Mass Effect Series

[Lex]

Default Shepard (and anyone else who may care), please read.

Spoiler

I think your love interest theory is right, because my LI was Kaidan and he was there. I also spoke to EDI a lot.

After allowing time for the emotional impact of what may well be upwards of 1000 hours of gaming spiraling to a miraculous close, I have done a complete 180 on what I said earlier.

I FUCKING WORKED FOR THAT ENDING AND IT WAS DISAPPOINTING.

I had seen a lot of fuss about it before I played it but I wasn't spoiled about the content. I assumed it was butthurt fanboys. I am now one of them.

This isn't some random "why can't it be different", it's that it should be different. After all that play, sacrifice, severe trauma and hard work, my Shepard deserves a happy ending with his LI, and I fucking want to know what happened to everyone.

Liara for example. Tali.

Does Legion always die?

I completely agree with your viewpoint on the ending btw. I always consider the morally best choice to be the paragon one, but I don't see what's good about that ending at all, since I watched my beautiful default Shep disintegrate along with all his hopes and dreams and rewards for the future.

Apparently there's some secret 10 second clip following the scene with the guy and the child if you do a new game plus that shows Shepard breathing under the rubble, but I'm not sure in which scenarios that occurs.

For the first time ever, I've also just posted on the Bioware boards in their humungous ending discussion. I will pay for happy ending DLC, I swear to god I will. Show him sitting on a beach with Kaidan or something. Never going to happen, but I can go there in my dreams .

Also, I absolutely hated Javik. Even at the end, when he was marginally more agreeable.

 

[null]

Default Shepard (and anyone else who may care), please read.

Spoiler

I think your love interest theory is right, because my LI was Kaidan and he was there. I also spoke to EDI a lot.

After allowing time for the emotional impact of what may well be upwards of 1000 hours of gaming spiraling to a miraculous close, I have done a complete 180 on what I said earlier.

I FUCKING WORKED FOR THAT ENDING AND IT WAS DISAPPOINTING.

I had seen a lot of fuss about it before I played it but I wasn't spoiled about the content. I assumed it was butthurt fanboys. I am now one of them.

This isn't some random "why can't it be different", it's that it should be different. After all that play, sacrifice, severe trauma and hard work, my Shepard deserves a happy ending with his LI, and I fucking want to know what happened to everyone.

Liara for example. Tali.

Does Legion always die?

I completely agree with your viewpoint on the ending btw. I always consider the morally best choice to be the paragon one, but I don't see what's good about that ending at all, since I watched my beautiful default Shep disintegrate along with all his hopes and dreams and rewards for the future.

Apparently there's some secret 10 second clip following the scene with the guy and the child if you do a new game plus that shows Shepard breathing under the rubble, but I'm not sure in which scenarios that occurs.

For the first time ever, I've also just posted on the Bioware boards in their humungous ending discussion. I will pay for happy ending DLC, I swear to god I will. Show him sitting on a beach with Kaidan or something. Never going to happen, but I can go there in my dreams .

Also, I absolutely hated Javik. Even at the end, when he was marginally more agreeable.

Spoiler

I don't think it's selfish or spoiled to be disappointed. (Except for the people who think ME is Sims in Space and bitch about not getting little blue children.) The people who are most upset just enjoyed the series enough to care that much. Hell, the last game I liked this much was FF7. Bioware just tried too hard to make Shepard's departure from the series profound, bittersweet and final.

And that's not how I played the game. I'm Captain Kirk with a sniper rifle. I'm all about the guilty pleasures and cheap thrills. I always save the day, leave no one behind, say the coolest one-liners, and make love to all the aliens. I can let go of Shepard now, but I wanted to let go in a way that makes sense with how I played, and a big satisfying epilogue with no question left unanswered. Also, I don't want Beefy McLargeHuge getting his hands on my romance partner.

Anyway, I'm still really happy with the game. And if there's one company who would care what fans think about the endings, it's this one. I'd gladly pay for a magic better DLC ending with all the money I save not playing lesser games.

@Shepard surviving: you have to pick Destroy with an effective readiness of over 5000.

@Legion: he dies no matter what. He sacrifices himself uploading the sentience code to the Geth; or, if you try to stop him, he gets hostile and Tali shoots him. So he dies either way.

@Javik: he's a huge asshole but he answers so many burning questions. I highly recommend taking him on the Thessia mission sometime, he adds a lot of great dialogue. And he's a fuckin' beast of a fighter.

