shepard wakes up, judging by the injuries shep ended up taking after getting hit by that beam. And since my LI was garrus+femshep...GIVE MY MY DAMN HUMAN-TURIAN BABY! MAKE IT HAPPEN BIOWARE! xD Or if"biology isn't gonna cooperate," at least let my femshep and garrus have that tropical beach house with adopted human and turian kids. Even more awesome if they have a house on Palaven and Earth. lol.

Besides that though, I want the multiple endings we were promised. The same half assed ending with 3 not so different variants is NOT what we were promised. Previous games had the typical "everyone sing kumbayah by a fire" type of ending for completionists like myself, so I was seriously expecting the "perfect" ending to be shepard lives and getting to see a short scene in the future on how shep and your LI turned out. We were also promised that multiplayer would NOT be required for the perfect ending, yet it is IMPOSSIBLE to get the perfect ending without it.

Oh yeah, and the journal was annoying as hell. In ME 1&2, the journal explained every step...so what compelled you guys to make it do the complete OPPOSITE in the final game? I have never had to resort to using guides for my first playthough of an ME game ever; this game was definitely the first since I had to often run around aimlessly looking for things (ESPECIALLY the citadel "fetch these items" missions...) just because the journal was on something.

Modifié par zippythecellist, 17 mars 2012 - 09:28 .

[Stonesoundjam]

Who's gonna look after the hamster and fish

bioware you're heartless

[NPBAbyssal]

 I think the idea is good, but the lack of difference with the endings ruins it. People care more about the little things in Mass effect; love interest, Shepard survivig. We just want to see one of the greatest and most epic trilogies end on a happy, high note where we have at least 'something' to smile about. Furthermore as its the last one people clearly prefer to know what happens. Having so many questions left; Normandy crew stuck on a funky jungle planet, Mass Effect Systems destroyed (what happens to the Galaxy's future)
On the whole I fealt like I'd simply destroyed everything i'd worked to keep, with 200 hours+ gameplay across the 3 games. The indoctrination theory is interesting and it could definatly work if you explained it better through extra content. But now Mass Effect feels very unfinished, needing more explanations, more happiness and more blue children!

Im still glad I played it, the rest of the game is one of the finest i've played, please dont let it end on such a way where it makes you feel so unsatisfied!

[MattitudeZERO]

I don't usually post on forums.  But when I read the post about how only a small fraction of players were unhappy about the ending (or something to that degree) I had to step up.

I loved the KotOR games back in the day, and even though I've only started playing mass effect a few months ago, I absolutely adore the series.  Even Mass Effect 3 was everything I had hoped for....until the last 10 minutes.

I along with just about everyone who has finished the game didn't feel the choices offered to me by the god child would be something my Shepard would accept.  I worked hard to barter peace with the Geth and Quarians, the Turians and Krogan.  Many lives of people I was very close to were sacraficed to make this happen.  And just like that, Shepard completely ignores the sacrafices without a second thought.

Not only did it have no effect on the ending, it wasn't even brought up, nor shown.  Everything i've done in all 3 games came down to a number, and a Readiness bar.

Additionally, the lack of an epilogue was something I was dissapointed to see.  As much of a story based game the mass effect trilogy is, the fact the game ends with barely a mention of my team was dissapointing.

[FirstSpear]

 Wow. Uhh, where to begin? From what little of all these pages I've read there seems to be so much already covered and well articulated. I'll keep this in point form and as brief as possible. I'm sure that I won't think of all of my concerns, however.

-The static journal system was pretty annoying. At little more feedback about the missions progress would be helpful.
-The decay on Galactic readiness is too steep. It ought to be locked in after a certain point. I know you want to encourage multiplayer time, but that's pretty lame.  
- A fleshed out earth sequence would be appreciated. I would like to see some of those assets in play on the ground. Asari snipers, STG squads, Elcor shock troops, etc
-the side quest system you used, overhearing people, was not good. At least have Shep talk to these folks first. He seemed like some kinda of creepy, but helpful stalker in the game. That's just something to avoid in the future. I don't care if it stays in ME3.
-EMS ratings need to be patched. One cannot reach 5000 EMS (not total war assets) without playing multiplayer. Not that I mind, but people may not have time to play multiplayer and the community will eventually die out and make 5000+ EMS ratings impossible..

