Gamer culture is no stranger to the concept of internet backlash. Ever since the dawn of message boards, nearly every major gaming release has received scrutiny from a vocal group of fans upset at some aspect of said game – be it the story, the design, or other parts of the production. The current recipient of the internet’s judgmental wrath is BioWare’s recently released Mass Effect 3 - more specifically, its ending. So strong is the dislike for the ending, in fact, that fans of the game have already raised almost $70K for charity in an online petition for BioWare to change it.
However, as admittedly disappointing as the ending of Mass Effect 3 actually is, it would be even more disappointing for BioWare to cave into fan pressure and “change” it. In the ongoing debate surrounding video games’ validity as an art form, gamers are effectively shooting themselves in the foot with this petition. They are demanding that the ending meet THEIR vision for the game, not the vision of the creators themselves. In doing so, they are essentially saying that video games are not legitimate works of art; they are products, toys that must be fixed if they don’t meet our expectations. And this scares the hell out of me.
No other entertainment medium has ever been subjected to this kind of narrative entitlement. Did The Matrix trilogy have an underwhelming resolution? Yes. Did the Harry Potter series end with a poorly written chapter? Sure did. But did anyone expect the Wachowski siblings to change their trilogy? Did anyone expect J.K. Rowling to go back and “fix” her ending? No, they didn’t, because it was THEIR fiction that THEY created, and the fans respected that. To demand that BioWare’s writers change Mass Effect 3‘s ending not only disrespects them and their vision for the art they’ve produced, but also game developers everywhere. If BioWare caves into fan pressure and releases DLC that changes the ending, how could other developers have any confidence in any game they produce in the future? What’s the point in putting any creative effort at all into a game, if all it takes is a divisive fan reaction to warrant its changing post-release?
Furthermore, think about the precedent and example this could set for other developers: It doesn’t matter if they released a rushed or botched ending, because the fans are showing them that they’re willing to accept (and most likely pay for) a change via DLC. With the rising prevalence of DLC in gaming, all this does is further convince publishers that it is the direction to keep heading in. Online passes already limit access to the multiplayer and even single-player aspects of many games. If BioWare changes the ending of Mass Effect 3, downloadable content will no longer be considered “optional” or “extra”. It will instead become mandatory to buy downloadable content in order to get the full experience of the game you’ve already purchased
Yes, us fans feel ownership over the game’s story, and the characters that reside in it. After all, the entire premise of the game is that our choices matter, and each person’s journey is unique. Why shouldn’t we feel entitled to a change in the story, when the Mass Effect series already placed so much importance to the power of our choices? In the end, however, we have to recognize that no matter how much impact we had on the universe of Mass Effect, it is still a universe that BioWare created, not us. Across three intertwined games, BioWare created a vehicle for our Shepards’, giving almost all of us a completely unique ride. We may have picked what stops we took along the way, but they were the ones driving us.
This is not a matter of objective quality or personal tastes, nor is it about entitlement or lack thereof. This is about gaming’s status as an art form. The fact that we consider it BioWare’s duty to deliver a better ending undermines virtually all narrative progress that gaming has made since its birth. BioWare should not, no, MUST not give into fan pressure to change the ending. Doing so will not only devalue the product that they put out, but also devalue the series as a brand, themselves as a company, and gaming as a medium.
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You’ve made an interesting point.I must say I actually like the ending and in a way, even if it leaves a lot of questions in the air I believe it is cool because they can use it to prequel another ME game. Also, I still trust BioWare as a good RPG developer.
I don’t feel your argument holds up. The fact is promises were made during pre-release about endings that diverge wildly and would answer questions. The final product (yes this is a product) does not do that. I bought that game under the assumption they would uphold those promises, they didn’t. I am entitled as a consumer to voice disappointment and ask that the current product be re-aligned to better meet the promised product. This isn’t me complaining the next ME won’t have Shepard, this is me trying to hold a company accountable for not delivering. I don’t want a happy ending I want Bioware to keep their word.
In my mind, video games have already separated themselves from these other forms of “art” you mentioned by offering DLC. To use the same comparisons, the Wachowski brothers never advertised additional movies scenes for a nominal fee (and no I don’t count deleted scenes because the difference is something created and then cut as opposed to created after the fact). It can’t be both ways, “this is a complete story sculpted exactly as the author envisioned” but also “pay us for a chance for an even more complete, complete story.”
We aren’t on the precipice of some ominous slippery slope as some people would have us believe. We already started down that path a long time ago and if changing the story is all it takes to discredit video games as art, then they were discredited a long time ago.
As for the current ending controversy, I don’t see why it has to be either keep the ending completely intact or overhaul the entire thing. If it were merely supplemented, the fans that are upset are appeased and the argument against video games as art isn’t given any more ammo than it already has.
Books are not video games. Movies are not video games. There is no level of interactivity in either of those mediums, besides choose-your-own adventure types. In fact, most video games don’t match up to the impact and choice your character has on the world like in Mass Effect. With the ending, they stripped that away, and then couldn’t even be bothered to give anyone a little resolution with characters they spent years playing with. If you’re okay with the ending, that’s well and good for you. Personally, I’m more than a bit pissed off that I was blatantly lied to about the ending of the game.
You have no idea what you’re talking about. We don’t want it to be OUR vision of the ending, we want it to not be riddled with plotholes and continuity errors. We want to be what we were promised pre-release (Choices!). We didn’t want to be railroaded to pick our favorite color, die, and then get no epilogue.
How do you even have a job when you do the minimal amount of research required?
The game ends with an advertisement for DLC. It includes a character that is voiced by and based on an IGN reporter. It was hyped through a massive ad campaign.
And you are seriously and with a straight face claiming that it would be wrong to sully Bioware’s pure artistic vision? Really?
