When Earth begins to fall in an ancient cycle of destruction, Commander Shepard must unite the forces of the galaxy to stop the Reapers in the final chapter of the original Mass Effect trilogy.
@FilipHolm: after doing a little digging. it seems like there are a lot of factors to getting that ending. for example my galactic readiness was only at 74% because by the time i got back to playing the game a few days later it had fallen (i was at 86% with multiplayer) and you need at least 80% and few other factors that people are not quite sure on. also i think you need to be either 100% Paragon or Renegade. because at the end i couldn't convince the illusive man to shoot him self the option was grayed out for me.
I destroyed the reaper base at the end of two, so I only needed 4000 ems. If the BW site is correct, then the bump I got from 57% readiness was enough to push me over. I feel like I did most things 'right', only thing I really fucked up with was Kelly Chambers.(and I guess the Salarians, but my Shepard don't betray comrades. Oh yeah, and the asari.)
i like this theory and all, but i was thinking about this last night. why does it matter that a battle is going on inside Shepard's mind? how does help anyone back on earth destroy the reapers? if all your doing is fighting off indoctrination isn't the real battle still happening on earth while you lay in a ditch somewhere? i still think some of the theory holds water. i just dont think its all happening inside shepard's head. i think she really is on the citadel. also i agree with chaos being "the right answer" its the most unknown of the three. and i still say the biblical references at the end are laid on thick. Shepard ascends to heavens only to meet God, and elects to kill God so now organics are truly the masters of their own destiny. no longer is any unknown force in the background pulling the strings. like casper says at the end the created will always kill the creator.
I want to believe that this highly produced video is true, but I cannot believe that Bioware would be sinister enough to charge people to see the real ending of their game.
I think people are missing the point with this theory. The reapers would indoctrinate Shepard in order to lead humanity to its inevitable destruction by the reapers.
Miranda Lawson- If we lose Shepard, humanity might well follow.
If the reapers can make Shepard a sleeper agent and believe that controlling the reapers or synthesis is a logical way out, Humanity and all races will follow him without question.
@Cataphract1014: I chose synthesis despite what Shepard was preaching throughout the entire game and leading up to that point. It seemed like some heavy knowledge was dropped on you at the end and you had to end this cycle? After watching this video I want to believe the indoctrination theory because it makes the most sense. It just sucks that I already made the choice and died for the sake of the galaxy.
Even if Bioware didn't plan this I think they should use it. I think it's pretty cool and the game totally indoctrinated me... part of that because I had lost a little faith in Bioware.
@FilipHolm said:
@Zithe: I had over 6000 points and didn't get it... Just poked a hole in your theory ;)
I had like 6907 and couldn't get the "shepard lives" ending. Don't know what I'm doing wrong. Yes, I picked the "destroy" choice.
Even if Bioware didn't plan this I think they should use it. I think it's pretty cool and the game totally indoctrinated me... part of that because I had lost a little faith in Bioware.
@FilipHolm said:
@Zithe: I had over 6000 points and didn't get it... Just poked a hole in your theory ;)
I had like 6907 and couldn't get the "shepard lives" ending. Don't know what I'm doing wrong. Yes, I picked the "destroy" choice.
Yeah the problem is the readiness percentage. You need it to be 80% or 100% or whatever.
It's fucking bullshit that there are 3 numbers on the war assets screen along with a green bar and no real obvious indicator of what you need to get the best ending.
I played through the game without reading much about the requirements for the best ending (because obviously that's difficult if you want to avoid spoilers) and found out after the fact that you HAVE to play multiplayer or the ios app to get the best ending. My Readiness got locked at 50% because I only played singleplayer.
I watched that video before and i believe it because it bring a lot of great points and remembering some of the things saren said in the first mass effect rings true for what TIm fails to do and what you end up doing at the end. I hear that "why they did not make it more clear in game?" but why would they when in their minds i bet they wanted to blow people heads when the next DLC was released (granted not expecting this huge backlash).
Which raises my next point i don't think they were done with mass effect 3 as far as DLC goes, so why would 2 out of the 3 ending kills off your Shepard. Thus making it pointless to play mass effect 3 again with your Shepard. I can see DLC kicking off where you have to fight harbinger and depending if you give in, it will have some serious consequences.
You know In case the "re-written ending" is in fact just something that explains some of the plot holes, and not an actuall new ending, I'm really looking forward to it. I actually loved the ending in some ways, very emotional, symbolic and powerfull. So If we'll just get some clusure on all the weird stuff, instead of changing the ending all togeter, that would be fantastic...
