Here's one that's not programming-related. :-)
I call this one, "How Mass Effect 3 Should Have Ended". At least, it's a possible course of events that would have left me feeling a lot more satisfied with the storyline. I've tried to write is as generically as possible, making as few assumptions as I can about the exact game situation -- hopefully you can slot your personal Shepard into it without too much difficulty.
My ending for the story starts by presuming that the Indoctrination Theory is, in fact, correct.
The entire ending dream sequence, from the beam up to the final choice, all actually takes place within the blink of an eye. Shepard's brain is linked to the Reaper via the red beam.
The battle is for what happens to your mind.
The options as presented in the original endgame are reversed; the Destroy option is available only if you have a good Effective Military Strength (EMS) rating. The outcome is basically determined by your level of confidence, as derived from knowledge of the military assets backing you.
Summary of options:
- Rejection -- with no damage to your brain to repair, EDI fights alongside you, but Harbinger is not significantly affected, and ultimately is able to escape.
- Synthesis -- now the easiest option, but with dire side effects. Your brain has extensive sections of Reaper code merged in. EDI is able to fix you, but gets destroyed herself in the process because you are directly fighting her the whole time. (You see Harbinger, but brief flickers from time to time suggest something is being hidden from you. Only once the killing blow has been dealt, though, is the mask taken away, revealing who it was all along.)
- Control -- with a stronger sense of self, the Reapers are not able to overwrite your identity, but your will is eroded. While you fight Harbinger, EDI is able to repair you, but on your own, you cannot really defeat Harbinger, and ultimately he escapes to rejoin the fleet of Reapers as it regroups.
- Destroy -- just like Destroy, except that EDI is able to ultimately destroy Harbinger's mind from the inside out.
So, what happens, right after picking an option, is that you see the cut scene right up to everything exploding, then you find Shepard waking up in a virtual world kind of like the Geth collective, but harsher, and more organic. EDI appears in front of Shepard and explains that Harbinger has been trying to take control of you. If Synthesis is chosen, EDI's form flickers briefly a couple of times, and if you're paying close attention, you'll see the Harbinger child as the underlying true form.
After the battle, Shepard wakes up in the real world, where you see either Harbinger's form collapse, another dead Reaper, or Harbinger flying away. Shepard is prone on the ground near the beam with the Normandy hovering nearby. Crewmembers -- of those still alive -- are crouched next to Shepard. EDI has her hand on the side of Shepard's head and is looking off into space.
If you chose Synthesis, EDI is gone at this point. Her robotic body slowly falls over, maintaining its posture. Otherwise, she retracts her hand and turns to look at Shepard. Wherever I say "EDI/Liara" following this point, I mean that if EDI is alive, the line is EDI's, otherwise it is Liara's.
One of Shepard's crew asks what happened, and Shepard grunts. They continue, saying how Shepard was in the beam, and what a good thing it was only for a brief moment.
EDI/Liara then says, "No, it was a good deal longer than that. Shepard was in Harbinger's mind for many hours of subjective time."
Joker then comes on the radio, "Uh, guys, I'm reading a massive energy build-up in each of the Reapers, and I mean *massive*."
Someone grabs EDI's body if necessary, hefting the considerable dead weight, and another person helps Shepard into the ship.
If EDI has died, there is a scene that explains this, and Shepard acknowledges that she died saving him from indoctrination.
