7052 réponses à ce sujet

[Laplu]

Remove the Catalyst AI child thing.

Needs Harbringer as a final boss. Seriously, this guy dogged me the entire ME2 game, Shepard would not let that fly.

[Fail_Inc]

What worked :
Emotional / Awesome moments like Mordin's scene. Thane, Legion, Grunt they all had their moments. Jack is spot on as well.
Garrus. Garrus is officially our Bro.

What didn't :
The ending where the game "tries" to be emotional / awesome. When you "try" being that way you just become pretentious. Lack of choice is also disappointing. We just follow the child's orders but Shepard never followed orders blindly he had the choice to do something else too (in other games).
All ME2 characters are more interesting than the crew we have in 3. When the game ended (after staring at the screen for 15 mins thinking what the hell happened) I only thought about what happened to the characters in ME1 & 2 not Vega or Javik (eventho they're not super bad or anything)
Give us more endings. These endings are not bad if we had 2-3 more endings BUT since they're the only ones we get they're disappointing. The endings are not good for last game too. If we had these endings in ME2 and ME2 style ending (you know, Ashley do this, Javik do that, let's kick some ass) in ME3 it would be even better. The ME3 endings make you wanna see more but we'll not see more because this is Shepard's last story...

[Demon Velsper]

Ending:

1. Remove the starchild. And for future record, if your script contains something called a starchild, rewrite it till it doesn't. Children are terrible actors and you'd be wrong to think they automatically illicit an emotional response.

2. Logic behind Reapers is nonsense. Remove completely or think of something better.

3. Add some actual closure and alternatives. Giving the space-magic different colors does not count as alternative endings.

4. Acknowledge the damn fact that I made peace between the synthetic Geth and organic Quarians. Just further disproves the faulty logic of the starchild. Why in the bloody hell would I need to destroy the Geth after all that?

5. Remove the Normandy plot-hole, or give one hell of an explenation for why the people that got blasted by Harbinger suddenly teleported to the ship again along with everyone else as well as why Joker is running away all of a sudden. If they survived Harbinger then I damn well expect them to follow me through the conduit.

Not-ending:

Add some damn ambient sounds. Compare to ME2 where people in your squad tend to vocalize a lot more, and when you scan you can hear a distorted message till you get close enough to find it. In ME3 it's just dead silence.

Hub-worlds. Could we get to actually land on something other than the Citadel and walk around? ME2 had Illium, Omega, Tuchanka etc. ME3 is just paltry.

Somewhere there needs to be a confontation with Harbinger.

Modifié par Demon Velsper, 17 mars 2012 - 12:25 .

[sighineedname]

II. Missed opportunities
Oh boy, did ME3 miss a lot of opportunities. But, let me start with what I think they didn’t miss. The biggest thing here was the presentation of the universe at war. All the side quests were related to war readiness. The section of refugees was done well. You could feel the crowding and the desperation to get in. People’s lives were being torn apart by the Reapers and that was made apparent throughout the game. Bioware set the mood and tone brilliantly throughout the game. From leaving Earth, to the final assault on the conduit, it was all done excellently.

There were, I felt, large opportunities missed. I’ve covered two already. Namely, any form of emotional payout from the ending and exploiting the Lovecraftian horror of the Reapers. I did enjoy that we got to see a more human side of Shepard, but I think they missed some opportunities here. I think they missed a chance to have Shepard dealing with indoctrination. After all, Shepard has been around a lot of Reapers. Actually, I found the malice of indoctrination was largely absent from this game. Other than Cerberus trying to harness it, the Reaper’s indoctrination was mainly mentioned in side notes and the occasional side quest. We know from the previous games that will power is a factor in indoctrination, and I would have liked to see that driving some of Shepard’s character development. This would have been perfect in the dark theme of the Mass Effect universe. The set up of the game ignores this completely.
Another aspect of Shepard is the fact that he is full of Reaper tech. We got a brief conversation about what Shepard thought of being rebuilt, but we have no closure on the Reaper tech. In general, it seems that the potency of Reaper tech has been diminished from the previous games. Whereas before, any Reaper tech would grind a will down, in Mass Effect 3 this effect seems largely to be arbitrarily decided. The Geth are no loaded with Reaper technology, to no apparent adverse effect. Even in the presence of all the Reapers at the final battle we are just given “They’re high tech now and they stopped the possibility of indoctrination.” Oh, really? Would you care to share, guys (its?)? I was hoping with some struggles with EDI over this. Nothing. Mainly, I was hoping for something more with regards to Shepard and the Reaper tech. Ashley seems to be the only one who holds suspicions, but that wasn’t really about the Reaper tech, but that Shepard was willing to work with Cerberus. It was obviously a substantial amount of tech used to bring someone back from the dead, and I think it was a missed chance for further character development. As a side note, shouldn’t cyborg Shepard just be able to pick up Vega and toss him across the room?

The most egregious missed opportunity occurs in what I will call the illusion of choice. Throughout Mass Effect 3 we are very blatantly shown that our choices had almost no impact, while playing the game where they should have had the most. I felt like decisions had more impact in Mass Effect 2 than 3. This problem is highlighted best in the Effective Military Strength rating. Every choice you made just boils down to a small adjustment on the EMS rating. I won’t even go into the essentially mandatory multiplayer to get >5000 EMS. Where was the connection we made with these people in the previous games? In ME3 we barely got emails from them like we did in ME2. I didn’t find Parasini anywhere, for example. Shiala was just cut down to 20 points or something on my EMS. I can’t even remember impacts from my side quests in ME2 that I did. And I did all of them. Every choice we made just adjusted our EMS without any influence on the world. Obviously, saving the Council or not had some impact, but no effective difference in the possible endings. The biggest example of the illusion Bioware presented with Mass Effect was the Rachni. I’m sure this pissed off many other people. If you kill the Rachni queen, you are treated to a synthetically created queen that creates Rachni for the Reapers to then convert into Reaperites. Excuse me, but holy **** Bioware. Could you more explicitly tell me that you don’t give a damn about what I chose in the previous games?

