...I liked the ending I got. I had a perfect Galactic Readiness rating though, and after reading about the other endings, I understand why people are upset. The galaxy was saved, the Normandy survived, and best of all, my Shepard lived. I got what I wanted.
...I liked the ending I got. I had a perfect Galactic Readiness rating though, and after reading about the other endings, I understand why people are upset. The galaxy was saved, the Normandy survived, and best of all, my Shepard lived. I got what I wanted.
So, if Shep survived, you chose red.
So, you're fine with the geth and EDI dying because you killed all synthetics, you're fine with the Normandy randomly flying through a mass relay with people who had been in London aboard for no real reason, you're fine with Shepard just rolling over and accepting what the star child had to say, you're fine with having no final battle with Harbinger or at all, you're fine with all the fleets who fought to save the galaxy being trapped in Sol, you're fine with Shepard somehow waking up amidst the rubble of London despite having just been on the Citadel, you're fine with the fact that the Reapers let their one weakness go totally undefended after the beam that knocked you out, you're fine with the Illusive Man just getting aboard the Citadel...somehow, and you're fine with having been presented with three arbitrary choices that had nothing to do with what happened in the previous three games?
I wasn't particularly impressed with this article.
Game writers and designers work within the industry, so you'd hardly find someone who would actively criticize BioWare's efforts. So on the whole it's just plain "audience participation/ player feedback is so important" here, and "artistic integrity" there. So this article mostly explicitly tiptoes around the real issues. Well, of course the ending should not be changed "because the fans demand it". It should be changed because it's shitty!!
Chuck (Jordan, duh) uses a rather strange equalization between the present protest and movie focus group tests and arrives at the idea that the player should not be "given what he wants" all the time - something that, in my opinion, has scarcely anything to do with the topic at hand. This is all the more confusing because he is about the only one in this bunch of interviewed people who knows and speaks his mind about things that were really essentially wrong with Mass Effect 3:
Essentially, BioWare created the problem for themselves by, to be blunt, promising more than they or any other developer could deliver. They’ve sold the Mass Effect series on the premise that the player can completely customize his character and his character’s story—entire planets with complex storylines that some players will never even see! (And also sex with aliens). But even the largest team of writers and content creators won’t be able to deliver an indefinite number of conclusions that all have the same level of impact, satisfying enough to conclude a multi-year, multi-game epic series. People have been spending years trying to come up with a way to create systems that generate compelling narratives, and no one’s cracked the problem yet.
Also of importance: EA wins "worst American company" award, with the Bank of America coming in second. Of note is the individual way the award is to be presented to the company:
Oh well, Worst Company In America 2012 is officially in the books. All that's left to do is send off the Golden Poo to EA.
Traditionally, the Poo has been delivered on its little red pillow. But this year, we'll give EA three different color options for its pillow, though in the end it's still the same old Poo.
Oh well, Worst Company In America 2012 is officially in the books. All that's left to do is send off the Golden Poo to EA.
Traditionally, the Poo has been delivered on its little red pillow. But this year, we'll give EA three different color options for its pillow, though in the end it's still the same old Poo.
To be honest, I would love to agree with this, I really do. But it just doesn't work when people can tollerate the outcry about the ending of a seven book saga of a Stephen King series, or a movie series about a virtual world where people are used as batteries or something.
Yup, I think so too. There's a four million dollar ending missing to this series, and I'd be surprised if EA will even spend a few thousands to quieten the outrage.
I feel that this is a pretty good solution to their ending problem. And I think that what people really wanted was to show how their choices throughout the game mattered, even if it was the same ending. I mean, in the first game you pretty much got the same ending no matter what you did with only a few extra decorations tacked on, and in the second game, while characters could die, it basically boiled down to two choices in the end anyways.
Either way, though, I don't think more explanation of the ending could really hurt all that much.
So I witnessed the ending first hand yesterday as my best friend completed it when I was over there.
And it still sucks.
It doesn't gel. My best friend was actually a little upset, not with the choice, but with the fact that the relays exploding would doom most of the galaxy if not obliterate them completely, and he chose destroy because "it didn't matter anyway since the relays are going to explode anyway, and everyone is probably going to die. At least this way the reaper threat will be zero chance of survival".
It still doesn't make any sense how Anderson or The Illusive man actually managed to get to the console when there was no signs of alternate routes to that area.
