Mass Effect 3 Walkthrough Part 89: The End

When you are able to stand up, walk down the narrow hallway flanked on both sides by gruesome piles of corpses. Anderson will stay in radio contact with you as you limp your way closer to the center of the Citadel. Anderson will speak of a bridge. As you walk farther ahead, you will see the bridge at the top of a large slope. Cross the bridge to find Anderson at the central controls of the Citadel. As you step out to greet him, a disfigured Illusive Man will join you.

Needless to say, HEAVY SPOILERS FOLLOW.

In the conversation that follows, the Illusive Man will insist that he was right for trying to control the Reapers, even as their influence eats away at his flesh. Players who watched all of the video journals during the Priority: Cerberus Headquarters quest will recall that the Illusive Man had himself injected with Reaper traits, just like his soldiers, only stronger. Clearly, his body is now losing the battle against the Reaper influence, although he doesn’t seem to realize this. He will argue that the only way to stop the Reapers is by controlling them, and he will manipulate you and Anderson to keep you from attacking him. The only way out of this situation is by talking it out.

If you attempted to persuade the Illusive Man to abandon his cause during the Priority: Thessia mission and the Priority: Cerberus Headquarters mission, and again during the Priority: Mars mission, you will be able to get out of this situation in the best way. Simply use either the Paragon or Renegade persuasion option on the left of the dialogue wheel. When the Illusive Man insists that he is correct, use persuade again to try to convince him that he has been indoctrinated by the Reapers. When persuasion comes up for a third time, use it again. This still will not be enough to convince the Illusive Man, who has been indoctrinated heavily. If you used the three persuasion options during this conversation, and you tried to persuade the Illusive Man with either the Paragon or Renegade options during the Mars, Thessia, and Cerberus Headquarters missions, a fourth persuade option will appear. Select this one to finally, briefly convince the Illusive Man of his indoctrination and make him kill himself. If you don’t take the persuasion options, the ending will be a little messier.

Now that the Illusive Man is dead, it is time to deal with the Reapers. Shepard will limp over to the console and activate it, opening the Citadel for the Crucible, and take a seat next to Anderson. It seems as if all has ended well, but at the last second Hackett will report that the Crucible is not firing. Shepard will crawl, bloodied and broken, to the console again, but will not have the strength to examine it further. Luckily, this will activate something in the panel in the floor, which will rise like an elevator and deliver Shepard to a secret compartment of the Citadel.

This is where things get… interesting. Speaking to the ethereal image of the little boy who died on Earth, you will learn of the Reapers’ true purpose. From here, you have a decision to make; you can either try to control the Reapers yourself, as the Illusive Man tried and failed to do, or you can destroy the Reapers along with every other synthetic in the galaxy, yourself included (remember, Shepard is primarily composed of synthetic organs after Cerberus operated on him/her in Mass Effect 2.) The choices here won’t be so cut and dry as they seem, however, and you may end up going into one ending expecting to save Earth only to see it decimated seconds later because your War Assets number simply isn’t high enough. Below is a breakdown of the War Assets you will need to get each of the various ending variations.

If you destroyed the Collector base in Mass Effect 2:

·         If you have under 1,750 Readiness points, Earth will be destroyed no matter what. This is pretty avoidable, since you would basically have to do nothing to have a rating so low.

·         If you have between 1,750 and 1,900 Readiness points, you can control the Reapers, but Earth will be destroyed, or you can destroy the Reapers, which will send a wave of fire over Earth, rendering it all but dead.

·         If you have over 2,350 Readiness points, you can control the Reapers and Earth will be spared.

·         If you have over 2,650 Readiness points, you can save the Earth by destroying the Reapers.

·         If you have at least 2,800 Readiness points, you can save the galaxy by creating unity between the organics and the synthetics, basically turning everyone into a combination of organic and synthetic (like Shepard is now.)

·         If you have at least 4,000 Readiness points and Anderson was spared, Shepard can actually survive the decision to destroy the Reapers.

·         If you have at least 5,000 Readiness points and Anderson was not spared, Shepard will still live through the decision to destroy the Reapers.

 

If you saved the Collector base in Mass Effect 2:

·         Again, if you only have 1,750 points, Earth is doomed.

·         At over 1,750 Readiness points, if you destroy the Reapers, Earth will be destroyed along with them.

·         If you have at least 2,050 Readiness points, you can control the Reapers to spare the Earth.

·         If you have at least 2,350 Readiness points, you can destroy the Reapers and a wave of fire will wash over the planet, rendering it charred but not quite dead.

·         If you have at least 2,650 Readiness points, you can destroy the Reapers and save the Earth.

·         If you have at least 2,800 Readiness points, you can unite the synthetics and the organics to save the galaxy.

·         If you have at least 4,000 Readiness points and Anderson was spared, you can destroy the Reapers and Shepard will live.

·         If you have at least 5,000 Readiness points and Anderson was not spared, Shepard will still live through the decision to destroy the Reapers.

No matter which ending you choose or how many Readiness Points you had, this will be the final section of Mass Effect 3. Congratulations on beating the campaign! Now it’s time to dedicate some serious time to the equally fun multiplayer component.