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Funnily enough I have started talking to bioware and ea to begin preliminary steps to see if I am able to licence the Ip for a miniatures game, this is very early and in all reality they may so no, but I'm willing to take the risk and try.

Thought I would share.

kingbobb wrote:The ending is different for exactly three different people

Now I think you may not have paid attention.
Even the original ending cutscene already offered more than three different experiences: http://ie.ign.com/wikis/mass-effect-3/End_Game_Chart_-_With_Spoilers

Now, one might complain that most of the details in that chart depend on the Military Rating the character has accrued over their gametime, however it still is way more than just three different endings, and Military Rating is nothing but a simplification for the hundreds of choices that you made throughout ME1-3. Because this is where we get to what I mentioned earlier: someone who assumed that every single choice they ever made is visually represented in a 5-minute cutscene just had exaggerated, unrealistic expectations. This has nothing to do with miscommunication or "lies" but simply individual predisposition, for *I* was never under the same assumption, and I've been following the very same inter- and previews.
Maybe that's also why I enjoyed the ending more - because I never expected it to be something it could never be. And, I admit, probably because I have a rather vivid imagination that does not require every single consequence to be spelled out, rather than simply leaving it to my interpretation.

That chart isn't even complete, by the way. I know that, for example, military casualties can be depicted differently as well (the fighter pilot may survive, or he may get shot down), and if you saved her in ME1, the Destiny Ascendant will show up as part of the asari fleet. Likewise, the composition of task force Hammer as seen in the cutscene also reflects whether you saved the geth, the quarians, or both, represented by ships and personnel. Oh, and I suppose we also should not forget who makes it out of the Normandy in the last scene before the credits roll. Or that you can actually still lose the game in the final stage thanks due to a hidden timer, triggering a "worst case scenario" cutscene (which I thought was rather awesome - both the cutscene as well as the timer idea).

And these are just the bits and pieces that immediately spring to my mind; I would not be surprised at all if there was more, but which you'd only ever notice if you actually did multiple play-throughs, meticulously tracking every single difference. It's funny how many of the fans were utterly unaware of them, but once the internet rage was unleashed there was no stopping the tide.

I find it ironic (and, given the flak the devs received from the playerbase, somewhat sad) that a fan who complains about supposedly missing detail would miss all the aforementioned details himself.
As you said, to each their own. I can only say that my choices did matter. If you feel that yours did not, you have my condolences. You missed out on something great.

kingbobb wrote:And if I have unrealistic expectations, it's because I have over 100+ hours of gameplay creating those expectations, and pre-release Dev. statements leading me to believe that they were trying to meet those expectations.

Well, these can't be the only reasons, as the very same goes for me.

There's quite a bit of emotional attachment to this series from its fans - both the ones that stay amazed as well as from the ones who feel disappointed or even "betrayed" (some actually wanted to sue BioWare) - so I apologise if anything I said may sound a bit harsh. I suppose I am somewhat defensive of this series/franchise, even if I did nothing with it for almost a year by now.

[Addendum]

I originally picked Destroy (and mentally retconned my Shep to stay dead, even if I had the "breather" cutscene) as I still feel it's the most suitable ending. However, as far as the new Ending DLC is concerned, I have to say that Synthesis is, to me, the one good thing that came out of it. I still don't prefer it as a choice, but after watching it I feel it was almost exactly similar to my own interpretation of that ending - though actually watching and listening to it was far more amazing than what even my own imagination was capable of making up.

Now that I remember ... was I the only one listening to piano music in the next couple days following the ending, by the way?

Piano with a helping of Reaper dubstep?





Soooo...Anyone believe in the Indoctrination theory?

There were a lot of heavy hints and foreshadowing throughout the game. The hallucinations and nightmares (the boy from Earth), the oily black shadows in the final scenes with Anderson and The Illusive Man, the extensive direct exposure to Reapers that Shepard has experienced... Hell, he/she was inside a dead (but dreaming?) Reaper in ME2, spoke to several Reapers, directly fought, came face to face and spoke with a Reaper.

Personally, I'm going to choose the Destroy ending. That is what Shepard set out to do, and anything less seems like a betrayal of your principles and the sacrifices made by all the races to get you to that point.

