The simplest, easiest, cleanest way to fix the ME3 ending.

[Dr Jones]

I have not read any posts in this thread due to fear of having it be spoiled for me.. (Yes I haven't played Mass Effect 3 yet, and somehow I've been able to stay in the dark except for knowing about the ending in the broadest sense )

Anyhow: I believe that there is no "easy, clean and simple" way for Bioware to get out of this mess. Gamers are angry, and hell hath no wrath like a gamer scorned. Bioware trying to make amends would only infuriate them more, as, well.. That's what always happens (did with the Extended cut and DAIII).

Then again, keep in mind I did not read your suggestion or know anything about the ending (so your suggestion actually might be perfect), I'm just saying I don't think there is any way Bioware can make a clean getaway with this.

 

[RJ 17]

Here's my "Better Ending for Mass Effect 3"

Everything plays out exactly how it does originally. Shepard gets blasted, wakes back up, kills Marauder Shields, gets back to the Citadel, confronts TIM, has the father-son/daughter talk with Anderson.

However, when Hacket calls up and says "Ummmm...yeah, nothing's happening." Shepard actually makes it to the console he/she was trying to get to and presses the magic button that completes the link between the Citadel and the Crucible, allowing the super weapon to fire.

If you look in the War Assets under the Crucible, there should be an entry for the Inferometric (spelling) Array, or something like that. It explains that the Crucible is specially tuned to the relay system and that, when combined with the scanning power of these arrays, allows a real-time mapping of the entire galaxy including the position of every single Reaper. We also know that the Reapers have a connection - via various signals - to the relays and the Citadel

Based on this, here's what I say the Crucible should have done: release a powerful signal through the Citadel and thus through the entire relay network. This signal travels along Reaper frequencies and, for lack of a better term, wipes their harddrives and effectively kills them as they're rendered as lifeless husks, just shells of massive creepy spaceships. Thus the relays remain intact. This signal zaps through the relay network and eliminates all the Reapers.

Shepard, unfortunately, doesn't survive his/her injuries and dies on the Citadel. Fade to black. When we return, it is a hero's funeral for Shepard in which all surviving squadmates from all 3 games (as well as major side-characters such as Hacket, the Council, etc) give a little speech talking about how Shepard effected their life (which in turn explains the outcome of some of the decisions you made involving those characters). After the funeral it cuts to a Dragon Age: Origins-styled textbox slide-show that explains how Shepard's major decisions effected the galaxy at large. "Freed from the Genophage, Wrex led the Krogan into a new golden age of prosperity and retook the glory and pride of the ancient Krogan. Etc etc".

Role credits.

Keep the Star Gazer scene because I do like how it shows that Shepard has evolved into THE Shepard, legendary hero of the entire frickin' galaxy.

 

[Something Amyss]

This is a topic on how to fix ME3's broken ending.

Yes, and you suggested that the fix, which is only an issue due to the company lying, should come at a cost to the consumer, which is inane.

So....other than stating the incredibly obvious, was there a point?

No?

Good.

Fallout 33's ending was retconned for the specific purpose of DLC, not to fix any serious problem with the ending itself. You will also notice a lack of outcry or broken promises related to it. Using that model is bad business and further betrays the fanbase.

Also, the Indoctrination theory is crap, so you're trading one line of garbage for another. Yay?

 

[imnot]

Just make Maurader Shields unbeatable and roll credits when Shepard dies.

I agree, Marauder Shields deserves that one kill, After all the hard work he put into training.
He lived as marauder shields.
He died as marauder health.

 

[Simeon Ivanov]

In it's current state? Shepard gets killed by Harbinger's beam and the Reapers destroy everything.

I can't possibly see how Shepard (and the galaxy) can defeat a fleet of giant killer space squids with unspecified brainwashing capabilities. Oh sure you could remake the Crucible to send a galaxy-wide Reaper killing wave, but ... oh wait, that doesn't sound so bad actually.

P.S. - Would people who don't like/play Mass Effect not comment? Their opinion shouldn't really matter. Nothing personal, I just think that they shouldn't have a say in something that doesn't concern them.

 

[BakaSmurf]

First, spoilers, obviously. You should expect that here anyway.

So...I've thought about this a while. I've decided that maybe the issue here is that BioWare is having trouble trying to come up with an ending they can make on a budget of $0 that will make us happy. Maybe not, but if so, I have a simple, easy solution. It doesn't fix all the plot holes, but it DOES give us an option which allows us to actually save the galaxy. Yanno, relays intact. The trade-off, of course, is that doing so means killing everyone on the Normandy (which seems like a small price to pay if it works.)

