23455 réponses à ce sujet

[kimuji]

KingBarbarossa wrote...

 I chose the "white/neutral" ending. And in doing so, I ushered in the dawn of a new age for all life. Not only did I bind together the sometimes selfish race of the galaxy with a common thread (we're all half breeds now), but I gave us common goal to accomplish (restablish contact, figure out a new way to travel).

You've just supported a terrific theory by doing so: people are impossible to conciliate unless you destroy their differences. You just acknowledged the fact that differences is what create wars and that these differences can't be overcome and that we can't live with them. Very sad way of thinking.

And you missed an important fact: unlike the Child says there is no war between synthetics and the organics, the geths are on our side and so EDI is, they don't need to be merged to make peace. The fact is that the only threatening AIs are the Reapers who pretend to be a solution to that war that doesn't exist. I would have loved to be given the choice to tell the Reapers to leave us alone, that we have no quarrels with our AIs and that we can handle it without their murderous "help".

Modifié par kimuji, 22 mars 2012 - 12:46 .

[LadyIrithyl]

marshkoala wrote...


I did not want to play the Multi-player aspect of the game as ME 1& 2 were a single player game and I felt punished for that decision.

This is my biggest feeling on the ending. Shep dies because we don't play mulitiplayer.

Thank you bioware for taking away a "happy ending" and punishing us single players.

[SaabFAN86]

I dont have much more to add to the already very constructive posts all the others made and it is frankly a bit late now to put together a lengthy text

But i wanted t add, that i get the feeling that the end was written by a different author that didn't have enough time to go through all the material and therefore wrote an ending with cliffhanger (I chose destroy-ending and Shepard apparently lives in the very last scene + the Grandfather and the child-scene) in order to create the possibility for closure in a DLC or a sequel.

At least i hope that is the case, because this ending provides absolutely no closure to me at all. It raises question over question, which all have been asked in this thread already. And it breaks with one of the basic components i felt were always part of any bioware-game: You have a Choice!
In BG2, which i still havent finished despite numerous attempts due to its size, you are constantly presented with choices. In KOTOR i can ultimately decide to rule the galaxy or not, Mass Effect 1 gives me the choice to save the council, for the price of human lives (which was one of the great ME3-Moments: I look up the alliance fleets in ME3 for the first time and discover that my decision to save the coucil maybe wasnt so good after all).
But the ME3-Ending doesn't give me a choice at all. They all end with BANG! You are dead. And so is everybody else, or will be in a few months.
I would be fine (not fine, but not so frustrated) with an ending that leaves me right there when anderson and (Sarah) Shepard sit on the citadel and watch the galactic fleets and the reapers fight it out, while the crucible does whatever it is designed to do to give the fleet a chance to win this.

My point is this: If you were unable to produce a proper ending because there was no time left, please tell us and PLEASE fix it! I bet most people would understand (and then storm the EA-Forums, but thats "one other story" ).
If this is really the end you desired from the beginning, please explain it to us. I dont get it.
And i get even more confused when I see Shepard in a pile of rubble, not twisted metal as the exploding Citadel would suggest, and suddenly taking a breath as if she woke up from a bad dream.

Was it all just a dream?
But why is she lying there in a burnt armor? Where is she? Where are the reapers and what are they exactly? Did she really commited genocide on a galactic scale? Is Joker and everyone of my team a deserteur?

Actually: For me this is no end. It is a midseason Cliffhanger with a nasty teaser that leaves me restless until the second part of the season comes on. Like the episode of BSG where they find earth and it is just a radioactive wasteland.
And as another poster already mentioned: It feels that I did something somewhere wrong and therefore LOST! Game Over! And i dont like to lose 

Modifié par SaabFAN86, 22 mars 2012 - 12:41 .

[Jade5233]

You asked for positive and negative feedback so here it goes:

POSITIVES (and these comments pertain prior to beam hitting Shepard):
-Intricate storylines that tied in even minor quests from the first and second games. Many permutations occur depending on if you completed the quests and how. Amazing.

