I wasn't gonna get caught up in this debate, but if I don't get it off my chest, I'm gonna go crazy. And if I'm gonna write it, I may as well post it.
I was optimistic in my demo impressions article about a month ago, and when I got ME3, I got just about everything I wanted out of it. It tied together explosive action, deep tactics and customization, and a emotional story full of gut-wrenching choices. I have never had a game's choices actually HAUNT me before and then Rannoch happened. On top of all that, the multiplayer is actually damn good. However, if you've been on this site at all this week, you've noticed not everyone as satisfied. And that is just fine. We don't all have to feel the same way about it. However, not all of their points are completely valid, and some of the practices and ideas about creative property are just plain out of line.
Let me just establish something. This is an "anti-rant," not a "counter-rant." I'm not here to "defend" ME3 as a game, I'm here to help everyone calm the hell down about all the controversies surrounding this game.(Except the "Origin" thing. I don't feel strongly one way or the other about that, being a neanderthal console gamer) Some of that is going to involve stepping back and making you understand why, to me, some of you look like idiots.
--Multiplayer--
Okay, this was something that everyone was just TEARING APART before we even had more details than "there will be multiplayer." Was it co-operative? competitive? Did it star Shepard's crew? Was it part of the same story? Was it the sex simulator that Fox News thought the first game was? Didn't matter. Bioware sold out. They were now completely pandering to the CoD crowd.
Now for the people who jumped ship after ME2, this was just a chance for a victory dance for them, feeling justified in their opinion that BioWare sucks now. I don't have a problem with that... Okay, I do, but that's not the point I'm trying to make. What I do have a problem with is that people who were fans had SO little faith that Bioware could still make a good single-player game if they had multiplayer at all. Because that's never happened. Ever. It's okay to not like multiplayer, but to turn your back on a game because it tries to have something for the many people that do. I mean what's the problem, if it's done well? That other people are going to be playing "your" games? (And yes, we will get back to that mentality in a few minutes) At any rate it turned out it was made by a completely different studio SEPARATE from the main team working on the game. And completely optional.
A similar thing happened with the "action, role-playing, and story" mode choices. AGAIN, everyone jumped to conclusions about what that meant. Oh there's gonna be like three separate games instead of one good one? NO. All it did was pick some options like difficulty and whether you made full decisions ahead of time. I'm not saying that wasn't a stupid thing to do (why would you make someone who doesn't like story LESS INVOLVED in the cutscenes?!) I'm just saying there's no reason not to get mad if you aren't gonna use it. (We weren't even prompted with that selection if we imported characters.
A lack of trust for good developers isn't an easy problem to fix and if I try to, I'm just gonna sound freaking indoctrinated. I think a more tangible problem with these things was that EVERY last bit of info got released about this game (not even counting the script leak.) And this is EA and Bioware's own damn faults. If I get two games of theoretically equal quality and I've heard EVERYTHING about one, but almost nothing about the other, I usually find myself enjoying the less publicized one more. Journey blew me away when I bought it, but when ME3 came out, I had been so sick of hearing about it, I was just glad people were gonna shut up. (That obviously didn't happen) Some publicity is good (this game has the best launch trailer I've ever seen) but it's way easy to go overboard with how much info you put out and marketing in general (as well as the worst gamestop tie-in commercial I've seen.) I don't want to pin this entirely on EA, since it's easy to paint them as greedy, faceless publishers, but I seem to notice a strong correlation between nauseating publicity and their logo on games. Maybe they just need to announce a game, give a release date, and then shut up and put their money where their mouth is.
--Day-One DLC--
DLC is still an untamed beast in gaming. Like camera controls back in the N64/PS1 era, no one's really sure how to use it. Some games have simple, easy methods for handling it, most notably Rock Band. It's when a game actually tells a story that people get pissed, because shouldn't that story have been IN the game? Well, it's a matter of supply-and-demand. I, for one, if required, would spend $70 for the "full experience" of ME3. Sure other games are $60 but not every other game is Mass Effect 3. Games are freaking expensive, especially games as big as this, and I'm happy to support talented developers.
