7052 réponses à ce sujet

[A2N2T]

I think the biggest thing for me is that I would like to see more of the ME2 LI's. I really do enjoy what is already provided, but I feel that there is so much more that could happen. I'm not asking that they become squadmates, but maybe something where we can see more development of the LI and Shepard's relationship.

[Book buster]

If I had to suggest one thing it would be:

Ditch the starchild. No, really.

I think (I think) I kind of understand what you were going for with the starchild, but it falls both flat and short. Worse, it’s unnecessary: the Reapers are a big enough existential threat all on their own, and work far better as an unknowable, uncontrollable, truly alien collective whose motives are hidden and either so complicated as to defy understanding, or so simple as to inspire understanding and, though that, terror.

The ending, as it stands, robs them of their alien-ness, their Lovecraftian horror, and makes them pathetic pawns in the direction of another being who is deliberately humanised. Our enemy goes from unknowable alien evil to overpowered eight-year-old. Having a man, er, boy, behind the curtain only cheapens the Reapers. That, and, well, it’s a retread. ‘There’s a bigger bad behind the guy you thought was the big bad’ was the reveal for ME1.

If you are dead-set on keeping the starchild in the game, there needs to be more expository content around it. I can think of one, single line that kindasortamaybe alludes to its existence. One. So it comes completely out of left field and is confusing rather than revelatory. Who is this kid? Why does he look like that annoying child that was ham-handedly used at the start of the game to try to forcibly create an emotional connection? Why should I trust anything he says? Why am I even listening to him in the first place?

Twists always work best when you can go back over the story later and see all of the clues that you missed, or, if you’re really clever, can figure it out before the protagonists do within the story. The groundwork must be laid so that the twist reveal is an ‘aha!’ moment of pleasure as the pieces fall into place, not a ‘wtf’ moment of confusion that ultimately frustrates. The Portal 2 design team talked about this a great deal when constructing puzzles that challenge rather than frustrate, but the same idea holds true for narrative.

Likewise, if the whole technological singularity idea is going to be kept, that needs more exposition too: while admittedly not an uncommon idea in scifi, not everyone knows what such a singularity is. Reasoning also needs to be provided for why the singularity would be one-sided (i.e. only synthetic life can take advantage of it) and invariably fatal for organic life; we only have the word of the starchild to go on at present, and we have no reason to consider him reliable.

[Fred_MacManus]

 Suggested changes?

1. Fulfill your promises regarding the endings. Nothing less than that will keep me around long enough to see any other changes. Given that your own developers made promises regarding what we could expect in the endings (not the ending - SINGULAR - that we have now), you shouldn't have much trouble finding those details, but in case you don't remember, check out this compilation of your promises, right here on these forums.

2. Can you please do something about the journal? As it is right now, it's effectively worthless for tracking missions. Both previous games had better implementations, so it doesn't matter much which you use, just give us something that's functional, please.

3. More attention to the romance storylines. As it is right now, it seems as if Liara is the only romantic interest who gets any attention at all, while the others get a night in your quarters, and maybe a few words before you go off to fight in London, but not much else. Even Traynor and Cortez get more than that (although it doesn't relate much to the romance storylines for either of them).

4. Clean up the graphics a bit, OK? Some of the textures look like they were recycled from ME, without being updated to reflect improved graphic capabilities.

5. Given all the work we go through to accumulate war assets, it'd be nice if we actually saw them in use. Elcor artillery, for instance, or asari snipers (I'd REALLY love to see THEM in action!), or any of the other assets we've accumulated. Heck, even something as simple as seeing the Ascension punching through a Reaper's shields with that main gun of hers would make for a truly epic visual.

6. What is it with Shepard looking away from the people he's talking to? When I was in Liara's new HQ, for instance, talking to her, I spent most of that conversation trying to figure out what the frak Shepard was staring at, since he wasn't looking anywhere NEAR Liara.

7. Game imports. Most of them seem to work OK, but the faces are even more messed up than when we imported faces from ME to ME2. Heck, I didn't even end up with the same hair and eye colors I'd had in ME2, never mind any other facial details.

8. Just to make sure it's sunk in, I'll repeat point 1 here: Give us the endings you promised, right up to the days before you shipped the game. Nothing less will be acceptable. Nothing less will keep me around long enough to see any other changes.

[T-Raks]

dalethfc wrote...

To add to my earlier post. I don't Do MP, so why make SP players suffer a penalty because they do not want to play MP ?

And this. We started this as SG, so letting the multiplayer campaign have any influence on the single player game makes absolutely no sense. This is Shepard's story and I wanna play it from start to finish like that. So if there are changes made to the ending I wanna have the opportunity to reach the best ending without having to play multiplayer. Not interested in that and I think lots of players who started with ME1 are feeling the same.

[Thorn Harvestar]

I picked the Destroy ending with over 7k assets:

What I liked:
Everything up until you get up from Harbinger's laser strike.

What I didn't like:
The unexplained disappearance/desertion of your crew. I took my LI Liara and bromance Garrus with me, and they apparently ditched me? And left on the Normandy? This was heartwrenching!

How Anderson comes in 2nd but beats you to the console with no explanation. The lack of Investigation options with the Catalyst Kid. 


The combination of your lover and best friends marooned on a foreign planet with no Mass Relays remaining, and you still alive in the rubble back on (?) together just make me sad. If you are back on Earth, how the heck is that possible? The crucible blew up violently with you on it. I'm happy Shep survived, but it feels like "for what?" The ones who I cared for the most and were more than loyal to me all left me to die.

 Harbinger spent all of ME2 hounding us only to be basically unused in ME3, other than to signal the beginning of confusion and heartbreak with his laser. No face-off with Harby = disappointing

Not enough little blue children.


---

I would like to add that I had been clutching to the dreams of the Indoctrination Theory to make all these horrible issues go away with a very clever twist. It seems like that Theory is dead, sadly. Even though it helped explain away many of these problems.

Over all, we need more closure/catharsis if you're going for the bittersweet ending. We've poured our souls into these Shepards. We want to know what we actually achieved.

kitcat1228 wrote...

You can watch Jeremy Jahns's video here:

I agree with the vast bulk of Jeremy's video. Not all of it, but a lot of it. It is truly a sad thing that so many of us are pining for Indoctrination Theory over what we got. Because it makes sense and takes all of the nonsense back.

What really scares me is that since it sounds like Indoc. Theory was wrong, then we might not get all the Voice Actors back together for whatever new Ending-related DLC they make.

Getting the VAs back would be the main reason I'd pay for the DLC. 

Modifié par Thorn Harvestar, 17 mars 2012 - 05:09 .

[Montana]

Indoctrination theory...
Make it happen

The ending de-mystifies the Reapers, Sovereign says something like: "Our existence trancends your very understanding". And then the ghostkid explains their existance and purpouse in less than 2 senteces!
Way to take the cool and scary away from the Reapers.
ME1 tells us that we'll never learn why they are harvesting us, why would you change that?
Especially when the reason is so simple to explain that it's been turned into a meme featuring Xibit.
sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc7/s320x320/427053_10150714804180166_541150165_11684993_197462504_n.jpg

I really don't need much closure for the companions, seeing them alive when the Reapers die is enough for me (in a context that makes sense, preferably in London, where they should be! Not on some random planet suggesting they've abandoned the fight before it was over!).