 

[Lord Noctis]

Spoiler

Anyway, I'm still really happy with the game. And if there's one company who would care what fans think about the endings, it's this one. I'd gladly pay for a magic better DLC ending with all the money I save not playing lesser games.

.

Spoiler

This. While I don't particularly dislike the ending, its is a letdown and I would pay money to see a better ending put in place as a DLC. ME should go out on a high note.

 

[Carlie]

Spoiler

This. While I don't particularly dislike the ending, its is a letdown and I would pay money to see a better ending put in place as a DLC. ME should go out on a high note.

Spoiler

Didn't the grandfather in the distant finale promise the little girl to tell her one more story about Shepard?

 

[Lord Noctis]

Spoiler

Didn't the grandfather in the distant finale promise the little girl to tell her one more story about Shepard?

Spoiler

He did. That could translate into a dlc, or it could just be reffering to whatever sidequests you do post endgame.

 

[Hisako]

I'm actually looking forward to the endings in Mass Effect 3, despite the bad news being flung around. They sound quite nihilistic, which I find interesting.

Then again, I was one of the people who enjoyed the way Fallout 3 turned out at the end.

 

[Lord Noctis]

Then again, I was one of the people who enjoyed the way Fallout 3 turned out at the end.

I didn't know there was anyone who liked the way that game ended. Are you sure you actually exist?

 

[Hisako]

It's another story for a different thread, but I found the philosophy behind the entire thing quite touching, the father/son(or daughter) dynamic and the incredibly deceptively simple premise of the entire endgame.

Spoiler

I mean, you as a character struggle to survive, fight through the entire wasteland, and die, all just to bring back pure water to the DC region. But in the context of the Fallout universe that sacrifice is infinitely more significant, and I had to appreciate that.

Compared to the previous Fallout games, it was a much more focused, more personal story. Well, the main plot anyway.

Again, I've just heard things. My opinion might change once I actually reach the end of ME3, but I'll try my darndest not to become like one of the day one metacritic trolls. It's good to keep an open mind when it comes to the RPG. (I made a post on the Escapist forums about non-choice, which apparently pops up as a sore point in particular for people who have played Mass Effect 3, I might do some copy-pasta later on.)

 

[Lex]

Spoiler

I don't think it's selfish or spoiled to be disappointed. (Except for the people who think ME is Sims in Space and bitch about not getting little blue children.) The people who are most upset just enjoyed the series enough to care that much. Hell, the last game I liked this much was FF7. Bioware just tried too hard to make Shepard's departure from the series profound, bittersweet and final.

And that's not how I played the game. I'm Captain Kirk with a sniper rifle. I'm all about the guilty pleasures and cheap thrills. I always save the day, leave no one behind, say the coolest one-liners, and make love to all the aliens. I can let go of Shepard now, but I wanted to let go in a way that makes sense with how I played, and a big satisfying epilogue with no question left unanswered. Also, I don't want Beefy McLargeHuge getting his hands on my romance partner.

Anyway, I'm still really happy with the game. And if there's one company who would care what fans think about the endings, it's this one. I'd gladly pay for a magic better DLC ending with all the money I save not playing lesser games.

@Shepard surviving: you have to pick Destroy with an effective readiness of over 5000.

@Legion: he dies no matter what. He sacrifices himself uploading the sentience code to the Geth; or, if you try to stop him, he gets hostile and Tali shoots him. So he dies either way.

@Javik: he's a huge asshole but he answers so many burning questions. I highly recommend taking him on the Thessia mission sometime, he adds a lot of great dialogue. And he's a fuckin' beast of a fighter.

I agree, best game I've played since FF7, hands down.

Spoiler

And it had it beat as an experience for me right up until the end.

When I heard about the metacritic trolls while playing the game I couldn't quite believe it. Right up until the end I swore I'd log in and give it a 100. Maybe dock a few points for crashes and framerate issues (on PS3).

I find it hard to properly put in to words how disappointed I am. When I was physically watching the ending I actually thought it wasn't too bad, but I think I was blinded by emotion. It wasn't until I'd posted here then given it about 10 minutes that I actually realised how unfulfilled I was.

There's a poll on the BW forums, and about 20,000 people have voted. 2% are fine with the available endings. I think that's pretty damn significant.

I don't know if I wan't Shepard to survive enough to wipe out all synthetic life. The way I played it was about making the Quarians realise they can live in harmony with the geth.

