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

[Eric Morales]

I can't unequivocally say I liked it. Personally I hadn't completely given up hope in the indoctrination theory, but like the folks at BioWare said, they wouldn't know how to tell that story, and its wrong to begrudge them for not making the game that I PERSONALLY wanted. If they had we would have actually BUILT that gun that fires thresher maws.

I still feel like Shepherd missed a chance to call the Catalyst out on his bullshit, and the synthesis ending still makes about as much sense as a shouty homeless man enacting klingon opera (how the hell does a giant green space laser suddenly cause everyone to spontaneously merge with their smart phones?) but the worst of the plot holes have been filled and we at least have SOME indication of the world our choices created.

I even found the control option a lot more tempting. I honestly don't know what to say to you if you don't find at least SOME appeal in becoming a neigh omniscient AI with an army of squid-ships ready and able to wreak bloody vengeance upon any who disturb the peace in my new perfect society. But of course, I didn't choose that option. Because that would be wrong. *cough*

 

[destiny_1989]

Before the Extended Cut I always chose Destroy. The options weren't elaborated as much as they needed to be so, when presented with the three, I always went with doing what I had set out to do since the first game. That said, with the Extended Cut I paused the game and sat for about an hour thinking, weighing the pros and cons of each choice. I still went with Destroy, mostly to keep in line with my original choice, but I might start a new playthrough at the end of which I probably will choose Synthesis. We'll have to wait and see.

Anyway, each option has a good point and a bad point about it, that is beyond a doubt.

If you go with Control, Shepard becomes the ultimate space police. What if, at one point, because he's not fully Shepard anymore, he cracks and decides to restart the cycles? Or what if another war breaks out between the Krogans and someone who looked at them funny? Or when the Yagh manage to get space travel and they start cracking heads left and right? On the upside, you get the Reapers to help the galaxy rebuild and you have your most famous, most revered hero controlling them. On the downside, like I said before, it's like having the Sword of Damocles hovering above your head for all time.

With Synthesis, there's the upside of having complete understanding between organics and synthetics and having the civilizations harvested from the previous cycles become a part of the new organic-synthetic chimera. The downside is that you will have to make everyone in the galaxy change forever, whether they like it or not. There are going to be those who will like living like that, the synthetics certainly do, based on EDI's monologue. Also, there might be a lot of organics who will like it, too, people with certain disabilities that will be erased/cured because of the synthesis. However, I will not delude myself into thinking that there won't be a long line of suicides throughout the galaxy because of this choice. Some people will just not want to live like that and others will not be able to cope.

Destroy erases the Reaper threat completely. There is a complete guarantee that they will never return. However, it comes at the cost of an entire race that had finally reached full sentience after a 3-century-long war and one of your friends, whom you helped reach sentience. Justice is fully served for all the ones who fell victim to the Reapers but the galaxy is majorly affected. It will take a very long while to rebuild and, besides the fact that there are no more Reapers around, the benefits of Destroy are just sort of not there. Also, synthetics will still be built. Sure, for a while people will treat them with respect because they know what happened with the Geth and Quarians and they know about why the Reapers were created (if Shepard lives and tells everyone to not a be an a-hole to synthetics anymore), but things will change in a few thousand years. People will forget, maybe not completely, but important details will be erased and, at one point, the cycles may begin again with other, newly manufactured Reapers.

Refusal gives you the ultimate freedom to fight with all your conviction against the Reapers but, even if you take out a lot of them on Earth, there are still a lot more in other solar systems. If the united armada defeats the Reapers on Earth, they will have suffered great casualties and, sooner or later, they'll be completely outnumbered by the Reaper forces and completely destroyed. I would have liked the Refusal ending to be more elaborated upon rather than be told that it just happens. Make me care about the fact that everyone's dieing, dammit!

I guess it just comes down to subjectivity on which one is the lesser evil.

 

[I am Harbinger]

Well, I have to say, I'm happy to see this hasn't devolved into allout war. I'm guessing the mostly-positive atmosphere scared off the worst of the haters.

 

[lunavixen]

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.

this exactly, i couldn't have put it better myself, yes i did feel guilty about EDI and the Geth, but the others left me feeling as though i had still somehow failed (haven't done the refusal ending yet, it's coming!)

 

[Frankster]

I'll just say i seriously despised the synthesis ending.

