Mass Effect Series

[Max Payne]

Spoiler

that's what i was thinking too when she first mentioned it

but Aria was saying she'd retake it after the battle for Earth

which will be awkward now that there are no more mass relays...

people are going to have problems EATING after that bullshit.

 

[Carlie]

Spoiler

Can someone explain to me what the indoctrination theory and this Child's Play campaign is?

 

[Joker]

I can't be in this thread anymore, because all this bs about the endings is ruining my gameplay experience. And I haven't even clicked the spoilers!

 

[Lord Noctis]

Spoiler

that's what i was thinking too when she first mentioned it

but Aria was saying she'd retake it after the battle for Earth

which will be awkward now that there are no more mass relays...

Spoiler

You know even without the mass relays they still have ftl drives. They can still get places, it just takes longer. Its not like they can't get there ever or something.

 

[Vendel]

Well I just broke up with Miranda. And boy do I feel like a dick.

 

[Max Payne]

Spoiler

You know even without the mass relays they still have ftl drives. They can still get places, it just takes longer. Its not like they can't get there ever or something.

Spoiler

Dude how is that even relevant to what she said. She said it would be awkward, not impossible disregarding all of the reasons it's pretty much borked.

Not only would Aria's plan be feasible at all, with galatic economy being broken, her forces expended in the war, and the fact that such an endeavor would be about a thousand times more difficult now with the relays gone and all.

Not only that, with all of the mass relays being detonated, there really shouldn't even be many people left alive. The one relay in arrival almost completely wiped out the batarians, and with ALL of the relays gone, most life should be pretty slim, and on top of all that, there is very little chance Aria could still pull off her little plan, if she's even alive.

 

[Hisako]

Spoiler

THIS annoyed the shit out of me
they made this huge comic about aria's fight to save omega to lead into ME3, and they don't even follow up on it

this must be like

a dlc mission or something

Spoiler

Are you taking issue with the fact that Aria can't take back Omega after what happened by the end, or that they never brought it up in the game?

Because the recruiting thing she got Shepard to do for her seemed to tackle that arc head-on

 

[Max Payne]

Spoiler

Are you taking issue with the fact that Aria can't take back Omega after what happened by the end, or that they never brought it up in the game?

Because the recruiting thing she got Shepard to do for her seemed to tackle that arc head-on

Spoiler

That recruiting arc has fuck all to do with what I'm talking about there.

The issue is you never actually help Aria take back Omega, which in Mass Effect Invasion is established to be a major Cerberus base of operations.

The end isn't really relevant at all as far as DLC missions go, because it can always be set BEFORE the end, the game deliberately generates a save called legacysave so that you can continue your game again right before assaulting cerberus.

I'm just annoyed that you didn't get to go back to Omega in the current version of the game.

 

[Lex]

Spoiler

That recruiting arc has fuck all to do with what I'm talking about there.

The issue is you never actually help Aria take back Omega, which in Mass Effect Invasion is established to be a major Cerberus base of operations.

The end isn't really relevant at all as far as DLC missions go, because it can always be set BEFORE the end, the game deliberately generates a save called legacysave so that you can continue your game again right before assaulting cerberus.

I'm just annoyed that you didn't get to go back to Omega in the current version of the game.

Spoiler

But Aria does say that she'd do it after the war is over.

Spoiler

Can someone explain to me what the indoctrination theory and this Child's Play campaign is?

Spoiler

The indoctrination theory basically is that nothing beyond the point of Shepard getting hit by the beam actually happened, it was an attempt to indoctrinate him by the reapers. I thought it was really farfetched at first, but the more I thought about it the more it seems to make sense. I'm still a bit reluctant to believe it though.

Basically, the only "correct" choice at the end is to choose "destroy". That's the only end where you see Shep still breathing (under rubble, people think it's in London, and it looks like it is) and there's no way he fell there from the top of the citadel. There's also no way he breathed in space at the top of the citadel, and when you're walking to the beam it's clearly said over comms that no one made it to the beam.

Here's a link to the full thread on the Bioware forums.

The main idea is that if you choose anything other than "destroy" the indoctrination has been successful. There are also youtube videos that point to more evidence.

The child's play thing is just a charity donation set up in the name of the people who are not happy with the ending, in the thread on BW forums. As of this morning, it's raised well over $10,000.

Child's play is an organisation that gives things like consoles and games to kids wards in hospitals and stuff, I think. I'm not 100% sure about that.

The idea is that even if all this hubbub is for nothing, they're still doing something good.

