You have read the title, so you should get the deal. Whether you were satisfied with the original(or the "improved") ending or not, we can all agree that a vast majority of players weren't. So, here's an idea: how would you have ended the game? What is your head-canon?
To kick things off, I bring three alternative ending ideas to the table.
-The Crucible that never was...:
The idea is an ending where the Crucible never existed. The races of the galaxy already have a huge advantage over the species' of the previous cycles, since they still have the Citadel and they can still use the mass relays. The only advantage the Reapers have is their size and barriers that can deflect even dreadnought shells.
In this case the story would have to be reworked (obviously), so the focus would have been about actually uniting the races for a final battle (instead of just to serve as meath-shields for the Crucible), and instead of gathering tech for the deus ex machina, Shepard could have gathered tech to overcome the Reaper barriers so that the fleets could fight on even footing.
As for the finale, my idea would have been a final confrontation between Harbinger and Shepard, possibly inside Harbinger (as it was shown that Sovereign-class Reapers have enough room inside them for it in the first game). In the very end Shepard would assault Harbinger's core, and by destroying it he would actually disrupt the Reapers (similarly how killing Saren disrupted Sovereign) and allow the united fleet to defeat the Reapers over Earth.
This would not only allow Shepard to go out in a blaze of glory instead of slowly limping towards one of three magical buttons, but it would provide a good opportunity to tie in the acquired tech and the side-missions the same way Mass Effect 2's suicide mission did, and if the player did everything right, could even allow Shepard to survive (or at least to be rebuilt). Not to mention, I cannot be the only one who was let down by the fact that Shepard cannot kick Harbinger in the proverbial mouth in the game...
-The Crucible that actually does its freakin' job:
This ending would keep the core of the game but would actually make the Crucible do what it was designed for without all the star child idiocy.
Shepard gets up to the Citadel, opens the arms, the Crucible docks, and there is a button. Only one button, and what happens would be entirely depending on everything the player did in the game. For example, if Shepard got the Reaper code fragment from the Geth collective, it would mean that the Crucible would target only the Reapers, otherwise it will indiscriminately destroy all advanced synthetic life.
Also, whether Shepard would survive would once again be entirely dependent on just how much tech was collected for the Crucible. If no or only a few related tech was collected, it will blow up killing Shepard and destroying the Citadel. If a good portion of it was collected, it would still explode but the Citadel would survive with Shepard's fate being uncertain. However, if everything was collected and there was a strong enough fleet to protect it, the Crucible stays in one piece and gets permanently docked to the Citadel.
-The Shamalamadingdong twist ending!:
In this ending the Crucible exists and it is built. However, when it is used, it turns out it does nothing tot he Reapers.
Then Harbinger explains that the entire Mass Effect universe is just one huge simulation done by a species of a higher dimension to simulate the effects of periodic extinction on the development of a galaxy. The Reapers are broken as hell because they were never meant to be defeated, they have no reasonable motivations because they are just an artificial existence that was only introduced into the simulation for the sole reason of periodically eradicating advanced life in the galaxy and the whole cycle only exists as a parameter in a scientific experiment.
In fact, the Crucible is actually the result of the desperate struggle of all the previous species for a way to defy the cycle and its creators the only way they could: by crashing the experiment and essentially "turning off" the universe, and since the Reapers are fed up with their one-note existence, they actually provide the Catalyst so that they could finally be erased and could rest.
Shepard then gets the final choice in this no-win situation: He can either activate the completed Crucible, thus destroying the entire universe as its last act of defiance against its creators, or he can leave and let the Reapers continue their harvest in order to preserve the universe and the life in it. What a twist!
So yeah, these were my ideas, please share yours.
P.S.: No indoctrination theory please. Not because I don't think it would have its place here (in fact, I still find it a fascinating alternative to the actual ending), but because it was already discussed to death and there is no point to re-iterate it again. Thanks in advance.
To kick things off, I bring three alternative ending ideas to the table.
-The Crucible that never was...:
The idea is an ending where the Crucible never existed. The races of the galaxy already have a huge advantage over the species' of the previous cycles, since they still have the Citadel and they can still use the mass relays. The only advantage the Reapers have is their size and barriers that can deflect even dreadnought shells.
In this case the story would have to be reworked (obviously), so the focus would have been about actually uniting the races for a final battle (instead of just to serve as meath-shields for the Crucible), and instead of gathering tech for the deus ex machina, Shepard could have gathered tech to overcome the Reaper barriers so that the fleets could fight on even footing.
As for the finale, my idea would have been a final confrontation between Harbinger and Shepard, possibly inside Harbinger (as it was shown that Sovereign-class Reapers have enough room inside them for it in the first game). In the very end Shepard would assault Harbinger's core, and by destroying it he would actually disrupt the Reapers (similarly how killing Saren disrupted Sovereign) and allow the united fleet to defeat the Reapers over Earth.
This would not only allow Shepard to go out in a blaze of glory instead of slowly limping towards one of three magical buttons, but it would provide a good opportunity to tie in the acquired tech and the side-missions the same way Mass Effect 2's suicide mission did, and if the player did everything right, could even allow Shepard to survive (or at least to be rebuilt). Not to mention, I cannot be the only one who was let down by the fact that Shepard cannot kick Harbinger in the proverbial mouth in the game...
-The Crucible that actually does its freakin' job:
This ending would keep the core of the game but would actually make the Crucible do what it was designed for without all the star child idiocy.
Shepard gets up to the Citadel, opens the arms, the Crucible docks, and there is a button. Only one button, and what happens would be entirely depending on everything the player did in the game. For example, if Shepard got the Reaper code fragment from the Geth collective, it would mean that the Crucible would target only the Reapers, otherwise it will indiscriminately destroy all advanced synthetic life.
Also, whether Shepard would survive would once again be entirely dependent on just how much tech was collected for the Crucible. If no or only a few related tech was collected, it will blow up killing Shepard and destroying the Citadel. If a good portion of it was collected, it would still explode but the Citadel would survive with Shepard's fate being uncertain. However, if everything was collected and there was a strong enough fleet to protect it, the Crucible stays in one piece and gets permanently docked to the Citadel.
-The Shamalamadingdong twist ending!:
In this ending the Crucible exists and it is built. However, when it is used, it turns out it does nothing tot he Reapers.
Then Harbinger explains that the entire Mass Effect universe is just one huge simulation done by a species of a higher dimension to simulate the effects of periodic extinction on the development of a galaxy. The Reapers are broken as hell because they were never meant to be defeated, they have no reasonable motivations because they are just an artificial existence that was only introduced into the simulation for the sole reason of periodically eradicating advanced life in the galaxy and the whole cycle only exists as a parameter in a scientific experiment.
In fact, the Crucible is actually the result of the desperate struggle of all the previous species for a way to defy the cycle and its creators the only way they could: by crashing the experiment and essentially "turning off" the universe, and since the Reapers are fed up with their one-note existence, they actually provide the Catalyst so that they could finally be erased and could rest.
Shepard then gets the final choice in this no-win situation: He can either activate the completed Crucible, thus destroying the entire universe as its last act of defiance against its creators, or he can leave and let the Reapers continue their harvest in order to preserve the universe and the life in it. What a twist!
So yeah, these were my ideas, please share yours.
P.S.: No indoctrination theory please. Not because I don't think it would have its place here (in fact, I still find it a fascinating alternative to the actual ending), but because it was already discussed to death and there is no point to re-iterate it again. Thanks in advance.
