Official Mass Effect 3 Ending Discussion (Spoilers Galore, New Poll)

SPOILERS TO FOLLOW

Just finished ME3, full paragon Synthesis ending and I was a little short of words on the whole thing. I absolutely loved the game up until the ending and I by no means want or thought that the ending would be a happy one but there are just so many things wrong with it currently.

..

First off there are the plot holes. Why is Joker and the Normandy running away from the fight? How did the team members that I have to assume were killed by Harbinger in the final assault appear on the ship unscathed? How did the illusive man get inside the citadel? Why is the original creator the child from Shepards visions?

Those are all quite minor; the main holes come in the lack of closure. Non of my choices mattered.. Whether or not to spread the real genophage, the saving of the rachni queen, the whole situation with the geth it all accounted for nothing more than numbers on my Galactic readiness report. They were worth nothing.

..

I guess what hurts the most is the squandered potential. Mass Effect was always about two things, the Galaxy, and your companions. If bioware wanted to put a final touch that would have been emotional as well, why not hang those two against each other in the final decision. Have it be the Normandy and Earth die, so that the other species can remain or Vica Versa. I am not saying this would be a perfect ending, but I do feel that Bioware could have taken some of the fans out for beers and pizza and right then and there come up with a better more complete ending.

..

Thoughts SW? Also, since this is SW, PC is expensive, Xbox breaks easily, PS3 has no games and the Wii is a fad.

**edit for spelling and spoiler title

**moderator's note**

Due to the spoiler lock down in the sticky thread, I'm going to give a green light to this thread to operate outside the sticky, for the express purpose of spoiler discussion. But just this one thread here. All others will be locked for avoiding the sticky. Now play nice y'all :)

AdobeArtist

1. there is a stick

2. Bioware is trolling their fans just for teh lulz

1. there is a stick

2. Bioware is trolling their fans just for teh lulz

eboyishere

my mind was completely f*cked at the last 10min of the game. Full of holes, unanswered questions, and in general the galaxy was still creamed in the good ending. The rest of the game is fantastic, but wow.....I barely have any words to what the end is. It makes me wonder how the hell could this franchise continue, even in DLC format.

I am pretty sure that an 'alternate endings pack' will be available some time later in form of DLC:lol:

[QUOTE="eboyishere"]

1. there is a stick

2. Bioware is trolling their fans just for teh lulz

designer-

oh wow yea your right :P

I am pretty sure that an 'alternate endings pack' will be available some time later in form of DLC:lol:

call_of_duty_10

thats the first thing I thought too

First off there is a Sticky

--

I liked the ending I saw, it ended the series well. The only thing I wanted was for it to be expanded upon - what we have done/been doing since Mass Effect 1 has all meant based upon our choices in Mass Effect 3 are finally brought to a climax (which the ending I got showed) I just wanted a MGS-style super long super descriptive cutscene to show the aftermath.

Everything leading up to the ending was fantastic, The ending, in and of itself, pretty much sucked. I'm working on keeping Anderson/Shep alive in this playthrough.

The ending was horrible, but I think I can deal with that(well, maybe). I think what pisses me off the most is that this entire franchise is built around your choices and the consequences of those choices, and the big finale tosses those out the window and boils down to "Which color of mystical space magic do you want to f*** over the galaxy with"

Well this will probably get locked.

But I could honestly write a full length dissertation on of all the things wrong with the ending. It's atrocious. I really don't know how Bioware could write such a compelling story, and then just completely drop the ball in the last 10 minutes.

I am pretty sure that an 'alternate endings pack' will be available some time later in form of DLC:lol:

call_of_duty_10

..

..