This illusion of choice was one of the biggest failings that the ending offered. Not only did any combination of choices lead to the same possible endings assuming you had enough to get your EMS high enough, those three endings were essentially identical. I picked the destroy Reapers, since that was the point of Mass Effect to me, but I watched videos of the other two. We are treated to the exact same ending with a different color shockwave. Did Bioware just not care at this point? Not only did our choices from the first two not really present different opportunities, but even the final choice of how to solve the Reaper threat results in roughly the same outcome, tweaked in various ways. Is it too much to think that Bioware should have given us three distinct ending videos? For crying out loud, Joker still limps in the synthesis ending. At least they could have fixed that. That wouldn’t have solved the flaw created by the citadel reaper-god kid, but at least it would have lessened the sting of bad story telling a fraction.

I know it is impossible to write an ending that will please everyone. I’m sure there are people who were upset when Frodo did not have the will to throw the Ring into the fire. The thing is, I suspect this ending pleased very few, and it is definitely possible to write an ending (dark, merry, whatever) that pleases many.

Additionally, I did not like the introduction of 2 new squadmates in the places of use of ME2 squadmates. ME2 did have too many, but adding more and just ignoring them largely (only Miranda was mostly not ignored) is not a solution to that problem. By the time of ME3 people were invested in all the characters and it would have been better to swallow the mistake of ME2 and keep at least a few of them around.

Modifié par sighineedname, 17 mars 2012 - 12:29 .

[SoniZero]

Let me first say that I thoroughly enjoyed the Mass Effect series up until the ending sequence. The problem I have with the end is that it made it feel like the choices I made in the previous games didn't matter. I played Mass Effect 1, 2, and 3 making tough decisions by weighing the possible outcomes. I was hoping all this would pay off in the end. I'm not saying the ending has to be all sunshine and roses but I feel if I made the right decisions in the previous games and in Mass Effect 3 I should have the option of getting an optimal ending that felt like a victory. Likewise, if I made poor decisions I would have liked the endings to reflect that with the galaxy left in a much more dire predicament. Sadly, the ending felt nothing like a victory to me. All my hard work making the tough decisions in the previous games was not rewarded. I found the star child sequence jarring. It felt nothing like Mass Effect to me. The endings were far too similar and none of them felt uplifting or hopeful to me. I would have also liked to see what happened to my squadmates that I had grown to love over the course of the series. What happened to Garrus? Did he go on to become Turian primarch? Did Tali finally get her home built on the homeworld? How did Wrex and the Krogan rebuild after the war? Questions like that I would have liked answered.

In the destroy ending why must it also destroy the Geth and EDI? My careful decisions ended up with a peace between the Geth and Quarians showing that organic and synthetic life can indeed cooperate and coexist yet there is no option to even bring this up in the final conversation with the ill conceived star child to refute his claims.

Some other minor things that I thought could have been better. I feel the love interests from ME2 should have been handled better. My romance with Jack felt rushed and I did not get a proper romance scene. Also, the events at the very end of the game made no sense at all. Why did Liara flash before my eyes in the final sequence instead of my love interest Jack? How did Liara and Garrus get to the Normandy when they were with me on the final charge and why was Joker fleeing the battle. I also disliked the idea of my squad ending up stranded on a mystery planet. Just too many things did not make sense in the ending sequence.

The main point is that I didn't feel like my decisions paid off in the end nor did it feel like a victory or make me feel hopeful. That is something I feel like I should be able to earn by making the right decisions in the games.

Thank you for listening.

[Beirland]

For me, everything to do with the fight for Earth seemed insignificant. I was hoping that the fight for Earth would be more akin to a large scale war rather than a single desperate battle. I was also hoping that the War Assets would have more effect to the game rather than a number that decides outcomes.

So to start the fight for Earth, you have to get the Hammer forces on the ground. Your Sword assets assets could determine what percentage makes it there safely and the ground force assets can bolster the size of the Hammer forces rather than a consistent 50% MIA every play through. From there I was hoping to see something akin to Tuchanka and Rannoch where you have multiple optional missions you can engage in to increase the readiness/effectiveness of the Hammer forces in preparation of the final push for the beam to retake the citadel. You can have missions such as taking key points for deployment, gathering intel, or securing lost Hammer forces scattered about.  Here you can have the War Assets of the Sword Fleet take effect on how many missions you can possibly do. The more assets the longer you have to prepare; you wait too long and Sword cannot protect the Crucible, go too early and the Hammer will have a very difficult push to the beam.

Then we move on to the final battle and the push to the beam. Nowhere in that mission did I feel as if I were part of a large force pushing against the reaper forces. This is especially noticeable when Anderson orders everyone to fight their way to your position to help secure the missiles. It would have felt a lot more intense if I could pass by other squads along the way, fighting with them to take down a large group of reapers; something similar to the mission on Tuchanka with the Primarch’s Son, Tarquin. Then, when making your stand near the missiles, have some of your war assets gather to help you hold that position; the Asari snipers and commandos, the Geth Primes, the Krogan and Turians, the Mercenaries, and the Drell.

As for the ending, I was hoping to see our decisions and hard work pay off. As in ME2, if you work hard and put in the extra hours you’re able to save the crew of the Normandy and walk away with everyone alive. I understand that not everyone will come out of this fight alive, but I would definitely like to see something similar where you get back what you put into the game. Afterwards, I'd like to see the effect I had on the Galaxy. Did the Quarian and Geth peace last? Did the Krogan attempt to over expand again after recieving the cure? What about Palaven and Thessia? What about my friends, squad mates and love interests? I'd like to see the impact I had on the lives I touched whether I lived or died in the end, though I would very much like to have the chance to live out my days with little blue children running around.

On another note, I’m starting to like the indoctrination theory. A lot of people have worked on it and it has evolved into a pretty impressive twist with a lot of support from events already in the game. Its an idea that has a lot of potential to expand upon the game without a lot of clashing issues. 

Unlike some of the other fans, I don’t want to hear the reasoning behind the Reapers at all. I actually felt that the reason the ghost kid gives us was absurd and diminished the impact of the Reapers. From the beginning we are told that the Reapers existence cannot be understood, it is beyond our mortal grasp; then we are given reasoning that was in no way difficult to understand at all, we just don’t agree with it. Explaining what they are doing to the galaxy and where they came from seems fine, but I feel it would be better to keep their motives a mystery. It keeps the Reapers in line as completely alien from all that we know and adds to their seemingly arrogant personalities.

