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How do you feel about the ending?  

471 members have voted

  1. 1. How do you feel about the ending?

    • I love it.
      45
    • I like it as-is.
      59
    • I like the indoctrination theory.
      56
    • I like it, but the lack of closure bothers me.
      100
    • I dislike it, but I may like it with some elaboration and clarification.
      63
    • I dislike it, and hope they make a new ending.
      35
    • I dislike it, and believe the indoctrination theory.
      43
    • I hate it.
      70


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I'm pretty sure the devs have stated, at this point, that the visual at the end was supposed to show that the catalyst's energy or whatever the fuck it was was spread throughout the entire galaxy, not that the relays were going nova like they did in Arrival.

 

Pretty sure everyone on the Citadel's still totally dead, though. I mean, if they weren't, I don't think they'd even need Shepard to open the arms. For some reason, the aspect of that that makes me the saddest is the couple from Citadel: Family Matter, the two arguing over whether to get gene therapy for the kid she's pregnant with to prevent a potentially lethal congenital defect that killed the kid's father.

 

You hear them arguing again in ME2, and again in ME3, where you can tell them that they should do whatever they need to for their family soon, because the Reaper war is pretty bad. Kid's 2 at that point. Not a chance in hell that he's alive.

 

But yeah, the relays didn't go nova. A shitload of people are still dead, and they tell you absolutely nothing about what happens after your decision, but you didn't wipe out the homeworld of basically every species you ever meet (which would include Earth; Charon is close enough that a supernova at that distance would literally destroy the planet). Don't know why they didn't have the common courtesy to explain this. This better be among the many, many, many things they need to clear up with this "Extended Cut" DLC.

 

I don't blame you for snipping the rant, looking back, it goes on a bit :eek:

 

From the very start of the Earth section, I was unhappy with the use of the Citadel as part of the finale AGAIN, and worse was the fact that after spending hours helping people out on the station during ME3, let alone the two games before (i.e. Family Matter, and what about Bailey et al?), it was all for nothing. Unless somehow the Citadel was evacuated before the reapers took it....but then, we don't know as Bioware couldn't be bothered to tell us.

 

I think you're right about the relays, but it still leaves the established ME universe in the crapper, and having thought about it further it looks an awful lots like Bioware saying they are done with Mass Effect.

 

It is still, and always will be, a mess of an ending, making little sense and totally undermining all that was good before it. Why do you see Liara at the end regardless of who you had a relationship with in the game(s)? How are some/all of your crew on the Normandy? How do they somehow survive the destructive wave and land on a distant planet? How will the aliens in your crew survive there? After all you've done for Wrex (assuming he survived ME1), he's either stuck on Earth/on the planet with the Normandy/dead. EDI could have been killed by your choice, same as the geth.

 

How the hell can Bioware spend so much timing making you care for Shepard and his crew and then just throw them all away at the end? It's a shameful thing to do.

 

It's almost looks like someone else wrote the last hour of the game. Utterly bizarre and completely idiotic (it's fair to say I'm still not over it, but then it's only been a couple of days).

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Yeah, but even thought the relays didn't go Nova, they still created an explosion strong enought to partly destroy a ship in midflight, so I still belive that most of the ships in earth orbit got hit/destroyed and then probably fell to earth. good luck with that... You can kiss earth good by after all... But hey, maybe they explain it all in the Extended Cut, we'll see

 

Yep, it looks that way. Glad I bothered with readiness and war assets.

 

Wankers.

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I'd rather my whole team dies to kill/control/synthesize the reapers that to just basically screw the vast majority of the galaxy no matter what. Busting your hump to bring the Geth and the Quarian together only to wipe out the Geth anyway if you choose to kill the reapers is just fucking lame.

 

I agree with that.

