Poll: What would you like a new Mass Effect ending to be? *spoilers*

[TheCaptain]

Since we don't seem to have enough threads that concern themselves with the ending of Mass Effect 3, I'm curious as to what most of us actually want.

I know there's different angles here; while some would be okay with the current ending being left untouched and only wish for their choices to reflect in the final cutscene, others would rather have the current ending be erased from the game and replaced by whatever they envisioned for their very own Shepard story.

Some want their perfect happy ending, others are fine with Shepard snuffing it as long as it's made clear that everyone else isn't as screwed as it would seem.

Where do you stand?

EDIT:
Apostrophes were screwing with the poll options, sorry for that.

 

[Zhukov]

Shepard gets indoctrinated.

(But not like in that bloody theory.)

As he's about to activate the crucible, Harbringer attempts to "assume direct control". The final combat sequence is one in which Shepard starts automatically trying to gun down his squad, and you have to fight it by pulling the crosshairs off them and moving him away. This is interspersed with dialogue sequences where you try and convince your squad that you're still in control, but your dialogue option keep getting swapped about.

Shepard holds on long enough to hit the galaxy-saving button, then collapses, mentally burnt out and showing signs of husk-ification (a la Saren from ME1). One of your squad mates then puts him down with a bullet to the head as an act of mercy (if his lover is there, they volunteer to do it.)

Crucible wipes out reapers, galaxy is saved.

Series of cutscenes (possibly narrated) showing the fates of various characters and races with variations to account for how you dealt with them.

Credit roll.

Post credits, there is a quick scene with a glowing child asking his grandpa if he will ever see the stars. Then Wrex jumps out of a shuttle and stomps them into the ground.

 

[TheCaptain]

Post credits, there is a quick scene with Wrex stomping the star child into the ground.

Nice touch, that one.

 

[dreadedcandiru99]

I favor either something related to the indoctrination theory or the refuse option [http://social.bioware.com/poll.php?user=1183972&poll_id=29101]. I'm not necessarily ruling out anything else, but I have to insist on these three things:

(1) It must actually make sense (no plot holes, no characters acting out of character, no wrapping up the story with motherfucking space magic, etc.),

(2) It must provide some sort of closure, and

(3) It must have something to do with the choices we made along the way. (If you did things totally wrong, the Reapers win and everybody dies; if you did everything absolutely right through all three games, the Reapers are beaten and Shepard can possibly survive. And there can be a bittersweet "in-between" one, too.)

In other words, I'm looking for the endings that Bioware spent months promising us. I don't even care if I have to pay for them.

EDIT: Just thought of another idea. Whoever the guy was that thought LOTS OF SPECULATION FOR EVERYBODY would make a good ending? Bioware should probably keep him far, far away from this. Like, whack him in the nose with a croquet mallet if he even comes to work that week. (Alternatively: fire him.)

 

[Rawne1980]

I would like to see an ending.

Any ending.

What we have at the minute isn't an end. What we have is a path for ME4.

 

[dreadedcandiru99]

What we have at the minute isn't an end. What we have is a path for ME4.

...I can't believe that the possibility never occurred to me. That's the kind of shit I expect from other devs, but not from Bioware. It's one thing to screw up the ending to your epic trilogy by accident, but if it turns out they deliberately did it to try to squeeze another sixty bucks out of me?

No DLC can fix that. I'll just swear off Bioware forever.

 

[Whitbane]

I want to see Shepard just laugh as the God Child tells him that he created synthetics to wipe out organic life so that organics don't create synthetics that wipe them out. Then Shepard laughs some more, and shoots himself in the face. Apparently the galaxy is full of nothing but idiots.

 

[TheCaptain]

What we have at the minute isn't an end. What we have is a path for ME4.

Well, they always said there would be more Mass Effect material, but do you think THAT's what they're doing? Shepard's story seems to be at an end either way...

 

[Fappy]

I just want it to make sense, feel like I actually accomplished something, not invalidate all of the peacemaking, incorporate decisions (at least a few anyway)... oh yeah, did I say make sense yet?