And I don't want my Shep to have a "happy everafter", seeing the Reapers defeated before succubing to his/her wound is the ultimate ending imo.

And the relays needs to stay operational, I'd like to return to a ME I'll recognize someday, or atleast hope that I can. The Stargazer cutscene suggests that the galaxy never recovered form the loss of the Relays, which is very depressing.

I'll direct you to a topic I made earlier, It's not very constructive, just me venting. But it explains the problems I'm having with the current ending (at length I might add).
social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/355/index/10122596/1

[Shortstuff820]

Just a quick clarification for people. Your Galactic Readiness has nothing to do with your EMS. Galactic Readiness through MP is a way to bypass a high enough EMS score. I got nearly 5000 EMS and got the "ultimate ending" without playing a second of multiplayer (4000 is the minimum required). You simply have to collect enough war assets in SP, but nobody takes the time to scan every planet and do every side mission. It also depends on your decisions made throughout the series. An all-paragon Shepard will easily have over 4000, while a Renegade Shepard will struggle at 3500. Renegade Shepards are probably the reason Galactic Readiness through MP was implemented in the first place.

Many people also don't realize the "best ending" is the grandfather/grandchild segment after the credits. So don't worry about EMS and Galactic Readiness because it doesn't really do much.

[krashofny90]

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, COMPLETELY THIS!! This would give you a narrative out, and lets our decisions of who showed up at the final battle come into play.

[noxiuniversitas1]

EDIT: sorry mis-clicked quote instead of edit!

Modifié par noxiuniversitas1, 17 mars 2012 - 05:12 .

[hoodie_gypsy]

I agree with many people who have already posted, but I still need to add my voice.

The ending was terrible, hollow, and jarring. I almost want to use the term "violating" since it stole and corrupted everything that we thought we were fighting for throughout the series. Most of us weren't expecting a happy ending (I do support those who are asking for one, though) with dancing ewoks, camp fires and a children choir singing in the background. We were ready for brutal sacrifice, but with the understanding that our choices meant something. I argue that we were ready to say goodbye to Shepard, we weren't ready for our Shepard to mean nothing.

We're not asking you to change the ending, we're asking you to give us an ending. Like so many others have pointed out, the indoctrination theory would answer almost everyone's issues. I just cannot fathom why the people that gave us Mass Effect as a whole thought for one second we'd be ok with this.

Obviously, we're not.

[rok_it_powuh]

sorry if i repost people, just cant bring myself to reading each and every comment here

not much of what you guys did really broke the game so that stuff is going to get omitted...but i DO have one that i have a lot to say about.. guess which it is?

the endings gave a lot of people many thought and emotions, most of it bad, some don't like the similarities between the choices you make in the citadel (which i have to agree with, with the real differences being color, weather the reapers on earth fall or take off, the ground soldiers close to those reapers dying or not, if big ben gets destroyed or not, and if you see shepard inhaling.. that's it) others don't like the fact that they don't get an update on their squadmates' destinies (which again is something that i find lacking) my personal biggest dissapointment with the endings is that it wasn't what it should be for the last entry in a story-heavy series, an ending should put a bow on every plot-line that has built up to that point, all the things that have been discussion topics over the series' timeline, and all those little questions people have that happen in and around commander shepard's story. to strengthen that point, let me bring in something from the outside, if anyone here keeps up with the naruto comic book, you'd know how it has taken its creator more than a decade to write, he's now on the final story arc, and what i'm trying to say is that the story arc is now around a year old, why? because of the need to close all the different plot points, that takes time in a series as long and as story-driven as naruto, and so it should also take time in mass effect, which is just as, if not more dependent on its story for its entertainment value. this is why i was left confused, dissapointed, and a little angry after the ending, i mean, who were the keepers? were they the first the first species the reapers harvested? were they the ones before the protheans? or were they picked somewhere in between because it was becoming difficult for the reapers to harvest effectively? why do we never get to see palaven? why don't we see thessia or sur'kesh besides just one complex? why dont we visit the other races' homeworlds? the elcor, volus, batarian? where are they? why dont we go visit the crucible? talk to the different races and get a feel for this awesome "device" as liara calls it? i mean its what you used to destroy this ancient threat it would've been nice to know more about it. who were the protheans really? for a species as important as them i didn't see much dialog into explaining that, and for people who have "from ashes" i never caught why it is that the protheans from ilos look so much different than javik. besides mordin, wrex, and liara none of the returning squadmates felt like they had much impact in the story, this is evidenced by the fact that all the others can die before the final mission, and while i wasn't expecting full blown 2 hour-long quests for each, i was left just saying "oo look it's zaed-- oh, ok, bye" for most of them, so more closure on your characters and the story as a whole would've bee ideal.

the final mission in the game, while good, wasn't everything i thought it was going to be, this may be asking for too much but i'd figure i'd mention it anyway. when we speak of a galaxy-wide infestation, what comes to mind its a galaxy-wide disinfection, what came to mind was you as shepard going to all the homeworlds and ridding them of the reapers, helping those races, and earth would be the reapers' final stand, all the assest you gather would then take effect, you would see the elcor marching and using their shoulder-mounted cannons, see the krogan riding the cloned fossils you recovered in that one side-quest, the rachni going around the crucible helping its deployment, see al-jilani hovering over the battleground reporting, or shepard moving around earth, fighting the reapers on several fronts around earth. and at the very last moment have a confrontation with harbringer that's more than "swoop down, blow it all up, dissapear". instead, all the war assest and decisions made with the exeption of a few ended up being nothing more than a number on a screen. and that removed a lot of that "final struggle" feel

the game was for the most part exeptional, and aside form all the little bugs that every game suffers from it was a complete package.. for the most part. it's just that, for a series where all of its backstory is so fundamental in its enjoyment, the enidng left a lot to be desired

[LadyofRivendell]

 Well, this post will probably sound like a broken record, but another opinion can't hurt can it?

Throughout playing the game, I was constantly blown away. The animations are much improved (characters actually have expressions!), especially for Shep, the writing is stunning as always, gameplay is fun, the music is top tier movie quality, the new worlds and old were fun to visit, basically the game felt improved in every aspect from it's predecessors. ME3 is about as close to perfection as you can achieve in a video game.

That is, until the ending. London was really emotional for me, and it felt right on track with where the game had been leading, all the way up to getting blasted by Harbinger's laser. From that point on, it all felt very disconnected, a bit too surreal for how the rest of the trilogy had played out. Here's a bit of my reasoning...

A) Too many plot holes in this sequence. I'm not going to list them, as I'm sure others already have, but for a company so focused on writing cohesive, compelling, immersing stories, this felt like a blast of cold air.

