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[Mister Wilhelm]

Oh yeah what was up with Morinth totally appearing out of nowhere as a basic Banshee at the end? That was total wtf.

Seemed really lazy, especially considering how big a role Samara plays in that one mission (and then abruptly dies, just like a bunch of your old pals for cheap drama).

 

[Nemesis_]

Oh yeah what was up with Morinth totally appearing out of nowhere as a basic Banshee at the end? That was total wtf.

Well she is an Ardat-Yakshi. And Banshees ARE indoctrinated Ardat-Yakshis. And the reapers were invading.

WHAT ELSE WOULD HAPPEN TO HER? =P

 

[Rodhull]

No but he has a vagina.

Did he borrow that off EDI's armour?

 

[MrTroubleMaker]

http://th05.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/i/2012/074/f/2/control_perks_by_aimlessgun-d4svcql.jpg[img][/quote]
lol

 

[Zeliard]

Well she is an Ardat-Yakshi. And Banshees ARE indoctrinated Ardat-Yakshis. And the reapers were invading.

WHAT ELSE WOULD HAPPEN TO HER? =P

I know but there was no build-up to it whatsoever. She was the only party member from ME2 that you basically get no time with. I think they just did that lame e-mail thing with her.

Actually come to think of it, I somehow totally missed Kasumi.

 

[delirium]

The part about Grunt: Don't take it as gospel, but in my brand new ME3 playthru, Grunt's name is not on the Death Wall, but he didn't show up in the Rachni mission, or the Genophage mission. I assume ME3 defaults with Grunt never coming out of the tank. I've not seen him mentioned yet (just got past the Cerberus attack on the Citadel.

I know Mordin gets replaced by a random scientist. Does the scientist go sacrifice himself also?
What about Garrus on Palaven? Who replaces Tali for the Quarian/Geth arc?

 

[Freeza Under The Shower]

you know, that "essense" line would have been so incredibly easy to salvage. edit: actually, it already states as much. (wow)

Like stated in this thread before: have Shepard be the catalyst (the ending already makes him this anyway, since the child does nothing). All your choices, all your work, decides what ending you get when you step into the beam (instant conversion), child appears in a 'matrix type' environment and tells you that you are the catalyst and have one choice: to live -reapers win- or die by converting - hero wins-, which Shepard counters as not being a choice at all, forcing it to state that this is correct; continues with its story to make you understand why it must happen. DONE.

You want controversial? DO THIS. No blablablabla with TIM and Anderson, just BAM, the end, roll credits. Anderson died somewhere, I don't know, I don't care. Shepard is a legend, buy some goddamn DLC "why yes I will, thank you".

It's not the fact that there are only three endings. I couldn't care less about their number. But they don't mean anything since fucking Casper the genocidal ghost makes everything moot.

 

[firehawk12]

I would've just been fine with that... as I have said earlier in this thread

I would'be been fine with a fallout: new Vegas style epilogue

What I want is a fully fleshed out ending that provides closure to the series and the choices you make in it.

But given the game has already released with an ending that is diametrically opposed to that, I'm being practical. I sincerely doubt they will go to all the effort to do that right.

Thus, I'll accept flash cards in this instance over what is currently in place.

I would have loved 16 ending cinematics, all with unique variables customized to your experience. Having to read at the end of a game is just disappointing...

I suppose a FO-style is an okay compromise, but given the cinematic nature of the rest of the game... it'd be just as disappointing to me.

Of course, maybe the Indoctrination theory is TRUE!!!!!

Yeah, but I'm not sure if a sequel to KotOR was planned initially so the cliff hanger might not work and I found the ending sufficient. On the other hand, ME definitely has quite possibly the best ending to any BioWare game that I have played (my first game was KotOR, so I can't really comment pre-KotOR).

ME is definitely my favourite ending of the BioWare games simply because they wrote a proper denouement. Of course, I stopped in the middle of DA2, so maybe that has the best ending ever.

 

[SerArthurDayne]

I always liked Sovereign's voice and dialogue over Harbingers.

