They go back to search for Shepard. And then it takes less than 2 minutes to find one person in a station that is like 45 km long.
The most logical place to start would be the big mass effect field between the Crucible and the Citadel. It has to be active in order for Shepard to survive, though I guess MEHEM removes that factor since Shepard would still be inside the mysterious chamber s/he's never been to before. I guess point for the original content.
Shepard's radio works again after s/he opens the arms (even in the original s/he talks to Hackett). In fact, during the MEHEM cutscene, EDI says she re-established communication and that she is analyzing the signal to send the shuttle for extraction.
Sometimes it's tough to relay ideas effectively because we have to use old lines from the games but it's all there. 
Shepard's radio works again after s/he opens the arms (even in the original s/he talks to Hackett). In fact, during the MEHEM cutscene, EDI says she re-established communication and that she is analyzing the signal to send the shuttle for extraction.
Sometimes it's tough to relay ideas effectively because we have to use old lines from the games but it's all there.
Guest_irwig_*
The lack of survival options is part of the problem. It's actually a symptom of a greater problem, the lack of choice in general at the end, the reducing of everything you did to an arbitrary number.
There should have been scenarios where Shepard lived, or died, or even toss in a couple of "lots of speculations for everyone" outcomes.
The extended ending covered the perceived lack of choice with the original ending.
There are scenes showing Shepard dying (being disintegrated), as well as one where you see Shepard taking a breath after destroying the Reapers. The extended cut implied that Shepard was to be rescued from the rubble scene, then cuts to credits.
They showed you the consequences of your actions during the game, and it was tallied up at the end, which results in a variety of cutscenes. Even more so with the extended ending.
The Catalysts appearance and voice pose a lot of questions that are never addressed. I could live with not answered but the topic of why it's the boy and why it speaks with Shepard's own voice never even comes up.
The Catalyst can read Shepard's mind, of course, because of reasons. And, since the Catalyst uses both the male and the female voice of Shepard, it obviously can also read the VO files on your hard drive. 
P.S.: Thanks for that post.
Guest_irwig_*
The Catalyst can read Shepard's mind, of course, because of reasons.
Reapers have mind reading powers. They know what you're thinking before you even say it. As said with the line "I know you've thought about destroying us".
1) The Premise is a rehash. People say that the Synthetics vs. Organics theme was foreshadowed during the entire trilogy. This is not true. It was a plot arc that was resolved. On Rannoch, we see the conclusion of it and it is explored in great detail. At the end, we even get to make a decision, based on our stance on the matter. Even worse, one of our decisions (peace) can directly contradict the catalyst's premise (yes, you can come up with reasons why they don't necessarily contradict logically but they do definitely contradict in terms of narrative and the fact that this contradiction is never even brought up makes it even worse). Also, see point 2d.
2) The catalyst conversation.
a) Shepard's character change: Shep (at least my Shep) was not himself in this conversation. He is weak, meek and gullible. He is no longer the forceful inquisitive questioning self-reliant character I used to play for 90+ hours. This is THE final confrontation that all the trilogy was about and he looses his mojo, never doubting the catalyst, never taking the initiative in the conversation, never challenging. Yes, he is injured, probably near death but making him so was also the writers choice and so was giving him this character change in this - the moist important conversation in the trilogy.
c) The catalyst's motives and it's actions clash. Or in other words, why can I even choose destroy? The catalyst doesn't think it'll solve anything (the peace will not last) and it can shut down the crucible at will (see refuse ending). Apparently it willingly abandons it's goals and commits "suicide by Shepard". So if it can abandon it's initial reason for existence, why not just stop the harvest? And returning to point 2a, Shepard never even realizes this and asks about it.
d) The reapers are diminished to no end. They are now slaves to the catalyst, no longer the magnificent race of post-singularity machines where "each of them is a nation". Besides, their revealed purpose exposes that ultimately, they are enforcing stagnation on the galaxy because they are afraid of the future. They have no proof for their claims, they just continue the cycle on the hypothesis that they are right. Their entire problem is theoretical.
e) A new character and a whole lot of exposition happen in the last 10 minutes. Now this has been discussed to death already but for completion's sake, I'll put it in. They made the same mistake with Vigil in ME1 by the way but at least there, we are still at the relative beginning of the trilogy. Here, it really is inexcusable.
5) The reaction of the Normandy crew. I do get that they had no choice but to abandon Shepard but I am still disappointed that they would just leave him/her behind and then have a memorial without even going back apparently (at least in high EMS destroy) which brings me to what I call...
6) Kill him or let him live (or her) but leaving Shep like this just looks like the writers had no idea how they wanted to end the story of that character.
7) A whole plethora of logical fallacies and weird unexplained occurrences. Some are fairly trivial in and of themselves but they do pile up. Here are a few examples
f) TIM's sudden control ever Anderson and Shepard that looks nothing like indoctrination
9) The plot of ME2 has nothing to do with the real issue of the trilogy. We don't learn anything relevant about the reapers until Arrival. Nothing about their background and nothing on how to fight, let alone stop them. ME3 had so much to catch up on, it's no wonder it had to take shortcuts like the crucible plans in the mars archives (layer 2).
