Posted on: Sunday, March 18th, 2012
Posted in: Featured
Comments: 830
Top 10 Reasons We Hate Mass Effect 3′s Ending
Angry Joe lists the Top 10 Reasons Why He Hates Mass Effect 3′s Ending and shares with you fan reaction and discussion on how the amazing sci-fi franchise from Bioware failed to deliver promises made.
What are your Top Reasons You Hated or even Liked the Ending? Grab a beer with Shepard and Garrus and leave your thoughts below!
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830 thoughts on “Top 10 Reasons We Hate Mass Effect 3′s Ending”
in my game i think i kill joker all they all dead
You know one more reason that really makes no sense in the Ending? You have been building a Crucible, this improbable, untested, mysterious device that is supposedly invented by Proteans to fight the reapers, but turns out that in reality it has been passed throughout centuries, possibly even upgraded to deteat the Reapers, it’s like the most important theme of ME3 from the defending the universe perspective, happens in the background but is nonetheless a key plot, and in the end it turns out that it enabled the Catalyst to “think outside the box”. . . As in EDI and Legion did? Weren’t they able to do that due to in no small part their infusion with reaper technology/software? Legion became “I” instead of “We”, EDI was also infused with some reaper tech, yes, it was with Shepards and various companions help, but nonetheless the reaper software/tech/ whatever allowed them to act on their own accord. . . Why then exactly were the created and controlled by the God Child Reapers, including the God Child itself not able to do that before the Crucible was introduced? Seriously.
What really kills me…and I find almost funny….is that they put so much effort into the one thing about the ME universe that I didn’t really need to know in order to be happy, which was the origin and motive of the Reapers. I went into ME3 pretty much satisfied with what I knew about the Reapers. They harvest organic species to reproduce and they think they have every right in the universe to because they’re the pinnacle of evolution. It was simple, logical, and made everything all the more horrifying, really. “You exist because we allow it, and you will end because we demand it.” pretty much summed everything up to me in one of the most mind blowingly awesome lines ever uttered by a villain. I didn’t NEED to know who made the Reapers or where they came from. I would gladly have sacrificed knowing it for more screen time devoted to the Victory Fleet battling the Reapers and what happened to everybody even if Shepard died.
Anyone notice as well ( my love interest was ashley) and the part where they sleep together and he wakes up and says he had a hard time sleeping, and she says I’m suprised you got any sleep at all. and I believe this is the part before you go to fight cerberus at theyre base. and after you beat the game it takes you back to before the cerberus base. I wonder if thats where shephard dreamed all this up from that part on and Bioware is gonna push out DLC taking place from that part or a mass effect 4 where we import our charecter from that part?
I never been sooo dissapointed with an ending, No way this is Biowares final ending cause that was a joke, Im starting to believe Bioware wanted the plotholes this majorly so they can push out a part 4 or something, Cause no big game maker in there right mind would suicide theyre company by writing 3 stories this huge and then at the end make it seem as if were the stupid ones and missed something. 1. anderson getting inside the citadel before shephard when the captain clearly stated no 1 made it in every one is dead! 2. everyone in the citadel is dead, they only mentioned it being moved to sol system by reapers. 3. illusive man got inside the citadel and chose the control of reapers (so your telling me illusive man is indoctrinated, he is controlling the reapers while the reapers control him) regardless of being indoctrinated he still went through the blue light and made it out alive!, 4. my whole crew on earth abandoned me while I was running to the teleport, somehow got joker to come pick them up while he was battling and they fled the scene! for what! from what! 5. my L.I seem to be happy shephard just died, 6. after collecting all those war assets! uniting all those forces! I felt I was still fighting the war alone! fighting brutes and banshees at the end alone! I was expecting an epic ass battle 7. my only endings are control the reapers and die!, merge machine and organic and die! destroy reapers and die! or see shephard take a breath with enough war assets. 8. have a little kid tell me sythetics will destroy organics so the half synthetic/organics will destroy and preserve us and use us for war every 50,000 years! whaaaa! after I just solved the synthetic/organic war. and then all I get is a download more DLC ending and then taken back to before I goto war with cerberus/illusive man base. which makes me believe bioware must have something up its sleeve to do an ending that weird and take your save back before the cerberus base mission.
Aside from the well phrased disappointments in the video, one thing that really irked me, was the fact in Mass Effect 2 the main villain is clearly established as the reaper known as Harbinger. Shepard personally caused it so much trouble in the second game, that in the Mass Effect 3 the reapers claim they have heard of your Shepard. This created the foreshadowing in my mind that I will have a final showdown with Harbinger instead of a lazer dodging mini game. I guess Harbinger was defeated with one of the red/blue/green endings but I felt the relationship was more personal and Harbinger should have been defeated by the hands of my Shepard instead of one of the god child’s three choices.
last but not least of all was the fact that the little boy not only suck’s as an adition to the game but pretty much rips of the designer or creator of the Matrix, Most of what he says can be seen in the end of the last Matrix movie
9 of your reasons are perfect, except for the part where you say we dont want a star wars ending/happy ending,Well I Do, the best way i can put it is, I dont buy/play games to “LOOSE” since the dawn of the console gaming system we play games to win, I’ve never played a sport/game where I didnt care if i lost
Another thing I would like to add to your top 10 reasons why we hate the ending is the part about the flashbacks. You see one of Joker, Anderson and your LI… Where’s the rest??? Why not show your whole crew. It’s not like the rest were not as important. I mean for god’s sake what about Garrus!? It just doesn’t make any sense to me.
