Mass Effect 3

[Matt]

[blackout]He gets engulfed in a massive explosion in the destroy ending. [/blackout]

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Spoiler

Camera trick. The explosion was really like ten feet away from him. He was fine.

 

[Havok83]

I read that theres a bug that makes it impossible to complete the Hanar diplomat Citadel mission bc it wont allow you to access the terminal needed. Anyone run into this? I unfortunately have

 

[Master Chief]

I disagree with that, the ending is just not very good but the game is totally complete.

Hahah yeah, it's a solid game. It's just a shame that the ending makes the whole journey feel meaningless. It did for me anyway.

Spoiler

Well, technically, the arms blew off the Citadel and Shep was right in the center, somewhere under the Presidium's tower. So he might logically have been protected from the really dangerous explosions.

Spoiler

Shepard ends up in stone rubble... there is no stone on the Citadel.

I read that theres a bug that makes it impossible to complete the Hanar diplomat Citadel mission bc it wont allow you to access the terminal needed. Anyone run into this? I unfortunately have

Yup, I had that happen in my first playthrough. I didn't have a problem in my 2nd though. I heard if you go and do a mission then come back you'll be able to access it.

 

[Upset Spideyfan]

I read that theres a bug that makes it impossible to complete the Hanar diplomat Citadel mission bc it wont allow you to access the terminal needed. Anyone run into this? I unfortunately have

My friend did but it worked both times for me.

 

[Reek]

I read that theres a bug that makes it impossible to complete the Hanar diplomat Citadel mission bc it wont allow you to access the terminal needed. Anyone run into this? I unfortunately have

Yup, I had that happen in my first playthrough. I didn't have a problem in my 2nd though. I heard if you go and do a mission then come back you'll be able to access it.[/QUOTE]

yea just go do a mission...i dont think it matters if it is priority or not. i think the actual glitch is when the missions become available... it seems like a good bit get on your journal, but dont 'activate' or whatever until a certain point of the game is reached.

 

[Harriet Tubman]

I keep forgetting to bring this up, but the Asari suffering from PTSD on the Citadel talks about how she was assigned to gather colonists from Tiptree after a reaper attack

[blackout]Joker is from Tiptree and his family is there[/blackout]

She then had to kill a teenage girl, named Hilary, who kept crying and screaming, because she was about to give away their hiding spot.

[blackout]Joker has a teenage sister named Hilary[/blackout]

The PTSD affected Asari found out that the girl wanted to be a pilot when she grew up

[blackout]Like her older brother[/blackout]



Its stuff like that, the little things, that make this game so great. Your moment with Liara, when she is trying to find out how you want to be remembered. Shooting bottles with Garrus. Consoling Steve over his husband. Just so many little moments that alot of people are forgetting.

 

[Soapy]

Oh man. The [BLACKOUT]Geth virtual world[/BLACKOUT] is awesome.

 

[ProjectPat2280]

Oh man. The [BLACKOUT]Geth virtual world[/BLACKOUT] is awesome.

[BLACKOUT]I was just waiting for the section where i got to drive a light cycle from Tron. It never came [/BLACKOUT]

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Spoiler

That level had me more on guard than anything else because, ironically, nothing actually attacks you in it. I kept waiting and waiting for some enemy to show up and basically yell "boo!" but then the level ended.

 

[Master Chief]

I keep forgetting to bring this up, but the Asari suffering from PTSD on the Citadel talks about how she was assigned to gather colonists from Tiptree after a reaper attack

[blackout]Joker is from Tiptree and his family is there[/blackout]

She then had to kill a teenage girl, named Hilary, who kept crying and screaming, because she was about to give away their hiding spot.

[blackout]Joker has a teenage sister named Hilary[/blackout]

The PTSD affected Asari found out that the girl wanted to be a pilot when she grew up

[blackout]Like her older brother[/blackout]



Its stuff like that, the little things, that make this game so great. Your moment with Liara, when she is trying to find out how you want to be remembered. Shooting bottles with Garrus. Consoling Steve over his husband. Just so many little moments that alot of people are forgetting.

The ambient conversations on the Normandy and Citadel are awesome.

Spoiler

About halfway through my Insanity run and I'm dreading going to Thessia... like, that is probably the most powerful moment in the whole series for me coz it's the only time Shepard f**ks up and is completely powerless. After Tuchunka, after Rannoch, after Thessia and Earth there's no way they really thought ending it the way they did would go over well with anybody.

Everything in the game is so incredible it's as if they just ran out of creative fuel at the end lmao.

 

[Soapy]

[BLACKOUT]I was just waiting for the section where i got to drive a light cycle from Tron. It never came [/BLACKOUT]

[BLACKOUT]You should give Saints Row another chance. [/BLACKOUT]

 

[ChrisBaleBatman]

Spoiler

If the indoctrination theory is true though, when did it start? Is Anderson still alive? What about the Illusive Man? His death was so perfect (I personally killed him). Is that all just hallucination? Is the Illusive Man even truly indoctrinated or is that just in Shepard's mind?

