Mass Effect: Thread

[Arby]

A friend of mine said the ending part of the game felt really rushed and was full of glitches. It is likely that the game simply is unfinished and that it can be fixed with a patch. But I guess that's what everyone are asking for.

 

No, they're asking for a completely different ending.

 

1. It's depressing.

2. Everything you did in all the games don't matter.

3. And yeah, it's probably rushed and full of glitches.

 

The ending will evoke emotional responses in most invested gamers. Point 2 is a straight up lie, and the result of a whole lot of blind rage, and as for point 3, I haven't experienced any glitches in it myself, but it's possible.

 

Actually, point 2 is true to an extent, your choices do impact the game meaningfully all throughout until you hit the segment every one is mad about, they have an extremely minor input there, chiefly if you even get to make a choice there at all, but you can really disregard anything else you've done and get any ending you want.

 

Oh, and a funny thing:

 

 

The first time I got to that limping part after Harbinger blasts you I thought I had failed and it was a fancy extended game over event lol I even confused the Marauder for Saren and it killed me

 

[Geneaux486]

Actually, point 2 is true to an extent, your choices do impact the game meaningfully all throughout until you hit the segment every one is mad about, they have an extremely minor input there, chiefly if you even get to make a choice there at all, but you can really disregard anything else you've done and get any ending you want.

 

Point 2 is not true to any extent. The decisions you make impact the whole game, you see it every step of the way, as you've said. Those decisions also contribute to your effective military strength, which in turn determines what endings you can recieve. So yes, your choices completely impact the ending and everything leading up to it.

Edited March 14, 2012 by Guest (see edit history)

[Alyxx Thorne]

I'm relieved to hear that, Geneaux. It's sort of what I expected though.

 

It might also depend on which version people get, whether it's for PC or console.

[Arby]

No, really they don't. Almost all things there remain the same regardless of your EMS or choices.

 

 

You can still get any color laser you like, only major difference being if you get to make a choice at all, if the thing misfires, and if Shepard maybe lives on "destroy". The beam still shoots your color of choice, crashes normandy, destroys relays no matter what.

 

[Alyxx Thorne]

Getting ME3 isn't that high on my priority list though, but it's not because of the backlash it seems to have gotten.

[Lash]

The message after the credits asking me to buy dlc mere minutes after that heartwrenching end was pretty insulting. And kinda funny.

[Geneaux486]

No, really they don't. Almost all things there remain the same regardless of your EMS or choices.

 

 

You can still get any color laser you like, only major difference being if you get to make a choice at all, if the thing misfires, and if Shepard maybe lives on "destroy". The beam still shoots your color of choice, crashes normandy, destroys relays no matter what.

 

Your choices and EMS are one in the same, and they directly dictate how many of the endings you have to choose from. That's not a matter of opinion, those are the mechanics of the game.

 

 

It's no different from the different endings Mass Effect 2 can recieve, you achieve the same end no matter what, the difference being which of your squad lives and dies. Additionally, if your EMS is only high enough to have one choice, the one you get is determined by whether or not you destroyed the Collector Base in Mass Effect 2.

 

[Husker]

No, really they don't. Almost all things there remain the same regardless of your EMS or choices.

 

 

You can still get any color laser you like, only major difference being if you get to make a choice at all, if the thing misfires, and if Shepard maybe lives on "destroy". The beam still shoots your color of choice, crashes normandy, destroys relays no matter what.

 

Your choices and EMS are one in the same, and they directly dictate how many of the endings you have to choose from. That's not a matter of opinion, those are the mechanics of the game.

 

 

It's no different from the different endings Mass Effect 2 can recieve, you achieve the same end no matter what, the difference being which of your squad lives and dies. Additionally, if your EMS is only high enough to have one choice, the one you get is determined by whether or not you destroyed the Collector Base in Mass Effect 2.

 

I think what Arby is trying to say is in the grand scope of things they were pointless. Aside from EMS for your choices it still ends basically the same. Your actions only influence a number in the end, the only difference is that playing poorly gets you one ending to choose instead of three.

 

To anyone that is less optimistic to play the game now due to ending discussion (sorry about starting it), I'd say definitely play it anyway. The rest of the game will give you exactly what you want from Mass Effect.

[Geneaux486]

 

I think what Arby is trying to say is in the grand scope of things they were pointless. Aside from EMS for your choices it still ends basically the same. Your actions only influence a number in the end, the only difference is that playing poorly gets you one ending to choose instead of three.

 

They're less pointless in the grand scope of things than they are if you're only focusing on the ending. Like I said on the previous page, you see how your choices matter and you learn what the consequences will be as you play through the story in Mass Effect 3. It's one of the reasons why I stated that an epilogue would be redundant. If you pay attention and talk to everyone you can, you'll know what you need to know without it having to be restated at the end and ruining the isolation Shepard feels as he or she makes their final choice.

 

 

EDIT:

From Ashes Spoiler:

 

Does Javik remind anyone else of Martian Manhunter in terms of origin and to a lesser extent manner of speaking? I mean their personalities are pretty different, but that's who comes to mind when I interact with Javik. Either way I was thrilled that a living Prothean was incorporated into ME3.

 

[Arby]

I've sort of come to accept the the endings as presented are actually a masterstroke by Bioware in a massive social experiment with the players themselves, to make them experience and agonize over the horror of being powerless against Indoctrination, stuck banging against the glass as your body moves on autopilot with only the options the Reapers give you available to you. Its really genius if it was all planned and some Bioware activity on twitter seems to support this. If not, well....one can only hope.

