They didn't learn anything.

We can speculate all we want, but we're not a fly on the wall and really don't know the inner-workings of the studio either. What it boils down to is the finished product. Did they deliver or not?

If I mix this ryncol with my leftover batarian shard wine, will I die?

Great another post telling me how I should feel about the game.

"Pangolins are basically baby krogan, right? I can handle this."

Dips long tongue into ryncol.

Throat constricts, wee eyes bulge.

Falls onto the ground with little dignity.

Passes out cold, with one tiny claw still clutching the glass.

Is pee'd on by a passing sloth.

Is laughed at by tree full of monkeys.

Awakens in few hours to bitter headache.

Shrugs it off, and goes to see what else it can stick its tongue into.

Like Bioware, pangolins have no shame.

As someone who thoroughly enjoyed the game, but also sees the flaws, and the "what might have beens" had the game been a bit more polished...



Thanks for the Ryncol!

*chugs, chokes, coughs and tear-filled splutters...*

That was awesome! Can I have another?

HELL YEAH! GIVE ME THAT NOW! 

They delivered A product, the fact it isn't as good as the previous product in A lot of areas seems to be the issue.

I have a lot of sympathy for the new Bioware team, it was a poisoned chalice trying to make a ME sequel after the original team. They did a good job in a lot of ways.

But the OP is right, someone not working at Bioware should have pointed out the games many issues to them way before release.

The early access period was a PR disaster, and Bioware have no-one to blame but themselves.

Less than a month after the game came out they released a free dlc in which they fixed a lot of issues people had with the endings though.

-They fixed the two companions that were with Shepard at the last mission mysteriously ending up on the Normandy
-Gave players a chance to say goodbye to their companions
-They allowed for more dialogue with the Catalyst to better explain things
-They re-worked dialogue to paint less of a violent picture with the Destroy ending by getting rid of the implication of a new technological dark age
-Added an option to refuse ABC
-You can argue with the Catalyst
-They reworked who Shepard thought of in their final moments to be more specific to player's personal preferences,
-Extended the final sequence cutscene and tweaked the damage done to the Relays
-Showed the Normandy fixed after crashing 
-Added the name plaque ceremony
-Had LI refuse to put name on plaque if they felt Shepard was still alive
-Added in a large epilogue that shows the effects of your final choice
-Lowered the Readiness points so that MP was no longer a requirement to get optimal endings
-Reworked the post credits scene with the two people talking about The Shepard
-Removed the "Buy More" DLC message after the game is over and replaced it with a Thank you note to the fans

Like I know some of those things poked some plot holes or might have seemed contrived, but that's a lot of stuff they tried to do to help smooth things over with fans without completely scrapping their last hour of the game and coming up with a new ending. To do so would have opened a can of worms where now every game they make is subject to change if fans complain and rally online hard enough. I don't like the endings at all, but I wouldn't think I'm entitled enough to tell the entire staff that it's not good enough and they just need to redo it all after years of work. My contribution to the game was $60. Theirs was a considerable portion of their lives dedicated to making the game. I know people bash on the artistic integrity line because it sounds pretentious as hell, but they're not entirely wrong. I know video games work as a different medium than we've seen before and it's only been recently that people have seen it through a more artistic lens, but it was their piece of work and they were well within their rights as the artists who created the game to tell everyone fuck off and leave it exactly as it was the day it released.

They didn't do that though. In fact they did a whole lot of things to fix up the ending without completely compromising their....for lack of a better word...vision.

The only other game that comes to mind right this minute where a developer just changed the ending was Bethesda for Fallout 3, and that didn't change the ending so much as gave you a new DLC where you wake up some time later...and the DLC itself wasn't all that great and you still have to pay for it.


Again, hate the endings all you want...I know I do. But to say they told us either directly or metaphorically to "fuck off" is doing a disservice to the actually rather generous effort they put in to make fans happier with the end.  I cannot see a lot of developers or publishers doing that kind of thing. In fact historically speaking most are incredibly defensive or dismissive of people's issues and don't give a shit how fans feel. If Bioware in 2012 felt that way we wouldn't have gotten an Extended Cut.  

I'll be honest, I'm not seeing the connection between ME3's ending and MEA.

I personally found MEA's writing to be wanting, but plenty of other folks enjoy it. It just didn't connect with me personally (for varying reasons).

ME3's ending was just a disaster. But that's what happens when you plagiarize an ending from a different game with entirely different themes. I didn't find anything in MEA that even remotely equals that.

Don't worry, I plan to.

I already have zero plans of picking up any future Dragon Age games. I simply hate the direction the series is going. And even now Mass Effect has left a really bad taste in my mouth. Bioware simply has to earn my trust again. No more blind faith or pre-ordering games because it says "Bioware" on the box.