Mass Effect 3 "Change The Ending" Petition (almost certainly spoilers)

[SajuukKhar]

When Shepard is in the virtual space with Legion and can't see what Quarians look without their suits. The weak one line cover up the game swiftly deploys is that Shepard never saw himself what a Quarian looks without a suit. You know, apart from Tali... That also doesn't excluse every single Geth connected to the network. They were just too lazy to create additional assets so they just threw a bad cover up at the audience.

In fact, I stand corrected. It's not plot holes the game is filled with it's just overall bad writing. They even ripped off Babylon 5 of some of the points in the end.

Knowing what 1 Quarrian looks like =/= you can make a guess what they all look like. You couldn't tell what all humans look like by only looking at one, and it makes more sense that his mind would gloss over them as being generic instead of having a bunch of people who look like tali walking around.

secondly Babylon 5 didn't make up those story themes. If Me3 is a ripoff of babylon 5 then Babylon 5 is a rip off of countless other works.

I've seen people complain and the evidence, that even after doing ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING (except the multiplayer, the flash/iPhone games or whatever) they didn't have nearly the half of Galactic Readiness needed for one of the endings.

Funny with my Me1 + Me2 import shep I was able to get the best ending with no multiplayer needed.

 

[karoliso]

When Shepard is in the virtual space with Legion and can't see what Quarians look without their suits. The weak one line cover up the game swiftly deploys is that Shepard never saw himself what a Quarian looks without a suit. You know, apart from Tali... That also doesn't excluse every single Geth connected to the network. They were just too lazy to create additional assets so they just threw a bad cover up at the audience.

In fact, I stand corrected. It's not plot holes the game is filled with it's just overall bad writing. They even ripped off Babylon 5 of some of the points in the end.

Knowing what 1 Quarrian looks like =/= you can make a guess what they all look like. You couldn't tell what all humans look like by only looking at one, and it makes more sense that his mind would gloss over them as being generic instead of having a bunch of people who look like tali walking around.

secondly Babylon 5 didn't make up those story themes. If Me3 is a ripoff of babylon 5 then Babylon 5 is a rip off of countless other works.

I've seen people complain and the evidence, that even after doing ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING (except the multiplayer, the flash/iPhone games or whatever) they didn't have nearly the half of Galactic Readiness needed for one of the endings.

Funny with my Me1 + Me2 import shep I was able to get the best ending with no multiplayer needed.

I also wouldn't imagine everyone wearing armor. Isn't the point of the Geth virtual interface is to SHARE KNOWLEDGE? Meaning the data recorded by the geth would contain info what the quarians looked like.

And then what about Jokers ability to escape an explosion FTL shockwave? Ships on their own cannot reach FTL speeds so there is no way the escape was possible.

Not to mention other crimes against video games such as the virtual space itself and the Rachni egg areas. They are nothing more than shameless padding.

 

[distortedreality]

I was fine with the ending choices overall - they tied in with the themes that the games have focused on nicely.

The only thing I guess I didn't like is the lack of information of what happens to everyone after you make your choice at the Crucible.

 

[Nikolaz72]

To be fair to most people, I don't think they're angry with the ending being a downer, I think they're angry with the endings available essentially boiling down to "push a button to choose your ending", which means that hardly any of the important actions from the prior two games have an effect.

For example: Rewriting or not rewriting the Geth in ME2 becomes irrelevant because with one button push all synthetic life is destroyed.

There's nothing wrong with a downer ending, or multiple downer endings. The series HAD to end like that. They just could have been implemented better.

I got an ending without the synthetics getting destroyed. Although it cost the Mass Relays and Shepard. Trying to go for a different one. Logic here was, if Synthetics can proccess things so quickly that they can develope a cure that would take hundreds of years in two years, they. Who have details of the old-machinestuff would probably be able to recreate mass-relay technology in less than 20.000 years. Although thats just a theory o'mine. A bit sad Shepard had to die in that one, next time I will try not to get him killed xD

 

[bustycops1987]

The themes given by the reaper-child are fundamentally sound, even the choices you're required to make can be argued and discussed, and as far as relatively open-ended endings go after the decision was made by the player there's really isn't much else the game needs. Unless Bioware had decided to expand on or explain in more detail the consequences of a particularly choice. And leaving the final outcome at the interpretation of the player is actually pretty hard to screw up... but Bioware did.

