A small diagram that sums up the Mass Effect series!

Had to post this...

kinda sick of hearing about this, its like if you dont like the last 5 seconds of a song, they wont go back and change it, for once a company didnt want to milk a series, then once they start miliking it people will be like "they shouldve ended this a long time ago, im gonna go play call of duty 38"

kinda sick of hearing about this, its like if you dont like the last 5 seconds of a song, they wont go back and change it, for once a company didnt want to milk a series, then once they start miliking it people will be like "they shouldve ended this a long time ago, im gonna go play call of duty 38"

laliberte11

haha nice. I was really looking forward to seeing how your choices affected the ending too.

Can we just stop talking about this? There are other games you know?

[QUOTE="laliberte11"]

kinda sick of hearing about this, its like if you dont like the last 5 seconds of a song, they wont go back and change it, for once a company didnt want to milk a series, then once they start miliking it people will be like "they shouldve ended this a long time ago, im gonna go play call of duty 38"

Moriarity_

kinda sick of hearing about this, its like if you dont like the last 5 seconds of a song, they wont go back and change it, for once a company didnt want to milk a series, then once they start miliking it people will be like "they shouldve ended this a long time ago, im gonna go play call of duty 38"

[QUOTE="kris9031998"][QUOTE="Moriarity_"] Kinda sick of hearing people complain about this using bad analogies. Do songwrites promise that their songs will have multiple endings? Do songs tell a narrative story? People played the ME series because it had a huge focus on choices and when all those choices end up having no consequences you might as well not have a choice in the first place.laliberte11

Wow, that diagram sums it up perfectly.

BS. This is what it was like

ME1 |||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ME2 |||||||||||||||||||||||||| ME3

--------------------------------------------------------------------->

Honestly, I don't see what the big deal it. Neither of the first two games featured any meaningful consequences for our actions, so why did anyone think the third one would? Meanwhile, here's my diagram summarising Mass Effect: Indoctrination. Just about every single plot twist and retcon revolved around it, completely depriving us of interesting villains with interesting motives. *yawn*Planeforger

No meaningful consequences? Choosing the save the concil and deciding the fate of the Racchni Queen in Mass Effect 1 and choosing what to do with the collector base in Mass Effect 2.

[QUOTE="Planeforger"]Honestly, I don't see what the big deal it. Neither of the first two games featured any meaningful consequences for our actions, so why did anyone think the third one would? Meanwhile, here's my diagram summarising Mass Effect: Indoctrination. Just about every single plot twist and retcon revolved around it, completely depriving us of interesting villains with interesting motives. *yawn*toddx77

No meaningful consequences? Choosing the save the concil and deciding the fate of the Racchni Queen in Mass Effect 1 and choosing what to do with the collector base in Mass Effect 2.

Those two from Mass Effect 1 have very minor consequences(especially the council one which is almost pointless) and the Collector base is just like the Mass Effect 3 ending of 'pick which color'.

[QUOTE="kris9031998"][QUOTE="Moriarity_"] Kinda sick of hearing people complain about this using bad analogies. Do songwrites promise that their songs will have multiple endings? Do songs tell a narrative story? People played the ME series because it had a huge focus on choices and when all those choices end up having no consequences you might as well not have a choice in the first place.laliberte11

Too bad bioware went on record before the game shipped to say you wouldn't only have the choice of "Ending A, Ending B, or Ending C"

Well I guess it really is "Ending Green, Ending Blue, Ending Yellow"

Can we just stop talking about this? There are other games you know?

Phoenix534

[QUOTE="toddx77"]

[QUOTE="Planeforger"]Honestly, I don't see what the big deal it. Neither of the first two games featured any meaningful consequences for our actions, so why did anyone think the third one would? Meanwhile, here's my diagram summarising Mass Effect: Indoctrination. Just about every single plot twist and retcon revolved around it, completely depriving us of interesting villains with interesting motives. *yawn*Phoenix534

No meaningful consequences? Choosing the save the concil and deciding the fate of the Racchni Queen in Mass Effect 1 and choosing what to do with the collector base in Mass Effect 2.

Those two from Mass Effect 1 have very minor consequences(especially the council one which is almost pointless) and the Collector base is just like the Mass Effect 3 ending of 'pick which color'.

Bioware could have done more though to make those choices more important. With the Rschni Queen it could have been if you killed her then sometihng along the lines of having to look for more war assets else where to make up for the loss of the Rachni could have been added to mass effect 3, killing the queen would result in you having todo something else to make up for the loss of the rachni, or bioware could have thrown some twist where the Rachni turn on you during 3 if you spared the queen.

'With the council I see it as by letting them die and having all humans take over the rest of the galaxy would be more hostile and somewhat blame sheperd. Or they the new council of humans would have been very pleased with Sheperd for killing the last council and giving them this chance. As for beleiving in the reapers that could go either way but if you kill the council it really doesn't mean much when you think a human letting them die would have dire consequences.

