The Mass Effect 3 "New" Ending Thread

[wildcardNS]

MASSIVE SPOILER ALERT


Since the megathread is, well, a megathread, it is in my opinion not the ideal place to discuss opinions about the DLC endings. Basically, I thought a poll would be awesome.

You can vote twice in the poll, once for which option you picked on your "main" Shepard, and once for your opinion on the "new" endings as a whole.

Personally, while I like the "new" ones a million times better than the originals, I still feel like the overall experience felt rushed and just plain executed rather poorly. The whole concept of star-child is ridiculous. Based off this opinion, I have reached the conclusion that either BioWare ran out of time and rushed the ending or they have simply lost all ability to write a compelling story, neither of which helps my opinion of their ability to make quality games.

I chose to destroy, and while I slightly regret the genocide of synthetics, quite frankly all the other options felt like the Reapers winning after all. As for my opinion of the DLC, it doesn't address the real probem, which to me is the fact that the star-child is a cheap crappy story device that has been played to death and never been successful.

Disclaimer: I am a die-hard fan of Indoctrinated Theory. While I don't think anything like this is in store for the game, I chose to believe it over the actual game experience.

[Deleted]

I didn't like the indoctrination theory, so I'm glad Bioware didn't cave and claim that is what they were aiming for the whole time.

I went with synthesis. The addition was nice, easily my favourite of the 3. Couldn't be arsed replaying it, so I just YouTube'd 'em (IGN is hosting them).
It was good in that it provided a little more information about what the rest of the galaxy would be doing after the war (the absence of which in the original ending ticked me off thoroughly), but I still find the ending to be relatively unsatisfying. Ghost-kid deity felt unnecessary and rushed to me.

In my opinion, they should have removed that stupid grandfather and child post-credits cut scene which, I feel, is now totally out of place now that a little more post-war clarity regarding the activities of galactic society has been revealed.

I was disappointed that they left the sudden, awakened breath from the N7 marked chest totally unexplained though. That also feels out of place now.

[WarpedAcorn]

I agree that all the endings, with the addition of the Extended Cut, feel disjointed. I do think the new scenes are well done, but they seem hamfisted into the ending sequence. The biggest one of all is the Normandy Crash scene and its taking off from the Garden Planet. Why even have it crash? What purpose does it serve?

For me Synthesis is probably the freakiest ending and the one that has the potential to be the most F'd up. But a lot of people love it because it seems like a Utopia has been created. I see it as more of a classic Sci-Fi dystopia, with the biggest fear being the loss of inidividuality. We can speculate, but are not given enough info on Synthesis to make a true judgment call. My gut tells me that pretty much all previous cultures are now dead and a new Synthetic-Organic hybrid culture will arise.

Control offers probably the best option for future sequels. The Reapers are controlled by a program created from Shepard, but its not Shepard. So it very well may develop along a different path. This could lead for some interesting stories if the Galaxy rebels against Shepard's Reapers and players end up having to defeat the Avatar based on their own Avatar. It has some really interesting options for where the story could go.

Personally, I would choose Destroy. It makes the most sense to me and all of my Shepards (Paragon or Renegade). But once again, the scenes are disjointed and awkward. There is the strange Breath scene, but also the Normandy Crash scene, Rebuilding Speech, and the Memorial Hesitation scene. What is the order of events? If Shepard was alive, wouldn't they have known before creating a name plaque and putting it up?

In all it was a good effort, but still lacks any sort of cohesiveness. Fortunately, it comes out at a time when I am ready to let Mass Effect go and stop worrying about what could have been if Drew Karpyshyn was still around to give us the incredible finale we were all hoping for.

One big positive though...I heard they removed the scene at the end telling players to buy more DLC.

[Gothicshark]

Currently finishing a XBOX play though so I can see the DLC, I didn't bother updated my PC copy.

[Wynnyelle]

I thought the DLC was pointless. It basically just showed for you what was already implied. It still doesn't make the endings any "better" to me, but I can see how it would make some people feel better knowing exactly what happened afterward.

[Jeina]

It didn't give me what I wanted.

I wanted my DA:O endings.

[Kakokun]

It makes the endings seem a bit less depressing.

The logic is still stupid though.

[wildcardNS]

I thought the DLC was pointless. It basically just showed for you what was already implied. It still doesn't make the endings any "better" to me, but I can see how it would make some people feel better knowing exactly what happened afterward.

This is basically my opinion, with a caveat: it did, to me, seem to make the endings "better" simply by clarifying some things and the relays being "damaged" instead of "destroyed"

All in all though, it was a waste of download imo.

[Azerox]

The DLC may as well not exist.

[WarpedAcorn]

It didn't give me what I wanted.

I wanted my DA:O endings.

I can agree with this sentiment.

[Deleted]

I didn't like the old endings and I don't really like the extended ones either. I just chose to shoot the godkid since that's what I wanted to do from the moment I saw him. If I can't have my happy ending where my Shepard survives and has many blue little children with Liara, I'd prefer the Reapers to win... which is exactly what happened. The Reapers winning gives more closure than any of the other endings.

