Unwinnable Main Questline?

[Lord of Lost Socks]

Only way I could accept this is if there was, say, 5 ways to end the game, and 4 of them end in you losing or dying. And 1 is a happier ending.

[TheTeaMustFlow]

I definitely don't think the game would be at all better off with only sad endings or without closure. Remember that, according to some polls, 98% of players disliked the original ME3 ending. I like having a feeling of `winning` and I like to see the characters I follow in a story accomplish something. And knowing Obsidian, I don't think we're in any danger of some kind of `happily ever after` ending. The happiest we'll probably get is something along the lines of `We won, and things should be better from here on out... but we lost a lot doing it`.

 

Also, bear in mind that our speculation is before we know pretty much anything about the plot.

[WarriorMonk]

Having a depressing ending for the sake of having a depressing ending is pointless and straight up bad story telling. Same as having a happy ending for the sake of a happy ending. The story should unfold as makes sense for the context of the story told, not to simply satisfy a happy or depressing ending.

 

Comparing to serialized TV shows is a good comparison. A common thread amoung shows that I consider more successful fully embrace the consequences of its characters. They dont avoid consequences simple to have a specific ending. Star Trek: Deep Space 9 has a terrifically heart breaking ending. While the crew defeated their enemy, it also led to the crew being torn apart. Lost was the opposite. The desire to have a happy ending forced onto the story led to one of the most bizarre and pointless endings I have seen for a show as it avoided any consequence.