Mass Effect 3: Every Dialog Choice Can Be Answered with "Charge"

[Unstable Hamster]

Well shoot, no good for me to use the 2 days of gold for the online pass. Lame. Anyways, gonna enjoy the single player.

[Sixto]

did a couple of golds last night as drell adept. made it to wave 10 both times but got raped at the end. i also managed to unlock a geth engineer but i'm not really sure how to play it. i was constantly getting killed in bronze matches

[prophetik music]

the trick is twofold.

1. max your turret for damage, not babysitting.

2. never use hunter mode.

i didn't even skill into hunter mode, since while it's a nice dps upgrade it's not as good as having that extra shield and health bonuses. triple arc on overload, loads of hp, max damage turret, maxed out force bonuses (for turret dps).

[Sixto]

oops. hope there's a way to respec because i put a bunch of points into hunter

[prophetik music]

on infiltrator, it's great, but since the engineer can't cloak to run away...yeah, it doesn't work as well.

[Skummel Maske]

Those events were pretty clearly the result of bugs in the game. Many people, including myself, didn't get that. And yeah, that specific character was in my party.

I'm kind of late to the party here, but I finally finished the game last night. I was wondering the same thing though, a couple of those last scenes made absolutely no sense:

I chose to destroy all synthetic life, so when that energy pulse was released, I assumed it would only destroy the reapers and geth. But Joker tried to escape the pulse and now they're stranded on some undisclosed planet. Is that a good ending? I also wondered why Garrus came out of the Normandy in that scene, as he was with me until the end. Do the crew members present in this scene differ from game to game? And is that the only thing my choices throughout the game affected?

I do think the ending was fine otherwise though, I don't really see what people were so negative about.

[Native Jovian]

I don't really see what people were so negative about.

I'll give you a hint: it's earlier in your own post.

those last scenes made absolutely no sense

Theeeeere it is.

[Geoffrey Taucer]

Do a youtube search for "indoctrination theory."

The more I think about it, the more I like it.

[Unstable Hamster]

Good thing the topic is on the ending, I wanted to talk about that.

I really don't think they need to change the ending story wise, what I do think is that they need to show it in a different way. The ending just felt off, like it crapped out right at the last 5 minutes. It just didn't explain itself. I know Bioware is gonna have an extended ending or whatnot, but as for me, I would like a fallout 3-esque listing/narration of the accomplishes that I made, what it did, and how it worked with the final decision the player made.

Luckily I got this a few months after everyone else did, so I got over the anger at the ending even not knowing what it was gonna be because I already got mad at it.

[Kenogu Labz]

The problem wasn't just the ending, though. The ending is a symptom of the fact that the final results of all your decisions were reduced to seeing certain people on Earth and/or having more numbers in your readiness tally. Numbers.

Didn't they cover the 'calculus of war' topic in conversations between Shepard and Garrus? We already know that we're dealing with sheer numbers when we're building an army. But what's missing is the direct personal consequences of those decisions. It's the relations to the characters that dropped off the end, and that's what is the most disappointing, even more so than vague explanation.

We want to see our decision to save the Rachni Queen - not once, but twice! - pay off in a tangible way. We want to know whether the Krogan can truly get past an age-old grudge and start moving forward, or if Shepard's actions pushed them past the point of redeemability. What happened to the Batarians? Do they simply collapse into extinction, or do they end up with a second chance?

Nothing people haven't noted before, but I still don't think the ending is the issue as much as people make it out to be. Yes, it's sloppy and does not properly end the story as a narrative should, but that's just part of the bigger problem.

[Koriantor]

The problem wasn't just the ending, though. The ending is a symptom of the fact that the final results of all your decisions were reduced to seeing certain people on Earth and/or having more numbers in your readiness tally. Numbers.

Didn't they cover the 'calculus of war' topic in conversations between Shepard and Garrus? We already know that we're dealing with sheer numbers when we're building an army. But what's missing is the direct personal consequences of those decisions. It's the relations to the characters that dropped off the end, and that's what is the most disappointing, even more so than vague explanation.

We want to see our decision to save the Rachni Queen - not once, but twice! - pay off in a tangible way. We want to know whether the Krogan can truly get past an age-old grudge and start moving forward, or if Shepard's actions pushed them past the point of redeemability. What happened to the Batarians? Do they simply collapse into extinction, or do they end up with a second chance?

Nothing people haven't noted before, but I still don't think the ending is the issue as much as people make it out to be. Yes, it's sloppy and does not properly end the story as a narrative should, but that's just part of the bigger problem.

