OK...I'll ask:
Did you actually play the series or is this just drive-by snarking of a thread?
Did you actually read the thread, or is this just a poor attempt at discrediting someone because you disagree with their point?
Because if you had, you'd know the answer.
Is the point to get people to stop talking about the SUBJECT of the thread?
Nope, not at all. I just enjoy casting a little more light on the rather depressing reactions of the gaming community, as well as those who encourage those reactions or allow them to stand.
Last I checked, this is a thread about Mass Effect 3 and all that entails - good and bad.
I don't even mind the "move-on" answer, if that is your take on it for everyone's consumption. But comparing it to getting cancer or killing people does what exactly? Is the intent to shock folks for griping about something they have spent their time and money on?
It offers a bit of perspective. The gaming community, as a whole, could really benefit from some. If the reaction that you have to a disappointing end to a video game is more severe than the reaction you would have to an actual tragedy or travesty, it's probably time to rethink your life a little.
That's pretty over the top.
I wish it were.
I haven't heard anything about gamers trying to get Bioware to pay out millions of dollars in fines, including supporting an ad campaign designed specifically to stop people from using their products. I also don't see people trying to throw Bioware employees in jail as many have suggested with tobacco or firearms companies.
There have been calls within the gaming community for mass refunds, organized protests, calls for the IP to be stripped from Bioware/EA, calls for the company to be charged with misleading its customers, not to mention death threats.
Let me ask you this: Why are you trying to minimize or justify the community's collective reaction?
Let me ask you this: Why are you trying to minimize or justify the community's collective reaction?
I'm not. I'm just disputing your over-the-top assertion that a majority of people hate Bioware more than companies that literally cause cancer. While there are a few nuts out there that make folks look bad, that's way off base. The companies that do literally cause cancer have faced a lot more hatred than Bioware will ever deal with.
Don't forget the cupcakes!
I'm not. I'm just disputing your over-the-top assertion that a majority of people hate Bioware more than companies that literally cause cancer.
I didn't say anything about a majority of people. The majority of people wouldn't even be able to tell you what Bioware is.
While there are a few nuts out there that make folks look bad, that's way off base. The companies that do literally cause cancer have faced a lot more hatred than Bioware will ever deal with.
In aggregate? Probably. But there are enough people with extreme enough reactions that it has led us to what we have now: a gaming community that I am ashamed to be a part of. It's not even the really crazy death-threat-flingers that I care about. It's the people who tolerate them, or passively/subtly encourage that kind of behavior. Why do we, as a community, present the image that we consider these kinds of reactions acceptable, and not what they are: crazy?
I just started my 2nd run through with my difficult-to-play-because-I-have-a-really-hard-time-picking-Renegade-choice s Renegade Femshep.
Interesting. I have also started my next run-through, this time with heavy Biotic, neutral Shep. There's probably nothing new as with the other two, but I am curious to see if being more apathetic and see-sawing between the two options creates any new alternatives I have missed. Also, trying the Miranda romance, but I have to say I don't expect that much to come out of it. I tried the Tali romance before, and the drama of retaking Rannoch was well done.
I have never really given the Liara relationship much thought, but she's really grown on me as a character in ME3. I am tempted to start from ME through ME3 with her as a central romance, but I don't think I could commit time to doing the whole trilogy from scratch.
Liara is such an innocent teen in ME1. But if you start there and have DLC Lair of the Shadow Broker, you can continue the romance in ME2. Great payoff in ME3...
In aggregate? Probably. But there are enough people with extreme enough reactions that it has led us to what we have now: a gaming community that I am ashamed to be a part of. It's not even the really crazy death-threat-flingers that I care about. It's the people who tolerate them, or passively/subtly encourage that kind of behavior. Why do we, as a community, present the image that we consider these kinds of reactions acceptable, and not what they are: crazy?
So: People who don't hurriedly distance them from your strawman argument (that people who have a vocal problem with BioWare hate them more than companies who cause cancer): Crazy and sad. Thanks for letting me know.
Grantedly, saying that all the Quarians and people on starships are dead with Destroy is an even darker interpretation than I heard from most. It's probable that Destroy only kills all the Geth and EDI. Yay. :-(
Perhaps. That's not the impression I got when the kid explained the option, though I admit it's been a while since I bothered with a playthrough of ME3. The kid was advocating the Destroy option, and if your interpretation is correct, then it's even worse than it could have been. The Reapers are gone, and we're right back at building killbots tomorrow with no one to clean up the "inevitable" mess.
