Why the Hate for ME3 ending? *spoiler alert*

[TitanAtlas]

So i played the Mass Effect 3, and liked it. Some things i liked some things hated (like a certain salarian sacrifice... shine on you, you epic fly eating bastard)

But after playing it and reaching the end (i only saw one of the endings), i can say i really loved how everything turned out to be. But then i went to the escapist... so... much... hate...

I don't get it. I chose the organic/ synthetic unification, and i loved it.

From the moment sheperd rushes to the laser (many people say, sheperd died, and thats because he's witouth his team. I assumed the lasers, since they were killing everyone they just knocked the teammates unconscious or something), the final talk against the illusive man, the last view of the war (anderson and sheperd moment), and even 'Jason' (the kid at the crucible that somehow reminds me of Jason of Heavy Rain). I loved every single moment, every single choice, i liked Sheperd was alone in this last decision, and that he was tottaly Effed Up (shows me he's not some kind of god impervious to every damage).

I LOVED those moments. Made me feel like even in the end, when everything seemed lost, he fought till the end. Till the last strenght.

And the ending i chose was perfect for me. The unification of machine and flesh. A new stream of DNA, a new type of evolution for every creature in the galaxy. The mass relays were destroyed (yes kind of sad), but Synthetics (like the geth) now have a new stream of DNA, they can now feel, and evolve. Same for every single other creature. AND the Reapers were destroyed.

I would love to see snips of the characters to see how they are doing in this new life, but don't take me wrong that ending was perfect. Even to that last moment of the man and the kid talking. Made me show the future was at peace and harmony. No war or destruction, just... peace. Perfection. A good hopefull future, in wich even the kid says he dreams to go to the stars, and the old man telling stories of "The Sheperd", like our character was the Sheperd that led all the races into a new bright future, a icon, a hero of the ages.

I don't understand why people hate that. I loved it. Very much. It fitted, and maybe i see things differently, but you are all fools for hating such powerfull, and epic ending. The series ended perfectly. Everything came into a full circle... and i only watched 1 of the 3 possible endings.

Hope i don't get too much hate for seeing things differently

 

[Atrocious Joystick]

I was pleasantly surprised by the endings. But that was mostly because I had been on these forums before and the way people acted I thought you where going to defeat the reapers by the power of love, then fly off to Saturn to start an ostrich farm. So when I finally got the endings I was surprised that they didn't suck epic balls. Because that was what I was prepared for.

They where kind off a let down though, not because it was depressing. The whole game was kind of bleak, it starts off with earth getting fallouted for crying out loud. And looking at the galaxy map towards the end means most places have been conquered by reapers. Which means that like half of all people are dead and every major government is gone. Except maybe the Krogan, which is kind of like considering it a win if the only government left on earth was the nazis. Things couldn't have ended well.

But still, it felt abrupt. Not rushed but there was no real climax. It feels like there is a mission missing. That one final mission where you go through the final dungeon and fight the final boss that every game of this kind needs. Not in the way that it was rushed, there was a final mission just that it kind of mellowed out rather than climaxed.

And frankly, in my opinion, mass effect 3 was awesomeness on a disc. And I don't doubt that it being such a great game probably added to the outrage because going through such an epic game only to have a lukewarm ending is kind of a letdown.

I'm not screaming for revolution like some of the others on this forum but I wouldn't cry if Bioware took the hint and said "Uhh...yeah we totally never meant that to be the ending, here's a dlc that we uh totally always planned.".

 

[Nimcha]

While it's nice to see someone else who got satisfaction from the ending, was it really needed to create another thread on this?

I chose the destroy ending by the way, and the biggest letdown for me was Shepard dying. But that was my own fault, not the game's.

 

[TitanAtlas]

But still, it felt abrupt. Not rushed but there was no real climax. It feels like there is a mission missing. That one final mission where you go through the final dungeon and fight the final boss that every game of this kind needs. Not in the way that it was rushed, there was a final mission just that it kind of mellowed out rather than climaxed.

