7052 réponses à ce sujet

[MoSa09]

Jessica Merizan wrote...

Guys, this is an ongoing dialogue. Casey's post is not the final definitive answer to your concerns. This is a collaboration.

In order to be successful in this, I need you to help me gathering feedback and tell us what you want to see. I understand that people are still feeling emotionally raw or untrusting, and I'm not saying it's not valid to feel that way. However, if you want to see your feedback implemented, this needs to become constructive and rational.

Complaining more isn't going to get you what you want. Tell us what you need. Make polls, collect your thoughts. Chris and I are gathering this information and the developers are listening.

This is a partnership. Let's have hope and make your voice heard - that includes positive feedback too (if you like something we're doing, tell us so we know to keep it up!).

An ending that did fit and suit the whole series.

Lets start with my main issues with the ending as it is.

1. No former choices suddenly matter.

All you did in ME 1, 2 or 3 i expected to lead to this point. You discovered the Reapers, fought off their pawns, gathered armies, made hard choices along the way. Everything you did, from discovering the Prothean relay to entering the beam, leads to this very point, this is the decisive moments, where all your actions come into play and you see what you get.

And suddenly none matters anymore. Your story ending essentially brought a "god" into play. If its thought of a real god or some reaper entity or whatever, its game and story effect is that of a "god". Gods in stories can justify anything, no matter how lore-breaking or ridiculous it is, cause they are gods and exceed understanding and boundaries. But in turn, they take agency completely away from the player. In a game that essentially relies on choice and player agency, this was the most counter productive move you could make in my opinion.

Look and listen at this video, its one of your own commercial videos:


Let me summarize the most important points your speaker says: "Mass Effect is a world of vast possibilites and outcomes. You get to shape the course of events in real time, as the game reacts to decisions you make.

In the end, where it matters the most, where all the peoples individual Shepards (looks, romances, decisions) come to watch their story to a close, all of this is thrown overboard and doesn't matter the slightest. Regardless of previous possibilites, in the end i face a godlike being offering me 3 choices i have to take. I cannot even question the choices i am given, i simply have to accept. Moreover, none of my choices has any significantly different outcome.

Look at this fanmade video:


In the final hour, where for me, 170 hours i spent with my Hsepard comes to its climax, the defining characteristics of the series

• choice
• and shaping your own outcome

suddenly stop existing. No matter what i did, no matter what i decide, i get an ending sequence that is 90 percent alike regardless which option i take.

2. Massive plotholes

Most of them have been mentioned countless times before. How did my squadmate who was with me before i charged at the beam suddenly end up on the Normandy? Why and how did Joker suddenly flee the battle and end up on a jungle world? Where did the Illusive Man suddenly come from? Why was Anderson behind and suddenly ahead of me? How is it possible that in a world that is rooted in science, i can suddenly merge all organics and synthetics by jumping into a colorful beam of light?Why did this starchild god living on the Citadel didn't help Sovereign when i stopped the Reapers from appearing in game 1?
And why is Shepards story suddenly told in retrospective after the credits? You went to lenth to make it something that is rooted in our reality, just a few years from today, and all by discovering some alien technology by sheer luck. And suddenly the narrative is turned all upside down and it was just an old mans tale soo many years ago?  To name the most pressing.

Of course, you can explain all of these by the simple fact its a "divine" and "god-like" being, but thats exactly the problem with that concept. Gods can explain everything, cause they exceed the limits of anything. No matter how illogical and ridiculous, gods can do it and need no explanations cause they are gods. The consueqwuence, sadly, is that is also always leave a bad taste in my mouth. The feeling it leaves behind is a very lazy feeling of buying the cheap way out by stating "god did so" instead of going the more difficult but also more rewarding way of wreiting something that can do without the divine deus ex machina.

3. The Lack of any closure.

Lets assume for a second the "Return of the King" (Lord of the Rings" would have had a different ending. Frodo is given 3 choices

• Destroy the Ring, but destroy elves and dwarfs alongside
• Take control of the Ring, thereby controlling orcs and end the war, but kill himself
• Merge Orcs and the other species to a new evolution and bring peace

Frodo makes his choice. Depending on the choice, you see a different colored explosion of Mount Doom, its either Red, Green or Blue. You see Sam Gamgee frantically running away in a place that is clearly far away from Mordor or Mount Doom, trying to escape the beam. Next you see is Sam, Gimli and Eomor on a remote island staring happily into the Sun. Cut and Credits. Does that sound any rewarding, sensible or reasonable?

To me it doesn't, but that is exactly what the ME 3 ending is like to me. Stories deserve and need closure. In Literature, its called epilogue, and its the first thing you learn in any literature class. After the climax comes an epilgoe. It reflects what happens, shows the changes the climax has brought, and how the heroes of the story move on. It also enables the reader/watcher to let go of their heroes, coming to grasp their story is over and what happened to them all. Me 3 provides none, no closure, no epilogue. It ends with a vague choice totally out of the blue, only to end right there.

4. Adding something memorable for the sake of adding something memorable

This is an arguable point, but i make it anyway. If i think of a memorable point in the Mass Effect series, its ME 2 when entering the Omega 4 relay. I have watches this scene over and over even long after finishing the game cause it was so great, replayed the battle and its important choices to make cause they were just over-the-top-great.

But they were that way because they were so well written and played out so well. And they were fitting within the whole game and story line so far. To me , it feels likw you wanted to end the game on a memorable note by inserting something memorable. To do that, you stopped continuing story at that point and inserted "module A - memorable ending". But that doesn't work. Endings do become memorable cause they are so well done, and lead the story to its peak, emotionally and plotwise. ME 3 had that potential , the story to that point was brilliant and leading to an epic final. But then you simply stopped and added something totally unrelated to have an "unforgettable moment"
This can never work in my opinion. Adding something just for the sake of adding something that is unexpected, or memorable will only lead tio confusuon, bewilderment and disappointment. Stoires become memorable cause they bring its story point to the very top and are brilliant creative art. Given the rest of the game, you have had the people to achieve exactly that. But stories don't become memorable by dropping the story and adding "module - unforgettable".

5. Disrespect for the previous gameplay

Mass Effect has always been Shepards story. And among players, Shep can be vastly different. Shep can be male or female, pick 6 different classes, can be a full Renegade or full Paragon, or the many shades in between. Some may have saved the Rachni Queen but handed the Collector base to Cerberus. Some may have done vice versa. Some may have done saved the Queen and destroyed the base, but let the Council in ME 1 be killed. Shepard is anything but a one size fits all. And that has been the great appeal of the series. It felt like you truly playes your Shepard, cause there so many distinct ways to shaoe the character. Each of us have our own Shepard. Sure, we in the very end followed the path you made available, but this left so much room per everyone to have a personal Shepard.

And this was totally negated in the end by a canon "one-size-fits-all" Shepard. When entering the beam, all of this is negated to nothing. We have a male of female Shepard to enter the beam, having to kill the Illusive man no matter what, and then having to accept whatever the starchild tells us and pick one option we are offered where we can't even talk to the kid but just listen. All the individual Shepards are suddenly gone, and with that comes a great loss for us players and alongside a heavy loss of one of the games biggest appeal.

6. Pointless choices

Everything you did up to that point was scrambling to save the galaxy, protect your friends and try to stay alive yourself. In the end, you always blow up the relays, trapping all forces i Sol System to starve on a scorched earth, You ruin galactic civilization you fought so hard to protect, and best of it, Shep doesn't even object, she simply limps to pick one choice without a fuss. What does it matter i gave the Quarians a homeworld and solved their issue with the Geth, that i cured the Genophage and help the Krogans. The Quarian fleet is trapped on earth, and so is the Krogan population. What did it matter i saved the Council? This also refers to point 5, everything of your previous story you experienced with Shepard, everything you fought for, played for, is rendered into Oblivion and was absolutely pointless. This is also what killed any replay value of all 3 games for me: why play any games and fight and decide if i know that in the end, it was and will be all for nothing?

