you know since banshees were all boobily breasting with their pussy out on the battlefield, then it only makes sense that every husk, marauder (shields), and cannibal should've been running around with cock and balls flapping in the wind too
The aging system for humans in Mass Effect makes no sense. If an average life span can be up to 150 years, then why are characters like Hackett, Anderson, Dr Chakwas, and Navigator Pressly only around their 50-69s and look so much older than they should be given the change?
Does that mean that humans only extended our lives past 80+ without ever finding a way to actually keep our bodies from aging so fast? Do our bodies still wither away and fail in time with our present lifespans and leave the people of ME pretty much in need of special care for over 50 years?
So, the only way I can think of for some of the characters looking 'old' when they are technically in their middle ages according to lore is possibly space travel. Perhaps the constantly changing pressure and Relay and FtL shifting can cause premature aging?
Maybe I'll just skip over that bit of information. We'll just leave the suspension of disbelief alone in my fanfics and never mention it again 🤫
Or– the Catalyst is manipulating Shepard the entire time it talks and Bioware shouldn’t have proven it right with the stupid monologues and slideshow we get after dealing with it.
Or the Second– I dissect most of the sentences the Catalyst utters.
Disclaimer: I know nothing about what was happening within EA and Bioware at the time of them developing Mass Effect 3. I am a hater in this. I will be shit talking, I will be repeating things, and I am angry about this.
word count: 5.2k
I also have a transcript of the entire conversation with the Catalyst where I have a comment for practically every single thing it says if anyone is interested in seeing me at my more unhinged.
Huge thank you to my friends and also @yellingaboutmasseffect and @jtownnn for looking this over for me <3
The crucible and the Catalyst are stupid for much the same reasons; there is no foreshadowing anywhere to imply that these two plot items ever existed. The game goes so far as retconning previously established lore to have these things exist. To have the crucible blue prints be in the Mars archives completely throws away what Anderson says in ME1: how what they found was a “small data cache.” He implies that humanity, and presumably the rest of the Council species, already learned all they could from it. This helps add to the significance of why the Prothean beacon on Eden Prime is so important and why it had the attention of the Citadel Council. The Catalyst does much the same thing with ME1, in a completely worse way. When we meet the Catalyst, we are in the final act of the final game. Loose ends should be tied up, questions should be answered, and yet we are left with more questions–very big and impactful questions–and terrible answers if we are given any.
Before I delve fully into how the Catalyst throws ME1’s plot down the garbage chute and into a dumpster fire, I want to briefly talk about what else it does with ME1 and its established lore. We learn that the harvest is started from the Citadel as it’s an enormous mass relay and that the arms’ controls are in the Council Chambers. So, why the fuck are we in this fuck ass room that’s seemingly in space? What is this and where the fuck is Shepard? Why can Shepard breathe in a room that doesn’t look like it’s pressurized? This is an entirely new part of the Citadel that we’re never introduced to even though we really should have picked apart the Citadel after ME1. Why are we here instead of coming full circle, being stuck in a cycle, and having it be in the Council Chambers? If it’s because they didn’t want to repeat ME1’s final battle and such, too bad! They paralleled TIM and Saren. They paralleled the beam and the Conduit. So, I don’t understand why they didn’t do it again with the setting. It would make sense at least.
Now, onto one of the worst transgressions the Catalyst commits with its mere existence. The third sentence out of this thing’s mouth is “It’s my home.” The Citadel is its home. IT’S BEEN HERE THE ENTIRE FUCKING TIME!? Has it been AWAKE this entire time? If it has been, why in the ever loving fuck did ME1 happen at all? Why did Sovereign have to use Saren and the Geth to activate the Citadel relay? Why even leave behind a vanguard to watch over the cycle and determine when it’s ready for the harvest when the Citadel is a part of the Catalyst–“No, the Citadel is a part of me” (Catalyst)–and thus, it has all the data it should need to determine when the harvest starts.
The Citadel is Reaper tech and the Catalyst controls the Reapers, even embodies the “collective intelligence of all Reapers,” (Catalyst) it can do whatever it wants with the Citadel, I have no doubt about it. It can keep the arms closed so the crucible cannot dock, it could have opened the arms for Sovereign, it could have activated the Citadel relay. It believes so assuredly in its solution, why not do it for this harvest?
