phimseto wrote...
I didn't see this thread (it must have been down the page) and posted my own. Before Stanley Woo locks it, let me repost what I wrote here.
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I had to log in just to express my utter disdain for this decision from Bioware. I have nothing against Clint Mansell. I like his work.
But...
Mass Effect is a trilogy. Mass Effect is a series of games that is supposed to be based on your choices carrying over from one game to the next. The entire point of Mass Effect is its narrative/thematic continuity.
And with this choice, Bioware, you just took a steaming dump on all of that.
Music is as important an element to a series as returning characters, recurring story themes, and creative staff behind the game. It is one of the most important elements because audio is one of the key ways a player will interact with the game.
With Jack Wall, you had two games' worth of great material ready, like the storyline, to be woven into a conclusion. Much like the impact of hearing the Ilos theme when Ashley/Kaidan showed up at the end of the Colony Rescue mission or the familiar 'bom bom...bom bom..." of the Mass Effect theme cueing up at the end of ME2, ME3 would have been an amazing narrative filled with new pieces, old themes, and variations on old themes that fit the story being told. Music defines the experience as much as Shepard, Wrex, Mordin, and the rest.
And you threw all of it away. You threw it away for, as best I can tell, a "name". I wouldn't feel differently if you had hired John Williams, Hans Zimmer, or James Horner. They have as much to do as Clint Mansell has to do with the Mass Effect trilogy: nothing. Jack Wall and his crew's work *was* this trilogy. Theirs was the music the defined the experience, and theirs was the music that should have wrapped up this storyline. This is such a staggering creative mistake. I would love for someone from Bioware to explain to me how this decision makes any sense, but I know all I would get is a pleasantly presented public relations lie.
We all know that Mass Effect will live beyond ME3, so what was the rush, Bioware? Why would you throw away two games' worth of wonderful musical narrative for a third score wholly separate from the players' previous experience? What sense does that make? How does that help Mass Effect 3? It doesn't. If there's any way to gracefully back out of this, I would encourage you to do it. I'm guessing there's not, and it's a damned shame. You have any # of future Mass Effect titles you could have used Mansell on. You started something good with ME1, and you should have seen it through til the end.
Took it right from my soul man