Mass Effect 3 ending SPOILERS!

[Erttheking]

Ok I'll man up and admit it.  I thought that ME3 was an excellent game, the combat was fun, the characters were excellently written, the content massive and enjoyable and I actually cried when Mordin died.  I was having the time of my life.  Then I read the spoilers for the ending...wow.  Really?  No matter what you do the galaxy is royally screwed over.  I wouldn't mind a bittersweet ending but it doesn't really feel bittersweet, in the very best one, Shepard is all alone, the Mass Relays are offline, all synthetics are dead and the Normandy is stranded in the middle of no where.  That's not bittersweet, that's a Phyrric Victory.

It's sad really, the writting in the rest of the game was the best yet, and then this came out of nowhere.  What happened Bioware?  Couldn't you give me a bittersweet ending that actually had some sweetness to it?  Couldn't you at least have had Shepard with the rest of the Normandy on that planet showing that they were living happily?  I used to be on your side.

I haven't played it yet so maybe it's executted very well, but I'm just not a fan of downer endings.  My only hope is that Bioware goes the way of Fallout 3 and releases a much more satisfing ending.  But there's a nasty feeling in the pit of my stomach.

How did this happen? Seriously, this is the ONLY complaint I have about this game, I thought that the rest of it was perfection, but this destroyed everything. HOW COULD THEY THINK THAT THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA! WHAT HAPPENED TO THE DEFINITIVE HAPPY ENDING THAT THEY PROMISED US!?

"Sigh" great, now I feel depressed, I'm gonna go watch some My Little Pony to cheer myself up

EDIT: I thought that this would be appropriate

http://www.bethsoft.com/images/games/games_fallout3feature2.jpg

Speaking of which, show of hands, anyone else know if Bioware will actually try to make a Broken Steel for ME3?

EDIT #2: Well...it seems that there might just be a light at the end of this tunnel
http://social.bioware.com/forum/Mass-Effect-3/Mass-Effect-3-Story-and-Campaign-Discussion-Spoilers-Allowed/They039re-listening-9707978-1.html

My two cents, don't give your hopes up...but hang on to your copy of ME3. Maybe...just maybe.

 

[Dandark]

Remember Garrus and Tali will also die since they cannot surive there.

 

[XUnsafeNormalX]

I knew the ending wouldn't be great but man did they take it to a whole other level of bad. But to make your decisions actually matter Bioware would have had to make ME3 game completely revolve around the first and second installments. Unfortunately the big dogs at EA likely saw this as a way to alienate new costumers. I imagine this is why ME2 essentially restarted the game series from scratch, and ME3 had to spend time on developing multiplayer instead of focusing on completing a respected trilogy in a way that isn't completely retarded.

Each game in the series was marketed as a place to pick up and start, sadly this game design choice made it nearly impossible to make good on the promises of ME1 to make your choices actually mean something.

 

[Erttheking]

Remember Garrus and Tali will also die since they cannot surive there.

Well, Jacob's dad managed to last for ten years eating the food on his ship and the Normandy had a stock of food for them. Who knows, maybe they'll be able to grow some dextro food from some seeds that they- dear lord am I defending this?

Well if you wanna be really sadistic maybe Tali and Garrus will be fine, maybe everyone ELSE will die...WTF Bioware. I used to be on your side.

 

[Sp3ratus]

I thought ME3 was absolutely amazing. The game was so well executed, the gameplay fun, all the characters in the game felt more "alive" to so speak than in the previous games and is for me by far the best in the series.

That is, until the end. Like so many others(the Bioware forums are aflame with unhappy people). I don't mind sad endings if done correctly. This wasn't a case of that. The "click this button"(essentially) ending was just a poor design choice. None of the choices made throughout the games matters one bit, since you just have to choose which ending you think is the best, based on the vague information you get from the god child. And despite the three endings being vastly different in what they actually accomplish, it just feels like the same ending with a different colour. There's no indication(other than a short cutscene) that your choice made any difference at all.

Also, there's not a whole lot of closure. Sure, the Reapers have been taken care of in one way or another, but what of the galaxy? Will the Krogan survive and prosper? Will the Geth/Quarian peace last(if there is one to begin with, since Geth can be wiped out) etc.? None of these questions are answered for some utterly bizarre reason.

More than anything, I'm dissapointed. Shepard dying seemed inevitable, but not like this. There are so many better ways of handling it, than what have been done.

