User blog comment:The Milkman/End of the Line/@comment-178.27.98.157-20120707055542

I'm going to go ahead and say that all three (non-reject) endings were actually good. No ending was perfect but they were all good. When you think about it there was really only one objective and that was eliminating the Reaper threat (or "survival" if you will). Yes, on the surface it seemed that the objective was to destroy the reapers but that is merely a way of achieving the actual objective. The races in the game were not aware that there were alternate solutions so destruction became synonymous with eliminating the threat.

All three endings addressed this, albeit in a different way. The only real difference is what happens to Shepard, including reunion with his/her love interest.

In the Destroy ending he survives and is bound to be found by a search and rescue party. There is no way Hackett would not organize such team(s). In the Control ending he (sort of) survives. Here there is the additional difference whether Shepard would use the Reapers to do good or not. If the player has been a renegade then he/she would like his/her Shepard playing god and enslaving the galaxy. If the player has been a paragon then he/she would be glad that the races would recover and rebuild much faster with the help from the Reapers and that the galaxy can be safer now because the Reapers can help with that as well. Either way it fits. In the Synthesis ending Shepard dies so...

As far as the Normandy goes, its crew survived and it's a matter of time before they return to Earth. And that shouldn't take very long. They were trying to outrun the shockwave using FTL, not a mass relay, so they couldn't have gone far. To return to Earth they should need roughly the same amount of time they spent trying to outrun the shockwave - it's the same distance and speed, with the difference being the time they were actually crash-landing. What we don't know is how much time it took the crew to get the Normandy operational and in space again. They should also have some form of navigation and/or long range communication so they are not lost. Should they be unable to use the FTL drive they should have long range communication to request a rescue. It's quite possible that when the Normandy flies away from the planet it is actually on course back to Earth.

So in my opinion the Destroy ending is closest to the classic happy ending - Reapers are gone, Shepard surives, reunites with his one and true love, all races are at peace and are rebuilding, etc. The only issue with this ending is the loss of the Geth and EDI. Granted, it would've been much better and more rewarding to actually see Shepard being rescued and reunited with his love interest but the current ending works too. One just has to come to the conlusion on his/her own. And I say that because I really do believe that this is what actually happens (I find it to be the most logical outcome when I start thinking about it, unless I'm missing something), it's just not shown.

For the record: I did pick the Destroy ending first as it was ingrained in my mind throughout the game and it was the only ending that offered a possibility of Shepard surviving and reuniting with his love interest (and I really wanted that). I wasn't sure if he would survive but a small chance is better than no chance. I did try the other endings though and after further thought I came to the conclusion that if the player cares what happens to his/her Shepard, then the best ending would be the one that best fits the player's desire. And if the player is fine with Shepard's fate, then really any ending does the job just fine.

My 2 cents.