Below, please see a message from Mass Effect 3 Executive Producer Casey Hudson in regards to discussion on the conclusion of Mass Effect 3:

quote:

originally posted by Casey Hudson: There’s been a lot of discussion and debate about the conclusion of Mass Effect 3, so I thought I’d share my perspective with you here. I’ll avoid outright spoilers, but I’d still recommend finishing the game and experiencing it for yourself before reading this. For the last eight years, Mass Effect has been a labor of love for our team; love for the characters we’ve created, for the medium of video games, and for the fans that have supported us. For us and for you, Mass Effect 3 had to live up to a lot of expectations, not only for a great gaming experience, but for a resolution to the countless storylines and decisions you’ve made as a player since the journey began in 2007. So we designed Mass Effect 3 to be a series of endings to key plots and storylines, each culminating in scenes that show you the consequences of your actions. You then carry the knowledge of these consequences with you as you complete the final moments of your journey. We always intended that the scale of the conflict and the underlying theme of sacrifice would lead to a bittersweet ending—to do otherwise would betray the agonizing decisions Shepard had to make along the way. Still, we wanted to give players the chance to experience an inspiring and uplifting ending; in a story where you face a hopeless struggle for basic survival, we see the final moments and imagery as offering victory and hope in the context of sacrifice and reflection. We've had some incredibly positive reactions to Mass Effect 3, from the New York Times declaring it “a gripping, coherent triumph”, to Penny Arcade calling it “an amazing accomplishment”, to emails and tweets from players who have given us the most profound words of appreciation we've ever received. But we also recognize that some of our most passionate fans needed more closure, more answers, and more time to say goodbye to their stories—and these comments are equally valid. Player feedback such as this has always been an essential ingredient in the development of the series. I am extremely proud of what this team has accomplished, from the first art concepts for the Mass Effect universe to the final moments of Mass Effect 3. But we didn't do it on our own. Over the course of the series, Mass Effect has been a shared experience between the development team and our fans—not just a shared experience in playing the games, but in designing and developing them. An outpouring of love for Garrus and Tali led to their inclusion as love interests in Mass Effect 2. A request for deeper RPG systems led to key design changes in Mass Effect 3. Your feedback has always mattered. Mass Effect is a collaboration between developers and players, and we continue to listen. So where do we go from here? Throughout the next year, we will support Mass Effect 3 by working on new content. And we’ll keep listening, because your insights and constructive feedback will help determine what that content should be. This is not the last you’ll hear of Commander Shepard. We look forward to your continued support and involvement as we work together to shape the remaining experiences in the story of the Mass Effect trilogy. Thanks for taking this journey with us. Casey Hudson

Hopefully that calms a few people down. No it won't. But maybe? Nope. Just a little? Not gonna happen.

Sorry, conversation with my alter-ego. That's me!

Edit: Nobody saw that error!

[Edited by Monkey007, 3/17/2012 4:24:03 PM]

Seems that this is the ending they wanted all along, and a few positive reviews allows them to say "see look we did right".

Seriously would STAR WARS (excluding the prequels) be as big as it is today if they ended it like ME 3.
Even Battlestar Galactica had a more in depth ending to a series.

All I can think when someone gives a response like this is they are in damage control, even though he quoted the "positive reactions"

Only problem is that if they stuff around too long with the DLC people will loose interest as the new games come out.

They have already put it out on the shinny red carpet for all to see. There not going to make a alternate ending will put them out of pocket. This is just dam control plain as. Maybe there will be some more DLC's as to what I can not say. But I do not think it will be an Alternate ending. Still am dam great game.

Link

[Edited by saurabhfzd, 3/18/2012 12:10:03 AM]

Simple fact: he hasn't said anything noteworthy at all.

He points out that it was always going to lead to a bitter-sweet ending. To me, bitter-sweet doesn't describe the endings we have, and I liked them. Who knows what he really meant by that.

The plan could have been all along to release the game like this, watch everyones reactions, get them talking and discussing them, etc etc, then release the "real" ending after a couple of months. Maybe that was intentional all along, or maybe they were forced into it because of the script leak or time constraints. Maybe they felt it would be better to release the game as is, then "finish" it through DLC rather than push back the release date by a couple of months (which I guarantee people would complain about more than these three endings).

Or maybe I'm just interpreting how I want to hear it, and maybe we're all really dreaming in some kind of EA-made Matrix where machines are feeding off our life force and all of this isn't real, and Mass Effect never existed!

...Cough.

[Edited by Skyheart, 3/18/2012 3:58:59 AM]

Right. Sorry about that. This is Bioware's first official statement on it, so I was just hoping to inform the people here.

In the end it's as saurabhfzd said, it's all in your own personal experience.
Even I don't really like the ending, but I'm not going to destroy Casey Hudson's wikipedia page, take it to court, or swear off BioWare games for the rest of my life.
Shepard Breathes, remember? And Shepard can fix anything, even bad endings.

@Skyheart If you're right, that would mean EA has access to incredible technology... yet they can't even influence our minds to all love the ending! Yet another EA fail! My alter-ego approves!