Mass Effect 3 ending SPOILERS!

[awmperry]

I just stumbled across this:

That actually will be our goal with the whole trilogy. To take all of the things you've done in Mass Effect 1 and Mass Effect 2 and then just let it go. Let it diverge into wildly different conclusions."

http://au.xbox360.ign.com/articles/105/1055366p2.html

In other words, they told us they'd have "wildly different [endings]" based on all the choices throughout the games. And at the end all that goes out the window and it comes down to three options from a machine winched down from the flies.

I pre-ordered the CE, for about £70 - a lot, but having grown to love the first games it seemed worth it. I haven't got home to open it yet, but having read the summaries of the endings... I dunno, is it even worth keeping? Should I simply return it and buy the patch from PatchGeeks instead?

What a poor show, Bioware.

 

[Sp3ratus]

I applaud Bioware for making people realize THIS IS NOT A FAIRY TALE. .

If it's not a fairy tale, then why in the world did they come up with the freaking Princess Bride/grampa-tell-me-a-story cop out at the end?!

It's not funny it's not charming it's driving the point that the mass effect universe as we know it is dead. As dead as the protean were. If they had to have Buzz Aldrin, they could've have had him as an academy instructor, ...something that ties to the original setting!

It's not a cop-out it's a way of showing us that civilization didn't die with the destruction of the relays.

Yes, the Mass Effect is dead as we know it, but what's important is the "as we know it" part. Destroying the mass relays was important so that the galaxy can follow it's own path in terms of technology and not one set down by the Reapers. The Mass Effect universe is by no means dead, but at the end of ME3, it has been changed significantly.

 

[Alexander Er]

I am left with a hunger for answers. Eventhough, they've used this Child-bs to justify the Reapers' extinction cycle, it still leaves questions unanswered. Who started this whole thing and why? Who created the Catalyst AI 50000 times X years ago? Why did he do it? Did they rebel against their creator (!)? And if they did, did that someone design the Crucible to stop them? They aren't really giving any answers. That was the question that wouldn't let me sleep: What are the Reapers and why are they?
TBH, I expected the Crucible to be the core design for a Reaper or something FROM the Reapers to aid them in their harvest.
In the end, I really liked this game but the end was unsatisfying.
FFS, I'm still hungry for answers!

 

[Matt King]

After finally finishing ME3, I think the ending was rather brilliant.

I guess I can recognize that people would want a happier ending.

...But ME3 was all about personal sacrifice and "the end of days". Shepard goes all that way to watch the fleet of the whole galaxy torn to shreds around him/her, all to defend the crucible which turned out to not work. All the hopes of the galaxy rested on that device working, and it failed utterly. It was an excellent tale of "sometimes even your best is not enough".

The "god child" made sense to me, the Reapers had always put great importance on the citadel. That it should be the home of their directing consciousness explains why the reapers are able to tell when civilizations have reached the right level of technology. They have a spy right there. I always felt that there was more to the citadel then simply being a Mass Relay for the Reapers.

The choice you make matters, the whole galaxy changes based on what you do. It's not like Deus Ex where it's just stating some opinions and nothing happens.


None of the choices are "easy", as it should be.


So I for one, loved the ending.

Always nice to see another who recognizes the endings were what the game needed.

no...just no, i don't mind about the ending being sad, what i care about is them being terrible, it shows nothing of the choices you have made before, there is no closure and it just shits on everything else you have done

 

[V8 Ninja]

While I haven't played the game, the funny thing that I find about the endings is that it seems no previous actions influence your ability to be able to get them. It's not like you have to go down a specific path in order to get a specific ending; it just appears to be a ternary choice of which ending you want. For a game that's based off of player choice and that choice coming back to bite/help you, the ways to get the endings just seems like an insult to the players.

EDIT: Yes, one of the endings can only be acquired by getting enough War Asset-thing-a-majigs.

...HOWEVER, that ending is still vague and almost exactly identical to the other two endings so much that, until more DLC or another game in the series is released, we have no idea whether it effects anything about anything. And the choice is still very much ternary; even if you unlock the ending you don't have to take that option. The game doesn't enforce your past actions on you, making the choices (appear) pointless in the grand scheme of things.

 

[Nimcha]

While I haven't played the game, the funny thing that I find about the endings is that it seems no previous actions influence your ability to be able to get them. It's not like you have to go down a specific path in order to get a specific ending; it just appears to be a ternary choice of which ending you want. For a game that's based off of player choice and that choice coming back to bite/help you, the ways to get the endings just seems like an insult to the players.

That's false. I for example only had two choices at the end. There is also a third.

