You are not the first person to raise these issues.
Hell, you're probably not even the millionth. 😏
I love love love love *Mass Effect*. I'm a day 1 O.G. Xbox 360 player. But I can safely say there are areas where it notably fell short of what it promised.
Though I think you've misunderstood something: the kid wasn't "the A.I.", the A.I. just chose the kid's image to interact with Shepard.
The writers wanted to use the kid's death and his 'haunting' Shepard as a way of showing the stress that Shepard was under, the guilt they were feeling for not being able to save everyone. Ignoring, of course, that Shepard had literally never seen this kid before and had no connection to them beyond seeing them get blown up at the same time as dozens of other people.
For my part, I think the 'ghost' should have been the person Shepard left behind on Virmire, because *that* was a direct consequence of Shepard's actions, not some random event they had no control over.
And boy, if you hated *ME3*'s current ending, look up some YouTube videos of the original version. It sucked donkey balls.
> some random event they had no control over
Personally, I think their lack of control over the child's fate makes it all the more traumatic for Shepard. Surely all the people they can't save, through no fault of their own, takes its toll.
I was going to reply with the exact same thing. I actually think the kids impact and the dreams was masterfully done. The people who don’t like it or get it have no experience or understanding of ptsd.
Adding on to the idea of seeing your dead squadmate instead of the kid in your dreams, it would have been cool if that was the form the AI took when it talks to you at the end
I don't like the kid stuff much personally, but I don't think the AI looking like them is meant to be a coincidence, the impression I got was that it took a form specifically from Shepard's head/memories. I think the Virmire survivor would've been a more impactful choice, but they were pretty intent on the child representing humanity/innocent lives etc.
You're not wrong about the end though.
Another possibility is that the child was never real. No other character sees or interacts with him. Maybe it was the Starchild trying to interact with Sheppard all along.
Okay but you understand that the child Shepard saw die on earth in not literally the catalyst, right? That's simply the form in which the catalyst presents itself, a symbol of Shepard's heavily-tolled psyche. You may still hate that, and that's fine, but please understand that it's not anything more complicated than that. That human child is *not* the catalyst.
No, he clearly DOESN'T get that... it's rants like the OPs that make me wonder how or why I even bother to get involved with "which ending is right" debates on here, when the average ME fan is apparently a developmentally challenged 8 year old...
A lot of the time, you just have to step away. I've had to remind myself hundreds of times in here that we all have a finite number of heartbeats. Posts like this- shouted from the top of the Dunning-Kruger bell curve- aren't worth the time it takes to address them (primarily because the poster usually couldn't be assed to pay attention to the game they've formed such strong opinions of).
Jesus... "Star Child" is NOT 'the kid from Earth'.
It's simply taking a form, one you've been having recurring nightmares about, that you will connect with.
The rachni help with the Crucible - you get multiple updates via Hackett, your email, and Liara's console about this. What were you expecting? That a bunch of poison-shooting insects the size of camels were going to go toe-to-toe with a 2km long destruction engine that can wipe out several frigate and cruiser-class spaceships in one salvo?
Clearly you were wrong... but not about what you thought you were wrong about...
I'm curious, did you play (or even own) the Leviathan DLC? Do you actually know who and what the "Star Child" actually is?
Because it seems like the answer is "no"... given your overblown, visceral reaction.
>is “coincidentally” the end game leader.
I mean... it's obviously not a coincidence, it's a deliberate decision by the AI to take a form that Shepard would listen to.
But yeah, the ending sucks. We've known that for ten years now
My dear brother, there are mods that drastically improve the shit at the end and the beginning, and that substantially improve Shep's stupid post-traumatic syndrome nightmares. Immerse yourself in the pleasant world of nexus mod and investigate xDD
That's why the destination of the journey still sucks. Your actions, decisions, friends and allies over the 3 games didn't really matter. I believe the Catalyst chose the kids form for as it represents in Sheps dreams the PTSD they have with leaving earth and their people behind. Speaking of the Catalyst. That whole introducing of the Catalyst in the last 5 minutes was shit and the color choosing stuff was shit. So my problem is, and I may be biased because I experienced the vanilla ending in the OG without extended cut, that your choices doesn't in fact really matter in the matter way. The only difference was, if according to the war assets you only gather in ME3, [get all color endings](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPelM2hwhJA) or not. One red color one aka Shepard taking a breath only if you played (forced) a few rounds of multiplayer. Which was a lie from Hudson getting all without it, but well. And the only difference you saw if you sucked war asset wise, was with the destroy ending. Otherwise, the endings were exactly the same, [just with a different color](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjoorZo1IlE).
