23455 réponses à ce sujet

[ElectronicPostingInterface]

Someone chisel bwFex's post into stone.

[luricanson]

Bwfex, I salute you. Thank you for such an amazing and thoughtful post. It was exactly how I feel about the game.

BioWare, this. Just this.

[ElectronicPostingInterface]

Double post.

Modifié par PKchu, 16 mars 2012 - 02:49 .

[TheRevanchist]

avmf8 wrote...

Dolphin FFetus wrote...

Better brace yourself guys, all your 100+ pages of grieving, rightful complaining and feelings is eventually going to be responded to with either a twitter or brief dev. post explaining why you didn't "get" the ending and how it was great.

Oh I am pretty much expecting this already. Only I don't think they will say iys great I think it will go like this.

"yeah the ending sucks but we did it because we wanted to deal with it" Ahh who am I kidding they will just say it's good as you say no matter how many customers say it sucks.

Pretty much...their basiclly going to say we're idiots for not understanding their brilliance just like the DA team very blatently did. I expect absolutely nothing from them aside BS PR speak to try and shut us up...

[Ryven]

Is there anything left for Bioware to listen to? We have tons of threads detailing plot holes, why the ending feels empty, theories of indoctrination, etc. and we still haven’t heard anything? I mean, the whole indoctrination thing gives them a pretty good way out if you ask me.

And yes. I’ll say it. I don't care. I want a happy ending too. Don’t tell me this will be the final chapter in Shepard’s story then try and jerk me around with the sudden "Mysticism is cool all of a sudden" BS.

There was no need to try and turn the entire franchise around at the last minute and become deep and mystical. Don't wait till the last F-ing minute to make the players take a backseat so you could make a statement about the singularity and our inevitable struggle against our own technological advances.

That’s my biggest problem with the ending. Shepard goes from hero to spectator and we just have watch as space-god-child preaches and then we make a decision that only changes the color of the explosion at the end.

I just feel betrayed. I mean I have been a "bio-drone" since the beginning. Everything you guys did was solid gold to me. How do I trust any of Bioware's other games to provide any necessary closure or a satisfying story experience after this?

Sorry but this has been bottled up since I finished the game last week and I’m still pissed about the ending.

[Deklan_Caine]

Anevers wrote...

Kyzee wrote...

 
bwFex wrote...

I really have been trying to let myself get over this nightmare, but since you guys promise you're listening here, I'll try to just say it all, get it all out.

I have invested more of myself into this series than almost any other video game franchise in my life. I loved this game. I believed in it. For five years, it delivered. I must have played ME1 and ME2 a dozen times each.

I remember the end of Mass Effect 2. Never before, in any video game I had ever played, did I feel like my actions really mattered. Knowing that the decisions I made and the hard work I put into ME2 had a very real, clear, obvious impact on who lived and who died was one of the most astounding feelings in the world to me. I remember when that laser hit the Normandy and Joker made a comment about how he was happy we upgraded the shields. That was amazing. Cause and effect. Work and reward.

The first time I went through, I lost Mordin, and it was gut-wrenching: watching him die because I made a bad decision was damning, heartbreaking. But it wasn't hopeless, because I knew I could go back, do better, and save him. I knew that I was in control, that my actions mattered. So that's exactly what I did. I reviewed my decisions, found my mistakes, and did everything right. I put together a plan, I worked hard to follow that plan, and I got the reward I had worked so hard for. And then, it was all for nothing.

When I started playing Mass Effect 3, I was blown away. It was perfect. Everything was perfect. It was incredible to see all of my decisions playing out in front of me, building up to new and outrageous outcomes. I was so sure that this was it, this was going to be the masterpiece that crowned an already near-perfect trilogy. With every war asset I gathered, and with every multiplayer game I won, I knew that my work would pay off, that I would be truly satisfied with the outcome of my hard work and smart decisions. Every time I acquired a new WA bonus, I couldn't wait to see how it would play out in the final battle. And then, it was all for nothing.

I wasn't expecting a perfect, happy ending with rainbows and butterflies. In fact, I think I may have been insulted if everyone made it through just fine. The Reapers are an enormous threat (although obviously not as invincible as they would like us to believe), and we should be right to anticipate heavy losses. But I never lost hope. I built alliances, I made the impossible happen to rally the galaxy together. I cured the genophage. I saved the Turians. I united the geth and the quarians. And then, it was all for nothing.

When Mordin died, it was heartwrenching, but I knew it was the right thing. His sacrifice was... perfect. It made sense. It was congruent with the dramatic themes that had been present since I very first met Wrex in ME1. It was not a cheap trick, a deus ex machina, an easy out. It was beautiful, meaningful, significant, relevant, and satisfying. It was an amazing way for an amazing character to sacrifice themself for an amazing thing. And then it was all for nothing.

