***Spoiler Alert***
Disclaimer: This post is more likely than unlikely to
contain some sort of spoiler in regards to Mass Effect 3 play through and
endings.
Like I said previously, I beat Mass Effect 3. Granted I had
already given in and ruined the ending for myself by watching YouTube videos
such as “Ten Reasons We Hate the Ending to Mass Effect 3”. And did some looking
into about the numerous amounts of people petitioning for a change to it, for a
downloadable content that gives them the closer they seek. In some ways I agree
with them. But I think the creators purposely left the ending the way it is for
a reason. Maybe that hasn’t been revealed yet. A game like Mass Effect doesn’t
end leaving discontent in the wake. Or maybe it does. I don’t know, but with
how much revenue the game brings in for the creators on a weekly basis I’m sure
they’ve planned out a whole year worth of stuff to release to the fans to keep
them playing, to keep them en-captured. Even negative results are still
results. They’re still getting attention, they’re still getting money. Even if
you didn’t like the game, you’re still going to play it when something new
related to it comes out.
Though the one thing I do find bogus is that if you want
Shepard to live you have to destroy all Synthetics. EDI, the Geth… It’s stupid.
After everything you’ve done to help them advance, to become self-aware of
their own consciousness, and after all they’ve done to help you, the universe,
and all the races, they become the ultimate sacrifice in order to destroy the
Reapers.
What. The. Fuck.
I told myself halfway through the game I was going to
destroy the Reapers, and when the voice in the back of my head threw in, “At
any cost!” I wasn’t really expecting this. I didn’t want to control them and
send them away forever. That’s becoming a Reaper. No joke, I read it as that in
the game guide. You become a reaper. Fuck that. And then synthesis, apparently
the final stage of evolution, the only way the peace between the Geth and the
Quarians will remain, the only way synthetics won’t destroy all organics in the
future. As cool as that sounds, and as cool as Joker’s eyes looking glowing
green. I don’t see how that helps. Making everyone partly synthetic against
their will is going to solve the problem? It’ll take them quite a bit to figure
out it’s even happened since apparently Shepard is destroyed in the process.
Screw you Bioware!! The hero of the galaxy can’t even catch a break to win this
war.
My boyfriend is a believer that the only proper ending for a true hero is for him to die being a hero. I can see the logic behind that, but the romantic in me clings to the horror against it. I know sacrifices are made to save others. I know in real life there isn’t a happy ending to most things out there. But I went all three games not losing a team member!! I made all the choices that unlocked even the most hard to get parts for me!! And in the end I couldn’t even make the Illusive Man shoot himself!! I couldn’t save Anderson. I saved Earth; I saved the Galaxy from the Reapers. Hell, even I survived. But I had to destroy all the synthetics. Granted we’re just going to make them again. It’s destined to happen. Like the little brat, who suspiciously looks like the little boy who died at the beginning of the game, and like the little boy you see after the credits asking for more stories about Shepard, says, it is only a temporary fix. More synthetics will be made in the future, either by us or our children. But I think our history will help us deal with that when it happens.
My boyfriend is a believer that the only proper ending for a true hero is for him to die being a hero. I can see the logic behind that, but the romantic in me clings to the horror against it. I know sacrifices are made to save others. I know in real life there isn’t a happy ending to most things out there. But I went all three games not losing a team member!! I made all the choices that unlocked even the most hard to get parts for me!! And in the end I couldn’t even make the Illusive Man shoot himself!! I couldn’t save Anderson. I saved Earth; I saved the Galaxy from the Reapers. Hell, even I survived. But I had to destroy all the synthetics. Granted we’re just going to make them again. It’s destined to happen. Like the little brat, who suspiciously looks like the little boy who died at the beginning of the game, and like the little boy you see after the credits asking for more stories about Shepard, says, it is only a temporary fix. More synthetics will be made in the future, either by us or our children. But I think our history will help us deal with that when it happens.