1.Joker and the Normandy running away from the fight? if you were being chased by a unknown glowing rainbowlights wouldn't you run away from it? don't forget the second game joker said that he wasn't going to lose another Normandy and he didn't want to be hit by the rainbow lights. 2. as for the crew members they never showed them running to the citadel so my guess is that shepherd had them retreat because there was a lot of people running to the beam already. 3.illusive man was being controlled by the citadel and because he believed he was controlling the reapers he was aloud to be at the citadel. 4. the catalyst that lived in the citadel had no form so when shepherd got there the catalyst saw in his mind that the image of the boy that died in the attack was heavy on shepherd 's mind and it used that as a image that shepherd would understand. and regarding the choices that is made the only impact they seem to have is what changes on the items you find for attack strength of the army. i loved the ending to me it made sense.elbert_b_23

1. Except that not only does it show the wave doing no damage at all to any other ship, but it also makes no sense since Joker should have had no idea anything like that would happen. Did he predict the future and start flying long before the relay blew up, and if so why didn't he just use the non-destroyed relay? Also what's up with him looking behind himself, the normandy doesn't have a rear view window.

2. That's stupid as hell because they were in the tank moving to the beam with me. Why would shep suddenly go "j/k I don't need you get back on the ship."

3. I didn't mind TIM's appearance too much, I just figured the reapers beamed him aboard because he could stop people from activating the arms.

4. That's the same s***ty ending as contact and it's completely out of character for shep to care about the kid at all in the first place. So I've killed countless soldiers and citizens, but this random ass kid is burned into my nightmares and becomes the only image I can comprehend from a super advanced AI? Why doesn't he just take the amorphous form of an incomprehensible being? Why does he tell me how to break his toys if he thinks his reasoning is valid? Why does he kill people with synthetics to stop synthetics from killing people? Why can't I just convince him to send them back himself?

Why would I think of Liara and not Tali as I'm dying? Why would the signal be a huge messed up blob of blue light? Why did the relays have to blow up to control the reapers?

WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

[QUOTE="elbert_b_23"]1.Joker and the Normandy running away from the fight? if you were being chased by a unknown glowing rainbowlights wouldn't you run away from it? don't forget the second game joker said that he wasn't going to lose another Normandy and he didn't want to be hit by the rainbow lights. 2. as for the crew members they never showed them running to the citadel so my guess is that shepherd had them retreat because there was a lot of people running to the beam already. 3.illusive man was being controlled by the citadel and because he believed he was controlling the reapers he was aloud to be at the citadel. 4. the catalyst that lived in the citadel had no form so when shepherd got there the catalyst saw in his mind that the image of the boy that died in the attack was heavy on shepherd 's mind and it used that as a image that shepherd would understand. and regarding the choices that is made the only impact they seem to have is what changes on the items you find for attack strength of the army. i loved the ending to me it made sense.Vaasman

1. Except that not only does it show the wave doing no damage at all to any other ship, but it also makes no sense since Joker should have had no idea anything like that would happen. Did he predict the future and start flying long before the relay blew up, and if so why didn't he just use the non-destroyed relay? Also what's up with him looking behind himself, the normandy doesn't have a rear view window.

2. That's stupid as hell because they were in the tank moving to the beam with me. Why would shep suddenly go "j/k I don't need you get back on the ship."

3. I didn't mind TIM's appearance too much, I just figured the reapers beamed him aboard because he could stop people from activating the arms.

4. That's the same s***ty ending as contact and it's completely out of character for shep to care about the kid at all in the first place. So I've killed countless soldiers and citizens, but this random ass kid is burned into my nightmares and becomes the only image I can comprehend from a super advanced AI? Why doesn't he just take the amorphous form of an incomprehensible being? Why does he tell me how to break his toys if he thinks his reasoning is valid? Why does he kill people with synthetics to stop synthetics from killing people? Why can't I just convince him to send them back himself?

Why would I think of Liara and not Tali as I'm dying? Why would the signal be a huge messed up blob of blue light? Why did the relays have to blow up to control the reapers?

WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

I also like how the cutscenes for the ending are the same.

Well this will probably get locked.

But I could honestly write a full length dissertation on of all the things wrong with the ending. It's atrocious. I really don't know how Bioware could write such a compelling story, and then just completely drop the ball in the last 10 minutes.

Vaasman

I also like how the cutscenes for the ending are the same.

[QUOTE="Vaasman"]

Well this will probably get locked.

