Brad Thinks He Knows the Ending to Mass Effect 3

cool idea

@WolfHazard said:

At the end Shepard closes his eyes, the screen fades to black then blinks open again, and Desmond stands up, exists the animus and high fives all his friends

This!

This is the true ending to Mass Effect 3

my prediction prediction: shepards a ghost

why is there a roll of paper towels on Brad's desk? Actually, on second thought don't tell me.

@borgmaster: Would you care to write down your prediction on a piece of notebook paper and seal it in an envelope?

@relyt55 said:

@Phoenix87

This is the true ending to Mass Effect 3

Lmao where is this from?!

The Gotham City Imposters TNT.

It's not going to be in the envelope. The ending isn't really predictable, because it comes out of nowhere and didn't really have any build up or hints in that direction. And you can't really wrap it up in a sentence because it's not really a describable thing, per se...

@Mister_Snig said:

If he wrote

SPOILER WARNING: Click here to reveal hidden content.

"Shepard is indoctrinated"

Mass Effect 3 will totally have been worth it.

This is exactly what I'm expecting to happen (and hoping).

Hahah I can't wait to see what it says in the letter.

@BaconGames said:

Man I gotta say this past year has made me love Brad even more. He has always played the vital "straight man"/audience member to Jeff and Ryan's antics but now that he's bringing more of himself into the site's content, I can't say I'm any less than thrilled.

I'm calling it right now, 2012's Brad Of The Year is Shoemaker (last year's winner being Muir).

Yeah I don't like to play favourites but Brad has been the source of some of my favourite stuff on the site this year. Muir had a good year in 2011 but I have to agree, Shoemaker bringin' it hard in 2012.

He is at a good part! I wish I could go back and experience missions like the Thessia one again for the first time.

@bigstrat2003: i'm probably in no position to say as i've only sporadically played about half of ME1 and watched large chunks of ME2 and ME3 being played by a friend, but i'd say ME3 is definitely worth it if only for Javik. may win award for most essential DLC ever IMO.

also:

My prediction for the prediction: Brad already knows ME3 is probably gonna end with some destiny/chosen one crap. Knowing how the story plays out before the final 2 hours, I bet he thinks

Edit: I called that shit!

@crusader8463 said:

This should be a new segment. Halfway through a game the guys write down how they think it will end! Also, I totally would love to see Brad do a live stream of him doing the ending to see his reaction.

except, i don't think they play more than half of the actual game, most of the time. too many games to review, and all that. v good idea, though.

@ripelivejam:

If you only played it one time through (they give you three choices, but there is one ending - dumb - just end it), and ignored the bad writing and ridiculous-happenstance events of the ending, then sure. :P

That piano theme was great, though.

@Kohlstream said:

They should livestream Brad experiencing the ending just to have his reaction on film.

I agree with this.

@ripelivejam: I honestly think the ending is just badly written. I'm sure it's exacerbated by my attachment to the fiction after playing all three games, but even so, the writing is awful.

That said, I'm glad you liked it. I wish I could have, for sure, and I'll be the last to jump on someone (except in jest) for finding something enjoyable even when I don't.

@bigstrat2003 said:

@ripelivejam: I honestly think the ending is just badly written. I'm sure it's exacerbated by my attachment to the fiction after playing all three games, but even so, the writing is awful.

SPOILER WARNING: Click here to reveal hidden content.

I'm just saying, it is not acceptable to whip out an 11th hour deus ex machina in the form of that star child thing. And that's saying nothing about how the options presented are just... dumb, and really galled me because none of those are what my Shepard would have done. She would never countenance trying to control the Reapers, nor the crazy synthesis thing, nor destroying our Geth allies as collateral damage along with the Reapers. URGH.

The extended cut helps with some of the other problems (like the complete lack of closure for anything, or how fucking bleak the ending is), but it doesn't solve the fundamental problem of a deus ex machina ending which forces me to choose between options that my character would not have taken.

That said, I'm glad you liked it. I wish I could have, for sure, and I'll be the last to jump on someone (except in jest) for finding something enjoyable even when I don't.

Don't worry, you're correct. The ending was horrible. The only beef I have with popular opinion of Mass Effect is that people seem to think the writing hasn't always been shit. For me, Mass Effect begins and ends at ME1.

