Farking Canuck **** MORE SPOILERS ****

If you can explain why the Normandy was travelling the mass relay system when a moment earlier they were engaged in an all-or-nothing, fight to the last man/woman battle to retake Earth, then I will agree.

Wait until it hits you that the relays exploded first, then the Normandy was shown flying through one.

Watch the sequence again: beam goes out, relay shoots its load and flies apart, shot of galaxy map and beam spreading across it, Normandy fleeing from billowy space magic, Normandy hits the relay.

Maybe it was a bad editing error.

Antimatter: How the hell did that ending clear the writers, focus groups, etc?

They just got lazy as shiat toward the end.

Another example (which doesn't even have to do with the ending): Tali.

Pretty much every person invested in the series (and especially those that romanced her) wanted to see Tali unmasked. Those players were rewarded with a static image that's in Shepard's quarters.

Now you could say "Well at least they gave you something" and I would agree. Except, the image they give you is a stock model image from Getty Images with some alien shiat added.

Now that's lazy, and it didn't even have anything to do with the ending.

! I think... I think I just realized what happened.

I think they crammed together two completely different plotlines.

(CAVEAT: I have not played three, but I spoiled it for myself after hearing the endings had issues).

Think about it: They abandoned the whole teaser of "Dark Energy is building in this sun far faster than it should" from ME2. And I seem to recall hearing that was the original plan for the game/what the reapers were really doing: Something about using Element Zero caused Dark energy to build faster/the patchwork of space to fray or something? And they were saving the universe/bootstrapping species to the next level of existence to try and solve the problem.

In that case, the ending WOULD probably necessitate you destroy the Relays...

... What if they already had the cutscenes created for that ending? What if that was already in the works, and there was a massive shift midway? So they kludged together some crappy reason necessitating that.

Or maybe I'm just conjecturing wildly.

Dr. Whoof: And again, where is the option to tell the little starchild to fark off while you go shut down the Reapers and ONLY the Reapers (since they have their own signal, you know)? Clearly the starchild is PART OF THE PROBLEM. Why believe he has any solutions?

That's the problem I have with it. The Citadel is a construction of the Reapers, and the child is obviously the Reapers' virtual representative. Hell, it even sounds sarcastic -- "oh yeah, Illusive Man wouldn't have succeeded, but you totally can control us."

I just think it's lying. From what I've gathered, there was a race that got all-powerful and created the Reapers to make sure that no other races were ever advanced enough to start a conflict with them, since that would inevitably destroy the galaxy. So they created the Reapers to make sure no one was powerful enough to start that conflict. But the Reapers saw the existence of even one species with that power as a problem, so killed their creators. The Reapers, unable to evolve, allow species to get just powerful enough so that they can incorporate the features they like into new Reaper technology, so they can always maintain an edge over anything that comes along. So they leave the Citadel and mass relays to make sure that new races, once they reach a certain point, develop along lines that innovate technology that's still compatible with the Reapers. Along come the Protheans, who are exceedingly clever and manage to hide a lot of knowledge from the Reapers before they're wiped out, giving the other races a jump-start to maybe challenge the Reapers in the next cycle -- they pick the Asari, the most advanced race that will survive the Reapers, and embed themselves in the Asari culture and religion.

So the Mass Effect games should be about the races banding together to destroy the Reapers and proceed unshackled into an uncertain future. Freeing yourself of constraints is one of the major themes of the series -- humanity rises to the level of equals with the rest of the galaxy, Shepard becomes a Spectre free-agent bound only by personal morality, the Geth free themselves from the Quarians and later are freed from the Reapers, and the galaxy fights against the Indoctrination and destruction caused by the Reapers. Even the personal stories lean that way -- Jack escapes Cerberus, Miranda and Ori escape the shadow of their father, the Illusive Man tries to live unfettered (but gets corrupted for his amorality), Garrus turns away from law and order to help people, Thane is trying to make peace with his actions before he dies, the Krogan are trying to escape the boundaries of the Turian/Salarian genophage. And so on.

So when it comes to the ending, I can only imagine that the Reapers are lying. That they are entirely powerless to prevent their own destruction at that point, and so they try to trick Shepard into "controlling" them (which is a lie) or "synthesis" (which is also a lie). They're just trying to survive.

But then the choice doesn't really matter, and I go WTF?

Felgraf: ... What if they already had the cutscenes created for that ending? What if that was already in the works, and there was a massive shift midway? So they kludged together some crappy reason necessitating that.

Another Farker said that in a previous thread and I believe it. The Normandy cutscene was from the original "bad" ending which explains why it gets torn to shiat and looks like it doesn't survive. Then the garden world ending was tagged on to show they lived.

DeWayne Mann: Presumably, while Captains lead ships, Majors lead some set ground squad size (Kaiden has his biotic squad, though it's unclear how large it is).