Even if the kid is wrong about the inevitability of synthetics wiping out all organic life, he still believes it. That he'd favour this option is really... I mean... what was the point of the endless number of Reaper cycles again?
But as I've mentioned before: I kinda like the Geth. If, over the next couple of millennia, they turn out to be the superior, dominant life-form and organic life eventually dies out, how is that worse than millions of years of genocide? That's just evolution. That's the Destroy ending.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I didn't say anything about a majority of people. The majority of people wouldn't even be able to tell you what Bioware is.
You said, "I daresay a company could have actually caused cancer in a significant number of victims, and still wouldn't have beaten Bioware in the Worst Company in America poll." That implies a majority somewhere. Unless you're polling only crazy gamers with no perspective, I don't think you'd ever get a majority of folks who think Bioware is worse than a company that actually kills people.
In aggregate? Probably. But there are enough people with extreme enough reactions that it has led us to what we have now: a gaming community that I am ashamed to be a part of. It's not even the really crazy death-threat-flingers that I care about. It's the people who tolerate them, or passively/subtly encourage that kind of behavior. Why do we, as a community, present the image that we consider these kinds of reactions acceptable, and not what they are: crazy?
Since I don't see anyone here saying that threatening bodily harm on someone over a game is okay, I'm not sure what you're referring to. Furthermore, there's a sizable gap between, "I am upset about this game and would like a fix/apology from those responsible," and, "I think it's okay that some lunatic wants to b eat up the writing team because of the end of a video game." For the most part, the folks on this thread are vocally upset but hardly violent and evil. It's quite possible to be very upset with Bioware as a company while not condoning people who take things far too far.
Now if you can find me some examples on this thread of folks saying that it's okay for the writers to be threatened with harm or that they're worse than people who cause cancer, maybe I'll change my tune. But until that happens, there's a pretty big divide between posting your displeasure on a message board and wanting somebody to actually suffer for bad writing.
Standard political pundit strategy: Position yourself in what could be called "the middle", call everybody who has a somewhat more polarizing opinion "sad" "crazy" "extreme".
Only that Scott is firmly on the side of the giant corporation here.
Now if you can find me some examples on this thread of folks saying that it's okay for the writers to be threatened with harm or that they're worse than people who cause cancer, maybe I'll change my tune. But until that happens, there's a pretty big divide between posting your displeasure on a message board and wanting somebody to actually suffer for bad writing.
I don't think saying something like that would be fair. I'm pretty sure the writers weren't involved in the ending at all. ;)
You said, "I daresay a company could have actually caused cancer in a significant number of victims, and still wouldn't have beaten Bioware in the Worst Company in America poll." That implies a majority somewhere.
This literally doesn't mean anything. At all. You could have five people voting the same way, and if you decided to make your "somewhere" a group of those five people and two more, those five would suddenly be a majority.
Unless you're polling only crazy gamers with no perspective, I don't think you'd ever get a majority of folks who think Bioware is worse than a company that actually kills people.
Oh, not if they were straight-up asked about it. That would give them pause, and they'd probably tell you that cancer is worse (in other words, they'd respond appropriately). But we're not talking about that sort of situation. We're talking about a community filled to the brim with entitlement, inflamed opinions, and as close to zero perspective as you can get. And, as a group, they decided it would be cool to vote Bioware/EA to the top of that list. It didn't matter what the other companies were at all. One of them could have been literally named "Baby Killers, Inc." and the outcome probably wouldn't have been any different (except that in that case, perhaps, the poll might have generated enough media attention to make it more widely-used).
Since I don't see anyone here saying that threatening bodily harm on someone over a game is okay, I'm not sure what you're referring to. Furthermore, there's a sizable gap between, "I am upset about this game and would like a fix/apology from those responsible," and, "I think it's okay that some lunatic wants to b eat up the writing team because of the end of a video game." For the most part, the folks on this thread are vocally upset but hardly violent and evil. It's quite possible to be very upset with Bioware as a company while not condoning people who take things far too far.
You're right, this thread is not nearly as extreme in reaction as other places on the internet.
