[Fam Mughal]

In the context of the game, because what ever race created the Reapers witnessed it.

No it didn't. Otherwise there wouldn't be any organic life left for the Reapers to massacre/"preserve".

We are introduced to a brand new character a couple minutes from the very end of the game and expected to take at face value the absurd things it is saying. This character says, "Organics and synthetics can't live peacefully together. We totally tried that once and didn't even work at all!" There is no reason to accept this. Everything we know about the Mass Effect universe and how things work in general utterly disproves this ridiculous claim. It is not a reasonable assertion, we are given no opportunity to question or explore it further, it is simply dumb.

[Melung Chan]

No it didn't. Otherwise there wouldn't be any organic life left for the Reapers to massacre/"preserve".

We are introduced to a brand new character a couple minutes from the very end of the game and expected to take at face value the absurd things it is saying. This character says, "Organics and synthetics can't live peacefully together. We totally tried that once and didn't even work at all!" There is no reason to accept this. Everything we know about the Mass Effect universe and how things work in general utterly disproves this ridiculous claim. It is not a reasonable assertion, we are given no opportunity to question or explore it further, it is simply dumb.

You're assuming the Reapers didn't stop them. Obviously the cost of their stopping whatever synthetics they had created were high enough that the Reapers had to ensure it never happened again. Or perhaps the Reapers are the synthetics themselves, attempting to ensure no race ever rivaled their power, lying about preserving life in the process.

I need to go to bed, but here's the problem. As I said before, those disgruntled by the ending allowed themselves to hype it up so much that there was absolutely no way the ending would turn out as awesome as they expected. The same thing happened with Dragon Age II (reuse of the same environments aside).

It seems that no matter what BioWare does, their FANS of all people will [censored] about it.

[jessica robson]

Your not getting what I'm saying. EVERY! 50,000k years the Reapers harvest civilization. It's been made extensively clear that organic life and synthetic life was developing in a set pattern that always repeated itself. We know from the Prothean that they were having their wars with the Synthetics already. So that means in at least a few of the timelines before ours the universe was already fighting off Synthetics. Considering how clockwork the Reapers are I don't think they make too much math errors. Meaning we were well past due for a Synthetic rebellion. Something changed. We started working together, perhaps the quantum particles were just right. Who knows, but we didn't follow this clock work pattern. The Prothean AI and the reaper/kid ai make it clear it was a cycle timed right down to a year. Nay, days. It doesn't matter WHAT you say, the in game evidence will always refute your claim. Javik mentions it to you. He's a Prothean.


On the topic of the catalyst. Obviously someone has to know what the damn thing was intended to do. Or how could they build it? it doesn't spontaneously spring into existence. No all the Protheans and then humans did was perfect it.

We weren't fighting synthetics because the timing of our universe was finally different. You can't refute the ai gods own words. He said Shepard was the first to make it that far. We are different, something went way weird somewhere to make this a possibility. IE success in the ai childs eyes. Too blinded by programming to realize the true success was all of the species allying. Even the synthetics. Javik mentions they had a war with the synthetics going on. The god ai child's timing of the universe don't lie. We should have been having our own fight.

The Geth in the veil weren't hostile. It was the separatist Geth who joined the Reapers that were hostile. They make this quite clear in game. Implied they were the ones stopping people from going in.

He could have stopped yea, he didn't say a damn word or question. And I would very migh like to save all of them if possible. Why do I have to kill the Geth for peace? What did they do? The Krogan have proven more volatile to galactic society and plenty gave them a fair chance. The Ai god childs argument falls apart around him. But can you try and protest? If I was Shepard I would go and find a way to blow the catalyst up. No more reaper god child ai. Anything other than give up and settle for defeat. There's always another option.

There's a certain level of realism we come to expect in works of art. If gravity is muck and yellow is the synthetic fiber of catducks on vaction in the moors of space dock fun turkey sense bubble. Then we noun our way back to lol.
Any story has to have a certain level of realism. Yet at the same time it needs for fantastic things to happen. The minor things we can put aside to enjoy the other realism. The faux science codex entries help to assuage our minds. It's our suspension of dibelif and we all have it. At the very end of the game completely unexplained explosion light beams of happy we've never seen before save everything and then the end. Our only frame of refference is the relay that exploded in arrival dlc creating a mini super nova and killing a lot of planets and solar systems on a galactic scale. So suddenly magic space light makes it safe? Is everyone dead? What the hell is happening?

