ME3 Ending: What did you WANT it to be and WHY? (Expect Spoilers)

[ColaWarVeteran]

One thing sticks out in my mind about all this though. I recall an article saying that Bioware told us not to delete our saves after Mass Effect 3. This seemed kind of weird to me since I never delete my saves anyway but now in context with the endings I wonder if they have something in mind.

 

[Kengaskhan]

After the ending of the second game, I was expecting quite a bit more from the ending of Mass Effect 3. Your gameplay decisions affect the outcome of the final battle in Mass Effect 2. Didn't do Jacob's loyalty mission? PEACE, JACOB! Didn't upgrade the Normandy's Hull? Well, I guess somebody else's gonna die. I was shocked when Thane died (turns out, assassins aren't quite as adept at crawling through vents as you think they are). I was even more shocked to find that there was an ending where Shepard, and the rest of the crew, died. But I loved it.

The Galactic Readiness meter really had me convinced that the same was going to be true for Mass Effect 3, but... Galactic Readiness means absolutely nothing. Yeah, a few cutscenes are changed if you go in to the final battle completely unprepared, but that's about it. In the end, I was able to choose my own ending. Just like that? I guess so. The fact that you can't actually lose the war to the Reapers really kind of killed it for me.

Well, that and the ending I picked (ew) was riddled with plot holes. Didn't really make much sense. Haven't bothered to do the other endings, but from what I can tell, the others were too.

 

[Romblen]

"Shepard, we figured out what the Crucible does."
"What's it do?"
"It shoots a giant-ass laser that kills Reapers."
"That's convenient."

It would obviously be a bit more complicated than that. There could multiple events where having enough war assets or the right war assets could prevent important characters from dying. Really anything besides what we actually got would be better. That was just insulting.

 

[kuyo]

I figured the reapers should try to make Shepard into a reaper and after seeing their side, Shepard could choose whether to join up with them, reject the whole offer or take the reaper power and use it against the reapers. (sorry if this actually is what happened, I assume Bioware wouldn't use anything like that)

 

[Hawgh]

I would have liked it if the ending had been just a tad more cheerful, I'm just a sap for...well, sappy endings.

Also really wanted to get a chance to punch Harbinger right in his betentacled robot-face.

 

[akibawall95]

I thought they were going to trick a majority of the Reapers to the dying star from ME2 and make it explode. Then they use overwhelming numbers and advanced weaponry to destroy the remaining Reapers, but not without heavy losses. The Counsel disbands to form the United Species Reconstruction Force. Shepard (depending if he lived) leads the USRF with his remaining squad mates along with his other allies. Many of the choices affect the ending as well (I might type the rest later if I have the time).

Personally, I didn?t like canon ending (it didn?t feel real or believable) however, they can make the ending however they want. I just believe BioWare owes it to the players, most of which have been playing for three games, an explanation or some closure. Even what they did for Dragon Age: Origins, with some text explaining what happened to the characters and various races would have been nice.

 

[Soods]

Shepard manages to rally an enormous fleet and they don't even need the Catalyst. And in the last boss fight Shepard has to kill 3 reapers, with bare hands.

 

[Neaco]

If you don't like it, that's of course your decision, but the devs have no obligation whatsoever to change the game to suit your tastes.

except its not just his or my tastes, the majority of the people who played this game are dissatisfied with the end. a game the preaches "hope" and "friendship" and "leave no man behind" only to change gears the last 10 minutes to "is my calculator evil?" makes for not just a bad ending, but offensive to all us fans who were ready for our triumphant victory.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

Just get rid of the elevator bit onwards.

Shepard and Anderson on the Citadel bridge, sitting, talking.
"Don't Stop Believing" starts playing in the background.
Cut to black.

 

[Xpheyel]

In as few words as possible: No Additional Space Magic.

Think of Mass Effect; you find a scaled down prototype relay and get an access code. The relay still does what relays have been established to do. I wouldn't mind a relay self destruct command. I wouldn't mind luring the Reapers to the Citadel and using it to launch some of them into a black hole. I wouldn't mind an out an out conventional war using the Reaper tech salvaged from the first two games (the Normandy weapon upgrade in ME2 used it, give it to the Destiny Ascension).

Stick with the established space magic of element zero. Thats already a lot of magic. You don't need to add super advanced radiation from an ancient civilization turns everyone into a cyborg.

And at least strand the crew on frigging earth somewhere in the vicinity of where they were established to be. Ending the game on a plot spackle moment, like Shepard taking the squad out for ice cream so the Collectors can get the crew in ME2, is really stupid.

 

[DustyDrB]

I didn't want a happy ending or a sad ending. I wanted a character-based ending to this character-based franchise. I care about what happens to my squadmates and acquaintances.

I didn't want an AI program telling me that the AI are totally cool and I shouldn't kill them. Yeah, I assumed it was lying to me out of self-preservation and using an impactful memory to try to manipulate Shepard.

But those choices sort of killed the more intriguing set-ups of the story: What happens to the Quarians and the Geth after the events of ME3? Do the Krogan learn from their past and make better decisions this time? Will the Citadel species be able to accept the former "monsters" (Geth, Rachni) once this war is over?

While each of these games is probably in my top 5, I even have to admit the ending was a huge letdown.

