Ben-DutkaThe Mass Effect 3 ending snafu grabbed some of the biggest headlines of the year.
A great many gamers complained about the blockbuster RPG's ending, and the apparent fact that decisions didn't have a big enough impact on the outcome. Petitions arose, the acid flew, and EA and developer BioWare finally caved and offered to make extra content that would fix the ending issue. That DLC is forthcoming so be patient on that score.
Other organizations outside of gaming have weighed in on the controversy, and that includes a Better Business Bureau representative saying EA falsely advertised the game. However, the UK Advertising Standards Authority would like to dispute that claim, saying in their recent findings that the endings were in fact "thematically quite different." In short, the assessment was "not upheld."
"The ASA acknowledged the complainants' belief that players' choices in the game did not influence the outcome to the extent claimed by EA. However, we considered that the three choices at the end of the game were thematically quite different, and that the availability and effectiveness of those choices would be directly determined by a player's [Effective Military Strength] score, which was calculated with reference to previous performance in the game(s). We also acknowledged that there appeared to be a large number of minor variations in the end stages of ME3, and that those were directly impacted by choices made by players earlier in the game(s). Whilst we acknowledged that the advertiser had placed particular emphasis on the role that player choices would play in determining the outcome of the game, we considered that most consumers would realise there would be a finite number of possible outcomes within the game and, because we considered that the advertiser had shown that players' previous choices and performance would impact on the ending of the game, we concluded that the ad was not misleading."
That's unlikely to satisfy those who so bitterly complained about the climax of the game, but the explanation does make some sense. I understand such complaints but as I've said in the past, the reaction to this whole thing was just a touch out of control.
Related Game(s): Mass Effect 3
I guess I better finish ME2 so I can see what all the fuss is about.
Oh and FYI I picked up Silent Hill Downpour for $20 at Best Buy earlier today. (Thanks BikerSaint) 🙂
holy piss sacks, is that a normal sale? I want that game… for cheap.
Just some random sale price. It wasn't available for shipping online so I scheduled a pickup and now it's mine!
best buy keeps running random 1 day sales on games. i got darkness 2 for $12 few weeks ago
LV,
Quite welcome,
Anything to help our cause to "Keep on gaming", so I'm glad you were able to grab a decent deal.
Was it PC or console???
Console, I only play RTS and FPS on PC.
While I'm with the gamers who had an issue with this (My copy is still in my backlog waiting for me to re-finish ME2) I think maybe lawsuits and putting the game up for review by advertising boards is just going too far. The backlash was punishment enough for screwing fans and there can't be much to be gained with this stuff.
I think the UK board has done a fine job based on these statements of doing that review and this is best put to bed. 3 thematically different endings is pretty silly to me, but since your decisions change the overall experience at numerous points that should be good enough. Not everybody is awesome enough to have Heavy Rain's 22 endings or Catherine's however many it has.
still going to wait for the 'expanded' endings dlc before i finish the last few missions to complete the game. got my ems over 5000 – so im good to go – c'mon bioware – release it already
There's actually a job like this (._. )
I bought ME on Steam ($20 seemed like a great deal, and I just like playing games like this on a PC) the other week. Played it all through – loved it. Not sure what the controversy of the ending in ME3 is about… but… I'll have to get to it to see.
yup the endings were very different!
just as different between a red apple and a green apple!
they look different, they taste different but when it comes down to it there both apples!
ME3 was the final nail in the coffin for bioware.
i really honestly am shocked that they f*cked up the story so much!
i mean they did the same with dragon age 2 and got absolutely scolded!
so i really thought they would of learned their lesson, and gone to the edges of the solar system to make sure it does not happen again.
i guess i thought wrong…….
sorry bioware, but your dead to me!
The Galaxy readiness in the game mostly effects what you would and wouldn't see in the endings. If you complete the game with the bare minimum assets it cuts your choices to one ending and you see less of the cut scenes at the end of the game. All the Galaxy reainess does is unlock more cut scene in the game rather than create dramatic changes with the endings. I don't call diffrent members of the ME3 crew coming out of a ship at whole new ending expirence. To be completely honest Mass Effect 1 & 2 both don't have dramatic changes at the end of the game but I believe that people were really expecting something special with ME3 and they didn't get what they wanted. Also it didn't help that people from Bioware were saying that there would be no A B C endings when it kinda was and wasn't (The Galaxy readiness kind of makes it not an). I think Bioware (and gamers) put to much emphasis on the ending of the ending of Mass Effect 3. What was lost to the fans of ME was the fact that the whole game was an ending. If you view the whole game as an ending to the series then all in all (apart from the last 20 minutes) its a great game.