So yeah, it really does suck as much as most people say it did. (Nerd rage warning)

[RJ 17]

And it really does, our choices are to control all synthetic, mesh them into us or destroy all synthetic life. And in most cases, this means that we have to sacrifice Shepard, to achieve it. All of this is pretty much bullshit anyway. I know what choice I would make in real life. I would say: "Fine, have it your way. We fight. We fight until there is nothing left fighting for. I have the biggest damn fleet ever. I have millions of soldiers willing to fight until the very end, so let's do it. Let's see your damn reapers beat us." That choice does technically exist, but it sucks balls. You just learn that: "Nope you failed, hardcore. But the next cycle survived because of Liaras warning thing." I worked my ass of to save this cycle and all I get the next one is okay? Screw you game. Screw you.

It was established from the very beginning of the game that even with the combined might of the entire galaxy, there was absolutely no way to win in a head-on attack. This is why everyone is putting their faith in the Crucible to begin with: they know they're all fucked unless they use some kind of doomsday weapon. They're so desperate that they're willing to use it without even knowing what it does.

So yeah, picking "Fuck your choices!" would inevitably lead to the extinction of the Cycle. It took 3 whole fleets to take down a single Reaper in ME 1...and now there's thousands of them. Good luck with your hopeless war.

It just all feels so wrong, no one of these choices appeal to me in any way. Where is the one where we all just live in peace and harmony, where I don't have to destroy all the geth, or mesh all life into some wierd alien cocktail. And for future reference, no. I do not embrace the idea of controlling the reapers.

The writers wanted a tragic (or at least not fully happy) ending. Shepard had to make the sacrifice. Cliched, I know, but what isn't these days?

I brokered peace throughout the galaxy, I settled a peace between the krogans and the turians. I made sure that the quarian and the geth could share rannoch. I lived this adventure through, and I saved countless lives. For what? Blue, green and red? NO! I did this for the chance to save the galaxy! I did this for all life! Synthetic and Organic alike! The geth where there, just as much as the quarians! Why can't I say: "No, you're wrong! Synthetic and Organic can live in peace, I've proven it! You're wrong! I've proven it myself! You can take your reapers and leave. And never come back. I don't need you or the crucible. I've saved the galaxy. I don't need this!"

I take it that you haven't played the Extended Cut yet? Because they do a pretty good job of differentiating the endings from the old "what color do you want to paint the galaxy?" endings.

As for making your argument with the brat, you assume that he'd actually care what you have to say. In his "mind", synthetics and organics can't permanently coexist, it is impossible to guarentee that something won't happen. He's a pessimist who believes solidly that the only way to avoid the destruction of all organic life is to use his Cycle, however with the Crucible powering the Citadel, the Citadel becomes capable of unleashing massive amounts of energy across the galaxy, as such, he sees new solutions to what he STILL sees as the permanent problem: synthetics vs humans. He alludes to this when he mentions that destroying all synthetics is worthless since sooner or later people will make more and end up getting themselves killed.

So again, even if you could argue with him, he wouldn't change his mind.

The worst part about this is the fact that all I feel is disgust and utter loathing. I didn't want this to happen, I didn't want learn that the ending suck as much as everyone says it does. I blame bioware for that. I didn't want to choose between Red, Blue and Green in the first place! I wanted a happy ending, is it really too much to ask? If I want an ending that suits me, that means I have to destroy all synthetic life in the galaxy. That's just not right.

Again I'm assuming that you haven't played the EC as the blue and green endings are about as happy an ending as you're going to get. And again, the writers didn't want a lovey-dovey ending, they wanted Shepard to fullfil his/her Christ role by making the final sacrifice.

What I want now, is just to forget. Forget this ending, forget this game completely. Which is just sad, I had a really good time with it. And all of that, because I didn't get a happy ending. Guess that shows that I have a hard time with endings where my character can't simply save the day and live out the rest of her/his days in peace. I guess I'm just stuck in the old fairy tale days, where Happily ever after ruled. And you know? I think I would have been just fine with that in ME3. That would have made me enjoy this game a lot more then I do now. As it stands? Fuck all of this bullshit.

Now, if you simply just don't like "final sacrifice" type endings, that's where the problem lies. You were doomed to not like the end no matter if Bioware managed to execute it brilliantly. And that's fine, everyone has their own tastes, just don't blame the writers for your own tastes. And would you REALLY have prefered an ending like this?

