7052 réponses à ce sujet

[defenestrated]

Echoing what others have said:

• Include a larger variety of endings with that hit a broader spectrum of emotional tones. The missions up until the end did a fantastic job at introducing tough choices that led to triumph, tragedy, or sometimes both with a bittersweet undercurrent throughout. The endings, as presented, are nearly identical and different emotional responses seem more a reflection of what the player is imagining than what we're shown. 
• Tie in some of the ending scene consequences with what we did and our choices. A great example of this is the Geth/Quarian peace - being able to get it depended on a number of past actions. You could make up for a "wrong" choice or two but the foundations had to be there. EMS could easily still be part of this, making up for some missed decisions. Heck, you could even throw in someone saying something over a radio indicating whether it was military and/or galactic readiness that kicked in to make a difference when EMS is a factor.  Plenty of ways to play around with this.
• Don't take away Shepard's agency. The star child dictates the three options and Shepard doesn't argue. Allow Shepard to argue, question, and ultimately own whatever decision he or she makes.
• If you're going to cut away to something like the Normandy flying away, please explain why that's happening. Same goes for crew members showing up on the planet with the Normandy.
• Provide more of an epilogue. Even if its a text crawl, more detail would be appreciated.

Total Biscuit wrote...

Choices and Variety.

Indoctrination theory would be an ideal way to remove all the massive plot holes and lack of sense in the endings as they stand.

I agree with this but would add the stipulation: if you go with indoctrination - and I indoctrination - make sure the original ending still matters, just in a different way.

Don't have Patrick Duffy show up in Shep's shower.

[lordnarvinye]

I'll start with what I liked:

With one exception, absolutely everything up until the beam hits.  Seriously, you guys had me crying, laughing, fist pumping, whatever you want to call it, but this game has been like no other.  Nothing else comes even close.

What I disliked:

That one exception to everything before the last 10 mins being the Tali romance.  That simply deserves more effort guys.

What I hated (read felt like being horse kicked in regions no hoof (or scalpel) should come near)

(1)  The ending robbed my efforts of any meaning.  It didn't matter whether I helped other folks, or depended on myself and said screw the rest of the galaxy.  No matter what, the galaxy was going to end up in the same wretched position.  I have no desire to add to my Shep's story (or even to play through again) as all of my efforts are for naught.

(2) The ending does not match the narrative.  The narrative has been Yes, we (or I) can.  We(I) may die in the doing, or hell we (I) may not even succeed, but we(I) will not give up what we believe.  Only the destroy option comes close to matching...and that only a Renegade Shep.

(3)  Ending arguement does not make sense, not within the narrative of many Shep's.  Really, artificial life can't coexist?  Really?  Just.Did.It...See those EDI-Joker babies?  How about Tali's kids named Legion?

       Other part of this I have to note:  Synthesis would NOT solve this problem.  It makes no difference whether a creature is biological or synthetic, it can be "created" by an advanced civilization.  The same problem applies to all created intelligence:  If it is not well thought out by it's creators, there's an excellent chance of it turning on them.  It's body chemistry simply doesn't matter, only it's imperatives, logical processes, and mutability matter.

Suggestions:

I suspect you guys are having problems with continuity of vision, or what the hell comes next, and how do we keep going with Mass Effect.  The current endings allow for a single future (no Mass Relays, no Reapers)

Suggestion 1:  Plan for deeper future, where many of the difference between Sheps can be honored in past tense, but the world has moved on to a coherent whole.

Suggestion 2:  Simply pick a canon ending at beginning of next game.

Suggestion 3:  If DLC after the end with Shep and Co, or just Shep's Co, is desired (I suspect DLC planned on building Mass Relays) allow Shep to finish the story in his own way, but leave the question open as to how the universe fixes the problems left.  If all Reapers are desired gone, along with the Mass Relays: (Just one set of endings to match this outcome)

     (1)  Allow outright destroy option.  This will destroy all synthetic consciousness (note not synthetics, only consciousness born of synthetics - Space Magic).  Mass Relays will begin to rapidly fail (hours).  Shep has chance to warn those he wishes to warn, the rest are stranded where they're at.

     (2)  Allow the Reapers to be weakened, which will enable the universe to work together to kill them, Relays will fail, but not eminently, more like on the range of days/weeks.

     (3)  Change the Reaper's minds, which results in not all Reapers being convinced.  War continues with Reaper's on Organics side against unconvinced Reapers.  Results in the destruction of most of the Relays as the unconvinced Reapers destroy them in retreat.

