*The Endgame*

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#1 Sat, 03/10/2012 - 09:28
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*The Endgame*

There will be spoilers on the end of the game below. 

 

 

 

 

First, this game is soooo much more difficult than any other game in the series, especially toward the end. The difficulty started off pretty easy, but spiked as I got closer to the end. What made it that way? Those damn Banshees. On one hand, I can appreciate the difficulty because Shepard is fighting to save the galaxy. On the other hand....those damn Banshees! So anyway, it's going to be rough on Insanity. I will have to play as something other than a Vanguard, heh. 

 

On harder difficulties, combos are going to be a necessity. One tip I will throw out there is if you have a choice between Banshees and other enemies...always kill the Banshees first. I learned that the hard way. At one point in the endgame, the enemies did not stop spawning until all the Banshees were dead. I seriously did battle for 15 minutes before I figured this out. 

 

The end of the game was weird. I'm ok with sad endings, and that's what I was expecting. However, I can't understand the very end when Joker is trying to get away from the blast. Where is he going? Now he is stranded on some distant planet with Shep's girfriend with no way to return. Everything else I am ok with, but that was just bizarre. I even watched all 3 of the endings on youtube to see if I was missing something, but no...the same thing happens on each ending. Other than that, really enjoyed the game and I appreciate the depth and scope of the endgame. The reasoning for the "solution" made sense. I hate predictable endings, so this did not disappoint. But after spending countless hours on the series, I am left feeling a bit disappointed that the crew/Shepard didn't get to be together to help rebuild. 

Mon, 03/12/2012 - 14:30
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Found this review on Metacritic that summarizes my feelings on the endings: 

 

Quote:
If you have developed ANY sort of attachment to this series, be prepared to be extremely disappointed. Mass Effect 3 is a beautiful game, a testament to the industry, and worth every penny, but you will, ultimately, be let down. Before launch, BioWare assured its fanbase that the ending would be just that: an ending to Shepard's story, that all the questions would be answered, and that the majority of fans would be pleased with the direction they took. This simply isn't true. The final scene is akin to the Deus Ex: Human Revolution "push a button" ending. It is a huge disappointment to an otherwise brilliant magnum opus. While your 'war assets' (a mechanic that keeps track of how well you're doing in preparation for the final assault) will play a small role in the multiple endings possible, you will not readily see the effects. The ending sequence is convoluted and cringe-worthy, breaking completely with the Mass Effect universe as a whole. BioWare chose an artsy sort of direction for the third installment and, frankly, it just does not fit with the first and second games at all. If anything, the ending will raise MORE questions. The decisions some characters make in-game during these last scenes are, well, extremely uncharacteristic. The secret clip after the credits is just insulting.

 

 

 

 

Mon, 03/12/2012 - 18:59
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Tue, 03/13/2012 - 14:42
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IGN released a commentary from one of their editors who basically told people to STFU since it was Bioware's game, not the player's.

 

I disagree with him on that point, since Bioware isn't catering to just themselves when they make a game, but BW certainly has artistic license to do whatever.

 

I haven't finished the game yet, but I'm just used to endings sucking anyway (Battlestar, Lost, etc) so I'm not surprised.

Tue, 03/13/2012 - 14:53
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I disagree with people who want to get the ending changed. The ending is what it is, and though I am disappointed in it, I accept it and move on. The game is still one of my favorites of all time, and definitely superb quality. 

Tue, 03/13/2012 - 16:52
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I haven't gotten to the ending yet, but I am VERY disappointed with how your ME2 choices are reflected in ME3. As in, they're completely irrelevant. Did you save the rachni queen? Reapers found her. Did you kill the rachni queen? Reapers found a clone of the queen, all your choice does is change a line or two of dialog. Even the decision with the geth, no matter what choice you made it goes the same way.

Wed, 03/14/2012 - 08:49 (Reply to #6)
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KamakazeTaco wrote:

I haven't gotten to the ending yet, but I am VERY disappointed with how your ME2 choices are reflected in ME3. As in, they're completely irrelevant. Did you save the rachni queen? Reapers found her. Did you kill the rachni queen? Reapers found a clone of the queen, all your choice does is change a line or two of dialog. Even the decision with the geth, no matter what choice you made it goes the same way.

