Mass Effect 3 SPOILER THREAD: LOTS OF SPECULATION FROM EVERYONE

Status
Not open for further replies.
I think there was talks about researching how to make them in the first game, but nobody in that universe except the Reapers know how they work. In arrival they talk about how nobody knows anything about them they didn't even know for sure if the collision would destroy it.
the protheans built atleast one in the form of the conduit.
 
I'm pissed that you aren't really given a choice. You're given three endings that are basically the same edgy grimdark stuff. My beef is this: why can't I save the Normandy? Why don't I have the option to preserve the Mass Effect relays. Why can't I have endings that actually reflect how prepared I was? Why can't I have an ending where everybody wins and Shepard and his/her LI live happily ever after? Why can't I have an ending where Shepard fails and the Reapers end up harvesting the universe and a new cycle starts? Why can't I have an ending where Shepard agrees with The Illusive Man and allows him to take over the Reapers? Why can't I have more CHOICES?

Bioware always claimed that ME was about choices and that there is no real conon in the series. Yet in ME3, they're more than willing to shove down your throat their canon (The Normandy getting stranded, the Mass Relays getting destroyed no matter the ending, certain characters dying no matter what your action were in ME3 or previous games). I don't mind that the endings we have are all grimdark, however, I do mind that there's no real choice.

YES x100000000

Does it even matter how prepared I was? From the sound of it, all that changes is in one or two endings you can see Shepard laying in the rubble on Earth (not sure how that makes sense, but whatever).

I thought the point of doing every side quest and making good decisions throughout the series was to get a better ending (not necessarily one with Shepard surviving). It's disappointing to find out none of that shit mattered for the ending. Apparently Bioware had their one ending they wanted me to see.

My biggest complaint though is there doesn't seem to be any closure. I have no idea who survived and who died, and what resulted from my ending choice.
 
Now that I've had some more time to think about the ending I'm pretty sure it's up there with MGS4 as the worst ending in a video game ever. Except you could stop after any previous MGS game and be satisfied with it. ME3 ending makes ME1 and ME2 trash.

Someone's going to edit that Back to the Future gif of the Doc explaining to Marty that Spiderman 3 made Spiderman and Spiderman 2 shitty in the alternate timeline with the Mass Effect franchise.

It's nothing like the MGS4 ending. The MGS4 ending elaborated on what was already suspected and slowly revealed throughout the game. Despite its absurdity, it fit within the game world.

Bioware said "ah fuck it all" for their ending and just threw in what appears to be three options drawn from a hat of staff submissions - all presumably written by people who have never played the game and have no attachment to the characters nor appreciation for the accomplishments of the player during the trilogy.

Why the fuck would you make the Quarian/Geth peace brokering such a huge, major accomplishment complete with saccharin emotional moments, then basically nullify those entirely with all three of the options?

The only conclusion can be that the writers simply have no insight into the mind of a player who invested themselves into the game.
 
I think this gets into the issue of "When does post-game DLC deserve to be in the main game?". But it's an interesting issue. One that doesn't have a real clear answer yet. I would have liked Witch Hunt to be a part of DA2.

Broken Steel also was not a direct response to people not liking the Fallout 3 ending.

EDIT: Spoilers for Dragon Age Origins and Fallout 3 on this post. /EDIT

Witch Hunt... hmm, yes, that is a problematic one. I personally didn't mind that the main gaming ended with the open question "did the Warden find Morrigan or not?" (and she was carrying his baby in my playtrough), but at the same time it is truly the last chapter of his story, and the budget in the DLC didn't seem that high to do it justice. So for me at least Bioware should have planned better in this case.

Returning to Fallout 3. You have a large gap between the release of the main game and that DLC (October 28, 2008 and May 5, 2009 if my quick search is correct) so is hard to tell exactly what were Bethesda plans. But there was a lot complaining about the original ending, about the stupid suicide and the "I can't explore anymore" factor, and both were addressed. One specific point I remembering people saying way before Broken Steel was "I have a supermutant immune to radiation with me, why do I have to die?" and that was dealt with in the DLC, in a game that was not known for having any good interactions with your companions.

Again, different scales of both the "rage" against the ending and the amount of retconning what it would take to fix it, but same principle. Just to be clear, I agree that releasing a "better ending" DLC would make Bioware look rather weak and even extortionist, but I'm not sure where the biggest damage is at this point.
 
It's nothing like the MGS4 ending. The MGS4 ending elaborated on what was already suspected and slowly revealed throughout the game. Despite its absurdity, it fit within the game world.

Bioware said "ah fuck it all" for their ending and just threw in what appears to be three options drawn from a hat of staff submissions - all presumably written by people who have never played the game and have no attachment to the characters nor appreciation for the accomplishments of the player during the trilogy.