Suggestion (ALL)  Allow our EMS to have MORE of an impact.  The above should not be a single conversation wheel with a Star Kid, but rather be a series of actions by either/and/or Shep, his Crew, and EMS forces.  Again, the narrative of the game has been together we can achieve all (or Shep can do it by himself)

Personally, I would dislike the Relays gone.  I dislike Star Kid, and would prefer a battle against the Reapers with the Crucible as an actual weapon  (unconventional maybe - maybe it allows Reapers to think for themselves)  and I'd really like the chance to enjoy that beer with Jacob, with Liara in my lap, maybe ending the day by showing Garrus who's really the best shot in the galaxy.

And for the love of all that's holy, can I see Tali's face, for real!?!?

[Sawtooth357]

I would also like to actually see Tali's face. Not a photoshopped picture, but an actual in game model that leaves no illusions what the Quarians look like. I think Tali fans deserve (particularly those who have her as a love interest for their Shepard) deserve to actually see what she looks like in game, and not some coy discretionary shot as she removes her mask and we look at the back of her head.

[Caelorummors]

Also I thought the Citadel was moved physically by the Reapers, not by like sending a signal that would destroy the point of the first game. Maybe mention that?

[sagefic]

Thank you, Jessica.

I have a comment and a request.

Comment: About the romances...

At final tally, I find the romances unbalanced. Gay maleshep gets 2 romance options. I am happy to see this finally happen. Gay femshep gets 3 possible romances. Straight maleshep gets his harem of 6 possible romances. And straight femshep gets...2 romances. Granted, hers are Kaidan and Garrus, arguably some of the best content in the series, but it strikes me as really frustrating that her other 2 guys: Thane and Jacob, got tossed out the window. Vega isn't an option, Joker isn't an option, and if you didn't romance Garrus in ME2 and fail to have Kaidan around, that makes straight femshep the only person who can look for romance in ME3 without ever finding it. 

Now, considering the s/s romances always got the raw deal in ME romances, I dont' intend to complain too much. I just want to point out that it can be frustrating to feel as a female gamer that certain subplots that involve our female feel like they are the first to be cut back. Thanemancers, in particular, got a very sad story of it, mostly because the game scarcely acknowledged what they lost. I, myself, was thrilled at the ending my Kaidan-faithful shep got, but I see little point in playing my alt femsheps, since their romances either die (Thane) or leave them (Jacob). Just wanted to point out that this diminishes replayability for some of us and seriously saddens others. I don't know if this can be 'fixed,' but more content for the Thane romance would be much appreciated. Also, if there was ever a chance to romance Vega (perhaps too late?) that would have been cool. He's a good-looking bone, ya know? Throw him at us. 

Request: Ending DLC

I know you've been hearing a ton of this, but please, please for the love of the Enkindlers, have a post-StarChild DLC.

IF the ending is a Reaper ruse, then Mass Effect becomes one of the cleverest bits of writing in history ever. It indoctrinates not just Shepard, but the players. It forces us to cut through the lies, not give into peace on the Reaper's terms, but to fight another day. If there are many DLCs in which Shepard fights on, in which our squadmates fight on, in which we see all those resources and allies we desperately collected come into play, then I will not only be happy. I will forever adore Mass Effect as one of the best and most engaging pieces of fiction ever. I don't expect a sunshine ending. I WANT bittersweet. 

Okay, who am I kidding, happy would be a great ending, but I know that's not how this is going to go down.

We just want to see the ending that we were shown a glimpse of. The work and the deaths and the long goodbyes can't end with Shepard lying in a pile of plot shrapnel. We need more. It can take several DLCs as far as I'm concerned - hell, I hope it DOES.

I just really want to see this through.

Modifié par sagequeen, 17 mars 2012 - 04:14 .

[JoeLaTurkeyII]

If you go with indoctrination, find some way for Shepard to recover.

Ending it with his/her brains as mush would be overkill.

[RaenImrahl]

Thanks to everyone who has contributed thoughtful and specific suggestions.  Keep it up!

A reminder, this is what Jessica is looking for:

Jessica Merizan wrote...

I think I need to clarify myself. For the past few weeks, I've been collecting feedback. I have excel sheets, word documents, quotes, graphs, you name it.

In order for a collaboration between the devs and the fans to work, I need you guys to CONTINUE being constructive, and organizing your thoughts. I know where to look, but I need you to help me by contributing to the dialogue.

Saying "this blows" helps no one. Saying, "I enjoyed X but I found Z _____ because of A,B,C" is what I'm looking for. Channel your frustration into something positive (such as the RetakeME3 movement - constructive, organized thoughts).

Chris and I are both collecting your feedback. We're listening. Make yourself heard.

