The ending of Mass Effect 3 continues to spark internet debate. Earlier this week, we let you know of the petition drive to change the ending of ME3. Today, BioWare community manager Chris Priestly has made a post on Mass Effect 3's message board letting gamers know that the company is listening to the critics.
He posts:
We appreciate everyone’s feedback about Mass Effect 3 and want you to know that we are listening. Active discussions about the ending are more than welcome here, and the team will be reviewing it for feedback and responding when we can. Please note, we want to give people time to experience the game so while we can’t get into specifics right now, we will be able to address some of your questions once more people have had time to complete the game. In the meantime, we’d like to ask that you keep the non-spoiler areas of our forums and our social media channels spoiler free.
Is this the set-up for a later announcment of a change to the ending of Mass Effect 3? I stand by my assement that it's perfectly fine to dislike the ending of Mass Effect 3. It's fine to comment on how much you hate it. It's fine to tell your friends not to play it because of the ending. But expecting Bioware to write a different ending so that you can be more satisfied shows a weird level of entitlement and a lack of understanding of how art works.
But hey, maybe you feel differently. Feel free to let me know in our comment section below.
Source: Bioware Forums
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Heartland
They just announced that "...this isn't the last we've seen of Sheppard", So we'll have to pay for more DLC for a proper ending.
Come on folks, why else does it just fade to black mid-climax. For the money they paid all of those writers, of course there's proper trilogy ending denouement. It always gets resolved in the chapter after the climax. There's always a resolution; and one was made, we'll just have to fork over more cash to get a glimpse of it.
Rage_is_my_power
Ive bet the game like a week ago and went back to find a way to change the end not happing. Look it has to end sometime you can't keep making new mass effects one after another even i tho i would like that. But pepole are just ring to have to suck it up and take it. If they do change the ending ill play it just to see what they came up with. But ever one needs to shut up and stop crying theres been other games that had bad endings and game play. I will always be a huge fan of of mass effect and what ever happens it happens.
DrowNoble
Stephen you are MISSING THE POINT. Whether the game is Art or not is irrelevant to the issue.
Read this:
http://www.gamefront.com/mas s-effect-3-ending-hatred-5-rea sons-the-fans-are-right/
I will add that Bioware deliberately misled us about the game. From reports over the leaked script the ending we have is the ending they originally intended. As such, they then knowingly and deliberately spouted false claims about the game. So let's forget the ending controversy for a moment...
They said the game would have 17 different endings: FALSE it has 3.
They said the ending would vary based off our choices in ME3: FALSE, choices are irrelevant.
They said the ending would be a culmination of our choices throughout the trilogy: FALSE, choices are irrelevant.
THAT, Stephen, is what has us outraged at Bioware. Not "end sucks we deserve better" like so many clueless people are claiming.
willfldmni
if Piccasos lost work of art was a mother F'in stick figure people would be pretty angry of to and would have the right to be. If Black hawk down ended with a magical penguin dragon flying in and blowing up (in your choice of 3 colors) all of Africa people would be angry off so we have the right to be angru of when bioware phones in the ending THE greatest game triology of all time
Kotoring
Regarding Entitlement:
If we were not the ones funding this artistic endeavor, then I would understand being called entitled. But movies change, they're tested, talked about, and even re-written. Plays are re-written in between showings, scenes tweaked.
A comparable example would be if there was an agricultural art exposition funded by the beef council. In their pastoral scenes field I enter my masterwork. It is a beautiful painting of three cows grazing on lovely waving green grass in an idyllic little meadow. The sun is shining, there a lovely clouds. In a corner you can see two cute farmkids chasing butterflies.
On the bottom of the paining I write in large red letters "Eating Meat is MURDER."
Yes it's art. Yes it provokes controversy. Yes it will make people talk. But I totally missed my audience and what they expected.
thezeppo1138
That's fine if you want to go with the don't change it cause it's art mentality. But what about how they told us for years how we wouldn't just get one ending but many varied endings. Then they give us one ending and the media acts like they didn't report a million interviews over the years where the developers specifically talked about how varied the endgame would be. It has been their whole mission statement from the beginning. If they did give us more endings it would only be them fulfilling their mission statement and promise. I don't feel entitled, but I can't help but feel cheated. I get no real final choice in my story but to do more damage than the reapers while my crew has become deserters. These kind of articles are really starting to make me angry. At least Gamefront has our back: http://www.gamefront.com/mass- effect-3-ending-hatred-5-reaso ns-the-fans-are-right/ Some good points here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v =4H_A7SeawU4&feature=share
wrekr_181
This post contains SPOILERS Please do not read if you haven't played the game
I beat the ME3 about 2 days back and ever since following the debate over its ending and various other lateral theories that suggest otherwise (a few glitches but I appreciate their imagination) and NO I do not feel that it failed on every ground and it would be really mean to say that and not to give bioware any credit for their hard work afterall very few players would agree to that it was not an engrossing experience.
