I did the synthesis ending because Shepard walked so freaking slow that I didn't have the patience to drag his ass to the two further consoles. The closest one had to suffice.
I didn't even see the fucking destroy walkway. Literally all I saw was control and synthesis, so I picked control, which I am immensely disappointed with.
God Child: "Destroy the Reapers at the end of the left walkway. Control the Reapers at the end of the right walkway. Synthesis is right in front of you. By the way, you move with 0,5m/h." Me: "Oh geez, that's a tough choice. I should really consider it... wait what? 0,5m/h? Synthesis it is then."
Lol yeah, on the surface, but really the illusive man's goal was to control the reapers for human domination of the Galaxy and his own power. It's not until Shepard realizes he can control the reapers himself that he considers it
One of the two reasons Shepard said that is because Shepard had no reason at that point to believe it was possible. There was no evidence besides the Illusive Man's insistence that it could be done. And second reason is that anyone could see that The Illusive Man was already indoctrinated by this point, so there's no way he could take control of the Reapers since he was already under their control.
I can understand that but unlike the Illusive man, Shepard found a literal way to control them via the Conduit. THe illusive man was already under their control so he cant control them and he had no artifact or way to show he could control them
"What's in store next for the Mass Effect universe?" Andromeda Cash Grab. Anthem of an Incomplete Looter Shooter on a Game Engine that Can't Handle It. The End of Bioware. Darkness.
Maybe they were going through a Dark Age... much like Disney in the 80s. I still have hope for them. But if Dragon Age 4 sucks... then there is no more hope left.
One of the marks of a good story is that once it's over, it still manages to invade your every waking thought for a short time afterwards, thinking back and reminiscing about how great the journey was. I got that for several days, and so I'm satisfied.
How about an ending where the Reapers get killed, but the Galaxy's left in chaos, after everyone's been weakened by the Reapers, and the vast majority of colonies are left burning.
One mark but not the only mark of a good story. The reason we're all running ME3's plot over and over in our heads is because we became invested in the saga during the first two games, and we're perplexed by ME3's failure to bring a fitting end to the story. At least that's how it is for me.
This game only had a 2 year development cycle, which is the shortest out of all the Mass Effect games, which could explain everything wrong with the game, since from what I understand, time is the biggest obstacle in the development of video games.
My first playthrough was with the extended cuts, leviathan and Citadel DLC and I was immensely satisfied. I guess being a patient gamer pays off again.
+ijirving never understood what the big problem with the ending was all about..i understood what direction they were going and did not mind it..and I am a huge mass effect fan have all 3 games and still play the hell out of the multiplayer to this day..the only problem I have with the ending is that the dlc should of been there since the beginning..and that for a game series spanning hundreds of hours the ending was too short....I miss the days of rpg's for the super nes like ff3 or chrono trigger where the ending took almost an hour and took you back to all previous locations.....
You know what? Forget indoctrination theory What Bioware should have done is have an ultimate Refusal ending available only if you have enough EMS, 100% readiness, make peace with Geth and Quarians, and playing on Insanity throughout the entire game. Here shepard rejects the Star brat and the Normandy crew get on board the Crucible to back him/her up and adjust the destroy option so it only targets the Reaper. Harbinger will attempt to stop them by assuming control of the dead Illusive man and have a boss fight. Shepard has to coordinate his/her crew to do specific task according to their skills to get the job done while he/she fights the possessed Illusive man on his/her own. Shepard would survive this ending if he/she has 8000 EMS. War assets matter. To make this extra difficult to get, if Shepard fails like say died in the fight with Illusive man, the ending will look like the original refusal ending and the game ends. A real all or nothing That would have been an Immensely satisfying ending to reward all the hard work of the the most hardcore of players.
me1 ending is already fighting an indoctrinated individual, remember saren? It's unoriginal, repetitive. And u act like insanity is a hard difficulty, u r wrong mister. 8000 ems isn't hard either, galactic readiness theory is forcing multiplayer, what about non internet connection players? Appriciate the thought (not) u give to this ending, but simply it will not work... at all.
Burak Ertug Every single ending forces you to fight an indoctrinated individual or group : Saren, Collectors, Cerberus and Illusive Man. It's nothing new You might claim to be able to do it on insanity but not everyone can.
Great Teacher "claim" :) Saren, collector base is alot different than each other actually. Everything u fight is indoctrinated, that's no excuse to make another fight to the death with a hated villain. You must suffice with Kai leng on that one.
Burak Ertug We had "fight the indoctrinated" ending, we had "fight the reaper" ending... Why not both? In the same time you are forced to fight both possessed Illusive Man AND Harbinger himself. Yah!
GlensGameReviews If you say so. Mass Effect was fucked up right from the start and Dead Space 3 was awesome. So you got to be in some another universe.
I just cannot see an immersive story. I cannot play a game that thinks USA is the only country in the universe. How ironic. The rest is laughtable at best, from the absurd plot to the NATO morality and beyond the so called codex. Basicaly, I am stil ltrying to find out what exactly made it so acclaimed. Models of races and characters? 90% of races does not even have female sex. And the ME1 characters were simply "whats your story?" You gun down a mother of Liara and she does not give a damn about it. That is some character interaction. People bash Halo 5 story, but ME is glorified. I do not get it. I would love to. But I cannot.
I blasted Helldorado by wasp as I charged my way through the last mission. Shot the illusive man for being a prick and destroyed those motherfucking reaper bitches!
Soku , I just dont buy the idea of "synthesis". Have no idea how one person can alone decide fate of every single being in the galaxy. Don't like "control" too since who knows what might happen to Shepard's will if he merges with Reapers... What he might decide to do in, say, 100 years? So, yep, I chose "destroy" and status quo for the galaxy. Destroying Reapers... That was the goal of Shepard from the very beginning!
What really would be a good happy ending is like you said destroy the reapers have scenes where you are settling down and chilling with your love interest qnd your squadvmates looking off into stars knowing the war is finally over and that the galaxy is finally at peace
+LightningDragon no it won't that's if your a renagade but if your a paragon player like me then only the reapers will die and all organic life ships and building will be left intact and left alone by the blast and it's a good sight so see the reapers burn and blow away in a blink of an eye and I think that's the canon ending doesn't matter as long I see them disintegrated to nothing and the other races intact then I'm happy
My ending: Shep enters the Citadel, kills TIM, activates crucible, initiates Reaper kill switch, saves the galaxy. No bullshit. No god-child. No stupid choices. You accomplish the fucking mission and you go home. And yes, the Geth and EDI stay alive because my ending isn't retarded. I might even slap it together in windows movie maker one day, then take over as creative director at Bioware.
+MrRemorseless I understand the desire to save everyone and kill the Reapers. Believe me, I do. With that said, I'm actually glad that you have to sacrifice something important in order to get the job done. The game's main theme is sacrifice. By having all of the ending options come at a pretty high cost it forces you to really think not only about what you want to achieve, but also how far you are willing to go to achieve it. The burden of choice really becomes clear hear as we are forced to accept the reality that sometimes there simply isn't an easy way out where everyone comes out okay. Sacrifices have to be made and it falls to the player to decide which sacrifices are worth making.
DevilHunter1994 Everybody's argument is that the sacrifices Bioware forces onto the player with that star child shit, are completely illogical and are written terribly. The sacrifices made UP TO THAT POINT are written and contextualized properly. I know what ME3 is about. I've played it three times. You don't need to tell me.
MrRemorseless Even without the god child there, having to sacrifice all synthetic life in order to stop the Reapers makes sense. I mean this a weapon made over hundreds of thousands of years by several different species, all of which grew to HATE synthetic life due to having to watch Reapers harvest their friends and turn them into freakish monsters. It's completely understandable why they would design the weapon to destroy all synthetic life given those circumstances. First they had to fight machines of their own making and then were met with a race of super machines that were a thousand times worse. We may have been the first cycle to make peace with synthetics, but even with their help, we still need the crucible in order to end the fight. We have to use it and if the crucible was designed with the intent to destroy all synthetic life, well then we're out of luck because using it is still the only option. The other two endings though, I will admit come completely out of nowhere.
DevilHunter1994 Look: I lament that your simplifications were absent from Bioware's creative meetings, because truly they are more sensible than the ones written into the dialogue. Bioware's writing fell apart towards the end and not one of the options was admirable. Watch MrBTongue's analysis for further unpacking of it.
+MrRemorseless I got a better ending than that: www.fanfiction.net/s/10284927/1/Victory But if you're not in the mood for reading too much, here's the important part condensed down: www.fanfiction.net/s/10918420/1/A-Legion-Reborn
The extended ending was Bioware's bandaid to the ending they were unexpectedly forced to deal with initially. There is no fix to the original ending, simply filler to make it seem less bad. Ultimately, in the end, you're still stuck with the same situation as you would be without that additional tid-bit that the dlc offers. I love Bioware, and I love all three of the ME games, but I still strongly dislike how the trilogy came to a close.
+Nomi Yoko It's tragic, I mean hell, ME3's ending was basically a rip-off of DA:O anyway, and there are so many lore-breaking events in ME3 that it's impossible to accept even though they explained it. Indoctrination Theory ftw
+Nomi Yoko Maybe thats why Bioware wants us to believe in whatever ending we see fit to believe in, and I wouldn't be surprised if Andromeda won't have anything to do with the trilogy, being its own new and unexplored galaxy. Kinda saying that "lets forget that ever happened and move on to new and better things".
***** You're picking a fight with a several month old post, by arguing that the most common of cliche "Hero dies to save everyone" ending is original. Thanks stranger, needed the laugh. There is absolutely nothing original about the type of ending Bioware gave us with this game. If it's selfish of me to annoyed by such a cookie cutter ending, that deliberately throws out all of the progress made in the trilogy thus far, then sure. Call me selfish. Don't get me wrong. There are stories that benefit well from such an ending. This isn't one of them.
***** I'm not entirely sure what you're getting at. The primary issue a lot of players had, was the very lack of choice (as it was promised to us) in regards to the ending of the game. All endings were the same, outside of the added context, to give the illusion of effort. Never the less, I see no reason to even talk to you. I'm seeing nothing but someone intentionally picking a fight, thinking they're some white knight for the company, but is made apparent, they know nothing about the situation, or even why we have the ending that we do. I'm well aware of why the game has this ending, and even more so, why Bioware felt it reason enough to add more content to it. So unless you have anything to say to me that isn't compromised of insults and whining, then you're more than welcome to bug me. Otherwise I'll have to just ignore this post.
***** I... don't recall creating a community. I also don't recall harassing anyone. I feel like you're just trolling me now. Hate to break it to you, but some stranger who starts off a conversation, by immediately harassing me, deserves no respect of mine. So if you see me insulting you in turn, you more than likely deserve it for your asinine behavior. Under no circumstances, should a person like yourself, ever have reason to demand anything more than a door to the face, when simple pleasantries or friendly debates, seem beyond your train of thought. Rather you'd spew nonsense, and bitch at people who seem to be at a disagreement with you in whatever way you can think of, to prolong your rage in the discussion. Surely you have something better to do, than be a dick to some random person over the internet.
Destroy ending ftw. What Shepard was fighting for from the beginning. Choosing Synthesis would be falling to Saren's path, Control would be agreeing with the Illusive Man.
Yes, this! I've been thinking back and forth between the options (played through twice), and I still can't select anything but Destroy. Synthesis is exactly what Saren describes in the first game, and Control just gives the notion, if you can't beat 'em join 'em. Yeah things are happy go lucky in the slideshows, but that doesn't mean that the Reapers won't figure out a way to snap out of it and start all over. Kill them off once and for all. It's what the real Shepard would do.
100% agree. Synthesis = Saren's fate, indoctrination, husks. Control = Illusive man's fate, ending in indoctrination. Both of these endings suit the indoctrination theory. These should have been the bad endings, choosing them would end the game with Shep being indoctrinated. Destroy is the only real ending.
@@kubanitos I disagree based on my Shepherds character and points that everyone on this thread overlooked; he wouldn't have wanted to destroy ALL synthetics like EDI. Remember it's not just a "destroy reapers" option; it's a "destroy reapers and all synthetics." No geth or other advanced AI. Control option is not the illusive man's fate. Illusive man wanted to control the reapers for the advancement of humans for domination. Clearly any shepherd disagrees. And the extended cut clearly shows Shepherd using the reapers for good for all species. No indoctrination. The destroy option destroys any kind of arc your shepherd can have in realizing that AI should be at least considered a living free thing. All the discovery of the real history between the Geth and Quarians and the EDI cutscene about feeling alive. Destroy options says fuck that lol. If that's your shepherd go ahead. But mine was a bit complex with an arc toward embracing diversity and freedom of choice for all sentient beings. Finally, the reapers are clearly not individual minds with independent thought. The god child early states he is in full control of them as one hive mind. So when shepherd takes control, he is in total control period.
Exactly same here. I remember hearing the backlash about it before I got to the ending. I was able to download the dlc just before I got to the extending ending.
lovessniping yeah i actually found that out a few minutes after I made that comment, I feel stupid now :/ I saw the breathing scene, I'm playing the citadel dlc now it feels like an epilogue because of my shep living
It's sad that the Indoctrination Theory got no love from Bioware. None of the endings they came up with can match the simple brilliance of it. And the theory matches the core lore of the game series. BUT that's how it goes I guess. Pity.
Caeliclord not much people would like to be told "you know what sheppard does at the end saving the galaxy, well that's bullshit he didn't save anyone the reapers still won as they indoctrinated him, you did the three games for nothing"
femtoservants Except that there is a level of choice involved. Depending on how you played the character, you could have a high resolve or a weak resolve. So maybe Shepard lost and the Reapers ran roughshod all over the galaxy. Cool scene to see. Or maybe Shepard won and the galaxy was saved because Shepard came out of it and defeated Harbinger. All sorts of scenarios possible. Don't undersell imagination.
Caeliclord "defeated Harbinger" is the problematic part. A boss fight with Harbinger that could actually be won would be utter nonsense. I also can't really see the corelation between your war assets and Shepard's resolve - Shepard is very determined in any scenario, regardless of him going to Benning to shoot some Cerberus soldiers or not or scanning some planets from orbit to obtain a banner for the turians. Don't get me wrong, the IT is a very interesting idea, but I just don't see it fitting well with the ending in its current form.
Nice to see Joe has similar views about the synth ending. It always rubbed me the wrong way. When the god child kept promoting it as the ideal solution I was like "Get outta here stupid little shit."
I was most disappointed with the war assets not taking part. If you do everything right, you can end up with over 8000 war assets. assuming you played multiplayer, thats more than double what is required for the special ending, and you are telling me that the extra 4000+ resources do NOTHING?! WTF bioware
What I really dislike about the Ware Assets is that if a lot of multiplayer is played Shepard can go around and kill everything possible in the game, and still get the same endings.
Diego Perete Dude, I have over 8500 on my own game, and my friend has just over 9000, so don't tell me its 7500...... You do realize that if you played the multiplayer to get 100% galactic readiness that your EMS is equal to your TMS, right? Im guessing you didn't play multiplayer please make sure you have actually read my comment before responding. once you have an EMS strength of 5000(5000 is the cost for synthesis if you let the illusive man shoot anderson) it doesn't matter at all how much more you have than that. The ending WILL NOT CHANGE after 5000 EMS. Why would I need details when I have done 3 full series play throughs (ME1-ME3)? No offense(when I say no offense, Im not being sarcastic, im being honest), but did you even play all the games + DLC? So from 5000 to 9000 thats an extra what, an extra 4 Alliance-sized fleets in terms of strength?
Diego Perete Those are extremely minor differences, other than the Earth getting vaporized. Then EC made it determine if your crew survives Harbinger's attack and the damage to the Normandy. But that reduces EMS to nothing more than a score. It's no longer a real thing in universe because there is no reason for it to affect any of those things. You could argue the Earth being destroyed due to a mistake making the Crucible, but then only the Crucible team should affect that. EMS should have been differentiated and have different groups matter at different points. They showed how to do this with the suicide mission in ME2.
what I don't get about when your companions get hurt and the Normandy comes to save them, why does harbinger not just shoot the Normandy right there? Boom, everyone is dead. Obviously they didn't do it for the sake of the story, but you can see at 4:26 Harbinger was just staring at them during the entire conversation.
During all 3 games it was mentioned countless times that Normandy has the best stealth system in the known galaxy, hence its name Normandy SR-1 (Stealth Reconnaissance). It cannot turn invisible but nothing can detect it. Legion stated that synthetic creatures, such as geth and Reapers, don't have eyes and cannot detect the Normandy by any other means as long as it remains in "stealth".
MeAccordingToLife How do you know Harbinger has optics? Also I never said the ending was good, I just said Normandy was in "stealth". But even if it is a plothole, it is the least troublesome one of the many flaws in that ending.
Wlarius That is incorrect, the reapers have optics and Stealth only works on scanning not actual optics. Hence why in 2 they were concerned with approaching a Geth station and again in 3 when approaching the dreadnought. That combined with space map reaper chases.
"You will be ours." "You resist but you will fail." "Assuming Control." The Reapers like to have back up plans and throughout the games the Reapers are "impressed" with shepard, they want to control him for the next cycle, perhaps making him the mind of the next Reaper, to serve as an indoctrinated alteration like the Collectors, or to be a partial Synthetic Agent like Saren. The Normandy has a mass drive which if shot would most likely kill shepard as he is always near it, even when it is shown leaving it is shown over Shepard. Harbinger stops attacking all together, almost as if watching to see what Shepard will do. Once the Normandy leaves there is no interest from Harbinger because they are not pushing towards the beam. The Reapers want Shepard, to kill him is pointless because he could serve a purpose for the next cycle.
Wlarius well that's disproved in game, im replaying it right now and in the mission for the quarian homeworld when you have to go toe to toe with a reaper using the laser guidance weapon, once you've returned to the normandy Traynor tells you that the reaper was shooting at them during the fight and joker had to take evasive maneuvers just so they wouldn't be shot out of the sky. So i guess they can clearly see and detect the Normandy in ME3. just saying man, it's straight from the game.
That was my story too and like Angry Joe said, If this was what everyone had gotten on March 5 2012, then there wouldn't have been that great of a controversy. Sure there would still be haters like any game series does but there would be no Indoctrination Theory Cult ranting on about the ending even with the Ex Cut. The Ex Cut was made specifically for those people who were disappointed with the plot holes and everything. I think that devotees who keep on supporting the Indoc Thy and still dismiss the Ex Cut are just ungrateful for BioWare coming out and saying they screwed up and formally put bandages on the wounds. From only experiencing the Ex Cut, I couldn't see where the bandages were put on until I watched this video explaining what scenes were missing the first time. For all the grateful and true fans of Mass Effect, I can say, with the Ex Cut, 3100+ EMS Destroy is my personal Paragon Canon. Going to write an epilogue fan-fic about it soon.
The endings are basically, Throw the universe back into the dark ages, force everyone to become part synthetic part organic or become a God. Control is obviously the far superior ending.
Granuke GamingProductions Before the release of the last dlc (citadel), when there was no more need of hype. It was on their foruns in the thread It before blocking it.
A moment when gamers have united together standing up to a company that has taken advantage of its customers and player base long enough, although it is sad we do not see this for current problems in games today. A mark in gaming history.
If there's one thing you could still complain about is not seeing your assets in the final fight. I mean the Leviathans kicking reaper ass? Who decided not including even a glimpse of that?
I still hope deep in my heart that Joker will be able to bring EDI back. I could not strip the galaxy of their free will with the other two endings. My Shepard lives with Ash, and I am content with my head-theories. Love you Bioware.
+Melquis Gonzalz If Joe was bribed by EA to say good things about the DLC against his true opinions, he would make a parody review of the DLC, post an Hour long "Angry Rant" and would lead a game community campaign to overthrow the management of EA to save it's future titles. Joe would never give in to Corporate Commander, no matter the cost. He did say there were good things and bad things about the DLC just like any other game he reviews.