It still doesn't make sense how Joker & Co. survived.
There is no sort of final boss or virtually impossible challenge.
Its just a bleak, unsatisying ending thats poorly written, and no clarification is going to help that.
But I guess if you already have the game, this booby prize might make things a bit better.
Needless to say I am not going to buy Mass Effect 3.
(I'll still play 1 and 2 though, but I'll just imagine my own version of 3, (or buy it cheap and play it till the last part, then stop and play out my version in my head! XD))
EDIT: It was so bad, we actually started joking about the "indoctrination theory" all night. Applying it to every game we played (e.g. Toejam and Earl 3, The earthlings are being indoctrinated by the protagonists. Their physical appearance changes when they get "funkified" and their brains are altered into helping the aliens)
We were basically shouting "X is indoctrinated" "INDOCTRINATION!!" at everything. XD
*sigh* You know, if you hate the ending so much guys, you could always write a fan-fic version where everything ends up happily ever after.
BTW, free DLC incoming next week in the form of two multiplayer maps, some new multiplayer characters, 3 new weapons.
Jesus, people will never learn.
It's not about the ending, it's about the fact that the choices you make don't give the variation it should be.
If I were to write a fanfic describing my ending, I would have made it a "Make Your Own Adventure" style, because THAT is the ending people want. Not ONE ending. Multiple. Or at least variation.
I mean, the very first Fallout gave us variations during the ending sequence. Sure, in the end it didn't really matter all that much because the ending was mostly the same, but still, variations. That's all people really care for. Is that a bit too much to ask?
Apparently it was, because they had to create a patch to finally get it right.
It's not about the ending, it's about the fact that the choices you make don't give the variation it should be.
And this quote here is exactly what's wrong with the entire situation. To expect any game company to be able to account for every choice is impossible. I've said it before, and it's just as true now as it was then, and since no one seemed to acknowledge the sentiment, I must assume that you're all blind. It wouldn't have mattered what Bioware did with the ending. There was no way to please anybody with Mass Effect 3's ending. Plain and simple, it would have been impossible.
Frankly, I'm alright with the ending. I've seen far worse endings in games, movies, and tv shows.
And this quote here is exactly what's wrong with the entire situation. To expect any game company to be able to account for every choice is impossible. I've said it before, and it's just as true now as it was then, and since no one seemed to acknowledge the sentiment, I must assume that you're all blind. It wouldn't have mattered what Bioware did with the ending. There was no way to please anybody with Mass Effect 3's ending. Plain and simple, it would have been impossible.
Frankly, I'm alright with the ending. I've seen far worse endings in games, movies, and tv shows.
Even the turd Fallout game at least did some effort at adding multiple endings, or at least variation endings.
It's a pun, and a joke, because there was a lot of outcry for Fallout 3 because it was nothing like the previous Fallout games (even though the game itself was fun).
And this quote here is exactly what's wrong with the entire situation. To expect any game company to be able to account for every choice is impossible. I've said it before, and it's just as true now as it was then, and since no one seemed to acknowledge the sentiment, I must assume that you're all blind. It wouldn't have mattered what Bioware did with the ending. There was no way to please anybody with Mass Effect 3's ending. Plain and simple, it would have been impossible.
Frankly, I'm alright with the ending. I've seen far worse endings in games, movies, and tv shows.
None of which turned out to be true. Then there's the fact that the ending is filled with a bunch of ludicrous plot holes. Anderson wasn't in the final battle, how was he suddenly behind you and then ended up ahead of you? In ME lore it's been established that when a mass relay is destroyed it takes out the entire star system it was in and yet this doesn't happen when they're all destroyed. What was Joker doing suddenly running from the fight? How did the companions you had with you in London suddenly appear leaving the Normandy on that unidentified planet? It was a terrible ending period. Not to mention the fact we were promised endings.
You got your multicolored explosions, unless you are colorblind, you can't complain:p
Lol, AND various degrees of destruction. In fact the synthesis ending is apparently the only time that the Normandy's engines don't get ripped off the hull before she crashes.
They should have made the Illusive Man the final boss.
Think about it.
Sheperd could have rejected the Star Child's "solutions", then an enraged Star Child, (who couldn't possibly let Sheperd go), merges himself with the body of the Illusive Man, creating a mutated, reaper version of him.
