Mass Effect 3 Discussion Thread

[quote name='AshesofWake']well I already explained in another post, but to me, the decisions you made only affected HOW the games were going to be played out. What I mean is HOW you reach the end. For me I never had Ashley through all three games. And that's the aspect of Mass Effect that was intriguing. To me, it was always going to end with the Reapers being destroyed ultimately, but everything else was what affected the next game and so on. I mean to me the ending was fantastic or anything, it was fine.
in my run through Tali ended up killing herself and I lost the entire Quarian fleet and in the end game I never saw the Quarians anymore or even heard about them so therefore to me it worked out pretty ok as following my decisions.
The majority of decisions you make through the Mass Effecr series have really nothing to do with the end game. They are just side choices like deciding if you're going to punch a reporter or give an interview. How is a decision like that have really anything to do with ending the Reaper invasion? That's where I'm coming from.[/QUOTE]

Thats totally fair if thats what you expected but that isnt what they said was going to be the case. People were right to expect the decisions to impact the end and its reasonable to take issue with it.

Think about the Rachni. Felt like a big decision in the first game and that decision has zero impact on the game.
 
[quote name='js1']Mac walters is the guy who messed(badly) the latest ME novel..[/QUOTE]

That was William C. Deitz, not Mac Walters. Mac is actually a very good writer, and did the Evolution comic series and a few others. I do not blame him for teh turn out as all of his work has been very solid and set teh base for many of the arcs in the game.
 
[quote name='yankeessuck']Thats totally fair if thats what you expected but that isnt what they said was going to be the case. People were right to expect the decisions to impact the end and its reasonable to take issue with it.

Think about the Rachni. Felt like a big decision in the first game and that decision has zero impact on the game.[/QUOTE]

I'd really like you to show quotes from Bioware stating that the ending to the triology would differ based on choices throughout the game.

On a side note, after having finished it - does anyone know what galactic readiness and all those war assets do? What does it change at the end? I had like 97% but I'm wondering what would have happened if I had 60%. Nevermind, I found it
 
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[quote name='thrustbucket']I'd really like you to show quotes from Bioware stating that the ending to the triology would differ based on choices throughout the game.

On a side note, after having finished it - does anyone know what galactic readiness and all those war assets do? What does it change at the end? I had like 97% but I'm wondering what would have happened if I had 60%. Nevermind, I found it[/QUOTE]

Official Mass Effect Website
http://masseffect.com/about/story/

“Experience the beginning, middle, and end of an emotional story unlike anyother, where the decisions you make completely shape your experience and outcome.”
Click to expand...

Interview with Mike Gamble (Associate Producer)
http://www.360magazine.co.uk/intervi...erent-endings/

“There are many different endings. We wouldn’t do it any other way. How could you go through all three campaigns playing as your Shepard and then be forced into a bespoke ending that everyone gets? But I can’t say any more than that…”
Click to expand...


Interview with Mike Gamble (Associate Producer)
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...e-people-angry

“Every decision you've made will impact how things go. The player's also the architect of what happens."

“Because a lot of these plot threads are concluding and because it's being
brought to a finale, since you were a part of architecting how they
got to how they were, you will definitely sense how they close was
because of the decisions you made and because of the decisions you
didn't make”
Click to expand...

Interviewer: [Regarding the numerous possible endings of Mass Effect 2] “Is that same type of complexity built into the ending of Mass Effect 3?”

Hudson:“Yeah, and I’d say much more so, because we have the ability to build the endings out in a way that we don’t have to worry about eventually tying them back together somewhere. This story arc is coming to an end with this game. That means the endings can be a lot more different. At this point we’re taking into account so many decisions that you’ve made as a player and reflecting a lot of that stuff. It’s not even in any way like the traditional game endings,where you can say how many endings there are or whether you got ending A, B, or C.....The endings have a lot more sophistication and variety in them.”

“We have a rule in our franchise that there is no canon. You as a player decide what your story is.”
Click to expand...

Interview with Mac Walters (Lead Writer)
http://popwatch.ew.com/2012/02/28/mass-effect-3-mac-walters/

“[The presence of the Rachni] has huge consequences in Mass
Effect 3. Even just in the final battle with the Reapers.
Click to expand...

And it goes on and on
 
I finished the game yesterday and man was I disappointed. The narrative just completely loses focus at the end and the plot holes are just abundant. Everything that Casey Hudson and others from Bioware had talked about the whole time leading into this game are borderline lies imo. In the end it turns out that your decisions really don't mean jack shit, the decisions in the first two games have such little impact on ME3 that it's almost insulating to the player. I mean at the end of ME2 I lost Samara and Jack....I thought this might really change some things for me in ME3. NOPE, they were just replaced by some generic people of their race and plugged into the holes.

