For those of us who have already beaten the Mass Effect 3 campaign, it was a bitter sweet moment. Maybe a little more bitter than sweet.
(Major Spoilers)
As we have all seen, at the end of Shepard's story, you the player are given what may be the toughest decision ever presented in the history of the Mass Effect series. You must choose one of three ways to stop the Reapers, all of which feature some form of sacrifice.
This is where the problems begin.
Mass Effect is a game based primarily around the ability to make your own choices and watch as those choices play out as you, the player, plays the game. Bioware has made it obvious throughout the years that this is Mass Effect's main selling point; this power to shape the universe in whatever way the player sees fit is what makes the game so popular. If this is the case, then why is it that no matter what my choices had been in previous games, my Shepard's ending is primarily the same as anyone else's? Why is it that the only differences in my ending as opposed to someone else's is whether my Shepard got vaporized and the pretty color of the Crucible's magical laser beam?
What IS in the ending isn't the only problem. Much of my disappointment came from all of the things that were NOT in the ending at all. What happens now that the Mass Relays are destroyed? What happened to all the different races in the galaxy now that they have pretty much been isolated from each other? What happens to the characters that we as fans were all so invested in and cared about so much? Do they all just carry on with their lives as if nothing ever happened? How can they when the galaxy has changed so much?
All of these questions, and countless more, remain unanswered as Mass Effect 3's end credits scroll up the screen. I'm not sure how the average gamer feels about this, but personally, I feel neglected as a fan. Mass Effect 3 was supposed to be the culmination of Commander Shepard's story, but as I watched the final "Thank You"s roll by, I felt as though all the choices I made in all three games were pointless. Without any kind of epilogue or anything to tell me what effects my choices had on the galaxy after the Reapers are gone, I couldn't help but think that it was all just a waste of time.
Don't get me wrong, I deeply enjoyed all three games of the Mass Effect series, Mass Effect 3 being one of the most fun and dramatic games I've ever played. That may be why the end of it all disappointed me so much. Maybe I'm just being dramatic and silly.
Something tells me though that I'm not the only one who feels this way. That's why I decided to create this topic when I've never bothered to use these forums before. If you're reading this and feel disappointed like I do, then voice your opinion and let Bioware know that we, the fans, are not happy.
Becuase in the end, we the fans are all that really matters.
- I agree, I mean I didn't waste all those days of play time just to have a only have three endings. The amount of anger, disappointment, and shame that came with the ending just makes me want to throw my N7 edition into Casey Hudson's face. All my decsisions and actions counted for nothing. The Galaxy is completely destroyed, because when Mass Relays explode they destroy whole systems, and Shepard (when you choose the path that lets him live) ends up by himself in some rubble. I mean obviously they either wanted to kill the Mass Effect series or destroying the Mass Relays are important to the next installment. Thats fine I guess (not really), but I mean couldn't Shepard have at least been picked up by the Normandy before the Crucible/Citadel exploded. They had time to pick up your squad so why not you? That would have helped my heart a lot. Yes Bioware, the fans aren't happy. In fact they are extremely angry. Sorry for the rant. Epzo 05:13, March 10, 2012 (UTC)
- I also feel link me playing ME countless hours did not have a positive impact on the galaxy at all: there is devastation everywhere and with the destruction of the mass relays the ME universe is at an end anyway.My character had to throw away his life for that?!
- Wait, the character actually kills himself for organic life in the entire galaxy, anon, returning to the stone age is an okay compromise when you think about it
shipo: Casey Hudson stated in an interview at the Consumer Electronics Show that Mass Effect 3 will complete the story arc of Commander Shepard, and will pull in over 1,000 variables from Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 to shape how players experience the final chapter.
ME3 Ruins
Wow, I thought that those Hitler subtitled videos were starting to get stale. You just proved me wrong. Aleksandr the Great 04:43, March 10, 2012 (UTC)
1)Totally bothered. That's why I put up a "Question about ME3 ending" forum on the Help desk. An answer would be very appreciated. 2)Hi, Aleksandr the Great -Algol- 04:59, March 10, 2012 (UTC)
I played Mass Effect 3 over the past week and for the most part, I was really enjoying it. The decisions I had made in previous games more often than not carried over into this one and helped with my war effort to defeat the reapers. There were so many cameos that made me giddy as I recalled them from previous games, which I also replayed recently. There were a few gripes I had with the game while playing, such as the treatment of Rebecca Chambers, the almost completely pointless character of Diane Allers, and a few others but certainly nothing bad enough to ruin the game for me.
