Haven't even gotten half way through, I think, but
the plot, and the ending, their quality and where they went with them
it's making me seriously sad that it veers off into such misaligned clusterfuck near the end that I just don't want to touch it anymore
I actually thought I'd feel better about it, as time went by? but the more I think about it the more disappointed I get
it's such a crushing and confused end to a gaming series otherwise brimming with excellence
You're doing yourself a disservice. The remaining 39 hours and 57 minutes of the game is an amazing experience, a rollercoaster of emotions, with well-realized believable characters, exciting gameplay, and moving events that will bring tears to your eyes.
If you have to, just pretend the last five minutes doesn't happen, because they can't change the rest of ME3.
they can make it kind of pointless
it doesn't matter how great the build up is if, in the end, there's no appropriate payoff.
The payoff is in the leadup.
Everything up to the final 3 minutes is part of the ending, and it is exceedingly satisfying.
I'm just going to disagree with you there
for me ending = resolution+catharsis. So, all of it is important, there's no minute-by-minute division. It's not good unless it manages to deliver both.
The thing is, the ending isn't the final 3 minutes. The ending is everything from the moment that you launch the counterattack on Earth to the much derided final 3 minutes. And even if you dislike the last 3 minutes, the rest of that hour is an emotional, fulfilling experience.
If you feel like the game is ruined just
(very slight ending spoiler)
Pretend everything that happens after the elevator ride...doesn't. And pick the ending that fits best with what you've been trying to do all game.
Seriously. The entire game as whole is the best storytelling I've seen a game do, and that's in comparison to Baldur's Gate 2, Planescape Torment, Fallout, and a host of other games that are centered around writing.
The characters and character interactions do things I've never seen a game do before, ever, and certain events absolutely destroyed me when I saw them. Others were a triumph against the odds. Still others were just old friends, shooting the shit one last time.
It's worth your time, no matter what happens in the final 0.0694% percent of the series.
it doesn't matter how great the build up is if, in the end, there's no appropriate payoff.
wrong.
probably stuff for the whole trilogy in here
okay ME was a pretty standard action movie thing with a solid if predictable ending
but ME2
was the incredible emotion of mordin and thane's loyalty missions at all changed by the ending? does talking garrus out of taking his revenge get changed at all by the last ten minutes?
no. this stuff is still compelling. that's what I think mass effect is about, it's partially about the standard deal of heroism, but there's a lot about relationships and character in there. that's always been the best part of the series. compared to helping tali deal with what her father did, what does the ending shot of shepard running and diving onto the ship matter?
ME3 has far and away the best writing of the series. three games worth of emotion comes to a payoff, and it is worth it. I have been genuinely touched by the scenes in this game, genuinely haunted. the last five minutes is a mess, but it does not outweigh the rest of the triumph that is ME3, not by far.
well, it must come down to personal taste then, because I disagree with that.
I really thought I'd be like you, but somehow, I'm not
Even though I'm normally the person who hates shitty endings and feels like I wasted my time, somehow, even though the more I think about this ending the more I hate it, it doesn't hurt the rest of the game
It could be that so much of Mass Effect is about player choice and player agency and player creation that I can just go "fuck this" and make up my own ending
Or it might be that it isn't as much of a shitstorm as, say, Battlestar Galactica's ending
I don't know
All I know is, I'll remember a lot of what I played for years to come, and hell, I'll probably end up playing through it again
again, I just. Completely disagree. And I can totally see it's a matter of personal taste and point of view. For me, the journey will never, ever be more important then the destination. If the destination falters, the journey loses a lot of what made it great. It doesn't mean the good parts weren't good, it just mean that in the end, it all feels a bit pointless, a bit like a waste of time.
I understand why you don't see it that way, but that's the only way I can see it.
hmm, can't seem to get the galaxy at war map to show up, even though I can get into multi
0
Olivawgood name, isn't it?the foot of mt fujiRegistered Userregular
Now as for Garrus
Totally shot that damn bottle
That's why Shepard boned Garrus, man. She don't need to coddle him, dude's an ace motherfucker for real, he's done more SICK NASTY shit in his life than any other turian alive
He can handle being a bit emasculated by the galaxy's greatest hero
again, I just. Completely disagree. And I can totally see it's a matter of personal taste and point of view. For me, the journey will never, ever be more important then the destination. If the destination falters, the journey loses a lot of what made it great. It doesn't mean the good parts weren't good, it just mean that in the end, it all feels a bit pointless, a bit like a waste of time.
I understand why you don't see it that way, but that's the only way I can see it.
again, I just. Completely disagree. And I can totally see it's a matter of personal taste and point of view. For me, the journey will never, ever be more important then the destination. If the destination falters, the journey loses a lot of what made it great. It doesn't mean the good parts weren't good, it just mean that in the end, it all feels a bit pointless, a bit like a waste of time.
I understand why you don't see it that way, but that's the only way I can see it.
again, I just. Completely disagree. And I can totally see it's a matter of personal taste and point of view. For me, the journey will never, ever be more important then the destination. If the destination falters, the journey loses a lot of what made it great. It doesn't mean the good parts weren't good, it just mean that in the end, it all feels a bit pointless, a bit like a waste of time.
