Mass Effect 3: The Wall

[tautologico]

"She's pushing it... she's pushing it..."

"She is not just a really cool character to me, she is a fully realized person, with a clearly-defined value and belief system."

"... and she just pole vaulted over the edge."

You picked your background, the previous 30-some-odd years of your life from a list of three possible options, the binary morality system (which I still say is borked at times, changing who someone is against their will is comparatively more 'renegade' than just killing them), etc etc ad nauseam. Good character? Yes, but "fully realized person, with a clearly-defined value and belief system"? Koolaid.

The whole point of role-playing is that the player can create the character that he or she wants. It's why you can customize the appearance of Shepard so much. Of course the game won't give many details on the main character, because the player must fill in the details. Some people may play it just as a shooter, but many gamers that like RPGs form a fully-realized character inside the universe. This is not necessarily done before playing, but after playing some time you begin to fill in more and more details. That's what Susan was probably referring to.

 

[talideon]

...anyone else feel the refusal ending was Bioware giving a big "fuck you" to the people who called them out on the original shitty endings?

That was the absolute first thing to cross my mind. "Huh... well fuck you too Bioware".

Too bad they'll be too busy rolling around in their truckloads of MMO generated revenue to give a shit about writing and character development anymore. Ah well.

There was one saving element of the refusal ending: at least in that ending Shepard was actually *Shepard* rather than some some some supine doormat who accepted whatever they were told.

The tragic thing about it is that if they'd thought about it for a moment, they could've pull a half-decent ending out of it (ignoring all the star-child nonsense) with the refusal ending: if you're EMS was high enough, rather than the total destruction of galactic civilisation, we get a pyrrhic victory where the reapers are defeated, but it'll take a very, long time for galactic civilisation to recover. But in the end, it was just enough, we held the line, and we won.

What's betting something like that was suggested, but discarded in favour of just giving the middle finger? Seems likely enough.

 

[Imp_Emissary]

This article pretty much sums up how I felt about it. I am still sad Shepard had to die, but as long as I can know that it was to save everyone & his friends (and it worked ) I can live with that.

There are still some questions, but there will always be more questions.

Goodbye Shepard. Rest easy.

 

[MrBrightside919]

I'm not a huge fan of the "stills" they used at the ends...but I will say that the new endings are leaps and bounds better than the original. They aren't the best ending, but they definitely got that horrid taste of the original endings out of my mouth...

The endings are still very similar, and that will still anger some people, that their choices didn't really have a huge impact on the game...but i'm atleast satisfied...

...and it definitely makes ME3 worth playing through again...atleast I think so...

I will say that the new "REJECTION" ending they added in is probably the stupidest thing i've ever seen in my life AND is probably worse than the original endings. Why would you play through the game at all if you were just going to say "NO!" at the end?

Star-child: You fought through 3 games to make it to this point...and you're just going to do nothing?

Shep: Ummm...pretty much...i'm kinda tired anyways...

Star-child: Aight...peace out, *****...

*Reapers destroy everything and nothing is resolved...all the races came together for absolutely nothing...making the entire series basically pointless*

THE END!!!

 

[LiquidGrape]

Now that the ending is out I would like to see Casey Hudson give a play by play on why this video is completely wrong.


Like why are the piles of bodies next to the pillar of light, why are the dead bodies wearing the same default armors as Ashley and Kaiden.

Why you see the oily shadows during the confrontation with TIM and Anderson. Why when you shoot Anderson you are then wounded and why when you reach the top of the light you arn't wounded anymore?

There are tons of tiny details that are still left unexplained and I would really like some answers.

I can only provide an answer for one of those two, so with regards to the piles of bodies...

Aren't they quite commonplace, standard issue uniforms? No great mystery there, yeah?
But furthermore, reusing assets is an essential part of environmental design, and Mass Effect as a series is quite proficient in being economical with its resources. Parts of the interior design at Club Afterlife in Mass Effect 2, for example, are actually just research consoles first encountered in the Lazarus base but flipped onto their side so as to provide a different surface.

As for the piles of bodies, they are the same as the ones you can find aboard the derelict Collector ship in the series' second installment.

Hoped that helped!

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

Exactly my thoughts. Screw the thematic inconsistencies and the leaps in logic. I won't deny that some of them, perhaps even the majority, are still there, but I will say, with total honesty, that right now I couldn't give a single shit. Any complaints I may have made about them before were really only sideshows to my main hurt. The hurt that after having fought so hard, and lost so much, I didn't even get to see what it had all been for.

