Mass Effect 2 endings: Blue: Masterpiece Orange: Masterpiece Mass Effect 3 endings: Red: Crap Blue: Crap Green: Crap It is so funny that the ME2 colour coded endings are being called masterpieces while the same damn thing in ME3 is being called a crime against humanity.
I agree with a lot of people here, this is the ending that should have been, now the trilogy is complete. Your work on this deserves a very big thank you. Very nicely done.
IDK if people realize but this is nothing but a slightly tweaked Destroy ending which has high war assets ?? All i saw is no choosing endings, which i don`t care about since Destroy is my favorite one, and with high war assets the normandy survives, the relays can be rebuilt and shepard survives.... Besides the last mass effect trailer reveals that is the canon.
@@goliathmb18 It's a good mod because it's an ending we all much prefer. It provides closure as we see that Shepard actually survives instead of being forced to choose destroy if we want to see Shepard survive. Even then, we only see them for a brief moment. With this mod we actually get a nice edited cutscene with Shepard in it, which is so much better. Also, nothing is confirmed to be canon. There may be plenty of things that let us speculate that the destroy ending is canon, but it's not confirmed whatsoever.
@@goliathmb18 It cuts out the choosing of endings, the worst part of the trilogy, creates a short and sweet activation of the crucible, has a more meaningful conversation with Dadmiral Anderson, and most importantly, in my emotional wreck ass of a Marine, is the military funeral in full dress instead of combat uniforms and tanktops.
Yes, this video is undoubtedly a much better Paragon ending. In the grand scheme of things, the Renegade Shepard did not feel like Renegade Shepard because you do the same thing as Paragon Shepard. You still fight Saren, Sovereign, and the Geth in ME1. You fight the collectors in ME2. You fight Reapers and Cerberus in ME3. It makes no difference if you play as Renegade Shepard. A true Renegade Shepard would be Shepard joining forces with Saren in ME1. Together, Saren and Shepard conquer the galaxy with the Reapers. Shepard joins Saren when Saren states on Virmire "Is submission not preferable to extinction?" But BioWare would never make a Renegade Shepard like that.
@@speedle9190 true, but for some reason EA won't lesion to reason and give fans what they want, they just need to admit that this ending is canon and we can all move on
Finally, the ending we all have wanted. Reapers destroyed, geth survived, EDI survived... All happy. For that mod you deserve special award from every Mass Effect player in the galaxy.
@@Telemaniakus Remember that they were affraid. They wanted to survive so they have joined the only ones who could provide them power to defend against the Quarians - to the Reapers. And of course not all geth were on Reapers side. Remember Legion? wanted to create new future for Geth were they can live in peace with other organics in Milky Way and even Legion itself considered peace with Quarians. I think they do deserve to sruvive since they were doing everything to survive and on their place I'd do the same.
@@hora213 they did it twice and they have the reaper code in addition, it was better not to risk losing the quarians and the whole galaxy, besides, with the reaper code they were something else...
@@Telemaniakus Every race would do the same to survive. Reapers promised them way to survive and they weren't organic so they knew that reapers won't harvest them. If you were at their place I bet my both hands you'd do the same thing. And reapers code helped them to become individual. Now every geth is single soul so they think like every organic. This helps them understand other races. And even Legion itself/himself told that they didn't want to kill all quarians. They wanted to survive so once quarians left the planet and ceased to be danger to them, they stopped their fight. But still organics were threat and when Reapers offered them way to survive, they agreed.
I know right Anderson was always a role model to shepherd and shepherd was like his own flesh and blood the bond between them was no less than that of a family couldn't ask for a better ending
It's amazing how simple this all is. Just a few voice clips to imply Shepard's crew is looking for them, a few sentences to explain how the Geth and EDI would be able to survive with high enough readiness. One or two added animations... And yet it makes a WORLD of a difference. As if this should have been the secert ending you get for getting max readiness. Like it's amazing how perfect this fits and best of all... NO STAR CHILD!
HELL NO. I just tried it - that disgusting little brat.. gotta say I much prefer MEHEM to this. Kinda patched together, its unavoidable but managed to make more out of Shep rescue.
The part where you hear the crew searching for Shepard was done so damn well. I wish I had never played Mass Effect 3 until now, so I'd never have memories of the Catalyst. Just this. God, I needed this. Thank you.
I feel like a lot of Authors mistake what endings are for, Endings are closure. A way to close the book, it's not supposed to be misery fuel and it's good for books and stories in a series to have less then ideal endings but the actual climax of the series, especially something someone has sunk endless hours into really should have a good ending. Good Endings are ultimately always High-Cost endings, as they are in Real life. Author really want their readers and viewers to feel emotions but definitely, better to go with happier endings even if bitter sweet.
Words cant even describe how this ending makes me feel. So full of emotions even on the trillionth time thru. This is what the community deserves. You my friend are a genius and a scholar and a visionary.
I love this ending in that it’s extremely little new material. It’s the omission of things, retaining all that it needed to be. No factually incorrect kid AI telling you how the universe works, and no choices that are all equally shit. Getting the Crucible to the Citadel was the climactic fight, and you were rewarded with a victory. No citadel blowing up and killing millions. And no relays blowing up and ending systems ( or at the very least. Stranding everyone away from vital resources). And most importantly Shepard survives, and is found by the crew. As apposed to surviving and being stranded in a bunch of rubble with maybe no one coming? Who knows. Keeping the Crucible to being effectively a big wave gun, that specifically kills reapers, is perfect.
When I first heard of this mod I imagined they took the refusal ending, but instead of everyone dying shepard just shoots catalyst in the head and the reapers die, but this, this lays a far greater insult into the starbrat, one could say the greatest insult one could lay onto an enemy: to be ignored
Whilst I agree with most of this, I don’t think Shep surviving is most important, or even important at all, to me. The sacrifice of Shepard to save the rest of the galaxy makes sense, I just wish we could save EDI and the Geth.
Honestly, I'm shocked they didn't add another happy ending in the Legendary Edition. It's no secret how unhappy people were with it. I get not everything has to be sunshine and rainbows, but is a little bit of joy too much to ask?
I love it, but it's a stab at the other writers. I agree that this ending is better but I doubt that anyone in the Bioware writing room wasn't not just as passionate about the trilogy they worked on as we are. I don't think their work "deserves" to be discarded
This is the ending we should have had, and it's now my canon. I can't thank you enough Audemus for fixing my favorite game of all time. Until now I've only finished ME once and it hurt me so much that I've always quit once reaching earth. Thank you more then I can express.
@@blackvalio4060 From one person who isn't a fan of the way certain gamers conduct themselves when it comes to voicing disapproval. The ending of Mass Effect 3 really is that bad.
I agree with Destroy being the best ending seeing how it's both A) what we've been working towards the entire series and B), the game literally spelling out that Control and Syn are what the Reapers are doing/ trying to do. My problem with it and why this mod is good, is that despite all of our choices and despite achieving the war goal, we still end up murdering two of our friends (Edi and legion) and committing mass genocide on the Geth (if of course you sided with them or you united them with the Quarians). I've always believed that if you were able you do the impossible, and united the Geth and Quarians in peace, then together, through achieving the war goal, they should've found a way to modify the crucible so it only targets the Reapers. For instance, what if, because you chose to re-write the Geth heretics in Mass Effect 2, they have unique knowledge on Reaper energy signatures, and because you have the Reaper IFF also from ME2, The Quarians and Geth together, discover a way to modify the crucible, but they need time to make the changes (the war goal mechanic). Maybe you could even throw in the Rachni if they're still around because we know they're great builders and have then do the hardware changes. IDk, the base game endings all felt like a slap in the face to me. I don't mind bitter-sweet endings and don't even mind Shepard dying or sacrificing themselves to end it all once and for all, but none of the endings took any of my choices into account, they had no impact at all, like they were only a stepping stone to get to the end so I could make the most important choice of all....What is, in fact, my favorite colour.
The Reapers were not truly doing synthesis, although I understand the theory. Its what Saren was talking about, but he was ONLY a disposable tool for the Reapers to use. They had zero intention of actually sparing him afterwards. He'd just become like the Collectors, abominations of technology with no soul and no will of their own. Husks to serve the will of the Reapers in the next cycle and be abandoned just like the Collectors were. Synthesis is TRUE fusion, the benefits and stability of technology with the soul and life of biology. The Reapers didnt want that, they wanted genocide and harvesting. In the end, the Reapers were really just a slave to their own programming, like all technology is. They were give the task of preserving life, and this was how they chose it. While they were all formed from organic goop, they do not have a life or soul of their own. I like the idea of giving them the understanding and biological life they need, along with the order in technology they desire to make them allies to the galaxy instead of just obliterating them.
@@OGXenos The reapers were actually supposed to be much more than they were in ME3. I'd argue that they were "dumbed down" for the 3rd game. When you talk to Legion in ME2, he spells it out for us on what the reapers really *are*: "a nation unto themselves", is how he put it (directly quoting Sovereign at times to reference his explanation). They had to be made "less than" in order for the stupid Star Child to actually work.