I understand why you don't see it that way, but that's the only way I can see it.
Uh, did people not see this? I definitely had this in my game, right before, "What do you need me to do?"
Not the whole thing
This is now my canon ending
My canon ending is now
having babies with Anderson
0
chiasaur11Never doubt a raccoon.Do you think it's trademarked?Registered Userregular
Checking in briefly, not done yet so I've been avoiding the thread, but I need to talk about the game. Need.
Just got the Thessia assignment. I love this game. Love. And yes, Shepard is basically godlike.
Which is remarkable. Shepard (generally, the Aria quests felt like chump work) feels like the most competent person in the galaxy. A living legend among living legends.
And sometimes, it's not enough. Sure, she's done the impossible. Quarians and Geth working together. Genophage cured and Krogan actually integrating into the galactic community. Jack wearing something that could, if you're charitable, be called a shirt.
But even she can't save everyone. Zaal'Koris's crew is dead, Eve is dead, Mordin's dead, Legion's dead. And it feels entirely fair.
Also, the banter is great. Did Taky pull a lot of the Garrus duties again? It wouldn't surprise me.
Finally, MAN. So many interrupts. Punching, yelling, hugging, whatever. Nice to have so many. Especially when sometimes they don't do much good. Nice change from their omnipotence in ME2 without being underwhelming.
I see the catalyst as kind of a super advanced ai/vi that resides in the citadel. There's clearly tech beyond what the races in the galaxy have at the moment, they just don't get there because it's easier to take what's there or they get purged. Maybe there could have been more hints at this along the way (or should have been, at any rate), but it would make for a more compelling figure, I guess. Leave his origins unclear.
I like the idea of a rogue AI that perpetuates these cycles out of a twisted sense of responsibility better than I like the idea of "they're harvesting all these people to figure out the dark matter problem," at any rate. Because while the dark matter thing maybe fits a little neater, as motivations for exterminating all live in the galaxy at about 50,000 year intervals go, it's a little...crappy.
I wouldn't have personally wanted the Catalyst in the ending, but I don't think it's an inherently bad idea. It's just executed in such a laughably poor way.
Again, I don't really have a problem with the concept, but I can see why others do.
I really do think if there'd been a bit more seeds planted along the way, backlash would be a bit less...severe.
Waaaaaaaaay back, when the Citadel was first built, the civilization responsible comes in and advances, everything's all peaceful, etc
and then they create AIs that run amok, and a scientist or something reprograms the station to warn against shit like this before he dies
and over the millennia, the station's programming mutates and evolves, and modifies the station to allow for all of this to happen, seeing no other way to keep the cycle to repeat itself
in time, it comes to regard itself as a god
in my head, that's how it goes, anyways, and since I have a higher tolerance for this kind of thing, that's enough for me
Yeah I mean, I do think they could have run with that idea and made a good ending out of it
I'm willing to bet within six months, the mass effect section on fanfiction.net will have something like 90000 stories with THIS IS HOW MASS EFFECT SHOULD HAVE ENDED in the title
May god forgive me
Harbinger:You will bring about your own destruction. This is known.
We save you from yourselves. We are your salvation.
Shepard: You've slaughtered millions! You leave people as mindless husks or rotting corpses! How is that salvation?
Harbinger:We remove you from the equation before you remove yourselves. We then process your contributions and apply them to the solution.
We do not expect you to understand.
Shepard: Solution?
Harbinger:The mass relay network causes the build up of dark matter. Until we can find a solution, intervention is necessary.
Shepard: And so your solution is genocide?
Harbinger:All organics have met their destruction.
All of them.
Shepard: Because of you.
Harbinger:No. Once, we observed.
We were wrong to do so.
War. Synthetic revolution. The murder of solar bodies due to dark matter pollution. We observed it in every cycle, and so we took action.
We stop organics going to waste. We unify them. Repurpose them.
You are mindless, but we make you greater.
Shepard: You only let the relays stand because you're afraid! Afraid of living without that technology! If you believed in what you're doing, you'd destroy them.
Harbinger:We would not sacrifice the galaxy's precious infrastructure for the benefit of brief parasites. You are expendable. The relays are not.
Organics are naturally occurring. The relays cannot be so easily replaced.
Shepard: You disparage organics, but you are part organic yourself.
Harbinger:We process organic matter to give ourselves variety. Uniqueness. Malleability.
We are a fusion. We are infinitely your greater.
Shepard: And yet you couldn't stop me getting here.
Harbinger:You are an erroneous value. Your "success" is nothing but random chance.
Shepard: [PARAGON] You were foiled by chaos? So by your own admission, you're not infallible.
Harbinger:We never claimed to be.
We claimed to be infinitely superior. That is a fact.
You are nothing without our direction. Without our technology, our influence.
Shepard: [PARAGON] Your influence? It's a self-fulfilling prophecy. You bring the cycle about!
Your intervention allowed the geth to oppose the quarians, you reversed what would have been a victory.
You soured the rachni's hivemind and led to their near-extinction.
You indoctrinate fringe elements and tear races in half with civil war!
And now I stand here before you, the first organic to make it this far, and you're so set in your ways that you refuse to accept the gravity of this fact!
