57139 réponses à ce sujet

[Noob451]

[quote]Urumashi wrote...

[quote]IhateEA-Mask wrote...

[quote]Noob451 wrote...

[/quote]

yeah, I thought this too,  was just saying that it was mentioned that the walls moved.

[/quote]

Last time we heard walls moving was from logs of Cerberus scientists in Derelict reaper in ME 2. Same ones who had dreams now that I think of it .-. Of course, it might just be that Reaper conscructs can rearrange walls and not dreamers imagining that up and confusing it for reality.

[/quote]

Wait wait wait, something just occured to me, it seems like anderson seems to stumble across every scene just before shep does, and shep always sees that exact same scene moments later, is it possible that the reapers are impersonating anderson's voice and "building" the world almost inception style so that the scene will make sense to shepard and he wont question the surroundings? like the 1M1 signs which appear as early as the catwalk down the stairs? As legion says, he had to build the consensus to a familiar form so shep could comprehend it, is it possible the reapers (also synthetic) are doing the exact same thing?

[/quote]

haha also something i thought after playing that sequence for the fifth time.

[kyg_20X6]

BlackDragonBane wrote...

Liara Banshee scares the living crap out of me just by the thought...

But the part where Harbinger leaves is likely part of the hallucination. Shepard thinks that Harbinger thinks he/she is dead and just goes to rejoin the battle with the fleets.

It's a stretch I admit.

Since Shepard is likely already under the Reaper's indoctrination hallucination then Harbinger probably showed itself as flying off so Shepard wouldn't associate it with what follows. If it was standing there watching Shepard, Shepard would be mighty suspicious of why it wasn't attacking him and suspicious of anything that followed. Also, Shepard is attacked by Husks yet (if this is reality) why doesn't Harbinger return, surely the Husks would have made him aware. It's all an illusion to make Shepard think they're completing their mission.

Since Shepard is laying under rubble somewhere, Harbinger is merely reaching out and trying to control him/her.

[Storm _]

Finally able to post. First off thanks guys for doing great work on this theory. Even if it turns out not to be correct, (which I'm beginning to believe less and less) I'm going to use it as the end to my story. Because of these ideas I've been able to finally play the game again.

As for the child, I've noticed some people saying that he never existed at all which I believe is not quite true. IMO he existed when Shepard was watching from his window in the opening sequence of the game. When the Reapers land they use the kid as he's still fresh in Shepard's mind which is why we see him again in the vents. I believe from the time we see him in the vents until the end of the game he is therefore a hallucination.

This would explain why there's a missing poster of the child on the citadel. He really did exist but I'm guessing was likely killed in the initial attack.

I'm sorry if this isn't exactly new. There's a lot of pages to dig through.

[LadyofRivendell]

mooney6023 wrote...

One other potential theory that I personally don't like to think about, but may be true nonetheless.

Bioware has been tricky about how and by what means your companions survive in the past. Anderson telling you to pick your crew carefully and the fact that only your love interest and one other leaves with joker makes me wonder if they are the ONLY survivors from the crew.

The Love interest because they are the LI, unless Liara is alway in the vid, and one crew member from your team.

I wonder because it would not have been difficult to show all the crew, there is no voice script in that scene, so no significant production cost.

I thought that it was, according to an earlier page, Joker, LI, and Person-you-talked-to-the-most who exited the Normandy. Which, in theory, could make sense with the indoctrination ending: Shepard is essentially abandoned by the three closest people to her/him, giving that feeling of hopelessness on top of everything else. 

Oddly, on my first ending in which I accidentally went to the left instead of the right (too busy panicking about what the heck was going on to listen to some brat's monologue) and Joker, Kaidan (my LI), and Liara (person I talked to the most aside from Kaidan) exited the Normandy.
Now, on my second ending in which I chose Destroy and lived, only Joker and Kaidan got out of the Normandy. What? Where's the third person?
And on top of that, Kaidan and Liara were the two I brought with me as my final squad. That they somehow made it back to the Normandy makes no sense at all. I mean, in ME2, Liara risked her life infiltrating the Shadow Broker's base to retreive Shep's body, no way she would just up and leave. And it's out of character completely for Kaidan as well. I really think this was the final punch in the gut by the Reapers in attempting to indoctrinate Shep.