To go even further back, why not stop the Prothean scientists who stopped the Keeper signal in the first place? That is what caused ME1 to happen in the first place, why Sovereign had to use the Geth and Saren. The Catalyst just lets this happen for some reason.
The game doesn’t answer any of this. It doesn’t deflect, it doesn’t do any further retconing, it doesn't even give a throwaway comment about the Catalyst hibernating, it gives nothing. For that, I’ll never forgive it.
My first piece of evidence about how the Catalyst is manipulating Shepard happens immediately. It appears as a child. Generally, children are regarded as innocent, naive even, that they are good. The game even does this in the very beginning! It makes Shepard pay attention to a child in the middle of a warzone, and then feel guilty when the child dies. Shepard has nightmares about this child who is now a metaphor for the destruction of the galaxy, and what Shepard must give up in order to win the war–whether the player plays as paragon or renegade, hard choices–“ruthless calculus,” (Garrus ME3)–are made. The catalyst appears as not only a child, but the specific child that Shepard is having nightmares about. How am I not supposed to believe that it’s not only manipulating Shepard, but isn’t using the powers of indoctrination (WE SEE DARK SQUIGGLES IN THE TIM CONFRONTATION, WE SHOOT ANDERSON!) to learn about this child? (the subtitles also tag the catalyst as “Child”. Just to nail the point further).
The next piece of evidence of manipulation is what is said in response to Shepard asking if it knows how to stop the Reapers. “Perhaps. I control the Reapers. They are my solution.” It says perhaps. PERHAPS? Even if the crucible didn’t exist, I do not believe that there is no possible way for the Catalyst to stop the Reapers. It embodies the collective intelligence of all Reapers! It can simply give a cease and desist order, tell them to go back to hibernating in dark space, or better yet, just send out a kill code. The Catalyst just doesn’t want to do any of that. Personally, I think it wants to kill Shepard again. And remember, dear readers, SHEPARD DIED BECAUSE OF THIS FUCKER. I also hate the way it says “perhaps.” It’s a little son of a bitch and I hate it with everything in my heart. PERHAPS!?
It describes what the Reapers are for by saying that they are its solution to “chaos,” which is just ridiculous. It’s so fucking dramatic because it says this over its shoulder while walking away from Sheaprd. This is the first sign that the Catalyst is actually an idiot and not more than an AI, which it claims it is later on. I’ll get there, I promise. It has been around for a very long time. Millions of years, eons as it itself claims. And, dear reader, need I remind you that eons is not a measly couple million years. It’s old as fuck and it’s this fucking dumb. So, it has been operating from somewhere between a long time and forever and yet, AND YET, it hasn’t learned anything about the nature of life; about how it is chaotic. Nature and evolution will always find a way. I guess I can’t necessarily blame it as it uses evolution as a tool, to paraphrase Leviathan. But, given that it’s more than a simple AI, one would think that it learns, like we see with Edi and the Geth. It should have learned to take a step back and observe but it did not. So, it is, quite literally, an idiot.
Another example on how the Catalyst manipulates Shepard is that it gives a bunch of absolute statements (only a sith deals in absolutes) and never provides evidence to back up any of its claims. It doesn’t even go the easy route of stating the Geth and Quarians! (and if someone says it’s because there are different outcomes to that, so help me god–)
The first of these statements we get is “The created will always rebel against their creators.” WRONG. Entirely and purely wrong. The Geth did not “rebel” against the Quarians. They asked a question–that to our knowledge was never forbidden for the Geth to ask–and the Quarians decided that in response, they should just start killing everything (the Catalyst and the Quarians have that in common, it seems). So, the Geth, understandably, defended themselves. Now, I know nothing about statistics but I would be very hesitant to speak in 100% guarantees in these matters, not factoring the Geth’s existence.
Another way the Catalyst manipulates Shepard is how it talks about the harvest. (Isn’t it interesting that it never uses the word kill when referring to the harvest, but what created synthetics do to organics is unacceptable to it. Even though it made ‘organic’-synthetics to… kill organics.) The first time it does this is when Shepard asks, “By wiping out organic life?” after it explains that the Reapers are a way to stop the rebellion of the created. Its response to Shepard’s question is: “No. We harvest advanced civilizations, leaving the younger ones alone.”