Quite frankly, if you didn't predict that Shepard wasn't going to make it by about half-way through that game, I'd say you weren't paying attention. But yeah, plug your ears and say it never happened, forget about all the hours you sunk into the trilogy, but I'd remind you that your insistance and expectation of a "happily ever after" ending - after the entire game is spent trying to instill an atmosphere of just barely hanging on in a sea of hopelessness - is what made all those hours officially turn into wasted time.

But allow me to try and help you, as you sound like you really WANTED to like the game, but just couldn't because of the ending.

I made this thread

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.382323-Poll-A-Defense-for-Space-Timmys-Presence-at-the-end-of-ME-3?page=1

in an attempt to help explain the endings and respond to most of the most frequently raised issues with them. It contains information from the EC, so if indeed you haven't played it yet, I'd suggest playing it unless you don't mind spoilers. I put a poll in it asking if what I said makes sense or if I was full of shit...predictably, "You're full of shit" is winning, but evidently at least 18 people thought my explinations made sense. It worked for them, maybe it can work for you and you won't feel so bad about the game.

Be warned, though, my OP is at least twice as big as your OP, so I'd only go there if you really cared enough to not mind a lengthy read.

 

[crazyrabbits]

Oh boy, another ME3 topic. Guess old wounds are still festering. May as well go for it.

Dude. You forget something. During the whole game you have people doing everything short of sitting you down and screaming in your face that you can't win this without the Catalyst. The whole game says this:

YOU CAN NOT WIN THIS WAR CONVENTIONALLY.

Despite one of the key themes throughout the series being victory through diversity and unity, all three games clearly setting up that your choices and decisions would have weight in the final battle, the various fleets making upgrades to their personnel and and ships throughout the second game, and the characters repeatedly stressing that if the galaxy banded together, they would win.

Nope. Can't win conventionally. Even Hackett is all over the place when it comes to figuring out whether we can win or not.

Basically, the whole "you can't win this way" thing was manufactured, just like the "cycles" or "organics vs. synthetics" themes were suddenly pushed to the foreground, despite the games themselves demonstrating that the Catalyst's logic was blatantly false.

The catalyst was the equivalent of nuclear weapons at the end of World War II. Something to ensure victory. It was something to make sure that no matter what else happened, we would win. It was a extreme, last ditch effort. Without the catalyst you would have lost, everyone would have died, GAME OVER.

The difference being:

a) either way, Bioware set up a system of choices that have no merit to the game beyond a cursory number on a computer screen, and
b) The atomic bomb in WWII was tested before being deployed. The Catalyst is a McGuffin introduced, quite literally, at the last minute and isn't tested at all, yet the entire galaxy relies on it as a Hail Mary pass.

The reason Shepard just accepted the Catalyst's speech was because he had no other option.

Sure s/he did. Have that EMS number (and, by extension, your War Assets) mean more than a number on the screen. Bioware could have literally 'phoned it in' with a Suicide Mission-esque final battle, and it still would have been better than the nonsense we got throughout the game.

Synthesis is the only "good" ending because it is the one that has the least-negative cons.

Synthesis is essentially Saren's plan from ME1 writ large. The game seems to be implying that it's the "best" option to pick (seeing as it requires the most EMS to unlock), and would make Shepard's struggle throughout the trilogy completely pointless if s/he accepts the ethics of the villain from the first game.

Doing so will cause synthetics, such as EDI, to have a understanding of what it is to be Organic. It also grants Organics full integration with synthetics. Basically it makes us all Cybrans (Supreme Commander Series Faction). This means that it "perfects" both synthetics and organics. Also it does not make any physical changes outside of what is needed to convert species to Bio-Technology.

...and that statement is hollow, for several reasons:

a) We've already seen multiple synthetic beings rise above their programming - EDI, the Geth, etc.
b) Choosing Synthesis does not prove that these hybrids will somehow gain the knowledge of other species.
c) Choosing Synthesis does not guarantee that the hybrids will refrain from creating organic or synthetic life in the future. In fact, using the argument Javik gives about cycles repeating, it's pretty much a certainty.

Lets look at the cons of destroy. You just destroyed all AIs. You just killed EDI and the Geth, you monster. You also killed the Reapers, depriving the Galaxy of their collective knowledge.

An arbitrary sacrifice that is not supported by prior events or any of the plot. The main goal of the series is to stop the Reapers, which makes the Destroy ending the only viable choice given what we know about Synthesis from ME1 and the Illusive Man's rant/Catalyst's flip-flop about conducting the Reapers in the Control ending.