[Sevorast]

I really loved the character driven story, I loved the feeling of weight that my choices had throughout the series.

In ME3 specifically I loved the scenes with Mordin, I loved how all of our experiences together came to a climax in an epic moment that felt like it really meant something!

I loved seeing all my friends again, all the old faces coming back for their cameos, it added to the feeling of a real persistant world.

But this sums up my negative feelings perfectly:

But there’s only so much dancing around the issue I’m willing to do. Nearly 99% of Mass Effect 3 is a superb game, quite possibly Game of the Year material. Even the missteps are largely forgivable. It is precisely the evolutionary drive western RPGs should embrace. However, that remaining one percent, culminating in an out-of-the-blue reveal during literally the last five to ten minutes of the game, is so ill-thought-out, so inconclusive, so almost genuinely insulting coming after a game experience that radiates love for its universe and its narrative, that it doesn’t just damage this title but the entire franchise. It ripples backwards in the series and hurts replayability for the previous two games, a rare feat indeed. A cohesive trilogy spanning years is destroyed by five ill-conceived minutes. 

To fix this, I would really love to see them run with the Indoctrination theory, that would be the absolute best outcome of all this for me.

Give us an ending that is really epic, give us closure, give this series the heroic and powerful ending it deserves!

Don't let everything we worked for be for nothing, as the current ending does.

Modifié par Sevorast, 17 mars 2012 - 04:20 .

[Kitsudragon]

I'll repost what I posted in the Retake Mass Effect 3 thread.

===

The idea is this: The endgame is based on the Catalyst creating options because it's encountering outcomes it never planned for. These outcomes all suck, mind you, because it's thinking "inside the box." It can't actually think *outside* the box, and that's why its choices are all shades of awful.

Add option "D". Select Shepard. You start in on a movie sequence where Shepard points out that the whole reason for these options is because the Catalyst is faced with a situation it never  predicted. Which by its own admission means the current cycle is progressing in a direction it can't understand. Rather than shoehorn
that back into the box, it should let them turn off the Reapers and see where they go.

The Catalyst starts raising arguments about why this is a bad idea. The counterarguments Shepard uses are based on the decisions you made in the game, cuing up movie sequences based on whether you took the Paragon or Renegade path to each sequence. Did the Rachni queen live or die? Did you destroy or save the Collector base? Did you save or destroy the Geth? And so on.

Each one of these events is presented in a long, unbroken movie, which *feels* personalized for the viewer. As the events are referenced, the viewer will find themselves reliving the moments in the gameplay when they made
those decisions, and it makes the whole movie sequence feel like it wastailor-made just for them.

At the end of the sequence, the Catalyst finally states that it truly doesn't understand any of this, which is when Shepard counters with that being *why* it has to happen the way Shepard sees it. Because the Catalyst's plan has been proven insufficient. Reality is simply too infinitely complex to plan every outcome for, and one of the outcomes the Catalyst could never have seen coming has in fact, happened.

Faced with the irrefutable facts of Shepard's arguments, the Catalyst allows the modification of the signal, so that it harmlessly shuts off Reapers. The energy wave does no damage to anything else.

You have a sequence similar to the end of the digital rebuild of Return of the Jedi, where you see a montage of
events across the galaxy as the music plays. In the same vein, you see the Reapers fall over on Earth, then the Mass Relay spins up, locks, and fires (without exploding,) sending the signal to other relays across the galaxy.

The scene switches to Palaven briefly, showing Reapers losing momentum and drifting helplessly in the space battle above their world. It switches to Thessia, showing Reapers collapsing on the planet. It moves to Rannoch, showing the energy passing harmlessly across the planet. If you saved the Geth, the scene is a little bit longer, showing a couple of Geth stepping into the scene and looking up at the sky.

The final shot could be of Shepard and the Love Interest standing on the Normandy, looking at the Citadel in Earth orbit as the arms slowly ratchet back to their normal position, before you cut to credits.

Simple. Effective. Rewards the player. You don't even need to have any more conversational choices. Just a long movie sequence based on their decisions. THAT would not only be the epic way to end the game, it could be done without changing *anything else*. Just modify the last choice so that a new option is available, with a
sequenced movie following it.

Like I said, it's simple and straightforward. Hell, if Bioware likes it, and will do it, they can use it. Just give me a mention in a credit line somewhere.

Modifié par Kitsudragon, 17 mars 2012 - 04:13 .

[XSarenXArteriusX]

I am likely no the only one but there should be a varied ending for the game, yes support the indoctrination idea, good little cover bit for the current endings.