The Catalyst is (willfully) misinterpreting Shepard. The Catalyst and the Reapers do indeed wipe out organic life every cycle. Shepard did not use “all” which would explain why this is its response. Even if Shepard did say all, the Catalyst still wipes out all organic life, it’s just not in one fell swoop. (go fuck yourself you [the Catalyst] disingenuous piece of shit).
It also uses the word “ascend” to describe the harvest, “We helped them ascend so they could make way for new life, storing the old life in Reaper form.” It says this in response to Shepard stating, “But you killed the rest.” It uses the word ascend, because its connotations are positive. The harvest, in no way, shape or form, is positive. The Catalyst is murdering people, not helping them. It admits itself that it changes people’s forms. We see how it does this in ME2 on the Collector base. This statement also throws in another reason it’s doing so that is never brought up before nor after this singular statement. “Make way for new life.” IS THE CATALYST FUCKING THANOS NOW? I’m sorry, are we running out of planets in a fucking galaxy? I thought the problem the Catalyst was created for was the conflict between organics and synthetics, not fucking over population. Pick a struggle.
I’m gonna tap into this exchange which happens immediately after the above quote: “I think we’d rather keep our own form.” / “No, you can’t…” ON WHO’S AUTHORITY? A fucking asshole AI that can’t see past it’s own stupidity? That hasn’t ever shown itself to the galactic public? Who was created by ego-maniacals hiding in a fucking ocean for eons because they got their asses so throughly beat they gave up and Shepard had to shove their spines back up said asses? This AI that doesn’t understand how organics work? I don’t fucking think so.
The next two sentences continue to prove how stupid it is. I’m gonna break down each one. Firstly, “Without us to stop it, synthetics would destroy all organics.” WRONG AGAIN! The Geth did not pursue the Quarians after they kicked them off Rannoch. The Heretics left the Veil BECAUSE THEY WERE APPROACHED BY THE REAPERS. The Catalyst gave them means, opportunity, and motive to go out killing organics. It created the situation that it proclaims to stop! The player is supposed to trust this!? To listen to this!? To agree with it? enter Elastigirl “I don’t think so” gif
The second sentence is as follows, “We created the cycle so that never happens.” It’s a moronic solution. The Catalyst created Reaper tech, it turned the Leviathans’ own thrall power against it, “evolution is its tool” (Leviathan ME3), and yet it cannot come up with any other solution. If it actually cared about this conflict, it would have done something about the Quarians and the Geth. It would not have furthered the discord between synthetics and organics. The Catalyst sucks at its job. The purpose of a system is what it does. Stafford Beer, British theorist, states that there is “no point in claiming that the purpose of a system is to do what it constantly fails to do.” The Catalyst has consistently failed to solve this conflict. Since it came up with this harvest cycle and the Reapers–which is when the Leviathans were still the apex species so fucking forever ago–it has not tried anything else. It implies later in the conversation when talking about synthesis that it has tried a “similar solution in the past” but that it failed. Does it ever explain why? In actual detail? No. Frankly, I don’t put much stock in any other solution it has tried because this is the best that it can do.
“I was created to bring balance, to be the catalyst for peace between organics and synthetics.” GREAT JOB YOU’RE DOING BUDDY. And also, to be nitpicky because I’m petty, more accurately, you were created with the “mandate to preserve life at any cost” which this solution is definitely not doing. I will get into how this isn’t preservation like it claims later on. I promise I pick that apart too.
Here is the exchange where it claims it’s more than a simple AI. “So, you’re just an AI?” / “In as much as you are just an animal. I embody the collective intelligence of all Reapers.” I’ve already explained how it’s fucking stupid, I just wanted to show the quote. Also, the quote where it states it’s the collective intelligence of all Reapers.
Another piece of evidence towards its manipulation is this exchange “But you were created.” / “Correct.” / “By who?” / “By ones who recognized that conflict would always arise between synthetics and organics.” I don’t know about you, dear readers, but to me, this implies some sort of benevolent overlord created the Catalyst because it doesn’t want organics and synthetics to kill each other. (but organics killing each other, and presumably synthetics killing each other is perfectly fine). At least, before I played the Leviathan DLC, this was 14 year old me’s interpretation. It fails to mention that these people wanted the conflict to go away because “tribute does not flow from a dead race,” according to Leviathan.