This has little to do with the ending but did anyone else notice that the renegade/paragon options were more like asshole/polite options? In ME2 the renegade made you seem like a badass and filled with overconfidence. however in ME3 some of the renegade options seemed like shepard just lost faith and accepted loss.
Interestingly enough, it’s interesting to see that not a lot of people understand why the destructive energy that was bad for the reapers was chasing down Joker and the Normandy.
They said it a few times in the game. EDI, is based off of Reaper Coding. So, in the scene where it shows the energy moving from galaxy to galaxy (Assumedly doing something to all the reapers, depending on what ending you get), it’s safe to guess that it’s also after EDI. And Joker, with his unhealthy attachment to her, is trying to save her.
Other then this.
I agree with everything that “In Defense Of Earth” said.
Galaxy to galaxy? You do realise the game is only set in one galaxy. Each mass relay is in different solar systems.
And the destructive energy was not chasing down EDI, it was destroying all electronic devices sentient or not, it did this by sending out the energy through every single mass relay in the galaxy.
[...] [...]
I have to admit, I found the ending of ME3 a little disappointing and rather confusing also for the reasons mentioned in this video. I do like a sad ending, but given the circumstances of the game, I don’t think a “sad” ending really suits this type of game.
Toward the end of ME3 I started feeling bad for Shepard. He never gets a rest. The galaxy has relied on him time and time again. He did so much for the galaxy. Toward the end where he says to Garrus “I think my days of saving the galaxy will be over after this one” I found myself thinking “Yeah, it’d be nice to see Shepard kicking back with Garrus, talking war stories. Beer in one hand, and his other with his arm around whatever love interest he had (in my case, Tali)”.
It was sad enough to see him die. Sadder still that he was apart from his love interest. But the worst of all thing was when the mass relays were destroyed, cutting off all species’ ability to communicate with each other.
I’m not happy with Mass Effect Ending, neather. But if Bioware makes and offers now a new ending, how would you react? I mean: We know the “true” ending choosed by ME team… So, another ending will really change this fact?
Another point…
The dialogs in ME3 are completely fatalistic. From beginning to the end of this game Bioware “announces” this is a farewell.
We, players, we havent an unique moment to appreciate this last episode without remember “the ends comming”. A patch would be able to modify correctly a play completely drawn in this perspective? Im not sure!
(Im sorry about all my mistakes. Im brazilian and dont know english language. I saw your video on YouTube and I wanted leave a reply.)
you have to wonder what in the world was going through writer’s heads when they said “yeah I like this ending”. I mean seriously did they just not read the script? Game developers have other people go through and play the game first don’t they? (they have an official name but I forgot what they were called.) I think the whole thing comes down to developers being pressed for time and the oncoming threat of fan backlash if the release date was pushed back but personally I would have happily waited an extra month or so of it would allow me to at least see what happed to my love interest (Garrus) or at least have a flash of him instead of Liara, I mean really, she may be my best friend in the game but if i was about to jump into a big white beam that was going to kill me I would sure as hell be having flash backs of all the time I spent with him.
Cause that’s what I thought ME is all about, what would you do given these choices because like it or not most players have been living vicariously through shepherd for close to 5 years now and for that reason I expected that there would at least be a swear word option (cause that’s what I’d do) but noooo you have to accept your fate like a good little indoctrinated slave.
And on another note I don’t think the new DLC coming out in summer makes up for this ending (unless they give it a complete overhaul which I highly doubt). There are some poor buggers out there with either limited or no connection to the internet. What about them? Will they just have to deal with the pretty light show?
I know I’m asking a lot of questions that will probably be left unanswered but that’s the same thing Bioware has done to us. Lots of questions, not many answers.
It’s such a shame too. If that last ten minutes of ME3 didn’t exist it would be my favourite game serious of all time, but alas now my favourite is the Dragon age serious… wait Bioware own them too? oh crap…
I like the points, I had come to some of the same conclusions myself, and found myself wanting so much more when this ended. When EA decided to turn Mass Effect into their money-grubbing play thing, having stripped the rpg elements from the first game for mass market appeal and now what I can only assume force unreasonable deadlines on Bioware’s staff now. I mean with this much contradiction I can only be led to believe that they were lacking something be it time or money for a proper rewrite or what I can’t say but what I can say is that even with the new “Director’s cut” DLC that has been confirmed I am disappointed they’re needs to be more choice, more variance, and more passion in an ending that brings the last 5 years to an end and over 90 hours of my life to a close. I love ME, but Bioware hasn’t done it justice. Where do they go from here? Where were they planning to go on DLC’s if Shepard is dead, hell if the characters are stranded on some cheesy rip off of the Garden of Eden!?