***** Just because he changed his opinion from before doesn't mean that he's given in. Do you expect Joe to be close minded about the EC and hate everything that Bioware gives out just because of Bioware's mistake of the ending the first time around? That's not what game reviewers are supposed to do.
With the Leviathan DLC, the ending does make more sense as the harvest will never end as the Catalyst is only doing what it was programmed to do unless a new solution is found: control, synthesis, or destroy. You can choose which Shepard you are: the paragon, the paragade, renegon, or renegade. Hero or anti-hero. That in itself is the beauty of the ending and the series imo.
You promised us a totally stacked ham sandwich with all the fixings between two pieces of delicious whole-wheat home-made thick bread. You handed us a slab of old ham and told us to he happy for you generosity. Then we threw a fit until you gave us the cheese and store-bought slices of bread. Congratulations, BioWare... you upgraded from "brass-knuckled slap in the face" to "gave us a wedgie and stole our lunch money". And we're meant to be wildly grateful?
Hey Its their game they can do what they want! Its not you paid £40/$60 with the promise that the ending would have closure, reflect choices you made in previous games and have "16 drastically different endings" and.... Oh right. FUCK YOU BIOWARE!
Shit happens in the Gaming industry and many decisions are made that are unpopular or out right bad. ME3 was bad but the fact that BioWare actually went back and fixed it says something about it. It was a slab of old ham at first but the EC cut the ham into slices and provided the bread while Leviathan provided the mayonnaise and cheese and the other DLC's are the trimmings that were missing. Gamers can't always get everything they want. Many unhappy fans wanted to have ME3 end with a Star Wars throne room scene but Bioware wanted a dramatic bittersweet sacrifice, which is what I agree with. It's not always about getting what you want, it's about finding the balance of telling the companies what they did wrong and accepting what is given. I think that ME3 EC met that balance when the first mistake was forced upon them by EA. I'm glad that of all the mistakes that could happen, the ME universe was able to recover and didn't end up like Aliens: Colonial Marines. Be thankful that didn't happen.
***** I see no fixes. The lack of logic in a machine that's supposed to nothing BUT logic wasn't fixed. The plot point that the Reapers use a separate and distinct coding scheme (which would make targeted shutdown possible) wasn't fixed. The lack of relevance of the war assets wasn't fixed. The utter fail surrounding Kai Leng wasn't fixed. They let you probe the machine a little more and make it clear that things turned out OK in the galaxy at large and that's it. Which means they rearranged the life vests in the rowboat instead of addressing the gaping hole blown through the bottom. As Joe and other reviewers said (before they all rushed to plant their lips on BioWare's buttocks for doing the bare minimum), gamers never wanted a happily ever after. They wanted a GOOD CONCLUSION to one of the most fantastic RPG series in history. They wanted it to MATTER that they maxed out their war assets. They wanted it to MATTER that they amped up war assets further by promoting teams in the multiplayer game. They wanted it to MATTER that they uplifted the Geth into a partner race to the Quarians instead of their servants or conquerors. They wanted it to MATTER that they put all the pieces in place to cure the genophage and put Wrex in a position where he could revive the krogans in a way that made them BETTER than they were. They wanted the demise of beloved characters to be as badass as all hell, if it was needed; Mordin goes out like an absolute boss but the writers couldn't will themselves to invent a worthy foe for Thane. Most of all, what the gamers were after was what BioWare would have delivered if they hadn't been so self-absorbed with their own artistic genius that they ignored the pleas of EA and sidelined the team that had MADE Mass Effect the series everyone was madly in love with. This ending OOZED the pretentiousness of misunderstood artists who wanted to make the rest of us bow down before a bag of garbage and call it ingenious art. Realistically, BioWare had the time and money to make precisely what the fans wanted and precisely what was promised: several excellent endings. They had this because they had so much money and fan support because of the first two games that EA would have been hard-pressed to dropkick them out the door with a shitty product. And then, in what I like to call an "unforced error", they turned out a product that was a midget when the previous two were titanic. The most impressive thing about the final product was how SMALL it was in significance. in creativity, in quality, and in the ending. So to reiterate my analogy, BioWare gave gamers bare bones to gnaw on that expected our lips on their asses in wild gratitude. The fact is, the ME universe hasn't recovered and won't. BioWare has implicitly acknowledged this by making the universe's next phase totally disconnected from its first; they had to hit a reset button on everything to recover... which meant that the previous creation had put the entire work beyond salvation so they needed to start over. The only reason I'll buy ME4 was that the writing team COULDN'T fuck up the underlying universe from the codex because it was chiseled in stone before they could get their "artistic" hands on it.
***** Fine, you can sit there and pout about what's wrong all day, I'm sorry I got involved. Just wanted to say that many of us gamers are staying positive and optimistic and we found merit in the story like Paragon Shepard's final sacrifice to end the reapers once and for all. BTW, I just want to say that Joe didn't kiss Bioware's ass because of his reputation and rivalry with Corporate Commander. He gave his top ten reasons why the ending sucked and the EC addresses 9 out of the 10 reasons. He's happy with that, so am I.
I agree. Character's standing around is not closure, having their arcs closed is uh.. well closure, which the slides did not accomplish; except for a few select characters (the only one I can think of is Zaeed).
I actually had no damn idea the first time I played this was with the extended cut. I never understood the hate for the ME ending. I definitely get it now. I feel bad for those of you who got the end of the series the first time without it. Damn am I glad I waited. Yikes.
A lot of the hate was exactly because the original endings didn't have the content and fixes from the extended ones. Also the day 1 dlc for $10 for jarvik and I think kasumi had a paid dlc. Luckily buying the legendary edition I didn't have those issues, but I still feel bad for those who did and respect their lower ratings because of it.
***** Well my theory is different from the mass acceptance of the indoctrination theory. If you want to know my theory just respond and I will write it out. It is just my opinion though because I think the ending is real (by ending I mean the cut scenes and slide show). However it is quite a read. Just let me know. =)
Peter Rhea If it's the theory that Shepard is on the citadel and Control and Synthesis choices are still indoctrination traps and the slides for those endings are indoc illusions and Destroy is the real option with no illusion slide show, then I've already herd about it. But if it's not tell me the details I'm missing. Just be sure to specify that it's a modified Indoc theory because when you plainly say Indoc theory, people perceive it as the "It's all a dream it never happened" theory which is the most ridiculous one.
It is modified, my theory is that Harbinger is attempting to allow indoctrination to take effect due to shepard being exposed to so much reaper tech. I believe that Harbinged stops his beam just before hitting Shepard as we know that it still has enough force to throw shepard back and do the damage shown. It is my opinion that Shepard's willpower would falter when near death, and if indoctrinated Harbinger can have his reaper forces intervene to turn him into a form or altered synthetic/organic hybrid like Saren to use for this and future Cycles. I also believe Saren is the source for the synthesis ending however Saren is dead and cannot appear in his mind during his internal struggle. Now this is where my theory differs. Shepard imagines the order to fall back, he has just watched many brave men and women die, vehicles destroyed, even his team had to fall back or were killed. He has been injured beyond reason and cannot continue. To him the mission is failing but his duty keeps him moving in his mind. He hears Reaper forces and firing, imagineing himself moving towards the portal. The next scene is a crashing along with Anderson calling out to Shepard which he Jolts and there is a ringing. So pause here to go into my theory. Shepard was knocked back, the dispersing heat and radiation from Harbingers laser destroyed his armor and electronics. My belief is that Anderson Shot Reaper forces coming to collect Shepard, Anderson picks him up and carries him towards the beam, and places him down and attempts to wake him up but Fails. Time to continue into the game part. Shepard is unable to regain consciousness, which is very plausible because we do not know the properties of Harbingers beam. However hearing Anderson has renewed his sense of Duty and he forces himself to continue for his old friend and superior. Now in the game the soldier whose helmet is removed is Major Coats, Who we know is not dead due to the ending scenes in the game. Which I believe adds to the Indoctrination theory. Now Shepard has faced true defeat by one person, the person who has gotten a hold of the human reaper, the one who beat him to the beacon, and the one who warned the reapers. In all regards the Illusive Man is the opposite of Anderson. So while you move to join your friend who has always supported you and agreed with you the sinking doubt of failure sinks in, after all you are so close and that always seems to be when TIM makes his move. Thus the affected part of your consciousness sinks in and attempts to turn you. You manage to beat this and continue through your dream. I personally believe that the gunshot wound is not to your willpower but to your hope as Shepard wants to save as many people as possible, that has been his overall goal was saving people from the reapers and he feels he is failing at saving TIM which would be a valuable asset to humanity. This is pretty standard for the indoctrination so no real need to review here. Next Part of the Game. Harbingers Direct intervention is the Star Child. "I am the collective Intelligence of the Reapers." I believe that the Reapers are Simplistically Advanced, I believe Harbinger houses the collective intelligence of the Reapers and can activate without the Citadel signal and instead be activated if a reaper is destroyed, a sort of fail safe so the cycle can continue and it covers the Mass Effect loop hole. I believe that Harbinger is in Shepards mind, using the Hallucination from indoctrination to tug at his Humanity, a child's form is innocent and trust worthy. Also he goes out of his way to talk about how Destruction is bad, even saying that all synthetic life will be destroyed. Here he drops a huge bombshell that seems to be overlooked in the indoctrination theory "Even you are partially synthetic." I feel that this is a dual purpose, implying that he is part reaper and to instill the fear of death which makes fusing with the machines or controlling much more appealing. I believe that each choice is real because the Reapers WANT to exist they want to "live". Also the images of TIM and Anderson showing what they would do. Harbinger is in your mind and knows how gungho Anderson was about destroying the reapers and TIM's obsession with control. However this is where my differences begins I believe Anderson has reached the actual decision chamber (no idea what it would look like) but instead of doing what he wishes he does what he believes his long time friend would have wanted. After all he comments after every decision that Shepard did it right, even if he didn't agree. So your choice isn't Shepards choice but Andersons. Pause for review. The main drive in this is the Lack of Anderson in any screen shot after, the lack of voice overs, lack of anything with Anderson. Here is a Human who has supported you the entire time, trained you, pushed for your specter status and supported your fight against the reapers. Also this determines Shepard giving in, although you may save humanity from the reapers with any choice Shepard still becomes indoctrinated. The eyes of shepard changes to that of TIM if control or synthesize is chosen which is a huge deal. Also the only ending where he lives is where he stays dedicated to the cause, and destroys the reaper and he appears surrounded by concrete, rebar, and what looks like a collapsed Reaper in the background, or some kind of reaper tech. Now I do not believe that Harbinger chose the Colors of the choices I believe that is Shepard doing interpreting and here are the reasons. Blue is control, you are saving both the reapers and the universe, you are bringing people together, uniting a gap. Which has often been viewed as a paragon choice. Green is synthesize, which is represented as Saren, the Specter who was both a biological turian and a synthetic reaper. The culmination of both. This is green due to the aura of the protheian device energy which started it all. He still views that as a connection to Saren. Red is Destroy, they may be genocidal and completely flawed in thinking but are still technically a race. You are still committing Genocide and Shepard has some remorse even if he is not actively aware of his remorse that he HAS to do this. Then there are the basic examples of why it is indoctrination, the sudden appearance of piles of dead bodies near the beam, major coats being dead on the citadel, the plants near the beam, Anderson saying that he was transported to another room and he found a way to the panel although there is no other way to the panel, the infinite ammo, the slow mo like in the dream, the fact that synthetic life is still around after the destroy with EDI and Tali despite what the star child says, (remember that the quarians have extensive augmentations to allow them to survive better due to their awful immune system and a basically already at the synthesis point.), and that the Star Child ignores that the Quarian and Geth are united. There is just so much After the DLC that I refuse to believe bioware is that lazy/inept to fix those types of things. Ultimately I believe that your cumulative choices in the games aim Anderson to activating the choice at the end and that the ending DOES happen. I don't like the theories where even the endings are a dream. Hope you like my altered version let me know if you have any questions, comments, or concerns. =) Sidenote: I would personally love if Mass Effect 4 involved Shepard going to hunt down and kill/save his former team members as they give in/struggle with indoctrination themselves. Or a new character and you are introduced to Shepard with the results of you choice.
jesus fuck let it go.... it's a discredited conspiracy theory, it's done. How much proof do people need to let go of their delusion(I'm guessing none, since app. they'll never let go)..
+Chris Butrim You want to see a sad goodbye, watch Garrus and femShep. That is by far the funniest and most authentic relationship combo in the whole series and the goodbye will make you cry!
While I respect that Bioware went back to embellish the ending, it's still a bad ending to this day. At least the rest of the game is either good or great, especially the Citadel DLC. Refusal ending is Bioware giving you the finger for not accepting the Extended Cut...
Destroy was the only way to go, I didn't put years into a game that kept telling me destroying the Reapers was the only way to stop the war just to have a change of heart because I got some explanations. Them bitches had to go.
The ending is still shit, even after all this time. Even if the extended cut fixed some of the plot holes, the ending still fundamentally goes against every theme in the series. Synthesis: This one is truly fucked up. You force every being in the galaxy to become a cyborg... and this is the "good" ending? Could you imagine waking up one morning to discover you had wires running underneath your skin and computer chips in your brain? It's fucking horrible. Not only that, but its pointless. The whole purpose of the Reapers was to stop synthetics from wiping out all life in the galaxy. How does being a cyborg stop that? Even if I was a cyborg, I would still drive a car, use a computer, etc. We would still use machines, and create synthetics to make life easier for us. And when we created synthetics, would us being half machine stop them from killing us? Of course not. On top of that, this ending spits in the face of the whole "learning from our differences and working together to become a greater whole" theme this series has pushed from the beginning. The sythnesis ending basically says that "sorry, being different leads to conflict, we should all be homogenous", even though we spent three whole games making people see past their differences and work together. Synthesis wouldn't even bring peace either. We have already seen numerous example of conflict between the same group (ei, humans fighting humans, Geth fighting Geth, etc), so why would everyone being the same make conflict go away? The only possible explanation is that the synthesis ending also rewrites our brains to make us "peaceful". If that is the case, this is literally the most morally horrifying ending I have ever seen. Not only to you force everyone to be a cyborg, you forcibly rewrite their brains and strip away the personal freedom of trillions of intelligent beings. Holy fuck. Control: Not as morally fucked up as synthesis, but still a fucking stupid ending. We spent 3 entire games watching every single being that tried to control the Reapers become indoctrinated and turned into a monster. Hell, we spent all of ME2 and 3 telling the Illusive man that his plan was crazy, that you couldn't control the Reapers. You even told him that seconds before the ending! Then, all that goes out the window and we are told by some random fucking glowing kid that you totally can control the Reapers. What? Why would I believe the leader of the Reapers! The entire series built up that the Reapers can't be controlled and that trying would lead to your demise. Thus, I can only assume that Shepard eventually becomes indoctrinated after being absorbed by the Reapers, and goes back to killing the galaxy. Destroy: The least offensive to my intelligence, and thus the ending I went with, but it still sucks. Why the hell did every synthetic have to die? For fuck sake, the Crucible was accurate enough that it could rewrite the DNA of every living being in the galaxy, but it can't tell the difference between a Reaper and Legion? Come on. The only reason they made it so that Destroy destroyed all synthetics was because if they hadn't it would have been the obvious choice for everyone. And this is supposed to be the "bad" ending when it is the only option that doesn't leave the Reapers alive to kill everyone if they change their mind or rewrite the brains of everyone in the Galaxy, or both. Even past the choices themselves. The entire premise of the ending goes against the rest of the series. "Synthetics will always destroy their creators"... Did you not read the news God Child?!? I just brought fucking peace to the Geth and Quarians and now they are living in peace! I just proved your entire concept wrong and yet I still have to make this stupid fucking choice. Yeah yeah, "wall of text", "rant", "you mad bro". I guess I forgot how much I hated this ending. To this day I can't figure out why Bioware didn't just give a ton of endings. That way, everyone can be happy. They didn't need to worry about continuity because the next game is set somewhere else. It's just such a disappointing ending to such a great franchise.
+John Canuck Why did you copy-paste this without changing some of the info to make it correct? Yeah, this is the worst ending to a video game I have ever experienced in my life ever due to my investment, but at least update your copy-pastes!
***** While indoctrination theory is a cool idea, it's not even remotely "canon". The extended cut DLC pretty much proves the theory isn't true (why elaborate on an ending the apparently didn't actually happen?). If anything, the indoctrination theory proves how bad the ending really is. People would rather the ending have been "it was all a dream!" then the actual ending we got. Also, just because they give you a choice at the end doesn't change the fact the the choices are bullshit and the entire concept of the endgame is dumb.
+Diego Villatoro Besides the fact that the indoctrination theory has been disavowed by Bioware. It is a crappy ending in and of itself. The only reason it looks good is because it looks good compared to the endings we actually got. And as for evidence of it being disproven... The fact you can even choose any other than the blue explosions ending is proof of it. If you'd been indoctrinated, there would never have been any other choice to begin with.
+John Canuck This game endings were terrible. Playing 3 long games till the end, and then at the last minute introduce a new character in the game, a God Child. This is truly terrible desicion from Bioware.
+John Canuck I agree. Even the Prothean on your team says the reason the Protheans were wiped out was a lack of diversity. So the solution is to make everyone the same? It makes no sense.
I've got incoming troopers to deal with, I have no time to shoot down the Normandy while risking one of the enemies from getting up there to finish us.
indoctrination theory supports this shepard in his mind is wants his crew to be safe thus harbinger not destroying the Normandy.but if indoctrination is true every one on the Normandy died or at least anyone on the ground with you because over the radio they say all ground forces were wiped out and no one made it to the beam wile Shepard made it to the beam even in the extended cut because it's in his head so I guess in the next mass effect it will all be cleared up but if it is true whoever was your love interest is dead at worst the entire crew If this is true I don't know if I can bear playing me4 knowing Tali didn't get to make her home on her homeworld because she died I hope me4 has a cute quarian that can live up to Tali otherwise I'm flying solo single and free
***** Well, remember the Reaper IFF from the second game? There's no evidence it was removed from the Normandy between games, and it would definitely account for a certain explanation of why Harbinger ignored the ship.
Besides, priorities. Reapers are decimating the Sword Fleets in orbit, one ship evacuating people from underneath their only weakness is the last thing he has to worry about, probably it's best he focuses on not letting any Mako troop transports through
I agree the Extended cut would have been a better ending, but I still feel the Indoctrination Theory would have worked. It honestly felt like they went out of their way to try disprove it... But the Theory itself, will always be what I believe should have happened. And I can not, EVER, accept that it was not the ending. ME Series were ORGASMIC. The conclusion??? Just No.
Joe, extended cut did not fill in any loose ends or plot holes. It added more crap ontop of the existing crap. This is an old video but I still care about this series. Hopefully Bioware returns to Shepard's story in the future with I.T.
I think that the Indoctination Theory could still stand quite well. Shep still has all the signs. You still end in concrete rubble looking as you had before going up. Sure, it fixes the teleportation and fleeing for no reason (they had no idea what it would do, btw), but that doesn't stop the other signs. (This coming from a guy who played ME several times with the Extended Cut before even hearing about the Theory.)
