7052 réponses à ce sujet

[ghrthtdhdfhdh]

Mass Effect 3 is superb in a number of ways.  The art is excellent, the enemy design is much more interesting than either of the previous games, the dialogue is good (though the auto-dialogue is terrible) and the action-vs-RPG balance works very well.

That said, the ending needs to be fixed.

1) There is no option to side with the Illusive Man during the climactic scene (or even agree with him.)  The odd thing is, I had the distinct feeling that a choice was supposed to be there, and for some reason was not implemented ("don't listen to him!"  "and who will you listen to?")  Additionally, the Illusive Man is trying to convince Shepard he is doing the right thing for the entire game, and in his base one of the bits of footage even shows him saying he "hasn't written Shepard off."  Then the choice is simply not there.  ...?

2) The ending completely disregards every choice made through all 3 games.  This is a huge let-down and completely contradicts what we were told we could expect.

3) There are MASSIVE plot holes in the ending.  What makes the mass relays explode?  Does this destroy the Earth (and all the other garden words in systems with relays)  If not, why not?  We see the magic color wave go through the earth and not harm anyone, so why is the normandy running away from it?  Why were my squadmates from earth suddenly on the normandy?  What does the crucible do?  If the space wizard child controls the citadel, why didn't he just open the relay in ME1?

Thanks, and congrats to Bioware on making a superb game.  Except the ending.

[Erethrian]

I thought something very, very, simple. If you BW don't want Indoctrination to be true, just fix the plot holes and if Shepard has to die to control the reapers. Why aren't we able to tell them "Deactivate yourselves", then the reapers get deactivated, the fleet blows up, Shepard sacrifices himself, the galaxy is saved. So what? The reapers just can be controlled to "leave the galaxy"? Why can't I say "Hey reapers, I'm controlling you, so, blow up!".

Oh yeah, this can't be done because of... space magic,

[kunzite]

Hi. Just thought I'd post a link to my thread, with a theory of the current ending, but a little more fleshed out. Do what you will with it. Just thinking it makes a bit of sense, once explained =)

social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/355/index/10212124

Modifié par kunzite, 19 mars 2012 - 12:27 .

[BHynes92]

I'm sure this has been said numerous times, but I just wanted to add one more voice to the fold.

The general response to the ending, the way we want them changed, is NOT to expand upon them. We want the endings retconned (Indoctrination theory seems most viable).

Casey Hudson made another statement recently, and with every statement he makes in regard to the endings he seems to be getting closer and closer to admitting they screwed up. In his recent statement however, he seems to indicate that if there is going to be a change, it will be to merely expand upon the existing endings. This is, as stated above NOT what the fanbase is calling for. The large majority of the RetakeME3 movement is calling for a near complete overhaul.

The brilliance of this is that a retcon of the endings (i.e. Indoctrination Theory) would be very easy to implemate. The current endings are, as has been pointed out countless times, riddled with lore errors and plot holes. This can be attributed to multiple factors, including most obviously hurried and poor writing of the endings. (The rest of the game is written magnificently, one of the best written games I have ever had the pleasure of playing.) Because of this shoddy wiring it would be easily and believable to implemate the Indoctrination theory. It would be an excellent explanation as to why all of these plot holes are there.

In closing, we do not desire an expansion of the current endings, we are calling for an entire retcon. Thank you for listening.

Modifié par BHynes92, 19 mars 2012 - 12:30 .

[fanboy21]

I didn't like the fact that you saw a lot of your old crew members but your were unable to recruit them. I mean it's a good idea to have new faces but I think it should be up to the player who he wants and who he doesn't want. At least give us back the oppurtunity to recruit a Krogan. I really missed Grunt and or Wrex. And whats the point with some of the disregarded choices you made in the previous games? Saving the council or letting them get killed doesn't affect ME3, as well as keeping the Reaper Tech or destroy it in the end of ME2. These are only two mentioned choices but there are certainly more...
Other than that I really liked that you went back to the roots. Running through a planet like ME1, the skill system for the weapons like ME1, the optimized scanning process for the planets like ME2 and you managed to balance the roll playing part from ME1 with the more action part from ME2. You combined the best of both and gave us an almost perfect game.

I do have a request. Please don't charge money for, if you are planning to deliver us a better ending, which you certainly should, the upcoming Ending-DLC. How ridicilous would it be if, e.g. a movie theater stopped a movie at the end and tells you to pay for the ending even though you paid the whole ticket price?

[blmlozz]

First, I must vent, and it's going to be a long one, I forced myself after years of not bothering with the forums to speak on this particular topic. I've spent a few hours now reading over posts and pages upon pages of content now that I've actually seen what the fuss is about. If you simply want constructive criticism, please skip this next part; excuse the spelling and grammar (it's bad, I’m sure), I'm rushing through this.

I was warned, I tried to miss spoilers, and I tried to be a completionist. However, in my entire gaming life as a 24 year old, I have never been as dis-satisfied as I am now. When you commit to anything for over 150 hours of your spare time, you emotionally bond with it in some way, right now I feel as though I pushed my dog off a cliff. Maybe that's a bit extreme, but in this persons opinion I need to be a bit extreme to convey that I am in no way satisifed with the conclusion to what I now consider  the best gaming time I've ever had. I orginally purchased Bioware products for their open-minded story telling for years. However, I can tell you right now, as it stands I'm done with the ME franchise should this be the end of it..

When I first started ME3, I told myself, ''I'll replay them all again,'' Making that statement for a commitment with a trilogy that would effectively take weeks or even months of my life to complete is no small praise for how well bioware crafted the ME universe  sans the last 5 minutes. I can tell you without a single doubt, the ME discs are going in storage, I'm wiping the installs off the hard drive and I have zero desire to relive the past 5 years of anticipation in sequence. When there's nothing to work for, there's no reason to work for it. I'm glad I didn't bother with the CE or DLCs thus far even.

Further, the consequences have fundamentally changed my view of the company and their products. ME was special to me, and I'm convinced that I may not see something as good as it once was for years, decades or ever even, mobile gaming is giving traditional retail experiences a run for it's money. To think, it's been utterly ruined for me in such a short time makes me physically ill, and I'm left wondering still how it was ruined so thoroughly in such a sort time as well. Either way, in some part, I've grown to love this game, that's why I spent nearly $200 to enjoy it, and maybe my expectations are unrealistic, but considering the previous games and the announcements from the past I can't help but feel betrayed at best.

Constructive criticism.
I'm glad I found this link
http://www.gamefront...ns-are-right/6/
If I had to summarize my concerns for someone not looking for my own more personal opinions I would cite the above. To make my own recommendations I must cite what I find wrong and will provide direct answers later, but mostly this is my personal opinon/take on gamefront's points and some more venting.
As I said previously, I've invested countless hours of my life for what amounts to me as a slap in the face for what the previous 149.9 hours were. An ending of this nature with what I would consider identical 'choices' (I hesitate to use the word, as it would appear the difference is essentially what explosion color you would like) in a game that has from day one stated that your decisions make a difference and that eventually would lead to totally different outcomes is ridiculous, and at worst a flat-out lie. If the rest of the game was not absolutely perfect, and there were not such a mass-following for a change such as this thread has I would have returned the game and gone as far as disputed the credit card charge if necessary.

