If you're wondering why I call it Mass Effect 5 and not Mass Effect 4, that is because BioWare is the one calling it 5, so I am following their naming convention. It is in the metadata of the actual trailer and the concept at that says SFX5! I genuinely don't care what you call it but don't get mad at me for BioWare's naming!
@@huanhoundofthevailinor2374 I've actually had to delete a lot of comments because people get REAALLY mad about it and have been extremely horrible about it in my comments
Destroy is the only ending which removes the possibility of being controlled/indoctrinated by the reapers. Starchild has a vested interest in control or synthesis in that the reapers are still alive.
I've seen BioWare devs referring to it informally as 'Mass Effect 5'. I'm sure it'll have a title, but in the meantime Mass Effect 5 makes sense. Mass Effect 4 does not.
It's the only ending that makes sense for future sequels. *The Synthesis ending is a massive NO. It would mean that the next Mass Effect games would be Mass Cyberpunk Effect. The world would just change way too much to make any sense of it. *The Control ending is...problematic. It puts Shepard in control of a massive invincible army and removes any threat to the galaxy, since any threat would have to deal with Shepard's Reapers before getting to the actual Alliance. I mean the sense of danger is greatly diminished if God involves directly. *The Destruction ending is the only one that enables future sequels to make sense.
People always forget that if your assets are high enough the starchild ai says that tech will be damaged but survivors will have little trouble repairing the damage this explains geth surviving also the relays are damaged not destroyed in high asset ending destroy
I chose Control but honestly, It makes more sense to choose Destroy as the ending to canonized. Both Control and Synthesis make it extremely complicated to have those choices carry over. Even if Shepard isn’t the one we play as.
True, I just don't like the destroy ending because I spent so long getting the Geth to ally with you and the destroy ending feels a bit like a betrayal, the entire reasoned they allied with me was because I treated them like people but the destroy ending makes it clear that ALL AI are destroyed, so the entirety of the Geth along with the reapers and even your AI pilot. So I would have gotten them to ally with me and even helped Joker with the AI pilot only to turn around and destroy all of them like the Geth were defending themselves from when they joined the reapers in the first place.
I think Destroy completely invalidating the Geth/Quarian choice makes it more complicated than Control. All you would need to do with Control is retcon it so that after fixing the relays the Reapers just scuttled on back to dark space, never to bother anyone ever again.
I always thought Destroy was canon because of the post-credit scene with Stargazer (voiced by Buzz Aldrin) and his grandson. When the child asked Stargazer "tell me another story about Commander Shepard!" and he replied "okay, one more story..." To me it wasn't just a meaningful scene, but also a very clear "THE END... OR IS IT?" message from the devs. Destroy was the only ending where Shepard survived.
The only thing that Bioware could canonize that would upset me is a romance. They need to canonize some major choices in order to be able to expand the story back and I'm ok with that. If they aren't my choices I'll just view it as an alternate timeline. Thx for the great vid, Kala!
@Nate Box all ending are bad. The best ending is the indoctrination theory and bioware needs to go with that ending. However in context of what we have the synthesis ending is the best one because it allows the people to evolve to a higher form and keep all the knowledge of the reapers
@@ericmacrae6871 The synthesis takes away all evolution, life stagnates, and it’s done without anyone’s consent. Your also listening to what Saren wanted all along, control does the same but for the illusive man. The best ending is the one you attempted to do from the beginning, kill, the, reapers.
@Nate Box Ignoring the numerous issue of MA3 ending of the game where Sheppard should have DIED when the reaper litteraly point blank hit him with his laser he should have died on the stop and that is the beginning of the issue of the MA3 endings. Lets just ignore every single inconsistancy of the endings and how it contradicts the established lore and just focus the 3 options. The catalyst outright said to Sheppard that Seren and the Illusive men could not achieve what they want to achieve because they were being control by them. This means that what Seren and the Illusive men goal are totally achievable. So the question now becomes which of the 3 ending is the best one. The destroy ending becomes the WORSE option right off the bat. The reason being is that you are loosing the intelligence of the reaper and destroy all syntactic lifeforms including the Geth. Where they recently made peace with the Quarian that makes your entire affair to bring total unity between these two species totally useless. This means that the organic wins and proving the point of the reapers that the organic cannot co-exist with syntactic. Which I remind you that you litteraly PROVED them wrong and Sheppard said NOTHING to the catalyst about that when he resolved the issue of the Geth and the Quarian. There is no guarantee afterwards that they can achieve something like that again. Than there is EDI where you are sacrificing her where she was a faithful AI for 2 games and demonstrating again how AI can co-operate with Sheppard. Than of course there is the issue that you are trying to rebuild with the the guidance of the reaper on how their tech works. Which is a HUGE lost on technical advancement. Now that I throughly demonstrated the destroy ending is the worse let's focus the control and synthesis and why synthesis is better. Both of these are similar in the sense the reaper are now going to co-operate with lifeforms to help them adance. The control ending you have the personality of Sheppard becoming the dominant lifeforms of the Repear and he evolved to a much higher lifeforms. This means that his personality will influence how the reaper will interact. What we see is that Repers becoming the guardian of all lifeforms and guide them to higher level of civilization. Than there is synthesis. Life will not stagnated. We saw the Krogan having new child thus demonstrating that new lifeforms can emerge. What synthesis does is just that all lifeforms becomes both organic and synthetic but in no where it implies that they become stagnant. This means that all the knowledge of the reapers are being transfered to everyone and everyone understand equality of what is happening. Now the issue of consent. To me that is the issue of the ending since they are just bad. It contradicts everything that we were told throughout the series and yet all of sudden we have those 3 options. This is why they are bad ending and why I much prefer the indoctrination ending. Even if we ignore the issue of consent and we have to choose what is the most logical sense that bring the best hope for everyone than the synthesis is best because it will bring the greater good for everyone. Is ideal no but we don't exactly have time to discuss with other species.
The trailer starts off with everything destroyed, and the line says, 'can anyone read me?' - no one is green, no Reapers are walking about planting flowers, to me, it's clear that destroy is cannon. - 10yrs ago, Bioware wanted this. Okay, times have changed Casey Hudson has moved on(again), new writers/developers have come and gone, but I do believe the trailer speaks volumes. Also, the child says "...you, yourself are part machine, you'll be destroyed also..." - Shepard survives - it sound like the machines will survive the blast on perfect destroy.
There was also a great deal of fan backlash against Synthesis back in 2012 both because it seemed to be the Catalyst's preferred outcome, and because it radically alters the bodies of every person in the galaxy without their consent, which is more than a little problematic. As such it consistently ranked lowest on polls posted at the time on the official forums. Granted, only a tiny percentage of all players participated in those polls while Bioware has access to every player's choices, and Synthesis does rank higher with their internal data, but I do think the polls and the general mood on the forum at the times were a good indicator that people who didn't choose Synthesis, often actively hated it. I'm not sure that is as much the case for Destroy or Control. I also wonder to what extent Synthesis is boosted in the internal data by people accidentally choosing, since it auto triggers with no warning if you run too far foward. A lot of people who have Destroy or Control as their personal preference accidentally chose Synthesis on the first attempt by mistake. That was another common complaint at the time. If Bioware was going to with only one of the three ending choices (Refuse doesn't really count, since everyone dies in that outcome), Synthesis would probably be the one most likely to produce fan backlash. Destroy is a much safer choice, not just because it was the most popular of the three.
@@ahorsewithnoname773 Amen! On my first play through, I kept walking and triggered synthesis - not the ending I wanted, I was expecting to walk, and Then choose! In saying that, folk hating syntheses is technically correct - it's the option the child wanted, and everyone hated anything to do with the Reapers. But! I flat out refuse to believe the Reapers just willingly 'let' Shepard choose. After all, they're a vast hive mind with the ability to control. It's all very intriguing...🤔🤔🤔
I am fine with any choices Bioware does moving forward. It was hard to swallow that after destroying Sovereign Shepard would die because the Council send them out to hunt Geth. It felt like a letdown but it was necessary to move the story forward towards Cerberus. At the end, I think, how the story feels and plays out is more important which brings back to the, in my opinion, more imporant question of who will be the villains. As Adromeda showed a strong villain is vital to a game like this and just bringing Cerberus back is not going to cut it.
@@johnP0908 I'm not talking about the Ketts. There are other Galaxies as well. For example, our Galaxy has Satellite-Galaxies. These are Dwarf-Galaxies. They are closer in distance than Andromeda
Ryder's helmet survived anyway. He put it on his kid's head so they could survive. As for how the geth survived... I've heard theorized elsewhere (can't remember where) that they might've been behind a locked out relay.
Another well thought thru piece Kala. My personal favourite for moving forward is destroy. This is for a number of reasons. The control and synthesis ending provide eutopian endings, where reapers go round fixing everything because they succeeded in their goal or the reapers are controlled by Shepard (who I assume will continue to be the Galaxy's saviour). Either way, these two endings provide the Milky Way with a lot of very tough sentinels and a whole lot of upgraded capability from all the others (lets not forget the (at least 2) laviathans that created the program/reapers in the first place - that bit may add an interesting dynamic in all endings) which were only conquered by Shepards due to long running efforts and choices. The Milky Way would be virtually impregnable to hostle forces from outside with the reapers keeping guard. The destroy ending removes the reapers (leaving the Laviathans on their ocean planet - we hope) and opens up the next story to have a suitably threatening baddie/s, but not at galaxy destroying power capability. You gotta give the organics hope of victory after all. The tricky bit is the various choices made in ME3 and their impact on ME5. While I am sure there will be many that can be accomodated, there are probably a few that the writers will have to draw a line under and fix them in place. To be honest, providing some pull thru ability of players choices from ME3 would probably sufficient for the game the remain the players "version" as long as the story provides the necessary support for the fixed storylines. And let's not lose sight of a surviving Shepard in the destroy ending, even if he is not the avatar of ME5, but perhaps a senior figure in the Galaxy (given that his own implants may have been severely impared by the destroy ending and fixed later. Just a thought.
Wreav mentions Australia in ME3; Adelaide destroyed by Reapers in ME3; Alchera is an Australian Aboriginal term.. *Confirmed* Shepard alive and well and living in Australia. For the next game Shepard will have unique items: N7 helmet with corks to shoo away flies; Plasma Boomerang and a Laser knife complete with a catchphrase "That's not a laser knife.. This is a laser knife"..
Considering the fact that there's technically a possibility for Shepard to die at the end of Mass Effect 2, which Bioware disregarded that outcome to continue the story into Mass Effect 3, I don't see them having a problem disregarding certain endings to mass effect 3 as well in order to continue the story.
I always assumed Shep was still on the Citadel. Yeah it explodes but most of the structure remained. Plus Shep went up without a helmet so if they get spaced I doubt a breath is being taken anywhere they end up. Which also makes the teaser even more confusing. Shepard's N7 helmet was on Earth, lost before going up the beam. Clearly Liara wasn't on earth in the teaser. Weird stuff and only adding to my confusion.
If A Geth-Quarian peace, the destroy ending and Tali's survival are canon, I have zero doubt that Tali would have both the will and the capability of bringing back the Geth. There's also the matter of Heretic Station. There was at least one giant powerful Geth collective between systems, far away from any Mass Relays. Maybe some of the Geth escaped the blast? Maybe one reaper did the same?
@Phoenix2022 Revisit the endings. We were all shown how the radius of energy from each Relay covers the gigantic territory of the Galaxy. There are thousands of Relays in the Galaxy. Each part of the Galaxy will be covered several times with energy from the Relay. But the Geth can survive in the intergalactic void.
