Support NeoGAF

[squidyj]

thinking on failure, how cool would it have been to have a Commander Shepard rendered impotent? Weak and useless in the face of the reaper threat? He manages to win skirmish after skirmish against the reapers and Cerberus but the larger goals of a unified force, a response to the reapers, the completion of the Crucible. All these things elude him and in the end he has to choose whether to throw himself on them in a futile effort or to run and survive for a little longer with the fall of his civilization and the ruinous end of everyone he ever cared about. Maybe he could even take the cowards way out, suicide by flying the normandy into a Red Dwarf or something. Most of the game would be focussed on absolutely tearing apart this mountain mover, showing the hero as nothing more than a mortal man, have him search for acceptance and comfort in the relationships he's built over the past 2 games.

Spoiler

And then Conrad Verner goes SSJ and saves the universe

Okay, I see where you are going with that. I had an inkling that might be it, but I wasn't sure. I took it more in the tone of his dismissive nature of organics, synthetics are superior, which is why I say it was retconned unless he and all other Reapers are oblivious of their own purposes. Which is pretty poorly evolved in my opinion.

The only thing that makes sense "literally" would be that the Reapers killed their masters, but then continued to evolve, realized that they were wrong, and started the cycle to protect the fact that there would always be organic life. But that makes no sense cause he is a robo racist, so why does he care.

As for the second part, I made that joke last page!

Maybe rebelled isn't correct, maybe their masters had insufficient vision when tasking the Reapers such that their own fallibility came back to bite them in the ass. The Reapers do what they're supposed to but the logical conclusion of their task is the destruction of their creators.

 

[Derrick01]

Yup. Sovereign was right.

He tried to warn us but we didn't listen. This entire series is like one big chain of people plugging their ears and going LALALALALALALA I CAN'T HEAR YOU.

And now we get to watch Bioware's writers do the same thing to their fans.

 

[Zomba13]

Anyone else feel that if they didn't bother with multiplayer we'd get a better ending?

 

[Uriah]

Now that I've read the dark matter original ending, I thought it's far more fitting thematically to the entire concept of "Mass Effect". Having said that, when I played the Geth vs Quarian conflict last night, I did sense the sudden shift in focus to organics vs synthetics theme. Even Javik's addition to the crew seems to heavily emphasize how organics can't trust synthetics.

And I don't see how this new ending Bioware put is more original. I remember that I jokingly commented pre-release that the Reapers are probably just some kind of 'gatekeepers' that want to ensure that a species is not too dangerous to other species. It's not close but it's similar in idea. They just add the whole "to save organics from synthetics, we must kill the organics first" angle.

But you can solve the Geth/Quarian conflict which directly undermines the starchild's assertion that the cycle will continue.

 

[Dresden]

Anyone else feel that if they didn't bother with multiplayer we'd get a better ending?

Not really. The main fault is the writing, not the production.

 

[Zerokku]

Despite what was said in the the app today, I'm still holding out some blind hope that the "The Truth" leak was legit. The only thing making me have any hope is that it was apparently leaked by the same person who leaked Kasumi and LotSB info.

But you can solve the Geth/Quarian conflict which directly undermines the starchild's assertion that the cycle will continue.

The villains don't have to be correct. They merely think they are, which is enough motivation for them.

 

[Karl2177]

I would have been quite happy with predictable answer; the Reapers were the first intelligent life in the galaxy. They hit somewhat of a technological singularity, and steered towards self evolved synthetic/organic hybrid future, each Reaper possessing immense 'hive mind'-esque processing power in a single 'being'. Unchallenged they shaped the galaxy to their will with their own technological triumphs. Due to the way they're formed, their only means of reproduction and self improvement is to harness the genetic variations of evolving creatures. They cultivate the galaxy to let species evolve and grow, then return to harvest their DNA, seeing what they can adopt into their own being.

The motive is simple and believable and makes them an unsympathetic threat. They're on top of the food chain, plain and simple, and thus they must be destroyed.

Bu bu but "fumbling in ignorance, incapable of understanding."

