How would YOU have ended Mass Effect 3?

[WanderingFool]

(This is going to be my last Mass Effect 3 thread! I'm sick to the back teeth by it!)

We all know that Mass Effect 3's ending has made gaming history, for good or for bad, and we all know that Bioware are not going to change Mass Effect 3's ending. So I ask those fans who do not consider the current ME3 ending to be the best possible: How would you have ended Mass Effect 3?

I didnt have that serious of problem with the endings, save for the glaringly obvious plot holes that exist with each. So I would keep the two of the three original endings (Synthesis still doesnt make sense), but have them modified, and have the starchild actually be a fuax avatar of Harbringer, trying to convince shepard to make the choices that would benefit the reapers (like what they were doing with TIM.) I would also have a refuse option added.

The EMS rating would affect the three endings:

Spoiler: The Destroy ending

-Having below 50% would result in the reapers being heavily damaged, and some destoryed, but most still capable, plus all the reaper forces would still be fine. Also, EDI and the geth would be destroyed.
-Having 50% or more will result in the same event as previous, but EDI and the Geth are fine.
-Having somewhere around 100% has all the reapers destroyed, their forces just die from lack of reapers, and EDI and Geth are fine. Shepard also somehow survives, possibly because of the massive balls of steel (regardless of male or female).

Spoiler: The Control ending

-Having below 50% would result in Shepard being dominated by Harbringer, and the Crucible ends up allowing Harby to control everyone around Earth.
-Having 50% or more would result in Shepard having barely enough control of the reapers to prevent them from attacking, allowing the voctory fleet to destory them, but at the cost of his own mind and body. While this stops the reapers in the Sol system, the reapers elsewhere are still active.
-Having an EMS anywhere above 70% and below 99% will result in Shepard taking control of the reapers, (would also add, HEY HARBRINGER! Assuming Direct Control!" With Harby giving the standard "oh fuck me" line.) Than Shepard has the reapers pick up the reper forces all over the univers, and directs them to the galactic core, where they are destroyed. Shepard (no has Harbringer) contacts the Normandy, and has Joker patch him through to his/her love interest, where they say there good buys as Shep wields Harbringer into mass relay.
-Having the 100%, its the same as the previous, but Shepard doest have the last call bit to the LI, as s/he walks (or limps) away with a smirk on their face.

Spoiler: The Refuse ending

Shepard decides to not make a choice, starchild disappears and Harbringer appears. Harby than tells Shepard, "So be it, your existance will end this cycle..." Shepard than turns to look at the battle...
-EMS well below 50%, Shepard watched as the Reapers destroy the remaining ships in the Victory fleet.
-EMS at 50%, Shepard watches massive losses of the victory fleet, but sees the Reapers losing ships and forces as well, the scene ends with the battle going on, but the idea that the victory fleet won, but at massive losses, which may have undone much of what Shepard did for most of the game; additionally, shepard is shown dying from injuries.
-EMS above 50% and below 75%, Victory fleet takes heavy losses but destroy the reapers. No the fleet takes stalk of their situation, and plan out how they will take back the rest of the galaxy Shepard is seen dying from injuries, but with a smile on his/her face.
-EMS above 75% to 99%, The Victory fleet desimates reapers, and begans their counter-strike campiagn to retake the rest of the galaxy from remaining reaper forces, Shepard doesnt die from injuries.
-EMS at 100%, same as previous, but with Normandy at the head of the fleet, and Shepard (no better) at the standing on the bridge.

 

[fatmrbunko]

throughout shepard is occasionally reffered to as you because i made a continuioty error and because this isnt a bioware game i shouldnt have to come over it changing all of them

shepard wakes from indoctrination, harbringers laser eye shifts down onto shepard when a shit tonne of fighters fly up to harbringer because for the wake up ending u need high ems anyway. shepard stumbles into the citadel along with some troops brought in to try another push with harbringer out of the way and possibly shepards squad. then basically the mass effect 1 citadel end fight making it come full circle like almost everything else did with everything revolving around the citadel. i mean think about it both have a beam that transport u to the citadel so why dont you come out in the same place and in both ur trying to reach the central citadel control so the getting there should be quite similar and if you notice the beam never hit shepard so he could be in perfect physical condition and was just mentally out of it during his indoctrinated struggle. then after fighting through even more reaper forces either you alone or you and your team make it to the other end of the citadel where you activate the legs.