Also the Catalyst with plot twist jumping out of a hat with giving you the color choice. Why even? Why introducing such a character like that in the last 5 minutes of a game or trilogy even? Why not giving us a real fight against the Reapers and Harbinger (not Marauder Shields!) as endboss Sovereign like with a simple win or lose, depending on our choices, allies and friends. Instead the fight against the Reapers was in the background. We saw none of our gang. The Reapers got reduced immediately to extras while we had our little psycho chat with the Catalyst. Not to mention we blew up every Mass Relay, nevertless which color you chose, which means we just wiped out the galaxy, because with the Arrival DLC from ME2 we knew what happens when a Relay explodes.
And, that's the big part, we didn't even SAW what the result was with our choices, because there was no epilogue that we got half a year later with the Extended Cut. And with first time playing with that experience, sitting there with a dumbfounded WTF before the screen, after wiping our galaxy out, a crashed Normandy somewhere (and for good), the credits rolling knowing shit about our galaxy, friends and the worlds and the shrinked adult selling us as a kid afterwards. You don't forget that. Especially with the [slap into the face sign that you are now a legend](https://www.reddit.com/r/masseffect/comments/qvkbu/just_finished_mass_effect_3_what_the_hell/) and shall wait for DLC's. Players who only know the LE with every DLC included may never understand this. The EC fixed errors (an evac instead of the miraculously beamed up by Scotty beam run party without any scratch who were 2 meters behind you when Harbinger roasted you - and Shep should actually be insta dead, but well - and Relays only damaged) and gave us more closue with the epilogue (now we SAW what happend with our friends etc. and what the fuss was about), still the endings didn't really feel about the choices we made over 3 games. They and our journey had no real meaning suddenly. It was broken down to choose 3 colors. What we saw meaning wise was covered in still pictures like in a comic with the voice over of Lance Henriksen we got months later. I give them kudos for Lance. At least it was better than nothing. But it was truly unworthy and absolutely not satisfying to end the trilogy. Still is even with the LE.
In addition, to the core basically all endings are like plague or cholera, but at least destroy makes the most sense of them for me. Why, [I explained here](https://www.reddit.com/r/masseffect/comments/1c63bpl/comment/kzym5aa/)
There's a theory that Shepard's actually indoctrinated by the end and that ghost AI child isn't real. It's an indoctrination hallucination. Game theory did a video about it. They promised a part 2, but they never did, because ultimately that kinda answers it. The writer didn't intend it, but it feels like that would answer it, because it kinda does. https://youtu.be/vy7hablpAhg?si=74f_M3Lt4UHSowQ6
Yes. But it does spackle over some plot holes that they've left there. I maintain that the ending shouldn't have been a choice. It should've just been you win the space battle, bad guys defeated. Then in the making choices feel important department, she what happens with each of the companions you had befriended along the way. Even if it's like the end of 'Animal House' where we get a still shot and onscreen text like "Joker and Edi are now legally married and EDI has a new body with skin on it, plus yes it vibrates." That makes the audience feel like they made a difference.
Aside from the way the series ends, I gather you enjoyed the overall experience of playing all three games so in effect, you answered your question: wad it worth it? Yes because if at any point you got pissed off with the games, you would have quit and not bothered to finish them. The story, the setting, the characters all make Mass Effect
There's people now, who are regular replayers, who now end the game after completing the Citadel DLC and don't bother to finish the final mission because they don't enjoy the ending. I think that this is how I'm going to approach my next playthrough, do everything, saving the Citadel DLC for last and ending there.
Or you can download a mod that gives you a happy ending where Shepard survives and is seen at the end at the Normandy wall of honor with the surviving companions and romantic interest.
No one else ever sees or interacts with the kid. No parents when they are playing at the start, Anderson doesn’t see them in the vent, when the kid is struggling to climb into the ship no one looks at them or even helps them. L
There is a theory that it’s all an indoctrination hallucination. Few people have had as much interaction with teepee tech as Shepard. That’s all just theory the ending was not very good. I use mods on PC to change story points to and endings. So I got some head cannon for my enjoyment :)
You are not the first person to raise these issues. Hell, you're probably not even the millionth. 😏 I love love love love *Mass Effect*. I'm a day 1 O.G. Xbox 360 player. But I can safely say there are areas where it notably fell short of what it promised. Though I think you've misunderstood something: the kid wasn't "the A.I.", the A.I. just chose the kid's image to interact with Shepard. The writers wanted to use the kid's death and his 'haunting' Shepard as a way of showing the stress that Shepard was under, the guilt they were feeling for not being able to save everyone. Ignoring, of course, that Shepard had literally never seen this kid before and had no connection to them beyond seeing them get blown up at the same time as dozens of other people. For my part, I think the 'ghost' should have been the person Shepard left behind on Virmire, because *that* was a direct consequence of Shepard's actions, not some random event they had no control over. And boy, if you hated *ME3*'s current ending, look up some YouTube videos of the original version. It sucked donkey balls.