If the crucible couldn't differentiate between synthetic life (reapers, geth and EDI), then it wouldn't be able to pick out just the reaper tech (which ALL technology was based on in the galaxy) in order to destroy the reapers. So if you picked destroy, well, you'd be destroying the entire technology of the galaxy, killing billions. They really didn't think that plot point thru and their "fix" for the extended cut was just bs. By making the crucible target specific with the code would have been a fully logical and satisfying way to resolve that, especially with your idea of the geth heretics coming into play, or even the rachni being saved (the only way to get the code needed and the only workforce able to make the changes in time), kinda like what saving Malon's data and not killing Wrex did for the fate of the krogan.
Its the ending I would have liked. But gamers would have complained that their were not alternative ending like in the original game. So no ones to blame and everyone to blame.
@@darthwyvvern This is literally just the destroy ending though. The only difference is the Shepard surviving and maranda being there at the end. Everything else is copy and paste the destroy ending.
@@Cobravenom69 Did you not see the surviving geth? Oh, and the complete absence of BioWare's brain diarrhea that we call the "Star Child"? Just those two changes makes it worlds better than what we actually got...
Man - when I heard joker's voice scream out "Commander !" in the post credit scene looking for shepard, I started tearing up instantly. This was a much needed correction to perhaps one of the best fiction out there. Thank You
Looking forward to playing a modded run through of LE3 again and this will be on my list when I do. :) Rather than omitting the Star Child completely I always thought it would be cool for that conversation to start as is but Shepard realizing quickly it's just Harbinger trying to delay or block Shepard at the last turn, knowing his 'solution' has come undone and that the Reapers had already lost. Basically the hologram turns from the child into Harbinger allowing Shepard to curse him and hits 'a big button' to start the chain reaction. It sort of ties in nicely with a call back to ME1 Virmie and the chat with Sovereign, keeps Harbinger as the big bad, plus doesn't ignore the discovery in the Leviathan DLC for ME3. Maybe for version 2? :P Thanks for your efforts.
This is also a very creative idea. I always thought Shepard was dealing with PTSD when dreaming about the child during ME3. So maybe Shepard dreams about the child again and then Anderson wakes Shepard up to activate the Crucible
It's interesting how simply reworking the destroy ending to ONLY wipe out Reapers, while leaving Geth and other synths/technology alone, fixes it completely. I know that is why there is so much cope around the endings still. All anyone wanted was a "we win" happy ending, or at least the chance to get one. As for Shepard living - I always felt like their sacrifice would make sense and it didn't really ever bother me. I can understand why people want them to live though.
Was actually one of the things I really liked about ME3, they engrained the idea that no matter what you do there has to be great sacrifice to win the war against the Reapers. So no, a happy ending wasn't the way to go, although this mod is very well made & definitely deserves its praise.
I agree. I would’ve been perfectly content with Shepard dying if the ending had been satisfying and offered closure. I think I could’ve begrudgingly accepted it if Extended Cut had shipped with the original game. As it stands though, I don’t feel they earned the right to take Shepard from us with that ending. The happy ending mod imo is less “this is how the game actually should’ve ended” and more “this is the best way to fix the ending we got”.
I must disagree on that last part. Throughout the entire trilogy the game suggests you barely have to sacrifice anything in order to get things done. If you play a pure Paragon, you get the results just as good as a Renegade. Renegade was most of the time about 'Making hard and ethical questionable choices NECESSARY to garner support or to gain something on the long run. However since you can just get it as easily by just being nice, Renegade seems somewhat redundant. You get salarian support even if you dont sabotage the cure. Point being: A full Paragon playthrought suggests this game does not send the message of having to make hard choices to win support, so why should it start with that at the end?
I would agree.. if they have shown your Love Interest with a baby for example... Shepards legacy. That would be awesome... after all we have invested time and resources in developing relationships and building up your Love Interest. It would close the trilogu and still leave a small door opened for a future one.
Thank you. From the bottom of my heart thank you so much. This was the only thing I was waiting for to start my last playthrough of the trilogy with the Legendary Edition.
Holy f.... This is better than all the mods available for the Original Mass effect 3. It's like a combination of the best parts from all the ending mods available even though it's mainly based on John's Alternate version B mod. Bravo f***ing bravo.
Oh good, I was literally waiting for this to be ported over before playing ME3. Now we just need someone to do the same with the Tali face modes and we'll be all set.
@@ScottishScrub The original trilogy had a mod that added a fully animated face for Tali. Very detailed and nice looking. The original "face" is not that great when you do the comparison.
Love this ending. The music score is sad when remembering the original endings, but with this ending the score has an uplifting and satisfying emotional ‘tone’ because it epitomises accomplishment and hope for the future and most of all, Shepard is alive with her crew and having the honour of placing her mentor, friend, father figure Anderson’s plaque on the memorial board - perfect. This would be great lead into ME 4 where Shepard takes Anderson’s role to mentor some budding hero/heroine.
Okay, this is the true and ultimate tear breaker. For three games in trilogy, for countless attempts of "trying to make things right, at least once". For literal weeks of thorough gameplay. This is it. Thank you. And I really mean it.
I agree as well. This is the ending the game deserved. The ending we all should have experienced from the beginning. Great work on this . 👏 you deserve a true medal of glory and honor for the effort and work you put into this ending. Let's hope the right people view this and ensure they don't create the same mistake with the next mass effect . Keelah se'lai
Specially for the people that did all the missions, played all the games, invested in all your relationaships, etc, etc. I did 100% of all missions in ME1, ME2 and ME3... so I think that I would have deserved a nice ending like this one.
@@Perroden I understand but this should have been one of the endings not the only one ofc... I think that everyone wanted to have the chance to get a worthwile ending and not the rainbow ending which they had to change and add Power Point Presentations due to the bakcslash that they received... The game was cool until the moment you hit Cerberus base.. starting on that point everything went from awesome to nonsense.
@@FuFightersStudio it was a bit lackluster tbh. It was relatively satisfying but it was all too easy and quick death... I thought that they built do much anger and thirst for his demise and everything went just poof...
I've been waiting to buy MELE until a MEHEM successor hit the Nexus. And it's 50 percent off on Steam right now! Love where you made the cut after talking to Anderson. Having Hackett tell you the crucible isn't firing and then cutting when you hit the floor was my only issue with JAM. It just didn't make any sense but cutting right after the final Anderson conversation is perfect. Very well done! You're doing the Goddess's work with your mods. Thank you! Now just gotta wait for Project Variety, CEM and the full scope EGM and all will be well with the universe. Too bad Ark Mod can't be done in LE. Oh well.
Star Wars is the only other franchise that matches Mass Effect in storyline quality and world building. Think about it, not star trek, not battlestar galactica, but fucking STAR WARS! Pretty Amazing!
Honestly, I prefer an ending where choice is involved. I personally believe it should have been possible for Commander Shepard; with an high enough Paragon/Renegade score and as long as you manage to make peace between the Quarians and the Geth; to convince the catalyst that it is in fact possible for organics and synthetics to coexist, that the Reapers are not the solution, and then have the Catalyst call off the harvest. I could never think of a reason as to why it was not possible within the original version of the Mass Effect trilogy; other than to force the player into making one of the three choices (or two if you fail to unlock Synthesis as an option).
There are some things that people (especially synthetics) just can't have their minds changed about, no matter what anyone says. It's like trying to convince a flat Earther that the Earth is round, they just won't break. Especially if they've believed they were right for a really long time, like the Catalyst did. It'd be a nice ending, but not a very realistic one
@@MarshTheUA-camChannel I have to disagree with you there. For starters; resistance to change regardless of the circumstances is uniquely a flaw of organic beings. Such sentiment to one's beliefs is not a flaw shared by any synthetic beings. Synthetics make decisions based on calculations; not personal biases. Frankly; this is why the Catalyst acknowledged that the Crucible changed the variables to an extent that the solution the Catalyst had previously come to was no longer viable. The only part that the Catalyst was firm about was that the three options it offered were the only options you could choose, but the Catalyst spoke about those choices as though it were unaware of what happened on Rannoch between the Quarians and the Geth (if you managed to establish peace between them). The Catalyst, however, does mention that the reason for its creation was because of the problem that existed between synthetic and organic beings back then, and that the solution it had come to was the Harvest. A solution that was only required according to the Catalyst's data because Organics and Synthetics at the time were unable to coexist. What happened on Rannoch should absolutely have a role in convincing the Catalyst to call off the Harvest; because if peace is established between the Quarians and the Geth, then it would give the Catalyst further reason to conclude that it was wrong in its approach to the problem.
I'm fine with this ending but I agree, the first time I got to the godkid part I didn't understand why we couldn't mention making peace between the Geth and the Quarians. There's also a big plothole in that the galaxy was doing fine even while the Geth were around (they lived isolated for 200 years) and only attacked Eden Prime the first time because Sovereign made them do so. As in it was the Reapers that caused this aggression between synthetics and organics, not the Geth or the organics themselves.
I usually pick synergy between the reapers and mankind a shame they could have just said Shepard was absorbed by the catalyst and then as he is now technology, he could have been made like vision from avengers growing a new body and moving his consciousness over to it, that would have been the best ending less death and destruction and eternal peace between man and machine.
The main reason we have the official ending we do, is because the original version was leaked before the game released. Someone at BioWare/EA decided that wasn’t cash money, and they hastily re-wrote the ending to what we get here.
This is my cannon ending. Every single detail, the main char, the LI, the team. Everything. Perfect. Thank you Audemus. I'm proud of you. You did good son. You did good.