But me personally gonna scream out my tali fanboy side and say a decent ending with aftermath including her as LI, and actually really show her face and fix the photoshop failure, cause in an aftermath of that she likely wouldnt be wearing her suit, cause of the geth helping with quarian immune systems. With that said i am sure other players would enjoy an equivalent, with all they're shepards and chosen LI's.

Now as for another possiblity ending, i fathomed the idea of doing a renegade shep, that made all the renegade choices that i have yet to do in ME3 and maybe have a version of shep where is was kinda on the side of Cerberus these were dialogues in 2 that felt like shepard was agreeing with Illusive man. (this being far fetched givin complete story addition)

this one is for kicks for Bioware's sake, make something else, thats not like the current ending but include the RGB thing again, just as kind of a lol sorry

[Zelto]

camcon2100 wrote...

Go with the indoctrination theory. Make it so we face off with Harbinger for real this time. And make the crucible a realistic construct some sort of blast that weakens the Reapers. This allows us to use our EMS to determine how the rest plays out. This would be perfect

This would work. Or something similar, so long as there are differnet outcomes based upon how successfully you gathered your forces, who lived through not just ME3 but also ME2, the choices you made in ME1, ME2 and ME3. Some choices maybe only effect small details, like who you see fighting at the end and some others may mean that you fail and the cycle continues.

The fleets need to fight, THEY need to win the war (or die tring). That to me is the whole point its not some supper ridiculous out-of-the-blue beam of light that kills/controls/merges the reapers, its humantiy, the asari, the korgen, etc etc.

There also needs to be a final showdown with someone. Its all very well saying end bosses are very video gamey, but it is a game, you had final show downs in ME1 & ME2. They were good. They made you feel a sence of accomplishment. Here even ignoring everything else to do with the end the last enemy is defeated by talking to it. Ok thats good with the whole premise of choice and dialog, but its still an action game, it should have a final showdown (not the illusive man, I like that you beat him with his own game, convince and manipulate him).

And finally, yes, there needs to be a conclusion based upon your actions. It may seem cliche, but if tolken can have one in LOTR (considered a master piece of fantacy writing) I think that ME3 can manage to get away with one.

DA:O ended brilliantly, KOTOR ended brilliantly, DA2 ended well enough and we didnt know what happend to the main character in any of them. BUT we did know what happend to the respective universes immediatly afterwards. We know what we as gamers accomplished in the game. Here we dont: green, red, blue, what happens...do we decide ourselfs. Is that how we each get our own unique ending, we make it up in our heads...

Please, just finish the game, and take the time it needs, dont rush it.
Tell us what you are doing, keep us updated, explain everything, because at this point there is nothing to loose. We well respect you more as a company if you say "ok this is what we thought, this is why it wasnt what we said" no matter what it is. Right now you are becoming a large faceless entity. Become part of the community, and do that by being open, completely open.

Modifié par Zelto, 17 mars 2012 - 04:20 .

[sutphin]

This is my first post on this topic. I think you know what brought me here.

First of all, I would like to thank Bioware for all the great times that they have given me and I really did enjoy all three games.

But, the cliffhanger ending threw all my characters under the bus. Why?
I'm not asking for a changed ending because I believe that is just going to far. Hell I would be happy with a simple epilogue.

Also, just to reiterate what countless others have said, I can not force myself to buy before ending dlc so....

Modifié par sutphin, 17 mars 2012 - 04:13 .

[ld1449]

Alright Jessica here's my two cents.

The ending what everyone's been talking about up and down for the last week or so.

To expand on why we didn't like the ending I'll say this:

1 Deus Ex Machina:

Now to be fair I always knew that the ending to ME3 ever since Sovereign was gonna have a little bit, if not alot, of Deus Ex Machina involved. When you have a fleet of thousands of ships, each as powerful as the first Reaper that required an entire alliance fleet to put down, I knew you were all gonna have to pull something that was a little BS to beat em.

To me however, the Crucible was a perfect weapon/device to use. Just the right amount of BS to be believable.

Then, out pops the magic starchild.

Now, the reason I label this child as Deus Ex even though he'd been "appearing" throughout the entire game, is because of just how unrealistically significant he is.

"I am the Catalyst- You are the first organic to ever stand here"

In other words somehow, in some way SOMEBODY just so happened to have the idea millions of reaper invasions ago "Dude, I know what we need to get this big gun to shoot. Its a space child on the citadel!!!"

The Citadel being used as a "fuel source" for a giant gun is buy-able considering that its the master relay and all. The citadel having a fully formed self awareness, and that self awareness, by who's own admission has never been seen or glimpsed at by another organic (save perhaps its creator) being the key to fire off a gun that has been under design for thousands upon thousands of civilizations is completely unbelievable. And if its importance doesn't fall under the category of "Deus Ex Machina" I don't know what does.