Because it's made to be the most stupidly optimistic happy rainbow land ending (the kind we would mock me3 fans for back in the day, saying they only wanted a happy ending) where everything goes well and everybody is happy and life is just great.
It conveniently sidesteps a lot of ethical issues and i just can't wrap my head around how mixing organic and synthetic dna works as well as they showed in the cutscenes (green eyes and green matrixy skin in some place, woah!), such power is in the realm of gods and magic, not technology and certainly not with what i've seen of the catalyst and the reapers.

That reapers are specifically said to be more helpful and graciously share their knowledge of previous civilizations (which they don't do in the blue ending) only reinforces the feeling that synthesis is the "best" ending and shows where casey hudsons own opinions lay (since lets be honest, it's really him you're arguing with rather then the star child Or actually just replace star child with casey). So yah this ending is seriously lame in how it presents itself despite an interesting premise, but hey if you wanted an ending where me universe becomes full of rainbows and happy feelings and no one gets hurt or sad ever again, then i guess this endings for ya!

Otherwise ending i like personally and one which i feel is both more "real" and has interesting implications is the blue ending. Besides the premise being awesome (shep becoming reaper king to boss them around, true self sacrifice in both body and soul without getting too metaphysical), it raises the issue of how much of shep is still left and what will happen over time to his/her sanity as eternity is a pretty long time, and given another 10 000 years the me universe might see the technological singularty the star child feared would happen, meaning sheperd might end up continuing the reapers mission in the end after all. It just opens the door to a lot of interesting scenarios.

Reds also a good ending in that its straight forward in what it does, aside from the whole "is shep alive thing" it wraps things up nicely whist purusing the theme of freedom from any supervision over possible technological singularities, which in the long run also has interesting implications.

Refusal ending could have been a lot handled better imo (can see why some took that ending as a middle finger) and the scene with the liara VI was something i wanted to see as a game over since the 2nd mass effect. Either that or a fleet of reapers attacking the citadel under management of a new race in the distant future led by a reaper saying "We are humanity, you will submit to us, willingly or not".
I'd have liked EMS to matter in this ending, so that if your EMS is high enough you still die but you succeed in doing just enough for future cycles to have a chance. Low EMS would have meant complete failure and the reaper cycle continues, seemingly to infinity.
If handled with respect and not contempt, this could have been the "all or nothing", "true freedom or catastrophic loss" ending. And it would have been glorious and far more fitting of sheps "and if i die, il die knowing i did all i could to stop you" defiant last speech.

Or just giving the players a chance at an outright victory over the reapers if their EMS is insanely high and they did certain critical decisions during the game (like with the upcoming rogue reaper DLC), but of course they would have had to design the game with these endings in mind, rather then come up with a pseudo artsy philosophical ending crammed in at the last minute.

 

[Bat Vader]

I like both Control and Destruction. I think I like Destruction more because Shepard survives and has a chance to reunite with his love interest. I think there should be a secret fifth ending where The Galactic Empire arrives, saves the day, and then goes back home.

 

[I am Harbinger]

I like both Control and Destruction. I think I like Destruction more because Shepard survives and has a chance to reunite with his love interest. I think there should be a secret fifth ending where The Galactic Empire arrives, saves the day, and then goes back home.

Would you really want to risk us indoctrinating the crew of the Deathstar?

 

[Irridium]

I told star child to Fuck. Off.

Next cycle seems to have whooped your ass pretty good. That makes me happy.

Second choice was destroy. Don't want to do control because that's kind of like brainwashing to me and I'm against that. Synthesis... a little iffy on. I feel everyone should forge their own path rather than have everything merge.

 

[RobotDinosaur]

I went with Destruction - that was the point of the whole war, right? It helps that I already helped the Quarians wipe out the Geth, so my decision wasn't leading to any further genocide.
I wouldn't choose Control because I spent too long fighting and hating the Illusive Man to suddenly follow his example. And Synthesis was weird - altering the evolution of every being in the galaxy seems like a hell of a thing to do as a snap judgment. And I spent too much time telling comrades to make sure the sacrifices of the fallen meant something to bail out and go Refusal at the end.

 

[I am Harbinger]

All of them are good with me except Refusal.

I'm serious, that was horrendous.