Again, it's not about the fact that Shepard dies, I can deal with that. It's about having a game with so much choice that in the end results in choices that basically have the same result. Like I said, I was prepared for him to die tbh, the whole game seems to drill into your head (for the first time) that Shep is human.

Even the pre final mission love scene has him doubting himself and asking for support. The ability to converse with all the characters still alive right before the final mission had me geared up for his death. But he deserves a happy ending after all that sacrifice. I've never been quite so disappointed by the end of a game before. And I played XIII-2. But I care about this much, much, much more.

I was upset but OK with the character deaths in my game. Mordin dies to cure the genophage, Thane dies in the hospital and not because of that asshole assassin, and Legion dies to give the rest of the geth sentient life. Apparently, you can shoot Anderson at the end but I had every war asset so that didn't happen for me. I also convinced the Illusive Man to shoot himself.

All of these things were executed perfectly. I have never played a game in which I am so incredibly emotionally invested and care so much about every character. Liara had a lot of spotlight in this game, where the fuck was she in the end?

And if they can end the story of the characters who died so well, why can't they do it for the main one? You know, the one we're supposed to have all the choice about?

My god, I could honestly rant for days. I probably will.

EDIT:

Spoiler

I'm also beginning to think that it's easier for people to get angry than let this game go. I've never met anyone who played it and didn't instantly fall in love with it. I'm sad it's over, but I do think it's right that this is the last one. I just wish it had a better end.

 

[Splintered]

I read that there was actually a different ending centering around dark energy, but someone leaked the script and it had to be redone.

Spoiler

I'm still at a point where I'm not sure how I feel about the ending, but I'm leaning on being disappointed. A part of me is selfish and just wanted a happy ending for my Shepard. I don't know who wouldn't want it though, I've never met a person that played Mass Effect and didn't love their character in ridiculous amounts.

But the other part is, I don't know. I know we are suppose to feel loss with some bittersweet victory but I didn't feel like I won either. The part with me running to the citadel was beautiful. Illusive Man shooting himself was beautiful. Sitting with Anderson during his last moments was beautiful.

And I know some people were really upset by what happened to Shepard because "he went out on a whimper instead of a bang" but I dunno. I liked where they took Shepard. It's hardly the Suicide Mission energy and strength, but I kind of wanted to see her/him broken and half beaten. I like the idea of an invincible Shepard walking to the ending physically and emotionally spent.

But then the god-child-catalyst whatever happened. And I was like, "Um excuse, wat?"

When he gave me the three options I never thought there was a more appropriate time for a renegade trigger interruption to shoot the little shit in the face.

Synthetics will wipe out all organic life- I JUST MADE PEACE WITH THE GETH. Destroy the mass relays? I JUST RESOLVED YEARS OF INTERGALACTIC TENSION AND UNITED A GALAXY FOR THE BETTER. I managed to cure a sterility plague, give back a lost culture their homeworld, ascended the geth to a new level of intelligence, and put an end to disputes in just four years of fighting your doucebag reapers. AND I WAS DEAD FOR HALF OF IT.

Why am I even listening to you, you think taking free will and mass murdering them into some creepy reaper thing is the best solution. Fuck you weird catalyst kid. I don't want to control the reapers. I don't want to destroy all synthetics after I made peace with them. And I don't want to forcibly rewrite dna to a mixture of synthetic and organic because that sounds a lot like what you were doing in the collector base. I guess they wanted you to make a choice as an ending but... none of them sounds interesting or even thought provoking. Nothing like the decisions in say, Legion or Mordin's loyalty missions, where they proved insight in their characters or asked you fundamental questions on what is considered life.

Why can't he just get the reapers off my planet, if he can magically rewrite the dna of all creatures in the universe, just kick them all away. Oh man I shot the kid as I walked towards my options, if I had to go in such a way so should he.

I don't know if I wan't Shepard to survive enough to wipe out all synthetic life.

You don't.

Every ending is the exact same just with different colored lights (actually when Joker comes out of the Normandy, he takes EDI's hand and they are all green).

 

[Lex]

I completely agree with you. Everything,

Spoiler

until the point where Anderson says "the catalyst isn't working" is utterly phenomenal, and honestly if it wasn't for that ending I'd be screaming on rooftops about how amazing it is.

Even if they had included the scenes with the reaper-child-ruler thing but included another option to choose none of those and go BACK and have ALL THOSE ARMIES WE AMASSED just fighting the reapers to the death would have been better than that.

But what I wanted was (depending on your war assets and galactic readiness) after all that, for the catalyst to have worked during that scene with anderson, maybe Shep getting on that lift beaten and broken and then being rescued by the Normandy.

