2941

At the risk of further outing myself as someone who doesn’t get the big deal about the ending because I’m not a diehard fan of series, I have to know: why is it so important to have this explained to you? This is the “biggest change” the DLC ending made? Why is it so necessary to have Bioware show NPCs getting on the Normandy? It seems to me like the kind of minor plot point you’d easily explain away if possible, or dismiss as insignificant otherwise. But I didn’t get to into the discussion of ME3’s plot back when I played it, so if Boarding The Normandy is actually a huge, huge deal, worthy of issuing DLC over, I’m ready to be corrected.

2942

I’m not seeing anything in there I disagree with, Rock8man. They definitely filled out some details in the expanded ending DLC. They did not say that they considered this a patch to a broken ending. You may consider that a semantic argument, but it’s pretty important for what I’m arguing - not that they fixed something that they believe was released in a non-functional state, but that they added and changed some things in the ending at the request of the gamers. Had they done the first, I would have no argument with the people who are claiming ME3’s ending is broken. Otherwise, this is new content that they pushed out because of the outcry around the ending’s perceived quality. Which I am not too wild about, personally.

2943

It’s a personal thing to be sure. I’m sure most people weren’t as bothered by it. But the way I looked at it, in the original ending, when Shepard made the final push to get to the teleporter to get to the Citadel, he had two companions with him. The way that battle was portrayed in the situation, those three characters (Shepard and the two companions of your choosing) made the final assault. At one point, there’s a lot of firing and running and your companions can’t be seen anymore as people are seen dying left and right and Shepard makes the run towards the bottom of the hill. At this point, logically, there are two possibilities:

  1. Shepard’s companions are dead along with everyone else who is dying left and right.
  2. Shepard’s companions have abandoned him because the going got tough.

Given the characters I chose and my relationship with them, 2 didn’t really feel like a possibility to me. So then it must be 1. They must be dead along with everyone else who was dying in that final run to the bottom.

But then, at the end of the game, after three colored endings, I saw both the people who were with me coming out of the Normandy on an alien world. First of all, why on Earth was the Normandy not in the fight and running away? And secondly, if the two companions were still alive, then they must have abandoned Shepard when he ran down the hill towards the beacon? I know it’s the only possibility, but it doesn’t sit right with me, given everything else in the game surrounding those characters.

By changing it so that the two characters are evacuated to the ship (and the ship is sent away) before the run to the beacon even begins, it solves that major dilemma and inconsistency for me. Now it makes sense that they aren’t dead or abandoning Shepard during that run to the beacon because crucially, they were evac’d BEFORE the run even began.

It’s bad enough in the original ending that I’m sitting there, trying to figure out why I can’t tell the Star Child that Organics and Synthetics can indeed co-exist because of my experience earlier in the game, but after all that is over, having to see the bewildering sight of my two companions who died earlier walk out of the Normandy was just… baffling for me at the time. Having my two most trusted friends not be dead meant,… that they must have abandoned me, that realization was so in-congruent with the rest of the story that you don’t go “Oh, that sucks”, instead you think “WHAT? That’s BULLSHIT!!! What kind of stupid ass sloppy work is that?” It’s the straw that broke the camel’s back, to borrow a cliche.

2944

I’m pretty sure I’ve seen Youtube footage of the worst ending (pre-EC) where in fact both of your companions are dead (there’s a couple of corpses near you when you wake up) right before facing off against marauder shields.

Of course you’ve really really got to have screwed the pooch on the war readiness front to ‘earn’ that particular ending IIRC.

2945

And that’s a pretty good example of what I mean when I say the ending as originally established was broken. I doubt very much that Bioware intended to tell the story of Shepard’s companions abandoning the fight at the last minute and running for the hills, but the brevity of the cutscenes and the lack of any other context for them suggests just that. It’s not the only thing wrong, but it’s a good example.

2946

Medigel people medigel

2947

I couldn’t have said it better myself. Thank you. And I’m not even being snarky.

-Tom

2948

I caved on Leviathan a little while ago. I really enjoyed it (the atmosphere was fantastic - shades of Lovecraft in there!), but I think you need to really like the game to make the DLC worth the price. I’m not buying Ashes - I like ME3, but not enough to justify their DLC pricing. Maybe for half the price. Similar to Overlord for ME2.

I’ll probably post a longer review when I’ve finished the game.

2949

When you have to resort to name-calling, you’ve lost the argument.

2950

I would love to hear your rebuttal to my earlier statement on why I signed the petition. I think it was quite fair and grounded. Yet, you seem to suggest, but doing so, I’m not.

2951

You should perhaps read all the posts involved in this particular argument before stating something like that…

2952

I think when Tom started pushing this ‘enders’ thing quite a few months ago I’d say the rot set in. I was rather hoping things had turned around in this thread by now, however it seems not.

2953

Which argument did I lose? The one where Murbella kept telling me that I hated RPGs with stories in them? The one where he accused me of conflating people who didn’t like the ending with people who demanded Bioware change the ending? The one where he invoked racism? Or the one where he said “actions speak louder than words” and then referenced something I’d written as an example?

Because I’m pretty sure I can call him an idiot and still handily win all those arguments.

-Tom
2954

Do Enders get bent out of shape for being called Enders? Do they think “Take Back Mass Effect”, or whatever it’s called, sounds any less ridiculous? The way I look at it, calling them Enders is doing them a favor.

-Tom
2955

Ouch! sorry Enders, the argument has just “ended” for you.

2956

I disagree with your claim that a petition is the best way to let a developer know what you want. But I’d be curious to know the text of what you signed. Which petition was it? Do you have a link?

-Tom
2957

I was doing a search for a goofy Mass Effect image to respond to this, and then I realized I had forgotten all about the “Marauder Shields” meme. Now that’s funny.

2958

Hey, hey, hey. I coined the term Mass Effect Enders, and I think all the people around the net carrying on like Birthers or Truthers over the ending of a video game well earned the derisive label. It’s not about people who didn’t like the ending. It’s about people who think there is something literally unjust about an ending to a fictional work that they don’t like.

2959

Which is fair enough, but the way it was being slung around has pretty regularly felt like that contempt is being heaped on the shoulders of -anyone- who disliked the ending (especially if they talk about it online), not just the nuttiest and most entitled.

2960

If you felt that way, it’s on you. I don’t recall anyone in this thread offering “contempt” to people who didn’t like the ending, much less trying to give them a snappy group title. It’s entirely specious of you to make the issue about people who “disliked the ending”, yet you and others continue to hang your hat on it. Why do you think that is?

-Tom