I liked the ending to Mass Effect 3

[Joccaren]

While I'm not very happy with the whole Joker bit either, I would like to point something out. Relay travel is nearly instantaneous. Joker was in normal FTL flight - like what you do around a star system. Whenever the ship is in flight around a solar system (or between solar systems using fuel) is glows blue like that. It DOESN'T during Relay jumps.

So the Normandy wasn't using the Relay in that scene.

Now... what exactly it WAS doing is very unclear. How Joker got your squad onboard when random soldier said they (and Shep) were killed is also unclear and makes little sense.

It also means one other thing - the Normandy crashes within FTL distance of Earth. If any of the rest of the fleet survive with intact ships, they can pick up the Normandy crew.

That is actually pretty much my Theory too. He is not in Relay Transit, but trying maybe to outrun that specific beam of energy that the Crucible fires (Which makes no sense in control as it was a wave of energy rather than a specific beam, if you'll watch this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPelM2hwhJA&feature=youtu.be
Which is probably why most think he is in relay transit - its the only time all three energy types are in a beam form.
Then, instead of dropping out of Relay transit or W/E, he is pulled back through the energy Beam to its Origin - in Orbit of Earth. They crashland somewhere along the Pacific Equatorial Region, or some place like that. Of course, the second planet in the sky needs some explaining, but I'll get to that eventually.

 

[Sentox6]

It's over now, you can just walk away. All the bad ending means is the difference between remembering and forgetting your time with the game. But the idea that you cannot move on until they've fixed their doodey? Come on people.

Of course I can "move on". It's a game, after all. But as a consumer, I was promised A, and I got B, so of course I'm going to make noise about that. I've been disappointed in plenty of games, but never one where so many direct statements have been made about its content prior to release that turned out to be blatant falsehoods. That's why I'm not "moving on".

 

[Syzygy23]

You liked the ending?

So... if someone promised to make you any sort of sandwich you wanted from a list of ingredients, let you assemble it yourself, and then just as you took the last bite they yanked it out of your hands and shit in your mouth, you'd think that would taste delicious?

Well, to each his own... Just don't ever recommend that I try a sandwich, I can't trust your taste.

It's over now, you can just walk away. All the bad ending means is the difference between remembering and forgetting your time with the game. But the idea that you cannot move on until they've fixed their doodey? Come on people.

Of course I can "move on". It's a game, after all. But as a consumer, I was promised A, and I got B, so of course I'm going to make noise about that. I've been disappointed in plenty of games, but never one where so many direct statements have been made about its content prior to release that turned out to be blatant falsehoods. That's why I'm not "moving on".

You've got me there. Seems there is a gap between the actual bad writing of the end and the execution from a design angle. You're right, we were promised that it would be you typical "A,B or C" ending, when actually that's exactly what it fucking was.
I'm reminded of the way there's no actual law that says politicians have to keep ANY of the promises they make during election campaigns.

Uh, no... The Lead Designer specifically stated in an interview that Mass Effect 3 was supposed to end in a way that cobbled all your past decisions together and made a custom one built upon those past choices and their consequences.

 

[psicat]

I loved the endings. For me the whole game was a beautiful ending to the series. Though so far in my two play throughs I've only picked Destroy or Synthesis, I can't see any of my Shepards picking Control no matter how Paragon it's painted to be.

Control seems like a naive choice since you're taking it on the catalyst child's word alone that you can control, and keep control of the Reapers. It seems more like it's and the Reapers way of trying to protect themselves and keep the cycle going. It is probably a trick, and the self-preservation choice for the enemy, and what they tried to push on the Protheans through their indoctrinated agents in the past.

Destroy is what Shepard has been working towards from the beginning. The destruction of the Reapers to preserve life. And, once again you only have the catalysts word that it would cause the destruction of all synthetic life. So how Renegade it seems depends more on the players instincts and how much they choose to believe the information they are being given and it's source.

