Mass Effect 3 SPOILER THREAD!

I'm guessing future DLCs may add side stories before the endings. Once you have completed ME3, it returns you to the time before attacking Cerberus. ME3 has multiplayer which means new maps DLC are also possible.

Here is one post I made in the regular thread:


I was disappointed that every option ends with the destruction of the mass relays. Sure, we saved people's lives for the time being, but everyone is now stuck where they were when the relays went down. Tali, Garrus, and other members won't get back to their home worlds. Aliens will be stuck on Earth (especially sucks for the Quarians who JUST got their planet back, and the Krogan who were finally able to reproduce). Everyone is completely scattered. Perhaps this meets the goal that no species will dominate another, but I was unfulfilled.

In 50,000 years, the aliens that are stuck at sol system is insignificant compared to the rest of the Quarians fleet who has their planet back, new generations of Krogan (they reproduce very quickly and not be able to travel to other distance star systems can be a good thing), and other species after rebuilt their home worlds. Some that are stuck living at other places like Omega become their permanent home. If Citadel isn't fully destroyed, it can still be rebuilt for the aliens at Earth.

Each species who went to save Earth became the heroes and legend for their sacrifices for fighting the repears. Question is how Earth and sol system are going to handle all the fleet survivors? Maybe sol system can become the most diverse of species living there (or eating each other).

Maybe Bioware should release a DLC called "50,000 years later ..." to see how human and other species evolved again. Maybe each ship will have its own "warp" capability to go to revisit the old worlds and see new generation of their old friends.

Considering that if you have >4000 EMS, Shepard wakes up in a pile of rubble in London at the end of the game, I think it is safe to assume that the entire end sequence after being hit by the beam is either a dream or some kind of indoctrination attempt by Harbinger (who breaks off from the attack in space and lands near the conduit as Shepard makes the final rush to the beam). I don't know if they intended to end it there or not, but having Shepard wake up certainly leaves the story open to continuing in DLC or another game.

With very low EMS, Earth gets destroyed. With EMS > 4000, it happens as you suggested which mean we haven't seen the real ending of ME3. Very high EMS "ending" can be continued with DLC. Bioware can say, any player with EMS < 4000 has seen the real endings even if you don't like them. The DLC is only for players with EMS > 4000. Don't have EMS > 4000, replay the single player or keep playing the Multiplayer.

How many Quarians returned to their planet? I believe most of the ships, which is where almost all of the Quarians were, went to fight the battle. I do believe the Krogans in general will be fine since many likely stayed on their planet and are now able to reproduce. The Turians, Asari, Salarians, and Earthlings still have a majority of their populations on their respective planets as well. It's just the people I personally care about get to die on Earth and some random planet that the Normandy landed on. And everyone else in the galaxy who isn't on their home planets will die wherever they may be.

I'm sure things will work out in thousands of years, but if we wanted to wait that long then we might as well have let the Reapers keep us in check and restart the cycle anyway. I jest, but I just don't like that we finally united the universe and then segregated it. Just a personal feeling, which will differ for everyone.

I would like a DLC that provides some insight as to what happened in the future. Even updated codex entries would be great. Perhaps the Geth knew how to construct new relays that were more efficient and whatnot. Something to make me feel better .

Regardless of your EMS, you still get hit by a beam and then enter a dream-like sequence. If you believe the end is a dream/indoctrination, the "ending" never really happened. So no, Bioware could continue the story for characters with any EMS level IMO. I think the >4000 EMS simply gives you a hint that the end wasn't for real where in the rest you're left to think that the end was truly final.

The thing with the old guy and the kid made a lame ending even lamer...better to not waste the time and wait for the after credit crap. Not that I will ever play the end of this game again. Everything after shooting off the missiles at the Reaper is a painfully slow waste.

It doesn't even make sense [para-phased] "Robots eventually always rebel against their organic creators (which btw is just supposition by some arrogant race millennia ago) so our solution for this is to use robots to wipe out ...um I mean harvest (because that's not the same at all) the organic life. Thus we end the whole Robots killing organics thing...cool huh?" I wanted my Shep to say... "Not so much" and call them out on their supposition.

