I want to rant about the ending of Mass Effect 3, and why I dislike it so much. Everyone seems to be focusing on other parts, so I want to focus specifically on the... heartwarming seen of a young boy with his grandfather, or something.

So, it looks as if this little scene takes place on the planet where the Normandy crashed. I won't talk about how the Normandy crew surviving is dumb. Whatever. So, I guess joker and Edi and Garrus somehow managed to procreate, and they've turned a dense jungle world into a snow planet. Maybe this isn't the same world? I don't know.

So, the story begins as the boy asks the older man if all this really happened. He is told "Yes, but some of the details have been lost with time..." Ok, so apparently no one thought to make an accurate account of these very important events for future generations. Liara had scattered her time capsule things everywhere, was all of that information lost when the Normandy crashed? This doesn't matter, you would think that they would just write it down. It's simple. I don't think technology would be an issue, Edi was there, she could figure something out.

The boy then asks "When can I go to the stars?" and the old man replies "One day, my sweet." He tells him how there could be many other forms of life out there. Apparently, these tings were lost to time, as well. It's especially strange, considering these people have to be some fusion of Quarians, humans, Asari, robots, and Turians. Assuming everyone made it to the Normandy and survived the crash, that is. Of course, if this did happen, they still decided it was unimportant to let future generations know anything about the events of Shepard's life. Maybe they thought it would be better to hide the truths so that their ancestors would never become advanced enough to be reaped? Of course, if there is an organic/synthetic fusion, they should already be at the peak of evolution (according to magic boy). So, wouldn't the cycle be over? Oh, and if they're at the peak of evolution, how come they still cannot travel very star into space such a long time after the events of ME3? The ending makes it seem as though centuries have passed. Yet, no space travel? No knowledge of the galaxy?

"Tell me another story about the Shepard" So, I take this to mean that everything that happens in ME3 really took place. We can read about it in the Bible. Jess was commander Shepard, and all this time has changed the story, just as it did in that alien world shown in the final scene. Yep.

I'm sorry if that was a terrible read, but I wrote it in a fury right after waking up this morning. I stayed up until 2 a.m. to finish ME3, then woke up at 8 to come an rant in my blog. I really did enjoy ME3 until the end, so it's a shame that the my great galaxy unifying accomplishments were rendered useless by that ending.

It was shit, no doubt, but it was a Frame device, a tacked on thing that is easy as hell to ignore, because it doesn't impact the rest of the story. It's just a poorly chosen easter egg. Though the way you describe it, is that it puts Shepard as Neo, and The Normandy crew as the 'chosen few' that would have been waiting behind the other door in the matrix reloaded. And when your game ends exactly like The Matrix Reloaded, but your main character takes the other choice, you know that you've cocked up.

Personally, I'm fine with the direction they went in, whatever, it's their creative property, but I can't see why they didn't give you the fourth choice that Neo makes, of going back and taking on the machines on your own terms, consequences be damned. Would have been a better ending, and doesn't change the story, and hell I'd be fine with that resulting in the universe ending, it would have been satisfying and far more poignant to see the characters killed on their own terms, rather than the cop out bullsht that was given.

Basically, the ending could have been IMPROVED by being more like the matrix reloaded. And that says terrible things about your game.

That final scene with the kid and his father wasn't really ment to be taken in context i think. It's just a short easter egg to tie into the end of the trilogy and inspire hope for the future. If you were to factor in everything that happened in the game before that then ofcorse it wouldn't make sense so it's best to just LET IT GO!

Oh come now, it's a pretty obvious "play our pre-endgame DLC" lead in. Don't think too hard about it.

Don't worry about it, nothing else in the ending makes sense, why should a corny, hacked on after the credits scene make sense?

Ye... at this point i kinda wished you didn't get to choose an ending, cause that messes with a lot of things. Just have one pre-set well done ending with a big cgi finale.

I also wish that it turned out more. You can't destroy the reapers you can only destroy the mass relays so they can't get to the whole galaxy, then again at that point they were kinda everywhere.I would of took a the crucible is a powerful weapon but it won't win the war outright. And then they could of still barely won, destroying the crucible upon activating still making shepard a martyr. Or hell i'd have taken a fire the crucible but still lose.

Saying that that will be filled by a piece of dlc might be kinda cynical at this point... but who knows.

Don't think too hard about it.

For me this seen was simply to give people some kind of happy ending, to show that what Shepard did wasn't forgotten and that life still went on.

I'd be shocked if this had anything to do with DLC.

@Tennmuerti said:

@Scorch said:

Don't think too hard about it.

Good advice for pretty much the entire ending.

@Jaytow said:

For me this seen was simply to give people some kind of happy ending, to show that what Shepard did wasn't forgotten and that life still went on.

I'd be shocked if this had anything to do with DLC.

\ How much more blatant of a DLC lead in does it have to be? A red sign at the end that says: "this is how we work in the DLC" ?

There totally was one of those!

Oh, that's what you were getting at, my bad.

@Tennmuerti said:

@Scorch said:

Don't think too hard about it.

Good advice for pretty much the entire ending.

@Jaytow said:

For me this seen was simply to give people some kind of happy ending, to show that what Shepard did wasn't forgotten and that life still went on.

I'd be shocked if this had anything to do with DLC.

It explicitly does. Bioware came out and said on the bombcast that they have put in a narative way for you to go back and do DLC post game. The old narator dude at the end specifically says that the Sheps story is vague and there are many of them and when the child asks for one more story about Shep, the old due says sure he will tell him more stories about Shep. The game proceeds to dump your ass into an auto save just before the point of no return. How much more blatant of a DLC lead in does it have to be? A red sign at the end that says: "this is how we work in the DLC" ?

I don't understand why there has to be a "this is how we work in the DLC" at all. That stuff doesn't need to be explained, it wasn't with mass effect 2 (atleast not like this) and it doesn't have to be with mass effect 3 which is what led me to believe this scene was story related however I haven't listened to the podcast.

Honestly, this idea of trying to work future DLC into the ending is BS. You can give the game a good ending, and then put the player in that spot just before embarking on the final mission. Many games do this, and no one complains. It doesn't need to make sense. Actually, it should make sense if the DLC is written well. If Bioware really made this ending in anticipation of DLC, they are idiots. As is, the ending leaves almost no room for content following the activation of the crucible. Anyways, I'm rambling... I don't agree that this scene was merely put in the game as a way of saying "Oh yeah, there's more in the form of DLC!" That's inevitable.

Anyways, I'm rambling... I don't agree that this scene was merely put in the game as a way of saying "Oh yeah, there's more in the form of DLC!" That's inevitable.