I’ve included a few good places that you will be interested in looking at if you want a logical deconstruction on the ending as well as some good discussion sites as well, i highly recommend you check these out
http://social.bioware.com/forum/Mass-Effect-3/Mass-Effect-3-Story-and-Campaign-Discussion-Spoilers-Allowed/EABioware-in-Full-PR-Damage-Control-Mode-UPDATED-10084349-1.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4H_A7SeawU4&feature=related
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QT4IUepvrU1pfv_B95oQj0H84DlCTUmzQ_uQh1voTUs/preview?pli=1&sle=true
http://jmstevenson.wordpress.com/2012/03/22/all-that-matters-is-the-ending-part-2-mass-effect-3/
http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2012/03/30/six-reasons-why-changing-the-mass-effect-3-ending-wont-threaten-its-artistic-integrity/2/
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/experienced-points/9506-Mass-Effect-3-Ending-Controversy
http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/events/mass-effect-3-endings-reception
http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/355/index/9992961/4
http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/355/index/9992961/443
and for those looking for a good fan-fic ending
http://arkis.deviantart.com/art/Mass-Effect-3-Alternate-Endings-SPOILERS-289902125
NOTE: no one complain to me about spoilers, your on the ending discussion page after all
It’s not as if there are three ending, just the same one with a “choose your favorite color option”
I just wanted to add a bit.
If that boy created motherfucking Reapers why is he even giving a choice to Shepard. IMO if you choose to destroy them you get the stupidest ending couse in all his years in military Shepard never learned that pistol is a ranged weapon and he head straight into the explosion.
Oh and BTW EDI and Eva are both based on Reaper code but i guess it’s to difficult to create a god damn virus, kill one Reaper, use his comm device or use Crucible+Citadel, send trough galaxy and shut those assoholes without dying.
I played 3 games and i only got 3 THE SAME endings.
First world problems
I asume by now all of you read the news, free DLC is comming this summer and it will explain the ending in more detail with more cinematics. They still won’t admit they droped the ball. I got a bad feeling about this. After all this my Shep deserved to get his girl and to have drinks with his buddy at the Copa Cabana in Rio
After reading this: http://jmstevenson.wordpress.com/2012/03/22/all-that-matters-is-the-ending-part-2-mass-effect-3/ I feel my anger to finally make sense. Some people just know how to put what they know and feel into words.
your missing the point of the crucible and shepard being there on it.
all war assets were only meant to give enough support in order to make space for the crucible to be activated. the crucible was the secret weapon without whhich the fight couldn’t be won regardless of your war assets. well, it turns out the crucible is not quite what everybody had hoped for.
so, coming back to your star wars comparision, shepard is luke skywalker and the starchild is palpatine. his friends are maimed outside, inevitably falling to the reapers onslaught, so he has to act. there are only 3 choices, sitting back and waiting will not suffice.
can’t believe they say that they are proud of this shit
I would even have LOVED a fail ending, where the cycle repeats and ALL current advanced civilisations gets wiped out, starting over for another 50k years. I would have loved an end scene with a few completely new alien races finding the logs and interview tapes of Shepard in some ruins, or floating in space. And finding the Crucible blueprints as they have Reavers chasing them, a scene with a new version of the crucible. That all I did was to give the next cycle a chance = satisfying end. This was not it.
this would be a really great ending, and it is probably one of the best ideas i have heard because it isn’t too much like a “happy ending” but it doesn’t leave everyone wondering, “WOW SERIOUSLY WHAT JUST HAPPENED”
After watching the some videos and looking in strategy guide, I’m finally seeing what everyone isn’t. Bioware and EA have trick the audience. Instead of final battle with Harbinger or even the reapers. The game’s ending come to what Shepard would be in the end game. I’ve seen many games where the good guys become the ultimate villain. Bioware is giving the player a choice to become a reaper or live, this also however is given a choose to be a husk. The first one is control, you become a reaper, so you’re crew member will cease to remain on earth and believe you are dead. The green one ends with everyone turning into robots, you have seen them as robots and not human beings, the last one (depends on your war assets.) The destruction of earth would happen and Shepherd would die because the earth is destroyed by the reapers on earth. However more war assets, you have the more you’re likely to live, so it shows team members of different than the ones before. You have lived. I hope you can understand this, now what is Bioware planning for Shepherd, does the choose effect the next planned game or DLC? Sure. You may not be Shepherd in the next game, you may be a new character who runs into Shepherd alive, or looking at you as reaper or husk. Do you guys get the reason behind this now. Yes, it’s not greatest ending, but this explain the reason behind the ending behind a bit different and yes, that’s Shepherd’s body in end of RED/100%.
The substance of the critique leveled against against BioWare by ME fans strikes me as very much rooted in modern and specifically, modern American, beliefs about free will, justice, and humanity’s place in the universe. I think it’s a fair generalization that most Americans strongly believe that one’s choices, moral and otherwise, are made by us largely as independent intellects and that the ultimate ramifications of those actions are therefore, at the end of the day, just and fair. Not happy with the way your life is shaping up? Well, you made the choices that put you where you are. “You have no one but yourself to blame if….” Sound familiar? This thinking dovetails nicely with more modern Christianity, in which we are judged by our actions and our choice to believe or not to believe. Our moral, spiritual, and cosmic outcomes, we believe, will be just because they have been made by us.
