2054 réponses à ce sujet

[SiriusXI]

Heather Cline wrote...

Ok here is what I have to say about his feedback.

Thank you for speaking out about this first and foremost. I however do not agree with the statement that the game critics are giving positive reviews because they genuinely like the game ending. It has been proven that if a reviewer does NOT give a game a high score then a game company or publisher will not bring their business back to that review site or magazine. Therefore trusting a game reviewers score is not possible because it is NOT an honest review.

That said here are my complaints about ME3 as a whole.

First off is the strange head animations that I've seen. One instance is where Liara and FemShep are talking and you have the dialogue wheel and you pick one of the options under the investigate and Glyph comes along and then FemShep and occasionally Liara move their head constantly to look at Glyph even after he's left the conversation never looking at one another.

Next is another head animation you are speaking to Traynor with the auto dialogue and her head turns around 180 degrees and looks at you while speaking while the body is facing towards the console she is working on.

Next is graphic problems. There are glowing lips and mouths for FemShep at least in several scenes like on TIM's base near the end of the game. Lip syncing problems are also included there to the audio. Joker's face looks fat and chunky instead of how he looked in the first 2 games. Anderson doesn't really look like Anderson as his face looks all washed out. Atheyta doesn't look like Atheyta at all. In ME2 she was unique looking, had light blue Asari skin like Liara and had a unique face. In ME3 she is now a darker shade of blue, her face doesn't look anything like it did in ME2. Only thing that identified her as Atheyta was her VO. If not for that she looked like another random Asari to me. Then there are the hands of FemShep and many other characters like Conrad Verner. Their hands look like old people hands. This was a problem in DA2 as well. The hands looked all wrinkled and old. FemShep's skin color on the hands did not match the skin color of her face. It was a shade darker or a shade lighter depending on the scene.

Auto dialogue is a problem. We were told that the story mode and the full RPG mode would guarantee no auto-dialogue while the action mode would have the auto-dialogue. We were lied to about that as there is more auto-dialogue in the RPG mode and story mode. ME1 and ME2 did not have this. A good example is the dialogue with Kalisha Bint Sint Al-Jilani on the Citadel in ME3 where you have either renegade or paragon interrupts but no possibility to use the dialogue wheel that you had in ME1 and ME2. This isn't the only instance of the auto-dialogue. Talking to Joker or EDI on the Normandy there is a bunch of auto-dialogue that you don't get to even have the choice of what you say.

Next complaint is the romance scenes for Liara/FemShep and FemShep/Traynor. The Liara one has Liara fully nude but no naughty bits showing but FemShep is in that bra and panties. That ruins immersion while one partner is fully undressed the other one is still partially clothed. That scene could have been done better. FemShep could have been fully unclothed just used different camera angles to hide her naughty bits. It was done for Liara in that scene, could have been done for FemShep.

The FemShep/Traynor one is completely unbelievable and is even worse than the Liara/FemShep scene. Traynor is in a shower with her underwear on. No one showers like that in real life unless they are drunk or high on drugs. The suspension of disbelief goes right out the window. Again the use of camera angles could have covered up any naughty bits. Then bringing FemShep into the shower fully clothed is again not something anyone does if they are going to have a romantic interlude in the shower. Said person would get undressed first before joining their intended in the shower in the first place. Again breaks immersion.

This also leads to the Traynor/FemShep dynamic of their relationship. There isn't any flirting going on, there isn't any talks on the ship to get to know Traynor more and have the option to flirt with her. Heck Cortez got more screen time than Traynor off ship and even in the shuttle bay. Traynor did not get much at all it was a couple of conversations about missions, some auto-dialogue about ends of missions and nothing more.

My next point is how femShep runs when not in armor. Her elbows are pointed out to the sides and hands are pointed inwards. No woman I've seen including myself runs like that. The elbows are usually pointed in towards the torso to cut down on wind resistance and overall friction. She also runs like a man. Her legs are set apart like a mans when they run instead of closer together. Go back to the animations of ME1 and watch out FemShep jogs/runs and you will see that she runs like a real woman not some man. This also points out that her toes point out to her sides instead of straight ahead. Women don't walk with toes pointed out to the sides. Men do that. These animations are just as bad if not worse than the animation set from ME2.

