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01.05.2020

Mass Effect 3 Best Endings

As with all Mass Effect titles, there is always a good and bad ending. In the case of Mass Effect 3, there are several of them and what you get will be based on the decisions you’ve made in the past via an imported save or going through the game’s default events.

There's an almost universal outrage at the moment over the ending of Mass Effect 3. After playing a series for what's usually over 100 hours, people are. Mar 09, 2012  Mass Effect 3 Best Ending? So far all of the endings are a total cock punch. Is there a good ending where you can save Anderson, Shepard lives, and your team isn't stranded on some island? (and also if the mass relays aren't destroyed would be nice) maybe even go back to your lover in the end? I JUST WANT A HAPPY.

Be warned that this article contains heavy spoilers as all possible endings of Mass Effect 3 are detailed. Be sure that when you read this, you have finished the game completely and working on a second playthrough to see more of the game’s endings. Okay, let’s start.

What You Must Know…

One of the key factors that will affect your ending, is whether or not you saved or destroyed the Collector’s Base from Mass Effect 2. If you didn’t import a saved data from Mass Effect 2 onto your Mass Effect 3 playthrough, then the Collector’s Base was destroyed. However, if you imported the save data and chose to save the Collector’s Base, you’ll somehow get a different ending from when you destroyed the Collector’s Base.

Another factor that will affect the outcome, is the final battle against the reaper and the Readiness Rating that you get. The Readiness Rating is the overall war assets you’ve collected, while playing through the game. You can see your War Assets on the Normandy. One of the ways to increase the readiness ratings is for you to play the multiplayer a lot and contribute to the Reaper Threat agenda. While that’s the only way to increase your chances in getting possibly the best ending, you will have to wait for Bioware to release more information on how to do it.

It seems like only yesterday fans were taking BioWare to task for the rushed, disappointing epilogues in the blockbuster science fiction RPG Mass Effect 3. But, it has in fact been nearly five months since the protests, petitions, and Kickstarters demanding new endings for the final part of the videogame trilogy.

Forget the debates about who has the right to change a work of art. BioWare has released the promised, free Extended Endings DLC. Does it make amends or is it reopening old wounds?

The short answer is yes.

Unless anyone was worried about poor lil’ BioWare getting their feelings hurt by mean people on the internet, the game company still stands behind their original, terrible endings. And they should. It’s their product. They admitted mistakes, but to completely disown their work would be a slap in the face to the team of people who slaved over creating it for months. And Mass Effect 3waslargely a triumph until those last ten minutes.

So. Don’t expect drastically different endings here. The final three choices are the same, only more fleshed out to answer some particularly confounding questions. Were the mass relays irreparably destroyed? (No.) How did your squad on Earth end up back in the Normandy? Joker wouldn’t purposely abandon Shepard, would he? (Of course not.) Were the dextro-based species like Turians and Quarians doomed to starvation on carbon-based planets? (Garrus can’t die. Don’t you dare even suggest it.) What the hell is the Catalyst, really? (Still no clue. He/It’s a bit like The Architect in The Matrix movies. That’s about as promising as it sounds.)

In addition to logic, the new endings have a bit more emotion. You do get to see more of the effects Shepard’s ultimate choice has on the universe. Houzz pella vs milgard. There are some new cut scenes, but as with the original ending, there are only slight differences between them. Some new content isn’t even in cinematics, but more a slideshow of what looks almost like fan art. But, hey, it’s something. I also liked the inclusion of voiceover narration from key cast members that gives more weight to Shepard’s enormous achievement in unifying the galaxy for a common cause. BioWare even tweaked the final text message that appears after the game, turning it from a slap-in-the-face plea to get future (paid) DLC into a thank you to the fan community. Well played, BioWare.

There is a completely new ending, but it’s quite the downer. Shepard can refuse making a choice and the consequences are catastrophic and very unsatisfying. But, if you’re playing a really bad Renegade, I suppose you’d enjoy rage-quitting the galaxy:

You can watch all of the endings online, or if you really want to watch the new endings with your Shepard, I’d recommend switching the gameplay to Narrative mode so you can fly through the Cerberus Base and London final battles. Seriously, BioWare? You couldn’t give us a later save point?

Some fans will just complain about anything.

(For the record, I chose Synthesis and it seemed the “happiest” of the endings. Shepard dies, but everyone else, synthetic and organic, lives in peace.)

All in all, I like the new endings much more than the originals. Which I hated. So, it’s gentle praise. I think if we got these extended endings from the start, there would have been an almost equal amount of head-scratching but a whole lot less flat-out rage. The original endings really did lessen my overall enjoyment of the franchise and I haven’t replayed it since completing the game in April, but this DLC lessens the blow.

Ending

And there will be more traditional, standalone DLC coming soon, too. Mass Effect 3 producer Mike Gamble admitted as much on Twitter and files pulled from the Extended Cut hint that it could be about abandoned Reaper tech wreaking havoc. So no matter which choice you picked at the end, Commander Shepard will always live on in some form.

Theresa DeLucci is a regular contributor to Tor.com. She covers True Blood, Game of Thrones, and is also an avid gamer. She has also covered tech and TV for Geektress.com and Action Flick Chick and recently appeared on Wired.com‘s Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy podcast to profess her love of Michael Fassbender and Alien 3. Follower her on Twitter @tdelucci

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01.05.2020

Mass Effect 3 Best Endings

As with all Mass Effect titles, there is always a good and bad ending. In the case of Mass Effect 3, there are several of them and what you get will be based on the decisions you’ve made in the past via an imported save or going through the game’s default events.

