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.

[Solid Snake]

So I'm going to get all lawyer-like on y'alls.

It's time the gaming community make a critical distinction here.

Okay, here's the distinction that needs to be made:

1: An ending can be objectively bad, even terrible in quality;
BUT
2: So long as it delivers what was promised and offers some rudimentary degree of finality, it's permissible.

Like, here's the thing?
I see all these people on the Interwebs falling right into Bioware's trap, here.
And it is a trap!

The idea is Bioware's totally capitulating to the fanbase in providing additional "Director's Cut" content that it may not have even initially intended, and yet members of the fanbase are still ranting about how we 'deserve' a 'better' ending.
Like this is exactly what Bioware wants because finally, finally, Bioware can rightfully proclaim those fools are acting like entitled jerks.

BUT
That being said, people totally have the right to be disappointed in the lack of a new ending, and people should totally bitch and moan online about how the color-coded shenanigans are ludicrous and how the Star Child is annoying.

Like, the key is that gamers have to now distinguish between demanding new material, which would be inappropriate until we have a chance to even judge the material actually being created, or merely expressing disappointment over a crappy ending, which is legit and should continue to happen without Bioware and its defenders labeling those disappointed individuals as 'entitled jerks.'

And truth be told? Given how crappy many endings in gaming are, I'm guessing it will end with additional material that 'clarifies' shit but does not substantively improve what will be remembered as a 'bad' ending.

But yeah, it's Bioware's right to have a bad ending if they want to, so long as they at least provide the minimal degree of closure and variance that was promised before the game was released.

Like I just think we need to distinguish between an ending that's so bad and so contrary to intended declarations that a demand for change is justified, and where an ending is bad, but just kind of bad like other endings can be, and we should be expected to live with.

Until the new Director's Cut material is actually released, we won't know for sure which camp this will belong to, or even if the Indoctrination Theory will somehow prove accurate. So, we can hold off until then. (Especially since the new material will be free.)
...Or, we can actually play into Bioware's hands and come off as self-entitled jerks.

[Solid Snake]

SPOILERS

So Jessica Merizan an employee of Bioware's has released some rather substantive hints in Twitter responses to things the ME3 Director's Cut is likely going to handle.

ADDITIONAL SPOILER ALERT DO NOT HIGHLIGHT THE TEXT

Substantive Details:

* Indoctrination Theory officially appears off the table.
* Mass Relays may remain partially intact and may be potentially restored after some time.
* Nobody starves on the new planet the Normandy crashes on, somehow.
* Shepard, if alive, may be able to reunite with his crew.

EDIT: Nevermind, brand new tweet now says "I'm not making any promises."
Still why would a Bioware employee come out with those kinds of statements if they weren't true? Seems a dick move if she was making it up.