The endings (again)

16 wildly different endings gave way to pick your favorite color.

"Releasing the energy of the Crucible will destroy the mass relays. You have a difficult choice to make and little time in which to make it." It was a trash and burn ending from which the franchise was never supposed to recover. It wasn't like Dragon Age. The writers were done with it. But then six months later Casey Hudson posted a poll - what do you want for the next Mass Effect game? I think the choices were a prequel, something concurrent to one of the games in the series, and a sequel. The sequel was overwhelming. And we got Andromeda because they couldn't figure out what to do with the endings. Face it. They will never be able to figure out what to do with the endings. The Milky Way is toast. It's done. Unless they're going to retcon ME3 and what the Crucible actually did.

I didn't have an objection so much to the "Shepard dies in the end" as I did to the way it was done.

Those elves already died out, because of his actions. Him not doing anything now isn't killing anyone off, while his current actions will kill off humans, dwarves, qunari, and even all the modern elves according to him. Not to mention all the Fade spirits that will be driven to madness by his actions, as we see with the Fade Rifts. The ancient elves are still alive even with the world the way that it is. So no, there is no contradiction. 
And that is still disgusting. 
I countered them, you didn't listen. Continuing to try would have been a waste of my time, since at that point it would be like trying to convince a Flat Earther, so I didn't bother. 

I'm curious. Do you believe it strengthens your point to compare people to actual, real-life monsters just because you disagree with them about their choices in a video game? Or is this just how you let out your anger?

So you do think it strengthens your argument to compare Noxluxe to a holocaust denier.

I promise you, it doesn't. It has the opposite effect.

Solas not doing anything now is killing off every elf everywhere, and will continue to forever. You know, that early death thing that's being unnaturally forced on them. Unless you've arbitrarily decided that as long as you live a vaguely human-length lifespan then your unnatural and untimely death because of another's actions isn't wrong and shouldn't be regretted? Because if not then yes, there definitely is a contradiction. You've just cognitively dissonanced your way out of having to think about it.

I wonder if you'd turned down a lever that actively cut human lifespans to 20 years for as long as it was in that position, you'd consider yourself worse off morally for every second you left it there or if you'd just as easily dismiss it as 'well, that's just how long people live now, nothing off my back' after the first massive death toll.

And no, you stopped responding instead of countering. And tried to slander me. It's kind of recorded. And no offense, but I'm very much not the Flat Earther or Holocaust denier-equivalent between the two of us. And guess what? I still don't consider conversations with you a waste of time. 

In any case, I like that each of the Mass Effect endings has its own mindfucky implications like that. It does a good job of making it plausible for different Shepards to choose any of them based on their worldviews and where their anxieties lie regarding the future of the galaxy. 'Imprint my current values on an immortal guidance system for the world', 'shut all the problematic shit down right now and leave us in a position to rebuild and decide our own future' and 'optimize each of us so there won't be any conflict ever again' are all the sorts of buttons that would be both tempting and terrifying to press for different reasons to different people.

I do wish the situation around the choice was better presented though. Some of the Catalyst's, Anderson's and the Illusive Man's dialogue is downright cringeworthy, which only rubs salt in the Illusive Man's piss-poor character writing throughout the entire game, and the whole sequence of events between the car being upended and Shepard getting lifted up on the platform seems incredibly implausible, roundabout and counterintuitive. And a canonical sequel would just... totally undermine the whole thing. So good thing that's not in the cards, right?


I like where you're coming from and appreciate the support, I really do. Wouldn't go so far as to consider Holocaust deniers or Flat-Earthers 'actual real-life monsters' though. Ignorant weirdos, probably, and certainly manipulative in some cases. But neither view(?) strikes me as an outright crime. I'd even say that I like the idea of skeptics like that existing and questioning stuff we all take completely for granted. Even if some of them end up fantastically confused and insensitive.

Anyway, I read it the way Hanako meant it, in terms of pigheadedness. Just find that sentiment pretty ironic under the circumstances.

that is a good idea but whom shall replace the Mighty Shepard if that occured. 

Bobby Ewing, obviously.

J.R. Ewing replaces TIM.

Alliance HQ relocates from Vancouver to Dallas.

Let's go all the way back to ME1. After passing out from the beacon, Shepard dreams about everything that happens. Let's go back even further. After seeing Jenkins killed, Shepard freezes for just a blink of an eye, but long enough to foresee what will happen afterwards. Bioware remakes the trilogy. 

Space hamster. He's the best qualified. He was at Shepard's side when dealing with the collectors. He doesn't answer to the leadership of the circus, I mean Alliance. 

The other would be Javik the Great. He doesn't give a crap about anyone. He's not there to make friends. He's there to destroy the reapers. 

You are just going to dismiss or ignore any argument that doesn't fall in line with your opinion aren't you?

Of course, I doubt you even know who Melinda Snodgrass IS.