Honestly, I would love to know the Reaper motives. It was one of the things I was looking forward to. IMO the Reapers were such a cool theory that could be fleshed out just a bit and still have a lot of mystery to them. And Harbinger being such a non-character... Disappointment on a massive level.

 

[LiK]

THIS IS MY FAVORITE THREAD ON THE CITADEL (in flames with Husks)

 

[hateradio]

Is the image of the note from an official source or is it one of those internet leaks that may or may not be true? I seem to recall something about it being on an app, but that seems so insane that they would actually put that up for the public to see.

It's the best thing that ever came out of this fiasco, at least so far.

I can't wait what tomorrow brings. Is that hope I'm feeling?

 

[Replicant]

Anyone else feel that if they didn't bother with multiplayer we'd get a better ending?

I thought about this today and felt a bit pissed off at the possibility. But we'll never know for sure.

 

[Derrick01]

Anyone else feel that if they didn't bother with multiplayer we'd get a better ending?

Supposedly it was handled by a different studio but who knows. Some higher ups at the main studio, like Hudson, would have to oversee parts of it and who knows if his added workload caused him to allow some other fuckery into this game.

I think it's easier just to blame Mac Walters though. We KNOW how he fucked it up.

 

[Bowdz]

I would have been quite happy with predictable answer; the Reapers were the first intelligent life in the galaxy. They hit somewhat of a technological singularity, and steered towards self evolved synthetic/organic hybrid future, each Reaper possessing immense 'hive mind'-esque processing power in a single 'being'. Unchallenged they shaped the galaxy to their will with their own technological triumphs. Due to the way they're formed, their only means of reproduction and self improvement is to harness the genetic variations of evolving creatures. They cultivate the galaxy to let species evolve and grow, then return to harvest their DNA, seeing what they can adopt into their own being.

The motive is simple and believable and makes them an unsympathetic threat. They're on top of the food chain, plain and simple, and thus they must be destroyed.

Seriously, you are on fire today EatChildren. That is probably the best explanation for the Reapers that I could imagine. They are still calculating and uncompromising and yet they fit with the cosmic imperative that is so central to the universe.

 

[Replicant]

Despite what was said in the the app today, I'm still holding out some blind hope that the "The Truth" leak was legit. The only thing making me have any hope is that it was apparently leaked by the same person who leaked Kasumi and LotSB info.

What is this?

I think it's easier just to blame Mac Walters though. We KNOW how he fucked it up.

Are the people from BSN aware about his involvement with the ending? Because they don't, they need to know. *grin*

 

[Dresden]

What is this?

Some random leak on /v/ or whatever about an upcoming DLC that reveals the real ending, or something.

 

[Brawndo Addict]

What is this?

If I recall correctly, it's supposed DLC that is the real ending, and utilizes the Shepard was indoctrinated theory.

Edit: Too slow.

 

[Replicant]

Some random leak on /v/ or whatever about an upcoming DLC that reveals the real ending, or something.

Oh. *lost hope*

 

[Derrick01]

Are the people from BSN aware about his involvement with the ending? Because they don't, they need to know. *grin*

I would imagine they know. I mean we all unofficially knew already since he's the lead, but it was confirmed today in that ipad app when he admitted to eliminating the player getting to actually talk and debate the Catalyst. Saying that we didn't need to learn about the ME universe (his actual words).

 

[Zerokku]

Oh. *lost hope*

Like I said, its blind hope. I'm still in the denial stage

 

[hateradio]

Oh. *lost hope*

 

[Metroidvania]

Are the people from BSN aware about his involvement with the ending? Because they don't, they need to know. *grin*

There isn't really a blame game going on at BSN right now due to the new site rules about anyone smack-talking a bioware employee getting banned, but it does seem like Walters has somehow escaped detection thus far.

Some random leak on /v/ or whatever about an upcoming DLC that reveals the real ending, or something.

Supposedly, semi-accurate information about Kasumi and Shadow Broker were also leaked in this fashion.