But Christianity, as an ancient religion, draws on a much older mythic repertoire that mostly featured universes in which overdetermined, cyclic, and often divine processes imposed themselves strongly on human beings and impinges on the meaningfulness of their choices. The notion of a periodic divine or cosmic judgement of humanity, which Christianity shares with this worldview, will be most familiar to Americans. But pagan myth shared this outlook, viz. Zeus and Deucalion. Often the cycles involved conflict between younger and older generations for universal supremacy: Kronos overthrows Ouranos, Zeus overthrows Kronos, but Zeus beats back the giants and the titans… “the created will always seek to destroy the creators.” Sometimes individuals of exceptional skill and fortitude, with the right help and companions, involved themselves in these universal struggles, even overcoming such certainties as death itself: Orpheus, Hercules, Jesus…Shepard.
Greek Tragedy was another product of this worldview, one in which the outcome for an individual – a man neither all good nor all bad, a man set in adverse fortune – was largely overdetermined, and only the particular manner in which that fate played out could be changed by actions of the hero. Actions taken long ago, and in removed circumstances, ultimately radically impinge upon upon the hero at the end. Usually, those closest to the hero were most directly and seriously affected by what few real choices remained to him. The big picture remained relatively set.
The parallels with the how ME 3 develops are pretty clear and it’s no mistake that the vast majority of young players, reared on the usual, “everything will be OK,” triumphalism of most game endings, have little patience with it. But that is ultimately their problem, not the writers of BioWare, who have given us a new mythos in the old fashion, and one that I, at least, will cherish.
hey angry joe i really like your work on you tube and i respect your opinion. what do you think of the bioware dlc announcement?i’m concerned about the timing of this announcement, because it is no coincidence that they announced the dlc just before PAX so they already have the “we’re working on it ” answer ready to deflect any questions. also on the part of EA it comes right after they have been voted worst company in america on the consumerist. the most troubling thing is that this dlc can be used to undermind any more valid complaints fans have regarding the ending and the new dlc, especially when it comes to the public perception of upset fans. EA has given themselves the perfect “well we gave you what you wanted and if you still don’t like it you’re just entitled,whinny, etc…..” defense.
Im glad you made this video, it really pinpoints all the problems i had with this game. The thing that bothered me the most is that all the endings are the same, the only differences are how long your ending is. I obviously didn’t play the game well enough so i had to actually go on youtube to see the pars of the endings i missed. What i dont understand is if they dont plan on releasing any more gameplay DLC, then what is the point of giving Shepard a gasping breath right at the end? False hope? There is no point in caring, i like to think of it being some random guy who had Shepard’s dog tags fall on him. They really messed up and now they are so fed up with their fanbase, the people who they want to buy their games, that they are pretty much saying, “Thanks for throwing your money at us. Oh, you dont like the ending? I dont care.”
At least that is what they are making it seem like. I just watched the indoctrination videos and they do make a lot of sense, but why doesnt bioware have to be total ass hats about the whole situation say, “the ending is fine.” and “Were not changing it.” They would rather piss off their entire fanbase and say, “Dance, my puppets.” so in 3 months they can say, “Are you guys happy now.” and be all smug and dicky about the whole thing. The DLC may be great and may wrap up the series perfectly and i may even say, “Wow that ending was great, i take back all the things i said a couple of months ago,” but it will still bother me that their plan from the beginning was to piss everyone off. If you say, “Hey everyone i made you an awesome cake,” then everyone comes and takes a piece and finds out it actually frosting on tip of a cardboard box, hold out for like a week, get everyone suuuper mad at you, then come back with an awesome cake that everyone loves, can sometimes make up for the fact that you tried to feed me cardboard last week. But then if i find out that that was your plan the entire time, the complete denial of deception, then i get reaallly mad and vent on any ME3 game forum i can find, like right now for instance. I hope this DLC is good.
These comments are great and all, but you guys are missing major loopholes to the ending…Also you guys are arguing and slandering the company for the ending.
Whatever Bioware and EA are planning, we need to relize that we can’t like everything on earth, we live here and love people no matter what, we can’t except the company to give us the best game of 2011 and then ending be the one thing which bring the blockbuster game to close. We need to realistic and stop hating it because the dream didn’t make sense to you, would I play again after playing once, of course, why? Different game setting, different choices.
A second SECRET ENDING to the game? is this true?
The following qoute is from the Mass Effect 3 Collector’s Edition Strategy guide on page 323 regarding the end of the game, “A secret ending is also available to players who complete the game a second time.”
Dunno if this is true…but since we get the SHEP BREATHING on play thru 1, what is this “secret ending” mentioned?
Everybody keeps mentioning the Commander Shepperd takes a breath shot at the end of the red Ending for Mass Effect 3, but how does anybody really know that’s Sheppard? The only evidence is the “N7″ tag. However, in the rest of the ending on the Citadel his armor is fried beyond recognition. THERE IS NO N7 VISIBLE. GO AHEAD AND LOOK FOR YOURSELF. That is either not Shepperd or the game makers really did leave it as a wink to players that all the stuff on the Citadel was total bullshit. Considering they pushed the release of ME3 back a couple of times its hard to say this was a rushed ending. As far as the Ashes to Ashes dlc releasing same time as the actual game might have been due to the delayed game release which just might have been about the time they were originally planning to drop this dlc anyway.
