Half a decade in the making and three chapters later, fans of Biowares hit title Mass Effect were able to purchase the final game of the trilogy this past March. For many, this was the end of a saga. Hundreds of decisions and countless hours culminated in the final fight for Earth and all sentient life in the galaxy. But great concepts come with great expectations. For some, the Mass Effect games were merely a mediocre shooter with a dialogue tree. But for others, it was an immense and immersive game with a well conceived plot, a slick combat system and an expansive playable environment. These are the people who scrambled home after securing their copies of Mass Effect 3 and viciously tore into the final moments of Commander Shepards glorious adventure. Within the week, there was a tremendous outcry from players who had completed the game. After all those hours spent making sure every single member of the Normandy crew survived the suicide mission in Mass Effect 2, after completing every additional fetch quest on the Citadel to make sure war assets were available, after every single thought out decision made in all three games, fans were not happy to find that all their efforts merely changed the colour of the explosion during the trilogys finale. Imagine yourself spending an entire afternoon building a house of cards only to have someone run up to you and kick you in the nuts, thats what it felt like. Many took to the internet, cataloging their disdain on blogs and message boards. Some angry fans even mailed cupcakes to Bioware; regardless of the cupcakes colour they would all taste the same, vanilla. People were definitely pissed off, and why shouldnt they be? I played the original Mass Effect three times, and then played the second and third games as well. Thats five play throughs and dozens of hours poured into a trilogy that basically had no substantial ending. Maybe its a metaphor for life, but the fans simply saw it as bad storytelling. After a huge backlash from the community Bioware co-founder Dr. Muzyka, known for his charity work, penned an open letter to Mass Effect 3 players. While attempting to quell fear and maintain the respect of loyal fans, while also dismissing the less constructive haters, Muzyka mentions that the team will set out to work on free downloadable content to supplement the current ending due this summer (we have seen free DLC but no supplementary ending as of yet). Youll sometimes find older gamers reminiscing about the good old days, when there were no patches and games stayed broken. Personally, I cant imagine Pokemon Red without MissingNo.. But the advent of the internet and online social media has given gamers and game developers this sort of transparent window which they can sometimes communicate through. Supplementary DLC is nothing new but in recent years, in the console market especially, developers have been coming up with ways to alter published games based on consumer feedback. Halo 3s matchmaking service was tweaked almost monthly by Bungie, ensuring that players were content with the playlists and game-types available. Now we have Mass Effect 3, a predominantly story driven game now getting a totally rehashed ending. As bestowed to Lisa by President Clinton on The Simpsons (the episode where Bart gets a horse), If things don't go your way, just keep complaining until your dreams come true. If Bioware holds true to their promise of a re-constructed ending, Mass Effect 3 will set a new precedent for the gaming industry. Video games will no longer be confined to the shackles of merely whats on the disc or even what the initial concept was. Developers may be expected to maintain and perfect published games like a well oiled machine long after their release. Mass Effect 3 fans will have their way, but the age old adage of be careful what you wish for comes to mind. Whether they botch this second attempt or not, Mass Effect 3 and its fan-demanded ending will perhaps change gaming and the game development process forever.
