1966 réponses à ce sujet

[Biotic Budah]

cruggero22 wrote...

Did anyone besides me get the notion that the catalyst was some version of a creator entity, or godlike?

Who knows? He could have been a computer program created by the Keepers who turned on his creators and enslaved them. Eh, makes too much sense.

[Biotic Budah]

victoriakm wrote...

Dear Bioware:

I pre-ordered the collector’s edition of Mass Effect 3 – the first time I’ve ever done that for a video game. I counted the hours down until it arrived. I’ve played almost non-stop since then. Ended yesterday’s session ready to head out to destroy Cerberus. At the time, I was excitedly telling my husband all about it… how great the game was, how I envisioned playing over and over again. I was even considering buying a copy for my PS3 in addition to the one I purchased for my Xbox as a show of support/appreciation for your handiwork.

Last night, I was truly entertained. Amazed, even, at the depth of play, the involvement I felt, the attachment. I’ve never had more fun playing a video game. I cried when Mordin died! A video game did that to me. Wow. I was ready to buy your entire catalog, repeatedly and forever. I was ready to start up ME 1&2 again and try some different choices (mind you, these are games I’ve already played seven ways to Sunday!!) I was already forming my apologies to husband and dogs for the many future hours they’d be deprived of my company whilst I immersed myself in your world yet again.

Cut to today – devastation. The endings were all terrible!!!! They rendered every choice I made, everything my character fought for, completely worthless. My first ending attempt (synthesis, Shepard dead, galaxy stranded as there were no relays, etc) left me utterly bereft. I tried the other choices – ack! Still bad, worse even and now I am becoming increasingly confused. Surely this wasn’t where you fine folks were going to leave me?

What had I done wrong?? Other than choosing NOT to do multi-player (I don’t do multi – if I wanted to interact with my fellow humans I’d sit down with my friend for poker), I completed every mission, gathered every resource… surely if life as Shepard and the gang knows it was changing forever, she’d at least get the chance to live it with them? What’s with this crazy end scene with Joker et. al climbing out of the Normandy, which was fleeing the fight before it crashed??? I don’t understand any of it.

So I fly to the internet… it will tell me, help me figure out how I screwed it up. After all, my first Shepard in ME2 got half her team killed before I got THAT game right. And find only other bewildered, formerly devoted followers of the ME story like myself. Having read about all the possible endings, I find myself with absolutely no desire to try them as they all lead to the same unsatisfying end result. Why would I bother to play the game anymore, or again? Spend time curing the genophage, for what? Quarians and geth… for what? I don’t know that I’ll ever play any of the games again now. I don’t want to purchase any more DLC etc. (you could easily have picked my pocket off the ME world for quite a bit more)

Worse still, I’m crushed. My heart is broken. I had expected to be sad when I finished – the bittersweet sadness of reaching the end of a great story. There is nothing quite like the feeling of finishing an amazing tale the first time, though there is comfort in knowing you can always pick the book up again. This time, I’m numb, I’m cheated, I’m angry.. but most importantly, I’m done. I don’t want to be part of this story again.

You earned my affection for ME – all of them. I’d even say I got my $80 of entertainment in the play I had between the game start up to the ending. But you tossed away the affection… I won’t buy from you again if endings like this are ok by you.

Fix it and maybe I’ll be back. Otherwise, my thanks for 90% of a great ride and best wishes in your future endeavors.

This pretty much said it all for me. I too asked myself what I did wrong, but then found out it was nothing I did other than put faith in Bioware rewarding their fans with a suitable ending for their years of dedication to the ME universe.

[Biotic Budah]

I also think it is an indictment of Bioware that they updated the conduct policy on here just days before the games release. It's almost as if they knew this backlash was going to happen and prepared for it accordingly.

[captainchimp]

After my second playthrough. I feel a lot better about the game overall. The endings are still bittersweet, but they are what they are. While some part of me still wants to know what happens to Liara, Garrus, Wrex and the rest of the companions I've gathered over three games, I have to say that the ME trilogy really does deliver itself as an epic, where many other modern works have failed to say the least. Each game despite its own individual flaws, carries you forth over the course of three games, giving you ownership over the story you make. I gotta say Bioware, you guys made something great here. Not since Baldur's Gate have I felt this sense of ownership over my choices and characters. I do hope we get to revisit the universe of ME at some point. But so far as the tale of Shephard goes, it was a blast.

[darkshadow136]

res27772 wrote...

You know why I think these complaints will fall on deaf ears and they won't do a damn thing to change anything - the fact the Mass Relays were destroyed... this simple fact tells me they've got no itentions of making a Mass Effect 4, how can they without they relays!? (Unless they do an alternate timeline thing, or base it waaaaay in they future with a newly evolved human race... there's a couple of ideas Bioware) But I suspect there'll be no ME4, so why should they care they've annoyed us all so much with tyhe end of ME3, they've already got our money afterall.

Because people like myself won't spend anymore money with Bioware, and in the long run if enough customers get disiilussioned with Bioware to do just that, it will hurt them in their future profits.


if you want your voice heard louder got to my blog which I have a link too in my Sig , click on my ME3 review and click on the links to my polls.

1. would you Boycott Bioware if they don't fix the endings
2. do you believe Multiplayer should have no impact on the single player campaign
3. Facebook Campaign demand better endings for ME3

[TheComfyCat]

Mass Effect 3 score: 85/100

My biggest (non-story) gripe is the new journal. It's poorly organized. The main story missions are all lumped together with the fetch/ side quests, which makes it difficult to navigate. Also, unlike in the previous two games, the quests don't update as you progress, so it's hard for me to tell if I've already gotten an object and where I have to take it once I've found it. Not all the quest givers are shown on the map, and the journal doesn't tell you where to go to turn the quest in. This means I have to wander around the Citadel, walking close enough to everyone to see if I can interact with them, because I've forgotten where the quest-giver is located.

Story-wise, I'll just say that like many others, I found this game to be great (a 95/100) up until the last 15 minutes. The ending left many more questions than answers (including "what happened to all the characters I've grown to care about? The Normandy crew and my friends back on Earth? How about the aliens still in Sol?" etc.) The part with the Guardian was also confusing, and it also left me with nothing but more questions that I had no option to ask (what about the fact that I'm friends with EDI and made peace with the Geth? What if you're totally wrong and are simply making assumptions based on something that happened millions of years ago? Why do I have to take one of these three options when I think there are better options to be found? etc.) So basically, the ending did not give me closure, it simply left me with more questions.

My favorite part of the game, and what I think was done really well, was the (non-player) character interaction. I loved walking into Liara's room and finding her chatting with Garrus, finding James and Kaidan playing poker, or Garrus and Joker trying to out-joke each other, etc. This brought so much more life to the Normandy, and I think it stands out (for me) as the biggest improvement. Of course, I wish there were more actual conversations to be had with my crew (meaning conversations with the dialogue wheel -- without it the feeling of player agency is severely diminished), but I still really, really enjoyed what was there.

Also, I really enjoyed Kaidan's and Garrus's romance (Garrus's is still IP, but love it so far) and the romance development did indeed feel more "organic". However, Thane's romance conclusion felt mishandled, and pretty much ignored, especially during and after the coup. That really disappointed me.

[captainchimp]

I forgot to add in my previous post: I still feel that the part with the Catalyst was a Deus Ex Machina, and could have been handled somewhat better.

[A Typewriter]

My Mass Effect 3 Score: 80 / 100 (apologies in advance for the length).
To give perspective: I never played video games growing up, and the first time I really picked up a controller was after watching my partner playing the first Mass Effect. I had until then harbored the vague notion that video games were, by and large, either franchises cashing in on childhood nostalgia, or throwback war fantasies cashing in on angst in need of an outlet. In any case, it wasn’t my childhood, and I don’t feel any resonance with oversized and dirty men committing virtual violence under whatever slim pretext. It was a revelation to find there are games made in which story and plot are primary considerations, rather than weak glue used to hold fighting sequences together, and that not every game is strictly a boys’ club. I played Mass Effect with no certain expectations. And then I played it again. And again. More than a dozen times over. I picked up every previous Bioware title available on console, and I played those, too, and then branched out to a number of other games. But Bioware has remained my favorite company, Mass Effect my own particular game. I went to the midnight release last week. And when my non-gamer friends confront me over what they view as an amusing lapse in judgment that will keep me up all night to finish a mission, I’m content to remark that video games are potentially one of the best escapist art forms available, consistently getting better. And then I hand them Mass Effect.