Are we to think Harbinger is the main dude? I mean Harbinger implies that he comes first, is the Vanguard or something. I assumed he was just another soldier dude.

Harbinger should have been the Ghost Kid, could have done another dialogue like with Sovereign in ME1, and maybe got a little more exposition.

I mean, I basically got the impression the Vent Kid was King Reaper anyways, even if a separate form of entity.

 

[Doublesith]

Seemed really lazy, especially considering how big a role Samara plays in that one mission (and then abruptly dies, just like a bunch of your old pals for cheap drama).

Wha? Samara didn't die in my playtrough.

 

[Papercuts]

I know but there was no build-up to it whatsoever. She was the only party member from ME2 that you basically get no time with. I think they just did that lame e-mail thing with her.

Actually come to think of it, I somehow totally missed Kasumi.

Kasumi has a side mission on the citadel at the start of the game.

And I'm guessing they couldn't get Morinth's voice actor or something because she has no actual appearance beyond the mail/banshee thing. Jack showing up as a Phantom if you skip the Academy is great though.

 

[atomsk]

Actually come to think of it, I somehow totally missed Kasumi.

You didn't do the mission with the indoctrinated Hanar?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQau3CthTgI

 

[Zeliard]

I always liked Sovereign's voice and dialogue over Harbingers.

Are we to think Harbinger is the main dude? I mean Harbinger implies that he comes first, is the Vanguard or something. I assumed he was just another soldier dude.

Harbinger should have been the Ghost Kid, could have done another dialogue like with Sovereign in ME1, and maybe got a little more exposition.

I mean, I basically got the impression the Kid was King Reaper anyways.

Well the kid is technically the king Reaper given that he basically controlled them, but we're also led to believe that Harbinger was the primo actual Reaper.

Plus when you meet up with that other Reaper, he talks about how Harbinger's this huge gossip queen who can't shut up about Shepard, so we're led to believe that Harbinger is basically the leader.

Kasumi has a side mission on the citadel at the start of the game.

And I'm guessing they couldn't get Morinth's voice actor or something because she has no actual appearance beyond the mail/banshee thing. Jack showing up as a Phantom if you skip the Academy is great though.

Whoa, haha.

 

[CrazyDude]

Kasumi has a side mission on the citadel at the start of the game.

And I'm guessing they couldn't get Morinth's voice actor or something because she has no actual appearance beyond the mail/banshee thing. Jack showing up as a Phantom if you skip the Academy is great though.

Voice acting did not stop them with Mordin.

 

[Papercuts]

Well the kid is technically the king Reaper given that he basically controlled them, but we're also led to believe that Harbinger was the primo actual Reaper.

Plus when you meet up with that other Reaper, he talks about how Harbinger's this huge gossip queen who can't shut up about Shepard, so we're led to believe that Harbinger is basically the leader.



Whoa, haha.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPJj8efNskM

Voice acting did not stop them with Mordin.

I honestly didn't notice mordin was different, guy did a great job.

 

[Lime]

You would think Casey Hudson would be the one who would see what they came up with, being the director and all. Or the doctors, who say they play through every game they make multiple times before release.

Who the hell knows what goes on over there now. Feels like a clusterfuck.

If what I've heard is true it's the two head writers and it wasn't vetted by the other writers sooooooo

So, we have no real concrete information about that. The little we know seems to indicate that Mac Walters was the lead writer and pushed the "YOU WANT EMOTIONS? HERE IS A DEAD KID" line.

But, it would be absolutely unfair to just point the finger at him. Because, at the end of the day, Casey Hudson and Jesse Houston and the two Bioware Doctors both approved his design. No one told him that it didn't work, that it was kind of dumb and that it had no real impact on the overall narrative.

Yes, the entire design from Mac Walters was flawed. But it's the job of the producers to actually make sure the content is approved. A task which they obviously failed at.

But conventional writing always vets draft pieces to editors in order to test out if the writing actually works. That's the part of especially collaborative processes and always ensures quality across the board. Hell, most literary authors go through this process and they're only one person.