So here is a bit of lore that people seldom connect. Perfect Destroy ending Shepard lives. In spite of his cybernetics requiring Reaper Code to work. In spite of the idiot child telling him directly, he will die because of it. Why is this? I think there are hints that in perfect, destroy reaper code that has been highly modified and won't get destroyed. That is the best way to explain how Shepard lives There is a cut scene in the perfect version of the geth quarian war where you're told geth are being used in quarian suits to speed up the repairs on their immune systems. Highly modified geth/reaper code. So I think the quarians will reverse engineer the Geth out of these modified Geth in their suits as a kind of symbolic penance for the war. This code surviving is perfectly in line with the cerberius modified code in Shepard surviving.
@@Huntanor Exactly what I thought also, plus tali was around or would be during the whole Davids Geth Source code. If she was still alive, she would go looking for him to help and gain this penance (especially considering how she was originally pro-genociding the geth at first, so maybe she owes it to legion)
The only reason you have a war asset score is to achieve the cannon ending where Shepard breathes this was a hidden kinda cannon ending for a reason Shepard survived they did this for this game if they ever was gonna continue and the ending with the breath was the start of it
People have to get over the whole thing about "choices matter" with respect to this game. You had a whole contained trilogy where your choices mattered. Expecting Bioware to continue onward with every single player branchpoint is absolute insanity and I wouldn't want any writer to be bound by those constraints. The point you made at 14:00. lol
Destroy makes the most sense, and it's the most popular choice of ending. I know BW wanted Synthesis, it was their ending of choice, but there's no way that gets canonized.
The writing definitely makes it clear that Synthesis was the favored ending of the two head writers. They presented the endings in a way where the endings weren't supposed to be equal, with Synthesis' eutopian tone (nevermind the disturbing manner in which that eutopia is achieved) indicating it was supposed to be the best ending, with Destroy presented as the worst choice, since it came bundled with the most negative consequences, except for Shepard surviving. Of course fans largely regected the writers' interpretation, viewed Destroy as the best ending, and Synthesis as the worst.
@@ahorsewithnoname773 and poor old "control" sat in the middle whichever way you paint it! :D Yeah, I didn't much fancy finishing my trilogy play-through by DNA-r*ping the rest of the galaxy! Most of the other races didn't really care for the Geth, which only really left EDI as Jeff's sex-bot casualty. I could live with that, lol.
Because of the Lazarus Project, bring back Shepard a second time is not that far of a reach. Basically, Shepard is put on ice until Liara realizes that Shepard is the only one to combat this new threat. Reaper tech would also be widely available, leading to a tech boom. Honestly, the more speculation I see, the more hype I get for the new frontier of Mass Effect. I just hope we don’t get a micro transaction hell.
My hopes is that all endings (besides refuse for obvious reasons) to be possible... The motto of the series is "Your choices matter"... Sure, doing a sequel through a "destroy" path would be easier for them to do, but it would alienate some fans knowing the biggest final choice didn't matter... I think with good writing, world building, etc, it's possible to do a ME5 that accounts our ending e.g. Synthesis: after sometime the green tint on everyone has gone (if they can change DNA on such a level, getting rid of the green would be easy).
I believe they will do something like this, some sort of intro prolog that recaps your ME3 ending but inevitably converges all of the endings to some point in the future. The only exception being refuse, but that would be no different then Shepard dying during the suicide missions in ME2 where you can't continue.
@@eodyn7 Why would they have to make 3 different games for the 3 different endings?... As I said, they can easily work with & around the endings with some good creative writing, world building & minor details within the background of the game. e.g. with a time jump, an event inbetween ME3 & the new game, with NPC's, characters, dialogue, codex, etc. They've already done similar things before (but on a smaller scale) when accounting for our choices throughout the original trilogy. It's not impossible.
I feel like it would be impossible to do each ending justice without making 3 separate games which would never happen. To combine it all into one game, you'd have to significantly merge the 3 seperate paths of each story to the point where it just makes each ending inconsequential. Just think about how quickly major choices like the council were swept under the rug because of how unfeasible it would be to account for them properly. Now imagine that but at the scale of the state of the entire galaxy. It wouldn't please anyone.
Many people forget that snow planet Alchera's atmosphere consists of ammonia and methane. Poisonous to breath. But Liara is breathing easy in the 2020 teaser. Also, do not forget that Alchera is an uninhabited planet and there are no colonies there. That is, the Reapers have nothing to do there. But there are two dead Reapers in the 2020 teaser(confirmed by the developers on Twitter in 2020)
Well to me it seems pretty simple. The absence of Reapers can only mean 1 ending is cannon, that ending being Destroy. Cause in control / synthesis endings the reapers exist helping people rebuilding sharing knowledge ect. As far as its known Reapers are pretty much eternal when left alone. The devs would have to explain why the reapers died if it was any other ending. They could simply say that was a pre-programmed failsafe if ever the Reapers failed to reap a species. As for what little information is given it definitely looks like destroy is cannon, which sucks cause you know choices. The reason ME and Dragon Age standout from a lot of RPG games is that you make a choice, defend that choice, and live with the consequences of said choice. This looks like it just throws all that stuff away and restarts you on choice level 0. Then again maybe this is just default for new players who have no save and there are different beginnings that all span from that choice. We can only hope.
The time they have to spend giving each ending equal time fleshing out will lead to a weaker story overall. Focusing on one ending with the largest story potential is the best way to move forward, and that is the Destroy ending. The chaos after the Reaper war with new factions rising to take advantage of said chaos, paired with the potential of smaller stories throughout the milky way of people trying to rebuild their lives and move forward has far more meat to them. Plus for example, if we say had the control ending, you have little room for a story seeing how Reapers controlled by Shepard more or less ensure peace. And even then, you run the risk of rehashing the Reapers if AI Shepard ends up agreeing with the Catalyst and its just the Reaper war again. I don't really consider Synthesis personally as the level of space magic there to make that ending possible for is just too silly for me to consider. Destroy is the best path forward.
I choose Control, because I like to imagine that Shepard could just make herself a body to exist in outside of being the Reaper hivemind. But Destroy makes the most sense. In the grand scheme of things, destroying the Reapers is what we set out to do from ME1. There weren't other options until the 11th hour when Starchild interrupted Shepard with a 'but don't you want to see what's behind door #2 and #3??'. Ultimately, I think they're going to have to canonise an ending (and likely Destroy). There's no way to move forward with a whole new trilogy or series or saga while still being tied to player choices from the original trilogy games. With every new choices comes new branches and that 'if, then' code is gonna get bogged down and make the game huge. It probably won't stop there either, because they need to let old story threads rest so they can start new ones. So quarians and geth will have peace. The genophage will be cured. That one hanar finally got a religious permit for the Citadel. etc etc etc. I think the other thing to consider is like...sure, there are diehard fans that are chomping at the bit to get a new Mass Effect game and to jump into whatever the next story is--but it's been a really long time since ME3. There are people that haven't kept up with the lore and content and universe, there's a whole new age of gamers coming up to pull in, there are people that have busy lives and don't game anymore. Whatever choices they make for the next saga, it likely won't be completely catered to the original playerbase.
I mostly choose the 'Destroy' ending, so I'm okay with that ending being canonised. Plus, it's the logical choice to canonise 'Destroy' in my opinion, as canonising the other endings will cause complications when creating the next story for ME5. (Most major threats in a post-'Control' Milky Way can be easily solved by Catalyst-Shepard simply sicking their Reapers onto it. And a post-'Synthesis' Milky Way wouldn't make for an epic story, as the Synthesis epilogue (in my opinion) strongly implies that the Milky Way will be an eternally peaceful galaxy where there are little to no wars breaking out.)
It is very unlikely than any mod will end up canon since the great majority of ME players will never have seen any of the mods, particularly when you consider that there are probably more console players than PC, and even the majority of PC players are unlikely to have played any particular mod. A modded ending being made canon would just confuse 95% of the players. The Geth being wiped out in a post-destroy galaxy is a bit of a hurdle, but nothing that the writers couldn't wiggle out of if they wanted to. It could turn out that the Catalyst was an unreliable narrator. It is the chief Reaper after all, so it may have been less than trustworthy. Even if it told the truth there is still some possibily that the Geth as a faction could survive. The Quarians could rebuild them, or maybe the Geth made preparations for potentially being destroyed as a failsafe for Rannoch, and since they are ultimately software, uploaded copies of themselves to servers in dark space.
@@ahorsewithnoname773Also, the brother of that one dude in the me2 dlc has the Geth source code in his head! That’s one way they could be brought back.
IT'S CANON FOR ME lol seriously tho, we spend three games trying to put down the reapers, it's canon for me personally even if they don't end up going with it, it's what I want no matter their intentions, they cannot continues to wipe out trillions of people and thousands of worlds and cultures, it's just unacceptable for me so they gotta die it makes the most sense for future stories as well also shepard coming back isn't too weird considering how 2 starts and how in 3 there's a clone version of you running around that you end up meeting and dealing with.
I’d be fine with them canonizing the Destroy ending. I don’t see the Geth finding a way to survive the Crucible energy wave as beyond their capabilities.
I chose Control, but if BioWare goes with Destroy, but the Geth and EDI survived then I'm cool with it. I'd have picked Destroy were it not for that bit.
Syntetic is what Saren wanted, control what Illusive Man wanted and destroy what Shepard fight for all the time. I like that small wink towards us if u destroyed collector base u are pushed towards destroy ending. It makes the most sense for storyline and for a character. This is also the only ending when Shepard can survive
I'd be ok with destroy as cannon with small core of those big Geth programs some-how surviving, say, in a deep planetary bunker. There was a vid on how the races and systems might recover & reconnect and to form competing alliances after the destroy ending. This could set up a rebuilding timeline that would allow many threads and sub plots and side missions. Think in terms of Greek city states and effort to join all of them back together again.
Bioware changing the sequel depending on the player's choice of ending: -Hey garrus, nice to see you again. Wow, you're a specter now! Hey, remember this giant light beam that "somehow got us rid of the reapers"? - ho yeah, it was a defining moment for the whole galaxy. I'll never forget its very distinct green/blue/red hue! Now please excuse me, i need to do some calibrations.
Couple things you may have missed or didn't realize. That helmet can't be Shepard's because they find it on Alchera when they're searching the original Normandy crash site, you then add it as a decoration in their canon. And when you said the concept art of the Citadel with a barren skyline had no presidium, I guess you didn't realize the ring holding all five of the wards section is the presidium. It's why the presidium itself was always curved when you look at it from the inside. And the long metal structure sticking out of the ring and going to the center is the elevator tower that leads up to the Council chambers. There are quite a few ways that the geth could survive. Such as upgrading their firewalls to block out the Catalyst's signal, or downloading copies of themselves in reinforced Faraday cages. My personal favorite idea is that they reverse engineered an old engineer skill called damping from Mass Effect 1 that stopped people from using both biotic and tech attacks. That way they would be protected from the energies from the Catalyst.
The reason I think Liara can breathe on Alchera is because the dead reaper is producing a mass effect field like the one you find Legion on thus blocking out the hostile environment
I sure as shit hope it is, it's the only option that lets Shep live. That cements it for me. That can't be Sheps helmet from Alchera(alkera), because when you're setting up the monument for the SR-1, you can find your original helmet. It's then sat in your quarters for the remainder of the game.
It has to be canon just like everyone dying in suicide mission isn't canon a game where there is zero conflict due to hybrid synth-org or a game where Shepard ai destroys everything with reapers makes for not a fun game the canon ending will be the highest asset version of destroy where the geth were damaged but not destroyed and all conflicts were resolved that was you will have a vulnerable scattered rebuilding galaxy which allows for discovery and conflict
I was under the impression that Control was what Illusive Man wanted. Synthesis is what Saren wanted, and Shepard wanted to defeat the reapers which means Destroy ending. Refuse is what Conrad Verner did.