Really in the entirety of the series Paragon/Renegade really doesn't mean shit. I honestly don't even know why they outlined which choices were which on the good/bad scale, games series like The Witcher handle it much better by just giving you choices....you decide what's good and bad. These are choices that drastically alter the rest of the game as well (I beg any of you who like this series to try The Witcher 2 when it hits 360 if you haven't played the series yet....so good :cool:). I am glad to see so many people are upset at this whole situation, it shows how much people can care about stories that are told in games, especially a game series over many years like this.

My final thoughts on the series in general are that I loved it, even though each game has different issues. ME3 is the overall smoothest experience of the three games but the story fails imo. I believe the story gets a little worse as the series goes honestly, ME1 had such a strong narrative, ME2 was just ever so slightly behind it for me (but still very good), and ME3 was good until the last few hours when it all fell apart.

Bioware created one of the greatest fictional universes in the history of games imo, but their storytelling wasn't up the challenge. The Mass Effect universe is more interesting than the actual narrative that is told.
 
[quote name='yankeessuck']And it goes on and on[/QUOTE]

Truth bomb...deployed...

Not only did Bioware come out and say that your decisions would shape the endings, everything in the series leading up to that would lead you to believe so. There is something called expectations. When you're playing 3 games for hundreds of hours, and every, little thing you've done has shaped your game into a radically different experience from another gamer's, it's beyond disappointing to learn that everyone who got the "best" endings got to pick
from three different colored lights that ended up portraying the same ending with slight differences.
Honestly, Bioware teased us, both with their words and actions. There was really no reason to expect copy and paste endings, but that's what we got. It's no big surprise that people are disappointed.
 
Ok so it does sound like at some point they expected to end up with something other than what came out. I still don't feel it was that bad.

As a former game designer, I can't imagine how much work it would have taken to make customized dynamic endings to the degree many of you seem to expect. It would have literally taken nearly as much dev time for the last 15 minutes that the rest of the game took.

It's clear that most of you feel the end didn't live up to the rest of the series. I contend that the end COULDN'T have lived up to your expectations (at least not without 6-9 months having the whole team work on the last 15 minutes - which would automatically make the game impossible to turn a profit).

I do agree that the fact that you are given a choice out of three which end up being the same is a bit shitty - unless Bioware comes out and says they intend to release sequels based on your choices.
 
[quote name='thrustbucket']Ok so it does sound like at some point they expected to end up with something other than what came out. I still don't feel it was that bad.[/SPOILER][/QUOTE]
Some of those quotes are from 2012, when the ending was already finalized, and any reasonable person would agree that they simply do not describe the ending sequence that had already been written. There are even more damning interview quotes that haven't been reproduced in this thread.

I think most people would have been pretty happy with text screens a la Dragon Age and Fallout, describing the fates of the different races ("The quarians and geth lived happily ever after together" vs. "The geth mercilessly hunted down the quarians") rather than a situation that made all that stuff irrelevant anyway.
 
[quote name='Ryuukishi']Some of those quotes are from 2012, when the ending was already finalized, and any reasonable person would agree that they simply do not describe the ending sequence that had already been written. There are even more damning interview quotes that haven't been reproduced in this thread.

I think most people would have been pretty happy with text screens a la Dragon Age and Fallout, describing the fates of the different races ("The quarians and geth lived happily ever after together" vs. "The geth mercilessly hunted down the quarians") rather than a situation that made all that stuff irrelevant anyway.[/QUOTE]

Doubt it
 
Ok let's explore the possibilities we fans were expecting in ME3:
In regards to,
The best missions in our game are the ones in which the gameplay and the narrative reinforce each other.
Click to expand...
Having end sequences such as:
The Krogan charging in with numbers, led by whoever you supported, against the Reapers and the Rachni. Optional scene with some Krogan riding large beasts, if you found the extinct animal fossil tied to side quest.

Assari biotic commandos and dropships reeking havoc with the Reapers. Possibly putting up barriers or using shockwave or pull to attack key areas of interest. Optional scene of biotic commandos tied to Ardat-Yakshi mission.

Turians and their armada of cruisers and battalions of troops fighting lead by whoever you supported. Optional scene with Garrus leading a special scouting/sniper party tied to whether you decided to shoot the target or not on the Citadel when you two were doing target practice.

Salarians fighting using dropships, tech and scientific engineering tactics (ex)pack of varrens or Yahg being used). Optional scene with whoever you decided to support leading a STG attack.