And frankly, in my opinion, mass effect 3 was awesomeness on a disc. And I don't doubt that it being such a great game probably added to the outrage because going through such an epic game only to have a lukewarm ending is kind of a letdown.

I'm not screaming for revolution like some of the others on this forum but I wouldn't cry if Bioware took the hint and said "Uhh...yeah we totally never meant that to be the ending, here's a dlc that we uh totally always planned.".

Acctually that was very interesting. A final Boss before the last part of the story. For me i consider that final boss to be K.Long from Cerberus in the Illusive man office.

Either that or the Giant Reaper from before the final rush. And for some reason the illusive man. Not a battle of strenght but one of wits. Nontheless i wouldn't mind a last presence from a powerfull enemy in the last section of the game.

Even so i'm glad with what we got.

And don't jinx the ending with another DLC... final fantasy did it, and i'm scare EA starts to like that idea

 

[jehk]

I really didn't like the God-Child thingy. Shepard's death and the destruction of the mass relays I'm cool with. Anything less then massive sacrifice from everyone to end the reaper extinction cycle would have been hollow.

 

[boag]

My personal experience, I was left unsatisfied, because I dont get an epilogue showing me what my decisions accomplished, aside from the matter that the Guardian was shoe horned with a Hammer and the final conflict with Harbinger was side tracked for it.

I liked that the illusive man was a worded "boss" fight, instead of the original idea of making him a reaper monster.

Was also disappointed that parts of the ending that would have made the whole make more sense were scrapped, in particular the chat with Anderson, and the Joker parts, which would have explained to everyone why he had the team mates and was gunning all out of the system.

Also I hate the fact that the original Ending that involved Dark matter was scrapped.

 

[Hoplon]

The end is bad because it's Deus Ex: HR again "press button to get ending" instead of the decisions you have made over the games driving you to one or the other.

The clumsy discussion of evolution towards Trans humanism was painful and adolescent, felt like the writer had just started reading Ray Kurzweil in the weeks before the writing was started.

 

[TitanAtlas]

My personal experience, I was left unsatisfied, because I dont get an epilogue showing me what my decisions accomplished, aside from the matter that the Guardian was shoe horned with a Hammer and the final conflict with Harbinger was side tracked for it.

I liked that the illusive man was a worded "boss" fight, instead of the original idea of making him a reaper monster.

Was also disappointed that parts of the ending that would have made the whole make more sense were scrapped, in particular the chat with Anderson, and the Joker parts, which would have explained to everyone why he had the team mates and was gunning all out of the system.

Well i guess not everyone can feel the same thing

Well with the epilogue ending (kid+man talk), i felt like my choices matter. In the ending i got, everything looked like it was in harmony and peace, thus my decision mattered. There would not be more Reapers attack in the next cycle.

Also like yourself i liked the Illusive man last moments. I felt like he really wanted a better ending for humanity, but unfortenatly he didn't care about the costs, just the results.

I liked the Joker and Anderson moments. For me they didn't need to explain or talk anything, that would be insulting the audience intelligence. I loved the Joker "Good Luck" moment, and Anderson's last moment... he felt so peacefull. And even in his last moments he still joked a little with Sheperd, wich made me feel even mroe sorry for that character (through the game, they bond these characters with you... they really make a impact).

 

[The Wykydtron]

Wait what's this 3rd Synthesis "Shep lives" ending and how do I get it?

Yeah the ending wasn't "BURN THE HERETICS!" bad, it was just completely different to what most people were expecting. I'm annoyed that they decided to just go "hey y'know all the sci-fi awesomeness? Let's just body slam everyone back to the Stone Age!"

But i'm being a hypocrite trying to get it both ways, i've been thinking about Legion's speech on the Heretic Geth in ME2 y'know "Geth want to build a future, the Heretics want the Old Machines to give them a future" stuff and i totally agree with Legion so destroying the Relays is the correct choice according to my logic.

Pity the sci-fi awesomeness has to go. You kill the ME equivalent of the Internet for fucks sake!