Strategy guide proofs he’s alive.
You may be upset because this is not the actual ending. Go look up the Indoctrination Theory video and it all makes sense.
i really DID NOT! like mass effect 3 that much. i personally thought it was the worst 1 out of all 3 games. less dialogue, less exploration, less Rpg elements. to top off my list, the ending was beyond poorly writen. bioware is currently bleeding fans left and right. with SWTOR currently failing as well. i don’t see bioware staying relevant in the next few years. i actullay see EA closing bioware down in the next few years
Normandy’s escape is very possible.
You just have to remember that these scifi writers have a sense of scale, even if they shut it down for the Arrival DLC (at that distance a full matter energy conversion of the Mass Relay would only possibly kill people on the side facing the Relay if the entire energy was very dangerous radiation. Otherwise you would barely get a sunburn).
If the Citadel fired its beam at lightspeed at the Sol Mass Relay the Normandy had six hours to pick up your Squad and go to the Relay.
Remember the Sol Relay is in Pluto’s orbit at nearly 40 AU from Earth.
This adresses also point two.
Point three: Well and?
So the Mass Relay’s are gone. And Galactiv Civs are disconnected expect for Quantum entanglement comms. They do have enough E-Zero from salvage not to mention entire Fleets. The Quarians have offloaded civillians on Rannoch but came with their Liveships suitably armed, they can propably feed the Quarian and Turian soldiers. Thanks to the Cerberus news we also know that there is a habitable Planet some 4 Lightyears from Earth.
All Homeplanets have a viable population, something that tens of thousands of spacefaring species can not claim after the Reapers came.
Sure it is hard and it f***ing sucks but most people are alive. And everything else can be rebuild with enough time. Your nightmare Scenario would be viable in our time, with the technology that ME demonstrated it might be hardship but it will not mean the end of anything.
Unless some idiot decides to be stupid (Which is sadly a real possibility).
Point five bothers me just as much.
Point six you (Sheppard) are dead. You know you fucked up the Reapers. And while you might want to know more there is not enough gas in the tank. If there had not been announcments that there would be closure I would say it is incredible frustrating but part of the Game. Since I do remember that they said all threads would be tied up I want that to.
Point seven and eight true. (I subscribe to the Indoctrination theory and both Anderson and TIM bother me because of that)
Point nine: I do agree, but if you consider that Sheppard is all but dead on his feet he might not have the capacity to really think.
Point ten: Would have been enough to make me hate the ending all on its own.
Do not get me wrong I found your disertation really interesting, that is why I did have to point out these factors.
I went back and played ME 2 again .. I wanted to remember every detail and complete every single quest and option for PARAGON.
I thourughly enjoyed the playthru and the ENDING was VERY fullfilling. It felt EPIC, fun, well paced, interesting, and I cARED about the characters!
I am gonna import into ME 3 and do a FULL play thru to get the BEST ending and complete every quest.
It just reminds me what we are all fighting for … GOOD GAMES with fullfilling epic endings… not CONTINUED NEXT DLC….49.99
I didn’t mind the ending. Wasn’t perfect, but what is. Since playing devil’s advocate tends to open up different perspectives, let me do it for each of your reasons. I’m not saying I’m right, or that I’ll change Joe’s mind, but just let my offer an opposing view. Oh yeah, MASSIVE SPOILERS!!!!! and TL;DR!!!!!!
“Plot hole” #1 –
Quite frankly, why wouldn’t Joker run? He likely knew Shepard was on the Citadel (If Hackett knew he/she was, the Normandy had to as well. Hell, they likely were the ones that informed him.). Nobody knew what was going to happen when the Crucible was activated. So when the Citadel starts exploding and a big ass wave of energy is barreling toward him, is Joker just supposed to stand there twiddling his thumbs and hope for the best? There is nothing heroic about jumping into the shrapnel of an exploded bomb. This a lemmings-style death. They accomplished what they set out to do in that they activated the Crucible, the rest is unfortunately survival. You ever play the ending in ME2 when Shepard dies? Joker leaves Shepard to die after he falls from the Normandy. He did so because there was nothing he could do, this is the same situation. No matter how loyal a person is, they can’t just make the impossible possible.
Also, who says Joker is out of the Sol system? It looks to me that he was just hauling ass as fast as the Normandy could go to get out of the “explosions” range.
“Plot Hole” #2
This was is admittedly problematic, but not impossible. The best I can come up with is either your squad mates held back to push back enemy forces that were advancing at the rear (thus giving Shepard the best shot at making the beam and not betraying him/her), or they were both shot down by Harbingers beams (or other reapers forces that were around) early in the run. When they came to, they were too far back to make any realistic shot at reaching the beam (if 20-30 healthy people couldn’t make it, 2 injured people won’t either, remember that Shepard always harped not to throw your life away). So they decided on a temporary retreat to make another attempt. Being desperate, they decided that the Normandy itself would serve as a decoy for Harbinger. However, when the Normandy arrives, EDI picks up signals from Shepards radio and determines that he/she is on the Citadel. Thus the Normandy picks up the squad members in case they need any muscle for Shepard’s pickup.
