We can probably discuss the endings without being jerks about it if we try

[Talbot]

Spoilers, I guess, and even if there weren't there will be in the comments.

Love the ending discourse. Hate the insults and condescension it invariably devolves into (and if you think it's only coming from one side you're not paying attention).

I understand that there are legit opinions, including at least one of mine, that can easily come off that way without meaning to, but there's a difference between that and just rage-baiting "cope and seethe/Verso is a sociopath and if you like him you're pro-genocide/Maelle fans are delusional/Fans of the ending I don't like are children" etc. That last one is especially rich because it's usually coming from people (again, on both sides) who somewhere else in that thread will claim that anyone who disagrees with them is just not mature enough without really clocking the irony inherent to claiming maturity while insulting people on the internet for liking a videogame wrong.

Like... why? I know, I know, I'm shouting into the wind here on the Steam Forums of all places, but this is a game that actually lends itself to really interesting and engaging discussion and the people who are either trying to "win" the argument about a very open to interpretation game or just troll their perceived enemies are making those discussions less fun to have.

[Saelin]

Indeed. If the game teaches us anything, it's that, no matter who you are, you can resolve any and all differences and problems through peaceful conversation without resorting to force or violence.

... Oh wait

[thorin.hannahs]

Sometimes it feels good to shout into the wind, shout away.

[palacentes]

Weird sign that the story is that good. People are getting really salty over it.

[Alice]

Originally posted by Talbot:

Spoilers, I guess, and even if there weren't there will be in the comments.

Love the ending discourse. Hate the insults and condescension it invariably devolves into (and if you think it's only coming from one side you're not paying attention).

I understand that there are legit opinions, including at least one of mine, that can easily come off that way without meaning to, but there's a difference between that and just rage-baiting "cope and seethe/Verso is a sociopath and if you like him you're pro-genocide/Maelle fans are delusional/Fans of the ending I don't like are children" etc. That last one is especially rich because it's usually coming from people (again, on both sides) who somewhere else in that thread will claim that anyone who disagrees with them is just not mature enough without really clocking the irony inherent to claiming maturity while insulting people on the internet for liking a videogame wrong.

Like... why? I know, I know, I'm shouting into the wind here on the Steam Forums of all places, but this is a game that actually lends itself to really interesting and engaging discussion and the people who are either trying to "win" the argument about a very open to interpretation game or just troll their perceived enemies are making those discussions less fun to have.

while people are capable of being a-holes on their own, the systems enveloping them do tend to drive behavior. Here, I suspect, that is due to both endings being selfishly deciding everyones/the other persons fate. The important thing about processing and grieving is that the person themselves decides when and how to relinquish the past. Supporting verso ending entails going through the route of "no, we have to decide for her, she's clearly deluded". Same with Maelle deciding for verso. Both endings include robbing others of choice. One is sorta highlighted by the game, too, so there's a lot of "it's over, maelle/verso, I have the high ground!" going on in the community.
So you have to act authocratically in the game, and you feel driven to promote your stance, especially because there's a price to pay in both sides so you have to explain to yourself why that was the good price.

It becomes the conflict of the players, basically. Whose values win. The "real life first, games are silly little things, pull yourself up, go process your pain with your toxic family" or "gotta jump in and spend the rest of my life with the last remnant of my brother without accepting the fact that he isn't even that much like the brother anymore and is a person of their own and just make him obey. Oh I guess he can age, so if he wants to die so much maybe in 90 years" - both of those requiring building internal justifications. Then it becomes a fight for moral superiority here. Not pretty.

I do dislike how the game hits us with a false dichotomy right at the end and nobody ever learns to communicate with each other in the plot. I think that's what it all stems from.

[AkumulatoR]

What's more to discuss? Everything has already been said in the other threads and all over the internets.

[Ralathar44]

Originally posted by palacentes:

Weird sign that the story is that good. People are getting really salty over it.

Mass Effect 3 had a great ending.

[manuealex]

#versodidnothingwrong

[Dust]

Originally posted by Ralathar44:

Originally posted by palacentes:

Weird sign that the story is that good. People are getting really salty over it.

Mass Effect 3 had a great ending.

Dilated pupils can mean you're staring at someone you deeply care about, or you just smoked a blunt. Signs don't have just one interpretation.

[Saelin]

Originally posted by Dust:

. Signs don't have just one interpretation.

Same with the ending. Which is all well and good, until someone says theirs is the only valid interpretation and everyone that disagrees is wrong because they lack the intelligence or maturity to see the world as they do.

[Weltall8000]

Family's complicated.

[Ralathar44]

Originally posted by Dust:

Originally posted by Ralathar44:

Mass Effect 3 had a great ending.

Dilated pupils can mean you're staring at someone you deeply care about, or you just smoked a blunt. Signs don't have just one interpretation.

I told that to the officer, he disagreed.

[Ralathar44]

I took pity on you and gave you some of the points you were farming for CrimsonRider :D lol.

[Crimsomrider]

Ruined my perfectly meaningful poetry with that stupid award

Anyway the point of it and this thread stands: some repeating the exact same cycle as the one in-game by endlessly arguing to a stalemate just like all the characters did. Which makes it ironic as the conflict then transcends its own story and moves onto the Steam forums.

Probably the greatest 4th wall storytelling ever.

[The Gray Fox]

Daily reminder: Renior and Clea did nothing wrong