 

[Russell]

[End of game spoilers in this post]

Except

Spoiler

the ending's, as they are, are full of massive plot holes. The main gripe is that you don't get a tiny scrap of information on what actually happens, at the end of a trilogy that is CHARACTER DRIVEN and supposed to be about the choices you've made.

What the hell is the point in making all those decisions and fighting like fuck to get half the galaxy on your side for it to end up a "you have 3 choices" that all end horribly and are exactly the same with a colour swap? The end was garbage, and not at all in line with the quality (in content as well as writing) as the rest of the game.

There are too many people floating around right now calling the people dissatisfied with the ending arrogant entitled fanboys with nothing better to do. The fact is, the writers clearly said that the conclusion would be based on the choices that you have made in the series, but this wasn't the case.

All endings are exactly the same, except if you have high enough war assets and choose the "destroy" option you get a 5 second scene where Shepard breathes once.

It makes absolutely no sense. None of it, beyond that stupid lift. How did my crew members who were killed manage to teleport to the fucking Normandy?

The only reasonable explanation is that they are planning to release further story content in the form of DLC.

Seriously, the whole end sequence is totally not in line with the quality of the rest of the series. The indoctrination theory + concluding DLC is what I'm praying for right now. I can't accept it the way it is.

Not because it's depressing, because it's shit. Totally shit.

I can't thank a post multiple times but I agree with this.

Spoiler

Found this:
http://www.gamefront.com/the-mass-effect3-ending-backlash-continues-to-gain-steam/

Since officially debuting over the weekend, the backlash against the controversial ending to Mass Effect 3 has sharply increased, both in vitriol and in numbers of supporters. To recap, as last week drew to a close the first wave of game-finishers began to report the ending was – to put it mildly – extremely disappointing. These gamers condemned what they saw as the ending’s lack of real closure, the particularly gruesome plotholes and contradictions, its brevity, and most damning, that the ending renders player choices meaningless.

Naturally, they took to the Internet to make their displeasure known. On the BioWare forums, two separate polls were created to demand that BioWare fix things by adding additional ending options that honor the time and effort players have put into the series. Soon after, a facebook group, represented on Twitter by RetakeME3, arose making the same demand. Granted, often the most hardcore of any community are the most easily displeased, but if BioWare – and certain members of the gaming press – thought this was nothing more than the petulant whining of outraged fanboys demanding free ponies, they had better readjust their thinking.

So far, BioWare has largely remained mum on this issue. Except for the occasional bit of snark of course. But players aren’t demanding hugs or ponies, and seeking to characterize this outpouring of frustration as insignificant or immature is only going to work for so long. Sometime very soon, BioWare will need to address this in some official capacity. Some cryptic tweets by Mike Gamble and the official Mass Effect 3 twitter feed seem to imply they soon will. We’ll see if, in fact, the controversial ending is part of a larger plan.

Oh please let it be part of a larger plan.

 

[Lex]

[End of game spoilers in this post]



I can't thank a post multiple times but I agree with this.

Spoiler

Found this:
http://www.gamefront.com/the-mass-effect3-ending-backlash-continues-to-gain-steam/

Oh please let it be part of a larger plan.

Thank you.

Spoiler

I think it is part of a larger plan now, but at the end of the day that presents the people unhappy with the end 2 problems;

If it's really the end, it was massively disappointing.
If it's part of the end, they're releasing end game DLC. This is actually what I want, and I'm well passed the point of caring but it means they released an unfinished game. Which is hugely awful.

There have been a few gaming publications slamming the whole backlash, and a few that have done their research see the point of it.

I'm sorry to anyone reading these posts that's still playing the game. It's the best game I've ever played. My advice is to continue to play . You'll form your own opinion when you're done.

EDIT:Ending spoilers in this link, don't click me if you haven't completed the game. - Here's a video that sums up current feelings quite well.

EDIT2: HOLY FUCK, the child's play drive has hit $30,000.

 

[Dana Scully]

Spoiler

You know even without the mass relays they still have ftl drives. They can still get places, it just takes longer. Its not like they can't get there ever or something.

Spoiler

Even with MEs version of FTL engines (which apparently allow 12 lightyears of travel in 1 day) it would take between 22-27 years to travel the width of the galaxy, and you would still need fuel and food enough for the trip, which I can't see being distributed to any real effect without mass relays.

Anyways, I kinda like the indoctrination theory. Hope it turns out to be true, although if ending-DLC is released I will be honestly amazed by the size of EA's crash-greedy balls.

 

[Hisako]

Oh someone mentioned choice, I was going to repost a post I made somewhere else

But here it is anyway, since reposting it would be just a big wall of text to add to this thread.

