55 réponses à ce sujet

[DocStone]

 Bear with me on this, it covers quite a few theories and points, but it just all seems to come together (in my head anyway!) and makes a bit of sense.

We have the wonderful thread about Bioware's pre-release statements regarding the ending of the game, and all the (seemingly) broken promises they made with regards the ending. We also have the indoctination theory, something that fits so well it just cannot be a simple coincidence, yet as it stands with the current ends and the noises coming out from the Devs there is no theory, the ending was meant "as is" to give speculation.

Now there are already plenty of threads out there debating the above issues, so I am not going to go there, however I will suggest another (I know, I know) theory about the ending and why we got it.

Bioware simply ran out of time. 

OK, onto my reasoning behind this. The ending as we have it was always going to be part of the game, however it was only going to be the ending if the Reapers won! The indoctrination theory was right all along, and it was a play by Bioware to create a false ending, something that I think is absolutely amazing but they just could not pull it off in the timescale given to them. You were to play through the faux ending and if you chose blue or green, you LOST! You gave into the Reaper indoctrination and the game was over. Earth destroyed and the Galaxy as we know it destroyed. Go replay from TIM base and get it right next time.

The reason I say get it right next time is because by choosing red you beat the indoctrination attempt and the game continues with you taking that breath. You then would have entered the final stage of the game and played through the real ending. Every single person that played the game would have been fooled by the false ending, Bioware would have been praised to the high heavens for such a bold stunt and we would then go onto the real endings.

Unfortunately we never got to see those endings due to time running out. Bioware are not the first  (and certainly will not be the last) company to have been pressured by EA to get a game out on time.  DICE and BF3 is a prime example, to meet the deadline and hit the shops before MW3 came out the game was rushed and released in an unfinished state. Basic parts of the game were missing, such as squad selection, VOIP, Communications Rose and even the ability to remap certain keys had been left out due to time constraints. Some of those features even now are still missing, which indicates just how much pressure DICE were under.

The problem DICE had was they could not just come out and say "The game is unfinished due to time constraints" as this would have killed their sales and really upset EA (something you do not want to do) although they did drop some major hints this was the case along the way. I firmly believe Bioware are now in the same situation as DICE were (and still are). They cannot come out and say "Sorry, we ran out of time, EA set a release date so we had to cut the ending" as this would enrage the community (even more than we are now) and would damage sales, which is EA's bottom line.

Bioware had a vision for the ending, they talked enough about it really tried to make it happen, but they just couldn't do it. This resulted in us getting the endings we have today - nonsensical, incomplete and so out of kilter with the rest of the story. I think the major complaint the community has is why would a company that created such an immersive story, that wrote moments of absolute magic that other RPG's can only wish to achieve, why would they suddenly drop the ball with the ending? It just doesn't make sense.

If however they just ran out of time and cobbled together an ending the best they could out of what they had, well, it all becomes a bit clearer, and everything seems to tie in. The just ran out of time, but they can't tell us they did, no matter how much they want to. 

Anyway, thanks for reading my Friday morning ramblings, and the TL;DR version: Bioware ran out of time, and made the best of a bad lot.

[UrgentArchengel]

Possibly.

[bloodshed17]

They had an extra 3 months with the first delay. Still couldnt get it done? Possibly.

[Filby08]

They could have budgeted their time better of they left Allers out. No one seems to like her.

It probably doesn't work that way, but still.

[Pangaron]

I quite agree with you and if IT is correct indeed, we will probably get the best ending made in a game so far.

[dbt-kenny]

well it could be that they just could not get the ending to work properly and so we got the back up ending. still i be happer them say we having problem with the game and hold the relese date till it fix. be better than upsetting your customer with a bad ending.
Yes i not be happy they delayed the relese date of the game but i see there point better to get a good working game late than what we got now.

[frozngecko]

Filby08 wrote...

They could have budgeted their time better of they left Allers out. No one seems to like her.

It probably doesn't work that way, but still.

Glad to see I wasn't the only one. I still think they should have delayed if it was true....it would've saved them from this PR nightmare

Oh well, can't dwell on the past now. I just hope BioWare gets their act together or this community will explode worse than the Citadel did.

[halbert986]

with the countless obvious glitches I'm really starting to think so. Zombie tali being the biggest fail. The face import bug was acceptable. Your squad showing up in the end even though they got lasered is looking less and less like it was intentional genius and more and more like it was an overlooked bug. Mirandas toggle between beat-up and perfectly fine, rannochs invisible rocks, the armor loading issues. It could have done with a delay but I'm sure EA had $ symbols in their eyes.

[_NF_Von_Lipwig]

It wouldn't surprise me at all, but don't expect to ever be sure whether this was the case. No one will ever come out and say this outright.

But I do agree that th ending appears rushed. It doesn't seem to have the same amount of care that the other parts of the game did. The game is quite well-polished, the ending is in stark contrast to that.

[DocStone]

bloodshed17 wrote...

They had an extra 3 months with the first delay. Still couldnt get it done? Possibly.