 

"Oh hey you just became friends that's cool but you have to die now"

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Ok literally just finished and I for one chose the synthesis ending as(although lackluster) the galaxy was already heading that way what with Shepard being half sythetic already, everyone in the galaxy already having synthetic implants and voluntary quarians allowing the geth to intergrate into their suits. It just made the most sense to me personally to try and save everyone and remove the Reapers. But on another note when Joker got out of the Normandy why was he still limping? Shouldn't the new synthesized DNA(supposed perfection) have cured his Vrolicks syndrome? And all the Relays being destoyed means that everyone is now straded where they are seems to be the only drawback. And finally Marauder shields was a bastard.

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Busting your hump to bring the Geth and the Quarian together only to wipe out the Geth anyway if you choose to kill the reapers is just fucking lame.

 

Agreed....I was so pleased to have ended the quarian/geth war and they were getting along - bearing in mind this was only possible if you had made careful decision going right back to ME2.

 

Why didn't Shepard use this as an example of Organic/Synthetic co-operation when talking to the starchild? Or perhaps mention EDI? Instead, he just mumbles "I don't know" and bends over.

 

I appreciate he's a bit beaten up by that point, but having struggled against the reapers for so long I was expecting more of a fight. Unless he was indoctrinated/dreaming the whole thing and Bioware have the greatest ending in video game history ready as DLC. OK, maybe not.

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I might of just missed it (probably did to be honest) but where did Shepard get the gun from when he goes up to Starchild. From what I seen Shepard drops the gun when he/she sits next to Anderson and if not there when he/she faints. He/she has one hand on his/her stomach and the other reaching out for the control panel then he/she faints. Or is Shepard that badass that he/she can pull a gun out of thier ass.

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I might of just missed it (probably did to be honest) but where did Shepard get the gun from when he goes up to Starchild. From what I seen Shepard drops the gun when he/she sits next to Anderson and if not there when he/she faints. He/she has one hand on his/her stomach and the other reaching out for the control panel then he/she faints. Or is Shepard that badass that he/she can pull a gun out of thier ass.

 

Considering Shepard always uses a Predator for cut scenes and I never bought/used a Canifex when I played, I will just assume *SPACE MAGIC*.

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I haven't scanned all the pages here so I hope this hasn't been mentioned, but was anyone else a little creeped out by the Keeper just going about its business, presumably processing corpses, in the citadel's body dump room?

 

As for my two cents on the ending, it was a let down for me. I honestly do hope that this was a false ending/fight to de-indoctrinate because it was just so anti-climactic and nonsensical. The Normandy ftl jump and subsequent crash landing, the AI, the choices you made leading to absolutely nothing... plus it had so many loose ends i checked the credits to see if the battlestar galactica writers had a hand in the story.

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I haven't scanned all the pages here so I hope this hasn't been mentioned, but was anyone else a little creeped out by the Keeper just going about its business, presumably processing corpses, in the citadel's body dump room?

 

As for my two cents on the ending, it was a let down for me. I honestly do hope that this was a false ending/fight to de-indoctrinate because it was just so anti-climactic and nonsensical. The Normandy ftl jump and subsequent crash landing, the AI, the choices you made leading to absolutely nothing... plus it had so many loose ends i checked the credits to see if the battlestar galactica writers had a hand in the story.

 

I wanted to shoot the keeper (can't remember if Shepard had a gun at that point or not), but this being the end of ME3, any choice on my part was strictly forbidden :uzi:

 

If it was a 'false' ending and a kick-ass piece of DLC with the most epic ending to a series in gaming history comes about in the summer....that would be good, to an extent. But I think even if that does happen (unlikely), too much damage has been done with the crud that currently appears at the end of ME3 and if Bioware thought they were being clever it has already massively backfired on them.

 

As for Battlestar Galactica....good point!

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I wanted to shoot the keeper (can't remember if Shepard had a gun at that point or not), but this being the end of ME3, any choice on my part was strictly forbidden :uzi:

 

You have a gun, but shooting it is like shooting a wall, it doesn't react at all.

 

Oh I may as well post this for anybody that's trying to follow the news. Bioware has been calling voice actors back in, the actors for EDI and Kaiden are already recording. Fans are keeping an eye out for media confirmation of other key characters to gauge what to expect, here's an exert from the article:

 

Fans on the Bioware forums are entering with cautious optimism and keeping an eye out for announcements that people like Keith Szarabajka, the voice of Harbinger, as a sign that the Mass Effect 3 ending DLC will actually be able to fix the ending.