Now 2. Closure:

Alot of people have brought this up. Let me start by saying I normally prefer "Open ended" storylines. But open ended storylines have at least one thing to make it work.

Dialogue.

Even if you don't get an epilogue of "5 years later" They would at least have (for example) Garrus down on earth shooting a bunch of reapers when the blast goes off. Everybody looks around strangely for a second before they start cheering. Garrus or whoever's with him looks up towards the silhouette of the citadel. And gives a comment of "We have a future" Or SOMETHING. Not just

*Step off ship, look around gaze off into distance of strange plannet that for all you know could have a poisonous atmosphere that's gonna kill you all in 3 days*

3. The Blatant Lie.

"Your Choices Matter." That was quite literally your selling point, along with 16 different endings.

Our choices don't matter because no matter what amount of choices we make we always end up in the same place with the same three endings red blue or green.

We don't have 16 different endings, at the very best we have "three" with slight variations on the moment we get to them. At worst, we have 1 ending with 16 different variations.

That is not what you promised, its not what you told us we were buying.

4. Out of Character and flawed Logic:

Everything done from the moment Shepard takes the magic Space Elevator of doom up to see the star child to the *ending* of Mass effect is completely out of character. Both for Shepard and for his crew.

Shepard can talk his way out of a damn paper bag. Let alone argue his way out of a skewed and flawed logic such as the one this kid is presenting them with.

"I don't want Organics to be killed by Synthetics, so I made Synthetics to kill organics to avoid them being killed by Synthetics!"

Or "Organics and Synthetics will always fight eachother-" *Cue Geth and Quarian Ship shooting at Reaper ship right above them.

Or "Synthesis-Last form of evolution fusion of organic and Synthetic life"

*Cue flashback to ME2*

"EDI what the hell is this thing?"

"As far as I can tell it is a fusion of Synthetic materials and Organic humans that have been harvested by the Collectors"

In other words "Synthesis-Make the reapers jobs easier."

Then of course "Control the reapers-You will die. You will be completely destroyed."

"But the reapers will obey me?"

"Yes."

"But...I'll be dead...that kinda stops someone from giving commands"

"......" Just choose already

The only one that makes even the smallest semblance of sense would be destruction.

But no matter what you choose, the Mass relays are blown to hell in the end. Meaning that you just destroyed Galactic civilization as is known, while also commiting Galactic genocide on a scale greater than any reaper fleet in the history of the entire galaxy.

*Toast* Great job.

THIS overall THIS is our (or at the very least MY) problem with these skewed endings

[Tyson-666]

Overall I like the game a lot, like most others I only have one big complaint: the ending.
I do not know how much you can change, I assume the whole "Guardian child" story is too much to change.. but I would atleast like to see some explanations, like why Joker took the Normandy and my crew through the Sol relay.. why did they flee? how is it that the squad mates I brought with me on the final mission walk out of the Normandy in the scene where they have crash landed on the tropical planet?? You never gave us any explanation for this, Shepard gets knocked out by Harbinger and we're supposed to make up our own story of where our squad mates went and why?
I would love to see more interaction with Harbinger, every time we got to speak with a Reaper in the series was one of the highlight moments in my opinion.
I am incredibly surprised as to why you reduced the Reapers to being controlled by one "Guardian" that assumes the form of a child.. visuals are very important, all at Bioware know that.. and when you reduced the Reapers to being controlled by.. this, it just wasn't good enough, it is such a let down.. other moments in the game makes your adrenaline start pumping, it is exciting, you are intrigued.. the sequence just before the "Starchild" with the Illusive man, Anderson and Shepard was perfect, absolutely perfect.. and there were different outcomes, the Illusive man can do the honorable thing and shoot himself, or if you're going renegade you have to shoot him, that's what I am talking about.. that is a perfect scene, it contains choice, interesting story and gets our emotions running (in a good way) and after that you get to have a moment with Anderson (if you saved him from the Illusive man) this scene is the bar to reach for.
All these incredible moments in the game, the temple on Thessia with the Prothean Beacon.. the moment I talked about up above, Mordin curing the genophage.. and then the ending, is the biggest let down of all.. when it should be the culmination of Shepard's story, it should be the best scene of all, not the worst.
The worst of all is I can't even question this "Starchild" .. if you need to go with this story, atleast add some options, Shepard is not a tool, he does not stand there on the brink of destruction and not question this unknown entity, he doesn't accept what it says as the absolute truth just because it's standing there in all it's holographic glory.
To sum it up, I want to see more explanations, why is Joker and my crew making a run for it?
Why can't we question the "Starchild" ? I read somewhere on this forum that the developers did not think it was needed.. scrap that, it is definitely needed.
The perfect thing would be if the ending that we got was just an indoctrination attempt, and the "Shepard Alive" ending that we get is actually Shepard breaking free from the Reapers hold, and waking up beneath the rubble in London, if you add a completely new ending on top of the indoctrination theory, it would be absolutely perfect.
Realistically speaking (if you cannot make a whole new ending), I would be much more happy if we got some explanations for certain things (which I have stated above, Joker and the Normandy etc) and perhaps an epilogue (ala Dragon Age: Origins/Awakening, just so we know what happens to the characters that we love, something only in text format would not require much I think) and the ability to question that "Guardian" a bit, and actually act like Shepard.
Get cookin' Bioware! I have faith in you! other than the ending, thanks for a great game.

