Poll: Discussion on the Extended Cut Content of Mass Effect 3: Featuring Harbinger!

[I am Harbinger]

Greeting to you Humans, Turians, Asari, Salarians, Hanar, Drell, Volus, Elcor, Batarians, Vorcha, Geth, Quarians, etc, out there.

In light of recently aquired data (The Extended Cut Content), We, The Reapers, represented by myself, Harbinger, felt it would be worthwhile to sit down to openly and honestly discuss our feelings on the endings as a, newly expanded, whole.

This is really only meant for people who want to talk about the endings, not hate on them, so if you still have nothing positive to say about them, kindly take your complaints elsewhere.

To begin, I, personally, chose Synthesis, for reasons philosophical and personal. Simply put, I find the Destuction choice abbhorent, and the Control ending equally distasteful, if less blatantly cruel. The newly added 'Refusal' feels like a non-standard game over, so I don't actually consider it much of an ending.

As to why I chose Synthesis, aside from my obvious inclination towards self-preservation, it's simple, and yet not so much. On a personal level, I find the Geth quite charming in their way, and Edi likewise had me warming to her over time. Philosophically, I feel this choice yields the best possible outcome, leaving free will intact while providing a safety net against unintentional disputes rought from simple misunderstanding.

I have invited others, Including a Paragon and Renegade Shepard to join me in discussing the endings, but given our prior antagonism towards one-another(s), I can't say for certain they'll show.

 

[I am Harbinger]

So much for trying to talk...I known I'm a reaper, but I'm not that scary.

 

[DEAD34345]

I ended up choosing synthesis, as it's clearly made out to be the best choice by the game itself. Destruction makes the most sense to me philosophically, but it just doesn't seem reasonable when it requires you to commit genocide to do it. Also the ending clearly spells out that there are no major downsides to picking either synthesis or control, so there is no real reason not to pick one of those.

-Edit- Also, what's stopping Shephard from picking control and then telling all the Reapers to go fly into a sun or something? Then you have the destroy ending minus one genocide. Edi would survive, too. The destroy ending has absolutely nothing going for it at all.

 

[I am Harbinger]

At last, discussion! My efforts are validated! And just be glad I'm talking and not reaping, human.

And I'm not trying to make any of the endings sound like the 'good' ending, I'm just offering my own opinion. Although I do think it was an intentional bit of mind-play that the Destruction choice has more negative results now. Bioware are clever, they read forums like these, they probably know Destroy was the more popular choice, and purposefully played around with it to make you question if going straight for the 'killtheyasses' button is always the best choice.

 

[foxlovingfreak]

I picked synthesis because it was the only ending that made sense for my patciluar version of comander shepread. I would have picked destroy but I wasent about to backstab my machine alies. As for control that never seemed like an actual soltuion to me I often refier to it as the yu-yevon soultion.

 

[seamans90]

I was torn for awhile between Destroy and Synthesis but in the end I went with Destroy mostly because Synthesis seemed to have far too many unexplained variables. Also altering an entire galaxy's DNA without any input from said galaxy is a violation of free will in my opinion. Shepard promised on many occasions that the Reapers would be destroyed so that's what needed to happen.

 

[Agayek]

Refusal is the best ending from a thematic and narrative standpoint. It's the most in keeping with the themes and style of the series.

The EC endings are all pretty bad though. The core problem with them is the Catalyst and the bullshit he keeps shovelling, and without getting rid of that, the endings will never be more than "meh" at absolute best.

 

[natster43]

I chose synthesis. My Shepard would not have chosen Destroy, as he spent the last 3 games befriending a bunch of synthetics and proving that synthetics and organics can live in peace. My Shepard would also not have picked control, as I felt he would not want to become the thing he has been fighting for 3 years now.
EDIT: Also can someone explain the indoctrination theory to me. I am pretty sure it is that Shepard has been indoctrinated, but that is all I know about it.