-Emotional connection. It was my greatest gripe with ME2--that no one really cared about Shepard, just what she could do for them. The characters made me feel they very much care for her in ME3.
-When NPC characters died, the moments were very moving and poignant.

-Variety of locations for conversations

-Kinnect makes gameplay smoother and more responsive. In playing ME2 again I realized how much I missed it.

-Crewmate interaction and banter was added back in.

-Loved that there was a progression of femShep’s relationship with Kaidan. It wasn’t automatic.

-Loved that Kaidan felt even more like a real person, faults and all. Loved how much his character grew through the game and through the series.

-Inside jokes about the Mako/Hammerhead, Shepard’s dancing, Vega’s previous last name.



NEGATIVES about the Game Before the Ending.
-The journal system is abysmal. I’ve never played an RPG before where the quest tracker doesn’t track its quests.

-The graphics in the intro are below ME2 and ME1 standards.

-Decreasing the conversations choices from 3 to 2 on the dialogue wheel, which decreases our role play of the character.

-Slow motions scenes were difficult to play, especially for biotics since powers were not useable.


CRITICISMS of the ENDING
-Multiplayer mode or sources outside of single player are required to open all endings.

-We were promised a variety of endings depending upon choices made in the saga. We got 3 that all dovetail into one that has very minor variations.

-Regardless of previous choices in the saga, there is no option for a “happy” ending where Shepard survives with his/her love interest.

-It makes no sense that Joker, the Normandy and its crew would be fleeing the battle through a mass relay, especially since it take several hours to get to Sol’s mass relay from Earth.

-Why are characters that were part of Hammer Initiative and that were in the final drive with Shepard when the beam hit, now magically upon the Normandy when the Normandy crashes?

-The Catalyst does not make sense within the context of the ME universe
-if the Citadel was part of the Star Child, the why didn’t he open the Citdel for Sovereign?
-introduction of a key character/concept into the saga in the last 5 minutes of the game

-Destruction of the mass relays, according previous Mass Effect lore (such as Arrival) should cause destruction of the entire system surrounding it. And all of the mass relays were destroyed. Hence all of the major systems/planets should have been destroyed.

-The Turians and Quarians are trapped in Sol system without a food source and will die of starvation.

-The cured genophage is rendered moot since the vast majority of the male Krogans are trapped the Sol system.

-Galactic cilivilization has been utterly destroyed since it was dependent upon intragalactic commerce and relations. Now each planet/species is stuck in their own system without contact with outside systems.


WHAT THINGS TO CHANGE
-A wider variety of choices/endings. DAO was one game and it had 21 or so endings. A saga of 3 games should at least have that.

-The option (not everyone has to take it) of an ending where Shepard & the love interest of choice can live out their lives together helping to rebuild the war-torn galaxy (or retire).

-Endings that reflect choices made throughout the saga, not just in the last 5 minutes.

-And ending that makes sense within its own context. Not a new concept that was thought up in the last 5 minutes of the game.


My problem with the ending is that not only did my Shepard sacrifice herself, but she did so without any choice in the matter (since all endings are essentially the same) and for a resolution that leaves the galaxy only slightly better than if the Reapers had destroyed it. And for an ending that doesn’t even subscribe to the tenants of physics and lore that were previously established in the Mass Effect universe.

This isn’t acceptable, BioWare. I’ve played KOTOR. I’ve played DA:O. Not to mention ME. I KNOW you can do better than this. You ask for us to trust you. We did. This is what we got. I ask you to prove that you are the company that we thought you were. Set this right for us so we can return to believing in you once again.

[jeweledleah]

speaking of spacebar and constructive criticism. I would absolutely adore it forever if the ability to bind different actions to different buttons was patched in. I don't want to roll into cover when I'm trying to use an object, or hope over aforementioned cover. I would really like to be able to perform the action I planned for Shepard, not whatever action that one button to rule them all decides to perform for me. I'll make up my own bindings. just ability to make them up would be utterly invaluable and increase re-playability of both solo and multiplayer game, by simple virtuye of removing some of the clunky control frustrations.

[MordimerMort]

jeweledleah wrote...