• Instead the apparent "Paragon" ending is to do what Cerberus wanted and somehow make yourself reaper king (really, that seems more renegade to me).
• The "renegade" option is to kill all robots... because Geth and EDI are JUST like the reapers even if they have no code in common, well the geth do now but still how do you wipe out robots and not all other technology....note that the magical beam didn't actually destroy all technology.
• Then there's the Neutral option where you just obliterate the universe and recreate it in the image of some ancient race whose idea of a good avatar was a small child. Note that was after their brilliant idea of murdering...I mean assimilating into the collective... I mean harvesting... all life in the galaxy at some point in that life's history to save said life. Not really sure I want a universe designed by those idiots.

You could have killed Shep a thousand different ways and, though it wouldn't have been the ending I wanted, at least it would have been something I could have lived with. Lamely, whinny ending with piano music instead of the triumph score that went with ME1 and ME2 conclusion is just not the way I would have gone. Pretty much anything would have been better than what we got. I think heard this ending compared to Matrix 3 and I think that is exactly what it ended like. (Though unlike Matrix, ME2 and ME 3 (sands the ending) were actually as good or in some cases better then ME1).

Well other then the last, had to be more than 15 min (it seemed to drag on forever) I absolutely loved this game. Sure I play games for fun, entertainment and winning so am not a big fan of my guy or his buddies dying but I thought the following about deaths in this game:

1. Mordin was done pretty much perfectly.
2. Thane I wasn't so keen on how he died, but then he was dying anyway and the prayer thing was really well done.
3. Legion I liked even less then Thanes death though he did save two races (well until I kill or enslave one at the end) so that was a good payoff.
4. Everyone else. Yeah so at the end I saw Liara (which is funny because she was with me when we all got obliterated not sure how she teleported to the Normandy) and that useless Prothean.I THINK Wrex may have been killed, and Garrus was with me when we got wiped out. Not sure what happen to Tali, Kaiden, Vega, Dr Chakwa or anyone else.. I guess they all survived the Normandy.
5. Kai-Regar was killed offscreen but I got a nice email about it. Not sure what happened to Kieherra or the rest of the old Normandy crew.

I thought they did crew interaction way better in this game then in the last two. I loved meeting up with all my old team.

1. Mordin/Wrex -already mentioned that mission, just about perfect.
2. Kasumi - Who doesn't like indoctrinated Big stupid Jellyfish
3. Thane - Good way to deal with it.
4. Jack - excellent, I actually like the character now
5. Samara - Sad but a good way to deal with meeting up with her again.
6. Miranda - thought it stunk at first as she kept calling me up to tell me she couldn't tell me anything, but her mission ended up cool in the end
7. Leigon/Tali - Excellent mission
8. Zaeed - got robbed with a lame storyline. Though I did like reading the text of him ordering parts to fix his old gun.and whisky
9. Jacob - His personal mission was as bland as his character but it was fine I guess.
10. Garrus - all those calibration jokes. I really got the hes my bro feeling in this game that lots of people talk about him like from the other games. He, Tali and Liara are my favorite characters. Loved fighting with the turians.
11. Grunt - Liked his mission, though it sucks I had to make the SAME decision with the RACHNI again. Seriously you said you would help me fight the reapers why/how did you end up enslaved to them again. You said you would be ready!!

I would have liked more side missions on planets when scanning but otherwise I was very pleased with this game. It hit all the right notes for me emotionally and gameplay wise. I was sad at times and freaking angry at times (at characters in the game). It's a shame that they threw the terrible ending together for a masterpiece of a story arch (IMHO). Oh well, I guess if I replay the game again I can just stop after I blow up the little reaper. No need to build a save as there is nothing left of the mass effect universe that looks interesting (and no need to buy DLC as it would just be side mission to a game that will never end). All of what it was washed away and we are left with people telling stories about the greatness that had been. (When B5 did it to earth, they at least had enough sense not to do it to the entire universe).

3:00am maybe I will feel different in the morning.

"The "renegade" option is to kill all robots."

The "renegade" option is to reject the husking process and let Lazarus kick back in. We could also call this the "rebellion" option. The other two options are very much persuasive measures to maintain control over Shepard. Nothing explodes in any of the endings.