Doesn't make sense, if she was indoctrinated the catalyst would never allow her to access the crucible, it literally says to her that the illusive man would never be able to control them because he was indoctrinated. My head canon is that the catalyst wanted Shepard to take control since the crucible was getting closer and closer to being completed each cycle, he pulled harbinger away and allowed her up, offcourse the truth why she never became indoctrinated is pure plot armour by Devs lol
Green is the best choice, no matter what creature organic or synthetic you are an equal. A reaper is equal with a tiny ant, a geth is equal to a human, a krogan is equal to a quarrian.. and the reapers bring the knowledge of the past with them. With the organic vs synthetic fight over there is no reason for the cycle to carry on, this is exactly what we set out for from the beginning. We are the spectre of the galaxy and everyone in it, not just the humams, and hell, the reapers have been part of this galaxy far longer than we were.. our job is to make the galaxy a better place, and this option is the perfect choice for that ONLY if this really truly 100% the legit ending.. if there are any secrets like indoctrination and things like that then it might change, but for now, green is the colour of hope ;) (reference)
TC Greywolf for me, Control means Shepard JOINING the Reaper compeletely, Destroy means Shepard win over the Indoctrination, and Synthesize means that Shepard is being used as a tool to fulfill the Reaper goals or merely being the missing components to Reapers goals(to preserve organic lives) which is tasked to them by the Leviathans.
TC Greywolf You're just fulfilling the spacebrat's intentions....... *No srsly* he highly rebels against the destroy choice and tries to convince you that it will be useless since it will be happening again ...... [ they're machines not gods, they don't have a magic ball telling them about the future...... more on scientific calculation at best and that's not even the most reliable because everyone is inconsistent ]
I don't give a shit what anyone has to say. I wanted a happy ending or at least the option. I wanted to see a scene where Shepard was narrating while showing him on a patio then suddenly Ashley walks up behind him and before they kiss it's revealed that she's pregnant or something like that.
I for one agree. I played every Mass Effect game in the hopes that if i chose to, i could get an ending just like you described. Although I think it would have been cool to have an alternative ending where Shepard does sacrifice himself for the galaxy (have that) or even where the sacrifice is in vain because everything wasnt in order or ready (have that). So why not one where if you put in the time, effort (and money), you can have an ending where Shepard actually is undisputedly alive with a family (or at least one on the way)?
+sazhumyan What does my profile photo have to do with wanting my progress to actually matter or the option to live or sacrifice? You must be a simple minded idiot. I understood it perfectly. But just because I understand it doesn't mean I HAVE TO LIKE IT. I rather enjoy having options, If you were some-what intelligent you would know that.... Beat it, you simple fuck.
mysteriousssstranger Most of us wanted at least the option to live or sacrifice. It was absolutely pointless to have 4 options and all of them end in death.
imaginarymatter I guess he thinks my profile photo means I'm incapable of understand an RPG. Or possibly fathom the depth of a sacrifice to save the galaxy.
wasnt the main issue with only having three options though? the only thing they did was flesh out the three they give you. and i guess you can say they give you the "fuck the fans" ending >.>
Yeah, that 'Shoot the Godchild' response was clearly meant to be a 'fuck you' to the audience. Bioware did not make this ending because they are generous and love players, we bullied them into fixing the ending. I have a strong theory that the 'Indoctrination Theory' ending was originally correct and Bioware intended to release the true ending in a free dlc, but they were so angry at the public response that they changed their plans and doubled down on the 'color-coded endings' thing but put some roses atop that shit to make it smell better. When you watch the 'Indoctrination Theory' videos, you realize that this is either the case or Bioware was lazy and incompetent to an unbelievable degree. I think the fact that they directly refute the I.T. in their extended ending is clear evidence they were aware of it and were saying 'fuck you, you eat what we give you'. The Extended Cut ending did elevate this from the worst ending in gaming history to just a bad ending for an otherwise great game, and series, but it doesn't redeem them for ruining the end of the trilogy. After this, the company produces progressively worse content, so it's clear that this (and ME2) were the beginning of the end.
Trust me, the Indoctrination Theory will forever be my head canon (still, we should have gotten Drew Karpyshyn's Dark Energy Subplot either way). But, with that in mind, Indoctrination Theory was NEVER BioWare's intention. The ending was written by two people: Casey Hudson and Mac Walters. The two of them refused the help and opinions of the other writers on the team and, when they were finished writing it, they refused to listen to the many criticisms the other writers had for it. BioWare could have taken the Indoctrination Theory as it was given to them by fans on a silver platter, but they decided to release the Extended Cut as a "Nah, the terrible writing is seriously canon. Oh, and here's a Refusal Ending where everyone dies. :)" Prior to Mass Effect Legendary Edition's release, one of the writers at BioWare stated they 'weren't smart enough' to come up with the Indoctrination Theory and that 'many at BioWare like it a lot but wasn't canon and it never will be.'
I hate the synthesis ending. All of Mass Effect 1 and Mass Effect 2 it was all about finding an end to the Reapers, to destroy them. I like the to follow that train of thought. The control ending...I hate Cerberus. They killed Admiral Kahoku. No thanks, TIM. LOL.
I'd go with the Red ending if not for the Geth and EDI. I mean, I did gave them the chance to prove themselves and they did marvelously, and then I go and just wipe em out? No, I hate that, I can't let Legion's sacrifice go to waste.. I hate all the three endings, in fact, but the more "decent" one is the blue one. Sure, is proving TIM right and all, but hey, Shepard as the eternal silent protector of the galaxy? I can dig that. Green one is messed up, ME is all about choices and diversity and this ending kinda destroys that.
WHY NO FINAL BOSS!? WE HAD SAREN ON ME1, WE HAD BADASS HUMAN REAPER ON ME2... WE HAVE FUCKING SURVIVAL HORDE MODE AND THEN A LAZY WALKING INTO THE CITADEL IN ME3...
They were going to have an Illusive man Boss battle but they scrapped it because that isn't the Illusive man's character. Besides I liked the final scene of Shepard nearly broken and desperate and on his last leg.
jjj5541 Well even if he wasn't, Shepard wouldn't be able to fight him being scorched near to death to show his/her venerability for the first time in the series.
Shame they didn't go with the dark energy readings ending like they originally planned since ME2. Also, have you guys read that 500+ page PDF someone did. He literally rewrote the WHOLE ME3 story and endings. It's really good and very, very in depth. Most of the revised endings make sense, but I still hate the Destroy (Paragon) ending is red (instead of blue) and the Control (Renegade) ending is blue (instead of red. Doesn't seem logical to me.
Richard Curley Look, I get that. But still, doesn't seem logical to me. I understand Red tends to represent destruction (doy), but in terms of Paragon vs Renegade...
Paragon is the passive option, Renegade is the aggressive option. But the ending's are the exception the aggressive option is morally the better one because your character has fought for four years to bring down the reapers or if you have chosen to be a renegade trough out the entire series then the Control ending is what you would choose because a renegade would want to control such a powerful force.
If it was the indoctrination theory, the colors would make sense. If the whole thing was a dream, then the reapers swapped the colors to manipulate him to think that the destroy ending is renegade and control is paragon.
The order of the colors may not have anything to do with renegade or paragon actions. Now that i am thinking about it, it makes more sense that the colors are the AI's preferences Red for what it doesn't want Green for what it does want and Blue for what it would reluctantly accept. It makes sense to me that way. Synthesis is the green color.
Now days, games tell a story. And stories are to be liked or disliked. A writer will never be able to satisfy 100% of the genre fans. In this case, I tend to agree with Joe. The game looks like it was rushed out. And yes, they somewhat addressed many of the voids in the plot at the end. Personally, I liked it the way it was and liked it with the extended cut, simply because I loved the story as a whole. I just hope they dont rush out Andromeda. And kudos, Joe! Unlike other "content creators" you merchandise and promote yourself the right way, and despite the "angryness" you respect the good and call in on the bad.
Anne E. Yeah EA really fucked Bioware over with ME3, rushing it out the door despite Bioware's pleas for more time! Fortunately it seems as though they've listened to and learned from the fandom's criticisms of the release day copies. What with Andromeda having been in development for 4 years and very little information being made public until they're ready. I can't bloody wait for this game personally! It's the one game I'm really looking forward to at the moment, despite lots of other really awesome looking titles coming out soon! It's been 3 years since I last played the trilogy, not sure how that happened xD But with N7 Day right around the corner I think it's time for Shepard to get back into the action :P
Bioware has shown us their storytelling and the propher way to make an ending in Mass Effect 2. It shouldn't have been an extraordinary expectation from the fans to want something similar (including a happy ending) in ME3. Instead we got a piece of crap that has been updated later to a piece of crap with a sideshow.
The extended cut was better than the original ending but its still not good. The entire premise of the ending was so bad, but atleast the EC actually explains alot of it (even if some serious plot holes remain), but i still hate that all 3 endings are pretty much the same with a slightly different monologue. All i want are text boxes like what Dragonage Origins had to tell me the consequences of my actions.
Played on Insanity and got 5000 EMS. Got all the good endings with curing the genophage and getting the geth and quarians to make-up. Tack on the extended cut with the green ending and you've got one happy fan. GG Bioware.
Anyone else just wish they would have put their money from Advertisements into the ending. I feel like they blew all their money making these epic previews and then ran out of money when they got to the end. Think of all the amazing action/emotional scenes they could have had as your reward for over 300 hours of game play if they would have just had advertisements made up of in game cinematic and put all that money and designer time into one huge epic ending. It was ME3 I mean we were already going to buy it.
I’m fine with the Extended Cut DLC, but I think it would have been cool if the Indoctrination Theory proved to be true. I’m not a supporter of the theory, but it was really cool and I think BioWare could have made 4 pretty cool endings for each choice. Or 3 pretty cool endings. I don’t know how it could work with Synthesis. -*Destroy*: Have Shepard wake up in the debris having fought off the indoctrination and pick up a rifle and head into the Citadel to finish the fight against the Reapers and the Illusive Man. Then we could see the slide show ending giving us closure on what the future of this universe holds. -*Control*: Have Shepard wake up in the debris having succumbed to the indoctrination and have her pick up a rifle and come face-to-face with Anderson who upon seeing the Indoctrinated Shepard whispers, “oh no”. Shepard then smirks and the game ends. It’s a dark and quick (but cool) ending, in my opinion. -*Refusal*: Have Shepard wake up in the debris with Harbinger having given up on indoctrinating Shepard so Shepard can die with her teammates and armies. Then, while bittersweet, we see Shepard and company fight to the last breathe against the Reapers and just before Shepard is killed by a Brute the scene cuts to Liara’s message. Then we get the end credits.
Like !Me Gusta ! Yes ! This is exactly what should have happened :D Epic ending + satisfied audience ! -Synthesis:Have Shepard wake up in the debris not able to fight off the indoctrination but not giving up his personality is divided in 2 "Shepards" (Good and Bad) looking up and hearing both Anderson and Harbingers voice . (or something like that I'm not that great with English at this hour)
SLENDER BARREL My cognitive ability also goes down when I'm tired friend. One time when I was being woken up, the person waking me asked me what is 8+5 to see if I actually needed more sleep, I apparently replied 40....He asked me again the same question and I replied 46; I got to sleep in after that.
Here's what I'm wondering. When the Mass Relays explode, why do the rays originate from the Viper Nebula from ME2: Arrival, rather than the Sol System? 4:52
Theres literally only one ending you can pick and not go against everything that you worked for in the series. IF you choose control: Youre the bad guy. You literally do the one thing youve spent 3 games saying is bad. If you Choose Synthesis: youre effectively forcing your decision on the rest of the universe and fundamentally changing how ALL LIFE in the universe works based solely on a holograms 3 minute description. Destroy is the only ending. Its the result youve been working towards and everyone in the galaxy united to accomplish. The fast that Bioware decided to throw in "oh and you kill all the geth too lul" is a cheap way to say ooooo maybe you dont want this ending. 8 year on and the way this series ends still makes me fucking mad.
The thing that annoys me is why even explain what the reapers are? I thought that the reapers were a Cthulhu race. We can't understand them, why they do what they do is irrelevant. Trying to explain it would never work.
To anyone who thinks the EC ending still sucks, give me an ending that does the following: -Explain the origins of the reapers, why they leave the relays open for organics to use, why they come back every 50,000 years and leave the other organic races alone, and explain all the hints of organic Vs synthetic throughout the story (Javik's conversation after he is awakened, the reaper on Rannoch who said that they are the ones to bring order to chaos, vendetta's report of the pattern of organic and synthetic in the cycles before). -Makes the player think about why they are going to do what they are going to do to end the war. (why do you want to destroy the reapers or do you think the illusive man was right in a way about controlling them.) -Put the player between a rock and a hard place at the end where a blue dialog button won't fix everything. -Give a glimpse of what the galaxy looks like when the war is over based on key decisions while leaving plenty of areas open for interpretation (which is what Bioware wanted and is still being ignored by haters). So this rules out the indoctrination theory and the MEHEM. All of these are addressed in the extended cut btw. And if you can't think of a better ending, what was Bioware supposed to do with a limited budget to change the ending for the fans?
The Leviathan dlc does all that needs to be done to reveal the origins of both the catalyst, and the reapers. Some information about their creation doesn't even come around unless you do the leviathan dlc before completing the game.
Indoctrination Theory... You asked for a better ending, right? you could still have the god child explain it all to you with said theory, and it wouldn't have left people pissed off about how pointless all the work they put in felt with such a plot hole riddled ending that had to be slightly altered with nothing more than more backstory dialogue used as cushioning for a huge "Fuck you" to the fans.
ButcherGod But the IT is there to deny the existence of the God Child and Leviathan proves the god child exists so the IT is invalid. So can you give me an ending besides the IT that fits the four points above?
***** But that was all added in long after the fact, why believe in something that came months after the story has been finished, that's like what Lucas did with the star wars franchise, taking something that was already finished, then adding to it and muddling it up even further just to appease a few people who weren't content enough with what they got, and look how well that turned out... I'm sorry but i've played all 3 games through to completion and still find the EC grossly lacking in any good writing. i mean they use the same dull cope out of the "Heroic Sacrifice" ending like every other story that's been out instead of giving us even 1 option to get a happy, shepard lives with (insert love interest here) ending, we just get 3 bland A B or C choices that barely had much of a difference with the DLC adding to them. You may have wanted to know every little detail about reapers and their creators but those could be just as easily explained in far more detail in novels of the series, not the close out to a game that spands over 5 years. most people wanted closer for the character they built up from ME 1 to ME 3, not a "Hey, you know all those hours you spent making this elaborate storyline from every choice you made? Yeah well fuck that you're getting only these 3 choices and nothing you've done these past 5 years really matters..." I mean you're telling me you weren't just alittle pissed off and disappointed by this?
"...if this was the ending we had originally gotten, I don't think there would have been this massive uproar at all". I completely agree with that statement.
I don't see any issue with the refusal ending. What else is supposed to happen? What kind of a fearsome and technologially superior enemy would the Reapers be if they could be defeated in a straight up head-to-head battle? That'd be ridiculous.
Considering that you attack the Earth with the fleet of about 100 k ships or who knows how many if you have all the war assets and considering that not all of the reaper forces would be on Earth as they are harvesting many other planets, then yea I think it is safe to say that you stand a chance to win in a straight up battle.
Actually, the way I see the 3 endings (not including the cycle continuition one): Destroy: Yea, reapers are gone, as well as Geth and other synth, and we fixing stuff with bubble gum and a lot of prayer. Oh and no relays for you for a few decades ^^ Quarians not needing to face their mistakes (since all geth are dead), rebuilding is slow-mo, bunch of systems go dark permanently (especially new settlements). Welcome to a new dark age! Good thing tho, Shepard is alive. Control: Reapers share their collective memories of who-knows-how-much cycle of advanced civilisatinos, the universe enters into a new golden age, rebuilding is rapid, thanks to Reapers. Geth + Quarians build a new life together, learning from their mistakes. Imagine Liara going nuts over the new discoveries :'D Shepard and the God Child is one. Soooo technically he "survives"? Synthesis: Similar to Control ending, difference is that every race KNOWS what the collective mind of the reapers had for many cycles, even their newborns from that point on. Mutual understanding of robotic and organic. New golden age of civilisation. Its like Control ending with extras xD However, it does seem off that they glow like an x-mas tree ^^; Like... imagine the wast knowledge of the past cycles races put together... its ridiculusly huge o_O Personally I like the Contol and Synthesis endings. If you do things Paragon, you want to rebuild and make peace, so its not out of the world to make the reapers see reason and switch from genocide to build something for a change :P In ME1 we even try to understand and persuade the reapers first (which ofc fails). I think these are good endings :)
Control and Sythesis endings look good on paper but have tons of moral issues surrounding them. Control: You basically spend the entire game warning the Illusive man that controlling the reapers is wrong./ that nobody should have this kind of power at their disposal. At the time of the choice (without knowing the consequences), whats the guarentee that Shepard wouldnt be corrupted by the power of the reapers? What makes him so special? Do you really think that the shepard with which you spent an entire game fighting the illusive man's ideals would just do a 180 and change his mind? I dont. Synthesis: This ultimately has the best consequences but the problem here is that it was forced on everyone. Who are you to just decide to change ALL life in the galaxy on a biological level without their permission? This is something EVERYONE needs a say on. You cant just take that right into your own hands and force it upon people. They needed to achieve this level of evolution by themselves, through hard work and cooperation. Do you really think everybody would just be happy with their new bodies and move on. I feel like there would be a large group of people that are mad that this decision was chosen for them, that shepard was no better than a dictator to force this upon them. Maybe even a massive war with those that accept the changes, and those that dont. This is why i feel destroy is the best option. Yes there are heavy, HEAVY losses in the process. But the result is a united galaxy that has the task of rebuilding themselves on THEIR terms. I think this is very noble, to put your faith into the galaxy that YOU united to work together and rebuild their civilizations. And i feel that if they successful, then the result will be a galaxy much stronger and united than anything the other endings can produce.
True, you have a good point, was thinking about this while I was chosing about the ending. Technically, whatever you do, every 4 ending is forced upon everybody, the consequences are huge whichever you chose. Destroy ending is most likely the "canon ending", but somehow I dont like the idea that they would willingly agree on plummeting themselves back into dark age of tech. Also, losing all the important information that reapers had about the universe and the past is huge. While its not mandatory to know, but personally I value knowledge. Thats why I'd chose the Control ending. Shepard wont survive the process (technically the only way he survives is the Destruction ending, on high schore), but he lends his understanding and knowledge to the Godchild, so it would know what to do better. Synthesis ending... well yea, I dont really like the idea to force a simbiotic relationship on others. Especially since it would look rather... odd. Plus it would be too easy. There are people even in our time that dont like the idea of AIs. Now imagine this in a galactic scale. There would be for sure a lot of opposition to this, mass hysteria, anger and even uprising. So yea its a bad ending :'D The only funny thing with Control ending, is that, we a simple human soldier would be able to change the mind of a genocidal program/AI, that killed countless civilisations without remorse, since it thought its the best idea. How come nobody ever tried what Shaperd tried for so many cycles... ? We dont even know how many cycles passed, but judging from the huge amount of Reaper ships (each representing an extinct race), there would be quite a few already... I highly doubt that this is the first time that the Godchild talked to the races, for sure most of the previous ones tried to talk down the reapers in some fashion (at first). So yea, ME endings does rise an eyebrow :)
Kilgar Personally, the 4th ending would be my favorite IF it didnt result in a total loss. Like angry joe put it, if the war assents affected the 4th ending, with max preperation resulting in victory, that i feel would be awesome. To see this army that you put in all the time and effort hurl themselves at the reaper in a last ditch effort, giving everything they've fucking got, and to emerge victorious. Its the stuff of legends. The only problem is that it kinda makes all that time and effort pout into the crucible to be for nothing.
True, it feels a bit offputting that the forces and other assetts you amassed are for ... well for your own enjoyment after a point rather to really have a meaning. It would be really great to give the middle finger to the Godchild and beat him in its own game :D That would've been a lot more satisfactory since we worked our ars off to get all the races working together x) Too bad we have a few cheap ending versions, even the new DLC ones are kind of 'meh', since you cant really feel the connection to your character to it ^^; I really hope they make the next ME installment good, since the trilogy was really nicely put together, just the ending was a bit... rushed and silly ^^; lol, even the fans figured out better endings :'D like the doctrination ending for example :P now thats a nice twist :D
Kilgar How would they even do a sequel? Like you would either need to account. 1. All forms of AI or VI destroyed 2. Reapers just running around unhindered 3.Everyone is a creepy green cyborg 4. Everyone is dying in agony as the reapers continue their conquest of the galaxy unhindered. how do you have a sequel when the endings to the predecessor make huge changes (although they dont show them).