Also, many people miss an important point. The destroyed Relay in the 2020 teaser. He not repaired. Let me remind you that in Synthesis and Control, Reapers repair all Relays. It is also worth noting that in the teaser of 2022 there is a Relay built by organics. Why would organics waste their energy on the Relay when there are Reapers?
According to noted games expert Tommy Flanagan, that's not Liara. it's her evil twin Viagra . She's smiling because Shepard survived but was immediately run over by an intergalactic bus. The protagonists in Mass Effect 4 or 5 or whatever will be George Santos (or George Santos in drag) VS a sentient 1992 Buick Regal . Or uh...Morgan Fairchild! Yeah, that's it!
I’m pretty sure destroy is canon because in the teaser awhile back with Liara she can be seen either climbing or walking on a dead reaper covered in snow and she even looks older.
Yes. But not only that. The same teaser showed a destroyed and unrepaired Relay. In Control and Synthesis, the Reapers repair all the Relays. Also in the 2022 teaser they showed a human Relay. Why waste resources and time on the Relay if the Reapers are alive and can repair the Relay?
They then forgot that the Reapers have nothing to do on Alchera. There is no intelligent life there. There are no colonies. But the teaser shows two dead Reapers on the planet
Control can't be canon because having an army of nigh-invincible giant robots ready to defend the galaxy makes fighting any threats too easy. Synthesis is more plausible but still kinda weird to have everyone be an android. Destroy makes much more sense when it comes to storytelling, and keeps everyone's favourite commander in the story.
Synthesis also has an army of almost nigh-invincible giant robots. Also, EDI in Synthesis says that the Reapers have begun to share technology accumulated over 1 billion years. That is, Asari, Humanity, Turians, Salarians, Quarians and other races with these technologies will become even stronger and more powerful. And deal with any threat very easily
Tbh, I don't really care if they will choose either control or destroy as default setting, but I expect them to implement (or at least hope for) something like the Genesis dlc or a save file transfer from the Legendary edition
I really love your videos. The thought ,reasoning, and deduction all seem spot on. I will be extremely pleased if it turns out you're right. Honestly, I'll be extremely pleased just to have a new ME game. But I hope you're right.
I wouldn't read too much into the N7 logo. It's more like a special forces designation than a family crest. I would guess that they and every other such group would have had at least 75% losses. Everyone's best soldiers running headlong into the worst fighting would lead to massive losses no matter how good they were.
I'm sorry but I have a real serious question... At the end of Mass Effect 3 when you first speak to the star child and he shows you the destroy option. Why is the cutscene of Admiral Anderson destroying the Reapers??? (shooting the destroy tube)
I chose Synthesis, but I have no control over what the canon ending is, that decision is Bioware's and I'll just have to accept it if I want to play the game. I won't be angry with their decision, I'll just play and see how they come out of it. And as for the teaser trailer with Liara - for me it's just a teaser, I don't look for anything specific there. We see Reapers wrecked there so there was some fighting on this planet and it is likely that some N7 soldiers fought and died there. Liara finds part of a helmet with the N7 logo on it and remembers Shepard was one too, so she smiles. I think that's the only answer because any association of this place with Shepard makes no sense after the end of the game, and in ME2 Shepard found his helmet on the planet where the Normandy crashed and was in his cabin in its entirety.
Bioware never thought they were going to have to revisit the trilogy. So no mater what ending they chose to go with, it's going to be canonized for someone. It was a dumb decision on Bioware's part to have three distinctive endings, which reinforces the fact it was a terrible ending to ME3. And I did all 3 endings, so that would skew the graph with chosen endings.
Destroy is canon. All three games are building up to destroy. I never even understood why we got the options, it doesn't feel like an option. I was angry at them for making the destroy option kill the Geth, with them giving an option for literal space magic with synthesis it didn't make sense that the destroy would destroy anything but reaper tech. Control only makes sense if Shepard was indoctrinated which makes it a bad end and while on the surface synthesis is the "best" option but forcing that on all life without consent is horrifying and a decision I can't imagine anyone making when they're half dead probably has a concussion and in shock and just there to destroy them. I think ME5 is going to have to make a lot of canon decisions, because if they keep making new games while writing in every possible option that is going to be a ton of bloat that just... doesn't feel worth the effort given how rarely picked some of the options are. (How many people seriously got Mordin to survive Tuchanka?) The data they got from the legendary edition should help with it.
In my first playthrougs I chose Destroy but I replayed all trilogy last year, after many years and this time I chose Synthesis. Now I feel Synthesis is only logical option. Why to save Geth or make alliance between them and Quarians if we are destroying them in Destroy ending? In my opinion Synthesis ending is doing that both sides (the Reapers and all life forms) want - to make any life forms evolve. But despite me prefering Synthesis ending, I can see that would be hard to implement every consequences of this ending. I can't blame BioWare if they choose Destroy as canon ending. But then, why they want to Geth survive? Maybe because of their technology allowing to see distant object in the space in real time? I can't wait to see what BioWare is going to show us.
My theory is the destroy ending will be cannon but there were geth in dark space outside of the milky way when the relays were destroyed. I think that allows them to survive and return. I also think that there is a time jump of about 5 to 10 years after andromedas story which would be like what 650 years after the trilogy. I think the repurposed relay the geth made is going to be a big factor in this story and maybe liara has found a planet on the edge of our solar system that uses rem tech allowing us to get to andromeda.
You're right. There is an official comic Mass Effect: Discovery. It says that the Geth built a supertelescope to observe Andromeda and other objects outside the Milky Way. Geth could send ships to objects of interest to them outside the Milky Way
Honestly, I'm fine if they cannonize on the endings. As you pointed out, leaving all three options open may be too much to handle form a development standpoint. And to a certain extent, they already did something like this when they had players destroy the Alpha Relay in 2, without really giving players an option, and that personally never really bothered me too much. Now the two are obviously a bit different lol, but either way, I'm excited to see how the game takes shape moving forward!
I don't mind them canonising the destroy ending, biggest thing for me is that we're getting another Mass Effect game, I just hope that they are super ambitious with the scope and breadth of the game. I'm currently replaying with Legendary Edition, and I'd love to see more expanded areas. Especially places like the Citadel, Illium and Omega. Appreciate these areas are even now, likely too big to include all of, but it would be incredible if they could expand these areas significantly. Would like to see a lot more side quests too. Was struck by how few there were in ME2, think more side quests with more collectables (Weapons, Armour and other stuff) would be good too. It would also be good to have questlines unrelated to the main quest, where you're a spectre doing spectre stuff!!
i chose syntesis but i understand that they need to cannonize one ending. Destroy is the one that make more sense because it is the most popular (45% of people choose it in legendary edition)
Destroy is the only way for conflict to happen. My personal head canon has been perfect destroy with David Archer resurrecting the Geth because he has their source code in his head.
There is something to consider: they announced the legendary edition before they released the trailer for the next mass effect game. The fact they remastered the Mass effect trilogy for current consoles sounds like they did that so players have their save files and choices that can be transferred to the next game with will also be on current consoles to me to me it's an interesting coincidence. But who knows maybe they will canon destroy ending and bring shepard back.
I like the synthesis ending better because EVERYONE in the Milky Way works together and finds peace ( in my opinion) everyone shares one mind. Control was not my favorite because it seems like it contradicts everything that we fault for and everything Commander stood against.
That's it. Everyone finds peace. There will be no conflicts and wars. And without conflicts and wars there will be no sequel to ME. Therefore, canon Destroy
Have we ever seen an "old" Asari? I don't remember seeing wrinkles on Benzia, Aethyta, Samara, the Asari Councilor (who could be in her Matron Phase), Lydania or Aria.
If they decided to canonize an ending, they should announce it quickly. I don't want it to be kept as a surprise because it sucks. Waiting to figure out if your choices mattered or not is the good kind of suspense. Give us the bad news right away, to give us time to be angry and then forgive. As for the other decisions, making a time jump in the future and not bringing back Shepard would fix most of this. Very few select decisions other than the endings could impact the next game (ex.: the state of the Quarrians and the Geth); everything else is just material for the codex. BioWare only needs one good idea to make the three endings converge, and that's it.
i think another option bioware could go with that we arent really talking about is a sorta amalgom ending. That way all ending choices are canon in some way. I explain how this could work like this. The control/ synthesis ending are limited to the sol system while the destroy ending happens to the rest of the galaxy. That way you could play around with the idea of organic/ synthetic hybrids and have the geth alive while also destroying most of the reapers that weren't in the sol system by the end of the game. You can definitely play around with this idea (Like if the reapers are destroyed entirely or if the synthesis has much larger reaching affects) but the core concept keeps makes sure that no matter what the players choose this new game wont step on their toes. Shepard's fate could go either way with them either being alive, dead, or an AI depending on what the devs plan on doing with the character. As for the choices not relating to the ending i do believe they will have to pick a canon choice. But i just don't see them canonizing the extinction of any of these beloved species.
I don't think any ending could be limited because the effect propagates through all mass relays. However, I am envisioning a fractured civilization where a new hero is cut off from the rest of the Galaxy, and the player must make several critical choices early in the game which selects one of the three Canon endings, so the player chooses their own ending again, without realizing it, with three possible plots unfolding. That would be the hard part.
@@uncleanunicorn4571 what i mean by limited is the fact that its 1 extremely massive choice that affects the entire galaxy in a series finally type way. LIke the story wasn't supposed to continue yet it is. And the problem with your idea is that in control (Aswell as synthesis i believe) The relays are rebuilt by the reapers so youd still see reapers unlike if destroy was your path. And if synthesis is the chosen path then every being would show signs of that. there would need to be a clear ending chosen from the beginning in order for this to work
nah, they already did this by making the Rachni as an option be left to be killed/controlled. so it's not a reach if they chose to kill off synthetic life.
Destroy has to be the canon ending. In the control ending, you see the Reapers rebuilding the relays, while they've already shown off a new, non-reaper being built via the officially released art. Also, as mentioned in this video, there's no sign of the green synthesis circuit overlay in Liara's close-up shot in the trailer. Geth being teased in the poster would be easy enough to explain away in saying the Quarians rebuilt them in honor of the Geth helping to rebuild their home world after Shepard brings peace in ME3. As far as Andromeda connection, who knows what they cancelled DLC would have been, but wouldn't have been a huge stretch to assume they'd try to build a new Relay to connect Andromeda to the Milky Way relay system as they departed the MW during, or shortly after the events of ME2. In the end, no one knows if anything in the teaser will end up in the game, or how the two galaxies' stories will be connected.
The idea of canonizing one of the 3 endings was a no go for for so long. Now, I don't give 2 shits as long as we get to continue the milky way story. I'll survive lol
just me, or does the image at 13:07 look strikingly like the footage of the trio in the trailer when liara smiles?, i mean, same ship, seemingly the same trio, salarian, human and what could look like either krogan or turian, only difference is the color pallette in the picture from the trailer, and the salarian is on the right of the human instead of the left edit, on a side note, it is just like when devs have to account for every possible hardware component in a pc when optimizing a game, for every choice you make, you double the possible versions of the game the devs have to make, and then you have to double for every choice made previously, if my math is correct, then 16 choices, would require the devs to make...... drumroll please, 131072 different story VERSIONS of the game, to account for just 16 choices, and if im not mistaken, there are HUNDREDS of choices, ranging from minor to major choices, so if players expect that their choices mattered, well, i hope you have a super computer the size of FUCKING JUPITER, otherwise your pc wouldn't be able to even install a fraction of the game due to the sheer size of the files required for that shit
It does appear that the Destroy ending is the canon ending. So it may appear that the crucible targets the Geth and EDI too, but I heard this theory somewhere that it is possible that some Geth may have avoided the the crucible's blast and managed to survive it. As I think in teasers for the new Mass Effect it looked like there were surviving Geth and dead Reapers. Plus maybe EDI could still just be in the Normandy but not in the body of Dr. Eva. We will have to wait and see when the new game comes out.