My solutions, as others before me have likely discussed already, in order of most needs/improvement to least is;

1.) Team continuity, a 'happy' ending.
I won't hesitate to say that one of the reasons I support bioware products is due in no small part for their 'awareness' of non-conventional relationships. I love that, in fact It's my hope, one day, that bioware may eventually put the same effort for both sides into these kinds of relationships, but I'm happy with my 3 interactions, they're better than nothing. What I found severely lacking though, is the fact that I've spent, again, 150Hours developing (well just say it;) relationships with these characters (not just the romances, the whole team), and no matter what I do, that last kiss and that last look in the eye just before the final chapter rolls around is all I'll get before an abrupt cleaver to the story line. Watching legion, mordin, and thane die was heartbreaking, and at several points in the game (those included) I was borderline teary eyed. watching Shepard die with the realization that it meant nothing left me with a blank stare, and I'm left guessing at what happens past that(some stories need this kind of guessing, ME does not deserve it, and it does not work). Worse, as I remember, when Harbinger (was that Harbinger? IDK, his name is thrown in there last-second and I don't see him at all during the game, so he might as well not have existed imo) 'destroys the hammer team, and the voice over the radio says 'they were wiped out' I seem to remember that I had 2 characters with me. At that point I assume' they're both dead. That alone almost made me restart the mission in the hope I'd get some end-game dialogue or cut-scene for a good ending. Instead, I see the same 'dead' character stroll out of Normandy unscathed(thus I'm glad I didn't waste my time going back; he's OK, but somehow I'm inches away from falling over dead? LOL). I can stand some minor elements be left to the imagination, you can't wrap up everything in a 150hour trilogy even if you had a 20minuite cut scene, but that is the most ridiculous story line screw-up I've seen. Ever, and I've played through more than my share of $15 free-lance written games. Whoever thought that part up should be fired.

2.) The Citadel & god child
Again, I'll reference the game front link. Honestly? We’ll start with the VI child; his reasons have totally and completely been disproven first by the geth and then by EDI, which I thought the game had been using to build up to the end-game conclusions (wrong.. silly me for thinking logically) and yet we're forced to 'choose'(choice? here? LOL) which way we'd like our explosions. This is at best, a sloppy mess, and at worse, a complete contradiction in what I just spent 50 hours putting together and what ME1 told us of what would happen in the relays were destroyed. The game abruptly goes from being one of my favorites to my least favorite. I realize that you simply cannot please everyone when you're wrapping up something as special as ME here (and don't get me wrong it's very special) But this is simply a complete contradiction of what the game stands for and what I was expecting. I can forgive Anderson making it up there before me, as watching a mortally injured Shepard drag himself to the transport beam and even the loading screen touched me in a way I haven't experienced since FFVII, and that says something, and as the gamefront link says, it just feels 'right' but then how the hell did the illusive man get there? And maybe my game is bugged, but with full rep and paragon points, I was unable to select the last conversation option as well before having to put him down. Although, the conversation was indeed stimulating, I could maybe even forgive this oversight. The perceived 'last moments' as admiral Hacket gets on the radio were very emotional for me, so it was almost worth the confusion.
3) Making sense
Again, I’ll reference the gamefront link here. It’s no stretch to say that none of the ending’s content makes sense. Let’s forget for a moment that the entirety of the galactic military feet is in the sol system, stranded with no ME relays, with a ruined Sol system that can’t support them and are decades from habitable systems. We’re effectively saying here that anyone that wants to think about this ending (and that’s what you’re saying bioware, you’ve said it yourself) is saying that no matter what, aside from the people that died due to the reapers, millions more will now die from simple starvation or other issues arising from having to support such a large diverse population on what amounts to space ships. Going deeper. The humans are the cause of this; who’s to say they won’t simply kill us when they discover we’re responsible for it? Even the quarians need to stretch their legs to salvage stuff in order to survive.


4) War assets;
When I ended the game, I had nearly 7,000 EMS, and yet, this amounted to nothing except maybe a slightly more awesome cut scene when the armada was engaging the reapers. Otherwise, Nada, Zip. Zero. Thus all the side quests I spent hours on were meaningless about 2/3 ways into the game. I fully expected Geth, Asari and the other 'assets' I had acquired to be there when we stormed earth (at worst helping me in some kind of huge FPS fight. The bombardments I took on turchunka fighting cerebus to defend the bomb had me hoping for something similar.  Instead, I get a minute long non-interactive wrex speech and 100% ‘on your own’ stuff. What the hell did I spend all my time wasting trying to get all that help for then?  I'm unsure what's more frustrating; that someone thought of this idea (with the krogan) but never really followed through with the rest of the assets (or even beyond a simple audio script) or if everything I had spent time on was simply wiped away as if it had never happened. Essentially you're saying here that half of the game is irrelevant.
5) Choice is completely disregarded.
Mass effect has been a high point in my gamming career, in no other trilogy that I can think of have choices been so much a part of the fundamentals of the game, so much so that it’s actually beneficial for you to have saved you game on your computer from 2 years ago because your choices from then impact your experiences now. The conclusion to ME3 is a complete departure from this theme. It reminds me more of a FPS in this regard as essentially, paragon, reputation, team involvement and loyalty has no bearing here. I loved the fact that squad members in ME2 lived or died based on your choice to interact with them enough to increase their loyalty. I loved that if you didn’t upgrade the Normandy that would also have consequences (but btw—I lost all my ‘upgrades’.. wtf?) I loved that the ME genre responded to your choices. It was YOUR game, not what bioware wanted it to be for you, or like all other RPG’s or FPS that still have fairly linear story lines. ME was what you made of it. The conclusion however, is so linear and so devoid of any meaning it took me all of 2 seconds to decide which ‘choice’ to make. It’s at this point, after the AI conversation I realized why I had heard of this on CNN. It’s completely, irrecoverably catastrophic. It’s also my conclusion that there is simply absolutely no reason for a play-through. I can get all the renegade responses and snide remarks from YouTube in ‘Shepard is such a jerk’ what I can’t get, ever again, is that feeling that what I’m doing matters, mostly because it doesn’t.
I’m already running to my third page on word here, so I’ll try to keep this quick;


Solutions;
1)     How about some renegade/paragon meaning here? A sad ending does not belong here, not for every path. Paragon ending= Shepard lives, you’ll get final dialog with your squad and hacket/ the council on what their plans for future life are, and maybe a cut scene with your romance. A ‘ride into the sunset’ themed something. Renegade could be something similar, except maybe a lonelier Shepard, or maybe he dies with no one to support him like he does now, I couldn’t expand on that as I played mostly paragon.
2)     The relays could also similarly be saved in a paragon ending, because the fact is, the galaxy and fleets at earth depend on them for survival. The whole galaxy depends on them for survival.  The AI’s reasoning is just horrible as well considering the outline the geth and EDI had put together during the game.
3)     Since I need to state corrections here, someone’s not doing their job. In short, you can’t put someone on a downed Normandy that somehow fled the battle with a crew that presumably died with a reaper and have them just waltz out onto an unknown planet presumably to live their lives fighting to survive everyday like something out of cast away after outrunning an explosion on a relay I just destroyed and left millions of aliens stranded on earth forever. It doesn’t make sense.
4)     The reapers get to have asari, brutes, husks, and all different manner of sizes and shapes. But the array of forces I put together and I get stuck with my 2 best friends? WTH? I wanted vast sized battle fields. Instead it felt like a re-run of the last 50 hours, I’d like at a minimum, cut scenes of said army doing battle with husks, at best, the fighting on a much larger scale with me on those same fields I was on, and I don’t mean 1-2 extra characters, preferably I’m talking about 20 or more if the game’s engine can support it.
5)      This rolls into my other solutions, and I think at this point the amount of ‘customization’ based on your ME1,2 and 3 choices will be limited, but I’d like to see the choices made in those games have an effect or at least some cut scene/dialog conclusions. Prime example is the Rachni queen. I saved her in 1 and 3, multiple characters warned (like with the krogan) that it would be a mistake and all I get for those missions is… EMS and an Email. How about a Rachi conversation on what happens to them? Was it a mistake or did it turn out OK?
6)      Ultimately, for me at least, these solutions have less of an affect when you have to tell someone to do it right instead of trusting them to take care of you to your expectations the first time, and by now all the dev time and money is down the drain. I hope that some of the major problems are taken care of, but so much of the content in this game is forgotten and thrown away like meaningless garbage that it’s truly tragic. I expected better of you bioware, and it saddens me to think that you were so close to greatness and what this means as I contemplate future purchases, and whether they’re even worth my time.

Nevertheless, my time will now be devoted to support of any cause that I can in an attempt to change this huge loss, if you've made it this far, and as someone who only has a few hours of the day(the 1700+ page thread is intimidating), I would welcome suggestions on what steps I can take to make sure Bioware knows that I'm not only hopeful that they make a change, but that I'd pay for it at this point. Seriously. I would pay money to see this wrong righted. As I type this part of my HUGE post, I'm actively contributing to the chartiy that's setup, and I've voted in the now 91% poll.