I believe in the Indoctrination Theory, it is the only logical way to explain the ending. The problem with the people that don't like the ending is because they were expecting to see the war being won and the defeat of the reapers. The problem is that the war is only starting and that is where Multiplayer comes in. I believe that MP is the war being fought.
What happened to Shepard? Probably unconscious, dead or indoctrinated. The ME3 plot was about Shepard, his possible indoctrination, and the beginning of the war; not about the end of the reapers. The scene at the end where we see the Normandy landing in a strange planet and his teammates coming out represents what Shepard hoped to achieve with his choice. It is not real.
SPOILERS AHEAD, obviously Honest question in regard to the indoctrination theory - When you arrive to the final battle with the lowest EMS rating, you receive only the option for Destruction (with both of the paths for Controla and Synthesis not available - this is my understanding from the myriad of Game Ending FAQS available on the net). There is simply no reason that you can only select the Destruction ending when you do a sub-par play through. In Bioware's view, this singular choice of Destruction is the "worst" of all the options because you delivered the least amount of war assets to the final conflict. In this instance, do the Reapers not even bother indoctrinating you, because you have such a low effective military rating? Why do they then let you destroy all of the reapers? That doesn't make sense. Oh, ok, this guy is not good at coordinating forces, let's not try to indoctrinate him, but instead, let him destroy us. I don't know, that seems like a pretty glaring loophole in the indoctrination theory. Additionally, if you noticed, all three endings have that Space Winter ending with Buzz Aldrin talking to the kid. If, in the fact, the Synthesis and Control endings were the "wrong" endings, wouldn't only the Destroy ending have the positive Space Ending epilogue? Just my two cents. I think the indoctrination ending theory is a really creative mental exercise, but I do not think it is what Bioware intended. That being said, believe whatever you want!
SPOILERS AHEAD, obviously Honest question in regard to the indoctrination theory - When you arrive to the final battle with the lowest EMS rating, you receive only the option for Destruction (with both of the paths for Controla and Synthesis not available - this is my understanding from the myriad of Game Ending FAQS available on the net). There is simply no reason that you can only select the Destruction ending when you do a sub-par play through. In Bioware's view, this singular choice of Destruction is the "worst" of all the options because you delivered the least amount of war assets to the final conflict. In this instance, do the Reapers not even bother indoctrinating you, because you have such a low effective military rating? Why do they then let you destroy all of the reapers? That doesn't make sense. Oh, ok, this guy is not good at coordinating forces, let's not try to indoctrinate him, but instead, let him destroy us. I don't know, that seems like a pretty glaring loophole in the indoctrination theory. Additionally, if you noticed, all three endings have that Space Winter ending with Buzz Aldrin talking to the kid. If, in the fact, the Synthesis and Control endings were the "wrong" endings, wouldn't only the Destroy ending have the positive Space Ending epilogue? Just my two cents. I think the indoctrination ending theory is a really creative mental exercise, but I do not think it is what Bioware intended. That being said, believe whatever you want!
Design oversight. This is what I told myself when I saw something that didn't look right while playing the game...
@phrosnite: I am not sure if you are being sarcastic or serious, so I am going to legitimately respond to you and if you were joking, just disregard my seriousness.
I am having an incredibly hard time believing that if Bioware, did in fact, think up this entire indoctrination theory as the true ending (which I don't think they intentionally did), that they forgot this notion when deciding the outcome for the worst ending possible? So they came up with this whole thought up process and then said - hey, when the least committed player gets to the end game, lets just let them destroy the reapers, even though that runs counter to the Reaper's attempts to indoctrinate them. Oh what, that doesn't mesh with the indoctrination theory? Ah well.
@vmehnert: But if you go with 1500 and less you can destroy the reapers but Earth gets destroyed too. 2000-2500 the Earth is decimated but still there.
Dunno, the game was supposed to come out last year. Who knows if they indeed thought out the "big picture". I wish EA would give Bioware 3-4 years to make a game, not 18-24 months. Like Bethesda does.
@phrosnite: I understand that. But even though Earth is destroyed, the rest of the galaxy is still there. It does not make sense that the Reapers, whose primary goal is to "reset/wipe out" all organic life in the galaxy, would simply say screw it, let him destroy us and Earth but preserve the galaxy in the low end EMS rating, when they were allegedly capable of indoctrination on the high end EMS rating. If the Bioware team overlooked that, it leads me to believe that the indoctrination theory was never their intention to begin with.