[Krolikn]

Better but I was not satisfied. I shot the kid because he still didn't make any sense and nothing happened when you did it in the original. It was funny, I'll give them that but I can't take that ending seriously. It was a middle finger to people wanting new endings. I went back and did another ending afterwards.

Another silly thing was when they tried to explain how your squad got on the Normandy. It made me laugh, everyone charging to the beam knew that their lives where on the line after Shepards previous speech, so suddenly calling the Normandy out of combat to rescue them just seemed...very wrong. Also Harbinger should have blown it up. It was right there! Right there!!

I already knew the writing for the ending was really bad so this was always going to be a band aid on a gunshot wound.

[Spellweaver]

Another silly thing was when they tried to explain how your squad got on the Normandy. It made me laugh, everyone charging to the beam knew that their lives where on the line after Shepards previous speech, so suddenly calling the Normandy out of combat to rescue them just seemed...very wrong. Also Harbinger should have blown it up. It was right there! Right there!!

Really depends on who also got hit by Harbinger, the time frame between Shepard going towards the portal (when it's said that Hammer has been defeated and that everyone should retreat) and if one of those small spaceship thingies were available.

If one of those were available (not sure, been a while since I played the whole campaign), it isn't that unimaginable for the Normandy to quickly swoop in and grab it, when Admiral Hackett confirms that someone/Shepard reached the Citadel.

And Harbinger probably just flew off, thinking there shouldn't be a need to pay attention to the Normandy, considering he most likely thinks that Shepard is dead.

[Leonard McCoy]

I liked them. They gave more context to the star child which was a great concept imo just poorly executed. The additional conversations with him help flush it out a bit more.

[Adam Jensen]

I finished my playthrough with Synthesis. I almost teared up when Liara says to Jeff "We have to leave" and he's trying to not cry. I think I did tear up at the end. Very emotional end. Anyways, personally, I found the EC satisfactory and solved most of my issues with the end of ME3. It gave closure and it showed how Shepard's actions changed the galaxy. I was satisfied by the end.

There were still issues. I don't like that the Catalyst takes the form of the little kid Shepard sees killed at the beginning and the old man at the very end after the credits should just be cut.

I then restarted the Citadel: The Return mission just to see the other two endings. The control ending was superb. Shepard pretty much goes through an apotheosis. The destroy ending wasn't great, mostly because it's tainted with the death of EDI and all the Geth.

Overall, I'm happy with it. There are still problems of course, I think it's safe to say ME3 no longer has the worst ending of video game history.

[razisgosu]

The endings are still pretty bad, definitely better than what we got originally but still very bad. Still don't believe there was no optimal ending where everything positive was possible.

[Gunslinger]

The endings are still pretty bad, definitely better than what we got originally but still very bad. Still don't believe there was no optimal ending where everything positive was possible.

Not all games need a fairy-tale "and they lived happily ever after". The endings had a more mature emphasis that just shows you no matter how strong you think you are in the greater perspective you're still a grain of dust in the wind. Sure you helped change a few things but you couldn't have done it all alone and that's why ME3 was about building an army and forging relationships. It's war. There's one rule in war: people die.

[Daverid]

I give BioWare props for releasing such a DLC Free and giving the Fans who wanted Clarity and Closure and some of the Plot Holes fixed up just that bit extra.

But I'm still frustrated as fuck at the Ending. For me, it never was about Clarity and Closure, it was the whole premise and thematic stance of the Endings.

But what did it for me with the EC, and why I selected "DLC may not have even existed" ... Was the implementation of Refusal.

I've never seen a Developer give such a massive "FUCK YOU" sign to a heavy portion of it's Fans before in my life. I talked with some people who didn't mind the Original Endings all that much and even some of them were saying that it would be nice to actually USE your EMS properly and have a situation where if you had gathered and unified enough of the Galaxy you could beat the Reapers conventionally.

It's just disgraceful that BioWare even added that option in. Don't like our Space Magic? Well then go fuck yourself, the next Cycle will just use the Crucible and some other Commander Shepard of the future will proc one of the Three. I got back to Space Kid and saw that option one my first EC play and just about WET MY PANTS, I WAS SO EXCITED. I was like YES... This is IT BioWare has listened, now with my 100% MAX EMS my Shep is going to get on the Normandy, make some big speech and we'll defeat the Reapers conventionally and it'll show cutscenes of all your gathered forces in Action. NOPE. Start Again and pick one of our options since it was our 'Artistic Vision'. KTHXBYE.

Ugh. So yea I respect BioWare for going out of their way to give fans that extra kick. But honestly they opened up more Holes. Created a Big Fuck You to some of their Fans and had some of the worst PR throughout this entire ordeal. They've lost a BIG fan here who has never missed a BioWare release, and I actually am sad to say that because KOTOR, ME1/2 and DAO were some of the greatest games I've played (KOTOR sits as my NO.2 of all time)... I would try to have hope for the future, but honestly with EA taking complete control now (It's clear they had little interference with games already in production like ME2 and DAO and then with DA2 and ME3 'assumed direct control'), it's only going to get worse.

[wildcardNS]

Surprised at how many found them satisfactory

[Rukh]

The normandy crashing on the planet seems rather needless now too.