18 réponses à ce sujet

[Adamantium93]

Add another to the list of POd fans. Mass Effect was my favorite series and ME3 was my favorite game up until Kai Leng died. Then it all just went downhill. Here's an image that expresses how I feel



But while Bioware comes up with a way to fix the mess they made (and you better come up with one or I'm not going to waste money on TOR or DA3), I thought I'd see what everyone has to offer. How would you end the game?

The story is the same up until the final charge into the
Citadel. Shepard dodges Harbinger’s beams and almost makes it when the machine
bears down upon him. Using the Cain, Anderson gets Harbinger’s attention and he
swings to face him. Shepard takes the opening and goes up.

He makes his way to the center where the Illusive Man does
his thing. He talks to Shepard. If you completed various situations that
involved being very good with words (Talking down Saren, Wrex living, the
Exo-Geni scientists on Feros, the squad mate arguments in ME2, etc.) you can
break through the Illusive Man’s control and beat him in a fist fight. Shepard
activates the council, Harbinger does his “assuming direct control” thing, and
TIM rises as a Harbingerized version of himself.

After a brief argument in which Harbinger is his usual
enigmatic self, the fight begins. Harbinger fights like a combination of Kai
Leng, Saren, and the Harbinger units from ME2. At 75% health, it will cut to
the reaper Harbinger trying to target Anderson who’s desperately seeking cover.
A group attacks Harbinger. The group includes an important character (Kirrahe
and the STG, Wrex and his Krogan, Zaeed and his mercs, Jack and her biotics,
Samara and the Justicars, etc. Non-Loyal squadmates take precedent, but Kirrahe
is default if he isn’t dead yet.) sacrifice themselves to let Anderson get to safety. He reloads the Cain
and fires it into Harbinger, causing it to stumble.

On the Citadel, Harbinger-TIM is vulnerable, and Shepard
takes the opportunity to hit him with everything he has. Eventually, Harb
regains his focus and the battle continues. At 50% health, we see another cut
scene where Admiral Hacket uses his ship to knock over Harbinger, crashing and
dying in the process. This gives Shepard another opening.

At 25% health, another cutscene showing Anderson furiously trying to reload the Cain
as Harbinger bears down on him, spouting his usual dialogue (“You cannot
comprehend your salvation blah blah blah”) Joker is show in the cockpit flying
toward Harbinger. He says that he dropped off the crew, and its only him and
EDI. EDI says that the odds of survival are slim, Joker refuses to accept that.
Regardless, they have a tender moment where they say their goodbyes just in
case. Harbinger aims at the oncoming Normandy.

Harbinger enters his final form. Shepard fights hard and
eventually brings his health to zero. Harbinger fires his laser but the shock
of losing TIM causes him to miss, clipping the Normandy’s wing. Joker unloads everything at
his eye and it explodes, leaving the corpse of the machine lying there. The Normandy crashes.

Back on the Citadel, if TIM didn’t kill himself, he is
dangling on the ledge. Shepard can convince him that he’s still indoctrinated
if he was able to break control earlier. TIM realizes that he was right, and so
lets go to his death. Alternatively, Shep can either try to save him (Paragon),
not help him and have a final moment of talk before he falls (neutral), or
shoot him in the face (Renegade). Shepard ascends up the Citadel.

He meets that Catalyst, a Reaper VI named Citadel. He
explains that his duties were to spy on the races and contact the Reapers when
it was time for ascendance. Shepard asks him questions about what the Reapers
are after, but he gives only enigmatic answers, though he does say that the
survival of the galaxy is dependant upon the Reapers finishing their mission.
Shep argues with him, and you can bring up your past accomplishments, (such as
uniting the Quarians and the Geth, freeing the Rachni Queen, stopping Overlord,
etc). 

Eventually, the argument stops and the VI explains that when
the Protheans changed his programming so he would not call the Reapers, it gave
him something he had never before known: doubt. He explains that since he
learned that Shepard was hunting Saren, he had downloaded surveillance software
into Shepard’s armor and the Normandy’s
system, and he did it again when Shepard returned to the citadel in ME2, this
time downloading into Shep’s implants. He’s seen Shepard’s actions firsthand,
and sits thinking.

He states that his function had another purpose: should the
last of the Old Machines fall, he was to send signals to the Reapers to
continue the war until a replacement could be created from the race that
destroyed the last machine. Harbinger and Sovereign were the last Old Machines
in this cycle, and with both dead the VI’s programming has come into effect.

