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Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Mass Effect 3

I know I have been quiet for a time. I've been caught up in gaming ,and chatting with friends and dealing with day to day life and it seems writing has taken a bit of a backseat. I'm not giving up on this blog, I'm taking a slight sabbatical. Writing is still important to me and I still have so much I want to say and share. I know that a lot more people started reading this blog in the past few months and I thank you and apologize for it slowly flatlining. I will get it back in line, I'm thinking (fingers crossed) that I'll be able to dedicate some time to this place once the kids have spring break.
I want to say first that I appreciate all the really kind words and encouragement I've received from all of you about this blog.  So virtual hugs all 'round to start with! (((((HUGS)))))

Second, I've started considering seriously a suggestion some of you had to do vlog entries once in while just so I can get my thoughts out more often and you can all make fun of my Popeye voice and the fact my conversations splinter off on bizarre tangents like ALL the time :P Of course that means, I'd have to comb my hair and wear something other than pajamas once in a while hehe.

So now, to the actual reason for this post. I wrote this over on playfire but I felt I wanted to share it here as well....
Mass Effect 3 has been causing waves all over the place it seems and I'd like to chime in on that:

So I'm nowhere close to finishing this, someone spoiled the ending, but then I was told that wasnt exactly the true ending. and then I went to the guide and read their incredibly vague ending info because I'm just tired of hearing crap about how bad the ending is. From the super vague 1 sentence "spoilers" in the guide. I don't get what all the drama is about the ending. Some of it seemed a bit stupid but not utterly unexpected. 

I almost quit playin when it was spoiled and now, I think, I just don't care anymore. good or bad, I'm gonna finish it so, should I just read what all the drama is about?

I mean, I've heard of people not liking a game or moving ending but never all the damn drama this is causing, lawsuits, petitions, Amazon giving full refunds to people who hated it..that's ridiculous. How bad can it possibly be?

And, if games are art, and I do believe they are whether I like some of them or not, then, who are we to question an artist's vision? Would people have rioted in the streets for Mozart to re-write the second movement of the Magic Flute cause they didnt care for that one little arpeggio? 

At the end of the day, Mass Effect is Bioware's IP and artistic creation. We can be disappointed it didn't end how we wanted it to, but we have no right to impose our will on the creator. 



I just feel, this whole fiasco is setting a really bad precedent and gamers have an over-inlalted sense of entitlement. 

I'm a stay at home mom, been one for many years now, but before that I worked many different jobs, in many different situations and I have to say that "the customer is always right" is not the case. There are times the customer is decidedly wrong. 

I also think that Bioware should stick to their guns. there's that saying "you can't please everybody all of the time" 

due to this ME3 mess they've decided to ask gamers what they want from Dragon Age 3...this to me is a wrong decision. If Dragon Age 2 was a weak succesor to Dragon Age Origins, letting the gamers chime in on what they want and then trying to implement these ideas in DA3 will be an utter disaster. hundreds of people, all with their own idea/vision, demanding the game cater to them...how would this not end up an utter failure? 



As the conversation progresses on playfire, and as other things pop into my head, I'll probably come back here and post more about it, if you'd like to see what others are saying on that thread I'll include the link:   https://www.playfire.com/SihayatheFremen/updates/1100883

Update 1:

many people have pointed out that the ME series is more about the journey than the destination. its about the character interactions and reactions. One big thing I worry about as I navigate this spoiler filled ME3 drama is not so much of the ending is bad or good, or one I will hate or like. IS it true to the characters, the situation. because I think my biggest disappointment would be to get to the ending and then feel like "That character would NEVER do that" Spending so much time with these characters, doing loyalty missions, listening to their hopes and fears, walking around and watching not only my character bond with them but all the squad mates bonding with each other, sharing jokes, etc. you "know" them, and with that comes that thought that in X situation you know or think you know how they would react. 

10 comments:

oipluckie said...

I haven't even played ME3, but if the ending is not something I was expecting then I'd accept it and be like ah well at least it had a good run. I wouldn't be all crazy about making them change the ending. Though for DA3, I hope they don't make it like DA2. I rather enjoyed DAO very much and hope they do something similar to what made that game so great. I think everyone is overreacting with wanting a different ending. Games like that are kind of like books, they can either give you an ending you love or one that you wish had more closure, but we can't change that. It is what it is.

Unknown said...

I do think DA3 should go more for the DAO vibe than DA2 thing, I just think that having an open letter for fans to put what they want to see is a bad idea, because even with that..and maybe BECAUSE of that, Bioware might end up with another PR disaster like ME#, because people wiil be upset that what they wanted to see in DA3 didnt get implemented, etc.

My thought is this... I didn't like the ending to Borderlands, I thought it was anticlimactic, however. I didn't go threaten to sue because of it and it didn't invalidate all the hours of fun I've had playing the game then and now.

It is what it is and people need to just accept it and keep going.

s4ndm4n said...

YOU are SO right on the nail this time. Of course I don't disagree with you on things other than well .. I guess I do disagree with you a lot but this time, not even a little.

I've been hating the sense of entitlement the freaking gaming community has felt for a long time. If it's not broken, defective hardware, or something else related to functionality, really you're not "entitled" to anything. Even as great as Nordstrom (my first real retail sales job back in the day) is, customers are really not right to just return things because of anything other than defects or size, etc...

With a game, it's buy at your own risk - related to the content. That all should be at the dev's discretion as to how the story goes. If you don't like it, who the he** are you to say that you were entitled to a better ending? Were you on the dev team? Then you shouldn't have a say, that's just dumb. Too many chiefs, as they say you let the customers start bossing you around.

It's a fine line for Bioware though, they have to please customers but they need to keep their backbone in their back and not bend over the whims of the fickle gaming community or that's surely a death sentence.

Ok I rambled enough. Good post.

oipluckie said...

Yea, I think people got way too attached to the game and characters. Though that is a good and bad thing, because apparently Bioware did something right by their character and story development, but people need to remember that this is a game not their life.

Unknown said...

THIS: "It's a fine line for Bioware though, they have to please customers but they need to keep their backbone in their back and not bend over the whims of the fickle gaming community or that's surely a death sentence."

Based on what I've said, I've been told that I will probably be disappointed by the ending, which is entirely possible, but while I might rant and rail at my TV, I don't think I'l be demanding a rewrite or refund.

oipluckie said...

Yea, asking for a different ending or a refund is ridiculous...I kind of feel bad for this new generation of gaming. I'd accept Mass Effect as it is whenever I can get my hands on it.

These "gamers" are asking too much of something that was not created by their own sweat and blood and at least appreciate the hard work Bioware has put into their games.

If I go watch a movie or read a book that I was a huge fan of and didn't like the ending, I'm not going to go crazy and ask them to rewrite their ending.

Jim said...

while I don't play the Mass Effect game - for the ones I do play I always try to remember that that this is just a video game even though I tend to sometimes get overly involved while I am trying to relieve the stress of my every day life.

We can't place too much importance on a game whether it is a video game or Yahtzee or pinochle or pachisi or backgammon.

I could be playing darts or billiards instead of a video game but this is more fun and less effort

BLD said...

I just hope you are having a good time with YOUR Mass Effect experience.
Have fun and take care not to spoil the ride.

Unknown said...

I really need to get back to it. Haven't touched the xbox in DAYS. really enjoying Tales of the Abyss and messing around with Swapnote :)

Jim said...

I am delaying Skyrim because I have so many lovely mods added to my pc version of Oblivion it is like a whole nother game compared to the one I gave up on with the PS3 because it just seemed like something was missing