What worked for me:

• Dynamic characters and relationships. The way each individual arc was handled was brilliant and engaging, and I found myself caring more about the characters even than in previous games. Also, I am no longer manning a ship full of antisocial agoraphobics! The voice acting and the character writing are simply phenomenal. I wish only that we could look forward to more time with them.
• Shepard, too, felt less like a puppet and more like a living, breathing character than previous iterations allowed for. Flaws! I love flaws! You should see my collection!
• The driving sense of urgency throughout the storyline. The immediacy attached to each scene was an adrenaline rush. I surprised myself when I shot Udina. I also only missed a bare handful of missions, but never felt myself going off track. The updates given on the fulfillment of fetch quests I think did a decent job of keeping them relevant, without feeling too much like padding to lengthen the game; the Reaper Awareness was a cute conceit that spiced up scanning a surprising amount. Suddenly, the universe felt like a big place again, but my agency to explore it was curtailed by the Reaper menace. Fantastic work.
• The multi-level gameplay was terrific, and rendered the world even more immersive than previous games in the series. Combat (by and large) felt far less stiff, much more energetic and on the fly. Even the battles that seemed to drag on without end-- and there were a couple!-- seemed to do so in a plot-appropriate fashion that built up the story.

Where I feel the game suffered:

• The little bugs that add up: Kaidan became a disembodied voice following me around for a time (still executing combat power commands!) until I reloaded. I also had to reload twice during Citadel quests, because the console or individual I needed to interact with either wouldn’t respond when triggered, or simply wouldn’t highlight at all. During one sequence, I jumped a gap, and got stuck in the floor. And then fell off the map. Reloaded, and the game had auto-saved me wading through the floor. I’m fortunately a compulsive manual saver, and I know these are things that will likely be patched; still, it’s more hiccups than I’ve encountered in a single playthrough of a Bioware game-- even in ME1, when my biotics not infrequently resulted in enemies getting stuck in the wall.
• ...and the big one:

I will start by stating unequivocally that I don’t believe in the notion that Bioware owes me anything for my money but the game they have unquestionably poured their blood, sweat, and tears into. I don’t buy the idea of some evil genius sitting in the offices chuckling triumphantly at the lamentation of their fans: unless you are a quarian, part of being a creator is hoping your creation will realize its full potential, and be appreciated and respected. Even so, it is possible to wish the ending to this, my favorite game series, had been executed with more care, and less contrivance. I’m not a roses-and-light kind of girl; I was prepared for Shepard to find this the one impossible mission too many, and to sacrifice herself for the greater good (though frankly, I felt that it would be more in keeping with the against-all-odds tone of the series for Shepard to potentially survive, albeit at the probable cost of losing Anderson/The Citadel/Normandy/a star system or three/etc.). Maintaining a self-imposed media blackout on the subject, I speculated on what would necessarily go awry, and reviewing potential worst-case scenarios briefly considered the notion that somehow the relays would be destroyed, since that would be a huge loss to the galaxy-- but dismissed the idea, because it didn’t jibe with the lore as given: that destroying a relay will destroy the star system it is located in (hence, we cannot destroy the relays to prevent the Reapers from spreading).
So when that is the inevitable result of all potential endings, why do we see Earth as the ground forces cheer? has it not been annihilated? How is it that the Destroy ending has Shepard drawing a ragged breath amidst the rubble? Has not the fractured Citadel been consumed by the same blast? If the explosion destroys entire worlds, how is it that the Normandy survives being absorbed in the fallout, to crash land and clutter up some shiny new Eden also within the blast’s path?
Put simply: it doesn’t make sense. We’re given one set of rules in the universe to play by, to have them abandoned without explanation at the end.
It’s not the lack of a tidier or happier conclusion: it is the fact that none of the potential endings make sense in the world, as presented, and moreover resort to a bizarre deus ex machina in their execution. I can think of no example in which the introduction of a new character at the eleventh hour has been of service to a story, especially when central to the main conflict’s resolution. Regarded in conjunction with the arbitrary nature of the options given (in particular: the fact that the Catalyst is suddenly willing to simply throw over its millenia-compassing plan for ‘saving’ organics with the proviso that all current synthetics be destroyed along with the Reapers, and the concept that Shepard jumping back into the same light beam she just rode up will now trigger synthesis between machines and organics Because The Catalyst Says So)-- I follow why it is people feel the endings are a punishment, cobbled together less for the sake of resolving the story than for generating a negative emotional response. No, I don’t think it is part of a Machiavellian plot to spread despair, but it does look to me like there was panic on how to wrap up the series in an unpredictable way, and instead of taking a comfy route that has Shepard zapping the Reapers, throwing a big memorial parade for the fallen, and riding off into the stars on the Normandy, they threw everything they had at contriving a costly, emotional ending, without working backwards to justify it. The result is upsetting but also perplexing, failing signally to provide a sense of resolution to Shepard’s story. It doesn’t make enough sense. The conspiracy theories that spring up around the finale should not be better grounded in the lore than the story’s overt ending is. And following up such a big, beautiful, and often genuinely gut-wrenching story as Mass Effect 3 otherwise is, it’s an enormous disappointment, because there’s ample proof the team can write to earn and justify emotional responses, without tearing down everything they have built to do it on the cheap. And I do believe they tried, and I support the effort: it does not diminish their previous successes. But the bottom line for me is that this ending was ultimately a failure, and a failure at the end of a story is apt to affect perception of the whole.

Modifié par SciCurious, 13 mars 2012 - 01:18 .

[Merci357]

First, I have to say that I'm a huge ME fan. I played the first two games multiple time, I read the books, the comics. So, of course, I preordered the N7 edition many, many month ago.

I loved the game. At least I used to befor I finished it.
Sure, the engine it's running on is getting very long in the teeth. But let's not talk about a modern game could look like these says - it's a well crafted, coherent look that I like.

Gameplay is smooth (only gripe would be the dreaded one button for everything - my keyboard has many, many unused keys I could map, you know?), and even while some elements are borrowed right from Dead Space or Dead Space 2, it's fun to play the game.
That said, the turret sequences were boring, far to easy, and felt like they disrupted the games natural flow.

The multiplayed part is simple, but surprisingly entertaining, so I'm not complaining about it's addition. Can't hold a candle to real MP games in the long term(say BF3), but that's to be expected. Still, it's fun for a while.

The story was good (minus the obnoxious kid dream sequences), full of emotional moments. I loved shooting bottles on top of the citadel with garrus, sitting on Rannoch's soil with Tali, listening to Wrex' friendship speach declaring Shepard his sister - and I could mention many more.

The sound and music department did a stellar job, I loved how they included the themes from previous games. And the voice actors did a great job as well.

So, unsurprisingly, what my problem with an amazing game? Yep, the endings. Nothing like I ever imagined or hoped the trilogy would end. Far from it, I feel like my interest in anything related to ME has vanished while watching this ending.
This is something different. It's like trashing the entire ME universe and everything the team build up over many years on purpose. I'm just stating how this feels to me, I'm not angry, simply disappointed.
There are plenty of stories with a happy ending, the heroes of the journey standing on top of the burned ruins, morning the lost ones, but looking up with hope again what the future brings. Was it really worth trying to be "different", just for the sake of it? Don't you want to continue your flagship IP at all?

Ah well, what's done is done. How about some damage control, and fast? Like many others, I'd pay for a "better" ending.

[ArchAngel_009]

I WOULD have rated this game a perfect 10. The combat was great, the one-on-one time with the supporting cast made me feel like I was with friends, and the fruition of my decisions from ME1 and ME2 seem to have effect with the many races...until I saw the last 10 minutes.

What was that entity at the end? Are those who are not on their home planet stranded now that the mass effect relays are gone? What happened to the civilizations that players fought to bring peace to? What happened to the crew, and maybe even lover of the player, at the end of the game?

I loved this series due to the races and characters, and I have no idea how my decisions affected anything. As I said, the combat is great, but the story was the true meat of this series. Too bad the ending was all bones.

Rating after the end: 5/10
Never thought I would down grade a game by 50% due to a 5 minute ending.

[NightAntilli]

NightAntilli wrote...

Ok let's start with the ending, since that seems to be the biggest controversy here. I will try to give some constructive criticism instead of blindly saying "it sucked, why did you make me feel like this". I will not be using specific scores here, because the game rating scales are inconsistent since everyone uses them differently.. You'll have to do with a wall of text and a score indication at the end. This is all on the X360 btw, in case it's relevant.

I honestly have no idea what I should be writing about this. This doesn't mean I didn't like it.. It's just, so depressing after seeing it. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not on the same boat as the majority of people here, hating the ending because it supposedly "sucked". Sure, there are questions left unanswered, particularly how joker and crew members that were with you managed to escape with the Normandy. But aside from that, I thought the ending was bittersweet and acceptable. I don't exactly know what your intentions were, so, maybe the execution could've been a bit better to explain what you were trying to achieve.