[Dvondrake]

I really want to believe this theory, and while the evidence is all there and everything seems to add up, I just can't believe BioWare would actually do this. Both for marketing reasons as well as... Well, why? What do they gain? It would cost a lot to push out free DLC to fix the ending, and if they charge people for it the media backlash would be catastrophic.


Right now I'm considering three things:

1) The theory is true. Shepard is indoctrinated and hallucinating at the end, and BioWare will give us DLC (paid or not) to continue on with the 'proper' ending as a sort of "Ha, gotcha!"

2) The theory is true, but BioWare has no intent to make things better and would prefer to leave the ending "open to interpretation".

3) The theory is false and all these plot holes we're fixing up aren't meant to point towards any kind of conspiracy theory, but are rather the product of rushed development.


Side note: Everyone's compiling lists of evidence towards this theory in-game. Can we get some evidence of suspicious behavior from BioWare employees? I've seen screenshots and such of Twitter accounts giving suspiciously vague answers and such, it would be nice to compile all of these into one big list for reference. Wasn't there one that said they would actually be willing to talk about the ending once their stats service said enough people had finished the game? I think this is very significant, and really isn't getting the attention it deserves--and I can't find it anymore.

[hunt27]

 so the illusive man was right? no he can't control us we control him......... forget about the fact that since we are controlling him we just tried to kill you a minute ago so ya pick control it's the paragon choice.... right? wrong................. makes no sense wtf is going on... damn since he broke control and killed the illusive man lets get him with the child he cares about so much?! uhhhhhhh what. everything you say is 100% fact since you like can't be a bad reaper?

Modifié par hunt27, 13 mars 2012 - 06:44 .

[TheMadBlimper]

BlackDragonBane wrote...


If you look behind you, the ENTIRE background is blurred beyond recognition and much of the area you JUST passed through appears to be missing. There is also the two dead trees that were not there during the mad dash approach to the Conduit.

Those trees are from your dreams and should be making the back of your head go DING DING DING DING DING...

This theory is pretty solid, as a whole. We'll just have to be patient and wait a bit to see if Bioware is as smart as we all hope they are.

[Urumashi]

 Just to restate that since i sorta fouled up the quotes the first time

something just occured to me, it seems like anderson seems to stumble across every scene just before shep does, and shep always sees that exact same scene moments later, is it possible that the reapers are impersonating anderson's voice and "building" the world almost inception style so that the scene will make sense to shepard and he wont question the surroundings? like the 1M1 signs which appear as early as the catwalk down the stairs? As legion says, he had to build the consensus to a familiar form so shep could comprehend it, is it possible the reapers (also synthetic) are doing the exact same thing? 

[The Bridgeburner]

Urumashi wrote...


Wait wait wait, something just occured to me, it seems like anderson seems to stumble across every scene just before shep does, and shep always sees that exact same scene moments later, is it possible that the reapers are impersonating anderson's voice and "building" the world almost inception style so that the scene will make sense to shepard and he wont question the surroundings? like the 1M1 signs which appear as early as the catwalk down the stairs? As legion says, he had to build the consensus to a familiar form so shep could comprehend it, is it possible the reapers (also synthetic) are doing the exact same thing?

It's either this or it's Shepard himself trying to comprehend, i.e. his subconcious drawing upon the past to substitute what he's never seen. Either way works for me.

[Ravax]

@GambleMike will there be a possibility of future dlc pertaining to story and not just mp? I would love to have some more me3 single player!
Michael Gamble Michael Gamble ‏ @GambleMike

@RobertHanger didn't me2 teach you anything?

[uwyz]

 Shepard was presented with 3 choices regarding the fate of the galaxy:
1. Control the reapers
2. Merge with the reapers, and thereby achieve the apex of organic evolution.
3. Destroy Reapers, and lose forever the wonders and secrets they hold

It is interesting to note that #1 is the Illusive Man's answer to the Reapers. But in the end he was to realize that he was indoctrinated through careful manipulation, and took his own life. (or so at least in the 'dream', if the ending is a dream) Th Prothean AI on Thessia noted that this trick has been played in earlier cycles.

#2 is Saren's solution. Saren too realized too late that he was indoctrinated, and took his life. Vigil refuted Saren's hope for higher evolution, revealing that the Reapers are ruthless and have no wish to ascend the organic races as Saren would have visioned.

Then there is only #3. 

