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Obviously I need to cut this.
Edits: I wrote this last night on the ipad. I didn't preview it very well. Fixed a bunch of little errors.
After you finish Kai Leng (for Thane) you get a final confrontation with the Illusive Man. In conversation with him you learn that through some pretty horrific methods he has learned how to control the reapers, and that is what the crucible does. However, the problem is that the Catalyst is actually a part of a reaper. A very specific Reaper: Harbinger.
The Illusive man learned through his contact with a "reaper" artifact that the reapers did not build the mass relays but were built by the people who did. At first the reapers were a sentient galactic peace keeping force concerned only with making sure that galactic civilization thrived. But after tens of thousands of years of golden age, someone whose motives are unknown merged with a reaper, and changed them into a synthetic/organic hybrid. This drove both the reaper and the organic mad and created harbinger who proceeded to harvest an entire people and quickly spread the madness to the rest of the reapers.
The harvesting was required to make the hybridization work. Worse, if not done properly, then the result was dark energy that could destroy stars and eventually would destroy the entire galaxy (See: Haestrom). Thus Harbinger invented the cycles of harvesting in order to sustain its own madness.
The Illusive man believes that he can destroy harbinger and use the crucible to take over the reapers. Obviously he is insane or deranged or just power mad. However Shepard is left with no viable alternative:
Shepard must board Harbinger and defeat the internal hybrid and insert a device that will allow the reapers to be controlled.
Illusive man may live or die here based on conversation options. Galactic war happens and is a cover so Shep can board Harbinger, and fight a husk army to get to the heart of harbinger' aka the catalyst. Massive boss fight ensues.
This whole thing is up against a clock. Go too slow and get indoctrinated. Potentially set up levels of indoctrination, too, where level 1 of indoctrination does not prevent winning but it does prevent certain outcomes.
At the end Shep can choose to take personal control of the reapers, basically merging with Harbinger, letting the Illusive man do it, or a volunteer from companions. One possible ending includes destroying the reapers and the relays. I find myself fascinated by the prospect that one outcome is that the Illusive Man ends up in control of the Reapers. I'm not sure this would truly be winning or not, but it's one of the endings that allows Shepard to retire and let the next generation deal with the results.
The final montage includes Shep (or Ashley/Kaidan) leading a cleanup ground force to Earth to clear out the now maddened husks, ala the trailer. Cue some epilogue to clean up relationships.
Edits: I wrote this last night on the ipad. I didn't preview it very well. Fixed a bunch of little errors.
After you finish Kai Leng (for Thane) you get a final confrontation with the Illusive Man. In conversation with him you learn that through some pretty horrific methods he has learned how to control the reapers, and that is what the crucible does. However, the problem is that the Catalyst is actually a part of a reaper. A very specific Reaper: Harbinger.
The Illusive man learned through his contact with a "reaper" artifact that the reapers did not build the mass relays but were built by the people who did. At first the reapers were a sentient galactic peace keeping force concerned only with making sure that galactic civilization thrived. But after tens of thousands of years of golden age, someone whose motives are unknown merged with a reaper, and changed them into a synthetic/organic hybrid. This drove both the reaper and the organic mad and created harbinger who proceeded to harvest an entire people and quickly spread the madness to the rest of the reapers.
The harvesting was required to make the hybridization work. Worse, if not done properly, then the result was dark energy that could destroy stars and eventually would destroy the entire galaxy (See: Haestrom). Thus Harbinger invented the cycles of harvesting in order to sustain its own madness.
The Illusive man believes that he can destroy harbinger and use the crucible to take over the reapers. Obviously he is insane or deranged or just power mad. However Shepard is left with no viable alternative:
Shepard must board Harbinger and defeat the internal hybrid and insert a device that will allow the reapers to be controlled.
Illusive man may live or die here based on conversation options. Galactic war happens and is a cover so Shep can board Harbinger, and fight a husk army to get to the heart of harbinger' aka the catalyst. Massive boss fight ensues.
This whole thing is up against a clock. Go too slow and get indoctrinated. Potentially set up levels of indoctrination, too, where level 1 of indoctrination does not prevent winning but it does prevent certain outcomes.
At the end Shep can choose to take personal control of the reapers, basically merging with Harbinger, letting the Illusive man do it, or a volunteer from companions. One possible ending includes destroying the reapers and the relays. I find myself fascinated by the prospect that one outcome is that the Illusive Man ends up in control of the Reapers. I'm not sure this would truly be winning or not, but it's one of the endings that allows Shepard to retire and let the next generation deal with the results.
The final montage includes Shep (or Ashley/Kaidan) leading a cleanup ground force to Earth to clear out the now maddened husks, ala the trailer. Cue some epilogue to clean up relationships.
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no subject
Date: 2012-03-13 06:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-13 03:07 pm (UTC)While the game did have Shepard returning to Earth, it wasn't exactly heroically; it was basically a last ditch effort and it was getting pummelled and pounded left and right.
Anyway, it really felt like that bit of the trailer was an outright lie, but it highlights precisely what is wrong with the ending. It simply diverges from everything it felt like the game has always been.