1) I'm one of those people that are in favour of seeing organics vs. synthetics throughout the Trilogy, even if some parts are for reasons we only learn later (like the geth's reasoning to join the Reapers, but it's still fitting this theme, and the whole ME1 story was about that). What I personally also include in this theme is the aspect of organics AND synthetics, the combination of the two or the possibility of it. We had it with Saren, the Collectors, TIM, and most importantly of course the Reapers, latter which we are fighting the whole time. Fighting the Reapers the main goal, so how is it not a theme? Or a theme barely touched on during the Trilogy?
Also for me, nothing was resolved on Rannoch, it reached beyond that. Yes, you had different options to deal with the geth and the quarians, but then you also actually had to make up your mind whose side you're on. Everything that was shown to us, all important main characters like the ones I mentioned prepare the player to either like or dislike synthetics. Based on that you go into the ending and make up your own reasoning why you choose a certain option.
I've said it somewhere else, but you don't have to agree with the Catalyst's logic and certainly don't have to accept. What you have to accept is the Crucible's doing, this is what lets you choose. I really don't get why people hate on the Catalyst's logic when this has nothing to do with our choices. Except that it was the reason the Crucible was built in the first place, but we know that no other race ever knew about the Catalyst's logic, they only came up with the Crucible because their survival instinct kicked in.
As for 2) The catalyst conversation.
a) There would be no point to argue with the Catalyst. Like I said, even if you were to convince it that for example this cycle can take care of itself, it wouldn't change the outcome. Shepard still has to choose because of the Crucible. It's too late already.
My personal interpretation is that the Catalyst uses the kid's image to appeal to Shepard to trust it so Shepard chooses Synthesis. It's a possible explanation I think.
c) You can choose Destroy because it comes with the Crucible. Just like Control. I think only Synthesis is a byproduct of the energy beam when the Crucible is largely intact (high EMS).
Are you sure it was the Catalyst shutting down the Crucible? I always believed it doesn't have control over the Crucible, and lately I've read something that (hopefully) backs up my interpretation. In the original ending, the Catalyst also tells you that you don't have time to wait around,that you have to choose, but if you waited it ended in Critical Failure because the Crucible was destroyed while you did nothing. I really hope this is legit and I'm not making a fool of myself, but I've also read about it a couple times, so I assume it is.
This could also apply to the Refuse ending, the beam being shut down not because the Catalyst is doing it, but because it was right and you actually ran out of time. Either because the energy doesn't last forever or because the Crucible was attacked by Reapers.
e) This is a matter of taste. Some people hate it, but me and some others here didn't mind the Catalyst kicking in so late, especially since it was already hinted at by Vendetta that the Reapers might be controlled by something else.
5) How should they go back? Aren't they stranded for the time being? And I like to believe that the Memorial is very shortly after they did so. I'm thinking that they believe they've lost both Anderson and Shepard, but the LI (or Liara if no-one is romanced) can be hopeful and refuse to believe Shepard died, even though they have no confirmation.
6) They did exactly this. Shepard either died or is shown alive. You don't show a breathing scene just to say Shepard didn't survive this afterwards. It has been confirmed by devs that Shepard does live (even though one could headcanon that Shepard actually doesn't make it, but that's another topic). This is not a case of they didn't know how to deal with Shepard's fate, but leaving Shepard's future open to be built by the player. I know some don't like this, because there's no closure etc, but that doesn't mean that Bioware didn't know what they do.
7f) Now I touch this one because I believe this can be explained with the experiments Lawson did at Sanctuary. Controlling husks by copying the indoctrination signal? Check.
9) On this I agree. ME2 wastes too much time with Collectors instead of building up anything that happens in ME3. BW obviously had big plans for ME3 and we know they couldn't implement everything how they wanted, but I think it would've benefit ME3 if some things were already touched upon in ME2.
We were fighting Geth in ME 1 who sided with the Reapers and we fought Reapers. Yeah and we had three minutes with this insane AI on the Citadel in a sidequest. We also shot many krogans, asari, batarians, humans and some salarians. Some people differentiate between synthetics and this particular group of synthetics. If you are at war with the russians, you are at war with the russians and not humanity.
Reapers have mind reading powers. They know what you're thinking before you even say it. As said with the line "I know you've thought about destroying us".
Ah no, I just wanted to enjoy the view up here. 
Don´t believe me? Ok, I thought about making some Calamari Gumbo. Perhaps you mistook the image of some calamari for cooking giant space squids. 
Yeah, it´s rather obvious that the catalyst has access to some parts of your brain, when it showed up as the kid but you don´t need superintelligence to extrapolate that a commander arriving with a fleet shooting at your forces as soon as they are in firing range, isn´t there for a cup of tea and friendly chitchat. 
Guest_irwig_*
Ah no, I just wanted to enjoy the view up here.
I heard the Reapers were cooking up a some husks and Shepard and the rest of the galaxy was the one and only missing ingredient.
1) I'm one of those people that are in favour of seeing organics vs. synthetics throughout the Trilogy, even if some parts are for reasons we only learn later (like the geth's reasoning to join the Reapers, but it's still fitting this theme, and the whole ME1 story was about that). What I personally also include in this theme is the aspect of organics AND synthetics, the combination of the two or the possibility of it. We had it with Saren, the Collectors, TIM, and most importantly of course the Reapers, latter which we are fighting the whole time. Fighting the Reapers the main goal, so how is it not a theme? Or a theme barely touched on during the Trilogy?