Just finished the ME Trilogy for the first time and, after watching Joe's ME3 vids, I just feel so lucky for not experiencing the non-extended endings! Already restarting the series but with different choices!
I like to choose destroy because if the ems is high enough Shepard is alive. I just wanted to see him and Liara or whoever he romanced together in a slide or something but oh well. Just be happy he's alive.
The Imbroglio But stay tuned because this guy's going to continue to make something even more great to go with it. Or you can read my story to see for yourself before hand. www.fanfiction.net/s/10284927/1/Victory
I was re-thinking about the sythesis ending, and I don't think that all species + sythetics became "one green glowing new form of life". To me it was more like as if all sythetics and organics improved themselves greatly, in some ways, and gained some sort of universal conciouness. If you think about it, every alien and even sythetic character are very humane, and we can relate to them as they grow into us. So in some ways, it seemed to me that Bioware was telling us we're all related apart from our differences. The fact that this new universal counciousness has grown bigger in the galaxy, does not mean that conflicts would end, but it helps all creatures to understand better each other. The fact that EDI says that she's alive could be symbolism of that, as well as the glowing. Kinda like spiritual thing, like when Jesus died and ascended to heaven. But I'd still wanted to see Shepard having beers with Garrus on the beach....
Am I the only one who kind of tears up when Joker tries not to leave. When he says "Damn it" that just made me go "God damn Bioware you did not fuck it up"
I think Mass Effect 4 will confirm the indoctrination theory. I watched all the arguments for it and I think most are micro analyzing things which were just sloppy writing or developmental oversights. Some of these may have or may not have been clues. That being said: I just can't explain Shepard surving. He survived a reaper beam strong enough to destroy tanks, got shot at while in crippled state, survived the explosion of a power conduit, survived ground zero of the massive explosion that destroyed the center of the citadel and finally was seen waking up gasping for air in what looked very much like London rubble. This would have entailed time in the vacuum of space, survivng reentry from orbit, and impacting the ground at orbital speed without a helmet on. Even if he woke up on citadel rubble which it didn't look like, he would have to survive the massive explosion that took out the center of the citadel in the cutscene, and then survived in space without a helmet. We know he was in the central portion of the citadel because that's where the crucible was. This ending is either shockingly bad to the point where a kid in grade school would have noticed impossibilities stacked on impossibilities stacked on impossibilities and done better, or the ending was some type of illusion (possibly IT) which will kick start Mass Effect 4.
I still don't understand why anybody would choose anything buy Control. Shepard lives, the universe is saved, synthetics still exist, and everything is awesome.
Because of the risks it might pose if the New Shepard AI god becomes corrupted and goes on another killing spree. To sum it up: "Absolute power corrupts absolutely." And you've been telling the Illusive man that control is bad for the entire game. But it's all up to you to choose. I chose destroy because it's what Anderson would have done. EDI and the geth die, but the galaxy will be free forever from the Reaper onslaught. It's basically a large sacrifice that has to be made, a one up from the Arrival DLC.
***** To be fair, I was agreeing with the Illusive Man for the entire game. If he had truly figured out how to control them (it was obvious he was just insane), it would've been perfect.
TheScumbagofNewYork I agree that Shepard isn't really "alive" at least not in the way you would want him to be. You don't get to have that beach home with Tali, or that beer with Garrus on some beach somewhere... though I would think that it wouldn't be hard to create a Avatar of himself, we know the constructs exists. Maybe though it be to painful for his friends?
Was this shit cut out of the mass effect trilogy? Cuz I downloaded the extended cut and it completely skipped over some of that shit. Someone help me out please.
I liked the indoctrination theory but always thought it was giving bio ware too much credit. However to say that it was ruled out by the EC is not paying attention. Shepard is hearing whispers and black wavy lines and is made to shoot someone on the citadel who realistically cannot be there, but maybe he is, it's not perfect and that's beside the point. At that moment Shepard is clearly being indoctrinated. Also, of the options offered by The Catalyst, two of them sound a lot like sales pitch versions of what the reapers are already doing. IMHO The Catalyst is lying to you and some of those endings are just the bed time stories it tells you as you surrender to indoctrination. Then, if you look, two of the cut scenes show Shepard actually becoming a husk. The Catalyst is an unreliable narrator and the end is not what it seems.
Despite having already beaten the game before (although it was pre-EC as it didn't download for some reason), I replayed the entire series, and I can say that without a doubt, the funeral scene is the only time I've ever cried because of a game. Cannot wait to see what they do with the next Mass Effect. Also, just want to add a note: Isn't it possible the "Shepard taking a breath" scene was intended to show the franchise wasn't over after the trilogy and not just showing Shepard to be "alive"? (That probably doesn't make sense, but it's an interpretation)
I think that it was intended for that reason. Also, I believe the Star Child and the Star Gazer scene was another scene to show that there will be more things to come in the Mass Effect universe considering the fact that the Star Gazer says, "Alright. One more story."
I also cried in Valiant Hearts but in Mass Effect 3 i had my eyes in tears for most of the game, it's so emotional but the end was truly heart-breaking.
I kinda preferred the Indoctrination theory. It really gave me this sense of foreboding... Almost as if the game it's self had turned my own flaws (Pride for not wanting to destroy what I had brought together, like the geth/quarian peace, and the glactic fleet) against me in order to make me choose the ending the reapers wanted. As if I myself has somehow been indoctrinated as well as my own Shepard.
I feel like so many of the people that were upset over the lack of a "happy ending" option don't realize how lackluster that type of ending is, especially with the plot elements (the Crucible MacGuffin) that they were using. If you just filled in an ending like this: "Shepard calls in the various armies, they fight back the Reapers, the Crucible activates and destroys all remaining Reapers. Shepard goes back to the Normandy for a big group hug," you'd have one of the most simplistic, predictable and lackluster endings ever for such a long and complex trilogy. If you boil that down, it's COMPLETELY against everything that was said about the Reapers in the games about them being completely unstoppable with traditional military might. Whatever we would have gained in warm fuzzy feelings for our hero would be more than lost with a nonsensical plot device victory that went against the lore of the universe. Now don't read this as me saying the other endings we got are great or anything. They aren't. I'm just playing devil's advocate a bit and trying to point out the flaws in a "Shepard lives happily ever after" ending.
+Shodan Cat The upset fans weren't upset over a lack of a happy ending though. They were pissed off because their choices throughout //3// games, choices in games that //REVOLVE// around the choices you make changing the story, meant absolutely NOTHING. In the end, you got "Destroy, Control, or Synthesize". So everything I did in the last 2 games meant nothing? All the time I spent trying to perfect how I want my character was useless and it all ends the same for everybody? Well shit. Now I'm pissed.And I'm not saying I hate them for it. To be honest, I can kinda understand why there were so few choices. It'd be hard as hell to put as many as they wanted to do in the game, and with EA rushing the shit out of them, they probably had no choice. But hell, they couldn't have made an ending that actually satisfied people that put so much time into the past games? Something that somehow saved shepard And reunited him with the one that we romanced, or Joker having some gut feeling that Shep needed his help and going back to save him just in fucking time to get the hell out of there. Shepard doesn't have to survive. Hell, if he died onship, I feel like it would have been better. It would have given a more touching conclusion than "Oh, everything blew to hell and everyone got stranded on some planet." Am I wrong?
Here is what you just said: "But hell, they couldn't have made an ending that actually satisfied people that put so much time into the past games? Something that somehow saved shepard And reunited him with the one that we romanced, or Joker having some gut feeling that Shep needed his help and going back to save him just in fucking time to get the hell out of there." This is exactly what I'm talking about. People wanting a straight up "happy ending." People try to make themselves sound like that's not what they want by saying "we wanted our choices to make a difference in the end." In other words, "if we did all the right choices and saved the Geth, Quarrians, etc, we should get an ending where everyone lives and it's a happy ending."
You did not finish that sentence. Shep dying on the ship does not present a happy ending. It gives the person playing more ability to have immersion with the comrades that he or she worked so hard to create a relationship with. Like I said. Shep dying was a good thing. However, I believe they could have presented it better.
+Shodan Cat I don't really think the ending would be that happy after all. I mean, probably billions died during the war, together with Mordin, Thane, Anderson, Legion etc. Even without Shepard dying the Ending would still have a pretty bitter sweet taste to it, if they would have done it correctely. I personally really wanted Shep to survive, because he literally just fought for others without ever being selfish, at least in my playthrough and doesn't even get to profit from his own actions. I find this kinda depressing in some sense. Though I understand why you wouldn't like it. Imo it should only be available to you when you really maxed out every little thing there is. I always choose the destruction ending because thats the only one where shep survives, besides other reasons. Imho the galaxy should decide its own fate instead of me dictating it. And as the catalyst says, we will be able to rebuild all the lost technology. I assume this is correct for EDI and the geth as well, so... yeah.
It was obvious that not using the crucible meant losing the war. They forced that idea down our throats since the first game. The reapers are too powerful to be conventionally beaten. Took a whole fleet just to beat Sovereign.
Extended cut+Leviathan DLC+Citadell DLC patches the ending of the series. You get closure, explanation, and parts where your entire team fight with you and it's good. The Citadell DLC is worth every cent you spend on it. In my opinion the Synthesis ending is the best. The controll ending is good and the Destroy ending would be desirable but it's price is too high. It jsut shows how people's opinions differ and I had serious doubts about Synthesis but after hearing EDI's narration about it I was sure I'd chosen right.
My perfect ending to Mass Effect 3: Shepard, Anderson and the Illusive Man all meet the glowing - child and the glowing - child explains whatever he explained in the original game. Additionally, whatever they decide is the fate of the Reapers and the galaxy (Destroy/Synthesis/Control), the Crucible requires the energy and both organic matter and special form of synthetic matter unique to Harbinger's body, for the Crucible to work. To obtain that synthetic matter, Harbinger needs to die. Shepard and all the fleets discover that the base of Reaper operations and Harbinger is in Luna (Earth's moon). Final battle: The entire galactic fleet attacks the Reaper's base of operations, and Harbinger. During the final battle, based on decisions Shepard made throughout the trilogy, and based on the War Assets Shepard has, either all survive, or.......... maybe some squad mates die, maybe some species go extinct(Krogan, Geth, Rachni) maybe other important characters die, maybe the Citadel itself gets severely damaged, or one of its arms detached and then destroyed, maybe the Destiny Ascension gets destroyed, maybe all or some Councilors die, etc.. Basically, it's similar to the Suicide Mission from the 2nd game but this is on a galactic - scale, and everyone's lives are at stake. In the end, Shepard himself talks to and kills Harbinger. They collect the synthetic matter from the core of his body and detonate nuclear bombs in the surface of Luna, and Reaper activity in and around Earth gets minimized, but many Reapers are alive and the galaxy is still at stake. Shepard, Anderson, Hackett, the Illusive Man and atleast 2 squadmates should be alive upto this point (Alive councilors will also be there). They return to the glowing - child and tells them the fate of the galaxy is in their hands. A massive argument breaks out about which they should choose - Destroy, Synthesis or Control. Shepard chooses one and gives a speech as to why the chosen one is the best option. (Whatever ending is chosen, Harbinger's synthetic matter is utilised) If Synthesis is chosen, Shepard sacrifices himself. If Destroy is chosen, Anderson sacrifices himself. If Control is chosen, the Illusive Man sacrifices himself.
Want a better ending? Mass effect 3 happy ending mod. Royal pain in the ass to install, but it gives us all the ending we'd originally hoped for. Doesn't fix a lot of the plotholes, but it flipped the ending around from shitty to pretty damn decent. Totally ditches the godchild BS and your EMS actually matters. If it's high enough Shep lives, no half assed hints, and the already epic space battle goes from awesome to FU Star wars levels.
I preferred the indoctrination theory. It fit with the theme of the series. Saren tried to save the galaxy with synthesis, and was consumed by the Reapers' will. The Illusive Man tried to save the galaxy with control, and ended up controlled himself. Leaving Shepard in the third game to try the only remaining option.
Exactly. The IT would have been simply mindblowing and would have made the ME franchise one of the best game trilogys in history. Just imagine someone playing the three games not noticing what happened to Saren and to the Illusive Man. They were the clue not to choose synthesis (=husks), or control (=indoctrination). By choosing the wrong endings the players themselves would have been indoctrinated. :)
I've played Mass Effect for the first time (Started in December 27th, 2013 and ended in Febuary 7th, 2014) and this is possibly one of--If not, the greatest franchise I've played in a very long time since I played Metroid. I'm grateful that I played with the EC and not stay with the original endings that many were unfortunate to experience. While some many still give Bioware crap about what they did and still do, I really liked the EC ending and ended with Destroy/Living ending for my Paragon Shepard. It was really intense for me to whether choose which one as one means letting the Reapers win and everyone else live, but Shepard dying. Or choose to destroy the Reapers and only Organics live (I regret doing this to Legion and Edi), and possibly having Shepard see Garrus and friends at the bar once more. (There was an app for ME3 that you could download and get messages for it, I saw some screenshots with last messages and it seems that Shepard may have lived through the Destroy ending if you had enough EMS and got the gasp in the end.)
That's my experience too because I was a late comer from 7 months ago. From the messages of the newcomers, most of them were happy experiencing the EC first time around. What this says is that the haters had bared painful emotional scars when they saw the original endings having to wait 5 years for it while the newcomers were able to jump in and experience everything in just 1-2 months with the EC endings.
the ending is still a stupid slideshow of disconnected pieces and all the good player-choices are still not represented. the game's still a disappoinment overall (and not just because of the ending) to me ME2 is the last game in the franchise
I agree with you there. One of my greater concerns for ME4 (if I buy it) is that the developers will settle with just not putting in a terrible ending, and while the ending was extraordinarily awful it's not the reason why I don't enjoy playing ME3. That reason exists because of things like the auto dialogue and the dull side quests.
Destroy ending all the way! Reapers are defeated for good and Shepard and Miranda can be together! Its a shame what happened to the Geth and EDI, but they were willing to lay down their lives for the sake of the universe, they would understand. And there still is a chance of rebuilding them. As for the Catalysts warning of " synthetics will still rebel against their creators". Shepard and the entire universe defied all odds and did the impossible, with a chance to rebuild a new future there is also a chance to avoid mistakes of the past.
tbh the new endings are still trash. They're better but that's not saying much. The ending shouldn't have been an I win button. And the jesus martyr thing is never an interesting or original plot device.
JackZake64 It'd be impossible to import a save that incorporates three radical alterations to the galactic society. Plus with a new Galaxy, there are more opportunities for bet structures stories without an all powerful race that need a super weapon to stop. The Ket are a much better villain faction because they aren't unstoppable like the Reapers. Just seems like they'll be difficult to overcome but more manageable.
Thank you Joe for this vid, you give praise when its due and you are a better person for that. I totally agree with everything you said. In my opinion this is the best scifi I had ever watched/played - also one of the funniest games as well.
I did the synthesis ending because Shepard walked so freaking slow that I didn't have the patience to drag his ass to the two further consoles. The closest one had to suffice.
Bindair Dundat lol
Bindair Dundat That comment made my day. Fking slow-ass Shep :v
I didn't even see the fucking destroy walkway. Literally all I saw was control and synthesis, so I picked control, which I am immensely disappointed with.
Phahaha
God Child: "Destroy the Reapers at the end of the left walkway. Control the Reapers at the end of the right walkway. Synthesis is right in front of you. By the way, you move with 0,5m/h."
Me: "Oh geez, that's a tough choice. I should really consider it... wait what? 0,5m/h? Synthesis it is then."
I found the control ending very funny,
Shepard:"You can't control the reapers Illusive man, Thats my job!"
Lol yeah, on the surface, but really the illusive man's goal was to control the reapers for human domination of the Galaxy and his own power. It's not until Shepard realizes he can control the reapers himself that he considers it
One of the two reasons Shepard said that is because Shepard had no reason at that point to believe it was possible. There was no evidence besides the Illusive Man's insistence that it could be done. And second reason is that anyone could see that The Illusive Man was already indoctrinated by this point, so there's no way he could take control of the Reapers since he was already under their control.
I can understand that but unlike the Illusive man, Shepard found a literal way to control them via the Conduit.
THe illusive man was already under their control so he cant control them and he had no artifact or way to show he could control them
Thats the one I picked!
"What's in store next for the Mass Effect universe?"
Andromeda Cash Grab. Anthem of an Incomplete Looter Shooter on a Game Engine that Can't Handle It. The End of Bioware.
Darkness.
Lets hope dragon age 4 is good
Perhaps dragon age 4 will be the redemption arc of bioware
Fuck anthem subuhman inbred game. They dropped amazing ME universe for anthem garbage pice of shit universe, beyond abhorrent.
Maybe they were going through a Dark Age... much like Disney in the 80s. I still have hope for them. But if Dragon Age 4 sucks... then there is no more hope left.
@Beese Churger oh God plz no
One of the marks of a good story is that once it's over, it still manages to invade your every waking thought for a short time afterwards, thinking back and reminiscing about how great the journey was. I got that for several days, and so I'm satisfied.
I'm still not satisfied. This brings my score for ME3 from a 5 to a 5.5. Try again Bioware. This is not how you end a story.
How about an ending where the Reapers get killed, but the Galaxy's left in chaos, after everyone's been weakened by the Reapers, and the vast majority of colonies are left burning.
Heh I still play it and think about it even today :D
One mark but not the only mark of a good story. The reason we're all running ME3's plot over and over in our heads is because we became invested in the saga during the first two games, and we're perplexed by ME3's failure to bring a fitting end to the story. At least that's how it is for me.
This game only had a 2 year development cycle, which is the shortest out of all the Mass Effect games, which could explain everything wrong with the game, since from what I understand, time is the biggest obstacle in the development of video games.
My first playthrough was with the extended cuts, leviathan and Citadel DLC and I was immensely satisfied. I guess being a patient gamer pays off again.
+ijirving Same here. I was more than happy with my ending!
+ijirving Agreed, I just had the Extended cut tho, I'm poor. :P
random dude good point
+ijirving never understood what the big problem with the ending was all about..i understood what direction they were going and did not mind it..and I am a huge mass effect fan have all 3 games and still play the hell out of the multiplayer to this day..the only problem I have with the ending is that the dlc should of been there since the beginning..and that for a game series spanning hundreds of hours the ending was too short....I miss the days of rpg's for the super nes like ff3 or chrono trigger where the ending took almost an hour and took you back to all previous locations.....
+ijirving Damn right, I cried like a bitch at the end, hadn't understood why all the shitstorm with the ending until I watched this video
Can't believe it's been 9 years. This series is really something special.
That funeral scene gets me every time.
+Stew Hvidston My Shepard ´´survived``.
@D the character which you have been romancing with.
Still does
It did again just rewatching as a clip in this video.
You know what? Forget indoctrination theory
What Bioware should have done is have an ultimate Refusal ending available only if you have enough EMS, 100% readiness, make peace with Geth and Quarians, and playing on Insanity throughout the entire game. Here shepard rejects the Star brat and the Normandy crew get on board the Crucible to back him/her up and adjust the destroy option so it only targets the Reaper. Harbinger will attempt to stop them by assuming control of the dead Illusive man and have a boss fight. Shepard has to coordinate his/her crew to do specific task according to their skills to get the job done while he/she fights the possessed Illusive man on his/her own. Shepard would survive this ending if he/she has 8000 EMS. War assets matter. To make this extra difficult to get, if Shepard fails like say died in the fight with Illusive man, the ending will look like the original refusal ending and the game ends. A real all or nothing
That would have been an Immensely satisfying ending to reward all the hard work of the the most hardcore of players.