That would be a sweet final battle you have to admit. A weakened, vulnerable Sheperd having to muster the last of his strength battling a shell of his greatest foe.
The winner, determining the fate of the galaxy.
(My version could also have had the Illusive man gaining control of the remaining forces, causing him to become the "core" of the fleet as it were. So you would have to fight a version of him intergrated into the base with your crew. Make it hard as nails. Would be just awesome! )
EDIT: Either way its a great throwback to the first game's ending where you fight Saren.
It ends as it began, as it were.
EDIT 2:
Illusive Man: "I shouldn't ever have let you out of my sight Shepard! I...we... are going to correct that mistake!"
Shepard: "... I'm not planning on leaving this time... This ends now!"
What if the Illusive Man had actually gained control over the Reapers, immediately concentrating their forces to kill off any species but humankind? What if Shepard, after begging other races for help for an entire game, would have to stand at her/his friends' side after the threat against the own race has ceased to exist? To find out that the fight was never "for humankind", but for the entire galaxy? To give humanity the chance to finally show its worth?
Every ending is better than the one delivered. Ponies and cheesecake would make a better ending than the moppet ex machina one(s).
What if the Illusive Man had actually gained control over the Reapers, immediately concentrating their forces to kill off any species but humankind? What if Shepard, after begging other races for help for an entire game, would have to stand at her/his friends' side after the threat against the own race has ceased to exist? To find out that the fight was never "for humankind", but for the entire galaxy? To give humanity the chance to finally show its worth?
Every ending is better than the one delivered. Ponies and cheesecake would make a better ending than the moppet ex machina one(s).
Pretty much yeah.
Bioware could have gone in any other direction and it would have not been this bad.
I like your version btw.
Bioware are missing an opportunity here.
They should release "What if?" DLC, where certain events in the campaign changed, and you have to deal with the aftermath.
But you know, "Artistic integrity" and all that... XD
They should have made the Illusive Man the final boss.
Think about it.
Sheperd could have rejected the Star Child's "solutions", then an enraged Star Child, (who couldn't possibly let Sheperd go), merges himself with the body of the Illusive Man, creating a mutated, reaper version of him.
Actually that's pretty much exactly what their original plan was. In the Final Hours of Mass Effect there's concept art for the Illusive Man boss.
Well, I am a master of raising the dead. A lord, even.
It's actually amazing how many lines of enquiry this guy has about the Indoctination theory, and how even he is about them. While he does put a lot of them through as solid, he also puts a lot down as "maybe, but it's not exactly iron clad", which is something I've not seen many others do. He does end up building a very solid case.
Meh, I spent far too long trying to defend my viewpoints on the ending on YouTube. Personally, I think that if Shep was indoctrinated, then that negates everything you ever did in the entire trilogy.
I also realized that everyone that boo-hoos and says that the galaxy would be destroyed anyways because the Mass Relays exploded is forgetting something. The Citadel is, essentially, a Mass Relay...and its explosion just created a pretty colored shockwave that, unless you really, REALLY suck at keeping the galaxy together, doesn't harm the planet. And watching the beam hitting each Mass Relay...they give off the same kind of shockwave. Is it so hard to imagine that the Crucible's energy is propagated by absorbing the energy of a Mass Relay explosion?
Also, is it so hard to imagine that the Normandy came in to grab what survivors were there after Hammer's failed charge to the Conduit and only went to the Mass Relay because Harbinger was on Joker's tail?
I really don't get why so many people actually argue for the shittiest ending for any story in the history of man and try to think of it as a better or even somehow "genius" solution. The first thing my creative writing instructor told us was "never, ever end a story with 'and then he woke up' ".
Comments
...I liked the ending I got. I had a perfect Galactic Readiness rating though, and after reading about the other endings, I understand why people are upset. The galaxy was saved, the Normandy survived, and best of all, my Shepard lived. I got what I wanted.
So, if Shep survived, you chose red.
So, you're fine with the geth and EDI dying because you killed all synthetics, you're fine with the Normandy randomly flying through a mass relay with people who had been in London aboard for no real reason, you're fine with Shepard just rolling over and accepting what the star child had to say, you're fine with having no final battle with Harbinger or at all, you're fine with all the fleets who fought to save the galaxy being trapped in Sol, you're fine with Shepard somehow waking up amidst the rubble of London despite having just been on the Citadel, you're fine with the fact that the Reapers let their one weakness go totally undefended after the beam that knocked you out, you're fine with the Illusive Man just getting aboard the Citadel...somehow, and you're fine with having been presented with three arbitrary choices that had nothing to do with what happened in the previous three games?