Standard political pundit strategy: Position yourself in what could be called "the middle", call everybody who has a somewhat more polarizing opinion "sad" "crazy" "extreme".
Only that Scott is firmly on the side of the giant corporation here.
Except that I'm not a corporate shill, I don't own stock, I'm not vested - financially or otherwise - in the success of Bioware, and I'm not running for office. So indulge me, magnuskn. What is my dirty ulterior motive for defending Bioware?
Apparently the pleasure of lording over others how "crazy" and "sad" they are, compared to your oh-so-reasonable self?
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
It'd be super ok with me if you guys wanted to spin off into a different thread of your own. Jus' sayin'.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
I'd be super okay if Scott would stop his drive-by roundhouse punching of people who criticise BioWares storytelling decisions. So that we can discuss the story on its merits, not discuss about the people criticising the story.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I for one would like to thank (almost) everyone in this thread for helping me avoid a landmine. Instead of buying ME3 I saved the money and bought Witcher 2 and Orochi Warriors 3.
Orochi Warriors, by the way, has three different endings that actually depend somewhat on your actions. Take of that what you will.
|
I for one would like to thank (almost) everyone in this thread for helping me avoid a landmine. Instead of buying ME3 I saved the money and bought Witcher 2 and Orochi Warriors 3.
Orochi Warriors, by the way, has three different endings that actually depend somewhat on your actions. Take of that what you will.
Great choice man !
So who did you save in Witcher 2 ?
The child-heiress, or Triss ?
|
Liara is such an innocent teen in ME1. But if you start there and have DLC Lair of the Shadow Broker, you can continue the romance in ME2. Great payoff in ME3...I just started my 2nd run through with my difficult-to-play-because-I-have-a-really-hard-time-picking-Renegade-choice s Renegade Femshep.
Interesting. I have also started my next run-through, this time with heavy Biotic, neutral Shep. There's probably nothing new as with the other two, but I am curious to see if being more apathetic and see-sawing between the two options creates any new alternatives I have missed. Also, trying the Miranda romance, but I have to say I don't expect that much to come out of it. I tried the Tali romance before, and the drama of retaking Rannoch was well done.
I have never really given the Liara relationship much thought, but she's really grown on me as a character in ME3. I am tempted to start from ME through ME3 with her as a central romance, but I don't think I could commit time to doing the whole trilogy from scratch.
*Taking a deep breathe* The development of Liara is one of the story lines from the series that I really liked. I did not care much for her as a character in ME1, but the developments in 2 & 3 created a character that was very interesting.
*Sigh* - I had a feeling this was mistake when I asked...
First off - I'd like to apologize if I have helped contribute to this thread going off the rails by questioning Mr. Betts line of thought.
When I came into this thread I was enjoying the discussion about Mass Effect 3 and what the story - good and bad - had done. I have my doubts about how the game turned out and it was nice to be able to talk about it to someone else. I have found it to be generally easy-going to discuss this and other story elements of the game with several people in this thread.
Not because I hate the game - quite the contrary - but because I have been generally impressed with the series. When you invest time (easily 60+ hours if you played the whole trilogy) in a series like Mass Effect, I think one acquires certain expectations and Bioware has generally fulfilled those for the most part. But for the game's denoument, I feel like the developers didn't reach that level of excellence. Not becuase of what the ending does or concludes, but because it comes off as inconsistent with the rest of the story narrative or genre setting they created.
While there have been some "this sucks!" posts concerning the game, I think the majority of the posts I have been following or added are trying to make sense of the game and what Bioware (or EA - their owners) was trying to do. While I have expressed some skepticism about EA (who's track record for corporate shennigans has been reported), I would like to think I am not condoning "extreme outrage" at Bioware or their employees.
So, that being said...
@Scott Betts:
Did you actually read the thread, or is this just a poor attempt at discrediting someone because you disagree with their point?
Because if you had, you'd know the answer.
Sir - As I said before, you can have your point. I never said it was wrong; nor was sarcasm my intent. What I asked in two posts was - do you have some reasoning to your point besides making a negative and shock-oriented comment that essentially is stating: "get a life!" Instead of giving me an example of this reasoning, your response was to compare complaints about the game to cancer victims and killing people.
