Mass Effect 3

[vonFiedler]

In any other media you wouldn't get away with paying off reviewers. In any other media you wouldn't get away with insulting your fan base, whether as openly as the gaming media was doing it or subtly through the PR mode Bioware went through. The fact that they refused to change the ending is not unlike George Lucas inserting Jar-Jar into Star Wars 1 and 2, or M. Night Shamylan's continued slide into bad film making. They were all great once, now they refuse to live in a world without criticism. That is where artistic integrity dies.

Don't tell me "aw but they lost money for making this dlc, so it must be for the fans". They were gonna lose money anyway. They were gonna lose a shit ton of money from people not being their games anymore. And now they've defeated a few of you. Made you accept anything if it's even slightly better. But they won't get any more money from me.

And as a result, I am a far more bitter and cynical game designer than I was when I started my own company a year ago. As a result of the Mass Effect 3 ending, Bioware's and the Gaming Media's handling of the aftermath, and taking care of my sick grandfather watching him slowly die for half a year until he was gone a month ago, yeah, it could not be worse right now.

 

[Zeromus EG]

The fact that they refused to change the ending is not unlike George Lucas inserting Jar-Jar into Star Wars 1 and 2, or M. Night Shamylan's continued slide into bad film making. They were all great once, now they refuse to live in a world without criticism. That is where artistic integrity dies.

There's a massive amount of difference between not accepting criticism and outright changing the entire ending of a multi-million dollar trilogy of games.

If BioWare continue to make amazing games (with awful endings) and continually disregard the requests of their fanbase, then I can understand where you're coming from. The difference at the minute is that they've realised that they've made a mistake and done all that they really can do without completely pretending the rest of the game even existed. If they keep the same ending then sure, they've upset a portion of the fanbase but surely the fact that they've made the DLC and at least attempted to answer people's questions should give them a bit of credit? It's a damn sight more than a lot of other companies would do.

And no, I'm not being sucked into this idea where everything they do is perfect and correct and all about the fans. Yes they made a massive error in releasing the game with that awful ending, but just from the other 99% of the series being so good and from the amount of work they've put in to try resolve it is more than enough for me to justify buying another Mass Effect game. There's a reason why so many people are kicking off about the ending, and it's because the rest of the series was so great. Don't take one mistake as BioWare going "We hate our fans! Let's destroy our own company!".

 

[vonFiedler]

I don't think they have accepted the criticism. I never wanted the ending changed. I wanted some sign from someone that they understood why the ending was trash. I wanted a genuine apology. I haven't gotten that, and if you think you have then you have been fooled. It is the response from them after the fact, and from the sycophants surrounding them that proves that the company is on that downhill slide.

This isn't even the first time this has happened with Bioware. Remember Dragon Age 2? I actually thought it was OK. But when most people didn't, they were just as indignant towards their fans.

You need to wake up and smell the coffee. Almost the whole industry hates gamers. They see them only as pirates, as people who will buy a new game used for only 2 dollars worth of savings. They see gamers as entitled children, and if we don't buy their $60 games and their on-disc DLC they'll lean on the gaming media websites to tell us off. Bioware is not above it because EA is at the root of it.