An appeal to anyone who finished the original trilogy (spoilers within)

[PhyrxianLibrarin]

Don't complain about the ending, and don't tell new players that the ending is bad or disappointing.

 

There's an entire generation of gamers out there who weren't playing 10 years ago, or missed out on all the hype, and are just now getting into the series. And some number of them are going to say "yeah, but I heard the ending was bad", and miss out on what is still one of the best accomplishments in video game storytelling ever. Now that the DLC is fully integrated and the endings are more fleshed out, let's let the next batch of Shepards decide for themselves without pre-ruining it for them.

 

I'm Commander Shepard, and this is my favorite post on the Internet.

Edited May 14, 2021 by PhyrxianLibrarin

[Raidou Kuzunoha XIV]

It always annoys me when people assume everyone has played X game because it's a "classic" and/or "old" or whatever. One of the "big events" in FF7 was spoiled for me nearly a decade before I ever played it, thanks to people assuming it was just common knowledge. Wasn't even seeking out info on the game or anything, it was just mentioned in passing in a general convo about games.

 

There'll always be people new to a game, regardless whether or not it's 2 years old, or 2 decades, and I'm sure many people would like to experience a new game as fresh/blind as possible, especially if plot twists or other revelations are an integral part of the game/story.

 

That being said, now people that were unaware of the controversy over the ending may now click on this topic and be spoiled. Double edged sword?

[Conor]

Yup. As someone who did think the original ending was pretty poor and that the epilogue DLC only really made it marginally better, I still enjoyed the journey far too much to let the last few minutes diminish an amazing journey. It is worthwhile.

Edited May 18, 2021 by Stan Lee

[PhyrxianLibrarin]

@SuperSmexy500 Good point, updated to make it clear this will be a spoiler zone. And yes, it kind of is a double-edged sword. The loop of "critique a thing, then critique the critiques" never really ends, and it's inevitable that some new players will learn that people didn't like the ending when ME3 first came out. But I think that's a very different message than "the ending is bad, therefore, you shouldn't bother with any of it". Especially on this forum, where a lot of people don't want to start a game they won't play to 100% completion.

 

Was the ending disappointing? Probably to a lot of people. Was it Game of Thrones-level bad, where it was so bad it retroactively ruined the entire thing? No way, and I'd hate for people to think it was and avoid it for that reason.

[InfinityOnH1gh]

Wait, Game of Thrones had a bad ending? I'm not watching it then.

[AJ_Radio]

41 minutes ago, PhyrxianLibrarin said:

Don't complain about the ending, and don't tell new players that the ending is bad or disappointing.

 

There's an entire generation of gamers out there who weren't playing 10 years ago, or missed out on all the hype, and are just now getting into the series. And some number of them are going to say "yeah, but I heard the ending was bad", and miss out on what is still one of the best accomplishments in video game storytelling ever. Now that the DLC is fully integrated and the endings are more fleshed out, let's let the next batch of Shepards decide for themselves without pre-ruining it for them.

 

I'm Commander Shepard, and this is my favorite post on the Internet.

 

The younger generation, most likely. They were too young to be playing when Mass Effect 3 came out in 2012. This is 2021, so obviously, they have officially reached adulthood.

 

23 minutes ago, SuperSmexy500 said:

It always annoys me when people assume everyone has played X game because it's a "classic" and/or "old" or whatever. One of the "big events" in FF7 was spoiled for me nearly a decade before I ever played it, thanks to people assuming it was just common knowledge. Wasn't even seeking out info on the game or anything, it was just mentioned in passing in a general convo about games.

 

There'll always be people new to a game, regardless whether or not it's 2 years old, or 2 decades, and I'm sure many people would like to experience a new game as fresh/blind as possible, especially if plot twists or other revelations are an integral part of the game/story.

 

That being said, now people that were unaware of the controversy over the ending may now click on this topic and be spoiled. Double edged sword?

 

I still think the Mass Effect 3 ending was completely botched up due to EA. I still hold them responsible for turning Dead Space from a survival horror to a rather generic co-op shooter, leaving much of the suspense and horror the first two games had.

