official Mass Effect 3

[Muhammad Farrukh]

i figured that, but the geth are man made, so i woudln't feel as bad. i just liked legion more cause of the way he said sheppard commander (i thought it was funny) but than he ended up dying anyways so that didn't work... but i figure a geth army would be better than a quarian so eh

Geth weren't man-made. More like Quarian made.

I agree, Legion was quite a character. Always liked him. In my first playthrough, I chose to stand with Quarians, but in the current one, I chose Geth and they actually show more support, in the War Room, than Quarians

[Muhammad Farrukh]

:laugh:

He did an excellent job. Just screwed up in the end.

[Phouchg]

Well, at least it isn't that Dietz guy that hasn't even got a slightest clue of what he was supposed to write about.

Yes. All in all, a sad thing that Drew Karpyshyn left BioWare and with it Mass Effect series. I doubt that endings you're all seem to be ****ed about were any of the writers' call, though. More likely EA simply didn't give development enough time for that because they so wanted to shoehorn that stupid multiplayer. Which, by the way, I highly suspect, was the only reason the game got delayed in the first place.

Also, I might be paranoid, but could it be that Drew Karpyshyn left the studio for the same reason producers Jesse Houston and Brent Knowles (of Dragon Age) did? As for the Knowles I'm actually quite certain, he himself has stated "disagreements" as the main reason. While all these people have been understandably very polite publicly, I desperaly want to see some "EA indoctrinated BioWare" conspiracy here :laugh:

[Andyrew29]

We'll be discussing Mass Effect 3 in our regular gaming podcast live tonight at 7 PM EDT: http://www.neowin.ne...mar-13--7-pm-et

If you have an opinion about the ending in particular we'd love for you to comment during our discussion about it. Should make for an interesting podcast :)

Hi All,

I'm not sure if you've seen this but hopefully it should explain why the ending is, how it is....

http://images.wikia.com/masseffect/images/9/98/New_DLC_-The_Truth.png

[Phouchg]

A bunch of map packs, classes and weapon reskins are inevitable. Activision has been betting on this for ages, EA pyjaks want some of that monies, too.

Story DLC that fixes endings, because now they have time to figure it out themselves? Selling the endings as DLC? :/ There will be [digital] blood! :angry:

[TheLegendOfMart]

Why would they sell the ending, it would be commercial and professional suicide, no one would touch Bioware games again.

If that image is true then it will be a free "epilogue" DLC.

[Andyrew29]

A bunch of map packs, classes and weapon reskins are inevitable. Activision has been betting on this for ages, EA pyjaks want some of that monies, too.

Story DLC that fixes endings, because now they have time to figure it out themselves? Selling the endings as DLC? :/ There will be [digital] blood! :angry:

Don't you feel the least bit sympathetic towards Bioware? Their story leaked unexpectedly, it got slated pretty bad and it appears that they took the critisim from the leak back to the devs and decided to do as much as they could to both plug the gap, keep the release date and ensure the ending met expectations (albeit the later would be dlc).

http://www.eurogamer...o-leaked-script

They could have just released it as it was with the heavily slated ending (ignoring the fan base) or they could have delayed it, either way, what ever they did would have upset a lot of people; the link above states that the new story dlc will be free and although its not yet official, apparently the source is respectable.

If you were to mention the "From Ashes DLC" then thats another story and I can understand why some people wouldn't want to buy it out of principle when it hits the store the same day as the game.

I would have preferred that it was delayed by a month or so but alas they may have a tight window with other big games being released this year.

I started off upset about the ending but hey, sh*t happens

[S00N3R FR3AK]

The upload fails so Legion transmits himself to the Geth consciousness "dying" in the process, depending on your choices in ME2 and this game you then see a cutscene of the Geth wiping out the Quarrians, it cuts back to the planet and a Geth Prime says that they are now free and pledges Geth to help build the crucible and fight the reapers. Also depending on your choices in ME2 and this game Tali might take her mask off and commit suicide

(quarian homeworld)

orrrrrrrrr

if you are a pure paragon guy like me I uploaded the code, lost Legion but I talked down the Quarians from attacking so both races live

[Phouchg]

Why would they sell the ending, it would be commercial and professional suicide, no one would touch Bioware games again.

If that image is true then it will be a free "epilogue" DLC.

And Arrival was what? What exactly is a "tie-in"? Without it Shepard's trial and incarceration, whole ME3 introduction, hardly makes sense - one just had to buy it. In fact, one is expected to have the full sh*tload of DLCs to dig a great many things in ME3.

Don't you feel the least bit sympathetic towards Bioware? [..] What ever they did would have upset a lot of people; the link above states that the new story dlc will be free and although its not yet official, apparently the source is respectable.