I think most people dislike it, because they don't understand what you were trying to tell with it. What I drew from it was that the catalyst was some sort of central intelligence that governed the Citadel, the Mass Relays and the Reapers. Some form of God if you will, but not being all-powerful, since Shepard is the only one that can choose the three options. Since all organics eventually create synthetic AI, and then try to exterminate them, the synthetics will always choose to exterminate the organics in the long run, and to prevent this from happening, the cycle was in place, where both synthetics and organics co-exist in reaper form. This way, organics can still naturally evolve, and when the danger of synthetics arise, they are extinguished so the lower forms also have a chance to arise.
Now that the Crucible is available after many generations, the organics have proven that they have the ability to overcome the synthetics, and even co-operate, and thus the old cycle is no longer needed nor viable, and so, Shepard is given the choice of what the best future for the galaxy is, and the mass relays are destroyed because they were there to control the development of organics and therefore are now also no longer needed. For the ones who don't know, the word "crucible" means something like a severe trial or a difficult decision or test. So, it kind of makes sense in that way, and what happens after it's used is left to your imagination, which is not a bad thing. And maybe Shepard just didn't question the catalyst so much because he was tired and just wanted to end everything?

So BioWare.. I think you did a great job with the ending, at least in concept. I think the execution could've been better, particularly in trying to provide the players with a bit more detail, because I was confused too when I finished it. It was after thinking about it for quite a while that I came up with this, and I'm still not sure if this is what you were trying to present.. I even think that the last part is sort of like the part with Legion, where you're in a digital world and you're being presented with things that feel familiar. But there's just a bit too many variables, and I think this left players confused. I don't know your future plans regarding DLC and the like, so, maybe those will fill in the blanks?
But, please, do NOT change the ending. This is one of the few endings in video games that does not end in cliche. If this media is ever going to move forward as a respectable form of art, you have to take a stand for what you did and not succumb to the inability of people to process something unusual. You can add to it all you want to make it more clear or whatever, but just don't make it a completely different cliche ending. If you can come with answers for some of the questions that players don't understand, that would be fine too and maybe they'd even grow to love it.. Games are not a democracy. Stand by what you created, but also try and give explanations where needed..

--------------------------------------------

Now that that's out of the way, I will give my opinion on the full game. I must say, the game is close to perfection. I loved the art style, loved the range of emotions, loved how you improved the citadel, the vistas, sacrifice of some characters, the soundtrack, and I can go on for quite a while.. Let's just say that if I don't mention something, it falls into the "well done" category, or I simply didn't notice or wasn't bothered by it..

So, what I didn't like was the journal. I noticed this right off the bat. Side-quests are put in the same list as your main quest. The main quests have the word "priority" in front of it, but if you do prioritize those, you're left with unfinished side-quests. It's good that I knew some would be locked out, so I tried doing them asap and then doing the priority quests. It's not necessarily bad, but calling it priority confuses people. Also, it was superior in ME2, where you would get clear explanations of what you were supposed to do, both for side and main quests. In ME3, you're supposed to either remember them or write them down, because some of them are not clear enough.

I also didn't like the disc swapping that much, particularly in the beginning, I had to swap discs like 6 times in a short while. I was glad it was no longer needed after a while, but in the beginning it was very annoying. This could easily be solved by either making the side-quests available a little later, or putting some timed ones on the first disk. I think this also kind of ties in with the journal somehow..

The scanning was improved, and it was actually enjoyable. I wish there was something a bit more striking than just a critical mission failure screen if the reapers get you. Even an image of the Normandy on fire or something would do it.

Ah the bugs.. Some where hilarious, some where annoying. I saw people merging with objects, heads doing weird movements in conversations, the camera showing walls instead of characters in conversations etc. After finishing some side-quests while being on the same floor you need to finish it, you need to take the elevator and then come back to activate it.. I bit more polish would've been nice. They don't break the game though, but they are things to keep in mind.

I have a few complaints regarding the gameplay in single player.. I played on insanity, so, I died here and there.. But what annoyed me is that after a respawn, the powers of (one of) your characters would sometimes need to recharge just after respawning, without using any powers (character powers are turned off). So you're basically starting out crippled. Sometimes they also were stuck. This was always in places where you had to drop off a ledge before going into battle.. I drop down, they just stand there by the ledge, and I have to face all the opponents by myself. Of course, I don't notice it until I'm already into battle and they are "grayed out" for some reason.

Of course this has already been mentioned, but, not being able to import an ME1 face was a shame. And btw, it would be nice to give some notice to players that when they import, the default mode is RPG mode. Sure, it makes sense, but, I've seen quite a few people asking what mode they are playing on, because after importing they didn't get the option to choose.

I feel like I'm forgetting something.. I will post again later if I come up with anything. But if I really had to give a score for the whole game, it would be somewhere between 90 to 95. Amazing game, not perfect, but superior to both ME2 and ME1. It is still noticeable that the game was under serious time constraints.

p.s. I thought you guys were gonna have an introductory comic like the PS3 version of ME2 for new ME3 players? What happened to it?

I knew I was forgetting something... I remember when meeting Jack, and having Liara on my team, jack punched me and kissed me, but Liara didn't react at all while I already told her I wanted to be with her. I expected some kind of reaction of her, but nothing happened. I just told Jack what we had was over, and that was that.. 

[hunterday]

Biotic Budah wrote...

I also think it is an indictment of Bioware that they updated the conduct policy on here just days before the games release. It's almost as if they knew this backlash was going to happen and prepared for it accordingly.

I agree completely... Its like they knew that not just some of the fans but MOST of the fans were going to hate the endings and all they cared about was not getting ranted at too badly because people might get upset and hurt by the fans reaction...
 
News flash Bioware/EA... YOUR the ones who have UPSET and HURT people by releasing an amasing game with what is one of the worst endings you could of come up with... What did we do to you?  What did the fans who fell in love with the games you created so much do to hurt you so badly that you would do that to us? 

Your breaking are hearts and we dont even know why???  I mean you creat games that pulled people in and made them care about the characters and what happens to them and its like you used it to hurt us... why??

I just cant give you a rating... i just cant because most of the game is amasing, really well done and again you master the emotionally gripping parts with skill... but not the end... your most likely bored and even angry at hearing the same things about the endings but its how most of us feel... heart broken

Modifié par hunterday, 13 mars 2012 - 01:34 .

[SogaBan]

res27772 wrote...

SogaBan wrote...
Here goes the sequence:
1. Shepard finds Anderson over a console
2. Anders turns back - entry of TIM
3. From this point onwards - I only selected - top-left blue paragon option (except for the last one - which was disabled (for both para and rene) - so I selected top-right option
4. TIM tries to point a gun to Anders - Red color Renegade interrupt - Shepard kills TIMMY bastard - emotional scene and conversation with PAPA Anderson (He was like a father... isn't it?)
5. Shepard opens the citadel arms - crucible docks - nothing happens - hackett calls Shepard - Shepard succumbs to unconsciousness before reaching the console
6. Catalyst-ghost appears - three choices
7. Shepard makes choices and walks to the right side - gunning his pistol - BANG - flame engulfs shepard - Orange explosion - mass relay destryed - normandy escapes - unknown planet and joker + crew(s)
8. Credits roll - <escape> - stargazer man and kid talk - Shepard rubble scene
9. And I am pissed off to see the bull-**** ending....

EMS - from my observation over three playthroughs - anything above 4000 will give this rubble ending scene (if shepard choses to destroy instead of merge or control)

Hope this helps...

Yeah the only difference between what you've done and what I've tried is that my EMS is under 4000.  How did you get yours to over 4000?  Did you do single player only, or have you done some multiplayer as well?

I just don't see a way to get my EMS to over 4000 is single player, unless I've missed something along the way.

My galactic readiness was:
1. seventy something percent - for first playthrough
2. 99% for my second playthrough
3. 98% for my third playthrough

And that's how my EMS was higher - you know... multiplayer and all.... BUT still I was expecting some better ending... I thought may be I missed out something... then again I got all the three crappy endings only... I am so unhappy without any closure!!!

[SogaBan]

madtotheskills wrote...

SogaBan wrote...

Here goes the sequence:
1. Shepard finds Anderson over a console
2. Anders turns back - entry of TIM
3. From this point onwards - I only selected - top-left blue paragon option (except for the last one - which was disabled (for both para and rene) - so I selected top-right option
4. TIM tries to point a gun to Anders - Red color Renegade interrupt - Shepard kills TIMMY bastard - emotional scene and conversation with PAPA Anderson (He was like a father... isn't it?)
5. Shepard opens the citadel arms - crucible docks - nothing happens - hackett calls Shepard - Shepard succumbs to unconsciousness before reaching the console
6. Catalyst-ghost appears - three choices
7. Shepard makes choices and walks to the right side - gunning his pistol - BANG - flame engulfs shepard - Orange explosion - mass relay destryed - normandy escapes - unknown planet and joker + crew(s)
8. Credits roll - <escape> - stargazer man and kid talk - Shepard rubble scene
9. And I am pissed off to see the bull-**** ending....

EMS - from my observation over three playthroughs - anything above 4000 will give this rubble ending scene (if shepard choses to destroy instead of merge or control)

Hope this helps...