 

Yes, there will always be people new. But I also think if people managed to avoid the controversy in either Mass Effect 3 or Dead Space 3 for nearly an entire decade, I give them massive props.

 

If these are kids getting into the games, I fully understand. But most of us here are in our late 20s to early 40s, who have a fair amount of disposable income to have probably been playing these games already back in the day. Again if the off chance is you just never got around to the games, then yes, I'd probably suggest avoiding most topics in general until you've done a blind playthrough.

 

Personally I just avoid the forums altogether if I was concerned about playing the Mass Effect games completely blind. But since I already played them on the Xbox 360 and know how they turned out, I'm not spoiled by anything mentioned in these threads.

[MarcusPunisher]

It's not uncommon to say that bad endings can ruin an entire series for some. Just take a look at Game of Thrones, Dexter, or Lost. When a series is build to a finally that is suppose to reward the viewers/players, it needs to be delivered, otherwise, you have Mass Effect 3 ending. It's not even the ending, the whole ME 3 is just badly written with established characters acting way out and how the story doesn't follow up on some plot points from previous games.

That being said, I would definitely recommend newcomers to experience ME 1 and even 2, as they both have their value. Then they have to make a decision if they are ok not knowing what's gonna happen next or if they want to experience the most disappointing ending in the history of gaming. 

[Patrin18]

I'd love to be able to experience this trilogy fresh. Its so good! Whatever about endings, it's an amazing journey.

[iGGTheEnd]

49 minutes ago, InfinityOnH1gh said:

Wait, Game of Thrones had a bad ending? I'm not watching it then.

Its worth watching all the seasons except the last one. The Directors just gave up on the last one.

[Darling Baphomet]

Eh, I think people have every right to complain about the ending. It's still massively disappointing compared to the rest of the trilogy. Some complaints were silly, sure, but revived interest in the game will mean revived disappointment with the endings.

 

That being said, any serious fan will still have mostly positive things to say about the series regardless.

 

40 minutes ago, AJ_Radio said:

The younger generation, most likely. They were too young to be playing when Mass Effect 3 came out in 2012. This is 2021, so obviously, they have officially reached adulthood.

 

Speak for yourself; I was playing ME3 at 13 and I loved every second of it.

[Infected Elite]

11 minutes ago, iGGTheEnd said:

Its worth watching all the seasons except the last one. The Directors just gave up on the last one.

#TeamDany

 

stupid Jon. All the events in the final season could have been done and made into 2 seasons easily. Instead we got a rushed 6 episodes(or was it 7?). It shows too.

 

Now people have hope that that fat bastard GRRM is gonna finish his books. I bet a friend $100 GRRM dies before the next book is released lol.

[AJ_Radio]

33 minutes ago, MarcusPunisher said:

It's not uncommon to say that bad endings can ruin an entire series for some. Just take a look at Game of Thrones, Dexter, or Lost. When a series is build to a finally that is suppose to reward the viewers/players, it needs to be delivered, otherwise, you have Mass Effect 3 ending. It's not even the ending, the whole ME 3 is just badly written with established characters acting way out and how the story doesn't follow up on some plot points from previous games.

That being said, I would definitely recommend newcomers to experience ME 1 and even 2, as they both have their value. Then they have to make a decision if they are ok not knowing what's gonna happen next or if they want to experience the most disappointing ending in the history of gaming. 

 

All three shows had bad endings. Look at the ending for The Sopranos. Tony Soprano and the others should of been shot and killed, instead we got a completely disappointing ending.

 

It was if an entirely different team was in charge of Mass Effect 3 which resulting in several characters changing, including Sheppard. There's a lot that rubbed me the wrong way.

[Undead Wolf]

The ending is just as terrible as it was back then, so the feelings people had in 2012 are just as valid as those experiencing the trilogy for the first time in 2021. Returning players should absolutely be free to express their opinion on it. I think it's silly to tell them to shut up just because it *could* deter a new player from experiencing what is otherwise a great trilogy. If they feel that a bad ending would ruin the whole experience for them, it's their decision not to play it. Better they go in knowing not to expect too much I'd say.

