This will no doubt get lost in the flood of comments already on this thread, and it's not really anything that hasn't been said by anyone else in some form or another...but it comes from my heart, the heart of a Mass Effect fan that feels an ache that no one has been able to soothe. I'm grieving right now; I'm feeling actual grief over this. Crazy, right? I should seek help. Get outside, get a life, all those other happy-horsesh*t comments smartasses like to throw at gamers and geeks alike...I'm probably worthy of them all. But that changes nothing.
Mass Effect has become more than just a series of video games. It's a fully-realized universe, rich in diversity, culture and history. It is the best or the worst of us and a study in how those facets of our souls can impact the reality we live in. It's a story with characters we come to care about so much that we depict them in artwork or writing. We weep when they suffer or die, and we cheer when they achieve a victory against the odds. It may seem silly to some that we'd care so much for fictional characters, but their personalities, their triumphs and tragedies were powerful and deep and they touched us. We were given this amazing gift by a series of artists and writers who wanted to show us something new, something that would steal our hearts and captivate our minds. As much as we so want to hate Bioware right now...and believe me, they've made it easy enough...we're still in their debt for bringing this amazing universe to our lives.
That, above all else, is why the endings debacle stings so deeply. They take such a fascinating and heart-tugging story of hope and success against the odds and rend it to tatters with three choices that still bring us tragedy and heartbreaking loss. There's no final feeling of victory, no hope or joy from the knowledge that this universe will prevail despite all the destruction. There's not even the bittersweet knowledge that the ultimate sacrifice had to be made in order to save a galaxy. We're left with a gaping maw of confusion, doubt, fear, loss, and hopelessness. Our hero is either dead or lost, allies are scattered, worlds are decimated and the hero's shipmates are castaways. There's nothing but despair.
Many want to call people like the ones posting here "entitled whiners", saying that we have no business demanding anything from Bioware, or that we're hiding our selfishness and feelings of entitlement behind a charity to rodeo-clown our critics away. We've been told we "don't get it". I'll admit, I was one of those people at first. I thought it was wrong of the players to leak the endings, to spread their anger all over the forums before March 6 and that they were poisoning the rest of us with rampant negativity. But I get it now; I truly do. And let me tell you, so do the rest of us. We understand it all too well, and that's why it hurts so badly, and that's why we rage. It's not so much that WE deserve better. MASS EFFECT DESERVES BETTER.
This was supposed to be the final act, the culmination of years of storywriting, animation, voice-acting, digital design, programming...it was to be a masterpiece. And you know what? A lot of it was. ME3 had its "Um, what?" moments, but honestly (and I think many of us can agree on this), 95% of this game was pretty frakking awesome. The ending should've blown us away with something truly epic and amazing, something we'd be talking about for years to come...but in a positive, "how cool was that?!? I want MORE!!!" way. We expected those choices we made and sometimes even agonized over to steer us to something that satisfied all the feelings we got from making them. We were given the chance to love someone, to have a soulmate to turn to when we were weary from the spilt blood and the spent thermal clips, and we wanted that romance to blossom into something beautiful and long-lasting if we so chose.
Well...we sure were 'blown away', and we're definitely talking about it...all the while feeling betrayed, robbed, and heartbroken. It's not right. I don't even know if anything can make it right. The people we relied on to give us an epic finale to an epic tale failed us in the most unbelievable way, and anything they may do now to fix it will be only because we rallied loudly and forcefully enough. THEY DIDN'T CARE ENOUGH TO GIVE IT TO US THE FIRST TIME. We had to "hold the line", to create a movement. We had to DEMAND. It should never, EVER have been that way.
This is why I grieve. Mass Effect deserved better.
Modifié par Shatterhand1701, 16 mars 2012 - 12:59 .
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