Synthesis seems like a new idea, perhaps even to the catalyst itself. Something only possible because of Shepard and what they are at this point. And, offers some interesting possibilities to the future of that galaxy and a greater chance of survival perhaps.

 

[Savagezion]

What about the one where the child says "Humans and synthetics" can't co-exist?"

Well, that's sort of the point - you've just proven that they can. Child AI is obviously stupid - in the way that computer programs are. Very fast idiots and all that.

It would have been nice if you could say: "Um, look outside - Quarian and Geth forces, fighting side by side."

Of course, the Starchild would probably have said "Beep, boop, does not compute. Organics and synthetics cannot coexist."

And then I would decommission his worthless robot ass. My paragon would, my renegade would have long before that, and my in between infiltrator would too probably. At best, my infiltrator would say he isn't gonna pick between the options and watch the battle instead. If it ever became inevitable we would lose, he would pick the destroy option. But the kid would probably keep bugging him to pick and not watch the battle so the kid would probably still end up getting his head blown off.

Although... I suppose it is fair to say that it is actually kind of hard to get the peace between Geth and Quarians. That issue rings a little more true if the Geth and Quarians just murdered one another until one was wiped out.

Yeah, in some playthroughs I could see people not spotting this.

Although, that is why I added in the pants-on-head-retarded bit about having "synthetics kill organics so that synthetics wont kill organics." That is a scene where I was pretty sure everyone would stop and think, "Did he just say what I think he did?" And at that moment, you know this kid is no longer worth talking to, if you don't automatically think he is trying to deceive you and need to die. I would think most people would want to kill him after saying something so stupid, not out of rage but suspicion. Even if you really think about the possibility that he is innocent after saying something so stupid, all you did was kill some retarded ass bot. No harm done.

 

[Ickorus]

The ending isn't bad (If we ignore all the massive plot-holes and of course the god child ass-pull), it's just that there is very little difference no matter what you choose that people are so angry about.

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

Although, that is why I added in the pants-on-head-retarded bit about having "synthetics kill organics so that synthetics wont kill organics." That is a scene where I was pretty sure everyone would stop and think, "Did he just say what I think he did?" And at that moment, you know this kid is no longer worth talking to, if you don't automatically think he is trying to deceive you and need to die. I would think most people would want to kill him after saying something so stupid, not out of rage but suspicion. Even if you really think about the possibility that he is innocent after saying something so stupid, all you did was kill some retarded ass bot. No harm done.

Yeah, but as I said farther down in the post of mine you just quoted (or the one before, I can't remember anymore) the Reapers don't technically kill people. They transform them into Reapers.

Well, they kill the ones they turn into husks, but the ones they melt in factories get "transformed" into Reapers. As far as Starkid is concerned, they didn't die - therefore they are saved.

And that has been foreshadowed since ME2. Harbinger spent the whole game telling us that was what he was doing (and it was confirmed as literal in the final boss fight with the Human Reaper).

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

Then, instead of dropping out of Relay transit or W/E, he is pulled back through the energy Beam to its Origin - in Orbit of Earth. They crashland somewhere along the Pacific Equatorial Region, or some place like that. Of course, the second planet in the sky needs some explaining, but I'll get to that eventually.

Wait, is that what happened?!

I didn't think it was Earth because it looked too... nice. I got the impression that there was very little "open natural locations" left on Earth.

However, if that IS Earth, then... actually, that's a lot better than most people have...

...

Wait, it can't be Earth. Cause doesn't the Normandy still crash on the same planet even if Earth burns/blows up?

 

[Savagezion]

Although, that is why I added in the pants-on-head-retarded bit about having "synthetics kill organics so that synthetics wont kill organics." That is a scene where I was pretty sure everyone would stop and think, "Did he just say what I think he did?" And at that moment, you know this kid is no longer worth talking to, if you don't automatically think he is trying to deceive you and need to die. I would think most people would want to kill him after saying something so stupid, not out of rage but suspicion. Even if you really think about the possibility that he is innocent after saying something so stupid, all you did was kill some retarded ass bot. No harm done.