 

[YouBecame]

Major spoilage thread, but just in case you hadn't worked that out, the below contains spoilers:



Don't get me wrong, I was satisfied with my Shepards ending - though I confess it didn't really give any closure. (I got the green synthesis ending)

I think I would have preferred some more variation in the endings. It seems as though the choices and main results you get are
- Does Shepard live?
- What happens to the reapers in the immediacy? (Synonymous to the "what colour is the explosion" question)
- edit: How boned Earth is - totally screwed or sort of saved?

I think a part of what I would liked is an explanation of what happened to the fleet stuck at Earth when the Mass Effect relays blew. What happened to each member of my squad? Did Harbinger kill my Garrus and James in the dash for Citadel? What happened to the other council races? Did Humanity recover? What happened post citadel? Who made the catalyst VI?

Perhaps there is scope for more Mass Effect, but I think that for the conclusion to Shepards story, and the reaper invasion in general, I want to know more about what happened. I want closure to the story that I've seen, and I feel that there was precious little.

 

[wicket42]

http://arkis.deviantart.com/art/Mass-Effect-3-Alternate-Endings-SPOILERS-289902125

I usually hate fan films, or fanfic etc, but I'd be cool with what is written in that link.

 

[Tuesday Night Fever]

Did Harbinger kill my Garrus and James in the dash for Citadel?

I was under the impression that they survived. I took Jarvik (to get his vengeance) and EDI (for her technical prowess), and during the end cutscene I saw both Jarvik and EDI exiting the Normandy with Joker.

 

[JesterRaiin]

ME3 Ending: What did you WANT it to be and WHY? (Expect Spoilers)

I really wanted to see Mordin doing some tests on seashells. :|

 

[Elamdri]

Also at least one ending where the Mass Relays didn't blow up and kill everyone.

They didn't kill everyone, they were used to spread the colored wave of magic of your choice. The Batarian Relay explosion killed everyone. These explosions were different because of the Crucible...somehow.

I'm not saying that it's a fantastic explanation, but the explosions in ME3 were in fact different than Arrival.

One has to think now why didn't the Reapers just blow up the Relays instead of the slow and annoying fighting with all those different civilizations

Because they don't just kill all life, they "preserve" it in a Reaper.

 

[Elamdri]

snip

your choices also affect exactly how screwed earth is.

 

[YouBecame]

snip

your choices also affect exactly how screwed earth is.

Oh yes. That too. My bad, should add that in, cheers

 

[jensenthejman]

Here is my thing:

The Reaper's Motive for extinction needs to be scrapped. It is the seed from which all the complaints about the game's ending stem. Their motive is to exterminate organic life from the galaxy because if they don't synthetic life will exterminate organic life from the galaxy.

WHAT?

First, that doesn't make sense; you have the Reapers doing exactly what they say they are trying to stop. Unless you operate under the assumption that the Reapers don't exterminate ALL organic life, whereas other synthetic life would...I guess theoretically destroy ALL organic life to a bacterial level? Which doesn't make a whole lot of sense either.

Second, why are we suddenly supposed to accept as fact that it is true that all synthetic life will eventually destroy organic life? The only synthetic lifeforms that have actively tried to destroy all organic life are...the Reapers themselves. The only other example we have is the Geth, and there is no concrete evidence from the Geth to support the Reaper contention. In fact, it's quite the opposite.


In my opinion, I think they should have never given us a motive for the Reapers. Why do they want to kill us all? Just because. Because after all, the enemy you don't understand, the enemy who's motives are so utterly alien that they are beyond your comprehension, now that is truly terrifying. Heck, I would also have been ok with just operating under the assumption that I had in ME2, that Reapers needed to use us to create new Reapers. That's fine too.

By removing their motive, it removes the need for the god-kid AI who explains all this crap, and the need for the 3 choice ending.

I think then there could have been a plethora of endings

1. You failed to bring peace to the races of the galaxy. The Reapers defeat you and life is exterminated from the galaxy.
2. You failed to bring peace to the races of the galaxy. The Reapers defeat you and life is exterminated from the galaxy. However, you left some message for future generations of the next cycle to give them a chance.
3. You use the Crucibles magic McGuffin powers to Destroy the Reapers, but at heavy costs. It is a phyrric victory, society still crumbles, but the Reapers will never threaten an organic race again.
4. You use the Crucible's magic McGuffin powers to Destroy the Reapers, and the galaxy survives, but because you failed to truly bring peace to the races, without the threat of Reapers over there heads, soon the races of the galaxy seek to exploit each other in their weakened state
5. You or the Illusive Man used the Crucible's magic McGuffin powers combined with the Illusive Man's study of Reaper tech you saved on the Collector Base to take control of the Reapers and conquer the galaxy for humanity.
6. You unite all the races in the galaxy in a true alliance, Destroy the Reapers, bringing true and lasting peace to the galaxy, but at a high cost of life.
7. You unite all the races in the galaxy in a true alliance, Destroy the Reapers, bringing true and lasting peace to the galaxy, and Shepard survives the events.

^This. I want Bioware to go back and do this.

 

[TheCommanders]

Most realistic solution that I've seen and the one I've liked the best, and the one that has the most popular support and chance of happening:

http://social.bioware.com/poll.php?user=1183972&poll_id=29101

Help this happen.