Mass Effect 3 Ending DLC Update

[Wizlah]

Hah. So that pretty much sorted all the things in the ending which annoyed the fuck out of me. Granted, the AI using the kid as an avatar is still there, which still bugs because the inclusion of the kid at the start of the game is just lumpen and shite. Oh, and the krogan's glorious future looks kitsch as fuck. Wrex is actually smiling in true dodgy picture postcard fashion. So that's funny.

And tellingly they left out that message which goes 'hey, you beat the reapers, so you can play more shepherd in DLC! Great!'. When I came up against that in the original, I think it was the thing which pissed me off the most. It felt like a marker for how much they'd lost their way in the game. But yeah, overall that ending feels like an editor going at the previous ending and saying 'sort this out'. The tone is more considered without as many needless pyrotechnics.

Maybe because it's my 3rd or 4th time seeing it, or maybe because the ending isn't as irritating, but it does underline how clunky the synthetics vs organics end to the game was. But whatever.

Once again, I'm left feeling that I really need to leave bioware games alone. The writing just sticks in my head the wrong way. I keep asking myself is it that they write decent characters, or just that they keep things just compelling enough through a synthesis of the gameplay and the writing, and help it along with a genuine flair for the dramatic, so the characters stick with you regardless (Really, if I'm pushed, the only properly interesting character is Mordin, who felt properly ambiguous by the end of ME3. I mean, I like Garrus fine, but he's pretty much a walking cliche, 'cept he laughs at himself and that makes him work). Whatever it is about their writing, it leaves me with a niggling disatisfied feeling, despite the fact that I enjoy the characters.

Maybe it's too much to ask of a games studio where the writing is undertaken by a group. the krogan story is standout, but for every one of those, you get something like the cerberus sanctury facility, which should have been a properly chilling mystery but just felt like a trudge. It doesn't help that they can't help themselves when it comes to by-the-book cliched writing, so they go and include stuff like the nonsense of the kid at the start of ME3.

hrm.

[Araxiel]

It's out for me and I'm in the UK. I just clicked on shop for addons, on Origin.

Thanks, I just checked again and it's now available in Germany, too.

[The JG Man]

Liara's beacon is one of the few massively impacting things introduced in ME3 that didn't seem to contradict what was known before or come out of someone's arse. Further it actually fit in perfectly, what with the whole damn saga starting off with the discovery of a beacon. Whilst there aren't too many details expanded on it, one of the reasons why Refusal ending isn't as good as it deserves to be, it thematically works very well, both highlighting the cyclical nature of that universe and the possibility of hope for the civilisation that found it and acted upon it. The galaxy may sacrifice itself, but the Reapers are eventually stopped, on terms that are not illogical and highlight the strength of independent, organic thought. On our terms, not theirs. At the same time, it doesn't take away from the Catalyst either - despite the stupidity in the following words, it had to be built and used to find out it didn't work, in turn creating this new option.

That, or the sacrifice of forces in a pyrrhic victory, ascension to Space Jesus that may or may not be successful or the mass raping of the galaxy. Refusal, at the very least, is the most logical course of action, even if it means complete destruction. Our efforts are still noted.

Still, and I want to expand on my previous post about this, Refusal now suffers the same issue that the original endings had that were, to some degree, addressed now; it needs expansion. Refusal was the perfect opportunity to demonstrate the individual parts of our EMS and what our war assets actually do/did. Show them fighting on Earth, on other Reaper-occupied planets, in space. High enough, we should be able to beat them back. Okay, we'll be damaged significantly along the way, but by this point we're together, so we can rebuild together. It's not too distant from what Hackett says in the Destroy narration.

Too low? The Reapers win, but the beacon still exists. We win...well, we lose, but it's "only" an immediate loss...of our cycle. So, you know, a bit of a gut punch. This way, your choices do have some impact in that you see them operating, or not, for their very purposes. I feel this would be a more satisfactory bonus ending than a second-long clip of Shepard miraculously surviving Explosionville that the Citadel becomes.

[Wizlah]

Refusal was the perfect opportunity to demonstrate the individual parts of our EMS and what our war assets actually do/did. Show them fighting on Earth, on other Reaper-occupied planets, in space. High enough, we should be able to beat them back. Okay, we'll be damaged significantly along the way, but by this point we're together, so we can rebuild together. It's not too distant from what Hackett says in the Destroy narration.

Too low? The Reapers win, but the beacon still exists. We win...well, we lose, but it's "only" an immediate loss...of our cycle. So, you know, a bit of a gut punch. This way, your choices do have some impact in that you see them operating, or not, for their very purposes. I feel this would be a more satisfactory bonus ending than a second-long clip of Shepard miraculously surviving Explosionville that the Citadel becomes.