You have since clarified where your frustration comes from to Mr. Brooks by giving examples of behavior you feel is unncessary over a game. I understand that better and wish you would have just clarified your answer to me from the start.
I just enjoy casting a little more light on the rather depressing reactions of the gaming community, as well as those who encourage those reactions or allow them to stand. If the reaction that you have to a disappointing end to a video game is more severe than the reaction you would have to an actual tragedy or travesty, it's probably time to rethink your life a little.
I cannot speak for the gaming community as a whole, nor condone some of the behaviors you have mentioned. My point was, if your goal was to somehow make everyone stop questioning/critiquing the game in THIS THREAD by shaming them or telling them to "get a life.", then your response becomes no more meaningful than yelling the "game sucks."
Shed some light on why we shouldn't question the game or add a reasonable statement in defense of the how the game was just fine like it is. Other people have certainly said they loved the ending, and I don't begrudge them their opinion because it is different from my take.
For myself, I have read this thread to some extent and I have read other sources about this game and the hype. For this forum, it would seem its been kept relatively light on "nerd-rage" - something that you yourself have had admitted to above to Mr. Brooks. I hope I have kept my comments constructive within this THIS forum thread and not condoned negativity. Frustration maybe.
I am assuming its partially through the courtesy of the moderation of Ms Courts and Mr Byers. :-)
Verbal drama broadsides on this matter could go on by both of us, but I don't want to mess up this thread anymore or get it locked by Paizo. So with that, I would like to go back to discussing Mass Effect.
I for one would like to thank (almost) everyone in this thread for helping me avoid a landmine. Instead of buying ME3
While I don't dismiss your choices, sir - I myself want to sit down and get a crack at the Witcher 2 - don't take the discussion as a warning that the ME3 game sucks.
My opinion is that the game is 99% great and 1% "wth?" That doesn't mean it isn't interesting or fun no matter the outcome.
I'll admit that my own frustration may come from having played two previous games and then playing this like it was real finale.
Moreso, if you are coming new to it with ME3, I think you'll find it to be quite good - any drama here aside. In any case give it a try, maybe once the hype has subsided and its in the bargin bin. ;-)
@QXL99 & Alceste008: Thanks for the insights on the Liara story and following it through. Its been a storyline that I have generally ignored - the Ashley Williams and Tali storylines have been more interesting in the previous games. At least until they inserted the Shadow Broker story.
In ME3, I have really enjoyed the Tali storyline to regain Rannoch, but because she comes later in the game it seems less prominent in the overall story.
But with Liara, having her as a companion so early in the game really lends to her being there throughout the narrative and then developing the romantic options. Something to look at on the next play-around.
Without trying to sound like a hypocrite, I certainly hope so. Apologies to you again if I have helped fan the flames you are having to put out.
Whew - way more rambling than I expected. Good night.
|
|
My wish list for DLC besides the extended cut ending;
More missions on the Salarian, Asari, and Turian home worlds. You know they kind of made a big deal about seeing these places but other than spending an ass load of time on Tuchunka (again) I was a little disappointed in the amount of focus given to the other home worlds.
Add a mission to get Zaheed his revenge against Vito.
Throw in a few scenes with old friends. You know like that undercover agent from ME1-2. The plant infected Asari that turned green. I cant think of others but there are tons of characters they could toss in just a convo for added flavor. An example like Conrad verner and the girl from the bar in ME1. Sorry im terrible with names.
My wish list for DLC besides the extended cut ending
I would certainly love to see a great deal of those suggestions. The question I would have is can you create a good storyline to incorporate most of it at once.
More and more, I get the feeling that any DLC material - outside the extended cut ending - may take on the Fallout: New Vegas approach. That is to say:
Any additional adventures will take place before the final battles against Cerebrus and the Reapers. Heck - a whole another chapter of story ala Fallout would be cool - not just a one-shot adventure.
As for your suggestions, I would readily enjoy more action on Palaven (turian homeworld) and more details on the Sur-kesh (salarian home).
I enjoyed the Hammerhead DLC from ME2 - I think a world or three to explore ala ME1 but in the much-more-pleasant-to-pilot Hammerhead would be pretty cool DLC. It'd add a feeling of exploration back into the game that has been lacking since the first installment. Also, I've always thought a wild race/chase (like the endings for Halo) through an exploding Reaper would be pretty dang sweet.
