Editing Bioware (section)

====Mass Effect 3====
Mass Effect 3 is the most divisive of the three games and was host to some pretty impressive [[Skub|nerd-protests]], but was overall a decent experience with a trip at the finish line. The game starts with the BBEG, the Reapers invading the galaxy in full force, leaving it to Shepard to do the impossible (again) and find a way to stop them before they purge the current galactic civilizations. So Shepard takes the space pimp ride into the galaxy(again) and gathers critical items to stop the Reapers in a giant project while saving essential people and equipment from Reaper blockades a-la Han Solo/John Wick on steroids. (and Eezo)

The game expanded the previously streamlined combat and developed it to a fine point, and the game took another face-lift graphically, though shortened firefight distances render sniper rifles unnecessary, unlike ME2. The story was overall decently received with a lot of YMMV discussion about how it was handled. Some did not like how some of the plotlines from earlier games were handled, how they were ended and whether or not they even mattered in the first place. Character development takes a bit of a back-seat now that Shepard has been on-board therapist for his entire crew since ME1 and 2 - and somewhat surprisingly, the one who gets the most focus is Shepard themselves, who visibly grows closer and closer to his/her breaking point. The grimdark atmosphere is also appreciated, as the Galaxy-wide war for survival darkens every locale and populace, refugees stream into the Citadel and people start becoming desperate, raging against the dying of the light.

A multiplayer mode was added, which, while originally controversial, turned out to be pretty fun and challenging.

Most of the problems with the third game were because most of the development team for the first two games (including several of the writers and head writer Drew Karpyshyn) quit partway through developing the second game or did not return to work on the third game. Their reasons for this were internal strife with Bioware as [[EA|they were subsumed into EA, conflicts of interest and disagreement over the direction they wanted the story to go]]. 

But all of this is not what you wanna hear about. You wanna hear about the ending, one of the most divisive events in modern gaming history. Without going into too much detail, the ending(s) for the game were immediately seen as some of the worst writing in a game to date, casually ignored most of the choices prior in the trilogy (something the devs had promised wouldn't happen) and left a ship-load of unanswered questions. The result was a several-month long campaign to have the ending changed, which eventually led to Bioware releasing a DLC that added to the original endings. It was well-received but many felt it still did not do the games justice - but at the very least it was free. DLCs for the game are considered a mixed bag - Some are quite mediocre (like Omega), while others are considered better than the base game (Citadel-with money grindable VR Combat Arena none the less!) and [[DERP|brought the strongest weapon in the shape of a silenced pistol]].  On that note, two story-essential arcs were initially rendered DLC ("From Ashes" where the last Prothean is found and "Leviathan" where THE source of Reapers, the oldest race in the universe is finally met, explaining the whole Reaper Cycle and its logic), but they were later integrated into the main game at no extra charge.

A bit of a whimper to end on, but no end to a good journey has ever been perfect.