But I'd say that this 'news' coming out is much too close to ME3's release for whoever posted it to have any actual info, much less a full re-work of the endings. That would have required Bioware admitting or finding out from the focus testers that the ending was shit back in January or February, or have scrambled to 'fix it' faster than I've ever heard of a studio scramble.

SPECULATION.

 

[enzo_gt]

I'm so fucking emotionally distressed right now.

I can't believe I'm in this state from a VIDEO GAME. Halo is probably my favourite story-driven franchise and I've never been this emotionally moved by a game before, none of the Halo games did that for me.

This.. This is something else. That next level storytelling. I agree, the ending is shit. But somehow it still manages to be as impactful and involving to the player than anything I've played. In which case, BioWare has succeeded with their goals of making you remember the ending as much as it breaks your heart (or how convoluted it is).

This isn't making me hate the franchise. At the level of depth I invested myself in with the franchise, I still feel all 3 games provided me a unique universe I really cared about and provided me with some of my favourite experiences all gen, most gut-wrenching decisions and more.

It's just so.. Unsatisfactory. I feel emptiness. I feel none of the proposed solutions fulfill the hell I went through. Fuck the Brute and Banshee gangbangs at the end. The sacrifices seem increasingly arbitrary. I'm reading through these hundreds of posts now and there's far too much to even process considering I haven't invested myself in supplementary media either. I don't know what I want from this series anymore. I don't feel like I've got any motivation to buy DLC after what has happened. The fuck could it possibly be or do to change how I feel?

I am in disarray here, just mumbling to myself, just wishing there's some minute detail here were missing somewhere that makes it all make sense.

I feel like the three Mass Effect games can kind of be taken as three seperate kinds of experiences, and they kind of fall apart when you consider them in conjunction to eachother.

They had their chance to end it at Shepherd reaching for the button.. It could have ended there.. And been 70% less convoluted. I don't mind the epilogue either, but everything inbetween those two points is just disheartening.

Reading this thread I have no fucking idea what the Reaper purpose is for continuity, or what Harbringer had to do with any of ME3. I didn't see him once in the game, why was he mentioned briefly in the game though? Did I miss him?

Gah.

Yes I am rambling.

 

[Zomba13]

There isn't really a blame game going on at BSN right now due to the new site rules about anyone smack-talking a bioware employee getting banned, but it does seem like Walters has somehow escaped detection thus far.



Supposedly, semi-accurate information about Kasumi and Shadow Broker were also leaked in this fashion.

But I'd say that this 'news' coming out is much too close to ME3's release for whoever posted it to have any actual info, much less a full re-work of the endings. That would have required Bioware admitting or finding out from the focus testers that the ending was shit back in January or February, or have scrambled to 'fix it' faster than I've ever heard of a studio scramble.

SPECULATION.

It would be funny if because of the feedback Bioware just go along with this and act like it was what they wanted all along and then the guy who posted it comes clean that he was bullshitting.

 

[Replicant]

There isn't really a blame game going on at BSN right now due to the new site rules about anyone smack-talking a bioware employee getting banned, but it does seem like Walters has somehow escaped detection thus far.

No one said they can't spam him via email/twitter/phone....anything other than BSN. >

I'm so fucking emotionally distressed right now.

I can't believe I'm in this state from a VIDEO GAME. Halo is probably my favourite story-driven franchise and I've never been this emotionally moved by a game before, none of the Halo games did that for me.

This.. This is something else. That next level storytelling. I agree, the ending is shit. But somehow it still manages to be as impactful and involving to the player than anything I've played. In which case, BioWare has succeeded with their goals of making you remember the ending as much as it breaks your heart (or how convoluted it is).

This isn't making me hate the franchise. At the level of depth I invested myself in with the franchise, I still feel all 3 games provided me a unique universe I really cared about and provided me with some of my favourite experiences all gen, most gut-wrenching decisions and more.

