[PC/PS3/360/WiiU] Mass Effect 3

[Vallen Chaos Valiant]

Originally Posted by Nixl

Bioware is definitely getting a lot of shit recently and from multiple sources, but some of it is well deserved. To be perfectly honest, from DA2, TOR, to ME3 I do not think Bioware would get half the shit it does if only the PR team was fired. The amount of promises they make just makes everything that much worse.

Indeed. Half the issue is how the PR team just flat out LIES.

The PR has no contact with the production team. They first made promises the game can't keep, then once the game came out they back pedal and pretend their lies weren't lies. All the while the game programmers are upset that they are taking the blame of PR's goof ups.

And as I said before, it is made worse by the media attacking the customers. The news media went berserk laughing at the players calling us names. Routers of all places was the only place defending the gamer's rights.

[Mr Hat and Clogs]

Reuters*

really, PR should learn to shut their trap, I've seen many developers come out and say that. Because when shit hits the fan its not usually PR that cops the blame, and it pisses a lot of developers off.

[synaesthetic]

Originally Posted by Keroko

I redeemed Tali, but rewrote the heretics. The only problem I had was that, being a renegon, I couldn't resolve the Tali/Legion dispute with a paragon or renegade option (which is one more point). That left me one point short, even with all the sidequests done.

Yes, ME2's charm/intimidate is fucked. The game is much more enjoyable if you edit your savegame and add a few hundred extra paragon or renegade points at the beginning, and then making natural choices isn't penalized as much. Plus you also don't have to "farm" rep points.

What I did before using a savegame editor (which I only did on my most recent ME2 playthrough) was to take the rank 4 class talent that gives you a 100% reputation boost. With that, you could easily max out Renegade or Paragon without having to farm too many points. The only point farming I really did was all the vendors on Omega and the Citadel, and taking the renegade option during Zaeed's loyalty mission. After that, all the renegade points were earned by doing things I wanted to do, despite making several big paragon choices (saving David during Overlord and rekindling romance with Liara during LotSB).

And since Legion's loyalty mission comes after the derelict Reaper, I just did everything else, all other sidequests, before going to the Reaper, ensuring I was maxed renegade before I even recruited Legion. Having all the DLC makes it easier, too, since it gives you more chances to get points (except Arrival, which I always play after the suicide mission because it makes sense).

[BetoJR]

So, anyone cares to venture a guess as to what they're going to announce at PAX?

[npal]

Originally Posted by BetoJR

So, anyone cares to venture a guess as to what they're going to announce at PAX?

I suppose "you're right, we screwed up, we didn't have enough time, we'll scrap this and make an alternative ending" (free or paid) is asking too much. They'll probably go along the lines of the ending being "controversial" and possibly announcing further information regarding the ending in the form of a patch with the usual screenshot plus text or speech regarding certain things left open or vague. I seriously doubt they'll actually rewrite things instead of just trying to explain the unexplainable, but we can hope...

[BetoJR]

That's kind of what I've been thinking, as well. That, and "more stories of The Shepard".

[SoldierOfDarkness]

Originally Posted by BetoJR

So, anyone cares to venture a guess as to what they're going to announce at PAX?

It doesn't make sense.

On launch Day Casey himself said,

"hardest day ever, if you guys knew what we had in store you'd hold onto your saves"

This was before the massive flamestore that popped out.

Then as time continued they kept saying, "let's wait for more people to finish the game"

Their silence continued and allowed the fire to get even bigger.

At this point they've pretty much acknowledged that the ending will not be changed but they'll be stuff that'll "clarify" the ending.

It's the silence and all these little things that make me wonder if Bioware was planning on adding a "director's cut" to the ending or something because I cannot see why he would say "hold onto your saves"

The saves are essentially useless unless you complete the game no? The guy who plays Hackett (lance) also said that there was something massive coming at PAX.

A DLC like Retake OMEGA will be useless as the one thing the fans are looking at is the ending sooo unless they intended the ending to be like this and then add onto it.

In other words they ****** up in the PR department.

What surprises me even more is EA's silence. In the end they're a company and I doubt they would care about "artistic integrity" and more about money. They know that there are people willing to pay DLC for an alternate ending and would be pushing Bioware to do so so they can milk more money.

[BetoJR]

Let's just hope they don't go down all the way to Capcom's level of evil regarding DLC.
Hey, I can hope, can't I?

[SoldierOfDarkness]

Enough said.

Seriously it's a company, I cannot imagine that they could not have foreseen this and had something else planned.

