7052 réponses à ce sujet

[Apocsapel91]

First and foremost, I believe that (whatever happens at the end) you should be able to side with the Reapers (reason for which will be explained later).  If you choose not to side with them, then your EMS determines the outcome.

Also, I believe there should be a possibility for a the "golden" ending where Shepard lives and is able to reunite with his/her love interest.

I believe that the destruction of the Citadel and the Relays should not be a result, no matter the circumstances.

I believe the whole "Star-Child" sequence needs to be cut.  The original Dark Energy plot should be used and the Reapers are harvesting organics to achieve more minds to solve this issue.  I believe Harbinger should be the one to explain this to Shepard (at this point is when the player should be allowed to choose to side with the Reapers).

I believe there should be some sort of "Character Credits" that explains what happens to each of the important, survivng, charaters.

Lastly, I think it would be nice if Hackett gave some sort of speech at the end of the game (assuming that the Reapers lose), similar to how Lord Hood did at the end of Halo 3.  I feel this gives a sense of closure that the current Mass Effect 3 ending sorely lacks.

All of this is strictly my opinion.

Modifié par Apocsapel91, 17 mars 2012 - 09:56 .

[Sonashi]

Short answer:
- fix face import issue for God's sake
- fix sidemissions bugs (for example terminals from Kasumi's mission)
- fix lack of War Assets in SP. We can't get 4k+ without touching Multi
- extend endings- make new versions of them, replace space kid with harbinger (I find this amazing how the biggest villain in ME 2 had such a small amount of screen time)
- how about indoctrination? I think this can be good.
- more closure, show galaxy situation (races, homeworlds etc.) after all

Those guys here have absolutely brilliant ideas, listen to them
PLEASE?

PS. AND FREE DLC, we've already paid for our game. Also small thing. ME 3 IS NOT an art. Art has no purpose. And did Picasso sell his pictures in pieces? I don't think so. 

Modifié par Sonashi, 17 mars 2012 - 10:05 .

[RunicDragons]

Change the ending, fix the FPS drop, and add an option to MUTE a player on multiplayer.

[SupremeLegate]

I'm just going to reiterate what others have said, the things we've done in this game and the previous two need to feel like they affect how things play out.

I have no problem with Shepard dieing, I expected it. But there should be variations on how the ending plays out. If I didn't do a good enough job preparing for the final battle, then there should be the possibility for the Reapers to win. And if I take the time and do everything just right, then the Reapers can be defeated and Shepard can settle down with his/her LI. And everything in between those two options.

As it stands right now, we're left with a devastated galaxy and our companions stranded on an unknown world because they ran away even though they all just said they would fight by your side till the very end.

So I guess what I am asking for is an ending that feels like I affected it and makes me want to play the whole trilogy over again.

[Deap360]

Just thought I would throw in my two-cents and comment on the ending, hope Bioware are reading this whole post as the comments so far have been great.

This may upset some forum users but there are many positives to the Mass Effect ending,

Firstly, I loved Mass Effect 3, The game delivered, as all others have, by offering closure on each storyline that had been previously opened. It nailed the most important aspect of any RPG, the drama from within the storyline, especially that of the characters.

The ending was good, showing that the Illusive Man's way was the paragon decision, the subtlety of this delivery was excellent. I waited looking up the three choices, trying to make the right decision, for so long I got the message that the Crucible had been destroyed! (I decided on taking control, but immediately regretted it and replayed again to get the ending where Organics and Synthetics merge)

The pacing of the ending was fantastic, Especially the run towards harbinger and the way in which the Illusive man is finally dealt with is indicative of the forst game, with much better delivery thanks to the improvements to the engine. The Deaths of such main characters were well delivered, Both the intended ones and the avoidable ones.

And finally the fact that Sheppard "must" sacrifice himself no matter what you do, gives fantastic closure to the series and the character.

I was not a fan of the destruction of the Mass Relays, I was hoping that Mass Effect could expand into an MMORPG universe which would continue the story beyond ME3, and without these Relays, that outcome seems highly unlikely. Unless such a game centres around the reconstruction of the Galactic Estate from earth.

So, that Is what I enjoyed and disliked abut the ending. I would not wish it changed as It would simply dilute the experience that I had.

However i would love the following questions answered,

1, How did the team who were running towards harbinger and the lift with me get back on the Normandy?

2. Why was Joker running away, instead of being engaged in the Reaper fight like everyone else? If he was retreating, why wasn't everyone else?

Finally, What happens next? Perhaps this is more of a sequel than a Developer response or DLC. Saying that this may not be the end of Sheppard is a great tease, and I hope that this doen not mean that there will be DLC or a sequel set within the time of ME1 - ME3, but beyond.

I think, to summarise the fans have all shown that what we really want to know is that this is not the end of Mass Effect............

Thankyou for such a great series.

[merylisk]

I understand that you guys wanted to leave things open to interpretatin. But, it would have been way more interesting if it was the Reapers purpose that was left unexplained, rather than the logical leaps involved in the actual ending.

It would be super fun to have everyone discussing different theories about what the Reapers really were, or why they do what they do, rather than have everyone debating where the hell Joker was going with the Normandy and how the squadmates magically teleported.

One is actually open-ended. The other is just plot-holes. There is a difference.

[hanar05]

Visii wrote...

Everyone has gotten into the habit of saying that ME3 was flawless up until the last ten minutes.

That is not true, at least when it comes to the Mass Effect 2 romance-able characters. This is not to say that the romances are more important than the rest of the story, but I'm pretty sure I'm not alone is saying that it is really a unique and fascinating aspect of the game. It helps make the player feel as though Shepard is really citizen of the universe through interactions and relationships with the other characters in the game. This type of 'relationship' with the other characters is something that I literally can't get in any other game or series outside of Bioware's.

In particular, I wanted to speak about Thane, though ALL the ME2 romances suffered from a distinct lack of content. Their non-squadmate status would not have been half as upsetting if there had been plenty of interaction (which didn't have to be in person) to make up for it. But most simply disappeared from the narrative almost entirely. Seeing as the ME2 characters lacked content in general, lacking a decent amount of romantic dialogue on top of that is what people are upset about and what we all wish was rectified.

I would point to these threads in particular which have far too many amazing posts to go into detail here, but detail more specific desires regarding the other ME2 characters:

Take Back the Love! Better ME2 Romances in ME3:
http://social.biowar.../index/10006936

Protesting the Poor Treatment of Thane Krios' Romance:
http://social.biowar...5/index/9749360

Protesting the Poor Treatment of Jacob Taylor's romance:
http://social.biowar...5/index/9729648

Lack of Love for FemShep, No More Equality for Bioware's female players: http://social.biowar...5/index/9839951

Zero Male Romance Interestes for Femshep: http://social.biowar...5/index/9766428

Wow Femshep really got looked over in this game: http://social.biowar...5/index/9829443

What was Upsetting: It's Mr.Thane Krios, not Mr.Kepr Al Syndrome.