Holy shit... That sounds incredible, that would be my ending!
me1 ending is already fighting an indoctrinated individual, remember saren? It's unoriginal, repetitive. And u act like insanity is a hard difficulty, u r wrong mister. 8000 ems isn't hard either, galactic readiness theory is forcing multiplayer, what about non internet connection players? Appriciate the thought (not) u give to this ending, but simply it will not work... at all.
Burak Ertug Every single ending forces you to fight an indoctrinated individual or group : Saren, Collectors, Cerberus and Illusive Man. It's nothing new
You might claim to be able to do it on insanity but not everyone can.
Great Teacher "claim" :) Saren, collector base is alot different than each other actually. Everything u fight is indoctrinated, that's no excuse to make another fight to the death with a hated villain. You must suffice with Kai leng on that one.
Burak Ertug
We had "fight the indoctrinated" ending, we had "fight the reaper" ending...
Why not both? In the same time you are forced to fight both possessed Illusive Man AND Harbinger himself. Yah!
Isn't funny how the fucked up ending is clearly an EA fault, but the Extended Cut is solely a Bioware's work?
And that is the whole point, right? They add few pictures of everlasting galactic peace and everything is all right? What was the fuzz all about ?
+kof ola If it had been EA choosing to do the extended cut then they would have charged for it
So it is Bioware who set prices of EA games? I had no idea about that.
GlensGameReviews If you say so. Mass Effect was fucked up right from the start and Dead Space 3 was awesome. So you got to be in some another universe.
I just cannot see an immersive story. I cannot play a game that thinks USA is the only country in the universe. How ironic. The rest is laughtable at best, from the absurd plot to the NATO morality and beyond the so called codex. Basicaly, I am stil ltrying to find out what exactly made it so acclaimed. Models of races and characters? 90% of races does not even have female sex. And the ME1 characters were simply "whats your story?" You gun down a mother of Liara and she does not give a damn about it. That is some character interaction.
People bash Halo 5 story, but ME is glorified. I do not get it. I would love to. But I cannot.
Destroy best ending in my opinion
I agree
Yes!
Synthesis ftw
I blasted Helldorado by wasp as I charged my way through the last mission. Shot the illusive man for being a prick and destroyed those motherfucking reaper bitches!
Soku , I just dont buy the idea of "synthesis". Have no idea how one person can alone decide fate of every single being in the galaxy. Don't like "control" too since who knows what might happen to Shepard's will if he merges with Reapers... What he might decide to do in, say, 100 years? So, yep, I chose "destroy" and status quo for the galaxy. Destroying Reapers... That was the goal of Shepard from the very beginning!
A happy ending would have been nice, though. Just kill the reapers, get some smoothies, and call it a day and relax at your awesome apartment. :3
The Daedric Prince I completely agree, but apparently that was too much to ask for ;_;
But at least we got to enjoy the trilogy
Install MEHEM mod
What really would be a good happy ending is like you said destroy the reapers have scenes where you are settling down and chilling with your love interest qnd your squadvmates looking off into stars knowing the war is finally over and that the galaxy is finally at peace
No because the writers want you to feel sadness even if it's cheap
Fuck the reapers I'll always pick destroy
Amen to that they killed Morden and legion damn the reapers to hell
I also chose destroy, but i am greatly disappointed that the geth and EDI also get destroyed.
but if you choice destroy woudnt it destroy all ships and so on and still let everybody starve to death because who should repair these shitty thinks?
+LightningDragon no it won't that's if your a renagade but if your a paragon player like me then only the reapers will die and all organic life ships and building will be left intact and left alone by the blast and it's a good sight so see the reapers burn and blow away in a blink of an eye and I think that's the canon ending doesn't matter as long I see them disintegrated to nothing and the other races intact then I'm happy
If you choose Destroy, the LEviathans are just going to move back in and take over again.
My ending: Shep enters the Citadel, kills TIM, activates crucible, initiates Reaper kill switch, saves the galaxy. No bullshit. No god-child. No stupid choices. You accomplish the fucking mission and you go home. And yes, the Geth and EDI stay alive because my ending isn't retarded.
I might even slap it together in windows movie maker one day, then take over as creative director at Bioware.
+MrRemorseless I understand the desire to save everyone and kill the Reapers. Believe me, I do. With that said, I'm actually glad that you have to sacrifice something important in order to get the job done. The game's main theme is sacrifice. By having all of the ending options come at a pretty high cost it forces you to really think not only about what you want to achieve, but also how far you are willing to go to achieve it. The burden of choice really becomes clear hear as we are forced to accept the reality that sometimes there simply isn't an easy way out where everyone comes out okay. Sacrifices have to be made and it falls to the player to decide which sacrifices are worth making.
DevilHunter1994 Everybody's argument is that the sacrifices Bioware forces onto the player with that star child shit, are completely illogical and are written terribly. The sacrifices made UP TO THAT POINT are written and contextualized properly. I know what ME3 is about. I've played it three times. You don't need to tell me.
MrRemorseless Even without the god child there, having to sacrifice all synthetic life in order to stop the Reapers makes sense. I mean this a weapon made over hundreds of thousands of years by several different species, all of which grew to HATE synthetic life due to having to watch Reapers harvest their friends and turn them into freakish monsters. It's completely understandable why they would design the weapon to destroy all synthetic life given those circumstances. First they had to fight machines of their own making and then were met with a race of super machines that were a thousand times worse. We may have been the first cycle to make peace with synthetics, but even with their help, we still need the crucible in order to end the fight. We have to use it and if the crucible was designed with the intent to destroy all synthetic life, well then we're out of luck because using it is still the only option. The other two endings though, I will admit come completely out of nowhere.
DevilHunter1994 Look: I lament that your simplifications were absent from Bioware's creative meetings, because truly they are more sensible than the ones written into the dialogue. Bioware's writing fell apart towards the end and not one of the options was admirable. Watch MrBTongue's analysis for further unpacking of it.
+MrRemorseless I got a better ending than that:
www.fanfiction.net/s/10284927/1/Victory
But if you're not in the mood for reading too much, here's the important part condensed down:
www.fanfiction.net/s/10918420/1/A-Legion-Reborn
The extended ending was Bioware's bandaid to the ending they were unexpectedly forced to deal with initially. There is no fix to the original ending, simply filler to make it seem less bad. Ultimately, in the end, you're still stuck with the same situation as you would be without that additional tid-bit that the dlc offers. I love Bioware, and I love all three of the ME games, but I still strongly dislike how the trilogy came to a close.
+Nomi Yoko It's tragic, I mean hell, ME3's ending was basically a rip-off of DA:O anyway, and there are so many lore-breaking events in ME3 that it's impossible to accept even though they explained it. Indoctrination Theory ftw
+Nomi Yoko Maybe thats why Bioware wants us to believe in whatever ending we see fit to believe in, and I wouldn't be surprised if Andromeda won't have anything to do with the trilogy, being its own new and unexplored galaxy. Kinda saying that "lets forget that ever happened and move on to new and better things".
***** You're picking a fight with a several month old post, by arguing that the most common of cliche "Hero dies to save everyone" ending is original. Thanks stranger, needed the laugh.
There is absolutely nothing original about the type of ending Bioware gave us with this game. If it's selfish of me to annoyed by such a cookie cutter ending, that deliberately throws out all of the progress made in the trilogy thus far, then sure. Call me selfish.
Don't get me wrong. There are stories that benefit well from such an ending. This isn't one of them.
***** I'm not entirely sure what you're getting at. The primary issue a lot of players had, was the very lack of choice (as it was promised to us) in regards to the ending of the game. All endings were the same, outside of the added context, to give the illusion of effort.
Never the less, I see no reason to even talk to you. I'm seeing nothing but someone intentionally picking a fight, thinking they're some white knight for the company, but is made apparent, they know nothing about the situation, or even why we have the ending that we do. I'm well aware of why the game has this ending, and even more so, why Bioware felt it reason enough to add more content to it.
So unless you have anything to say to me that isn't compromised of insults and whining, then you're more than welcome to bug me. Otherwise I'll have to just ignore this post.
***** I... don't recall creating a community. I also don't recall harassing anyone. I feel like you're just trolling me now.
Hate to break it to you, but some stranger who starts off a conversation, by immediately harassing me, deserves no respect of mine. So if you see me insulting you in turn, you more than likely deserve it for your asinine behavior. Under no circumstances, should a person like yourself, ever have reason to demand anything more than a door to the face, when simple pleasantries or friendly debates, seem beyond your train of thought. Rather you'd spew nonsense, and bitch at people who seem to be at a disagreement with you in whatever way you can think of, to prolong your rage in the discussion.
Surely you have something better to do, than be a dick to some random person over the internet.
U said nothing about the leviathans
They are the Catalycist's creators
I thought the Leviathan would assist in the battle. It wasn't even seen anywhere.
Thats because this video was done before Leviathan release.
Destroy ending ftw. What Shepard was fighting for from the beginning. Choosing Synthesis would be falling to Saren's path, Control would be agreeing with the Illusive Man.
Yes, this! I've been thinking back and forth between the options (played through twice), and I still can't select anything but Destroy. Synthesis is exactly what Saren describes in the first game, and Control just gives the notion, if you can't beat 'em join 'em. Yeah things are happy go lucky in the slideshows, but that doesn't mean that the Reapers won't figure out a way to snap out of it and start all over. Kill them off once and for all. It's what the real Shepard would do.
100% agree. Synthesis = Saren's fate, indoctrination, husks. Control = Illusive man's fate, ending in indoctrination. Both of these endings suit the indoctrination theory. These should have been the bad endings, choosing them would end the game with Shep being indoctrinated. Destroy is the only real ending.
@@kubanitos I disagree based on my Shepherds character and points that everyone on this thread overlooked; he wouldn't have wanted to destroy ALL synthetics like EDI. Remember it's not just a "destroy reapers" option; it's a "destroy reapers and all synthetics." No geth or other advanced AI. Control option is not the illusive man's fate. Illusive man wanted to control the reapers for the advancement of humans for domination. Clearly any shepherd disagrees. And the extended cut clearly shows Shepherd using the reapers for good for all species. No indoctrination. The destroy option destroys any kind of arc your shepherd can have in realizing that AI should be at least considered a living free thing. All the discovery of the real history between the Geth and Quarians and the EDI cutscene about feeling alive. Destroy options says fuck that lol. If that's your shepherd go ahead. But mine was a bit complex with an arc toward embracing diversity and freedom of choice for all sentient beings. Finally, the reapers are clearly not individual minds with independent thought. The god child early states he is in full control of them as one hive mind. So when shepherd takes control, he is in total control period.
So that's why I never found the ending that bad... I already had the extended cut.
Exactly same here. I remember hearing the backlash about it before I got to the ending. I was able to download the dlc just before I got to the extending ending.
in my funeral scene, tali did not put Shepard's name up, she actually put it down
thats what happens when you get 5k+ war assets and chose destroy. Shep lives.
lovessniping yeah i actually found that out a few minutes after I made that comment, I feel stupid now :/ I saw the breathing scene, I'm playing the citadel dlc now it feels like an epilogue because of my shep living
were you to rewinding the ending trying to make it better
It's sad that the Indoctrination Theory got no love from Bioware. None of the endings they came up with can match the simple brilliance of it. And the theory matches the core lore of the game series. BUT that's how it goes I guess. Pity.
Caeliclord not much people would like to be told "you know what sheppard does at the end saving the galaxy, well that's bullshit he didn't save anyone the reapers still won as they indoctrinated him, you did the three games for nothing"
femtoservants Except that there is a level of choice involved. Depending on how you played the character, you could have a high resolve or a weak resolve. So maybe Shepard lost and the Reapers ran roughshod all over the galaxy. Cool scene to see. Or maybe Shepard won and the galaxy was saved because Shepard came out of it and defeated Harbinger. All sorts of scenarios possible. Don't undersell imagination.
Caeliclord Oh the ending could have been better thats for sure, but the indoctrination theory on the other hand...
femtoservants I liked it. Thought it was creative. Bold scenario. But we'll never know how it could have played out though.
Caeliclord "defeated Harbinger" is the problematic part. A boss fight with Harbinger that could actually be won would be utter nonsense. I also can't really see the corelation between your war assets and Shepard's resolve - Shepard is very determined in any scenario, regardless of him going to Benning to shoot some Cerberus soldiers or not or scanning some planets from orbit to obtain a banner for the turians.
Don't get me wrong, the IT is a very interesting idea, but I just don't see it fitting well with the ending in its current form.
Nice to see Joe has similar views about the synth ending. It always rubbed me the wrong way. When the god child kept promoting it as the ideal solution I was like "Get outta here stupid little shit."
I was most disappointed with the war assets not taking part. If you do everything right, you can end up with over 8000 war assets. assuming you played multiplayer, thats more than double what is required for the special ending, and you are telling me that the extra 4000+ resources do NOTHING?! WTF bioware
What I really dislike about the Ware Assets is that if a lot of multiplayer is played Shepard can go around and kill everything possible in the game, and still get the same endings.
imaginarymatter Thats basically what my entire comment is about
Diego Perete Dude, I have over 8500 on my own game, and my friend has just over 9000, so don't tell me its 7500......
You do realize that if you played the multiplayer to get 100% galactic readiness that your EMS is equal to your TMS, right? Im guessing you didn't play multiplayer
please make sure you have actually read my comment before responding. once you have an EMS strength of 5000(5000 is the cost for synthesis if you let the illusive man shoot anderson) it doesn't matter at all how much more you have than that. The ending WILL NOT CHANGE after 5000 EMS.
Why would I need details when I have done 3 full series play throughs (ME1-ME3)?
No offense(when I say no offense, Im not being sarcastic, im being honest), but did you even play all the games + DLC?
So from 5000 to 9000 thats an extra what, an extra 4 Alliance-sized fleets in terms of strength?
Diego Perete
Those are extremely minor differences, other than the Earth getting vaporized. Then EC made it determine if your crew survives Harbinger's attack and the damage to the Normandy. But that reduces EMS to nothing more than a score. It's no longer a real thing in universe because there is no reason for it to affect any of those things. You could argue the Earth being destroyed due to a mistake making the Crucible, but then only the Crucible team should affect that. EMS should have been differentiated and have different groups matter at different points. They showed how to do this with the suicide mission in ME2.
The fact that Joe made 6 video clips about Mass Effect 3 tell us that this game, this franchise, was and still is master piece.
I'll never forgive the ending,
But I'll never forget the journey.
Beautifully stated
I may have gotten a bit teary as Joker attempted to save Shepard,
It would suck if that jungle planet happend to be the yahg's home world
It is probably the Dales of Thedas. The Normandy's crashing tore the Veil thus starting the events of Dragon Age: Inquisition. :P
what I don't get about when your companions get hurt and the Normandy comes to save them, why does harbinger not just shoot the Normandy right there? Boom, everyone is dead. Obviously they didn't do it for the sake of the story, but you can see at 4:26 Harbinger was just staring at them during the entire conversation.
During all 3 games it was mentioned countless times that Normandy has the best stealth system in the known galaxy, hence its name Normandy SR-1 (Stealth Reconnaissance). It cannot turn invisible but nothing can detect it. Legion stated that synthetic creatures, such as geth and Reapers, don't have eyes and cannot detect the Normandy by any other means as long as it remains in "stealth".
MeAccordingToLife
How do you know Harbinger has optics?
Also I never said the ending was good, I just said Normandy was in "stealth". But even if it is a plothole, it is the least troublesome one of the many flaws in that ending.
Wlarius That is incorrect, the reapers have optics and Stealth only works on scanning not actual optics. Hence why in 2 they were concerned with approaching a Geth station and again in 3 when approaching the dreadnought. That combined with space map reaper chases.
"You will be ours." "You resist but you will fail." "Assuming Control." The Reapers like to have back up plans and throughout the games the Reapers are "impressed" with shepard, they want to control him for the next cycle, perhaps making him the mind of the next Reaper, to serve as an indoctrinated alteration like the Collectors, or to be a partial Synthetic Agent like Saren. The Normandy has a mass drive which if shot would most likely kill shepard as he is always near it, even when it is shown leaving it is shown over Shepard. Harbinger stops attacking all together, almost as if watching to see what Shepard will do. Once the Normandy leaves there is no interest from Harbinger because they are not pushing towards the beam. The Reapers want Shepard, to kill him is pointless because he could serve a purpose for the next cycle.
Wlarius well that's disproved in game, im replaying it right now and in the mission for the quarian homeworld when you have to go toe to toe with a reaper using the laser guidance weapon, once you've returned to the normandy Traynor tells you that the reaper was shooting at them during the fight and joker had to take evasive maneuvers just so they wouldn't be shot out of the sky. So i guess they can clearly see and detect the Normandy in ME3. just saying man, it's straight from the game.
The Ex Cut is the only version of this game I have played, and I liked the endings, a lot.
Good for you i was one of the many with the original horrible ones.. but when the DLC came out i was happy again^^
That was my story too and like Angry Joe said, If this was what everyone had gotten on March 5 2012, then there wouldn't have been that great of a controversy. Sure there would still be haters like any game series does but there would be no Indoctrination Theory Cult ranting on about the ending even with the Ex Cut.
The Ex Cut was made specifically for those people who were disappointed with the plot holes and everything. I think that devotees who keep on supporting the Indoc Thy and still dismiss the Ex Cut are just ungrateful for BioWare coming out and saying they screwed up and formally put bandages on the wounds. From only experiencing the Ex Cut, I couldn't see where the bandages were put on until I watched this video explaining what scenes were missing the first time.
For all the grateful and true fans of Mass Effect, I can say, with the Ex Cut, 3100+ EMS Destroy is my personal Paragon Canon. Going to write an epilogue fan-fic about it soon.
DataTypeX lucky I’m still scarred from how shit the original ending was
It's pretty funny how marauder Shields became a meme
I still strongly support the indoctrination theory
But it sadly doesn't make sense anymore. :/
You can say what you want, it just doesn't just because we want it to >.>
I don't care it makes more sense than this
THEHOLYDEMON351 No, it doesn't. -.-
Would be great if it did, but it just doesn't.
how?
THEHOLYDEMON351 Watch the video.
The endings are basically, Throw the universe back into the dark ages, force everyone to become part synthetic part organic or become a God. Control is obviously the far superior ending.
The indoctrinated illusive man would agree.
jjj5541 But we soon find out that in the control ending there's no way Shepard was indoctrinated.
Pierce Miller Illusive man didn't think he was indoctrinated either.
jjj5541 He didn't have proof that he wasn't indoctrinated though.
Pierce Miller Precisely!
I wont be satisfied with ending until Bioware comes out and confirms if the Indoctrination Theory is true or not.
They already said it will not happen...
San Blindsnake What wont happen?
Granuke GamingProductions They said the Indoctrination Theory isn't true.
Elijah Mohsin When did they say that?
Granuke GamingProductions
Before the release of the last dlc (citadel), when there was no more need of hype. It was on their foruns in the thread It before blocking it.
A moment when gamers have united together standing up to a company that has taken advantage of its customers and player base long enough, although it is sad we do not see this for current problems in games today. A mark in gaming history.
If there's one thing you could still complain about is not seeing your assets in the final fight. I mean the Leviathans kicking reaper ass? Who decided not including even a glimpse of that?
"I can't wait to see whats next for the mass effect universe." That didnt age well.
Still holds true for me
I still hope deep in my heart that Joker will be able to bring EDI back. I could not strip the galaxy of their free will with the other two endings. My Shepard lives with Ash, and I am content with my head-theories. Love you Bioware.
