370 réponses à ce sujet

[M Hedonist]

Festae9 wrote...

 *snip

Huh. What?

Modifié par Sauruz, 19 avril 2013 - 12:00 .

[IntelligentME3Fanboy]

Festae9 wrote...

 

What the Hell

[CaIIisto]

Eckswhyzed wrote...

Well then have I got some shocking news for you - many great video games go unfinished.

Sure, 42% finished ME3 compared to Mass Effect 2's 56%. But then again, only 40% finished ME1 and 36% finished DA:Origins.

Industry average? 25%.

Source.

In the context of the conversation at hand, which was Synthesis, you'll have to remind me where Synthesis rears its head before the end of the game. Meaning that the 'majority' can't possibly have enjoyed that aspect of it, given that over half of people never got that far.

[CaIIisto]

Optimystic_X wrote...

Flawed point - how many people finish other games? Without that data, we can't say what the 40% for ME3 means, as brought up by another user.

Your data is meaningless.

Oh, I'm sorry, I read this.....

The true majority of fans - the ones that played the game, enjoyed it, bought the DLC.....

...and thought that nebulous/vacuous statements were fair game.

I'm still waiting to hear how exactly you determined that the 'majority' of fans enjoyed the game, seeing as you have absolutely no way of determining that. Equally, I'm looking forward to you providing your rationale for drawing the conclusion that the majority of fans bought the DLC, when clearly, they haven't.

[Hadeedak]

Man, everyone's so grouchy over the fanfiction mod or the favorite color. The best part of the endings is there's pros and cons to each, and no empirical best one. Take that away, and I'd be sad.

Anyway. I've picked all of them, varying on the Shepard, personality, and so on and so forth.

Looking at the EC, the aftermath, and what I think of the underlying themes that I choose to interpret in them....

First choice: Control.
Second choice: Refuse

I like destroy and synthesis just fine, though. I like the message of self-sacrifice and change, the sense of one woman giving up her life to stand forever, holding the dark back from her galaxy. So. Control, baby! ....Refuse is just for the speech and I think it's super awesome they put that in. Love synthesis for the sense of hope on those slides. Destroy is testosterone-y awesome. Heheh, bad things go boom.

[shodiswe]

Prefered: Control

Secondary: Synthesis..

[IntelligentME3Fanboy]

shodiswe wrote...

Prefered: Control

Secondary: Synthesis..

Blasphemy.and it's spelled preferred

[Grand Admiral Cheesecake]

Primary: Dead Reapers
Secondary: Dead Reapers
Tertiary: Dead Reapers

That just about covers it.

[3DandBeyond]

MassivelyEffective0730 wrote...

Optimystic_X wrote...

Bester76 wrote...

And seriously if we're getting into Disney then we need look no further than Synthesis - everyone lives happily ever in peace and harmony thanks to space magic. Yippee.

Then why do you people hate it? Do you want a happy ending or not? Is Bioware Disney or grimdark?

Bipolar much?

You're being disingenuous with your dichotomy.

I can have a happy ending without it being a "Disney Ending"

That's what I'm trying to do with my own writing for the ending right now.

It eliminates the Organic vs. Synthetic issue and creates a narrative and explanation for the Reapers that I see as far more in line with the story of the series while also maintaining themes that I personally saw.

This is the real dichotomy here.  A lot of people wanted a happier ending and then were cast aside (because some twisted their meaning) as people that wanted a Disney ending.  The truth being that what many meant was that certain things were happier and the rest was more realistic with consequences.  I wanted a happier ending that could be achieved with work-Shepard alive, the geth and EDI clearly alive, a small reunion where friends and LI and Shepard can each see that the others are alive, as well as a victory that the people of the galaxy won for themselves.  I didn't want some ambiguous load of crap based upon flimsy information, given by the god of all reapers, that leads to some nonsensical aftermath that in no way speaks to reality.

Happier doesn't mean Disney.  It means that some things happen but it also means that Shepard living, a victory being won all exists in a galaxy that's been torn to hell with a whole lot of dead people and some really messed up worlds, along with trillions dead in past cycles.  Reality.