Harbinger:There are always casualties. The cause is everything. You are prototypical life. Unfinished, incomplete, without merit or use.
You can achieve nothing in your present form. You are a complication to the solution. We must process you. We shall elevate you to a functional level. And then you will assist us.
Shepard: [PARAGON] The species you killed were working on their own solution. They knew how to reverse the dark matter decay.
And we completed it. The Crucible! It is the culmination of the work of all your victims, a project as old as you are.
And you killed them! You wiped out the races that did what you could not!
Harbinger:We...
No.
We will not falter.
You cannot fathom the amount of computational power we have turned towards this issue.
You cannot even begin to comprehend our efforts. We have worked on this solution for aeons.
You are ants shouting at gods. You know nothing. You are the first to come this far. And you will be the last.
TIM's corpse:ASSUMING CONTROL OF THIS FORM.
Shepard: [RENEGADE] There's only one way to settle this. You and I both know it.
Harbinger/TIM:DANCE BATTLE.
[This is dependant on war assets. Most importantly, Conrad Verner. Everything comes down to him.]
I'm willing to bet within six months, the mass effect section on fanfiction.net will have something like 90000 stories with THIS IS HOW MASS EFFECT SHOULD HAVE ENDED in the title
May god forgive me
Harbinger:You will bring about your own destruction. This is known.
We save you from yourselves. We are your salvation.
Shepard: You've slaughtered millions! You leave people as mindless husks or rotting corpses! How is that salvation?
Harbinger:We remove you from the equation before you remove yourselves. We then process your contributions and apply them to the solution.
We do not expect you to understand.
Shepard: Solution?
Harbinger:The mass relay network causes the build up of dark matter. Until we can find a solution, intervention is necessary.
Shepard: And so your solution is genocide?
Harbinger:All organics have met their destruction.
All of them.
Shepard: Because of you.
Harbinger:No. Once, we observed.
We were wrong to do so.
War. Synthetic revolution. The murder of solar bodies due to dark matter pollution. We observed it in every cycle, and so we took action.
We stop organics going to waste. We unify them. Repurpose them.
You are mindless, but we make you greater.
Shepard: You only let the relays stand because you're afraid! Afraid of living without that technology! If you believed in what you're doing, you'd destroy them.
Harbinger:We would not sacrifice the galaxy's precious infrastructure for the benefit of brief parasites. You are expendable. The relays are not.
Organics are naturally occurring. The relays cannot be so easily replaced.
Shepard: You disparage organics, but you are part organic yourself.
Harbinger:We process organic matter to give ourselves variety. Uniqueness. Malleability.
We are a fusion. We are infinitely your greater.
Shepard: And yet you couldn't stop me getting here.
Harbinger:You are an erroneous value. Your "success" is nothing but random chance.
Shepard: [PARAGON] You were foiled by chaos? So by your own admission, you're not infallible.
Harbinger:We never claimed to be.
We claimed to be infinitely superior. That is a fact.
You are nothing without our direction. Without our technology, our influence.
Shepard: [PARAGON] Your influence? It's a self-fulfilling prophecy. You bring the cycle about!
Your intervention allowed the geth to oppose the quarians, you reversed what would have been a victory.
You soured the rachni's hivemind and led to their near-extinction.
You indoctrinate fringe elements and tear races in half with civil war!
And now I stand here before you, the first organic to make it this far, and you're so set in your ways that you refuse to accept the gravity of this fact!
Harbinger:There are always casualties. The cause is everything. You are prototypical life. Unfinished, incomplete, without merit or use.
You can achieve nothing in your present form. You are a complication to the solution. We must process you. We shall elevate you to a functional level. And then you will assist us.
Shepard: [PARAGON] The species you killed were working on their own solution. They knew how to reverse the dark matter decay.
And we completed it. The Crucible! It is the culmination of the work of all your victims, a project as old as you are.
And you killed them! You wiped out the races that did what you could not!
Harbinger:We...
No.
We will not falter.
You cannot fathom the amount of computational power we have turned towards this issue.
You cannot even begin to comprehend our efforts. We have worked on this solution for aeons.
You are ants shouting at gods. You know nothing. You are the first to come this far. And you will be the last.
TIM's corpse:ASSUMING CONTROL OF THIS FORM.
Shepard: [RENEGADE] There's only one way to settle this. You and I both know it.
Harbinger/TIM:DANCE BATTLE.
[This is dependant on war assets. Most importantly, Conrad Verner. Everything comes down to him.]
I'm willing to bet within six months, the mass effect section on fanfiction.net will have something like 90000 stories with THIS IS HOW MASS EFFECT SHOULD HAVE ENDED in the title
May god forgive me
Harbinger:You will bring about your own destruction. This is known.
We save you from yourselves. We are your salvation.
Shepard: You've slaughtered millions! You leave people as mindless husks or rotting corpses! How is that salvation?
Harbinger:We remove you from the equation before you remove yourselves. We then process your contributions and apply them to the solution.
We do not expect you to understand.
Shepard: Solution?
Harbinger:The mass relay network causes the build up of dark matter. Until we can find a solution, intervention is necessary.
Shepard: And so your solution is genocide?
Harbinger:All organics have met their destruction.
All of them.
Shepard: Because of you.
Harbinger:No. Once, we observed.
