[Megathread] Mass Effect 3

[Kaneiac]

He's probably talking about the new game+/ME2 imported save ending.
But I sure as hell hope I'm wrong.

Meh, I'll cling onto it. They already broke my heart once, nothing left to break.

[fangless]

So, why is Udina on the council if I made Anderson the Earth representative?

[Toccs]

So, why is Udina on the council if I made Anderson the Earth representative?

Yeah i had that issue, it pissed me off a bit if i'm honest.

[Frozenbeef]

lol that songs just mean...it does represent the ending perfectly though >.<

i only started playig mass effect last summer and was able to complete 1 and two straight after each other and then only half a year till 3 came out....i would be sick to my stomach if i had to wait all that time from mass effect to mass effect 2 to mass effect 3 and then be given that ending >.<

when did mass effect get released? 2007 so like 5 years of waiting to find out how it finishes...to have that happen lol :S

[Kaneiac]

So, why is Udina on the council if I made Anderson the Earth representative?

It's said in the codex that Anderson stepped down because he couldn't handle the politics.

Another fine example of "Your choices are reflected and have grave consequences!" being crap.

---------- Post added 2012-03-13 at 10:13 AM ----------

when did mass effect get released? 2007 so like 5 years of waiting to find out how it finishes...to have that happen lol :S

Ayup. I have a renegade character and a pure neutral one I was going to play through ME3. Now...I just have no desire to do that anymore.

[Toccs]

It's said in the codex that Anderson stepped down because he couldn't handle the politics.

Another fine example of "Your choices are reflected and have grave consequences!" being crap.

---------- Post added 2012-03-13 at 10:13 AM ----------



Ayup. I have a renegade character and a pure neutral one I was going to play through ME3. Now...I just have no desire to do that anymore.

I've just started again from ME1 but i've got a feeling ME3 won't be much different.

[Toccs]

Don' bother, I already beaten the game with a NG+ character (imported from ME3 itself) nothing changes ~
The only supposed "new" thing is the stargazer video, that will also show up if you imported from ME2.

If the indoctrination theory is real, *clap* Bioware, you troll'd us all, and it was simply a genius move.
Otherwise, Bioware, be smart this time and just laugh while saying "Yes! That was our plan all along!" and just go with it >.>

Haha i can see it now!

"Yes thats exactly what was going on, it was all a dream" *rolls eyes*

---------- Post added 2012-03-13 at 03:48 PM ----------

just an intresting read i found.

[I]The writing of the ending most definitely deserves criticism. Introducing a deus ex machina in the final 5 minutes of 100 hours of gameplay spanning 3 games is poor writing. The character assassination of Commander Shepard as he just sits there and takes the talk of Sparkly-God Reaper Child, instead of arguing with him, is poor writing. The space magic merging of synthetics and organics is poor writing. The Normandy speeding through a Mass Relay with the crew members I took with me into the final battle in London, instead of fighting the Reapers above Earth, is poor writing. The questions that were not answered, as they were promised to be by the developers, is extremely poor decision-making. Where does my crew end up? What are the EFFECTS of my decisions (regarding the Krogan, Quarians, Geth, etc)? My love interest? The galaxy as a whole? Anything!?

Of course, as you mention, the fact that the game takes away all of the decision-making power that the player had previously held through the 3 games doesn’t *help.* Choosing the color of the galaxy’s destruction is not what many had pictured as the epic ending to such a wonderfully presented story.

The criticism levied against BioWare and the writers is caused by the mistakes THEY made, whether in writing or game design. In addition to their desire to have a fulfilling ending to a series many have devoted so much time, effort, and DOLLARS to, players want the ending changed because MASS EFFECT as an IP deserves better. The ending, as it is presented now, is a mistake. They are the ones who broke the contract of the universe and gaming mechanics they presented.

Also, please explain to me why pleading for a more appropriate ending to a story purportedly advertised so heavily as THE PLAYER’S story, one where HE got to control the defining decisions and observe their consequences, is a “line a consumer should never cross?” This is an argument I’ve seen in articles on several gaming sites, and is never explained. The consumer is the one who supports the gaming industry, and Mass Effect is a new paradigm within that industry. When you give the player a say, and a pretty strong say at that, in the direction of the story, why should he not be allowed to criticize the direction the story takes? Many of you are misunderstanding the genuine love and concern for Mass Effect and the *pleading* for a better story for petty, childish demands, as if many players were just throwing a tantrum.

BioWare obviously has the option of saying, “No! This is how we want to the story to end. This is the note that Mass Effect will end on.”

Well that is a very sour yellow note, Bioware.[/I]

[Raphtheone]

So the last few pages have close to completely convinced me of the ending being a dream. But wouldn't this have been in the leaked script? Everything else in the game seems to be (haven't read the leak myself), wouldn't make much sense if *everything* is mentioned, except this new earth shattering theory that isn't even hinted at. Even things they did after the game shipped (Javik) are mentioned in the half-year old leaks (if I've understood the situation correctly).

[Zao]

Oh shit, children, gather round

From the Mass Effect twitter:

@slimavery All are good choices. And don't be too bummed about the ending. Next time you play, it may be different. ;-)

https://twitter.com/#!/masseffect/st...66814907101184

It's a couple hours old, but still!

