Chapter 16: Citadel – The Return
The finale – the epic conclusion of Mass Effect 3, and the awesome trilogy.
The Endings
The three Mass Effect 3 ending choices are ordered by what I consider from best to worst: from everyone surviving with the most free will to the least freedom. It turns out the “perfect ending” is Ending 4, which is the only ending where Shepard survives.
Ending 1: Synthesis
Take the middle path straight ahead.
The final evolution of life – Synthesis of organic and synthetic life. The cycle ends. Commander Shepard has become a legend by ending the Reaper threat.
Ending 2: Destroy
Take the right-side path.
Ending 3: Control
Take the left-side path.
Ending 4: Perfect Ending
This “perfect ending” happens if you choose the “Destroy” ending and manage to get a “perfect game” by upping your Effective Military Strength to over 5,000. Then after the ending sequence keep watching, as you wake up on the battlefield after the Reaper laser hit you full-on.
Important ending note: After BioWare said they are working on an alternate ending DLC, I changed my mind that the 3 choice endings may not be the actual endings yet. Which is why they feel so unsatisfactory to most people because the story isn’t properly finished. — My favorite theory about these 3 ending choices is that the only true ending is the “Destroy” ending, where you destroy the Reapers, and then only if you managed to get the “perfect ending” Ending 4 where Shepard lives, which is still an open ending. The other endings are actually Shepard being indoctrinated in a dream/nightmare!!
Don’t believe me? Watch this awesome 20-minute video that explains it in great detail…
How To Get The Perfect Ending
A BioWare Mass Effect Franchise manager has recommended the best way to get the perfect ending in Mass Effect 3. This is mainly because there was some confusion how to get the perfect ending by only playing the single-player story campaign.
The short of it: According to BioWare you don’t have to play Galaxy At War multiplayer to get the best single-player endings. The “Effective Military Strength” can be your only measurement for success. As it can be maximized by collecting War Assets alone (namely: weapons, people, armies & fleets), even if your Galactic Readiness is 50%.
Update: After this BioWare statement it became clear an “Effective Military Strength” of over 5,000 is the only way to get the perfect ending. Thus they were wrong, and you DO have to play Galaxy At War until you reach 100% “Galactic Readiness”. If you leave it at 50% by not going online, and still get everything else, then you’re left at only 3,500 “Effective Military Strength”.
The long version: If you don’t play multiplayer or the iOS games (Mass Effect Datapad & Mass Effect 3: Infiltrator) your “Galactic Readiness” stays at 50% instead of going up to 100% by playing the Galaxy At War multiplayer.
The ending(s) are determined by your “Effective Military Strength” (EMS) bar. Focus on that bar, because it’s your indicator of how well you will do in the end-game final battle. Get that bar over 5,000 to get the Perfect Ending, just remember to keep watching the game until after the ending sequence to get the REAL ENDING. You can also view it above as “Ending 4: Perfect Ending”.
You can maximize your EMS just by collecting War Assets in the single-player game from finding collectibles after scanning planets (although not too often in a row or the Reapers will find you). There is a certain threshhold of these you would need to exceed, And although BioWare didn’t specify, there are more of these EMS boosting items/missions to be gathered in the single-player campaign than is required.
“Galactic Readiness” can improve by playing multiplayer. So if you play a lot of multiplayer, you will need less War Assets from single-player to fill up your EMS bar, so it will balance out the requirements to account for you playing in both modes. (But the single-player game play does not change that bar the other way around.) But again, it’s suggested you max everything out and if you don’t want to do that, then you can always watch the perfect ending video in the indoctrination theory video above.
Big thanks to XCV for the walkthrough videos.
Do you need help anywhere? Or if you just want to gush about how awesome the game is! Please don’t hesitate to comment in the section below.
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