I think the rubble shepard scene was after normandy + crew at that landscape ends.. and right before the credits start.. so between your 7-8. Rest is 100% accurate

I am extremely sorry that I messed up the sequence. Thanks for pointing out...

[res27772]

ArchAngel_009 wrote...

Rating after the end: 5/10
Never thought I would down grade a game by 50% due to a 5 minute ending.

Well, if it makes you feel any better, I doubt anyone could've predicted such an awesome game series would be given such an abysmal ending - it not only insults the game, but the fans as well.

I maintain whoever came up with that ending should be fired.

[Tassadarus]

My Mass Effect 3 score: 100/100 (pre-last10min) 70/100 (after seeing ending) - officialy 90/100

I once read a book titled "The Ethics of Computer Games" by Miguel Sicart and when I played ME3 I thought: "OMG they did it!" Basicaly it says your choices should matter, and should not be reduced to collecting "good" and "evil" points. So ME3 had choices, "paragon" and "renegade" only affected how good you were at diplomacy/intimidation and reflected your choices. I loved it. And then I got to the end... and saw that the game has been reduced to 3 choices. EPIC fail. OK Shepard died. Lead writer Mac Walters did what Agatha Christie did with Poirot - killed his character so that nobody may ruin his mork. Shep is his and I respect that. BUT Shep is ours as well. Mine, yours, of everyone who has spent hours playing the trilogy. So are Tali, Garrus, Liara, Ashley, Kaidan, Anderson, Wrex, etc. When I finished the game I was emotionally drained. And disappointed.

All this could have been avoided if we had gotten some closure. Shepard is dead and he will never know what happened after his death. But we, the players are still here and we mourn for Shepard – we need to know. Why didn’t BioWare make a simple text as seen in so many games (Dragon Age, Baldur’s Gate 2: Throne of Baal, etc.). You killed our friend, now bury him and show him the respect he deserves. And show us the respect we deserve, his – YOUR loyal fans...

Modifié par Tassadarus, 13 mars 2012 - 02:01 .

[SogaBan]

OMG!!!

Just went through an alternate ending to ME3 (fan-made) - a unique masterpiece! Bioware should hire such talents and not some shi**y story-writers who can't manage the ends.

Please head on to this link:

http://arkis.deviant...ILERS-289902125

For those who don't want to re-directed: Here is the excerpt: (hope I am not violating any forum rules by coy-pasting from other site):

This begins just after Shepard has taken the heaven-elevator...


Child: Why are you here?

Shepard: *groggily* Wh-where am I?

Child: The Citadel. It is my home.

Shepard: Who are you?

Child: I am the Catalyst.

Shepard: I thought the Citadel was the Catalyst?

Child: No. The Citadel is simply a tool. One that has been reclaimed.

Shepard: I need to stop the Reapers. Do you know how to do that?

Child: The Reapers are mine. I control them. They are my solution.

Shepard: Solution? To what?

Child: Chaos. You bring it on yourselves. The created will always rebel against their creators. So it was with us. So will it be with you. But we found a way to stop that from happening. A way to restore order for the next cycle.

Shepard: By wiping out organic life? I don't understand...

Child: No. We harvest ADVANCED civilizations. Preserve them from their own mistakes.  Leaving the younger ones alone. Just as we left your people alive the last time we were here.

Shepard: But you killed the rest...

Child: We helped them ascend. Preserved them in Reaper form. Saved them from their own creations.

Shepard: What creations? What are you talking about?

Child: The synthetic. The new child that is born of organics. The child that destroys everything.

Shepard: What?

Child: We were like you once. We flourished and spread throughout the galaxy. We unlocked the secrets of the universe. We could bend the very fabric of nature and time, leap the galaxy in a single stride, but even that
was not enough. We searched for purpose, a reason for our existence....

Shepard: You were organics?

Child: We were children of the stars. Searching for where we fit into the pattern of the cosmos. And when we discovered the truth, it destroyed us.

Shepard: What truth?

Child: Organic life has no purpose. We are an accident.

Shepard: An accident...

Child: We were a simple pattern. Basic chemistry combining into unusual chaotic forms. When we mastered the galaxy we found there was nothing else remaining. We were lords over a domain that had no need for us.

Shepard: That... but, why kill us? I don't understand! You found the edge and now you're punishing us for it?!

Child: No. We are saving you. Our children, our synthetic creations, did not suffer our qualms. They did not need to find purpose, they were created by us. We had given purpose to them. And that gave them the power to choose to rebel.

Shepard: You were beaten by your machines?

Child: You have seen the pattern yourself. The Geth. Your Rogue AI's. Even now, the pattern is repeating. As it did with us. As it always does. The war threatened to destroy everything. Our own weapons could wipe out suns, harness the dark energy of the universe that bound it together. We could have destroyed the galaxy.... we nearly did.

Shepard: The relay network....

Child: Our weapons. We realized that if the synthetics defeated us, they would not stop. All life, however simple, however small, would be destroyed. Eventually they would spread to other galaxies. They were infinite, could last indefinitely. And then the great accident, the great miracle of life, would be doomed.

Shepard: But you found a way to stop them! We're still here! Just tell me how!

Child: We became them.

Shepard: What?

Child: We could not defeat the synthetics. Not as we were, frail, mortal... flawed. So we evolved. Preserved ourselves as those you know as Reapers. We ascended. We became the synthesis of life and machine. And we destroyed our children.

Shepard: But why all THIS?

Child: Our time was over. We knew we had reached the crucible of our existence. But we will not allow those who followed in our footsteps to repeat our mistakes. You will create your own destroyers, if you are allowed, and doom ALL life again. We do not give you that chance.

Shepard: But you're not saving us! You're dooming us!

Child: No. We are preserving you.  You use our technology, spread through the galaxy using the Mass Relays, never learning the secrets for yourselves. Thus we confine you to this galaxy, so that we may preserve you. We
divide you, cripple you from within. Turn your own forms against you. Contain your mistakes. Then, we allow you to ascend to become one of us, and thus, safeguard the next cycle.

Shepard: We don't WANT to be preserved! We want to keep our own form.

Child: You cannot.

Shepard: The defining characteristic of organic life is that we make our own choices. Take that away, and we become no better than the machines you claim to protect us from. We can choose not to repeat the pattern.

Child: You have already repeated it. The geth are only the first step. And even now, they have risen to a state of being that will allow them to destroy you, should they choose.

Shepard: They are standing beside us. We still have a choice.

Child: Yes. You have more choice than you deserve. The fact that you are standing here proves that. Despite all our plans, you have found a way around them. There is no certainty that another cycle will not do the same. The solution is....flawed. And then there is the Crucible. It has changed things. Created new possibilities.

Shepard: I don't understand. What does it do? How does it work?

Child: We could rewrite the stars in our time. The Catalyst was our greatest achievement, a machine that could alter mass and rearrange matter at will. The Crucible focus's that. Takes what it is given and allows the Citadel to spread it. But I cannot control it so I cannot make that happen.

Shepard: Make what happen?

Child: What you came here to do. You can destroy us, if you like. Wipe out all synthetic life in the galaxy, including the Geth. Even you are partly synthetic. It will give them time to find a new solution....But your children WILL repeat the chaos.

Shepard: But the Reapers will be destroyed?

Child: Yes. You may also use it to control the Reapers.

Shepard: So, the Illusive man was right...

Child: Yes, but he could not control us, for we already controlled him. The catalyst will let you merge with them. But it will destroy you, consume you utterly.

Shepard: But the Reapers WILL obey me?

Child: Yes.... We will do as you will. But without us, the pattern will reappear. And you will eventually choose for us to begin the cycle again, this time perfected. There is however, a third option.

Shepard: Which is?

Child: Synthesis. You are partly synthetic. Merge with the Catalyst and you can change all life in the galaxy to become as you are. As we are. Synthetic and Organic. The entire galaxy will ascend.

Shepard: The...whole Galaxy? That's impossible.

Child: Is it? You have seen it already. It is how we are able to combat you, fusing your forms with synthetic matter to create new DNA. You call them 'husks'.

Shepard: But...the whole galaxy....

Child: Everything in the universe is energy. Matter, mass, even time is nothing more than that. The Relays and Catalyst are simply tools that control that energy. Life will be preserved. The growth will be stopped. And there will be peace.

Shepard: Why are you telling me this?

Child: You have done what no other organic has. You have proven that our solution can be overcome. We underestimated you before, thought of you as a mere inconvenience. But you are more than that. You have given us a new...perspective...Variables that we cannot forsee.

Shepard: The perspective that organics don't like being murdered? Something tells me you haven't been paying attention...

Child: We have eradicated eons of life. You have done what none of them could. We do not confess that lightly. Whichever you choose, once the energy from the Catalyst is unleashed, it will destroy the mass relays.