 

[BloatedGuppy]

I'd like to see them set up Mass Effect 4: Star Babies, in which the Star Child is joined by several more hyper intelligent ghost babies, who then travel the universe, foiling schemes by flummoxing people with easily disproven dilemmas that they are nevertheless forced to go along with due to a paucity of dialogue options.

It think this is the logical direction to take the franchise in because Art.

 

[Rawne1980]

What we have at the minute isn't an end. What we have is a path for ME4.

Well, they always said there would be more Mass Effect material, but do you think THAT's what they're doing? Shepard's story seems to be at an end either way...

It would be quite easy for them to end Sheps story where it is and carry on with the whole Reaper war through the eyes of another character.

As you say, they have said the ME universe will carry on but this is the end of Sheps story.

The lack of closure seems to point to it leading on to another ME game.

The Reaper war is still going on if you follow the indoctrination theory. If you don't then we still have a hell of a lot of folks floating around in space with no Mass Relays to take them home.

Plus we still need to know what happens with all the companions we've spent the past few years with.

They can only do so much with DLC so it does seem to me they are leaving certain things wide open in order to follow on with the next ME game.

I may be way off the mark and more wrong than scratching your balls after chopping chilli's but thats just how it looks to me.

There is still far too much they haven't "closed" for it to end where it did.

 

[Magnicon]

I thought the ME3 ending was terrible.
I don't want a new ending.

Do people actually think a new ending being made will remove the taint they feel about the game?

 

[endtherapture]

Indoctrination Theory!!

Shepard wakes up on the Normandy in our room right before the attack on the Cerberus base! We go and do the Cerberus base mission and fight Kai Leng and maybe TIM too and the Prothean VI reveals the Catalyst is the Citadel. It's revealed the Reapers have built a conduit on Earth to the Citadel and are assaulting it right now to try and get control of the Mass Relay network so they can reap more traditionally - the arms of the Citadel are closed so the Crucible can't simply dock there.

The fleet is split into 2 - half to attack the Citadel, half to attack Earth.

Anyway we plan the assault on Earth, main objective is to get to the Citadel - suicide mission style - via the Conduit. We see our choices play out - perhaps a boss battle with Harbinger or another Reaper (Earth should be less bleak and much more pleasing and well designed than in the indoctrination attempt). We get to the Citadel, fight our way up the tower much like in ME1 but against Reaper forces - some kind of battle against TIM in the Citadel tower? Open the arms, Crucible docks - has several outcomes depending on it's strength - shuts down Reaper shields, shuts down Reaper fleet ONLY at Earth, shuts down Reaper fleet ONLY at the Citadel etc. etc. whatever.

We win the game, Celebration area, epilogue slides ala Dragon Age Origins happens - credits play w00000.

That'd be my perfect idea.

 

[DarkhoIlow]

I want an ending where it shows that all my hardships and War Assets that I've struggled to get were not thrown into the fray.And of course that would involve as well my best chance of a happy ending with my Shep and his LI reuniting along with his squad.

Throw in a few closure text with what happened afterwards to all the races and choices that I've made throughout the game(s?) and I'm golden.

 

[William Ossiss]

Other. I want an ending that continues on after the one they originally made. You know, something that might LOGICALLY happen. This is how I see the DLC going. If you got the best possible ending, that is. You know, the one where

Spoiler

Shepard is heard breathing

and THEN...

Spoiler

Cut to a few years later, mass relays are getting rebuilt (they built the crucible in about a month, im guessing, so logically it shouldn't take that long to do.) and Shepard is doing what ever where ever.

I assume that they planned, from the very beginning, to do this. ***** move, yeah, but look at all of you. Petitions, Kickstart, etc etc. Free publicity is good publicity. Now these fan boys will throw any money at the slightest HINT of a "true ending".

I'm predicting a giant outcry of "shut up and take my money" when they reveal what's going on.

 

[3quency]

I'd like it to stay as is. That way the online community keeps raging on it and ignores the rest of the game so I can play the good parts un-spoilered

 

[boag]

I dont care if they dont change anything in the Ending, all I want is an Epilogue that explains what happens after I make the final choice in the game.

