ME:A Ending Thread (EXTREME SPOILERS)

I thought the ending was very good. It wasn't the best story in the franchise, but it's definitely a great start for a new chapter in the Mass Effect universe. I didn't like the Archon. He was a simplistic and one dimensional character. That being said, I do believe the kett have the potential to grow into something interesting. I'd like to learn more about the Jardaan as well as the Benefactor behind the Andromeda Initiative, obviously. I wish the sibling Ryder had a bigger role in the game, but I suppose he/she played a crucial role at the end. The tease with the quarian ark (as well as elcor, drell, volus, and hanar) at the end had me shaking my head. I know BioWare couldn't bring all of the iconic races into the game, but that's just bait for the next game or DLC.

Overall, while this game didn't have the best story, it's by far my favorite Mass Effect purely because it vastly improved in so many areas of the previous games. I look forward to seeing where Ryder's story goes next. Hopefully we won't have to wait another five years for MEA 2.

It's implied that the godparents she mentions was quarians in the conversation you have with her and the others in the epilogue party.

My thoughts...

I liked the game, a lot. It had it's rough patches, I admit that. Still, over all, I'd stay 8.5/10. I refused to rate it against the OTHER Mass Effect titles, as I feel that's kinda unfair. I KNOW that they kinda invited it upon themselves, but I'm trying to be objective.

As to the ending...hmmm...

Undeniably the best ending BioWare has done since ME2. I don't care what anybody says. It respects the player and it has the most satisfying epilogue ever.

I was constantly ready to get the feels and having to let go too soon like in other games after ME2 and Witcher 3 (I felt so depressed when TW3 ended... too abruptly IMO) but not only does it have a post-credits sequence, it also has a full on extra epilogue that makes it feel like the story is still ongoing, you get a satisfying recognition of who your love interest is, you get to talk to Sis again, the rest of the squad and then as if that's not enough, when you board the ship you get a really uplifting scene of the crew taking off a final time before it goes back into the normal gameloop and even then each squadmate has new stuff to say.

The game as a whole is kind of a 7/10 thing for me, but I was smart enough to play the boring-ass Inquisition metagame in the middle of the main plot, then I saved all up to the "Virmire" mission until I had 100% viability and it literally made it feel like the game became an ongoing adventure with a blockbuster story in the tail-end which made it super satisfying to beat and the pacing felt so good in the last 10 hours of play.

It's ME1-rehash, I know. It's The Force Awakens of Mass Effect but as much as it reuses the tropes, it hides different context beneath them, similarly to TFA but arguably has more subtext here considering how depressing ME3 ended, the fact that we are technically in Andromeda because of that game not only from the writers/fans' perspective but also in-universe and the way this game ends so optimistically and downplays the heroism with its casualness makes for an overall satisfying arc. My only complaint about the ending was that you can tell this game is a jumble of 3 different studios where the Montreal linearity and tightness and not-so-BioWare-esqueness and the Schlerf-effect kicks into full swing in the entire final mission. That said, I super enjoyed Neo-Ilos and I'm glad it didn't replicate Vigil beat for beat, it was more like a nod in the previous mission. I was so sad Captain Dunn died. I liked her a lot for some reason (perfect asian space-milf ) but the whole sequence with the final boss and the Hyperion crashing just reminded me more of Halo than Mass Effect, which isn't a bad thing when I like Halo a lot but I think this game has a few identity problems from its obviously shifting direction between pre-prod. and post-production.

Credits also provided clues as to what happened to those leads that departed. Chris Wynn, Gerard, Schlerf and more were all listed as "Pre-production leads". It's very clear to me that the core BioWare staff or Edmonton saw the planned project as it was about to enter production and said "wait, this isn't BioWare-like, we have to change this".

All in all, this game was an uneven thing, but the quality accelerated lightning fast in the last 10 hours of my playthrough. Best romance, best endgame since ME2 and the Ryder Family Secret subplot really started to pay off and I found myself first getting chills during the logs revealing that Garrus's dad and Shepard's warnings along with "who could it be?" persuaded Alec to begin this journey before 2186 and then I started to smile when they revealed the Quarian signals in the epilogue.

