--- OKAY, EVERYONE! I downloaded the EC at 7 AM, and have been playing the endings (all of them) since 8 AM. It is now 2:30, and I have seen every possible outcome. Well, every possible high EMs outcome, at least. Here's what I thought, in REVERSE ORDER. That means that the first one I list is the most recent ending I tried, and the last one in the list is the first one I tried.
High EMS Destroy: I went over and shot that damn pipe. Never did this before. Flash: Anderson. I expected that. Flash: EDI. Uh oh. Guess she didn't make it through. Flash: Tali. Yay! No Liara, who I never really even got along with! New Scene: Hackett says that the Crucible's going, run away. Joker doesn't WANT to, but Garrus tells him that he has to. Explains why Joker left, ADEQUATELY. Not brilliantly, but adequately. Guys in the rubble, reaper landing, red wave hits reapers, Reaper falls down. New Scene: Is that Cortez, or a look-alike? He's saving some dude from husks, but outnumbered. As they get to him, they get hit by the wave and the husks are obliterated. Cortez-alike and helmeted buddy are happy. So am I! The Citadel charges up and fires. Little explosions. Uh oh, it looks like it's breaking! Relays get hit by beam, charge up. Chane in scene: no little explosions. Then the Spinny Rings fall out of the relay. Relays not destroying entire systems explained ADEQUATELY. Not brilliantly, but again, adequately. Joker outrunning the Wave, it hits, and... then the Normandy's on the planet. It has its engines, nice. Rememborial Service: EDI's name is on the wall. Aww. Joker's standing alone and looking sad. Sorry I killed your girl, bro. I was hoping that she'd be rebuildable, like the Catalyst implied that most tech would be. Tali has my name. Doesn't put it on the wall this time. The Normandy Flies Away, abandoning the Shaggy God Story (I assume that the Stargazer and the Kid are just, like, colonists on that planet, and Grandpa just thinks that the kid is too young to go explore space.) Then, I AM A TORSO!!!! And Buzz and the little boy. Then we get Hackey Sack Epilogue: that we'll rebuild everything, and remember those who sacrificed. Seeing drawings of my buddies from previous games and this game still alive is a happy thing. At least I know nobody'll starve now, yeah? Hey, a rebuilt Citadel! That's nice! Krogan Babies, or KROGIES! Lots of smile inducing **** here. Best was PROBABLY Zaeed kicking back on a lounge chair, drinking something in a champagne glass. Creds, and the Buzz Scene. Then the Buy DLC document, now altered with BioWare acknowledging (half heartedly, but at least they understand) that we are the driving force behind their company.
I rate the High EMS Destroy Ending with a "Good." Consider that a 7 out of 10. Original Destroy was a 0 out of 10.
--- Before I tried that one, I did a high EMS Control Ending. I'll outline the differences between this and Destroy:
In this ending, after the Anderson Flash, I got a flash of my bro, Thane. Nice to see him remembered. Also got my Tali flash. The typical blue Reapers Leave scene, then I got the Husks attacking cortez scene. SADLY, my HDMI cable screwed up here, so I didn't see exactly what happened, but I assumed that they stopped. Then I fixed my cable quickly and saw the Citadel charge up and emanate to the Relays. Again, they had no explosions. The Citadel didn't seem to break apart in this ending. This is where I first saw the Thessia Victory Scene. Same Joker being told by Garrus to leave. Same riding the wave. Same Normandy on the Planet (Which I assume is... I don't know, just to hold a funeral in a beautiful place.) All the guys are at the Memorial Wall. Tali puts my name up there with Anderson. Shepard Epilogue Time: Or rather, REAPARD TIME. That's half Reaper, half Shepard. Not half Retard. This could have been written a LITTLE better. Every time Reaper Shep referred to being a higher form now, or having a new purpose, or whatever, it made me a little nervous. But when he started remembering Thane and Mordin and Legion, and saying that he'd be around to forever protect the many, I was like, "Okay, he's still Shep at heart." More little scenes of people rebuilding, relaxing. Reapers are helping rebuild here, under Shepard's control. Saw some different ones in this one from the others. All are good. The Buzz Scene. Then the DLC and "Thanks for buying our product and putting up with our **** up!" scene.
I rate the High EMS Control Ending with a "Pretty good." That would be a 7.5 out of 10, I suppose. Original Control was a 0 out of 10. Because it was the same as the Destroy Ending.
