Ben-DutkaThere's probably no denying it anymore.
In our recent poll, we wanted to know what gamers thought of the current state of the Japanese gaming industry. It has been under fire for the past three or four years, as designers keep trying to cater to the ever-growing Western markets. Worse, the quality of their games appear to be diminishing…rapidly.
In the past week alone, Ninja Gaiden 3 and Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City greatly disappointed most critics and gamers. And over the years, there appears to be a definite gap in production values and innovation when one compares Western and Japanese achievements. Unfortunately, it appears most of our readers agree, as the majority answered, "They're slipping…only a few games worth playing."
Well, we still have Metal Gear Solid (save us, Kojima!) and Gran Turismo , along with the enduring Nintendo mascots, right? This week, we just have to ask because everyone is asking: Should BioWare write a new ending for Mass Effect 3 ? Or if you don't think they should, do you at least think they should remember this fan backlash when creating future projects? Or maybe you just think everyone overreacted? Let us know.
I think they should just keep it in mind the next time they try to self destruct a franchise (that goes for Dragon Age III as well) but they are on record saying to IGN the ending will be altered based on feedback. I imagine if they charge for it as DLC that will cause new anger though (selling the true ending).
I say nay on the new ending. The children need to learn to accept that that is what Bioware wanted. I absolutely hated Rage's story and ending but not once did the thought cross my mind that id needs to rewrite it.
I agree. I don't know what the fuss is about.
how can you not understand what all the fuss is about?
ME3 is ALL about the galaxy saving the galaxy, so why does the ending cut scene show only earth?
you see what happens to your crew, to the normandy, but what about the crogan?
the asari?
the solarians?
the whole series is focused on the greater good for the galaxy, but the ending to the series is all focused on sheppard f*ck the greater good and f*ck the rest of the species!
almost like they plucked a ending from a entirely different franchise!
i was expecting to get a tree showing what i did and what were the consequences after the credits too that way its easy to understand what happened and why.
but you dont, you dont get any info what so ever!
it does not even tell you you can create a new game plus!
ME3s ending has got to be the most rushed ending ive ever played, so f*cking oath it needs to be changed!
so you compare 1 short game to a 3 game arc?
i mite be off but i think every ME game is long then rage
in rage you dont shape the story like in ME
have you even played the dam game?
Clearly in the responses to Jawknee we have evidence that people over-react.
Grow up oldmike. It's just a "dam" game.
I think this whole mass effect ending got out of hand, people are never satisfy with anything instead of hating on bioware we should thank them for giving us a great game because these days its hard to find a new good game to play.
the end end had more plot holes then swiss
do to this and how bad DA2 Played
i am done with bioware games
i forgave them for KOTR2 ending feeling rushed
i was willing to let it go that they killed the fun that was DA:O
with DA2
I think that this sets a very bad precedent (which you've written about), and am just waiting to find out which game fans will demand to change next.
Fans definitely have a right to be upset about the ending, and Bioware definitely has a responsibility to go the extra mile to ensure those fans that they've learned from their mistake on the next game. But this has gone too far and I can't really foresee anybody being any happier when all is said and done. In short, nothing good can come from this.
This fiasco makes me think of my reaction to the death of Leo Dicaprio's character in The Departed. I didn't like it when it happened. I still wish he would have lived, but I never thought Scorcese should change it. What's done is done.
Well thank you Mr. Tell All!!! I was just getting ready to watch that movie after I was finished here! 😉
I hope you're joking. I figured since the movie has been out for awhile, most have already seen it. Those who wanted to see it anyway.
Sorry if I spoiled it. =/
I was. Hence the winking face. I mean who hasn't seen it by now?
Gotcha, I missed that in my initial review of your comment. Thanks!
Regarding a revision ME3's ending, I can't say, yet, until I finish the game. I will say insofar of the visual over hauls, the gameplay mechanics, the 3rd in the series is, imo, the best, though, the story does seem more hurried, a tad bit less heartfelt and ponderous than the previous outing. However, I am enjoying it thoroughly. To me, it feels what Gears3 should've been like. I even remember reading from Cliffy B, while Gears 3 was in planning stages that he wanted to add RPG elements to it, implicitly referencing ME franchise in my conjecture.
Regarding Japanese game dev industry, though I love Metal Gear, Vanquish, Valkyria Chronicles, Ninja Gaiden, GT, Tekken, StreetFighter, it's clear that they got some catching up to do that may not happen until next gen, or whenever their mismanaged corporations get reformed. They may never recover their leadership of the industry, but if they fund their abundant talent and concern themselves with their local market, instead of worrying too much about the global market, I believe they can cement and retain a significant share of the gaming industry, even world wide.
I'm fine if they don't change it. However if they later revealed the real ending, I would buy it.
said in another posting, say here again — this is what is all about to Japanese Devs these days: money, money and money, lets tailor all to the western market, let's figure out how to suck out the most from them, nothing more, hence there goes all the mutations, alienation and derails, and they end up having fewer and fewer fans and followers, idiotically stupid and I have no tears for them at all!!!
japanese devs?
what you on about boy!?
last time i checked bioware are not japanese!
however thats not japanese devs, thats ALL devs!
