I don't watch handegg, so I can't understand your anaolgy, but I'm sure it's great.

Yep, apparently they couldn't fix things with only a few months left, I don't know much about the development process of these big games but I do know that getting your game off to and back from cert is a hassle, so they probably had to hurry. I'd like to think it was just higher-ups pushing the team for time, but frankly with the caliber of their last three releases I wonder if they have any swriters of significant talent left. 

Don't even get me started on what was wrong with the endings. Holy shit. They dun' goofed. 

"Handegg." You're one of those people. Rather than educate you about why watching some C-grade actors run laps for over an hour while faking injuries actually isn't entertaining, let's stick to Mass Effect.

I can't agree that the writing team isn't still good. The game was filled with terrific moments. So many great scenes, a bunch of great dialogue, and, my personal favorite, a lot of top-tier conversations between your squadmates. I would have preferred that the latter was more 'in addition to' the Shepard-teammate discussions of ME2 than 'instead of', but I can live with it. To be honest, I thought the writing was great, even up to that final dash towards the light. It's only after things start to go wrong that things start to go wrong, which does suggest that time was the big issue.

That said, a quick look through the internet implies that the ending was solely in the hands of two writers, one of whom was the head writer. I'm curious to hear what those two in particular were responsible for writing in the rest of the game, because they certainly    chose poorly. Perhaps they're just the two bad apples that have spoiled the bunch?

I do, however, take your wider meaning. I'm glad I didn't actually pay for DA2, because it was just a bad game all around, writing included. And I've heard that The Old Republic is, erm, uneven in its quality. So it might be that Bioware has just expanded too quickly and too much for the writing talent to stay solid throughout all their products. Lord knows good writing takes a ton of time and effort to develop...and that videogames are rarely the first choice for talented writers.

So can someone explain to me why the ending is so horribly bad? It wasn't the most optimal of endings and I think they did it that way just so they could have a big twist at the end but really I thought the ending was just fine. I actually liked it.

I think this mostly boils down to a few key things.

1. People's expectations were so unrealistically high that they had to nitpick everything in the game.
2. The game was made by Bioware so haters gonna hate.
3. People were so mad about the day one DLC, online pass and how the MP/SP cross over with each other in a kind of lame way that they made a way bigger deal about every little thing.
4. People in general are petrified of change and surprises and that ending was quite unexpected.

Honestly this ending thing about ME3 reminds me of the Skyrim issues and how they were blown into ridiculous proportions. Even if you don't like the ending in ME3, most videogames don't even come close to having as good of an ending as this game does (videogame endings in general are mostly not all that great).

Let's try this approach instead. Why makes you like the ending?

(And don't worry, I will explain my issues with it. I just think it will be more effective to explain it this way)

I'm finding that trying to do Silver with a Vanguard who doesn't know how to play Vanguard is worse than doing Silver with an empty spot.

I realize I'm robbing my topic of eight hundred billion replies, but would it be all right if this discussion was moved to the topic about how much the ending sucks? If possible I would like to discuss anything else here, even though apparently only four people on this website actually play Mass Effect.

*shrug*

I don't mind. Although as the game's Official Thread, discussion of the game's ending, inter alia, does logically belong here.

On a more serious note, maybe you should just rename this thread to "The Official Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer Thread," since I get the impression that's primarily all you're going to talk about going forward, albeit with occasional soliloquys about this or that SP conversation.

Huh, that came off snarkier than I thought. Methinks my bedtime's coming up.

I see. Well, never mind, then. Carry on

Nah, it's cool, we'll move it there. No need for spoiler tags, for starters. Think of the time we'll save!

So to change the topic a bit, I also learned that Mordin got a new voice actor for this game. Has it really been too long since I played ME2, or did the new guy just really step up to the plate?