Free stuff would be nice for my budget, thin as it is, of course. But it's hard to feel any sympathy, have faith or trust in them. Now I personally do not wow to never buy BioWare's stuff ever again "out of principle" just because of metric tons they sh*t on my head as long as they still deliver probably the most epic epic stuff around :)

Women fancy crying while watching Titanic. Real men cry when Mordin dies. :D

[Sadelwo]

Women fancy crying while watching Titanic. Real men cry when Mordin dies. :D

This needs to be on a shirt.

[Miuku.]

Don't you feel the least bit sympathetic towards Bioware?

After Dragon Age 2, SWTOR and the DLC debacle?

Sorry, sympathy barrel ran out - there's nothing left.

[spacer]

Hi All,

I'm not sure if you've seen this but hopefully it should explain why the ending is, how it is....

http://images.wikia...._-The_Truth.png

While it would be awesome to get something like this; I'm pretty sure this rumor started in 4chan. :/

Additionaly, if this were true it would mean that Bioware spent time and money coming up with a psuedo-ending just to keep the "real" ending hidden. And it would mean they're spending even more time and money on the "real" ending that they're going to release with a ton of other stuff, for free. All the while their name and the game is dragged through the mud on almost every videogame message board, the price of the game goes down, and used-copies go through the roof. I really don't see any sane business doing that.

[Phouchg]

From ME3 meme thread on social.bioware.com: :)

And unrelated to the damned endings:

[Emn1ty]

(quarian homeworld)

orrrrrrrrr

if you are a pure paragon guy like me I uploaded the code, lost Legion but I talked down the Quarians from attacking so both races live

It does irritate me that your choice as Renegade was limited in that scenario.

My interpretation of the ending:

The final three choices were an inversion of your goals till the end of the game. This is why the choice colors are reversed.

Also, the other two endings are not "wrong endings" as opposed to the red ending. All choices succeed. This is true merely because they all result in the same cut scene after the credits. The only thing this truly could mean is which ending is "canon".

I saw the ending as a test of resolve, judgment and a demonstration of how distorted a choice can become. At the end of the game the Paragon is out to destroy the reapers. No if ands or buts. But standing there and realizing that such a choice is rash and inconsiderate and could result in the destruction of more than just reapers you will see why that choice has become that of the Renegade path.

On the other hand, I saw the blue path of control to be the most Paragon of the three. It leaves the choice up to others. Rather than sacrafice their freedom (and possibly your own life depending on your choice) to end a conflict you sacrifice your own life to give them back that freedom. Freedom from the reapers, and the right to choose their own future (be it self annihilation or not).

In hindsight, the green choice seems to not have killed anyone (I feared it would restart the course of life to evolve as both organic and synthetic). But this just shows how dynamic the ending actually is. The idea of a simple choice which is can be a no brainer or a intellectual struggle with your own ideals. My final choice took me around an hour to make. And I did not make my choice until I was resolved to see it through to the end.

THAT is why the ending was great. It was a test of my ideals, my conviction. And merely making a choice that I am satisfied with will be my reward.

[Regulator29]

ME3 was the first ME game that i actually fully played through, i have ME 1 and 2, so i guess im going to play thru 1 and 2 and then 3 again. to fully understand whats going on. i really enjoyed ME3 though.

[Noveed]

Women fancy crying while watching Titanic. Real men cry when Mordin dies. :D

LMAO! Deffos should be a phrase on a shirt!

[Phouchg]

Bioware Director [Casey Hudson] Responds to Mass Effect 3 Criticism

"I didn't want the game to be forgettable, and even right down to the sort of polarizing reaction that the ends have had with people?debating what the endings mean and what's going to happen next, and what situation are the characters left in."

"That to me is part of what's exciting about this story. There has always been a little bit of mystery there and a little bit of interpretation, and it's a story that people can talk about after the fact."

Source (gameinformer.com)

[trag3dy]

nvm

[Lovell]

For the Quarian homeworld if you save the admiral then both races should survive personally I preferred the Geth to the Quarians the Geth were never the aggressors were as the Quarians just seemed like ######, the games been out for over a week now theres no point in keeping with the spoiler tag.

[Muhammad Farrukh]

Bioware Director Casey Hudson has responded to enraged fans that have criticised the game's endings and day-one DLC. In an interview with Digital Trends, Hudson said, "I didn't want the game to be forgettable, and even right down to the sort of polarizing reaction that the ends have had with people?debating what the endings mean and what's going to happen next, and what situation are the characters left in.

"That to me is part of what's exciting about this story. There has always been a little bit of mystery there and a little bit of interpretation, and it's a story that people can talk about after the fact."

Particularly aggrieved fans have launched a campaign to get the Mass Effect 3 ending changed. There is even a Retake Mass Effect movement which is raising funds for the Child's Play Charity, in the hope of being taken seriously by Bioware. So far they have raised over $29,000. Their mission statement reads "We would like to dispel the perception that we are angry or entitled. We simply wish to express our hope that there could be a different direction for a series we have all grown to love."

