Just thought I'd make a place we can discuss the endings without spoiling it for others. Just recently finished it myself and all though the game itself is incredible, I feel the endings have really let the series down.
So what ending did you get, or should I say which colour did you pick? What did you think of the game as a whole? etc.
Personally I can't pick an ending. I keep going back to change my choice because I don't like any of them. Anyways I hope to hear your opinions.
Like you, I thought the game was fantastic right until the last 15 minutes or so. I absolutely love the ME series and the ending really did disappoint me.
After having some time to think about it I actually don't think the endings themselves are *that* bad, I just think they are handled very poorly and the lead up to the decision really weak.
It's like three games have amounted to a 5 minute explanation and then END. There just didn't feel like there was any weight to it, and certainly no gravitas.
Just to quote from this article: http://www.vg247.com/2012/02/03/mass-effect-3-ending-may-hurt-but-keep-your-saves/
“But that’s part of it, right? To invoke the emotion putting some of these stories to bed will naturally bring up. I honestly think the player base is going to be really happy with the way we’ve done it. You had a part in it. Every decision you’ve made will impact how things go. The player’s also the architect of what happens.
“You’ll get answers to everything. That was one of the key things. Regardless of how we did everything, we had to say, yes, we’re going to provide some answers to these people.”
There was none of that whatsoever. I almost can't believe that the same people that said all these things actually knew what ending they put into the final game.
The worst thing of all for me, personally, is that it kills any reason for me to replay the games. As much as I love them, one thing I liked was seeing how different decisions played out in the next game and knowing the ending takes nothing into account makes it totally pointless.
I agree with pretty much everything you've said. The endings just didn't seem to take into account all the choices of the past games. I sort of liked the direction they took with the endings, with the whole catalyst deity thing but the endings just didn't feel like Mass Effect.
They certainly invoked emotion but it wasn't the good kind. I sincerely hope Bioware provide some DLC that will give a better conclusion to the game. Your link seems to suggest something seems to be in the works.
A supported theory is that the ending sequence was all some kind of hallucination or Reaper indoctrination. I'd like to think it was true but maybe it's giving Bioware too much credit.
Here's the link for a good summary of it: http://social.bioware.com/forums/forum/1/topic/355/index/9727423/1
The thing is, obviously not *every* decision has to be taken into account as not everything you have done would directly have an impact on the final decision. My main problem is that the ending will be the same three choices no matter how I played.
I had a think about this while discussing the same thing with a friend and this would have been the endings possible if I was in charge:
Paragon / Destruction: Destroy the reapers and the Citadel, save the relays. Galaxy enters a new Golden Age of peace and prosperity. Shep "gives his life" in the destruction of the citadel but his entire paragon actions somehow have his allies save him before the citadel is destroyed.
Renegade / Destruction: Destroy the reapers and the Citadel, save the relays. Galaxy enters a new golden age of peace and prosperity. Shep sees the smaller force destroyed and goes down with the Citadel with no one to help him.
Paragon / Control: Shep chooses to control the reapers by “merging” with the panel but the Citadel is destroyed in the “control-blast” as well as the relays. Shep orders the Reapers to crash/destroy each other and rid the galaxy of the reaper threat while his “essence” is seen being destroyed along with the Citadel and all Reaper existence. The united allies are shown working towards rebuilding their own Mass Relays.
Renegade / Control: Shep chooses to control the reapers by “merging” with the panel and becomes a reaper-esque husk over the controls. The Citadel, relays and reapers “survive”. Shep controls the Reapers to gain unlimited power over the galaxy. The allied military forces are shown being destroyed and all other life becoming subdued and indoctrinated.
Paragon / Synthesis: Shep gives his life to unite the galaxy in a new age of biotech life. The Reapers are not destroyed but leave as all life is now partly synthetic. The Citadel and Relays survive. Quarians are shown removing their masks, interacting with Geth in a more “human” way, like Joker and EDI. Free will and the galaxy are saved.
Renegade / Synthesis: Shep gives his life believing he will survive. He and the reapers are both destroyed not all species are transformed, only humans. War continues with Synth-humans and organic species.
Obviously there would be more to it but I couldn't be bothered to think up that much for it.
What's really sad is I genuinely think *anyone* could have come up with better endings then they did. There was just nothing to them. Weak.
I laugh at the dream theory. Bioware was trying illustrate being shell shocked after surviving an explosion nearby its pretty obvious that the person who came up with this theory didn't think about that. The illusive man being further machine is because he had that modified reaper tech installed. The wave lines I just found to be illusive man's power over controlling humans.
Just like Casey had said he wanted an ending to be discussed about and they made a perfect ending that is polarized you either hate it or you love it.
All I want Bioware to do is to explain what happened to the galaxy now that Mass relay are destroyed which would mean death for all the species on earth since they wouldn't have their natural resources to survive off of along with earth in the codex since the beginning is out of resources. Thats all I want which they will have to do if plan to do another ME game unless they plan to go so far in the future that point in the galaxy doesn't matter. I thought the ending was pretty good compared to Bioware other game endings. Bioware has never been that good in writing an ending they have always been mediocre because of the idea of what if they make another game then they have to be as general as possible.
@viralshag
I do prefer those options, I would have picked the Paragon/Destruction option personally. Yes, not every action but I would of liked to see some of my choices have an impact and I agree the endings are very weak.
@Phoenixblight
I wouldn't say it's laughable. It seems far-fetched Bioware would have planned it out but I wouldn't be surprised if they followed up on the theory with DLC. After all they did make the game with the fans (or whatever it was Bioware said.)