Now the ending:

-Although everything right up until the white elevator was great, I feel like you could do some more explanation on how TIM got inside the Citadel other than just assuming the Reapers let him in.
-More explanation about where this alternate control panel is (i.e. it is not the one in the council room. Was it moved? Is it a second one?)
-Where the heck is Harbinger? I would difinitely liked to have seen more of the arch villain of ME2 and the leader of the Reapers than just having him shoot at you and leave.
-Having said these things: the ending right up until the white elevator was great. -Personally I would eliminate the Starchild nonsense altogether. It fits best with the indoctrination theory, which is actually a fine idea, if you choose to run with that.
- If you do keep the Starchild stuff, please make the conversation more interactive and give Shep the chance to refuse and the let the battle play out based on your choices in the previous games and ME3.
-Please fix the various plotholes that have been pointed out: mass relay genocide from Arrival's precedent, stranded fleet in Sol, why Sovereign needed to get to the citadel in ME1 if Starchild was there, etc.
- If you cut the Starchild stuff out altogether, leave it at Shep's collapse. Let the battle play out based on previous choices, showing the battle with in-game cut scenes. Certain characters and ships live/remain intact and die/are destroyed based on your choices in the previous games. If you get the best ending, Shepard lives but is shown to be permanently wounded/crippled in the epilogue. If you get the worst, the Reapers win and the cycle continues.
-If you keep the possibility of the Control/Synthesis/Destroy endings, please eliminate the stupid Normandy crash scene. It introduces more plot holes that have already been discussed by others.
-At least try to live up to the promise of mutliple endings that are genuinely different and based on trilogy performance. That was what I paid for as a consumer when I preordered your game. So far, all I have seen is a bait and switch.
-The corny grandfather epilogue must go. It does not fit the tone of the series at all, in my opinion
-The DLC plea was a slap in the face. Please remove it. It offends me as a consumer. I paid for your product, do not use the ending as an advertisement. 
-Please do some sort of epilogue where, if the galaxy isn't destroyed in a R/G/B, Relay Holocaust we get to know how our choices panned out over the long-term. Text, slides, short-in game cutscenes --- all are fine.
-Above all: Just let me feel that all the hours I've sunk into otherwise great games aren't negated. My time is valuable. Don't insult me by making me feel I wasted hours upon hours of my life on this series.

Thanks so much for taking the time to read it. I know others have probably taken more time and expressed their concerns and opinions better than myself. Please forgive the typos, it's really late where I am, and I don't have time to check for that stuff

Please know that while I do appreciate you listening to our grievences and enjoyed the vast majority of ME3, I will not be supporting Bioware anymore (I've been with you guys, buying games new, since Baldur's Gate) unless this whole thing is settled (and I mean fixed, not just acknowledged) in a consumer-friendly manner. 

Modifié par FirstSpear, 17 mars 2012 - 09:18 .

[Silver]

I loved the game, I can even understand that a few characters died in it, but in the end the ending kind of ruined it a bit.
What was most jarring however was the way Thane was treated. He was never one of my favorite characters (Thane Fans don't stone me yet, please) but he was never even mentioned after his passing, except for Shepard who said "This is for Thane" when she offed Kai Leng. I know that this will probably not be changed, not even with DLC, but I felt it necessary to mention it.

What I would like to see changed I already hinted to, the ending.
I want my blue babies, that is all. You can make it really hard, I don't care, I just want that to happen.
The time & effort spent to stay faithful to Liara should not have been in vain.

And for the moment you have left a lot of people with head-canon to make up the rest of the game, which honestly feels a bit cheap, like a cop-out.

Modifié par silverhammer08, 17 mars 2012 - 09:15 .

[Vilegrim]

Give Shep a choice to defy the reapers, to point out how flawed the god-childs logic is, to throw the 'deal' back in it's teeth and call it on it's BS.   Oh and disconnect Multiplayer from single player.

Modifié par Vilegrim, 17 mars 2012 - 09:17 .

