*Spoilers alert*
The interwebz is ablaze with the fury of Mass Effect fans. How dare Bioware end Mass Effect 3 as they did! Requests and demands for a new ending are everywhere. Not everyone may agree, but those who are upset are being very vocal, and the gaming media is eating it up and fueling the fire... because controversy in gaming means more readers (and for Bioware and EA this should increase ME3 sales through free advertising... an irony to the Anti-EA/Bioware movement).
You probably don't need me to outline the ending of the game, but here are a few of the main issues fans have with the ending:
1. No end of game boss fight.
Counter: and thank god... lets not forget everyone complaining about the human-reaper in ME2. Fans, if you are upset about no end-boss in ME3, blame yourself. Bioware listened to your feedback.
2. No "happy" ending - the current ending is too dark. i.e No opportunity to make blue babies with Liara, or spend time with your love interest in your cabin like in ME2.
Counter: and thank god again... I am sick of Hollywood endings. For a game as mature as Mass Effect was, I am happy they did not insult us with a cliche ending. I am happy that there was no obvious "best choice" as Mass Effect is all about morally grey choices, and I like that the last choice was a very difficult one... for me the toughest of the series.
I also like the choice of an ambiguous ending because it is the ultimate "create your own ending." Talk about letting the player personalize their ending. With a series as loved as Mass Effect, finding an ending that everyone will like will be impossible, so why not make an ambiguous ending that lets everyone interpret it themselves.
3. All of the 16 endings were too similar. Only the "colors" were different.
Counter: True, but the implications were very different. Earth destroyed vs ravaged vs saved. Synthetics destroyed (including the "life" that is Geth and EDI), Reapers controlled (saving the galaxy, but playing with fire), or synthesis (combining organics and synthetics, which sounds noble, but is kind of what the reapers were doing). Lets not forget Sheppard "living" or not. One constant at end game is that the relays are always destroyed. Bioware wanted the creative control on the overall fate of the galaxy... and they took it. I can't blame them.
Had we let popular opinion reign, Mass Effect would end in a manner similar to every Modern Warfare game. Had we let "core" Mass Effect fan popular opinion determine the end game, every game would end with a Tali Dry-hump mini game happily ever after in a field of flowers. *Barf* Talimancers are creepy.
4. The decisions through the game did not influence the ending enough.
Counter: Yes and no.
At no time in the ME series have our decisions ever changed the overall story. We can tweak the order of, or even skip missions, we can recruit/ignore/kill squad-mates, we can color the story and personalize it... but the overall story has always been the same through all three games. Who is to think that will change in ME3? Like ME and ME2, ME3 started and ended the way the writers intended (reapers stopped, and relay destruction). Mass Effect has always been an "illusion of choice." Don't fool yourself to thinking otherwise.
However, I would have liked to see more of the war assets from ME3 have an effect on the end missions, and I feel that having the ending hinge on a number, and not the specific assets, or their strategic use, was a bit of a cop out.
Adding more depth to your war assets and their specific use during the final battle of earth was a missed opportunity. During the game there was much mention of unit/race strengths and tactics against the reapers, and I was expecting to be able to have a say in their use in the final battle in a way not so dissimilar to the suicide mission from ME2. Such an ending would also have quietened many critics that claimed that decisions did little to alter the end game.
5. The ambiguous/dark ending is just a way to sell us DLC for a "proper ending" down the road.
Counter: Your requests will be answered if people keep complaining about the current ending. Just be prepared to pay for it because nothing in life comes for free. Blame yourself if "proper ending DLC" comes true.
6. We were misled and promised more by the developers in PR materials.
Counter: Sorry guys and gals, but PR is just that. They will tell you what you want to hear to get your money. This is not news. I have read the articles that quoted all the "promises" but remember that PR is PR and things change (It was hackers that leaked the original ME3 script last fall... forcing them to change the ending last minute. Blame the hackers). They may not have been lies at the time. And even if they did knowingly lie, there are worse things in this world to petition against. Cancer. World hunger. War. A video game ending? One of these things is not like the other.
