"Furthermore, if the endings as they stand are fake, then the resulting vitriol regarding them may well have been planned. Think about that one for a minute — BioWare might have manipulated us into hating the ending of the game. In essence, BioWare would have indoctrinated just about every Mass Effect player into thinking, like Shepard, that the events as they stand are what happened, when that assumption is actually untrue. It wasn’t just Shepard, a cartoon you control, who was indoctrinated — you were indoctrinated, forced to make the Reapers’ choices just as he was, whether you wanted to or not. Your video game would have basically brainwashed you. Welcome to the only possible situation in which that would be simply awesome."

There’s a larger consideration at hand, however, when it comes to believing that there might be another ending: the true “best” ending is not on the Mass Effect 3 disc. That would mean that for what is basically the first time ever, a completed video game did not feature a completed ending, and in fact it had to be downloaded later. Congratulations, you bought a game with a big chunk missing.

If you were then to be charged for that DLC, it would mean that you bought a game and had to purchase its ending separately. If you’re annoyed by Day One DLC now, then the implications of a purchaseable ending are staggering and horrifying. Imagine Day One Ending DLC.

[…] although in a way a DLC ending dates Mass Effect 3 and further contributes control over you and your ability to play the game to the publisher. If you thought an online code for multiplayer was annoying, imagine an online code to see the ending of the game you bought — that’s kind of what could be happening here.

Yeah while part of me would be annoyed at the cynnical plan to use a fake-out ending to gaurantee interest in expansion/DLC… the fact that it worked and that I was mostly tricked would almost make it worth it. The thing is, if the endings as they are now were immediately followed by the opportunity to acheive a real ending post-hallucination it actually wouldn't be as effective of a fake-out. So if that does turn out to be the case then, as annoyed as I would be at having to pay more to actually get a resolution, I would also be sufficiently impressed with how well they did it to probably cough up a few more bucks.

I'm thinking there really is a strong logical basis for this in the evidence they go through. Explains a lot of otherwise unexplainable stuff. Indeed one of the strongest arguments for, IMO, is that the ending just doesn't make sense in so many different ways. Player should have picked up on it; Shep should have picked up on it…. And if BW does the reveal just right, either without charging, or as part of dlc otherwise very much worth the asking price, its possible they could pull it off… free dlc would seem the best choice.

I really doubt they planned it that way, but they might have been smart enough to leave some way to wiggle out of the ending in case of huge outcry. Which happened, so maybe they go away, say it was always their plan and release a DLC. If it's free, I'd even play and I expect I would enjoy it a lot more than current ending. No way I would buy it, but sadly many people would, which baffles me, really. I man, giving money to people that already pulled something like that? Even worse if it was planned, selling you a game lacking an ending is so bad, that if it's no illegal, it should be, as it is simply a scam.

…sacrafice, a glimmer of hope and un-answered questions