A couple sentences later it mentions its supposed other solutions. “But our efforts always ended in conflict, so a new solution was required.” The Catalyst never offers any evidence. It just keeps making grand statements like this is a law of the universe, like gravity, like it’s Sir Isaac Newton. NO EVIDENCE, NO CASE.
You have the choice to talk about Leviathan with it and what Shepard says is just useless? I mean, Shepard proves that it doesn’t have any remorse or compassion at all. But we can already gather that from… everything else it does and says. The Catalyst says “The flaws of [Leviathan’s] organic reasoning could not perceive this.” Right, it’s only organic reasoning that’s flawed here and nothing else. Sure.
The player can also ask about the Crudible, which is really the only time we get actual information about it but it’s coming from this stupid ass liar. Also, need I remind you dear readers, THAT IT’S THE FINAL HOUR OF THE FINAL GAME AND WE’RE NOW GETTING INFORMATION ON WHAT THE FUCK THE CRUCIBLE IS/WHAT IT DOES. Also, the entire reason this thing even exists is because we “can’t win this conventionally” according to Hackett and I don’t agree with that. I really don’t but that can be a separate thing entirely.
Now, here is what the Catalyst has to say in response to Shepard’s prompt. “The device you refer to as the Crucible is little more than a power source. However, in combination with the Citadel and the relays, it is capable of releasing tremendous amounts of energy throughout the galaxy. It is crude, but effective and adaptive in its design.” Okay. Let’s break it down.
It releases energy… that can change the DNA of every living thing in the galaxy and can upload Shepard’s consciousness to the Reaper hivemind.
WHAT THE FUCK?
The relays are just fucking mass shifting slingshots, and the Citadel is a mass relay and space station. There is nothing to indicate that these pieces of technology do anything more than what the previous two games establish. The crucible is a fucking power source. By that description it is only giving the power for something to do its function. SINCE WHEN COULD THE MASS RELAYS AND CITADEL DO ANYTHING LIKE THIS? It’s almost like, maybe, Shepard should have investigated the Citadel when they learned it was Reaper tech! That might have helped. Couldn’t have hurt!
It’s crude, huh? CRUDE!? And yet it does all this! It changes the Catalyst and offers “new possibilities”. It’s crude though. Okay.
ITS NOT LIKE THE GAME FUCKING TELLS US ANYTHING MORE!
When Shepard asks who made the crucible, it responds with: “You would not know them, and there is not enough time to explain.” I’M SORRY, DOES THE CATALYST HAVE SOMEWHERE TO BE? PERHAPS IT WANTS TO GET BACK TO THE GALAXY WIDE CULLING IT RUNS. And Bioware, why in the ever loving FUCK do you MAKE Shepard ask a question you not only don’t answer, but does so in a way that pisses all over the player. Of course Shepard wouldn’t know them, the Catalyst destroys information about the previous cycles. “Not enough time to explain” GO FUCK YOURSELF BIOWARE.
The Catalyst also implies that the Reapers who “cleanse the galaxy of clues,” (Liara, ME1) who are “relentless and utterly thorough” (Vigil ME1) who are so patient and immortal missed the Crucible plans! “We believed the concept had been eradicated.” There is precedent here with the Prothean scientists but since Bioware discards that, I will too in this instance. Get better at your job Mac Walters and I won’t be so mean to you.
Back at the dialogue wheel, if the player chooses Reapers, they get this delightful statement from the Catalyst. “[Leviathan] did not approve, but it was the only solution.” Once more implying other solutions were examined and that this is the best it can do. That it only wants this solution. IT DOESN’T EXPLAIN ANYTHING!
It also states “The Reapers are a synthetic representation of my creators.” Wrong again! Capital class ships made from a species are organic-synthetic. THE GAME DOESN’T REMEMBER ITS OWN FUCKING LORE! It drives me fucking batty.
Another example of the Catalyst giving an absolute: “The result is conflict, destruction, chaos. It is inevitable.” WRONG! It’s not inevitable. Not if the Catalyst stops organics from building AI. The Catalyst has the power–and the arrogance–to step in when AIs are created. The same thing that Shepard does to achieve peace between the Quarians and the Geth. Thank you Bioware, for proving me right.
