Am I going to cry at the end of Mass Effect 3? No spoilers!

[AuronFtw]

If you get seriously connected to the characters (which is easy, IMO, because ME has some great writing) then yes, there will be tears... but not at the very end. Without spoiling, the actual side-arcs (or main arcs, depending on which races/NPCs you care for most) conclude before the game does, so you'll have a chance to say goodbye to a few key characters before the final confrontation goes down. And, at least in my case, those were way more heartbreaking than anything that happened at the end, since I had more emotional stock in those events/characters than I did in shepard.

 

[Rastrelly]

I'm the kind of girl who gets waaaay too into my fiction. When I really, really like a book, a movie, a game, etc I get excessively emotionally invested. This is why it was a very bad move for me to start playing the Mass Effect series during a transitioning time of my life (my bad!) However, I started this quest and I must persevere!

I may veer into spoiler territory here so best stop reading if you plan to play Mass Effect. So I finished the first two games and managed to survive the suicide mission without losing any members of my crew. This is fortunate because I'm totally enamoured with Tali (why? why can't a female Shepard lez out with Tali?!?!) If Tali, Garrus, Thane, Liara or any of the other characters I've grown fond of die in the third game I'll be emotionally distraught

So I don't want you to spoil anything, but should I prepare for the worst? Is possible to clear the game without suffering from gaming PTSD? Basically, am I going to be in floods of tears by the end of the game?

In before, "hur hur, the shit ending will make you cry". I'm not completed shielded from spoilers so I know that the ending got a lot of negative press, but I'm just asking specifically about potential character deaths. I don't want to know specifically who dies but it would be good to know whether I should emotionally prepare myself Gosh, if Tali dies I'm fucked

Sorry for my weird English. I'm a non native speaker and I'm kind of out of practice

Captcha: Dueling banjos. I don't know why I find that so funny.

You will cry. Oh how much you will. Because everything good that is in any kind of fiction was brutally raped by Mass Effect 3. It seems like in-middle of development actual course of the story was rewritten completely, turning it into impossible mess of self-contradictions, plot conveniences, cheap "tear jerkers", false "choices" and overall idiocy of each and every part in play.

 

[ivarsa15]

You might well cry at many points in the Mass Effect Trilogy, especially the ending. But not for the same reason as every other time. You will cry at the ending, because it is so bloody awful! The rest of the trilogy is really good though, so play it for the journey, not the destination.

 

[Doom972]

If you haven't already, download the free Extended Cut DLC. Otherwise, you'll get a short ending that doesn't make sense and doesn't explain anything. Just keep your expectations reasonable and you'll be fine.

 

[Jason Rayes]

A think a lot of the worst stuff than can happen is if you have made kind of douchey decisions. For the most part a lot of the scenes are touching and warm. The last 10 minutes are kind of out of nowhere, the Leviathan DLC explains some stuff but that seems more like desperate retcon. That said, download it.

 

[Jandau]

At the end? Nope. Throughout? Like a little *****. That's all I can say without going into spoilers.

 

[Blachman201_v1legacy]

It really depends on how you perceive the series. You might buy the ending's attempt at pathos and find it quite touching, or you might just be left angry, disappointed, or cold at how badly written it is.

I would say that the Extended Cut might help the ending go a bit easier down (although I was personally still angry from my experience with the original ending so it did next to nothing for me), so you might what to experience that first.

 

[happyninja42]

From what a lot of people have said, I think you will be more likely to cry from the final DLC they did. Called "The Citadel" I think? *shrugs* I don't recall the name exactly. But it's the DLC where Shepherd and the full crew get into some antics on the Citadel before they go off on their final mission. Lot's of fun and character stuff takes place, and people seem to find it having more heart than the rest.

Buuuut, there is one spot in the game, which I won't spoil, that you will probably cry at. It's not the ending of the game, but the ending of something else, involving someone. You get it if you go pretty strong Paragon choices during the previous games. If you've been playing Paragon, you have probably made the choices necessary to get this particular scene, of which I will not give details. But you will know it when you see it I'm sure.

In fact I'm pretty damn sure most of the people in this thread know which scene I'm talking about without even mentioning it. xD

It was awesome but also very tear jerky, which was a good thing IMO.

 

[DataSnake]

Quite a few real tearjerkers in that one. As for the ending itself, let's just say you'll definitely be wanting to download the Extended Cut. And if you want a proper sendoff for the characters, I highly recommend the Citadel DLC.

 

[Kolyarut]

You will cry. Oh how much you will. Because everything good that is in any kind of fiction was brutally raped by Mass Effect 3. It seems like in-middle of development actual course of the story was rewritten completely, turning it into impossible mess of self-contradictions, plot conveniences, cheap "tear jerkers", false "choices" and overall idiocy of each and every part in play.

Just when you think the hyperbole couldn't *possibly* get any worse...

For the original poster, ME3 is a game full of endings - as you move through it you close plot after plot. Right before the end, you speak to each of your party one last time before the final push, and if you haven't cried by the end of that, I'd be astonished. Whether or not you cry at the actual final ending is anyone's guess, but it's not quite an emotional crescendo. By the end you've had endings to several plots, and you've gotten closure with your party members - all that's left to do is defeat the Reapers.