Most certainly refering to the New Game+ / ME2 import ending.

Talking of which:

That ending is the reason I don't believe in the dream/indoctrination theory. It wouldn't make sense in the context of any of those.

Both figures are clearly human, so why would there still be humans, or anybody, to tell about Shepard if he was indoctrinated and chose either blue or green?

Same for the dream sequence. If it was just a dream we could assume that the story continues afterwards with Shepard doing [I]something[/I]. But When Gramps says "Okay, one more story." He doesn't continue on with the next part of the story but instead jumps back to before we attack TIMs base.


So as much as I'd like some sort of proper closure to the game, I doubt it will be building up on any of those two theories. They might completely rewrite it however.

Edit: On Udina being councillor: It was sort of glanced over in one of the books where they dedicated like half a page to Anderson saying "I quit!"
There's a lot of things that you don't know if you haven't read any of the books/comics.
Arias current situation, or who Kahlee Sanders is for example.

Vegas story will be told someplace later afaik.

[Rayvene]

So as much as I'd like some sort of proper closure to the game, I doubt it will be building up on any of those two theories. They might completely rewrite it however.

It has been awhile so I don't remember my Fallout 3 ending exactly... but I thought it seemed fairly final. Then there was Broken Steel and the ending was rewritten. So the winter planet scene could be the non-DLC, "life continues" ending, which gets scrapped if you have the fancy new ending DLC.

[Zao]

But why make it a "special" ending then?

[zaoly]

So, why is Udina on the council if I made Anderson the Earth representative?

This was explained in the novel Mass Effect: Retribution

[Rayvene]

I honestly have no good answer for that...

Perhaps it's a hint that more about Shepard is coming. The kid does ask for another story about "the Shepard". I know it's grasping at straws (or emergency induction ports), but I'm still hoping something happens with the endings.

And it isn't that special, anyone that imports from ME2 will see it. I think the winter planet is supposed to be part of the current ending.

Edit:

Also, that cinematic could be used at the end of the DLC endings too, it is ambiguous enough that it could just be how they prop open the door for future games in the ME Universe.

[Hinalover]

Also, to add, I haven't read the ENTIRE post, so I'm not sure if it's mentioned...

But the dreams may have been a very strong sign of indoctrination, too.

Ghostly presences everywhere? Check. Reaper droning? Check. And what happens at the very end? He sees himself go up in flames, along with the child.

This can't all just be a coincidence.

I don't think so

The dreams are supposed to represent the people that Shepard was not able to save. He/she feels extremely guilty over the fact that he/she chould have saved the kid but didn't and feels the most guilt about that. However later in the game when you see yourself with the kid. it is supposed to symbolize that Shepard is starting to loose his/her sense of hope and maybe, just maybe, that you may not be able to save yourself.

[Mordin Solus]

finished it yesterday and i disliked the endings for many reasons wich i will now explain:

first off if you are gona use a method to measure the sucess of the ending then actualy change the scenes for it like in ME2 then do it, dont just make 3 seperate choices that are basicly much alike as they end up fucking the organics one way or the other and creating huge plotholes.

another thing is that in ME2 you could actualy see what the other squad was doing in brief cutscenes wich gave the feel that they werent just chilling in the normandy's cockpit, so please actualy show some scenes of what shepards companions/friends/alies are doing at the same time that you are.


now for what i would have liked to see in the final batle for earth:

-make seperate scenes/endings for your total of points for the batle, if you have less or you are at the minimum, then you lose and the reapers complete own your ass and then you see that litle cube that liara had either get smashed or picked up by another race. if you have some resorces then you get to destroy the reapers with some friends/alies or even shepard dying at the end cause of self sacrfice. if you have alot of points then nobody of major importance dies and the fleets completly dominate the reapers and every1 is happy.

-like i said before, actualy show some scenes of shepards friends/alies during the fight. most people would love to see grunt and wrex charge at a group of brutes and start owning their faces while ashley vega and garrus were keeping a horde of infantry from sorrounding them and samara,liara and jack were leading a squad of biotics in a fight againt banshes.

- actualy try to show some of your war assets. i didnt know geth were in the fight till they showed a geth pilot and that was it. i also recruited some elcor, and other races to the fight and would love to have caught a brief glimpse of them to at least show "hey we realy did come to help you, that wasnt just talk"

- another thing the ending lacked im comparison to the other 2 ME was a final boss. considering how TIM was, he could have been controled by harbinger just like sovereign controled saren, i mean i actualy got TIM to shoot himself like saren did and i kinda expected for him to go all glowy and harbinger start talking and fighting me, wich also leads to another point wich is the lack of harbinger in this game.

[Deleted]

- another thing the ending lacked im comparison to the other 2 ME was a final boss. considering how TIM was, he could have been controled by harbinger just like sovereign controled saren, i mean i actualy got TIM to shoot himself like saren did and i kinda expected for him to go all glowy and harbinger start talking and fighting me, wich also leads to another point wich is the lack of harbinger in this game.