Those are the three main Council races, could have more, followed with some small scenes of the others like:
Mercenary attacks, from Blue Suns/Blood Pack/Eclipse, lead by Aria T' Loak herself. Optional scene relating to if the player took back Omega (future DLC?:bouncy:).

Quarian and Geth fighting side by side, or just one of them depending on what happened on Rannoch, against the Reapers.

Volus, Elcor (with mounted guns (mass effect cannons?!) on their back, Hanar and Drell all attacking the Reapers.
Slight shots of:
Jack with students using biotic powers in either offensive or supporting roles, depending on decision with Academy mission.
Samara fighting depending on what decisions taken with Ardat-Yakshi mission.
Ex Cerberus troops fighting reapers lead by Miranda, depending if still alive from Horizon mission.
blah, blah, ect, etc
Just some things that could have been done directly related to the previous gameplay imo. To just get these as "war assets" was a kick in the balls with the ending we got.
 
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[quote name='Ryuukishi']Compared to now? :lol:[/QUOTE]

Considering how ridiculous this whole thing has gotten, having text endings probably would have been blown out of proportions too
 
I've discussed the ending with my friends and it seems like half of them liked it and the other half didn't. Those that did always brought up the whole
Indoctrination theory
. >_> I'm not sure why seeing as BioWare didn't come up with it. Either way, the ending was not what it should have been honestly.
 
This is my last day playing MP. Getting kicked out because of randoms because my N7 is only 80, and two other have 470 and 540(which would require something north of 65-70 hours within the less than 3 weeks its been out), sorry randoms, I actually have a life. And I've seen people with N7 of 60 play better than guys rated 250.
 
[quote name='6er']This is my last day playing MP. Getting kicked out because of randoms because my N7 is only 80, and two other have 470 and 540(which would require something north of 65-70 hours within the less than 3 weeks its been out), sorry randoms, I actually have a life. And I've seen people with N7 of 60 play better than guys rated 250.[/QUOTE]

Don't give up hope. Those people are asses, and there's a good chance they're playing as a group looking for certain people to join.

However, you can still find random groups who are willing to take on people at even lower levels.

Or you could join up with some XBL friends and play that way.
 
[quote name='yankeessuck']Thats totally fair if thats what you expected but that isnt what they said was going to be the case. People were right to expect the decisions to impact the end and its reasonable to take issue with it.

Think about the Rachni. Felt like a big decision in the first game and that decision has zero impact on the game.[/QUOTE]


yeah see, that's where I AM actually frustrated about. Stuff like the rachni, or the decision to keep the collector base or not. I always thought if you kept it, Cerberus was going to have advanced tech in ME3 and if you didn't there would have been something different in place. The lack of side missions, the fact that the day 1 DLC wasn't free when it had a character that changed the whole aspect. THAT is what people should be more pissed about than an ending that was fine for what it was, I mean yeah, again it wasn't fantastic, but it's not as horrible and atrocious as everyone is making it seem. My huge beef is everything else that didn't mean anything. For me, it's insane that more decisions in ME1 and ME2 didn't pop up more in ME3 in some sort of way. Because that actually affects my gameplay experience. But meh! haha
 
OK, now that things are settling down a little I feel like we could have a better exchange of ideas without the name calling of "entitled nerd-rage" or "whiners". Mainly, this should be a discussion. I've posted too many times with my thoughts probably already. But here is how I tend to see the posts going...

Complaint about ending, various levels or reason given (or not).
"I was fine with it. How else could it end?"
Rebuttal with quotes from Bioware staff, ending thoughts.
"It's art"
Discuss the medium as art, how that might color things.
"Shut up crybaby"

I got into a small war of words with a poor writer from Gamesbeat over this, since it was pretty much the same thing. No real time taken to appreciate another persons position. I wouldn't spam the ratings like some of those Amazon people, I think that was wrong and demeaning of the whole experience. Although I did think of donating to the Child's Play "petition" before they capped it.

AshesofWake. Great points about how the journey was the most important part to you. And yes, I fully admit the ride was great. Seeing all of those minor characters come up was fun, but it didn't hold too much value when most were replaced. That does lend itself closely to what thrustbucket mentioned. You have the main path of the story, and completely removing or replacing key storyline arcs because X character is dead would be very hard to accomplish. So their response was to put in another minor character. Now, that tends to affect the strength of your war assets score and survival of characters at times. It gives reward for your actions. Bravo.