- Thane was a fascinating character with a well-thought-out and developed past and personality. And while the Kepral's Syndrome perhaps adds to the urgency of his character, most of his fans have never defined himself by it. He was a Drell, a child taking part in the Compact, an assassin for the Hanar Illuminated Primacy, a lover of reading, a husband, a father, a reader of philosophy, a widower, and an absentee-by-necessity father, all before he was a man dying of Keprals.

At the end of the romance in ME 2, it was satisfying to see Thane stop defining himself by it. That was his character arch: he no longer believed or could accept that he was the equivalent of a dead man walking because of the disease. He had something to live for; his son and Shepard. For the first time ever since he had met Irikah and lost her, he wanted to live. A mental victory over the Syndrome at the very least.

When found on the Citadel in ME3, his being was entirely defined by his severely advanced Kepral's Syndrome. The majority of his only conversation with Shepard, romanced or otherwise, was about the disease. He didn't die because of Kai Leng (had he gotten that wound without Kepral's he would have been fine after surgery, as the doctor noted) but because of Kepral's Syndrome. Even if Shepard didn't find him at Huerta hospital, and consequently didn't get involved with assassination attempt? He still died of Keprals. He didn't want to die in a hospital bed, as said in his Lair of the Shadow Broker Letter, and yet, that is where and how he died.

When people say, "The whole point of his character was that he was dying," well those people are patently wrong. And having written him that way in ME3 was worse.

What kind of message is, "dying people are what disease they have?" My mother is dying of pancreatic cancer. Is she only the disease? Did she cease to be a person once she was diagnosed with it? Has she lost all facets of her personality because she is now a dying woman? Of course not. Why should it be any different with Thane? I only bring this up because I am, of course, not the only one who is watching a loved one suffer from a terrible, debilitating illness. For those of us who are or have, there was a strong connection with Shepard. That made Thane's death all the more terrible to watch. We did not need the message that, "sometimes, things are out of your control" or "sometimes, people close to you die." Many of us are living that reality, and certainly do not need a second dose of it in the video games we play for recreation. It could have and should have been handled with more care, more respect.

What Was Particularly Depressing: Thane's Death Broke Suspension of Disbelief

- I spoke with someone who had no reason to lie, and they said that there was never any path planned for saving Thane, that his death would be so moving, so powerful, so emotional as to be worth the loss of his character, that offering a way out would cheapen it.

Does the option to save Jack at Grissom Academy negate the effect of her gruesome transformation and manipulation at the hands of Cerberus? Does the option to tip off Miranda about Kai-Leng undercut the scene where she dies in Shepard's arms? Does the sacrifice/Warden death ending of Dragon Age: Origins cancel out the effect of the coronation ceremony? No. It's just an option! In a a game that is purportedly about options! In a game such as this, it is indeed possible to please everyone, just offer more than one option! Why didn't people who wanted to save Thane have that option?

Directly after being recruited in ME2, during the first conversation on the Normandy, Thane mentioned that the Hanar were working on a cure; he just didn't expect that he would live long enough to benefit from it. In Lair of the Shadow Broker, Thane's dossier showed that he was an eligible transplant candidate: it was possible for Thane to receive a transplant that would extend his life. There would not need to be a miracle cure because there was already one in the works by the Hanar. In addition, the CDN mentioned a new medigel for the lungs that would revolutionize internal medicine; I hope I need not explain how this could immediately benefit Thane. This felt like a particular nod to Thane fans, because an article talking about medigel for the lungs would only be of interest to Thane fans and no other portions of the fan base.

Unlike the game endings, there was setup here. The pieces were all in place. It wouldn't be a deus ex machina, people could look back at the game and see the trail that lead from there to a cured, or at least, surviving Thane. An expedient cure wasn't even necessary, if the disease was just stabilized, it would have been enough for us to hope that he would live long enough to receive the Hanar cure.

And yet, all that foreshadowing was dismissed. What was given to us in ME3 was a slap in the face. There was hope; not hope from desperate fans reaching for any half-baked scrap of information to support their claim, but hope born of game-provided evidence. If Thane was always slated to die, why give fans any hope at all? Why have Thane mention that the Hanar were working on a cure? Why put in Thane's Shadow Broker Dossier that he was an eligible transplant candidate? Why release on the CDN information about a medigel for the lungs, when that information would only be of interest to a select group of the fan base? Why recognize the "Cure Thane in ME3" banner, giving more hope to fans?

His unavoidable death was all the more bitter because we believed, in a universe were cancer had been beaten; in a universe where death, however costly had been surmounted; in a universe where the Genophage, a product of years and many individuals' labor could be reversed by one, (despite supposedly being years away from a cure in ME2) that Thane's life could have been extended, and that his death could have been avoided.

What was an Insult: The Aftermath

-Both Thane's death itself and the aftermath was done so poorly (from a romanced Shepard's perspective) that it should not have happened at all. It was not beautiful, it was not touching. Shepard showed no emotion, and wasn't given any option to show any. Because the "romance" that came before it was so threadbare and uninspired, it fails on the very fronts it needed to succeed at to be considered successful and satisfying to those who had no way to avoid losing a favorite character/LI.

The majority of Thane fans had accepted the possibility of Thane's death, despite all the alleged foreshadowing from the previous games and DLC. We had many other reasons than the obvious to pray that it wouldn't come to pass; in previous ME games, character/squadmate death wasn't exactly given the gravitas it deserved. In Mass Effect 2, during the Suicide Mission, Shepard shrugs and moves on no matter who died, even their LI. Afterwards, none of the other squadmates even mentioned that they had lost some of their number. This dismissive treatment was something we all feared more than Thane's death itself; he wouldn't just die, he also wouldn't be remembered. And that was exactly how it went.

Right after that tearjerking (/sarcasm) goodbye, does Shepard get to talk to anyone about losing Thane, romanced or otherwise? Does any other ME2 character mention him? Did any other character even ask how Shepard was coping? No, but he gets his name on that wall!

This was as the more painful to see, especially because in nearly every other instance, when another ME2 character died, everyone on the ship had something to say about it. If the Virmire Survivor died on the Citadel, Garrus had something to say. If Samara died at the monastery, Joker had a comment. Tali remembered Miranda, could remember Legion. It was proved through these characters' deaths, that their loss could resonate. Why didn't it happen with Thane? I inferred from a conversation with someone in the know, that there were resource and time issues that contributed to this.

If the aftermath of a character's death cannot be handled with as much care as the death was, then the character shouldn't die. Period. Why was Thane the only one fighting Kai-Leng? Why was Shepard and the others just standing uselessly with their guns drawn? Why does the nurse at the hospital mention that Thane needs more blood and then states more blood won't do any good?