I’m not sure where you got the idea that art is sancrosanct and cannot/should not be altered by audience feedback, Throughout history, works of art have been critiqued, criticized, and altered by the original artists to better meet the sensibilities of the prospective audiences. Sometimes teh feedback is requested…other times it is thrust on the artist unbidden by teh folks receiving the experience.
In many cases the changes have met with great critical and commercial success. Tenesee Williams plays, untold movies, Shakespearean plays, paintings, operas… Every form of art has been affected by the prospective audience.
Such a feedback loop is more important to the artist when the work is aimed at a large mass audience. Should the artist face the sort of revolt from his supposed audience he has two choices: modify the work to be more commercially acceptable in a way that aligns with his temperment or stubbornly hold to the original vision and risk commercial failure. Either course is within the rioght of the artist and the artist must live with the consequence of that choice.
You seem to forget that this was done before with MANY different Forms of Art. Sherlock Holmes was originally killed of by his Author, before fan request made him return. Hell Even in Video Games this has been done before WITHOUT Wrecking an artist Vision, Prince of Persia, Fallout 3, I can go on and on.
The other art forms you mention already change before the fact thanks to outside input from fans. Rowling didn’t kill Ron because of fan pressure. Sure it’s before the fact it is released but games are very unique in that aspect. You can already add content to a game after the fact, content that wasn’t originally planned, why can’t it append content to the end after the fact? (A complete overhaul isn’t necessary)
I honestly don’t believe this is as black and white as people put it, artistic integrity is not compromised if the end is appended with more content, this is not a one ending game. Why can’t it add a new ending, and keep the current ones, as a way to appease the fans?
We already have director’s cut for artistic purposes, why not have a “fan’s” cut?
Cheers
Notice how the only people to agree with this article are the ones that either don’t care anyway or like the ending the way it is.
The rest of us will be holding the line.
This ending is clearly a rushed, finished-only-by-the-greatest-stretch-of-the-imagination piece of work.
Should a carpenter not hang the doors straight on the cabinets she builds? Should a Taxi driver drop you off two blocks away from your destination and leave you to walk the rest of the way yourself? Should a painter submit a portrait that uses one style for the entire piece and a clashing style for the face. (Only if ‘this does not fit’ is the provocation they are going for all along.)
Mass Effect 3 is not a respectably finished product, yet it was sold as one. The quality of construction in the ending is most obviously less than the game that came before it. It is short and incoherent. Accepting such slapdash craftsmanship would set the only true HORRIBLE PRECEDENT in this situation. It would send the message to developers (who are not infallible, as you seem to assume) that customers are tasteless peons who will gobble up any slop set before them without discrimination.
Because that is what this is about. Having the Good Judgement to know when you have not been sold what you were promised and having the Strength of Character to stand up in spite of derision, mockery, and discouragement and say, “I will not accept this inferior execution. Please, revise it so that it meets the standards you yourself have set, and in return I will compensate you for your additional work.”
ME3 deserves to be a masterpiece from beginning to end, not for only the first 98% of the way. Because in a narrative, that final 2%, if done wrong, will overshadow all the rest.
They didn’t keep their promises about an epic ending where player choices matters. That is false advertising. But everything points at that everything was an indoctrination, so I’m not so worried.
It’s just a game. Why does everyone take it to the heart? Shouldn’t you all be complaining about more important matters in life.
And yet here you are, talking on a site, telling someone to complain about better things… Don’t YOU have better things to do? Think of a better cop-out reply to someone next time.
Amen, pretty much.
So either we set the precedent that gaming is not an artform but a product or we set the precedent that poorly written endings can be excused under the guise of “ART.”
I am with you guys on how dissapointing the endings were. It seems many game developers lie through their teeth these days telling you things then doing the opposite.
Another game i can think off the top of my head was F.E.A.R. 3 which was another money making scam.
Its sad game developers main concern is to make money not make the best possible game to please fans. On the 3rd level of mass effect 3 I glitched through the floor and died, then on the next part i went into cover and couldnt move out of it again.
To be quite honest the entire game wasn’t properly tested before release and had a rushed feel to it. so im sad to say big dissapointment for me.
The cinematics were really good though and most of the gameplay just the story that missed me off lol.
Oh lets not get started on FEAR 3 now that was a turd of a game, after seen it at friend house and playing for half an hour did not even waste my time buying it or playing it again.
The ending was just troll bait.
What the guy who wrote this article fails to realize is that Bioware has promised more than A, B, and C endings, and that’s exactly what we were given. Harry Potter wasn’t a chose your own adventure book, and the Matrix Trillogy wasn’t a story where you made all the decisions and were told you would get unique results. I hated the ending of ME3 with a hot and cumming passion. Now, that being said, I do give Bioware credit where it is deserved… up until the point where you are knocked out by Harbingers attack, the game was one of the coolest runs in a game I’ve had in ages, and the fact that they are even listening to us at all says a lot about their loyalty to their fan. So I’m just gonna give them some breathing room, and let them work some magic. I’d rather it be late, and better be a work of better quality, than have another rushed ending.
There’s also the chance of the opposite happening – that no DLC is ever planned or released as it alters the overall whole of the game; if it fills in a back story, is someone going to complain that that back-story isn’t to their satisfaction?
The possibility that this precedent is so important that every game gets a closed beta and that developers have to put placating fans above all other requirements, that somehow you must now have fan focus groups where the entire plot is laid out to these select few to make sure it’s ‘okay with them’
I fully agree with you OP. Not just because I enjoyed the ending, but because I believe that while we own our stories, the overall story is Bioware’s.
This whole “Take back Mass Effect!” business is shameful. It isn’t ours. None of us have the right to take it away from the creators just because we’re not content.
However, I don’t believe that Bioware is planning on changing the ending. It is clear to me that the reason things must turn out a certain way is that they plan on taking the Mass Effect universe in a particular direction in future chapters, post-Shepard.
