Current Events > One thing I don't get about one of the Mass Effect 3 endings... *spoilers*

(+) Yeah! (+)

Synthesis

So when the synthesis wave hits the soldier and husk fighting, the husk backs away and gets a wide eyed "holy shit what the fuck happened?" look

My question is

What exactly happened with that? Are the husks still connected to the Reapers, are they their own individuals now? Is the person the husk used to be now back?

What happens with reaper troops that are amalgamations of multiple individuals like the Cannibals, Brutes, Scions, or Praetorians?
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synthesis was dumb. always destroy the reapers.

Doom_Art posted...

What exactly happened with that? Are the husks still connected to the Reapers, are they their own individuals now? Is the person the husk used to be now back?

it's now organic, as are all the reapers. presumably they are still all interconnected, though, as the master control AI is still linked to them

Doom_Art posted...

What happens with reaper troops that are amalgamations of multiple individuals like the Cannibals, Brutes, Scions, or Praetorians?

orgy
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It's one of those unpleasant, nightmare-fuel connotations that show why Synthesis, while touted as the best ending, is actually the second-worst ending.
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Synthesis was so overly-upbeat it was ridiculous. I like how everyone forgot that the Reaper's had already murdered trillions not even counting past cycles like the Protheans.
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The ending was a last minute contrivance hashed out by writers with a sci-fi obsessed teenager's grasp of transhumanism. that should answer all your questions about it.
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Distant_Rainbow posted...

It's one of those unpleasant, nightmare-fuel connotations that show why Synthesis, while touted as the best ending, is actually the second-worst ending.

after low-EMS destroy? agreed
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Darkman124 posted...

synthesis was dumb. always destroy the reapers.

Yup

Destroy + Citadel Epilogue is the only way to do it

Darkman124 posted...

it's now organic, as are all the reapers. presumably they are still all interconnected, though, as the master control AI is still linked to them

That makes sense, so they're still controlled by the Reapers, just the Reapers are peaceful now?

Distant_Rainbow posted...

It's one of those unpleasant, nightmare-fuel connotations that show why Synthesis, while touted as the best ending, is actually the second-worst ending.

Yeah it's especially annoying that if you chose to refuse to use the Crucible, the next cycle builds it and uses Synthesis anyway.

The blatant favoritism the writer showed it was just downright childish

CrimsonAngeI posted...

Synthesis was so overly-upbeat it was ridiculous. I like how everyone forgot that the Reaper's had already murdered trillions not even counting past cycles like the Protheans.

Yeah it's like

"The Reapers are helping us rebuild with the knowledge of the cultures that have come before."

And it's like, okay you know that they were killing and liquefying your friends this morning, right?
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Darkman124 posted...

Distant_Rainbow posted...

It's one of those unpleasant, nightmare-fuel connotations that show why Synthesis, while touted as the best ending, is actually the second-worst ending.

after low-EMS destroy? agreed

I thought we all agreed that these things assume max possible EMS.

If low-EMS is involved, Synthesis is like 3rd, 4th worst.
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Distant_Rainbow posted...

I thought we all agreed that these things assume max possible EMS.

If low-EMS is involved, Synthesis is like 3rd, 4th worst.

i would argue that renegade shepard control is not worse than synthesis.
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Darkman124 posted...

Distant_Rainbow posted...

I thought we all agreed that these things assume max possible EMS.

If low-EMS is involved, Synthesis is like 3rd, 4th worst.

i would argue that renegade shepard control is not worse than synthesis.

I agree.
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Doom_Art posted...

And it's like, okay you know that they were killing and liquefying your friends this morning, right?

this simple detail is exactly what makes synthesis so game-ruining: it completely ignores three games' worth of narrative content to handwave an ending that does not fit the story
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Distant_Rainbow posted...

I agree.

so what high-EMS ending is worse than synthesis?
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Darkman124 posted...

Distant_Rainbow posted...

I agree.

so what high-EMS ending is worse than synthesis?