Modifié par Beirland, 17 mars 2012 - 12:31 .

[Crazed Weevil]

igreenmagei wrote...

Crazed Weevil wrote...

OK...wall of text coming...

Many have already mentioned the minor things like the Journal and such like, so I'll just go with my suggestion:

The ending – it's currently really bad. It makes no sense in the context of the game and the story so far. If you insist on following it though you need to fill in the plot holes. Sad or bittersweet endings are fine, but nonsensical isn't.

*snip*

Oh and it should be free...a big thank you to all your fans for staying loyal and caring about the universe you have created enough to fight for it. PR like that is worth a lot...just ask CDProjekt.

I love this! Some great ideas on here about how to continue on from an indoctrination theory ending. hope the devs listen to stuff like this

Thank you. I actually feel better having written this down...if they don't change the ending I think this will be mine

[curly haired boy]

Don't take me from a gritty urban battleground to some dream sequence nonsense. it's a tonal shift that's entirely unwelcome and unnecessary.

1. the prothean VI should explain what it believes the crucible will do (emit an energy pulse). then players will understand WHY the citadel is the catalyst - it's the means of disseminating that pulse to all reaper ships in the galaxy.

2. cut out the dream crap entirely. as harbinger's lasers are decimating the troops during the final assault, have the normandy do a brief strafing run, distracting it long enough for shep to reach the elevator beam with anderson and his squad.

3. have us fight our way through the underbelly of the presidium until we reach the council chambers, where we fought saren in ME1. THAT's where we have the confrontation with TIM, who makes a dramatic entrance by using his control signal to save shepard and his squad from a hopeless combat situation (completely surrounded by enemies). He explains that all he needs is to fuse his implants into the citadel control panel, and then when the crucible pulse goes out, instead of overloading the reapers, it will let TIM control them. Shep argues, things get heated, TIM tries to knock out shep and his squad with his controlled reaper forces. Anderson, watching from a distance, yells out a warning. shep barely dodges the brute that knocked out his squadmates, then TIM reveals that he can use his implants to control HUMANS. cue struggling scene, anderson getting shot, TIM eventually committing suicide. shep goes over to the control panel, where the prothean VI, interfacing with the crucible, informs him that while control is possible, destroying the reapers will also cause the relays through which the pulse passes to self-destruct.

thus, the choices are between staying with reaper tech, or setting the galaxy on a new course.

shep makes his decision, then the epilogue follows showing the fleet and other allies.

[tkensai]

Keep:
-Everything with mordin, wrex, and the genophage. You look at that scene and how it can play out depending on the choices you made in ME1/2 and 3, and the quality of writing there. Specifically because we're so connected to the characters. The scene where Joker tells Shephard that Anderson asked him to watch out for you. The quality of writing here is excellent, and true to the characters. Theres a huge emotional payoff(of hope OR despair) depending on how the situation on Tuchanka plays out.

-The reputation system, and the paragon/renegade being only one bar. It was increasingly frustrating having to go full one way or the other because of dialogue checks in me1/2.

-The on-mission dialogue from your squadmates.

-More lines like "You. Big. Stupid. Jellyfish."

-Direct communication with writers and people who worked on your games. To actually be able to talk to people that make the entertainment I enjoy in a more relaxed environment and in a non official capacity is great. Speaking of that, in this day and age you really should be taking feedback the way you have been with things like this thread(and the spreadsheets and such that Jessica mentioned) ALL THE TIME.

-The DLC and preorder bonuses from 2 coming back in 3 was GREAT. Though you really need to let us change out pieces just like any of the normal ingame armor.

-Free stuff for playing other games demos. No issue with that, that's good.

-Weapon mods feel great. Just wish there were more of them.(also, why doesnt the phalanx have the laser sight that it did in ME2?)

Needs:
-A better, longer intro with the trial that got cut.
-An ending thats true to the series, and to the players choices. The series has always been advertised as having choices and consequences. This applies most definately applies to the ending. The ending needs to make me want to play the game again to see how different choices affect it. Oh, and the most important thing: The ending needs to make sense. It needs to fit into the plot somehow instead of coming out of some blue godchild...thing that I have no connection with. Harbinger is who you should be talking to here. Its a crime that you don't talk to him at all in ME3. It absolutely has to fit with the rest of the plot. Now, to clarify: I don't care if the ending is happy. I want closure to Shephard's story, not the mass effect universe. Also, at this point, if the ending does get redone, The redone DLC needs to be free, akin to CD Projekt's treatment of their Witcher series enhanced editions. That's how you defuse this whole situation and rebuild some customer loyalty.


-War Assets actually getting seen and used in cutscenes. There is a huge missed oppurtunity here as the game stands now. At the moment your war assets are a glorified codex entry and some arbitrary numbers. I want to see Jack's biotic company in action, I want to see Krogan riding dinosaurs and Elcor "Living Tanks" in action. It was a huge dissapointment to not get to see any of that. Hell, Wrex's Krogan near the end don't even cheer when he finishes his speech.

-Less false advertising. Don't have people say things like "Its not an A, B, or C choice." Then literally have the ending be exactly that. Don't write checks you cant cash, and all that. If you don't lose customer loyalty in the first place...

-Less straight ingame advertising. It's insulting. Put ads for it on Origin. No more Warden's keep style sales pitches, please.

-No day one DLC. Now, I know the reasoning behind it is because of Jav not being completed before the game went to certification/whatever its called. Still insulting. The average consumer is not going care about that. The important part of this is the release day. It really just comes off as gouging. However. Selling things from the collectors edition seperately as DLC(like the weapons, N7 hoodie and such) as smaller, seperate things all on their own would be nice.

-Something like Genesis(that really shouldnt have cost money.) in ME3. People get corrupt savefiles, or simply dont have the time to go through the first two again. This should have been a function that was in the 2nd and 3rd games from the getgo.

-The Journal. Its practically useless, which doesnt make any sense. Make it work, like, well, any other videogame that has a journal honestly.

-Ammo powers need to be a bit more clear. Specifically if they overlap or not.