The cutscenes and slideshows that now exist are so distinctly different from reality as to be laughable.  And they exist to make it seem like the galaxy wasn't fracked up, because in the original endings it was pretty clear the galaxy should have been totally destroyed.  Bioware wanted to remove that because people objected to it.  So what they created was some truly juvenile slides and some messy cutscenes that are there in an attempt to give some a kind of feelgood ending, never mind the color of crap that was just unloaded on the galaxy in making one of these choices. 

Synthesis is one big pile of poo with utopian cutscenes and slides.  Everyone smile for the camera, it's a great life.  But the whole thing is pretty stupid.  EDI is alive and may transcend mortality.  Um, ok.  First off, she said she was alive before this and it's already been said that synthetics are immortal not something I firmly believe, but it was said.  Secondly, if synthetics are not immortal and may one day become so, exactly how does that happen?  Synthetics only gain full understanding of organics.  And that is another mess.  What understanding do they get and from who and from where?  No one has full understanding of anything.  The other thing is based upon what synthesis supposedly does to organics, organics no longer exist so why would synthetics need to get full understanding of them?  Wow, it's really important for me to go out and get full understanding of dodo birds that no longer exist so I can live peacefully with them.

Ok and then again there's the lack of any idea what this fully integrated tech does to organics.  If it isn't meant to fundamentally change what organics are and all then what good is it?  If it does fundamentally change them then they are no longer who they once were.  And all tech breaks down.  Good luck when that crap inside of every living organic thing (ugh) goes haywire.  But let's all enjoy the slideshow.  Don't they look happy?

What I wanted: happier outcome for Shepard and all with real aftermath and consequences.  What exists: demented, demoralizing, dystopic choices with idyllic sophomoric endings and super silly fake "consequences".  The real Disney endings exist for a reason: people like them and pay to see them.

[3DandBeyond]

Hadeedak wrote...

Man, everyone's so grouchy over the fanfiction mod or the favorite color. The best part of the endings is there's pros and cons to each, and no empirical best one. Take that away, and I'd be sad.

Anyway. I've picked all of them, varying on the Shepard, personality, and so on and so forth.

Looking at the EC, the aftermath, and what I think of the underlying themes that I choose to interpret in them....

First choice: Control.
Second choice: Refuse

I like destroy and synthesis just fine, though. I like the message of self-sacrifice and change, the sense of one woman giving up her life to stand forever, holding the dark back from her galaxy. So. Control, baby! ....Refuse is just for the speech and I think it's super awesome they put that in. Love synthesis for the sense of hope on those slides. Destroy is testosterone-y awesome. Heheh, bad things go boom.

I respect your opinion but just vehemently disagree.  For me self-sacrifice is something done for a clear good, for the betterment of all.  Control may in theory seem like you're doing some good, but in practice creates a kind of anti-life, anti-self reliance sort of milieu.  First off, the reapers still exist.  That is the major problem.  They are as Anderson put it, abominations, created with perhaps some good intent but done so in the most horrific way.  If I existed at the time and saw these people goo sucking sky scraper sized monstrosities still alive after all that has happened, I'd be horrified.  I want them gone from my reality.  They have killed planets and have turned people into goo.  Keeping them around is my nightmare.  Beyond that, the reaper variants are now what?  Neighbors.  What a farce.

I don't want the reapers fixing things.  I don't want the reapers as galactic cops.  I don't want them to exist anymore.  And Shepard would understand that.  And the idea that one person, no matter how good the intent, should control such things and be the galaxy's overseer-no, just no.  Remember that again the catalyst may have had some good intent and look how that turned out.  Shepard as reaper commander is no longer Shepard, but merely thoughts and memories, but people are more than that.  And the cutscene clearly implies that Shepard is not alone in there.  This is not what I think Shepard would want to become-in my game, she never wanted to become something greater.  She wanted individuals to reclaim their future and their lives and to each become something greater.  Control tends to remove that idea.