[Lambchopz]

I will go with the indoc theory also, if you are looking for a way to expand/change the ending. You can just have it pick up from there, with Shepard "snapping out of it". That seems to be the best route that most fans would be familiar with.

Beyond that, and this is just some ideas, I want a final confrontation with Harby (Doesn't have to be a proper boss fight, just want to confront him one last time)

I'd like some kind of gather of your ENTIRE remaining squad at the end where they kind of hang out before the end and give closure to all their stories, perhaps mourn old friends and all that.

I'd like to see what effects my choices had on all the remaining civs.

I don't care about Shep living, I just want it to feel like it was neccesary and it was a truly heroic sacrifice if she does die, and a sacrifice that is truly her choice and with her consent, on her own terms.

If you can find a non-cheesy way to have Shep live and ride off in the sunset with it's LI, I'd be okay with that too.

That's kind of a basic outline of what I'd like for the ending.

[Alamar2078]

I will be happy to list the things that I would like to see both in general goals and some specifics that may indicate the things that I'd like to see.

In general the goals that I want the ending(s) to support are:

-- A multitude of divergent endings where choices you've made in the series to date have a direct impact on the outcomes of Shepard, his squad, and galactic civilization.

-- I want to have more freedom to write my own story so the choices available in the endings need to support this freedom / variety

-- I want the endings to make sense based on the rules defined by the Mass Effect Universe up until the point that Shepard nearly gets hit by the beam weapon in London.

-- I want an epilogue that shows the fate of Shepard, his squad, and each of the major galactic civilizations in the short term and in the long term. I want to clearly understand how Shepard's choices effect the universe.

-- I would like the ending(s) and epilogue to promote a sense of closure and not rely on earlier parts of the game for this sense of closure.


Ideas on how to support the goals listed above / speific examples / etc. :

-- Adopt the "dream / hallucination / indoctrination" theory. Basically the in-game endings that we see now could be left largely intact. With enough EMS and a "destroy" selection Shepard seems to wake up [or at least not be dead] Have Shepard get up and finish the fight.

-- Keep what happens before Shep is nearly hit with the Reaper beam weapon intact. If the footage where he sees his squad "killed" is restored I certainly wouldn't complain -- I would think this should be avoidable in at least some playthroughs.

-- Examples of elements within the divergent endings could be:
>> Allow Shepard to die from Harbinger's beam weapon. The Reaper wins, the galaxy burns, the cycle continues.
>> Shepard dies but inspires his squad to activate the Cruicible and stop the Reapers
>> Shepard suicides because the Reapers are hacking his implants or have almost fully indoctrinated him .. he does this so his squadmates can activate the cruicible.
>> Shepard assumes the mantle of the Illusive Man
>> Shepard lets the Illusive Man live because his original mission is still important
>> Shepard sacrifices himself for the good of humankind to activate the Cruicible
>> Shepard sacrifices himself for the good of the galaxy at large to activate the Cruicible
>> Shepard succsessfully activates the Cruicible and it works as hoped. Shep lives and stays a soldier with the Alliance / Council spectre / whatever
>> The above but Shepard tries to find the simple life with the LI of his choice

-- In terms of Epilogues if Shepard dies lets have a funeral complete with eulogies and similar.

-- If Shep lives then show what he's up to in 5 years and maybe 20 years. Having vidmails, news reports that Shep is watching, whatever could give us an idea how his squad and the galaxy is doing.

-- For the Tali fans maybe have a full render of her and not just a picture if you're a LI

-- If nothing else an epilogue slide show like Dragon Age: Origins could be used to give us an epilogue.

-- Having someone find one of Liara's tributes to Shepard in 50,000 or 100,000 years may be a cool element esp. if we get opinions of what they think of the find.

