PixlBit

Shepard dies in the end..?

Dammit...

Shit. Sorry. I assumed by the title you'd assume there was spoilers lol! I don't think he dies in every ending though.

No biggy man, I was bound to run into one at some point, lol

I am not quite sure why I ever played through a single Mass Effect game as a Soldier.  Especially when Engineer is clearly the best class.  I did not care about the ending because the story that led up to the ending was amazing.

Fucking right it was. I played as a Vanguard. Never used cover once lol.

I saw the statistics for Mass Effect 2, and 65% of people played as the soldier class.  I am not a lemming, so I went and played through with the least used class.

You didn't HATE ME 3's ending? Why are you such an asshole,Blake??

I only played the second ME. It made me sick how so many people complained about the ending and they actually bothered to change it though. I've beaten countless NES games and those endings almost always suck ass. Sometimes all you get is a paragraph with typos lol. I really don't see how it could be THAT bad. 

In my opinion its like a book so you dont like the ending do you really think the author of the book will rewrite the ending because you didnt like it lol!! Man thats so rediculous and whats worse then that is that Bioware complied to the littke babies complaint and re wrote the ending it like REALLY!!! Bioware.....

They didn't rewrite the ending. They just added to it so it actually told you what happened to your crew and stuff.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Don't comment on whether you think it should be changed unless you beat the game. People overreacted, yes, this is the internet, but Bioware was right to change it. They got lazy with that ending where when using the universe's logic had an outcome me feel I was better off letting the Reapers have their way with us. Yet it's supposed to be hopeful and that just pissed me off. 

If a writer gets lazy and releases that shoddy an ending, I do think they should own up to that and put the effort into it they should have done in the first place. Owning up to their mistake was the right thing for Bioware to do IMO.

That's all well and good. But I wasn't arguing about whether the end was shit or not. It could be the worst ending in the fucking world, it still doesn't give entitled cunts an excuse to lobby against someones vision. If you painted a portrait and I said to you "Nah, I don't like it. Change it or die," that would be fucking bullshit.

Yeah, but it was still Bioware's decision whether or not to change it and that they didn't even try to defend the ending or say that's their vision shows that it's not something to get angry over getting changed. Telling someone change it or die is always bullshit, but getting mad because someone is looking for an excuse to change something and used the that douchebag as an excuse is also a little absurd.

Ending is shoddy writing at all. Those who think it's full of plot holes or bad writing are taking the ending at face value. If you take the ending at face value, you are doing Bioware and the team that made this game a great disservice.

This ending is one of those endings that makes you think and requires you to use your imagination to fill in the blanks. Not your typical hero (LOTR) ending you were expecting, where Shepard destroys the Reapers, and rides off into the sunset with his love interest. Followed by a cutscene of showing how everyone in the galaxy ends up. Nope, they gave you an ending that made you think and use your imagination. They were never really going to explain the ending in full detail, because that would ruin their little social experiment. Not your typical gamer ending which is usually empty action or spoon fed explanations. This kind of stuff you sort of see in movies, but this is also a work of science fiction. Many gamers couldn't handle any unanswered questions or unexplained events (ending not making sense to them). They want it all spelled out for them.

http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/355/index/10034971/1

^ Read that.

If their plan was to say Shepard was indoctrinated all along, I have one question: Why does the Extended Cut show what happened in a galaxy free from the Reaper threat instead of showing that Shepard was indoctrinated? Because that doesn't make any sense at all if it was indoctrination.

Bioware doesn't need to explain the ending being indoctrination. It was quite obvious. Which is why they have not released a DLC stating this. People might say "well the Reapers are still there and the game isn't over". Well, as the link above mentions, you did destroy the Reapers. So essentially goes like this:

Shepard shoots tube, Reapers destroyed, wakes up on Earth. Reapers dead, you win.

Shepard was never on the Citadel. He was on Earth the entire time, and the last 20 minutes or so took place in his mind. 

Certainly does jive with something Harbinger said during Arrival (Struggle if you wish your mind will be mine). 

Codex states: Reaper indoctrination is an insidious means of corrupting organic minds. 

Extended Cut was a mere extension of the original illusion. The extra slides take place before you wake up, as Shepard is just imagining these things. Your squadmates never actually go back home. Actually according to the codex, if the Reapers are not defeated, Harbinger uses your squadmates for slave labor. The cutscene you see in the new synthesis ending is just that. Reapers aren't helping you rebuild. They have enslaved you. 

In control, Shepard becomes loyal to the Reapers, and anyone who tries to destroy the Reapers will be destroyed. 

EDI: We may transcend mortality itself. Harbinger: Thank us, beg us for immortality. EDI: To reach a level of existence I cannot even imagine. Harbinger: Your species will be razed to a new existence. 