Shepard: But if we lose the relays... We'll have nothing. Whole civilizations will fall!

Child: That is a possibility.

Shepard: But... I don't... I can't....

Child: The paths are open, Shepard. You must choose.

*Shepard looks down at her bleeding side, then up at the raging battle above her head. We see ships of all sizes being shot down, Reapers crumbling under crushing fusillades  of fire. You can now choose to go down one of
the three paths. OR... you can wait...*

Shepard: I... can't make this choice...

Child: It is the choice you asked for. It is salvation.

Shepard: No matter what, it damns us! Without the relays we will lose everything!

Child: Perhaps.

*We see the battle raging on Earth, squad members we have saved, armies we have recruited, all fighting desperately against overwhelming odds. Shepard, looks to the Catalyst.*

Child: You have no other way Shepard. Your followers trust in you. Make your decision.

Shepard: They didn't trust me to destroy us! You can stop this! You can choose to call them off! Just leave!

Child: No. If you will not choose a new solution, the cycle will continue. We will simply... reassess, for the future.

Shepard: It doesn't have to be that way! You can still give us a chance!

Child: We cannot. Your followers trust you to save them. You cannot. Not as you wish. This fight is in vain. We are giving you a chance. One that is more than you deserve.

Shepard: I won't play God...

Child: Your friends are dying Shepard. *The boy turns into the Virmire casualty* I know you'll do whatever it takes to get us through this, skipper.

Shepard: Go to hell...

Child: *turns into Anderson* Come on child. This is what you're here for! This is how we win! We can't fight them conventionally, you know that!

Shepard: **** you! I won't! I've beaten your kind already!

*We see the battle raging above them, the massed fleets being obliterated on both sides*

Child: *morphs into Hackett* We threw everything we had at Sovereign, and that was just one Reaper.... We just can't stand up against them. Not even together.

Shepard: No! We've broken the pattern! We've allied with the Geth! We've unified our species! It doesn't have to happen again!

Child: *turning into LI* You know we can't do this. We can't come this far just to throw it away! We're dying out here!

*Shepard can now choose one of the three options OR gamble everything...*

Child: *Illusive Man* Don't throw away everything over your ideals! This is the only solution!

Shepard: *turning to the child* Oh my god... you're scared... aren't you?

Child: No.

*a Reaper above them is destroyed under a feirce volley of massed ships*

Shepard: Yes.... you are... You should have rolled over us by now.... But you didn't...

Child: We have been merely delayed. If we must, we will destroy you all. We have offered you salvation.

Shepard: No.... you offered me a way to stop the fighting. You've never faced something like this before... The Illusive Man knew how to beat you, knew he could disrupt your armies... that's why you attacked him. Indoctrinated him. He came up with another option, he just didn't know it. He he thought he'd found control.... but he really found out how to turn that into Chaos.

Child: *aloof* We held the power to rewrite the stars. We are perfected. We cannot be defeated. Choose.

Shepard: Bull****. You're not perfected. You're MACHINES. Machines that sit on the edge of the galaxy, lurking where we can't find you when you're vulnerable. Vigil said it himself. That's why you USE us! Turn our own
people into your armies! You can't beat us on your own!

Child: We are the salvation of all life. We have swept away all before us.  We will do so again.

Shepard: By blindsiding your targets through the Citadel! By coercing us into a trap with the relays! You've always picked off your opponents independently! You used the same tactic with the Collectors! You've never had to stand and fight the combined might of a galaxy united!

Child: Your arrogance will only lead to your destruction. Choose.

Shepard: No. We killed Sovereign. We killed the Reaper at the collector base. We killed them on Rannoch, on Tuchanka, and down there! We stopped you from using the Alpha relay, and you're spread thin. The Illusive Man
found out how to control your armies, disrupt your signal. That's why you attacked him, you were scared. We can beat you.

Child: Paltry victories.

Shepard: Maybe. But the combined might of the galaxy is holding you back. The Krogan and Turians on Palaven, the Quarians and GETH on Rannoch. And we'll do it, here, on Earth.

Child: We have given you fair solutions Shepard. Options to fix the system.

SHepard: No you've given me YOUR options. We've shown you we can win, and you're looking for a way out, a way to cripple us because you can't do it the way you used to. You failed at playing God and now you want me to wipe
out your mistakes! Well I won't. I choose what we've ALWAYS chosen. I choose to take our damn chances.

Child:  You would risk the eventual destruction of all life? Risk the future to the likes of the Geth? The Krogan? More like them will follow. Do you trust them?

Shepard: They put their trust in me to unify them. I trust them to finish the job.

Child: We thought you were different Shepard. We thought you would understand. Shepard: Happy to disappoint.

*The child transforms into Harbringer*

Harbringer: So be it. Shepard. *then disappears*

*Shepard collapses*

Shepard: Admiral? Hackett? Anyone...

*we see the crews of multiple ships, the soldiers and charcaters fighting below all in the midst of hectic combat hearing Shepard's broadcast. What happens next is dependent on whether or not you have enough war assets/readiness to actually break the reapers here. If you don't the Reapers win, no questions asked, and the cycle remains unbroken.*

Shepard:... I don't know if you can hear me. But the Crucible is not an option... it won't save us... It won't bring us victory. I know a lot of our friends have died for this chance. But this isn't the end. We can beat them. You can beat them. They've always won by dividing us, turning each other against ourselves. But no longer. You CAN beat them. The ships next to you, the soldiers fighting by your side, can beat them. They aren't invulnerable. We beat them at Rannoch. We beat them at the Citadel. You can BEAT THEM NOW. You can break the back of the greatest threat the galaxy has ever known, because you, together, are the single greatest force this Galaxy has ever seen. Give them hell.

*The battle that follows is the epic conclusion, as Shepard watches, broken and bleeding, as everything he has put into this unified force throws itself at the Reapers. This is where all those decisions come to fruition. We want to see those War Assets fighting. The Destiny Ascension obliterating a Reaper with it's main gun before being swarmed over by Destroyers, the Geth armada pulling along side to save her. The Salarian STG calling in a biotic artillery strike on cluster of Reaper troops. Wrex and Garrus, on the front sharing a  stern moment in cover,
before nodding to each other, brothers in arms, before charging over the barricade. Back to back, they face down hordes of husks, Wrex shouting defiantly, "You think you can take our future!? You think YOU CAN TAKE MY CHILDREN?!"

We want to see the Quarian flotilla scrambling, all guns blazing, trying desperately to form a battleline, as one of the admirals quietly turns to their crew, signalling his ship all ahead full. "For the homeworld. Keela..." their words cut off as the live-ship rams a Reaper, exploding spectacularly and damaging two others. We want to see the Normandy frantically weaving through the wreckage, Joker and EDI yelling warnings to one another as the fleets explode around them. We want Tali leading a charge of Geth Primes against a Cannibal gun line. Rachni drones swarming over a Reaper Destroyer by the thousands, pulling it apart from the inside. We want to see Grunt wrestle a brute to the ground and unload his shotgun into his head.

Happy or sad, we just want to see those decisions play out. We want to see that what we did mattered. And as the battle unfolds, you are left with the Choice. Do you think you have enough? As Shepard bleeds out, watching
all he/she loved go up in flames, do you take the risk? Provided you have enough manpower, can you break the back of the Reaper fleet, though at horrendous cost? Once the battle is over, and the truth of what the Illusive Man discovered is revealed, the remaining survivors get the word out that there is a way to disrupt the Reaper signal, scatter the Reaper armies. Or something*

Modifié par SogaBan, 13 mars 2012 - 02:15 .

[Eriongtk]

*** SPOILERS FOLLOW | SPOILERS FOLLOW ***
My Mass Effect score:
Prior ending: 80/100
After ending: 20/100 (see 'conclusion' why)

First, I would like to tell, that I was suckered in by the Mass Effect universe; what started out as a promising game to kill my time with, grown into 'dedication'. The whole universe felt living, each and every race had their own history, their conflicts, their bright moments. I honestly think that this universe is even more complex, better written than any other scifi univers to date. I love star wars, but I think this game is even better than that in many aspects. It is such a shame it has come to this, it is such a shame that the whole universe we have grown fond of, shaped to our liking gives us ...nothing in the end.

I feel offended, not because "the ending" but how it was implemented, it could have been an epic one, but as many others said before: it kills the joy of the previous 2 games, and reflects/exploits nothing on those past choices in the very end...an end, where nothing fits. It is unfortunately riddled with plotholes, and forced scripting (Kai Leng taking the code on Thessia, regardless of our actions and combat performance. You also missed a possible fork point with it -- not going to lie: it aggravated me to hell... little did I know about the ending that awaited me, sigh )

Let me take a detour, and dissect every (most...) bits and bobs now, gameplay and cutscene-wise.

