ME3 Ending: What did you WANT it to be and WHY? (Expect Spoilers)

[Elamdri]

I've been reading a lot about the rage over the ending of Mass Effect Three, and to be honest, I've read a lot of good arguments about why the ending of the current game is bad (and a few about why it's good). However, I haven't seen much if any of meaningful discussion about what people actually wanted to see from the endings of their Mass Effect games.

and I'm not talking about things like "I wanted my choices to matter" and "I wanted closure" or "I just didn't want it to suck." These don't really give any insight into what you are thinking. How am I supposed to know what you would view as "your choices mattering" or "Closure." I'm talking what did you actually want to see happen. Describe it for me, explain it to me. I want to see what people's actual expectations were.

 

[White Lightning]

I personally liked the Mass Effect 3 ending.

 

[JeanLuc761]

I'm not particularly against the three options presented to us as being potential avenues, but there should have been a hell of a lot more variety. Up to this point, Shepard has successfully been able to talk his/her way out of ANY situation, no matter the odds. He's never accepted the dark path given to him, and yet with the Catalyst, no protest is offered whatsoever. We're basically given these three incredibly depressing options completely out of the blue, and Shepard just goes with it.

There should have been at least two more options, including:
1) The Reapers win. Nothing complex about it; you dun goofed and the Reapers successfully defeat your fleet and continue harvesting all advanced organic life.
2) Mass Effect's "Triumphant" ending. Where you shake the little bastard and say "I reject your bullshit choices. You tell me that organics and synthetics can't coexist? Look at the quarians and the geth, look at Joker and EDI. You're wrong and I know damn well that you can call off your troops and leave us to define our own future." The reapers are defeated, Shepard survives, and we get our typical "Hero" ending like the prior two games have offered.

Beyond that...closure is a definite with a series this large. We NEED to know what happened to our friends and squadmates. We NEED to know what happens to galactic society after the REaper threat is gone. And we sure as hell don't need any extra questions that were introduced 5 minutes before the credits roll. And we don't need Shepard's very character foundation destroyed for no evident reason.

Just a few thoughts.

 

[Elamdri]

Here is my thing:

The Reaper's Motive for extinction needs to be scrapped. It is the seed from which all the complaints about the game's ending stem. Their motive is to exterminate organic life from the galaxy because if they don't synthetic life will exterminate organic life from the galaxy.

WHAT?

First, that doesn't make sense; you have the Reapers doing exactly what they say they are trying to stop. Unless you operate under the assumption that the Reapers don't exterminate ALL organic life, whereas other synthetic life would...I guess theoretically destroy ALL organic life to a bacterial level? Which doesn't make a whole lot of sense either.

Second, why are we suddenly supposed to accept as fact that it is true that all synthetic life will eventually destroy organic life? The only synthetic lifeforms that have actively tried to destroy all organic life are...the Reapers themselves. The only other example we have is the Geth, and there is no concrete evidence from the Geth to support the Reaper contention. In fact, it's quite the opposite.


In my opinion, I think they should have never given us a motive for the Reapers. Why do they want to kill us all? Just because. Because after all, the enemy you don't understand, the enemy who's motives are so utterly alien that they are beyond your comprehension, now that is truly terrifying. Heck, I would also have been ok with just operating under the assumption that I had in ME2, that Reapers needed to use us to create new Reapers. That's fine too.

By removing their motive, it removes the need for the god-kid AI who explains all this crap, and the need for the 3 choice ending.

I think then there could have been a plethora of endings

1. You failed to bring peace to the races of the galaxy. The Reapers defeat you and life is exterminated from the galaxy.
2. You failed to bring peace to the races of the galaxy. The Reapers defeat you and life is exterminated from the galaxy. However, you left some message for future generations of the next cycle to give them a chance.
3. You use the Crucibles magic McGuffin powers to Destroy the Reapers, but at heavy costs. It is a phyrric victory, society still crumbles, but the Reapers will never threaten an organic race again.
4. You use the Crucible's magic McGuffin powers to Destroy the Reapers, and the galaxy survives, but because you failed to truly bring peace to the races, without the threat of Reapers over there heads, soon the races of the galaxy seek to exploit each other in their weakened state
5. You or the Illusive Man used the Crucible's magic McGuffin powers combined with the Illusive Man's study of Reaper tech you saved on the Collector Base to take control of the Reapers and conquer the galaxy for humanity.
6. You unite all the races in the galaxy in a true alliance, Destroy the Reapers, bringing true and lasting peace to the galaxy, but at a high cost of life.
7. You unite all the races in the galaxy in a true alliance, Destroy the Reapers, bringing true and lasting peace to the galaxy, and Shepard survives the events.