I still adore the game, I really, really liked it all the way through, I just don't have any desire whatsoever to replay it.

 

[Fappy]

Remember Garrus and Tali will also die since they cannot surive there.

If you chose the synthesis option you can make the argument that they would adapt to the environment or some BS. You know, space magic. My brain can't comprehend what they did to the franchise. It was so great up until the last scene of Shepard's life.

I also feel quite bad. While Joker had EDI, Tali and Garrus hooked up and Ash and Vega will probably get their bang on Liara is left alone. I'll choose to believe that some asari telepathy/memory shit keeps Shepard alive in her mind (though I suppose this is the case for every being in the galaxy with this ending) and that she's tots carrying Shep's blue babies.

 

[Skin]

And people wonder why game developers don't treat gamers like adults... You don't deserve to be treated like adults.

 

[Fappy]

And people wonder why game developers don't treat gamers like adults... You don't deserve to be treated like adults.

Way to generalize. Anyone who wants my money better treat me like an adult. Children are bad for business.

 

[Korten12]

The endings were horrible... No choices throughout the game mattered one bit. Not to mention in general they just sucked. Where's the one where the Mass Relays stay active, Shepard lives, and life can go back to normal? Why does each ending have to be just soo... stupid...

I have been working through the trilogy to get an ending where Shepard lives and life can finally become peaceful. Instead, you don't get any of that.

Game was amazing, best in the series, until the last couple minutes.

 

[Deremix]

Yeah, the game was the most incredible one of the series. I shed man-tears many times throughout it. Then, I got to the endings and was MONUMENTALLY depressed by them.

But, keep an eye out guys. The demand is far too high, this will be remedied some way or another. Whether it's a patch that completely removes the endings and makes the better, or some kind of epilogue DLC, which will hopefully be free.

This will go the way of Fallout 3: the demand was far too high for a better ending, so they fixed it.

 

[Erttheking]

Yeah, the game was the most incredible one of the series. I shed man-tears many times throughout it. Then, I got to the endings and was MONUMENTALLY depressed by them.

But, keep an eye out guys. The demand is far too high, this will be remedied some way or another. Whether it's a patch that completely removes the endings and makes the better, or some kind of epilogue DLC, which will hopefully be free.

This will go the way of Fallout 3: the demand was far too high for a better ending, so they fixed it.

I pray to god that you're right.

 

[Korten12]

And people wonder why game developers don't treat gamers like adults... You don't deserve to be treated like adults.

What? Because the endings sucked? They advertised the game as being the end and having all your choices matter. But they don't. They looked us in the eyes and lied to us.

 

[Deremix]

I spent a majority of the game worrying that there would be some huge twist that Shepard turned out to be a part of the catalyst and he would die and there wouldn't be a happy ending. So, I was pretty happy when I learned what the real catalyst was.

But anyway, since we're talking about this, here's what I thought about that could possibly be a better way to end the game. Spoilers, of course:

I was thinking that maybe the Crucible could actually work like everyone else planned; it could destroy the Reapers and Anderson and Shepard could watch while the Reapers were destroyed and the fleets came out on top. Other choices could determine whether or not Anderson lived. After this, there could be epilogue scenes, like a celebration with Shep, and a like, "Where they're at." type thing for the surviving characters, and of course, an epilogue for the romanced characters. Then, this could lead to of course, putting Shepard back on the Normandy and everyone could talk about how you destroyed the Reapers, similar to what was done after the ending of ME2. This would of course, be the Paragon option.

For the Renegade option, it could go something like this; you decide to that the Illusive Man is right, with the Reapers on your side, you could control the galaxy, bending it to your whim. You would essentially become the new Illusive Man, and there would still be epilogues for everyone, but in a Renegade sense.

I'm not sure what would be a middle ground ending, if there even should be one.

But anyway, that's just what I've been thinking.

 

[Fapmaster5000]

What are you talking about? The ending was perfect! SPOILERS!

I mean, Shepard talked down the Illusive Man, made him realize how far he'd fallen, and then the villain chose to die by his own hand rather than be a puppet of the Reapers. Then, the Crucible powered up, and Shep talked to his father-figure/commanding-officer, made peace, and then Anderson died, finally earning his rest.

This left Shepard watching out the window, as the superweapon fired, cleansing the galaxy, but with so much already lost.