then the crucible reaches the citadel an then emmits a signal deactivating all the reapers, going through the mass relays but not destroying them and destroying the crucible (not the citadel), the explosion kills shepard, shepard and squad, squad, or none of the above depending on certain choices or ems (crucible related ems). afterwards you see the survivors rebuilding earth (all the races that didnt die) and the krogan rebelling (if wreav in charge and no eve) followed by fall of surkesh or krogan based on whether genophage cured or them helping earth if wrex around or them buggering off if wreav in charge and eve alive (or fall of krogan if eve around no genophage cure), then see rachni rebuilding damaged part of citadel crucible attached to (if alive) and quarians/geth rebuilding the ships lost or them being already restored if both alive and the council giving a small speech from destiny asscention or people rejoicing on alliance fleets as well as 'new London' being powered by human reaper from ME2 or all of earth being powered by it,and u see a broad combover of earth which looks better if EMS was higher and if over 7000 looks almost unharmed (except for the lack of humans and ships/reapers littering the planet)

Finally, at the very end you, the memorial scene given by Hackett for all those that fell during the war followed by a personal one for all the VIPs of the game with either a statue of shepard along with the names of his fallen crew on their on monuments or the monuments with shepard standing there arm around his/hers partner staring at the monuments while hacket/anderson gives speech or alternatively puts flowers or something meaningful to the character by their monument (the rock from rannoch on talis etc) before standing there are and tearing up (if paragon), standing there looking up (if neutral) and walking off (renegade) and then cut to credits

would keep other endings as failure to recover from indoctrination

would also show surviving VIPs at funeral each giving eulogy at shepards momorial or saying a few words at the general memorial.

 

[RastaBadger]

I personally would have changed the entire last game. I would have had the reapers arrive at earth only in the last mission though working their way through the galaxy towards it throughout the game. Then in the final mission, no matter how prepared you were and no matter what choices you made and how high your readiness was, have the reapers come in to the sol system, completely wreck the fleet and have the final mission be you and all of your surviving squad mates fighting off increasing numbers of enemies and reapers around the wreckage of the Normandy until you all die.
Reapers win. End of trilogy.

I would have done this for a few reasons:
1). In Mass Effect 1 a single reaper almost completely wrecked the entire fleet of ships and you're now facing tonns of them.
2). It doesn't make much sense that we are able to defeat the reapers when hundreds if not thousands have already been destroyed by them.
3). It would make a nice point about inevitability while being a great big middle finger to everyone else.

Sure it would be annoying but if they ended a trilogy like this then they would get a lot of respect just for having the guts to do it and would probably be the best (or at least the most unexpected) ending of all time.
(For similar reasons I feel Harry Potter should have ended with Voldemort winning)

 

[SageRuffin]

Hmm...

Spoiler: Here's the short version

Shep, losing blood and, as such, strength, crawls slowly to the control panel, the same one that helped slow down Sovereign in the first game. Right before passing out from blood loss, he/she throws up a fist and slams it on said panel, hitting a random number of keys in the process. There's a pause, then a holo-panel appears, saying something like "Destruction sequence initiated. Now firing..." Lights appear on the Crucible and the entire construct glows before a massive explosion of energy erupts from both it and the Citadel, sort of like an EMP of sorts. The sphere of energy completely overwhelms the entire Sol system, taking any and all Reapers with it. The energy then hits a relay, supercharging it and causing it to fire a beam to the next relay. Then that relay emits a massive burst, and so on and so on.

It takes a few minutes, but it's done. And 3 long years and countless cycles before, it's finally done. Reapers large and small, powerful and pathetic, from the lowly Swarmer to the mighty Harbinger, are dead. It was a long, hard battle, and there were more than a few sacrifices, but it's finally over. Admiral Hackett tries to contact Shep to deliver the good news, but there's no response. In fact, Shep just lies there on the ground, motionless and with a pool of blood slowly gaining mass under him/her.