Also for me, nothing was resolved on Rannoch, it reached beyond that. Yes, you had different options to deal with the geth and the quarians, but then you also actually had to make up your mind whose side you're on. Everything that was shown to us, all important main characters like the ones I mentioned prepare the player to either like or dislike synthetics. Based on that you go into the ending and make up your own reasoning why you choose a certain option.
I've said it somewhere else, but you don't have to agree with the Catalyst's logic and certainly don't have to accept. What you have to accept is the Crucible's doing, this is what lets you choose. I really don't get why people hate on the Catalyst's logic when this has nothing to do with our choices. Except that it was the reason the Crucible was built in the first place, but we know that no other race ever knew about the Catalyst's logic, they only came up with the Crucible because their survival instinct kicked in.
As for 2) The catalyst conversation.
a) There would be no point to argue with the Catalyst. Like I said, even if you were to convince it that for example this cycle can take care of itself, it wouldn't change the outcome. Shepard still has to choose because of the Crucible. It's too late already.
c) You can choose Destroy because it comes with the Crucible. Just like Control. I think only Synthesis is a byproduct of the energy beam when the Crucible is largely intact (high EMS).Are you sure it was the Catalyst shutting down the Crucible? I always believed it doesn't have control over the Crucible, and lately I've read something that (hopefully) backs up my interpretation. In the original ending, the Catalyst also tells you that you don't have time to wait around,that you have to choose, but if you waited it ended in Critical Failure because the Crucible was destroyed while you did nothing. I really hope this is legit and I'm not making a fool of myself, but I've also read about it a couple times, so I assume it is.
This could also apply to the Refuse ending, the beam being shut down not because the Catalyst is doing it, but because it was right and you actually ran out of time. Either because the energy doesn't last forever or because the Crucible was attacked by Reapers.
e) This is a matter of taste. Some people hate it, but me and some others here didn't mind the Catalyst kicking in so late, especially since it was already hinted at by Vendetta that the Reapers might be controlled by something else.
5) How should they go back? Aren't they stranded for the time being? And I like to believe that the Memorial is very shortly after they did so. I'm thinking that they believe they've lost both Anderson and Shepard, but the LI (or Liara if no-one is romanced) can be hopeful and refuse to believe Shepard died, even though they have no confirmation.
6) They did exactly this. Shepard either died or is shown alive. You don't show a breathing scene just to say Shepard didn't survive this afterwards. It has been confirmed by devs that Shepard does live (even though one could headcanon that Shepard actually doesn't make it, but that's another topic). This is not a case of they didn't know how to deal with Shepard's fate, but leaving Shepard's future open to be built by the player. I know some don't like this, because there's no closure etc, but that doesn't mean that Bioware didn't know what they do.
7f) Now I touch this one because I believe this can be explained with the experiments Lawson did at Sanctuary. Controlling husks by copying the indoctrination signal? Check.
9) On this I agree. ME2 wastes too much time with Collectors instead of building up anything that happens in ME3. BW obviously had big plans for ME3 and we know they couldn't implement everything how they wanted, but I think it would've benefit ME3 if some things were already touched upon in ME2.
Just a little tidbit to your 1)... One could argue that, since we're fighting Saren, Reapers, the Collectors, and TIM throughout the game, while having support from both organic and synthetic races, that the theme isn't Org vs Synth, but rather that both are fighting against those who'd seek to meld the two. With that interpretation, Synthesis is a massive slap in the face, as is control to a lesser extent.
Reapers have mind reading powers. They know what you're thinking before you even say it. As said with the line "I know you've thought about destroying us".
I'm not sure if that is irony ("I know that you thought about..." is a quite common expression and mostly does not imply mind reading powers), I'll just accept it at face value.
I think this is a very good example how an "explanation" of some of the magic that happens in the last minutes opens a can of worms. You have to give a super power to the Catalyst (so now it is not only a new character for the vary last scene, it is even one with unexplained super powers). You even grant it to all the Reapers. How does it work? Does the victim need to be indoctrinated? Is Shepard indoctrinated, even though Vendetta didn't notice? Why isn't it in the codex? Why do we find out about this ability in the last minutes? Why can't Shepard say anything about this? Why did the Catalyst not use it to prevent its defeat? Could it have read the minds of everyone on the citadel? Why not? Did it try to? Why didn't the Reapers act on any knowledge that comes with their mind reading ability? For example if they capture and indoctrinate millitary personnel? Why had they to wait for TIM to tell them about the crucible? TIM was indoctrinated, so surely they could read his mind, no? etc. etc.
Why don't you write the necessary codex entries for all this, while I'll just say that the writers chose the child, because they wanted to achieve a David Lynch like free artistic sequence of associations of changing meaning bound by the subconcious. Like in Mullholland Drive:
...while some might consider the plot an "offense against narrative order ... the film is an intoxicating liberation from sense, with moments of feeling all the more powerful for seeming to emerge from the murky night world of the unconscious."
Of course, Mulholland Drive isn't sci-fi, but that seems to apply to the ME:3 ending, too. At least we should lose the "sci".
So, just to be clear... which plot holes were newly introduced?