Don't even get me started how your squad dies on the planet with your charge and Harbindger and teleports onto the normandy somehow aware of this magic space explosion and then crahs lands with everyone fine. Even though it's implied the squad mates you take with you die. Not to mention none f the endings involve artifical objects exploding so why is the normandy suddenly exploding after it teleported into the mass relay? Why is it running at all? Is joker some kind of coward? did he fly down to the planet get all your friends and leave? Is he a Jedi? WTF happened there?

So we made a mistake, and in game it's fixed. They work together. Now if that war spiraled out of control until the entire galaxy had to fight the Geth the ai god child might be right with his galactic space time future forecast. Except they didn't. They went to go live peaceful lives minus one converted segment of the population which was less than 10% of them. Is chaos bad? What the hell did it do to you? Looks like it created a hell of an awesome place to live to me. Though I find the claim of chaos at all to be a tenuous thing. It looks like things were going fine. Until the Reapers decided they needed to save us from...? What exactly? Themselves? They seem to be the only hostile synthetics to me. Seriously as I said the ai god machines claims disprove your theory. Pay attention better next time. Same with Javik and him talking about machine rebellions in their time.

That is if you believe in this ludicrous ending to Mass Effect. I'm sure I've made you derp already. Hopefully your starting to see how dumb it is.

Edit
Is that how this ends? Your going to insult us for thinking critically? Well at least it's clear where the debate was going for you morrowind. Nowhere good.

Edit2
SO we're not supposed to criticize artists? Since when do we need to revere them as gods? I didn't get the memo. I've known books that were retconned. Sometimes you just have to see a bad ending. I understand if it's mindless [censored]ing. But we as a movement have put a lot of time and thought into our criticism. it isn't mindless [censored]ing, it's real valid complaints. We expect better of them. We know they can do better than this. But oh god forbid we criticize artists so they can improve like any human being. Oh god no. I think we're done here morrowind. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IL8F6IeJGA#t=3m37s

Edit3
Wasn't trying to force you to my view point, just attempting to debate. For the records.

[natalie mccormick]

You're assuming the Reapers didn't stop them. Obviously the cost of their stopping whatever synthetics they had created were high enough that the Reapers had to ensure it never happened again. Or perhaps the Reapers are the synthetics themselves, attempting to ensure no race ever rivaled their power, lying about preserving life in the process.

It's not obvious at all. There is literally no evidence for the claims this character is making. What information we do have indicates the exact opposite, that synthetics and organics can quite easily live together in harmony. If instead the child was lying, we are still faced with a horribly written ending. I've no ability to call them on their [censored] or disobey or anything. I'm forced to calmly accept the absurd things this creature is saying.

There is no way to twist this into a positive. If it's taken at face value it's awful, out of left field nonsense. If it's a lie/indoctrination, it's been executed with in sloppy, amateur fashion. If it's not the real ending and there's one being held back, it's a terrible way to treat paying customers.

I need to go to bed, but here's the problem. As I said before, those disgruntled by the ending allowed themselves to hype it up so much that there was absolutely no way the ending would turn out as awesome as they expected. The same thing happened with Dragon Age II (reuse of the same environments aside).

It seems that no matter what BioWare does, their FANS of all people will [censored] about it.

I am not a Bioware fan. Mass Effect is a guilty pleasure. It's on par with 80s action movies, and that's why I like it. It's macho and obnoxious and dumb. The reason this ending was stupid is because up until this point it'd been Starship Troopers, and suddenly it tried to be "intelligent". It made no sense, the tonal shift was perplexing. I was expecting nothing, but typical, generic action movie fare. Instead I got this pseudo-intellectual trash that can't stand up to even the bare minimum level of scrutiny.

[Stat Wrecker]

I am not a Bioware fan. Mass Effect is a guilty pleasure. It's on par with 80s action movies, and that's why I like it. It's macho and obnoxious and dumb. The reason this ending was stupid is because up until this point it'd been Starship Troopers, and suddenly it tried to be "intelligent". It made no sense, the tonal shift was perplexing. I was expecting nothing, but typical, generic action movie fare. Instead I got this pseudo-intellectual trash that can't stand up to even the bare minimum level of scrutiny.