Now, I get to talk about the meat of this thing. Which is this quote: “Reapers harvest all life—organic and synthetic—preserving them before they are forever lost to this conflict.”
“All life” SO IT ADMITS THAT IT KILLS EVERYTHING! It can’t even remember its own deflections! One can say that it clarifies “all life” with “organic and synthetic” but it could have used advanced civilizations which it used before! So HA!
IT'S LATER! “Preserving them” PRESERVING? Melting people down into mush–murder–to be indoctrinated into a Reaper hivemind and forced into a Reaper body is not preservation. Let’s turn to our good friend Merriam-Webster for a definition! Preservation is “The activity or process of keeping something valued alive, intact, or free from damage or decay.” The Catalyst quite literally does none of these things.
Alive: it kills people
Intact: it melts them down, changing their form irrevocably
Damage: THEY’RE FUCKING DEAD
Decay: the mush they’re turned into is ORGANIC!
We all saw the collector base. We all saw how horrifying and terrible that was. IT'S NOT PRESERVATION.
The Catalyst is annihilating and eradicating entire civilizations from existence. We barely have any insight into the Protheans, and practically nothing about species older than them! The Catalyst does not want the people in the current harvest to know more than what it deigns to give them– for example, making the current cycle think the Protheans created the mass relays and the Citadel.
“Forever lost” The Catalyst MAKES THEM forever lost! See above! Now I ask if there’s a database somewhere that holds all the information about every single species it kills. Because it seems the only thing that is stored is the one (1) selected species to turn into a Reaper and these Capital ships are PUT ON THE FRONT LINES! Harbinger is leading the fucking army! We see Reapers die.
What happens to all the other species that are not chosen to get melted down?
After this, Shepard can then ask: “We’re at war with the Reapers right now.” / “You may be in conflict with the Reapers, but they are not interested in war.” … The Catalyst’s entire response is preposterous.
“You may be” MAY BE? FUCKING MAY BE? I’m sorry, is Shepard not burnt to the nine layers of hell and back because of Harbinger’s beam? Has Shepard not lost people to the Reapers? Has Shepard not fucking DIED because of the Reapers? Is Shepard hallucinating Harbinger, Sovereign and the Rannoch Reaper shittalking them? Are they hallucinating every single Reaper in the galaxy right now killing people? “MAY BE IN CONFLICT” ??? They are killing people! They are turning people into monsters, and indoctrinating them!
“Not interested in war” Admittedly, they apparently do not follow the belief that synthetics(Reapers) will always rebel against their creators (The Catalyst). That's not the war they are interested in, but they are interested in war. Sovereign “the vanguard of your destruction” seemed pretty interested in starting this extermination. Practically every single line of Harbinger in ME2 screams it’s interested in killing Shepard and starting the harvest.
Go fuck yourself, Catalyst, you’re a gaslighting prick.
Thankfully, Shepard points this out with a simple “I find that hard to believe.”
It continues to show how stupid it is and how it’s trying to manipulate Shepard by stating, “When fire burns, is it at war? Is it in conflict? Or is it simply doing what it was created to do? We are no different.” I assure you, dear reader, it is different. The Reapers are independent, each a nation, free of all weakness, the pinnacle of evolution, and the Catalyst itself embodies the collective intelligence of all Reapers. The Reapers and the Catalyst are not the same as a chemical reaction. They are sentient. Fire is not. That’s a very easy difference to spot. Also, with this the Catalyst tries to foist off responsibility about all this when it’s been so proud and confident in its solution. It can’t have both.
Now is where I rip into each ending! They all either one, shouldn’t work the way they do, or two, shouldn’t be proven right/okay/that it’s a good decision/ends well.
Destroy: “It is now in your power to destroy us. But be warned: others will be destroyed as well. The Crucible will not discriminate. All synthetics will be targeted.” Right. “Will not discriminate” Okay. WILL NOT FUCKING DISCRIMINATE?! Even though it can do the two other endings? It is powerful enough to do all that, but it won’t target only the Reapers? Even when the Catalyst EMBODIES THE COLLECTIVE INTELLIGENCE OF ALL REAPERS. Okay. Why is it only acting like it's a mere crude power source when it's for the option that Bioware has been grooming players to choose since the prologue of the very first game? Peculiar, isn’t it? It doesn’t explain why either. (I’m not gonna bring the level of war assets into this).
