Raithe

I can deal with the whole "sometimes crud happens, no matter what you do." and having dark endings. What I find horrible is the fact that your choices don't actually play into it in anyway, and you get no closure or sense of what happens after the events. If only they'd done one of their epilogues that gave some rough sketches of how people/events shaped because of your choices, even after giving you a blue/orange/green ending.

Ah well. In the endings.. yeah. I can't really say. Hm, the music isn't half-bad for what they're attempting to do. But there's no sense of closure (at least, none that I really picked up) and it pretty much seems to invalidate all the sacrifices you made getting there.

I thought the whole Tuchanka: Shroud mission was really well done. The mix of humour from Wrex, the bittersweet nature of Mordin, the well-paced action sequences between the two moods.. The way they wove in previous squad mates into the story depending on whether they survived/were loyal or not was nicely handled. I might have wished for more, but what was there was quite smoothly done. Dealing with the Quarians and Geth felt quite satisfying. Well, right up until the ending made it feel there was no real point to having done it..

And for those who might have missed it. Casey Hudson's letter to the ME community:

Throwing in a mix of devil's advocate here.. The Collectors were an asset, in that they do genetic profiles of the alien races - They kidnap various creatures and perform experiments on them over the years that the Reaper's are in Dark Space. Thus providing intelligence that the Reapers use to plan their "invasion sweeps". Also highlighting which races are suitable for uplifting to "full Reaper", which to send to the lesser reapers, and which to use just for the various Husk models.. Plus they can act as a form of early "fifth column". Since they had already provided the majority of that data to the Reapers, the only thing you get by wiping them out is stopping their "early collection" of humanity and removing the potential fifth column aspect. It made Shepard a bigger hero to the human alliance, and not even all of them. Half the universe couldn't really be bothered, and how many of them actually heard about it? It's not as if it made the Galactic News, to most people outside the Terminus the Collectors are pretty much an Urban Myth. And for the majority of the game, people thought Cerberus might be behind the missing colonies. Whilst Shep might have been willing to work with them over it, everyone else still saw Cerberus as that shady, terrorist organisation. The team wasn't gathered to fight the Reapers later. They were brought forth as being uniquely skilled, that could potentially be useful on a suicide mission. None of them really expected to make it out alive. So seeing as you likely solved a lot of their personal issues, as well as keeping them alive - They needed time to unwind and figure out where/who they were in the galaxy after it. Combien with Shep most likely dropping them off before he handed himself over to the Alliance. Since pretty much most of the team have criminal pasts and he couldn't be guaranteed they'd be let free on his say so. Although, when you get down to it, each Loyal Crew member who is alive is worth 25 War Assets. Hell, some entire fleet's are only worth a couple of hundred.. I'd say that's going to count for something. Just because their skills might be more useful in not-quite-so-direct ways. Such as Kasumi's technical knowledge helping the Crucible Project (and her ability to find/acquire useful items that might not be shared otherwise). Partly that comes down to more of a roleplaying choice. What type of person your Shepard is. Does he think the shortcut and potential dangers are worth it? Will he put principles first and not worry about whether he can trust the Illusive Man? Although on a strictly numbers game, the Collector base can provide a couple of nice boosts to your War Assets if you saved it. If you don't, you only get access to the.. Reaper Heart I believe, which is about 100 War Assets worth. If you saved it, there's about triple the War Assets in Reaper-tech of some sort.

Yeah. I don't see tv adverts, I don't listen to the radio, internet news doesn't exactly flash up in advance warning.. Although I have seen a few adverts for the American mother's day..but that's a totally different date to ours. So it kind of crept up on me unaware of the date. And the other 360 odd days of the year being her carer don't count.

So apparently I'm in the dog house because I didn't know it was Mother's day today...

It's almost as if he's saying that every event within ME3 from the time you hit "new game" to the moment the credits roll should be treated as the culmination and ending. The matters of the genophage, or the settling of the quarrian/geth war, because you deal with them, those are "endings". That the actual last minutes of the game are just a small portion of the total finish. Which to me seems a very warped way to view the third part in a trilogy. I mean, yes, the whole process wraps up elements introduced in the previous two parts, but the culmination of the story is the ending. Not the entire third part of the trilogy. If the culmination has no sense of closure... And I can agree with Tale, while there were a lot of elements of struggle against a potentially hopeless situation, you were overcoming and winning. The defeat of Sovereign, the destruction of the Collector's base, the fact that the Council finally freaking believed you. That you got everyone organised and following.. and gave them hope. To go through the Shroud, and Mordin's sacrifice.. the way that led to that hope.. and then the ending of the game took away all meaning from that event.

