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Musings of a Screenwriter: The Ending Thread


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#551
MysticFred

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blehblah123 wrote...

how is this not on the 1st page?


Because sadly there are some useless threads being updated every minute, so this one keeps getting buried :blush:

#552
cutegigi

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Very nice and informative.
thanks to t he OP for the effort of typing this whole thing out.

#553
StarcloudSWG

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This is still a very insightful post that details the problems with the current ending.

#554
Federally

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Hey EternalSteelFan I wrote a brief outline for what I think a Decent ending would have been, wanna know what you think.

Pick up the story at the final run down the hill, but leave out Harby, so Shep and his squad get up to the Citadel in tact. Andersen doesn't do the run, he stays on the ground covering your backs.

Resume story as told, you and your squad witness the "Reaping" and meet TIM. Conversation goes the same direction, he tries to convince you he can control the Reapers. If you agree with him and let him try we discover he is indoctrinated when he sabotages the Crucible resulting in Reapers winning. If you talk him down he realizes he realizes he is indoctrinated and kills himself. Then Shep activates the crucible not really knowing what it will do, like the reference to WWII and the nuclear bomb made earlier by Hackett.

Crucible explodes, destroying Reapers near it and taking out shields of the rest. Shep and squad take the elevator back to Earth. Harbinger is now there waiting. Brief conversation takes place between Harbinger and Shep, Harby confirms what was said in ME2, the Reapers "Reap" as their form of procreation. He presents it as our "genetic destiny" and that being combined with the rest of our species in a Reaper is a higher state of being (this actually fits the past themes like the Geth consensus vs their individuality). Obviously Shep disagrees and a fight ensues between Harby, Shep, the remaining Reapers and Shep's war assets.

Battle would be a multi stage affair involving frequent assistance from collected war assets. Collected ground troops help fight back waves of Reaper troops sent after you while collected fleets bombard Reapers from orbit. With a couple possible endings based on EMS.

1. if you failed to bring enough help and gather enough allies the battle goes poorly, Reapers Win. Cue epilogue showing Reapers reaping across the galaxy, end with a quick clip of a new race living in a tribal setting, the next cycle.

2. If your EMS is in the mid range the reapers are defeated, but Shep and his squad die in the final fight with Harby. Cue epilogue, show the remaining squadmates and LI racked with Grief at Shep's death, a little ceremony erecting a monument for Shep. Then maybe brief clips giving us a hint how things will go in the places we visited and impacted.

3. EMS is very high, grueling battle results in Reaper defeat and Shep lives. Cue epilogue, show us some celebrating some mourning a clip of Shep and LI together, then brief clips of everywhere else (Palaven, Tuchanka, etc.)

Then we can head cannon a future.

#555
Byrdman

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Bravo

#556
blehblah123

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this needs to be read

#557
Cambios

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Federally wrote...

3. EMS is very high, grueling battle results in Reaper defeat and Shep lives. Cue epilogue, show us some celebrating some mourning a clip of Shep and LI together, then brief clips of everywhere else (Palaven, Tuchanka, etc.)

Then we can head cannon a future.


EMS should make the final battle easier, but you should still be able to "win" with Shepard living if you do an amazing job in the final battle as well.

Otherwise, much improved.

As for the writer's whole "boss battle too video gamey" excuse....... uh, this is a video game, idiots.

#558
SimKoning

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Bump

#559
Federally

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Cambios yeah you have a point. It's just something I came up with during 20 minutes of down time at work. Was just the quickest way to incorporate EMS.

Then again your post shows how things should have gone in BW's writers room. One writer presents an outline, everyone else fleshes it out and refines it. We should be professionals lol.

#560
Utopianus

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Excellent insights. Pretty much described all the things that didn't feel right in the last few minutes. Hope more people read and comment on this.

#561
GSS115

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I'm happy a professional helped to better define what the problems are.

#562
BaKaNoOB

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really great post and good threat to read :)

#563
Nithe

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Excellent post, a number of professional writers have weighed in on this issue, but I think I've enjoyed yours the most.

#564
Kirival

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keep reading this post!

#565
cinderburster

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Cambios wrote...

Federally wrote...

3. EMS is very high, grueling battle results in Reaper defeat and Shep lives. Cue epilogue, show us some celebrating some mourning a clip of Shep and LI together, then brief clips of everywhere else (Palaven, Tuchanka, etc.)

Then we can head cannon a future.


EMS should make the final battle easier, but you should still be able to "win" with Shepard living if you do an amazing job in the final battle as well.

Otherwise, much improved.

As for the writer's whole "boss battle too video gamey" excuse....... uh, this is a video game, idiots.


I wouldn't personally call them idiots, but that's a good point you make there.  Personally, I like boss fights.  They add some adrenaline, if they're done right.  They make me feel like I've earned the downward slope of resolu--

Oh, wait.

Nevermind, no wonder they left the boss fight out. <_<

#566
Cambios

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Federally wrote...

Cambios yeah you have a point. It's just something I came up with during 20 minutes of down time at work. Was just the quickest way to incorporate EMS.