Control is what I call the Neutral Ending for a reason. Shepard is physically dead, but has become the new Catalyst. He is the Commanding AI for the reapers. So whats bad about that? You ever hear the term "He who fights monsters"?

Because the narrative just showed us, a few minutes prior, that no one should take control of the Reapers because there is a high probability that they will become corrupted and/or perpetuate the cycle. There is no guarantee that Shepard would stop the Reapers from attacking again in 50,000 years - you have to take the word of the Catalyst, who's already shown it's logic is misguided, confusing and circular.

Synthesis is good, because it leaves everyone in the galaxy better.

Yep, you just turned everyone into a half-machine hybrid against their will. Given how thoroughly the world and the characters were built up prior to this, the notion that everyone just accepts this without people going mass suicide because they can't handle what happened to them is completely absurd, not to mention it makes no sense whatsoever.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

And would you REALLY have prefered an ending like this?

Eh. It's a side-grade at worst.

And that statement isn't NEARLY as facetious as it should be.

 

[RJ 17]

And would you REALLY have prefered an ending like this?

Eh. It's a side-grade at worst.

And that statement isn't NEARLY as facetious as it should be.

Yeah, the Reapers turning to icecream IS a bit much...but Shepard could really kick some ass on that seqway.

 

[jackinmydaniels]

What I don't get is why they didn't just throw in a happy ending anyway, I mean, ME 2 had buttloads of endings, you had the bittersweet, a lot of people died but we won, the extremely sad Shepard dies ending, but the really happy everyone survives ending was still there if you wanted it.

So why, when a series is built around choice and consequence, should you just yank out the happy ending for the sake of being all hip and artsy, sure the series was based around the idea of sacrifice an shizzle, but still they could have just put in a 'everyone wins and survives' ending just for shits.

It just seems strange to me that they would force the player into a bittersweet ending no matter what you did, it's also kind of a dick move to make the only ending where Shepard can survive be the most assholish of them all. Why, just because I'm a good guy, am I locked into the heroic sacrifice bullshit?

Also, if you look at Dragon Age Origins it had both a bittersweet and happy ending as well. I think that's the thing that bugs me most, sure Bioware you can have your shitty sad ending if you want, why not throw your fans a bone and just throw in a happy ending anyway?

 

[Terminal Blue]

What I don't get is why they didn't just throw in a happy ending anyway, I mean, ME 2 had buttloads of endings, you had the bittersweet, a lot of people died but we won, the extremely sad Shepard dies ending, but the really happy everyone survives ending was still there if you wanted it.

This is patently untrue.

ME2 has one ending, the one where everyone is fine and it's all cool, which you can fail to obtain if you screw up hard enough (which is actually quite difficult). Calling it multiple endings is just stupid, it's like saying Super Mario Bros had multiple endings. Sure, there was one where Mario fell down a hole.. and one where Mario fell down another hole.

 

[Alternative]

I Didnt like the ending of ME3 because it was a bad ending that didnt eem to fit the game.

I think they should of had just one ending. Rather then attempt to find away to incorperate everyones choices and fail at it.

My version of ME3 ending goes like this.

After the confrontation with the Illusive man on in the citadel. Shepherd, slowly bleeding to death from her(or his) bullet wound, Staggers over to the control panel and activates the crucible.

The crucible fires killing all the reapers. However the pressure of firing causes it to explode.
Destroying it and killing Shepherd.

Cut to the war being over. Shepherd is remembered as a hero throughout all the galaxy.

Then an addition slideshow of static images with a voice over Ala fallout provides some closure on the decisions made though out the series.

Its not a particularly amazing ending but it could be done fairly well, makes sense no matter which shepherd you play and even better it feels like an ending.

 

[DioWallachia]

Where is the one where we all just live in peace and harmony, where I don't have to destroy all the geth, or mesh all life into some wierd alien cocktail.

This is called a dilemma. It's like a choice without a right and wrong answer, where all the different sides have pros and cons.

It IS a dilemma but for the wrong reasons. If the godchild wasn't a nutjob whose logic is untrustworthy then i could try to figure out the best outcome for everyone in this dilemma, even if technically i am forcing MY will on every being on the galaxy regardless if they actually trust me at this point.

You see, if i have to act like a total sociopath with lack of empathy and just say "Well i will choose this color and if it the kid was lying then i will choose another one" then the game just lost ALL the immersion from me. I shouldnt be able to even THINK something like that to begin with if this was a well written dilemma were i am seriously considering the cons and pros as if it were a REAL CHOICE that me, as a free will being, would do in a situation like that.