Here’s where it changes depending on actions you took in the
past. I’m not listing them all here, but important ones include (talking down
Saren, saving the Council, saving the Rachni twice, curing the Genophage,
allying the Quarians and the Geth, etc.) The renegade and paragon endings come
about as a result of saving the base or destroying it.

Bad End: Shepard has not done enough to convince Citadel. He
can only watch as his world is destroyed.

Paragon Poor Ending: Shepard has not convinced Citadel.
However, he refuses to be defeated and rips the VI’s core out. He plugs in a
remote access drive tries to upload it to the Hacket or EDI but fails. He does
get the Primarch though, and so gives him control of the Crucible. He dies from
electrocution, but witnesses the Crucible destroying the Reapers. This path
causes much destruction on Earth.

Renegade Poor Ending: Shepard realizes that the Reapers are
necessary. The VI says that Shepard can become a Reaper himself, taking over
the body left by Harbinger. He claims that it is the only way to save the
galaxy in the long run. Shepard agrees and helps the Reapers destroy the
galaxy.

Paragon Meh Ending: Citadel realizes that they acted too
soon. There is hope for the galaxy, but he is not certain. He commends Shepard
and orders the retreat. The Reapers flee back to dark space. He says they will
be watching, and if necessary, they will return. Shepard dies from his wounds
as he hears shouts of joy and victory in his com.

Renegade Meh Ending: Citadel decides that the Reaper program
is flawed. Although the Reapers are necessary, they cannot be run by other
Reapers or a VI. He offers Shepard the chance to lead the Reapers, which he
accepts. Shepard sounds the retreat and Harbinger moves to Anderson. “Be warned. Your ascension has been
delayed. We shall return. I am the Shepherd of your salvation” and he flees
with the Reapers.

Paragon Good End: Finally, Citadel says that the Reaper’s programming is
incorrect. A miniscule detail in the calculation, an outcome with a chance less
than 0.00001% has occurred. The Reaper’s solution is wrong. He agrees to
activate the Crucible and fires upon the Reapers. Although it causes much
destruction, the Reapers are destroyed. He then destroys his software.

Renegade Good End: Finally, Citadel says that the Reaper’s programming is
incorrect. A miniscule detail in the calculation, an outcome with a chance less
than 0.00001% has occurred. The Reaper’s solution is wrong. He orders the
retreat, and once the Reapers are in Dark Space, uploads himself into the
derelict Collector Base. He says that he will watch, but is convinced that he
made the right decision.

The final end shows a celebration. If Shepard dies or
becomes a Reaper, it shows his memorial. If he lives, it shows him in a
wheelchair accepting the title of Grand Admiral of the Galaxy from the various
races. It shows what happens to your teammates from the three games based on
choices you made (for example, Wrex will become the first Krogan Council
member, Garrus becomes a Spectre, Tali is made head Admiral of Rannoch, etc) If
Shep lives, it shows him with his love interest. If the Normandy
was properly upgraded in the previous game and you spoke to Joker and EDI
frequently, it shows EDI pulling an unconscious but alive Joker from the Normandy’s wreckage. It
shows destruction (higher if your assets were low) across the galaxy, and
details how your choices affect the fate of the universe.

Secret scene if Thane died. Kai Leng in shown to be alive
and limping on a strange planet. He is constantly looking over his shoulder,
muttering about revenge and Shepard. Finally, he takes a step and his head
explodes. It zooms out to show Kolyat looking down the sights of a smoking
sniper rifle

That's mine, the last ones a bit of a joke but whatever. How would you end it?

Modifié par Adamantium93, 10 mars 2012 - 02:02 .

[fish of doom]

make the crucible simply a way to weaken the reapers in a given way, so that they can be destroyed with conventional warfare, which is up to your war assets as regarding how effective that is. simple, elegant, leaves room for using the war assets properly, and presents probably hundreds of variables that can help determine how it all works out. eliminating the current crucible mechanic also lets them keep the original motivation for the reapers, which got massively retconned into a transhumanist wankfest (that is apparently pretty much ripped off from deus ex: human revolution). everything else should flow smoothly from there.

[Adugan]

Interstellar SPASE LAZER that locates Reapers in the galaxy and CHARGEZ TEH LAZER.

