Mass Effect 3 ending SPOILERS!

[ShadowsofHope]

Yep, pretty much my thoughts as well. Mass Effect 3 was officially, for me, the best narrative of the series until the last cutscene after you are lifted up to the final decision.

..And then it became completely detached from everything else in the game (quarian/geth paragon resolution route alone disproves the god-child's theory completely), save for what you could see around you in space (Reapers fighting your awesome fleet of awesomeness). Bioware really dropped the ball on the ending, to say the least. I've already retconned that decision alone with a scenario in my own head for the ending (either a military funeral on Earth for my femShep with her mother there, as per her Spacer background, or Shepard being commemorated by Hackett before the remaining Alliance/Galactic Fleet survivors) to try to ignore it.

That is to say, the ending does not ruin the rest of the game, it just brings up far more questions and confusion than it does closure or answers.

 

[John Howard]

Nothing adds up, really.
Joker flies through a Mass Effect relay, trying to escape the blast. His ship gets hit and then BOOM, suddenly he's crash-landed on an earth-like planet that can support human life.

Yeah, I read one of these comments somewhere about it all being an hallucination and I'm beginning to believe it. The best story writers in the game industry could not make an ending as shit as the "everyone's fcked no matter what, thanks for the cash suckers" type. There has to be something we've missed, I dunno...

 

[jason27131]

My question is: Why was he travelling through the mass relay in the first place? Isn't there a god damn battle going on?

 

[Shadowkire]

Wow, lame.

Since Mass Effect 2 Bioware was showing how AI could be more than simple murder machines bent on the destruction of everything not mechanical. This was refreshing because in most science fiction AI/robots all strangely have the urge to kill people despite having little to no explainable reason for doing so.

Bioware continued this trend in 3 with EDI and Joker engaged in some romance and the possibility of a Geth/Quarian alliance. Then at the very end: nope sorry AI hordes throughout the universe want you dead for no reason that can be adequately explained.

 

[TD5160]

I only skimmed this, so forgive me if this was already mentioned... But how does Galactic Readiness affect the endings? And what about the 7th special ending mentioned in the Prima guide?

I heard high Galactic Readiness (mine is currently 98%) prevents a lot of the super bad things from happening when you choose what to do with the Reapers.

I'm also curious if the 7th ending is far better than the other endings. Though I'm thinking the game might not have been out long enough for anyone to have beaten the game twice...

 

[John Howard]

Add me to the pile of people majorly disappointed by the ending. Especially since I couldn't talk Illusive Man down since I didn't have that one reputation bonus in the skill tree, even though my rep was maxed since halfway through the game. Fucking disgraceful.

Also, what a lame-ass reason for why the Reapers attacked. "Synthetics will always rebel against organics" that is the most contrived lame-ass pile of shit I've ever heard. But maybe my puny mind cannot comprehend it.

Anyone know what happens during the better ending and what I have to do to get it? Because if it's solely tied to the multiplayer, then fuck EA.

You don't HAVE to play multi to get the "full" ending, it's just an alternative. Nah you just have to go around and do all the side-quests and get all of the crap in the galaxy using scan (don't remember what it's called, who cares).

 

[William Ossiss]

When I reached the end, I drank. I was that invested in the story. It makes me sad that

Spoiler

my character just up and died for no reason other than dying for the sake of the universe!

 

[John Howard]

You don't HAVE to play multi to get the "full" ending, it's just an alternative. Nah you just have to go around and do all the side-quests and get all of the crap in the galaxy using scan (don't remember what it's called, who cares).

I had like 2 or 3 sidequests I didn't get because I didn't know where to get them from. Hmm. If you're certain, then I'll do that on my 2nd playthrough.

Yeah, if you do everything in single-player you can definitely get the full ending.

 

[Max]

I think all three series of Mass Effect were ONE BIG EXPERIMENT , some smart-a$$ bioware managers in 2006 were reading statistic list"How many people iin the world playing computer games". And then some of them said
-"wOW its so many of em, they better go to the gym or read some books, we need to do some thing with that....Oh I know lets make three AWESOME games with great plot, intresting characters, hole new fiction univers and best of all that there will free choices role play.
And then, after people spent 180 hours playing all three parts(fist and second part mb playing few times replay) thinking about every small deсision, meking romance with Liara, or Ashe, or wtf even Rex, crying when when Legion first time says 'i',after all this awesome stuf.

we will make ending, with... dont laught god-child< after which all 7 millions fans say: WHAAAT?! &#1064;mmediately load again last mission in citadel, trying anothere ending understanding that the only diffrence is color of last beam. Ok if there is no diffrence between ending decisons, there are a lot of games with only one ending. But we ll make ending when shepMAn/Fem dies, destroys Mass Relays, all his freinds stuck in Jacob fathere style, in no where. And all that doesnt even make sence!!!! All biofans crying "Why Bioware..." and throwing there computers in to the window )

 

[Crazyblade911]

I'm sorry, but I just got finished the Game 30 minutes ago, and I chose the destroy option, now would someone explain how, that particulier ending happened. Cause, I was shooting at either a tube, or a chord, didn't get that good of a look. Now, I know I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed, but how in the H E Double Hocky Sticks, does shooting a tube/chord equate with destroy all synthetics?

