1317 réponses à ce sujet

[OrlesianWardenCommander]

I have recently beat Mass Effect 3 and found myself with a foul taste in my mouth. The whole game was a blast, i had fun meeting old friends losing others. It really felt like the galaxy was at war. But as a writer of small short stories i felt like the endings were terriblely executed. When you are "ending" a triology you are to provide endings that will leave no questions, leaving readers or viewers content, happy, or "Poeticly sad." Mass effect did not have this kind of ending. But further more did provide no resolution to our deeds. We had no way in judging the scale our final decision had, we had no closure with any of our crew, galactic fleet, and most of all Our love interests.

The endings were all centered around shepard and what happened to him, and in a narrow classic style of game that has little character development these endings would of been acceptable. This was the biggest problem with the endings, now i get it. We all knew that we would not have a walt disney ending to shepards final goal, but to have no options to die with your LI, no codexs, or further cutscenes explaining what happened in the aftermath. This is just unprofessional and writers should of known the fans would reject this style of endings they decided to choose.

Now it is their story we are playing, but the fans buy the game, we expect certant things to satifiy ourselves. A 3 way depressing ending, that no matter what you choose cripples the galaxy or just conforms with the reapers is just bad writing. None of us were expecting to have so many unanswered questions after we invested so much time, and more importantly emotional investment in the game. As a writer i would never do this to my fans. It just isn't right. I defiantly think this is how it is to grab more money in a DLC, but Bioware should of respected us more, if they just would of had more acceptable endings this game would of been a blast and a real thrill ride. Most of us will now buy the DLC they will make to fix this if it ever comes. I will most likely buy it, because i want to see real story book endings that have more closure to the Mass Effect Universe. As fans we didn't ask for much in an ending, we just wanted to close the book feeling happy with our choices and sacrafices we made. The Bioware team might of written this, but they are not even as near involved in the emotional experience they create, in the end its a job to them. They should of known better then to put such poorly implimented endings, with no closure to back them up.

This is a thread i made that was shut down. This is my opinion on the endings. Word of the day? CLOSURE

[Faraborne]

mysticforce42 wrote...

I'm going to play devil's advocate and focus on several points brought up so far.

1) Organics & Synthetics can live together in harmony.

We have seen little evidence of this. Yes, the Geth and the Quarians have reached an agreement, but this is only after a very long period of hostilities and there is no proof that it will be a lasting peace. Eventually some Quarian will come along and try to dominate the Geth - I can see someone like Xan trying within 10-20 years - to fulfill some sort of ambition and the whole conflict will start over again.

2) Catalyst's justification for extermination/preservation to "stop the chaos" despite causing quite a lot of chaos.

For something with millions upon millions of years of perspective, the relative little chaos caused every 50,000 years via reaping is pretty insignificant to the order of the Cycle. The Cycle IS order - it ensures the same outcome over a set period of time. The few centuries of active reaping is less than 1% of each 50,000 year cycle. And so far it has worked. It is easy for a few upstarts to talk about new possibilities or how there are other, better, ways to go about doing things... but it's sorta like a 2 year old telling an 80 year old how life works - we simply do not look at things from the same perspective.

There's a theory that all intelligent life eventually self-destruct - if anything, the Reapers are preserving what they could. It's a eugenics program on a galactic scale - certainly distasteful, but the reasoning is not utterly alien.

3) None of the choices we made mattered in all three games.

Of course the choices we made mattered - it just did not matter for the ending. If you saved Kelly Chambers, you get to see her again. If you tolerated Conrad, he gives you a bit of a boost. Your ME2 squad mates all contribute to the war effort somehow. The issue is there are choices, and then there is The Choice. Small choices you made affected people's lives and we get to see it throughout ME3. The Choice you made at the end of the game is independent from all of the small choices you made before.

For example, do you expect what you had for lunch 3 days ago to matter when you decide if you are going to move to Australia to become a diving instructor for the rest of you life? Few choices you make actually matters when you need to decide something extremely important.