 

[Da Orky Man]

I was torn for awhile between Destroy and Synthesis but in the end I went with Destroy mostly because Synthesis seemed to have far too many unexplained variables. Also altering an entire galaxy's DNA without any input from said galaxy is a violation of free will in my opinion. Shepard promised on many occasions that the Reapers would be destroyed so that's what needed to happen.

Isn't, you know, killing an entire race kind of against free will? As well as anyone who relies on active implants or such to remain alive?

 

[Plutar]

The destroy ending has absolutely nothing going for it at all.

Except for the part where, you know, Shepard can actually live.

It's also the only ending with the possibility of Shepard and his/her love interest being together again.
http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/355/index/12798992/2#12800724

 

[Joseph Harrison]

I chose Destroy mostly because I don't think that one individual controlling an entire army of giant spaceships to be a good idea. I also disliked synthesis for a few reasons, first rewriting the everyone in the entire galaxy's DNA without their permission to be a bit amoral. Also I felt like the Synthesis ending was Bioware's pet option because it was so disgustingly optimistic and without fault that it left a bad taste in my mouth. I liked Destroy because I had gone into this game with the goal of defeating the Reapers and that was what I was gonna do. After listening to Hackett's epilogue narration it just confirmed my choice as the right one.

 

[DEAD34345]

The destroy ending has absolutely nothing going for it at all.

Except for the part where, you know, Shepard can actually live.

It's also the only ending with the possibility of Shepard and his/her love interest being together again.
http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/355/index/12798992/2#12800724

Fair point, I forgot about that. Still, genociding an entire species to save one life seems like kind of a dick move, though I guess that wouldn't be a problem if the Geth were already dead. It still seems to me that (with the extended endings) destruction is made out to be the worst choice by far, despite being the one that would have fit with the story best before meeting the god-child.

 

[Zaeed Massani]

I reject your goddamn synthesis entirely, not least because it makes no sense. In fact, I reject all of your 'solutions', you goddamn squid!

....Everybody else is probably lucky that it didn't end up being my decision.

And just be glad I'm talking and not reaping, human.

BRING IT ON, YOU SON-OF-A-*****!

...

On a side note, I suddenly started imagining what a Hanar reaper would look like. Hmmmmm...

 

[destiny_1989]

I really don't like the Control ending. Someone on another board said it's something akin to downright slavery of an entire race and, to a certain degree, I agree with that. Granted, said race has committed genocide and unthinkable atrocities in the past but the principle is still kind of the same, in my opinion. I also don't like it for another reason: Shepard isn't himself/herself anymore, he/she is something else. Sure, he/she has a purpose for now but what happens after the rebuilding ends and everyone is back where they were before the Reapers came? What happens if, say, Shepard gets bored of peace in the galaxy? What happens when another war will break out? You can't predict what might happen in a few centuries or more. People are forgetful creatures. In my opinion, choosing the Control ending is like having the Sword of Damocles hanging above your head for the rest of your life.

I'm torn between choosing either Destroy or Synthesis. They both have good points going for them philosophically but, maybe, practically, Synthesis has more going for it. I like that each choice was fully elaborated upon so that you can chew them over as much as you want until you reach a conclusion, not just point and click after the Starbrat is done talking at you.

Synthesis
What I liked about Synthesis has something to do with what the Starbrat said about perfection: organics seek perfection through technology and synthetics seek perfection through understanding. Synthetics consider organics inferior because of a lot of reasons but mainly because they're chaotic. What creates that chaos? In my opinion, it's emotions. Synthetics, even though they're alive and apparently have souls, try as they might, they still can't understand emotions and they can't emulate them. Organics, because of emotions, make dumb choices, illogical choices, something unfathomable to synthetics. Through Synthesis maybe they can finally gain an understanding of emotions and they can come to a well thought out conclusion as to whether organics are flawed because they have emotions or quite the contrary. Also, through Synthesis with synthetics, organics can finally understand that the Geth and other artificial life forms are actually alive, new species, not just very sophisticated tools. EDI also said in the epilogue that through Synthesis they could maybe surpass mortality. That's always cool, right?