What they will do is give us epilogue, answer the unanswered questions, give a sense of closure which was a bit absent.
Anyone who thinks this means they’re bringing Seth Green and Martin Sheen back into the studios to re-record audio’s, and bringing in dev teams to create new cutscene’s is kidding themselves.
This whole protest has gone from reasonable discontent, to this disgraceful free-for-all of each person dictating how they feel the game should end. I don’t want to play your retarded ending. IF you were capable of writing an ending better than Bioware, you’d be working for Bioware, instead of whatever crap it is you actually do.
TL;DR: I agree.
Actually, recent articles state that BW developers are in fact working on alternate endings for those not content – released on DLC most likely. Just to give you a heads up. But the thing is, there will be more ME in the (near?) future, says BW in both a different and the same article. What I don’t get then, is the need to either destroy Earth/ let Shepard live, or on the other hand kill Shepard/save Earth (I watched the ‘least dissatisfying ending on Youtube, and it was significantly different from mine (maybe the ‘middle’ ending) on minor details. In mine, it seemed as if both Reapers, humans and even the entire planet was wiped out as I chose the ‘renegade’ option. Was this really the case? Did even the organics die even though they’re not supposed to?) if s/he reappears in further games.
I would say this is inherently good and an inevitable and healthy part of a capitalistic economic system.
Say what you want about ‘artistic integrity,’ but this is a work made to be mass produced and sold for a profit. And, as with renaissance painters and their various financiers, Bioware is targeting an audience to buy and support their labors. This is made more clear by that fact that this is the third installation of a franchise to which they are marketing mostly to purchasers of the previous in the series. If the pope don’t like it, Michelangelo doesn’t get his money.
Capitalism is a two way street, where demand by consumers is the primary driver to create a quality product, but, recently power is ultimately vested in the producer and what they want to make available. With the advent of the internet for grassroots organizations, I would like to see the return power to the needy and away from the makers.
Though this movement around a video game in general can be argued as petty, I look forward to the notion in general being extended to other markets, such as the organized boycotting of auto companies with low gas mileages or industries with extensive third-world exploitation.
I’m wondering if you’re just trolling or if you’re serious about this post. I mean, do you get paid for this, is this your job?? I surely hope not as you know nothing about art, or games for that matter.
As an artist I know what it takes to make something a work. Mass Effect 1 was a masterpiece simply put. It had it’s hiccups with gameplay and wasn’t perfect, but it was not hindered by time constraints, delays, or pressure. Come Mass Effect 2 and it completely changed, the game play was choices were removed and there was less customization choices for you and your squad, which took away from the overall immersion, yet the story was still how it was intended which amounted to an overall very good game. (There were many more issues but no need to get into that since we’re here about ME3.) Then there’s Mass Effect 3, a game that had already been delayed twice do to issues with the story not being able to be completed.
If you were a real writer you’d know how to do your research, which we all see you failed at, it’s a very basic step you’d learn when properly trained in this field. You see, with Mass Effect 1, 2, and 3 they were all roughly set with a story to make a trilogy, though an ending was never finalized or really though of. If anyone has every written a rough draft, you know it’s far from a finished work and usually goes through many changes in the process. In art when you sketch something it can be drastically changed by the time it’s a finished product, as was the case with this series. Major changes were made not just to the store but the game in general from Mass Effect 1 to 2, and even more so from 2 to 3. The biggest problem with the story in general for ME3 was that the head writer who developed most of the story for the first two games was busy writing the story to another game (as I’m sure most of you who did your research already know) so it could never have been what the “Artist(s)” intended or invisioned.
Is the gameplay better? Of course it is. Is the actual art? No, not by a long shot. It is actually worse then the graphics in ME2. Do a side by side comparison if you don’t believe that, or just play as the default Fem Shep, or look at Kelly Chambers.
Then there’s the story. Just like how ME2 ruined the gameplay and options that made ME1 a true original and unique game, ME3 did the same thing to the story by again cutting corners and removing choices, but this time they did it to the story itself. Fewer choices, and no real conclusion.
To be fair, yes, they left it wide open for DLC, even the after credits gave way, saying “The story of Shepard isn’t over yet”, but it’s ludicrous to think or have the never to say that they shouldn’t have gave the fans something they could have been proud of. Do you understand that WE paid for this? Sure they have artistic liberty to make changes, it is their game, but they don’t have to right to NOT complete the game and just pass it on as “good enough” when we as fans and gamers had to pay for it. The same can be said about the “From Ashes” DLC being ON THE DISC and them lying about it not being completed so they had to add it later and charge us for it. Not only is this unfair, it’s illegal and they along with Capcom and a few others have been getting away with it.
You see, an artist has free reign over his or her work. If the art is commissioned then there are some guidelines the purchaser wants to be upheld but other than that, as an artist, he or she will do the work how they envision it. But when you start being pressured by the buyer or time constraints, the art suffers. This is the case with BioWare and EA. They rushed the game and did not get to finish it how they wanted. Of course fans have the right to be outraged by this and demand it be fixed. It’s not as if BioWare isn’t going to steal more money from us for this but it is a must and they will follow through if they care anything about fans, and of course we know they and EA love our money.
The best artists, or rather REAL artists, don’t compromise. They make ART. Without passion and without vision you can’t call something art, and that’s what the ending of this game lacked. They were unable to follow through.
To say, “BioWare should not, no, MUST not give into fan pressure to change the ending” shows that you must just be trolling to get a rise of of people, because you are no fan, only a fool. It’s okay though, there’s more of you sheep out there, some are friends of mine, but I use that term loosely.
No, sorry, gotta disagree with you on this one. Bioware was the one that shot itself in the foot by saying that all the choices you made from the start of ME1 to the end of ME3 would affect the outcome and then failed to deliver.
This is Mass Effect, not fricking Fable.
