Again, for good measure:

SPOILERS!

I couldn't help but laugh when I watched the endings back to back to back on youtube yesterday and saw three nearly identical cutscenes. Completely ridiculous. Utter disbelief.

I loved the game, it was probably the best in the series until you get blown up running for the portal. They just totally fucked it up after that. People don't want an ending that raises yet more questions, they want a Return of the Jedi ending not crazy fucking magic blue space child who is totally out of place in the universe they've spent 3 games creating.

The ending was in no way influenced by the choices you'd made, only by how much of the little bar you'd got filled. Choices like freeing the Rachni queen should have had huge influence on the ending and final battle but it doesn't. The three endings have nothing to do with any choices you've made, nothing to do with the entire universe you've played through and nothing to do with anything you've actually done. It was three cut scenes which are exactly the same with different colours.

What's wrong with having a boss fight, a nice big boss fight with some ancient AI or alien which prior to the fight you'll have a nice long chat with and he'll explain everything and wrap it up in a nice little bow before you kick his ass, high-five Anderson and go back to Earth for tea and medals.

honestly. i wish they ended the game before the magic elevator. like with shepard and anderson sitting there wounded watching the citadel deathstar fire and kill the reapers.

the whole starchild thing was stupid and annoying. i picked the middle ending. gave joker green matrix lines on him. thought it was really dumb. loaded my save, redid it. then shot the place up out of spite destroying the reapers. i actually liked that ending alot more. plus shepard lives in that one

But, you're complaining about largely the same things as the other guy in the other thread. 

We don't need two threads about the ending(s).

@Vegetable_Side_Dish:

But that topic is full drama and crying (end of the world mentality) and seem to think Bioware did this all on purpose.

Any rational individual will be like 'Well that ending sucked', and move on

@Vegetable_Side_Dish:

But that topic is full drama and crying (end of the world mentality) and seem to think Bioware did this all on purpose.

Any rational individual will be like 'Well that ending sucked', and move on

I thought the game was exceptional but that they kinda dropped the ball at the one yard line. In Jeff's review he calls the ending convoluted but I just see it as more contrived. Here you are at the end of your truly epic journey and instead of Bioware just saying, "Look guys we wrote and ending and here's how this shit goes" they decided one more choice was the way to go. Also I don't love how an even greater force than the Reapers is introduced in the last 60 seconds and Shephard doesn't even take the time to ask his/her/it's ass any questions.

At this point I find it hard to express how the wind was taken out of my sails right at the end but it was.

Vega is a pretty cool dude though.

Edit: Oh also if you're on the PC and want to see all 3 endings in person (if you haven't already) when you get to the part where you get to make the choice just quit the game copy the auto save and rename it to Save_00whatever and then drop it back in and you can just reload that. Cause trust me it's not worth the literal 18-20 minutes it takes to get from the restart point in that mission to the end through all that dialogue you've already heard and are totally unable to skip.

@Vegetable_Side_Dish: Passionate is fine but some of the stuff in that thread is insanity.

I really liked the game but thought the ending was pretty basic. I picked the option to kill the reapers and was quite annoyed that the ending video didn't talk about how all the war assets I brought actually worked out. I mean did the massive geth fleet actually do some good? What about all the equipment and fleets and armies? Just errr. I also don't understand how all those people got back on the normandy and then where the hell was they going when the slipstream blew up? It makes no damn sense.

honestly. i wish they ended the game before the magic elevator. like with shepard and anderson sitting there wounded watching the citadel deathstar fire and kill the reapers.

the whole starchild thing was stupid and annoying. i picked the middle ending. gave joker green matrix lines on him. thought it was really dumb. loaded my save, redid it. then shot the place up out of spite destroying the reapers. i actually liked that ending alot more. plus shepard lives in that one

I loved the game, it was probably the best in the series until you get blown up running for the portal. They just totally fucked it up after that. People don't want an ending that raises yet more questions, they want a Return of the Jedi ending not crazy fucking magic blue space child who is totally out of place in the universe they've spent 3 games creating.

