225 réponses à ce sujet

[Asharad Hett]

My first run, the door of the Normandy didn't open. Earth was scorched. I'll look at me EMS tonight, if I still have the save.

[AlanC9]

For destroy, the requirement for Normany survivors was 2050 EMS.  The requirement to save the Earth was 2350 EMS.   Add in the 50% readiness penalty for not playing multiplayer, and we needed 4100 WA to save Normandy and 4700 WA to save the Earth.  Furthermore I lacked ME2 DLC war assets, because I didn't have the DLC at the time.  So because I didn't do every fetch quest and make perfect dialogue choices, you blame me for the game be grim-dark depressing.

That's a bit melodramatic. You didn't need to do anything like all of them. You needed to do some of the scanning and sidequests, yes. Looking at my old EMS spreadsheet, you get well over 2000 WA automatically, whatever you do. There are about 1800 scanning and fetch quest WA points, and over 1600 points from Citadel conversations and various sidequests. Plus a few hundred points that you'd get from your import game, but a lot of those can only be cashed in when doing sidequests. FWIW, ME2 DLCs only give you a couple of hundred more WA points total.

How did you not understand how EMS worked? What did you think was going to happen? Could the game have done something more to inform you?
 

Ashley is killed automatically if you make three decisions:  
- In ME1 you sacrifice the council and save the fleet
- Be unkind to her during Priority Mars (she was being a ******).
- Fail to visit Ashley in the hospital after she wakes.

Right. The last one isn't a great choice if you actually care about whether she lives or dies.

[Asharad Hett]

If I don't talk to you, then it means I want you to die?

[Asharad Hett]

Alan, you can pick my post apart but it doesn't change my opinion that my first play through had a depressing end.

[AlanC9]

What I actually said was "if you actually care about whether she lives or dies." Indifference isn't the same thing as actually wishing someone dead.

If your Shepard wasn't indifferent to Ashley's fate, why not do the visit? In addition to confusing you about how EMS worked, did the game confuse you about the way time worked too?

And I certainly am not trying to deny that you had a depressing experience. I'm just pointing out that it's your fault. Your playing decisions made it happen. I suppose this means that Bio should have explained how the game worked in a way that was clearer to you, but I'm not in a great position to see how they could have done that since I understood what was going on instantly. Do you have any ideas?

After all, Bio has to make these outcomes possible, right? We certainly wouldn't want a game where no matter what the player does, everything always works out fine.

[DieselJet]

I hate the fact that if anyone (not just Bioware) makes an ending where the protagonist dies, everyone gets together and creates an uproar. A character death can be extremely powerful and it can work tremendously well. I think an ending where Shepard dies conventionally in combat just after he saves the galaxy would have been perfect. 

My ideal ending would be:

- The weapon discovered on Mars by Liara is actually a weapon. 

 

- Clever tactics, nukes and warp bombs allow the galaxy to actually take down a large portion of the Reapers. 

 

- The "Catalyst" is not space magic, but a genuine piece of ancient technology that allows the weapon to fire. 

 

- Final scene is Shepard, all his squad mates from all games, and all his war assets in epic combat trying to install the last component of the weapon.

 

- Shepard dies protecting LI/Squad mates/Whoever 

 

- Weapon works, reapers die, galaxy saved. 

 

To make this death mean more, I would also not have had Shepard die and be reborn by Cerberus in ME2. That was entirely pointless and tacky. 

 

Also, in my ideal ending, we would never find out why the Reapers were doing what they were doing. We don't need to know. Any reason just sounds stupid because Sovereign told us in ME1 that we wouldn't comprehend. It's like ants trying to understand the motives of humans. I love that idea and I wish Bioware didn't give into pressure and explain what the hell the Reapers were doing. 

 

Instead, it went like this:

 

Reaper: "Oh, our motives are so alien to you, you wouldn't get it"

Shepard: "Oh, wow. Okay".

Reaper: "Yeah.... we are killing everyone because if we don't, you will create synthetics that will kill you all so bad that no organic life will exist". 

Shepard: "But you just said I wouldn't comprehend. I can fully comprehend that. I understand".

Reaper: "Oh...Yeah..... So, how about the weather today?"

 

I think the big thing people wanted to see is all of their choices and recruits coming together in the final battle and working with Shepard. But that didn't happen. 

[Asharad Hett]

I found the save for my first Shepard.  He has 4016 TMS and 2008 EMS.  This is without internet service.  With internet service I have 10000 TMS and 5000 EMS (due to N7 multiplayer achievements).

 

My 2nd character had 6145/3072.

My 3rd character had 8158/4079.

[Pee Jae]

For me, it was never about having a "happy ending." Though, there's nothing wrong with that. A happy ending should have been one of the ending (s). It was about resolution. The thing is, DAI actually explains in some detail what happens after the bad guy is defeated. Mass Effect 3 explains 2 things; the Reapers are defeated and Shepard is dead. If you didn't choose a high ems destroy. (Original endings.) There is nothing more. The armada you brought to Earth? Stuck there. Congratulations! You made peace with the Turians and Krogans. The Quarians and the Geth. Doesn't matter, they're never going to see each other again because the relays are destroyed. By the way, EDI is dead. All that progress she made didn't matter. Oh and the Geth are dead too. Yes, even the Geth that were helping the Quarians adapt their immune systems and rebuild their homeworld. Good job. Do you feel like you won? Because I didn't.

