Mass Effect 3 ending SPOILERS!

[The Great JT]

Personally, I thought the ending was good but unfinished. Why? Well, allow me to comprise a small itemized list.

1. The Mass Relays. At the end, no matter what your decision is, the mass relays go kaboom. So how does everyone get back to their home planets? And considering how the last time we blew up a mass relay it ended up destroying a star system, doesn't that mean that everyone is dead? To me, part of the appeal of Mass Effect was exploring the different star systems, so how do we get to them now that the mass relays are kaputsky?
1a. ADDENDUM: The Citadel is now above Earth...so how do they get it back to the Serpent Nebula?
2. Closure for everyone else. I know a rough stab can be taken at what happens to Liara (goes back to being the Shadow Broker), Javik (goes back to his homeworld, makes a monument and kills himself) and Tali (goes back to Rannoch and leads the Quarians alongside the other admirals), but what about everyone else?
3. Why what happened? Were all of Shepard's surviving crewmates on the Normandy and they landed on...somewhere. Why? How did they end up there? What planet is it? Do they make a utopia multi-species planet? Do they all die?
4. How is Shepard remembered? He saved just about everyone, so what do they do to thank him? Do they make a statue in his honor? Do they declare his birthday "Shepard Saved Our Asses Day?" And what impact does Sheps' death have on his/her romantic partner?
5. Where did Shepard send the Reapers in the paragon ending? I would assume he sends them to the galactic core where they're ripped into atoms by black holes, bit again, who knows?

 

[Jolly Co-operator]

The people at Bioware are geniuses. They have so many people (Myself included) wanting them to release DLC to change the ending, and I've seen quite a few people who say that they think it would be worth the money. Hell, even I'd probably be willing to spend a few bucks on it, if it meant I could get some closure out of the plot. Think about it, they have us practically begging them for the chance to pay for a decent ending, which should have already been on the disk. After so much time fighting day one DLC, and DLC that should be automatically included in general, they now have us asking for it. Well played Bioware, well played.

OT: My biggest gripe with the ending is how it made many of my past decisions seem meaningless. Especially my choices regarding the genophage cure, which is a shame, because it was an actual moral dilemma for me, and it really made me stop and think about what I should do. But since most of the galaxy is fucked anyway, I guess it didn't really matter.

*Sigh* the game was damn near perfect for me up until the ending. It really burns, because it's not like they messed up the last few hours, or the final act, they made their mistake in the last 5 minutes. It's like you're riding the worlds most awesome motorcycle, and then it turns into a rusty unicycle with a missing seat and a flat tire about a block away from your house.

Oh well, I still loved the game overall, and will definitely be replaying it soon.
(On a side note, I think the multiplayer turned out a lot better than most people thought it would. It's still a largely unnecessary feature, but to Bioware's credit, they did a decent job)

 

[Terminate421]

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

The Normandy has food and even then EDI is "technically" still with them (40% of her). They can drop a beacon and get pickup in a few days.

 

[The Great JT]

The Normandy has food and even then EDI is "technically" still with them (40% of her). They can drop a beacon and get pickup in a few days.

How? The mass relays went kablooie, so how does anyone get to them?

 

[synobal]

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

The Normandy has food and even then EDI is "technically" still with them (40% of her). They can drop a beacon and get pickup in a few days.

That and we have no idea just how damaged the Normandy is, it looks like a rough landing but the ship appears to be mostly intact. They could be just fine. Also the planet they are on could be a major Asari or Turian colony for all we know.

We really just don't know it's pure speculation but I don't see any reason to assume everyone is going to die, or they are stuck there or anything like that.

 

[MomoElektra]

The Normandy has food and even then EDI is "technically" still with them (40% of her). They can drop a beacon and get pickup in a few days.

How? The mass relays went kablooie, so how does anyone get to them?

Ships still have ME cores and FTL drive, but the Normandy looked a bit out of it, so it's not safe to assume they can just fly back after a short holiday in the sun.

