Look, if they do what they say they're going to do and fix the ending - and by "fix" I mean give us some real choices to make that wind up with significantly different endings. Good, bad, bittersweet, or tragic. Doesn't matter, as long as we have the option - and fix the plot holes and thematic and canon violations, I'll go ahead and buy from them without any qualms. But I'm still going to wait and see what they do.
As to whether or not the choices you have made matter in the rest of the story, Spud? I'm sure they do and they're awesome. At the time.
But AGAIN - the ending INVALIDATES so very much of it!
Just as an example: You can end the war between the Geth and the Quarians. You've PROVEN that synthetics and organics CAN co-exist. EDI is also another example of that. But at the end, you're forced to accept at face value the choices laid our for you by this "god-child". All of them under the assumption - stated as fact - that synthetics and organics can never co-exist. WHAT? We just PROVED he's WRONG! Why can't Shepard point that out? And the "destroy Reapers" (red) ending it's stated (again by the "god-child" that it will destroy all synthetic life-forms in the galaxy. *Throws up hands* Well FUCK. So much for the Geth, then! So much for EDI! Sorry guys! Incidentally, that's the only ending that will allow you to see Shepard live if you've done everything "right".
And just in general -
The Control ending? Forces the Reapers to lay off. But that just means eventually they'll shake that off. It's not a permanent solution.
Synthesis? Wasn't one of the main themes of the story that tolerance AND diversity are to be valued? So the synthesis ending says that the only solution is to homogenize everything? To get rid of all diversity?
And all of these require the Mass Relays to be destroyed? But doesn't that cause SUPERNOVA explosions that wipe out whole star systems? Either we assume that the explosions are "different" somehow (and not explaining this is another massive plot hole) and didn't cause supernovas all across the galaxy, or Shepard in one stroke just killed more sentient lives than the Reapers could on their best day. And even if we assume the best and that the relays destructed without the supernova explosions, it still leaves everyone stranded in the Sol system. Even if you assume the "god-child" was lying about much of what he was saying, that STILL screws the Quarians over no matter what, because they get their homeworld back, but now they are stranded from it more thoroughly than they were before! And not just the Quarians are screwed, as I said earlier.
Thematically, consistently, logically, canonically, the endings go against EVERYTHING the series has been building toward up to that point. In addition to allowing no real difference in the ending that our main character is allowed to affect.
Basically, the bitter taste of futility colors everything in the series based on the ending. I get enough of that in real life. I don't need it in my choice of story-telling medium, whether it be books, movies or games.
And if you're going to say "screw it, just ignore the ending". Well then. Fine. I will too. And I'll enjoy the various fanfics that do different, much better denouements than this. And I'm not out 70-80+ dollars either.
That's a false argument. I reject your premise. It's a synthesis of theirs and my story. It's not just theirs and it's not just mine either! It's a little of both! That's the unique nature of it!
I care because everything up to that point is done so DAMN well! If it sucked from beginning to end I wouldn't care at all! The story, the universe, the background, the characters, EVERYTHING is superb! I loved it from the first 5 minutes I played. And it was not a completely linear story like Final Fantasy, where you're just following along. Choices you made did affect things! In a major way. Characters and even entire species can be saved or condemned based on what you do. So many things can be utterly different based on your choices. I expected the ending of Mass Effect 3 to have endings from as tragic as "Reapers kill everyone. The end." To bittersweet as "Shepard dies, but galaxy is saved." All the way to "Galaxy saved, Earth saved, Reapers destroyed, and Shepard and her love interest go off into the sunset and have a good life."
And we were told over and over again by Bioware that the ending would NOT be a simple A, B, and C choice.
Well I guess technically it wasn't. Instead it was RED/GREEN/BLUE. Cute.
That - and the stupid nature of the plot/consistancy holes makes this overall just a kick in the balls. (or will be if they don't change it) And I don't feel like paying money to have someone kick me in the balls.