Now i saw some articles on gaming magazines thats a lesson that "sometimes things exceed men and we can't change everything". But lets face it: this is still a videogame, a product of digital entertainment. I have philosophy books of Plato, Socrates at home if i want to engage in a deep philosophical debate about the meaning of life and the impact of man. Mass Effect is a fictional piece of entertainment, where the most time of actually gameplay you are shooting at various monsters and watch them die or explode. It is, despite and well done touching intellectual points, still a piece of fiction, and not a philosophical letter about the little impact of man.

7. No Counter argument despite undeniable proof

The starchilds main argument is that all organics will eventually create synthetics that will destroy all organics. So its solution is to destroy all developed organics by synthetics. That alone is an assumption that is at the very least questionable. Shepard does not.

Moreoever, even if we believe this, why can't i claim "thank you, i'd rather see for myself and face whatever we might create then getting exterminated? Why does Shep has to blindly acccept this rather questionable reasoning.

And at worst, the proof is not true is just outside the window. Gewth have solved their issues with the Quarians, they fight alondside to battle the Reapers. Edi embraced a soul and fell in love with an Organic. Its the undeniable proof something different is possible. The kid can argue it won't last, and maybe he's right, maybe not. But i can't even mention it, argue it. Starchild tells me thats the way it is, and despite having proof it doesn't hve to be that way right in the background, Shep only nods. This feels so odd and out of character (also see taking agency away from the player).

8. Ending contradics the previous themes

This is perhaps also questionable, but an important point to me. The whole series was about unity and freedom. Shep fights with a multi-species crew, make friends along them, solves issues along species, proves old prejudices wrong. The main and constant villain apart from the Reapers is Cerberus who strive for human dominance and belittling other species. The overall theme is unity, stand together, respect for other, fitting in, overcoming differences and seeing how much alike truly are.

This is, in whole ME 3 especially, what brings your army together in the first place. The ending suddenly contraditcs this. Unity, respect, live alongside each other: nothing of this can last. Regardless of choice, you blow up your union when you blow up the relays. Moreover, the green option even perverts this unity and living along each other by a forced merge into a new "evolution". The whole general theme of the game is reduced to burning rubble cause this starchild tells me it doesn't matter and i have to swallow it.

Wow, long wall of text, now what kind of ending to i want:

What ending do i want to see:

• First and foremost, i want my Shepard to matter in how it ends. I want the whole journey my Shepard has had to matter when the final fate is decided. And i want this ending to reflect her, and her journey.
• I want to see closure, what happened after the climax is done, what happened to Shep, to the galaxy, to my companions, to everything i touched and cared for. This is a 3 games series which 150 hours + gametime each character, it just deservers an epilogue/closure fitting the magnitude and size of the series.
• I want a good ending. I know many claim Shep has to die and that this "Disney happily-ever-after" is boring. I disagree. Of course, a guaranteed happy ending that it will lead to is boring. But it is just as boring as a guaranteed "death cause the Reapers are to big to take without sacrifice". The game promised 16 different endings, so let one be a good ending where Shep can make it. It doesn't have to mean you can get everyone out alive. The scene i had in my head pre release was that you had to decide to leave one squadmate behind to cover your back, and you would know he/she would die in the process of covering your back. The scene wehn you order this and say goodbye could be so emotional. And i had expected that like in ME 2, assigning your crew to various tasks would matter. Perhaps with the exception that some tasks are a death sentence this time, regardless who does it. But give one ending where Shep can make it, battered and bruised, and to quit military service, mourning all the losses she had to endure, and take her LI and start a peaceful life with her. This should by far the hardest ending to get, but it should be one.
• Talking about 16 endings: what about variety? 16 endings provide so many options to reflect all the choices you made in the series from beginning to end, from the good one to the very bad one and 14 shades of grey in between.
• Its probably too late now, but since this is about wishes: take out a the god starchild. Its a complete lore-breaker, and a deus ex machina is always felt to be a copout to a story and leaves a sour taste.
• Make the theme and our individual choices matter: let us, as promised, shape the course of events by the decisions we take and the actions we take. If you do that, you will be guaranteed to have a memorable ending.
• Do not render all efforts pointless. I fought for 3 games to save the galaxy, to unity the galaxy. Do not render it pointless be offering me green, blue or red. Give meaning to what happened before godchild. As it is now, you can as well scrap everything else and release the whole series as a small dlc called "The Beam of Light". Nothing you did before has meaning, why play it?
• Stop trying to keep is vageu and speculating. Mass Effect 3 is the end of Shepards story, end it!!! No mysterious breathing scenes, no speculation what might have happened, what your choices will mean. An end is called an end cause it answers the wuestions and fixes what happens. Otherwise its anything but an end.
• And last but not least be honest: if Casey Hudson declares before release how memorable the ending would be and that its anything but choosing A, B or C....we're not stupid. The end was just that, choose A,B or C. It wasn't even choosing destruction, control or merge, , as the consequences of this choices were nowhere to be seen. It was just Red, Green or Blue, nothing more. And that, for such a beatiful game series where its all about shaping your indicidual way how to play the game, is, i am sorry too put it bluntly, just lousy.

So, long wall of text, whith certainly lots of typos i will be trying to corrent when i reread it. And everyone who did it, thx for the time and listening.

Modifié par MoSa09, 17 mars 2012 - 10:30 .

[Kamacc]

It should of course present many options but my path through the ending would be something like this:


I talk down the illusive man but am weak and almost dying. I talk to anderson and attempt to activate the crucible.

It doesn't seem to work, but then it becomes clear that it requires a human life to activate, you can then get anderson to do it, or you sacrafice yourself.

A huge shockwave bursts out from the crucible, in whatever color it feels like, it passes over earth and the Reapers disintegreate or fall apart. The ground forces begin to emerge from cover, you see friends or other factions you convinced to join you.

It cuts to space and you see the wave pass over the friendly ships and take out the reapers. It shows some shots of the survivors, with some chatter about who might have been lost during the battle.

The shockwave could also shoot out through the relays and affect the whole galaxy, afterwards the relays shut down (not explode).

You see it chain to all parts of the galaxy and you see various planets and stations reacting to the reaper deaths, the other planets shown and the state they are in can depend on your EMS. It shows the survivors from the citadel on refugee ships (the C-sec guy and aria, or conrad, etc, anyone who makes you think that people might have survived, of course this might change depending on your EMS)

Then it cuts back to the Normandy, with chatter about the location of shepard, you see your squadmates in sickbay, or people crying over their deaths, being asked where shepard is, no one knows. It cuts to joker trying to contact shepard.

After the obvious dramatic silence, you either here shepard or anderson depending on your choice and you here the sad news about whoever died. Shepard/Anderson asks if it worked, is it over?

A comment about the relays being offline is mentioned, something crossing that bridge later.

Cut to earth, a funeral for whoever died, your LI cries a lot if you died. It pans out from the Earth, past derelict reapers, pass whats left of the fleet, out of the solar system, out of the galaxy, fade to black.

Of course it could have a secret ending where you see shepard breath in some rubble. 



If less drastic measures are to be taken, then I would simply like to see more explanations and character appearances so I can answer the question "Did I save the galaxy?"