Anderson and TIM conversation felt a little sudden. I like the whole "mind games" thing TIM is playing with Shepard, but the whole scene still feels a bit off from the rest of the game. Like there's something missing... except I can't place a finger on exactly what that something is.

C) Final chat with Anderson and his death weren't as emotional as I anticipated they'd be (Even before the game was out, I assumed Anderson died. Token old mentor/father figure always dies). Don't get me wrong, I was sobbing, but those tears were because I thought I had just gotten Kaidan and Liara killed and still didn't know what on Earth was going on, I listened to the cut dialogue for this scene, and I really wish you guys had kept it in there...

D) The Catalyst part is, again, too surreal. I don't care that he didn't explain the history of the Reapers, or a fully fleshed out description of each choice, as I like the thought that he's messing with Shep's mind. What I don't like about this scene is the auto-dialogue. I know, ultimately, Commander Shepard is your character, not ours, but at least in my headcanon, my Shep wouldn't say what she said to the Catalyst. I do like the mystery in his appearance, but I wish he had been explained AFTER the endings. Which brings me to...

E) The endings themselves. Now, I actually like the idea of the three choices in theory. One, you get the more TIM inspired Renegade-y option, Control the Reapers and gain galactic power for yourself, whether to do good or evil I'm not sure (although I have a feeling that the Reapers might act like the One Ring *excuse me for dorky LotR references* in that through any Shepard's attempt to do good, they would instead do evil). You have Synthesis, an entirely new curveball that just might seem like the right choice, or something completely weird. And then you have Destroy, which is what we've been gearing up to do the entire trilogy. While I do like the idea of having these three choices, I'm not so huge on the "Press Button To Kill/Control Reapers" (or Press Button To Merge All Life). I was really looking forward to using my acquired fleets and having some epic, heroic, plain up badass battles to show those Reapers who the real boss is. So, my problem wasn't with the choices, not really, my problem was with...

F) The aftermath. The fact that each ending basically played out in the same way, with no real conclusive feeling of how our choice affected the Galaxy. The destruction of the Mass Relays feels like an unnecessary measure, it doesn't really add anything except that I feel awful for choosing the only option where Shepard lives (I'll get to that momentarily). The Normandy crashing? Didn't like that at all, why was Joker running away from the battle? How did he manage to pick up my end game squadmates? Why would my end game squadmates, or any of the squadmates, leave without Shepard, whether she was dead or MIA? It's completely out of character for all of them (except maybe James or Javik, they didn't have the same emotional connection to Shepard as the rest of the crew did). And then, at the end, the ship crashes. You might as well have just thrown a torch into my childhood home, because that really hurt... Not to mention they crash on an unknown planet. Um, what? And then, to top it all off, Joker, Kaidan (my LI), and Liara smile at each other at the end? That...seems really off. Joker just lost both EDI (in my ending) and his ship, not to mention that they don't look upset at all. Is it too much to ask that they miss Shepard, even a little bit? Just one tear? Anguish?

G) The destruction of all technology feels like a huge step backwards for everything we were fighting to keep throughout the game. But the only part in this entire game I can actually say I hate is the kid and grandpa at the end. It really ruins the immersion of the whole story, to think that it all happened in the past... I like to think that I'm playing through Shepard's life with her, not recounting an old story as it goes along. This is the only thing I wish you guys had just taken out altogether. Every other aspect of the ending (except maybe the fate of the crew and the mass relay destruction) feels like it adds something, everything except this.

Now, here are a few things that I would've liked in the game...
A vast variation of endings. This is Shepard's last story, and you guys have said you have no interest in making any further installments that take place in ME's future. So, I don't see why we didn't have a bunch of different endings, everything from "LOL you fail Reapers win" to tragic heroic sacrifice to surviving and continuing to serve the Alliance and be the galaxy's greatest hero. I'm all for sad endings, if they're an option of many. I replayed Dragon Age: Origins several times just to see all the different endings, but in the end, I always defaulted to the happiest "Everyone survives" ending. It's what I like to see after so long in a game.I don't need a wrap up of "Wrex went off to do this, and then the Quarians lived for another 10 years and died, then blah blah". I'm okay with ambiguity, in fact, I much prefer it. But maybe little scenes at the end that suggest what happens to each race based on our choices would be cool. Like seeing the Quarians working with the Geth to build some houses, or Krogan babies running around a camp, just little things that imply what happens but leave it open to my imagination. 
And I'd just like to add, I'm a big fan of the Indoc theory, as it makes sense aside from one or two tweaks. You guys could easily run with this, instead of changing the endings, add the whole "it was indoctrination enduced hallucination" thing, and play it out from there where we get up and have our real ending. It could make sense in context, the Reapers knowing they'll lose if they don't stop Shepard somehow, and resorting to a last ditch attempt to ruin her mind and free will.

I can see what you guys were going for in the ending (I think), and it could have worked great for something like a book or movie. But the fact that most of us are so invested into our characters, it makes something like this really hurt. Throughout the trilogy, I didn't just play as Commander Shepard, I was Commander Shepard. The Normandy was my second home, the squadmates were my friends and family. You guys do too good a job for us NOT to get attached on an emotional level. Which is why the endings are just so out of touch, and why there's so much backlash. 
I'm not angry, I'm not swearing off BW for good, I'm just...depressed, and really hoping for a better resolve...

Modifié par LadyofRivendell, 17 mars 2012 - 05:15 .

[AllThatJazz]

To reiterate a point myself and others have made - please, please, please do not make the outcome of the single-player game in any way reliant on playing multiplayer or the app games. I do not wish to be denied content I have already purchased simply because I cannot or will not play online (currently can't). Every outcome must be achievable from within the single player campaign.

[FilmDirector554]

FilmDirector554 wrote...

Scrap the Star Child. If you can't come up with a coherent explanation for the Reapers, that's fine. Sometimes explaining your greatest mystery ruins the credibility and suspense behind it. The goal is to destroy the Reapers. Don't suddenly appear and say they're the "good guys" and that they're helping the organics by murdering them to protect them from synthetics. Remember, Sovereign said that the Reapers simply are. They are eternal. Before them, organic life is nothing. An accident, etc. Stay with that. It's good. So yeah, the question of where the Reapers come from? THAT is something you can let the audience speculate on.

Also, a final boss battle. I know it seemed too "video gamey" at the time, but this is a video game. Games like BioShock managed to deliver on all its themes, characters, etc, and they still had the classic end boss fight. And you know what? It was awesome and didn't take away from anything. You guys built up the Illusive Man for a boss fight in Mass Effect 3, and before that in Arrival with Harbinger. Your two boss fight candidates are right there.

Give us endings influenced by our choices throughout the entire Mass Effect saga. Make everything count. Don't give us A, B, and C endings. You promised multiple influenced by our choices throughout the series. Deliver on this.

London: This is truly a suicide mission. Let us assign our war assets. Let us assign our crew. It would have been great to see more going on during the push through London and the battle in space.

