Bioware adding content to fix Mass Effect 3 ending

Jamstruth

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After watching a couple of videos on the Indoctrination theory...I'm afraid its right.
[title: Just in case people get pissed with me for referencing ending stuff[
Its the kind of thing that BioWare would do, pull a fake ending and give a real one for those who got the best results. The problem is that I'm really scared if it is right. It sets a precedent for making the good ending (or "epilogue" as they'll call it) DLC and that's just not on. I know its EA and EA love to make more and more DLC since they get that money only once per game user (as opposed to people trading in ME3 discs) but its complete bullshit if the real ending is an add-on. I don't believe it will be a good ending. I think it will be a very bittersweet one since all your companions die in the charge on the beam. You might save all life on Earth but you'll die in the process. That much is certain (in my mind), you got hit with a LASER CANNON after all.
Please note I'm not a Mass Effect player and have not played any of the games but I understand the rage at the endings not being "radically different" as promised. Even if this "DLC" gets released with a true epilogue the endings will not be very diverging. The only diverge is if you fall to indoctrination or not.
 

luke_c

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Mass Effect is my favourite gaming series of all time. I thought the ending to the 3rd game was appalling, I still loved the game but the ending just left me with a sour after-taste on what was otherwise a spectacular, master piece of a game. I already heard that there was some issues with the ending on-line and that it didn't live up to some peoples expectations but I just swept them aside, braced for the worst and finished the game myself. It didn't matter.

I really wasn't expecting Shepard to survive in the first place, I don't care about that. The whole galaxy was at stake and I knew the risks that came with that, but what I do care about is the integrity of the story, science fiction behind the games and the choices that we were given and made throughout the series. In the end, where it mattered most, nothing mattered, everything we had done throughout the series always seemed to have an impact. Throughout the 150-odd hours I spent on the trilogy I carved out MY Shepard, and in the end that WAS NOT my Shepard.

I'm going to leave this as spoiler-free as possible but the last 10 minutes of the game was just filled with so many plot holes, fiction inconsistencies, implausibilities and broken promises that I spent near enough the whole day in a silent sulk, trying to reflect on what happened. (And I got the so-called 'perfect' ending.) I don't understand how the team could of honestly sat down and looked at the ending and said well done chaps, perfect! We was promised cake, but in the end got served a giant turd.

I appreciate that people believe it's BioWare's story, but it isn't just theirs, it's the fans too. They changed each iteration of the game based on fan feedback, they added Garrus and Tali as romance options in ME2 because the characters were so popular. Together with the fans, BioWare helped shape the Mass Effect universe. If they didn't hype us all up with false promises on the conclusion to the epic space-opera then I wouldn't be so strongly in favour of a new or more elaborated ending, but they promised us SO much more. Yes, I've looked into the Indoctrination theory and agree that it sounds very possible, I believe in it myself and if BioWare decide to do nothing else that is what I will be regarding as canon. But that still doesn't make it alright, if this is the case then BioWare have sold us an incomplete game. (Those familiar with the theory know what I am talking about.)

It's just like an entirely different team developed the ending, I don't understand how they could of produced so many major plot holes in the last few minutes of the game. I don't care whether we get a new ending or if they just elaborate on the current one, I just want things cleared up. I want answers, I want disclosure, I want to see that everything I done up to now actually mattered, like they promised us.

EDIT: For those with the 'Changing the end will force other developers to do so' argument, this isn't the first time this has happened. Fallout 3 is the best example with the Broken Steel DLC.

This video covers most of the plot holes.
 
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Zarcon

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(note in advance: I've never played a mass effect game).

So what's the deal here, really? Games aren't about the ending but about the experience, right? I mean...if you have 30 or 40 hours of fun playtime, you sure get your money's worth, no matter how it ends. And if that end somehow manages to ruin all those hours before, answer me this: were you really having fun with the game?
That's actually the problem. People who've played all 3 games spent 3 entire games building up their story, their Shepard. The series has always emphasized that your choices matter. The developers themselves have promised countless times that all of your decisions would have a major effect on what kind of ending you would get.

In the end they throw ALL of that out the window and give you an A, B, C choice that disregards everything you've done up to that point.
Plot inconsistencies is just icing on top of that.
The fact that all 3 endings are fundamentally the same is the cherry on top.

