He's saying the new ending will have a great deal of variety. Why not wait to see if it's true before spewing bile.
Me jaded? I've put up with his BS for the past 5+ years so no I will not wait to spew "bile".
For three games they said all your decisions would influence the game and the ending. In the end all that happened was the Relays exploded in green fire.
Then ONLY AFTER they got called out by the [almost] entirety of the Mass Effect community for having a sh** ending they decide to add some cut-scenes.
Everything about this situation is a complete joke.
Me jaded? I've put up with his BS for the past 5+ years so no I will not wait to spew "bile".
For three games they said all your decisions would influence the game and the ending. In the end all that happened was the Relays exploded in green fire.
Then ONLY AFTER they got called out by the [almost] entirety of the Mass Effect community for having a sh** ending they decide to add some cut-scenes.
Everything about this situation is a complete joke.
The ending was a complete joke... I found myself screaming "WHAT THE FUDGE" once the credits began rolling. How did my squad end up on the Normandy after I blew the piss outta the Reapers? What the heck was the Normandy doing blasting through the solar system while I was chilling on the Catalyst, saving mankind and the entire Milky Way? Thanks for the different colored explosions and all, but seriously...
The Indoctrination theory is the only thing that makes sense... I hope that they tie things together with this extended cut, because that ending was a big, fat plot hole that left any player paying attention in complete and utter disbelief...
Me jaded? I've put up with his BS for the past 5+ years so no I will not wait to spew "bile".
For three games they said all your decisions would influence the game and the ending. In the end all that happened was the Relays exploded in green fire.
Then ONLY AFTER they got called out by the [almost] entirety of the Mass Effect community for having a sh** ending they decide to add some cut-scenes.
Everything about this situation is a complete joke.
Yes, the original ending did not meet the expectations they generated. Now they're addressing that, or at least appear to be.
If the extended endings don't significantly improve things, then make a fuss, but why do it before you see if their response to the outcry really does make amends?
And even if it doesn't, nothing a video game company does should generate a full on fit. Disappointment, sure, but not on your back drumming the ground with your fists and heels.
Yes, the original ending did not meet the expectations they generated. Now they're addressing that, or at least appear to be.
If the extended endings don't significantly improve things, then make a fuss, but why do it before you see if their response to the outcry really does make amends?
And even if it doesn't, nothing a video game company does should generate a full on fit. Disappointment, sure, but not on your back drumming the ground with your fists and heels.
Do you have cameras in my house? When did I ever create a fit? I made a post on a message board on the internet about how big a liar Casey Hudson is, not sure how that translates into me getting on my back and throwing a hissy fit like a child.
I merely pointed out that Casey Hudson who has said from day 1 of the ME trilogy, all your actions will influence the other games. When I played ME2 there was little that changed the game (from what I did in ME1). Then getting to ME3, almost none of my ME1 decisions mattered at all (the Rachni part was a complete joke), and maybe 2 or 3 of my ME2 decisions mattered. In the end, none of your decisions matter because the ending is the same cookie cutter BS for everyone, albeit with a 3 colour palette.
True I should wait until the extended cut comes out to judge them; I can infer that with years and years of evidence at my disposal (listening to hours of interviews of the years for the three games), that this will just be more BS.
I merely pointed out that Casey Hudson who has said from day 1 of the ME trilogy, all your actions will influence the other games. When I played ME2 there was little that changed the game (from what I did in ME1). Then getting to ME3, almost none of my ME1 decisions mattered at all (the Rachni part was a complete joke), and maybe 2 or 3 of my ME2 decisions mattered. In the end, none of your decisions matter because the ending is the same cookie cutter BS for everyone, albeit with a 3 colour palette.
Agree 100% I remember how much they hyped up the your past choices will affect the 3rd game greatly.
I completed ME3 about a month ago, and I have to agree the ending was pretty poor. The only analysis of it I've seen that made any sense was the indoctrination theory ending -- but even if that's what the developers/writers were going for they dropped the ball in how they tried to convey it to the player.
Its too bad..was such a great series in many ways but the ending certainly drags it down. Not sure how this new content will really change that.
__________________
A few weeks after crashing head-first into the boards (denting his helmet and being unable to move for a little while) following a hit from behind by Bob Errey, the Calgary Flames player explains:
"I was like Christ, lying on my back, with my arms outstretched, crucified"
-- Frank Musil - Early January 1994
I thought Miranda wasn't given enough screen time despite the large role she played in ME2 (she should have been a squad member in ME3 instead of that new dudebro soldier they introduced for no reason), but otherwise I thought most of the best moments in the game involved characters from ME2.
Some of the following scenes may have played differently depending on your decisions, but these were the highlights of ME3 to me:
Mordin's sacrifice to cure the genophage
Legion's "death" as the Geth and Quarians made peace
Grunt emerging from the Rachni caverns covered in blood
Thane's death in the hospital where he prays for Shepard's salvation
I never really cared for Jack and Jacob, so their reduced roles didn't bother me too much.