Why the fuck would you make the Quarian/Geth peace brokering such a huge, major accomplishment complete with saccharin emotional moments, then basically nullify those entirely with all three of the options?

The only conclusion can be that the writers simply have no insight into the mind of a player who invested themselves into the game.

The sad part is, from what I've heard, that the two people who were writing this ending were the two head writers of the game.

But also (and again this is second-hand so it could be wrong) there wasn't as much vetting of this part of the game as other parts so the writing staff as a whole didn't have as much input.
 
The difference between the end of ME and ME3:

When I met Vigil on Ilos, it was incredible. It felt like I had discovered something so priceless it could save the universe. The Vigil VI moved and glitched like you'd expect an ancient software to behave. The music matched the mood. I wanted to know more and more, I must have run through all the dialogs 2 or 3 times each to get a grasp on the events.

When I met the catalyst, I was thinking "who the fuck are you, what the fuck are you talking about and when can I get back to playing Mass Effect 3?"

But it was already over. :((((
 
That's pretty fucked up. Honestly, if you didn't kill them during the suicide mission in ME2, all the ME2 characters end up either killing themselves or dieing. They must have really angered BioWare.

I stopped all the ones I could. Thankfully.

What flavor is this thread?

For the record I'm just really glad I didn't jump the shark after ME2's whole bullshit reunion scene.
This thread is sour grape.
 
Animations suck, framerate sucks (PS3), Space Ninjas suck, cover system is better than 2, but still sucks, ending sucks, killing Mordin was cool, killing Wrex was cool, killing Ashley was cool. I liked the Brutes and Banshees, they were fun. That was a good rent, might buy when cheaper. Played on Hardcore, challenging in spots, but easy. Is Inasanity unfair?
 
The sad part is, from what I've heard, that the two people who were writing this ending were the two head writers of the game.

But also (and again this is second-hand so it could be wrong) there wasn't as much vetting of this part of the game as other parts so the writing staff as a whole didn't have as much input.

Then these writers should have put conversations in the game that opened up the players' minds to the endings that lay ahead.

Maybe a conversation with EDI and Joker where they lament the emotional bonds that they've made, and people pine for a future where we can evolve humanity to where the natural world would never take us, and into a world of peace and understanding.

Or a conversation with Wrex where he says being with Eve has reminded him of the glory of primal nature, and he sometimes wishes the world could return to simplicity and purity, without mass relays and the genocidal virus they brought.

Or a conversation where Shepard actually listens to the Illusive Man for a few seconds instead of yelling in his face about being crazy, and learns that controlling the reapers would bring untold knowledge to the galaxy. Perhaps using them to benefit all life wouldn't require turning humans into husks?

None of this happens. All of these possibilities are presented within what.. 30 seconds total? And you have to make a decision that fucks over every accomplishment you've made with virtually no understanding or time to decide.
 
You know, reflecting on the missions that involve the ME2 cast, the only thing I don't really like about them is that you pretty much know which person you're going to see based on the setting.

The role that Jack ended up playing at Grissom Academy was pretty surprising, but fitting, though.
 
The difference between the end of ME and ME3:

When I met Vigil on Ilos, it was incredible. It felt like I had discovered something so priceless it could save the universe. The Vigil VI moved and glitched like you'd expect an ancient software to behave. The music matched the mood. I wanted to know more and more, I must have run through all the dialogs 2 or 3 times each to get a grasp on the events.

When I met the catalyst, I was thinking "who the fuck are you, what the fuck are you talking about and when can I get back to playing Mass Effect 3?"

But it was already over. :((((

Agree on the Vigil moment. That was truly wonderful and everything I love about sci-fi, discovering the unknown and learning something so mysterious. Just perfectly done exposition.
 
Question: Did anyone kill the Rachni queen in the first game? If so, are there still Reaver-rachni in ME3? I felt like what was supposed to be an "important" decision in ME didn't really matter except that I got fucked because of it. Didn't even offer that much to my war effort either.

It's nothing like the MGS4 ending. The MGS4 ending elaborated on what was already suspected and slowly revealed throughout the game. Despite its absurdity, it fit within the game world.

Bioware said "ah fuck it all" for their ending and just threw in what appears to be three options drawn from a hat of staff submissions - all presumably written by people who have never played the game and have no attachment to the characters nor appreciation for the accomplishments of the player during the trilogy.

Why the fuck would you make the Quarian/Geth peace brokering such a huge, major accomplishment complete with saccharin emotional moments, then basically nullify those entirely with all three of the options?

The only conclusion can be that the writers simply have no insight into the mind of a player who invested themselves into the game.

Yeah, I guess in that aspect it's definitely worse than MGS4's ending.
 
So much for choice eh?

Door 1: Reapers stop and you die.
Door 2: Reapers stop and you die.
Door 3: Reapers stop and you die.

