User blog comment:The Milkman/Everybody Shut Up./@comment-2249774-20120526054202

I'm going to state my thoughts on your arguments here.

"There are no "wrong choices" in Mass Effect. According to the IT, Destroy is the proper ending, the one in which you resist indoctrination and defeat the Reapers. That's bollocks."
 * The current endings suggest that there is only one ending with slight variances. It suggests that no matter what you do, with the exception of Destroy, the Reapers continue existance (still making you only have one choice for those who want to kill the Reapers). It also makes the mass relay explode, no matter what, and Shepard die (controversially, except in Destroy-which is leaving you again, one "correct choice, if you wanted to kill the bad guys and your hero to live") You also appear to be under the assumption that the people who wrote the ending are the same ones who wrote the rest of the games. You're also saying that the IT can't be true because it doesn't fit in with the rest of the games; well, the ending, if not IT, does not fit in with the rest of the games either. So this does not disprove IT to me.


 * "I'm being punished."
 * Yes, you're being punished for not knowing about indoctrination. It doesn't really fit in with the rest of the games does it? This point seems to coincide with number 1. But I also suspect these players who play through without making any major decisions or paying thorough attention to the story or reading the codex really wouldn't have any problem with the endings, as they make sure to show players that their squad makes it out OK and everything is peachy because the Reaper threat is gone anyway. This is a better point of yours, but still doesn't disprove IT, especially if the rumors are true and Hudson and Walters are the only ones who wrote the ending.

"We got a fake ending."
 * I (mostly) believe in IT and still believe the ending is terrible, because if that was the case, why wouldn't you go ahead and finish the other half of the ending? You'd show the rest of the ending to players who "chose correctly" (still a bad ending in general for doing that to people) and explain somehow that the others were indoctrination. The ending is still heavily flawed to me, even with believing in IT.

"Fans are left out"
 * Technically, I think fans could get the "best endings" if they catered every choice from all the 3 games to gain war assets. Some people have *claimed* to do it. Regardless, that's ridiculous. And regardless of whether or not one believes in IT, they still can't get the scene with Shepard breathing without multiplayer or possibly the aforementioned method. So this doesn't really disprove IT.

"We are offered the chance to destroy the Reapers."
 * IT theorists claim that the "God Child" gives this option because if he didn't, Shepard would realize this was an illusion and that they were being indoctrinated. I'd say this is a sketchy reason, but possible.

"Another thing to consider: if you have low EMS, the only option you're given is to destroy them."
 * This is your best and strongest point. Had to really think about it. But with a low enough EMS, Earth is completely and utterly destroyed, there's no survivors and Shepard dies anyway. Perhaps the Reapers aren't interested in indoctrinating a weak Shepard and simply demoralizes/breaks their will and leaves them to die (as you cannot get Shepard breathing with this scene either). In the next range, you can only get Destroy and Control. If you choose Control (as with the IT theory states that this is what the Reapers want) your squadmates survive, perhaps as some sort of mental reward to Shepard, but if you choose Destroy in this same range, once again, everyone dies. I'm just saying, there are some strange things going on here.

So you haven't convinced me the IT theory is wrong. If BioWare comes out showing that it doesn't, I'll be the first to admit everyone was right. Hell, right now I think there's a 50/50 chance. But for now, it still makes the most sense to me. But it's still a half-assed ending that doesn't fit in line with the rest of the series, regardless of the truth.