4 ms·

That's not true. I never played multiplayer and got the best ending. I believe you need most (all?) of your crew alive, among other things, but it's absolutel

by zzalpha 10y ago

That's not true. I never played multiplayer and got the best ending. I believe you need most (all?) of your crew alive, among other things, but it's absolutely doable (I did it by accident... I just assumed that was the proper ending... and honestly, wasn't really a fan :S).

caconym_ 10y ago
> Keep most of your crew alive through the three games and you can do it I did that. I just Googled it and the general opinion seems to be that in the original release with no DLC, no multiplayer, and no messing around with phone apps (?) it was at best extremely difficult to do (scan every single planet, that sort of thing) and at worst impossible. People seem to disagree on the exact degree of impossibility, but it seems that some early DLC brought the threshold down into a more reasonable range. I guess my mistake was being so excited to play it that I finished it before they "fixed" the ending.
- zzalpha 10y ago
  Honestly I never bought any DLC for my first run through either. Maybe my completionist tendencies and 100% paragon with no crew deaths meant I got lucky...
  - AdeptusAquinas 10y ago
    I wasn't 100% paragon, but like you had all crew alive and no dlc or multi-player. Still surprises me that people didn't get the best ending - i thought it was the default. Unlike most, I also enjoyed it quite a bit.
    - deleted 10y ago
      [deleted]
    - dogma1138 10y ago
      What did you chose at the end? The best ending is only if you chose destroy iirc.
      - AdeptusAquinas 10y ago
        I chose control. Destroy made no sense due to allying with the Geth and the Qunari, not to mention your robot companion, but also, it seemed as silly as the merge option - both seemed to be 'magic', unreal, whereas the control option seemed at least possible. People only say the destroy ending was the best because Shepard seems to live at the end. But, for me, the beginning and entire content of ME3 said 'Shepard dies': it feels odd for him/her to live. And I think this is ultimately why the game is so polarising: some people saw the game as being a chance for Shepard to finally 'win', whereas I and others expected (and got) a bittersweet ending.
enraged_camel 10y ago
Getting the best ending without playing multiplayer was possible, but you had to do every single thing perfectly - which the overwhelming majority of players won't do due to the nature of the game.
- klodolph 10y ago
  The green ending is not that hard without multiplayer---it's having Shepard survive that wasn't possible, and this is what was changed with the DLC.
  - dogma1138 10y ago
    The green ending isn't the best it was control I think Shepard surviving was tied to destroy which is why you see the smoldering armor move at the end.
klodolph 10y ago
To clear things up: Effective Military Strength = War Assets (single player) x Readiness Rating (multiplayer). Maximum War Assets is ~7500, so with no multiplayer, you get ~3750 EMS. Former squadmates aren't worth much, like 25-50 War Assets each. Current squadmates are worth zero, but they can help in other ways (Rannoch). Kaidan/Ashley are only worth points if they don't join your squad. Garrus doesn't affect War Assets at all, and Wrex is actually worth more dead than alive. Endings are unlocked by having a higher EMS score. The red ending requires no EMS, blue requires 1750, and green needs 2800. So if you are shooting for the green ending you can do it in single player no problem. However, EMS also affects some of the details of what happens in each ending: whether your squadmates survive, whether the Normandy is destroyed, what happens to the Earth... and whether Shepard lives. Shepard lives if you pick the red ending and have 4000 EMS, which is not possible with single player, until the Extended Cut DLC lowered the requirement to 3100 EMS. This is what people were talking about, besides the fact that the ending is just awful in other ways.

by zzalpha 10y ago

caconym_ 10y ago

> Keep most of your crew alive through the three games and you can do it I did that. I just Googled it and the general opinion seems to be that in the original release with no DLC, no multiplayer, and no messing around with phone apps (?) it was at best extremely difficult to do (scan every single planet, that sort of thing) and at worst impossible. People seem to disagree on the exact degree of impossibility, but it seems that some early DLC brought the threshold down into a more reasonable range. I guess my mistake was being so excited to play it that I finished it before they "fixed" the ending.

zzalpha 10y ago
Honestly I never bought any DLC for my first run through either. Maybe my completionist tendencies and 100% paragon with no crew deaths meant I got lucky...
- AdeptusAquinas 10y ago
  I wasn't 100% paragon, but like you had all crew alive and no dlc or multi-player. Still surprises me that people didn't get the best ending - i thought it was the default. Unlike most, I also enjoyed it quite a bit.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
  - dogma1138 10y ago
    What did you chose at the end? The best ending is only if you chose destroy iirc.
    - AdeptusAquinas 10y ago
      I chose control. Destroy made no sense due to allying with the Geth and the Qunari, not to mention your robot companion, but also, it seemed as silly as the merge option - both seemed to be 'magic', unreal, whereas the control option seemed at least possible. People only say the destroy ending was the best because Shepard seems to live at the end. But, for me, the beginning and entire content of ME3 said 'Shepard dies': it feels odd for him/her to live. And I think this is ultimately why the game is so polarising: some people saw the game as being a chance for Shepard to finally 'win', whereas I and others expected (and got) a bittersweet ending.

enraged_camel 10y ago

Getting the best ending without playing multiplayer was possible, but you had to do every single thing perfectly - which the overwhelming majority of players won't do due to the nature of the game.

klodolph 10y ago
The green ending is not that hard without multiplayer---it's having Shepard survive that wasn't possible, and this is what was changed with the DLC.
- dogma1138 10y ago
  The green ending isn't the best it was control I think Shepard surviving was tied to destroy which is why you see the smoldering armor move at the end.

klodolph 10y ago

To clear things up: Effective Military Strength = War Assets (single player) x Readiness Rating (multiplayer). Maximum War Assets is ~7500, so with no multiplayer, you get ~3750 EMS. Former squadmates aren't worth much, like 25-50 War Assets each. Current squadmates are worth zero, but they can help in other ways (Rannoch). Kaidan/Ashley are only worth points if they don't join your squad. Garrus doesn't affect War Assets at all, and Wrex is actually worth more dead than alive. Endings are unlocked by having a higher EMS score. The red ending requires no EMS, blue requires 1750, and green needs 2800. So if you are shooting for the green ending you can do it in single player no problem. However, EMS also affects some of the details of what happens in each ending: whether your squadmates survive, whether the Normandy is destroyed, what happens to the Earth... and whether Shepard lives. Shepard lives if you pick the red ending and have 4000 EMS, which is not possible with single player, until the Extended Cut DLC lowered the requirement to 3100 EMS. This is what people were talking about, besides the fact that the ending is just awful in other ways.