Though there is definitely a good point in there. What the heck was Joker doing going through a mass relay?
Game writers and designers work within the industry, so you'd hardly find someone who would actively criticize BioWare's efforts. So on the whole it's just plain "audience participation/ player feedback is so important" here, and "artistic integrity" there. So this article mostly explicitly tiptoes around the real issues. Well, of course the ending should not be changed "because the fans demand it". It should be changed because it's shitty!!
Chuck (Jordan, duh) uses a rather strange equalization between the present protest and movie focus group tests and arrives at the idea that the player should not be "given what he wants" all the time - something that, in my opinion, has scarcely anything to do with the topic at hand. This is all the more confusing because he is about the only one in this bunch of interviewed people who knows and speaks his mind about things that were really essentially wrong with Mass Effect 3:
Eh, better this than nothing, I suppose. And at least it'll be free.
That's my viewpoint.
To be honest, I would love to agree with this, I really do. But it just doesn't work when people can tollerate the outcry about the ending of a seven book saga of a Stephen King series, or a movie series about a virtual world where people are used as batteries or something.
Yup, I think so too. There's a four million dollar ending missing to this series, and I'd be surprised if EA will even spend a few thousands to quieten the outrage.
Either way, though, I don't think more explanation of the ending could really hurt all that much.
And it still sucks.
It doesn't gel. My best friend was actually a little upset, not with the choice, but with the fact that the relays exploding would doom most of the galaxy if not obliterate them completely, and he chose destroy because "it didn't matter anyway since the relays are going to explode anyway, and everyone is probably going to die. At least this way the reaper threat will be zero chance of survival".
It still doesn't make any sense how Anderson or The Illusive man actually managed to get to the console when there was no signs of alternate routes to that area.
It still doesn't make sense how Joker & Co. survived.
There is no sort of final boss or virtually impossible challenge.
Its just a bleak, unsatisying ending thats poorly written, and no clarification is going to help that.
But I guess if you already have the game, this booby prize might make things a bit better.
Needless to say I am not going to buy Mass Effect 3.
(I'll still play 1 and 2 though, but I'll just imagine my own version of 3, (or buy it cheap and play it till the last part, then stop and play out my version in my head! XD))
EDIT: It was so bad, we actually started joking about the "indoctrination theory" all night. Applying it to every game we played (e.g. Toejam and Earl 3, The earthlings are being indoctrinated by the protagonists. Their physical appearance changes when they get "funkified" and their brains are altered into helping the aliens)
We were basically shouting "X is indoctrinated" "INDOCTRINATION!!" at everything. XD
Exactly as it should be.
BTW, free DLC incoming next week in the form of two multiplayer maps, some new multiplayer characters, 3 new weapons.
Jesus, people will never learn.
It's not about the ending, it's about the fact that the choices you make don't give the variation it should be.
If I were to write a fanfic describing my ending, I would have made it a "Make Your Own Adventure" style, because THAT is the ending people want. Not ONE ending. Multiple. Or at least variation.
I mean, the very first Fallout gave us variations during the ending sequence. Sure, in the end it didn't really matter all that much because the ending was mostly the same, but still, variations. That's all people really care for. Is that a bit too much to ask?
Apparently it was, because they had to create a patch to finally get it right.
And this quote here is exactly what's wrong with the entire situation. To expect any game company to be able to account for every choice is impossible. I've said it before, and it's just as true now as it was then, and since no one seemed to acknowledge the sentiment, I must assume that you're all blind. It wouldn't have mattered what Bioware did with the ending. There was no way to please anybody with Mass Effect 3's ending. Plain and simple, it would have been impossible.
Frankly, I'm alright with the ending. I've seen far worse endings in games, movies, and tv shows.
Right. But then going "fuck it let's make an ending that insults our players" was where they went wrong.
Even the turd Fallout game at least did some effort at adding multiple endings, or at least variation endings.
Which one is the "turd" fallout?
Here are some more quotes for you:
“[The presence of the Rachni] has huge consequences in Mass Effect 3. Even just in the final battle with the Reapers.”