It’s insane to know that they never even intended for the ending to be the ending, It was a concept along with a few others in the beginning of development but because it had the most concept art they just put it in the game shot for shot including the colors which weren’t even supposed to be in the final product. They had color coded them to make it easier to understand when all 3 endings were laid out in a story board but they were all supposed to be red in game. The people that put the concept and story board together didn’t even know it had been implemented until just before the game launched ffs
Uh, none of what you said is true. The real reason for the ending is that they had already planned something completely different to be the ending - related to the plot point in mass effect 2 about stars decaying faster than they should - but then this was leaked and EA demanded a completely new ending be made literally months before release, which is why they are so lazy
@@kieranhurst8543 I fail to see your point here, these two factoids are no where contracdictory but it classic internet fashion you open with “Um, AckShkulay, i am the biggest galactic brain and you are wrong.” Half of your post is literally just proving my post correct. Get a life.
Still love the idea of Anderson taking Sheppards place and sacrificing himself to the merging of ending or any other ending. Because that is who we see in some cut scene's.
I find it funny that in the end, removing the "choice" was the right way to go. If, in fact, the game ended like this, there was no catalyst convo or choice at the end, it would be miles better. Sincerely, there doesn't need to be a choice with what to do with the reapers, we made the choice of destroying them 2 games and 100 hours ago. I just find it ironic that in a game about choice, too much of a good thing tends to turn out bad. Well done my guy, sad I don't have this on PC so I can't get the mod.
It’s Insane what a little editing, remixing, and good old fashion love for a franchise can create such a perfect end point to a story that desperately needed it. The inclusion of them looking for Shepard gave me literal chills. It almost makes me wonder why bioware didn’t think to do that in the first place cause it kinda makes it seem like even if Shepard lives, they’ll probably die from wounds or something dumb like dehydration. But you fixed that, and JUST WITH EXISTING ASSETS! I’ll definitely be including this mod along with the Take Earth Back mod when I get it for PC sometime this year. It might not be canon to the sequel, but it’ll definitely be my ending up until that point. Thank you so much.
That scene is the one reason why there HAD to have been some plans for Indocternation theory. I know Bioware dismissed that claim, but honestly it sounds more like something they were forced to say in order to not set up for a sequel in the Milky Way considering Andromeda was in the works by then. Why else would that scene exist otherwise? Hidden behind a deep EMS requirement - doesn't make sense!
@@Draxel I feel like if Indoctrination theory was correct, we would’ve heard fighting going on while Shepard was waking up. Indoctrination would’ve definitely been a good twist, but as bioware has said to their discredit, they weren’t that good at their jobs that such an intricate ending was ever planned. I’ve heard there’s a mod coming out that’s creating that as a possible ending, so that’s something cool. I feel like extended cut was the perfect time to just make an Indoctrination theory ending possible even if it wasn’t planned, It wouldn’t have changed any of the previous material, and it would’ve been a big gain in PR because it would reinforce fan theories while also being a decent ending in of itself. Sadly, the team was apparently insanely crunched during that time so I’m glad we at least got what we did for the extended cut.
14:06 An ending where both Shepard and Big Ben Tower survive. I love it. I still cried. When Anderson died, it was just too much. Thank you for this video. Very creative 👍🗼
It may be embarrassing to admit, but I was crying, damn near sobbing, when the funeral was done in full dress uniform, even Chakwas was in full dress, never seen that before. If they added in a gun salute with a rail gun and TAPPs I would be done for.
@@aauwhatitdo1582 Chakwas was sorely underutilized in the series. All they gave her was a few lame conversations. So much more could have been done. I think BioWare dropped the ball there.
@@ARCEUS493ZELDA I don't think this should have been the default. This should have been the ending you got with a high enough score. There should have been a shitty ending, a bittersweet ending (where Shepard dies but the war is won) and a happy ending like this one.
@@ARCEUS493ZELDA That is not the same as the vanilla outcomes. The Control and Synthesis endings are stupid. I want improved versions of the Destroy ending with potential for riskier and greater outcomes.
Shepard hugging Miranda at the end made so much sense, given that she's the reason why they were even able to exist to save the universe. Such a wonderful touch, 👩🍳💋
Good mod, I still liked the original endings the game had. In the end you couldn’t choose to save everyone which the game often reminded you of. Everyone knew that in the end some people were gonna have to sacrifice themselves for everyone else. Still don’t understand why the catalyst was the kid from the start of the game tho
This is my first time seeing this in many trilogy playthroughs and I am in SHAMBLES. I feel like it would've been so simple for Bioware to have this ending option. I'm so grateful to the ME community for making beautiful mods like this!
OMG this is so good. Bioware could not figure this out! Casey Hudson could not grasp that after playing a character for a 100 + hours to kill them off pisses people off. I hate the original ending it implies Shepard's crew and lover don't give a damn. Wrex and Grunt would never abandon Shepard. This ending also gives Adm. Anderson his due as Shepard's mentor what was Bioware thinking??? I uploaded this with great pleasure thank you for making this right!
Litterallly everything you said is fixed in the extended edition This mod is a good mod that gives a predictable happy ending, that's its purpose and is fine. But I don't think a happy ending fits the tragic story that is mass effect
Well actually BioWare was extremely limited in the ending. EA was pressuring Casey to hurry up for the release. The team at BioWare were planning on an even bigger final space battle scene and bigger ending, but they had to cut all those plans to appease EA who wanted to ship the game ASAP.
@@SuperDaxos It doesn't really matter how long they had to make the ending, what we got makes it clear they were just wrong-headed about it. If they'd had another six months the ending would have still sucked because they didn't get it anymore than their little space-runt got it. The entire purpose of the reapers had already been proven false because synthetics and organics can have peace. Even with their changes they didn't realize the biggest thing wrong with the ending.
I must say...I liked the previous one better. The one in which a small squad is sent to the citadel to recover Shepard just before the crucible shoots. It felt more epic. Although this one seems more "in line" with the controversial canonic ending
As a man who has played the games over and over and still to this day hates the endings we got, this right here is the masterpiece of the mass effect trilogy, even if its a mod I can confidently say this here is the true ending
@@γιουργια No, it still sucks. Having all your choices made during 3 games not matter at all and forcing us to sacrifice Shepard or make him do the stupidest thing in existence: not choose anything and let all advanced civilisations fall is NOT how you should end an epic space opera FFS, something Hack Walters and Crayola Hudson apparently didn't know. Adding a few ending slides does not change that.
Wow, thank you so much for your work. This mod was the reason I played ME3 to the end back in the day. For me, there is no other ending. This is canon to me. How easy it would have been for the developers to throw in the dialogue lines of the team searching for Shepard. But they didn't. The original ending broke my heart and the way Bioware treated the fans after it and stayed true to that bullshit broke it again. Still to that day, I did not forgive them and what these writers did to Mass Effect and Shepard. This was awful. But you made it a little better and I thank you for this from the bottom of my heart.
Anderson's death gets me every time. I always do Colonist Shepard, so this is like losing her father all over again, to inconceivable monsters with no remorse. This is the ending I've dreamed of since I first played ME3 back in 2012. A real happy ending.
Tbh this ending it's more make sense without the star child hallucinations. In first ME Shepard discovered the Prothean beacon, Mass effect is based on tech not dream or saw ghost
I love the ending that this mod bring, but I think it would be perfect if Shepard died, I like the idea of Shepard as a space Jesus jaja, who gave everything he had even his live to save the entire galaxy. The happy ending with the hero martyr
I agree I’ve been debating on downloading this mod because it fixes a lot of the issues with the ending, but it doesn’t have as much of a punch if Shepard lives
Seeing the Geth and Quarians together makes me smile...with this mode...we did save the Galaxy. We really won It's also amazing how a fan base can come together to change what was a lame ending, into one the fans and hard working players truly deserved
The "I'm proud of you" line was always good in the official cut, but with the extra context of this version it hits so much better. Anderson isn't just congratulating Shepard for a job well done -- he's reassuring them in his last moments. Shepard admits he/she doesn't feel proud for some of the things that they've done, and Anderson says with the emphasis on the first word: "*I'm* proud of you." Perfect. Wonderful.
Just imagine...all they had to do was leave out the Starchild. That's all they had to do to make this a better ending. Sure, it still wouldn't have given us anything for all the effort and resources we gathered during the game, but I guess simply losing more team mates and a lot more destruction/loses in general if you have less resources at the end would have been acceptable as an outcome if we had not.
I actually didn't mind the original ME3 endings once the Extended Cut DLC came out. However I will admit that your 'Happy Ending' mod is just as equally awesome as the vanilla version.
Why the hell was it left to us to write a decent ending? Why didn't they bother to fix it? They KNEW it sucked, the writers even commented on twitter they werent happy with any of it... yet no effort was made to correct ANYTHING. Even LE left it in that fail state... sucks. This is a MUCH better ending. Thank you for the hard work.
This ending is nearly perfect. Thank you Audemus. Some people said that this is just "a slightly tweaked destroy ending." But that is not true. The Starchild/Catalyst scene is completely removed which makes all the difference. That whole scene with the Starchild presents nihilistic and downer choices, with creepy and weird space magic, undermining your goal and none of them can be considered victories and they are essentially the player losing. It's not satisfying and it's a slap in the face. After three long games, the player deserves to see Shepard overcome the odds and ride off into the sunset with his romance option.