Then we reached the ending. Dear god, the ending. Now in three different colors with the same bitter taste! They basically gave us a Gainax ending times three and being a Paragon/Renegade was absolutely POINTLESS when it was all said and done. The ending made little sense, it was disappointing and just utterly crushed the joy I had experienced playing it until that moment because it just felt unfinished, unsatisfying and just... UGH.
And I'm not the only one who feels this way. This is not one person whining about not getting the endings he wanted. There is currently a series of petitions, polls and campaigns underway for BioWare to release a patch or DLC that fixes the ending of this game. There is a great deal of outrage and hurt from the gaming community that has devoted so much love and time to this series and rightly so.
We know that Bioware has plans to release more DLC for Mass Effect 3 in the future. But if that DLC does nothing to fix the ending, I won't be buying them. I don't care if they flesh out the universe a little more, let us take over Omega with Aria, etc. I won't buy it because ultimately, it won't mean anything if they keep that ending. If Bioware doesn't care anymore, why the hell should I?
I do have some hope that Mass Effect 3's ending can be fixed. Fallout 3 changed the nonsensical and all too brief ending of their game with DLC when fans complained and while it didn't solve the problem of the lack of epilogues, at least Bethesda made the effort to appease their fans and give the game a more satisfying conclusion. Please make the same effort, Bioware. Please don't let one of the greatest game trilogies I have ever had the pleasure of playing end on such a bitter and hollow note.
Im starting to feel alone because i liked the ending. Of course leaving out an epilogue of some sort bothers me too but shepard sacrificing himself is (in my opinion) a perfect ending for his story.
I can understand how Shepard might have to sacrifice himself but what bugged me was why bother brokering peace between the geth and quarians only to have that be destroyed in one choice which also meant EDI would die as well. okay I feel sad that Shep made plans with Garrus after the war and there wasn't a poignant moment of regret shown from Garrus (him waiting at the bar or standing alone on the cliffside gazing at the sky with longing) instead of a Buzz Aldrin epilogue with the kid looking at the sky while standing in the dream forest.--76.234.166.154 21:01, March 11, 2012 (UTC)Nuveena 7
I feel like chipping in that whether or not you liked the endings, and there were some things about them that could have been handled a lot better, the ending scene was SO powerful for me. I remember being scared when my Shep first got hit on the way to the conduit, thinking that I'd gotten a game over. And then seeing Shepard limp her way on, step over her love interest's body, drag her way through the Citadel. The lead up to the ending was one of the best parts of the game for me. I was holding my breath the whole time. RedAces 08:25, March 12, 2012 (UTC)
I kind of felt that something was missing, at least in DA:O we got an epilogue, telling us what happened to the others. I want to know what happened to Garrus (who I brought along at the end) and all the others... hell I want to know what happened to Cortez, I didn't spend all that time being cute with him only to not seeing how he deals with Shepard's death. I mean, the man already lost a husband, and now the potential new husband. I mean wtf? Let me know what the hell happened to the rest of them! Sure, this was Shepard's story, but the others are the ones that will tell his story. They are the ones spreading the legend, and they deserve at least a slight mention in the end. Also, I REALLY HATE when people pull the "500 years later" thing. A whole franchise can easilly be ruined for me by pulling that lazy ending. Harry Potter (with their 19 years later ending) and FF7 (with their 500 years later ending). Why not let us know what happened to the others, I care about the time I played in, not some obscure dream future I have no interest in. --Ser Mea 09:00, March 12, 2012 (UTC)
I have long enjoyed the in depth stories that accompany the Bioware games that I've played but this time I felt somewhat cheated by the ending. Over the course of the 2 previous installments I had become invested in my characters and their exploits. I have 2 characters I use for playthroughs, Kate and Mark.
Kate is an Earth born War Hero and tends to see the best in everyone, while Mark is a Ruthless Spacer who tends to see the worst. Kate typically follows the paragon options, but isn't afraid to "get tough" if necessary, Mark typically follows the renegade path, only choosing to "be nice" if it gets him something he can't get otherwise, such as the girl. Both are intelligent and don't like being used, though Mark tends to act first think later.
