That scene is the part about the ending that annoys me the most. Since Liara is my Shep’s LI she’s always on the Normandy when it crashes and I can’t buy that Liara and Joker would both escape on the Normandy and leave my Shepard behind after what happened at the beginning of ME2 since those 2 were the last 2 to see my Shepard alive before she died when the Collector’s blew up the ship. Especially since Liara is always a member of the squad running toward the beam with my Shepard just a few minutes before so it boggles the mind as to how she magically got from the destruction in front of the beam to the Normandy. I’d prefer to have that scene completely gone instead of reuniting with the crew later because of how WTF? it is.
I guess we’ll see. The statement Bioware makes it sound a little less than likely that they’ll do much different from what we’ve seen. I don’t think “clarification” is what anyone was actually looking for. But it’s just the announcement of the DLC, so who knows what will be in it at this point? I want to believe it’ll make things better, but I’m skeptical based on what they’ve said, and the fact that it seems like the writers have been in a bunker since ME3 released. Honestly, they could just clarify what’s already there without taking up time and resources. If my work had been under this much scrutiny and I really believed in it, I’d be the loudest voice defending it. It’s so strange that the writing team has been silent through all this. Seems like the lack of communication had been the big problem. Everything would be better if the real talent actually had a chance to just speak for themselves and flesh their vision to the people that paid for the game.
If the DLC will provide some new info that absolutely none of us had considered before, then I’d be surprised. That whole Normandy desertion mess is just a mess if Indoctrination is not the answer, along with reuniting Shepard with the crew on some distant planet. The Bioware team is going to have to display some real writing space magic to have Shepard still be alive if she did actually reach the Citadel. The cynic in me sees this announcement right before PAX as a move politicians make to appear to have addressed people’s concerns just to try to change the subject. The optimist still has his fingers crossed hoping these guys didn’t forget how great they can be and deliver on this.
One concern I have is who (if anyone) they’ll have actually talk. Bringing in Martin Sheen for a day of new Illusive Man dialog (as an example) would probably be pretty expensive for something they’re not going to be making money from.
I know Jennifer Hale has said she hasn’t been back in the studio for it but if they are using some of the stuff they originally cut out they may not have a lot if anything to record.
Haha! Love the idea, and the price, but not too hot on the actual shirt.
So, I finished ME3 on Sunday. Been thinking about the endings and doing a lot of reading ever since. There are lot of problems with the last few minutes and endings.
First and foremost, I disagree with the premise of the Catalyst, that Organics and Synthetics can never have peace. I spent the entire second act of ME3 proving that the Geth and Quarians can both exist peacefully. We spent the last two games showing that even a Cerberus AI could learn to be alive, and be trustworthy. The fact that Shepard does not call out the Catalyst on this is disappointing.
The Normandy running away from a giant explosion then crashing part is extra weird. Some of you mentioned that you saw your squad mates get out of the ship at the end. I had Ash and Garrus with me, neither were Love Interests, but they were two of my favorite characters, and I had no idea what happened to them at the end of the game.
I don’t really like any of the final three choices. The ending that somebody here posted from Deviant Art is much more in line with how ALL of the Shepards have acted in the past. Namely, the will to keep fighting:
Child: We are the salvation of all life. We have swept away all before us. We will do so again.
Shepard: By blindsiding your targets through the Citadel! By coercing us into a trap with the relays! You’ve always picked off your opponents independently! You used the same tactic with the Collectors! You’ve never had to stand and fight the combined might of a galaxy united!
Child: Your arrogance will only lead to your destruction. Choose.
Shepard: No. We killed Sovereign. We killed the Reaper at the collector base. We killed them on Rannoch, on Tuchanka, and down there! We stopped you from using the Alpha relay, and you’re spread thin. The Illusive Man found out how to control your armies, disrupt your signal. That’s why you attacked him, you were scared. We can beat you.
Here is the whole thing in case you missed it: http://arkis.deviantart.com/art/Mass-Effect-3-Alternate-Endings-SPOILERS-289902125
The final choice should be:
- Control the Reapers, to send them back into dark space, but they may come back in the future or threaten other galaxies.
- Ditch the Catalyst and choose to fight the Reapers head on. If your military strength is high enough, you win. If not, you loose, and Earth is lost.
Shepard’s death is fine with me. Sad, but necessary. A clip of your love interest weeping at the end, comforted by some of the other characters would say enough.
And last but not least, where was Harbinger? We don’t even see him, unless the Reaper at the end is him, but it’s not even clear. He was set up in ME2 and Arrival to be the main villain of the series. What happened?
Now, in defense of the endings.
First, I don’t understand the argument that the choices you make don’t matter. Of course they matter. Your Effective Military Strength is basically a total of all the choices you have made in the entire trilogy. That number does change the outcome of the entire mission on earth.
Second, the argument that you always have 2 (or 3) choices available to you regardless of what choices you made is invalid too. The big choices from the first two games worked the same way. No matter what you did in Mass Effect, at the end you can still choose to save or not save the council. Even if you agreed with The Illusive Man all throughout ME2, you can still choose to blow up the Collector base.
Third, I would have liked a big boss battle at the end, but I don’t think it was necessary.
Sorry for the long post, but I am at least glad to finally be part of the conversation about the ending.
Ya know, if they’d just had Sheppard throw the switch on the Citadel and then bleed to death sitting next to Anderson I would’ve been ok with that. Not sure if I’ looking forward to the DC or not, but the multiplayer is WAAAYY more fun than I thought it’d be.