+Melquis Gonzalz
If Joe was bribed by EA to say good things about the DLC against his true opinions, he would make a parody review of the DLC, post an Hour long "Angry Rant" and would lead a game community campaign to overthrow the management of EA to save it's future titles. Joe would never give in to Corporate Commander, no matter the cost. He did say there were good things and bad things about the DLC just like any other game he reviews.
***** Just because he changed his opinion from before doesn't mean that he's given in. Do you expect Joe to be close minded about the EC and hate everything that Bioware gives out just because of Bioware's mistake of the ending the first time around? That's not what game reviewers are supposed to do.
With the Leviathan DLC, the ending does make more sense as the harvest will never end as the Catalyst is only doing what it was programmed to do unless a new solution is found: control, synthesis, or destroy. You can choose which Shepard you are: the paragon, the paragade, renegon, or renegade. Hero or anti-hero. That in itself is the beauty of the ending and the series imo.
What is the difference between Paragade and Renegon?
@@galaxis9947A paragade is a paragon that occasionally goes renegade and a renegon is a renegade that occasionally goes paragon.
You promised us a totally stacked ham sandwich with all the fixings between two pieces of delicious whole-wheat home-made thick bread. You handed us a slab of old ham and told us to he happy for you generosity. Then we threw a fit until you gave us the cheese and store-bought slices of bread. Congratulations, BioWare... you upgraded from "brass-knuckled slap in the face" to "gave us a wedgie and stole our lunch money". And we're meant to be wildly grateful?
Hey Its their game they can do what they want! Its not you paid £40/$60 with the promise that the ending would have closure, reflect choices you made in previous games and have "16 drastically different endings" and.... Oh right. FUCK YOU BIOWARE!
Shit happens in the Gaming industry and many decisions are made that are unpopular or out right bad. ME3 was bad but the fact that BioWare actually went back and fixed it says something about it.
It was a slab of old ham at first but the EC cut the ham into slices and provided the bread while Leviathan provided the mayonnaise and cheese and the other DLC's are the trimmings that were missing.
Gamers can't always get everything they want. Many unhappy fans wanted to have ME3 end with a Star Wars throne room scene but Bioware wanted a dramatic bittersweet sacrifice, which is what I agree with. It's not always about getting what you want, it's about finding the balance of telling the companies what they did wrong and accepting what is given. I think that ME3 EC met that balance when the first mistake was forced upon them by EA.
I'm glad that of all the mistakes that could happen, the ME universe was able to recover and didn't end up like Aliens: Colonial Marines. Be thankful that didn't happen.
***** I see no fixes. The lack of logic in a machine that's supposed to nothing BUT logic wasn't fixed. The plot point that the Reapers use a separate and distinct coding scheme (which would make targeted shutdown possible) wasn't fixed. The lack of relevance of the war assets wasn't fixed. The utter fail surrounding Kai Leng wasn't fixed. They let you probe the machine a little more and make it clear that things turned out OK in the galaxy at large and that's it. Which means they rearranged the life vests in the rowboat instead of addressing the gaping hole blown through the bottom.
As Joe and other reviewers said (before they all rushed to plant their lips on BioWare's buttocks for doing the bare minimum), gamers never wanted a happily ever after. They wanted a GOOD CONCLUSION to one of the most fantastic RPG series in history. They wanted it to MATTER that they maxed out their war assets. They wanted it to MATTER that they amped up war assets further by promoting teams in the multiplayer game. They wanted it to MATTER that they uplifted the Geth into a partner race to the Quarians instead of their servants or conquerors. They wanted it to MATTER that they put all the pieces in place to cure the genophage and put Wrex in a position where he could revive the krogans in a way that made them BETTER than they were. They wanted the demise of beloved characters to be as badass as all hell, if it was needed; Mordin goes out like an absolute boss but the writers couldn't will themselves to invent a worthy foe for Thane.
Most of all, what the gamers were after was what BioWare would have delivered if they hadn't been so self-absorbed with their own artistic genius that they ignored the pleas of EA and sidelined the team that had MADE Mass Effect the series everyone was madly in love with. This ending OOZED the pretentiousness of misunderstood artists who wanted to make the rest of us bow down before a bag of garbage and call it ingenious art. Realistically, BioWare had the time and money to make precisely what the fans wanted and precisely what was promised: several excellent endings. They had this because they had so much money and fan support because of the first two games that EA would have been hard-pressed to dropkick them out the door with a shitty product. And then, in what I like to call an "unforced error", they turned out a product that was a midget when the previous two were titanic. The most impressive thing about the final product was how SMALL it was in significance. in creativity, in quality, and in the ending. So to reiterate my analogy, BioWare gave gamers bare bones to gnaw on that expected our lips on their asses in wild gratitude.
The fact is, the ME universe hasn't recovered and won't. BioWare has implicitly acknowledged this by making the universe's next phase totally disconnected from its first; they had to hit a reset button on everything to recover... which meant that the previous creation had put the entire work beyond salvation so they needed to start over. The only reason I'll buy ME4 was that the writing team COULDN'T fuck up the underlying universe from the codex because it was chiseled in stone before they could get their "artistic" hands on it.
***** Unfortunately they still completely ignored the Codex in ME3.
***** Fine, you can sit there and pout about what's wrong all day, I'm sorry I got involved. Just wanted to say that many of us gamers are staying positive and optimistic and we found merit in the story like Paragon Shepard's final sacrifice to end the reapers once and for all.
BTW, I just want to say that Joe didn't kiss Bioware's ass because of his reputation and rivalry with Corporate Commander. He gave his top ten reasons why the ending sucked and the EC addresses 9 out of the 10 reasons. He's happy with that, so am I.
I'm sorry, but a slide show of screenshots is not adequate to tell any part of an end of a trilogy, ever.
I agree. Character's standing around is not closure, having their arcs closed is uh.. well closure, which the slides did not accomplish; except for a few select characters (the only one I can think of is Zaeed).
ever played fallout 3?
Austin Park
ever looked up the definition of a "trilogy?"
new vegas sucked so bad and had so little actual content, that is shoud have been dlc... it does not deserved to be called its own game
Austin Park
How dare you!!! New Vegas was slightly better than 3 >:(
I actually had no damn idea the first time I played this was with the extended cut. I never understood the hate for the ME ending. I definitely get it now. I feel bad for those of you who got the end of the series the first time without it. Damn am I glad I waited. Yikes.
A lot of the hate was exactly because the original endings didn't have the content and fixes from the extended ones. Also the day 1 dlc for $10 for jarvik and I think kasumi had a paid dlc. Luckily buying the legendary edition I didn't have those issues, but I still feel bad for those who did and respect their lower ratings because of it.
The indoctrination theory is still solid ever with the DLC.
What about the part where Hackett acknowledges that someone made it on the Citadel? Did Shepard see that in his dream?
***** Well my theory is different from the mass acceptance of the indoctrination theory. If you want to know my theory just respond and I will write it out. It is just my opinion though because I think the ending is real (by ending I mean the cut scenes and slide show). However it is quite a read. Just let me know. =)
Peter Rhea If it's the theory that Shepard is on the citadel and Control and Synthesis choices are still indoctrination traps and the slides for those endings are indoc illusions and Destroy is the real option with no illusion slide show, then I've already herd about it. But if it's not tell me the details I'm missing.
Just be sure to specify that it's a modified Indoc theory because when you plainly say Indoc theory, people perceive it as the "It's all a dream it never happened" theory which is the most ridiculous one.
It is modified, my theory is that Harbinger is attempting to allow indoctrination to take effect due to shepard being exposed to so much reaper tech. I believe that Harbinged stops his beam just before hitting Shepard as we know that it still has enough force to throw shepard back and do the damage shown. It is my opinion that Shepard's willpower would falter when near death, and if indoctrinated Harbinger can have his reaper forces intervene to turn him into a form or altered synthetic/organic hybrid like Saren to use for this and future Cycles. I also believe Saren is the source for the synthesis ending however Saren is dead and cannot appear in his mind during his internal struggle.
Now this is where my theory differs. Shepard imagines the order to fall back, he has just watched many brave men and women die, vehicles destroyed, even his team had to fall back or were killed. He has been injured beyond reason and cannot continue. To him the mission is failing but his duty keeps him moving in his mind. He hears Reaper forces and firing, imagineing himself moving towards the portal. The next scene is a crashing along with Anderson calling out to Shepard which he Jolts and there is a ringing. So pause here to go into my theory.
Shepard was knocked back, the dispersing heat and radiation from Harbingers laser destroyed his armor and electronics. My belief is that Anderson Shot Reaper forces coming to collect Shepard, Anderson picks him up and carries him towards the beam, and places him down and attempts to wake him up but Fails. Time to continue into the game part.
Shepard is unable to regain consciousness, which is very plausible because we do not know the properties of Harbingers beam. However hearing Anderson has renewed his sense of Duty and he forces himself to continue for his old friend and superior. Now in the game the soldier whose helmet is removed is Major Coats, Who we know is not dead due to the ending scenes in the game. Which I believe adds to the Indoctrination theory. Now Shepard has faced true defeat by one person, the person who has gotten a hold of the human reaper, the one who beat him to the beacon, and the one who warned the reapers. In all regards the Illusive Man is the opposite of Anderson. So while you move to join your friend who has always supported you and agreed with you the sinking doubt of failure sinks in, after all you are so close and that always seems to be when TIM makes his move. Thus the affected part of your consciousness sinks in and attempts to turn you. You manage to beat this and continue through your dream. I personally believe that the gunshot wound is not to your willpower but to your hope as Shepard wants to save as many people as possible, that has been his overall goal was saving people from the reapers and he feels he is failing at saving TIM which would be a valuable asset to humanity. This is pretty standard for the indoctrination so no real need to review here.
Next Part of the Game. Harbingers Direct intervention is the Star Child. "I am the collective Intelligence of the Reapers." I believe that the Reapers are Simplistically Advanced, I believe Harbinger houses the collective intelligence of the Reapers and can activate without the Citadel signal and instead be activated if a reaper is destroyed, a sort of fail safe so the cycle can continue and it covers the Mass Effect loop hole. I believe that Harbinger is in Shepards mind, using the Hallucination from indoctrination to tug at his Humanity, a child's form is innocent and trust worthy. Also he goes out of his way to talk about how Destruction is bad, even saying that all synthetic life will be destroyed. Here he drops a huge bombshell that seems to be overlooked in the indoctrination theory "Even you are partially synthetic." I feel that this is a dual purpose, implying that he is part reaper and to instill the fear of death which makes fusing with the machines or controlling much more appealing. I believe that each choice is real because the Reapers WANT to exist they want to "live". Also the images of TIM and Anderson showing what they would do. Harbinger is in your mind and knows how gungho Anderson was about destroying the reapers and TIM's obsession with control. However this is where my differences begins I believe Anderson has reached the actual decision chamber (no idea what it would look like) but instead of doing what he wishes he does what he believes his long time friend would have wanted. After all he comments after every decision that Shepard did it right, even if he didn't agree. So your choice isn't Shepards choice but Andersons. Pause for review.
The main drive in this is the Lack of Anderson in any screen shot after, the lack of voice overs, lack of anything with Anderson. Here is a Human who has supported you the entire time, trained you, pushed for your specter status and supported your fight against the reapers. Also this determines Shepard giving in, although you may save humanity from the reapers with any choice Shepard still becomes indoctrinated. The eyes of shepard changes to that of TIM if control or synthesize is chosen which is a huge deal. Also the only ending where he lives is where he stays dedicated to the cause, and destroys the reaper and he appears surrounded by concrete, rebar, and what looks like a collapsed Reaper in the background, or some kind of reaper tech.
Now I do not believe that Harbinger chose the Colors of the choices I believe that is Shepard doing interpreting and here are the reasons.
Blue is control, you are saving both the reapers and the universe, you are bringing people together, uniting a gap. Which has often been viewed as a paragon choice.
Green is synthesize, which is represented as Saren, the Specter who was both a biological turian and a synthetic reaper. The culmination of both. This is green due to the aura of the protheian device energy which started it all. He still views that as a connection to Saren.
Red is Destroy, they may be genocidal and completely flawed in thinking but are still technically a race. You are still committing Genocide and Shepard has some remorse even if he is not actively aware of his remorse that he HAS to do this.
Then there are the basic examples of why it is indoctrination, the sudden appearance of piles of dead bodies near the beam, major coats being dead on the citadel, the plants near the beam, Anderson saying that he was transported to another room and he found a way to the panel although there is no other way to the panel, the infinite ammo, the slow mo like in the dream, the fact that synthetic life is still around after the destroy with EDI and Tali despite what the star child says, (remember that the quarians have extensive augmentations to allow them to survive better due to their awful immune system and a basically already at the synthesis point.), and that the Star Child ignores that the Quarian and Geth are united. There is just so much After the DLC that I refuse to believe bioware is that lazy/inept to fix those types of things.
Ultimately I believe that your cumulative choices in the games aim Anderson to activating the choice at the end and that the ending DOES happen. I don't like the theories where even the endings are a dream. Hope you like my altered version let me know if you have any questions, comments, or concerns. =)
Sidenote: I would personally love if Mass Effect 4 involved Shepard going to hunt down and kill/save his former team members as they give in/struggle with indoctrination themselves. Or a new character and you are introduced to Shepard with the results of you choice.
jesus fuck let it go.... it's a discredited conspiracy theory, it's done. How much proof do people need to let go of their delusion(I'm guessing none, since app. they'll never let go)..
shepard saying goodbye to liara just made me cry x.x
+Chris Butrim You want to see a sad goodbye, watch Garrus and femShep. That is by far the funniest and most authentic relationship combo in the whole series and the goodbye will make you cry!
+Angela Piccolo that was my frist playthrough i know the feels bruh
While I respect that Bioware went back to embellish the ending, it's still a bad ending to this day. At least the rest of the game is either good or great, especially the Citadel DLC.
Refusal ending is Bioware giving you the finger for not accepting the Extended Cut...
Destroy was the only way to go, I didn't put years into a game that kept telling me destroying the Reapers was the only way to stop the war just to have a change of heart because I got some explanations. Them bitches had to go.
This video was beautifully put together. Thank you. I still can't shake the feeling that I'd just watched my own funeral
The ending is still shit, even after all this time. Even if the extended cut fixed some of the plot holes, the ending still fundamentally goes against every theme in the series.
Synthesis: This one is truly fucked up. You force every being in the galaxy to become a cyborg... and this is the "good" ending? Could you imagine waking up one morning to discover you had wires running underneath your skin and computer chips in your brain? It's fucking horrible. Not only that, but its pointless. The whole purpose of the Reapers was to stop synthetics from wiping out all life in the galaxy. How does being a cyborg stop that? Even if I was a cyborg, I would still drive a car, use a computer, etc. We would still use machines, and create synthetics to make life easier for us. And when we created synthetics, would us being half machine stop them from killing us? Of course not.
On top of that, this ending spits in the face of the whole "learning from our differences and working together to become a greater whole" theme this series has pushed from the beginning. The sythnesis ending basically says that "sorry, being different leads to conflict, we should all be homogenous", even though we spent three whole games making people see past their differences and work together. Synthesis wouldn't even bring peace either. We have already seen numerous example of conflict between the same group (ei, humans fighting humans, Geth fighting Geth, etc), so why would everyone being the same make conflict go away? The only possible explanation is that the synthesis ending also rewrites our brains to make us "peaceful". If that is the case, this is literally the most morally horrifying ending I have ever seen. Not only to you force everyone to be a cyborg, you forcibly rewrite their brains and strip away the personal freedom of trillions of intelligent beings. Holy fuck.
Control: Not as morally fucked up as synthesis, but still a fucking stupid ending. We spent 3 entire games watching every single being that tried to control the Reapers become indoctrinated and turned into a monster. Hell, we spent all of ME2 and 3 telling the Illusive man that his plan was crazy, that you couldn't control the Reapers. You even told him that seconds before the ending! Then, all that goes out the window and we are told by some random fucking glowing kid that you totally can control the Reapers. What? Why would I believe the leader of the Reapers! The entire series built up that the Reapers can't be controlled and that trying would lead to your demise. Thus, I can only assume that Shepard eventually becomes indoctrinated after being absorbed by the Reapers, and goes back to killing the galaxy.
Destroy: The least offensive to my intelligence, and thus the ending I went with, but it still sucks. Why the hell did every synthetic have to die? For fuck sake, the Crucible was accurate enough that it could rewrite the DNA of every living being in the galaxy, but it can't tell the difference between a Reaper and Legion? Come on. The only reason they made it so that Destroy destroyed all synthetics was because if they hadn't it would have been the obvious choice for everyone. And this is supposed to be the "bad" ending when it is the only option that doesn't leave the Reapers alive to kill everyone if they change their mind or rewrite the brains of everyone in the Galaxy, or both.
Even past the choices themselves. The entire premise of the ending goes against the rest of the series. "Synthetics will always destroy their creators"... Did you not read the news God Child?!? I just brought fucking peace to the Geth and Quarians and now they are living in peace! I just proved your entire concept wrong and yet I still have to make this stupid fucking choice.
Yeah yeah, "wall of text", "rant", "you mad bro". I guess I forgot how much I hated this ending. To this day I can't figure out why Bioware didn't just give a ton of endings. That way, everyone can be happy. They didn't need to worry about continuity because the next game is set somewhere else. It's just such a disappointing ending to such a great franchise.
+John Canuck Why did you copy-paste this without changing some of the info to make it correct?
Yeah, this is the worst ending to a video game I have ever experienced in my life ever due to my investment, but at least update your copy-pastes!
***** While indoctrination theory is a cool idea, it's not even remotely "canon". The extended cut DLC pretty much proves the theory isn't true (why elaborate on an ending the apparently didn't actually happen?). If anything, the indoctrination theory proves how bad the ending really is. People would rather the ending have been "it was all a dream!" then the actual ending we got.
Also, just because they give you a choice at the end doesn't change the fact the the choices are bullshit and the entire concept of the endgame is dumb.
+Diego Villatoro Besides the fact that the indoctrination theory has been disavowed by Bioware. It is a crappy ending in and of itself. The only reason it looks good is because it looks good compared to the endings we actually got.
And as for evidence of it being disproven... The fact you can even choose any other than the blue explosions ending is proof of it. If you'd been indoctrinated, there would never have been any other choice to begin with.
+John Canuck
This game endings were terrible. Playing 3 long games till the end, and then at the last minute introduce a new character in the game, a God Child. This is truly terrible desicion from Bioware.
+John Canuck I agree. Even the Prothean on your team says the reason the Protheans were wiped out was a lack of diversity. So the solution is to make everyone the same? It makes no sense.
Harbinger: Oh your calling an evac? Let me just sit here politely and wait
I've got incoming troopers to deal with, I have no time to shoot down the Normandy while risking one of the enemies from getting up there to finish us.
indoctrination theory supports this shepard in his mind is wants his crew to be safe thus harbinger not destroying the Normandy.but if indoctrination is true every one on the Normandy died or at least anyone on the ground with you because over the radio they say all ground forces were wiped out and no one made it to the beam wile Shepard made it to the beam even in the extended cut because it's in his head so I guess in the next mass effect it will all be cleared up but if it is true whoever was your love interest is dead at worst the entire crew
If this is true I don't know if I can bear playing me4 knowing Tali didn't get to make her home on her homeworld because she died I hope me4 has a cute quarian that can live up to Tali otherwise I'm flying solo single and free
***** Well, remember the Reaper IFF from the second game? There's no evidence it was removed from the Normandy between games, and it would definitely account for a certain explanation of why Harbinger ignored the ship.
Besides, priorities.
Reapers are decimating the Sword Fleets in orbit, one ship evacuating people from underneath their only weakness is the last thing he has to worry about, probably it's best he focuses on not letting any Mako troop transports through
Elijah Mohsin Then why would reaper ships chase you around when you are detected in a system?