Nobody teleports back to the Normandy. Liara died with you on the field, but she's not loaded up with regenerative implants. Shepard's "save everyone!" dying brain would sure have liked for her crew to get away though, wouldn't it? That is, five seconds before the implants kick in. Shepard burned through an atmosphere and lived. Do you seriously think something as conventional as a Reaper beam is going to stop her? There is a reason that EDI made sure to point us to Lazarus recordings on the Illusive Man station raid, remind the player that "Hey, Shepard has been extremely dead before. Remember that in an hour, k?".

As to people's complaint about the post-credits bit about the series all being a story told from one person to another? Um, duh guys? Did you think this was a history lesson? It is a made up story. I figured that rational people would have already realized that.

It's not a good ending when the people defending it do so by making up thier own version of the ending. And I have already read another that makes as much sense as yours that I like better, so I''m going with that. (since when is renegade shep concerned with saving everyone anyway. Thought their goal was to just get the job done).

Of course this is a story, but the convention of it being a story "told by an old person to a child changes the perspective (and my immersion) into the game/show. Such a thing is best left to games/movies where that is established from the beginning not tacked on at the very end. Though it kind of sucked in DA2 as well and kind of breaks the illusion of choice. B5 was able to through a story in with that perspective but they were able to do it in a way that didnt break immersion in the universe.

Anyway I will just make up my own ending like everyone else and try to stay focused on the awesomeness that was the rest of the game.

EDIT:

Oh and one thing I didn’t mention last night that made the ending even worse for me:
After he got done explaining the options I decided killing the reapers was the only one that made any sense at all. I feel bad for Geth and EDI but they are just machines and it would save billions of lives and put our future in our own hands. HOWEVER, since I was so busy virtually arguing with the game as to why those were my only choices I didn’t get an understanding of which choice was which.

So the AI gets done talking and I’m like…um which is which? “Well he said the kill option first, and we read right to left, and it seems the most paragon...but I will just walk up take a look get an idea of which is which and then decide”. So I walk up to the left side and see “activate console”….and think “well that tells me nothing, let me look at the others”. Except when I turned to walk away I couldn’t. I was apparently trapped into making that decision. “WTF” I said “hope this is killing them”. Bad music and cut scene starts to roll “WTF, WTF, W.T.F….@#$%^ so I am being reaper king now… god this is stupid…can’t skip….Where TF is Normandy going….How TF did Liara get there?” So no emotion, if they hoped to evoke any , just annoyance. Then it ends, I heard there was something after the credits so I wait…. The after credits thing makes it even worse (the voice acting didn’t help).

So I was sort of forced to play it again just so I got a halfway decent digestible ending. The last possible save is back by the missiles. No problem playing that again, then I will just skip everything up to the choice. “WHAT ?!?! YOU CANT SKIP THIS SHT? NOOOooooo….god he is walking so slow. God the music is awful, where’s the mute.”

Thanks for the tip of the make believe ending though, I guess next time I play I will take Javik and EDI with me at the end and play up till the missile strike. If two people on my crew have to die might as well be them. I would replace EDI with Kaiden, but since she’s going to be dead anyway there’s no point trying to save her. Then I can make up endings for all my crew and everyone else I ever knew in the game too just like we are making up the actual game ending.


NOW back to blocking out the ending and thinking of only the awesomeness of the rest of the game.

The main thing I liked about the ending is that it was an ENDING. The "standard" ending that everyone was expecting was that the crucible destroys the reapers, everyone survives, and organic life lives happily ever after. They could have given us that, and no one would complain. It would have been the lazy thing to do One could then even argue that given enough time, the same thing will happen again, and that "the cycle" was just delayed.

But mass effect has always been about choices, and it's only right that the ending is the single most important choice any organic or synthetic being has ever been faced with.

The idea that synthetic life could express itself as a whole through a single voice (the child) makes perfect sense. The reapers were just the violent expression of that, just interchangeable bodies, like the geth.

