Mass Effect 3 - Issue with MP, More on Endings

JDR13 said:

Brent Knowles is entitled to his opinion, but that's all it is.

He's apparently disappointed because the ending didn't feature children dancing in the streets among flowers and rainbows.

Personally, I give Bioware credit for taking a chance and not going with the typical cliche ending that we're so used to seeing.

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This is the second game that ends on a depressing end but hey people bitched about Bioware always sticking to cliche endings. Now were stuck with emo depressing ends where no one wins we all lose or just survive.

Like Brent Knowles I see enough of this in real life. Its a game not a real life simulator with all the grey areas. Go watch or read the news if you want drama and tragedy.

Couchpotato said:

Like Brent Knowles I see enough of this in real life. Its a game not a real life simulator with all the grey areas. Go watch or read the news if you want drama and tragedy.

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Agreed. Also, saying that we wouldn't expect the ending to change for a novel or a movie or whatever is comparing apples to oranges. All art forms have their conventions to follow. Somewhere along the way, the BioWare writers forgot that they're writing for a game, and not for a literary journal. Game writers have to respect the conventions for games, just as novelists respect genre conventions, screenwriters respect screenplay conventions, etc. When writing for a game, audience expectations must be taken into account because it's an interactive story. Wannabe literary writers need not apply.

JDR13 said:

I didn't realize we were arguing.

I also didn't realize that you're evidently too stupid to understand that I'm talking about a general principle, not something that's plot specific or would require me to have seen the ending myself.

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How is claiming that Bioware deserves credit for not having a happy cliche ending with children dancing in the street not plot specific? And, how can you even come to such a conclusion when you have not even seen the ending yourself? It seems you've formed a rather strong opinion on something you haven't even experienced yet.

And therein lies my peeve - people who haven't even played the game who insist on generalizing that it's the "lack of a happy ending" that has players in a twist - no, it's the lack of a coherent ending that preserves some form of continuity with what had been established in the previous games. I would have gladly accepted the death of the entire galaxy over the plot-hole ridden ending we were left with.

P.S. It's my stupidity that drags me into these debates in the first place. Though thanks for reminding me of it.

The franchise is tarnished. As is Bioware's rep (again). Even if they release a patch to smooth over their fuckup, it doesn't take away the fact that they considered it good enough to ship in the first place.

If any game ever deserved to have its ending rewritten, it's Kotor II. The culprit back then was an overly short development cycle enforced by LucasArts over Obsidian. One has to wonder if that was the issue w/ Bioware and EA as well, and if EA is definitively 100% in charge of Bioware now.

Ashindai said:

How is claiming that Bioware deserves credit for not having a happy cliche ending with children dancing in the street not plot specific? And, how can you even come to such a conclusion when you have not even seen the ending yourself?

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Well I'm sure it wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that it's been the hottest topic in gaming for the last two weeks. Or that Brent Knowles specifically talks about the emotional tone of the ending in his blog. Try as I have to avoid spoilers, it's been impossible for me to not find out more about the ending than I wanted to.

Ashindai said:

And therein lies my peeve - people who haven't even played the game who insist on generalizing that it's the "lack of a happy ending" that has players in a twist - no, it's the lack of a coherent ending that preserves some form of continuity with what had been established in the previous games. I would have gladly accepted the death of the entire galaxy over the plot-hole ridden ending we were left with.

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Where did I state that the lack of a happy ending was the only thing that players weren't happy with?

So what you're really are saying here - some of you, it seems - is that a game can't have a bittersweet ending, an open ending, or a tragic ending. (might I remind you about a little game called PS: Torment or games like Heavy Rain, for instance and what about the ending to Fallout, the first, where the hero vanishes?)

aries100 said:

So what you're really are saying here - some of you, it seems - is that a game can't have a bittersweet ending, an open ending, or a tragic ending. (might I remind you about a little game called PS: Torment or games like Heavy Rain, for instance and what about the ending to Fallout, the first, where the hero vanishes?)

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As I see it this is putting the cart before the horse. More particularly, the majority of comments I've seen here and elsewhere simply want to understand the ending. What was the ending? What was dream? What was reality? Was there any dream or any reality involved in the ending at all? Was there an ending to any portion of the trilogy; if so, what?

With some clarity as to what actually happened in the various endings, discussions as to bittersweet and/or open and/or tragic endings might be appropriate. At this point, with virtually no clarity as to the meaning of any portion of any ending, those discussions seem premature.

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