Jump to content
Awoo.

Mass Effect 3


Patticus

Recommended Posts

Looks like I'm doing a good job of keeping myself spoiler free so far, but it appears that the ending is a big gripe of many people who've played this game.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My God, that ending sucked.

Mass Effect 3 further streamlines the gameplay, the combat is faster and looser than ME2, and thoroughly enjoyable (really got a kick out of the improved combat system in ME3). Graphically it feels like a small improvement over it's predecessor.

Streamlined gameplay, yes. But there are arguably more missions and dialogue in ME3 than the first one. ME just set up character development well, but why suffer through that if you already know these characters and these races? Why bother with monologues about the Asari culture when you can just read the damn codex? ME3 had vastly more RPG elements than all three games since you could pretty much customize your armor, weapons, your squad mates weapons, and so many missions.

  • Thumbs Up 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Keep hearing about how bad the ending is, both in terms of mechanics and the conclusion according to your choices. Oh well. I'm just gonna enjoy the journey because so far (just completed the first priority mission on the Citadel) it has been amazing. I mean seriously, this might be my second favourite game if it continues like this. The characters are more realised, the combat is more fluid, the RPG elements are better, the multiplayer is fun, your crew of squadmates actually feels like a proper crew and the production values are pretty damn good. I mean wow, I haven't grinned so much while playing a video game in a very long time, and it's the first time I've shed a tear for a video game since Phoenix Wright 3. Just great stuff all round.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ok, so I guess I will buy all 3 games or maybe just watch ME1 on youtube...nah I'll play them all. Gotta be a good reason ME2 won 2010 GOTY

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh Grumpy,

your Shepard can live if you do everything correctly.

Yeah, I heard about that. But it's only in the "Destroy" ending

and that means EDI will die. Which is not an acceptable scenario; she's my favourite character. Oh, and the newly-sentient Geth will become extinct, which is also bad. It's weird, but the choice exemplified by Anderson seems like a Renegade solution: Destroy the Reapers at the cost of an entire race of self-aware individuals. Not to mention that it's the same race that proves the Catalyst Kid's logic to be false. It's like he's bitter about it. He magically knows about the Geth, so he should know they're proof that synthetics and organics can coexist without needing that synthesis bullshit.

Also, even if Shepard survives, the love interest is stranded on an alien planet with no hope of reunion in their lifetime (Well, Liara might live long enough, but no dice for Shep). That's such a slap in the face after spending three games developing a relationship.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah, I heard about that. But it's only in the "Destroy" ending

and that means EDI will die. Which is not an acceptable scenario; she's my favourite character. Oh, and the newly-sentient Geth will become extinct, which is also bad. It's weird, but the choice exemplified by Anderson seems like a Renegade solution: Destroy the Reapers at the cost of an entire race of self-aware individuals. Not to mention that it's the same race that proves the Catalyst Kid's logic to be false. It's like he's bitter about it. He magically knows about the Geth, so he should know they're proof that synthetics and organics can coexist without needing that synthesis bullshit.

Also, even if Shepard survives, the love interest is stranded on an alien planet with no hope of reunion in their lifetime (Well, Liara might live long enough, but no dice for Shep). That's such a slap in the face after spending three games developing a relationship.

  • Thumbs Up 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree wholeheartedly. These ending just make the entire journey in all 3 games a mute point. It doesn't matter what you do because in the end, your decisions throughout the journey won't reflect the end and it has no bearing. I would have been perfectly okay with the end just being Shepard and Anderson sitting down, battered and bloodied, looking down on Earth and then the Super weapon fired. Mission Accomplished. We win the war. Happily every after. Book end. It is like whoever wrote the series just couldn't stop writing,

But how would that be any different when most people's compliant is that "your decisions did not matter in the end"? Either you're taking a long walk or sitting down. Either way you're getting a static ending where "nothing else mattered."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd like to be a fly on the wall in Bioware's office these days. No matter what news is published, the fans in the comments talk about only one thing and one thing only. Their Facebook page is a testament to disappointment.

That said, I'm starting to get over it. Because a song once reminded me that I don't play video games for the endings, but for the journey...and the journey was fucking awesome!

http://www.newground...tal/view/576373

(That's a spoiler free link, just so you know. It's not specifically Mass Effect related)

Edited by Grumpy Old Guy
  • Thumbs Up 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

That said, I'm starting to get over it. Because a song once reminded me that I don't play video games for the endings, but for the journey...and the journey was fucking awesome!