Modifié par blmlozz, 19 mars 2012 - 12:38 .

[OmegaSpartan08]

I commented on this thread back on page 50 about my own version of how the game should end but I'm thinking this time around I should focus on the contradictions that were made in the final moments of the game.

I'll start where many have believed, after the beam hits Shepard and company and he/she enters the beam to the Citadel. The Reapers were apparently transporting human bodies (alive and dead if I recall). It is never even touched upon in the end sequence other than Anderson saying to Shepard he believes that human corpses will have the same fate as the corpses used in the construction of another Reaper. Other than that it became largly unknown and seems to function as a convinent plot device to get from Earth to the Citadel without much explaining.

Anderson entering the beam to the Citadel but ending up somewhere else. Shepard walks a narrow non-branching pathway up to some control panel which Anderson seems to be already. How did he get there if there is no other way onto the control panel other than from where Shepard came from and we know Anderson wasn't there as evident of him saying so. Anderson talked about shift walls or something and one can agrgue that his pathway had closed by the time Shepard showed up but it all happened so fast that it seems unlikely. 

The Illusive Man just sort of shows up. I've explained the non-branching pathway from which Shepard come from so why are people showing up from nowhere! Was TIM hiding among the corpses waiting for Shepard and Anderson to show up before surprising them? How convinent for him to show up. Seems like the writing is being sacrificed in favor of unexplained convinences. But let's move on.

The entire sequence starting from when Shepard entered "The Platform to Heaven" is probably the most talked about in this entire game. First of all, the catalyst. Why does "it" appear as the small child that has plagued Shepard's dreams? Shepard doesn't seem to mind and doesn't bother questioning it like if that is how it is suppose to be.

Another thing is the star child's explanation that the Reapers are the solution. It breaks down how it made the Reapers eons ago to supress chaos and give the primative a fighting chance at survival. Seems logical to assume that the thing that created the Reapers would give it's side of the story. THEN... the catalyst just says, We have an absolute solution but since you're here we don't care about it anymore so you choose. WHAT? WHY? Didn't it make sense to keep using the Reapers to destroy? Why change your mind just becasue Shepard shows up? If you believed so much in destroying/controlling the Reapers, program them not to show up in the first place. If synthesis was an option then why didn't you decide that eons ago?! If it was that simple then why reveal it now!

Well whatever, Shepard hears what it has to say and then he just agrees to it. Without any questioning of the greater reprecussions of the choices he just agrees. Forget being a just Paragon or Renegade or just Neutral, Shepard's talking doesn't alter but then again, you are never given much decision in what Shepard says or decides. It's just sequenced that way as if the whole "You Decide" method of play has been thrown out the window. The immersion is dead and all you can do is watch Shepard throw his life away along with the rest of the galaxy. Yup that right, the galaxy is now mot as the only means of transportation is destroyed no matter what and the purpose of the Mass Effect universe is rendered useless. Only thing you decide is the choice of color in which to destroy the relays (and which one person pointed out, if you're colored blind, you got one ending).

Which brings me to my next contradiction: The destruction of the Mass Relays. First of all Why? Why make the possibility of future installments pointless by giving up the one thing that makes your series unique and possible? The contradiction that comes from the relays being destroyed are pointed out in a piece of DLC in ME2. Shepard destorys the Alpha Relay causing the destruction of the entire system of which is home to humdred of thousands of lives. All the relays are destroyed in ME3's ending(s) so does that mean Shepard just murdered trillions? And with the destruction of the relays come all the galaxy's fleets stranded on the ruined Earth. Most of those races will die of starvation as the supplies will eventually run dry plus the Earth is ruined! How can you expect these races to survive on limited supplies? Extinction is the only possibility in this regard. But I guess you can argue that those explosions are different but you are never given a thought otherwise.

One last glaring issue is the Normandy's escape from the blasted caused by the Crucible. Why was Joker leaving in the first place, wasn't he fighting the Reapers on Earth? Cowardice would be the only solution for this but Joke proclaimned he would die to fulfill his duty to save the galaxy so either he lied or the plot has no consistency. One last thing about the Normandy's paradox. When the ship crashes on a convenient jungle planet, cabaple of sustaining life and has breathable air, EDI and what appears to be your LI, step out of the ship with Joker. How did they manage that? Were they not just on Earth fighting the Reaper army with Sheaprd? Seems they figured they valued their lives more than a silly battle for their entire existence.

The point to this entire response is there are far too many contradictions, poor writiing, and conveniences that plagued the entirety of the ending of the game that most don't even remeber what lead to the end in the first place (Which by far was a very fantastic ride). It makes replaying it kind of pointless to me at least as long as it ends the way it does.

Well, that's my 2 cents (or 3) for what was wrong with the ending. As what can be fixed, it would have to start with the indoctrination theory as that is the only way it makes sense. In the meantime, I'll be playing Mass Effect 3's multiplayer as that is surprisongly fantastic! Drell Adept all the way!

[bizmAAArk]

I never post on boards, but I finally just could not help myself.  Let me start the thread stating that I did not like the ending, but see the potential (or at least think that I do) in what Bioware was trying to accomplish.

The one thing that "had to happen" in the endings was for the Mass Effect relays to be destroyed.  They were a remanant of the Reapers, and if you are going to remove the Reapers, then they go by default.  And it also symbolized the beginning of the galaxy evolving for once on its own terms, not those dictated for so many cycles by this outside force.  So no matter which choice you pick, the relays had to go with the Reapers for this process to begin.  And I can even accept the premise that they destructed in a way unique to what they were being used for, which was controlled and completely different than what would happen if it were rammed by, say, an asteroid.  Maybe that explosive energy was focused into the effect it was generating instead?  Again, the explosive part was fine.

The Relays "going bye-bye" was actually good.  Really good, even.

But my immediate reaction after ending the game was "WTF?!"  This came uninfluenced from the internet, as I made it a point to beat the game without looking online, at all, and did not even see how many people agreed with me until I got online afterwards.

My ending was "WTF?!" because the ending did not provide any real sense of closure, a notion referenced many times on this board.  The essence of this is because the endings did not change based on gameplay.  Yes, the lead-up conversations and such were different (and I thought great, actually), but nothing you did appeared to affect any of the outcome.  The one plot hole, in particular, that I could not forgive was the people I was on the final mission with (including LI) suddenly appearing on a fleeing Normandy that just leaves me behind after miraculously being able to pick up your squad on Earth (assuming that they were alive), and that they did not want to stay behind to fight or find you.

And while I think that the 3 choices at the end were an important part of the ending that "had to be there" (about which people could still philosophically debate the impact of those endings on the galaxy) there was still plenty of room to put in a "happy" ending where Shepard lives and is re-united with his crew, a "bittersweet" ending based on sacrifice, or an "apocalyptic" ending where everything goes to hell, and they all could have fit.  After a trilogy of character development and interaction, character endings are essential.  Regardless of the outcome, the part that "had to be there" would have been intact and people would still have felt satisfied with their own endings.

You still can leave out the details about the Reapers, and in fact you should.  I agree that the "less is more" concept is 100% appropriate when dealing with them.  The "why" is not important;  the "why" is probably obsolete by this point in the lore after so many cycles.  But the "less is more" idea does not work for a fan's investment in their character.

While I love the idea of the indoctrination theory, and think it would be genius if true, it is not necessary to use it for things to be "fixed". The existing ending can still work.  I just need an ending that feels "mine" and makes me feel like I've been rewarded for my contribution/participation in what was otherwise a truly epic trilogy.  Otherwise, I've been tricked into playing a trilogy only to have the rug pulled out from under me at the end (however possibly irrational that feeling may or may not be.)

As it stands, I now look at replaying ME3 to make different decisions and win it on insanity, or play ME1 or 2, and I think, "what's the point?", and I really don't want to feel that way.

I choose to believe that you will do something about this, because otherwise I will look at future games with dread, thinking that they might have another Mass Effect 3 ending.  And the idea that I will think about Bioware games that way really bothers me.

