Mass Effect 3 ending. Am I the 1% that absolutely loved it?

BEFORE YOU READ ON, KNOW THERE ARE MAJOR SPOILERS.

After hearing all the criticism and backlash over ME3's ending, I decided to buy the game and complete it. I did all the side quests and achieved 100% military prepardness. As the story was coming to a conclusion, I was preparing myself for an ending that would leave me pissed off at Bioware just as everyone else was and surprisingly, I enjoyed the ending, not only because I had been waiting on a spectacular ending but because I felt my decision had weight to it and made me piece together my own story afterwards. I understand there were some plot holes so any of those who decide to comment on this saying the plot was inconsistent, I will disregard your comment because it is invalid due to me not being a raging ME fanboy that demands everything be perfect. The ending I chose by the way was to synthesize organic life and technology. And although each ending was practically the same but with different colors I found each of the other endings slightly, but not as satisfying as synthesis. When I saw Joker step out of the Normandy with technology intergrated into him I literally got goosebumps. I had a satisfying feeling that I actually had created peace by making them one and as EDI stepped out of the ship with him, I felt that I had created new life for everyone. I had made my decisions and they had ever lasting impact (In the game world at least) and that enough was satisfaction enough for me. Bioware did an amazing job on the game all the way through and in my opinion there is no reason for everyone to hate them so much for the conclusion of a trilogy that was done exceptionally well.

Please, let me know your thoughts on the endings as well. Which one did you choose during your first playthrough and let me know why you liked it or not.

And also no flaming. I really dont care to hear some butthurt fanboy raging at me because my opinion differs from theirs. Thanks.

I understand there were some plot holes so any of those who decide to comment on this saying the plot was inconsistent, I will disregard your comment because it is invalid due to me not being a raging ME fanboy that demands everything be perfect.

THEGoD1

This is basically the reason. I played through the Mass Effect games, and I did pay slight attention to the lore and hence I found the ending to be not as bad as many people make it out to be (not to say I loved it). However, after that I spoke to few friends who consider themselves as Mass Effect nerds (they follow the lore to the smallest deatils) and they explained to me that unless you're a nerd, you won't be too upset with it. One of them explained that with Mass Effect 3 Bioware tried to appeal to the masses and hence did not focus on the plot as much as they did with 2 and more specifically 1. They tried to cater to the casual audience and kinda left the original fans disappointed. From what he said and the points he raised about the endings it made sense to me, and while I don't share his feelings towards it I understand why he's upset about it.

It wasn't so much the ending that I was disappointed with. It was with the entire game. It was good, but compared to the previous titles it was lacking. They went back to characters I didn't care about, and half the time none of them wanted to talk to me. While the amazing characters that were in my squad in the last game kinda just went off to do there own things.

The only amazing part was the genophage arc ending.

That said the ending wasn't bad. It seemes weird people overreacted about that, and didn't b!tch about the other things.

As someone put it, the endings weren't bad endings, they were bad endings for the trilogy. I personally didn't think they were that bad, but at the same time the plotholes are just too big to ignore.

Yeah well....I'm betting you never played ME1 or ME2.... nor followed their interviews where they said that the endings would not be choice A, B, or C. but would actually be determined of your choices from all 3 games... but then again. Such confusion is probable acceptable on the PS3 forum, being that the first game was never released for the PS3. I have the PC version of all 3 games and felt betrayed when I found out that my choices from the 3 games amounted to nothing towards the final ending. Which were generic A, B, C..... endings. I was expecting a Star Ocean 2 type of End Game.....

I liked it actually, didn't "love" it. I felt like the ambiguity was a nice touch, and that the game actually did a great job of touching on every previous choice in at least some way, with the EMS thing being a good way to tie it all up, though a more elaborate solution would have been nice the bigger choices got their due recognition.

My biggest issue was that they did a terrible job explaining what exactly happened. It was this big event, and in the end we don't know what exactly happened, what was the final outcome. It was very vague, even a Falout style ending slideshow would have been preferable to just sort of ending halfway.

Otherwise I thought it was good, if feeling unfinished. I really expected them to at least explain what happened after, even if not entirely, clearing up the loose ends would have made at least 60% of the people who hated it happy I think.

wow, just.. wow... i have no idea how anyone could actually like this ending, first off the game designers lied! your choices have absolutely NOTHING to do with the ending say for a few color changes, red, green, or blue i beleave.. story wise there is no difference so i dunno who told u that.. but anyways, to each his own i guess, gameplay was decent but i still prefer ME2 personally..

