There should be a 90 minute long Plinkett/Phantom Menace type review on YouTube that dissects everything wrong with the ending.
Statement from BioWare Co-Founder Ray Muzyka: http://blog.bioware.com/2012/03/21/4108/ Statements like this as well as a previous one made by Executive Producer Casey Hudson reaffirm my belief that the indoc theory is wrong and BioWare just botched it. I'm hopeful that whatever BioWare does will be satisfying. But something about the the wording leads me to believe that they think the problems are superficial rather than fundamental and that any "fix" they go forward with will still disappoint because of the way they'll approach it. Here were Casey Hudson's comments a few days ago: http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/324/index/10089946
And just for fun, here's a list of pre-release quotes about the ending from the developers. http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/355/index/10056886/1 Some of my favs: “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.” “There is a huge set of consequences that start stacking up as you approach the end-game. And even in terms of the ending itself, it continues to break down to some very large decisions. So it's not like a classic game ending where everything is linear and you make a choice between a few things - it really does layer in many, many different choices, up to the final moments, where it's going to be different for everyone who plays it.” “I just finished an end to end playthrough, for me the ending was the most satisfying of any game I’ve ever played….the decisions you make in this game are epic,” “The team has been planning for this for years, since the beginning of the Mass Effect franchise. Largely the same team, most of the same leads have worked on this for years and years. They’ve thought about [the ending] for years and years. It’s not something they’ve had to solve in a week or a month even, but over the course of five or ten years.”
I know it's too much to ask for, but I wish Hudson would just say, "Yeah we *****ed the pooch. We tried to get 'artistic' and forgot that people might want a happy ending for the character they've spent possibly a hundred hours building up and seeing as an avatar of themselves. Too much Mountain Dew with too many sleepless nights and JRPGS. Sorry."
I will honestly boycott anything that Casey Hudson is on the team of from now on. That guy is a major tool. "Lots of speculation guys!" but in actuality, you just lost a bunch of fans.
To me the biggest problem with the ending in the game I don't think is that there were no happy endings. Hell as I played through this game all my decisions end up with characters die. Even Ashley who I was hell bent on keeping alive. (I was crushed on the last mission where you get hit by the reaper beam to see her lying there like that) so by the time the end rolls around it was a first time in a video game where I felt like "I better F'n kill these things." simply because it felt like I had lost so many characters I cared about that my only satisfaction would be destroying the reapers (so guess which option I chose.) Usually I really don't care about the bad guys, hell if a game gives me the choice I'm joining them. But after losing Tali, Miranda, Ashley, Thane, Samara etc I was legit pissed at these fictional robot overlords. So i give Bioware props on this. They create great characters in all of their games. My beef with the ending is it just wasn't enough. Not much closure there to MY character. Not much closure to the others that supposedly survive. Why not? This is the END. Close the book on all of it please. I really don't want them to re-do it though. A ending is an ending and you get one shot at it. I hope they return to the ME universe (and it sounds like they will) but I hope it's a prequel series. I kinda liked the game a lot more when the main plot was a lot less epic and more about the characters. You can write a great story when you don't have to focus on the entire universe getting wiped out.
Also I will clarify that my beef with the ending is not the lack of choices. It was INCREDIBLY ambitious to have all your choices that you made matter. Especially when the storyline is so epic that it includes the entire universe. In a CYOA book there really is only a handful of real endings and the rest leave you dead. I guess that's how this was, but the ending was just lacking with any real closure. Also the reapers logic was full of fail obviously. That's why I wish Bioware would continue to make these games but they don't have to be on such a epic scale. The story would have been so much easier to tell if it had been just about Commander Sheperd making a name for himself in several different conflicts rather than this huge epic thing.
I think that's the plan. They basically sent the universe back to the dark ages when they destroyed the mass relays so it'd be hard for them to continue going forward.
It's disappointing that they actually thought that ending was good. Hopefully they realize that now, but they'll never admit it. They're still trying to sell games, they're not going to publicly admit that the endings are bad. The best they can do is say they stand by their work but acknowledge that "some" people don't like it and that their willing to address their concerns.