[Lmaoboat]

"No! I must kill the reapers" he shouted
The radio said "No, Shepard. You are the reapers"
And then Shepard was a husk.

[Thormgrim]

Adamantium93 nice thinking, I would prefer my shephard to retire though ( which he said to anderson just before the london mission ). A small house on Rannoch ( for Tali LI ) and so on =)  
But that would've definitely been an end I hoped at.

Modifié par Thormgrim, 10 mars 2012 - 02:22 .

[lucidfox]

I'm going to write a fanfic about this. I'm not going for a cliche riding-into-the-sunset ending, but I do want to make it more narratively fitting into the story than what we've got.

[Nafzger]

The first thing I would do is take the Crucible out completely. Then I would do this:

We know the reapers have a weakness in that red eye of theirs, most of them any way. They can also be destroyed by shooting one with the Cain, apparently. So our biggest threat are the really big Sovereign-class reapers like Harbinger. They're only a threat because of their shields. Once we're through those, they could not withstand an attack from a fleet that large.

So let's take that and make the game a focus on finding a way to disrupt their shields. And I never thought I'd be taking this route, but seriously...the ID4 ending is the best route at this point. We don't necessarily have to give a virus to the mother reaper or anything, but maybe using research we've gathered, we can discover a way to disrupt them. I believe Sovereign's shields were disrupted when Saren was destroyed, right?

Alright so now that's our focus. Everything plays out as normal up until Thessia. Thessia goes down the same way, with Shepard discovering a prothean beacon in the statue of the goddess, and then Kai Leng showing up and stealing the information.

And now our plan is a two-front war, so to speak. While the bulk of our intergalactic armada take on the reapers around earth, you and your squad are heading to TIMs secret base. The squadmates you did not bring with you are also on earth to help with the fight.

This is where ME2 comes into play. If you destroyed the base, once you reach Cerberus HQ and peruse TIM files, you find out what he's planning; using the data he's uncovered from Mars and Thessia, in addition to his many other sources, he's discovered a way to take control of the reapers via the Citadel. He wants to use their power to enslave the rest of the galaxy under human rule.

If you gave the base to Cerberus, you find out the same thing as above, except you also see in the Collector base data a method of disrupting the shields of the reapers via the Citadel. But TIM is already on his way there to take control of the reapers.

Now it's a race to the Citadel to stop TIM and save the galaxy. TIM beats them there as he had a head start. Shepard arrives and has a showdown with TIM. P/R options can happen to convince him what he's doing is wrong. Either way, TIM ends up dying and Shepard gains access to the main control panel.

Now we have options based on our choices. If we DESTROYED the base, we cannot disable the shields, but we CAN destroy the reapers outright (Renegade). The problem is that the method of destruction is beyond nuclear, and will wipe out the majority of the fleet and any planets surrounding will also feel the effects. OR, we can assume control of the reapers (paragon), at the cost of Shepard's life, and turn them back to dark space never to return.

If we KEPT the base, we have the options above, plus a third option: disable their shields. Disabling the shields makes the reapers a hell of a lot weaker and our armada can destroy them. Shepard can live and join the fight on earth.

And then again our choices have reflections. If our armada is strong, the reapers are completely annihilated by the combined might with low casualties. If our armada is weak, it's a pyrrhic victory at the cost of many lives.


If you picked the disable option, Harbinger will survive because he's the lead reaper, leading to a final confrontation on Earth. This fight will be similar to the one in game where we launch the missiles at the destroyer, except this time it's Harbinger. We can call in troops to take care of the ground enemies while we focus on arming the missiles. We can also coordinate airstrikes and bombings from above. Periodically, Harbinger will assume direct control of a mini-boss style reaper spawn (Marauder, Brute, Banshee) until he is finally defeated.

And that's how I would have done it.

Then he has a speech with Shepard all about how it's impossible for a being of perfection to lose to an organic. Shepard tells him that he underestimated life in the system, etc etc. Whatever you want really at this point.

EDITED: Took out a small section that was inconsequential

Modifié par Nafzger, 10 mars 2012 - 03:12 .

[karlemil89]

"I am John F.U Shepard and I don't take any "World Is Doomed By Civilization!"-crap from anyone!"

Modifié par karlemil89, 10 mars 2012 - 03:10 .

[Kitten Tactics]

Cut to the credits before Hackett says the Crucible isn't working.

