Biggest let down ever in gaming history. The ending was just utterly terrible, not just the depressive outcome; but the utter nonsensical logic behind the Star Child/Guardians decisions, the fact that none of your choices leading up to it matter, and that the three choices presented to you are practically identical, with just different coloured explosions. All your work in the last three games means nothing...

It was such a great game, which makes the fact that the ending was so terribly, shockingly bad so much more painful to bear.

The Bioware forums are besieged by angry fans, many game news sites are reporting 'overwhelmingly negative reaction' at the ending, and polls are showing 98% want the ending changed.



Input?

Most amazing ending ever in gaming history. It was absolutely fantastic, not just with the emotionally moving development that finalizes everything, but the intricate storyline revolving around the Guardians that most people (obviously) aren't able to grasp. There is normally only one ending in most games, I'm not going to complain about a lack of variety there, that's just silly. All the work from the previous games culminated in that one epic climactic scene that brought it all to a satisfying close.

It was such an awesome game, and the ending made it even better, the only thing painful was the strain on my heart from so much emotion welling up in my chest. It was an incredibly experience.

The Bioware forums are besieged by kidiots that don't have the ability to grasp the intricately woven tapestry that is the storyline and its ending. The polls are being made by those same kids who are just voting on them themselves. For once I wish the vocal minority would give it a rest and let us real gamers enjoy real gaming experiences.

I don't play ME, but is everyone pissed just because it had a sad ending? (I also heard there were multiple endings where shepard doesn't die, so why so sad still?)

No people are pissed because the ending came entirely out of left field, was extremely ambiguous, and only gives the 'illusion' of choice. There are only three endings, and they just change the colour of the explosion that wipes out all the Mass Relays and the Citadel...

The only way for Shep to survive is to have a high enough effective military rating, and choose only ONE of the endings (the ending where you kill the Reapers, but also the geth (making legion's sacrifice for nothing) and EDI, your robot companion.

I was hoping more people here actually play it... you should it is a great series... a part from the last 15 mins.

Basically here are the main things people are pissed about:
1. Deus Ex Machina - the last 15 min of the game comes out of nowhere, with absolutely zero connection to the rest of the game. It's almost as if they swapped the script with a page from an entirely different series, like A Space Odyssey or the Matrix...

2. None of your Choices matter - all the choices you make in the last three games have no impact on the last 15 min of the game, where you are forced into choosing between red shitty ending, blue shitty ending, and green shitty ending.

3. The 3 Choices aren't even Choices - no matter which option you choose, the Relays + Citadel are destroyed, the Normandy and your crew/love interest are stranded on a far off planet, and you are either dead or cut off from them forever.

4. Plot Holes + Ambiguity - no explanation is made as to who the star child/guardian is, or why you HAVE to make these decisions (the guardian's explanation that synthetics will always kill organics makes no sense, as you just reunited the geth synthetics with their creators, the quarians, earlier in the game), and why was the Normandy running from the battle? Also how do your crew members who were with you when you charged the Citadel Beam mysteriously transported back to the Normandy?



5. Horrifically Depressing + Unavoidable Ending - With the Mass Effect Relays destroyed, it is impossible to travel the galaxy except at very slow speeds, which means the vast galactic civilisation that once existed will now be completely cut off from each other. Your crew is stranded on some far away planet, and you will never see them again, including the love interest you built up over the past games. All your achievements in the past now are rendered meaningless, curing the genophage, reuniting the geth + quarian people, etc. Many main characters who sacrificed their lives for some of these goals now did it for nothing. Also, since all the fleets were on Earth, many alien races are now stranded in the Sol System and will never see their home planets again, including the vast majority of the Quarian Flotilla.

6. No Epilogue or Wrap Up - the fate of your crew, Shep, Earth, etc. is not told.



So yeh, it is pretty fucking bad. Trust me this is the biggest colossal fuck up of an ending in all of game history, hell - perhaps even in all cinematic history too.

Post has been edited 5 time(s), last time on Mar 14 2012, 5:18 am by Oh_Man.

Sounds like how Wings of Liberty turned out.

Fucking trash.

Fucking industry.

Piece of shit.