Macho obnoxious and dumb? What have you been playing? I happen to think that the Mass Effect series has superb writing and a well thought out lore and plot expect for about 15 minutes in the 200 hours that I've played the three games. Nothing near an '80s action movie.

[Robert]

Macho obnoxious and dumb? What have you been playing? I happen to think that the Mass Effect series has superb writing and a well thought out lore and plot expect for about 15 minutes in the 200 hours that I've played the three games. Nothing near an '80s action movie.

Lore is always deep. When you're writing the history of a world/universe that sort of required. But depth is not a synonym for intelligence. This isn't 2001 we're talking about. You're a space marine: you shoot guns, you blow [censored] up, you kill aliens, you make out with aliens, you pound your fist into your palm when you talk, you punch out reporters, and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NK7YkijQA0. Mass effect can be interesting, but it's always been incredibly straightforward. Smart or clever is not something I'd use to describe these games.

[Roisan Sweeney]

I'm a huge Mass Effect fan, been there from the beginning...and the disappointment I have is astronomical. If it wasn't for the glorious TES I might retire from gaming. BioWare shot themselves in the foot bigtime with their crown jewel. I try to force myself to believe the indoctrination theory, but the original ending for this game and plot....about Dark Energy....is Canon in my mind. But not reality. It was literally a masterpiece of literature until the last 5 minutes. Ten minutes if you include Harbinger shooting Shepard, but I liked the three way convo with Anderson and TIM. It's never been done, a drop of the ball last second, like this in something so wonderful. It cripples their franchise, and it destroys any desire for anything Mass Effect related at all. I'm particularly disappointed how stupid they made the Reapers after all this time. Dark Energy should have happened...that is ME in its purity, but its destroyed forever

[Sabrina garzotto]

Lore is always deep. When you're writing the history of a world/universe that sort of required. But depth is not a synonym for intelligence. This isn't 2001 we're talking about. You're a space marine: you shoot guns, you blow [censored] up, you kill aliens, you make out with aliens, you pound your fist into your palm when you talk, you punch out reporters, and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NK7YkijQA0. Mass effect can be interesting, but it's always been incredibly straightforward. Smart or clever is not something I'd use to describe these games.

I'm not going to call it an 80's action movie. Why your insulting something so awesome as the 80's action movie is beyond me. It's like fast food, you eat it and it's good fun. Mass Effect isn't the deepest, but it is above 80's action move standards. I would say it's a stellar example of high science fiction. A term I have coined just now. It's all about epic fights, and fates of species and stuff. Really great stuff. Just not philosophical. But not herp a derp. Just right. All have their place in my media sandwich nom nom nom.

[chirsty aggas]

I'm not going to call it an 80's action movie. Why your insulting something so awesome as the 80's action movie is beyond me. It's like fast food, you eat it and it's good fun. Mass Effect isn't the deepest, but it is above 80's action move standards. I would say it's a stellar example of high science fiction. A term I have coined just now. It's all about epic fights, and fates of species and stuff. Really great stuff. Just not philosophical. But not herp a derp. Just right. All have their place in my media sandwich nom nom nom.

I'm not insulting anything. The backbone of my movie collection is 80s action flicks. My point is that the ending tries to make some sort of heady, intellectual argument about the nature of synthetic vs. organic. This is not only a line of discussion completely absent from the rest of the series, it's a total shift in tone. When Shepard is trying to solve the Quarian-Geth crisis, he doesn't ponder the inherent nature of organics and synthetics and whether or not that allows for meaningful cooperation. He jumps on the radio and says, "[censored] get along you stupid bastards."

[Kelly John]

I'm not insulting anything. The backbone of my movie collection is 80s action flicks. My point is that the ending tries to make some sort of heady, intellectual argument about the nature of synthetic vs. organic. This is not only a line of discussion completely absent from the rest of the series, it's a total shift in tone. When Shepard is trying to solve the Quarian-Geth crisis, he doesn't ponder the inherent nature of organics and synthetics and whether or not that allows for meaningful cooperation. He jumps on the radio and says, "[censored] get along you stupid bastards."

