Mass Effect 3

[Matt]

Finally finished.

Spoiler

I planned to kill the Reapers but instead I took control of the Reapers and made them leave. Honestly, it doesn't bother me all that much. It is a fitting ending. There is a bitter sweet irony to the fact that the Illusive Man's strategy was right all along. Furthermore, I just couldn't bring myself to kill the Reapers when it meant that all synthetic life would die. There were plenty of Geth fighting alongside me. EDI would die as well. Couldn't let that happen.

As for the last Normandy scene, I don't think that the Normandy crashing really happened. It showed Ashley come out, but Ashley was with Shepard on the final charge. I think Shepard wanted it....he wanted his friends to be safe and happy so he was envisioning them in paradise. My guess is that Ash and Garrus (also with me), died in the final charge.

All in all, I don't mind the ending as much as some people seem to. It was fine, IMO. It's uncertain, but that's the point. Life goes on. Shepard broke the cycle and now life can continue.

 

[ChrisBaleBatman]

Of the ME2 romances:

The Tali/Garrus romances were perfect.

The Thane/Jack ones looked okay and the rest seemed weaker.

I really, really liked the Miranda one. She had a tough exterior, with the "Ice Queen" persona...but her past, and the mess with her father and her sister and the theme legacy and the quest for perfection, no matter what rules and boundaries are broken, were really fantastic for me.

I'll probably learn more about the other romances this year, but for ME2...Miranda was my favorite.

I liked what I've heard of the Jack romance. That sounds like it was good one too. Tali as well.

I didn't even know Garrus could be romanced as FemShep...

 

[Upset Spideyfan]

Finally finished.

Spoiler

I planned to kill the Reapers but instead I took control of the Reapers and made them leave. Honestly, it doesn't bother me all that much. It is a fitting ending. There is a bitter sweet irony to the fact that the Illusive Man's strategy was right all along. Furthermore, I just couldn't bring myself to kill the Reapers when it meant that all synthetic life would die. There were plenty of Geth fighting alongside me. EDI would die as well. Couldn't let that happen.

Spoiler

I went with Control as well. Looks like the most painful out of the bunch.

 

[iamlegend]

I really didn't mind the ending.

Spoiler

I don't think most folks did, it was more that it ends on such a ???? note with absolutely no closure on what happens to the folks that AREN'T Shepard.

 

[Matt]

Spoiler

I don't think most folks did, it was more that it ends on such a ???? note with absolutely no closure on what happens to the folks that AREN'T Shepard.

But why should it?

[blackout]The player is Shepard. You've made Shepard's decisions, based Shepard around yourself....at least I believe that was Bioware's intent.....for the player to become Shepard. Thus, the game ends with Shepard. That is why I think the final scene is more of Shepard's fantasy than anything else The Normandy landing in paradise with everyone safe and happy....seems like it is more Shepard's dying wish than anything else.[/blackout]

 

[Master Chief]

Finally finished.

Spoiler

I planned to kill the Reapers but instead I took control of the Reapers and made them leave. Honestly, it doesn't bother me all that much. It is a fitting ending. There is a bitter sweet irony to the fact that the Illusive Man's strategy was right all along. Furthermore, I just couldn't bring myself to kill the Reapers when it meant that all synthetic life would die. There were plenty of Geth fighting alongside me. EDI would die as well. Couldn't let that happen.

As for the last Normandy scene, I don't think that the Normandy crashing really happened. It showed Ashley come out, but Ashley was with Shepard on the final charge. I think Shepard wanted it....he wanted his friends to be safe and happy so he was envisioning them in paradise. My guess is that Ash and Garrus (also with me), died in the final charge.

All in all, I don't mind the ending as much as some people seem to. It was fine, IMO. It's uncertain, but that's the point. Life goes on. Shepard broke the cycle and now life can continue.

Spoiler

"You can't control them, they control you!"

lol I should have stuck to my guns and destroyed 'em. But I went with Control too.

 

[Matt]

Spoiler

"You can't control them, they control you!"

lol I should have stuck to my guns and destroyed 'em. But I went with Control too.

Spoiler

I would've destroyed them if it didn't mean death for EDI and the Geth. That part made it feel really wrong....basically committing a genocide against people who made defeating the Reapers possible.

