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[IbizaPocholo]

Mass Effect 3's Original Ending Revealed

Mass Effect 3 has one of the most controversial endings in video game history. That said, the game’s controversial ending almost didn’t exist. During a recent interview former BioWare animation director Dave Wilkinson revealed that the game’s ending wasn’t the original ending of the game. It was...

comicbook.com

During a recent interview former BioWare animation director Dave Wilkinson revealed that the game's ending wasn't the original ending of the game. It was similar, but not the same, and it featured a character Wilkinson refers to as the Queen Reaper.

"At that point, Shepard was so augmented with like electronic bits and all the rest of this s**t," said Wilkinson while explaining that Shepard would have plugged himself or herself into the Citadel. "Within a virtual world he has a conversation with what was described as a god of the Reapers. I think it was a queen? And he had this conversation with the queen, and the queen basically said, 'the way the Reapers keep going, this isn't sustainable, blah blah blah blah blah blah, we have to evolve, but we're incapable of evolution because of the limitations of our AI and stuff like that.'"

Wilkinson continued by noting that the Reaper Queen's motivation led to her being imprisoned by other Reapers who feared her ideas would contaminate the rest of the AI species and thwart their mission design.

"So, then the conversation was really like her going, 'This is the chance to evolve everything, we can move everything forward,'" said Wilkinson.

According to Wilkinson, players were still going to be presented with three choices. The Paragon option more or less led to Shepard becoming the king of the reapers and leading them to a better purpose in the galaxy. The Renegade option featured Shepard not working with the Reapers or the Reaper Queen, which led to Shepard ripping himself or herself out of the Citadel, causing a massive explosion that would destroy both Earth and the Reapers, but allow organic life to continue with no interference or influence of the Reapers. And then there would be the Synthesis option, which would see Shepard and the Reaper Queen fuse to become some mix of organic and synthetic life, which would trigger some "space magic" that would lead to the synthesis of organic and synthetic life.

"There was an ending where there was a mom and a daughter, and I had them sitting on a hill, and I shot in with us drifting through stars and the stars get blurry," said Wilkinson.

"Then we would be drifting, and we'd follow them and we'd hear this woman explaining to her daughter how we came to this place, and we reach them and they're like Asaris but they're Asaris who are a little bit different, and she's just telling the story about how Shepard made everything better and saved everybody from the Reapers."

 

[ManaByte]

And then there would be the Synthesis option, which would see Shepard and the Reaper Queen fuse to become some mix of organic and synthetic life, which would trigger some "space magic" that would lead to the synthesis of organic and synthetic life.

 

[mejin]

Much better, even if fanfic.

 

[Bragr]

I don't like the idea of a "boss reaper" that gets imprisoned. The reapers don't seem like the sort of things that would put someone in prison. It would also remove a lot of the mystery of why they act as they do, which is an awesome thing with the reapers, you just don't know much about them.

This and the game-ending both suck donkey kong dick.

 

[Buki1]

"Within a virtual world he has a conversation with what was described as a god of the Reapers. I think it was a queen? And he had this conversation with the queen, and the queen basically said, 'the way the Reapers keep going, this isn't sustainable, blah blah blah blah blah blah, we have to evolve, but we're incapable of evolution because of the limitations of our AI and stuff like that.'"

Are we sure that this guy worked at Bioware or this is quote from some 12 year old on playground claiming his dad works for Bioware?

 

[Lone Wolf]

I don't like the idea of a "boss reaper" that gets imprisoned. The reapers don't seem like the sort of things that would put someone in prison. It would also remove a lot of the mystery of why they act as they do, which is an awesome thing with the reapers, you just don't know much about them.

This and the game-ending both suck donkey kong dick.

They are nearly the same anyway. whatever happened to multiple endings. Guess they lied.

 

[TheInfamousKira]

Yeah, this doesn't seem like "the original ending," but more like the beta of the established ending. Like storyboard phase or something. All the same basic concepts make it into the game, hell the "Queen," is basically recycled into Leviathan, except the prison isn't digital and the sentence into exile is a choice.

 

[IbizaPocholo]

Mass Effect 3's Happy Ending fan mod now available for Legendary Edition

One of Mass Effect's most popular finale mods is now available for the trilogy's Legendary Edition.

www.eurogamer.net

One of Mass Effect's most popular finale mods is now available for the trilogy's Legendary Edition.

This latest version of the so-called Happy Ending Mod adds many of the tweaks from previous iterations into a package which slots neatly into the Legendary Edition of BioWare's space opera trilogy.

 

[JayK47]

Mass Effect 3's Happy Ending fan mod now available for Legendary Edition

One of Mass Effect's most popular finale mods is now available for the trilogy's Legendary Edition.

www.eurogamer.net

One of Mass Effect's most popular finale mods is now available for the trilogy's Legendary Edition.

This latest version of the so-called Happy Ending Mod adds many of the tweaks from previous iterations into a package which slots neatly into the Legendary Edition of BioWare's space opera trilogy.

I installed this mod. It requires several other mods to work, like the community patch. It seems to have worked because I just wrapped up the Legendary Edition. Pretty easy install. Impressive how far mods have come. Installing mods used to be a huge pain in the ass.

After seeing the "Happy Ending", I can say that is far surpasses the default ending. It really is the ending that fans deserved and the ending that should have been made from the start. Leave it to fans to do a better job than a developer. Shows you who really cares about the characters and story. The "Happy Ending" does not give you a choice, it just begins the final cut scene right after the encounter with the Illusive Man. It does a great job of wrapping up the story and leaves the series on a high note. Really well done. If I ever play again, this is a mandatory mod for me.

 

[Warablo]

Better than the blue, green, or red ending.

 

[SlimeGooGoo]

.

 

[wipeout364]

Mass effect 3 should have had a completely new cast. Trying to incorporate 3 games of choices into a coherent narrative was bound to fail and it did. Either that or more characters in 2 should have had plot armor. That said Mass effect 1 and 2 remain two of my favorite RPG’s of all time. Those games were from a company that cared about storytelling and not about setting an agenda, those days are long gone and so is that company.

 

[Spaceman292]

Better than the blue, green, or red ending.

Actually read it. There's still the same A, B, C choice, even with the same names.

Honestly I think the idea of a reaper god is dumber than the child ghost a.i.

 

[IbizaPocholo]

xQc's Twitch Channel is Now Age Restricted

Mass Effect writer Drew Karpyshyn shares a rough idea that the development team had for the original ending of Mass Effect 3.

gamerant.com

Former BioWare writer Drew Karpyshyn is reflecting on the Mass Effect trilogy, sharing some previously unconfirmed details about the ending.

Karpyshyn recently held an Ask Me Anything session on Reddit to promote his upcoming book, Time Kings of Las Vegas. During the session, Karpyshyn was asked how he would have concluded the Mass Effect series, a sneaky way of asking him about the trilogy's ending without explicitly mentioning the trilogy's ending. Karpyshyn surprised when he provided an answer, explaining what the original BioWare team was thinking well before Mass Effect 3 was ever written.

If Karpyshyn is to be believed, the original "rough idea" for Mass Effect 3's ending would have involved "luring the Reapers through the Mass Relays." After that, the entire Mass Relay network would be "detonated," wiping out the reapers while also destroying the entire network of relays connecting the galaxy together. The intent, Karpyshyn said, would be to leave the various planets and civilizations of the galactic community isolated.

 

[Majukun]

so it was always going to be kinda bad, got it

 

[STARSBarry]

Honestly they should have just embraced the indoctrination fan ending and let you have the true ending if you shot the stupid Star Child... but no they instead patched in a huge fuck you instead.



Thanks Bioware good to see you take it personally when fans come up with better endings than your pack of crayola crayons.

 

[dDoc]

The "Happy Ending"

Porn Mass Effect.

 

[Torrent of Pork]

ME3 was one of the biggest, "No actually, fuck you," responses from the fanbase. Think of how much backlash it takes to get a AAA team like Bioware at their height to blink.

 

[MrTroubleMaker]

Never should have fought the reapers, it was better as a mystery / looming threat.

 

[Jaybe]

But would I still have to collect an insane amount of war assets?

 

[Nok Su Kow]

I remember being on the official forums fighting bioware (along with a few other people) for months over their claim you could get the "breath" ending playing strictly single player

Bioware said for months on end that you could get it without touching multiplayer which wasn't true, they locked topics about it and called us liars insinuating that we hadn't played the game properly before finally after MONTHS of this releasing a patch so you could and a one line statement saying it was always supposed to be a bonus for people who played multiplayer

 

[Quasicat]

I like that ending, especially how the renegade choice has you accidentally blowing up the Earth in the end.

 

[Kev Kev]

i liked all the story parts of ME3. i just thought the gameplay felt off from ME2, and there was some lack in quality and design.

i dunno, it just didnt feel as good. that and when you got to the ending, i believe you had to play multiplayer in order to get the absolute best, most complete ending. or something like that? maybe someone can correct me, but i specifically remember being pissed off bc i had no intention to play multiplayer, but i was missing out on something huge in the ending bc of that.

 

[mrabott]

Marauder Shields live!

 

[Camreezie]

Marauder Shields live!

He tried to keep us from the ending. Marauder shields is the true hero

 

[PaddyOCanager]

Dexter, Game of Thrones, and Mass Effect 3.

Master classes in how to destroy a franchise.

 

[karasu]

This is all so bad. Power fantasy run amuck. Your character can unplug himself from a machine and destroy the earth. yet another genocide courtesy of Shepard. Narratively, gaming is so stupid.

 

[Mattdaddy]

Lol that reminds of the Descent: Freespace games actually.

Spoiler: Freespace ending spoilers

Humanity ultimately couldn't win a conventional war and detonated the jump gates or whatever they were called (basically Mass Relays), destroying any aliens in transit and trapping the rest on the other side of the galaxy. But it severed contact between all the planets linked between the gates and anyone trapped on the alien side was RIP. Roll credits.

Fuck now I want a Freespace remaster that game was fuckin dooooooope. That might be the best game I ever played that never really got its due from the masses.

 

[TheGreatMusashi]

It’s weird that even though this sounds a little better, all it really boils down to is three plain choices.

Even in whatever early concept he’s mentioned, it still sucks.

Everyone wanted an accumulation of their decisions played out to a climax. Not push one button for good guy, one for neutral guy, and one for evil guy.

 

[Fbh]

Still seems like some shitty ending trying to be different and subverting expectations.

Should have just been an all out war with the reapers with a bunch of different scenes and outcomes depending on who you are allied with and the choices you made along the way.

 

[Trogdor1123]

I wish there was some more True differences in the endings. I wish your choices actually made a huge difference even about the where, when, and how of the ending. I get that it would be hard or even impossible but I’d rather that

 

[BennyBlanco]

Dexter, Game of Thrones, and Mass Effect 3.

Master classes in how to destroy a franchise.

dexter wins for having 2 really bad endings

 

[LordOfChaos]

Yeah that sounds better

It was one of the best sci fi settings in games and choices mattered until that end, that just flattened everything down to simple.

 

[Pallas]

Honestly wish they hadn’t scrapped the dark energy plot that grew in mass effect 2. Felt more interesting than Star child or reaper Queen.

Marauder Shields live!

Those marauder shields memes were pretty ridiculous back in the day.

 

[AGRacing]

The Reapers began in the story as an unknowable and unrelatable enemy. They implied they were millions or billions of years old. The Reapers thought and planned on a scale beyond our understanding or imagination in both time and space. There was SO MUCH potential for them. I genuinely thought they were so different than us that they were planning trillions of years ahead to try and survive the natural end of the universe.

By the end of part 3 they were just retarded robots.

This ending sounds a little better... but it's a low damn bar.

 

[March Climber]

Even with these changes I would still choose the red ending(destroy reapers) as my canon ending. Anything else means that the Reapers accomplished their mission.

 

[K' Dash]

Sounds like the same shit we got with extra steps.

 

[MrTroubleMaker]

Honestly wish they hadn’t scrapped the dark energy plot that grew in mass effect 2. Felt more interesting than Star child or reaper Queen.

yup

 

[Joshmyersbv]

This sounds fucking stupid.

 

[IbizaPocholo]

 

[ungalo]

This is just the original ending after they fired all the original writers and push to release the third game as fast as possible.

And the ending we have is actually better than that.

 

[FullMetalx117]

After all these years - we still talk about, fantasize the ending. The ending was fascinating at the very least. I love this trilogy

 

[Lucifers Beard]

Still sucks.

Mass Effect was mismanaged since 2, the first one was the only good one.

What? The first one was OK, second game was the best by far.

 

[SlimeGooGoo]

.

 

[Starbuck2907]

So, basically the ending of the

 

[Cyberpunkd]

Are we sure that this guy worked at Bioware or this is quote from some 12 year old on playground claiming his dad works for Bioware?

You can make a case this is standard modern BioWare writing, it really checks out!

 

[digoutyoursoul]

The Queen Reaper

https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/eaae0324-25ba-4945-8a75-db995c95f9b0

 

[Arachnid]

I actually don't like that ending at all. It makes the Reapers sound like normal shitty AIs. They are entire species distilled into a single entity (with all the knowledge and experience that entails). Reducing them to normal AIs seems contrived.

It also doesn't really make sense that their approach isn't sustainable. On what timescale? They've been doing this successfully for eons and the cycle of life they were perpetuating in the Milky Way came back every time. They were only wiping intelligent species. Their approach was shown to be perfectly sustainable.

Shepard becoming king of the Reapers is also insanely corny.

I do like the idea of synthesis and using the Reapers to evolve all remaining species though. That's kind of cool.

xQc's Twitch Channel is Now Age Restricted

Mass Effect writer Drew Karpyshyn shares a rough idea that the development team had for the original ending of Mass Effect 3.

gamerant.com

Former BioWare writer Drew Karpyshyn is reflecting on the Mass Effect trilogy, sharing some previously unconfirmed details about the ending.

Karpyshyn recently held an Ask Me Anything session on Reddit to promote his upcoming book, Time Kings of Las Vegas. During the session, Karpyshyn was asked how he would have concluded the Mass Effect series, a sneaky way of asking him about the trilogy's ending without explicitly mentioning the trilogy's ending. Karpyshyn surprised when he provided an answer, explaining what the original BioWare team was thinking well before Mass Effect 3 was ever written.

If Karpyshyn is to be believed, the original "rough idea" for Mass Effect 3's ending would have involved "luring the Reapers through the Mass Relays." After that, the entire Mass Relay network would be "detonated," wiping out the reapers while also destroying the entire network of relays connecting the galaxy together. The intent, Karpyshyn said, would be to leave the various planets and civilizations of the galactic community isolated.

This is actually a little better. Using the relay tech that's far beyond what current species are capable of to outplay the Reapers makes more sense.

 

[TheDreadLord]

I don't like the idea of a "boss reaper" that gets imprisoned. The reapers don't seem like the sort of things that would put someone in prison. It would also remove a lot of the mystery of why they act as they do, which is an awesome thing with the reapers, you just don't know much about them.

This and the game-ending both suck donkey kong dick.

I feel that the best ending is actually pretty satisfying and somehow ties in well with the teaser for ME4.