Cue a few days later. Shep's eyes slowly open and he/she looks around. It's Huerta Hospital, just down the hall from the very room where Ash/Kaidan resided recovering from their injuries. Shep chuckles then closes his/her eyes again. "It's really over... we did it. We really did it." Shep sighs. "It's been a long time since I could finally just rest..." he/she says before succumbing to the simple darkness of sleep.

Cue a few weeks later in Washington DC, at a new erected memorial honoring those who unfortunately didn't live pass the war with the Reapers, the old US military axiom "In life, you honor the flag. In death, the flag honors you." written in large letters at the top. Shep lets a hand slide along it's smooth, marble finish. A flood of memories washes over his/her mind, vivid images of fallen brothers- and sisters-in-arms saturating it: Jenkins, Ash/Kaidan, Pressly, Miranda, Thane, Mordin, Legion, Andersen (this varies, of course). Shep then pulls his/her hand away, then he/she straightens up his/her posture, and salutes.

"Hey!" your LI (if you had one) screams in the distance, cradling a small child in his/her arms (depending on the LI; then again, who knows just how much technology has advanced in the 23rd century, hmm?). "You ready to leave yet?" they ask. "Yeah, here I come." Shep answers, and he/she begins to walk towards the chosen LI. Right before leaving, Shep turns and gives one last look to the memorial. Shep then turns back around, and he/she walk away.

For the other major members of the series, a small epilogue in line with DA:O comes up detailing who did what. Maybe EDI and Joker actually became a couple? Maybe Samantha took that trip to Paris? Maybe Zaeed actually committed suicide right off Omega? Who knows?

Yes, that really is the "short version". Honestly, there are a lot of things I'd change about ME if I had the power, even way back in the first game, if only to accommodate properly how my FemShep would act in the given situation. In terms the game itself, I "went red" and it that regard the ending did everything I needed it to. Sure it wasn't quite how I envisioned it, but my FemShep set out with the explicit goal of fucking Reaper shit up, and Reaper shit got fucked up.

 

[Merrick_HLC]

Simple version that could have been fixed up in a few days.

Keep stuff the same (minus the black tendrils obvious 'indoctrination' stuff) until Anderson & Shepard are bleeding on the citadel.

Then a wave goes off, destroying the reapers (and just the reapers), Shepard dies seeing the victory of the cause.

There is a very long montage/wrap-up Fallout style, going over all the major choices you made and their outcomes, voiced over by the important characters or the closest ones to a particular cause.

Were a Paragon, cured the Genophage, & Wrex & Eve (forget her real name)& Grunt lived? You get a voiceover by Mordin speaking with pride of how the Krogan turned over a new leaf and became a valuable part of galactic society.

Were a renegade and had the Genophage not cured but covered it up? A voiceover by Mordin still, speaking with sadness of how the Krogan's struggled on.
---

Stuff like that for as many major decisions/characters as could be done. (I you gave me a day or two I could prob do a whole list but I don't feel like it at the moment)
----

 

[Geeky Anomaly]

Strap an antimatter nuke to my chest and lure all the Reapers to me by insulting their mothers. Press red button, game over.

 

[BreakfastMan]

Two words: Dance party. When Shep kills marauder shields and makes it to the beam to Citadel, he finds that he is trapped in a disco room. The Illusive Man, who traveled through a mini-mass relay, like in ME1, is there also. Shep finds out from him that they have to have a dance fight, and whoever wins can do whatever they want with the reapers. The choices you made in the game come into play here, with friends coming to help you with the dance off. So, if you saved the krogan, a krogan conga-line comes to help you, or something. Once the dance mini-game is done, you destroy the reapers and save the galaxy, while retiring to a beach with your LI, before another threat requires your attention. You then take off your cool shades and say some cool line, or whatever, then fly off for more adventures.

So, what do you all think of my ending? Pretty sweet, right?

 

[SFMB]

There would be an "End-of-Everything"-ending. By Shepards choice, none of the civilizations deserve to survive. Cycle begins again. The original choices lacked this option all-together, which was sad for my ultimate bastard Shepard.

 

[KingofMadCows]

I would get rid of "The Arrival" and rewrite everything from there so the story makes more sense.

 

[Shadowkire]

Well, since they were all downer endings, I wouldn't change them. Not having played, maybe I don't get an opinion, but the moral is that there are things we can't change even with our most tremendous effort. This is one of those times. Accept it.