 

[iamlegend]

But why should it?

[blackout]The player is Shepard. You've made Shepard's decisions, based Shepard around yourself....at least I believe that was Bioware's intent.....for the player to become Shepard. Thus, the game ends with Shepard. That is why I think the final scene is more of Shepard's fantasy than anything else The Normandy landing in paradise with everyone safe and happy....seems like it is more Shepard's dying wish than anything else.[/blackout]

Spoiler

Your take on the ending is one of the (many) reasons I'd of liked some sort of actual epilogue. We legitimately have no idea what happened and can only wonder. There's no emotional closure when I have legitimately no idea what happened to the galaxy. I'm not asking for anything expansive... just for some sense to be made of what I just did.

That said, I destroyed those monsters. Have to guarantee they're gone. Plus, I inadvertently got the Geth annihilated by the Quarians anyway. So they weren't around to lose.

 

[Matt]

Spoiler

But not everything has to be spoon fed, does it? An epilogue would cheapen the ending, IMO.

 

[Harriet Tubman]

Matt

Spoiler

If you don't get enough war assets, your characters don't come out of the Normandy at the end. Does this mean that Shepard's dream/fantasy for his squad members and friends is their death?

 

[Matt]

I just watched a video of the "perfect," ending:

Spoiler

If that ending is accurate and Shepard suddenly breathes, what is the implication? He is lying in a pile of rubble on Earth and wakes up. That implies to me that none of the stuff on the Citadel truly happened and everything following the Reaper laser was a dream.

 

[Matt]

Matt

Spoiler

If you don't get enough war assets, your characters don't come out of the Normandy at the end. Does this mean that Shepard's dream/fantasy for his squad members and friends is their death?

Spoiler

I assume that those endings are non-canonical so I'm not sure what to tell you.

 

[Reek]

geez you guys are finishing fast. are you all doing 100% or just main story...im doing everything possible

 

[Harriet Tubman]

I just watched a video of the "perfect," ending:

Spoiler

If that ending is accurate and Shepard suddenly breathes, what is the implication? He is lying in a pile of rubble on Earth and wakes up. That implies to me that none of the stuff on the Citadel truly happened and everything following the Reaper laser was a dream.

Yeah, thats why people are starting to believe the [BLACKOUT]indoctrination theory. If you check out the journal entry on Indoctrination in the game, it starts to make alot of sense. Vega, on multiple occasions, asks Shepard "Whats that buzzing noise". Indoctrinated individuals hear a buzzing noise, according to the journal. They will also see ghostly apparitions and have vivid nightmares.[/BLACKOUT]

 

[Upset Spideyfan]

Spoiler

The indoctrination theory continues to strike me as fans going into denial mode.

This is what I want as far as a possible "revised" ending goes:

They should include some kind of a sequence where the Normandy picks up the crew after the failed charge and stick that in while Shepard is traveling to the Citadel.

Then when you meet the Catalyst if you have united the Geth/Quarians let Shepard argue more strongly against the Catalyst and its reasoning but ultimately have the Catalyst say that the options presented by the Crucible can nevertheless not be changed and if Shepard doesn't act it will persist in its mission.

Show the Normandy with the crew on board, rejoining the battle in space. So anyway when the energy discharge happens have Joker make a jump through the relay in trying to escape from it and then the whole crash happens

Have an end with the crew assessing their situation, maybe using the QEC to communicate with Alliance command and get some word on how Earth is doing, mourning for Shepard and then resolving to go on. And then cue the bit at the end with the old man and the kid.

I think that is doable with a minimum of work.

 

[iamlegend]

Spoiler

But not everything has to be spoon fed, does it? An epilogue would cheapen the ending, IMO.

Spoiler

This isn't an Academy Award winning movie, it's a sci-fi video game. I'm not asking for it just lay out this nice clean ending... I'm just asking for an ending at all. Did anything after the laser blast happen? Did Shepard actually stop the Reapers? Did my team survive? Did anyone survive? Did Shepard survive? These are all legitimate questions about the "ending" offered. I'd honestly take just about any explanation/epilogue... as long as we got one.

