polynomials wrote...
The endings were good. Do not change them please.
People are essentially upset that the endings raised questions that it did not answer. Well, if they'd been paying more attention they'd have realized the answer to almost all of them. If were were allowed to give spoilers here and I wanted to spend a couple hours writing, I could just explain it myself. But in a piece of fiction such as this, not everything needs to be fully spelled out, and that's what's great about the way it ended. It is obviously forcing everyone to ask questions. It's not BioWare who is lazy here, it's the players. They just weren't paying close enough attention, sorry to say.
Their choices weren't respected, supposedly, in a game where its impossible to talk to another player because the story along the way is radically different based upon each choice throughout all the games. They all converge to a bunch of endings- but there are 6 of them. That's not enough choice? I don't know what more they want.
Exactly ****ing this.
Read!
1. The endgame scenario is Indoctrination/Manipulation from
the Reapers (Harbinger) trying to force you into choosing to let the
Reapers live. Shepard is not awake during the final sceens!
2. Choosing to control the Reapers allows them to live. Reapers win. They will still exist.
3. Choosing to combine organic and synthetic life: Reapers win. They will still exist.
4. Choosing to destroy all synthetic life: Reapers loose. Shepard lives. Reapers die.
5.
Choosing to destroy all synthetic life option is more Renegade in
appearence. Controlling the Reapers is more Paragon in appearence. The
Illusive Man's choice should not be Paragon colors, just as Anderson's
choice should not be Renegade.
6. Shepard awakes at the
end of destroying Reapers. But Shepard is not awaking from the
aftermath. He is awaking from either after he is hit by Harbingers lazer
attack on Earth or after the scene with Anderson and the Illusive Man.
7.
Stating that all sythetic life will be destroyed will give you pause;
destroying the Geth can force you to a different conclusion. This choice
exists for the illusion of choice; the other choices are ment to sound
better.
8. Shepard does not awake in the other 2
"endings" because you are fully indoctrinated by the choices you made to
allow the Reapers to win.
9. Never trust any child construct, be it a ghost or artificial intelligence, or heck even human. They are just creepy.
10. Shepard awakes at the end because he has broken hold of the Reaper's control.
11.
Shepard has spent alot of time around Reapers. Soveriegn, various
Reaper artifacts, the Human Reaper, 2 Reaper destroyers, the Artifact
from "The Arrival." Its foolish to assume there is not some level of
indoctrination.
12. Bioware not only get more $$$ for
DLC for the final battle, but big props for INDOCTRINATING A LOT OF ITS
OWN PLAYERS! I do not know of another gaming company that has tried to
fool all of its consumers, but they look to be the first and reap all of
the attention.
13. This could be great, as Bioware
could be tailoring better true endings for each of us, and our choices.
Now this is also bad, as this implies "ENDINGS ARE NOW DLC" I would of
waited 2 months of delay again for them to include the real endings once
you wake up from the rubble. But no...I am disappointed if this is true
in the sense that now EA/Bioware thinks endings should be DLC on an
already 60USD game before tax.
15. Shepard is not wearing his armor when he wakes up in the Citadel, implying that this is a dream.
I
have a couple of observations to contribute to the theory that it
doesn't seem like others have caught (apologies if someone else caught
these already and I missed it...)
17) The line Harbinger
repeated over and over in ME2 was that the Reapers would be "your
salvation through destruction." Well, the synthesis and control options
are literally salvation for the galaxy through Shep's destruction,
buying into a compliance mindset. The only option that leaves Shep
breathing is to destroy the Reapers, which has been the point since ME1.
All the evidence points to the last sequence being a battle for
Shepards mind that is only won when Shep chooses the path that the
god-kid tries to convince him not to take.
Listen
carefully and you'll hear 3 very distinct voices when the Catalyst
speaks. Strange you say? It's getting even stranger...Listen REALLY
carefully and you'll hear that the 3 voices are a kids voice, femShep's
voice and maleShep's voice.
The first voice you'll hear is the kid's voice. His voice is the loudest and panned in the middle.
The
second voice is femShep's voice. Her voice is panned to the left. If
you carry a headphone, you'll hear her only in the left speaker of your
phone.
The last voice is maleShep's voice. His voice is
rather hard to hear because he's almost whispering, but it's clearly
manShep's voice. If you carry a headphone, you can hear that his voice
is panned to the right speaker.
19) Anderson is clearly killed by the laser
20) No squad members are scene once you're hit by the laser
21)
after being hit by the laser, you see shadowy whisps on the floor,
similar to the much larger whisps seen in the dreams during the game.
-The
endgame scenario is Indoctrination/Manipulation from the Reapers
(Harbinger) trying to force you into choosing to let the Reapers
live.Shepard is not awake during the final scenes.
-Choosing Control - You can not control them, they control you. Shepard says as much to the Illusive Man moments earlier.
-Choosing
Synthesis - Allows everyone in the galaxy to be manipulated by Reaper
code, like they have done to the Geth multiple times now.
-Choosing Destroy - Breaks the hold the reapers have on Shepard's mind.