If this does turn out to be a fake ending, then it is an ingenious and audacious plot device. We are made to understand the Illusive Man and Saren's motives, and sympathize with their tragedy. (How many people failed to pick # 3 on their first try? I did). The Reapers indoctrinate by force in the weak, and by persuation in the strong. It would explain why the Illusive Man and Saren, both intelligent and strong willed, both commited to the greater good of their race, became such willing and tenacious tools of the Reaper. This would the ultimate test of faith to the player, who has come this far primarily thanks to fast reflex, a moment to pause and think - have you been paying attention all this time? Do you understand now what will it takes to resist the Reaper?

[CreepingGeth]

Lugaidster wrote...

BigBossBoo wrote...

Lugaidster wrote...

CDHarrisUSF wrote...

Lugaidster wrote...

Regardless of that, you'd still hear bombings or guns when he wakes up

Actually, the soundscape is eerily silent after you get up from Harbinger's laser blast. Go back and watch a video of it if you don't recall. I can't hear any other fighting going on in the vicinity... just you and the few enemies you shoot. The surroundings being silent when you wake up doesn't necessarily point in either direction, if that is the case.

The thing is that you still hear something in the London scene. Please go and listen to the background. To me it just doesn't fit with London. That's the thing. And that scene is a big clue to the real ending. I do believe in the indoctrination attempt, to me the kid signifies that, but the breathing scene is something we still need to analyze.

I don't hear anything.  And whenever Shepard is knocked out momentarily or a loud noise made him temporarily deaf, as we have seen many times throughout the series, all sounds are mute or distorted/quieter.  So the sound may just be because Shepard was knocked out for awhile as he fought for his soul.

http://www.youtube.c...WqlsQjWo#t=270s

There you have it. You clearly hear something. Metal creaking and loose wires.

At 4:36 when the camera is panning up to Shepard, it passes a piece of rubble with markings on it. Kinda looks like a part of the Target logo. I guess my point is, is this symbol seen on the ground anywhere before this?

[WvStolzing]

In the intro sequence, right after the 'human council' room is blown up, and Shepard gets thrown across the room, there's a very short scene to the accompaniment of an eery hum, where he/she appears dazed for a moment.

I took that originally to mean that reapers' mind tricks on Shepard were going to become an important part of the story; but we got nothing of the sort. I wonder whether it's the reapers grafting the image of the annoying kid on Shepard's mind in that scene...

[Urumashi]

TheMadBlimper wrote...

BlackDragonBane wrote...


If you look behind you, the ENTIRE background is blurred beyond recognition and much of the area you JUST passed through appears to be missing. There is also the two dead trees that were not there during the mad dash approach to the Conduit.

Those trees are from your dreams and should be making the back of your head go DING DING DING DING DING...

This theory is pretty solid, as a whole. We'll just have to be patient and wait a bit to see if Bioware is as smart as we all hope they are.

This. this is absolutely proof that we're right, those trees would not be there for any other reason, good catch, i believe you just gave us our first real stepping stone.

[The Bridgeburner]

Ravax wrote...

@GambleMike will there be a possibility of future dlc pertaining to story and not just mp? I would love to have some more me3 single player!
Michael Gamble Michael Gamble ‏ @GambleMike

@RobertHanger didn't me2 teach you anything?

Yes, but that really gives no indicator to what this thread is discussing... he could be referencing "Take Back" Omega DLC.

[Omilophile]

Reptilian Rob wrote...
Oh the irnoy, eh?

Calls others close minded, then insults other's viewpoints. Wat?

I'm not the one generalizing an entire group of people now, am I? He is entitled to his opinion, but that doesn't make it a correct one.

[Lugaidster]

BlackDragonBane wrote...

 

Going to analyze somethings that have been brought up before, but bear repeating.

0:40 - you hear, I'm assuming, Coates over the comm channel go 'God... they're all gone.'

0:46 - you hear the following conversation:
- Female voice: Did we get anyone to the beam?
- Coates; Negative. Our entire force was decimated

Now, if this was reality, Coates would have seen Shepard get up from where they had fallen and approaching the beam. Such is not the case. The comm link just goes silent from that point.

at about 1:00, Shepard picks up the magic infinte god pistol



If you look behind you, the ENTIRE background is blurred beyond recognition and much of the area you JUST passed through appears to be missing. There is also the two dead trees that were not there during the mad dash approach to the Conduit.

2:31 - You hear Anderson over the comm link, yet if Coates is correct and the team is wiped out, how is Anderson contacting Shepard?

