Riposte
Member
Didn't see this. Anyone got a screenshot of this?
Mass Effect 3 SPOILER THREAD: LOTS OF SPECULATION FROM EVERYONE
- Thread starter XANDER CAGE
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Didn't see this. Anyone got a screenshot of this?
I feel the same about the Deus Ex ending; that pissed me off. They are the creators of the game universe that I invested so much time into and obviously did what they wanted to do. All of this DLC alternate ending talk just makes the endings even more of a joke to me.
Someone posted the corpse of Garrus earlier in the thread.
Vire
Member
Nope, can't change any ME1/2 decisions at that point.
You're completely missing the point. People don't hate the endings because they are sad. They hate them because they are poorly explained, filled with plot holes, and do not make sense in the context of the Mass Effect universe.
Rebel Leader
THE POWER OF BUTTERSCOTCH BOTTOMS
Nothing about a "yay" ending would impress me. But the ones they made...
1) Natural end point for the series. You don't need a sequel to finish the story - the Mass Effect story and universe is completed with the choice. It's so refreshing to have that in a series; I've loved the trilogy but I'm content that it's over now.
2) No "everyone wins" option. Whatever happens somebody loses.
3) The explaination for the cycle was interesting. I'd always assumed the cycle was a self-enhancement programme for the Reapers, but if the Catalyst is taken at face value it's an odd but very "machine" approach to the problem of organic vs synthetic continual violence. A kind of ecological mission to ensure that organics do not wipe themselves out, by culling them back every 50k years.
4) Enough ambiguity to the "indoctrination question" to be genuinely worth factoring in. To me at least, it's even more ballsy to give the player the option give in to the Reapers at the end.
Things that I didn't find distracting? "Space magic". It's not hard sci-fi; if you're getting hung up on this then you might as well have stopped playing at the first game.
Also, the kid didn't bother me much. Possibly that's because I enjoyed the musical accompaniment to his scenes too much, but I just couldn't find it in me to begrudge Bioware for using him as an avatar for Shepard's fear for the future of Humanity.
ElectricBlue187
Member
Just watched the synthesis ending
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7OdYt0rqZQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Goddamn that's a good ending.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7OdYt0rqZQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Goddamn that's a good ending.
Vire
Member
Which part did you like more, the synthetic leaves or Joker boning EDI?
Just finished it. Endings are fine. (With the possible exception of the synthesis one- no idea what's going on there) I am completely baffled that there is such a discrepancy amongst fan reactions to this game and the rest of the series. (well, between this and the first really; second seems to be divisive)
First off, the story was only ever decent by video game standards, so the degree of shit that the story is seems like such an insignificant thing to judge the game on in the first place. You can't claim to place such value on stories and somehow find the first amazing without seeming amazingly schizo. (Also a reason I find the discrepancy between the fandom for the first and second weird)
Second, the story in this game is probably the most consistently engaging of any in the series. (Up until the very end, if you want to argue that) It plays off all the choices you've made throughout the series and is actually integrated with the main plot thread to such a degree that it far surpasses the aimless-wandering-in-the-face-of-imminent-doom feelings the first two games inspired before their climaxes. (I'll admit I am a little bit more partial to political intrigue, so the constant focus on diplomacy in this game would give it an edge over the others in my mind) Even if you think the ending is terrible, this isn't a series like Lost where the narrative quality was always predicated on how each loose end would be tied up. The segments can stand alone. Bottom line, I'll take a story that's 99% (and the very end is probably even a smaller fragment of the narrative than that) great over something like the first, which never particularly grabbed me until the end. (And even the end of the first is pretty terrible in its own right- gigantic info dumps that basically lay all the ground work delivered in two conversations is terrible storytelling. It was more what it set up for that was somewhat interesting)
Third, the symmetry between choices has been present in all three games- strike that, nearly all BioWare games. Your choices almost always affect how you get somewhere, not whether you get there. This outcome symmetry is a valid criticism, don't get me wrong, but it's more a recurring flaw with the studio and not this game in particular.
I still think that 1 to 2 was a bigger jump in quality and that the series is overrated in general, (as nearly all games primarily liked for their stories are) but 3 is still, unequivocally, the best of the series and an enjoyable ending to BioWare's trilogy.
