Mass Effect 3

[Carbo]

Having not actually played or cared about Mass Effect 3 while still immensely enjoying it's predecessor, I have to say that having actually seen the ending now it's perhaps the most bullshit injustice to one really well executed sci-fi story I've ever seen.

I usually abhor Angry Joe with a passion but I'm surprised he could keep a cool about this subject of all things and actually be pretty damn informative of everything that's just wrong about it. I usually hate the idea of developers doing things like "fix the ending through DLC" or some shit, but in this scenario I'm seriously all for it.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

I couldn't agree more. DLC may very much be what is needed to help make this feel right, because it feel so much like a kick in the balls to all you've worked for.

ME2 gave you a reap your rewards or suffer your consequences when it came to its suicide mission, 3's ending didn't give anything like that.

[Stacy]

Okay I am At the Cerberus Base and IGN's guide says I have to have over 4000 Effective Military Strength in order to get the best ending, I have about 2750 and I have done all the side missions. I have no access to online play to boost my Readiness Rating. So how the hell do I reach 4000?

GOD, this shit complicated. I just want to complete the fucking thing with the right ending, I have a life.

[turbojet]

Okay I am At the Cerberus Base and IGN's guide says I have to have over 4000 Effective Military Strength in order to get the best ending, I have about 2750 and I have done all the side missions. I have no access to online play to boost my Readiness Rating. So how the hell do I reach 4000?

GOD, this shit complicated. I just want to complete the fucking thing with the right ending, I have a life.

Have to get at least 6000 military strength. You can do it by completing little missions on the citadel.

[Stacy]

Have to get at least 6000 military strength. You can do it by completing little missions on the citadel.

Yes I have done that.

That is Total military strength, not effective in order to get the best ending you need at least 4000 effective military strength.

There is a difference between Total and effective military strength.

My total Military Strength 5710.

My effective is only 2855.

Readiness rating is 50% (You have to play online to increase, your fucked if you don't have Xbox Live like me).

I have done every side mission and I have scan nearly every system.

Why does it have be so complex compare to ending system of the previous games?

Edited March 23, 2012 by BW199148

[turbojet]

Yes I have done that.

That is Total military strength, not effective in order to get the best ending you need at least 4000 effective military strength.

There is a difference between Total and effective military strenght.

My total Military Strength 5710.

My effective is only 2855.

Readiness rating is 50% (You have to play online to increase, your fucked if you don't have Xbox Live like me).

I have done every side mission and I have scan nearly every system.

Why does it have be so complex compare to ending system of the previous games?

Did you talk to Allers and do interviews? She alone can get you the additional war assets of a thousand.

[Stacy]

Did you talk to Allers and do interviews? She alone can get you the additional war assets of a thousand.

Yes. I have followed the guide to a T.

Edited March 23, 2012 by BW199148

[Emmett L. Brown]

Until Bioware fixes the ending (which they've vaguely promised to maybe possibly do in April) I wouldn't care about military strength. The best possible ending just adds 5 seconds of pointless teasing. The rest of the end sequence is functionally identical to the mediocre and bad endings.

Unlike in Mass Effect 2, your preparations for the final level don't actually matter.

[Stacy]

I am currently inside the Citidel, some of my options are greyed out when I get to the bit before The illusive Man shoots Anderson, I hate that the ending is based on Military Strength BS than how good or bad you are like the previous two games.

ME2's ending was easier.

EDIT: They are not going to fix ending knowing EA.

Edited March 23, 2012 by BW199148

[Emmett L. Brown]

I am currently inside the Citidel, some of my options are greyed out when I get to the bit before The illusive Man shoots Anderson, I hate that the ending is based on Military Strength BS than how good or bad you are like the previous two games.

ME2's ending was easier.

EDIT: They are not going to fix ending knowing EA.

Greyed out, you say? I do know that to be able to choose the Paragon/Renegade options during the final confrontation with TIM, you have to have chose Paragon/Renegade in every previous conversation with him and have maxed out Reputation.

The military strength thing does affect which choices you get in the next scene, but all those choices suck balls, so no matter.

[Stacy]

Yeah I managed to finger it out,

So I have done it after a Week or so on it and this my reaction:

I got the good ending shepard died Normandy crew lived, Mass Relays went bye bye and saw the bit where the OAP talks to the young child.

I really wanted the Perfect ending, but in order do that I have play online and I can't be fucking arsed esepcially seeing as I am not on Xbox Live.

Either way for what I heard all endings are woefully disapointing that leaves so much open. Especaily the Reaper God-Child.

With the Mass Relays gone does that mean the Universe is cut off from each other?

My Paragon ending would of been Shepard shoots The Illusive man in the forehead and saves Anderson, activates the Crucible the Repears eat shit and die and then Shepard get his own talking action figure line and gets laid my an orgy of Asari. The fucking End.