[Ecrulis]

3DandBeyond wrote...

Hadeedak wrote...

Man, everyone's so grouchy over the fanfiction mod or the favorite color. The best part of the endings is there's pros and cons to each, and no empirical best one. Take that away, and I'd be sad.

Anyway. I've picked all of them, varying on the Shepard, personality, and so on and so forth.

Looking at the EC, the aftermath, and what I think of the underlying themes that I choose to interpret in them....

First choice: Control.
Second choice: Refuse

I like destroy and synthesis just fine, though. I like the message of self-sacrifice and change, the sense of one woman giving up her life to stand forever, holding the dark back from her galaxy. So. Control, baby! ....Refuse is just for the speech and I think it's super awesome they put that in. Love synthesis for the sense of hope on those slides. Destroy is testosterone-y awesome. Heheh, bad things go boom.

I respect your opinion but just vehemently disagree.  For me self-sacrifice is something done for a clear good, for the betterment of all.  Control may in theory seem like you're doing some good, but in practice creates a kind of anti-life, anti-self reliance sort of milieu.  First off, the reapers still exist.  That is the major problem.  They are as Anderson put it, abominations, created with perhaps some good intent but done so in the most horrific way.  If I existed at the time and saw these people goo sucking sky scraper sized monstrosities still alive after all that has happened, I'd be horrified.  I want them gone from my reality.  They have killed planets and have turned people into goo.  Keeping them around is my nightmare.  Beyond that, the reaper variants are now what?  Neighbors.  What a farce.

I don't want the reapers fixing things.  I don't want the reapers as galactic cops.  I don't want them to exist anymore.  And Shepard would understand that.  And the idea that one person, no matter how good the intent, should control such things and be the galaxy's overseer-no, just no.  Remember that again the catalyst may have had some good intent and look how that turned out.  Shepard as reaper commander is no longer Shepard, but merely thoughts and memories, but people are more than that.  And the cutscene clearly implies that Shepard is not alone in there.  This is not what I think Shepard would want to become-in my game, she never wanted to become something greater.  She wanted individuals to reclaim their future and their lives and to each become something greater.  Control tends to remove that idea.

This is how most of my shepards would think of synthesis and control, should I actually play the real endings, the reapers are abominations whose mere existance is a threat to galactic security, my shepards killed the rachni off for much less, leaving the reapers alive would make her a MASSIVE hypocrite.

[CaIIisto]

In terms of Youtube popularity;

Top 4 destroy-related videos;

1,182,531 views
688,115
575,817
572,286

Top 4 synthesis-related videos;

659,188 views
619,919
280,313
115,693

Top 4 control-related videos;

661,101 views
510,138
378,895
208,060

Top 4 refusal-related videos;

714,471 views
295,982
62,271
61,940

Which unsurprisingly reflects the same pecking order as just about everywhere else;

1. Destroy
2. Control
3. Synthesis
4. Refusal

[MassivelyEffective0730]

Optimystic_X wrote...
There are a ton of pros. EDI tells you several in the epilogue, and there are several slides unique to Synthesis that none of the other endings get (such as Kasumi and Keiji being reunited.)

If you want more, as well as a much more detailed discussion on the subject, can be found in Ieldra2's thread (linked in my sig.)

I agree, and this is why I chose Synthesis over Control.

You're wrong in several places here. First, the theme has been around since ME1, not "4 missions ago." Second, you didn't actually resolve it - Tali comments on how conflict can arise with the Geth in the future once the Reapers are dealt with if you talk with her post-Rannoch. She even points out that the Geth may not want to cooperate with everyone, i.e. uploading into Han'Gerrel's suit since he was pushing for the war, or that there might be disagreements over which party decides what modifications need to be made. She mentions these conflicts are better than the ones that existed before, and that the greater threat of the Reapers will still take precedence, but conflict is conflict and anything sufficiently negative can spiral out of control.