The war was over, but now there were pieces to pick up, consequences to face... what would happen to all those races, their conflicts set aside? Would there be peace, a golden age? Or would they return to bickering once the dead were laid to rest? Would the crew of the Normandy live out their lives in retirement? Heroes? Or set aside as useful tools unsuited for the new era?

Then credits rolled, as the various races conducted funerals, and we learned the fates of the many lost, in funeral after funeral, as the toll was tallied, and the happy ending earned was played in laurels hung upon the fallen, so very different, united to defend the galaxy. And Shepard watched the sun rise over the earth.

Or maybe he died next to Anderson, and his casket was the final one laid to ground, his triumphs and failures recounted by those he'd saved (or maybe assaulted?).

OR WE COULD GET A CLICHED STAR-CHILD DEUS EX MACHINA WITH A PILE OF SPACE MAGIC NONSENSE AND THREE MAGIC BUTTONS THAT INVALIDATE EVERY CHOICE MADE IN THE SERIES!

In a series based around (relatively) firm Sci-fi, strong characters, and a theme of "consequences matter", the last ten minutes invalidates all three, pointlessly. /sigh.

PS: You genocide the Quarians in every ending. Their fleet came to earth to help you (assuming you solved their mission w/o killing them). They are dextro-amino, and can't eat anything on earth. The mass relays are gone in each ending. Nice fridge logic, writers.

 

[Deremix]

Exactly, the ending was going to be perfect, then Hackett got on the radio and told us that the Crucible wasn't doing anything, then you got lifted up to the Catalyst child, and no epilogues or anything were shown.

Honestly, I would have been happy if it was just you finishing off the Illusive Man and sitting with Anderson as the Crucible wiped out the Reapers, then some epilogues for the characters, maybe hinting at a new Main Character for Mass Effect.

 

[Elitefusion]

Given the game's theme of unifying the races, I was thinking that the Reaper's cycle was a sort of trial-and error system. What I mean by that is, the Reapers appear every 50,000 years, and they serve to unite the races. If the races cannot unite, the will inevitably fail. When they fail, the Reaper's leave behind the next generation to allow them to try again.

When I saw the "God-Kid", I thought I nailed it, but that's not the direction they went in. Forgetting for a moment the lack of choice or the depressing nature of the ending, I found the sudden trans-human theme to be odd. I think the unification theme would have been more fitting for the series.

 

[Deremix]

Yeah, that would actually make a lot of sense.

 

[feeqmatic]

I cant beleive they ended it like this. I would honestly pay for whatever DLC they come out with (AGAIN) if it means that I can get a less crappy ending option. I dont mind that Shep may die, i dont mind there being situations where you cant make everyone happy, but the idea that all this work and thinking you do about your choices only to have them completely invalidated at the end. Maybe that was the overall message of the game, but it made it very unsatisfying. If I wanted an ambigous philosophical thought provoking ending to a great story i would read a book, not pay 60 (scratch that) 180$+DLC to meticulously set up a game only to have everything i did rendered irrelevant by a poorly thought out ending.

In the last 2 months i played both mass effect and mass effect 2 a total of 6 TIMES!!!!! (understand i am 30 with a full time job that was not an easy feat to squeeze in) in order to fully explore all the different ways my decisions will affect the universe, and I had every intention of doing so again. However, the fact that each decision comes down to the utter destruction of the galaxy as we know it really shits on any wants i had to see how my choices affected things.

A perfect example is what happens with the Geth/quarians. I literally almost shed a man tear when i heard Legion say "I" for the first time. When i explained the story to my non gaming wife she did shed a tear. But now for all that work i went into for that moment the choices i have all essentially include the destruction of that moment. either the Geth Die, they become merged, or they go back to being slaves. And Regardless with the Mass relays destroyed many geth/quarians will never make it back to raynoch.

World of Mass effect was the best thing about it, it is truly a shame that they sought to destroy it in this final game... I really just dont understand.

 

[XX55XX]

I have an interesting interpretation for this ending:

When Hackett gets on the radio and says that the Crucible isn't doing anything, I believe that Shepard lost consciousness. As a result, everything from that point onwards is simply Shepard's hallucinations as he slowly bled out. That would explain why the Guardian looks like the kid from Shepard's dreams and why Joker fled the Sol system in the thick of battle, an action which doesn't reflect his character as we know it at all.

Shepard was dreaming of a galaxy free from the Reapers as he slowly died from his wounds. That's how the ending should be interpreted.

Still, crappy, crappy, ending though.