My problem with that is the military forces of the galaxy should never be sufficent to beat the reapers. It's made fairly clear throughout that we're taking nibbling bites from a massive force and they can destroy us far more efficiently than we can destroy them. I always read the EMS as an indication of whether we could hold them off long enough to create sufficient time to research and build the cruicible and maybe programme it with a variety of options for its use (space jesus, space nazi, and EFF YOU!) depending on how long we had. But it was always going to take a gratuitous plot device to beat 'em one way or the other, regardless of whether there was a more satisfying explanation for their actions or not.

If there was a way to actually just physically beat them, I would have been more unhappy with bioware's writing. Although the storyline of thessia wasn't great, I rated how it worked as a reminder that shepherd was lucky to get even one of the reapers, never mind the three she had done for . If you're going to have as your enemy a big all devouring beastie that is big and all devouring, you're really copping out if you suddenly go back on said beastie's defining characteristic and say 'but if you try REALLY REALLY HARD, you can beat it! GO YOU!.

[deano2099]

Refusal isn't new. Even before you could just stand there and refuse to choose until the Catalyst was blown up. I quite liked that, but clearly a bit too subtle and just gave a regular game over screen rather than an obvious ending.

[The JG Man]

I find it difficult to entirely disagree with what you're saying Wizlah. Like the other endings, it's certainly not infallible, but I still believe it makes the most logical sense. On top, under scrutiny, I think it can just about be pulled off to work without it sounding like said aforementioned ass-pull. The ground forces are holding ground (hell, according to the MP and 100% EMS, you even start beating them back!) and it stands to reason that with the Thanix weaponry going galaxy-wide, we can start to inflict some damage on them space-wise. At the start of 3 the Milky Way is not coordinated, playing to the Reapers' preferably strategy of divide and conquer. By the end, this is not the case. Granted, it's a massive slugging-it-out, but there definitely is a greater chance than the smaller battles. Hell, even if it is a lose, you're still sticking to the Reapers one way or another and with the beacon, it seems it will be a battle that at least becomes somewhat justified. It's not like anything else can be done and thinning out the Reapers numbers has to be worth something, right? It, as I mentioned, also goes some way to justifying actually having the EMS other than a "This is the point at which the Catalyst will or won't work" which I agree with you, is how it was certainly portrayed in the Catalyst menu.

I also don't believe that a Refusal 'Good' ending wouldn't result in complete devastation. We'd win, but it's not like the cost would be small. Worlds would still be lost and it also means that Thessia's fall would still hold the emotional punch it pulls extremely well. Besides, as you point out, the ratio is pretty good for our cycle in terms of victories versus losses, especially if you include Sovereign's (admittedly eventual) and the Collectors' destruction. It's certainly hard to not devalue the Reapers' strength in a battle of pew-pew vs. pew-pew, but I think it could be handled well enough that you could not skip on the complete destructive wake left behind...then again, these are the same writers who gave us the original ending, so, you know.

And I did hear about that deano, but the very fact it resulted in a game over for me is quite telling. This at least gives a valid​ ending.

[deano2099]

And I did hear about that deano, but the very fact it resulted in a game over for me is quite telling. This at least gives a valid​ ending.

It did contradict itself. On the one hand, it's a game over. But on the other hand, it's the only timed decision in the entire game. There's numerous other places in the game where you're clearly under time-pressure but can dawdle as much as you want with no ill-effect.

I have a feeling it was originally a 'proper' ending, even if that just meant text saying "the galaxy is destroyed" and the credits roll, but then in play-testing they saw players were getting it just from taking time out to actually think about the decision, so it got neutered to a game over. Pure speculation of course, and I agree it wasn't a proper ending, but if was never intended as one, then there was never any reason for that to happen at all.

[The JG Man]

Well even this revised stance for a Refusal doesn't get a lot of attention thrown at it like the previous ones, which considering it obviously was a consideration like you say, seems a bit at odds, but whatever; it's different, so that's something! It does feel though that BioWare really didn't want you to pick that though and reading around, I agree with the thinking that there was a particular focus on Synthesis being the 'correct' ending in BW's eyes (both the overwhelming optimism it provided and the fact you need the extra EMS to get it as an option). Regardless, I'm glad that Refusal exists as a proper thing now.

[Wizlah]

No surprise that space jesus was the optimum ending. even discounting what happened in me3, the push towards everyone learning to work together in ME2 suggests where they wanted things to go. It's a bioware thing. My beef (which grows by the minute) with the synthetic/organic explanation is that it's just so bloody artless, and it leaves you with very few ways to resolve the gigantic overarching narrative. If there's a lesson to be taken from this, it's that if you're going to write a series of games like ME3, you properly write out the overarching narrative, where it begins and how it should be resolved. Then work the smaller themes and stories, the decisions and consequences, within that overall framework. I'm pretty sure I said it before, but I find it amusing that they liked the ideas of the endings of deus ex, but clearly forgot to recognise that the three endings reflect a series of conflicts and themes which are reflected on in a variety of subtle (and not-so-subtle) ways throughout the game.

