Mass Effect 3 complaints to be addressed with "game content initiatives"

Rick

Rick

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Whether or not Mass Effect 3's controversial conclusion actually left gamers unsatisfied, players can all agree on one thing -- public contempt for the ending has been loud and impossible to ignore. To answer the concerns of its fan base, BioWare has confirmed it is working toward addressing complaints with the ending through what it describes as "game content initiatives".

Claiming to be "genuinely surprised" about sharp criticism in regards to Mass Effect's finale, Dr. Ray Muzyka (BioWare co-founder) said ME3's executive producer's team is working on answering questions and clarifying concerns. What these "game content initiatives" will be is anyone's guess.

Dr. Muzyka points out that Mass Effect 3's release was unprecedented and over 75 critics gave it a "perfect" rating. Take that as you will, but Metacritic shows an average score of 93% amongst critics while user scores plumb depths only seen by real stinkers -- a 3.9 out of 10. Heck, even DNF has a higher user score than that.

Could the omission of a cathartic ending truly be responsible for such a player-critic divide? It certainly does seem to be the everyman's complaint. However, some disgruntled ME3 players have resorted to personal attacks against writers, developers and the community at large. Such attacks and deconstructive criticism have stemmed not only from the unfavorable ending, but controversial plot decisions involving a transgender character and homosexuality.

Dr. Muzyka makes it clear that any additions or changes made will be purely for fans and not merely to placate trolls. Haters, consider yourselves warned.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/47893-mass-effect-3-complaints-to-be-addressed-with-game-content-initiatives.html

 
UnknownSky said:
Mass Effect 3 for me seemed like it had...an abrupt ending for everything it went through I guess.
Click to expand...

Yeah pretty much like everyone feels like that ^^
 
Might sound weird but I didn't but the game because it didn't have 360 controller support. Big company like that and they can't implement that simple feature. Doesn't sound like they care much for users now does it. Must be the heavy EA influence.
 
It didn't have an abrupt ending, it had an ending that answered nothing and made a whole bunch of plot holes that don't make any freaking sense. There's videos on youtube explaining what the plot holes were, so I won't go into detail here, but that's what most fans are pissed off about.

Also, is anyone surprised that it got perfect scores? Either reviewers are getting bribed/paid off, they don't finish the games they play, or they lack the mental capacity to understand what's going on past the explosions.
 
While the idea that the Reviewers are getting paid off seems a little harsh, there is a definite disconnect between the so called professionals and the end users.

Then again, payoffs can take many forms.

I, for one, don't give much credibility to any professional reviews.
 
I LOVED the ending!

Casey; it was original and beautiful. Don't listen toi those who want what they have seen a million times over.

The story was great and the ending original! It still haunts me like only some games like Xenogears and FF VII did.
 
I wonder if I should go through all the Mass Effect trilogy just to experience this apparently significant deception and know for myself how Bioware screwed up.
 
The story was great, the ending was almost perfect and the only people I can see that are complaining are those that have no capacity for using their own imagination to fill in what they perceive as gaping blanks.
From all that I've read the complaints are petulant, self motivated, poorly thought out and have no basis other then nerds pontificating that the ending was not the ending THEY wanted.
Personally I don't even know why BW see's fit to reward whining and cry babies, or even acknowledge's them. All this does is legitimise dullardly behaviour.
 
Anyway since it's quite the trend (DLC's), I'm expecting Bioware to try and make a buck selling alternate ending DLC and make it the new thing and soon will follow alternate ending Dragon Age II, alternate ending Bioshock II, alternate ending Dead Space... etc.
 
ranger1st said:
The story was great, the ending was almost perfect and the only people I can see that are complaining are those that have no capacity for using their own imagination to fill in what they perceive as gaping blanks.
From all that I've read the complaints are petulant, self motivated, poorly thought out and have no basis other then nerds pontificating that the ending was not the ending THEY wanted.
Personally I don't even know why BW see's fit to reward whining and cry babies, or even acknowledge's them. All this does is legitimise dullardly behaviour.
Click to expand...

SPOILERSPOILERSPOILERSPOILERSPOILERSPOILERSPOILERSPOILER

https://clancop.wordpress.com/2012/03/19/hold-the-line-angry-joe-weighs-in-on-mass-effect-3s-end/

I thought the reasons for disliking the endings were actually very well thought out. What Bioware is doing is appealing to their current demographic, because they pissed all over their previous one, so they've got nowhere to go.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There's also this, but it's only fan assumptions, no official word yet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ythY_GkEBck
 
I also didn't like the ending...
I wouldn't be that sad if it had a good ending atleast, and made everything clear...
I have just questions left and Shepard is gone...
 
I actually stop listening to the critics years ago. I'm not parting with my hard earned money until I am sure I'm getting something that has some worth. Everything critics seam to think highly of just plain sucks in my book. And I have have found quite a few gems that were poo pooed by the critics. I say f**k the critics.
 
I don't mind an ending which has Shepard dying, or even one where you know it'll take years to get back on their collective feet, I only wish for an ending That Made Sense. There was no sense of closure, no explanation for anything (Normandy, Relays, etc.) plus the circular logic the 'StarChild' tries to say in a straight face. I know Scifi in general deserves a certain amount of suspension of believability, but this pushed way past that, imo.
 