Cut to cockpit
The viewscreen shows a depiction of the detected energy signatures.
| Joker: | "I think they're going to bombard the area." |
| Shepard: | "What area?" |
| Joker: | "This area. Where we are. Us." |
| Shepard: | "Why don't they just slice us in half?" |
| Joker: | "I don't know, but this is the biggest concentration of energy I have ever seen." |
| Liara: | "It's true. The amount of energy we're seeing here rivals our best estimates of the Crucible's output." |
| Shepard: | "Get us out of here Joker!" |
| Joker: | "I don't think I can! There's not enough time!" |
| Liara: | "We need to do an FTL jump." |
| Joker: | "Nobody does FTL jumps this close to a planet! The results would be catastrophic!" |
| Shepard: | "How bad?" |
| Joker: | "It could destroy all of London." |
| EDI/Liara: | "London will be destroyed anyway when the Reapers fire!" |
| Joker: | "We can't do that! Plus, we don't even have a destination mapped out!" |
| EDI/Liara: | "They're firing!" |
| Shepard: | "Do the jump." |
| Joker: | "Commander!" |
| Shepard: | "Do the jump!" |
Joker pans through a few screens of controls and taps a control.
Cut to outside of the Normandy. Engines powering up.
Cut to space. Beam weapons more intense than any seen before erupt from the Reapers. They all cross through a central point. Then, one final Reaper fires straight down the middle, through the intersection point. Slowly, the other beams converge in with that final beam to produce one massive shot.
Cut to outside of the Normandy, upward angle. Sky is brightening as the shot from the Reapers comes in rapidly. At the last moment, the Normandy winks out of existence.
Cut scene with the Normandy trying to outrace the shockwave plays.
The Normandy arrives at a planet floating alone in the middle of a nebula. Only a few stars are faintly visible through the red/orange haze. The Normandy is visibly damaged, with small trails of smoke from small fires at a few points on the surface as Joker navigates it in to a landing on the planet.
In the next scene, the crew are having a meeting in the board room.
| Chief Engineer Adams: | "We were lucky to land in one piece. The Normandy didn't suffer any serious damage. However, a large number of systems have suffered small or intermediate levels of damage. The fact is, the Normandy is going to require extensive repairs before she'll fly again. It's going to be at least a few days before they can depart." |
| EDI/Liara: | "This planet is very unusual. It appears to be completely barren and flat, unusually so, almost as if it were made to be that way." |
| Shepard: | "Is there any evidence of ongoing terraforming activity?" |
| EDI/Liara: | "Our rapid descent did not give sensors enough time to give a solid answer to that question. However, a beacon of some sort was detected on sensors as we came in. It is, in fact, the only feature I've seen on the entire planet." |
| Joker: | "We need to check it out, obviously. And by we, of course, I mean you. Sir." |
| Shepard: | "Before we do anything, I want to know exactly where we are." |
| Joker: | "Well, based on matching the few stars that can be seen through the nebula with known star charts, I'm pretty sure the planet and its nebula are near the centre of the galaxy." |
| EDI/Liara: | "This planet is not orbiting a star, but this region of space, so close to the galactic core, means that the ambient light from other stars provides almost as much energy as a sun. Perhaps there is a connection." |
| Shepard: | (getting frustrated) "How did we end up here?!" |
| Joker: | "An uncharted FTL jump--" |
| Shepard: |
(paragon) "I just wish there were something we could do. It's frustrating being so far from the battle. The Crucible was our only chance, and the fleet can only protect it from the Reapers for so long." (renegade) (pounds fist into table) "Damn! Earth is under attack, and there's nothing we can do about it! Moreover, the Crucible has probably already been destroyed." |
Everyone looks down in silence for a few seconds.
After getting over the expression of frustration at being here when Earth continues to be ravaged by the Reapers, Shepard, EDI/Liara and one other head out on a mission to investigate the beacon. Cortez flies them there in the shuttle and drops them off. The landscape really is eerily flat, a light red/gray that blends into a reddish/gray atmosphere against the reddish/orange backdrop of the nebula. The drop off point appears to be in the middle of nowhere, an area of flat planetary surface indistinguishable from any other, no features or buildings of any kind. EDI/Liara has a lock on the signal, though, and guides the team to what appears to be a circle painted on the ground. As soon as the team walks onto the circle, the ground shudders and a grid of hexagons appears in cracks, with dust rising from between slabs. Then, a second or so later, the slabs abruptly move, shifting their configuration to place Shepard and team on a pedestal raised in the middle of a tall amphitheatre of sorts. Before anyone can say anything, a rectangle rises up out of the platform and then projects a hologram above it.