[Mariel800]

Not going to write an epic post since I'd only be repeating what most other people have already said, so I'll summarise:

• Make our choices matter. This was the biggest letdown for me, that throughout the whole trilogy I'd been able to influence the way the story was going and then right at the end none of it mattered and all I could do was pick one of three colours which ultimately had the same effect.
• Fix the plot holes. Where the hell was Joker going in the Normandy? How did the squadmates who were with me on Earth and probably got killed by Harbinger end up on the ship alive and well? Why did what the Godchild (*shudder*) say make no sense whatsoever? Why was Shep acting totally out of character? How did Anderson get to the control panel ahead of Shep when he came up to the Citadel after? Where did TIM spring from since there was nowhere for him to hide? I could keep going, but you get the idea.
• Closure. Even if all of the above can't be fixed we're still left with a sense of "What the **** just happened?!" when the credits roll. There's no mention of what happened to the fleets, or the galaxy, or even the crew of the Normandy after getting stuck on some random planet. It just - ends.
• Not ending-related, but please fix the journal. The last two games had journals which actually told you which stage of a quest you were on, if not always where to go - fine by me, I don't like to be handheld but I would appreciate knowing when I've picked up a quest item so I don't end up running around in circles to find something I already have... /facepalm
• Romances are - lacking. The Shep I imported stayed loyal to Kaidan throughout all 3 games, but it felt the conversation choices were really limited, and more often than not just auto-dialogue, followed by yet another "last night" romance scene. More interaction would have been nice.

To be fair, 98% of what you've made here is absolutely epic, and a truly fitting end to an awesome trilogy - until it's all ruined in the last 15 minutes of the game. Replayability as it stands is totally worthless, even as far as ME1 and ME2 goes, since it all ends the same way anyway, so what's the point? The only reason I'll ever play again is to import a renegade and see the flipside to the choices I made last time, but I won't finish. I won't put myself through that agony again.

[Shallyah]

I'll keep this post short since I'm sure forum moderators and staff are having very hard time reading all the walls of text.


1. Thank you for Mass Effect. It's briliant, unique, and I can't get enough of it.

2. Let us know what really happened to each individual, planet and race after ME3 events. I prefer a ME4, but if that can't be, give us what you can. DLC is perfectly fine with me.

3. Gives us Tali's face, or even a more general idea of Quarian's aspects. Let us see her real eyes and smile with a video or the game engine, even if only once. Let Shepard look into her eyes and caress her skin. Please, let us think she is more to you than what we've been given. We love Tali, and she deserves much more. You have more than enough talent to please Tali's fans. Believe me, if what you produce is half as good as some fan arts I've seen around, 95% of the community will be pleased and thankful.

4. Thank you again. Really, I am not disappointed. If Mass Effect wasn't such an engaging and emotionally involving game nobody would care about these things. Mass Effect isn't a movie where you passively watch a story. Mass Effect makes you participant of the story, puts you in Shepard's skin and lets you see the universe through your character like no game before has managed. It deserves the possibility to achieve a glorious ending, even if it's not easy to reach, or for that matter, even if not everyone is capable of reaching it. Give us the utter feeling of accomplishment that we yearn for.

Modifié par Shallyah, 17 mars 2012 - 10:14 .

[Mandemon]

 I wish that the ending could reflect our choices and that we could get an epilogue, one that details what happened shortly after the end.

For example, you could reconstuct the ME2 Suicide mission

This is only an opinion, not a demand "this is the only way",

First, decide who goes in the first wave to deal with the anti-air Reapers. You could pick from your collected war assets and each wuld have certain chance to succeed. For example. Salarian STG or Asari commandos could eb the best choice for quick "get in, destroy target, get out" mission, where as Krogan would be first possible choice, or Elcor. Humans could have it done, but there would be damage to allied forces.

Second, the assault towards the beam. Here you could have several instances where you could deploy assest and could see your squad mates doing something. Perhaps some units neets help and you can order who goes there. Maybe send platoon of Geth Primes to support Quarians, or send Krogan to destroy well fortified blockade. Once again, level of success would depend on how well suited the certain asset is for it.

Third, remove the "Star Child", he makes no sense. Instead, have a scene where you can attempt to help break the The Illusive Mans indoctrination and have him help you. Have the old scene where you can try to save Anderson, but make it possible to save him.

Fourth, have a scene on Catalyst control tower. At this point, it comes down to certain points. Harbinger will attempt to attack you. If you have high enough EMS, he will be stopped, but if you don't have, he will only be slowed down and if you had lowest possible he will simply walz trough allied fleet.

Lastly, have a final scene with TIM and Andersson. If TIM died, you can't save the Geth or EDI. If you have TIM, he will notice the calibration error and will attempt to fix it, dying in the process. Geth and EDI will be spared. the have another moment where there is something, let's say energy release valve needs to be manually turned. If Anderson is alive, he will volunteer to do it, telling that you are needed to oversee the activation. If not, you must do it. Whoever goes and does it, dies.

Final moment, when everything is done, comes to your EMS. High enough, HArbinger is destroyed by allied fleet never reaching the Crucible, Crucible fires and wiped out the Reapers(and perhaps Geth and EDI). Mass relays are not destroyed.

Slightly lower and Harbinger breaks trough, but is slowed enough for the Crucible to fire.

Lower and Harbinger breakds tough, but is slowed enough for the Crucible to fire. Harbingers dead body crashes into the Crucible control room, killing Shepard as athmosphere is vented out.

Worst case scenario, Harbinger breaks trough and destroys control room before Crucible fires.

Roll the epilogue. Did Reapers reap the galaxy? Did galaxy survive? What happened to Geth and Quarians? Did Shepard ever has his/her blue children?

Modifié par Mandemon, 17 mars 2012 - 10:11 .

[RavenEyry]

If indoctrination theory is incorrect then Bioware have completely accidentally left themselves a way out. Just retcon the theory to be true and have ending DLC start with Shepard waking up in the rubble. Though lower the EMS required to get that scene otherwise only people with multiplayer or iPhones will be able to play the new ending.

[Olive Oomph]

Another thing I just thought of:

- Where are the neutral dialog options? Especially in talking with the guys. I can either be flirty with Vega or a cold b!tch. Why not friendly? Haven't you learned anything after Jacob Taylor?
I mean you really did a great job in making the Normandy and its crew come more alife this time, but the range of possibilty in which we can interact with them is still lacking.

- I am also a bit disappointed, that you made Kaidan a romance option for male Shepard, but you didn't do the same for Ashley and femshep.
It's your decision and I would be more ok with it, when we had at least the chance to talk to her about our feelings and have her tell us, that she is not interested. Just like in ME1 there is a severe lack of communication if you don't romance them and it s'cks, when you can't do that. You are simply locked out by your sex. : (
As I have heard male Shepard can hit on Sam and is turned down, why not make this available for straight LI's as well. It'S better than just being ignored.
Overall you took great steps to improve the experience for femsheps, I don't want to be ungrateful, but still it feels sometimes like we are 2nd class Shepards.

I have written a few thoughts about the Samantha romance in the character thread here.

And face import bug! I don't really understand how this has not have been checked and fixed, since personalizing your Shepard is one of the most important aspects of the games!

Modifié par Olive Oomph, 17 mars 2012 - 10:13 .