When Thane died, it was tearjerking. I knew from the moment he explained his illness that one day, I'd have to deal with his death. I knew he was never going to survive the trilogy, and I knew it wouldn't be fun to watch him go. But when his son started reading the prayer, I lost it. His death was beautiful. It was significant. It was relevant. It was satisfying. It was meaningful. He died to protect Shepard, to protect the entire Citadel. He took a life he thought was unredeemable and used it to make the world a brighter place. And then it was all for nothing.

When Wrex and Eve thanked me for saving their species, I felt that I had truly accomplished something great. When Tali set foot on her homeworld, I felt that I had truly accomplished something great. When Javik gave his inspiring speech, I felt that I had inspired something truly great. When I activated the Citadel's arms, sat down to reminisce with Anderson one final time, I felt that I had truly accomplished something amazing. I felt that my sacrifice was meaningful. Significant. Relevant. And while still a completely unexplained deus ex machina, at least it was a little bit satisfying.

And then, just like everything else in this trilogy, it was all for nothing.

If we pretend like the indoctrination theory is false, and we're really supposed to take the ending at face value, this entire game is a lost cause. The krogans will never repopulate. The quarians will never rebuild their home world. The geth will never know what it means to be alive and independent. The salarians will never see how people can change for the better.

Instead, the quarians and turians will endure a quick, torturous extinction as they slowly starve to death, trapped in a system with no support for them. Everyone else will squabble over the scraps of Earth that haven't been completely obliterated, until the krogans drive them all to extinction and then die off without any women present. And this is all assuming that the relays didn't cause supernova-scaled extinction events simply by being destroyed, like we saw in Arrival.

And perhaps the worst part is that we don't even know. We don't know what happened to our squadmates. We didn't get any sort of catharsis, conclusion. We got five years of literary foreplay followed by a kick to the groin and a note telling us that in a couple months, we can pay Bioware $15 for them to do it to us all over again.

It's not just the abysmally depressing/sacrificial nature of the ending, either. As I've already made perfectly clear, I came into this game expecting sacrifice. When Mordin did it, it was beautiful. When Thane did it, it was beautiful. Even Verner. Stupid, misguided, idiotic Verner. Even his ridiculous sacrifice had meaning, relevance, coherence, and offered satisfaction.

No, it's not the sacrifice I have a problem with. It's the utter lack of coherence and respect for the five years of literary gold that have already been established in this franchise. We spent three games preparing to fight these reapers. I spent hours upon hours doing every side quest, picking up every war asset, maxing out my galactic readiness so that when the time came, the army I had built could make a stand, and show these Reapers that we won't go down without a fight.

In ME1, we did the impossible when we killed Sovereign. In ME2, we began to see that the Reapers aren't as immortal as they claim to be: that even they have basic needs, exploitable weaknesses. In ME3, we saw the Reapers die. We saw one get taken down by an overgrown worm. We saw one die with a few coordinated orbital bombardments. We saw several ripped apart by standard space combat. In ME1, it took three alliance fleets to kill the "invincible" Sovereign. By the end of ME3, I had assembled a galactic armada fifty times more powerful than that, and a thousand times more prepared. I never expected the fight to be easy, but I proved that we wouldn't go down without a fight, that there is always hope in unity. That's the theme we've been given for the past five years: there is hope and strength through unity. That if we work together, we can achieve the impossible.

And then we're supposed to believe that the fate of the galaxy comes down to some completely unexplained starchild asking Shepard what his favorite color is? That the army we built was all for nothing? That the squad whose loyalty we fought so hard for was all for nothing? That in the end, none of it mattered at all?

It's a poetic notion, but this isn't the place for poetry. It's one thing to rattle prose nihilistic over the course of a movie or ballad, where the audience is a passive observer, learning a lesson from the suffering and futility of a character, but that's not what Mass Effect is. Mass Effect has always been about making the player the true hero. If you really want us to all feel like we spent the past five years dumping time, energy, and emotional investment into this game just to tell us that nothing really matters, you have signed your own death certificate. Nobody pays hundreds of dollars and hours to be reminded how bleak, empty, and depressing the world can be, to be told that nothing we do matters, to be told that all of our greatest accomplishments, all of our faith, all of our work, all of our unity is for nothing.

No. It simply cannot be this bleak. I refuse to believe Bioware is really doing this. The ending of ME1 was perfect. We saw the struggle, we saw the cost, but we knew that we had worked hard, worked together, and won. The ending of ME2 was perfect. We saw the struggle, we saw the cost, but we knew that we had worked hard, worked together, and won.

