Bonus Post: The Failure of Mass Effect 3

I've decided to write this post now, while it's still somewhat relevant, rather than waiting another week before it becomes completely pointless. If you've heard anything about the ending of Mass Effect 3...no, wait, if you've heard anything about Mass Effect 3 at all, you'll know that the ending sucks. Hard.

This post isn't about why the ending sucks though. I'm not going to talk about how freaking unsatisfying the ending is, about the sheer stupidity of building the space magic Crucible when you don't even know what it does. About the inaccuracy statement that organic vs. artificial life is the central conflict of the galaxy. In the end, I thin Bioware built their bad guys up way too much in their minds, and then had to come up with some incredibly stupid deus ex machine to handwave them away.

Under the scrutiny of logic, the Reapers aren't THAT powerful, of course, since their invasion strategy of Mass Effect 1 relies on dividing and conquering the space-faring civilizations of the galaxy. If they could just cruise in and beat everyone up without difficulty, they just would have done that, instead of relying on trickery. The most powerful and dangerous guys around? Sure. Unbeatable? No.

Anyway, I can be understanding about mistakes. Everyone makes them, including Bioware (even me!). What's important is acknowledging them, learning from them, and then moving on to become better than before. We get it, Bioware. You screwed up your ending, fine.

So when Bioware announced that they were coming out with a new ending for Mass Effect 3, available as DLC, fans rejoiced...until they actually saw the ending themselves. Nothing changed, except for Bioware logically addressing that destroying the method of practical FTL travel in their universe would both destroy the setting and result in the deaths of billions of people as the galactic supply chains collapse.

Well, you had the option of losing on purpose. That was the new content, except for a slideshow at the end of the game. It's essentially a giant middle finger to everyone who hated the original ending. What the hell, Bioware? You guys used to be great (Seriously, you used to have some great plotting with twists and everything. When was the last time a Bioware twist surprised anyone?).

One of the advantages of the digital market is how easy it is to fix your mistakes, to patch and improve. But Bioware, for a reason I can only ascribe to arrogance, doesn't listen to all of the fans who hated the ending and provide an ending that people actually like. This, to me, is the real mistake, the willful one.

Anyone who's ever studied product recalls is familiar with the Tylenol recall (seriously, textbooks, find a new case study). Could you imagine if Tylenol refused to recall it's product, insisting that it was working as intended and that the flaw was with the consumer? Granted, these are video games, not medicine, but the point remains, I think.