Normandy
I admit, it took a little time until I have gotten used to the "new" normandy, but I think thats mostly because of the graphics engine (everything seemed so different with it, more on that soon), but ive grown to like it.
eeeeexcept for one thing: that security gate. I can only recommend if you suffer from low blood pressure.

Map design, visuals, the 'feel' of the world
The maps and the world was done much better than in me1 and me2. The more vertical approach of the maps (instead of the hour long elevator rides) really added some reality feeling -- or at least did not give us (me) the impression of a cardboard cutout backdrop. It brought the maps to a bigger scale, and i found it to be more fitting, more involved with the world, nice job there!

------
In mass effect 2 cerberus has spent ** immeasurable amount of credits bringing you, Shepard back to life. **That organization felt like a normal one 'went rogue'. Here, in the third installment of the game, they were  scale stronger than (or at least as strong as) the reapers. What am I talking about? When I first heard about cerberus taking over/attacking the citadel I was shocked. I had to reload a save so I could actually listen what they said, because I my mind had to process the information. It took a reaper to take over the citadel, and yet cerberus has almost succeeded taking the whole thing with a smaller task force? And yes, I mean smaller, because the amount of enemies I had to overcome at Grissom academy was about 2-3 times the force that I have encountered on Citadel. I could go on for ever with this, but just one more example: When (if) you went on the ex-cerberus base to rescue the scientists, you showed us a HUGE force coming towards you at the extraction cutscene -- again, it was multiple size of what you have encountered on the Citadel.
I was disappointed by the enemy-wave system, because all it does is drag the playtime, without effectively adding to the content. I was sad that what started out an rpg game slowly but steadily drifted towards an action game, with mindless slaughter. I liked the new combat system look and feel, its just solutions like "lets throw 6 brutes, 4 banshees, 10 marauders, 30 cannibals at the players, that will keep 'em busy" killed the mood for me. I get it, Shepard is something different, "he is more than a man, but lesser than a god", but im having hard time believing he can overcome an enemy strike force that: could take over the citadel (in progress), killing off platoons (Earth: Defend the missiles part).
It looked like the enemy (especially cerberus) is everywhere, cerberus became al all-mighty group, that could hack, breach and then take everything they needed. During that ~7 months of your captivation, they gained a pretty strong foot if you ask me.

I realise this is getting long... and I haven't even started yet.

Some of the cutscenes were also weird... sometimes they were completey wrong (like when you cant use your biotic abilities (if you had them) in certain situations, like in

• Grissom academy to break the window to save the student
• in the citadel to prevent the execution of the council member
• in the citadel, when your character watched Thane struggle and getting skewered
• in the citadel #2, when Leng landed on your shuttle
• on thessia, where you let (no Renegade action???) Leng to talk to you. I don't know you, but given our history (Shepard vs Leng) I would NOT have let him talk, if I had a chance

And so on and so on...
Manipulating the game's rules during cutscenes to fit the current plot to move forward is just...cheap. Sometimes you can 1shot people, sometimes you cannot, because of barriers, shields...etc.

I never understood why, in certain conditions can biotics make a spherical barriers or destroy multiple heavy mechs like we could see in ME2 (Jack's escape), yet its not in our skill list. Why not use them more often (gamebalance tip: after given amount of time, it could actually hurt the user, hence the strain on nervous system to keep the barrier maintained)

Do not get me wrong, I realize that those are there for game balance reasons, I get it... its just... either dont throw us a bone, or implement those, PLEASE.

I dont know about you (other players) but I prefer a good, intact story, regardless of game time over 50 mins of shooting. If these errors, 'overlooked stuffs' are breaking the immension, it is not worth the effort.

Okay... after this huge detour, back to the main dish... the ending.

I honestly believe that this ending could have been 'the pinnacle of endings', should the whole universe were tailored to that conclusion, but instead... it ignored everything and anything you have done and accomplished so far in the past 3 years. I think that the root of the problem is...not only there were no closure, but we didnt know anything about what happened to our allies.
Were they winning? What was the reapers' casualties? Whap difference the various races' fleets and troops have made (if any), what happened to them somewhere in between the "very long time ago"? What became of the enormous amount of fleet, that stuck in the SOL system due to the mass relays destruction? How many years roughly went by until we heard the Stargazer's story? Why did the normandy gotten caught in the blast wave... why was it even in hyperspace/FTL... what was it doing there anyways, WITH THE FULL CREW? Why are they so happy when they step out of the ship to a completely unknown world with the rest of the crew KIA/MIA?
Okay, im gonna stop now with the why-s... you are all probably all aware of these, and more.


This game has promised us incredible story tailoring from the start, it missed the two - in my opinion - most obvious endings (technically normal and +/- ending of each count as 1 'main'):
Happy ending+ where everyone is happy, total victory, Shepard with his/her LI -- obviously hard to get
Happy ending, Shep is with LI, minor - major losses depending on your TMS/EMS
Bad ending- You exist because we allow it, and you will end because we demand it (also Crucible turns out to be a buff to the reapers, rather than weaken them... because our civilization is based on the technology of mass relays...their technology.
Bad ending Reaper forces taking heavy losses, but in the end, our extinction is inevitable.
or anything like that.
For a game that advertises

My conclusion:
Bioware has written their own history with this tale... no game to date (as far as I can tell) have cause this much uproar amongst the fanbase (i mean... you know you have created something, when players are so messed up, they do not even want to play other games, and are generally messed up...)
.
I would like to grab the opportunity and say that Bioware, this rage is - as weird as it sounds - a good sign.
YOU have created a living galaxy, with characters be it friend or foes so well written, that it blew our mind in so many levels (This lore is even greater than Star Wars and Star Trek combined...)
YOU have given us mental images of blue children, or a house on Rannoch and much more (sorry guys, I dont know about the other LI stuff)
The reason for this 'revolt' is you have not given us the proper closure of an entire galaxy, there is no(t much) room for assumptions on "what happened next", you pretty much set everything on a huge stone table, which is 98% empty.

Modifié par Eriongtk, 13 mars 2012 - 02:05 .

[Kel Belz]

I loved the game! Was on the edge of my seat! Loved every minute of my playtime! I still believe there is no game out there that can touch Mass Effect series! I have no complaints! I loved the end! But as always sad to see it end!

[TcomJ]

SogaBan wrote...

OMG!!!

Just went through an alternate ending to ME3 (fan-made) - a unique masterpiece! Bioware should hire such talents and not some shi**y story-writers who can't manage the ends.

Please head on to this link:

http://arkis.deviant...ILERS-289902125

For those who don't want to re-directed: Here is the excerpt: (hope I am not violating any forum rules by coy-pasting from other site):

This begins just after Shepard has taken the heaven-elevator...



Child: Why are you here?

Shepard: *groggily* Wh-where am I?

Child: The Citadel. It is my home.

Shepard: Who are you?

Child: I am the Catalyst.

Shepard: I thought the Citadel was the Catalyst?

Child: No. The Citadel is simply a tool. One that has been reclaimed.

Shepard: I need to stop the Reapers. Do you know how to do that?

Child: The Reapers are mine. I control them. They are my solution.

Shepard: Solution? To what?

Child:
Chaos. You bring it on yourselves. The created will always rebel
against their creators. So it was with us. So will it be with you. But
we found a way to stop that from happening. A way to restore order for
the next cycle.

Shepard: By wiping out organic life? I don't understand...

Child:
No. We harvest ADVANCED civilizations. Preserve them from their own
mistakes.  Leaving the younger ones alone. Just as we left your people
alive the last time we were here.

Shepard: But you killed the rest...

Child: We helped them ascend. Preserved them in Reaper form. Saved them from their own creations.

Shepard: What creations? What are you talking about?

Child: The synthetic. The new child that is born of organics. The child that destroys everything.

Shepard: What?

Child:
We were like you once. We flourished and spread throughout the galaxy.
We unlocked the secrets of the universe. We could bend the very fabric
of nature and time, leap the galaxy in a single stride, but even that
was not enough. We searched for purpose, a reason for our existence....
Shepard: You were organics?

Child:
We were children of the stars. Searching for where we fit into the
pattern of the cosmos. And when we discovered the truth, it destroyed
us.

Shepard: What truth?

Child: Organic life has no purpose. We are an accident.

Shepard: An accident...

Child:
We were a simple pattern. Basic chemistry combining into unusual
chaotic forms. When we mastered the galaxy we found there was nothing
else remaining. We were lords over a domain that had no need for us.

Shepard: That... but, why kill us? I don't understand! You found the edge and now you're punishing us for it?!

Child:
No. We are saving you. Our children, our synthetic creations, did not
suffer our qualms. They did not need to find purpose, they were created
by us. We had given purpose to them. And that gave them the power to
choose to rebel.

Shepard: You were beaten by your machines?

Child:
You have seen the pattern yourself. The Geth. Your Rogue AI's. Even
now, the pattern is repeating. As it did with us. As it always does. The
war threatened to destroy everything. Our own weapons could wipe out
suns, harness the dark energy of the universe that bound it together. We
could have destroyed the galaxy.... we nearly did.

