The Kestrel Minority

With the subject I really hope there isnt anyone who hasn't finished the game coming in here. If that would happen to be the case I suggest you turn around right now.

Now, most people who finished the game know that the ending is, well, pretty bad and it's a feeling shared by many fans.

I just thought I'd share this with all of you.

First of all there is this: https://twitter.com/#!/masseffect/statu ... 0568926209

And then there is this theory people have been coming up with: http://w11.zetaboards.com/Theorycraftng ... 7688087/1/
Make sure to click the "Spoiler: Click to toggle".

That tweet and the all the really odd points about the ending that is pointed out in the second link makes you wonder.
The renegade option to destroy the reapers (shown with Andersson for some reason) which as we are told will kill all synthetics including Shepard as he is partially synthetic being the only ending where we get the short scene showing Shepard is alive (and so is EDI).
The "child" and dreams that actually match known symptoms of reaper indoctrination, the strange piles of bodies during the last run to the conduit, the dream trees in the last stretch, the gun with unlimited ammo, seeing Normandy thrown out of a relay jump (why would it be in a jump to begin with) and have everyone be stranded on some planet and look happy about it and let's not forget that none of your companions should have been on the Normandy since they were all on earth, the list goes on but I think you get the point that thread is trying to make .

Maybe there is more coming (the tweet sure indicates as much) maybe we aren't quite done yet as weird as it might seem. Then again, maybe I, and a lot of other people, are just in deniable about the ending and are trying to rationalize it away you got to admit though, they do make some interesting points.

I was satisfied with the game, but that end (from joker and normandy) was really messy. At the moment I am ignoring it (there was not much info anyway).

I absolutely liked how they "depicted" the ending. Can't recall ever having played an game+ending that transferred such strong emotions to me before. The music, the visuals, the strong philosophical touch to it , etc.

However, I absolutely hate the lack of closure it gives. The ending kinda makes no sense at all. Basically very few things you did and decisions you've made the past three games seem to matter little at all which is another reason for me to believe the Indoctrination Theory applies. I really really really hope BW comes with DLC that explains things better, or gives at least gives a more expected ending. The game has always been *ahum* realistic when it came to scientifically explaining how everything worked, yet this ending is exactly the opposite.

As it stands now, the game ending made me compare the entire series of ME to that of the manga/anime Neon Genesis Evangelion, which also had a beautiful yet very unsatisfying end.

...

I WANT MY BLUE BABY SHEPARDS DAMMIT!!! >.<

Valenth wrote:I absolutely liked how they "depicted" the ending. Can't recall ever having played an game+ending that transferred such strong emotions to me before. The music, the visuals, the strong philosophical touch to it , etc.

I'll say this, the ending was well executed, as you say the visuals and the music, it was really well done. That said, it still sucked for so many reasons (mainly all the inconsistencies and plot holes that make people think there is more to it, that we haven't quite seen the end of it yet).

The whole game was awesome up till the point where you get hit by the reapers (Harbinger?) beam, after that, meh. Really hoping everything after that point is a hallucination/dream as many others think

Valenth wrote: I WANT MY BLUE BABY SHEPARDS DAMMIT!!! >.<

Yea, I distinctly remember hearing that Shepard or his partner (depending on you gender of course) could get pregnant in ME3 and them ending up having a child, what happened to that?

I had not problem with that ending (from reaper's beam to the decision). I do not think it was hallucination. I expected something like that. Bioware was very brave with that end. I think many player expected something more heroic. Here you "won" because the enemy allowed it.

But that Normandy crashing was really strange. It was totally stupid. Why was joker in hyperspace? How did my crew teleported to the Normandy. It was something like in end of the DA1 there would have been a movie about the marriage of Alistar and Morrigan.

I do not agree with that indoctrination theory and I liked the game. I will play it with all my characters (4-5).

I've always been rather skeptical about the Indoctrination theory because more often than not when people think this hard about details in a videogame cutscene, it's more about artists' sloppiness/artistic freedom than about explaining things. The developers wanted above all to make a beautiful ending, and I'd be surprised if at least some of the pieces of evidence provided are like this simply to create a more compelling visual/audible experience, as opposed to hint at something still to come.

That said however, there's two things that made me doubt myself. The first is the 'Just wait to see what we have in store for the fans' messages from devs on twitter, obviously alluding to DLCs to come. The second is the 'secret' taking a breath scene when you choose destroy.

Right now I'm on the fence. There's a lot of evidence but no proof, and although my history with games tells me most of these things are more likely to be chalked up to chance as opposed to hints to what might come, there's a few metagame things I can't ignore.

Starsurge wrote:That said however, there's two things that made me doubt myself. The first is the 'Just wait to see what we have in store for the fans' messages from devs on twitter, obviously alluding to DLCs to come. The second is the 'secret' taking a breath scene when you choose destroy.

Yea, those are the two big things.

Oh and here are two more interesting bits I just saw in the "Last hours of Mass Effect 3" app for iPad, basically loads of behind the scenes stuff, same was done for Portal 2.
Acorrding to it they had "Lots of speculation from everyone" as a key point for the ending early one, as well as the uncertainty about whether Shepard dies or not. Then of course there is this bit "in November the gameplay team was still experimenting with an endgame sequence where players would suddenly lose control of Shepard's movements and fall under full Reaper Control. (This sequence was ultimately dropped because the gameplay mechanic proved too troublesome to implement alongside dialogue choices.)".

Oh, also, the studio (Bioware Montreal) that did the Co-op was apparently working on a prototype game for a while that they called Mass Effect Team Assault, it was basically a blend of Unreal Tournament and Battlefield gameplay, looked interesting but I think it's for the best that didn't become a full title, not yet at least.

The indoctrination theory might be over-thinking it, but I think (and hope ) they might be on to something, we aren't quite done yet

Of course there is also the fact that Bioware have been saying on the forums that the are open to a discussion but are waiting for a good time to make a comment (let more players play trough the game).

Yeah, some things in the ending made little sense to me. Thinking the part with Joker on the Normandy in FTL travel and the crew suddenly being on board.

They will be releasing further DLC and acknowledged that a lot of the players need "more closure" and as said before are open to suggestions, sort of.

Read what Casey Hudson, ME3 Executive Producer, said about it about here:
http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic ... x/10098213

Kinda hoping they are picking up on the Indoctrination Theory here (sorry Grao ). But yeah, it is rather likely people are thinking to hard about it and any hints given are purely by chance. Then again, why exactly did they make the ending like they did. I'd like to hear the creators' view on it if possible.

Sorry for the double post, just wanted to share this one.

http://youtu.be/b33tJx8iy0A

He's spot on!

Sorry for the triple post, but I wanted to share this blogpost from BW. It seems they are actually thinking of making some additions to the ending of ME.

http://blog.bioware.com/2012/03/21/4108/