 

It wasn't about being happy. It was about throwing everything away that I had accomplished during the game (s) for some kind of idea of high art.

[Asharad Hett]

.

Be prepared for people to tell you it's your fault.

[AlanC9]

The armada you brought to Earth? Stuck there. Congratulations! You made peace with the Turians and Krogans. The Quarians and the Geth. Doesn't matter, they're never going to see each other again because the relays are destroyed. By the way, EDI is dead. All that progress she made didn't matter. Oh and the Geth are dead too. Yes, even the Geth that were helping the Quarians adapt their immune systems and rebuild their homeworld. Good job. Do you feel like you won? Because I didn't.

Hey, if you don't want the geth and EDI destroyed, don't destroy them. That was your call, assuming you had enough EMS to make it. (@ Asharad Hett: looks like you were right. It's his fault.)

Note that the quarians and geth, assuming both are still around, are living together on and around Rannoch. Both races had large civilian populations that stayed there. And turians and krogan will certainly meet again. Might take quite a few decades, but what's that to krogan?

As for the armada... yep, stuck. Good thing the quarians brought their liveships -- tough luck for the turians if the quarians didn't make it. I originally thought that would be great for ME4, since you've got populations of all the species in or near Sol system. Plenty of room on Earth with so many people harvested, not to mention Benning, Demeter, the garden world at Alpha Centauri, and whatever other worlds are nearby that didn't make it into the games.

[Pee Jae]

Assuming would be the key word there. Because that's all you can do with the original endings. The only things I am actually shown are that the reapers are taken care of, in one of three lovely colours, and Shepard is probably dead. Oh and the crew and the Normandy are on some planet somewhere. Assuming also that the stargazer scene is on that planet and those are two of the descendants of... someone on the Normandy.

 

I'm not even going into anything else. (Reaper AI aka Starbrat, etc.) Don't get me wrong, The Mass Effect trilogy is actually my favorite video game series and I give much thanks to Bioware for 1.) Making the extended cut and 2.) Making it free.

 

But, you can do "dark and edgy" without making it bad. Red Dead Redemption and The Last of Us come to mind.

[Dantriges]

Pre EC you had Shepard sacrificing himself because the antagonist said it´s the solution, which turned the galaxy into a barren wasteland, stranding your friends in the middle of nowhere with little to no perspective. I hope they have some basic survival training and the plants there are edible and not some crazy stuff like that on the planet where Jacob´s dad stranded. Forget about founding a colony with the crew of a frigate. Or perhaps everyone is dead when the relays went boom. Good job, soldier.

[AlanC9]

Knowing what we know about interstellar travel in ME, there's just about no way that the Normandy can have ended up all that far from Earth. If they were in relay transit when the wave hit, they crashed on Demeter, since that's the only other garden planet with a relay in the cluster.(Unless there's a dextro world the Alliance never colonized, which is conceivable.) The Charon relay isn't a primary, and can't send you anyplace you couldn't get to in standard FTL in a matter of some days. If they weren't in standard FTL there are more places they could have crashed, but that still leaves them close to Earth.

As for the relays killing everyone, if the Citadel relay couldn't even annihilate the Citadel, it's a safe bet that none of the others destroyed systems either.

[Asharad Hett]

As for the relays killing everyone, if the Citadel relay couldn't even annihilate the Citadel, it's a safe bet that none of the others destroyed systems either.

 

Your safe bet depends on EMS.   In low EMS destroy, the Crucible energy destroyed Earth. That energy was propagated through the mass relays.  

[Monica21]

Also, in my ideal ending, we would never find out why the Reapers were doing what they were doing. We don't need to know. Any reason just sounds stupid because Sovereign told us in ME1 that we wouldn't comprehend. It's like ants trying to understand the motives of humans. I love that idea and I wish Bioware didn't give into pressure and explain what the hell the Reapers were doing.

 

I didn't care for this either. The conversation with Sovereign is very much "teaching the alphabet to the ants" and we are the ants. I never felt like I needed to know the motives of the Reapers. My only job was to find a way to stop them, not to try and understand them.

[KevShep]

It would have been better if Vigil was the Catalyst because Vigils data file was put into the Citadel back in the first game. It would have been a good tie in for the crucible plot device.

 

I WILL ALWAYS  HATE THE STARCHILD! Vigil would have been better!

[themikefest]

I found the save for my first Shepard.  He has 4016 TMS and 2008 EMS.  This is without internet service.  With internet service I have 10000 TMS and 5000 EMS (due to N7 multiplayer achievements).