(As a complete side note, I actually really like the multiplayer.  I see the point that people have that multiplayer should not affect the ending, but that is so minor.  Playing one day of multiplayer online can get you everything you need for the "best" ending, and it's fun.)

Well, I've said my piece.  I still believe that Bioware can "fix" this and not cave so much as to lose face and the fans can be made happy.  I will keep my fingers crossed.

(Also, I have no expectation that this post will ever be read, realizing full well that it is beneath a mountain of other comments, but hope springs eternal...)

Modifié par bizmAAArk, 19 mars 2012 - 01:00 .

[humanspectre11]

 
 this is my idea for the ending. i keep the catalyst to show that, in my opinion, the catalyst as an AI could have been taken somewhere with proper explanation and details. please download the word document from the link below and read it for yourself.

note: i wrote this in a hurry, so if there are spelling/grammar mistakes, please let me know!
 I thought about this the night that I finished Mass Effect 3. In another forum, I state everything that I deemed to be unsatisfactory about the ending. I don’t have many good things to say about the ending and especially the catalyst, but I thought of a plotline that is much clearer, and in my opinion, much more interesting and satisfactory than Bioware’s ending. The ending keeps the catalyst as an advanced AI, but read on, it is a much more in depth.

NUMBER ONE 
1.     Contact with the Catalyst
Everything is kept the same as in Bioware’s ending, except Anderson is not yet dead. Perhaps change something with the Illusive man, but I won’t discuss that here, this is based solely on the catalyst. Shepard encounters the catalyst, or more accurately, the catalyst contacts Shepard. Shepard continues to bleed and is seriously wounded. They begin to speak to each other, the catalyst takes on the image of the boy. Sample dialogue (but really, leave this to the pro writer’s, it’s my idea that I want to get across):

Shepard: What are you?
Catalyst: I am the catalyst?
Shepard: I thought the citadel was the catalyst?
Catalyst: You are not incorrect. I am the citadel. I am the catalyst. The catalyst is the citadel.
Shepard: So, are you some kind of AI?
Catalyst: Yes.

NUMBER TWO

2.        Shepard inquires to Catalyst’s origin:
The catalyst is the product of the first, and most advanced organic civilization to ever exist. They were not limited by the cycle, they developed freely, some 40-50 million years previous. This civilization colonized the entire galaxy, forged the mass relays, the citadel and the reapers. They became so technologically advanced and were so technology dependent that they lost touch with their knowledge. Everything in their lives was mechanized and programmed. Their society was run by complex AI units (the reapers) in order to give maximum leisure and freedom to the species. As a result, they became dissociated with all that they created, and were absorbed in the comfort of their own lives. Breeding was rare, because it hindered this perfect comfort. Ingenuity, advancement, and ambition was all lost. They were so self-absorbed in their comfort that their society began to decay. Eventually, after thousands of years, their population dwindled. They lacked the intelligence to see and avoid their doom because they had lived in ease and without problem for millennia. Their species began to die out. One member of the species realizes their fate, though it is too late to stop for they lack the ingenuity to do so. He/she, however, is still hindered by the lack of knowledge of their people, but attempts to do something. He/she realizes that his species will soon die out, and their synthetic creations will continue on forever. The presence of their technology and creations across the galaxy will prevent the development of any other sentient life. He/she takes this idea to the most powerful AI they created: the central hub that runs their civilization, called the Catalyst, and in the form of the citadel. The catalyst agrees, obeys the command of its maker species and adjusts its programming so that its primary goal is to allow the continuation of organic life. All the inquiries are done in conversation similar to the Vigil conversation on Ilos. Shepard inquires, and the catalyst answers. However, details on the species itself, is not available. Their name, origins, details of their lives etc. are not stored in the catalysts vast memory banks (likely done on purpose). It is also IMPLIED, that the catalyst is flawed because the creature that influenced this final programming was flawed. The catalyst judges incorrectly that synthetic and organics cannot live together because eventually the organics will die out and the synthetics will inadvertently prevent other organics from evolving. To prevent this, the catalyst creates the cycle. It tweaks the reapers: who were once the vessels that support the creators’ civilization (through ore mining, transportation of resources, people etc.) into killing machines, under control of the catalyst. The catalyst, then creates indoctrination, to allow the reapers to more easily assimilate the population. The catalyst also alters the mass relays and ensures the organics develop along predictable paths. It is also important that the reapers are altered to be unaware of their makers and the catalyst, so that they are in accordance with Sovereign’s statements in ME1. 

***I also thought that the catalyst should change forms, taking the shape of loved ones of Shepard’s that have died. It should take the form of any dead friends or crew members from all 3 games. Wait for it, I’ll explain why later!

NUMBER THREE

3.       The problem with the cycle and the purpose of Shepard:

The catalyst indicates to Shepard that the cycle will not work forever—Shepard’s discovery of the catalyst is proof of this. This occurs because organic life’s development cannot be completely controlled and will always be unpredictable. Over an unspecified amount of cycles, the organics have almost developed a way to defeat the reapers and break the cycle. The catalyst realizes then that the cycle is not a foolproof method. It accepts that as a synthetic, it will never truly understand organic life, and that is why it needs Shepard. The catalyst indicates that it needs Shepard to help it decide the fate of organics because of Shepard’s proven ability to do what is right. You make many decisions throughout the games, and the catalyst indicates that your ability to make tough choices and your experiences have made Shepard the best candidate to decide the fate of organic life. It indicates that Shepard understands the nature of organic life and must make a decision. It cites previous decisions made in the game by Shepard, claiming that it has monitored his actions: e.g.

Catalyst: Your decision to destroy the collector base was right. As was your choice to preserve a multi-species governing body. (it indicates 2 or 3 major decisions made by Shepard)

This explains why Shepard must make a choice at the end of the game (all of ME was based on choices, it should end with a choice).
***It is here that Shepard becomes fed up with seeing all his friends that he has lost. It is causing him much pain. He tells the catalyst to stop.
The catalyst apologizes and indicates to Shepard that it was not trying to affect him, merely to make him comfortable. The catalyst claims that it will revert to its originally programmed image. The camera then shows Shepard saying thank you, and then Shepard’s face becomes surprised. The camera shows the catalyst, which has taken the form of a keeper. Sample dialogue:

Shepard: A keeper, why have you become a keeper?
Catalyst: This is the original appearance I was programmed to have.
Shepard: Were you made in the image of your creators? Were the keepers the species that created the citadel and the mass relays?
Catalyst: No data available.

I just think that this would be really cool. It implies that the keepers were the original organic species, although nothing is concrete. This is left to the player to interpret. 

NUMBER FOUR

4.     
The Choices

As I said, Shepard has to make a choice. I explained why. The choices are as follows:
A.      
Shepard disagrees with the catalyst and thinks that the cycle is not flawed. Shepard believes that the cycle must continue to allow organic life to continue indefinitely. This option preserves the catalyst and the reapers eventually extinguish all advanced organic life. However, a final scene will show primitive sentient species on a number of planets, to leave the player with hope. The reapers retreat to dark space. The cycle continues.

B.      Shepard agrees with the catalyst and believes that the cycle cannot continue. Shepard believes that organic life must be allowed to exist without hindrance and be able to evolve and develop indefinitely. This choice destroys the catalyst, the reapers and all synthetics (not Shepard, he’s not a synthetic being). The catalyst indicates that the mass relays will be destroyed after a time because they were not the product of the current species and therefore will not allow the organics to develop freely. They will be left operating until galactic civilization can return to their homes and begin to recover their populations after the reaper assault. Eventually they become inactive and cannot be used (perhaps a time of several hundred years) and the species must discover their own means for intergalactic travel. There is also an option here that if Shepard’s paragon/renegade score is high enough he can talk the catalyst out of destroying all synthetics and only the reapers and catalyst will be destroyed, ending the cycle. This allows the geth to survive, and Shepard can use the geth as an example, saying that “All the geth want to do is survive. They feared the quarians and only fought to protect their own existence etc.”

