Tags: the loading bar, korey, videogame, podcast, spill, spill.com, mass effect 3, bioware, spoiler
October 26, 2012 at 5:12 AM, Jose Cantu said ...
@Alpha 2 *pics up mic* Why go on a big rant if you didn't listen to the whole thing? I see most of your points, but from what I am getting from this (I am not a Mass Effect fan to be clear) is that the ending to the previous games were crucial to the story and made sense for the context that they were put in. The way that the endings of this game seems to come out of left field making it difficult for anyone who plays the game to like the ending. Plus if you listened to the rest of this, then you would know that they don't care for the ending of the game anymore.
Having multiple different endings is difficult yes, but why are most of the endings of this game practically the same? And why would Bioware make a ME4 if this game was supposedly the "end" of Shepard?Why would they make a game with a different main character if the franchise is based off of Shepard? Just because of a stinger in one of the endings of the game? If they are moving the series in a different direction what will they be doing? The way that the endings seem to present themselves it's the end of the Reapers, which are the primary antagonists of the franchise. What threat will there be? A war between races? That would be a very flimsy premise for Bioware to do, but I am sure that they will make something, stick the Mass Effect name to it and people will be drooling over it.
In the end I am not a fan of the game so who am I to say that the ending sucks or anything else about the game when in the end it's just the ending to a game. People at this point are done with the game and are moving on to something else. What are you doing complaining on old news? Get with the program and move on man.
*puts mic on stand*
October 26, 2012 at 12:23 AM, said ...
I know adding to this thread is probably going to go un-viewed by a lot of people but I find it difficult not to say something after trying to listen to this recording if only for people who will eventually com across it at some point in the future after they finish the game.
Having just recently finished the game with the extended ending I wasnt quite sure what had angered people so I went and watched the original on youtube and I can understand SOME of the reasons why people hated it. From a lack of clarity about certain things to a failure to define certain elements and clear plot holes that needed filling... but also the fact that a lot of people just plain didn't pay attention. I just listened to the original Spoiler-cast about the ending and figured "okay the new ending came out in the mean time and maybe their opinions changed" but in the first 10 minutes of listening to THIS one I simply shut it off because they clearly didn't care whether there were improvements or not because they had burned in their opinions in the mean time and any of the misconceptions and legitimate disappointments they expressed simply had not changed. In the previous 'cast they complained that the story came down to 3 choices, that's what the WHOLE GAME has been; Paragon, renegade or some in-between middle ground with some color fringes based on minor choices along the way. Still having complaints at this point or even not seeing the new end as a significant improvement actually comes across to me as being willfully ignorant to the point where they just shouldn't have even bothered to discuss the ending since no amount of change short of redoing the game from scratch was going to change their opinion or for that fact the opinions of other people still complaining.
There are very few games in which each of a multiple-ending scenario are as wildly different as people seem to be expecting from Bioware, they're still human! You have 4 direct endings to the game Control, Destroy, Synthesis or Refuse with in those are the possible life of death of your crew as well as the level of damage to the citadel and the ME relays with slight modifications between Paragon and Renegade personality paths and/or modifications depending on you relationship status and who lived or died along the way through 2-3 games (since most PS3 players never played the first but still had the choose-your-adventure comic). To expect a radically different overall ending between all these elements would have been a huge task to cover, forced lengthy delays to the release schedual and easily made the ending take up a whole extra xbox/PC DVD, never mind realizing how painful it would be to start a forth game based on your choices when ME4 inevitably comes out. Every one of the previous games has required a focal point for the endings, The destruction of Sovereign/defense of the citadel and destroying the human reaper are both immutable choices in the previous two games, why would this one be so different especially when Bioware told people months in advance it would be the end of the Shepard story.
I could go on another 3 paragraphs about it all but Ultimately it comes down to the new ending really helps add to the ending but only if you paid attention to the story you played. You can pick nits about little things but the majority are covered by the fact that it's a game on a disc that simply CANNOT have infinite iterations to cover every tiny plot inconvenience. You can debate about the silliness of the AI boy as a metaphor or the way in which some of the story was hamfisted but at the end of the day if you still hate the ending you have no one to blame but yourself because Bioware gave you every opportunity to get and ending that made sense.
*drops mic*
August 11, 2012 at 9:59 AM, said ...
dude i think that the ending for mass 3 should have been when shep and anderson where sitting togerther and they said they had done it' cause i checked it out on youtube and it work's so well :) the spill guys are right that is the perfect ending, i just put it 3 or so years of my life into this story to get that load of shit, :( With the makers putting in all this crap to justify there ending throught DLC, total shit they could have done better, this is one of the games that is a real gem and these guys screwed it up i'm so disappointed.