It raises A LOT of questions that will need to be answered.

Spoiler

Yeah, I think we can say with near certainty that The Illusive Man was indeed indoctrinated. Javik pointed out some of the same signs The Illusive Man displayed. By in large, the idea that The Reapers could be controlled was something Javik said was something the indoctrinated kept pushing. He did also allow the implants, taking a chance which probably is what led to his indoctrination.

If I had to guess at what was "true" or not, I think everything past Anderson's death could probably be just pure indoctrination in effect. Everything past the explosion on the way to the beam could just be the downward spiral into madness, as it were.

The only purpose the child could serve in my mind, is the Reapers getting to Shepard. I don't think anyone, other than Shep, ever really acknowledged the existence of the child.

What winds up throwing me a bit off, is the Normandy crash landing. And the post-credits stuff. Could that just be Shepard's mind reconciling whatever actions he thinks he's made, and thinking he'd ultimately succeeded? Maybe the post credits is supposed to be Shepard with the boy? As a way to keep Shepard pacified?

In all this arguing, i haven't even really looked at their 'theories'. Im still in the middle of my Mass Effect trilogy replay so I'm gonna have to look at all these indoctrination ideas when i get to the 3rd game.

I dont care either way. I want more Mass Effect 3. Preferably DLC that continues my Shepard, so i guess that makes me pro indoctrination? My only gripe is, was this planned from the start? Did they make this game with the intention of giving us a false end only to release the real end via dlc? If so and if this is successful(lets not kid ourselves, it will be) how many companies follow suit? Am i gonna have to start paying for every real ending from now on?

I think it was.

That...almost offensive...post game pop up that says there will be DLC, has me leaning on it being intentional.

I think if it was, too, they really underestimated how people would react. And your right. People will buy it.

They'll complain. Alot. But, if it "fixes" things and sets the record straight...yeah, people will buy it.

 

[Upset Spideyfan]

Spoiler

I don't think post-ending DLC was ever planned, though the way the game works it in there is a little ham-fisted but if you notice it drops you before the Cerberus assault. It seems to me that the plan was to have all DLC take place prior to the battle for Earth though obviously who knows what BW's plans are now.

 

[ChrisBaleBatman]

guys, do you think the "last minute" addition of the Multi-player mode affected what happened with the endings in any way?

If I recall, it seemed the Multi-player mode was announced fairly late in the game's development. And I remember people wondering ( myself included ) if adding the MP would divert resources from the Single Player campaign.

do you think there's any relation?

I think multiplayer hurt this game alot.

Aside from EA wanting Bioware to get this game out the door fast, I think making them add on the multiplayer took people off of other stuff that usually would have gotten taken cared of.

It's just a guess, though. But, my "evidence" for that would be some of the strange, weird, glitchy stuff I've seen. I've played Mass Effect for probably a total of like 200 hours (or something just as obscene) and a little less than that with Mass Effect 2. I never experienced any of the glitches I've seen in Mass Effect 3.

Shepard clipping through in game objects, walking through chairs and tables on the Citadel, buggy audio sound dropping out during conversations, pop up probably midway through a cutscene (in ME1 and ME2, when it happened it would just at the start). In-game notices not working when it should (like getting a notice that my Citadel map has been updated and that my Spectre console had been updated as well).

And then there was that tweet from Mac Walters about a trial scene being cut out of the beginning to the game because they could not "figure" it out, or something.

 

[ProjectPat2280]

[BLACKOUT]You should give Saints Row another chance. [/BLACKOUT]

Haha. I actually have. I bought that game to co op with a buddy and he had it unlocked. Gotta admit, it was pretty neat.

 

[iamlegend]

I get that you want to defend Bioware, Legend....I was right there beside you earlier in the week. But the more I think about the endings, the more that I agree that there is SOMETHING going on with that ending.

Spoiler

The way the edges of the screen blackout while the Illusive Man is talking, the slow-mo, IM's sudden biotic powers, etc. Clearly something else is at play.

Even if you consider Shepard waking up in the "perfect," ending...how exactly does he do that? Shepard is in the middle of a space stations hundreds of miles above Earth and that entire space station just blew up with him on it. There is NO logical way to survive that (not even by ME standards). SOMETHING is going on.

I think it is naive to write off some of the other worldly (for lack of better wording) elements of the ending or indoctrination theory at this point.

I'm not necessarily trying to defend Bioware (it's no secret that I'm not happy with the ending and how it played out, after all), I'm just noting that the indoctrination theories are a lot of guesswork, and IMO are an attempt by the fans to make sense of what's ultimately just a poorly written hackjob of an ending. Sometimes things just... stink. I think this ending was one of them.

Spoiler

And I was under the impression that the screen was blacking out during the Illusive Man's speech because HE was trying to indoctrinate Shepard. They'd established that Cerberus had mastered a form of indoctrination. He was trying to have Shep and Anderson fall under HIS control.