Shepard: The relay network....

Child:
Our weapons. We realized that if the synthetics defeated us, they would
not stop. All life, however simple, however small, would be destroyed.
Eventually they would spread to other galaxies. They were infinite,
could last indefinitely. And then the great accident, the great miracle
of life, would be doomed.

Shepard: But you found a way to stop them! We're still here! Just tell me how!

Child: We became them.

Shepard: What?

Child:
We could not defeat the synthetics. Not as we were, frail, mortal...
flawed. So we evolved. Preserved ourselves as those you know as Reapers.
We ascended.
We became the synthesis of life and machine. And we destroyed our children.

Shepard: But why all THIS?

Child:
Our time was over. We knew we had reached the crucible of our
existence. But we will not allow those who followed in our footsteps to
repeat our mistakes. You will create your own destroyers, if you are
allowed, and doom ALL life again. We do not give you that chance.

Shepard: But you're not saving us! You're dooming us!

Child:
No. We are preserving you.  You use our technology, spread through the
galaxy using the Mass Relays, never learning the secrets for yourselves.
Thus we confine you to this galaxy, so that we may preserve you. We
divide you, cripple you from within. Turn your own forms against you.
Contain your mistakes. Then, we allow you to ascend to become one of us,
and thus, safeguard the next cycle.

Shepard: We don't WANT to be preserved! We want to keep our own form.

Child: You cannot.

Shepard:
The defining characteristic of organic life is that we make our own
choices. Take that away, and we become no better than the machines you
claim to protect us from. We can choose not to repeat the pattern.

Child:
You have already repeated it. The geth are only the first step. And
even now, they have risen to a state of being that will allow them to
destroy you, should they choose.

Shepard: They are standing beside us. We still have a choice.

Child:
Yes. You have more choice than you deserve. The fact that you are
standing here proves that. Despite all our plans, you have found a way
around them. There is no certainty that another cycle will not do the
same. The solution is....flawed. And then there is the Crucible. It has
changed things. Created new possibilities.

Shepard: I don't understand. What does it do? How does it work?

Child:
We could rewrite the stars in our time. The Catalyst was our greatest
achievement, a machine that could alter mass and rearrange matter at
will. The Crucible focus's that. Takes what it is given and allows the
Citadel to spread it. But I cannot control it so I cannot make that
happen.

Shepard: Make what happen?

Child: What you came
here to do. You can destroy us, if you like. Wipe out all synthetic life
in the galaxy, including the Geth. Even you are partly synthetic. It
will give them time to find a new solution....But your children WILL
repeat the chaos.

Shepard: But the Reapers will be destroyed?

Child: Yes. You may also use it to control the Reapers.

Shepard: So, the Illusive man was right...

Child:
Yes, but he could not control us, for we already controlled him. The
catalyst will let you merge with them. But it will destroy you, consume
you utterly.

Shepard: But the Reapers WILL obey me?

Child:
Yes.... We will do as you will. But without us, the pattern will
reappear. And you will eventually choose for us to begin the cycle
again, this time perfected. There is however, a third option.

Shepard: Which is?

Child:
Synthesis. You are partly synthetic. Merge with the Catalyst and you
can change all life in the galaxy to become as you are. As we are.
Synthetic and Organic. The entire galaxy will ascend.

Shepard: The...whole Galaxy? That's impossible.

Child:
Is it? You have seen it already. It is how we are able to combat you,
fusing your forms with synthetic matter to create new DNA. You call them
'husks'.

Shepard: But...the whole galaxy....

Child:
Everything in the universe is energy. Matter, mass, even time is nothing
more than that. The Relays and Catalyst are simply tools that control
that energy. Life will be preserved. The growth will be stopped. And
there will be peace.

Shepard: Why are you telling me this?

Child:
You have done what no other organic has. You have proven that our
solution can be overcome. We underestimated you before, thought of you
as a mere inconvenience. But you are more than that. You have given us a
new...perspective...Variables that we cannot forsee.

Shepard: The perspective that organics don't like being murdered? Something tells me you haven't been paying attention...

Child:
We have eradicated eons of life. You have done what none of them could.
We do not confess that lightly. Whichever you choose, once the energy
from the Catalyst is unleashed, it will destroy the mass relays.

Shepard: But if we lose the relays... We'll have nothing. Whole civilizations will fall!

Child: That is a possibility.

Shepard: But... I don't... I can't....

Child: The paths are open, Shepard. You must choose.

*Shepard
looks down at her bleeding side, then up at the raging battle above her
head. We see ships of all sizes being shot down, Reapers crumbling
under crushing fusillades  of fire. You can now choose to go down one of
the three paths. OR... you can wait...*

Shepard: I... can't make this choice...

Child: It is the choice you asked for. It is salvation.

Shepard: No matter what, it damns us! Without the relays we will lose everything!

Child: Perhaps.

*We
see the battle raging on Earth, squad members we have saved, armies we
have recruited, all fighting desperately against overwhelming odds.
Shepard, looks to the Catalyst.*

Child: You have no other way Shepard. Your followers trust in you. Make your decision.

Shepard: They didn't trust me to destroy us! You can stop this! You can choose to call them off! Just leave!

Child: No. If you will not choose a new solution, the cycle will continue. We will simply... reassess, for the future.

Shepard: It doesn't have to be that way! You can still give us a chance!

Child:
We cannot. Your followers trust you to save them. You cannot. Not as
you wish. This fight is in vain. We are giving you a chance. One that is
more than you deserve.

Shepard: I won't play God...

Child:
Your friends are dying Shepard. *The boy turns into the Virmire
casualty* I know you'll do whatever it takes to get us through this,
skipper.

Shepard: Go to hell...

Child: *turns into
Anderson* Come on child. This is what you're here for! This is how we
win! We can't fight them conventionally, you know that!

Shepard: **** you! I won't! I've beaten your kind already!

*We see the battle raging above them, the massed fleets being obliterated on both sides*

Child:
*morphs into Hackett* We threw everything we had at Sovereign, and that
was just one Reaper.... We just can't stand up against them. Not even
together.

Shepard: No! We've broken the pattern! We've allied with the Geth! We've unified our species! It doesn't have to happen again!

Child: *turning into LI* You know we can't do this. We can't come this far just to throw it away! We're dying out here!

*Shepard can now choose one of the three options OR gamble everything...*

Child: *Illusive Man* Don't throw away everything over your ideals! This is the only solution!

Shepard: *turning to the child* Oh my god... you're scared... aren't you?

Child: No.

*a Reaper above them is destroyed under a feirce volley of massed ships*

Shepard: Yes.... you are... You should have rolled over us by now.... But you didn't...

Child: We have been merely delayed. If we must, we will destroy you all. We have offered you salvation.

Shepard:
No.... you offered me a way to stop the fighting. You've never faced
something like this before... The Illusive Man knew how to beat you,
knew he could disrupt your armies... that's why you attacked him.
Indoctrinated him. He came up with another option, he just didn't know
it. He he thought he'd found control.... but he really found out how to
turn that into Chaos.

Child: *aloof* We held the power to rewrite the stars. We are perfected. We cannot be defeated. Choose.

Shepard:
Bull****. You're not perfected. You're MACHINES. Machines that sit on
the edge of the galaxy, lurking where we can't find you when you're
vulnerable. Vigil said it himself. That's why you USE us! Turn our own
people into your armies! You can't beat us on your own!

Child: We are the salvation of all life. We have swept away all before us.  We will do so again.

Shepard:
By blindsiding your targets through the Citadel! By coercing us into a
trap with the relays! You've always picked off your opponents
independently! You used the same tactic with the Collectors! You've
never had to stand and fight the combined might of a galaxy united!

Child: Your arrogance will only lead to your destruction. Choose.

Shepard:
No. We killed Sovereign. We killed the Reaper at the collector base. We
killed them on Rannoch, on Tuchanka, and down there! We stopped you
from using the Alpha relay, and you're spread thin. The Illusive Man
found out how to control your armies, disrupt your signal. That's why
you attacked him, you were scared. We can beat you.

Child: Paltry victories.

Shepard:
Maybe. But the combined might of the galaxy is holding you back. The
Krogan and Turians on Palaven, the Quarians and GETH on Rannoch. And
we'll do it, here, on Earth.

Child: We have given you fair solutions Shepard. Options to fix the system.

SHepard:
No you've given me YOUR options. We've shown you we can win, and you're
looking for a way out, a way to cripple us because you can't do it the
way you used to. You failed at playing God and now you want me to wipe
out your mistakes! Well I won't. I choose what we've ALWAYS chosen. I
choose to take our damn chances.

Child:  You would risk the
eventual destruction of all life? Risk the future to the likes of the
Geth? The Krogan? More like them will follow. Do you trust them?