The ending was less than desirable. Your only option is to make a deal with some synthetic controller of the reapers. You cut everyone in the galaxy off from each other by destroying the mass relays and the citadel. And you see after the credits that even after a significant time has passed and theyre telling stories about shepherd, they still dont have FTL travel. Shepherd dies in every scenario. In option one u control the reapers and theyll obey you but you die. Option two you destroy all synthetic life including the reapers and geth and edi. In option 3 only available to those with a certain amount of "galactic readiness" this is what is explained to you... You will join all synthetic and organic life in synthesis recreating the dna structure of the universe. Depending on ur galactic readiness and whether u destroyed the collector base or not in me2 determines if earth is destroyed. I ended up choosing to destroy all synthetic life for a couple of reason. First off option 3 (synthesis) is horribly explained. When im first listening to this decision i thought that they were forming a singular half organic half machine super being or singular organic machine race. Turns out thats not true after i viewed that ending online. Nothing appears to be different. The reapers just fly away everyone is happy to be in a complete fall out and just like every other ending destruction of citadel and mass relays. Even after reviewing that ending tho i still wouldnt have chosen it. Mainly because im a huge believer in geth idea of not accepting advanced technologies because it blinds ur own route and u lose understanding. Also the hell if im accepting a plea deal from the controller of the reapers cause thats almost what it is. Then came to controlling the reapers vs destroying all synthetic life. While controlling the reapers could essentially prevent a fall out if you decide to, it didnt seem right. Youd be able to work with organic life to lift them from the incapabilities of FTL space travel, but its not their tech. And im tired of synthetic life, probably created trillions of years before humans, controlling the outcome and path of organic life. Yet you do control the reapers so you can chose how and when to help. Also this scenario preserves the geth in their complete synthetic form which would be essential in helping prevent a fall out because they all have records of almost everything ever built. Looking back on it all this may have been the right choice but some would disagree. The controller of the reapers keeps telling u how synthetic life will always try to destroy organic life so keeping both synthetic and organic life alive and seperate (unique to this scenario) would inevitably end in conflict. Which i disagree with. The controller of the reapers was probably a massive AI created by the most advanced civilization ever because they had endless years to advance. Then unlike geth who spared the quarians these synthetics destroyed their creators and because it is a synthetic and this is the only thing its ever experienced it is nearly blind to other possiblilities. So the only way it can see preventing the chaos is the cycle of of destroying organic life. I dont see that. I resolved the conflict of the geth and quarians. The geth dont see it that way, they are peaceful. EDI doesnt see it that way. Then u come to the point that possibly the only thing preventing these synthetic beings from this conclusion though is time. Which is possible. Geth prefer isolationalism tho so ita hard to see geth gaining the perspective to come to this conclusion and EDIs main programming now lacks a high level of self preservation. But it doesnt stop organics from creating more AIs. That problem is not unique tho in that in the option of destroying all synthetic life once organics climb out of the fall out they can create more as well. But i like the idea of synthetics no longer controlling ur destiny. Let the organics chose it on their own and let them be their own demise. Not giant machines. I did not want to destroy the geth because they arent so far advanced to control our destiny, but it was inevitable with this scenario. The option of destroying synthetic life relies on the hope that salarians and asari and turians to have enough data saved and intellect to pull organics out of the fall out. Yet it doesnt seem to be the case in ANY scenario if u view the clip after the credits. Honestly i wanted shepherd to live. I wanted him and liara to have a bunch of little blue babies get married and have garrus be the best man but nope. All the work you did creating those alliances, destroying the collectors was for crap. All endings lead to a future of no resemblance to the past. You cant expand on this universe. I agree with OP that it would have been great to be able to do more missions on stopping the krogan from over populating(if u cured the genophage, and ur a heartless monster if u didnt because mordin would have died for nothing, saddest part of game) or some missions in helping rebuild the galaxy. Also another point i want to address some people will view the controller of the reapers as some god but I believe hes not because he refers to all synthetic life as "us". Like legion did for the geth (until recent).

Overall a depressing ending. Really deep but depressing. Great game. Greatest series of all time but not the ending i was hoping for.

@Extreme_Popcorn said:

I loved the game, it was probably the best in the series until you get blown up running for the portal. They just totally fucked it up after that. People don't want an ending that raises yet more questions, they want a Return of the Jedi ending not crazy fucking magic blue space child who is totally out of place in the universe they've spent 3 games creating.