I agree the ending was a little abrupt, but over all I wasn't really complaining. Through out the whole 3 game I had this feeling of "we are screwed!" and just trying to scrape together enough of the sentient beings to survive being totally wiped out. I never got the felling "Hey, we might actually win this", so when my choices consisted of dead or well dead, I wasn't really surprised.
 
ranger1st said:
The story was great, the ending was almost perfect and the only people I can see that are complaining are those that have no capacity for using their own imagination to fill in what they perceive as gaping blanks.
From all that I've read the complaints are petulant, self motivated, poorly thought out and have no basis other then nerds pontificating that the ending was not the ending THEY wanted.
Personally I don't even know why BW see's fit to reward whining and cry babies, or even acknowledge's them. All this does is legitimise dullardly behaviour.
Click to expand...

Ah, yes, the old "you people aren't smart enough to understand it" defense. Rubbish, as always. So, are the kind of apologist who can't handle the betrayal, the kind who needs to justify the money you wasted or the kind who enjoys deluding yourself with feelings of intellectual superiority? I'm betting on that last one since you invoked the "if you just imagine hard enough it makes sense" clause. In any case, you fail.
 
Guest said:
I LOVED the ending!

Casey; it was original and beautiful. Don't listen toi those who want what they have seen a million times over.

The story was great and the ending original! It still haunts me like only some games like Xenogears and FF VII did.
Click to expand...

The only thing haunting you is the five years you wasted, LOL!
 
Well luckily I was on holidays when ME3 came so now I'm going to wait till they fix the ending, so it won't ruin my experience on a game trilogy, whose two first parts I've spent countless of ours playing. I'm already sad that some of the characters that I've come to love have to die (if I'm right), but that I can cope with. But I don't want my journey to end in a way which is so random and leaves too many questions unanswered. I still remember the end of Halo 3, in good. (I'm really tired (BF3) so sorry for possible typos.)
-BuYA
 
I enjoyed most of the last three Mass Effect games and thought it was quite an epic ride that started back in 2008. But for me, elements of Mass Effect 3's ending made little sense.

MAJOR SPOILER WARNINGS. Only read the following, if you have finished Mass Effect 3.

First the two characters that were with me in the final mission, who got hit by that energy beam... Were also the same two characters that stepped out of the Normandy during the end cut scene. Leading me to wonder if the Normandy had not survived it's calamity (it sure looked like it wouldn't at the time) and weather it had then landed in what passes for Mass Effect 3's afterlife.

Secondly, what was up with that ghost kid and the lack of a proper argument or debate from Sheppard at the end?

I have since read an alternate ending, written by a fan, that made far more sense of the ending and of what Sheppard might have done in those circumstances.

Oh, and did I just blow up what was left of the Mass Effect Universe?

And the final bit at the end of the ending, just reminded me too much of the ending to the film "The Princess Bride."

I then wanted to go and name a multiplayer Krogan "Princess Buttercup" in honour of the 'Princess Bride' style ending.
 
Behold the revelation - all you people disliking the ending are apparently latent homophobes!

Well, you are if you believe several authors of those original 75 reviews who gave the game perfect scores upon release. I read a few follow up articles where they attempted to understand the backlash about the game, and even when presented with clear list of grievances, the conclusion they arrive to is startling - you dont know what you are talking about, you are immature and dont understand the depth of the game, and you fear the gay Shepard. Yeah.

Here is an example of such an article
http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2012/03/06/mass-effect-3s-gay-romance-option-leads-to-user-backlash-on-metacritic/

And this is coming from a supposed professional gamer/reviewer, in what I assume should be a respected magazine (i could be wring on this one). People like to point out that user reviews are unreliable and can be a victim of trolls / haters, but if this is what a professional review is like, I'd rather stick to user generated ones.
 
Guest said:
Behold the revelation - all you people disliking the ending are apparently latent homophobes!

Well, you are if you believe several authors of those original 75 reviews who gave the game perfect scores upon release. I read a few follow up articles where they attempted to understand the backlash about the game, and even when presented with clear list of grievances, the conclusion they arrive to is startling - you dont know what you are talking about, you are immature and dont understand the depth of the game, and you fear the gay Shepard. Yeah.

Here is an example of such an article
http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkai...-option-leads-to-user-backlash-on-metacritic/

And this is coming from a supposed professional gamer/reviewer, in what I assume should be a respected magazine (i could be wring on this one). People like to point out that user reviews are unreliable and can be a victim of trolls / haters, but if this is what a professional review is like, I'd rather stick to user generated ones.
Click to expand...

"At first I thought this was a reaction to the gay romance written into the game. Now I’m not so sure."

This is right at the bottom of the article. He then continues to make articles regarding videogame reviewers and the state the videogame and critic industry is in. He's earned the ire of several "critics" already, specially those who keep claiming the consumer is feeling entitled.

He's done his homework, since then, I think.
 
Heck I agree with ranger. The only reason there are so many 'blanks' in your viewing of the game is because your mind is too small to fill them itself. Trust me, it really isn't that hard if you try. I own all three games and have played through the series multiple times when I had time, and while the ending was devastatingly sad- it fit. All you 'haters' want to do is whine about the fact that the hero dies at the end, and they don't bluntly spell everything out for you. You want a story where the hero can just stand up after it's all over and walk away without a scratch. Well that has been done to the boiling point, and this ending had much more power to it anyway.
The ending alone drove me to play through the game multiple times because of it's impact. If Shepard just stood up and went back to the citadel, sure I would be happy everyone made it out alive, but I wouldn't have even looked at the game again. Also, I don't care if the game cost $120- I'd have bought three of them in a heartbeat. I give it a perfect score too.
 
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