July 27, 2012 at 11:27 AM, said ...
I wanted to punch that kid when he said "There is no time to explain".
July 26, 2012 at 6:14 PM, said ...
Besides the fact of the sprinkle on the shit filled new endings. There's an issue that no one has ever addressed about Shepard until Now. SHEPARD IS A FUCkING ZOMBIE. Don't believe me, well watch the Game Theory video.
July 24, 2012 at 5:55 PM, said ...
I had a matrix reloaded vibe from the original ending anyway, but the ambition of the ending was ruined by completely lazy execution. The extended cut just seemed to beat me over the head with what the choices were in the first place instead of actually giving closure to individual scenerios. And I don't care about a memorial for shepard
July 21, 2012 at 5:21 PM, emmanuel said ...
next mass effect should be 100 years in the future with us working for the shadow broker liara
July 19, 2012 at 10:26 AM, said ...
Hopefully they will now just put an end to this mass effect series and start a new one
July 18, 2012 at 8:54 PM, said ...
Having waited till the extended cut came out before even finishing the game, I gotta say I was pretty happy with the outcome, but maybe cos my expectations were so low. If I'd gone through the nightmare of the shitty original endings I would've been just as pissed as everyone else and this would have seemed too little too late, but as my first experience the extended cut was satisfying enough, especially as I picked Control which I'm glad you agree is the best ending.
I can overlook things like the Normandy escaping without being fired on by Harbinger just cos I really liked the final dialogue between you and your squadmate (in my case was Garus), and I can even get behind the concept of the Star Child, who is as you guys rightly point out "a retarded VI" which is why the universe has been going to hell the last several millenia - it takes someone like Shepard to take that power away from this limited artifical intelligence and thus end the cycle, and at least the Star Child seemed to have enough self awareness to realise this as well.
The one thing I'd say about making you play right back from the Cerburus Base is that I think they added a short scene where they explain the Illusive Man escaped and made his way to the Citadel which explains how he suddenly appears there at the end (one of the many plotholes people brought up and which led to that bloody awful Indoctrination Theory... sorry IT fans, just my opinion).
July 18, 2012 at 5:28 PM, said ...
Plenty of great franchises drop the ball at the end. I still love Mass Effect 2 and a good portion of Mass Effect 3 and a shitty ending isn't gonna change that.
July 17, 2012 at 5:56 AM, Alex Thompson said ...
Great stuff! I've still never played one of these games, but I enjoyed hearing you guys talk about it. Maybe one year they'll put out a disk with all three games on it for like $25 or less and I'll be there!
July 16, 2012 at 9:04 PM, Mr. Regarde said ...
As someone pointed out, emotionally, it was much more gratifying, and so those desperate to enjoy the game were able to... However, most of what they did was replace a plot-hole with an even smaller plot-hole. What's more, it makes me realize just how truly awful that original ending was.It's sad. It really is.
... I just had a thought...Jeff, you may be over 30, and you may have your priorities straight, but I'm a young, impressionable college student, and you know what, I can't let this issue drop! I just realized this: Mass Effect really was my Phantom Menace, man! I was too young to understand how crappy the first Star Wars was (I still have fond memories of the prequels, just because of my age), and now, Mass Effect has come to deliver the experience I previously missed! It was a world I loved, a world I was totally invested in, and it's a world I'm going to try my damndest to get back into, no matter what. I wouldn't be surprised if I keep this issue going for the next 10 years, just like the Star Wars fans are doing right now.
That is really kind of sad, I guess, but if what you said about age is correct, I got 9 more years to be sad and pathetic before I clean up and focus on the important things in life, like politics.
July 14, 2012 at 10:30 AM, Roque Tromp said ...
I liked the extended ending...there are indeed some things that don't really make sense, but in total it is better than the original...
July 14, 2012 at 9:27 AM, Gary said ...
I WILL NEVER EVER PLAY THIS FUCKING SHITTY GAME EVER AGAIN.
July 13, 2012 at 6:59 PM, Mr. Bubbles said ...
I thought the EC fixed quite a bit, but the ending still retains the main problem with the Starchild. Yes, his logic is still ridiculous, but I would have been able to accept the idea of a rogue VI on a genocide spree. The problem is that the new endings basically present him as the true big bad of the series, and we only find out that he exists in the last five minutes of gameplay. That's just poor storytelling, regardless of everything else involved with that character.
On a side note, there's actually a few theories as to why Harbinger didn't shoot. I'm a bit partial to the one where Harbinger is the first Reaper who didn't approve of what Starchild did. He managed to break from the kid's control and let Shepard live (he only grazed him with that last shot, and blowing up the Normandy could have accidentally killed him) so he could end the cycle. Before firing that last shot, Harbinger makes a noise that sounds suspiciously like "save us", although Indoctrination Theorists (they're still out there, Nick!) hear "serve us". The whole theory is probably nonsense, but its at least interesting. :)
July 13, 2012 at 5:55 PM, said ...