It's just so.. Unsatisfactory. I feel emptiness. I feel none of the proposed solutions fulfill the hell I went through. Fuck the Brute and Banshee gangbangs at the end. The sacrifices seem increasingly arbitrary. I'm reading through these hundreds of posts now and there's far too much to even process considering I haven't invested myself in supplementary media either. I don't know what I want from this series anymore. I don't feel like I've got any motivation to buy DLC after what has happened. The fuck could it possibly be or do to change how I feel?

I am in disarray here, just mumbling to myself, just wishing there's some minute detail here were missing somewhere that makes it all make sense.

I feel like the three Mass Effect games can kind of be taken as three seperate kinds of experiences, and they kind of fall apart when you consider them in conjunction to eachother.

They had their chance to end it at Shepherd reaching for the button.. It could have ended there.. And been 70% less convoluted. I don't mind the epilogue either, but everything inbetween those two points is just disheartening.

Reading this thread I have no fucking idea what the Reaper purpose is for continuity, or what Harbringer had to do with any of ME3. I didn't see him once in the game, why was he mentioned briefly in the game though? Did I miss him?

Gah.

Yes I am rambling.

LOL. Didn't you say before you were happy with the ending?

 

[Dresden]

I'm so fucking emotionally distressed right now.

I can't believe I'm in this state from a VIDEO GAME. Halo is probably my favourite story-driven franchise and I've never been this emotionally moved by a game before, none of the Halo games did that for me.

This.. This is something else. That next level storytelling. I agree, the ending is shit. But somehow it still manages to be as impactful and involving to the player than anything I've played. In which case, BioWare has succeeded with their goals of making you remember the ending as much as it breaks your heart (or how convoluted it is).

This isn't making me hate the franchise. At the level of depth I invested myself in with the franchise, I still feel all 3 games provided me a unique universe I really cared about and provided me with some of my favourite experiences all gen, most gut-wrenching decisions and more.

It's just so.. Unsatisfactory. I feel emptiness. I feel none of the proposed solutions fulfill the hell I went through. Fuck the Brute and Banshee gangbangs at the end. The sacrifices seem increasingly arbitrary. I'm reading through these hundreds of posts now and there's far too much to even process considering I haven't invested myself in supplementary media either. I don't know what I want from this series anymore. I don't feel like I've got any motivation to buy DLC after what has happened. The fuck could it possibly be or do to change how I feel?

I am in disarray here, just mumbling to myself, just wishing there's some minute detail here were missing somewhere that makes it all make sense.

I feel like the three Mass Effect games can kind of be taken as three seperate kinds of experiences, and they kind of fall apart when you consider them in conjunction to eachother.

They had their chance to end it at Shepherd reaching for the button.. It could have ended there.. And been 70% less convoluted. I don't mind the epilogue either, but everything inbetween those two points is just disheartening.

Reading this thread I have no fucking idea what the Reaper purpose is for continuity, or what Harbringer had to do with any of ME3. I didn't see him once in the game, why was he mentioned briefly in the game though? Did I miss him?

Gah.

Yes I am rambling.

It's okay man.

We were all there.

Let it out.

It hurts less after a while.

 

[SerArthurDayne]

LOL, just popped into the BSN to see what was happening and saw this (probably bullshit pseudoscience) but still awesome link.

http://www.whatdoestheinternetthink.net/?s=mass+effect+3

I wonder what percentage we created towards that accumulation of negative.

 

[lastplayed]

I would have been quite happy with predictable answer; the Reapers were the first intelligent life in the galaxy. They hit somewhat of a technological singularity, and steered towards self evolved synthetic/organic hybrid future, each Reaper possessing immense 'hive mind'-esque processing power in a single 'being'. Unchallenged they shaped the galaxy to their will with their own technological triumphs. Due to the way they're formed, their only means of reproduction and self improvement is to harness the genetic variations of evolving creatures. They cultivate the galaxy to let species evolve and grow, then return to harvest their DNA, seeing what they can adopt into their own being.

The motive is simple and believable and makes them an unsympathetic threat. They're on top of the food chain, plain and simple, and thus they must be destroyed.

Kinda sounds too much like the Borg to me.

I prefer B5's "first ones" concept. As G'kar said, it'd be like explaining what a humanoid is to an ant.

