Overwhelmingly bad.
I've been hearing cries of "it makes no sense!", "it gives no closure!" and "give my money back!" since about a day after the game was released. Many are even signing up to a number of petitions to get BioWare to change or add to the endings in downloadable content.
Well, I've finally beaten the game and witnessed the ending for myself.
My initial thoughts? I can't believe it's getting the backlash it is.
Here's my opinion of the ending, beware of spoilers (and also beware wall of text!):
The final section of the game, from the fleets arriving through the Mass Effect relays to the ground assault and to the final push to the Citadel and the confrontation upon it is - no exaggeration - possibly my favourite moment in gaming. Ever. That section is an amazing end to the series. I was seriously sat so close to the edge of my seat as it unfolded, the scenes aboard the Citadel especially.
Now, most people seem to be flying off the handle once Shepard gets taken directly to the Catalyst. I've seen people saying it doesn't make sense and seems corny - yes, I found it a bit cheesy that this being had chosen the Earth kid as the form that it would take for Shepard, but the concept of the scene itself is show stopping. Here we are; we have built our forces for three games, forced our way through the enemy lines and now we stand at the precipice - the moment where galactic history will change forever. Three choices; three very hard choices. I sat staring at the screen for a good 5 minutes weighing up what I should do. All this time I have been hell-bent on destroying the Reapers, but with that comes the cost of also destroying myself, all advanced technology and the Geth, who have recently become fully sentient and brokered peace with organics. I could go the way of the Illusive Man and choose to control the Reapers, but can one man handle such a feat without succumbing to indoctrination or madness and end up destroying what he wishes to protect? Finally, I could merge organics and synthetics, reaching the "next step of evolution" - but what does that mean exactly?
I wondered, what would it mean to merge these lifeforms? I can imagine it would be horrific to the general populace of the galaxy. The thought of it is horrific to me, thinking of it now - my very being changed into something new, something different. But is it something better? Thinking back to the rest of the game, there seems to be a very distinct running theme of organic/synthetic metamorphosis; Shepard's doubts as to whether he is human or an artificial creation (that one's been around since the start of ME2, no less), EDI receiving a body and becoming ever more human, the Geth becoming sentient and becoming an integral part of the galactic community. Being paragon, my Shepard saw the positives of these ideas - he helped EDI fall in love/feel human emotions, he brought the Geth and Quarians together; he saw what good can become of this. So, I went for it - I merged the two beings, feeling that all of my experiences in the game (hell, even from first meeting the Geth and the organic/machine-hybrid Saren at the very beginning of the first game) paid a part in making that choice. To me, it felt like the natural progression of evolution for this universe, and the natural culmination of the story.
Bravo, BioWare, bravo. You made a real philosophical, thought provoking ending, in my opinion.
Now, that doesn't mean I'm entirely happy with the ending, of course. The Mass Effect relays are destroyed in the process of spreading this energy - I can get behind that, as it seems like the most lore-logical way of making that happen. But why was the Normandy leaving through a relay? Why wasn't it with the rest of the fleet - in fact, what happened to the rest of the fleet? And my crew? I know they got back aboard the Normandy (well, at least some of them did), but how? Did it make a return to Earth before it retreated? Why, when, how? This needs explanation.
What also needs explanation is what becomes of the crew - and the rest of the galaxy - now that the relays are destroyed. I believe it could be implied by the after-credits scene with the old man and the child that the planet they crashed on becomes populated, but how do they do that with such a small crew? That gene pool is waaaaaaaaay too small, but then, perhaps - in the Merge ending, at least - this newly evolved race does not reproduce in the same way? Of course, the planet with the man and child could be any other planet where humans were left once the relays were gone. This needs explanation. Same with what became of all the other races.
And one last thing, I speak of how the brokering of peace between organics and synthetics made the ending relative for me, but I believe there should have been an option where Shepard can rebuke the Catalysts idea that the two races will always battle - he did just do the impossible by making peace between Geth & organics, surely he can argue against the options given to him at the end and try and convince the Catalyst to just leave with the Reapers and let the races get on with things and see what becomes of the galaxy on their own terms. Perhaps this could be added in the DLC everyone who hated the endings wants; leave the original endings intact (while adding an epilogue to explain the discrepancies I brought up earlier), but add a 4th option ("Resist"), where Shepard has to battle Reapers/the Catalyst to destroy them on his own terms and free the galaxy.
Phew, that was long!
All in all, I'm really happy with how things turned out as an ending to the series. The game as a whole is fantastic and, despite the lack of explanation, I feel the endings were a fitting end to the impossible battle Shepard, his crew, and the galaxy as a whole faced. If Bioware do add new endings/add to the existing endings in DLC, I'll be happy to get more closure, but I certainly don't believe the series is "ruined", like many people do, with the endings we have now.