Why do those who romanced Thane get the exact same Lair of the Shadow Broker goodbye letter, if they already romanced Thane? It was understandable, that it was made available for those who didn't play Lair of the Shadow Broker, who didn't/couldn't go on the internet to look it up, but what did those who had already read it get? Nothing! Nothing new and bitterly inadequate, given Thane fans are the only ones who are forced to see their LI die in game, on camera, with no way to avert it.

If any LI should have given Shepard a trinket, it should have been Thane. A picture of them on their desert vacation, taken when they were together before Shepard turned herself in, or a holo (like the one Thane had made of Mouse). Something. Anything to remember him by. Anything other than absence.


What Changes Should Be Made

- An option to save Thane should be made available. I've now seen how he died: he went unmourned by all, Shepard included. Nothing will take those memories away. While the lack of death/romance recognition/lack of romance dialogue/romance scene issues should be corrected, I want to see him live. We deserve to be able to save Thane and if we choose not to we also deserve his death to be handled better, but the latter is no use to many Thane fans without the option of the former.
- If the above won't be done, have a Shepard that romanced Thane show more emotion during the death scene. Have the option for her to tell him she loves him, and have him do the same. Miranda got a better, more satisfying death scene, and it wasn't mandatory. For the required death of an ME2 LI, Thane should have been given at least that much care.
- Thane was one of the few ME2 characters who didn't get a mission in the game. Please, please, please make it happen. Make a Kahje mission where, if completed, there can be assets for the war and a cure for Thane. Those who didn't romance him or don't want him (and the Drell to be cured) could still get the resources through Kasumi's mission. Thane is a natural connection to the Hanar. He worked for them. He had the procedure done so he could see their bioluminescence. His race is inextricably tied to theirs. The Hanar worship the Protheans, had prevented the "defilement" of some Prothean ruins in ME1; maybe there is a Prothean object that could be of use in building the crucible or just providing important information, that Shepard+CO could help retrieve.
- for all the ME2 characters, more interaction, more dialogue. Couldn't they have sent emails? Or had video-chat conversations? It would have been amazing if, after every major mission or two, we could have a conversation with Shepard's LI, keep them up to date on what's happening with the war, get their reaction on recent developments, give and receive advice. It would help both ways; both Shepard LI would hear how the war was going in other places, how different groups are fairing.
- Jacob's portrayal and treatment in ME3 was abysmal. The best line out of Jacob's ME3 romance was when Shepard said, "If we both die here today, I want to know that we've said all there was to say." … Best because it was so patently terrible. Nothing was accomplished with that conversation. Jacob acted like he had a frontal lobotomy, Shepard acted like a kiss would fix everything (and in the same voice no one liked from Jacob's romance scenes) and it just make no bloody sense that "forever" equated to six months, after Jacob admitted that he loved Shepard in ME2 and that the two of them were together far longer than they were apart. One issue (disregarding the fact that this scenario happened at all) is that it had no build up, no tension. There was no option for Shepard to fix it, just like there was no way to save Thane, no way for way for Shepard to even prevent it from happening, no way to adequately express her anger or hurt. It's just OVER. If the point was to tell a, "well, not everything works out" story, then the relationship breakdown should have been shown throughout that mission, instead of just jumping to the IT'S OVER phase. It also has unfortunate implications given Jacob's race and his.. popularity status on the forums.

Thank you.

This. This. This!

Couldn't have put it better myself!

[marstinson]

Here's the short version from my viewpoint. If I've worked through every task laid before me, then I should get the promised outcome. No switching options at the last minute; no hidden information, no chicanery. If I've failed to adequately perform some critical task and throwing myself on my sword is the only way to achieve the goal, then so be it. But if I've done everything asked of me, then I should get the outcome I expected.

Which outcomes? They should be based upon the choices that I've made since that's pretty much the major theme of the series. If I've pushed peace and unity, then that's what I should get, at least for the foreseeable future. If I've pushed results at any cost, then I should get the results, probably at a fairly high personal cost. But to be told in the final few minutes that no matter what kind of game I played I can have red, blue or green? That's just plain wrong.

For the record, though, I thought that almost everything up until the appearance of the Catalyst worked pretty well. I've got my first ME1 Shepard standing in limbo (saved the last autosave) with three paths open. Choosing to not choose is also a choice and thus the wave function does not collapse.

[Coralie]

For a lot of reasons, this series really resonated with me. I have multiple Shepards, all max- level ME1 imports that become max level ME2 imports. All have completed every side quest, scanned every planet. I’ve read every codex entry and planet blurb, because they were written for me to read. 


I travel a lot for work – most of my life is spent in hotel rooms and in airports, so I have a lot of downtime to spend in the ME universe. I’m actually drafting this in the Oklahoma City airport right now, in the same notebook where I’ve scrawled notes about face codes, slider positions, rachni and genophages and Virmire, ME1 galaxies explored and achievement progression. Plans and vignettes for headcanon in areas where BioWare gave us a blank canvas to fill in our own backstories.

So this is a world I have spent a lot of time in. I was impressed and enthralled when the original game made me choke up on Virmire – I was blown away when ME2 had me in tears before the title screen came up. Shepard. The Normandy. No.

I lost count of the times ME3 brought me to tears. The game is masterful in how it builds (or builds upon) emotional connections between Shepard, squadmates both past and present, and random NPCs. Many in this thread have brought up the shattering emotional impact of Tuchanka – I don’t know any who made it through dry-eyed – but there are smaller moments, also wrenching, as when the little girl in the refugee area loses her jaunty confidence in her parents’ imminent arrival and starts to sound uncertain.

All these moments, big plot points or small side-dialogue by random NPCs, grabbed and immersed me in a way that no game ever has before. An hour into the game I was prepared to call it the best of the series. 2 hours later it was the best I’d ever played. I was making plans to bring my next Shepard through.

And then things got darker and darker and bleaker and bleaker, and I went up the beam, and the “big bad” turns out to be – the Illusive Man. And that’s where things started to go sideways for me.

The problem is, I’ve already DEALT with an indoctrinated final “boss” that believed working with the Reapers in some fashion or another was the way to go (appeasement or control, it amounts to the same). And here I am, on the apparent brink of death armed just with a pistol, and I take him down. Saren died a lot harder. (I understand and even agree with – to some extent – the arguments against having a final boss battle just to have a final boss battle. But ME2 ended with me battling with – and beating – a fetal Reaper. An indoctrinated human mega-billionaire just doesn’t have the same effect.)