-- Restore some of the deleted content if useful as I found the CUT VERSION of Anderson's & Shepard's conversation to be quite powerful and it spoke to me much more than the ingame version. This would perhaps be a good time to add in a dialog choice prior to the RGB endings so we could pivot between which conversations to use here.

Feel free to message me if you want more details

[euromellows]

I had an idea regarding the Citadel. If the 'refuse' option is taken then I propose that this is where the idea would branch out.

Taking the 'refuse' option means that Shepard will continue the war and the outcome is based on the war assets score. If it is too low the reapers will win, if it is just minimum Shepard and maybe Normandy dies as well. If it is really high Normandy survives but Shep dies. If it is perfect then Shepard lives.

The original three options should be preserved and be presented as 'cycle ending' options. For example they will end the cycle forever and the reapers will never come back. The refuse option simply means the war goes on and many many more casualties will be suffered. Therefore there is some incentive to picking the original three options. That being said they definately need to be fleshed out and given some kind of an epilogue. In the sacrifice option a giant funeral is given for Shepard where Hackett and Love Interest give a great speech. The races work together to repair the relays and in time will recover. Likewise with the synthesis and destroy options.

But ultimately winning the battle of Earth is only one battle and it is not enough to win the war. The reapers are far too powerful and far too numerous. It would be like the Germans winning the Battle of the Bulge in 1944, it's not going to allow them to win the war. The tide is too far against them to prevent their defeat and I propose the same would be the case after the Battle of Earth.

I had a thought about the Citadel that could be exploited. Maybe Shepard is able to centrally activate/deactivate Mass Relays. This means that they could coordinate their attacks against the Reapers system by system. By using the relays they can concentrate their forces on one system at a time, and deny that same opportunity to reapers. Of course this is going to mean that Shepard will have to choose which systems get saved and which don't. Perhaps you could have a choice to pursue an alignment based strategy. For example an option 'Save as many as we can.' Will mean that Shepard enables mass relays to those planets hit first and close to extinction. So in that scenario I would think places like Khar'Shan and Batarian space would be the first places liberated as they were the very first places to be hit. This strategy is the paragon option and the emphasis is on saving as many races as possible. Of course this option also potentially deprives the fleet of its most strategic assets and as a result there might be more total casualties but more races preserved.

Option 2 would be the tactical decision. Ie, Systems will be liberated based on their strategic value and contribution to the major fleet. To my mind places like Palaven and Thessia would be liberated first for their potential to contribute to the fleet. This strategy leaves the least casualties but ultimately sacrifices some of the minor races to near extinction.

Option 3 is the renegade option. Through a combination of bullying and deception Shepard pursues a human first strategy where the priority is given to liberating the system alliance worlds. This could be argued on the grounds that the fleet is merely consolidating its gains and shortening their supply lines. Ultimately this will generate the most casualties and almost exterminate many races - but humanity will be left standing as the single most powerful race and lead the way into the future.

Also nice epilogues to show where all these threads come together. Your war score will dictate whether Shepard or other companions die.

And another note. Definately get rid of the Normandy being stranded on another world. That just doesn't make sense.

Modifié par euromellows, 17 mars 2012 - 04:19 .

[kyleh619]

I have put in a lot of input into the indoctrination theory from last weekend. Whether or not this is true, what I care most about the ending is resolution of squad-members and the affiliated species of the galaxy. My thoughts regarding this is...

-If an ending have Shepard dying so be it. It was a conclusion I was ready to accept at the end of the game. If he survives the ending of the game I would love to see Shepard have his celebratory victory with any surviving squad members and/or love interest.

-if the ending has squad members dying so be it. As stated above It was a conclusion I was ready to accept at the end of the game.

-if the ending has a surviving Shepard and surviving crew members, I think there should be some quick scenes that depict Shepard and squadmate(s) enjoying time together (such as what Garrus told Shepard about getting that drink, or settling down with his/hers love interest.)  If a squad member died at the end, some sort of funeral or acknowlegement would be good (just like at the end of the suicide mission from Mass Effect 2).

-If current plans for Bioware is to create game either before or during the Mass Effect Trilogy, then I see to oppurtunity to really open up the possibilites of game endings. Instead of a generic ending that are very similar to eachother, have vastly different endings based on all those Paragon and Renegade choices from the Trilogy.

-Resolution of the species and fleets over Earth at the conclusion of battle would be preferable as well. If it is decided that in all endings the relays get destroyed, I would love to know what the fleets/survivors would do reguarding getting back to thier homes and dealing with supplies (fuel, food (poor Turians and Quarians)). It seems to me travel back to the species respected homeworlds is possible, but very costly in resources.