2:55 - When asked if he is up in the Citadel as well, Anderson says he followed Shepard up, yet we did not see him ANYWHERE on the battlefield. Plus, he says 'we' distinctly, meaning others made it on the Citadel, yet we don't see them and they supposedly were dropped off somewhere else by the Conduit.

3:30 - Shepard picks up ANOTER infite god-pistol. What happened to the one he/she just had? If you noticed before, the first pistol is mysteriously gone.

4:56 - The movine panels bear a striking resemblence to the engine system on the Shadow Broker's ship. This may be just level design but if you look on either side, it goes as far as you can see and you see no other avenues of reaching the console room.

6:00 - Somehow, Anderson beats Shepard to the console room despite there being no other paths and not seeing Anderson either behind or in front of you until this point.

6:13 - The Huskified Illusive Man is suddenly right behind you and there was no indication he was even ON the Citadel. You also begin to hear whispers as he talks and the oily black shadows appear on the edges of the screen. You will also hear a Reaper like deep trilling noise accompanying this.

8:15 - TIM forces Shepard to shoot Anderson. Jump to 8:22 and pay VERY CLOSE attention to where Anderson has their hand.



Notice where Shepard's arm is and the fact that she is suddenly bleeding profusely when she wasn't moments prior to shooting Anderson? Look again when Shepard is outside the Citadel and talking to Catalyst.



Notice the blood on her arm is suddenly gone?

There are WAY too many inconsistences in just the scene leading up to meeting Catalyst for it not to be anything more than an indoctrinated halluciation. There's is symbolism in the conversaiton with Anderson and TIM, missing envrionments and added elements that weren't there before. There is too much 'wrong' with this whole sequence for it to be oversight on Bioware developers. SOMETHING is going on here beyond what we've seen.

I agree with everything you've said except the trees thing. While they're a good symbol to the previous dreams, there are two trees there on you run down before the laser hits. I just played it and specifically looked for those. The only other thing that bothers me is the background noise in the breathing scene after the ending.

[hunt27]

Urumashi wrote...

TheMadBlimper wrote...

BlackDragonBane wrote...


If you look behind you, the ENTIRE background is blurred beyond recognition and much of the area you JUST passed through appears to be missing. There is also the two dead trees that were not there during the mad dash approach to the Conduit.

Those trees are from your dreams and should be making the back of your head go DING DING DING DING DING...

This theory is pretty solid, as a whole. We'll just have to be patient and wait a bit to see if Bioware is as smart as we all hope they are.

This. this is absolutely proof that we're right, those trees would not be there for any other reason, good catch, i believe you just gave us our first real stepping stone.

Trees on earth is strange? i support the whole theory but i don't get how trees that don't look like the ones from the dreams supports it.

[mooney6023]

Storm _ wrote...

Finally able to post. First off thanks guys for doing great work on this theory. Even if it turns out not to be correct, (which I'm beginning to believe less and less) I'm going to use it as the end to my story. Because of these ideas I've been able to finally play the game again.

As for the child, I've noticed some people saying that he never existed at all which I believe is not quite true. IMO he existed when Shepard was watching from his window in the opening sequence of the game. When the Reapers land they use the kid as he's still fresh in Shepard's mind which is why we see him again in the vents. I believe from the time we see him in the vents until the end of the game he is therefore a hallucination.

This would explain why there's a missing poster of the child on the citadel. He really did exist but I'm guessing was likely killed in the initial attack.

I'm sorry if this isn't exactly new. There's a lot of pages to dig through.

believe me I understand.  I went so far as to cancel my SWTOR subscription with a long diatribe in the comment field about SWTOR's faults (seperate topic), the obvious ploy that bioware was using to avoid providing a true end so they could sell further serialization of this franchise (like square with ffxiii-2) etc.  But that was based on what I had read on forums.  I should have known better.

If bioware actually charges for whatever completes this I will still be miffed, I don't approve of using DLC like some sort of carrot to string us along for the completion of the story, but if this is a subtle and well done as it appears to be, I may suffer through it with only mild indignation.  

I'll forgive alot for something so deviously clever in it's inception.

[msitton]

BlackDragonBane wrote...

 

Going to analyze somethings that have been brought up before, but bear repeating.

0:40 - you hear, I'm assuming, Coates over the comm channel go 'God... they're all gone.'