[BrandedBerserk]

1 hour ago, iGGTheEnd said:

Its worth watching all the seasons except the last one. The Directors just gave up on the last one.

 

Don't think they gave up but just tried to

cram 2 seasons worth into 6 episodes.

 

Unpopular opinion but the ending to mass effect 3 wasn't even bad and it's a damn excellent game regardless of wether you liked the ending or not. 

Edited May 15, 2021 by BrandedBerserk

[Raidou Kuzunoha XIV]

2 hours ago, AJ_Radio said:

I still think the Mass Effect 3 ending was completely botched up due to EA. I still hold them responsible for turning Dead Space from a survival horror to a rather generic co-op shooter, leaving much of the suspense and horror the first two games had.

 

Yes, there will always be people new. But I also think if people managed to avoid the controversy in either Mass Effect 3 or Dead Space 3 for nearly an entire decade, I give them massive props.

 

If these are kids getting into the games, I fully understand. But most of us here are in our late 20s to early 40s, who have a fair amount of disposable income to have probably been playing these games already back in the day. Again if the off chance is you just never got around to the games, then yes, I'd probably suggest avoiding most topics in general until you've done a blind playthrough.

 

Personally I just avoid the forums altogether if I was concerned about playing the Mass Effect games completely blind. But since I already played them on the Xbox 360 and know how they turned out, I'm not spoiled by anything mentioned in these threads.

 

Depends, there's some people that seem to manage to tune out pretty much everything when it comes to this sort of thing. Either because they actively avoid gaming news/controversy, they weren't big into games back then, or they have some special 6th sense of just avoiding all the controversy while still keeping up to date on gaming news. There aren't too many sites left any more that don't seem to inject opinion pieces or "PSAs" into the "news" section sadly, pretty much the only one I can really think of is Gematsu and even that isn't perfect. I already know there's issues with Returnal, even though I had no intention of looking into that game any time soon since I don't plan to get it for another few years when I eventually get a PS5. Even if I had a PS5, no way in hell am I paying £70 for a game I'm only mildly interested in.

 

To be fair, I'm fine with "PSAs" when it pertains to game breaking bugs or other issues, it's always better to know about those things in advance so you know how to avoid them (or just not play the game until they're potentially fixed). But I've seen a fair few over the years that seem to just mention a game having something controversial in it, rather than technical issues.

 

Anyway, I digress. I agree that people probably shouldn't be looking at forums specific to certain games if they want to avoid spoilers, I've actively avoided gamefaqs boards and what not until I've completed certain games before. But sometimes, when I'm unsure about something in a game, or get stuck, I need to consult Google, which often brings me to a forum where I do occasionally get inadvertently spoiled on something when I was just trying to seek out a simple answer to something specific in a game. Can't do much to stop people spoiling stuff, sometimes people do it without even really thinking or realising it's spoilery. Sucks, but unless you completely unplug yourself from the internet until you complete a certain game, there's always going to be a chance to get spoiled on something. I'd just say it's good practice to try not to spoil things for others, but obviously not everyone is going to care about that.

Edited May 15, 2021 by SuperSmexy500

[Valyrious]

In a thread filled with people discussing (and bitching) about the ending, not one person mentioned the indoctrination theory. Which is not canon, but is definitely canon in my head and none of you naysayers will ever be able to convince me otherwise.

[hsn963]

42 minutes ago, Valyrious said:

not one person mentioned the indoctrination theory.

 

Please explain, never heard of it.

 

btw, did not find the ending to ME3 to be bad, my only take on ME3's plot was the reapers motive. 

[Cleggworth]

6 hours ago, AJ_Radio said:

 

All three shows had bad endings. Look at the ending for The Sopranos. Tony Soprano and the others should of been shot and killed, instead we got a completely disappointing ending.

 

The ending of the Sopranos was perfect in my eyes actually.

