(Suggested background music : http://grooveshark.c... for the krogan )
Even if yesterday's announcement was not the ideal outcome many of us expected, everyone has got to admit that there was a lot of over-reaction following it. I'll grant that communication is difficult between BioWare and its consumers, which leads to massive and destructive misunderstandings.
When people heard the endings were not going to be changed, many if not most immediately understood that as : the endings will remain the same as they are now.
This is a dangerous assumption.
By thinking this, you imply that every BioWare effort is going to yield to different flavours of the same. You are assuming BioWare will not change the status quo at the end of the cutscenes. You assume this will imply : No more space travel, entire species starving to death, Normandy lost forever.
You assume they will only explain this longer. And you are right to think that this will be even more depressing.
However, by doing so, you actively don't consider the entire realm of possibilities that they can play with. There is exactly the same chance that they provide an acceptable closure on many themes present on the endings : Galactic Civilisation reborn in a new way, free of all Reaper directions, free of fatalism / Normandy crew having survived and rescued by Shepard is he's alive, other main characters / Fate of our friends and allies within this new galactic context.
You assume the clarification bit to be a slap in the face by the developpers. Clarification and context elements are likely to occur during the Citadel bit. If they add cut VO, add new one, they can also change or alter existing elements, and put them more in the context of the entire series. For example, if the Reaper's goal is actually to prevent organic extinction on a galactic scale from synthetics, they could tie it to why the Reapers let us grow until we can bring them something (as Sovereign and Harbinger said) : With every new cycle, the new organics do not start technology from naught based on solely what the Reapers provide them : they also use technology from the previous organic that was developped based on technology from previous cycles, etc, etc.
As such, we can easily deduce that the synthetics likely to be built are going to be stronger and more efficient each cycle, which is why the Reapers need these new species to increase their own strength.
Some things are likely to stay, but they can stay in a new version, tying more to the rest of the series.
We all know that BioWare is capable of miraculous writing. They have demonstrated it enough with the entire ME series, save from the endings. Now, they are offering us to trust them that they will uplift the ending's writing to the level of the rest of the game. And you turn them down ?
You turn them down because you assume the Retake has lost. On the contrary, I beleive the Retake as won.
We have brought to their attention the elements that are dissatisfying. This entire sub-forum is a rich database of what needs to be adressed. They are now enlightened about what they need to work on. And I say, let them do it. They are better writers than us, and with all this feedback, they must now perceive what has gone wrong.
More importantly, since the release date is summer, it gives them between 3 and 6 months to work on that. It means, that they will work on that for between 12,5% and 25% of the time it took to develop ME3. Just for the new endings ! Knowing BioWare, I am sure that there will be some quality, with such long development time.
And, since it will take them 3 to 6 months to churn this extended ending, it also probably means that its content are not entirely set in stone. It is THE chance to really put forward what you want to see. It is OUR chance to dialog, albeit indirectly through the forums, with the developpers. It is OUR chance to take part in the story of Mass Effect.
We have held the line, we have gotten results. It is something we should be proud of. Few have succeeded what we accomplished.
I, like many others, have been very vocal on these forums, but in my case it was mostly light hearted sarcasm, to tease and bring attention to key points I thought were needed to be adressed.
Now, that we have gotten the attention of those infinitely our greater, is not the time to shut down the dialog and turn away what we have been offered. Keep talking CONSTRUCTIVELY. Bring up your points. Many have excellent reasons with logic that can't be turned down. These quality posts have a chance to influence the development direction they are taking with Extended Cut.
Doomsay or ragequit all you want, in the end this will bring nothing to Retake.
Keep holding the line to influence the direction the development has made, by highligting key disappointing points, by letting know which aspects of the current endings you want altered and clarified, because it is probably our only chance to do so.
More importantly, remain constructive and civil. Always.
And if their efforts still do not live up to your expectations, once it has been released, then it's only natural to be entitled take your money elsewhere. BioWare knows that, and this is why they are working on the endings.
EDIT : And to illustrate my thread, about why we are right to be hopeful, here's a picture.
(Kudos to this OP for the find : http://social.biowar.../index/11037819 )
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Hold the line, with wit, will and smile.
Modifié par KaeserZen, 06 avril 2012 - 04:44 .
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