There's an almost universal outrage at the moment over the ending of Mass Effect 3. After playing a series for what's usually over 100 hours, people are. Mar 09, 2012  Mass Effect 3 Best Ending? So far all of the endings are a total cock punch. Is there a good ending where you can save Anderson, Shepard lives, and your team isn't stranded on some island? (and also if the mass relays aren't destroyed would be nice) maybe even go back to your lover in the end? I JUST WANT A HAPPY.

Be warned that this article contains heavy spoilers as all possible endings of Mass Effect 3 are detailed. Be sure that when you read this, you have finished the game completely and working on a second playthrough to see more of the game’s endings. Okay, let’s start.

What You Must Know…

One of the key factors that will affect your ending, is whether or not you saved or destroyed the Collector’s Base from Mass Effect 2. If you didn’t import a saved data from Mass Effect 2 onto your Mass Effect 3 playthrough, then the Collector’s Base was destroyed. However, if you imported the save data and chose to save the Collector’s Base, you’ll somehow get a different ending from when you destroyed the Collector’s Base.

Another factor that will affect the outcome, is the final battle against the reaper and the Readiness Rating that you get. The Readiness Rating is the overall war assets you’ve collected, while playing through the game. You can see your War Assets on the Normandy. One of the ways to increase the readiness ratings is for you to play the multiplayer a lot and contribute to the Reaper Threat agenda. While that’s the only way to increase your chances in getting possibly the best ending, you will have to wait for Bioware to release more information on how to do it.

It seems like only yesterday fans were taking BioWare to task for the rushed, disappointing epilogues in the blockbuster science fiction RPG Mass Effect 3. But, it has in fact been nearly five months since the protests, petitions, and Kickstarters demanding new endings for the final part of the videogame trilogy.

Forget the debates about who has the right to change a work of art. BioWare has released the promised, free Extended Endings DLC. Does it make amends or is it reopening old wounds?

The short answer is yes.

Unless anyone was worried about poor lil’ BioWare getting their feelings hurt by mean people on the internet, the game company still stands behind their original, terrible endings. And they should. It’s their product. They admitted mistakes, but to completely disown their work would be a slap in the face to the team of people who slaved over creating it for months. And Mass Effect 3waslargely a triumph until those last ten minutes.

So. Don’t expect drastically different endings here. The final three choices are the same, only more fleshed out to answer some particularly confounding questions. Were the mass relays irreparably destroyed? (No.) How did your squad on Earth end up back in the Normandy? Joker wouldn’t purposely abandon Shepard, would he? (Of course not.) Were the dextro-based species like Turians and Quarians doomed to starvation on carbon-based planets? (Garrus can’t die. Don’t you dare even suggest it.) What the hell is the Catalyst, really? (Still no clue. He/It’s a bit like The Architect in The Matrix movies. That’s about as promising as it sounds.)

In addition to logic, the new endings have a bit more emotion. You do get to see more of the effects Shepard’s ultimate choice has on the universe. Houzz pella vs milgard. There are some new cut scenes, but as with the original ending, there are only slight differences between them. Some new content isn’t even in cinematics, but more a slideshow of what looks almost like fan art. But, hey, it’s something. I also liked the inclusion of voiceover narration from key cast members that gives more weight to Shepard’s enormous achievement in unifying the galaxy for a common cause. BioWare even tweaked the final text message that appears after the game, turning it from a slap-in-the-face plea to get future (paid) DLC into a thank you to the fan community. Well played, BioWare.

There is a completely new ending, but it’s quite the downer. Shepard can refuse making a choice and the consequences are catastrophic and very unsatisfying. But, if you’re playing a really bad Renegade, I suppose you’d enjoy rage-quitting the galaxy:

You can watch all of the endings online, or if you really want to watch the new endings with your Shepard, I’d recommend switching the gameplay to Narrative mode so you can fly through the Cerberus Base and London final battles. Seriously, BioWare? You couldn’t give us a later save point?

Some fans will just complain about anything.

(For the record, I chose Synthesis and it seemed the “happiest” of the endings. Shepard dies, but everyone else, synthetic and organic, lives in peace.)

All in all, I like the new endings much more than the originals. Which I hated. So, it’s gentle praise. I think if we got these extended endings from the start, there would have been an almost equal amount of head-scratching but a whole lot less flat-out rage. The original endings really did lessen my overall enjoyment of the franchise and I haven’t replayed it since completing the game in April, but this DLC lessens the blow.

Ending

And there will be more traditional, standalone DLC coming soon, too. Mass Effect 3 producer Mike Gamble admitted as much on Twitter and files pulled from the Extended Cut hint that it could be about abandoned Reaper tech wreaking havoc. So no matter which choice you picked at the end, Commander Shepard will always live on in some form.

Theresa DeLucci is a regular contributor to Tor.com. She covers True Blood, Game of Thrones, and is also an avid gamer. She has also covered tech and TV for Geektress.com and Action Flick Chick and recently appeared on Wired.com‘s Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy podcast to profess her love of Michael Fassbender and Alien 3. Follower her on Twitter @tdelucci