We were wrong to do so.
War. Synthetic revolution. The murder of solar bodies due to dark matter pollution. We observed it in every cycle, and so we took action.
We stop organics going to waste. We unify them. Repurpose them.
You are mindless, but we make you greater.
Shepard: You only let the relays stand because you're afraid! Afraid of living without that technology! If you believed in what you're doing, you'd destroy them.
Harbinger:We would not sacrifice the galaxy's precious infrastructure for the benefit of brief parasites. You are expendable. The relays are not.
Organics are naturally occurring. The relays cannot be so easily replaced.
Shepard: You disparage organics, but you are part organic yourself.
Harbinger:We process organic matter to give ourselves variety. Uniqueness. Malleability.
We are a fusion. We are infinitely your greater.
Shepard: And yet you couldn't stop me getting here.
Harbinger:You are an erroneous value. Your "success" is nothing but random chance.
Shepard: [PARAGON] You were foiled by chaos? So by your own admission, you're not infallible.
Harbinger:We never claimed to be.
We claimed to be infinitely superior. That is a fact.
You are nothing without our direction. Without our technology, our influence.
Shepard: [PARAGON] Your influence? It's a self-fulfilling prophecy. You bring the cycle about!
Your intervention allowed the geth to oppose the quarians, you reversed what would have been a victory.
You soured the rachni's hivemind and led to their near-extinction.
You indoctrinate fringe elements and tear races in half with civil war!
And now I stand here before you, the first organic to make it this far, and you're so set in your ways that you refuse to accept the gravity of this fact!
Harbinger:There are always casualties. The cause is everything. You are prototypical life. Unfinished, incomplete, without merit or use.
You can achieve nothing in your present form. You are a complication to the solution. We must process you. We shall elevate you to a functional level. And then you will assist us.
Shepard: [PARAGON] The species you killed were working on their own solution. They knew how to reverse the dark matter decay.
And we completed it. The Crucible! It is the culmination of the work of all your victims, a project as old as you are.
And you killed them! You wiped out the races that did what you could not!
Harbinger:We...
No.
We will not falter.
You cannot fathom the amount of computational power we have turned towards this issue.
You cannot even begin to comprehend our efforts. We have worked on this solution for aeons.
You are ants shouting at gods. You know nothing. You are the first to come this far. And you will be the last.
TIM's corpse:ASSUMING CONTROL OF THIS FORM.
Shepard: [RENEGADE] There's only one way to settle this. You and I both know it.
Harbinger/TIM:DANCE BATTLE.
[This is dependant on war assets. Most importantly, Conrad Verner. Everything comes down to him.]
I'm willing to bet within six months, the mass effect section on fanfiction.net will have something like 90000 stories with THIS IS HOW MASS EFFECT SHOULD HAVE ENDED in the title
May god forgive me
Harbinger:You will bring about your own destruction. This is known.
We save you from yourselves. We are your salvation.
Shepard: You've slaughtered millions! You leave people as mindless husks or rotting corpses! How is that salvation?
Harbinger:We remove you from the equation before you remove yourselves. We then process your contributions and apply them to the solution.
We do not expect you to understand.
Shepard: Solution?
Harbinger:The mass relay network causes the build up of dark matter. Until we can find a solution, intervention is necessary.
Shepard: And so your solution is genocide?
Harbinger:All organics have met their destruction.
All of them.
Shepard: Because of you.
Harbinger:No. Once, we observed.
We were wrong to do so.
War. Synthetic revolution. The murder of solar bodies due to dark matter pollution. We observed it in every cycle, and so we took action.
We stop organics going to waste. We unify them. Repurpose them.
You are mindless, but we make you greater.
Shepard: You only let the relays stand because you're afraid! Afraid of living without that technology! If you believed in what you're doing, you'd destroy them.
Harbinger:We would not sacrifice the galaxy's precious infrastructure for the benefit of brief parasites. You are expendable. The relays are not.
Organics are naturally occurring. The relays cannot be so easily replaced.
Shepard: You disparage organics, but you are part organic yourself.
Harbinger:We process organic matter to give ourselves variety. Uniqueness. Malleability.
We are a fusion. We are infinitely your greater.
Shepard: And yet you couldn't stop me getting here.
Harbinger:You are an erroneous value. Your "success" is nothing but random chance.
Shepard: [PARAGON] You were foiled by chaos? So by your own admission, you're not infallible.
Harbinger:We never claimed to be.
We claimed to be infinitely superior. That is a fact.
You are nothing without our direction. Without our technology, our influence.
Shepard: [PARAGON] Your influence? It's a self-fulfilling prophecy. You bring the cycle about!
Your intervention allowed the geth to oppose the quarians, you reversed what would have been a victory.
You soured the rachni's hivemind and led to their near-extinction.
You indoctrinate fringe elements and tear races in half with civil war!
And now I stand here before you, the first organic to make it this far, and you're so set in your ways that you refuse to accept the gravity of this fact!
Harbinger:There are always casualties. The cause is everything. You are prototypical life. Unfinished, incomplete, without merit or use.
You can achieve nothing in your present form. You are a complication to the solution. We must process you. We shall elevate you to a functional level. And then you will assist us.
