PinkCrayon
Member
and why does that guy have a bellybutton on his back???
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Mass Effect 3 Spoiler Thread |OT2| Taste the Rainbow
- Thread starter Patryn
- Start date
A victim of Cerberus experiments.
PinkCrayon
Member
I would love to know how such an experiment would advance humanity.
Don't tell me that's the guy's own face on that Shepard... No wait, that would be hilarious. Please, do tell me that's that guy's own face.
It's actually a blow hole. Now he can breathe like whales.
It's actually a blow hole. Now he can breathe like whales.
What is Matthew chapter five verse eight?
I thought you meant the whole tattoo when I first glanced at the thread. :lol
Someone sent this to me on massdeflect.
Turn On / Turn Off BioWare (Campaign)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jIJ0tb6W78&feature=youtu.be
Basically . . . I laughed at the concept, since I've already stopped playing the game.
Fimbulvetr
Member
Bible stuff.
Long story short:
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Totally appropriate for Mass Effect and not pretentious at all.
I know it's bible stuff; I just didn't know what it meant. I wonder if he had that before he put the ME-inspired tattoo.
Escape Goat
Member
He/She will never know the touch of a woman/man.
You know you would. Just look at those lips.
So I wanted to look into this Indoctrination Theory people keep talking about. Given the derisive attitude of those who have mentioned it, I expected it to be a contrived, desperate argument with no real evidence beyond imaginative interpretations used to fill plot holes; all glued together by fan desperation.
But then I watched this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZOyeFvnhiI&feature=fvwrel
The arguments are hard to refute. After being presented with the montage of Bioware tweets at 18:40, I was completely sold.
The bottom line: does this theory seem more or less likely than the idea that Bioware's writers would just go nuts and throw away everything they'd established over the course of the game in the final ten minutes?
The hardest thing to achieve in the game is the two second scene which shows Shepard breathing. The Citadel just blew up, and the 'Destroy' option is supposed to kill Shepard anyway, if the space-god's word is to be taken at face value. So let's say the game's ending is exactly as it appears, and is just terrible. Why include this scene that shows Shepard didn't die when the player picks the 'Destroy' option? Where is Shepard's body, and how did it get there? Why is it available to only the most committed of players?
It's impossible to explain in the context of the narrative as it stands. It only makes any sense as a teaser to show that Shepard is still laying in the rubble of London, coming out of a dream sequence induced by Reaper indoctrination, and about to get the fuck up and finish the fight.
The idea that the real ending to the game will be following as DLC is disgusting, even if it is free. But it's still far, far less crazy than the ending as it stands, which not only makes no sense in the context of the game, but flagrantly contradicts what Bioware specifically said the ending would be prior to the release of the game.
I hate the way Bioware chose to do this. I hate that I'll have to wait months to finish the game properly. But I'm now certain that we'll get a true ending to the trilogy, that this was the plan all along, and that the extra content is not simply on its way because Bioware hit the panic button due to fan rage.
I'm actually surprised that the prevailing opinion in this thread is to dismiss the Indoctrination Theory as nonsense born of fan desperation. Watch the video.
Confirmation bias.
- Bioware has specifically stated that people on the Citadel might have survived, so it can't have blown up entirely.
- There's nothing about that scene that says it's in London. The pipe you shoot collapses over where Shepard was standing in the cut scene that moves away from the room.
PinkCrayon
Member
Even if the indoc theory was true, that would just make the ending worse. You end a 100 hour long trilogy with a dream sequence that isn't even confirmed to be true? Get the fuck out of here.
Let's say that when the Citadel blows up at the end of the game, sections of it seal off, including the one in which Shepard was standing. That still doesn't explain why Shepard is still alive in the extra scene. Shepard is partially synthetic, and the space-god specifically said that Shepard would be destroyed along with all synthetic life the player chose Destroy. Either the space-god was wrong, or he was lying. If he is what he appears, he has no reason to lie; and the entire premise of the ending as it stands is based on the truth and accuracy of everything he says - so why is Shepard still alive?
The additional ending DLC was planned before the game's release. It's not a result of Bioware giving in to fans; rather it has always been their intention to present players with a delay before revealing the real ending.
Space god says "even you are partly synthetic", nothing more than that, in reference to Shepard in the Destroy ending. Shepard surviving the synthetic parts dying is nothing weirder than Shepard's body staying intact through falling through the atmosphere in the beginning of ME2. Usually objects of Shepard's size that do that turn into dust upon re-entry, but you don't see anyone calling Mass Effect 2 indoctrination because of that.
The ending was written literally, like it or not. Every single production note and comment we have from Walters and the writing staff before they started going "we don't want to influence how people interpret the ending" because they realised they have something to earn from it points to it being literal.
Aske said:
And what exactly in the world points to this being the case except that it would confirm your theory if it was true?
ending press release said:
PinkCrayon
Member
No, they didn't plan it before release. Besides the obvious, (folding to fan pressure) that is simply NOT how video games are made.
I know it sucks. I know you are looking for anything to comfort your sorrow. I've been there, just take a step back and think for a minute. They fucked up. They tried to make what should have been one of the greatest games ever in 18 months, as opposed to the 2-3 years they needed. The ending is simply a product of a rushed development cycle. Nothing more.
This.
EmCeeGramr
Member
Because BioWare are bad writers.
Jake Tower
Banned
It's not confirmation bias when you go into the video expecting it to be far-fetched bullshit.