Obviously Refusal.
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It's funny that the catalyst said synthesis is the ultimate evolution of everything.

Dude, reapers are literally made from organic materials of the species they conquered, they are the result of synthesis, look at how they turned out to be.

Distant_Rainbow posted...

Obviously Refusal.

oh, i forgot to even count that

Kekistan posted...

It's funny that the catalyst said synthesis is the ultimate evolution of everything.

that was the writers' way of saying "HELLO PLAYER THIS IS THE GOOD ENDING PICK THE GREEN LIGHT OK?"

it was quite heavy handed and another example of why everything that happened after anderson dying was a bad idea
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Darkman124 posted...

oh, i forgot to even count that

Understandable. Considering:

Darkman124 posted...

this simple detail is exactly what makes synthesis so game-ruining: it completely ignores three games' worth of narrative content to handwave an ending that does not fit the story

Refusal does what you said in this post anyway by going 'lol, the next cycle did it even though you didn't', then ups the ante by making your Shepard betray everyone and everything s/he stood for in the entire trilogy(never giving up, finishing what they started), for some feeble argument of 'doing things my way!' when the game has spent all its time telling and showing them it's impossible.

It's a horrendous ending. But I applaud the choice to add it in the Extended Cut. Normally it wouldn't have been required, but some of the more ridiculous fan reactions upon the initial release of the game warranted it.
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Distant_Rainbow posted...

It's a horrendous ending. But I applaud the choice to add it in the Extended Cut. Normally it wouldn't have been required, but some of the more ridiculous fan reactions upon the initial release of the game warranted it.

i think fans were not unreasonable to be irritated that the solution to the reapers was not the unity of races showcased across the three games, or even the huge plot arc of geth/quarian and turian/krogan unity that makes up 2/3 of the entire game

but rather a random macguffin device that is randomly dropped in your hands early on in the 3rd game and only brought back out at the end of the game, and has no plot significance other than "this is the deus ex machina for resolving the conflict with the literal deus ex machinae."

i was willing to go with it though because macguffins are not an uncommon thing in literature, and the only real problem was "they just introduced this now and gave no hint of it across any of the logs of past civilizations, even though its fluff is 'it was developed by all the past civilizations'"

i think most fans' fundamental problem was introducing starchild rather than just firing the fucking thing as anderson died, and having THAT be the 'quite a view'
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I wonder what would happen if they simply cut out the entire catalyst AI thing and and just went with destroy ending with no extra explanations like this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08xoVKHgNg0

After playing the original game and seeing this now, this looks like the perfect ending to me, but I wonder if people would have accepted that if that was the actual game ending.

i think they would have, esp seeing as multiple versions of that depending on EMS already existed
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Darkman124 posted...

i think they would have, esp seeing as multiple versions of that depending on EMS already existed

If they only put that, plus the little slides added in the Extended Cut so we have some closure a la Dragon Age: Origins about the choices we made in the past, then it wouldn't have gotten the amount of flak it did, I think.
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Doom_Art posted...

if you chose to refuse to use the Crucible, the next cycle builds it and uses Synthesis anyway.

where is it said they choose Synthesis?
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Distant_Rainbow posted...

Darkman124 posted...

i think they would have, esp seeing as multiple versions of that depending on EMS already existed

If they only put that, plus the little slides added in the Extended Cut so we have some closure a la Dragon Age: Origins about the choices we made in the past, then it wouldn't have gotten the amount of flak it did, I think.

the crazy thing is that bioware did basically exactly that in the closing of baldur's gate II: Throne of Bhaal and all the fans loved it and made them the company they are today
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don't forget: the ending was not written by the writers in greta detail.

it was written by one or two people, on a napkin


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synthesis is stupid from its very concept.
Like does it target all life, or just advanced life? If its all life, you know what that includes, plants, animals, well, those are nice and visible. What about microscopic life? bacteria and other single cell organisms are lifeforms. What about virus's, sure technically they don't met our guidelines as what constituents life seeing as how they can't replicate on their own, but they still evolve.
Do all those small things suddenly become this techno/organic hybrid?