Is Nick living in Austin now, he sounds better than if he was on Skype
July 13, 2012 at 3:14 PM, said ...
You see, the thing is, the conclusion of Mass Effect 3 we got is not what was originally intended. Drew Karpyshyn was the lead writer for Mass Effect 1 and 2. In Karpyshyn's original script, the existence and motive of the Reapers were driven by a persistent dark energy threat. Dark energy was destabilizing the galaxy, and the Reapers were created in the hopes of finding a way to mitigate the problem. However, during the production of Mass Effect 2, Karpyshyn left the Mass Effect team to work on Star Wars: The Old Republic; and the original script for the Reapers was abandoned. The Tali recruitment mission in Mass Effect 2 was the last remnant from the Karpyshyn script, with all subsequent references to dark energy being completely dropped from the series.
I'm not saying that the dark energy storyline would have been better, but it certainly explains the the disjointed "lolwtf" conclusion we did get.
July 13, 2012 at 8:19 AM, said ...
The problem of mass effects 3 ending is rooted to the entire third game, its the engine that drives the entire game, the crucible dosent make any goddam sence, if you see the artwork for the game they had some great ideas for a final boss, why do fuck they didnt with does ideas i have no fucking clue.
July 13, 2012 at 8:16 AM, said ...
The Extended Cut is the video game equivalent to polishing a turd. It's fundamentally flawed, and unless they fundamentally change it it cannot be a good ending.
July 13, 2012 at 5:58 AM, Davril Chorster said ...
@Prof Jeff, it's "superfluous" not "superfulous".
July 13, 2012 at 5:31 AM, said ...
I'm glad I'm not alone with this. You guys brought all of the problems I had with this Extended Cut.
July 13, 2012 at 2:56 AM, Northern/ninja said ...
you know I actually enjoyed the extended ending. I thought it was actually really great.
July 13, 2012 at 1:59 AM, Daniel said ...
I know what you mean Nick. It was the same reason it is hard for me to pick the Helios ending in Deus Ex 1, I only chose it a few times because I did hate the "destroy" ending in that game.
July 13, 2012 at 1:18 AM, Nicholas said ...
You guys didn't talk about the volus Kumum Shol who predicted the ending of mass effect 3 in the first game.
July 12, 2012 at 10:15 PM, said ...
Did Mass Effect have to end in 3 games?
The biggest problem ME3 has from a story telling perspective is that it doesn't match its thesis. Now you just might be asking what is a thesis and how does that pertain to the ME series. A thesis is a device used by writers to help the audience and the writer keep track of the main theme. Kinda like the Main idea of the story. The Thesis for the ME series is, “We have to stop the Reapers”. And there has been gradual subdivisions of this thesis throughout the series. In ME1 it was, “We have to stop Saren” and in ME2 it was “We have to stop the Collectors”. Now here’s my point, in ME3 the thesis was “We have to save Earth from the Reapers”. Out of no where near the end of the game this shifts back to “We have to stop the Reapers”. That sudden shift back to true north causes so much friction it literally causes huge amounts of plot holes. Plot holes that can't be fixed by some 15 min DLC. They should have closed the series with a fourth or even fifth title. Now I'm not sure how, when or why people got crazy and started doing everything in 3's. But not everything has to be a trilogy, somethings make more sense if extended past that arbitrary number of 3. You see this with the Reaper war. Wars in previous cycles lasted for thousands of years. Yet this one wraps up quite abruptly in 6-8 months. Javik, the DLC character, made numerous references to horribly corrupted races that terrified the races of his time. We don't really get that because of a lack of time in ME3 showing use how menacing they really are. As a result we don't get corrupted Hanar, Elcor, Qurian and Drell. The last 15 min are still terrible. And yes it is the Star Child that I have a problem with, but in this case its more of what he represents than who he is(which is still stupid as all hell). The SC represents an easy fix. He shows up and changes the thesis from “We have to save Earth from the Reapers” to “We have to stop the Reapers”. And to do it you can press these 3 convenient buttons. As a result the SC is the embodiment of story telling laziness, that short changes the audience from getting a proper ending. Because of this you never really get a to see what it means to face the Reapers. They best thing they could have done is get rid of the SC and make the Crucible an instrument of unbridled destruction; like a weapon that hyper ionizes the molecules in stars, resulting in a weapon that can make stars supernova (mind you this is only an example as anything would be good). Doing this could lead perfectly into a 4th game were you continue to fight the reapers with a new thesis “We have to stop the Reapers”.
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