I really believe requesting an ending explanation or change isn’t a good idea. Why? I’ll need to break it down. Firstly, there’s the question of unanswered questions. Bioware left many questions unanswered as to what becomes of various characters, or the fleets. Will the crew from the Normandy stay on the wild planet forever, doomed never to return to their homeland (personally I believe so, but let’s leave this to debate)? In the destruction ending, have all the ships crashed as the Normandy did? The citizens from the Citadel have or have not been turned into zombies? As an answer to that, keep in mind every scene of the Mass Effect ending has been studied carefully, so it must be the will of the writers to leave questions unanswered. It’s intentional, is what I’m saying. Personally (sorry fellas), I see it as a plot device to make the player realize how insignificant the fate of thousands seem as compared to the totality of advanced organic life in the galaxy, as part of the theme of sacrifice in the trilogy, as well as the motif of few people producing an effect of great importance (the title is kind of winking at this). About the character choice, I’m also a bit frustrated, frustrated that my character’s personality only ended for talking to the illusive man, but I saw this coming from miles away (I say it’s from Human Revolution, who received so much acclaim and had a similar ending structure). As for plot holes, I’ll leave it to the debate corner. Secondly, there’s the notion of respect to the creator. That’s mostly what I want to insist on. You cannot ask a group of writers to change a story after they’ve released it. That’s disrespectful to creative liberty. I consider Mass Effect a great story, with an ending worthy of any other Asimov novel or Carl Sagan rant, and I realize it may be influencing me to say this, but it truly is disrespectful to ask Bioware to spit out DLC in order to relieve everyone. The ending they chose is the ending that was intended (and besides, frankly, should they ever change the ending we’d know this one was the finalized one, the truer one), they should be open to criticism but there’s a difference between saying you dislike a work and requesting to the artist that he change it, because if a work is insulted it still is an original product of creative liberty, whereas then it would be just a story on demand. You cannot ask Bioware to change the ending as much as you cannot ask for a movie or a book. That’s pretty much the main argument I have, that of respect. Of course, chances are since Mass Effect is pretty anchored in downloadable content the fans will get what they want, but keep in mind it’s insulting for a writer to have to change his work by others’ demand. And I really don’t want to insult Bioware. Anyone with me? (herecomesjohnny)

EDIT: I MAY NOT HAVE EXPRESSED MYSELF SO WELL, SO I'LL JUST POST THIS LINK WITH WHICH I CONCURR: http://www.gamespot.com/features/why-bioware-shouldnt-change-mass-effect-3s-ending-6366066/

Just finished my first playthrough last night. Perhaps I was better prepared than most because I'd seen discussion of the controversial ending on this site. In any case, I thought the ending choices were a fitting conclusion to the series even if I'd have liked a bit more explanation of the fates of some of the characters. For me the big lesson was that some major decisions are not simple and some solutions are neither paragon nor renegade. The argument that the ending makes all your previous efforts meaningless is missing the point - your actions and decisions have brought you to this juncture to make this important decision. If you had done nothing then all life in the galaxy, organic and synthetic, would die and the reapers would return again and again as each cycle of life evolves. The result of your decision will break the reaper's cycle. Life, in some form will continue even if it does have to climb a long way back up to where it started. Shepard is remembered all those years later for saving life from the reapers. Couple that with the comments made by herecomesjohnny and I'll count myself as a supporter of Bioware's work. Am also quietly expecting more from Bioware in the not too distant future which will answer some of our bigger remaining questions. - Infiltrator N7 22:52, March 15, 2012 (UTC)

You don't seem to understand why we're requesting a change. SlayerEGO1342 22:58, March 15, 2012 (UTC)

They are releasing a dlc expansion pack. -- ► Kaloneous ◄ _{♣^HelpDesk♣} 23:02, March 15, 2012 (UTC)