0:46 - you hear the following conversation:
- Female voice: Did we get anyone to the beam?
- Coates; Negative. Our entire force was decimated

Now, if this was reality, Coates would have seen Shepard get up from where they had fallen and approaching the beam. Such is not the case. The comm link just goes silent from that point.

at about 1:00, Shepard picks up the magic infinte god pistol



If you look behind you, the ENTIRE background is blurred beyond recognition and much of the area you JUST passed through appears to be missing. There is also the two dead trees that were not there during the mad dash approach to the Conduit.

2:31 - You hear Anderson over the comm link, yet if Coates is correct and the team is wiped out, how is Anderson contacting Shepard?

2:55 - When asked if he is up in the Citadel as well, Anderson says he followed Shepard up, yet we did not see him ANYWHERE on the battlefield. Plus, he says 'we' distinctly, meaning others made it on the Citadel, yet we don't see them and they supposedly were dropped off somewhere else by the Conduit.

3:30 - Shepard picks up ANOTER infite god-pistol. What happened to the one he/she just had? If you noticed before, the first pistol is mysteriously gone.

4:56 - The movine panels bear a striking resemblence to the engine system on the Shadow Broker's ship. This may be just level design but if you look on either side, it goes as far as you can see and you see no other avenues of reaching the console room.

6:00 - Somehow, Anderson beats Shepard to the console room despite there being no other paths and not seeing Anderson either behind or in front of you until this point.

6:13 - The Huskified Illusive Man is suddenly right behind you and there was no indication he was even ON the Citadel. You also begin to hear whispers as he talks and the oily black shadows appear on the edges of the screen. You will also hear a Reaper like deep trilling noise accompanying this.

8:15 - TIM forces Shepard to shoot Anderson. Jump to 8:22 and pay VERY CLOSE attention to where Anderson has their hand.



Notice where Shepard's arm is and the fact that she is suddenly bleeding profusely when she wasn't moments prior to shooting Anderson? Look again when Shepard is outside the Citadel and talking to Catalyst.



Notice the blood on her arm is suddenly gone?

There are WAY too many inconsistences in just the scene leading up to meeting Catalyst for it not to be anything more than an indoctrinated halluciation. There's is symbolism in the conversaiton with Anderson and TIM, missing envrionments and added elements that weren't there before. There is too much 'wrong' with this whole sequence for it to be oversight on Bioware developers. SOMETHING is going on here beyond what we've seen.

It's these points that lead me to believe that this theory is correct. I just don't see how the same group of writers that got me to be so emotional over Grunt, Thane, Mordin, and Legion do a complete 180 and deliver an ending with huge wholes.

I understand game companies make mistakes, but I just can't seem to imagine this theory not being true and not a single person noticing what an utter failure they would be on their own. The Bioware staff loves these games just as we do. I can't see them completely throwing it away despite whatever pressure EA may have provided. 

Mass Effect 3 is first and foremost a blockbuster game at this point. Yes EA want this game to sell, yes they want it to have mass appeal, but I don't think they are inheritly "evil" like some people make them out to be. They want to make money yes, but what company doesn't. A company wouldn't completely trash its credibility on this type of game especially one that rides so heavily on "hardcore" gamer appeal. After all its not like you could legitimately pick up ME3 and play it without prior knowledge; you would be completely lost.

[Lurchibald]

Another thing about the kid at the start is that we see him climb aboard the shuttle then look up at Shepard... but notice how nobody really seems to notice the kid on the shuttle? The kid seemingly struggles to get on the shuttle yet no-one (not even the soldier at the door) go to help the kid (Actually they don't even seem to acknowledge his presence)

[Lugaidster]

Urumashi wrote...

TheMadBlimper wrote...

BlackDragonBane wrote...


If you look behind you, the ENTIRE background is blurred beyond recognition and much of the area you JUST passed through appears to be missing. There is also the two dead trees that were not there during the mad dash approach to the Conduit.

Those trees are from your dreams and should be making the back of your head go DING DING DING DING DING...

This theory is pretty solid, as a whole. We'll just have to be patient and wait a bit to see if Bioware is as smart as we all hope they are.

This. this is absolutely proof that we're right, those trees would not be there for any other reason, good catch, i believe you just gave us our first real stepping stone.

The only problem with that is that they are there just before. You can see them while making the run for the conduit.

[Reaper of Reapers]

Noob451 wrote...

Urumashi wrote...

IhateEA-Mask wrote...

Noob451 wrote...

yeah, I thought this too,  was just saying that it was mentioned that the walls moved.