Control: “You could use the energy of the Crucible to seize control of the Reapers.” I thought it was a power source! IT’S A GODDAMN POWER SOURCE! HOW DOES IT DO THAT!? We did not see any proof that TIM was correct throughout the entire game; in fact, we spent the entire game telling him he’s wrong! It’s not like Sanctuary is explained. “...[TIM] could never have taken control… because we already controlled him.” (Catalyst) How am I supposed to believe that the Catalyst is not trying to do the very same thing right now? The Catalyst wants Shepard to “lose everything that you have” and to lose their body and connection to their people, but it’s okay! Because Shepard’s “thoughts” and “memories will continue”. Because Shepard will control the Reapers… By entering the fucking hivemind? Dear readers, we all know what happens whenever someone interacts with Reaper tech! It doesn’t go any other way! IT DOESN’T EXPLAIN HOW! YOU CAN’T HIDE BEHIND THE CRUCIBLE WITH HANDWAVEY SCI-FI MAGIC BIOWARE WHEN YOU VERY EXPLICITLY STATE ITS A CRUDE POWER SOURCE GO FUCK YOURSELF
Who’s going to control Shepard? Where are their checks and balances? There are too many what ifs in this.
What’s going with the Geth and Edi? Does Shepard also control them because of the Reaper code they have within them? Does Reaper God Shepard leave them alone? Does Edi have some special connection with ‘Shepard’ now?
If Shepard is not controlling the Geth, why are they not shown interacting with the quarians?
What happens with the Reaper ground troops? Are they sentient? Do they just run and hide in the sewers? Do they help rebuild? Does Shepard kill them?
Synthesis: “Add your energy to the Crucible’s. The chain reaction will combine all synthetic and organic life into a new framework. A new… DNA.” // “The energy of the Crucible, released in this way, will alter the matrix of all organic life in the galaxy.”
Fucking WHAT!?
HOW DOES IT DO THAT??
IT'S A POWER SOURCE?
WHAT PART OF THE CATALYST/THE CITADEL CAN DO THAT? WHAT IS THIS? WHAT IS HAPPENING RIGHT NOW?
WHY IS SHEPARD’S ENERGY THE LYNCH PIN FOR THIS TO HAPPEN? HELLO???
Secondly, this is altering the DNA of every single living thing in the galaxy and Shepard can just… do that. We have spent countless hours in three entire games stopping the Catalyst from doing the exact same thing. The husks, the collectors, cannibal, ravagers, brutes, marauders, and banshees. And now it’s suddenly okay!
“Organics will be perfected by integrating fully with synthetic technology. Synthetics, in turn, will finally have full understanding of organics." And what exactly is this “synthetic technology”? REAPER TECH? We all know what happens with organics and Reaper tech. PLEASE BIOWARE A SHRED OF INTELLIGENCE IN HOW THIS ALL WORKS, I BEG OF YOU. Secondly, sometimes you don’t understand things. The thing about living is about discovery and being curious and learning. If synthetics just get this innate knowledge because of this magical beam blast full of dead Shepard they lose that aspect of life. They lose the chance to come up with their own perspective. That is a monopoly, uniformity WHICH IS NOT NATURAL!
It also is a blend of organic and synthetic… where is the synthetic aspect coming from? Is it perhaps Reaper tech? Y'know the thing that indoctrinates everyone? ITS NOT LIKE THE GAME SAYS ITS NOT!
Here is where it states it has “tried… a similar solution in the past.” OH? FINALLY! Please, tell me all about this, I would like to know how it didn’t succeed and why the Catalyst thinks this time it will. What’s different about it? What’s the same? How long ago? How many trials? Did it have a control group? Where’s the data? Oh… oh, it’s not gonna tell us? THE ONLY DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SCIENCE AND FUCKING AROUND IS WRITING IT DOWN. WHERE’S YOUR ANALYSIS FUCKER!?