EDIT: this got me:

"Commander Shepard has become a legend by ending the Reaper threat. Now you can continue to build that legend through further gameplay and downloadable content".

Edited March 23, 2012 by BW199148

[Carbo]

So get this; allegedly the ending is a result of a gigantic miscommunication with one writer deciding to take everything solo, and content was apparently removed without BioWare's consent.

BioWare writer Patrick Weekes is well known on the Penny Arcade forums as user Takyris. Earlier, that account allegedly posted a fairly damning diatribe about Mass Effect 3's controversial ending. In it, the author claims that the game's finale was written by Casey Hudson and lead writer Mac Walters without any input from the rest of the team, and many protests from the other writers were ultimately ignored.

Now, the reason I've been throwing around the word allegedly like it's nothing is because the entire story has become very muddled by recent events. The original post has since been deleted, and several other posts on the Penny Arcade forums quoting the post have been edited to remove the text, ostensibly because the author asked that he not be quoted.

In addition, BioWare's community coordinator Chris Priestly has said that after contacting Weekes about the matter, he's decided it's nothing more than an imitation.

That being said, the text in question does seem to have some insider knowledge of Mass Effect 3's development process, and subsequent responses on the Penny Arcade forums, as well as one trusted firsthand source, have indicated to us that the text in question did, in fact, originate with the Takyris account. That's obviously not solid proof that Weekes penned the post himself, but it's quite clear that the situation isn't cut and dry either way.

In the interest of not making the hearsay any worse than it already is, we've reproduced the full text of the message below. Verified or not, it provides an interesting perspective on Mass Effect 3's ending, and it's a worthy read regardless of the source. There are some major spoilers, though, so be warned.

Update: We've received an anonymous tip with a screencap of Takyris' messages on the Penny Arcade forums requesting that those discussing the game's ending not attribute the pertinent facts to him. The posts are dated March 11.

[ChaosXVI]

Honestly I feel like there should be as many different endings as possible depending on A. Choices you've made, and B. Total War Assets acquired. Maybe even 1 where Shepard lives, but to me that isn't incredibly important. Some other choices I'd make is an ending where you basically tell the God Child to eat shit, another where you find the God Child is actually a figment of Shepard's imagination or some kind of Reaper illusion to show that the reapers are trying to indoctrinate him/her, and most importantly of all, an ending that doesn't destroy the fucking mass relays!

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Here's what I was expecting:

Best ending: Shepherd kills the Reapers. The whole galaxy is obviously devastated from their attack, but they survive and go through a LONG process of rebuilding. If Shepherd romanced someone, they can spend the rest of their life with them. If not, he can just chill however he wants.

Bittersweet Ending 1: Shepherd kills the Reapers. However, based on your actions, if you made some desicions that end up weakening you in the final battle, Shepherd may die as a result along with some of the squadmates. But the galaxy survives and begins rebuilding, with Shepherd and his friends being remembered as the greatest heroes in the galaxy. Certain civilizations are completely annihilated while the rest rebuild.

Bittersweet Ending 2: Same as the first one, except Shepherd lives while some or all of his squadmates die. As an added bonus, the character you romanced may or may not die, impacting the player even more.

Bad Ending 1: Shepherd fails, the Reapers win and harvest every advanced species in the galaxy before going back into dark space to repeat the cycle.

Bad Ending 2: Shepherd FUCKS UP! The Reapers die, but ALL life on the galaxy dies with them.

Tell me this isn't like the Suicide Mission from ME2, but with even BIGGER stakes. This is what I was expecting, but I wouldn't know how it fully played out. I just know that the Mass Relays had no business being destroyed, and however they wanted the God Child to play out should not have been like that.

Honestly, why in the hell did we get something that makes many players feel what they did didn't even matter?

Edited March 24, 2012 by ChaosSupremeSonic

[-Robin-]

In a break from the livid atmosphere, The GameOverthinker made a video over the ME3 ending on his show, providing a counter-argument of sorts to the common complaints.

http://www.screwatta...68-crass-effect

(The "meat," if you will, of the show starts around the 2:15 mark)

Edited March 26, 2012 by Cryogonal

[Stacy]

In a break from the livid atmosphere, The GameOverthinker made a video over the ME3 ending on his show, providing a counter-argument of sorts to the common complaints.

http://www.screwatta...68-crass-effect

(The "meat," if you will, of the show starts around the 2:15 mark)

Yeah another over opinionated game reviewer like I have seen one of those before.

I still think the plot was bad enough for me to massively disapointed.

However, I don't not expect EA or Bioware to give us a new ending. EA didn't do one for C&C4 they ain't going to do for ME3.

I am not a big fan of AngryJoe but his Top Ten Mass Effect 3 Ending was spot on and I say counters this counter-arguement.

Don't get me wrong I loved ME3, it was a bit long but I still enjoyed the game and story was solid right up until the ending Citidel part and I didn't like how the amount of War Assets only effects the last 15 minutes of gameplay rather than say during the space battle which I thought it would.

