Okay game is finally out, fuck NDAs, fuck everything we're doing this up real.

Fuck everything. Fuck everything ever.

The Reapers were synthetic-organic monstrosities created by a race of advanced organics to wipe out advanced organic life so that they wouldn't create a race of synthetic monstrosities that would wipe out organic life.

WHAT. WHY.

WHY.

IF THE CITADEL WAS A SPIRIT CHILD WHY DID THEY NEED THE KEEPERS TO COME BACK FROM DARK SPACE.

WHY DID THE KEEPERS EVOLVING OUT OF THEIR PROGRAMMING MATTER AT ALL.

WHY DID SOVEREIGN WORK WITH THE GETH.

WHY DID SOVEREIGN EVEN NEED TO EXIST.

WHY DON'T THEY JUST WIPE OUT SYNTHETIC LIFE.

You know maybe they explain the fucking space child shit, I guess I'll never find out, but here's the thing:

Why is it even assumed that synthetic life would wipe out organic life. How high do you fucking have to be. Are you seriously fucking trying to convince me that that the mother fuckers who were able to create LIVING SPACE SHIPS were stupid enough to not realize that AIs, by the very definition of being fucking AIs, have no predisposed morals or outlooks besides what the original creators programmed into them.

The Geth only fucking rose up because they were SLAVES. And they weren't even a galactic threat until Sovereign made them.

SOVEREIGN MADE THE SYNTHETICS TRY TO WIPE OUT ORGANIC LIFE SO HE COULD KILL THE ORGANICS TO STOP THEM FROM CREATING SYNTHETICS THAT WOULD WIPE OUT ORGANIC LIFE.

And while we're on the topic.

ALL OF THE ENDINGS ARE FUCKING THE SAME.

Oh man guys, all these choices. Holy shit I can't believe all this freedom and choice I get.

So I can destroy everything and the Reapers, destroy everything and send the Reapers away, or destroy everything and turn all life into sythetic-organic hybrids that won't try to create synthetic life because that makes sense BECAUSE THE REAPERS ARE ALREADY PART ORGANIC.

This is a solution to a real problem.

Actually now that I think about it. How do ANY of those endings actually stop organics from creating synthetic life again?

Let's pretend, just for a minute, that this is actually a legitimate concern. How does this actually stop races from creating snythetic life? Even with the Mass Relays gone that doesn't fucking stop the scientific advancement, hell, the old races that made the fucking Geth and all that other shit are still fucking around.

FUCKING

THE REAPERS CREATED THE MASS RELAYS AND THE CITADEL TO EXPEDITE THE ADVANCEMENT OF THE RACES SO THAT THEY COULD DICTATE THE MANNER IN WHICH THEIR TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPED.

WHY DON'T YOU STEER THEM AWAY FROM BUILDING SYNTHETICS.

WHY DON'T YOU FUCKING TRY TO TALK THIS SHIT OUT INSTEAD OF KILLING EVERYONE.

WHY WOULD YOU PAY SOMEONE TO WRITE THIS.

WHY WOULD YOU SHIP THIS OUT IN A TRIPLE AAA MILLION DOLLAR BUDGET TITLE.

WHY WOULD YOU OKAY THIS PLOT HOLE STREWN BULL SHIT THIS FOR THE ENDING TO YOUR CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED TRILOGY.

Video games are over, everything is over.

No one can be happy ever again.

It's sad that this is the best they could come up with, for fuck's sake Bioware.

I haven't actually played the game but isn't it all a story told by a (badly voice acted) grandpa to a child? Because that makes all the sex scenes make even less sense.

@LordXavierBritish: Have you played and beat the game yet?

@SmasheControllers said:

@LordXavierBritish: Have you played and beat the game yet?

You know what, yes.

Yes I did.

In fact I beat it five times, NG+ Insanity mode.

You fucking people.

@LordXavierBritish: Simple question, you didn't have to get mad.

If you haven't played the game, then why are you complaining. If people enjoy the damn game, let them. I get it's the internet, but fuck I thought Duders were nicer then this. Shits changed over the past few years.

@SmasheControllers: I've spent the last week having everyone tell my my opinions are wrong about the writing of a video game because I didn't play it.

You're right, shit has changed.

@LordXavierBritish: We all get it at this point, you think the game's writing is bad. This doesn't mean you have to be such a dick about it, write what you need to write and be done with it, you didn't need to make another thread. There was enough shit talking, on both ends, in the other thread.