ME3 proves it!
most rushed unfinished hole ridden game ive ever played!
and people whined heavy rain had plot holes!
i wouldent say loosing their touch.
to say that makes it sound like they cant make games like they use to.
they can, there just set in their mind that theres no market for it out there!
like the director for RE6 said yesterday the survival horror market is too small now for RE.
1 question for you chap.
how can you say that when you have ZERO games to base that on?
so what do you base that on?
how do you know theres no market for survival horror games when zero games have been released to test that?
well?
never have i heard such utter bull sh*t!
but back to the point, its not that they cant make traditional games anymore.
if some miricale happened and it got through their thick heads that it would sell quite well they would have no problems doing it!
its not that they cant, its that they dont want to because they think it wont sell.
which is utter bull sh*t but good luck getting that through to them!
as for ME.
ME3s ending has got to be the most rushed underwhelming hole ridden ending ive EVER played! so f*cking oath it needs to be changed!
the WHOLE point of the ME series is saving the galaxy, it has never been about whats best for one race its always been whats best for everyone.
if that means one race has to bend over, like what happens in the arrival DLC and why sheppard gets court marshalled, then so be it!
but the ending for ME3 is TOTALLY different!
its all focused on earth, on the humans.
f*ck what happens to everyone else!
thats what hurt me most about this.
EVERYTHING in ME2 felt perfect, like the developers sat there spending months on the smallest details!
everything felt so deep and really well thought out.
ME3 is the complete opposite, instead of been deep and really well thought out its shallow and rushed!
allot of things just dont make any sense!
Last edited by ___________ on 3/26/2012 3:20:25 AM
i was realy likeing the game untill the last 10min
even has one of the 1st muti player games i liked but this ending killed it
i started noticing something was off when you first get to the citadel and cant actually talk to anyone!
all the side missions are gained by just standing there and hearing what they say, there not even talking to you!
in ME2 you went into a dialogue tree and cut scene, and depending on your reputation you could twist their arm or be bribe them.
another thing pointing to the whole cheap rushed feel of the game!
i really missed going to the shops and saying im commander sheppard and this is my favourite store on the citadel!
wait wait wait…
Didn't you -JUST- get done saying in response to jawknee, criticizing his use of a short game in comparison to a long game? you let the last 10 minutes of a trilogy of these long games ruin your opinion of the franchise?!?
Sounds to me like someone's priorities are off.
I really don't see the point in writing a new ending when everyone's already been disappointed with the current one. Are people supposed to go back to their last save prior to the original ending and play through it again, and then they can be un-disappointed by it? That's silly.
Oh and there's Gran Turismo 5 again. I played that game – a lot – and anyone who doesn't have an intense and irrevocable fanboy devotion to that franchise, and a system wars mentality, realizes that it was just a very mediocre racer with great graphics. Six years and sixty million dollars to produce an 84/100 Metacritic rating, and that's artificially inflated by all the Playstation exclusive sites that gave it silly scores like 99/100. Meanwhile you've got Shift 2 Unleashed that got the exact same 84/100 score after 18 months in development, or Forza 4 that got a 91/100 after 2 years in development. Far from being an example of what Japan can do right, it's a perfect example of what they're doing wrong.
Some people may fault Nintendo for essentially singing the same tune over and over again. But on the other hand I guess there is something respectable about that. They know what they do well and they stick to it. And of course a it's also vital that the consumers continue to reward them for it.
Last edited by Looking Glass on 3/26/2012 8:05:04 AM
My thought is that some Japanese Devs are trying to create for the NA market and really they shouldn't. Yep, NA's seem to multiplayer oriented these days but people appreciated their games because they were unique/distinct stories. Look what happened to the Silent Hill series, although not the same as the discussion here, but a great series that when given to NA devs, changed it and it failed.
Follow market trends yes, expand gameplay experience, but make a game based uniquely yours, be that based on cultural background.
Of course, with studios shutting down or being bought up by bigger studios… its starting to look like a desperate attempt for survival.
I think the fan backlash is a bit ridiculous. But I also think that a rewrite of the ending would be a smart move for them. Don't give me that artistic integrity BS. If you want the video game industry taken with the same respect as the movie industry Artistic integrity needs to take a back seat to the fans. There are plent of movies out there where they change the original ending because test audiences don't like it. First Blood (Rambo) being a prime example. In which they changed not only the directors originally filmed ending but also the ending of the book it was based off of. Bioware needs to decide if they're a entertainment business or a starving artist.
This whole ME3 fiasco was caused by 1 A-hole who just had to go & leak the original ending for his/her own self-rightious reasons.
And because of that, I think Bioware made a horrendous blunder by rushing out a bunch of changed endings for it, hence all the gaps & non-actions that don't mean much at it's finale.
But, I also think that if Bioware had just manned up by standing their ground & had left the original leaked ending well enough alone, there wouldn't be this hot stinking stewpot of BS that's been going on now because of it.
Just my 2 cents…..
Its actually the same ending from the leak script but for some reason they decided to take things out that it made no sense in the end. The dlc character was important in the leak script but I guess they took him out and just charged for him. Also from the looks of it a lot of the plot holes look like it got answered but I don't know why they took that out. DLC maybe?
Mass Effect series was just fine. I'm playing through all of them again. I'm looking forward to what Bioware has in store for all of us though.