Yeah, but as I said farther down in the post of mine you just quoted (or the one before, I can't remember anymore) the Reapers don't technically kill people. They transform them into Reapers.

Well, they kill the ones they turn into husks, but the ones they melt in factories get "transformed" into Reapers. As far as Starkid is concerned, they didn't die - therefore they are saved.

And that has been foreshadowed since ME2. Harbinger spent the whole game telling us that was what he was doing (and it was confirmed as literal in the final boss fight with the Human Reaper).

Right, but this is a part I have a hard time buying anyone out there would be like "Oh, ok that doesn't count as killing then". Same reason you bolded the word technically in the first paragraph. The robot is still retarded in the same way, only you could see why he is retarded. I think it still apparent he is trying to pull a fast one on you. The fact that you can't buck up against it even further cements that suspicion for me. My Shepard's would have blown the kids brains out unless I could tell the kid he was wrong. If he "Did not compute" then he would have been destroyed. It comes off as a robot with its own agenda trying to put a spin on it but is bad at it. So amazingly bad at it. He clearly hasn't been working on a plan in the past 50,000 years.

 

[Erttheking]

I respectfully disagree with your opinion.

 

[Storm Dragon]

I really only had two problems:
1) Where is the Normandy going, why is it going there, and how are Liara and Garrus on it when they were down on Earth with me?
2) Was the destruction of the relay network necessary, BioWare?

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

Right, but this is a part I have a hard time buying anyone out there would be like "Oh, ok that doesn't count as killing then". Same reason you bolded the word technically in the first paragraph. The robot is still retarded in the same way, only you could see why he is retarded. I think it still apparent he is trying to pull a fast one on you. The fact that you can't buck up against it even further cements that suspicion for me. My Shepard's would have blown the kids brains out unless I could tell the kid he was wrong. If he "Did not compute" then he would have been destroyed. It comes off as a robot with its own agenda trying to put a spin on it but is bad at it. So amazingly bad at it. He clearly hasn't been working on a plan in the past 50,000 years.

Well, your Shepard (and mine, and everyones) is a barely functional burn victim by that point. I mean, you can barely shoot the Illusive Man - and I've wanted to do that for two full games now.

At that point, faced with letting people die every second, I think the assumption is that Shep is just too tired to argue anymore.

Plus... again, I liked the Control option, cause Reapers make great Relay Repair Robots.

And for railroading... what about ME2? I felt WAY better about going along with Starkid than I did about signing on with the Illusive Man. Where was my option to get on the SR2 and fly to the Local Cluster, Scan Uranus for LOLs, and then turn the Normandy over to the Alliance (and ask for a new ship to go investigate the Collectors in, on Specter Authority please).

At least Starkid was trustworthy in that "I am too literal to lie properly, beep boop" kind of way. The Illusive Man was so slimy... and yet, Paragon or Renegade, you HAVE to go along with his wacky plan to join a terrorist organization for no good reason in ME2.

As far as the logic being awful - well, it's machine logic. Like the Borg in Star Trek always think they're doing you a favor by taking away your free will. Or the Cybermen in Doctor Who. Or, hell, the GETH. The Geth don't understand that whole "killing is bad" thing until you hang out with Legion for a while. In his loyalty mission, Shep is concerned about murdering the Heretics (or can be, depending on dialogue options) and Legion is like "meh, who cares - brainwash them or blow them up, it's all good." Legion (and the Geth) don't get why organics care so much until that last moment when Legion starts referring to himself as "I" instead of "we". And the Geth are the friendly, peace-loving AIs.

Like I said, the reason why the Reapers did what they did (and the fact that they were absolutely convinced that they were doing you the biggest favor imaginable) was foreshadowed in ME2. Playing ME2, I understood that the Reapers weren't killing everyone - they were "harvesting" them. To the Reapers, "harvesting" a civilization was the greatest gift they could give - immortality. The Reapers were making everyone "immortal" by turning them into more Reapers.