If ultimately they correct it and change it so that it's NOT a kick in the balls, then good. They'll have my respect for listening to their fans and doing the right thing. And they'll have my money too. Gladly.
As to whether or not the choices you have made matter in the rest of the story, Spud? I'm sure they do and they're awesome. At the time.
But AGAIN - the ending INVALIDATES so very much of it!
Just as an example: You can end the war between the Geth and the Quarians. You've PROVEN that synthetics and organics CAN co-exist. EDI is also another example of that. But at the end, you're forced to accept at face value the choices laid our for you by this "god-child". All of them under the assumption - stated as fact - that synthetics and organics can never co-exist. WHAT? We just PROVED he's WRONG! Why can't Shepard point that out? And the "destroy Reapers" (red) ending it's stated (again by the "god-child" that it will destroy all synthetic life-forms in the galaxy. *Throws up hands* Well FUCK. So much for the Geth, then! So much for EDI! Sorry guys! Incidentally, that's the only ending that will allow you to see Shepard live if you've done everything "right".
And just in general -
The Control ending? Forces the Reapers to lay off. But that just means eventually they'll shake that off. It's not a permanent solution.
Synthesis? Wasn't one of the main themes of the story that tolerance AND diversity are to be valued? So the synthesis ending says that the only solution is to homogenize everything? To get rid of all diversity?
And all of these require the Mass Relays to be destroyed? But doesn't that cause SUPERNOVA explosions that wipe out whole star systems? Either we assume that the explosions are "different" somehow (and not explaining this is another massive plot hole) and didn't cause supernovas all across the galaxy, or Shepard in one stroke just killed more sentient lives than the Reapers could on their best day. And even if we assume the best and that the relays destructed without the supernova explosions, it still leaves everyone stranded in the Sol system. Even if you assume the "god-child" was lying about much of what he was saying, that STILL screws the Quarians over no matter what, because they get their homeworld back, but now they are stranded from it more thoroughly than they were before! And not just the Quarians are screwed, as I said earlier.
Thematically, consistently, logically, canonically, the endings go against EVERYTHING the series has been building toward up to that point. In addition to allowing no real difference in the ending that our main character is allowed to affect.
Basically, the bitter taste of futility colors everything in the series based on the ending. I get enough of that in real life. I don't need it in my choice of story-telling medium, whether it be books, movies or games.
And if you're going to say "screw it, just ignore the ending". Well then. Fine. I will too. And I'll enjoy the various fanfics that do different, much better denouements than this. And I'm not out 70-80+ dollars either.
Quote:Either it's your story and Bioware is just helping you visualize it, or you're a passive observer and have no input, so why do you care so much anyway?
That's a false argument. I reject your premise. It's a synthesis of theirs and my story. It's not just theirs and it's not just mine either! It's a little of both! That's the unique nature of it!
I care because everything up to that point is done so DAMN well! If it sucked from beginning to end I wouldn't care at all! The story, the universe, the background, the characters, EVERYTHING is superb! I loved it from the first 5 minutes I played. And it was not a completely linear story like Final Fantasy, where you're just following along. Choices you made did affect things! In a major way. Characters and even entire species can be saved or condemned based on what you do. So many things can be utterly different based on your choices. I expected the ending of Mass Effect 3 to have endings from as tragic as "Reapers kill everyone. The end." To bittersweet as "Shepard dies, but galaxy is saved." All the way to "Galaxy saved, Earth saved, Reapers destroyed, and Shepard and her love interest go off into the sunset and have a good life."
And we were told over and over again by Bioware that the ending would NOT be a simple A, B, and C choice.
Well I guess technically it wasn't. Instead it was RED/GREEN/BLUE. Cute.
That - and the stupid nature of the plot/consistancy holes makes this overall just a kick in the balls. (or will be if they don't change it) And I don't feel like paying money to have someone kick me in the balls.
If ultimately they correct it and change it so that it's NOT a kick in the balls, then good. They'll have my respect for listening to their fans and doing the right thing. And they'll have my money too. Gladly.