Unfortunately the reality of game development costs put some restriction on how many decisions could be expounded on. The numbers system was an acceptable alternative in my eyes (I'm a sucker for in-game text. I read all of the war asset descriptions).

Then there's the whole, they intended the game to be ambiguous so you'd think about it. Take that how you will. I appreciated it since it got me thinking about the game, but not everyone does.

I think the huge issue for me is how the war assests are practically meaningless pertaining to the ending. If you have 6000 war assests, your ending might be better than if you had 2000, but not by much. The ending is still depressing and nonsensical.

[ParanoidDrone]

A friend of mine summed up the problem well. The game didn't end so much as it just...stopped. There's very little closure to any of the various major choices you make, not even text. Not to mention the relays blow up no matter what you do, which has its own set of horrifying implications. (Stranding a major chunk of galactic society in the Sol system for an indeterminate amount of time, for starters.)

You could argue that you see the result of your actions ingame for the most part, but I want more than the abstract knowledge of "You cured the Genophage, here's some numbers and a pissed off Dalatrass." What are the implications when the war is over? Ditto for the Geth, the Rachni, hell even Javik's mere existence. It's silly to expect a sunshine and rainbows ending where everyone lives happily ever after given the sheer scale of the conflict, but I don't think getting to see the end result of 3 games' worth of effort is too much to ask for.

Put it this way: Majora's Mask was released on the N64 in 2000 -- 12 years ago. It had an asston of sidequests with wide ranging effects on the various minor characters, everything from teaching the Rosa sisters a dance to the huge Anju and Kafei subplot. Every single one of these sidequests that you completed got their own little 3-5 second clip during the credits showing the result of your efforts. If a relatively ancient, 12 year old game can do this, why can't ME3?

[PixelPanic]

Put it this way: Majora's Mask was released on the N64 in 2000 -- 12 years ago. It had an asston of sidequests with wide ranging effects on the various minor characters, everything from teaching the Rosa sisters a dance to the huge Anju and Kafei subplot. Every single one of these sidequests that you completed got their own little 3-5 second clip during the credits showing the result of your efforts. If a relatively ancient, 12 year old game can do this, why can't ME3?

1) Sequel potential.

2) Ending was leaked, everyone was working overtime at the office for a new one. Things slipped by.

3) They probably wanted to just move on.

[Majiffy]

Just looked up the speculation of what the leaked ending was, involving the Dark Energy killing planets and making human reaper hybrids... They should have just stuck with it, regardless of leak. Sounded pretty fucking badass.

[Garpocalypse]

Just looked up the speculation of what the leaked ending was, involving the Dark Energy killing planets and making human reaper hybrids... They should have just stuck with it, regardless of leak. Sounded pretty fucking badass.

Just looked it up myself. If it's true, it may have been the better ending to go with. I know I would have enjoyed it,(kind of sounds like Phantasy Star to me) but that doesn't mean they wouldn't have found some way to mess that one up too.

The more I think about the last 15min of ME3, the more it seems like it was the product of countless rewrites until the team didn't give a $%!t about what they were doing. I'm holding out replaying ME3 until the new endings get released but i'm not getting my hopes up this time.

At best, what they have done is lay the ground work for a series of spin offs involving the survival of each character. Tali's Really Super Reaper Survivor Pinball! Prepare to spend another 60 bucks for each character you decided not to kill off!

[Majiffy]

I'd enjoy a lesbian game based on Jack.

[LuIzA]

I'm only playing this now. It kinda sucks that there aren't a lot of neutral dialogue choices, my main playthrought is mostly neutral, a little more paragon though.

While I did spoil the ending, I don't actually remember enough to form a real opinion yet.

[Melbu Frahma]

Anyone else see any of the new, extended endings yet?

[ParanoidDrone]

I haven't seen them personally, and TBH I'm struggling to work up the energy to care enough to fight Kai Leng and the Banshee Squad all over again, but from what I've read, a few things stick out. (Spoilers, obviously.)

Shooting the Starchild results in a new "Rejection" ending where Starchild suddenly starts ranting in Harbinger's voice, followed by Liara's hologram explaining about the Reapers, and a final cutscene similar to the Stargazer's that implies that we lost but the next cycle was able to win.

---

The relays are now "merely" damaged and inoperational for now, instead of gone completely kablooey. (Possibly EMS dependent.)

---

EDI was reported to survive during the Destruction ending, despite it supposedly wiping out all synthetic life. No word on the Geth.

[Jamphibious]

Just played my ending again to see what changed. Gotta say, I like it. It is a good thing.