--- Right before that, I tried the Synthesis Ending. I picked this first, because I assumed I'd like it the least. However, I have to say, the Catalyst's explanation of how it would work (Improve Biological systems through technology, and make Synthetic Life all UNDERSTAND Organic life) makes a crapton more sense than the previous- oh, wait, there was no previous explanation. Sure, it's still kinda Space Magic, but at least they TRY to explain it. I have suspended my Disbelief. And oddly enough, I kinda liked this. The scenes played out like the other 2, but with some differences. I liked the looks on the Husks' faces when they stopped attacking Cortez. They looked kinda half regretful, half horrified. Like, they may have realized what they were, and what they were doing. The Citadel fired the little beam, not sure if I saw any Explosions on it. If there were, I just didn't notice. Everyone (of course) has the little green circuits all over them. This is where I first saw the new Palaven and Tuchanka victory scenes. I really like the other planet Victory Scenes, By the way. At least it shows that the relay didn't kill everything, since the wave would have originated at the relay, not at the citadel, like with Earth. I notice in the Jungle scene (which I still hate, btw,) that even EDI has little green circuits on her skin. Why the HELL did she need MORE CIRCUITS??? Minor point, made me laugh.) Memorial Scene again, everyone has Synth Eyes. Tali puts the name on the wall. The most new drawn epilogue scenes here, while EDI explains that life is pretty good. I will buy this, as I trust EDI. Having a direct "connection" to all the previous species that were made into Reapers makes me a little worried, but they understand Organics now, so I don't think they'll be a problem. Synthesis is now acceptable to me, but again, only because EDI says it's okay and it's more that animals now have organic circuitry and not wires and **** JAMMED INTO THEIR FLESH. Buzz Scene, and DLC advert.
I actually really liked this. I know, I used to rail against Synthesis. I think a lot of my accepting this is because it's not left ambiguous, and because now the Catalyst makes sense. Not that what he SAYS makes sense. I'll elaborate on this later. But I'd give this ending a "Really good." An 8 our of 10, if you will. Original Synthesis Ending was rated a **** NO, NEVER, NOT IN A MILLION YEARS out of 10, since the only examples of this were things like the Operation Overlord dude, the Husks and Cannibals and ****, and actual Reapers. If you can stay YOU while recieving synthetic ammendments (like Shepard's project lazarus parts, or my own porcelain and gold crowns on my teeth) then you haven't lost your essence.
--- Before THIS, I found the SECRET FOURTH CHOICE. There's actually two ways to get this. On my very very first playthrough of the EC, I decided to take Destroy First. I was hobbling toward the Pipe, and I thought, "Know what? I'm gonna shoot this little mutha ****a one last time, just for ****s and giggles." So I turned, took Aim, and fired. And then a cutscene came on. And Starboy goes, in horrible deep worse than Harbinger voice, "SO BE IT!" and I stopped giggling, and almost ****. He says, back in Starboy voice, "The cycle will continue," and he disappears, and all the machines turn off. And the screen fades to black. And we see a green world, with a little lake, and a bit ofa tower with a flashing red light. The camera pans down, to an underground bunker. Where we see a Hologram of Liara explaining how we fought the reapers. We united the Galaxy. And we built the Crucible. But none of it worked. And she's got her little box there, to give the next cycle a shot. Then the credits.
SUPER DUPER SECRET ENDING! Then we get the Stargazer Scene! Only it's different. It's some alien woman with a child. And the dialogue is very similar, but what she says implies that the knowledge that Liara left behind allowed the NEXT cycle to kill the Reapers. Then she tells the kid to buy more DLC. Lawl. But really, then we get the Buy some DLC scene.
The other way to get this is to constantly, CONSTANTLY refute the Starboy. Shepard gives a speech about what he's been fighting for. And then he, quoting Master Bra'tac from Stargate SG-1, says, "I die free!" and then Starboy does the poop inducing "SO BE IT!" voice, and we get the ending.
I was not expecting this ending. It allowed me to never compromise my principles. It allowed me to tell the Starboy exactly what I thought of him and his abominable choices (even though they're all not that bad anymore) and it even allowed me to be sure that the Reapers were dead without the Mighty MacGuffin, since Liara told the next cycle that it didn't work. THIS was a hell of a Sacrifice. THIS was bittersweet. THIS gave me a feeling of hope from the future. With the other 3 endings, BioWare took the Worst Ending Ever and made them successfully not the worst ending ever; but in THIS ending, they took the "worst" choice and, to me at least, made it the BEST ENDING.
And so I name this the FREEDOM ENDING. And I rate the High EMS, Full Paragon, American to the bitter end Freedom Ending a 9 out of 10, or a DAMN GOOD.
--- All that said, no ending here is a perfect ending. It took too long to get. BioWare, if this is what you wanted to show us from the beginning, then you should have showed this to us from the beginning. Without previous disappointement to color my judgment, I would have LOVED THESE. Without all the damn controversy, and the mandatory multiplayer, and the From Ashes bull**** this would have been 100% the best game ever. I would have glossed over the little things that bother me for the sake of the INCREDIBLE narrative that ended with thought provoking, but mostly successful endings! SPECULATION is not the same as CONSIDERATION. Emptiness is not the same as open-endedness. And Hope is not the same as Worry.
