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[CrutchCricket]

"Suppressing fire!" -Cyril Figgis.

[DoomsdayDevice]

 

• Destroy is noticeably more violent. Well, duh. But I'd forgotten that the light explodes around Big Ben. The husks seem more savage as well. It's as if the game is affirming Shepard's belief that Reapers are abominations that can only be destroyed.

 

Actually, in control and synthesis, the husk throws the soldier on the ground, the soldier's losing until he's saved by the wave.

 

In destroy, the soldier shoots the husk, and another, and another, and more and more until the wave hits. The soldier isn't overcome, but keeps fighting.

[mybudgee]

... Refuse ending?? Come again?

[ImaginaryMatter]

Really ?

 

I don't know. It is indeed hopeful for the next civilization but keep in mind everyone in this cycle, all your friends, allies and squadies got killed, indoctrinated or huskified. 

 

That's what I meant. It didn't leave me with the impression that the Reapers would continue their unending cycle of extinction, that the next cycle would be the ones to beat them down.

[Obadiah]

 

...

• My favorite moment is when the transformed husk looks up. We have the seemingly impossible: the Reapers transformed and redeemed. Synthesis means real peace. The integration it offers is more the technological; it's the integration of enemies into the larger society.

 

I always liked that aspect of Synthesis. It is a recognition that even the Reapers are a life form in the galaxy and can be brought into the galactic civilization. I don't know how uplifting it is given what they have done, and that they didn't surrender or apologize (but instead forced Shepard to make them stop). Their input will mean a massive shift in society's perspective.

[Animositisomina]

... Refuse ending?? Come again?

Is that sarcasm, or do you actually not know about Refuse? If you're seriously asking, you can trigger Refuse through certain dialogue choices (IIRC, only did Refuse once) or by shooting the ghostboy in the head before walking forward to make a choice.

[Ieldra]

Wasn't sure if you were still around. Where are you posting these days? The old Miranda thread is open. I know there's not much new to say but it's something at least. The tyranny of Priestly is over at last.

Mostly in the DA forums. I've mostly moved on from ME.

[KaiserShep]

It's the strong messianic vibe that comes along with Synthesis and Control that I find the most off-putting. Now, they all have some kind of space-Jesus attachment to them, but I consider Destroy the least of 3 evils in this respect, since you can pull Shepard out of dying for our sins outright. Refuse obviously rejects it entirely, but ain't nobody got time for that mess.

[Jorji Costava]

Hate to say it, but I think the "space Jesus" aspect of the ending is actually one of few things about the ending that has some basis in what happened before. The whole game is basically showing every species at its weakest, its most narrowly self-interested, most venal, etc. The Krogan hold the war effort hostage to a cure for the genophage, the Asari are revealed to have concealed their knowledge of a Prothean beacon from the other species, etc. Basically, we're getting at the whole idea of grace: Shepard is saving the galaxy even as the denizens of the galaxy are giving reasons why they're not worth saving. It's pretty much the same thing that was done in The Dark Knight Rises, and countless works before. Not the most original development, but I can't say that it's out of the blue either.

[von uber]

If it really was Space Jesus, then after the ending they would regrow her flesh and blood and feast on it weekly with much ritual.

[AlexMBrennan]

Really ?

I don't know. It is indeed hopeful for the next civilization but keep in mind everyone in this cycle, all your friends, allies and squadies got killed, indoctrinated or huskified.

Actually you don't know that - for all we know, it could have taken millions of cycles for someone to find the recording given that we only got this far thanks to a lucky streak of coincidences (sabotaged keepers etc)

[Iakus]

Sadly I find all the endings incredibly cynical.

 

Synthesis tells us organic life isn't worthy of continuing, and must be forcibly changed into something else.  It reminds me of Sovereign's line:

 

Organic life is nothing but a genetic mutation, an accident.

 

Control tells us that the organic-synthetic problem is insurmountable, and only by having a Big Brother ruling everyone can we be kept from destroying each other.  It's Peace by the Sword.

 

Destroy is like Control, in that the "problem" is insurmountable.  But here it becomes "do unto others before they do unto you".  And of course, it also means betraying allies.  The only, cold comfort I find in it is at least those who survive are now free to find their own way in the galaxy.  Though I find the price unbearably high.

 

And Refuse, of course, is little more than Bioware trolling us.

[KaiserShep]

Destroy is like Control, in that the "problem" is insurmountable.  But here it becomes "do unto others before they do unto you".  And of course, it also means betraying allies.  The only, cold comfort I find in it is at least those who survive are now free to find their own way in the galaxy.  Though I find the price unbearably hi

Welp, extreme circumstances, and all that. I like to see it more as "Do unto others before they finish doing unto you", which is kind of the case there anyway. The reapers are pretty much killing everything in sight. I suspect I would do pretty awful things in that position, but I wouldn't really lose sleep over the geth.

[Iakus]

Welp, extreme circumstances, and all that. I like to see it more as "Do unto others before they finish doing unto you", which is kind of the case there anyway. The reapers are pretty much killing everything in sight. I suspect I would do pretty awful things in that position, but I wouldn't really lose sleep over the geth.

 

I'm not just talking about the Reapers, though.  It's all synthetic life everywhere.  Kill them before they rise up and kill all organics. 