 

Yeah and did you notice they built up the Rachni like if you saved them you would have this spectacular army? That turned out to be bullcrap and I was extremely disappointed to be fighting Rachni AGAIN after exterminating their entire species. Oh and on top of everything else, you are faced with saving the Rachni queen (having deja-vu here) and letting Grunt's crew die or letting the queen die and saving Grunt. 

 

Bottom line is all of it is for nothing because of the ending. All you get for the choices you've made is a different colored explosion at the end. 

Wed, 03/14/2012 - 13:01
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I was really excited about this game, and it really seems like BioWare has done everything they possibly could just to piss people off.

Wed, 03/14/2012 - 14:10
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One thing that makes me laugh is how BW said if you played through on NG+ you could see the "secret ending." Well, that's bullcrap as well. I got the secret ending on my first playthrough. The ending is determined by your war assets score and readiness ratings. Since you get a higher score based on imported characters, and I imported a level 60 ME1/level 30 ME2 character and played MP, I got the "secret ending." I am assuming that someone who didn't import a high level character could get the "secret ending" by importing a ME3 character and beating the game on NG+. 

 

The other funny thing is they anticipated this reaction. They announced prior to the game's release that fans would be angry at the ending. Following the release, I read this: 

Quote:
The game's director was unapologetic about the conclusion to the trilogy in an interview withDigital Trends, telling the site it's the one he intended.

 

"I didn't want the game to be forgettable, and even right down to the sort of polarizing reaction that the ends have had with people - debating what the endings mean and what's going to happen next, and what situation are the characters left in," Hudson said.

"That to me is part of what's exciting about this story. There has always been a little bit of mystery there and a little bit of interpretation, and it's a story that people can talk about after the fact."

The problem is that nobody is discussing what the endings mean. It's perfectly clear what the endings mean. That's not what people are debating. They are upset because there was no sense of closure and the ending left more questions than answers. Nobody cares if it's a happy or sad ending as long as you do it right. A simple narrative would have sufficed, no need for big budget CGI. 

Wed, 03/14/2012 - 18:50
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Tali's face was a pretty big rip off too. They didn't even do a good job with the photo shopping, the chick in the photo has a normal human hand, quarians only have 3 fingers.

Wed, 03/14/2012 - 22:28
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Maybe,and that's a big maybe,they will do a Fallout 3 ending,where your character died but then they released the dlc and brought you back to life.Most likely won't happen but anythings better than what they gave us.The ending was bullshit.All of a sudden they get mentally irregular?Bioware is known for their great stories......WTF happened!!!?????

Wed, 03/14/2012 - 22:28
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Maybe,and that's a big maybe,they will do a Fallout 3 ending,where your character died but then they released the dlc and brought you back to life.Most likely won't happen but anythings better than what they gave us.The ending was bullshit.All of a sudden they get mentally irregular?Bioware is known for their great stories......WTF happened!!!?????

Thu, 03/15/2012 - 05:12
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Many people are beginning to think this wasn't the 'actual' ending to the game, rather, the moment you are nearly vaporized by the reaper laser, you go into a dream-like state of trying to be indoctrinated.  Here's a good explanation:

 

http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/355/index/9861052/1

 

 

Interesting outlook.

Thu, 03/15/2012 - 13:14 (Reply to #13)
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OMGaLaserPewPew wrote:

Many people are beginning to think this wasn't the 'actual' ending to the game, rather, the moment you are nearly vaporized by the reaper laser, you go into a dream-like state of trying to be indoctrinated.  Here's a good explanation:

 

http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/355/index/9861052/1

 

 

Interesting outlook.

 

Yes, I was wondering about indoctrination myself and then I read that thread. It TOTALLY makes sense. I don't know if that theory is true or not, but if it is, then this was the BEST writing I've ever seen in any video game. 

 

It's funny because when I was in the end of the game trying to decide on the 3 choices, I knew there really wasn't a choice at all. I HAD to destroy the Reapers. I couldn't understand why those other choices were even there. Is this really an example of Bioware trying to indoctrinate its own players? Could be. If so, I guess I passed that test. If this is true, I can't wait to see the real ending. 