The renegade choice, of destroying all synthetic life, is one of survival. It's basically what you set out to do, the default choice IMO. It's the most basic self preservation instinct all life has. Something that apparently synthetic life has evolved beyond. Since the avatar gives you the choice to destroy it. Of course he expects that synthetic life will rise again and we'll eventually be back at square one...so it's not that clear cut. But it's as if Shepard making it as far as he/she did was enough for synthetics to respect organic life to make its own way.

The synthesis choice definitely leaves more questions than answers as to what happens next, but it breaks the cycle. So in some senses, it's the most climactic. Everything's changed, and perhaps humanity now has a glimpse of what it's like to be a reaper and understand what drove them. Maybe that leads to peace in the end. In either case, what happens beyond that point is far bigger than can be adequately addressed in even a lengthy epilogue, and you know what? It's a work of fiction. Not everything needs to be explained in excruciating detail. Leave something to the imagination.

I haven't gone down the paragon route yet of controlling the reapers...saving that for another replay. But I expect it'll be just as interesting as the other two choices.

I wouldn't have end them end this any other way. It's subtler than it could have been, but it leaves just enough to your imagination. Fantastic conclusion.

The significance of the ultimate AI manifesting as a child finally occurred to me - since organic life created synthetic life, in some sense, they are our children. Maybe after all is said and done, they still respect their creators, after all - this ultimate AI clearly had the capability to extinguish all organic life, but still saw some value in it, instead creating the cycle of harvesting in an attempt to maintain balance. It even went out of its way to incorporate the advanced species into the reapers, having them live on in a sense that a simple human couldn't even begin to comprehend. This was at odds with individual will to survive of those still alive, but renegade shep should approve of his motives on some level - killing 10 billion to save 20 billion is math renegade shep would definitely approve of. It was in essence, standing guard against other synthetic life that might want to exterminate all organic life for good.

Ultimately the ones making the ultimate sacrifice here are the reapers/synthetics themselves - either by willingly sacrificing their autonomy or their existence. And they leave that choice up shepard - who's technically the first human/synthetic hybrid - at least this cycle.

I thought the reapers got less menacing over time as well. It seemed ridiculous that such an advanced civilization took hundreds of years to "harvest" us all...couldnt they wipe us out more efficiently than that? It wasn't until basically the very end that you find out our total annihilation was never really their true intent. With the game taking place almost entirely from shepard's perspective though, their true intentions were never fully known until the very end. So it makes sense that they become less imposing as we learned about them, fought them, and eventually understood their motives - the more you know, the less you fear.


In the end he/they weren't a foe of organic life. They posed a threat to the existence of the advanced species of each cycle, but they ultimately were trying to save organics from themselves - their theory being that organics will inevitably create synthetics which will inevitably destroy all organics and sterilize the galaxy. Somewhere along that path another legion-like (sympathetic to organics) synthetic must have rose to power to intervene before this total extermination could occur - his solution being the cycle of collecting/reaping/harvesting. Tending a garden of organic life but not allowing it to grow out of control, but flourish for a time - and eventually bringing them into the fold as reapers themselves.

If they had wanted to destroy organics - they would have. Organics are made up of individuals with a will to survive. But the life of any individual organic is about as significant to them as the life of a single insect to us. Think about how much luck you've had reasoning with insects, trying to convince them not to bug you before you've stomped them. Their only way to achieve the balance they sought was through violence. But the result was a cycle of rebirth, renewal, evolution. Without the reapers, how long would the protheans have enslaved the galaxy like they did? Protheans themselves would probably never have even had the chance to exist had the reapers not harvested the species of the previous cycle.

Ultimately, like everyone else, they saw in shepherd something special. Shepard kept saying over and over "We all need to be prepared to die, or else we're already doomed". The reapers/synthetics apparently took this to heart as well. For Shepard to make it as far as he did proved to them that "the cycle" wasn't the ultimate solution, and 50,000 years to them is insignificant - so something needed to change ASAP. The paragon side of shepard had the synthetics ready to allow him to take control of them - his noble actions (including an acceptance of synthetics are equally alive/sentient) proving that he might be up to the task of maintaining this balance himself. The renegade side of shepard possessed the ultimate will to survive and they seemingly judged him worthy enough fall in line and give up their own lives - prepared to die to save the galaxy, just like the organics. They seemed to believe the cycle would just begin again, perhaps shepard had at least convinced them they were worth taking a chance on after all - if they were wrong, they'd be back eventually.