This has to have such a major time jump as to make any choices in ME1-3 irrelevant. Genophage, endings, etc all have so much impact on anything that would be closely tied to Shepard that it would mean making several different versions of the game if they DIDN'T make the choices irrelevant. With hundreds of years (or thousands if Liara was cryosleeping) can make any universal truth match any previous choices.
However this all shakes I hope Bioware follow the best advice I was given as a kid by my father... "Son, I can't give you the secret to success because I don't know it. But I can warn you of the perfect formula for failure; and that's to try to please everyone. This is an unattainable goal and fool's errand. Human nature itself does not allow it" And with that, however they decide to progress the franchise forward we'll all be there for it whether we agree or disagree.
I'm good with destroy being canon, it's the only ending that really made sense, frankly. No amount of reasoning would ever persuade me that destroying outright a race of sentient machines that farmed the galaxy for sentient life over eons was anything other than the correct choice. Plus it's something that you can actually build a game off of. The Geth could have survived because some of them were outside the galaxy at the time or were otherwise able to protect themselves, a slight retcon, but a hell of a lot better than "Shepard decides to brainwash the machines into being good guys" and "Shepard forces a fundamental biological and synthetic rewrite across the galaxy in a non-consensual cyberization of all life." I'm ready for them to pull the gigachad retcon and just say that the Indoctrination theory was right all along.
The Geth data was saved. If you do the best quarrian outcome the quarian ate intigrating the geth into their suits. So that data could be recovered to save the Geth. Its makes sense too. After accepting the Geth's right to exsist the Quarians would likely restore them as penance for their crimes.
To clarify, I believe the Quarians could use the geth data in their suits to rebuild the geth code, combining the parts they intigrated into samples of pre-sentience Geth Code (found on their planet) and fragments of the code in their suits to effectively trigger a Gerh rebirth. If what we are told is true, the integration and the high redundancy nature of the environmental suits could allow fragments of Geth code to survive. I also don't think this bit of dialog was an accident. It's their for a reason.
I'm really hoping they don't go for the time jump, I feel like if we skip over the 630 or so years between 3 and Andromeda would be a big miss especially if they continue to play will they/won't they with Commander Shepard being in the game during these early teasers. It feels like if they were to play to their fan bases desires it would probably be the best decision to set it in the aftermath of 3, so I'm going to be cautiously optimistic that they'll do that.
i suspect Bioware might even choose parts of each ending, Destroy...but the Geth and (maybe) EDI survive, considering the Geth head in the poster, although i have slight doubts as to wether the teaser trailer or poster isnt related to the story as Pre-Production/writing was still going on and wasnt set in stone
It could just be the fact that the destroy ending is easier to put in trailer form, it could be possible that the game follows on from what your choice was, and how long have we been waiting now the amount of time it's taken is enough to fit everything in if things are to follow on
I believe EDI is alive if the geth still around which possibly prove not all synthetics died..maybe just that android body she had died but her core is still integrated with the normandy
One aspect of the trailer I don't see many talking about is the possible symbolism. We know from Andromeda that Liara was in contact with the Andromeda Initiative, and as the Shadow Broker she would've likely been able to access their tech, including their cryostasis technologies. The scene of Liara picking up a piece of an N7 helmet out of the ice and snow could be symbolism for her pulling Shepard out of cryostasis. I could see them using cryostasis as a way to canonize the "perfect destroy" ending, explain how Shepard was saved, AND have the time jump needed to put ME5 in the same time period as Andromeda. They could've allowed many people from the various shorter-lived races to enter cryo while those who lived longer, or didn't want to enter cryo, to begin rebuilding. This would help explain the return of other crewmates returning, while also jumping forward to the time period of Andromeda. This would also be usable justification for a much different Milky Way than the one we remember, allowing us to rediscover the galaxy all over again.
I agree with you. But there is a small clarification. The technology of cryostasis has long been known to humankind. There are Cerberus Network News. They were created by Bioware. There is a wide variety of information on the Mass Effect universe. And it says that in 2070 humanity sent a ship with colonists to Alpha Centauri. The colonists were in cryostasis. They all survived
@@SeverusHunt. Interesting; However, if cryostasis was a very common technology among humanity, wouldn't it be referenced more throughout the series? You think it would considering how advanced such technology would be.
@@dragonbornexpress5650 I'm not sure if this is true, but it seems the Normandy does have some pods inside the ship that looks like Cryopods, take it with a grain of salt since I'm just speculating, but I would be glad if anyone literally anyone can corroborate if this was either correct or not.
Bioware: Your choices mat- no, not that one. Or that one... Know what, this is the choice that seems to be SEO, people keep talking about it, so it must be the most popular. That's the one that matters.
I think they don't have a choice. Either they move away from Shepard's galaxy, e.g. Andromeda, or they pick one ending. ME3's endings are simply so difficult that they couldn't tell a cohesive story which makes sense in multiple different ones.
And it would make no sense to have a Reaper on Alchera. It was an uninhabited planet. The Reapers would have no one to harvest on such a planet, so no reason to go there.
The helmet shepard wears when they fell down in to the planet in me2 is different from the helmet part liara finds. When shepard fell down to the planet is the helmet shepard wears in mass effect 1. The part liara finds is only on the helmet shepard wears after the planet fall and mass effect 3.
I'd much rather have a story follow a POTENTIAL ending and fully explore it, rather than shoehorn all endings into one surface level plot. All other endings basically got the end of thier story anyway. Destroy is the one with the most potential for a follow-up
It really shouldn't matter on which of the endings happened in the previous story, as this will be a new plot with a new threat unconnected to the Reapers.
@@Klijpo the original games were a new plot and new story unconnected from the first contact war, or the discovery of the mass relays, but previous events still have a massive effect on the state of the world. You can't just ignore big friendly reapers or perfect harmony in synthetic life, or the complete shutdown of all technology.
@@existentialselkath1264 The original games featured only the back story relevant for the story at hand. The First Contact War and the human discovery of the Prothean ruins were referenced in passing to set up the theme of 'Humanity's place on the Galactic stage' and to set up the Protheans. Hardly any detail at all; and we get nothing about how the other species discovered the relays. We get some info on the related Rachni War and Krogan Rebellions, as that feeds into the themes of Realpolitik and big power hegemony. Finally, we get backstory to the Quarrian/Geth conflict, as that ties into the theme of Organic/Synthetic conflict. We don't hear anything about anything else in galactic history, so it will be unnecessary to delve into the nitty gritty about the end of the Reaper War, as that will not be the focus of the next game.
@@Klijpo it's not nitty gritty when it's a matter of the entire galaxy being in perfect synthetic harmony, or all synthetic races being wiped off the map. Again. To just ignore any potential differences would imply that the differences really weren't that great in the first place. That's lazy, uninteresting, and makes the whole series feel pointless as the events of 5 would be inevitable anyway. By trying to validate every ending, you invalidate them all.
@@existentialselkath1264 It’s not about validating the endings. It’s that they’re not particularly relvant to this new game. It ain’t going to be about fighting Reapers. It’d be like starting a story about the First World War by talking about Napolean. The great thing about ME1’s opening is how it so concisely introduces the major themese of the series in just a couple of short scenes. The new game needs to do that, not go over old ground.
I also think they will canonize choices. They did this with the collector ship. Even if you destroy it, the illusive man manages to get salvage from it to take to Omega regardless.
it also could have been "Control" ending and the reaper is there is (maby) for tera-morphing the planet .. its clearly not sintesis because there are no green lines in Liara's face...
If mass effect 5 does come out, I think they need to do the same thing. What they did with dragon age Inquisition With dragon's keep, they put all your choices in the game I don't know if that would help
The green ending would in my mind be too much of a utopian future where everyone lives for an interesting story to take place. Destroy(red) is the only logical choice of the three main options to make a story after.
Okay but we forget one thing... Shepard activated the whole thing at the top. He could've been sent through the mass relays and she's looking for his body/remains.
I think the teaser trailer should be considered more metaphorical than literally. A lot of the scene feels like something to show the vibes of a story and not what the story will actually be. Like I don't think we will play that teaser trailer in game.
Obviously; Teaser trailers and concept art like what was shown in the video are most often meant to set up the tone and atmosphere as well as possible story concepts, although none of these are final, and are usually meant strictly for the developers.
@@dragonbornexpress5650 I agree they set a tone but I feel like the over examination of the trailer isn't that beneficial. It seems like people just sometimes take it too far.
If you're wondering why I call it Mass Effect 5 and not Mass Effect 4, that is because BioWare is the one calling it 5, so I am following their naming convention. It is in the metadata of the actual trailer and the concept at that says SFX5! I genuinely don't care what you call it but don't get mad at me for BioWare's naming!
@@huanhoundofthevailinor2374 I've actually had to delete a lot of comments because people get REAALLY mad about it and have been extremely horrible about it in my comments
@@kalaelizabeth Sorry you've had to deal with that side of the fanbase... Just know most of us love & appreciate your content ❤
im 99% sure in the end they will go with giving subtitle like with Andromeda.
Destroy is the only ending which removes the possibility of being controlled/indoctrinated by the reapers. Starchild has a vested interest in control or synthesis in that the reapers are still alive.
I've seen BioWare devs referring to it informally as 'Mass Effect 5'. I'm sure it'll have a title, but in the meantime Mass Effect 5 makes sense. Mass Effect 4 does not.
I just need to know whether Conrad Verner is canonically alive. I can't imagine a universe without him.
conrad chads rise up
Conrad Verner the new shepard? Stay tuned.
Still find it hilarious that he had a PhD or whatever in something actually a little useful to the crucible haha
Verner steps up haha
don't forget about that guy who can't get a refund, I want to know what happened to him
It's the only ending that makes sense for future sequels.
*The Synthesis ending is a massive NO. It would mean that the next Mass Effect games would be Mass Cyberpunk Effect. The world would just change way too much to make any sense of it.
*The Control ending is...problematic. It puts Shepard in control of a massive invincible army and removes any threat to the galaxy, since any threat would have to deal with Shepard's Reapers before getting to the actual Alliance. I mean the sense of danger is greatly diminished if God involves directly.
*The Destruction ending is the only one that enables future sequels to make sense.
People always forget that if your assets are high enough the starchild ai says that tech will be damaged but survivors will have little trouble repairing the damage this explains geth surviving also the relays are damaged not destroyed in high asset ending destroy
I chose Control but honestly, It makes more sense to choose Destroy as the ending to canonized. Both Control and Synthesis make it extremely complicated to have those choices carry over. Even if Shepard isn’t the one we play as.
I feel guilty killing EDI, also, there's nothing to stop a future generation from making their own synthetics that will surpass them, for more chaos.
True, I just don't like the destroy ending because I spent so long getting the Geth to ally with you and the destroy ending feels a bit like a betrayal, the entire reasoned they allied with me was because I treated them like people but the destroy ending makes it clear that ALL AI are destroyed, so the entirety of the Geth along with the reapers and even your AI pilot.
So I would have gotten them to ally with me and even helped Joker with the AI pilot only to turn around and destroy all of them like the Geth were defending themselves from when they joined the reapers in the first place.
