PsychoticPenguin wrote...
Honestly I "get" the endings and I get what the OP is getting at. All three of the endings allow Shepard to "save" the universe by ending the reaper cycle and allowing current life to continue without being harvested. I understand that on an intellectual level.
But the focus of the ME series for me was the attachment I formed to the other characters, the attachment I formed to the ME universe as it existed within those games. The overarching theme was self-determinism through free will. Even the written-in character deaths were about self-determinism (Mordin 'choosing' to die to cure the genophage, Thane 'choosing' to fight to save Shepard and the counsillor, Legion 'choosing' to upload himself to give the Geth awareness). I wasn't fighting to just preserve life in the universe in some altruistic capacity, I was fighting to save my squadmates and to preserve the universe as I explored it and as I learned about it. The endings as they're written completely ignore the personal narratives of all those characters that were honestly THE most important and defining aspect of the series. They all essentially result in destruction of the ME universe as I know it with destruction of the relays. And they all undermine the self-determinism which was the basis of the series up until the end. Ultimately, you're told the way things are going to end, instead of being able to end the cycle on your terms. It's very anti-Shepard.
I also don't buy the argument that it's all in the name of "dark sci-fi" or "cyberpunk." I'm a fan of those literary styles but Mass Effect is not "dark fiction" or "cyberpunk". It's classical sci-fi, and the protagonist is a very typical hero-protagonist (this is reinforced throughout the series the way people gravitate to Shepard, verbally reinforce he/she as a leader and inspiration, and the fact that, while Shepard had to make difficult choices along the way, no true character flaws were ever revealed). As such, people were expecting an ending which fit with that hero-protagonist classical sci-fi feel. They wanted logical outcomes with their actions part of shaping that outcome.
Instead they are given a fatalistic dystopian ending with underlying themes of self-sacrifice for the greater good. They are fed a line ("Organics and synthetics cannot co-exist, so you must choose") which was vaguely nodded at a handful of times over the series but debunked by two of the major narrative threads (geth and EDI both obtaining self-awareness and choosing co-operation and co-inhabitation with organics). There are many narratives where the ending of ME3 would have been beautiful and apt, but not in the narrative they had crafted. The entire premise of the series is Shepard beating the odds and fighting against determinism. Ultimately, in a gaming series like the Mass Effect series, where the protagonist is a hero, people are going to want a hero's ending as an option. Someone else referenced it in another thread, but even as video games become more and more an "art form", they're still a video game. People want to feel a sense of accomplishment at the end, especially a narrative which spans 3 games. The three endings do not supply that.
Like I said, there are many ways to rationalize the endings of ME3. And I thing most people "get" them. But judging by the responses here and elsewhere on the internet, there is a large disconnect between what BioWare wanted with the end and what gamers wanted with the end. And I think a lot of it stems from this narrative disconnect.
Honestly, this. This whole thing sums it up for me. I couldn't agree more with this post than I already did sitting here and reading it.
I'll preface my frustration by saying that I chose the "Destroy the Reaper" ending and nothing else, because to be perfectly honest, after experiancing that one ending I did not want to go back to have myself crushed by any of the other endings.
I loved ME1 and 2, I really did. I bought all the DLC I could, played through every minute, tried to work out every possible character story with everyone. I'm not an achievement hunter, but Mass Effect was one of the ONLY games that I actually felt compelled to get every achievement for. I was even looking forward to Achievement hunting my way through ME3, but I don't feel like I can pop the disk into my 360 anymore, simply because all it does is remind me of the travesty that was the ending of ME3.
I'll try to be brief with my major complaint, since I can deal with the supposed "vaugueness" of the endings, but I don't know how brief I can be since it's something I feel is the most soul crushing. It's the matter of your companions/friends/love interests.
Now I knew going in that something major was going to happen in ME3, and every lovey dovey or friendship heavy cutscene I couldn't stop blurting out "Oh Ashley/Garrus/Liara/Tali is going to die" since it was pretty clear they were dangling that in front of us. But apparently I really need to take my George R.R. Martin lessons to heart and remember that the most obvious conclusion isn't always the right one. I also need to remember the very important lesson that Martin just LOVES to teach people: No one is safe. Ever.
But I ignored these lessons, always thinking that Shepard would come out fine, Shepard would live, Shepard would survive. Apparently I was wrong. And now it feels like all that hard work I spent on ME1 and 2 going through companion stories, which Bioware has basically made next to impossible to ignore, since the higher "affection" you have with your companions, the more likely they are to live through major events, and the more likely they are to actually help you out when you need it the most, was absolutely useless.
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