*"For us, the storm has passed... the war is over. But let us never forget those who journeyed into the howling dark and did not return. For their decision required courage beyond measure; sacrifice, and unshakable conviction that their fight... our fight, was elsewhere. As we start to rebuild, this hillside will remain barren, a memorial to heroes fallen. They ennobled all of us, and they shall not be forgotten."*
I am still crying about Anderson's death, but Admiral Hackett can replace Anderson if they make sequels. They have similar personalities. Even if you do the most unethical things as Renegade Shepard, both Anderson and Admiral Hackett will support Shepard 🎮👍
I know how pointless petitions tend to be but someone set one up for Bioware to use this ending as canon for whenever the next ME game comes out in a few years or however long it's going to take.
This mod made me think. it would be so great if Bioware started off the next mass effect with rewriting mass effect 3 by making the whole scene with the star child ripers last attempt to control Shepard and try to influence his last choice by letting him think that if he picks the destroy ending he will end all synthetic life when in truth chosing anything else other than destroy option means the riper managed to fully indoctrinate Shepard and will end up in an ending that everyone dies and Shepard thinks he saved everyone.
I can not explain it, but Mass Effect is one of the best things that ever happened in my life. This trilogy gave me so much happiness. I have always been drawn to great stories and games in general, but Mass Effect is perhaps the greatest story ever told. The last time I played the trilogy was back in 2014, but even to this day I get emotional watching things like this ending.
I dont normally mod games but I need this. It is beautifully executed. The funny part is that even though it is a happy ending mod, there is still plenty of sacrifice to be found, something I never understand about bad ending fanatics. The perfect good ending is the one that comes at a cost!
This! ☝️ A lot of people who are against a "happy ending" tend to forget that aside from (at the very least) Ashley/Kaidan, Mordin, Thane and Legion, hundreds of millions if not billions of people across the galaxy have died because of this war. So in that sense, it's not a "happy ending" but more of an "ideal ending".
@@bluesrike yeah! I think most people fall into that trap of advocating for an ending that they themselves havent put my thought into, they gravitate toward spectacle versus different narrative engines culminating together to tell a believable story, be it bad or good
I myself still love the indoctrination theory, and the endings we got were all hallucinations. The breath we see the mysterious soldier take was Shepard waking up from getting blasted by harbinger. I will keep dreaming though
The only thing that pissed me off in the original Destroy ending (aka the canon one) was the Geth dying. I could never cope with that. And IT'S FIXED! Adding this mod as I'm typing this, thank you so so soooo much! Oh and dare I ask, any plans on working on it a bit more, or is this just a port? Thanks again!
There will likely be another update in the future that adds some more polish and hopefully some new ending slides, but otherwise I’m happy with where the mod is now.
The DLC version was much better for sure but in mo way does the weight of all the decisions you make thru the trilogy gets reflected at the ending as originally promised. It all boils down to the color you chose.
This... is... Amazing Don't know what it is, but the officer uniforms at the funeral is all the difference. Seeing everyone in dress, paying respects to a fallen hero, it hits me in the feels, maybe it is a veteran thing, but it wasn't emotional when they were wearing tank tops, BDUs, and Battle Armor.
THANK YOU. Now this is the true ending, if they made this frame from frame we would herald it as a great game from start to finish. This would've been a great way to finish the journey.
I hadn’t planned on modding ME (sort of went down that rabbit hole back in DAO), but am seriously considering it for this mod. Wonderful job and thank you
I held off for so long with LE3 hoping the happy ending mod would return. I've only ever played ME3 with it. Finally gave in and started LE3 after Christmas. So glad this has come just in time, this is the only TRUE ending to Mass Effect.
Removes poorly-executed "inscrutable motives made stupid"? Check. Removes "Space Jesus chooses fate of all sentients by color-coding"? Check. Convinces me to do *another* Insanity run just to "earn" this ending? Check. Bravo and WELL DONE. Now, pardon me, I seem to have dust in my eyes.
Completely agree. Still, Anderson getting killed was devastating. That line where Anderson says "I'm Proud of You." It hits me so hard and breaks my heart.
I've only completed Mass Effect last month but I totally agree. The ending undoes all Shepard's efforts in the past. It is unnecessarily dramatic, unfulfilling and should be thrown out the airlock. THIS is the best ending. Shepard and team deserve this after collecting the gruelling 8000+ War Assets.
This is the ending that should have been. Mass effect is my favorite trilogy. Nothing tops it, but the ending is not complete for the creators or fans. This is it. I hope Bioware takes this and makes this the real ending.
This is excellent!! *THIS* is how Mass Effect 3 *should* have ended. Plus, having the voices of your crew calling out for you during the Shepard's breath scene was an excellent touch! What be even better is (after a short time jump, like 6 months or so) have the Citadel DLC take place right after this. So it could be the epilogue that it *should have been* ... Except the apartment would be Anderson's last gift to Shepard. That would've made this game one of the most brilliant and beloved sci-fi fantasy masterpiece epics of all time. Instead of the stained brilliance the current Bioware trilogy is now.
Citadel Epilogue Mod is a real thing and will be coming out soon. I designed this mod specifically with the intention of creating a smooth transition into CEM
Uh... he does survive... if you get perfect paragon, through all three games, and compete the correct requirements... you see his chest breathe in. Its hin surviving. A bit anticlimactic, but let's not act like he doesnt survive the destroy ending.
*Destruction Ending:* Red
*Control Ending:* Blue
*Synthesis Ending:* Green
*Happy Ending Mod:* Golden
Mass Effect 2 endings:
Blue: Masterpiece
Orange: Masterpiece
Mass Effect 3 endings:
Red: Crap
Blue: Crap
Green: Crap
It is so funny that the ME2 colour coded endings are being called masterpieces while the same damn thing in ME3 is being called a crime against humanity.
@@R1ckj333 It is not the form that is important, its the nature of the thing that is what matters.
@@kubikkuratko188 a god of war quote under a mass effect video....i respect that...
@@virtualrobb5964 thank you
Yes, exactly.
I agree with a lot of people here, this is the ending that should have been, now the trilogy is complete. Your work on this deserves a very big thank you. Very nicely done.
IDK if people realize but this is nothing but a slightly tweaked Destroy ending which has high war assets ??
All i saw is no choosing endings, which i don`t care about since Destroy is my favorite one, and with high war assets the normandy survives, the relays can be rebuilt and shepard survives....
Besides the last mass effect trailer reveals that is the canon.
@@goliathmb18 It's a good mod because it's an ending we all much prefer. It provides closure as we see that Shepard actually survives instead of being forced to choose destroy if we want to see Shepard survive. Even then, we only see them for a brief moment. With this mod we actually get a nice edited cutscene with Shepard in it, which is so much better. Also, nothing is confirmed to be canon. There may be plenty of things that let us speculate that the destroy ending is canon, but it's not confirmed whatsoever.
@@goliathmb18 It cuts out the choosing of endings, the worst part of the trilogy, creates a short and sweet activation of the crucible, has a more meaningful conversation with Dadmiral Anderson, and most importantly, in my emotional wreck ass of a Marine, is the military funeral in full dress instead of combat uniforms and tanktops.
Yes, this video is undoubtedly a much better Paragon ending. In the grand scheme of things, the Renegade Shepard did not feel like Renegade Shepard because you do the same thing as Paragon Shepard. You still fight Saren, Sovereign, and the Geth in ME1. You fight the collectors in ME2. You fight Reapers and Cerberus in ME3. It makes no difference if you play as Renegade Shepard. A true Renegade Shepard would be Shepard joining forces with Saren in ME1. Together, Saren and Shepard conquer the galaxy with the Reapers. Shepard joins Saren when Saren states on Virmire "Is submission not preferable to extinction?" But BioWare would never make a Renegade Shepard like that.
@@speedle9190 true, but for some reason EA won't lesion to reason and give fans what they want, they just need to admit that this ending is canon and we can all move on
Finally, the ending we all have wanted. Reapers destroyed, geth survived, EDI survived... All happy. For that mod you deserve special award from every Mass Effect player in the galaxy.
Agree!👍
geth?They cheated twice and went over to the reapers side...
@@Telemaniakus Remember that they were affraid. They wanted to survive so they have joined the only ones who could provide them power to defend against the Quarians - to the Reapers. And of course not all geth were on Reapers side. Remember Legion? wanted to create new future for Geth were they can live in peace with other organics in Milky Way and even Legion itself considered peace with Quarians. I think they do deserve to sruvive since they were doing everything to survive and on their place I'd do the same.
@@hora213 they did it twice and they have the reaper code in addition, it was better not to risk losing the quarians and the whole galaxy, besides, with the reaper code they were something else...
@@Telemaniakus Every race would do the same to survive. Reapers promised them way to survive and they weren't organic so they knew that reapers won't harvest them. If you were at their place I bet my both hands you'd do the same thing. And reapers code helped them to become individual. Now every geth is single soul so they think like every organic. This helps them understand other races. And even Legion itself/himself told that they didn't want to kill all quarians. They wanted to survive so once quarians left the planet and ceased to be danger to them, they stopped their fight. But still organics were threat and when Reapers offered them way to survive, they agreed.
"I'm proud of you." That line hit me right in the heart.
I know right Anderson was always a role model to shepherd and shepherd was like his own flesh and blood the bond between them was no less than that of a family couldn't ask for a better ending
I'm over here tearing up.