If they choose to make the whole thing a reaper indoctrination, I want an epilogue to tell me what happens after Shepard beats it or loses to it.


If they come up with something different I want details of what happens afterwards and how my choices come intoplay after the ending.

 

[Brutal Peanut]

Honestly, I thought my game was over after

Spoiler

the Illusive man kills himself and you and Anderson share a heartfelt moment aboard the Citadel. I thought they'd show a few CGI clips of the various people I had recruited fighting Reapers with everything they had. Then, my super FemShep would start the Crucible, it would destroy the remaining Reaper forces - and then they would show what happened to all those people I had brought peace too. Tali's home, Quarians and the Geth living side by side, Jacob and the Doctor, Jack and her Students, and of COURSE - WREX! etc, etc. I would have preferred my character to have lived based on my massive amount of Paragon points (and Garrus and I would be together 4evah!), but if I had died from my injuries - that would have been acceptable too. Then they could have put in an awesome super-soldier funeral CGI.

That may sound like a super simplistic, happy-patty-cake ending; but honestly, that's something I would have enjoyed WAY more than what I received. lol

 

[ablac]

I would like to be rewarded for doing well and i think properly beating the reapers would make a better ending but choices should matter and an ending with such a result would be worthy of 3 games of culminated good play. What pisses me off isnt the ending per se but the fact that your choices dont matter what so ever in the end. Its not mass effect which is all about choice and has had some exemplary choices in the past. I think the reason for the endings not mattering was SWTOR. Mass effect 3 has marks of time cutting measures and i think bioware was distracted maybe more than usual from mass effect because of SWTOR. Now choices with consequences are difficult to use because you need to creeate more and more paths for each seperate set of choices. ME3 would have been the worst with 2 games worth already. To then have different endings based on these choices would be difficult and having them not matter feels like they simply couldnt do it right and so didnt do it at all. I doubt they thouhgt fans would want this and they have been so good at delivering good things before that ill give them the benefit of the doubt. Ideally the 2 previous (or only second for ps3, exclusives suck) woudl matter to the outcome and if you started without those 2 then you couldnt get the ultimate ending but rather only get an ending which, while you still win, isnt the best outcome, maybe earth is destroyed in the process or the chaos of the war creates new divisions between the species. You needed to earn it (the best ending) properly but it would be a satifying reward. I would have been happy for mass effect 3 to come out later to ahve that.
For me Mass effect has been about not having to lose everything if you fight hard enough and do things right. Its about being able to get the best outcome if your willing to earn it. Maybe some sacrifices must be made but ultimately the best scenario can come about.

 

[ablac]

I would like to be rewarded for doing well and i think properly beating the reapers would make a better ending but choices should matter and an ending with such a result would be worthy of 3 games of culminated good play. What pisses me off isnt the ending per se but the fact that your choices dont matter what so ever in the end. Its not mass effect which is all about choice and has had some exemplary choices in the past. I think the reason for the endings not mattering was SWTOR. Mass effect 3 has marks of time cutting measures and i think bioware was distracted maybe more than usual from mass effect because of SWTOR. Now choices with consequences are difficult to use because you need to creeate more and more paths for each seperate set of choices. ME3 would have been the worst with 2 games worth already. To then have different endings based on these choices would be difficult and having them not matter feels like they simply couldnt do it right and so didnt do it at all. I doubt they thouhgt fans would want this and they have been so good at delivering good things before that ill give them the benefit of the doubt. Ideally the 2 previous (or only second for ps3, exclusives suck) woudl matter to the outcome and if you started without those 2 then you couldnt get the ultimate ending but rather only get an ending which, while you still win, isnt the best outcome, maybe earth is destroyed in the process or the chaos of the war creates new divisions between the species. You needed to earn it (the best ending) properly but it would be a satifying reward. I would have been happy for mass effect 3 to come out later to ahve that.
For me Mass effect has been about not having to lose everything if you fight hard enough and do things right. Its about being able to get the best outcome if your willing to earn it. Maybe some sacrifices must be made but ultimately the best scenario can come about.