Let me save the day. I don't care if my Shepard dies, but let me FEEL like a hero. Let me feel like my hours of playtime, money, emotion and heartache in this personal journey to save the galaxy meant something. There's too much crap going on in our own world for bittersweet endings, but include one just to have an ending where everything falls apart. And you know what? Give us an end where Shepard DOES live. Cause why the heck not? He's Commander Shepard. He works miracles. But most of all...give us closure. I want to see what happened to my team, earth, and the rest of the galaxy.

And look, you guys showed a Mass Relay exploding and wiping out an entire system. Don't back out on your previously established logic. It's too late. But hey, if you want to have an ending where the relays go up, use it in a bad ending where you're manipulated into pushing the wrong button or something.

This is Mass Effect 3. This is the end of a trilogy. It's the end of the massive space opera Mass Effect. Not Blah Effect. Pull out all the stops and crank it to epic. Give the player the greatest climax and resolution in the history of gaming.

This isn't the second and third Matrix films. This is your The Return of the King.

Thank you.

Just to add to what I've said above...

The journal needs to go back to how it was in Mass Effect 2. I know a lot of people have voiced the issues with the journal, but it needs to be said again.

And now a minor personal issue...

The galaxy map. The music doesn't loop in a continuous uninterupted thread like the first two. Instead we hear the entire song, and then it just starts over like the track is on repeat. I know this issue isn't really a big deal, but it certainly made selecting from the galaxy map feel...awkward? Especially if you're taking it all in and reading about some of the new planets. Like I said, though...minor personal issue.

[Am0nkira]

Dear Bioware this story can only have one good end.

Fire Mac Walter.

[CHRIS GRISS3L]

1. Make the Indoctrination Theory true. This would also be the easiest way to improve the ending to Mass Effect 3 because you would just be adding on to the end. If Shepard survived then that would be where the DLC starts.

2. Make our choices from ME1, ME2, and ME3 matter in the end. Right now they do not make a difference.

3. Have at least 2 happy endings. They should be hard to get though, for example 6,000 or 6,500 EMS or more. One of the happy endings should involve Shepard and his/her Love Interest(LI). Blue babies would be cool if you romanced Liara.

4. A fight with Harbinger at the end would be good. The ME1 had Saren as the boss fight and ME2 had the Human Reaper as the boss fight. If there is a boss fight against Harbinger make it more like the ME2 boss fight. The fight against Saren was good but also annoying because it was all about repeated hits, not weakness hits like in ME2.

5. Provide more closure to the other races. Show what happens to the Quarians and Geth if you created a peace between them. Show what happens to the Krogan, show them trying to rebuild and maybe part of the Council. Also show the rebuilding of Earth, Palaven, and Thessia.

6. Make the Mass Relay get destroyed in only certain endings, for example if you fail but not completely then they get destroyed. Other then that the Mass Relays should not get destroyed in the majority of the endings because the Relays are what keeps the civilizations alive. Without the Mass Relays it is no longer Mass Effect. Also it would take them years to build new Mas Relays because no one has done it before and no one can duplicate Reaper technology. The Protheans, who were more advanced then the Turians, Humans, Asaris, and Quarians, could not even build Mass Relays.

7. The endings should make you feel like you beat the Reapers and that you did not doom the civilizations in the Galaxy.

8. One of the endings should be one where the Reapers win. The ending scene could be Liara talking through the beacons that she left behind.

BioWare should fix the ending because as of now what is the point of pre-ending DLC if it does not matter in the ending. Your final choice did not matter and it was not affected by your previous accomplishments. I strongly feel that most people will not buy pre-ending DLC because it will just be pointless.

[Hapimeses]

Bioware have created a brilliant RPG setting. I'm a table-top RPG games designer, and I admire everything they've managed.

However, as I look at the end of ME3, I'm reminded of many games I've run in the past that have gone wrong. We all make mistakes -- we are only human after all -- and sometimes we are blind to those mistakes until too late. It's what we do to fix those mistakes that will be remembered, not the mistakes themselves. Leave the ending as it is, and Mass Effect will be forever soured by it.

And let me be clear here, I believe the current ending of ME3 is a mistake.

I'm leaving the above statement as it's own paragraph. I want it to be clear. ME3's end was poorly crafted, and needs to be addressed if Bioware wants to keep it's Mass Effect players happy. The many complaints in this forum, in seclusion, are a testament to this, but even if everyone else in the world had loved the eding as presented in ME3, I would still claim the end was a mistake. My reasons for this are manifold, and I'll try to share some of them here as constructive feedback was requested.

So, constructive feedback. Very vague request. Feedback about what, exactly? I'll purposefully tighten that remit and rephrase it as a clear, concise question:

What do I think is wrong with ME3?

That's better. That I can answer. I've played the game on both PS3 and 360 now (and played ME and ME2 on PC), and can say that there are many design choices I take issue with during the course of the game (lack of crew members, fewer dialogue options than I'm used to, focus on scanning fetch-quests over actual missions, and so on), but these are not definitively 'wrong' in my book. They are all a matter of taste.

But, beside all that, only one aspect of the game does feel completely wrong to me: the end.

I'm not alone when I say this. Indeed, I personally know none that like the end. Not one person.

That may not sound like much, but I'm a pretty connected guy when it comes to RPGs. I am stunned at the universally negative reaction to the end of ME3 from those I know. I've never seen such blanket reaction to a game. It leaves me to conclude one thing only: Bioware screwed-up, and screwed-up bad.

It happens. We're only human. We make choices all of the time, some good, some bad, some difficult, some easy, and sometimes the results don't turn out as planned.

This is one of those situations. Bioware is in a very difficult position. It crafted an ME3 end it believed would conclude the Mass Effect games in an awesome, bitter-sweet fashion that its fans would, at the very least, accept, and hopefully enjoy. Perhaps even elicit a few tears.

They were wrong.

Not only did almost all the fans of the game not like the end, they also refused to accept it. Indeed, they created new versions (this is a brilliant example of an alternative ending -- take note, Bioware, this chap did it better: 
http://arkis.deviant...ILERS-289902125), they re-examined the game and fashioned crazed (and not so crazed) theories allowing a rewrite of the end to be appended to what already exists (most of those theories revolve around Shepard being Indoctrinated -- for obvious reasons, as it allows for the ending to be 'all a dream!), or they simply refused to accept the end and came to the forums to complain.

Why are the fans reacting like this?

This is, in truth the question that should have been answered by Bioware when they were fashioning the end. Let me rephrase it into a question that is more readily answered:

What does the end of ME3 require to be satisfying to the gamer?

That's the 1 million dollar question. That's what Bioware got wrong. It did not answer this question correctly, and, thus, has a lot of very disappointed fans.

This is how I would answer that question:

1) The end must provide closure for the events of ME3.
2) The end must provide closure for the entire Mass Effect series.
3) The end must make sense.
4) The end must provide a challenge that is overcome, and a choice (choices being central to the Mass Effect game).