 

Alternatively, some Hawaiian fans, two GameStop employees that wish to remain nameless to protect their jobs, are keeping an eye out for the child actor that provides the primary voice for the Catalyst instead, as that will mean the Bioware employees missed the mark entirely on what was wrong with the original ending.

Edited by Veedrock
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Alternatively, some Hawaiian fans, two GameStop employees that wish to remain nameless to protect their jobs, are keeping an eye out for the child actor that provides the primary voice for the Catalyst instead, as that will mean the Bioware employees missed the mark entirely on what was wrong with the original ending.

 

Oh god please no more god child space magic. On the other note, I hope this means we get to hear Liz Sroka, Brandon Keener, and Steven Barr in the ending.

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I can somewhat say that after reading a lot of these posts, I understand the ending a bit better. I enjoy reading people's comments and their thoughts and opinions. I'm not going to go into my interpretation of the ending as there are so many. Upon finishing my first run through of the game I chose the synthesis (green) ending. I liked the idea of reaching the pinnacle of evolution.

 

But as everyone else has mentioned, the burning questions of what happens afterwards. That's what bothered me the most. Also, some have mentioned that possible DLC content will expand upon Shepard taking a breath. To me that suggests that's what the ending should have been, though I disagree, otherwise why give us the choice in the final part of the final game in the series. And as I said, I chose the synthesis ending, how will DLC expand upon that? Food for thought.

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i love how people act like if they get the child actor of the catalyst back to do more dialogue it will mean that "bioware missed what was wrong with the ending entirely" like its some kind of fact. they already said that they were just expanding upon it, not changing it. that would be the one place to have more dialogue to give people a better understanding of the reasoning behind everything. or perhaps an explanation as to what exactly the catalyst is or where it originated from, as well as the crucible. i have to be honest here, when the ending isnt actually changed but just elaborated upon and everyone freaks out again, im going to laugh my ass off. twice.

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Honestly, I don't believe for a second that this extended ending is going to make the ending any better. The problem I have with the end is how it strays from the lore of the game, mainly due to that dick Catalyst. So since Bioware confirmed that they weren't changing the ending, unless they go the Indoctrination route I highly doubt I'm going to like the extension.

 

Know what I think? I think that if the origin and purpose of the Reapers had been a mystery the entire game, then we wouldn't have been disappointed. The Catalyst kid created the Reapers and their purpose is to kill all advanced organic life so that synthetics don't kill all organic life. Since both of those things are stupid, I think everyone would've been a lot happier if we never found out the Reapers' origin or purpose. It's like revealing Master Chief's face; some things are better off being unknown.

 

So while I'm expecting nothing special with the extended ending, I am looking forward to it. The fanbase has given Bioware a way out with the Indoctrination theory; they can get rid of the Catalyst Dickhead and the "space magic" in one fell swoop by going that route, and in doing that, getting rid of everything that made the ending absolutely terrible.

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Honestly, I don't believe for a second that this extended ending is going to make the ending any better. The problem I have with the end is how it strays from the lore of the game, mainly due to that dick Catalyst. So since Bioware confirmed that they weren't changing the ending, unless they go the Indoctrination route I highly doubt I'm going to like the extension.

 

Know what I think? I think that if the origin and purpose of the Reapers had been a mystery the entire game, then we wouldn't have been disappointed. The Catalyst kid created the Reapers and their purpose is to kill all advanced organic life so that synthetics don't kill all organic life. Since both of those things are stupid, I think everyone would've been a lot happier if we never found out the Reapers' origin or purpose. It's like revealing Master Chief's face; some things are better off being unknown.

 

So while I'm expecting nothing special with the extended ending, I am looking forward to it. The fanbase has given Bioware a way out with the Indoctrination theory; they can get rid of the Catalyst Dickhead and the "space magic" in one fell swoop by going that route, and in doing that, getting rid of everything that made the ending absolutely terrible.