While your at it, could you explain how putting your hands on/into an electrical beam/current gives you control over an advanced synthetic life force, last I checked, touching or mixing human body parts with an electrical current tends to send you backwards, with a few of the body's systems going into shock.

I'm sorry again, but I've read a few arguments and would like to contribuite.

The Quarians, would likly still have some food, or seed in the liveships, they would also likely leave there children and the more qulified caretakers back on Rannoch, as leaving them on the ships would cause the older generation to be more defensive of the ships carrying the children.

Regarding the Tech talk, As Mordin Solus said regarding the genophage cure... I can't recall, can't find a video on youtube either, no matter. something like "While the path to the cure is reprehensible, it is still useful, no need to abstain from using it." or something like that.

 

[Fapmaster5000]

Someone on the Bioware board posted an ending that I think solves most issues. Go here to see it, throw him some votes:

http://social.bioware.com/poll.php?user=1183972&poll_id=29101

More importantly, here's Bioware's Megathread in regards to the ending. Let them know how you feel.

http://social.bioware.com/633606/polls/28989/

 

[Eric Morales]

In a way, I feel like no ending would have been truly satisfying. Since finishing Mass Effect 1 I've been imagining how the series might end. Reality will always disappoint compared to the things we can imagine. I admit I was always going to be disappointed by anything short of Shepherd becoming Emperor of the known universe.

Still, the ending we ended up with sort of robbed me of my sense of victory. My feeling playing through Mass Effect 3 was "It will take the entire galaxy working together, but we CAN defeat the reapers." Even the Crucible felt more like a new weapon that was going to help us bridge the technology gap with the Reapers rather than some magical Reaper "off" switch. The ending just ended up being an unsatisfying Deus Ex Machina.

I remember reading somewhere that Mass Effect 3 was supposed to have a whole bunch of radically different endings. In the end the three endings that were all variations on the theme of "Shepherd dies, Reapers go away, everything is kind of shitty."

Then again, I also remember reading that this Galaxy at War business was going to affect the possible endings in the single player. So maybe there's that.

 

[theonecookie]

The thing that bothers me other than the endings making no sense at all is where the reapers a race of machines designed to stop machines from wiping up out because that would be some fucking stellar writing on bioware's part

 

[Sp3ratus]

I remember reading somewhere that Mass Effect 3 was supposed to have a whole bunch of radically different endings. In the end the three endings that were all variations on the theme of "Shepherd dies, Reapers go away, everything is kind of shitty."

Well, according to the ME3 entry on the ME wiki page, it's written:

Throughout Mass Effect 3, Commander Shepard will be bringing the civilisations of the galaxy together as allies to take back Earth and repel the Reaper invasion. The player's choices throughout not only Mass Effect 3, but the entire trilogy, will affect the fate of these civilisations and the endings the player can receive.

The above quote is supposedly taken from the Game Informer 217, who did an interview with Bioware some time back, so it seems like that was indeed the plan. Unfortunately, it didn't pan out that way.

You don't HAVE to play multi to get the "full" ending, it's just an alternative. Nah you just have to go around and do all the side-quests and get all of the crap in the galaxy using scan (don't remember what it's called, who cares).

I had like 2 or 3 sidequests I didn't get because I didn't know where to get them from. Hmm. If you're certain, then I'll do that on my 2nd playthrough.

Yeah, if you do everything in single-player you can definitely get the full ending.

Really? From everything I've read and seen, those are the 3 endings you get, there's no fourth secret ending, other than a video clip of Shepard's body making a slight twitch under all the rubble and the whole stargazer/child storytelling. I got the latter, without doing all the quests and only having 50% readiness. The former, I've only seen the clip of, but even with that as part of the ending, it doesn't really make it a whole lot better, at least not for me.

After thinking more about the ending, I've come to accept it. Destroying the Reapers(which is what I did) and by extension all synthetic life put an end to the conflict and finally freed the galaxy of Reaper control. It did screw over the galaxy royally and set it back centuries(if not more) in terms of technological advancement, but in the end, life in the galaxy goes on and Shepard sacrificing herself achieved just that. It's a pyrrhic victory if ever there was one, but a victory, nonetheless.

That said, there are still things I'm unhappy with, like the fact that Normandy wasn't on Earth, for some utterly bizarre reason and not an epilogue, giving some idea of what happened and at least acknowledging the choices I made throughout the games. Oh well, no game is perfect, but this is damn near close to it.

 

[Arina Love]

yep endings and pretty much whole ME3 story suck didn't even bothered with my second playthrough,like i did with me1-2, sold Me3 off right away.

 

[Deathninja19]

It just boggles me. Did the writer die of a heart attack with one chapter left to go, and it was finished by three chimpanzees, someone who googled the plots of Battlestar Galactica and 2001: A Space Odyssey, and a malfunctioning electric typewriter?

More like Bioware copied the ending off the original Deus Ex.

 

[michiehoward]

What I don't understand is how this alone and mass relays fucked up aren't the Renegade ending, I thought that using the Crucible would cause the the destruction of the relays and strand Shepard and everyone else, but I also thought that you would use the Crucible if you were such a doucebag that you can't unite enough of the galaxy to your side.



EDIT I'm only 12 hours in