 

[Dresden]

LOL, just popped into the BSN to see what was happening and saw this (probably bullshit pseudoscience) but still awesome link.

http://www.whatdoestheinternetthink.net/?s=mass+effect+3

I wonder what percentage we created towards that accumulation of negative.

lol

 

[Empty Space]

There isn't really a blame game going on at BSN right now due to the new site rules about anyone smack-talking a bioware employee getting banned, but it does seem like Walters has somehow escaped detection thus far.



Supposedly, semi-accurate information about Kasumi and Shadow Broker were also leaked in this fashion.

But I'd say that this 'news' coming out is much too close to ME3's release for whoever posted it to have any actual info, much less a full re-work of the endings. That would have required Bioware admitting or finding out from the focus testers that the ending was shit back in January or February, or have scrambled to 'fix it' faster than I've ever heard of a studio scramble.

SPECULATION.

This is what bothers me the most did none of the focus tester comment on how abysmally bad the ending is? Did they really only grab focus tester that had never played the series?

 

[Brawndo Addict]

Does that site give any indication as to how it calculates those percentages? I don't expect it to be robust, but I can't take the numbers with any kind of meaningful understanding without some kind of methodology.

 

[jediyoshi]

Oh. *lost hope*

This is the only correct response.

 

[Zomba13]

This is what bothers me the most did none of the focus tester comment on how abysmally bad the ending is? Did they really only grab focus tester that had never played the game?

Probably. Seemed their main goal wasn't to close off the series but to close off ME3 and make new comers happy.

 

[PsychoSoldier]

I'm so fucking emotionally distressed right now.

I can't believe I'm in this state from a VIDEO GAME. Halo is probably my favourite story-driven franchise and I've never been this emotionally moved by a game before, none of the Halo games did that for me.

This.. This is something else. That next level storytelling. I agree, the ending is shit. But somehow it still manages to be as impactful and involving to the player than anything I've played. In which case, BioWare has succeeded with their goals of making you remember the ending as much as it breaks your heart (or how convoluted it is).

This isn't making me hate the franchise. At the level of depth I invested myself in with the franchise, I still feel all 3 games provided me a unique universe I really cared about and provided me with some of my favourite experiences all gen, most gut-wrenching decisions and more.

It's just so.. Unsatisfactory. I feel emptiness. I feel none of the proposed solutions fulfill the hell I went through. Fuck the Brute and Banshee gangbangs at the end. The sacrifices seem increasingly arbitrary. I'm reading through these hundreds of posts now and there's far too much to even process considering I haven't invested myself in supplementary media either. I don't know what I want from this series anymore. I don't feel like I've got any motivation to buy DLC after what has happened. The fuck could it possibly be or do to change how I feel?

I am in disarray here, just mumbling to myself, just wishing there's some minute detail here were missing somewhere that makes it all make sense.

I feel like the three Mass Effect games can kind of be taken as three seperate kinds of experiences, and they kind of fall apart when you consider them in conjunction to eachother.

They had their chance to end it at Shepherd reaching for the button.. It could have ended there.. And been 70% less convoluted. I don't mind the epilogue either, but everything inbetween those two points is just disheartening.

Reading this thread I have no fucking idea what the Reaper purpose is for continuity, or what Harbringer had to do with any of ME3. I didn't see him once in the game, why was he mentioned briefly in the game though? Did I miss him?

Gah.

Yes I am rambling.

Seriously, a lot of people felt like this when we first beat the game.

I felt so silly being upset over a video game, but we have a lot invested in these characters and for them to be treated so cavalierly at the end hurts, a lot.

Thankfully, in a few days I got over it and can now chuckle at all the silliness and just how dumbly unnecessary the way they handled it was.

 

[Desaan]

I understand that the ending could also not be the real ending via the indoctrination process but the problem still remains - NO CLOSURE!

Get out your wallets for DLC to play the real ending.

 

[Dacon]

Where are folks reading the original endings at?

I'd love to see for myself

 

[LiK]

Seriously, a lot of people felt like this when we first beat the game.