Back to one of thrustbuckets quotes "I do agree that the fact that you are given a choice out of three which end up being the same is a bit shitty - unless Bioware comes out and says they intend to release sequels based on your choices." Now, that seems to me like a bigger insult than DLC. If their purpose from the start was to end Shepard's story....but now have realized that more money can be made from the franchise? Then they intentionally left the ending like this in order to sell more games that take place after the end of ME3. That's not an artistic decision, it's a business decision. Shepard's story has always been tied to the Reapers. If they had always planned for the story to continue, I might have been OK with that from the start. But the quotes as provided above mislead us into believing we are getting a conclusion.

While on that note, I'll admit I don't have the experience to say how long an ending takes to make. Then again, I didn't want to shell out 2.99 (plus the cost of an ipad) to find out. This is a completely revolutionary affair, making this many decisions with permutations across three titles. I had thought from previous articles and those "making of" videos from the ME1 CE, that they at least had a vision. Now, that could change and probably did many many times. But that doesn't mean the task is impossible. Other choice based games (although in a more limited content) accomplish the same task. Hopefully this won't eat up too much space, but here are links to two of them.

youtube/watch?v=b7hCJhkxS1o" - Fallout 3
youtube/watch?v=4dqFxLW6pqg" - Marvel UA 1 - Good
youtube/watch?v=1l9AKLDW4ek" - Marvel UA1 - Bad

Sorry, had to kill the links....the forum auto linked the videos and cut off everything below the first one.

Fallout's endings aren't very long, but hit a few key decisions and include morality and your final choice. Which I felt could have related to Paragon-Renegade and the last choice. Sacrifice is fine. I actually liked this ending better than the "broken steel" continuation. As for Marvel UA, you came across a lot of side missions. If you chose to do them (or not) you would get a combination of the scenes, not all of one or the other. Mass Effect has many many more, but not all were important. I don't need to know what became of Conrad Verner. But when you import your game in either 2 or 3, the game outlines key choices. Did you save the Council in part 1? That could affect the direction of those races. Is Wrex alive? That could impact the fate of the Krogan leadership, genophage cured or not. Save the Rachni Queen? Maybe those little buggers end up dying out, but their effort saves a higher population of another race like the Salarians or Asari from heavier losses.

Now, this is where someone could easily come at me and say "you are telling them how to make their ending". And I could see that. But from my perspective, it has been said that this ending couldn't have been done another way or that I don't appreciate their art. If it couldn't be done, why lie about it in interviews? If it's art, could I at least not have to pay for the artists explanation? I feel now like it might have been or could have been more. And either something happened during the creative process to change the ending thematically away from the entire rest of the series or it was done out of greed. And that just upsets me because I wanted to spend all this time talking about how great the series was and playing it again from part 1. I have lots of posts in the ME2 thread and here pre-release to that effect. Now I'm just disappointed. And I feel like sharing that feedback, because Bioware has openly listened to their fans.

I fully embrace any level-headed discussion as to why the ending was satisfying and clearly answered your questions/met your expectations.
 
I won't get into the ending, simply because I'm sure I'll spend an hour detailing my view and still somehow find a way not to like how it's progressed.

However, what level of "Pack" does medigel normally show up in? Because I played for like five hours today, and as I normally do, I purchase something after each round. I got a grand total of one medigel.
 
[quote name='Raccoon2117']I won't get into the ending, simply because I'm sure I'll spend an hour detailing my view and still somehow find a way not to like how it's progressed.

However, what level of "Pack" does medigel normally show up in? Because I played for like five hours today, and as I normally do, I purchase something after each round. I got a grand total of one medigel.[/QUOTE]

LOL. That's too bad, we had a brief but good exchange. As for the medi-gel, I think any of the 4 equipment items come in a pack, it's just random. From recruits packs - 1x, veteran - 3x. and spectre - 5x. I have the most of the ammo packs, just not used as much really. Experiment with the recruit packs a bit, I used them to get a bunch of the one-time use weapon/ammo mods and up my base weapons to lvl10. Also got some customization options for the female humans, which I never really saw in the others.
 
[quote name='Lord_Kefka']OK, now that things are settling down a little I feel like we could have a better exchange of ideas without the name calling of "entitled nerd-rage" or "whiners".[/QUOTE]Agreed.

Also, after Monday night school will slow waaay down for me - which means that I can finally start posting some real opinions on the game and help answer some questions people may have.

I'm pretty sure I made a post a bit ago saying that I wasn't going to get into the whole ending business, but since I'll have some free time this next week I'll allow myself to "enter the ring" (so to speak). I'm defintiely not looking forward to posting wall-o-texts, though. Oh well. I think a healthy ending discussion will be worth it (plus I like to pretend my posts carry some weight around here :cool:).
 
[quote name='Raccoon2117']Don't give up hope. Those people are asses, and there's a good chance they're playing as a group looking for certain people to join.