Yeah well....I'm betting you never played ME1 or ME2.... nor followed their interviews where they said that the endings would not be choice A, B, or C. but would actually be determined of your choices from all 3 games... but then again. Such confusion is probable acceptable on the PS3 forum, being that the first game was never released for the PS3. I have the PC version of all 3 games and felt betrayed when I found out that my choices from the 3 games amounted to nothing towards the final ending. Which were generic A, B, C..... endings. I was expecting a Star Ocean 2 type of End Game.....

Threesixtyci

WARNING: Mass Effect whole franchise Spoilers:

As already mentioned, if you haven't played ME1 and ME2 and all your decisions carefully made, even restarted the whole suicide mission in ME2 several times because you wanted everyone to get out there alive you can't understand all the uproar.

Also the game developers straight out lied about the ending as also mentioned before.

Also, how is playing god yourself and forcing life into a different state of being (we only see very few selected people who seem to be happy, I doubt the WHOLE planet earth, let alone the whole universe will be happy about being transformed into BORG) in ANY possible was BETTER than the Reapers playing god and turn their victims either in collectors or human like reapers? And THIS, exactly THIS is the whole point of all the uproar in my opinion, no matter what you choose, the outcome of everything would have been the same with or without Shepards actions, just with less or more victims among the way, making a whole trilogy completely futile.

Spoiler End here


And with the ending you choose and your search for answers, may I suggest another gaming tip that perfectly handles the mentioned topic?

Binary Domain

I think the worst ending of any game i've played this gen had to be LA Noire, anyone who's played it knows what i'm talking about.PoisoN_Facecam0

Completely agree. I lost sense of what the hell was going on during the last portion of the game, and the ending was just so darn terrible. It's a shame though, as the overall experience of the game was rather enjoyable.

[QUOTE="PoisoN_Facecam0"]I think the worst ending of any game i've played this gen had to be LA Noire, anyone who's played it knows what i'm talking about.finalserenade75

Completely agree. I lost sense of what the hell was going on during the last portion of the game, and the ending was just so darn terrible. It's a shame though, as the overall experience of the game was rather enjoyable.

honestly i didn't think it was bad. i just wish i knew what happened to the rest of the characters from the previous games...

WARNING: Mass Effect whole franchise Spoilers:


Also, how is playing god yourself and forcing life into a different state of being (we only see very few selected people who seem to be happy, I doubt the WHOLE planet earth, let alone the whole universe will be happy about being transformed into BORG) in ANY possible was BETTER than the Reapers playing god and turn their victims either in collectors or human like reapers? And THIS, exactly THIS is the whole point of all the uproar in my opinion, no matter what you choose, the outcome of everything would have been the same with or without Shepards actions, just with less or more victims among the way, making a whole trilogy completely futile.

Spoiler End here

Justforvisit

What you mention is your post is what the Indoctrination Ending Theory deals with. That theory actually makes quite a bit of sense to me. If you choose to do what the reapers want all along (turn everyone into borgs or 'try to control the reapers' much like the indoctrinated Illusive Man thought he could do then Sheperd dies even though the choice is presented as the good, paragon, choice.

However, if you go renegade option in this scene and choose to destroy Synthetic life, then in the ending Sheperd lives.

A lot of people think The ending was a whole Sheperd mind-Fvck and him trying to battle indoctrination, and that colors of morality get switched to convince you to do what the reapers want all along because you've been told countless times throughout the course of the game that you cannot control the reapers. That was part of why the Protheans fell.

The ending wasn't half bad. I liked that they were ambitious, and the devs said they wanted to get people talking, so mission accomplished. I was really dissapointed with the game though. Mass Effect 2 is my favorite game of this generation, and ME3 was just alright. I have a number of problems with the game.

the worst ending of any game i've played this gen had to be LA Noire, anyone who's played it knows what i'm talking about.PoisoN_Facecam0

I thought L.A. Noire had a great ending actually.

The ending wasn't half bad. I liked that they were ambitious, and the devs said they wanted to get people talking, so mission accomplished. I was really dissapointed with the game though. Mass Effect 2 is my favorite game of this generation, and ME3 was just alright. I have a number of problems with the game.

[QUOTE="PoisoN_Facecam0"]the worst ending of any game i've played this gen had to be LA Noire, anyone who's played it knows what i'm talking about.brickdoctor

I thought L.A. Noire had a great ending actually.

