Mass Effect 3′s lead writer still thinks only a “vocal minority” was upset over the game’s ending

Even though fans are still upset months later over the ending of Mass Effect’s initial trilogy, Mac Walters still seems to be under the impression that it was only a vocal minority that was upset with Mass Effect 3′s controversial ending.

[majiebeast]

Aw here it goes!

http://24.media.tumblr.com/...

[Godmars290]

That's the frustrating thing about "talking with your wallet": If you just don't buy a game because you have an issue with it, they stop making that game. But if it sold well in the first place and then people complain about it, the dev can ignore them publicly if not actually. Might fix them later with the next installment, but knows more than likely most will buy it on faith.

[Root]

I think this is something people don't get when someone judges a game before they play the game....despite seeing all the interviews, gameplay videos, trailers, screenshots etc

If you buy a game when you know it's going to be crap deep down or average then you've just given your money to a developer...it won't matter what you think after you've bought it because you've already given them something

[abradley]

Though I agree with you both, ME3 was a pretty good game until the ending. If you have no interest in a game, fine, don't buy it. But all those people who do enjoy it but find flaws that could be fixed did the right thing. They supported the game by buying it and then vocally complained when it wasn't up to par.

Not buying a game does nothing to a company unless a significant amount of people don't do so. However, a public opinion of a company is something that us as gamers can effect and as we saw with EA and Sim City, ME3, things get a little more attention when the paying fans are riled.

[pat_11_5]

I think the ending was just alright. It didn't really stand up to the rest of the series though unfortunately.

[krazykombatant]

So the ending was sh*t in all essence... If you were one of those like me who put hundreds of hours into the first 2 games only to be shat upon by that ending, i'm not talking about the powerpoint slide they did in the end i'm talking about the very first one with all the colours, it was b.s and lazy. I'm not buying another BioWare product if i can help it.

[Darth Stewie]

Mass Effect is my 2nd favorite franchise this gen but the ending for 3 was a letdown.

[MacDonagh]

It's not as if he's ever going to admit that the ending itself was a complete mess.

Nobody ever slates their own work if it sells; even if it only sold because of the two previous games. Also, the DLC looked like they were ripped from the game and packaged for DLC.

[JeromeNtheHouse]

Yep, the DLC pretty much was ripped from the game. The Omega DLC was originally suppose to be in the game anyway, but due to "time constraints" they had to remove it.

That's what happens when u let a piece of shit company like EA get their hands in things.

Classic EA formula: Dumb the game down to appeal to the masses (i.e. turn an rpg into a 3rd person Action shooter),Spend lots of money on advertising and gimmicks to create demand, then rush the developement of the game to meet that demand.

As a result, you get a rushed and incomplete game.

[Aloren]

ME3 was still a better RPG than ME2.

[FrightfulActions]

LOL. Whatever helps him feel better, I guess.

That starbrat crap was complete garbage. Granted, a lot of the story was iffy from the start, but that ending took the crapcake.

[BigBoss1964]

F**king incredible, over a year later and he still doesn't get it

[SSJBen]

IF, the extended ending was part of the game in the first place and IF the Citadel DLC was a part of the game as well, they wouldn't have been in the mess that they had.

Was on a road to creating such an epic sci-fi legacy, just to end it with a sour taste eventhough many chew through it.

Mass Effect 3 a bad game? No.
But definitely not the game it was hyped as, promised as, and wanted to be as.

[mahmoods26]

Mass Effect 3 wasn't a bad game and it wasn't a bad ending. That's not what the fans complained about. In any other game they wouldn't have cared.

They complained because the ending was underwhelming and phoned in. There are videos on youtube that show the endings were identical. There was a huge indoctrination movement. People hated it.

You don't deserve this award. It should be given to Thomas was alone or To the moon or several other titles that gave a better ending.

Even the Witcher 2 with its boxed in endings was better written than Mass Effect 3. Take your award and shove it up your ass, true writers take criticisms to heart and work harder.

[kneon]

The endings were pretty much the same in the previous games as well but for some reason people thought that suddenly their decisions mattered when that wasn't the case in the other games.