The ending was in no way influenced by the choices you'd made, only by how much of the little bar you'd got filled. Choices like freeing the Rachni queen should have had huge influence on the ending and final battle but it doesn't. The three endings have nothing to do with any choices you've made, nothing to do with the entire universe you've played through and nothing to do with anything you've actually done. It was three cut scenes which are exactly the same with different colours.

What's wrong with having a boss fight, a nice big boss fight with some ancient AI or alien which prior to the fight you'll have a nice long chat with and he'll explain everything and wrap it up in a nice little bow before you kick his ass, high-five Anderson and go back to Earth for tea and medals.

This basically sums up my thoughts on it. Realizing that the big finale is essentially a non-choice really colored my opinion of the whole game though. I had a great time playing it, but it sorta feels like a waste now. I don't get into video game stories much, and having one that I actually cared about end like that pissed me off.

Oh well, I still enjoyed. I just don't have any intention of playing it again.

@Ragnarok512 said:

@Extreme_Popcorn said:

I loved the game, it was probably the best in the series until you get blown up running for the portal. They just totally fucked it up after that. People don't want an ending that raises yet more questions, they want a Return of the Jedi ending not crazy fucking magic blue space child who is totally out of place in the universe they've spent 3 games creating.

The ending was in no way influenced by the choices you'd made, only by how much of the little bar you'd got filled. Choices like freeing the Rachni queen should have had huge influence on the ending and final battle but it doesn't. The three endings have nothing to do with any choices you've made, nothing to do with the entire universe you've played through and nothing to do with anything you've actually done. It was three cut scenes which are exactly the same with different colours.

What's wrong with having a boss fight, a nice big boss fight with some ancient AI or alien which prior to the fight you'll have a nice long chat with and he'll explain everything and wrap it up in a nice little bow before you kick his ass, high-five Anderson and go back to Earth for tea and medals.

This basically sums up my thoughts on it. Realizing that the big finale is essentially a non-choice really colored my opinion of the whole game though. I had a great time playing it, but it sorta feels like a waste now. I don't get into video game stories much, and having one that I actually cared about end like that pissed me off.

Oh well, I still enjoyed. I just don't have any intention of playing it again.

Exactly, the other two games I've played through multiple times but doing another play through of 3 is like...what's the point. Nothing I do will have any effect so why even bother.

The thing that I find strange is there are essentially three endings that take place (other than the 'choices' at the end). The first, Shepard dies when Harbinger roflazers him. The second is right after the showdown with Mr. Sheen, and The Arbiter and Shepard are laying there about to die. Hackett tells Shepard that nothing is happening, and Shepard starts to crawl for the console then passes out. The third of course is the super alien space baby child thing AI or whatever (god?) that then gives you a lack of choice.

The whole game goes in depth explaining everything else. Why the Krogan have the genophage cured or don't. Why the Quarians live or don't. Thane, Mordin, Miranda... everything else is explained. The ending isn't though. It's just, boom. Here it is. Deal with it. How did my crew end up on the Normandy? How did the Normandy end up on (presumably) the other side of the galaxy? Why is it storytime with Grandpa at the end when there is no foreshadowing that this has all been storytime with Grandpa? Why does Grandpa suck at voice acting SO BAD?

It's like Bioware themselves had no idea wtf they were doing and decided 'screw it' in the end. 'Anything will work, people will never be satisfied, therefore we will end the game on the worst note possible.' The game is great-super-amazing awesome until that moment.

So, no one knew who voiced the old guy at the end?

It is Buzz Aldrin. I knew it the second I heard his voice, and I thought it was cool that Bioware got one of the legends of space exploration to do that small part.

@DrDarkStryfe: I saw it in the credits but didn't put two and two together, too busy thinking of if it was old Joker and whatnot.

Apparently Bioware lied about not needing multiplayer to get the best ending. With the 50% cap I was around 2997 and got the choice ending. but Apparently if your points are 4000 and 5000 there are different endings. I don't know how different (guessing marginal at best) but I guess I'll be grinding multiplayer to see them.

Here's a spoiler filled breakdown of the point requirements of all the endings.