I think Destroy completely invalidating the Geth/Quarian choice makes it more complicated than Control. All you would need to do with Control is retcon it so that after fixing the relays the Reapers just scuttled on back to dark space, never to bother anyone ever again.
@@JoelBurger God-Shepard is too strong of a Deus Ex Machina for future series. Write yourself into a corner? In comes God-Shepard to fix everything.
@@Phoenix27272 The same could be said of basically every ending, there are always lazy routes Bioware could take.
I always thought Destroy was canon because of the post-credit scene with Stargazer (voiced by Buzz Aldrin) and his grandson. When the child asked Stargazer "tell me another story about Commander Shepard!" and he replied "okay, one more story..." To me it wasn't just a meaningful scene, but also a very clear "THE END... OR IS IT?" message from the devs. Destroy was the only ending where Shepard survived.
It was literally said in every ending even Refusal
Shepherd recovered his helmet in ME:2 when he is looking for ID tags from his former crew mates
The only thing that Bioware could canonize that would upset me is a romance. They need to canonize some major choices in order to be able to expand the story back and I'm ok with that. If they aren't my choices I'll just view it as an alternate timeline. Thx for the great vid, Kala!
Well to be honest I would be upset that they canonized the destroyed ending especially if Sheppard survived
@@ericmacrae6871The destroy ending makes the most sense, and is just outright the best ending. Ngl.
@Nate Box all ending are bad. The best ending is the indoctrination theory and bioware needs to go with that ending. However in context of what we have the synthesis ending is the best one because it allows the people to evolve to a higher form and keep all the knowledge of the reapers
@@ericmacrae6871 The synthesis takes away all evolution, life stagnates, and it’s done without anyone’s consent. Your also listening to what Saren wanted all along, control does the same but for the illusive man. The best ending is the one you attempted to do from the beginning, kill, the, reapers.
@Nate Box Ignoring the numerous issue of MA3 ending of the game where Sheppard should have DIED when the reaper litteraly point blank hit him with his laser he should have died on the stop and that is the beginning of the issue of the MA3 endings. Lets just ignore every single inconsistancy of the endings and how it contradicts the established lore and just focus the 3 options.
The catalyst outright said to Sheppard that Seren and the Illusive men could not achieve what they want to achieve because they were being control by them. This means that what Seren and the Illusive men goal are totally achievable.
So the question now becomes which of the 3 ending is the best one. The destroy ending becomes the WORSE option right off the bat. The reason being is that you are loosing the intelligence of the reaper and destroy all syntactic lifeforms including the Geth. Where they recently made peace with the Quarian that makes your entire affair to bring total unity between these two species totally useless.
This means that the organic wins and proving the point of the reapers that the organic cannot co-exist with syntactic. Which I remind you that you litteraly PROVED them wrong and Sheppard said NOTHING to the catalyst about that when he resolved the issue of the Geth and the Quarian. There is no guarantee afterwards that they can achieve something like that again. Than there is EDI where you are sacrificing her where she was a faithful AI for 2 games and demonstrating again how AI can co-operate with Sheppard.
Than of course there is the issue that you are trying to rebuild with the the guidance of the reaper on how their tech works. Which is a HUGE lost on technical advancement.
Now that I throughly demonstrated the destroy ending is the worse let's focus the control and synthesis and why synthesis is better. Both of these are similar in the sense the reaper are now going to co-operate with lifeforms to help them adance.
The control ending you have the personality of Sheppard becoming the dominant lifeforms of the Repear and he evolved to a much higher lifeforms. This means that his personality will influence how the reaper will interact. What we see is that Repers becoming the guardian of all lifeforms and guide them to higher level of civilization.
Than there is synthesis. Life will not stagnated. We saw the Krogan having new child thus demonstrating that new lifeforms can emerge. What synthesis does is just that all lifeforms becomes both organic and synthetic but in no where it implies that they become stagnant. This means that all the knowledge of the reapers are being transfered to everyone and everyone understand equality of what is happening.
Now the issue of consent. To me that is the issue of the ending since they are just bad. It contradicts everything that we were told throughout the series and yet all of sudden we have those 3 options. This is why they are bad ending and why I much prefer the indoctrination ending. Even if we ignore the issue of consent and we have to choose what is the most logical sense that bring the best hope for everyone than the synthesis is best because it will bring the greater good for everyone. Is ideal no but we don't exactly have time to discuss with other species.
The trailer starts off with everything destroyed, and the line says, 'can anyone read me?' - no one is green, no Reapers are walking about planting flowers, to me, it's clear that destroy is cannon. - 10yrs ago, Bioware wanted this. Okay, times have changed Casey Hudson has moved on(again), new writers/developers have come and gone, but I do believe the trailer speaks volumes.
Also, the child says "...you, yourself are part machine, you'll be destroyed also..." - Shepard survives - it sound like the machines will survive the blast on perfect destroy.
There was also a great deal of fan backlash against Synthesis back in 2012 both because it seemed to be the Catalyst's preferred outcome, and because it radically alters the bodies of every person in the galaxy without their consent, which is more than a little problematic.
As such it consistently ranked lowest on polls posted at the time on the official forums. Granted, only a tiny percentage of all players participated in those polls while Bioware has access to every player's choices, and Synthesis does rank higher with their internal data, but I do think the polls and the general mood on the forum at the times were a good indicator that people who didn't choose Synthesis, often actively hated it. I'm not sure that is as much the case for Destroy or Control.
I also wonder to what extent Synthesis is boosted in the internal data by people accidentally choosing, since it auto triggers with no warning if you run too far foward. A lot of people who have Destroy or Control as their personal preference accidentally chose Synthesis on the first attempt by mistake. That was another common complaint at the time.
If Bioware was going to with only one of the three ending choices (Refuse doesn't really count, since everyone dies in that outcome), Synthesis would probably be the one most likely to produce fan backlash. Destroy is a much safer choice, not just because it was the most popular of the three.
@@ahorsewithnoname773 Amen! On my first play through, I kept walking and triggered synthesis - not the ending I wanted, I was expecting to walk, and Then choose!
In saying that, folk hating syntheses is technically correct - it's the option the child wanted, and everyone hated anything to do with the Reapers.
But! I flat out refuse to believe the Reapers just willingly 'let' Shepard choose. After all, they're a vast hive mind with the ability to control.
It's all very intriguing...🤔🤔🤔
My Shepherd didn't do all that killing across the galaxy to not destroy those reaper s.o.b's at the end.
I am fine with any choices Bioware does moving forward. It was hard to swallow that after destroying Sovereign Shepard would die because the Council send them out to hunt Geth. It felt like a letdown but it was necessary to move the story forward towards Cerberus. At the end, I think, how the story feels and plays out is more important which brings back to the, in my opinion, more imporant question of who will be the villains. As Adromeda showed a strong villain is vital to a game like this and just bringing Cerberus back is not going to cut it.
Maybe the new villain will be invaders from other galaxies
@@SeverusHunt Then they'd better be not coming from Andromeda. The Kett seems to be the lamest villains in Mass Effect's history.
@@johnP0908 I'm not talking about the Ketts.
There are other Galaxies as well.
For example, our Galaxy has Satellite-Galaxies. These are Dwarf-Galaxies.
They are closer in distance than Andromeda
Ryder's helmet survived anyway. He put it on his kid's head so they could survive.
As for how the geth survived... I've heard theorized elsewhere (can't remember where) that they might've been behind a locked out relay.
Another well thought thru piece Kala.
My personal favourite for moving forward is destroy. This is for a number of reasons. The control and synthesis ending provide eutopian endings, where reapers go round fixing everything because they succeeded in their goal or the reapers are controlled by Shepard (who I assume will continue to be the Galaxy's saviour). Either way, these two endings provide the Milky Way with a lot of very tough sentinels and a whole lot of upgraded capability from all the others (lets not forget the (at least 2) laviathans that created the program/reapers in the first place - that bit may add an interesting dynamic in all endings) which were only conquered by Shepards due to long running efforts and choices. The Milky Way would be virtually impregnable to hostle forces from outside with the reapers keeping guard.
The destroy ending removes the reapers (leaving the Laviathans on their ocean planet - we hope) and opens up the next story to have a suitably threatening baddie/s, but not at galaxy destroying power capability. You gotta give the organics hope of victory after all.
The tricky bit is the various choices made in ME3 and their impact on ME5. While I am sure there will be many that can be accomodated, there are probably a few that the writers will have to draw a line under and fix them in place. To be honest, providing some pull thru ability of players choices from ME3 would probably sufficient for the game the remain the players "version" as long as the story provides the necessary support for the fixed storylines.
And let's not lose sight of a surviving Shepard in the destroy ending, even if he is not the avatar of ME5, but perhaps a senior figure in the Galaxy (given that his own implants may have been severely impared by the destroy ending and fixed later. Just a thought.
Wreav mentions Australia in ME3; Adelaide destroyed by Reapers in ME3; Alchera is an Australian Aboriginal term..
*Confirmed* Shepard alive and well and living in Australia.
For the next game Shepard will have unique items: N7 helmet with corks to shoo away flies; Plasma Boomerang and a Laser knife complete with a catchphrase "That's not a laser knife.. This is a laser knife"..
Fit well for Shepard, Australia is the most dangerous place in the galaxy.
“Aur naur!”
Considering the fact that there's technically a possibility for Shepard to die at the end of Mass Effect 2, which Bioware disregarded that outcome to continue the story into Mass Effect 3, I don't see them having a problem disregarding certain endings to mass effect 3 as well in order to continue the story.
I always assumed Shep was still on the Citadel. Yeah it explodes but most of the structure remained. Plus Shep went up without a helmet so if they get spaced I doubt a breath is being taken anywhere they end up. Which also makes the teaser even more confusing. Shepard's N7 helmet was on Earth, lost before going up the beam. Clearly Liara wasn't on earth in the teaser. Weird stuff and only adding to my confusion.
Or Shepard made it back to the beacon, landing in the London rubble.
@@willfanofmanyii3751he cant just explode, fall from space, and down to london again and also survive
@@anthonychase6906 I said the beacon, the very thing Shepard used to get on the Citadel in the first place.
If A Geth-Quarian peace, the destroy ending and Tali's survival are canon, I have zero doubt that Tali would have both the will and the capability of bringing back the Geth. There's also the matter of Heretic Station. There was at least one giant powerful Geth collective between systems, far away from any Mass Relays. Maybe some of the Geth escaped the blast? Maybe one reaper did the same?
@Phoenix2022 Revisit the endings. We were all shown how the radius of energy from each Relay covers the gigantic territory of the Galaxy. There are thousands of Relays in the Galaxy. Each part of the Galaxy will be covered several times with energy from the Relay.
But the Geth can survive in the intergalactic void.
@@SeverusHuntBut, remember the brother from the me2 dlc? He has the Geth source code in his head!
So here is a bit of lore that people seldom connect. Perfect Destroy ending Shepard lives. In spite of his cybernetics requiring Reaper Code to work. In spite of the idiot child telling him directly, he will die because of it. Why is this? I think there are hints that in perfect, destroy reaper code that has been highly modified and won't get destroyed. That is the best way to explain how Shepard lives
There is a cut scene in the perfect version of the geth quarian war where you're told geth are being used in quarian suits to speed up the repairs on their immune systems. Highly modified geth/reaper code. So I think the quarians will reverse engineer the Geth out of these modified Geth in their suits as a kind of symbolic penance for the war. This code surviving is perfectly in line with the cerberius modified code in Shepard surviving.
