Mass Effect 3 Spoiler Thread so we can talk about [REDACTED]

[rei]

[malkav11]

I think the new endings are still almost non sequiturs. Yes, they are more complete in that they fill in details that were missing before, but the whole star child scenario is still goofy after the build up of the last three games.

Oh well. I honestly didn’t expect Bioware to pull a rabbit out of the hat and rewrite the game, so it is what it is.

Well, they specifically said they weren’t going to rewrite anything, so yeah, I wasn’t expecting it either.

[pyjamarama]

So ended up just watching the videos theres is not really any difference between them and my own except for characters that appear, if anyone plays through the entire ending and finds some thing note worthy I guess I’ll just read about that.

I liked the original ending for the most part, except for the silly Noramandy bit that was out sequence with events and didn’t make sense to have to crash land just to show the main companion, so was expecting not to change so they did that for the most part, the scenes from the other planet were just like an extended credits so fine with that but there was really no need to do it. But one very important point that was changed to me was the mass relays, I just assumed that they were in fact destroyed and it would take hundreds of years to replicate a technology that they didn’t understand completely so to have it be rebuilt so quickly by the reapers in the control end and to imply that they were only very damaged in the destroy one was pretty big change on how I saw the ending and kind of a copout just like the third ending that I never liked the synthesis was a big copout, but I never managed to get it just read about it so I can rule it out. I think the new ending is better then the synthesis one and a valid option in my view.

In the end this changes nothing for the people that didn’t like the original one so probably there wasn’t any point of doing it in the first place.

[TimJames]

I just realized I don’t even want to take the time to watch any of them. I’d rather just read a text summary somewhere to see if it piques my interest first.

I can do the “fuck everything” ending on my next playthrough as a good way to put this trilogy back on the shelf for all time. :) Do I need high Galactic Readiness (ugh) for that?

[Murbella]

Gosh golly, Bioware actually spent enormous amounts of money to create a completely free add-on to try to address complaints from their customers, and this is the reaction they get?

I’d never have predicted that.

Sigh.

I’m sorry, but you don’t get points just for trying.

In any event, i haven’t seen the endings yet, so i will hold out hope, despite the reaction i’ve heard so far.

Now to see if i can finish my vanguard save before i go play secret world. Very doubtful.

[ChiTownBluesFan]

So - just my opinion.

I still don’t like the direction the ending took once the Star Child showed up. Not a fan of it at all.

But - the logic behind the endings - even if I don’t agree with it - makes more sense. There aren’t gaping plot holes like before. Things make sense. While I don’t like the direction, I can at least say I can see what Bioware was trying to do. The endings aren’t awful anymore. In fact, they’re one hell of a lot better. I just don’t like the direciton.

The only real plot hole left is the whole ‘Sheppard Lives’ scenario if your readiness is high enough. It looks like the rubble Sheppard was seen in was probably the wreckage of the Citadel. Fine - makes sense. But they shown scenes that, clearly, took place much later than the end of the game - world are rebuilt, the Citadel seems functional again - and yet in all this time, no one has found Sheppard and seen that he’s alive? Maybe they plan on doing something with DLC for that. Maybe they always have. But that’s the only real issue I have anymore, and it’s a small one.

So, in short, not happy that the direction of the ending didn’t change, but it’s executed one hell of a lot better.

[sangkancil99]

I’m sorry, but you don’t get points just for trying.

Yes you do - especially in this forum. If not, then why the love-fest for mediocre RPG fare like Witcher 2, Amalur, Legend of Grimrock, Risen…I can go on

At least Bioware spent big bucks on a free dlc - they put $ where their mouth is.

[Woolen_Horde]

Just finished Cerberus Base. I think they now let you save in-between that and Earth now, cause I just did. Walking in on Garrus and Tali locking lips was one of the best moments of the series.

[Telefrog]

Yes you do - especially in this forum. If not, then why the love-fest for mediocre RPG fare like Witcher 2, Amalur, Legend of Grimrock, Risen…I can go on

The Witcher 2 mediocre? Does not compute.

At least Bioware spent big bucks on a free dlc - they put $ where their mouth is.

Yes. I’m sure they spent their own bonuses. Gave up the free sodas and the Friday ice cream social. The funding did not come from the money people already spent on the game and DLC, right?

[Grifman]

My take:

Was never a fan of the Star Child thing, could have thought of half a dozen different ways to end the series without that crappy deus ex machina. But Bioware said that they weren’t going to change the ending, so I knew that wasn’t going away.

So with that being a given, Bioware did a good job with what they committed themselves to work with, filling in a number of the plot holes:

1. It is shown how your ground assault crew got back on the Normandy - and if your LI is in on the ground assault, you get another nice scene with them.

