Mass Effect 3: It Ends Here

[Bells]

So, the Extended Cut is out. Shall we blabber about it one last time?

Also, they DID add a brand new ending, actually influenced by the fans! The Refusal ending is now the 4th choice



It's pretty much the definition of "Bittersweet".

Here is the new take on the Control Ending (this one actually works for me now, it was the one i picked the first time and oh boy was i underwhelmed by it...)



And this is the Destroy ending



Mind you that all of these might have variables directed to your own game but the overall framework of all of them is pretty much set as showed above.

Ah and of course, the new Synthesis ending.



Mind you that the way these are all presented, there is no "perfect" ending, there is YOUR ending... what i mean is that it seems all these endings are paralell. There doesn't seem to be an ending above the others or a "true" ending like most games... so one ending can't really contradict the other because they are all supposed to fall into your interpretation of them ...

There might be more stuff to uncover and see, but this is the meat of it, so have at it fellas!

[EVILNess]

The ending of the Synthesis ending.

I swear I expected an elderly Simon to bust out and yell at them for stealing the end of Gurren Lagann.

[Ryong]

Refusal and Destroy are basically idiocy: the endings. Refusal, oh okay you gave the reapers the finger and didn't do shit. Destroy, hey, you killed a lot of people along with the reapers because cybernetics.

Control and Synthesis are similar in the end, but with different means.

Not a bad fix, but still, hey, pick what ending you want at the end.

[Pip Boy]

Im frustrated that there doesn't seem to be an option that leads to the reapers going away without tremendous amounts of meddling in galactic culture/life.

Like a "you and your thrice damned reapers go back to the hole from whence you came and let us keep doin what we were doin" option.

[Ryong]

Originally Posted by Pip Boy

Im frustrated that there doesn't seem to be an option that leads to the reapers going away without tremendous amounts of meddling in galactic culture/life.

Like a "you and your thrice damned reapers go back to the hole from whence you came and let us keep doin what we were doin" option.

It seems they're too thick-headed to get a message across that doesn't involve exploding every mass relay ever.

[stefan]

I like how Refusal is more or less an overt middle finger aimed at everyone who rightfully pointed out how much of a lazy cop-out the original endings were.

Im frustrated that there doesn't seem to be an option that leads to the reapers going away without tremendous amounts of meddling in galactic culture/life.

Like a "you and your thrice damned reapers go back to the hole from whence you came and let us keep doin what we were doin" option.

but we can't have that because HURR DURR BITTERSWEET ENDINGS, DURR HURR I AM LITERARY EXPERT.

Really, I never got why people were so pissily opposed to the possibility of a golden ending anyway, as if it would somehow devalue the game if it was possible to legitimately have an unambiguously good outcome. To which I say, fuck you; three games, hundreds of hours of effort, and countless examples of motherfucking heroism later, I think Shepard and co. have done more than enough to warrant a legit happy ending without any livejournal-esque "happy endings are passe and disney and I hate them because I only like mature bittersweet stories for mature bittersweet people such as myself" bullshit.

[Ryong]

Man, did you see how the Control and Synthesis ending are now, specially Synthesis?

If that shit isn't golden happy ending forever I don't know what is.

[stefan]

Originally Posted by Ryong

Man, did you see how the Control and Synthesis ending are now, specially Synthesis?

If that shit isn't golden happy ending forever I don't know what is.

Control basically turns shepard into motherfucking SHODAN, and Synthesis, while close (which it should be, since its the one you have to work to get) still has the annoying token bullshit of "mass relays blowing up everywhere, Shepard dead," etc. etc.)

Really, that rant was more in general than anything, its an annoying trend I see gaining prominence in the gaming community.

[Ryong]

Originally Posted by stefan

Control basically turns shepard into motherfucking SHODAN, and Synthesis, while close (which it should be, since its the one you have to work to get) still has the annoying token bullshit of "mass relays blowing up everywhere, Shepard dead," etc. etc.)

Really, that rant was more in general than anything, its an annoying trend I see gaining prominence in the gaming community.

Synthesis has the knowledge of every single race the reapers killed and the reapers themselves mixed and used for eternal peace and shit. Shepard died to make the universe perfect, pretty much.

[Bells]

The mass relays no longer explode in any of the endings they make it quite clear that they simply "break" and stop working for a while. The control ending actually even shows Shepard controlling the Reapers to repair them.

Shepard being dead was never a big issue with me, in really epic stories it's only token to have the big epic hero to be the ultimate sacrifice itself. So i'm fine with that.

The deal here is that every ending has Positive and Negatives and people wanted some sort of "perfect ending" where everything is positive. And that's... just not going to happen in this narrative. And i'm actually ok with that.

My problem with the previous ending was just how poorly and rushed it all seemed, fairly lackluster compared to everything leading up to it. They did a pretty decent job fixing that... actually much better than what i was expecting.

As far as remaining professional and owning up to their own screw ups i think they did a honorable job here. It's not perfect... but hell, it's decent.

And c'mon let's face it... having a game with a decent ending is not all that common lately.

I like how the new ending is at the same time a middle finger AND a nod to the fanbase. I mean, it's pretty much a wink to the Indoctrination theory while at the same time being "Fine, you wanna be stubborn and die with dignity, here it is..."

in the end you still win anyway, cause the final shot of the "Future Family" talks about how they clearly beat the Reapers in the next cycle thanks to the recordings of Liara.

Synthesis and control were REALLY improved and made much better this time, so much that Control became satisfying to me. and Synthesis really is a happy ending after all.

I also liked how they added a SECOND nod to Shepard being alive on Destroy. There is the "Last Breath" thing, but it's also the ONLY ending where Liara doesn't put Shepard's name on the Board of the dead people. And even gives a timid smile right before it changes scenes...


EDIT:

Also i got this from the ME Forums

One of the goals for the Extended Cut, as part of addressing player feedback, was to provide more time with the love interest, and more opportunity for players to say goodbye to them and provide additional moments of connection between them. We did this in several ways:
Shepard can now actually say goodbye to the love interest when they are split up at the conduit run.

When Shepard sees flashbacks of important characters during the final decision, the flashbacks are now variable based on your playthrough – so your love interest can appear as one of the flashbacks, providing another moment of reflection between Shepard and that character.

A memorial scene was added, partly to show a close bond between Shepard and the love interest. The scene is variable, and if Shepard has a love interest in a given playthrough, it will be that character who places Shepard’s name on the memorial wall.

You may notice that in the “Shepard lives” ending, the love interest hesitates to place Shepard’s name on the wall, and instead looks up as though deep in thought. This is meant to suggest that the love interest is not ready to believe Shepard is dead, and the final scene reveals they are correct. As the Normandy lifts off, there is hope that the love interest and Shepard will again be together.

...which kinds looks like it exploded in a mix of Rage, Denial and Fanfare... quite interesting to observe really.