[kalerab]

I think probably everything I wanted to write is already written here (awesome Thane, Mordin and Legion dieing - I dont mind a bit not having as a player say in that matter, after all in such war someone had to die regardless of Shepards action), however what I would enjoy is seeing bigger impact of war assets. Now I am not talking about ending particullary as that was discussed here endlessly but having impact on grander scale on battle of Earth. For example if you made peace between Geth and Quarian cutscene of Quarian fleet beeing heavily pounded by Reaper forces, stranded from bulk of Human-Turian-Asari fleets, several Quarian ships going down to Earth in flames and just before complete annihilation of stranded fleet Geth fleet would move in and save the day, blasting it way through Reaper siege. If you saved only Geth or Quarians Geth/Quarian stranded fleet gets blown up to pieces while buying precious time for Allied fleet to take strong foothold around the citadel. Or on Earth, Turian platoon fighting heavy Reaper ground forces and several moments later we could see Krogan squads under Wrex command attacking it from flank, symbolizing old enemies becoming allies in near-to-death situation. If you convinced Balak to grant you support of Batarian fleet on Citadel maybe showing Batarian squads moving to civilian neighbourhood of London and evacuating human civilians from warzone, greated as liberators and not pirates and terrorists. And human tank platoons moving on outskirts of London, blasting out dozens of Brutes with fighter-bombers obliterating fields of enemies by bombardment as was shown in CGI trailer. Alliance dreadnought on verge of destruction sacrificing itself and its crew by suicide run into one of the Reapers, tearing it apart (cliche but damn effective). You now, something grander. Rest assured I believe that your animation team done hell of a work, beginning of space battle of Earth was amazing but aftewards it seemed not as biggest battle in galactic history but as Shepart running through rubbles of London while taking down dozens of Husks, Brutes, Marauders and stuff. Than again, run to the beam of light was amazingly done, something that could´ve been done sooner, seeing attack gunships, Makos and dozens of Alliance soldiers running with you while beeing devastated by Harbringer laser was moment that should´ve been used sooner. Also maybe whole battle of Earth may have taken more than 2 missions (destruction of Reaper AA and no-mans land battle) but something like first establishing foothold on outskirts of London, pushing towards center, battle near House of Parliament and Big Ben and final push towards the beam of light, all in all several more hours of gameplay. And I guess everybody knows what a letdown was what happened after player entered Citadel. ME was always based on physical sphere, adding some spiritual theme into it in last 5 minutes couldn´t result in anything but shytstorm. Should´ve been kept simple, go there, kill TIM, activate button and dead Reapers start crashing on Earth surface. Or with not enough war assets you loose, or another ending could be winning over Reapers but Shepard dies, or Earth dies, or Hackett dies etc. Simply done, players would´ve beeng satisfied and you wouldn´t have this on your head. You overthought that, that is always bad. As I wrote before, it was discussed here endlessly. And yeah, more Harbringer BioWare. He was presented in ME2 as major mofo, commander of other Reapers you if I wouldnt read codex I would miss him entirely in whole game.

[Elscotto1989]

i want more varied endings, i do want endings where shepard dies but i also want at least one ending where i can be at peace with my LI (tali in my case) and be able to actually rest, i mean my shepard has saved the universe countless times and i honestly believe he deserves that, now for my renegade i like to play him as the "whatever it takes" kinda guy so i wouldnt mind like i said some endings where i can have him go out in a blaze of glory for situations such as that.

[anzurose]

 For the ending, there were a lot of things I really liked, and some things I was disappointed by. I liked...

• The idea of Shepard's final sacrifice. I loved the fact that my Shepard could die for the cause, I loved the dramatic sacrifice that Shepard had to give... I'm a sucker for endings that involve heroic sacrifices, and this was no different.
• The fact that all of the species are moving forwrd and building their own future, their own tomorrow. After millions of years where different species evolved accordin to the Reaper's design, I love the fact that we can make our own future.
• How beautiful the imgages were, all of the light flying over the galaxy... We did something that changed the entire galaxy. Something awe-inspiring and huge.
• The moment where Joker and EDI stand together. I (obviously) got the Synthesis ending, and I really did pick that ending with them in mind. Seeing them... it really made me happy.

And on the other hand, things that I was disappointed with.

•  Honestly? Other than what I mentioned, I found the entire Joker crash landing scene to be really odd. Why was he there? Why did Joker use a Mass Relay and then get caught in the destruction of it? Why were my teammates there when they were behind me just a little while ago?
• I also feel like that final shot on a new planet was supposed to be hopeful, but I was scared for them. What is Joker going to do in a new unexplored world? He'll die the second he encounters any wildlife, are we supposed to assume that he and whoever is with him builds a new world from scratch? It seemed weird.
• I feel like I didn't really understand what my options were when I had to make the final choice. What does "sythesizing organics and machines" mean? Am I killing everyone and having them reborn as machine people? Am I giving people the ability to reproduce with machines? It wasn't quite clear. I also wanted to talk to the boy again, and look over my options one more time, but there was no way to do that.
• I never saw any real reaction to my death. I loved the flashes in my minds eye as I died, those moments where I saw the people I loved the most... but I want to see their realizatioin that I didn't make it. I wanted to see them with everyone else on Earth, celebrating their victory... but then taking a mournful pause when they understand what was lost to acheive that. 

I tried to keep my thoughts brief, since you probably have a lot of criticism to sort through. I also wanted to add in that while the ending left me feeling unsatisfied, I really loved Mass Effect 3, and am still a huge Bioware fan. Good luck going forward!

Modifié par anzurose, 17 mars 2012 - 10:17 .

[NekoPanOnline]

I like the weapon customization keep it up. Where was the vehicle missons you guys said we would have? Liked squadies talking on ship, but have em move more mabye, not just oh sheps coming act like were talking so it isnt quiet. The journal system in mass effect 3 ishorrid what happened to it its really dumbed down nd unhelpful

[Seppaqueas]

I wasn't going to write
my suggestions down and post them in this forum. I thought, everything I wish to say has already been said. But if everybody did the same as I, then nobody would do a thing. So I thought it best if I did. I would like to commend the BioWare team on such a great job with the Mass Effect series. Truly outstanding. A masterpiece of gaming. But it isn't without it flaws, as with any work is. And that is why we are here, isn't it.

I will not dwell much on the ending. Know that I did not like it for many of the reasons mentioned in this forum, wishing for something more than what we got. For me it was the lack of closure for the character, the surreal
Starchild and the simple, three colour-coded options for your choice of ending. Plus all the plot holes that comes with it. I felt like I was watching Lost again.


Being an aspiring writer myself, I have been gutted by criticism for an ending that I had written. In hindsight I can see how much of a cop-out of an ending I wrote. How unfulfilling it was to the reader. I am in the process of
changing it, plus some of the story to reflect it too. (If for any reason you wish to know more, god knows why you would, a professional writer, just PM me. I'll be happy to explain in detail of my weak ending.) My point being, I can empathise with how the writers can feel with such criticism thrown at them about the ending. But as a
player, I feel cheated.

1 – While some people didn't like the lacking of dialogue options, I didn't mind how it was handled. It gave the conversations a more natural feel, a flow. And the dialogue itself was nicely written (not to forget the great work
of the voice actors). But some of the option labels for dialogue were a little misleading. What I thought Shepard was going to lead with, turned, going away from my intent. I don't have any specific example for you, sorry. Plus I was worried with some options. When wanting to compliment another character, I wasn't certain, based on the label, that I would be flirting instead. Maybe an symbol denoting intent. Firm, Polite, Charming. Though, I couldn't imagine it for all options of dialogue. Most of the time you can read the intent of the labels.


2 – The journal felt lacking. It was primarily for side-quests not self updating once I had acquire said item. I couldn't remember who wanted what, or know what I had even already collected. How I ended up playing the
side-quests; after roaming around the galaxy, scanning planets, finding various items and such, I'd eventually do a Citadel run and hand in what I found to who ever wanted it. It became a careless act.

Two other small comments; Finished quests, could they possibly put into another tab. All they did was fill out my log, forcing me to scroll to the top to see active quests. And the method of selecting a quest was annoying.
It's functionality works fine for a controller, I can see that, but for a mouse it was a little more cumbersome.