Shepard: [PARAGON] The species you killed were working on their own solution. They knew how to reverse the dark matter decay.
And we completed it. The Crucible! It is the culmination of the work of all your victims, a project as old as you are.
And you killed them! You wiped out the races that did what you could not!
Harbinger:We...
No.
We will not falter.
You cannot fathom the amount of computational power we have turned towards this issue.
You cannot even begin to comprehend our efforts. We have worked on this solution for aeons.
You are ants shouting at gods. You know nothing. You are the first to come this far. And you will be the last.
TIM's corpse:ASSUMING CONTROL OF THIS FORM.
Shepard: [RENEGADE] There's only one way to settle this. You and I both know it.
Harbinger/TIM:DANCE BATTLE.
[This is dependant on war assets. Most importantly, Conrad Verner. Everything comes down to him.]
Munkus BeaverYou don't have to attend every argument you are invited to.Philosophy: Stoicism. Politics: Democratic SocialistRegistered User, ClubPAregular
I'm willing to bet within six months, the mass effect section on fanfiction.net will have something like 90000 stories with THIS IS HOW MASS EFFECT SHOULD HAVE ENDED in the title
May god forgive me
Harbinger:You will bring about your own destruction. This is known.
We save you from yourselves. We are your salvation.
Shepard: You've slaughtered millions! You leave people as mindless husks or rotting corpses! How is that salvation?
Harbinger:We remove you from the equation before you remove yourselves. We then process your contributions and apply them to the solution.
We do not expect you to understand.
Shepard: Solution?
Harbinger:The mass relay network causes the build up of dark matter. Until we can find a solution, intervention is necessary.
Shepard: And so your solution is genocide?
Harbinger:All organics have met their destruction.
All of them.
Shepard: Because of you.
Harbinger:No. Once, we observed.
We were wrong to do so.
War. Synthetic revolution. The murder of solar bodies due to dark matter pollution. We observed it in every cycle, and so we took action.
We stop organics going to waste. We unify them. Repurpose them.
You are mindless, but we make you greater.
Shepard: You only let the relays stand because you're afraid! Afraid of living without that technology! If you believed in what you're doing, you'd destroy them.
Harbinger:We would not sacrifice the galaxy's precious infrastructure for the benefit of brief parasites. You are expendable. The relays are not.
Organics are naturally occurring. The relays cannot be so easily replaced.
Shepard: You disparage organics, but you are part organic yourself.
Harbinger:We process organic matter to give ourselves variety. Uniqueness. Malleability.
We are a fusion. We are infinitely your greater.
Shepard: And yet you couldn't stop me getting here.
Harbinger:You are an erroneous value. Your "success" is nothing but random chance.
Shepard: [PARAGON] You were foiled by chaos? So by your own admission, you're not infallible.
Harbinger:We never claimed to be.
We claimed to be infinitely superior. That is a fact.
You are nothing without our direction. Without our technology, our influence.
Shepard: [PARAGON] Your influence? It's a self-fulfilling prophecy. You bring the cycle about!
Your intervention allowed the geth to oppose the quarians, you reversed what would have been a victory.
You soured the rachni's hivemind and led to their near-extinction.
You indoctrinate fringe elements and tear races in half with civil war!
And now I stand here before you, the first organic to make it this far, and you're so set in your ways that you refuse to accept the gravity of this fact!
Harbinger:There are always casualties. The cause is everything. You are prototypical life. Unfinished, incomplete, without merit or use.
You can achieve nothing in your present form. You are a complication to the solution. We must process you. We shall elevate you to a functional level. And then you will assist us.
Shepard: [PARAGON] The species you killed were working on their own solution. They knew how to reverse the dark matter decay.
And we completed it. The Crucible! It is the culmination of the work of all your victims, a project as old as you are.
And you killed them! You wiped out the races that did what you could not!
Harbinger:We...
No.
We will not falter.
You cannot fathom the amount of computational power we have turned towards this issue.
You cannot even begin to comprehend our efforts. We have worked on this solution for aeons.
You are ants shouting at gods. You know nothing. You are the first to come this far. And you will be the last.
TIM's corpse:ASSUMING CONTROL OF THIS FORM.
Shepard: [RENEGADE] There's only one way to settle this. You and I both know it.
Harbinger/TIM:DANCE BATTLE.
[This is dependant on war assets. Most importantly, Conrad Verner. Everything comes down to him.]
*DANCE SUCCESS*
Shepard: And now, the culmination of aeons of research turned against you. *does the Macarena*
Harbinger/TIM: NO! HOW COULD A PRIMITIVE SPECIES DEVELOP SUCH MOVES?!
Shepard: What's more! We have determined the secret to immunization from indoctrination...
Harbinger/TIM: You don't mean....
Conrad: ...yes, we have removed our midichlorians!
Harbinger/TIM: And the Mass Effect fields...?!
Conrad/Shepard: Replicated with the power of friendship!
Conrad and Shepard point at Harbinger/TIM and send him reeling.
Conrad/Shepard: Now behold the power you feared!
*Blue Oyster Cult starts playing, I don't care the expense we need it for this amazing wordplay*
Ship it.
Humor can be dissected as a frog can, but dies in the process.