Regardless, this all does not matter to me. I saw the ending, said "meh," had a beer for Garrus and thought wistfully about Miranda. That is just a GLARING inconsistency in the indoctrination theorists' view which I have yet to hear accurately addressed. It would make more sense to take the ending at face value, no matter how plothole riddled it is. Bottom line, it is a video game. It ended. Move on everyone.
@vmehnert: I didn't knew about this. When I finished the game I had all three options and chose the destruction of all synthetic life. For me Indoctrination Theory is the only that makes sense, if it isn't true then this is one of the most ridiculous endings I ever saw. I cannot even understand how Bioware is supposed to continue the ME franchise if there aren't mass relays to unite the galaxy. The only option is for IT to be true, Shepard is MIA, and the next games would be the war being fought with a new hero, and with Garrus, Liara and company working as leaders of the resistance against the reapers.
SPOILERS AHEAD, obviously Honest question in regard to the indoctrination theory - When you arrive to the final battle with the lowest EMS rating, you receive only the option for Destruction (with both of the paths for Controla and Synthesis not available - this is my understanding from the myriad of Game Ending FAQS available on the net). There is simply no reason that you can only select the Destruction ending when you do a sub-par play through. In Bioware's view, this singular choice of Destruction is the "worst" of all the options because you delivered the least amount of war assets to the final conflict. In this instance, do the Reapers not even bother indoctrinating you, because you have such a low effective military rating? Why do they then let you destroy all of the reapers? That doesn't make sense. Oh, ok, this guy is not good at coordinating forces, let's not try to indoctrinate him, but instead, let him destroy us. I don't know, that seems like a pretty glaring loophole in the indoctrination theory. Additionally, if you noticed, all three endings have that Space Winter ending with Buzz Aldrin talking to the kid. If, in the fact, the Synthesis and Control endings were the "wrong" endings, wouldn't only the Destroy ending have the positive Space Ending epilogue? Just my two cents. I think the indoctrination ending theory is a really creative mental exercise, but I do not think it is what Bioware intended. That being said, believe whatever you want!
Well this is all theory so there could be many reasons why but i will take a stab at it. I think when you get the worst ending destroy its because you will be indoctrinated no matter what so its harbinger showing you what you want to see in this state. Your will has already been broken and you won't fight this reality because you think your doing the right thing. Like someone is telling you to push a button to stop a bomb only it being the button that arms it.
If you have the better endings your Shepard has more hope in this fight because of being prepared for this war, which makes it harder for harbinger to control you. Harbinger has to make you give in and can not directly control you which is why he tries to paint every other opinion as a better choice. So if you have the worst ending the harbinger only need to fool you into thinking you have won. Now the end credits with the space family i think its just a clue that there is more to come and more to tell of Shepard's story which could also hint at the indoctrination theory. Again all theory and made up fan fic at this point but it could very well have been what Bioware planed all along or will do. Hell Prince of Persia did it so i don't think this is crazy talk, wishful thinking maybe but stranger things have happen in games.
@vmehnert: Like I said when the Indocrination Theory video poped up, "I think you are giving Bioware's writers too much credit". Anyway I was fine how the game ended. I liked how even though you saved everybody they are still fucked because all the replays blew up.
@phantomzxro: Dude, I admire your creativity (and I mean that in the most sincere way possible). If anything this whole thing has gotten people to really think creatively, so at least there is that.
That being said, I think it is pretty obvious that your interpretation is an incredible stretch. Not saying it couldn't be true, just that if I was presented with those two possibilities, I would likely go with the one with the more grounded interpretation. But perhaps its because I am a realist (not implying thats a good thing, its just my world view). Thanks everyone, for remaining civil while I poke holes in theories.
If we can get past the trolls that say they won't watch something because it has something they don't agree with 2 minutes into it, you will see that this video answers and refutes every challenge that has come up against the ending. There are even some things in it that I didn't notice from other lists and videos. It is a long one, but if you watch the whole thing, you will understand it.
All things being equal the simplest solution is usually the right one.
Is this all some elaborate plan to trick us and pull the greatest come back ever? Or is this simply Bioware/ EA deciding that finishing the game and completing the endings would be a waste of money. I think the latter. I think they did have other endings planned and in development but rather than completing them all, they just stitched together what they had and pushed it out.
