Smalltalk with James Robertson

This is so not the issue with the ending of Mass Effect 3:

The company is now devoting all of its efforts to producing an "extended cut" DLC for the summer, but fans expecting a fourth ending where they can watch Commander Shepard on a sun-lounger, margarita in hand had better start complaining now -- the new content will only offer more depth and an extended epilogue to those tragic scenes you've already witnessed.

The issue is far simpler: the endings - based on established canon - render all of Shepard's choices moot, as the destruction of the relays destroys all extant galactic civilizations. Period. as I've said before, BioWare will retcon that - it's all a matter of when. They either do it now, and have some chance of not looking like complete idiots - or they do it later, when it finally dawns on Casey Hudson that future storytelling in the ME setting has been destroyed.

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I see that BioWare has announced some "additional cinematics" to give better endgame closure. That's simply not enough; the ending broke things so badly (and made so little sense) that it really, really needs to be redone.

I just watched the ending again as my daughter finished it; the destruction of the relays is utterly unambiguous. The Normandy fleeing (with people you had in the final battle) makes no sense at all. The only way any of that works is if some variant of the indoctrination theory is what happened. Anything else, and BioWare has shutdown the possibility of further gaming in that setting. Why? Well:

• The destruction of the relays took out every advanced civilization in the galaxy, including humanity. Those soldiers you saw celebrating on earth? They did that for about two seconds, before earth got vaporized. Sorry Hudson, your existing lore states that a destroyed relay takes out the system - hell, the Batarian's anger over that fact is part of ME3.
• What few civilized remnants remain on outer colonies are now cut off from galactic trade - no relays, no communication - no home systems to even go back to.
• Even if the knowledge to rebuild the relays exists, getting them back in place will be the work of centuries, if not milleniums. Never mind that it'll probably be the work of the next cycle's set of races, as this cycle's races were wiped out by the relay destructions.

It's not about having a "happy" ending; it's about having one that makes sense. The one we saw? Outside of Indoctrination, it simply doesn't work. Either BioWare retcons it now, or they do it later when they decide to release a new game in the same setting. They have to do it regardless. Here's what they have to say:

Although some have expressed concern that Bioware could compromise the integrity of its writers' original intentions, co-founder Ray Muzyka claims: “We think we have struck a good balance in delivering the answers players are looking for while maintaining the team’s artistic vision for the end of this story arc in the Mass Effect universe.”

So at this point, the intransigence on the part of EA and Hudson is all about not wanting to look like "they caved to the fans". Guys - you have to retcon the ending eventually, or there's no setting for any future games. Full stop, period. That means you can salvage some small measure of fan (read: future customer) support by doing it now, or you can look as stupid as the Highlander writers did when they did Highlander 2, which was ignored by the subsequent movies and TV show.

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The more I think about the ending given to us by Hudson, the more I realize that it doesn't work for anyone - not fans, and - interestingly enough - not for BioWare, since they've said that they want to set future games in that universe (without Shepard). Why doesn't it work? Well:

The Mass Relays are gone. No matter which ending you picked, they all blew up. So consider: every species' fleet is now stranded around earth, with no way home. Mass starvation (and maybe renewed war, as the survivors start blaming humans for the problem). The only ones who survive that mess intact are the Geth, who can live through the long flight to somewhere else.

Now consider the ravaged homeworlds of the various species - mass destruction, and all trade outside their home systems cut off - for a long, long time. The lore has it that the relays have been around "forever" - rebuilding them will be the work of centuries (assuming that the knowledge to do so even exists). It looks like each one will have to be built in place before travel over long distances is possible, so... interstellar travel is basically gone.

So congratulations, Mr. Hudson - you made future storytelling in this universe nearly impossible. Not only did you tick off fans everywhere, but - once your management team realizes just how badly you've screwed the pooch, they won't be happy either. It takes rare talent to irritate all and sundry, but I think you've managed the trick.

This may explain why they've decided to revisit the ending - it's one thing to irritate long time fans; it's something else again to kill a franchise.

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I've finished the game on the PC, and I'm playing through a second time on my XBox. In that second game, I've just gotten through the end of the Geth/Qurian confrontation. Here's my proposal:

The people who wrote that part of the game? They're awesome. The moron who wrote the end? He needs to be removed from the Mass Effect franchise, post haste. Having done that, have the people who wrote the second act give us an ending that makes sense. That doesn't mean a "happy" ending, btw - it would be entirely reasonable for the ending to be sad.

But it should make sense.

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I'm not going to give away any spoilers in this post - I'll link to this, which explains in very good detail what's wrong with the ending. Which is too bad, really - the rest of ME3 is quite good.

Here's what BioWare should do: release DLC that gives players the kinds of ending choices discussed in the linked article.

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Recently, I played through the original Mass Effect again - and it reminded me how much better a game than ME2 it was. Sure, the controls were clunkier, and the combat wasn't quite as smooth - but the RPG elements were solid, and the choices felt like they mattered.

After playing the ME3 demo, I'm disappointed. One of the gameplay options is to remove conversation completely, and have it all in cutscenes. That also means that leaving it in will be irrelevant, as the main story arc will be driven the same way, regardless of how you pick your responses. Instead, we have "Gears Effect".

And that's a problem. Why? Well, it's not that Gears of War is a bad game, it's that it's a different game. It's a 3rd person shooter, with excellent combat mechanics. It has a story, but it's linear - you're along for the ride, and you're there to shoot things. Mass Effect isn't supposed to be that way - it's supposed to be an RPG. Last time I looked, the video gaming space was big enough to have both shooters and RPGs in it - why did the "brilliant" EA marketing team decide that the world needed another Gears of War (with less fluid combat, I might add)?

The old BioWare is completely dead, and that's a sad thing. Some of us like story driven RPG games, and EA's marketing team has just gone out and destroyed that. Maybe some of the original BioWare staff can start up a new studio that's interested in the idea.

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The Skyrim Creation Kit is coming Tuesday:

The Skyrim Creation Kit will be available for the PC version this Tuesday, according to a tweet from Bethesda VP of Marketing Pete Hines. It'll be available through Steam under "Tools," for free. As if the ability to generate infinite, free Skyrim content through mods weren't enough, Hines also teased a "special surprise" that would be coming along with it. We'll have to wait until Tuesday to see what that is, but we're guessing dragons. That game would be awesome with some dragons in it.

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The gear on redbubble is just awesome:

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If you have a gaming oriented site that you would like to promote on our Thu'umcast page, let us know - we've added an affiliates area (check it out) to the front page!

Just drop us a line over at the Facebook group, or email me.

We did a Facebook episode a bit ago - the group has exploded with great comments, topics, and discussions, so we're going to do it again. We can't possibly go chronologically (there's too much!) - so here's our idea: start a new set of discussions about what we should cover on the show, and we'll do shoutouts to everyone we can. While you're at it, tell us which member of the cast should do the shoutout for you.

Thanks again - we couldn't do this without all of you!

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