There is more I could add -- and I certainly would add more if I were producing the game -- but the above is a good place to start.

So, did ME3's end hit any of those four points that I feel are evidentially obvious requirements? Let's take a look:

1) The events of ME3 can be summed up with a single conflict: The war against the Reapers. So, did the end provide closure for this war?

No, it did not.

The end (and I lump all potential ends together as one as they are effectively the same in practice), did not address the many war fronts and how they concluded after Shepard's actions are taken into account. Did Shepard save Earth? Did Shepard save the Geth, the Assari, the Quarians, the Krogan, and so on? We don't know. We can only guess. We do know the Mass Relays are destroyed, we do know Earth is in bad shape, but we have no idea what happened to everyone. We have no closure.

Indeed, so poorly is this handled, that we are left doubting the point of building War Assets throughout the game. No matter how many we collect, the end is the same. The Relays are destroyed, and we don't know what happens to all the different species of the galaxy. Our efforts make no difference. Indeed, is there any point in playing through most of the game at all?

Obviously, this is hideously disappointing. Even a few paragraphs of text explaining what Shepard's choices had wrought in the galaxy would have resolved this -- provided closure, albeit cheap and unfulfilling closure -- but we don't have that. All we have is the unknown and the unsure.

And, following on from this, what reason is there to replay the game if the end is so unfulfilling?

Does anyone really want to replay ME3 knowing the end will be the same no matter which character they import? No matter what decision is made?

It certainly killed my desire to replay the game. ME and ME2, by comparison, I've completed many times.

Let's move to the next point:

2) Do we get closure to the whole Mass Effect series?
For this, we need closure to the major choices of the series. These I would encapsulate into the three following issues, though I could argue many more:

a) The Citadel Council.
The Collector's Base.
c) Shepard's Love Interest.

So, to resolve the whole series nicely, to wrap it up with a lovely ribbon, we need the end of ME3 to provide conclusion to these three points. Does it?

a) We have no idea what happens to the Council, or, indeed, any of the races. Our decisions here have made no difference to the end. We are left unfulfilled here. ME one's choice need never have existed.
The existence of the Human Reaper had pretty much no influence on the end (even if it was destroyed, it was still there). This was poorly concluded. ME2's choices need never have existed.
c) We have no idea what happens to Shepard's Love Interest after the end, so, again, we have no closure. Our choice of love interest has no closure or end.

So, again, we are left wanting. We have played three game's worth of content, almost certainly many times, and we have no end to the series as a whole. No closure.

For those invested in the game, this can be viewed as an almost criminal act. We want to know what happens. We want to know our choices made a difference at the end. It's what we expected, it's what Mass Effect promised, but it is not what we got.

3) Does the end of ME3 make sense?
Let me be blunt. No, it does not. There are many reasons it fails to make sense, but I'll only focus upon one. I'm happy to write 'til I'm word-blind on this subject if people care enough, but I'd rather keep this post from growing overly long.

So, let me draw your attention to the Normandy, and it's final moments in ME2.

In my first playthrough, the Normandy was in orbit fighting the Reapers. My team were part of the ground force advancing on the Conduit. All brilliant stuff. Shep makes it to the conduit, and the rest of the team are left in a bad place, either fighting, wounded, or maybe dead.

After a few conversations on the Citadel, Shep decides to end the Reaper threat, destroying the Mass Relay network in the process.

However, as Shep is having this chat, for some reasons the Normandy has left the war, picked up all Shep's team, then headed off for the Sol Relay, abandoning everything. Worse, this turns out to be a fool's errand because the Normandy is caught up in the Mass Effect Relays's destruction, and crashes on a distant planet. Then, even more bizarrely, all Shepard's team get out, unwounded, to view their new world.

But it gets worse.

Included in that crew is Liara, my first Shep's love interest. The problem is, the lil' blue alien had just declared undying love to Shep, shared a beautifully touching moment, and made it pretty clear that they would do everything to be together, no matter the odds, to the bitter end (and it was clear Liara thought it was going to be bitter). But, no, here stands Liara, looking serene, almost happy, as she steps from the Normandy? No tears. No cares. No wounds. Just serene.

Say what?

Again: what?

Why is the Normandy there? How were the team picked up? What made Liara (or whatever love interest it may be, if aboard the Normandy), abandon her true love? What the hell is happening? How does any of this make sense?

No matter how I look at that scene, it's nonsense. It leaveds me with a strong empathy with those that prefer Indoctrination theories, as it at least allows them to ignore the craziness of the scene as presented.

We need context here. We need to know what happens. 

The scene is an absolute betrayal in so many ways. I watched it with my mouth open, stunned, trying to understand what the point of it was beyond having us watch the Normandy crash. Again.

We needed the end to make sense, but it doesn't. ME3 fails here.

4) Lastly, the end must provide a challenge that we can overcome, and it must end with a choice.

Did we get that?

Well, it could be argued, though many argue that Marauder Shields was a challenge (don't know your meme? Watch this: 
; it still makes me laugh), or the conversations with the Illusive Man challenged our position, these arguments are, obviously, weak.

I maintain a challenge at the end is expected and required. This is Mass Effect, the game of Saren and The Human Reaper. The end needs something to make us go: wow, what an end. I faced that and won.

In short: it needed Harbinger.

Now, I am fully aware of the counter-arguments to this (and I have sympathy with many of those arguments), but I think they are wrong. On so many levels. Happy to argue this out if anyone is interested. I strongly believe we needed a confrontation with Harbinger at the end of the game. After all, isn't that what ME2 had been building up to?

And, I'm not saying a big fight with Harbinger is what's required (how do you stage that in a way that doesn't stretch credibility? The Reaper on Rannoch was already a bit daft -- though I accepted it because it was great to kill a Reaper, even a small one); but I am saying a challenge is required. This being Mass Effect, this challenge could simply be a very, very difficult choice.

Indeed, this is what I expected after the (slightly pointless and disappointing) Illusive Man segment. I expected Shepard to be lifted up to the star child, for questions to be answered, then for the star child to be outed as Harbinger, not a Deus Ex Machina. This done, I expected it to be time for a hard decision.

But, that's not what I got. Instead, Shep passively accepted everything presented by the star child as fact, and acted accordingly.

Really?

I contest this is a betrayal of the character I'd grown to inhabit and love; an assassination of all Shepard stood for. 

Shepard is a character of great internal strength and self-determination. No matter the odds, Shepard finds a way, and does so by gathering information and making a choice. No matter if he is a Paragon or a Renegade, this is how he works. It's what we have all come to expect. This is what makes sense for the charcater.

But, in the end, Shepard asks no questions and simply goes along with the star child.

This upset me.

I wanted to be involved at the end.

I wanted choices that made sense.

Further, I wanted choices that had different repercussions.