 

[Cranky]

I would have liked it if Bioware didn't try to add a convoluted "twist" like what they did. It would be good if they just let Shepard ctivate that bloody console and activate the Crucible, which perhaps disables all Reapers. Then, cutscene of entire galaxy's fleets mopping up the Reapers and blowing them to hell.

Alternately, they could have the Crucible failing and a fight to the death with the entire fleet making a final stand. Shepard perhaps bleeds to death watching as the Reapers die out, then screen fades to black. The nblah blah happy ending, memorials and shit.

However, I am fine with what I've got no matter how shitty it was. The petition thing that's going on is just plain time-wasting.

 

[distortedreality]

I expected it to include Shepard dying to save everyone else - so i'm happy enough there. I guess the only thing i'm missing is the lack of "what happened after" dialogue.

 

[L34dP1LL]

Here is my thing:
Snip.

This seems the way they should have gone, giving you an actual reason to replay the game, and make an even bigger effort to see the best ending. not just the same ending with a different hue.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

The ending didn't make any fuckin' sense. I've been preparing for 3 games to kill the Reapers and save the galaxy. That's all I wanted. Mass Effect was always about you and your team against the impossible odds, prevailing in the end if you make all the right choices. I made all the right choices, and they were taken away from me and replaced by illogical ending. I wanted the galaxy to be safe, I wanted my Shepard to stay with Liara and have little blue children running around. I wanted Garrus and everyone else to be OK, to be heroes. I wanted to do what the game has been telling me I'll be able to do the whole time I was playing it.

And for those of you who can't see the lack of logic in the ending, what game where you fuckin' playing this whole time?

 

[distortedreality]

The ending didn't make any fuckin' sense. I've been preparing for 3 games to kill the Reapers and save the galaxy. That's all I wanted. Mass Effect was always about you and your team against the impossible odds, prevailing in the end if you make all the right choices. I made all the right choices, and they were taken away from me and replaced by illogical ending. I wanted the galaxy to be safe, I wanted my Shepard to stay with Liara and have little blue children running around. I wanted Garrus and everyone else to be OK, to be heroes. I wanted to do what the game has been telling me I'll be able to do the whole time I was playing it.

And for those of you who can't see the lack of logic in the ending, what game where you fuckin' playing this whole time?

The ending actually fulfilled just about everything you wanted - other than making sense of course lol.

Personally, Mass Effect was always going to end with Shep dying to save the galaxy. It's telegraphed from the moment you get back on Earth for the end-game run, and you could even argue that it's been telegraphed since ME1. I actually think the ending would of done less justice to the series if it was a happy "everything is ok now" ending.

Like you I would of liked some explanation of what happened to everyone else afterwards, but other than the somewhat curveball nature of the end sequence (as well as the cut and paste nature of the Normandy sequence) I got what I expected.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

Personally, Mass Effect was always going to end with Shep dying to save the galaxy.

Maybe in your playthrough. But it's supposed to be an RPG that let's you have the best possible ending you can imagine if you do everything right. I did everything right.

 

[distortedreality]

Personally, Mass Effect was always going to end with Shep dying to save the galaxy.

Maybe in your playthrough. But it's supposed to be an RPG that let's you have the best possible ending you can imagine if you do everything right. I did everything right.

If it's an RPG (which it obviously is), by your own definition, there isn't any right way or wrong way. And I don't like this idea of the devs being obligated to give you "the best possible ending you can imagine". The devs deliver a product, as long as it's finished, they've done their job.

If you don't like it, that's of course your decision, but the devs have no obligation whatsoever to change the game to suit your tastes.

 

[Dandark]

1. You failed to bring peace to the races of the galaxy. The Reapers defeat you and life is exterminated from the galaxy.
2. You failed to bring peace to the races of the galaxy. The Reapers defeat you and life is exterminated from the galaxy. However, you left some message for future generations of the next cycle to give them a chance.
3. You use the Crucibles magic McGuffin powers to Destroy the Reapers, but at heavy costs. It is a phyrric victory, society still crumbles, but the Reapers will never threaten an organic race again.
4. You use the Crucible's magic McGuffin powers to Destroy the Reapers, and the galaxy survives, but because you failed to truly bring peace to the races, without the threat of Reapers over there heads, soon the races of the galaxy seek to exploit each other in their weakened state
5. You or the Illusive Man used the Crucible's magic McGuffin powers combined with the Illusive Man's study of Reaper tech you saved on the Collector Base to take control of the Reapers and conquer the galaxy for humanity.
6. You unite all the races in the galaxy in a true alliance, Destroy the Reapers, bringing true and lasting peace to the galaxy, but at a high cost of life.
7. You unite all the races in the galaxy in a true alliance, Destroy the Reapers, bringing true and lasting peace to the galaxy, and Shepard survives the events.