For Multiplayer-
While the multiplayer is good, it arguably wears thin pretty quickly. Thats mostly because its a horde mode. There are, however, some really annoying parts about it.

-The character customization sucks. No one really cares that much about changing the light color on the armor. I would, however, like to change my human vanguards face.

-The CCG system for unlocks is terrible, and a very obvious Skinner Box. Instead of having to buy 50 packs to actually get what I want, Id rather save up the credits and just buy what I wanted in the first place. Otherwise you run into the situation where you get the same crap over and over again. While yes, you might get lucky, theres a much higher chance of early burnout because of this. An actual shop is much better. Oh, and quit giving people duplicate cards when theyre maxed out.

-Some of the areas(specifically the "defend the hack" objective) are sometimes nearly undoable depending on how the enemy spawns. Need to either put the hack in better places, or better yet, not make failing those side missions a critical mission failure. Also, dont let enemies spawn right next to the defense point, either.

-Bronze and Silver difficulties feel decent-Silver's a nice jump in challenge. Gold, however, is an exercise in frustration. On top of the objectives issues, things have way, way, way too much health, to the point that its not worth the risk to get the reward from it. And worse, it actually makes the game unfun.

Some PC specific issues:
-The control scheme. Spacebar should not be used for everything, or there should at least be an ME1 control scheme option with the ability to use shift as sprint and E as the "use" key. This is incredibly frustrating in multiplayer. (The "I meant to revive you, but instead I got stuck on cover.)

-The skipping dialogue AND select dialogue button should NOT BE THE SAME KEY. This is one of those quality of life things that makes people go slowly insane.


Thanks for listening. Hope Bioware makes the right decisions here.

[Dockerr]

The crucible has one button, the crucible weakens the reapers, the amount of losses finishing them off depends on war assets ranging from human extinction to decisive victory. We see all our friends contributing.

Anderson says "what now Shepard"
"We wait and see what the galaxy does. Together"

Credits.

Its so simple.

[ABCoLD]

Thank you Jessica for doing this important work. Even if this is only taken as notes that will be brought forward into the next Bioware game, that makes me much more likely to buy it.

Firstly, as many have posted,
http://www.gamefront...fans-are-right/

Personal thoughts are this;
1. Everything up to and including Shepard sitting down with Anderson is wonderful. (I wouldn't mind it being a Reaper induced hallucination, but the loss of Anderson does bring the war into perspective, no one is unscathed in war.)

2. If you keep the idea of a holographic interface for the Catalyst, please make it the voice of the first race to be collected by the Reapers. Leave it impotent, unable to affect change because the Reapers have simply left them as watchers. This reverses Shepard's position from a passive observer of the climax to yet again being a proactive hero, being able to help (or destroy) yet another race.

3. The ending should be changed to remove the Synthesis ending (it is such a Deus Ex rip-off and filled with Space Magic.) My humble suggestions for the ending are:

3a. Trigger a pulse that disables/destroys all Reaper technology, the Reapers themselves, the Citadel and even the Mass Relays.

3b. Activate the hibernation cycle of the Reapers. Force the Reapers to immediately retreat to Dark Space, but they will wait there and return in 50,000 years. This allows you to have an inspiring ending and lots of goody goody or scarey scarey speeches about the races staying united, ready to face the Reapers when they return. Lots of epilogue possibilities here.
--Alternately also you could have Harbinger being able to ignore the signal as he was the first Reaper. This could lead to some amazing cutscenes as the combined fleet attempts to stop him from interfacing with the Citadel ala Sovereign and deactivating the sleep signal.

3c. Shepard is sent via another teleport beam into the heart of Harbinger. There they perform an epic struggle of wills before Shepard potentially sacrifices themselves to take control of the primary Reaper and choose the fate of the Reaper fleet.
--Stop the reaping, but indoctrinate all people to work together.
--Send all Reapers on a course into the heart of a distant star, including Harbinger.
--Destroy all races, other than humanity, to ensure their primacy in the next cycle.
--Other things that are neat.

4. Alternately you could follow the indoctrination theory and let that play out. I would be interested to see what creative people could come up with if their goals were clearer (and not so artsy) if Shepard were to wake up and use the beam 'for real.' Would it send them to the Citadel, perhaps to Harbinger? (Maybe after milllenia its organic components are failing and humans are being processed to repair them?) If this leads to a fighting sequence (which could be good or bad, please don't repeat ME2 though) then more allied forces should have made it to the beam, including your squadmates. This would allow Shepard to at least get some basic medical attention and lose the limp during the final sequence.

5. Get rid of the Star Child.

6. Get rid of that silly photoshopped picture of Tali. (Make someone spend a couple afternoons doing it properly.)

I wrote an alternate ending for the game, it's not good, but it's an attempt to fix the problems without adding significantly more coding or resources to the game, if you like, you can check to see if it might be a framework for a remake of the ending.
http://social.biowar...5/index/9763774

[nythwx]

It's a game based on choices, and choices always matter. We need a golden ending like this:

Shepard has been indoctrinated but (with enough galactic readiness/war assets) it's too late for the reapers. They die and Shepard is free. The Mass Relays survive (there must be a way to save them, or the reapers have won) and depending on previous choices the Normandy survives. He did all he did in me3 for a reason.

Then other choices where: Shep dies but saves everyone, Shep dies and the Normandy crashes but everyone else is safe, the Reapers win and destroy the galaxy (last scene where we see the future civilisations, not yet at spaceflight level).

Also we should be able to see our war assets, like the elcor with heavy weapons on their back or an army of krogan with their tanks.

Then please, please, please if Shep survives show us Blue kids/Quarians on Rannoch without suit (maybe with geth around if we made peace between the two, we deserve this since it took long to help both)/a family on Earth/Palaven rebuilt. Depending on our love interest.

[Skirlasvoud]

Probably redundant in the mealstrom already out there, but let me help holding the line by making an eloquent point:
- Why we were expecting a different ending
- What we'd like to see instead.