I am still crying
Yeah it does! 100%
I'm joining in with the "made me cry" squad, damn that hit just right.
It's amazing how simple this all is. Just a few voice clips to imply Shepard's crew is looking for them, a few sentences to explain how the Geth and EDI would be able to survive with high enough readiness. One or two added animations...
And yet it makes a WORLD of a difference. As if this should have been the secert ending you get for getting max readiness. Like it's amazing how perfect this fits and best of all... NO STAR CHILD!
[SYNTHESIS]
"I prefer the real ending."
[DESTROY]
"I said the _real_ ending."
[Happy Ending Mod]
*_"Perfection."_*
Well said. Facts. Facts. Facts. Even Sovereign and Saren would love this ending 👍
First Class reference, right?
HELL NO. I just tried it - that disgusting little brat.. gotta say I much prefer MEHEM to this. Kinda patched together, its unavoidable but managed to make more out of Shep rescue.
Control Ending
Lame. There already was a happy ending, it was the high-EMS "breath scene" Destroy ending.
The part where you hear the crew searching for Shepard was done so damn well. I wish I had never played Mass Effect 3 until now, so I'd never have memories of the Catalyst. Just this. God, I needed this. Thank you.
Bro right. Like let me forget mass effect 3 ever existed.
@@aztec4033 well, when you put it like that...
@@fl4ming_r4ven The Catalyst should’ve been taken by Harbringer or a boss fight. 😢
Somehow, I managed it. Only took 11 years but I managed it. Zero regrets.
this is the ending we can all use in our fanfics lol. :D
“Oh but this ending is too happy!”
So? So many people already died on the way there. I think it’s perfect.
I feel like a lot of Authors mistake what endings are for, Endings are closure. A way to close the book, it's not supposed to be misery fuel and it's good for books and stories in a series to have less then ideal endings but the actual climax of the series, especially something someone has sunk endless hours into really should have a good ending.
Good Endings are ultimately always High-Cost endings, as they are in Real life. Author really want their readers and viewers to feel emotions but definitely, better to go with happier endings even if bitter sweet.
You could have a bad and happy end in ME 2. But why not 3?
@@thetaytheistdifferent head writer.
@jonofpdx thought it was the same team. They even mention this was always their plan
@@thetaytheist Yeah, they said that about the Star Wars Sequels too. They lied.
Words cant even describe how this ending makes me feel. So full of emotions even on the trillionth time thru. This is what the community deserves. You my friend are a genius and a scholar and a visionary.
I love this ending in that it’s extremely little new material. It’s the omission of things, retaining all that it needed to be. No factually incorrect kid AI telling you how the universe works, and no choices that are all equally shit. Getting the Crucible to the Citadel was the climactic fight, and you were rewarded with a victory. No citadel blowing up and killing millions. And no relays blowing up and ending systems ( or at the very least. Stranding everyone away from vital resources). And most importantly Shepard survives, and is found by the crew. As apposed to surviving and being stranded in a bunch of rubble with maybe no one coming? Who knows.
Keeping the Crucible to being effectively a big wave gun, that specifically kills reapers, is perfect.
The simplest solutions are often the best, isn't that what they say? 😄
@@Draxel it’s so true
When I first heard of this mod I imagined they took the refusal ending, but instead of everyone dying shepard just shoots catalyst in the head and the reapers die, but this, this lays a far greater insult into the starbrat, one could say the greatest insult one could lay onto an enemy: to be ignored
And that the crucible was worked on over many cycles perfecting it as reaper kill machine
Whilst I agree with most of this, I don’t think Shep surviving is most important, or even important at all, to me. The sacrifice of Shepard to save the rest of the galaxy makes sense, I just wish we could save EDI and the Geth.
Anyone else think Bioware should just pay the creater and adopt this as the "canon" ending going forward?
What other endings?
Canon. Creator.
Honestly, I'm shocked they didn't add another happy ending in the Legendary Edition. It's no secret how unhappy people were with it. I get not everything has to be sunshine and rainbows, but is a little bit of joy too much to ask?
I love it, but it's a stab at the other writers. I agree that this ending is better but I doubt that anyone in the Bioware writing room wasn't not just as passionate about the trilogy they worked on as we are.
I don't think their work "deserves" to be discarded
@@lololol924 I mean, no it shouldn't, but I can't think they're proud of what they ended up putting out. Hire the guy and switch it up.
This is the ending we should have had, and it's now my canon. I can't thank you enough Audemus for fixing my favorite game of all time. Until now I've only finished ME once and it hurt me so much that I've always quit once reaching earth. Thank you more then I can express.
Best thing about it is that whatever story you make is Canon for your Shepard, so hey, maybe it extends to mods too!
@@uberschnilthegreat22 Bioware would beg to differ, considering they're making vanilla destroy the canon ending.
@reanaa I concur...
I'm not saying the game has been literally unplayable without this mod so far, but...
I'm excited.
It's not that the game is unplayable without this mod, rather that the game is unfinishable without this mod.
@@alduintheanti-dragonborn grow up
@@blackvalio4060 cope
@@blackvalio4060 From one person who isn't a fan of the way certain gamers conduct themselves when it comes to voicing disapproval. The ending of Mass Effect 3 really is that bad.
@@SuperKidSonic nope
I agree with Destroy being the best ending seeing how it's both A) what we've been working towards the entire series and B), the game literally spelling out that Control and Syn are what the Reapers are doing/ trying to do. My problem with it and why this mod is good, is that despite all of our choices and despite achieving the war goal, we still end up murdering two of our friends (Edi and legion) and committing mass genocide on the Geth (if of course you sided with them or you united them with the Quarians). I've always believed that if you were able you do the impossible, and united the Geth and Quarians in peace, then together, through achieving the war goal, they should've found a way to modify the crucible so it only targets the Reapers. For instance, what if, because you chose to re-write the Geth heretics in Mass Effect 2, they have unique knowledge on Reaper energy signatures, and because you have the Reaper IFF also from ME2, The Quarians and Geth together, discover a way to modify the crucible, but they need time to make the changes (the war goal mechanic). Maybe you could even throw in the Rachni if they're still around because we know they're great builders and have then do the hardware changes. IDk, the base game endings all felt like a slap in the face to me. I don't mind bitter-sweet endings and don't even mind Shepard dying or sacrificing themselves to end it all once and for all, but none of the endings took any of my choices into account, they had no impact at all, like they were only a stepping stone to get to the end so I could make the most important choice of all....What is, in fact, my favorite colour.
Facts.
EDI is back there 14:23
The Reapers were not truly doing synthesis, although I understand the theory. Its what Saren was talking about, but he was ONLY a disposable tool for the Reapers to use. They had zero intention of actually sparing him afterwards. He'd just become like the Collectors, abominations of technology with no soul and no will of their own. Husks to serve the will of the Reapers in the next cycle and be abandoned just like the Collectors were. Synthesis is TRUE fusion, the benefits and stability of technology with the soul and life of biology. The Reapers didnt want that, they wanted genocide and harvesting.
In the end, the Reapers were really just a slave to their own programming, like all technology is. They were give the task of preserving life, and this was how they chose it. While they were all formed from organic goop, they do not have a life or soul of their own. I like the idea of giving them the understanding and biological life they need, along with the order in technology they desire to make them allies to the galaxy instead of just obliterating them.
@@OGXenos The reapers were actually supposed to be much more than they were in ME3. I'd argue that they were "dumbed down" for the 3rd game.
When you talk to Legion in ME2, he spells it out for us on what the reapers really *are*: "a nation unto themselves", is how he put it (directly quoting Sovereign at times to reference his explanation).
They had to be made "less than" in order for the stupid Star Child to actually work.
If the crucible couldn't differentiate between synthetic life (reapers, geth and EDI), then it wouldn't be able to pick out just the reaper tech (which ALL technology was based on in the galaxy) in order to destroy the reapers.
So if you picked destroy, well, you'd be destroying the entire technology of the galaxy, killing billions.
They really didn't think that plot point thru and their "fix" for the extended cut was just bs.
By making the crucible target specific with the code would have been a fully logical and satisfying way to resolve that, especially with your idea of the geth heretics coming into play, or even the rachni being saved (the only way to get the code needed and the only workforce able to make the changes in time), kinda like what saving Malon's data and not killing Wrex did for the fate of the krogan.
Finally, the real ending of this game
The ending we should have been able to get
Its the ending I would have liked. But gamers would have complained that their were not alternative ending like in the original game. So no ones to blame and everyone to blame.
@@darthwyvvern This is literally just the destroy ending though. The only difference is the Shepard surviving and maranda being there at the end. Everything else is copy and paste the destroy ending.
@@Cobravenom69 Did you not see the surviving geth?
Oh, and the complete absence of BioWare's brain diarrhea that we call the "Star Child"? Just those two changes makes it worlds better than what we actually got...
@@johnbabylon7626 removing the consequences from the choice. Yes thats what makes a ending good. Lol you all literally just want a fairy tale ending.
Man - when I heard joker's voice scream out "Commander !" in the post credit scene looking for shepard, I started tearing up instantly.
This was a much needed correction to perhaps one of the best fiction out there. Thank You
Lot of character too, even Joker is on the ground with his messed up legs, helping to search.
