Mass Effect 1, 2, and 3. (Ending discussion. SPOILERS)
Ello.
This is the Mass Effect appreciation/hate/discussion thread. Since there is no other...
I, myself, am an extremely avid fan of the Mass Effect franchise, and I've grown INCREDIBLY close to the characters involved and the story. To me, Mass Effect is the Star Wars of our generation, and I am more in tune with the Mass Effect universe than any others (LotR, Star Wars, Halo, etc). I have been playing Mass Effect 1 since 2007, and loved every single second of it. Mass Effect 3 is the single most anticipated game for me; I attented the midnight release, played 3 hours of it later, and beat the game with 100% galactic readiness and most war assets. Extremely proud, and I love it all.
However, the ending to ME3 was a bit of a blow to me, and it didn't correlate to your choices made in ME1 or 2, which the franchise emphasized a lot. It seems like the strain I went through to attain certain presets and characters to be made available in ME3 was all in vain, since the ending had no relation to anything personal I did in the previous two.
I'm not alone. There are many fans that are expressing their concern with this lackluster conclusion, and BioWare has noticed. They made a poll about the ending, and 89% said they wanted it changed, and a new DLC ending. 8% said they just wanted some explanation to what happened, and 2% said they were satisfied. You can see a bunch of it all here.
--WANRING: SPOILERS BELOW--
--SERIOUSLY. HUGE SPOILERS--
Now, what I would personally like is a more conventional ending. One being, instead of whatever the hell the catalyst actually was -I guess you could say SPACE MAGIC- I would rather have the crucible just destroy the reapers, and then the rest of the galaxy, Mass Relays included, would be saved and allowed to prosper, setting us up for maybe a far future game about something else. But with all 3 endings destroying the Mass Relays and leaving the Normandy stranded on some random planet, it doesn't allow for ANY possible sequel to be made. Ever. Which might have been alright, if it explained what the catalyst actually was, and what the hell that guy was talking to that kid about the "Shepard" just before the credits, then MAYBE the endings would be mediocre. But with the current state, it just ruins the entire franchise, and doesn't explain who, what, when, where, or why at all. It just happens, leaving you like "Well what the hell was that?"
I'm signing the petition for a new ending in DLC. It's very possible and plausible that they would do that, since the level of people pissed off is so high. They're even collectively lowering the metacritic scores to 3.5 out of spite that the ending was terrible. I understand it completely, since the first two games were absolutely fantastic up until the last 15 minutes of the third, which ruined the entire experience...
But anyways, what do you think? Did you like the ending or not?
Discuss.
03-25-2012
nannerdw
Re: Mass Effect 1, 2, and 3. (Ending discussion. SPOILERS)
I thought the destruction of the mass relays was an absolutely depressing way to end the series. I know Bioware had to end the story with a bang and do something that would really get people talking. I knew there had to be some major sacrifices, like Shepherd dying, possibly along with his crew, possibly along with the majority of the human race, but for the few races whose planets didn't get obliterated by the mass relay explosions to be suddenly isolated, cut off from all resources or aid, and left to rebuild from the reaper attacks, just seems extremely tragic.
I guess it makes sense in the narrative for the relays to have to be destroyed, though; since they were created by the Reapers, and everyone else was just taking them for granted without knowing how they really worked.
03-25-2012
rlmergeuser
Re: Mass Effect 1, 2, and 3. (Ending discussion. SPOILERS)
I've been waiting for this thread to be made.
It's depressing how Mass Effect 1 had (in my opinion) the best ending in video game history and how Mass Effect 3 had (in almost everyone's opinion) the worst.
I almost cried at how bad it was.
03-25-2012
T4KShadow
Re: Mass Effect 1, 2, and 3. (Ending discussion. SPOILERS)
Mass Effect is my favourite gaming series, but I also hated the ending to my the best story-driven games ever released.
Luckily though, Bioware have confirmed that they ARE making a DLC to hopefully conclude the trilogy.
Re: Mass Effect 1, 2, and 3. (Ending discussion. SPOILERS)
How did everyone find the extended cut DLC for Mass Effect 3 then?
I really liked it, while it still didn't "change" the ending, it did fill in the holes and left me at least a little bit satisfied that my actions did something.
It even inspired me to make this;
08-28-2012
kingkongomax
Re: Mass Effect 1, 2, and 3. (Ending discussion. SPOILERS)
Yeah, it did explain a lot that needed to be explained. Im more accepting now of the ending, although its entirety is still disappointing..
But nice job! That tribute definitely made me miss the game and its characters.