Here's my opinion of the ending, beware of spoilers (and also beware wall of text!):
The final section of the game, from the fleets arriving through the Mass Effect relays to the ground assault and to the final push to the Citadel and the confrontation upon it is - no exaggeration - possibly my favourite moment in gaming. Ever. That section is an amazing end to the series. I was seriously sat so close to the edge of my seat as it unfolded, the scenes aboard the Citadel especially.
Now, most people seem to be flying off the handle once Shepard gets taken directly to the Catalyst. I've seen people saying it doesn't make sense and seems corny - yes, I found it a bit cheesy that this being had chosen the Earth kid as the form that it would take for Shepard, but the concept of the scene itself is show stopping. Here we are; we have built our forces for three games, forced our way through the enemy lines and now we stand at the precipice - the moment where galactic history will change forever. Three choices; three very hard choices. I sat staring at the screen for a good 5 minutes weighing up what I should do. All this time I have been hell-bent on destroying the Reapers, but with that comes the cost of also destroying myself, all advanced technology and the Geth, who have recently become fully sentient and brokered peace with organics. I could go the way of the Illusive Man and choose to control the Reapers, but can one man handle such a feat without succumbing to indoctrination or madness and end up destroying what he wishes to protect? Finally, I could merge organics and synthetics, reaching the "next step of evolution" - but what does that mean exactly?
I wondered, what would it mean to merge these lifeforms? I can imagine it would be horrific to the general populace of the galaxy. The thought of it is horrific to me, thinking of it now - my very being changed into something new, something different. But is it something better? Thinking back to the rest of the game, there seems to be a very distinct running theme of organic/synthetic metamorphosis; Shepard's doubts as to whether he is human or an artificial creation (that one's been around since the start of ME2, no less), EDI receiving a body and becoming ever more human, the Geth becoming sentient and becoming an integral part of the galactic community. Being paragon, my Shepard saw the positives of these ideas - he helped EDI fall in love/feel human emotions, he brought the Geth and Quarians together; he saw what good can become of this. So, I went for it - I merged the two beings, feeling that all of my experiences in the game (hell, even from first meeting the Geth and the organic/machine-hybrid Saren at the very beginning of the first game) paid a part in making that choice. To me, it felt like the natural progression of evolution for this universe, and the natural culmination of the story.
Bravo, BioWare, bravo. You made a real philosophical, thought provoking ending, in my opinion.
Now, that doesn't mean I'm entirely happy with the ending, of course. The Mass Effect relays are destroyed in the process of spreading this energy - I can get behind that, as it seems like the most lore-logical way of making that happen. But why was the Normandy leaving through a relay? Why wasn't it with the rest of the fleet - in fact, what happened to the rest of the fleet? And my crew? I know they got back aboard the Normandy (well, at least some of them did), but how? Did it make a return to Earth before it retreated? Why, when, how? This needs explanation.
What also needs explanation is what becomes of the crew - and the rest of the galaxy - now that the relays are destroyed. I believe it could be implied by the after-credits scene with the old man and the child that the planet they crashed on becomes populated, but how do they do that with such a small crew? That gene pool is waaaaaaaaay too small, but then, perhaps - in the Merge ending, at least - this newly evolved race does not reproduce in the same way? Of course, the planet with the man and child could be any other planet where humans were left once the relays were gone. This needs explanation. Same with what became of all the other races.
And one last thing, I speak of how the brokering of peace between organics and synthetics made the ending relative for me, but I believe there should have been an option where Shepard can rebuke the Catalysts idea that the two races will always battle - he did just do the impossible by making peace between Geth & organics, surely he can argue against the options given to him at the end and try and convince the Catalyst to just leave with the Reapers and let the races get on with things and see what becomes of the galaxy on their own terms. Perhaps this could be added in the DLC everyone who hated the endings wants; leave the original endings intact (while adding an epilogue to explain the discrepancies I brought up earlier), but add a 4th option ("Resist"), where Shepard has to battle Reapers/the Catalyst to destroy them on his own terms and free the galaxy.
Phew, that was long!
All in all, I'm really happy with how things turned out as an ending to the series. The game as a whole is fantastic and, despite the lack of explanation, I feel the endings were a fitting end to the impossible battle Shepard, his crew, and the galaxy as a whole faced. If Bioware do add new endings/add to the existing endings in DLC, I'll be happy to get more closure, but I certainly don't believe the series is "ruined", like many people do, with the endings we have now.
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