Mass Effect fans need to man up

Unless you're a woman, of course. In which case, just straight up stop complaining.

Now, I'm not into the Mass Effect series, and I haven't even played them. Perhaps, therefore, you might think that I'm not really qualified to comment on it. Perhaps I need to have played these games- and so I am willing to chow down on a little humble pie once this blog post has been condemned. But I digress.

It seems that, aside from the arbitrary 9.5 out of 10 reviews given by gaming websites such as IGN, all I've heard regarding Mass Effect 3 is a lot of disappointment and, to be brutally honest, a lot of whining and complaining.

The first grievance I came across concerned Bioware's decision to release "day one DLC" for Mass Effect 3, which you would either have to buy for an additional fee, or buy a premium, "special edition" version of the game which would obviously cost more than the regular one. Then I was made to understand that this DLC basically withheld a crucial in-game character from anybody who did not purchase it. Yeah, that's kind of annoying- I'd be mad at that, even if the game was playable without it.






However, what has raised my ire are the lament's of Mass Effect 3 players regarding the game's allegedly controversial ending. In fact, the protestation has not only lead to Bioware considering changing the ending, but- most obnoxiously to myself- has lead to certain individuals demanding and even receiving refunds from online sales giant Amazon, as reported by thegamingvault.com.

Rumours also abound that online services PlayStation Network and Origin have also been offering refunds for those dissatisfied with the third installment- particularly it's ending.

Now, to me, that is ridiculous.

If I go to the cinema and watch a really bad film- say like oh, I don't know, John Carter- and sit through it right to the end, and then walk out and demand a refund for it being rubbish, I don't expect to get it. There's no precedent for that, and I'm pretty sure it just plain doesn't happen.
Sure, if the picture was bad and the sound was crackling then I'd expect to get my money back for the substandard quality of how the content was delivered- but as I understand, the complaint that people has with Mass Effect 3 is with it's content itself, not without it is presented. It's not riddled with glitches like Skyrim apparently was. Most- if not all of these people- have sat through and played the entire game, probably enjoying it, and then decided they didn't like the ending and want their money back. I personally feel that that is ridiculous and even a tad pathetic.

Pictured: failure in two words.

It sets a precedent for games to come, whereby if I decide the ending sucked I can get my money back. But really, that's nothing to do with the quality of the content, that's to do with it's creative direction.

I don't feel it's justified. If you're not happy with how a game goes, that's your hard luck for not waiting a little to see how it gets reviewed and then making a judgment call on whether you want to keep the good memories of the current series entries in your mind untainted by another sequel, or take the risk of being disappointed. Just accept that this is just your way of venting and getting even at Bioware for giving you an ending you just don't like. I'm sure there have been plenty of popular game franchises with less-than stellar endings, but I don't recall this calibre of whining and crying about it. Maybe it's because we live in a generation of complainers where we're so used to getting exactly what we want when we want it by crying about it- a culture made easy in today's technological age- but that's for another article all together.

Man up, accept that you bought the game and that you played and and that no one forced you to, then take it down to GameStation and trade it in for half the price- because let's face it, you got some of the game's worth for the however many hours you spent playing/enjoying it.

If GameStation exists by then, of course.