[Carbo]

However, I don't not expect EA or Bioware to give us a new ending. EA didn't do one for C&C4 they ain't going to do for ME3.

They are. Through a DLC campaign. Which will be paid for because of restrictions imposed by Microsoft. Bioware have pretty much confirmed it themselves at this point, both through Twitter accounts and interviews.

The above fact also effectively destroys more than half of Bob's counter-arguments which are already misinformed and filled with bullshit to such degrees that I'd have a field day ripping it apart before telling him off to stick to talking about movies and play with his precious Tanooki Tail video games.

Released "art" is not beyond critique, Bob, especially if it's shit. "Art" didn't stop the original release of A Clockwork Orange to be rewritten vastly for reissues of the book and the movie which now have what is considered the canon ending. And yes, Bioware did lie to us outright by saying the game wouldn't feature an A, B or C ending that goes against the game's entire identity and message. ME3's prior promises and execution are such monumental fuck ups that I'd have to pull an analogy and equate it to going to a restaurant, buying and being promised Chicken Katsu Curry, but instead being served expired Canned Tuna. Because compared to the rest of the series, that's what the ending is.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Released "art" is not beyond critique, Bob, especially if it's shit. "Art" didn't stop the original release of A Clockwork Orange to be rewritten vastly for reissues of the book and the movie which now have what is considered the canon ending. And yes, Bioware did lie to us outright by saying the game wouldn't feature an A, B or C ending that goes against the game's entire identity and message. ME3's prior promises and execution are such monumental fuck ups that I'd have to pull an analogy and equate it to going to a restaurant, buying and being promised Chicken Katsu Curry, but instead being served expired Canned Tuna. Because compared to the rest of the series, that's what the ending is.

[Stacy]

They are. Through a DLC campaign. Which will be paid for because of restrictions imposed by Microsoft. Bioware have pretty much confirmed it themselves at this point, both through Twitter accounts and interviews.

Edited March 26, 2012 by BW199148

[turbojet]

Another fucking valid point.

Why in the hell did God child make the crucible, a weapon that could conceivably end the reaper invasion, just so a species could use it? It makes no goddamned sense for him to be both creator of his creation and its destroyer of its creation. Oh my fuck. Thinking about this ending is getting me angry all over again. There is no way Bioware can make it better for me unless they give me a renegade Phantom companion.

This pretty much sums up the Reapers after ME3.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

And so Yahtzee makes his say on the Ending.

I don't know what it is, but it's like these people aren't bothering to get the point as to why people are miffed about the ending.

They're not asking for a happy ending (okay, that's a bit untrue), they're asking for an ending that makes all their actions relevant. Basically if they fucked up when they were doing something in Mass Effect 2 and that came to bite them in Mass Effect 3, they wanted to feel that impact. Whether they lived or died, saved the galaxy or doomed it, either one would have be what they wanted so long as they see how their actions lead to the end.

How many people complained about all their teammates dying and having Shepherd killed when they screwed up the Suicide Mission in ME2 and got the worst ending possible? They could've used those moments to do things differently if they wanted to try again and get their team out alive the next time. ME3 doesn't give you that in the end, and this along with many other problems with the ending are people have an issue with.

People keep seeing it as forcing the developers to bend over backwards for us over the ending, when in reality it's getting them to live up to the promise they made for the game and failed to meet expectations. Basically, give us an ending that made us feel as tho everything we've done since Mass Effect 1 was worth it or that the things we didn't do are what bit us in ass and screwed us over. It's like people aren't even trying to see why the fandom is pissed off.

I can understand how gamers are such entitled bastards that they may not be so deserving of anything, but this is quite a different beast because gamers in this case have every reason to feel like they're owed something. I may have cuttled my point somewhat in saying that, but you can get the drift I'm making.

Edited March 27, 2012 by ChaosSupremeSonic

[Stacy]

Also why does Ashley in ME3 look like Sandra Bullock?

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

I dunno, but I'm not complainin'. I've long since romanced her in ME1, I'm glad she looks prettier in ME3.

[turbojet]

Also why does Ashley in ME3 look like Sandra Bullock?

Why does my Black Shepard look like a young Malcolm X? Nobody knows...

[Yong]

Another fucking valid point.

Why in the hell did God child make the crucible, a weapon that could conceivably end the reaper invasion, just so a species could use it? It makes no goddamned sense for him to be both creator of his creation and its destroyer of its creation. Oh my fuck. Thinking about this ending is getting me angry all over again. There is no way Bioware can make it better for me unless they give me a renegade Phantom companion.

At what point did the Catalyst say it made the Crucible? The Crucible was something designed by organics to be utilized with the Catalyst's systems, not something designed by the god child itself. The Crucible being attached to the Citadel opened up new possibilities to the Catalyst who was now admitting that its plan was ultimately flawed and will no longer work.