I thought the last mission was pretty awesome, the end made me sad, I thought I picked the "Right" choice and killed earth, it was not perfect, but Shepard's death made me pretty sad.

A hero to the end.

I just had an epiphany about why the ending isn't nearly as gloomy as we think it is.

The Citadel.

The Citadel is still functional. It's still working. It can still be used to house and provide care for the entirety of the Fleet you amass. It can produce food and drink to all of the species you brought with you to the final battle. The Citadel, even with Crucible add-on, can still be used to get back what we lost with the Mass Relays. Think about it. It will be tough to get the Relays rebuilt, or even find alternate means of instant travel, but in the end, they could do it. Fuck. I can't believe it took so long to realize this. That was my only problem with the way ME3 ends. Everything you do, everything you work toward is to preserve galactic civilization, warts and all. Destroying the Mass Relays led me to believe that all hope was lost, my mission failed. Now though, I can see that despite the Relays being destroyed, all advanced tech is not lost. It's not even gone. It's sitting there on the Citadel waiting to be used to rebuild the galaxy. It will take a long, long time no doubt, but it can be done. Most definitely it can.

Or maybe I'm a crazy optimist, who knows?

@Oldirtybearon: Hmm interesting!

I thought the Citadel was destroyed in my ending but I'm not entirely sure. Still, it will be a long time before they're able to build spaceships to go up there an get that technology. Still, kind of interesting that the Earth is home to basically at least 4-5 major alien species after all the reapers and technology is destroyed.

Absolutely fucking loved the game, but the ending was irratiating as hell. I agree that it should've ended with Anderson and Shepard, chilling by the window, looking out while the reapers all get blown to shit. I feel like that would have been more satisfying, less confusing and less irritating.

It is possible to get the best ending in single player without playing multiplayer, but it’s twice as hard. All your War Assets only count for 50% of their potential value. The biggest gains in War Assets come from a culmination of your decisions in the previous games and your decisions in this one: if you’ve helped a race before, and you help them here, it’s often possible to get their full support and resolve their conflict to get someone else on your side too.

   
Apparently anyone that says there's more endings is just bitching about playing the side missions, which took me like 25-30 hours and I did literally everything, including scanning every single system and scouring the entire Citadel multiple times to make sure nothing new popped up. Also, my mission log by the end was completely empty except for the "Take out Cerberus" mission. I'm assuming that the link @AlwaysBeClothing posted is just a site desperate for hits, and other gaming sites grabbed it because they're jerks.

@Waffles13 said:

@Oldirtybearon: Unless you chose the synthesis ending, in which case the Citadel (and everything else) asplodes. If you choose either of the other endings, the Citadel AND the relays are all intact, so the galaxy is effectively unchanged, except for whether or not the geth and other synthetic life still exist.

Also, I think it's pretty damn likely that grandpa Buzz is actually joker, considering that the objects in the sky are pretty much identical between the jungle planet and the winter planet. Why begs the question of how the hell Joker got it on with a robot.

I thought the same as well. It makes a lot of sense when you think about it, because we don't know what planet the Normandy landed on. It could've been a human colony, for all we know. That said, if the old man was Joker, then why would the kid refer to Shepard as "The Shepard"? If the old man was Joker, he would've probably told the kid that this was a man he knew as a friend and colleague. It would make more sense for the kid to refer to him as something more personal than "The Shepard," unless there's some weird-ass crazy cult that sprung up around Shepard and his deeds.

All in all, I think the ending could've been explained better. That said, I'm pretty sure the Mass Relays are destroyed. I chose the "Control" ending, since that seemed to be the best way to resolve the conflict without sacrificing EDI or the Geth. Maybe my Galactic Readiness wasn't as ready as I thought. Hard to gauge.

the ending was bullshit no matter how you try to explain it. there was no need for that plot twist. shepherd shouldnt of had to condemn the galaxy to a fallout in any every scenario. 5 years of greatness ruined by 5 mins of gameplay. that is the sad truth

@Waffles13: Well, the absence of any working technology is pretty horrifying to think of. All those aliens are stranded away from their home planets, I imagine most quarians would die without their suits. The issue of being able to get food to all the people is also a problem. Not to mention that Turians can't even eat the same stuff as humans and Asari. But perhaps that's all extrapolating a little too far. The ending is still pretty confusing.

the relays are destroyed in every scenario

@Waffles13: Yeah he does. It's pretty clear in that ending that the Mass Relays still blow up, even if it isn't shown in as much detail as the other ones: it happens.