@ mordimermort - multiplayer mechanic - aka readiness should NOT be a deciding factor in whether the ending is achievable. its already bad enough.

Yeah, You're right. Mayby some kind of mix. Readiness rises over time - after N7 missions for example - but with MP it raises quicker.

[Bloodhound66]

Kylie Nightbreeze wrote...

The Indoc theory is flawed on two parts. One what would have happened (if Harbingers beam did Indoc Shep) is that Shepard would be utterly usless to them as Rapid Indoc destroys the subject in a matter of days, and the Reapers seemed bound and determined to use Shepard as a long term tool not a one shot wonder. Second Shepard was already part Synthetic so the artifical part of his mind would rebel against the Indoc procedure. That's just my thoughts on the matter.

It wasn't Harbingers beam that supposedly caused the indoctrination. The theory is that Shepard has been slowly becoming more and more indoctrinated as the series has progressed due to his intereactions and time spent around Reaper tech in the previous games.

[Seracen]

Again, thanks to Bioware for making a truly moving experience that entertained me for so long. In regards to storyline integrity, I find the prospect of a re-write to be no different from the various cuts of Blade Runner, not to mention any myriad of "Director's Cuts." I feel that it does not hinder brand integrity in any way at all. Here's hoping a resolution can be found which pleases all parties, or at least most parties.

[jeweledleah]

Bloodhound66 wrote...

Kylie Nightbreeze wrote...

The Indoc theory is flawed on two parts. One what would have happened (if Harbingers beam did Indoc Shep) is that Shepard would be utterly usless to them as Rapid Indoc destroys the subject in a matter of days, and the Reapers seemed bound and determined to use Shepard as a long term tool not a one shot wonder. Second Shepard was already part Synthetic so the artifical part of his mind would rebel against the Indoc procedure. That's just my thoughts on the matter.

It wasn't Harbingers beam that supposedly caused the indoctrination. The theory is that Shepard has been slowly becoming more and more indoctrinated as the series has progressed due to his intereactions and time spent around Reaper tech in the previous games.

also, according to EDI, shepard doesn't have artificial parts to his mind.  his brain functions are entirely organic.  this is part of my issue with Starchild claims.  they contradict the statemnts of EDI AND Dr Chakwas (who scannes Shepard for signs of rejection for of his/her implants - implying they are more prothstetic then anything else)

@ Mort - that would be a great compromice, as long as 100% readiness is acheavable through single player alone (if its a requirement for perfect ending)

Modifié par jeweledleah, 22 mars 2012 - 12:43 .

[K2LU533]

My main gripe is with the plot holes, Joker and Normandy escaping? (How and why?) Why does Shep end up in rubble that is clearly not from the Citadel (Indoc theory possible?) Squadmates being on Normany (again, how?). And also the lack of clarity or confusion in some parts; synthesis (how? why? isn't that just doing what the Reapers want? What exactly does that mean for everyone?) Normandy crash landing (again not explained) Why does the 3 final option try and trick you with opposite renegade/paragon colors? Other than that, I thought the game was brilliant, epic, the best one of the three, one of the best games I have ever played. Just let down by the ending somewhat.

[knupso0]

Just throwing my 2cents in.
Most of the game was awesome.
Loved the hearing the Geth's side of the story.
Hated the ending. I just watched this video and all I can say is that is just being lazy.
EA and Bioware could hit one out of the park and win a lot of fan loyalty be fixing this with a real ending DLC that is FREE. If I have to pay to see a real ending, then I am voting with my wallet.
No more EA games or Bioware games for me ever.
I have already canceled my SW:TOR subscription in protest.

[llllshadowllll]

Hell, I want a REAL BIG Fight back on Earth showing every single ally fighting the Reapers, and in the space every single Fleet doing your Best To Stop The Reapers, and of course i want Shepards last confrontation with Harbinger. Because without these things is not Mass Effect

[Riddledim]

Bloodhound66 wrote...

kimuji wrote...

Riddledim wrote...

This seems almost dangerous to state.