This final game seems to be more about it being Bioware's Shepard than our Shepard. And this is wrong to me.

Now I come to the endings. We were promised 16 different endings and we did not get that What we got was 1 ending with 3 different color variations and maybe 16 different tweaks on that same ending. We did not get a range of endings going from The Reapers win, to Shepard lives and lives out the rest of her/his life with the LI. 16 differing endings which were really different is what we were supposed to have and we did not get them. I'm not sure how hard it is to craft the 16 different endings but we were promised them and we did not get them. Bioware and the ME team failed to deliver. As I said before one ending could be the Reapers win and all life is harvested. Another ending is Shepard sacrifices her/his self and destroys the Reapers and the galaxy is saved. Perhaps earth is destroyed. Another ending is Shepard survives and maybe dies in the arms of their LI. Then there is one where Shepard dies and the earth is saved, there is a memorial service for Shepard. Another as I stated is Shepard survives and goes on to live out her/his life with LI and possibly have kids.

Plot holes... They abound in this game. In ME2 we had hinting of Dark Energy causing suns to go bad. Where is the content dealing with that issue? The endings are also full of plot holes and I don't think there is any defense against that. Why was Joker in hyperspace jump when he was actually in battle agains the reaper forces above earth? How did the squad that was on earth with no way up to the Normandy get magically transported on board in the first place? Why would the ground team leave Shepard when we know they would not if there was a way up to the Normandy?

Then there is the whole Rachni Queen problem. If you killed the Rachni Queen off in ME1 there was no mention of it in ME2. But in ME3 the reapers found a Rachni Queen and is using it anyways. That is a major inconsistency right there.

Next is Mordin. He did not sound like Mordin from ME2. In fact I could tell right away it was someone else doing his VO. Major immersion breaker.

Then there is the whole MP to get the best possible ending. You said that we didn't need to do MP to get the best possible ending. That was a lie. The only way to get the best possible ending out of all those bad endings is to play MP. We were told to get the Shepard breathing scene after the cutscene was that we had to have enough war assets only and to pick the Destroy ending. Many people have come forward saying they can't get it without doing MP. MP was to help with needing LESS war assets to get that ending. Instead we are forced to do MP to get that ending no matter what. Many of us hate MP but are forced to play it anyways to get the so called 'best' ending.

Our complaints aren't that we need time to say goodbye to the game. We knew the series was ending. What it is, is that the endings were not what we were promised, the game was not what we were promised. Auto-Dialogue abounds in the Story and RPG mode. The romance scenes for FemShep/Liara and FemShep/Traynor were not believable. The romance between FemShep/Traynor was lack luster and had no depth. There are extremely bad animations ranging from the not looking at the person you are talking to, heads turning 180 degrees, and the running animations for FemShep. The use of MP to get the 'best' ending is mandatory instead of optional. The Rachni Queen still exists even if you killed it. Mordin's VO is not Mordin at all. Plot holes abound in the game including the ending of it. Characters not looking like they should from previous games. Graphical problems in certain areas of the game. The endings were not what we were promised in the PR interviews and the ad campaigns. False advertisement is actually illegal and that is what we got false advertisement.

This is not to say that the story was bad overall up until the endings. No I quite enjoyed the story itself even with the plot holes I saw and the forced use of MP to get the 'best' ending. I just hate the endings and the plot holes and many other issues I've stated above. This game could have been great. It could have been the best game by far by Bioware but it wasn't it fell very short and very flat in several area's including the endings.

These issues are why I am upset with the ME team and Bioware. These issues are why I refuse to buy DLC and future games, because this game promised us many things and failed to deliver. DA2 promised us many things and failed to deliver. There is an old saying... "Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice, shame on you." The saying is apt, you fooled me twice so shame on you and you won't be getting my business anymore.