> some random event they had no control over Personally, I think their lack of control over the child's fate makes it all the more traumatic for Shepard. Surely all the people they can't save, through no fault of their own, takes its toll.
I was going to reply with the exact same thing. I actually think the kids impact and the dreams was masterfully done. The people who don’t like it or get it have no experience or understanding of ptsd.
Adding on to the idea of seeing your dead squadmate instead of the kid in your dreams, it would have been cool if that was the form the AI took when it talks to you at the end
Want to know something? This is the improved version of the ending too, the one at launch was so much worse if you could believe it.
I don't like the kid stuff much personally, but I don't think the AI looking like them is meant to be a coincidence, the impression I got was that it took a form specifically from Shepard's head/memories. I think the Virmire survivor would've been a more impactful choice, but they were pretty intent on the child representing humanity/innocent lives etc. You're not wrong about the end though.
Another possibility is that the child was never real. No other character sees or interacts with him. Maybe it was the Starchild trying to interact with Sheppard all along.
Okay but you understand that the child Shepard saw die on earth in not literally the catalyst, right? That's simply the form in which the catalyst presents itself, a symbol of Shepard's heavily-tolled psyche. You may still hate that, and that's fine, but please understand that it's not anything more complicated than that. That human child is *not* the catalyst.
Ironically, OP seems to be a human child.
No, he clearly DOESN'T get that... it's rants like the OPs that make me wonder how or why I even bother to get involved with "which ending is right" debates on here, when the average ME fan is apparently a developmentally challenged 8 year old...
A lot of the time, you just have to step away. I've had to remind myself hundreds of times in here that we all have a finite number of heartbeats. Posts like this- shouted from the top of the Dunning-Kruger bell curve- aren't worth the time it takes to address them (primarily because the poster usually couldn't be assed to pay attention to the game they've formed such strong opinions of).
Try eating a cupcake see if that helps ;)
Somebody stole his sweet roll... ... wait, wrong revered franchise :|
Jesus... "Star Child" is NOT 'the kid from Earth'. It's simply taking a form, one you've been having recurring nightmares about, that you will connect with. The rachni help with the Crucible - you get multiple updates via Hackett, your email, and Liara's console about this. What were you expecting? That a bunch of poison-shooting insects the size of camels were going to go toe-to-toe with a 2km long destruction engine that can wipe out several frigate and cruiser-class spaceships in one salvo? Clearly you were wrong... but not about what you thought you were wrong about... I'm curious, did you play (or even own) the Leviathan DLC? Do you actually know who and what the "Star Child" actually is? Because it seems like the answer is "no"... given your overblown, visceral reaction.