All of that being said, I'm fine if Bioware wanted to go with a grim ending - honestly, did you really expect to beat the Reapers, who managed to continue the Cycle for over millions of years, without losing half if not all of the galaxy to do so? A pyrrhic victory is pretty much guaranteed. However, Bioware could have spend another 2 weeks and made the ending more coherent >.>

This is really good.  I understand why the writers did the endings the way they did (well I see the idealogy behind them...I don't know why they chose those endings).  My problem was how they made a complete artistic departure from the rest of the series (refer to my earlier post to see how).

[XGrlGamerX]

After a couple of days, my biggest quarrel with the end is the lack of closure for any of our NPCS. Bioware and Mass Effect 3 did a great job of building and rekindling relationships between our squad and LI before the final assault, but during and after it is dead.

I would at least liked something like they had at the end of Dragon Age. SOMETHING!!!

[Argahawk]

After I saw ending I wanted to see what you had before "last" fight. I wanted to see cutscene where (my) Shepard run away with Liara on some small ship to spend rest of their life together in peace (as they talked about it before) and everyone wait for Shepard on earth/normandy after big fight.

Or explanation about squadmates, what happen to Jack group ?, if Tali stay with Garrus or Jeff marry EDI etc. I have so many questions now and wonder where is that ending for answer every question we had in previous parts of ME?!

[Hellknites]

I guess the main problem for me is the lack of a nice happy ending more than anything else. That's why people work harder for. If you wanted a bad ending in mass effect 2, you take the lazy route. Don't get the ship upgrades, don't gain crew loyalty and your squad members (and shepard) complete their mission but die. You do everything you can, put as much effort as you can into making sure everything is ready and you get a nice ending where everybody lives. In this one, we basically get the bad ending, but with three different flavors/colours.

I mean, did the galactic readiness thing even mean anything? Could we had just gone with the minimum amount of war assets and galactic readiness and gotten the same endings.
I'm glad I found out about these endings before completing the game, since I actually paused my game to find if squad selection for the final mission affects who lives and who dies, and I stumbled upon the endings. Can't bring myself to finish the game. I think I would have been significantly more disappointed if I had run into them blind.

I can't believe I am saying this, but I do actually hope that a better ending DLC is planned. With those deep love interest plot threads created over the last 2/3 games (such as tali, liara and garrus) and all of the companions and characters you have met over the course of the series, I really don't want to believe that bioware planned to leave them unresolve(d/able)..

[Tony208]

I'm waiting to see what the canon ending is

[Claym0re]

Prince_Valiant wrote...

Instead a ****storm, we could let know Bioware our disappoinment on a civilized manner:

http://social.biowar...06/polls/28989/

I did my vote already, perhaps there's a friendly heart at Bioware who will show mercy to us poor sensitive people.

The poll is misguiding. Most of the people are hoping for a detailed ending with multiple outcomes based on our decisions. Happy ending might be a part of it, but we don't want a "generalized Disney-outcome".

[Carmen_Willow]

Sashimi_taco wrote...

They said that the ending would not leave any questions open, but they seem to be leaving more questions than answers for us. From what I've heard everyone still seems to be confused as to what each ending means. I just want to know what happens after all the blowing up! Does my shep get to be with her friends and LIs or not?

My ending was quite certain.  I was dead, my LI's (both of them) were dead, the galaxy was in ruins.....yeah no uncertainty for me.

[ascended1]

I'm sure I'm  not saying anything that hasn't been reiterated again and again in this thread; however, I also feel being silent due to that fact will accomplish nothing.  So I am adding my voice to the throng.  I am very displeased by the ending.

Would I have preferred a happier ending?  Sure, but that's not what the main issue is to me.  The Mass Effect games  have been about choice, and repurcussions of those choices.  The main issue to me is that every single choice I made, everything I accomplished over the course of the three games, every sidequest accomplished, added up to nothing. 

All the work put in dealing with the Geth, the Krogan, the Rachni, etc means jack when it boils down to the ending.  Sure, if you put in extra time playing multiplayer, or somehow supposedly scrounging through every single possible option in single player you can get a couple second clip of Shep breathing, but besides that, it's essentially a different color light over an identical ending. 

Your choices have no bearing on the ending.  If i play full renegade?  Same choices.  Full paragon?  Same.  A half ostridge/dolphin that traverses by alternatingly slapping its tail and sticking its head in the ground?  The same choices.  Have fun knowing everything you've done through the last 3 games means nothing.  Choose your color! 