It explains that it has “always failed” because “organics were not ready.” How were organics not ready then, but ready now? If Shepard went to anyone else and told them that they were gonna change the DNA of everyone in the galaxy because the leader of the Reaper hivemind told them it was the “ideal solution” they would be executed on the spot for indoctrination, are you joking?.
The Catalyst goes on to state that “Synthesis is the final evolution of all life.” First, since the Catalyst plays with evolution like a nine-year-old and barbies, I don’t trust anything it says about evolution. Secondly, if this is true, why not just let it play out then! Evolution is natural. Doing this willy-nilly without any input is not.
“The paths are open. But you have to choose.” Or I can just shoot the Catalyst in the face, making it drop this innocent act, and refuse to participate in its asinine game. Which is also kinda ridiculous because Shepard–after everything they have gone through–can just go nah. Which whatever.
Edi’s voice over for the synthesis is… weird!? They’re insinuating that she’s now alive and not alone… when she wasn’t! She literally tells Shepard on earth “But only now do I feel alive. That is your influence.” SHE WAS ALREADY ALIVE AND FREE AND THINKING FOR HERSELF WHAT THE FUCK!? WHY DID YOU THROW AWAY HER CHARACTER ARC FOR AN ENDING THAT SHOULDN’T HAVE HAPPENED.
Also, to me personally, her voice sounds different during her voice over. More robotic and dull. Close to how she sounds if Shepard doesn’t have conversations with her.
And the implications of the Reaper ground troops getting sentience as well… are they okay? Do they need therapy? What’s going on with them?
So. The Catalyst is clearly an idiot with a moronic “solution” that doesn’t solve anything, and it's manipulating Shepard the entire time. Why in the ever loving fuck is it right about the ramifications–or lack thereof–about the different endings?! The very ending of the game doesn’t satisfy me, and it most assuredly doesn’t satisfy the questions that the ending provokes! There’s so much left unsaid, unknown, very important, very plot heavy questions that are left dangling.
The game is good at having Shepard and the player face the consequences for their decisions and all the different choices they can take. It’s paramount in ME3. How to truly get the cure, how to achieve peace between the Quarians and the Geth, etc. Sometimes, these consequences are bad! And yet… there aren’t bad consequences to these endings that aren’t dependent on war assets. That–the war assets being a deciding factor–makes sense. The endings themselves don’t besides destroy. Why are control and synthesis even an option!
Take out control and synthesis and the fucking Catalyst and merely have the player’s level of war assets make it so the crucible takes out just the Reapers or more in its beam blast. Simple! Why complicate it? Why add two other endings that one (synthesis) doesn’t have any foreshadowing towards and two have the player be against the entire third game?
And we get… a voiceover and a slideshow of our companions and the general state of the galaxy.
A fucking slideshow.
THE ENDING OF A GAME IS TO WRAP EVERYTHING WRAP AND EXPLAIN IT. FOR ALL THE THREADS TO COME TOGETHER TO FORM A BEAUTIFUL TAPESTRY. NOT FOR YOU TO THROW THE TAPESTRY INTO A SHREDDER, DUCK TAPE IT, AND THEN PASS IT OFF.
This is ridiculous.
*I have now seen the original ending cut scene, after you make your choice.
Thane was handled SO poorly in Mass Effect. Now bear with me, this is a rant.
He's a galaxy known assassin, one of the best, with a terminal illness. He has lost his wife and has no contact with his son. He's content with dying and doesn't fear it.
Shepard reunites him with his son (if they succeed the loyalty mission) and he feels better and is still content with dying, because now his greatest regret has been solved.
A female Shepard who romances him? The same. The difference is, now Thane has more to lose. He's angry and sad right before the final mission. Upset about dying, upset about being scared of it. Everything has changed, he does not want to die anymore.
You learn through the shadow broker that Thane has refused to having a lung transplant which would give him a few extra years. They could have had Shepard point that out, get the man some more years of his life! (My memory is fuzzy here.) Fine, tragic romances exists. Fine.
This continues below, have fun.
And now we come to Mass Effect 3 which has its own whole amount of issues. Shepard is forced to be on Earth for 6 months. No outside contact. Thane can only send her messages. This guy is dying and Shepard can't even be around for what is basically the remainder of his time.
She finally gets away and can meet him face to face and now suddenly he's back to being content to die. He doesn't mind it anymore! She'll be fine without him! No worries.