Reviews aside (some are still very fair and this is a technical mess, no doubt) I'm happy I bought it. You did good BioWare.

I wish that after beating it and you activate Meridian, One you got to explore Meridian, and two when they go through the other planets you settled and see all new plant life growing like on Eos that when you go back post game you would see all those new changes.

I finshed the game not too long ago and I have to say that the ending battle was really intense. Loved the fact that the allies were present in the fight. It became more of a team effort rather than just the protagonist fighting alone. Along side with the music it was pretty epic. Archon however, wasn´t so terrifying as I would have liked. He Looked rather adorable; kind of hard to take serious as a evil mastermind bent on conquering the galaxy. I liked his design as a character, but as the main villain it was lacking. I get humanizing the facial features of the kett in order to make it easier for the player to sympathize for them, but in Archon's case that kind of backfired, I think. It would have been better if we were given some kind of background or motivations behind his actions. Again, the villain has a badass voice but there wasn't enough substance for that connection between the protagonist and antagonist.

Despite the lack of depth to Arcon; the thing I found more intimidating was the fact that he seemed like a foot soldier of some kind. I got the impression that someone else was pulling the strings. It didn't feel like he held that much authority; some of the other kett even question the reason behind his actions. Which I really liked. It was a nice sutble way to implicate that perhaps there was a lager unknown enemy. The ending therefore didn't feel lacking; it don't feel like a ending at all as a matter of fact. There was so much in the end that we didn't learn and was left unanswered. Then there is of course the cliffhanger; which just adds to more questions than answers.

Personally, the way things were left out in the open like that; it doesn't make any sense to switch to a new protagonist. Especially with the ending scene in the prologue, when Ryder learns about the arks. It felt more like a beginning rather than a ending, actually. The prologue was awesome in my opinion. The chance to speak to the crew members and squad was a great addition. The ending scene when everyone enters the tempest was a heartfelt moment; and again, it felt more like a promise of continuation then anything else. Overall, I loved the how the game ended. I hope they will continue with Ryder and the crew because the character and story arcs really has potential.

Did the Archon not STFU for anyone else during that final fight? Or just me?
Seriously.
He did not stop going on and on with the usual bad guy rhetoric. I couldn't hear what Scott was trying to tell me because of it.

Chatty Archon aside - The last mission was fun. I love it when everyone shows up to help out and pull their damn weight
I er, made Morda my ambassador because I just wanted to ruin everyone's day. Worth it. Tann was so pleased.

I'm surprised by how much has been left open though. It was very much drilled home that this was standalone and not another trilogy or anything. Whelp. If that's the case then the DLC better come along and tell me who the benefactor is, what the Kett are really all about and what the SOS from the Quarian ship is. Because I want answers and I don't know if I'd care to get them in a whole new game with a new protagonist.

Yeah, I knew that, but it still felt very poorly executed. Like, I'm not asking for a 'kick the puppy' moment or anything but still, he didn't feel that big or threatening before we knew that there were bigger bad above him. 

Him kidnapping the Hyperion and my twin was a dick move though. 

Oh yeah, I sped up the credits to 8x, went to go take a leak (while wearing my wireless headset), and rushed back once I heard the credits pause for that scene with Primus. Didn't realize the credits would go by THAT fast, lol.

I think I'm in love with the end credits song.



I just ended up so happy with how everything wrapped up. Seriously, I had a big smile on my face for a couple of hours

Each song fits pretty well with their respective endings. Faunts does have more of a Sci-Fi feel, but Under Stars just captured the tone so well.  I'd say I love them both for different reason.

Yeah, ME3 would have benefited from the war assets being an actual mechanic in gameplay, like what happened in Dragon Age: Origins. Targeting enemies with your troops during Priority: Earth could have be immensely satisfying.

Ah well.

Not all the Pathfinders are actually shown... but if Dunn survives, you got them all. Kalinda is only on coms, I think... but she is the battle, if she's alive.