@SmasheControllers: I had to make another thread because the first one got deleted.

And it deserves as much hate as possible.

I fucking loved Mass Effect man, and they killed it.

Those crazy mother fuckers killed it.

@LordXavierBritish: I can't say one way or the other yet, haven't played it.

I'm a huge Mass Effect fan as well and if the ending is as bad as you say, maybe my opinion will change, but it's very unlikely. I don't think anything is bad enough to soil an entire franchise.

lmfao!

I love the added music in that video. I got a good laugh out of both tracks near the end there.

@James_Giant_Peach said:

You obviously didn't understand the ending, and you're kinda embarrassing yourself here. I'm not surprised, it's a bit deeper than the Gears of Halo you must be used to.

Then please explain to the rest of the class what it is, exactly, that makes any part of this redeemable.

Ok, so I have some vague idea about this.

The whole reason for the cycles is so that all the lifeforms evolve in a way that the reapers have some amount of control over. They develop their tech under the reapers' guidelines, in a way. Doing it this way, there is some assurance of no technological singularity. Once the 50,000 years hit, then things get messy. The reapers either don't want to risk any sort of variables, or that doing it this way makes it so that the singularity is delayed until the 50,000th year. Give or take. Hence the culling of civilization.

Of course, there are flaws to this. The Quarians proved that creating Synthetic life outside of these guidelines are possible. Whether it was planned or not, the fact is that the singularity could have been reached at this point. Even with the best laid plans, there are many variables that can catch you by surprise. Perhaps that was in the calculations, though. The rise of the Geth was around the same time the reapers were supposed to show up (again, give or take a few years).

As for Sovereign teaming up with the Geth: He saw them as a tool he could manipulate. It's very likely that he'd have included them in the "kill them all" plan, seeing as how they are synthetics.

The biggest flaw of the plan was the premise: Save all organic life from the synthetic scourge. Geth prove that synthetics can be "friendly" with organics, as they have little to no interest in conflicting with the universe. Of course, there are dissenters in the ranks, but that's true for most any species. The conclusion they reached was based on an assumption, not a solid calculation. It seems to be the source for many other errors.

But that's my take. A bit flawed (I'm tired and it's late), but that's what I've gotten out of it after a tiny bit of thinking. You are free to form your own opinion, man. I respect it, even if I do not completely agree.

Hey dude

its a video game

chillout

@LordXavierBritish: Really, the only conclusion I was able to reach from all this is that there's no way in hell this was what was originally planned for the origin and motivation of the Reapers. I don't see how it makes sense otherwise- something had to have changed between the first game and the third.

And while we're at it, what the fuck at the motivation we got. Mass Effect- be tolerant of other species, but in the end it all comes down to "Oh no, robots are inherently evil and will kill us all... but these giant spaceship robo-aliens we've been fighting are really just trying to save us from ourselves! Technological Singularity = Bad!"

@LordXavierBritish: Really, the only conclusion I was able to reach from all this is that there's no way in hell this was what was originally planned for the origin and motivation of the Reapers. I don't see how it makes sense otherwise- something had to have changed between the first game and the third.

And while we're at it, what the fuck at the motivation we got. Mass Effect- be tolerant of other species, but in the end it all comes down to "Oh no, robots are inherently evil and will kill us all... but these giant spaceship robo-aliens we've been fighting are really just trying to save us from ourselves! Technological Singularity = Bad!"

@Turambar said:

@Make_Me_Mad said:

@LordXavierBritish: Really, the only conclusion I was able to reach from all this is that there's no way in hell this was what was originally planned for the origin and motivation of the Reapers. I don't see how it makes sense otherwise- something had to have changed between the first game and the third.

And while we're at it, what the fuck at the motivation we got. Mass Effect- be tolerant of other species, but in the end it all comes down to "Oh no, robots are inherently evil and will kill us all... but these giant spaceship robo-aliens we've been fighting are really just trying to save us from ourselves! Technological Singularity = Bad!"

Basically it's mirroring the type of JRPG plot that people like to deride.

It occurs to me now how sad it is that most people will play this game instead of Binary Domain- because Binary Domain deals with the same basic plot thread of Synthetic and Organic life, but does so in an infinitely more mature way than Mass Effect 3.