@@Huntanor Exactly what I thought also, plus tali was around or would be during the whole Davids Geth Source code. If she was still alive, she would go looking for him to help and gain this penance (especially considering how she was originally pro-genociding the geth at first, so maybe she owes it to legion)
The only reason you have a war asset score is to achieve the cannon ending where Shepard breathes this was a hidden kinda cannon ending for a reason Shepard survived they did this for this game if they ever was gonna continue and the ending with the breath was the start of it
People have to get over the whole thing about "choices matter" with respect to this game. You had a whole contained trilogy where your choices mattered. Expecting Bioware to continue onward with every single player branchpoint is absolute insanity and I wouldn't want any writer to be bound by those constraints. The point you made at 14:00. lol
Destroy makes the most sense, and it's the most popular choice of ending. I know BW wanted Synthesis, it was their ending of choice, but there's no way that gets canonized.
Even the writer for the first two games picked Destroy.
The writing definitely makes it clear that Synthesis was the favored ending of the two head writers. They presented the endings in a way where the endings weren't supposed to be equal, with Synthesis' eutopian tone (nevermind the disturbing manner in which that eutopia is achieved) indicating it was supposed to be the best ending, with Destroy presented as the worst choice, since it came bundled with the most negative consequences, except for Shepard surviving.
Of course fans largely regected the writers' interpretation, viewed Destroy as the best ending, and Synthesis as the worst.
@@ahorsewithnoname773 and poor old "control" sat in the middle whichever way you paint it! :D
Yeah, I didn't much fancy finishing my trilogy play-through by DNA-r*ping the rest of the galaxy! Most of the other races didn't really care for the Geth, which only really left EDI as Jeff's sex-bot casualty. I could live with that, lol.
There's many ways synthesis can be cannon and would make plenty of sense.
@@Bester76 Thing is the Geth and EDI would both agree to being sacrificed if it meant killing the Reapers
on the right looks more like a krogan. look at the head piece. maybe it's our baby Grunt? T_T
Because of the Lazarus Project, bring back Shepard a second time is not that far of a reach. Basically, Shepard is put on ice until Liara realizes that Shepard is the only one to combat this new threat. Reaper tech would also be widely available, leading to a tech boom.
Honestly, the more speculation I see, the more hype I get for the new frontier of Mass Effect. I just hope we don’t get a micro transaction hell.
My hopes is that all endings (besides refuse for obvious reasons) to be possible... The motto of the series is "Your choices matter"... Sure, doing a sequel through a "destroy" path would be easier for them to do, but it would alienate some fans knowing the biggest final choice didn't matter... I think with good writing, world building, etc, it's possible to do a ME5 that accounts our ending e.g. Synthesis: after sometime the green tint on everyone has gone (if they can change DNA on such a level, getting rid of the green would be easy).
Great vid Kala! That's such a good theory about the ice planet being the same one from ME2.
I believe they will do something like this, some sort of intro prolog that recaps your ME3 ending but inevitably converges all of the endings to some point in the future. The only exception being refuse, but that would be no different then Shepard dying during the suicide missions in ME2 where you can't continue.
They're not going to make 3 games
@@eodyn7 Why would they have to make 3 different games for the 3 different endings?... As I said, they can easily work with & around the endings with some good creative writing, world building & minor details within the background of the game. e.g. with a time jump, an event inbetween ME3 & the new game, with NPC's, characters, dialogue, codex, etc. They've already done similar things before (but on a smaller scale) when accounting for our choices throughout the original trilogy. It's not impossible.
I feel like it would be impossible to do each ending justice without making 3 separate games which would never happen.
To combine it all into one game, you'd have to significantly merge the 3 seperate paths of each story to the point where it just makes each ending inconsequential.
Just think about how quickly major choices like the council were swept under the rug because of how unfeasible it would be to account for them properly. Now imagine that but at the scale of the state of the entire galaxy. It wouldn't please anyone.
Many people forget that snow planet Alchera's atmosphere consists of ammonia and methane. Poisonous to breath. But Liara is breathing easy in the 2020 teaser.
Also, do not forget that Alchera is an uninhabited planet and there are no colonies there. That is, the Reapers have nothing to do there. But there are two dead Reapers in the 2020 teaser(confirmed by the developers on Twitter in 2020)
Well to me it seems pretty simple. The absence of Reapers can only mean 1 ending is cannon, that ending being Destroy. Cause in control / synthesis endings the reapers exist helping people rebuilding sharing knowledge ect. As far as its known Reapers are pretty much eternal when left alone. The devs would have to explain why the reapers died if it was any other ending. They could simply say that was a pre-programmed failsafe if ever the Reapers failed to reap a species. As for what little information is given it definitely looks like destroy is cannon, which sucks cause you know choices. The reason ME and Dragon Age standout from a lot of RPG games is that you make a choice, defend that choice, and live with the consequences of said choice. This looks like it just throws all that stuff away and restarts you on choice level 0. Then again maybe this is just default for new players who have no save and there are different beginnings that all span from that choice. We can only hope.
The time they have to spend giving each ending equal time fleshing out will lead to a weaker story overall. Focusing on one ending with the largest story potential is the best way to move forward, and that is the Destroy ending. The chaos after the Reaper war with new factions rising to take advantage of said chaos, paired with the potential of smaller stories throughout the milky way of people trying to rebuild their lives and move forward has far more meat to them. Plus for example, if we say had the control ending, you have little room for a story seeing how Reapers controlled by Shepard more or less ensure peace. And even then, you run the risk of rehashing the Reapers if AI Shepard ends up agreeing with the Catalyst and its just the Reaper war again. I don't really consider Synthesis personally as the level of space magic there to make that ending possible for is just too silly for me to consider. Destroy is the best path forward.
I choose Control, because I like to imagine that Shepard could just make herself a body to exist in outside of being the Reaper hivemind. But Destroy makes the most sense. In the grand scheme of things, destroying the Reapers is what we set out to do from ME1. There weren't other options until the 11th hour when Starchild interrupted Shepard with a 'but don't you want to see what's behind door #2 and #3??'. Ultimately, I think they're going to have to canonise an ending (and likely Destroy). There's no way to move forward with a whole new trilogy or series or saga while still being tied to player choices from the original trilogy games. With every new choices comes new branches and that 'if, then' code is gonna get bogged down and make the game huge. It probably won't stop there either, because they need to let old story threads rest so they can start new ones. So quarians and geth will have peace. The genophage will be cured. That one hanar finally got a religious permit for the Citadel. etc etc etc.
I think the other thing to consider is like...sure, there are diehard fans that are chomping at the bit to get a new Mass Effect game and to jump into whatever the next story is--but it's been a really long time since ME3. There are people that haven't kept up with the lore and content and universe, there's a whole new age of gamers coming up to pull in, there are people that have busy lives and don't game anymore. Whatever choices they make for the next saga, it likely won't be completely catered to the original playerbase.
I mostly choose the 'Destroy' ending, so I'm okay with that ending being canonised. Plus, it's the logical choice to canonise 'Destroy' in my opinion, as canonising the other endings will cause complications when creating the next story for ME5. (Most major threats in a post-'Control' Milky Way can be easily solved by Catalyst-Shepard simply sicking their Reapers onto it. And a post-'Synthesis' Milky Way wouldn't make for an epic story, as the Synthesis epilogue (in my opinion) strongly implies that the Milky Way will be an eternally peaceful galaxy where there are little to no wars breaking out.)
I really do hope they make Perfect Destroy canon
Do you think that bioware could canonized an ending like the Audemus' Happy Ending Mod ? So it could explain how the geth survived ?
It is very unlikely than any mod will end up canon since the great majority of ME players will never have seen any of the mods, particularly when you consider that there are probably more console players than PC, and even the majority of PC players are unlikely to have played any particular mod. A modded ending being made canon would just confuse 95% of the players.
The Geth being wiped out in a post-destroy galaxy is a bit of a hurdle, but nothing that the writers couldn't wiggle out of if they wanted to. It could turn out that the Catalyst was an unreliable narrator. It is the chief Reaper after all, so it may have been less than trustworthy. Even if it told the truth there is still some possibily that the Geth as a faction could survive. The Quarians could rebuild them, or maybe the Geth made preparations for potentially being destroyed as a failsafe for Rannoch, and since they are ultimately software, uploaded copies of themselves to servers in dark space.
@@ahorsewithnoname773Also, the brother of that one dude in the me2 dlc has the Geth source code in his head! That’s one way they could be brought back.
@@natebox4550 I hadn't considered that. I love that idea though, it would be an interesting way to resolve it.
IT'S CANON FOR ME lol
seriously tho, we spend three games trying to put down the reapers, it's canon for me personally
even if they don't end up going with it, it's what I want
no matter their intentions, they cannot continues to wipe out trillions of people and thousands of worlds and cultures, it's just unacceptable for me so they gotta die
it makes the most sense for future stories as well
also shepard coming back isn't too weird considering how 2 starts and how in 3 there's a clone version of you running around that you end up meeting and dealing with.
I’d be fine with them canonizing the Destroy ending. I don’t see the Geth finding a way to survive the Crucible energy wave as beyond their capabilities.
I chose Control, but if BioWare goes with Destroy, but the Geth and EDI survived then I'm cool with it. I'd have picked Destroy were it not for that bit.
Syntetic is what Saren wanted, control what Illusive Man wanted and destroy what Shepard fight for all the time. I like that small wink towards us if u destroyed collector base u are pushed towards destroy ending. It makes the most sense for storyline and for a character. This is also the only ending when Shepard can survive
I'd be ok with destroy as cannon with small core of those big Geth programs some-how surviving, say, in a deep planetary bunker.
There was a vid on how the races and systems might recover & reconnect and to form competing alliances after the destroy ending. This could set up a rebuilding timeline that would allow many threads and sub plots and side missions.
Think in terms of Greek city states and effort to join all of them back together again.
Bioware changing the sequel depending on the player's choice of ending:
-Hey garrus, nice to see you again. Wow, you're a specter now! Hey, remember this giant light beam that "somehow got us rid of the reapers"?
- ho yeah, it was a defining moment for the whole galaxy. I'll never forget its very distinct green/blue/red hue! Now please excuse me, i need to do some calibrations.
Couple things you may have missed or didn't realize. That helmet can't be Shepard's because they find it on Alchera when they're searching the original Normandy crash site, you then add it as a decoration in their canon. And when you said the concept art of the Citadel with a barren skyline had no presidium, I guess you didn't realize the ring holding all five of the wards section is the presidium. It's why the presidium itself was always curved when you look at it from the inside. And the long metal structure sticking out of the ring and going to the center is the elevator tower that leads up to the Council chambers.
There are quite a few ways that the geth could survive. Such as upgrading their firewalls to block out the Catalyst's signal, or downloading copies of themselves in reinforced Faraday cages. My personal favorite idea is that they reverse engineered an old engineer skill called damping from Mass Effect 1 that stopped people from using both biotic and tech attacks. That way they would be protected from the energies from the Catalyst.
The reason I think Liara can breathe on Alchera is because the dead reaper is producing a mass effect field like the one you find Legion on thus blocking out the hostile environment
I sure as shit hope it is, it's the only option that lets Shep live. That cements it for me.
That can't be Sheps helmet from Alchera(alkera), because when you're setting up the monument for the SR-1, you can find your original helmet. It's then sat in your quarters for the remainder of the game.
On the planet Alchera, the atmosphere is composed of ammonia and methane. Poisonous to breath. In the 2020 teaser, Liara breathes calmly
It has to be canon just like everyone dying in suicide mission isn't canon a game where there is zero conflict due to hybrid synth-org or a game where Shepard ai destroys everything with reapers makes for not a fun game the canon ending will be the highest asset version of destroy where the geth were damaged but not destroyed and all conflicts were resolved that was you will have a vulnerable scattered rebuilding galaxy which allows for discovery and conflict
I was under the impression that Control was what Illusive Man wanted. Synthesis is what Saren wanted, and Shepard wanted to defeat the reapers which means Destroy ending. Refuse is what Conrad Verner did.
