ME3 Ending Fix Coming This Summer

Mass Effect 3's New Ending Will Make Things...

  • Better

    Votes: 33 19.4%
  • Worse

    Votes: 27 15.9%
  • Meh, who cares?

    Votes: 110 64.7%

  • Total voters
    170
I can't believe some people. 99% of the series was awesome but you can never go back to it? Really? Have gamers become such drama queens?

It's like those people I talk to about the Lord of the Rings movies. All the talk about is how gay Frodo and Sam looked at each other at the end. Ummmm, there was about 12 hours of movie before that people!?

Not the same.

The Mass Effect series is a constant build up of decisions and experiences toward the eventual end outcome. There is investment for a promised payoff that doesn't get realized. It isn't petty.

If you take away the payoff for investment, why invest? That's why people won't go back.
 
Half-Life 2's ending infuriated me. ME3's ending certainly wasn't what I expected or hoped for, but I wasn't angry about it, either. I felt more melancholy over the whole saga being finished. Like a really great novel, I don't want it to be over. I want the further adventures of Commander Shepard and his gallant crew. I just started my second playthrough and am definitely interested in the new ending.
 
Kinda shows you haven't heard the ending. *spoiler, from what I've read, I ain't buyin this piece* You get to the final descision after saving your friends and making alliances where you meet some ghost kid for the first time who reveals the whole reapers attacking every 40,000 years is a cycle he intentionally started. Your choices are destroy one group, destroy another group, destroy niether(?) BUT any of the choices blows the Mass Gates that permits interstellar space travel AND the solar system they are in killing billions of sentient beings.

Since you're dishing out spoilers, how about input from some one who's actually played the game?

If you haven't played the game and want to, STOP HERE! The rest is all SPOILER.

Your post is mostly on target, but misses a few things. No matter which ending you choose, all of the Mass Relays and the Citadel are destroyed. These are the things that the entire ME universe are built around. They allow for intergalactic travel and multi-race government. The thing that has most ME fans upset is the fact that their destruction makes virtually everything you've fought to accomplish, every person you've helped or come to care about in the game... for nothing. Since they are stuck in out galaxy and cannot return to any of their own. Worse, it teases them with all their hopes through the series, hands them to them in the last game just long enough for them to think there is hope, and then yanks them away in this sadistic kind of "psych, sucks to be you" sort of way.

The "Catalyst" (little ghost kid) is interjected at the end with little to no background or character development. He claims the Reapers are his solution to chaos. That organics and sentient machines will always end up killing each other, so he decided to just do it first, before they get the chance. But since your character has made it this far, he must need a new solution, so he gives you 3 choices. NONE of which the character ME fans have known and helped shape over the last 100+ hours of game play, would go for. Instead of stopping the Catalyst from interfering in free choice and playing god, Shep just goes along with it. This flies in the face of nearly everything he or she has stood for, baffling fans even more.

When the game ends there is no epilogue, no closure as to what happens with all these people you've been fighting evil with, outside of seeing some of them land on some undisclosed planet in some other undisclosed universe. Then it skips to years later and one of these characters is apparently old and passing on the tale to a grand-child.

To be fair, the series has been a favorite of mine. Through 95% of the ME3 I felt it was BioWare's best work yet. However the ending was so profoundly wrong, so voiding, that it removed my desire to play any portion of the series further. This is not nerd rage. This is a devote fan feeling as though the ending made me feel like an @$$ for even caring about video game characters it so sadistically tore their hopes and dreams away from them. I didn't feel like their hero, I felt like their destroyer. THIS is what most the fans who are upset, are upset about. They gave us hope, handed it to us and then crushed it it completely as we watched.
 
Atleast LotR was consistent, the gay talk started already at the end of the first episode :)

I hated the ME3 ending as well, it was a big "meh" for me, I did however replay it but jsut because I found a way to play the game with my choices from 1 and 2 (played them on xbox and ME3 on PC, and ME3 on PC with the default choices was utter crap).

The relay explosion thing I dont worry that much about tho, heck with the shockwaves from the exploding relays covering all the galaxy in about 5 minutes and Joker almost outrunning one it basically means that they dont need the relays anyway.