C.      
The final option is kind of the middle ground. The catalyst is destroyed and the reapers are released from its orders and removed of their ability to indoctrinate (given to them by the catalyst). As life, they should be allowed to survive, and this presents the possibility that the reapers can coexist with the galactic community. It is said that the reapers were killers because of the catalyst, so without the catalyst, they MAY be able to live safely as sentient machines, and perhaps further galactic advanced into other galaxies. This choice also preserves the mass relays. The catalyst indicates that they will be necessary if the reapers can coexist with the other species. This choice will link Shepard to a reaper, probably Harbinger. Depending on your renegade and paragon  scores, Shepard will have a chance to convince the Reapers (through dialogue) to strive for peace. A low score will backfire, and the fighting will continue, though without the catalyst, the reapers will be weakened. A medium score will allow Shepard to convince the reapers to save certain species, depending on his other choices. 

Harbinger: You have proven yourself to be a wise and talented adversary, together, humanity and the reapers may accomplish great things. However, your galaxy is filled with weak and volatile species. There are too many old conflicts. The krogan (for example, not saying it MUST be krogan) must be eliminated for they will hinder our progress. 
A high score will let Shepard convince the reapers to integrate with all galactic species. 



5.       NUMEBER FIVE
Outcomes:
a.       
For all choices, the final outcome should not be revealed. It should be up to the user to speculate as to whether or not their choice was correct. The immediate effects should be shown. For example, if choice A is chosen, the reapers will be shown exterminating the galaxy and new sentient organics will be shown developing. For choice B, it will show the reapers and catalyst being destroyed (and other synthetics, perhaps) and show species across the galaxy starting to rebuild. For the third option, depending on your score, you will see either the fighting continue, certain species be eliminated, or the war ending and allied ships approaching the reapers for peace talks.

b.      
Shepard and Anderson, both barely alive, are jettisoned in an escape pod. They have a real heart to heart conversation and Anderson will die. Whether Shepard lives or not depends on your effective miliatry strength. It must be at maximum for Shepard to survive, otherwise he dies of his wounds. Whether alive or dead, Joker finds the pod and brings it on board the Normandy. Depending on your scores and military strength, certain amounts of crew members may survive and Joker also picks them up off Earth. They are shown mourning Shepard, and depending on your choice, say something like:
“He did his part. He was the greatest hero the galaxy has ever seen. Now, it’s our turn to:” and depending on which option you chose, they will say something like:                                                             
  i.      Rebuild the galaxy                                                            
 ii.      Defeat the reapers                                                           
 iii.      Strive for peace                                                          
 iv.      Etc.

c.       
Your squadmates (whoever is left) are shown to add closure. Example, if you romanced Liara, she is shown returning home to Thessia to help rebuild and she keeps a picture of Shepard with her always. If applicable to the player`s game, romances between Joker and EDI or Tali and Garrus will also be shown. If you choose to continue the cycle, the deaths of some friends may be shown (i.e. Wrex, James).

d.      
If Shepard lives, he should be crippled from the waist down. There is no more fighting for him to do, for he has done his part. He retires from the military and receives every commendation imaginable. Perhaps he is shown mourning lost friends, or chilling with Garrus. He settles down with is romantic interest and the game ends.e.      Also, show decisions that you made come to light depending on what choices you made. Show turians and krograns making peace, quarians/geth resettling, asari rebuilding Thessia etc. etc.

I hope this was clear. If you have any inquiries, please let me know. If you have ideas to add and recommendation to make, feel free repost. If you wish to disagree with my every statement, do so, but it is unlikely that I will argue with you: this is my idea and I really like it. perhaps it is a bit over the top, but i am trying to show that having the catalyst as an AI is not a bad idea, it was just done badly. 

Modifié par humanspectre11, 19 mars 2012 - 12:39 .

[Burnsie86]

Remove the spacechild. Please. Everything was amazing up until that point. Also re-instate the talk anderson has about shepard having kids. I can't believe it was cut out. The audio file was really intense for the moment.

edit

Also please fix the plotholes, and yeah the videos need to be MUCH more varied (showing assets etc) Also choosing the colour to end the galaxy was an awful move. Just change it to control the reapers, destroy the reapers/lower shields etc. Also i like the idea of reapers being unknowable, so please no space magic explainations for their existance. Thanks for listening

Modifié par Burnsie86, 19 mars 2012 - 12:40 .

[StillOverrated]

AgenTBC wrote...

I think the Angry Joe video makes a lot of good points but I think he way overplays the "happy ending" card. Don't do it, Bioware!

Why not? The entire premise of pretty much every BioWare game ever is the player chooses the story. They can give us a happy ending without making it THE ONLY ENDING EVARR. You can still choose to kill Shepard or to screw the galaxy over if you want to.
We don't want a happy ending as the only ending. We want it as a possible ending. You know. Choice and all.
Still don't get why people are so against the possibility of a one. Sheesh.

[Burnsie86]

Amdnro wrote...

BHynes92 wrote...

I'm sure this has been said numerous times, but I just wanted to add one more voice to the fold.

The general response to the ending, the way we want them changed, is NOT to expand upon them. We want the endings retconned (Indoctrination theory seems most viable).

Casey Hudson made another statement recently, and with every statement he makes in regard to the endings he seems to be getting closer and closer to admitting they screwed up. In his recent statement however, he seems to indicate that if there is going to be a change, it will be to merely expand upon the existing endings. This is, as stated above NOT what the fanbase is calling for. The large majority of the RetakeME3 movement is calling for a near complete overhaul.

The brilliance of this is that a retcon of the endings (i.e. Indoctrination Theory) would be very easy to implemate. The current endings are, as has been pointed out countless times, riddled with lore errors and plot holes. This can be attributed to multiple factors, including most obviously hurried and poor writing of the endings. (The rest of the game is written magnificently, one of the best written games I have ever had the pleasure of playing.) Because of this shoddy wiring it would be easily and believable to implemate the Indoctrination theory. It would be an excellent explanation as to why all of these plot holes are there.

In closing, we do not desire an expansion of the current endings, we are calling for an entire retcon. Thank you for listening.

Thank you for the heads up; this should be taken under advisment if those statements prove to be true.

Agreed. Total retcon, although not neccessarily indoctrination theory based. No space child, no christmas tree genocide!

[blmlozz]

BHynes92 wrote...

I'm sure this has been said numerous times, but I just wanted to add one more voice to the fold.

The general response to the ending, the way we want them changed, is NOT to expand upon them. We want the endings retconned (Indoctrination theory seems most viable).

Casey Hudson made another statement recently, and with every statement he makes in regard to the endings he seems to be getting closer and closer to admitting they screwed up. In his recent statement however, he seems to indicate that if there is going to be a change, it will be to merely expand upon the existing endings. This is, as stated above NOT what the fanbase is calling for. The large majority of the RetakeME3 movement is calling for a near complete overhaul.

The brilliance of this is that a retcon of the endings (i.e. Indoctrination Theory) would be very easy to implemate. The current endings are, as has been pointed out countless times, riddled with lore errors and plot holes. This can be attributed to multiple factors, including most obviously hurried and poor writing of the endings. (The rest of the game is written magnificently, one of the best written games I have ever had the pleasure of playing.) Because of this shoddy wiring it would be easily and believable to implemate the Indoctrination theory. It would be an excellent explanation as to why all of these plot holes are there.

In closing, we do not desire an expansion of the current endings, we are calling for an entire retcon. Thank you for listening.

In short. This, +1. At this point a simple rexamination to further explain the endings will not suffice. Polishing a turd is going to just inflame the problem and higlight it's weakness even more, worse, it's not going to capure the sensation of not knowing what's going to happen gives. Fixing what is currently in place would be a mistake. I at least, want fully independent choices that would represent a complete departure of what we have now. A Happy ending, a screw you all ending, I wouldn't even mind going without a 'netural' ending. The synthetis ending seems to be rushed as well.

Modifié par blmlozz, 19 mars 2012 - 12:47 .

[Fame-KIllz]

Again.

 This is why we don't like the endings:
#1
#2

And this is what you should go with instead (youtube vid)
Indoctrination theory

[lastforone]

Why we hate this ending? Simple....






Well, I used to be big fan of RPG games, and games from BioWare are always MUST BUY to me. (Started BioWare games since the Baldus Gate) I purchased pre-ordered CE Mass Effect 3 when it was available.

