How to follow up Mass Effect 3's Ending with a Real One (spoilers included)

[scorptatious]

The problem with that ending is that those who chose "LEAVE THE REAPERS ALL INTACT" and "SPACE MAGIC" ending would feel betrayed, and some might have to play all the way through the game again.

Now that I think about it yeah, that could be a bit unfair towards some players.

 

[Chicago Ted]

I'm just going to list problems as I see them in the article:

1) Didn't Anderson die on the Citadel with you?

2) Only having Anderson live if you sided with the Krogan and cured the genophage? Fuck that. I'm sorry, but this is the type of behavior that just rings with "Players think their game is the only game" style argument. What about the people who saw the Krogan as a threat and sided with the Salarians, getting them to focus more of their assets towards the war effort? Why not have it so Captain Kirrahe can save him as well?

3) Make it so that the Geth and Quarians being together in peace makes things better, but does not need to be the deciding factor on whether or not the Normandy survives. Repeat reason for problem 2.

Most of the problems I'm having with this is you seem to be kicking players in the balls not for making poor choices, but rather for not making the choices that YOU made. While I do agree that the Geth and Quarians being at peace is the best, I will say that if that it shouldn't be the only deciding factor if you have other choices that fill in for it. The Krogan I'll put up more of an argument for, especially if Wreave was in charge. Make the consequences less biased and I'll be fine with it, because right now, this would just be an even bigger middle finger to those who play Renegade then the choices in ME3 already were.

 

[370999]

honestly, I prefer just avoiding the indoctrination angle and changing the game to give you an option to refuse the Star child.

That's what a lot of people say, but, honestly, how would that ever possibly work?

I'm not a writer, it's a Bioware decision. If I had to guess I would say you have a patch that removes him and puts in a hologram of harbinger. Prehasp stick to the original plan of the whole dark energy concept.

Yeah it would be difficult and I don't want to offer any solution as I am again not a writer but i trust in bioware's ability to do so.

 

[370999]

honestly, I prefer just avoiding the indoctrination angle and changing the game to give you an option to refuse the Star child.

That's what a lot of people say, but, honestly, how would that ever possibly work?

I'm not a writer, it's a Bioware decision. If I had to guess I would say you have a patch that removes him and puts in a hologram of harbinger. Prehasp stick to the original plan of the whole dark energy concept.

Yeah it would be difficult and I don't want to offer any solution as I am again not a writer but i trust in bioware's ability to do so.

So you don't like the ending Bioware wrote, but you trust Bioware to write the ending?

From the rumors we had Hudson wrote this by himself and was no subject to the usual peer review that all the other stuff was.

Your best friend might fuck up once but generally you can trust him. Like that. Bioware made a mess here but judging by the quality of the rest of their game I see it as an aberration.

 

[SajuukKhar]

So you don't like the ending Bioware wrote, but you trust Bioware to write the ending?

Given how amazing the rest of the game was and the rumors of how it was Hudson who wrote the ending by himself, given the chance for the writers to do it together I would expect that it would be good.

People may hate the ending but you cant deny just about the entire rest of the game was fucking masterful.

 

[370999]

So you don't like the ending Bioware wrote, but you trust Bioware to write the ending?

Given how amazing the rest of the game was and the rumors of how it was Hudson who wrote the ending by himself, given the chance for the writers to do it together I would expect that it would be good.

People may hate the ending but you cant deny just about the entire rest of the game was fucking masterful.

I wouldn't go that far. IMHO the Mass Effect series has always been solid rather then amsterful. I've really enjoyed it but I don't think it's high art, it's like a smart Star wars IMHO, fun, clever and witty but not massively intellectually demanding.

 

[Vuljatar]

The problem with that ending is that those who chose "LEAVE THE REAPERS ALL INTACT" and "SPACE MAGIC" ending would feel betrayed, and some might have to play all the way through the game again.

They can just finish it again from their save before attacking the Illusive Man's base and pick the right ending this time. Not that big a deal.

Plus... the Control and Space Magic endings are kinda obviously "bad" in the first place--not just as in poorly written, but also from an in-universe standpoint. Synthesis is essentially surrender, assimilating all living beings into the collective just like that. And there's no way Control doesn't end badly somewhere along the line, given how all 3 games never miss an opportunity to point out how everyone who tries to control the Reapers is absolutely, positively, 100% guaranteed to end up being controlled by them.

 

[Joccaren]

It's alright. honestly, I prefer just avoiding the indoctrination angle and changing the game to give you an option to refuse the Star child. But I do like how your option ties up with keeping your old saves

Pretty much this.
I don't like the Indoc theory, and simply adding an option to say f*** you to the Catalyst sounds like the most reasonable option ATM. Sadly, it seems as if the Indoc theory is the only way to work past this and get an effective ending however.