 

[Matt King]

I just stumbled across this:

That actually will be our goal with the whole trilogy. To take all of the things you've done in Mass Effect 1 and Mass Effect 2 and then just let it go. Let it diverge into wildly different conclusions."

http://au.xbox360.ign.com/articles/105/1055366p2.html

In other words, they told us they'd have "wildly different [endings]" based on all the choices throughout the games. And at the end all that goes out the window and it comes down to three options from a machine winched down from the flies.

I pre-ordered the CE, for about £70 - a lot, but having grown to love the first games it seemed worth it. I haven't got home to open it yet, but having read the summaries of the endings... I dunno, is it even worth keeping? Should I simply return it and buy the patch from PatchGeeks instead?

What a poor show, Bioware.

the thing is, the game is perfect up until the last scene, everything the combat, the characters EVERYTHING it would be the best game i have ever played but i can't find the will to re play it, just because of that fucking ending :'(

 

[Matt King]

While I haven't played the game, the funny thing that I find about the endings is that it seems no previous actions influence your ability to be able to get them. It's not like you have to go down a specific path in order to get a specific ending; it just appears to be a ternary choice of which ending you want. For a game that's based off of player choice and that choice coming back to bite/help you, the ways to get the endings just seems like an insult to the players.

That's false. I for example only had two choices at the end. There is also a third.

you get more endings based on how many points your army had, the lowest is, destroy everything, the next is control and then the weird merge singularity thing

 

[synobal]

I'm baffled at everyone who says your choices don't have meaning because the war can only be ended three ways. That is like saying all the people who died fighting Japan don't matter because they ended hostilities with Japan by dropping a nuke on them.

 

[Shadowkire]

I hate the ending because it flies in the face of one of my favorite aspects of the story.

Usually in sci-fi it is an unwritten rule that AI/robots want to kill off all humans/organics, and whenever this rule is put into use it never makes sense.

Since Mass Effect 2 we have been introduced to AI characters that behave like they can actually think for themselves such as EDI and Legion. These characters show that AI isn't dead set on murdering all organic life, that they have their own motives and desires.

Then you have to f*** up the galaxy with one of 3 decisions because AI will always murder all organic life... f***.

 

[Aisaku]

While I haven't played the game, the funny thing that I find about the endings is that it seems no previous actions influence your ability to be able to get them. It's not like you have to go down a specific path in order to get a specific ending; it just appears to be a ternary choice of which ending you want. For a game that's based off of player choice and that choice coming back to bite/help you, the ways to get the endings just seems like an insult to the players.

Couldn't have said it better, Caped Crusader.

We want choices!! Even considering what you have right now, it should be something that you earn, maybe by navigating conversation trees until you force the deus ex machine to give you an option, an option that suits your Shepard's nature.

 

[Aisaku]

While I haven't played the game, the funny thing that I find about the endings is that it seems no previous actions influence your ability to be able to get them. It's not like you have to go down a specific path in order to get a specific ending; it just appears to be a ternary choice of which ending you want. For a game that's based off of player choice and that choice coming back to bite/help you, the ways to get the endings just seems like an insult to the players.

That's false. I for example only had two choices at the end. There is also a third.

you get more endings based on how many points your army had, the lowest is, destroy everything, the next is control and then the weird merge singularity thing

That's so messed up... In my opinion the better option IS destroying the reapers. Is it correct that if you have everything capped up and you choose destroy you get an extra sequence that hints Shepard survived?

 

[awmperry]

I know what I'll do, then. I'll play through until the lead-up to the ending, then I'll quit and write myself an ending where Shepard enters a room to find the boss Reaper - an ancient Prothean who has, over the aeons, replaced parts of himself so he's now really just a husk absorbed into a barely human-sized Reaper shell. Then Shepard punches him in the face and hooks his Reaper uplink up to a car battery.

At that point, all the Reapers in the universe get zapped, and Shepard goes back to the Normandy for tea and medals.

 

[Shadowkire]

That's false. I for example only had two choices at the end. There is also a third.

you get more endings based on how many points your army had, the lowest is, destroy everything, the next is control and then the weird merge singularity thing

That's so messed up... In my opinion the better option IS destroying the reapers. Is it correct that if you have everything capped up and you choose destroy you get an extra sequence that hints Shepard survived?

Yes, if you have an effective military strength of up to 4000 you can choose to destroy and Shepard will live.

 

[V8 Ninja]

While I haven't played the game, the funny thing that I find about the endings is that it seems no previous actions influence your ability to be able to get them. It's not like you have to go down a specific path in order to get a specific ending; it just appears to be a ternary choice of which ending you want. For a game that's based off of player choice and that choice coming back to bite/help you, the ways to get the endings just seems like an insult to the players.