That's why it's so astonishing that the Vent Kid idea even got past the first round of editing. You could say it's even more surprising the producers didn't vote against it, but you could also argue that writing isn't their forte, so they didn't have the same level of "responsibility" as an editor or co-writer. Vent Kid is just an extreme testament to something completely unconventional going on at Bioware.

 

[Zeliard]

You didn't do the mission with the indoctrinated Hanar?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQau3CthTgI

Sadly no, totally missed it

 

[DTKT]

you know, that "essense" line would have been so incredibly easy to salvage.

Like stated in this thread before: have Shepard be the catalyst (the ending already makes him this anyway, since the child does nothing). All your choices, all your work, decides what ending you get when you step into the beam (instant conversion), child appears in a 'matrix type' environment and tells you that you are the catalyst and have one choice: to live -reapers win- or die by converting - hero wins-, which Shepard counters as not being a choice at all, forcing it to state that this is correct; continues with its story to make you understand why it must happen. DONE.

You want controversial? DO THIS. No blablablabla with TIM and Anderson, just BAM, the end, roll credits. Anderson died somewhere, I don't know, I don't care. Shepard is a legend, buy some goddamn DLC "why yes I will, thank you".

It's not the fact that there are only three endings. I couldn't care less about their number. But they don't mean anything since fucking Casper the genocidal ghost makes everything moot.

Yeah, when I was an innocent young lad playing ME3, I was pretty sure that Shepard was the catalyst. That he had some kind of greater purpose that would let him "ascend" to a new plane of existence and save the fuck out of everyone.

You know what? If you had enough Paragon or Renegade, you could even come back! That would have been great.

Shit, they could have done it so much simpler yet it would have been so much more satisfying.

But conventional writing always vets draft pieces to editors in order to test out if the writing actually works. That's the part of especially collaborative processes and always ensures quality across the board. Hell, most literary authors go through this process and they're only one person.

That's why it's so astonishing that the Vent Kid idea even got past the first round of editing. You could say it's even more surprising the producers didn't vote against it, but you could also argue that writing isn't their forte, so they didn't have the same level of "responsibility" as an editor or co-writer.

Yeah, something somewhere failed. Whether it's a person, or the entire editorial staff. I guess we'll never know. I'm just kind of bummed that none of the higher ups had the guts or the will to actually do something about it. I mean shit, Casey Hudson was the producer for all 3 games. How could he just ignore something like that?

 

[MuddyDonut]

Killing most of your bros for the fate of the galaxy is an amazing feeling.
RIP Mordin
RIP Ashley (deserved it)
RIP Wrex. EVE, too...I guess
RIP Thane (forgot to talk to him in the hospital)

Uniting the Geth/Quarians was surprising, especially after I chose the renegade options to shut all the geth down....Legion you dirty liar you!

 

[Dmax3901]

All the reapers throughout series: YOU CANNOT COMPREHEND US WE ARE BEYOND MORTAL MINDS FEAR US BELELLELELLLLEEERH.


*few minutes of talking to star child at the end of ME3*


Shepard: Seems simple enough, but why didn't they mention any of this before?

Star Child: SHUTUP AND JUMP IN THE LASERS.

 

[SerArthurDayne]

I haven't mentioned it before, but I'm pissed that the Citadel just got written off. Sure, kill most of them, but at least let us know what happens.

Since they didn't use the war assets at the end, the least they could have done was- C-Sec was prepared for the Reapers because you brought them the code fragments, set up a militia, and they were able to evacuate 30% of the population because C-sec and the militia fought to the last man or some shit like that. The Council escaped and joined the fleet ... blah, blah, blah.

Basically the side quests that were a waste of time were also made pointless. Fucking thing sucks.

 

[forgeforsaken]

Seemed really lazy, especially considering how big a role Samara plays in that one mission (and then abruptly dies, just like a bunch of your old pals for cheap drama).

She can be saved along with her daughter.