The biggest gripe is the whole "what happened then?", I mean ok I died so then what? Its like Matrix I would end where Neo was shot and then the credits roll...

/Q
 
I still feel the whole game was the end. Mordin survived in ME2 and in ME3 he was there. That choice mattered to me. If I saved him again or not in ME3 mattered to me.

With ME4 most likely in the works, BioWare did say keep your ME3 saves after all, don’t know how anyone could say it didn’t matter.
 
I just beat ME3 last nite and I gotta say i hate it. It actually pissed me off enough to the point where I wished I didn't even play not only ME3 but 1 & 2 also.

To say it leaves a sour taste in my mouth is an understatement.
 
Kinda shows you haven't heard the ending.
Haven't played the game. Mass Effect isn't my kind of game (combat's terrible — sorry). What concerns me not how good or bad the ending is but that people seem to want a game developer to go back and modify a game's storyline as a result of customer backlash.

I tend to see games as art pieces in terms of their visual, audio and technical artistry, without paying too much attention to what happens as far as the storyline is concerned (beyond the atmosphere and environments that are a component of the story), but to me, actually going back, post-release, and changing a game's storyline feels like it would set a very weird and potentially problematic precedent. Near as I can recall, this kind of thing hasn't ever been done before in any game I'm aware of.
 
I can't believe some people. 99% of the series was awesome but you can never go back to it? Really? Have gamers become such drama queens?

It's like those people I talk to about the Lord of the Rings movies. All the talk about is how gay Frodo and Sam looked at each other at the end. Ummmm, there was about 12 hours of movie before that people!?

It still leads to the same place. Although Sam and Frodo sexing each other up in their heads didn't bother me because I did not see any of the sexing up, you still end up at the same point. If that was something that I just could not stand, then yes, I would not watch Lord of the Rings again, because it is just the same 12 hour ride to the same destination. Except now that I have watched it, I know what that destination has in store for me, which does even more to remove any desire to relive the 12 hour experience.

Seeing as how I detest the ending of Mass Effect 3, why would I want to play all three games again just to stop before I have to experience the horror that is its current ending? I know there is no way to change the ending. I know that my choices do not matter. I know that no matter what, joker still is going to get off of that ship with the same shit eating grin he always has. Never mind the fact that after a bumpy ride and a crash, his skeleton should be fairly close to powder. Although I would consider that last one a "creative liberty".

Ultimately for me, the whole ending really was like taking your time with a tootsie roll pop, then once you got through the outside shell of your favorite flavor, getting some of the rankest cat crap on the planet, possibly re-digested by dogs. I honestly felt like they were working away, then got hit with a deadline, then they saw the Dues Ex CD sitting on their desk, and then decided to mold that ending to the Mass Effect universe. Then cheered and patted themselves on the back for meeting the deadline.
 
As someone who is about halfway through the game (my guess), I honestly don't want a different ending to be released before I finish it. I want to play the game the developers intended. So I am kind of glad it won't come out soon, I will have it finished by then.

I don't know what the ending is, I've avoided spoiling it for myself. I just know (some) people don't like it. But, they've done such a good job keeping me involved with the story that I want to experience what they decided was a fitting end.
 
As someone who is about halfway through the game (my guess), I honestly don't want a different ending to be released before I finish it. I want to play the game the developers intended. So I am kind of glad it won't come out soon, I will have it finished by then.

I don't know what the ending is, I've avoided spoiling it for myself. I just know (some) people don't like it. But, they've done such a good job keeping me involved with the story that I want to experience what they decided was a fitting end.

Prepare for epic disappointment.
 
It still leads to the same place. Although Sam and Frodo sexing each other up in their heads didn't bother me because I did not see any of the sexing up, you still end up at the same point. If that was something that I just could not stand, then yes, I would not watch Lord of the Rings again, because it is just the same 12 hour ride to the same destination. Except now that I have watched it, I know what that destination has in store for me, which does even more to remove any desire to relive the 12 hour experience.