It being a "sad" or "depressing" ending was never the problem. Most of us went into ME3 expecting most of the cast to die. Heck, whole races dying was to be expected, they built the game up to make you expect it.
 
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Taleweaver

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I see...with just three endings, I can't but conclude that the promises you quoted are plain out worthless.


Also...how's the game up until the ending? Going by luke_c's mention, it's pretty fine up until the last ten minutes. Does that mean the rest of the game is okay?
 

leic7

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I don't think the ending is horrible. It makes sense for a paragon Shepard at least... I don't know what things are like on the renegade side. Maybe the people who don't like it played mostly renegade?

People mentioned "plotholes" with the ending, but when I looked at the examples they gave, my impression was that those so-called "plotholes" just seemed like a problem of some people failing to make connections between subsequent scenes when they should, and making connections and extrapolations of things when they shouldn't. It's like, they completely missed what matters and chose to focus on the things that don't really matter.

BioWare was right about one thing: the choices you've made throughout the series do matter. Which specific choice didn't have some sort of an effect that you could see in the game? Saying they didn't deliver on that one is a little disingenuous...
 

Sterling

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I see...with just three endings, I can't but conclude that the promises you quoted are plain out worthless.


Also...how's the game up until the ending? Going by luke_c's mention, it's pretty fine up until the last ten minutes. Does that mean the rest of the game is okay?

Yes, up until the ending, it's the best Mass Effect yet. I myself have played through 4 times despite my lack of enthusiasm for the ending.

I don't think the ending is horrible. It makes sense for a paragon Shepard at least... I don't know what things are like on the renegade side. Maybe the people who don't like it played mostly renegade?

People mentioned "plotholes" with the ending, but when I looked at the examples they gave, my impression was that those so-called "plotholes" just seemed like a problem of some people failing to make connections between subsequent scenes when they should, and making connections and extrapolations of things when they shouldn't. It's like, they completely missed what matters and chose to focus on the things that don't really matter.

BioWare was right about one thing: the choices you've made throughout the series do matter. Which specific choice didn't have some sort of an effect that you could see in the game? Saying they didn't deliver on that one is a little disingenuous...
You obviously haven't checked out any of the videos or document links in the other thread. Here is a link to my post. If you've already done this, you obviously haven't made many connections either. That, or you just haven't finished the game, or have only watched the ending. No one in their right mind would disagree that the ending has problems (BIG ones). Even if you liked them. There are an incredible amount of plot holes and contradictions, and it's up to you to see them. Bioware did a shitty job. It could be time constraints set by EA, shoddy writers, or even a sort of hoax, but it's pretty clear to me that this shouldn't be how Bioware ends it's pet franchise.
 

Qtis

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Over a thousand different variables of choices from Mass Effect 1 & 2. Hundreds of choices (thousands?) in Mass Effect 3. In the end we get three quite similar endings? Kinda meh. Oh well although the ending is (at the moment) quite a bore, I'll keep enjoying ME2 and ME3 with a re-run from the beginning after I start/finish ME3.. If the story starts to make no sense (which I assume may happen), I'll go waste the end of this year and try to finish Baldur's Gate 1&2 or perhaps Icewind Dale (that'll take quite a while mind you...). Those series had the endings fitting for a game like Mass Effect.

@Everyone complaining about ME3 not making sense in a way, Drew Karpyshyn should have been the lead writer.. Not that the current one was bad, Karpyshyn has quite a track record (BG, ME, etc)..
 

Sterling

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Also if the game is not satisfying, I'll just leave this here:

http://www.psu.com/A...-a014727-p0.php
The game IS gratifying. If this was a roller coaster ride in the middle of winter, it doesn't matter that there is a splash area at the end. The ride was awesome, and totally worth what I spent to take a ride, even if the climax left me with a cold. Overall, the game is a solid 8/10 with the story being a 7/10. 3 points off for an ending that was mostly nonsensical... Not bad.
 