And when was the speech about not knowing how to aim/charge/fire the Crucible?
The single biggest new plot hole is the aiming, targeting and firing of the weapon. And who says it was a destroy weapon? Why not a synergy weapon? As for the speeches there are many of them starting at Mars. Another new plot hole is locating Shepard. I'll discuss more on that in a minute.
Why they couldn´t pinpoint him? Could be that the closed citadel interferes with that, Hackett reached Shepard only after the arms opened but it´s not really explained in the original or the mod.
Why send a squad to help? They already found him and the crucible works.
In short, the existence of MEHEM doesn´t prove that everyone who dislikes the endings only wants a happy ending.
Even if they can pinpoint him how do they GET to him? This is a HUGE plot hole. In all the years of people living on the Citadel and flying all over the place there was never a door or entrance to where Shepard was at. No one was ever there before. But space magic and we fly a shuttle right to him.
The Crucible wasn't working. it didn't work till AFTER Shepard was rescued. I saw nothing to show that it was working. This is worse than the catalyst. And voice contact is not the same as finding him. Shepard says he's never been there before so how can he tell him where he's at? And even a locator won't tell you how to get there.
But since it's a HEA all of these issues and all previous holes are fogiven as evidenced by everyone defending it. LMAO.
I don't really consider why the Crucible doesn't target all life or synthetic life a problem. Or at least not a new one. We don't know why the original Crucible targets all synthetic life, or even what it defined as "synthetic". Shepard is "partly synthetic" but others with cybernetics are not?
Shepard was in the Council chambers, using the same panel as was used in ME1 to open the Citadel arms. MEHEM does not have the Magic Space Elevator.
I'll take "The Crucible needs time to power up" over "shoot this tube to make it work"
Sorry but you are very wrong about it being the same place as in ME1. In ME1 they were in the council chambers but in ME3 this was not the chambers at all. So your excuse doesn't work or apply here.
And you also prove my point about HEA removing all issues. See you no longer care how it works or targets things. It's HEA after all. But let me ask you this. Instead of HEA say the new ending was Synergy and Shepard dies. Everything else is exactly the same. Would you still defend it?
6) Schroedinger's Breath scene. Keeping Shepard in a limbo of ambiguity between life and death is cool for a cliff hanger. But this was the definitive end of Shepard's story as the devs said time and time again. Kill him or let him live (or her) but leaving Shep like this just looks like the writers had no idea how they wanted to end the story of that character.
Ever watch the Soprano's? Cliff hanging endings at the end of a series happen many times in movies, TV series and books. This is just personal taste on your part.
Let me ask this. Say the whole thing had the synergy ending and no Shepard. Would all of you still say it was good? Your comments so far really support my position that a HEA goes a long way in people not complaining even when many of the original plot holes are still there and not much really changes.
Shepard's radio works again after s/he opens the arms (even in the original s/he talks to Hackett). In fact, during the MEHEM cutscene, EDI says she re-established communication and that she is analyzing the signal to send the shuttle for extraction.
Sometimes it's tough to relay ideas effectively because we have to use old lines from the games but it's all there.
As i mentioned in a previous post finding him and getting to him are two very different things. Shepard and Anderson got there through the beam. it was a place no one was ever at. It was a place that in all the years of beings living on the Citadel no one ever saw. Where does the shuttle land? There is no docking bay to the outside. If they blast their way in Shepard dies as all the air escapes.
Shepard is badly wounded and can barely walk. They have to get to him as he can't get to the help. And all of this must happen in a very short time. The Normandy is under attack. The other ships are destroyed and Reapers are targeting the Normandy. They simply don't have time.
We were fighting Geth in ME 1 who sided with the Reapers and we fought Reapers. Yeah and we had three minutes with this insane AI on the Citadel in a sidequest. We also shot many krogans, asari, batarians, humans and some salarians. Some people differentiate between synthetics and this particular group of synthetics. If you are at war with the russians, you are at war with the russians and not humanity.
If the russians were the only race of their kind (like the geth, there's no other sentient synthetic race, and since the Reapers are half-half I don't really count them for this topic specifically), we would indeed be at war with humanity, or let's say organics, if you want to draw the parallel
Just a little tidbit to your 1)... One could argue that, since we're fighting Saren, Reapers, the Collectors, and TIM throughout the game, while having support from both organic and synthetic races, that the theme isn't Org vs Synth, but rather that both are fighting against those who'd seek to meld the two. With that interpretation, Synthesis is a massive slap in the face, as is control to a lesser extent.
I see your point, but for me it's the methods of melting that count. All of them were forced and changed in horrible ways, and TIM did a lot of crazy research including killing innocent refugees to get to the point where he ended up.
And correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe Saren was made partially synthetic by Sovereign, right? He might've agreed, but he was also already indoctrinated.
I know you could argue that Shepard also chooses Synthesis against the will of the galaxy, and while it's true if you want it to be true (hey, maybe everyone really is happy about it! It depends on the player and what they make out of it), the Catalyst says that this achieves mutual understanding. It's a "nicer" way to achieve the combining of synthetics and organics. I think.