But it doesn’t end there, because then Anderson (perfect scene. Perfect) and then Hackett calls and no single line has ever defined the battered, beaten, bleeding Shepard as well as "what do you need me to do?" So we go up and meet the diabolus-ex-machina Skykid, who tells me he’s lived in the Citadel all along (PLOT HOLE:
but didn’t help Sovereign send the signal because…? He just sent Saren on the wild goose chase to find the conduit because…?). He tells me that he was the one who came up with the idea of using synthetics to kill organics so that synthetics won’t kill organics (PLOT HOLE: aside from the lol what aspect of this, Shepard uncharacteristically just swallows this nonsense whole despite having spent no inconsiderable amount of effort bringing the geth and quarians together, and having witnessed EDI modify her own “survival at all costs” programming to be more “human”).

He then offers Shepard explosions of three different colors, all of which doom the galaxy to extinction because they will blow up the mass relays, and as Aratoht/Arrival taught us, blowing up mass relays blows up the system the relay is in, so goodbye everywhere. Unless you (PLOT HOLE) completed enough FedEx-go-find-me-an-artifact quests, because somehow this alters physics to make explosions not explode as big I don’t even know.


At any rate, even if you manage to deliver enough Prothean toilet paper rolls to people on the Citadel who are now all dead anyway, everyone in the galaxy is STILL DEAD because the mass relays are all gone and now 90% of the galaxy’s population is orbiting the resource-stripped and war-torn Earth, which effectively dooms the turians and quarians to extinction via slow starvation (since Earth can’t grow food to support them), the volus (which are there, in theory, because they promised me a bombing wing even though I never heard about that again?) because at some point they are gonna run out of gas canisters for their environmental suits, and the krogans and humans because lol if you think they aren’t going to be battling it out for every last scrap of bread on Earth. Who knows what the asari will do. They might make a run for home, but home is *probably exploded* (again, relays release a lot of energy when they break apart!) and even if it isn't home is at least 1000 years away which means none living will see home again and I don't get the feeling warships are generally outfitted for 1000 year journeys.

But it’s okay! because the Normandy is randomly out past Pluto instead of being in the thick of the fight (PLOT HOLE(S): Pluto is not exactly close to Earth, and even if you fiddle around with “well, Pluto is generally around 4 light-hours from Earth, so you figure if the Normandy *can* go about 200x the speed of light it’s really about a minute and a half away, but how did Joker even KNOW that the relays were gonna blow up because *I* sure didn’t tell him, and you can’t exactly go 134.2 billion miles per hour through a crowded firefight because you are gonna crater into somebody, so you need to add in some maneuvering time, then some acceleration time, then some deceleration time. SO: How did Joker KNOW to get to the relay, how did Joker GET to the relay, and then – once he has crash landed (whoops), PLOT HOLE: how come the squad that – minutes ago – was running with me to the conduit beam on Earth is suddenly on the Normandy? And why don’t they have a scratch on them? And why are Kaidan and Garrus smiling, anyway, ONE of them is gonna starve to death on this random planet because it can’t support the both of them.)

And then Shepard takes a breath, and that’s my happy ending. Charming. Thanks?

(Side note: So what if I want a happy ending? I have spent well over a hundred hours on this Shepard, and you guys promised me multiple choices. Sure there’s no such thing as a purely happy ending at this point – the galaxy is in ruins, countless lives have been lost, including those of some dear friends – but to end the series on a completely bleak note makes me – and a bunch of others – not want to do that again. I want to see my Shepard making a life with her LI. I want to see where they wind up. I want to see who survived and who didn't. I want to KNOW. This is the END, and you just - left me hanging. I did everything possible to get the "best" ending, and it's this?) 


And it completely kills my enthusiasm for the series. Right up until the final moments I was planning my next Shepard, my next playthrough (of both 3 and the entire series), but seeing as my options are everybody dies or [there is no other option] then good God, why would I put them all through that again? Why would *I* go through that all again?

The only way I see to clean up the mess is, honestly, BioWare going with the indoctrination theory. The problem with the indoctrination theory, though, is that it means that the last 10 minutes – the conclusion of a hundred-hour masterpiece of a series – were a hallucination and thus didn’t actually happen, and we end on a cliffhanger where who knows if we've even managed to stop the Reapers. That’s not great either, especially when the very next thing you see is an encouragement to buy more content from you. That felt pretty gross.

At any rate, I do hope this gets resolved somehow. The series was a powerful, emotional, amazing ride, and I hate to leave it with a sour taste in my mouth. Thanks for the ride, and for keeping the lines of communication open. Please don't close them, and please, please, please don't let this stand.

Thanks.

[jvara]

Sorry for the double post but I'd like to add something.



This what I want, an ending that lives up to that tribute, which I think reflects perfectly the image we all have of both Shepard and the journey we've made alongside him. "I hope the Galaxy proves itself worthy of the effort you're putting on saving it" (Liara). So we want an ending worthy of the effort we all have put on getting to watch it.

Modifié par jvara, 17 mars 2012 - 10:01 .

[mmdestiny]

Babe Mause wrote...

SaintlPatrick wrote...

http://i.imgur.com/JhtqY.jpg

Oh wow, you are my hero! Please, read this, dear BW people!

If this, or something of its ilk, followed the current ending, (the current ending being attributed to the Indoc. theory), I'd be happy.  I don't really agree with editing the run to the beam, but if all the other info in that chart took up after Shep supposedly "wakes up" that'd be awesome.


Keep on topic, civil, but aggressive, and HOLD THE LINE.

Modifié par mmdestiny, 17 mars 2012 - 09:59 .

[VintageUtti]

Specifically regarding the ending, I'm going to reiterate what other people have said and that a big problem is lack of choice.  This was implemented so well throughout the rest of the game regarding your alliances with the other species that it was incredibly disappointing to realize it made no difference in the end.  I wish your choices and resulting war assets played out visually in the game.  If I saved the rachni queen, I would like to see the rachni supporting you.  Don't just turn everything into a numbers game with the EMS at the end.

I don't need 16 completely different endings but I need some closure based on how I've played throughout the entire series.  The ending is completely bleak and the fact that Shepard has to die in every single ending  (I'm not counting that "deep breath" moment as a sign of life) to me goes against the very point of creating your own Shepard.  The entire game is already bittersweet and then you toss in a galactic dark age after the mass relays are destroyed along with the hero's required death.  Then in addition you don't have closure about what happens to everyone else.  If the mass relays MUST be destroyed, at least let us warn the alien fleet to jump back home so we know they're okay, rather than speculating they must be left on a resource-deprived Earth or slowly starving to death trying to reach another planet.  We care about our squadmates and we care about what happens to Shepard.  Give us some variety of endings and some reason to replay the games again.  We care about the relationships we've forged along the way and the possibility of a "happy" ending doesn't demean the sacrifices made along the way; it makes them more worthwhile.

[legion999]

Fix ending and journal.