Then again your post shows how things should have gone in BW's writers room. One writer presents an outline, everyone else fleshes it out and refines it. We should be professionals lol.


=)

Yeah, amazing concept eh? Actually thinking about what is happening in the story for more than 5 seconds, then snorting a line of coke and calling it done.

#567
Direwolf0294

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Interesting read. Just wanted to point out though that you mispelled Shepard. There's no h in the name.

#568
Phosphorus Pentoxide

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Brilliant and elaborate posts like this one shouldn't be buried, bump.

#569
Blindspy

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I can't believe I missed this thread until now. The OP does a wonderful job of explaining the feelings I had about the story/ending that I couldn't put into words.

#570
Nithe

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Blindspy wrote...

I can't believe I missed this thread until now. The OP does a wonderful job of explaining the feelings I had about the story/ending that I couldn't put into words.


I agree, it's definitely the best literary crit of the endings I've seen.

#571
TabooTattoo

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As a character/story driven RPG ME3 is EXCELLENT... UNTIL the ending. And like a misdelivered punchline it diminishes the whole thing. There are too many problems with the writing, structure and logic. And there are all sorts of visual discrepancies.

It is not some enigmatic ending where the player thinks about his/her choice. It is instead the point where Shepard stops being Shepard.  Shepard is forced to betray his/her established character by some incoherent writing that includes a supreme, fallible, modifiable, last minute character. It is not only a bad plot twist, it's TWISTED.

Although there is so much room for improvement -  For me, it is NOT about a *happy* ending or even about more *closure*.    BUT, at the very least, I do expect character coherence (for the characters in the end to behave like themselves as defined throughout the game(s)).

- To drive home the point. -
Here are two exaggerated examples in Q&A format of character incoherence:
Q. Why not show a scene with Joker running along with the squad? Disease? What disease?
A. - Because it's not in the physical definition of his character.

Q. Why not have Shepard say, "Hey guys, handle this one, I deserve a break...besides I think the council's right the reapers are a myth"?
A. - Because it's not in the psychological, motivational or historical definition of his/her character.
___
Now, here are just two examples of character incoherence during the game ending (posed as questions):
1) Why was loyal Joker fleeing?
2) After Shepard discovers that the Catalyst is the reapers' master, why doesn't s/he just call for concentrated fleet fire on his/her own position and destroy it?  S/He did it with the reaper on Rannoch!!!

Confusion is not an enigma!

The OP rocks with a must-read analysis!! Thank you OP!  I found through Forbes, too.  Hold the line.
PS. - I registered simply to post on this topic.  Feel free to correct me.

Modifié par TabooTattoo, 20 mars 2012 - 10:00 .


#572
wright1978

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Excellent thread. Hold the line.

#573
ReynoldsXD3

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hi, i hate the mass effect 3 endings, and its  my perception that the dissapointment  that was the ending (and there is only one) made for a cheap reason (publicity), by lazy  bucks who have promised to much and could not or would willingly put in the work needed to give a satisfiying ending.

And as such they have lost me as a customer since now i can always expect these same hacks to produce more of this driveling bullcrap.


You disgust me, as do those who ride for their defense, spewing nonsense about artists vision.
What the heck is visionary about the same damn ending with minute details, and ALL of it completely out of left field,  as far as the series story is concerned?


 Until this BS ending this was a space opera about shepard gathering the support to kick reaper ass (and/or find other solutions), not having a bloody dream sequence with starchild babbling abject bull****.

Mkle synthetics to kill organics so they can't build synthetics that then go kill organics? Really? are you stupid or  something? Insane troll logic much?
 

Welcome to the ban list alongside activision and ubisoft, and those 2 can at least claim it was their drm and cashcow policys that landed them there. You are the first to land there because you created such an abyssmal, bull**** ending for probably one of the most important game series of the last 5 years.


i'm outa here.

Modifié par ReynoldsXD3, 20 mars 2012 - 11:38 .


#574
Federally

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I'm seriously confused. Who is that post directed at? Lol

#575
Su13perfitz

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cinderburster wrote...

Cambios wrote...

Federally wrote...

3. EMS is very high, grueling battle results in Reaper defeat and Shep lives. Cue epilogue, show us some celebrating some mourning a clip of Shep and LI together, then brief clips of everywhere else (Palaven, Tuchanka, etc.)

Then we can head cannon a future.


EMS should make the final battle easier, but you should still be able to "win" with Shepard living if you do an amazing job in the final battle as well.

Otherwise, much improved.

As for the writer's whole "boss battle too video gamey" excuse....... uh, this is a video game, idiots.


I wouldn't personally call them idiots, but that's a good point you make there.  Personally, I like boss fights.  They add some adrenaline, if they're done right.  They make me feel like I've earned the downward slope of resolu--

Oh, wait.

Nevermind, no wonder they left the boss fight out. <_<


Both of these posts make a lot of sense sadly. I think gamers like and expect a boss fight even if it is a fairly easy one just to move the story along. We want to play our games even if they are story driven.