Sofa: WIthout getting too overly detailed about it, let's just say I've thoroughly spoiled myself. It's not "hearsay" anymore. I've seen some pretty detailed play-throughs of various sections. I know what the game looks like and how it plays, what the dialogue is like. How good the rest of it is. Etc.
I decided some time back that I would likely never actually buy or play the game, so I may as well watch as much of it on youtube as I could. So for all practical intents and purposes at this point, I have seen the game for myself as much as it's possible to without playing it. (Or giving EA my money.)
(Just for an example: The part at Rannoch is particularly painful. Not because it's not good. But because it is. And moreso than any other part of the game, the ending makes everything you do there pointless. Because the ONLY ending of the three available that is anywhere near what I think either of my Shepards would do is the Red "Destroy" ending. And that's genocide of the Geth. And of EDI. So... what was the POINT of all that effort to reconcile the geth and the Quarians anyway? None at all, if you ask me.)
Anyway. It's not just the game itself that's made me decide to drop any emotional investment in the series. It's the way the fanbase has been treated by EA (and by many apologists and defenders of the endings). (And by the way - I don't mention Bioware for a reason. I don't think there really IS a Bioware company anymore. Not really. It's all EA now, just with the Bioware name tacked on. Like so many other game studios they've assimilated in the past and ruined.)
They're basically saying: "This is the ending as it was always meant to be, and if you're not happy with it, it's YOUR fault for being too stupid to get it. But - since you're SO upset about it, we're willing to meet you halfway and explain to you low-sloping foreheads what exactly happened."
It's that whole passive-agressive stance of theirs - the hiding behind the tattered "shield" of "artistic integrity" that really angers me. (And BTW, when you drop an already existing in-game reporter like Emily Wong just so you can insert Jessica Chobit into your game, you've already given up any "artistic integrity" you had. Granted, the twitter feed event was awesome in itself. But I'd much rather have had that in the game itself in some form.)
That's basically why I'm not even interested in the "Extended Cut" DLC. It doesn't change anything. It doesn't try to fix the ending. It's just the developers being forced to throw us the bare minimum bone to try desperately to stave off the loss of consumer loyalty and trust. It's not them acknowledging that they made a massive mistake and trying to fix it or even to apologize for it.
But to go back to the game itself. I have seen much of ME3 now - and certainly every variation on the ending of ME3 that it's possible to see, which isn't much, really. Watching the exact same footage just with different colors 3 or 6 or 9 times, whatever the hell it is... it's not only painful, it's BORING and painful. I mean, that's an impressive accomplishment there. Never thought I'd experience that combination. (SARC) My life is complete, now. (/SARC)
Oh! Just thought of the perfect analogy.
It's as if EA comes into our house as we the players are having fun playing the game, making our choices. Crafting our own variations on the story, and slaps the controller out of our hands in the last ten minutes and takes over the game and says "Fuck off, you idiots. Here's an ending that'll blow your tiny mind! We're going avant garde on your ass!"
(flat) What.
Basically, on a personal level, based on all of the above, it boils down to a sense of utter futility. I mean - I tried playing a couple of times back in mid-April or so. But I booted up with Shepard on the Citadel. (Midway through ME 2 IIRC). And I'm just thinking... "There's not much point to any of this, is there? The whole place and everyone in it dies, for no really good, logical reason."
So I shut it down. And I haven't booted either game back up since.
(One caveat - I could MAYBE see, a year or two out, re-installing the first Mass Effect by itself and replaying as a completely different character. Maybe give a Male-Shep renegade sole survivor a go. Because if I can't get enjoyment out of saving the universe, maybe I could get some enjoyment/comedy value out of being as much of a dick to the universe as it's possible to be.
John Shepard IS Black Adder in SPACE!!!!)
I decided some time back that I would likely never actually buy or play the game, so I may as well watch as much of it on youtube as I could. So for all practical intents and purposes at this point, I have seen the game for myself as much as it's possible to without playing it. (Or giving EA my money.)
(Just for an example: The part at Rannoch is particularly painful. Not because it's not good. But because it is. And moreso than any other part of the game, the ending makes everything you do there pointless. Because the ONLY ending of the three available that is anywhere near what I think either of my Shepards would do is the Red "Destroy" ending. And that's genocide of the Geth. And of EDI. So... what was the POINT of all that effort to reconcile the geth and the Quarians anyway? None at all, if you ask me.)
Anyway. It's not just the game itself that's made me decide to drop any emotional investment in the series. It's the way the fanbase has been treated by EA (and by many apologists and defenders of the endings). (And by the way - I don't mention Bioware for a reason. I don't think there really IS a Bioware company anymore. Not really. It's all EA now, just with the Bioware name tacked on. Like so many other game studios they've assimilated in the past and ruined.)
They're basically saying: "This is the ending as it was always meant to be, and if you're not happy with it, it's YOUR fault for being too stupid to get it. But - since you're SO upset about it, we're willing to meet you halfway and explain to you low-sloping foreheads what exactly happened."
It's that whole passive-agressive stance of theirs - the hiding behind the tattered "shield" of "artistic integrity" that really angers me. (And BTW, when you drop an already existing in-game reporter like Emily Wong just so you can insert Jessica Chobit into your game, you've already given up any "artistic integrity" you had. Granted, the twitter feed event was awesome in itself. But I'd much rather have had that in the game itself in some form.)
That's basically why I'm not even interested in the "Extended Cut" DLC. It doesn't change anything. It doesn't try to fix the ending. It's just the developers being forced to throw us the bare minimum bone to try desperately to stave off the loss of consumer loyalty and trust. It's not them acknowledging that they made a massive mistake and trying to fix it or even to apologize for it.
But to go back to the game itself. I have seen much of ME3 now - and certainly every variation on the ending of ME3 that it's possible to see, which isn't much, really. Watching the exact same footage just with different colors 3 or 6 or 9 times, whatever the hell it is... it's not only painful, it's BORING and painful. I mean, that's an impressive accomplishment there. Never thought I'd experience that combination. (SARC) My life is complete, now. (/SARC)
Oh! Just thought of the perfect analogy.
It's as if EA comes into our house as we the players are having fun playing the game, making our choices. Crafting our own variations on the story, and slaps the controller out of our hands in the last ten minutes and takes over the game and says "Fuck off, you idiots. Here's an ending that'll blow your tiny mind! We're going avant garde on your ass!"
(flat) What.
Basically, on a personal level, based on all of the above, it boils down to a sense of utter futility. I mean - I tried playing a couple of times back in mid-April or so. But I booted up with Shepard on the Citadel. (Midway through ME 2 IIRC). And I'm just thinking... "There's not much point to any of this, is there? The whole place and everyone in it dies, for no really good, logical reason."
So I shut it down. And I haven't booted either game back up since.
(One caveat - I could MAYBE see, a year or two out, re-installing the first Mass Effect by itself and replaying as a completely different character. Maybe give a Male-Shep renegade sole survivor a go. Because if I can't get enjoyment out of saving the universe, maybe I could get some enjoyment/comedy value out of being as much of a dick to the universe as it's possible to be.
John Shepard IS Black Adder in SPACE!!!!)