"DNA" is a figure of speech used by the Catalyst, which is why he pauses before saying it. He's trying to find a term that can illustrate to the monkey before him the gist of what he's getting at. It's not perfect but it conveys the meaning he wants it to - a fundamental framework.

"Final evolution" means we will no longer be dependent on slow, unconscious responses to change ourselves. Evolution is gradual and uncontrollable change in response to external stimuli. Synthetics can change, but they aren't subject to evolution as we understand it - instead, they adapt instantly and can choose how they modify themselves. This is the ability that we will (hopefully) gain.

Because he saved your life. Because you installed the one device that finally opened him to new possibilities. Because you have no idea how to activate the Crucible and your friends are dying. Because he's right about synthetics and organics having trouble down the road, whatever temporary alliance you've managed to broker now. Pick one.

Hating a message simply because of where it came from is illogical.

For the last, it's simple nanotechnology, and a use that it's already being put to by the Salarians - just refined. Why's it so hard to swallow?

The idea is for that ending to be an open book. Chapter 1. EDI defined it as much as it needs to be - the rest is going to be speculation because we are nowhere near a singularity and therefore can't conceive of what we may come up with if we get there.

The "balls" comment was aimed only at Refusers actually. Anyone who actually uses the Crucible, even to Destroy, I view more highly than those who do not.

Lack of imagination though I do level squarely at you, and you have demonstrated it pretty plainly above by claiming not to see a single pro to synthesis. Really, not one? That can only be explained with lack of imagination, as I have provided several.

I don't view those as pro's. I'm not there to save everyone and I'm not there to give a solution to the Catalyst's problem. Is it a problem? Sure. But I don't believe that the Reapers are the answer, and I don't believe what the Catalyst has to say about it is either. I don't care about people living or dying to destroy the Reapers. I care that people are happy. Just an hour ago in game time, I told them that they'd have to be willing to die to win the day. Obviously, that doesn't translate over to the idea that it's now somehow ok to have all the Geth and EDI die in destroy. But the only solution I envision that can be acceptable is one that terminates the Reapers. I feel that they must be destroyed. If their death is what is necessesary in destroy, all I can say is that I hope they save a spot for me in hell. I know much about Ieldra and his synthesis page, and I still don't see any reason why I'd ever want to consider it. It's unacceptable to me. Call it lack of imagination if you wish. 

Any ending where the Reapers are intact is unacceptable to me.

I'm also looking at this the way it's stated in game. Nobody at BW thought any of this out for good, in your case, or ill, in my case.

The Presentation bit was written as an observation of the narrative of the game, not as an examination of Synthesis in particular. It's a meta-explanation of the ending. It's a big "here's what happen's" in the end. As I said before, narratively, does any of what I said in the execution of the narrative in the final presentation make any sense? What I'm getting at about the plot-theme that was resolved 4 main missions ago is really just that. We already dealt with the organic vs. synthetic issue, no need to rehash it at the end. Narratively, that plot line has been completed. It was designed to show how bad BW pulled off their concept. Even if the theme and story ended up being something I liked, the manner in which it was pulled off was pretty much ripped from Deus Ex. Pick a color, GO!

As a person with more than a passing interest in science and a keen sense of known information, what the Catalyst says about DNA, final Evolution, and explaining what causes synthesis (the life energy bit) downright is insulting to me. That's not him trying to explain things to a monkey. That's him looking at how he views it himself. That logically shoots down synthesis for me. He's essentially telling me that my body's life force will change and create synthesis. This is Mass Effect, not Star Wars. I love SW to death, and I love the space magic in that. I hate the Space Magic in Mass Effect. Why? Because in SW, it's established to be a major force in that universe. Everything revolves around the Force in SW. It's the very nature of the establishment. That's why I'm willing to accept just about everything in Star Wars because, by the nature of the Force, anything is possible. The most powerful Force beings are nearly omnipotent. In ME, they had an existing narrative that was established as different. It was hard science based. It made sure that everything was scientific, or at least had enough techy-talk to sound plausible. Synthesis itself utterly smashes that with a battering ram attached to a Formula One Racecar. It completely breaks my suspension of disbelief (even though I had really already reached that point at the beginning of the whole Catalyst segment).