Even the game notes that were leaked back in November (which were almost spot on with the game... I didn't review them until after I'd played it, and they're accurate... couldn't seem to decide if Earth was leveled in the final battle or if it escaped unscathed.

I don't need a tidy little package, but I'd like something more than the muddled mess of conjecture we have now.

And some other stuff from the leaked script (since I just saw it recently, take it for what its worth)... the original London mission apparently called for at least one appearance by the Normandy as air support, and you allegedly made a last-second call just before the death charge about whether or not you wanted your companions to risk coming with you.

 

[eternalinferno]

I couldn't help but notice how ridiculously low the user scores for this game are on metacritic, did that many people truly hate the game (seemingly based on the ending and day one dlc issue) or do people really spam low scores just to make a point? I mean even if you hated the ending, the other 99% of the game was amazing, I don't get that at all

 

[Master Chief]

geez you guys are finishing fast. are you all doing 100% or just main story...im doing everything possible

Took me about 32 hours, that's how long it takes me to get through Bioware games lol and I do everything I possibly can. In ME3 I even went around the ship after every mission to talk to everybody and took a lot of trips to the Citadel.

 

[Upset Spideyfan]

I couldn't help but notice how ridiculously low the user scores for this game are on metacritic, did that many people truly hate the game (seemingly based on the ending and day one dlc issue) or do people really spam low scores just to make a point? I mean even if you hated the ending, the other 99% of the game was amazing, I don't get that at all

People are spamming to make a point. Most people agree that everything up until the very end was near perfect.

 

[Reek]

these ME3 threads have more spoiler tags than any thread ive seen

 

[iamlegend]

I couldn't help but notice how ridiculously low the user scores for this game are on metacritic, did that many people truly hate the game (seemingly based on the ending and day one dlc issue) or do people really spam low scores just to make a point? I mean even if you hated the ending, the other 99% of the game was amazing, I don't get that at all

Spoiler

Well there was some pretty passionate hate for the ending, so I'd say it was pry spammers. Some folks are equating the ending to how much the second and third Matrix films just totally decimated that series.

 

[iamlegend]

these ME3 threads have more spoiler tags than any thread ive seen

Haha, just trying to be respectful, game's only been out a week. In a month I don't know that there'll be any.

 

[Master Chief]

Yeah, thats why people are starting to believe the [BLACKOUT]indoctrination theory. If you check out the journal entry on Indoctrination in the game, it starts to make alot of sense. Vega, on multiple occasions, asks Shepard "Whats that buzzing noise". Indoctrinated individuals hear a buzzing noise, according to the journal. They will also see ghostly apparitions and have vivid nightmares.[/BLACKOUT]

Spoiler

Plus the shadowy figures prominent around the borders of the screen, and more and more shadow figures popping up in Shepard's dreams... It is a stretch, but there's so much evidence. The only reason I don't write it off is because it's something I can see these writers coming up with after how amazing the game was.

I couldn't help but notice how ridiculously low the user scores for this game are on metacritic, did that many people truly hate the game (seemingly based on the ending and day one dlc issue) or do people really spam low scores just to make a point? I mean even if you hated the ending, the other 99% of the game was amazing, I don't get that at all

Yeah, it just got review bombed coz people weren't happy about From Ashes. There are a couple reviews that are legit but for the most part it's just idiots. Metacritic and scores in general are stupid.

 

[iamlegend]

Took me about 32 hours, that's how long it takes me to get through Bioware games lol and I do everything I possibly can. In ME3 I even went around the ship after every mission to talk to everybody and took a lot of trips to the Citadel.

I clocked in with about 36 hours, and from what I understand I only missed a small handful of fetch quests on the Citadel (and only because they terminated themselves automatically after certain events, had I known this would happen I'd of taken care of them sooner). Knocked out everything else.

 

[iamlegend]

Spoiler

Plus the shadowy figures prominent around the borders of the screen, and more and more shadow figures popping up more and more in Shepard's dreams... It is a stretch, but there's so much evidence. The only reason I don't write it off is because it's something I can see these writers coming up with after how amazing the game was.

Spoiler

I honestly can't imagine the creators actually having our hero be indoctrinated, but I guess they DID give players enough evidence to at least make an argument.

I honestly think they just tried to get way too artsy with the dreams/nightmares and ultimately never even explained them.