Players who consider ME series as an Art from the perspective of story writing are perfectly fine with whatsoever ending because after all its not their story (though some would have appreciated more details and answers to certain outstanding questions). In my opinion its a genuine argument and should be respected.
Then there are players(like me) who consider ME as Art from perspective of story weaving where certain aspects can be altered with subtle(and sometimes radical) choices which gives you certain sense of control over the story and how it spanned and ended . I know that this control is an illusion . But for us ME's art was in creation of this illusion and this is where ME3 renders disappointingly.In fact i was a bit concerned from last year when I read some excerpts from Casey Hudson's interview where he said (not exact but true to its meaning) it was seemingly easier to create(in process) the final chapter of the series as compared to previous as they didn't have to worry about continuation.I then thought they were underestimating the problem statement of ME3 unfortunately and to my utter displeasure I was correct.Not so hard to comprehend this when you see decision were reduced to scores ,its called generalization often done when you cannot or don want to deal or account for the number of dimensions.
So score is what mattered to differentiate between last 10-15 seconds not decisions where it should have been a hybrid model as it used to be with ME2. I agree it is more difficult to create one but it would have been worth it and looking at almost all choices possible in ME very possible.
So finally to sum up on my take I think ME 3 is better in terms of graphics and RPG experience which is traded for a compromise on its story quality and player control over the story aspect of it with respect to its predecessors so its worth to play it only once unlike its predecessor.
ChiChi10
I being a Big fan am extremly Dissapointed with the ending . That being said Both sides of the debate are right ( how ever im extremly on the side of WANTING not DEMANDING a new or just extended ending ) The Gamers have every right to be upset and taken advantage of while the media has every right to say the gamers are just being foolish. Yes this is BioWares product and they have the overall say of what or what not to do with it. If they want to add new or extended endings great because we all know they WONT be free. If they dont, good for them for sticking by there game as it is and not falling under the preasure. For all the people out there who are saying they shouldnt "cave in" and please there Fanbase I have a simple question... Will it hurt you if they do "cave in"? If you played the game and loved or liked the ending then dont buy the DLC ending IF, BIG IF it comes out. Play the game as it is and let the others who are upset play a different one.
SPOILERS AHEAD:
With that being said I would also like to voice my opinion about the ending ( I still live in America so im pretty sure I and anyone else with a computer may do so ) Most of all I am upset with the lack of closure the ending has. Yes its been said that the the ending allows gamers to use there imagination on what happens next. Many have come up with the Indoctronation Theory and ive heard rumors that BioWare has ruled it out. I my self want to believe its true, bcause its the only way the ending makes sense in my eyes. Having players use there imagination is like watching Anakin in Revenge of the Sith turn to the dark side in Palps office and letting the credits roll. ( I SUPPORT THE ORIGINAL TRILOGY THOUGH, EMPIRE RULES! ) The viewers would come away with too many questions, Like why did he need the suit and what happens to padmea ect. So I dont see the reasons why BioWare would do this, I personaly dont think its fair to loyal fans of the series.
Secondly the ending is going against everything the gamer has been told for the past three games. When you reach the citadel and meet the Catalyst he explains that Reapers are his "Solution" to Chaos. He goes on to tell you that Organics and Synthetics will never be able to live in peace. However earlier in the game you are given the option to bring peace to the Quarians and Geth, a feud that has been going on hundreds of years now. This proves the Catalyst wrong by showing it and the entire Galaxy that Organics and Synthetics can live in peace and help one another. But you are not able to bring this up with the Catalyst, you just listen to him and pick one of the three options he gives you. So once you pick Red, Blue, or Green an explision occurs destroying EVERY Mass Relay in Space. So one of two things happen. The first thing comes form the lore, If a Mass Relay were to explode it would wipe out all life in the entire system that its in. Hence 300,000 Batarians are dead because of this in the DLC arivle. So no matter what ending you chose you destroy all life in the galaxy except everyone on the Normandy but screw them Jokers a baby for running. Now say its not the same kind of explosion that occurs in arrivel. Say that it just destroys the Mass Relays but everyone is fine. Except that everyone that came to help Shepard on Earth is stranded in the Sol system. So why did we spend most the game Helping the Turians, Krogans, Quarians, Asari, and Geth? Most of there species is stranded in the Sol System and will never see there homeworld again. Yes this means the Quarians who just got there homeworld back. Yeah I know I didnt metion Salarians and thats because they suck except 2 mordin and Major I cant spell his name.