The least they could have done with synthesis as an option is to make it more ambiguous. The krogans (and to a lesser extent the geth/quarian conflict) made it clear that learning to get along comes with its own upredictable dangers and consequences. If you're going to go with some kind of synthesis, it really should be made clear that the new universe is a profoundly alien place, that the synthesis has changed things in a way that won't simply result in happy-clappy futures for everyone. When Denton becomes part human/part ai in deus ex, it's a properly ambiguous moment. You're not sure that you've necessarily done the right thing. As it should be.

[Kevin]

Watched all three endings. Bear in mind, when presented with the endings prior to the extended cut, I found them to be a bit of a bummer, but life went on for me. This time, I started with my original decision of control, of which in the extended cut I was totally okay with (what I think would have made it better: After rebuilding the galaxy, Shepard decides to quit while she's ahead and leaves the galaxy in peace, living with the Reapers she controls on a self-imposed exile in deep space, thus leaving the organics and synthetics to make their own choices again). Then did the Destroy ending, which was alright I suppose, but it still bugs me that the Geth get a real raw deal having just gained sentience, then only to become extinct for their troubles. Not wanting to endure the excruciatingly long Citadel sequence to do the Synthesise ending (made that mistake already when I went back to do the Destroy ending), I simply watched it on Youtube. I'm sorry folks, but the Synthesise ending is still way too hokey for my liking.

All in all: the original ending wasn't great, not even good. This one is perfectly fine in my eyes and left us without a metric assload of loose ends that plagued the original. However, I highly suspect it won't satisfy a significant portion of those who complained about the endings, but hey, not a lot you can do about those lost causes.

[Heliocentric]

The synthesis "oh hai I'm a husk" was so pathetic it was funny. Couldn't it at least go humanish again?

The Normandy pulling up to drag your dumb as friends pissed me off.
All in all, I like the ending montage but the game itself is worse now.

[Leopig]

The main problem with Liara's beacon is, what if the new species do not speak English or even evolve from primates or Dinosaurs? Heck if it wasn't or a freak collision from a meteor (of Dinosaur farts, which ever theory you chose to believe) humans would have most likely not evolved into what they have.

[asskicker]

I don't understand what everyone's problem is with the Synthesis ending? I found it "ok" in the original and now it's better. It's the optimal ending a lot of people wanted! The only thing that doesn't make sense now is the kid asking his grandpa if we will ever be able to go to the stars, while the relays aren't destroyed...

[Flint]

Watched the endings via the internet (bizarrely found them on Metro of all things), just not in the mood for ME3 right now. They're still not ideal IMO but they're better - they actually feel like endings this time around which is always a good thing, and had these been around the first-go-round I probably wouldn't have been as bitterly disappointed about the whole affair. Still think the Reaper motive thing is an ass pull of Shyamalanic proportions but I suppose fixing that was always out of the question anyway. Refusal is good too, has a surprising amount of impact even when just watching a video of someone else's Sheppy going through it.

Might give my main Sheppy a playthrough of the new end at some point but I'm somewhat leaning towards the idea of starting a whole new playthrough right from ME1 again. Might have to see about that after the summer, somewhat preoccupied with other things atm + Steam sales' phat loots will probably steal my time.

I don't understand what everyone's problem is with the Synthesis ending? I found it "ok" in the original and now it's better. It's the optimal ending a lot of people wanted! The only thing that doesn't make sense now is the kid asking his grandpa if we will ever be able to go to the stars, while the relays aren't destroyed...

I've just always found the Synthesis thing to be a bit too random. Magical green beam comes and fixes everything and everyone and suddenly we all live happily ever after because we have digital circuits on our faces. The other endings seal the fate of the galaxy in their own terms; they've united against a common foe, won and through that have learned to co-exist more than previously. The idea of altering the very biological foundation of everyone in the galaxy, turning them into some random super race and making everything better with that just doesn't gel with me at all, both from the point of view of the game's themes as well as my own opinions/ethical side. I'm just not keen on the very idea of the Synthesis ending.

[Kevin]

I've just always found the Synthesis thing to be a bit too random. Magical green beam comes and fixes everything and everyone and suddenly we all live happily ever after because we have digital circuits on our faces. The other endings seal the fate of the galaxy in their own terms; they've united against a common foe, won and through that have learned to co-exist more than previously. The idea of altering the very biological foundation of everyone in the galaxy, turning them into some random super race and making everything better with that just doesn't gel with me at all, both from the point of view of the game's themes as well as my own opinions/ethical side. I'm just not keen on the very idea of the Synthesis ending.

