Maxing out the bar in SP is not the problem. The EMS (Effective military strength) number needs to be at 4000 in order to get the Shepard taking a breath in a pile of rubble clip after picking 'destroy synthetics' option (mine was at 3800 I think - while the total number of the fleet was double/close to 8000) - and for that to occur, you need to do ALL of the side-quests and find enough War Assets. Galactic readiness in SP always remains on 50% if you don't play MP... which halves the EMS (and it's something I don't approve of - at least they could have given us the option to raise GR % by about 10% or 15% in SP - but this is directly because of EA's insistence to include MP option to prevent piracy - idiots... I don't like EA btw because of their silly DRM tactics, and I don't like software like Origin being 'mandatory installs' either).
Can't find where I read it now or I'd provide a link, but I've seen a rumour floating around that the ending was intentionally nerfed at the 11th hour because of the beta leak a few months back. If I remember this right some anonymous source (who reportedly has been right before) says the "real" ending is coming in the form of free DLC. Allegedly the leak prompted them to change the ending but they didn't have enough time to have it ready for launch. Take that with whatever dosage of sodium chloride you feel appropriate. I know I wouldn't take my word for it. Still, if true it's a bit of a gamble on Bioware's part. ^I actually didn't have a problem with the basic premise of this, at least so far as it being the original reason why the cycle was created. Perhaps there was some ancient, million year long struggle between organic and synthetic life. What if the synthetics won and wiped out *all* life in the galaxy (if not the universe) but, like the Geth regretted that they had to do it and so recreated life in it's basest form anywhere where it might have a chance of survival, but set the cycle in place to maintain an equilibrium. A sort of evolutionary holding pattern for galactic civilizations until a more permanent solution is found. I think this is implied with the idea that the crucible wasn't started by the Protheans, or even the ones before them. It's pretty clear that it was started by whoever put the cycle into place. And indeed the options presented are valid; destroy all synthetics and risk the whole thing starting over again eons down the line, take control of the cycle and show that (if you've made the right choices) organics and synthetics can co-exist or force a permanent and inexorable bio-synthetic fusion with everything from sentient races to plants and bacteria. The problem was the execution.
Indeed. The initial reasoning for 'protecting organics' via preservation all that time ago may have been valid... but the current cycle demonstrated in ME2 and ME3 that synthetic life can coexist with organic life without necessity for mutual destruction. Furthermore, the argument is based on an assumption of repetitive pattern - ignoring possibility of factors that could alter the said pattern (as it happened in ME2 & 3) It's possible the kid's/reapers reasoning is 'locked' and cannot get past the premise 'synthetics will always rebel'. We've certainly seen that pattern in the first ME game, however, it's been broken since then, and the original reason behind the Geth attacking the Quarians was self-defense (because the Quarians attacked first)... and of course there's EDI. It's only logical that a machine locked in a certain frame of thought will not be able to look for other alternatives - hence why all options that we were presented with were all 'absolutes' (as the Reapers see them). The way I see it, humanity entered the galactic community and picked from them that AI's are bad. Granted, EDI's initial struggle with self-awareness was more than problematic, but it was obviously dealt with by Cerberus in a delicate manner which later resulted in something 'good'. But the first time I played it, I suspected that something is off and seeing the kid appear as the Catalyst was just way off which indicated that the machinery itself probably interfaced with Shepard and produced the image... but later on I started suspecting it could be Harbinger. Either way... it would seem (although I could be wrong) that Bioware's angle on this is still out in the open and that the actual 'ending' has yet to come (along with more content to play through). Man... combining all 3 games into a single play-through with all DLC's will definitely be a massive attempt. Lol... well, maybe not as massive... but it would produce roughly 130 hours of gameplay with all DLC's and side-quests.
Nothing on my end. I guess we will know more once the DLC's come out. One individual stated that the 'ending' we got is not a real one because Bioware wanted to prevent data mining (due to global release being on the 15th - tomorrow). It's possible that they wanted to avoid premature spoilers until the game hit the shelves globally - plus, this would in fact be a ballsy move overall. Plus, it doesn't make sense to end the game on this particular note when the rest of it was effectively 'epic'.
Other than what I already said? Not really. It's all just rumour at this point, there's been no official word, just a few cryptic tweets from one of the producers. [EDIT] - Sorry, I really ought to refresh before I post! I think that is what I saw somewhere else. On a different note, I've started a new playthrough with my renegade maleshep and I've already run into some very cool new things. First off, unlike ME2, if you let the council die back in ME1, you actually get to see the new council this time around! The Turian counsellor sounds older and less of a tool, while the Asari counsellor looks pretty much the same, but with a different voice and the Salarian counsellor is a female. More surprising though is the Normandy's new doctor. Because this character is a full on renegade, when he spoke to Chakwas he insisted she stay in the labs and to my surprise, when I went over to talk with Dr. Michel from Garrus's ME1 recruitment mission you can recruit her instead! I assume this will also be an option if you let Chakwas die back on the collector base and I'm not sure if Dr. Michel presence is contingent on having completed the blackmail mission back in ME1, but it would make sense...if so I wonder what happens if both her and Chakwas are unavailable.
Random observation: anyone else notice that the endgame room looks like the dialogue wheel? As in a circle leading to three paths; on blue passive approach, one red agressive and...the middle one?
yeah i was thinking the same thing. At the time I thought it was cool. Imagine my surprise when all three turn out to be the same thing
Seeing that image just made me realise something that's getting lost in all this. Regardless of all the controversy, Jennifer Hale's performance in those last scenes was nothing shot of phenomenal! Awesome would me more far accurate, but that term is oft misused. I don't know about anyone else but I was genuinely in awe and not from all the wiz-bang-crash, but from a few very quite, but very moving little character scenes. Grade-A solid acting Not just for a video game, but for acting in general. Oscar worth. Seriously. The bit with Anderson (more on that later) and after when Hackett is calling her, you really feel that this is a person hanging on by her last fingernail and her only thought is what someone else needs her to do. Then when she asks "I need to stop the reapers. Do you know how I can do that?" there's an almost pleading tone that just ripped my heart out. All Shepard's fire and confidence is just spent and she's down to her last grain of hope. I can't speak for Mark Meer as I've only just started a maleShep playthough, but I think I've already noticed a distinct improvement...or rather a conscious effort to move away from the- I don't want to say "monotone", because that's not fair or accurate, but there was always a certain "sameness" to his delivery in ME 1 & 2, especially when compared to Hale's. I already knew the guy had the chops and my preference for Hale was always just that; a personal preference. I won't be at all surprised if he brings his 'A' game too!
I haven't yet trialed FemShep on ME3, but I liked her enough on the first two. I'll have to keep an eye out as I have a FemShep game ready to go. MaleShep was effective enough during that scene - I felt so bad for him. Everything has gone to pot and he is trying so hard to get what he needs. Then I forget the rest... I've finally restarted the game. It's been nearly three days since I finished it, but I couldn't just bring myself to do it back then as I felt very strange from it all. A combination of doing a lot of it in one run, it being so damn tense throughout, and of course the duff ending took it all out of me. By the time I finished at 5am (from 10am the day before ) I pretty much felt like Shepard. Maybe there's a possibilty that I was so sleep deprived that I hallucinated the end? I've started my renegade runthrough. Can't wait to see what fresh hell I unleash on the galaxy in this one.
Of course, then one is left wondering if controlling a synthetic race is in keeping with the spirit of co-existence. To me, it seems more akin to slavery - you haven't convinced the controlled synthetic race that it was wrong, that it and organics can co-exist peacefully; you've simply forced it into that position against its will. And what if that control doesn't last forever, but the Reapers down the line are able to regain their own "freedom" (in the sense of how they were programmed by the Catalyst, at least) and go on to restart the cycle again? By choosing Michel for the Normandy, you turned Chakwas into a War Asset too. I did the same on my current FemShep mostly-Renegade playthrough, and I'm curious to see if she and Garrus have any interaction together. Particularly since Garrus and Tali seemed to be hooking up during my mostly-Paragon maleShep playthrough...
Yeah, I was floored by Hale's performance as well. I would say it ranks up there with the best voice acting I've ever seen in a game. The ending scene wasn't her best bit in the game though If you choose to kill Mordin and destroy the genophage cure you're treated what is probably the best acting in any gave I've ever played. You could actually feel Shepard's pain as she made her decision.
I haven't gotten to a FemShep playthrough yet, so I can't comment on Hale's work, but I thought Mark Meer did an absolutely fantastic job in ME3. He'd already improved in ME2, but the difference between his performance in ME3 and his performance in ME1 is like night and day.
^I didn't do that. I told Wrex straight up what the Salarian dalatrass suggested. Mordin then insists on sacrificing himself to make sure the cure is spread and you get treated to an encore performance of Gilbert & Sullivan. So it looks like either way, he's doomed. Speaking of doomed characters, am I going crazy or was there some early footage that featured Thane in what looked like a side mission with some hanar scientists trying to cure his condition? Could it be a plot flag bug that prevents it from triggering, or did they just cut it out? It actually might explain why he just suddenly appears at the hospital whereas most of the other characters crop up in a side mission first. Also might account for the conspicuously absence of the hanar this time around. The one I did spot only crops up when the Prothean visits the citadel. I don't think I saw any others at all...besides Blasto of course. I think I like it better if they did drop the idea to cure Thane. It makes his appearances in the few scenes he's in so much more meaningful. Not just the assassin on assassin fight with Kai Leng (epic though it was) but his death scene at the hospital and the prayer for Shepard. Actually, how did that scene go down for maleShep? In my femshep, she only catches that the prayer was for her because the last verse referred to a "she".
I don't know anything about the possibility that a side mission with Thane had been planned, but I can say that there is one hanar who plays a role in a side quest on the Citadel. Shepard even calls him a "big stupid jellyfish," because... well, because he was an enormous idiot who could have handed the hanar homeworld over to the Reapers without a fight. As for Thane's prayer: maleShep asks Kolyat why Thane needed forgiveness / redemption (however it was defined, can't recall right now), thinking (if I recall the thought process correctly) that Thane had already earned it by helping to stop the Collectors and by stopping Kai Leng's assassination attempt. Kolyat then informs Shepard that the prayer was not for Thane's own soul, but rather for Shepard.