I should have inserted a smiley I meant that in jest. Sorry if I sounded hostile there. Was in serious biz mode. The series kinda touches upon it, but as you say not really a full out theme. Also given the situation would you start being philosophical if it meant the fate of the galaxy. You wouldn't have a handy pause to think either. Those ships would be heading right for the Geth fleet stupidly and getting shot up. /random comments

Edit
I get what your saying, they had plenty of opportunity to make it a theme and touch on it if they wanted to. But I don't think that would be one of the good spots to do it. That would likely be the resolution more or less.

[Dezzeh]

I should have inserted a smiley I meant that in jest. Sorry if I sounded hostile there. Was in serious biz mode. The series kinda touches upon it, but as you say not really a full out theme. Also given the situation would you start being philosophical if it meant the fate of the galaxy. You wouldn't have a handy pause to think either. Those ships would be heading right for the Geth fleet stupidly and getting shot up. /random comments

Edit
I get what your saying, they had plenty of opportunity to make it a theme and touch on it if they wanted to. But I don't think that would be one of the good spots to do it. That would likely be the resolution more or less.

Well, in the final confrontation time is still a factor. You've the allied galactic fleet being torn to shreds out there and soldiers getting cut down on Earth. The ending isn't really the time for philosophical discussions either.

The synthetic/organic conflicts were no more distinct than the organic/organic conflicts. And the biology wasn't a focus regardless. I mean, you could say that the Krogan were rebelling against their "creators" (as they only became the force they are with technological assistance), but they aren't synthetic and you have to jump through even more hoops to get them to decide live and let live is the best course. Heck, the Geth wanted peace. The Krogan, absent a few select individuals, could take it or leave it. When you can make a better case for the exact opposite, you've got a problem.

That's why it feels so weird when Bioware is suddenly acting as though this dichotomy makes sense. If it had been established from game one that there was a unique conflict derived from the inherent differences between synthetics and organics, that would be one thing. It would still be silly; logically speaking, there shouldn't be any functional differences between an AI-synthetic mind and an organic mind without introducing something like a soul. At least it'd be supported by the universe's established fiction, though.

[Heather Dawson]

I hold out hope for Dishonored. If that fails, I'll try out these magical "VNs" everyone raves about. Nothing is on a constant downward spiral. I hope gaming turns around soon. But if Dishonored doesn't buck the trend, yeah, I'm jumping ship. There are more worthwhile things on which to spend time.

I have yet to play a VN that has cut content, that is later sold back to me. (actually I havent seen any dlc at all) I dont see how games are the only medium that can do this. DLC can be good e.g FNV, but most of the time, its just bad.

Its not just the quality of games (sick of streamlining), its the fact I am now seeing fans BEGGING for dlc. To an ending that was not done properly, and deliberately left vauge for sequals/dlc. When people are offering devs money after the devs screwed them over, it tells me its time to jump ship, becuase things are going to get much worse.

[Benito Martinez]

You can comment about every thing in the forum but do not comment on anything that I have not tried/seen. I have the right to comment about this because I been through it. The only right you have to comment about the ME games is to get and play them. Don't do the one play through, do several.

... that sounds a little harsh. I was not commenting on the games themselves, but on the reaction of players to the ending of the series. I think it's fair for someone who hasn't played the series to try and determine before buying the games and investing 500 hours into the games like you have whether it's really worth it if the ending is such a scandal/a dealbreaker. Which is partly why I reacted to the holocaust comment.
I was not trying to be judgemental or whatever, I was just intrigued as a potential buyer (although I didn't make it clear in my first post). I didn't understand all the hate. Anyway, as I said in my previous post, I'll let you all discuss the ending.

[Myles]

There is a thread or two over at the BW forums that have hundreds of people pledging to pay for an ending, and whats worse they are claiming that "all will be forgiven" ! Its insane! BW has so many wrapped around their pinky.

Not me, Bioware burned me for the last time. The ending was the icing on the cake with the autodialoge being my main problem with the game, pretty much makes a replay useless and takes the RP out of RPG. Unless Dragon Age 3 is perfection I'm done with them or I'll get it used.

[Rachyroo]

Not me, Bioware burned me for the last time. The ending was the icing on the cake with the autodialoge being my main problem with the game, pretty much makes a replay useless and takes the RP out of RPG. Unless Dragon Age 3 is perfection I'm done with them or I'll get it used.