So, Shepard chooses the destroy ending. Then, he has a paragon interrupt that requires a nearly-perfect paragon score to use. If the check succeeds, he radios Joker and tells him to fly the Normandy directly into the beam - absorbing enough of the energy that the Sol Relay is damaged, but not destroyed, and with repairs will become functional again. Doing this, of course, kills the Normandy, Joker, and everyone else on board, but it's not like Shepard has never ordered Alliance solders to their death for the cause.

Best part? This requires 0 new cutscenes and less than 10 lines of dialog from only 3 actors (2 sheps and Joker). That's it. They can repurpose the same graphic of the Normandy being destroyed/damaged/chased by the beam (with some minor edits, maybe) and that's it. This could be done in a single day at BioWare.

That, and frankly, this is the ending I would've chosen even IF there was a fairy tale alternative. I don't expect everyone to live. I expect my beloved friends will have to die to save the galaxy. But simply stranding all of the known universe in a system with 1 half-ruined habitable planet is NOT saving anything. With the relays in tact, everything can be rebuilt in time. Personally, I would PREFER to choose to kill Shep and crew in order to achieve this. It just seems like a fair price to pay for a real victory.

I'd say that this would be a much simpler way to fix the ending.

Okay, maybe 'fix' isn't nessicarily the right word here, but hey, you have to admit, this is much better than what we actually got. Hell, follow it up with this and we're golden.

 

[TorqueConverter]

This is a topic on how to fix ME3's broken ending.

Yes, and you suggested that the fix, which is only an issue due to the company lying, should come at a cost to the consumer, which is inane.



Fallout 33's ending was retconned for the specific purpose of DLC, not to fix any serious problem with the ending itself. You will also notice a lack of outcry or broken promises related to it. Using that model is bad business and further betrays the fanbase.


Also, the Indoctrination theory is crap, so you're trading one line of garbage for another. Yay?

Trading in one line of garbage for another is alright as long as everyone is happy with their new garbage situation.

So....other than stating the incredibly obvious, was there a point?

No?

Good.

A meaningful discussion would be the point. Pointing fingers at Bioware and calling them crooks is not going to fix the ending. What exactly is wrong with the ending? Is it Bioware's lie or that the ending is shit that is the problem? Do you oppose a fix to the ending? What is your stance on this exactly?

I haven't played the game as Bioware and I do not see eye to eye on day one DLC. I've watched some lets-plays on the game and that ending is pretty awful but certainly looks fixable. Yeah, they lied but can you not separate Bioware from the game? Is this a topic on
what Bioware must to do to appease the fans or a topic on how to fix the game's broken ending? I'm seeing it as an ending fixing topic.

 

[JamesStone]

I will believe we have that Shepard was in the beginnig stages of indocrination, and that the last scene never actually happend. I will believe that in the final scene when Shepard destroys the Reapers (the red) he is fighting indocrination, and that's why we appears alive in a bunch of rubble after all the other ending scenes are over. He is actually in the Citadel now, and the scene with the kid was just Harbinger trying to control you. You can then go on, and you start seeing everything blurry, just like when he was controles by the Ilusive Man. Shepard could then defeat the Reapers. And maybe, just maybe that,s what Bioware had planned all along. That's why the endings seem so unreal, because they aren't.

The Indocrination theory is the best explanation. I hope that was what they had in mine all along. It explains everything: the fact that the Catalyst looks like that kid shep couldn't stop dreaming about, and why the options that coincide with the Reapers goal's are called good directly. The mix genes option: Isn't that what the Reapers wanted? Isn't that what they are? A mix of organic and inorganic? And about the control? That's what the Reapers wanted, to make you believe you can control them, to make you subject to their will.

Bioware probably didn't though about this, but I hope they have the decency to rip it off, because releasing that dlc and basically revealing that they indoceinated us, that would not only be the greatest move in the history of games, that would make ME3 the greatest game ever.

And ir that didn't offered closure on the Reapers' origins, they could release post gaming dlc, when they would track down the last remnants of indocrinated followers and reveal the truth behind the Reapers. Maybe something about the first species that created them, and their mistakes. How the Reapers where programmed to "bring order to chaos".
Man, how could would that be?

 

[JamesStone]

What about a Fallout 3/NV ending? Ron perlman talking about shepherds exploits and then says "War never changes"

This is pretty much exactly what I was expecting. "Under Wrex and Eve's rule, the krogan found a new age of prosperity and were eventually accepted amid the galactic community." Obviously less cheesy and cliché if more stuff got blown up.