They can't live stream it. Everyone knows Brad gets nervous on camera so his reaction won't be pure.

@Animasta said:

@Kohlstream said:

They should livestream Brad experiencing the ending just to have his reaction on film.

do this please I would love it so much

Word!

@Alex_Carrillo said:

@Animasta said:

@Kohlstream said:

They should livestream Brad experiencing the ending just to have his reaction on film.

do this please I would love it so much

Word!

Oh god yes, do this!

@august said:

There should be a whole series of Brad guessing the endings to games called Not That Brad.

i'm 100% in favour of this, with a slight alteration. title it:

"it wasn't that brad."

me3's ending: whatever. so over it by now, and it hasn't tarnished anything about that ride for me. every sci fi franchise worth it's salt has some measure of failure contained therein. it's just unfortunate they couldn't stick the landing. they awkwardly shot for the moon, and missed. but the kid's still got heart, and that's what counts.

You think you know, but you have no idea.

@Frostily said:

if brad is any where close ill eat my hat

He probably wrote "Shepard dies" or equivalent statement. Or maybe even "the reapers win".

@vikingdeath1 said:

I'm trying to think what about the Thessia mission could have triggered this..... or maybe it had Nothing to do with his sudden realization..... what about brad showering could have triggered this.....

If it has to do with the shower then it's probably that Shepard wakes up to the sound of a shower and ME3 is reveled to be Shepard's dream a la Dallas.

The disappointment in Vinny's voice was priceless.

My friend, who recently played through all 3 games, said he loved the ending to 3. This was the Extended Cut, just for a reference. He said no game "affected him like Mass Effect 3". So, if anything, all of this insane controversy about the ending is probably sending a different message about what the ending is and makes people think the ending is like a boulder falling down on Shepard, killing her/him. He didn't even really get bothered by any of it, so, that's a good sign. Barely anything is ever as good or bad as the hype surrounding it is.

The vocal community who were protesting the company and whatnot were absolutely insane, more so than the ending that happened.

I had no issues with the thematics of the ending, but it does have some slight narration problems describing it. I don't think it's worth the controversy that arose about it. Hell, I don't think anything was/is that bad. People who are on BioWare's Social Network probably know what I mean. The complaints about that game now have seeped into completely ridiculous territory. It's just not fair at this point.

The bombers talked about the choice versus illusion of choice last Bombcast, and the whole "my Shepard wouldn't have done that" is not your story to tell. It was always on a track, whether or not you believed in certain things or not. There were always issues where you had to pick a side you didn't really think Shepard would have done because it's still a linear path, despite the minor choices along the way that help shape how to get there.

This is why I had no issues with the idea of basically one path to the ending. It's still a damn video game in the year 2012. We aren't to a point where there can be millions of cinematic (so not like Skyrim or whatever) options to end a game series on and yet still create sequels. They did well enough to come up with different solutions to the problem to at least change that side of it, leading into a new game, however that will work.

Also, I think Brad's ending idea is going to be way worse than what the ending actually is. I'm curious to know what he put down.

You'll see, sir. You'll see...

@Animasta said:

@Kohlstream said:

They should livestream Brad experiencing the ending just to have his reaction on film.

do this please I would love it so much

The ending was completely fine with me. Like Ryan said on the bombcast, the scope of all you get to experience throughout the trilogy is awesome. The Genophage, the quarian v. Geth... All of this was established truth and the fact that I was able to bring all those story threads to a close made me feel closer to ME3 than any previous game.
I have a good feeling that Brad will enjoy the journey and feel satisfied with his experience before he lands on Earth. I don't think he'll be happy with the lack of answers he'll get though.

Shepard is Tyler Durden.

One sentence cannot possibly contain all of the madness that is the Mass Effect 3 ending.

Team Brad is all knowing.

The ending is so vague and such a cop-out to everything that led up to it, that unless all Brad wrote down was something in the lines of Nothing I do in to prepare and gain Galactic Readiness matters in the end he's not gonna even be close.

Haha. For some reason this video gave me a good laugh. It's content like this that makes my enjoy Giant Bomb so much.
That being said: I highly doubt that that short sentence is the right ending. As much I too hate the ending, I don't think it can be sumed up that fast. Good on ya Brad for staying spoiler free though. :)

You can't really write the gist of this ending in one sentence, so I am pretty sure he isn't right. With that said, I don't even know why people bitched about this ending so much anyway, sure it wasn't incredible, but it really wasn't bad either.

