The Indoctrination theory is correct. Now, don’t stop
reading here just because you disagree with this theory, hear me out.
Ok, I won’t go into the reasons why it looks like
indoctrination, just for the sake of my argument, let’s assume they are true, so
I don’t have to waste word count arguing in their favor.
The idea is Bioware planned this whole thing from the start,
in the name of a patch/free dlc/ or Expansion Pack (remember those?), why? To
avoid spoilers of course! Think about it, the script gets leaked; Bioware makes
changes significantly, and denies it’s the real thing, the ending videos get
leaked and they basically say “Yep, that’s about right.” Either that, or it’s an EA plan to milk you for
more money, but hey, not unlike the expansion packs of days of yore, you didn’t
see the ending if you didn’t buy the expansion.
Here’s how I see the whole thing panning out.
If you chose the “correct” ending or “Destroy”, then Shepard
wakes up in the ruins regardless of whether or not you saw the video of the N7
armor taking a breath (though that does factor in later) this all works out
since Destroy is the easiest ending to attain, so Bioware can assure all their
customers a chance at a good ending (just not the BEST ending).
Anyway, Shep wakes up in the Ruins of London, his squad he
took down desperately trying to pull him out and get him to a field hospital;
Shepard gets carried to one and gets healed to a workable degree. At that
point, the player takes control again, the Crucible device itself turns out to
be an new and improved version of the reaper indoctrination devices, planted
eons ago for races to discover and build, thinking they had found their
salvation, when in reality they merely were putting the final nail in their own
coffins. Shepard’s and Normandy’s mission? Destroy the Crucible; take out
Harbinger, save the day.
Now at this point, Shepard and his squad fight their way
through the ruins of London, making their way to some form of strategic target,
potentially some way of deactivating the Crucible’s shields or sommat. If the
Player gathered enough war materiel then at certain points, the fights will be
made easier, with say, Krogan soldiers making the charge into a Cannibal
pillbox, Quarians and Geth making bombing and strafing runs on columns of Husks,
if the player did NOT gather appropriate resources, then the fights will be
harder, making the fight to the target all the more difficult.
Shepard and company make their way to the target and bring
down Harbinger on them, whom at this point is quite done with ASSUMING DIRECT
CONTROL and is ready to kill Shepard himself, Shepard then fights a large
quantity of enemies, while Harbinger blows away his cover, making the fight
progressively more difficult the longer it takes, of course at this point,
Shepard can summon in allies ala Dragon Age Origins to help out, Quarian
Strafing runs, Krogan Soldiers, Turian Snipers ect.
Back on the ground, if Shepard managed to make his way to
the base of Harbinger, he discovers that the intel was bad, the target they
were trying to reach, was in fact a dud. The real shield control is inside
Harbinger himself. The crew blows their way into the reaper, fighting yet more
enemies the whole way, only this time, no allies to help. The team reaches the
heart of Harbinger, where the Star-Child appears again to appeal to Shepard not
to destroy Harbinger or the crucible, only this time, Shepard, made wiser by
the Catalyst’s test in the Dream-Crucible, will have none of it, and watches as
the Star-Child turns into a hologram of Harbinger himself, whom at that point
will attempt to forcibly indoctrinate Shep in the messy and fast way, Shepard
himself will destroy the control for the Crucible’s shield, simultaneously killing
Harbinger himself, whom is acting as a command post for the reaper fleet,
which, his death sends the Reapers and their ground forces reeling, giving the
allied forces time to take advantage of the lull to hit hard (while we get a
scene from Admiral Hackett, ordering the 5th fleet to take the
advantage Shepard has given them.)
Meanwhile up above, Joker and the Normandy are having
trouble, getting to the Crucible itself is proving difficult, but depending on
the strength of the fleet, they can manage to make their way with either heavy
damage to the Normandy (in which case it destroys the Crucible at the cost of
the ship itself, ramming the side) or they manage to blow the Crucible up with
minimal difficulty if the fleet is strong enough to keep the Reapers of their
backs.
Now, back inside Harbinger, the Reaper’s body slowly blowing
up, Shepard and team have to get out before the explosion kills them, fighting
yet more reaper ground forces on the way out, escaping before the timer. Along
the way, Shepard is injured, badly.