With all that in mind both characters are left feeling cheated at the end of ME3. The catalyst admits it controls the reapers and presents Shepard with 3 options. Destroy the all synthetic life (reapers, geth, Shepard, etc). Assume control over the reapers, (though this action will kill Shepard). Synthesis, the merging of biological and synthetic life, (though again this action kills Shepard). All options destroy the network of Mass Relays which link the galaxy together. The catalyst claims to be doing this because organic life will create synthetic life and that the synthetics will turn against their creators. It claims to do what it is doing to prevent the chaos of this eventuality.
Both Kate and Mark feel as if they have been manipulated into serving the wishes of the catalyst. While Kate is willing to commit the ultimate sacrifice, she is left to wonder for a short time if their was more that she could have done to change things, after all cutting the inhabitants of the galaxy off from each other feels like a losing solution. Mark, however is not prepared to do this, by the end of ME2 all he cared about was keeping Tali safe, and hopefully having a future with her. If given the option of saving Tali or saving the galaxy, then the galaxy better find a new savior, (Conrad Verner for example). If Tali dies then the galaxy can burn.
For both characters it feels as if the catalyst has been directing events to this point, after all whoever built the Mass Relays built the Citadel and therefore designed, or at least created the concept of the Crucible. All of the options presented seem to be the catalyst getting you to do what it wants, (we only have its word that you will destroy the catalyst, if you choose the destroy option). The quarian/geth conflict can be resolved with both factions agreeing to co-exist peacefully, which would contadict the catalysts claims that what is occurring is for the benefit of organic life by preventing the synthetics from turning on their creators, for that matter are not the reapers and the catalyst synthetics?
I get the impression that the catalyst is a broken machine that has somehow missunderstood its programming and began the cycles of destruction as a result, and those who built it implemented the Crucible as a way to bring things back under control, but never got the chance to complte the process. It seems that the catalyst has realized that this time around it can actually be stopped and that its only hope now lies in destroying the relay network and then somehow starting over again, this time preying on the now isolated species of the galaxy. This leads me to feel that Shepard has failed, regardless of options taken to end things (or whether i'm using Mark or Kate). Ending the series feeling that I have failed isn't a good thing. --TSwiftFan1346 15:18, March 12, 2012 (UTC)
I was pretty disappointed with the endings as well and I've gone through a lot of them, just to see the differences. After seeing the endings several times, I am now convinced that Bioware intentionally wanted the endings to be surreal and make little sense. Not to mess with or anger players but because something else is and has been in the works. I think bioware planned for the anger and knew the reaction people were going to have. I'm convinced now more than ever that what Shepard is experience at the end may very well be a hallucination, coma or some form of extreme indoctrination that future DLC will help to explain. If you look at the ending of ME 3 from a logical stand point, Ending the serious with an epilogue explaining what happens to everyone once the game is over effectively limits the type of DLC that Bioware can release and eliminates the ability to play the game after completion. I think it's more likely that Bioware planned to release a series of DLC that furthers the story and allows the war to continue in to new and more unique ways. That's my hope anyway and certain dialogue from bioware during development as well as strange parts in the endings lead me to believe there is more than meets the eye with those endings/--Iiams571 01:51, March 13, 2012 (UTC)
Following up on what you said, I’ve had similar thoughts, as this was the final game in the Shepard trilogy (though not necessarily mass effect). I wondered how they could justify any post launch dlc which wasn’t multiplayer based, given the nature of the story. Along this line of reasoning I can only see 2 other possibilities, 1. Like you said, they are going to use dlc set after the game to show the epilogue, perhaps hint at the start for a return to the mass effect universe at a later date (maybe the ending was intentionally for people to rage at and so motivate them to buy later “fixer” dlc). Or 2. They were co-opted by EA to make dlc and didn’t think things through. 06:11, March 13, 2012 (UTC)
http://www.gamefront.com/mass-effect-3-ending-hatred-5-reasons-the-fans-are-right/
Here's a link to an article that's well-thought-out and nicely illustrates the various problems with the ending that go well beyond 'It wasn't happy enough'.
Mass Effect 3: Final Hours Thought this might interest people here, BSN is on fire right. Myself I think I reached the point where I can't do anything else but laugh at Bioware's incompetance.--SunyiNyufi 20:32, March 15, 2012 (UTC)
When playing Mass Effect 3 I felt like there were a lot of things wrong with the game, not just the endings. First off it looked like every "Custom Appearance" Shepard looked like they hadn't slept in years with constant bags under their eyes. Another thing I noticed was that even though a lot of your choices/actions are reflected on in this new installment, a lot of key characters like Anderson and Udina are switched up, completely contradicting your previous choices and with no explanation aside from the codex. Though there are books that make up for this gap in the story line, it still feels like a slap in the face to those were more loyal to the games and never heard of the books till then. I know of other franchises that have done the same, releasing books to better explain the story like HALO, but at for those franchises they remained consistent in their story and didn't make a "break-neck" alteration that took the audience off guard. Everything was still explained so that the player could keep up.