 

 

The fans have made tons of reworked endings some of which are pretty damn good.(I personally like Terrorize's "Aftermath")

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Honestly, I don't believe for a second that this extended ending is going to make the ending any better. The problem I have with the end is how it strays from the lore of the game, mainly due to that dick Catalyst. So since Bioware confirmed that they weren't changing the ending, unless they go the Indoctrination route I highly doubt I'm going to like the extension.

 

Know what I think? I think that if the origin and purpose of the Reapers had been a mystery the entire game, then we wouldn't have been disappointed. The Catalyst kid created the Reapers and their purpose is to kill all advanced organic life so that synthetics don't kill all organic life. Since both of those things are stupid, I think everyone would've been a lot happier if we never found out the Reapers' origin or purpose. It's like revealing Master Chief's face; some things are better off being unknown.

 

So while I'm expecting nothing special with the extended ending, I am looking forward to it. The fanbase has given Bioware a way out with the Indoctrination theory; they can get rid of the Catalyst Dickhead and the "space magic" in one fell swoop by going that route, and in doing that, getting rid of everything that made the ending absolutely terrible.

 

I've heard the claim that it contradicts the lore plenty of damned times, but no one can ever actually back up the claim with anything solid. The Catalyst mostly doesn't talk about any damned thing besides the Reapers and their purpose, something we had no information on prior to meeting him except for vague stuff from 1 and 2, and something a bit more solid on Rannoch in 3, depending on the conversation options you choose, which matches what the Catalyst said 100%.

 

If you're talking about "Space Magic," the game has something that matches that description almost literally which no player complains about (biotics). FTL travel is impossible, too. The Crucible was always going to be space magic, since there's no damned way that a weapon could realistically target a single sort of entity in a shit-ton of places without fucking up everything in between. Honestly, killing synthetics as well as the Reapers made way more sense than what they initially seemed to be proposing.

 

And people seem to be damned intent on getting what he says wrong. He specifically states that the Reapers don't destroy all organic life, something backed up by their actions every damned cycle. They only destroy advanced organics, capable of creating synthetics. The difference is that synthetics would, at least according to the Catalyst (and some fairly rational discussions with Javik), ultimately decide that all organic life is a threat. The goal was to stop them from eradicating life entirely.

 

People seem to be intentionally thickheaded about this stuff. I can't help but think that a big part of it is because of people seeing the internet outrage. The same silliness is repeated over and over, and what's accepted by the plurality of gamers, despite contradicting stuff from the game, becomes accepted as fuel for continued anger.

 

I think that as it is now, because so many fans seem to be devoted to the same specific bits of stupidity, giving a more complete ending where shit we did actually gets to matter won't be enough. If they'd done it that way to begin with (which they REALLY fucking should have), I bet this internet rage shit would barely register, or would at least be a much, much, much smaller issue. As is, people won't accept any ending that isn't a complete retcon. If they changed it, they would definitely have to change the dialogue on Rannoch, take out the option where the Reaper says that without them, conflicts like the Geth/Quarian war would lead all organics to death.

 

What they presented is consistent with the rest of ME3, the presentation was just so goddamned awful that people started finding holes in it specifically, even though there are much larger logical gaps in the series that people never noticed.

 

It's troublesome, still having a firm dislike for the ending as presented, and still being damned sure that most of the fan response is pretty thickheaded. I'm a man without a country! Without a very vocal one, at least... seems like between 20% and 36.33% might be about where I'm at, based on poll, but no way to know.

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I've heard the claim that it contradicts the lore plenty of damned times, but no one can ever actually back up the claim with anything solid. The Catalyst mostly doesn't talk about any damned thing besides the Reapers and their purpose, something we had no information on prior to meeting him except for vague stuff from 1 and 2, and something a bit more solid on Rannoch in 3, depending on the conversation options you choose, which matches what the Catalyst said 100%.

