GamingCollege.net writes "Mass Effect 3's endings were disappointing to many for more reasons than one. One of our members has an excellent video behind the "true" ending and is gaining support by the minute. Check out the video below and tells us what you think in the comments."
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I think the video makes good points. All this discussion of the ending reminds me of the massive discussion around Limbo's ending. However, it's Hollowtipz comment that I take issue with.They're pretty much saying people are foolish for believing that the ending was real.
****SPOILERS ANYWAY****
But yeah this ending makes the most sense to me since I learned about it a couple days ago but if it's real isn't this just going to add fuel to the fire for hating Bioware, EA and DLC since the actual ending will be probably be released as DLC then. Like it'll make people happy but just as many will be mad...
From what I got from the in game journal, indoctrination mean that the reapers has planted a thought into your head and is slowly trying to take control of your mind. The victim is mostly unaware of it.
Now, what would be pure genius, is if Bioware actually planned to enrage everyone with this ending for 2 or three weeks (with all the risks it implies from a business perspective) before releasing a surprise and free "Live to fight another day" DLC with the final chapter of the game. Now, that's wishful thinking obviously, but it would go down in history as the greatest "coup" in a video game. Just imagine the impact on the fans... just like waking up from a bad dream. If oyu have to pay for it it would still be a coup, but it would also still be a bad dream.
And BTW, bioware are awfully silent about this, I mean absolutly no reaction, no usual speech about their fans, etc, that has to mean something...
1. Wasn't wearing armor: Maybe Bioware found it easier/cheaper to make one damaged armor model than for each set/piece of armor.
2. Infinite ammo: Lots of games do this where they give you infinite ammo for set pieces in case you waste ammo. If you were like me, you tried shooting the kid. What if you ran out of ammo? You can't destroy the reaper tube thing then.
3. Running shadow animation versus slow walk. Could just be because of the engine or the way they process shadows. If you played Dead Island and looked at your shadow, it looks really weird (exampe: http://www.youtube.com/watc...
Whoops, meant to post in reply to HOLLOWTIPZ's theory.
SPOILERS
Ok someone needs to tell you why people are pissed and I guess it's me. So your happy with the ending are you? Well news flash you've been played by bioware.
Now I will explain SPOILERS The so called end of ME3 is not the end. If Anderson was vaporized by Harby which is clearly seen how do I see him? How do I have Unlimited ammo? How did I get to the citadel? comm said nobody made it, and if Anderson didn't get vaporized then how did he get to the counsel before me there's only one way? Why does the illusive man appear eaper like all of a sudden?
Isn't everything you see oddly similar to previous games? TIM shooting himself, the human corpses, and shepards fear of being controlled since ME2. Why does the GOD/CHILD tell me things I know and doesn't explain the things I don't. If the reapers kill us so we don't make synthetics that will always kill us. Then what was me uniting the quarians and the geth, and If i'm the first organic there how does the GOD/CHILD know what happens when I activate the crucible? It's never been made before only a blueprint for thousands of years. Heres the defining moment you know it was a dream, I chose destroy blew up citadel, mass relays and all but I awoke on earth in my ending. Now I purpose this theory.
2. Choosing to control the Reapers allows them to live. Reapers win. They will still exist.
3. Choosing to combine organic and synthetic life: Reapers win. They will still exist.
4. Choosing to destroy all synthetic life: Reapers loose. Shepard lives. Reapers die.
5. Choosing to destroy all synthetic life option is more Renegade in appearence. Controlling the Reapers is more Paragon in appearence. The Illusive Man's choice should not be Paragon colors, just as Anderson's choice should not be Renegade.
6. Shepard awakes at the end of destroying Reapers. But Shepard is not awaking from the aftermath. He is awaking from either after he is hit by Harbingers lazer attack on Earth or after the scene with Anderson and the Illusive Man.
7. Stating that all sythetic life will be destroyed will give you pause; destroying the Geth can force you to a different conclusion. This choice exists for the illusion of choice; the other choices are ment to sound better.
8. Shepard does not awake in the other 2 "endings" because you are fully indoctrinated by the choices you made to allow the Reapers to win. "Assuming Control!"
9. Never trust any child construct, be it a ghost or artificial intelligence, or heck even human. They are just creepy.
10. Shepard awakes at the end because he has broken hold of the Reaper's control.
11. Shepard has spent alot of time around Reapers. Soveriegn, various Reaper artifacts, the Human Reaper, 2 Reaper destroyers, the Artifact from "The Arrival." Its foolish to assume there is not some level of
indoctrination.
12. Bioware not only get more $$$ for DLC for the final battle, but big props for INDOCTRINATING A LOT OF ITS OWN PLAYERS! I do not know of another gaming company that has tried to fool all of its consumers, but they look to be the first and reap all of the attention.
13. Definitions:
Catalyst =
One that precipitates a process or event, especially without being involved in or changed by the consequences
Crucible=
A severe test, as of patience or belief; a trial. See Synonyms at trial.
14. Shepard is not wearing his armor when he wakes up in the Citadel, implying that this is a dream.
Deklan_Caine wrote...
I have a couple of observations to contribute to the theory that it doesn't seem like others have caught (apologies if someone else caught these already and I missed it...):
Sounds a lot like a continuation of the SP campaign.
