ME3: How did you like the ending: ALERT SPOILER!

[saxdude]

Plot holes, thats another part of the screw up. Earth is ed either way.

[Tankfriend]

One thing bugs me. In Arrival destroying a mass relay destroys the star system. All the relays are destroyed in all the endings. Why doesn't everything just die? You clearly see the relays exploding.

It's obviously a different kind of explosion. That's why they have the pretty colours...

[Misterchief]

I wasn't a fan.

It's much more than that, but I can't bring myself out of my semi-depressed and semi-apathetic funk to say much more.

[Imperial]

[saxdude]

You know I have been thinking, about the ending and what would happen if they released some kind of real/alternate ending for it. I thinking that they would actually get a very positive response from the fan base if they were to actually go with the hallucination/indoctrination theory that actually seems plausible, and release it as some kind of expansion in which rather than a cut scene epilogue you got to actively participate in the aftermath of the war.
Say you escort your team to their respective planets, where tali and garrus (with his family) go live in rannoch if you didn't romance her (because its canon that they end up together apparently which is great), escort the citadel back to its original location, accompany Javik to the tombs of his comrades or what have you with a few action missions like cleaning out pockets of Cerberus troops, rogue reaper forces without masters or help Aria retake Omega.
Basically redeeming themselves by not only allowing you to see the fruits of your labor but actually enjoying of them, akin to being allowed to be frodo and making your peace with the middle earth gang before leaving. If you were a renegade you can ask for forgiveness if you were being a dick (or not) or you can kill yourself because of the pain or whatever the .
The only way I don't see this working is if you chose to control or allow the existence of the reapers, but then there isn't much you can do with that besides a normal epilogue.
They could charge it at I don't know 10 bucks or so? but it would be complete enough that you would get very few people besides the bioware forum guys about the expansion.
I mean sure, it should have been there from the start, but would you leave it as is or would you prefer my idea?

[Facupay]

If they release a "true" ending DLC and charge 10 bucks for it, it would be the beginning of the end for the gaming industry. They are testing the boundaries of how much money can they squeeze by deliberately taking content, now not only from the beginnig of the game(Javik), but also from the end and making you doubt which is actually the cannon ending.

If they release it for free and it was all a trick to induce feelings of desperation or something like that then hats off to Bioware.

[saxdude]

Yeah but probably not, as I said, pull a stunt like fallout 3 make the ending interactive and worth the while. Maybe they will save some respect.

[Facupay]

Oh! something like Broken Steel I would accept. A very complete DLC which wraps up what happens with the companions, the fleets, earth, the council, etc. And lets you keep playing on the "after Reapers" galaxy would be awesome. Almost like an expansion.

What I thought was a "pay 10$ to get optional ending".

[Cooraan]

At this point I might be willing to pay more then $10. The game was dang near perfect up until then......and then it was a swift kick in the nuts.

[Legio]

Agreed.

[StealthFox]

I personally didn't find the endings all that terrible. Beyond the teleporting of the squad members there were two things that got me:

1. Destruction of Mass Relays
2. No real epilogue to the story (which could address problem 1 as well).

I mean, its one thing to surprise us as they did with the ending choices (especially in that manner), but its another to give us a "what the " moment without a proper explanation of its consequences and of the actions you previously took. There are games and other media that can end ok in this fashion, just ending the story with no epilogue or closed ending, but it doesn't work here or many other Bioware games.

This is how I feel. I don't have a problem with how the ending choices were set up, but there should have been some type of epilogue explaining in more detail exactly what happened. And what is the deal with the Mass Relays blowing up? I thought it was only for one of the choices.

I'm also a bit puzzled about the catalyst. Why is it the kid? Why does Shepard see the kid and is able to talk to the kid on Earth, and why does he dream about him? Is it a VI or AI?

[John I Tzimisces]

This is how I feel. I don't have a problem with how the ending choices were set up, but there should have been some type of epilogue explaining in more detail exactly what happened. And what is the deal with the Mass Relays blowing up? I thought it was only for one of the choices.

I'm also a bit puzzled about the catalyst. Why is it the kid? Why does Shepard see the kid and is able to talk to the kid on Earth, and why does he dream about him? Is it a VI or AI?

1. You're correct. What happens in the cutscenes does not correlate to the choices offered to you.
2. The kid is not a VI or an AI, he's just a plot device rammed in there so as to make ME3's plot less part of the ME story arch and more of a standalone story in order to appeal to first time players of the series, who, given the presence of multiplayer, were probably the target market. Also, why there's no closure. What does a first time player care about any of the characters/factions/species from the previous games?

[joshko]

Lets not forget, April 1st is comming up.

Also it seems to me the Grandfather at the end = Illusive Man
May have been the same voice actor sure, but you'd think he would at least try to sound different.

[Cooraan]

Lets not forget, April 1st is comming up.

Also it seems to me the Grandfather at the end = Illusive Man
May have been the same voice actor sure, but you'd think he would at least try to sound different.

Doubtful. I capped that a-hole on the Citadel.

Also I think I'm hitting the stage of acceptance with the endings. And by accepting I mean, realizing that one of my favorite franchises was destroyed in a matter of minutes and it's not going to change.