Now some say that the Ending is made to be Realistic. I would like to point out the not everyone was upset over Shepards self sacrfice, I always saw this happening at the end of the series. But the whole "Realistic" part of to bad cant always win upsets me. I dont play video games because I hope its exactly like real life, No one does. We play games, watch movies, and read books to escape the real world. So to everyone who decided to read all this and listen to my rambling on, thanks for letting me state my Opinion to you.
Keelah Se'lai
Jim83
I'll say again, I hate the ending. I think it undercuts the entire franchise. I do not, however, want to see a new one written. It would be hollow at this point. The original ending will always be the "real" one for me, as horribly unfortunate as that may be.
Booble1988
I think that while people are entitled to their opinion however it is not your fiction so therefore i think that people need to grow up and let the artists do what they do and you do what you do and enjoy
Seraephus
If they don't fix this, they'll have a hard time selling me another Bioware title for the next 10 years.
devoid.of.feelings@gmail.com
When EA decided to sell their "art", it became a commodity and nothing more.
Companies that provide goods and services are usually interested in customer satisfaction and Bioware has already made it clear that they too care. If a product i purchased has a defect of some kind or if it has been over-promised (which is a euphemism for falsely-advertised) then a solution should be found to either fix this problem or quell the fan outrage. If Bioware does not want to fix the problem, then they should just say so. Admit they failed with the ending, say they won't change it anyway, and then we can all just move on.
But right now EA is being vague because they don t yet know for sure how well their game is doing on the market and which way they re going to go about this, so they're neither confirming nor disproving anything.
A person with entitlement issues would make unreasonable or exaggerated claims on a company. All we are asking for is that we are provided with what was advertised and promised by Bioware themselves - which is 16 different endings, with closure, and where our previous choices matter.
It is obvious that the game s endings are having an impact all over, proven by the fact that this is the top subject on all Bioware forums, Twitter and Facebook pages, but also a major subject for gaming and review websites, and online retailers like Amazon. Every day, more and more people are talking about it and more and more players are joining the Retake group.
By all accounts, this issue is amplifying as time goes by, not attenuating as EA would likely have hoped. No amount of minimization from EA s PR side is going to make that go away.
Dreadlocks88
Ya know what, just for the sake of hope I am going to post the same link someone else posted because people and journalists have clearly not been concerning themselves with actually understanding what the complaints are. I know it's the internet and apparently people don't read on the internet unless it's bits and pieces to construct an argument but here ya go. I missed some things in my last post that this article makes good points on. It doesn't bash Bioware, but adds the constructive criticism that has been expressed. I kinda do want a couple of these things added/fixed int he ending
http://www.gamefront.com/mas s-effect-3-ending-hatred-5-rea sons-the-fans-are-right/2/
edubya
ME 3's ending left me disatisfied on so many levels. Over the last five years, I have made the call on whether entire civilizations live or die as well as who Shepard gets to love and/or "smush", whether or not to be the paragon Hero or smart-ass Renegade. Now you're telling me I can't make the call on whether Shepard lives or dies!!
I think that is what fans of the series are most disappointed about. Give the player the option on whether or not Shepard dies for the sake of the galaxy, OR defeats the Reapers and lives to have mind-bending sex with Liara, or screw the bejesus out of genetically perfect Miranda Lawson for the rest of his days.
IMHO ME 3's ending totally goes against what the entire series is about. Were it not for this, it could very well go down as the best RPG ever. Hopefully BioWare will give the fans what they want, but my spidey-sense tells me that might have been part of the plan all along. Can you say "Microsoft points" ?
____________________________ _____________________________< br />ME 3's Diana Allers is the closest I will ever get to screwing Jessica Chobot!!
Dreadlocks88
Wow, it's like no matter where you go on the internet there's people who are just going off hear say of what the complaints are. I keep reading the same crap over and over again. Let's reword what most want the resolution to be. Instead of changing the ending, let's say elucidating it, so those inconsistencies can be filled out and the question, what did my sacrifice do for the galaxy be answered. Fans want the holes filled and to see the affect of their choices, I think I read someone bring up the slide show at the end of Fallout. We couldn't get someone to do a quick narration of the ripple of your choices through out the galaxy?
That is the change people want and I see have been voiced pretty clearly yet I keep seeing belligerent responders (or stubborn ones, sorry Stephen it just seems like you still haven't bothered to look up the actual argument when people have even posted links) acting like the majority want the writing staff locked in a room until they rewrite the entire last 15-20min. Like someone already stated this is not about art this is about logic and the ending was lacking. Bioware had every right to kill Shepard, they had every right in how they ended it, I agree, but don't start introducing new ideas at the last minute (reason for reapers, the catalyst being a living A.I.) and then rush through it. Followed by killing the character, leaving us to wonder if there was supposed to be more narrative here or after the credits.