First off, the story was only ever decent by video game standards, so the degree of shit that the story is seems like such an insignificant thing to judge the game on in the first place. You can't claim to place such value on stories and somehow find the first amazing without seeming amazingly schizo. (Also a reason I find the discrepancy between the fandom for the first and second weird)
Second, the story in this game is probably the most consistently engaging of any in the series. (Up until the very end, if you want to argue that) It plays off all the choices you've made throughout the series and is actually integrated with the main plot thread to such a degree that it far surpasses the aimless-wandering-in-the-face-of-imminent-doom feelings the first two games inspired before their climaxes. (I'll admit I am a little bit more partial to political intrigue, so the constant focus on diplomacy in this game would give it an edge over the others in my mind) Even if you think the ending is terrible, this isn't a series like Lost where the narrative quality was always predicated on how each loose end would be tied up. The segments can stand alone. Bottom line, I'll take a story that's 99% (and the very end is probably even a smaller fragment of the narrative than that) great over something like the first, which never particularly grabbed me until the end. (And even the end of the first is pretty terrible in its own right- gigantic info dumps that basically lay all the ground work delivered in two conversations is terrible storytelling. It was more what it set up for that was somewhat interesting)
Third, the symmetry between choices has been present in all three games- strike that, nearly all BioWare games. Your choices almost always affect how you get somewhere, not whether you get there. This outcome symmetry is a valid criticism, don't get me wrong, but it's more a recurring flaw with the studio and not this game in particular.
I still think that 1 to 2 was a bigger jump in quality and that the series is overrated in general, (as nearly all games primarily liked for their stories are) but 3 is still, unequivocally, the best of the series and an enjoyable ending to BioWare's trilogy.
Perfect Cha0s
Member
This ending may have been impressive for a different game, but it was completely out of place in Mass Effect, a hammy space opera.
@traveler: a semi-happy ending (even if Shepard died) would have fit more cohesively as an ending. The current endings feel extremely unresolved. It's like a movie where a dramatic high-point occurs and then the credits roll.
For me, it's not that. I've had countless media where I'm happy with sad ending and feel that they are *very* appropriate. Final Fantasy X is an example of this. But Final Fantasy X EARNED that sad ending and that sad ending is very appropriate for the story. I just don't see how Mass Effect, which has been mostly about fighting against the odds deserve weird ending like that. Moreover, it's a media where your choice matters and in that case, YOUR CHOICE and decisions so far should determine how the story ends. Not some arbitrary options that wasn't even there in the first place.
thetrin
Hail, peons, for I have come as ambassador from the great and bountiful Blueberry Butt Explosion
Dude. I feel you. That is some serious bullshit. I put a lot of work into the decisions I made.
Karak
Member
This has had to be said almost every single page that it is becoming sadly comical....damn.
lastplayed
Member
I love tragic endings in movies, but it's a completely different physical and emotional investment. I really don't care if they change it or not, I just don't like ME3's ending.
Where do the Reapers go with this ending?
1) I can't argue with you there. It's clear Bioware for better or worse came up with this as a cheap way to end the series instead of coming up with something better that would challenge their writers.
2) No one really wins in any of the choices. Galactic civilization that everyone's lives and economies were built around is ruined. All of the races are stuck on earth and some (turians, quarians) have no food. This is glossed over by the writers. Yeah no one gets harvested by the Reapers but mass chaos would ensue.
3) The explanation for the cycle was debunked by Shepard if you united the quarians and geth. Yet you get no option to debate this with the Reaper AI. You get no option to debate anything at all really. This could have been a great opportunity to have a pretty in depth debate with the AI but no option was given. Shepard merely gets to pick his favorite space color.
4) Fans created the indoctrination scenario because we hate the ending so much and this is the best way to give us and Bioware an out to go back and create a real ending.
They fly away from Earth. That's all that is shown.
PsychoSoldier
Banned
In movies, I generally only hate endings if they go out of their way to change the tone, like say
Mystic River
I don't mind that the one character dies, but the absolutely ridiculous speech at the end by mob boss' wife ruined the movie for me because it was so tonally out of place.
Gamer @ Heart
Member
Because the voices were recorded a year ago when the secret ending dlc was written
Empty Space
Member
I find the ending of Inception hilariously awesome I actually LOLed at the end of the in the theater. I liked the ending to POP 2008. I could name a handful of books and movies that have sad endings and I love them. Poignant endings are fine as long as they make sense and have closure even if that closure is depressing as fuck. I feel that the ME3 ending has neither attribute and on top of that alters the future of its universe in a manner I don't agree with. Before I played ME3 I expected Shepard to die I also expected him to have to sacrifice Earth just to stop the Reapers that ending would have been fine with me.