On top of that, this master class assassin decides to jump right into a sword during a battle with the most annoyingly written plot-protected character in the whole series. Because, oh, heroic! it's stupid is what it is
ON TOP OF THAT, the writers admitted they forgot Thane was a love interest in ME3. His writer had left after ME2 so it was a quick scramble to make something work and it was, sorry, so half arsed.
Shepard watches Thane die right before Liara's homeworld is struck and I'm pretty sure no character said anything to Shep about it and she was forced to comfort Liara with no regards to the fact that she had just lost her partner. Because they Forgot. About. Thane.
(oh sure they had a memorial in the dlc and what not to make up for it but come on.)
Oh and my Shepard later on is ogling one of the npcs outside of the player's control. My Shep who was still heartbroken and barely finding a reason to move on.
A female Shepard has several questionable romance endings beyond the 'flings' with npcs and two main game characters (Garrus and Liara)
Thane dies (after having his character and skill massacred) You can't change this.
Jacob cheats on Shepard and gets another woman pregnant (Which on top of just being problematic on its own, is also stereotypical.) You can't change this.
Kaidan (Mostly fine, I think, I've never romanced him) But if you break up with him/or move on with a ME2 romance - where Kaidan is not around and also doesn't wanna talk to you- he will chew you out in ME3 and Shep has no chance to defend herself or even counter -argue. AND HERE IS THE KICKER. A male Shepard can counter-argue with Ashley in the exact same scenario. He can even get angry.
And to my memory, Male Shepard doesn't have any romances that END in that sense. They're all choice driven. There's no forced deaths. The ME2 ones into ME3 aren't as deep, no (but I don't count Thane becoming ooc and dying as deep either lol) but they all at least survive/stick around!
The game series is old by now and they did struggle with A LOT of things, including these issues. It's still a game I bought blind only to realize that 'holy shit, I can play as a WOMAN'. I WAS so happy when I received ME3 that I ran around with the CD box. Only to end up in tears as they destroyed everything I liked about the game series (this was before they "fixed" the ending with the epilogue shots etc, it was really bad back then). I still can't look or read about the game without getting sad.
This was a long rant, it's not proof read and I'm sure I insulted at least someone with this but I'm still angry to this day about what they did to Thane.
Man I love Mass Effect and I won't deny those devs' talent at doing what they do (except being respectful to co-workers which they aren't good at apparently), but knowing that the ME team made Veilguard's ending makes sense with what I don't like about it: a visually compelling and superficially emotional sequence that starts to lose impact the more you analyze it because it's thematically incoherent (when not outright contradictory), and basically the same 3 endings in a different trenchcoat, like the ME3 ending
This is about Mass Effect, but it’s precisely why I can’t play the earlier Dragon Age games now that I’ve played Veilguard. It retroactively ruined them, because now I know where all the ideas that were raised and clues that were dropped play out.
riddle me this: if Cerberus could clone Shepard for an organ donor, why did they not just clone Shepard? Especailly since Shepard loses their scars in the process. You could legitimately never tell Shepard they're a clone, and just say a few things were lost during repairs, such as fingerprints, so systems need to be updated with their new genetic identity. It also would have probably cost less.
(Following rant ignores EA's marketing allergy to leaks and "unnecessary communication" which affects what devs are allowed say)
The fun part about the whole "we wanted to respect players' choices" when it turned out that DAI choices meant shit for The Veilguard - THEY DIDN'T HAVE TO SAY IT LIKE THAT. it is like being caught with your pants down, so you fart to break the silence. just be honest for once!
Just like they didn't have to wait for that shit to be leaked right before the release. Even Darrah made a video saying the same damn shit - get the bad news out the door first, don't wait!
Just like how some of them didn't have to bark on Twitter at some randoms saying dumb shit over the course of the marketing campaign, causing everyone a headache. It is exhausting to even watch from a distance.
Which is why the next Mass Effect makes me wary because they might repeat the same mistake and just wait until everything just explodes instead of addressing the pack of elephants in the room from the start. Read the fucking room!
And it doesn't help Bioware to read the room that the next ME is led by a guy who was openly salivating over Elon (after the elections no less), and the only response he could produce was "uhhh I guess some people don't like Elon, I like rockets go brrr".
