Comments on: Why You should Never Ask for a New Ending

By: Jesper

Jesper — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 15:38:45 +0000

@David I think your design suggestion makes sense, but I also think that I personally accepted the ME3 ending because I felt that the ending was on such as vast galactic scale that I didn’t feel that every small decision I made would have to be reflected in this ending.

By: David Serrano

David Serrano — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 14:38:07 +0000

The root problem with the ending of Mass Effect 3 was it undercut the premise for the entire trilogy: decisions will have meaning. Bioware could have avoided the controversy by simply following the formula they used for the opening sequences of Dragon Age Origins… but in reverse. In DA:O, players started the game by playing a class specific opening sequence. There were six in total. They all began in different locations, all told a unique story, and all contained unique characters. Each sequence had a unique ending after which, all classes proceeded to the start point of the main story.

ME 3 should have followed this structure, but in reverse. The main story should have led players to a central end point after which, based on their past decisions they would branch off into one of several unique and distinctly different finales. Yes, this would have created much more work for Bioware but the reality is multiple and distinctly different endings weren’t optional, they were mandatory And there’s simply no way Bioware didn’t fully understand this. But they, meaning EA management, instead chose the least expensive option.

By: Jesper

Jesper — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 09:15:43 +0000

@Beaugrand_RTMC It’s a tad more complicated than that: I don’t want to hear a clichéed roundup like in the clip above, but other people do… So there is wide disagreement about what constitutes a well executed ending.

By: Beaugrand_RTMC

Beaugrand_RTMC — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 02:02:19 +0000

How do you wrap up a work with broad appeal? Maybe with a “write your own ending based on your previous choices” option, or how about simply the 16 distinct endings that were promised?