The indoctrination theory leaves us with less than the current ending. It leaves a plot hole so huge it consumes the rest of them.
They stated this was the end of the series. The DLC will only build the legend that is Shepard. But they said that this is the end.

So if this is the end, how does the indoctrination theory make sense, how does it justify?

The indoctrination allows to recon all that don't make sense after Harbinger's beam, especially all the child's speech. It opens the path allowing to fix it. If you want further explanations read my post on the previous page.

Still, the indoctrination theory is so far-fetched and requires so much of "The Number 23" mentality to piece all of it together that it still seems a slap in the face as an ending. I would have never picked up on all of that had I not recently watched the youtube video explaining the indoc. theory, and that leaves me feeling like I'm too stupid to figure out the ending by myself. It sucks when you get a conspiracy theory instead of answers, and your thinking this is going to be the mother of all finales.

I recognize what Kijumi says now, after watching this video on the subject: 

However Bloodhound66 states a more valid point. It is not the mother of all finales. It is somewhat weak, and excusing.

If we at leat could get the option of the refusal ending. That would sate everyone.

The Refusal Ending basically has Shepard refuse indoctrination/the starchilds explenation and gamble. Gamble that every choice really did matter. Every asset, every ally gained amounts into a galactic ****-slap across the face of harbinger.

The reapers have never before faced a unified galaxy. They have never before had to deal with it all at once.
We DID figure out how to defeat them, by aiming at their weakspot (the cannon) while they charge and fire.

How can the en masse fleet of the united galaxy fail to hit those targets? Even so, there is no element known to physics that does not yield when faced with appropriate force or/and time.

Basically, the collected force of the united galaxy SHOULD be able to defeat the reapers. How can that fail?

The indoctrination theory is just another lazy opt out.

[ZoMbIEx23x]

I loved the Mass Effect 3 ending. It was so satisfying to see Shepard go out in a moment of heroic glory. The bit at the end with the N7 armor and Dog Tag, was fantastic. I was so sure Shepard was dead, but then he breathed! Thank you for the wonderful experience known as Mass Effect!


PS:
Please get the faces to import right next time. Thank you!

Edit:

After reading some of the other people's comments and valid points, I would like to see an alternate ending released. Thinking about it now, having any kind of Galactic readyness rating or amount of war assets doesn't really effect how the game ends. It boils down to three choices with shepard dying(maybe). When you(Bioware) release dlc, I would suggest making it free. I think that would please a lot of people and they wouldn't but so upset they had to download it in the first place.

Modifié par ZoMbIEx23x, 22 mars 2012 - 12:58 .

[RevanREK]

daniel_vc wrote...

On the other hand, the element of "choice and consequence" is what makes the Mass Effect series, as a whole, "revolutionary".  

I totally agree, they should at least give us the choice to have a happy ending, because if they did, everyone would be happy, the people who liked the bittersweet endings would still have that option, but the people who wanted a happy ending would also be happy being able to choose what they wanted, and none of this controversy would've happened.

Also, putting aside my personal feelings about the ending and focusing entirely on the business side of things, of course the writers have the right to end it how they want to, but they should've considered the impact the current ending would have on their fans, because without fans, games would be nothing, you can't make a game that no one's going to play or enjoy. and upsetting most of your fans isn't great publicity, the writers should take us more seriously, because in the end, it's about making a living, and if no one buys it because they dislike it, or loyal fans stop buying your products because they feel you’ve 'let them down' then where does that take the company? However admitting that you've made a miscalculation and saying a simple 'sorry' to fans can heal many wounds. And when I say a simple sorry, I don't mean one that's followed by comments of how criticism was mostly destructive... that was like saying you're sorry and then stabbing us in the back as soon as we turn around.

Besides we do have a right to be somewhat angry, we're paying you a lot of money to play this game... and some of us struggle to find the money!

[Riddledim]

llllshadowllll wrote...

Hell, I want a REAL BIG Fight back on Earth showing every single ally fighting the Reapers, and in the space every single Fleet doing your Best To Stop The Reapers, and of course i want Shepards last confrontation with Harbinger. Because without these things is not Mass Effect

WE ALL DO! THANK YOU!