 

[atomsk]

Sadly no, totally missed it

That's a shame, I wished there was more Hanar/Elcor stuff, and this is one of the few chances to talk to them in ME3

 

[Freeza Under The Shower]

I've been thinking: Do Bioware have any editors? Like employees who go through what the writers have drafted? Because I cannot see any editor ever approving the whole Vent Kid in the beginning and killing him off in the span of 5 minutes in order to foster empathy in the player. The whole thing just screams that the writer is a complete hack.

EDIT: Lol @ vamphuntr. The exact same thing I was just thinking.

The credit roll starts out with two lead writers followed by at least FIVE editors. Som more for specific sections, I think.

Which explains why everything pre-ending is excellent.
Keelah se'lai

 

[forgeforsaken]

You didn't do the mission with the indoctrinated Hanar?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQau3CthTgI

That mission sadly is notoriously bugged. First terminal never became selectable for me.

 

[Zeliard]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPJj8efNskM

Hehe, pretty cool. Po' Jack.

I honestly didn't notice mordin was different, guy did a great job.

He was quite impressive. I knew the voice actor had changed beforehand but damn if he didn't do a solid impersonation. After having just played ME2 right before ME3, the only real difference I could pinpoint is that new Mordin doesn't always speak as quickly as the old one did.

That's a shame, I wished there was more Hanar/Elcor stuff, and this is one of the few chances to talk to them in ME3

That is one of the beefs I had with ME3, which is that your interaction with fun races like the Hanar and Elcor is very limited. Would have been cool to check out their homeworlds. And not just scan them

 

[BeauRoger]

What the deal with that piece of paper with the "ending" notes on it? It presents such crude and stripped down prototypes of different concepts that are in themselves very vague. Why take a photo of it let alone release it? Is it supposed to be impressive somehow? Seems more like vanity than anything else, i mean, who would look at that and go "man, this is great, i need to immortalize this".

 

[hateradio]

^The delusional writer at BW thought it would be a good idea.

All the reapers throughout series: YOU CANNOT COMPREHEND US WE ARE BEYOND MORTAL MINDS FEAR US BELELLELELLLLEEERH.


*few minutes of talking to star child at the end of ME3*


Shepard: Seems simple enough, but why didn't they mention any of this before?

Star Child: SHUTUP AND JUMP IN THE LASERS.

OKAY.jpg

I'm just add this to the tumblr, hope you don't mind.

 

[sflufan]

What the deal with that piece of paper with the "ending" notes on it? It presents such crude and stripped down prototypes of different concepts that are in themselves very vague. Why take a photo of it let alone release it? Is it supposed to be impressive somehow? Seems more like vanity than anything else, i mean, who would look at that and go "man, this is great, i need to immortalize this".

FOR SPECULATION...FROM EVERYONE!

 

[Nemesis_]

I was expecting to visit the Drell / Hanar homeworld, but isn't it largely composed of water?

 

[Lime]

What the deal with that piece of paper with the "ending" notes on it? It presents such crude and stripped down prototypes of different concepts that are in themselves very vague. Why take a photo of it let alone release it? Is it supposed to be impressive somehow? Seems more like vanity than anything else, i mean, who would look at that and go "man, this is great, i need to immortalize this".

The ending notes are from the Final Hours documentary piece by Geoff Keighley, who probably just took a photo of the notes and asked permission for using it.

Apparently Walters thought it was a good example of his creative writing process and approved of its use.

 

[SerArthurDayne]

Voice acting did not stop them with Mordin.

Wow. I noticed he sounded different, but it was close enough that I thought it was the same guy, but he just couldn't get the voice exactly right, as is sometimes known to happen with voice actors. Pretty impressive that I wasn't like, yeah, that isn't him.

 

[Freeza Under The Shower]

Yeah, when I was an innocent young lad playing ME3, I was pretty sure that Shepard was the catalyst. That he had some kind of greater purpose that would let him "ascend" to a new plane of existence and save the fuck out of everyone.

You know what? If you had enough Paragon or Renegade, you could even come back! That would have been great.

Shit, they could have done it so much simpler yet it would have been so much more satisfying.