Seeing as how I detest the ending of Mass Effect 3, why would I want to play all three games again just to stop before I have to experience the horror that is its current ending? I know there is no way to change the ending. I know that my choices do not matter. I know that no matter what, joker still is going to get off of that ship with the same shit eating grin he always has. Never mind the fact that after a bumpy ride and a crash, his skeleton should be fairly close to powder. Although I would consider that last one a "creative liberty".

Ultimately for me, the whole ending really was like taking your time with a tootsie roll pop, then once you got through the outside shell of your favorite flavor, getting some of the rankest cat crap on the planet, possibly re-digested by dogs. I honestly felt like they were working away, then got hit with a deadline, then they saw the Dues Ex CD sitting on their desk, and then decided to mold that ending to the Mass Effect universe. Then cheered and patted themselves on the back for meeting the deadline.

But you can look at that last 10 minutes out of 120+ hours and say that's it. Things did matter. Wrex can live a great life or be dead before the sequel. Even little choices like The Fan or reporter all matter. Take it as a whole.
 
I have to admint. I've enjoyed all of the series. I was very dissapointed by the ending, and even though I've read through all of the indoctorination theories, interperetation of the current ending, Joker's embracing Metropolis' Maria err *cough* EDI at the end, I think there is enough loose ends to continue on the franchise in a very successful way even without Shepard. Hopefully the new ending brings closure to a great story arc and fixes the last 13 minutes of the game.
 
You know, I would just like to see Bioware add an ending that explains:

A.) How all the people and races of the victory fleet that came to your aid at the end of the game will survive now that all the Mass Relays are destroyed and the Earth is in ruins.

...speaking of Mass Relays

B.) How in every ending, the Mass Relays all blow up, killing billions and billions of people, far more than the Reapers would have. Remember, according to the previous games, one Mass Relay exploding would wipe out an entire solar system. :eek:
 
I can't believe some people. 99% of the series was awesome but you can never go back to it? Really? Have gamers become such drama queens?

It's like those people I talk to about the Lord of the Rings movies. All the talk about is how gay Frodo and Sam looked at each other at the end. Ummmm, there was about 12 hours of movie before that people!?

I'm not going back to ME3 because I didn't much like most of the game. It has nothing to do with drama, I just didn't enjoy it as much as the first 2 at any point.
 
But you can look at that last 10 minutes out of 120+ hours and say that's it. Things did matter. Wrex can live a great life or be dead before the sequel. Even little choices like The Fan or reporter all matter. Take it as a whole.

And in all honesty I enjoyed those. I do not expect them to regale me with every single decision I made. Honestly, the types of endings did not bother me. Just the amount of effort they put into them.They did not tell you jack about what happened because of your decision. Each ending was almost 95% the same. A few things here, a few things there, but most of them were based off of your military rating. Chrono Trigger gave you 12 different endings, and a lot of them were just based off of certain choices (such as whether frog was frog or glen). Even the voice acting got lazy in the ending. Sure it was not stellar voice acting 100% of the way through the rest of the game, but the ending is where you want things to shine. And for me, it did not.
 
...speaking of Mass Relays

B.) How in every ending, the Mass Relays all blow up, killing billions and billions of people, far more than the Reapers would have. Remember, according to the previous games, one Mass Relay exploding would wipe out an entire solar system. :eek:

This is a huge assumption. An asteroid hitting a relay and causing its destruction is not the same thing as the relays destruction being caused by some unknown pulse of power.

You are basically saying 1 = 2. So it is very easy to say that the mass relays blowing up do to the conclusion of ME3 do not cause the same damage.

To further support this point, if we use a wreaking ball to demolish a building or a controlled explosion the building is going to collapse in different way.
 
I hope they make it worse just to be dicks. They should write the ending where they all break out in song and dance! Kinda like those Simpsons ending where they couldn't end it properly. Why can't Bioware make the ending the way they want it to be? Its ridiculous to let joe schmoe decide the ending isn't good enough.
 
If you're halfway thru, keep playing. Then ending isn't great but it's still good and the rest of the game is superb.