[Geneaux486]

I've heard the indoctrination theory. Really if that were the case, the sequences we get after Shepard makes his or her choice wouldn't make any sense. I think you're half right though, that the ending is about a nearly powerless struggle against the Reapers in general, which is why even the best possible outcome would still be bittersweet for a galaxy that just barely beat the odds. Still a genius ending, moreso if it's the true ending.

[Arby]

 

As for your choices mattering in the outcome of the ending as we have it, here's all of them at once side by side:

 

rPelM2hwhJA

 

The differences, so striking

 

choose your laser, now in 3 colors!

 

I get that you say they do matter outside of that actual ending itself, but that can only be inffered even, considering the radical change in the galaxy post-battle and that we are never show or told really anything that is confirmed to happen. Bottomline, no matter how much Garrus says he wants to go get some drinks, we have no idea what the hell happened to any of them and these lasers and the Normady crash are all we got.

 

[Husker]

I've heard the indoctrination theory. Really if that were the case, the sequences we get after Shepard makes his or her choice wouldn't make any sense. I think you're half right though, that the ending is about a nearly powerless struggle against the Reapers in general, which is why even the best possible outcome would still be bittersweet for a galaxy that just barely beat the odds. Still a genius ending, moreso if it's the true ending.

 

That theory would also explain why the only ending that Shepard can live on is the Destroy ending. It would point that that is the only one where you are actually able to beat the indoctrination as you stick to your goal through the three games. I still don't think it is the way to finish the story though, I want to know what happens after the gasp for breath.

 

[Axeldeath]

ZR6-u8OIJTE

 

Well I'm just finding a treasure trove of this stuff tonight. Mass Effect 3 MP in 1 years time?

 

BRB vomiting.

[Geneaux486]

 

The differences, so striking

 

choose your laser, now in 3 colors!

 

Stop the Collectors, with varying numbers of caskets in your cargo bay! Stop Nazara, choose your very own human Council member! I guess what really confuses me is why people liked the rest of the Mass Effect series if they didn't like the ending.

 

I get that you say they do matter outside of that actual ending itself, but that can only be inffered even, considering the radical change in the galaxy post-battle and that we are never show or told really anything that is confirmed to happen.

 

By the end of the game we know what each character's next plans are, and we know whether or not they survive the choice Shepard makes. I don't see how halting the final sequence that's meant to be about Shepard alone to spell it out for us would make for a better ending.

 

Bottomline, no matter how much Garrus says he wants to go get some drinks, we have no idea what the hell happened to any of them and these lasers and the Normady crash are all we got.

 

We're given more than enough information to arrive at a conclusion of our own.

 

That theory would also explain why the only ending that Shepard can live on is the Destroy ending. It would point that that is the only one where you are actually able to beat the indoctrination as you stick to your goal through the three games.

 

Shepard only survives the destroy ending if your EMS is high enough, and in that case, everyone on Earth survives as well, as you can see in the cutscene. If Shepard were indoctrinated, odds are he'd have shown signs of it long ago with all the time he's spent around Reaper tech. Very unlikely that the final sequence is an illusion. Maybe the way Shepard sees the Crucible choices is rendered by the Catalyst so his human mind can comprehend them, similar to what Legion did for him in Concensus, but we clearly see the Shepard's choice have its intended effect each time. Furthermore, what the Catalyst says about the evolutionary process brings full circle a subplot that has been developing over all three games. The irony that while the Reapers tried to control organic evolution, they actually wound up causing all organic life in general to adapt and evolve enough to resist the Reapers. Best laid plans and all that. It's not a new concept to the series either, Nazara himself said it was their goal to impose order on the chaos of organic evolution, and the fact that the Protheans were able to disrupt the cycle enough to where the Reapers had to fly to the Milky Way under their own power proved that galactic civilization was starting to adapt.

 

[Kirkreng]

The hate all started with the demo, which, while I agree took some getting used to, apparently some people can't get past it. So they rated ME3, the entire game, as low as possible on Metacritic I mean what the hell? So now we already have a bad taste in our mouth, let's nitpick everything else while we're at it!

That is something that is bothering me. Why do all metacritic reviews get put in the same box?

This is how I view metacritic:

First of all: Ignore scores. ALL OF THEM. Scores will always to some extend be based on opinion. And to add to that the current sittuation with game scores are fucked up(Everything lower than 8 is downright shit and somehow official game critics think something as a 10 out of 10, in other words the perfect game exists).

Secondly, to a large degree ignore official reviews. Most of them just seem to have payed written all over them.

 

Now the user reviews, this is where I think you should actually look. There usually is no threat of payed reviews so that's a good thing. The thing is now just that you have to find a sensible review. And even that is not that hard. If you see a review that starts out with: TH1S G4M3 SUX, I BOYCOTTED IT AND P1RATED IT LULZ, don't waste a second on it. Look for reviews which have arguments for and against the game based on objectivity and facts. Now a review is pretty much always going to have opinion. But even that is backed up by reason in a good review.

 

I think it a bad idea to simply ignore the voice of other people all together. If you put effort into finding a review that is actually good then you will be more informed on making your decision to buy a game. You just have to be able to look through all the bullshit.

[Alyxx Thorne]

User reviews tend to be really biased in a lot of the cases.

[Geneaux486]

Basically with Mass Effect 3 ignore metacritic. The onslaught of negative reviews and scores, even the seemingly well thought out ones, are the product of either blind rage at the "From Ashes" DLC or part of a troll campaign (Ashley Williams' little secret was a lie as well).

[Kirkreng]

Blind rage/troll campaign reviews aren't well thought out.

[Geneaux486]

They can look pretty damn well thought out, and that's the key. Less common with blind rage reviews, but troll campaigns can (and often do) look legit.