“There are many different endings. We wouldn’t do it any other way. How could you go through all three campaigns playing as your Shepard and then be forced into a bespoke ending that everyone gets? But I can’t say any more than that…”
Interviewer: [Regarding the numerous possible endings of Mass Effect 2] “Is that same type of complexity built into the ending of Mass Effect 3?” Hudson: “Yeah, and I’d say much more so, because we have the ability to build the endings out in a way that we don’t have to worry about eventually tying them back together somewhere. 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.....The endings have a lot more sophistication and variety in them.”
None of which turned out to be true. Then there's the fact that the ending is filled with a bunch of ludicrous plot holes. Anderson wasn't in the final battle, how was he suddenly behind you and then ended up ahead of you? In ME lore it's been established that when a mass relay is destroyed it takes out the entire star system it was in and yet this doesn't happen when they're all destroyed. What was Joker doing suddenly running from the fight? How did the companions you had with you in London suddenly appear leaving the Normandy on that unidentified planet? It was a terrible ending period. Not to mention the fact we were promised endings.
You got your multicolored explosions, unless you are colorblind, you can't complain:p
Lol, AND various degrees of destruction. In fact the synthesis ending is apparently the only time that the Normandy's engines don't get ripped off the hull before she crashes.
Think about it.
Sheperd could have rejected the Star Child's "solutions", then an enraged Star Child, (who couldn't possibly let Sheperd go), merges himself with the body of the Illusive Man, creating a mutated, reaper version of him.
That would be a sweet final battle you have to admit. A weakened, vulnerable Sheperd having to muster the last of his strength battling a shell of his greatest foe.
The winner, determining the fate of the galaxy.
(My version could also have had the Illusive man gaining control of the remaining forces, causing him to become the "core" of the fleet as it were. So you would have to fight a version of him intergrated into the base with your crew. Make it hard as nails. Would be just awesome!
EDIT: Either way its a great throwback to the first game's ending where you fight Saren.
It ends as it began, as it were.
EDIT 2:
Illusive Man: "I shouldn't ever have let you out of my sight Shepard! I...we... are going to correct that mistake!"
Shepard: "... I'm not planning on leaving this time... This ends now!"
Every ending is better than the one delivered. Ponies and cheesecake would make a better ending than the moppet ex machina one(s).
Pretty much yeah.
Bioware could have gone in any other direction and it would have not been this bad.
I like your version btw.
Bioware are missing an opportunity here.
They should release "What if?" DLC, where certain events in the campaign changed, and you have to deal with the aftermath.
But you know, "Artistic integrity" and all that... XD
Actually that's pretty much exactly what their original plan was. In the Final Hours of Mass Effect there's concept art for the Illusive Man boss.
Click here to check it out.
"Eventually this plan was scrapped, since we wanted to give players the satisfaction of fighting a character they know rather than a random creature"
Huh. I wonder what happened to that plan...
EDIT: They really should have just gone for that. The design needs a lot of tweaks, but they could have eventually come up with something really epic.
Sorry, I could not resist.
Like an 80 minute video discussing the Indoctination theory. Not even kidding there. I'm surprised at how professional this thing is. It's actually a pretty good watch.
It's actually amazing how many lines of enquiry this guy has about the Indoctination theory, and how even he is about them. While he does put a lot of them through as solid, he also puts a lot down as "maybe, but it's not exactly iron clad", which is something I've not seen many others do. He does end up building a very solid case.
Problem solved.
I also realized that everyone that boo-hoos and says that the galaxy would be destroyed anyways because the Mass Relays exploded is forgetting something. The Citadel is, essentially, a Mass Relay...and its explosion just created a pretty colored shockwave that, unless you really, REALLY suck at keeping the galaxy together, doesn't harm the planet. And watching the beam hitting each Mass Relay...they give off the same kind of shockwave. Is it so hard to imagine that the Crucible's energy is propagated by absorbing the energy of a Mass Relay explosion?
Also, is it so hard to imagine that the Normandy came in to grab what survivors were there after Hammer's failed charge to the Conduit and only went to the Mass Relay because Harbinger was on Joker's tail?
I really don't get why so many people actually argue for the shittiest ending for any story in the history of man and try to think of it as a better or even somehow "genius" solution. The first thing my creative writing instructor told us was "never, ever end a story with 'and then he woke up' ".