 

If you're talking about "Space Magic," the game has something that matches that description almost literally which no player complains about (biotics). FTL travel is impossible, too. The Crucible was always going to be space magic, since there's no damned way that a weapon could realistically target a single sort of entity in a shit-ton of places without fucking up everything in between. Honestly, killing synthetics as well as the Reapers made way more sense than what they initially seemed to be proposing.

 

And people seem to be damned intent on getting what he says wrong. He specifically states that the Reapers don't destroy all organic life, something backed up by their actions every damned cycle. They only destroy advanced organics, capable of creating synthetics. The difference is that synthetics would, at least according to the Catalyst (and some fairly rational discussions with Javik), ultimately decide that all organic life is a threat. The goal was to stop them from eradicating life entirely.

 

People seem to be intentionally thickheaded about this stuff. I can't help but think that a big part of it is because of people seeing the internet outrage. The same silliness is repeated over and over, and what's accepted by the plurality of gamers, despite contradicting stuff from the game, becomes accepted as fuel for continued anger.

 

I think that as it is now, because so many fans seem to be devoted to the same specific bits of stupidity, giving a more complete ending where shit we did actually gets to matter won't be enough. If they'd done it that way to begin with (which they REALLY fucking should have), I bet this internet rage shit would barely register, or would at least be a much, much, much smaller issue. As is, people won't accept any ending that isn't a complete retcon. If they changed it, they would definitely have to change the dialogue on Rannoch, take out the option where the Reaper says that without them, conflicts like the Geth/Quarian war would lead all organics to death.

 

What they presented is consistent with the rest of ME3, the presentation was just so goddamned awful that people started finding holes in it specifically, even though there are much larger logical gaps in the series that people never noticed.

 

It's troublesome, still having a firm dislike for the ending as presented, and still being damned sure that most of the fan response is pretty thickheaded. I'm a man without a country! Without a very vocal one, at least... seems like between 20% and 36.33% might be about where I'm at, based on poll, but no way to know.

 

There are still many loopholes and lack of closure that needs to addressed and not "oh well you didn't understand it, tough".

 

Current Ending as is

-Where did my teammates go after the blast?

Now I don't know about you but I brought Tali/Garrus to the final mission and then they walk out of the Normandy like nothing happened?

 

-Relays Blow up

Before you say "omg it was a controlled explosion", I am taking the ending as is and the only time we have seen a Relay explode it well.... killed everything.

 

-GODCHILD MAKES NO FUCKING SENSE

Remove him, now.

 

-RedGreenBlue

I really don't care what anyone says about each ending THEY ARE ALL THE FUCKING SAME. With no epilogue we can only assume that all we did was pick a color.

 

-Green ending

I refuse to call it by its real name so that will have to do. What was the point of ME1&2&DLC&3 if the Reapers could have done this from the start?

 

-Secret "I AM ALIVE" ending

Again, made no sense given the information that they gave us. "pick the red ending and you die"

 

 

IT Theory

 

-K what now?

Assume that by some miracle that Bioware intended this to be the ending. dafuck happens next? All that did was bring us back to square 1.

 

 

Also biotics have been in Mass Effect since the start of the game but the beiberreaper showed up in the last 5 minutes of the game.

 

I'm sure I could add more but I am trying to forget how bad the ending was and so I leave you with this:

 

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e329/Chaos_Shadow2237/Motivationals/JusticarMotivational.jpg

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Current Ending as is

-Where did my teammates go after the blast?

Now I don't know about you but I brought Tali/Garrus to the final mission and then they walk out of the Normandy like nothing happened?

 

Yeah, that's one area where I agree about making no damned sense. None at all.

 

-Relays Blow up

Before you say "omg it was a controlled explosion", I am taking the ending as is and the only time we have seen a Relay explode it well.... killed everything.

 

But it still doesn't contradict the lore. Kenson says it'll go nova because of the massive amount of energy 'stored' in the relay. I think what we were supposed to get out of it is that the same energy went to powering whatever energy the Catalyst spread around to magic away the Reapers.