[stoneddog]

[quote]TSgt_ShaneV wrote...

[quote]Lordambitious wrote...

 I'm just gonna repost this. THIS is what should have been done, what we paid for. Come on Bioware, you got it right with ME2, why revert to copying Deus Ex?




[/quote]

that's how it should have been done

[MeganHunter]

ZoMbIEx23x wrote...

I loved the Mass Effect 3 ending. It was so satisfying to see Shepard go out in a moment of heroic glory. The bit at the end with the N7 armor and Dog Tag, was fantastic. I was so sure Shepard was dead, but then he breathed! Thank you for the wonderful experience known as Mass Effect!

PS:
Please get the faces to import right next time. Thank you!

Unfortunately, that wasn't really an option for those of us who supported EDI and the Geth in the last two games. It seems like only desctruction lovin' renegades can actually get the good ending, and us lawful good paragons will always get beamed or indoctrinated or whatever. But I am heartily glad you enjoyed the endings. (That's snarkless, it's hard to tell online.)

[Riddledim]

[quote]stoneddog wrote...

[quote]TSgt_ShaneV wrote...

[quote]Lordambitious wrote...

 I'm just gonna repost this. THIS is what should have been done, what we paid for. Come on Bioware, you got it right with ME2, why revert to copying Deus Ex?




[/quote]

that's how it should have been done

[/quote]

A very, very valid point!

The refusal ending amounting into defeat of the reapers depending on gathered strength!

[Kaorimoch]

You had me until you deflected the issue with your last question. Shepard doesn't get forced to make choices by a ghost AI boy, Shepard rejects those choices and makes his own. With a gun.

[Cross429]

Kylie Nightbreeze wrote...

The Indoc theory is flawed on two parts. One what would have happened (if Harbingers beam did Indoc Shep) is that Shepard would be utterly usless to them as Rapid Indoc destroys the subject in a matter of days, and the Reapers seemed bound and determined to use Shepard as a long term tool not a one shot wonder. Second Shepard was already part Synthetic so the artifical part of his mind would rebel against the Indoc procedure. That's just my thoughts on the matter.

The Indoc theory stands (and, given the rather significant abundance of evidence - along with Shepard waking up only  when he does what the Reaperchild doesn't want, I'd say it more than stands). 1) There's no "rapid indoc".... it's been occurring since the first game: one of the reasons it was so frequently mentioned in Me1 and Me2; and 2) The artificial elements are only part of the Indoc. We watched the illusive man choose to get implants in a vidlog: he was asked by his nurse (?): "what happens if they control you?" Answer: "You'll keep me in check." Guess not.

The sudden appearance of trees - invoking the dream sequences - only after Shepard goes unconscious near the beam? Gun with unlimited ammo that doesn't affect keepers, the dying soldier, or Anderson? The repeated mentions of "looking like the collector base" after he arrives on the "Citadel?" The odd Deus Ex Machina of a bright white elevator raising Shepard up to the blue child, where he offers you three GIANT choices arranged in convenient order? The reversal of renegade and paragon for the final choice (i.e. an attempt at manipulation) - where the only "red" choice is the one that screws over the potential Indoctrinators? The "oily smoke" during the finale sequence? Those same oily smoke figures during the final dream, along with ghosts and voices (consistent with the Codex entry for Indocrtination?) The fact that after Anderson dies, Shepard suddenly has a wound in the same spot on his body? The complete incomprehensability of how Joker arrived at an exploding Mass Relay and landed in the jungle (with no voice acting: telling for an ending they planned to resolve in a DLC and didn't expect would be the actual ending)? The mention of Shepard being potentially indocrtinated multiple times during the series? Finally: the OBVIOUS bloody dreamlike quality of everything after the reaper beam hits? You try to leave the scene, you automatically die...no explanation. 

And yes, the fact that Shepard wakes up in a gorram pile of rubble with no other explanation or context if you choose the "screw this Indoctrinated scenario" option is fairly telling.

I don't know how you can honestly ignore the massive abundance of clues. The entire sense of the game changes, in a pattern consistent with indoctrination, while the characters discuss indoctrination, leading to a ludicrous, fantasy ending. Hey: maybe it's indoctrination? 

