Showing posts with label BioWare. Show all posts
Showing posts with label BioWare. Show all posts

Monday, March 26, 2012

I want it my way!!!!!

I think there's only a few things in life that you should custom order and get the way you want. Bras and hamburgers being two of them. Everything else should be taken as it comes.

That includes video games.

While I appreciate the convenience and "add on" nature of DownLoadable Content (DLC) too often I find that the part you need to download is actually some computer code that unlocks what is already loaded on the disk in the first place. If I purchased the disk I should have access to file on the disk to play a game so why am I asked to pay more for what I've already bought. But the problem is more than just DLC.

It's now about endings.

While I own Mass Effect 3, I haven't played it yet because I've just started playing the second one. From everything I've heard from friends, the game packs one hell of a whopping ending. What I read online is another matter.

There are so many people out there that are lodging complaints with the FCC about how the games ends in ME3. They've filed lawsuits and petitions and bombarded websites that allow people to review products with negative reviews. BioWare at first came out and said it was a great ending and they were sorry gamers didn't see if the way the developers did. Now they're coming out with a different story.

They're listening to people's "constructive" comments and just recently released a statement that they are working on "fixing" the ending so gamers can have a more enjoyable experience with the game. Really?

Is that what's our society has come to now? I remember when video games came out in a static format. Cartridges that couldn't be changed. All content created for the games was INCLUDED with the game when it was released. If there were bugs you dealt with it or moved on (and there were many games that were killed because of all the bugs). There was no opportunity to change the ending of a game.

Since when has it become acceptable to whine like a little baby to the point that a developer has to change the outcome of a game from the way they saw things happening to the way a few gamers wanted things to be? Even a Choose Your Own Adventure game had predetermined endings for the protagonist. If you want more leave it up to the developers to design a sequel or a "shadow" series like Orson Scott Card did with Bean from the Ender's series.

And what does this all mean for those of us who haven't played the game yet? Will there be an automatic game update that will change the ending whether we want to or not? Will we be able to see the "original" ending at all? Will we be forced to deny any game updates (and thus be regulated to playing "offline" for the whole game) to avoid those updates in order to preserve the original ending?

And why do we look down on Geroge Lucas for fiddling with his Star Wars Saga when a select few gamers are asking . . . no demanding . . . BioWare does the same thing with their franchise?

I know Mass Effect tauts the gameplay of making choices that effect the outcome of the game. But people need to understand that BioWare can't take every possible outcome into consideration when designing the game. Did you persuade here but intimidate there? Did you place nice right up to the end? Did you "accidentally" kill someone you shouldn't have because the dog just peed on your carpet and you took your frustrations out in the game? Come on people, get real.

If you're lactose intolerant you're not going to want cheese on your hamburger. If you're the proud owner of a pair of jugs that would make the Baywatch lifeguards jealous with how much they can bounce, you're not going to want to squeeze them into an A cup. Stop your whining and let's play video games the way they were meant to be played. ALL the game content available when it's purchased AND with the original endings. That's the way it should be. And that's the way I want it.