The mass relays being destroyed by the crucible is different because (in my mind anyway) its transferring its energy to the next one and so on around the galaxy instead of releasing it all at once like in the arrival DLC.
 
You know, I would just like to see Bioware add an ending that explains:

A.) How all the people and races of the victory fleet that came to your aid at the end of the game will survive now that all the Mass Relays are destroyed and the Earth is in ruins.

...speaking of Mass Relays

B.) How in every ending, the Mass Relays all blow up, killing billions and billions of people, far more than the Reapers would have. Remember, according to the previous games, one Mass Relay exploding would wipe out an entire solar system. :eek:

There aren't enough different colored markers in the universe or enough whiteboards to do what you're asking.

Even BW hasn't tried to "explain" things up to this point because they likely know there's no possible way to do it that will even come close to making sense.

The DLC they plan is likely going to be something thrown together by some "crack team" they'll put together to try and form something cohesive out of the mess they have now.

It's just more damage control, bullshit distraction if you ask me, and their statement that they wont be taking questions at PAX about any current things proves they are still dodging the issue.

Going to be fun to see them try and avoid the hundreds of people in front of them that DO want to discuss it though. I guessed a while back they'd label anyone like that as a "disturbance" and have security remove them from the hall. Should be interesting to see if they can remove the whole audience.
 
Yea, I was bummed by the generic ending and its plot holes, but I loved the journey up to it. I think ME1 is by far my favorite for story, but the gameplay in ME3 is extremely fun. Most of the story is too.

Also, it's not a new ending. You still have the same endings, there's just more cinematics to show the aftermath. I'm kind of glad Bioware didn't completely cave and come up with a completely new outcome. I think it would've set a scary precedent. Imagine what Hollywood would have to do; film an entirely new ending for most of their movies for the Blu-ray release. :p
 
This is a huge assumption. An asteroid hitting a relay and causing its destruction is not the same thing as the relays destruction being caused by some unknown pulse of power.

You are basically saying 1 = 2. So it is very easy to say that the mass relays blowing up do to the conclusion of ME3 do not cause the same damage.

To further support this point, if we use a wreaking ball to demolish a building or a controlled explosion the building is going to collapse in different way.

Except that the Normandy trying to outrun a relay explosion and being damaged to the point of crashing tells us that they don't explode in a more gentle fashion.
 
I hope they make it worse just to be dicks. They should write the ending where they all break out in song and dance! Kinda like those Simpsons ending where they couldn't end it properly. Why can't Bioware make the ending the way they want it to be? Its ridiculous to let joe schmoe decide the ending isn't good enough.

Because maybe they want Joe Schmoe to buy their next game? Creating a massively shit ending to a 3-game series that people paid good money for is not going to instill much good will in pre-ordering or even purchasing another BioWare/EA game again.
 
Yea, I was bummed by the generic ending and its plot holes, but I loved the journey up to it. I think ME1 is by far my favorite for story, but the gameplay in ME3 is extremely fun. Most of the story is too.

Also, it's not a new ending. You still have the same endings, there's just more cinematics to show the aftermath. I'm kind of glad Bioware didn't completely cave and come up with a completely new outcome. I think it would've set a scary precedent. Imagine what Hollywood would have to do; film an entirely new ending for most of their movies for the Blu-ray release. :p

The precident was already set in earlier games. Not BioWare games, but other game companies have done it. Fallout is one such example.
 
Serious question here. Did Bioware actually plan this ending from the beginning even during ME1? Or was this some slapstick comedy put together during the development of ME3?
 
Serious question here. Did Bioware actually plan this ending from the beginning even during ME1? Or was this some slapstick comedy put together during the development of ME3?

According to the leaked script for ME3 this is NOT the original ending at all. They rewrote it to be like this. :eek:
 
Alright, a re-write I can understand. Now who leaked the script? That guy needs to pay, dearly, for his crimes :p. I say he works night and day so EA can release the original ending. Now it looks like I'll be searching the interwebz for that leaked script.
 
Serious question here. Did Bioware actually plan this ending from the beginning even during ME1? Or was this some slapstick comedy put together during the development of ME3?