This. These would be good enough choices. How long did it take you to come up with them? Did you just scribble them down?
Why couldn't Bioware have a variety of these?

 

[Aurgelmir]

As I have said in another thread.

The way the ending is presented is horrible, I don't feel we should be given a choice in how you save the galaxy, and instead it should be based on how well you prepared and who you got on your team.

That said it also felt like a Loss no matter what, which I feel is a bit disappointing after three games. To me it wasn't about beating the reapers, but rather about saving the galaxy as it is today by beating the reapers. Which I felt the ending didn't do.

But hey Buzz Aldrin as the Stargazer was kinda cool.

 

[Arkley]

Spoilers ahead, but I'm not going to put them in spoiler tags because this is a thread about the ending anyway.

First of all, I agree that the endings were too depressing and the Deus Ex:HR style "pick your ending" thing was a terrible choice. I feel that all of the endings ran counter to the running theme of Mass Effect; make real, meaningful choices and own the consequences. None of the endings present a victory. For all you've achieved, and nomatter what choice you make in the end, the galaxy is effectively doomed anyway, thrown back centuries of progress and everyone is cut off from everyone else - and that's the best ending.

But, I'd like to point something out for those complaining about the "magical star child" thing.

It does actually make sense, and I find it a very interesting theme. I think that they could have really made it work with a little more explanation from the intelligence leading the reapers. They know synthetic life will always eventually conclude that organic life is dangerous and useless, and will exterminate all organic life. Not just all sentient life, every single living thing, so that no more organic life can ever be. Synthetics don't need animals, plants or bacteria, and all of those things have the potential to evolve into sentient beings some day.

So this intelligence that commands the reapers concluded that if sentient species are exterminated before this begins, it will at least clear the way for non-sentient species to evolve, and organic life will live on. Meanwhile, the sentient races are preserved, in a way, as new reapers.

It's a warped, twisted and barely comprehensible logic, but it fits with the major themes of the reapers. They've always told us we'd never understand them or their motives. When they were just a mystery, they could be subconsciously dismissed as "evil space robots". Now we've gotten a glimpse at what drives them, and the revelation makes them seem truly alien for the first time.

It also raises interesting questions of where they came from. Where they the first synthetic species that evolved and set about destroying their creators? Did they try to destroy all organic life and, having missed a speck of bacteria on a distant world, return after billions of years of their own evolution to see life now thriving again? Did that life create synthetics that destroyed them?

In short, I feel the "star child" revelation was actually very good, and I really hope we learn more in DLC.

I also hope they change those sad, sad endings.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I would've liked atleast the option for a super happy ending. Something you could really fight for and give it your best to achieve.

Also, I always figured the Reapers motive for destroying advanced races was one beyond the comprehension of said races. The whole "we harvest organics so that synthetics don't destroy it" made the Reapers come across as rather simple minded, as opposed to the all knowing gods of doom that ME1 described them as.

But fuck it, it's over. At least we got a hot lesbian shower scene out of it.

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

I'm not particularly against the three options presented to us as being potential avenues, but there should have been a hell of a lot more variety. Up to this point, Shepard has successfully been able to talk his/her way out of ANY situation, no matter the odds. He's never accepted the dark path given to him, and yet with the Catalyst, no protest is offered whatsoever. We're basically given these three incredibly depressing options completely out of the blue, and Shepard just goes with it.

There should have been at least two more options, including:
1) The Reapers win. Nothing complex about it; you dun goofed and the Reapers successfully defeat your fleet and continue harvesting all advanced organic life.
2) Mass Effect's "Triumphant" ending. Where you shake the little bastard and say "I reject your bullshit choices. You tell me that organics and synthetics can't coexist? Look at the quarians and the geth, look at Joker and EDI. You're wrong and I know damn well that you can call off your troops and leave us to define our own future." The reapers are defeated, Shepard survives, and we get our typical "Hero" ending like the prior two games have offered.

Beyond that...closure is a definite with a series this large. We NEED to know what happened to our friends and squadmates. We NEED to know what happens to galactic society after the REaper threat is gone. And we sure as hell don't need any extra questions that were introduced 5 minutes before the credits roll. And we don't need Shepard's very character foundation destroyed for no evident reason.

Just a few thoughts.