In my save, I got the Geth and Quarians to get along. The Geth were a peaceful race just defending themselves, even with the opportunity and means to wipe out the Quarians without effort, they instead help them back to Rannoch and help you fight the reapers.

EDI and Joker go through the motions and near the end of the game she said she'd be willing to die for him, even though 5 minutes earlier she didn't see the logic in sacrificing yourself. Shepard pointed out what she'd do for Joker, and she realized she'd die for him.

And then the little fucking kid tells me without a shadow of a doubt that AI will eventually turn and wipe out all organic life? Fuck you kid. You're the only AI trying to wipe out life.

I wanted the Star Wars ending, happily ever after and the thing they kept saying I'd get. Not a stupid Matrix Reloaded ending to be different for the sake of it.
 
Question: Did anyone kill the Rachni queen in the first game? If so, are there still Reaver-rachni in ME3? I felt like what was supposed to be an "important" decision in ME didn't really matter except that I got fucked because of it. Didn't even offer that much to my war effort either.

Reaver Rachni still exist. If you kill the queen in ME1, the reapers clone her. Afterwards, if you let her go, unlike the real queen, the duplicate double-crosses you and takes out her 100 or so war assets later on in the game.

It's one of those things that I guess the developers thought everyone had to see as part of the main plot, no matter what.
 
shepard walks up to the crucible

suddenly, saren is back to life because of nanomachines and explains the meaning of the reapers in a 20 minute cutscene. then he tells shepard that he must enter a special crucible chamber that is specifically deadly for humans. saren can't do it because it's shepard's destiny. shepard walks towards the chamber and suddenly admiral hackett calls him and asks what's going on. "sir, finishing this fight." cut to credits as Shepard is about to make his choice
 
Question: Did anyone kill the Rachni queen in the first game? If so, are there still Reaver-rachni in ME3? I felt like what was supposed to be an "important" decision in ME didn't really matter except that I got fucked because of it. Didn't even offer that much to my war effort either.

If you don't kill the Rachni queen, she reappears in ME3 and you're once again given the chance to kill her or set her free. If you set her free, she becomes an ally. You can even have Grunt survive if you did his loyalty mission in ME2 so he'll make it out in time.

If you did kill the queen earlier, a construct of the Rachni queen is present that was made by the Reapers. It appeals for help and freedom but if you do set it free, it supposedly betrays you and leaves the war effort.
 
shepard walks up to the crucible

suddenly, saren is back to life because of nanomachines and explains the meaning of the reapers in a 20 minute cutscene. then he tells shepard that he must enter a special crucible chamber that is specifically deadly for humans. saren can't do it because it's shepard's destiny. shepard walks towards the chamber and suddenly admiral hackett calls him and asks what's going on. "sir, finishing this fight." cut to credits as Shepard is about to make his choice

This is stupid, ME is all about CHOICE. To make it better, depending on paragon/renegade score and number of war assets, the player can CHOOSE the color of death rays burning Shepard alive! Saren advises that green ones are best.
 
Yeah, I don't think anybody had worked out how to build Relays yet.
Protheans were close with the Conduit, but, yeah, I guess Reaper tech would've been nice for that. But wouldn't uploading the Reaper data or whatever to the geth allow for this kind of knowledge?

Monster!

The difference between the end of ME and ME3:

When I met Vigil on Ilos, it was incredible. It felt like I had discovered something so priceless it could save the universe. The Vigil VI moved and glitched like you'd expect an ancient software to behave. The music matched the mood. I wanted to know more and more, I must have run through all the dialogs 2 or 3 times each to get a grasp on the events.

When I met the catalyst, I was thinking "who the fuck are you, what the fuck are you talking about and when can I get back to playing Mass Effect 3?"

But it was already over. :((((
Yeah, seriously. =\

Is Inasanity unfair?
It feels that way at points (with an adept). The last Kai Leng fight is a bitch, and parts of the game when you get brutes and banshees thrown at you nonstop can be a bit trying. It can feel cheap because you can't soak up gunfire for more than a second out of cover (unless you have Energy Drain which makes it a smidge more bearable). This means that 1hko grenades with the finicky cover system are annoying, as well as the 1hko from Banshees grabbing you up close if you can't get away safely. Also, Kai Leng's melee attack is 1hko. He's difficult to fight as an adept when he's not backing off from gunfire and summons all those minions to help him. Need to deal with them while running away somehow.

shepard walks up to the crucible

suddenly, saren is back to life because of nanomachines and explains the meaning of the reapers in a 20 minute cutscene. then he tells shepard that he must enter a special crucible chamber that is specifically deadly for humans. saren can't do it because it's shepard's destiny. shepard walks towards the chamber and suddenly admiral hackett calls him and asks what's going on. "sir, finishing this fight." cut to credits as Shepard is about to make his choice
Hahahaha
I don't even know if that is better than what we got. :(
 
I just finished the game. My initial reaction to the ending (blue lazer?):

Are you engaging in reproductive behavior with this one?