[Venix117]

I loved the game all together my only issue is I have no closure in the ending I want to find oh what Happened to Shepard and to my squad, did we win? All that sort of stuff and please don't destroy the mass relays because I just can't see the universe of mass effect carrying on without them unless it's prequels. But I trust you bioware and if the indoctrination theory is correct, bravo.

[pro5]

You've probably seen my thread floating around, but just in case:
http://social.biowar...index/9810433/1 

[MadMatt910]

Have the citadel as the catalyst, rather than the god child.

Have a conversation with harbringer at the end instead

Have something to explain what was going on with dark energy

Have a conclusive ending with several different endings, possibly based on EMS. Rangin from shepard kills reapers, everyone happy, to everyone dies, universe is harvested.

[Auresta]

Wanted to first thank Jessica Merizan for all of her patience and work. This cannot be easy to handle. Go Bears!

I didn't like the endings, though I would being by saying that the rest of the game was amazing: Mordin's death, Thane's death (particularly numbing and emotive), the resolutions of the Geth/Quarians and the cure of the genophage.. Vanguards were amazingly fun to play and I really enjoyed the interaction between your crew on the Normandy (James and Garrus banter ftw!) It was nice to see them move about the ship or walk into one of them talking to your other crew mate via comms - they weren't static pixels. They were in motion and they were "real."

The ending felt rushed to me. Everything after the encounter with TIM felt anticlimatic and far too simplified. I understand that a theme of Mass Effect may be cosmicism, and to that I thought it would have been poignant to end on a note illustarting Shepard's resolve against cosmiscism and how s/he represents why humanity specifically will still fight against the nothingness and meaninglessness that is the galaxy and life (in a world without a God, what do you fight for?): we have the strongest will to fight and exist, to create meaning for ourselves. Show us some more (or remind us) existentialism. Shepard's always stood for free will and self-determination (which is why Synthesis irks me - how can Shepard commit an act of God and decide the makeup of everyone? If peace is only achievable through an act of God, then we never really deserved it.) Shepard should have gotten that involved argument with the Catalyst. Hell, it would have been even better to see Shepard deny the Catalyst's choices and have him/her come up with his/her own. This kind of self-determination is what I'd like to see as the answer against cosmicism (and I'm heavy on the value of existentialism).

I don't mind seeing Shepard dying - Shepard needs a rest and his/her death is expected. But the death here seemed empty and pointless, probably because it felt like Shepard gave up and just fed into the catalyst's hands. The Shepard I knew would have never done that. The Shepard I knew would have questioned the **** out of a Reaper-collective-being/controller, chided it for its negligence and nihilism, and voiced the cry of humanity and us, the players, against this destructive, flawed cycle. It seems silly to end the cycle on the same terms created by the same people who perpetuated the cycle.

Did I feel that the Catalyst's true nature/being the star-brat was out of place? Definitely. Could it have been better implemented throughout the game? Absolutely. If he's going to be thrown in at the last minute, the last minute better last quite a bit longer than it did in the actual game.

A lot of people also cite the lack of closure. Although I agree with the destruction of the mass relays (our use of them was what led us to the Rachni; we were never supposed to have this technology to begin with. We were and are not ready. It never belonged to us), it would have been nice to have a DA:O style text epilogue (which I never truly appreciated until now). It leaves enough to the imagination but gives us the closure through textual structure and guidelines.

Great game, really.. but I can't see myself replaying it until we hear more from you guys. Thank you for the journey and I await patiently for more news, in high hopes.

[darkshadow136]

 Dear Bioware,

The game play up to the last part of
ME3 was great, but the end of the game ruined the entire series and the
franchise. The parts that ruined the game for me are listed below.

1.1.        
The endings for the game were
horrible 3 choices that led to 16 variations of the same black. No variety like
promised, all the endings shared 95% the same cut scenes. We were promised
throughout the series that all our choices would shape not only our Sheppard
but the galaxy and the final ending to the series; this was taken away in the
final 15 minutes of the game. You can’t just take an interactive game built on
choice and make it into a linear game in the final moments.

1.2.        
Multi player content should have no
effect on the single player campaign. There is a reason why no other game has implemented
this, since not everyone like multi player. A player should be able to reach
100% galactic readiness without having to play multi player.

