[synaesthetic]

Oh yeah the cut minute of Anderson's dialogue. I don't know why that was pulled out. It would have made the shit-terrible endings slightly less shit-terrible.

Spoiler for ending:

I would have been perfectly okay if they would have just skipped from the end of the full Anderson and Shepard conversation (including the minute of cut dialogue) to the Crucible firing and blasting the Reapers, converting the mass relays into weapons (WITHOUT DESTROYING THEM) and generally ruining their shit. Then a montage of in-engine cutscenes showing the beleaguered defenders on Earth, Rannoch, Thessia, Tuchanka, Sur'kesh and Palaven cheering, mourning, tending to the dead and wounded as the Reapers keel over dead.

Cut the Blue God Kid completely out, and leave the true motivations of the Reapers a mystery. A big part of what makes a Cosmic Horror scary as fuck is that we don't and can't understand their motivations. Explaining the Reapers, even if the explanation is well-written (which it wasn't) would seriously impact how scary they are.

Then, after the Crucible blasts the fuck out of a mess of Robo-Cthulhus, we'd get some title cards with Admiral Hackett narrating that give us the "where they are now" epilogue bit like at the end of Dragon Age Origins showing us the results of our choices, and the near-future fates of various races and major characters in the series. Then cut to credits.

In place of the incredibly cliche "The Shepard" after-credits scene, there should be one of two scenes, depending on if Shepard dies (low EMS, the Crucible blows up after being crashed into by an exploding Reaper) or survives (high EMS, the exploding Reaper is already dead before the Crucible fires, so the Crucible itself doesn't explode and Shepard lives).

The "Shepard survives" scene should show a short, dialogue-less cutscene of a very haggard and banged-up Shepard and her love interest (if applicable) or Joker standing next to Admiral Hackett at Anderson's funeral, all looking very stoic and badass and perhaps shedding a manly tear of GARness.

The "Shepard dies" scene should show a short, dialogue-less cutscene of Shepard's love interest (if applicable) or Joker standing next to Admiral Hackett at Shepard's funeral, all looking very stoic and badass and perhaps shedding a manly tear of GARness.

Oh, and of course, if the EMS is so low there's no hope, the entire ending should be replaced by the Reapers destroying the Crucible before it can fire, and the ending shows a short cutscene of the Reapers descending upon Earth with renewed force, giving us our "Bad End" where the Reapers win. Obviously, this ending would have only one title card, stating that the cycle of extinction continues, and would have no funeral after-credits scene.

I would have been satisfied with that ending. More than satisfied--pumped. Thrilled. Willing to give Bioware lots of money for DLC and future releases.