The hologram is an alien VI, and the resulting talk scene is rather frustrating to progress through, as the VI is apparently programmed to only give certain answers, and not go beyond certain bounds. However, through asking the right questions, the following is revealed:
- The aliens are a race of cybernetic organisms resulting from electronic warfare research. They are programmed to the core for hacking into enemy systems, and only went on to broaden their interests after achieving sentience.
- They are aware of the Reapers, and are effectively hiding from them, billions of them living in a virtual world that the planet they're on is simulating.
- They were able to escape the Reapers by hacking their code. The Reapers are not capable of perceiving them as a threat.
- They live by a strict code that includes never killing other sentient beings, and that prevented them from actually finishing off the Reapers. However, they are aware that other beings might need to at some point, and they created a weapon for that eventuality. The Crucible is that weapon. Just as the Reapers are incapable of seeing the aliens as a threat, they similarly have been hacked and reprogrammed so that they cannot perceive the Crucible as a threat.
After Shepard is done with the discussion, EDI/Liara steps up.
| EDI/Liara: | "One more thing I've been thinking about. Uncharted FTL jumps usually leave ships stranded light years between star systems. The chance of us ending up at this planet is so remote that I would characterize it as impossible." |
| Alien VI: | "That is correct. We brought you here. We sensed you might be the ones in need of the Crucible." |
| Shepard: | "You mean you could see what was happening thousands of light years away, and took charge of our unplanned jump just to take us here? I find that hard to believe." |
| Alien VI: | "It is the case." |
At this point the alien VI brings up fuzzy but discernible black & white images of the planet Earth -- a video showing the beam fired by the Reapers and the resulting gaping wound through Europe gouging a hole straight through the planetary body, stars visible on the other side. The video repeats, first showing the Reaper weapon firing and then flicking forward to the ultimate effect on the planet, several days later.
| Shepard: | "My god..." |
| EDI/Liara: | "This image is very convincing. However, there's no way that could be done without violating the laws of physics." |
| Alien VI: | "... We have some control over the passage of time." |
| Shepard: | "The passage of time?!" |
| Alien VI: | "We have said too much. We will answer no more questions." |
At this, the alien disappears, the projector retracts, and the pillars return to their positions, leaving only a dusty grid of hexagons.
| EDI/Liara: | "I don't think that was a VI." |
| Shepard: | "Artificial Intelligence?" |
| EDI/Liara: | "This planet isn't a relic of a long-dead civilization. This is the aliens' home, and they've been living here all along, quietly ignored by the Reapers and everyone else." |
| Shepard: | (radio) "Cortez, a pick up please." |
| Cortez: | (radio) "Yes, sir." |
After returning to the Normandy, EDI/Liara informs Shepard that they have an idea but need a bit of time to work on it. If EDI is alive, Liara tells Shepard she needs to work with her on it. Repairs are not yet complete.
Shepard has the opportunity at this point to walk through the ship and get the opinions of every crew member. Also, if there is a love interest, unless it's Liara, the right questions can lead to some steamy time in the bedroom. If no candidate is available for sexy time, Shepard instead has an introspective chat with an old friend, perhaps over a game of cards in the rec area. One way or the other, time passes, and after the cut scene that conveys it, EDI/Liara calls Shepard in to discuss something.
It transpires that EDI/Liara has figured out how to interface with the control systems of the planet. The entire planet, it turns out, is densely packed computational units, and they have been able to interface with them. EDI/Liara has learned that the Crucible is actually a fantastically powerful host for an artificial intelligence, and they have been able to obtain a seed for that intelligence from the network underlying the planetary systems. They need simply take it back to the Crucible and upload it, and within seconds, the intelligence that unfurls within will reach out and erase the Reaper code from their bodies. As the energy burst dies, the AI presence will fade away, and the Crucible can then be recharged for another use in another star system -- a truly formidable weapon in the war against the Reapers.