Control smacks of hypocrisy, The Illusive Man wanted to control the Reapers and their technology for the advancement of humanity and you've spent the last two games opposing his plans and telling him hes insane.

Synthesis arbitrarily rewrites the DNA / programming of all races organic and synthetic in the Galaxy without their consent. It takes their choice and self determination away from them, assimiliating everyone into one giant collective - reminiscent of what the Reapers were doing. You're effectively completing the Reaper's work for them.

Destroy [the Reapers] is what Shepard set out to do, what everyone's sacrifice's have been for. Choosing the other two feels like you're being subtly indoctrinatedby the Reapers and manipulated into a course of action that the Catalyst favours. Plus, there is the scene when Shepard wakes up in the rubble. I interpret that as Shepard having resisted the Indoctrination. And besides - the Catalyst told you that "Destroy" would result in the destruction of all Synthetic life, including Shepard who is mostly Synthetic him/herself but if Shepard survived, was the Catalyst lying? I don't think it to be particularly trustworthy. Is it possible that the Geth, EDI and other Synthetic races survived?


Perhaps its good that the ending is vague. Its reminiscent of Inception and Lost - not all questions were answered, some answers were vague, and some answers prompted new questions so the Ending is open to all kinds of interpretations. That way, there is no true Canonical story and everyone comes away with their interpretation.


I havn't completed ME3 myself yet, but I did watch cutscenes on youtube to learn the story because I was invested in it (as with lots of games. Sometimes I might lose interest in the gameplay, but still want to know how the story ends so I watch Youtube e.g. Assassin's Creed). I got ME2 around the time that ME3 was released, but didn't enjoy the gameplay (Vanguard & Soldier) and lost interest and stopped playing in favour of other big time sink games (Skyrim). Then I got ME3 just a month ago for the Multiplayer, and enjoyed it so much that I decided to revisit ME2 and this time played an Infilitrator (converted to Sentinel in ME3) which I enjoyed a lot more.

My version is a Renegade female (I much prefer Jennifer Hale over Mark Meer).

Caitlynn Shepard
Colonist (Mindoir Colonist and survivor of a Batarian slaver attack).
Ruthless (hunted down Batarian slavers on Torfun).
No romance in ME1.
Killed the Rachni Queen.
Persuaded Wrex to stand down.
Sacrificed Kaidan Alenko
Saved the Destiny Ascension and Council (but regrets it somewhat).
Chose Anderson for the Council

Romanced Garrus in ME2.
Saved Genophage data.
Destroyed the Collector Base - does not trust Cerberus.

Cured the Genophage in ME3.
Continued romance with Garrus.

My next Priority Mission is Sur Kesh.

Ahh, every time ME is mention I get shivers. Without a doubt, alongside 40K (As they are poles apart in terms of 'feel'), Mass Effect is my favourite Sci-Fi setting. And inevitably, every time ME is mentioned, I get the urge to start up a new game and get the perfect ending - only a lack of time prevents me doing so (and the fact I've already done two full playthroughs).

Regarding the endings, I can sort of see the point in them. I don't really like them, purely on the principle that I always thought ME could be taken further, but at the time EA/Bioware was adamant ME 3 was the last in the setting. Hence, why wouldn't they give you the choice to go out the way you want to. Now though, they'll find it hard to incorporate all 3 endings (discounting the indoctrination theory - which I have to say is convincing IMO) into a post ME3 setting. As for my own choices, my second play through was the best.

In all games I played a Paragon Soldier (Albeit I did choose some of the more badass Renegade choices at times )

ME1:

Liara Romanced - Didn't want to, but as I like to explore all conversations options, I mistakenly got 'locked into' that route.
Saved Rachni Queen
Persuaded Wrex to stand down.
Sacrificed Kaiden Alenko.
Saved Destiny Ascension and Council - In some respects I regret it (seems kinda bad, leaving all those guys on the fleets to die for 3 Councillers) but the end result (Humanity on Council and a Fleet asset) was a 'Six or Two Threes' choice for me.
Promoted Anderson to Council

ME2:

Romanced Miranda - kinda passed it off as a lonely fling
Saved Genophage Data.
All squad members survived Assault on Collectors Base.
Destroyed Collector Base - As with Shadow Captain Edithae's above post, I didn't trust Cerberus.

