The Inside Story of Mass Effect 3's Endings, Finally Told

Comments · 1.4K

• PE

  @PeopleMakeGames · 4 years ago · pinned

  You might notice that we did, in the end, use the thumbnail mentioned at the end of this episode! Patrons do still get access to the video I made back in 2012, however, plus all sorts of extra goodies, depending on their tier: <a href="https://www.patreon.com/PeopleMakeGames">https://www.patreon.com/PeopleMakeGames</a>

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• JA

  @JacobGeller · 4 years ago

  One of the toughest things to do in an essay is find an engaging balance of interview and narration, and y&apos;all make it look easy every time.

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• EV

  @eva1777 · 4 years ago

  &quot;We donated all the cupcakes. Which is great.&quot;<br><br>&quot;Did they put poison in there? Are these safe?&quot;

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• BO

  @BozingarHoots · 4 years ago

  In retrospect, the biggest disappointment for me was that they didn’t need any of these high-fantasy deus ex machina endings. In fact, they had been setting up a much cleaner, easier, and more satisfying ending during the first two games.<br> <br>In ME1, not only did Shepard and crew stop Sovereign from initiating the planned Reaper-backdoor Citadel attack, but it was established the Protheans had prevented this for centuries via the keepers (Sovereign biding time for the Citadel attack per Vigil). This means the Reapers lost a crucial and brutal element of their strategy, as well as let the intelligent races advance an unspecified number of decades beyond what they intended. In fact, ME1 took place in 2183. If the Reapers had attacked as they intended, humanity would have likely been somewhere in the 1900s.<br> <br>The Reapers then try to recover their advantage in ME2, but Shepard and the gang slap them down like Mutombo. This seems to mostly hinge around eliminating humanity as a threat, as well as further their infiltration via indoctrination.<br> <br>Basically, they set it up masterfully to create an ending where, when united by Shepard, the galaxy could have believably destroyed the Reapers with their own power. The ‘Crucible’ seemed like it was introduced to symbolize the combined efforts of a united galaxy, but it could have just been that: the combined efforts of a united galaxy. This would also reinforce the true power Shepard had. Yes, they were a badass, but they were still a single soldier. Instead of a hard left turn into ‘galaxy synthesis chosen one,’ they could have remained what they always were: a figure inspiring enough to bring the galaxy together.<br> <br>It seems like they were so focused on having a massive choice at the end of the game that they introduced a bunch of unnecessary macguffins and worked backwards from there. But we had already made the massive choices. It could have been just like ME2s ending, where the same thing happens regardless, but the ramifications are profoundly different depending on how you played all three games. I don’t know… I think more ‘does this need to be here?’ questions asked during storyboard edits would have saved the team a lot of effort and heartache in the end; as well as fans.

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• ME

  @MementoMorrigan · 4 years ago

  I love that they were all mad about the cupcakes, not because someone had sent them purely to spite them, but because they couldn’t eat them 😂

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• XI

  @Xitoshi · 4 years ago

  The biggest issue here seems to be managerial. The ending was not given the appropriate resources and priority, resulting in a terrible disappointment that, I imagine, was an economical threat for the company.<br>But then, to solve that issue as soon as possible, the company abuses its workers <i>after</i> having abused its workers to make the first release. Which is terrible, but I wouldn&apos;t blame this on the fans.<br>And, somehow, they seem to have gone through all this without barely being mentioned.

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• NE

  @neon-kitty · 4 years ago

  Tbh, the Extended Cut didn&apos;t fix any of the issues I had with the ending which were mainly centered around it not making much sense from a narrative perspective. It felt like comparatively bad writing (in a series that was known and loved for having good writing) and was simply an unsatisfactory explanation for the reapers (imo). That being said, obviously nobody should have ever received any kind of harassment over it, let alone death threats.

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• LV

  @lvl99paint · 4 years ago

  The problem with the ending wasn&apos;t the tinted cutscenes or the illusion of choice or entitled fans or any of that. It&apos;s not even that it was ambiguous or &apos;not happy&apos;. It was just the wrong ending for the story the games had been telling for the past 2.9 games.

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• MA

  @MajestyLyrael · 4 years ago

  I feel the discussion around the Mass Effect ending(s) often overlooks one critical thing:<br>The marketing for the game and how the entire trilogy was sold to the audience.<br><br>The entire pitch of the series was a sci fi choose your own adventure story. A lot of emphasis was put on &quot;Your Story, Your Sheperd, Your Ending&quot;. Even during the discussions from the developers about Mass Effect and ending the series, that same thing was said. A lot of about how this was Your Adventure, Your Story, and would be Your Ending. A few mentions of how its not going to be simply A, B, or C... and the initial ending ended up being precisely that, A, B, or C. &quot;Choose your own Instagram filter for the cutscene&quot;.<br><br>I&apos;m all about honesty in these things. A large part of the discussion I saw was about how this wasn&apos;t what they had promised (see above). Making a vegan burger is just fine. You do you, man. But just tell me its a vegan burger. Taking said vegan burger and selling it to me as a cheeseburger with cow meat and dairy cheese is not okay, and wondering why I would complain about you doing so is... very odd. <br><br>The critiques about the writing, themes, etc. I feel are valid, but I feel the above needed to be pointed out.

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• TO

  @Toporshik · 4 years ago

  To me the biggest problem with the endings was not the lack of presentation. It was that the choice was not properly forshadowed and that options were not established in the game world. Moreover, the entire argument that precedeed the need for this choices had clear logical flaws.<br>No amount of presentation could&apos;ve countered that the entire sythetics vs organics conflict was very artificial and options given in the end arbitrary.<br><br>Space magic is a good way to generalize the first draft of the first idea of the ending, but in at least half-logical common sence sci-fi world of Mass Effect it should not have been the final explanation for it.<br><br>Having said that, I do not blame the developers for making the endings the way they did. I&apos;m just disappointed in general that this ended up being the case.

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• AN

  @andrewmcclean823 · 4 years ago

  My main issue with the endings had nothing to do with execution. They just felt narratively bad. Everything in the story told us Controlling the Reapers wasn&apos;t possible but apparently now it&apos;s super-easy barely an inconvenience. The death of the Geth and ED-E to finally kill the Reapers in Destroy would feel like a great sacrifice but considering the other 2 endings are objectively better it ends up being pointless. The synthesis ending just comes out of nowhere and feels weird for the sake of being weird.

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• TW

  @twilightgeneral777 · 4 years ago

  From scene one of Mass Effect 3, the little kid/&quot;Star Child&quot; just absolutely annoyed me. It felt like they just showed a kid dying for cheap sympathy points, and then they force you to see this kid haunting shepherd&apos;s nightmares even though the importance given to the child feels completely unearned. Shepherd had seen so many people die up to that point and lost so many friends. Seeing those people, the innocents and friends Shepherd had failed to save, would have had far more emotional and thematic impact.

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