3 – Multiplayer. I originally disliked the idea of MP in Mass Effect and how it effected the single player game. Now, after having played it for a few hours, I have grown to like the idea. But... I don't think it should effect the single player game to such a degree, being able to double your rating. I thought, what if random missions throughout the galaxy were available to Shepard, in a similar fashion to that of MP. It would give the player a chance to gain some XP and add to the readiness percentage outside of MP. Of course it would be restricted to how much XP could be gained to stop from endless grinding. But it would be more as a replacement for the MP aspect for the SP players, not an XP pot of gold. As with these missions, perhaps the increase to the readiness isn't permanent, decreasing slowly as you progress. I stress the word slowly. I'd hate the idea of doing such missions as an endless chore.

That is all I can think of at the moment. If anything else comes to mind, I'll be sure to post it. Fortunately, there wasn't much I didn't like about the game, so I doubt I'll be back with more. It was one crazy rollercoaster ride. I loved it.

-Ash

Modifié par Seppaqueas, 17 mars 2012 - 10:16 .

[Tylea002]

Go with the indoctrination theory, because it allows you to not discount the ending presented to us, and also make sense of all the inconsistencies as clues to why the world is not as it seems, and proceed from there, giving an explanation of the Reapers that makes sense, or leaving them unexplained. IF then firing the crucible magically solves the conflict, then tell me why it does that, and how. For example, in the current ending, the mass relays all destroy because the writers want them to, when there are ways to explain that. Personally, But yes, if the Crucible isn't just constructed by the reapers to give each civilisation false hope (an idea I was hoping for the entire game, because it saving the day magically is kinda deus ex machina-y) then what it does do needs to make sense.

I don't need large amounts of closure in ending videos for every conflict, but I do need what's presented to make sense. By God do I hope EVERYTHING with Joker was Shepard still hallucinating, dreaming that his best friends would be okay, because nothing else makes sense about that, despite the fact that Joker losing control of the ship is the most moving image in the game, the context it is wrapped up in ruins the impact.

I don't demand a happy ending, because I love poignant emotional endings that really leave me with a mixture of satisfaction and sadness that I'll not be returning to these characters. I don't come to Mass Effect for boring, everyone wins storylines. I come to it for amazing emotional storylines in games, that make sense tonally, thematically and within the rules of the universe presented.

[xeNNN]

rough idea of overall things that should be changed excluding the ending till later in the post.

minor in game overall issues: 

- include more dialog options.
- dont allow forced conversations (it ruins it in terms of choosing who to talk to and when). 
- give the player more freedom (havent quite figured out how to do that yet but i felt Pushed into some situations throughout the story which didnt happen in me1 & 2 at all)
- Reputation system is pointless (sorry it just is) 
- paragon options further to the end of the game are way to difficult to get if you dont have more than 95% paragon you cant get the illusive man to shoot him in the head so. 
- THE CODEX, GIVE PEOPLE DIRECTIONS FOR MISSIONS. 
- you also cannot talk to the crew as much as you could in mass effect 1 and 2 

Note: this is a rough idea of how i think the ending should be changed there is a lot more i need to think of but yeah.


This would add closure, and a sense that you can suceed. however im not entirely sure if this shows how relevant your choices made are i guess someone else could add that for me as im not entirely sure how id implement that all depends on certain scenario's, i guess alternative cut scenes dependent on who you decided to ally with and help during mass effect 3 along with people who were in your crew in mass effect 2 and current crew in 3 shown working together etc.


adds to the current ending and fixes a few things

Added option-
-(conversation wheel) gives you the conversation option to refute the starchilds logic and if 90-100% paragon convince him that his logic is flawed but he refuses to stop the reapers & so depending on EMS your fleet battles it out with the reapers. (star-child gets confused/stressed causing pause to the reapers allowing the galactic fleet to do its damage depending on how long your conversation lasts is how much damage is done to the reapers galaxy wide)

- the chance of keeping everyone alive in your squad and crew and depending on level of EMS the crew rescues you or doesn't (you survive or you dont, dependent on your resources and partial galactic readiness)

-while being rescued or not, you see clips of all the races including the rachni working together to kill the reapers, (CGI clip of Sword(including the Normandy) battling it out in space (winning in the clip if your EMS is high enough, losing if its not), apply's a sense of success against all odds

- after the battle is over show the species working together and rebuilding different planets (relays and citadel remain intact) (only show Shepard with his LI if he was rescued, if he wasn't show his crew paying tribute at a memorial of some kind with other race friends hes made paying tribute also.)

Fixed Parts of the ending

- Removal of the Normandy running away randomly crashing on a random planet with the squad you took with you magically appearing .. out of the Normandy with joker.. lol (its really not needed at all to be honest)

- make it slightly easy to get TIM to shoot himself.

- Change destroy option in the 3 colours to paragon, only ALL synthetic life is destroyed depending on the your EMS. only reapers destroyed depending on your EMS if its high enough only the reapers get killed if its to low ALL synthetic life gets killed.
- Change control to paragon with some consequence depending on EMS (besides your life.)
- Leave synthesis as it is.

- If you pick destroy you can survive by being rescued again depending on EMS (remove breathing picture Easter egg)

- relays can still get destroyed however citadel remains intact in every ending.

- star child turns out to be harbinger in disguise and he was just imitating his creator and then plays with Shepard mind showing images of friends on akuze and other ones he loves to try and get Shepard to choose control or synthesis, if he refutes harbingers logic then he either chooses destroy or to let the fleet battle it out with chances of survival dependent on EMS before hand ofc refuting harbingers logic causes pause to the reapers some how.

Alternate ending sequence (removal of the stargazer + stargazers grandson ending scene)

shows Shepard and his LI 3 years after, places have been slightly rebuilt, Shepard has a home etc with his LI , has some kid(s) as well, suddenly a systems alliance officer appears and shows him a picture of some new enemy and they need his help... etc etc etc (you can gather where im going with that..) (roll the credits) thus being able to end Shepard's story but at the same time ending it so we can Imagen what hes off doing again only depending on your EMS and galactic readiness 

(THEN cut to the first ending scene after the credits and use the stargazers grandson ending scene IF YOU MUST >.> this can be interpreted as a planet one of liara's memory boxes reached)

(that's about alls ive got so far, note they just add and remove things they dont actually fully change the ending by 100% rewriting it, just make more sense and easier for them to do)

Modifié par xeNNN, 17 mars 2012 - 10:33 .

[Jhourney]

Derk Henderson wrote...

Plenty of other people have brought up the same things (in very eloquent fashion), but here's the problems I saw:

(a note: I play Male Shep and so will be referring to Shepard as a he for the duration of this post)

1. Closure:

There's no closure, and it really takes away from everything we've done throughout the series. You talk about how we got closure throughout the game, wrapping up longstanding conflicts, and - prior to the ending - that's true. You decide the fate of the Krogan. You decide whether the Geth and the Quarians reconcile, or whether one of their races ends in the skies of Rannoch. These moments are brilliant, and beautiful, and they matter. You feel like you've done something great (or terrible, as the case may be).

And that might have been enough, if the ending had left the Mass Relays intact. But it doesn't, and all of a sudden the great armada you've gathered is stranded in the smoking ruins of Earth. All of a sudden, the closure you've gotten has been ripped away.

Take the Krogan. You've established that their only real hope of avoiding their previous pitfalls, as a race, is if Wrex (and maybe Eve) lead them into a Genophage-less future. So what happens if you've cured the Genophage, but Wrex is stuck on Earth? It's hard not to see the resulting power vacuum on Tuchanka leaving nothing but a new set of radioactive craters in its wake if what's left of the Krogans on Earth ever make it back.

The Quarians are even worse. Rannoch is on the other side of the galaxy - you've given them a home and then taken it away for untold centuries, if they can ever make it back home. And can their fleet sustain itself without trading for supplies through the Mass Relay network? If not, they're pretty much doomed to extinction.