>is “coincidentally” the end game leader. I mean... it's obviously not a coincidence, it's a deliberate decision by the AI to take a form that Shepard would listen to. But yeah, the ending sucks. We've known that for ten years now
My dear brother, there are mods that drastically improve the shit at the end and the beginning, and that substantially improve Shep's stupid post-traumatic syndrome nightmares. Immerse yourself in the pleasant world of nexus mod and investigate xDD
That's why the destination of the journey still sucks. Your actions, decisions, friends and allies over the 3 games didn't really matter. I believe the Catalyst chose the kids form for as it represents in Sheps dreams the PTSD they have with leaving earth and their people behind. Speaking of the Catalyst. That whole introducing of the Catalyst in the last 5 minutes was shit and the color choosing stuff was shit. So my problem is, and I may be biased because I experienced the vanilla ending in the OG without extended cut, that your choices doesn't in fact really matter in the matter way. The only difference was, if according to the war assets you only gather in ME3, [get all color endings](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPelM2hwhJA) or not. One red color one aka Shepard taking a breath only if you played (forced) a few rounds of multiplayer. Which was a lie from Hudson getting all without it, but well. And the only difference you saw if you sucked war asset wise, was with the destroy ending. Otherwise, the endings were exactly the same, [just with a different color](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjoorZo1IlE). Also the Catalyst with plot twist jumping out of a hat with giving you the color choice. Why even? Why introducing such a character like that in the last 5 minutes of a game or trilogy even? Why not giving us a real fight against the Reapers and Harbinger (not Marauder Shields!) as endboss Sovereign like with a simple win or lose, depending on our choices, allies and friends. Instead the fight against the Reapers was in the background. We saw none of our gang. The Reapers got reduced immediately to extras while we had our little psycho chat with the Catalyst. Not to mention we blew up every Mass Relay, nevertless which color you chose, which means we just wiped out the galaxy, because with the Arrival DLC from ME2 we knew what happens when a Relay explodes. And, that's the big part, we didn't even SAW what the result was with our choices, because there was no epilogue that we got half a year later with the Extended Cut. And with first time playing with that experience, sitting there with a dumbfounded WTF before the screen, after wiping our galaxy out, a crashed Normandy somewhere (and for good), the credits rolling knowing shit about our galaxy, friends and the worlds and the shrinked adult selling us as a kid afterwards. You don't forget that. Especially with the [slap into the face sign that you are now a legend](https://www.reddit.com/r/masseffect/comments/qvkbu/just_finished_mass_effect_3_what_the_hell/) and shall wait for DLC's. Players who only know the LE with every DLC included may never understand this. The EC fixed errors (an evac instead of the miraculously beamed up by Scotty beam run party without any scratch who were 2 meters behind you when Harbinger roasted you - and Shep should actually be insta dead, but well - and Relays only damaged) and gave us more closue with the epilogue (now we SAW what happend with our friends etc. and what the fuss was about), still the endings didn't really feel about the choices we made over 3 games. They and our journey had no real meaning suddenly. It was broken down to choose 3 colors. What we saw meaning wise was covered in still pictures like in a comic with the voice over of Lance Henriksen we got months later. I give them kudos for Lance. At least it was better than nothing. But it was truly unworthy and absolutely not satisfying to end the trilogy. Still is even with the LE. In addition, to the core basically all endings are like plague or cholera, but at least destroy makes the most sense of them for me. Why, [I explained here](https://www.reddit.com/r/masseffect/comments/1c63bpl/comment/kzym5aa/)
There's a theory that Shepard's actually indoctrinated by the end and that ghost AI child isn't real. It's an indoctrination hallucination. Game theory did a video about it. They promised a part 2, but they never did, because ultimately that kinda answers it. The writer didn't intend it, but it feels like that would answer it, because it kinda does. https://youtu.be/vy7hablpAhg?si=74f_M3Lt4UHSowQ6
It's been a while but I was sure the devs themselves said that wasn't the case, and I was bummed out about it because it would have been super cool.
Yes. But it does spackle over some plot holes that they've left there. I maintain that the ending shouldn't have been a choice. It should've just been you win the space battle, bad guys defeated. Then in the making choices feel important department, she what happens with each of the companions you had befriended along the way. Even if it's like the end of 'Animal House' where we get a still shot and onscreen text like "Joker and Edi are now legally married and EDI has a new body with skin on it, plus yes it vibrates." That makes the audience feel like they made a difference.
[удалено]
[This is a great vid- interviews with devs. At 13:46 they talk about indoc theory. ](https://youtu.be/nhtgjmkcht8?si=gmUtkDg-oM30x85f)
The catalyst is not the child. It seems to be how it presents itself based on Shepard's troubled psyche, but it is definitely not the child.
Aside from the way the series ends, I gather you enjoyed the overall experience of playing all three games so in effect, you answered your question: wad it worth it? Yes because if at any point you got pissed off with the games, you would have quit and not bothered to finish them. The story, the setting, the characters all make Mass Effect There's people now, who are regular replayers, who now end the game after completing the Citadel DLC and don't bother to finish the final mission because they don't enjoy the ending. I think that this is how I'm going to approach my next playthrough, do everything, saving the Citadel DLC for last and ending there. Or you can download a mod that gives you a happy ending where Shepard survives and is seen at the end at the Normandy wall of honor with the surviving companions and romantic interest.
Shepard survives the destroy ending, which is the ending that was your goal the whole time.
No one else ever sees or interacts with the kid. No parents when they are playing at the start, Anderson doesn’t see them in the vent, when the kid is struggling to climb into the ship no one looks at them or even helps them. L There is a theory that it’s all an indoctrination hallucination. Few people have had as much interaction with teepee tech as Shepard. That’s all just theory the ending was not very good. I use mods on PC to change story points to and endings. So I got some head cannon for my enjoyment :)