*sigh* now I need to play some UMVC3 to get out of the downer mood. At least it gets people thinking, good job on that Bioware. Looks like your experimental story writing has extended from DA2.

Also why can't I just shoot the kid in the face and be done with it... I even shouted Objection! before firing. Damn thought i'd found the secret 4th ending. Persona 4 has spoiled me RPG ending wise. I always look for the super secret ending that doesn't exist.

Oh and where's the Aria vs TIM DLC? DO WANT!

EDIT: Anyone think an epilogue would have just erased most of people's problems with ending? You can throw a vague ending at me sure, that's good but I only want to know what happened my crew guys! Give me that at least

 

[boag]

My personal experience, I was left unsatisfied, because I dont get an epilogue showing me what my decisions accomplished, aside from the matter that the Guardian was shoe horned with a Hammer and the final conflict with Harbinger was side tracked for it.

I liked that the illusive man was a worded "boss" fight, instead of the original idea of making him a reaper monster.

Was also disappointed that parts of the ending that would have made the whole make more sense were scrapped, in particular the chat with Anderson, and the Joker parts, which would have explained to everyone why he had the team mates and was gunning all out of the system.

Well i guess not everyone can feel the same thing

Well with the epilogue ending (kid+man talk), i felt like my choices matter. In the ending i got, everything looked like it was in harmony and peace, thus my decision mattered. There would not be more Reapers attack in the next cycle.

Also like yourself i liked the Illusive man last moments. I felt like he really wanted a better ending for humanity, but unfortenatly he didn't care about the costs, just the results.

I liked the Joker and Anderson moments. For me they didn't need to explain or talk anything, that would be insulting the audience intelligence. I loved the Joker "Good Luck" moment, and Anderson's last moment... he felt so peacefull. And even in his last moments he still joked a little with Sheperd, wich made me feel even mroe sorry for that character (through the game, they bond these characters with you... they really make a impact).

oh, I guess you havent heard the extra Anderson Dialogue.

Here let me share it with you

Wait what's this 3rd Synthesis "Shep lives" ending and how do I get it?

Yeah the ending wasn't "BURN THE HERETICS!" bad, it was just completely different to what most people were expecting. I'm annoyed that they decided to just go "hey y'know all the sci-fi awesomeness? Let's just body slam everyone back to the Stone Age!"

But i'm being a hypocrite trying to get it both ways, i've been thinking about Legion's speech on the Heretic Geth in ME2 y'know "Geth want to build a future, the Heretics want the Old Machines to give them a future" stuff and i totally agree with Legion so destroying the Relays is the correct choice according to my logic.

Pity the sci-fi awesomeness has to go. You kill the ME equivalent of the Internet for fucks sake!

*sigh* now I need to play some UMVC3 to get out of the downer mood. At least it gets people thinking, good job on that Bioware. Looks like your experimental story writing has extended from DA2.

Also why can't I just shoot the kid in the face and be done with it... I even shouted Objection! before firing. Damn thought i'd found the secret 4th ending. Persona 4 has spoiled me RPG ending wise. I always look for the super secret ending that doesn't exist.

Oh and where's the Aria vs TIM DLC? DO WANT!

I was there for like 10 minutes shooting at the kid, nothing happened :/

 

[BloatedGuppy]

I don't understand why people hate that. I loved it. Very much. It fitted, and maybe i see things differently, but you are all fools for hating such powerfull, and epic ending. The series ended perfectly. Everything came into a full circle... and i only watched 1 of the 3 possible endings.

Eeesh.