If EDI has died, then Liara reports that she suspected the planet was a giant computing system, and was able to connect to the network that underpins it. Using the most sophisticated algorithms at her disposal, some of them obtained via her takeover of the Shadow Broker, she has located the seed for the Crucible AI. So-armed, the Normandy now needs to return to the scene of the battle. Various ideas are proposed, but they all involve weeks or months of travel to reach the nearest mass relay. Shepard suggests simply reaching out to the aliens and *asking* them to send the Normandy back. Liara does so, and to their surprise, the aliens agree.
They arrive at a gutted Earth. The Crucible is still there, and the Reapers are milling around listlessly. As the Normandy approaches the Crucible, they take a sudden interest in it. Abruptly, Alliance ships jump in and engage the Reapers. A brief radio exchange reveals that Hackett and David Anderson have both survived, along with much of the fleet. After Earth got a hole through the middle, they took off and put some distance between themselves and the Reapers. (Recall that this scenario only comes up when the Effective Military Strength is not high enough to allow choices that could have kept EDI alive.) The Reapers then largely ignored them, milling about. Hackett reveals that fleet engineers determined that the strength of the blast came from the Reapers discharging their FTL cores directly into their weapon arrays. They're hard at work building new FTL cores, but they aren't there yet. In any case, the Alliance ships are astonished to see the Normandy just jump back into the system, and are happy to provide a distraction to the encroaching Reapers. The mission to the Crucible is, in this frame, tied to the battle between the Alliance ships and the Reapers, rather than the events unfolding at ground level by the beam (a beam which, at this point, no longer exists as a result of that bombardment). The upload goes exactly the same, though, and the Reapers are shut down and destroyed.
It's a grim day for humanity, reduced in population from tens of billions to the few millions living on colonies and stations, as well as the hundreds of thousands involved in the Crucible project, but a day filled with determination to live on and rebuild. The resulting montage shows scenes where Shepard is settling down. Where exactly depends on whether there is a love interest and where they came from. If Shepard does have a love interest, then they are shown here -- holding an infant, if sexy time took place on the alien planet, or pregnant if not. (If playing female Shepard, then it is Shepard who is pregnant or holding the infant.) (Due to the biology of things, a homosexual love of Shepard's does not involve children in these cutscenes.)
Now, on the other hand, going back to the final scenes on the alien planet, if EDI is alive, and thus it is EDI not Liara trying to dig into the information systems that make up the planet they've landed on, then in addition to locating the Crucible AI seed, EDI has also counter-hacked the aliens as thoroughly as they hacked the Reapers back in the day. She has learned everything about controlling the alien planet's systems, and that they do, indeed, have systems capable of manipulating time and space. Using the alien's time-capable teleporter, EDI is able to transport the Normandy to the point a few minutes before the Reapers fired their massive weapon, with Shepard just beginning the charge down the hill side.
Shepard, EDI and a chosen team member have a final mission to dock with the Crucible and upload the AI seed. They do so just in the nick of time, as the Reapers are preparing to join their super-powered beam weapons together to make the gigantic planet-boring beam. One by one, starting with the middle one that was about to fire that final pulse down the middle, the Reapers shut down and go adrift. The Normandy on the planet surface next to the uplink beam, however, still makes its FTL jump to the alien planet and disappears, preventing there from being two Normandy ships with crew at the same time. In this ending, Earth is saved. Once again, a montage plays, this time showing Shepard settling down on Earth, and Shepard's love interest, if any, appears with young infant or pregnant. (Unless it's Shepard, or unless they are gay in which case they're together and happy but without a child, since, you know, it can't happen that way, in the bedroom.)
In either ending, also, if the love interest in the final cut scenes is Liara and Shepard made love to her before arriving at Earth in the first place, then regardless of Shepard's sex, they have an infant, because, you know, the Asari are capable of that. :-)