ME3

I managed to achieve the perfect ending, using the Extended Cut DLC, on this one:



Romanced Ashley - The one I was wanting to go for from ME1!
Cured Genophage
Saved Rachni Queen - again.
Reprogrammed Geth
Miranda deceased - Not sure how though, I must have made a wrong choice at some point in the past two games.
All squad Members survived last charge.

Finally, I chose the Destroy ending. I fully agree with Shadow Captain Edithae on this one. Shepard's whole goal was to go out and destroy the Reapers, ending their enslavement, so why would you throw away all those choices and dialogue in the past games to 'Syntheise' or control them. Similarly, if the Catalyst was so powerful it could create a highly advanced Synthetic race that could destroy it's own creators and all other lifeforms (See the Leviathan DLC), then why would it surrender itself to a mere human just because it's commanded to - that makes no sense to me.

Regarding ME4 - I'm as die-hard as any other ME fan, but I don't want Shepard back. The fun is in creating a new story - reinventing yourself as a new person, not just dragging up the past in multiple reincarnations. It'd be nice to see him/her make a cameo appearance, but that's it.

I don't even want a cameo appearence. It'll be cool to have an on going mystery over whether Shepard survived, was he/she indoctrinated, what exactly happened on the Crucible, was the Catalyst telling the truth?

The developers flatout killed the "Indoctrination Theory".

Shephard was not indoctrinated.

Most of the evidence "supporting" the theory was circumstantial at best, based upon conjecture.

@Shadow Captain Edithae - Yeah maybe it's for the best. I certainly don't want him/her as main protagonist. Just listened to that Youtube clip as well - words cannot describe the feelz Also, interest concept you have there. I'll put my concept in spoilers as I don't know if you've finished ME 3 yet:



@Kanluwen - Pity, because the article I read laid it out in a convincing manner. Hell, I don't really care about the minutae of how ME 4 manages to tie into ME 3 - So long as ME starts off a fresh story arc with no 'nudge nudge wink wink' business I'll be happy.

The Mass Effect franchise is very dear to my heart. I loved the third one, especially the multiplayer.

I was not fond of the original ending, but the redone expanded ending was very satisfying to me. Of course, I did very well - I didn't lose anyone other than unavoidable ones, and I made good choices early on; though it was probably more luck than being a tactical genius. I saved the Racni, I saved the Krogan people, I reunited the Geth and the Quarians in peace and took Tali home, I punched a reporter who sassed me twice, I stopped the cycle of destruction from the Reapers, I kept Kelly from being disappeared by Cerberus, and I paved the way for a guy to have sex with a robot with everyone else taking it seriously.

I mean, I didn't 100% get the ending I wanted, but the one I got (after the redo) left me sad but satisfied.

Wait, wait wait. You punched a reporter who sassed you. Twice. How did I miss this option? Ouze, you have ruined my ending - I hope you're happy.

How did you get Miranda to stay alive? I did multiple reloads and all the conversation combinations with no luck - she just gets hit by a stray shot and dies. Very unsatisfying seeing as I went to the expense of saving her in ME 2.

 Warpig1815 wrote:
Wait, wait wait. You punched a reporter who sassed you. Twice. How did I miss this option? Ouze, you have ruined my ending - I hope you're happy.

How did you get Miranda to stay alive? I did multiple reloads and all the conversation combinations with no luck - she just gets hit by a stray shot and dies. Very unsatisfying seeing as I went to the expense of saving her in ME 2.

The reporter punching happens over 2 different games.

Here is the Miranda thing. I did every single side quest, afaik, in every single game, and had loyalty from everyone.

Yeah, as far as I can tell I did all that. I was really fastidious about sidequests (Went as far as scanning/landing on every planet available in ME1), did all sidequests in ME2+ME3. I warned Miranda about Kai Leng, gave her access to Alliance records. Basically the only thing I didn't do, was continue my romance with her from ME2 - ME3. And now it irritates me that my ME3 ending isn't 100% how I want it - but I can't be arsed to change that now

You've still ruined my ending because I didn't Falcon Punch that reporter - I'm not forgiving you for that transgression

I didn't romance her, though - maybe that make a difference? I hooked up with Liara (although I did get a lapdance from Kelly).

If it makes you feel better, I didn't get the ending I really wanted, either.




Also, you can apparently punch her three times (!). I only did twice. Also, my Shepard was a femshep, the default Shepard feels a little Chris Brown-esque.

Ahhh, I'm not too fussed. My only rage is that it was my second play through, and you know how long it takes to do everything (and everything right) in Mass Effect. So I got right to the end of ME3, having done everything right in the previous two games, but for the the two irritating points that I romanced Liara in ME1 (Which I wasn't aiming for) and Miranda died. Considering I'd done the rest right, it irritates me to no end, that I'm just about 99.9% of the way to getting a 'perfect ending', but I always balls something up. Good thing is I don't have to think about any of that with ME4 So I couldn't care less

 Warpig1815 wrote:
@Kanluwen - Pity, because the article I read laid it out in a convincing manner.

It sounded desperate, kind of pathetic, and just generally uninteresting to me.

Also, the only punches I delivered to the reporter were verbal, and they were complete and utter verbal beatdowns. Much more satisfying

I wouldn't say I wanted a Disney ending, exactly. - For example, a certain characters sacrifice right at the end made perfect sense.

However, I'd argue that Shepard wasn't defined by the Reaper Invasion and the defeat of that shouldn't have signalled the end of Shepard's story, the end of Mass Effect 3 shouldn't be the end of Shepard's story, there should have been a sense that s/he goes on to further adventures, we're just not necessarily following them any more.

Leave the complete grim-darkness to the Dragon Age setting, it belongs more comfortably there.

How I would have ended Mass Effect 3, would have been as a bookend, comparing it to the very first opening cutscene.




Shepard staring out of the window of The Normandy SR2 at the debris field over Earth. We then have a tour as s/he heads to the bridge, going past the assorted survivors.

Then possibly end in the ultimate homage and ultimately, somewhat disney-ish.

"Where to, Captain?"
"Second star on the right, and straight on til morning."

Or, maybe let you pick your own final lines, or determine it due to your Paragon/Renegade value.

"Council / Alliance command reports pirates in the Terminus Systems, lets go take a look."
"It's a big galaxy out there, lets find us some trouble."

-------------------------

In any case, The Mass Effect series is pretty much the greatest media series I've ever experienced. I don't think there's a day that goes by where I don't end up humming a couple of bars of the 'Suicide Mission' theme or I'm not reminded of the opening 'swoosh' of the theme tune by some elevator doors opening.

The truth is, most of my miniature games seem to have developed some sort of homage to Mass Effect in them now, whether it's the paint scheme of my Scourge in Dropzone Commander.



Or it's my Cerberus Corporation Marines in Warpath or my N7 Enforcers in Deadzone.



I'd argue that it has even overtaken Star Wars and Dune on the science fiction front and only matched by The Lord of The Rings in impact of media in my life.

I'd probably wear out my TV rewatching the film if it ever gets make and turns out half decently.

Have you seen the anime?

Yes, yes I have! Bought it the day it appeared on Amazon.

It's not quite the same though and I have a hard time dealing with the Anime style a lot of the time.

However, I'd settle for a film done in the style of Starship Troopers: Invasion as a compromise.

 Kanluwen wrote:
The developers flatout killed the "Indoctrination Theory".

Shephard was not indoctrinated.

Most of the evidence "supporting" the theory was circumstantial at best, based upon conjecture.

I know the developers publicly "killed" the theory, but IMO it was an abrupt about turn and bad writing.

And I disagree that the "evidence" was circumstantial.

For an entire trilogy, we've had warnings about the symptoms and the dangers of Indoctrination. The codex describes several symptoms. Paranoia, hallucinations, hearing alien voices, betraying friends, trusting enemies, ghostly presences manifesting as oily black shadows. Shepard displays several of these symptoms at various points in ME3. Whether Shepard was successfully indoctrinated is of course debateable, but clearly he/she was being subjected to and attacked by the indoctrination process. Its been building up over the entire trilogy, a sense of dread and foreboding, with heavy foreshadowing and hints. Do you really think its a coincidence that the codex entry on Indoctrination mentions hallucinations, alien voices in the mind, ghostly presences that manifest as oily black shadows; symptoms that Shepard quite clearly experiences at various points in the game?

IMO, Shepard is clearly in, at least, the early stages of indoctrination by the end of ME3 which begs the question, was he manipulated? How trustworthy therefore is our perception of events towards the end?

To spend an entire trilogy foreshadowing and hinting at indoctrination, only to do an abrupt turn and hand wave it away as though Shepard is somehow the only sentient being (barring the Rachni Queen?) in the galaxy capable of resisting it just strikes me as odd and bad writing. We know Shepard is special, but surely he's not so special that he's completely immune to Reaper influence. If Shepard truly is immune to Indoctrination, then its a bizaree and inexplicable immunity that hasn't been explained. Its as though Bioware is completely ignorant of their own Lore.

The Ending of the trilogy is either really bad writing (Indoctrination is an insidious and dangerous form of mind control that threatens every sapient race in the galaxy except the protagonist who's inexplicably immune because Video Game duh).

Or its a very clever ending akin to Lost and Inception, with enough questions answered for a satisfying conclusion but sufficiently vague with enough questions left unanswered for it to be open to multiple valid interpretations.


If it really is true that Shepard is completely immune to Indoctrination and that the Developers had to make a public statement to counter the conspiracy theories, then they really cocked up, teasing and foreshadowing something only to change their mind at the eleventh hour, creating an unsatisfying and inexplicable anti climax.

Its like Game of Thrones and the foreshadowing over R+L=J. If it turns out not to be true, then it'll be one hell of an anti climax and all that foreshadowing and hinting would become inexplicably pointless.


[/spoiler]

Codex Entry: Indoctrination wrote:Reaper "indoctrination" is an insidious means of corrupting organic minds, "reprogramming" the brain through physical and psychological conditioning using electromagnetic fields, infrasonic and ultrasonic noise, and other subliminal methods. The Reaper's resulting control over the limbic system leaves the victim highly susceptible to its suggestions.

Organics undergoing indoctrination may complain of headaches and buzzing or ringing in their ears. As time passes, they have [i]feelings of "being watched"[/i] and [b]hallucinations of "ghostly" presences[/b]. Ultimately, the Reaper gains the ability to use the victim's body to amplify its signals, manifesting as "alien" voices in the mind.

Indoctrination can create perfect deep cover agents. A Reaper's "suggestions" can manipulate victims into betraying friends, trusting enemies, or viewing the Reaper itself with superstitious awe. Should a Reaper subvert a well-placed political or military leader, the resulting chaos can bring down nations.

Long-term physical effects of the manipulation are unsustainable. Higher mental functioning decays, ultimately leaving the victim a gibbering animal. Rapid indoctrination is possible, but causes this decay in days or weeks. Slow, patient indoctrination allows the thrall to last for months or years.

 Compel wrote:

However, I'd settle for a film done in the style of Starship Troopers: Invasion as a compromise.

Good god yes. I would buy the hell out of that.

 motyak wrote:

 Compel wrote:

However, I'd settle for a film done in the style of Starship Troopers: Invasion as a compromise.

Good god yes. I would buy the hell out of that.

I've got my fingers crossed that they go with a female Shepard using Jennifer Hale as voice actor.

 Compel wrote:
Shepard staring out of the window of The Normandy SR2

That's not Shepard....

This is shepard

I'm not going to argue there. - It was just the first youtube video of the intro I could find as a reminder - The game did come out 7 years ago, after all.

I both like and dislike the indoctrination theory. I like it, frankly, because it paves the way for more adventures with Shepard and maybe a happier ending.

On the other hand, the more realistic part of me says that "it was all a dream" is a bs ending and that Shepard got, in the end, exactly what she wanted: she defeated the reapers. That it cost her life to do so was something neither unanticipated nor unacceptable to her.

"She died so all could live" is a pretty good epitaph, I think, for someone who went out on top.

 Ouze wrote:
I both like and dislike the indoctrination theory. I like it, frankly, because it paves the way for more adventures with Shepard and maybe a happier ending.

On the other hand, the more realistic part of me says that "it was all a dream" is a bs ending and that Shepard got, in the end, exactly what she wanted: she defeated the reapers. That it cost her life to do so was something neither surprising nor unacceptable to her.

I don't think it was a dream - she really did go to the Crucible, and meet the Catalyst. But I do think that Shepard's will was undermined by the early stages of Indoctrination to the point that it may have influenced her decisions. The Reapers were messing with her mind, making her hallucinate and trying to demoralise her or steer her towards a particular course of action (Control? Synthesis? Rejection?).

The Codex quite explicitly describes the various symptoms of Indoctrination, and Shepard clearly experiences some of them. At the very least, her mind is being attacked and she is resisting ongoing Indoctrination.

Shadow Captain Edithae wrote:Soooo...Anyone believe in the Indoctrination theory?

Not me. Never did. Because it can be debunked by a single, simple fact:

Warpig1815 wrote:but at the time EA/Bioware was adamant ME 3 was the last in the setting

Wasn't it rather that they were adamant it was to be the last one in the series?

I don't recall them ruling out any other games in the IP, ever. That would have been a dumb decision to make at any point in time, considering they just spent years crafting it, building it up to a point where they can sell novels, comics and toys...
Either way, I can't wait for ME4. I just hope it'll have playable aliens this time.

Warpig1815 wrote:Regarding ME4 - I'm as die-hard as any other ME fan, but I don't want Shepard back. The fun is in creating a new story - reinventing yourself as a new person, not just dragging up the past in multiple reincarnations.

Word!
That's also why I liked the sacrifice idea, by the way. Going out with a big boom, rather than fading into oblivion.

Shadow Captain Edithae wrote:If it really is true that Shepard is completely immune to Indoctrination and that the Developers had to make a public statement to counter the conspiracy theories, then they really cocked up, teasing and foreshadowing something only to change their mind at the eleventh hour, creating an unsatisfying and inexplicable anti climax.

There was no foreshadowing at all, at least I never encountered anything I would have interpreted as such. I think a lot of fans simply misinterpreted - or chose to misinterpret - these "teasers", misconstruing and twisting them into something completely different and what the writers did not intend. By ME3, Shepard was clearly suffering from a trauma triggered by the first attempt of the Reapers' invasion on Earth - specifically the child that got killed, and whose image burned itself in his/her mind, causing nightmares and ultimately having the Catalyst take its appearance (presumably after sifting through his/her mind). The symptoms displayed by Shep are classic signs of PTSD - however, whenever this topic comes up, a dozen people immediately start a riot, stating how "their Shepard" would supposedly be above that and could never possibly be affected this way by something as "silly" as a dying kid after everything he/she already went through. Regardless of similar cases in the real world.

Anyways, I believe that is what the writers tried to allude to, possibly influenced by contemporary media coverage of PTSD on the news regarding troop involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The very same subject is also touched on elsewhere in the game, if you happen to stop by the Citadel hospital and follow that Asari Commando's story.

Shadow Captain Edithae wrote:The Ending of the trilogy is either really bad writing (Indoctrination is an insidious and dangerous form of mind control that threatens every sapient race in the galaxy except the protagonist who's inexplicably immune because Video Game duh).

I wouldn't describe it that way. It's a matter of willpower - exactly like the Dark Side of the Force in Star Wars, or with Chaos in Wh40k. Mass Effect was far from treading new ground with indoctrination - it was simply its own take on the invisible corrupting force that exists in about every 2nd sci-fi setting. BioWare's Dragon Age has something similar in the Darkspawn Taint.

So, no-one is intrinsically immune, and in fact I do believe that the black mist "infecting" your screen towards the ending was an attempt at infection ... however, Shepard was either so driven and focused that she/he resisted, or the Catalyst just scanned Shep's memories and was honest about not trying to take him/her over (or, didn't the Catalyst actually state that Shep wasn't at risk from indoctrination? perhaps because it just tried, unsuccessfully?). We already know since the very first game that willpower can override indoctrination - you can talk Saren into shooting himself after realising he's become a puppet, after all - so it is a simple matter of being mentally strong enough, and Shepard arguably was. As were the others in her/his team, though it stands to reason that they were somewhat "protected" by having someone they can believe in.