Apparently I'm not supposed to care about what happens to my allies/friends/loved ones.  Well since all of the mass relays are destroyed in every ending...which is supposed to be extremely destructive to the system it resides in...a vast majority of every being in the galaxy perished.  Fun times. 

(Warning, sarcasm)  Well at least my squadmates, who were dead/unconcious were somehow magically (more space magic?) transported to the Normandy, or simply decided to abandon Shephard and the mission.  They then proceed to pilot a shuttle back to the Normandy through all of the Reaper fire, where Joker is flying like a bat out of hell, apparently fleeing the Sol system with everybody on board.  Since that makes perfect sense.  Screw the giant space armada we've gotten together!  Screw your home planet.  Screw your last hope of galactic survival.  Screw Shephard!  Lets run!  Seriously, this makes no sense.

Oh and be sure to tune in to the creepy old man and the "my sweet" little boy. 

Don't get me wrong.  Mass Effect 3 is a great game.  A great game with a very poor ending.  No ending should invalidate everything you've done.  Especially not everything you've done over the course of three games.

[hatori1181]

I'm not sure if anyone thought of this, but I made a realization regarding the "destruction" ending, and I thought I'd post my two cents here.

the Destruction ending kills not only the Geth, but the Quarians. The Quarians rely on technology to stay alive. Destroying that destroys them, too. Did anyone at Bioware think of that?

I really fell like the entire sequence of events after the illusive man smells of poor, lazy or at the very least, rushed writing. Why was the Normandy not participating in the battle with the reapers? How did my squad mates suddenly get TO the Normandy during the middle of a terrible war ESPECIALLY after the Normandy's shuttle was shot down?

Why add drama for the sake of drama?

Was it necessary for all of the ending to be so depressing? I could think of a very simple solution to give everyone an ending that they deserve.

Here's my thought: the chat with the kid does a rep check. High renegade (like 90+) unlocks the control ending. High Paragon unlocks the synthasis ending. otherwise your only option is destruction. Renegade ending makes Shep into the new illusive man, using the reapers to enforce his will. Paragon is the happy ending, everyone lives. but life is forever changed, and not everyone will be happy with it. Destruction ending changes based on readiness and military strength, though it's never an ideal ending.

Was that so hard?

[Claym0re]

Since none of the polls I found asked the satisfying questions and were sort of "misguiding" I created my own poll thread included.

http://social.biowar...5/index/9702248

directly to the poll

http://social.biowar...51/polls/29093/

[JediNg]

raeting wrote...

Faraborne wrote...

In conclusion to a really long comment, I'm with Shepherd. I'd prefer all out extinction to being the slave of determinism. I would have been fine with the Reapers ending all organic life in the galaxy over what was presented. The ending that should have been there is Shepherd proving to the evil, deterministic, fatalistic entity that it was wrong. Organics and synthetics can live in peace together (can I compare that people of different religions, cultures, creeeds, etc can live in peace together). Look at what we have accomplished! When faced with wanton evil, all life--organic and synthetic--prove that they will come together and rally around goodness and truth. The stupid kid wants order? Order is peace. And we can achieve peace (even if a machine says no based upon weak empirical evidence), and we MUST BELIEVE that we can achieve peace. Evolution and determinism will not have the last word. Life will--and life represented by Commander Shepherd should have proven that.  

This.

I was thinking of counterpoints while the catalyst was talking. Shepard made peace between the Quarians and Geth! But, no, Shepard still didn't do enough. The only way to get real, lasting, peace is to forcefully rewrite the Galaxy's DNA.

Honestly, it also comes off as stripping the hero of their moment right at the end. Shepard, even with all they've done, hasn't done enough. So an uber-powerful NPC steps in and gives you a magic wand to wave around and fix everything.

Eh.

Was set up to be a triumph against impossible odds. Instead a god-like figure asks you to press one of three buttons to fix it.

Edit: Well, and then the lack of an epilogue is just the icing on the sad cake.

You don't really fix anything even.  You plunge the galaxy into your choice of dark age because all the mass relays become destroyed.  I fought to stop the reapers from forcing this outcome on us.  Instead it happens anyway, except that I'm the one that has to force it on everyone.  I think what I really want most is a conclusion that involves being with the crew and LI.

