I don’t think Bioware owes anyone a new ending, but I also think they deserve all the shit they are getting for those endings right now because they are total shit, and none of the choices you made in the series mattered at all, which was the lynch pin the series, seeing how your decisions played out and effected the grtand narrative…which they don’t. They ended up just being smoke screen to get people to play with false promises.
Dunno why everyone is just focusing on the ending, the game on a whole seems mediocre/rushed. I really like the multiplayer though.
I am not going to say they should change the ending but I do not blame the people who do. Most of us spent well over a 100 plus hours in this game just to get an ending that contradicted the entire series. If Bioware was smart(which they aren’t), they would release a new ending though for free. It is not even Bioware anymore as it is, almost all the original people are gone and it is just EA.
- King9999 oh… because I won’t be playing it for about a week or so.
- totally. That WOULD suck. Sure, we’ve been in this for 2 decades or more, but to feel as if we should be crowned for something that we didn’t expect and love? *I’ve been owed a good ending since Super Mario Bros. SUPER. MARIO. BROS. *hahahahah that’d kill me if I overheard that at an during an EB Games title pick-up.
SMB is not a story driven game either, Mass Effect is. Bioware is not helping matters either acting like elitist jackasses. It is a shame to because the game is good right until the last 10 minutes or so where it takes a swan dive into a tub of shit.
Pretty much this, the great difference between this game and a movie or book is how you get involved in the history, this is not another pasive media, although is their desition if they want to change something or not, some people will be fine because is a game after all (except those sick RPG purists) but uncomfortable on how this ended, i think they should do it by some free DLC not because of the stupid trolls on metacritic (those people are idiots) they should do it for the good of the franchise.
- Next time I throw up an outlandish example, that’s pretty much not even CLOSE to serious, I’ll send you a memo. Clearly, you’ve never heard of this *joke *thing, bro.
- I’ve yet to beat 3 yet. I saw a bit of the perfect ending, but I hardly understand it, so I’ll probably just beat the game as per usual and repeat the series doing everything different. Companies shouldn’t have to apologize for product that they put out with an outcome that doesn’t end as well as everyone thinks it should.
I would personally be interested in a couple facts. How many people bought Mass Effect 3 that hadn’t played an earlier entry into the series. How many of those people are complaining about the ending? My guess is that on both of those accounts as a percentage of the people playing this game, they’re both small. Which brings me to my second point. When you purchase something, especially something as publicized as Mass Effect 3, there is an expectation of continuity. For example, I played Mass Effect 1 and I expected Mass Effect 2 to be similar, it wasn’t. They ripped out all numbers in favor of a more “3rd person shooter” experience. Okay, that was Bioware’s prerogative, and considering I cared more about the narrative than anything else, I could put that game on stupid easy mode, learn how to aim enough and get through the fulfilling narrative… a narrative that was (largely) consistent with Mass Effect 1 and the universe I had come to know.
When we put these factors together, what were consumers expecting from Mass Effect 3? Continuity. Gameplay similar to ME2? Check. Passable voice acting? Check. Dramatic moments that fit into the larger narrative? For 90% of the game… Check… and then it all falls apart. And it didn’t just slide off the rails a little… it jumped off a cliff while saying F YOU!!! to the entire world as it fell precipitously to its own inevitable doom. Did the gameplay change? Not significantly. Did the voice acting change? Not significantly… But the problem and the main reason for the whiplash, is that this is Bioware, the self proclaimed “Story Telling” company. At one time, this company was arguably the greatest RPG maker on the planet, and had the most dynamic narratives in the gaming industry. If you novelized Baldur’s Gate, BG2, BG2TOB, ME1, or ME2 would that have seemed ridiculous? No. The narratives of those games were strong enough to stand on their own outside of the gaming medium… a testament to Bioware’s success.