[Vallen Chaos Valiant]

Originally Posted by BetoJR

So, anyone cares to venture a guess as to what they're going to announce at PAX?

I am more interested in the fact that the representatives would have to go within contact distance of ME3 customers.

If I were them, I would do my announcement via video link. Failing that, I would let junior staffers do the presentation.

[BetoJR]

Yeah, somehow I don't think they'll be in that much danger...

[Vallen Chaos Valiant]

Originally Posted by BetoJR

Yeah, somehow I don't think they'll be in that much danger...

It's not danger. It's shame. They would have to lie to people in their faces. And unlike with the online letters, they can't just block comments.

Shepard was not given the chance to object to the Reaper's arguments in the game itself. The ME3 fans will make sure to speak on his/her behalf at PAX.

[Key Board]

This is a quote by Stanley Woo regarding an older game

"All right, how about this one: despite us having given you a thing in Dragon Age Origins, we are not necessarily able to give you the same thing in Dragon Age II for a variety of reasons. Usually, the reason is zots. Having a comparatively short developement cycle means that we either had to work faster and/or on a smaller scale. Faster was already a given, what with time being inexorable and linear and all, but a smaller scale means sacrifices, compromises, and cuts compared to the original, gigantic, epic game.

One small, tiny feature may not mean much to the end-user, but it migth mean fundamental changes to the game for a developer. Features may have dependencies that are complex or extensive, as they are rarely as modular as people believe. Ultimately, it is a disagreement between us, the developer, and you, the player. We can only implement features a certain way; we can't create a system that will please everyone. As always, we do what we can witht he time and resources available and try to please as many people as we can. After the fact, we can pay attention to feedback, both here on the forums and elsewhere, and try to do better next time."

I'm going to assume the same applies here

Mass Effect was RUSHED, mostly at the ending

But not as rushed as Dragon Age 2

The question is, what made them rush it? EA? or poor work ethics?

[Flying Dagger]

Investors most likely does not read the forums, they look at the balance sheet and how much money a studio is making.

[SoldierOfDarkness]

Well there is this

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/3234...st-boycott.htm

[killer3000ad]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertco...rica-now-what/
Some what related since EA owns Bioware and has now been voted the worst company in the US.

[synaesthetic]

It's not going to matter one bit if EA doesn't lose any money as a result. Their stock price falling is telling, but the proof is in the pudding and we're not going to see them change their behavior unless a good chunk of people stop buying their games.

Personal anecdotes mean fuck-all, but everyone I know who paid for ME3 intends to buy the ending DLC and then never buy anything from EA again. All the other people playing ME3 I know warezed it, and that's a significant number of people, so EA got no money from them.

Me? Well, it depends largely on what Bioware/EA does. If the ending DLC is free, I may consider not boycotting them. Of course I doubt I'll ever buy their games on launch day and stick to EA titles on Steam sales, but I'll likely still buy them.

If the ending DLC is paid, it'll be the last time I ever give EA any money.

[Flying Dagger]

A lot of these "worst companies" still rake in millions. Bank of America? BP? Apple (due to Foxconn)? *inset telecommunication company*?

We shall see when the quarterly financial report comes around. As long as the numbers look good, EA can still say "With every great franchise there will always be people who may not be satisfied in various aspects - especially when changes are involved. At the end of the day we just broke all previous records in terms of sales and profit so we are heading down the right path. At the same time we have also successfully introduced ____ number of new users to our Origins system which laid the foundations of more revenue."

Capitalism, ho!

[synaesthetic]

Originally Posted by Flying Dagger

A lot of these "worst companies" still rake in millions. Bank of America? BP? Apple (due to Foxconn)? *inset telecommunication company*?

We shall see when the quarterly financial report comes around. As long as the numbers look good, EA can still say "With every great franchise there will always be people who may not be satisfied in various aspects - especially when changes are involved. At the end of the day we just broke all previous records in terms of sales and profit so we are heading down the right path. At the same time we have also successfully introduced ____ number of new users to our Origins system which laid the foundations of more revenue."

Capitalism, ho!

Exactly. These entities are so monolithic and huge that only a coordinated action by millions of customers can cause them any real lasting pain. We have the capability to coordinate such an action with social media and the Internet, but it doesn't happen because people are unwilling to go through the trouble.

The funny thing is a software boycott is actually easier than boycotting a bank or a mobile provider... you can boycott the game, but still play it. You can't pirate mobile service or a bank account.

[Alchemist007]

I still remember the comment on the cupcake rejection. "Because it wasn't fanwanking, we said fuck this and gave them away [sic]."