Poll: Mass Effect 3 and Dragon Age:Origin Endings

[esperus]

Hey guys just had a question about some of Bioware's work. This isn't a post to discuss how bad or good the ending were, EC or not, but a question about if there may have be a reason not to include a "win" option in the ME3 ending.

Personal the original endings were bad and the EC kinda fixed it, took it from a D to C+/B, but I was wondering if they intentional left out such and ending to make the other endings have more impact.

There reason for the poll is I wonder how many people actually chose the sacrifice ending in DA:O and actually considered it their true ending for the avatar and not just to see the other possible outcomes of the story.

For me, I chose the Morrigan plan first and consider it my true ending. I did the sacrifice ending which was nice and a bit sad but not the 'true' ending for my character.

I was basically wondering if it possible the Bioware intentional left a 'win' ending in ME:3 based on choice made by gamers in DO:A to emphasizes sacrifice Shepard makes and not just some alternate ending that people chose for fun.

I not sure if this issue has cropped up already but it hard to look through posts that nothing more then a flame war.

Edit: Other is an option on the poll, but I can't remember any other choices besides then sacrifice your self or not. I'm grouping choices together and not worrying about if your char was male or female, or if you use yourself or Alistair.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Morrigan's solution was the most interesting, given that it allowed for a complete ending while also providing plot threads for a sequel.

That were never followed up on in favor of that thing

 

[esperus]

Oh I agree, I not trying to really defend the endings of ME:3 just wondering if there was a statics could support my theory. IMO starting from DO:A, no Bio ware game has really had an ending to match it.

 

[DustyDrB]

I sacrifice myself most of the time (or get someone else to do it), so that's my choice. It's Flemeth's plan. Flemeth. The lady who reeks of "going to be a major villain sometime in the future". Plus...there was that whole ending of Morrigan's side quest in Origins.

 

[mechalynx]

I always use Morrigan's solution for these reasons:

1. As I have yet to finish the game with a male character or a dwarf, all my femmes eventually fall for Alistair. All of them hate Loghain with a passion, and since there is no option of sacrificing him to the Archdemon without losing Alistair, he always ends up dead at the Landsmeet.

2. I'm sure Morrigan knows what she's doing; she's always the best friend and a sister.

3. It might turn out to be very beneficial to have a godchild on your side when the shit hits the fan.

4. Why the hell not?

Eh, forgot the biggest reason of course - I don't want to die

 

[alphamalet]

I refused Morrigan's offer once I got a sense that she completely and utterly used me, but I didn't want to die. I let Alistar fall on his sword. I hated Alistar so it was a win win.

 

[Joccaren]

Depends on the character.
Some of my characters had the right roleplaying path for them be death, some had it be living, and some had it killing off the annoying twat that was Alistair [In their opinions].

Of course, there are/were out of story reasons not to die:
-Carry across to Awakening. If your warden is dead, carrying them to Awakening is... it doesn't work in my mind. Its like retconning Leliana's death in DA2.
-DA2 was largely unknown at that point, and DA3 is at this point. Your Warden might turn up again [Though I find this extremely unlikely], and the Morrigan story arch that continues if you did save her child is quite interesting, and could play a large part in DA3 [Going from experience with Bioware however, it won't].

Ok, yeah, both still partially tie to story, but not in the same way, and they also tie into Meta aspects.

Whatever the turnout of this poll, however, Bioware did the wrong thing if that was their goal with the ME3 endings. You don't make the sacrifice endings have more impact by removing any alternative - that gives them less impact. Its why I hated the ME3 endings originally - you had to die, for no reason, with no impact as there was no choice. You give them impact by having there be alternatives, but making it possible for your sacrifice to be the better choice.
An example: Destroy vs Control/Synthesis. You can live in Destroy, but its not as optimal a situation as control or synthesis. Had they actually made/presented the endings better, instead of them still feeling like a rushed mess even after the EC, then maybe I wouldn't have minded thanks to this, though really two options were all that was needed - not this mumbo jumbo about synthetics that I've already dealt with on Rannoch.
Live and end the Reapers with the Crucible yourself, earning you and humanity credit for destroying the Reapers, after which the Galaxy goes back to what it was before, but with a large disruption to the balance of power so that war might be on the horizon, or die and don't end the Reapers yourself, letting the combined Galaxy take the credit, and forming greater bonds between the races, leading to a peaceful galaxy in the future.