2. There is more conversation with the Star Child, explaining his motivations, history and more about what your choices mean. They still miss the obvious argument Shepard could make about organics/synthetics living together in peace (if you made peace between the Geth and Quarians), but again, that would change the ending. But it was still stupid of them to ignore that argument when the game spent so much time on that issue.

3. There’s now also a logical reason for the Normandy to “abandon” Shepard and you also briefly see some of the crew struggle with that decision

4. The ME relays no longer explode so no worry about the destruction of systems. There are also more scenes of your choices (Destroy, Control, Synthesis) happening/taking place.

5. There’s more closure around your “victory”, whatever your choice ends up being. You see troops on a number of worlds celebrating. You also see a number of worlds being rebuilt and life returning to normal (some nice Krogan shots).

6. The scenes are narrated by different people depending upon your choice (Destroy/Adm Hackett, Synthesize/EDI, Control/Reaper AI Shepard). More explanation of what your choice meant for the galaxy and of the post war galactic situation.

7. The Normandy still crashes but not as badly as originally. The engines no longer fall off and it appears that after some repairs, it takes off again - no longer is your crew stranded on a jungle world. Big retcon here since I’ pretty sure the original plan was for the Normandy crew to populate that world and lead to the scene with Grandpa and Grandson during the credits (still there but is now superfluous).

8. There’s brief memorial service where your LI places your plaque on the memorial wall with all the other dead. However, if you choose Destroy and have high enough EMS (3100), your LI starts to place the plaque, but stops, with a small brief smile on their face. At that point, you get the scene with the N7 chesplate amor, and the person in the armor drawing a quick breathe - implication, Shepard is alive and your LI somehow knows this. But this is only the Destroy option.

9. Unfortunately, Destroy still means the death of EDI and the Geth which adds some suck to that choice. No way around it, even with high EMS :(

Those are the high points, hope it helps.

PS, there is actually a 4th ending now, “Reject”. You can choose to instead shoot at the Star Child and accept none of his choices. At that point he goes all Harbinger on you, and advanced organic life if extinguished - you lose. But there is a hologram message shown playing in an underground bunker where Liara narrates the history of this cycle in hopes that it will help the next cycle. In this case you get a different scene in the closing credits with female (rather than the old man) and a child, and she says that with the help of the previous (Shepard’s) cycle, they were able to defeat the Reapers and break the cycle. Kind of interesting take on things.

NOTE: The above is with a high EMS. There are variations if your EMS is lower. Hard to describe every variation but low EMS means more bad stuff happening so some stuff above won’t happen.

[Murbella]

Yes you do - especially in this forum. If not, then why the love-fest for mediocre RPG fare like Witcher 2, Amalur, Legend of Grimrock, Risen…I can go on

At least Bioware spent big bucks on a free dlc - they put $ where their mouth is.

Then why are some of the most popular games on these forums games where the maker didn’t try to push the limits at all and instead played it safe, but with much time spent on polishing the piece of coal in to a pretty stone?

Why aren’t we still talking about spore? Why isn’t Obsidian worshiped on these forums? Why doesn’t anyone remember the game Breed (possibly the most interesting sounding game ever)?

And perhaps most importantly, why do people still talk poorly about Sword of the Stars 2 after the AMAZING effort Kerberos took in finishing the game after a poor release?

The answer of course is that the vast majority (me3 thread) of people don’t care one bit about what the maker of a product “tried” to do, they only care about the end result.

I don’t think Risen was mediocre by the way. Although i didn’t feel it really captured the magic of gothic 2 personally. Haven’t played the others so can’t/won’t comment.

[TimJames]

Don’t feed sangkancil99. That’s just his thing.

Thanks for the summary Grifman. That sounds decent enough and probably worth watching a few of them.

[Ryan_Markel]

I need to go through a few things, but if what I’ve seen skimming the GAF thread is true, the Xzibit logic from the ending is now completely bent back in on itself in a sort of self-defeating four-dimensional WTF.

[Destarius]

The Witcher 2 mediocre? Does not compute.

Yes. I’m sure they spent their own bonuses. Gave up the free sodas and the Friday ice cream social. The funding did not come from the money people already spent on the game and DLC, right?

I agree. Anyone calling Witcher 2 mediocre needs to be removed from the RPG threads.

That said - I think the endings are MUCH better. Star child is still a non-sequitur but it resolves many of the other questions.

[ChiTownBluesFan]

My take:

Was never a fan of the Star Child thing, could have thought of half a dozen different ways to end the series without that crappy deus ex machina. But Bioware said that they weren’t going to change the ending, so I knew that wasn’t going away.

So with that being a given, Bioware did a good job with what they committed themselves to work with, filling in a number of the plot holes:

1. It is shown how your ground assault crew got back on the Normandy - and if your LI is in on the ground assault, you get another nice scene with them.