Were both squadmates killed on the beam run by Harbinger? I only ask because the only squadmates you listed that were dead wasAshley and the edibot. You say Ashley was shot during the coup and the edibot fried when picking destroy. Which two were killed on the beam run?

You also mentioned Earth was scorched. That means you only had destroy to choose for an ending. Since you mentioned you had 2008 ems, control and destroy would be available to choose. If that's the case there is no way to have Earth scorched and the door to the Normadny would open with Joker exiting the ship.

Did the scene show the red wave moving across Earth burning everything in its path?

Spoiler

 

My 2nd character had 6145/3072.
My 3rd character had 8158/4079.

I'm guessing those were done before the extended cut was released? I would also guess you chose destroy for both and the third one got the breath scene?

[Asharad Hett]

The first showed a red wave moving across the earth, destroying all.   Nobody walked out the Normandy.

 

All of my characters were before the extended cut.   

[Sylvius the Mad]

For me, it was never about having a "happy ending." Though, there's nothing wrong with that. A happy ending should have been one of the ending (s). It was about resolution. The thing is, DAI actually explains in some detail what happens after the bad guy is defeated. Mass Effect 3 explains 2 things; the Reapers are defeated and Shepard is dead. If you didn't choose a high ems destroy. (Original endings.) There is nothing more. The armada you brought to Earth? Stuck there. Congratulations! You made peace with the Turians and Krogans. The Quarians and the Geth. Doesn't matter, they're never going to see each other again because the relays are destroyed. By the way, EDI is dead. All that progress she made didn't matter. Oh and the Geth are dead too. Yes, even the Geth that were helping the Quarians adapt their immune systems and rebuild their homeworld. Good job. Do you feel like you won? Because I didn't.

It wasn't about being happy. It was about throwing everything away that I had accomplished during the game (s) for some kind of idea of high art.

That's the best complaint I've heard about the endings.

Assuming you actually care about all the steps you took throughout the game, and didn't pragmatically choose all of them just to increase your war assets (which isn't really possible anyway, since Shepard doesn't have know in advance how many war assets any given thing will produce), the ending does basically ruin a lot of the things you were trying to build.

[AlanC9]

Were both squadmates killed on the beam run by Harbinger? I only ask because the only squadmates you listed that were dead wasAshley and the edibot. You say Ashley was shot during the coup and the edibot fried when picking destroy. Which two were killed on the beam run?

I thought the two beam run squadmates being explicitly killed was added by the EC. Maybe we need to add two more names to Asharad's list.

[themikefest]

I thought the two beam run squadmates being explicitly killed was added by the EC. Maybe we need to add two more names to Asharad's list.

The one time I did do a low ems run before the extended cut was released, Ashley and Vega were killed by Harbinger. Both were lying dead close to where Shepard gets up to walk to the beam

[Asharad Hett]

I thought the two beam run squadmates being explicitly killed was added by the EC. Maybe we need to add two more names to Asharad's list

 

It has been 3 years since I experienced the nightmare ending, and my memory might be bad.  So today I uninstalled all DLC and replayed the ending.  Here are the results:

 

- Liara and James were my final squadmates.  EDI was on the Normandy, according to radio chatter.

 

- At the beam, Liara and James are found lying dead after Shepard was shot by Harbinger.

 

- Star brat was very rude to me.  "What are you doing here?".  "You have choice, more than you deserve".

 

- Control and Destroy were my options.

 

- Shepard chose destroy.  Flashbacks included Liara, Joker, and Anderson.

 

- Buildings on earth were destroyed, but at least a few humans survived the blast.  The survivors were well armored and hiding behind cover.  I must assume that unprotected humans would be killed or injured by exploding buildings.   I was wrong about life being eradicated by the crucible blast.  However humanity will face mass die off since all infrastructure was destroyed.  

 

- The citadel exploded, and just prior to the explosion it could be seen breaking into pieces.

 

- The mass relays exploded as well.  Not just the rings, but the entire relay.

 

- On Eden, the door of the Normany starts to open, but we don't know who survived.  We know that EDI is dead, according to star brat.

[AlanC9]

Your safe bet depends on EMS. In low EMS destroy, the Crucible energy destroyed Earth. That energy was propagated through the mass relays.

Yeah, in low-EMS Earth's toast, and we don't see any other planets. Note that you didn't see the lowest possible EMS level. At the bottom you don't get an ending choice, and no one survives the Crucible wave on Earth.

The biggest - maybe the only - substantive change in the EC is to make it clear that things in low-EMS Destroy aren't as catastrophic as one might have reasonably thought.

[AlanC9]

The one time I did do a low ems run before the extended cut was released, Ashley and Vega were killed by Harbinger. Both were lying dead close to where Shepard gets up to walk to the beam

Yeah, but someone could reasonably think that they're incapacitated rather than dead. We've seen squadmates knocked down before. I remember arguments about interpreting that pre-EC, which I guess is why Bio went to outright vaporization in the EC.

[Asharad Hett]

Yeah, but someone could reasonably think that they're incapacitated rather than dead. 

 

There is huge pool of blood under both.