Let's Talk Games

[Jimmienomam]

In the continued news coverage of Bioware and ME3, they now have said they are working on a means of "clarifying" the endings with reports saying it may come as early as April.

First off remember that spoilers show in notifications. Also I have yet to beat ME3 so can't comment myself on the endings as I have kept it a secret for myself.

That being said do you like that Bioware is giving in to popular consensus (if they are as "clarification" is a broad term)? Or do you think this is treading on dangerous ground?

I mean if this begins to be normal with giving into changing endings I would assume that devs could always cop out on endings. They could not wrap things up properly and if there is enough of an outcry then they can just add more DLC. Basically they could judge if DLC would be financially feasible by the outcry of the endings. Or possibly giving bad endings or inconclusive ones knowing that they will buy the DLC to get the "true" ending.

[zztoluca]

DLC better be free , bioware won't get a penny more from me after this bs ending

honestly the gaming was great but the ending because it doesn't change at all depending what you did through out the whole series as it was implyed through out the ads and hype. It only is a slight variation if you import a ME2 profile. And even then its miniscual.

Would go into detail but don't want to spoil it for those that haven't completed it.

[Mariel-BBY Retired: Community Connector]

I heard that your ME2 import has like no effect on any of the endings... Disappointing.

Did anyone watch that Zero Punctuation on ME3? You know I haven't yet played the game (even though I'm gauging my eyeballs out until I can) but the guy that does it says that people might be overreacting a bit. I understand if the ending is outraging, and again, I don't know what that ending is, but the other side is that they had the opportunity to create their ending the way they want. If it makes people mad, that might be their consequence.

Bioware has to decide what's more important here: outraged fans, or preservation of their original game. I wouldn't want them to change the game before I had a chance to play the original ending because that's how Bioware intended to end the game.

[Kyle-BBY Retired: Senior Social Media Specialist]

I'm kind of happy they are doing something about it but mostly just because I just want to play more Mass Effect 3.  I wasn't left entirely satisfied with the ending but I can respect that BioWare chose to end it the way they did.  I guess I take it kind of like a good movie that doesn't end the way I would have liked to see; I can't do anything to change that ending but I still enjoyed the bulk of the movie.

Also, I don't worry too much about this setting a precedent for developers to do the same thing because few titles have the massive fan-base as Mass Effect 3.  And then there's the loyalty and level of investment as a result of this being the 3rd and final installment of the series.  I think this was the perfect storm.  

With that said though, I do think there is somewhat of a social media mindset shift going on where people are realizing the sheer power of the platform they have.  If you have a cause that you are passionate about you have a way to get people on board and it costs you nothing but time.  Kind of scary and kind of cool.

[Mariel-BBY Retired: Community Connector]

I hear that Bioware caved.

I'm a little disappointed. Bioware should stand by their game, in my opinion. Like Kyle said, it's like getting really invested in a movie, and having the ending be extremely tragic or flawed, but that is the way the movie was intended. Sometimes there is something memorable or almost poetic about an ending that we don't like after such an amazing journey.

I want to play it SO BAD and then we'll see if my opinion changed, but I don't think it will.  I'm prepared to eat my own words and take my foot out of my mouth, if needed. . .

[zztoluca]

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Mariel-BBY wrote:

I hear that Bioware caved.

I'm a little disappointed. Bioware should stand by their game, in my opinion. Like Kyle said, it's like getting really invested in a movie, and having the ending be extremely tragic or flawed, but that is the way the movie was intended. Sometimes there is something memorable or almost poetic about an ending that we don't like after such an amazing journey.

I want to play it SO BAD and then we'll see if my opinion changed, but I don't think it will.  I'm prepared to eat my own words and take my foot out of my mouth, if needed. . .

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You should start preparing because i think you will unfortunetly will

And this isn't a thing with just bioware many other companies do as well, Activision,EA,Ubisoft(Especially) even THQ

I as a gamer just find it as a dissapointment for the developer making an awesome game and then making it poop with a single mistake

[Mariel-BBY Retired: Community Connector]

Ubisoft?

Tell more. I generally really like Ubisoft!

[Jimmienomam]

Well I guess if you want you an go back to ME2 (the bad ending that can't be imported to ME3) and accept that ending.

After thinking about this I can come up with a few titles that did this already. Strangely enough twy are ALL Microsoft co-published games.

Fable 2 or 3, you HAD to buy the DLC to see the "true" ending. Alan Wake had a "better" ending in DLC. An there was one other that I forgot offhand. Now ME3 which was originally published by M$... I see a pattern here...


Again haven't seen the ending, but I can understand on the basic premise of how Bioware published ME3 by saying "there are 1,000s of decisions which impact the story." touting each decision holds weight on the final destination. And then there being very little changes in endings.

While I guess some could say this is poetic as you can't dodge fate. It seems they advertised much more than what the gave.

I got duped once by advertisements like this. Does anyone remember when the first fable came out on Xbox? They said the same thing "every decision counts" touting it weighed massively on how the game played out and how "groundbreaking" it was. Then there was barely any difference on however you played. So much so that the developers came out and apologized for not coming close to expectations.

Granted Bioware has shown that it can and has done much better with decision affects, but it just brought up those good old memories of Fable.

[Jimmienomam]

So you guys are telling me you didn't like the Sopranos ending where it...

[Mariel-BBY Retired: Community Connector]

I played Fable II and III and enjoyed them... I don't remember being unhappy about those endings or having to pay for the "real" ending. Most likely, if there was such a thing, I didn't care enough to buy it.

Jimmie, don't spoil The Sopranos for me ... I'm in the middle of Season 2. Aaron just came by my desk and had the same thought!