But I could honestly write a full length dissertation on of all the things wrong with the ending. It's atrocious. I really don't know how Bioware could write such a compelling story, and then just completely drop the ball in the last 10 minutes.

shakmaster13

Bioware has been screwing up a lot lately. First Dragon Age 2, then TOR with Revan being a normal flashpoint boss, and now this ending to what could have been one of the great sci-fi IP's. The last 20 minutes of the game just ruined the entire franchise.

[QUOTE="shakmaster13"]

I also like how the cutscenes for the ending are the same.

[QUOTE="Vaasman"]

Well this will probably get locked.

But I could honestly write a full length dissertation on of all the things wrong with the ending. It's atrocious. I really don't know how Bioware could write such a compelling story, and then just completely drop the ball in the last 10 minutes.

Wopps

Bioware has been screwing up a lot lately. First Dragon Age 2, then TOR with Revan being a normal flashpoint boss, and now this ending to what could have been one of the great sci-fi IP's. The last 20 minutes of the game just ruined the entire franchise.

I've created in my mind the perfect ending that I see as the pure paragon and lore-fitting ending to ME3, and i choose to believe that in my mind for now, and wish that the current game's endings would be the lesser endings you could get if you didnt do things properly through the series.

mass effect 3 endings " HMMMM THIS SEEMS AWFULLY FAMILIAR TO ME.. WTTFFF BIOWARE

mass effect 3 endings " HMMMM THIS SEEMS AWFULLY FAMILIAR TO ME.. WTTFFF BIOWARE

killzonexbox

Hated the ending. How the **** was I supposed to know that not playing multiplayer affects the single player ending? That's the crappiest decision ever taken by a game developer. I ALWAYS play the single player storyline before touching MP, and I'm sure there're quite a large number of people like me still gaming in this world... Anyway, small question, people. In my case, the game just cut to credits just as the Normandy's door was about to open after it crash landed. Is this normal, or is the crew supposed to come out or something?

[QUOTE="elbert_b_23"]1.Joker and the Normandy running away from the fight? if you were being chased by a unknown glowing rainbowlights wouldn't you run away from it? don't forget the second game joker said that he wasn't going to lose another Normandy and he didn't want to be hit by the rainbow lights. 2. as for the crew members they never showed them running to the citadel so my guess is that shepherd had them retreat because there was a lot of people running to the beam already. 3.illusive man was being controlled by the citadel and because he believed he was controlling the reapers he was aloud to be at the citadel. 4. the catalyst that lived in the citadel had no form so when shepherd got there the catalyst saw in his mind that the image of the boy that died in the attack was heavy on shepherd 's mind and it used that as a image that shepherd would understand. and regarding the choices that is made the only impact they seem to have is what changes on the items you find for attack strength of the army. i loved the ending to me it made sense.Vaasman

1. Except that not only does it show the wave doing no damage at all to any other ship, but it also makes no sense since Joker should have had no idea anything like that would happen. Did he predict the future and start flying long before the relay blew up, and if so why didn't he just use the non-destroyed relay? Also what's up with him looking behind himself, the normandy doesn't have a rear view window.

2. That's stupid as hell because they were in the tank moving to the beam with me. Why would shep suddenly go "j/k I don't need you get back on the ship."

3. I didn't mind TIM's appearance too much, I just figured the reapers beamed him aboard because he could stop people from activating the arms.

4. That's the same s***ty ending as contact and it's completely out of character for shep to care about the kid at all in the first place. So I've killed countless soldiers and citizens, but this random ass kid is burned into my nightmares and becomes the only image I can comprehend from a super advanced AI? Why doesn't he just take the amorphous form of an incomprehensible being? Why does he tell me how to break his toys if he thinks his reasoning is valid? Why does he kill people with synthetics to stop synthetics from killing people? Why can't I just convince him to send them back himself?

Why would I think of Liara and not Tali as I'm dying? Why would the signal be a huge messed up blob of blue light? Why did the relays have to blow up to control the reapers?

WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

I think what pisses me off the most is that this entire franchise is built around your choices and the consequences of those choices, and the big finale tosses those out the window and boils down to "Which color of mystical space magic do you want to f*** over the galaxy with"

Phoenix534

I think it's a tad worse than that, since the first two games had plenty of choices but essentially no consequences whatsoever. For the third game to basically just boil those choices down to numbers...well, I can't say that I'm surprised.

Anyway, question is, does the bad ending put the entire trilogy in disrepute? I mean, it's the big finale act to the big finale act of the trilogy, so to speak...so does the pointlessness of it all retroactively kill the story for the earlier games?

[QUOTE="Vaasman"]

[QUOTE="elbert_b_23"]1.Joker and the Normandy running away from the fight? if you were being chased by a unknown glowing rainbowlights wouldn't you run away from it? don't forget the second game joker said that he wasn't going to lose another Normandy and he didn't want to be hit by the rainbow lights. 2. as for the crew members they never showed them running to the citadel so my guess is that shepherd had them retreat because there was a lot of people running to the beam already. 3.illusive man was being controlled by the citadel and because he believed he was controlling the reapers he was aloud to be at the citadel. 4. the catalyst that lived in the citadel had no form so when shepherd got there the catalyst saw in his mind that the image of the boy that died in the attack was heavy on shepherd 's mind and it used that as a image that shepherd would understand. and regarding the choices that is made the only impact they seem to have is what changes on the items you find for attack strength of the army. i loved the ending to me it made sense.elbert_b_23

1. Except that not only does it show the wave doing no damage at all to any other ship, but it also makes no sense since Joker should have had no idea anything like that would happen. Did he predict the future and start flying long before the relay blew up, and if so why didn't he just use the non-destroyed relay? Also what's up with him looking behind himself, the normandy doesn't have a rear view window.

2. That's stupid as hell because they were in the tank moving to the beam with me. Why would shep suddenly go "j/k I don't need you get back on the ship."

3. I didn't mind TIM's appearance too much, I just figured the reapers beamed him aboard because he could stop people from activating the arms.

4. That's the same s***ty ending as contact and it's completely out of character for shep to care about the kid at all in the first place. So I've killed countless soldiers and citizens, but this random ass kid is burned into my nightmares and becomes the only image I can comprehend from a super advanced AI? Why doesn't he just take the amorphous form of an incomprehensible being? Why does he tell me how to break his toys if he thinks his reasoning is valid? Why does he kill people with synthetics to stop synthetics from killing people? Why can't I just convince him to send them back himself?

Why would I think of Liara and not Tali as I'm dying? Why would the signal be a huge messed up blob of blue light? Why did the relays have to blow up to control the reapers?

WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

[QUOTE="shakmaster13"]

I also like how the cutscenes for the ending are the same.

[QUOTE="Vaasman"]

Well this will probably get locked.

But I could honestly write a full length dissertation on of all the things wrong with the ending. It's atrocious. I really don't know how Bioware could write such a compelling story, and then just completely drop the ball in the last 10 minutes.

Wopps

Bioware has been screwing up a lot lately. First Dragon Age 2, then TOR with Revan being a normal flashpoint boss, and now this ending to what could have been one of the great sci-fi IP's. The last 20 minutes of the game just ruined the entire franchise.

Is it seriously that bad? And I thought the backlash towards GoW3's ending was big, this is like 10x worse :lol: (but then again GoW3's ending wasn't actually bad).

@Vaasman you may not like it but i did i thought it ended and wrapped up wellelbert_b_23

[QUOTE="Phoenix534"]

I think what pisses me off the most is that this entire franchise is built around your choices and the consequences of those choices, and the big finale tosses those out the window and boils down to "Which color of mystical space magic do you want to f*** over the galaxy with"

Planeforger

I think it's a tad worse than that, since the first two games had plenty of choices but essentially no consequences whatsoever. For the third game to basically just boil those choices down to numbers...well, I can't say that I'm surprised.

Anyway, question is, does the bad ending put the entire trilogy in disrepute? I mean, it's the big finale act to the big finale act of the trilogy, so to speak...so does the pointlessness of it all retroactively kill the story for the earlier games?