False advertisement leads to loss of customers and consumers. Any business knows that. Why falsely advertise then fail to deliver? It makes no sense. And before anyone says that it was a mistake. A mistake is making Joker look chunky in the face. A mistake is making Atheyta not look like Atheyta. Those are mistakes, what was done was blatant lying and out right false advertisement. This is not something I can abide by.

I wish you luck in the future with your games, this is my constructive criticism for ME3 as well Bioware/EA.

You just mentioned all my major problems with the game! Add the poor unmasking of Tali and we have 'em all!

[Contalion]

Personally....I think the whole "artistic integrity" thing is a bunch of <insert expletive of choice>. Throughout history, even the GREAT artists had to answer to someone. Virgil, Shakespeare, Beethoven, they all had patrons, who they ultimately had to answer to. After all, without the support of their patrons, they couldn't afford to live, and therefore couldn't create their art without their patrons support. In a modern system.....the people who are BUYING the "art"...the fans... become the patrons. We are the ones who ultimately provide the revenue stream that lets them keep the lights on. So claiming "artistic intregrity" and acting like they don't have to answer to us is really just biting the hand that feeds them. The only people who can claim "artistic integrity" and get away with it are the artists who create their work in the spare time, and suppor themselves via other endeavors. If you need the money from selling your work, then you are beholden to create art that satisfies those that buy it.

[Cell1e]

Rays comments did worry me, It would be nice if he could state openly and honestly if Bioware are going to change the endings or not.
I was hoping for a happy ending for ME3, but in this request for ending changes I can't even see a happy ending.

Ahh well..

[Soma.E-Pro]

Thanks for the response! It's nice to hear some acknowledgment and that work is being done. I do wish Bioware would stop referring to this as a vocal minority though...But business is business.

[Getorex]

laughing sherpa girl wrote...

Whatever666343431431654324 wrote...

laughing sherpa girl wrote...

I would simply like an explanation of why; when you advertised that you would not end the game with an A,B,C style ending choice, your company did exactly that.
An explanation of all the apparently false pre-launch statements and advertising related to the ending, would be greatly appreciated.

Developers routinely overpromise and under-deliver. Marketers exaggarate the overpromises considerably as part of their effort to generate hype. This is common for most games; heck, most software. I wouldn't bash Bioware too harshly so something so endemic in the software industry. 

And its a hard thing to fix. As a developer, you see what's possible, you make your best guess about what you can achieve within your budget and timelines, and its not until your 1/2 way through when you realize that you let your enthusiasm color your judgements too much.

I understand. I'm a developer of Flight Simulator addons for MS FSX and Lockheeds Prepar3D. Enthusiasm can get you in a pickle for sure. However.. I dont care how hard it is to fix, even with 3500 hours of my personal time in one aircraft, i made a promise to the enthusiasts who enjoy FSX and P3D. I will keep that promise, even though i'm sixty years old, have advanced chronic emphysema and am going senile.  Now certainly if a worthless old broad from the pacific northwest can keep her promise to a few thousand people, it shouldnt be THAT hard for Bioware to keep its promise to a few million. I'd much rather they do that than have to begin to quote federal trade laws..

OK now wait a minute!  You have totally blown my preconceptions of game fan geeks all to hell here!  Who do you think you are?  Software developer...female (I know they exist in this universe but guys tend to outnumber the ladies by quite a margin still)...60 years old...

I thought we were all supposed to be bratty 20-somethings with pasty skin, crappy eating habits, no lives outside (literally, no lives outside), no girlfriends, etc. 

You are blowing my mind! 

[GME_ThorianCreeper]

I absolutely love how how the "movement" finally gets a statement from the head honcho and what he says still is not good enough for them.

He said there would be DLC that answers questions about the ending, even if it doesn't change the ending, and you do the DLC before the ending, that means plot holes will be addressed and answers will be given.

What more do you want them to do? Bake you an apology cake or something?

[Soma.E-Pro]

Thanks for the response! It's nice to hear some acknowledgment and that work is being done. I do wish Bioware would stop referring to this as a vocal minority though...But business is business.

[cmj428]

The entire thing basically says we'll hear more next month.
They are working on something.
There is a lot of jumping to conclusions in this thread.