I agree the Extended cut would have been a better ending, but I still feel the Indoctrination Theory would have worked. It honestly felt like they went out of their way to try disprove it...
But the Theory itself, will always be what I believe should have happened. And I can not, EVER, accept that it was not the ending.
ME Series were ORGASMIC. The conclusion??? Just No.
Joe, extended cut did not fill in any loose ends or plot holes. It added more crap ontop of the existing crap. This is an old video but I still care about this series. Hopefully Bioware returns to Shepard's story in the future with I.T.
I think that the Indoctination Theory could still stand quite well. Shep still has all the signs. You still end in concrete rubble looking as you had before going up. Sure, it fixes the teleportation and fleeing for no reason (they had no idea what it would do, btw), but that doesn't stop the other signs. (This coming from a guy who played ME several times with the Extended Cut before even hearing about the Theory.)
Doesn't make sense, if she was indoctrinated the catalyst would never allow her to access the crucible, it literally says to her that the illusive man would never be able to control them because he was indoctrinated.
My head canon is that the catalyst wanted Shepard to take control since the crucible was getting closer and closer to being completed each cycle, he pulled harbinger away and allowed her up, offcourse the truth why she never became indoctrinated is pure plot armour by Devs lol
Green is the best choice, no matter what creature organic or synthetic you are an equal. A reaper is equal with a tiny ant, a geth is equal to a human, a krogan is equal to a quarrian.. and the reapers bring the knowledge of the past with them. With the organic vs synthetic fight over there is no reason for the cycle to carry on, this is exactly what we set out for from the beginning. We are the spectre of the galaxy and everyone in it, not just the humams, and hell, the reapers have been part of this galaxy far longer than we were.. our job is to make the galaxy a better place, and this option is the perfect choice for that ONLY if this really truly 100% the legit ending.. if there are any secrets like indoctrination and things like that then it might change, but for now, green is the colour of hope ;) (reference)
And let me state that green is only worth choosing WITH the Extended Cut DLC, otherwise go with red imo.
TC Greywolf Kind of reminds me of Avatar
TC Greywolf for me, Control means Shepard JOINING the Reaper compeletely, Destroy means Shepard win over the Indoctrination, and Synthesize means that Shepard is being used as a tool to fulfill the Reaper goals or merely being the missing components to Reapers goals(to preserve organic lives) which is tasked to them by the Leviathans.
TC Greywolf Sus sen Türkçü .s
*Mavi daha mantıklı oluyor senin yazdığından*
TC Greywolf You're just fulfilling the spacebrat's intentions....... *No srsly* he highly rebels against the destroy choice and tries to convince you that it will be useless since it will be happening again ...... [ they're machines not gods, they don't have a magic ball telling them about the future...... more on scientific calculation at best and that's not even the most reliable because everyone is inconsistent ]
I don't give a shit what anyone has to say. I wanted a happy ending or at least the option. I wanted to see a scene where Shepard was narrating while showing him on a patio then suddenly Ashley walks up behind him and before they kiss it's revealed that she's pregnant or something like that.
I for one agree. I played every Mass Effect game in the hopes that if i chose to, i could get an ending just like you described. Although I think it would have been cool to have an alternative ending where Shepard does sacrifice himself for the galaxy (have that) or even where the sacrifice is in vain because everything wasnt in order or ready (have that). So why not one where if you put in the time, effort (and money), you can have an ending where Shepard actually is undisputedly alive with a family (or at least one on the way)?
+sazhumyan What does my profile photo have to do with wanting my progress to actually matter or the option to live or sacrifice? You must be a simple minded idiot. I understood it perfectly. But just because I understand it doesn't mean I HAVE TO LIKE IT. I rather enjoy having options, If you were some-what intelligent you would know that.... Beat it, you simple fuck.
mysteriousssstranger Most of us wanted at least the option to live or sacrifice. It was absolutely pointless to have 4 options and all of them end in death.
*****
Oh goodness, the irony in this comment and your profile pic.
imaginarymatter I guess he thinks my profile photo means I'm incapable of understand an RPG. Or possibly fathom the depth of a sacrifice to save the galaxy.
wasnt the main issue with only having three options though? the only thing they did was flesh out the three they give you. and i guess you can say they give you the "fuck the fans" ending >.>
Yeah, that 'Shoot the Godchild' response was clearly meant to be a 'fuck you' to the audience. Bioware did not make this ending because they are generous and love players, we bullied them into fixing the ending. I have a strong theory that the 'Indoctrination Theory' ending was originally correct and Bioware intended to release the true ending in a free dlc, but they were so angry at the public response that they changed their plans and doubled down on the 'color-coded endings' thing but put some roses atop that shit to make it smell better. When you watch the 'Indoctrination Theory' videos, you realize that this is either the case or Bioware was lazy and incompetent to an unbelievable degree. I think the fact that they directly refute the I.T. in their extended ending is clear evidence they were aware of it and were saying 'fuck you, you eat what we give you'.
The Extended Cut ending did elevate this from the worst ending in gaming history to just a bad ending for an otherwise great game, and series, but it doesn't redeem them for ruining the end of the trilogy. After this, the company produces progressively worse content, so it's clear that this (and ME2) were the beginning of the end.
Trust me, the Indoctrination Theory will forever be my head canon (still, we should have gotten Drew Karpyshyn's Dark Energy Subplot either way). But, with that in mind, Indoctrination Theory was NEVER BioWare's intention. The ending was written by two people: Casey Hudson and Mac Walters. The two of them refused the help and opinions of the other writers on the team and, when they were finished writing it, they refused to listen to the many criticisms the other writers had for it. BioWare could have taken the Indoctrination Theory as it was given to them by fans on a silver platter, but they decided to release the Extended Cut as a "Nah, the terrible writing is seriously canon. Oh, and here's a Refusal Ending where everyone dies. :)" Prior to Mass Effect Legendary Edition's release, one of the writers at BioWare stated they 'weren't smart enough' to come up with the Indoctrination Theory and that 'many at BioWare like it a lot but wasn't canon and it never will be.'
I hate the synthesis ending. All of Mass Effect 1 and Mass Effect 2 it was all about finding an end to the Reapers, to destroy them. I like the to follow that train of thought.
The control ending...I hate Cerberus. They killed Admiral Kahoku. No thanks, TIM. LOL.
mclightning88 so despite new information being presented, you'd like to ignore that and pick the less favorable option? Makes sense.
Ryan Kevin Pahl Rather just eliminate the threat that was carried through all three games then to leave myself with more questions after playing god.
mclightning88 Destroy just ensures that the cycle will eventually continue...
The destroy ending goes against everything the series stood for and proves the Reapers right that Organics and Synthetics can never live in peace.
I'd go with the Red ending if not for the Geth and EDI. I mean, I did gave them the chance to prove themselves and they did marvelously, and then I go and just wipe em out? No, I hate that, I can't let Legion's sacrifice go to waste.. I hate all the three endings, in fact, but the more "decent" one is the blue one. Sure, is proving TIM right and all, but hey, Shepard as the eternal silent protector of the galaxy? I can dig that. Green one is messed up, ME is all about choices and diversity and this ending kinda destroys that.
WHY NO FINAL BOSS!? WE HAD SAREN ON ME1, WE HAD BADASS HUMAN REAPER ON ME2... WE HAVE FUCKING SURVIVAL HORDE MODE AND THEN A LAZY WALKING INTO THE CITADEL IN ME3...
They were going to have an Illusive man Boss battle but they scrapped it because that isn't the Illusive man's character. Besides I liked the final scene of Shepard nearly broken and desperate and on his last leg.
***** The illusive man was indoctrinated, it didn't have to be within his character lol
jjj5541 Well even if he wasn't, Shepard wouldn't be able to fight him being scorched near to death to show his/her venerability for the first time in the series.
Actually the final boss is Kai Leng.
biowarelover lol, what a joke.
I dont like Synthesis ending because the galaxy becomes like the protheans. "once they found our weaknesses, we could not addapt"
Shame they didn't go with the dark energy readings ending like they originally planned since ME2. Also, have you guys read that 500+ page PDF someone did. He literally rewrote the WHOLE ME3 story and endings. It's really good and very, very in depth. Most of the revised endings make sense, but I still hate the Destroy (Paragon) ending is red (instead of blue) and the Control (Renegade) ending is blue (instead of red. Doesn't seem logical to me.
Control is passive, Destruction is aggressive.
Richard Curley
Look, I get that. But still, doesn't seem logical to me. I understand Red tends to represent destruction (doy), but in terms of Paragon vs Renegade...
Paragon is the passive option, Renegade is the aggressive option. But the ending's are the exception the aggressive option is morally the better one because your character has fought for four years to bring down the reapers or if you have chosen to be a renegade trough out the entire series then the Control ending is what you would choose because a renegade would want to control such a powerful force.
If it was the indoctrination theory, the colors would make sense. If the whole thing was a dream, then the reapers swapped the colors to manipulate him to think that the destroy ending is renegade and control is paragon.
The order of the colors may not have anything to do with renegade or paragon actions. Now that i am thinking about it, it makes more sense that the colors are the AI's preferences Red for what it doesn't want Green for what it does want and Blue for what it would reluctantly accept. It makes sense to me that way. Synthesis is the green color.
Now days, games tell a story. And stories are to be liked or disliked. A writer will never be able to satisfy 100% of the genre fans. In this case, I tend to agree with Joe. The game looks like it was rushed out. And yes, they somewhat addressed many of the voids in the plot at the end. Personally, I liked it the way it was and liked it with the extended cut, simply because I loved the story as a whole. I just hope they dont rush out Andromeda. And kudos, Joe! Unlike other "content creators" you merchandise and promote yourself the right way, and despite the "angryness" you respect the good and call in on the bad.
Anne E. Yeah EA really fucked Bioware over with ME3, rushing it out the door despite Bioware's pleas for more time! Fortunately it seems as though they've listened to and learned from the fandom's criticisms of the release day copies. What with Andromeda having been in development for 4 years and very little information being made public until they're ready. I can't bloody wait for this game personally! It's the one game I'm really looking forward to at the moment, despite lots of other really awesome looking titles coming out soon! It's been 3 years since I last played the trilogy, not sure how that happened xD But with N7 Day right around the corner I think it's time for Shepard to get back into the action :P
I come from the future, and I have terrible news about Andromeda
Bioware has shown us their storytelling and the propher way to make an ending in Mass Effect 2. It shouldn't have been an extraordinary expectation from the fans to want something similar (including a happy ending) in ME3. Instead we got a piece of crap that has been updated later to a piece of crap with a sideshow.
The extended cut was better than the original ending but its still not good. The entire premise of the ending was so bad, but atleast the EC actually explains alot of it (even if some serious plot holes remain), but i still hate that all 3 endings are pretty much the same with a slightly different monologue. All i want are text boxes like what Dragonage Origins had to tell me the consequences of my actions.
Played on Insanity and got 5000 EMS. Got all the good endings with curing the genophage and getting the geth and quarians to make-up. Tack on the extended cut with the green ending and you've got one happy fan. GG Bioware.
marauder saved me the first time...but i didn't believed him...and regretted my actions....
Anyone else just wish they would have put their money from Advertisements into the ending. I feel like they blew all their money making these epic previews and then ran out of money when they got to the end. Think of all the amazing action/emotional scenes they could have had as your reward for over 300 hours of game play if they would have just had advertisements made up of in game cinematic and put all that money and designer time into one huge epic ending. It was ME3 I mean we were already going to buy it.
I’m fine with the Extended Cut DLC, but I think it would have been cool if the Indoctrination Theory proved to be true. I’m not a supporter of the theory, but it was really cool and I think BioWare could have made 4 pretty cool endings for each choice. Or 3 pretty cool endings. I don’t know how it could work with Synthesis.
-*Destroy*: Have Shepard wake up in the debris having fought off the indoctrination and pick up a rifle and head into the Citadel to finish the fight against the Reapers and the Illusive Man. Then we could see the slide show ending giving us closure on what the future of this universe holds.
-*Control*: Have Shepard wake up in the debris having succumbed to the indoctrination and have her pick up a rifle and come face-to-face with Anderson who upon seeing the Indoctrinated Shepard whispers, “oh no”. Shepard then smirks and the game ends. It’s a dark and quick (but cool) ending, in my opinion.
-*Refusal*: Have Shepard wake up in the debris with Harbinger having given up on indoctrinating Shepard so Shepard can die with her teammates and armies. Then, while bittersweet, we see Shepard and company fight to the last breathe against the Reapers and just before Shepard is killed by a Brute the scene cuts to Liara’s message. Then we get the end credits.
Completely agreed.
Like !Me Gusta ! Yes !
This is exactly what should have happened :D
Epic ending + satisfied audience !
-Synthesis:Have Shepard wake up in the debris not able to fight off the indoctrination but not giving up his personality is divided in 2 "Shepards" (Good and Bad) looking up and hearing both Anderson and Harbingers voice . (or something like that I'm not that great with English at this hour)
SLENDER BARREL My cognitive ability also goes down when I'm tired friend. One time when I was being woken up, the person waking me asked me what is 8+5 to see if I actually needed more sleep, I apparently replied 40....He asked me again the same question and I replied 46; I got to sleep in after that.
Here's what I'm wondering. When the Mass Relays explode, why do the rays originate from the Viper Nebula from ME2: Arrival, rather than the Sol System?
4:52
Theres literally only one ending you can pick and not go against everything that you worked for in the series.
IF you choose control: Youre the bad guy. You literally do the one thing youve spent 3 games saying is bad.
If you Choose Synthesis: youre effectively forcing your decision on the rest of the universe and fundamentally changing how ALL LIFE in the universe works based solely on a holograms 3 minute description.
Destroy is the only ending. Its the result youve been working towards and everyone in the galaxy united to accomplish. The fast that Bioware decided to throw in "oh and you kill all the geth too lul" is a cheap way to say ooooo maybe you dont want this ending.
8 year on and the way this series ends still makes me fucking mad.
The thing that annoys me is why even explain what the reapers are? I thought that the reapers were a Cthulhu race. We can't understand them, why they do what they do is irrelevant. Trying to explain it would never work.
To anyone who thinks the EC ending still sucks, give me an ending that does the following:
-Explain the origins of the reapers, why they leave the relays open for organics to use, why they come back every 50,000 years and leave the other organic races alone, and explain all the hints of organic Vs synthetic throughout the story (Javik's conversation after he is awakened, the reaper on Rannoch who said that they are the ones to bring order to chaos, vendetta's report of the pattern of organic and synthetic in the cycles before).
-Makes the player think about why they are going to do what they are going to do to end the war. (why do you want to destroy the reapers or do you think the illusive man was right in a way about controlling them.)
-Put the player between a rock and a hard place at the end where a blue dialog button won't fix everything.
-Give a glimpse of what the galaxy looks like when the war is over based on key decisions while leaving plenty of areas open for interpretation (which is what Bioware wanted and is still being ignored by haters).
So this rules out the indoctrination theory and the MEHEM.
All of these are addressed in the extended cut btw. And if you can't think of a better ending, what was Bioware supposed to do with a limited budget to change the ending for the fans?
The Leviathan dlc does all that needs to be done to reveal the origins of both the catalyst, and the reapers. Some information about their creation doesn't even come around unless you do the leviathan dlc before completing the game.
Indoctrination Theory... You asked for a better ending, right? you could still have the god child explain it all to you with said theory, and it wouldn't have left people pissed off about how pointless all the work they put in felt with such a plot hole riddled ending that had to be slightly altered with nothing more than more backstory dialogue used as cushioning for a huge "Fuck you" to the fans.
ButcherGod But the IT is there to deny the existence of the God Child and Leviathan proves the god child exists so the IT is invalid. So can you give me an ending besides the IT that fits the four points above?
***** But that was all added in long after the fact, why believe in something that came months after the story has been finished, that's like what Lucas did with the star wars franchise, taking something that was already finished, then adding to it and muddling it up even further just to appease a few people who weren't content enough with what they got, and look how well that turned out... I'm sorry but i've played all 3 games through to completion and still find the EC grossly lacking in any good writing. i mean they use the same dull cope out of the "Heroic Sacrifice" ending like every other story that's been out instead of giving us even 1 option to get a happy, shepard lives with (insert love interest here) ending, we just get 3 bland A B or C choices that barely had much of a difference with the DLC adding to them. You may have wanted to know every little detail about reapers and their creators but those could be just as easily explained in far more detail in novels of the series, not the close out to a game that spands over 5 years. most people wanted closer for the character they built up from ME 1 to ME 3, not a "Hey, you know all those hours you spent making this elaborate storyline from every choice you made? Yeah well fuck that you're getting only these 3 choices and nothing you've done these past 5 years really matters..." I mean you're telling me you weren't just alittle pissed off and disappointed by this?
ButcherGod What do you mean adding onto it? Starwars started with part 4. It'd be silly to not expect something prior to that to come to light.
"...if this was the ending we had originally gotten, I don't think there would have been this massive uproar at all".
I completely agree with that statement.
I don't blame Bioware. I blame EA. Anyway, I'm satisfied with the EC.
I don't see any issue with the refusal ending. What else is supposed to happen? What kind of a fearsome and technologially superior enemy would the Reapers be if they could be defeated in a straight up head-to-head battle? That'd be ridiculous.
Considering that you attack the Earth with the fleet of about 100 k ships or who knows how many if you have all the war assets and considering that not all of the reaper forces would be on Earth as they are harvesting many other planets, then yea I think it is safe to say that you stand a chance to win in a straight up battle.
Actually, the way I see the 3 endings (not including the cycle continuition one):
Destroy: Yea, reapers are gone, as well as Geth and other synth, and we fixing stuff with bubble gum and a lot of prayer. Oh and no relays for you for a few decades ^^ Quarians not needing to face their mistakes (since all geth are dead), rebuilding is slow-mo, bunch of systems go dark permanently (especially new settlements). Welcome to a new dark age! Good thing tho, Shepard is alive.
Control: Reapers share their collective memories of who-knows-how-much cycle of advanced civilisatinos, the universe enters into a new golden age, rebuilding is rapid, thanks to Reapers. Geth + Quarians build a new life together, learning from their mistakes. Imagine Liara going nuts over the new discoveries :'D
Shepard and the God Child is one. Soooo technically he "survives"?
Synthesis: Similar to Control ending, difference is that every race KNOWS what the collective mind of the reapers had for many cycles, even their newborns from that point on. Mutual understanding of robotic and organic. New golden age of civilisation. Its like Control ending with extras xD However, it does seem off that they glow like an x-mas tree ^^; Like... imagine the wast knowledge of the past cycles races put together... its ridiculusly huge o_O
Personally I like the Contol and Synthesis endings. If you do things Paragon, you want to rebuild and make peace, so its not out of the world to make the reapers see reason and switch from genocide to build something for a change :P In ME1 we even try to understand and persuade the reapers first (which ofc fails). I think these are good endings :)
Control and Sythesis endings look good on paper but have tons of moral issues surrounding them.
Control: You basically spend the entire game warning the Illusive man that controlling the reapers is wrong./ that nobody should have this kind of power at their disposal. At the time of the choice (without knowing the consequences), whats the guarentee that Shepard wouldnt be corrupted by the power of the reapers? What makes him so special? Do you really think that the shepard with which you spent an entire game fighting the illusive man's ideals would just do a 180 and change his mind? I dont.
Synthesis: This ultimately has the best consequences but the problem here is that it was forced on everyone. Who are you to just decide to change ALL life in the galaxy on a biological level without their permission? This is something EVERYONE needs a say on. You cant just take that right into your own hands and force it upon people. They needed to achieve this level of evolution by themselves, through hard work and cooperation. Do you really think everybody would just be happy with their new bodies and move on. I feel like there would be a large group of people that are mad that this decision was chosen for them, that shepard was no better than a dictator to force this upon them. Maybe even a massive war with those that accept the changes, and those that dont.