Indeed. All these people bitching about their decisions not mattering in the end. Your decisions affected the final outcome of 2 multi-century old conflicts! The people you got to talk to before making the final assault are only there cause of your decisions that led them there. It's all about the journey, not the final destination.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Indeed. All these people bitching about their decisions not mattering in the end. Your decisions affected the final outcome of 2 multi-century old conflicts! The people you got to talk to before making the final assault are only there cause of your decisions that led them there. It's all about the journey, not the final destination.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed either. But only because Bioware essentially destroyed the Mass Effect universe as we know it. I want to see more done with the universe that they created, without Shepard if need be, yet it's going to be nigh impossible now with what happened in the ending. I wasn't expecting the end of Shepard's story to be the end of the rest of civiliation. However, DEMANDING from Bioware that the ending be changed is getting outright ridiculous.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Prior to Mass Effect 3 coming out it seemed as though either EA or Bioware were backpedaling heavily on the emphasis of bringing in your old save even though that was basically the entire point of the franchise.

It seems to me as though the ending is supposed to be bad, but not be as bad as if the Reapers had done their thing as planned, but the problem I see with that interpretation is that they never manage to actually make the possibility of the reapers succeeding seem like something that could actually happen.

Either way, it's times like these that I'm glad I don't really like Bioware games.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Prior to Mass Effect 3 coming out it seemed as though either EA or Bioware were backpedaling heavily on the emphasis of bringing in your old save even though that was basically the entire point of the franchise.

Aside from the unintended glitches with transfering your face over from the previous games, everything else was working correctly. Decisions made all the way back in ME1 could affect war assets in ME3, among other things. Given the scope of all the possible branches that could be taken, Bioware did a good job of acknowledging all your decisions up to ME3. Well, aside from the ending of course.

Seeing a spliced together video on Youtube, the ending's actually more complex than one would initially think. It comes down to the fine details, and I really mean the fine details. Still though it can't be argued that they're not all essentially the same ending. But it's also not entirely true that none of your decisions mattered in the end.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It seems to me as though the ending is supposed to be bad, but not be as bad as if the Reapers had done their thing as planned, but the problem I see with that interpretation is that they never manage to actually make the possibility of the reapers succeeding seem like something that could actually happen.

Can you elaborate on what you mean by that?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Can you elaborate on what you mean by that?

Did you ever get the idea that you could mess up and the Reapers end up winning? Considering what happened previously, considering that the Protheans are ostensibly more advanced than current species, right? They didn't really win so why would you expect to? But yet it seems as even the worst ending still has the reapers lose.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thinking about it some more, there's always been a dichotomy between the story and the gameplay. The story has always resulted from choices made during decidedly story segments. What goes on when you're actually playing doesn't really have much bearing on what the story plays out so long as Shepard is alive at the end, your squad just gets back up. Life or death on the suicide mission was determined by a dice roll based on choices in menus.

Mass Effect 3 and Gangsters in Space were both kind of disappointing so they should have combined their resources and made a single thing. I'd be much more interested in importing my Saints Row the Third boss than my Shepard into this game. Imagine taking down a Reaper as the Boss.

*In orbit, observing from a distance*

Pierce: What do you think?

Boss: Some bastard's in my planet!

*Jump, cue Final Countdown*

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Phos... No. Just... No. I like Saint's Row The Third, but a random crossover with ME just wouldn't work. Period.

Besides, ME3 in general was fucking awesome, the only disappointing part was the multiple-choice ending, but the part JUST before that was magnificent, they could've just went straight from there, cut the ending choices, and did a more straightforward ending, and everyone would've been satisfied.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Life or death on the suicide mission was determined by a dice roll based on choices in menus.

Edited by ChaosSupremeSonic
  • Thumbs Up 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Besides, ME3 in general was fucking awesome, the only disappointing part was the multiple-choice ending, but the part JUST before that was magnificent, they could've just went straight from there, cut the ending choices, and did a more straightforward ending, and everyone would've been satisfied.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Again I doubt that. The main complaint I've been hearing about the ending was that "none of your previous decisions affects it." 1 "static" ending isn't any different from 3 choices leading to the same "static" ending.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So...um...apparently there's been leaked plans for DLC "The Truth" that'll give a proper ending. Bioware's response has been dismissal that they'd name anything "The Truth", because their inspired minds demand much better titles like "Overlord" or "Lair of the Shadow Broker".