I find this such a satisfying ending, because it's not so cut and dry. Whatever path you take breaks the cycle. There was no right or wrong choice, not even a clear paragon or renegade choice. Would the paragon really choose to take free will away from the reapers, given that he respected synthetic life as equally sentient as organic? Would the renegade really choose to exterminate the reapers, given the option of taking control? The last words shepard says when faced with the choice is "I don't know..." Because no matter what choices you made leading up to this point, none of these choices really feel like destiny. So I don't think its fair to say your choices leading up to this point weren't taken into account - those choices were insignificant compared to this one. The reapers proved to be more than just boogeymen that needed to be destroyed, further complicating the decision. I wasn't too concerned about what happened with the individual characters beyond that point - I felt like I had clearly said my farewells in london, and by the time you reached the final decision, the narrative had grown so much larger than that.


That part is intentionally vague. All I think it really meant to get across was that whatever path shepard chose, organic life in the galaxy lived on for millennia enough for people to question whether the legends they hear about him were even real. Clearly there's a religious slant to that as well - "the shepard" sacrificed himself to save the galaxy, may even still be out there pulling strings as an ultimate deity (gee, who does that sound like?). It definitely wasn't earth (too many moons), and they may not have even been human. A small part of it is a contrivance just to let you keep playing and finish all the content and DLC - but I liked the way they handled it. Ultimately you goal was to save the galaxy...and organic (probably human) life is still around.

They've always said they're ending the shepard story with ME3 (and they clearly did). There's plenty of avenues to explore within this universe, before and after these events. So I think we'll see plenty of mass effect to come for decades. Surely there will be some DLC that will still feature shepard - but none of it is going to take place after the ending.

I am actually OK with the ending. Either way, I don't care - the game itself is super fun and multiplayer is a blast.

Reading through all your posts, I agree a lot with bd2003. The ending brought about a closure - albeit a "WTF" closure. I had a tough time choosing as well. I thought about asking the AI again, but started walking towards the blue (blue = paragon, and I played all paragon). I just started my renegade playthrough and will obviously choose red at the end.

Finally, I will do two more playthroughs - one that does everything right from ME1 all the way through ME2. That means a mix of good/bad. The last playthrough will be one of failure at every possible option. I'll make all the wrong choices, allow everyone to die in ME2, and leap into the final battle before I'm ready. I won't do sidemissions/etc, and just keep focus on getting back to Earth.

Once that's done, I can go back to having a life and playing other games!

After some thought, I've decided that it's folly to argue for or against any of the existing endings. NObody was going to be happy, no matter how they chose to wrap things up. With so much left up in the air, one can infer nearly anything they like for any of the "endings." All things considered, that might be a good thing. Regardless, this series has been a joyride.

Too bad they went the Dead Space2 route by including a pathetically worthless, painfully boring, and mind-numbingly repetative multiplayer mode rather than focus on what made the games great by putting in more of the chewy goodness found in the SP content.

"NObody was going to be happy, no matter how they chose to wrap things up"

Funny plenty popular games, movies, books, and TV shows end with endings happy and sad that people are plenty satisfied with (whether it was the ending they wanted or not). Some are legendary in the coolness or sadness of their end. This ending is not legendary. As much as they wanted people to discuss it, once the shock of it wears off it will be forgotten only to be brought up again when some other poor sap gets to it and says WTF or when another game ends badly and is compared to the ending of ME3 (like they compare ME3 to the ending of Matrix3).

Really? I love the multiplayer. I played the crap out of it when it was just a demo, and have played the crap out of it now. Still plan on doing it. It's a great way to talk about the game, relax, and have some epic LOLS at the same time. I laughed so hard on Saturday when my Krogan friend realized he was the only one left and medigel'd only to find himself surrounded by two brutes. He started fighting them off, but was quickly mounted by a husk and then died by the brutes. All three of us were watching in spectator mode and laughing our butts off. I was in tears.

