Mass Effect 3 Ending, opinions and feelings?

[Drewid]

Actually I'm at 94% in the terminus systems.

You seem to get between +2%-4% per MP game you play. I haven't played that many to be honest so I haven't determined what impacts that amount yet. So far my thought is that a win gives you more than a loss but certain actions in each round also add to that such as reviving fallen players and completing objectives.

I haven't gotten any of the characters to twenty yet to add them as a war asset. My infiltrator is 16 so it shouldn't be too long.

Here's my experience with the percent gains:

Make it past 2nd wave: 2% everywhere
Complete: 8% in that system, 3% everywhere else
Complete (and have completed that system before): 4% everywhere

That's just what I've observed and I'm sure it's not exactly precise.

 

[Wes R]

There seems to be more and more hate brewing for the MP too. Especially for xbox owners who have to pay for it.

 

[Drewid]

Yeah, my friend is locking in on sub-optimal endings because of that. I know the developers/distributors are always looking to find ways to increase their audience, but forcing the single player endings to be dependent on MP was poorly thought out.

 

[Dainbramage546]

First off, yes, the ended wasn't very good. It didn't ruin the game and the entire series for me though like a lot of people seem to be saying, it just lacked closure.

I've never been as emotionally invested and attached to characters of a work of fiction before the Mass Effect series. I've also never felt an extreme range of emotions from a game before. Some of the scenes actually had me tearing up and sniffling.

Spoiler

Especially the scene with mordin, when he says good bye and is singing his song while everything is going to hell around him. Also at the end when you're talking to all of your squadmates leading up to Anderson. That part of the game was really powerful to me and a halfassed ending can't and couldn't ruin the emotions I felt while doing that.

I understand why everyone's mad about the ending and I was too but it's going a little too far in my opinion. Just my two cents.

 

[Sigma-LS]

I don't mind MP, it's got a Nazi Zombies vibe to it and I'm all for cooperation against huge numbers of bots instead of 8 people all bickering and talking trash.

The only thing I really hate about MP is that every time you turn on the game it knocks down your rating 1%. Every day you go without playing it knocks you down at least 3%.

I hate having to play a round or three of MP to get stuff back up to 100% before I can go off to single player happy. Takes like an hour, it's ridiculous.

 

[firesprite]

First off, yes, the ended wasn't very good. It didn't ruin the game and the entire series for me though like a lot of people seem to be saying, it just lacked closure.

I've never been as emotionally invested and attached to characters of a work of fiction before the Mass Effect series. I've also never felt an extreme range of emotions from a game before. Some of the scenes actually had me tearing up and sniffling.

Spoiler

Especially the scene with mordin, when he says good bye and is singing his song while everything is going to hell around him. Also at the end when you're talking to all of your squadmates leading up to Anderson. That part of the game was really powerful to me and a halfassed ending can't and couldn't ruin the emotions I felt while doing that.

I understand why everyone's mad about the ending and I was too but it's going a little too far in my opinion. Just my two cents.

Dude, I felt the same way, watching that scene! He was one of my favorite characters from ME2.

 

[Wes R]

I didn't get that ending, i shot him in the back x.x

 

[Flecktarn92]

Apparently Bioware/EA are doing a lot of damage control as far as PR goes. That multiplayer event happening this weekend is considered by some as a way to divert peoples attention. More than likely it won't. Any day now most first day players in Japan will reach the end and all I can say is yikes look out Bioware/EA.

 

[Dainbramage546]

"We appreciate everyone’s feedback about Mass Effect 3 and want you to know that we are listening. Please note, we want to give people time to experience the game so while we can’t get into specifics right now, we will be able to address some of your questions once more people have had time to complete the game. Let’s also remember the man/woman that started this journey for us. What do you love most about your Commander Shepard? Please try to keep the discussion “spoiler-free.""
-That's posted on the mass effect facebook page

So hopefully we'll hear something soon. It was just released in Asia on the 15th

 

[Wes R]

Yeah that post today did nothing but stir the pot.

 

[Jeyl]

First off, yes, the ended wasn't very good. It didn't ruin the game and the entire series for me though like a lot of people seem to be saying, it just lacked closure.

No, it ruins the franchise.

Spoiler

And if you look at how the final battle went, it wasn't even about the god child that threw this game off. This whole series was about fighting the Reapers. And when the game finally has Shepard confronting the lead Reaper, Harbinger in the flesh, all he does is zaps you and flies away without uttering a single word to you. Kind of out of character since in ME2, HIS DEFINING TRAIT WAS TAUNTING YOU INTO BELIEVING YOUR STRUGGLES WERE FUTILE! This is like not having Darth Vader show up in Empire Strikes Back at all until the end where all he does is cut off Luke's hand without saying a thing. And Luke doesn't even acknowledge him like how Shepard doesn't even acknowledge that Harbinger is right there in front of his whole platoon.