Shepard: They put their trust in me to unify them. I trust them to finish the job.

Child: We thought you were different Shepard. We thought you would understand.
Shepard: Happy to disappoint.

*The child transforms into Harbringer*

Harbringer: So be it. Shepard. *then disappears*

*Shepard collapses*

Shepard: Admiral? Hackett? Anyone...

*we
see the crews of multiple ships, the soldiers and charcaters fighting
below all in the midst of hectic combat hearing Shepard's broadcast.
What happens next is dependent on whether or not you have enough war
assets/readiness to actually break the reapers here. If you don't the
Reapers win, no questions asked, and the cycle remains unbroken.*

Shepard:...
I don't know if you can hear me. But the Crucible is not an option...
it won't save us... It won't bring us victory. I know a lot of our
friends have died for this chance. But this isn't the end. We can beat
them. You can beat them. They've always won by dividing us, turning each
other against ourselves. But no longer. You CAN beat them. The ships
next to you, the soldiers fighting by your side, can beat them. They
aren't invulnerable. We beat them at Rannoch. We beat them at the
Citadel. You can BEAT THEM NOW. You can break the back of the greatest
threat the galaxy has ever known, because you, together, are the single
greatest force this Galaxy has ever seen. Give them hell.

*The
battle that follows is the epic conclusion, as Shepard watches, broken
and bleeding, as everything he has put into this unified force throws
itself at the Reapers. This is where all those decisions come to
fruition. We want to see those War Assets fighting. The Destiny
Ascension obliterating a Reaper with it's main gun before being swarmed
over by Destroyers, the Geth armada pulling along side to save her. The
Salarian STG calling in a biotic artillery strike on cluster of Reaper
troops. Wrex and Garrus, on the front sharing a  stern moment in cover,
before nodding to each other, brothers in arms, before charging over the
barricade. Back to back, they face down hordes of husks, Wrex shouting
defiantly, "You think you can take our future!? You think YOU CAN TAKE
MY CHILDREN?!"
We want to see the Quarian flotilla scrambling, all
guns blazing, trying desperately to form a battleline, as one of the
admirals quietly turns to their crew, signalling his ship all ahead
full. "For the homeworld. Keela..." their words cut off as the live-ship
rams a Reaper, exploding spectacularly and damaging two others. We want
to see the Normandy frantically weaving through the wreckage, Joker and
EDI yelling warnings to one another as the fleets explode around them.
We want Tali leading a charge of Geth Primes against a Cannibal gun
line. Rachni drones swarming over a Reaper Destroyer by the thousands,
pulling it apart from the inside. We want to see Grunt wrestle a brute
to the ground and unload his shotgun into his head.

Happy or sad,
we just want to see those decisions play out. We want to see that what
we did mattered. And as the battle unfolds, you are left with the
Choice. Do you think you have enough? As Shepard bleeds out, watching
all he/she loved go up in flames, do you take the risk? Provided you
have enough manpower, can you break the back of the Reaper fleet, though
at horrendous cost? Once the battle is over, and the truth of what the
Illusive Man discovered is revealed, the remaining survivors get the
word out that there is a way to disrupt the Reaper signal, scatter the
Reaper armies. Or something*

YES PLS!!! 100/100 for ending. This is now my official ending. Period.

Modifié par TcomJ, 13 mars 2012 - 02:05 .

[XyleJKH]

so basically here's what I think about the game it was really well done but the only thing that obviously everyone is angry about the end of the game up until the last 10 minutes was phenomenal. I've been huge fan of the series for as long as I can remember. that being said though I can not accept the way you guys end of the series it broke my heart it was real downer for my 2 days off and

[Praetor Knight]

I enjoyed the game up until the very end (except for how the early dream sequences were set up, chasing that kid, those I really did not enjoy).

From a straight review of the game I'd still give the game easily a ~90 or 93/100, but so far I've found the ending confusing and disappointing at this point.

So, I'm hoping unconsciousness/ dreaming and injury is at the root of why the ending gets the way it does as it progresses after a charred Shepard defiantly stands back up and keeps moving forward into the light, to begin the last sequence of events that we see on the Citadel, I'm trying to be vague, sorry if confusing.

[TcomJ]

http://social.biowar...5/index/9762561

Hey Christy, this is the stat of the players think of the ending.

[hunterhecate]

It's EA Bioware's latest Game! Will it flop, or will it play?
The cast has taken it's final bow, here comes the gaming crowd now.
Controllers are put down, they're typing away, Let's hear what they have to say!
They've done it again! They've done it again! EA Bioware have done it again!
We can't BELIEVE IT! You can't CONCEIVE IT! How'd they ACHIEVE IT?
IT'S THE WORST ENDING THIS YEAR!
We sat there sighing. Groaning and crying. There's no DENYING, IT'S THE WORST ENDING THIS YEAR!
Oh we wanted to stand up and hiss! We see ****, but never like THIS!
EA BIOWARE HAVE DONE IT AGAIN!
The game was BUGGY, the character GLITCHIN. What EA did to this game, Booth did to Lincoln!
We couldn't leave faster! What a DISASTER!
We are still in SHOCK! Who produced this SCHLOCK? THAT CASEY HUDSON SUCKING EA'S ****!!! What a bum!

[Rhadam]

Overall Score:  80 / 100 

One thing I have come to count on as a gamer (and coder) is a good product from Bioware. I have shelled out the $$ for your products since your infancy as a company.

With the Mass Effect Trilogy you have done a wonderful job of providing a good balance between Shooter and RPG. Mass Effect 3 delivers in that regard. Well done.

There are many things I like about ME3. There are some I do not. In this case, my dislikes seem to be heading down the same road as so many others on this thread and across the internet.

I will start off with my two biggest issues with ME3.

* The Ending. Wow. I get it. But what a letdown in delivery. I am really hoping this was just some Indoctrination / dream sequence that Shepard was experiencing after being knocked out by the Reapers firing on the Hammer strike force just as they made it to the beam. I realize there are a couple of the 16 possible endings where we get a flash of someone in N7 armor lying amid some rubble taking a breath. Perhaps this is Shepard and it was your intent all along to leave this cliffhanger at the end of the game, only to come back and give us the real ending at a later date. *cough* Again, this can be saved with some DLC that fixes the ending and expands on what happens to everyone. It was too rushed and not worthy of the fine Mass Effect Trilogy. Do yourselves and your fans a favor and fix it.

* You missed a HUGE moment in the story to reveal Tali's face. With the liberation of the Quarian home world and the touching moment shared between Shep and Tali you had a PRIME opportunity to finally reveal her face when she took her mask off... a simple turn to face Shep and smile would have made it all worth it. (No, I am not a Talimancer... but seriously... total fumble.) This could easily be fixed with some DLC to patch that moment and would make a few thousand loyal fans a little less disappointed.

And now for the other stuff in no particular order:

* The beginning of ME3 was ok. It didn't blow me away or turn me away. There could have been some more lead up to the actual hit, but I get it that the Reapers were moving fast once they were in detectable range and they used the ME Relays to their utmost.

* I liked the new planet scanning system. I loved not having to run around mining resources.

* I loved the combat system changes.  Especially moving around the battlefield, over obstacles, taking cover, moving to cover, etc.

* EDI taking over Eva's body was pretty cool. I know it creeps some folks out, but I liked it. The sexbot twist is somewhat freaky, but livable. The character development of EDI was pretty cool. As was learning her past (as well as more about Shepard at the same time).

* The Quest Log should have been broken into main quests and side quests. I didn't mind the simple FedEx quests, but they should have been listed under a separate column from the main storyline quests. Yes, they are useful, but they are not required to make it to the final battle. (Yes, I realize they help with your overall strength.)

* The addition of the Prothean to the storyline was pretty cool. Having to purchase him as DL content at release was not. It comes across as a pure money grab and is insulting to your customers. The character should have been part of the game at release.

* Why change the Normandy around? It was fine the way it was. I can see the Armory in the shuttle bay as it adds to the realism flow of the mission prep, but would you really want the main armory sitting in the room that vents to space and is so far from the crew access should the ship be boarded?

* The multiplayer component... meh. I get enough of that with MMOs. I appreciate the attempt and I like the thought that MP actions could help your ME3 outcome in single player mode... but it definitely should not be vital to attaining the higher scores necessary to get a remotely good outcome from the final battle, as it is rumored to do. I would rather you spent the time devoted to multiplayer to finish the single player game decently and give Tali an actual face.

Will I play ME3 through again? Not likely unless there are some DLCs fixing my first two major issues, which is sad considering the replayability of ME1 and ME2.

Overall, thank you Bioware for another great game. However, you missed the mark on a couple major elements and we all know you can do better.
 

Edit:  For those who have not seen Lucir's alternate endings for ME3, they are well worth checking out and far more fitting for such a great Trilogy.

Modifié par Rhadam, 13 mars 2012 - 07:09 .