Let "Best seats in the house" be the final line.  Lets us imagine the rest, so everybody can have the ending they want. 

Whether it is Shepard dying or living, Crucbile working or not, Reapers destroyed or not.  

Modifié par Kitten Tactics, 10 mars 2012 - 03:14 .

[Zulakkar]

I read a FF in which the Quarians had created what was in essence a giat overloard system. I believe that the "Crucible" could have been used as that only targeting all reapers and reaper related tech. End of story, simple and effective and could be epic enuff.

[AveImperator85]

Shepard activates the Crucible which emits an energy pulse attuned to Reaper energy signals that destroys them, but nothing else.

With it's tools and solution destroyed, Citadel rages at Shepard, who proceeds to blow it up in style.

Shepard is evacuated by the Normandy as the allied fleets of the galaxy destroy and dismantle the Reapers. He is then shown in a hospital, recovering, with the entire Normandy crew (survivors from entire trilogy), Anderson, and Hackett who awards him with a medal and commendation.

Shepard marries Tali'Zorah, have 2.5 kids, barbeque with Garrus on the weekends, and live happily-ever-f*!^ing-after.

[SSHSpartan]

I haven't even beat the game yet, and I can already tell you that I like... no LOVE your ending a lot more then the ending that I've been hearing about from everywhere. It makes sense, makes your choices throughout the games matter(ME1,2,3), and it gives up a proper ending to a story that I have grown to love over the last few years.

[Jonathan Shepard]

Adamantium93 wrote...

Add another to the list of POd fans. Mass Effect was my favorite series and ME3 was my favorite game up until Kai Leng died. Then it all just went downhill. Here's an image that expresses how I feel

But while Bioware comes up with a way to fix the mess they made (and you better come up with one or I'm not going to waste money on TOR or DA3), I thought I'd see what everyone has to offer. How would you end the game?

<snip!>

He meets that Catalyst, a Reaper VI named Citadel. He
explains that his duties were to spy on the races and contact the Reapers when
it was time for ascendance. Shepard asks him questions about what the Reapers
are after, but he gives only enigmatic answers, though he does say that the
survival of the galaxy is dependant upon the Reapers finishing their mission.
Shep argues with him, and you can bring up your past accomplishments, (such as
uniting the Quarians and the Geth, freeing the Rachni Queen, stopping Overlord,
etc). 

Eventually, the argument stops and the VI explains that when
the Protheans changed his programming so he would not call the Reapers, it gave
him something he had never before known: doubt. He explains that since he
learned that Shepard was hunting Saren, he had downloaded surveillance software
into Shepard’s armor and the Normandy’s
system, and he did it again when Shepard returned to the citadel in ME2, this
time downloading into Shep’s implants. He’s seen Shepard’s actions firsthand,
and sits thinking.

He states that his function had another purpose: should the
last of the Old Machines fall, he was to send signals to the Reapers to
continue the war until a replacement could be created from the race that
destroyed the last machine. Harbinger and Sovereign were the last Old Machines
in this cycle, and with both dead the VI’s programming has come into effect.

<snip!>

Secret scene if Thane died. Kai Leng in shown to be alive
and limping on a strange planet. He is constantly looking over his shoulder,
muttering about revenge and Shepard. Finally, he takes a step and his head
explodes. It zooms out to show Kolyat looking down the sights of a smoking
sniper rifle

That's mine, the last ones a bit of a joke but whatever. How would you end it?

The bolded part is the only bit I'm not sure about. If those two Reapers are the last of the Reapers, how is the Guardian still commanding any Reapers? Reapers ARE the Old Machines... anyway, everything else you wrote was a thousand times better than what was given. At least that much.

[Adamantium93]

Jonathan Shepard wrote...

Adamantium93 wrote...

Add another to the list of POd fans. Mass Effect was my favorite series and ME3 was my favorite game up until Kai Leng died. Then it all just went downhill. Here's an image that expresses how I feel

But while Bioware comes up with a way to fix the mess they made (and you better come up with one or I'm not going to waste money on TOR or DA3), I thought I'd see what everyone has to offer. How would you end the game?

<snip!>

He meets that Catalyst, a Reaper VI named Citadel. He
explains that his duties were to spy on the races and contact the Reapers when
it was time for ascendance. Shepard asks him questions about what the Reapers
are after, but he gives only enigmatic answers, though he does say that the
survival of the galaxy is dependant upon the Reapers finishing their mission.
Shep argues with him, and you can bring up your past accomplishments, (such as
uniting the Quarians and the Geth, freeing the Rachni Queen, stopping Overlord,
etc). 