And really Joe, you see that ending scene and come to the “inevitable” conclusion that Joker is going to f$#k your love interest? You know, they couldn’t possibly still be in the Sol system, and then fix the Normandy so they can get back to earth (or just be straight up rescued), nope, Joker and your love interest glance at one another so that means they’re f#$king. I’m sorry Joe, but saying that really makes you look shallow.
“Plot Hole” #3
All I can say is that the Citadel is a gigantic mass relay that blew up directly beside earth, and yet the earth is still remains. We explicitly see a scene where this supposed “wave of destruction” washes over the earth killing/re-purposing the reapers, and leaving the overjoyed soldiers very much alive. So this “explosion” must be some kind of different reaction than forcefully exploding a relay like in the Arrival DLC. Just add in some classic sci-fi techno-babble, and boom problem solved. Believe it or not, civilization existed for hundreds of thousands of years prior to mass relays, so I don’t think they are necessarily “screwed”.
Quite frankly, the destruction of the relays makes sense. The “energy wave” has to cover the entire galaxy into order to completely eliminate the reapers. Otherwise, the reapers on the other various planets will just regroup and retake the galaxy anyways. Thus this “explosion” is really the only way to do it. Also, with the relays being reaper tech, it makes sense that they are destroyed along with the reapers.
“Plot hole” #4
Do you remember the scene of Shepard opening the Citadel arms? The destruction was massive, and the galaxy fleet was obliterated. I would think that earth would be able to support the few survivors left. It was mentioned many times that the Reapers only focused on the heavily populated areas of earth, thus the farmlands and natural resources are more than likely still intact (reapers likely wanted to keep them intact so they could harvest them for their next 50,000 year stint in dark space). Wrex’s little comment there was very likely, in my opinion anyways, made in jest (you know, because Wrex NEVER made jokes from time to time). Also, there are other planets in the Sol system you know.
The quarian/turian issue is a legitimate question. Really though, in a universe where f#*king biotics exist, they can’t come up with the solution to this? The quarian/turian home worlds are carbon based too, they can’t possibly come up with a way to transplant and grow dextro-amino acid based foods on earth? Like using hydroponics or something? Maybe there is another planet in the Sol system that can. Gamers just seem to think that people in the game are made of cotton candy. They are more resourceful and tough than you give them credit for. They will find a way, and if not, they died for the futures of their home worlds. And no, it wasn’t entire races in the final fleet. The Quarians (if you played your cards right) now have a home world on Rannoch. Do you really think they would send their children into battle, and not leave them on Rannoch? The other races had to leave people behind to defend their home worlds as well. Hence, it is very feasible that they could maintain viable populations on these home worlds and avoid extinction.
Reason #5
This is subjective, so I can’t really comment on it. Sorry the game didn’t live up to your astronomical expectations here. I also don’t think all the endings are the same. They do have the same cut scenes, but conceptually they are VERY different.
Reason #6
Again, subjective. An open ending makes sense to me in that this game is supposed to be the players, (though that is only an illusion, but I digress) so isn’t it only fitting that the player determine what happened? Is the concept of using your imagination so foreign to today’s ADD society? Quite frankly, even if Bioware decided the squadmates fate, the players would never accept them anyways. They would cry about perceived plot holes, that “their vision” of any particular character would never do what Bioware is claiming they do, blah, blah, blah. So just let the players come to their own conclusions. Also consider the ridiculous amount of resources that would have to be dedicated to these endings. There is only a finite amount of time available here, It’s logical that Bioware prefer to dedicate it to the core game and not the ending of your dreams.
I guess I just have a hard time understanding the concept of players “deserving” more in this particular scenario. They have played a damn game for 30+ hours (100+ throughout the series). Gaming is not f*$king work. Gaming does not give you inherent rights. You have just completed a large selfish endeavor. The game is not broken, you just disagree with the narrative. This b#%ching screams of “first world problems”. I mean really, listen to yourselves. If this paints me as a Bioware/EA mindless slave, then so be it.
By the way, your “Why the F&#k not a happy ending” comment pretty much explains your whole list. You didn’t get the hollywood ending, so you b#%ch about all the details as you lash out. Don’t lie and say you wouldn’t mind a bittersweet ending, because that is what the ending is.
Reason #7
Again, you say don’t mind a sad ending, and then continue to complain about why you didn’t get the hollywood ending. You’re contradicting yourself. Just admit it Joe, you’re mad there isn’t a hollywood ending.
“Plot hole” #8
I’ll try not to make this as too long, but I’ll try to explain my (condensed) theory for the origin of the “God child”. I believe the “God Child” is a VI, like Vigil on Ilos, that was created to control the Reapers. Both the VI and the Reapers were created by the first major ORGANIC and hyper advanced civilization. This civilization created “the cycle” as they deemed it organics best chance at continued existence as they were in a massive (and losing) war with synthetics. So no, this “God child” did not materialize from nothing, it was created by organics. “The cycle” is the harvesting of organics THAT HAVE THE ABILITY TO CREATE SYNTHETIC LIFE. They don’t destroy all organic life, as that wouldn’t make any sense. The game doesn’t definitively conclude that synthetic life will always destroy organic life, it’s THE REAPERS AND THE CIVILIZATION THE CREATED THEM THAT REACHED THIS CONCLUSION. Bioware is simply giving the Reapers a motivation for their actions that goes beyond “we’re evil”. That motivation has always been there, the Reapers just didn’t deem an explanation as necessary as they always deemed themselves as superior.