As I mentioned, I expected a confrontation with Harbinger and a difficult choice. A simple choice such as: 'Destroy the Reapers, but lose everyone you love, and Shepard, in the resultant explosion' put against, 'Send the Reapers back to darkspace, but they will return.' would have sufficed, though it's a touch lame. A choice (or array of choices) providing extra depth of meaning would be better, supporting the synthetic/organic dichotomy and tackling the dark energy situation (but that wasn't given further depth in ME3, so I may miss that out, now), but even the simple one presented would be acceptable.

Instead, we got no option to question the star child, and were left with a false choice that concluded the game in an identical fashion (sure, it was coloured different, and the Earth may have been a bit worse off, but the end was effectively the same, nonetheless).

This is utterly horrendous, and made all the worse for being followed by something utterly nonsensical (the aforementioned Normandy scene).

I was gutted.

The end credits rolled.

No explanation as to what happened after. No attempt to explain what differences my choices had made. No idea what happened to my personal relationships after the game events.

No closure at all.

It sucked. It sucks.

I was left deflated.

I can't believe Bioware were looking to make me feel this way.

How could ME's ending get it so wrong?

More importantly: What can now be done to make it better? To save an otherwise great series?

Well, let me see if I can tackle that a little by returning to the question I posed earlier: What does the end of ME3 require to be satisfying to the gamer? 

Hard to answer. But only because we have an end already, and no matter how bad it is, it needs to be accepted and incorporated into any future end-game material.

Fortunately, just returning to my four points answers this fairly well. All needs be done (all?!) is synthesising the following points with the existing end as it stands.

1) The end must provide closure for the events of ME3.
So, let us see the War Assets we secured making a difference. Let us see the troops we gathered in action. We want consequences for a poor rating (characters dying, stuff exploding, Reapers reaping), and benefits for a good rating (characters surviving, stuff exploding, Reapers being reaped). We want to see what survives to the end, and what doesn't (painful though that may be) because of our decisions and hard work (or lack thereof). The closure gained from seeing the survivors cannot be over-estimated. As it stands, there is no closure to the events of ME3, and that's not ideal.

2) The end must provide closure for the entire Mass Effect series.
This requires we see how the galaxy as a whole survives (not just the battle of Earth), in terms of what becomes of the Citadel Council (that we saved, or didn't), and what races survive in the end, and in what shape or form.

Further, we need to have some real closure to the choices of Mass Effect 2, and we need to see some good, and some bad, coming from the decision to destroy the Human Reaper or not. This needs to be a point of focus for the conclusion of the game because it was so important in ME2. We want, almost need, to see the outcomes of our choices play out. If there are no outcomes, why bother with the choices in the first place?

3) The end must make sense.
Self-explanatory, really. Explain the Normandy (my issues are laid out earlier in this post). Explain the star child in a better way (perhaps by making it Harbinger -- basically, Harbinger trying to fool Shepard -- meaning he has been narratively foreshadowed and isn't just a rubbish Deus Ex Machina, and makes sense within the greater Mass Effect plot. Explain as much as needs be explained so the player understands the end, really.

4) The end must provide a challenge that is overcome, and a choice. 
At its base minimum, let us defeat Harbinger as an Avatar of the Reapers as a whole, either physically (good luck with that), or intellectually. Then give us a bloody hard choice to round it all off. A choice that we don't want to make, but must to end the Reaper threat. This, to me, is the obvious we should have always had.

Sure, you tried to make a choice for the end already, but the choice you presented was a false choice, and had no real impact upon the end at all. The choice seems pointless, and is better viewed as a dream rather than as reality. For countless reasons, that is a huge mistake.

And, lastly, to round it off, tell us what happens after. Was the war won or lost? Was the galaxy saved? What happens to all the important characters throughout the series? This is the end, damnit, let me know how it all ends!

I have so much more I could write on this, but this is already becoming a little too circular and self-referential and... well... long. So, let me sum:

I think you need to readdress the ending of ME3. You need to create more material that incorproates what you have already created, and adds the following:

A) A challenge that must be overcome at the end (either a fight, or a clever dialogue tree, perhaps with Harbinger in both cases).
A difficult choice (or selection of choices) that make a real difference, backed with enough dialogue choices to make sense of the choice (or to deny it, if possible). 

Then we need an epilogue that includes all of the following, at a minimum:

i) The results of the difficult choice (point B above) and of the war as a whole (closure for ME3)
ii) What happens to the Citadel Council (closure for the ME1 choice)
iii) A real repercussion for the destruction of the Collector Base (closure for the ME2 choice)
iv) An explanation for the unexplained Normandy evacuation

...

Well, that took a while to write. I hope someone reads it. If more is wanted, just ask. For the sake of brevity, I've skimmed many of the points.

And, yes, I write the above in the understanding that this entire thread is almost certainly presented as damage control by Bioware. As an attempt to make me feel that I, and others who share my disappointment, have some form of agency, even though we don't. I.e.: this entire post is a waste of my time and will make no difference in the slightest.

But, I can't be silent. I truly feel Bioware have screwed-up, and, like a drowning man, will clutch at the straw Bioware offers, deperate for even the smallest hope that ME3 could be properly concluded.

Modifié par Hapimeses, 17 mars 2012 - 05:24 .

[Wildhide]

I have to add, I can't remember if it was Casey or Chris who said it, but in an interview they commented on Tali's face and a potential reveal and (paraphrasing) "the developers would put the time and effort into showing her face that was warranted for such a significant and impactful event if they chose to reveal it."

It's disappointing to see how much Bioware over-estimated their own developers. Significant and impactful is not a poorly done photoshop of a stock photo thrown in as a picture in Shepard's cabin. Especially not after the perfect moment for the reveal was just tossed away on Rannoch. It' feels tacked on and shoehorned in as an afterthought.

And hiding the Quarian faces for the sake of hiding them is great for 1 or 2 games, but by game 3 you're just dragging it out for the sake of it.  They aren't Vorlans from Babylon 5 where their appearance has plot significance.  You're only hiding it just for it to be mysterious, so breaking the mystery with a shoddy photoshop is just weak.

Very poorly done, and it's a lot of little things like this, combined with the horribly messy ending full of plotholes and going against the themes of the game... and just being nonsensically out of place, that ruin ME3.

It had a lot of potential, but it falls apart when so much isn't used. The EMS and some suicide mission style ending, fixing the numerous annoying little bugs (like getting stuck unable to move on the Normandy's Bridge), the parred down dialog, the lack of crew interaction in favor of Zaeed style treatment.

The ending needs CHOICE, real choice.  And you should be able to live if you play it that way.  The way I play my Shepard he doesn't fail completely, ever.  He loses people, he fails small battles, but he's won the war every time and earned the victories.  To roll over and give up at the end in nonsense.  To suddenly die without anything leading me to believe he has to die (again) feels really wrong.  If I had played my character in a way to set him up for death I'd be okay with it (A la ME2), but no death for death's sake.  It's poor writing, especially in a game about our choices and them supposedly mattering.

It also just feels really weird since you've already killed him off once in the series and used it for a big moment at the start of ME2.  Trying to reuse it again and this starts to feel like a Mary Sue story or  a Marvel Comic.  Shepard doesn't really remind me that much of Phoenix.