Pro-tip I just read on Twitter: if you're only concerned with seeing the new endings(s), drop the difficulty down to the lowest level so you can plow through the Cerberus Base and London levels as quickly as possible.
I watched the Destroy ending over my lunch break. My thoughts (spoilers follow, obviously):
The extended cut improves the final sequence from Bad Idea/Bad Execution to Bad Idea/Decent Execution. The fundamental problem I had with the ending still remains. The Star Child is still a stupid idea. The Reapers' goals ("We're a race of synthetic lifeforms who periodically wipe out organic lifeforms before they can create synthetic lifeforms that will wipe out organic lifeforms.") is still completely illogical and ######ed. I still reject the very notion that synthetics and organics cannot coexist since I accomplished exactly that by peacefully resolving the Geth/Quarian conflict in my game. It's still left unexplained how my squad members from London magically appeared on the Normandy. Showing the Normandy crash landing on the jungle planet now makes even less sense since apparently the crew was able to repair the ship and leave without issue. That sequence adds nothing to the narrative.
My other big complaint -- distilling a trilogy with dozens (hundreds?) of decisions down to a simple Red/Green/Blue choice -- doesn't appear to have been resolved. From what I can tell, none of your big decisions have any effect on the ending sequence other than showing a few still shots of characters who may or may not be dead depending on your previous actions.
However, the extended sequence does answer many of the questions the original ending left us with. We know now that the Citadel and the Mass Relays weren't destroyed, only damaged (but left in a state where they can/will be repaired). This certainly allows BioWare to create future Mass Effect games set ~50-100 years after this trilogy where the status quo is essentially unchanged. This is good.
Had this been the ending that originally shipped with the game, my reaction would likely have been one of mild disappointment at the wasted potential rather than outright hatred. With the new ending, the concept remains fundamentally flawed, but at least the story is now competently explained. I suppose that's as much of an improvement as we could reasonably expect.
well now i don't even know if i i want to bother with the download
I'm not going to bother with the download and the playtime required to repeat the Cerberus Base and London sequences. The YouTube videos Luder linked above should be sufficient to see the new endings. If you made some unorthodox choices (allowing the Geth to exterminate all the Quarians or killing off Wrex or something), there might be minor shots that don't exactly match up with your game, but nothing in the new ending will drastically change based on your Shepard's decisions.
Oh, that's a decent improvement then. Are there any other changes you know about if you start from all the way before the Cerberus Base like they advise you to?
Oh, that's a decent improvement then. Are there any other changes you know about if you start from all the way before the Cerberus Base like they advise you to?
As far as I know, this is the only change "pre-beam", everything else happens after. I haven't even played yet, just been following the Bioware site all day lol.
I think they wanted you to start at the Cerberus base to make sure your EMS is up to snuff, but they lowered the requirement to 3500 to see the "best" ending anyway.
Didn't bother playing through the end again, don't care enough to so I watched the endings on youtube.
Synthesize
Spoiler!
The synthesize ending is the biggest cop-out POS I have ever seen. So organics and sythetics live as one and then the Reapers help build society and everything is awesome. WTF did I spend three games doing, I wanted to destroy the reapers, not have them help me rebuild society.
Destroy Ending
Spoiler!
This ending was much less stupid as the Reapers were actually destroyed and the end part of it was actually really cool, Shepard is alive. Hackett also mentions the Relays are severely damaged and not destroyed so I assume that means they can be rebuilt and with Shepard alive, hello ME4.
Taking Control
Spoiler!
Again not as bad as Synthesize ending and I don't see anything that wrong with it to complain too much.
All in all, I think the Destroy/Take Control endings are ok, but that synthesize ending is absolutely ridiculously stupid. Still, to end a trilogy like this, it could have been done much better. Your decisions have no impact on the ending at all.
My favorite new one is the destroy because of the last scene in it.
Last edited by 3 Justin 3; 06-26-2012 at 05:47 PM.
My favorite new one is the destroy because of the last scene in it.
That scene was there all along, but it required ridiculously high Effective Military Strength to unlock it (6000 or more, IIRC, which is only possible if you played lots of multiplayer). They've now reduced the EMS required to see it to something more reasonable like 3000+ if which is possible if you make good decisions and complete all the side missions.
I think the ending(s) are quite a bit better now. I think they've succeeded in offering more closure and at least giving you a feeling that its a proper ending rather than a whole bunch of unanswered questions as it was originally. Definitely won't please everyone but if they had these endings in the first place I don't think the outrage would've been nearly as much.
__________________
A few weeks after crashing head-first into the boards (denting his helmet and being unable to move for a little while) following a hit from behind by Bob Errey, the Calgary Flames player explains:
"I was like Christ, lying on my back, with my arms outstretched, crucified"
-- Frank Musil - Early January 1994