Joker really is a badass
Looking forward to playing a modded run through of LE3 again and this will be on my list when I do. :) Rather than omitting the Star Child completely I always thought it would be cool for that conversation to start as is but Shepard realizing quickly it's just Harbinger trying to delay or block Shepard at the last turn, knowing his 'solution' has come undone and that the Reapers had already lost. Basically the hologram turns from the child into Harbinger allowing Shepard to curse him and hits 'a big button' to start the chain reaction. It sort of ties in nicely with a call back to ME1 Virmie and the chat with Sovereign, keeps Harbinger as the big bad, plus doesn't ignore the discovery in the Leviathan DLC for ME3. Maybe for version 2? :P Thanks for your efforts.
This is also a very creative idea. I always thought Shepard was dealing with PTSD when dreaming about the child during ME3. So maybe Shepard dreams about the child again and then Anderson wakes Shepard up to activate the Crucible
It's interesting how simply reworking the destroy ending to ONLY wipe out Reapers, while leaving Geth and other synths/technology alone, fixes it completely. I know that is why there is so much cope around the endings still. All anyone wanted was a "we win" happy ending, or at least the chance to get one.
As for Shepard living - I always felt like their sacrifice would make sense and it didn't really ever bother me. I can understand why people want them to live though.
Was actually one of the things I really liked about ME3, they engrained the idea that no matter what you do there has to be great sacrifice to win the war against the Reapers. So no, a happy ending wasn't the way to go, although this mod is very well made & definitely deserves its praise.
I agree. I would’ve been perfectly content with Shepard dying if the ending had been satisfying and offered closure. I think I could’ve begrudgingly accepted it if Extended Cut had shipped with the original game. As it stands though, I don’t feel they earned the right to take Shepard from us with that ending.
The happy ending mod imo is less “this is how the game actually should’ve ended” and more “this is the best way to fix the ending we got”.
I must disagree on that last part. Throughout the entire trilogy the game suggests you barely have to sacrifice anything in order to get things done. If you play a pure Paragon, you get the results just as good as a Renegade. Renegade was most of the time about 'Making hard and ethical questionable choices NECESSARY to garner support or to gain something on the long run. However since you can just get it as easily by just being nice, Renegade seems somewhat redundant. You get salarian support even if you dont sabotage the cure.
Point being: A full Paragon playthrought suggests this game does not send the message of having to make hard choices to win support, so why should it start with that at the end?
I would agree.. if they have shown your Love Interest with a baby for example... Shepards legacy. That would be awesome... after all we have invested time and resources in developing relationships and building up your Love Interest. It would close the trilogu and still leave a small door opened for a future one.
@@johnnatandc Yeah...except for us Miranda lovers, she can't have babies😔...
I wish the mods for the Legendary edition were (maybe someday) compatible with consoles
There's a chance for xbox players at least. But ps4 has a pathological hatred of mods that introduce outside elements not contained in the game code.
They won't. Sorry to break your heart
I hope you can maybe someday get a PC to play with any mod you want man
Well get a PC and play games how you want to.
Thank you. From the bottom of my heart thank you so much. This was the only thing I was waiting for to start my last playthrough of the trilogy with the Legendary Edition.
Holy f.... This is better than all the mods available for the Original Mass effect 3. It's like a combination of the best parts from all the ending mods available even though it's mainly based on John's Alternate version B mod. Bravo f***ing bravo.
Oh good, I was literally waiting for this to be ported over before playing ME3.
Now we just need someone to do the same with the Tali face modes and we'll be all set.
What's wrong with Talis face?
@@ScottishScrub everything
@@ScottishScrub The original trilogy had a mod that added a fully animated face for Tali. Very detailed and nice looking.
The original "face" is not that great when you do the comparison.
@@Skarfar90 not to mention that the original face is quite literally a stock photo that bioware found and just edited
@@speedle9190 Bit racist to Quarians
Love this ending. The music score is sad when remembering the original endings, but with this ending the score has an uplifting and satisfying emotional ‘tone’ because it epitomises accomplishment and hope for the future and most of all, Shepard is alive with her crew and having the honour of placing her mentor, friend, father figure Anderson’s plaque on the memorial board - perfect. This would be great lead into ME 4 where Shepard takes Anderson’s role to mentor some budding hero/heroine.
Okay, this is the true and ultimate tear breaker.
For three games in trilogy, for countless attempts of "trying to make things right, at least once".
For literal weeks of thorough gameplay.
This is it.
Thank you. And I really mean it.
I agree as well. This is the ending the game deserved. The ending we all should have experienced from the beginning. Great work on this . 👏 you deserve a true medal of glory and honor for the effort and work you put into this ending. Let's hope the right people view this and ensure they don't create the same mistake with the next mass effect . Keelah se'lai
Specially for the people that did all the missions, played all the games, invested in all your relationaships, etc, etc. I did 100% of all missions in ME1, ME2 and ME3... so I think that I would have deserved a nice ending like this one.
@@johnnatandc see that's my main problem you get the same outcome regardless if you do bare minimum or 100% every game
@@Perroden I understand but this should have been one of the endings not the only one ofc... I think that everyone wanted to have the chance to get a worthwile ending and not the rainbow ending which they had to change and add Power Point Presentations due to the bakcslash that they received... The game was cool until the moment you hit Cerberus base.. starting on that point everything went from awesome to nonsense.
@@johnnatandc To be fair Renegade killing Kai Leng is one of the most iconic moments in the game but otherwise I agree.
@@FuFightersStudio it was a bit lackluster tbh. It was relatively satisfying but it was all too easy and quick death... I thought that they built do much anger and thirst for his demise and everything went just poof...
I've been waiting to buy MELE until a MEHEM successor hit the Nexus. And it's 50 percent off on Steam right now! Love where you made the cut after talking to Anderson. Having Hackett tell you the crucible isn't firing and then cutting when you hit the floor was my only issue with JAM. It just didn't make any sense but cutting right after the final Anderson conversation is perfect. Very well done! You're doing the Goddess's work with your mods. Thank you! Now just gotta wait for Project Variety, CEM and the full scope EGM and all will be well with the universe. Too bad Ark Mod can't be done in LE. Oh well.
You summed it up best. Quick and to the point.
This game has better storyline then majority of the movies today
Man its 10 years and i still remember the whole story and my favourite Tali'zorah
Star Wars is the only other franchise that matches Mass Effect in storyline quality and world building. Think about it, not star trek, not battlestar galactica, but fucking STAR WARS! Pretty Amazing!
if Mass Effect ever gets a film adaptation, and it gets done right, I hope they choose FemShep.
@@matt_1984_ FemShep, with Garrus romance. Hands down perfection.
@@nataliesouthard2843 Nah, Liara all the way. Once you go blue, nothing else will do. :P jk.
BroShep with Tali all galaxy long 😎.
Honestly, I prefer an ending where choice is involved. I personally believe it should have been possible for Commander Shepard; with an high enough Paragon/Renegade score and as long as you manage to make peace between the Quarians and the Geth; to convince the catalyst that it is in fact possible for organics and synthetics to coexist, that the Reapers are not the solution, and then have the Catalyst call off the harvest. I could never think of a reason as to why it was not possible within the original version of the Mass Effect trilogy; other than to force the player into making one of the three choices (or two if you fail to unlock Synthesis as an option).
There are some things that people (especially synthetics) just can't have their minds changed about, no matter what anyone says. It's like trying to convince a flat Earther that the Earth is round, they just won't break. Especially if they've believed they were right for a really long time, like the Catalyst did. It'd be a nice ending, but not a very realistic one
@@MarshTheUA-camChannel I have to disagree with you there. For starters; resistance to change regardless of the circumstances is uniquely a flaw of organic beings. Such sentiment to one's beliefs is not a flaw shared by any synthetic beings. Synthetics make decisions based on calculations; not personal biases. Frankly; this is why the Catalyst acknowledged that the Crucible changed the variables to an extent that the solution the Catalyst had previously come to was no longer viable. The only part that the Catalyst was firm about was that the three options it offered were the only options you could choose, but the Catalyst spoke about those choices as though it were unaware of what happened on Rannoch between the Quarians and the Geth (if you managed to establish peace between them). The Catalyst, however, does mention that the reason for its creation was because of the problem that existed between synthetic and organic beings back then, and that the solution it had come to was the Harvest. A solution that was only required according to the Catalyst's data because Organics and Synthetics at the time were unable to coexist. What happened on Rannoch should absolutely have a role in convincing the Catalyst to call off the Harvest; because if peace is established between the Quarians and the Geth, then it would give the Catalyst further reason to conclude that it was wrong in its approach to the problem.
I'm fine with this ending but I agree, the first time I got to the godkid part I didn't understand why we couldn't mention making peace between the Geth and the Quarians. There's also a big plothole in that the galaxy was doing fine even while the Geth were around (they lived isolated for 200 years) and only attacked Eden Prime the first time because Sovereign made them do so. As in it was the Reapers that caused this aggression between synthetics and organics, not the Geth or the organics themselves.
I usually pick synergy between the reapers and mankind a shame they could have just said Shepard was absorbed by the catalyst and then as he is now technology, he could have been made like vision from avengers growing a new body and moving his consciousness over to it, that would have been the best ending less death and destruction and eternal peace between man and machine.
The main reason we have the official ending we do, is because the original version was leaked before the game released. Someone at BioWare/EA decided that wasn’t cash money, and they hastily re-wrote the ending to what we get here.
This is my cannon ending. Every single detail, the main char, the LI, the team. Everything. Perfect. Thank you Audemus. I'm proud of you. You did good son. You did good.