For your counter to the presentation bit, I'm going to go with the options in the middle. The possibilities option and the fact that I don't know how to fire the Crucible.

For the first option, he's bringing me here to tell me about his problem. As far as I'm concerned, he is the problem. The nature of his problem isn't nearly as troubling as the nature of his existence or that of his minions. I believe completely that the Catalyst believes what it is saying. I have no belief whatsoever in its problem or its ideal solution. It's telling me the possible options, and its telling me what it believes to be the best outcome. I don't agree. I believe doing nothing at all is a better outcome than choosing synthesis. When it informs me how destroy can be enacted, I have no hesitation. I don't even flinch when it tells me that synthetics, and possibly myself, will be affected.

The thought of my friends dying doesn't trouble me like it does for other people. I know why they're dying and what they're dying for. That alone is greater than the sum of all their lives. A future free of the Reapers, a future where we can grow and become more than we are, on our own terms. A future of choice and independence. A future where we alone dictate our actions, and suffer the consequences if necessary. I'm just throwing that in there.

And hating a message is illogical. Hating a message created from the perspective of the Reapers and the Catalyst (who I do hate, among other things) isn't. They're message gives them what they want, as if everything that has happened is our own fault. That's another thing to throw in there. BW goes out of their way to make it seem that we are the people at fault, that the Reapers are just protecting us from our worse nature. I completely reject that message and say screw you to BW.

Also, lets put it this way too. I see the Catalyst as a being limited by its programming. I don't think it's as intelligent as its made out to be. Sure it's over a billion years old, but at the same time, when it's bound to a certain logic and code written into its core programming, that doesn't necessarily mean that's completely able to be sapient. If it really was intelligent and wanted synthesis as much as it does and was unbound by protocol, why tell me anything other than synthesis at all? It had to have had some kind of restraint in its systems, and it had to have been necessary to inform me of all my options. It's also perspective is also one that I lack. But my perspective, and the perspective of an organic in general is one that it lacks. From its logical, machine standpoint, synthesis may be perfect because it no longer causes the conflict. It might make everyone into a husk. It views thnigs differently than I do. Without meta-gaming, I believe synthesis turns everyone into a Reaper husk. That solves the problem. It can absorb all the information from the beings, while also preventing the problem completely and without the cycle. Without meta-gaming, that's how I believe synthesis would work, as does my Shepard. At that final point, he's remembering all the things that he has seen from the Reapers that have more or less been observed from Synthesis. And he remembers Saren's ideal of it. And how he got it. Indoctrination. I'm not a subscriber of IT, but really, if I found myself agreeing with the Catalyst and listening to it, after observing the nature of everything else I've seen from the Reapers, and knowing indoctrination changes the mind, it's not hard to see how the ending might be viewed that way. 

Simple nanotechnology? Where did it come from? How does Shepard jumping into a beam create it? How is it even distributed through a beam? What does Shepard's life energy have to do with creating it? It's completely unbelievable as to how that alone answers what BW has written. That's why it's space magic to me. There's nothing believable at all about synthesis.

As to your point, I disagree with what the Salarians are doing. I do believe it's criminal. 
As for contrived death, that was BW's way of ending Shepard's story. I never once saw any indication that it had to be necessary. Same with the Geth and EDI. I accept it, but I also accept that they were tacked on there to make destroy less likable. They're almost trying to force you how to think. That's my perspective on it. Truth or no, since it's easy to come out and say that that wasn't what they were trying to do. I believe the game intentionally tries (and utterly fails) to set up synthesis as the ending BW (or Casey and Mac) wanted you to pick.

As for the whole nature of the ending, it's written that way, but I don't think it should have been or needed to be.

Not to mention that it's all something that can and should be enacted without the Reapers and without contrived deaths and with the consent of all beings. The synthesis future is one that can be reached eventually through destroy as well, and on our own terms. I prefer to wait until that point at the cost of the current crop of synthetics.