Once on the Citadel, Shepard and Anderson have no problem communicating with each other. A short time later, there's some kind of interference. Just as Anderson turns around, TIM shows up. Did he have anything to do with the interference? If so, did he carry a portable jamming device in his pocket? After Anderson dies, Hackett is able to talk with Shepard. What happened to the interference? Did killing TIM suddenly turn off the jamming device? I have no idea if Hackett is able to hear Shepard before he/she passes out. Its convenient that Hackett called over the comms at that time. How else was Shepard to get on the platform to take him/her up?
Before the extended cut was released no one knew Shepard and Anderson made it up the beam. Coates and a female voice are heard saying everyone died running to the beam and to retreat. Once the arms started opening it wasn't hard to figure out that someone did make on the Citadel. They just didn't know who. I guess Hackett just assumed it was Shepard. With the extended cut Hackett receives a datapad saying someone made it up the beam. No idea who it was that saw someone go up the beam. Hackett will say she/he did it. A moment later he will say to the fleet that someone made it up to the Citadel. Is he talking about the same person?
One thing I'm surprised about is that Anderson or Shepard made no effort to let Hackett though they made on the Citadel and were looking to find a way to open the arms.
When Shepard passes out, I was surprised there was no more radio contact at all. I'm surprised Hackett didn't send a shuttle to investigate what was happening especially since time is not on his side. The other thing is that Shepard makes no attempt to make contact with Hackett after regaining consciousness.
Did Anderson have to be on the Citadel? If TIM had a pistol with him the whole time instead of pulling it out off Anderson's backside, the scene could play out with the same results without having Anderson dying. For me, having Anderson on the Citadel added nothing. I don't like the character,but I believe it was a poor way to kill off a character. When TIM does his fist pump thing, Shepard shoots Anderson. That was overkill. TIM already proved his point that he was able to control Shepard and Anderson.
While Shepard is being lifted up to the Crucible, a white light shines. Is there a meaning to that? It also happens when Harbinger fires its beam at Shepard. Before that platform made it to the top, Shepard regained consciousness to be able to get on all fours other wise his/her feet and hand would've been chopped off since they were hanging over the edge.
The catalyst shows up. Depending on your ems, it will say wake up, even though Shepard is awake, with high ems, and with lower ems, it will say why are you here? I didn't know AI's have emotion. The things usually talk in the same tone. Whatever.
It explains why its doing what its doing. Shepard could've had a 1000 page report proving the catalyst is wrong, but because it's limited to its programming, it believes what its doing is correct.
When it said its preserving old life in reaper form I wanted to ask it why it would risk having the reapers in harms way? Of course its stuck with the program it was given.
The crucible changes the variables. It gives the catalyst new solutions. Did the crucible program the catalyst to say that synthesis is the final evolution of all life?
When the extended cut released, Shepard is able to ask about the crucible. Who designed it? You do not know them, and there's not enough time to explain. At least Shepard was able to ask the question.
After the catalyst explains the endings, Shepard can choose control, destroy or synthesis. With the extended cut, a refuse option was added. SO BE IT. Again an AI with emotion. If the catalyst can't use the crucible, how was it able to shut it off if refuse is chosen?
I have always picked destroy. I have no reason to choose any of the others.
On March 8 2012, at 0254 am, I shot the tube. I don't remember much about my reaction, but I had to scratch my head as to why Shepard had to shoot something that would explode while walking towards the tube. Even today I don't know why that has to be done. I would like to see the look on Biowares face if I give them a handgun and tell them to shoot a gas tank while walking towards it. I bet they would rather shoot at it from a distance.
While femshep is shooting the tube, 3 faces appear. It wasn't till after I finished my second playthrough that I decided to go online and find out what was going on. Apparently anyone who didn't romance Liara, Ashley or Kaidan, would have Liara show up in the third flashback. Fortunately the best thing that the extended cut fixed was the flashbacks. I don't know why they couldn't do that in the first place. I guess its another sign that the game was rushed.
My first playthrough had the Normandy on the whatever planet with Joker and Samantha exiting the ship. The game showed the credits. What? All I could do was throw my arms in the air wondering what happened to everyone.
To continue from above
The extended cut explained a few things. I did like the destroy epilogue from Hackett.
What changed was the requirement to get the breath scene. Now with all dlc released, its very easy to get. If ems is over 2600, the Normandy lands in good condition on the whatever planet and is able to leave with no problem. Before the extended cut, the Normandy is seen with its thrusters being torn from the ship no matter what the players ems and somehow the crew survives. The ship should be in pieces with everyone dead. If ems is below 2600 and above 1750, the crew will survive, except they're stuck on the whatever planet doing repairs to the ship.
The memorial scene is all nice and touchy feeling thing, but I find it messed up that Miranda and Jack aren't able to hold Shepard's nameplate. I don't have a solution for that except that the scene would not of happened on the Normandy if every squadmate was on Earth fighting by Shepard's side.
In the destroy ending and ems is above 1750, the same number of ships are seen flying by the damaged relay. Too bad the Normandy couldn't be with those ships. I would like to know how many other ships suffered any damage to end up on some planet like the Normandy did? If the Normandy was with those ships, I'm sure Hackett and maybe representatives from the other species would be onboard the Normandy to see Shepard's nameplate put on the wall or not
I have no idea what the purpose of the whatever planet is. The only way I can see it in the ending is if ems is below 1750 with destroy picked with everyone onboard believed dead.