Eventually, the argument stops and the VI explains that when
the Protheans changed his programming so he would not call the Reapers, it gave
him something he had never before known: doubt. He explains that since he
learned that Shepard was hunting Saren, he had downloaded surveillance software
into Shepard’s armor and the Normandy’s
system, and he did it again when Shepard returned to the citadel in ME2, this
time downloading into Shep’s implants. He’s seen Shepard’s actions firsthand,
and sits thinking.

He states that his function had another purpose: should the
last of the Old Machines fall, he was to send signals to the Reapers to
continue the war until a replacement could be created from the race that
destroyed the last machine. Harbinger and Sovereign were the last Old Machines
in this cycle, and with both dead the VI’s programming has come into effect.

<snip!>

Secret scene if Thane died. Kai Leng in shown to be alive
and limping on a strange planet. He is constantly looking over his shoulder,
muttering about revenge and Shepard. Finally, he takes a step and his head
explodes. It zooms out to show Kolyat looking down the sights of a smoking
sniper rifle

That's mine, the last ones a bit of a joke but whatever. How would you end it?

The bolded part is the only bit I'm not sure about. If those two Reapers are the last of the Reapers, how is the Guardian still commanding any Reapers? Reapers ARE the Old Machines... anyway, everything else you wrote was a thousand times better than what was given. At least that much.

Sorry, I should have clarified. The "Old Machines" (I couldn't think of a better name, so I borrowed this one.) would be the original Reapers from the beginning of the Reaper's existence, all the others would be Reapers created from harvested races. They younger Reapers are directly controlled by the immeasurably powerful Old Machines. Without them, they would go insane and wipe out all life, which is not their purpose. Hence, the VI is a failsafe to ensure that that never happened.

[CrazyCatDude]

I posted something very similar to this in another thread, but I think it fits here just fine.

The platform
floats up, and we meet the catalyst, and the catalyst presents us with
three options.  The Catalyst starts going on and on about how the
created will always kill the creator.  Then, when we currently get the choice between the three paths, we are given a dialog wheel with three options.  One is "Okay."  The other two are paragon and renegade versions of a speach that says, "Bulls***!  Look out there.  Geth and Quarian, fighting
side by side.  Look at the Normandy, look at Joker and EDI.  We're
making it work.  Maybe it will last, maybe it won't, but who the f***
are you deny us the chance to try?"

If you don't have the geth, you can't make these arguments.  If you let the geth destroy the Quarians, the Catalyst isn't swayed, leaving you with the original three endings.  If you have the Quarians and the geth, but your EMS is to low, the Catalyst agrees, and destroys the Reapers and the Citadel, but Shepard rides the Citadel down in flames.  If your EMS is high enough, 5K or higher, The Catalyst agrees, and as the Citadel starts to go boom, Cortez appears in the Shuttle, and the five squadmates you did not have with you on the long march to the beam drag you aboard, dropping you next to the two squadmates you did have with you, who are in almost as bad a shape as you are.

Cut to the med bay on the Normandy, where Hackett tells you that once you've recovered, the Alliance Navy wants to promote you to Admiral and the rest of the races want to make you the head of the new councel.  You can chose to accept the councelor job, a take the promotion, or ask for the Normandy as a retirement present.  Once you've made your decision, your LI steps up and takes your hand (if he/she wasn't one of the injured squadmates) while every other squadmate from all three games smile in on you through the window of the medbay, except your two injured squadmates, who are on the other beds in the room.

Queue epic music

[HKR148]

Best idea is to flood the forum with the ending problem until they fix it while sending tons of notification of dissatisfaction [aka memorendum] to Bioware while voting your money away from anything they may release.

[Allison_Lightning]

A little bit of a tangent but the end is what I think could have worked and what my Shepard thinks could have been her favourite ending.

We tore after Saren after Ashley's death together with a blackness in our hearts, we wished to save Matriarch Benezia as Liara was forced to watch her unable to fight the indoctrination- we nearly saved everyone at Zhu's Hope except for a little singularity in the wrong place. We cursed Udina and tore off for Ilos and vowed that the cycle would end- that this cycle's races would survive. We stopped Saren, to get killed in a Collector attack and working with Cerberus hurt us. Miranda grew to be a friend we wanted to succeed and were ecstatic to see Garrus and Tali. The reunion after a hell of a fight with a Praetorian with Kaidan hurt as his apology rekindled a spark of hope.