I find it odd to begin with those synthetics made it their mission of eternity to keep the cycle going in the Milky Way Galaxy. For real? That little kid HAD to have been synthetic. But he created the Reapers he said, as his solution to “chaos”. So… a synthetic created a race of synthetics in order to save the organics….? Is anyone else as baffled as I am about it? Who created the Catalyst? Where did he come from? What is his history? How does he keep the reapers in check, because last time I looked the pretty much seemed to have free will to do whatever they wanted once harvesting time began. What keeps them from breaking the cycle? It’s not their kind and gentle programing and their love for organics, that’s for fucking sure. Otherwise the harvesting wouldn’t be so brutal, so painful or disgusting. And if you go back through the previous games they do say that they are humanities salvation and blah blah. But something isn’t quite right. They use the organics to make more of themselves. It’s like their “God” and the races are simply a pet project. Once we make it so far in our evolution they harvest us, to keep up from doing what we managed to do in the end? Destroy them? Rival them?
But why would the catalyst let us destroy what he created? He acknowledged his solution wouldn’t work anymore, Shepard standing in front of him on the Citadel proved that. But how? The reapers still could have prevailed in the end. He could have taken Shepard out and carried on with plans as usual. Did he just give up on his personal (or programmed) mission to protest organics? Left us to whatever fate we have brought onto ourselves by resisting harvest to this extent?
I feel like there is something more. Every species fights for their survival. It’s instinctive, even machines are programmed to survive. Your computer is designed to shut down to protect itself and the information it holds.
So what lies beyond the Milky Way Galaxy? What is happening out there now?
…is there more to come from the Mass Effect universe?
I sure hope so.
I did some looking into the “Indoctrination Theory” about
Mass Effect 3 and its ending.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ythY_GkEBck
There are some really valid points made in the YouTube
video. However, I’m skeptical due to the fact that if Shepard is indoctrinated,
what comes after? They said that his internal fight against indoctrination
started when you get up, shoot the husks and Marauder Shields, and then jump to
the Citadel. If that’s the case, then there has to be more after you make one
of the three choices. Bioware would let you know, somehow, someway, that you’re
indoctrinated and you didn’t beat it. AND if you choose to destroy the reapers
and you see Shepard live there has to be more after that. The battle on Earth
and everywhere else in the Milky Way Galaxy didn’t just end victoriously
because you defeated your own indoctrination. You’d still have to find a way to
defeat the Reapers and save Earth.
But still…the little kid whom you see playing on the rooftop,
in the air vent and then die at the beginning, see in your dreams, and then
looks similar to the catalyst at the end… it does meet the requirements of the
description of Indoctrination, but I don’t think that’s all it is. I mean, it
could just be Bioware used the same kid for all that for simplicity sake. To
leave a lasting impression of those lost and how they will haunt Shepard
because he feels as if he could have saved them. Who knows! But I suppose that
why they call it a theory. No way to truly know unless Bioware themselves admits
to something.
But I don’t think it was indoctrination, but if it was…cool,
I want more Mass Effect to play, and beating indoctrination means that there
HAS to be more to play.
Now, I’d like to take a moment to talk about one of my favorite
parts of Mass Effect 3… the romance storyline…
In the first game I romanced Liara, because she was the only
female who struck my interest. Ashley was a bitch, so I killed her off, and
relish it to this day. :D
And I don’t think there was much else option wise for the first game. It was cool though, I enjoyed it.
The second game I romanced Tali. Liara was off tracking down the Shadow Broker or whatever she did in her spare time, and Tali was getting more awesome by the second, and the hopes of seeing her without her mask played a major influential part too. But alas…no Tali face for me in the game. Just some really cute scenes of her and Shepard.