1. God Child is basically an exposition fairy. Why not have Harbinger serve this purpose? Or anything other than a ghostly child. The voice acting was bad, and having an exposition dump at the pinnacle of the game was doubly bad.
2. Shepard spends the entire series arguing against inevitable outcomes given to him/her by godlike AIs. At the very end, a godlike AI says "here are some inevitable outcomes, pick 1" and Shepard says "Ok!". Was he/she tired? This is OOC and slightly absurd.
3. Clumsy attempt at shoe horning some theme into Mass Effect. Theme was never the strength of the series, characters were.
4. None of the endings take into account any of the choices you've made throughout the three games. As this was arguably Mass Effect's most significant claim to fame, it's hardly surprising people feel upset.
5. Why is Joker fleeing the system? When did this happen? Confusing and never explained.
6. Why is the crew with him? When did this happen? Confusing and never explained. You can even see EDI get off the crashed Normandy on "destroy all synthetics" ending, and/or crew members who were with you when Harbinger destroyed your entire force. EXTREMELY confusing and never explained.
7. The voice acting with the old man/little boy at the very end was atrocious.
8. Shepard is wearing different armor/carrying different weapons after getting knocked out/wounded. Confusing, never explained.
9. In one of the endings, Shepard wakes up/takes a breath whilst lying in some smoky rubble. Shepard was on board a space station that blew up.

Now, it's fine if you like the endings, that is your prerogative. God knows we have some ridiculous OTT criticism of Bioware on these forums, and I'm not the type of guy to deny someone their enjoyment of something. But "you are all fools"? Seriously? You're telling me you can't understand ANY of the complaints people have?

 

[Erttheking]

Because it came completely out of left field, it had only depressing endings in a series where you can bust your ass to get the best endings, and your fleet size can range from pitiful to massive and it changes fuck all except letting one person live.

 

[boag]

I don't understand why people hate that. I loved it. Very much. It fitted, and maybe i see things differently, but you are all fools for hating such powerfull, and epic ending. The series ended perfectly. Everything came into a full circle... and i only watched 1 of the 3 possible endings.

Eeesh.

1. God Child is basically an exposition fairy. Why not have Harbinger serve this purpose? Or anything other than a ghostly child. The voice acting was bad, and having an exposition dump at the pinnacle of the game was doubly bad.
2. Shepard spends the entire series arguing against inevitable outcomes given to him/her by godlike AIs. At the very end, a godlike AI says "here are some inevitable outcomes, pick 1" and Shepard says "Ok!". Was he/she tired? This is OOC and slightly absurd.
3. Clumsy attempt at shoe horning some theme into Mass Effect. Theme was never the strength of the series, characters were.
4. None of the endings take into account any of the choices you've made throughout the three games. As this was arguably Mass Effect's most significant claim to fame, it's hardly surprising people feel upset.
5. Why is Joker fleeing the system? When did this happen? Confusing and never explained.
6. Why is the crew with him? When did this happen? Confusing and never explained. You can even see EDI get off the crashed Normandy on "destroy all synthetics" ending, and/or crew members who were with you when Harbinger destroyed your entire force. EXTREMELY confusing and never explained.
7. The voice acting with the old man/little boy at the very end was atrocious.
8. Shepard is wearing different armor/carrying different weapons after getting knocked out/wounded. Confusing, never explained.
9. In one of the endings, Shepard wakes up/takes a breath whilst lying in some smoky rubble. Shepard was on board a space station that blew up.

Now, it's fine if you like the endings, that is your prerogative. God knows we have some ridiculous OTT criticism of Bioware on these forums, and I'm not the type of guy to deny someone their enjoyment of something. But "you are all fools"? Seriously? You're telling me you can't understand ANY of the complaints people have?

I know that the kid was a last minute add on because the Dark energy stuff got cut out, I want to know what the original plan of the Dark Energy thing was.

as IT stands now I like to "Pretend" that anything that happens after Anderson dies is Shepard being indoctrinated.

 

[TitanAtlas]

My personal experience, I was left unsatisfied, because I dont get an epilogue showing me what my decisions accomplished, aside from the matter that the Guardian was shoe horned with a Hammer and the final conflict with Harbinger was side tracked for it.

I liked that the illusive man was a worded "boss" fight, instead of the original idea of making him a reaper monster.

Was also disappointed that parts of the ending that would have made the whole make more sense were scrapped, in particular the chat with Anderson, and the Joker parts, which would have explained to everyone why he had the team mates and was gunning all out of the system.