WoL was a pretty average story throughout though. ME3 was largely perfect or very close to, and then the ending was like a massive drop. It is so drastically different from the rest of the game that many believe it was done by some other writer, or hastily added in or edited at the last moment (perhaps due to the script leak), or something.

inb4 alternate endings released as costly DLC (like Fallout 3).

Also, if SC2 has taught us anything, it is to never emotionally invest so much onto a game that you feel that it belongs to you.

They are making changes to the ending. Well, not necessarily 'changes' but certainly 'additions'. This is a small victory.

http://blog.bioware.com/2012/03/21/4108/

I made a compilation video on Youtube with all the different deaths in the game. Goes for 46 minutes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTHdg61Umzc

Oh_man your PM box is full, and you should go check the HA RPG thread.

Now it goes for 58 minutes with even more deaths.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MATpORpJeg

http://puresophistry.com/2012/03/29/and-then-bioware-said-let-them-eat-cake/

Played it through a while ago, but just now I got around to write about it.

The cup cake project was awesome.

And yes I agree. The ending was a let down. If that's objectively fair is another matter...
Im not sure if we just expected too much because the rest was so well made. What other "epic revelation" that made more sense could there be. What other reason could there be for the reapers to exist?

Still, for me it won't get much worse than saying "we want to prevent you fighting your own machines, so i made uber machines that kill you before it can happen." It just doesn't make sense. I would've been much more accepting of an ending that revealed that reapers are just an old uber race that want to prevent civilizations to become as advanced as they are.

I don't critique Bioware for presenting us with 3 choices that are nearly identical though. Even just 1 ending would've been okay. However, the way they it finishes is not how the game plays, which is my gripe. Throughout the game you get a ton of background information and personal stories which gets you attached to many characters. You care when they die etc. But where's that in the ending? They don't even make clear what is happening globally, not to speak what happens to your friends. For example when the mass relays are destroyed what happens to millions of stranded ships in the sol system? Or what will Shepard do with the reapers if he chose to control them? What are all your friends doing now that there's peace? Except for Joker and EDI, you don't even get a hint.

tl;dr Where did Biowares awesome story telling go in the end?

@Az would you mind explaining what "emotionally moving development" you speak of? Imo the emotional devolopment bogged down with the final charge to the beam where you get knocked unconscious. After that every scene just makes you wtf more and more. Then the final talk on the citadel is alright, I can see how you find that (at least somehow) moving. But then it just gets plain. When you activate the citadel and meet the boy the wtf factor gets much bigger than anything and the "moving scene" when the normandy crashes just pales in comparison.
And I'd like to know what you mean with the "intricate storyline revolving around the Guardians". I find it insulting to just state that we don't grasp it. As stated already what I get is that the reapers want to prevent war between biological and artificial lifeforms. What more is there to it?

Uggh Az was trolling dude srsly can't you see that??
Now he's well fed.

Well fingers crossed for the Extended DLC! But really I don't think they should be extending the ending they should be retconning it, but meh I will take whatever I can get.

Yeah they are talking about artistic vision, but I have a hard time accepting them envisioning a "controller" who is beyond logic. There's a difference between an unexpected turn and an ending that outright makes no sense.

But as least they're gonna remedy my other main point that they didn't finish their story (they kept everything to the player's imagination).

I kinda hope for some justification for why killing civilizations is better than letting them make their own decisions but at the same time I doubt they can come up with something at least half convincing.

Also the control ending is the only ending where Shepard can survive (and then only if you got 5000+ EMS?)

I want a happy ending with my Love Interest, but at the same time control is like one of the worst choices. EDI dies, all the Geth die (Legion's sacrifice was for nothing, the Citadel is destroyed and the Relays are destroyed). The only good thing is that Shepard seems to be alive, and the Reapers are destroyed.


The most frustrating thing about this all, and the thing that has really just got me shaking my head and basically giving up, is that they are STILL standing behind the ending. They either actually THINK it is good or are putting up the facade of standing behind the ending. And all this extended DLC shit is just like them saying "we did nothing wrong, but we are going to do this for you fans because we are nice". The fact they are actually refusing or don't think they should apologise for the massive fuck-up is what is terrible.

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on May 11 2012, 10:43 am by Oh_Man.

Agreed.

But the destroy ending is the one that Shepard can survive physically (with EMS > 4000). Control means he lives on as an uncorporeal being within the Citadel.
http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Priority:_Earth#Aftermath