I've been looking at the Indoctrination Theory thread and the video at , where the ending is basically a hallucination the Reapers created in Shepard's mind to fool him into just giving up. The train of thought and supporting evidence makes a lot of sense to me, at least more than taking the ending at face value.
What struck me was that Bioware has already done something like this, but almost a decade ago. It was in the game Neverwinter Nights, in an expansion called Hordes of the Underdark.
It was a Dungeons & Dragons fantasy RPG, where at one point you confront an advanced civilisation of psychic Mind Flayers, ruled by a giant Elder Brain. You can choose to negotiate with it, but if you try to attack, it psychically creates an illusion that makes you think you've won the war, ended up in a small idyllic forest, with a charming hostess inviting you to a celebration (to my recollection, it's been years since I played this). If you accept, the credits roll exactly as if you completed the game.
The preferred solution against the Elder Brain, of course, was to use your character's Wisdom score or just common sense to break out of the psychic deception and fight back.
Edit - Below, fellow player Ellychid32 pointed out something even I missed. Bioware also used this mind trick idea in Dragon Age: Origins (during a sequence where you enter the world of dreams). Again an enemy mentally constructs a perfect scenario where your mentor congratulates you on your victory and the only way out is to attack him. This trope just seems to be something that Bioware likes to use, 10 years ago, 3 years ago, and IMHO now.
Now back to ME3. I just found the secret ending to keep Shepard alive. More importantly, it only applies if you choose to destroy all synths, both Reaper and Geth according to the God Child. I didn't choose that before as that seems too Renegade for my previous Shepard alts, but now I know that exists, it maps closely to the situation in Hordes of the Underdark. The "correct answer" is not to make peace, not to control, not to even try to be a Paragon, but just fight back to resist the illusion.
I believe the pieces of evidence in the Indoctrination Theory are intentional clues left by Bioware. The current endings are a deliberate and very convincing mind trick not just on Shepard, but on us as players so that we're really immersed. We totally fell for it, so well done, Bioware! Bioware wants the fans to figure it out before they release a DLC that builds on this. Well, clearly you did figure it out, with your beautiful explanations, and soon the DLC with the true ending is coming.
I just wanted to share this information to those that never played the Neverwinter Nights series (as they're quite old), seeing that this is a sort of mind trick Bioware used before, to show that hope is on the way.
Modifié par Zombie Chow, 04 avril 2012 - 07:08 .
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