When you plan on making a series of games then player choice can only have minimal impact on the story line. If there truly were multiple distinct endings in each game then the sequel would essentially consist of multiple different games with divergent story lines.

[Tei777]

I'd say only a vocal minority treated it like a crime and demanded it be redone.

The rest of us were just disappointed.

[aLucidMind]

That's more accurate. The majority didn't like the ending, a fraction of that acted like it was a crime. I'm sure all of us can agree, however, that the way BioWare handled this was childish, unprofessional, and completely spiteful towards anyone who didn't like their vision. They only wanted constructive criticism from those who liked it, while trying to shut up as many people who didn't regardless of how maturely they were voicing their opinion.

[krazykombatant]

This is why I won't buy anything from bioware anymore, self entitled bullshit. WAKE UP YOUR GAME WAS UTTER RUBBISH!! We all demanded a change in it you gave us a powerpoint presentation. LOL Never again.

[MilkMan]

Agreed!
Turned into the biggest whine-fest ever.
and sent the absolute wrong message to the gamers.
that somehow they are entitled to demand changes on properties that are not theirs.
Did anyone demand a change from the ending of the Matrix? NOPE.
Why? cause its not their place to do so. You walk away from that with what you will. You don't demand anything from the studios cause they will laugh in your face.

Either see it or don't.

Same thing here. You either liked the ending or you didn't, but you don't demand anything.
Same goes for the color of Dante's hair.
or the modernization of Castlevania.

(It's a joke how much "gamers" want new gen and next-tech but only play rogue-like games and stupid retro games and 2D games.
Get your head straight people.
Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo didn't create these consoles to play Atari 2600 games)

In any case the short answer is again. This was a tremendous bitch-fest.

[listenkids]

A shame you'll get down voted by the sheep who think they have an opinion not moulded by bullshit.

[aLucidMind]

I'd rather be a complaining sheep in your eyes than an bigoted jackass in everyone else's.

[LeoDDestroyer]

People complain about thing that are bad all the time, what would make a game so special that you couldn't do the same. If someone feels they did not get their money worth or get what they would told would not happen how could they not be upset.

[Aloren]

And people do complain about games all the time. But the real question is what would make a game so special that people would feel the need to keep complaining about it 15 months later ?

Gamers on message boards are just whiners most of the time anyway, it still cracks me up to see people talk about RE5, FFXIII...as if everyone hated these games.

It's even comical sometimes... like people bashing DMC all the time cause it's not like before blabla... It's probably the same people who, back when DMC4 was announced also on 360, complained that the game would be dumbed down cause the 360 couldn't handle the uber awesome version the PS3 was meant to get.

ME3 sold about 5 millions accross all platform, I bet the next one will sell just as much in spite all the "never again".

[skyrimer]

Nobody changed the ending of the Matrix because basically all the third movie was a piece of sh*t, they would have needed to do it all over again.

[baldulf]

Many try to minimize ME3's failure by saying only the ending was not up to the rest. I dont think thats correct since the whole plot of the game was bad, not just the ending.

Yes, we have cool moments with Garrus and Tuchanka's events were good but beyond that the storyline was nothing but a bad joke.

[Aloren]

Calling ME3 is failure just doesn't make sense to me, but to each his own I guess. The story was far better than in ME2 imo.

[listenkids]

Tens of thousands complained, millions bought the game. The title is fact, your opinion doesn't matter, ranting on a shit website.

[Count]

Well, how many people are vocal at all. I think there was a substantial amount of people upset with the games ending and also with the game itself.

BioWare has been taking a slump with Mass Effect 3 and also with Dragon Age 2. I loved their games. I've played most of them. But jesus shit, I hope they shift direction soon.

[SageHonor]

The entire story was bad to be honest. ( Character derailment, inconsistencies, contrivances, etc ) i was already facepalming before I got to the ending.

[JeepGamer]

Somebody doesn't understand how it works.

It is almost never the case that a 'small vocal minority' is what you hear but rather for every person who spoke out about how unhappy they were, there were ten more than just didn't bother.

[Lucreto]

I have rationalised the ending after going back to the pre-release articles and how we all misinterpreted what Bioware said about the game.