At the end of this post, the links to two independant reviewers and Hitler, making a more entertaining point than just all text.


~~~~


What I was told when I took my wallet to the store:

"This story arc is coming to an end with this game. That means the endings can be a lot more different. At this point we're taking into account so many decisions that you've made as a player and reflecting a lot of that stuff. It's not even in any way like the traditional game endings, where you can say how many endings there are or whether you got ending A, B, or C"

"It's more like there are some really obvious things that are different and then lots and lots of smaller things, lots of things about who lives and who dies, civilizations that rose and fell, all the way down to individual characters. That becomes the state of where you left your galaxy. The endings have a lot more sophistication and variety in them."

- Casey Hudson (Pre-Me3 release)

Mass
Effect 3's Citadel will be larger and more content-packed than the facility you explored in Mass Effect 1, BioWare has revealed, and the game's possible endings will be far more varied, as the developer no longer has to worry about paving the ground for Shepard's next chapter.

- Bioware Marketing



What I got:




And of course:

http://www.youtube.c...bed/rPelM2hwhJA


But that's not it! That's not what the above quotes alluded to. The current ending, is not a proper reflection on all the storyline choices I've made. Hudson seems to think he handled that during the course of ME3, but that's not it! It also isn't about a happy or sad ending. It's about DIFFERENT endings and a way to feel we had an effect.
We want to know how we affected the rise and fall of civilizations and our friends and how we had a MEASURABLE effect on them. By for example, leaving either Wrex or Wreav alive, the Krogan
civilization should end up differently and we should be told of that. However, just blowing up all relays and disconnecting everyone without a word on them, just doesn't validate all the time we invested in 100+ playthroughs of your entire triology. These are not "rises and falls" of civilizations. We don't find out what happens to our friends. You've just inserted neglible variances that just leaves us with more questions, and then you yank us away from them.

This game, has lost all replay value by doing it like this. A single one of my character could unlock all your current "endings".  There is just one current ending if I can do that. All those tweaks and investments I made, are mugatory if I'm led to belief everyone ends up in the same way after all.


It can be argued that anything effects the ending and these truly are 6 different endings. I mean, I helped the krogan in ME2, so I gained enough war asset score points to color my explosion a pretty green.
Promise kept, case solved. Terms such as "different", "reflection", "varied" and "sophistication" are all very relative terms. We as customer base, have simply read to much into Bioware's statements, you silly customers. All those little things and big things they mused are there. They're just more "implied" then we like them to be.
However, is that a direction Bioware really wants to take? Where we as fans don't take them that serious anymore or need to downplay everything they say, for them? I'm a bit too young to become a bitter cynic. Next time Bioware creates a game, I want to be able to belief it really has a gripping story where my choices matter. For now however, even the biggest opponent to our movement, needs to admit that was promised in the advertising and hype can be reasonably interpreted as more than we have been given now.

Bioware, this is a public relations nightmare. We gave you a lot of good will, hyped the game and we trusted you. And indeed, 98% of the game is a masterwork. However, this makes the poor ending even worse. Why not carry through and give us what we expect to see?
This really feels like you just said "screw it" after realizing different epilogues might have been a lot of work. Now, afterwards, you tell us that it's an "artful" thing that needs debate and proper reflection to be understood.


~~~~~~~~~~

What I'd like to see:

"It's more like there are some really obvious things that are different and then lots and lots of smaller things, lots of things about who lives and who dies, civilizations that rose and fell, all the way down to individual characters. That becomes the state of where you left your galaxy. The endings have a lot more sophistication
and variety in them."

(Bioware again)

The mass relays are in fact, NOT destroyed. Retcon that. It kills every hope that you'd be able to come thru on your aboveassurances.


When the game is finished, I'd like a CGI, carefully written epilogue (at least 400 words) or even the ability to re-visit these planets. Any of these three will do and you can mix them up. Maybe use CGI for big questions and text for smaller ones.

I at least want to know:

• What happened to Tutchanka and the Krogan. I want there to be at least 6 different endings, depending on what leadership you installed, Grunt lives or you indeed cured the genophage. Best case golden age, worst case anarchy.
• what happened to the Rachni after they were such a big deal in ME1. At least 2 different endings. Best case where they become heroes and integrate into galactic society, the other where they grow extinct.
• how bad the damages were to the citadel.  I want to know if the councilors are alive, how many refugees are dead, what the state of the station is and what new function it will have above Earth. There are at least 4 different endings, depending on how many war assets you contributed. Worst case everyone dies, best case C-sec put up a valiant defence and saved many.
• I want to see what all the factions I recruit have a meaningful contribution to the war effort. There are at least 6 reports on how those additional fleets did. Something like a Codex. If you did something special like recruit both Geth and Quarians, they'll do something special together. Best case Reapers were slaughtered, worst case organics were slaughtered.
• If Batarians redeem themselves because they contributed a fleet? At least 2 different endings depending on the ME1 falling sky DLC, your treatment of Batak or what you did in Arrival.
• how long the reconstruction of Earth will take and how the other races help us out and regard us. I want to know how big the damage was. This has at least 6 different endings, dependant on your para/rena score and your descisions during ME1. Best case humanity is heralded as leaders of the galaxy, worst case everyone will turn their backs on those that bullied them into contributing.
• if the Quarians will ever get used to living on their homeworld again. At least 6 different endings depending on Tali's survival, LI, genocide or cooperation with the Geth. Best case a healthy society without masks, Tali's face seen and if LI, a house on Rannoch. Worst case extinction.
• if the Geth integrate peacefully into the galactic community. At least 6 different endings depending on how you handled Legion's loyalty mission, his survival,  Best case a spot on the council, worst case slavery.
• how each and every single NPC, companion and cameo ends up. From Conrad Verner to Matriarch Athya, to Garrus, Tali, Zaeed and everyone else still alive. ALL OF THEM, have at least 4 different endings, depending on their survival, being a love interest, their loyalty mission.

And many, many more.
Yes it's a lot of work. I write for text based adventure games and the effort is staggering. However, it's what what your product and our triology deserves dammit! You're bioware! I feel like I'm explaining physics to Einstein.
Somewhere along the line you realized the work involved however, illuded the subject, reneged on your advertisement and wrote as a singular ending, presented it as "artsy" and hoped we wouldn't mind because it was just so deep and involving. Wrong!