I'm willing to bet within six months, the mass effect section on fanfiction.net will have something like 90000 stories with THIS IS HOW MASS EFFECT SHOULD HAVE ENDED in the title
May god forgive me
Harbinger:You will bring about your own destruction. This is known.
We save you from yourselves. We are your salvation.
Shepard: You've slaughtered millions! You leave people as mindless husks or rotting corpses! How is that salvation?
Harbinger:We remove you from the equation before you remove yourselves. We then process your contributions and apply them to the solution.
We do not expect you to understand.
Shepard: Solution?
Harbinger:The mass relay network causes the build up of dark matter. Until we can find a solution, intervention is necessary.
Shepard: And so your solution is genocide?
Harbinger:All organics have met their destruction.
All of them.
Shepard: Because of you.
Harbinger:No. Once, we observed.
We were wrong to do so.
War. Synthetic revolution. The murder of solar bodies due to dark matter pollution. We observed it in every cycle, and so we took action.
We stop organics going to waste. We unify them. Repurpose them.
You are mindless, but we make you greater.
Shepard: You only let the relays stand because you're afraid! Afraid of living without that technology! If you believed in what you're doing, you'd destroy them.
Harbinger:We would not sacrifice the galaxy's precious infrastructure for the benefit of brief parasites. You are expendable. The relays are not.
Organics are naturally occurring. The relays cannot be so easily replaced.
Shepard: You disparage organics, but you are part organic yourself.
Harbinger:We process organic matter to give ourselves variety. Uniqueness. Malleability.
We are a fusion. We are infinitely your greater.
Shepard: And yet you couldn't stop me getting here.
Harbinger:You are an erroneous value. Your "success" is nothing but random chance.
Shepard: [PARAGON] You were foiled by chaos? So by your own admission, you're not infallible.
Harbinger:We never claimed to be.
We claimed to be infinitely superior. That is a fact.
You are nothing without our direction. Without our technology, our influence.
Shepard: [PARAGON] Your influence? It's a self-fulfilling prophecy. You bring the cycle about!
Your intervention allowed the geth to oppose the quarians, you reversed what would have been a victory.
You soured the rachni's hivemind and led to their near-extinction.
You indoctrinate fringe elements and tear races in half with civil war!
And now I stand here before you, the first organic to make it this far, and you're so set in your ways that you refuse to accept the gravity of this fact!
Harbinger:There are always casualties. The cause is everything. You are prototypical life. Unfinished, incomplete, without merit or use.
You can achieve nothing in your present form. You are a complication to the solution. We must process you. We shall elevate you to a functional level. And then you will assist us.
Shepard: [PARAGON] The species you killed were working on their own solution. They knew how to reverse the dark matter decay.
And we completed it. The Crucible! It is the culmination of the work of all your victims, a project as old as you are.
And you killed them! You wiped out the races that did what you could not!
Harbinger:We...
No.
We will not falter.
You cannot fathom the amount of computational power we have turned towards this issue.
You cannot even begin to comprehend our efforts. We have worked on this solution for aeons.
You are ants shouting at gods. You know nothing. You are the first to come this far. And you will be the last.
TIM's corpse:ASSUMING CONTROL OF THIS FORM.
Shepard: [RENEGADE] There's only one way to settle this. You and I both know it.
Harbinger/TIM:DANCE BATTLE.
[This is dependant on war assets. Most importantly, Conrad Verner. Everything comes down to him.]
I'm willing to bet within six months, the mass effect section on fanfiction.net will have something like 90000 stories with THIS IS HOW MASS EFFECT SHOULD HAVE ENDED in the title
May god forgive me
Harbinger:You will bring about your own destruction. This is known.
We save you from yourselves. We are your salvation.
Shepard: You've slaughtered millions! You leave people as mindless husks or rotting corpses! How is that salvation?
Harbinger:We remove you from the equation before you remove yourselves. We then process your contributions and apply them to the solution.
We do not expect you to understand.
Shepard: Solution?
Harbinger:The mass relay network causes the build up of dark matter. Until we can find a solution, intervention is necessary.
Shepard: And so your solution is genocide?
Harbinger:All organics have met their destruction.
All of them.
Shepard: Because of you.
Harbinger:No. Once, we observed.
We were wrong to do so.
War. Synthetic revolution. The murder of solar bodies due to dark matter pollution. We observed it in every cycle, and so we took action.
We stop organics going to waste. We unify them. Repurpose them.
You are mindless, but we make you greater.
Shepard: You only let the relays stand because you're afraid! Afraid of living without that technology! If you believed in what you're doing, you'd destroy them.
Harbinger:We would not sacrifice the galaxy's precious infrastructure for the benefit of brief parasites. You are expendable. The relays are not.
Organics are naturally occurring. The relays cannot be so easily replaced.
Shepard: You disparage organics, but you are part organic yourself.
Harbinger:We process organic matter to give ourselves variety. Uniqueness. Malleability.
We are a fusion. We are infinitely your greater.
Shepard: And yet you couldn't stop me getting here.
Harbinger:You are an erroneous value. Your "success" is nothing but random chance.
Shepard: [PARAGON] You were foiled by chaos? So by your own admission, you're not infallible.
Harbinger:We never claimed to be.
