The Mass Effect 3 Happy Ending Mod and Why I Love It

[Winter]

I personally HATE the ending of ME3, to this day it remains one of my all time least favorite moments in my life because of just how STUPID I found it. I know some people have come around to it and feel that it's not that bad and more power to anyone who feels that way but God I wish THIS was the ending we got.


youtu.be/2CKCpZyWyhE

It's amazing just how much a few little edits change an entire story. No little blue troll, no scene where we're told that you have to agree with one of the standpoints of the villains, no choice were we need to compromise some or all of our beliefs and get ourselves or any of friends our friends killed. No space magic where we change the people of the galaxy without their consent. Just one big explosion, Reapers are dead, we go morn Anderson and go on with our friends and loved ones and the day is won.

Sure, it's still not perfect. It still boils all your choices down to nothing since all it took was a big damn Deus Ex Machina to stop the Reapers (and the origins of this thing STILL makes no sense and is shrouded in BS) but I feel more satisfied with THIS then I ever did with the actual ending. This makes the whole journey worth it and I feel like all my choices mattered because I got myself and my friends out of this alive. I couldn't save everyone but I felt like what I did mattered.

I heard a rumor that BioWare was tempted to change the ending in the Legendary Edition and GOD I wish they had, especially since they're likely going to make only one ending canon so why not just change the ending as a whole so THIS is the ending we get.

I have hopes for ME4/5 but I think the series would have been better if it had just given us a ending that wrapped up the series.

[CharlesPhipps]

Oh, I agree.

Mass Effect 3 is like Fallout 3.

The original ending was asinine and stupid but Fallout 3 was smart enough to make BROKEN STEEL.

[hammerofglass]

Personally I thought the Paragon version of Control (extended cut obviously) was already a good ending. It fits the themes of the story and is in keeping with Paragon Shep's character.

Shepard surviving just feels cheap to me. Discordant. I can't really put my finger on why, it just makes the story unsatisfying and feels like a sequel hook more than an ending.

[Madner Kami]

Personally, I never understood why people had such a hardon for Shepard's survival. His death makes perfect sense, as he's the one character who's constantly and consistently shown as given it all he's got an a conflict like that and such a scale, will take everything from you and then some. It's not played for drama or anything, it's just a hero giving his life to save the galaxy.
Similarly people cheering for Shepard's maybe comeback. Why? Are we, as a global society, really so hell-bent on preserving the eternal status quo of our heroes that we're smothering them so hard that they suffocate to a slow death, rather than accepting and appreciating that other people can and will stand up to fill the void? It's the eternal comic-book problem again and I am just so sick of it permeating every single medium. Rehashes, reboots, repeats. Fuck that. Embrace the new and look for far horizons!

[clearspira]

Personally, I never understood why people had such a hardon for Shepard's survival. His death makes perfect sense, as he's the one character who's constantly and consistently shown as given it all he's got an a conflict like that and such a scale, will take everything from you and then some. It's not played for drama or anything, it's just a hero giving his life to save the galaxy.
Similarly people cheering for Shepard's maybe comeback. Why? Are we, as a global society, really so hell-bent on preserving the eternal status quo of our heroes that we're smothering them so hard that they suffocate to a slow death, rather than accepting and appreciating that other people can and will stand up to fill the void? It's the eternal comic-book problem again and I am just so sick of it permeating every single medium. Rehashes, reboots, repeats. Fuck that. Embrace the new and look for far horizons!

Too many people whined about ME Andromeda for the Suits to try something new again. I thought it was a fun game myself but there you go.

[CharlesPhipps]

Personally I thought the Paragon version of Control (extended cut obviously) was already a good ending. It fits the themes of the story and is in keeping with Paragon Shep's character.

Shepard surviving just feels cheap to me. Discordant. I can't really put my finger on why, it just makes the story unsatisfying and feels like a sequel hook more than an ending.

I feel like Shepard sacrificing himself for no reason other than "the hero should die at the end" is one of the worst things in modern gaming.