EDI=Indoctrinated. 

Shepard: ...only achieve this by becoming something greater. Harbinger: Your species will be razed to a new existence. Shepard: Eternal, immortal, infinite. Harbinger: Thank us, beg us, for immortality. Shepard: I will destroy those to threaten the future of the many (Reapers). EDI: We are Legion (ME2). Sovereign: We are Legion. 

Shepard=Indoctrinated. 

Also, the Final Hours app states that anyone in Synthesis gets Reaper DNA. While as we saw during the game, that the Protheans tried to control the Reapers, and became indoctrinated. 

Pretty self-explanatory. Was never going to be an obvious yes or no answer to whether indoctrination was the case. Indoctrination has been subtle since the first game, as it was very subtle presented during the original and EC scenes. Most people did not pick up on it. 

That's the thing with subtlety. Stuff that is important to know, but it's not made really obvious. Half the people who played the game didn't even know they were being indoctrinated, while at the end they essentially bowed to the Reapers, and joined their cause. Your mission from the first game has always been to destroy the Reapers. You cannot control the Reapers, and you cannot merge with their DNA. These are tricks that Bioware put in the game to see whether people were paying attention or not. The paragon/renegade switch is another trick to see if you're paying attention or not. Seeing as most people picked control or synthesis, these "paragon" options are actually renegade, because you are helping the Reapers (paragon). While destroying them is a renegade action. 

Seeing as most people just believed whatever the Reapers told them, and didn't pick the destroy option, they've been indoctrinated. 

What a brilliant piece of writing there. Bioware successfully indoctrinated their own customers with an indoctrination ending. Best game ending ever. 

You're going to be eating those words when a comic or new Mass Effect game continues where the Extended Cut left off rather than what you're saying happened.

So you only believe whatever Bioware tells you and nothing else? As in "this new game will show you what really happened, and you have to believe it without question?". Shepard's story is over with ME3. So anyone who think the new game will pick up after the breath scene with Shepard is fooling themselves. Kind of hard to make a new game where in 98% of the endings Shepard is dead.

Seriously though, I've done my homework. Some people would rather stand around for 2 years waiting for answers (eg. you, many others), while the rest of us did something constructive and put the pieces together. Everyone else just wants instant answers with no effort on their part.

They say it's bad writing that the ending is poorly explained or "doesn't make sense", but the answers were there all along. 

Don't hate because the meaning isn't handed to you on a silver platter. This game has always been about choices and consequences. If people choose not to pick up on the clues and such, then you will be rewarded with a bad ending. If people paid attention during the game, then you will get a good ending (Bioware indoctrinated you).  They had no plans to reward those who didn't pay attention during the game with the answers. If you want a good ending, you have to work for it. It's a little change from the previous games where Bioware essentially did most of the work for you, but without innovation and new ideas, any game would get stale and boring.

Firstly - You're an idiot. Whatever the writers say is canon. So yes, we're going to believe them, because they're the fucking writers. Your a guy on the internet with a theory. Something constructive? You looked up fan theories! You didn't do anything, so how the hell can you criticise anyone else?

Play 3. Holy shit that game... there are so many moments when you're just like "holy fuck." I mean I punched an assassins sword into pieces while screaming "This is for *character that died whos name I won't mention*!!!!!" It was badass!

I was ok with it as well. It summed up MY Commander Shephard's story nicely. I have no desire to go back to any of the Mass Effect games now though. I just didn't love that series as much as other people did. Give me Knights of the Old Republic anyday of the week.

I just love the universe of Mass Effect. I don't want another game though, I want another tv show! How badass would an ME tv show be?

I bought the trilogy for 30 bucks a while back and now you've ruined it! J/K don't really care. I'll play it anyway, maybe. :)

Dont you dare say KoToR i will be back playing it and missing work thats why i had to stop playing it lol!!!

Dude. That's one of three endings that I ruined, and it's the moments leading up to it that are truly astounding!

Be careful.  I'm addicted to Mass Effect.  I play the whole series over and over again.  The little changes you make on playthroughs make out for some cool outcomes.  Hopefully after this last playthrough, I'll stop for a while.  I played through the whole series almost a dozen times.    I always wipeout the Geth, because I go with the Renegade ending.  My Shepard would kill the Reapers.  I've done all the endings and nothing beats killing the Reaper, IMO.  You should check out the non-extended ending.  It's something. 

My favorite romance is Liara.  Tali is a very close 2nd though, followed by Garrus. 

I romanced Liara in the first game. Then she changed and stopped being so nerdy. She wasn't adorable anymore. I'm a paragon to my crew with renegade moments when I need it, and I'm a cunt to anyone who gets in my road! I've played 2 like 6 or 7 times though, each with different outcomes. I killed everyone and that was hilarious.

