Mass Effect: The Canon Ending and Continuation

[Winter]

So far, BioWare has only released 2 major promotional material in regards to Mass Effect 5, last year's the game awards trailer and a poster for N7 Day and both seem to confirm that BioWare is going to be picking a single ending as the "Canon" ending for ME3 with said ending being the Destroy Ending. The evidence that supports this, in the marketing for the game, is the dead Reapers we see in the trailer, the destroyed Mass Relays and the Geth corpses in the poster.

While I don't like the idea of continuing to ignore player choices for Mass Effect to continue it was going to have to pick an ending and stick with it and between the 3 original endings the Destroy ending makes the most sense as the other two have the Reapers pacified and made our allies which would render any threat against us pathetic purely by comparison (unless you go with the head canon that after Shepard took control of the Reapers they just flew all of them into the stars and called it a day). The destroy ending allows the series to continue without the need to nerf the Reapers and avoid Dragon Ball like Escalation by introducing a new threat that is more dangerous then the Reapers that are now just getting involved because we need a villain that's reaper like because Shut Up!

One thing to keep in mind is that the poster puts a great emphasis on the Geth with the crater looking like the head of a Geth which seems to be suggesting that the Geth are making some kind of return and that they'll will play a major role in the plot. Given the nature of the destroy ending is to wipe out ALL synthetic life it's interesting that the game is suggesting such a big role for the Geth who can already be dead before you even reach the infamous endings.

This isn't to surprising as the Geth are well loved and most players usually choose to save the Geth in ME3 so the question with this becomes, how are the Geth involved and what does their return mean for the series? My bet is that, along with the Quarians, some Geth went to the Andromeda galaxy via the Arks which is how they'll make a return without undoing player choices as depending whether you sided with the Geth or made peace with the Geth will affect your relationship with the surviving Geth in ME5.

Again, this is a good way or having your cake and eating it too as this gives the player the chance to continue the story that undoes the damage of the ending while having your choices carry over from the Trilogy by using Andromeda as a Get Out of ME3 Ending Free Card! (Available now for only 99,999)

I'm not saying it's perfect as, in the end, continuing the story of Mass Effect past the endings means having to undo the player choices which is frustrating regardless of how the product turns out. Though, again, this really is ME3's fault as the endings made it impossible to continue the story any other way.

Thouhts?

[clearspira]

''Though, again, this really is ME3's fault as the endings made it impossible to continue the story any other way.''

This is only a problem if you believe that stories should not end and should continue forever. Which, naturally, is the corporate view. I read a Youtube comment once that actually puts my thoughts on that attitude into words beautifully: ''You either finish your franchise when its on top, or you live to become The Simpsons.''

[Winter]

''Though, again, this really is ME3's fault as the endings made it impossible to continue the story any other way.''

This is only a problem if you believe that stories should not end and should continue forever. Which, naturally, is the corporate view. I read a Youtube comment once that actually puts my thoughts on that attitude into words beautifully: ''You either finish your franchise when its on top, or you live to become The Simpsons.''

BioWare and EA had no intention of stopping the series after ME3 and even with MEA's poor reception and sales there was STILL plans to make another game. Which is fine by me as Mass Effect deserves better then what's it's gotten. I like ME3 and even love parts of it but I still feel its endings are awful and MEA doesn't live up to it's potential. Maybe ME5 will suck and maybe it won't, either is possible so all we can do is wait and see.

[Nealithi]

One thing about the cycle and the council. Everybody had an AI is universally bad and will always turn on the creators. And in a sense they are right. Even the AI on the Normandy II turned against Cerebus to follow Shepard.

Also a magic button to kill all AI in the galaxy sounds a hair more magic than even element zero.
So I would say you either have isolated geth that were not active at the time of the signal. Or these are new AI similar to the geth.

[CharlesPhipps]

''Though, again, this really is ME3's fault as the endings made it impossible to continue the story any other way.''

This is only a problem if you believe that stories should not end and should continue forever. Which, naturally, is the corporate view. I read a Youtube comment once that actually puts my thoughts on that attitude into words beautifully: ''You either finish your franchise when its on top, or you live to become The Simpsons.''

Speaking as an author, the only reason you want to destroy your own franchise and leave nothing to continue with is if you have grown sick of it. There's no reason the games shouldn't have ended with, "Reapers beaten."

The Reapers were no one's favorite plot element anyway.

[Riedquat]

One thing about the cycle and the council. Everybody had an AI is universally bad and will always turn on the creators. And in a sense they are right. Even the AI on the Normandy II turned against Cerebus to follow Shepard.

So did Miranda. So did Jacob. If anything (until they wrote the ending after a big piss-up anyway) it was all "everyone's just a person, even an AI." And that's something I could get behind (even as someone who loathes the idea of AI development).

If they were going to explore the whole concept of AIs there's a hell of a lot more that could be done with a divided conciousness that can merge and split and share a la geth. It's an entirely plausible and entirely alien intelligence, not just being weird and different arbitrarily and handwaving that with "it's alien!" Oh so much potential for an imaginative writer! I keep trying to get my head around it, comprehend how it would be, truly empathise with it, and failing, which makes it even more fascinating a concept.

[hammerofglass]

''Though, again, this really is ME3's fault as the endings made it impossible to continue the story any other way.''

This is only a problem if you believe that stories should not end and should continue forever. Which, naturally, is the corporate view. I read a Youtube comment once that actually puts my thoughts on that attitude into words beautifully: ''You either finish your franchise when its on top, or you live to become The Simpsons.''

Speaking as an author, the only reason you want to destroy your own franchise and leave nothing to continue with is if you have grown sick of it. There's no reason the games shouldn't have ended with, "Reapers beaten."

The Reapers were no one's favorite plot element anyway.

Wasn't pretty much everyone high up already planning on retiring after? Torching the franchise behind you so nobody else can play with it is a time-honored tradition.

[clearspira]

''Though, again, this really is ME3's fault as the endings made it impossible to continue the story any other way.''

This is only a problem if you believe that stories should not end and should continue forever. Which, naturally, is the corporate view. I read a Youtube comment once that actually puts my thoughts on that attitude into words beautifully: ''You either finish your franchise when its on top, or you live to become The Simpsons.''

Speaking as an author, the only reason you want to destroy your own franchise and leave nothing to continue with is if you have grown sick of it. There's no reason the games shouldn't have ended with, "Reapers beaten."

The Reapers were no one's favorite plot element anyway.

Wasn't pretty much everyone high up already planning on retiring after? Torching the franchise behind you so nobody else can play with it is a time-honored tradition.

Ian Fleming and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle both tried to do that at various points. Supposedly Terry Pratchett ordered any of his unfinished Discworld manuscripts destroyed upon his death.

[CharlesPhipps]

Ian Fleming and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle both tried to do that at various points. Supposedly Terry Pratchett ordered any of his unfinished Discworld manuscripts destroyed upon his death.

Dragonlance is a more typical example of franchise burning via financial issues. Margaret Weis and Hickman wrote a novel where they removed everything remotely Dragonlance-like about the setting because they were being kicked off the books.