Forums » Smalltalk » The Mass Effect Controversy

...is certainly not controversy, but its worth complaining about. The following contains no spoilers.

How are all of you doing tonight? Well, today by now. I can see light outside of my window and can I say that the sun shines on your face in such a magnificent way.

I just finished Mass Effect 3, and I'm sure those of you who've played the game can barely make much sense of the ending, much less the hundreds of thousands of complaints that have come in because of it. Before I go too much farther, I give major props to the Bioware writing team, who must of poured the hearts out over many sleepless nights to bring this sci-fi epic to life as well as they did, and have to somehow pen that ending knowing that it was more or less a suicide mission.

Some of this is hypothesized. I did research on the topic and this was my conclusion. Why were people complaining so loudly?

First of all, there are several loose ends that the ending does not tie up. I won't detail these in case you haven't beat the game yet. There are characters you don't get an epilogue to. It is a rather abrupt climax and there isn't much explanation delivered to the player.

This is because they left the game open to be continued through DLC, and most likely to have more comics and books published, which likely tell the story from whatever ending Bioware deemed canonical. It's also difficult to a degree to get the best ending without using multiplayer or the iOS game Mass Effect: Infiltrator. This left a lot of fans who didn't have online service out in the cold.

It appears to be - more or less - a sales tactic. While the events leading up to the very end were indeed tense and deserving of praise, upon reaching the ending and then making the final choice, things become vague very quickly.

I hope this clarifies any confusion, or at least leads to other details being found by any of you, or even a revision of the above.

Now, I think it's time I go make some breakfast. It's been a long night saving the galaxy, and having hundreds of billions of lives resting on my shoulders makes me hungry. You guys take it easy, and remember, the sun may rise and set, but hope never wanes. Do a good deed today.

http://www.gamefront.com/mass-effect-3-ending-hatred-5-reasons-the-fans-are-right/2/

This sums it up nicely. Lots of spoilers here, so don't read it if you haven't played through it.

this is sadly a problem with the industry in general. dlc, patches, addons are all treated as entirely acceptible. Oddly, i was going to post an article i wrote on that, later today. When i get to a real comp. Its not mass effect, it's general industry. Ill link it here when it's up.

I'm VERY interested in that. Upon reading the linked article, however, I realized that my confusion at the end of the game was not baseless. The ending is a disaster. In all forms. In fact, I can't actually imagine why they allowed the game to ship with that...did they THINK it was a good ending? Read the linked article, it details a lot of the - excuse my terminology - bullshit.

I don't have a problem with the concept of DLC. I get that alot of people feel cheated by DLC because they don't think they're getting the entire game but think about it, many games in the past (and some still do, like The Sims and MMOs) would get expansion packs with more content. DLC is exactly the same thing but smaller packages which are easier and quicker to release.

On the other hand, some DLC is way overpriced. $15 for five multiplayer maps? That's quarter the price of a new game.

I have finished Mass Effect 3 and have mixed feelings about it. I think the kind of ending they were going for was a brave choice but I do think they could have done it better. A lot better.

Bioware announced yesterday they have a team listening to feedback and working on an improved ending to satisfy players who aren't happy. It was suggested this is being handled seperately from the other DLC they have planned so maybe they will release it as a free upgrade (that would be good) instead of making people pay for it (which in this case, is extremely bad form).

there are definite problems with dlc though. Patches, too, were cool but are overaccepted now. It's great that we can fix games. Its bad that unfinished and glitchy projects are pushed through, saying, well we can just patch it later. Well, screw us all who don't have good internet. Dlc being staple necessities to get a fulfilling experience is similar. a lot of the world actually doesnt have hispeed. People in areas where it's common, cheap, or can even be a service, forget there are places where your options are 100$ lag prone satellite or bust, unless you enjoy 28k dialup. Now xbox 720 is thinking of making people go online (and thus pay xbox live) to verify that all bought games are new, not preowned. So... Now i have to spend 60$/year minimum on xbox live, 65$ per game, and 100$ per month for internet, atop even buying a new system. Then i can look forward having to pay 7-20$ to actually finish the game thats already cost me over 1000$. No, thanks. The industry is getting far too comfortable with this.

and to clarify my numbers, the 1000~ was considering a 500-600$ system, a few extra controllers at 60$ minimum, a few starter games, whatever deminecessary gadgets are there, 60$ year gold membership, and a few months of net at 100$ a pop. Not thrilled to know that the product will be accepted if betaed poorly or worse, have to pay more to finish a story.