[pX NitmarE]

All we can do is wait and see, and I'm realy curiouse to see what they will announce in april

[HellishFiend]

Kylie Nightbreeze wrote...

The Indoc theory is flawed on two parts. One what would have happened (if Harbingers beam did Indoc Shep) is that Shepard would be utterly usless to them as Rapid Indoc destroys the subject in a matter of days, and the Reapers seemed bound and determined to use Shepard as a long term tool not a one shot wonder. Second Shepard was already part Synthetic so the artifical part of his mind would rebel against the Indoc procedure. That's just my thoughts on the matter.

It wasnt Harbinger's beam that indoctrinated Shepard. He's been in the process of being indoctrinated over the course of all 3 games, ever since the reapers "noticed" Shepard. Also, indoctrinated Saren had artificial "enhancements" by the reapers, as does Shepard since he was brought back from the dead (technology likely manipulated into the Illusive Man's hands by the reapers) If you do some further research, it will make more sense. 

[Bloodhound66]

KingBarbarossa wrote...

 I know you guys are getting buried under piles of posts complaining about your endings (I don't see enough people talking about this in plural, which is a huge red flag to me). I just want to make sure you have at least one that tells you what an absolutely wonderful job you did on the endings.

I really loved how each ending irrevocably changed the course of the mass effect universe in ways that can't really be measured. You forced me to drastically alter the status quo of not just humanity's, but every race's civilization. And it all happened because of the choices I made. I chose the "white/neutral" ending. And in doing so, I ushered in the dawn of a new age for all life. Not only did I bind together the sometimes selfish race of the galaxy with a common thread (we're all half breeds now), but I gave us common goal to accomplish (restablish contact, figure out a new way to travel). There were several times during the game when I was nearly in tears from sadness and guilt over what I had done. I sacrificed friends I loved for the sake of the greater good. Who gave me that right? Would it even be worth it in the end? Even with all I had done, would things just end up the way they were before, but with untold billions dead? And in the end, I accomplished something I'd never even dreamed of. I'd paved the way for possibilities I can't even imagine. And yet, all I have won is bitter sweet because of the losses I'd suffered along the way, the friends who didn't live to see it.

Bravo and brava Team Montreal. You have personally changed my life for the better. I will go to my grave with the wonderful memories I made playing your games. I can only snicker at the fools who can't see the value in your craft, who claim that video games can't be art. I don't know how else I could describe what you've created.

My request is simple. Whatever you do, keep the three endings intact. They all have great value. If the internet so terribly needs to maintain the status quo, if they must "make everything ok" , or if they're just plain too lazy to earn a better ending through playing your fantastic multiplayer (which is stunning as well by the way), just add a fourth ending. I know it will be nearly impossible to reconcile something that basically keeps the universe the same with the amazing ending I got, but if anyone can do it you can. You've proved you're in a class by yourself. Don't let people tell you you're not. And lastly, they wouldn't care this much if you hadn't done such an amazingly fantastic job with this series. Thank you again, and I can't wait to play the DLC.

Love,

A fellow developer

P.S. - It wouldn't kill you to let us play with one or two of the characters from ME2 again.

Don't presume that because the majority of us feel the ending fell short that we're discrediting BioWare or the writers or staff in any way. If you actually follow the Mass Effect lore, than there should be no doubt that everything with the Catalyst contradicted the entire premise of the last two games.

I can't believe how many people there are like you, who comment on this thread thinking that the community is in an uproar over some false sense of entitlement, and that the developers need to be defended. NO ONE IS ATTACKING THE HARD WORKING STAFF OF BIOWARE!

We are expressing, out of pure love of the Mass Effect franchise, that the ending we are presented with currently defeats everything we have grown to love about the series. That we feel cheated, because we were promised VARYING OUTCOMES THAT REPRESENTED OUR DECISIONS FROM THE LAST TWO GAMES. Not 3 possible outcomes that you can get so long as you play enough multiplayer.