That's why I think a prequel series would be better. But not one soooo far back that things are different. "Like First contact war." It could be one right before Shepard. With how the game ends it's hard to see a sequel. The thing about the endings is that the choices are all so different...yet the actual 'Endings' are similar... I guess you can do one so far set in the future that the relays are back. But they are going to have to explain a lot of things.
Don't know about a Prequel, many people online seem to share my thoughts: The best thing about ME was that you didn't know about the outcome, so a sequel would be kinda boring because the history is already written and you know how the Reapers win, same with the Turians/Krogans or Geth/Quarians. I want a Sequel where they rebuild the galaxy. Maybe make it that they use the technology from the dead reapers, Citadel/Crucible or find something lost to get the necessary technology to rebuild everything. It would be pretty cool because all the races are stuck in the same area and that could lead to issues. Maybe they'd start fighting because resources are rare and build two fronts. So many possible plots.
I think you do a prequel by just focusing on the story. Sure you know the ending while playing it but you care nothing about it. It's sort of like Star Wars: The Old Republic games. You know the ending, you know what happens but it really doesn't matter what happens to Shepard because you are dealing with a different set of problems. I think games like this get caught up in this big epic "OH NO YOU HAVE TO SAVE THE ENTIRE WORLD/UNIVERSE!" plot and stories don't have to be so epic and large scale to be great. Just look at R* games that tell great stories IMO. It seems like every game set in a fictional universe deals with the threat of some apocalyptic threat. If you made a story about the alliance dealing with just gaining respect from the other species, and the PC just being a alliance soldier at the forefront of that would be cool. He could have spectre powers but of course the others won't give him that status since Shepard was the first. Maybe you could be a Blue Suns Mercenary. *shrugs* dunno you could be a ton of things. Just look at all the great WW2 stories/movies told throughout the years. You can still tell a great story even if the ultimate ending is known. I'm not against a sequel series but it looks like it has to go so far into the future. Either way I hope Bioware gets a bit more humble before returning to the universe.
I tend to think that something like the "First Contact War" or the "Rachni Wars" or "Krogan Rebellions" would be anti-climactic after the stakes that were raised in these first 3 games.
I think I'm the only one who has preordered this game and still haven't played it. I get more and more disinterested in playing it the more reviews I read. Is it worth the dozens of hours of gameplay to get pissed at the end?
For me, 95% of the game is awesome. Gameplay is great, story is riveting, you're forced to make sometimes brutal decisions, etc. It's just that last 5% that comes back and bites you. I would still play it though, in hopes they soon learn the error of their ways and correct that 5%.
Bioware has really jumped the shark with some of their recent decisions, starting with ME2(still a good game but stripped of hardcore RPG elements), Dragon Age 2, and now this(charging for day 1 DLC, supposedly nonlinear storyline with linear ending). Sucks since they were one of my favorite developers. At least we still have CDProjekt as one of the good guys.
The game is better than Me 1&2 in my opinion, the dialogues, story and cutscenes are outstanding, the kind of intense and pressuring atmosphere is something only very few games in history achieved. I will never regret playing this game, it's a masterpiece if you cut out the ending.
That wasn't the best thing for me (don't know about others). I liked the universe, exploration, characters, etc. Story itself was interesting (mostly in the first), but I mostly just went along for the ride. Also hard to know the outcome when BioWare puts random stuff together (and that's not a good thing). Like some others have said, I'd like a prequel. I don't really see why people would be that bothered with knowing the outcome (and even then, they'd only know it in a general sense). They can build up good characters, offer lots of exploration, have the same great universe, etc. Scaling back on the "epicness" might do the story some good too (and having a known ending might keep them on-track). If you have to save the universe from an army of nearly-indestructible beings, crazy things might have to happen for you to "win." Of course, they can also just make another game and just not give an exact time period (or give one that doesn't have much, if anything, to do with the events in the ME trilogy). On another note, do people really want BioWare to spend time "fixing" the ending to Mass Effect? At this point, it is already tainted in my eyes. Anything they do to would seem like catering to the fan feedback, rather than something "proper." Not to say I'm not disappointed with the ending, but I'm not particularly interested in some "fixed" ending where BioWare gives us the answers were asked for. I'd rather them spend time trying to figure out what went wrong, and how they can incorporate that in future games.