First, I too would love to see a DLC pack with other endings. Hell, I'd even pay for it at this point. I don't have a beef with Shep dying, or even the fleet, the Normandy, etc., but aside from the fact that I see little difference between the three endings (different colored lights), we don't see at all what the outcome is for the rest of the galaxy. The Reapers died on earth, and I presume the mass relays transmitted the signal around the galaxy to finish the rest--but would it have caught every one?

Questions on plot holes/inconsistencies:

1) machine intelligence on citadel - why did it allow Protheans to alter Keepers so they wouldn't respond to Reaper signal? If it's right there, it should have been able to prevent that, or better yet replace them with synthetics that would never mutate (e.g., geth).

2) what's the difference between cyclical extermination of organic sentients by synthetic intelligence, and synthetic intelligence killing off organic sentience forever? Are those really the only two choices possible? Shep's actions with the Geth, and EDI's behavior imply other solutions possible. Not too impressed with the reasoning ability of this AI.

3)One organic makes it to the top of the Citadel, and the AI decides it's plan won't work anymore? Really, why not? Why not return every 40K years if 50K is too long? For that matter, who says technical sophistication is the mark of an advanced civilization? What about the accomplishments of the Greeks, or other ancient civilizations? Again, weak reasoning by the AI.

4) In ME1, Vigil (Prothean AI) explained that Reapers always travelled through Citadel when they returned. Apparantly, Bactarian Mass Relay in "Arrival" was a back up. Why wouldn't they have more backups? And if the Citadel allowed them to control all Mass Relays, why bother with attacking other parts of the galaxy first? Why not just hit the Citadel in force, shut down all relays, then wipe out all sentients system by system (which I thought was what they'd done to the Protheans)?

Two general complaints:

a) I could be wrong, but online articles imply that the endings possible depending somewhat randomly on your Galactic Readiness level? WTF? Wouldn't it make more sense that a higher score allows more options, including "better" endings? Seems to completely invalidate the concept that your decisions matter, that in the end everything is pure luck, that moral/ethical choices are of no importance.

b) It would have been nice to have a "Disney" ending, w/Shep and his/her loved one going off into the sunset, having lots of babies, and etc. One could say that's not "realistic" (certainly not probable, I'll give you that), but is it any more unrealistic than the way the game actually ends?

I like how in the ending cutscene, the little kid tells you that Shepard is the first organic ever to see the Catalyst chamber. And then, less than 5 minutes later, there's an image of Illusive Man at the control station in the very same chamber. That, combined with the general lackluster choices for the ending, makes them all seem like a hackjob.

I like how in the ending cutscene, the little kid tells you that Shepard is the first organic ever to see the Catalyst chamber. And then, less than 5 minutes later, there's an image of Illusive Man at the control station in the very same chamber. That, combined with the general lackluster choices for the ending, makes them all seem like a hackjob.

Kickinurass

we knew that the reapers had a master and that the citadel was a big part of them but there was no way to know that the citadel was hosing the master ai unit elbert_b_23

What evidence did we have of reapers having a master? For all three games, it seemed that the Reapers were acting independently.

[QUOTE="Kickinurass"]

I like how in the ending cutscene, the little kid tells you that Shepard is the first organic ever to see the Catalyst chamber. And then, less than 5 minutes later, there's an image of Illusive Man at the control station in the very same chamber. That, combined with the general lackluster choices for the ending, makes them all seem like a hackjob.

mems_1224

Ah, I didn't see Anderson. He must have been the synethesis choice. I kinda barrelled through the end game because I wanted to beat it before going on vacation.

It sounds like you fans want an ending with 100 different variables, which imo would be impossible to do given the system Mass Effect's system of choosing dialogue and actions. I'm not a huge fan, but the endings I saw on youtube seemed good enough. I've always liked the story of Mass Effect but never got into the gameplay so I usually just followed players on youtube and my friend who also bought and played the series.