Mass Effect 3’s ending problem does not exist in a vacuum. Bioware fans are just that, BIOWARE FANS. Bioware is looked on by many fans of meaningful narrative in a gaming landscape filled with stupid FPSes as one of the few companies who you know will NEVER cheap out on the narrative… It’s fans viewed Bioware as that bastion of hope in a gaming industry, a trusted partner in delivering narrative in a unique engaging medium… but Bioware has quite frankly, been failing to live up to good will it had earned through such wonderful narrative work. One mistake, its fans could forgive easily… I mean most people (myself included) hated DA2, think of it as an abomination in comparison to DA:O, but it was okay. Then SWTOR came out and some of the classes had amazing stories (Imperial Agent story is amazing) but others were not just narratively flat, but not even compelling to the fantasy they aspired to (Sith Inquisitor). Then… Mass Effect 3s ending… Bioware decided to end the most ambitious gaming trilogy of this console generation with plot holes the size of planets, and a decision that in no way represented the larger narrative while leaving us in the dark about the other characters and galaxy at large Bioware had wanted us to care so much about. If this were another company who did this, we would have accepted the game and went “meh” that ending sucked. But Bioware told us our decisions mattered. Bioware told us that we would have the end to Commander Shepard’s story… and this ending, doesn’t leave it feeling finished at all… it feels cheapened. `It makes Noveria, Therum, Ilos, Omega, the Geth / Quarian conflict, the genophage, and the collector base all feel like less meaningful events.
I’ll say this for myself and myself alone. I paid 370 dollars total on Mass Effect 1 (It was the game that got me to buy an xbox 360), I paid at least 80 probably 90 dollars on Mass Effect 2 (game + DLC) and I had zero problem paying for any of it. I recieved my copy of Mass Effect 3 from gamefly so I didn’t purchase it, technically I rented it which was fine since I had no interest in multiplayer. I paid 10 for the Ashes DLC which was fine, didn’t bother me. When I saw the last 35 minutes of the game not only did it make the rest of the game not worth the 60 I would have paid for it (which if I had liked it I would have bought it from gamefly and that would have been fine) but it cheapened my value of the other games. Mass Effect 1 isn’t worth the 60 + 10 anymore… it’s worth far less to me knowing how his story ends in such an unsatisfying manner. Mass Effect 2… isn’t worth the 60+30 anymore because I don’t get to see long term resolution for these characters anyway (except those who for obvious spoiler reasons get “resolved”).
The source of outrage over Mass Effect 3’s ending is simple, it cheapened all the other Mass Effect experiences we had, it was in many ways the straw that broke a devoted fan base’s back over a company as it viewed as a place set apart from the rest of a mindless industry, and finally made us ask ourselves why did we trust this company in the first place?
The conclusion is simple, the company that gave us Baldur’s Gate, KOTOR, Jade Empire, Mass Effect 1 is not the same company that made Mass Effect 2, Mass Effect 3, Dragon Age 2, and SWTOR.
/apologies
/end rant
Okay guys, let us design our ME3 Final boss fight and/or endings!
I love robots, so you’ve been warned 
. Also, TL;DR version at the bottom.
Spoiler
You find out that the human reaper in ME2 was being finished by Cerberus in Sanctuary, instead of having them turn everyone into husks/banshees and all that other good stuff.
- If you handed over the collector base it is stronger, and it now has armor protection equal to heavy armor and takes less damage.
- If you destroyed the collector base it is weaker as it isn’t fully finished but still fully functional (the equivalent of light armor).
TIM modified the Reaper and made it require a pilot because he wanted to be at the front lines as he took control of the reapers. The pilot must be someone able to interface with machinery. Since TIM had implants and was part synthetic due to his partial husk transformation, he was going to use the human reaper to try to overthrow the reapers. However, due to him already being indoctrinated, being in the reaper as the pilot just speeds up the process, similar to how Saren became indoctrinated. Since Shepard was able to interface with Overlord, he was the only one left able to pilot this thing. - It is basically a giant human reaper atlas that has the ability to amplify your class powers. This means that if you’re a Vanguard, then the reaper is a big ass Vanguard reaper with access to reaper-sized versions of charge, nova, shockwave, ammo power ups as well as some reaper attacks (red laser) as well as the main weapon (shotgun in this case). Heavy melee attack is also available as well as an ability to grab and hold on to enemies.
