SPOILERS

This post is built as a short guide for people on the other side of the argument regarding the Mass Effect 3 ending.

I think it became essencial to present our best foot forward in the ME3's ending controversy.

So, if you didn't spend the last 2 weeks roaming the internet, you might tend to generalize the the group that didn't like the ending as entitled whiners who complain because they didn't get a final chapter full of rainbows and unicorns. This couldn't be further from the truth and I will try to present here the arguments as to why ME3's ending isn't very good. Please, if you want to build a counter argument, try to address the most valid criticism first.

Before we start, let me just say outright that Mass Effect 3 is a fantastic game and you should play it if you haven't already. If you need a few reason as to why:

http://www.giantbomb.com/mass-effect-3/61-29935/someone-stop-the-bombcast-bummer-train-on-me3/35-539421/#101

Ok, back on topic, here we go:

The list is arranged from the strongest arguments to the weakest ones. Each category ordered by popularity of the argument.

Strongest points.

Please, don't sidestep those because they're the reason why the ME3 ending is kind of broken. They're the strongest criticism because we can all agree they diminish the impact of the ending and bring the fiction down.

1. It doesn't make any logical sense and is riddled with plot holes in a game that had almost none until this point. Character are not where they should be and make weird out of character decisions. Few examples: Why do Shepard's squad mates disappear after he gets hit by the laser? Why is Anderson in front of Shepard even if he arrived at the citadel after him/her? Why is Joker bringing the Normandy away from battle, his commander and taking the relay to god knows where? How the hell did Shepard's crew members get to Normandy and why did they abandon him/her? The ending isn't left to interpretation, it is just badly written.
2. The ending doesn't respect previously established facts about the mass effect universe (relay being destroyed without a supernova explosion)
3. Ending cinematics are very similar
4. The last 10 to 20 minutes of the game feel rushed. It seems to me that half of the cutscenes are missing.
5. We don't know if the ending we got was Bioware's artistic vision finally fulfilled: http://www.giantbomb.com/mass-effect-3/61-29935/do-you-think-bioware-truly-fulfilled-there-vision/35-540470/#31

Strong points.

These are valid criticism but it's Bioware's call from here on out. If they didn't want an ending that made tonal sense or didn't want your choices to mater, so be it (in my opinion at least).

1. Your previous choices didn't have any impact in the final moments of the game.
2. You don't see any resolution for races you've saved, character you fought with, etc.
3. Mass Effect is about hard sci-fi. The ending was about a deus-ex machina as well as spiritual non-sense and Christian analogies. Kind of a sudden tonal shift.
4. The universe of Mass Effect is no more because the mass relays are gone.
5. Lack of closure
6. No one of the ending fit your Shepard (for some people)

Good Points

These are less meaningfull in the grand scheme of things

1. You don't stop to question the star child and you don't argue his weird logic.
2. The stargazer epilog is dumb.
3. The space magic that makes everything great and transforms Shepard into space Jesus is stupid

Weak points

Don't argue or use these. It makes you look like a 12 year old.

1. The ending wasn't happy enough
2. Shepard died

I made this list and aggregate the more valid points brought again ME3's ending so we can all have a post to link to when someone argues for or against the ending but totally misses the point of it all. In the coming weeks, there is going to be a lot of people that will do just that and it would be nice to present our best argument first. Listen to Gary Whitta's PC gamer podcast to know what I mean exactly:

http://www.pcgamer.com/category/podcast/

If I forgot to include any criticism you have about the ending please remind me and I will add them to the pile. This thread is about building a strong coherent list of argument and I wouldn't want to forget anything. Also, if you want to argue the ordering, go right ahead. I will take every opinion into consideration.

How many fucking threads about the ending will there be? It's like there's no end in sight.

@BraveToaster said:

We don't need another one of these threads.

@JasonR86 said:

How many fucking threads about the ending will there be? It's like there's no end in sight.

Very helpfull, I'm taking notes.

Also: I didn't see any thread aggregating the critisism regarding the ending and presenting it in a sensible way for people who will argue agains us in podcasts, on twitter and in articles. Now we can improve the OP and just link it to people who just yell: THE ENDING IS FINE. YOU'RE JUST A BUCH OF ENTITLED ASSHOLES WHO WANT RAINBOWS AND UNICORNS.

