I Used to Be a Respectable Game Developer Like You; Then I Wrote Mass Effect 3's Ending

WARNING
This blog contains minor spoilers about the ending of Mass Effect 3. Read at your own risk.

Mass Effect, arguably the greatest futuristic RPG series ever made.  The first one captured your imagination and sucked you into a galaxy on the precipice of its own annihilation.  The second one struck back at the agents of that dreaded foe.  Now we have third and final installment, the last great battle with the Reapers where humanity is saved and the Reapers are finally defeated.  Right?  Isn't that how it ended?

No.  That's how everyone WISHED it had ended.  I'm not sure what Bioware was thinking when they hired a class of third graders to write the script for that game's finale, but they done goofed.  I have quite literally never been disappointed with any ending in any game, book, movie, or television show in my life as I was with Mass Effect 3's ending.  Don't get the wrong; the first two games, beginning to end, were utterly and breathtakingly astounding in their quality, and the first 98% of Mass Effect 3 was a lot the same way.  All of Mass Effect 3 suffered from sub-par writing quality in my opinion, but the action was great and the story was still good....but that ending, oh God, that ending....

I'd never felt physical pain from sheer disappointment before, but after finishing Mass Effect 3, I did.  That game's ending disappointed me more than ET for Atari 2600.  More than Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde for NES.  Almost as much as Superman for Nintendo 64.  The game overall was still great, but that ending honestly cheapened the entire series for me a little bit.  Part of me sometimes wishes that I hadn't ever played it.  Obviously that's a bit of hyperbole, but still, the ending really did lower my opinion of the entire series a little bit.  Bioware says that they're releasing DLC next month to "fix" the ending.  Great, so I have to give you even more money for an ending that doesn't suck my balls?  And what about that DLC (called like, From the Ashes or something like that) that they released THE DAY AFTER the game launched?  Seriously, guys, this is why I hate the entire principle of downloadable content. FINISH THE DAMN GAME BEFORE YOU SELL IT.  There is literally not a single valid excuse in the world aside from "We're greedy ass holes and you idiots will pay whatever we charge" for releasing DLC even within the first month after launch.  If it weren't for the fact that we're all demanding a halfway decent ending, I'd be pissed over this April DLC, too (well, angrier than I am just in general).

I've got a friend who is so distraught about the ending of Mass Effect 3 that he's talked about boycotting all future Bioware games out of anger.  I think that might be a bit extreme, but I definitely understand where he's coming from.  I don't want to talk too much more about this - my blood pressure is starting to rise - but I had to say SOMETHING about that ending.  It truly is unrivaled among otherwise amazing games in poor quality.