From our point of view as individuals, it sounds insane. But from an intelligent, networked AI (like the Geth or Reapers) it probably sounds like a pretty sweet deal.

Hell, combining all humans into a single organism is actually the goal of some world religions (Nirvana is basically a network of souls in constant, Geth-like communication). Gnosticism has similar views. The idea that the greatest thing that could happen to humans is for us all to die and become one giant mind - to become god - is ancient.

So yeah, I thought that part of the ending was awesome and made perfect sense.

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

I really only had two problems:
1) Where is the Normandy going, why is it going there, and how are Liara and Garrus on it when they were down on Earth with me?
2) Was the destruction of the relay network necessary, BioWare?

1) Obviously Liara can now teleport. It is her secret magical girl power. The radio guy seems to indicate that everyone but you died in that charge, so Liara not only teleported (in your game and mine) but apparently rose from the dead. My theory is that Liara is secretly Sailor Thessia, and used her magical crystal to return from the dead and save Garrus (or whomever went to the final push) as well.

....

Actually, my assumption is this was poorly written code. I think the creators assumed that the player would keep their "waifu" safely on the ship, not take them on the final push. IE, the characters in your final push died, but your romantic interest and best buddy are still on the ship. ... except that lots of people (like me) took my romantic interest with me, so that we would either win together or die together. Also because Liara rocks vs Husks/Cannibals, and was helpful vs Banshees as well. So not really bad writing so much as bad implementation.

2) I have no idea. Although, it only really matters if you chose Destroy.

If you chose Control, then you can have your Reaper army rebuild the relays.

If you chose Synthesis... well, Geth and EDI don't age or require food. The Reapers (which are synthetic creatures made from organic matter) don't eat and are immortal. It is at least vaguely reasonable that the results of Synthesis would be similar. So... people can just use FTL drive. Sure, it takes years to get from cluster to cluster, but if everyone is immortal, it doesn't really matter how long it takes. Taki could take three hundred years to fly back to her homeworld, and still spend centuries upon centuries living there.

If you chose Destroy, then... yeah, everyone's pretty fucked. I think that's why that's the Renegade option.

 

[Lithan]

I ALWAYS take my LI with me... the Tali(LI)/EDI convo during the geth frigate mission is not something you can risk missing.

 

[lowkey_jotunn]

Eh, the ending was alright, I suppose. The problem is, it's set against the endings of the other 2 games, and by comparison #3 is by far the weakest ending, and it's not even close.

In #1, you jump a freaking TANK through a mass relay from an uncharted planet into the Citadel, btw I'd like to point out that you arrived on said uncharted planet via freaking AIR DROP while riding in said tank. Once you yippe-kai-yay back to the Citadel you run along the outside of a space station in zero G, tear through Geth armies, you fight the big bad who has personally tormented you all game, is directly responsible for the death of a crewmate and indirectly responsible for the death of another's mother. Whether you convinced him to shoot himself or fought his "normal" form, you still got a solid boss fight against his "body horror" form, and got to see the bigger big bad get blown to high hell.


ME2's ending involved a series of protracted battles both on your ship (vs the eye-bot thing) and on the enemy's base. Everything hinged on knowing your squadmates, and who would perform certain tasks well. Any poor choices you made in preparation are laid bare during the final mission as you watch friends die. If you chose wisely and prepared well, everyone can live and your friends get their crowning moments of awesome. Even brittle bones joker hobbles out to get a piece of the action.


In ME3. The ending has you kill 3 husks and Marauder Shields. Stagger around a little bit, and watch 15 minutes of cutscenes. The "Big Bad" is a corporate jack-hat who hasn't actually done anything to you, aside from being obstructive, and he is defeated by a single bullet... he'll do it himself or you can. And that's pretty much it. The part leading up to that, the battle in London, is identical to every other mission you've done throughout the game.

.