I'm not saying that's the right way of thinking, I'm just pointing out that there is still no moral absolute on downloadable content's pricing or timing. I do think that if a company TRULY developed DLC separately and has it ready on launch day, there's really no point in waiting around. In fact, if you have some of it you can squeeze onto the disc and save me a few minutes downloading, why not do that? Some people say the whole controversy could have been avoided if they just waited a few weeks. I agree they should have waited, but because the DLC suuucked. It is the most boring mission in the entire game. (Although the new squad member is integrated extremely well into the story, opposed to Zaeed and Kasumi in ME2 who just sat in their rooms and had no meaningful conversation beyond their mission.)
--Tali's Picture--
...
...
Y'know what? No. I agree with the mad people. That was freaking dumb. What the hell, Bioware? Are there no pretty girls in Canada to run outside and ask for a picture? You have to go to freaking stock photos? What about her voice actress? She can't be that ugly! You had women in your office at SOME point to take a picture of! The hell?
(mild ending spoilers ahead, I spend more time talking about what it isn't than what it is)
*deep breath*
Okay, now that I've lowered our defenses a bit, let's get to why you and I are actually here.
--The Ending--
The ending is not good. Let's get that out of the way. I can KIND of understand what Bioware was going for with the choices and endings, and I can appreciate that I don't need to have the consequences of my choices summarized at the end to feel like they had value. However, it could have been handled much better. (Part of me wants to defend the ending, but Penny Arcade Report already did a much better job than I can) But I have, no joking, zero problem with people being mad about it. Then the petitions and the damn fundraisers started and people were acting like they had a case.
Guys, we don't own the game, there's nothing to "take back." It's Bioware's. Games are art. They are the artists. We can criticize them, we can say terrible things about their mothers, but we can never demand they change their work.
"But this has always been about telling the stories we want!" Has it? No, it lets you be who you want to (and even that has some kinks in it) make the choices you want, and then tells you the consequences. The central plot is the same no matter how you play. It's all the little things along the way where you make a difference. I wish there were more different endings, but I had accepted the same general thing was going to happen. We were always bound to the rules of the universe in the game, and in this case those rules only allowed for those endings. And if you think you didn't see the consequences of your actions, you did. Earlier. After you made them. ME3 was driven was much more by immediate consequence compared to earlier entries.
There was an article a bit ago "Why 'Entitlement' is a Bull**** Buzzword." It DOES point out that entitlement's definition doesn't quite match how we're using it. But then it compares complaining about a company's bad video game and demanding compensation to bad service from a waiter and asking for a better one. I, a 2nd Year Game Development student having only designed a handful of flash games, and another game that would never actually see production, am seriously offended by that comparison. The only time you should demand change to a finished game is technical issues. That's when you are "entitled" to a better product. If I aim my plasma rifle at an enemy, and he doesn't die because of bad hit detection, that is objectively a flaw. When I don't like something it does with the story or aesthetic design, that is an opinion, popular though it may be. The artist believed in what he or she was doing there and I have no right to demand otherwise.
My point is when changes start being made "because people want it" it stops being art, and starts being a business. Everything we stand for when we defend our games from people like Jack Thompson and all the other crazies? Doesn't matter. Games are products of a business not an art, thus have no reason not to listen to people opposed to their content. You know those people who opposed a same-sex male relationship in this game? They would now have just as much right to demand Bioware release a patch eliminating that from the game! And what about the stuff I don't like in games? Binding of Isaac? The religious themes that form the identity of your game make me uncomfortable, I'm gonna completely extract them. Call of Duty? You're gonna have Shakespearean soliloquys between every firefight because the game's not intellectual enough! Gears of War? Hahahaha, by the time I'm done with that, it's gonna look like Madoka g**damn Magica!
If Bioware seriously changes the ending because of fan feedback, I will lose all faith in them as artists. I will destroy my copies of the entire series and post it to YouTube. That is a promise.