STICKING POINTS:
-I'd like to send a nice letter to Harbinger, thanking him for allowing the Normandy to pick Liara and Tali up, letting me and Tali have one last sweet moment together, without him, you know, blowing it up. they could have explained this by having another ship start shooting Harbinger, forcing him to turn toward the more immediate threat. Then, when that ship EXPLODES, he can turn back to see the Normandy gone, and start shooting at Shep again. It's minor, and I can forgive it, in light of you fixing most of the ending.
-We got the Boss Fight we wanted! But we DIDN'T want it to be a fight against floaty, spinning aiming mechanics while Marauder Shields shoots me in the throat, and I die an average of THREE TIMES every time I tried to make it to the Conduit. Thanks for at least removing most of his shields. But not ALL of his shields. He remains Marauder Shields, humanity's greatest hero. The floating is annoying, but I can forgive.
-Replay from Chronos Station? I didn't notice anything new until the approach to Earth. Lots of new fleet stuff. That was nice. But an extra hour of gameplay... eh, I can forgive. It was a pretty good hour.
-Normandy's still damaged on the Jungle World, but then flies away. I have to assume that the wave made the ship a little unstable, but they fixed it fast when they landed. Small speculation. But again, I can forgive, since it's minor.
THINGS I ACTIVELY THANK YOU FOR!!!
Other than the Epilogues, the assurance that the Relays didn't kill everyone, and the Citadel not being forever lost (I really loved that Citadel. I wanted a Scifi TV series about law enforcement on the Citadel. It would have been a cross between Star Trek DS9/Babylon 5 and Alien Nation. Would have been GREAT!) It's nice to know that we didn't turn into a moron at the end who ****s the entire universe.
The change of Starboy's Dialogue. It's rather clear that he's a rather literalistic AI now, who seems to think that "life" is merely the collection of its achievement. Like Brainiac from Superman, once you record everything that a civilization IS, you can safely destroy it to "preserve it." This also explains how non-conformable species can be "ascended" into a reaper. Just combine all their ideas, achievements, creations, etc (as he says) and POOF, make it a reaper. So a Quarrian Reaper wouldn't be BIOLOGICALLY Quarrian, but it might contain records of everything they did. Same for a Geth Reaper (since he says he even ascends Synthetic life.) He ALSO now says that he wants to preserve BOTH Organic and Synthetic life. So wiping out a cycle's Organics and Synthetics would allow both to rise again... until they were fit for "preservation." Not the SMARTEST guy in the world, but at least I can follow his train of thought. The PREVIOUS incarnation of the Catayst's Train of Thought went off the rails. And was also actually a BOAT. Sealed in a Lucite Block. Upside down.
EXPLANATIONS! Hallelujah! Even if it doesn't make perfect sense, once someone explains something in fiction, that means it can make sense IN THAT FICTIONAL WORLD. Cyclops shooting lasers from his EYES is ab****e BULL****. But when you say, "No no, that's just a random mutation in human evolution," then POW, X-MEN! YEEAAAHHH!!!! Seriously, this was a big thing for me.
Another thing I want to thank you for is that a lot of the new dialogue... may well have been EXACT QUOTES from people on the old Endings thread. 3Dandbeyond once said "How can I control ANYTHING when I'm dead?" Shepard says the EXACT SAME LINE, with the same INFLECTION, if you ask about the control option. A lot of the refusal dialogue seems like you might have lifted it EXACTLY from a fictional conversation that I wrote there between me and the Catalyst. DID you steal it all from us? Probably not (I know you did!) but if you did, it's cool. And if you didn't, well, at least someone over there thinks like we do.
--- But there are still a few problems. For one, you still need a connection to GET any of this fixed stuff. So...
I have re-evaluated my recommendations for this game. I am telling my friends, "If you have a broadband internet connection, and a spare 10 bucks to get the REAL full game by buying From Ashes, then get Mass Effect 3, download all the DLC first, and you'll be happy." Any of my friends who don't have the connection, I'll say "Don't bother."
As for my OWN stance- you and I are neutral again. BioWare is not back on my Auto-Purchase list, but you're also not on my "Never buy it, EA own is" list anymore. Believe me, that's a good thing. I will be judging your products by what they seem. I have given you mercy on this one. Just keep making well written, well made, thought proviking games, STOP listening to PR when they tell you to ignore or play down customer criticism, and remember that we LOVE WHAT YOU DO, when you do it the way that you usually do it. I hope that you get everything right next time, and this whole debacle is eventually just a speedbump on your drive to prosperity, and OUR drive to incredible RPGs.
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