For one they went on and presented the player with nonsensical cutscenes that present a multitude of continuity errors. Like why the Normandy is traveling through a relay, or how your entire squad magically resurrects/teleports to the Normandy.

Second the cutscenes are all very similar. This is a problem because the three choices presented are very dissimilar. This is also where the "Bioware is clearly lazy/ran out of time/money/etc" argument gains a lot of weight.

Third the cutscenes introduce a lot of unmentioned consequences. Mass Relays, for example, upon detonation destroy their entire host system. Obviously regardless which of the three choices were made (choices that already invalidate many of the players choices throughout the trilogy) they're then themselves invalidated because Relays have since destroyed most if not all galactic infrastructure.

At that point you're not even discussing the choices so much as just trying to ponder out what the hell was going on in the endings. Since much of what is being presented after the choice is is nonsensical, absurd, or just plain contradicting to the choices desired outcome it doesn't really matter what path you choose (Which frankly could really be seen as a fourth problem "Whatever you choose to do doesn't matter").

Personally though, I'm mad, but not terribly worried. Make enough noise and this confusing situation will be retconned. Fallout 3 got their ending via DLC, don't think EA/Bioware won't do the same if it means appeasing fans and making a quick buck.

 

[Something Amyss]

It's not self-entitlement or 'stupid'.

The fans aren't asking for an ending they deserve. They're asking for an ending that Mass Effect deserves.

Let me couch this by saying I don't think it's either entitlement OR stupid, but I do think it's kinda pointless. Possibly silly. We are asking, in essence, the creator of a story to change the end because we don't like it. And I get that this is a more interactive medium than most, perhaps more than ever before. But still.

On the other hand, if we are going down that route, I would like to petition JK Rowling to rewrite the last Harry Potter.

 

[MiracleOfSound]

[
Let me couch this by saying I don't think it's either entitlement OR stupid, but I do think it's kinda pointless. Possibly silly. We are asking, in essence, the creator of a story to change the end because we don't like it. And I get that this is a more interactive medium than most, perhaps more than ever before. But still.

It wouldn't be the first time...

 

[Seanfall]

No no they don't have the right to do anything they want. Yes it's their game but. BUT! It's MY story. These are the choices I made, and to see them all invalidated by what amounts to a first gen quick time event is so fucking infuriating and nauseating that I can't even bring myself to start a second play through. Their is no middle ground here with the endings you pick one you can't convince the Catalyst to just turn off the reapers, and worse yet it is so....just so...god damn depressing. Sheperd has been fighting these bastards since the start of ME1 and My choices are 'die now' or 'die alone'. And why is it in that final mad dash my squad is suddenly and jarringly killed? No choices no nothing just...*poof* dead. BULLSHIT!

This 'pick your ending' crap invalidates all the other choices I made threw out the other games. It is depressing, it is dreary and it is above all an absolute BETRAYAL! (thank you spoonyone) After all the time, energy, I put into this game, and all the events in the game. I think I'm entitled to an ending that satisfies me. The ending should be bittersweet that's fine but not slit your wrists sad like it is. It just fucking pisses me off. You can A: Control the Reapers and die, B: Destory the reapers, the mass relays and all synthetic life and die alone on the crucible. or C: Merge Synthetic and organic life and die. Question: Why can't I talk the catalyst down? It's capable of making choices you know...LIKE ME! The catalyst is part of the citadel so it must know what I've been up too right? How about we go threw the choices I made I defend them all that good stuff and convince him to turn the reapers off? Destroy themselves? Yes I do want the 'perfect sunshine and lolipops' ending after watching all those people die, seeing worlds burn, seeing the horrors of the reapers and cerberus I think I and Sheperd deserve that ending. Sheperd deserves to settle down with Liara (or who ever you picked as your LI) and have a happy normal live.

But bioware did not deilver. They comped out, instead of seeing all of my choices good and bad laid to bare seeing the consequences. Instead I push a button. Bioware....Just...*shakes head* Please...fix this.

