Alright, this will probably get a bit lengthy so bare with me.
Ok then, so it turns out people didn’t like the ending to Mass Effect 3, so
much so that they are actively petitioning to get it changed, something I’d
rather Bioware not do. Why? Because I liked the ending damnit and it’s fine how
it is. Let me explain why. Note that this is my opinion, and it’s clearly the
minority but I would like to voice it anyway.
(Once again - SPOILERS!)
The biggest argument is that the aspect of choice was taken from the players,
that their decisions up to this point had no real effect on the ending. I can’t
argue against this, if you just look at the three options offered to you then
yes, ultimately it didn’t matter who you were or what you did, it changes
nothing (unless you failed to get enough War Assets, which seriously wasn’t hard
to do without Multi-Player). However if you just look at the final moments of
the game you’re missing the entire point of what Bioware has given us.
Throughout 3 games we shaped our versions of Shepard, we decided on the
character’s gender (Since mine was Male I will refer to him as such, sorry to
you FemSheppers, I’ll experience her next time.) we gave him a backstory and set
out making decisions. Save the Rachni Queen, Save the council etc. etc. We
shaped our various versions of Shepard through these choices. Each of our
versions will be unique in their own ways, each can range from drastically
different to eerily similar. This applies to even simple things like character
builds, choice of weapons and so forth. Bioware provided us with the first true
trilogy in video games, where choices mattered, where one game actively
influenced another.
Of course they then blew it at the very end by only giving us three actual
endings right?…no…no I disagree completely. For some reason people feel the
endings provided completely devalue everything that preceded them. It didn’t
matter if you chose to be a Renegade or a Paragon, if the Council lived or
died…because the endings are the same.
This to me is just plain crap, absolute crap. The only person who has devalued those choices is yourself, by
choosing to focus on the conclusion rather than the journey. So what if in the
end your work is undone, does that devalue the effort? Sheppard managed to unite
waring races and inspire people across the entire galaxy. The endings don’t
undermine this, after all, without making the decision the galaxy is doomed to
continue the same extinction cycle over and over again anyway. So how are any of
those endings worse?
The combined forces of the Galaxy accomplished what they
set out to do, end the reaper threat and save the galaxy from their influence.
It was stated multiple times that nobody knew what the Crucible would do but no
matter what, it was worth trying anyway, they had no other choice.
I see it like life. Death in itself is abrupt and ultimately anti-climatic
but most of us live in hope that there is something on the other side. We
contemplate, theorise and imagine what might come after, but nobody knows for
sure. When we see death from the outside do we complain that it wasn’t
conclusive enough? that despite all that person had done they couldn’t escape
the fate which will come to all of us? I know I don’t, I focus on the life that
came before, the journey that person took towards the inevitable end.
Did Shepard save the Galaxy? Yes, he ensured in one way or another that
organic life would continue to live on. Did all the current inhabitants survive?
Most likely not, the Mass Relays would have destroyed most of them. Most would
be upset with this decision, but they, unlike most of the fans it would seem,
missed what I believe is the crucial point.
I Knew from the start that we could never defeat the Reapers, we had to stop
the cycle, which meant defeating whoever created the Reapers. Sure the Reapers
claimed to just ‘be’ but I never bought it…someone created them, Machines don’t
grow or evolve, not even Legion truly did that. Mass Effect has always been
about saving the Galaxy, nobody, not you, Sheppard or any of the other races
knew what that truly meant until the end.
The cost was high, but the Galaxy is now safe from the Reapers, other
problems will occur, and we may still yet wipe each other out but as Dr. Ian
Malcolm once said:
”Life finds a way”
Sheppard and his crew will be remembered throughout time, A Legend, much like
our own here on Earth. After all Sheppard did rise up into the public eye, die,
be reborn and finally ascend. Well, my Sheppard did anyway.
Do not dwell on how the story ended, focus on all the things you were able to
do before that.
Just two more points before I end this. The first is mainly an example. I
remember a game, renowned for it’s freedom of choice, allowing the player to
approach each situation with almost complete freedom. Characters could live or
die based on your actions and then it ended…with three different outcomes,
regardless of your choices before hand, these options were what you were left
with. That game was Deus Ex and people loved it, despite it’s endings being just
as open ended. You might argue that there was a greater variation in the endings
but ultimately that’s only because the consequences of each are made clearer.
Mass Effect chose to let us imagine what might happen next (not that Deus Ex
didn’t).
For this, I applaud them, it would have been much easier to just give us the
standard Baldur's Gate/Neverwinter Nights/Dragon Age ending where everything
gets wrapped up in a nice little package, good or bad. But they didn’t, they
chose to look outward, past the walls of the universe they’d created, and
challenged the player to think bigger.
This brings me to my final point. What I think I loved the most about the
ending was that there is no ‘good’ or ‘bad’ or ‘neutral’ ending, much like Deus
Ex. I especially liked that they didn’t use the dialogue wheel for the options,
it avoids what has always annoyed me in every Mass Effect game. The Paragon and
Renegade decisions are always made very obvious to the player, not to mention
that each is tallied up in a handy GUI for them. I believe this destroys any
freedom of choice, I knew destroying the Collector Base was what Bioware deemed
the ‘good’ choice, so I made it, because I wanted to make sure I was a ‘good’
guy. This system forced me to make decisions I may have made differently, had
the system been ‘behind the scenes’ as it were.
For me, this made the ending effective, because it’s probably the first time I made my own decision in
these games, without influence. I chose to sacrifice Sheppard and Synthesise all
organic material with artificial material. I made this decision because I felt
it was the best way to ensure that the cycle would end and that the galaxy could
continue.
So yeah, that’s it I guess, plenty more to say but I just felt that since I
appear to be of the minority, I should justify my own conclusions. Have your own
opinions and feel free to respond, just keep it civil, I’m not trying to say I’m
right and you’re wrong, merely that we should perhaps not be so hard on the guys
at Bioware.
I lost a bit of faith after Dragon Age II but Mass Effect 3
has renewed that faith. I personally hope they don’t try and change the
ending…but ultimately that decision isn’t up to me.
Thank you for taking the time to read this.
“We impose order on the chaos of organic evolution. You exist because we
allow it, and you will end because we demand it.”
- Sovereign
“That which you know as Reapers are your salvation through
destruction.”
- Harbinger
“I'm not doing this for myself. Don't you see, Sovreign will succeed. It
is inevitable. My way is the only way any of us will survive. I'm forging an
alliance between us and the Reapers, between organics and machines, and in doing
so, I will save more lives than have ever existed.”
- Saren
EDIT: Sorry Formatting was horrible, re-posted from my blog http://thevaliantkni...ect-denouement/
Modifié par The Valiant Knight, 15 mars 2012 - 09:48 .
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