With the collector base I always pictured it as if you kept the base then the Illusive man would get reaper tech which would give you better knowledge to fight the repears making your fight against them easier but at the same time the Illusive man would have machine just as strong as Reapers. If you blew up the base then he would have no reaper tech but then fighters the reapers would be more difficult.

[QUOTE="Phoenix534"]

[QUOTE="toddx77"]

No meaningful consequences? Choosing the save the concil and deciding the fate of the Racchni Queen in Mass Effect 1 and choosing what to do with the collector base in Mass Effect 2.

toddx77

Those two from Mass Effect 1 have very minor consequences(especially the council one which is almost pointless) and the Collector base is just like the Mass Effect 3 ending of 'pick which color'.

Bioware could have done more though to make those choices more important. With the Rschni Queen it could have been if you killed her then sometihng along the lines of having to look for more war assets else where to make up for the loss of the Rachni could have been added to mass effect 3, killing the queen would result in you having todo something else to make up for the loss of the rachni, or bioware could have thrown some twist where the Rachni turn on you during 3 if you spared the queen.

'With the council I see it as by letting them die and having all humans take over the rest of the galaxy would be more hostile and somewhat blame sheperd. Or they the new council of humans would have been very pleased with Sheperd for killing the last council and giving them this chance. As for beleiving in the reapers that could go either way but if you kill the council it really doesn't mean much when you think a human letting them die would have dire consequences.

With the collector base I always pictured it as if you kept the base then the Illusive man would get reaper tech which would give you better knowledge to fight the repears making your fight against them easier but at the same time the Illusive man would have machine just as strong as Reapers. If you blew up the base then he would have no reaper tech but then fighters the reapers would be more difficult.

I don't think the "ending" was the real ending. I think the last 15 minutes or so all happened in Shephards head, and if the theory I have is right, then the writers are superb and ME will instantly become my favorite sci-fi series ever.

[QUOTE="Phoenix534"]

Can we just stop talking about this? There are other games you know?

justletmesignup

That sums up my feelings aswell although it leaves out the reason why this happened.

ME3 cut short too many things set in motion in ME and ME2, milled others into raw numbers alone, and flat out "forgot" to explain parts of the plot that still don't add up.

If you also take into consideration all the talk of ME3 before it was released, the abysmal dialogue quality and huge amount of cheese in the game, it feels like BioWare only released this game as a favor to gay rights activists and soap opera fans.

I haven't finished the game yet, but considering the whole game is the end of Shepard's story, it's really sad to see it end in such a pathetic manner.

I don't think the "ending" was the real ending. I think the last 15 minutes or so all happened in Shephards head, and if the theory I have is right, then the writers are superb and ME will instantly become my favorite sci-fi series ever.

FadeToBlack90

The problem with that though is that if the indoctrination theory is indeed correct, Bioware released the game unfinished. I personally don't put much stock in the whole indoctrination thing.

[QUOTE="FadeToBlack90"]

I don't think the "ending" was the real ending. I think the last 15 minutes or so all happened in Shephards head, and if the theory I have is right, then the writers are superb and ME will instantly become my favorite sci-fi series ever.

PTMags

The problem with that though is that if the indoctrination theory is indeed correct, Bioware released the game unfinished. I personally don't put much stock in the whole indoctrination thing.

To me it's the only way the ending makes any sense. If you piece it all together it makes sense. ****SPOILER ALERT....LOTS AND LOTS OF SPOILERS INC****how else do you explain the members that were with you on the ground escaping with Joker, Anderson and the Illusive man making it onto the Citadel, if you shoot Anderson you are bleeding in the exact same spot, The Kid that you have nightmares about that no one else can see that just happens to be the "creator" and if you get the 100% ending, how you end up alive back in London? Shephard was good, but surviving an exploding cricible/citadel and falling through the atmosphere and then down to the planet....not going to happen.

I think it would be perfectly acceptable to be upset with them not actually finishing the game during launch and if the Indcodrination theory is correct, the only way I would pay any DLC is if they released it for free.

If that's all garbage, and the way it ended is the way it was meant to end, then Bioware should be ashamed of making people pay money for the worst ending to a game series that was so good up to that point, and yes, I think it is perfectly acceptable to judge the series as a whole on the last 15 minutes.

[QUOTE="PTMags"]

[QUOTE="FadeToBlack90"]

I don't think the "ending" was the real ending. I think the last 15 minutes or so all happened in Shephards head, and if the theory I have is right, then the writers are superb and ME will instantly become my favorite sci-fi series ever.

FadeToBlack90

The problem with that though is that if the indoctrination theory is indeed correct, Bioware released the game unfinished. I personally don't put much stock in the whole indoctrination thing.

