User blog:Markurion/A better ME3 endings

Okay, so, the headline says it all. After brainstorming the night, I decided to give all I have to shaking down the illusion of ending that Extended Cut gave us. Theres not much in Bioware left worth fighting for, but anyhow, I wanna contribute for those who still think ME3 is greater than EAware.

I used Indoctrination theory and other bits I heard and gathered from my friends.

Here is what I would’ve adjusted in Indoctrination theory.

So, Shepard and others are beginning the final run to the Citadel beam. Harbinger comes down and the race is now desperate. After the blast, Shepard falls unconscious. Here comes the Indoctrination.

That bullcrap about only Destroy option gets you further is out. You can now resist the effects of Indoctrination by choosing all 3 options. - Destroy option would return you immediately to the real world.

- Synthesis option would cause you to fall deeper into nightmares, but you would eventually get a hold of yourself and return to the real world. Shepard can do that. He proved that he can take anything you throw at him. Situation would be different ,of course, than in Destroy options. Different people will be alive, different surroundings.

- Control option would have interesting twist. Since Harbinger is trying to seize control of your mind through control option and you are ( in your mind) trying to seize control of him, you both seize each other, because Shepard has that strong personality and will. He cannot be broken as easily as TIM or Saren. Harbinger, terrified of Shepards control over him, releases his grasp on Shepards mind and so the bond between them breaks, and Shepard returns to the real world, where, again, people and surroundings are changed according to the situation and choice.

In all 3 choices, different friends would die. Here, Samara and Grunt, there Jack and Kasumi... or Admiral Raan's fleet would be wiped out...etc.

The Shock of Shepards resistance to Indoctrination would have the same impact on Harbinger as Saren-bot’s death had on Sovereign. EDI would detect that Reaper’s Kinetic barriers are down, and Anderson would order that all units fire M60 Cain at Harbinger. There, we would have the battle we all wanted. The final fight against the Harbinger. It wouldn't be conventional fight. Harbinger, with his barriers down still has his guns, and you must evade his beams and run across battlefield, grabbing Cain and shooting whenever possible. Say, the fight needs you to shoot M60 Cain 5 times to kill Harby. As soon as you fire it 5th time, Joker flies in. Since Normandy took down Collector battleship, with improved powerfull Thanix cannons, Joker would swing around and finish Harbinger just like Sovereign. And so Harbinger would go out in a blaze.

Shepard than goes to the Star child, where he will converse with the kid. He can now have the option to spit in kid’s face and try to destroy all Reapers by conventional means, which will result in eventual victory of the Reapers, but the war would go on for 100 years, and their Legacy would help future races to beat down Reapers once and for all.

He can also try and persuade the kid that his logic is flawed and that it should take the Reapers with it and leave the galaxy, never to return again. This would probably be the best ending, but high persuasion score would be needed.

Or he can join his life energy with the Crusible. As the Kid said, Crusible is one big power source. Maybe enough to destroy the Reapers? You can now choose to use the Crusible’s enormous amounts of power to destroy all Reapers. Your life force would focus Crusible's energy solely on Reapers, so no geth would be destroyed.

All 3 choices would ofc bring along different casualties and outcomes, with option to use the Crusible being the one with smallest casualties, meaning, most if not all your friends live, but you would die.

I get that this is empty talk. Mass Effect 3 is done. Bioware is done. There is no return. But this is my way of fighting back. Beethoven and Mozart and Shakespeare weren't praised for their false artistic integrity. And the end of Mass Effect should've been a work of art. But it wasn't. And we are allowing them to continue the trend of false art.

If anyone has anything to add, please, feel free. This is our game as much as theirs. They can't take away our right to have our own endings.