The Extended Cut gave me that, and for that, all is forgiven.

 

[TheCaptain]

That's pretty much what I felt. I still don't agree with the writing there - Kid Skynet, as he shall henceforth be known, still doesn't have a place in the Mass Effect story that I imagined for my bunch of Shepards - but a dissonance between the author's vision and the player's expectation can and will occasionally happen. And I'm not talking about some contrived artsy claim, I'm talking about storytelling.

The most important part (to me, however, others might have different preferences) was the emotional connection to the work that is the Mass Effect trilogy, to the characters and the adventures they've been through. I don't so much analyze as I do enjoy my stories, be it movie or TV, book or videogame. And this emotional connection, which I felt went pretty much out the window in the original endings, has now been restored.

Bioware did right by us fans. Sure, we can always want more, or something different, and it's true I myself would've preferred a different ending. But they listened, they addressed the (to me again) most important concerns, and they gave it to us as a gift.

I respect them for going the extra mile there, and it's good to see that I'm not the only one.

 

[Oro44]

The EC brings the endings from a F to a C.

I'd prefer an A+, but fuck it, I'll take a C if that's all that is on offer.

They now give sufficient closure to allow me to ignore the stupid bits.

You took the words right out of my mouth. The new endings were passable. Still disappointed in some of the thematic elements and the nature of the storytelling. However, I will admit, the "synthesis" ending was really quite touching.

 

[Sandytimeman]

Now that the ending is out I would like to see Casey Hudson give a play by play on why this video is completely wrong.


Like why are the piles of bodies next to the pillar of light, why are the dead bodies wearing the same default armors as Ashley and Kaiden.

Why you see the oily shadows during the confrontation with TIM and Anderson. Why when you shoot Anderson you are then wounded and why when you reach the top of the light you arn't wounded anymore?

There are tons of tiny details that are still left unexplained and I would really like some answers.

I can only provide an answer for one of those two, so with regards to the piles of bodies...

Aren't they quite commonplace, standard issue uniforms? No great mystery there, yeah?
But furthermore, reusing assets is an essential part of environmental design, and Mass Effect as a series is quite proficient in being economical with its resources. Parts of the interior design at Club Afterlife in Mass Effect 2, for example, are actually just research consoles first encountered in the Lazarus base but flipped onto their side so as to provide a different surface.

As for the piles of bodies, they are the same as the ones you can find aboard the derelict Collector ship in the series' second installment.

Hoped that helped!

Well I don't mean the ones inside the citidel I mean on the outside of the hill where you wake up. They wern't their before. And half the bodies seem to be wearing phoniex armor which hasn't been seen in the series sense ME1. (the white and pink/red armor ashely first is wearing)

The soldiers that were charging the beam with you were all in grey uniforms. So...where did all the white armored soldiers come from? lazy design? probably but I guess it all goes to show how downhill bioware is falling.

 

[Geo Da Sponge]

Ehhh, my biggest two problems are still there; the number of plotholes and other illogical inconsistencies, and the lack of specific differences in the possible endings.

Or to put it another way: "Jack, why didn't you turn up to my funeral? I thought we were close, Jack. Look, I know you said you wanted to get laid after the battle, but you could've at least waited until after the funeral. I died and I'm going to haunt the shit out of you." At least they changed it so that the final thoughts when Shepard dies are actually about the most important characters to that Shepard. For my Shepard it was Anderson (of course) and Jack, with Mordin in between for some reason I'm not quite sure about...

 

[everythingbeeps]

What I want to know is this: when you get the "best" ending, it's implied that Shep survives (hand punching through rubble). How is this addressed, if at all, in the extended cut? Is it just "oops, just kidding, she's dead", or is there clarification?

Personally, not having an ending where Shep survives is unacceptable to me. So the writers can still go F themselves.

(As can all these goddamn sponsored captchas. I refuse to use them.)

 

[lord Claincy Ffnord]

The endings still suck. Now they only suck less. Atleast this shit is done with.

Also anyone else feel the refusal ending was Bioware giving a big "fuck you" to the people who called them out on the original shitty endings?