I'd be happier if they simply said to be continued at a point late in the game and finished everything properly. What we get seems to be a random collection of things that don't appear to be related. I can see how different endings would use different parts of these but as one ending they don't fit.
I'll bet one ending involved that scene on the ground with the reapers and the blue scene where they take off is the intended version. The others are slight adjustments to use that same clip in the "other endings" The ship getting destroyed in warp and the relays being destroyed clips likely were from the same ending and the crashed normandy. Again when they ran out of time they just made minor adjustments and used that for all endings.
I think we're seeing what they had done at the time which is little parts from multiple endings. This is what you'd expect if you asked to see everything in mid development, they work on multiple things at the same time so if development was halted and they were forced to ship this is what they'd have.
SPOILERS AHEAD, obviously Honest question in regard to the indoctrination theory - When you arrive to the final battle with the lowest EMS rating, you receive only the option for Destruction (with both of the paths for Controla and Synthesis not available - this is my understanding from the myriad of Game Ending FAQS available on the net). There is simply no reason that you can only select the Destruction ending when you do a sub-par play through. In Bioware's view, this singular choice of Destruction is the "worst" of all the options because you delivered the least amount of war assets to the final conflict. In this instance, do the Reapers not even bother indoctrinating you, because you have such a low effective military rating? Why do they then let you destroy all of the reapers? That doesn't make sense. Oh, ok, this guy is not good at coordinating forces, let's not try to indoctrinate him, but instead, let him destroy us. I don't know, that seems like a pretty glaring loophole in the indoctrination theory. Additionally, if you noticed, all three endings have that Space Winter ending with Buzz Aldrin talking to the kid. If, in the fact, the Synthesis and Control endings were the "wrong" endings, wouldn't only the Destroy ending have the positive Space Ending epilogue? Just my two cents. I think the indoctrination ending theory is a really creative mental exercise, but I do not think it is what Bioware intended. That being said, believe whatever you want!
To be fair, when you don't have enough EMS the destroy ending shows the earth turning into a giant ball of fire and your crew is presumed dead. I figure that's just supposed to represent you being totally boned. Also, in fairness, if you have the highest EMS possible, this is the only ending that reflects it by showing Sheperd still alive.
@LordXavierBritish said:
You do realize that Bioware has openly and explicitly stated that the real ending is the one in the game.
Where did they say this? I might just have missed it but all I've seen on the twitter feed is "we want players to have a chance to experience the ending for themselves before we discuss it."
I understand that. But even though Earth is destroyed, the rest of the galaxy is (impliedly) still there. It does not make sense that the Reapers, whose primary goal is to "reset/wipe out" all organic life in the galaxy, would simply say screw it, let him destroy us and Earth but preserve the galaxy in the low end EMS rating, when they were allegedly capable of indoctrination on the high end EMS rating. If the Bioware team overlooked that, it leads me to believe that the indoctrination theory was never their intention to begin with.
Regardless, this all does not matter to me. I saw the ending, said "meh," had a beer for Garrus and thought wistfully about Miranda. That is just a GLARING inconsistency in the indoctrination theorists' view which I have yet to hear accurately addressed. It would make more sense to take the ending at face value, no matter how plothole riddled it is. Bottom line, it is a video game. It ended. Move on everyone.
However, good point about the highest EMS rating being the only one showing Shephard alive. But, theoretically, this still doesn't necessarily support the indoctrination theory. As that is the only ending in which he WOULD be alive, as he sacrifices himself for the greater good of the galaxy in the other two endings.
@vmehnert: Also the thing that they mention how your eyes become like those of the Illusive man hence you are indoctrinated... but shepard is part robot. Isn't his/her eyes and other parts synthetic anyway?
As I said earlier, this isn't one of those long-shot theories, since when I played that ending I was thinking to myself "They're probably just controling his mind and triking him into picking the wrong option", because it really made sense to the story. Not because It was the only way the plot-holes where forgivable or because I'm trying to justify the ending in any way. I sencerely believed this was the case when playing the game. Then again, why would Bioware agree to change the ending if this was their plan? Makes no sense... I just don't know what to think anymore... damn you Bioware
@phrosnite: my thoughts exactly. and they said in either the synthetic or control ending you were basically merging your consciousness with the reaper tech, so that would happen. wouldn't mean you were indoctrinated.
either way, it is what it is. one way or another we will know more in April when whatever DLC comes out. Maybe.