If not, then what is to stop the cycle from continuing? all those lifeforms evolve over time as well.

its just such an asspull without any thought behind it.
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Darkman124 posted...

the crazy thing is that bioware did basically exactly that in the closing of baldur's gate II: Throne of Bhaal and all the fans loved it and made them the company they are today

Except not really, not even close...
Throne of Bhaal/ME3 spoilers:
First starchild came out of nowhere and you just blatantly decide to do what he says. The original endings had hardly any differences between each other and the milkyway galaxy was basically destroyed.
In ToB the game actually was leading up to the ending and when Melissan betrayed you, you at least knew who she was and she had a character before the last 5 minutes of the game.
The ending drastically change how the world would play out depending on what you pick.

I don't see how you can make any comparisons between ME3 ending and Throne of Bhaal, the only similarity was that there was a choice.
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Dustin1280 posted...

Darkman124 posted...

the crazy thing is that bioware did basically exactly that in the closing of baldur's gate II: Throne of Bhaal and all the fans loved it and made them the company they are today

Except not really, not even close...
Throne of Bhaal/ME3 spoilers:
First starchild came out of nowhere and you just blatantly decide to do what he says. The original endings had hardly any differences between each other and the milkyway galaxy was basically destroyed.
In ToB the game actually was leading up to the ending and when Melissan betrayed you, you at least knew who she was and she had a character before the last 5 minutes of the game.
The ending drastically change how the world would play out depending on what you pick.

I don't see how you can make any comparisons between ME3 ending and Throne of Bhaal, the only similarity was that there was a choice.

you completely misunderstood me

i'm saying that ToB ending was consistent with skipping the starchild bullshit+including extended cut slides
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Doom_Art posted...

Synthesis

So when the synthesis wave hits the soldier and husk fighting, the husk backs away and gets a wide eyed "holy shit what the fuck happened?" look

My question is

What exactly happened with that? Are the husks still connected to the Reapers, are they their own individuals now? Is the person the husk used to be now back?

What happens with reaper troops that are amalgamations of multiple individuals like the Cannibals, Brutes, Scions, or Praetorians?

That and ME3 sucked anyway. 1 Was the best game.
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synthesis is doing exactly what Saren wanted to do all along
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I still believe that you just halluvinated the whole ending.

This is backed up by the fact that you go back to the Normandy, still alive, afterwards.
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I was Paragon for the entire series but I picked the destroy ending. Synthesis is weird and I didn't understand it. And I don't feel that paragon Shepard would even consider trying to control the Reapers. It seemed way out of character.
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I just knew that destroy was out of the question since the Geth are bros. The Geth are the bro-est race in the whole trilogy. A "kill all organics" option literally would have been preferable.

I never minded the obvious hypocrisy of the control ending, since why would you just not save the galaxy out of fear of being a hypocrite? "Nope, not gonna save the galaxy, that would make me a hypocrite. I guess I'll wipe out a whole race instead." But I didn't do it anyway because I'm like Shepard could still go powerhungry and then we're screwed again.

The synthesis ending was stupid but then again they were all stupid.
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the best ending is achieved by siding with the geth on Rannoch and choosing destroy
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fan357 posted...

I was Paragon for the entire series but I picked the destroy ending. Synthesis is weird and I didn't understand it. And I don't feel that paragon Shepard would even consider trying to control the Reapers. It seemed way out of character.

control was a pretty interestingly bad ending option that is kinda lampshaded by the starchild:

"the idea of controlling the reapers was always a trap, because we always already controlled those who sought to do it. but YOU, shepard, you totally can do it."

chill02 posted...

synthesis is doing exactly what Saren wanted to do all along

yup.
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destroy was the only real choice. The others were absurdly stupid.

And this is coming from a guy who likes the geth

the endings were all just so awful
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