(and yes, I know about that theory about the ending. What I don't like is that BW can now hide behind that if they decide to change the ending, and I can't tell if they're planning something or not)
My final piece of advice to fans that are mad about this is just calm down. Seriously. You will get over it. Move onto something else instead of looking for rage outlets on the internet, because that's what I hate seeing and it will only lead to more rage. Take a walk. Read a book. Play Journey. Stream a new TV show on Netflix. Play Journey again. Seriously, it's great.
Our experiences with Mass Effect weren't invalidated by similar endings. They WILL be if developers decide to change a product because some people don't approve of the game's content.
Thanks for reading. I look forward to our level-headed and well-reasoned discussions in the comments.
FOLLOW-UP:
First off, I want to officially announce that I'm over it. And you will be too! Trust me! I honestly wasn't sure that I'd want to play the game again, but now I'm eager to see how my remaining two Shepards' stories play out. Or I would be if I weren't getting AC: Revelations in the mail tomorrow.
Anyway, I'd like to apologize. I posted this pretty soon after completing the game, and wasn't aware of things like the app "The Final Hours of Mass Effect 3" being just around the corner. I was under the impression that the ending was something that Bioware was planning all along, however according to "Final Hours," they spent a LONG time trying to figure out what would happen, to the point that the acting sessions for The Illusive Man's final scene weren't held until November, back when they originally thought the game would be out. And if they were seriously crunched for time, I can even forgive all that palette-swapping in the endings. I would like to remind Bioware and EA that fans are willing to wait quite a while for a perfected experience (just look at Valve fans)
Bioware's manager said today that they would be looking into a way to address fan's criticism's, while also maintaining artistic integrity regarding their own decisions about the story. Given the revelation that the ending may have been the result of crunch time, not something that was always planned, I'm a little more open to that. I don't want to see it rewritten, but I'm okay with "adding" to the ending to give a better sense of closure.
So, yeah, I am going to have to retract my promise to destroy my copies... assuming they don't just completely rewrite the whole thing.
Just don't expect it to be free. Guys, remember what I said about supply and demand? Things cost money. If you want this, you need to be willing to pay for this. That's like if I expected THQ to send me Darksiders 2 for free because I didn't like the first one. Come on. I'll tell you what's gonna happen if they release an alternate ending for free: It's just going to be colored purple instead.
Oh and that "Final Hours" thing also explained Tali's picture. They just tossed around photos until they found one that looked good for her. Sorry, Bioware, but that does come off as really lazy and unprofessional. It's like if I tossed around Wikipedia articles until I found a good research paper.
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Here's an AWESOME look at the "indoctrination" theory regarding the ending:
http://www.gameseyeview.com...
It's a bit long, but read the whole thing; you'll be glad you did.
As for myself, here's what I had to say about it:
http://livingwithanerd.com/...
99.5% of the game was excellent, certainly better than the previous 2. The ending was...terrible.
**SPOILERS**
I'm OK with what happened to Shep but to essentially destroy the ME universe was a mistake imo. And not giving us a wrap up about our team, these characters that we've spent 3 games with? The strength of the ME franchise is not the gameplay or the codex or even the choices; it's the relations that you develop with the characters in the game. Bioware did that really well and to throw it all away at the end is just poor design. None of my actions ultimately made any difference at all. This is the first Mass Effect game that I have no desire to play through again and that's a shame.
Edit: good blog, I enjoyed reading it.
"Growing in numbers
Growing in speed
Can't fight the future
Can't fight what I see
People they come together
People they fall apart
No one can stop us now
'Cause we are all made of stars"
This should had been licensed as the end credits theme.
"there's nothing to "take back." It's Bioware's. Games are art. They are the artists. We can criticize them, we can say terrible things about their mothers, but we can never demand they change their work. "
THIS.
Its common sense. Its really disturbing to see how easily an internet hive mind can grow.
I gotta say, these comments have been actually been really level-headed and well-reasoned. You guys are scaring me.