Mass Effect

[Strangelove]

hmm. I was able to get Ashley in my first playthrough, but on my second playthrough she rejected me. Bitch.

 

 

I read that I was supposed to visit her at the hospital after every mission. I did that the first time, but not the second time. Oops. I dont actually use her or like her, but I feel bad when I cant get every single character in my team.

 

[Waldorf and Statler]

she was flirting with me at first, trying to get back together with me since the me1 thing. But then I remembered how I liked Miranda better. And it's funny because I was never even given the point I had to choose between the two, I just told miranda I was still interested in her and it locked me out from the ashley romance

[TheMightyEthan]

 

she was flirting with me at first, trying to get back together with me since the me1 thing. But then I remembered how I liked Miranda better. And it's funny because I was never even given the point I had to choose between the two, I just told miranda I was still interested in her and it locked me out from the ashley romance

 

 

 

That's interesting because when I told Liara I was still interested in her it still gave me the option later to tell Miranda I was interested in her (didn't tell her that though, said I was over her).

 

[Waldorf and Statler]

Honestly Liara is probably the most engaging love interest in the whole game. They just fleshed her character the most in the three titles and gave her the best romantic dialogue over-all

[Mr. GOH!]

Finished it last night. What a lame-ass ending. Shouldn't be surprised; the writing in ME3 overall was worse than that in ME1 and ME2.

 

 

 

So I guess the whole dark matter theme just goes nowhere. And the whole "something different about this cycle really concerns the Reapers, what could it be?" question. Instead we get Big Dumb Object transforming into a Deus ex Machina. Also, why the *fuck* did the Reapers build a device that could wipe the Reapers out?

 

Edited March 14, 2012 by Mr. GOH!

[TheMightyEthan]

 

Yeah, I don't know if you've gone back to read the spoiler tags, but apparently they abandoned the ending written by the original lead writer Drew Karpyshyn, which did deal with Dark Matter and I think sounds less stupid. It also resolved what was special about this cycle.

 

As for why they built a device that could wipe them out, I think the reason the Citadel was important was because it controlled the mass relays. I don't think it could have wiped them out under normal circumstances, but the Crucible used it as a modem basically to plug in to the relay network and deliver its payload all over the galaxy. So it'd be like if someone invented an image that could kill anyone who looked at it, then sent it through the internet, and asking "why would humans build the internet if it could kill them?"

 

[Waldorf and Statler]

I honestly don't even think about the plotpoints they tried to make in the ending much.

 

If Bioware stopped caring, so will I. Oh and any hope that they deliberately trolled fans with the ending is almost out of the question since Casey Hudson recently came out and said they wanted to make the ending "memorable"

 

I agree though. It is quite memorable. Let's say you had a long distance relationship with this beautiful woman for 5 years, seeing her every 1 year or so. Everything is going great. You're in love, nothing in the world seems wrong. You notice she's acting strange this last week that the came to visit. Only a bit off, nothing to condemn her for and honestly she's still as gorgeous ever. She's not talking to you as much as before, but hey when she does her conversations are more mean-

 

oh she just broke up with you and as she was leaving the room she took a shit in her hand and smeared it all over your face. WHAT THE FUCK.

[Thorgi Duke of Frisbee]

You're right. Let's get BioWare and EA to pitch in $5-10 million, force BioWare to take a break from their latest project, and set to work on "fixing" the last 10-20 minutes of the game. They probably won't make any of that back, because half of the fans that are complaining won't even buy it. It'll take months, and the ending probably won't even be that great. It will have been a waste for everyone involved, and an unnecessary financial strain on EA/BioWare.

 

But they'll get the love of the fans, and last I checked, love is absolutely a currency that can be cashed in for food on the table, college educations and rent.

[deanb]

1. Where you pulling this $5-10million figure from? It's a game with pretty much all assets made and engine is...well it's unreal so that's all pre-made too.

2. Bioware is composed of at least 6 studios, with a Montreal studio specifically for doing bits on the side so it's hardly like they don't have the spare man-power.

3. They sold 3.5 million copies within the first week, they're not exactly wanting for cash nor the fanbase to buy it.

4. Customer loyalty goes a long way to becoming a working currency, the line of thinking of going after hard cash and purely hard cash is the line of thinking that leads to this kind of shit in the first place.

 

It's actually a somewhat disappointing line of thinking actually :/

 

I guess let's see how much the conversion rate on love to hard cash is these days.

[Waldorf and Statler]

To run a business, you need to please the fans every now and again. Fans want to see companies as these faceless evil men eating dodo eggs in their gold-made ships.

 

Why was Capcom about to release Megaman Legends 3? Because they know that even though there weren't that many fans, they had more than enough money to use this as good karma towards the fans. Wha's the TRUE only reason they cancelled a 3DS title? Out of spite towards Inafune. They give other reasons to not seem petty, but it's pretty fucking obvious it is out of spite.

 

A lot of marketing/business majors will tell you that pleasing the clients every now and again is just as important as making cash cash cash. Look at what happened to Infinity Ward. They make boatloads of cash now sure. But they lost their creators and like 1/3 or 1/2 of their original team. They're used as the butt of all jokes for corporate sellouts. Activision will eventually run this out to death and kill it. Look at Guitar Hero. They stopped giving a shit and now I don't think anybody outrights misses the titles.

[TheMightyEthan]

Yeah, focusing only on the short term is a recipe for short term success but nothing else. Long term success means keeping your customers coming back, which means keeping them happy (which is not the same as doing everything they say, however).