And creating another human Reaper? Here's the problem with that. The humans that Shepard runs into on the Citadel are all dead. That's not how it works! The humans needed to be digested/processed alive in order to get the materials needed to make a human Reaper. If they didn't need to be kept alive, what the heck was the point in going through all the trouble in taking humans alive in the first place?

And the confrontation with TIM was so ill-advised. Instead of dealing with Reapers, we've got to deal with this knock off of Saren's final confrontation from Mass Effect 1, complete with him struggling with your persuasions to killing himself. And of course Hackett somehow knows Shepard is not only alive, but also on the Citadel in position to help out. Hackett, you can't get standard Earth military history right, so how is it you know Shepard is on the station when everyone on the ground reported that no one made it to the beam?

Worst of all, we have the god child who tells Shepard some things that don't make any sense at all in context to the previous games. Instead of Shepard being a strong and defiant character like she's always been, she conforms and obliges this entity... BECAUSE SHE BELIEVES IT! That's the stupidest thing Shepard could have done. This entity just told her that he's responsible for all the death, pain and suffering that everyone in the galaxy, including Shepard has had to endure. His reasons for justifying his actions are based solely on speculation that synthetics will destroy organics. A speculation that Shepard can disprove right outside where the battle is taking place! We've got Quarians and Geth fighting together against the Reapers. We've got EDI, a now unshackled AI who was against us in the beginning now fighting with us by her own choice. Hell, she's even fallen in love with a crippled organic who can barely walk! All of this, and Shepard still takes the word of the god child over everything she's experienced!

So don't tell me that this ending doesn't ruin the franchise. This was supposed to be Shepard's defining moment where everything she's done in the previous games culminated to this point. Instead of honoring her actions from both ME3 and the previous games to shape the conclusion, Bioware chose to go with something that can be reached regardless of what you did in everything. Which basically means that all Shepards everywhere are now conforming cowards.

 

[Jeyl]

And here's the answer we've all been waiting for!

There’s been a lot of discussion and debate about the conclusion of Mass Effect 3, so I thought I’d share my perspective with you here. I’ll avoid outright spoilers, but I’d still recommend finishing the game and experiencing it for yourself before reading this.

For the last eight years, Mass Effect has been a labor of love for our team; love for the characters we’ve created, for the medium of video games, and for the fans that have supported us. For us and for you, Mass Effect 3 had to live up to a lot of expectations, not only for a great gaming experience, but for a resolution to the countless storylines and decisions you’ve made as a player since the journey began in 2007. So we designed Mass Effect 3 to be a series of endings to key plots and storylines, each culminating in scenes that show you the consequences of your actions. You then carry the knowledge of these consequences with you as you complete the final moments of your journey.

We always intended that the scale of the conflict and the underlying theme of sacrifice would lead to a bittersweet ending—to do otherwise would betray the agonizing decisions Shepard had to make along the way. Still, we wanted to give players the chance to experience an inspiring and uplifting ending; in a story where you face a hopeless struggle for basic survival, we see the final moments and imagery as offering victory and hope in the context of sacrifice and reflection.

We've had some incredibly positive reactions to Mass Effect 3, from the New York Times declaring it “a gripping, coherent triumph”, to Penny Arcade calling it “an amazing accomplishment”, to emails and tweets from players who have given us the most profound words of appreciation we've ever received.

But we also recognize that some of our most passionate fans needed more closure, more answers, and more time to say goodbye to their stories—and these comments are equally valid. Player feedback such as this has always been an essential ingredient in the development of the series.

I am extremely proud of what this team has accomplished, from the first art concepts for the Mass Effect universe to the final moments of Mass Effect 3. But we didn't do it on our own. Over the course of the series, Mass Effect has been a shared experience between the development team and our fans—not just a shared experience in playing the games, but in designing and developing them. An outpouring of love for Garrus and Tali led to their inclusion as love interests in Mass Effect 2. A request for deeper RPG systems led to key design changes in Mass Effect 3. Your feedback has always mattered. Mass Effect is a collaboration between developers and players, and we continue to listen.

So where do we go from here? Throughout the next year, we will support Mass Effect 3 by working on new content. And we’ll keep listening, because your insights and constructive feedback will help determine what that content should be. This is not the last you’ll hear of Commander Shepard.

We look forward to your continued support and involvement as we work together to shape the remaining experiences in the story of the Mass Effect trilogy.

Thanks for taking this journey with us.

Casey Hudson

:unsure

 

[Wes R]

Yeah he and the other staff members are trolling the fans and ignoring them. The "take it back/hold the line" group who want to get bioware's attention have raised nearly 60,000 for charity and still bioware ignores it an every online game site that EA has ties to has attacked them for doing the charity.
It's getting ugly and apparently the PR people at EA/Bioware are clueless and keep giving these people all this crap to say and it only angers folks more.

 

[Jeyl]

Yeah he and the other staff members are trolling the fans and ignoring them.