 

[JDLY]

I'm just going to list problems as I see them in the article:

1) Didn't Anderson die on the Citadel with you?

...

Well if we're going with the Indoctrination Theory, which this ending would, then the entire part on the citadel was a hallucination by Harbinger and never actually happened, i.e. Anderson, and the Illusive Man for that matter, didn't die.

snip

One word: Genius! I mean, it's not perfect, but that's more epic than anything I thought of.

Personally I was thinking something along the lines of:

Choosing to destroy the Reapers, but beforehand, radioing Joker to pick you up from your current location (that way you don't die in the blast. Seriously, he never thought to radio anyone?)

Also telling EDI and the Geth to shut down for a short amount of time. Giving that the blast destroys all artificial life, them being off would give them the best chance of survival.

Then you shoot the conduit with the guns of the Normandy.

Also, I'd add that I'd appreciate it if, whatever they do, they make someway to live and not destroy the Mass Relays. One of my favorite things about ME2 was that afterward you could still fly around and talk to people/do any side missions you forgot.

 

[The_Blue_Rider]

My problem is with the "having a full 5000 EMS" (which can only happen if you play the multiplayer). Personally, I don't care about multiplayer, so I don't pay for gold membership and I know of many people who don't have internet access on their 360. Can't I have the maximum amount of EMS (around 3000, I think) from playing the single-player only and still get the best ending? My renegade Shepard doesn't take no for an answer.

Why does everyone seem to think that? You dont need the multiplayer to get 5000 EMS, i got it on my first playthrough and i hadnt even touched the multiplayer at that point, hell you can even get every achievement without the multiplayer, because some give you an option (eg Reach level 60 in the single player, or level 20 in the Multiplayer).

I think that sounds really good and all, but it sort of makes it so there is one true ending, make it so that no matter what, Shepard gets up, just that depending on what you chose there is a dire consequence, like i dunno, Garrus dies for Control, Wrex dies for Synthesis, and Liara dies for destroy, make it an impossible decision

 

[Grivahri]

I really like the idea of fighting inside Harbinger

 

[putowtin]

Not too shabby, an interesting read


but more importantly

Also, INB4 Zeel...

...Wait, he's banned??

HOORAY!!

when? Huzzah!

 

[MiloP]

3) While I'm personally fine with BioWare tacking on a bit more to the end of ME3, they should ABSOLUTELY NOT pick a fan-made ending. Now, this is not meant as an insult to you, OP, but I think that using fan-made endings would be very disrespectful to BioWare's immensly talented writing staff if, should a new/improved ending be written, they are completely circumvented by a fan-made ending and end up not being able to finish a series that they've all put their heart and soul into. Not to mention that using fan-ideas sets a bad precedent - if game companies could just use fans to write their stories, then they wouldn't bother hiring paid writers, and lots of talented people could be out of work. Not that I'm saying all fan-ideas are crap, but letting the fans decide the integral backbone of a plot is bound to backfire for somebody.

You do know that Bioware got the idea of adding the "Starchild" from some kid in middle-school? At least this sounds good and can give the ending that ME deserves.

Yeah, I heard about that, and then read the letter that was sent and saw it had bugger all to do with the ending that happened. Seriously, that letter talked about Shephard's son and a "prophecy" of some kind, didn't really fit with anything in the ending.

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

It's interesting, and certainly better than the ending we have at the moment. But maybe it's a little long winded, and I think there could be a more inventive explanation for what the Crucible is other than 'It's a really big gun'. I mean, even if it can take down a Sovereign Class Reaper in one hit, you're still going to have a hard time taking them out one by one if they all attack at once, unless it can fire several times per second that is.

That's just my opinion though.

 

[Da Orky Man]

This is what it would be like if Bioware decided to do just that to the 70ish% of player who didn't choose to destroy all Reapers.

And a few minor problems,. The red wave stopps all advanced tech, right? Meaning no guns. Or powered armour. Or Geth. Or Tali (Suit stopps working).

 

[Da Orky Man]

The problem with that ending is that those who chose "LEAVE THE REAPERS ALL INTACT" and "SPACE MAGIC" ending would feel betrayed, and some might have to play all the way through the game again.

They can just finish it again from their save before attacking the Illusive Man's base and pick the right ending this time. Not that big a deal.

Plus... the Control and Space Magic endings are kinda obviously "bad" in the first place--not just as in poorly written, but also from an in-universe standpoint. Synthesis is essentially surrender, assimilating all living beings into the collective just like that. And there's no way Control doesn't end badly somewhere along the line, given how all 3 games never miss an opportunity to point out how everyone who tries to control the Reapers is absolutely, positively, 100% guaranteed to end up being controlled by them.

100% of anyone who has ever tried to fight the Reapers have dies as well. Don't forget that.