But conventional writing always vets draft pieces to editors in order to test out if the writing actually works. That's the part of especially collaborative processes and always ensures quality across the board. Hell, most literary authors go through this process and they're only one person.

It would even have explained Harbinger's interest in Shepard, just like that.

(my guess is that they couldn't get this particular ending to work -it seem like the notes point directly to this scenario and the dream sequences 'predict' another at the end, much like FEAR's spectacular finale- or as I've speculated before, management stepped in for no good reason. Or maybe Hudson really did have a massive brainfart. Doesn't change anything now, sadly. )

 

[Dmax3901]

OKAY.jpg

I'm just add this to the tumblr, hope you don't mind.

By all means, but you know who to thank when your follower count skyrockets.

 

[Lime]

Bioware should have taken a note from Deus Ex: Human Revolution and their conversation scenes. Those were simply incredible from a mechanical perspective compared to the dialogue wheel (red/blue win button).

Imagine facing Illusive Man or Samara or some other character the same way you had to convince Sandoval in Deus Ex: HR

Spoiler

from killing himself

Like:

 

[Darkmakaimura]

All the reapers throughout series: YOU CANNOT COMPREHEND US WE ARE BEYOND MORTAL MINDS FEAR US BELELLELELLLLEEERH.


*few minutes of talking to star child at the end of ME3*


Shepard: Seems simple enough, but why didn't they mention any of this before?

Star Child: SHUTUP AND JUMP IN THE LASERS.

And this is what bugs me more than anything else about the ending! I really wanted them to be something more.... More mysterious, Lovecraftian, whatever. Not some misunderstood ancient race that feels it has our best interests in mind. Stupid.

 

[Zeliard]

So Shep, sorry bout that, uh, tryin to run away through a relay and stuff at the end.

"Hey Tali, where the fuck are we?" should have been the final words uttered.

I also love how Javik steps out of the Normandy at the end, at least in my game. Dude was in my party in London. How did you get there Javik?!

 

[Rebel Leader]

FOR SPECULATION...FROM EVERYONE!

Ending is SUPER EFFECTIVE!!

 

[hateradio]

Bioware should have taken a note from Deus Ex: Human Revolution and their conversation scenes. Those were simply incredible from a mechanical perspective compared to the dialogue wheel (red/blue win button).

Imagine facing Illusive Man or Samara or some other character the same way you had to convince Sandoval in Deus Ex: HR

Spoiler

from killing himself

Like:
http://nightmaremode.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/deus_1.jpg

They could have done a lot of things. But it seems that BW is just streamlining the conversations, so we'll get less and less options as time goes by.

 

[CorrisD]

Marauder Shields.

Just fantastic, almost makes the terrible ending worth it because otherwise we might have missed this gold.

Which reminds me, the Reaper on Rannoch when he is talking is all like "Harbinger told us about you".

For some reason I find myself unable to take Reapers flying back from Dark Space chatting about "Shepard" seriously.
"He, like, totally killed Sovereign, and then Steve, that new human Reaper, killed too, don't think he liks us but Harbinger seems to do nothing but throw mean comments at him"

 

[Rebel Leader]

http://www.abload.de/img/masseffect32012-03-156g6y9.png[/IMG ]

So Shep, sorry bout that, uh, tryin to run away through a relay and stuff at the end.

[IMG]http://www.abload.de/img/masseffect32012-03-15mda2t.png[/I MG]

[IMG]http://www.abload.de/img/masseffect32012-03-15mrynw.png[/IM G]

"Hey Tali, where the fuck are we?" should have been the final words uttered.

I also love how Javik steps out of the Normandy at the end, at least in my game. Dude was in my party in London. How did you get there Javik?![/QUOTE]People even had squadmates hit(killed?) by the beam (yes their dead bodies are seen apparently) and they walk out of the Normandy

 

[rififi]

I was expecting to visit the Drell / Hanar homeworld, but isn't it largely composed of water?

Yes, it is mainly water.
But unless you did that one sidequest with the indoctrinated hanar and prevented the virus from being uploaded by letting the salarian die (or having an me2 save with kasumi), the hanar world gets destroyed.