I felt so silly being upset over a video game, but we have a lot invested in these characters and for them to be treated so cavalierly at the end hurts, a lot.

Thankfully, in a few days I got over it and can now chuckle at all the silliness and just how dumbly unnecessary the way they handled it was.

Acceptance.

 

[SerArthurDayne]

LOL, it gets even better. When you add "Ending" it jumps to 100% negative.

That is with an incredibly tiny sample size, though, so the pseudo science is weaker in this one than with Just Mass Effect 3.

I have to challenge the value of my own sample, though, because most impressions of the game were pretty positive up to the very end, so I would think with the parameters being ONLY Mass Effect 3 you would have a closer split.

Most of the discussion probably takes place post game, though, so I expect the rage to be strong right now as people are just starting to beat it.

Hell, I wouldn't have finished for another week or two but for Spring Break.

As for explanation of the science, ripped directly from BSN:

"...Basically it searches based on associative (English!) sentences. The
given searchterm is used in these sentences which are then sent off to
the various search engines, counting the amount of results returned.
(Sentences are double quoted before they are sent off, so as to make
sure the search engines search for occurances of the *whole* sentence)."

It goes on to read:
"This, of course, produces questionable results which – considering the
varying results per hour, per engine – should not be taken very
seriously. However, the more results returned, the more reliable these
results can become. Do a search for George Bush and then Barack Obama,
and you’ll see that the internet is certainly not far off – or perhaps
even in-sync – with the result you had in mind.
Doubtful? My advice: sum up 10 ‘obvious’ searches, of which you are
almost certain of the results (like ‘beer’, ‘sex’, ‘sleeping’, etc.) and
then write down 10 less obvious searches. Then enter these results into
the search field. If the first 10 convince you of accurate results, the
second 10 will perhaps be not as random as you thought!"

 

[Duki]

The villains don't have to be correct. They merely think they are, which is enough motivation for them.

this would be true if the ending of the game, and its main protagonist, didnt 100% accept their conclusion at the end without argument

 

[Replicant]

Where are folks reading the original endings at?

I'd love to see for myself

http://www.ign.com/boards/threads/s...nged-dramatically-big-big-spoilers.250066288/

 

[Brawndo Addict]

This is what bothers me the most did none of the focus tester comment on how abysmally bad the ending is? Did they really only grab focus tester that had never played the series?

Given what we've heard about the development cycle, the leaks, rewrites, and the constant changes they did to the end, it all points to them just running out of time and having to go with what they had. That's how I've come to accept it. At the end of the day they had to get the product out and they couldn't just delay it again. The business side of the equation overruled and they pumped out what we got. I doubt they focus tested the ending much, if at all, as it doesn't seem to have even passed the internal review from their writers.

 

[enzo_gt]

No one said they can't spam him via email/twitter/phone....anything other than BSN. >



LOL. Didn't you say before you were happy with the ending?

Nah, you've got me quoted on the other page saying it was shitty too.

I don't think it's as bad as people say, which implies its game ruining, but I do think it could have been handled better.

How exactly? I'm not sure.. I don't think I can cognitively process that right now.

Reading through this thread ever so slowly and there's a lot of suggestions to go through but the consensus in my head is that they fucked ME3 royally through the change of direction they went with the Reapers.

If anyone has a link to all the problems with the ending or some kind of huge summation of discussion so far about what went wrong/right/whatever, I'd appreciate a link. 12k posts is a lot to read.

EDIT: I agree also that the lack of closure is by far the endings biggest sin.

 

[duckroll]

I don't want to spoil anything, but I'm curious, is there anyone in this thread who has finished both Infinite Space and the Mass Effect series?

 

[Replicant]

If anyone has a link to all the problems with the ending or some kind of huge summation of discussion so far about what went wrong/right/whatever, I'd appreciate a link. 12k posts is a lot to read.

http://www.gamefront.com/mass-effect-3-ending-hatred-5-reasons-the-fans-are-right/2/

It'd be nice if all of these links are placed in the OP.