Mass Effect 3… I didn’t know who I was going to romance. Liara was back on the Normandy and I told her I still held an interest in ‘us’. And I did, it wasn’t a lie. Liara was a favorite character always, even though I was hurt she left me in Mass Effect 2. We could work past that. Kaidan was back on the Normandy as well. I hardly ever took Kaidan on missions in the first game. I was an alien squad mate kind of Shepard. But Kaidan was still cool. I always interacted with him lots in the first game, and in the second game I wanted him to come back to the Normandy with me. Him and Shepard seemed as though if circumstances had been different they could have been really good friends. So I spent the beginning trying to nicely convince Kaidan that Cerberus didn’t control me, they never controlled me, and I never worked for them. It was a mutual using of each other. This was whole-heartedly true. Then Kaidan almost died, I freaked. Wondering if there was any way I could have kept that from happening. Nope, part of the game. But I did go visit him every opportunity I had. I care deeply about all my squad mates, and after every mission I always go talk to all of them to see what they have to say. It’s always interesting. :D However, as Kaidan recovered, accepted the Spectre status, and we talked off and on, and he joined the Normandy, I started to sense that there was something more to his feelings. I even said out loud as playing that I would get with Kaidan if I could. He had grown a lot since the first game. And he was a hell of a fighter too. Our abilities complimented each other (as well as with EDI). But I never thought more of it. Shepard had no indicators of homosexuality in any previous games, so I doubted it would start now, with it being such a touchy subject and all. Though the option of being with Cortez was lovely. It makes me happy to see industries becoming more accepting of same-sex relationships. I believe that shows society as a whole is slowly moving forward in being less judgmental. There are always haters. But overall acceptance is a nice goal. Then BAM! The meeting at the Citadel. I figured Kaidan just had some stuff to get off his chest. Or it was another man-date, like the one Shepard has with Garrus. Didn’t think anything of it. Until halfway into the conversation when I saw were this was going. My heart was racing, my fan girl was at full power and I was so excited about what I saw was possible. When Kaidan started saying, “You plan a career, you focus and suddenly the worlds ending and it’s too late to…uh..find someone.”
Shepard: “Someone?”
Kaidan: “We’ve been friends a long time Shepard. Have you ever known me to be with anyone? I guess I’m just choosy, or patient, or..*sighs*..I don’t know. Maybe what I’ve never found, what I want is something deeper with someone I already…care about. *pause* That’s what I want.*looks at Shepard* What do you want?”
And I don’t think there was much else option wise for the first game. It was cool though, I enjoyed it.
The second game I romanced Tali. Liara was off tracking down the Shadow Broker or whatever she did in her spare time, and Tali was getting more awesome by the second, and the hopes of seeing her without her mask played a major influential part too. But alas…no Tali face for me in the game. Just some really cute scenes of her and Shepard.
Mass Effect 3… I didn’t know who I was going to romance. Liara was back on the Normandy and I told her I still held an interest in ‘us’. And I did, it wasn’t a lie. Liara was a favorite character always, even though I was hurt she left me in Mass Effect 2. We could work past that. Kaidan was back on the Normandy as well. I hardly ever took Kaidan on missions in the first game. I was an alien squad mate kind of Shepard. But Kaidan was still cool. I always interacted with him lots in the first game, and in the second game I wanted him to come back to the Normandy with me. Him and Shepard seemed as though if circumstances had been different they could have been really good friends. So I spent the beginning trying to nicely convince Kaidan that Cerberus didn’t control me, they never controlled me, and I never worked for them. It was a mutual using of each other. This was whole-heartedly true. Then Kaidan almost died, I freaked. Wondering if there was any way I could have kept that from happening. Nope, part of the game. But I did go visit him every opportunity I had. I care deeply about all my squad mates, and after every mission I always go talk to all of them to see what they have to say. It’s always interesting. :D However, as Kaidan recovered, accepted the Spectre status, and we talked off and on, and he joined the Normandy, I started to sense that there was something more to his feelings. I even said out loud as playing that I would get with Kaidan if I could. He had grown a lot since the first game. And he was a hell of a fighter too. Our abilities complimented each other (as well as with EDI). But I never thought more of it. Shepard had no indicators of homosexuality in any previous games, so I doubted it would start now, with it being such a touchy subject and all. Though the option of being with Cortez was lovely. It makes me happy to see industries becoming more accepting of same-sex relationships. I believe that shows society as a whole is slowly moving forward in being less judgmental. There are always haters. But overall acceptance is a nice goal. Then BAM! The meeting at the Citadel. I figured Kaidan just had some stuff to get off his chest. Or it was another man-date, like the one Shepard has with Garrus. Didn’t think anything of it. Until halfway into the conversation when I saw were this was going. My heart was racing, my fan girl was at full power and I was so excited about what I saw was possible. When Kaidan started saying, “You plan a career, you focus and suddenly the worlds ending and it’s too late to…uh..find someone.”
Shepard: “Someone?”
Kaidan: “We’ve been friends a long time Shepard. Have you ever known me to be with anyone? I guess I’m just choosy, or patient, or..*sighs*..I don’t know. Maybe what I’ve never found, what I want is something deeper with someone I already…care about. *pause* That’s what I want.*looks at Shepard* What do you want?”