WTF was this shit?
 
I just can't fathom the fact that this game is sitting at a 94 on Metacritic after finishing it myself a few days ago and reading through every page of this topic.

It's amazing that there can be this much of a disconnect between gaming "journalists" and reality.
 
Commander Shepard has become a legend by ending the Reaper threat. Now you can continue to build that legend through further gameplay and downloadable content.

No. Go fuck yourself.
 
I'm slowly reconciling myself to the only acceptable ending: destroy. Fuck you Space Wizard. Fuck you Reapers. Sorry Geth, Edi, but I'm moterfucking Commander Shepard and killing Reapers is what I do!

Oh God the game was so... Fucking good too...

Seeing all my Paragon FemShep actions come together... So good... Feeling the triumph of doing the impossible first time through in all three games. I used my original playthrough everytime! It's an experience I will treasure.

I won't let the ending ruin that. The Reapers are dead. Earth is devastated but saved.
 
I just can't fathom the fact that this game is sitting at a 94 on Metacritic after finishing it myself a few days ago and reading through every page of this topic.

It's amazing that there can be this much of a disconnect between gaming "journalists" and reality.

99% of the game is God tier. Only the ending fails.
 
Ok this is fucked up

So I decided to play the final mission again. In the scene where Shepard is running towards the beam of light from Earth to the Citadel, I have Garrus and Vega with me. So the Reaper takes me out and after Shepard gets up these guys are no where in site. I assumed dead

I chose the destroy all Reapers option to get the " Shepard is alive" ending. So the scene where Joker comes out of the crashed Normandy, he is followed by Ashley and who follows them after..

Fucking Vega. HOW THE FUCK he got on the Normandy. Maybe this was already posted and someone already complained about this but wtf is this shit.
 
I just finished the game. My initial reaction to the ending (blue lazer?):

Are you engaging in reproductive behavior with this one?

WTF was this shit?
Ok this is fucked up

So I decided to play the final mission again. In the scene where Shepard is running towards the beam of light from Earth to the Citadel, I have Garrus and Vega with me. So the Reaper takes me out and after Shepard gets up these guys are no where in site. I assumed dead

I chose the destroy all Reapers option to get the " Shepard is alive" ending. So the scene where Joker comes out of the crashed Normandy, he is followed by Ashley and who follows them after..

Fucking Vega. HOW THE FUCK he got on the Normandy. Maybe this was already posted and someone already complained about this but wtf is this shit.


g2bI8.jpg


space magic
 
I just can't fathom the fact that this game is sitting at a 94 on Metacritic after finishing it myself a few days ago and reading through every page of this topic.

It's amazing that there can be this much of a disconnect between gaming "journalists" and reality.

Ehm, despite the endings, the rest of the game is really really great.
 
I'm slowly reconciling myself to the only acceptable ending: destroy. Fuck you Space Wizard. Fuck you Reapers. Sorry Geth, Edi, but I'm moterfucking Commander Shepard and killing Reapers is what I do!

Oh God the game was so... Fucking good too...

Seeing all my Paragon FemShep actions come together... So good... Feeling the triumph of doing the impossible first time through in all three games. I used my original playthrough everytime! It's an experience I will treasure.

I won't let the ending ruin that. The Reapers are dead. Earth is devastated but saved.

I really wish I could say the same thing. Knowing that everything I'm doing builds to something shitty and that every decision I made means little to nothing does a lot to ruin it for me.

I tried starting a new playthrough and I just couldn't do it.
 
Ok this is fucked up

So I decided to play the final mission again. In the scene where Shepard is running towards the beam of light from Earth to the Citadel, I have Garrus and Vega with me. So the Reaper takes me out and after Shepard gets up these guys are no where in site. I assumed dead

I chose the destroy all Reapers option to get the " Shepard is alive" ending. So the scene where Joker comes out of the crashed Normandy, he is followed by Ashley and who follows them after..

Fucking Vega. HOW THE FUCK he got on the Normandy. Maybe this was already posted and someone already complained about this but wtf is this shit.

Remember that part about Joker saying Shepard never left the Geth Consensus?

LYOKx.gif
 
There is no secret ending besides the clip in which Shepard breaths.

There really wasn't. Javik had the only real banter in the game. You did hear more side stuff on the Normandy though
Yes, but it was fun to have them talk during the missions. Only once in a while did they say anything at all.

It's a shame that the DLC character had more input on things than anyone else.

The talk in the Normandy is okay, but wasn't there usually at least five or six brief conversations that your party would say to one another in ME1. This only had a few conversations even for the Normandy.
 
I wonder what would happen to Bioware's reputation if they did end up caving, and creating a new ending via patch or DLC. They can't go any further in the internet's shitter, can they?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom