BioWare should release an alternate ending to Mass Effect 3

Because, otherwise, what’s the point?

Words: Hollander Cooper on August 27, 2012

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robotdickens - August 28, 2012 12:32 a.m.

Bioware should have never listened to fan boys. I'm going to tell you something that should happen with most movies: the hero dies at the end. Is this bad? No it's actually really good. There is no part where we have to see the hero screw up royally at the end and find out our protagonist was a douche. Here's the realistic alternate ending. Shepherd saves the galaxy and wouldn't you know the after party held in his honor holds more space babes than all the first two games combined. Shepherd has massive amounts of sex and all is well. Later, he goes to the doctor to check out some weird discoloration on his skin. Apparently having sex with just about every alien race has given him space herpes. We cut to long years of Shep battling with chemo to which he finally loses. Wasn't that a great ending? No? Hero dies at the end is the best possible decision. And besides, Bioware said the Shepherd saga was over but there will probably be more Mass Effect games. What, did you want a cameo of the new protag teaming up with the old? Boy, that would have been fun!
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FOZ - August 28, 2012 7:05 a.m.

First off, stop saying "fan boys." That word has been beaten into nothingness even more than it is during the most heated of console wars. The people who support Bioware are fanboys, the people who hate the ending are fanboys. The word doesn't mean anything. Second, the hero dying is a lazy way to try for a tearjerker ending. It is nothing new, and it is usually not interesting, especially in the context of an obligatory dramatic sacrifice. You honestly think anything would be more interesting by wantonly killing off the hero? Or they could, you know, create endings that are genuinely emotional or interesting, whether the heroes dies or not, without relying solely on "kill the main character when we're done."
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Bloodstorm - August 28, 2012 7:35 a.m.

This, totally and completely this.
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Bloodstorm - August 28, 2012 7:48 a.m.

Had the ending involved some meaningful space battle, than a boss battle which put Shepard on death door step and he died in Liara's arms (because she was my romance) with Garus to his side as the reaper fleet crumbles around them, I'd of balled like a baby and said it was the best ending to a game ever. Instead I choose a color, and then died and I sat there thinking of all the ways that was disappointing. I was going into that last battle ready to sacrifice myself. Charging towards the portal with Harbinger firing at me, I was prepared to not make it through to the galaxy after the Reapers, but what transpired on the other side of that portal was a cop out.
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FOZ - August 28, 2012 4:59 p.m.

If Shepard had died after some kind of struggle, even if it ended up being too similar to the MGS4 "microwave scene" Something other than "It'll save the galaxy, but you'll be vaporized tragically because the plot says so" if you're going to kill the main character.
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avantguardian - August 28, 2012 12:22 a.m.

Sometimes "knowing how it ends" can make something more interesting, if done well. take a well-made out-of-sequence movie, for example. sometimes you can add a certain kind of intrigue knowing what's to come, but not necessarily how it got there. i had no problem knowing my ending to deus ex while playing its dlc. I'm not saying this will be the case with this dlc, but i'm certainly not against the concept. Of course, if they did create new endings, i'll happily play/enjoy them:) Also, agree 100% with coop about the original ending.
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D0CCON - August 27, 2012 11:52 p.m.

I've accepted that I'll never get my Indoctrination Theory ending, so I have my own way that it plays out in my head that I'll just go ahead and say is canon (it's a fictional universe, so why the hell not)?
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SentientSquidMachine - August 28, 2012 12:35 a.m.

Seriously, it was a gift, 20 min. youtube video and all, and they didn't even hint that they were intrigued by the concept. Missed opportunity.
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ParagonT - August 28, 2012 5:03 a.m.

Totally missed opportunity, I guess they thought their way was better. Or was it that they couldn't come to terms with the fact that some fans should have help directed the game? Dunno, but the alternate endings was good, but I was a tad bit lacking. But I'm satisfied personally.
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Vincent Wolf - August 27, 2012 11:34 p.m.

"I actually loved the ending of Mass Effect 3. Seriously, I really did." Stopped reading after this. But I do agree, ME3 needs whole new good ending.
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BladedFalcon - August 27, 2012 11:28 p.m.