When you reach TIM he tells you of his plan to control the reapers using this method since he believes that the human reaper is superior to all the other reapers (because his ego is huge). Since the Catalyst saw no threat, he allowed TIM proceed and bring the human reaper aboard the crucible. You have your little conversation, TIM kills himself then Anderson helps you get on the human reaper then stays behind resting.
On the ground Harbinger is attacking everyone and destroying everything so Shepard decides to put a stop to him once and for all (fuck talking to the Catalyst, that schmuck can wait!). When Shepard boards the reaper it activates and the indoctrination process begins. In order to slow down the indoctrination process, you need max paragon or renegade (events will trigger like they do in the game, requiring you to select your action). You will have a bar displaying your current indoctrination level and if you become indoctrinated, you won’t be able to pick your ending (will default to the control ending). You will still be able to finish the Harbinger fight because you want revenge for what he did during the events of ME2 with the collectors.
Faced with an enemy that can stand its ground, the Reapers stop attacking the fleets and proceed to regroup. Harbinger falls back in order to examine this new unexpected variable and you take your fight to space. The ground troops on earth will continue fight the husks and such on Earth and the smaller ships will stay helping with the clean-up. Your fight will your way past multiple Sovereign sized Reapers until you reach Harbinger.
(I will use Vanguard to describe the scenario since that’s what I like to play)
The fight will begin and you will fly towards a few reapers (spring ability will be like a boost) who will initiate their attacks. You can dodge lasers, bullets and missiles by using your dodge. Using Shockwave with stop missiles, bullets and small lasers (not the red one). You can dodge and use biotic powers to break down the reaper shields, or when you get into melee range (I will just charge in, like a boss) you have the ability to grab onto the Reaper and pry it open, melee the armor until it cracks, use your Reaper powers on it, exposing their weak point. You can also use your own reaper laser on the armor from range but you are immobilized while you charge it, leaving you exposed to a barrage of attacks. You will have a few more options once you are in range.
- Shoot 'em in the eye : You will take your weapon, put it right on the weak point and blast it up close until your thermal clip runs out. This will destroy the Reaper (bonus cool points if you are using Ammo power).
- Heavy Melee : Your reaper sized omni-tool will transform into a weapon, or you will give the reaper a biotic-powered punch destroying the weak point and putting your arm all the way up to the shoulders, then you will rip out the core and it will explode.
- Biotic power : You will blast it with enough power that it crushes the Reaper with the force of the attack.
- Vanguard only (sorry guys, no cool stuff for the rest of you. Maybe once you can fight an Atlas mano a mano!) :
- Charge : You may charge a Reaper from point blank range with enough force to split it in half (this will cause armor damage to your Reaper, just charge another reaper from long range to regenerate the armor.).
- Nova : Basically, you go Super Nova (POWER OF THE NOVA FORCE!) on the Reaper (Your armor will go down to 0, as usual).
Every time you defeat a Reaper, Shepard will say one of Harbinger’s lines and Harbinger will reply accordingly. Or the other way around. Shepard’s lines will change depending on whether he’s Paragon or Renegade.
H: “These attacks are pointless.”
S : “Then stop running and lets end this once and for all!”
H:“You prolong the inevitable.”
S: “The only thing inevitable is your defeat! I will end you!”
S: "Humanity cannot be stopped!"
H:“Your death is assured.”
etc.
Once you clear through the all the Reapers, your battle with Harbinger will begin.
Harbinger will mock your efforts and attempt to demoralize you, as you face off for the last time. Once you defeat Harbinger (not dead yet), a scene will trigger. By this point you either prevented the indoctrination or you were successfully indoctrinated. Some dialogue between Joker and Shepard :
S: "Joker, I need an extraction, ASAP!"