[Adam41507]

I played through the game and was blown away. I put aside homework cleaning and my health because the game was too damn good to put down. The scene where tali was drunk on the Normandy was hilarious and her entire Love Interest story arc was magnificent (Great job on what tali looks like. Just close enough to human but enough alien in there too if nothing else I'm happy with ME3 because I got to see Tali. Mordin, Legion, and Thanes deaths were some of the most emotionally affecting scenes I'd ever seen. Nothing else in Video games, Movies, or books. No other medium has affected me like that. I started tearing up when Tali killed Legion. The entire game was beyond amazing the story, the sound track the Dialogue. right up until that beam hits you during the final push for the beam. My Shepard stumbled toward the beam killed the husks, got boned by the Marauder 3 times and went up to the citadel. I assumed that my squad mates must be incapacitated, Tali and Javik were with me in the final battle. I had my talk with the Illusive man, which was fine. i thought to my self. "how'd he get here?" But I didn't think about it. it wasn't out of the realm of possibility that the reapers thought he was useful enough to have him on the citadel.

Anderson's death was sad but i found TIM's suicide to be a little too convenient but oh well. I talked to the catalyst and everything really started to fall apart. there wasn't much explanation about where the catalyst came from, whether they were created by organics or synthetics. Shepard wasn't give a choice to reject the premise that organics and synthetics would kill each other. Then Shepard was given 3 options. none of which were good. I was expecting there to be a ton of different outcomes. but there was 3. I choose to kill the reapers and destroy the Relays. I saw the reapers die and that was great. but then jokers fleeing in FTL in the Normandy. which made no sense. where the HELL is he going. Joker wouldn't just leave the flight and that wave or whatever it was shouldn't of hurt the Normandy. the Normandy crash lands on some jungle planet and Joker steps out. WHERE THE HELL ARE THEY? there should be no planets within FTL range of the Sol system. Only the Relays should of gotten them somewhere. I brought tali and Javik with me to earth. How the hell did tali end up on the Normandy with Liara and Joker when if anything she should of been in a crater dying from reaper blasts.. I started my second playthrough wanting to know the other endings hoping I'd get more than almost nothing. I got no closure. No explanation, and no epilogue of the crappy god damn choice I had to make. I loved every single line of dialogue, every battle mechanic every weapon. every armor every side quest. Right until the last bit of the game it was perfect.


I Love bioware and I love Mass Effect. I feel bad for the crap BioWare takes from it's "Fans" after the stuff with Dragon Age 2 and now ME3 BioWare and some of its employees get treated like crap. Thank you for the game you delivered even though the ending wasn't what I wanted thank you for your journey.

Also FYI if you make a different ending please don't make us pay for it. I don't want to buy DLC to get the ending this game deserves.

Modifié par Adam41507, 17 mars 2012 - 10:04 .

[Ricvenart]

@Jessica: Choose your replies more carefully, the answer was done without needing to make a sweeping assumtion of peoples opinions. Really didn't need to add that some people don't like puzzles because from what I've seen that's simply not true, look at the puzzle people have put together called the Indoctrination theory, just to try make sense of an ending they don't like. Though that is some and not all, I won't pretend to speak on behalf of all those that dislike the endings.

Also Imply is not the same as Said, Not what I said. Don't use the same arguement you dismiss when people talk about the face value of the ending visuals.

Though I'll admit maybe it was more agressive then intended due to my personal feelings on Bioware at the moment, but then again I also only had 140 letters unlike here, which I'm simply not good at typing in such short ways, I can't explain myself properly.

[DCoacci]

(I just finished posting this elsewhere before I saw this thread, so I'm posting it again here)

Conceptually, I thought the ending was good. It presented some fascinating ideas that made you think about the future of the Mass Effect universe and its characters, Shepard included. And I was satisfied when it was all over. The execution, however, could use more work. Specifically:

- The Normandy fleeing the explosion needs more detail. It just seems to come out of nowhere.

- Some kind of explanation as to how, exactly, the rest of the galaxy isn't doomed by the destruction of the Mass Relays. The point of the game was to save the galaxy, so I think it's safe to assume the galaxy survives the loss of the Mass Relays. The stargazer is also proof that life has continued on for however many years (centuries? millenia?) in the future this scene takes place. But as far as anyone can tell, this directly contradicts canon. I find it hard to believe the writers didn't see this, and they clearly care about the universe they've created, so I know there's an explanation for it somewhere. It'd just be nice for them to share it with us.

- Shepard surviving: The final breath before cutting to black is such a tired cliché it made me cringe. Shepard living or dying isn't an issue for me. Just give us something better than that. Also, why does he/she appear to be back on earth? I think the indoctrination theory people have come up with is a result of a lot of over-analysing and wishful thinking, but I have to say this is one detail that gives it some weight.

- The lack of player decisions over the course of the trilogy seemingly not affecting the ultimate finale didn't bother me, especially since the consequences were felt throughout the entirety of ME3. But seeing their influence following Shepards final decision would be a nice addition. The classic Bioware text epilogues would be more than enough for me.

- This last one isn't about the ending, but I thought the romance subplots lacked... friction. Case in point: I played a FemShep, and romanced Kaidan in ME1. I then switched to Garrus in ME2, and continued with Garrus in ME3. While the dialogues between Kaidan and Shepard in ME3 were great, I was kind of hoping to see something happen between Garrus and Kaidan. I even paired them up on some missions to see if I'd at least get some low blows between the two of them. But nadda. Call me a jerk, but after seeing Kaidan gaining in confidence in ME3, I would've loved to see him lose his sh*t and just punch Garrus in the face or something. 



While I enjoyed the ending, I feel Bioware followed the "Show, don't tell" rule just a bit too closely. I like the fact that they left it open to interpretation, and that I had to piece together a lot of details and figure out for myself what happens next to the galaxy after my ultimate choice. But there was just a little too much guess work.

All in all, some kind of (free) update for the ending that fills in the blanks would be welcome. But anything more than that, such as a post-game mission or whatever, wouldn't be a good idea (talking strictly about narrative here, more gameplay is always welcome).

And, if at all possible, please get rid of the "buy more stuff" prompt at the end of everything. I know that's probably a requirement from EA and there's nothing Bioware can do about it, but it's just so... insulting. 



Edit: I just wanted to add one last thing. Since this is the thread Bioware will likely be looking at the most, I wanted to quote part of an earlier post I made regarding the ending:

DCoacci wrote... 
I see some people are disappointed that you couldn’t save Anderson. Personally, even though I didn’t want him to die, I felt like he had to die. No matter what. The reason Anderson’s death was such a successful scene for me was because it was a perfect exclamation point to the message Bioware tried to communicate with Shepard’s dreams about the boy, as well as with the Catalyst’s revelation and the three ending choices: Shepard can’t save everyone. No matter how hard she tries. No matter how noble or strong she is. No matter how much she struggles. Even if she does everything right. Even if she was resurrected from the *bleep*ing dead, she’s still only human. She can’t control everything. Noone can, and that includes the player. People will die, and there’s nothing she (you) can do about it. It was only fitting that her mentor, the person who made her who she is, was the one to go in the end. I’m glad Bioware stuck to their guns with this. It made Shepard's personal story that much more impactful in my eyes.