 

[rollingstart]

They could have done a lot of things. But it seems that BW is just streamlining the conversations, so we'll get less and less options as time goes by.

yeah, I think Bioware chooses to make the conversation as easy as possible. There're never any meaningful repercussions for your choice, and if you wanted to be paragon, you pretty much click upper right or anything blue.

Deus Ex HR, Alpha Protocol, and even Dragon Age 1 (I haven't played Witcher 2 yet...I need to) have conversation systems that go beyond Boy Scout or Dirty Harry, Good or Evil, etc.

 

[megalowho]

That is one of the beefs I had with ME3, which is that your interaction with fun races like the Hanar and Elcor is very limited. Would have been cool to check out their homeworlds. And not just scan them

The Hanar and Elcor never lived up to the promise they showed in ME1. Volus too, though they get a bit more NPC screen time throughout the series. Both super interesting races, both highly underused.

 

[sdornan]

Someone made a really good post over at BSN...

I really have been trying to let myself get over this nightmare, but since you guys promise you're listening here, I'll try to just say it all, get it all out.

I have invested more of myself into this series than almost any other video game franchise in my life. I loved this game. I believed in it. For five years, it delivered. I must have played ME1 and ME2 a dozen times each.

I remember the end of Mass Effect 2. Never before, in any video game I had ever played, did I feel like my actions really mattered. Knowing that the decisions I made and the hard work I put into ME2 had a very real, clear, obvious impact on who lived and who died was one of the most astounding feelings in the world to me. I remember when that laser hit the Normandy and Joker made a comment about how he was happy we upgraded the shields. That was amazing. Cause and effect. Work and reward.

The first time I went through, I lost Mordin, and it was gut-wrenching: watching him die because I made a bad decision was damning, heartbreaking. But it wasn't hopeless, because I knew I could go back, do better, and save him. I knew that I was in control, that my actions mattered. So that's exactly what I did. I reviewed my decisions, found my mistakes, and did everything right. I put together a plan, I worked hard to follow that plan, and I got the reward I had worked so hard for. And then, it was all for nothing.

When I started playing Mass Effect 3, I was blown away. It was perfect. Everything was perfect. It was incredible to see all of my decisions playing out in front of me, building up to new and outrageous outcomes. I was so sure that this was it, this was going to be the masterpiece that crowned an already near-perfect trilogy. With every war asset I gathered, and with every multiplayer game I won, I knew that my work would pay off, that I would be truly satisfied with the outcome of my hard work and smart decisions. Every time I acquired a new WA bonus, I couldn't wait to see how it would play out in the final battle. And then, it was all for nothing.

I wasn't expecting a perfect, happy ending with rainbows and butterflies. In fact, I think I may have been insulted if everyone made it through just fine. The Reapers are an enormous threat (although obviously not as invincible as they would like us to believe), and we should be right to anticipate heavy losses. But I never lost hope. I built alliances, I made the impossible happen to rally the galaxy together. I cured the genophage. I saved the Turians. I united the geth and the quarians. And then, it was all for nothing.

When Mordin died, it was heartwrenching, but I knew it was the right thing. His sacrifice was... perfect. It made sense. It was congruent with the dramatic themes that had been present since I very first met Wrex in ME1. It was not a cheap trick, a deus ex machina, an easy out. It was beautiful, meaningful, significant, relevant, and satisfying. It was an amazing way for an amazing character to sacrifice themself for an amazing thing. And then it was all for nothing.

When Thane died, it was tearjerking. I knew from the moment he explained his illness that one day, I'd have to deal with his death. I knew he was never going to survive the trilogy, and I knew it wouldn't be fun to watch him go. But when his son started reading the prayer, I lost it. His death was beautiful. It was significant. It was relevant. It was satisfying. It was meaningful. He died to protect Shepard, to protect the entire Citadel. He took a life he thought was unredeemable and used it to make the world a brighter place. And then it was all for nothing.

