Raithe

I'd say it's the contrast. 90% of the game is rather well crafted, and elements from the previous two games are woven in nicely. But to have that sudden reversal of quality on the final ten minutes.. It's jarring and it stands out.

Yeah, the bits about Really hit the death nail on the "Indoctrination Theory" that so many people have been pinning hope on...

http://penny-arcade.com/comic/ - The leaked dlc "Happy Ending".. "The krogan baked you a cake!"

That is a certain.. possibility. It would make an interesting attempt. But it would also be a very dangerous thing to try. But whether it's at all likely is a totally nother matter...

Hm, and apparently: The save files have specific tags that specify what kind of ending you have achieved for importing and are labeled as the following: ? Blaze of Glory ? Not Finished ? Live to Fight Another Day Although I have yet to actually confirm that elsewhere...

Oh and in regards to the Indoctrination Theory

Whilst I'm aware that there has been some.. really rabid antisocial rants about the endings, I do find it a wee bit troubling that the majority of the people responding in positive statements about the ME3 endings are basically saying that ALL negative comments are "whiny, rabid fanboi's" who "haven't got a happy ending where their Shep walked off with the Alien Love Chick of their choice". Or resorting to the "It's a relevant ending, it's intellectual and MYSTERIOUS. It's not meant to be understood. I get what it meant and like it." It seems that no-ones willing to admit even the possibility that there might be a relevant issue here.

You know.. this could really reinforce my random thought that the whole thing is a dream. Shepard actually died on Eden Prime after getting hit by the Prothean Beacon, and the last three games have just been his neurons firing randomly as he dies...

Homeless as a Wi-Fi Transmitter For the quirky debate. I can actually see around both sides of some of this debate. Still, the whole "My Name is Clarence. I'm Your 4G Hotspot" does kind of amuse me...

And for more Casey Hudson quotes I don't complain that there's mystery and some question "where does the universe go from here". I complain that the end of a freaking trilogy has no closure, and no real coherency with everything that's gone before in the trilogy.

They used to lick their own eyes!

I believe he meant

I'd buy it now. You can get 30+ hours of enjoyment out of it. The journey is fine. The gameplay is decent, and there's some truly nice moments in it. Hell, the Priority: Tuchanka piece manages to go from amusing moments to some really bittersweet and it does so coherently and works. From Wrex's "My advice, avoid the giant laser beam..." to Mordin's "Anyone else might do it wrong." The main issue people have with it is the final 10 minutes that ends the story. Oh, and the beginning is a bit drawn out. It takes about 2-3 hours introduction and partial tutorials spread across a couple of missions and a hunk of intro cutscenes.

Yes, I do know what a "bomb" shot is. But there's a wee bit of difference between giving something a shall we say, generic name in the vein of "bombs/explosions" etc to follow that type of shot. Compared to naming it in a way that specifically references a rather nasty terrorist era where you personally lost family. Not trying to be overly-sensitive here or argue the fact, just.. hell, can you imagine how a New Yorker would react to a "Flaming Twin Tower" drink? It might not seem that way to you, but it has the same sort of emotional references to people in areas of Ireland and England.

It's always the smallest details.... Yeah, I know, stange me. Losing family to said car bombs and finding drinks named after them is a really irrational response.

Now this is something that did make me go wtf for a moment.. Drinks, Cupcakes, and Terrorists Whilst celebrating St.Patricks day in the US.. you can get both a drink and a cupcake named "The Irish Car Bomb"... As the man says, just how would folks in the US feel if we came up with a "Flaming Twin Towers" drink to enjoy? There's poking humour at things, and then there's crossing over certain lines..

And for a rather good rundown of it all.. Mass Effect 3 Ending HatredL: 5 reasons the fans are right

You can get away with a poor beginning, especially when there's an enjoyable middle. But when the ending doesn't carry through, and it's not just the ending to one game's story, but a trilogy... then the ending is of much more importance. Hudson came out with the "this isn't going to be an A, B, or C ending" quote that's already been referenced here.. and Muzyka's

And then there's the furor that that IGN journalist who has done a video basically trolling all the irate fans by telling them they have no right to be angry at Bioware or should not demand some change to the ending because Bioware and EA are there to make Money. And you didn't have to pay for the game in the first place, and oh, although it's Capitalism, it's also Art and you shouldn't push your views on someone else's art form, even if you are the customer... Speaking as someone who is annoyed with the way the endings were handled, he does have a few points regarding some of the rabid fans. But he actually comes off as a real douchebag so it's actually quite hard to force myself to pay attention to a couple of those points.

No matter what, you do have to love Mordin's "objection overruled" moment when getting the female Krogan.. The ending might go off the rails, but there's a lot of fun before it does that. And some quite amusing lines of dialogue. Edit: Hm, and apparently to get an ending where it's possible for Anderson to survive (or at least, not get shot during the sequence with the Illusive Man), according to IGN, if you have an Effective War Assets of 4,000+. I have to admit, I'm kind of curious why War Assets will have an effect during that sequence... unless it's to represent that Shep and Anderson are in better condition at that point?

I wouldn't say light side/ dark side thing. It was more if you consistently played Shep one way rather then bounce between the two approaches.. Seriously, it wasn't that hard to have everyone survive. You did the loyalty missions, you picked up the ship upgrades. And you made a couple of common sense choices in regards to a> who can hack/deal with tech - ie: Tali, Legion or Kasumi, b> which characters have experience in leading teams (Garrus or Miranda pretty much, possibly Jacob), and c>who actually has serious biotic powers (either Samara or Jack)..

Nepenthe, I think the c&c through the majority of the game is damn good. And the way it carries from the previous games. I can say I really enjoyed seeing all the variations as you play through it. My problem is that the ending invalidates every choice you've made. It's like there's a sudden switch and no follow through on anything you've done. The whole assault through London is okay, you get fallout from what war assets you managed to develop, and that final line of communication with characters/squad mates who've survived that far. But the moment they suddenly inflict the Harbringer assault, and go into slow motion, and lengthy cutscenes and every single choice you've made has no meaning from that point on. Also, the ending (regardless of which 3 buttons you press) pretty much throws all growth you've fostered in people out of the window. And there's no freaking closure to the story. If they'd only given some vague "over the next decade - this happened, so and so did this" in regards to people you went paragon/renegade etc with.. it would have had more meaning regardless of how silly the "Star Child" was.

That's why I say it's kind of a niche genre thing. John Carter of Mars was created by the same man who brought us Tarzan. Edgar Rice Burroughs. And it's pretty much pulp sci-fi , written back in that 1910-1920's era.

You could not only choose Morinth over Samara, you could let her talk you into sex later on your ship with her claiming that you were so powerful you'd survive. Yeah. Right. Hm, one thing that has me curious, The Rachni Queen issue, and Grunt. Is it possible for him to actually die on that mission or is he always going to survive? Or is there some weird decision/choice you made earlier that effects that? I mean, apparently Mirando only survives the Sanctuary if you mention KL to her during one of the earlier conversations with her.. (Although I haven't tried not mentioning him as an experiment yet...). Thane is dead regardless of your choices, I mean, either quietly off screen or in the process of saving the Salarian Council member.. Mordin pretty much pulls a Spock (or..well, other things). Kasumi fakes her death, but Shep realises it. Has anyone managed a different result there? I don't think its possible for Zaeed to die off in his short encounter... And even with everything going on, it seems pretty clear that Jacob is an automatically survive his extraction as well..