As a developer, would you be satisfied if the general consensus of your game was, "Wow, what an amazing series! But what a terrible ending."

Maybe if it was any old generic shooter or what have you, but Mass Effect is one of the most relevant and amazing sci-fi stories made to date. And it DESERVES better than the 10 minute, matrix rip-off ending that it got.

Love,

A bigger fan of ME than you.

[WP217]

Let me see, so many places to begin. I started playing ME back on PC with part one. Absolutely loved it. It was engaging, beautifully written, had wonderful characters, and the decisions I was allowed to make shaped my Shepard's journey and story. Then I picked up ME2 for the PS3; I loved the control scheme on playstation. And I had just as memorable and wonderful an experience as part one. This time with Harbinger filling in for the now scrapped Sovereign. I anticipated a knock down, drag out, go for all the marbles battle with him over Earth. Well that didn't happen, but setting that aside, I was deeply taken by the hopeless and indeed oppressive atmosphere that ME3 created. I moved from one epic set piece to the next, seizing small victories where I could with heartbreaking cost, only to see the war effort collapsing mission by mission. That was amazingly good storytelling. The choices I made regarding the genophage came back to haunt me with Wrex and Mordin. I was genuinely upset when Wrex was mad at me, and I was doubly sorry to see Mordin sacrifice himself for the cause and to the greater hope for all the Krogan when he cured the genophage.

I felt anger towards the quarians and yes the geth too. But I got to resolve their war, and saw Legion truly come alive and ask the most human of questions. I railed against the fall of Thessia as much as I did when Earth was invaded at the opening. I couldn't take Cerberus down fast enough or hard enough. Everything that led me to the final battle for not just Earth, but life in the galaxy as a whole was a monumental achievement in storytelling and the choices I got to make shaped that story uniquely.

I wanted to get the positive things out of the way before I held forth on what I consider the unmitigated disaster that was the last ten to fifteen minutes of the game. From the moment Harbinger hit me with a beam attack, everything started to unravel and at a frightening pace at that. Massive empirical inconsistencies that I normally would have suspended disbelief for took place. A false dilemma peddled by some petulant little AI would be god-child. No explanation given for his sudden appearance and divorced from any logical rational. He was the literal form of a deus ex machina. And why? For what purpose? How did this thing contribute to or drive the story? He diminshes the Reapers to the point that they are nothing but angry swiss army knives wielded for no end but to satisfy his gross circular and fallacious arguments. Nothing he says makes a lick of sense from a narrative perspective in the story. All of a sudden he basically declares himself our true objective if we want to defeat the Reapers. But I don't get to ask questions, I don't get anything approaching a reasonable explanation of what this silly little kid actually wants out of us.

No instead you put out a Morton's fork of choices. Choose how everyone burns in the annihilation of the mass relays, no matter what you do that is going to happen; he says as much. And I haven't forgotten the story lore that BioWare created regarding what happens when a relay is destroyed. I'm being asked to commit mass genocide on a scale no human being could imagine because that is the only viable solution to what? Not the Reaper threat, because the child doesn't see his creations as a threat. No, we organics (and reformed geth), who are getting wiped out by giant death ray lasers all around are the actual threat. We have to die so we don't create the things that will eventually kill us. You don't really expect me to buy into such ham fisted nonsense for one second do you?

The red ending; commit betrayal of the highest order against the whole of the geth, murder a personal friend in EDI, and render Legion's sacrifice a monumental waste of time and effort. Genocidally wipe out the galactic community with the destruction of the relays.

The blue ending; commit betrayal of the highest order against yourself and your own ideals, indeed your very humanity. I just got TIM to blow his brains out after arguing the impossibility of being able to control the Reapers. Now suddenly I have to validate his insanity?! And then genocidally wipe out the galactic community with the destruction of the relays.

The green ending; commit betrayal of the highest order against all life in the galaxy by forcing some sort of crazy and utterly implausible fusion. Removing uniqueness and individuality from everyone by forcing them to be the same at a microscopic level; yeah, that was called indoctrination last I checked. And of course, genocidally wipe out the galactic community with the destruction of the relays.