Honestly I don't blame the Refusers for choosing what they do. They're stalwart in their committments. It takes balls to stick to their guns so resolutely.

As for the imagination comment, I'll let that slide. You're wrong, but I'll let you believe what you want.

[KingZayd]

Preferred: Destroy
if destroy didn't exist? Refuse.

[jtav]

Prefer Control.
Alt: Synthesis

[Yestare7]

Optimystic_X wrote...

Who are these people that only want to push a button?

Every single person that downloaded MEHEM for starters.

Optimystic_X wrote..., even for those too limited in imagination to conceive of what they might be.

Now that is not very nice.




Y

Modifié par Yestare7, 19 avril 2013 - 04:31 .

[Yestare7]

Grand Admiral Cheesecake wrote...

Primary: Dead Reapers
Secondary: Dead Reapers
Tertiary: Dead Reapers

That just about covers it.

I like cheesecake!!

[sydranark]

preferred: MEHEM
second: fancy ME3 tea coaster

explanation: MEHEM succeeded in doing what Bioware utterly failed at... twice, mind you; they had a second chance.

It gave this amazing series the ending it deserved, and satisfied a greater number of people than Bioware could have hoped to (in the context of the ending, of course). The devs should be grateful that this mod came to exist; because I'm sure without it, a number of people would have moved on. Hence: fancy ME3 tea coaster.

[AlanC9]

MassivelyEffective0730 wrote...
For the first option, he's bringing me here to tell me about his problem. As far as I'm concerned, he is the problem. The nature of his problem isn't nearly as troubling as the nature of his existence or that of his minions. I believe completely that the Catalyst believes what it is saying. I have no belief whatsoever in its problem or its ideal solution. It's telling me the possible options, and its telling me what it believes to be the best outcome. I don't agree. I believe doing nothing at all is a better outcome than choosing synthesis. When it informs me how destroy can be enacted, I have no hesitation. I don't even flinch when it tells me that synthetics, and possibly myself, will be affected.

And hating a message is illogical. Hating a message created from the perspective of the Reapers and the Catalyst (who I do hate, among other things) isn't. They're message gives them what they want, as if everything that has happened is our own fault. That's another thing to throw in there. BW goes out of their way to make it seem that we are the people at fault, that the Reapers are just protecting us from our worse nature. I completely reject that message and say screw you to BW.

I don't quite follow something here. If you don't believe the Catalyst is right about the problem --- a fairly common belief, and hardly unreasonable -- then how is there a "message"? It's just an AI being wrong about stuff.

FWIW, I'm with you on the "problem." Actually, I was predicting something like this as far back as Virmire. When Sovereign couldn't give a coherent rationale for his actions, I figured that at the bottom of everything there was going to be some sort of crazy AI logic fault.

Oh boy; right again.

[N7 Drone]

Pefer: Synthesis
Second: Refuse

[MassivelyEffective0730]

AlanC9 wrote...

MassivelyEffective0730 wrote...
For the first option, he's bringing me here to tell me about his problem. As far as I'm concerned, he is the problem. The nature of his problem isn't nearly as troubling as the nature of his existence or that of his minions. I believe completely that the Catalyst believes what it is saying. I have no belief whatsoever in its problem or its ideal solution. It's telling me the possible options, and its telling me what it believes to be the best outcome. I don't agree. I believe doing nothing at all is a better outcome than choosing synthesis. When it informs me how destroy can be enacted, I have no hesitation. I don't even flinch when it tells me that synthetics, and possibly myself, will be affected.

And hating a message is illogical. Hating a message created from the perspective of the Reapers and the Catalyst (who I do hate, among other things) isn't. They're message gives them what they want, as if everything that has happened is our own fault. That's another thing to throw in there. BW goes out of their way to make it seem that we are the people at fault, that the Reapers are just protecting us from our worse nature. I completely reject that message and say screw you to BW.

I don't quite follow something here. If you don't believe the Catalyst is right about the problem --- a fairly common belief, and hardly unreasonable -- then how is there a "message"? It's just an AI being wrong about stuff.