The slow-mo could be explained the same way, or as just being done for a "cool" endgame effect. The IM was obviously all Reaper-teched out, so I think anything he did would be sustainable. Hell, in the original ending he was going to turn into a giant monster that you had to fight (you'd presumably have been fully armored and equipped rather than all shot up). It says so right in the bonus art guide that comes with the CE.

Just because he supposedly couldn't control the Reapers didn't mean he couldn't control two organics.

As for Shepard surviving... that remains to be seen. It's no secret that him being alive after the "Red" ending seems to be fact. We've seen Bioware people tweet about it.

And from what I've read, some of the folks that choose to "Destroy" and are using the Mass Effect datapad app received ONE message after the ending - and it was from a squadmate that mentions coming to visit Shepard.

I don't know if that's legit or not, since I didn't use the datapad app.

If anything, I'm playing Devil's advocate. And probably being even harsher to Bioware than y'all, haha, since I think they just totally dropped the ball and created a totally crap ending.

 

[X Knight]

ok, a question about ME 2 Arrival and ME 3:

Spoiler

At the end of Arrival, it's my understanding that you are given the choice to blow up the Collector's Base ( and that also blows up the Mass Relay which wipes out the nearby star system, correct? ). And it seems that choice is the "canon" choice. Am I correct?

But, what if I choose NOT to blow up the base and thus spare the star system from genocide. and then I import that decision into ME 3.

Would that mean I would NOT be able to get the "perfect" ending where Shep lives after choosing Destroy?

I'm just not sure if my Paragon Shep could live with herself if she knowingly and voluntarily doomed an entire star system to genocide......

and maybe I'm getting confused about the Collector's Base being in Arrival ( since I haven't played all the way through ME 2 or Arrival ). I just remember reading something that at the end of Arrival, Shep is given the choice to blow something up which will wipe out a nearby stary system........

and I was just curious if that choice at the end of Arrival will have an impact on what ending you can achieve in ME 3.

 

[Master Chief]

ok, a question about ME 2 Arrival and ME 3:

Spoiler

At the end of Arrival, it's my understanding that you are given the choice to blow up the Collector's Base ( and that also blows up the Mass Relay which wipes out the nearby star system, correct? ). And it seems that choice is the "canon" choice. Am I correct?

But, what if I choose NOT to blow up the base and thus spare the star system from genocide. and then I import that decision into ME 3.

Would that mean I would NOT be able to get the "perfect" ending where Shep lives after choosing Destroy?

I'm just not sure if my Paragon Shep could live with herself if she knowingly and voluntarily doomed an entire star system to genocide......

Spoiler

The collector base and the events in arrival are unrelated, but in arrival you don't have a choice. You have to destroy the relay. Batarians can't catch a break.

 

[Benstamania]

Batarians are total dbags anyway.

 

[X Knight]

Spoiler

The collector base and the events in arrival are unrelated, but in arrival you don't have a choice. You have to destroy the relay. Batarians can't catch a break.

Spoiler

ok. thanks.

yeah......it looks like I got them mixed up. Where does the Collector's Base come into play? Is that the end of the main game of ME 2? Is that part of the Suicide Mission? or am I still confusing things........lol

oh, and so there is no way to save the colonists from death in Arrival?

but, that decision at the end of Arrival has no bearing to the end of ME 3?

 

[The Squirrel]

Spoiler

ok. thanks.

yeah......it looks like I got them mixed up. Where does the Collector's Base come into play? Is that the end of the main game of ME 2? Is that part of the Suicide Mission? or am I still confusing things........lol

oh, and so there is no way to save the colonists from death in Arrival?

but, that decision at the end of Arrival has no bearing to the end of ME 3?

Spoiler

The collector base is part of the suicide mission, which is the final mission of ME2. The decision at the end of Arrival was suppose to be why ME3 would open with Shepard on trial for his actions, but the trial was cut out.

 

[X Knight]

I see. thanks.

so, really, playing Arrival is not required to play ME 3 since [BLACKOUT]the opening trial was cut out.[/BLACKOUT]

so I could skip the events of Arrival completely and it won't affect the story of ME 3.

Correct?

 

[Master Chief]

Batarians are total dbags anyway.

When they're not trying to spread their misery they can be cool.

I see. thanks.

so, really, playing Arrival is not required to play ME 3 since [BLACKOUT]the opening trial was cut out.[/BLACKOUT]

so I could skip the events of Arrival completely and it won't affect the story of ME 3.

Correct?

Even if you don't play it, the events in Arrival still apply to Shepard in ME3 lol; you're not really missing out on anything if you skip it. It's a decent piece of DLC though.

 

[X Knight]

When they're not trying to spread their misery they can be cool.



Even if you don't play it, the events in Arrival still apply to Shepard in ME3 lol; you're not really missing out on anything if you skip it. It's a decent piece of DLC though.

thanks.

so I just read the wiki, and it looks like your Shep can try to warn the colonists but gets cut off. so, I guess my Paragon Shep could always say that she tried to to warn the colonists but was prevented from doing so.

or, she could just claim that she was Indoctrinated and blame it on the Reapers........