Final thought: If ME3 was it's own game, completely unrelated to the franchise, the ending would be just ... very mediocre. As the "final" closing moments of a half-decade long epic tale, that just doesn't cut it. Final in quotations because, well, DLC.

 

[Still Life]

I was also satisfied with the ending and the only part I have a real issue with is the Normandy scene. I can understand why many are not satisfied (to put mildly) and if I were to make a point on that, I would say that there are sections that need clearer and more detailed elucidation.

Outside of the game itself, I would say that there has been dissonance of expectation.

 

[Zen Toombs]

I respectfully disagree with your opinion.

You aren't allowed to respectfully disagree! You are only allowed to disagree with bullets.

 

[Julianking93]

From what I remember of Return of the Jedi, they had about as much closure as Mass Effect 3. The galaxy is implied to be saved, and the primary characters end up on a jungle planet (moon, whatever) and two characters kiss. The end. In fact, that's surprisingly similar to Mass Effect 3's ending.

Spoiler

Hm.... nope, unless I'm remembering this wrong. Empire's destroyed, galaxy saved. That's about as much closure as you can get. Mass Effect only bothers with killing off its protagonist and... that's it.

Which is what most people who liked the ending, including me and the OP, agree with. Yelling at the air, preaching to the choir, take your pick of metaphors.

No argument here. If you're agreeing with me, why are you mentioning it as if I shouldn't have said it?

No, it was showing that the tale of Commander Shepard was still being told centuries in the future, pretty much so they could get a nice cameo from Buzz Aldrin. How the hell did you misinterpret that?!

See, I initially took it as just that; his story being told throughout the centuries.
But instead, I read up more on it and I find that not only are most people referring to it turning out to be a fable, but most official listings I read and the general interpretation is just that; a bedtime story.
No need to get uppity about a possible misinterpretation.

There are a few legitimate complaints about the ending - I definitely, 100% agree with the lack of choice. But every time someone attacks the actual narrative of the one we got, I can't help but find it ridiculous.

I'm not attacking it. I'm simply stating my opinion on it being lackluster.
Do you see me screaming that it's complete horseshit? Do you see me bitching about it insipidly, outright demanding Bioware change the ending itself? Did you not notice that I myself referred to the outcry over a fucking video game ending as "ridiculous?"

You can't understand how the Reapers kill organic life to save it? Did you even bother thinking about that for more than 3 seconds? [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culling]

I don't even know what the fuck you're talking about at this point.
I never once mentioned the Reaper's attempts at killing organic life in order to save the universe.
How can anyone not get that? Wasn't that the entire point of the game?
Did you mistakenly quote me on this part instead of someone else, because I didn't mention that at all.
And you don't have to insult someone just because they don't like something you do.

 

[Brighton_Game_Trader]

I didn't actually see what the issue was with the ENDING at all.

The whole game had been filled-up with some bizarre story threads and when they revealed Cerberus' involvement then I realised that there were some pretty major questions left unanswered.... but they were all in the build-up to the ending.

The ending itself was a fairly neat way to tie up the events of the game, offering one last choice to define your path to glory as Shepard and lay down your version of events.

You get to see what happens to each of your teammates, you know what will become of Shepard, you know what becomes of the Reapers - what was the problem?

So, in summary, I have no idea why people hated on the ending so much. If you wanna complain - moan about the rest of the game - that was just as messed-up!

My full review for ME3 is here - http://eclectic-review.blogspot.com/2012/03/mass-effect-3-ps3.html

 

[Lithan]

Culling? That's rich.

I'm an organic, but Im so super smart I made myself a robot so I could make bigger robots to kill smart organics because smart organics make robots and robots kill smart and dumb organics. You know this is true because like I said, I was a super smart organic. Smart enough to know that what has never happened is a certainty unless I prevent it despite the fact that I'm the one who started it and I base the fact that it's a certainty on the fact that I did in fact start it. I also base that fact that it can't be stopped on the fact that I stopped it. And I made these robots so that I can stop you from having to stop it because like me you can't, except I did.


Yeah, Culling. That's what that is.