-Choosing
to destroy all synthetic life option is more Renegade in appearence.
Controlling the Reapers is more Paragon in appearence. The Illusive
Man's choice should not be Paragon colors, just as Anderson's choice
should not be Renegade. The reapers are saying that Destroy is the
worst, Control is worse, and Synthesis is the best. They want you to
fail.
-Stating that all sythetic life will be destroyed
will give you pause; destroying the Geth can force you to a different
conclusion. This choice exists for the illusion of choice; the other
choices are ment to sound better.
-Shepard wakes up
after Destroy, because the Reaper's hold is diminished. Shepard does not
awake in the other 2 "endings" because you are fully indoctrinated by
the choices you made to allow the Reapers to win. "Assuming Control!"
-The
child does not actually exist. He is an attempt to indoctrinate
Shepard. Nobody but Shepard ever sees or interacts with the child.
-When
Anderson calls for Shepard at the beginning of the game, when Shepard
is talking to the child, Shepard turns back and the child is gone.
Shepard has been "snapped out of it".
-When Shepard
turns towards Anderson after being "snapped out of it", a growl is
heard. In the third novel, when Greyson resisted the reapers they would
make a growling noise once they realized they didn't have him under
complete control.
-During Shepard's final dream with the
child, chatter can be heard over the radio about nobody making it to
the beam. Shepard is still in London.
-When Shepard
catches the child in the final dream, they are both engulfed in flame.
Going with the child (thereapers) means Shepard's destruction.
-Shepard
has spent alot of time around Reapers. Soveriegn, various Reaper
artifacts, the Human Reaper, 2 Reaper destroyers, the Artifact from "The
Arrival." Its foolish to assume there is not some level of
indoctrination.
-When Shepard wakes up at the end of Destroy, he/she is waking up in London, after being hit with the laser
In defense of the Hallucination/Indoctrination theory: the BioWare/Player Indoctrination Theory
With
the assistance of my peers throughout the rest of this thread, I have
collated a series of facts that I would like to present to the community
as being evidence for a a priori intention for the endings of ME3. Some
of this information will not be new to a lot of you, and it may seem
downright strange to a lot of you. It does require a strong and
disorienting amount of suspension of disbelief, so if you cannot engage
in this type of thought process, I encourage you to skip over this
post.
It will hurt your brain. Or make you think that I'm crazy.
Likely both. (I'm okay with either.)
With the assistance
of countless others' highly important observations in this thread, I
sumbit to you that possibility the endings of ME3 represent the highest
form of the metagaming experience. The highest form of BioWare's "giving
the player choice that matters, from ME1 to ME3". The highest form of
player interaction that we have yet seen from a video game. This has
never before been attempted by a company, and it represents the
ballsiest dedication to story and lore that may exist.
I
believe that the endings may be indicative of BioWare attempting to
allow the player the real-time experience of what indoctrination would
be like. This theory explains (in a highly weird, impossible, and
completely insane way) all of the missing pieces in the hallucination
sequence, and also explains BioWare's real-world actions (such as
complete silence since the fan sh*tstorm broke in response to the
endings).
If you have not been keeping up with the
thread, or if you have not read Byne's/Kitten Tactics/Turtlicious'
amalgamation of all of the evidence we have accumulated for the
originial hallucination theory on page 1, then I would urge you to do
so before you read any more of this post. Due to time constraints, I
won't be posting all of the evidences that we have located in this post
to confirm or contradict this theory: I leave it in your capable and
self-aware hands to attain this information yourself. I am posting this
as an add-on to page 1, as I don't think it was properly represented
there in its entire grand scope.
So, to the meat of the issue:
We
have already established as much evidence as we can that 'proves' that
Shepard is either hallucinating/dreaming just prior to/immediately after
he runs into Harbinger's beam/Conduit. The hallucination/dream sequence
has been quite well fleshed out, with a lot of compelling environmental
evidence to support it (again, please see page 1 for further analysis).
I am going to use this particular vehicle of suspension of disbelief to
propose that BioWare's intention during this sequence is to flag the
player with as many markers as they can: This current reality playing
before your eyes (the Citadel, the Catalyst, TIM, Anderson) is a
reflection of Shepard. It is the product of his/her mind. The meeting
with the Catalyst may or may not be rooted in reality; they may meet in
some metalphysical dimension, or Shepard may just hallucinate the entire
thing. Either way, this theory would argue that it essentially doesn't
matter, because what truly matters is the role of the player in this
sequence. Your role. The scene is set in a way that urges the player to
become aware of things just not being right, of being a place that
mirrors (literally) Shepard's experiences throughout the game. The
reality presented on the Citadel is an amalgamation of archetypes of
every thing Shepard has seen in the series, which this theory challenges
the player to understand as being adirect prompt from BioWare to
understand that what is truly happening during this scene is all within
Shepard's mind. His/her reality. Under her/his control.
Understanding
that the reality on the Citadel as being a cerebral concoction that is
entirely of Shepard's creation is important when we arrive upon the
Crucible. It becomes a vital understanding when we are faced with these
three, seemingly bizarre and unexpected choices that the Catalyst gives
us. This theory submits that BioWare is asking the player to actively
question EVERYTHING that happens once Shepard runs into Harbinger's
beam. The cost of not questioning, or making the right choice even if
you do?