I guess I just feel a bit cheated about these endings. I understand what they were TRYING to do, they were going with the whole bitter sweet ending thing but.. That's not exactly what I was expecting. I mean I wasn't exactly expecting everything being hunky dory in the end, don't get me wrong. But blowing up the mass relay's, stranding everyone in the sol system from the rest of the galaxy, and (depending on which ending you picked) the destruction of the Geth and EDI? I mean really? This is how we're rewarded? Every game needs a bad ending, I get that, but it seems like all of these endings are bad, and no matter what ending you chose the mass relays still blow up. Thats fucking stupid, I spent several hours working things out with the Geth and Quarians, and they made peace and have their own homeworld which they'll share together. I helped the Turrians out with Palaven so they didn't lose control of their planet. But guess what? All that doesn't mean shit because HURP DURP they're all stranded now.

What I wanted to happen: Reapers are destroyed, Earth and the Galaxy saved albeit after heavy damage and heavy casualties and a very VERY long road to recovery, but instead of that all my hard work is rewarded with dooming all the races in the galaxy to a fate almost as bad as the one they would have faced at the hands of the Reapers. It's just messed up.

Oh well....

Alright, I rewatched the endings and you guys were right. When Spirit Child says "releasing the energy or the Crucible will destroy the mass relays", I assumed he was talking only about the synthesis ending, but it definitely seems like he's just saying that they'll blow up no matter what you do.
 
@Oldirtybearon: was right also, about the Citadel maintaining life in the two scenarios in which it doesn't also blow up.
 
I guess that does make the endings way shittier all around. Bummer.

I've been a huge believer in Mass Effect and the team at BioWare. People on this forum have called me a Biodrone. Mass Effect 2 is up there with Final Fantasy 6 and Asteroids as my favorite game of all time.

But that ending... all of them probably... An incredibly disappointing mistake. I don't know how EA let them do it. How does a major publisher who wants to make Mass Effect the biggest thing in gaming let them end the series like that? I knew they would have to do something to get rid of the Reapers and Shepard, and move the fiction away from 2185... I figured the ending would be Shepard does X or Y, the Reapers blow up/leave, and is never heard from again. All following Mass Effect fiction takes place in 2285, hundred years after the Reaper War, and it becomes the next Star Wars. For all everyone talking about how EA has stolen their balls and BioWare is never going to take a risk again... Those endings are something an independent studio comes up with. I wonder if that's what they had planned all along.

Christ.

@Brodehouse said:

I've been a huge believer in Mass Effect and the team at BioWare. People on this forum have called me a Biodrone. Mass Effect 2 is up there with Final Fantasy 6 and Asteroids as my favorite game of all time. But that ending... all of them probably... An incredibly disappointing mistake. I don't know how EA let them do it. How does a major publisher who wants to make Mass Effect the biggest thing in gaming let them end the series like that? I knew they would have to do something to get rid of the Reapers and Shepard, and move the fiction away from 2185... I figured the ending would be Shepard does X or Y, the Reapers blow up/leave, and is never heard from again. All following Mass Effect fiction takes place in 2285, hundred years after the Reaper War, and it becomes the next Star Wars. For all everyone talking about how EA has stolen their balls and BioWare is never going to take a risk again... Those endings are something an independent studio comes up with. I wonder if that's what they had planned all along. Christ.

It wasn't. Drew Karpyshyn's original vision was for the Reapers to be unknowable. They harvested life and you didn't, couldn't understand why. You just had to stop them and break their galactic extinction cycle.

In ME2, it was heavily implied that the Reapers were responding to the threat of Dark Energy in the universe. So much "space pollution" like Eezo use and Mass Relays being overworked led to things like Haestrom's sun getting old before its time. There's a second-hand story out there that the intent behind the Reapers was that their only solution to preventing Dark Energy from wiping out galaxies was to cull the catalyst to the disease - sentient life. I don't know what happened to make the Reapers what they are now, but I much prefer Karpyshyn's outline to what we wound up with. As it stands, it blows that a game that was fucking incredible has been tarnished by the literal last ten minutes.