Please, just come up with a proper ending. The amount of goodwil it will generate is worth it, even though it seems like wasted effort. You are now confronted with what happens if you don't.


~~~~~~~~~~~



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b33tJx8iy0A


[*]

Modifié par Skirlasvoud, 17 mars 2012 - 12:47 .

[Balmung31]

A POSSIBLE happier ending, which to me is Shepard being reunited with his crew and LI. He'll be a damned mess, but at least he'll have something to cling to.

The endings right now (as nonsensical as I think they are) don't have to be removed. Just add more options! It's what a LOT of people were hoping to see, especially since you guys at Bioware teased it with things like Liara and the little blue children in LotSB, or building Tali a house on Rannoch in this game.

Or were those things written with the express purpose of never delivering? Because if that's the case, that is a slap in the face for many of us, myself included. Unless you EXPLICITLY stated such things were never going to happen (i.e. said in an interview that Shepard would never get to settle down because he HAS to sacrifice himself), it is a reprehensible bait-and-switch.

This is what bothers me the absolute most. And I know I'm FAR from the only one.

Modifié par Balmung31, 17 mars 2012 - 12:38 .

[DarkPhoenixAsh]

My issues/problems with the game:

1.) How the ME2 romances were handled. (My Shepard romanced Thane so I'll focus on him but they all were lacking or shafted completely.)
- There were hints about a cure or at the very least extending his life. This was completely disregarded in ME3. What happened to the Hanar cure, lung transplant, and medi-gel treatments? I'm not saying everyone would want to cure/prolong his life, some may want him to die, but why couldn't we have a choice?
- At the end of ME2, Thane's romance was beautiful. He was emotionally scarred due to his past and he finally allowed himself to love and let someone into his heart again. He found reasons to want to live again - Shepard and his son. Somewhere between ME2 and ME3 that seems to have been lost.
- When we first meet Thane he's in the hospital. After dialogue, we find out he wants to stay there. Out of character for Thane, since he had said before he didn't want to die in a hospital and hooked up to machinery.
- Shepard and Thane were apart for 6 months... I thought they'd have more to talk about. There was only one conversation before his death.
- The only time it felt like Thane was in character was during the paragon interrupt. Everything else felt forced due to the upcoming events he'd play into.
- Private time = making out in front of a window in the middle of a crowded hospital? I had a hard time swallowing that. Shepard has up-to-date medical equipment back on the Normandy and if you chose to let Dr. Chakwas come back, she'd be there too. She's familiar with Thane's medical history. Why couldn't we, at the very least, go on a trip to a desert like Shep and Thane talked about during ME2.
- After my Shepard chased Kai Leng down and failed, Thane made his way to her. Shepard called Bailey and let him know Thane needed medical assistance before she ran off again. She didn't give him a look over, didn't examine the wound, nothing. There was NO emotion there. I'm sorry, but if someone I loved just got stabbed trying to protect someone, there would have been some sort of reaction. I'm not expecting Shepard to break down and cry or scream, but something. Maybe let us leave a squad mate behind, to help Thane get to the hospital, before we continue our pursuit. We had an option like this during Garrus' recruitment mission in ME2. VS was focused on too much at this point and Thane's possible romance was forgotten.
- Thane's death: I liked the prayer but the fact that almost the same dialogue happened with a romance and non-romanced Shepard... it took away from it.
- Thane's death: Not being able to tell someone you love them before they pass or have any sort of emotional reaction?
- Thane's death: I remember Kolyat, why would I not remember him? I was hoping for something more than a minute or two with Thane's son before he disappears again.
- I get back on the Normandy and none of my squad mates mention Thane's passing. All they wanted to talk about was Kaidan or something random, and that includes Garrus who is standing in front of the memorial wall that now has Thane's name on it. Instead, everyone wants to hook up or take things to the next level. Horrible timing. At this point I stopped treating the game like a RPG and more like a shooter. I stopped emotionally investing in this game and didn't care anymore.
- No codex for Thane. No relationship achievement.

2.) The ending.
- At this point, as much as I hate it, I'd pick the indoctrination theory over the current ending.
- Felt like none of the decisions I made mattered at all.
- Lack of closure.
- Mass relays are destroyed. The reason why we were court-martialed was for that very reason. It caused mass destruction. So even if I chose one of the endings, do I kill almost everyone anyways?
- I'd redirect you to this article, http://www.gamefront...fans-are-right/ - it sums up most of my feelings and complaints about the endings as they stand now.

3.) Lack of quest updates (tracking) under in your journal. Sometimes I do a few missions at a time and I forget which quests I can turn in or aren't completely finished.

4.) Clipping, animation, and graphic issues. I ran into a lot of them. Tali's rock, Thane and my Shepard's hands when they are reunited, etc. I was willing to look over them but with everything else that was, imho, wrong with the game... I can't.

[Toshiro M]

My short suggestion : Shepard with his/her love interest , short cutscens about charatercs (what happend to them after the final) , harbinger as boss, Anderson or Illusive Man lives, remove that star child,
battle with reapers to see how imporant was to bring all races to fight together. This is what i want to see in best ending.

[Barrechor]

To be honest, I was worried that Bioware were going to run with the whole "Shutter Island" - "Inception" - "The usual suspects" route, of having to get a big twist in at the end. It's now the fashionable thing in Hollywood, so It's really no wonder game devs have started to do it.

Except, just because its now the "In thing" doesnt make it a requirement for every epic. Are we all so cynical and sadistic nowadays, that we need some dramatic "Twist" at the end of every movie or game?

*If Shep did actually die, he deserves a huge state funeral, and we need to see it.
*Details about how the crew moved on in the months after the shockwave.
*A scene showing the rebuilding of Earth's cities etc (And maybe Thessia and Palaven)

These are just three examples of what I wouldve liked. We just want to know that the choices we made at the end actually mattered. Because at the moment I'ts like watching Return of the Jedi, with the credits rolling just before Vader picks up the Emperor, with a message saying "Haha, youll never know!"

The game was a triumph up until the last 15 minutes, please Bioware, give this series the epic ending it really deserves!

[masseffectinglife]

The story of Commander Shepard is the ‘Mass Effect universe’.


I have now played through every Mass Effect on the PC system
from the first game. Each game has been about the impact that Shepard has made
on the world and how those choices impact and change the world accordingly.
These impacts affect the races, characters and hence the overall direction and
story.

Where Mass Effect 3 succeeds and failed was in living out