Even if they can pinpoint him how do they GET to him? This is a HUGE plot hole. In all the years of people living on the Citadel and flying all over the place there was never a door or entrance to where Shepard was at. No one was ever there before. But space magic and we fly a shuttle right to him.
The Crucible wasn't working. it didn't work till AFTER Shepard was rescued. I saw nothing to show that it was working. This is worse than the catalyst. And voice contact is not the same as finding him. Shepard says he's never been there before so how can he tell him where he's at? And even a locator won't tell you how to get there.
But since it's a HEA all of these issues and all previous holes are fogiven as evidenced by everyone defending it. LMAO.
The chamber has huge open sections. Windows or mass effect fields. Seems that the room is new anyways. but yeah it´s a bit odd with the airlock. As already mentioned, EDI was able to locate Shepard just fine since ME 2.
Firing sequence: The crucible is armed is at 4:25, the hand scene at 6:00. Even if it´s a minor plothole, because it´s not explained completely, I can live with it. It a lesser plothole than the Catalyst sitting in the tower watching the human fleet destroying Sovereign while he was dryhumping the very tower he was located in. Or that TIM had to come and tell the Reapers that the galactics finished the Crucible and found out the Citadel is the Catalyst. Ah yes. You know the AI that is sitting right there on the Citadel where everyone and his girlfriend is talking about the secret weapon, which was presented to the council in the council chamber. 
That´s like planning your strategy in the enemy headquarter.
And it makes more sense to you that shooting a tube triggers the firing sequence because an AI is there? The AI no one knew about? Even if they knew, who came up with the bright idea to incorporate an AI into the firing mechanism of their Anti Reaper weapon or whatever it´s supposed to be? An AI they had no clue how it works and no access to, at the moment they came up with the idea. As far as we know, the Citadel was the first thing taken in every previous cycle. And not just some friendly AI, they had no access to, but the guiding intelligence of the Reapers. Know what, I take the "must be an automated sequence or so" instead. It´s not shown in detail but Fob did it for free and he had to work with what´s there and accessible.
If the russians were the only race of their kind (like the geth, there's no other sentient synthetic race, and since the Reapers are half-half I don't really count them for this topic specifically), we would indeed be at war with humanity, or let's say organics, if you want to draw the parallel
There are other AIs though and I see a distinction between heretics and the others.
Ever watch the Soprano's? Cliff hanging endings at the end of a series happen many times in movies, TV series and books. This is just personal taste on your part.
(Strictly speaking, it is not a cliff hanger (neither for the Sopranos nor for ME:3) if one defines this to be a plot device that has a chapter end with a critical situation, leaving the central conflict unresolved pending the next chapter, to ensure that the audience stays interested in the sequel.)
That ME:3 scene makes me think that either some developers thought that there would be a DLC that picks up at this moment, or they thought something along the line "hey, we can do Sopranos-like stuff, too!" 
. But if there is no reason for it to be there, then it is just a simple tease, a wink at the audience. The Soprano ending makes sense artistically: The series is about how the mafia integrates into society. This will go on, no matter what happens to Tony. If Tony got shot, it would have looked as if the problem is solved. If Tony became the uncontested boss of the New York mafia, it would have looked like his kind of living pays off. Both solutions to the story arc would have contradicted what David Chase wanted to say.
In short: Tony's story does not get a resolution, because the story of the mafia living amongst us does not have one.
Sorry for putting words into David Chase's mouth, he himself hasn't explicitly explained why he chose the cut to black AFAIK, instead of a conventional resolution, but see for yourself: http://www.dga.org/C...e-Sopranos.aspx
If BioWare had an artistic vision that needed to turn Shepard into a Schrödinger character, I cannot see it anywhere in the final product. It is just another cliché that even seems to go against themes like sacrifice and moods like bitter-sweet, that the ending was supposed to be about. It also proves en passent that the Catalyst was wrong, at least in one regard, which questions the believability of the character and all its explanations about the choices. I'm quite sure that this is just another point that the writers simply did not think through.
But it certainly fits that Schrödinger's paradox is solved by a phenomenon called "decoherence" 
(in this case it is not decoherence of the narrative).
The chamber has huge open sections. Windows or mass effect fields. Seems that the room is new anyways. but yeah it´s a bit odd with the airlock. As already mentioned, EDI was able to locate Shepard just fine since ME 2.
Firing sequence: The crucible is armed is at 4:25, the hand scene at 6:00. Even if it´s a minor plothole, because it´s not explained completely, I can live with it. It a lesser plothole than the Catalyst sitting in the tower watching the human fleet destroying Sovereign while he was dryhumping the very tower he was located in. Or that TIM had to come and tell the Reapers that the galactics finished the Crucible and found out the Citadel is the Catalyst. Ah yes. You know the AI that is sitting right there on the Citadel where everyone and his girlfriend is talking about the secret weapon, which was presented to the council in the council chamber.
And it makes more sense to you that shooting a tube triggers the firing sequence because an AI is there? The AI no one knew about? Even if they knew, who came up with the bright idea to incorporate an AI into the firing mechanism of their Anti Reaper weapon or whatever it´s supposed to be? An AI they had no clue how it works and no access to, at the moment they came up with the idea. As far as we know, the Citadel was the first thing taken in every previous cycle. And not just some friendly AI, they had no access to, but the guiding intelligence of the Reapers. Know what, I take the "must be an automated sequence or so" instead. It´s not shown in detail but Fob did it for free and he had to work with what´s there and accessible.