How much of that was spent on multiplayer? The fact they needed an extension should have sent alarm bells ringing (does anyone buy the "put back to avoid other game releases" excuse?) back then. 

It just explains a lot, and fits in with EA and their history of pressurising devs to get games out on time.

[Aaleel]

That had already delayed the game once for three months. It is possible they just messed up, people seem to want to believe anything but that.

I don't see anyway they can go with the IT. It would mean that the game is not over and they sold their fans the final game of a trilogy without the ending, and are going to try and sell the ending to them later.

[bloodshed17]

Yeah they will never admit it if its true. Maybe many years down the line if they shut down or EA abandons them then they may come out and say how EA screwed them on some games by not giving enough time or money.

[Storenumber9]

I think what happened is that Casey and the Lead writer wanted to end the game on their terms, and got too wrapped up in their own vision to see clearly.

It happens sometimes. That's why I don't really hate Casey, the lead writer, or any of the writers.

[Manton-X2]

If you read the Final Hour stuff, you see they majorly ran out of time. In fact, even with their extension they were way over. They pulled out a huge amount of stuff in the final months and had to re-arrange other content to make it work out.

[superduperkoala]

Well, this is what Hudson said back in Feb:

"On ME3, content creators completed the game in January and moved onto the From Ashes DLC, [which is] free with the Collector’s Edition or you can buy it separately"

So either to rush out ME3 because they want to squeeze extra $10 from us, or they think ME3 doesn't need anymore polish. Either way, it doesn't look good for BioWare.

[pablosplinter]

Of course it was rushed.

But at least they saved time by taking From Ashes out!!!

[LadyAly]

its possible - in my opinion it looks really rushed

[pfellahX]

If that is what happened, then they can tone down the thinly-veiled hostility toward us for seeing through it.

[DocStone]

Aaleel wrote...

That had already delayed the game once for three months. It is possible they just messed up, people seem to want to believe anything but that.

I don't see anyway they can go with the IT. It would mean that the game is not over and they sold their fans the final game of a trilogy without the ending, and are going to try and sell the ending to them later.

They could only go with the IT if they included the real ending, which due to time constraints they jusy couldn't, which explains why the ending makes no sense in relation to the rest of the game.  

They were facing their second release date still with an unfinished product, there was no way they could come out and say "The game is out on 7th March, we should have it finished by mid May", that would have been financial suicide - no-one knowingly buys an incomplete game, no-one.  They made an ending with what they had and let the game go gold, and were prepared for a backlash over the ending, however I don't think they appreciated just how much of a backlash there was going to be. 

They are now in an unwanted situation, they can tell the truth that they released an unfinished product, or keep up the ruse that this was planned all along - either way they are in for a rough ride.Also don't forget, they have EA in the background demanding DLC and more $$$.

[Huskeonkel]

This is possible. And if so, it should really serve as a stark reminder to EA that rushing a AAA game will backfire.
But I think it is too much to hope for that they learn that lesson.

[Coolfaec]

No they didn't run out of time because the game ended up being delayed until March 2012...

[AAAAAJKKRRRRYZZ]

 I do not think so, didnt they actually push the release back by like three months already?  I think they were being all trippy with the ending (I side with the indoc theory).  They thought they were being clever and people were not expecting clever, they were expecting closure.  I do not think it would have taken long to make a cutscene at the end of the game. just to tie off all the loose ends.

[Aanlen]

With the amount of glitches that happened to me in that mission, i cant help but think it was rushed as hell. i mean, garrus was stuck in a wall several times inside the mako.

[Aaleel]

DocStone wrote...

Aaleel wrote...

That had already delayed the game once for three months. It is possible they just messed up, people seem to want to believe anything but that.

I don't see anyway they can go with the IT. It would mean that the game is not over and they sold their fans the final game of a trilogy without the ending, and are going to try and sell the ending to them later.

They could only go with the IT if they included the real ending, which due to time constraints they jusy couldn't, which explains why the ending makes no sense in relation to the rest of the game.  

They were facing their second release date still with an unfinished product, there was no way they could come out and say "The game is out on 7th March, we should have it finished by mid May", that would have been financial suicide - no-one knowingly buys an incomplete game, no-one.  They made an ending with what they had and let the game go gold, and were prepared for a backlash over the ending, however I don't think they appreciated just how much of a backlash there was going to be. 

They are now in an unwanted situation, they can tell the truth that they released an unfinished product, or keep up the ruse that this was planned all along - either way they are in for a rough ride.Also don't forget, they have EA in the background demanding DLC and more $$$.

The thing is though, if it was one thing they should have made sure they got right it was the ending.  Just like the ending ruined a good game for some people.  Players would have ignored some short cuts during the game it the ending was great.  Ending should have been the first and last thing discussed, it was the most important thing in the final game of a trilogy.

[DocStone]

Coolfaec wrote...

No they didn't run out of time because the game ended up being delayed until March 2012...

I see it more as a final date for the game to be released, EA just were not prepared to give them more time. The fact it was delayed in the first place was enough of a warning.