Lazy, pressured by EA, or completely off the mark, ME3 wasn't what I had hoped from it. I give it a 6.5/10 if I have to number it. Which is sad, because there was so much done right at the same time, and the stories were great until the actual Battle of London, which was a wasted mess.

Edit:  As others have pointed out, the Journal needs to actually work on all those sidequests we get thrown at us.

Modifié par Wildhide, 17 mars 2012 - 05:49 .

[Jamie9]

Shortstuff820 wrote...

Just a quick clarification for people. Your Galactic Readiness has nothing to do with your EMS. Galactic Readiness through MP is a way to bypass a high enough EMS score. I got nearly 5000 EMS and got the "ultimate ending" without playing a second of multiplayer (4000 is the minimum required). You simply have to collect enough war assets in SP, but nobody takes the time to scan every planet and do every side mission. It also depends on your decisions made throughout the series. An all-paragon Shepard will easily have over 4000, while a Renegade Shepard will struggle at 3500. Renegade Shepards are probably the reason Galactic Readiness through MP was implemented in the first place.

Many people also don't realize the "best ending" is the grandfather/grandchild segment after the credits. So don't worry about EMS and Galactic Readiness because it doesn't really do much.

I used the ME wiki, and my own playthroughs. At 50% readiness if you had EVERY war asset - even ones that cancel each other out - You would have 4,128 EMS. You cannot reach 5,000 without multiplayer.

[Captiosus77]

Shortstuff820 wrote...
You simply have to collect enough war assets in SP, but nobody takes the time to scan every planet and do every side mission. It also depends on your decisions made throughout the series.

Don't say "nobody".

When I finished the game the first time, I had approximately 8000 EMS from scanning everything, doing every fetch quest, talking to every character repeatedly, and getting 100% galactic readiness from multiplayer.

The problem is that it's not just scanning and sidequests. I can understand how some people who have done what they thought was everything may not get enough EMS without MP. Taking the time to talk to Cortez repeatedly, for example, ends with war assets as well (rogue fighter pilots). I imagine quite a few people missed those because Cortez is a secondary character and buried in the hangar bay.

To get high enough EMS without MP, it means scanning everything, do every side mission, and, most importantly, talk to everyone on the ship after every mission.

Modifié par Captiosus77, 17 mars 2012 - 05:19 .

[SeanThen1]

People have some really good ideas here. Basically, add MORE options on top of what you already presented. Have the Citadel able to be used as a brute force weapon to greatly weaken the Reapers and let the War Assets do the rest. So many great theories have been put forth on how to make that work, but Bioware is fully capable of making it happen.

People want to see their choices matter, that's all.

[JunMadine]

SamFlagg wrote...

(Posted in this thread because I totally was taking to long and ended up after the lock in the other one)

Jessica,

First apologies for what I'm sure is the wall of text
flying back and forth which is contributing to the discussion being so
unhelpful right this second.  I would say people have to adjust to
actually having someone here.  Many of the articles laid out by some of
the posters do include the generalities of what we currently think was
wrong, but I can offer some concrete suggestions that reflect my
thoughts, and hopefully reflect the thoughts of others.

While the endings our our primary concern I'd like to address Earth and then a couple quality of life issues as well.

1.) War
assets - Many of us feel rightly or wrongly that we logically expected
war assets to appear either in game or in cutscenes during the take back
of Earth.  And the war assets I'm referring to aren't the space ships
above (Though those are awesome) they are the ones on the ground.  We
really really did want to see Elcor Living Tanks and bands of Krogans
charging reapers.  We wanted to see scenes of our ME2 squad mates
holding there own somewhere on the battlefield.  We expected the battle
on Earth itself to be so much grander

2.) I think a lot of us
expected Earth to be far more similar in tone to the ME2 suicide mission
where we could task crewmates and have their survival depend on our
choices previously in the game.  With the number of times Commander
Shepard is told that he was going to lose people, it was surprising that
no one on his current squad met that fate, and the ones who typically
would (Thane and Mordin) had already been heavily foreshadowed to
finding redeption through death (For the record, Thane Mordin and
Legions deaths were so pitch perfect that we find how perfect those were
out of balance with how much of a problem we had with the ending)

3.)
The section where you sprint towards the beam of light and harbinger
attacks all the way through having Anderson die next to you is
beautiful.  It's all emotional, and most of all it's personal.

4.)
Our main issues lie with the God-Child, we find his arguement
uncompelling because we don't see his logic, and we are angry most of
all because Shepard has been a character of definance against the odds
for 2.99 games.  And in the darkest hour, he does not have the option
really to simply reject the assertion that synthetics and organics will
always be at war (And the entire Geth Quarian plot line seems to make it
far more likely that Organics will try to wipe out synthetics than the
other way around.  We find fault with his reasoning and are for the
first time in the series unable to challenge it.)

5.) The ending
consequences for Shepard come down to three shades of death (discounting
the breathing), and the mass relays destroyed in all of them.  While
there may be an underlying philisophical discussion about destroying the
reapers controlling the reapers or merging all synthetic life, this is
far overshadowed by the very immediate practical problem of destroying
all relay travel and stranding fleets in the Sol system.

6.) I
believe this could have been handled better by having some options where
Shepard lives, but relays are destroyed, or shepard dies, but the
relays go on, or even Shepard picks the control option and the reapers
leave earth and the relays alone but go and reap the rest of the
galaxy.  The practical consequences of the three options are so similar
that their philisophical difference becomes irrelevant.  (To that end I
think many would've been happy for an option to be defiant, sacrifice
yourself, have the crucible simply bring down the reaper barriers and
make them easily destroyed by the assembled fleet, and hey if you have
enough EMS you can even save shepard.)

7.) Closure.  In this it
could've been done with a heroes funeral, or if he survived a simple pan
and scan of the area with his surviving squad mates and a "Let's go
home" moment.   We feel that many of the plotlines that were apparently
solved are undone because all the people necessary to good outcomes
(Like having Wrex on Tuchanka) are stranded in the sol system.  We're
not all asking for a Star Wars Medal Ceremony, we'd be perfectly fine if
it could be a bittersweet view of all we lost, but also at what we
still had.  (And if there are enough varient endings someone can get the
star wars medal ceremony, but that's the point we wanted the endings to
be divergent)

8.) The cut scenes were 80% the same.  There really isn't a way to not be unhappy about that.

The
other quality of life issues are: The Journal, The Face Import,
Multiplayer having too much of an impact on readyness, and the Shepard
Shame Talk  (when the models actively look away from each other while
talking)

Now I will point out that this depth of feeling is
because of a real sense of attachment to all of the characters in the
universe.  The deaths for the characters who had them were all pitch
perfect, which is why the lack of sacrifice in the last part of the game
of anyone on the most dangerous battlefield followed by destroying the
entire relay system is so jarring.