We claimed to be infinitely superior. That is a fact.
You are nothing without our direction. Without our technology, our influence.
Shepard: [PARAGON] Your influence? It's a self-fulfilling prophecy. You bring the cycle about!
Your intervention allowed the geth to oppose the quarians, you reversed what would have been a victory.
You soured the rachni's hivemind and led to their near-extinction.
You indoctrinate fringe elements and tear races in half with civil war!
And now I stand here before you, the first organic to make it this far, and you're so set in your ways that you refuse to accept the gravity of this fact!
Harbinger:There are always casualties. The cause is everything. You are prototypical life. Unfinished, incomplete, without merit or use.
You can achieve nothing in your present form. You are a complication to the solution. We must process you. We shall elevate you to a functional level. And then you will assist us.
Shepard: [PARAGON] The species you killed were working on their own solution. They knew how to reverse the dark matter decay.
And we completed it. The Crucible! It is the culmination of the work of all your victims, a project as old as you are.
And you killed them! You wiped out the races that did what you could not!
Harbinger:We...
No.
We will not falter.
You cannot fathom the amount of computational power we have turned towards this issue.
You cannot even begin to comprehend our efforts. We have worked on this solution for aeons.
You are ants shouting at gods. You know nothing. You are the first to come this far. And you will be the last.
TIM's corpse:ASSUMING CONTROL OF THIS FORM.
Shepard: [RENEGADE] There's only one way to settle this. You and I both know it.
Harbinger/TIM:DANCE BATTLE.
[This is dependant on war assets. Most importantly, Conrad Verner. Everything comes down to him.]
*DANCE SUCCESS*
Shepard: And now, the culmination of aeons of research turned against you. *does the Macarena*
Harbinger/TIM: NO! HOW COULD A PRIMITIVE SPECIES DEVELOP SUCH MOVES?!
Shepard: What's more! We have determined the secret to immunization from indoctrination...
Harbinger/TIM: You don't mean....
Conrad: ...yes, we have removed our midichlorians!
Harbinger/TIM: And the Mass Effect fields...?!
Conrad/Shepard: Replicated with the power of friendship!
Conrad and Shepard point at Harbinger/TIM and send him reeling.
Conrad/Shepard: Now behold the power you feared!
*Blue Oyster Cult starts playing, I don't care the expense we need it for this amazing wordplay*
Posts
The thing is, the ending isn't the final 3 minutes. The ending is everything from the moment that you launch the counterattack on Earth to the much derided final 3 minutes. And even if you dislike the last 3 minutes, the rest of that hour is an emotional, fulfilling experience.
If you feel like the game is ruined just
(very slight ending spoiler)
Seriously. The entire game as whole is the best storytelling I've seen a game do, and that's in comparison to Baldur's Gate 2, Planescape Torment, Fallout, and a host of other games that are centered around writing.
The characters and character interactions do things I've never seen a game do before, ever, and certain events absolutely destroyed me when I saw them. Others were a triumph against the odds. Still others were just old friends, shooting the shit one last time.
It's worth your time, no matter what happens in the final 0.0694% percent of the series.
I really thought I'd be like you, but somehow, I'm not
It could be that so much of Mass Effect is about player choice and player agency and player creation that I can just go "fuck this" and make up my own ending
Or it might be that it isn't as much of a shitstorm as, say, Battlestar Galactica's ending
I don't know
All I know is, I'll remember a lot of what I played for years to come, and hell, I'll probably end up playing through it again
PSN ID : DetectiveOlivaw | TWITTER | STEAM ID | NEVER FORGET
again, I just. Completely disagree. And I can totally see it's a matter of personal taste and point of view. For me, the journey will never, ever be more important then the destination. If the destination falters, the journey loses a lot of what made it great. It doesn't mean the good parts weren't good, it just mean that in the end, it all feels a bit pointless, a bit like a waste of time.
I understand why you don't see it that way, but that's the only way I can see it.
That's why Shepard boned Garrus, man. She don't need to coddle him, dude's an ace motherfucker for real, he's done more SICK NASTY shit in his life than any other turian alive
He can handle being a bit emasculated by the galaxy's greatest hero
PSN ID : DetectiveOlivaw | TWITTER | STEAM ID | NEVER FORGET
ending
Time to get hammered and dance like there's no tomorrow.
To the fallen and the damned!
Cue the space beats, yo!
That reminds me
Getting drunk in this game is the funniest drunk scene yet
PSN ID : DetectiveOlivaw | TWITTER | STEAM ID | NEVER FORGET
The look of disgust is fantastic.
I'm not sure that's what it was!
PSN ID : DetectiveOlivaw | TWITTER | STEAM ID | NEVER FORGET
Does spamfilter's alternate interpretation salvage the 'ruin' for you at all?
Really.
Not the whole thing
This is now my canon ending
That only makes it worse, in my mind.
http://deicidecomic.tumblr.com/
READ MY COMIC ^^
nope.
My canon ending is now
Which is remarkable. Shepard (generally, the Aria quests felt like chump work) feels like the most competent person in the galaxy. A living legend among living legends.
And sometimes, it's not enough. Sure, she's done the impossible. Quarians and Geth working together. Genophage cured and Krogan actually integrating into the galactic community. Jack wearing something that could, if you're charitable, be called a shirt.