Yeah, I can see that with Liara.  Nerdy Liara is better than the serious & cold Liara.  Tali and Garrus are pretty constant.  

I played through the 2nd game more than 20 times.  I played through the 1st game at least 30 times. 

I have only beat the trilogy once but it kind of looked like there were three possible endings unless thats the cop out that has everyone pissed, you get the same ending no matter what you do. I plan to play through the whole trilogy a few more times though. I chose the infiltrator, which was a really hard class to play in the first games. Sniper rifles drifted like you were drunk as hell and anything but a 100% critical head shot seemed useless. But it was a really fun class to use in 2 & 3. In 2 everything would slow down when you sight down the scope and you could nail head shots all day. Plus the rifles were 100 time better. Then in 3 you can cloak making you even deadlier as a sniper. I Stuck with Liara the whole way through but didn't even realize I could hook up with Tali till I was near the very end of 2. She was the one I really wanted, Liara could be cold at times. Ash was a racist..er ..speciest biotch, although she was less of a bitch by game 3. But yeah I think people over reacted about the ending. I think what people miss about a game like this is its about the journey not the actual destination.

Yeah. And that journey was amazing. Also, I want to see if the Vanguard is as awesome in one as it is in 3! Because damn it was amazing! Next playthrough I am going to save Kaiden instead of Ash though. She annoys me. 

Awwwwwwweeeeeee Blake does have a heart lol!!! Thank for ruining the ending lmao!!!! Sorry its just so funny to see the ranting Blake being mushy, any way its an awesome game and one day i may beat the series but i got halfway in all three games and finished none lol!! So maybe after my backlog gets knocked down a notch or two i may start it over and go from 1 to 3 and beat each one lol!!

No! You can't do that! It doesn't work like that! You need to play all three or the game won't mean shit to you, because your characters won't be your characters!

Lol i know but when the first one came out i got halfway done then the second came out me being mr impatient i started it got half way done then three came out so yea now im going to start over and play them like there suppose to be played seriously i didn. Plan it like that thats just kinda what hhappened. Lol!!!!

I was satisfied with the ending. I think I posted about it on here a while ago. I think the controversy with the game ending was that you couldn't change the outcome either way, it was predetermined which players took issue with because they had years of EA reps telling them all their decisions mattered for years. I don't know how the "New Ending" DLC changed the game. I'm just glad to close the book on the last chapter and be done. It was a great ride! 

It doesn't change much, it just adds new scenes to flesh the ending out more. I didn't love the ending, but I didn't hate it either.

Glad you liked it. I like the Extended Cut also, don't care what anyone else says, that Bioware changed the ending means a lot to me as a ME fan. I wasn't fine with the Catalyst either until I played Leviathan. That makes the idea of the Catalyst more believable.

The thing is though based on what you said (and this is going to get super spoiler filled for those who haven't played) the original ending would have pissed you off. They added a lot, like Joker picking up your squadmates, revealing that everyone needed to leave, that the crew left that planet, and most importantly that the relays are being fixed. 

This just changed what the ending was. It was now society starting over when in fact you just rallied everyone to work together. You created the perfect society to beat the Reapers. To start over after being that united was troubling. But think about Tali as well. She has different amino acids than everyone else so either her and Garrus are starving or everyone else is. As someone who romanced Garrus as FemShep you bet your ass that pissed me off. That's where the hate came from, it was full of plot holes which made the ending bleak rather than hopeful and took away the relays which are what make Mass Effect what it is.

Before you go back to ME1 though, play Citadel DLC. It's the perfect celebration of Mass Effect, basically you enjoying spending time with the Normandy crew and a hilariously absurd mission on there. Plus depending on what kind of party you throw either Grunt or Tali get super hammered.

I watched the original ending on Youtube and it was bs. Still don't think it deserved petitions and death threats. Then again, Treyarch is getting death threats for changing the firing rate of a gun, so this is nothing. 

 I don't have the cash to fork out for the expansions just yet. I'll have to do that a bit later. And yeah, Tali being stuck there was a bit on the shit side, but they still would have some supplies that would have catered to her and eventually she would have been able to survive for a little while at least...

 It's not that the Catalyst isn't believable, but that it's poorly written in the same way the ending to Bioshock Infinite was poorly written. It's an overwhelming exposition dump that is the mark of a bad writer. Bioshock Infinite at least had hints so you could piece it together without the 20 minute "explain what happened" shit. 

Welp, even if I got a bit spoiled with what you said of Shepperd, i'm still planning to play Mass Effect some day. I just don't want to get Origin just to play the third game.

Origin really isn't that bad tbh.If you can handle steam you can handle origin.

Is it free to download like Steam?

Yeah man.