Karak
Member
With the errors FIXED it would have been ok. But if this was in a movie, another game or in a fucking crackerjack box with all its issues to call it anything other than utter failure is to ignore the mistakes in logic, location, and...well everything.
Now ignoring the errors, the teleporting, blah blah blah. And if it was in a game where it fit. It would be a solid 7 if delivered the same way with the issues removed.
ElectricBlue187
Member
It's just asthetically good. If I was a person with no knowledge of mass effect I could appreciate that ending. On my play through it showed Joker and Traynor and I was just thinking, yeah she's no really into penis...so humanity is doomed
KingItachi
Member
None of the endings were good.
Riposte
Member
I don't understand what you mean. It might not have tried to be perfectly realistic, but it goes out of its way to explain everything, especially in the first game. A huge leap for there to be space magic.
Wiped out due to the explosion from the Mass Relay? Which is fucking stupid because no matter what you choose, the Mass Relay got destroyed. And we know that destroying Mass Relay can destroy nearby planets/star system.
Re: synthesis: It's not a good ending. Not for Mass Effect. As a concept it's interesting and it's the ending that I chose for my game because it didn't involve genocide or becoming a reaper.
I don't care if the MC in any story lives or dies. One of my very favorite games ever has an ending where the MC dies (
). In fact, the end sequence where you go around talking to all your squad before the game ends seems to be lifted from that game entirely.
MC dying doesn't bother me.
It's space kid coming out of nowhere with some shit ass explanation that doesn't mesh with the story thus far and doesn't give me a chance to say my peace and reason with him before either re-writing the fabric of life, committing genocide of entire races, or becoming a god of death.
I don't care if the MC in any story lives or dies. One of my very favorite games ever has an ending where the MC dies (
Persona 3
MC dying doesn't bother me.
It's space kid coming out of nowhere with some shit ass explanation that doesn't mesh with the story thus far and doesn't give me a chance to say my peace and reason with him before either re-writing the fabric of life, committing genocide of entire races, or becoming a god of death.
An argument that can be made for pretty much any game.
Last Hearth
Member
I consider RDR to be one of the best games of this generation.
So no I do not require a "happy ending" to appreciate the story.
The problem with ME3's ending is not that it isn't happy, it's that it's not an ending. Not one that a trilogy's conclusion requires.
So no I do not require a "happy ending" to appreciate the story.
The problem with ME3's ending is not that it isn't happy, it's that it's not an ending. Not one that a trilogy's conclusion requires.
Just beat the game 20 or so minutes ago. First went for the Destroy ending because I have heard that is the "Best" one because Shepard lives. Personally, that ending is terrible in the sense that you're not only buying right into the Citadel AI/Whatever's fears about synthetic life hook and sinker, but it is absolutely ridiculous that Shepard can somehow survive being caught in an explosion, being in the exploding Citadel in space, can presumably fall back to the earth and somehow not only be not burnt to a crisp but also be alive.
Got the synthesis ending and... Well.. that's our great solution? Have everyone have glowy-eyes and essentially trick the Reapers into thinking their mission is accomplished? Oh, but Joker and EDI are together, that's nice! But wait... what in the hell is Garrus doing there? I took him with me when my squad was presumably blasted by Harbinger!
Wait.. but if the destroy ending destroyed all synthetics, EDI presumably, shouldn't the Normandy have encountered some serious technical difficulties for losing all of its vital operating systems?
... Why was Joker even running to begin wi-AAAGGGHHHHHH
Got the synthesis ending and... Well.. that's our great solution? Have everyone have glowy-eyes and essentially trick the Reapers into thinking their mission is accomplished? Oh, but Joker and EDI are together, that's nice! But wait... what in the hell is Garrus doing there? I took him with me when my squad was presumably blasted by Harbinger!
Wait.. but if the destroy ending destroyed all synthetics, EDI presumably, shouldn't the Normandy have encountered some serious technical difficulties for losing all of its vital operating systems?
... Why was Joker even running to begin wi-AAAGGGHHHHHH
dragonelite
Member
Different media different feelings. Its not the happy ending a'm mad about but sudden rewrites in the up logic.when you destroy a mass relay the energy output would kill most intelligent live in that star system(arrival dlc). Now they are blowing up all relays.
Then the reapers purpose was something so far fetched it broke the whole reaper thing. Maybe my mind is too stupid too comprehend.
Ugh, I just finished the game and I did not like the ending much at all. I kinda assumed Shepard would die and was fine with that, but the three choices were all really dumb for different reasons. I ultimately choose the goofy Space Magic third option, but it was unsatisfying as all hell. Now Joker and EDI are marooned on some empty world forever, and all stellar society is basically collapsed for untold millennium? Fuck off.