[Madner Kami]

Too many people whined about ME Andromeda for the Suits to try something new again. I thought it was a fun game myself but there you go.

Absolutely. It had flaws, oh so many flaws, but it was a breath of fresh air in a room that had been stale for a while, by bringing in new concepts and less constraints. There's absolutely room for a proper follow-up, but I can absolutely see why execs won't let that happen any time soon: The mob would be up in arms, because it's not a Shepard-game.

I feel like Shepard sacrificing himself for no reason other than "the hero should die at the end" is one of the worst things in modern gaming.

A hero doesn't need to die, but a hero needs a send-off when their (greatest) story ends and the fans refuse Shepard the dignity of leaving the stage on his/her terms. If Shepard's life is what needs to be sacrificed to achieve a good end, Shepard would do it without a second thought. Alas, s/he is not allowed to do so.

[Winter]

Personally I thought the Paragon version of Control (extended cut obviously) was already a good ending. It fits the themes of the story and is in keeping with Paragon Shep's character.

Shepard surviving just feels cheap to me. Discordant. I can't really put my finger on why, it just makes the story unsatisfying and feels like a sequel hook more than an ending.

I feel like Shepard sacrificing himself for no reason other than "the hero should die at the end" is one of the worst things in modern gaming.

The reason for people wanting Shepard to live is simple, we have no control over whether she lives or not. Of all our companions who die in ME3 the only ones we have no control over who can live is Thane and Legion, Wrex and Mordin can live depending on our choices throughout the series though one has to die for the other to live. The fact that Shepard dies in all but one of the endings and is given no resolution in the story is frustrating.

The best way I can describe the ending of ME3 and our roles (or lack thereof) in it is that in RPGs we are part of the writing team and often are given a option in how a story is shaped. Most of the time it is only the illusion of choice but how our character acts, our relationship with the rest of the cast and if someone lives or dies is left up to us.

The ending of ME3 is basically an Executive Meddling as we're told we can only do something the studio wants and we have no say in how the story unfolds now. These are your options, deal with it.

What's worse is that it's not even the studio but our fellow writers who are telling us we have no choice and while some are on our side in the end we no longer have a real say in what happens and instead have to pick on of three options that are divorced from or choices throughout the series.

[stryke]

I feel like Shepard sacrificing himself for no reason other than "the hero should die at the end" is one of the worst things in modern gaming.

I wouldn't go that far but it was pretty dire. There was also a case of sacrifice fatigue in the big AAA rpgs after Fallout 3 and Dragon Age: Origins had both done exactly the same thing for their 'good' endings.

[Riedquat]

Personally I thought the Paragon version of Control (extended cut obviously) was already a good ending. It fits the themes of the story and is in keeping with Paragon Shep's character.

Shepard surviving just feels cheap to me. Discordant. I can't really put my finger on why, it just makes the story unsatisfying and feels like a sequel hook more than an ending.

I feel like Shepard sacrificing himself for no reason other than "the hero should die at the end" is one of the worst things in modern gaming.

Completey agree. It felt horribly contrived (the "sacrifice yourself to save everyone" thing almost always does). Got to have those negatives for that bittersweet feel! It's become a very tiresome cliche. Mordin sacrificing himself worked, Shepard did not.

I find it somewhat odd that there are people who are so against any sort of decent outcome for characters (especially well-written ones I've become attached to). "Everyone survives and lives happily ever after" is pretty damned unrealistic, but as I've pointed out so's the heroic sacrifice that saves the day, at least on this sort of scale. Whilst that survival happening every time destroys any drama if you know it's always going to happen, the opposite becoming so common does too. And fixing anything in stone either way is failing to appreciate the benefits of games a storytelling medium, where multiple outcomes are possible (although there's always the metagaming issue to run in to there). But what we've actually got is a group who seem to regard positivity, happiness and so on (rather than just because of cheesiness or cliche) as something negative in its own right. That's a bit messed up.

At any rate the ending left me feeling very pissed off and unsatisfied.