And about this time I am glowing with joy. Doing an inner
squeal of fan girl happiness. And then…
Shepard: “..you and me? Is that what you’re saying, Kaidan?”
Kaidan: “It feels right, doesn’t it?”
Shepard: “It would be nice to have someone to turn to when things get grim. Someone to live for, maybe love.”
Kaidan: “Someone?”
Shepard: “You, Kaidan. *exhales a short burst* It does…it does feel right. After all this time, you and me…I like that. A lot.”
Kaidan: “And that, makes me so happy. And there are benefits to that happiness.”
Shepard: “Really?”
Kaidan: “Yes. Really.”
*Camera starts to pan out from them sitting at the table*
Shepard: “What did you call it? A sanity check?”
Kaidan: “Mmm. A sanity check.”
-End Scene-
Kaidan: “It feels right, doesn’t it?”
Shepard: “It would be nice to have someone to turn to when things get grim. Someone to live for, maybe love.”
Kaidan: “Someone?”
Shepard: “You, Kaidan. *exhales a short burst* It does…it does feel right. After all this time, you and me…I like that. A lot.”
Kaidan: “And that, makes me so happy. And there are benefits to that happiness.”
Shepard: “Really?”
Kaidan: “Yes. Really.”
*Camera starts to pan out from them sitting at the table*
Shepard: “What did you call it? A sanity check?”
Kaidan: “Mmm. A sanity check.”
-End Scene-
I pretty much died at this point. I screamed in joy, did
laps around the house, and proceeded to tell everyone I know of this unexpected
event. I was a bit sad there weren’t more romantic scenes with Kaidan, but I
understand. It’s okay. There still were cute moments, and the sexy scene at the
end before the final battle. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqMxpuiQ1MU&list=FLskAkd8_erUgn-oUVZAQu8Q&index=3&feature=plpp_video
And then a tear jerker of a scene before the rush
to the citadel. I pretty much cried on the inside. Sobbed my fan girl heart out
over Kaidan and Shepard’s goodbye to each other. When Kaidan was saying that we
both know what this is, its good-bye, I was sobbing, “No! Don’t say that!”
Super happy it was an option for Shepard to say. Fit me perfectly. And then when Shepard goes to walk off, Kaidan reaches out, grabs him and pulls him in for an intense romantic, heartfelt kiss. You can literally feel the love seeping out of the TV. It was the sweetest moment.
Super happy it was an option for Shepard to say. Fit me perfectly. And then when Shepard goes to walk off, Kaidan reaches out, grabs him and pulls him in for an intense romantic, heartfelt kiss. You can literally feel the love seeping out of the TV. It was the sweetest moment.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2IHOh8J1fk&list=FLskAkd8_erUgn-oUVZAQu8Q&index=2&feature=plpp_video
I chose the paragon choices, but that vid did the renegade ones. >.<
To be honest I think the reason that scene got to me so much is because I tend to imagine as if it was real. I was really there, and saying possibly good bye to my boyfriend forever. It tears my heart up. I’m super empathetic like that I guess. I apply scenarios to my life and relationship and how I would feel.
Yeah, I know. I’m pathetic.
Though I do find it rather fascinating that in the Official Mass Effect 3 Gamer Guide it doesn’t mention you can get with Kaidan as male Shepard. And most websites about romances, and walkthroughs don’t have it either. Interesting… either they really didn’t know, or refuse to admit. But they have to admit to the Cortez one (hehehe), it’s really bluntly there.
And apparently, there is a mod for ME1 where you can get
with Kaidan as male Shepard, but that part of the game was never actually
finished. So it’s a little glitchy and weird at times. BUT!! It does carry over
to the next two games. When you confront Kaidan in ME2 he mentions how he loved
you, and then you can (obviously) renew the relationship in ME3.
BIOWARE!!! Why would you make us miss out on this!! I could have had Kaidan from the start!!
Oh well, at least I got to experience him in the end. Now I’m addicted to ME3 Kaidan/Mshep fanfiction. *sparkles in eyes* it’s so beautifully wonderful.
BIOWARE!!! Why would you make us miss out on this!! I could have had Kaidan from the start!!
Oh well, at least I got to experience him in the end. Now I’m addicted to ME3 Kaidan/Mshep fanfiction. *sparkles in eyes* it’s so beautifully wonderful.
Feel free to comment on any part of all this! I know it was
a long one.
XD Love it