"And then Wrex woke up and realized he was dreaming, and was still trapped on Earth starving to Death because the fucking Mass relays were destroyed"

 

[Something Amyss]

Trading in one line of garbage for another is alright as long as everyone is happy with their new garbage situation.

A scenario that is not applicable here, since it relies on everyone being happy.

A meaningful discussion would be the point.

Which your statement was not conducive to.

Pointing fingers at Bioware and calling them crooks is not going to fix the ending.

Distorting my point of view is also not conducive to such discussion.

There is a flaw in your sentiment, the one where the consumer is asked to shoulder the cost because a company objectively lied to its consumer base. I pointed this out. Are we done on this, or would you care to continue twisting my words and then railing against them?

What exactly is wrong with the ending?

Something you should address before the strawmen, not after.

Is it Bioware's lie or that the ending is shit that is the problem?

It's both, but the major issue has persisted in the lack of agency. And that SORT OF touches on both, anyway, because the lack of impact on the ending affects both the lie and the quality of the ending. The consumer was told we would not get an ABC ending. You get to the end, Deus Ex Machina, and then an ABC ending. You can't completely separate the two, but the major contentions come down to the way the ending was handled in the wake of player choice.

There are multiple problems, but mostly, people wanted to see their Shep play out the ending consistently with the rest of the game's choices. They were told they would have that, that the endings would be more diverse and the like. They were told no ABC endings. What they got was an ABC ending with choices that didn't make sense.

Do you oppose a fix to the ending? What is your stance on this exactly?

I do not oppose a fix. But when something like this is wrong, it should not be the consumer's burden. The problem with the ending is on their end. You know how other companies do recalls for broken products or ones that just don't include certain features? Instead of a recall, you're suggesting the player who was lied to should have to pay extra to fix something they didn't do. You're penalizing them a second time.

Y

eah, they lied but can you not separate Bioware from the game? Is this a topic on
what Bioware must to do to appease the fans or a topic on how to fix the game's broken ending?

How are those two things different issues? And you suggested they should charge; how is commentary on that not relevant to the issue at hand regardless of whether it's "complain about Bioware" or "fix the ending?"

 

[dreadedcandiru99]

I never played the game. I never saw the ending...I care about the experience of the game.

If you cared, surely you would've played the game.

...I can guarantee it makes sense with the story...

How can you guarantee that the ending makes sense if you haven't played the game? I have played the game, and I can guarantee that the ending sucks.

When you buy product,you take the risk of not liking said product,in part or in whole. Suck it up,deal with it,and move on.

I can't speak for everyone, of course, but my idea of "dealing with it and moving on" involves not buying Bioware games anymore. If that's what Bioware wants, fine.

 

[shadow_Fox81]

do nothing.

yeah big believer in that opinion.

 

[Texas Joker 52]

Don't touch it you self-righteous entitled rube. I never played the game. I never saw the ending.

You sir (or madam, since gender can be completely unaccounted for on the internet), are misinformed, and missing crucial information. Without first-hand knowledge of what you are arguing against, then your argument is greatly diminished, not only in meaning and impact, but also in respectability. Whenever most people hear someone calling out their opinion against something they know nothing about, its easily disregarded as posturing and spouting nonsense.

The outsider's opinion is always neutral.

This, also, is wrong. An opinion is always subjective, and never neutral. The lack of an opinion, is neutral.

Now, I, and several others who share a similar viewpoint that I do, in that the endings were examples of horrible, inconsistent, unprofessional writing and that, yes, Retake Mass Effect was poorly worded and executed in its own right, can understand how you feel about Retake ME.

But, the fact is that Mass Effect, as both a series as a whole and individual games, made people very emotionally invested. That investment, yes, taints the viewpoint of the product, but objectively, the endings cannot be reconciled with the story, the lore of the universe, and the characters in general, without some sort of detailed explanation. The fact it can't be reconciled without that, and that that explanation is absent, is one of the many reasons why people are so outraged, demanding what we had been promised by Bioware.

Personally, I hope Bioware stepped up for the Extended Cut, and not just copped out on it as a sort of, "Ok, so you're upset that your favorite toy was broken? Here, have a half-melted, Hersheys kiss. That should make it all better, right?".

 

[chuckdm]

Wow...I reinstall windows and come back 3 days later and my thread has totally run off the rails. I suppose when people care this much - myself included - I shouldn't be surprised. I stand by my original idea, but I like some of the alternatives that people have proposed here too - yanno, in between bickering about how good/bad/whatever the ending was. SOME of you actually PROPOSED SOLUTIONS and I thank you for that. After all, if there was no writers block and the fine folks at BioWare had better ideas, we wouldn't be here now, so clearly MORE IDEAS are what we need anyway.