Bioware making art? They’ve said they think of games as a product (in interviews), in case it weren’t obvious from… all they do. Maybe their games were closer to art when they made Baldur’s Gate, but to buy this art talk now is ridiculous, specially when it’s about AAA titles which pretend to be rpg (it’s not even trying anymore), have near to zero creativity and that to know the full story you ALREADY have to buy dozens of comics, an iphone, apps, and dozens of DLC, so you’re talking out of your ass.
Games have a long way till they become an art form, and for that to happen, we the GAMERS need to demand A LOT MORE.
Because you know what’s also ridiculous, we pay $60 dollars for something and we just accept CRAP, and we’re being told we have to because that crap is art? Developers get away with such astounding crap nowadays, even The Witcher guys said it.
And seriously, you really think that ending is art? Art? That ending is like me crapping out a senseless 5 minute doodle with inconsistent lighting and crap proportions and no visual narrative whatsoever and giving it to my client (guess what, I’m an artist too and no I don’t do that). Calling stuff art does not make it an excuse to make crap, you are actually offending artists all over the world with that.
So go and pretend you’re not in a capitalist world and that games are movies (I don’t remember paying $60 for a movie ticket that I’ll sink 90 hours of my life into), and that art doesn’t need to pay bills (I have to please my clients, and I have to draw stuff I don’t wanna draw all the time) and that what BW does is art (yes, the art of money making), but let us long ass time fans pay for WHAT WE WERE PROMISED.
I’m afraid I’m going to have to call B.S. on you.
Specifically, “No other entertainment medium has ever been subjected to this kind of narrative entitlement” is complete bull.
Moby Dick, for example, was given an epilogue because readers demanded to know how the tale was told if no one survived.
If we want to get closer to modern times, there’s such a thing as a “director’s cut”. The Abyss practically requires its special edition for the ending to make sense.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had Sherlock Holmes killed in “The Final Problem” (1983) so that he could spend more time on more serious writing, and retconned him back to life ten years later in “The Adventure Of The Empty House”. While I’m not aware of him ever giving a reason for changing his mind, the most likely causes are obviously the massive outcry from fans, and the hefty paycheck from the publishers.
And let’s not forget a more recent example: ‘Greedo shot first’ got changed to ‘Han & Greedo shot roughly simultaneously’ due to the protests of fans.
Or there’s Fallout 3, which had only one glaring problem with its ending, as opposed to ME3′s dozens (your character was forced to expose themself to a lethal dose of radiation in order to defeat the Enclave, even if your current companion was a super-mutant or ghoul, both of whom are immune to radiation). Thanks to complaining fans, this was fixed via DLC (which also added an apilogue of sorts, allowing play to continue after the ending).
Also, check out the various cuts of films like Highlander 2, Superman 2, Blade Runner and Dune, to name just a few. These, unlike many other ‘director’s cuts’ or ‘special editions’ were made primarily because of fans vocally complaining about sub-standard original releases.
These, however, can possibly be dismissed as examples of light entertainment, whereas Weston seems more concerned with gaming’s “status as an art form” so I’ll just give one more example, from a man generally considered one of the greatest novelists in history: Charles Dickens and the revised epilogue of Great Expectations.
If Dickens caved into fan pressure and released a revision that changes the ending, how could other authors have any confidence in any story they produce in the future?
The Ending should be changed for a number of reasons if bioware promised that player choices would matter and they didn’t whats the point of even investing to the DLC when it goes live-and why charge so much for the collectors edition and guide book. If the player choices dont mean a thing then there is no way that the basic game should have cost $60 bucks and the collectors $80
Right, let’s talk about precedence in changing endings…
Oh, wait, Bethesda did it first, with Broken Steel DLC.
What about artistic license and being wrong to pressure the artist? Oh wait, Charles Dickens got pressured into giving a better ending to Great Expectations. And Conan Doyle to bring back Sherlock Holmes to life. Without that, we’d probably be much poorer.
I’m glad you liked the ending, but please, let us enjoy it too. I’m all for keeping the old ending and now getting more of them for those who didn’t enjoy it.
What ending, pretty light ending. Joker running ending, Old fart pedobear ending. Me drooling after finishing the game and asking why I just spent F 70 dollars and this turd ending.
This was not Art just greed and money. Tali picture was Trolling or lazy FU to the buyers.
I get it we have your money go F your self. I can understand that is the way everything seem to has come to pass.
There seems to be a real misconception of what is going on at the end of the retail release of the game. That isn’t ‘the end’ so to speak. The whole point is that you haven’t even got into the citadel yet. None of that has actually happened. Listen to what is said and really look at what’s going on.
That’s a big old head job by the reapers. Sheppar is lying in a pile of rubble on earth and they’re trying to indoctrinate him.
There’s a lot of clues to this. Essentially it’s a false ending.
The real scary thing is how many folk have willingly shown their hand to the moneygrabbers at EA (i.e. I’d pay for a better ending).
I think your argument is invalid when you say it goes against video games as being seen as art. The french book Indiana written by George Sand got a similar feedbacks back in the days. The author was forced to change the end of the book because people did not like it. But would you say now, because of that, books are not recognised as art? Of course they are. It’s not because an ending is so bad that 99% of people hates it and request it to be rewritten that it changes something to novels in general.