There are other AIs though and I see a distinction between heretics and the others.
You do know that there is technology that appears to be a window but is actually a projection. TIM's main office is not a window. And if it was a window then why hasn't anyone in all these years ever said "hey look I can see a place on the Citadel. Wonder how we can get there."
Again locating someone is not the same as getting to that person. I can locate someone in a big building but don't know how to get to them unless I have a layout of the doors, corridors, elevators stairs, etc.
The catalyst controlled the reapers not the other way around. And it was all explained by Virgil the VI. But it's interesting and proves once again a HEA let's you excuse holes but no HEA and you have issues with them.
BTW thanks for pointing out a HUGE plot hole with this new ending. See why would the Reapers take the Citadel to Earth without TIM telling the catalyst? From Virgil we know that the Reapers only got data on the Protheans that was in the Citadel or through indoctrination. So why is TIM on the Citadel if not for the catlyst? The new ending makes taking the Citadel to Earth plain stupid.
At least firing a gun at the mechanism is an act like pulling a trigger. And it happens right away. You want me to believe that with this new ending there is a delay that just happens to be long enough to rescue Shepard. And the game tells us that the Citadel was the first place the reapers took over.
(Strictly speaking, it is not a cliff hanger (neither for the Sopranos nor for ME:3) if one defines this to be a plot device that has a chapter end with a critical situation, leaving the central conflict unresolved pending the next chapter, to ensure that the audience stays interested in the sequel.)
But it certainly fits that Schrödinger's paradox is solved by a phenomenon called "decoherence"
Well you can say you like Soprano's and not ME but the original point was that it wasn't done. Of course I can come up with more unclear endings. Total Recall is another one where the ending is completely unclear. Point is what they did is not that uncommon and it has happened in movies, tv shows and books. It is a common method to allow you to bring back a character or continue the story if there is another show on it. This was the real reason for Tony Soprano. Of course once the actor died they claimed otherwise.
How about answering my question? If this ending was instead a synergy where Shepard is dead would you guys still be singing it's praises? I doubt it because it then wouldn't be HEA and that is the real reason for your support.
You do know that there is technology that appears to be a window but is actually a projection. TIM's main office is not a window. And if it was a window then why hasn't anyone in all these years ever said "hey look I can see a place on the Citadel. Wonder how we can get there."
You heard that piece of dialogue where Anderson mentions that the walls are shifting? Why are the walls shifting? Dunno, my personal headcanon is that they couldn´t hide the reaper production facility that is also somewhere simply by locking a door.
Again locating someone is not the same as getting to that person. I can locate someone in a big building but don't know how to get to them unless I have a layout of the doors, corridors, elevators stairs, etc.
Perhaps it´s better if Fob answers this. I can only assume that he thought, the place is easy to reach. I would like to know more about the airlock the shuttle flew in, too.
The catalyst controlled the reapers not the other way around. And it was all explained by Virgil the VI.
Eh I meant that the catalyst is the reaper leader. Was I unclear= Sorry. The Catalyst actually said that he´s the collective intelligence of the Reapers. Vigil explained what? What are you talking about? Do you mean Vendetta?
BTW thanks for pointing out a HUGE plot hole with this new ending. See why would the Reapers take the Citadel to Earth without TIM telling the catalyst? From Virgil we know that the Reapers only got data on the Protheans that was in the Citadel or through indoctrination. So why is TIM on the Citadel if not for the catlyst? The new ending makes taking the Citadel to Earth plain stupid.
TIM is on the Citadel because it´s the Catalyst. The Reapers take the Citadel to Earth because it´s still the missing component for the Crucible. In this mod Vendetta is right that the Citadel is the Catalyst and there is no AI called the Catalyst. BTW the Crucible project failed because of indoctrinated agents.
At least firing a gun at the mechanism is an act like pulling a trigger.
Eh ok. Smashing my PC with a hammer isn´t the same as pushing the off button. The results are also very different.
And it happens right away. You want me to believe that with this new ending there is a delay that just happens to be long enough to rescue Shepard. And the game tells us that the Citadel was the first place the reapers took over.
Do you want to sit there for five minutes real time watching the thing charging up? Does it actually matter if the Normandy was still there when the blast went off? In High EMS the red wave is actually washing over soldiers without harming them.
Yes the game tells us that the Citadel is usually taken first. Totally stupid idea to include the Citadel in your design? Hm well, it´s probably included because it´s the only way to make it work. Easier to believe that the crucible designers were able to know how incoporate the Citadel which was probably their capital for a few thousand years before the Reapers moved in than the AI no one knew about.
How about answering my question? If this ending was instead a synergy where Shepard is dead would you guys still be singing it's praises? I doubt it because it then wouldn't be HEA and that is the real reason for your support.
No because synthesis is even more space magic than the "destroy all reapers" lollipop connecting to the central mass relay control.
And the low EMS ending where everyone dies and the Reapers win is awesome.
But it's interesting and proves once again a HEA let's you excuse holes but no HEA and you have issues with them.