It's odd thinking about that last point.  It makes no difference which LI you picked because they will be without you, as if all the romancing in ME and ME2 was just for their ultimately disappointing heartbreak.  You could argue that it's about the journey and not where you end up neccessarily, but there isn't even an epilogue to give you closure on what happens to your LI after.  You spend a significant time in your life with them then... nothing.  Not that it ended but that there's no closure to it, like an open wound that isn't quite bleeding yet.

Even if the galaxy goes into a dark age as a result of the mass relays being destroyed (or damaged, in one of the endings).  If Shepard is with friends then all the losses and drastic change will be more meaningful.  Shepard would be able to pass to them the story about the reapers and their 'purpose.'  Shepard would be able to find peace in the company of his/her LI, and friends in the absence of war and war preparations finally.  Instead, Shepard is simply and mysteriously MIA after the citadel and crucible emit a brilliant flash.  It just seems that after all these relationships we've built up, for Shepard not to be with his/her companions and LI at the end regardless of where they end up (at the very least) makes the whole saving the reapers thing empty.  Emptiness for the now stranded friends of Shepard's, and emptiness for the player.

[Almostfaceman]

First, I respect the creators right to make things in their way.

Second, I respect my right to respond to a creation, either positively or negatively.

Mass Effect was a wonderful creation. Then it was destroyed.

In the end the Reapers (the alien-unexplained-small boy avatar) still wrote our destiny. There is no option to tell the Reapers what we've been telling them all along - screw you we're going to make our own destiny.

Instead, after fighting to give the Krogan, the Geth, the Quarians, the Rachni, EDI a chance to determine their own path, Shepard succumbs to the creator of the Reapers.

Suddenly it doesn't seem to matter that we don't know who this Creator (Reaper) is. We don't know if it's lying or telling the truth. We're not just pidgeon-holed into Cerberus or the Alliance, we're pigeon-holed into making three horrible Reaper/Creator choices. Three, out of endless possiblities. I know it's a game and it has to be limited in scope, but where is that choice that Shepard has made to break free completely of Reaper influence? Choice to merge - could be we're merging with Reaper tech or something else as horrible. Choice to control Reapers - how do we know it's not lying? Why does this kill us? The Creator himself said he'd been opened up to new possibilities. This means the Creator has choices. Choice to destroy - how do we know it's not lying? Again, why does Shepard have to die, if the Creator has free will, why cannot it take its own life? So many questions left unanswered. So rushed. So limiting. So anti-choice. So not tied to any of the decisions Shepard has made about alliances or investments in relationships with others in his galaxy.

All three choices involve destroying the relays, and in the very small limited exchange we have with the Creator the possiblity of these relay destructions wiping out trillions in cataclysmic explosions is very real. This could be - and very logically seems to be - the Reapers on the ropes going out in a bang to give organic life the big middle finger. Shepard would not risk doing on a galaxy-wide scale what happened to the Batarian system in Arrival. He'd take a choice of risking it toe-to-toe in a stand up fight with the Reapers. Period.

I've been playing this game to tell the Reapers or whatever created them that they do not have the right to manage us in any way. And in the end, I get managed by them.

Then, to add insult to injury, the nonsense begins. All of a sudden the Normandy is zapping about on a Relay stream. Ummm, why? It was engaged in a to-the-death fight for Earth. Why would Joker abandon Earth?

All of a sudden the tail end of the Normandy vaporizes in an energy pulse that is faster than the instantaneous travel of relay-to-relay travel. What?

All of a sudden the Normandy survives this assault and makes it all the way to a planet. Then people who have no business being on the Normandy walk off of it. Game bug? Shepard death vision so he see's people he wants to see? Not explained. Joker a survivor? 

Then... we don't know what happens to the rest of the galaxy. I've spent hours and money on all these plots and characters. Bioware, you can spend three minutes telling me what happens in the end.

Then... a grandpa talking to a boy about this story. I already know this is a story. I picked it up in a place that sells video games. I know it's a story. Does this mean this is all a death vision for Shepard? Does this mean that life goes on in a primitive universe where star travel is still a remote possibility, like our own real existence? Is it all a story that was never supposed to mean anything within the universe that Bioware created - a story within a story? What the heck does this mean? Why so ambiguous Bioware?