Not in their best cycle could the Reapers match the kill count you are about to make my Shepard commit. That is called a Hobson's choice; my way or the highway. Because I'm not even allowed to tell the deus ex machina to sod off because he's stupid and utterly full of illogical crap. I'm not even allowed an option to fight to the death out of sheer spite for him showing up and pulling this nonsense on me as a player having to watch this.

My Shepard would never have accepted any of these choices. The whole point of Shepard is defying the odds and forging his/her own path. You then commit character assassination against Shepard by simply forcing him/her to acquiesce to one of these ludicrous and unsupportable decisons. So now, you have basically thrown every decision I have ever made to this point out the window. Nothing I have done matters or will matter in the course of making this decision. What is that? How can you justify that from a story standpoint? It makes no sense in the course of the whole of MEs story. And it is so riddled with plot holes and unimaginable leaps of faith not even the most ardent of fans should be able to defend. Joker abandons not just me, but the fleet as well, and runs like a dog with his tail between his legs. He somehow magically escapes a relay explosion, that well; no matter how awesome the Normandy is; cannot possibly be out run. The entirety of my team on Earth was somehow magically brought back aboard ship to make this great leap of cowardice with him. This is character assassination against them too. They would not have abandoned Shepard or the fight for our collective survival just to save their own skins. And then they step out into a jungle, roll credits, and Buzz Aldrin tells stories to a kid. What???

That isn't artistic, it's abysmally poor writing. I am sorry if that feels like a personal attack; it is not; but this needs to be said. It comes across as neither clever or even well thought out. Nobody knew how to construct an ending to the ME saga, so it seems a bunch of ideas were thrown against a wall over beer and pizza. There is resolution to absolutely nothing. Honestly the only speculation I had was how this had been allowed to pass muster, let alone make it to QA. The consequences of my choices don't matter really; everything that I and my team fought for died in the fires of the relay explosions after all since I have to accept the story lore that this implies. If I didn't accept the nuclear heat death of everything I fought for, what already makes no sense at all would somehow make even less sense. I don't care about the old man and his grandson, they aren't who I fought against the impossible for. I don't even get resolution for my now cowardly crew; great job on making me hate the team I had grown to trust and love by the way. That took real effort.

Do you sense the anger and the frustration? Do you taste the disbelief in my words? That is not the result of a bittersweet ending; I was ready to fight until my war fleet and my Shepard were smoldering ruins for final victory over the Reapers. This is the result of something that came out as a total hack job. The narrative thrown away, and for no good reason even.

And what burns me deep down inside, is that you are the ones who created such an engrossing and engaging universe to participate and adventure in. You created those memorable characters I'm now shaking my head at in disbelief. You created a trilogy that I deeply love and enjoy. And then you took ten minutes to throw it all away for "artistic license"? No, I dearly want to believe that you are better than that. You have been better than that over the course of so many games; not just the ME series. I ask you to be at least as good as you have been before, because until those last ten minutes you were once again raising the storytelling bar for games and sci-fi in general. The end was supposed to be fraught with symbolism I am given to understand. But to paraphrase Ebert amongst many others, if you have to explain it, it isn't symbolic at all.

I cannot make you do anything. But I think and I feel that you need to do something. The fans deserve better; even the ones who don't hate the ending. The ME series deserves better and so do its characters and worlds. And you guys deserve better than this too. Whatever you do, please do something that lives up to your own standards of writing and creativity, and to our hopes for interactivity since you said that our choices were supposed to shape the penultimate moments of the trilogy. Something went wrong, and what came to pass as the ending was sub par and unworthy of you and your fans by any measure in what had been an absolutely stellar experience otherwise. I know that you have something better to tell at the end of this story of ours; and I would say that it belongs to you the developer and we the consumers in equal measure at this point. The ball is in your court now, make your next move count. And hopefully ours will count for something afterwards too.

And yes, we would love to hear feedback from you regarding our feedback too please. Conversations and dialogue can only occur on a two way street. I know you good people already know that though. And I still love Mass Effect and the rest of the experience you guys created. Please give it the send off it deserves.