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You obviously haven't checked out any of the videos or document links in the other thread. Here is a link to my post. If you've already done this, you obviously haven't made many connections either. That, or you just haven't finished the game, or have only watched the ending. No one in their right mind would disagree that the ending has problems (BIG ones). Even if you liked them. There are an incredible amount of plot holes and contradictions, and it's up to you to see them. Bioware did a shitty job. It could be time constraints set by EA, shoddy writers, or even a sort of hoax, but it's pretty clear to me that this shouldn't be how Bioware ends it's pet franchise.
Oh I have finished the game with a paragon Shepard all the way, and have heard a lot about the so-called "plot holes" because some people just have a tendency to repeat them over and over on the internet, lol. So if I have seen what you've seen and thought about the things you've thought about, and still come to a different conclusion then I'm "obviously" this and that, eh? :)

I don't know what Mass Effect is to you, but to me, it's a science fiction and I treat it as such. There are moments in a fictional story when it's appropriate to draw connections and there are times when it's more appropriate to activate suspension of disbelief. As I said before, it just seems to me that some people have missed the mark on what's "appropriate".
 

Sterling

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You obviously haven't checked out any of the videos or document links in the other thread. Here is a link to my post. If you've already done this, you obviously haven't made many connections either. That, or you just haven't finished the game, or have only watched the ending. No one in their right mind would disagree that the ending has problems (BIG ones). Even if you liked them. There are an incredible amount of plot holes and contradictions, and it's up to you to see them. Bioware did a shitty job. It could be time constraints set by EA, shoddy writers, or even a sort of hoax, but it's pretty clear to me that this shouldn't be how Bioware ends it's pet franchise.
Oh I have finished the game with a paragon Shepard all the way, and have heard a lot about the so-called "plot holes" because some people just have a tendency to repeat them over and over on the internet, lol. So if I have seen what you've seen and thought about the things you've thought about, and still come to a different conclusion then I'm "obviously" this and that, eh? :)

I don't know what Mass Effect is to you, but to me, it's a science fiction and I treat it as such. There are moments in a fictional story when it's appropriate to draw connections and there are times when it's more appropriate to activate suspension of disbelief. As I said before, it just seems to me that some people have missed the mark on what's "appropriate".
Mass Effect is science fiction with a well defined history and takes into consideration the laws of physics and other realistic motifs. Many of the things that happened in the final moments just don't make sense. The continuity of the series has been pretty smooth so far, so why is it the endings contradict many of the things previously written in the previous games? Science fiction is merely fiction grounded by science. There is no magic. Only ideas that are firmly rooted in what may be possible can be used.

May I ask what ending you chose?
 

leic7

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Since my Shepard has always been kind, humble, and very much pro-choice paragon, she chose the option that reflects all of those qualities of course.

Maybe the physics courses I've taken had different content than other people's physics courses, Mass Effect has never been something I'd think of as being at all rigorous in that department. And it's perfectly okay because it's pop culture sci-fi.
 

Vulpes Abnocto

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Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities;
Truth isn't.

~Mark Twain


(In other words, Fiction has to make sense)
 

Sterling

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Since my Shepard has always been kind, humble, and very much pro-choice paragon, she chose the option that reflects all of those qualities of course.

Maybe the physics courses I've taken had different content than other people's physics courses, Mass Effect has never been something I'd think of as being at all rigorous in that department. And it's perfectly okay because it's pop culture sci-fi.
Please, put the ending you chose in a spoiler. I'd like to know what ending you thought was the most "pro-paragon".
 

RE4zombie

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@[member='TwinRetro']
No, I simply stopped buying King's books after he finished the Dark Tower series. That was another ending that left a bad taste in my mouth.

But Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had to go back and rewrite the ending to one of his Sherlock Holmes books when he killed off his protagonist.
He did this because of public outcry against the ending.
EDIT: Ninja'd by Gundam Eclipse

The Dark Tower ending was nothing like that of Mass Effect 3. It did provide a resolution for all the characters, and it did make sense in the context of the story. Also, Stephen King put in an afterword to warn you from reading the final sequence where Roland climbs through the tower if you wanted a happy ending. There was more element of choice for the reader in regards to the end of the novels than was given to ME3 players. That really should not be the case.
 

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Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities;
Truth isn't.

~Mark Twain

(In other words, Fiction has to make sense)

Ironically, Mark Twain's greatest literary work also had an ending that remains extremely contested to this day on the grounds that it was not the sensible resolution to the story (among many other reasons).

Not making a point or anything, I just found that worth noting.
 
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