I think for me the question of whether or not I get DA3 rests on what they do about the ending. If they continue to take the line "we've got your money now lol" whilst justifying it with threadbare excuses about artistic integrity then I think DA3 would have to get essentially perfect reviews from trustworthy sources before I'd even consider it. Obviously it's not just about the ending, it's the cut-and-paste job of DA2, the non-existent QA of Awakening, attempting to railroad us into multiplayer, forcing us to use Origin and so on.

Back to the ending, I replayed it again last night to see if familiarity made it any better. No, actually, it was worse. One difference is that first time through I'd forgotten I'd temporarily switched it to "narrative" because I was getting swamped by banshees and stuff which meant I never got to meet Marauder Shields. This time I put it back to normal and actually felt quite bad about gunning him down. He was only trying to save me, albeit by means of shooting at me.

[Laura Wilson]

Unless Dragon Age 3 is perfection I'm done with them or I'll get it used.

Uh huh. So many people were "done with them after ME2", then "Bioware is dead to mafter DA2", then it was "after ME3 im done with them".

I bet most people will go back to them eventully.
I havent touched their games since ME2, I actually dont even care about them anymore (I dont even hate them now). Im only watching these threads becuse the trainwreck is entertaining.

Vometia, Marauder shields is your salvation through destruction.

[Ashley Campos]

Its not just the quality of games (sick of streamlining), its the fact I am now seeing fans BEGGING for dlc. To an ending that was not done properly, and deliberately left vauge for sequals/dlc. When people are offering devs money after the devs screwed them over, it tells me its time to jump ship, becuase things are going to get much worse.

We're in agreement. I seem to be more hopeful than you are, though.

Dishonored, save me!

But yeah... ME3 getting paid-for ending DLC would be really demoralising. Like, I-weep-for-this-planet demoralising.

[Steve Smith]

But yeah... ME3 getting paid-for ending DLC would be really demoralising. Like, I-weep-for-this-planet demoralising.

I argee, I've never been adverse to buying more DLC; it's more content for a game I presumably want to keep playing, even if it is like the Day One DLC (which was a [censored] move actually but whatever, you got to pay for it if you want it).

But DLCing the ending, that's just cheap and a massive [censored] move, you just don't do that; especially not for such a long epic like Mass Effect.

[Jennifer Munroe]

We've made the http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-17444719. Haven't had time to actually read the article yet, but huzzah for me. We've some so far from being some upstart little rebel scum. Hold the line.

[Irmacuba]

I argee, I've never been adverse to buying more DLC; it's more content for a game I presumably want to keep playing, even if it is like the Day One DLC (which was a [censored] move actually but whatever, you got to pay for it if you want it).

But DLCing the ending, that's just cheap and a massive [censored] move, you just don't do that; especially not for such a long epic like Mass Effect.

Very much a punch in the quads.

Mac Walters is like Kevin Smith; they write excellent dialogue, but where Smith can write a complete story Walters just circled the drain and torched the franchise. I don't know what was more jarring, the realization that came over me as the credits rolled or the dramatic change in quality at the end.

Now I am hoping for Bethesda to visit the sci-fi genre with a open world(s) RPG and show them how its done.

I mean we already have fantasy and post-apocalyptic...

[Nikki Morse]

Now I am hoping for Bethesda to visit the sci-fi genre with a open world(s) RPG and show them how its done.

I'm not quite sure that Bethesda will show them how it's done there: their speciality is open worlds that make exploring a lot of fun, customisation and so on, but interesting characters and strong stories aren't quite their forte. That said, I don't think I've known Bethesda do anything as dreadful as the ME3 ending: the worst transgressions I can really think of is that they can tend to be a bit dull, but not the train wreck we've seen here.

[Danii Brown]

I'm not quite sure that Bethesda will show them how it's done there: their speciality is open worlds that make exploring a lot of fun, customisation and so on, but interesting characters and strong stories aren't quite their forte. That said, I don't think I've known Bethesda do anything as dreadful as the ME3 ending: the worst transgressions I can really think of is that they can tend to be a bit dull, but not the train wreck we've seen here.

I would say that Bethesda's admittance of having they put fun and exploration immediately before canon and lore is a serious crime, particuarly when it wasn't their series. Consiously bending someone else's work to suit your forte in total disregard of the rest of the series is a serious crime.

[Roisan Sweeney]

I would say that Bethesda's admittance of having they put fun and exploration immediately before canon and lore is a serious crime, particuarly when it wasn't their series. Consiously bending someone else's work to suit your forte in total disregard of the rest of the series is a serious crime.

