Why not? This the final chapter to the game, I consider my favourite. So I won't split this into named parts. Just read this, if you can.
When I opened the game for the first time, I was very worried because of the demo. It planted many doubts about the game being too cliche, too mainstream. From the first hour I knew, I was wrong. And it is really good to realise that your bad expectations did not come true after all.
It took me 45 hours to finish the game. It is not as long as ME2, yet not as short as ME1, but artificially stretched by a glitchy navpoint system, very bad mission log with no updates, information or most of the time, even location of the objective. I spent hours scouring through the citadel, or searching for a planet, I did not know a star cluster for. But I can get behind that.
The dialogues and cutscenes all live up to BioWare standards. At least as far as camera placement goes. The animation was, however, screwed up very many times. Facial animation was laughable in places, non-existenent in others. Running animation was also bad, especially on squadmates, and the fact that Shepard's back covered 50% of the screen did not help the case. As didn't the absence of weapon holstering. But I can behind that too.
The game was very lively. You have done a great job shifting characters. The game's only 2 hub areas - the Citadel and the Normady did not feel like museums with lots of sculptures anymore. I liked that. I liked how you represented the war time. Mass Effect 3 was, I dare say, the most emotionally iducing title in the series. It came a severe cost of replayabliity, dialogue choices, choices in general, interactions with characters, exploration, several severe plotholes, but it was there. I liked that, and I was prepared to forgive the many things you took away.
I also like the music. It is amazing. Best in the series. I was totally blown away by the soundtrack.
Just so that you know, I took the time to complete ME1 and ME2 once again 100%. Maybe 98%. Not below that. I reviewed every choice, I made, completed every mission that was available. Bought and finished all ME1 and ME2 DLC. I spent hours scouring around citadel and the galaxy trying to complete as many of those annoying, undetailed and sometimes broken side-quests. I knew I would not have time to play the trilogy again until summer so I did everything to get the full, optimal 100% ending that would satisfy me. It was what I did for ME2. I was so much in awe of the ME2 and the way everything you did mattered in some way.
While playing ME3 I could hear myself, answering the question "What is you favourite videogame?" with "It is the whole Mass Effect trilogy". Even though a lot of dialogue choices in ME3 were predictable. Even though a lot of events in ME3 were predicatble. Even with a lot of techincal issues. But then the Reaper beam hit me...
[SPOILER BELOW]
And it all just crashed down. Like that Collector Base, blew up. Or like Nazarra. I had a very slow walk that so closely resembled CoD, toward a huge beam that lifts people up into an alien construct, straight from the kid's movies about aliens. Then I had a very slow walk past piles of corpses, Reckoning style. Then I had an awkward discussion with the Illusive man who was indocrinating my body, while idocrinated himself, however Shepard still had his mind(!). And so Illusive man made Shepard's body (!!) shoot Anderson while they were talking Shepard-Saren style(!!!). I was confused, but also angry at the Illusive man, hammering that intimidate option all the time. But then I killed him. And completed the mission. I did a lot in this game, a lot in the previous games. I was already seeing how the Cruicible fires, whipes out the Reapers and was worried if all of my squadmates survived. But no.
A platform lifted me up. And a God in a for of AI with a hologram of a kid from the nightmare turns up. And says:
- You can restart the cycle. With destroying geth and all synthetics in the process and not really achieving anything on a galactic scale.
- You can control the Reapers, which will, as everything points to it, simply continue the cycle. It simply converts Shephard into the Reapers. Oh, and Shepard dies, by the way.
- Or you can combine Synthetic and Organic life, destroy Mass Relays, reach a pinnacle of evolution and existance before it comes naturally. Shepard dies. And everyone else is converted to Reapers in an early stage of development.
That is it. Regardless of everything you have done, you are presented with 3 choices. None matter. None are "good". None are expected. None are satisfactory. So I would accept and maybe like this completely over-the-top semi-mystical and very philosophical ending in a game like Dragin Age. Maybe in The Witcher 3 when it comes out. I accepted and like it in Deus Ex: HR and Bastion. Hell, in Elder Scroll game it would be alright. But it ruined Mass Effect. You have ruined, perhaps, the greatest sci-fi trilogy to date. With 10 minutes of gameplay at the end of a 45 hour long game. And around 130 hours taking to complete the entire trilogy.
[SPOILER ENDS]
So what can I say? Save it. The setting of your endings allows you for a large expansion, presenting this all as a halluicination. You have the money. But you don't have the motivation. This has to be something coming from you specifically, BioWare. As I am sure that the game will sell very successfully and probabaly already has, despite the "From Ashes" scheme. Thus there will be no financial motivation to release this. But hell, I would even buy it. I would even pay 20 euros for a salvation of my favourite trilogy. And I am sure most of us will, if not all.
I must say, this: you tried too hard. Tried too hard to make a twist, something enexpected, not from Mass Effect world. And you were wrong. There is obviously a lot of effort put into this game. It shines with quality in places, and, although it makes failures stand out even more, it still shines, like Sun. Sun's got a lot of black dots where the radiation spikes are especially high, but it still shines. So does ME3, and it is so ironic because ME3, just like stars, died in such a small fraction of it's length.
I was repeating to myself in excitment about how many times I will play this game in the Summer. I am afraid, I will not play this game anymore. So
overall thoughs:
Mass Effect was never about the philosophy of it's plot. It was never about the myseries that the Universe holds. It was about immersive, detailed and very interesting game world, incredibly good characters that MADE you believe that they were alive. You like some, might even romance some of them. Some of them you will hate. You are engaged in this world, immersed. I, and all people I know of, that played this game, never spent much time pondering about the meaning of the "Cycle". We spent hours discussing romance, characters, decisions, their impacts. Maybe 1 minute was spared at asking question such as "Wonder who created the Reapers?". This is not, at all, that important.
We want an ending that reflects out choices. Something a lot more down to Earth (oh, the irony). Something simple. Something like what Shepard and Garrus were discussing in their last conversation before the final assault. Without gods, without philosphy, without BS.
Give us that, BioWare. We earned it, I think, like Krogan earned their damn cure, or humans earned their seat on the council. Until then I can say what I think about Mass Effect:
Bioware, you have made three amazing games and one bad trilogy.
Mass Effect 1 = 95/100
Mass Effect 2 = 99+/100
Mass Effect 3 = 90/100
Mass Effect = 60/100
And one last thing I'd like to add: many people cried at the end. And am not sure if that was because of context or content...
Megakoresh out.
Modifié par Megakoresh, 10 mars 2012 - 09:12 .
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. There are basically three endings; sacrifice yourself, sacrifice your friend, or save everyone by making a deal with the devil. The "everyone lives" ending would be cliché if it weren't for the nagging doubt about the consequences of Morrigan's dark ritual and the knowledge of your own selfishness and cowardice. The player gets everything he ever wanted, but guilt will be his constant companion. Doesn't sound like dumbing it down to me.