That sounds great.
OP: I want a simpler ending. Have it turn out that the Reapers are just evil and harvest organics to reproduce. They built the Relays and the Citadel to guide galactic expansion along a path that was easy to control and dominate (that doesn't have to change).
There are three endings dependent on your Galactic Readiness and maybe a couple of other factors.

1) Galactic Readiness is full- Happy ending. You win and Shepard and your crew live to tell about it.

2)Galactic Readiness is middling- Bittersweet. You win, but with very heavy losses and Shepard dies (maybe the Normandy and its crew too). You are remembered as the great hero that saved the galaxy.

3)Galactic Readiness is low- Bad Ending. The Reapers beat you and the cycle continues.

It is simple, but I'd prefer it to what we got and why couldn't we just have had a simple ending?

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

Make it easy with a posi and negi choice.

Positive - Reapers beaten - you sacrifice yourself. They leave or are destroyed.

Negative - You control Reapers, while controlling them you bring peace. Use reapers as own force to ensure there is peace. You are a tyrannical ruler.

A third choice would be to not chose? Not sure how that would work.

Think you also should have to face off with Harbinger instead of the child. But depending on choices you made there are different posi/negi endings or sections. Like in Fallout 3.

 

[CAMDAWG]

There should have been at least two more options, including:
1) The Reapers win. Nothing complex about it; you dun goofed and the Reapers successfully defeat your fleet and continue harvesting all advanced organic life.
2) Mass Effect's "Triumphant" ending. Where you shake the little bastard and say "I reject your bullshit choices. You tell me that organics and synthetics can't coexist? Look at the quarians and the geth, look at Joker and EDI. You're wrong and I know damn well that you can call off your troops and leave us to define our own future." The reapers are defeated, Shepard survives, and we get our typical "Hero" ending like the prior two games have offered.

This is good. I imagine there is probably already a way to completely fail, and give you number 1, but I haven't done any research into it, and doubt most people will fail deliberately on their first playthrough. However, if there isn't already that option, I can't imagine it would be beyond biowares capabilities.

As for the second option, again I think it's easily within biowares ability. The only problem is if people wanted some kind of LI contribution (myself included), you'd need a lot more animation and dialogue added in.

But overall, adding just these would not be too stressful on bioware, which I think is key. They're not going to mess that much with their product. Some people may want a complete overhaul of the ending system, but that's unreasonable. I wish I could say to all those people "you hate the ending, these people like it. If you overhaul it, you will like it, they might hate it. And you know how crap that feels".

OT: Call me soppy, but I just wanted a happy ending if you found all the war assets, completed all side missions from multiple games (except 1 because I'm on a ps3), with my LI, and the rest of the surviving squadmates. For example, if you went for Tali, a nice cutscene of a housewarming party on rannoch with the gang, or a little blue childs birthday party if you went for liara. I doubt I'll get that, because that's a lot of different cutscenes, but unlike the current endings, I can have hope for the future.

I'm hoping that the greed of EA will finally do a good thing, and they'll make bioware add some endings in dlc. Sure, it'll cost money, but if it restores my will to ever replay a mass effect game, it'll be worth it.

 

[CommanderL]

1. You failed to bring peace to the races of the galaxy. The Reapers defeat you and life is exterminated from the galaxy.
2. You failed to bring peace to the races of the galaxy. The Reapers defeat you and life is exterminated from the galaxy. However, you left some message for future generations of the next cycle to give them a chance.
3. You use the Crucibles magic McGuffin powers to Destroy the Reapers, but at heavy costs. It is a phyrric victory, society still crumbles, but the Reapers will never threaten an organic race again.
4. You use the Crucible's magic McGuffin powers to Destroy the Reapers, and the galaxy survives, but because you failed to truly bring peace to the races, without the threat of Reapers over there heads, soon the races of the galaxy seek to exploit each other in their weakened state
5. You or the Illusive Man used the Crucible's magic McGuffin powers combined with the Illusive Man's study of Reaper tech you saved on the Collector Base to take control of the Reapers and conquer the galaxy for humanity.
6. You unite all the races in the galaxy in a true alliance, Destroy the Reapers, bringing true and lasting peace to the galaxy, but at a high cost of life.
7. You unite all the races in the galaxy in a true alliance, Destroy the Reapers, bringing true and lasting peace to the galaxy, and Shepard survives the events.

I want these ending there maybe you could work in that the crucibles uses the mass relay inside the citadel to destroy the reapers some how

This. These would be good enough choices. How long did it take you to come up with them? Did you just scribble them down?
Why couldn't Bioware have a variety of these?