I do have to agree completely on this. And it doesn't really matter if you like or hated the endings as is, but having more endings, more choices, would make the game worth playing again. And seriously, who wouldn't want additional endings? not just in this game, but in pretty much any non-linear narrative game. That being said, I'm gonna be a cynical stick in the mud here, and say that it's unlikely it will happen, at least with this particular DLC.
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TheMariner - August 27, 2012 11:24 p.m.

All BioWare really needs to do is make Jade Empire 2 and all will be forgiven.
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bigwill1221 - August 27, 2012 10:42 p.m.

BioWare will make a new ending after they created all dlc for anti-reaper weapons... We have prothean, now we have a rogue reaper, what is next... have an alien(organic), have a reaper(synthetics), next thing will probably be some robot/weapon that we can actually use to fight the reapers (or will offer a 4th choice.. hopefully a god damn epic boss battle with Harbinger)
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Shinn - August 27, 2012 10:31 p.m.

Yes, absolutely. We know that there will be dlc for this game, but we know exactly how the entire game goes. This is Bioware's endgame, with ME2 and ME1, there was always the idea that the dlc events could influence your future Shepard. Now that that's not possible, I think it's a great idea that EA and Bioware could effectively make ME3 a completely different game through dlc. There were a lot of moments during ME3 in which Bioware was obviously trying to show us how big an impact our smaller decisions can make. Conrad and Jenna being the first that come to mind. It was surprising that something as huge as having someone who had fought reapers for his entire life had less impact on the story of the game than shooting bottles with Garrus.
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paul212 - August 27, 2012 10:21 p.m.

You know after reading the article I mentally prepared myself for reading a bunch of hate comments, then BOOM a bunch of awesome people posted without calling anyone stupid, questioning each others sexuality or using massive amounts of curse words...for this short time I am proud. Also I totally agree.
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ThePrivateer - August 27, 2012 9:58 p.m.

Hollander, you are much, much better at this opinion pieces than Dave. I haven't been keeping up with GR too much in recent times, mainly because of him. But this is really well written and gets me thinking. Thanks for it.
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Bloodstorm - August 27, 2012 9:06 p.m.

I wasn't a huge fan of ME3's ending, not because it was 'sad' or 'dark' but because, to me, there was no meaning behind my sacrifice. I didn't feel like I was making the ultimate decision of my life for the galaxies. Any DLC released that has no effect on that, has no real purpose for me. I enjoyed the game as a whole to no end, even voting for it for GOTY in the Golden Joystick Awards over Arkham City, but without adding some new twist to the end of the game, it's not worth my money. It's not going to have any bearing on future games like ME2 DLC did because this is the end of the trilogy, so it has to change the ending, or it just doesn't make sense to add to it.
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Sinosaur - August 27, 2012 7:48 p.m.

This is just leading into the idea that more games need 'What If?' type DLC of something set in the same world, but something crazy happens. RDR did it with Undead Nightmare, and that was incredibly fun, plus you didn't have to play through however many hours of the campaign again if you'd beat it already. Cross product style, what if the Enterprise or the TARDIS showed up just before the battle against the Reapers?! ...it sounds kind of stupid, but I'd happily play it.
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ParagonT - August 28, 2012 5:05 a.m.

Dear God yes. 0.0
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rainn'sgaydar - August 27, 2012 7:26 p.m.

As a fan of the original ending as well, I'm totally with you on this, Coop. I would love an excuse to jump back into the universe and experience something with a little more weight than the Extended Cut did or Leviathan appears to, especially since it wouldn't affect my real ending. It'd be more like the alternate ending to Rocky Balboa where he actually wins. Meaning, it's fun to watch but too far fetched to work as canon. Something like that will bring me running back to that universe. Leviathan barely has me motivated to do a renegade run through 3 right now
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slimjim441 - August 27, 2012 6:45 p.m.

I know exactly what you mean. But listen to this. Rumor is, that the Leviathan DLC DOES add a varied ending to the game if you play your cards right. They say that you can coerce this 'rogue reaper' to actually fight with you with whatever trick it's got up its sleeve to reveal a new ending, but they also say that it's supposed to be REALLY hard to gain the guy's trust. There's no definitive info on whether any of that is legit or not, but I guess we'll find out tomorrow...
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