When Wrex and Eve thanked me for saving their species, I felt that I had truly accomplished something great. When Tali set foot on her homeworld, I felt that I had truly accomplished something great. When Javik gave his inspiring speech, I felt that I had inspired something truly great. When I activated the Citadel's arms, sat down to reminisce with Anderson one final time, I felt that I had truly accomplished something amazing. I felt that my sacrifice was meaningful. Significant. Relevant. And while still a completely unexplained deus ex machina, at least it was a little bit satisfying.

And then, just like everything else in this trilogy, it was all for nothing.

If we pretend like the indoctrination theory is false, and we're really supposed to take the ending at face value, this entire game is a lost cause. The krogans will never repopulate. The quarians will never rebuild their home world. The geth will never know what it means to be alive and independent. The salarians will never see how people can change for the better.

Instead, the quarians and turians will endure a quick, torturous extinction as they slowly starve to death, trapped in a system with no support for them. Everyone else will squabble over the scraps of Earth that haven't been completely obliterated, until the krogans drive them all to extinction and then die off without any women present. And this is all assuming that the relays didn't cause supernova-scaled extinction events simply by being destroyed, like we saw in Arrival.

And perhaps the worst part is that we don't even know. We don't know what happened to our squadmates. We didn't get any sort of catharsis, conclusion. We got five years of literary foreplay followed by a kick to the groin and a note telling us that in a couple months, we can pay Bioware $15 for them to do it to us all over again.

It's not just the abysmally depressing/sacrificial nature of the ending, either. As I've already made perfectly clear, I came into this game expecting sacrifice. When Mordin did it, it was beautiful. When Thane did it, it was beautiful. Even Verner. Stupid, misguided, idiotic Verner. Even his ridiculous sacrifice had meaning, relevance, coherence, and offered satisfaction.

No, it's not the sacrifice I have a problem with. It's the utter lack of coherence and respect for the five years of literary gold that have already been established in this franchise. We spent three games preparing to fight these reapers. I spent hours upon hours doing every side quest, picking up every war asset, maxing out my galactic readiness so that when the time came, the army I had built could make a stand, and show these Reapers that we won't go down without a fight.

In ME1, we did the impossible when we killed Sovereign. In ME2, we began to see that the Reapers aren't as immortal as they claim to be: that even they have basic needs, exploitable weaknesses. In ME3, we saw the Reapers die. We saw one get taken down by an overgrown worm. We saw one die with a few coordinated orbital bombardments. We saw several ripped apart by standard space combat. In ME1, it took three alliance fleets to kill the "invincible" Sovereign. By the end of ME3, I had assembled a galactic armada fifty times more powerful than that, and a thousand times more prepared. I never expected the fight to be easy, but I proved that we wouldn't go down without a fight, that there is always hope in unity. That's the theme we've been given for the past five years: there is hope and strength through unity. That if we work together, we can achieve the impossible.

And then we're supposed to believe that the fate of the galaxy comes down to some completely unexplained starchild asking Shepard what his favorite color is? That the army we built was all for nothing? That the squad whose loyalty we fought so hard for was all for nothing? That in the end, none of it mattered at all?

It's a poetic notion, but this isn't the place for poetry. It's one thing to rattle prose nihilistic over the course of a movie or ballad, where the audience is a passive observer, learning a lesson from the suffering and futility of a character, but that's not what Mass Effect is. Mass Effect has always been about making the player the true hero. If you really want us to all feel like we spent the past five years dumping time, energy, and emotional investment into this game just to tell us that nothing really matters, you have signed your own death certificate. Nobody pays hundreds of dollars and hours to be reminded how bleak, empty, and depressing the world can be, to be told that nothing we do matters, to be told that all of our greatest accomplishments, all of our faith, all of our work, all of our unity is for nothing.

No. It simply cannot be this bleak. I refuse to believe Bioware is really doing this. The ending of ME1 was perfect. We saw the struggle, we saw the cost, but we knew that we had worked hard, worked together, and won. The ending of ME2 was perfect. We saw the struggle, we saw the cost, but we knew that we had worked hard, worked together, and won.