Then there were a lot of noticeable "copy-paste" similarities that became noticeable, at least to me. Examples are: 1.) The death of a child, recently seen in COD MW3 before ME3 came out. 2.) Shepard being left in space inside a large chunk of the Crucible after it gets destroyed (if he lives) much like the ending to HALO 3. And 3.) Shepard being the sci-fi equivalent of "Jesus" if he dies at the end. I was almost expecting him to stop, turn and face the screen and say "I'm Commander Shepard, and I died for your sins..." It all just didn't feel as original as ME1 and ME2.
Above all else I don't understand why Commander Shepard was suddenly so "guilty" about this kids death that resulted in a dream sequence. I think having flashbacks involving past events, such as the deaths of Kaiden Alanko or Ashley Williams (depending on the choice in Mass Effect 1), witnessing the horrific deaths of the Cerberus crew in the Collector base (if you waited instead of going after them after their abduction) and the deaths of any squad mates you may have lost in Mass Effect 2 IN CUNJUNCTION WITH that incident would have made for a much more understandable "You can't save them all, Shepard" moment. The whole thing with the child felt very forced, especially at the end.
The endings were very insulting. It just felt like they ran out of ideas and decided "hell, let's just destroy the Mass Effect Relays and not explain why they blow up, even when you choose the good ending." If there was ever any need for a Fallout-style epilogue, the Ending of Mass Effect 3 needed it most. It just ends, and that's what hurt me the most.
-Raven800 21:45, March 15, 2012 (UTC)
- @Raven800 1. This game was set to come out in November something so it didn't "copy" MW3. Also, the child is a metaphor of Earth in general and possibly not even real (notice how not one soldier tried to help him out in that cutscene where he dies, very unlikely) and is a way to impact players who haven't played the previous ones (which I think is stupid).
2. I don't think its the Crucible/Citadel because of the abundance of concrete, which leaves the option open that he is still on Earth. Making those last minutes more or less a dream/hallucination/indoctrination (makes sense because anything Anderson would do would most likely be Paragon but its made out to look Renegade). Yeah I'm hoping that they can come up with something different or at least semi-varied. Epzo 05:39, March 19, 2012 (UTC)
http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/bt/aj/topreasons/34623-why-we-hate-me3s-ending
Here's a video review from internet game critic Angry Joe Vargas that goes over the various problems with the endings with side by side comparisons.
I didn't think the ending was shallow at all. In fact I find the complaints about lack of choice in the ending a bit ironic. There is a great deal of ambiguity in the ending so ultimately the player can decide what happens after the credits role. This requires that you take the experience outside the dialogue wheal.
In defense of some other elements... The mass relays have to be destroyed because they represent something more the just a mode of galactic transportation. Sovereign says in ME 1 that by using the mass relays galactic civilization evolves in a certain ways... at the end of Mass Effect 3 you are bringing an end to the cycle that has governed it for millions of years. In this new future the races of the galaxy have make a new path for themselves and not follow those who came before. They will grow in new ways and create new technologies.
As for past choices not impacting the ending I believe there is a difference in perspective. The end game of the 3 choices doesn't change much however the final assault on Earth changes very much depending on what you've done up to that point. Right before the final push you are given a moment with all the characters that you have brought with you giving them each a "mini ending". I would also encourage people to keep mind that Bioware has said there are more stories to be told so some of question may yet be answered... I don't believe post ME3 games are out of the question... since there is little variation in the endings something like DA:O is possible... three different starting points that would come to a central point.
-Bcoolpro
- Bcoolpro, I have to disagree with your first paragraph. Using that argument I could have saved myself $70 and thought up my own ending instead. We payed the money to be part of a story, not to have to come up with one. I will say you bring up some good points after that. --Schaferhund 16:52, March 20, 2012 (UTC)
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Do not blame the developers, blame the producers and their timesheets. Also the trolls who released the real ending prematurely forcing a change in the ending should burn in hell.
-big gun