It’s insane to know that they never even intended for the ending to be the ending, It was a concept along with a few others in the beginning of development but because it had the most concept art they just put it in the game shot for shot including the colors which weren’t even supposed to be in the final product. They had color coded them to make it easier to understand when all 3 endings were laid out in a story board but they were all supposed to be red in game. The people that put the concept and story board together didn’t even know it had been implemented until just before the game launched ffs
Uh, none of what you said is true. The real reason for the ending is that they had already planned something completely different to be the ending - related to the plot point in mass effect 2 about stars decaying faster than they should - but then this was leaked and EA demanded a completely new ending be made literally months before release, which is why they are so lazy
@@kieranhurst8543 I fail to see your point here, these two factoids are no where contracdictory but it classic internet fashion you open with “Um, AckShkulay, i am the biggest galactic brain and you are wrong.” Half of your post is literally just proving my post correct.
Get a life.
@@Mankorra_Gomorrah says the guy making shit up in a youtube comment section
@@kieranhurst8543
So… you basically told the exact same thing except not in depth lmao
OMG Bioware, that was so hard? :D
I mean, this mod nailed it without dollar millions of budget.
GG WP Audemus :D.
Still love the idea of Anderson taking Sheppards place and sacrificing himself to the merging of ending or any other ending. Because that is who we see in some cut scene's.
I find it funny that in the end, removing the "choice" was the right way to go. If, in fact, the game ended like this, there was no catalyst convo or choice at the end, it would be miles better. Sincerely, there doesn't need to be a choice with what to do with the reapers, we made the choice of destroying them 2 games and 100 hours ago. I just find it ironic that in a game about choice, too much of a good thing tends to turn out bad. Well done my guy, sad I don't have this on PC so I can't get the mod.
It’s Insane what a little editing, remixing, and good old fashion love for a franchise can create such a perfect end point to a story that desperately needed it.
The inclusion of them looking for Shepard gave me literal chills. It almost makes me wonder why bioware didn’t think to do that in the first place cause it kinda makes it seem like even if Shepard lives, they’ll probably die from wounds or something dumb like dehydration. But you fixed that, and JUST WITH EXISTING ASSETS!
I’ll definitely be including this mod along with the Take Earth Back mod when I get it for PC sometime this year. It might not be canon to the sequel, but it’ll definitely be my ending up until that point. Thank you so much.
That scene is the one reason why there HAD to have been some plans for Indocternation theory.
I know Bioware dismissed that claim, but honestly it sounds more like something they were forced to say in order to not set up for a sequel in the Milky Way considering Andromeda was in the works by then.
Why else would that scene exist otherwise? Hidden behind a deep EMS requirement - doesn't make sense!
@@Draxel I feel like if Indoctrination theory was correct, we would’ve heard fighting going on while Shepard was waking up.
Indoctrination would’ve definitely been a good twist, but as bioware has said to their discredit, they weren’t that good at their jobs that such an intricate ending was ever planned. I’ve heard there’s a mod coming out that’s creating that as a possible ending, so that’s something cool.
I feel like extended cut was the perfect time to just make an Indoctrination theory ending possible even if it wasn’t planned, It wouldn’t have changed any of the previous material, and it would’ve been a big gain in PR because it would reinforce fan theories while also being a decent ending in of itself. Sadly, the team was apparently insanely crunched during that time so I’m glad we at least got what we did for the extended cut.
This ending should be Canon for the next games
I mean, if Shepard's alive anyway, might as well.
Years later and we finally get a satisfying (modded) ending. These are the tears I wanted to have cried completing the trilogy.
14:06 An ending where both Shepard and Big Ben Tower survive. I love it. I still cried. When Anderson died, it was just too much. Thank you for this video. Very creative 👍🗼
It may be embarrassing to admit, but I was crying, damn near sobbing, when the funeral was done in full dress uniform, even Chakwas was in full dress, never seen that before. If they added in a gun salute with a rail gun and TAPPs I would be done for.
@@aauwhatitdo1582 Not embarrassing at all. I cried too, and I don't care if I get judged for crying either.
@@sayedistrending 😂
@@aauwhatitdo1582 Chakwas was sorely underutilized in the series. All they gave her was a few lame conversations. So much more could have been done. I think BioWare dropped the ball there.
@@peterschattmann8298 👍
Was this ending to much to ask for ffs! The ending we all deserve.
Totally agree, this is the ending that gives real closure to players who’ve invested 100’s of hours into the trilogy.
indeed, its an ending we should have gotten by default but sadly never did
@@ARCEUS493ZELDA I don't think this should have been the default. This should have been the ending you got with a high enough score. There should have been a shitty ending, a bittersweet ending (where Shepard dies but the war is won) and a happy ending like this one.
@@mirsolis4992 so......... the vanilla outcomes from the original trilogy then
@@ARCEUS493ZELDA That is not the same as the vanilla outcomes. The Control and Synthesis endings are stupid. I want improved versions of the Destroy ending with potential for riskier and greater outcomes.
Shepard hugging Miranda at the end made so much sense, given that she's the reason why they were even able to exist to save the universe. Such a wonderful touch, 👩🍳💋
BIOWARE TAKE FREAKIN NOTES.
THIS IS THE ONLY ENDING WE WANTED. :(
You don’t speak for everyone you child
Just finished the game today. Thanks to this, I can leave it at peace instead of watching more fan theories.
Good mod, I still liked the original endings the game had. In the end you couldn’t choose to save everyone which the game often reminded you of. Everyone knew that in the end some people were gonna have to sacrifice themselves for everyone else. Still don’t understand why the catalyst was the kid from the start of the game tho
This is my first time seeing this in many trilogy playthroughs and I am in SHAMBLES. I feel like it would've been so simple for Bioware to have this ending option. I'm so grateful to the ME community for making beautiful mods like this!
OMG this is so good. Bioware could not figure this out! Casey Hudson could not grasp that after playing a character for a 100 + hours to kill them off pisses people off. I hate the original ending it implies Shepard's crew and lover don't give a damn. Wrex and Grunt would never abandon Shepard. This ending also gives Adm. Anderson his due as Shepard's mentor what was Bioware thinking??? I uploaded this with great pleasure thank you for making this right!
Litterallly everything you said is fixed in the extended edition
This mod is a good mod that gives a predictable happy ending, that's its purpose and is fine.
But I don't think a happy ending fits the tragic story that is mass effect
Well actually BioWare was extremely limited in the ending. EA was pressuring Casey to hurry up for the release. The team at BioWare were planning on an even bigger final space battle scene and bigger ending, but they had to cut all those plans to appease EA who wanted to ship the game ASAP.
@@SuperDaxos It doesn't really matter how long they had to make the ending, what we got makes it clear they were just wrong-headed about it. If they'd had another six months the ending would have still sucked because they didn't get it anymore than their little space-runt got it. The entire purpose of the reapers had already been proven false because synthetics and organics can have peace. Even with their changes they didn't realize the biggest thing wrong with the ending.
@@γιουργια
Witcher 3 is also tragic yet you can still do the most happiest ending and people loved it.
I must say...I liked the previous one better. The one in which a small squad is sent to the citadel to recover Shepard just before the crucible shoots. It felt more epic. Although this one seems more "in line" with the controversial canonic ending
Can you please post a link to other one?
This is the ending that Commander Shepard deserves. I'm in tears, well done.
As a man who has played the games over and over and still to this day hates the endings we got, this right here is the masterpiece of the mass effect trilogy, even if its a mod I can confidently say this here is the true ending
Who knew people wanted a proper ending to a 3 part epic space opera. Definitely not Mac or Casey.
The ending is proper if you play the extended edition. I agree the original sucks though
@@γιουργια No, it still sucks. Having all your choices made during 3 games not matter at all and forcing us to sacrifice Shepard or make him do the stupidest thing in existence: not choose anything and let all advanced civilisations fall is NOT how you should end an epic space opera FFS, something Hack Walters and Crayola Hudson apparently didn't know. Adding a few ending slides does not change that.
Wow, thank you so much for your work. This mod was the reason I played ME3 to the end back in the day. For me, there is no other ending. This is canon to me. How easy it would have been for the developers to throw in the dialogue lines of the team searching for Shepard. But they didn't. The original ending broke my heart and the way Bioware treated the fans after it and stayed true to that bullshit broke it again. Still to that day, I did not forgive them and what these writers did to Mass Effect and Shepard. This was awful. But you made it a little better and I thank you for this from the bottom of my heart.
I’m actually tearing up because of this, it was perfect.
Anderson's death gets me every time. I always do Colonist Shepard, so this is like losing her father all over again, to inconceivable monsters with no remorse.
This is the ending I've dreamed of since I first played ME3 back in 2012. A real happy ending.
Thank you! This is one of the mods I've been waiting for before doing my mod playthrough of the trilogy! Happy new year!
Tbh this ending it's more make sense without the star child hallucinations. In first ME Shepard discovered the Prothean beacon, Mass effect is based on tech not dream or saw ghost
I love the ending that this mod bring, but I think it would be perfect if Shepard died, I like the idea of Shepard as a space Jesus jaja, who gave everything he had even his live to save the entire galaxy. The happy ending with the hero martyr
I agree I’ve been debating on downloading this mod because it fixes a lot of the issues with the ending, but it doesn’t have as much of a punch if Shepard lives
Soldier at 7:15 never gets the recognition he deserves. Man had a "no man left behind" mentality while going on a headshot kill streak. Absolute chad
Seeing the Geth and Quarians together makes me smile...with this mode...we did save the Galaxy.