The three choices for the ending are were not created by the “God child”. They are the result of all of previous civilizations that developed the crucible. The “God child” itself says that these options were only made available to it when it joined with the crucible. Hence it’s only telling Shepard what the crucible can do. It does make sense in that the major factions are covered. There are the organics that wish to destroy the Reapers, the organics that wish to control the reapers (remember that the VI on the Cerberus ship said that there is always a faction of organics that wish to exercise control of the Reapers in every cycle. Perhaps in some cycles that group wins the “organic civil war” and that is reflected in their designs of the crucible), and the Protheans with their desire for a unified galaxy, perhaps created the synthesis option. The current galaxy could have likely made it’s own solution, but by the time they did it would have been too late. So don’t blame the “God child” if you don’t like the options, blame the crucibles creators.
You are also probably wondering why the “God child” would just willingly surrender. Yeah, good point. Well, you must remember that “the cycle” is an attempted solution, not a punishment or absolute. It is not inconceivable that the “God child” VI be programmed to submit to a civilization that it deems as potentially more advanced. With the “God child” determining that the Crucible could indeed defeat them (a conclusion it and it’s creators likely deemed impossible), it came to the conclusion that this civilization is advanced enough to provide a better answer than “the cycle”.
“Plot Hole” #9
Again, the “God child” didn’t create these options, the crucible’s creators did. To not use the crucible would make the entire last push by the galaxy fleet meaningless. The fleet was never going to defeat the reapers in a straight up fight (THIS IS POINT HAS BEEN HAMMERED DOWN THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE SERIES). If they did miraculously defeat the Reapers it would have been a GIGANTIC plot hole. The whole point of the final attack was to buy enough time to use the crucible. So if Shepard doesn’t use it, it’s the same thing as waving the white flag. Shepard doesn’t have any other choice but to use the crucible, it is the ONLY WAY to defeat the reapers.
Shepard DOES have the option to reject the notion of an organic/synthetic eternal conflict. It’s called the destruction option (and hell, the control option does it too). It destroys the reapers (with the unfortunate result of synthetics getting destroyed too as they likely share too similar a physiology (if you will) with the Reapers) and leaves the status quo to forge their own path.
Reason #10
Again, subjective. If you really sit back and think about what would result from any the choices, I think you would realize they are VASTLY different conclusions. Does Bioware really have to explain every little thing? It’s funny, Joe explains that the endings are all the same yet he goes into a diatribe about how he believes the synthesis option is a bad decision. I thought they were all the same Joe? He also claims it is a rip off of Deus Ex. I haven’t played the game so it can’t comment on this, but if the game ended as Joe wanted, what would it be ripping off? Oh yeah, 90% of all movies, games, books, and all the other various forms of entertainment in existence. Again, subjective.
You’re decisions matter. Entire races can be wiped out if you don’t do things “right”. Your relationships continue. Earlier game references are all over the place. Bioware’s love of the series is entirely evident in the game. Like it or not (in real life or not), even if you do everything right it does not guarantee a fairytale ending where everyone lives. This is a realistic outlook (and one that is constantly mentioned in the game). Look at the entire game as the conclusion, and not just the explicit ending to the game.
The strongest argument that the “ending haters” have is the early overzealous comments that PR made about the game. They are indeed half truths at best. I guess I can only say this, if they had said that the game was going to have one major but multifaceted ending scene that can be interpreted in multiple ways, and leaves the players to decide for themselves the fates of their crew members, would you not have purchased the game? Also, I ask this, is the game as it is now not worth the sticker price? Haters of the ending will likely say, “absolutely”. Fair enough I guess. But yeah, in my mind I’m screaming “YOU ARE SO FULL OF SH&T!”
So yeah, I respect Joe’s opinion, and he is free to express it. I’m just providing an opposing view. It doesn’t answer everything with absolute certainty, but I do think it shows that logic in the ending can be found (I really don’t think I’m pushing the boundaries of believability much at all). So now if Bioware reconstructs the ending to give players their fairy tale ending, (and likely shattering my understanding of the ending in the process) I’m going to be upset. But what does it matter right? I’m just a blind Bioware/EA slave.