I am always left remembering the death of the Warden in Dragon Age, while my main warden performed the dark ritual. My third Warden chose to die and it was a good ending, there was a funeral with acknowledgment of the character. The main people I affected through out the game were there and this was followed by a brief synopsis of the affects of my actions. I know Dragon Age was a trilogy but my third warden's story is done there (for all I know) and I am happy for it. They gave good closure. That type of ending is what fans were looking for with Mass Effect. Except ya know with the last game in a huge trilogy I think we could get an animated, voice narrated ending with the characters instead of a slide show lol
xxskyshadowxx
This "entitlement" thing these people keep throwing around is starting to become very petty-sounding in and of itself. If anyone is acting entitled, it's these websites, writing these articles criticizing people who actually paid for the game in an effort to protect their advertising income. Leaving aside the fact that the ending was admittedly cobbled together last minute, failed to deliver any of the things that months of PR suggested it would, and then didn't resolve anything, depite the developers saying that "all questions would be answered"....oh wait all questions were answered actually. If you pay attention to the lore of the game, Shepard failed....regardless of which of the three colors you choose at the end...Shepard's choice does the exact thing he/she sacrificed everything to prevent. That's not epic storytelling, that's very poor narrative....no matter how artsy, clever or contgroversial you are trying to be, it's poor narrative. If this was a novel series, the publisher would have demanded a new draft before taking that crap to print because it doesn't just fail to adhere to it's own continuity, it flat out ignores it and destroys it. You don't invest time in an epic heroic story, especially one you interact with, only to have the hero ultimately fail. It doesn't have to be a happy ending--the hero can and likely should die--the story is about sacrifice; but to throw the hero away for nothing and have him/her fail at the same time, as the denoumont to your narrative? That's not okay. Fans have a right to cry foul over such laziness and carelessness. Any writer praising a creator for that kind of lack of effort, especially since it was done just to cause a stir, is showing a terrible lack of professional judgement.
AXE3_25XX_EXE
The word "entitlement" is starting to annoy me, this word is being used to many times, good grief, enough already.
I don't have a problem with the ending,HOWEVER I do get why it's a controversy, especially for very dedicated fans since Mass Effect 1. So basically all those choices since ME1 to the end of ME3 actually didn't matter(it's like a slap in the face), I thought this game is about choosing your own destiny.
As for an argument about books, sorry, but that's passive, a video game is active)just asked Sen. Lei-Y-Chan, the guy who talks about Ultra Violent Games), you control the outcome of the game, can't do it with a book, probably only those choose your own adventure book(do they even sell today).
Props for Bioware for listening to the fans, even if games is "Art" is also "Business", perhaps it's a compromise art, Make your consumers happy, and more money coming to Bioware. Sometimes, creative have to be compromise on line of business.
All I say about this is Nice to Bioware.
Swisspease
Authors would not sell books if they did not cater to their audience in some way. But I don't know since I am not an author, but I was an art history major and this guy is full of it
krashofny
It's rather amusing to see so many people toss around the "art" card right now. Just sayin'.
Frostybob
When I reached the ending I was overwhelmed with a feeling of betrayal. Bioware treats the ME universe as if it is based on free will.
Forge your destiny. Make significant choices. Make shepard the person you want them to be. Your choices will matter. Most of that is true. However, what the game boils down to is a funnel with only 3 possible outcomes. Sure you get to make tons of choices along the way. Be honest, be ruthless, be faithfull, be a betrayer. All those choices make a difference during the story, Yet none of those choices affect the ending one lick short of possibly getting less than 3 choices.
I also found it odd that squad members I took with me on the end mission are then seen in the epilog clearly in a place they don't belong.
Am I saying that Bioware has no right to write the ending as they see fit? No, not at all. What I am saying is that the form of the ending they wrote is inconsistant with everything that came before. After making your final choice you get treated to basicly the same video that varies mostly with colors and the inclusion or exclusion of a squadmember or 2. Wow, those decisions I made back in ME 1 and 2 made such a difference on my three options of videos.
Will I continue to play ME3 with all the playthroughs that I have made that span ME1 and ME2? Yes I will. However, I won't launch the mission that locks you into the endgame and out of the "sandbox world" until Bioware fixes their self absorbed broken inconsistant ending.
ME3 story 10/10. ME3 gameplay 8/10. ME3 ending 3 out of infinity
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