Bioware CEO addresses ME3 ending backlash

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Kaiser-Kun

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No no, the best sex scene is Blasto's sex scene.
 

auriel

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I have this strange feeling that they were planning this all along. Anyway, I'm hoping so. I'd prefer to think they had a genius ending waiting in the wings then genuinely believing the current one would satisfy the legions of fans. We'll just have to see.
 

LOG

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That's it.
That's torn it.
I am done with EA.

I am going to check every game I am interested in from now on, and if it's by EA, I'm not going to buy it. I will continue boycotting their games until I am convinced they are making a serious change for the better, or until they self-destruct.

Thankfully I'm not a big buyer of their games to begin with.
 

Kaiser-Kun

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It's sad, really. Games with such potential being weighed down by executive meddling...
 

efkelley

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This is what happens when a company goes public. The company becomes solely interested in making more money. Sure, they still make games, build TVs, offer phone service, etc... But, ultimately, their single most important goal is pleasing the stockholders, people who have no sustained or long term interest in the company's success.

For a stockholder to divest their interest in a company they need only hit the Sell button. For an employee to divest their interest, they have to find a new job or move or take other similarly drastic steps. Sure, the stockholder has money in the company. The employee has a lot more at stake, even if it's not cash. But the executives are always more interested in keeping the stock price high than keeping the employees employed or even keeping the customers happy.

That's effectively what EA said in their casual dismissal of winning the Worst Company award. "People still buy our games, so this award is BS." What sucks is they do have a point. We're giving them the money to keep dicking us over.

I think I'm with Log on this one. For my part, any EA title I consider will need stellar reviews and a bargain bin price. Since they're not selling via Steam anymore, that's not going to happen very often. And since Mass Effect was the last series of theirs where I'd gotten so deeply invested, I won't experience the 'gotta have it' syndrome. And BioWare has lost a lot of trust with me thanks to EA's hijinks. Plus the writing really hasn't been there since DAO and ME2.
 

Kaiser-Kun

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I dunno about your last point. Most scenes in ME3, specially the crew's interactions, were better written since ME2, which only makes the ending look worse by comparison.

Would the ending look better if there was no "choice" and the effect depended on your previous gameplay? seems like the biggest complaint is that the choice doesn't change anything but the purty colors of doom.
 

efkelley

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Alas, I can't really speak to the writing as yet in ME3. (Still not done with the novel draft. Yes, bad Eric, I know, but I'll be finished this week!) From what I hear, you're dead-on accurate. ME3 is truly great right up until the end. So, yeah, I should amend my statement. I can argue against DA2's writing though. Bleh. It had its moments, but those were rare.

Thing is, EA knew just how adored Mass Effect had become. They saw an opportunity to drag more cash out of us, and they probably even knew some of this was dodgy shit. They tried it anyway. Dicks!

I know I'm preaching to the choir here. I think they didn't quite see how this might backlash. I'm pretty wary of getting invested in anything else they'll do now. I won't know if they're going to put a gun to my game's head again and demand ten extra bucks to play. It's just not worth my time.
 

narmowen

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I'd read that, and after playing through to the ending twice, I'm glad. They said that they wouldn't have an A, B, C ending, and that's exactly what they've done.
 

LOG

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I'd read that, and after playing through to the ending twice, I'm glad. They said that they wouldn't have an A, B, C ending, and that's exactly what they've done.
. . . clarify?
I'm not sure if you're saying they have or haven't done as promised.
 

Kaiser-Kun

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Maybe the incoming free DLC will expand the missions on Earth and give us a proper final level, like the Suicide Mission in ME2? (One of the highest videogame experiences I've ever played)

Someone needs to keep hope.
 

narmowen

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. . . clarify?
I'm not sure if you're saying they have or haven't done as promised.

Sorry. They said that they wouldn't have an A, B or C ending, but that's the choices you have at the end. A, B, or C. Destroy, Synthesize, or Contol. A, B or C.
 

Opty

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AngryJoe said:
"They're basically telling us why their shit stinks rather than giving us something that isn't smelly shit."

QFT.
 
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Kaiser-Kun

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There's a small free dlc out today, just a couple of extra maps, characters and weapons for multiplayer.
 

third person

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Dudes, I have to be honest...after watching and reading some VERY intelligent videos/essays about the "Indoctrination theory", I must say the endings were spot on...lackluster...but spot on.
 

Justin_AC

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I was actually shocked at how powerful my reaction was to the terrible ending. I was annoyed and bummed out for like, 2 weeks after I beat it. I canceled my subscription to SW:TOR and vowed to never again give EA my money.

You done goofed, EA/BW.
 

Opty

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Dudes, I have to be honest...after watching and reading some VERY intelligent videos/essays about the "Indoctrination theory", I must say the endings were spot on...lackluster...but spot on.
Yeah, but they're only intelligent or spot on if you believe the Indoctrination Theory.

Based on what I've read about the "Extended Cut," the Ind Theory isn't going to be a part of it, so it doesn't matter.

They're just going to expand on the shitty endings they already gave us.
 

Kaiser-Kun

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Considering the crapness of the missions on Earth (nowhere near the Battle of the Citadel or the Collector's Base), I think they were pretty rushed. The mission at Tuchanka alone would've worked as a great final level.
 

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Having never gotten into the ME games, can someone give me a Cliffs-Notes version of what the big deal is? I hear about this controversy all over the 'verse, but no idea what it's about.
 

Fiender

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Having never gotten into the ME games, can someone give me a Cliffs-Notes version of what the big deal is? I hear about this controversy all over the 'verse, but no idea what it's about.

Trying to summarize something as big and encompassing as this controversy is gonna be very difficult but I'll try.

Mass Effect was a grounded science fiction story; like Star Trek.
For whatever reason, perhaps time constraints, perhaps "artistic vision", they decided to give us an ending that "made a statement", rather than give us something that made narrative sense. Cue backlash.
 
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