Mass Effect. What an absolutely amazing trilogy. It transcends what video games have always been and raises the bar for what they can become. With something this amazing, however, there are bound to be some who are unhappy (or they’re just dicks with nothing better to complain about).
Most people who have played (or are still playing) Mass Effect 3 seem to be disappointed with the game. Everyone seems to have at least one “They did this better in Mass Effect (or Mass Effect 2)” gripe. It took some time to wrap my head around why everyone seemed so disappointed with what may be the most epic game I’ve ever played.
I think it comes down to expectations.
BioWare made two games of such astronomical quality that people seemed to expect the second coming of Jesus with the third. Has the style of games shifted as they’ve progressed? Absolutely. Is that a bad thing? I don’t think so. Look at the how the story has evolved within the series. In the first one, we get introduced to some of the core characters that have a relatively (compared to the scale of the second and third game) small enemy and therefore somewhat of a small climax in comparison.
In the second game, we find out that there is a new threat that is trying to wipe out all organic life in the galaxy. With an ever-expanding plot and (for lack of a better term) level of sheer epicness, the gameplay had to change. We saw less of the RPG elements and more of an action element, even though BioWare hadn’t fully ironed out the combat.
With Mass Effect 3, everything has come to a head. Earth is being destroyed, and all life is threatened to extinction. Shepard and crew are desperate and again, we expand, leaning more toward action and story than ever before.
People seem very unhappy with the evolution, and their voices are everywhere on the Internet. It blew me away to read how angry people were getting over the fact that not as many choices from the previous games changed huge plot points in the third. Maybe this is just me, but to see any choices have any impact after two games is absolutely stunning.
There was no way BioWare could have even come close to most of the expectations out there. Instead of everyone marveling over what has been accomplished, people expect, nay, demand more. BRB community, what do you think of this? Were expectations unreasonably high, or has BioWare gotten complacent throughout the series?
Tags: BioWare, EA, Electronic Arts, Mass Effect 3
11 Posts in Total
I loved it, the end was fine. People need to calm the f*** down.
It is down to expectations. Hence why I have gripes with endings to things I really enjoy. We always envision things ending differently.
Although, I have to say it is also due to the jump. The jump from ME1 to 2 was huge. With 3, not as much. Hence why there might be more praise with 2 than 3. This kind of happened with Uncharted, the jump to 2 was massive that 3 wasn’t as impressive.
Completely agree!
I finished the game last night, personally didn’t get along too much with the ending, still making my mind up on what I think. What I do love though is the squad mates and the dialogue. Any writer that can make me care as much about a cluster of pixels as Bioware made me care about the squaddies in ME deserves only the highest of praise.
Personally this is probably one of, if not my favourite series of all time and it’s probably the only one that feels this coherent playing through all the games. Well done Bioware, you did it.
I just finished the game last night as well. I honestly am not sure how I feel about the ending. I wasn’t let down per say, but I wasn’t incredibly impressed either. I feel like I need to start another playthrough and see how that changes my perception. And despite all the work I put in (27 ish hours), I felt like the ending came to quickly. I did my best to check for side missions, I chatted frequently with my crew, scanned planets/other solar systems, but I was still only at 50% overall readiness. I think my problem was going from an RPG like Skyrim where 40 hours is almost laughable, to Mass Effect really messed up my perception of time. Or maybe I missed some ridiculous amount of side missions. I’ve been under the impression that without completing the Multiplayer, then I could never be at 100% readiness. Am I correct in that assumption?
I believe the MP has a direct effect on the readiness, yes.
That kind of bothers me personally. I as a general rule don’t touch MP until I finish single player. I heard it might affect things, but only being able to be at 50% readiness bugs me. I was under the impression that it would affect things, but only slightly. Something I will be considering when I start my next playthrough I suppose. Have to see if things turns out differently if I invest a good chunk of time in the MP as well my campaign.
Your readiness only effects the speed at which the green bar fills up. If you have a higher readiness then you need to do less of the side stuff to acquire war assets. If the green bar was filled up all the way then you got as much out of it as you were going to get.
I think people wanted some kind of closure on the characters’ stories… the stories which they have invested hundreds of hours in… What happened with Tali and the Geth? Where is Miranda? What did Garrus and Liara, etc end up becoming later on… It just felt abrupt, which is a shame because we all love these characters and the relationships we have built over the game’s arc.
I think this is the feeling of “disappointment”. It’s a quality franchise none the less. The ending was empty, I didn’t feel anything.
I don’t really see too many people complaining about the lack of impact of your decisions. They are there, but the brunt of the anger is directed at the ending, which was terrible. I’m not angry at Bioware, just very disappointed in the way the end was handled. I don’t need all of my choices to be reflected in the way the game ends, but I would have liked to have one that wasn’t so contrived and out of place.
Allowing people to take their Shepard from game to game has built up a strong emotional attachment. It is only natural that people are going to react with strong emotions when the game cocks up the way it did at the end.
I got the synthesis ending and I had built myself up to be incredibly disappointed but it wasn’t too bad. I did enjoy the game and while the kid thing was incredibly stupid I thought it was ok. The harshest sting of the ending is that this game could have been GAME OF THE YEAR ALL YEARS if done right.
ME2s ending had all your choices from purchasing ship armour to gaining a biotics loyalty directly affect it. I think people were kind of hoping for a whole explosive conclusion such as fighting in the frontlines with krogans, doing recon mission with turians, having the rachni back you up in battle along with the geth and everyone else you have worked so hard to bring together The potential for greatness was there but Bioware dropped the ball, which is becoming a cliché with Bioware post jade empire.