 

As the Sith Code goes:  "Peace is a lie"

[jtav]

There is something called the principle of double effect. You can make an attack where you know there will be civilian or allied casualties as long as 1) you aren't deliberately targeting them 2) the attack is necessary from a strategic POV and the least harmful means of achieving your objective and 3) civilian/allied casualties are proportionate. If Control and Synthesis have already been ruled out, then I'd say Destroy qualifies.

[KaiserShep]

I'm not just talking about the Reapers, though.  It's all synthetic life everywhere.  Kill them before they rise up and kill all organics. 

 

As the Sith Code goes:  "Peace is a lie"

 

Whether or not this was part of the message inherent with destroy is not really my concern. All that matters is my intention in the choice I make. My goal is dead reapers. If dead reapers means another race dies with them, then that's how it's going to be. If I wanted to kill all synthetics before they rose up and killed all organics, I would have wiped the geth out on Rannoch. I'm not obligated to believe in the Catalyst's premonitions or recognition of patterns from previous cycles when I take the choice to destroy the reapers. Whether or not synthetics do rise up in the future would be a concern for another time. That could be fifty years, a hundred, a thousand, or never.

[Iakus]

And to me how you win matters as much as winning. 

 

And tacitly going along with a "solution" to a problem I do not believe exists darkens all the choices.

[KaiserShep]

I don't mind a little darkness in my choices. I don't expect every good intentioned decision to endow me with the power of rainbow farts and cupcake breath anyway, but thankfully, being a game, it does afford some of us the luxury of editing out the more lamentable parts of our decisions, or the choices altogether.

[Iakus]

Well, as I described earlier, I see more than "a little darkness" in these choices.

[KaiserShep]

That's fine. Again, I have no beef with this [ubermegaultra]darkness. I'm more annoyed by the automatic responses during the conversation. "There has to be another way" Heh, as if I cared if there was at that point.

[ForceXev]

My issues with the endings are mostly caused by symbols and game mechanics that send all sorts of mixed messages rather than the actual contents of the ending cutscenes.  The cutscenes are fine, especially with the extended cut.  It's all about The Decision and the bizarre set of information we have to make that mind-boggling choice.

 

First there's the colors.  Thoughout the series, blue is Paragon and red is Renegade.  And this does fit with the endings.  In Control (Paragon), nobody dies... even Shepard sort of lives on in some strange capacity as controller of the Reapers.  The future looks much brighter knowing that the Reapers themselves will be able to assist in the reconstruction of the relays and repairing the damage caused by the war.  It is indeed a very Paragon ending.  In destroy (Renegade) there is a great deal of destruction.  It's a more violent ending with a "kill or be killed" attitude... a true Renegade ending.

 

So that's that... easy choice.  A Paragon Shep should choose Control, and a Renegade shep should choose Destroy.

 

If it was only that simple.  We also have Green, the odd outlier.  Is this the "Paragade" choice?  A neutral option? 

 

It is further complicated by the fact that Synthesis is only an option if you have high EMS.  Does this mean Synthesis is the "best" ending?  Typically in video games if there is an ending that is harder to achieve, that ending is supposed to be considered the "best" ending.  So this implies that Synthesis is somehow superior to Control and Destroy.

 

Then we also have the characters who represent the three endings in the cutscene.  Illusive Man represents Control.  Anderson represents Destroy.  And although it is only implied, fans of the series should recognize that Synthesis was Saren's agenda in ME1, so he unofficially represents Synthesis.  Based on this, Destroy is obviously the correct ending.  Easy choice... if you love Anderson, you have to pick Destroy.  Shepard's "breath" scene also suggests Destroy is the best ending since it is the only ending in which Shepard (maybe) survives.

 

So a Paragon Shepard should choose Control because it is the Paragon ending, but also choose Synthesis because it is the "best" ending since it is hardest to achieve, and definitely choose Destroy based on the Anderson symbolism and Shepard's survival.  But don't choose Control because that is just falling into the same trap that the Reapers were trying to set for TIM.  And don't choose Synthesis because that's what Saren was after when he was indoctrinated.  And definitely don't choose Destroy or you're killing the Geth and EDI.  Sonofa.  They made 3 endings in which all of them are good and all of them are bad, all successes, and all failures.

[von uber]

choose Synthesis because it is the "best" ending since it is hardest to achieve

 

I thought high EMS destroy with breath was harder.

[KaiserShep]

Before the EC it was.

[Invisible Man]

I actually think the synthesis ending is more supportive of the organic & synthetics can't live together peacefully argument.
as it makes you fuse all living beings (synthetics included here) with synthetic and organic components, siting it's the only way we'll all get along. destroy never makes this argument, in my opinion.

[The Sarendoctrinator]

 

All three endings are good endings. No, really. They're all meant to be inspiring and uplifting. I never felt like any ending was a loss.

 

BioWare may have meant them this way, but that's not how it came across to me. I've always played these games for Shepard - the character that I could make my own is the one that I cared about most in the Mass Effect universe, and when all of the endings involve that character's forced self-sacrifice and death by explosion/electrocution/disintegration (depending on your choice), there's nothing inspiring or uplifting about that. I couldn't care less about the fate of the galaxy when the one person in it that I wanted to save ends up like this. From my point of view, it's a complete loss. 

 

I should add that my game has no patch to fix the EMS or multiplayer to raise them. There is no option for my Shepards to survive.