User blog comment:The Milkman/The Writing of the Ending/@comment-30764484-20120605044952/@comment-4237253-20120608074512

The Indoctrination Theory is an ending. It assumes that the final sequences take place in Shepard's mind. Thus, the all that has been actually accomplished is your own free will. This is a new ending, whether it wants to be or not.

The main problem with that is, it's a new conflict that was introduced and resolved right before the conflict. Shepard struggles to avoid indoctrination...and then succeeds? Now what? Oh nothing. That completely leaves the conflict unresolved, which is bad.

You might think it's a neat idea to really experience Indoctrination, but it's poorly implemented and out of place. Just because it's something out there and different doesn't make it good. Since when is changing my outlook on things related to Mass Effect? The ending of an epic trilogy is the absolute worst time to go crazy with experimentation, and this is the worst kind of experimentation there is. The "clues" provided by Theorists would never be spotted by the average player, or anybody if they didn't all gather around the forums and post blogs about it. It's a collective idea, and it is an idea that one cannot reasonably come to on one's own. Shepard being indoctrinated is never really introduced or foreshadowed, so really, whether or not you "resist indoctrination" is just guess work. Without the Internet, I can confidently say that everyone made the choice based on the mindset that what is happening is happening (which is the mindset of a sane person) and if they made the "right" decision, they got lucky. The "evidence" for IT is so much of a stretch that one person alone cannot suddenly realise they're being indoctrinated in the moment. And yes, I realise that's the whole point, and that's also my point. That isn't really a challenge, it's just a convoluted theory that came from poorly-written confusion.

Also, the fact that you think certain colours or characters represent certain ideas is a subjective comparison. That's not solid evidence, and it only makes sense the choices provided are solutions already thought of by other people. After all, how many ways are there to stop the Reapers? Not many.

The IT might have been a good idea elsewhere, where the story wasn't the central focus. I would have admired it in an indie game, where the narrative doesn't have to be entirely cohesive or grounded in reality. In Mass Effect 3? There is no set-up, explanation, foreshadowing, or narrative coherence. The IT replaces the ending entirely and makes it an "Indoctrination Simulator". How about a story instead? One with a beginning middle and end?