I also don't understand how it's plausible that the two crew members I was with actually survived, because as far as I could see every motherfucker died horribly while running to the citadel. The perfect ending would have been to end it after persuading the Illusive Man to shoot himself or whatever, Shep being rescued but it's totally touch and go, reapers destroyed but mass relays intact, a scene with the crew fawning over him, fade to black. Then a HUGE FUCKING PARADE scene of some sort, congratulatory, Shep and his LI deciding to help rebuild, and depending on the LI, a scene with the two of them together in a very broken but rebuilding future, remembering who they lost.

Then depending on your many many choices, which were completely disregarded at the end, a small scene showing what each character (that is alive) is doing after the war. Wrex and Grunt rebuilding, Tali, the Quarians and the Geth running Rannoch together, Jack leading her students, Miranda with her sister, Jacob with his newborn child, Samara visiting her daughter, Joker and EDI on the ship, Liara returning to Thessia to help rebuild.

As it stands, the best possible outcome is having Shepard breathe once under a pile of rubble after killing EDI and the geth he fought so hard to prove were not evil, with no chance of ever seeing his beloved crew ever again, since a random 2 of them crash landed with Joker on a random planet and the MASS RELAYS WERE DESTROYED.

I am devastated. I thought i'd feel better today, but I just don't. I can't replay it unless something DLC related happens. I just can't play any of them again knowing that the end completely stinks.

 

[Carlie]

Spoiler

You know what I was thinking the whole the AI-child-catalyst was talking? "WTH is Morrigan with a better third option?"

Spoiler

Synthetics will wipe out all organic life- I JUST MADE PEACE WITH THE GETH. Destroy the mass relays? I JUST RESOLVED YEARS OF INTERGALACTIC TENSION AND UNITED A GALAXY FOR THE BETTER. I managed to cure a sterility plague, give back a lost culture their homeworld, ascended the geth to a new level of intelligence, and put an end to disputes in just four years of fighting your doucebag reapers. AND I WAS DEAD FOR HALF OF IT.

This especially is what I agree with you the most. After uniting every race and especially the geth and quarians and this fucker tells me that synthetics will always wipe out organics? No you fucker I just proved your ass wrong.

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed the game minus the ending for reasons that you guys have already said and after busting our asses for 3 games and especially people who unlike me have been with the series since day one deserved a better ending. I hope a DLC will give us something better.

 

[Joe]

Some commanders aren't born.

Spoiler

They're inbred

This is hilar.

 

[null]

I think my Black Widow is getting jealous of all the time I'm spending with the Geth Plasma Shotgun. It's not fair, I just have so much love to give...

 

[Max Payne]

Spoiler: Near End game spoilers

Kai Leng has been put down like the rabid dog he is.

He died how he lived, like a little bitch.

Spoiler: NOT IN THE POOPER SHEPARD

 

[Hisako]

I think my Black Widow is getting jealous of all the time I'm spending with the Geth Plasma Shotgun. It's not fair, I just have so much love to give...

I think the variety in weaponry blows both previous games out of the water in that respect. Bioware have done a great job of giving each weapon its own perks and downsides, and with the upgrade system reminding me a bit of how it worked in ME1, new guns don't necessarily make older ones redundant like it was in ME2.

Leaps and bounds forward in that area of gameplay.

 

[Lex]

I used the Particle Rifle for about the full length of this game. I tried different guns out, but nothing beats reacharging ammo on it's own

Also, there's not a thing it won't kill in one go if your aim is good enough, except

Spoiler

a banshee. I really hate those fuckers, they drive me craycray. The second I hear the scream I roll my eyes, find it and tell my team to go fucking crazy at it. It's quite exhilarating.

 

[Hisako]

Particle Rifle doesn't quite measure up to the damage some other rifles put out, but because the rate of fire is so insane, it's probably one of the best weapons to use ammo powers with.

Particle Rifle + Cryo Ammo = 5 frozen Husks just layin' there


Oh yeah and there's the plus side of having unlimited ammo. Gotta watch to recharge before it runs out though - the empty reload is ridiculously long.

 

[Lex]

This is true, but I just couldn't bring myself to use another gun. When you get used to flicking your eyes down to the ammo count and stopping just before it hits 0, I just don't think there's an equal.

Especially since recharging it is slightly less time than regenerating shields, find cover et voila. It was perfect for the final mission.