When asked if Bioware listen to feedback, Hudson said, "We pay very close attention to it. It's very important to us and we will always listen to feedback, interpret it and try and do the right thing by our fans."

Hudson went on to promise fans single-player DLC, and that fan feedback will shape its content: "We have some really great multiplayer content and some really great single-player content coming over the air, (fan) feedback will become part of how we design that."

Regarding the From Ashes DLC, Hudson thinks fans are starting to see "common sense". "Initially, it was spun in a direction that suggested that we had taken the lore out of Mass Effect 3," he said. "Now the people who actually have played Mass Effect 3 and the DLC they know that that's not true."

[Muhammad Farrukh]

Its truly a hard call.

[Muhammad Farrukh]

Why BioWare Shouldn't Change Mass Effect 3's Ending

The following article contains no spoilers

The petition calling for a new ending to Mass Effect 3 currently has 37,714 votes. BioWare should ignore every single one of them.

As any work of art, Mass Effect 3 should be discussed, dissected, and critiqued. It doesn't have to be loved. It doesn't even have to be liked. As paying consumers, gamers have the right to be dissatisfied with a game, its content, or its ending. They are free to comment, rant, or rave. They are even free to start a petition. But none of this requires BioWare to listen.

While this petition only represents the feelings and voices of a very small subset of the gaming community, it is the second time in a month that BioWare has been the subject of large-scale ire.

Imagine we lived in a world where artists regularly changed their art based on audience demands. Imagine Monet repainting Water Lilies in black and white because people objected to color. Imagine Salman Rushdie trashing The Satanic Verses because people objected to its implications. The very idea of allowing any work of art to be changed, edited, reshaped, reworked, deleted, or destroyed because someone, somewhere, didn't like it would render all art meaningless. Art is the creative expression of an artist or a group of artists. It's not a free-for-all exercise in democratic rights.

There are plenty of examples, both in the games industry and outside of it, of fan communities demanding creators change a piece of art for any number of reasons. Making these demands is nothing new. But that does not absolve those that do it. Gamers are consumers, and Mass Effect 3 is a product. Gamers are audiences, and Mass Effect 3 is a piece of art. The two are separated by the process of creation. Mass Effect 3, despite the range of choice it allows players in creating a personal experience, is a preconstructed entity. Every single pixel in the game is owned by BioWare: gamers play the game that was made for them. They can choose to play it how they want, but they do not own those choices.

Some people have argued that in Mass Effect 3, BioWare has delivered something different from what it promised. This is irrelevant. In its role as both an art object and a consumer product, Mass Effect 3 remains the property of its maker. As a final product, it is the expression of those who created it, and its sole objective is to be consumed--not re-created--by its audience. Apart from the times that BioWare asked the community for its thoughts, no one but the development team was involved in creating the game.

Art does not side exclusively with the artist, nor does it side exclusively with the audience. A work of art is brought into being by the creation of a two-way relationship between both entities. A video game like Mass Effect 3 cannot be fully realized until it is played by an audience that must be allowed to react and respond to the work.

But the work of art is done; it is finished. It cannot be altered or deleted. Doing so would fracture the relationship between an artist and the audience, and it would render the original work meaningless. If BioWare does change the end of Mass Effect 3 to mollify a handful of goading voices, the game itself would no longer be the expression of its original creators. It would cease to be art.

GameSpot

[soniqstylz]

Here' another take on the ending.

Hmm, it seems im not the only one who thought for a good while that everything that happens after you get hit by Harbinger's laser in the final run is a dream sequence, especially the way that part begins .. apparently there's crazy theories that everything onwards was Shepard's hallucination, or him fighting off reaper indoctornation ..

that kind of does explain why he wakes up and takes the breath in the "special" ending in London, in his full n7 armor, even though he lost it in the citadel and he was there when it blew up .. here's a great recap from someone in the official bioware forms, spoiler tagging it just in case so the post doesnt become a wall of text

https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1031623-mass-effect-3/page__view__findpost__p__594726272

[soniqstylz]

But the work of art is done; it is finished. It cannot be altered or deleted. Doing so would fracture the relationship between an artist and the audience, and it would render the original work meaningless. If BioWare does change the end of Mass Effect 3 to mollify a handful of goading voices, the game itself would no longer be the expression of its original creators. It would cease to be art.

GameSpot

I do agree with that, once it's done, it's done, and you take your chances with that. I do hope, however, that after the "Burning Ashes" fiasco and the endings issues, that some already planned DLC to clear up some issues and give explanations comes free in the next few months.

[Muhammad Farrukh]

Anybody else a fan of Javeline?

Its not really an upgrade over the default one, Viper, or is it Mantis? :/ but the sound of it is freakin' awesome, and I manged to reduce its weight by upgrading it to V, and damage output is now full.

Another cool thing about it is that it can let you see through smoke of smoke gernades. Its mechanics and sound are awesome (Y)

Also, been using updated M-76 Revenant a lot lately. Its also great one