[Tankfriend]

Lets not forget, April 1st is comming up.

I've been thinking about this as well, but imho it's far too out-of-line for an April Fool's. For instance, it would have a run-up time of almost a whole month, and it's causing a massive outrage among the community that is seriously damaging Bioware's and EA's reputation by now.
If anything, I could imagine that they are withholding the "real" endings for when the game has been released everywhere around the globe.
I think it's the 15th that sees the final Asia release of the game, if I remember correctly, so maybe we'll see something then.

[joshko]

I've been thinking about this as well, but imho it's far too out-of-line for an April Fool's. For instance, it would have a run-up time of almost a whole month, and it's causing a massive outrage among the community that is seriously damaging Bioware's and EA's reputation by now.
If anything, I could imagine that they are withholding the "real" endings for when the game has been released everywhere around the globe.
I think it's the 15th that sees the final Asia release of the game, if I remember correctly, so maybe we'll see something then.

True, but a month gives even the most casual gamer enough time to finish the game.

As to the Illusive Man notice of mine, not much makes sence about the endings any way. Plus if Shepard was hallucinating/indoctrinated and has the power to break free of the mental grasp it would make sence that he would see people he was familiar with rather than completely made up. Perhaps seeing the Illusive Man in this vision would be the shock that "wakes Shepard up".
Just some food for thought while we rage.

[Teutonic Warlord]

EA has been a pain in the ass to everyone from bioware to the customers.

More than that. EA has been a pain to many more people than just Bioware fans. I will explain later in the post.

That said, I'm not sure I want them to make an alternate ending DLC. The ending was a disappointment, sure, but Bioware are also the creators of ME and deserve some respect for it. I've seen plenty of games/movies/books with unsatisfactory endings, but never have I ever seen an outright demand to change endings to match consumer wants. I find it a profound lack of respect for those who tried very hard to make for us a great game. Whether they succeeded or not is not the question. If you dislike the game or direction the company is going then feel free to boycott the thing or take a "wait and see" policy for future titles (I for one will), but its another level of shame (in my mind) to demand a completely new ending to satisfy your own wants. If Bioware feels they need to create an alternate ending, so be it, but I for one will not support a demand to get it.

The reasons for lack of respect is that EA stuck their greedy fingers into the series and many things were promised to the players, but they received little to none of it. If fraud wasn't such an extreme word in the English language, more people would use it in reference to ME 3, I believe, since most of what was promised (that you were willing to receive in exchange for your money) was never delivered.

EA is, strangely enough, like the Reapers by engaging in a sad cycle in the video game universe. This cycle is: buy studios/series that the fanbases love, create 1-2 amazing games brought about by the great funding of EA, screw up/pervert the rest of the games by making them fun for the masses to play and easy for people new to the series to pick up (while alienating the original fanbase with plotholes, different gameplay, contradictory story, etc.), then (if not done in the previous phase) make a crappy ending that the newbies will think is okay or great and the fanbase hates. Want proof? C&C universe. Westwood disbanded, C&C 3 contradicts the previous story but new players love it, C&C 4 is an internet-dependent game with short, crappy story with an ending similar to ME 3's that provides people with fun multiplayer. If you will notice, many C&C fans are reacting the exact same way to the ending of their series. Then you can see the cycle in DA2, the KOTOR universe, and now ME 3.

It looks like EA enjoys trolling us all.

[Knight of Heaven]

IMo i think there is alot of fan whisfull thinking that bioware EA will do a thing about the endings at all.
The fools day realy? man this realy got into to ppl so much. I blame bioware for this. Dont get me wrong they did a great game, but the end is... what a hell is that? , i get the feeling every game bioware is making lately has to be rushed for that or other reason, and they end up doing things like this to remedy the lack of time to do things proper. That is the overall feeling about it.
regarding kotor franchise, i happy what they make, my concern is again they launch a product with lack of several tools, but being an mmo, it has the time and the proper tools to heal it self from this. swtor its agreat game granted for a modern mmo, but future games will be a great competition for it sure, as GW2, and secret world show promise in the genre, and all of it has now VO storytelling as well.

[Nikitn]

DAMN, I was amazed at just how garbage bioware's writing was.. meh awesome trilogy ended like this.

I can name a dozen logical fallacies in the ending. It's just plainly crap writing, shame on BW. Hopefully they release a changed ending patch (with proper voice-overs and all).

Man I mean come on, the ME2 ending was EPIC with lots of crossroads, despite the writers being constrained by the need to write a sequel taking those crossroads into account.

[The Edain]

DAMN, I was amazed at just how garbage bioware's writing was.. meh awesome trilogy ended like this.

I can name a dozen logical fallacies in the ending. It's just plainly crap writing, shame on BW. Hopefully they release a changed ending patch (with proper voice-overs and all).

Man I mean come on, the ME2 ending was EPIC with lots of crossroads, despite the writers being constrained by the need to write a sequel taking those crossroads into account.

Well, the writing throughout ME3 was on par with the previous two - just the last bit the writing and story took a nose dive..and by a nose dive I mean it plummeted into the earth.