[Chaia]

As I've said prevousily 99% of the game was amazing, and should have gotten 9-10 range of reviews, from the music to the graphics, from the animations (espically Liara's) to the voice acting it was amazing. However the ending left a bad after taste.

I can see and respect the ME3 team sticking by its "artistic choices" but at the same time ME3 entered and ended on a completly differenet race track that the rest of trilogy was running on (including ME3 itself) on the very last few minutes, leaving more questions then answers (the Normandy? Space magic? God children? what the heck happened to everyone else etc etc)
Its like ME3 got bored and decided to spice itself up by adding space magic and God children to a game that has so far dressed up as a dark sci-fi whilst reducing all of the players choices down to basically 'whats your favourite colour?' 
Honestly I would like it if in April the ending did turn out to be Harbringer's attempt at indoctrination and everything happening after Shepard got hit by Harbringer to be allll in Shepards mind, not have the ending changed so much per se, but added to; but I'm not holding my breath.

A "Take Back Omega!" DLC release seems more likely at this point.

[Arkitekt]

It's PR talk, but it's better than Hudson's newspeak uncommited PR.

Apparently, they have already decided to do *something* about it, and in April they have had *decided* what exactly that *something* is, and so they will be ready to announce it to the proles.

I'm somewhat curious.

[edrst10]

This message is apreciated. I have plenty of issues with the endings. Even if they stick to what they have and just fill the plotholes and narrative/lore inconsistencies, I'll feel better, even if I still really dislike the synthesis idea.

[talk_sick]

Read through Ray Muzyka's post, and here are my thoughts on it, as well as the whole situation.

First, and foremost, I understand Ray's supportive stance on the ME3 team. The game is epic - of that there has never been any doubt. I am NOT going to write about the good stuff, because ME3 has enthralled me in so many different ways it would be an insurmountable task - the devil is in the details, and the ME3 team has put a tremendous amount of work into those details.

Alas - someone much smarter than me once said, that a friend is not the one who tells you how good you are, but the one who tells you the truth, however unpleasant it might be.

And the unpleasant truth is that the ending of ME3 (starting with the mad dash toward the conduit) is the worst display of incompetence I have ever seen in recent years.
The biggest faliure of the ending is not the tone - the hard choices (though they are much worse than Drew's original outline). It's the execution.

What really upset a lot of people was not that Shepard had to sacrifice himself for the good of the galaxy, but that in the most important moment of the whole series - the culmination of some 90+ hours of gameplay (if you count all 3 games + dlc), BioWare literally steps in and takes the control of commander Shepard away from the players in order to facilitate an ending, that THEY want the game to have.

That's how many people feel at this point - that all their efforts, all the important choices ultimately amount to nothing, as the developers impose their arbitrary ending anyway. If such a thing were to happen in a roleplaying game, I would not hesitate to call the GM incompetent. Taking control of the PLAYER'S character to make such a world changing decision for him is never justified.

Other complaints include huge, gaping plot holes, inconsistency, and outright nonsense. Even if you try to pass it off as "art", failiure to convey the meaning is a valid criterium by which art can be judged. And the score doesn't look good for the ME3 ending.

This begs the question - if the rest of the game is an easy 8/10 (it's really not a 9/10 or 10/10 game - there are some small issues such as abysmal quest tracking, lack of true innovation, even though the game itself is a solid piece of work, and technical issues - like dropping framerate on the PS3 and some glitches in the cover system to name but a few, that prevent me from rating it any higher than 8/10).

So if - the whole game is an 8/10, does it deserve to be rated down to the horrible score of 4-5/10?
All on account of one moment, that is just 10 minutes in the 20 hours it takes to complete the whole game?

I believe so. The "one moment" happens to be the most important moment of not just ME3, but of the whole series, and ME3 simply fails to deliver - there's no way to sugarcoat it, or put it differently. The ending of ME3 is a huge disappointment, a heap of broken promises, and a cryptic "F.U." note all roled into one.

Early attempts at "damage control" did not help, and if possible - made the whole situation worse, by basically telling players - fans - customers, to "buzz off", imagine their own ending, and stop acting like we deserve anything. The "final hours" app takes the bulk of the blame here, although I realize, that it was not an official release, but it did contain the creative team's words.