When I beat this at 4 am I was pissed. Then I loaded my last save before Harbingers beam and did it a second time. That helped nothing. All it did was change the explosion color. I seriously wanted to take my xbox out and shoot it with ME3 inside, and be done with games. I came pretty close. Then I saw the IT vid on you tube and to a point it makes sense. I mean really, the little kid never made sense to me. Why didn’t Anderson see him? Why didn’t the alliance marine help him into the shuttle? Why the hell does the catalyst resemble the kid? And why does one kid give you nightmares? So what one kid dies. In ME1 you could of killed the rachni, or the citizens of zhu’s hope. or other GROUPS of people, and one kid mind f**ks you. Really? Bioware planed this. Look i’m fine with the indoctrination ending. I hope thats what it is. Its ballsy, and an epic twist. The galaxy’s only hope, Shepard, fighting indoctrination. Now you really understand Sarin and TIM. You came in contact with a lot of reaper tech through the series. Plus who knows what kind of tech TIM rebuilt you with. Think that didn’t happen for a reason. ME2 would have worked just fine without you getting killed. Plus Mass Effect is my favorite series. I refuse to believe that I paid 80 f**king dollars for the collectors edition of ME3 to have to pay extra for DLC just to find out how it really ended after spending 100+ hours on my character through 3 god damn games. If that’s the case, that’s bull shit and I will actually take my Xbox 360 out into the hills and happily shoot the crap out of it with my 12 gauge, along with all of my 360 games. Because if that’s how software companies want to play now days then I just won’t play anymore. I’m sure I could find more productive things to do with my free time. I’m sure you could too. I really hope this isn’t some scheme to milk us for as many dollars as they can, but I remain skeptical. We shall see how this plays out. It’s Biowares move.
Your right its the artists choice. But when 95% of the former fans don’t like the final and most important Choice of all then that artist can either say screw the majority I like my choice or say these are the people that gave me my fortune and the reason I have the money to continue my art I should apease their wants and not mine then it should be done. After all this is capitalism not communism. Things most change otherwise we would end up like north Korea with nothing good.
If mcdonalds sells us awesome hamburgers for years (aka mass effect 1 and 2) but then decides to ruin Americas favorite restaurant by turning it into a crappy sushi stand because the owner prefers sushi (aka mass effect 3 ending) then we as hamburger lover’s (aka most of America) have the right to say we want change. We gave you your fortune and we want our hamburgers back (aka mass effect one and 2 which had good endings) please don’t turn it against us and please fix this. There shall never be shame in fixing ones mistakes. Kinds of a weird concept I know but its true. Stick to wat the fans want and we will reward you!
Good analogy, but comparing games to hamburgers seems a bit off the scale. I see what you’re trying to do though…
This writer really poor in understanding it about the frustration show, i wouldn’t mind to rewrote everything.
1. History Lesson – Dragon Age 2 already disappointment to us, if we as FANS don’t stop ME 3. Perhaps this CYCLE will come again in the future.
2. Have you really understand all the ending? In the article, i didn’t really see anything that mention about the ending except FANS FRUSTRATION.
3. Control Reaper – EXCUSE ME! What are we doing from ME 1 to ME 3, for fun? By control the Reaper mean they will come back in the future that mean every effort that FANS invested (100 hrs exclude replay) in VAIN, further all the character in game sacrifice for nothing. Oh, we only buy another 50,000 years time for peace…NO NO NO
4. Synthesis – PLS go do your research about this, even if you are lazy just watch what Shepard mentioned in last 20 minutes as “KEEP OUR OWN FORM”. Did anyone feel betray Shepard by choosing this option? Come on, Reaper hack the Geth last time and why not hack this new life form when they out of resources? (another loopholes)
5. Destroy the reaper – this is more likely that all the players will choose, because it justify all our efforts. But some video suggest don’t destroy the geth, yes, when the time i pick this option and i keep remember Legion sacrifice for nothing as i gonna destroy entire geth.
6. Normandy Escape? Ilos Joker never run away, Suicide mission, Joker also didn’t runaway. Please do tell me why? Because the ship control by EDI. Again, you can’t see but you still can hear, right? Before final assault, EDI understand what is humanity and tell Shepard that he is the 1 make her have feeling.
7. The cycle theory – To prevent the Organic’s life form conflict with Synthesis life form, we as reaper come to destroy you now. LOL, is the Bioware team running out of ideas? My suggestion is Prothean & other species harvested by Reaper before ME, because they technology reach to the level able to challenge the Reaper.
8. Younger species – Reaper won’t harvest younger species, but all the players see the story can anyone tell me, is there any younger species? Varren?Yahg? Again it proof the cycle theory TOTALLY GARBAGE. Please do your research and don’t simply wrote what you want.
9. Shepard have very good self determination how come in the last minute will listen everything as the Catalyst said? I wouldn’t mind to say i rather stand at the crucible to watch the crush of reaper with this Catalyst as ending, but we can’t.
10. The Catalyst – Last minutes character? Why nobody ask this, what if this Catalyst is another indoctrinated or Reaper hacked AI? Doesn’t make sense.
11. No Closure & effort in game effect nothing- SWORD Fleet is stranded or did they survive the blast? Other Normandy Crew? Anything happen to Shepard choice such as Wrex mention Shepard name mean Hero? Krogan finally shake hand with Salarian for the success final assault? I think this writer is writting for 5 years never get any increment, therefore is easy for him to write all this.
12. Tali’s face – Even the sacrifice at the end, we still unable to see her true face.
13. Overall ending – Bioware stated 16 different ending but NO NO NO. Only 3 ending with the different color explosion, same mass relay destroy, same normandy crush, same planet land. If you boss promised to give you 16 different pay at the end you only found out only 3, HOW DO YOU FEEL?
14. Harry Potter and Matrix – Maybe i give you another better comparison as the 2 you given is not the same field (Magic and Future machine war), Star wars did they delivery such garbage to us? NO! Please use relevant information and comparison next time. In Harry Potter & Matrix is human & machine unlike ME.
15. War assets – All the war assets that we collect, no matter collect more or less, the same cinematic is the same. Further this war asset can’t use to defeat reaper pursuit.
16. The effect from previous series – ME 1 stop Saren, save the council only grab the war asset of Destiny Ascension of 70 pts and need to save the Salarian Council in ME 3 only grab another 125 pts? OMG!! ME 2 destroy/keep collector base only grab 100 or110 pts?
