Oh I’m aware of that. The fact that it’s a that kid Shepard has been obsessing over not saving, isn’t what is shitty about it. What is shitty about it is the introduction of this character in literally the last 10 minutes. The Prothean VI did elude to the Reapers being “servants of the cycle”, but still. Bad storytelling. It’s as if Bioware watched Matrix 2 and decided “We need to do something like that.”
The psychoanalytical visual guide to the indoctrination theory 
Spoiler: examines elements from multiple endings
Correct. Not all relays are the same. The Alpha Relay was a primary relay destroyed from without while charging up for a long range extragalactic jump to bring reapers into the galaxy - the result was a catastrophic uncontrolled explosion of that pent up eezo energy. Previously it was mentioned another relay had remained undamaged by a nearby supernova explosion.
What happens in ME3 is a chain reaction between secondary relays releasing controlled directed energy from one to the next. Each relay buckled or possibly even self-destructed after its transmission. I think the difference is well supported by Mass Effect’s established lore.
Oh, and TIL Joker can apparently fracture his thumb pressing a mute button, or break a rib sneezing, but crash landing? No problem!
Good point. However in one ending Joker is not Joker anymore but synthesized new life form Joker. Smiling EDI is not herself either, likewise she’s been infused with emotionally human Shepard bits. Yuck.
I’m really disappointed that Bioware resorted to a MacGuffin like the “star child” to end this one-of-a-kind epic. I feel like I did at the end of Matrix 2.
“Star child” shows up in The Final Hours of Mass Effect 3, evidently this is how Bioware referred to the Catalyst character. Not having an iPad, I’ve only seen excerpts so far. PC/Audiobook versions coming soon. 
Famously, Arthur Clarke’s Star Child is the glowing fetus floating in space seen at the end of 2001: A Space Odyssey. This entity is explained in the novel but notoriously not in the film. The Star Child is David Bowman, manipulated by the alien Watchers into a giant leap forward for human evolution.
I’m waiting for a big ending to a big space opera that doesn’t tap into 2001: A Space Odyssey. This is definitely beginning to be a bad habit in recent years.
But I think most expected an answer to, “Where do Reapers come from?” The organic species expect Reapers to destroy all life. This is not true. The Reapers think organic life is an accident. This is not true either. All along, there is a larger truth waiting to be told since the beginning of the story.
Neither the Catalyst or its Reapers are understood to be ex nihilo. The Catalyst is an advanced AI who survived the destructive cycle of organics and their machines millions of years prior. It is like an extremely sophisticated Prothean beacon, but vastly older and from another race or the sole surviving product of many races. But the beacons are passive, while its self appointed task or designated responsibility is to actively prevent the occurrence of self extinctions by pruning back those emerging civilizations that have reached the capability of technological suicide of galactic scale. And we do have multiple examples of similar causes, effects and solutions already existing in the present cycle. There is the threat of the Geth. The Krogan genophage is nothing but a smaller scale version of the 50,000 year anniversary Reaping. Both are policies of containment for dangerous unavoidable phenomenons that won’t go away and must be dealt with. Just like the genophase has gone on for a thousand years and arguably outlived its original purpose, maybe the same is true for the Reapers. Millions of years is a whole lot of cycles. The unattended evolution of life can’t be that deterministic. It is too accidental.
In the Catalyst’s opinion, its genocidal remedy is a far better fate than the natural disease left unchecked. Sometime in the distant past, that was probably true. But does this original sin still apply to Mass Effect’s present, with these people and their races you have to come to know so well? That’s for your Shepard to decide. In Mass Effect’s present, the very first galactic fleet formed for the purpose of defending the galaxy, not to conquer it. This was not true for the Protheans who were bent on building a monolithic galactic empire. Cause for hope that things have finally changed. 'Cuz Humans have finally arrived on the scene! WE RULE! How anthropomorphic is that?
In my opinion, the Catalyst is equivalent to “It” from Battlestar Galactica. Something that watches and waits with inhuman patience, then acts when forced to. We never got to meet It directly in BSG. We only know of if its existence through its messengers. We do in Mass Effect. So is that better or worse as endings go? Deus Ex Machina is an epithet tossed around too easily, I don’t think it correctly applies to either story.