I don't believe it's going to happen, but I request a do-over. Because you've made games that I like a lot, I'm giving you a chance, Bioware, to put an ending on this story that will please more of your fans. If you don't, I don't think I'm alone in saying you've lost a customer. Anyone who's seen me post on this forum knows I'm not some reactionary who says fantastic things on a forum just to get attention. For me to say something like this, means you've really messed it up. Here, on a Bioware forum, is the place to tell you how I feel about your product. As it stands now, your product capped off with a big fat stinker of an ending and I will not invest my time or money in any more troll endings like this. I'm talking straight to you Bioware, not anyone else, so I hope we're clear on this. 

Fix it. <_<

I posted my opinion in other thread, posted in this thread as well, first posted here. In case one is shut down due to duplicate threads.

Modifié par Almostfaceman, 08 mars 2012 - 10:43 .

[Faraborne]

JediNg wrote...

You don't really fix anything even.  You plunge the galaxy into your choice of dark age because all the mass relays become destroyed.  I fought to stop the reapers from forcing this outcome on us.  Instead it happens anyway, except that I'm the one that has to force it on everyone.  I think what I really want most is a conclusion that involves being with the crew and LI.

It's odd thinking about that last point.  It makes no difference which LI you picked because they will be without you, as if all the romancing in ME and ME2 was just for their ultimately disappointing heartbreak.  You could argue that it's about the journey and not where you end up neccessarily, but there isn't even an epilogue to give you closure on what happens to your LI after.  You spend a significant time in your life with them then... nothing.  Not that it ended but that there's no closure to it, like an open wound that isn't quite bleeding yet.

Even if the galaxy goes into a dark age as a result of the mass relays being destroyed (or damaged, in one of the endings).  If Shepard is with friends then all the losses and drastic change will be more meaningful.  Shepard would be able to pass to them the story about the reapers and their 'purpose.'  Shepard would be able to find peace in the company of his/her LI, and friends in the absence of war and war preparations finally.  Instead, Shepard is simply and mysteriously MIA after the citadel and crucible emit a brilliant flash.  It just seems that after all these relationships we've built up, for Shepard not to be with his/her companions and LI at the end regardless of where they end up (at the very least) makes the whole saving the reapers thing empty.  Emptiness for the now stranded friends of Shepard's, and emptiness for the player.

Well put.  Mass Effect is a character driven story that needed closure for the characters in order to have a satisfying and consistent ending.  But in the end, the characters are completely overshadowed in a galactic event that can only be surmised as a victory for the Reapers (ultimately, since 'order' has been brought to 'chaos').

[JediNg]

Hellknites wrote...

I guess the main problem for me is the lack of a nice happy ending more than anything else. That's why people work harder for. If you wanted a bad ending in mass effect 2, you take the lazy route. Don't get the ship upgrades, don't gain crew loyalty and your squad members (and shepard) complete their mission but die. You do everything you can, put as much effort as you can into making sure everything is ready and you get a nice ending where everybody lives. In this one, we basically get the bad ending, but with three different flavors/colours.

I mean, did the galactic readiness thing even mean anything? Could we had just gone with the minimum amount of war assets and galactic readiness and gotten the same endings.
I'm glad I found out about these endings before completing the game, since I actually paused my game to find if squad selection for the final mission affects who lives and who dies, and I stumbled upon the endings. Can't bring myself to finish the game. I think I would have been significantly more disappointed if I had run into them blind.

I can't believe I am saying this, but I do actually hope that a better ending DLC is planned. With those deep love interest plot threads created over the last 2/3 games (such as tali, liara and garrus) and all of the companions and characters you have met over the course of the series, I really don't want to believe that bioware planned to leave them unresolve(d/able)..

Yeah that's another good point about all the hard work you put iin for the better ending.  But in spite of all of it, we are treated to a variation on one flavour of ending where your crewmates become stranded (not even considering how they got on the normandy in the first place, though I would prefer that to annihilation), the mass relays become paper weights or shrapnel, and Shepard dies/becomes disembodied.  Even if Shepard were alive in that one destroy outcome, Shepard would die later from grief without  any way to find his/her LI and friends.

Plus I mentioned possibly in a different thread, where does Shepard gasp for breath?  Citadel's destroyed and even if it weren't particulat matter, it'd be flying out into space or smashing into the Earth.