 

[XANDER CAGE]

I don't want to spoil anything, but I'm curious, is there anyone in this thread who has finished both Infinite Space and the Mass Effect series?

Ayes.

 

[LiK]

I don't want to spoil anything, but I'm curious, is there anyone in this thread who has finished both Infinite Space and the Mass Effect series?

You just spoiled Infinite Space for me. ;-;

 

[impirius]

I figured that surely, surely the Internet was overreacting to the ending. I was ready to see the unexpected, risk-taking ending that had the great unwashed so upset.

I'm sorry, Internet. I should not have doubted you.

Well, that was about 200 hours (spanning three games), hundreds of choices, and a bunch of "military readiness" exercises that ended up not mattering in the end.

 

[duckroll]

Ayes.

What do you feel about the similarities of the themes, the overall journey, and the conclusion?

You just spoiled Infinite Space for me. ;-;

Trust me, Infinite Space cannot be spoiled so easily.

 

[SerArthurDayne]

If anyone has a link to all the problems with the ending or some kind of huge summation of discussion so far about what went wrong/right/whatever, I'd appreciate a link. 12k posts is a lot to read.

EDIT: I agree also that the lack of closure is by far the endings biggest sin.

This is what I sent my brother in an IM a few hours after I beat it, when I needed to rage:

Its shit that doesn't even give the illusion that any decision you made ever mattered, and it ruins the universe, and it is a deus ex machina, and it ruins the motivations of the enemies, and it is contrary to the themes of the series, and it just sucks.

I personally found the 5 Reasons the Ending Sucks Article to be the best generally.

http://www.gamefront.com/mass-effect-3-ending-hatred-5-reasons-the-fans-are-right

http://www.gamefront.com/mass-effect-3-ending-hatred-5-reasons-the-fans-are-right/2/

It'd be nice if all of these links are placed in the OP.

Marauder Shields to Shepard Brofist.

Edit: That is an idea: A new buddy cop game. Indoctrinated Shepard never really shot Marauder Shields. They have a bro team up. 5.99, IOS only.

 

[Zeliard]

If they were absolutely insistent on this sort of ending they should have completely cut out the Catalyst, and had it so it was simply the Reapers themselves who had been built by these highly advanced organics who were too caught up in their own hubris to understand what they were getting into.

The Catalyst doesn't seem necessary outside of the silliness about him being "the embodiment of the Citadel" or whatever. He's like the middle man. The guy created by organics who then creates Reapers, and is far less fun to talk to than even a basic Reaper.

If they were going to keep a similar ending it should have just been ancient organics who created some variation on the Reapers who then coldly wiped them out, and then the Reapers themselves self-evolved to a hybrid form by assimilating various races. They're not actually interested in preserving primitive races; they just want to wipe out any possible challengers to the throne, so they ignore the primitives.

The problem with the Catalyst is he totally neuters the Reapers. They go from this awesome force to basically robot slaves who are ordered around by an arrogant synthetic. He doesn't really evoke the kind of danger the Reapers do, so the whole organic vs synthetic theme is less effective. It was also a stupid idea to have him voiced by a kid because it's hard to take him seriously despite the power he wields.

 

[Brawndo Addict]

If anyone has a link to all the problems with the ending or some kind of huge summation of discussion so far about what went wrong/right/whatever, I'd appreciate a link. 12k posts is a lot to read.

EDIT: I agree also that the lack of closure is by far the endings biggest sin.

Post #11613. It's a copy of an essay from BSN (Bioware Social Network?) and while it may be quite long and a little melodramatic (and I don't agree with all the points) it's one of the better analyses I recall from this thread if you want to read just one thing.

 

[enzo_gt]

http://www.gamefront.com/mass-effect-3-ending-hatred-5-reasons-the-fans-are-right/2/

It'd be nice if all of these links are placed in the OP.

Thank you.

There's also a post early in this thread detailing how different ending conditions unlock based upon your choice to destroy/keep the Cerberus base in ME2 and your EMS. If they still has merit, I feel like it needs to be in OP as well.