FWIW, I'm with you on the "problem." Actually, I was predicting something like this as far back as Virmire. When Sovereign couldn't give a coherent rationale for his actions, I figured that at the bottom of everything there was going to be some sort of crazy AI logic fault.

Oh boy; right again.

Eh, really there is no message.

More appropriately, it's BW's message. I probably should have thought that out better.

The Reapers and Catalyst have no message. Faulty AI logic of his has nearly damned the galaxy to almost inconcievable strife and conflict. And BW's message is that this is all somehow necessary. I reject that.

The whole "Reapers not in conflict/Fire burning" line makes me laugh out loud every single time I hear it. 

That's how I interpret this ending.

My own ending is much different. The central idea to that is that Reapers are a post singularity civilization that have merged with their machines. This caused a terrible catastrophe in the species as the organic nature was combined with the machine order to create a race of beings that view themselves as perfection and are mandated to destroy all imperfection in the galaxy. They have their own sense of "mercy" though, where they take a particular race and forcibly "ascend" (harvest) them and take the remains and upload it into a new Reaper body, thus making a new Reaper.

Modifié par MassivelyEffective0730, 19 avril 2013 - 06:28 .

[MassivelyEffective0730]

N7 Drone wrote...

Pefer: Synthesis
Second: Refuse

...What?

[Ecrulis]

MassivelyEffective0730 wrote...


My own ending is much different. The central idea to that is that Reapers are a post singularity civilization that have merged with their machines. This caused a terrible catastrophe in the species as the organic nature was combined with the machine order to create a race of beings that view themselves as perfection and are mandated to destroy all imperfection in the galaxy. They have their own sense of "mercy" though, where they take a particular race and forcibly "ascend" (harvest) them and take the remains and upload it into a new Reaper body, thus making a new Reaper.

I really like that 

[RocketManSR2]

I hated all of them, so I'm safe.

[Papa John0]

Preferred Ending: Control
Second Choice: Refuse

Explanation for Second Choice:

The first time I played the game, I chose destroy simply out of anger for how the options had railroaded my Shepard. For me, the theme of the series has always been: FREE WILL vs. DETERMINISM.

As such, when the EC came out, the refuse ending became very attractive as an option for me. With Control more fleshed out as well, I realized that my Shepard would not sacrifice an entire race for the greater good. Destroy took away the chance for the Geth to live and prosper. It was deterministic. Shepard has no right to make that decision. In the same way, Shepard has no right to decide to overwrite the genetic material of the galaxy in Synthesis. Simply put, Shepard only has two viable options: Control or Reject. In a paragon control scenario, Shepard sacrifices himself to stop the war and to save both the current living species and those uploaded into reaper form. He then can undo the damage done and return the repears to dark space to protect the Milky Way if ever needed. He ascends to become like the Star Child in 2001. For me, this is an ideal ending. Plus, Shepard becomes immortal--not too shabby!

Note: A renegade control ending does not make sense given the theme of the series. A Shepard who ascends only to control the galaxy (what the Illusive Man planned) is not giving free will to anyone. Only a paragon control ending supports this theme. Shepard fixes what has been done and takes the Reapers away, allowing the galaxy to continue to grow and evolve on its own, insulated from outside threat. A renegade Shepard who supports free will should choose Refuse and go down fighting.

If Shepard is not such a paragon or not convinced by the Catalyst--or perhaps unwilling to determine the fate of the galaxy in such a way (controlling the outcome on his own, based on his idea of morality)--refuse is the next best option. You've spent the game building up all these war assets and uniting the galaxy. We must go to war and we must win or lose on our own terms. We've fought against indoctrination and assimilation through Mass Effect 1 and 2--embodied by Saren, the Geth, and the Collectors--and we must continue to do so in Mass Effect 3 by refusing the outcomes the Catalyst gives us and wants us to take. There's also a certain poetry in this ending if you romanced Liara.
 

Modifié par Papa John0, 19 avril 2013 - 09:09 .