I’ve been thinking about the oddly circular logic of the Catalyst a lot during my current game of ME3 and I wondered something. If the whole point of the Reapers is to actually prevent the chaos that organic life causes when they create artificial life shouldn’t the Reapers have actually showed up long ago when the Quarians created the Geth? That was the exact type of chaos the Reapers are supposed to prevent.
Honestly, the Catalyst’s logic for the Reapers existence was some of the most circular logic I’ve ever seen used to explain the reasons why something was done, it made less sense to me than the last 2 Matrix films did. In order to prevent organic life from creating synthetic life that wipes them out we’re going to create synthetic life that will wipe out advanced organic life every 50,000 years or so to create new synthetic life. Did it really not occur to the Starchild that he was doing exactly was he was trying to prevent?
well in response to the showing up when the Geth revolution happened, I don’t think they actually keep eyes in the galaxy non stop, they just wipe out all advanced civilizations and figure that by the time they get back the non advanced ones will be about ripe for it, perhaps the Quarians just did it faster than normal
as for his whole “LOL I’m gonna have synthetic’s wipe out organics to stop organics from being wiped out by synthetics!” part, there was the whole point that they harvest the species and keep part of them as apart of the Reapers…in some twisted way perhaps he sees this as better than regular synthetics just wiping organics out and keeping nothing around of them…not saying I agree one bit with it but that’s the vibe I got is that how the Catalyst was rationalizing it
I also wonder what exactly the Reapers judgement is for ‘advanced’ civilizations, for example had they showed up a couple hundred years earlier, say like the 1980s where Humans have space travel but were unable to leave the solar system, would they have then been added to the ‘exterminate’ list or not?
Before the inclusion of the Starchild it wouldn’t have bothered me a bit that the Reapers didn’t come during the original Quarian/Geth conflict because until we found out about him/it the only Reapers that were suppose to have been in the area before the invasion were the dead one that Cerberus was investigating that we got the IFF from in ME2 and Sovereign. Harbinger was most likely in the core with the Collector’s and controlling their movements probably since the formation of the council and the rise of galactic civilization. Since we know that Catalyst is the Citadel and that the Starchild has always been a part of the Citadel and it’s either some kind of god or really advanced AI that controls the Reapers and the cycles of extinction, it should have a pretty good idea of what goes on in the galaxy and I would have expected that the advent of synthetic life would be a sign that the cycle has ended and it’s time for a new one to begin. But maybe it didn’t think the Geth were intelligent enough.
I still can’t see anything rational about it’s plan for ending the chaos of organic life creating synthetic life, especially when every time I’ve managed to broker peace between the Quarians and the Geth which using it’s logic and rational shouldn’t be able to happen. Synthetic life should always wipe out their organic creators.
I think they consider a civilization advanced if it’s discovered their relay network and the Citadel. That’s the only thing I could think the Reapers would use for determining how advanced a civilization is. I don’t think 1980 Earth would qualify because even though we would have had space travel we would not have used the relays nor would we be in contact with the other races in the galaxy. 1980 technology compared to ME3 technology is still very much not advanced. We were still using floppy disks and tapes. Cd’s were still fairly new and our tv’s were huge.
I’m not seeing the problem. The goal of the Reapers is the classic military doctrine of denial: remove the enemies ability to wage war. These days that involves air bombing someone back to the stone age. It is measured devastation with a planned stopping point.
The potential to destroy the galaxy, or make it unfit for habitation, does not seem to be within the grasp of the council races technology but then again we don’t know about the first cause that got the Catalyst started on its galactic conservationist kick. Taking a wild guess, I’d say the offense is that all space faring races have weaponized element zero and mass effect fields. That’s a thinly disguised allegory about dual use technology if ever there was one. What is dark energy? In science fiction, it’s anything you want it to be. Misused can dark energy make the galaxy go 'splodey? Why not. Humans recently created an artificial supernova explosion, the greatest destructive event we know of that can occur in the universe. (They threw a rock at a relay but it still counts.) We watch most supernovae happen in other galaxies. Not so many in the Milky Way itself.