It's sad that this is the best they could come up with, for fuck's sake Bioware.

They came up with something else initially. I'll put it in a spoiler:

@Ghostiet: That's retarded too.

@Ghostiet: That ending is actually much better than what ended up in the game, which makes me wonder exactly what caused them to change it to this dumbass amateur-hour Technological Singularity commentary.

@ckarasu said:

The biggest flaw of the plan was the premise: Save all organic life from the synthetic scourge. Geth prove that synthetics can be "friendly" with organics, as they have little to no interest in conflicting with the universe.

I think the biggest flaw of the plan is: save all organic life from the synthetic scourge by killing most organic life.

the reapers work for the first mass effect(synthetic life that reproduces by harvesting organic life, who put easy transportation around so that their meals can spread out and reproduce faster). but it just doesn't work when you have the ending to a trilogy and you desperately try to force in a story twist that comes out of nowhere, in an attempt to make the trilogy appear deeper than it is.

You could of made a good satire without the all caps dude.

@LordXavierBritish: So after reading your post, I've come to the conclusion that you need a girlfriend.

@LordXavierBritish said:

Video games are over, everything is over.

No one can be happy ever again.

You have issues.

@Unknown_Pleasures: @Rittsy: Good lord, can people really not spot hyperbole anymore? Clearly the OP isn't actually setting fire to their home because life has no meaning anymore. People can sometimes talk about something in such a way that they exaggerate their response for both comedic effect and emphasis. Did the "No one can be happy ever again" line not tip you off, even a little?

@Bravestar: I'm still trying to wrap my head around how this seemed like a good idea, a good story, or really anything but all around terrible. Their entire scheme is that, since Organic life may one day create Synthetic life- which apparently is always evil and bent on wiping out their creators- the Reapers are going to save everyone from the terrible fate of advanced technology- by using even more advanced technology to kill everyone before they can die at the hands of their creations. Because, you know, leaving a warning about the many dangers of synthetic life would have been harder than multiple genocide every 50,000 years.

Yeah, people get so hung up on the hyperbole they miss the fact that that story sounds fucking dumb. I admit that I haven't played through it, so...maybe in context it might play better? Doubt it, though. It was better when the reapers were just Space Cthulhu. "My kind transcends your very understanding." Pffft. You're a space robot built by aliens to stop other space robots. Not that hard to understand, dude.

"There is a realm of existence so far beyond your own you cannot even imagine it. I am beyond your comprehension. I am Sovereign." How do you fuck that up? Nothing about the motivation you stated jives with ME1, or even ME2 from what I remember. And do they ever even address Legion or the non-heretic Geth? They weren't inherently evil.

God is dead.

@Make_Me_Mad: I think they desperately looked for a story twist just to have a story twist. you see, the bad guys were the good guys all along!

I wrote the last sentence as a joke, but then I noticed it's actually what they did. holy shit.

@Bravestar: If that was all they wanted, they could have gone with the ending that @Ghostiet posted. It's far less idiotic than the one they eventually went with, makes the Reapers a sort of grudgingly good force in the universe, and they get their plot twist.

Of course, had they gone with that one, it probably would have been even harder for them to deny they copped out and made the Reapers a rip-off of the Antispiral.

the real question is if mass effect fans will admit the ending is terrible or not

I think LordXavierBritish needs a hug, justifiably. Man, the only way to make those endings more of a bad ripoff is if they had quotes at the end from either John Milton, Voltaire or Khalil Gibran for each of the respective endings.

I just read the whole plot summary. Lets jutat say im very glad I am skipping mass effect 3. So stupid.

@Animasta: I can all but guarantee that this will never happen. In fact, I imagine they'll do the exact opposite- they're going to love it, and they'll hold it up as the pinnacle of good storytelling. They will claim that anyone who doesn't like the ending only does so because they can't handle an ending where everything isn't perfect, and indeed they'll go so far as to praise the 'realism' of an ending where even after you win the galaxy is fucked up. It will make me want to claw out my own eyes.

IGN uploaded all endings plus the lame post-credits scene on YouTube. You should watch them. They're pretty dumb. And hilarious in a sad kind of way.

@LordXavierBritish said:

Okay game is finally out, fuck NDAs, fuck everything we're doing this up real.

Fuck everything. Fuck everything ever.

Video games are over, everything is over.

No one can be happy ever again.