[Nyaore]

And this is precisely why the saying 'it's the journey that matters' is complete and utter bull****. What's the point of even going on the journey if your final destination is a steaming hunk of dung? I had at least two other Shepards geared up for more playthroughs, and I'm honestly having a hard time talking myself into even bothering with their stories anymore.

The journey was wonderful, but if I have nothing to look forward to at the end, why even make the attempt in the first place?

Modifié par Nyaore, 08 mars 2012 - 10:50 .

[Ryven]

I've never really been one to complain about Biowares games, hell I even enjoyed Dragon Age 2 quite a bit. I loved Mass Effect 1, 2 and 3. Until I hit mass effect 3's ending. If there was one thing that I could always count on Bioware for, it would be an epic ending.

I didn’t want a fairy tale "disney" ending. Bioware could have killed off my Shepard and his entire crew as long as it was epic and heroic.

How was the battle above earth going? What was Joker and Edi doing during the battle? You could always count on a flight scene with Jokers kick ass piloting skills in the first two games.

What were my other squad mates doing when I reached the citadel?

No dialogue between Shepard and Harbinger?

If I had chosen to sacrifice myself to control the reapers and leave the galaxy then why not add a little scene where I could talk to my crew mate and say our goodbyes?

The ending just felt empty and unsatisfying. But I still hold out hope that you guys will patch or release something in the near future because honestly Bioware, I love you guys, but I think we need a little show of goodwill from you guys after everything that has been happening lately and some of the controversies surrounding this game.

[Sargerus]

Bioware's take on the endings:

http://img713.images...211qvyuvdcl.gif

Modifié par Sargerus, 08 mars 2012 - 10:56 .

[JediNg]

Nyaore wrote...

And this is precisely why the saying 'it's the journey that matters' is complete and utter bull****. What's the point of even going on the journey if your final destination is a steaming hunk of dung? I had at least two other Shepards geared up for more playthroughs, and I'm honestly having a hard time talking myself into even bothering with their stories anymore. The journey was wonderful, but if I have nothing to look forward to at the end, why even make the attempt in the first place?

I think people just misuse that aphorism.  Yes it's the journey that matters and I agree.  But, You still have to make it somewhere desirable in order to reflect on the journey that brought you there.   What I think I'm trying to say is that the phrase is meant to remind you that you shouldn't forget what you went through to get to the destination, not that literally only the journey matters.

[cotheer]

For the sake of not opening another thread for a simple question, allow me to ask here:
How does the Legions' loyalty mission from ME2 affects ME3?

[Faraborne]

cotheer wrote...

For the sake of not opening another thread for a simple question, allow me to ask here:
How does the Legions' loyalty mission from ME2 affects ME3?

Very simply: the geth are either stronger or weaker.  The rewrite did nothing except make the geth stronger.  Its more complex but that's the short version.

[cotheer]

Faraborne wrote...

cotheer wrote...

For the sake of not opening another thread for a simple question, allow me to ask here:
How does the Legions' loyalty mission from ME2 affects ME3?

Very simply: the geth are either stronger or weaker.  The rewrite did nothing except make the geth stronger.  Its more complex but that's the short version.

Got it.
Thank you.

[Nyaore]

JediNg wrote...

Nyaore wrote...

And this is precisely why the saying 'it's the journey that matters' is complete and utter bull****. What's the point of even going on the journey if your final destination is a steaming hunk of dung? I had at least two other Shepards geared up for more playthroughs, and I'm honestly having a hard time talking myself into even bothering with their stories anymore. The journey was wonderful, but if I have nothing to look forward to at the end, why even make the attempt in the first place?

I think people just misuse that aphorism.  Yes it's the journey that matters and I agree.  But, You still have to make it somewhere desirable in order to reflect on the journey that brought you there.   What I think I'm trying to say is that the phrase is meant to remind you that you shouldn't forget what you went through to get to the destination, not that literally only the journey matters.

True, but when you have Mac Walters literally quoting the phrase "It's not the destination-it's the journey" then it starts to become apparent that that's exactly what was meant. It's one thing to remind ourselves and others that the journey is imporant, but it's another to imply that it's all that matters - which is what he was doing when he quoted and agree with that sentiment in the "Roadmap to Love and Happiness" article. That's what my post was referring to, and I apologize for not making that clearer.
Both should be important, not one over the other. Yet if one is bad, it can ruin your enjoyment of the other quite easily.