And the other endings were non starters for me, I didn't bust my ass over the past two games curing the genophage, solving the Geth/Quarrian war, freeing the rachni, etc etc only to kill all the synthetics. And how does controlling the reapers help? And why did I spend so much time finishing every side mission and maxing the Alliance forces? If I hadn't I don't see what would have been affected, Shep has to get to the Citadel no matter what so it's not like ME2 where maximizing my squad meant I kept them all alive.
I haven't seen the other two endings yet but they all seem 'bad' to me simply because it's my understanding (from the Catalyst, who took the form of the kid, UGH) that you destroy the relays no matter what. And the thing I LOVED about the ME universe was, uh, the mass effect relays and the galactic civilization they allowed to exist.
I didn't really care which characters lived or died that much, but if no matter what I send the galaxy into solitude and shit (with even the closest major neighboring worlds hundreds or thousands of years away if you can pack that much eezo onto a ship ) And why the fuck was the Normandy traveling FTL at the end?
Ah well as soon as I finished the game I went and bought Journey. It should be installed by now, should be a good palate cleanser if nothing else.
And the other endings were non starters for me, I didn't bust my ass over the past two games curing the genophage, solving the Geth/Quarrian war, freeing the rachni, etc etc only to kill all the synthetics. And how does controlling the reapers help? And why did I spend so much time finishing every side mission and maxing the Alliance forces? If I hadn't I don't see what would have been affected, Shep has to get to the Citadel no matter what so it's not like ME2 where maximizing my squad meant I kept them all alive.
I haven't seen the other two endings yet but they all seem 'bad' to me simply because it's my understanding (from the Catalyst, who took the form of the kid, UGH) that you destroy the relays no matter what. And the thing I LOVED about the ME universe was, uh, the mass effect relays and the galactic civilization they allowed to exist.
I didn't really care which characters lived or died that much, but if no matter what I send the galaxy into solitude and shit (with even the closest major neighboring worlds hundreds or thousands of years away if you can pack that much eezo onto a ship ) And why the fuck was the Normandy traveling FTL at the end? Ah well as soon as I finished the game I went and bought Journey. It should be installed by now, should be a good palate cleanser if nothing else.
Jake Tower
Banned
I love how the Reapers go all Poochie in that one: "We must go now. Our planet needs us."
*inexplicably flies straight up into space*
Karak
Member
Ya we all know that.
The destruction of the mass relays makes no fucking sense to me.
Vire
Member
You should probably read up on the indoctrination theory if you picked Destroy.
ElectricBlue187
Member
If you notice, the soliders don't cheer in this ending. They already know what's up. Fighting is pointless
Karak
Member
Perfect Cha0s
Member
To create a (hyperbolic) analog, imagine if Return of the Jedi ended with Luke becoming the Emperor, and when the Death Star is blown up, it wipes out the entire rebel fleet, and leaves worlds across the galaxy inhospitable.
Oh, and a mouse droid talks to Luke while he walks on the outside of the Death Star in only his Jedi robes, about becoming the new Emperor.
Oh, and a mouse droid talks to Luke while he walks on the outside of the Death Star in only his Jedi robes, about becoming the new Emperor.
I saw a fairly recent movie (past couple years) that had a pretty sad ending, and that's what made the movie so great for me.
I'm fine with Shepard dying, I'm not fine with an inconclusive ending that provides no closure.
Jake Tower
Banned
They join Poochie.
I always thought the assumption is that ALL of your Normandy crew (not just 2 that you chose so even Joker is included) were there to back you up. But when the explosion (Mass Relay Supernova) happens, they hightail it inside Normandy away from the explosion.
Psychoward
Banned
Shepard doesn't live in the destroy ending.
Shepard doesn't die in any of the endings.
Shepard doesn't die in any of the endings.
Harbinger is also somewhere inside my heart.
Zomba13
Member
I'm fine with happy, sad or bitter sweet endings. I mean, as long as they make sense in the fiction. With this though we were told out choices would matter and they don't.
It's all in his mind as instrumentality takes place.
Can't wait for the Super DLC that shows what happens in the real world: humanity being sucked into one giant Reaper while "Komm Susser Todd" plays.
Zomba13
Member
They go to have reaper sex in space because they can make reaper babies now.
ElectricBlue187
Member
It's was all a dream of an insane man in a coma. All three games, including our perception of them.
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