-Aaaaand of course that one ending that still seems improbable is that final one with Shepard and his/hers love interest. I don't know if that kind of ending will fit with the big sacrifice themes of the game endings... but I know a lot of peaple want to see it. (Me personally, want the little blue children ending)

I personally felt the entire ending after Shepard get hit by Harbinger's lazer felt rushed and uninspired. The entire end sequence gave many players a lot of unanswered questions, questions that led to a lot of the indoctrination theory. I would love to see that the Starchild was indeed Harbinger manipulating Shepard. Putting good ol' Harbinger back as the final boss battle would be very final. Harbinger played such a huge rold in Mass Effect 2 to be left out in all but 1 scene in Mass Effect 3.

[Mr.BlazenGlazen]

Also, show us more of Tali's unmasked face. Along with other quarians. Actually show them to us rather than photo- shopped pictures.

[JoeLaTurkeyII]

If the Reapers can move the Citadel, why wouldn't they use the Citadel to control the Relay network, isolating each system one-by-one for systematic destruction?

[niamhdannan]

nicksmi56 wrote...

FirstBlood XL wrote...

General Distress wrote...

At this point, War Assets need to be re-introduced as IMPORTANT.  They're needed to fight a path thru reaper forces to find our baddly beaten Shephard, to patch him up, get him ready for the final push.  There need to be moments where Shep will seem to be overwhelmed, but thank the Goddess that he managed to get XXXX species on his side, cause here comes the calvary TO SAVE SHEPHARD, AS HE HAS SAVED THEM COUNTLESS TIMES IN THE SERIES.

Here's an example.  In the final wave of enemies that attack Shephard and crew, while defending the heavy artillery, it seems as though the powerful enemies just won't stop and Shep will be overwhelmed.  But then, at the last moment, Wrex/Grunt/Both show up with their Krogan forces and form a perimeter around Shephard and crew, and use their brute strength to protect them until the missile is able to be fired.  That would be an emotionally impactful moment... but instead, we got the standard 'fight waves of enemies until the game decides to tell you to run to the computer and hit 'A'.

How about The Salarian STG commander who promises his support, why not have him show up in a powerfully emotional way to help Shephard in a moment of true need?

^ This +1  I'd love to see Kirrahe or Grunt or non-indoctrinated rachni coming to my defense, even at the cost of their own lives.  Cue more Mordin/Legion/Thane-style tears as the impact of my choices and the relationships I've forged over three games come full circle.

Modifié par niamhdannan, 17 mars 2012 - 04:15 .

[Zaizer]

I only ask for 2 things:

1 Closure. What happen to our crewmates, the fleets, etc... in the current endings.

2 A choice for a happy ending. Keep the bittersweet ending(s) for people who want them (with more closure, of course) , but give us a choice where Shephard survives lives happily with his LI. Blue babies with Liara, Living with Tali on Rannoch in that house you promised (maybe with adopted kids), etc...

Just my 2 cents.

Modifié par Zaizer, 17 mars 2012 - 04:17 .

[Grunt Lord]

an ending or endings...
1.) One where you win the Citadel, and Relays are not destroyed. See how your fleets did and what remains. you walking away with your li ready to go rebuild and live life.
2.)Harbinger and the Reapers out right win destroying fleets, creating human reaper... cycle goes on. would like to have it as a mission where you have to go to the crucible and stop some indoctrinated agents from sabetoshing the Crucible...

basically some closer. would be nice if you could add in a few more assets.
-Shadow broker fleet or ground troops
-Rachni fleets and ground forces
-etc

would love to see a video with all the other races in action and some more fleet combat. try to make the ending longer if you have to use the current endings as indoctrination and having to shoot the child god thing to cancel it out if it is used.

[trifecta739]

I would also like to go on record as wanting to see Tali's face. Perhaps as a "gift" if you romanced her and get a "good" ending? And not revealed like that picture was. Would have to be her modeled face.

Modifié par trifecta739, 17 mars 2012 - 04:18 .

[LostHero2k9]

JoeLaTurkeyII wrote...

If the Reapers can move the Citadel, why wouldn't they use the Citadel to control the Relay network, isolating each system one-by-one for systematic destruction?

and also why did the reapers even need sarens help in ME1 to regain controle over the citadel, when the citadel it self is the "lord of the reapers"?

trifecta739 wrote...

I would also like to go on record as
wanting to see Tali's face. Perhaps as a gift if you romanced her and
get a "good" ending?

she could await shepard in her new house (without the need of her suit thanks to the geht!) on ronnarch... also i am more for the blue babys with Liara .

Modifié par LostHero2k9, 17 mars 2012 - 04:18 .