2. There is more conversation with the Star Child, explaining his motivations, history and more about what your choices mean. They still miss the obvious argument Shepard could make about organics/synthetics living together in peace (if you made peace between the Geth and Quarians), but again, that would change the ending. But it was still stupid of them to ignore that argument when the game spent so much time on that issue.

3. There’s now also a logical reason for the Normandy to “abandon” Shepard and you also briefly see some of the crew struggle with that decision

4. The ME relays no longer explode so no worry about the destruction of systems. There are also more scenes of your choices (Destroy, Control, Synthesis) happening/taking place.

5. There’s more closure around your “victory”, whatever your choice ends up being. You see troops on a number of worlds celebrating. You also see a number of worlds being rebuilt and life returning to normal (some nice Krogan shots).

6. The scenes are narrated by different people depending upon your choice (Destroy/Adm Hackett, Synthesize/EDI, Control/Reaper AI Shepard). More explanation of what your choice meant for the galaxy and of the post war galactic situation.

7. The Normandy still crashes but not as badly as originally. The engines no longer fall off and it appears that after some repairs, it takes off again - no longer is your crew stranded on a jungle world. Big retcon here since I’ pretty sure the original plan was for the Normandy crew to populate that world and lead to the scene with Grandpa and Grandson during the credits (still there but is now superfluous).

8. There’s brief memorial service where your LI places your plaque on the memorial wall with all the other dead. However, if you choose Destroy and have high enough EMS (3100), your LI starts to place the plaque, but stops, with a small brief smile on their face. At that point, you get the scene with the N7 chesplate amor, and the person in the armor drawing a quick breathe - implication, Shepard is alive and your LI somehow knows this. But this is only the Destroy option.

9. Unfortunately, Destroy still means the death of EDI and the Geth which adds some suck to that choice. No way around it, even with high EMS :(

Those are the high points, hope it helps.

PS, there is actually a 4th ending now, “Reject”. You can choose to instead shoot at the Star Child and accept none of his choices. At that point he goes all Harbinger on you, and advanced organic life if extinguished - you lose. But there is a hologram message shown playing in an underground bunker where Liara narrates the history of this cycle in hopes that it will help the next cycle. In this case you get a different scene in the closing credits with female (rather than the old man) and a child, and she says that with the help of the previous (Shepard’s) cycle, they were able to defeat the Reapers and break the cycle. Kind of interesting take on things.

NOTE: The above is with a high EMS. There are variations if your EMS is lower. Hard to describe every variation but low EMS means more bad stuff happening so some stuff above won’t happen.

Pretty much my feeling as well.

I hate everything to do with the Star Child and the stupid choices. But at least the endings are done well this time around w/o huge gaping plot holes. Except the whole ‘Shepard Living’ thing. Still a big improvement in execution, even though, as I said above, I don’t like the story.

[Brad_Grenz]

The new endings are tacky, overlong and nerf the consequences of your final choice in the game. Congratulations, Enders!

[blah]

PS, there is actually a 4th ending now, “Reject”. You can choose to instead shoot at the Star Child and accept none of his choices. At that point he goes all Harbinger on you, and advanced organic life if extinguished - you lose. But there is a hologram message shown playing in an underground bunker where Liara narrates the history of this cycle in hopes that it will help the next cycle. In this case you get a different scene in the closing credits with female (rather than the old man) and a child, and she says that with the help of the previous (Shepard’s) cycle, they were able to defeat the Reapers and break the cycle. Kind of interesting take on things.

While it’s an interesting take, I’m not sure it makes any sense. How is the next cycle able to defeat the Reapers using the same tech that Shepard was unable to beat them with? If there were a way to defeat the Reapers without having to choose the control or merge options Shepard wouldn’t have shot the little twirp in the first place. Basically the next cycle would have defeated the Reapers in the exact way that you chose not to for that to even come to pass, which means your choice is irrelevant in the end.

[Hugin]

While it’s an interesting take, I’m not sure it makes any sense. How is the next cycle able to defeat the Reapers using the same tech that Shepard was unable to beat them with?

The ending doesn’t state they used the same technology, just that they learned from Sheperd’s cycle. That could mean they took what Sheperd’s cycle did and altered it or improved it, it could mean they learned the Crucible was a dead end and didn’t waste any time and resources on it, it could mean that they gleaned some kind of clue from Sheperd’s cycles failure to come up with a completely different strategy, we have no idea.

[Brad_Grenz]

Their champion probably just didn’t puss out at the last minute.

[Razgon]

Yes you do - especially in this forum. If not, then why the love-fest for mediocre RPG fare like Witcher 2, Amalur, Legend of Grimrock, Risen…I can go on

At least Bioware spent big bucks on a free dlc - they put $ where their mouth is.

hugs dont worry - it will all be allright, I’m sure!