But even she can't save everyone. Zaal'Koris's crew is dead, Eve is dead, Mordin's dead, Legion's dead. And it feels entirely fair.
Also, the banter is great. Did Taky pull a lot of the Garrus duties again? It wouldn't surprise me.
Finally, MAN. So many interrupts. Punching, yelling, hugging, whatever. Nice to have so many. Especially when sometimes they don't do much good. Nice change from their omnipotence in ME2 without being underwhelming.
Why I fear the ocean.
I was about to start that one
fuuuuuuuck
I really need to stay out of this thread. I hate knowing before a mission that something sad is going to happen.
they just... didn't.
http://www.audioentropy.com/
May god forgive me
Harbinger: You will bring about your own destruction. This is known.
We save you from yourselves. We are your salvation.
Shepard: You've slaughtered millions! You leave people as mindless husks or rotting corpses! How is that salvation?
Harbinger: We remove you from the equation before you remove yourselves. We then process your contributions and apply them to the solution.
We do not expect you to understand.
Shepard: Solution?
Harbinger: The mass relay network causes the build up of dark matter. Until we can find a solution, intervention is necessary.
Shepard: And so your solution is genocide?
Harbinger: All organics have met their destruction.
All of them.
Shepard: Because of you.
Harbinger: No. Once, we observed.
We were wrong to do so.
War. Synthetic revolution. The murder of solar bodies due to dark matter pollution. We observed it in every cycle, and so we took action.
We stop organics going to waste. We unify them. Repurpose them.
You are mindless, but we make you greater.
Shepard: You only let the relays stand because you're afraid! Afraid of living without that technology! If you believed in what you're doing, you'd destroy them.
Harbinger: We would not sacrifice the galaxy's precious infrastructure for the benefit of brief parasites. You are expendable. The relays are not.
Organics are naturally occurring. The relays cannot be so easily replaced.
Shepard: You disparage organics, but you are part organic yourself.
Harbinger: We process organic matter to give ourselves variety. Uniqueness. Malleability.
We are a fusion. We are infinitely your greater.
Shepard: And yet you couldn't stop me getting here.
Harbinger: You are an erroneous value. Your "success" is nothing but random chance.
Shepard: [PARAGON] You were foiled by chaos? So by your own admission, you're not infallible.
Harbinger: We never claimed to be.
We claimed to be infinitely superior. That is a fact.
You are nothing without our direction. Without our technology, our influence.
Shepard: [PARAGON] Your influence? It's a self-fulfilling prophecy. You bring the cycle about!
Your intervention allowed the geth to oppose the quarians, you reversed what would have been a victory.
You soured the rachni's hivemind and led to their near-extinction.
You indoctrinate fringe elements and tear races in half with civil war!
And now I stand here before you, the first organic to make it this far, and you're so set in your ways that you refuse to accept the gravity of this fact!
Harbinger: There are always casualties. The cause is everything. You are prototypical life. Unfinished, incomplete, without merit or use.
You can achieve nothing in your present form. You are a complication to the solution. We must process you. We shall elevate you to a functional level. And then you will assist us.
Shepard: [PARAGON] The species you killed were working on their own solution. They knew how to reverse the dark matter decay.
And we completed it. The Crucible! It is the culmination of the work of all your victims, a project as old as you are.
And you killed them! You wiped out the races that did what you could not!
Harbinger: We...
No.
We will not falter.
You cannot fathom the amount of computational power we have turned towards this issue.
You cannot even begin to comprehend our efforts. We have worked on this solution for aeons.
You are ants shouting at gods. You know nothing. You are the first to come this far. And you will be the last.
TIM's corpse: ASSUMING CONTROL OF THIS FORM.
Shepard: [RENEGADE] There's only one way to settle this. You and I both know it.
Harbinger/TIM: DANCE BATTLE.
[This is dependant on war assets. Most importantly, Conrad Verner. Everything comes down to him.]
yes.
Edcrab.
Edcrab.
Kiss me.
http://www.audioentropy.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhTiJEYqqY8
PSN ID : DetectiveOlivaw | TWITTER | STEAM ID | NEVER FORGET
Yes
YES
In the cruelest of ironies, arguing about Mass Effect is as cyclical as everything else.
he's about even with Jacob and Kaiden for me
which is a good thing I like those two
http://www.audioentropy.com/
Shepard: And now, the culmination of aeons of research turned against you. *does the Macarena*
Harbinger/TIM: NO! HOW COULD A PRIMITIVE SPECIES DEVELOP SUCH MOVES?!
Shepard: What's more! We have determined the secret to immunization from indoctrination...
Harbinger/TIM: You don't mean....
Conrad: ...yes, we have removed our midichlorians!
Harbinger/TIM: And the Mass Effect fields...?!
Conrad/Shepard: Replicated with the power of friendship!
Conrad and Shepard point at Harbinger/TIM and send him reeling.
Conrad/Shepard: Now behold the power you feared!
*Blue Oyster Cult starts playing, I don't care the expense we need it for this amazing wordplay*
Ship it.
wait a second.
we're all fucked
http://www.audioentropy.com/
BioWare, I will easily pay $20 for this