I said on the previous page that I'd started a second playthrough to enjoy the journey rather than the destination, but I haven't played the game since then. I just can't get emotionally invested in the story now. I would honestly pay for a better ending, but any other DLC won't get any money from me, because I honestly don't give a shit what other stories happen in the Mass Effect universe when I know that everyone is doomed no matter what.

Was going to put spoiler tags in this post, but meh! There's no spoiling an ending that's already spoiled (pun).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I said 'straightforward', not 'static'. Big difference there. A more straightforward ending would change depending on your actions throughout the series, see the end result of your actions and the effects they have on the galaxy as a whole. The endings are they are completely invalidated a good deal of your choices, which was a massive cop-out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Did you ever get the idea that you could mess up and the Reapers end up winning? Considering what happened previously, considering that the Protheans are ostensibly more advanced than current species, right? They didn't really win so why would you expect to? But yet it seems as even the worst ending still has the reapers lose.

Yes. I did think the Reapers would win the war if I didn't collect enough war assets(I collected nearly a hundred percent) of make the right decisions. As shown in Mass Effect 2, if I didn't get the upgrades, a shit ton of people died. If I didn't take the time to know my crew, their odds of survival lessened or I would be dumb enough to actually listen to Miranda. And the Protheans weren't that much more advanced than the current cycle of species. Hell, everything indicated that they were prtetty much on the same level, but instead went the particle laser route instead of kinectic weapons. They just knew way ahead that the Reapers were coming and took advantage of that by making preparations to it by genetically modifying the asari, leaving beacons near developing primitive species just like their previous precursors before them did for them, and hoping to circumvent the reaper harvesting process by remaining dormant after each cycle.

What I don't get is why the endings did not cater to who won the war and chose how you won the war? It would make a shit ton more sense if the player who rushed through received the worst possible of ending: the Reapers win instead of getting a choice of how to destroy. It is like the writer was making an excellent tale and couldn't stop writing. The synthesis ending didn't even make sense. How in the hell is it even possible to combine synthetic life with human DNA or well fuck it, how is it even possible that a machine to do it that on a galactic scale to every organic alive? Nothing in this universe lent to the possibility of such a machine even existing and it feels like an asspull.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow...I got to the end.

What. The. Flying. Fuck?

The ending being polarizing is a HELL of an understatement. The whole time the series lead you to think you were trying to fight for survival, with the Reapers doing such horrific things to people for their own ends. The ending just says "meh...whatever" when it gives you the choice of what to do.

It's like you were fighting through the series for absolutely no reason at all. A slap to the face or anything you find bad about the ending just sounds like an understatement, because all you other work was basically for naught. Such a waste of storytelling, and just when we get to such a climactic ending.

You may say that isn't isn't the destination, it's the journey. And yeah, that was one hell of a journey and it was fun, I won't lie. But at the end of it, I'd like to think that taking the road was worth it. That was kind of what I felt was the point in this game. It was to be the end of a long journey you took, and at the end of that road you should be able to relax or suffer based off of your choices; instead once you reach the end of the journey, it feels like you're forced off the edge of a cliff with no other option. The choices at the end aren't so much sadistic than they are illogical when you listen to the Catalyst. He says that Organics and Synthetics can't get along, but if you managed make the Geth and Quarians become friends it bombs a huge hole in that logic.

This game was what I thought to be the kind of game that was tailor-maded to specific players experiencing it, and it gives you rewards and/or consequences based on your choice. I remained faithful to my romance choice since ME1, but in the ending I can no longer be with her? I make friends with an AI help put her in a relationship with one of my other friends, and the ending I would have preferred results in her death? I save a race of synthetics who I felt were misunderstood and I still wind up destroying all of them in my desire to end the Reapers? What about all those species who sacrificed so much to help save Earth in the end? They're basically stuck in the Sol System with no other means of traveling to their home colonies.

I don't know what they were going for here. It sounded like they were trying to make a philosophical point regarding organics and machines, as opposed to survival or die as you were led before that point.

I can definitely see the disappointment. Rest assured: The majority of this game's writing is just excellent, it's up until you get to the ending that everything just goes to dirt.

EDIT: So it seems Bioware has steped up towards the criticism and want to rectify it.

Edited by ChaosSupremeSonic
  • Thumbs Up 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

You must read and accept our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy to continue using this website. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.