1.3.        
I did not like that after you make it
clear to Cortez that you are not interested in him, that he still seems to push
you towards liking him in future conversations. My personal beliefs I don’t
approve of the Homosexual lifestyle, and I don’t feel I need to have that
pushed on  my in a game.

1.4.        
We want our endings more varied and distinct
from each other like was promised, having all our choices taken into account in
the final outcome.

1.5.        
Fill the plot holes give us a real back
round on the Reapers, and their purpose, bring Harbringer into the picture
more.

1.6.        
For those that ME3 is their first
exposure to the ME universe, offer them a DLC that allows them to make the
choices they would have had a chance to if they played ME1-ME2. This will make
more revenue for Bioware in a DLC purchase, and give the player a chance to
have a real full ME3 experience and a bump in galactic readiness to help with
their ending.

1.7.        
The Rachni were always represented in
ME1/ME2 as being an important part of ME3, and in ME3 they played a very small
part. We had to save them again, and all they did was help build the crucible.
We should have seen some Rachni ships in our fleet and so on.

1.8.        
We were also told in previous
magazine interviews prior to release that Cerberus was going to be an enemy,
and that we should make sure to destroy the collector base  in our ME2 saves, This was so the illusive man
would not get a hold of Reaper tech. Well I destroyed the collector base and
the Illusive man still got a hold of Reaper tech. How he got acquired Reaper
tech needs to be explained.

1.9.        
One of the pieces of feedback many of
us asked for was the return of the Mako Tank and exploration missions. That
feedback seems to have fallen on deaf ears since we have no Mako missions in
ME3.

1.10.   
We had Loyalty missions in ME2 and it
would have been nice to have them with the new squad members of ME3, it added
immersion into the relationships with the characters.

1.11.   
A helmet toggle option similar to
what we had in ME1 would be nice, especially with the custom sets of armor we
got from pre-orders, and import saves.

1.12.   
If you are going to have 16 variations
on the ending fine. But You could cut that to 6 endings and make them so varied
and different it would make a more complete experience, with a excellent, very
good, good, neutral, bad, very bad ending. The key thing being that it takes
our past choices and actions into account, not just war assets and galactic readiness.

I know that if at least the endings
are not redone I will no longer purchase products from Bioware, and the ending
DLC should be free, since we already paid for a proper ending to the game we
purchased. People make the argument that the game is Art and not subject to
pressure to change.

I make the argument that an
Interactive game like the Mass Effect series, in which certain promises and
descriptions and player game shaping was established by the company makes it a Commercial
product , with art aspects, and a every changing storyline, sue to the players participation
in the creative process. ME3 is not a piece of art to mat and hang on a wall
and it is not a 1st edition book to place in a protective case.

When customers like us give you Bioware
5 years of our life playing your series, making choices, taking different paths
on different Sheppard’s so we can have a complete experience, and that trilogy
is ended in the linear way you chose to do, it was a betrayal not only to your
customers, but to the epic masterpiece that we have helped you shape over the
last 5 years.

Bioware it is time for you to be
Sheppard, and you have a new mission, gain back our loyalty so we can together battle
and claim victory over the Reapers.

[Alienmorph]

First of all, thanks for the hard work you put in the whole trilogy of ME, I really really love the universe you put toghether in these years. And that's why as many many others I'm so tremendously angry for how all that wonderful works goes wasted in the last 10 minutes of the saga.

I understand the idea of making a "victory through enormous sacrifices" scenario, I'd have may even liked it, but the ending as it is simply feels incomplete. And why? Because someone (I don't know and I don't care who) thinked that it would have been better a more "opened" ending so the fans would have been able to imagine their own epilogue? Didn't Casey promised that everything in ME3 would have had a full closure, that the game wouldn't have ended like Lost?