I chose to destroy the reapers, but because my effective military strength was only 2500 or so, my Shepard supposedly died. According to the indoctrination theory, what happens next? I obviously don't wake up in the London rubble or in the Citadel.
And if everything was a dream after Harbinger hit me with his laser. Uh, then what? I go into the citadel for real in the DLC? And make the real decision there?
Point 9 is unnecessary...
Shepard's Armour could have been burnt off after the red reaper beam. The armour could have kept him alive.
Finally, not everyone saw Shepard alive after the choice to destroy the reapers.
16) The line Harbinger repeated over and over in ME2 was that the Reapers would be "your salvation through destruction." Well, the synthesis and control options are literally salvation for the galaxy through Shep's destruction, buying into a compliance mindset. The only option that leaves Shep breathing is to destroy the Reapers, which has been the point since ME1. All the evidence points to the last sequence being a battle for Shepards mind that is only won when Shep chooses the path that the god-kid tries to convince him not to take.
Where you just couldn't stop the reapers and they continue the cycle, and they force you to watch your friends become part of the Reapers. Then you, of course, get grinded up and put into a reaper but you still put up a fight and take over that said reaper (think skyline the movie). But the reaper fleet doesn't know it. During the next cycle (mass effect 4) you find a way to communicate with someone from the current top species and warn them. You somehow help them in the end destroy you and the reapers for good.
well i just finished the game and honestly i am really inclined to agree with this, and if its not something like this, then something went wrong when bioware was making the endings because there are a lot of plotholes, basically the same ending for all, with just minor changes. Some things really dont make sense like what he says, why would the Illusive Man look like the Paragon option and Anderson the Renegade??
Above all, its not that the ending was that bad, its just that it really doesnt give me any type of closure. I really put effort in the past 2 games to make Sheppard a good guy with perfect paragon endings and in the end its pretty much for nothing??
I wanted to destroy the reapers and keep all the alliances i made, see the Quarians and Geth together in Rannoch, the Krogan free of the Genophage, the assari and Turian rebuilding their worlds, see what happened to all my squadmates, and i wanted a happy ending for my Sheppard and Miranda...
it might feel like im robbed if bioware releases "truer" endings later as DLC, but i would actually buy them, i want a proper closure to everything i've done in the past 3 games
-the kid is obviously "taken" from Shepard's mind, but we've seen Protheans (or their VIs) and Asari do all kinds of things with people's minds to extract and analyze memories. No indoctrination or dream required. I suppose the question is was the kid's form "taken" or did Shepard "lend" it that form. The kid, to me, represents the future that Shepard hopes to save, and here is the choice to decide that future in front of him
- I'm pretty sure there IS some kind of barrier in that space... like he points out people have said so I'll just shut my trap.
-On Shepard "not acting himself." Just saying I noticed him speaking a LOT more on his own in this game, compared to the last two. Hate to say it, but that COULD have just been lazy writing. Seriously, my first reaction when he mentioned the synthesis option was "No, Kid, seriously, what the f*** does that even mean?"
-If the kid is a VI of some sort (which I think), then him disappearing as you shoot the wires and stuff is probably because you're shooting HIS wires and stuff.
-So do the reapers "succeed" if Shepard tries to control them or synthesize? Then why does that epilogue with the "Stargazer" play each time?
In argument for it:
-The way indoctrination has worked with both Saren AND the Illusive man is making the victim believe that he has a choice and still has free will, but that helping the Reapers is the best option available. Simply enslaving a mind is exactly what people like them and Shepard would fight against. Giving Shepard a choice like this makes sense. Don't know if it was all a dream per se, but I am willing to believe that was some kind of indoctrination attempt.
----
Kid: 'Did that really happen?"
Old Man: 'Well...many of the details were lost to time.'
It can be assumed that whatever happens, the safety of the galaxy is, in some way, assured. However, It seems pretty obvious that Shepard's story is in fact that, a story, being told. All the details are pretty much told how the characters perceive it; the players are not omniscient, we only know how much Shepard and the characters around him/her know.
It would make sense if the relays are gone and I think the planet signifies a new beginning for the galaxy.
I'm still convinced that everything after Shepardgets thrown against the bench at the start of the game never actually happens.
We dont know what species stargazer is.
I however dont want it to be dream, i just want destroy to be only good ending and other two being reapers win. Indoctrination without dreaming.
/watch?v=rLwZxUeJzK0 (dream)
/watch?v=bek7_KAvyj8 (after waking up [low quality, sadly]).
At least the ending wasn't Shepard wakes up from a coma and he was never a commander, he was just a hobo struck by lighting.
So wait, this guy thinks Shepard went to sleep once Harbinger started firing on the humans converging on the beam? Is he for real? Why go through all the trouble of making him/her (Shepard) all hurt and beaten, so the game could continue later on like nothing happened? Please.
Some people just can't face the truth (no matter how ugly it is).
Throughout the game Shepard's mind is deteriorating; many conversations, and statements imply that this is the truth; perhaps having him'her knocked unconscious was the final straw.
Also, to those that think the indoctrination was instant or too quick, Shepard was exposed to MANY Reaper artifacts and tech throughout the entire series; hell, in the last moments of the game Shepard's within a couple meters of two Reapers in very short intervals.
/watch?v=rLwZxUeJzK0 (dream)
/watch?v=bek7_KAvyj8 (after waking up [low quality, sadly])