It’s one of several story points intimating the Reapers have outlived their original purpose, that this cycle is unique among cycles. That’s not outlandish because countless past cycles have all contributed to the design of the Crucible. This cycle is the first to actually start and finish construction.
I got a new line from EDI where she speculates the Reapers could be 50,000? to 37,000,000 years old. Whut? Wasn’t there something… a little factoid well buried in ME2, see Klendagon and Derelict Reaper. Xboxer’s should carefully review their ME2 achievements before playing ME3. This is one of them, “Discover an enemy’s monstrous origin.” Sovereign and Harbinger spout what sounds like dogma. They may not know the facts behind why they do what they do. They may not know of the Catalyst as an entity that created and controls them.
Mass Effect 3 ending-related discussion is exactly what I wanted to wake up and read after beating Mass Effect 3 yesterday. I’m not even sure if I want to replay it because I felt like the ending was such a weird letdown, the whole rest of the game had such attention to detail with plot and the series in general strives to make sense within its mythos, then this ending shows up that makes no sense, with the ship crashing, and the mass relays being destroyed, WTF? In a game that makes choice its main draw, it doesn’t let me choose something else? Is anybody else signing one of those petitions? This ending might be the letdown of the year for me…I can’t remember a videogame ending that I thought was more BS since the Halo 2 ending.
I feel your pain (as do many of us) JZA.
I beat the game last week, and at the time said I was done with it and didn’t want to play again. My anger and disappointment has subsided, however, and I’m starting to look forward to another playthrough.
I have decided to ignore the final 10 minutes and instead concentrate on the first 39 hours 45 minutes (I beat the game after 39:55), which were some of the best video gaming I’ve ever had the joy of doing.
I’m maybe halfway into the game? Not sure. In any case, I’d be doing the geth reaper base mission soon, and I feel like I’m being set up to either side with the Quarians - who besides Tali I loathe (yeah, I totally punched that admiral when given the opportunity, even if I’m aiming to be paragon shepard this time around. I chose to shoot Udina too. Some renegade points are worth it. I’m really happy about the reputation points system in me3 because it allows my shepard not to be so one-sidedly paragon/renegade. :D) - or the Geths.
If that is the case, would I lose a whole lot of war assets if I side with the Geths instead of the Quarians? Because if it comes down to it, I would take the geths over the quarians. Unless of course, it means I lose an irreparable amount of war assets. I’m currently at around 3200 or so. And I guess there’s the Tali factor. I don’t want to lose her, but I would pick Legion over Tali. And there’s the loyalty factor. I would throw a fit if the Geths end up betraying me or something in the end battle. Tsk tsk, so many choices. (unless there isn’t one after all. But the Quarian/Geth situation is even worse than the Krogans/Salarians, so I think it seems pretty likely I’d have to choose here too.)
I’m not going to spoil anything for you, but I AM going to suggest you save before you shoot a big laser from a balcony. Don’t make an autosave. Go to the menu and make a real save.
That way, if you get an ending that you simply cannot live with, you can go back and not play the entire mission again like I did
I thought this vid was pretty funny:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mShPUudWE7s
Just reminds me of all the other franchises that were great, but definitely had a bit of a letdown with the ending. Now I’m trying to think of some franchises that I was more or less completely satisfied through the end of the story…the most recent one that comes to mind is Gears of War. Mass Effect should have taken its place.
So, is anybody up for some ME3 multiplayer? My Xbox gamertag: insurgentt
I’d definitely be up for some multiplayer, but with my schedule it’ll probably have to wait until the weekend.
BioWare recently posted to their Facebook page that they “haven’t ruled out” changing the ending.
http://kotaku.com/5894485/bioware-says-it-hasnt-ruled-out-changing-mass-effect-3s-ending
This is a curious statement, because it has the potential for unduly leading on many thousands of people that have complained and would like to see a different ending. Now that they’ve said this, if they don’t do something they risk an even bigger backlash.
