Mass Effect: The Canon Ending and Continuation
Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2021 8:57 pm
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?
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?