That is Liara talking but 3's endings were.... divisive. Not to mention I don't know one can make a direct sequel on any of them. So what's the best choice here?
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So assuming next Mass Effect is a sequel, how is BioWare going to address ME3’s ending?
- Thread starter Uzumaki Goku
- Start date
Dead Reapers and blown-up relays pretty much means Destroy will be the canon ending.
As it should be.
As it should be.
Personal preference: It looks like it won't be Control so and leaning towards Destroy.... good. Fuck the Illusive Man.
They'll probably retcon the whole AI/Geth being destroyed mess, they're too popular in Bioware's eyes.
They'll probably retcon the whole AI/Geth being destroyed mess, they're too popular in Bioware's eyes.
Canonize Destroy is the simplest and makes the most sense, both in general and especially with what was shown in the teaser. Or they could go the route of kind of creating a whole new ending that isn't explicitly any one of the main three from ME3 to somewhat soften that need to pick a definitive ending of some kind so as to not make people feel like their choice was the "wrong" one. Take the best parts or just make up entirely new elements from the three choices. Not having all AI like the Geth and EDI get wiped out would probably be a lot more interesting for one.
Anyone expecting or demanding they somehow honor and carry over those choices from ME1-3 are flat out delusional and extremely selfish in my mind. It's an absurd expectation and one that simply isn't realistically feasible, nor a good narrative foundation for a new entry in the series.
Anyone expecting or demanding they somehow honor and carry over those choices from ME1-3 are flat out delusional and extremely selfish in my mind. It's an absurd expectation and one that simply isn't realistically feasible, nor a good narrative foundation for a new entry in the series.
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Didn't they show Reaper bits in the background of the trailer? I assume that means that they would choose as canon either the perfect destruction end or the good destruction end, the only difference being shep lives or dies respc.
I really hope they take a big risk here and shake something up with a bit time skip forward and maybe even trying to deal with the fallout of the Synthesis ending or something. But I feel like after Andromeda, they will prefer to play it safe with ME4 and do a lot of fan service to get the franchise back on the rails.
I really hope they take a big risk here and shake something up with a bit time skip forward and maybe even trying to deal with the fallout of the Synthesis ending or something. But I feel like after Andromeda, they will prefer to play it safe with ME4 and do a lot of fan service to get the franchise back on the rails.
Pick one canon outcome post ME3. No matter which ME3 ending you picked, that same outcome happens just in different ways. Basically Dragon Age it.
I don't really care how they get us there, just so long as they do. This isn't their first rodeo with a sequel to a game that was pretty closed ended and had wildly varying outcomes (in the moment).
I don't really care how they get us there, just so long as they do. This isn't their first rodeo with a sequel to a game that was pretty closed ended and had wildly varying outcomes (in the moment).
By picking a canon ending and hopefully taking the good/useful things out of all of the other endings to include for story potential.
If it were me, I'd use the Destroy as canon, and take EDI and Geth being around from Control, make a new Cerberus style group trying to control Reapers/Reaper tech, and a religious/political group trying to merge with synthetic life.
If it were me, I'd use the Destroy as canon, and take EDI and Geth being around from Control, make a new Cerberus style group trying to control Reapers/Reaper tech, and a religious/political group trying to merge with synthetic life.
It was the only ending that made sense, full stop.
(Actually, "Walk away" also is totally fine in my book)
Unfortunately, they are going to have to make one of those endings canon. I disliked all of them. Going to be interesting to see how Bioware pulls this off. I'm going to assume they repaired the mass relays that were destroyed for starters?
Only make sense if the space child didn't exist.
You know what...they should just retcon the space child thing out of existence too while at it.
The space child was intensely dumb from the start. I would be fully in favor of them retconning it.
I think most people can agree to just make destroy Canon
Also I think the teaser alluded to it too
Also I think the teaser alluded to it too
Teaser Trailer explicitly shows off a destroyed Relay so seems like that might be a major plot point or hint at the state of the galaxy. Having all or most of the relays destroyed and out of commission would certainly be conducive for some interesting developments and directions within the setting post ME3. How the galaxy could rebuild, or rather not, when their only means of quick travel is gone. How will areas cope with that isolation, rebuild and drift apart and develop differently from other areas they have little to no contact with.
I shoot red tubes, I don't bargain with them. Sometimes I even walk into explosions after shooting tubes, just to show the Reapers how much I enjoy destroying them. I feel like this is the logical place to start a new trilogy.
All version of Extended Cut ending already implied the Mass Relays are repaired seeing all the different aliens already back on their home planet after the war on Earth. And I'm pretty sure there's a line somewhere in the game about Asari close to building their own Mass Relay, so there's already a canon reason to fall back to.
Sure, but again the teaser makes a point a show a destroyed relay, it's one of the only things until the very end w/ Liara that we actually see anything tangible and ME related, and we still don't have a clear indication of just how much they're going to stick to the endings in ME3, EC or not. Even if they're really faithful they could go for a really bad ending with a very low galactic readiness rating where the Relays are explicitly more damaged, not just the rings, and nothing gets rebuilt to maximize the fallout and disruption of the war to make for a more volatile and conflict ridden galaxy. Wouldn't be the first game series that continued on from an outright bad ending over a good one.
Also, I don't think the Asari were close to building a relay. One of the matriarchs talked about how they should spend more time and resource studying them and trying to reach a point where they could, but that was no indication of them being at all close to doing so any time soon. It was just a desire to put their focus into something more productive and forward thinking.
If they avoid the Deus Ex IW solution, i.e combining all the endings into one, that would be a start. What Ion Storm did was stupid.