I suppose it's possible to be super-invested in the Reapers, but I'd personally argue that there's never been much of an emotional hook to them at any point through the entire trilogy - they're just the plot glue that holds the series together. The good bits about each game have always been the characters, the subplots and the gameplay, and one would have to be fairly bitter and jaded to write off all of that for the sake of how they closed a single plot point.

I don't want to go into any details for fear of spoilers (the genie may be partially out of the bottle for the OP, which is sad, but no need to add extra fuel to the fire), but I think people were expecting something more like the ending to the LotR movies, where you meet everyone one last time - but you got that, it was just 15 minutes before the end.

As an extra character ending, though, Citadel is freakin' amazing.

 

[CrystalViolet]

Oh God. I'm fucked. I teared up a bit just reading some of the responses to this thread.

 

[Starbird]

I'm the kind of girl who gets waaaay too into my fiction. When I really, really like a book, a movie, a game, etc I get excessively emotionally invested. This is why it was a very bad move for me to start playing the Mass Effect series during a transitioning time of my life (my bad!) However, I started this quest and I must persevere!

I may veer into spoiler territory here so best stop reading if you plan to play Mass Effect. So I finished the first two games and managed to survive the suicide mission without losing any members of my crew. This is fortunate because I'm totally enamoured with Tali (why? why can't a female Shepard lez out with Tali?!?!) If Tali, Garrus, Thane, Liara or any of the other characters I've grown fond of die in the third game I'll be emotionally distraught

So I don't want you to spoil anything, but should I prepare for the worst? Is possible to clear the game without suffering from gaming PTSD? Basically, am I going to be in floods of tears by the end of the game?

In before, "hur hur, the shit ending will make you cry". I'm not completed shielded from spoilers so I know that the ending got a lot of negative press, but I'm just asking specifically about potential character deaths. I don't want to know specifically who dies but it would be good to know whether I should emotionally prepare myself Gosh, if Tali dies I'm fucked

Sorry for my weird English. I'm a non native speaker and I'm kind of out of practice

Captcha: Dueling banjos. I don't know why I find that so funny.

At the end? Probably not. As long as you go for the good end, it's mostly not a downer. There is some powerful stuff going on though.

However there are at least 2 scenes in ME3 that had me sniffling. Won't spoil them for you - but I would recommend actually *not* importing a save on your first play through since you may miss out on one of the most incredible emotional gut punches I've had in a videogame.

Also - don't believe the haters. ME3 wasn't perfect, but I enjoyed it more than 2 for the most part and had no issue with the ending aside from some lack of control - at least in the Extended Cut.

Oh, and the final line spoken before the credits is just goosebump material.

Man - what a great run of games.

 

[Keiichi Morisato]

yes you will cry at the end, you will cry because of how terrible it is.

 

[happyninja42]

(why? why can't a female Shepard lez out with Tali?!?!)

Because Tali isn't a lesbian? The various npc's do have their own sexual orientations If you want to be able to shag any member of your crew, go play Saints Row 4 xD. Well except for the Vice President. He doesn't give it up for anyone.

I do find it funny how this question comes up, but nobody seems to ask the "Why oh why can't my female/straight Shep hook up with the black, gay guy engineer? (I forget his name, sorry)" It's because he doesn't swing that way just like Tali doesn't swing the other.

 

[CrystalViolet]

Oh gosh, it's less than 12 hours in and I've already teared up a little no fewer than 4 times. This is going to be a rocky road!

yes you will cry at the end, you will cry because of how terrible it is.

You're so funny and original! I totally did not expect that someone would make such a witty quip! It was so unexpected that I didn't even throw a line into my post about how someone would make that comment! Bravo to you, sir!

Because Tali isn't a lesbian? The various npc's do have their own sexual orientations If you want to be able to shag any member of your crew, go play Saints Row 4 xD. Well except for the Vice President. He doesn't give it up for anyone.

I do find it funny how this question comes up, but nobody seems to ask the "Why oh why can't my female/straight Shep hook up with the black, gay guy engineer? (I forget his name, sorry)" It's because he doesn't swing that way just like Tali doesn't swing the other.

Dude, I know, I was kidding! Her character is perfect as she is, I'm just making a little joke about my frustrating crush towards a fictional character with a concealed face and no feet.

 

[Kungfu_Teddybear]

Probably not. What probably will happen is you'll log into the Escapist in a blind rage and make the 1000th "Mass Effect 3 ending rant" thread.

 

[CrystalViolet]

Probably not. What probably will happen is you'll log into the Escapist in a blind rage and make the 1000th "Mass Effect 3 ending rant" thread.

I'm very much prepared for that.

 

[hazabaza1]

No.
You're going to get slightly sad, then very sad, then confused, then angry, then disappointed, then angry again, probably sad (but in different way) and then come to accept what has happened.

 

[CommanderL]

there will be a point in the game where you are sitting with anderson and just talking its best to turn the game off there and it will make you cry continue to play for another five minutes and you will be disapointed I was so disapointed that I sold my xbox becuase I never wanted to play mass effect again and they fucking had it if they ended five fucking minutes eariler it would have been perfect

 

[CrystalViolet]

Just completed Priotity: Tuchanka.

If anyone needs me I'll be in my room sobbing loudly.