This is by far the best explanation of how I feel and think about the endings.  You are my hero for the eloquence and logic expressed here.  I have only two additions to make.  First to stress that the destruction of the mass relay network has destroyed a story that could have potentially become equal to or greater than star wars and star trek.  Second the Normandy crashing on an unknown world is distasteful and full of plotholes.  The game and overall story was amazing.  I was really looking forward to importing other characters and waiting for new dlc to come out.  Unfortunatley the current endings have removed the will and desire to play with other characters and to purchase future dlc.  I truely hope this can and will be fixed.  I want to like mass effect again.  I am sorry that I cannot agree with Bioware on the direction it has taken the story.

Modifié par JunMadine, 17 mars 2012 - 05:20 .

[Hapimeses]

Ooops, double post.

Modifié par Hapimeses, 17 mars 2012 - 05:20 .

[Tom Jolly]

Whatever changes are made, the ending needs to remain a SOPHISTICATED, LANDMARK piece of science fiction. The ending happens a litte too fast.  I get the sense that the writers meant for the endings to make bold statements about the nature of our existance.   I suggest MORE dialouge, more EXPOSITION, on the nature of the Catalyst, the Reapers, and the THREE choices Shepard has.  

It is difficult to understand the writer's intent  the Catalyst scene. So much so, that many people consider this scene to be the product of 'indonctrination.'  I don't believe thati it was. But the scene needs more contextual clues... more dialouge maybe, so that the audiance can focus. 

I read the ending as such: The reaper cycles have made everything up to this point meaningless.   Regardless of the choices organics made, they would be extinguished along the path of Reaper design.  We lived in a universe without MEANING; without choice.  The design of the crucible, handed down bewtween the cycles, represented the ONE TRUE HOPE; the ONLY choice that mattered AT ALL during all of the cycles. The evolution of that hope manifests itself as
Shepard's arrival with the Crucible. It represents the culmination of numerous cycles; an evolution that finally elevates biologicial life to the level beyond reaper CONTROL.  In this critical moment, a biological being has achieved that which they have never really had before:  a choice.  A REAL choice.

If this was the writer's intent.... I hope they preserve it with any changes they make.  It is BRILLIANT science fiction.   

[Kushan101]

Reign Tsumiraki wrote...

 Ah, perfect! I already wrote up what I think would solve the problem...

*copypasta*

1.  Only change the ending starting from the last scene with Anderson/Shepard/TIM. Everything about the ending before that stays the same, with a few changes. 

2. Completely ignore the God-child-spirit. It conflicts and contradicts the "Protheans fooled the citadel" basis in ME1. This was important. Cut it out entirely.

3. Make several choices based off of war readiness, and how many assets went into the Crucible. Such as:

Very low: Launch a giant EMP burst that destroys all Reapers, AI, Citadel, Relays, most technology, ect, as well as sacrificing earth. Shepard dies. Normandy crashes, and everyone aboard dies.

Low: Same, but without damage to earth. Shepard dies. Normandy Crashes. Crew dies.

Medium-low: Burst that only destroys all AI. Shepard dies. Normandy Crashes, Crew dies.

Medium: Burst that destroys all AI in the Sol system, and the Reapers. This allows the Geth to live, but EDI dies. Saves the Relays, but not the citadel. Shepard dies. Normandy crashes, crew survives.

High-Medium: Releases a burst that disables the Reaper Shields across the galaxy, allowing the fleet to easily kill the rest(Reapers are weak without their shields, as ME1 shows. A single torpedo from the Normandy killed Sovereign without it's shields) Shepard lives. Normandy damaged, but does not crash, and the player is treated to a small cutscene of the Normandy and the fleet blowing up a few reapers. 

High: Sends out a burst attuned to the Reaper core (The Geth provide the information. They studied reapers, remember. If they are not available, the Quarians provide it, having researched the Reaper corpse on their planet) causing the Reapers' reactors to overload and die. However, the Reaper core just happens to be identical to the Core of the Citadel as well. The Citadel overloads and blows up. Shepard lives. Relays stay intact. Player is treated to a cutscene of the Reapers blowing up, troops on the ground rejoicing, as well as the Normandy picking him and Anderson's body up before Citadel explodes.


Very-high: Sends out a pulse that kills only Reapers. All tech stays intact. Shepard lives. Relays intact. Citadel intact. Player is treated to the cutscene above, minus the citadel explosion. 

In addition, the endings shown in the "original" game would be available. These would be available on the left side of the dialogue wheel, while the ones I have proposed would be on the right. Synthesis would be unlocked at the Very-High level, and Control would be unlocked at the High-Medium level. Destroy would be available no matter what.

To complete the Synthesis, Destroy, or Control ending, the player takes the elevator up to where the Original ending takes place. This way, they do not have to design an entirely new environment. The animations and flashbacks for these endings would stay the same. The only difference in the cutscene after this would be no Normandy crash.

The options of the three highest unlocked options would show up on the right of the wheel on the right side. For instance, someone who had Medium assets would get the option of killing all AI everywhere, all AI in the Sol system, or all technology everywhere without damage to earth.

The dialogue wheel would look like this, if someone had 100% of all assets.
                                Synthesis              Take down Sheilds
                                                __________/ 
                                               (                       )
                 Destroy    --------(                          ) ---Kill reapers, Destroy Citadel
                                               (                       )
                                                -----------------
                                               /                      
                                      Control                Kill all Reapers
4. Include a small, text and scene ending. Small clips of certain occations from the various decisions made will show. This will vary by ending.

EXAMPLE: Geth and Quarians rebuilding, all species rebuilding the invaded home planets, ect.

5. A small scene with Anderson and Shepard before Anderson dies, about what Shepard will do if the Crucible works. Shepard can then respond in a variety of ways depending on what options he is presented with because of the war assets claimed. Anderson then says the whole "I'm proud of you" spiel, wishes you luck, then dies.

EXAMPLE: 

Retiring and living in peace, finally, with LI(or alone, if that is the case).

Saying “This device will probably destroy the citadel and kill us, so it does not matter.”

Continue to pursue peace and justice as a Spectre.

Become a diplomat/politician and guide humanity

Ect.

6. Any teammates that were with you at the time you got shot by the reaper will run towards the teleport-beam and make it to the Citadel ahead of you, thinking that you died, and that they need to finish what you started. Upon arriving there, you meet up with them and get to the console. They also get manipulated by TIM, but only you are able to "break free" by shooting or talking down TIM. 



Anyway, that's my whole view on it. 


THIS WAY:  
Players can get the endings they want, the player can still sacrifice themselves to get the endings they want, the Devs can have the endings they want, and originally intended. The only thing this really cuts is the stupid spectral Ghost-child-God thing, which was ridiculous in the first place. 

How does this sound? I tried to address every concern and viewpoint, and combine them into one good ending that I think would please everyone. 

This. I like this very much, its giving a very reasonable, and vastly improved, alternative without changing anything MASSIVELY (which I feel is important, because, lets face it, if this going to be made a DLC: it needs to be cost efficient). Nicely done.

Modifié par Kushan101, 17 mars 2012 - 05:29 .