It's not that "all" of our choices have led us to that final moment. It's that ANY of your choices have led you to that specific final moment. No matter who you chose to save or let die off, you're given the exact same set of decisions with no context relating to the previous game. In the same 10 minutes, you're introduced to this galaxy-altering "set" of choices and told to make your decision. The ending itself is a self-contained, completely irrelevant situation. That's not to mention that it was full of plot holes. You know what else was full of plot holes? Deception. You know what the fan reaction was? "Fix it." You know what BioWare did? Fixed it. This isn't even a reaction unique to BioWare. Bethesda altered the ending of Fallout 3 after a similar reaction. As for the issue of respect: Mass Effect is NOT BioWare's story. Mass Effect is the player's story set in the universe BioWare created. The game is overtly advertised as a decision-based plot with outcomes based on those decisions. In the end, however, BioWare took control of the player's story in numerous unsatisfactory ways. Before you tell us what we SHOULDN'T do, make sure you actually know what the problems are. SlayerEGO1342 23:08, March 15, 2012 (UTC)

You know, at this point I really don't want a new ending for ME3. Mostly because there is no way that the writing team can make an acceptable ending for me, if they thought this was ok, and also because I don't give a damn anymore, happy with my own head-canon.

However I have to say one thing: people are right to demand a better ending, or at least some compensation for their disappointment. Why? Because they paid for a product that was advertized in a certain way (16 vastly different endings anyone?) and they didn't get what they paid for. Bioware made people believe that they will have a very unique experience and a very unique ending for their Shepard's story. But that turned out to be not true. With all the other mistakes Bioware made, this was pretty much the last strike for the fans, and they couldn't take it anymore. Artistic choice or not the consumers have a right to complain, and in general gamers should complain more and stop just accepting everything because the publishers and studios want it so.

I also have to add that trying to “keep things mysterious” in the final game of a trilogy is probably the shittiest artistic choice ever. Oh and bringing Deus Ex HR into this isn't the best idea either, because people found the ending button choices stupid and were only okay with it, because it was a prequel.--SunyiNyufi 23:15, March 15, 2012 (UTC)

I agree with SunyiNyufi. I paid full price for this game and the ashes DLC expecting to get the advertised product. Asking for a new ending is no different then receiving a broken product, and taking it back to the store for a working one. If I had know ahead of time that this was the ending I would have waited till the game was around $20 before I bought it. Personally I have a lot more issues with the ending then most. But I will save that for when I am a little more level headed.

--Schaferhund 16:46, March 16, 2012 (UTC)

You got to be kidding, OP... If I'd were to debate each point of your proposal not to demand a better ending, it would take a wall of text the size of a Reaper, so I won't do it. Just tell me one thing: if you say, that you care about respect for Bioware so much, why do you deny them redemption? Who the f*ck will have respect for them, after all they did, after that galactic-scale failure with ME3 ending? Now, if they release a better, a true ending, they have a chance of winning some respect back.-Algol- 17:29, March 16, 2012 (UTC)

How about this, you keep your current endings, I'm gonna enforce my rights as a customer and demand the quality which I paid for. --Kainzorus Prime ^{Walkie-talkie} 17:33, March 16, 2012 (UTC)

Listen, OP people want different endings. Not many people camplained about the DAO ending because that explained everything, and it made sence. That's an ending Bioware got right. They game me freedom to explore and change a little virtual world and then they tell me how what I did affected everyone. Where as in ME3 nothing I did had any effect on the ending, everyone who doesn't die at the end of ME2 has a 100% chance of getting to the same point as me, and if they go in with less then optimal war rediness shiz then all they have to do is play MP, yeah that's real cool. As for anyone who doesn't like the ending to ME3 and you have a facebook account go to "Demand a Better Ending to Mass Effect 3" on facebook and if we work together we can change the ending. The money raised goes to charity, and so far we've raised something like 45,000$ so please sign up and help us "Hold the line!" Dawnofdoom999 05:02, March 17, 2012 (UTC)

Sorry, but no. This is a role playing game, and that big lipped alligator moment (comes right out of nowhere and makes no sense) of an ending is so out of character for Shepard it really baffles me how they could even think of writing this. I got the Geth and Quarians to work together in my playthrough. Why can't I mention that to whatever the kid is supposed to be as an example for synthetics and organics getting along fine? Why can't I question it's right to play god and murder all these races ("conserving" them in the reapers is not sufficient)? Why do I have to pick and accept one of its three choices with not even attempting to bargain or outright telling it to get lost? This ending is disrespectful to the people who love the universe and characters Bioware has created. (kshade)

"You cannot ask a group of writers to change a story after they’ve released it. That’s disrespectful to creative liberty." This sounds nice, but it's just false.