As we faced down the suicide mission and the prospect of dead fish if we failed to feed them after every single mission or cluster change- we got our teammates loyalty and promised to get them through as Harbinger tried again and again in the Collector Base to end us. The Human-Reaper scared us and a vault at the wrong time nearly had us blasted to failure but we overcame as the Reaper Harbinger echoed dire warnings and eerie prophecies. Telling the Illusive Man to go away after destroying the Collector base was the culmination of wanting away from Cerberus and to punch his lights out after sending us into traps- risking the lives of our team. We revelled in his anger as we prepared for out final stretch, not a world left unvisited as we knew the road ahead would be hard but rewarding if we pulled out all the stops.

We were mistaken and a paragon can only be pushed so far- especially after Akuze so Shepard and I talked and we hate the endings and this is our say on what should have happened.

Then after discovering we would be walking into a deus ex machina ending that would leave the galaxy in ruins- we decided to patch through to Harbinger and make a deal to get rid of the brat. Give us fifty thousand more years- surely the extra progress is more appetizing harvesting and we’ll eliminate the thing that is making you little more than puppets, big prawn shaped puppets.
Working together, we wiped out the Catalyst brat and Harbinger happily planned its incursion in fifty thousand years only on the condition that we give ourselves over. Shepard and I consider it for a second, for the greater good but our teammates convince us we can’t do that and so we turn the reaper’s greatest strengths against them. We force them to take control of their husks and indoctrinated as we incinerate their ships. Harbinger turns around and possesses a team member dependent on past choices and mistakes and whichever teammate has the lowest score of character interaction is it or conversely the highest, dependent on actions in the past games such as the Collector Base and the Council to pass a check to go to the lowest. No fewer than ten critical decisions should factor in- failing more than three counts as to the highest which would mean for most, their L.I and a failure across the board with all critical decisions (obviously really hard) would force the player to choose a teammate as their main character for the final battle as Shepard is the one indoctrinated. This is justified because of teammates dragged around near Reapers throughout the games- and the threat of indoctrination.

The choices are, give in and go with Harbinger and the last surviving Reapers to slowly rebuild the Reapers in dark space to continue the cycle for their gain or destroy the teammate/Harbinger/ Shepard dependent on your decisions for all games.

[alapama]

Zilla the Mom Ending:

Shephard collapses on the ground in front of the terminal. Admiral Hackett is yelling, pleading over the com, but to no avail. Nothing is happening as it should. Shephard! For God's sake Shephard! All is lost. His voice cracks a bit as if in utter futility. You can hear desperation and despair in his tone. It gets very dark and quiet.

Then out of the darkness a scampering noise, faint at first it gets louder and louder. Spindly legs slowly fade into view and appear in front of Shephard's body. A slow pan upwards and we find it is a Keeper. Big bulging eyes look at Shephard, then look out the window towards the Reapers and Earth, and finally, the Keeper looks at the Crucible terminal. Other Keepers, seems like hundreds, have filed into this strange room in the Citadel, one that only the Keepers knew existed. Two Keepers pull Shephard back towards where Anderson is lying and roll Shephard over onto his back. One Keeper stands over Shephard and scans him and starts "working" on him as if at a Citadel terminal. The same is happening to Admiral Anderson as that Keeper reaches into the strange back-pack contraption on its back. Whatever they are, whatever they are doing, they are furiously busy. The Illusive Man is left alone. He is tainted. They know it. Meanwhile, the other Keepers are lining up along the massive window, side by side, to look out over a desolate battlefield: the Earth. Their shapes silhouetted and dark seem strange. They are here as spectators, to watch. Their time has come; they have waited centuries untold for this moment. The main Keeper looks down at the Crucible terminal and pushes a single button. Slowly it looks up and the cut scenes begin.