That's it for now - I imagine my post is already much longer than some people care to read.



TL:DR version:

game is epic, ending sucks, wish BW responded sooner and with less cryptic comments.

[London]

Well I'm somewhat easy to win over. I love BioWare again - though I haven't really stopped. Can't wait for more news!

[Mx_CN3]

I said this on Facebook, but I'll say it again here: I can't tell you how happy
this makes me feel. I can't promise that I will like whatever you guys
end up doing, but I can promise that I will appreciate that you did something.

And for what I would like to see...

1) Actual epilogue, finding out what happens to various people/places.  I recognize that the endings of this game probably lead directly into what will happen in later games, but I really think that putting so many questions at the end of a trilogy was not the best decision.

2) Explanations of some of the... oddities.  Even if it's a brief cutscene of, for example, a squadmate calling the Normandy to pick him/her up, because the beam didn't work, which would be why they are on the Normandy at the end.  Or something like that.  Filling in the holes.

3) Ending choices or outcomes that reflect, or are reflected by, our decisions.  I want my choices with the Krogan and Geth and the like to actually mean something in the end.  As it stands, they are just choices that you make that turn into a number.

4) The last bit of lore seemed very... disjointed.  It didn't mesh well with the rest of the story.  My personal feelings on the ending-lore aside (which is overwhelmingly negative), I feel that you could at least do some more explanation of the stuff we hear.  As it currently stands, we are taken for a wild spin and given no followup discussion on the big revelation of ME3.  Compare this to ME1 (Sovereign is a Reaper!) and ME2 (Collectors are Protheans!), where we still have a fairly large portion of the game left to discuss this new information with the crew or other NPCs.

I think #3 is the biggest deal for most people, but honestly #4 was bar far my biggest problem with the endings.

And I think Dr. Muzyka got it spot on when he said that most people do like most of the game.  I think the part about the critics  looked a bit weird, but I assume what he meant by that is that most critics are willing to judge the entirety of the game, rather than what most fans did, which is hate on the entire game despite only part of it being truly worth the ire.  The problem is that that very small part has huge implications for the rest of the series, and I think that the professional critics are better able to separate that from what they feel about the game than many of the fans are able to.

Thanks again for the response, BioWare.  It is truly appreciated.  I just want an ending that feels like it belongs in Mass Effect, and is as overwhelmingly satisfying as the rest of the game was.

[Rudy Lis]

Farbautisonn wrote...

Jesus Ray... You were doing quite good untill you used "We are listening". Gaah!

Well, he never stated what they listening, maybe they listeting The Hot Melts - Edith, for example. Or maybe they listening Vivaldi's Four Seasons, like I do currently .

But I agree with you, looks like another fire extinguisher or flare/chaff message to me.

Sticking in cockpit not fixed, problems with ladders (I doubt it's only my problem), mostly obvious on Geth Dreadnought, no save on demand with many areas without saves, cover/controls, totally different look of many old NPCs, problems with restoring Shepard's look (I rely to sliders positions, not to facecode due lack of it in ME1), bad story (c'mon, filling six months gap between "Arrival" and arrival (ahem) in two strings, one with Miranda at 5th hour and one with Grunt at 7th?) et cetera, et cetera...

Plus, like I stated earlier in "endings" thread, I think endings were made as they are on purpose, to draw our attention from other problems, which game is full of.

So yes, Ray, we, ahm... listeting, you know.

[FinalEndeavor]

I'm glad he said that content is being worked on to add  closure for us. But what exactly are they doing. They have SOOOOOO many plotholes that don't make sense at all!!!!!

Modifié par FinalEndeavor, 21 mars 2012 - 05:23 .

[ShinsFortress]

I found the Blog post excessively defensive and not apologetic enough, concentrating too much on "artistic" merits. When a company explicitly states a product will have certain elements (e.g. see LOOp's repeated recent post in this thread) and it does not have them, then they are at fault and fan ire is justified.

