BioWare: ME3 Ending Designed To Get Everyone Talking
Mass Effect 3Well, if their goal was to get people talking, we say "mission accomplished."
After all the hoopla surrounding the Mass Effect 3 ending(s) fiasco, BioWare has responded. Executive producer Casey Hudson told Digital Trends that the controversial climax was specifically designed to get gamers talking. In other words, they wanted to produce something memorable. Said Hudson:
"I didn't want the game to be forgettable, and even right down to the sort of polarizing reaction that the endings 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."
Hudson added that BioWare takes fan feedback "very seriously" and it's always something that can make a developer better. As for the day-one downloadable content argument, he said he thinks people "get it now" and fans just don't understand how the development process works.
"They get the fact that sometimes the way that things work in game development isn't known very well by a lot of people, so there's an opportunity for misunderstanding, including the fact that as a multi-studio team and company, we have many projects that are ongoing. When we finish a game, we finish it many months before it actually hits the shelves and the team goes on to work on something else that in those intervening months represent millions of dollars of development time, which either goes toward the next game that you might not see for several years or a different game that they might go to work on like Dragon Age or the Old Republic."
There's no doubt that people are talking, and we do believe BioWare's explanation about the DLC. The only question is whether or not the designers will respond to the fan petition circulating right now, the one asking for a new ending...
Related Game(s): Mass Effect 3
Tags: mass effect 3, me3, mass effect 3 ending, bioware
3/14/2012 8:28:29 PM Ben Dutka
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Comments (19 posts)
FxTales
Wednesday, March 14, 2012 @ 10:05:00 PM
3 up, 0 down
SmokeyPSD
Wednesday, March 14, 2012 @ 11:07:42 PM
2 up, 0 down
xenris
Thursday, March 15, 2012 @ 10:20:42 AM
Perhaps they meant when they were done with DLCing the pants off of it it would tie things off?
I have a link that shows an image of all the stuff this game rips off, and all the cheap sloppy photo shopping they did not just with tali but I will not link it because I think its not allowed right?
Can't wait to see where we are in a year when this gets even more out of control. People need to stop funding this.
Kickstarter projects do give me hope for the future. The new wasteland 2 game already has almost 1 million in funding from fans, which means that the boys in suits can tell them how to monetize and heck even make it to reach the biggest demographic.
2 up, 0 down
WorldEndsWithMe
Wednesday, March 14, 2012 @ 10:13:01 PM
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I think this is a pathetic attempt to save face. "Oh we wanted people to talk about the possibilities that the ending brought up." It's rubbish, it isn't in keeping with the story and focus on choice and outcome at all. Who wants an unforgettable ending that nobody likes?
11 up, 0 down
xenris
Thursday, March 15, 2012 @ 10:24:02 AM
If they do make a good ending where does that put us? Well, they can charge whatever they want for it, so we end up paying 10-15$ to get some sort of closure on a game that was being sold on the fact that it was going to tie up loose ends. They even said in interviews they couldn't think of ANY BETTER way of ending the series.
Yet countless fans can?
2 up, 0 down
PC_Max
Wednesday, March 14, 2012 @ 10:22:23 PM
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Then again, maybe Bioware has taken the choice of not conforming to the typicalHollywood formula and going down the road where there are consequences for our heroes and that might include sacrifice and death.
Like I said, I have not played ME3 yet, but... lets wait and see what Bioware does and then judge. Just a suggestion.
0 up, 2 down
WorldEndsWithMe
Wednesday, March 14, 2012 @ 11:03:16 PM
3 up, 1 down
Gamer46
Thursday, March 15, 2012 @ 12:40:40 AM
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4 up, 1 down
___________
Thursday, March 15, 2012 @ 4:55:56 AM
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its a shame that such a awesome series has to come to such a disappointing un climatic end.
2 up, 0 down
Fox hounder
Thursday, March 15, 2012 @ 5:51:43 AM
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With that said i'm backing bioware on this despite if the ending is the worst ever or not.
However it wound've made a little more sense to have said this (or something similar) before the game launched.
