Nor is it merely about "liking" the ending. For those players who liked the ending nothing is changed. In a game where each player sets their own course, providing alternative endings doesn't change everybody's experience to the same thing rather, new endings (plural) provide more unique conclusions to a story that was different for everybody. In the end, many fans believe they were given a product that did not live up to its promise. The Mass Effect trilogy asked players to make choices that would impact the outcome of the story. Games are interactive experiences, and Mass Effect 3 more interactive than most. This would mean that fans are actually pretty simpatico with the developer, making the whole thing a moot point (beyond being handled in the most disastrously stupid way imaginable.)Ĥ. BioWare may have been planning an alternative ending from the get-go if the indoctrination theory is true. In literature, perhaps the most famous change to an ending was made by Arthur Conan Doyle who killed off Sherlock Holmes in "The Final Problem" and later resurrected the surly detective in "The Adventure Of The Empty House.”Įven in games, endings have been changed via DLC, the most famous instance being the curious case of Fallout 3 in which the ending, having upset many fans, was " fixed" with the release of Bethesda's "Broken Steel" DLC.ģ. Does fan backlash to changes made to art threaten artistic integrity? If not, why does fan backlash to the original art constitute such a threat? In film we've seen all sorts of changes made, especially by George Lucas. The precedent has already been set, and not just in video games. Is this part of the artistic process? If so, why isn't post-release reaction to a game part of the artistic process? Simply stating that it isn't won't do. Prior to release, many films and games are screened by focus groups and testers and changes are made all the time based on the response people give. Corporate decisions already deeply influence artistic direction when it comes to commercial art like video games. Look, I know we've plowed this field before, but let's just go over a quick list of reasons why changing the ending (or, rather, providing alternative endings) would not set a dangerous precedent.ġ.
![mass effect 3 ending mass effect 3 ending](https://guides.gamepressure.com/masseffect3/gfx/word/474923203.jpg)
This may be a time of politically correct inclusion of all points of view, but sooner or later the cockheads of the world are just going to have to accept that there are people who know better than them.
Mass effect 3 ending series#
The series will effectively have no ending, just a big gap with the words "Audience: Fill In Your Preferred Ending Here". Because if it's established that the creators of a story can be pressured by constant browbeating by the audience, then the sanctity of the creator's original intention is made meaningless. I'm not as incensed about this concept as Moviebob has been on Twitter lately, but I can definitely say it's a bad idea. I've been given to understand that Bioware are talking about changing the ending under the massive pressure from the idiot fanbase, and I hope like hell they're just talking about doing something like that, an epilogue appendix style thing just to square away the subplots.īecause it would set a horrible precedent if they're serious about actually changing the ending in line with some kind of democratically agreed upon alternative, rather than merely expanding or adding to it. Perhaps some epilogue where we get to see what all the characters we met along the way got up to after the events of the series, which I imagine would be easier if they hadn't pretty much all been killed off. Rather, they wanted some kind of appropriate closure for the many-storied and I would argue unnecessarily lengthy process up to this point.
![mass effect 3 ending mass effect 3 ending](https://news-cdn.softpedia.com/images/news2/Weekend-Reading-Clarity-Is-Just-What-Mass-Effect-3-s-Ending-Needs-2.jpg)
Alternatively Shepard could save everyone from the Reapers and the universe would immediately descend into the very apocalyptic infighting the Reapers were created to stop.īut I doubt the fanbase of Mass Effect were dismayed because they wanted an appropriate ending to the story.
![mass effect 3 ending mass effect 3 ending](https://www.denofgeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Mass-Effect-Dark-Energy.jpg)
![mass effect 3 ending mass effect 3 ending](https://people.southwestern.edu/~bednarb/su_netWorks/projects/malone/ME3Endings.jpg)
It would show that even Commander Shepard, a man with all the resources available to anyone in the universe, the greatest technology, the greatest minds and the greatest navies at his side, is powerless to overcome the inevitability of entropy. In fact, it would make even more sense if everyone had just gotten wiped the fuck out and the cycle is shown to start again. Taking this as the series' theme, the ending of ME3 makes sense.