Ideally they can make each ending as a potential origin story or intro for the new Mass Effect, but each ending has far reaching implications that is just not feasible.
Realistically, they'll pick the most popular ending, destroy, and move on.
Ideally they can make each ending as a potential origin story or intro for the new Mass Effect, but each ending has far reaching implications that is just not feasible.
Realistically, they'll pick the most popular ending, destroy, and move on.
Do the Deus Ex: Invisible War solution. All the endings happened at once, and they were all unsatisfactory.
Now that I think about it, weren't the ME3 endings very similar to Deus Ex's endings?
Deus Ex had 1. Status quo, 2. Become a machine god, 3. Destroy everything
ME3 had 1. Synthesise machines and humans, 2. Become a machine god, 3. Destroy everything
Edit: To be clear I'm taking the piss about the IW solution. Please don't do that.
Now that I think about it, weren't the ME3 endings very similar to Deus Ex's endings?
Deus Ex had 1. Status quo, 2. Become a machine god, 3. Destroy everything
ME3 had 1. Synthesise machines and humans, 2. Become a machine god, 3. Destroy everything
Edit: To be clear I'm taking the piss about the IW solution. Please don't do that.
Well damn. You putting it like that certainly has me a LOT more interested now!
They're either going to pick an ending or they're going to be completely obtuse about it and dodge the question, which is entirely possible given the apparent gap between ME3 and the next game, and just move on with whatever the next game is about.
They can completely dodge commiting to one ending by never mentioning what happened to the Reapers and just considering that Shepard was never seen again. The dead Reaper seen in the trailer, just like any other possibly seen in the game, might have been killed by Destroy or just regular space battle, so the game never has to commit to any of these choices. The Mass Relays stopped working in all endings anyways, so that also isn't confirmation of what actually happened (actually, interestingly, the Destroy ending clearly shows the Mass Relay rings being destroyed, and the trailer has them intact. That could be chalked up to merely "retcon", too).
The only ending that was always off the table for any sort of sequel was Synthesis. That one we know ain't the one.
They can completely dodge commiting to one ending by never mentioning what happened to the Reapers and just considering that Shepard was never seen again. The dead Reaper seen in the trailer, just like any other possibly seen in the game, might have been killed by Destroy or just regular space battle, so the game never has to commit to any of these choices. The Mass Relays stopped working in all endings anyways, so that also isn't confirmation of what actually happened (actually, interestingly, the Destroy ending clearly shows the Mass Relay rings being destroyed, and the trailer has them intact. That could be chalked up to merely "retcon", too).
The only ending that was always off the table for any sort of sequel was Synthesis. That one we know ain't the one.
Do destroy. Then either have a plot about power struggles within what survived the reaper attack. Or do a story about uniting against a new enemy just as they are trying to get back on their feet. Or do a new race comes to help rebuild and do a do we trust them story. Or continue to dive into reaper lore as they try to figure out the cycle and what breaking it means. Or do a story that you are leading an expedition to find shephard as they survived the attack.
There is tons of stuff they can do with destroy.
There is tons of stuff they can do with destroy.
Simply make several versions of the game. Maybe have companions that can be traded between them. Give people a reason to buy the game multiple times.
By making the "Perfect" Destroy ending, the one that shows the N7 armor in the epilogue, the canon ending. Or maybe they'll come up with a retcon and say everything else was a illusion or whatever.
Synthesis is so bad I legit wonder who the fuck approved that, and Control is a direct contradiction to Shepard's mission. "Let's build all of this up and spend years building this story about how we should destroy the Reapers and then choose to control them in the final 5 minutes" is another ending that again makes me wonder who approved this garbage.
Edit: pick Perfect Destroy then come up with some mumbo jumbo that somehow allows EDI and the Geth to survive. I guess they're are too popular with the fandom to be totally gone (and making the game 500 years in the future or something to justify them being gone is just going to piss off people again).
Synthesis is so bad I legit wonder who the fuck approved that, and Control is a direct contradiction to Shepard's mission. "Let's build all of this up and spend years building this story about how we should destroy the Reapers and then choose to control them in the final 5 minutes" is another ending that again makes me wonder who approved this garbage.
Edit: pick Perfect Destroy then come up with some mumbo jumbo that somehow allows EDI and the Geth to survive. I guess they're are too popular with the fandom to be totally gone (and making the game 500 years in the future or something to justify them being gone is just going to piss off people again).
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Hear me out. They play the destroy ending. And Right as Shepard is about to go
*record scratch*
Yep that's me. You're probably wondering how I got here.
*record scratch*
Yep that's me. You're probably wondering how I got here.
I hope they put it a few hundred years into the future so that society has rebuilt. I want fancy space cities and cool planets, not destroyed space stations.
Sucker Punch went with one ending from inFamous 2 with Second Son. But I hope Bioware actually chooses the one that would benefit the actual story and not because most people will always choose the good sides/better ending.
If you have high enough EMS after the Priority: Earth patch that fixed the endings post release, they show that the Relays aren't fully nuked during the endings and are in degrees of just being dinged up to fractured, only becoming outright destroyed like the originals if you don't cross the thresholds.
And if you did things right, it'll show that Galaxy went right back to work repairing the dinged up Relays. Which they should, given countless species trapped in systems that likely didn't have proper food for them to survive.
I imagine they could play with this to varying degrees by having Relays that needed significant repairs to some that only needed some new fuses and a coat of paint.
I want both. They should jump far enough to where major hubs have their Relays up and running, but smaller networks are still being fixed or being ignored. It'll add some tension.
They'll pick the one that best leads into where the new game begins and where they want to take the story.