If people really do liked this ending then it proves my comment that a HEA is all they really wanted. It had nothing to do with writing as this ending had even more plot holes since it never fixed the original ones and added new ones. I think it proves my point very nicely.
Ok first.
People linked some videos from the more vocal critics. Both also talked in length about the shortcomings of ME 2 before ME 3 was even published.
Second.
I don´t know about the others but I am more lenient with a fanmade mod for a game that wasn´t intended to be mod friendly and where the modder had to work with the stuff he got or spend months rendering new stuff. And he still had to work within the constraints of the existing game. Thanks for all the work for free.
Third
Let´s assume you are right. Everyone who criticises the endings just wanted a happy ending and everyone also downloaded the mod and found it awesome because yay Shepard lives. Every critic is lying or at least dishonest to him/herself and just looked for plotholes to find other reasons to complain than simply admitting that he doesn´t like the death of Shepard. And this resulted in this huge mountain of stuff people complain about, too.
Ok fine. So now what? What does it change? Does this mountain of problems go away if everyone admits it. Does the game suddenly turn into something else or do we go back to blissful ignorance after finding enough other reasons to dislike the endings. Do you win the internet? The big mountain is still there.
Eh ok. Smashing my PC with a hammer isn´t the same as pushing the off button. The results are also very different.
I know this is a bit of a stretch, but I like to think that the Catalyst is basically the "filter" of sorts for the Crucible as it pours its energy into the relay, and when Shepard fires on the power conduit, the Catalyst itself is basically shut down, and the Crucible can now fire uninhibited, causing the destructive wave that wipes out the reapers. Of course, only trouble with that is why the wave is still at all selective, sparing most other technologies not directly tied to AI's and even possibly Shepard.
How about answering my question? If this ending was instead a synergy where Shepard is dead would you guys still be singing it's praises? I doubt it because it then wouldn't be HEA and that is the real reason for your support.
Please don't go all Catalyst on me . Do you really live in a world where everybody who disagrees with you does so for one reason only, and it's a stupid reason? I might want to join you there from time to time, it seems to be oddly relaxing...I'm stuck in a world where people populate a vast landscape of worldviews, and it takes a lot of reading and talking and thinking and understanding to sort it all out...it can be exhausting.
Well, I'm not one of "the guys singing the praise of MEHEM". If it weren't HEA, I would still say that removing the Catalyst is a good idea. In fact I think that one of the older mods which switches from Anderson's death directly to the destroy ending is still the most successful in the sense that it removes the most plot holes and introduces no new ones. I agree with your point that the "finding Shepard and evacuate via shuttle" is a new plot hole in MEHEM (I still wouldn't say it is a sieve like the original ending). Synergy would make no sense at all in MEHEM, as it already did not make much sense in the original ending. BTW: For me, synergy is not HEA, it is BS.
Well you can say you like Soprano's and not ME but the original point was that it wasn't done. Of course I can come up with more unclear endings. Total Recall is another one where the ending is completely unclear. Point is what they did is not that uncommon and it has happened in movies, tv shows and books. It is a common method to allow you to bring back a character or continue the story if there is another show on it. This was the real reason for Tony Soprano. Of course once the actor died they claimed otherwise.
I said that not ending the last story arc made perfectly sense for the Soprano's and explained why. If a producer wanted such an ending to be able to continue the series later, that is not a contradiction. Sometimes stuff happens for more than one reason, and all of them can make sense.
For Total Recall, since the theme is "if your memories can be created artificially, what happens to your sense of reality?" it makes a lot of sense to question the sense of reality of Quaid in the ending (not sure if that's what you were referring to ).
We may continue to discuss open, ambiguous endings of other movies etc. it is kinda fun. We'll see that in a lot of cases, it actually makes some sense, while in others, it does not. For ME:3 it makes absoluteley no sense. If the best reason one can come up with is "it has been done before and it worked", well, then I'll just say give me an explanation why it belongs where it is, on a similar level I did for the Soprano's and Total Recall. One sentence is enough. It does not need to be complex. Why is that breath scene there? How does it integrate with the story, the theme, the mood, the "artistic vision"?
Perhaps it´s better if Fob answers this. I can only assume that he thought, the place is easy to reach. I would like to know more about the airlock the shuttle flew in, too.
Now, I don't use MEHEM exactly, but the alternative version without the rescue scene, so I've only seen the rescue scene once, however, I still don't know what the problem is. We have NavPoints that make location super easy, which is proven many times throughout the game. And the platform is in open space....
... which means the place is accessible with a shuttle. And the Kodiak shuttle does not need to land (although there's quite enough space for that on the platform). We've performed countless jumps out of and jumps into the Kodiak shuttle with it still being in the air. It can float in place with no problem. It can comfortably stop at the edge of the platform if needed.
If the place is not open or protected with fields, then it's made of solid transparent material and it shouldn't be too hard to find an entrance. We've found our way through the Shadow Broker's ship and Collector base. Why this should be a problem IF it really were protected by solid material, which we have absolutely no proof of, I have no idea. Imagining how a shuttle or a team of people could get there certainly requires much less mental gymnastics than trying to justify the real ending. This so called "HUGE plothole" is made up.
I think you've done well explaining the rest.
Also, I'm not saying any of the ending mods is perfect, but some of these complaints miss the point.
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