I loved ME2, and thought the suicide mission was great. However, it always felt a little hollow to me, simply because you could accomplish a perfect mission, with no casualties, depending entirely on your choices. All you had to do was look up a guide somewhere and voilà: everyone lives. A “perfect” ending. You don’t get that in ME3. You don't get to make a choice based on statistics and be certain it'll come out right. You gotta make the hard choice, and hope for the best. There’s no “perfect” ending, and that may just be what lets ME3 stand next to a select few other titles on my list of favorite video game endings, warts and all. 

 
For these reasons, I sincerely hope that, if Bioware does decided to change the ending, that they don't change it too much. I feel it would cheapen the experience if the above were changed in any way. Others may feel differently, but I stand by what I said.

Modifié par DCoacci, 18 mars 2012 - 02:50 .

[darthnick427]

Basically run with the indoctrination theory and have Shepard wake up on Earth. Then finish the ending with the reapers destroyed, the relays intact, and end the game with the possibility of Shepard's survival and settling down with their LI and friends. Take out the Normandy crashing on Gillian's world. And the endings will be perfect

[TheOriginalGoochman]

This is something I posted on the Retake facebook group. While I know it is not what people agree with, it is what I believe would create a better outcome in terms of ending our Mass Effect experience

I know this is not going to be a popular idea, but I would be willing to pay for an ending DLC...here is why

A: Development costs money...voice actors cost money. I would support what they had to spend to make the content

B: If we are willing to pay I believe they would be much more inclined to create what we want (more in a sense of meaty content, instead of something slapped together that says "there we did it now leave us alone". eg Think of if Indoctrination is what they go with. If people are down to buy the DLC they could possibly make it an amazing interactive experience, filled with cutscenes, more choices, more action....and heck maybe have a bunch of animated and voiced endings that give us a true Mass Effect experience.....that in fact reflect our choices.
Instead of a text scroll (which would be okay.....but I know what one I would rather have).

Again I know this a very unpopular idea.......but..............I believe the outcome will be more in our favor if it were to happen.

[ExaltedBinman]

I wanted much more diversity in the resulting climaxes of the series, based on the choices that particular Shepard had made over the course of the series and the assets that had been accrued. This is a separate issue to my opinions on the endings on offer, which I feel do not fit in with the overarching feel of the series. I really did not like having to accept the reasoning of an individual who appears out of nowhere at the end presenting three choices that have consequences that trivialise all the hard work done by the player character over the course of the journey.

I would have liked to have seen a spectrum of results in which different people live or die, for example a mass relay destroying ending could be the "bad end" where the relays are destroyed as a final act of defiance from a beaten Shepard, taking the reapers with him/her as they go out with a bang.

Most crucially though, I want closure on what happens to the characters and their stories that I have invested so many hours of my free time over the years enjoying. The Normandy sequence was strange for me, as I chose the destroy ending (despite being a paragon throughout) and it featured EDI walking out of the ship. This is of course leaving the question as to why the ship was apparently fleeing in the first place aside.

I feel so strongly in my disappointment and antipathy towards the endings because of how much I was loving ME3 before they were sprung upon me. I had a set of Shepards ready to see the various different ways the game could play out based on the decisions I had made in the past, but they feel devalued since the ultimate end will present me with the same choices regardless of my prior actions.

[Rolling Riceball]

I am sorry that this is so incredibly long; it contains all of my feedback for the game, both positive and negative. This is a copy of the e-mail I sent to Bioware this afternoon:

Dear Bioware,

I've seen on the BSN and other sites that you are asking for player feedback in regards to Mass Effect 3 - both what we enjoyed, and what we think could have been done better. Accordingly, here are my opinions from a long-time Mass Effect, Dragon Age, and overall Bioware fan.

The majority of ME3 was masterful - a superb ending to my favorite video game series of all time. I especially appreciated the small details, such as the conversations on the Citadel (the PTSD soldier, asari with dementia, Liara and her father, and teenage orphan were all particular favorites). These lent a feel of a "living world" around the commander, and were emotionally gripping. The deaths of most previous squadmates were also handled wonderfully. Mordin curing the genophage was my favorite moment of the entire game, and Legion's sacrifice and Samara's potential suicide were similarly edge-of-your-seat compelling.

I enjoyed TIM's transformation into a tool of the Reapers, and his twisted journey presented via video console during the second-to-last mission gave a lot of background into his mindset and beliefs. By the time I faced TIM and Anderson during the final mission, I had a real understanding of Cerberus's leader's mental state, and (almost) felt a twinge of pity when I persuaded him to kill himself, upon realizing how the Reapers had manipulated him.

Battle was improved in this game, and I appreciated the roleplay, action, and storytelling settings. Improved enemy AI made the battles more fun, but my squad seemed even less intelligent than in ME2 - that was a letdown. Priority missions were universally successful, and I had a wonderful time doing the "impossible" - uniting the Quarians and the Geth, Krogan, Turians and Salarians, and saving the Racchni. These things brought about a true sense of accomplishment, and felt like a successful culmination to issues we had been trying to deal with and resolve since game one. The cutscenes after curing the genophage and re-uniting the former enemies on Rannoch were beautifully done and emotional - great job!

Finally, the new characters of Javik and EDI provided some of the best dialogue in the game, and were truly unique additions to the cast. I cannot even count the number of times both characters made me laugh until my sides hurt. That both of them also eschewed what the player expected of them (that the Prothean would be an otherworldly, peaceful, omniscient being, and an AI an unfeeling, serious, pale imitation of a human) was especially intriguing. Turning our expectations and preconceived notions on their heads added some real depth to the characters. The relationship between EDI and Joker and love/hate camaraderie between Liara and Javik also added lots of interesting moments to the game. Cortez and Vega also succeeded at breaking stereotypes, and were much appreciated.

A few other things I enjoyed were same-sex relationships, squadmates interacting with each other on the Normandy between missions (and not always being in the same rooms/locations as in ME2), the option to choose either renegade or paragon dialogue as long as your reputation score was high enough, and Jack's new design.

Now for the things I wasn't as crazy about. The character of Diana Allers was wooden and oddly out of place on the Normandy. The fact that Shepard couldn't hold conversations with her and her not interacting with the rest of the cast at all made her stick out (and not in a good way). Her voice acting was similarly lackluster. Kai leng was another disappointing character - we hardly got to know him at all, and his addition seemed completely unnecessary. I realize that he was more fleshed-out in some of the other Mass Effect media (books and comics), but for those of us who haven't read those, he was a complete mystery.