Also

Spoiler

I hate brutes with a fiery passion. I hate banshees more, but that bit in no man's land when there's 5 of them was... well I had to use dodge and run a good few times, and it's the only time in the game where I had to do it a lot! Good section.

 

[Hisako]

They're fairly standard to deal with once you know their patterns. It only gets difficult later on when they throw them around with other enemies. Kinda like Serious Sam, where you know the behaviours of each unique enemy, and the skill lies in being able to juggle them around.

I think I've killed 2 of them by melee attack. Fun times
The level and combat flow has vastly improved, although that's an observation most of us made long ago even before the demo came out. The entire shooting thing is more fluid and dynamic, it's no longer really a point of hiding behind the same crate for the entire firefight, since frag and smoke grenades tend to complicate matters all the time.

Of course, Vanguards never had that issue, but still. AI and enemy strategy is vastly improved from the second game, even if it is capable of having major brain farts and pathfinding issues every now and then.

 

[Lex]

Oh I never managed that, I was always too busy trying to keep my distance. Although I actually used the melee attack a lot in this game, for husks and stuff. Managed to get the trophy fairly early on. It's really satisfying to hear that grunt and stab them with your omni-tool. Hahahaha. No seriously though.

Also I meant to ask you, is the Polite Krogan you're name is after the same one from ME2 that's with the Asari? (You can convince the Asari to take him back, which I did). If so,

Spoiler

In ME3, did you do the side mission where you find the krogan goodbye message and deliver it to the asari in the Presidium Commons? I'm positive it's the same couple, because in the message he speaks poetically, and it made me very sad.

In fact, that's something this whole game did extremely well. All the little moments and big moments make you really angry. It's very well done. Similar to:

Spoiler: Near End game spoilers

Kai Leng has been put down like the rabid dog he is.

He died how he lived, like a little bitch.

Spoiler: NOT IN THE POOPER SHEPARD

Spoiler

I FUCKING HATED KAI LENG. In Thessia, when you're trying to kill him and he needs a fucking gunship, then he insults Thane's memory!?!?!? ARGH THE RAGE. Then when he sends you the e-mail after it!?!?!? THE RAGE, THE SUPREME RAGE. I wanted to gut him. The renegade interrupt when he comes up behind you is incredibly satisfying.

 

[Hisako]

Well it was more like this guy:

Minor, minor character, but... to be remembered forever.

 

[Russell]

Loved this game, until the ending, now I never want to play any Mass Effect game again.

Hated the ending, I agree with the reasons on the last page. Also I found this on the web that I agree with:

Spoiler

All the hours, all the effort in developing the relationships with the characters and in bringing peace to the galaxy and I am essentially left with three hollow options that allow the Reapers to win anyway. Destroying the relays effectively kills most space civilizations in the galaxy. I read the descriptions of the planets when I scanned them - I am well aware that most food and fuel for FTL drives is mined/farmed in places that require the relays to access, so no access means no galactic economy and mass starvation. Add to that the fact that pretty much all the important people from all the major races are stuck orbiting a dead planet like Earth (how long until they start fighting each other for the meager resources of the Sol system? So much for humanity - hope they like Turian food) and you can see that the galaxy is as doomed as if the Reapers had won.

Who cares if the Reapers are destroyed, controlled or merged with (Really? Merged with? WTF??? That's insulting...) at that point. They win. All of my paragon choices and actions through 150 hours of gameplay are useless at that point. I might as well have sat down ontop of one of the bombs I was supposed to disarm on Eden Prime at the beginning of ME:1 and just opened a beer and let the damn thing go off. Because the end result would have been the same.

The Reapers won, or may as well have. <_<
If Shepard had to die then fine, but the Mass Relays being destroyed screws everything & all the good I need, Geth & Quarians at peace, Krogans cured etc, meant nothing.

Also if I don't laugh about the ending I'll cry, so:

Spoiler

 

[Hisako]

btw this soundtrack is epicsauce

I assume half of you might have listened to some of it already

 

[Lex]

I got it with my CE.

I cry non stop at the following tracks:

Leaving Earth
A Future for the Krogan
Stand Strong, Stand Together
I Was Lost Without You
We Face our Enemy Together
I'm Proud of You
An End, Once and for All.

In fact, the first time I heard "A Future for the Krogan" in the game, I bawled like a baby at Wrex's speech. "An End, Once and for All" just totally breaks my heart.

So yes, the entire thing is epic.

EDIT: I forgot to add, anyone who is unhappy with the ending vote here, and the super huge mega topic of rage can be found here.