Ending was really bad. That’s all I can say. And when I found the writer was same guy who wrote DA2, I totally lost mind. DA: Origin, I purchased regular version in xBox and CE in PS3. DA2? I couldn’t even finish this game since this was really bad. And you asked that guy to write our beautiful ME3 story line? Screw this….. Please bring back our original writer who made ME1 and ME2. Now... DA is none of my concern. And with this incompleted ME3, there will be no BioWare or EA games for me.

I can't believe we have only three choices to change color of explosion at the ending. Endings are 97% identical. Shepard accepted what the ghost/god of Reaper said at the end of game? This is totally opposite to Shepard's characteristic. We spent more than 100 hrs for each play in ME1, and ME2. Now... we got this non-sense ending. OUR CHOICES ARE NOT EVEN AT THE ENDING. WHY COULDN'T U MAKE 16 DIFFEREND ENDING? AND SOME ENDING AMONG 16 ENDINGS CAN BE BITTER-SWEET? Seriously, I just want to see the Shepard has family with Tali and watch sunset in Rannoch. Is it too much to ask? I am done with BIOWARE and EA now. There will be no future spending on BioWare or EA games until we have excellent ending fix. PERIOD.

Modifié par lastforone, 19 mars 2012 - 12:50 .

[Ghost of a Messiah]

Better ending please... Also I never got to help Zaeed kill Vito. Definitely would look good on my to do list. +it would be great to have him aboard.

[Timforsgren]

Here's my suggestion for e fulll paragon ending - Here goes;

Halfway through the walkway, after speaking with the Catalyst Shepard stops.

"No."

A raised eyebrow in the only indication that the Catalyst took notice.

"No?"

"You're giving me a choice. My answer is 'no'."

Shepard turns around, to face the Catalyst, his face grim with determination.

"You're giving me a choice, you say. But it's a false choice. All of your
options are based on the same notion: Namely, that synthetics and
organics cannot exist as equals. And I don't believe that. I refuse to
accept that as a truth. Maybe one is born from flesh, and the other
comes from silocon. But where it counts, organics and synthetics are the
same: we are selfaware. We want to be free."

"Free from tyranny. Free to find our own path. And, yes, maybe we will make mistakes. Maybe
we will disagree, and maybe we will wage war against eachother. Organic
against organic, synthetic against synthetic, and organic against
synthetic. But we will grow. We will learn. And, maybe, just maybe, we
will find a better solution. But we can't, not when you take that choice
away from us."

Optonal: "I see EDI and Jeff together, not as master and servant, but as equals.
Optional: "I see the Quarians and the Geth, organic and synthetic, preparing to
create a new homeworld for the both of them, together.
Optional: I can see the Rachni, once feared throughout the galaxy, stand with us, as equals.
Optional: I can see it's possible.

"So, no. I won't make that choice. And neither should you. Instead, allow us
to find our own way. Let us go. Send the Reapers back to the space
between galaxies. Let us make our own mistakes. Let us be free. And
believe in us. Believe that we might find a better way. A better way
than this...."

The Catalyst scans Shepard's face.

"Do you truly belive that is possible?"

"Yes, "says Shepard, without hesitation. "I believe we're owed that chance."

A few moments pass, as the Catalyst keeps looking at Shepard. Then the
avatar of the Catalyst disappears. The ground begins to shake, as the
Citadel begins preperations to fire the Cruciable and depart. Looking for a way off, Shepard
moves as fast as his aching body carries him, to the edge of the
platform... when, suddenly, a shuttle appears, with open doors, with the
two comrades he left on the way to the Conduit, their arms stretched
towards him. Shepard stars limping as fast as he can towards them.


Then it switches to eart where you see your gathered war assets fighting
in space and on the ground side by side with all your squadmembers,
both present and past. They fight a losing battle on earth, each race
covering eachother, helping eachother, tending to the wounded, taking
heavy losses, being pushed back.

Then it switches back to Shepard, making his way to the shuttle,
he falls over, unable to go any further, his 2 crewmembers rush to his aid,
the shuttle takes fire by reaper fighters. Then the screen goes black,
slowly fading into motion again showing the forces on earth, fighting
again in slow mo, dying, while the piano theme of ME3 plays - then,
when all seems lost, the sky lights up, a great wall of energy washes
over earth and the reapers deactivates and fall over, and the forces
of the galaxy cheer in victory. The beam continues through the relays
across the galaxy but without destroying
them.

Then we see the citadel closing up an getting ready to
leave, but just before it's completely shut, the shuttle slips through,
we see one of your squadmates perform CPR on Shepard as the other one
fights to pilot the damaged shuttle shouting over communications trying
to reach Joker on the Normandy, after a few moments they are successfull
and get picked up. Your crewmembers make haste and carry Shepard to the
med-bay of the normandy where dr. chakwas tries to keep you alive.

The Normandy returns directly to London where your surviving squadmates
have made it back to the HQ, the old ones aswell, they all rush into the
ship standing around the bed watching the paramedics trying to keep
Shepard alive. The situation is critical and your LI rushes forward
pleading to Shepard to wake up, crying. He/She reach down, kiss him/her
(Tali takes off her mask and her face is revealed in-game), but then,
Shepards heart stops. It's silent. Some of your squadmates may step
forward and yell/say something to shepard (Garrus may remind him of all
they've been through, that they were suppsoed to meet at the bar when
all of this was over, Wrex might yell at him how he has always been
stronger than any krogan ever will be and that a krogan wouldn't go
without a fight.) Your LI squeezes your hand hard, a few seconds of
silence, then Shepard suddenly takes a breath and his heart starts
pumping again. Shepard opens his/her eyes slowly and reaches out for the
crew. They cheer, come up to him one or two at a time saying a few
words (i.e "I knew you wouldn't go like that" " You can't quit on us in
the hour of victory Commander/Skipper"). Garrus and your LI comes up
last and talks to you.

The camera zooms out from the Normandy,
showing the aftermath of the battle on earth. It continues to zoom out
then shifting to other places in the galaxy, giving quick glimpses of
the galaxy wide battle. It then fully zooms out showing the Milky Road
as a whole and as the ending credits starts to roll and as they do we
are shown events from around the galaxy as all species begin to rebuild,
for example, quarians and geth on rannoch, Wrex and Eve on Tuchanka
uniting the krogans, turians on palaven, asari on thessia, salarians on
Sur'kesh aided by Rachni in some places. After the credits have ended we
see Shepard standing in some city on earth staring at the stars on a
moonlit night, maybe having painful flashbacks and memories from ME1 2
& 3. Then your LI comes up to you and grabs your hand and pulls you out
and looks at you, making shepard feel a little better.

Then it ends.

[Suspire]

Wow, been reading a few posts, and realized I wanted to quote a LOT of them. I feel I made a point they haven't (that I think the whole game is in fact a bit too "dramatic" and "tragic" for me that it bores me), but these people have spoken my other concerns so well and have made amazing points. I know it's really hard, but I truly hope all these posts are being read!

[Giody]

Can we get Drew Karpyshyn's Ending?
no hard feelings for Mac Walters its an ok ending
but we would love if we could see the ending from the writer that wrote
Mass Effect 1+2 endings? and he wrote 3 also
but u changed it the last moment?
Please!!!!!

[Exousiadun]

I've put considerable thought into a proposed ending, and posted a video
on YouTube regarding these ideas, found here for anyone who's curious: www.youtube.com/watch
However, I'm going to summarize my ideas as briefly as I can in the hopes someone at Bioware reads them.

Three main sections here: Finale, Endings, and Epilogues.

The
Finale goes the same basic way regardless.  The game stays more or less
the same as it is except I would move the TIM encounter forward, most
likely having him fought immediately after Kei or at the end of the
Earth section, undecided.  Either way I would not change much about that
encounter except that if you fail the paragon checks (plural) then you
have to actually fight him, in the usual callback to Saren.  