While many of the LI relationships were handled well, I could not help but be extremely disappointed in the relationships imported from ME2. Jacob, in particular, acted completely out of character by leaving you and getting someone else pregnant. Kelly Chambers was killed off with out so much as a goodbye kiss, and we had to hear about it from a random NPC while wandering the holding docks. Thane, my chosen LI, did not even gain us the Paramour achievement, and died despite all of the foreshadowing throughout ME2 and Lair of the Shadow Broker that he would be cured of Kepral's Syndrome. I was beyond disappointed, and his death scene, while well done, did not reflect my Shepard's close relationship with him. I would have at least liked for her to be able to kiss him on the cheek one last time as he passed.

While Tali was handled beautifully as a character for almost the entire game (her speech about her beachfront property house and toast to Miranda, that boshtet, while drinking through an "emergency induction port" were two of my favorite conversations throughout the series), the fact that her face was revealed only to those who romanced her, and even then, only as a photo (not as a character model), was a real letdown. I would have liked to have a conversation option to ask to see her face on Rannoch, so that fans who did not want to see could have had the choice to keep her masked. Speaking of the photo... A human with a few veins/tubes photoshopped on does not a Quarian make. I was beyond flabbergasted that Tali was basically Miranda sans a few fingers, especially considering some of the beautiful fan art I have seen, that portrayed Quarians as a true alien species. The photograph also made no sense. Where did she take it that had nature and sunlight that looked exactly like Earth? Why were her fingers out of alignment? I wish that you would have put more effort into Tali's big reveal.

I was disappointed, also, by the loss of the neutral dialogue option - which Bioware stated in several places pre-release would not only be included, but would be treated similarly to the Paragon and Renegade options. Creating a third Shepard persuasion, called something like "Diplomat", and consisting of neutral choices would have been an easy solution. Being lied to never feels good, and I feel that Boiware should be much more truthful in their future media statements. I still would have been disappointed in losing the neutral option, but I would not have been as upset as I am currently, having to deal with deliberate falsehoods. Also related to dialogue: while the the voice acting of Hale and Meer are as superb as ever in ME3, the fact that much of the dialogue was chosen for us (as opposed to previous games where virtually every line was decided by the player) led to a sense of disconnection from the game, and took away from the feeling of playing "our" Shepard.

Finally, the requisite paragraph on the ending. And I do say ending, singular, as there are very few discernible differences between the ending scenes following the choice of Destroy, Control, or Synthesis. Mass Effect has always been about choice, and the fact that our final choice did not hinge on any of our previous decisions was a HUGE disappointment. Furthermore, none of the choices felt true to my Shepard, who would NEVER destroy EDI or the Geth, would not feel comfortable deciding for the whole galaxy that all races should be annihilated in order to create a new, single hybrid species, and would never, ever be foolish enough to try to control the Reapers. The starchild was a completely unnecessary addition, with no explanation, and felt like a Deus Ex Machina. The ending was ultimately unfulfilling, we did not get to see our war assets in action or previous choices play out, and I was left with far more questions than answers. What happened to our ME2 squadmates back on Earth? Why was Joker running away from the battle? How the heck did my crew get back on board the Normandy? Where did they land? Was EDI destroyed when i chose the "destroy" option? Why is Shepard lying in a pile of rubble that looks nothing like the Citadel? The fact that you left the players hanging felt like a slap in the face - a "to be continued" (but only if you spend even more money on DLC!), and was, in my eyes, completely unacceptable. ME3 was a spectacular game; one of the best I've played in years. To go out with such a whimper does a great disservice both to the fans and the trilogy as a whole. I sincerely hope that you will consider creating a better, more befitting ending, and that you will not make your loyal customers pay more for it. I have been a gamer since I was seven years old, 15 years ago, and ME3 is the first (and probably last) game I have ever pre-ordered in my life; the ending left me feeling cheated and misled by all of the developers' previous statements that we would have many different endings and that our choices would matter. In hindsight, I realize that I should have waited to see other players' feedback before I spent $70 on a game and DLC that would be ultimately unfulfilling; perhaps I should have waited a week and bought the game used.

I applaud you for creating such a wonderful, beloved series, and a game that was 95% perfect. It was a wonderful experience until the last ten minutes, and for that, you deserve a great deal of accolades and thanks. I respectfully request that you please take player feedback into account, and provide us with either free DLC or a patch to give us resolution to the many questions left unanswered by the ending.

Thank you very much for your time,
Stephanie Meyers

Modifié par Rolling Riceball, 17 mars 2012 - 10:20 .

[ElectricZ]

 With all the activity on this board it's hard to keep up with everything so pardon if this has been suggested before.Bioware can make a relatively simple change to the end of ME3 that will restore the concept of choice and consequence and allow players to feel like their actions in Mass Effect 1, 2, and 3 made a difference and even provide incentive to replay all three games again to alter the course of history in the ME universe. It won't substantially lengthen the game (in fact it will make it shorter) but it could be done with a minimum of effort.

Basically, end the game with Shepard and Anderson watching the battle unfold after the Crucible docks with the Citadel, and cut to the montage, but ditch the whole concept of the Guardian, the purpose of the reapers, and the three control/destroy/merge endings. Instead, the have the montage show what effect they player had on the galaxy.

Scene one of the montage: did the crucible work? If the player got all the fleets, the crucible made it to Earth undamaged and the Reapers are destroyed and Earth is saved. If the player got most of the fleets, it arrives too late to save earth, but the Reapers are still destroyed. If the player did not get enough fleets, the Crucible is destroyed and the montage ends with life starting for the next cycle and the reapers head back to dark space.

Scene two of the montage, if the reapers lost: The effects of Shepard's peacemaking efforts.
--Wrex and Eve alive, genophage cured, scenes show krogran respected and welcomed back to galactic society with help of turians and humans.
--Eve alive, genophage cured, Wreav in charge: krogans are bottled up on Tuchanka once again but alive.
--Eve dead, no cure: New Krogan Rebellion, and they are wiped out.

Geth and quarian situation:
-- Peace achieved on Rannoch: montage shows geth helping quarians to rebuild their homeworld with their dyson sphere in orbit in the same system.
-- Quarians killed: Geth abandon Rannoch and build their dyson sphere using wreckage salvaged from destroyed migrant fleet
-- Geth destroyed: Quarians rebuilding their homeworld on their own. (Throw in paragon variable: they are struggling, but will make it. Not enough paragon, or Zal Koris killed: the quarians are shown building "new" geth to help them rebuild, possibly leading to another uprising.)

--Etc.