Said that, I don't pretend any massive rewritings or so, I'd just want something that feels as a real closure and not just like a big "WtH????" The team crashing on the "Lost Planet" is at least in part understandable because it gives them a chance of survival even in those endings where Earth is destroyed, but you should make clear HOW exactly they finish there (AKA, when Joker picked back the team onboard, since the whole squad landed on Earth for the final battle, and why Joker was retreting at FtL speed) and most important what happens to them AFTER the crash. Are they going to be rescued? They'll have to spend their life on that planet? Will be Sheapard the one rescuing them in the outcomes where he/she survives? I don't pretend to chance completely the finale in order to have an uber-happy ending with Shep and Tali building their home or Rannoch, or with Liara pregnant of Shep's baby or so (though I'd really liked those), but at least something that hints than they'll have a chance of spending their lifes toghether after the war, something that give the player who managed to make Shepard survive some more satisfaction that 2 seconds of him/her grasping in the middle of a pile of debris.

And also, something that feels more a closure for the rest of the galaxy. Literally millions of people from all over the ME universe get involved in the final battle, what happens to them? Will they try to return to their homeworlds? Will they stay on Earth, seeking a nu way for travel quikly through the galaxy without the Mass Relays, creating a nu multi-species Alliance? Or most of the forces involved have just been whiped out, and Earth is now in the hands of an handuful of survivors?

Thinking about a viable solution to get some answers... I'd suggest a post-ending DlC/Expanction where you play one of the Shepard's companions, trying to survive on the "Lost Planet" with the rest of the crew and to contact the outside galaxy, and also trying to figure out what happened in the final battle. And in the end of it, when the rescue arrives, you get or a "Reunion with Shep" or a "Requiem for Shep" final sequence that shows what really happens to the crew and to the LI, giving both a better closure and more meaning to the final choice of Shepard, and to his/her choices through the saga in general. But this last paragraph it's only a suggestion. I'm okay with everything you can think can give us a better closure that you'll try to put toghether.

Oh, and also, please, fix that damn "Last thoughs of Shepards" flashbacks. What's the point of giving us the chance of pick up our favourite LI, if you implement something that feels like a "LoL, you should have picked Liara or VS 'cause Shepard thinks only of them in his/her very last moments" ingame? It's the pain of making a few more .bik files 3 seconds long, I'm not a game developer but it doesn't feel THAT hard to do...

Said this, thank you again for your hard work. Pretty much everything else in ME3, and in the whole ME trilogy it's amazing, and I'm sure I'll remember it in the years to come. I just hope you can manage to make me remembering it in a good way, more than just for those last 10 minutes in where you devastated you own creation seeking an "artistic way" to end the story.

Modifié par Alienmorph, 17 mars 2012 - 09:23 .

[Dr_Hello]

EDIT: Comment removed, consolidated with a previous post. Please refer to: social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/355/index/10098213/24#10104010

Modifié par Dr_Hello, 18 mars 2012 - 01:49 .

[Silveralen]

One more suggestion. Fire your writing staff and replace them with Uwe Boll. Because even he could write a better ending to the game.

For anyone who doesn't understand the implications of that suggestion, google worst director, and then look at the types of movies he works on.

[manbot69]

Obviously the ending is my number one change even if the indoctrination theory wasn't intended at this point you should just run with it. While I wouldn't mind a happy ending as an option I just want some endings that make sense take into account my actions up to that point and don't end with the entire mass relay destroying like consequence that ruins the whole franchise going forward.

As for any other changes or content options
Fix journal. It just causes confusion.
More chances for conversation choices with squadmates. I love that they talk more but going several entire conversations without making any conversation choices was annoying.
More downtime with the crew. Normandy has a poker table in the lounge I was dissapointed I never got to gather everyone up for a game.
A side mission or DLC that involves the dark energy plot point hinted at in previous games. If you wanna get fancy make the outcome of the mission have a direct effect or addition to the endings.
For mulitplayer Id like to see another play mode added to least another type of wave objective. A push from point A to point B with a strong enemy at the end(example haelstrom from ME2) or a defend a NPC or resource from being killed/damaged in a large attack(example defending Dr Kenson in Arrival).

[uDoh]

BobbyTheI wrote...

http://www.gamefront...fans-are-right/

Print it out. Put it on a wall in a conference room somewhere. Sit the writers and development team down and ask them, "How can we address each of these issues?"

This sums up the majority of my views wonderfully. Read it lots of times.

