I think the main reason the Indoctrination Theory was somewhat believable is because of the Destroy ending where Shepard survives.
This ending as well as the other two were changed in the extended cut(so much for artistic integrity) to make things seem less grim for the survivors of the invasion. Here are the reasons Shep's survival is hard to believe: He gets partially hit by Harbinger's beam and is bleeding heavily for the next 10-15 minutes, gets shot by Marauder Shields, the Destroy ending machine blows up in his face, the Destroy option was supposed to destroy the many implants in his body from the last time he died, the Citadel blows up, he burns up on re-entry to Earth's atmosphere, and hits the ground. Those last two are assumptions based on the cutscene in the original ending showing the Citadel breaking up in a series of massive explosions and the breathing scene showing the presence of gravity and air, the EC changed this so that the Citadel remains mostly intact(same for the mass relays).
In the face of all that seeing Shepard take a breath could make anyone suspicious of the events leading up to it(along with the huge shift in tone and pacing that accompanied those events).
Aside from the bitterness of seeing the EC changing significant details about the ending without changing everything, I think it was an improvement.
My impression of ME3 now is 'meh', I don't really care anymore. Considering ME1 was the reason I bought my Xbox360 that really means something. The ending debacle broke my confidence in Bioware, and honestly I don't think their reputation will recover from this.
This ending as well as the other two were changed in the extended cut(so much for artistic integrity) to make things seem less grim for the survivors of the invasion. Here are the reasons Shep's survival is hard to believe: He gets partially hit by Harbinger's beam and is bleeding heavily for the next 10-15 minutes, gets shot by Marauder Shields, the Destroy ending machine blows up in his face, the Destroy option was supposed to destroy the many implants in his body from the last time he died, the Citadel blows up, he burns up on re-entry to Earth's atmosphere, and hits the ground. Those last two are assumptions based on the cutscene in the original ending showing the Citadel breaking up in a series of massive explosions and the breathing scene showing the presence of gravity and air, the EC changed this so that the Citadel remains mostly intact(same for the mass relays).
In the face of all that seeing Shepard take a breath could make anyone suspicious of the events leading up to it(along with the huge shift in tone and pacing that accompanied those events).
Aside from the bitterness of seeing the EC changing significant details about the ending without changing everything, I think it was an improvement.
My impression of ME3 now is 'meh', I don't really care anymore. Considering ME1 was the reason I bought my Xbox360 that really means something. The ending debacle broke my confidence in Bioware, and honestly I don't think their reputation will recover from this.