Well i guess not everyone can feel the same thing

Well with the epilogue ending (kid+man talk), i felt like my choices matter. In the ending i got, everything looked like it was in harmony and peace, thus my decision mattered. There would not be more Reapers attack in the next cycle.

Also like yourself i liked the Illusive man last moments. I felt like he really wanted a better ending for humanity, but unfortenatly he didn't care about the costs, just the results.

I liked the Joker and Anderson moments. For me they didn't need to explain or talk anything, that would be insulting the audience intelligence. I loved the Joker "Good Luck" moment, and Anderson's last moment... he felt so peacefull. And even in his last moments he still joked a little with Sheperd, wich made me feel even mroe sorry for that character (through the game, they bond these characters with you... they really make a impact).

oh, I guess you havent heard the extra Anderson Dialogue.

Here let me share it with you


Ok now i feel like THAT should be included. Still even if we only got half of the conversation, i still feel like, what we got was a good "last moment".

I felt like... everything came to a full circle. I only hoped to see how the team was after those events, how they evolved or reacted, some last words, but still... i feel like we got a good heartfull moment.

 

[TitanAtlas]

I don't understand why people hate that. I loved it. Very much. It fitted, and maybe i see things differently, but you are all fools for hating such powerfull, and epic ending. The series ended perfectly. Everything came into a full circle... and i only watched 1 of the 3 possible endings.

Eeesh.

1. God Child is basically an exposition fairy. Why not have Harbinger serve this purpose? Or anything other than a ghostly child. The voice acting was bad, and having an exposition dump at the pinnacle of the game was doubly bad.
2. Shepard spends the entire series arguing against inevitable outcomes given to him/her by godlike AIs. At the very end, a godlike AI says "here are some inevitable outcomes, pick 1" and Shepard says "Ok!". Was he/she tired? This is OOC and slightly absurd.
3. Clumsy attempt at shoe horning some theme into Mass Effect. Theme was never the strength of the series, characters were.
4. None of the endings take into account any of the choices you've made throughout the three games. As this was arguably Mass Effect's most significant claim to fame, it's hardly surprising people feel upset.
5. Why is Joker fleeing the system? When did this happen? Confusing and never explained.
6. Why is the crew with him? When did this happen? Confusing and never explained. You can even see EDI get off the crashed Normandy on "destroy all synthetics" ending, and/or crew members who were with you when Harbinger destroyed your entire force. EXTREMELY confusing and never explained.
7. The voice acting with the old man/little boy at the very end was atrocious.
8. Shepard is wearing different armor/carrying different weapons after getting knocked out/wounded. Confusing, never explained.
9. In one of the endings, Shepard wakes up/takes a breath whilst lying in some smoky rubble. Shepard was on board a space station that blew up.

Now, it's fine if you like the endings, that is your prerogative. God knows we have some ridiculous OTT criticism of Bioware on these forums, and I'm not the type of guy to deny someone their enjoyment of something. But "you are all fools"? Seriously? You're telling me you can't understand ANY of the complaints people have?

I guess people not only expected some epic Sheperd destroys the reapers but riding a magical unicorn and makes it alive, but they also wanted the ending to be by theyr own terms.