It sounds like you fans want an ending with 100 different variables, which imo would be impossible to do given the system Mass Effect's system of choosing dialogue and actions. I'm not a huge fan, but the endings I saw on youtube seemed good enough. I've always liked the story of Mass Effect but never got into the gameplay so I usually just followed players on youtube and my friend who also bought and played the series.

hayato_

Could have had one locked ending for all I care, as long as it didn't suck so much.

[QUOTE="hayato_"]

It sounds like you fans want an ending with 100 different variables, which imo would be impossible to do given the system Mass Effect's system of choosing dialogue and actions. I'm not a huge fan, but the endings I saw on youtube seemed good enough. I've always liked the story of Mass Effect but never got into the gameplay so I usually just followed players on youtube and my friend who also bought and played the series.

Vaasman

Could have had one locked ending for all I care, as long as it didn't suck so much.

I don't see how the galaxy is ruined. You stop the reapers from gibbing everyone.

So big deal, they no longer have tv and video games and mass effect travel...they'll still live.

I don't see how the galaxy is ruined. You stop the reapers from gibbing everyone.

So big deal, they no longer have tv and video games and mass effect travel...they'll still live.

Jankarcop

[QUOTE="hayato_"]

It sounds like you fans want an ending with 100 different variables, which imo would be impossible to do given the system Mass Effect's system of choosing dialogue and actions. I'm not a huge fan, but the endings I saw on youtube seemed good enough. I've always liked the story of Mass Effect but never got into the gameplay so I usually just followed players on youtube and my friend who also bought and played the series.

Vaasman

Could have had one locked ending for all I care, as long as it didn't suck so much.

[QUOTE="Phoenix534"]

I think what pisses me off the most is that this entire franchise is built around your choices and the consequences of those choices, and the big finale tosses those out the window and boils down to "Which color of mystical space magic do you want to f*** over the galaxy with"

Planeforger

I think it's a tad worse than that, since the first two games had plenty of choices but essentially no consequences whatsoever. For the third game to basically just boil those choices down to numbers...well, I can't say that I'm surprised.

Anyway, question is, does the bad ending put the entire trilogy in disrepute? I mean, it's the big finale act to the big finale act of the trilogy, so to speak...so does the pointlessness of it all retroactively kill the story for the earlier games?

[QUOTE="Jankarcop"]

I don't see how the galaxy is ruined. You stop the reapers from gibbing everyone.

So big deal, they no longer have tv and video games and mass effect travel...they'll still live.

designer-

One thing that pisses me off is that if you romance a character, it's all for nothing. You see nothing at the end, you don't see them together happy (the way EDI and Joker will be if you helped them along that path). I feel as if this is the end and the beginning of a trilogy at the same time. Like we will see Shepard again in the next Mass Effect.EliteM0nk3y

[QUOTE="EliteM0nk3y"]One thing that pisses me off is that if you romance a character, it's all for nothing. You see nothing at the end, you don't see them together happy (the way EDI and Joker will be if you helped them along that path). I feel as if this is the end and the beginning of a trilogy at the same time. Like we will see Shepard again in the next Mass Effect.Stevo_the_gamer

[QUOTE="Stevo_the_gamer"][QUOTE="EliteM0nk3y"]One thing that pisses me off is that if you romance a character, it's all for nothing. You see nothing at the end, you don't see them together happy (the way EDI and Joker will be if you helped them along that path). I feel as if this is the end and the beginning of a trilogy at the same time. Like we will see Shepard again in the next Mass Effect.shakmaster13

While I never expected a huge difference between the endings, I definitely thought there would be more than what's in ME3. Even just having recaps of what happened to major characters/races would be nice. Or even the galaxy as a whole, since in almost every ending, the Citadel and Mass Relays get destroyed.

[QUOTE="EliteM0nk3y"]One thing that pisses me off is that if you romance a character, it's all for nothing. You see nothing at the end, you don't see them together happy (the way EDI and Joker will be if you helped them along that path). I feel as if this is the end and the beginning of a trilogy at the same time. Like we will see Shepard again in the next Mass Effect.Stevo_the_gamer