Aucune réponse à ce sujet

[iamheartbroken]

Many people argue that we shouldn't ask them to change the endings, or alter them in anyway, because it's art... it is Bioware's story. They are the ones who can control it and we never have that right.

This view largely comes from our interaction with other forms of media, such as books and movies. These engage us as passive observers ... largely a one way conversation. They tell a story to bring entertainment, to evoke emotion both good and bad, or even to teach us a lesson or get us to question our own point of view on various issues. The best of these tell a quality story and while we may not agree with the ending, we rarely find ourselves thinking it should be changed. We may have liked it to go differently, but it makes sense for why they went the way they did. We can't change the outcome, we can only choose how to deal with our reaction to it.

With the bad books and movies, some will like them, but you many will not. Admittedly the same can be said of course for anything. Regardless, our reaction is limited to what we think is bad: An example is that I was reading a book series, the first couple of books were fun and a interesting window into the writer's world. I came to one book in the series where I began to realize this characters were not growing in any meaningful way, they whined about the challenges they faced as if they couldn't remember the challenges they'd just overcome in the previous books. I put down that book the moment I realized these feelings and have never returned to that author since. I would never have dreamed of telling him to change it because in the end I was merely an observer...

Which brings me to a game, like Mass Effect. I've been placed in the shoes of Commander Shepard. In ME1 everyone of my responses requires me to make a choice on the dialogue wheel. I have to go and seek out my companions to speak to them and hear what they say, I have to fight through the enemies to advance the story. While the technology does limit my choices, there is no act I can see where the developer is trying to control my choices. I can save the Council or let it die, I can appoint Ambassador Udina or Captain Anderson to the Council... my choices, according to Bioware, will shape how humanity rises to power and how they act to the rest of the galaxy. I never feel that I lack choice, that my choices don't matter. Their solution to dealing with my choices, allows them to continue the story in the way they want, but they're not invalidating my choices either necessarily. It's almost a symbiotic relationship.

In ME2 I continue to feel I have choices, and the endings reflect that ... any member of my squad can die, but any member of my squad can live. They can choose to never revisit the ones that live if they so choose if it's not in keeping with the designs for the story, but they haven't taken away my ability to ensure the best possible outcome. They also make it possible to have the worst possible outcome: Everyone including Shepard dies.

In ME3 they take away my Council member choice, which really doesn't bother me so much... Anderson was obviously accomplishing something during his time I'm sure. They forced Mordin, Legion, and Thane to die... those deaths were meaningful... I cried, but I understand why they were necessary from the story point of view. Yes I wanted Shepard to save them, but they made me understand.

I've grown attached to every member of my crew over the course of 3 games for the most part, I've made choices to shape the galaxy. I've made the choices in how this story unfolds, and while those choices may have been limited, again... that's largely the limitations of the technology. Bioware did a good job of making sure I felt like I had choice, and that it was my story, and that for all of us there'd be differences.

Then you get to the end and all of those choices seem erased, your choices all lead to the same result. And the characters you know and love act out of character.... which is to say, I had to drag Joker out of the seat of the Normandy SR-1 when it was just me and him onboard. He didn't want to give up trying to save the ship. Now you tell me he abandoned the fleet and his Commander? No way is that the Joker I know. Admiral Hackett couldn't have made him do that with a gun to his head. I don't even think Reaper indoctrination could force him to act like that. (Well, it could ... but my point is it's way the hell out of character) They offer me very little closure, although if that closure is every member of my team dying, I'll still be pissed because my sacrifice was for nothing. If you don't save the people you love, what does a galaxy of NPCs you've never met matter?

What I'm saying, is they engaged me as an active member of the story. They placed me in the shoes of the main character, and had me make choices to advance the story. It is no longer just their story, it is also my story... I am not a passive observer, I am a living breathing character in this world and partly I'm the author of how the story advances. Bioware made the choice to give us choice, to make us a part of the game. You can not now say the story never belonged to us in any way shape or form, you can not argue with reason that it is their story to do with as they please. While they CAN do it that way, they make a terrible miscalculation in a good chunk of their fanbase.

They placed us in a world we fell in love with, and then they hit us out of nowhere at the very end of this trilogy in the way they handle choices and the way they've handled closure. Yes they can do this, but we can definitely say it's wrong, and we can definitely say we think it should end differently. We can voice our displeasure from now until the end of time freely.

We are not entitled fans, we are fans who've invested in this story, not as passive observers, but as active participants. You can disagree with us, you can ignore us, but you can't say we have no reason to have a say in this issue.

In the end, I don't exactly feel the ending needs to be changed ... but it does need to be fixed, it needs to be refined. This is not the ending that the Mass Effect Trilogy deserves, and it does not feel fitting of Bioware's previous behavior regarding this series.

I really hope that made some sense... if it didn't, well... it was therapeutic for me anyway. Finished: 3/9/12