@OneManX said:

@Xeiphyer said:

@OneManX said:

@Rabid619 said:

I still don't think that the ending can be anywhere near as bad as Brad is expecting it to be. The way that people have treated it, you'd think that it kill everyone's puppy, took their first born, and then gave them cancer.

Is the ending good? Nope. Is it anywhere near as bad as people make it out to be? Hell no.

That said I'm curious to see what Brad thinks the ending is, should be pretty funny.

I fully expect an, "It wasn't that bad.. but it wasn't great" type reaction from Brad.

Yeah. People shit all over that ending. It was just kind of disappointing, it wasn't that bad.

Assassins Creed 3's ending is the one everyone should be attacking and shitting all over, but we hear nothing!

I feel like ACIII's time is gonna be GotY. They are keeping quiet on the spoilers, but they are gonna unleash there. But even then. I thought Desmond's end was lame (but I don't like Desmond at all) but I found Connor's ending pretty good with the right amount of, "Fuck you man" in those closing moments.

I had almost no reaction to Connor's ending, he was a terrible character (although that may have something to do with the actors shockingly lifeless performance... especially when measured against Roger Craig Smith as Ezio). AC3 turned into a great big pile of 'meh' by the end of the game.

Me thinks it's the little boy flashback/dream-sequences.

@TurboMan said:

@2HeadedNinja said:

@mrfluke said:

@TheHT said:

@DjCmeP said:

@kishinfoulux said:

@Kohlstream said:

They should livestream Brad experiencing the ending just to have his reaction on film.

PLEASE DO THIS @Brad !!!!

@bloodsoul5 said:

PLEASE RECORD BRAD WATCHING THE ENDING TO MASS EFFECT 3!

@GValo said:

screw recording something after he watches the ending LIVE STREAM THAT THING!

YES. Do this @Brad

DO EET.

@patrickklepek@Vinny@Brad@drewbert

the good side of the community speaks

Yes, this please.

I am quoting to spam their inbox's so this dream can be fulfilled.

THISSSSSSSSSSS.

@Dross said:

@TurboMan said:

@2HeadedNinja said:

@mrfluke said:

@TheHT said:

@DjCmeP said:

@kishinfoulux said:

@Kohlstream said:

They should livestream Brad experiencing the ending just to have his reaction on film.

PLEASE DO THIS @Brad !!!!

@bloodsoul5 said:

PLEASE RECORD BRAD WATCHING THE ENDING TO MASS EFFECT 3!

@GValo said:

screw recording something after he watches the ending LIVE STREAM THAT THING!

YES. Do this @Brad

DO EET.

@patrickklepek@Vinny@Brad@drewbert

the good side of the community speaks

Yes, this please.

I am quoting to spam their inbox's so this dream can be fulfilled.

THISSSSSSSSSSS.

Yessssssss.

I want to see the disappointment is his EYEBALLS.

@BD_Mr_Bubbles said:

@Animasta said:

@Kohlstream said:

They should livestream Brad experiencing the ending just to have his reaction on film.

do this please I would love it so much

Oh god please. Also, there's literally no way anybody could predict that ending. If that's what they were going for, they succeeded; but that's all they succeeded with.

@HighPriest said:

@MooseyMcMan said:

I hope they show what he wrote, and this doesn't just wind up like that note from Dave from the GOTY stuff a couple years ago.

I'm holding out that they've still got that somewhere and will pull it out the next time a GOTY is too close to call.

That note is best left secret. It would only be a disappointment at this point, trust me.

Hmm. Is it even possible that Brad stayed spoiler-free all these months? It was all over the Internet, he must have heard something.

@Kohlstream said:

They should livestream Brad experiencing the ending just to have his reaction on film.

Yes! That was my first thought as well. And then after the credits roll, a live reading of the contents of the envelope.

I think he might know because he played the Leviathan DLC which hints heavily at the ending

The suspense is killing me.

If he hadnt figured out why people dont like it by the first mission then he is going to be wrong.

I like the ending and thought Mass Effect 3 was awesome. You can stop it with the constant "OH TH ENDING WAS SO BAD HAHAHA", people.

After playing ME3, what was so wrong with the ending? I thought it felt well and I enjoyed it thoroughly.