Thu, 03/15/2012 - 19:04 (Reply to #14)
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Barheet wrote:

OMGaLaserPewPew wrote:

Many people are beginning to think this wasn't the 'actual' ending to the game, rather, the moment you are nearly vaporized by the reaper laser, you go into a dream-like state of trying to be indoctrinated.  Here's a good explanation:

 

http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/355/index/9861052/1

 

 

Interesting outlook.

 

Yes, I was wondering about indoctrination myself and then I read that thread. It TOTALLY makes sense. I don't know if that theory is true or not, but if it is, then this was the BEST writing I've ever seen in any video game. 

 

It's funny because when I was in the end of the game trying to decide on the 3 choices, I knew there really wasn't a choice at all. I HAD to destroy the Reapers. I couldn't understand why those other choices were even there. Is this really an example of Bioware trying to indoctrinate its own players? Could be. If so, I guess I passed that test. If this is true, I can't wait to see the real ending. 

 

 

 

When I was given the 3 choices, Synthesis and Control made PERFECT sense the way the child/Harbinger explained it.  But I got to thinking that the Reapers are treating life like children, "protecting" us from what COULD happen.  I figured, if humanity/aliens end up destroying ourselves by creating AI that kill us, so be it.  It's our own damn fault.  However, there's no guarantee that will happen.  Maybe we make peace with the AI, maybe organics win, or maybe, the war never happens.  Either way, you can't predict the future and as intelligent beings, we have the right to choose our own future.  That's why I went with the destroy option.

Thu, 03/15/2012 - 07:45
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I am left to assume, (considering Bioware's track record with great storyline) that somehow this ending sets up future games in the series. I honestly can't think of anything else that makes sense. 

Thu, 03/15/2012 - 14:19
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New rumors of "The Truth" DLC that will be free and impacts the ending. Looks like it's connected to the DLC tank mentioned in another thread. 

 

*Obviously, this contains spoilers*

 

http://www.gamezone.com/products/mass-effect-3/news/what-if-the-rumored-mass-effect-3-the-truth-dlc-changes-the-ending

Fri, 03/16/2012 - 15:26
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I hope that stuff about new ending DLC is true. Cause this ending is kinda bullshit. Garrus was on the ground with me, how did he magically wind up on the Normandy using a Mass Relay millions of miles away? What's the deal with the kid? If he's part of the citadel why do you see him in real life at the beginning of the game? What happens to all the quarians and turians that are now stuck in the Sol system? They can't eat human food. All my teammates went through all this to save their homeworlds, and now with the mass relays gone they can't get back? That's crap.

Sat, 03/17/2012 - 07:30
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I'll be honest I have no clue what the ending was.  I'm not sure what choice I made or what the outcome was. I'm not a big fan of sad endings but if the tie up all the loose ends then fine.   This one just created a ton of unresolved issues when this was supposed to be the "end" of the Shepard story arch.  The game now has no replay value for me!

 

This is the same shit that is now going on with TV shows where the creators are opting for controversial endings (Lost, Sopranos, etc...) that create anger for years to come instead of treating viewers/fans with respect.  This also plays into the new big debate going on in the question of are video games art?  So now you have game creators looking to be artsy and not just creating a great game.  Wish they would just create great games that make their fans happy and let the videogame critics/journalists with to much time and an overly high opinion of themselves have this argument.

Sat, 03/17/2012 - 12:24
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I skipped over the spoliers above as I realized this was not what i thought the topic was about, hope I can still ask this question here:

What role will which "War assets" and their rediness play later in the game? Right now I have some assets listed as groups of races I have persuaded to join the fight.

Right now there isn't anything pertaining to the war it says it's "offline" in red, or asomething to that effect.

I'm assuming at some point we have a huge battle and we either win or we don't.

No spoliers please, maybe some advice on anything I should be doing in preparation for the big battle.

Sat, 03/17/2012 - 12:45 (Reply to #20)
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Quadricept wrote:

I skipped over the spoliers above as I realized this was not what i thought the topic was about, hope I can still ask this question here:

What role will which "War assets" and their rediness play later in the game? Right now I have some assets listed as groups of races I have persuaded to join the fight.

Right now there isn't anything pertaining to the war it says it's "offline" in red, or asomething to that effect.

I'm assuming at some point we have a huge battle and we either win or we don't.

No spoliers please, maybe some advice on anything I should be doing in preparation for the big battle.