1) this has happened before (Doyle resurrected Holmes b/c of fan demand) 2) Similar things happen often. Dickens changed the ending of Great Expectations before publication. Many, many, movies have their endings changed before going to theaters. Why should the befores or afters of publication/theatrical release have any relevance? It's not as though the author's vision suddenly solidifies once the work goes on sale. 3) We don't think that the works are harmed by ending changes (Have you ever heard anyone say "Great expectations is would be great book--except that it has two endings!" Or: "Blade Runner would be a great film--except that it has two endings!") 4) Mass effect is different from most art in that the audience tells the story along with the writers. It's more like a choose your own adventure book than a movie or traditional novel. And it's not nearly as obvious that we shouldn't ask for more options to a choose your own adventure book. 5) But even this isn't a perfect analogy to ME3, b/c we KNOW that BW will be adding to the mass effect story via DLC. We just want those additions to change the ending rather than the middle of the story. What's so bad about that? 6) BW could release a sequel w/o violating their artistic liberty (or else artistic liberty's already in trouble, this being ME*3*). Why can't they release a DLC that takes place immediately after the ending that reinterprets the ending (say as indoctrination)? Sequels do this fairly regularly. So what's the problem?

I'm sorry, but Doyle actually killed off Holmes because he had grown to hate the character. When by fan demand he resurrected him, it infuriated him terribly. Also, there is a difference between changing a work in progress with your associates rather than changing it a posteriori due to the public's reaction. Also, indoctrination theory? really? (herecomesjohnny)

TBH while I think that the indoctrination theory is just fans in denial grasping at straws, at this point the best option for BW would be just to run with it. I mean, they could still keep the stupid starchild dialogue, and would only add content after that, which would probably make things easier on writers, coders etc. alike.

PS: Hope you don't mind that I edited the format of you post for easier readability. If you do, I'm sorry.--SunyiNyufi 20:31, March 17, 2012 (UTC)

Not at all, thanks, i'm new at this and very clumsy. But i still don't agree with the endoctrination theory as it has even more plot holes than what the other fans are already raging about. Also, the I.V's revelations were pretty decent, the story's twist was good, even though I kind of saw it coming. After reading Asimov novels or watching Carl Sagan speak, it really falls in line with that cosmic epic attitude of life.

As I said, I don't really think that the indoctrination theory is pretty solid either, but it could be made to work with the fewest tweaks to the actual game, that's why I think BW should use it. And while I agree that to a certain extant the “plot twist” is okay, that's really not what people's problem is with the endings. The problem you see is that the ending is totally disconnected from the rest of the game. Because up until that talk with the starchild most main missions were dependent on what you did, how you act, and you were always clearly told what kind of outcome your actions will have. A perfect example is Tuchanka, where even decisions from ME1 factor into the outcome. Yet once you get to the kid all your decisions doesn't matter and only factor into the endings as numbers, you don't have the ability to argue with the kid, point out his flawed logic or simply ask about how control and synthesis endings work. And these problems with the ending are really not an “artistic choice” in my opinion, it's a design oversight, where the writers or directors clearly failed to incorporate the ending they desired into the game itself. And don't even get me started on the Normandy running away, because that really doesn't make any kind of sense.--SunyiNyufi 11:09, March 18, 2012 (UTC)

In short, the "you can't change art!" line sounds nice, but doesn't stand up to inspection. 141.218.226.30 07:01, March 17, 2012 (UTC)

Whether it is indoctrination theory, dream sequence theory, or some other possible theory it doesn't really matter. The "true ending" is sorely needed.-Algol- 00:40, March 18, 2012 (UTC)

Read this blog, especially the last two sections. *http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:Kaloneous/Mass_Effect_3_(True)_Ending_DLC_Revealed%3F%3F%3F Sorry guys, it doesn't look like BioWare is going to change the endings at all and will instead give dlc missions prior to the concluding part of the game. -- ► Kaloneous ◄ _{♣^HelpDesk♣} 07:04, March 17, 2012 (UTC)