1. The God Child think, i saw it has only an A.I. of the Ship. and a A.I. that saw possible outcomes to help the galaxy and gave you those choices.
2. Even with Sheperd grim hopes, he still fought till the end, with all the strenght he had, even at the cost of his own life. That is... really emotional in a sense.
3. The mass effect always had a theme, and even if there was a heavy, and incredible character development, the theme was always that the galaxy was marked to die, and you had to do the possible and impossible to challenge fate itself.
4. All the mass effect had... choices. The things you did on the other ME made impact in the story not the ending. And even the endings you had were Bad, good, and Best. Unless you expected a choice between 10 endings according to things you did in other games.
5. Jokes is fleeing cuz theres a huge goddam laser chasing him. The laser is targeting the Mass relays, using the power of the mass effects for the best results according to the ending you chose (destroy everything, or just the reapers or evolution for the galaxy). Happens right after Sheperd dies (joker could be between a crucible and a mass relay).
6. In that final rush, the team you had couldv been knocked out by the giant Reaper, behind the giant teleporter laser thing. They could be unconscious or so. The EDI part i cannot explain... cuz if she was in the crew, and then the ship (that was fleeing from the blast), makes me think bioware didn't thinked that one through. Perhabs they wanted to give Joker a good ending.
7. Don't see why you hated that. Peacefull ending, makes me think my choices mattered. Could be used in the 2 good/ best endings. In case you are considering the bad endings, Liara did created a "Library" of the events that took on the 3 ME games, from enemies, to adventures and even to Sheperd himself.
8. The wearing different weapons, in every single cutscene my characters are NEVER using the weapons i equipped them with. So thats the least of my worries. And the armor. It could be the clothes hes wearing inside the armor, considering he took a giant blast to the face and everything is melted. Have you considered the giant laser? Cuz people tend to forget the giant laser xD
9. I now saw the other 2 endings (the bad and good one) via youtube, and in no part that scene is showed. Are you certain you are not mistaking things? Cuz in every single end he dies.

I always noticed people are posting things other people said, instead of theyr own opinion. I bet there are many that didn't even played the game, and are hating the endings just because some other people are hating them has well :S

But i'm not discarting the possibility that some (that acctually played it) expected something different and are now raging over it.

 

[unoleian]

It seemed a fitting end. Kind of interesting that despite all the pretense of choice, what we get is ultimately fatalistic. Bet there will be lots of exploration of that theme in later discussions once everyone gets over their initial shock of the ending(s).

Ultimately, I've always been one of the "it's the journey, not the destination" school of thought, and in that respect, what we got here is one fucking Hell of a journey. If you looking for a destination, well, I can see how the ending might drive you sideways.

Capture solve: doctor who?

Perhaps people would have been happier with an ending involving the TARDIS

 

[the_pleasure_is_mine]

I liked them generally as endings, but as Mass Effect endings they failed spectacularly.

Mass Effect, a series that prides itself on recording every little thing you do and decision you make, then ends with 3 copypasted endings that don't care in the slightest how you spent the last 90+ hours.

That's my main problem.

The plot holes also annoy me but I can deal with them.

 

[TitanAtlas]

It seemed a fitting end. Kind of interesting that despite all the pretense of choice, what we get is ultimately fatalistic. Bet there will be lots of exploration of that theme in later discussions once everyone gets over their initial shock of the ending(s).

Ultimately, I've always been one of the "it's the journey, not the destination" school of thought, and in that respect, what we got here is one fucking Hell of a journey. If you looking for a destination, well, I can see how the ending might drive you sideways.

Capture solve: doctor who?

Perhaps people would have been happier with an ending involving the TARDIS

The doctor appears in the final moment:

Who: Sheperd... the future needs you... grab my ship!!!
Sheperd: Where are we going?
Who: TO ADVENTURE!!

Also i loved that way of thinking and i have to agree... it was one hell of a journey... war.. peace.. love, betrayal, honor.. A good story. A good story indeed.

For me, the the Adventure and the ending were incredible. The ending shouldv got couple more things in it, for perfection, but i'm glad with the overall experience.

 

[TitanAtlas]

I liked them generally as endings, but as Mass Effect endings they failed spectacularly.

Mass Effect, a series that prides itself on recording every little thing you do and decision you make, then ends with 3 copypasted endings that don't care in the slightest how you spent the last 90+ hours.

That's my main problem.

The plot holes also annoy me but I can deal with them.

Many people say this. I guess everyone expected many endings to theyr own terms.

I think something that would fit, or even make people happier, would be different last dialogues. For example the last talk with Anderson. Him telling you suck if you were a evil person, and him saying he is proud if you were a good person. That kind of stuff

I wonder if people would prefer something like that.