Taken at face value, the end of ME3 throws every single thing we've done in the past five years into the wind, and makes the player watch from a distance as the entire galaxy is thrown into a technological dark age and a stellar extinction. Why would we care about a universe that no longer exists? We should we invest any more time or money into a world that will never be what we came to know and love?

Even if the ending is retconned, it doesn't make things better. Just knowing that the starchild was our real foe the entire time is so utterly mindless, contrived, and irrelevant to what we experienced in ME1 and ME2 that it cannot be forgiven. If that really is the truth, then Mass Effect simply isn't what we thought it was. And frankly, if this is what Mass Effect was supposed to be all along, I want no part of it. It's a useless, trite, overplayed cliche, so far beneath the praise I once gave this franchise that it hurts to think about.

No. There is no way to save this franchise without giving us the only explanation that makes sense. You know what it is. It was the plan all along. Too much evidence to not be true. Too many people reaching the same conclusions independently.

The indoctrination theory doesn't just save this franchise: it elevates it to one of the most powerful and compelling storytelling experiences I've ever had in my life. The fact that you managed to do more than indoctrinate Shepard - you managed to indoctrinate the players themselves - is astonishing. If that really was the end game, here, then you have won my gaming soul. But if that's true, then I'm still waiting for the rest of this story, the final chapter of Shepard's heroic journey. I paid to finish the fight, and if the indoctrination theory is true, it's not over yet.

And if it's not, then I just don't even care. I have been betrayed, and it's time for me to let go of the denial, the anger, the bargaining, and start working through the depression and emptiness until I can just move on. You can't keep teasing us like this. This must have seemed like a great plan at the time, but it has cost too much. These people believed in you. I believed in you.

Just make it right.

 

[Zeliard]

People even had squadmates hit(killed?) by the beam (yes their dead bodies are seen apparently) and they walk out of the Normandy

Why did Bioware shut down the indoctrination theories if they're all about the ending being speculation, anyway? At least those seem to wrap things up.

The Hanar and Elcor never lived up to the promise they showed in ME1. Volus too, though they get a bit more NPC screen time throughout the series. Both super interesting races, both highly underused.

Yeah they're neat. Possibly saving it for a prequel, heh.

 

[Pollux]

Someone made a really good post over at BSN...

I like it.

 

[Freeza Under The Shower]

Which reminds me, the Reaper on Rannoch when he is talking is all like "Harbinger told us about you".

For some reason I find myself unable to take Reapers flying back from Dark Space chatting about "Shepard" seriously.
"He, like, totally killed Sovereign, and then Steve, that new human Reaper, killed too, don't think he liks us but Harbinger seems to do nothing but throw mean comments at him"

Yeah, that started to bug me as well. After millions of years in dark space with the occasional harvest, someone finally found something to talk about! Hooray!

Maybe those destroyers were just trying to talk to you. You know, before you One-shot-nuked them. I forget whether the Cain was 'experimental' or not. Seems to me that a free "destoy a reaper" card would have been useful in a war.

But that's really just nitpicking. It might have been a reference to the almost one-shot-nuked human reaper, so I'll let that one slip. Wasn't even a real reaper anyway, right?

 

[DTKT]

Someone made a really good post over at BSN...

A bit melodramatic But a really good post nonetheless.

One thing stands out to me about ME3.

The ending invalidates everything you accomplished in both ME1 and ME2 and the first 40hours-ish of ME3. It really does, it simply makes everything you did irrelevant in 5 minutes.

 

[Zeliard]

Yeah, that started to bug me as well. After millions of years in dark space with the occasional harvest, someone finally found something to talk about! Hooray!

Maybe those destroyers were just trying to talk to you. You know, before you One-shot-nuked them. I forget whether the Cain was 'experimental' or not. Seems to me that a free "destoy a reaper" card would have been useful in a war.

But that's really just nitpicking. It might have been a reference to the almost one-shot-nuked human reaper, so I'll let that one slip. Wasn't even a real reaper anyway, right?

To be fair, Shepard did help to slap Sovereign around, and it was pointed out that the Reapers took great interest in that fact and that's why they put Shep in their sights.