 

[bustycops1987]

Broken Steel, Portal 1, and the leaked script from November all point to the potential for these endings to be retconned out of existence to be incredibly high.

EA/Bioware is catching flak from this all over.

Simple fact is we make enough noise they'll fix this. Hell even the angriest of us would pay absurd amounts of money for a DLC/Epilogue and that even without the outrage would get EA on board.

But yeah this is getting changed, we'll pay for it, but EA/Bioware isn't about to just sit around as they take a beating from everyone.

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

Guess what: BioWare have the right to do ANY ending they want. If they thought that a downer ending was the best way to end the series, then that's what they thought, and NO-ONE ELSE has ANY RIGHT to tell them to change it. No-one. Anywhere. Ever.

Highlander 2. Fans viewed it as an abomination that retroactively ruined the first one as well. Most declared it non canon. The makers of the film actually released an altered version of the film that removed or changed key scenes that completely changed the location of some events. They did this as an apology. When you release something, it ceases to be just yours. And if enough fans want Bioware to change the ending, they should probably do it. Personally, I don't care if they change it or not. I've already declared the endings non canon.

 

[Uszi]

Broken Steel, Portal 1, and the leaked script from November all point to the potential for these endings to be retconned out of existence to be incredibly high.

EA/Bioware is catching flak from this all over.

Simple fact is we make enough noise they'll fix this. Hell even the angriest of us would pay absurd amounts of money for a DLC/Epilogue and that even without the outrage would get EA on board.

But yeah this is getting changed, we'll pay for it, but EA/Bioware isn't about to just sit around as they take a beating from everyone.

Correction:

BW is catching flak. People are shooting flak at EA, but it is not very effective.

EA smells money, the money they can make from the angry fanboys/girls who are saying they'll pay for an extended ending DLC, just like a shark can smell blood in the water, or a vulture can spot carrion from miles away.

Even now, EA is circling.

 

[Abedeus]

They'll protect it.

Also, the fear that Anti-Spirals and Reapers alike had from the evolution and development of organic life is based on their experiences. They basically said "It didn't work for us, so it OBVIOUUUSLLLYYYY won't work for you!!", like some dumb children that don't want to see another kid succeed where they failed.

That's why Simon says: "No that's your limitation! You sit here closed off, locking away other life forms like some kind of king! That's nobody's limitation but your own!". There's a LOT of angst here coming from Anti-Spirals, who couldn't prevent the destruction of universe, and they couldn't bear the fact that they have a limit too, despite being highly advanced.

And yet, they lost to a lesser form of life.

They'll protect it?

You remember that scene from episode 1 with them in space that never happened in the actual show?

According to the shows writers that was Team Dai-gurren causing the spiral nemesis in another timeline.

The show BEGAN with THEM SCREWING UP. My expectations, especially since simon isn't piloting gurren-Lagann anymore, is low.

Sorry, but the alternative is Anti-Spiral continuing to stomp every intelligent life form out of fear of the future.

That's one thing I'll always oppose - status quo, that for example many religions want to achieve, by never evolving, never moving forward, never doing anything to make a change, because the change might be bad.

And alternative universes don't mean much, neither do other timelines. There are probably timelines where Lordgenome killed Simon in the final fight of first season. There are timelines where Simon never escaped from underground and Lordgenome kept humanity imprisoned or at war for years to come. And probably there are timelines where Lordgenome was killed during the first Spiral War, and all of his allies with him, ensuring none of this has happened.

But you can't judge a future that has yet to happen. It was the same mistake Quarians did with the Geth, and paid dearly. "What if they get so intelligent, they'll start a war with us?!", so they tried to defend themselves... and geth were trying to live.

What if by constantly fighting the cycle, Reapers would eventually have to face sentient beings that would out-evolve them, just like the Anti-Spirals finally met their equals? It's bound to happen sooner or later - like the common flu that keeps evolving every year to survive in a world full of vaccines and antibodies.