What I don't get is, are people expecting a variant ending like one gamer's experience from another in "Skyrim"? And, though you can have a lot of different stuff happen on your journey to the "ending" of "Skyrim", isn't that essentially the same for every gamer? I don't think the devs lied about decisions effecting game, because, they have... But to expect a game to conjure up minutely detailed, taylored endings for each gamer's choices made across three titles, one of which wasn't properly available to a good third of the over-all fanbase, is a bit absurd, no matter what was said in a press release or show panel discussion. And it wouldn't be the first time a dev rep has said something would happen in a game and the title never came close, and they didn't get hanged for it...

... Peter Moleneaux, anyone?

:?

I think there should be some slack given by ME fans which some seem incapable of providing, looks kind of childish if you ask me. If I made a stink about every game ending I thought was under-whelming, upsetting, or otherwise not what I wanted, I'd be unconscious from the exertion long ago.

You're not alone dude, I loved the ending.

[QUOTE="brickdoctor"]

The ending wasn't half bad. I liked that they were ambitious, and the devs said they wanted to get people talking, so mission accomplished. I was really dissapointed with the game though. Mass Effect 2 is my favorite game of this generation, and ME3 was just alright. I have a number of problems with the game.

[QUOTE="PoisoN_Facecam0"]the worst ending of any game i've played this gen had to be LA Noire, anyone who's played it knows what i'm talking about.jsmoke03

I thought L.A. Noire had a great ending actually.

SPOILERS (about Red Dead and the GTA games maybe)

There are people who complain about Red Dead Redemption's incredible, incredible ending just because it wasn't flowers and roses Hollywood happy ending.

Yeah there are people who think EVERYTHING needs to end happily, even when its much more beautiful and emotional in another way. Lately Rockstar seems to be making an art form out of the misfortune and misery of their protagonists, with only Ballad of Gay Tony having a real happy ending of their games in recent memory.

[QUOTE="brickdoctor"]

The ending wasn't half bad. I liked that they were ambitious, and the devs said they wanted to get people talking, so mission accomplished. I was really dissapointed with the game though. Mass Effect 2 is my favorite game of this generation, and ME3 was just alright. I have a number of problems with the game.

[QUOTE="PoisoN_Facecam0"]the worst ending of any game i've played this gen had to be LA Noire, anyone who's played it knows what i'm talking about.jsmoke03

I thought L.A. Noire had a great ending actually.

Umm... that's not the case. I love tragedies in stories and in fact Greek tragedies are my favorite narratives. Some of my favorite endings in video games are sad ones actually (FFX, Shadow of the Colossus, RDR, etc.), but the one in LA Noire just messed it up. They way they excuted it was very poor, I don't wanna go into details as to not spoil it for others, but the ending simply did not convey any emotions and the huge mess in gameplay and whatnot that happened before it did not help.

[QUOTE="brickdoctor"]

The ending wasn't half bad. I liked that they were ambitious, and the devs said they wanted to get people talking, so mission accomplished. I was really dissapointed with the game though. Mass Effect 2 is my favorite game of this generation, and ME3 was just alright. I have a number of problems with the game.

[QUOTE="PoisoN_Facecam0"]the worst ending of any game i've played this gen had to be LA Noire, anyone who's played it knows what i'm talking about.jsmoke03

I thought L.A. Noire had a great ending actually.

I think the idea behind the ending is interesting, because it presents 3 very different outcomes for you to decide. And as you think more about it, each choice has its own merits, and I actually found myself struggling with the decision.

However, the way Bioware presented the ending was a huge letdown, essentially turning the most important part of the game into something of a rep check with 3 buttons.

[QUOTE="jsmoke03"][QUOTE="brickdoctor"]

I thought L.A. Noire had a great ending actually.

PoisoN_Facecam0

WARNING: Mass Effect whole franchise Spoilers:

As already mentioned, if you haven't played ME1 and ME2 and all your decisions carefully made, even restarted the whole suicide mission in ME2 several times because you wanted everyone to get out there alive you can't understand all the uproar.

Also the game developers straight out lied about the ending as also mentioned before.

Also, how is playing god yourself and forcing life into a different state of being (we only see very few selected people who seem to be happy, I doubt the WHOLE planet earth, let alone the whole universe will be happy about being transformed into BORG) in ANY possible was BETTER than the Reapers playing god and turn their victims either in collectors or human like reapers? And THIS, exactly THIS is the whole point of all the uproar in my opinion, no matter what you choose, the outcome of everything would have been the same with or without Shepards actions, just with less or more victims among the way, making a whole trilogy completely futile.

Spoiler End here


And with the ending you choose and your search for answers, may I suggest another gaming tip that perfectly handles the mentioned topic?

Binary Domain

Justforvisit