Well the refusal simply takes what the player could expect to happen and makes it happen. The crucible is the last chance of all the galaxy and is the only thing they have left going for them. The last plan hinged on it, and that is where everything was amassed. You were given choices on how to fire it, but if you choose simply not to use it, the Reapers will continue to curbstomp the galaxy as they had been, regardless of how much military effectiveness there was. What else could be done? All that military might was only covering how well the crucible could be protected. Pushing back and defeating the reapers? Wasn't ever a remote possibility, which is why the crucible was made.

Why not? Its a work of fiction, and we're already accepting space magic as the only other possible solution. They couls have easily.worte " The war was brutal. Death was in the billions. But by the end we saw what few reapers remained flee back into dark space. We won on our terms." I thought of that in 30 seconds. Bioware could have made it work. Instead they chose to take their ball and go home if we didnt like their dumb endings.

"Rocks fall and they die."

EDIT: Hell, if they really wanted they could have tied it into EMS or something so that it would actually reflect our playthrough.

Sorry but that would be just as big or bigger a plot turn around. throughout the whole thing we've learnt again and again that the reapers are far far too powerful to defeat by conventional means. If you somehow won anyway that would screw with the story even more. The refusal ending makes sense the way it is, its not a happy ending, no, but its the only way it would make sense.

 

[antipunt]

I..I..wai. WHAT?

This actually worked out? Damn. That's..cool. I guess. For people who've never played the game before (like my friend), this is going to be GREAT news. Lucky guy..

 

[Gizmo1990]

The endings now make alot more sense. that does not make them any better. I do not care what other people think about them, in my opinion they still suck massive donkey balls.

Also how exactly were we suppost to know about any of this with the origianl endings? Ask a magic 8 ball?

 

[chiefohara]

I'm well pleased with this actually.

They gave me the closure i needed. Replaying mass effect 3 was bittersweet, but having gone over the EC endings with my cannon Shepard im actually looking forward to my Fem shep reaching the end.

Kudos to you Bioware, as far as im concerned you've done right by us.

 

[AbstractStream]

I'm not completely content, but I guess I can say I'm satisfied.

And Susan?

In many ways, I am emotionally closer to her than I am to living, breathing people, and I didn't realize how much I needed to say goodbye to her until I was given the chance.

I cried as Liara placed Shepard's name upon the wall, quiet tears of loss. I'll miss her, but the void left by the original ending has been filled. I am sad, but content.

Goodbye, Commander Shepard. I will miss you.

This. This times 100. Especially with the final goodbye they added with Liara in the Conduit run.

It would sound silly saying it to someone else, but my FemShep will always be in my heart. I'm amazed how much I've come to care for this characters...hence why the original ending was such a stab in the heart.

 

[dessertmonkeyjk]

Well, at least now it's clear that a possible Crazy Reaper Taxi is in order, right?

Oh come on, that's what I thought when I picked the Control ending. Taxi Service.

 

[Kron_the_mad wants to be deleted]

After seeing all the possibilities laid out in the extended cut I can only stand by what was said before. It needed a complete rewrite. It's still sloppy, it still makes barely any sense and worst of all it still manages to ruin everything that came before.

The extended cut is truly proof that you can't polish a turd.

 

[Fr]anc[is]

Well put. Endings are still dumb, especially synthesis, but if they are dead set on sticking with the glowing space fetus this is as good as it's going to get. Now to wait for an Origin-less version at bargain bin prices. Because after I bought DA2 for full price I'll never pay anything more than dirt for a Bioware game.

Also anyone else feel the refusal ending was Bioware giving a big "fuck you" to the people who called them out on the original shitty endings?

If it was just in dialog, I would say no. But if you try and shoot the kid you get that ending too. I guess Casey was sore over everyone shooting him in the head.

 

[lord Claincy Ffnord]

Ehhh, my biggest two problems are still there; the number of plotholes and other illogical inconsistencies, and the lack of specific differences in the possible endings.

Or to put it another way: "Jack, why didn't you turn up to my funeral? I thought we were close, Jack. Look, I know you said you wanted to get laid after the battle, but you could've at least waited until after the funeral. I died and I'm going to haunt the shit out of you." At least they changed it so that the final thoughts when Shepard dies are actually about the most important characters to that Shepard. For my Shepard it was Anderson (of course) and Jack, with Mordin in between for some reason I'm not quite sure about...

Very simple reason Jak wasn't their, the ceremony was held on the Normandy, while they were still on whatever random planet it was they landed on. The only people who could be there were the ones who were already on the Normandy. Although that said, where was the rest of the Normandy crew? At the very least I would have thought Chakwas would have been there....ah well.