Finally beat it and I avoided all of the spoilers. Hooray for me!

So this is what happens: You end up hanging out with God. God as he appears in the Bible seems somewhat child like, if you think about it. He's easily angered, jealous, loving, vengeful, etc. Anyway, you destroy the Mass Relays which basically destroy all of the universes and kills everyone. Even all of the races that chose to help you end up dead.

So, Joker and your crew try to outrun the battle since the Crucible isn't working and there is basically no point in continuing the fight (Cortez didn't die so he picks up some of your squad). They flee the reapers when the Mass Relays explode. They are flung somewhere way off in the universe.

The Cycle begins again with the universe starting over as an infant. Mankind has survived because the Normandy is somewhat of a "Noah's Ark". The people on board have started life on a new world (Very Eden like, too) with enough men and women to populate. Generations later, Sheperd is a figure of legend passed down from the crew that loved him/her so much.

Just like the Prothean character, Javik, whom Liara thought would be god-like, "The Sheperd" is just a guy with details obscured by history.

Best game series this gen.

Nah.  I made this thread ages ago:  http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/thread.php?id=128874  And there's even free ME3 DLC already.  Some multi-player stages, I believe.

I honsestly dont see what the big deal is. sure theres plot holes but If i didnt see all the crap on the net I would of ended the game and thought shit that was good game, and I did the ending was fine. The game was great.

Did ti earlier. The very bit (the last decision bit) I thought was quite good, a different aspect and one that was well thought out in terms of the plot throughout the ME3 game. What confused me was the 'last' scene with your crew. Nothing is really resolved as such.

Not reading this thread though, as I have 4 different characters to play it through with. My first and go with the feel playthrough, one good, one evil and one crap (survived but got all but 1 killed :P).


Oh what I don't mind the story, what I do mind is that the multiplayer is affecting my game somehow, I don't know how it does, I'm guessing it's this readiness thing. I bought this game for the single player and couldn't care less about the multiplayer part, just like Uncharted 3 (haven't even used the pass code there).

Good point. I stand corrected!

Cortez CAN die in the ending which makes the fact that your squad mates survived and somehow made it to the Normandy litteraly impossible.

I know indoctrination theory is probably dead, but watch this video anyways.  It pretty much shows you every MASSIVE plot hole in the ending and makes an already horrible ending all the more laughable.  Indoctrination theory would have honestly made the ending ten million times better.

So if your satisfied with the ending please explain these plotholes.

1.What is the meaning of the dreams?

2.  Why does nobody notice the boy on Earth

3.  Why would Shepheard be immune to indoctrination

4.  Why are there trees from Shephards dreams around the beam leading to the Citadel.

5.  Why is the beam directly leading to the panel that opens the Citadels arms.

6.  How did Anderson enter the beam before Shephard

7.  Why was Anderson teleported to another location and how did he arrive at the panel first?

8.  How did Hackett know that Shephard made it to the Citadel after the entire force had been decimated.

9.  Why is Shepard bleeding at the same spot Anderson was shot

10.  How come the Normandy always escapes with Shepards last two squadmates?

11.  What is the growel that Shepard hears repeatedly throughout the game including when speaking to the boy on earth and in the Citadel.

12.  How does the Illusive man have power over the actions of other beings, something never seen by any other indoctrinated being throughout the entire series or by any Reaper forces.

13.  Why does the Starchild directly LIE to Shepard in the ending in order to avoid destroying the reapers.

and I can list many many more.

Haven't watched the video 'cause I'm pressed for time.  I will, though.  Also, since it's a video game, I don't expect it to be 100% realistic but I'll try to B.S. my way throught the questions really quickly.  Don't know anything about the indoctrination theory, either.  I just beat the game and posted my interpretation.

1.  Dreams:  Sheperd died and came back.  Doesn't remember anything about what happened.  It's like that movie Flatliners.  He brought something back with him.  He sees this imaginary child that nobody else can see and in the end, he finds out who itis.

2.  He's a vision brought back from the dead with Sheperd (who is sort of a Sheperd like Jesus, I guess).

3.  I don't know.  Didn't notice anything about it.  Maybe space child helped him? 

4.  Don't know.  Didn't notice.

5.  Don't know.  I didn't notice.

6.  Sheperd was knocked out for a minute.  Anderson thought Sheperd was dead and tried to save the world himself.

7.  Maybe they went to the same place and Anderson was just ahead of Sheperd.  That's why Shep was in the same hall with the moving structures.