Next
step: Remove the entire need to go into the Citadel.  It would be easy
to explain away the need for a ground campaign on Earth, such as
dividing Reaper forces or attempting to focus the firepower of the
combined allied forces better, since not all of the powers you've
gathered are fleet-based (especially the Krogen).  Either way, the
ground battle goes as planned, the fleet battle goes as planned, the
Shield fleet successfully defends the Crucible until it docks with the
Citadel, and they activate it... and nothing happens.  

The
Crucible was a trap from the beginning.  This is why each cycle keeps
building it, and why it has never worked; because it was designed all
along as a means of control by the Reapers.  All those resources, all
that effort, and all that time wasted on a machine that's designed to
look like it will do something and does not.  And as an added bonus,
that means all the major races of the galaxy will gather wherever the
Reapers want them to in order to utilize the Crucible.  

In this
moment of darkness, all hope is lost, Shepard is dejected, Anderson is
defeatist, your squad mates question if it's all been for nothing.  And
in that moment of hopelessness is when Shepard rises up and says "No." 
S/he connects to all the fleets in orbit and rallies them, stating that
what they are is something the Reapers will never understand, because
they are united in cause, in purpose.  I am not a particularly good
writer but s/he gives a rousing speech and declares they will not go
quietly into that good night, and every ship and every soldier charges
the Reapers and all their forces (which are all gathered here at Earth
from across the galaxy to spring their Crucible trap)  with a berserker
rage.

In this moment, Harbinger arrives to personally oversee the
annihilation of Shepard once and for all.  I will skimp on detail as
this post is already longer then I'd like, but Harbinger is the actual
final boss of ME3... indeed, of the entire ME series, and involves
distracting him with the ground forces allied there (less if you had
fewer forces in your war assets, and more if you gathered them all) as
you fire on his eyes while directing the Krogen, artillery, et cetera at
him.    Either way, if you had the least amount of assets and did not
keep people alive, you get the 'bad' ending: Harbinger defeats the
ground forces singlehandedly, and then informs Shepard that the 'fleet
of bugs' s/he had gathered was insufficient and had been destroyed by
the Reaper forces, and thus the galaxy is reaped once more.

The
'normal' ending involves Harbinger becoming weakened, to the point of
fury, and it descends on Shepard and kills him/her, only to be destroyed
moments later by the combined fleet, which had just broken through the
Reapers lines... just a bit too late to save Shepard and the ground
forces.  Shepard dies defiantly, a hero, and the Ending and Epilogue
reflect this.

The 'best' ending involves their forces actually
hurting Harbinger, until it reaches the point where Harbinger is buckled
and its mass effect field starts to destabilize, causing it to crash
down right in front of Shepard.  Its multiple eyes glare at him/her and
denounce them as insects who are flailing at that which they do not
understand, but Shepard gives a short speech to the Reaper stating that
they were small, and weak, and lived short lives, but that wasn't the
point.  The point was that together they had accomplished that which
none had before, united they presented a front unbeatable, and bound by
bonds of friendship and fellowship they had achieved the impossible.  At
this moment, the fleet has broken through the Reaper lines, having
decimated them as they went, and waves of fire descend upon Harbinger's
broken body, destroying it utterly. 

In the propose ending,
which I will only discuss the 'best' ending in detail, there would be an
in-game-engine cutscene for each of the major squad mates, both from 3
and previous games.  One with Jack asking about her life now, how her
kids did on the front lines.  One with Wrex, talking about the future of
the Krogen, honoring the victorious dead.  One with Miranda, her
discussing possibilities for her future now.  And so on: One for each
major player, culminating with Anderson.  All this time there is talk
about the party they are going to, a massive celebration with every
major species of the galaxy attending, celebrating the fact that they,
as a whole, accomplished the impossible, and defeated the Reapers once
and for all.  The party itself does not need to be shown, but one scene
that I feel is an absolute must is a close up shot of what appears to be
the memorial on the Normandy, with the names of the honored fallen on
it, and Shepard passes by it to run their hand down the names, the
camera lingering on a few, reminding us of those who paid for this
victory with their lives: Thane, Mordin, Legion, Pressley, and so on. 
Until finally the camera zooms out, and we find this isn't the memorial
on the Normandy, but one on Earth... a truly massive one, stories tall
and hundreds of feet wide, detailing name upon name upon name of those
who died in the last battle.  And it is important that the names not be
organized by species or fleet, but a geth designation number be
alongside a quarian's and a krogen's name be next to a terran's, and so
on, such that any observant viewers could see and understand the
symbolism therein.

What follows would be the Epilogue.  Now this
point is important, because if you do none of my other suggestions, this
is the one I would put forward the most.  The Epilogue would be done in
the same style of Dragon Age: Origins, with a static image on the
backdrop as text which is detailed to specific choices made in the game
is outlined.  But unlike DA:O this would be a very large, very long
Epilogue, because this is the ending of the entire series, not just
ME3.  I would argue, strongly, that it should include every single
choice and every single point of data that is saved in the save transfer
from ME1 and on.  All the little people, that Volus from Noveria and
how he's adapting, what happened with Shiala and if her skin ever got
better, EVERY little detail should be in there, starting with the small
bits and culminating in long term explanations of what happened after
the war ended.  If this is the 'best' ending, then the Krogen are
thriving and have achieved a cultural renaissance, and have joined the
galactic community.  The salarians have deposed the dalatress and
founded a new organization dedicated to using their considerable
intellect to help other species openly, rather then the clandestine
operations of the past.  The quarians, with the geth's help, have
successfully settled their homeworld and the geth, with the blessings of
the quarians and the humans, have joined the galactic community as
well, sharing their ideas equally.  And so on and so forth, really cover
the big decisions.  Obviously there are variations possible here: If
one for example saved the quarians by destroying the geth, the geth have
no place in the Epilogue except a footnote and the quarians do not do
nearly as well on their homeworld, ending up with them having to
resettle elsewhere.  And if the krogens were not handled properly and
Wrex is not in charge, they end up descending back into their old ways
and have to be put down again.  Things like that.  

At the very,
very end of the Epilogue there should be a truly massive page or three
devoted to Shepard and what happened with their life.  This would be the
most variable section, depending on casual dialogue choices, who you
romanced (if anyone), paragon or renegade, and the like.  To use a
direct example, in my Shepard's ending she would have settled down with
Liara and had the 'little blue children' they always wanted, took a ship
for the family and headed off into space to get lost in the peace
they'd created. 

I apologize for the length of the post but I summarized as best as I could.

[Taldek]

Timforsgren wrote...

Here's my suggestion for e fulll paragon ending - Here goes;

Halfway through the walkway, after speaking with the Catalyst Shepard stops.

"No."

A raised eyebrow in the only indication that the Catalyst took notice.

"No?"

"You're giving me a choice. My answer is 'no'."

Shepard turns around, to face the Catalyst, his face grim with determination.

"You're giving me a choice, you say. But it's a false choice. All of your
options are based on the same notion: Namely, that synthetics and
organics cannot exist as equals. And I don't believe that. I refuse to
accept that as a truth. Maybe one is born from flesh, and the other
comes from silocon. But where it counts, organics and synthetics are the
same: we are selfaware. We want to be free."

"Free from tyranny. Free to find our own path. And, yes, maybe we will make mistakes. Maybe
we will disagree, and maybe we will wage war against eachother. Organic
against organic, synthetic against synthetic, and organic against
synthetic. But we will grow. We will learn. And, maybe, just maybe, we
will find a better solution. But we can't, not when you take that choice
away from us."

Optonal: "I see EDI and Jeff together, not as master and servant, but as equals.
Optional: "I see the Quarians and the Geth, organic and synthetic, preparing to
create a new homeworld for the both of them, together.
Optional: I can see the Rachni, once feared throughout the galaxy, stand with us, as equals.
Optional: I can see it's possible.

"So, no. I won't make that choice. And neither should you. Instead, allow us
to find our own way. Let us go. Send the Reapers back to the space
between galaxies. Let us make our own mistakes. Let us be free. And
believe in us. Believe that we might find a better way. A better way
than this...."

The Catalyst scans Shepard's face.

"Do you truly belive that is possible?"

"Yes, "says Shepard, without hesitation. "I believe we're owed that chance."