Is it optimal?
No, but its a concept I came up with in 30 seconds that could definitely do with tweaking, I would find it to have more impact than what we were delivered personally, and that is with an option for Shepard to live.
And that is something I feel could have made the DA:O sacrifice more meaningful - have it be beneficial in some way. As it stands there is no benefit to it, and you die. There is personal, emotional benefit for the character, but none otherwise. You get a godchild and everyone lives. If the godchild ends up as a curse in DA3, it could add more weight to the decision in Origins, though it would IMO be too little too late. It needs some immediate consequences to have a greater impact.

 

[esperus]

Depends on the character.
Some of my characters had the right roleplaying path for them be death, some had it be living, and some had it killing off the annoying twat that was Alistair [In their opinions].

Of course, there are/were out of story reasons not to die:
-Carry across to Awakening. If your warden is dead, carrying them to Awakening is... it doesn't work in my mind. Its like retconning Leliana's death in DA2.
-DA2 was largely unknown at that point, and DA3 is at this point. Your Warden might turn up again [Though I find this extremely unlikely], and the Morrigan story arch that continues if you did save her child is quite interesting, and could play a large part in DA3 [Going from experience with Bioware however, it won't].

Ok, yeah, both still partially tie to story, but not in the same way, and they also tie into Meta aspects.

Whatever the turnout of this poll, however, Bioware did the wrong thing if that was their goal with the ME3 endings. You don't make the sacrifice endings have more impact by removing any alternative - that gives them less impact. Its why I hated the ME3 endings originally - you had to die, for no reason, with no impact as there was no choice. You give them impact by having there be alternatives, but making it possible for your sacrifice to be the better choice.
An example: Destroy vs Control/Synthesis. You can live in Destroy, but its not as optimal a situation as control or synthesis. Had they actually made/presented the endings better, instead of them still feeling like a rushed mess even after the EC, then maybe I wouldn't have minded thanks to this, though really two options were all that was needed - not this mumbo jumbo about synthetics that I've already dealt with on Rannoch.
Live and end the Reapers with the Crucible yourself, earning you and humanity credit for destroying the Reapers, after which the Galaxy goes back to what it was before, but with a large disruption to the balance of power so that war might be on the horizon, or die and don't end the Reapers yourself, letting the combined Galaxy take the credit, and forming greater bonds between the races, leading to a peaceful galaxy in the future.

Is it optimal?
No, but its a concept I came up with in 30 seconds that could definitely do with tweaking, I would find it to have more impact than what we were delivered personally, and that is with an option for Shepard to live.
And that is something I feel could have made the DA:O sacrifice more meaningful - have it be beneficial in some way. As it stands there is no benefit to it, and you die. There is personal, emotional benefit for the character, but none otherwise. You get a godchild and everyone lives. If the godchild ends up as a curse in DA3, it could add more weight to the decision in Origins, though it would IMO be too little too late. It needs some immediate consequences to have a greater impact.

Those are fair points. I guess not given the option to sacrifice yourself kinda makes the action lose its impact.

Although I was say that not being given the option, might give the feeling of powerlessness and lost of control. However, I would say this is overshadowed by the 4 options given at the end, which kinda trivializes the sacrifice buy giving the option on how to die rather then to sacrifice your self or not.

 

[IFS]

I go with Morrigans plan in character because I don't want myself or Alistair to die but out of character because it is the most interesting choice for how it would effect future games, and i'm convinced that part of the reason that DA2 took place over the course of seven years (possibly longer I'm not sure) was so that Morrigans kid would have time to grow up so that he could show up in DA3.

 

[Souplex]

The proper ending:
Alistair is king, Anora is queen.
Loghain sacrifices himself, and is redeemed.
Morrigan is told to take her deal and shove it, because anything she's planning can't end well.
Warden Aeducan continues his adventures through DLC.
Everybody wins!
Except Morrigan, so it's perfect.
As the original poster, you can edit the poll options by editing the original post so you can include the options for those of us who sacrificed Alistair, or sacrificed Loghain.