Am i following you? *Checks* No? Why am i not following you? Followed. That fucking thing nearly made me die, from laughter.

@Ghostiet: That ending is actually much better than what ended up in the game, which makes me wonder exactly what caused them to change it to this dumbass amateur-hour Technological Singularity commentary.

This reminds me of............ LOST and the way it ended.

IGN uploaded all endings plus the lame post-credits scene on YouTube. You should watch them. They're pretty dumb. And hilarious in a sad kind of way.

@ajamafalous said:

@RVonE said:

IGN uploaded all endings plus the lame post-credits scene on YouTube. You should watch them. They're pretty dumb. And hilarious in a sad kind of way.

OH MY GOD THE ENDINGS ARE ALL SHOT FOR SHOT REMAKES OF EACH OTHER BAHAHAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA AND THEN THE POST-CREDITS SCENE, HAHAHAHHAHA OH MAN.

Exactly. They just swapped the color palette.

@ajamafalous said:

@RVonE said:

IGN uploaded all endings plus the lame post-credits scene on YouTube. You should watch them. They're pretty dumb. And hilarious in a sad kind of way.

OH MY GOD THE ENDINGS ARE ALL SHOT FOR SHOT REMAKES OF EACH OTHER BAHAHAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA AND THEN THE POST-CREDITS SCENE, HAHAHAHHAHA OH MAN.

I know, right? Like, seriously, there are very few ways they could have fucked this up more.

@RVonE: Just watched all the endings and wow. It literally was just a color swap and like MAYBE 5 extra seconds of different footage for each new ending. And the post credits video is just plain dumb, worst voice acting ever.

The last ten minutes of the game really killed a lot of the enjoyment that I had with the series. It is a shame, because I think they did a great job in how they handled the bulk of the main campaign, especially the Geth/Quarian conflict. To be fair, Bioware never really had a stonge ending to any of their titles.

Anyone else kinda weirded out by the Hanako avatar getting all righteous fury-tastic?

@DrDarkStryfe said:

The last ten minutes of the game really killed a lot of the enjoyment that I had with the series. It is a shame, because I think they did a great job in how they handled the bulk of the main campaign, especially the Geth/Quarian conflict. To be fair, Bioware never really had a stonge ending to any of their titles.

This is a little different though. This isn't one singular title - this concluding everything from Mass Effect 1 and 2 and 3. I think they had just a WEE bit more on their hands than just wrapping up a game, they had to wrap up a whole trilogy in which one game was spent doing quests unrelated to the main story (ME2).

Also, I really liked the ending to ME1 and KOTOR. Haven't played Jade Empire fully so I don't know about that one, and Dragon Age had some pretty neat little twists at the end, especially with Morrigan. I don't think they have a past history of bad endings.

The game would not have ended the way everyone wanted otherwise they would have had to create billions of ending. You cannot please everyone.

@Ravenlight said:

Anyone else kinda weirded out by the Hanako avatar getting all righteous fury-tastic?

Not nearly as weirded out as I am by people who can't pick up on any kind of goddamn hyperbole. And what does having a certain Avatar have anything to do with it...?

@xyzygy: Jade Empire actually had a pretty fantastic twist near the end of the game. I thought the ending to that one was pretty strong, but there may be some nostalgia responsible for that.

The game would not have ended the way everyone wanted otherwise they would have had to create billions of ending. You cannot please everyone.

@Ghostiet said:

@owl_of_minerva said:

It's sad that this is the best they could come up with, for fuck's sake Bioware.

They came up with something else initially. I'll put it in a spoiler:

SPOILER WARNING: Click here to reveal hidden content.

The original motivation for the Reapers was that they were conquering galaxies because they tried to have a big enough, smart enough consciousness to find a way to stop the spread of the Dark Energy before it consumes the universe. They were running out of time, but they've realized that humanity is more genetically diverse than the other races and raced to synthesize them. The ending would have involved assimilating humanity, so the Reapers could have a chance to stop the energy or destroying them, in hope the whole galaxy will find a way to stop it with what little time they have. The general implication was that the Reapers were too arrogant to seek other ways than their own.

That's why there was so much of the "humans are special and more genetically diverse" in Mass Effect 2 and that's why there was foreshadowing about Dark Energy on Haestrom.

SPOILER WARNING: Click here to reveal hidden content.

I'll trade that for this anyday.