A few moments pass, as the Catalyst keeps looking at Shepard. Then the
avatar of the Catalyst disappears. The ground begins to shake, as the
Citadel begins preperations to fire the Cruciable and depart. Looking for a way off, Shepard
moves as fast as his aching body carries him, to the edge of the
platform... when, suddenly, a shuttle appears, with open doors, with the
two comrades he left on the way to the Conduit, their arms stretched
towards him. Shepard stars limping as fast as he can towards them.


Then it switches to eart where you see your gathered war assets fighting
in space and on the ground side by side with all your squadmembers,
both present and past. They fight a losing battle on earth, each race
covering eachother, helping eachother, tending to the wounded, taking
heavy losses, being pushed back.

Then it switches back to Shepard, making his way to the shuttle,
he falls over, unable to go any further, his 2 crewmembers rush to his aid,
the shuttle takes fire by reaper fighters. Then the screen goes black,
slowly fading into motion again showing the forces on earth, fighting
again in slow mo, dying, while the piano theme of ME3 plays - then,
when all seems lost, the sky lights up, a great wall of energy washes
over earth and the reapers deactivates and fall over, and the forces
of the galaxy cheer in victory. The beam continues through the relays
across the galaxy but without destroying
them.

Then we see the citadel closing up an getting ready to
leave, but just before it's completely shut, the shuttle slips through,
we see one of your squadmates perform CPR on Shepard as the other one
fights to pilot the damaged shuttle shouting over communications trying
to reach Joker on the Normandy, after a few moments they are successfull
and get picked up. Your crewmembers make haste and carry Shepard to the
med-bay of the normandy where dr. chakwas tries to keep you alive.

The Normandy returns directly to London where your surviving squadmates
have made it back to the HQ, the old ones aswell, they all rush into the
ship standing around the bed watching the paramedics trying to keep
Shepard alive. The situation is critical and your LI rushes forward
pleading to Shepard to wake up, crying. He/She reach down, kiss him/her
(Tali takes off her mask and her face is revealed in-game), but then,
Shepards heart stops. It's silent. Some of your squadmates may step
forward and yell/say something to shepard (Garrus may remind him of all
they've been through, that they were suppsoed to meet at the bar when
all of this was over, Wrex might yell at him how he has always been
stronger than any krogan ever will be and that a krogan wouldn't go
without a fight.) Your LI squeezes your hand hard, a few seconds of
silence, then Shepard suddenly takes a breath and his heart starts
pumping again. Shepard opens his/her eyes slowly and reaches out for the
crew. They cheer, come up to him one or two at a time saying a few
words (i.e "I knew you wouldn't go like that" " You can't quit on us in
the hour of victory Commander/Skipper"). Garrus and your LI comes up
last and talks to you.

The camera zooms out from the Normandy,
showing the aftermath of the battle on earth. It continues to zoom out
then shifting to other places in the galaxy, giving quick glimpses of
the galaxy wide battle. It then fully zooms out showing the Milky Road
as a whole and as the ending credits starts to roll and as they do we
are shown events from around the galaxy as all species begin to rebuild,
for example, quarians and geth on rannoch, Wrex and Eve on Tuchanka
uniting the krogans, turians on palaven, asari on thessia, salarians on
Sur'kesh aided by Rachni in some places. After the credits have ended we
see Shepard standing in some city on earth staring at the stars on a
moonlit night, maybe having painful flashbacks and memories from ME1 2
& 3. Then your LI comes up to you and grabs your hand and pulls you out
and looks at you, making shepard feel a little better.

Then it ends.

I like this, Not much work would have to be done from the current ending to make that possible, Regarding the part in the med-bay, Would be a very emotional moment almost had me in tears as i read it.

For a full paragon happy ending i would like to see something along these lines, EMS could even determine if shep wakes back up or not, Credit to the author 

[CmdrStJean]

The biggest issue I have with the ending, or rather all the content post-Harbinger is that it makes no logical sense.  This is one reason that I find the Indoctrination Theory so intriguing, not because I believe it's the be-all, end-all explanation, but because it would at least put the continuity errors in a perspective within which they could be cogently reconciled.  As it stands now, the ending to Mass Effect 3 is not just bad, but (as another author put it), anomalously so. 

This is why I have such a hard time believing Bioware really, truly intended for things to end like this.  Considering everything that came before, how could the end be so unrewarding?  How is it that Bioware could suddenly turn into a facsimile of Earnest Byner dropping the ball on the 3 yard line all those years ago?  For me, it's much easier to believe that this is some kind of stunt or that we're all being trolled than to just accept the more likely (yet infinitely more depressing) possibility that everything went to plan and this is the finale Bioware thought ME (and the lot of us) deserved.

As for what I would suggest, that's harder to say with certainty.  First though, if anyone at Bioware is going to do anything about how ME3 ends, they need to go all in, or leave it as is.  As bad as things are now, they could be made a whole lot worse by a medicore, tacked-on bit of exposition that does little but to lamp shade what already happened without really fixing it.  This isn't something that can be done on the cheap, either there has to be a full commitment to right what has (potentially) gone wrong or we all might as well accept things as they are.

By this I mean, if a decision is made to go forward with a revision to the ending, something must be done to render everything we did see post-Harbinger as inconsequential in the context of physical reality.  That doesn't mean appropriating the Indoctrination Theory per se, it just means we'll need a clean break and a fresh start.  The "Red" ending in the game already leaves the door open that Shepard is still on Earth and quite alive.  That could serve as a starting point for a conclusion narrative free from the baggage seen in game already.  Furthermore, this would allow the "end" as it is to remain and in truth it need not ever be explained at all.  This is advantageous as it allows what exists now to be left as is, open to as much or as little  interpretation as required.

Secondly, there MUST be variety in any additional endings produced and implemented.  This is a non-negotiable reality.  Appending a "new" ending that's the same no matter what was done in the past installments of the franchise is unacceptable.  If this is all that Bioware can afford, they might as well do nothing, as before.  Like many others I want to see the consequences of my actions play out, I want to be rewarded/punished dependant upon all the choices I made up to that point of finality.  Now I realize, practically speaking one can't have 57 different and distinct endings with full voice acting and cinematics, but there undoubtedly is room for more than the 3 (quite illusory) points of variance we have now.

Thirdly, if the decision is made to release a DLC fix to the ending, I would recommend against charging for it at this point.  In the business world, goodwill may be intangible but it is worth something and right now Bioware (and EA even) has a chance to accrue significant goodwill by dealing with this problem head on and releasing said content without the need for remuneration.  I realize this will likely go against the typical precepts of running a for profit business, but Bioware/EA have a responsibility to enhance the wealth of their Shareholders, and that does not always mean making as much money as possible right now.  I'd even go so far as to say that there is a unique opportunity here for Bioware to go the extra mile (like no other developer would) and the potential windfall from that singular act could be felt for years to come.

Finally, whatever decision is made, I'd recommend against maintaining a wall of silence regarding the end of ME3.  If the guys at Bioware dropped the ball, it's best to just get that out in the open now so speculation doesn't turn the ordeal into something much more destructive than what it needs to be.  If on the other hand the end really is what the devs wanted and this really is their artistic vision, they should say that as well and stick to their guns for eternity.  I might not like it, but as someone who has aspirations to write myself, I could at least respect that.  And, quite naturally, if there is going to be a fix to the ending, or if this really was a huge ARG designed to troll every fan of ME in existence, that needs to come out now as well.  Bioware's reputation is at stake here, and making tons of money isn't going fix that.  I mean, we all know Michael Bay makes money hand over fist given the work he does, but none would mistake his efforts for art.  Making money doesn't validate the literary or creative veracity of anything, it just illustrates that the work was bankable.  Considering how much I enjoyed ME3 right up to the bitter end, I'd prefer it to go down as an exemplar of quality game production, than be left as a monument to hubris and neglect. 

Anyway that's all I have to say on the subject.  I hope my input is helpful in some small way.

[499L]

Timforsgrin nice ending. That would of kept me off these forums.

[blmlozz]

I've donated my $20 to Childsplay guys. Is there anything else I can do except sign the petitions and facebook page?