But I like being God so I'd have to say Control really is suited for someone of my tastes.

Shepard.

Reported for low post count.

Suck it, Harbinger.

Still charming as ever, I see.

 

[SpaceBat]

first rewriting the everyone in the entire galaxy's DNA without their permission to be a bit amoral.

Is it more amoral than committing genocide?

 

[Joseph Harrison]

first rewriting the everyone in the entire galaxy's DNA without their permission to be a bit amoral.

Is it more amoral than committing genocide?

Considering that I already genocided the Geth in ME1 and ME2, I wasn't completely unfamiliar with the prospect.

 

[Goofguy]

I would have been happy with the Refusal ending as my canon if there had been SOMETHING shown in terms of a final fight. Sure, it would suck to see the ground forces overwhelmed and the fleets decimated but I wanted to see the united races going down together in a massive blaze of glory. Dreadnoughts deliberately ramming in to Reapers, Krogans fighting off hordes of Cannibals and Brutes before being taken down, the cycle ends like all the countless ones before it however, Liara's message is enough for the next cycle to succeed.

EDIT: Oh yeah and have Shepard at least TRY to get back in to the fight. Did he/she just stand there and watch as the galaxy's races were wiped out around him/her? A shame to see Shepard go out with only a whimper.

 

[Veldt Falsetto]

Before the EC I chose Synthesis because I didn't want to kill an entire species and we just had the control chat with the Illusive Man about 3 minutes ago. I chose Control with the EC just out of curiosity, that and we think Shepard can keep them controlled but I dunno, gonna replay the trilogy at somepoint with a femShep and take a full on renegade side and refuse

 

[Veldt Falsetto]

I would have been happy with the Refusal ending as my canon if there had been SOMETHING shown in terms of a final fight. Sure, it would suck to see the ground forces overwhelmed and the fleets decimated but I wanted to see the united races going down together in a massive blaze of glory. Dreadnoughts deliberately ramming in to Reapers, Krogans fighting off hordes of Cannibals and Brutes before being taken down, the cycle ends like all the countless ones before it however, Liara's message is enough for the next cycle to succeed.

EDIT: Oh yeah and have Shepard at least TRY to get back in to the fight. Did he/she just stand there and watch as the galaxy's races were wiped out around him/her? A shame to see Shepard go out with only a whimper.

Yes, the refusal ending should show each and every one of your squadmates die, slowly and painfully while fighting off the reapers and then end with Liara in a bunker alone, recording the message in hope for the future before being killed and then you see Shepard bleed out and die at the alter back where Anderson died, tearfully watching the Earth literally explode in his final moments.

Ouch, I think that would be such a depressing ending that some ME fans would probably try and kill themselves

 

[ultrachicken]

Synthesis seems like the best option with no real downsides. Control seems to hint that Shepard is corrupted by the Reapers based on the music and demeanor of Reaper!Shepard, and besides, giving someone the power to wipe out the galaxy and hoping they'll just sit on their galactic nuke-machines is rather stupid. Destroy wipes out EDI and the Geth, as well as anyone relying on implants to survive. Refusal is just fucking stupid. The only possible complaint with Synthesis is that making everybody green removes free will, but EVERY ending is a violation of the galaxy's freedom, because EVERY ending has Shepard and Shepard alone deciding the fate of the galaxy. And the payoff of Synthesis' particular abridging of privacy is far better than the other endings: peace is assured through understanding and technology advances extremely rapidly. I'd say that outweighs the fact that people didn't choose to become green.

 

[Goofguy]

snip

Or you know, some sort of middle ground rather than your extreme and sarcastic recommendation?

If your EMS isn't high enough in the EC, then you actually see your squadmates get killed by Harbinger's blast during the mad rush to the conduit. It wasn't a "slow and painful" death, just a quick explosion while Shepard watches his/her friends perish. It's a powerful scene and not as depressing or over the top as what you said.

 

[mental_looney]

Destroy because screw you reapers I came here to kill you and I'm not going to fall at the last hurdle. Also I have come to far not get a chance to live after everything horrible and at least imagine my Shepard gets a better ending.

I know it's bad and it kills the geth who I worked hard to save but control just seems to defeat the point I can protect the universe but I am not siding with the Illusive Man, yes my shep was paragon but I wouldn't impose my will on the galaxy.