 

The specific assets you get don't matter, it's all about the numeric value. And all they effect is what sort of ending you get. As long as your Effecive Military Strength is above 5000 you can get the "best" ending, which if you're playing offline is damn near impossible.

 

Best thing you can do is scan EVERY planet and do every sidequest as they pop up, if you delay some of them become impossible to finish.

Sat, 03/17/2012 - 14:34 (Reply to #21)
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KamakazeTaco wrote:

Quadricept wrote:

I skipped over the spoliers above as I realized this was not what i thought the topic was about, hope I can still ask this question here:

What role will which "War assets" and their rediness play later in the game? Right now I have some assets listed as groups of races I have persuaded to join the fight.

Right now there isn't anything pertaining to the war it says it's "offline" in red, or asomething to that effect.

I'm assuming at some point we have a huge battle and we either win or we don't.

No spoliers please, maybe some advice on anything I should be doing in preparation for the big battle.

 

The specific assets you get don't matter, it's all about the numeric value. And all they effect is what sort of ending you get. As long as your Effecive Military Strength is above 5000 you can get the "best" ending, which if you're playing offline is damn near impossible.

 

Best thing you can do is scan EVERY planet and do every sidequest as they pop up, if you delay some of them become impossible to finish.

Much obliged! Yeah, I started noticing some quests were dimmed out in my log that I was sure I had not completed. So, they basically expire if you delay too long?

Sun, 03/18/2012 - 10:19
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      Okay I finshed the game last night and actually discussed some of it with a few people that have already posted already, now where do I begin; first off the series has really gone through some masssive changes since the first Mass Effect, than good ole EA came in and bought Bioware, now all the bells & whistles such as ful customization of your character and squad mates, including weapons and armor has been either removed or dumbed down.

       I don't have a problem that they made the combat more action oriented, but it got ridiculously hard in ME3 towards the end, especially if your playing at a higher difficulty level; but now lets talk about that ending, okay I made the decision to jump into the light, then Reapers either got destroyed or packed up their bags and went home, the mass relays got destroyed and the Normandy including members of my squad?? are now marrooned on a planet, but at the very end of the credits I get an ending similiar to that of Battlestar Galactica (New series) where a man and child are standing in a forrest looking up at the stars, and it seamed like it was set during our present day in regards to timeline, and basically the kid asks "when do you think I'll ever get to explore the stars???"

       WTF kind of ending is that unless all the rumors turn out to be true and in order to get the true ending to Mass Effect 3, there will be DLC that will need to required, now they say it would be free, but this is EA were talking about folkes, so I can see a price tag attached; I've read some of the theories by other people and they make good sense, but after reading comments made by the Mass Effect development team not apologizing for the ending, and seaming to stay firm that this is how the entire series wraps up, then I am thoroughly disappointed, and it's going to take a lot before I even consider purchasig another game froma company that I use to love and respect, the quality of Bioware's RPG's is not there anymore, lets face it DRagon Age 2 was a complete and utter rip off, and now Bioware says they paln on adding an MP Element to DA3 like they have done with ME3.

       Don't get me wrong I'm enjoying playing online with my friends, however I sure as hell didn't spend good money simply for a Multiplayer game with a few maps, Bioware says they take the comments and complaints of it's fans seriously, well then they had better start returning to what made their games great in the first place, because KOTOR, DA:O, and ME1 were fantastic RPG's and now we're getting action with lite RPG elements attached, hey Bioware remember the great games like NeverWinters Night, etc, that you use to make, you can't tell me that EA doesn't control what goes on anymore, because it's now all microtransactions if you want better stuff, etc. Anyways that's how I feel about the entire situation!!!!

 

Mon, 03/19/2012 - 09:41
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FYI JUST IN CASE ** Spoilers ***

I don’t see what the big deal is with the endings.  Honestly, I thought they were not that bad.  What are people expecting? Shepard to fight a reaper hand to hand and win then live happy ever after. Yes I would have liked to learned more info about the Catalyst, but they left it open a little. In the end it was a predictable ending.  Shepard sacrifices him/her self to save the galaxy.  If you didn’t see that coming then I don’t know what to tell you.  I thought it was a cool way to end it. 

