Alright, after checking out the bioware forums I've become convinced that everything between being hit by the beam to my Shepard showing signs of survival post credits did not happen in reality.
There's a huge thread about this here:
http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/to...ndex/9727423/1
I'll post some highlights of why I found this theory so convincing despite not having major problems with the normally seen ending.
1.I didn't notice this originally because I was completely focusing on Shepard but they make it clear that his body is still on Earth at the end.
a)the rubble is concrete and rebar, not Citadel materials
b)there is the sound of wind blowing and the Citadel would lack wind.
c)The sky looks exactly like it did in London.
2.Everyone looks happy or in awe as they exit the Normandy, they wouldn't be if this was all real but a dying Shepard would want to see them safe, happy, and at peace.
3.Apparently you can have a critical mission failure while you're supposedly talking to the reaper controller. This occurs if you take too long to decide which of the three options to take and you get a message that the Citadel was destroyed. The Citadel that you're supposed to be inside, yet from what I've heard you still see your surroundings intact. I looked for a youtube of this but couldn't find one, I'm going to check it out in the morning on my first file but have to replay the final missions.
4.Harbinger flying off without finishing Shepard is definitely strange, so is a complete lack of reaper forces(besides TIM) on the Citadel.
5.The radio chatter that everyone's down yet Anderson and Shepard both supposedly make it to the Citadel. My first playthrough I was expecting a "Wait! Shepard just got up! He's moving towards the (whatever that light thing was... Conduit?)!" to come across, but if he's hearing the actual chatter in an unconscious state this suddenly makes sense as well.
There's a bit of a split between people that believe Shepard is having a near death(or death) experience and those that believe he's also being subjected to a heavy attempt at indoctrination.
Here's some that points to indoctrination that I think is going on, there's variations but my own personal opinion is that the reapers have been working towards indoctrinating Shepard for most of the game.
Mass effect codex on indoctrination:
"Reaper "indoctrination" is an insidious means of corrupting organic minds, "reprogramming" the brain through physical and psychological conditioning using electromagnetic fields, infrasonic and ultrasonic noise, and other subliminal methods. The Reaper's resulting control over the limbic system leaves the victim highly susceptible to its suggestions.
Organics undergoing indoctrination may complain of headaches and buzzing or ringing in their ears. As time passes, they have feelings of "being watched" and hallucinations of "ghostly" presences. Ultimately, the Reaper gains the ability to use the victim's body to amplify its signals, manifesting as "alien" voices in the mind.
Indoctrination can create perfect deep cover agents. A Reaper's "suggestions" can manipulate victims into betraying friends, trusting enemies, or viewing the Reaper itself with superstitious awe. Should a Reaper subvert a well-placed political or military leader, the resulting chaos can bring down nations.
Long-term physical effects of the manipulation are unsustainable, Higher mental functioning decays, ultimately leaving the victim a gibbering animal. Rapid indoctrination is possible, but causes this decay in days or weeks. Slow, patient indoctrination allows the thrall to last for months or years."
1.There's this buzzing growling noise that we hear at times early in the game, like at the end of the scene with the child(no I don't mean the loud reaper one). Personally, I don't think the kid's real at all. He's shown at the beginning playing with a Normandy model yet Commander Shepard is there, who he likely idolizes, and his reaction is to insist that Shepard can't save him and back away? Also, Shepard is the only one to ever react to the child's presence.
2.Vega also hears a high pitched sound that he complains about, seemed like a throwaway comment at the time but its been pointed out to me that the last one like this in Mass Effect was from Kaidan in ME1 on the Citadel, right when he's next to what we later learn is the Conduit. Every other person on the ship has been exposed to reapers before or been on the ship before, perhaps they've tuned it out as background noise at this point. My guess on what's causing this: the Reaper IFF that we installed in 2.
2.Whispers can be heard in both the scene with the illusive man and the Reaper controller(kid AI thing) There's also the black around the edges of the screen, both of these heavily featured in the dream sequences that Shepard had, in each dream they got more pronounced indicative of Shepard getting closer to being fully indoctrinated. It made me think of alien voices even on my first playthrough but I'd not looked at the codex entry at that point.
3.The way that Shepard doesn't question the choices presented to him and the way that it seems like the reaper controller is presented as highly advanced/god-like. Suddenly Shepard is both trusting the enemy and seeing it somewhat with awe. *points at codex*
4.Anderson suddenly represents the renegade choice and TIM represents paragon? To me it seems like the color coding is representing the indoctrination confusing Shepard entirely making the wrong thing seem right.
If you attempt to control you've fallen into the same trap that TIM did. If you attempt to combine synthetic/organic forcibly you're falling into the same trap as Saren. Either way Shepard's will has been defeated, which is why he only awakens back on Earth if his resolve stays strong and despite everything still attempts to destroy the Reapers in his mind. Shepard burning in the final dream sequence as he embraces the child could be seen as a warning to the players not to trust him or Shepard's own subconscious warning him.
There's even more than this in the thread, I originally clicked it thinking that it would be full of wishful thinking but if anything the ending seems more bleak this way since Shepard is either indoctrinated, dead and the reapers are still around, or waking up to Harbinger above him and between him and the entrance to the Citadel.