However, you can still find random groups who are willing to take on people at even lower levels.

Or you could join up with some XBL friends and play that way.[/QUOTE]

No one on my list was on or I would have. tried to add some people, but many of CAGs have full friends lists it seems,
 
[quote name='Lord_Kefka']LOL. That's too bad, we had a brief but good exchange. As for the medi-gel, I think any of the 4 equipment items come in a pack, it's just random. From recruits packs - 1x, veteran - 3x. and spectre - 5x. I have the most of the ammo packs, just not used as much really. Experiment with the recruit packs a bit, I used them to get a bunch of the one-time use weapon/ammo mods and up my base weapons to lvl10. Also got some customization options for the female humans, which I never really saw in the others.[/QUOTE]

I've got like thirty of each of the others though.

And pretty much the Recruit assault rifle and pistol have been maxed to level ten.

Ever since I got the option to hold three medigel in each round, I've failed to acquire any but that one.
 
[quote name='Lord_Kefka']OK, now that things are settling down a little I feel like we could have a better exchange of ideas without the name calling of "entitled nerd-rage" or "whiners".
Great points about how the journey was the most important part to you. And yes, I fully admit the ride was great. Seeing all of those minor characters come up was fun[/QUOTE]

See that's what's so odd about the ending, as I too agree the ride was great with little fan appreciation nods along the way. That's why I think the ending feels so far out of place, to me anyways.

Just did some multiplayer, been playing a PC game most of this weekend;), and you gotta love people that don't want to work as a team. Lol seriously!? Well I leveled up in those games anyways and yeah I finally got a crew to pull off a challenge. I've got so many ammo backups (think 47 now/ never use 'em), left d-pad, that I actually forgot to use them when I ran out of ammo and there was no way i could get to a cache on the level lol.
 
i think i've accidentally become one of those "elitists" that boots people i don't approve of from my lobbies. but then again, if you're joining gold with a level 3 and refuse to accept my party invite then i don't wanna be your friend either :cry:
 
[quote name='thrustbucket']Ok so it does sound like at some point they expected to end up with something other than what came out. I still don't feel it was that bad.

As a former game designer, I can't imagine how much work it would have taken to make customized dynamic endings to the degree many of you seem to expect. It would have literally taken nearly as much dev time for the last 15 minutes that the rest of the game took.

It's clear that most of you feel the end didn't live up to the rest of the series. I contend that the end COULDN'T have lived up to your expectations (at least not without 6-9 months having the whole team work on the last 15 minutes - which would automatically make the game impossible to turn a profit).

I do agree that the fact that you are given a choice out of three which end up being the same is a bit shitty - unless Bioware comes out and says they intend to release sequels based on your choices.
[/QUOTE]

I agree with everything you said... the problem is that they led players to believe (actually stated somewhere at least once, but I'm not going to look up the exact quote) that choices made would lead to a custom-tailored game and ending. They said that the choices you made across all three games would matter. And they didn't. The choices you made up until game 3 hardly matter at all, really. If they couldn't produce what they claimed, it's no real surprise, but they shouldn't had led people to expect something they couldn't deliver. :(
 
[quote name='6er']This is my last day playing MP. Getting kicked out because of randoms because my N7 is only 80, and two other have 470 and 540(which would require something north of 65-70 hours within the less than 3 weeks its been out), sorry randoms, I actually have a life. And I've seen people with N7 of 60 play better than guys rated 250.[/QUOTE]

I forgot what mine is at but I don't think it is at 80 yet. I have had people want to kick me when they see in the past and it seems like it is always when I pick a new class. When I started the MP it was every game I had one person wanting to kick. Now that I have leveled up some I get one or two every now and then that want to kick when I am playing a new class. After I reach level five or six with the class it seems to be fine. The few times after I do hit level five or six and I get someone wanting to kick I hear them on their mic in game. Once I hear them I realize they take it way to seriously. The way I see it this is just a game and if some N7 level 1 wants to run gold fine. I only kick if I'm sitting for so long and everyone but one person is ready.