 

-GODCHILD MAKES NO FUCKING SENSE

Remove him, now.

 

That's what I disagree with completely. I have no idea why people think this, besides the obvious of not listening to what he says.

 

I really don't care what anyone says about each ending THEY ARE ALL THE FUCKING SAME. With no epilogue we can only assume that all we did was pick a color.

 

Red is actually slightly different, but only VERY slightly; the Reapers fall down dead rather than flying away. But I agree entirely. That isn't the same as contradicting lore or making no sense, though, and it's exactly this sort of thing that an 'extended cut' can fix.

 

-Green ending

I refuse to call it by its real name so that will have to do. What was the point of ME1&2&DLC&3 if the Reapers could have done this from the start?

 

The catalyst says that the Crucible presents new options. The implication is that he didn't have the capability to do this without it.

 

-Secret "I AM ALIVE" ending

Again, made no sense given the information that they gave us. "pick the red ending and you die"

 

It's the only ending where we don't actually directly see Shepard die. I think that's the only reason it could possibly be there. Still damned stupid that Shepard was walking straight towards an exploding tube rather than kind of keeping some distance. Sort of bothers me when people use this to tout the indoctrination theory; the rubble looks pretty much the exact same in ME1 when the Citadel gets its shit rocked when Sovereign explodes.

 

IT Theory

 

Always thought it was complete bullshit. If indoctrination worked that way, why the fuck wouldn't Saren talk about how he had a wacky dream where he had a deep conversation with someone he tortured to death once about whether to kill or join the Reapers, or some stupid shit like that? Indoctrination slowly, subtly alters the mind. It's never taken the form of a dream, and it's always seemed more like a drug than anything else; not something that you can just wish away. If it was open to resistance, than it'd be like any other idea, and it wouldn't be a threat.

 

Point is that none of it actually contradicts established lore. The nonsensical bits are nonsensical no matter what for reasons that don't relate to the lore. Only the indoctrination theory actually contradicts what's in the series elsewhere, since indoctrination has always been depicted as either being rapid and completely debilitating or being a slow, subtle process that the victim doesn't notice. Sure as fuck never been a dream.

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I am extremely confused on grandfather telling story, looked like ancient humans in games perspective.... Was that a new cycle? They seem to not know about space, but how know about shepard? Even if no Mass Relays, citadel was not blown ul nor was fleets, and other races were stranded on earth. Idk... That made no sense to mee. Over dramatic trilogy with a sense of importanxe that like controlled me, to see some insame twist, with no explanation sucks. MAYBE The relays killed all life, a new cycle began, for all of it to repeat again. But then, how is shepard known if not just a sci fi story in the grandpa and kids world, and why would there be humans left after everyone died. Seriously, super dramatic RPG with such hard choices that effect so much, for in the end to have no decision actually matter, and the same overall fate with no answers at all?

Edited by Celly
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I am extremely confused on grandfather telling story, looked like ancient humans in games perspective.... Was that a new cycle? They seem to not know about space, but how know about shepard? Even if no Mass Relays, citadel was not blown ul nor was fleets, and other races were stranded on earth. Idk... That made no sense to mee. Over dramatic trilogy with a sense of importanxe that like controlled me, to see some insame twist, with no explanation sucks. MAYBE The relays killed all life, a new cycle began, for all of it to repeat again. But then, how is shepard known if not just a sci fi story in the grandpa and kids world, and why would there be humans left after everyone died. Seriously, super dramatic RPG with such hard choices that effect so much, for in the end to have no decision actually matter, and the same overall fate with no answers at all?

 

That was my initial take, the old man and kid after the credits don't appear to be technologically advanced at all and don't possess space travel. Aren't they also on the planet that the Normandy crashes on?

 

So that led me to believe that the galaxy had been royally shafted by the events at the end of the game, technology-wise. Which seemed a pretty big downer to be honest, and also meant that it would be a struggle for Bioware to bring any ME sequels into a universe they had pretty much killed off. But then, maybe that was always the plan, BW were finished with Mass Effect and thought this was the best way to do it.

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