0 up, 4 down
Kevin555
Thursday, March 15, 2012 @ 6:09:04 AM
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Granted, there are still plenty of questions that need answers but overall i was mesmerised by this series & the conclusion i recieved at the end. Sure it was unexpected, but it made it more less predictable imo.
I say get over it, you get the ending BioWare give you & that's it. It's their story, & it's their conclusion. If you want to interfere in their art then imagine & or visualise your own conclusion. People forget the hours upon hours of awesome gameplay this series has given them & whinge more about the last ten minutes because it wasn't what they expected.
Don't like it, write your own ending. I bet it won't be as good. :D
Imo, the 86% naysayers need to dry their tears, i reckon this series ending was the bomb & was rapt it didn't end with the usual by the book, cliche ending most thought it would.
Thankyou Bioware for sharing "YOUR" story & conclusion. I've enjoyed every bit of it.
4 up, 4 down
Lotusflow3r
Thursday, March 15, 2012 @ 9:11:53 AM
I made a point about The Sopranos ending getting a huge backlash, but in actuality, it was a perfect ending, just not conventional. I made it back in the petition news thread and how that situation might be slightly relative here.
I'm sure ME3's conclusion has problems, i haven't got it yet, but considering this was such a mainstream game, an arthouse or avant garde type ending is going to take many people off guard.
People who enjoy conventional plots, which is fine, won't enjoy something that's avant garde i.e. anti-climatic, experimental, open for interpretation etc.
The best thing these kind of things need is time. Over time, they usually become appreciated.
Last edited by Lotusflow3r on 3/15/2012 9:12:35 AM
1 up, 3 down
Lathon
Sunday, March 18, 2012 @ 8:35:27 AM
I agree wholeheartedly with Kevin5.
I have just completed the game, about one hour ago, and the end was simply beautiful in many ways. I'm still in awe.
I wouldn't want a standard, cut and paste from template 1A, ending to a series like this. This game deserves more than that, and I think Bioware delievered. The gaming culture maturing, and this is a great example an evolving media.
I feel sad, a bit empty. I was in tears several times during the last hours. I was happy, shocked in a way, and so on. The game was an emotional roller coaster, and particulary the last few hours. I can't even remember when a game made me feel anything at all. This is no small achievement.
We have gotten to know these characters over a few years, and I feel very, very satisfied. Given the context of the game, and particulary ME3, the ending was perfect for me. Yes, there were a few loose ends, but I can live with those. Perhaps we will find out more about those in the future, but for now I'm just catching my breath after the greatest gaming experience I've had in a long, long time.
If anything, I tip my hat in the general directon of the Bioware Studios.
People need to calm down.
/Lathon
0 up, 1 down
PC_Max
Thursday, March 15, 2012 @ 10:11:55 AM
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Since I have not played the game yet... and have an idea, a guess, of how it ends. If there is single player DLC... will this conflict with the ending do you think? Or will this DLC force you to replay the game to access it.
The alternative DLC would be to continue the ending somehow. Or no single DLC at all and just focus on the multiplayer... which I am not really interested in. One reason why I am turned off of the Assassin Creed series. Any thoughts?
1 up, 0 down
xenris
Thursday, March 15, 2012 @ 10:30:54 AM
Sooooo given their track record I'm willing to be it will just be something that retcons everything from all of the previous games lore and story, and goes out with a bang. That or they will just have something like shepard wakes up after entering orbit again(because that apparently doesn't incinerate him) and have him just observe the aftermath and reminisce or something, maybe get picked up by someone and get an epilogue of sorts who knows.
I suggest everyone not buy it to send a message but meh.
1 up, 0 down
oldmike
Thursday, March 15, 2012 @ 1:09:09 PM
its dead jim
0 up, 0 down
SmokeyPSD
Thursday, March 15, 2012 @ 5:18:40 PM
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0 up, 0 down
Advent Child
Sunday, March 18, 2012 @ 12:53:33 PM
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0 up, 0 down
SmokeyPSD
Reply
Wednesday, March 14, 2012 @ 9:44:28 PM
Since then the language has just continued to soften. Until we are where we are now where it barely looks like Mass Effect the franchise will skip a beat.
That is the real joke and complete lack of transparency in how Bioware have treated ME3 for me at this point.