Don't get me wrong. The ending wasn't epic in any way. For all the hard work that one puts into the game, we should have been given something more than 20 seconds of "Meh...wtf just happened?" However, I do prefer what transpired as opposed to some cheesy "Hooray! We just defeated a billion of our enemies and not a single (good) person died!" Hollywood-esque so-called "happy" ending.

I think it's fair to say anyone that was expecting a neat wrap up was going to be disappointed. It's simply too big a task to be adequately addressed in an epilogue.

Also, I think a large part of the disappointment stems from the lack of a definitive final boss. They set the stage for a fight with harbinger in reaper form, and ME1 and 2 had epic battles at the end with saren, sovereign and the human reaper. Instead you just literally run past harbinger - unsatisfying to say the least. They could have had the same endings and I think there'd be less outrage because at least the gameplay would have had a climactic end.

Still, the big question was addressed and resolved. Namely, the nature of the reaper threat. Whatever path you choose, the reaper threat is ultimately resolved. And with it, the mass relays are destroyed - everyone in the armada is essentially stranded in sol system. Some see this as some sort of plot hole but I couldn't disagree more.

The destruction of the mass relays sets the stage for an incredible drama. It's such a messed up situation. How long before the unity collapses, before people forget the threat of extinction and start pointing fingers at humans? How convenient the citadel ended up in sol system and a human destroyed the mass relays. What influence do the council, or any of the aliens have now? How long before they stake a claim on earth or nearby planets for their part in the war?

And in the midst of this, presumably most of the other characters survived...and those stories may yet be told. Books or movies might bridge the gap to the next big conflict. What would have been really disappointing to me is if they didnt resolve the reaper threat and left the door open to another big battle with them. That would have been the ultimate fail.

Really. I slogged through the MP and it was brutally painful. I was in tears as well, but out of sheer boredom. At least Dead Space2 was versus, not the same mindless AI doing the same mindless things over, and over, and over, and over, and over again.

I've watched the last man standing, as well as been the last one up, but didn't really see much amusement in the situation at all. Again, even when it was just me grinding out the win, I was bored; not excited or amused. The only time I ever got a slight grin on my face is when a Krogan would yell out, "Foooooor Taaaaaachuuuuunnnnnggggaaaaa!!!" Cracked me up every time.

I would take 5-10 extra side missions over MP anyday.

Same.

5-10 side missions as in scanning the planets?

or as in saving grissom academy?

The first is more of the same tedious fetching.

The second will only serve to dilute the story and lose focus.

I really liked how ME3 kept the focus throughout. In ME2, there were times when I felt like I couldn't do anything story-wise because I had so many loyalty missions and side missions to do. Even moreso for ME1.

I've spent tons of hours already in multiplayer. Far more than 5-10 side missions. And I've enjoyed it far more than I probably would enjoy a few extra missions. I realize there are those who don't like it. So don't play it then. Spyder, I've never seen you playing multiplayer. Have you played with any of us? Playing with people you know makes all the difference - just like Battlefield.

While I personally do like a happy ending I can understand your point and even live without it if I have an ending that makes sense and has closure.

I mean if I am going to make a choice that is supposed to kill EDI and the Geth along with the reapers then how hard would it be to give me a little cut scene so I can see the repercussions of my actions and maybe get to be a little sad about it. Same with the fate of the rest of my team. I want to see their heroic, or not so heroic death or victory in their battles. Is Liara and Garrus laying dead due to the final trench run (well not liara she teleported back to Normandy...but what about Garrus?).

They did so good with emotions during the rest of the game showing the fate, not only of my previous crew but of random characters I met along the way (poor poetry Krogan dude) its just sad that they just seemed to give up or purposefully drop the ball at the end. I apparently changed the galaxy but got no emotion out of it at all. No victory high, no defeat sadness, nothing....just nothing.

5-10 missions like Grissom, or even better. Would have loved to go to Joker's homeworld, took a stab at a Thresher Maw again, done more with the Tsari, or even trekked on over to visit Shepard's mom and found out more about her. In fact, 5-10 missions that were entirely based on Shepard would have been beyond delightful. For as much as we roam the galaxy doing things for all of the secondary characters and gaining their loyalty, we know little about Shepard herself.