After the team have escaped (and if they did not manage to
they get a different ending, see Synthesis) then the Reaper fleet is rocking on
its heels from the destruction of both Harbinger AND the Crucible, you get to
watch as the fleet is mopped up, Shepard is rushed to a field hospital again,
in the care of either Dr. Chakwas or Dr. Michel, and depending on your war
assets/whether you saw the N7 armor in rubble, Shepard’s alive video after they
destroy choice, the Shepard survives his wound and lives, if you did NOT gather
sufficient war resources, and never saw the Shepard’s alive video, then you get
to see Shepard dying in the arms of his love interest, succumbing to his wounds
as his squad looks on, then we see Shepard's funeral.
That’s the Destroy ending.
Here’s how I see the Synthesis ending panning out.
If you chose Synthesis, Shepard still wakes up in the ruins,
crawling his way out, only this time, he’s become Saren 2.0, his body and mind
partially controlled by the Reapers, he never visits the Alliance field
hospital, since now his synthetic parts, being slowly “Improved” by the Reapers
have subsumed his organic ones, in this case, the player still controls
Shepard, fighting against Alliance forces, potentially shooting his former squad
mates as they drag him out of the rubble, but now they are tasked with
defending the target. Alliance Forces make their way to the target, attempting
to bring it down despite Shepard’s “death” as Shepard himself fights them off,
this may or may not include fighting your own squad. Just as an unexpected
Alliance strike team makes their way to the target (no matter what the player
does) Harbinger lands, intending to destroy them himself, now made cocky by his
mastery of his old foe, Shepard.
At that point, Shepard manages to regain control of himself,
his will breaking through the indoctrination and he fights his way through
Harbinger as before, potentially accompanied by his squad if they weren’t
killed (by having a high number of War Resources, hence they were better
protected) and makes his way to the bowels of Harbinger, intending to destroy
him, the ending plays out the same as before, the Star Child appears, reveals
himself to be Harbinger and forces his will on Shepard, only this time, the
indoctrination is beginning to work, Shepard’s mind slowly beginning to break
and crack under the pressure of Harbinger’s assault. Shepard then has the
option to try and break the indoctrination, in which event, if he had
sufficient War Resources to give him time to, he succeeds, and the ending plays
out similarly to Destroy. If he did not, or chooses not to break
indoctrination, Shepard instead throws himself bodily into Harbinger’s core,
setting off as many grenades and explosives as he can, taking Harbinger down
with him. At that point, the player will watch Shepard’s funeral, presided over
by Admiral Hackett (or Anderson, if he survived) which will play out similarly,
with only cosmetic dialogue changes between the Death ending of the Destroy
path.
Then there’s the 3rd ending, Control, here
Shepard fully submits to Harbinger, and it plays out similarly to Synthesis,
but in this case, Squad members will die regardless of the Galactic Readiness/
War Resources rating (instead of being accompanied by his squadmates, instead
Shepard gets to nameless Alliance Scrubs), Shepard will try to throw off
Harbinger’s influence when reaching his core and fail, giving in, Reaper
victory and humanity is destroyed.
Then, this all makes way for Mass Effect 4 or something to
that effect (idk, something like Mass Effect: Universe or Mass Effect: Insert
Noun or Adjective here)
New Protagonist, new storyline, but you bring in stuff like
from Dragon Age Origins to Dragon Age 2, depending on how things turned out, if
Shepard survived, then an Admiral John Shepard (or Jane, if you prefer) makes a
cameo, if Shepard died, then you can visit the John Shepard Memorial on Earth,
with a statue of Shepard standing victorious among the wreckage of Harbinger.
If the Reapers won, then just like ME2, the save doesn't transfer.
Take the whole thing with a grain of salt, but, this is how
I see the whole thing turning out, in my opinion, even if they charge for this,
having indoctrinated their entire audience, would quite simply, make Bioware
the most brilliant developer I have seen in a long time, and the greatest
schemers of the last two years. And this way, everyone is happy, the people who
wanted their sad ending get their sad ending, the people who wanted their happy
ending, get their happy ending, the people who wanted a bittersweet ending get
their bittersweet ending, the people who wanted to see the Reapers win get to
(all because of an ill-advised choice, based entirely on color
), Biowaredoesn’t have to re-write ANYTHING to make this one fit (more credence for the
theory it was planned) and they get the option they want of making more Mass
Effect games, and at the same time, manage to completely pull the wool over the
eyes of their audience.
Modifié par Arian Dynas, 15 mars 2012 - 02:26 .
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