Th only Bioware games I've played are Mass Effect and Dragon Age so I can't really comment.
I do hope they provide some form of epilogue at least. That may be true but Hudson even said as this is the conclusion to the trilogy they could have very different endings and that isn't the case. The endings are virtually the same.
Yeah...just finished the game and it was really great wright till the end...and then you get three choices that all basically give you the same outcome(Shepard dies,mass effect relays destroyed,Normandy crash lands).Unless,you get the "secret perfect ending" where Shepard actually survives which brings me to another pain in the ass - War Assets!I had around 6000 of total military strength and 3000 of effective military strength since I have chosen not to play MP and my galactic readiness was stuck at 50 %.So,to get that "secret perfect ending" you need to have somewhere between 4000 - 5000 of EMS and Bioware said that it can be achieved without playing MP.What I would like to know is what was everyone else 's EMS number(without playing MP)and did they achieve this perfect ending or was that another BS from Bioware?
@Edo
I didn't play MP until after my first playthrough and I got that ending. I had gotten all the war assets in order to do so and my readiness was at 50%.
@Edo
Yes, one reason all the endings are so bad is that they're all pretty much the same.
I didn't play multiplayer and my effective military strength was in the 3000s and in total about 5000 but I didn't get the "secret" ending. Apparently you need to complete the Illusive Man confrontation in a certain way and pick the destroy ending as well as the military strength to get it. I must have gone wrong with the Illusive Man.
Here is some exciting speculation: http://www.gamezone.com/products/mass-effect-3/news/what-if-the-rumored-mass-effect-3-the-truth-dlc-changes-the-ending
I'd say unlikely at best but one can hope.
@Cozzy I believe you have to get him to kill himself just like Saren.
@Phoenix
Ah I see, the third paragon/charm option was greyed out and I was forced to shoot him to save Anderson. Not complaining, he deserved it...even if he did bring me back to life.
I wanted him to complete the mission and then the Catalyst tells him he is infact indoctrinated then he offs himself. I need to play my renegade because I had helped them by not destroying the collector ship and my friend says they are harder. I am curious if that is indeed true.
@Cozzy yeah,the third paragon/charm option was greyed out for me as well,and I wonder why?Do you have to be 100 % paragon (cause I was like 90% paragon and 10 %renegade)?
@Edo
CHarm and Intimidate are not based on your renegade or paragon they are just based on the amount of points you have. In ME3 you can charm people while being a renegade. You just didn't have enough points to gain the option.
@Phoenixblight And how exactly do you get this points,cause I have invested a lot of points in charisma bonuses and used either renegade or paragon options (when prompted)in at least 80 % of situations?
@Edo and Phoenix
I'm surprised I didn't have enough points, invested well over 30 hours into the game and completed every mission I could find as well as going through every star system getting as many war assets as possible. I was almost full paragon except for the occasional renegade action like killing Kai Leng (even though you kill him anyway even if you don't respond to the renegade prompt.)
That's interesting. I was offered (and took) every blue-para option that was available to me from beginning to end.
I mean, I did recently do a pretty complete play-through of all three on PC and I don't think I missed a single Paragon action.
I would like to do the same with my renegade and try and make it through with as many of my team dying as possible to allow me to continue, just to see what changes in 3.
I just went through some walkthroughs and war assets that I might have missed such as sidequests war assets,squad members(three of them died on me in ME2) war assets and if I have chosen salarians instead of krogans and geth instead of quarians,and learned that I could've garnered another 500 of military strength which would make a total of 6500 of MS and 3250 of EMS which is still nowhere near 8000 of MS(4000 EMS)and therefore I believe there is no way you could get that "perfect ending"(Shepard survives) without playing the MP .And here is how the military strength actually affects endings:
With a Effective Military Strength that's under 1,750 points
you can choose to destroy the Reapers, or control the Reapers, but regardless of your choice Earth is still destroyed.
If your Effective Military Strength is at 1,750
you can choose to destroy the reapers, but Earth is still destroyed.
If your Effective Military Strength is at 2,050
you can choose to control the Reapers, and Earth is saved.
If your Effective Military Strength is at 2,350
you can choose to destroy the Reapers and save Earth, but Earth is devastated.
If your Effective Military Strength is at 2,650
you can destroy the Reapers and save Earth.
If your Effective Military Strength is at 2,800
you can choose the synergy ending for synthetics and organics saving the planet Earth, and the entire Galaxy.
If your Effective Military Strength is at 4,000
you can choose to destroy the reapers, and if you interrupt The Illusive Man to "save" Anderson and Shepard lives.
If your Effective Military Strength is at 5,000
you can choose to destroy the reapers. If you did not interrupt The Illusive Man to "save" Anderson Shepard still lives.
@Edo
I'm guessing that killing the IM instead of charming him into suicide must of made the difference then.
I've been reading more and more about the indoctrination/hallucination theory and I must admit I'm really starting to like it. I honestly hope it was Bioware's plan all along or that they at least follow up on it.
It'd be a very cheap move to charge people for something that should be on the disc though. It better be free but I'll still buy it even if it's not.
That type of ending is just as offensive as a TV show for 5 seasons and then you realize on the series finale that everything was a dream of an autistic 5 year old. Its practically saying hey we hated this entire series of games so much we thought we would recon all of it.
@Phoenix
I agree that it'd be bad of Bioware to pull this stunt but I'd still prefer it to the current endings.
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