White text ahoy:

The extra epilogue after the Normandy crash was a nice way to finish things. I feel the way they flashed different images of characters and situations based on your decisions was good. It could have been more intricate, but I can't complain much about what they did do. They added new little dialogue bits to the catalyst conversation, but I don't remember the original version very clearly. Though I believe it is a bit less confusing with the new bits of info. I wish they included the extended talk with Anderson beforehand though, that would have been really nice. At least I can still hear it on YouTube.

One thing I feel was strange is that the destruction ending was supposed to destroy all synthetics, ships, etc. But during the epilogue there are several fleets that seemed to be unscathed. I thought that was a bit strange. But they did clear up A LOT of the confusion around the original ending, so I approve.

[Garpocalypse]

Just saw two of the new endings, saving the last two for later.

While I really really wish they would have done away with the last 5 minutes of the original game, they did a much better job of wrapping things up this time. They show that the choice you make does carry some weight afterall. Though after all the sales of ME3 they certainly didn't break the bank to make the endings.

What I was hoping for was a series of small endings that involved each team member left alive. Kind of like Star Ocean 2, which had a ton of small endings.

I only played the game once and saw one ending three months ago, but was that not so hidden fourth option in the original game?

Text wiped

[Jamphibious]

Just saw two of the new endings, saving the last two for later.

While I really really wish they would have done away with the last 5 minutes of the original game, they did a much better job of wrapping things up this time. They show that the choice you make does carry some weight afterall. Though after all the sales of ME3 they certainly didn't break the bank to make the endings.

What I was hoping for was a series of small endings that involved each team member left alive. Kind of like Star Ocean 2, which had a ton of small endings.

I only played the game once and saw one ending three months ago, but was that not so hidden fourth option in the original game?

I believe the 4th option is entirely new.

[JackKieser]

My take: it's a decent bit of work if taken on its own, separate from the rest of the trilogy; it is definitely flawed, but it still has its moments and is overall a quality product.

As an ending to the Mass Effect trilogy, it still falls hopelessly short. Yes, it explains more. Unfortunately, the explanations are about already illogical things, and so it ends up just highlighting what was already wrong about the original. It fixes nothing that was significantly wrong with the original (and no, the fact that the future was left unexplained was not a flaw of the original; it was a setup for future games), and ends up lacking purpose; everything added was not asked for by the general public, and the people who DID ask for things didn't get what they asked for, anyway.

Honestly, the extended cut just seems pointless by the end. I'm planning on writing an essay on it, which will probably be turned into a video or something easier to digest, so I'm going to flesh out these claims, before anyone starts yelling "butthurt fanboy" or something else ridiculous. Watch some of those original ending commentary videos (especially "Tasteful, Understated Nerdrage"), compare to the EC DLC, and tell me that the fans who actually complained about the ending (I mean, seriously complained) didn't get ignored (if not trolled).

[Garpocalypse]

My take: it's a decent bit of work if taken on its own, separate from the rest of the trilogy; it is definitely flawed, but it still has its moments and is overall a quality product.

As an ending to the Mass Effect trilogy, it still falls hopelessly short. Yes, it explains more. Unfortunately, the explanations are about already illogical things, and so it ends up just highlighting what was already wrong about the original. It fixes nothing that was significantly wrong with the original (and no, the fact that the future was left unexplained was not a flaw of the original; it was a setup for future games), and ends up lacking purpose; everything added was not asked for by the general public, and the people who DID ask for things didn't get what they asked for, anyway.

Honestly, the extended cut just seems pointless by the end. I'm planning on writing an essay on it, which will probably be turned into a video or something easier to digest, so I'm going to flesh out these claims, before anyone starts yelling "butthurt fanboy" or something else ridiculous. Watch some of those original ending commentary videos (especially "Tasteful, Understated Nerdrage"), compare to the EC DLC, and tell me that the fans who actually complained about the ending (I mean, seriously complained) didn't get ignored (if not trolled).

Anyone think about what Mass Effect would have been had Bioware not been acquired by EA? I don't think it should have ended up as a DeadSpace/RE4/GoW clone with more cinematography. I always thought the entire ending sequence had EA's claws all over it.

Don't get me wrong though this is one of my favorite games of this generation and I think it's great people are having these kinds of discussions over a VIDEOGAME. (still not art ebert?) HOWEVER! Tali's picture was still the same. Time to remake the series!! and this time figure out what those Quarians look like beforehand!

[JackKieser]

Anyone think about what Mass Effect would have been had Bioware not been acquired by EA?

All of the damn time. The greatest disappointment in gaming in the last 20 years, in my opinion, is EA getting their hands on BioWare, specifically in this instance.