And there's nothing that says there cannot be others in the galaxy who would be able to withstand indoctrination, if only their faith is strong enough.

motyak wrote:Good god yes. I would buy the hell out of that.

Sign me up as well.

I liked the anime, actually, but I think it was a mistake to make the Dragon Age movie CGI, and Mass Effect an anime. The other way around it may have worked better, simply because CGI always looks more "technical", whereas anime is more "spiritual", if that makes any sense?

 Lynata wrote:

Warpig1815 wrote:but at the time EA/Bioware was adamant ME 3 was the last in the setting

Wasn't it rather that they were adamant it was to be the last one in the series?

I don't recall them ruling out any other games in the IP, ever. That would have been a dumb decision to make at any point in time, considering they just spent years crafting it, building it up to a point where they can sell novels, comics and toys...
Either way, I can't wait for ME4. I just hope it'll have playable aliens this time.

It's possible I did mis-read that bit. I only got into ME at the suggestion of a friend when ME3 came out. I didn't play ME3 first, I went straight to ME1 and played through, so I was all a bit new to it. Possibly in my enthusiasm to see a new ME I mis-read the info that finished the series not setting. I usually, play human (You'll understand why in my next comment), but I'd like the option to play as a filthy Xeno - so long as it's not one of Shepard's squadmates. Sure, expand upon their stories as an NPC, but every character should have a little mystery to them - that's what makes them interesting. Don't give me the option to play as Garrus because then I'll know all there is to know about him, and I won't be richer for the knowing.

 Lynata wrote:

Warpig1815 wrote:Regarding ME4 - I'm as die-hard as any other ME fan, but I don't want Shepard back. The fun is in creating a new story - reinventing yourself as a new person, not just dragging up the past in multiple reincarnations.

Word!
That's also why I liked the sacrifice idea, by the way. Going out with a big boom, rather than fading into oblivion.

Yup. I can't understand why people get hung up over Shepard. I always thought of my Shepard as a mere placeholder for myself and for what I'd do in the situation (Which would probably be to choose the destroy ending ). The thing that makes books, videogames, to an extent even settings such as 40K or ME, is that you can let your imagination run rampant. When you create your character, really you're translating yourself - if not direct physical attributes (It's pretty hard to sculpt an exact likeness of your own face on a console ), then certainly mental traits, ideals and characteristics - into the game. In the case of ME, Shepard essentially does the talking for me, it's more about putting yourself into the setting than just guiding about a cutscene driven and explored character, ala Call of Duty or Assassin's Creed Characters. Those characters are defined by a pre-set storyline (Which isn't bad, just different), but Mass Effect's system ensures that your choices develop the character, not the other way around. Hence, why bring Shepard back, to re-hash old memories - give me a tabula rasa to create a new persona. Hence, it's a bit childish, IMO, of fans (Not directed at yourself here) to force their opinions on others and tell us what is and isn't Shepard - like I said before, Shepard is simply a reflection of the gamer. It's because of this disparity that another Shepard ME would be too difficult. What if, I did like ME3's ending, and I did want Shepard to die - who is anybody else to tell me I'm wrong? (Even if I tell myself I'm wrong )

Lynata wrote: By ME3, Shepard was clearly suffering from a trauma triggered by the first attempt of the Reapers' invasion on Earth - specifically the child that got killed

Was it ever really confirmed that the child died? As far as I recall, he simply crawled back into the duct. However, if he did survive, then it would be an awesome backstory for a new character/protagonist for ME4. Survives Earth's fall and meets Shepard - but ultimately, aside from that, has nothing to do with the last story arc.

You see the kid running onto the evac shuttle, which took off and got immediately turned into a flaming fireball by a reaper beam.

I forgot how much I loved the score of that game...

Also thanks a lot thread, because of you now I'm finishing that Xth mass effect 1-2-3 (2/3 way through 2 at the moment) playthrough that I started last year.

I got a reply from bioware and they have put me in touch with there licencing dept, here's hoping