My only grip was in the battle/ conversation with the illusive man, there were no paragon options.  I played the whole series paragon, had full paragon rep and I somehow could not pass the final paragon/renegade dialog option and there was only the renegade cut option when the illusive man is about to kill you.  If you hold out for a paragon you die. 

Here are the endings I had, and I watched all three.  Had to replay the citadel piece 3 times but it was worth it.  For reference I was a level 56 adept, full paragon, with over 7000 in military strength taken into battle at 100% readiness.     

1) Right Path: Destroy All Synthetics 

Red power/ energy wave thing goes out.  Kills reapers and all synthetics along with the relays while alliance people cheer.  Normandy crashes, Joker and Ash get out of the Normandy.  Cut Scene back to a bunch of ruble where you see the chest of a soldier/person in armor with N7 tags laying still, then they take a big deep breath like they are back to life then screen goes black.  (Assuming that is Shep by the way it looked. ) Credits. stargazer scene 

 

2) Left Path: Control

Blue energy wave goes out.  Reapers then leave the planet and fly away while alliance people cheer.  Normandy crashes, Joker and Ash get out of the Normandy.  Credits. Stargazer Scene

 

3) Center: Synthesis 

Green energy wave goes out.  Reapers still there, alliance people just stand there watching.  Normandy crashes, the leaves they show on the planet have digital signs on them. Joker and Eve get out but you can see both are organic and machine (looked really cool too). Credits. Stargazer scene.  

 

As you can see i thought the coolest ending was the destory path, well because shep is still alive.  

Mon, 03/19/2012 - 09:59
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The problem is that all the endings are exactly alike except for a few minor differences...i.e. the color of the blast. The problem is it is anti-Mass Effect and totally against everything Shepard stands for. The goal all along has been to destroy the Reapers, so why would we have other options? The problem is that we were told by Sovereign that we could not possibly understand the Reapers, yet the Starchild explained it to us in 3 minutes. The problem is it leaves more questions than answers. I expect a few mysteries such as the origin of the Reapers, but we shouldn't be left wondering why Joker was running off like a sissy in the middle of the battle. Also, is there anyone out there who is dumb enough to believe The Illusive Man was the one controlling Shepard at the end? No, it was the Reapers. It was indoctrination. 

I was not expecting a happy ending, but I was expecting something awesome. What we got was less than awesome. 

Mon, 03/19/2012 - 11:07
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I have to admit one I found out what the endings were I kind of lost the drive to finish the game. Im kind of a sunshine and daisies type of person and the endings just sound depressing (I cant play the REACH campaign for the same reason)  Im REALLY crossing my fingers for a DLC. 

Mon, 03/19/2012 - 11:50
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This whole ending debacle has made me go spoilerific and get into it before I finished the SP.  ANyways, linked off of one of the posts above was a compilation of tweets from Bioware regarding the ending - I'll leave you to make your own conclusions, but I'd put money (just a little, but some) on a bet that the end wasn't the end:

 

http://www.thevine.com.au/life/tech/mass-effect-3-and-the-ending-debacle20120314.aspx

Mon, 03/19/2012 - 12:08
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blah blah blah ignore double post I can't delete yadda yadda yadda hey the ending and stuff

Mon, 03/19/2012 - 12:40
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I'm going to have to do redo my stuff before entering into Cerberus HQ as I didn't get the "breath" ending.  *cringes thinking about 5x brute battle*

 

The "breath" ending still isn't what I want exactly but any ending that has a chance of Shep still being alive is better than nothing when thinking about a possible ME4 import.

Wed, 03/21/2012 - 12:22
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I'm a bit disappointed that there wasn't any conversations with Harbinger at all in ME3. He seemed to be such a big part of the second game that I thought for sure there would be at least one meeting between Shepard and Harbinger in ME3! :(

 

Regarding a save "after" your choice... there doesn't seem to be one? I picked Synthesis, then after the credits I was put back on the Normandy just before attacking the Cerberus base. So unless the game has a hidden post-choice save somewhere, it seems I didn't get a "final" save?

Wed, 03/21/2012 - 13:15
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There is a final hidden save somewhere so the game knows how to import your character for NG+. Not sure if it's an autosave slot or what. I wouldn't know because after the ending, there's no reason to do anything else and it takes you all the way back to the Cerberus base save point.

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