All of this ties into the second point:

2. Hope:

You say you wanted to leave a sense of hope behind, but the lore of the Mass Effect universe suggests a future full of misery and death and a new galactic Dark Age (which seems to be confirmed by writers notes). That's not a triumph. That's a big part of what's leaving a taste of despair in our mouths, and no one-minute cutscene about The Shepard can fix it. I'm fine with this being one of the possible endings - if your armada was inadequate, sure, your victory can leave behind a shattered galaxy. But we've been triumphing over impossible odds for the entire series. That's one of the big reasons Shepard is such an iconic character. It's why his squadmates will follow him into the fight no matter what, it's why the galaxy rallies around them. Shepard can do it.

Well, Shepard didn't do it. Shepard pressed a button given to him by a snot-nosed, sadistic god and chose the color by which the galaxy would be broken. It's not a triumph, and instead of feeling like a worthy sacrifice it become the very definition of a pyrrhic victory. Speaking of which...

3. Triumph:

As a game company, my guess is that you want your players to feel so engaged in your world that they come back and explore it in different ways. In this, you have been extraordinarily successful. I have played each Bioware game multiple times, some so many that I've lost count (I reimported my BG2 character so many times that he ended as a 39/28 fighter/mage). Dragon Age 2 and Mass Effect 3 are the first two Bioware games that I did not immediately begin again (though I went back to DA2, whose ending at least feels consistent, and do not plan to go back to ME3). The reason, in both cases, is the tone of the ending and the distinct lack of triumph and a sense of accomplishment that it brings. In Dragon Age 2, I saw a complete disaster unfold no matter what I did as Hawke, plunging the world into war and chaos. While I can appreciate wanting to set that up for Dragon Age 3, it didn't make me want to go back and play again, because there was no triumph waiting for me at the end.

Mass Effect 3 is worse because it's the end of the a trilogy. There is no sequel coming. This is it. And I didn't really save the galaxy. I didn't triumph against impossible odds. Victory was handed to me by someone else, and it came at far too high a cost to enjoy in any way. It's especially galling because we felt that sense of accomplishment at the end of each of the first two games. Stopping Sovereign felt fantastic, and getting my entire team - who I loved - home safely from what should have been a suicide mission felt even better. Mass Effect 3 should have built on that and given me my greatest feeling of triumph yet, instead of kicking me in the teeth and leaving a bitter sense of despair and anger. When people say it's tainted the entire trilogy, especially the replay value, this is what they mean.

4. Choice:

Mass Effect has always been about player choice. What's more, if you're presented with two terrible options, there's often a way to get past it and take a third option. So why, at the very end, didn't I have that freedom?

Specifically, where's my Sheridan Moment? If you've watched Babylon 5, and I'm sure most of the Mass Effect team has, there comes a moment when John Sheridan is asked to choose between the two elder races of the galaxy, between order (as defined by the Vorlons) and chaos (as defined by the Shadows). And he tells them to go to hell. It's one of the most powerful moments in all of science fiction - one extraordinary man rejecting a false choice and allowing humanity to forge its own path forward.

So why couldn't I do the same to the Starchild? We're told that organics vs. synthetics is The Great Unsolvable Problem, so much so that the best answer a godlike AI could come up with is giant death robots that kill everyone every 50000 years. But we've got counterexamples! We have EDI, the AI who fell in love with a human. We have the Geth and the Quarians, who overcame fear and mistrust and a terrible war to - finally - move towards a future together. And we have Shepard, an extraordinary man who has been thumbing his nose at godlike beings the entire series. Everything was set up perfectly for a Sheridan Moment - a rejection of the Starchild's basic premise and a reclaiming of the galaxy for us to attempt a future where synthetics and organics can coexist in peace.

Instead, Shepard meekly agrees with both the premise and the presented choices. It feels wrong, and it's a tremendous waste of an opportunity.


I'll leave the ranting about plotholes (what was the Normandy doing, why are my squadmates suddenly on it, etc) to others.

Mass Effect 3 could have been the capstone to one of the greatest achievements in the history of videogames, and for 99% of the game, it was. Please give us a chance to end this epic the way it deserves.

Quoting this because it sums up my thoughts so well I just want to add to that I, personally, DO want a happy ending for my canon Shepard. No matter what, even if she's reunited with her LI, the ending will ALWAYS be bittersweet. So many gave their lives, so much was destroyed, the future is unknown but there's Hope.
I get that a lot of people like bleak endings and they have them already, but I prefer a more happy one. Meaning being reunited with her LI (and not her lying between rubble and him on an unknown planet), seeing all the characters I know and love, more closure etc etc.

And please, please, don't try giving us closure by releasing different Dark Horse comics to show us what happened with our choices. I want to experience them in the game, I want to fight for the right to have my happy ending by scanning every little planet or driving on it in the Mako in ME1, do every side mission and get everything on 100% throughout the trilogy, only to be rewarded at the end. Just as I would love a bleak ending reflecting my more renegade Shepard...I want replayability! Because as it stands now, I can't even stomach going through ME3 again and that's a horrible feeling since the game is great up until the ending.

Modifié par Jhosephine, 17 mars 2012 - 10:21 .

[wilde-shade]

I'm not convinced these are being read and taken seriously.... but, on the off chance they are, I registered my copy just to add my two cents.

The ending was too nonsensical and vague. I couldn't tell the difference between glitches and plot holes. The ending wasn't bittersweet. It was just bitter. I felt sick afterward. I felt like Shepard had failed. The Reapers are gone, but at what cost? I just broke the universe. All those wonderful things I accomplished over the course of the series? Most of them feel so empty and pointless now given my limited, bleak options at the end there.

As a female, I don't feel a connection with my onscreen avatar very often. While Mass Effect might not be my favorite series, it was up there. Shepard was the closest I had ever felt to a video game. When I played the first game, I was in a pretty bad place. Abusive homelife, the death of a family member, subsequent depression. ME1 was the perfect escapism. I could just get absorbed in the game. Heck, when I got off of it, I even felt stronger, more capable. I felt better-equpped to manage my stress and anxiety and move on with life.

By the time ME2 was out, I'd moved out of that bad situation. I was in the process of making a life for myself. I was happy to see Shepard again. It was great to take a break from that and just be Shepard for a little while. Afterwards, I was already impatient for the final installment.

Then ME3 came along. My life is hardly perfect, but it's finally starting to shape itself into something positive. I get to write for a (meager) living, and while I don't need that escapism as much as I did five years ago... It's like everything's been turned upside down. I wasn't depressed or anxious before I started ME3, but I most certainly am now.. This was my chance to say a fond farewell to Shepard, a character who helped me through some tough times, gave me confidence. Only, I didn't get to say a proper goodbye. I feel like I watched her go down in a slow motion trainwreck. Maybe she's alive somewhere in the rubble? I don't know. Does it even matter now? Probably not.

I'm not ashamed to admit that I wanted a happy ending. I expected some tragedy, but I had hoped I would meet with it along the way, not at the destination, not as all possible outcomes. My Shepard has earned her happy ending. I would prefer the universe isn't in shambles, but I could handle some death and destruction as long as things are optamistic. Leaving Shepard without her crew was a low blow. She deserved to settle down for a while, maybe adopt a kid or two with Garrus, occasionally hang out with Liara on the weekends, get some thanks for everything she's done. She didn't deserve the ending she got. It just contadicts the entire feel of the rest of the series as well as everything the games meant to me, personally.

And now I've rambled well past 6AM. Hopefully, that all came out coherent. I should get to bed.

[prmsntrcrps]

I'm sure someone has said it already, but whatever.

The game was amazing up until the earth sequence, The characters were more alive then ever, and the choices and quests really were tough at times. I am a grown man and I cried when Mordin died. That's just awesome.