Instead i just put my best deadpan expression and say "Oh noes -_-, i just accidentally all my synthetic friends by choosing the red color ending. Yep, i can feel the guilt coming to get me in any moment now" Truly, this is the appropriate emotion to feel for ending of a "epic" saga.

 

[DioWallachia]

You know what thread would be nice? one that compares all the games that are about choice that ACTUALLY managed to convince the audience that there is no other way around an issue. As in, a better written story were ALL the possible choices are totally and completely useless and the one that the game gives is the one that it sucks less hard or its less painful for the protagonist or the people around him. Games like:

Bioshock
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
Spec Ops: The Line

 

[lapan]

Yeah, there are plot holes in that. But surely you were expecting some kind of explanation for the existence of the giant robot space-squid who wipe out all advanced species every few millennia for nebulous reason? I mean, it was going to be something, right? I don't see why that explanation is so horrible, or indeed a terribly big leap. The central antagonists in the Mass Effect trilogy are a bunch of nigh-omnipotent, poorly explained God-machines who you spend the entire series slowly learning more about. This is not a world-breaking twist, it's just another of those revelations.

The problem is, i have an AI tell me that i can't trust synthetics which is a paradox in itself. Shepard has no reason to take it's word over his previous experiences and it's outright telling him that it can't be trusted.

 

[Unsilenced]

Sure is a couple fucking months ago in here.

You know, as much as I didn't like the original ending, can we all just, like, let this go? As a group? Stop saying it sucked, stop saying it didn't suck, just let it go? Find something else to talk about? Gun control? Feminism? Lolcats?

No?

Ok.

 

[5-0]

one of my favorite songs is about an old couple that in the end kills themselves with poison because they think the world is coming to an end, and it turns out it's just an earthquake. Sad ending are fine, bad ending in the guise of a sad ending suck.

This is off-topic, but would that be Iron Maiden's When The Wild Wind Blows?

OT: Sorry I have nothing to add here, I haven't played any of the series, but I plan to eventually. And I expect to finish ME3 and say, ah, that's why everyone was raging.

 

[Zetatrain]

"flicks the top off of the bottle of Jack Daniels" Yeah, pretty much. "pours himself a glass" It's been...half a year I think and I still want nothing to do with that game, I don't even want to go online to play multipalyer with my friends. "Takes a shot" I mean why couldn't they just make it straight forward? Gather the galaxy and defeat the Reapers with the largest fleet anyone has ever seen. The Turians were able to kill Reapers all by themselves, the big ones too, we didn't need all of this. We didn't need the Dues Ex Machina Crucible or the Dues Ex Machina starchild. I didn't mind the first one that much until it directly created the second one.

I'm gonna have to disagree with you on the Organics being able to beat the reapers conventionally, at least given the state that the galaxy was in during the time of the invasion. True the Turians did defeat the Reaper's that attacked them, but at what cost? Chances are that the forces the Turians defeated were only a very small portion of the Reaper horde and the end result most likely weaken the Turian military much more than the Reapers. If the Reapers attacked again I doubt the outcome would be as pleasant.

This actually reminds me of the First Contact War between the Humans and the Turians. Turians defeated the human fleet at Shanshielk and don't call for reinforcements, because they thought they defeated the bulk of the Human fleet. Then a bigger human fleet comes along and kicks their asses. Ironically, had the council not stepped in to broker a cease fire, humanity would have most likely lost the war due to the Turians having a much bigger and more powerful fleet at the time.

My point is that the Turian victory, while no small feat, had more to do with the Reapers underestimating the Turians and therefore handicapping themselves, a mistake they most likely would not repeat.

EDIT:

Having looked into the Miracle at Palaven more closely, it appears that this was the result of a ground operation. Basically, resistance fighters managed to smuggle WMDs into the Reaper ships when they were receiving indoctrinated Turians. So this does nothing to support the notion that the organics can win simply by forming one big fleet and throwing it against the Reapers. I would also like to point out that while the operation did allow the Turians and Krogans to reclaim some land it did not destroy all Reapers forces at Palaven. Supposedly, the battle is at best a stalemate at this point.

 

[CannibalCorpses]

So they tear the heart out of the skill system and you moan about the ending? *boggles*

It's only the storyline, who cares.

