The endings basically robbed you of the "your choices will matter" angles.
When you got to the end, you got 3 color coded endings that were all basically the same with only minor differences and you got no closure whatsoever.
My Shepard wanted to have little blue kids with Liara, and to retire on a beach with Garrus. Instead...the endings happen.
Theres also the fact that
Spoiler:
the galaxy is completely ****ed after what Shepard does at the end.Destroying a Relay in Arrival blew up the entire solar system, so when Shepard blows up ALL the Relays people naturally assumed that Shepard just wiped out nearly all life in the galaxy. Theres been no official word on whether this happened or not.
Even if thats not the case a Galactic Alliance seems to be off the table given how limited FLT travel is, especially since the Reapers actively destroy Fuel depots when they take a system, and they've taken all the systems by the end of the game. And theres a distinct lack of resources in the Sol system, where the fleet in now trapped. Speaking of, did you get the Quarians back their homeworld? Well probably none of those guys in the final battle are going to see it again. Alot of people assume that what happens after the ending is that without the resources to sustain themselves or get back to anywhere not ****ed by the Reapers the entire fleet starves and dies or they turn on each other fighting for resources on a decimated Earth.
There are a lot of other reasons. Heres a bunch of reasons. And heres a nifty video on the matter:
@Nepthys
Spoiler:
I'm not sure the Mass Relays exploded or not when choosing the "Destroy" (the only scenario where the Reapers actually loose and Shepard wins imo). The Catalyst said they wouldn't I think, but he was full of lies anyway.After posting my previous post I did some googling, and found the Indoctrination Theory, that I now feel fit very well with how the entire series played out. But I assume it has already been discussed at lenght in this thread right?
If not, say so and I can copy-paste my thoughts on the indoctrination theory I wrote on another forum here.
Originally posted by NephthysSpoiler:
The Relays explode in all the endings.
Yes my bad.
So all in all, I like the ending as is. Sure having some more closure at the end would have been nice. Especially if the ID theory is correct and one did the right thing at the end, as the plot should immediately follow. And the more i look into the ending, the more the ID theory simply has to be correct.
Spoiler:
Because the RGB is the final boss of the game, two lead to a Game Over everyone, while the last lead to the survival of the human race and all the other species. You're supposed to use what you have learned througout all the games in order to make the correct decision. So in my mind there's actually only one ending, and two game overs.
Also, I personally am very much a "the journey is what matters, not the destination" kind of person. And to me the journey has been amazing. At the get go of reading for example the Lord of the Rings, I knew they would win. That did not diminish the adventure I spent with Frodo and co during the three books, nor make the dangers they felt any less exciting.
So what if the ME ending left more to be wanted? The journey was awesome, and that's all I wanted.
Hehe, I don't agree with that either though.
Here's a great movie example that ended without any real closure, Children of Men, I still love that movie because the entire journey is awesome. While the ending
Spoiler:.
ends with the main character dying from a gunshot wound while him and the girl he was rescuing are out at sea, looking for a boat that is supposedly there to save them. He dies, we don't know what happens to the girl or anything else, similar as to how ME left us hanging
My point is that the adage "the journey is what matters, not the destination" can't always justify bad writing. Especially in this case, for a lot of people. 😛
I'm happy that you like the ending. For me, it wasn't the plot holes, the lack of consistency with regards to its genre, the sad ending or the lack of choice that really bothered me. It was the sloppy execution as well as the deceptive marketing and the arrogant reaction Bioware and its media partners had throughout the whole ordeal. I'm not raging over it, mind you, just really disappointed.
Originally posted by Morridini
Hehe, I don't agree with that either though.Here's a great movie example that ended without any real closure, Children of Men, I still love that movie because the entire journey is awesome. While the ending
Spoiler:.
ends with the main character dying from a gunshot wound while him and the girl he was rescuing are out at sea, looking for a boat that is supposedly there to save them. He dies, we don't know what happens to the girl or anything else, similar as to how ME left us hanging
I've heard this "journey not ending" thing before. It makes no sense to me.
So, if you played Mass Effect through all the games through five years with all the DLC and you got to the end at it consisted of Shepard walking up to harbinger and suddenly waking up in his bed, and the WHOLE Mass Effect series was a dream Shepard had before he wakes up and goes to work as an accountant, you would be perfectly alright with that ending? After all, it's the journey, right?
The journey AND the ending are both equally important. You can't justify having a terrible one by saying the other is okay. People like to think that having a lousy ending that doesn't explain anything is somehow edgy and cool writing. When in reality, it's just means you suck at writing endings.
Originally posted by Morridini
Hehe, I don't agree with that either though.Here's a great movie example that ended without any real closure, Children of Men, I still love that movie because the entire journey is awesome. While the ending
Spoiler:.
ends with the main character dying from a gunshot wound while him and the girl he was rescuing are out at sea, looking for a boat that is supposedly there to save them. He dies, we don't know what happens to the girl or anything else, similar as to how ME left us hanging
Sounds like a good movie. But it only costs less than 10 bucks at the theater when it came out, and probably less than 20 on VHS/DVD; maybe took an hour, hour and a half to finish. Mass Effect 1, 2, & 3 on the other hand cost roughly 200 dollars at base. That's without buying all the DLCS and add-ons and stuff. And it took roughly 5 years to finish. I put a lot of time and effort into that series, and while the journey is very important, the destination very much matters to. Also, the developers made promises they very clearly didn't keep and the RBG endings seem like they just said..."We got 20-30 minutes left to kill. Let's just copy/paste with a different color palette and 20% different animations instead of giving Mass Effect 3, the end of this huge trilogy the ending it deserves." I mean seriously, why would you leave a 5 year trilogy, one in which you promised your choices would mean something in the end and offer people closure...with a cliffhanger that and no explanation about anything?
Right I see a pattern here that explains why my opinion differs from the majority of you. You mention that BioWare didn't deliver what they promised, that they handled the controversy poorly etc.
I have however had a complete media blackout of ME2 and ME3 ever since I finished ME in 2007. I've seen no trailers for ME3, not read anything, been promised anything. Then post release I only heard "ending suxxors!!", and nothing else, no reviews or anything.
I came into this game not knowing, nor expecting, anything. And I am glad for what I got.
Now if what you say is true, that BioWare said the choices would affect the ending etc, then I completely understand what you're on about. Because that clearly did not happen.