Modifié par Nyaore, 08 mars 2012 - 11:07 .

[Phydeaux314]

Well spoken, almostfaceman.

[coldlogic82]

While I do believe that Mass Effect is a great game overall, I'm afraid I'm with majority on the issue of endings. I liked the game enough that I'm doing a replay (hoping to get the "secret ending" maybe?), and there's a lot of cool stuff in there. I loved the Geth missions (so creative) and the tension of the final missions. In fact, the ending is just about the only thing I didn't like in ME 3. Unfortunately, the ending is pretty important, and like a lot of bioware fans, I feel somewhat betrayed. But instead of just saying I feel betrayed because I "didn't like it" I want to offer a real crtical look at why, psychologically and artistically, the ending falls flat. Spoiler warning for any content beyond this point.

I think I can really pin down the majority of the issue to one thing. The relays. It seems like a small part of the disappointment, but upon reflection, I believe the destruction of the relays in all endings (known so far) is really what hurts. This is the soul of why the ending gives us a feeling of "nothing we did mattered." The entire series focuses on alien relations, the attempts at peace, and the problems stemming from this. It focuses on why people are united when they could be, on overcoming prejudice, and how difficult this really is. So we have the third installation in which the entire galaxy is finally united. We can end the war between Krogan and Turian, we can even end the war between Quarian and Geth, creating an amazing new partnership. All of these are obviously not "final" in their scope, as we know after the reaper invasion, it would be easy to start warring again. However, the idea is that there is at least the possibility. While the grander connotations are nice, it's actually the more immediate alliances that make the ending hurt. Simply put, we just spent 3 games helping people overcome prejudice and come together, and we just spent the final game uniting the entire galaxy under one banner. Then the mass relays go and that's all over. We just united the entire galaxy in a remarkably inspiritation manner, and then we get to the end and the game goes "haha, nice job, BAM, no more of that." I think a good half of the dissatisfaction comes from this point alone. Think aobut it. If we control the reapers by shepard sacrificing himself, that's sad, but hey, the whole galaxy can celebrate him and we can take what he built and see how long we can keep it up. If we go synthesis, fine, once again sad shepard dies, and for being one of the "better" endings it's awfully close to actually helping the reapers fulfill their goal, but, whatever, we're all under a great new framework of DNA, let's go celebrate and be happy and whatever. Finally, Shepard destroys the reapers and, quite sadly, the geth, making everything he for the quarians a waste of his time, but at least we all win and get to celebrate. Without the relays, the game implies that beyond quantum entanglement devices there isn't a means for communcation or travel around the galaxy in any reasonably timely manner. Hell, the relays being destroyed means the rest of the galaxy DOESN'T EVEN KNOW WHAT HAPPENED. They can hope the relays got destroyed for a good reason, but, especially if you take the "advanced tech destruction" route, the galaxy cannot rest easy for at least a century while news of the victory actually makes its way to various corners of the galaxy, assuming it even can due to travelling constraints not addressed by technology BECAUSE the relays made them needless. So, in the biggest possible way, the destruction of the relays assures Shepard is NOT a legend, and everything he accomplished, in the third game especially, is almost entirely meaningless. The ending says, sure, you saved the universe, and sure, you probably couldn't have done it without doing everything you did in these games, but aside from the absolute most basic "you won because earth didn't explode," there is no victory. That hurts. That hurts a lot, and I'm amazed that isn't obvious to the story writers.