The ending IMO is just sloppy and hastily done.

Let's not kid ourselves here. Mass Effect is just as much about the interactions between you and the crew as it is the main story. It was part of the reason two was so good. The attachments people had for characters is ridiculous considering it's a video game. While some of those interactions were concluded in a brilliant, emotional, or thought provoking way, half of your crew is magically alive with no conclusion in sight other than they're now stranded (and seem to be not too worried about it). Maybe they'll have a book come out or something. Or people are right about the DLC, and it'll be a DLC ending. Freakin' pathetic if that's the case, but I'll buy it if it actually wraps up the game.

I don't begrudge Bioware, and I certainly don't regret my purchase or anything. But It just... I don't know, that ending made me feel like everything I did in the three games up till those last.. 10 fucking minutes was all for nothing. With ME1 and 2, right after I beat those games I wanted to dive right into a second play though, but with 3... despite how fun the journey was overall, now that I've seen how it ends it makes me feel like a complete waste of time. It was just so dreadfully unsatisfying.

@Mooshu said:

With ME1 and 2, right after I beat those games I wanted to dive right into a second play though, but with 3... despite how fun the journey was overall, now that I've seen how it ends it makes me feel like a complete waste of time. It was just so dreadfully unsatisfying.

I feel the exact same way. I really loved all of the game until the Reaper's laser hits you and your squad disappears. Who thought that ending was a good idea?

I just realized is there anything saying that planet they crash on at the end isnt earth? If you look at that ending as Shepard reseting the universe then that vortex sucking everything into it and starting them back on earth it kinda makes sense. Not defending it as it was still not the ending I wanted, but it is slightly less annoying that way.

I don't think people who have problems with Mass Effect 3's ending hate the game.  I think they really like ME that's why they care so much.

@Brodehouse said:

@CaptainCharisma It was still good after that. That argument with Anderson and Martin Sheen was still awesome Mass Effect. But then as soon as you float up on that platform its like it's something out of a different series. It's like suddenly Mass Effect decided it wanted to have an Assassin's Creed ending.

I thought the battle of philosophy between the Illusive Man and Shepard was fucking perfect. My heart was pounding trying to reason with the poor bastard. It was also a nice way to bring the series full circle with Illusive Man pulling a Saren, and Shepard saving the galaxy once more with the Citadel. They could've/should've ended the climax with Shepard and Anderson overlooking the Crucible going off and nuking the Reapers. I imagine a slow fade out as Anderson either dies or holds onto you, and then cue up the epilogue with either a dead Shepard (a funeral/memorial) or a living Shepard (celebration of victory). Basically, I feel like the ending to Dragon Age: Origins is how Mass Effect 3 should have ended.

@Brodehouse: You're right. That part was good. Just wish it ended there. Or preferably with me and Tali making babies on Rannoch ;)

@ExplodeMode said:

I don't think people who have problems with Mass Effect 3's ending hate the game. I think they really like ME that's why they care so much.

This. Mass Effect 3 is a brilliant cap to a fantastic trilogy, save for the absolute last ten minutes. Nobody is joking when they say that. Everything was handled so well and with such a deft, caring hand for the world and characters that it's moved many fans to tears during certain moments.

Example: My heart broke and I shed manly tears as Mordin faced the end curing the Genophage. It wasn't what he was doing, it was that he was scared and started singing his Scientist Salarian song to keep his mind off of his inevitable demise. Thane's last scene is also very touching and memorable, as meeting Legion, Samara, and a whole host of others. Grunt got one hell of a bad-ass cutscene too. It's bizarre to see that level of craft and care for this world and its inhabitants, and yet the absolute last ten minutes are almost farcical.

Mordin singing as he died was definitely something that made me shed a tear. Same goes for Thane's and Legions.

@Brodehouse: that's one of the silliest things to me... until they release DLC that fixes the relays or replaces them with something else as a lead up to mass effect: subtitle or whatever

Really liked the ending.

There was no way for them to reach the hype but for what it is, I think it was a good end to the franchise. Not a great ending but a good ending.

I like the game better ME2 but I still think the first ME is the best.