Accept Shepard can live through:
1. Getting hit by a beam that would tear down a battleship
2. Getting shot in the shoulder
3. Bleeding for the 10 minutes between the beam and making the choice
4. Choosing the Destroy option, which causes a machine to blow up int Shepard's face
5. The Cidadel(which Shepard is on) explodes
6. Reentry into Earth's atmosphere
7. Hitting the ground
8. The fact that the Destroy option is supposed to break the many implants in Shepard's body

How does he live? Answer: a high EMS!

That is right, Shepard can survive if you have a bunch of people with guns somewhere shooting at things. Except no tank rolls in front of Shep to take most of the beam damage, nobody dives in front of him to take the shot, he doesn't find medigel to patch himself up on the body of fallen soldier.

I would have been fine with all sad endings or mostly sad endings and one where you can just have your allies blow the Reapers away. What they did is an incomprehensible cop out just before people who never played the game start making generalizations and begin talking about artistic integrity(I know you didn't Pfheonix, just adding in other people).

 

[One Epic Phail]

Also, it would have had something to do WITH THE DECISIONS YOU MADE THROUGH OUT THE THREE GAMES

 

[Lunar Templar]

snip

i had something wittier for the end the just 'yeah', but i forgot it :/

 

[One Epic Phail]

snip

i had something wittier for the end the just 'yeah', but i forgot it :/

It's cool

I love egoraptor

 

[Lunar Templar]

snip

i had something wittier for the end the just 'yeah', but i forgot it :/

It's cool

I love egoraptor

hehe, me to >.< maor sequalitis damn it!!!

 

[One Epic Phail]

snip

i had something wittier for the end the just 'yeah', but i forgot it :/

It's cool

I love egoraptor

hehe, me to >.< maor sequalitis damn it!!!

im saiyan

Those are absolutely hilarious

 

[Therumancer]

I would have probably ommitted the entire trippy ending sequence.

IMO what should have happened was another 2-4 hours of gameplay where when Shepard hits the beam he/she appears in The Citadel as a battle rages, being tossed some Medi-Gel from members of the CDF (Citadel Defense Force) who guessing what was going to happen had just taken over the receiving end of the beam. Then there would be another big action scene as Shepard and the CDF, the power of which depends on earlier desicians made governing citadel security, fight to the control center the Reapers are holding. Knowing that it failed to stop Shepard on the ground, Harbinger assumes control of various defensive groups of Reapers before a final Sarenesque battle against Harbinger in control of The Illusive Man and all of his implants. Victory in which causes Harbinger (which is approaching the merged Crucible as the fight goes on, in an effort to destroy it) to power down temporarily like Sovreign allowing Shepard to fire the upgraded Citadel defenses (Thranix Cannons, Javelin Missles, etc... which are supposed to be effective against Reapers) at Harbinger, destroying it.

The way I see it is that whether Renegade or Paragon, Shepard is supposed to be out to save the galaxy. Destroying the Reapers is a "duh" conclusion. So once this is done, setting off the Cruicible does it's job and the Reapers get hit by a massive energy pulse and go "boom" unambigiously.

Then for an ending choice, I'd largely make it about what Shepard does from that point onward, with slightly differant cinematics. He could go into politics to help rebuilding (with his Paragon or Renegade rating influacing the kind of galaxy he steers towards), he could retire entirely and be seen with Garrus sipping Mai Tais on a beach someplace living off his memoirs (perhaps with a bikini-scene of his love interest showing up), or he could do something like disappear into the shadows, and continue protecting the galaxy as a Spectre with nobody knowing he's still alive.

I'd definatly take the time to create a "Fallout" type ending montage that goes into the desicians Shepard made through the three games and how they turn out. Perhaps with addendums if Shepard takes an overt leadership position that also influances things.

That's how *I* would have done things. Understand though I'm not a great writer, and this is hardly the only way I would accept things ending, it's simply how I'd re-do the game.

 

[Vault101]

is it too much too ask for shepard to survive? I mean shepard didnt deerve that...at all

I mean theres sad endings (Red dead redemption)
theres ambiguous endings (portal 2)

eather can work when done right

but put two together and its the worst kind of ending