 

Now people have come out with theories constantly about some dude walking around and the door opening 3 times blah blah blah truth is we don't know what happens. He's dead or he isn't and in Tonys case I suspect he doesn't know which is worse. So I kinda liked that it was kept in this permanent limbo because that's how it was for him at the end anyway. The song ending where it did just cemented this idea of his limbo never stopping for me 

 

On topic, this release is the first game that's made me feel old. Like....Real old. It feels like yesterday I played this for the first time and then I saw a tweet I think it was where some gaming "journo" was losing his mind that Seth Green was in it. Ummm yeah his voice is pretty distinctive how could you not realise.... then it dawned on me yeah this dude probably hasn't played it.... he'd have been 5-6 years old when it first came out ?

 

The ending was meh but it didn't spoil it for me. Hundreds of hours on it and its like the last couple of minutes ?‍♂️ the real end for me was the citadel DLC. That was hilarious and sad all at the same time. 

 

Let the kids play it, we can tell them they are wrong after ?

[AJ_Radio]

13 minutes ago, Cleggworth said:

On topic, this release is the first game that's made me feel old. Like....Real old. It feels like yesterday I played this for the first time and then I saw a tweet I think it was where some gaming "journo" was losing his mind that Seth Green was in it. Ummm yeah his voice is pretty distinctive how could you not realise.... then it dawned on me yeah this dude probably hasn't played it.... he'd have been 5-6 years old when it first came out

 

The ending was meh but it didn't spoil it for me. Hundreds of hours on it and its like the last couple of minutes ?‍♂️ the real end for me was the citadel DLC. That was hilarious and sad all at the same time. 

 

Let the kids play it, we can tell them they are wrong after ?

 

Mass Effect came out well over a decade ago in the late 2000s. So obviously it's not new or even all that relevant anymore. It'll never have the same level of popularity that it once did.

 

I'm beginning to see a lot of people nowadays say stuff like "Back in the day when I played Bioshock", knowing that the game came out back in 2007. So obviously, much has changed since then.

 

Usually can't stand the kids, but it's whatever. As long as they don't bother me I'm fine.

[BGriff1986]

Doesn’t creating a thread asking people to refrain from complaining about the ending just serve to highlight that the ending was infamously complained about...?

 

Also, don’t know what y’all are talking about when you say that Game of Thrones ended. It ain’t over til books 6 and 7 are over!

[Beware_Of_Bob]

27 minutes ago, BGriff1986 said:

Doesn’t creating a thread asking people to refrain from complaining about the ending just serve to highlight that the ending was infamously complained about...?

 

Also, don’t know what y’all are talking about when you say that Game of Thrones ended. It ain’t over til books 6 and 7 are over!

 

I thought only ME Andromeda was bad. So ironically OP ruined the trilogy for me.

[BGriff1986]

3 minutes ago, Beware_Of_Bob said:

 

I thought only ME Andromeda was bad. So ironically OP ruined the trilogy for me.

I mean, you’re not wrong in thinking that... ?

[TrophyClipsYT]

10 hours ago, PhyrxianLibrarin said:

Don't complain about the ending, and don't tell new players that the ending is bad or disappointing.

 

You literally just told them that it is bad by telling us not to lol.

[Valyrious]

12 hours ago, hsn963 said:

 

Please explain, never heard of it.

 

btw, did not find the ending to ME3 to be bad, my only take on ME3's plot was the reapers motive. 

The Indoctrination Theory is really long. It can be summarized, but for absolute FULL context and understanding, you should watch the entire thing.

ONLY WATCH IF YOU FINISHED THE SERIES. Newbies stay away until you finish Mass Effect 3. Then watch and pretend it's canon, and suddenly you will like ME3's ending.
In short, it's a better ending than what BioWare came up with. It's genius.
 

 

[TheKirbs]

30 minutes ago, Valyrious said:

The Indoctrination Theory is really long. It can be summarized, but for absolute FULL context and understanding, you should watch the entire thing.

ONLY WATCH IF YOU FINISHED THE SERIES. Newbies stay away until you finish Mass Effect 3. Then watch and pretend it's canon, and suddenly you will like ME3's ending.
In short, it's a better ending than what BioWare came up with. It's genius.
 

 

It's a ridiculous theory that makes the entire game pointless built out of pure spite by the a chain of internet posters playing whispers with complaints.

 

It's only not the worst theory about a 'better ending for Mass Effect 3' because the sheer lobotomy of the Dark Matter Theory exists.