I'd also like to amend my original idea by adding a truly revolutionary thought (for an EA game release, at least): Give us a mod kit. Skyrim has one. So does Fallout. The western RPGs we all love the MOST all have mod kits, except Mass Effect, because of course it's an EA product and the instant you start allowing people to modify it...idk, I guess in EA's mind the world explodes? In any case, since this IS the end of the series, a Mod Kit would solve EVERYTHING. Just a thought, EA.

That said, I do want to add one thing that is partially unrelated to my original post. The reply to the backlash, both from gaming journalism and BioWare alike, seems to be that to change the ending would "compromise the team's artistic integrity." I want to respond to this.

The first time BioWare changed a single word of dialog to make a single fan happier, THEY LOST THEIR GOD DAMNED ARTISTIC INTEGRITY! This is not bad. This isn't anything wrong. I am not saying anything against BioWare. I am simply stating a fact.

When you, as a developer, rather than writing or coding or creating EXACTLY what you want, decide instead to create what the fans want, you now SHARE artistic control WITH THE FANS. You are NOT required to do this. You are not required to compromise between your own artistic vision and what you think will make fans happy. But once you do, there will be benefits and drawbacks, pros and cons. The benefits are that you will make your fans/customers happier, and therefore make more money. The main drawback, however, is that you have now granted to your fans the right to get mighty fucking pissed off if you create something in the future that they absolutely hate.

Developers, this is your choice. You are NEVER required to cave. You are NEVER required to make something we like even if you don't like it yourself. However, ONCE YOU DO, you ARE required to fucking well stick with it. >>>THIS<<< is why we are mad. It's not that we dislike the ending. It's that you only seem to magically regain the "artistic integrity" that you VOLUNTARILY ABANDONED when it requires that you do more work after you have finished a product and you don't feel like it.

So no, we are NOT entitled. If this was any other game by any other company where we are told "this is what we're creating, this is why you should like it, and if you don't like it, don't play it" then nobody would be complaining now. We are angry because we were told and SOLD the idea that we are "co-creators" and yet, when the chips are down, now we are just "fans" and the "team" which now no longer includes us has some magically re-appearing "artistic integrity" to protect, so we're screwed. If we had been told we would have 3 endings (even if we were told that they were different, since they aren't) before we bought the first game 5 years ago, that'd be one thing, but instead we were told that it was OUR INPUT and OUR CHOICE how the game ends. Now, all of a sudden, 99% of the "co-creators" who are working for free are being told "sorry, only the co-creators in this room at EA LA get any input now!" That is why we are angry, and when you are back stabbed like this, being angry is the CORRECT response.

Still, we either need to ask for a Mod Kit, or else, ask for a budget-friendly ending. EA is NOT going to spend any large chunk of money to make us happy. Everyone asking for something as elaborate as Indoc Theory might as well give up now.

 

[Lupus80]

Get rid of the Starchild. Period.

Everything that is wrong with the ending is pretty much collected in that one character.

While ending with Shepard and Anderson staring out at the battle over Earth, then showing the Destruction ending (without the Normandy crashing), would be somewhat abrupt and lack alot of variety, at least it would be a sensible and understandable ending.

We can then get a bunch of narrated scenes about what happened after, baced on Shepard's actions. Whether or not Shepard got out alive could be determined by his/her actions and war assetts as well.

 

[morpho]

didnt play the game yet as was occupied with me1 and 2, but will start this weekend.
just wanted to say that so far this ME saga has been one crazy ride. love the game(s). i see alot of anger from fans about the ending in me3 and if i wanted to keep my fans happy, i would make mass effect 4. that would fix everything. just saying bioware...

 

[pilouuuu]

Indoctrination theory. Just the part where Shepard passes out in front of the panel and the whole freaking Starchild part is an hallucination. The part about TIM and Anderson was real, only that after that the reapers sent him back to London while unconcious to finish his indoctrination.

Shepard wakes up in London and Harbringer says: "You're powerful, Shepard. You resisted the indoctrination. Now I must destroy you!" or something along those lines. Your crew members appear and some soldiers and you start fighting the Harbringer.

After that you REALLY enter the citadel, fight some reapers and finally activate the Crucible to destroy them once and for all.

You survive if you took the right choices, go back to Earth and you have the epilogue, showing Reapers being destroyed and the celebration of our victory and you get to talk and say good-bye to your surviving crew members. Some panels show what happened to other people in the galaxy.

END

 

[Chairman Miaow]

So an ending that makes even less fucking sense, but gives you a happy ending. I don't give a shit about a happy ending, and neither do a lot of the people complaining. We want it to make sense.