Some people interpret it as a slap in the face of the people that wanted a different ending (“you don’t like the ending? SO BE IT!”). While I don’t share that opinion, the Refusal ending is really just a glorified game over screen. It’s a choice in the strict sense of the word but it destroys everything you tried to protect. It’s essentially a bad end to the game. What people asked for was a way to win without having to listen to the Reaper mastermind in the end. What they got was basically Bioware’s way of saying “no, you can’t”.
It also introduces another plothole. The Catalyst told Shepard that “my solution won’t work any more”. It then offers Destroy as a possible solution, where Shepard kills the Catalyst and all the Reapers. And it’s totally okay with that. But then why couldn’t they just go kill themselves, or let the fleet win conventionally. Or even give up and return to dark space or whatever. No, Shepard has to go and shoot a tube (and stand as close to possible to it when it explodes) to kill the Reapers. Because otherwise you might almost get a meaningful ending, and Bioware wouldn’t want that to happen.
I don’t really know how they should have ended the franchise anymore. I completely agree with all the problems fans pointed out. When I first beat the game I immediately had WTF outrage in me. Wondering to myself WTH I just saw.
I don’t know why they didn’t think of a more ingenious ending. It was definitely rushed and half assed. So, having dug themselves in a hole they chose to just expand that hole rather than cover it up and bring something extraordinary to the ending.
It was their artistic vision and their choice to keep the crap they already made intact. I still think it was good enough for what it was and I still love the series as a whole.
The problem in a nutshell, is that Mass Effect 3’s endings are about as arbitrary and meaningful as the endings from Fable 2. You have choices throughout the game, but in the end, you play god for the finale and pick from one of three options because. And that’s pretty much it. Anything you did prior to that doesn’t matter. Just pick one and enjoy your ending.
The endings had the same impact for me as Fable 2’s did. I just didn’t really care, and that’s bad.
Maybe the point is that all of the options required trade-offs. None of them are without negative consequences. So you have to choose between different endings with bad elements to them.
I don’t actually have a problem with that myself. Sometimes doing nothing really can lead to the worst consequences. It doesn’t mean that Shepard should have gone with any of the reaper solutions, but it seems to be the case that all of them had better overall consequences than doing nothing.
Perhaps the Reapers were programmed not to be able to self-destruct? I imagine the Starchild was quite limited in his abilities. All he does is outline the options.
I agree with that. There wasn’t enough build up to the endings throughout Mass Effect 3 (or in the other two games). If indeed those ending choices were meant to be part of the overall theme, they weren’t hinted at or connected in a meaningful way.
I finally picked up ME3 but have not yet played it. Currently replaying ME2. The endings not being relevant doesn’t surprise me. The writing in the first two was so hit or miss. How many times can the conversation between Miranda and myself devolve into camera pans to the side to show off her ass. The love stories are obviously written by guys who have not been in any serious relationships or know how to have a conversation with women that devolves into “I might do more than embrace you.” Seriously? The world and characters seem to be fairly well developed but I still think the Asari were someone’s alien sex fantasy thrown in, but I can attempt to look past that. In the end I am going to play ME3 and look forward to completing the story, but the awe I had for the first game is quickly disappearing and ME is becoming another one of those almost good kind of game series that is held back by pretty cookie cutter characters and character development. I just hope that once I do see the extended ending, I don’t decide to sell off the ME games because of it.