The second problem has to do with execution. This is where I think a lot of fans feel the most betrayed, whereas the relays gave us the most dissapointment. The final choices are solely based on war assets. Yes, the decisions you made had an impact on how many assets you acquired, how many different aliens you unite, and all that, but in the end, what's upsetting is that our choices don't in any way alter the final choices available to us. The destruction of the collector base becomes part of a math equation saying if picking one of the choices will blow up earth or not. It doesn't create a single ending that follows from that decision, nor does it affect what choices are available. It doesn't matter if you played just ME 3 or the whole series. It doesn't matter if you went paragon or renegade. It doesn't matter if you saved the geth or blew them up. No matter what you did, you get the same three choices, game over. In ME 2, whether or not you blew up the collector base at LEAST ended up with people saying diffferent things. By blowing it up, you get Miranda telling the Illusive Man to shove it, and you don't get that with ME 3. And another note on paragon vs renegade. In the final talk with the Illusive Man, for the two choices at least, taking a "special" paragon or renegade option has NO EFFECT ON THE CONVERSATION. Shepard maybe sounds a little smarter, or like he *should* influence something, but no matter what you pick, the Illusive Man says the same thing. Every time, every way. Now, I had my paragon meter maxed out and the third paragon dialogue option was still greyed out, so that may affect something, though I don't know what, and it's hard to imagine it erasing the other two major problems, that of the relay and the same three choices in all situations.

Next, the ending is ruined by the use of an unneeded element that actually creates less closure. That is the child. It's always fun, of course, to have mysterious characters, like that guy in Half Life, where we never really could figure out who he was, what he was doing, etc etc. Having that element run through a story can be exciting. The Illusive Man, for instance, was mysterious until the very end. Who's side was he really on, was he working with the reapers or against them, why did cerberus keep interfering, all these questions were kept alive and kicking until the end. That's cool. But introducing something like that as a resolution doesn't work. The "kid" introduced at the end raises too many questions. Yes, we know whatever it is controls the reapers, and that it is, in all probability, mostly synthetic. But why does it appear as that child? Does the way he appears have something to do with the dreams Shepard keeps having? Obviously whatever it is, it choose to appear the way it did, but there aren't enough clues as to why. There isn't enough information create even opposing opinions on who it was and what it wanted. The ONLY reason it was needed was to explain the choices Shepard had, and the voice of Harbinger explaining those choices probably wouldn't have pleased anyone. Something more a like a VI like Glyph would have been much more appropriate. You wouldn't even need to cut the dream sequences. The intent there is obvious. In fact, it's actually rather clever Shepard is haunted by this "spectre." Yes bioware, I got that reference, it was cute, but it just wasn't done right. People really wanted closure. Even something like "Shep got in there, found out the crucible was going to destroy all the mass relays because he had another techno-vision, but did it anyway cause living was more important," would have been better than "Shep got in there, at which point whatever is in charge of the reapers, whether an individual or mass consciousness, choose, for some reason we can only speculate, to appear to Shepard as a child that haunts his dreams (because the reapers are totally known for their clever word play, spectre, get it, haha), and told him his master plan to save all life by destroying it wasn't going to work, so instead of letting the people that beat him decide what to do, he presented him with three set in stone options that allowed people to live, but basically made everthing he did a little on the pointless side."

And finally, on that note, I believe the serious closure problems finished the job. Just all the loose ends. If you choose to romance someone, well, they have to go on without you. Yeah, that could happen in ME 2, but at least in ME 2 it was also completely avoidable. It's most upsetting if you pursued a romance for all three games, say, with Liara. It's like, in the end, yeah, that romance just didn't work out. Then there's the lack of "logistical" closure. Yay, the galaxy is saved, but, not yay, the entire galatic fleet (minus the races you pissed off) is now stuck near earth. So EDI points out feeding the Krogan is going to be problematic. So, um, yay the reapers are gone, now do we stop the krogan from killing us all for food? Same problem with Turians? It doesn't create a feeling of "all right, all the races are going to live on earth, cool." It's "all the races are now in a logistical nightmare, how the hell are we going to solve that?" There is no answer.

So, those major points are, I believe, why the ending was unsuccessful. In order of priority. Really, I honestly believe a lot more people would have been okay with "sad" endings if the relays didn't have to go. Maybe that's what bioware wanted, maybe they wanted to say "survival at all costs, and that cost can be pretty damn high." I don't think people were upset because fo the blunt "sad" emotion that the endings tended to bring out.

On a final note, I do want to say I'm pretty sure Bioware has a happier ending up its sleeve in the form of DLC or an expansion or something like that. From a business standpoint, it's risky, but it usually works. Bait people, give them a crappy ending, and then say "we just released one that does suck" and people who were upset flock in to buy it. I don't think that means bioware has no integrity. It would just mean they took a route that, while effective, is awfully irritating.