7. Plot holes.
Counter: I can't deny this one. There were a lot of plot holes, but then there are huge plot holes in any game I have played. If a game spent all it's narrative plugging plot holes it would be boring as hell. If I spent all my time trying to identify plot holes I would hate all games and all movies and most books. I would become some pretentious sounding prick who spends countless hours making you tube videos of my annoying voice recorded over classic music as I chop the plot of Mass Effect to pieces all in an attempt to convince other gamers that I HATE a game I just spent countless hours criticizing (some ME2 fans will know who I am talking about).
Final Thoughts:
Overall I thoroughly enjoyed ME3, and I liked the choices in the ending. If I had constructive criticism it would be to allow the player to dictate how their war assets were used in the final battle in a way not too dissimilar to your choice of squadmates in the ME2 suicide mission.
For those claiming that their 100+ hours of enjoyment from ME1 and ME2 and ME3 were ruined by the last moments of ME3... get over yourself. The adventure has always been in the journey, not the destination.
Happy gaming.
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I have a very similar view, I found nothing wrong with the ending. I even dare say that I kind of enjoyed it
At first I thought "Oh please, another whinning opinion about how much ME3 ending sucks" but then I read your text and I agree with it. I was happy with my choice of ending and I was satisfied how it ended. Even very satisfied. I'm also tired of all those happy endings each blockbuster movie has to have. Shepard was a hero, he sacrificed himself. That's what real heroes do. The actual ending is Astronomer talking to the child. That shows hope and progress for the mankind. I consider it very positive and optimistic, thus completely satisfactory. Mankind survived, the cycle has been broken. As a fan of Battlestar Galactica, I enjoy the parallels and references. My congrats, Bioware.
Also, your very last sentence sums it up. Why people don't complain about the end of Journey (the game), Limbo, or many other games which don't end happily and explicitly? Maybe because those are not mainstream titles made for mainstream sheep. Bioware actually wanted something outside the mainstream and they're being punished for that. It seems that people just want to see their characters ride towards the setting sun in every adventure they take on. Sad times for variety and some depth in gaming.
What is wrong with people lately?
Look, if you're satisfied with the ending, great. It's just super cool you enjoyed it. However, there are apparently a LOT of people who feel a little short-changed and they are now voicing their concerns. More importantly than that, it appears that they might actually make a difference.
In case you haven't noticed, this has come to be about more than just a bad ending. It's about what you are entitled to as a consumer in this industry, and how far can we really be pushed before we take our ball and go home, or get our parents involved (figuratively speaking). Simply sitting there like complacent mugs while publishers continue to nickel and dime consumers, in more and more obtrusive and frankly disgusting ways, is exactly how they get away with things like COD Elite, $15 map packs, launch day DLC, and soon enough paying for separate single and multiplayer with online passes and subscription models.
It's sickening to me that other supposed gamers would belittle and demean the people who are fighting for better treatment for them and all consumers in this industry. What do you stand to lose if EA/Bioware decide to rectify their mistakes and reconcile with their fanbase? It might make a tonne of people happy, and it would be a landmark case in the apparent war between consumers and publishers/developers that's been raging as of late. It would be a message to others in the industry, as if to say "this, here, is the line. Push us to here and it's over." You would still have enjoyed your experience with the game just as much and might get to enjoy some new ones. If anyone should sit down and shut up, it's YOU. This doesn't affect you (in ways you can understand or care about, that is), and it shouldn't matter to you.
If anything, the ending was just a little confusing and mediocre.
The notion that people "get over" themselves is a little disingenious - also a tad on the childish side.
"The adventure has always been in the journey, not the destination" - Agreed. I can also make the point that a lot of people who say that can also be convincing themselves that while the destination turned out to be theoretical mediocre drivelthe notion that we should look at the "brighter side" is just a way of disregarding the ending as waste of time.
The ending was terrible, it negated all of the "relationships" that I made with the characters over the three games. I fully expected Shep to die, I guess I could have handled the destruction of the Mass Relays but to leave the audience hanging on the fate of almost all of your squad mates was terrible. Besides the fact that Bioware effectively ended the franchise in the last five minutes of an otherwise excellent game. Stupid business move. Any prequel just won't have the same impact story wise knowing how the Mass Effect universe ultimately ends.