Bendu, did the ending actually reflect any of the choices you made in the game? Did you actually feel a sense of closure to the investment in the decisions you'd made and the effects your Shepard had on the galaxy? Did the developers outrightly say "we won't give you an A, B, or C ending" and "we plan to answer all your questions"? Did they in fact give you an A, B, or C ending? And were questions actually answered? Did the end sequence (not just the cutscene) actually relate in any serious coherent manner to the previous games?

That's the thing, nothing is really answered. What you do get is a whole bunch of added questions. Oh, sorry, you get told that the reason the synthetic Reapers were created and do the whole cycle of killing organics? Is to prevent organics reaching a point of advancement where they can create synthetics that would kill all organics..

The one thing I still want to ponder on.. Part of ME1 was the whole. Sovereign getting access to the Citadel, which would let him summon the rest of the Reapers directly to the Citadel, and also allow them to shut down all the other Mass Relays... So, the ending reveals And for the other minor plothole.. The Reapers "abduct" the Citadel and take it to Earth.. why the hell didn't they then use it to shut down the Mass Relays as they always do and was part of their original Plan A?? Also, one point for the whole series has been that when the Citadel shuts its "arms" it's pretty much untakeable, But.. There's a freaking big open hole at one end of the cyclinder... Exactly how hard is it for a few starships to fly into an opening that's roughly 7km in diameter?

For a slight amusement value: Warren Spector on Deus Ex Human Revolution And for the challenge:

I'd say it's the contrast. 90% of the game is rather well crafted, and elements from the previous two games are woven in nicely. But to have that sudden reversal of quality on the final ten minutes.. It's jarring and it stands out.

Yeah, the bits about Really hit the death nail on the "Indoctrination Theory" that so many people have been pinning hope on...

http://penny-arcade.com/comic/ - The leaked dlc "Happy Ending".. "The krogan baked you a cake!"

That is a certain.. possibility. It would make an interesting attempt. But it would also be a very dangerous thing to try. But whether it's at all likely is a totally nother matter...

Hm, and apparently: The save files have specific tags that specify what kind of ending you have achieved for importing and are labeled as the following: ? Blaze of Glory ? Not Finished ? Live to Fight Another Day Although I have yet to actually confirm that elsewhere...

Oh and in regards to the Indoctrination Theory

Whilst I'm aware that there has been some.. really rabid antisocial rants about the endings, I do find it a wee bit troubling that the majority of the people responding in positive statements about the ME3 endings are basically saying that ALL negative comments are "whiny, rabid fanboi's" who "haven't got a happy ending where their Shep walked off with the Alien Love Chick of their choice". Or resorting to the "It's a relevant ending, it's intellectual and MYSTERIOUS. It's not meant to be understood. I get what it meant and like it." It seems that no-ones willing to admit even the possibility that there might be a relevant issue here.

You know.. this could really reinforce my random thought that the whole thing is a dream. Shepard actually died on Eden Prime after getting hit by the Prothean Beacon, and the last three games have just been his neurons firing randomly as he dies...

Homeless as a Wi-Fi Transmitter For the quirky debate. I can actually see around both sides of some of this debate. Still, the whole "My Name is Clarence. I'm Your 4G Hotspot" does kind of amuse me...

And for more Casey Hudson quotes I don't complain that there's mystery and some question "where does the universe go from here". I complain that the end of a freaking trilogy has no closure, and no real coherency with everything that's gone before in the trilogy.

They used to lick their own eyes!

I believe he meant

I'd buy it now. You can get 30+ hours of enjoyment out of it. The journey is fine. The gameplay is decent, and there's some truly nice moments in it. Hell, the Priority: Tuchanka piece manages to go from amusing moments to some really bittersweet and it does so coherently and works. From Wrex's "My advice, avoid the giant laser beam..." to Mordin's "Anyone else might do it wrong." The main issue people have with it is the final 10 minutes that ends the story. Oh, and the beginning is a bit drawn out. It takes about 2-3 hours introduction and partial tutorials spread across a couple of missions and a hunk of intro cutscenes.