8.  Listened to their communications, I guess.  I have to see the ending again.  I only watched it once.  Haven't played the game, since.  I didn't notice, though.

9.  Didn't notice.   I have to watch it again to see this.

10.  Weren't my last two!  I took Garrus and James--my oldest friend and a fellow human.  Joker, Ashley, and some other chick got off of the Normandy.  I think it was that chick I had sex with that always gave me my messages.

11.  I don't know.  I think I heard Reaper growls at unusual times, though.  Maybe Sheperd was still having visions or something.  I gotta watch the vid you posted.  It'll probably make me hate the ending, too!

12.  He was working on controlling the Reapers since ME2.  I guess when he got his hands on the catalyst, he learned something.  He was always several steps ahead.  Hell, he had the tech to bring Sheperd back to life, had something to do with getting EDI, and all sorts of crazy shit.  I think he got hold of a powet that was too much for him to handle (in my ending, he killed himself after realizing he was out of his league)

13.  Lord works in mysterious ways, I guess.  I don't remember exactly what was said.  I think it was like the Matrix Reloaded where the outcome was already predetermined, even though shep thought he was making a difference.  The cycle began again, anyway.  At least some humans survived--then again, humans were among the least advanced in ME's universe.

Watching the video (I'm about 15 mins in), I think a lot of this can be chalked up to bad writing on a George Lucas scale. We may be expecting too much from Bioware.

Could be that all of the stuff this guy is saying is true. A lot of it, I think he may have misinterpreted. I'll have to see what the upcoming DLC reveals. I think it was meant to be ambiguous and open for interpretation on purpose.

O ya I understand that and I'm not even saying that Indoctrination Theory is 100% real, though honestly it makes way more sense than the piece of shit ending BIoware has created.

When I first saw the ending to the game I didn't get why everyone was so mad either, but then I started to put some actual thought into it and realized there are plot holes and mistakes EVERYWHERE.  IT actually would link everything together into an excellent cohesive ending.  Here this is another awesome IT video below.

Whats happening to Shepard in ME3 sounds awfully damn similar to what happened with Saren. 

In fact another point that gives Indoc Theory so much believability is that both of the choices that go against destroying the Reapers play straight into the beliefs of the two most well known indoctrinated characters.  Synthese is what Saren believed in, he fully thought that was our future.  And the Control ending represents the Illusive Man to the fullest, its exactly what he was telling you.  The only ending that goes against Indoctrination is the the DESTROY ending which also just so happens to be the ONLY ending where it is possible to see Shepard live and the only path that the Starchild actually LIES to you so you avoid it.

IDK I think IT has A HELL of a lot going for it.

Hate to be the guy that posts three times in a row in a thread. It's just that I'm still energized by the game and I really enjoyed it. I want to talk about it but I know everybody else has sorta moved on. In a way, I'm defending the game and in another, I'm criticizing it but I just wanted to throw this at you.

Remember Heavy Rain? It was a very ambitious game and an attempt to take gaming to another level. I think Mass Effect is a far more ambitious project, however. Anyway, in that game, they set it up where you could make certain decisions, interact with things in a certain way, and a ton of other stuff could happen. In the end, despite how you could change the outcome of certain events, playing the game was a very linear experience. The endings were much more diverse than the ones I hear about in Mass Effect 3 but you have to understand the situation Bioware was in.

They had a definitive story to tell and that story could branch off in many direction but we still had to be on almost the same page at the end of Mass Effect. We still had to be on the same page at the end of Mass Effect 2. We were all on virtually the same page at the end of Mass Effect 3. I don't think there could be a catch all ending that encompassed all of the decisions we made since 2007. I'm still looking at Youtube videos and the things I missed in all three games are staggering but, just like Heavy Rain, there had to be some plotholes.

I want to see what the upcoming DLC does to resolve things. Personally, I bet that the DLC will do more harm than good because it will take something that was semi unique in this industry and turn it into something commercial. It's going to go from being that "cool Indie Movie" and end up being that "Feel good summer movie". I like the ambiguous ending. It's a little haunting and scary, plotholes and all. Let Gears of War 3 give us the fairy tale ending. I like the cerebral ending ME3 gave. If it were cliche and happy, would we be talking about it right now?