My Abridged Mass Effect 3 Ending

[tc119]

Mass Effect 3 spoilers ahead, both in the post and the video.

Spoiler

When I originally played Mass Effect 3 back in 2012, I felt depressed and deflated by the bullshit ending. Everything Commander Shepard had worked for was completely undone by the pick-your-favorite-color choices - all of them basically resulting in the same outcome. Why even bother giving that illusion of choice? And that bit with the star-child was so stupid. Clearly, the writers wanted to corral players into choosing the "best" choice, which was for man to merge with machines and become cyborgs. Spend three whole games fighting the machines, only to end up becoming a reaper oneself. That, or be vaporized. Nah, screw that. The apology DLC they release later didn't really address anything, as Bioware just doubled-down. It's unfortunate that the last good Bioware game had to conclude this way.

So I decided to make my own head-canon ending, one where I can finally put down those uppity computers for good. The series started with Shepard shooting evil robots, it's only appropriate that it should end that way. At any rate, I highly recommend the first two games in the series. The third game starts going off the rails about three-fourths of the way through, but that first three-fourths is pretty solid.

[roperos]

>Mass effect thread
I'm suprised I missed it.
I finished the trilogy earlier this year (been chipping on the 1st and 2nd game during 2024) and I agree that the way the big finale was handled was weak.

I think I understand Bioware's intentions. A reveal that no matter how hard you try you have to follow an order of nature / evolution, but execusion of it felt like slap in the face.

Spoiler

Part with that kid also felt off. It's as if after 2 full games we're told "umm, but you remember that Shepard is also a human and he has emotions ?" I don't think they could've choosen worse timing to talk about stuff like ptsd and soldier's regret over his actions.

In general I think that mass effect could've ended after 1st game and no one would feel bad about it. It's just that so much work was put into world building that it felt like a waste to not milk it further. When you finish 1st / 2nd part it feels like a grand finale. It was so off putting to boot up a next game and be hit with "whoops, there's a bigger fish that took you out in one swipe and now you have to start from zero".

If I could add 1 thing to ME3 (other than fixing the ending system) it would be an option to get an early game over.

Spoiler

For example if you were very clumsy / picked bad dialogs while fighting your clone he would lock you in that cell in the archives and that would be a game over. No plot armor magic robot that appears with his blow touch to save you. Second has to be last stage of the search for that reaper creator. The way that mech was failing when it went underwater spelled "curiosity killed the cat" to me.

And i mean like a proper game over. No "mission failed: load from save" bs. Play a small video where people mourn Shepard's death, next scene earth falls and then roll the credits.

If I turn a blind eye to that whole ending blunder I have to say that I'm satisfied with my red ending.

Spoiler

Hero was finally put to rest after his final sacrifice. A bit cliche, but I don't mind

[tc119]

Spoiler

I agree that the red ending is the best one of the three. And, it's the one where it's implied that Shepard survives, if you accrue enough war assets. Also, that would've been better if they had more actual endings, including bad ones. They kinda did that with the Arrival DLC: If you wait for the countdown timer to reach zero, it plays a short cut-scene of everyone dying violently.

I forgot that I got rid of the extra YouTube channel and my Mass Effect ending video went with it. So I changed the link to my variety channel and it's watchable again.

[roperos]

Spoiler

I think I got around 4000-4500 assets. sounds like it wasn't enough but i couldn't be bothered to do more. It's still way more than I wanted to get. At first I wanted to try with bare minimum, but I had few fun side quests + whole quarian part to do. I sided with geth because opening fire by quarian's admiral while I was still onboard reaper ship was so stupid. Also since I already threw any chance for their support I ratted out Tali's father during her trial. I admit I went a bit chaotic evil there, but I was curious how far I can push it.

I had no idea there was a dlc that played after ME 2 ending. I played the legendary edition and as far as I know it has all DLCs. I guess I just overlooked it.

I looked around the mass effect wiki today and I'm happy to see that there is still enough content and different choices for a second playthrough. Maybe next time I will actually bother to read what's the deal with bionic / tech powers and build around this.

[tc119]

Try playing as a vanguard next time. It's tons of fun in the first game, going around shotgunning krogans in the face, while hitting 'em with warps and throws. In ME2, sadly, it turns into more of a cover-shooter - probably the weakest combat-wise in the series, but still fun. Combat gets much better in ME3 again, especially with vanguard, which is OP as hell in that game. I also enjoy playing as engineer, hanging back and sniping with heavy pistols and ruining everyone's day with massive overloads all over the place. Plus you get the attack drone, like Tali has in ME2. It's really only good for distracting enemies, but effective for taking the heat off.

Overlord DLC for ME2 is pretty good, and it helps make the intro for ME3 make a whole lot more sense.

[roperos]

Glad to hear that I'm not the only one not fond of Krogans

I need to spice up the gameplay next time. I played all 3 games (80h) as a sniper that stayed behind cover and peeked out only when I had a clear headshot. I'm not sure If I even bothered with different ammo types.

I think I enjoyed the combat in ME2 the most. On 4/5 difficulty even basic enemy was able to survive a body shot from a good sniper rifle, so whole game turned into "clicking heads" and abusing cloak that gave extra headshot damage.

My gameplay grudge I have to ME3 is level design. It's nice that they tried to add more verticality to levels, but it always ended with "asset nr.3: sturdy metal ladder" being placed all around the galaxy or few almost Shepard sized boxes in warehouses. Good try, but a bit more effort would've made it orders of magnitude better