This was a really bad response. Not because he didn't surrender and say we were right. He has the right to stand by his product and I respect that. But when it comes to addressing fans about something that could damage Bioware's reputation for their future titles, the last thing he should do is quote from other sources to say how awesome his product is. To make matters worse, he only vaguely acknowledges the criticism to the ending, when there are dozens of sources like Forbes and the charity deal that are much, much more telling then Penny Arcade quotes. Because even before I got to the ending, this game wasn't really a triumph. It was great, but a lot good stuff was cut out that was present in the previous games. And it was buggy as crap. KASUMI!!!!!!!!!!

BUT, the most telling part of his response has got to be this line.

"We always intended that the scale of the conflict and the underlying theme of sacrifice would lead to a bittersweet ending—to do otherwise would betray the agonizing decisions Shepard had to make along the way."

Now, tell me with a straight face that this quote reflects what we were initially promised with Mass Effect 3. That promise being that our choices MATTERED. Now, I'll admit the endings to the first two games were linear, but they did have very big differences.

ME1
Good Ending: Shepard saves the council, only one crew member died and humanity has earned the respect of the council species.

Bad Ending: Shepard sacrifices the council, two crew members dead with a lot more side characters needlessly killed, and humanity has a foot hold in the politics with the intent of being the leading race.

ME2
Good Ending: Everyone survives the suicide mission, the collector base is destroyed, Cerberus has lost a valuable tool to ensure human dominance, and the genophage cure is secured.

Bad Ending: Every squad member is dead, Cerberus has taken over the collector base, the genophage cure is destroyed.

ME3
All Endings: Mass Relays destroyed, crew of Normandy stranded, and galactic civilization is destroyed.

See how choices in the previous games affected their endings? Choosing to save the council or destroy it really put a grim tone on the ending to the original Mass Effect, as was the sight of all the coffins of dead crew members that Shepard lead into battle. All of these endings had one very important element that was readily apparent to the player. If you had only done things differently, you could have had a better outlook for everyone.

About the only thing that could qualify as different in ME3's ending is whether or not Earth survives or is destroyed. But really, why should that be a game changer when clearly the whole galaxy is at stake?

So yeah. We've just been told by the big cheese that there wasn't meant to be any alternate endings at all. It must all come down to a bittersweet ending, because he said so. Man, Casey must have based the Catalyst off of himself.

 

[Wes R]

News papers in Norway and Sweden are saying how bad the endings are, Fox news and Cnn are covering it now, and the Huffington post is too but they got so much of their information wrong that it shouldn't count.

 

[Flecktarn92]

News papers in Norway and Sweden are saying how bad the endings are, Fox news and Cnn are covering it now, and the Huffington post is too but they got so much of their information wrong that it shouldn't count.

God your killing me here haha. Was it on tv or on their website? If Fox and CNN are reporting then EA/Bioware must be feeling the pressure.

 

[Wes R]

It was on the tv. i wish it was online because i'm collecting the forbes and other negative press just for giggles and as a lesson to anyone who wants to see how not to run a game company.

 

[DuneMuadDib]

Well hell.

On a whim I bought ME and ME2 because they were cheap and I'd been meaning to play them and go so hooked I powered through them and bought ME3 (kicking myself for not preordering and getting goodies). I'd had the ending to 2 somewhat spoiled so I made sure to keep the entire crew including the DLC characters alive and put a ton of time into doing that. For ME3 I tried very hard to avoid spoilers while researching what to do and getting as many war assets as I could for the "best" ending.

I don't see a point now.

I'm so horribly disappointed by this all. Playing through ME3 now I get a kick every time I see some reference to something I did in the first two games and it's not going to matter at all in the end? I could load up a fresh ME3 game and get the same damn ending I'll get after putting so much time into ME1 and ME2 because the choices from those games don't affect the ending? No real reason to bust my hump doing every freaking sidequest or playing some multiplayer now. The "best" ending isn't worth the cost, to me as a player or in-game for what decision is required for it. I played true Paragon, and the "best ending" offends me.

God, I almost don't want to even finish playing now. Glad I know now instead of another 30 hours of play getting every last war asset to get a "best ending" that would leave me needing to take a shower for how dirty I'd feel.

The bugging quest, and bugging textures, and bugging models, and getting stuck on architecture that forced me to reload was worth how much fun I was having, until I found what the endings are. Ugh.

Now I'm wondering if I'll get bit in the ass if they release DLC that addresses the complaints but I don't bother with getting 4000 EMS because there's no point.

 

[Wes R]

You're not alone. Half of the BSN (bioware network) which is about 50,000 or more fans upset.

 

[DuneMuadDib]

Yep, late to the party because I didn't start playing any Mass Effect until last week. Not a fan of the "best" ending being Renegade since I've played almost pure Paragon, but I guess I'll just play and get my EMS to the necessary level to cover my bases and see how I feel when I get to that choice.

One thing's for sure, I'm not going to touch SW:TOR after this.