That you finally moved away from all annoying minigames made me wet my pants as well.

The ending however really felt like none of my choices through the games mattered at all, except for the arbitrary EMS number. From the moment you leave the "rally point" on Earth you would be extremely hard pressed to find differences between different save files. Where is the geth and the rachni?

No matter what choices you have made during the series you get the same ending.

The Reaper God Child. W T F. What happened to the Shepherd that never gave up and would risk it all to save everyone? How come he just stands there and accepts all the crap the RGC spouts? "To prevent chaos". Yes, right. I imagine a galaxy of organic life is ordered as opposed to a galaxy of synthetic life. The reapers motivations is contradictive and flawed.

Let me point out to that broken piece of AI that I got the quarians and the geth to play nice with eachother and try to make him just destroy the reapers.

You don't even have the option to question the legitimacy of his claims.

The synthesis ending makes me cringe. How can a wave of energy change all life in the universe? I can imagine it changing DNA for organics and programming for synthetics - but to combine them? Technology magically appears inside every living being and vice versa for synthetics?

The ending is really wierd in every aspect. Nothing makes sense to me and it feels rushed and pretentious.

I would like to see the endings make sense and allow Shepherd to actually have a say in what the f happens on the Citadel at the end.

I would like it if the endings in any way reflected CHOICES instead of EMS.

TL, DR: Amazing game, crap ending makes none of the amazing parts matter.

[Blacksilvre]

1. No Plotholes.  I hate plotholes. Everything must be answered from beginning to end.

2. Give us a closure emotional ending where Shepard and his L.I. (gay or straight) lives happily ever after with the galaxy still intact.  Give some epilogues about the other races and your crew mates.  Everything that you did/sacrifice from Mass Effect 1, Mass Effect 2, and Mass Effect 3 must be addressed in the epilogue.  I'm a sucker for good endings.

3. Give us Anderson deleted audio back:

4. Tali's face must be addressed too: http://social.biowar.../index/10088295

5. War assets, EMS glitch for SP must be addressed too: http://social.biowar.../index/10063812

6. Your L.I. flashbacks during the End scene must be addressed too since there are ONLY 3 OF THEM: http://social.biowar...5/index/9947835

7. All the cutscenes that you've deleted must be put back, I don't care if it's too long.  Everything must be put back: , http://social.biowar.../index/10009466

8. And the last one, I WANT A FINAL BOSS BATTLE AT THE END.  I wouldn't be a conclusion for me without a Final Boss Fight.

Give me all this and I'll be your forever FAN.

[Masseeffekt]

me3 is actually a great game. without a question. but it also has some more or less bad issues:

- too less dialogue options
- too little dialogue with crew/ especially with partner!
- too less choices to make
- and, not to forget: THE ENDING !! (most important point!)

my feeling after the ending is somehow like if star wars ends like matrix. so its a brake in the style of this game. not to forget that you cant influence it. AND: i have really problems to play that character again in me1 after i saw this horrible ending...
you would have done better if you had made the ending more like me2. of course that would not be that complex, but it fits. mass effect is more like star wars, and not like matrix if you know what i mean

and its a sad feeling to end this story without your team.... they always supported you and that was so great about mass effect 2 ending. so give shepard his team!

best advice i can give is: play me2 ending and then think about new me3 ending!!

[Animorphs]

I love the game.
Really. The story is great. The dialogues are amazing. Voice acting is incredible - even better than in previous games.
I really enjoy playing it. I laugh, I cry, I was sad, angry.
But whatever happend in the game I have a hope for a good ending. Not even happy, mind you. But good. Like everything that happened happened for a reason. Like every decision I made mattered.
Only in the end it didn't.


Basically I want the ending to make sense. Star-child doesn't make sense. We don't have a choice at that point and Mass Effect was always about the choice.

Also I've read somewhere (sorry I can't point the source) that we don't need to know everything in the end.
Well I diasgree.
Personally I feel like I need to know.
Sure, it might be better if some things stay unclear but there's a difference between a bit unclear and no sensce and logic whatsoever
I need to know. I invested a lot in ME games. Money, time, lots and lots of feelings.
I need closure.
For me ending simply doesn't make sense. Especially after wonderful godbye scenes. My heart was simply crushed when Shep was talking to her team.
And then suddenly the team is on some jungle planet smiling and they don't care at all about their commander.

I can accept the ending where Shepard dies but I want some emotion from the squad members.
Still it would be nice to have a happy ending. The very cliche butterfly and rainbow happy ending as well.
It would be nice to have options.

For now indoctrination theory makes more sence than the ending.

This was posted here many times already. But the point stands:


Sorry if it's all a bit chaotic. I still have a lot of feelings about the ending and it's actually difficult to think clearly.

[BarrelDrago]

Favorite part of the remake

"*The battle that follows is the epic conclusion, as Shepard watches, broken and bleeding, as everything he has put into this unified force throws itself at the Reapers. This is where all those decisions come to fruition. We want to see those War Assets fighting. The Destiny Ascension obliterating a Reaper with it's main gun before being swarmed over by Destroyers, the Geth armada pulling along side to save her. The Salarian STG calling in a biotic artillery strike on cluster of Reaper troops. Wrex and Garrus, on the front sharing a stern moment in cover, before nodding to each other, brothers in arms, before charging over the barricade. Back to back, they face down hordes of husks, Wrex shouting defiantly, "You think you can take our future!? You think YOU CAN TAKE MY CHILDREN?!"
We want to see the Quarian flotilla scrambling, all guns blazing, trying desperately to form a battleline, as one of the admirals quietly turns to their crew, signalling his ship all ahead full. "For the homeworld. Keela..." their words cut off as the live-ship rams a Reaper, exploding spectacularly and damaging two others. We want to see the Normandy frantically weaving through the wreckage, Joker and EDI yelling warnings to one another as the fleets explode around them. We want Tali leading a charge of Geth Primes against a Cannibal gun line. Rachni drones swarming over a Reaper Destroyer by the thousands, pulling it apart from the inside. We want to see Grunt wrestle a brute to the ground and unload his shotgun into his head.

Happy or sad, we just want to see those decisions play out. We want to see that what we did mattered. And as the battle unfolds, you are left with the Choice. Do you think you have enough? As Shepard bleeds out, watching all he/she loved go up in flames, do you take the risk? Provided you have enough manpower, can you break the back of the Reaper fleet, though at horrendous cost? Once the battle is over, and the truth of what the Illusive Man discovered is revealed, the remaining survivors get the word out that there is a way to disrupt the Reaper signal, scatter the Reaper armies. Or something*"

[Dessalines]

First, I believe you have gotten better each game with delivering amazing emotion payoffs with your characters.
1) Saren describe synthesis to shepard, and for that to be a choice for Shepard at the end without mentioning the fact that Saren was proclaiming the same thing was not a good choice.
2)I really did not need the perfect ending; in fact, until i read this post, I did not realilze that the reason why they release a new Fallout ending was because people complained. I have no problem with shepard dieing, but this death led to more explaination than answers.
1) How are those alien races going to get back home? i know they stated that Reapers can fly like 30 light years in 24 hours, but it still seems like a long trip for some of the races.
2)Why did the Illusive man want to take over the Citadel prior to knowing the Citadel was the catalyst?
3)Why did Catalyst need the Illusive man to tell them that he was the Catalyst?
4)The answer the computer-kid gave Shepard was not that hard to comprehend. I agree with the other writers I was hoping something that was a bit more complex. His answer make even more sense, when you talk to Javik about AI's. You could have had the God-Kid repeat that speech from the AI perspective, and it would have been great. The motivations of the reapers should be mysterious.
5) I thought when I first saw the computer-kid that was how you guys were introducing the new villian of the series. The evil greater than the Reapers.
6)The "fetch" missions. Please do not make these mission important to the game. They were fine in Dragon age 2, but it is not even that fun of a mini game. Basically, it is one quest. It works in an open-ended world, but still it should not be a major part of the game. It is very repetive.
7)When you die destroying the reapers, or survive destroying the reapers, then you need to have a sense of final? I would highly prefer that you wouldn't do a dossier, but actually show what happen to each character. Some of the long-lived ones you don't have to show, but you can always imply you will see them again.