Just listen to the PC gamer podcast and you'll understand

^The ending is the author's work, and that's it. You don't like it, fine, and move on. It's not your story, its the writer's one.

remember the take an arrow to the knee quoting that was going on?

the mass effect ending is taking its place, please stop.

@pyrodactyl said:

@BraveToaster said:

We don't need another one of these threads.

@JasonR86 said:

How many fucking threads about the ending will there be? It's like there's no end in sight.

Very helpfull, I'm taking notes.

Also: I didn't see any thread aggregating the critisism regarding the ending and presenting it in a sensible way for people who will argue agains us in podcasts, on twitter and in articles.

There are over 50 ending threads in the first 5 pages of our ME3 forum (I counted, by the way). Post in one of those.

@Octaslash said:

@pyrodactyl said:

@BraveToaster said:

We don't need another one of these threads.

@JasonR86 said:

How many fucking threads about the ending will there be? It's like there's no end in sight.

Very helpfull, I'm taking notes.

Also: I didn't see any thread aggregating the critisism regarding the ending and presenting it in a sensible way for people who will argue agains us in podcasts, on twitter and in articles.

There are over 50 ending threads in the first 5 pages of our ME3 forum (I counted, by the way). Post in one of those.

aggregating the critisism...you know what aggregating means don't you?

I just want us to have one place we can point to when someone asks why we complain about the ending. If we point to any of the threads you speak of, they're probably just think people want a happy ending or get that people are arguing over sementics

The answer is obvious. After going through the conduit thing, Shepard should've seen himself as an old man in a bed and then he points, sees a Prothean Beacon, and then he is a space baby.

Perfect ending right there.

Honestly, I'm not that worked up over the ending, since to me the real appealing part of the fiction was the interspecies stuff (genophage, geth v. quarians) and the characters (ugh, Tali knifing Legion was heartwrenching), and not so much the grand over arching plot about the Reapers, which always struck me as warmed-over Babylon 5, but without the Vorlons.

But I am bugged by the fact that, given what little information we were given at the end, it seems like Earth (and the entire solar system) was blown up in all 3 endings, since the destruction of a mass relay is supposed to trigger a supernova-level explosion. Is that really what we were supposed to take away from it? That sure didn't feel like the tone the endings were trying to strike, but that's what the fiction they laid out says.

And this isn't some tiny bit of trivia buried in the codex, the last major DLC for ME2 pretty much revolved around the whole "exploding relay=exploded solar system" thing.

@LibraryDues said:

Honestly, I'm not that worked up over the ending, since to me the real appealing part of the fiction was the interspecies stuff (genophage, geth v. quarians) and the characters (ugh, Tali knifing Legion was heartwrenching), and not so much the grand over arching plot about the Reapers, which always struck me as warmed-over Babylon 5, but without the Vorlons.

But I am bugged by the fact that, given what little information we were given at the end, it seems like Earth (and the entire solar system) was blown up in all 3 endings, since the destruction of a mass relay is supposed to trigger a supernova-level explosion. Is that really what we were supposed to take away from it? That sure didn't feel like the tone the endings were trying to strike, but that's what the fiction they laid out says.

And this isn't some tiny bit of trivia buried in the codex, the last major DLC for ME2 pretty much revolved around the whole "exploding relay=exploded solar system" thing.

The consensus going around is that the relay explosion is directional and directed towards other relays. Why? Space magic...

Only explanation since the ending is a bummer but not that much of a bummer

Going into the OP

@BraveToaster said:

We don't need another one of these threads.

*doing his best John Cleese impression*

Yes we do. We need about 13 more and then take a brake and then do about 30 more after Bioware change/fix/tie up/whatever the fuck they are planning to do.

I hear the OP of the 1000th ending thread wins a glazed ham. How many are we up to now?

We really don't need a thread to aggregate the ending threads. We just need people to participate in already-existing threads about ME3's ending.

If you want to link people to this thread, be my guest, but there's no reason for further conversation to occur in here.