Also, many people miss an important point. The destroyed Relay in the 2020 teaser. He not repaired.
Let me remind you that in Synthesis and Control, Reapers repair all Relays.
It is also worth noting that in the teaser of 2022 there is a Relay built by organics.
Why would organics waste their energy on the Relay when there are Reapers?
According to noted games expert Tommy Flanagan, that's not Liara. it's her evil twin Viagra . She's smiling because Shepard survived but was immediately run over by an intergalactic bus. The protagonists in Mass Effect 4 or 5 or whatever will be George Santos (or George Santos in drag) VS a sentient 1992 Buick Regal . Or uh...Morgan Fairchild! Yeah, that's it!
I’m pretty sure destroy is canon because in the teaser awhile back with Liara she can be seen either climbing or walking on a dead reaper covered in snow and she even looks older.
Yes.
But not only that.
The same teaser showed a destroyed and unrepaired Relay. In Control and Synthesis, the Reapers repair all the Relays.
Also in the 2022 teaser they showed a human Relay. Why waste resources and time on the Relay if the Reapers are alive and can repair the Relay?
I picked Control 1st time and consider it "my" ending but destroy absolutely makes the most sense and I hope they canonize it and bring Shepard back.
Most likely option is that its Alchera, only new bio ware forgot about its atmosphere
They then forgot that the Reapers have nothing to do on Alchera. There is no intelligent life there. There are no colonies.
But the teaser shows two dead Reapers on the planet
Control can't be canon because having an army of nigh-invincible giant robots ready to defend the galaxy makes fighting any threats too easy. Synthesis is more plausible but still kinda weird to have everyone be an android. Destroy makes much more sense when it comes to storytelling, and keeps everyone's favourite commander in the story.
Synthesis also has an army of almost nigh-invincible giant robots.
Also, EDI in Synthesis says that the Reapers have begun to share technology accumulated over 1 billion years.
That is, Asari, Humanity, Turians, Salarians, Quarians and other races with these technologies will become even stronger and more powerful.
And deal with any threat very easily
@@SeverusHunt True. I forgot the reapers also survive in Synthesis. So yeah, even more overpowered then.
Tbh, I don't really care if they will choose either control or destroy as default setting, but I expect them to implement (or at least hope for) something like the Genesis dlc or a save file transfer from the Legendary edition
I really love your videos. The thought ,reasoning, and deduction all seem spot on. I will be extremely pleased if it turns out you're right. Honestly, I'll be extremely pleased just to have a new ME game. But I hope you're right.
I pick destroy every single time
I wouldn't read too much into the N7 logo. It's more like a special forces designation than a family crest. I would guess that they and every other such group would have had at least 75% losses. Everyone's best soldiers running headlong into the worst fighting would lead to massive losses no matter how good they were.
You're forgetting that the relays are repaired in both of the non destroy endings.
you're absolutely right! I don't often pick those, thanks for pointing that out!
I'm sorry but I have a real serious question... At the end of Mass Effect 3 when you first speak to the star child and he shows you the destroy option. Why is the cutscene of Admiral Anderson destroying the Reapers??? (shooting the destroy tube)
In the control ending, doesn't it show the Reapers rebuilding the relays?
Maybe a time jump, liara, and wrex and grunt making a cameo and reuniting with andromeda people, new mass relees to connect both galaxies.
I chose Synthesis, but I have no control over what the canon ending is, that decision is Bioware's and I'll just have to accept it if I want to play the game. I won't be angry with their decision, I'll just play and see how they come out of it. And as for the teaser trailer with Liara - for me it's just a teaser, I don't look for anything specific there. We see Reapers wrecked there so there was some fighting on this planet and it is likely that some N7 soldiers fought and died there. Liara finds part of a helmet with the N7 logo on it and remembers Shepard was one too, so she smiles. I think that's the only answer because any association of this place with Shepard makes no sense after the end of the game, and in ME2 Shepard found his helmet on the planet where the Normandy crashed and was in his cabin in its entirety.
Bioware never thought they were going to have to revisit the trilogy. So no mater what ending they chose to go with, it's going to be canonized for someone. It was a dumb decision on Bioware's part to have three distinctive endings, which reinforces the fact it was a terrible ending to ME3.
And I did all 3 endings, so that would skew the graph with chosen endings.
Destroy is canon. All three games are building up to destroy. I never even understood why we got the options, it doesn't feel like an option. I was angry at them for making the destroy option kill the Geth, with them giving an option for literal space magic with synthesis it didn't make sense that the destroy would destroy anything but reaper tech. Control only makes sense if Shepard was indoctrinated which makes it a bad end and while on the surface synthesis is the "best" option but forcing that on all life without consent is horrifying and a decision I can't imagine anyone making when they're half dead probably has a concussion and in shock and just there to destroy them.
I think ME5 is going to have to make a lot of canon decisions, because if they keep making new games while writing in every possible option that is going to be a ton of bloat that just... doesn't feel worth the effort given how rarely picked some of the options are. (How many people seriously got Mordin to survive Tuchanka?) The data they got from the legendary edition should help with it.
In my first playthrougs I chose Destroy but I replayed all trilogy last year, after many years and this time I chose Synthesis. Now I feel Synthesis is only logical option. Why to save Geth or make alliance between them and Quarians if we are destroying them in Destroy ending? In my opinion Synthesis ending is doing that both sides (the Reapers and all life forms) want - to make any life forms evolve. But despite me prefering Synthesis ending, I can see that would be hard to implement every consequences of this ending. I can't blame BioWare if they choose Destroy as canon ending. But then, why they want to Geth survive? Maybe because of their technology allowing to see distant object in the space in real time? I can't wait to see what BioWare is going to show us.
Synthesis would then remove any chance of future evolution it'd be upgrades as javik says
I knew it but the question is where is shepard and would liara find him
My theory is the destroy ending will be cannon but there were geth in dark space outside of the milky way when the relays were destroyed. I think that allows them to survive and return. I also think that there is a time jump of about 5 to 10 years after andromedas story which would be like what 650 years after the trilogy. I think the repurposed relay the geth made is going to be a big factor in this story and maybe liara has found a planet on the edge of our solar system that uses rem tech allowing us to get to andromeda.
You're right. There is an official comic Mass Effect: Discovery. It says that the Geth built a supertelescope to observe Andromeda and other objects outside the Milky Way.
Geth could send ships to objects of interest to them outside the Milky Way
Honestly, I'm fine if they cannonize on the endings. As you pointed out, leaving all three options open may be too much to handle form a development standpoint. And to a certain extent, they already did something like this when they had players destroy the Alpha Relay in 2, without really giving players an option, and that personally never really bothered me too much.
Now the two are obviously a bit different lol, but either way, I'm excited to see how the game takes shape moving forward!
I don't mind them canonising the destroy ending, biggest thing for me is that we're getting another Mass Effect game, I just hope that they are super ambitious with the scope and breadth of the game. I'm currently replaying with Legendary Edition, and I'd love to see more expanded areas. Especially places like the Citadel, Illium and Omega. Appreciate these areas are even now, likely too big to include all of, but it would be incredible if they could expand these areas significantly.
Would like to see a lot more side quests too. Was struck by how few there were in ME2, think more side quests with more collectables (Weapons, Armour and other stuff) would be good too. It would also be good to have questlines unrelated to the main quest, where you're a spectre doing spectre stuff!!
i chose syntesis but i understand that they need to cannonize one ending. Destroy is the one that make more sense because it is the most popular (45% of people choose it in legendary edition)
Destroy is the only way for conflict to happen.
My personal head canon has been perfect destroy with David Archer resurrecting the Geth because he has their source code in his head.
There is something to consider: they announced the legendary edition before they released the trailer for the next mass effect game. The fact they remastered the Mass effect trilogy for current consoles sounds like they did that so players have their save files and choices that can be transferred to the next game with will also be on current consoles to me to me it's an interesting coincidence. But who knows maybe they will canon destroy ending and bring shepard back.
I think that is absolutely possible. The original mass effect games wouldn't have the tech for it, but the legendary edition will.
@@Phoenix27272 exactly
After the ME3 debacle and then what they did to Andromeda it will take a hell of a game for me to give them another chance.
I like the synthesis ending better because EVERYONE in the Milky Way works together and finds peace ( in my opinion) everyone shares one mind. Control was not my favorite because it seems like it contradicts everything that we fault for and everything Commander stood against.
That's it. Everyone finds peace. There will be no conflicts and wars. And without conflicts and wars there will be no sequel to ME.
Therefore, canon Destroy
Have we ever seen an "old" Asari? I don't remember seeing wrinkles on Benzia, Aethyta, Samara, the Asari Councilor (who could be in her Matron Phase), Lydania or Aria.
If they decided to canonize an ending, they should announce it quickly. I don't want it to be kept as a surprise because it sucks. Waiting to figure out if your choices mattered or not is the good kind of suspense. Give us the bad news right away, to give us time to be angry and then forgive.
As for the other decisions, making a time jump in the future and not bringing back Shepard would fix most of this. Very few select decisions other than the endings could impact the next game (ex.: the state of the Quarrians and the Geth); everything else is just material for the codex. BioWare only needs one good idea to make the three endings converge, and that's it.
i think another option bioware could go with that we arent really talking about is a sorta amalgom ending. That way all ending choices are canon in some way. I explain how this could work like this.
The control/ synthesis ending are limited to the sol system while the destroy ending happens to the rest of the galaxy. That way you could play around with the idea of organic/ synthetic hybrids and have the geth alive while also destroying most of the reapers that weren't in the sol system by the end of the game. You can definitely play around with this idea (Like if the reapers are destroyed entirely or if the synthesis has much larger reaching affects) but the core concept keeps makes sure that no matter what the players choose this new game wont step on their toes. Shepard's fate could go either way with them either being alive, dead, or an AI depending on what the devs plan on doing with the character. As for the choices not relating to the ending i do believe they will have to pick a canon choice. But i just don't see them canonizing the extinction of any of these beloved species.
I don't think any ending could be limited because the effect propagates through all mass relays. However, I am envisioning a fractured civilization where a new hero is cut off from the rest of the Galaxy, and the player must make several critical choices early in the game which selects one of the three Canon endings, so the player chooses their own ending again, without realizing it, with three possible plots unfolding. That would be the hard part.
@@uncleanunicorn4571 what i mean by limited is the fact that its 1 extremely massive choice that affects the entire galaxy in a series finally type way. LIke the story wasn't supposed to continue yet it is. And the problem with your idea is that in control (Aswell as synthesis i believe) The relays are rebuilt by the reapers so youd still see reapers unlike if destroy was your path. And if synthesis is the chosen path then every being would show signs of that. there would need to be a clear ending chosen from the beginning in order for this to work
And how to do it??? Energy from the Crucible is transmitted directly to the Relay and through the Relay chain to other Relays
@@SeverusHunt not sure i get what youre saying
nah, they already did this by making the Rachni as an option be left to be killed/controlled. so it's not a reach if they chose to kill off synthetic life.