A huge ball of energy explodes from the Crucible to spread like a blanket of glittering light. The Reapers and husks are the only ones affected and literally begin to glow then disintegrate when the energy touches their hulls and bodies. They do not fly away, they do not flee, they are annihilated and vaporized on the spot—dramatically, painfully of course. Joker struggles to his feet in the Normandy and peers out of the huge cockpit window. The Reaper so close simply crumbles. Joker's mouth drops in utter disbelief. In a rare moment, he is speechless. This powerful foe gone in seconds. EDI is at his side. In a moment of human-ness, she puts a hand on his shoulder. The energy covers the heavens then finally falls to Earth. We see James, thick in battle and exhausted look stunned as this covering of light falls from the sky and vaporizes a husk he is fighting hand to hand. It is there, then there is nothing, no? We see Wrex, a look of shock and disbelief on his face at the sudden destruction of the enemies before him--yes, he will live to see his children. Grunt runs up behind him tired, also amazed at what he is seeing. He has a huge, bleeding wound on his head in the same place as Wrex's head scar. Wrex looks at him for a moment, then points at the oozing badge of honor and laughs. They let loose a loud victorious growl then stomp the ground together in that Urdnot Clan way. Garrus is wounded, lying against a pile of wreckage and like the last time death was knocking at his door he found himself clutching his beloved sniper rifle. He watches the scene through his pain. We win. He shakes his head in wonderment. His commander, his best friend, has done it. Then we see that Tali is searching and searching the battlefield frantically. She finally sees Garrus and runs towards him. She kneels to check on his condition. Garrus motions that all is well. She sighs deeply in relief then stands up and looks at the scene before her. She opens her arms wide to embrace the falling light as if to say, Wow, look at this! Garrus watches as she is overcome with emotion. She found her home world, but now she has a life. Then she folds her arms in front of her defiantly while shaking her head up and down-- those boshtet Reapers!

Back at the Citadel floor we see Anderson's hand lying lifeless on the ground—his finger, barely a twitch. Anderson is still alive. The Keepers over him back away and join the others at the window. Shephard's hand is next to Anderson's when we see it reach out frantically and grab Anderson's wrist, as if to keep him from falling off a cliff. This is his commander, friend, and at times a father; a man who never gave up on him. We only see this pair of hands telling the story: "I'm here sir. Hang on."

Back on the planet we see jeering and cheering from the armies and allies of Earth. We see former enemies grabbing each other in pure joy, we see organics and synthetics in unity. A huge Geth Prime mimicking organic affection, grabs a nearby Quarian, lifting him completely off the ground and hugs him. Wait, did we really just see that? Then atop a bombed out building we see a familiar, stoic figure. It is Admiral Hackett holding a weapon, ready for his last stand. He would go down with a fight among his men; for he is a soldier to the end. Instead, he just stands there now and ever so slowly hangs his head and drops the rifle to his side. His sigh is heavy, deep. As he looks up again and slowly pans his head side to side to take in the victorious sight he thought was lost, we see something we never thought we could: a tear in the eye of a weary, hardened old warrior. He does not smile, he does not jeer, he does not celebrate. He just lets go of one, lone tear. Cut scene to Jack and Miranda who look around the suddenly confused quiet of victory and spy each other across an open war zone. They realize they were fighting within a few yards of each other; side by side. They walk up to one another dirty, bloodied, and bruised. Miranda was cautious. Would Jack carry through with her threat against the “Cerberus cheerleader” years earlier? Jack stares hard at Miranda. She then holds her hand up ready for a high five; it is a gesture of peace. Miranda pauses, then accepts. They both begin to laugh because that is so not like Miranda. Finally we see Liara and Ashley/Kaiden, walking forward from rubble to look at the sky. The love interest is clearly worried, frantic, and looks to the friend, the friend comforts with a look that says all will be well. Then in a glorious cut scene ending, we watch as one by one the Reapers vanish from the entire planet.

The main Keeper at the terminal pushes a final button. The light beam now shoots swiftly from relay to relay, star system to star system. They are not destroyed, rather the relays are “harbingers” of death to the Reapers and yet victory to a united galaxy we have fought hard for and have come to love. What the Reapers built as a manipulative tool to destroy others, destroyed them. The irony cannot be overlooked.

