Mass Effect 3: April 6 at PAX - Ending talk

[Bells]

So, dust has cleared (a bit) and things have quieted down a little, so, since it's close and this PAX presentation is highly waited by the fans and gaming press alike... let us discuss it for a bit and what the future reserves for Mass Effect.

Right off the bat, let me address the most popular cop out, the indoctrination theory. At first i didn't buy it one bit, not at all... and i still kinda don't. I say kinda because i saw this video



It's SO well made and polished... it amazes me how people manage to pick and twist oversights of production and programming and turn them into these amazing parallel universes within the game.

Now, i'm 100% sure bioware will -not- go that route. However, it would be a fun nod to the audience if they added extra scenes to the end of the game absorbing this explanation into the canon of the original ending. Not going back and changing it... but going beyond and changing it.

What i would dare to bet it's more simple... the talked "Take back Omega" DLC... as we all know, there is quite a lot of room in the game for this mission to happen in DLC form... it's actually a bit sad that it's not in the main game, because it sure as hell alludes to it !

What i think Bioware will try to do is sell us the Omega DLC. And it's going to be a big one. And if you buy it, and play it... then, there should be some modifier in Omega that going there and taking it back from the illusive man, would trigger a completely new ending(s)...

That way, Bioware wouldn't negate it's own product, it wouldn't change it... instead, they would add to it, expand it. Maybe this way is not the best... but there are no perfect solutions now.

I lot of people talk about Bioware's artistic integrity... but at least for me, the way they are doing it now is fully in accord to it. I mean, Mass Effect as a gaming franchise is an oddball in the gaming market... it's just strange to market an entire franchise towards "Your choice makes the story" and then start complaining that the player has zero authority on how the story should end... "You can play and mold this unniverse and these characters the way you want it, but the ending is OUR vision, not yours"? I don't buy it.

So, i do salute Bioware for what they are TRYING to do... if they will do it right though, it's a completely different beast. All i know is that i'll be watching what happens on April 6.

So, put my bet down for "Omega DLC with new possible endings and nods to the fanbase"

[Kim]

Mass Effect 3 Extended Cut is free, downloadable, and offers further clarity to the ending.

[Osterbaum]

That's actually pretty aces, if just in the principle that they aren't charging anything. I mean it could still suck, but as long as it offers more clarity and is free, can't really complain too much.

e: like it would be awesome if all the plotholes and bullshittery never existed to begin with, but at this point I'll be content with just further clarification and more on what happens to everyone afterwards

[Ramary]

Man EA, what the hell.

This is actually not douchey, I had to PAY to make Fallout 3's ending not crap.

[Nikose Tyris]

The three DLC endings will explain that they are all meant to be nearly identical as one person cannot change anything in a meaningful way, and even the masses can't really effect the larger system as a whole.

Then it's just a video of the producers laughing about how they're going to use the money to buy out your favourite companies and make them terrible as well.

[/calling it]

[01d55]

There's no clarification that can make this work.

A lot of Bioware's comments on the ending controversy have contained a very unsettling word. "Clarifying." As in, "Maybe what the ending needs is clarification? Maybe if we just address some of the confusion seen here, the problem will be solved!" Nononono no. In politics, if you're explaining, you're losing, and the same thing is true here. The ending doesn't need clarification, it needs a new ending. And this ending should be simple.

The link should drop you into the relevant part of that very long video.

So we all must continue to endure this most horrifying of First World Problems.

[Bells]

humm So it's like Fallout New Vegas ending. Where It was just a bunch of Images with voice over explaining how your actions affected each place/group ou came in contact with... but this time it's going to be Cinematics.

Also means it's going to be a bit Generic. Since they probably can't render that many extra scenes to take into account all the possible variables.

I wonder who is going to be the narrator... Shepard's VA hasn't been contacted, Anderson is dead... the normandy crew are still Stranded far far away...

If it's Star Child narrating... well... that's not going to work very well...

[Sifright]

Originally Posted by Bells

If it's Star Child narrating... well... that's not going to work very well...

If thats what it is I expect it to explode in their face so completely they won't understand what just happened.

[Odjn]

Originally Posted by Bells

humm So it's like Fallout New Vegas ending. Where It was just a bunch of Images with voice over explaining how your actions affected each place/group ou came in contact with... but this time it's going to be Cinematics.

You mean like every other good Fallout game?

[Marc v4.0]

Originally Posted by Odjn

You mean like every other good Fallout game?

I think they ALL did that.