We really won
It's also amazing how a fan base can come together to change what was a lame ending, into one the fans and hard working players truly deserved
Question: What happens if for whatever reason, you go in with low EMS
Now we need a mod to display the Rachni helping in the war
Combine this with Take Earth Back. We added Rachni to the Priority: Earth missions in that :)
@@Tydeous what about leviathan? Is there any mods which actually adds them the species......not the bubble balls....be it here or the OG mass effect.
The "I'm proud of you" line was always good in the official cut, but with the extra context of this version it hits so much better. Anderson isn't just congratulating Shepard for a job well done -- he's reassuring them in his last moments. Shepard admits he/she doesn't feel proud for some of the things that they've done, and Anderson says with the emphasis on the first word: "*I'm* proud of you." Perfect. Wonderful.
Just imagine...all they had to do was leave out the Starchild. That's all they had to do to make this a better ending.
Sure, it still wouldn't have given us anything for all the effort and resources we gathered during the game, but I guess simply losing more team mates and a lot more destruction/loses in general if you have less resources at the end would have been acceptable as an outcome if we had not.
This is how it should have ended from the beginning. I've waited 10 years for this.Thank you!
I'm not crying.... you're crying.....I can finally play Mass Effect 3 Legendary Edition.
I actually didn't mind the original ME3 endings once the Extended Cut DLC came out. However I will admit that your 'Happy Ending' mod is just as equally awesome as the vanilla version.
Why the hell was it left to us to write a decent ending? Why didn't they bother to fix it? They KNEW it sucked, the writers even commented on twitter they werent happy with any of it... yet no effort was made to correct ANYTHING. Even LE left it in that fail state... sucks.
This is a MUCH better ending. Thank you for the hard work.
Casey Hudson is at fault. He wanted the ending we got, even though the writers were not happy with it.
@@SaltyWinchester well it seems like Hudson is gone. Good riddance.
This ending is nearly perfect. Thank you Audemus. Some people said that this is just "a slightly tweaked destroy ending." But that is not true. The Starchild/Catalyst scene is completely removed which makes all the difference. That whole scene with the Starchild presents nihilistic and downer choices, with creepy and weird space magic, undermining your goal and none of them can be considered victories and they are essentially the player losing. It's not satisfying and it's a slap in the face. After three long games, the player deserves to see Shepard overcome the odds and ride off into the sunset with his romance option.
Awesome, now I can finally complete ME3 LE. Thank you so much, been waiting for this 👍
*"For us, the storm has passed... the war is over. But let us never forget those who journeyed into the howling dark and did not return. For their decision required courage beyond measure; sacrifice, and unshakable conviction that their fight... our fight, was elsewhere. As we start to rebuild, this hillside will remain barren, a memorial to heroes fallen. They ennobled all of us, and they shall not be forgotten."*
I just wish Anderson didn't have to die at the end but, well, we can't get everything we want.
I am still crying about Anderson's death, but Admiral Hackett can replace Anderson if they make sequels. They have similar personalities. Even if you do the most unethical things as Renegade Shepard, both Anderson and Admiral Hackett will support Shepard 🎮👍
I know how pointless petitions tend to be but someone set one up for Bioware to use this ending as canon for whenever the next ME game comes out in a few years or however long it's going to take.
This is literally the best ending to ME, thank you so much.
This mod made me think. it would be so great if Bioware started off the next mass effect with rewriting mass effect 3 by making the whole scene with the star child ripers last attempt to control Shepard and try to influence his last choice by letting him think that if he picks the destroy ending he will end all synthetic life when in truth chosing anything else other than destroy option means the riper managed to fully indoctrinate Shepard and will end up in an ending that everyone dies and Shepard thinks he saved everyone.
I can not explain it, but Mass Effect is one of the best things that ever happened in my life. This trilogy gave me so much happiness. I have always been drawn to great stories and games in general, but Mass Effect is perhaps the greatest story ever told. The last time I played the trilogy was back in 2014, but even to this day I get emotional watching things like this ending.
I dont normally mod games but I need this. It is beautifully executed.
The funny part is that even though it is a happy ending mod, there is still plenty of sacrifice to be found, something I never understand about bad ending fanatics. The perfect good ending is the one that comes at a cost!
This! ☝️
A lot of people who are against a "happy ending" tend to forget that aside from (at the very least) Ashley/Kaidan, Mordin, Thane and Legion, hundreds of millions if not billions of people across the galaxy have died because of this war.
So in that sense, it's not a "happy ending" but more of an "ideal ending".
@@bluesrike yeah! I think most people fall into that trap of advocating for an ending that they themselves havent put my thought into, they gravitate toward spectacle versus different narrative engines culminating together to tell a believable story, be it bad or good
This tops H3 Legendary ending….dude just wow, the ME community should be forever grateful. You’ve shown what passion really is.
I myself still love the indoctrination theory, and the endings we got were all hallucinations. The breath we see the mysterious soldier take was Shepard waking up from getting blasted by harbinger.
I will keep dreaming though
This ending is the canon one for me and a lot of others. Thank you very much for it!
The only thing that pissed me off in the original Destroy ending (aka the canon one) was the Geth dying. I could never cope with that. And IT'S FIXED! Adding this mod as I'm typing this, thank you so so soooo much!
Oh and dare I ask, any plans on working on it a bit more, or is this just a port? Thanks again!
There will likely be another update in the future that adds some more polish and hopefully some new ending slides, but otherwise I’m happy with where the mod is now.
Congrats on fixing what EA could never fix
EA sucks. However the original endings to mass effect 3 are fine the way they are and don’t need fixing
The DLC version was much better for sure but in mo way does the weight of all the decisions you make thru the trilogy gets reflected at the ending as originally promised. It all boils down to the color you chose.
@@chinguinator you need to be more specific what is your gripe?
what a difference removeing the star child and editing makes. now me 3 goes from " meh it's alright." to an actual feel good finale.
This... is... Amazing
Don't know what it is, but the officer uniforms at the funeral is all the difference. Seeing everyone in dress, paying respects to a fallen hero, it hits me in the feels, maybe it is a veteran thing, but it wasn't emotional when they were wearing tank tops, BDUs, and Battle Armor.
They said happy ending…
*So why am i crying*
I am so excited that you remade this! Can't wait to get a new gaming computer and get back to a modded Mass Effect Trilogy.
AND THATS WHAT I CALL AN ENDING!!!!!!!!!!!!!
THANK YOU. Now this is the true ending, if they made this frame from frame we would herald it as a great game from start to finish. This would've been a great way to finish the journey.
I hadn’t planned on modding ME (sort of went down that rabbit hole back in DAO), but am seriously considering it for this mod. Wonderful job and thank you
It made me cry. Thank you. Shepard deserves it. The Crew deserves it. WE DESERVE IT.
Anderson was the Father Shepherd never had
I held off for so long with LE3 hoping the happy ending mod would return. I've only ever played ME3 with it. Finally gave in and started LE3 after Christmas. So glad this has come just in time, this is the only TRUE ending to Mass Effect.
Im working to edit mass effect into a show. I already finished season 1. But i cant wait for the end for these truly perfected mass effect.
Thank you so much
The team who made this are true heroes
Need to tag BioWare...
Much appreciated ending I liked the extra art put in their, very well done
Removes poorly-executed "inscrutable motives made stupid"? Check. Removes "Space Jesus chooses fate of all sentients by color-coding"? Check. Convinces me to do *another* Insanity run just to "earn" this ending? Check. Bravo and WELL DONE. Now, pardon me, I seem to have dust in my eyes.
This is why I need a gaming PC. This is perfect. Simply perfect. Well done.
Completely agree. Still, Anderson getting killed was devastating. That line where Anderson says "I'm Proud of You." It hits me so hard and breaks my heart.
I've only completed Mass Effect last month but I totally agree. The ending undoes all Shepard's efforts in the past. It is unnecessarily dramatic, unfulfilling and should be thrown out the airlock. THIS is the best ending. Shepard and team deserve this after collecting the gruelling 8000+ War Assets.
This is incredible! The ending we all deserved. Excellent work!
This is the ending that should have been. Mass effect is my favorite trilogy. Nothing tops it, but the ending is not complete for the creators or fans. This is it. I hope Bioware takes this and makes this the real ending.
This is excellent!! *THIS* is how Mass Effect 3 *should* have ended. Plus, having the voices of your crew calling out for you during the Shepard's breath scene was an excellent touch!
What be even better is (after a short time jump, like 6 months or so) have the Citadel DLC take place right after this. So it could be the epilogue that it *should have been* ... Except the apartment would be Anderson's last gift to Shepard.
That would've made this game one of the most brilliant and beloved sci-fi fantasy masterpiece epics of all time. Instead of the stained brilliance the current Bioware trilogy is now.
Citadel Epilogue Mod is a real thing and will be coming out soon. I designed this mod specifically with the intention of creating a smooth transition into CEM
Uh... he does survive... if you get perfect paragon, through all three games, and compete the correct requirements... you see his chest breathe in. Its hin surviving. A bit anticlimactic, but let's not act like he doesnt survive the destroy ending.