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[CosmicGnosis]

FlyingSquirrel wrote...

I think I understand what you're getting at, OP, and I will admit that I am puzzled by Bioware's intentions.

I don't really find any of the endings satisfying, but I'd choose Control or Synthesis before I'd choose Destroy, and yet on my latest playthrough I noticed what some have said on BSN, namely that the narrative seems to be pushing you towards Destroy until the very end. Once Shepard is presented with new information -- the immense collateral cost of Destroy to EDI and the geth, the fact that the Reapers may not be directly responsible for their actions, the possibilities of Control and Synthesis -- it is incumbent upon Shepard to consider all this. But introducing this much new information at the last minute is usually questionable storytelling, unless "What if everything you thought you knew is suddenly and dramatically proven wrong?" is one of the themes of the story, which it isn't in the case of Mass Effect.

One very basic level which probably deserves consideration is that the "mechanics" of choosing your ending are a little confusing. On my first playthrough, I thought I was supposed to walk into the beam and *then* make a choice and was a bit puzzled when Shepard just dove in and Synthesis took place. I think at least a few others have posted that they didn't quite know what they were doing when they first encountered the endings. So the Anderson and TIM parallels might be there partly just for the sake of the cutaway scenes showing you what to do (shoot the tubes for Destroy, use the panel for Control).

Maybe they just figured that the color reversal (i.e. Anderson's choice associated with Renegade Red and TIM's with Paragon Blue) was enough of a tipoff to the players that simply choosing which character we trusted more wasn't necessarily the way to go? And the Catalyst, IMO, doesn't necessarily support Anderson's argument *or* TIM's. "We destroy them or they destroy us" turns out to be an oversimplification...but so does "Control is the means to survival." And personally I've never taken much stock in the Saren / Synthesis parallel. Both of them involve integrating technology with biology, yes, but it's unclear if what Saren was attempting would lead to the universal advances in knowledge, communication, and understanding that seem to be promised by Synthesis. Plus, I just assumed that Saren was being duped and Sovereign never intended to let him go through with it.

The other possibility might be that Bioware just underestimated the extent to which we would place stock in who advocated each choice in making our own decisions. The choices at the end almost felt a little more like something out of the Witcher games, where you get stuck siding with Ruthless Bastard #1 who's going to get innocent people killed or Ruthless Bastard #2 who's also going to get innocent people killed, and end up doing something in spite of the person urging you to do it.

The bolded sentence is really the key point here. You can actually dare TIM to control the Reapers, but he can't physically bring himself to do it because the Reapers won't let him. So this means that Control is a legitimate choice, but TIM was too indoctrinated to allow the Crucible to dock. Saren might have experienced something similar; he was kind of right about being a vision of the future, but we all know that Sovereign was just trolling him. Sovereign was going to discard Saren the moment that he was no longer needed.

Saren and TIM were not necessarily wrong, but the Reapers were using their beliefs for their own purpose. Yet, ME3 doesn't present this interpretation at all, so people aren't willing to take Control and Synthesis seriously.

[Farangbaa]

To those who think Control and Synthesis are Reaper wins:

Explain to me how in low EMS with Collector base destroyed, the Catalyst only presents you with his loss.

In the best possible scenario for the Catalyst, with the galaxy at it's weakest, it just decides to let you win... for the lulz I suppose?

[Farangbaa]

I'm glad you realized that's absolutely no answer to my question

[CosmicGnosis]

StreetMagic wrote...

I think the Crucible is supposed to be a sort of singularity to the Catalyst/AI. As you know, a tech singularity is when there is a explosion of artificual intelligence. In this case though, the Crucible is supposed to signal the reverse. It's reached a tipping point where organics can't be controlled any longer. His solution is obsolete.

I like MyChemicalBromance's interpretation of this moment. When the Crucible docks, the Catalyst realizes that it has failed. It cannot prevent the singularity. Organic life is doomed.