People want to see the spectacular effect on ME 3, not merely war asset pts and the pts is low.
17. Forced Multiplayer – In order to get BEST ending, we need to play multiplayer make me feel like been pointed by a gun to play. BEST ending have 22 seconds extra to explain Shepard alive. PLEASE we deserve more than 22 seconds. You use 5 years to build up your career then only let you sit in the director seat for 22 seconds, how you feel?
18. Business Strategy? – By giving us a garbage ending, then use a DLC to grab more money from us. I would say the DLC ending should be FREE to all ME FANS.
My Source: Angry Joe Review, Jeremy Jahna Review, Mass Effect wiki and many articles.
Conclusion: We all gamers feel like been cheated from the above 18 points, please do write something to stop Bioware to deliver disappoint product to us. And do yourself a favor, DO MORE RESEARCH!
all i have to say is bioware is a greedy, sack of crap, cheapescape, i dont worry about the ending in itself but more matter the fact that almost virtually everything is a perma – DLC, as quoted by tatsudoshi to some bozon who was going around saying “yay new game, play mass effect 3″ tatsudoshi quoted “NO it sucks and is boring” and i agree, why have a game where you cant murder everyone including annoying kids? or choose a race meant for tanking and nothing else, like a demon class focusing on ALL attack stats weapons and powerups, mellee swords dammage increases, etc., why have something that has parodies slurring everythings a DLC, why have a DLC which limits your progress? thats what i worry about, that DLC is corrupt by all means if it “massively effects” the main story and can dammage such progress, and whats mass effect 3′s pottential? Xbox360, the next gen gamecube with zelda twighlight princess, the always so very mirrored from the original console wii? I have to say ME3 must REALLY suck if anyof the consoles listed are on it right at this moment, especially since skyward sword (I’m more comfortable with buttons thank you very much) is exclusive to the wii, what if they put DLC on consoles? imagine if you only could get half the progress in zelda tp becuase the master sword would be a DLC, imagine the dammage that comes from buying ingame power and helping corrupt co.’s, then ask yourself “is an ending thats a DLC that has a price well over 100 bucks ‘remotely’ worth it?”
I have to say, I’m rather impressed with this article, but I DO think they should change it. Why? Because they SAID that in the end, player choice would MATTER. That the endings would ALL be seperate, that they would ALL be different. I don’t care if they keep this as ONE of the endings, as while I agree that it’s a BAD ending (What with Joker ‘deciding’ to run away, making out with YOUR ‘companion’, and introducing a character at the very end… All very tacky choices). But they SHOULD change TWO of the three endings. Because to have it ALL end the same? It DOES need adjustment, because they themselves have offered a horrendous lie.
In movies, they always have one ending. Alternates may be made, but the movie is not an interactive experience. No matter what, when you watch a movie, it will run it’s course. There’s no ‘patches’, or anything for it. Same with a book. It will always be the same. But a game is changeable, what with being able to be patched nowadays. And while I can understand it about the creators having their own vision of how it should end… ONce agian, they PROMISED their players, that they would have endings that changed based on THEIR choices. Instead, we were given the SAME ending with our choice of color explosion. It did not change on our decision. It was tacky, and for a game as big as this…
Mass Effect is not a game. It is a TRILOGY. They KNEW everyone was awaiting with bated breath. They made big promises. And while that’s not unheard of in gaming, in this day and age? We have the ability to FIX something like that. I don’t care if they keep the current ending as ONE of the endings. But in the end, they NEED to change TWO of the endings at least. And honestly? Id on’t care if THOSE endings suck either. But I at least want them to deliver what the TRILOGY was meant to offer.
A game based on my choices. I was Commander Shephered, as were everyone else here. We charged the lines, taking down clones, robots, and aliens. We were good guys, and we were bad guys. And the greatest part of the trilogy, was the ABILITY to be that. But to have it ALL end in the same fashion, is a disservice to the game, it means they did NOT listen to their fans, and while I do wish for the creators to still have their own vision for it, the fact is, they have to remember that this was ALSO a game, that NEEDED to take into account what the fans wanted.
Because this trilogy evolved, on player choice.
To NOT listen to how the fans wanted it to end either, is to take away the primary reason we all loved Mass Effect. It was ALL about player choice. And the current ending took that away from us.
So to conclude, for all TL;DR,
1. The ending was tacky. I have ten reasons I could point out easily why it was flawed.
2. The creators don’t need to change ALL the endings. But they SHOULD change 2.
3. They promised us wildly different endings dependant on what we did, and did NOT deliver.
4. The ending was tacky in more ways then one, including how your choice changed nothing but the color of an explosion. Joker still runs off with your girlfriend, Shepherd ends up screwed, and the Relays are destroyed, leaving everyone ELSE screwed.
5. The fans want different endings, due to the series being based on player choice. To NOT listen to fans on how they wanted THEIR endings, is a disservice to all who played the trilogy to this point.
Anyways… If ya didn’t read any of that, then at least accept this joke!
My friend says she’s a vegetarian, but I think she’s full of bologna!
Bioware shouldn’t change the ending of Mass Effect 3, but they definitely have some explaining to do.
Games are not necessarily “art”, though there can be artistic games. “Art” implies that EA and others would be releasing games because it’s their passion to do so regardless of commercial success.
Games, books, and movies are entertainment and we are their customers, and as customers, we demand consistency. While J.K. Rowling shouldn’t rewrite a book because it didn’t live up to our expectations, she should probably explain herself if out of nowhere Hermione uses laser vision to melt a door and Ron has a robotic arm that can transform into a box of satanic bunnies. Consistency!!! With that being said, if an author/movie studio/game developer continues to release garbage, they probably won’t be successful, so it’s in their best interest to provide quality entertainment.
Right on brothers and sisters!