[Waldorf and Statler]

If Bioware was doing everything the customers say, we'd have cheesy romances with every single character, bad fan fiction writing [though Kai Leng is already a gary stu as it is] in every single game and Dragon Age 2 would have played ike Dragon Age Origins. Take your pick as to which of these they should have listened to the fans.

[Strangelove]

Well...

 

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2012/03/14/bioware-responds-to-mass-effect-3-criticism.aspx

 

 

BTW, I thought DA2 played a lot better than DAO. The problem with DA2 was the limited scope of it's world and the kind of pointless storyline. Then again, I think ME2's main story was kind of pointless too. Not bad, just...pointless and it just didnt mean much to the overall plot. Very little got done in those games.

[TCP]

W&S, I think you're right, it is smart for businesses to please fans every once in awhile. But I think the majority people who have beat Mass Effect 3 like the ending. This is just a vocal minority and nothing more.

I look at Nintendo giving 3DS owners free games after the price drop as a better example of a business needing to please their customers.

[Strangelove]

How many people have donated? I thought I heard it was around 30,000. It sounds like a lot except when you consider that ME3 has sold or will sell millions of copies. Then it IS a small vocal minority. I just cant imagine the average gamer being so pissed off at an ending like a lot of hardcore fans are. Im sorry to say, but a lot of us arent built like that. We dont take things so seriously.

Im sorry to ridicule hardcore ME fans, but Id be a hypocrite not to when I ridicule hardcore Star Wars fans. I hated the prequels too, but those guys are also lame entitles scumbags.

[TheMightyEthan]

I doubt the average person is angry about it, but I'm also skeptical that most people liked it. I would guess most people are probably like me, which is "the ending was kinda a let down, but the game overall was pretty great."

[Vargras]

I doubt the average person is angry about it, but I'm also skeptical that most people liked it. I would guess most people are probably like me, which is "the ending was kinda a let down, but the game overall was pretty great."

 

Yeah, pretty much. I greatly enjoyed most of the game, but the ending was a bit of a let-down.

 

Am I gonna let that ruin the game for me? Hell no. I still enjoy the multiplayer, and I've got other playthroughs I need to finish.

[Strangelove]

I just dont think 1% of the game matters when 99% of it was so fucking awesome. I think maybe thats what makes me biased. Maybe the ending is as bad as they say and maybe I should be as angry as them, but the game was so great....I just dont care about the ending. It could have ended with "the End" and I wouldnt have cared.

[TCP]

Man, I'm so excited to get to this ending and see what all the fuss is about. I hope Shep wakes up on Eden Prime beside the beacon and it's all been a dream!

More than likely, I think something vaguely Fringe end of season 3 will happen, with Shep jumping in the ancient machine they're building. Maybe I'll get lucky and he'll get a fun trip to the future first and meet Ashley or Miranda's niece all grown up and hot.

[Waldorf and Statler]

Highly doubt people liked it. And obviously enough people think the Star Wars prequels are pretty fucking bad if everybody loves Red Letter Media for voicing their opinions in a comical way.

 

I'm sorry to say that people probably didn't care about the ending enough to not see how much of a cheap move it was. Others want to believe that Bioware did it as anything else but a cheap gag.

 

But you don't promise your fans a culmination of all your choices, make statements like "this game won't be choose A, B, or C" and then do exactly like that.

 

Bioware shot themselves on the foot too much. At least Molyneux was forgivable because let's be honest, he never outright stated "this WILL be in the gaming" he was making allegories and similies and generalizations. Casey Hudson outright stated the ending would be unique and awesome. It was definitely unique in its execution, unique from other trilogies that is.

[SixTwoSixFour]

I have spoken to one person who liked the ending. Everyone else I've spoken to either hates it, or doesn't like it but can't be bothered to care much. This isn't Portal. No one is asking for an ending that redefines everything we've experienced, gives us new insight, blows our "entitled" little minds, or anything like that. We would be fine with even a Return of the Jedi "and then everyone was happy forever" cheesy ending. God knows the rest of the series was pretty cheesy. We just want the ending to be something other than BioWare pissing on our collective faces.

[TheMightyEthan]

Plus with Molyneux everyone already knows not to believe one single word that comes out of his mouth, so they don't ever expect his statements to pan out to begin with.

 

The reason I don't think very many people liked it is because you don't see these people responding to the criticism. I mean, sure, people who hated it are going to be a lot more vocal, but even so the best thing I've seen anyone say about the ending is "it wasn't that bad." Not exactly a ringing endorsement.

 

*Edit* - @6264: I would have been perfectly happy with the ending if they'd just done a DA:O style text synopsis of later events covering the major factions and NPCs. That's all I really want.

Edited March 14, 2012 by TheMightyEthan

[Waldorf and Statler]

Actually yes fuck it. Bioware could literally do walls of text explaining

 

"Garrus got killed by a truck"

 

"Tali got infected with HIV and died"

 

"Joker realized that fucking a machine was not such a good idea"

 

over what they gave us. There's no need for voice actors there. It just needs somebody to give us an official end.

[TCP]

Oh man, an 80s-comedy (Police Academy?) ending would have been supreme. Maybe end with a freeze frame of Shep and a squadmate high fiving in the air. Then bring in a good 80s rock song and have still frames come up with the facts you mentioned.

 

"Jack stopped being angry after she started dressing like a girl and finally got laid".

 

"Miranda died of what turned out to actually be two tumours growing on her ass."

 

"Legion was melted down to scrap metal, now he's a blender."

[Waldorf and Statler]

funny you mention that cowboy, somebody already did an 80's parody of what we want for the ending.

 

 

 

 

edit: put under spoiler tags since they do mention SOME of the ending spoilers

Edited March 14, 2012 by Waldorf And Statler