And as far as an "extended ending" DLC - I'd be more satisfied with an Epilogue. Though I CERTAINLY wouldn't mind having
I enjoyed the Hammerhead DLC from ME2, etc.
Agreed on this comment. I know that there have been complaints about the Vehicle Exploration part of the game in previous MEs, but I defintely found it to be something I missed in this game. Didn't realize what change of pace it made versus the rest of the "live" combat.
What I don't miss is the "element gathering" on ME2 - too many planets to work through. The military resource gathering in ME3 was a better streamlined version of the idea and thought it worked well.
And as far as an "extended ending" DLC ...if all I got was a scene of Ash either obviously pregnant or with a baby and in relative safety/comfort, I'd be pleased as punch with that.
+1 on that. I would certainly give the ending a more hopeful tone to than:
the Normandy landing on a mystery planet and a post-epilogue sequence of an old man talking about the "Sheperd."
I think it would also give a more meaningful resolution to Shepard's sacrifice of his life to destroy/control/synthesize the Reapers.
Not to rub salt in a wound concerning the endings, but I just recently came across this on someone's twitter fed and followed it to a You-Tube source. There's two versions of it and it should be considered spoilery, so you have been warned:
Anderson's Cut Dialog w/Female Shepard
Anderson's cut dialog w/Male Shepard
If you'll excuse me, I think there's still something in my eye...
That's the kind of touches I wish Bioware had brought to the ending. I wish it had been in there or seen it for myself. It might sound cheesy to some, but it certainly strikes a cord.
Now, I can't personally vouch for this rumor, but someone has mentioned that this ending piece isn't deleted...you can achieve it by having no romances in the game. Whether that means all three games or just ME3 - no clue. I haven't seen any actually footage by anyone that this happens.
On the other side of it, the rumor is that it was cut due to a supposed canonical conflict from the novels that said Anderson had a wife and son at some point. No idea on this one either.
I loved the game. Even though I wanted to slap a cactus barehanded when I saw the ending, the whole game felt like a long, dramatic, man-tear inducing grand finale, so in a way I don't felt so bad for the actual conclussion. All I really wanted was a closure to the stories of all those awesome characters (and those not-so-awesome ones. Seriously, I could never really connect with Jacob or Samara, while on the other hand I was all runny nose with Grunt and Mordin), and I got just that.
Still, I'm on the conspiracy theory boat these days regarding what the DLC might bring. The pieces just fit far too well together for there not to be something else brewing.
I don't really buy the indoctrination theory. I've seen lots on it, and a fairly good argument is made, but just because random facts can be linked doesn't mean they're actually pieces of a bigger puzzle. Carl Macek was able to combine three completely separate animes into one singular universe;Robotech. When things don't make sense, like the ME3 ending, the human mind works very hard to fill in gaps and find patterns so things will become clear.
That said, if the indoctrination theory is true, then BioWare deserves some sort of marketing/PR equivalent of a Darwin Award for the way they handled things. Also, if they rip the indoctrination theory to create a new ending that makes sense, I would be fine with that.
Wow. This Renegade play-through is turning out REMARKABLY different from my Paragon version. I really enjoyed the extra bit of dialogue between Eve and Shepard in the Normandy's Medical Bay after rescuing her from Sur'kesh.
Having destroyed Maelon's data back in ME2 with this Shepard, I'm nervous as to how things will play out once we get ground-side on Tuchanka. Wrex has been pretty pissy about the deleted data too, but I still don't know if I'll be capable of siding with the Salarian Daletress. (I still remember when I was playing through ME1 with this Shepard and killed the Rachni Queen - I couldn't play the game for weeks afterward; I felt so heartless!)
My first two conversations with Kaiden after getting to the Citadel were really heated- I'm now nervously wondering how things will play out during/after the
I find it rather impressive that BioWare was able to create such different stories within the larger plot. I confess, I'm even more pleased with my Paragon playthrough than I was before. I've also found that the multiplayer is a lot more fun than I'd thought it'd be.
All in all, I continue to enjoy this game long after most others would have lost my attention.
All in all, I continue to enjoy this game long after most others would have lost my attention.
Agree greatly. I am working my way back from ME2 and into ME3 just to get some elements involving the Liara and Cereberus plots that I did differently.