SORTA SPOILERS (obviously) and long post is long!

I personally like this Indoctrination Theory that has been rolling about lately. (Warnings: spoilers and some minor foul language.)
I plan on re-playing the ending this weekend (I chose the blue ending, though I did watch the red ending.) If Bioware is really, really doing this, than I agree that it is bloody brilliant. If they aren't, well that sucks, but I'm not terribly upset with the ending. It was somewhat disappointing but I am not ENRAGED. Neither am I upset with a DLC.

I seriously don't think it is cost prohibitive for companies to worry about people using dial-up or satellite. I think that it is considerably less of an issue, with any DLC's. For those that have a slower interenet connection I would assume they'd be used to going out and buying the games in physical form, I don't know if the DLC's are just.. that.. or if they have it available in physical form. Technology is always evolving, if majority of people still used dial up or if they used satellite I think it would be different.

Again, majority of gamers I would assume would have higher or better internet. Again, I am making a general assumption and trying to explain how I don't think a large game like Bioware or most gaming companies would be concerned with those who have very slow or restrictive internet. Keep in mind the numbers of those people, the need for constant updates, as well as needing an interenet connection as a form of security for these companies. This is getting a bit off topic so I'll try to pull it back to the original topic on hand instead of discussing slow internet and issues with DLCs.

I agree with Darth. Tons and tons of games have DLCs and not for free, mind you. Sims 3 is the worst in my opinion, their latest DLC is 40 bucks. They really reel in the cash from that (aha, and I still own majority of their addons/DLCs/expansions.) I think the bigger issue, with the From Ashes DLC was that it enraged people because it was released when the game was first released. This hasn't been the first time this has been done (I'll have to double check the other games that have done this.) And it'd only make sense to me that they'd charge for a different ending.

Maybe I'm just not angry or upset enough over the ending to make such a fuss about it. Stealing this quote from here. A lot of people have just unbelievably raged about the ending, and I find tons of those comments immature and just plain rude. Here is a quote regarding such responses from the co-founder.

Don't forget, Dylan; I work in game retail. My store is the only store for over sixty miles, and then they're spaced about equally until you start approaching the nearest big cities: two hours one direction, three hours another. And it's not like I live in the only big open area of limited access in america. It's just easier for people online to go, "Well, obviously, we're all on good connections and online, so everyone else must be." It's actually a huge misconception.

If everyone had good internet access, there wouldn't even be a massive effort at [The retailer I'm not allowed to talk about] to take call ins and verbal request orders and be able to ship from any [store] in the country for any item by any broadly recorded SKU, knowing just which [store]s have the items, how many, how far, their address and phone number at the click of a button. Why not? Because we can just tell people to go to [our website].com and have it mailed to them. It's not just rural america. It's broader than most people online actually recognize: the whole world doesn't have hi-speed internet.

Yes, some DLC is free. That's cool. But DLC should always be an addition, an expansion, not part of necessary game play. A game should never have a confusing ending tagged with "Buy our DLC!" as the only explanation. And furthermore, DLC is just that: Downloadable Content. Anything released as DLC is... downloaded, not on a physical copy, removing the potential for followup if you have an XBox and might just not even feel like paying XBox constantly to play your games. So "The end--except for our DLC to make it make sense, so it's not the end, download it" is actually really bad policy and crass business.

This was never an issue in Super Nintendo, or even as recent as PS2 era. Yeah, our games have gotten bigger stories, and a few have bigger worlds (though many have shrunk--what has happened to the Final Fantasy world, yikes!), but ultimately gameplay is often even shorter. So I'm paying more money, for a shorter game, because it looks better, and then paying more money to actually finish it or get an ending that's coherent? (unless people get mad enough, then suddenly they're making another free ending!--to download! It was an unsatisfactory product at purchase). This would NOT have flown years ago, the industry heads are getting way-bloated. Why are games allowed to push games through beta now, releasing a living nightmare bugpool, only to go "oh, well, we can fix it later"? Is that even good business, policy, or production? Now it's "Buy our DLC to figure out what just happened! Dun dun DUNNNN!"

