[quote]I chose synthesis because it seemed to be the 'best' since [b]it screws less people over[/b].[/quote] [i]What?[/i] The very principle of removing the right everybody has to self-determination by forcefully implanting them with 'Shepard magic' and rewriting the genetic code of all organic and synthetic beings is... repulsive, and the premise of that alone screws everybody over. Further to that, it makes [i]no sense[/i]. So here's what the Catalyst tells us when we ask how Synthesis will work: [quote][i]"Your organic energy, the essence of who and what you are will be broken down and dispersed."[/i][/quote] Wait a minute, how do you alter the DNA of every living organic being in the galaxy to instantly turn them into half-robots using the power of Shepard's "organic energy", whatever that is, and vice-versa with synthetics? [quote][i]"Synthesis is the final evolution of all life."[/i][/quote] What does this even mean? What about Mass Effect 2 where Harbinger says: [quote][i]"Evolution cannot be halted, progress cannot be stopped."[/i][/quote] With this in mind, how can there be a final stage of evolution? Harbinger states that evolution is a never-ending road we're constantly going down but the Catalyst sure throws that out of the window. And, if both organics and synthetics used to evolve, why don't the organic-synthetic hybrids too? And you can't finalize the evolution of all life, and even if you could, doesn't saying that synthesizing everyone was the final step in their evolution directly contradict what EDI says later in the epilogue? [quote][i]"We may transcend mortality itself to reach a level of existence I cannot even imagine."[/i][/quote] How can she not imagine a level of existence she's already supposed to be at? Synthesis is the FINAL evolution of life, how can they transcend that and why is she implying that they haven't actually reached it yet? Organics become immortalised by being pumped into paste and fed into a Reaper shell, Sovereign says that the Reapers are "the pinnacle of evolution and existence", so is this transcendence of mortality going to be achieved by turning everybody into Reapers? Furthermore... [quote][i]"I am alive."[/i][/quote] OK, sure you are EDI, we've known that one for a while now. Oh, you mean [i]now[/i] you're alive? As in, the entire point made by ME2 and 3 about synthetics being just as valid-a-form of life as organics was what, bollocks? Didn't you say you were alive back when we were saying goodbye on Earth? Oh, that's right, you did: [quote][i]"Jeff was the one who allowed me to think for myself. But only now do I feel alive."[/i][/quote] So what is it with this implication that you needed to become partly organic in order to become a... 'real girl'? Next she says this sentence: [quote][i]"As a galaxy, we can now live the lives we have wished for, taking our first steps into a new and wonderful future, where organics and synthetics can coexist peacefully."[/i][/quote] Ok, how exactly can "organics and synthetics" coexist in any way when there are no actual organics or synthetics anymore? The whole point of Synthesis is that it does away with this barrier and EDI even says later that the lines between organics and synthetics has gone - so what was the point of this piece of dialogue? But more importantly, the implication that the only possible way you accomplish lasting peaceful coexistence between two different groups is by making them more like each other (without their consent no less!) is a beyond fcked up idea that has brought us so much pain and all kinds of pure horror throughout history that I have many, many issues with it being presented so lightly here. [quote][i]"As a galaxy, we can now live the lives we have wished for."[/i][/quote] What galaxy are you talking about there EDI, 'cause it sure as hell isn't the one I've just spent 3 games in. No one wished for that. If you went around the galaxy asking people, from turians to asari, how they'd feel about being transformed into some half-organic-half-synthetic form of life without their consent, I pretty guarantee you that the great majority of them, if not all of them, would be strongly against the idea. How many people were happy with the way they were? How many of them had religious or philosophical beliefs that'd make them consider being something like this abomination? How many of them would say they'd rather die than become some organic-synthetic hybrid? Mordin in ME2 on Collectors becoming organic/synthetic hybrids: [quote][i]"No soul - replaced by tech!"[/i][/quote] I'd imagine that most people agree with the following statement: [i]"My body is my own and no one else has the right to alter it without my permission."[/i] Who appointed Shepard to make a very personal choice for the entire galaxy? Oh yeah, that guy who rules over the Reapers who, for some reason, refuses to call them off while he directs Shepard to choose between 3 terrible options. How can any one person, who permanently alters every species without their consent, be anything other than a monster? It's practically no different to what the Reapers, Collectors and Cerberus have been doing but on a [i]galactic[/i] scale. Hell, this is exactly what we were trying to stop Saren from doing in ME1. tl;dr - Synthesis is fcking bullshit.

Did you play it with the extended cut?

Yes, I did.