these choices.

The success was in how characters identified with past
events in the mass effect universe, and accepted that me as a player had made
those choices and they affected the Mass effect universe.

IE, take the Conrad Verner story. The bug was mentioned and
explained, and then an enjoyable about of references was made back to the Mass
effect 1 story in relation to side questions and very small actions.

What failed was how the conclusion to the series had no
pay-off to any choice that the commander made and how the mass effect universe
and its changers made absolutely no impact. The final three choices were truly a
cheat and did not reflect my mass effect universe.

Throughout the Mass Effect 3 game I am making choices that
impact races and characters. I was a Paragon and I attempted to unify and bring
together the universe. The fleet taking back earth was made of every race and
all my former team mates who could live were still alive.

But the choices available did not reflect that it mattered
what I did in the former games. It is even disappointing to see that major
choices such as the Rachni queen, don’t even matter as in Mass Effect 3 she is
there in one form or another anyway.

For an ending to conclude the Commander Shepard universe,
then it needs to show and play out what my universe’s choices have done.

Again I would state the Mass effect story is not about the
Reapers, but the impact commander Shepard has on the universe.

To leave the mass effect universe to another game is not an
acceptable conclusion.

How to change the ending….

The boy made no sense; there is no connection to him. Having
seen or thought I saw the Love Interest would have made way more sense and kept
some form of emotional connections. For the single shepherds just showing Shepard
himself.

If the weapon at then only destroyed the shields and
barriers of all the Reaper ships or disabled their communication with each other
for a period of time, then the choices of the fleets I brought to the final
battle would have mattered. It could then be shown that what I did mattered and
that it worked to collectively destroyed the reapers by every choice I made to
bring races together and save others.

The logic was not sound for why the reapers destroy all
life, to save it.

There was no closure to any other the story arches and
characters.

There was no sense in the Normandy’s conclusive moments and
how certain characters got where they are on the ship.

The Illusive Man shooting himself as an option felt too much
like a throwback to the mass effect 1 formula. It was not explained how he
contacted the reapers or why he got the upgrades.

Ultimately I do want my shepherd to live and have a family
and having saved the galaxy see the peace he has brought. I can accept he died,
but it doesn’t feel like the best way to end the story.

These are my rough thoughts.

Modifié par masseffectinglife, 17 mars 2012 - 12:40 .

[SimKoning]

My two biggest problems with the ending are with the reasoning of the Catalyst, and the implications of the galaxy wide destruction of the mass relays.

Regarding the explanation of the Reapers:

The Catalysts arguments are filled with logical fallacies. Its premise for its argument are that created life will always rebel against its creators. The origin and nature of the Geth and EDI refute this claim within the context of the game itself! Even if EDI and the Geth were not in the game, its argument would still be seriously flawed. What about a species that slowly integrates cybernetics into their bodies over thousands of years? In their case there would be no creator/created conflict, because it would simply be a form of gradual evolution of parent species into new daughter species, something that has been happening on Earth for the last 3.5 billion years. Even in cases where truly synthetic life like EDI or the Geth were created, there is still no reason to assume that it would result in war every time. It’s just as plausible that organic life would continue to exist while synthetic life continues to evolve into a myriad of new species. As an example consider us, we evolved from fish, but there are still fish; it’s not like the first amphibians turned around and waged war on the fishes! The reasoning of the Catalyst seems to have more in common with the Biblical garden of Eden myth than it does with the science of evolution, something I find to be a little out of place in the Mass Effect universe.

Lets pretend for a minute that the Catalyst’s claim that synthetics will wipe out all organic life holds water. What would that mean? How and why would synthetic life wipe out *all* organic life in the galaxy? Would they somehow stop abiogenesis from occurring? Because even if they really do wipe of every spec of bacteria in the galaxy, based on the number of sapient species in the Mass Effect universe, we can infer that there would be new forms of life emerging all the time. This means that the dominant synthetic life forms would have to do what the Reapers do: systematically destroy organic species as they emerge; the only difference would be the stage in evolution that they chose to do it.

They destroy organics that evolve to a certain level of complexity to prevent them from creating synthetic life that will destroy organic life that evolves to a certain level of complexity!

Of course to escape this absurdity, the Catalyst argues that the Reapers aren’t destroying species, they are helping them to “ascend”; this is ridiculous. A sapient species like ourselves is *not* a simple genetic code: we have culture, beliefs, art, music, passions etc. it would be like us eating a pig while arguing that we are not destroying the pig, we are helping it ascend by incorporating its amino acids and lipids into our own bodies, and thus bringing them to a “higher” state of existence. What the Reapers are doing is PREDATION, not salvation. They are literally consuming species and using the raw material to form new Reapers.

There is a very simple, and logical explanation for why the Reapers would do what they do: they are wiping out entire species so that they cannot evolve and grow to a point that would threaten the Reapers dominance. They dominate, assimilate and consume weaker species like galaxy spanning super predators. This would serve a duel purpose: it would eliminate potential rivals while allowing them to increase their own diversity. Since they are cybernetic constructs, it would be in their best interest to destroy/assimilate both organic and inorganic species as demonstrated earlier in the game with their enslavement and modification of the Geth.

So, you can probably keep the Catalyst’s argument, but hand it over to Harbinger and give us the option of calling him on his bull**** if our character’s paragon/renegade score is high enough. You can even keep the starchild thing, but have it be a indoctrination attempt on the part of Harbinger as a last ditch effort to stop Shepard from killing the Reapers. I would love for the end of the game to consist of a struggle against Harbinger within Shepard’s own mind.


Regarding the mass relays;