I understand "This is in addition to our existing plan to continue providing new Mass Effect content and new full games, so rest assured that your journey in the Mass Effect universe can, and will, continue." will cost.

But if the content referred to in "Building on their research, Exec Producer Casey Hudson and the team are hard at work on a number of game content initiatives that will help answer the questions, providing more clarity for those seeking further closure to their journey. " is not free for registered users, then I will never purchase another Bioware product again.

I resent the implication in the blog that the many of us who vehemently dislike the ending AND are angry with the elements promised not provided are some sort of hardcore bunch of malcontents. Okay, maybe not all malcontents but you get the drift.

It seems to me that the Ray Muzyka met at a certain conn a long long time ago is no longer there. I remember a much more modest individual who also understood the gaming community better.

Modifié par ShinsFortress, 21 mars 2012 - 05:26 .

[Arkitekt]

Reading from some comments here, I guess that letter has managed to appease the fence sitters, controlled the leakage of fandom at least for some days / one two weeks.

[alejo699]

I have no problem with the way the game ended story-wise.  I respect the writers' decision to end things the way they did.  What I do find problematic is that the player is encouraged to find and collect military assets with the goal of actually taking on the Reapers, but in truth the game would end exactly the same way even if all the player does is get one more unit than the minimum.  Which means all those side missions amount to nothing.  Perhaps changing the assets meter so that the minimum is much higher?  I didn't even play multiplayer and quite easily filled the meter.

That's only a minor design quibble, really.  I just want to say, thank you, Bioware, for creating the most involving and moving game experience I have ever had.  Bravo!

[KBomb]

 

Building on their research, Exec Producer Casey Hudson and the team are hard at work on a number of game content initiatives that will help answer the questions, providing more clarity for those seeking further closure to their journey

Notice he said “game content initiatives”

This is in addition to our existing plan to continue providing new Mass Effect content and new full games, so rest assured that your journey in the Mass Effect universe can, and will, continue.

This tells me that the existing plan doesn't necessarily apply to Mass Effect 3, but other ME content...i.e.. MMO or such.

Our first instinct is to defend our work and point to the high ratings offered by critics –

Translation: “We're not going to defend our work and point out how much the critics love this game...but we're going to defend our work and point out how much the critics love this game.”


imo, it sounds like they aren't planning on doing anything with the endings, but perhaps provide in-game(before Priority: Earth) DLC that will have codex, conversations etc, that fills in the plotholes and concerns. Example: A mission that explains the Star Child. The endings will remain the same. Sorry, but count me out. I'm not buying any DLC explaining their mistakes. If they prove me wrong, I will gladly amend my thoughts and words to reflect that, until then it still seems as if they're looking for bandaids instead of a cure.

Modifié par KBomb, 21 mars 2012 - 05:25 .

[Lunar Savage]

Here's a great forbes article on Muzyka's response:

http://www.forbes.co....nding-sort-of/

The only thing I can add, is that they are once again downplaying the criticism. Which is yet another PR move. And this time, by one of the founders. It's a very strong play, and altogether a brilliant move. But it more or less confirms my suspicions that they don't really care and that they're likely going to go on through with their plans to squeeze more money out of customers that already payed for the game.

[BeefoTheBold]

"Building on their research, Exec Producer
Casey Hudson and the team are hard at work on a number of game content
initiatives that will help answer the questions, providing more clarity
for those seeking further closure to their journey. You’ll hear more on
this in April."

Translation: "We're hard at work on additional DLC that we'll make you continue paying for as long as we possibly can before you're allowed full closure."

[Ronin1325]

Reposting in non-TL:DR format because my attempt to post a new topic got locked down-

EA/Bioware needs to match the Child's Play donation at a certain point. If you want our good will, that is a Rubber-meets-the-road, practical sign that you are every bit as interested in being constructive as most of us are.

[GBGriffin]

Personally...I'm somewhat satisfied. Still highly skeptical of what they'll do, of course...but hopeful. Yes, they could just as easily announce take Back Omega DLC or some other nonsense...but I want to believe they would actually take the suggestions seriously.

Either way, at least we have a relative timeline on when to expect an answer. So...that's something.