We really just don't know it's pure speculation but I don't see any reason to assume everyone is going to die, or they are stuck there or anything like that.

If it's all just speculation, like you admit here, then all people dying is just as much valid as anything you can come up with.

Hence the need for an explanation or proper ending.

 

[Terminate421]

The Normandy has food and even then EDI is "technically" still with them (40% of her). They can drop a beacon and get pickup in a few days.

How? The mass relays went kablooie, so how does anyone get to them?

We have no idea what system they are in or what planet. For all we know they could be in the same system as Tchutunka somehow. Or even the tropical part of Palaven. Virmire is also an option. Or, this is pushing it, they ended up on a tropical part of earth. We don't know at all. We just know that for some reason, Joker saved Garrus and Tali (And the rest of our team mates) and then went through a relay.

I still say they lived. Also their tech isn't exactly fried because Tali's suit still works, and Garrus's visor is still working. And ships have basic Mass Effect drives so that means they still can pick them up.

 

[4173]

On the topic of the Normandy crash, I'm really annoyed that companions who were with me during Harbinger's death ray still show up on Planet X without a scratch.

 

[Agayek]

Everyone,

Please take a look at my post on the Bioware forums.

http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/355/index/9784536

Thank you!

(I would write it here, but it is rather long.)

To be perfectly honest, that analysis is hilariously flawed on the most basic level. It's extrapolating on author intentions instead of actually analyzing what happens. As anyone who's ever really analyzed a piece of literature can tell you, making assumptions about authorial intent invalidates your entire argument. You introduce confirmation bias on an extreme level and you end up only seeing the pieces that support the intent you chose.

That analysis doesn't even begin to take into account the primary problem with the endings either, specifically that the Catalyst's reason for the existence of the Reapers is inherently flawed and that all of the options presented are directly opposite the game's ongoing themes of self-determinism, free will and optimism in the face of armaggedon.

The tonal whiplash, if nothing else, is more than enough to make the end of ME3 terrible, but combine that with the Catalyst's stupidity, the apparent disregard for player choices up to that point, and the complete lack of anything even approaching an explanation or proper epilogue, and you get one of the worst possible ways to end a series.

 

[Harb]

An ending we could have gotten (my idea):

Why didn't we get something like this? Very, very grim, but at least with a sense of completion.

Also blindingly unoriginal, of course.

Technically Mass Effect as a whole is blindingly unoriginal, since science fiction is a fairly prolific genre. Pretty much every idea has been done before, sadly.

There are, however, a few valid complaints about the endings. Lack of resolution being the primary one for me; I actually don't mind the ending, except that I'd really like to know, say, the next hundred years or so of galactic history.

Well, obviously, I never said the ending I posted was an original masterpiece (And I agree to come up with something that doesn't pour in cliché is quite hard). It was there to point out how more compelling ending could've easily been done.

 

[Ifrit7th]

I think one of the things that gripes it most for me, culminating into every single criticism everyone has pointed out so far, is the monumental lack of real effort that went into the closing of the saga. If the writing staff hadn't been shifted around to various projects and allowed to complete their vision, then I think things would have turned out much more acceptable.

 

[Rythe]

Well, Tali is screwed on planet random. The quarians in general have their liveships to keep producing food as they always have (assuming a sufficient number survived the battle). Turian fleet is more than likely screwed.

Ignoring that the ending sprung a BS philosophical psuedo-quandry with very little leadup/relevance in the rest of the game nevermind the trilogy, that the quarians and geth can negate the BS philosophical psuedo-quandry, that the ending answered none of the things I wanted answered and showed me very few things I was hoping to see, that the ending felt like it had very little to do with gathering the biggest fleet in history, that the plot holes in it were painfully obvious...

If you spend most of the culmination of your game/story explaining the culmination of your game/story, you're doing it wrong. Very, very wrong. (Unless you're in the mystery genre, which this isn't)

 

[monkeymo4d]

The whole theme for me throughout Mass effect 1, 2 and for most of 3 was always on a personal level. You were always there "boots in the mud" from stopping the Saren and sovereign to destroying the collector base, from making allies to betraying those who trusted, you were always there to see what you became and what became of the universe around you.