Salarian/Asari/Turian situations - montage shows results based on game decisions based on helping krogan, etc. Palaven being rebuilt with help, or if krogan peace happened, they are strong enough to help others. Again, etc... there's lots that could be done here.

Human situation: Earth destroyed, paragon ending has other species helping humanity relocate to another planet. Renegade ending: with help of remnants of Cerberus, humanity becomes aggresive in finding a new homeworld.

Finally, some kind of montage showing the surviving characters at a newly constructed Normandy memorial on a rebuilt citadel, including surviving members of the squad, people Shepard interacted with throughout the the game (Shiala, Conrad Verner, whoever, based on whether or not they lived and like Shepard) and, if the final EMS of the player was high enough, Shepard, Anderson and Hackett. Or, if the EMS was not high enough (if war assets for ground war weren't strong enough for example) Only Hackett is there. And, if the LI of Shepard is alive, show the pair sharing a simple moment at the memorial, or some other locale significant to them from the game. (Rannoch, Thessia, Vancouver, etc.)

Roll credits.

All of this could be done over the very nice music already in the existing montages, using scenes rendered in engine without requiring any new dialogue be written or voice actors rounded up to read their lines. It wouldn't be perfect, but it would definitely give the Mass Effect players reason to believe what they did counted for something in the final analysis. It could be easily distributed and made available, and would go a long way towards helping players enjoy what is a fantastic game all the way to the end.

Thank you for reading... and for what it's worth, Mass Effect is still my favorite sci-fi/rpg on the Citadel.

[Ksingh]

Members Please fill out the polls set by Bioware to fix the ending the link is provided below
thanks

http://social.biowar...16/polls/29849/

[sistersafetypin]

I want my blue babies as well!

Ok, now that I've got the unlikely out of the way... Shepard is Hero. By the time Shep returns to earth she has already taken down 4 Reapers in total, and one with only the use of the Cain 'nuke' gun. Javik's story implies that they may have eventually beat the reapers if they had an armada of varied tactics. So we set out to amass the biggest fleet the galaxy has ever known....

And then the fight on Earth is simply negligible. We take down a Reaper with only two bombs from a mako, when on Rannoch we needed the entire Quarian Fleet. After this, we have that final push to get the beam... Shep blacks out. When she wakes up, the two teammates you brought with you are laying on the ground seemingly dead, she makes it to the beam... And it's like entering the Twilight Zone.

What was the point of building the Citidel's defenses? Why is there suddenly a star child that speaks supposed truths that are completely contrary to established game lore? All Synthetics excluding the Reapers are mostly peaceful unless attacked. So why isn't there an option to simply do away with the Reapers without destroying the relays?

Also, the Arrival DLC states that the destruction of a Relay will cause a supernova type event that will destroy the system it's in... So how is it possible that the entire galaxy isn't completely obliterated? Further, how is it that the members that were in my crew fighting on earth are suddenly in the Normandy flying away and through a relay before my decision is made? I can't see any member of the Normandy abandoning the fight that just doesn't make sense.

As a solution: I'm asking for at least one uplifting Shepard with most of her crew survives ending. That wont mean that ME ends with ponies and rainbows, because before you even reach the end there are heavy losses. Earth. Palaven, Thessia, Thane, Mordin, the Ardat-Yakshi monastery... Give us an ending where the rebuilding process may take years... Not where the Universe as we know it is forever changed.

And as a minor nitpick... Why mention Shep's mother at all if we're never going to actually speak to her or know her status of well-being at the end of the game?

We complain because we know you can do better. Please make it right. The ME universe has become my favorite game series and my favorite fictional world. If this is to be Sheps final dance, let it be glorious.

[DS Monkfish]

Jenop wrote...

 I will post this message on behalf of my good friend DeinonSlayer. All credit goes to him, as this was his idea. Since he cannot post here himself, I'll gladly represent my friend.

As for the poll that was mentioned, it is in the following link. We would love to hear any and all feedback from people.

http://social.biowar...2&poll_id=29101

All I think we really need to change is adding the option to refuse the three choices we're presented with. Instead of choosing one of three self-destructive options, Shepard stands by to watch as the battle plays itself out. Let the fleet win or lose against the Reapers on its own merits. We know Reapers can be killed - we've done it several times by this point in the game - it should be possible to beat them conventionally, if we gathered enough war assets.

Total Defeat: If we didn't do enough to prepare, the fleet is destroyed, Shepard bleeds out, and the Reapers are free to harvest the rest of the galaxy. You see flashbacks of the three people we see now (with the right LI, of course), intermixed with flash-forwards of the Reapers landing in force on other worlds. Cut to credits, and you hear excerpts from Liara's archive warning future cycles - descriptions of the civilizations lost, and her personal assessment of who Shepard was as a person.

Degrees of victory: Gathering enough assets makes your fleet strong enough to beat the Reapers without losing the relays in the process, though at terrible cost. Depending on just how much you prepared, the outcomes branch, here, too:

* Normandy destroyed, Shepard dies from blood loss
* Normandy survives, Shepard dies from blood loss
* Normandy survives, Shepard loses consciousness from blood loss, but is rescued in time. Like with ME2, this "happy ending" would be the hardest to earn, requiring the most effort from the player.

During the ending credits, there could be a "reporter montage" of sorts, showing stills of locations we have been to while a voice-over describes the conditions there, differing based on our actions throughout. This, I think, would go a long way towards providing closure, and could be done even with the current three endings. It would provide a clear picture of how your actions shaped the world. After the credits, there could be a short scene of a memorial for the Normandy and lives lost, a funeral for Shepard, or a brief scene showing Shepard settled down with their love interest.

Even the Stargazer epilogue would still work as-is with the three degrees of victory. Instead of a fading legend of better times, the grandfather would be describing the child's future - that kid would still be able to go out there when he grows up.

About a week ago, myself and a few others started a poll asking what everyone thought of this idea. We've since gathered over 11,000 votes, nearly 70% of which receive it favorably. The new ending option is designed to change as little as possible from what's already there, to limit what we would be asking of the team that has already given us so much.

I would appreciate any consideration the development team would be willing to give to this idea. It's a simple solution meant to satisfy as many people as possible with the least required investment.

Definitely.  Something like this would be great, and is similar to the way the ME2 suicide mission was affected based on your preparedness.  Keeps the orignal ending options intact, if we want to go that way, and adds a relatively straightforward way to fix the most glaring problem with the ending.  There's no need to rewrite the game, although I'm sure every player has little things we'd like done a little differently, but this forced acceptance of the Guardian's "choices" is what, I think, galls us the most.  

I've said it elsewhere in these forums - ME3 is, for me, very nearly a masterpiece, and one I would happily replay many, many times if this ending can be sorted.  If you do sort it (and I really hope you do), I'll happily hand over my cash for loads of DLC, because I don't want to leave the ME universe just yet.