Also - I started a new ME3 game with a "fresh" character just to see what happened. Its kind of strange - if you have any history with the game - the way the character is treated. For example:
You don't the have Arrival in your background, so your "crimes" are left opaque - it certainly hard to tell if this makes this Shepard more or less of a hero.
Also, the game seems to default to the Citadel Council being wiped out. This makes the Citadel government appear to be more humanocentric than before I think. Little strange after I have spent so much time being supportive of the alien council model.
Also agree on Mutliplayer part. It has been much more cooperative friendly than I first expected. I have to give Bioware credit on this - using the theme of the "Galaxy at War" certainly works to help support this side of things. I don't think it would have made as much sense - storywise - to have put in before.
I don't really buy the indoctrination theory. I've seen lots on it, and a fairly good argument is made...
Understandable point.
I was a huge Robotech fan back in the day, and I was willing to overlook some flaws in that series because of it. I think Macek did a good job of editing out most of the "stuff that didn't make sense," to keep the storyline generally on-track but that's a good example.Anyhow, I have to admit that as I pay through things again I find some of the parts of the theory don't really have to be linked or hold up as naturally as I first thought. They can stand on their own - no need for conspiracy.
Without going into a list just now, certain parts nag at me because they don't connect thematically to the story and genre. Which I think is why I am still willing to consider some major points of the theory.
I am trying to keep my expectations down on what the DLC tells us at this point.
Also - I started a new ME3 game with a "fresh" character just to see what happened. Its kind of strange - if you have any history with the game - the way the character is treated. For example:
My first play of ME3 was with a "fresh" character, and I kept having this nagging feeling that the story simply didn't make any sense. Especially when you know what happened before. It's like all the events of ME1 and ME2 still happened, but Shepard was not involved with any of them.
It bugged me so bad that I had to spend a weekend digging my old ME2 save games out of an old, broken harddrive just so I could start over with an existing character. Suddenly, the story made SO much more sense, and the game was much better for it.
And then Tali kills herself in the most gut-wrenching scene ever, and I had to go back and finish ME2 again just to have the option to avoid that. So, overall, started the game over two times before I got a game I was happy with. As an extra bonus, this also gave me Urdnot Wrex, instead of that idiot Wreave. :)
I think it was a weird design decision to disconnect Shepard so much from past events, if you're starting fresh. While using an existing character is cool and all, since the character system is new, I would have much preferred to start from level 1 to get a feel for it, rather than start at level 30 (or whatever level it is that you max out in ME2) with points in just about everything you'd ever need. Feels very FPS-ish that your character's abilities barely evolve over the course of the game.
As an aside, I don't really buy into the indoctrination theory. If that had really been the plan all along, there would have been a DLC out by now. Or at least something to suggest that Bioware's marketing department has a clue. Of course, Bioware might still jump on the theory after the fact, but personally I think that would be pretty low.
But personally, I suspect that the promised ending DLC will just flesh out the ending scenes, while keeping the overall theme of the ending. I doubt they'll change anything to the point where your effective military strength, or anything else you do in the game for that matter, will have any significance.
My first play of ME3 was with a "fresh" character, and I kept having this nagging feeling that the story simply didn't make any sense. It's like all the events of ME1 and ME2 still happened, but Shepard was not involved with any of them.I think it was a weird design decision to disconnect Shepard so much from past events, if you're starting fresh.
My thoughts - not as well put in my previous post - exactly.
Thoughts on the Extended Cut?
I thought it solved most of the logic flaws within the endings. If you hated the overall philosophical direction of the ending, you're not going to be moved much by the extended version, but for those who were more offended by the glaring plot holes, they've actually done a credible job of fixing them. They've also differentiated the endings a bit more than before (especially Control, which always felt like the weakest choice before but is now viable) and added the new Refusal ending, which is amusing but ultimately pointless. They also fixed the 'exploding mass relay' discrepency from the end of the game, which is good.
I think it's rather more than the 'band aid on a gunshot wound' I've seen it dismissed as in some quarters. It's not perfect and isn't a patch on the Indoctrination Theory, but it's serviceable enough IMO.
Haven't watched it yet, but will soon.
Actually - I'm mildly surprised that it's out already. After all the discussions by both players and Bioware's developers, I was under the impression that it would take longer than 3 months to put this out.
