Avalon on 26/3/2012 at 20:13
I don't really care about what happened with the people, so much as maybe an epilogue about what happened to the galaxy as a whole immediately following your choice. Something other than a "infer what you will from our complete lack of anything to infer things from." (Completely ignoring that the whole bit at the end was a "wait, what?" moment)
It's kind of like, what if the Harry Potter franchise ended in the same sentence that Voldemort died without even finishing up the chapter, following up in an epilogue, or even really explaining the cause of his death.
I really like the indoctrination theory, but I think it's one of those things that probably never even flashed through the writers minds and is presuming a lot more thought went into the game than we actually saw portrayed.
Jason Moyer on 27/3/2012 at 01:10
One thing that would make the ending more satisfying for me is if it were different based on how you resolved the Quarian/Geth Conflict. If the Catalyst is really an ancient AI that was tasked with solving the organic/synthetic problem then your options at the end should reflect whether you've fought for the co-existence of organics and synthetics, sided with synthetics against organics, or sided with organics against synthetics. I don't know if the massive changes to the last part of the game would be feasible given how much would need to go into it, but at least it would give you some feeling that your previous choices had an impact on the final outcome. They could pretty much remove the entire 'pick a button' aspect of the ending and have the resolution come from your interaction with him, which could either be in the form of negotiation or some sort of massive boss fight depending on your previous choices. There could also be hard charm/intimidate options to let you peacefully/deceptively talk your way out of whatever choices you had made previously. Or they could just call Obsidian and have Avellone rewrite the ending.
Jason Moyer on 27/3/2012 at 01:52
Ok this is me re-writing the ending:
Everything is the same up to and including the point where you talk to the catalyst.
Conversation stuff should be over-ridable with hard speech checks:
1.) If you eliminated the Geth (or choose to eliminate all synthetics), you're forced into an unwinnable boss fight where you attempt to disable the citadel manually from inside. After the fight, Shepard radios the fleet and tells them that the Catalyst/Citadel must be destroyed (in a move that would obviously be suicidal for him). War assets come into play (and actually make some sort of logical goddamn sense), as well as whether or not the geth are part of your forces as they will refuse and attempt to defend the citadel (which would serve as a modifier to your war asset score). Either a.) the citadel is destroyed, shepard dies, the reapers are weakened and vulnerable, AMERICA WINS!!!! and some sort of reflective cutscene with the major NPC's amidst the rubble of earth, possibly mourning the deaths of shepard/anderson/final squadmates and honoring them for their sacrifice b.) the citadel is destroyed, shepard dies, the repears are weakened but the allies took too many losses and have to abandon earth, which is completely harvested, reflective scene showing that shepard gave organics a chance to win the war c.) allies are thoroughly defeated, shepard is alive but indoctrinated, EVIL WINS!!!! reflective scene of barren worlds post-harvesting as reapers retreat to darkspace
2.) If you supported a peaceful co-existence solution to the Geth war the Catalyst sees the flaws in its system and blah blah blah hippie new age synthesis ending basically as it is now.
3.) If you supported the geth, the Catalyst offers you control of the reapers. This is deceptive and Shepard shares the same fate as the Illusive Man and is indoctrinated. The Catalyst uses him as a general to lead the organic submission to the reaper harvest. Similar ending to 1c, although I'd add a shot of Shepard on some unknown planet with his eyes glowing collector-style, a voice saying 'releasing control' and then Shepard looking around a barren wasteland as he realizes the horror of what happened
Ulukai on 7/5/2012 at 19:34
Just finished ME3 and hurrrrrrrrr.
I don't really see what the additional DLC post-extended cut is going to offer - [spoiler]my Shepard is dead and Liara is stuck on a rock with Joker. I pretty much managed to kill or alienate everyone else possible except Garrus.
Maybe I'm a bit too much of a romantic, but Shepard should still be able to win the day and get the girl. I invested 90 hours of my life in this relationship, Shepard deserves the blue woman ffs :( [/spoiler]
Having said that, although the ending was incredibly frustrating, it was also pretty powerful and it took me a while to choose the fate of the galaxy. But I still don't like it. Still, these are three of the most enjoyable games I've played in recent times.
DaBeast on 19/5/2012 at 05:37
This is pretty much going to be all spoiler
Why does Ashley look like a slut?
Zaeed gets like 3 lines of dialogue
The reporter was a waste of space
Mordin died, for the story I'm ok with it, but I'd have preferred that he lived.
Grunt line after his mission "Anybody got something to eat?" - An example of bad writing, just one among many that would not have made the grade of the other two games. A simple cheese filter would have seen it removed.
For some reason my dialogue options in the Illusive Man/Anderson scene were greyed out despite me having max everything. Anderson still lived, briefly, but the ILM didn't shoot himself.
I didn't see what happened to Garrus & Javik, my team buddies. I saw a deleted scene where they die in the rush to the conduit, but not in my game and no mention is made of them.
Tali was on earth, since my Shepard was sexing her. How did she end up on Normandy and why was Normandy in a warp jump in the middle of bumble fuck nowhere?
Lastly, the 3 choices were copy pasted from DX. There is no avoiding that comparison, regardless of what "insiders" have said. In this case we don't quiet get what DX offered (the FUCK YOU choice from Escape from L.A.) or anything resembling closure on the story. Instead we can kill the bad guys and the good guys (geth), blow up all the Mass Relays, or do some synergy shit. IIRC ME had a thing for presenting users with hard choices, but they pretty much always had some sort of good side.
Pretty much everything about the game suggests it was rushed, and instead of spending money on developers they spent it on advertising. Really a dick move.
I think most of all though, I'm just pissed that it's all over. Barring the inevitable sequels which will be made for a different target demographic, it just won't be the same without the original crew. Mass Effect has become one of my favorite franchises and I'm actually saddened to see that it's best is behind it. Even Resident Evil managed 4 games before turning into shite.
(
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtRVonWAV1s) This made me feel a little better ;) (slight spoilers)
Boxsmith on 19/5/2012 at 09:26
Quote Posted by DaBeast
Mordin died, for the story I'm ok with it, but I'd have preferred that he lived.
For some reason my dialogue options in the Illusive Man/Anderson scene were greyed out despite me having max everything. Anderson still lived, briefly, but the ILM didn't shoot himself.That's exactly how it went down in my playthrough, but my understanding is that
Mordin can survive if you killed Wrex back in ME1, and the extra dialogue options with the Illusive Man show up if you handle your previous conversations with him a certain way. I think you have to maintain a consistent attitude in talking to him or something.Quote Posted by Ulukai
Having said that, although the ending was incredibly frustrating, it was also pretty powerful and it took me a while to choose the colour of the galaxy.
Fixed that for ya.
Jason Moyer on 26/6/2012 at 11:08
Extended cut is apparently out today, if I remember correctly. It doesn't appear to be on Origin yet though.
Sulphur on 26/6/2012 at 19:20
Out now on Origin, folks. For whomever has Origin, anyway. Go to Game Add-Ons and get your download on. Now I can finally continue from where I left off, which was the start of Act 2.