To me it's the only way the ending makes any sense. If you piece it all together it makes sense. ****SPOILER ALERT....LOTS AND LOTS OF SPOILERS INC****how else do you explain the members that were with you on the ground escaping with Joker, Anderson and the Illusive man making it onto the Citadel, if you shoot Anderson you are bleeding in the exact same spot, The Kid that you have nightmares about that no one else can see that just happens to be the "creator" and if you get the 100% ending, how you end up alive back in London? Shephard was good, but surviving an exploding cricible/citadel and falling through the atmosphere and then down to the planet....not going to happen.

I think it would be perfectly acceptable to be upset with them not actually finishing the game during launch and if the Indcodrination theory is correct, the only way I would pay any DLC is if they released it for free.

If that's all garbage, and the way it ended is the way it was meant to end, then Bioware should be ashamed of making people pay money for the worst ending to a game series that was so good up to that point, and yes, I think it is perfectly acceptable to judge the series as a whole on the last 15 minutes.

On this hand we have: Bad writing, lazy design choices, Known for a fact that they cut out the ending to sell it as dlc (sad part is that lots of people will still be biodrones and buy it). On the other hand we have (right now): Bad writing, lazy design choices and so on. So its not a win / win situation in either case its bad for the consumers and just show how much Bioware have "fallen".KalDurenik

No no, man, you clearly don't get it.

I actually applauded when I worked it out - Bioware truly made the most brilliant ending of any entertainment medium ever, topping even KOTOR's unpredictable plot twist a hundred times over. It's just a shame that such a small fraction of all users are intelligent enough to work it out.

Don't you see? The months of hatred from fans, the ton of negative press, the mass boycotts and refunds...this was all part of their plan to generate press interest for the game, so that Bioware can then reveal the ingenious twist ending (which they have previously denied) two months later after the game releases, and thus...uh, magically repair the damage to...um...

Dammit, the indoctrination theory is so flawed that I couldn't even get much parody in there before it all fell apart. :(

[QUOTE="KalDurenik"]On this hand we have: Bad writing, lazy design choices, Known for a fact that they cut out the ending to sell it as dlc (sad part is that lots of people will still be biodrones and buy it). On the other hand we have (right now): Bad writing, lazy design choices and so on. So its not a win / win situation in either case its bad for the consumers and just show how much Bioware have "fallen".Planeforger

No no, man, you clearly don't get it.

I actually applauded when I worked it out - Bioware truly made the most brilliant ending of any entertainment medium ever, topping even KOTOR's unpredictable plot twist a hundred times over. It's just a shame that such a small fraction of all users are intelligent enough to work it out.

Don't you see? The months of hatred from fans, the ton of negative press, the mass boycotts and refunds...this was all part of their plan to generate press interest for the game, so that Bioware can then reveal the ingenious twist ending (which they have previously denied) two months later after the game releases, and thus...uh, magically repair the damage to...um...

Dammit, the indoctrination theory is so flawed that I couldn't even get much parody in there before it all fell apart. :(

Everyone is so mad at the ending of ME3.. I really need to play that.

Everyone is so mad at the ending of ME3.. I really need to play that.

tjricardo089

Yeah, I feel like I'm "missing" out on the hatred too. :P

[QUOTE="tjricardo089"]

Everyone is so mad at the ending of ME3.. I really need to play that.

Cwagmire21

Yeah, I feel like I'm "missing" out on the hatred too. :P

It's really just a eyebrow-raise thing.

It's not bad per se, it's just that it doesn't live up to ME2 nor ME's endings, and leaves a ****ton of questions in blank, and you know, being the last we'll be seeing of Shepard that's kind of bad.

[QUOTE="Phoenix534"]

Can we just stop talking about this? There are other games you know?

justletmesignup

[QUOTE="KalDurenik"]On this hand we have: Bad writing, lazy design choices, Known for a fact that they cut out the ending to sell it as dlc (sad part is that lots of people will still be biodrones and buy it). On the other hand we have (right now): Bad writing, lazy design choices and so on. So its not a win / win situation in either case its bad for the consumers and just show how much Bioware have "fallen".Planeforger

No no, man, you clearly don't get it.

I actually applauded when I worked it out - Bioware truly made the most brilliant ending of any entertainment medium ever, topping even KOTOR's unpredictable plot twist a hundred times over. It's just a shame that such a small fraction of all users are intelligent enough to work it out.

Don't you see? The months of hatred from fans, the ton of negative press, the mass boycotts and refunds...this was all part of their plan to generate press interest for the game, so that Bioware can then reveal the ingenious twist ending (which they have previously denied) two months later after the game releases, and thus...uh, magically repair the damage to...um...

Dammit, the indoctrination theory is so flawed that I couldn't even get much parody in there before it all fell apart. :(

I'm not trying to say you're wrong, but if you look at my last post, I would like to see your counter points as to why I would be wrong (not saying that I'm right either, if you catch my drift). I just think there is way too much that points to it indoctrination theory, because I refuse to believe that Bioware would allow something that bad to be released. So in short, if it is flawed, I would like to hear the reasoning as to why you would say that.