Adding to XBox trying to shake people down for only new games, disallowing pre-owned simply for the idea of direct profit as per the head of Volition Game's forthright opinions (though infact, this will destroy almost any gaming store you know and personally attend, it breaks a sort of Cycle of 1Up), the stuff I just said above, and this general conception of "Oh, well, if it sucks and makes people mad or is broke as f{--} then we'll just fix it later." Seriously?

So soon here... I buy a new system, have to pay monthly to access the network even if I can afford good internet, am forced to pay the price of a new game every time I want to play something (it would actually even destroy the potential for rentals, except Microsoft is thinking of opening their own rental service that could make it work!), and after paying 65+, I have to worry that my game is going to be buggy or incomplete, and either have to wait for it to be playable past bugs, or even worse pay to download more content to actually complete the story. Meanwhile, enjoy either playing Roulette with any new game you buy and hope it's great, because you won't be able to sell it back anywhere to trade towards another game; that, or you can pay Microsoft even more money to use their rental system. Don't forget games wanting to charge you extra for online passes now, or premium features.

I frankly find it disgusting watching it from the inside. Microsoft might as well just put a straw in any gamer's bank account that gets a 720 if they don't decide to change their minds. And yes, it will negatively impact, because anyone who DOESN'T want to get sucked into this vicious cycle--barring those who just outright CAN'T--They won't get money from those people. They're going to alienate a fanbase they've forgotten, or cater only to the extremely well off and probably be able to even marginally raise prices again. Gaming shouldn't be an act of nobility. They'll have to, when the amount of systems drops, as do sales of new games because nobody can even trade in their old junk in exchange. I guess somebody never heard Mufasa talk about the circle of life. You see, Simba. When a game is no longer lively to you anymore, it sits and collects dirt. The game stores remove the dirt, and a gamer tries a cheap, affordable game; in exchange for the game, the original owner gets money, to trade towards new games. When the new games are no longer new, they too collect dirt, and can be traded for new game plus. And so we are all connected in the great circle of gaming. :o

...They're pretty much trying to shatter that equasion right now and see how hard we can be gouged. I just... yuck. It's one thing if a game was download only to begin with, start to finish, like NFL Blitz. Well, I never paid for the product, and it's not incomplete. It's cool if games can give free DLC as long as I don't need it to properly enjoy the main game; I still bought a complete product. It's... eh, when Sims released it's new dazzly looking expansion for 40$, but you know what? That's not DLC. That's expansion. There's a direct difference: Expansions, usually on PC games, almost invariably come with a physical copy of a disc; DLC is only available by download, and therein is the problem. Yeah, the new Sims is a price gouge, but the product was built ground up to be self-standing yet expandable, and you can always buy a physical copy of the disc to expand at your leisure. DLC is Downloadable Content, usually expansions but only available through download, be it on network points, credit card, or content codes.

I mean, I always have the option of waiting for the game of the year edition to come out with the major DLC, but then there's a few wildcards: Some game of the year editions even just give you a voucher with the DLC codes. If you're lucky and it's actually on the hard disc, I've either (a) had to wait to buy the game until it's obsolete in the active, fresh community and it's all old chiz, or (b) had to buy the game twice. And if the 720 goes on like it is, that's twice at full price, I can't even look for a pre-owned. And then I'll still have to pay for XBox live, so I can verify my games actively, or they won't play.

Um... ow? =/

But it's part of my job, so I'm unusually impassioned about it. I just know how it's going to effect gamers outside of the perceived mainstream.

Never played the games but I finally asked a friend what the deal was after a lot of people on my FB were freaking out yesterday lol Won't get into the whole DLC debate since this thread was started about Mass Effect. I thought those of you interested in this game might want to see the official response from bioware on the subject. I can understand why fans are upset, but I really think it's ridiculous that some fans are resorting to death threats over the ending of a game

http://blog.bioware.com/2012/03/21/4108/

It's easy to nickel and dime people with DLCs and Micro-transactions on games now a days. For example, League of Legends is a free game and so is Furcadia. But you can spend real life money on stuff that usually has little to no actual effect in the game itself in terms of giving you an advantage. It's the generation of 'I want I want' that seems willing to be able to pay small fees for cosmetic additions or extra side stories.

What's wrong with offering a game for free and making your money off cosmetic upgrades that have no real effect on gameplay? That, to me, sounds like an overwhelmingly generous, fair and trusting business model.

I just got the first mass effect game (Thanks Darth!), so I imagine by the time I know what you guys are talking about, we'll all be old and grey with grandchildren frolicking around our cyborg knees.