Real-time player indoctrination. Shepard's literal death.
Think
about it carefully. We arrive on the Crucible, and are faced with an
archetype of manipulation, the Catalyst. Taking the form of a child that
has come to represent everything that is horrendous about the Reapers
to Shepard, the Catalyst/Harbinger provides Shepard with three strange
and disorienting choices. He first presents Shepard with the option of
Destroy, making swift and empty assertations about how it is the wrong
choice because it would kill all synthetic life and Shepard
herself/himself. At its surface, this seems like the renegade/chaos
option, and is even insidiously portrayed in Renegade Red, a direct nod
to the Player himself/herself. Directly appealing to your experiences
with how the game works. He then goes on at great length about the
Control and Synthesis options, portraying Control as the blue
paragon/order option. Again, directly appealing to the Player. He
arguesthat Control is the best option, implies that Shepard is the new
Catalyst, and leaves us to contemplate the possibility that we could use
it to try and save the people we love; after all, we are Shepard, and
we would never become like TIM.
Synthesis is the last
option explored, and it is portrayed as a compromise or as being the
Brave New Hope for the galaxy. I have a suspicion that Synthesis may
actually be the 'perfect' choice, but thatis for another theory.
(If
you're curious, read about the tech-singularity lore within the game,
and research humes spork's posts about the singularity within this
thread.) Either way, Synthesis smacks of strangeness because it seems so
inherently Reaper-oriented. As though it were servicing the Reapers'
philosophy more strongly than the other two options.
This
moment, when you are standing there, agonizing over your choice? This
is your indoctrination moment. This is where, it could be (fantastically
and insanely) argued that this is the moment when indoctrination and
all of its insidious power becomes as real as it possibly CAN be to the
Player. Think about it! We stand there. We agonize. We freak out about
the ridiculous choices, and we wonder (like Shepard would) why we just
can't ARUGE with the Catalyst (like Shepard would). And then, as this
reality seems to be the only way forward (much like how indoctrination
presents a version of reality to the indoctrinated that he/she sees as
being the ONLY REAL OPTION -- echoes of TIM, Kai Leng, Saren here), we
begin to accept it. Tremulously, we start to make our choice.
If
you choose Control, then you, the player -- the one who moves through
the game though Shepard's eyes; every choice s/he has ever made in the
game has been directly because of you -- have been indoctrinated. It
mayhave been because you thought you could save your crew, your LI, or
that you really could gain perfect Control over the Reapers because you
are Shepard. Regardless, you have been duped. Indoctrinated by the
game.Your slow exposure to the Reapers in 2007 culminates to this final
choice -- complete and free player agency and determination.
If
you choose Synthesis, you face a fate similar to that of Control. It's
debatable to me at this point as to whether or not you have chosen to
fulfill the Reapers' purpose, but indoctrination is still a heavy
possibility with this one. The only reason that I state this with any
certainty is because, like the ending we see with Control, Shepard is
dead at the final credits.
If you choose Destroy, then
the Player Indoctrination Theory submits that this is you, the player,
deciding whether or not Shepard overcomes the indoctrination attempt
being rained upon him/her by Harbinger/the Catalyst. If you decide this
option, and if you have enough EMS to ensure that Shepard has enough
real-world time to get through the indoctrination attempt/hallucination
-- Shepard lives. We see him/her breathing in the rubble of London
streets at the end of the game. Shepard has defied indoctrination. You,
yourself, have defied indoctrination.
Does this theory
make sense? Maybe not. When we consider BioWare's real-world motivations
and risks (profit, losing a large fanbase over the disgusting
wretchedness of the endings as they currently exist), then the theory is
hard to support. But if, for just one moment, we can let ourselves
believe that BioWare may just have lived up to their celebrated
philiosophy of Player Choice and Player Acutalization, then this theory
becomes awe-inspiring. Is it possible? Could BioWare have sacrificed the
potential for safe profits in order to bring the most insane and
beautiful gaming experience of all time to its fans? The most
unprecedented example of player immersion of our times? Would BioWare
have truly allowed the risk for profit and angering a serious amount of
their fan population in pure deference to the story, and its lore?
It
may explain BioWare's silence on the matter, until "more people have
played the game", or until all regions have the game. It may explain
Jess M.'s twitter about fans "reacting before having all of the facts".
It may.... just may explain these super sh*tty endings in a way that
would make BioWare the God of RPGs.
Lastly from myself
the originator of this note: Many people say that if your EMS is low you
can only choose destroy, and you die anyway. Mass Effect has punished
lazy shep since ME2. With you dying if your teammates aren't loyal or
ship not upgraded. You can in ME2 defeat the collectors, and still die
(but it isn't canon). So this might apply to ME3. You have a low EMS
score, then you can beat indoctrination, but you will die leaving
DLC/Continuing the story pointless just like in ME2.
That is all.
Guest_Paulomedi_*
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