This was the most disappointing aspect of the ending by far. I loved going around uniting all these different species; I loved ending the war between the Geth and the Quarians; I loved saving the Rachni queen. Why? Because I was looking forward to a post Reaper invasion galaxy with all this species adjusting to these major shifts in power and alliances. Instead we are given a galactic apocalypse that would make the Reapers proud. It’s made pretty clear in ‘Arrival” that when a mass relay blows, it results in a supernovae scale explosion that can destroy an entire star system; that’s *exactly* what we are shown at the end of ME3 in *every* ending. Joker is shown trying to escape a blast that must of reached as far as a nearby star system, because there is no way he could have made it to a relay in time. The blast is show destroying the back end of the Normandy, so we can reasonably assume that Earth and the entire armada that we created was vaporized back in the Sol system, along with every other system near a relay; this is WORSE than the Reaper invasion. Not to mention it is way to similar to the Halo array found in another popular space opera IP. That should have been the worst possible ending you could get. It should have been a punishment for being lazy and not putting some effort into the game. It certainly shouldn’t have been the ideal ending.


I want to end this by saying that Mass Effect happens to be my favorite science fiction IP ever. It strikes an almost perfect balance between out an out space fantasy like Star Wars and Hard SF literature. Since the first game I have been hoping that this IP would someday displace Star Wars as one of the most popular space opera universes. I wanted to see this grow in depth and complexity. I want to see what becomes of all this fascinating alien species you have created. What I didn’t want was the complete destruction of this world just as it was becoming extremely interesting.

Modifié par SimKoning, 17 mars 2012 - 12:44 .

[GroverA125]

Give us an option to use the crucible to specifically target some, but not all of the reapers (no collateral damage), eliminating a large amount of them and leaving the remaining reapers with a win or lose scenario based on the players EMS (requiring as good as all the available resources available without previous games or multiplayer). The player then proceeds to a boss battle with Harbinger (which shepard can survive if EMS if sufficient, if not, he is KIA'd but succeeds in defeating Harbinger). After which, the player will get to see some of the results of their actions including most of the missions and squadmates (Liara returning to Thessia and helping rebuild, Garrus and Palaven with his family, Wrex/Wreav and Tuchanka, Tali returning to Rannoch and the aftermath of the geth/quarian war, and so on) as well as a specific scene with the players LI. Note that the lower the EMS, the less people will survive and in some cases, an entire races military (eg. Batarians, Turians, Krogans) will be completely killed without a high enough EMS.

That's what I would rather like. I'd probably move as far to say change Tali's picture (look at the popular fan-art of tali's face and work around that. Fans know what they want) and I'd say that all my issues with the singleplayer portion of the game are gone.

Modifié par GroverA125, 17 mars 2012 - 12:45 .

[ShadowAussie]

fight harbinger or die trying that is the ending... having options to save friends in game and options in oaragon/renegade to stop the reapers and to keep the relays intact for the other races to return back home ot their home planets

Modifié par ShadowAussie, 17 mars 2012 - 12:44 .

[HezzaE]

I'm sure I'm just echoing what others in this 50-odd page thread are saying but I'll say my bit anyway.

Mordin's death was beautifully executed. His sacrifice gave hope to the Krogan, and I cried a little.

Thane's death, again beautiful. Put himself in harm's way to help, then at the hospital "the prayer was for you"... Lots of tears.

Legion's sacrifice, where he starts referring to himself as "I" in the final minutes. I cried again.

On Earth, talking to all my squadmates one by one... It made it pretty clear I may not come back. That's fine, as long as I take Earth back.

Then the final cutscenes, Shepard bleeding out and talking to Anderson... So beautiful. Then abruptly, that scene is over and I'm hearing some nonsense from the weird star child. And Shepard doesn't tell him there's always another way, which is totally what MY Shepard would have done. She just says "oh ok better do as it tells me and choose".

Then there's confusion, Shepard dies, and I don't really care, because in her final moments she stopped acting like the Shepard I knew. To me, this is the biggest fail. Shepard died, and I didn't give a damn.

So in clear terms, what needs changing is really clearing up the confusion of the final cutscenes. WHY was the Normandy fleeing? HOW did my supposedly dead squadmates end up on board? WHY doesn't Shepard challenge the star child - I spent a large chunk of the game uniting the geth and the quarians, no way Shepard believes him. WHAT happens to the races if the galaxy without the relays? The colonies which relied on imports?

The theme of hope throughout the games is discarded for... Apparently a bittersweet sacrifice, but to me the ending is bitter through and through, there is no sweet.

And finally... If you followed a very specific path through ME1, 2 and 3, give us a god damn happy ending. We earnt it.

[ABCoLD]

tkensai wrote...
-The skipping dialogue AND select dialogue button should NOT BE THE SAME KEY. This is one of those quality of life things that makes people go slowly insane.

It's the same way on the consoles.  Has been since ME1.  The only thing that helps me keep my slender grip on reality now is the friendship I enjoy with my collection of singing potatoes.

[massmp]

Mass Effect 3, What was good?.:

- music (definitely the most positive aspect of the game). Gave the game the necessary soul and emotion

- RPG (you mixed it perfectly with the action), not to many action scenes, which was the main problem with Mass Effect 2

- old companions (players could experience this nostalgic feeling, which is very important for a trilogy)

- excellent writing (huge thanks to Marc Walters and the rest of the wirters. You brought this characters to life!!!!) I personally really cared for them, like in real life.

What was negative?

- Shepard had to many standalone dialogue, were the RPG elements suffered a lot. If you talked to your squadmates on the Normandy, there was sometimes a quick and short conversation, but you said earlier that you wanted to go deeper into the characters realtionships and make lesser squadmates to accomplish this.

The more conversations you have with a person, the more you can understand him and make a deeper bond with him. So, I was a little disappointed there.

- N7-Missions.: far to less. In Mass Effect 2 you had more of them.

- no vehicle.: Where was the Hammerhead?, Where was the Mako?. Planet exploration should have returned like in Mass Effect 1.

And now the the main and biggest problem of the game.: THE ENDING

I´m not saying that the ending was bad, but it wasn´t good either. It didn´t end the saga the way we expected. It left more question open than answered. For example.: Is Shepard dead?, Was the ending an hallucination?, Why was the Normandy not on Earth?, Why are the squadmates suddenly on the Normandy?, How can Shepard breath in space without oxygen while he was talking with the Catalyst? You can now see that there is certainly a sort of confusion that the ending brought to us.

Bioware,

I´m not asking you to do something. I simply want you to understand how important this is for us. You created an epic Sci-Fi trilogy, that we will never forget and remember for the rest of our lives. I trust and support you and I hope that you understand what we would like to see in the coming future.

Regardless, thank you that we can be a part of this great universe.

- John