This is your only argument and it somehow confirms indoctrination!
Fair point to say that I can't prove that the DLC was pre-planned. I think once it's out, we'll know if it was a hastily created apology or something Bioware had long planned to release in this way.
It'll be interesting to see what happens when the DLC eventually releases. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong; but the arguments in the video make too much sense for me to ignore. If you guys don't buy them, so be it. There's nothing more I can add.
I maintain that the indoctrination theory is less improbable than the ending as it stands.
It'll be interesting to see what happens when the DLC eventually releases. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong; but the arguments in the video make too much sense for me to ignore. If you guys don't buy them, so be it. There's nothing more I can add.
I maintain that the indoctrination theory is less improbable than the ending as it stands.
Do you really think if there was a "true ending" planned from the beginning that they would wait 5-6 months to release it? It would've been out at the end of April at the latest!
That's not even taking into account how retarded and scattershot their post-release PR is. If this was planned from the beginning, they would know what they were doing. I've never gotten that impression from them.
I'm sorry but that indoctrination video was the biggest pile of crap I have ever seen.
I had to turn it off half way through
That's just some desperate guy clinging to whatever he can so his beloved game doesn't suck.
Everything can be explained by crappy writing, which is all over the game
Dear lord that was annoying
I had to turn it off half way through
That's just some desperate guy clinging to whatever he can so his beloved game doesn't suck.
Everything can be explained by crappy writing, which is all over the game
Dear lord that was annoying
So true...
Indoctrination theory would have been awesome. But for it to be true, 2 things where needed. The true ending should have been in the disk (aka. planned and developed along the rest of the game), and it should have been unlocked in 2-4 weeks since the launch of the game (not 4 months later in the summer).
So stupid that it's GENIUS?
Cannot be quoted enough.
The inverse would also be confirmation bias: the tendency to disregard information that refute their beliefs.
The indoc theory is nullified by Patrick Weekes post and the Final Hours app.
It's born out of desperation for answers about the current endings. I really wish Bioware would come out and kill it. But, it's the only positive thing they have going since the release. Snuffing what little hope there is would probably damage the brand even further.
It's born out of desperation for answers about the current endings. I really wish Bioware would come out and kill it. But, it's the only positive thing they have going since the release. Snuffing what little hope there is would probably damage the brand even further.
I don't think it's that desperate, a friend of mine thought the ending was a dream when he played it and that was without looking up things on the internet.
Photolysis
Banned
Wasn't it delayed by 5 months or so as well? Imagine how much worse it could have been... now there's a horrifying thought.
Getting singed by Harbinger did have a dream-like quality to it, but you're just about dead because of it, too. That can go either way.
heliosRAzi
Banned
Did someone say Indoctrination Theory?
LightofRohan
Member
Yea... noone argued it makes it better. It's still BS.
Yes. That's why I have returned. I can hear it from miles away.
heliosRAzi
Banned
People are saying that Bioware are geniuses for pulling it off which implies that it's a better ending. If were true, it would still be the shittiest ending of all time because it doesn't end the main plot. Shepard is still on Earth while everyone dies.
The Indoctrination Theory is just something used to explain away the plot holes and inconsistencies. It was literally born out of the belief that Bioware couldn't make the shitty ending we got. People felt that Bioware had something up its sleeve and they thought that indoctrination was the ace.
While Bioware did plan on having an indoctrination sequence at the end, what we have now cannot be explained by indoctrination.
And ending this with just saying it was all a dream is shitty.
I felt it in my bones.
He killed me. But I tried again...
You poor fool. Well, misery loves company, no? I lose sleep over the image of me ruthlessly gunning him down...If only I had known! Marauder intended only to express the highest level of mercy by sparing me from the atrocious ending...but I killed him. I'm a...MURDERER!
The Broken Ska Record
Member
I would really like to hear what Bioware had planned for the series finale, or if they just made it up as they went along.
Fimbulvetr
Member
No, Drew Karpyshyn is a pretty bad plotter in general. It's all over ME2 and ME3. The Ending is just when he tried to make the badness deep and provocative.Aske said:
Karpyshyn left a while ago and didn't do anything for ME3. You mean Walters? Hudson?
The Broken Ska Record
Member
Yea, bringing Cerberus into the forefront in ME2 was a bit odd. Especially since they seemed like a cheesy group in ME1. Although, I did like the EDI/Lunar AI revelation in ME3.
Fimbulvetr
Member
Hahah. Yeah, I meant Walters.
IoCaster
Gold Member
Go replay ME2 and really pay attention this time. This whole series went off the rails storywise in the first few minutes of that game when they killed off and resurrected Shepard for no conceivable reason other than to force him to work for TIM/Cerberus. You remember Cerberus from ME, right? Somehow we're expected to believe that a small group of former Alliance black-ops goofballs transform into a near galactic superpower with seemingly unlimited funding and a private army. It's beyond wretched how incompetent Mac Walters is at crafting a coherent narrative.
lastplayed
Member
I'm probably late to the party, but the ME3 soundtrack is now on iTunes. Yay.
The Broken Ska Record
Member
I just figured the whole death/rebirth thing was a bit ham-handed, but it was the best way to Metroid Shepard at the beginning of the second game. I found all of the writing, in all three games, to be a bit too much at times.
I got it from the CE. Can you post the cover art?
You can drag/drop it from the Selected Item box to the desktop, so that it creates a JPG.