We will hold the line!
Well, sorry, at best videogames will always be light art. They are really on the scale of comic books: and we all know that no comic book writer ever changed any ending (insert sniggering now).
You can kill Captain America but whether the fans will let him stay dead is another question. The business will usually cave in to what is best for the business and creative decisions are, to some extent, made by the masses. In the short run, you can do something creatively challenging but in the long run the business will just take over.
The serious problem Bioware is facing is that there are people like me who simply don’t trust them anymore. I will be unlikely to ever buy another bioware game–if I do, I will read the reviews carefully, learn what the ending is, and most definitely BUY IT ON SALE!
Slippery slope arguments are almost always weak and this one is no exception. I think it’s particularly weak because games involve so many creative minds (like comic books) so its really hard to argue a single correct creative vision.
The whole interactive nature of the game and the promises that our decisions will count… Well, I think that’s a much stronger argument than you do.
“No other entertainment medium has ever been subjected to this kind of narrative entitlement.”
You’re plainly wrong. For a famous example: Conan Doyle killed Sherlock Holmes in one novel, but due to overwhelming pressure from fans brought him back in another. He planned to end the series, he wasn’t allowed to.
Actually, no art is art without the viewer – “Mona Lisa” for example, could depict a woman with face eaten by gangrene or leprosy (quite common at the time). Yet it is not. There are some canons, or the “work of art” WILL be rejected by the community at large – for good or bad. And ignoring or insulting your own fans is not art – there are things are expectation, continuity, personal investment.
We have a democracy, and people can make demands – Mass Effect 3 shoddy ending is not a work of art, but a blatant slip due to lack of budget, corporate meddling, and forced deadlines. Or plain inadequacy of the writing team. You can put feces in a bowl and call it art all day – just don’t ask surprised when someone calls “the Emperor’s all naked!”
Even though the ending wasn’t that great i still liked the game the story line which i have followed sence me i have played and finished me with 6 male and 6 female persons i did the same with me2 and will with me3 i would just like to say the story is great but i dont like it when the game takes over it makes me so mad when li gets away on the citidel and takes the info away on thessea made me so mad.
Sorry, but your basic premise in this article is fundamentally false. The greatest artists in history had sponsors and patrons whom they had to please with their art in order to be able to continue making it. And so do Bioware and other game designers in us the consumers. If the Pope had told Michelangelo to change “that horrible part” on the ceiling in some way.. you better believe he’d have done it.
Or perhaps how many gaming sites give games ratings they don’t deserve to please publishers and retain early access to games for their news and reviews etc etc and so forth…. or go to bat for them even after they ruined, an otherwise beautiful game and series in just a few seconds of badly designed and ‘cop out’ ending.
Other “media” do not offer the same sensation that you ARE the character and that’s always going to make the players (the same ones that spent 100′s of hours between the three games) feel more strongly about it. Of course you didn’t see people get to this level with the Matrix trilogy…. it was a movie. You sat there staring mutely at the screen waiting for the story to unfold.. you weren’t a part of it. In contrast to Mass Effect where your choices were part of the evolving story putting you right in the middle of things. We’re not just talking about the end of a game… we’re talking about the end of the player’s story.
It’s easy to dismiss “gamer rage” or whatever else, however in lumping this particular case in with all the ones that have come before you’re missing a key point: here it is 100% justified. Lies were told and promises left horribly unfulfilled. Now perhaps there is a certain aspect of them having succeeded so well with the ending of ME2 that they couldn’t possibly have topped themselves… but that’s false. The emotional moments in ME3 had been turned up to another level… in a ton of ways it’s the best game of the series. But unfortunately there are two most important things in all forms of writing: the beginning and the ending. If you screw up badly enough with either of them the middle no longer matters.
Shame it happened. It did. We don’t need a rainbows and roses ending, that would have been just as bad if not worse. But we did deserve the ending we were promised and something logical that fit with the rest of the trilogy. What we got was a 4th and Goal punt (for those who get the sports reference.) The real pity is that more people aren’t speaking logically about this or having knee jerk reactions in the opposite directions because of the ‘rage’ that they’ve seen before.
Sooooooooooo how much and by who did you get paid to write and post this crap?
EA as far as I am concerned are the ones behind this as BW prior to being purchased by EA turned out great games without cutting corners once EA took over there was a noticeable drop in the quality of the games BW turns out in fact this is true with any game studio EA purchases.
Due to EA’s involvement BW’s Mass Effect 3 was substandard and their so called Artistic Ending was a slap in the face to all fans of Mass Effect and Betrayed everything the games stood for the very heart and soul of Mass Effect overcoming odds most would consider impossible as well as your choices influencing the outcome of the game.
They said there wouldn’t be an A,B,C ending and what do you get A,B,C ending. Why don’t you mention this in your article because you are a douche!
Why BioWare Should NOT Change Mass Effect 3′s Ending
WTF dude are you high ?
There’s a huge difference between “artistic vision” and sloppy, shitty writing.
I’ve heard the expression that perception is truth. My feelings on that. When one says “perception is truth” It’s an excuse for them to spew lies/half truths, but not the real truth.
The very same thing could be said about “artistic vision” It makes an excuse for one to justify half-fast and effortlless time spent on a product. Bioware was wrong in trying to play off what appears to be an intelligent group of gamers that love the game. They have now justified it by ” Artisitic Vision” becasue a
company could not just say we messed up and will correct it for all players.
Funny thing about DLC’s is A company if they really want could make everyone happy without compromising a bit og game integrity.