Also, I'd like to mention that a lot of the things that are being said on the internet regarding the way Bioware handled it is speculation. I personally don't think that the writers somehow had a brain fart in handling the last 10 minutes of the game; although I don't know the intimate details of the ending I would think that some deliberate design choices and changes were made along the way, things that might explain the release date postponed early last year.

I'd also like to believe that extensions of the ending were deliberately planned by Bioware's writers and weren't forced upon them by the publisher, but a man can dream Whatever the outcome, I'm not going to go out on a limb and go "BIOWARE HAZ RUINED THE MASS EFFECT UNIVERSE FOR ME FOREVAR". I'm going to try and keep a little faith, stay away from the hyperbole.

 

[Alessa Gillespie]

 

[Max Payne]

Spoiler

But Aria does say that she'd do it after the war is over.

Which is completely, and utterly irrelevant to what I have said.

 

[Lex]

Which is completely, and utterly irrelevant to what I have said.

Ummm... no it's not.

You said

Spoiler

DLC missions would be set before the final battle. I had assumed you were talking about a DLC mission to take back Omega, which (if they follow their on plotlines (fucking fat chance at this point)) can't be set before the battle with the reapers. That's the point I was making, I just didn't do it very well.

Having said that, these are things you've already stated in your previous posts which I now realise I hadn't read properly. So I understand how that got confused. Sorry about that.

 

[Max Payne]

Ummm... no it's not.

Yeah it is, and you yourself just said why. As for that particular mission, seeing that the war was coming to an end and it possibly not ending well, why wouldn't this person in question move up the timeline and go through with it before that happens?

Bam, there's your dlc mission before the end.

Spoiler

Now go read this:

http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:Kaloneous/Mass_Effect_3_(True)_Ending_DLC_Revealed!!!!

Then read this:

http://www.giantbomb.com/mass-effec...-the-mass-effect-3-ending-sequence/35-539298/

And go read the article on indoctrination in the game's codecs and you might have some interesting ideas. Keep in mind that first link is a rumor, but apparently the same source has been right before.

Just hope it isn't an April Fools joke.

 

[Lex]

Hahaha I've been F5'ing the Bioware thread since Sunday, so I'm up to date on that. I've already posted in this thread about it actually.

What do you think about

Spoiler

the Indoctrination theory? I thought it was pretty BS at first, but after reading through it and watching some youtube vids on it it actually makes a whole lot of sense to me. I really really hope it's true.

 

[Dana Scully]

Spoiler

Honestly the more I see the evidence for indoctrination the more I feel it makes a lot more sense than the notion that everyone at Bioware drank the collective stupid koolaid that would be necessary for the current ending to be the real one.

All I can say though is I pray they're smart enough to make the DLC, if it ever arrives, free. I'd buy it anyways, because I'm desperate like that, but it would still be such a remarkably greed-driven move to charge for it that I think their reputation would never recover.

 

[Alex]

Spoiler

I honestly think we're at the point now that the evidence for indoctrination far outweighs the evidence for the endings canonicity. Something is definitely up.

 

[Lex]

Spoilers in this link. Tweet convo with Bioware community manager. Interesting.

 

[Lord Noctis]

Spoiler

Huh, reading through this the indoctrination theory does make a lot of sense. Especially given how much Shepard has been exposed to the reapers in the past. ANd the nature of the comments and whatnot from Bioware seem to hint that they have something planned.

 

[Lex]

This (spoiler free, but the comments on the actual page aren't, so don't go there) has me laughing my ass off. Literally far too funny.

Also, while I'm at it...

Spoiler: Ending spoilers.

Ending comparisons:

 

[null]

Spoiler

I saw the indoctrination discussion when it first started and dismissed it. Since then, it's gotten a lot more convincing. I never would have taken a close look at Shepard's eyes in a million years.

I am all for being duped and then happily surprised. Especially if it means the Battle of London continues, which was my favorite part of the game. I felt like I was really in the shit taking back Earth. Imagine an extra two hours of game after that point.

 

[Lex]

Spoiler

I saw the indoctrination discussion when it first started and dismissed it. Since then, it's gotten a lot more convincing. I never would have taken a close look at Shepard's eyes in a million years.

I am all for being duped and then happily surprised. Especially if it means the Battle of London continues, which was my favorite part of the game. I felt like I was really in the shit taking back Earth. Imagine an extra two hours of game after that point.

Spoiler

The battle in London was fucking phenomenal wasn't it? Sigh. That whole sequence. I wish I could erase my memory and do it all over again. Then be killed in real life immediately after Shep gets hit by Harbinger's beam.