[Jago360]

I just want to have a happy end with Shepard and my Loveintrest. And i kind of miss Shiala and Gianna... Love you Bioware (i have and love all games of you!), I'm just sad about these ending... :crying: And if we are doing a wishlist here, i have nothing against a romance dlc:whistle: But of cause i prefer  a real disney happy end

Modifié par Jago360, 17 mars 2012 - 09:24 .

[Jei]

 Consider this a +1 for the indoctrination theory.
(Is there an *official* poll to support that theory in a more concrete way? I'd really like that.)

Other things:
- NORMANDY SPACE BATTLE: After the beam hit Shepard with the ground troops, I fully expected to take control of Joker and fight some Reapers in the Normandy, with a health bar and all. If the Rachni and/or Geth are assets, you'd be able to see them in space battles nearby. (Hell, give me 'squadmates' in the form of other ships!) If your Readiness number is low, you'd be surrounded by parts of destroyed ships.

- TALI'S FACE REVEAL: Please fix Tali's face. I'm not even much of a fan of hers, but the poor Photoshop job seemed to be a disservice to anyone who actually liked her. So not cool, guys. :/

- TEXTURE RESOLUTION: On the subject of graphics, the quality of the body textures was blocky and pixellated compared to the stellar job done on the faces. Once the ending is dealt with in a satisfactory manner, I would be more than happy to pay hella good money for a high res texture pack.

- NOT FEELING THE LOVE: I feel super bad for anyone who romanced Jacob. My Shepard was only friends with him, and yet it still felt like he was a little too disconnected from who he was in the previous installment. I can't even imagine how disconnected his personality and actions were for someone who DID romance him. Mind you, other Mass Effect 2 romances suffered from a similar lack of weight here too -- Jacob's appearance to someone who romanced him simply felt more negative than merely lacking.

- SNAP CRACKLE POP: While I know the connection between EDI and Joker is key to EDI's growth as a person, it wasn't necessary to make that connection a romantic one in order for EDI to learn anything of value, as Legion's character arc shows. On a related note, I was also surprised there wasn't an option to romance Joker. I'm not entirely sure 'regulations' is a valid reason for turning Shepard down, especially as EDI is welcomed as an official crew member later on anyway. I also didn't expect Joker to cite official rules, considering how sour he is about reports, red tape, politics, and people with sticks up their asses.

- FOREVER ALONE FEMSHEP: While I'm on the subject of Shep/Joker, I'd have liked the option to start a relationship with Garrus without having to go back to ME2 in order to access it. I wouldn't mind Vega being accessible as well, while we're at it. Boy howdy, there's a lack of straight options for FemShep. I wouldn't take all of these options myself, even with multiple Shepards, but it strikes me as incredibly odd that they weren't available to begin with. I love me some Kaidan, but I don't want to be with him just because he was my only straight option.

- TANGIBLE WAR ASSETS: While I don't play the Mass Effect series for my strategy game fix, I was still expecting to utilize those war assets in a more tangible way than simply seeing a number in a console. Why wasn't there a Mass Effect 2-like distribution of assets in their appropriate positions? I would've liked to tell the Rachni to help with the space battles, tell the Geth to send some Primes to aid with the ground forces... hell, give me a chance to position the Normandy as the tip of the spear myself. Shepard may not be well versed in space battles, but I still expected to sit at a round table with Hackett and other military leaders to at least give a quick opinion of who should go where.

- YOU ARE THE DEMONS: You know that bit after the Destroy ending where Shepard takes a breath? I expected her to get up and come into view... as a husk. Hell, depending on what ending I chose, I expected at least one of them to involve me taking control of my squadmates while being forced to fight a Reaperized Shepard, WITH all of the skills I gave her, for X amount of time before help arrives or a cutscene happens where she snaps out of it. (Note: Husk!Shep isn't necessary, by the way. I just thought it was going to happen and was curious why it didn't.)

I can't think of anything else at the moment, so that's it for now.

Thanks, by the way. Aside from the stuff we're all talking about here, it really was a good game. Not to play down what we're talking about, mind you. And thanks for actually paying attention to all this, assuming you are.

Modifié par Jack Stark, 17 mars 2012 - 09:25 .