Artist should be able to express their vision from conception. However, if the artist diverges from their own artistic principles, fans can be upset. For example, what if Leonardo da Vinci could be materialized today. Upon return he says, “This is great! I now have the chance to finish my work on the Mona Lisa!” Once he has his brush in his hand, he draws a giant phallic depiction over the face of the Mona Lisa! Wouldn’t the world be in outrage? At a certain point the art becomes as much as the artist as well as the fans or beloved viewers of it. From the start, Artist set up, rather knowingly or unknowingly, boundaries of what they can do, what can logically follow. Pollock created a boundary that is flexible and, arguably, infinite, to his artistic vision and implementation. Leo created an artist boundary that is more defined and narrow. Of coarse, artist can change artistic avenues, but they are not free to change their artistic principles on a specific work. Bioware changed their artistic principle at the end of Mass Effect. Jake, fans want Bioware to return to their artistic principle. Without its return to it, Bioware devalues themselves and the art they produce. DLC will not devalue it. If players find the experience worth the pay, it shows nothing but the actual practice of the player’s opinion and value to a certain title. Lastly, its not that the fans expectations were not met, its that Mass Effect artist principles had changed. In doing so, the game felt cheap. Felt rushed. Felt as if EA wanted a game now. Because its artistic principles were so far gone at the end, it makes you wonder, did EA allow them to truly implement their artistic vision?
Charles Dickens, regarded as one of the greatest authors in history, rewrote the ending of his book “Great Expectations” due to backlash from the readers, and books aren’t even interactive.
I dont know about the other fans (ex-fans more accuratly), maybe its just me.. But the reason of wanting an ending of ME3 has nothing to do with diminishing the creators artistic vision… the reason I get upset is cause at the ending it felt like THE CREATORS THEMSELVES ABANDONED THE ENTIRE GROUND they had all the time through the games right up til then. It felt as if they just wanted to get it over with and just didnt feel like spending any more time or money on creating an ending more fitting.
I’m really appaled by that thought,
but nothing makes any sence and you cant even recognize the ending sequences as part of ME..!
As for now, I havent been able to play any ot the games since i played through no3… Whats the point? there can only be one ending. An ending which contradicts everything you have ever known throughout the entire game. An ending opposing all rules of logic.
Many seem to think the reason the fans go crazy is just the fact Shepard dies. But that isn’t the case.
I was prepared to lose Shepard. Going out in some big blast to ensure his/hers mates could finnish the reapers off for good, or something like that… it felt like Shepard dying in the end was pretty much desided from the beginning.
No, the reason was as I said the feeling of lack of engagement and investment of the creators. the ending sequence was pretty much just a poorly made movie where you couldnt interract in any way and nothing u could do changed the story even the tiniest bit.
All u could do was choosing the colour on the final screen.
This goes against everything ME has ever been.
So sure, the creators could choose to leave the game as it is, but by doing so they’re diminishing their own product and I am certain, also losing a lot of fans (and with them – money).
Did sony cave in and not screw over every single person they had subscribed to play Star Wars Galaxies and not do the update that players purposefully crashed servers to prevent?
No! of course they didn’t because it was their artistic… um money hungry enterprise!
If developers want their games treated like works of art, they need to act like they are. Granted bioware isn’t the sadistical machine sony can be, but still the fact remans that many people believe the ending was unfinished in the first place. For heaven’s sake it feels and looks like its unfinished. A work of art isn’t put on display until it is finished.
You are all welcome to your opinions, but I believe this game should be changed because its lack of artistic vision. Bioware should want to change it if their countless fans who have fallen in love with the series and have helped shape it in some fashion or another are in total shock at the lack of vision for such a project. Not to mention the fact that no matter what you get the same three options? No work of art has several series of paintings or sculptures with their own unique flavors and then the last one in the show is the last one on every single series… THAT is laziness.
Don’t tell me the ending to ME3 was a work of art, don’t tell me every game should be considered a work of art, and for the love of god please realize that many games don’t even try to be works of art and from gamer stand points some developers look like greedy malevolent people tricking them into buying pieces of crap for the sake of a quick buck!
I’m sorry, but reading this article seemed absolutely retarded to me. Mabye its just me and I can see your logic, but I suppose its one of those things where I agree to disagree
I like the ending of Mass Effect 3. And despite what everyone says the ending IS different. The fate of Earth, humanity and Normandy is determined by the forces you’ve gathered. And some of these forces depend on the choices of the previous parts. It may not seem much but there is connection – a subtle one but it exists. And the movie-like ending was a nice touch (according to my personal opinion), because it allowed me to sit back and enjoy the end of a great story, without worrying that some bad guy will shoot me and I’ll have to start over the last section. I hope that Bioware won’t change the end. If they do that it will mean that they don’t respect their own creation. And that is just spineless.
Interesting opinion, but, somehow flawed.
First thing is, Potter’s ending was changed, he died in the one J.K wanted.
Second, The ending of MA3 doesn’t feel like an artistic ending, rather it felt “hurried’, and I personnaly suspect EA was behind it.
Artistic license is one thing, Executive meddling is another entirely, and EA has a story for making “eye-candy” games to sell without regard to quality.
No one really wanted to CHANGE the ending, they just wanted their questions answered. It’s annoying to hear people constantly think the gamers wanted them to CHANGE everything. Some people did, but most were fine with what they did except for the fact they didn’t explain hardly anything and a lot of shit didn’t make sense. They made sense of it in the extended version and now we can all rest peacefully.
I agree art is art, and I’m sick of fans bitching that things don’t go their way. DLC is NOT the answer and I’m sick of DLC being thrown everywhere now. Leave endings be as the creator’s intended. I may not agree with a creator’s viewpoint, but that is the whole purpose they are the creator, not you. They should be open to suggestions from the audience but not submit control to the audience.
The extended cut was really great. It answered questions and I believe most fans are satisfied. I think it’s a good thing what Bioware did. Finally, I think your points are retarded. Developers are already bringing intended endings via dlc’s and they’re asking a price for it. It’s sick and only refusing to buy their products will be enough protest. I know I will never buy a dlc ending. That’s just disgusting behavior.