This is why i feel destroy is the best option. Yes there are heavy, HEAVY losses in the process. But the result is a united galaxy that has the task of rebuilding themselves on THEIR terms. I think this is very noble, to put your faith into the galaxy that YOU united to work together and rebuild their civilizations. And i feel that if they successful, then the result will be a galaxy much stronger and united than anything the other endings can produce.
True, you have a good point, was thinking about this while I was chosing about the ending. Technically, whatever you do, every 4 ending is forced upon everybody, the consequences are huge whichever you chose.
Destroy ending is most likely the "canon ending", but somehow I dont like the idea that they would willingly agree on plummeting themselves back into dark age of tech. Also, losing all the important information that reapers had about the universe and the past is huge. While its not mandatory to know, but personally I value knowledge.
Thats why I'd chose the Control ending. Shepard wont survive the process (technically the only way he survives is the Destruction ending, on high schore), but he lends his understanding and knowledge to the Godchild, so it would know what to do better.
Synthesis ending... well yea, I dont really like the idea to force a simbiotic relationship on others. Especially since it would look rather... odd. Plus it would be too easy. There are people even in our time that dont like the idea of AIs. Now imagine this in a galactic scale. There would be for sure a lot of opposition to this, mass hysteria, anger and even uprising.
So yea its a bad ending :'D
The only funny thing with Control ending, is that, we a simple human soldier would be able to change the mind of a genocidal program/AI, that killed countless civilisations without remorse, since it thought its the best idea. How come nobody ever tried what Shaperd tried for so many cycles... ? We dont even know how many cycles passed, but judging from the huge amount of Reaper ships (each representing an extinct race), there would be quite a few already...
I highly doubt that this is the first time that the Godchild talked to the races, for sure most of the previous ones tried to talk down the reapers in some fashion (at first).
So yea, ME endings does rise an eyebrow :)
Kilgar Personally, the 4th ending would be my favorite IF it didnt result in a total loss. Like angry joe put it, if the war assents affected the 4th ending, with max preperation resulting in victory, that i feel would be awesome.
To see this army that you put in all the time and effort hurl themselves at the reaper in a last ditch effort, giving everything they've fucking got, and to emerge victorious. Its the stuff of legends.
The only problem is that it kinda makes all that time and effort pout into the crucible to be for nothing.
True, it feels a bit offputting that the forces and other assetts you amassed are for ... well for your own enjoyment after a point rather to really have a meaning.
It would be really great to give the middle finger to the Godchild and beat him in its own game :D That would've been a lot more satisfactory since we worked our ars off to get all the races working together x)
Too bad we have a few cheap ending versions, even the new DLC ones are kind of 'meh', since you cant really feel the connection to your character to it ^^;
I really hope they make the next ME installment good, since the trilogy was really nicely put together, just the ending was a bit... rushed and silly ^^; lol, even the fans figured out better endings :'D like the doctrination ending for example :P now thats a nice twist :D
Kilgar How would they even do a sequel? Like you would either need to account.
1. All forms of AI or VI destroyed
2. Reapers just running around unhindered
3.Everyone is a creepy green cyborg
4. Everyone is dying in agony as the reapers continue their conquest of the galaxy unhindered.
how do you have a sequel when the endings to the predecessor make huge changes (although they dont show them).
Just finished the ME Trilogy for the first time and, after watching Joe's ME3 vids, I just feel so lucky for not experiencing the non-extended endings! Already restarting the series but with different choices!
I like to choose destroy because if the ems is high enough Shepard is alive. I just wanted to see him and Liara or whoever he romanced together in a slide or something but oh well. Just be happy he's alive.
The Imbroglio I have one image that might be something that you're looking for:
grummel83.deviantart.com/art/A-Legion-Reborn-Prologue-525819041
Thanks for this because it's exactly what I wanted.
The Imbroglio But stay tuned because this guy's going to continue to make something even more great to go with it.
Or you can read my story to see for yourself before hand.
www.fanfiction.net/s/10284927/1/Victory
Cool I'll definitely stay tuned
I was re-thinking about the sythesis ending, and I don't think that all species + sythetics became "one green glowing new form of life". To me it was more like as if all sythetics and organics improved themselves greatly, in some ways, and gained some sort of universal conciouness. If you think about it, every alien and even sythetic character are very humane, and we can relate to them as they grow into us. So in some ways, it seemed to me that Bioware was telling us we're all related apart from our differences. The fact that this new universal counciousness has grown bigger in the galaxy, does not mean that conflicts would end, but it helps all creatures to understand better each other. The fact that EDI says that she's alive could be symbolism of that, as well as the glowing. Kinda like spiritual thing, like when Jesus died and ascended to heaven. But I'd still wanted to see Shepard having beers with Garrus on the beach....
"I can't wait to see what's next for the Mass Effect universe!" - 2012
"Mass Effect: Andromeda." - 2017
Am I the only one who kind of tears up when Joker tries not to leave. When he says
"Damn it" that just made me go
"God damn Bioware you did not fuck it up"
I think Mass Effect 4 will confirm the indoctrination theory. I watched all the arguments for it and I think most are micro analyzing things which were just sloppy writing or developmental oversights. Some of these may have or may not have been clues. That being said: I just can't explain Shepard surving. He survived a reaper beam strong enough to destroy tanks, got shot at while in crippled state, survived the explosion of a power conduit, survived ground zero of the massive explosion that destroyed the center of the citadel and finally was seen waking up gasping for air in what looked very much like London rubble. This would have entailed time in the vacuum of space, survivng reentry from orbit, and impacting the ground at orbital speed without a helmet on. Even if he woke up on citadel rubble which it didn't look like, he would have to survive the massive explosion that took out the center of the citadel in the cutscene, and then survived in space without a helmet. We know he was in the central portion of the citadel because that's where the crucible was. This ending is either shockingly bad to the point where a kid in grade school would have noticed impossibilities stacked on impossibilities stacked on impossibilities and done better, or the ending was some type of illusion (possibly IT) which will kick start Mass Effect 4.
I still don't understand why anybody would choose anything buy Control. Shepard lives, the universe is saved, synthetics still exist, and everything is awesome.
Because of the risks it might pose if the New Shepard AI god becomes corrupted and goes on another killing spree. To sum it up: "Absolute power corrupts absolutely."
And you've been telling the Illusive man that control is bad for the entire game.
But it's all up to you to choose. I chose destroy because it's what Anderson would have done. EDI and the geth die, but the galaxy will be free forever from the Reaper onslaught. It's basically a large sacrifice that has to be made, a one up from the Arrival DLC.
Given Shepard's dialogue as an AI, it's pretty clear that Shepard is dead. The AI is simply based on him/her.
*****
To be fair, I was agreeing with the Illusive Man for the entire game. If he had truly figured out how to control them (it was obvious he was just insane), it would've been perfect.
***** Dan Bull reference?
TheScumbagofNewYork I agree that Shepard isn't really "alive" at least not in the way you would want him to be. You don't get to have that beach home with Tali, or that beer with Garrus on some beach somewhere... though I would think that it wouldn't be hard to create a Avatar of himself, we know the constructs exists. Maybe though it be to painful for his friends?
I like the new endings.
I also like that there is no "perfect ending".
Each of them has good and bad points.
Was this shit cut out of the mass effect trilogy? Cuz I downloaded the extended cut and it completely skipped over some of that shit. Someone help me out please.
So if I serve you a pile of shit on a plate, and you disapprove, all I have to do is sprinkle some sugar over it, and you'll say "Fixed".
I liked the indoctrination theory but always thought it was giving bio ware too much credit. However to say that it was ruled out by the EC is not paying attention. Shepard is hearing whispers and black wavy lines and is made to shoot someone on the citadel who realistically cannot be there, but maybe he is, it's not perfect and that's beside the point. At that moment Shepard is clearly being indoctrinated.
Also, of the options offered by The Catalyst, two of them sound a lot like sales pitch versions of what the reapers are already doing. IMHO The Catalyst is lying to you and some of those endings are just the bed time stories it tells you as you surrender to indoctrination. Then, if you look, two of the cut scenes show Shepard actually becoming a husk.
The Catalyst is an unreliable narrator and the end is not what it seems.
Despite having already beaten the game before (although it was pre-EC as it didn't download for some reason), I replayed the entire series, and I can say that without a doubt, the funeral scene is the only time I've ever cried because of a game. Cannot wait to see what they do with the next Mass Effect.
Also, just want to add a note: Isn't it possible the "Shepard taking a breath" scene was intended to show the franchise wasn't over after the trilogy and not just showing Shepard to be "alive"? (That probably doesn't make sense, but it's an interpretation)
I think that it was intended for that reason. Also, I believe the Star Child and the Star Gazer scene was another scene to show that there will be more things to come in the Mass Effect universe considering the fact that the Star Gazer says, "Alright. One more story."
I also cried in Valiant Hearts but in Mass Effect 3 i had my eyes in tears for most of the game, it's so emotional but the end was truly heart-breaking.
I kinda preferred the Indoctrination theory. It really gave me this sense of foreboding...
Almost as if the game it's self had turned my own flaws (Pride for not wanting to destroy what I had brought together, like the geth/quarian peace, and the glactic fleet) against me in order to make me choose the ending the reapers wanted.
As if I myself has somehow been indoctrinated as well as my own Shepard.
I feel like so many of the people that were upset over the lack of a "happy ending" option don't realize how lackluster that type of ending is, especially with the plot elements (the Crucible MacGuffin) that they were using. If you just filled in an ending like this: "Shepard calls in the various armies, they fight back the Reapers, the Crucible activates and destroys all remaining Reapers. Shepard goes back to the Normandy for a big group hug," you'd have one of the most simplistic, predictable and lackluster endings ever for such a long and complex trilogy. If you boil that down, it's COMPLETELY against everything that was said about the Reapers in the games about them being completely unstoppable with traditional military might. Whatever we would have gained in warm fuzzy feelings for our hero would be more than lost with a nonsensical plot device victory that went against the lore of the universe.
Now don't read this as me saying the other endings we got are great or anything. They aren't. I'm just playing devil's advocate a bit and trying to point out the flaws in a "Shepard lives happily ever after" ending.
+Shodan Cat The upset fans weren't upset over a lack of a happy ending though. They were pissed off because their choices throughout //3// games, choices in games that //REVOLVE// around the choices you make changing the story, meant absolutely NOTHING. In the end, you got "Destroy, Control, or Synthesize". So everything I did in the last 2 games meant nothing? All the time I spent trying to perfect how I want my character was useless and it all ends the same for everybody? Well shit. Now I'm pissed.And I'm not saying I hate them for it. To be honest, I can kinda understand why there were so few choices. It'd be hard as hell to put as many as they wanted to do in the game, and with EA rushing the shit out of them, they probably had no choice. But hell, they couldn't have made an ending that actually satisfied people that put so much time into the past games? Something that somehow saved shepard And reunited him with the one that we romanced, or Joker having some gut feeling that Shep needed his help and going back to save him just in fucking time to get the hell out of there. Shepard doesn't have to survive. Hell, if he died onship, I feel like it would have been better. It would have given a more touching conclusion than "Oh, everything blew to hell and everyone got stranded on some planet." Am I wrong?
Here is what you just said:
"But hell, they couldn't have made an ending that actually satisfied people that put so much time into the past games? Something that somehow saved shepard And reunited him with the one that we romanced, or Joker having some gut feeling that Shep needed his help and going back to save him just in fucking time to get the hell out of there."
This is exactly what I'm talking about. People wanting a straight up "happy ending." People try to make themselves sound like that's not what they want by saying "we wanted our choices to make a difference in the end." In other words, "if we did all the right choices and saved the Geth, Quarrians, etc, we should get an ending where everyone lives and it's a happy ending."
You did not finish that sentence. Shep dying on the ship does not present a happy ending. It gives the person playing more ability to have immersion with the comrades that he or she worked so hard to create a relationship with. Like I said. Shep dying was a good thing. However, I believe they could have presented it better.
Finish reading my comments before you start ranting.
+Shodan Cat I don't really think the ending would be that happy after all. I mean, probably billions died during the war, together with Mordin, Thane, Anderson, Legion etc. Even without Shepard dying the Ending would still have a pretty bitter sweet taste to it, if they would have done it correctely. I personally really wanted Shep to survive, because he literally just fought for others without ever being selfish, at least in my playthrough and doesn't even get to profit from his own actions. I find this kinda depressing in some sense.
Though I understand why you wouldn't like it. Imo it should only be available to you when you really maxed out every little thing there is. I always choose the destruction ending because thats the only one where shep survives, besides other reasons. Imho the galaxy should decide its own fate instead of me dictating it. And as the catalyst says, we will be able to rebuild all the lost technology. I assume this is correct for EDI and the geth as well, so... yeah.
It was obvious that not using the crucible meant losing the war. They forced that idea down our throats since the first game. The reapers are too powerful to be conventionally beaten. Took a whole fleet just to beat Sovereign.
But... but..... what about the geth?
Geth were no more than the Reaper's usual indoctrinated soldiers.
SilJeff I know.
Great to hear, Earth clan
It took the whole citadel fleet to defeat Sovereign, not the combined force of every fleet in the galaxy.
Extended cut+Leviathan DLC+Citadell DLC patches the ending of the series.
You get closure, explanation, and parts where your entire team fight with you and it's good. The Citadell DLC is worth every cent you spend on it.
In my opinion the Synthesis ending is the best. The controll ending is good and the Destroy ending would be desirable but it's price is too high.
It jsut shows how people's opinions differ and I had serious doubts about Synthesis but after hearing EDI's narration about it I was sure I'd chosen right.
My perfect ending to Mass Effect 3:
Shepard, Anderson and the Illusive Man all meet the glowing - child and the glowing - child explains whatever he explained in the original game. Additionally, whatever they decide is the fate of the Reapers and the galaxy (Destroy/Synthesis/Control), the Crucible requires the energy and both organic matter and special form of synthetic matter unique to Harbinger's body, for the Crucible to work. To obtain that synthetic matter, Harbinger needs to die. Shepard and all the fleets discover that the base of Reaper operations and Harbinger is in Luna (Earth's moon).
Final battle:
The entire galactic fleet attacks the Reaper's base of operations, and Harbinger.
During the final battle, based on decisions Shepard made throughout the trilogy, and based on the War Assets Shepard has, either all survive, or..........
maybe some squad mates die, maybe some species go extinct(Krogan, Geth, Rachni) maybe other important characters die, maybe the Citadel itself gets severely damaged, or one of its arms detached and then destroyed, maybe the Destiny Ascension gets destroyed, maybe all or some Councilors die, etc.. Basically, it's similar to the Suicide Mission from the 2nd game but this is on a galactic - scale, and everyone's lives are at stake. In the end, Shepard himself talks to and kills Harbinger. They collect the synthetic matter from the core of his body and detonate nuclear bombs in the surface of Luna, and Reaper activity in and around Earth gets minimized, but many Reapers are alive and the galaxy is still at stake.
Shepard, Anderson, Hackett, the Illusive Man and atleast 2 squadmates should be alive upto this point (Alive councilors will also be there). They return to the glowing - child and tells them the fate of the galaxy is in their hands. A massive argument breaks out about which they should choose - Destroy, Synthesis or Control. Shepard chooses one and gives a speech as to why the chosen one is the best option. (Whatever ending is chosen, Harbinger's synthetic matter is utilised) If Synthesis is chosen, Shepard sacrifices himself. If Destroy is chosen, Anderson sacrifices himself. If Control is chosen, the Illusive Man sacrifices himself.
Want a better ending? Mass effect 3 happy ending mod. Royal pain in the ass to install, but it gives us all the ending we'd originally hoped for. Doesn't fix a lot of the plotholes, but it flipped the ending around from shitty to pretty damn decent. Totally ditches the godchild BS and your EMS actually matters. If it's high enough Shep lives, no half assed hints, and the already epic space battle goes from awesome to FU Star wars levels.
in conclusion :
you still not get choice.
I preferred the indoctrination theory. It fit with the theme of the series. Saren tried to save the galaxy with synthesis, and was consumed by the Reapers' will. The Illusive Man tried to save the galaxy with control, and ended up controlled himself. Leaving Shepard in the third game to try the only remaining option.
Exactly. The IT would have been simply mindblowing and would have made the ME franchise one of the best game trilogys in history. Just imagine someone playing the three games not noticing what happened to Saren and to the Illusive Man. They were the clue not to choose synthesis (=husks), or control (=indoctrination). By choosing the wrong endings the players themselves would have been indoctrinated. :)
Also note that in the synthesis ending on Rannoch they have a CUSTOM RENDERED QUARIAN FACE!
I've played Mass Effect for the first time (Started in December 27th, 2013 and ended in Febuary 7th, 2014) and this is possibly one of--If not, the greatest franchise I've played in a very long time since I played Metroid. I'm grateful that I played with the EC and not stay with the original endings that many were unfortunate to experience. While some many still give Bioware crap about what they did and still do, I really liked the EC ending and ended with Destroy/Living ending for my Paragon Shepard.
It was really intense for me to whether choose which one as one means letting the Reapers win and everyone else live, but Shepard dying. Or choose to destroy the Reapers and only Organics live (I regret doing this to Legion and Edi), and possibly having Shepard see Garrus and friends at the bar once more. (There was an app for ME3 that you could download and get messages for it, I saw some screenshots with last messages and it seems that Shepard may have lived through the Destroy ending if you had enough EMS and got the gasp in the end.)
That's my experience too because I was a late comer from 7 months ago. From the messages of the newcomers, most of them were happy experiencing the EC first time around. What this says is that the haters had bared painful emotional scars when they saw the original endings having to wait 5 years for it while the newcomers were able to jump in and experience everything in just 1-2 months with the EC endings.
the ending is still a stupid slideshow of disconnected pieces and all the good player-choices are still not represented. the game's still a disappoinment overall (and not just because of the ending)
to me ME2 is the last game in the franchise
I agree with you there. One of my greater concerns for ME4 (if I buy it) is that the developers will settle with just not putting in a terrible ending, and while the ending was extraordinarily awful it's not the reason why I don't enjoy playing ME3. That reason exists because of things like the auto dialogue and the dull side quests.
Destroy ending all the way! Reapers are defeated for good and Shepard and Miranda can be together! Its a shame what happened to the Geth and EDI, but they were willing to lay down their lives for the sake of the universe, they would understand. And there still is a chance of rebuilding them.
As for the Catalysts warning of " synthetics will still rebel against their creators". Shepard and the entire universe defied all odds and did the impossible, with a chance to rebuild a new future there is also a chance to avoid mistakes of the past.
UBERGEEKZILLA My thoughts exactly. Except my Shepard gets together with Liara to have their little blue children.
Turian-human children for me. :D :D
Thank you for this video. it really helped me feel closure to the series
tbh the new endings are still trash. They're better but that's not saying much. The ending shouldn't have been an I win button. And the jesus martyr thing is never an interesting or original plot device.
It's better, but still meh.
Too bad the next game is just a series reboot with a new galaxy, instead of expanding on your choices in the end.
JackZake64 It'd be impossible to import a save that incorporates three radical alterations to the galactic society.
Plus with a new Galaxy, there are more opportunities for bet structures stories without an all powerful race that need a super weapon to stop. The Ket are a much better villain faction because they aren't unstoppable like the Reapers. Just seems like they'll be difficult to overcome but more manageable.
"I cannot wait to see whats in store for us next in the Mass Effect universe" hahahahahahhahahahahahahahahhahahahahahhahahahhahahahahahahha
"sorry my face is tired"
Thank you Joe for this vid, you give praise when its due and you are a better person for that.
I totally agree with everything you said. In my opinion this is the best scifi I had ever watched/played - also one of the funniest games as well.