On the practicality side, think of this. The Starbrat said that the civilizations that had been harvested in Reaper form from the previous cycles would become a part of the new life form resulted through Synthesis. This means that all those civilizations wouldn't have died for naught, they would be remembered and praised. Their history would be preserved, their culture, everything they were before the Reapers came, they wouldn't just disappear. Their collective knowledge could propel the current races to new heights, unimagined before.

Destroy
I am not ashamed to say that I chose this option every time I played the game until the Extended Cut came out. I have been fighting to destroy the Reapers since the first game, I will damn well destroy those Reapers! They have committed immense atrocities in the name of an AI, they have committed genocide time and time again and, unless stopped, they would continue on doing it. They have to pay for what they have done. Some semblance of justice must be brought to those poor souls that feel victim to them. As merciful as someone might be, there are some crimes that just cannot be avenged through any other means. Also, getting rid of the Reapers completely is the only certain way to know that they won't somehow rewrite their programming to begin the cycles again or won't be corrupted by a master consciousness that might start thinking too logically for anyone's comfort in the future. The only guarantee to be forever rid of the cycles is to completely wipe out the Reapers.

However, the knowledge of all those races that were harvested will be lost forever. The advantages all that knowledge could bring to the races of the galaxy would be immeasurable. One could argue that they are dead and nothing you do will bring them back or make their deaths less senseless. What you can do is make sure said deaths aren't in vain. Putting their spirits to rest is something noble and kind, but would you sacrifice the future in favor of the ghosts of the past? Is an injustice, however horrific, from the past that cannot be changed more important that the days your children and your children's children have to look forward to?


Come to think of it, I guess I just gave myself enough reasons to go with Synthesis. Funny how that works. )

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

I really don't like the Control ending. Someone on another board said it's something akin to downright slavery of an entire race and, to a certain degree, I agree with that.

That's what I thought originally. However, with the extended cut I'm not so sure. The Reapers were always guided by the Catalyst. They are intelligent beings, yes, but the cycle was never their choice. They were created to solve a problem and, in the Catalyst's own words, were "simply doing what they were designed to do" (i.e. solve that problem one way or another).

What you do by taking the Catalyst's place in the control ending isn't really 'enslaving them any more than he was. If anything, I'd say it was closer to setting them free (especially now it is heavily implied in the new dialogue with the Catalyst that he betrayed his own creators, and forced them to become the first Reaper against their will because he had concluded for them that that was the path they should take). You're not changing their purpose, their purpose is still to prevent a the total destruction of organics by synthetics. All you are doing is showing them a new way that that purpose can be fulfilled, i.e. co-operating peacefully with both organics and synthetics.

It's a very subtle difference, but an important one, in my opinion anyway. I think the bigger moral dilemma with the control ending is, as you said, can anyone be trusted with that level of power, even the most Paragon of Shepards.

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

sorry, delete this post. Hit quote when I meant to hit edit.

 

[boag]

Choose refusal.

Head cannoning that the Yagh fuck up the reapers in the next cycle.

 

[Fr]anc[is]

Control seems like the perfect solution without any downsides. Everyone lives, ReaperShep helps rebuild, ReaperShep protects the galaxy for eternity. Destroy throws away anything that could be gained from the reapers and kills the Geth to boot. Refusal wasn't bad, but the jump from the Crucible straight to Liara's message made it feel hollow. Synthesis is just retarded.

 

[DarkhoIlow]

I liked the extended cut dlc.Here are my thoughts on this:

My canon ending is Destroy because that is the only ending where my Shepard survives,which is really a plus for me.This was the goal from the beginning,better to destroy the reapers and be done with it.Killing the Geth and EDI was really a downer but like Tom's said,was for the greater good."Kill a few thousand so that millions will live" was the motto I went on with.

Synthesis is morally very wrong,choosing for everyone to be half organic and half synthetic.Saren tried this and we all know where it all ended up.

Control seems very strange to me because it was the plan of the Illusive Man from the beginning.Shepard might become the "Specter/Guardian" of the galaxy but a few thousand years later who knows when he might crack and want to resume the cycle.