J: "Man, I better get a raise after this!"
S: "Heh, if we survive this I’m sending you and EDI on vacation. Courtesy of the Alliance."
J: "Last time the Alliance paid for our vacation, EDI and I were grounded on the Normandy. Hopefully our next vacation has a little less cold steel, and a bit more sandy beaches. Maybe even a Piña Colada for good measure!"
S: "Ha-Ouch…just get me out of here Joker…"
J: “Aye, aye, Commander!”
After this, Shepard begins the self destruct sequence on the Human Reaper.
H: "You cannot escape your destiny, Shepard."
S: "You sure talk big for someone who is about to meet theirs!"
H: "You are shortsighted."
S: "Is that fear I hear?"
H: "There is no fear."
S: “Then stop struggling and accept your defeat!”
By this point Harbinger is almost completely disabled, and so is the Human Reaper. Being unable to attack, Harbinger is left stuck in the Human Reaper’s grip. As the destruction sequence countdown ticks, Shepard uses the Reaper’s last bit of energy and sets a one way crash course straight to Luna (the moon). Harbinger tries to escape but is unable to, its power is failing leaving it helpless. Shepard leaves the Human Reaper and is picked up by Joker in the Normandy along with Quarian, Turian and Geth escorts. As they make their get away, you can hear Harbinger scream “SHEPARD! YOU CANNOT STOP US!”. Shepard just looks at Harbinger and gives his smug look “Hey Harbinger, this hurts you!”. You then hear Harbinger give off a growl followed by a huge explosion as both reapers slam into Luna. It now has a giant crater on it and is decorated with the wreckage of the 2 reapers.
Shepard asks Joker to return him to the Crucible. Shepard goes up, meets with the Catalyst, and since you’re such an awesome player that didn’t become indoctrinated (right?!) you pick the destruction choice. Now it just destroys the other reapers and doesn’t destroy the mass relays. As the crucible starts to explode and fall apart, Joker pulls off another one of his awesome emergency rescues and gets the hell out of there with Shepard and crew. Once the reapers are destroyed, everyone rejoices and everything is fine and dandy.
Most of the fleets have suffered moderate to heavy damage, Shepard’s condition is poor and doesn’t have the energy to fight anymore. Him and Anderson are laying next to each other, all beat up and bloody. They just look at each other and their faces just say “We did it! I don’t know how, but we actually did it!”. Your love interest (if you had one) is sitting next to you helping Dr. Chakwas (or Dr. Michel if you went with her instead) tend to your wounds. Garrus is jealous because he wanted to ride the reaper with you and have some fun but you didn’t let him tag along. Shepard closes his eyes and thinks about everyone who sacrificed themselves, and everything that was lost in order to prevent galactic destruction. Javik is amazed at how much potential the primitives actually had, and realized that the reason for the Prothean’s defeat was the lack of cooperation. He was still stuck in his ways, as he is a stubborn soldier, but he gave credit where credit was due. Dr. Chakwas/Michel ask everyone to step outside because they are taking up too much room and that their little scratches do not require immediate attention.
Liara and Javik start arguing again as she still refuses to believe what he is telling her about her people, then the Dr. comes and tells them both to shut up and to leave the floor because their bickering is bothering the patients. Tali is resting by herself and is watching Shepard through a window when a Geth Prime walks in and hands her a pillow. Tali still reluctant to thank the Prime, does so anyway and takes the pillow. The Geth Prime expresses his gratitude and hopes that the Quarian and Geth can continue to get along, just how Legion and Shepard’s crew did. Tail insists that it will take a long time before it stops being awkward then quietly laughs.
More stuff happens, the credits roll…
ALERT, ALERT, UNKNOWN FLEET INCOMING VIA THE MASS RELAY
A moderate size fleet of ships that no one has seen before fills up the skies.
