Soooo....Mass Effect 3

[Lissa]

They've already alienated their fan base Jester. Why do you think the fans are up in arms over this ending? As I also said, there is commentary on record by BioWare's people stating that the ending would be based on your overall actions in the game and the opposite is true in the game. What I noted earlier is true, ME 3 ends up being like an M Night Shamalaya movie, it's got this good pacing and good story and then you hit the ending and it comes out of left field with everything up to that point being for naught.

"The record" is not some magic commitment zone wherein everything said is legally enforceable in court. It's video game hype. There is extremely broad latitude given to describing the artistic content of one's works. People describe their future projects in overhyped terms all the damn time. Peter Molyneux has made an entire career out of it, and best I can tell, nobody's ever taken him to court for Fable. Arguing that you have been sold a nonfunctional or fraudulent product on grounds that weak isn't even going to get you in the door in court, let alone your money back.

I get that you feel cheated out of what was promised you. But this has gone way over the top in entitlement drama. They don't legally owe you everything they said would be true about their hypothetical future game. They just don't. Hype is not a contract.

Alienation is not binary. How BioWare responds to this will either make things better, or worse.

-Jester

I did not know anyone here (besides me) was a lawyer. Most juries I have observed over the last 40+ years would, in my opinion, conclude that the statements made by Bioware regarding what the players could expect in a choice of endings based on the choices they made in the first two games were more than mere hype. That said, I would be more than surprised if anyone receives any judicial relief.

Exactly, while I doubt the court would force BioWare to refund money, the court would see that BioWare's statements were the exact opposite of what happens. Pretty much all your decisions up to that final choice are thrown out the window, they literally have no bearing on the final choice where as BioWare is on record stating that all your choices up to that point would have an effect on the final outcome. Also, from what I have read from other people that have completed the game, if you just do the minimum story quest missions thus getting miminum war resources, your choice is made for you in that your ME 2 choice (paragon or renegade) ends up being the choice you take automatically (paragon or renegade ending -- effectively you have no choice at the end of ME 3 and are dictated what your ending is based on how you ended ME 2).