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.
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.
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 important to them from the game. (Rannoch, Thessia, 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.
(Edit: for some reason my message lost formatting and turned into a wall of text. Fixed, I hope.)
Modifié par ElectricZ, 17 mars 2012 - 05:31 .
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