I like NBC's 'Parenthood'. Why? Because it's 90% good times and 10% drama. The opposite of what most TV-shows are. I like when good shit happens to likeable people. So many shows fail for piling up more drama than the audience signed up for. Very few stand by their characters and let things be overwhelmingly good. Whenever did Bioware stop believing in their character writing and that likeable characters and happy endings are enough? Because I'd have loved a happy ending for Mass Effect 3. Hell - I earned it!

*Spoilers Ahead* - I didn't get my parade, my happy ending, at the end of Mass Effect 3. I feel like they were working on some meta mechanic to blow our minds. Like a chess game moving allied troops against the reapers, with big cinematic payoffs and consequences, but somehow it didn't come together and so there really wasn't that ME2 suicide mission metagame of 'Commanding' the final battle.

Instead of blowing our minds with memorable meta-gameplay, they went for that generic 'The Empire Strikes Back' mindfuck ending, which as per usual, backfires completely (for me personally mostly because of the extremely underwhelming ending cinematic lacking any kind of payoff). I also feel like they kinda ruined the Mass Effect universe by making the ending of ME3 a total gamechanger, leaving room for nothing but prequels.

Whatever spin ME3 will take with its DLC, it won't sit well with me. Either way, they better unfuck the future of the Mass Effect universe and give my parade, because their universe and I deserve a bright future. Not that total rewrite clusterfuck they've pulled.

wanted an ending that would tell me what the consequences of my choices were. Did the Krogan conquer the galaxy after i cured their genophage. Did the Quarians peace with the Geth last. Did I get Ashley pregnant and was a baby Shepard born afterwards. Stuff like that.... not Deus Ex Machina(with a bunch of stuff that doesn't make sense) or theoretical Indoctrination BS.

Well those choices are so limiting it almost hurts. This isn't about wanting a cookie cutter ending or even something that would blow our minds. This was about closure, this was about having our choices matter. This was about our choices becoming pointless at the end. I would have been happier if amongst the admittedly silly ending, I'd seen the rachni kicking ass, the geth fucking shit up, the krogan making a mess of ravagers. Just show me that the 20 hours spent recruiting the entire galaxy wasn't for naught.

@ZoomyRamen said:

Well those choices are so limiting it almost hurts. This isn't about wanting a cookie cutter ending or even something that would blow our minds. This was about closure, this was about having our choices matter. This was about our choices becoming pointless at the end. I would have been happier if amongst the admittedly silly ending, I'd seen the rachni kicking ass, the geth fucking shit up, the krogan making a mess of ravagers. Just show me that the 20 hours spent recruiting the entire galaxy wasn't for naught.

You are describing a parade, if I ever read one. Payoff man. I wanted some and got none.

I only want an ending where my choices had an impact. That's all.

I wanted endings that varied depending on actions I took over the course of 3 games.

@Seppli: Not really, I don't want a parade. I don't want everyone happy. I don't care if everyone dies or if everyone lives. I just want to SEE something for what I did. Mass Effect 2 was awesomly unsubtle about how what you had done affected things. Joker would literally say "THANK GOD WE GOT THAT METAL ARMOURING AND GUNS FOR THE SHIP EH EH". Not getting loyalty would actually affect things. It was a pay off for scanning the planets, the ending could still be sad depending on what happened but I still had something for the effort I put in.

I think the endings are fine as is, but show all the Galaxy at War assets that we've acquired actually being used. I recruited the largest army ever assembled in the history of the galaxy. Fucking show it to me, kicking ass, for like 5 minutes straight.

I wanted Shepard to shit into his hand and throw it at the camera.

@Marz said:

wanted an ending that would tell me what the consequences of my choices were. Did the Krogan conquer the galaxy after i cured their genophage. Did the Quarians peace with the Geth last. Did I get Ashley pregnant and was a baby Shepard born afterwards. Stuff like that.... not Deus Ex Machina or theoretical Indoctrination BS.

This. BioWare said we gonna have all the questions answered. Now I have more questions than before.

Neither.
 
There are far more then those two extreme simplistic options.
 
Heck even the most basic suggestion of just cutting it when Shep and Anderson are sitting together. Even if they die when citadel blows up would have been preferable.
Not that that is specifically what i hope for. It's just an example.

Personally I'm not really that bothered about the choices etc. I would've just liked to see an ending that actually built on the story told. The whole crucible thing could've worked, if this third game actually revolved around that. Telling the story of how it's being made, gradually discovering what it is etc etc. But instead the game revolves around uniting the galaxy for one massive strike (that ultimately doesn't even come to a conclusion) while the crucible thing is mentioned now and then. It's just all about story-telling, they needed to actually tell a story not just explain everything in one big chunk at the end. Other than that I don't really have an issue with the final ultimatum (wether real or not), although the epilogue definitely could've had some more closure. And ofc the whole grandpa scene was completely unnecessary.

But ye.. to repeat myself, all they really needed to do was to gradually tell a story.

One that doesn't undermine the entire purpose of unifying the galaxy.

I wanted a "Return of the king" ending. I got a "2001: A space odyssey"/"Battlestar Galactica" ending.

Also, the synthesis one was really cheaply done. They should have gone full dr. Manhattan/ascended evolution with that, in my opinion. And what is it with the fascination with "the garden of eden". Crashing a ship on a lonely garden planet with 20 people and limited supplies is really going to suck. (And why was the Normandy jumping away at the time anyway. Shouldn't they be waiting for Shepard, atleast long enough to find out if he died or not.)

Also, final note. Really sad they went for the bsg - creating AI that will destroy you is inevitable - route. That's not cool sci fi. Thats "technology is scary and should be avoided" luddism.

They should have had apparitions of Joker and EDI walking around in London with TVs showing robot shit with "All Along the Watchtower" blaring in the background.

Shepard dies sitting next to Anderson.

Black screen.

MASS EFFECT

Credits.

NES Ending:

After you get on the beam, the screen goes black and displays in text: "Congratulation! You beat the reapers! You are a true Hero and beers are on us! Thanks for playing!".

America Fuck Yeah Ending:

Shepard kicks the star child in the face, pushes the asplode all Reapers button, and rides an American Flag back to Earth with Master of Puppets playing in the background. He the proceeds to dropkick the old man... for America!

I wanted the Reapers to win and their motives to remain a mystery.

Indoctrination Theory - it holds up. The proper ending is fine. Don't whine about fake endings.

I kind of thought that there would be three distinct endings each with Paragon, Renegade, and Neutral options. I thought there would be an ending where the Reapers won and Shepard and everyone died. An ending where Shepard died saving everyone from the Reapers, and a Ending where Shepard won and survived. I think there could also be an end where the war wages on for a number of years ending in a stalemate. I didn't care for the ending we received, I don't think Bioware will ever change it, and I don't think we can force them to. The only part that really bugged me about the ending was Joker and the Normandy, just because I can't explain it to myself in any way.

I'd like my "Return of the Jedi" yub-yub ending. Volus dudes playing the drums on hollow reaper corpses. Ghost of Kaiden/Ashley waves at you. That sort of thing.

An ending that is logical, brings closure and reflects my decisions from the games but I guess that was too much to ask for.