LogFAQs > #900686916

13. Mass Effect 3
Original Release: 2012
Year Played: 2012
Developer: BioWare
Platform: XB360
Favorite New Character: Javik
Least Favorite New Character: Diana Allers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mf6SEcgzp-c" data-time="&start=147

Okay, I'll address elephant in the room first: the ending. It sucks. It really sucks. There's no denying that and no matter how much some people may try to defend it (why?) it is downright terrible. Rumors point to some internal troubles or politics at BioWare which caused the story writer and director to go behind the team's back and change the ending at the last minute, and other rumors point to more shady dealings like wanting the real ending be DLC. Whatever the case may be, the ending backfired on BioWare and they've lost a lot of fans, and haven't made a great game since. I'll keep talking shit: who the fuck is Jessica Chobot, and why is she in this game? Was this some flavor of the month journalist who somehow got herself weaseled into the game? I really don't know, but she looks uncanny and ugly (uglier than Ryder) and shouldn't be in this. She plays no role in the story anyway, and nobody knows who the fuck she is anymore.

With that out of the way, I can say this safely: the ending does not ruin the game, or the experience of playing through an epic space-faring RPG trilogy. Some will say it does, but are you seriously going to sit there and tell me that 60+ hour of RPG'ing is completely destroyed by the last 10 minutes of the last game? I don't think so. I mean, yeah, I really wanted a proper final boss instead of a Marauder with shields. I wanted a lot which we didn't get, unfortunately, but that's okay. Look past that and look at the rest of the game, because it's really, really good.

In Mass Effect 3, the galaxy is at stake and you constantly feel that pressure coming from the imminent Reaper attack. There's really not much filler. Every mission involves saving a race from extinction, or wrapping up any loose ends left over from previous games. That's also what I loved. All these characters you met back in ME1, like the reporter, show up in their respective grand finales here. Even the side missions this time around are exciting. I wish there were more direct references to Mass Effect 2, but alas that was not the case. Most of the new playable characters from that game disappear or do not join your party, and the Collectors never show up again. I'm not going to blame ME3 for that, though. It has plenty of more important content. Even the build up to the actual Reaper fights on the Krogan and Tali's homeworld are amazing. Cerberus has been turned into some sort of white supremacist analog and I'm okay with that too because the game did still need human foes, although I hated how Udina turned out to be an enemy because I always preferred him as a selfish, stuck-up jackass rather than an actual villain. Everything else is ultra-refined to near perfection. The planet mining is done better, the combat is much better, planet exploration is more fun, and wrapping up each individual character's story was rewarding. The set pieces also look much better than anything we've seen (Cerberus HQ, Rannoch, and Palaven are my favorite). I especially loved the final romance scenes in the game, and everything building up to the (disappointing) ending on Earth was amazing.

If it weren't for the ending I probably would've ranked it higher, and I do believe that it could've been the perfect sequel if they actually spent some time on it. It's a bit unfortunate, especially because this was BioWare's last hurrah before they turned to shit. No, I haven't Andromeda, but from everything I've heard and seen, it looks like crap and I won't be touching it. They're in an even worse position now than ever before. But if they keep doing shit like putting people like Chobot in their games they're going to dig their hole even further.