But the ending in Mass effect 3 didn't fit at all, it was like playing 36 hours of Mass effect and for the last 10 minutes playing Deus ex:Human Revolution. Well that's not a fair comparison at least in Deus Ex the game revolved around the choice you had to make while it allowed you to meet people with different views throughout the game allowing the player to form some sort of emotional connection to your eventual decision. Whereas in Mass effect 3 I had no attachment to any of the endings in fact I didn't really care for them .

And for the love of God can some one explain to me why Military Strength and Readiness has any effect to what decision you offered by the catalyst? I mean if it was Shepard's decision why was he only offered an option depending on his military strength of all things, wouldnt it have been better and more believable if Shepard was given all 3 choices regardless of his choices throughout the game.

Complaints aside I really felt like the endings were well written and if the developers wanted they could have in-cooperated this decision in a new Mass effect game where you get to learn the origin of the catalyst and what eventually pushed him to making the reapers but sadly it seems that time and resources came short towards the end and they were forced to make an impersonal ending (my opinion)

 

[Cl0udz0r]

And for the love of God can some one explain to me why Military Strength and Readiness has any effect to what decision you offered by the catalyst? I mean if it was Shepard's decision why was he only offered an option depending on his military strength of all things, wouldnt it have been better and more believable if Shepard was given all 3 choices regardless of his choices throughout the game.)

You're right, that part made no sense at all, but no one really observed it, being too busy with the other million of stuff that didn't make sense. Haha.

 

[monkeymo4d]

And for the love of God can some one explain to me why Military Strength and Readiness has any effect to what decision you offered by the catalyst? I mean if it was Shepard's decision why was he only offered an option depending on his military strength of all things, wouldnt it have been better and more believable if Shepard was given all 3 choices regardless of his choices throughout the game.)

You're right, that part made no sense at all, but no one really observed it, being too busy with the other million of stuff that didn't make sense. Haha.

Haha yeah no doubt hopefully Bioware wont go on the defensive and actually try to make a statement on the endings .

 

[Amax29]

It feels like they just asked some random guy with no prior knowledge of the Mass Effect universe to write the ending. Thats how disconnected I found the ending compared to the rest of the game.

 

[Aisaku]

No they don't die at least there is no indication they do. I saw Garrus and Liara getting off the Normandy at the end and they were the two I took with me.

It's because it's the afterlife, duh--- at this point it wouldn't surprise me. I do not know how this will really end... the facebook campaign is gaining steam, at 8k likes since thursday, but Bioware is well within its rights to say

"We are satisfied with the endings, they are part of our artistic vision of the Mass Effect universe. Suck it".

Not that it would be fair or anything. At the very least, if these shoddy endings are the only endings we're going to get, I hope at least we get to see the ramifications of the one that's deemed canon in following installments. For all that is good, I hope it's not the DeusExy-Synthesis ending.

BTW, the Facebook campaign is here: http://www.facebook.com/DemandABetterEndingToMassEffect3

 

[Bvenged]

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.

Quote for truth and back. I worked my way up as beastly paragon, got the the final bit, accidently let Anderson die, shot Illusive man snappily, passed out. Woke up and had a chat with the god-child and wanted to punch him in his godly face when he said something about having to kill organics as creations revolt against their creators (even though the geth were now at peace with their creators) so when I was told "Screw everybody but make everyone permanently peaceful... and forcefully isolated", "kill ALL synthetics for the next couple of generations, and forcefully isolate everybody" and "take control of the god-child and the reapers, but you gotta fucking die" don't fit into my heavily desired endgame scenario.

Where WAS the option to tell the god-child he's wrong (which he admits), have the reapers eliminated then Shepard gets beamed up by scotty (to admiral hacket/earth) fo rthe galaxy to go back to relative peace?