As for playing with you guys, no, I never did. I played with multiple sets of complete randoms and we were crushing Silver. I can only imagine what an AVS crew could do. More fun? Maybe. Maybe not. The conversation would be welcome, but I imagine I'd only be more bored with the gameplay. For multiplayer games, it's the company that makes the game, not the game itself. Hell, Barbie's Mystery Horse Racing would probably be fun with good friends.

That said, I never, ever, ever thought to myself that Mass Effect would be better in any way, shape, or form with a multiplayer facet. To me, MP in Mass Effect is like SP in Battlefield...a complete and total distration from the real prize at worst, and an afterthought at best. I played both once each; and both were experiences that were forgotten seconds after completion. I will never look back on either with fondness nor disdain, just a complete and utter feeling of apathy.

Completley agree about the emotional parts of the game. ME3 tugged at me like few others ever did. (Those that said they cried at the ends of the incredibly sappy Halo Reach or the trying-waaaaaay-too-hard GoW3 would be flowing rivers in this game.) The ending left something to be desired, for sure, but it's better than blowing what emotions were done right earlier with a contrived one, imo.

The multiplayer in Mass Effect 3 is far better than any Battlefield or most FPS solo campaigns. It reminds me a lot of the co-op in Resistance 2, which was amazing.

The part that really disgusts me about the MP is the microtransactions. The worst trend in gaming since well...I think it's the worst trend in gaming ever.

Before anyone says "but...but...you can unlock everything by just playing!" ask yourself this: whats the rationale to even keep race/class combos locked at all? Why have disposable one time use items? Why lock this stuff in increasingly more expensive tiers, with random payouts? The microtransactions directly drive the gameplay mechanics, and that is ass backwards.

It's disgraceful manipulation guided by well known psychology of behavior. Freemium games that embrace this model at least have the advantage of being free, but to have this in a paid game, let alone one as prestigious as mass effect...it's disgusting.

I expect no less from EA at this point, but those parts of the MP are such a turnoff that I can't even remotely take it seriously. To be honest, I'm surprised they didn't let you directly buy military assets in the SP. I'm sure it came up. At least someone had the sense to stop that train.

I think what would have worked really well would have been (another hollywood overdone ending) the classic memorial ending on the citadel or earth. Where you get a nice little bit on each person (if your shep survived he gave the speech and if not hackett would) that died over the course of your game so you would have the custom tailored ending and it allowed you to reflect on the journey you took over the course of all 3 games.

I personally did not like the ending because everything you did throughout the 3 games had absolutely no effect on the end. The biggest thing about mass effect was how the story was unique depending on how you played the game and they threw all of that out at the end.

but...but...you can unlock everything by just playing!

No one is holding a gun to your head forcing you to spend any MSP.

Honestly, if you aren't enjoying multiplayer, why would you even want to spend real money to improve it? At that point, give up and do something else.

I haven't spent a single MSP on multiplayer. Nor do I ever plan on it. I've earned my way through to the better guns, better mods, better characters. I've gotten some really awesome stuff by random chance, which I love.

Right now, I'm playing MP crouched in a corner while 3 randoms go forth and kill things. Meanwhile, I'm doing other things like posting on this forum. On waves 3, 6, and 10, I help out in order to earn more credits. One successful mission on bronze gives you 15,000 credits. Spend this on three recruit packs and chances are you'll level up a gun you're using, get medigel and other items to use, and unlock a character or two.

Equipment... hold on wave 3... ok back. I like the fact that equipment is a one-time use thing. It forces you to really think about how you want to prepare for battle, and IMO adds some major diversity in the game. Playing Geth? Bring along some disruptor ammo. Unknown? Take your chances with an adrenaline module. I never bring equipment to bronze matches - and recently, I haven't brought any to silver. But they do make a slight enough difference to be noticed.

Am I upset that the option to pay MSP for packs is there? Sure. Magic the Gathering owned my soul for years, so I understand how addictive it can be. At the same time, who is responsible - the company that allows for this, or the person who spends the money?