I play the game not the story...the story is irrelevant for anything other than context which is no longer an issue when it's game over. Go read a book or something

 

[Cowabungaa]

Yes. The OP and a few others might specifically want a happy ending, but most of us just want one that doesn't feature 3 color coded endings and a magic ghost child.

And most of all we wanted our choices and actions to matter. Pretty much everything that we did up until the ending was pointless. Why bother getting every war asset when it has zero influence on how the game ends?

The entire series we felt (sort of) in control. Hell that was even the whole point of being a SPECTRE; you decide the course of action. And then ME3's ending comes along and yanks it out of our hands. That sucks.

Same thing for the Geth-Quarian war. From ME2 on you discover possibilities for peace. Ways to resolve the conflict without genocide. And then in ME3 you're just denied that and you have to destroy one of them. What the hell?

 

[Ruzinus]

Yes. The OP and a few others might specifically want a happy ending, but most of us just want one that doesn't feature 3 color coded endings and a magic ghost child.

And most of all we wanted our choices and actions to matter. Pretty much everything that we did up until the ending was pointless. Why bother getting every war asset when it has zero influence on how the game ends?

The entire series we felt (sort of) in control. Hell that was even the whole point of being a SPECTRE; you decide the course of action. And then ME3's ending comes along and yanks it out of our hands. That sucks.

Same thing for the Geth-Quarian war. From ME2 on you discover possibilities for peace. Ways to resolve the conflict without genocide. And then in ME3 you're just denied that and you have to destroy one of them. What the hell?

Neener neener, I resolved that conflict.

Not that it mattered much 3 hours later.


Um, but all in all, I've thought about it a lot, and there a LOT of things about the ending that are disappointing, and the failure of choice and the lack of your previous choices impacting is one of the biggest of those.

But, at the end, there is one problem that is bigger than all the rest. There is one single problem, which, if removed, would stop this from being the worst ending ever. Would stop this from being so bad that it actually manages to retroactively fuck up ME 1 and 2, something which I did not previously think was even possible (and is perhaps only possible here because of how much the trilogy is a single story).

And that thing is that it devolves into space magic.

There is a magic space child.

There is a magic fucking space child.

...

...had it just ended 5 minutes earlier, it would have been okay. It would still have been bad, it would still have been disappointing, but it would have been okay, in the sense that it wouldn't hurt that which came before.

 

[Aprilgold]

Yes it is a terrible ending, but Bioware isn't going to do anything about it. These threads are meaningless.

Also Bioware did nothing about it, since its so late to the party.

_______________________

I can almost swear that the OP yelled [it wasn't yelling you smart ass, it was replying while he / she may or may not have been angry] over how I thought that the Mass Effect 3 ending was bad. Though I may be 100% wrong and infact it was someone else, but it seems that my original guess was right. People who haven't seen it or loved the series deeply are of course going to think its good.

Overall, your late and its been discussed and it will forever be terrible.

 

[Dendio]

I'm guessing the OP didn't download the extended cut before completing the game.

 

[Thespian]

Shepard has to die in all three scenarios, even though you could easily avoid that.

No, he or she doesn't.

The Mass Relays have to get blown up in all three scenarios, because of reasons.

No. They don't.

NO, I don't know why we didn't do this in the first place instead of telling the Reapers to kill all organics!

No, it does know.

Seriously. Play the extended cut. There's no excuse for not doing so, it's kind of free.

If you're still pissed off, so be it. But at least you'll have to find new crap to be pissed off about.

I know how the extended cut plays out. Shepard dies in all scenarios. And no, that stupid little half a breath Shep takes at the Destruction ending does not count. That's non-committal bullshit. Shepard dies at the end of Mass Effect 3.
In what scenario are the Relays not destroyed? You mean the fourth, refusal ending? Oh, okay, so they don't get blown up if you let everyone die horribly without getting so much as a cutscene towards your final assault. That totally counts.
Oh, and do tell me why this whole Synthesis option, if it's so fantastic, wasn't done at the start, since they apparently figured all that out. It's not like they need Shepard to do it. Actually, in this ending, I have no idea why Shepard is there at all. Star-Child acts like he's the chosen one or something but he doesn't really affect anything. Anyone could have controlled the reapers, and they could easily use the synthesis machine without Shepard.

I watched the Extended Cut because I couldn't summon the enthusiasm to download it when I knew it'd just pull me back into all this crap. It turned out to be more of what I hated which is, y'know, splendid. Even so, no matter how good it was, the ending that was actually on the disk that I bought will always sting. Maybe if they'd written that off completely, but nope, they just expanded on what sucked.