The elephant in the room

Destroy. My survival and happiness is more important to me then the Geth and EDI.

So simple. I like it.

Red was my choice. And it was a hard one to make as it involves genocide, which is justifiably called the "crime of crimes" in international law. Genocide is what the Reapers do (although they see it differently and they may actually have a point from their extreme perspective, more on that below), so they have to go. Irreversibly so, even if it involves committing the act myself in some variation of cosmic irony.

Looking back, Synthesis actually looks like it was intended to be the "best" ending based on the cutscenes in the extended version. But that information is not available at the time of the decision, and there are more reasons against it than for it when the choice has to be made.

I actually liked the reaper story and unlike many I don´t think that their point of view was just silly. The "salvation through destruction" theme for me was based on them seeing the purpose of life as the preservation of information. More specifically, the preservation of DNA. Putting any philosophical considerations aside for the moment, the data available to us and evolutionary theory consistent with it points into the direction that there is nothing magical about life at all, that living beings are basically serving the purpose of perpetuating the replicators inside (genes). Taking this basis to its extreme (as a purely logical machine without any philosophical considerations may be inclined to do), one may actually come to the conclusion that conserving those genes inside immortal, invincible machines may just be the best solution to the "problem" of preserving life given the game´s background of "organics creating synthetics and are inevitably being wiped out by them".

Besides my disagreement about the inevitability of this (the past being able to predict the future with certaintly is a logical fallacy imo), this is just the kind of extreme viewpoint that an alien intelligence with zero grasp on what makes life meaningful to us might hold. Life is a journey and not simply a means to an end. It is stated very clearly throughout the series that the essence of what makes us human is merely viewed as an annoying "propensity for chaos" by the Reapers. If they had this simple insight into human nature, it would have been trivially easy for the catalyst to convey. This was not done, so I have to assume that this insight was either not there or it was not considered important even at the point when one of the simple organic beings in question is chosen to decide the fate of the galaxy and all its inhabitants. I like to view the fact that we were actually allowed by the catalyst to make the choice at the end as adding some value/sincerity to their overall motivations (besides being a plot device). But that is not nearly good enough to choose a "synthesis" ending that is recommended by someone who either does not grasp (bad) or does not acknowledge (worse) that there are things that make life worthwile for organics besides preserving genetic information.               

Blue is not an option. Playing god may sound nice on paper, but I see no way this could turn out well. So you´re asking a mere human like me to merge with an army of genocidal super-AIs to "guide" the galaxy ? Thanks, but "no, thanks". Please see yourself out while I push the "red" button  .

 

I've given this a great deal of thought. It's actually a pretty agonizing decision which in retrospect makes me think the ending of the ME milky way galaxy was well written.

Control is obviously not a good ending unless you're going for human supremacy.

But between destroy and synthesis, I was torn. Synthesis is the ending where everyone gets a happy ending except Shephard. He sacrifices himself to left every denizen of the Milky Way galaxy reach a higher level of evolution. Something possibly unique in the whole universe. Effectively stopping the wars between synthetics and organics which have raged for eons.

Initially I thought that's the best ending. But after choosing it something never quite sat right with me. And I've finally put my finger one why.

It is the nature of life, of humanity, to never give up. We never want to accept that just because there's the possibility of pain, that we won't fight for the opposite outcome. We have faith and spirit, that just because it happened on the past doesn't have to mean the future will go the same way.

This is why the "destroy" ending is actually the best. We keep fighting. We don't give up and accept the compromise. We have faith that we can make a better future.

Now the obvious drawbacks to this are the deaths of EDI and the whole Geth race. EDI already states that she is willing to sacrifice her life to protect Jeff and her friends. Just like Shephard is. So her death is understandable. The sacrifice of the Geth is what truly makes this difficult. But between all the options given, this seems to be the best one.

The epilogue showing how the United galaxy rebuilds the relays and citadel shows how Destroy works out for the best. I do feel badly for Joker, EDI, and the Geth, but for the overall fate of the galaxy it seems the most.... Hopeful.

Synthesis is nice...I'll probably keep both saves. But destroy really rings the most true for me. And as the one which requires the highest Ems score, the game itself kinda supports this as the best ending.

Synthesis. Jump the entire galaxy into the future past all the time and conflict that would develop not only between races but between organics and synthetics on the inevitable path towards that future.

On my first playthrough I remember that I chose blue. I was so mad at the kid and at one point he said that if Shepard took control, He/she will take his spot and that he wasn't ok with that but he will have no other choice than to deal with it. So I took control to troll him since he ruined the ending for me, but destroy is the ideal ending because that what Shepard wanted to do since me1. Choosing control or synthesis will make Shepard a hypocrite since he/she fought saren and the illusive man who wanted to do those choices.

Even though destroy is the ideal, with the extended cut I choose a lot control since at the end it is my Shepard talking instead of Hackett and the dialogue slightly change depending of if I played with a renegade, paragon or neutral shepard.

I never chose Synthesis, it's the worst choice imo, why would you change the dna of everybody without their consent?

Like, it's a universe of endless possibilities. We could go to war with some other organic species on the same level or worse than the krogan or rachni and we're too busy to create killbots. Or there can be another machine uprising, but instead of organics getting wiped out, the machines are put down and they live to fight another millennia. Or the galaxy goes through heat death after eons of trucking on and the machine apocalypse fails to happen before that time. 

Looking that up Saren actually calls himself the future a true cyborg the strengths of both, the weaknesses of neither. Saren himself doesn't seek to turn everyone into him. His actions are based around the thought that if he and organics prove themselves useful the Reapers won't kill them. Because machines only care about what is useful and not useful. In his mind anyways.

Oh yes TIM was very open about how he wanted to control the Reapers.

How certainly is important but why is sometimes even more important. And this seems to be a reoccurring theme I've noticed and not really sure of it's origin in our real world social set up. Shepard's actions for control are vastly different from TIM's. And just because they both involved gaining control of the Reapers doesn't mean it is exactly the same. You know the difference between a surgeon and a murder cutting someone open? The Surgeon is attempting to help the person they are cutting cutting apart. The murder simply wants to kill them.

Red, for several years. Only recently did I choose Blue to keep the Geth around after I made peace with them and the Quarians.

Choose destroy with a clear conscience, everybody knows that all synthetics go to silicon heaven.

Well with synthesis is kind of boils down to what makes a person a person. Is it their physical body? Their accumulated experiences? Would someone upgrading their body with cybernetic enhancements now becomes someone completely different?

My general view is a person is the sum of their personal experiences not their DNA. Anyone with siblings can see this in action as even my twin sisters as they got older diverged further and further from each other. Separated only by their own personal unique experiences rather then DNA. So not only is it improving everyone with synthesis but it is also preventing a long and bloody war that would kill billions before it could be solved.

And on top of that people objecting to it simply do so because it is change. In game so many people and groups show a desire to hold onto status quo without change. And any change that happens is viewed as bad instantly. Volus practically invented the galactic economy and they don't even get their own embassy. Batarians have access to advanced technology and drones and yet won't give up slavery because reasons. Asari hordes a Prothean computer because they have been lying so much if it were to ever be found out it would destroy the image and place in the galaxy. Turians are so obsessed about their Hierarchy they waged a bloody civil war between colonies. Salarains even after the effect of the Krogan uplift they still continue to meddle in the affairs of less developed races.

TIM was pretty straight forward about how he would use the Repaers. Use them and their technology to ensure humanity became the dominate species and all other being subservient to them. This is stark contrast to what Shepard would do. Even renegade Shepard wouldn't be that much of a prick.