We chose the middle ending. At first, we all stared blankly at the credits as they began to roll, unsure of what we just watched and what it meant. Even now, a week later, we aren't sure. The game left me with this breathtaking sense of mystery and strangeness that I'm not sure I want to know. At first I was resentful at the exposition before the ending, and I can definitely see each and every point that the "5 points" link brings up. But.. that doesn't stop me from finding the ending somehow haunting and ineffably sad and strangely beautiful.

Kim, enjoy it thoroughly.

Oooh! Hope you enjoy it! I was a bit late on playing them as well, I don't think I started until November, though I had purchased the first two when they went on special on Steam! They are certainly worth it.

You're welcome!

Still waiting for them to get the face import bug fixed. Can't end the game before I even start. *taps foot*

I heard they've submitted a patch for the issue - it's just got to pass cert still, and my friend in the industry says that'll take no less than two weeks, sooooo.

What's a Mass Effect?

Throwing in my two cents here:

To me personally, I don't really mind that prices are going up, mostly because as long as I get the product at the end of the long money trek, I don't really care how much it is. I don't have the cash to buy many games, and even then I can always just borrow them from a friend or hijack them from an enemy - like Skyrim, for example - so to me a $10 price hike of games from the PSX/2 era isn't that big of a deal. I know part of that was simply switching over to HD-DVD and Blu-Ray discs. I imagine that some of it is price gouging, and that genuinely does put me off, but at the same time, if I actually get what I paid for, it doesn't bother me much - I got my copy of Game X, now the price is someone else's problem.

I'm not trying to say this in any angered tone or anything like that - I'm actually totally chilled out while I'm typing this - but price isn't that big of a deal for me, and I am poor. I have no money to my name. I don't have my own internet, I got an xbox 360 for free because I fixed it just last year, I only own two games for it, I don't own a hard drive or anything for it, and I have to have foodstamps for food or else I couldn't even eat. To be fair, I do think that the bigwigs up at the game companies are squeezing us for everything we've got; however, I don't think it's going to stop any time soon. Do I hate it? Well, [radio edit] yeah I do, but what can one guy from a backwater redneck town in the middle of the USA do about it? Unless there was a mass exodus from the gaming community, it's probably going to keep happening. I mean, part of it is just basic economics (Supply vs. Demand divided by Inflation) but that's always multiplied by human's desire for MOAR MONIES.

On the front of games being shipped out glitchy or buggy, there's no rrreeaaalll way around that, in my opinion. I'm not endorsing games being shipped out with OBVIOUS flaws, but a small team of developers can only do so much compared to Jim and all forty-two thousand of Jim's friends - sometimes you just need people to play the living [radio edit] out of a game to find its hidden flaws. ALL games have this issue - hell, even SNES and Genesis games were like this, albeit much, much smaller. I mean, it's one thing to have a game be glitchy in little certain parts of it - like a weapon not being as it's supposed to - or something small like that, but it's something completely different when it's missing something that's actually needed, like a line of code that someone forgot to add to give you a key item after defeating a mini-boss in Final Fantasy 67542312426576.

In conclusion, muffins.

You would be surprised what one person could do. People who became my right hand in slayers challenge thought the task was impossible at first. I refused to accept that. A year long war and boycott later, not only did we get the books in question that were mishandled published, but translators even came to our chats, talked to us. Some friendly, some begging us to stop sending mail. It can make a difference. One person who speaks up is louder than a million who are silent. People need to voice and take action against that which makes them discontent, if even peaceful boycott. Elsewise, it -will- continue to happen if we continue to accept it. I just recently made a new pro-activity and awareness facebook hub for matters like this, in fact. No flames, trolls... All quiet, peaceful organization, or simply getting people to say "i wont buy this product if it is handled like this." but... that's just my personality type.

Good counter-point is good.

Furthermore, I feel it is necessary to say: human kind has become too individually self absorbed: we both tote our self significance and, at the same time, decry what we are individually capable of. It always starts with one. Someone thought of dlc first, and others followed suit, and now it is out of hand (research how microsoft is considering making us buy games in "chapters" to boot). It is always a matter of making sure things don't get out of hand, and it's a duty of civilization--not just games but all fronts--to push back and reverse the overflow towards a good balance again. we need to remember that we advanced as a people who had goals, and will achieve nothing if we set our expectations at nothing.