[quote name='AshesofWake']yeah see, that's where I AM actually frustrated about. Stuff like the rachni, or the decision to keep the collector base or not. I always thought if you kept it, Cerberus was going to have advanced tech in ME3 and if you didn't there would have been something different in place. The lack of side missions, the fact that the day 1 DLC wasn't free when it had a character that changed the whole aspect. THAT is what people should be more pissed about than an ending that was fine for what it was, I mean yeah, again it wasn't fantastic, but it's not as horrible and atrocious as everyone is making it seem. My huge beef is everything else that didn't mean anything. For me, it's insane that more decisions in ME1 and ME2 didn't pop up more in ME3 in some sort of way. Because that actually affects my gameplay experience. But meh! haha[/QUOTE]

That is what I'm aggravated about. I bought the CE so the day one DLC came with it but I didn't even know it was DLC. I had to get online and find out that was what the DLC was. I thought the character and the mission were part of the game. They just felt like they fit to well into it. It would have been different if it was like the DLC that had Zaeed in it. He didn't seem to do much. This one however felt like it was intended to be part of the game. To me the ending I may not like much but is my least issue with this game.
 
For the merch whores (like myself), the razer N7 controller for the 360 has shipped from amazon. So if you ordered something from this line, it should be coming soon.
 
Finally finished. Ya know, it wasn't nearly as bad as I was expecting. Stupid? yep. Disappoining? Oh yeah. Relegates nearly every choice up until the end as pointless? Uh-huh.

But ya know what? This is Bioware. Bioware doesn't know how to end games. That coupled with all the internet rage apparently lowered my expectations so much that once the post-credit scene played, I shrugged, and thought back on all the memorable moments leading up to the ending. I feel satisfied.
 
[quote name='Zmonkay']Finally finished. Ya know, it wasn't nearly as bad as I was expecting. Stupid? yep. Disappoining? Oh yeah. Relegates nearly every choice up until the end as pointless? Uh-huh.

But ya know what? This is Bioware. Bioware doesn't know how to end games. That coupled with all the internet rage apparently lowered my expectations so much that once the post-credit scene played, I shrugged, and thought back on all the memorable moments leading up to the ending. I feel satisfied.[/QUOTE]

I bothered by the endings, but the ride was so awesome(entire series) that last 10 mins can't ruin the carpet but it is a stain on the rug..

Overall, I have to say I enjoyed ME 2 slightly more than ME 1, ME 2 is the best balance between storyline, music, gameplay etc..(IMO) What was your favorite game in the series?
 
[quote name='thrustbucket']Ok so it does sound like at some point they expected to end up with something other than what came out. I still don't feel it was that bad.

As a former game designer, I can't imagine how much work it would have taken to make customized dynamic endings to the degree many of you seem to expect. It would have literally taken nearly as much dev time for the last 15 minutes that the rest of the game took.

It's clear that most of you feel the end didn't live up to the rest of the series. I contend that the end COULDN'T have lived up to your expectations (at least not without 6-9 months having the whole team work on the last 15 minutes - which would automatically make the game impossible to turn a profit).

I do agree that the fact that you are given a choice out of three which end up being the same is a bit shitty - unless Bioware comes out and says they intend to release sequels based on your choices.
[/QUOTE]

Well if they went all out with it but what if they just expanded the war assets. Made certain things count for more (like the Rachni) and made it so if its too low certain characters die throughout the end. It could have been like ME2 in that regard. Maybe if its too low you dont get the options at the end and the game ends at an earlier point.

That wouldnt have been great but it would have been better and not required an insane amount of resources on Biowares part.
 
[quote name='AshesofWake']it truly is fine. The nitpicking on the ending is ridiculous, especially with how open ended the ending was and how much fan fiction is written and theories that have come about from nerd ragers to justify the ending which was fine in the first place.[/QUOTE]
It's really not fine. Regardless of whether you like it or not, there are problems with it that go beyond nitpicking and into basic, 101-type writing.

The most egregious is Space God Child. Everything about this is awful. From the logical problems, to the inability to question anything he says, to the nonsensical reasoning. He gives a massive narrative dump in the last minutes of the game, and severely undermines the Reapers as antagonists. He basically pulls a Midichlorian Count and explains them away, after the games prior took care to build them up as unknowable, nigh-invincible machines bent on extermination. Taking away their autonomy, and explaining their motivations at so simple a level, makes them little more but drones.

It's just not good writing.

[quote name='thrustbucket']
But it really seems most of the nerd outrage is that people expected Bioware to create 134 different endings based on their choices in 3 games. Give me a break. I had always assumed the trilogy would end roughly the same no matter what my choices.
[/QUOTE]
Bioware doesn't get a free pass because of the complexity of having multiple endings, because there have been games that have had multiple endings impacted by player choice. Bioware has enough talent, manpower, and money to do it if Obsidian could with Alpha Protocol.

But even setting that aside, this represents the biggest problem the series has: the conflict of player agency versus directed narrative. The game is designed and encourages player choice, but especially with 2 and 3, removes or negates choice to the expediency of Bioware telling a story. It creates a tug of war over the narrative that frustrates the gamer. It's poor design.
 