[DragonRageGT]

Most of what I've read here can be resumed in The Indoctrination Theory, by Tiax, which I quite like and would be a masterpiece play if it is true.

Other than that, which addresses everything that happens after the Marauder Shield, aka Marauder Health, meeting, the game is quite perfect for me, at least for my Imported Shepards. Every single detail of it has been a blast. Doctor Conrad Verner? Brilliant! I could fill the page with stuff like this. Bloody Brilliant!

Minor technical glitches and bugs should be addressed though. A game like ME3 deserves to be polished as close to perfection as possible. (Shepard and Liara's neck twisting at the first conversation on the Normandy because they focus vision on Glyph going all over the room caused me a very weird sensation.)

Modifié par DragonRageGT, 17 mars 2012 - 10:23 .

[DTHD]

Personally i loved this game.. right up until the end!

I'll start by saying that i'm holding to the ID theory and the idea that the war may not be won yet.

I'd actually of been happy NOT having a choice of options at the end. It should have just been fire the crucible and the choice of ending is set by all my previous decisions in the series.

So, an idea of an ending i'd of preferred;

The Quarians were beating the Geth with a signal that stopped them communicating and i'd of liked the crucible to use a similar idea. It could have used the relay network to effectively drop a galaxy wide "flash bang" signal making the reapers less effective in combat for a period of time.

This would then mean the EMS score would decide if the Alliance could take out enough Reapers in the ensuing confusion to win the war.

Endings could vary from a complete failure & loss of planets to a near decisive victory but with huge losses on all sides.

The ME universe could then continue with scattered reaper ships in hiding, needing to be hunted down.

All the major races would be decimated (to a degree) and forced to struggle to rebuild. Shepards fragile peace would be tested by the hardships of a post war rebuilding effort as well as the rise of warlords and an increase in piracy (all due to the reduced galactic fleets)

This type of ending (with the relays intact) could be bittersweet but would keep the ME universe in a recognisable form and provide scope for future games. Which i think is something we all want.

[Gojiras]

To start with, I just want to say that I thought the ending was, up until the part where Shepard is "uplifted", very well-done, and the conversation between Shepard and Anderson was perfect. The confrontation with the Illusive Man made me forget that the game never actually had a final boss, because most games couldn't execute a final boss fight where you talk the villain to death as well as you did. I think that for the Command that brought an end to a 300-year war by yelling, it was perfect. And since Shepard's conflict with the Illusive Man has always been a battle of wits instead of a physical confrontation, a heated argument ended with bullets was the best way to go.

First off I'd like to echo the sentiment of throwing away the star-child completely. That was a terrible way to end the game, because over the course of the game we had consistently and thoroughly proven his "facts" wrong and to have this all shoved in our face at the last moment with no way to refute it was disheartening. There was no option for Shepard to say "synthetics and organics can get along, I just united a race of sentient machines with the people they had to force off their homeworld after 300 years of war". Or "I have a man on my ship who desperately wants to have sex with a robot and it's not just because of her large, naked bosom". We were just forced to take what he said at face value and then trudge unhappily to one of three predetermined outcomes. I didn't like that damn kid at all to begin with - he felt like a robot designed to force emotions on us in the first level, which is one reason I believed the Indoctrination theory for a while - but that ending just makes me haaate him.

I would like an ending that doesn't leave fleets of aliens abandoned on an Earth that cannot possibly sustain them. It probably couldn't even sustain human life alone in the way it's left at the end of the game, let alone krogans, turians, quarians, etc. Make the fact that we united the geth and the quarians, or cured the genophage of the krogans, matter. The deaths of Mordin and Legion were probably two of the most touching moments I've seen in a video game, but the whole thing feels corrupted by such a negative ending, especially for Legion, when you either have to destroy his entire race to destroy the Reapers (thus undoing the point of his sacrifice, since he would be dead one way or the other anyway), or sacrifice Shepard and still leave the Reapers alive. Uniting the geth and the quarians requires a hell of a lot of work on the player's part - can't we have an ending where we can kill the Reapers without completely undoing one of the best things Shepard's ever done?

It would also be nice if the fact that Shepard spends the entire game sacrificing and suffering to build the best damn fleet possible mattered in the end. I don't want a peachy, sappy ending where space magic brings the billions of people that already died back, but if Shepard busts his or her ass that hard for that long, it would be nice to see him have some kind of happy ending that doesn't involve his/her love interest and all his/her closest friends being stranded on some unknown planet. Seriously, what the hell was up with that? Even when Shepard lives in this ending, it still feels miserable because he/she's never going to see anybody he cared about again. The implications of the ending without this already make it a pyrrhic victory - things like the deaths of Anderson, Mordin, Thane, Legion, and everybody who was on the Citadel when the Reapers took over. We spent the entire game hearing the stories of those people, and by the end, everyone there is most likely dead. Reapers don't give time to evacuate. The ending is already a sad one, there's no need to make it a hopeless one. Still keeping the possibility of little blue babies with Liara would be nice, too. It's implied, but I want to make it clear here: do away with the scene where Joker flees Earth with the crew of the Normandy. It's out of character for Joker and Shepard's squad, and the crash-landing on a foreign planet just seems to imply that Shepard (assuming he/she lived) will never see his/her friends again.

I honestly think the destruction of the Mass Relays is okay, since it kind of symbolizes breaking away from the technology that made the sapient races slaves to the Reapers all along, but it would be nice if the game ended on some kind of hope that indicated they'll be able to discover some alternate means of galactic travel within a reasonable time frame (maybe a decade or two). Having everyone who helped in the final rush against the Reapers be trapped lightyears away from their home planets (assuming they still have one, anyway) forever is kind of a horrific ending when you start to think about it. It ruins the replay value of the game for me, because as I'm building up these forces to help save Earth I can't help but think "and not a one of these poor bastards will ever see home again". I almost want to wipe out the quarians just to spare them the agony of a slow death from starvation on a planet with no food they can eat. I know it's a video game and they're all fictional, but who wants to play a game where you're leading such likable characters to what you know will not turn out well for any of them?

The biggest mistake of this ending in my opinion was the total lack of an epilogue - I get that you guys wanted people to come up with their own interpretations, but after this much investment, you gave us a bit too much to interpret and didn't give us enough information to make those interpretations good ones. I understand that it's impossible to make an ending that acknowledges the depth of all the choices Shepard made, but at least give us an ending where we feel like we won and the work we put in over the course of the game allowed us to do it. The way it is now, I feel like I could just get there with the bare minimum and get just as satisfying an ending as if I'd busted my ass to get there.

That being said I still love the Mass Effect universe, and even if this is the end of Commander Shepard's story (excluding DLC, of course) I still hope you guys continue to put out games, comics, or books (assuming they're written by competent authors...) in this setting. It'd be a shame to let such a deep and fascinating galaxy go to waste, which is probably the biggest reason I was so dissatisfied with the ending. Give us an ending that's actually uplifting and victorious as Casey Hudson claimed, and then I'll buy your DLC - otherwise, buying a bunch of pre-end DLC just feels pointless because you know everything's going to hell eventually anyway.

The rest of the game, though? Don't change a thing. In fact, if you have to change anything, make this canon.

Modifié par Gojiras, 17 mars 2012 - 10:29 .