Back on the Citadel Shephard finds enough strength to raise his head and see all the Keepers watching the victory before them. Then the sound is clearly heard, yet strangely he also feels it. It's like a low hum that vibrates louder and louder, stronger and stronger. (You can feel it as you hold the controller). He realizes the room is alive with an energy he has never experienced. It goes on and on and feels alive. Are the Keepers speaking, celebrating? They are! The Keepers have vanquished their enemy who had enslaved them since time began. They remembered Saren as he angrily slaughter so many of them years ago when they did not respond to the Reaper signal. That instance had changed them, given them enough self-will to stand for this moment. No one understood that this quiet creature had been watching, listening; they were the unknown ally for Shephard and his crew all this time. In the end, the Keepers won the victory. They are the heroes. They are the slaves that overcame and destroyed a powerful creature they had watched inflict pain and suffering for centuries untold. They would end the cycle, but they needed their own catalyst for this moment. And Shephard came.

Slowly the Keepers start leaving to disappear into the Citadel once again. The main Keeper, the one at the terminal turns towards Shephard. It does not pass by as the others do, but stops. It looks down into Shephard's face. It is a deep, long stare. It's head is so close to Shephard's that he leans back a bit. The stare is permeating through to Shephard's very soul. He can feel a vibration in his chest, his head. Ever so slowly it bows it's head in respect, in gratitude, almost as if to say, well done. Shephard, curious and confused, slowly nods in reply. Then the creature is gone as Shephard slowly falls back and starts to lose consciousness again. The world slowly fades to white when we hear noises in the background; this time human noises. "They are here!!!!" A familiar voice is barking medical orders. It is a commanding voice, a tense voice: do this and do that now! You, take care of Anderson. You, bring me that med kit. It is Dr. Chakwas. This time she has come to rescue Shephard. "I'm here Shephard. I'm here. No one gets left behind, remember?" she says in a soothing, gentle tone. And all goes white.

That is my ending and I'm sticking to it. My heroes live, which is fitting for such a valiant fight! Shame on you Bioware for not keeping the magic of such a fantastic story alive for your fans to the very end!

Modifié par alapama, 10 mars 2012 - 08:13 .

[beccathelion]

Shepard falls, drifts towards serene voices calling his name, but he comes to when he hears heavy footsteps. He rolls over on his back, sees Ghost Boy staring at him. Shepard closes his eyes, "I'm dead, aren't I?" GB speaks; he has Harbinger's voice (BECAUSE WHERE THE HELL WAS HARBINGER AS A BOSS?!?!) He says, "From the beginning, I warned you, Shepard. And now you all will die." Blah blah he is appearing as the little kid, because he can connect to Shepard's memory/perception, because Shep has Reaper/Prothean bits in him from Cerberus or something, idk idc. Tons of ways to work it in. And then Harbinger becomes various members of the crew as he explains GAPING PLOTHOLES while staring out at burning Earth. But Shepard is defiant, gets to his knees. Harbinger calls him pathetic, gets all pissy when Shepard won't stand down. He asks Shepard, "Who is it you think you are, to stand in the way of this order?" And rallying his last strength, Shepard stands as straight as a soldier can, proud, looks at Harbinger dead in the eye, and says, "I'm Commander Shepard. And this is my universe, you son of a ****." Then he sets off the Crucible and blows everything up. Lots of images of Reapers falling. The whole Earth just watching the battle end.

After, there's a military funeral. Full honors. When that's over, the crew is back on the Normandy in the lounge, drinking. Love interest sitting listlessly, watching a vid of Shepard talking about something funny-- some down
time we didn't get to see. Drunk in the lounge or something. A happy moment. Garrus puts his arm on love interest's back:

Garrus: He/She did this for you more than anybody. He/She loved you. It was written all over him/her like a bad romance novel.
LI: I know. I just can't believe he/she is gone. He/she was the greatest man/woman I've ever known.
Jacob: That any of us have ever known.
Joker: But God... was he/she a terrible dancer or what? Like a vorcha having a seizure.
Chakwas: And those awful endorsements: This is my favorite store on the Citadel...
Everyone laughs. They look around the empty Normandy lounge. They all go quiet.
Ashley: What are we supposed to do now?
Garrus: What we've always done. Follow his lead. Into any Hell, at any cost, for anyone.
James: I'll drink to that.
The group all raises their glasses.
Liara: To the future of the Normandy.
Joker: To the future.


Cut to clean-up crews working to repair a totally destroyed Earth. End. HOORAY. HE'S DEAD, BUT AT LEAST IT WAS WORTH IT. He didn't take some little **** ghost boy's word and HURL HIMSELF INTO THE ARMS OF DEATH, DEFEATED AND TIRED.

Modifié par beccathelion, 11 mars 2012 - 07:17 .