Last time we heard walls moving was from logs of Cerberus scientists in Derelict reaper in ME 2. Same ones who had dreams now that I think of it .-. Of course, it might just be that Reaper conscructs can rearrange walls and not dreamers imagining that up and confusing it for reality.

Wait wait wait, something just occured to me, it seems like anderson seems to stumble across every scene just before shep does, and shep always sees that exact same scene moments later, is it possible that the reapers are impersonating anderson's voice and "building" the world almost inception style so that the scene will make sense to shepard and he wont question the surroundings? like the 1M1 signs which appear as early as the catwalk down the stairs? As legion says, he had to build the consensus to a familiar form so shep could comprehend it, is it possible the reapers (also synthetic) are doing the exact same thing?

haha also something i thought after playing that sequence for the fifth time.

This makes a lot of sense. Good catch.

Modifié par Reaper of Reapers, 13 mars 2012 - 06:54 .

[Raxxman]

Doctor Quinn wrote...

Perhaps I am wrong, but the only invocation I have seen regarding Occam's Razor was my own in response to the voice issue with Harbinger and the Star Child. If anyone is attempting to use the razor with regards to the Mass Effect story, it won't work. However, it can be invoked with arguments, especially when there are multiple explanations for why a voice might exist in a particular scene.

Oh I'll agree there. But there is plenty from the game series as a whole to support shep being indoctrinated.

We know from Saren's experience and from the Cerberus crew in the dead reaper, that indoctrination of the subtle variety takes form of mental disturbance. The subject is haunted by nightmares. They suffer from escalating levels of hallucinations. All of which is used by the reapers to reduce the victim to more easily managed behaviors so that they are suggestible to their whims. Throughout the game Shepherd does indeed have repeating nightmares, does seem to suffer headache pain when awaking from them, and their message is that he can't win. No matter what he and the boy are doomed. The Reaper's use that boys image in the catalyst, but where did it come from? Can the Reapers read our thoughts? Or do they know what the boy means to Shepherd, because they created the context with which Shepherd knows him. On a sidenote the art book nonsense is a red herring. They aren't going to put, "hey this kid is the star child with a magic crucible that turns everyone into synthoids so watch him closely, k," in a promotional art book. It sort of destroys the surprise at the end.

The cutscenes also go out of their way to demonstrate that Shepherd is the only witness to this boy's existence through acknowledgement. This is a common tactic in ghost movies to create uncertainty about whether the person exists in our mortal plane or not (sixth sense comes to mind). Though we see the boy run into the shuttle, he has trouble climbing the edge and no one helps him. As he enters not one of the adults even shift to make room. Not even a shudder. Like he were but a mist of himself. Given the level of detail in these opening cut scenes I don't think this is an oversight. Rather a purposeful subtle layer to create doubt. Just like all those scenes in the sixth sense where Bruce Willis is trying to talk to his wife and seemingly she shuts him out and walks right by. I could go on but I think you get my point. I've never read the mass effect books so I can't reference from them. My own thinking comes strictly what we've learned on the matter from the game series.

The biggest issue is the lack of whispers in anything bar the 2 dream sequences.

voices is a major major part of indoctrination in all other examples. Shepard hears voices in the dream sequences but they're not really talking like you'd expet a reaper to.

You never really get a feeling of 'they' or 'him' which is key to the discriptions in ME1, ME2 (derlict reaper) and Ascension, as well as the comic about TIM's origin.

[NubXL]

ReclaimedHavoc wrote...

NubXL wrote...

You see what you've done BioWare? Your ending was so traumatic that an increasing number of users are resigning themselves to the delusion that the ending was just a hallucination, and that the real one is coming any day now.

I'm just gonna make an assumption and say you haven't read anything here.

A better assumption would be that I was joking.

A lot of these things make sense, but I really don't think BioWare had such complex plans.  "Lazy writing" covers the same bases as all of these detailed explanations for every little thing.

I do think they did put some attempted indoctrination in there in the form of making "Control" the blue ending and "Destroy" (your objective from the very start) the red ending, as shown by their display of which one TIM would do and which one Anderson would do.  I figure that was Shepard mulling it over.  I don't think it goes further than that.

The child I think was just in the image of a child because Shepard was tripping out over that kid for the whole game.  It could have taken the form of anything, as shown by its multiple simultaneous vocal tracks.  The went all "Contact" with it, basically.