It was one thing for Gears of War 3 to end abruptly after the Locust were defeated. I'm sure there are people who would have loved to find out whether Marcus and Anya got married or how the political situation between the COG and UIR developed or whatever else, but the game was never really about those things, so it's appropriate that they're left to the imagination.

By contrast, Mass Effect is all about the specifics of the relationships between people and cultures. The main Reapers plot always took a backseat to your squadmates' personal lives, the political and military conflicts between the various alien societies, and how your actions influenced all of this. Even if you didn't particularly care
how quarian society fared on Rannoch, or whether Wrex steered the krogans toward conquest or peace, or whether Shepard settled down with his love interest, etc. etc. etc., you have to admit that an ending of "The Reapers went away, literally everything else is still up in the air, THE END" represents a huge narrative shift away from everything Mass Effect was about.

And the abruptness is only one issue. The fact that what little information we do receive is contradictory and illogical, and that the actual resolution (arguably) does not reflect player choice and agency to the degree that was promised, are entirely separate problems.
 
This game bores me now. Knowing the ending there is no way to replay everything and make different choices....the multiplayer which I thought I was hiking to dump a lot if time in really it's panning out. I wish they would let you choose your own powers or have more choices.

Ah well the rise was fun as hell while it lasted, it almost makes me want to break my no buying dlc for any game policy.
 
[quote name='6er']No one on my list was on or I would have. tried to add some people, but many of CAGs have full friends lists it seems,[/QUOTE]

drop me a friends request, ill add ya. I have ben crazy at work and not on for the last week much but when i am, im all about playing with CAGs
 
the biggest problem for me is that all the choice is negated. Whether you play as a Paragon to the max who made peace between the Quarians and Geth, cured the Genophage, saved the Rachni, or a Renegade who did all the opposite, you get
red green or blue and the mass relays destroyed no matter what, wiping out Earth and every other major system
. For a game that promised custom-made endings they dont feel very custom to me.

I still think the best thing for Bioware to do is
Make the entire damn StarChild a dream and you wake up on Earth after being shot by Harbinger. Then you ride the beam to the Citadel and get an actual ending that makes sense followed by an epilogue of sorts. I want Bioware to admit they screwed up (90% of fans disliking the ending means you screwed up) and make it go away and start with a fresh slate for the entire Citadel sequence.
 
Since I'm only getting the chance to work though ME3 Friday and Saturday evenings, with the occasional bit of random time here and there, it sound like by the time I make it to the end of SP, whatever changes they may or may not do might be in place. :lol:

So far, I've
made it through Palaven, Sur'Kesh, two trips to the Citadel + some side missions, as well as the mission with the krogan and the rachni.

I've been very impressed with all that I've been though, since the conversation and the combat on all the main missions have been excellent and well-paced.

I'm working through more side missions before I make my way to Tuchanka, with the next one being Grissom Academy.
 
My gas pedal foot thought it'd be a fun idea to smack into another car with my charger. Anyone down for some Gold multi today to cheer up a depressed ME fan?
 
[quote name='Arikado']This is awesome.

A group of fans raised money to send cupcakes to BioWare. They will be colored red, blue, and green, and have the letters A, B, and C on them. :lol:[/QUOTE]

Oh that's great, lol oh that's really funny.

I just watched the Hitler video over at http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/events/mass-effect-3-endings-reception
A friend told me about it over Xbox Live and I was like what? I never saw that or heard anything about it!?
 
[quote name='Arikado']This is awesome.

A group of fans raised money to send cupcakes to BioWare. They will be colored red, blue, and green, and have the letters A, B, and C on them. :lol:[/QUOTE]

What if Bioware refuses the cupcakes?

Hrm
 
[quote name='Arikado']This is awesome.

A group of fans raised money to send cupcakes to BioWare. They will be colored red, blue, and green, and have the letters A, B, and C on them. :lol:[/QUOTE]This is like when fans of Jericho sent ridiculous amounts of peanuts to CBS after it was canceled at the end of Season One, in reference to a line in the show. I think they sent them 10,000 lbs of peanuts (might have been more) to make their point:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jericho_(TV_series)

Good to have ME3 fans try to get their point across with unusual ways.
 
[quote name='shrike4242']Since I'm only getting the chance to work though ME3 Friday and Saturday evenings, with the occasional bit of random time here and there, it sound like by the time I make it to the end of SP, whatever changes they may or may not do might be in place. :lol:

So far, I've
made it through Palaven, Sur'Kesh, two trips to the Citadel + some side missions, as well as the mission with the krogan and the rachni.

