Discussion History YMMV / MassEffect3

However: \\\'\\\'\\\"I cannot see why Synthesis is any more \\\"magical\\\" than the Prothean Cipher, the rachni song, or many other elements in the story.\\\"\\\'\\\' Because it\\\'s described as \\\"the next stage of evolution\\\", which is ludicrous - evolution doesn\\\'t \\\'\\\'have\\\'\\\' stages, or even an ultimate goal. And until those last ten minutes, the \\\"hybridization\\\" of organic and synthetic in regards to Shepard has explicitly been an organic with machine bits tacked on: if he/she has kids, they won\\\'t be born as cyborgs. Yes, there are the Reapers, whose shells are at least made of liquified organics, but even then they\\\'re still software housed in a platform. New Reaper forms aren\\\'t born. They need to be \\\'\\\'built\\\'\\\'. At a glance, Synthesis is described as some weird Lamarckian deal with notions of machine dna and, if Joker and EDI getting all cuddly is to be taken at face value, honest-to-god reproduction. Without once getting into \\\'\\\'how\\\'\\\', or the potential implications thereof.

So yes, most of my personal dislike of Synthesis comes from a reasonably hard science SciFi universe suddenly having its golden ending hinging on the handwaving of some hardcore biology!fail.

I will cheerfully acknowledge your case for WriterOnBoard as being the more objective, and would like to boil my case down thusly: Synthesis is an example of WriterOnBoard, because all the other endings have their flaws clearly outlined (YMMV on whether it\\\'s a not-so-subtle attempt to steer you away from them), whereas Synthesis is presented as all positive without once outlining the potential issues.

However: \\\'\\\'\\\"I cannot see why Synthesis is any more \\\"magical\\\" than the Prothean Cipher, the rachni song, or many other elements in the story.\\\"\\\'\\\' Because it\\\'s described as \\\"the next stage of evolution\\\", which is ludicrous - evolution doesn\\\'t \\\'\\\'have\\\'\\\' stages, or even an ultimate goal. And until those last ten minutes, the \\\"hybridization\\\" of organic and synthetic in regards to Shepard has explicitly been an organic with machine bits tacked on. Yes, there are the Reapers, whose shells are at least made of liquified organics, but even then they\\\'re still software housed in a platform. New Reaper forms aren\\\'t born. They need to be \\\'\\\'built\\\'\\\'. At a glance, Synthesis is described as some weird Lamarckian deal with notions of machine dna and, if Joker and EDI getting all cuddly is to be taken at face value, honest-to-god reproduction. Without once getting into \\\'\\\'how\\\'\\\', or the potential implications thereof.

So yes, most of my personal dislike of Synthesis comes from a reasonably hard science SciFi universe suddenly having its golden ending hinging on the handwaving of some hardcore biology!fail.

I will cheerfully acknowledge your case for WriterOnBoard as being the more objective, and would like to boil my case down thusly: Synthesis is an example of WriterOnBoard, because all the other endings have their flaws clearly outlined (YMMV on whether it\\\'s a not-so-subtle attempt to steer you away from them), whereas Synthesis is presented as all positive without once outlining the potential issues.