I agree 100%. Amazingly thorough and reasonable comment,
What got me was how confused I was once ‘god child’, which is such a cliche’, walked up and started explaining things. I was wrapping my head around what the heck just happened and bam, I walk a bit forward and I am in the synthesis ending. “Elcor: Shallow and mocking, Joker rides into the sunset with the girl and I’m Neo.” I accepted it and thought hey, maybe I get the victory lap of seeing everyone and how “my” galaxy turned out and some guy is talking about the shepard. I literally dropped the remote and thought, what the heck. Then I found about the “Shepard lives” ending and was like, why the twists. Shepard living is the “best” ending because, one he lives, and two it’s harder to get…. well impossible unless you play multiplayer, which i thought you could “own” every ending without multiplayer… misrepresentation…. Whatever people say, in the previous games, people generally went either renegade or paragon shepard, so (I shouldn’t assume my style for everyone) but it was sensible and then it’s like that doesn’t allow you to come even close. I know I played the ‘stuff’ out of these games and there is no way, I would ever get 4000 points without multiplayer’s multiplier. Also, the Aria mission screams (should of been included and not DLC) as in retaking Omega. Plus Javik, come on his interactions were pretty intense for a “DLC” character….. Thanks for letting me vent. The game is fun though, it’s just the ending is such a let down. I like the balance between 1 and 2 that they made. Still like 1 the best though…not nostalgia, just exploration and that ending…. still gives me chills seeing Shepard stand atop the rubble victorious!
Its bittersweet how we all spent alot of time, and money on these games. I’m not hating on bioware, but truth be told they really should had let some fans play this first before putting it out. The lack of closer is what is really bugging folks, I’m ok with shepard dying, it sucks, but ok with it. I knew going in that was most likely going to happen. Have the Crew have their lime light, have your love maybe with a child (Unless you pick the same sex). Rex training Kids on the home world, Tali with mask and suit off working with geth on the home world (or if you went rouge maybe with suit on, i don’t know)..Something to bring each member to their own peace of mind.
I don’t actually hate this ending. I thought it was bloody brilliant.
The way they portrayed Shepard’s indoctrination attempt was really, really damn well executed. It’s so fucking subtle that no one seemed to know that it was even there. The whole ending is all taking place in shepard’s mind, and is manipulated in a way to see if you, the player, can withstand an attempt at indoctrination.
Indoctrination makes the victim side with people they would consider enemies, and do things they would not normally. Think about it: Why was the CONTROL option Blue? Blue is Paragon, but the Illusive Man wanted it. Makes no sense, right? Your original mission, to destroy the Reapers, is Red, put in a possibly negative light.
Another big indicator: If you turn around after being hit by the harbinger’s beam, you’ll see trees. Trees that weren’t there. The same trees and bushes, in fact, as the ones from your dreams. Nightmares like that are also part of the indoctrination process.
[...] your Reasons Here: http://angryjoeshow.com/2012/03/top-10-reasons-we-hate-mass-effect-3s-ending/ [...]
The whole game I was looking forward to a final and specific confrontation with Harbinger, as he is individually noted as being the grandest of all the Reapers and you built up preparation to clash with him through all of ME2 (after a specific confrontation with Sovereign which was built up through all of ME1). I thought maybe the Sovereign/Saren relationship would be repeated with Harbinger/Illusive Man, especially once you start suspecting Illusive Man of indoctrination rather than ambitious insanity. Moreover, when you single-handedly take down the Reaper Destroyer on Rannoch, it mentions that Harbinger has been talking about you to the other Reapers and that he and the other Reapers will be “waiting” for you to return to Earth. But when you return there is no explicit encounter with Harbinger himself (perhaps he is the one that shoots the laser that severely injures Shepard before reaching the beam to the Citadel) which was very disappointing. Instead the final discussion is with a translucent version of the little kid in the hoody that you fail to save in the very beginning of the game and who keeps showing up in your dreams…
I still hate Bioware and mostly EA!!!!!!!!! What is EA’s problem!?!?!??!?!?!? And why the hell did Bioware even listen to those asses!!!!!! EA is becoming a waste of time, their old games was good to me, but the new ones are all a waste of money!!!! EA I HOPE YOU READ THIS: STOP MAKING GAMES!!!! YOU FAIL EVERY F###ING TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jack I think evrybody it`s puting the blame on EA to much.After all BioWare made the game,all 3 of them maybe some changes have been made at EA request but you cannot say that EA it`s to balme for the ending
(Just found this out) Bioware had a BETTER THAN PERFECT ENDING PLANNED, but here comes EA. EA says they don’t like it, Bioware has to make this crap ending. http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/995452-mass-effect-3/62230265
I Really hope that if there is a dlc coming out that it will be free I have spent so much on the mass effect franchise that I feel that I deserved a better ending then what I got.
Hell YES!!! I am with you on that one!!!
I stand by everything you have said in this video. It’s fair and constructive criticism that Bioware is looking for when reconstructing/rewriting our ending. This video must be considered, and I hope Bioware will view it. If this video can serve as a petition, then I sign my name to it.
THis guy i spend months playing a series, and I get no happy ending. So I will rant how this series sucks because it didn’t have the ending I wanted. Remember kids that this is a business and they’ll need to prolong the game as much as they can to make money. If you don’t understand why, then you’re either young or stupid.
great video and many good point outs, yet , I believe that the ‘all races stranded’ point is not entirely a plot hole. The game is through the eyes of humanity so they were just thinking more of themselves in the long run moreover the other races who were probably just cannon fodder to them. Understandable when it comes to basic instincts.
I only need one reason to hate the vanilla endings. They make Liara T’Soni cry. {My Shepard’s Wife, cause he doesn’t come back to her} So I refuse to play the game until they fix that. I’ll even pay for a DLC that fixes that.