And Shepard was an Lt Commander at the start of ME1, but never received any promotion that anyone knows of. She's certainly not a captain: a quarian refers to her as Captain Shepard in Tali's loyalty mission, and she quickly corrects it.

Yea, but where does Spectre Status fit in on there? I'd be willing to bet that since there's only one human Spectre prior to ME3, Shepard would have a lot of pull with that title.

AmazinTim: DeWayne Mann: Hey, I have a question about the destruction/DEEP GASP ending.

I didn't see it on my ending (went green). Does the armor doing the breathing match the armor your Shepard was wearing? I'm assuming no, in which case: why is anyone assuming that that was Shepard? He's not the only N7 in the world (shoot, Anderson is N7, though it's clearly not him either). There's at least one squad (again, of unclear size) consisting solely of N7 Marines (based on the Normandy's sister ship, to boot).

I'm trying to make sense of your question but am struggling.

He's asking whether the ending cutscene of Shepard inhaling (with full N7 armor/helmet) matches what Shepard was wearing when you were blasted by Harbinger (missing helmet, chest/arm armor). It doesn't, which is another thing that makes indoctrination theory plausible.

/It's sad that "It's was all a dream" hypothesis is actually a better ending than if it was taken literally.

awesomologist: To me it's the only reason the Indoctrination theory holds any water. The Blue and Green choices just means you're submitting to the Reapers. The Red choice is your final FARK YOU to the Reapers so you break your Indoctrination... just to take a last gasp on Earth.

Nah, that was a "waking up" gasp. Maybe it was all ONLY A DREAM, that Shepard was knocked out in the charge on Harbinger and imagined everything that happened afterwards -- how did Anderson get into the Citadel, and how did your crew make it back to the Normandy unharmed (when they were there with you during the charge and presumably wiped out with everyone else). Maybe Shepard wakes up in the rubble, grabs the surviving team members, and goes upstairs to kick some ass.

You know, in the sequel or something.

Felgraf ! I think... I think I just realized what happened.

I think they crammed together two completely different plotlines.

Yes, and very close. Two different writers: Drew Karpyshyn wrote the first game, and co-wrote the second. He left to write for TOR, but has now left Bioware to pursue other interests. Mac Walters co-wrote the second, and wrote the third game. Supposedly, the dark energy plotline was Drew's.

Vanquish Quick question here. I have never played any of the Mass Effect games, but I think I want to buy ME3. Should I play through Mass Effect 1-2 before I play Mass Effect 3? Is it really vital to the story?

They are good games. Even ME3 is fantastic - the stories, gameplay, even multiplayer. Just shut it off after you say your final goodbyes to the crew. And don't jump in at the 3rd, it's a story that will make more sense when you start at the beginning. Things like the genophage, the Morning War, Aria won't make as much sense if you only start the 3rd.

On the bright side, you can buy ME3 used anywhere you want. Anecdotal stories claim stores are overrun with trade-ins.

DeWayne Mann: Because if the armor doesn't match, you could claim that it's more evidence of Bioware being lazy...but it seems more likely to me that it's not Shepard in the rubble at all, but instead some other N7 soldier (of which there are many).

Ha! You think people are pissed about the ending now?

What do you think would happen if BioWare said "You know the absolute best ending you can get (the one where you have to play some multiplayer on top of getting everything else)? Yea that's not Shepard. HAHA!"

DeWayne Mann: the Star Child said that Destroy would kill Shepard, plus she was up in the citadel...yet now she's alive on earth?

That's what makes me think the little farker was a liar and the Geth are ok. He only strongly implied that you might die, because you are part synthetic, while he deliberately stated you WILL die in control/synthesis endings (giving into indoctrination).

He's a lying sack of ass who is trying to talk you out of taking the destroy option.

DeWayne Mann: But putting aside the indoc. theory, seems like a shuttle came in to pick them up and bring up to the Normandy, most likely piloted by Cortez.

But.. they were with you when everyone got blown up by Harbinger. The Reapers don't stop murdering everything until after the mass relay explodes, so I doubt a shuttle would be able to land and pick them up.

Epicedion You know, in the sequel or something.

Bioware has stated that this is the end of the Shepard story. One way or another, and dead hero seems pretty end-y to me.

Next game will be a FPS following Vega's training in the N7 program. Mark my words. Not the MMO that people are guessing.

Duck_of_Doom: Bioware has stated that this is the end of the Shepard story. One way or another, and dead hero seems pretty end-y to me.

Next game will be a FPS following Vega's training in the N7 program. Mark my words. Not the MMO that people are guessing.

Except Shepard's not dead.

Epicedion Except Shepard's not dead.

Only in the destroy ending with enough EMS.

Unless you mean in Merge he/she can be in everyone's head at once. Great, Commander Shepard is watching you watch elcor porn.

/Seductively, I know you feel this