'Mass Effect 3' Ending: 'I Have Nothing To Do With The Ending,' BioWare Writer Says, Reveals Secrets Behind Game's Conclusion

BioWare writer Patrick Weekes, known as Takyris in the Penny Arcade forums, may have published a post claiming that the Mass Effect finale was written by Casey Hudson and Mac Walters, without any input from the rest of the team.

However, since then the post has been deleted, and others quoting the text have been edited to remove Weekes' words.  BioWare's community coordinator Chris Priestly said that after contacting Weekes, he's deemed the post as fake, but nothing has been confirmed.

Contrastingly, the questionable text did contain insider knowledge to the Mass Effect development process. GameRanx also wrote that a trusted firsthand source indicated that the text originated with Takyris' account.

The post, which GameRanx reproduced in full, offered a breakdown of the relevant themes throughout the series, the fate of Earth and its relation to the player's score, and details about what he thinks it takes to make a successful ending to Mass Effect.

He also elaborated on his involvement in the series' conclusion:

I have nothing to do with the ending beyond a) having argued successfully a long time ago that we needed a chance to say goodbye to our squad, b) having argued successfully that Cortez shouldn't automatically die in that shuttle crash, and c) having written Tali's goodbye bit, as well as a couple of the holo-goodbyes for people I wrote (Mordin, Kasumi, Jack, etc.).

Weekes then delved a little further into how the ending was created.

No other writer did, either, except for our lead. This was entirely the work of our lead and Casey himself, sitting in a room and going through drat after draft. And honestly, it kind of shows.

BioWare announced on March 21st that the studio will be working on different forms of game content to appease the throngs of irritated fans, according to the developer's official blog. In short, this means that players may get the new ending that they have been so adamantly campaigning for.

You'll hear more on this in April, Co-founder of BioWare Dr. Ray Muzyka said in an open letter on the game's official blog, referring to upcoming game content initiatives.

With theories and explanations floating around the Internet, including the indoctrination theory that has seemed to pick up some popularity, it is unclear how the Mass Effect trilogy was meant to end. But for Weekes, it should be about encapsulating what the series stands for.

I just expected it to be for something with more obvious differentiation, and a stronger tie to the core themes-all three of them, he allegedly wrote in the questionable post.