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Post by Mister Buch on Mar 30, 2012 1:06:22 GMT 1
All right, so I've spent pretty much the entirity of my March thinking about the ending to Mass Effect 3. Recently I got set off again, thanks to the Indoctrination theory (which I kind of like, kind of don't) and its success. So -- HERE is a long essay where I propose a rival theory:-- -- If you do read it, then please let me know what you think. I make a few other points in there that aren't even to do with indocriantion. I got really into this. Maybe now I can 'let this go' and get on with my life! But regardless - this is what I reckon about The Ending.
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Post by Warhammer Gorvar on Mar 30, 2012 1:36:35 GMT 1
Ages later, a sweet old man with a familiar voice tells a story to his grand-daughter, which involves several inter-species lesbian sex scenes and a lot of gunshot wounds. He is no longer allowed to see his grand-children.
THIS, OMG THIS!
TBH, i prefer the red option because I dont think the Reapers will ever redeem their ways if they are allowed to life. Or if Shepard herself does not become corrupted and comes back in 50 k years to do some reaping...and also Synthesis is forcing a way of life on trillions. that's just my two cents though but i till liked your conclussions and your thoughts. I just disagree with the options heh.
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Post by Mister Buch on Mar 30, 2012 1:52:25 GMT 1
Ah see I wasn't trying to say that I prefer the green ending (although actually I do). And I agree completely that forcing a physical change like that on people isn't NEARLY as lovely and peaceful as BioWare apparently thought it was.
As for the Reapers/Shepard returning to the old Cycles... well I think the game implies this is impossible. The Reapers were only ever tools of the Catalyst, really. And Shep... I have no clue if s/he is even supposed to still be conscious. I don't even know.
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Post by Warhammer Gorvar on Mar 30, 2012 1:58:37 GMT 1
I still like blowing shit up.....
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Post by Mister Buch on Mar 30, 2012 2:00:32 GMT 1
Even EDI? See I like the red ending. But I think it is a lot more 'renegade' than people give it credit for. I like the green one too - it tries to do something interesting. Note, tries. The blue one, I don't understand, frankly. It's boring, I know that.
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Post by Warhammer Gorvar on Mar 30, 2012 2:19:26 GMT 1
Well I like to compare the red ending to you making a deal with Morrigan in DA;O. You get your happy ending at a cost.
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Post by Mister Buch on Mar 30, 2012 2:20:30 GMT 1
Mmmmmmm... yeah, good point.
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Post by jklinders on Mar 30, 2012 3:04:31 GMT 1
I stand by the green ending being the one Bioware wanted us to take as Buch said. But I had also said before that it is the most permanent but easily the most oppressive solution. Sorry, but if Adam Jensen didn't ask for it and he was a little perturbed, how will it be when untold trillions of people get implanted against their will all simultaneously? I really think we need to think about just how creepy it is if we are going to suggest that it is the "best" solution. That's only because Bioware obviously didn't.
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Post by Mister Buch on Mar 30, 2012 3:13:01 GMT 1
I have no trouble suspending my disbelief with that - just enjoy the Garden of Eden thing and ignore the other implications. But yes. You're quite right.
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Post by lieden on Mar 30, 2012 5:13:49 GMT 1
You wrap this up very coherently, Buch, and I think it's all mostly solid. I also like that you make a point about the choices' colours. The 'Destroy' option IS renegade, contrary to what everyone else is saying.
I still don't like the whole deal and agree that it was all rushed and sloppy, but it's making more sense. Good work, there.
That said, I have EXTREME trouble with the 'Synthesis' ending; not for the moral aspect of it, but because I think it's total bull. The way it was VISUALLY suggested (everyone has circuits overlayed on their skin, wow) was one huge moment of WTF.
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Post by Clint Johnston on Mar 30, 2012 6:43:56 GMT 1
I'm not reading any more theories until I have a canon one I can use as machine gun fodder.
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Post by Mr. Glow on Mar 30, 2012 8:45:37 GMT 1
The green ending (which I chose the first time around) is just a whole fucking bunch of baloney.
Someone else said this somewhere, but after three games of diversity being treated positively, and species being capable of working together (Shepard's teams, the krogan/turian and geth/quarian alliances in ME3), it is just idiotic that what is presented as the only (or best) path to peace is forced homogenisation of the entire galaxy.
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Post by Mister Buch on Mar 30, 2012 12:49:47 GMT 1
I can forgive a lot of inconsistancy in the name of a nice theme, a great song and a religious metaphor. But I do appreciate that I give the ending a lot of leeway just because I enjoyed the rest of the game so much.
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Post by Knightfall on Mar 30, 2012 13:49:19 GMT 1
Nice read there!
This makes a lot more sense to me than the Indoctrination Theory, which just seems like a stretch to make bad writing seem profound.
The only thing I'm not sure about is the editing part. I'm really not sure that the fleet would up and leave, and the Normandy with it. For one: why would everyone just leave with the Citadel/Catalyst just siting there (and possibly still active)? Two: for what purpose does the Normandy leave? To me, it just looks like a rushed cinematic. Your theory would also have to explain why Joker looks over his shoulder while he's outrunning the blast, like the Normandy has a back window. xD
I don't know. I just don't think anyone had a reason to leave. At least not so quickly. Like that episode of Battlestar Galactica, where Starbuck gets lost while on a mission and Adama keeps the fleet out there looking for her. Apollo asks his dad if he'd do the same for him, and Adama goes, "If it was you out there, we'd never leave." I see the crew of the Normandy even more tightly-knit than those yahoos, so I can't imagine them racing away like that.
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Post by Mister Buch on Mar 30, 2012 23:32:51 GMT 1
I think the fleets had every reason to leave - they'll want to reconstruct their own planets and help their people ASAP. And Bioware have another reason for them to leave - so they're not stuck behind. I can;t see them writing it so that every fleet is stuck on Earth - that would serve zero purpose dramatically. I think we should assume that this implication is accidental.
And as for Joker - yeah. There's no clue where he going or why. But again, I don't think he's either fleeing any fight or abandoning any Commander. I think it looks like that - but it was not supposed to.
All of this is completely unsubstantiated of course - all I have to go on is the lack of any conceivable purpose (with the other bad elements, you can see what they were going for) and the lack of background-ships in that shot.
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