You’ve most likely already heard about this, but I thought I would share some of our thoughts about the situation anyway. As you may recall I’ve written at some length about the endings as they stand, so I won’t retread that here. And it wouldn’t be a revelation on the scale of Saint John’s to say I hope they do it well, though I am somewhat skeptical as it sounds like they are just adding to the cinematics rather than doing the work that I suspect needs to really be done in order to fix this up properly.
Still, there is something about this all that is very heartening. There has been a lot of talk about “artistic integrity” and whatnot in relation to the ending – that BioWare shouldn’t change the ending because of fan dissatisfaction. To some extent this is a fair point, as otherwise we would no doubt have all kinds of nonsense like Square trying to make games more like FFIX instead of, you know, good FFs. Nonetheless the attitude that fans are ‘entitled’ is bizarre, for a great number of reasons. First, yes we are. We’re entitled to getting our money’s worth and if a product, for whatever reason, doesn’t deliver that then we are perfectly within our rights to demand improvement. Maybe not to expect it, but to want it, certainly. If I buy a car and some aspect of it doesn’t function properly it’s not unreasonable to want that to be fixed, whether it’s something trivial or vital to the car’s functioning. Second, and our dear Pike can elaborate on this with far greater insight and expertise than I can, it is a pretty well-established notion when you create a creative work and put it out for people to consume, it becomes the property of the consumers. I’m a writer. I dread the idea of someone taking my work and finding it so thoroughly flawed that they want big changes made. But if that does happen, I sincerely hope I have the humility and integrity to sit down and consider the complaints on their own merits – and if they do indeed have merit, to see how a solution can be incorporated. When Pike first explained that to me I was somewhat horrified. “It’s mine!” I cried, “I can do what I want with it!” Well, yes. I can. That doesn’t make it wise to do so, and it may demonstrate great disrespect for the people who are sharing this work with me.
The more interesting aspect here is that they’ve been willing to do this. To whatever extent they do make changes, to go back and change a fictional work once it’s done is fairly unusual. Yes you have, say, director’s cuts in movies when they’re out on DVD, and remixes of music tracks, but those aren’t really the same thing as making a change to the canonical version of the thing itself. The only real precedent I can think of, and Pike and I tried for some time to come up with something, was the Broken Steel DLC for Fallout 3. But even that was a small change, a simple “Oh you survived after all” and the ability to carry on after finishing the main quest, as it should be. And it was paid. The ME3 DLC is to be free, and at least has the potential to make significant, even sweeping, changes to the canon of the series.
What are your thoughts on this, readers? Are you hopeful, or do you despair about BW’s caving to angry mobs? Does this bode well or ill for the industry? Tell us what you think in the comments!
“If I buy a car and some aspect of it doesn’t function properly it’s not unreasonable to want that to be fixed, whether it’s something trivial or vital to the car’s functioning.”
I don’t understand this argument. Does the ending somehow make the game unplayable? How is it not functioning properly? Is it somehow not an ending? Cause honestly, regardless of the complaints about how it accomplishes it, the story DOES end. So I fail to see how the car analogy really stacks up.
The ending does accomplish its function. It ends the story. However for many the ending is unsatisfactory. It’s “The interior of the car is about two shades darker grey than I really wanted.” Which gives you the choice of ‘dealing with it’ or ‘demanding a new car with the correct color interior that you personally wanted’. And you can completely do that! You might not get it, but you – as a consumer – are perfectly free to demand it. Caveat emptor and all that.
Same with Mass Effect 3. You can demand a new ending. And hey, whaddya know. They’re giving one to ya. But the ending did not impede the functionality of the game in anyway. It’s just not what people wanted. The argument that the ending is somehow a malfunction that requires a recall to be replaced is exaggerating at best.
Honestly, after seeing the ending. I was fine with it. I could see the problems others had with it, and it honestly did really get to me that much. If they came out with an expanded one, I’d be fine with that too. A new DLC ending would give the people who wanted something more the option and the purist howling about ‘artist integrity’ and simply not download and let it be.
However, Where I get riled up is not with the fans who were upset and wanted a new ending, but the ones who after this new ending was announced rallied around and screamed “Give them no quarter! Stay Vigilant! We must ensure they get this new ending RIGHT!” (I am paraphrasing with far more colorful language naturally) That somehow, after Bioware is doing this and for free no less, that there will be those who still demand that their SPECIFIC terms be met or they will burn the name of Bioware in effigy until the company is dead and buried. THAT gets under my skin. It transcends of the already complex matter of ‘buyer satisfaction’ and goes into where do you draw the line? Do the fans demands include having every last request met with this new ending? Because that’s what they’re owed? I don’t know. I don’t have the answer. It does upset me though, that much I can say.
The ending is fundamentally broken. It’s not merely disappointing, it completely fails to do what it was supposed to do except in the most elementary way of being the last thing that happens. So I would argue that yes, in a game/series that has a very strong focus on narrative that the failure of the ending to deliver, to be so completely screwed up, has a very strong effect on the entire experience and thus yes, to some extent it does effect the whole thing in a strongly negative sense.
This a long video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MlatxLP-xs but it explains where I’m coming from very well.
Or so it is?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ythY_GkEBck
Does the ending conclude the primary conflict of the trilogy? YES. The Reaper threat is dealt with and ended in some fashion. Regardless of your opinion of how well it matches up with the rest of the series in terms of narrative or whatever idealized interpretation of what you feel should have happened – it DOES serve the function of ending the story.
The only way it would be BROKEN is if the function of concluding the primary plot line (The Reaper Threat) is not accomplished. Something like Shepard lands on earth for the final battle and then immediately cut to credits. No conclusion whatsoever. That is a broken ending. The very function of an ending has not been accomplished.
The big issue I had with the ending was the disconnected feel from the rest of the game. I was like 99% of the series was written by the writing team and the final few minutes were handed off to someone who had no idea about the rest of the story line of decisions that players could and had made. If the EXPANDED ending is able to tie the two parts together in a n understandable manner, I will have no problem with it. If it leaves big plot holes and unanswered questions, then I will have a problem.
Game is a entertaining media.
Dont even compare it with car.
With book?
Ok.
You dont see guys getting refund because ending of book dissapiont them.
Buying games and books is like buying cat in the sack – you really dont know what you get.
I would say – stop buying games indtead drink vodka and have fun with friends.
+Rep for picture.
Dont really get what is all this big fuss about ME3. But meh its me.