 

[Wintermoot]

meh I say make your own ending I never beat ME3 but a friend of mine did and I came up with this:
Sheppard survives and starts a ostrich farm in Peru together with his lover.
Also the same friend theorized the current ending is un-cannon and gets re-written when the game is released everywhere (he said it still needed to be released in Asia)

 

[tendaji]

I guess I'm weird because I don't dislike the ending. The way I see the ending was just another choice to add onto all the other choices you make, not a finale that brings together all those choices you made. That finale was heading back to Earth to try and deliver the Crucible, where you got to have a final word with your crewmates, and basically wrap it all up before the final battle. The epilogue I'm fine with, I'd rather leave it to the imagination than be told what will happen, of course I'm in the minority for that again.

I mean how many times have you worked so hard on a problem, just to realize that in the end it really didn't matter if you completed it or not. That's sorta like how this ends up, you built those alliances, fixed a lot of galactic problems, but then a curve ball is thrown that renders that work to be null and void. Which I thought was interesting, because you were expecting everything to be perfectly fine as you were building alliances, just to end up being decimated in a lot of ways during the end.

As for the Mass Relays and FTL travel. Think of the Mass Relays as Super Highways, they are fast, efficient, and get you to where you need to go. While without the Mass Relays, it could be more comparable as one who only travels through the backroads. It's longer, usually takes more fuel, but it is still possible to get from point A to point B.

 

[Vardermir]

As for the Mass Relays and FTL travel. Think of the Mass Relays as Super Highways, they are fast, efficient, and get you to where you need to go. While without the Mass Relays, it could be more comparable as one who only travels through the backroads. It's longer, usually takes more fuel, but it is still possible to get from point A to point B.

Except that these back roads take thousands of years to travel. FTL in the Mass Effect Universe isn't nearly as fast as it is in other sci fi universes, its slower than even star trek. And it was supposed to take Voyager something like 80+ years to get across the galaxy in that season, until they cheated and used Borg trans-dimensional conduits. The current ending has the most Pyrrhic victory I can possibly think of. Sure, you destroy the reapers, but you also destroy galactic civilization for thousands and thousands of years. You may argue that they can build a new relay system, but you'll have to have a relay at both ends. So you have to travel all the way to the final destination in order to finish the other one. You can argue that they could all just build relays between the words that are currently inhabited, but how are you going to coordinate? They have destroyed the universe as far as I can tell.

 

[EHKOS]

It's bloody art! ya don't go changin' tha Mona Lisa's eyes 'cuz ya think it would better match 'er dress!

 

[Dfskelleton]

Heh. I liked the comparison to Misery on the Destructoid page. I've never thought of comparing Annie Wilkes to some of the extreme fans on the in
OT: Okay. There are a lot of games that I love that have crappy endings. But writing a fanfiction ending and petitioning for it to be cannon? Okay. Perhaps after the whole Tali's sweat ordeal I should have been notified of the true extremity of some of the fans of that series, but this is like a whole new level.

 

[Palfreyfish]

To be fair to most people, I don't think they're angry with the ending being a downer, I think they're angry with the endings available essentially boiling down to "push a button to choose your ending", which means that hardly any of the important actions from the prior two games have an effect.

For example: Rewriting or not rewriting the Geth in ME2 becomes irrelevant because with one button push all synthetic life is destroyed.

There's nothing wrong with a downer ending, or multiple downer endings. The series HAD to end like that. They just could have been implemented better.

I got an ending without the synthetics getting destroyed. Although it cost the Mass Relays and Shepard. Trying to go for a different one. Logic here was, if Synthetics can proccess things so quickly that they can develope a cure that would take hundreds of years in two years, they. Who have details of the old-machinestuff would probably be able to recreate mass-relay technology in less than 20.000 years. Although thats just a theory o'mine. A bit sad Shepard had to die in that one, next time I will try not to get him killed xD

Yeah, I went with the symbiosis ending, making all synthetics a little organic and vice versa, again with much the same intent as you. It stands to reason that AI can recreate mass relays, or even build new methods of travelling the galaxy, plus I liked the Geth.

And that was just an example, not what always happens, so yeah.

 

[OldNewNewOld]

I guess I should start a petition to stop Bioware from changing a thing because of this petition because the ending is awesome.
No matter how you look at it, after ME2, I knew how it's going to end. The Mass Effect series never even hinted that there was a purely happy ending possible.

They are waging war against beings who are practically Gods compared to the rest of the galaxy. What do they think would happen? Shepard would gun them down with his Black Widow?