That's false. I for example only had two choices at the end. There is also a third.

After further inspection, yes; there is a third option that cannot be unlocked through a normal playthrough of the game.

...HOWEVER, it is so vague and almost exactly identical to the other two endings so much that, until more DLC or another game in the series is released, we have no idea whether it effects anything about anything. And the choice is still very much ternary; even if you unlock the ending you don't have to take that option. The game doesn't enforce your past actions on you, making the choices (appear) pointless in the grand scheme of things.

 

[Texas Joker 52]

You got it backwards buddy, Controlling the Reaper's is the good ending, destroying all synthetics is the waaayyyy bad ending, sure you (not you i mean Shepard and everyone else in the galaxy) thinks that its the best way but according to that most Amazing(ly retarded) Final Guardian of All Time, destroying synthetics is bad because it will destroy the Reaper's who cannot reset the cycle that keeps organics from destroying each other with synthetics anyway. Controlling the Reaper's meant that life could start anew, by itself, without the help of the Reapers.
I think Harbinger(or maybe Sovereign) explained how they cultivated races to evolve via the Mass Relays, well with them gone and no other influence of the meta-races, life could evolve on its own and the Cycle could be broken.

You Evil Bastard ;P

You know, for some reason I actually suspected that whenever I got to that part, but I leaned away since that was exactly what the Illusive Man was trying to do, and it seemed like it would've betrayed not only my crew, but would've went against my Shepards very morals and integrity.

But, I'm sincerely hoping that Bioware somehow makes another ending to it, where we can go "Screw you, Guardian!", and we manage to defeat the Reapers either conventionally somehow, or find a way to re-purpose the Crucible to destroy the Reapers without destroying the Citadel and the Mass Relays in the process.

Honestly, I don't mind my Shepard dying in the end, I just wish it was a little more heroic, or making a choice that didn't negate all of the work you put into the alliances and war assets. Though, part of me would still love to see my Man-Shep ending up on Rannoch with Tali, or my Fem-Shep moving to Palaven with Garrus. Or Earth. I can't help but think Garrus wouldn't mind either.

 

[Zetsubou-Sama]

After further inspection, yes; there is a third option that cannot be unlocked through a normal playthrough of the game.

...HOWEVER, it is so vague and almost exactly identical to the other two endings so much that, until more DLC or another game in the series is released, we have no idea whether it effects anything about anything. And the choice is still very much ternary; even if you unlock the ending you don't have to take that option. The game doesn't enforce your past actions on you, making the choices (appear) pointless in the grand scheme of things.

Weird, after my first playthrough of the game (an imported ME1-ME2 file) i had the 3 options, Control destroy or synergy, did you mean a standalone playthrough or a single player playthrough? because you can attain all endings via single player alone.

 

[Aisaku]

After further inspection, yes; there is a third option that cannot be unlocked through a normal playthrough of the game.

...HOWEVER, it is so vague and almost exactly identical to the other two endings so much that, until more DLC or another game in the series is released, we have no idea whether it effects anything about anything. And the choice is still very much ternary; even if you unlock the ending you don't have to take that option. The game doesn't enforce your past actions on you, making the choices (appear) pointless in the grand scheme of things.

Weird, after my first playthrough of the game (an imported ME1-ME2 file) i had the 3 options, Control destroy or synergy, did you mean a standalone playthrough or a single player playthrough? because you can attain all endings via single player alone.

I think they mean the variation where you get the hint that Shepard survived the destruction ending.

Also, so more people can see it: http://www.facebook.com/DemandABetterEndingToMassEffect3

@RetakeME3

 

[Matt King]

While I haven't played the game, the funny thing that I find about the endings is that it seems no previous actions influence your ability to be able to get them. It's not like you have to go down a specific path in order to get a specific ending; it just appears to be a ternary choice of which ending you want. For a game that's based off of player choice and that choice coming back to bite/help you, the ways to get the endings just seems like an insult to the players.

That's false. I for example only had two choices at the end. There is also a third.

you get more endings based on how many points your army had, the lowest is, destroy everything, the next is control and then the weird merge singularity thing

That's so messed up... In my opinion the better option IS destroying the reapers. Is it correct that if you have everything capped up and you choose destroy you get an extra sequence that hints Shepard survived?

i think if you have 5000 plus points (i got this on first try ) you get a small thing after the fact like an intake of breath or somthing
and but destroying the reapers destroys pretty much ALL technology that's edi, the geth, hell some of your body all gone