So I've been thinking over the original/extended ending to Mass Effect 3, and it's obvious (and later revealed) truth of being written by one person (EA suck up Mac Walters) instead of being a team effort lead by Drew Karpyshan.
Apparently Karpyshan's original plan was based around biotics and dark energy; remember the ME2 mission to Haestrom in which the systems star is dying and nobody can figure out why? While the idea was never fleshed out (Karpyshan left only the outline and notes for the team to use before he left Bioware), the jist was that the Reapers were harvesting organic life every cycle or else their extended use of biotics would screw up the galaxies dark energy and kill stars. I'm sure there would have been a far better explanation fitting the theme of Mass Effect as a story and MASS EFFECT as a title for the series and as a technology within the universe.
Personally the endings we got didn't particularly offend or let me down, especially having only ever played the extended cut.
CONTROL = makes sense from the idea of Saren and TIM, but neither were mentally strong enough or balanced enough (Paragon/Renegade) to be this all powerful galactic protector for the rest of time, it fits Shepards personality and story very well and unlike Synthesis, actually will prevent any future war by having every nation stand down their militaries and only having Shepard as a truly neutral empathetic benevolent motherly/fatherly protector. Species can continue with their lives from sinner to saint, but never again will there ever be a war of any level.
DESTORY = what most people chose for obvious reasons, and from our own standpoint in real life, overcoming and destroying such an enemy would seem more preferable to out base "intelligence". It can be argued this is exectky why the Reapers are unknowable, because it doesn't make sense to us to opt for control or synthesis to us, but to beings with (at least in the ME universe) an intelligence so far beyond our own we're effectively ants by comparison. This option in-game never sat well with me however, having to kill EDI, all Geth, all artificial life... that IS genocide, and while Shepard would (not happily) sacrifice the few to save the many, even one species for the many, this didn't sit well with me.
SYTHESIS = makes sense from a certain point of view... every single species across the galaxy from microbe to Leviathan sharing the same genetic DNA, but for this lengthy explanation: giantbomb.com/forums/mass-effect-3-4984/the-disturbing-implications-of-synethesis-spoilers-541264
it just doesn't work, not like Control would at ensuring peace, and not in the way that Mac Walters explained. You could argue again: the Reapers' intelligence far outstrips our own and we're not meant to understand, but to me it feels more like Walters' is just a bad writer.
REFUSE = no explanation necessary, fuck the Reapers, fuck the Starchild, we will fight to our last breath to forge our own futures and our own destinies even if we lose, we'd rather die trying than be slaves to their designs. A good idea, heartbreaking as well for everyone everywhere to so valiantly fight a doomed fight, but doomed they are. Everyone from Shepard to Garrus to Grunt to Liara and the biotic God Niftu Kal, will die. And there is nothing they can do. Unfortunately this ending was so short and half arsed it lost all heartbreaking tragedy it could have had at being the best ending. Much like Halo Reach, you've been fighting a doomed fight, but fighting none the less, and definitely fits Sheparslda character.
The problem most people had I think was that there was no happy ending. And while I do think this should have been one of at least a dozen (not four) possible endings, to me "everyone lived happily ever after" doesn't fit the game at all, especially when the characters are fighting Lovecraftian level God machines, that everyone lives and has children etc etc waters down the Reapers threat to the level of pathetic Geth Heretic bitches and honestly kills the whole point of the series.
Personally, my ending is the Alternate MEHEM mod. Despite what I said above, this works best for me and I think the series. It completely guts the Starchild and goes straight to destroy, and this works for several reasons:
Suicide run: the fight for Earth and massing allies by uniting the galaxy has weight now, if you don't do this then Harbinger will kill them all and the Reapers win.
Sovereign: its words of the Reapers being beyond our comprehension hold true, we never learn what the Reapers are or why they are doing this endless cycle of galactic genocide for trillions of years. The Reapers remain unknowable, defeated yes but still awe-fully terrifying in their concept. Less is more.
Not everyone lives: and this is key, we still win, there's no single genocide of any one species (Geth, etc) yet everyone suffers heavily. It's a far more bittersweet ending.
Now for the important part:
Theories and Headcannon: this mod allows for fans to discuss the whole themes of Mass Effect and the Reapers and allows for a more personal story to each player, because its down to their own thoughts on the Reapers existence and to be honest, probably has more of an effect on them thinking about this and the series as a whole in true Lovecraftian Cosmicism. For me it goes like this: at the start of the universe came the first species, the Leviathans. Much of their story plays out the same as their explanation to Shepard until we get to the reason for the Reapers: after uniting the galaxy for the very first time, they (much like ME:A) venture out to new galaxies. Yet every galaxy they visit... nothing. Just a whole lot of dead and empty space. After millions of years exploring every galaxy across the universe (remember their technology and ability is GOD LIKE compared to our own) they find that the Milky Way is a fluke, life only came to be within out galaxy, and that terrifies them. They too have caused, waged, and witnesses war, and when their own galactic war begins that almost destroys all life across the galaxy, they create the Reapers. A race of sentient Lovecraftian guardians to impose order and protect life by destroying it. Once a species reaches its peak, it is harvested in order to prevent its inevitable self destruction - and destruction of life, what the Leviathans believe to be the most precious thing in all the universe, from microbe to Leviathan. Unfortunately this means their own unintended destruction, they believed they created a monster, actually they created an anti-Shepard Control ending. The Reapers are doing what they were meant to do, protecting life, no matter who their creators were. So begins the first of thousands of harvest cycles. It's not until Shepard comes along, and for the first time unites a galaxy together against that very self destruction - Krogans and the Genophage, Quarians and the Geth, Humans and the Batarians, Krogans and the Rachni... arguably lost of the conflicts and issues across every part of Shepards world. The galaxy has finally been united in such a way that can never be undone, and no matter how much time passes, no war will ever arise that will threaten the destruction of all life. The Reapers are like the flu shot for the galaxy: the galaxy is the body, riddled with species that threaten to kill its life, the Reapers are there to prevent this, slowly making those species stronger and stronger together, until finally their are strong enough to not only defeat the Reapers, but strong enough to live in peace without killing all life. Lovecraftian Cosmicism. The galaxy is a body, life is its blood, intelligence is a poison, Reapers are the cure. It's very much in the vein of Agent Smith's philosophy in The Matrix, but on a universal scale.
Again, this is only my personal headcanon, but both Control and more so, Alternate MEHEM allow this and everyone's personal headcanon to work. Sadly we'll never know Karpyshan's likely mind-blowing ending, the best we can hope for now is a Resident Evil 2/Final Fantasy VII level remake of all three games 20 years down the road...
This was a long one, but anyone to who made it through, it would be great to hear your opinions.