This was developed during ME3 development. There was actually a different sub-plot
A kind of dark energy, chaos building, entropy type deal
throughout Mass Effect 1 and 2 that was building up for Mass Effect 3. They essentially took the one of the side-plots
Quarian vs Geth, meaning organic vs synthetic
and inserted it into the last few cutscenes claiming that it was the main story of the entire series arc. It wasn't.
 
The precident was already set in earlier games. Not BioWare games, but other game companies have done it. Fallout is one such example.

IIRC all they did with Fallout was place less emphasis on a more positive outcome of helping Gizmo run Junktown.
 
As I see it, it can pretty much only be improved. The ending was much too brief in build up, exposition and delivery.

But by far the biggest mistake made with ME3 development was time. Tacking on an extra 6 months to year of development to revise, polish, and touch up everything would have been a VERY good thing to do. Bioware should have blown it up in EA's face, "this is not enough time to create one of the most ambitious games we've done." But Casey Hudson and crew apparently didn't have enough balls to do so. Just caved, cut content, and pushed it out the door.
 
I hope they make it worse just to be dicks. They should write the ending where they all break out in song and dance! Kinda like those Simpsons ending where they couldn't end it properly. Why can't Bioware make the ending the way they want it to be? Its ridiculous to let joe schmoe decide the ending isn't good enough.

Its not Joe Schmoe its >90% of all the Joe Schmoes, even the ones that are ok with the ending thinks its just ok and I have yet to hear anyone claim its a great ending.

And sure if they want to end a series that has generated a huge revenue with a Meh then sure not much todo about that. But remember that we are talking a business here, not many these days makes games because they consider it "Art", at best they are interactive experiences and true taken to an extreme you could consider it art I guess... However its not the main purpose of the content, the main purpose is revenue.

As such its stupid to kill of a great revenue source and thats why they are releasing this DLC to fix the ending, its not because what Joe Schmoe says but because what it means to their revenue/franchise.
 
Experience Mass Effect 3 the way it was MENT TO BE.
Get the new Director's Edition Expansion with 30 more hours of gameplay*, new solar systems to explore**, and a brand new ending***.
Buy it now for your system today****.




* Additional game play length estimate is based on new content and download length(56kbps).
** Includes 2 new solar systems. Additional content will be available for purchase(Director's Edition required).
*** Ending selection is now based on story experience. Additional endings will be available for purchase(Director's Edition required).
**** Available at release only on Microsoft XBOX 360 at 3600 MS Points. PS3 and PC availability within 36 months.

(This post is a satire.)
 
Good on them for releasing it for free (for the time being), but I can't see how a bunch of cinematics will turn it around. It sounds like they've just knocked together whatever they could quickly, and without having to get the voice actors in again.

Personally I would have no problem with them rewinding to, say, the final push towards the transporter beam to the Citadel and then just rewriting the whole damned thing. Make it a whole new game, I don't care that they always said it was going to be a trilogy, I don't care about "waah, games are art, you can't change it!", I just want more Mass Effect, the good kind that includes everything up to the last 15 or so minutes.
 
Who cares about the ending cinematic? I was ready to wrap things up by the game's end. Rushing down to earth to......stall forever while tens of thousands of our ships sacrifice their lives to buy us time, while we talk about our feelings with the entire crew and soldiers on the ground. This isn't a therapy session, it's WAR.

If there's anything worth complaining about: they need to introduce the indoctrination of Kai Leng before he ever appears in combat because it's a big WTF moment. Then kill him off quickly because he never fits in with the mass effect theme until the game is already ruined.
 
Apparently Steve didn't read the article before he posted this. There's no change to the ending happening...they're simply adding extra dialogue and cinematics to explain the ending a little better so people who are kind of morons stop bitching and complaining that they didn't understand what happened.
 
Haven't played the game. Mass Effect isn't my kind of game (combat's terrible — sorry).

So waaaait a second...you say the combat is terrible but you've never actually played it to find out if it was terrible or not?

Something's not right.
 
Haven't played Mass Effect 3. Played the first and second a bit. Unless the combat's completely changed, my opinion of the series in general hasn't.
 
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