[LAWSON72]

Stop acting like you tried bioware. It was done terribly and makes no sense.

[patsrule316]

I can only speak for myself. I was awarethat people were upset about the endinging (but didn't know any of the specifics or reasons), and loved the first tw MEs, but didn't get around to playing ME3 until this year. I only played it with the extended ending, and when it ended, I thought it was ok. Certainly not great, but I didn't feelangry or that it was bad....just kind of ok. Maybe I would have been angry about the ending had I played it without the extended cut, I don't know. But I really liked the game overall, and didn't walk away upset when it was over. Plus I only paid 10 dollars for ME3 (New with online pass, plus I got a discount on the prothean DLC), and I thought the game was worth well more than I paid. I don't discount other people's opinions, but for me, I was happy, even with an ending that was just ok.

[fossilfern]

Do they not understand that the ending was not the ONLY problem? The whole game was a watered down mess and a poor mans Gears of War! The series started off so well with ME1 but went strait into a black hole after that.

[papadawg65]

the ending was bad. Me4 will suffer from the ending. I don't want a game like dragon age 2 were I play someone different at the same time. I know how it ends whats the use.

[skyrimer]

The problem with the ending is not the ending itself, it's a brilliant endingn many ways, however for me it's that choices didn't matter on ME3, whatever you do, no matter how well you did things, you still get to the same point in the end, with only very minor differences depending on what you did.

This is also my only gripe with Bioshock Infinite, it's a brilliant game with a mindblowing ending, but games are choice and interaction, and those two games only told a story and didn't do much to make your decisions be part of it.

[Lucreto]

Well somethings you don't have a choice in. You can be the kindest person in the world or the most evil all based on your choices but all that doesn't matter if a meteor destroys the planet.

That ending it meant to be a pivitol moment in human history and it was up to shepard to make a final decision.

[skyrimer]

yeah, but this is gaming, not real life, in gaming choices should matter, what I mean is

*huge spoiler coming beware*

At the end, if you managed to unite all the species fleets together, and it can be done, you should have been able to defeat the Reapers directly, instead no matter you get the whole universe at your side, you would still had to choose one of the color endings.

[jut420]

no one can ever admit they're wrong anymore...smdh

[phantomexe]

I didn't care for the ending much but hes right.Minority scream the loudest and like i've said many times before N4g isn't the majority. All said tho the ME series was one of the greatest and i can't wait to play the next one.

[GodsPerfectK7ng]

The mass effect series was epic and mass effect 3 was a Great game with a phenomenal ending. Some people have too much NEGATIVE energy for their own good, I believe. the truth be told!!!!

[MegaSackman]

I'm upset abour the ending, it's really bad.

But i never complained, the game is fantastic regardless of the ending.

[PooEgg]

Was it as he says and only the 'vocal minority' was upset, or is it that 'only' the vocal minority cared enough about ME3 & BioWare to complain. Perhaps those players felt upset, but didn't bother to complain.

There is no real way of knowing since those people are not talking, and I think it is sort of disrespectful for this guy to spin things the way that makes him look good.

That being said, I don't hate ME3, I have replayed it enough to feel that it was worth what I paid for it, but I would be lying if I said that I didn't feel the ending was a disservice to fans. The Citadel DLC wraps up the game in a much more satisfying way then the actual ending, and really that is just sad.

[AlexTheAlex]

aha yes, cheese

[HonestDragon]

A vocal minority? Oh yeah, those hundreds upon hundreds of consumers who bought Mass Effect 3 and got disappointed went and started campaigns, made thorough videos detailing what was wrong with the ending, and had numerous people call out their controversial business tactics. That's his definition of minority?

You would think that after a whole year after the game's release that Walters would figure out that the ending he and Casey Hudson initially wrote was utterly lazy, broke the foundation of established plot devices, and left no closure whatsoever. He is being delusional if he honestly thinks that Mass Effect 3 didn't leave a sour taste for many gamers. Nearly everyone I talked to about it were disappointed by the ending and how poorly done the RPG elements and roster number were. It doesn't take anything away from the rest of the game which was amazing, but the negative aspects of it really stood out.