I've been very impressed with all that I've been though, since the conversation and the combat on all the main missions have been excellent and well-paced.

I'm working through more side missions before I make my way to Tuchanka, with the next one being Grissom Academy.
[/QUOTE]

I feel like the game's pacing is pretty bad, it constantly thrusts you at the next story mission. And only the mission with the Rachni and the Grissom Academy seemed liked quality, fleshed out side missions. The Geth side mission was good on info, but game play there didn't really exist. All the N7 missions are churned out simplistic junk IMO.

...I cant recall if there are any more side missions. Some of them kind of run together. I just got done with Sanctuary and from what I can see from here it looks like I have two more missions to go and that's that.
 
I cant recall if there are any more side missions. Some of them kind of run together. I just got done with Sanctuary and from what I can see from here it looks like I have two more missions to go and that's that
Click to expand...

Off the top of my head.

Main Quest: 27 Missions
Side Quest: 4-6 Missions
N7: 6 Missions

Think you can check the exact amount with the ingame Achievement list
 
[quote name='KrizB']
Off the top of my head.

Main Quest: 27 Missions
Side Quest: 4-6 Missions
N7: 6 Missions

Think you can check the exact amount with the ingame Achievement list
[/QUOTE]
I think 27 is the total for all main and side missions.
 
[quote name='RichMeisterMan']I feel like the game's pacing is pretty bad, it constantly thrusts you at the next story mission. And only the mission with the Rachni and the Grissom Academy seemed liked quality, fleshed out side missions. The Geth side mission was good on info, but game play there didn't really exist. All the N7 missions are churned out simplistic junk IMO.

...I cant recall if there are any more side missions. Some of them kind of run together. I just got done with Sanctuary and from what I can see from here it looks like I have two more missions to go and that's that.[/QUOTE]I would agree that the game does try to drive you from major mission to major mission, though it's not as fixed as I think it could be.

I have been running around random systems dodging Reapers and looking for planets to scan for war assets in between missions, so if it was pushing me to the next story mission, I wouldn't be getting that done.

I did see that some missions become unavailable once you hit some story missions, which is why I've been trying to do all my side missions as they become available.

The
Rachni mission
had a great Aliens feel to it, especially in the dark by flashlight.
 
Fairly conflicted, but I would have to say overall I am kind of disappointed with how ME3 turned out.

Main reason is that I was disappointed in the lack of the squadmate selection. Bioware has a talent for creating great characters and since this was wrapping up the trilogy, please give me my pool of surviving squadmates of the first 2 games to control. I think it would hit home a little bit more when you are choosing between what characters are sacrificed. Seeing a red silhouette of a beloved party member as a constant reminder of my choices in the squad select screen. :cry: Would also like them to be at my side from the beginning.

Also think the main story campaign should have been more open and had greater urgency in how you get support for the various species. Shepherd should have to carry the burden of deciding when and which planets to help from the beginning. The story element of ME2's timer of when your Normandy crew goes missing should have been expanded upon, and would now effect the galaxy from the very beginning of ME3. Would have opened the replayability even more, and I think would have helped the pacing since I never really felt pushed to get back to earth or complete my priority objectives.

I also thought they dropped the ball with the war assets aspect. I assumed they would be used in retaking back earth by deploying them in some sort of ME2 suicide mission scenario or that you would be helping them do N7 style objectives instead of just me fighting from point A to point B. Just give me some sort of relevant gameplay other than its grand total score influencing the very end.

Obviously some of these disappointments were set by me because of expectations, so I have no one to blame but myself. Still enjoyed the journey for the most part (hated the entire crucible story arc and fetch quests). Just want to cap my post with something positive though and say even though they didn't really seem to effect much I enjoyed all the little nods to past actions and characters and the gameplay was great.
 
[quote name='RichMeisterMan']I feel like the game's pacing is pretty bad, it constantly thrusts you at the next story mission. And only the mission with the Rachni and the Grissom Academy seemed liked quality, fleshed out side missions. The Geth side mission was good on info, but game play there didn't really exist. All the N7 missions are churned out simplistic junk IMO.

...I cant recall if there are any more side missions. Some of them kind of run together. I just got done with Sanctuary and from what I can see from here it looks like I have two more missions to go and that's that.[/QUOTE]

You're forgetting the side mission w/the former Cerberus scientists. Plus FemHawke is their leader!
 
[quote name='IanKazimer']Man, no one's on? This shit hasn't died already, has it?[/QUOTE]

Yea..I've practically maxed everything out already so haven't really played haha.

Was playing through DA:O again and had the thought that a DLC in the vein of the Darkspawn Chronicles would have been pretty sweet for ME2
 
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