That quote on Facebook plus the fact that they have a specific thread on the BSN and a few people gathering fans input I figure we are more likely to see something even if it is only a DLC of “alternate” endings while leaving the original endings intact than not, especially because of the rage on the BSN forums, at this point. I don’t think we will see them change the endings they wanted b/c that’s the story they wanted to tell but I could see them doing alternate endings for fans especially now that even the BBC has picked up the story on the fan outrage at the endings. It’s getting them a lot of bad press at the moment and turning away a lot of loyal customers, I’m not one of them because I’m happy taking what I like of the destroy ending and making up the rest to get the ending I want.
A lot of the fan input Casey Hudson mentioned in his statement about the endings that made it in to the games (for example the Tali and Garrus romances, the gay/lesbian romances and even the FemShep trailer and inclusion on the box art) came out of campaign’s and requests on their official forums. Bioware does actually have a good track record of listening to their fans and giving them what they want. In fact the only request I’ve seen a lot over there that didn’t end up in the game at some point was Joker as a romance option for Shep.
Oh boy. So this was the mission you redid. Thanks for the tip. Damn, what did you do? Oh no, poop, great, if i choose the geths, does tali die, and if i choose the quarians, legion dies? Is that it? OMG i hate this game sometimes.
For what it’s worth, my own advice is to do what you feel in your heart is right. When I got to the decisive moment between the two sides, I half doubled over in pain. It took almost 5 minutes to make a choice even though I knew what to do from the start. And when I did, I was ready to restart the game entirely if it went as bad as it could have. It really is a “hold your breath” moment. Fortunately, I came away from it with the feeling that the Shepard character as a whole is one of the great heroes ever created in sci fi. If it goes right for you, the satisfaction will be immense. I don’t recall what my reputation numbers were or what level my Shepard was so I can’t advise you there.
There’s a third way. I’m not entirely sure of the specifics but it depends on earlier decisions, including some in ME2.
I read the entire press release he made and this is why Bioware is my favorite developer and why I didn’t go all blood rage and say I was never going to buy a Bioware game again like I saw many of the fans over on the BSN say they would. Bioware is one of the few developers that actually listens to their fans, that’s why Garrus and Tali became love interests in ME2, it’s the rpg elements were expanded in ME3, it’s why there are gay/lesbian love interests in ME3 and it’s why they actually did some marketing with FemShep for ME3 all of those had huge fan supported requests over on the BSN or in the case of Tali and Garrus the old official Bioware forums.
Ok, so I think I’ve had about a week to think on my Mass Effect 3 experience.
Quick notes:
- Completing Tuchanka and then the Cerberus/Citadel intrigue immediately after was a major heartbreaker.
- It was great having most of the original ME1 crew back together again.
- On the other hand, it was a pity that more of the ME2 crew didn’t come back for more than a cameo/guest appearance in a mission, if that at all. (Thane! I get misty every time I pass by Life Support).
- I can’t remember the last game I played where I went from emotionally devastated (Tuchanka/Citadel/Rannoch) to furious cursing (Rannoch Reaper) to utter rage (Kai Leng). In fact, I still dream up interesting ways to get revenge on Kai Leng from time to time. I don’t think I’ve ever hit the renegade interrupt so fast!
So, the ending(s). I’m fairly happy with what I chose. Yes, given the option, I would have preferred something happier, but I respect that they gave me three very tough options to choose from. I do not like the bit with the Normandy, totally unnecessary AND nonsensical. Kaidan was with me during the push to the beam and then he steps off the downed shuttle with Joker and EDI? WTF? Why wasn’t I invited? It probably would have taken another 50,000 years to limp there anyway. I’m not sure why a similar scene couldn’t have been achieved on Earth (i.e. blast sends Normandy into a forced landing and ooh look, pretty leaves!). I wish I could have picked the “red” ending, but I just couldn’t after knowing Legion and EDI’s stories.
I don’t mind the kid/Catalyst, I just figured the Catalyst chose a form from my own imagination, ala Contact or Gozer the Traveller, so I don’t get too distracted and/or freak out (no dad, giant marshmallow man, or horrifying tentacle beast).