I love this, and hope it's true and not mistaken, where BioWare looks at it and says "Oh, shit, that wasn't what it was originally, but lets go for it!" If it what it is, then I can understand it and the ending would be so incredibly smart, though the lack of closure to characters and universe around is still unfortunate. My biggest problem with the ending if it is the indoctrination theory, is that I didn't fully understand it the first time, but I didn't notice stuff that seemed very out of place, like the shadow broker ship parts. I think they made a mistake though, 'cause they didn't really give us a "real" ending, and I think DLC will be appropriate for one now. I just hope they don't retcon it. Fuck, make a fourth Mass Effect. Shepard's story isn't really over.
The only reason I think there's something to the high EMS Destroy bonus thing is because Bioware seems to lean pretty hard on the Paragon side of things as far as giving the player extra content and tying up the games' various loose ends. Renegade tends to mean you're murdering dudes and ruining alliances, a result of which you're going to suffer EMS wise towards the end of the ME3 (even if you're taking some of the 'for the good of the galaxy' renegade options like sabotaging the cure, after which in most scenarios you end up murdering two crew members and losing an army). For a Renegade playthrough to qualify for that 'bonus content' or 'easter egg' or whatever where he wakes up you've really got to do *everything* in the game and probably play multiplayer on top of it. Maybe it was just bioware rewarding players they thought were most likely to pick the 'red' option since those would be the players who had to work the hardest to get their EMS up to where they could see it, but it still strikes me as odd that they'd make the *only* special 'wow you really worked hard to get this!' content be the 'renegade' option. You'd think they'd at least give you, I don't know, anything bonus for the other two endings if you had really high EMS. It does make it seem to me like there's something extra-special about the destroy ending.
@Cataphract1014: I'm starting to come around on this theory. I hope it turns out to be correct. If Bioware actually intended this, I would be very impressed. If not...well let's just say their writing has seen better days.
You guys realize the indoctrination theory is basically pure smelly BS of the worst kind yeah? Everything they show as evidence is so circumstantial it is almost an insult even using that word to describe it. The fact that the most recent Dr. Ray post even said they would "clarify" the ending all but says that they aren't changing it only expanding on it. Not to mention things like you can actually die at every point of the "indoctrination" except for the last "choice" after you talk to the kid. For a dude who is only trying to "indoctrinate" me Harbinger sure gave that Marauder real bullets.
There is no way all this evidence is coincidental, I'm not saying bioware will ever make anything post ME3 ending but this stuff was obviously put in on purpose.
I would assume that the original intention was to make the ending controversial in just this regard. They said they wanted a 'memorable' ending, and how better to do that than by planting a bunch of weird coincidences and messing with our red/blue color scheme towards the end? Make it an ending people can sit around discussing and arguing about, just like this, and you've made something memorable. I think this would have been a find ending if they'd just executed it with a little more common sense and a little less Michael Bay.
This video is like the "Loose Change" of Mass Effect 3. It is cleverly edited and makes some good observations, but many of the "facts" are nothing more than guesses with no basis in fact. It's a good theory though.
^^^ only took you 16 minutes to get here and ruin everyones Mass Effect fun. Even though you can be a troll Shepard loves you and will save you from the reapers anyway
@phantomzxro: Dude, I admire your creativity (and I mean that in the most sincere way possible). If anything this whole thing has gotten people to really think creatively, so at least there is that.
That being said, I think it is pretty obvious that your interpretation is an incredible stretch. Not saying it couldn't be true, just that if I was presented with those two possibilities, I would likely go with the one with the more grounded interpretation. But perhaps its because I am a realist (not implying thats a good thing, its just my world view). Thanks everyone, for remaining civil while I poke holes in theories.
Like I said man this is all wild theories so i understand what you mean and can understand the doubt but i think its because to many this theory makes the most sense overall vs the normal endings.
After fully watching it I hope this turns out to be true.
Because looking at it like that it suddenly doesn't seem like a fucking horrible ending to a great story. It ends way to abrupt and it doesn't say a damn about the aftermath or whatever.
Wasn't the Krogan cure such a problem for example? Hell I'd taken those Dragon Age slide cards with info on them on this. First they bitch and moan all game long about consequences and then at the end its all like "Yo thanks for playing, have a silly scene that leaves you wondering and oh hey look its the credit roll!"
I want to believe, but if they deliver such a half assed ending they can go fuck theirselves.
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