I guess I'd have a different opinion if I'd played the original Fallouts. As it is, I liked FO3 as its own thing, but I dare say I'd be less impressed if I already had some history with the series. I'll admit that they succeeded in making something that's unappealing appeal to me which is a common gripe when it comes to attracting new players. I guess it's about striking a balance; I'm not as vehement as some about the gameplay mechanics changing throughout the Mass Effect series, for example, but my main gripe about the ending is that it's just nonsensical: even as a newcomer I'd find that irritating.

Edit: that's a bit stream-of-consciousness and I'm too tired to rewrite it, hopefully it actually makes sense. Maybe the ending's unique flavour of logic has affected me.

[Mashystar]

I guess I'd have a different opinion if I'd played the original Fallouts. As it is, I liked FO3 as its own thing, but I dare say I'd be less impressed if I already had some history with the series. I'll admit that they succeeded in making something that's unappealing appeal to me which is a common gripe when it comes to attracting new players. I guess it's about striking a balance; I'm not as vehement as some about the gameplay mechanics changing throughout the Mass Effect series, for example, but my main gripe about the ending is that it's just nonsensical: even as a newcomer I'd find that irritating.

Edit: that's a bit stream-of-consciousness and I'm too tired to rewrite it, hopefully it actually makes sense. Maybe the ending's unique flavour of logic has affected me.

Yeah I get that, to be fair I'd never heard about Fallout until 3 and I caught up on the series before it came out. You just notice things, Todd Howard said that the reason why D.C. was so structurally in-tact is because "playing in a total ruin wouldn't be fun", creates this complete diachotomy with the rest of the series (where L.A. has become known as the "Boneyard" because all that remains are twisted girders mostly) and just down-right stupid moments like having buildingshttp://images.wikia.com/fallout/images/2/21/Pennsylvania_Avenue.jpg Mass Effect did the same kind of thing with the whole "termal-clips" thing to give guns in Mass Effect traditional ammo counters too I guess but at least they gave an explaination, unlike the above.

[QuinDINGDONGcey]

uh, I haven't played any of the mass effect games, but surely comparing the ending of the series to the holocaust is going a little overboard? okay, the ending is terrible (from what I've read), why not move on then? I don't understand all the hate.

I will tell you why. [SPOILERS]
Because it's not just a bad ending,but it ends in such a way that makes everything the player had accomplished in all 3 games of the trilogy to be useless.
What made the series different and special was the promise that the game's world would dynamically change according the player's decisions,and the fact that you would get to see the outcome of your own decisions was its main fun factor and selling point.
In the end of ME1 you would get a save that you could import in ME2 so not only the looks and class of your character,but also your decisions would carry to the next game.One of those decisions was to decide between freeing the last living member of an almost extinct race from its cell,or killing it and thus be the reason the race was extinct.All those important decisions would be imported to the next game,where you would see how they turn out.
Mass Effect 3 failed to properly deliver this promise,because in the end you don't get closure.You don't get to know what happened to people,organizations,planets,and whole races because of your decisions.And if that wasn't enough,in the end the game shows you things happening like the destruction of the relays,that you never decided,and have grave impact on the game's world.
In the end what happens is so bad that you get to wander if it actually worthed it beating the reapers all along or not,because to destroy them,you have to kill maybe more lives than the reapers themselves would have ended.The player is just forced to see that he commits genocide to the whole galaxy,and also destroying all ways the various races of the galaxy could have to rebuild the Inter-Galactic civilization,so every races gets essentially banned from space travel,inflicting so much damage the Reapers would never do.
And if all this "your actions to destroy the reapers had more devastating effect than the reapers themselves" that is forced to the player the last 10 minutes of the game without any context or warning wasn't enough,in the end it shows you that all the accomplishments of the protagonist turn to a fairy tale that grandpas tell to the children like the Little Red Riding Hood,instead of being recognized as actual historic events,which makes all the sacrifices done which where huge,not justice at all.

That doesn't only makes ME3 to end bad.It makes it so any motives the player could have to replay through the trilogy are gone.
ME3's ending had an effect to the other games of the franchise too,in ME1 and ME2,because now you know that no matter what you do in these games,it is all futile and pointless.