This. Plus the fact that there's the niggling thought of: "Who died and gave you the authority to make a change of that monumental proportion without anyone else having a say on the matter?" That said, the other two also have their downsides: "Destroy" also takes out the Geth that you may or may not have moved heaven and earth to get them to co-exist peacefully with the Quarians and "Control" is a bit like the "Helios" ending in Deus Ex which also didn't sit too well with me. Which I guess is sort of what Bioware was aiming for: "Every ending will have something that just won't sit that well with you."

Again, what I think the "Control" ending should have included was something to the effect of Shepard only using the Reapers to help rebuild the Galaxy, but upon realising s/he would be called upon to maintain the peace or settle petty disputes with his/her Reaper fleet o'doom, wisely decides to bow out, go on self-imposed exile into dark space, and leave the galaxy's civilisations to make their own choices, for better or for worse.

[asskicker]

I've just always found the Synthesis thing to be a bit too random. Magical green beam comes and fixes everything and everyone and suddenly we all live happily ever after because we have digital circuits on our faces. The other endings seal the fate of the galaxy in their own terms; they've united against a common foe, won and through that have learned to co-exist more than previously. The idea of altering the very biological foundation of everyone in the galaxy, turning them into some random super race and making everything better with that just doesn't gel with me at all, both from the point of view of the game's themes as well as my own opinions/ethical side. I'm just not keen on the very idea of the Synthesis ending.

I guess you are right. I'm just happy I got my happy ending, Shepard making the ultimate sacrifice to make the universe a better place. I can even say I nearly shed a tear at the ending. :)

It's explained a bit though, with adjusting the DNA code of everything in the universe, but then how that happens... But I guess you can say the same about the reapers themselves, nobody knows how they got to exist.

Again, what I think the "Control" ending should have included was something to the effect of Shepard only using the Reapers to help rebuild the Galaxy, but upon realising s/he would be called upon to maintain the peace or settle petty disputes with his/her Reaper fleet o'doom, wisely decides to bow out, go on self-imposed exile into dark space, and leave the galaxy's civilisations to make their own choices, for better or for worse.

I imagined him seeing the flaws in everything and beginning to do the cycle all over again. :P

[Ravelle]

The synthesis "oh hai I'm a husk" was so pathetic it was funny. Couldn't it at least go humanish again?

The Normandy pulling up to drag your dumb as friends pissed me off.
All in all, I like the ending montage but the game itself is worse now.

That part was weird indeed, The soldiers coudn't have known the husk now has a mind of is own is now called Steve, as far as they known it's still a zombie husk, they should have just kept attacking him.

[Hypernetic]

Synthesis doesn't even make sense in the first place, new ending or not.

So I guess control is the "best" ending now? Shepard survives (technically, it's memories are intact and all that), the galaxy gets rebuilt with the help of the controlled reapers (same as synthesis) and nobody had to die for it to happen.

I don't know, I guess it's better than it was before but I'm still not all that impressed. Especially not since all the endings are still the same damn thing with different colors.

[The JG Man]

The main problem with Liara's beacon is, what if the new species do not speak English or even evolve from primates or Dinosaurs?

Considering the ME universe operates on a translator system, I'd say it's logical to assume previous and future cycles would have a similar system in place, if not part of the technological heritage left behind by the Reapers towards galactic development, such as the relays. I'm sure that they can then use their current knowledge of science to try and guesstimate where the next cycle's primary life will evolve from, and leave the beacons near there, as well as hopefully Liara being smart enough to litter the galaxy with them. None of this explained in game, obviously, but it makes a damn sight more sense than Space Magic and is in keeping with everything we know.

I don't understand what everyone's problem is with the Synthesis ending? I found it "ok" in the original and now it's better. It's the optimal ending a lot of people wanted!

I originally picked Synthesis because I had the points and wanted to see what would happen. I decided that the entire galaxy's population was going to be raped and forever changing their very being and all that comes after us. This gets even worse in the extended cut with just how graphic the changes are. Despite what the Star Child says, despite what EDI says, immortality is never a good thing and who's to say there won't be any future conflict? We know that the SC is operating under logical fallacy, whilst EDI is seemingly deluded by her own sense of living that she has apparently forgotten the choice of the rest of the galaxy. What happens when the future generations grow up and realise what's been forced on them forever more? Your freedom has been irreversibly and overwhelmingly been removed, you live with those who have been "Reaperized", including family and friends. It is described as a utopia, but by its very definition, utopias hide something and are only the surface of what's really going on and are never perfect.

Freedom and death, or loss of choice and no real guarantee that the future will be as perfect as you're told?

[Hypernetic]

That makes no sense. Future generations would be synthetic/organic hybrids too. Also your argument against immortality being a good thing is pretty weak.