I think that would have been too hard to do. Shepard was already badly injured and only had a little magical pistol. It would have been much of a fight, crawling around and shooting at it:P

But overall, the endings were not so bad at all, I think. They were ok, but there were just too many holes in them. Even an epilogue text would have fixed most of it and at least I would have been satisfied. You know, DA:O style, Garrus did that, Earth took this and that many years to rebuild, Joker married Edi etc. depending on your choices and war assets. I don't see why they couldn't have at least done that. Some scrolling text or narrative couldn't have been that hard to make. Well, unless they really plan coming up with ME4 featuring Shepard again soon.

[Glorious Leader]

When Mordin died I nearly fucking lost it. I have never been so emotionally vested or moved by a game. Not since lost odyssey at any rate.

[Deleted]

Finally finished the game and loved it a lot, BUT the ending kinda ruined it for me... I tried my best to get as many points as I could get, SO MY SHEPARD WOULD SURVIVE AND LIVE HAPPILY EVER AFTER. Really, REALLY wanted that. I like happy endings and I wanted my Shepard, whom I've worked so hard on, to have one... together with the Romance I chose, etc. Didn't get it... which makes me pretty sad. The ending just wasn't enough for me. Too little is known about what happens next. What do the other races do, now that there are no Mass Relays? What happens with the rest of my crew? What will the Quarians do with their new homeworld?
All stuff I don't have an answer to...
The thing with games is: No matter how great the game was, if you let people reach the ending (so not including games where you might farm for hundreds of hours and never really feel you'd want to see the end) and it sucks, the whole game will be a bad memory. Which happened to me with ME3... I really, REALLY hope they'll make a patch or something that fixes that and adds a better ending...
And I kinda hated how the War Map - in the end - was pretty much worthless. Was excited all throughout the game because I thought I might be able to coordinate the troops before the final battle, to weaken the Reapers or something... you know, a bit Strategy and stuff, even if it were dumbed down... yeah... was another disappointment
Game could've been WAY better if it wasn't for EA and their deadlines. Look at Blizzard, they take their time and release a game when it's finished and not when the deadline is reached. Makes for a better game.
And would've loved some kind of minigames... you know, you have this huge citadel and the only person doing some sidestuff is James playing Poker? Which you can't even fucking join? -.-
It's not so hard to implement little time-wasters like that, so why don't companies do that once in a while?
Also hated the quest-part of the journal... why the fuck do I get a quest I can only do after finished 2 or 3 more Priority-missions? The fuck?
But oh well, they already admitted that there wasn't enough time to finish the GUI when Bioware explained why PC has NO gamepad-support at all.

All in all: Good game, crappy endings and a big FU to EA.

[Pony Soldier]

Well i finally finished the game and i have to say im 50/50 with the ending.
*SPOILER*
*SPOILER*



From the comments i was seeing on the forums about how much people hated the ending i assumed it was really terrible so i assumed the worst but when i got to it, it wasn't all that bad. It does make the game seem less cliche like a "destroy all aliens then peaceful ending in the sunset" kind of thing. But then again i was majorly upset and disappointed. First off I always thought, since my romance option was Tali since ME 2, that i would defeat the Reapers with the Crucible and then live the rest of my days on Rannoch with Tali helping her rebuild her homeworld and get that house she wanted. Don't judge me i loved Tali as a character lol. But instead i get an ending where i have 3 choices and all of them require me to die. Why? Why couldnt it just be that cliche ending i would've liked that better instead of being like some galactic badass hero doing all this stuff for people and then just dying at the end after all the stuff you did. I don't know, it wasnt bad like i said i can understand the ending but i didn't really like it at the same time. It also kinda takes away the replay value for me and makes it so there's no real point in even pursuing a romance with somebody because you're just going to die anyway. Then the cutscene (i took control of the Reapers mainly because i assumed that was the paragon way since the area was highlighted blue, so i don't know if the last cutscene with Jeff is any different) with Jeff crash landing on some planet. What was that? I was so confused. is that supposed to be a new Earth or something? Like a new beginning? i just didnt get it since they made it seem like it was a big deal that they landed on another planet.

Lastly i see people saying that the ending might be a dream that Shepard is being like what someone else said maybe indoctrinated. I actually hope this is true but then again the very last cutscene with the old guy (which btw the voice actor for that guy is Buzz Aldrin if nobody knew) and the child he said he would tell the story of Shepard so that's basically saying he really did die at least that's how they presented that cutscene. Also the theory that it could've been a dream seems logical since he was breathing in outer space unless it had some sort of atmosphere around it that would let him breathe. But again very disappointed about the ending, makes me miss the characters a lot. You go through 2 games with them and you get really attached to them, just seeing Shepard dying and never again seeing your squadmates is kind of sad. I don't know why you would want players to remember such a great game like Mass Effect like this.

Also just would like to get it in, screw you EA.

[Lord Bale]

After reading lots and lots of comments about the ending i expected it would've been worse, it wasnt that bad in my opinion..

An unbearable amount of plot holes in the ending(s). Anyone who actually likes these ending either has very low standards when it comes to entertainment, or didn't / doesn't invest much in the series.