I was surprised too. I just happened to see a news story on it today. Really snuck up on me.
After watching it, the new material felt like a waste of time. Mostly just longer version of the scenes that already existed, with pretty minimal differentiation. Was anyone really yearning for 5 seconds of random people walking around the Normandy before the end? The new dialogue doesn't go much of anywhere, with the questions being answered with "you wouldn't understand" or longer version of what was previously said, without actually adding anything. I found it cute how hard they backpedaled on some of the "burning down the setting" aspects, which might make some people happy. The endings are still just color swabs in many regards, and the voice overs are generic enough I'm pretty sure you could paste them onto different games without anyone knowing. I liked the new "easter egg" ending, though I can't tell if it is trying to be cute or a slap in the face.
I think they did very well. Giving meaning to the different choices means they are no longer merely colours. You get a choice between unity, tyranny and transcendence that is confirmed by the voiceovers, not an indoctrination. It is how I interpreted the endings before, and as I have stated earlier, I liked it even then. The only thing weird was the crash followed by flying away again from the planet. And, maskless quarians!
Well, what to say about the EC? It kinda fixes things. Yes, all four endings are still revolting in their own way, Synthesis being the absolutely worst of the lot. But I can pick Destroy and not feel like I am soiled. I know, I know... the Geth and EDI die. But while that is horrific, they died so that everybody else can live. They didn't consent to it when I pushed the button, but they consented to be willing to giving their life for a better future for everybody when they joined the final fight. It is not clean... but close enough.
It still sucks to have to do it. But better than fundamentally destroying the very concepts of organic life or the good chance that the Reapers will return. The Reapers needed to go and that is why Destroy is the only real ending for me. Also, the quite good chance that Shepard and Tali will reunite.
It is definitely a much better ending than the original. But does it restore my trust in BioWare? No.
That trust is *gone*. They f***ed around with their fans in three games in a row now ( DA2, SWTOR, ME3 ) and their disgusting arrogance with ME3 and their inability to get what our problems were ( or refusal to treat those problems as serious concerns ) and other dickish behaviour on their part... all of this makes me feel like they stopped caring about fans other than being cash cows.
I will give them another chance with DA3. But pre-ordering ever again? Gone. Gonzo. Kaputt. I'll get the next games as cheap as possible and only after reading fan reviews or from reviewers I trust, like Angry Joe.
That being said, the scene with getting Tali on the Normandy during the run to the conduit... heartrendingly well voice-acted. Although it really was unbelievable that Harbinger would just not shoot the Normandy to pieces while it sat there for like two minutes.
Why is synthesis so bad? People keep claiming it is things like "rape of every living thing"... but why? They certainly don't seem to be in pain, or even very bothered with it. Is the structure of DNA so important in and of itself, then? And destroy does carry a problem - the cycle was put into place for a reason. What will prevent the synthetics from overrunning the organics within a few centuries?
So... Do they explain WHY you have to do any of the endings?
I mean, you had already broken the cycle by making peace between organic and synthetic. The only synthetics that still wanted to destroy the organics were the reapers.
I havn't seen the extended endings, so I'm wondering. Is it still "inevitable" that synthetics will destroy organics? If yes, then the Destroy ending would still just be postponing the inevitable by a few years. With no reapers to "save" life the next time.
If no, then... what was the point of the reapers in the first place?
And destroy does carry a problem - the cycle was put into place for a reason. What will prevent the synthetics from overrunning the organics within a few centuries?
As was said, you have already stopped this happening between the quarians and geth, and of course the threat is now identified and known, so that it can be dealt with in the future whenever it arises. That's the variable in the pattern that Shepard brings into play.
Indoctrination Theorists do get a nice little nod, though:
If no, then... what was the point of the reapers in the first place?
I get the impression that the Reapers and the Catalyst don't have the faith required to make such a blind leap that the cycle can be broken, whilst of course Shepard does (bolstered by his experiences with the geth and quarians).
So... Do they explain WHY you have to do any of the endings?
Actually, they did one better - they added a fourth ending option (the community has termed it "Refusal") that involves choosing not to choose.
Having played through all four endings, I'm quite satisfied with the way ME III wraps up. And I agree with Magnuskn as far as the Destroy ending goes--a better choice than synthesis, which plays God with all life much more than Control does (plus, Shep survives!)