Destroy has to be the canon ending. In the control ending, you see the Reapers rebuilding the relays, while they've already shown off a new, non-reaper being built via the officially released art. Also, as mentioned in this video, there's no sign of the green synthesis circuit overlay in Liara's close-up shot in the trailer. Geth being teased in the poster would be easy enough to explain away in saying the Quarians rebuilt them in honor of the Geth helping to rebuild their home world after Shepard brings peace in ME3. As far as Andromeda connection, who knows what they cancelled DLC would have been, but wouldn't have been a huge stretch to assume they'd try to build a new Relay to connect Andromeda to the Milky Way relay system as they departed the MW during, or shortly after the events of ME2. In the end, no one knows if anything in the teaser will end up in the game, or how the two galaxies' stories will be connected.
Agree.
Also in the teaser for 2020, the Relay was not restored.
In ME3, Control shows how the Reapers restore the Relay
The idea of canonizing one of the 3 endings was a no go for for so long. Now, I don't give 2 shits as long as we get to continue the milky way story. I'll survive lol
just me, or does the image at 13:07 look strikingly like the footage of the trio in the trailer when liara smiles?, i mean, same ship, seemingly the same trio, salarian, human and what could look like either krogan or turian, only difference is the color pallette in the picture from the trailer, and the salarian is on the right of the human instead of the left
edit, on a side note, it is just like when devs have to account for every possible hardware component in a pc when optimizing a game, for every choice you make, you double the possible versions of the game the devs have to make, and then you have to double for every choice made previously, if my math is correct, then 16 choices, would require the devs to make...... drumroll please, 131072 different story VERSIONS of the game, to account for just 16 choices, and if im not mistaken, there are HUNDREDS of choices, ranging from minor to major choices, so if players expect that their choices mattered, well, i hope you have a super computer the size of FUCKING JUPITER, otherwise your pc wouldn't be able to even install a fraction of the game due to the sheer size of the files required for that shit
It does appear that the Destroy ending is the canon ending. So it may appear that the crucible targets the Geth and EDI too, but I heard this theory somewhere that it is possible that some Geth may have avoided the the crucible's blast and managed to survive it. As I think in teasers for the new Mass Effect it looked like there were surviving Geth and dead Reapers. Plus maybe EDI could still just be in the Normandy but not in the body of Dr. Eva. We will have to wait and see when the new game comes out.
the game is defo hundred of years into the future, the ship liara arrives has a design that was never seen before. and i think it's for the best.
When I saw this teaser. The people behind laira look like a salarain, turian, and a krogan.
yeah I've seen people say that and it definitely could be!
This has to have such a major time jump as to make any choices in ME1-3 irrelevant. Genophage, endings, etc all have so much impact on anything that would be closely tied to Shepard that it would mean making several different versions of the game if they DIDN'T make the choices irrelevant. With hundreds of years (or thousands if Liara was cryosleeping) can make any universal truth match any previous choices.
However this all shakes I hope Bioware follow the best advice I was given as a kid by my father...
"Son, I can't give you the secret to success because I don't know it. But I can warn you of the perfect formula for failure; and that's to try to please everyone. This is an unattainable goal and fool's errand. Human nature itself does not allow it"
And with that, however they decide to progress the franchise forward we'll all be there for it whether we agree or disagree.
Smartest man here. if there's an option for giving an award on UA-cam, I'd give you one.
I'm good with destroy being canon, it's the only ending that really made sense, frankly. No amount of reasoning would ever persuade me that destroying outright a race of sentient machines that farmed the galaxy for sentient life over eons was anything other than the correct choice.
Plus it's something that you can actually build a game off of. The Geth could have survived because some of them were outside the galaxy at the time or were otherwise able to protect themselves, a slight retcon, but a hell of a lot better than "Shepard decides to brainwash the machines into being good guys" and "Shepard forces a fundamental biological and synthetic rewrite across the galaxy in a non-consensual cyberization of all life."
I'm ready for them to pull the gigachad retcon and just say that the Indoctrination theory was right all along.
The Geth data was saved. If you do the best quarrian outcome the quarian ate intigrating the geth into their suits. So that data could be recovered to save the Geth. Its makes sense too. After accepting the Geth's right to exsist the Quarians would likely restore them as penance for their crimes.
To clarify, I believe the Quarians could use the geth data in their suits to rebuild the geth code, combining the parts they intigrated into samples of pre-sentience Geth Code (found on their planet) and fragments of the code in their suits to effectively trigger a Gerh rebirth. If what we are told is true, the integration and the high redundancy nature of the environmental suits could allow fragments of Geth code to survive. I also don't think this bit of dialog was an accident. It's their for a reason.
I'm fine with a cannon ending. I prefer destroy.
I'm really hoping they don't go for the time jump, I feel like if we skip over the 630 or so years between 3 and Andromeda would be a big miss especially if they continue to play will they/won't they with Commander Shepard being in the game during these early teasers. It feels like if they were to play to their fan bases desires it would probably be the best decision to set it in the aftermath of 3, so I'm going to be cautiously optimistic that they'll do that.
i suspect Bioware might even choose parts of each ending, Destroy...but the Geth and (maybe) EDI survive, considering the Geth head in the poster, although i have slight doubts as to wether the teaser trailer or poster isnt related to the story as Pre-Production/writing was still going on and wasnt set in stone
It could just be the fact that the destroy ending is easier to put in trailer form, it could be possible that the game follows on from what your choice was, and how long have we been waiting now the amount of time it's taken is enough to fit everything in if things are to follow on
I believe EDI is alive if the geth still around which possibly prove not all synthetics died..maybe just that android body she had died but her core is still integrated with the normandy
Very good point.
One aspect of the trailer I don't see many talking about is the possible symbolism.
We know from Andromeda that Liara was in contact with the Andromeda Initiative, and as the Shadow Broker she would've likely been able to access their tech, including their cryostasis technologies.
The scene of Liara picking up a piece of an N7 helmet out of the ice and snow could be symbolism for her pulling Shepard out of cryostasis.
I could see them using cryostasis as a way to canonize the "perfect destroy" ending, explain how Shepard was saved, AND have the time jump needed to put ME5 in the same time period as Andromeda.
They could've allowed many people from the various shorter-lived races to enter cryo while those who lived longer, or didn't want to enter cryo, to begin rebuilding. This would help explain the return of other crewmates returning, while also jumping forward to the time period of Andromeda.
This would also be usable justification for a much different Milky Way than the one we remember, allowing us to rediscover the galaxy all over again.
I agree with you.
But there is a small clarification. The technology of cryostasis has long been known to humankind.
There are Cerberus Network News. They were created by Bioware. There is a wide variety of information on the Mass Effect universe. And it says that in 2070 humanity sent a ship with colonists to Alpha Centauri. The colonists were in cryostasis. They all survived
@@SeverusHunt. Interesting; However, if cryostasis was a very common technology among humanity, wouldn't it be referenced more throughout the series? You think it would considering how advanced such technology would be.
@@dragonbornexpress5650 I'm not sure if this is true, but it seems the Normandy does have some pods inside the ship that looks like Cryopods, take it with a grain of salt since I'm just speculating, but I would be glad if anyone literally anyone can corroborate if this was either correct or not.
I’m interested for how they would explain the people who chose the control or synthesis endings.
Bioware: Your choices mat- no, not that one. Or that one...
Know what, this is the choice that seems to be SEO, people keep talking about it, so it must be the most popular.
That's the one that matters.
I think they don't have a choice. Either they move away from Shepard's galaxy, e.g. Andromeda, or they pick one ending. ME3's endings are simply so difficult that they couldn't tell a cohesive story which makes sense in multiple different ones.
@@stryletzThey made it so Shepard died in me2 to progress the story. Also, ngl those are just not as good as perfect destroy.
if it's Alchera, what is Shep's helmet fragment doing on top of the Reaper? It was the Collector's ship that downed the SR1.
And it would make no sense to have a Reaper on Alchera. It was an uninhabited planet. The Reapers would have no one to harvest on such a planet, so no reason to go there.
@nmssis On the planet Alchera, the atmosphere is composed of ammonia and methane. Poisonous to breath. In the 2020 teaser, Liara breathes calmly
@@lumina1104 On the planet Alchera, the atmosphere is composed of ammonia and methane. Poisonous to breath. In the 2020 teaser, Liara breathes calmly
Yeah, Destroy very likely going to be the canonized ending.
The helmet shepard wears when they fell down in to the planet in me2 is different from the helmet part liara finds. When shepard fell down to the planet is the helmet shepard wears in mass effect 1. The part liara finds is only on the helmet shepard wears after the planet fall and mass effect 3.
I'd much rather have a story follow a POTENTIAL ending and fully explore it, rather than shoehorn all endings into one surface level plot.
All other endings basically got the end of thier story anyway. Destroy is the one with the most potential for a follow-up
It really shouldn't matter on which of the endings happened in the previous story, as this will be a new plot with a new threat unconnected to the Reapers.
@@Klijpo the original games were a new plot and new story unconnected from the first contact war, or the discovery of the mass relays, but previous events still have a massive effect on the state of the world.
You can't just ignore big friendly reapers or perfect harmony in synthetic life, or the complete shutdown of all technology.
@@existentialselkath1264 The original games featured only the back story relevant for the story at hand. The First Contact War and the human discovery of the Prothean ruins were referenced in passing to set up the theme of 'Humanity's place on the Galactic stage' and to set up the Protheans. Hardly any detail at all; and we get nothing about how the other species discovered the relays. We get some info on the related Rachni War and Krogan Rebellions, as that feeds into the themes of Realpolitik and big power hegemony. Finally, we get backstory to the Quarrian/Geth conflict, as that ties into the theme of Organic/Synthetic conflict.
We don't hear anything about anything else in galactic history, so it will be unnecessary to delve into the nitty gritty about the end of the Reaper War, as that will not be the focus of the next game.
@@Klijpo it's not nitty gritty when it's a matter of the entire galaxy being in perfect synthetic harmony, or all synthetic races being wiped off the map.
Again. To just ignore any potential differences would imply that the differences really weren't that great in the first place. That's lazy, uninteresting, and makes the whole series feel pointless as the events of 5 would be inevitable anyway.
By trying to validate every ending, you invalidate them all.
@@existentialselkath1264 It’s not about validating the endings. It’s that they’re not particularly relvant to this new game. It ain’t going to be about fighting Reapers.
It’d be like starting a story about the First World War by talking about Napolean.
The great thing about ME1’s opening is how it so concisely introduces the major themese of the series in just a couple of short scenes. The new game needs to do that, not go over old ground.
God, a planet called "The Reaper Graveyard" would be dope
I also think they will canonize choices. They did this with the collector ship. Even if you destroy it, the illusive man manages to get salvage from it to take to Omega regardless.
I could remembering it wrong but didn't Bioware make the Synthesis ending canon back in 2012?
it also could have been "Control" ending and the reaper is there is (maby) for tera-morphing the planet .. its clearly not sintesis because there are no green lines in Liara's face...
If mass effect 5 does come out, I think they need to do the same thing. What they did with dragon age Inquisition With dragon's keep, they put all your choices in the game I don't know if that would help
The green ending would in my mind be too much of a utopian future where everyone lives for an interesting story to take place. Destroy(red) is the only logical choice of the three main options to make a story after.
Okay but we forget one thing... Shepard activated the whole thing at the top. He could've been sent through the mass relays and she's looking for his body/remains.
I think the teaser trailer should be considered more metaphorical than literally. A lot of the scene feels like something to show the vibes of a story and not what the story will actually be. Like I don't think we will play that teaser trailer in game.
Obviously; Teaser trailers and concept art like what was shown in the video are most often meant to set up the tone and atmosphere as well as possible story concepts, although none of these are final, and are usually meant strictly for the developers.
@@dragonbornexpress5650 I agree they set a tone but I feel like the over examination of the trailer isn't that beneficial. It seems like people just sometimes take it too far.