The Destiny Ascension asks for immediate identification or they will open fire. Unfortunately this is a bluff, as they are in no condition to fight and are too busy treating the wounded and doing emergency repairs to go into battle right away.
Javik looks up at the sky and says “This can’t be…”. The fleet identifies itself as a Prothean fleet. Just like in the events of Ilos, this was a branch of Protheans that went into hiding in a far away unexplored planet, away from civilization and Reaper attacks. They managed to survive over many generations and knew of the reaper threat. They were monitoring the system and were set on coming back to reclaim what was “rightfully theirs” now that the reaper threat was over. When they arrived they thought that the reapers had won and left, but found that the primitives had managed to win despite still having inferior genetics and technology to them.
The leader of the fleet is bent on re-establishing their empire and will stop at nothing in order to make this happen. They ask all the galactic species to surrender peacefully (and become enslaved) or they will attack.
BOOM. Cuts off. Done. Game Over. See you next game.
Does some of this stuff make any sense? NOPE. Do I care? NOPE. Do I think this would have been awesome? Hell yes. Would I have paid $100 for ME3 had it been like this? You bet your ass I would have.
TL;DR version
Spoiler
I just wanted to get on that giant human reaper and tear some shit up. Why do you do this to me Bioware, WHY?!
Also, I suck at writing.
I thought it was incredibly funny that, at least in my game…
Garrus and Tali
Spoiler
Garrus and Tali hooked up. I liked Tali’s response about it being a one-time deal. Caught me off-guard…I would have expected that from Garrus, being dickish and all, but Tali? :lol:
Basically this.
ME3 is this gen’s MGS2. At least MGS4 (read: Kojima) retconned the entire series (which kinda fixed things?) but Bioware doesn’t even employ the same writers anymore from ME1. There’s no hope for a proper ending.
Oh well, I’m over it now. The best decision angry console fans can make isn’t the one you pick at the end of ME3, or demanding a new ending, it’s trade in the game and pick up Witcher 2 that’s coming out for 360 next month.
I got Witcher 2 on PC, which I would recommend over what will be the watered down, neutered version of Witcher 2 on Xbox. There is no way they had the shit Wither 2 has on PC, without it getting the dreaded AO title.
As much as everyone shit all over MGS2 the only big thing people pitched a fit over was the Snake/Raiden switch a roo but it was nothing on the level of Mass Effect 3 which negated everything you did in the previous game in the span of the last 1/4 of the game.
Speaking of the Witcher, I still need to finish the first game. Not sure how much more I have to do.
Here, watch this, REALLY good analysis on the ending:
Spoiler
[media=youtube]Tbghjn7_Byc[/media]
[details=Spoiler] imo i think the ending was fake. Played through it again today, you can see the screen turning dark several times during the final confrontation, and Shepard getting constant headaches.
Also, if the ending was real, then how the fuck did my last two squadmates end up with Joker on some unknown planet? They were right beside me when the team was decimated. Why where they escaping through a mass relay anyways?
Also, the last part; the grandpa tells the the little kid “one more story”.
[/details]
No mysticsphere no, this has already been explained several times and even Bioware says the thing is bullshit.
is there a link or something to that?
Honestly I do not have one, but Bioware has talked about that and nah. Also with the leaked script out you can see what the ending was supposed to be and that was not it.
Hmm. Perhaps that is so. It would be nice if the theory were correct imo. Would make things more interesting.
[details=Spoiler]The real reason i can’t accept the ending because the writing on it is piss poor. I mean, really really awful. Anderson showing up out of nowhere? Illusive Man showing up out of nowhere? Who the fuck was the little boy?
It felt so rushed, didn’t answer shit, and the ending with joker escaping with your own squadmates through a mass relay is even stupider.
At least with the Destroy option, Shepard could still be alive before entering the beam, and not after like some people assume.
[/details]
What the hell, Jae Hoon? I REALLY hope you didn’t just spoil the ending/part of the ending for me right there. Like…wtf?