Taken at face value, the end of ME3 throws every single thing we've done in the past five years into the wind, and makes the player watch from a distance as the entire galaxy is thrown into a technological dark age and a stellar extinction. Why would we care about a universe that no longer exists? We should we invest any more time or money into a world that will never be what we came to know and love?

Even if the ending is retconned, it doesn't make things better. Just knowing that the starchild was our real foe the entire time is so utterly mindless, contrived, and irrelevant to what we experienced in ME1 and ME2 that it cannot be forgiven. If that really is the truth, then Mass Effect simply isn't what we thought it was. And frankly, if this is what Mass Effect was supposed to be all along, I want no part of it. It's a useless, trite, overplayed cliche, so far beneath the praise I once gave this franchise that it hurts to think about.

No. There is no way to save this franchise without giving us the only explanation that makes sense. You know what it is. It was the plan all along. Too much evidence to not be true. Too many people reaching the same conclusions independently.

The indoctrination theory doesn't just save this franchise: it elevates it to one of the most powerful and compelling storytelling experiences I've ever had in my life. The fact that you managed to do more than indoctrinate Shepard - you managed to indoctrinate the players themselves - is astonishing. If that really was the end game, here, then you have won my gaming soul. But if that's true, then I'm still waiting for the rest of this story, the final chapter of Shepard's heroic journey. I paid to finish the fight, and if the indoctrination theory is true, it's not over yet.

And if it's not, then I just don't even care. I have been betrayed, and it's time for me to let go of the denial, the anger, the bargaining, and start working through the depression and emptiness until I can just move on. You can't keep teasing us like this. This must have seemed like a great plan at the time, but it has cost too much. These people believed in you. I believed in you.

Just make it right.

This is one of the best posts I've read. 100% perfect.

This said it best.

Yeah, what he said!

HOLD THE LINE!

[link33333]

bwFex wrote...

I really have been trying to let myself get over this nightmare, but since you guys promise you're listening here, I'll try to just say it all, get it all out.

I have invested more of myself into this series than almost any other video game franchise in my life. I loved this game. I believed in it. For five years, it delivered. I must have played ME1 and ME2 a dozen times each.

I remember the end of Mass Effect 2. Never before, in any video game I had ever played, did I feel like my actions really mattered. Knowing that the decisions I made and the hard work I put into ME2 had a very real, clear, obvious impact on who lived and who died was one of the most astounding feelings in the world to me. I remember when that laser hit the Normandy and Joker made a comment about how he was happy we upgraded the shields. That was amazing. Cause and effect. Work and reward.

The first time I went through, I lost Mordin, and it was gut-wrenching: watching him die because I made a bad decision was damning, heartbreaking. But it wasn't hopeless, because I knew I could go back, do better, and save him. I knew that I was in control, that my actions mattered. So that's exactly what I did. I reviewed my decisions, found my mistakes, and did everything right. I put together a plan, I worked hard to follow that plan, and I got the reward I had worked so hard for. And then, it was all for nothing.

When I started playing Mass Effect 3, I was blown away. It was perfect. Everything was perfect. It was incredible to see all of my decisions playing out in front of me, building up to new and outrageous outcomes. I was so sure that this was it, this was going to be the masterpiece that crowned an already near-perfect trilogy. With every war asset I gathered, and with every multiplayer game I won, I knew that my work would pay off, that I would be truly satisfied with the outcome of my hard work and smart decisions. Every time I acquired a new WA bonus, I couldn't wait to see how it would play out in the final battle. And then, it was all for nothing.

I wasn't expecting a perfect, happy ending with rainbows and butterflies. In fact, I think I may have been insulted if everyone made it through just fine. The Reapers are an enormous threat (although obviously not as invincible as they would like us to believe), and we should be right to anticipate heavy losses. But I never lost hope. I built alliances, I made the impossible happen to rally the galaxy together. I cured the genophage. I saved the Turians. I united the geth and the quarians. And then, it was all for nothing.

When Mordin died, it was heartwrenching, but I knew it was the right thing. His sacrifice was... perfect. It made sense. It was congruent with the dramatic themes that had been present since I very first met Wrex in ME1. It was not a cheap trick, a deus ex machina, an easy out. It was beautiful, meaningful, significant, relevant, and satisfying. It was an amazing way for an amazing character to sacrifice themself for an amazing thing. And then it was all for nothing.

When Thane died, it was tearjerking. I knew from the moment he explained his illness that one day, I'd have to deal with his death. I knew he was never going to survive the trilogy, and I knew it wouldn't be fun to watch him go. But when his son started reading the prayer, I lost it. His death was beautiful. It was significant. It was relevant. It was satisfying. It was meaningful. He died to protect Shepard, to protect the entire Citadel. He took a life he thought was unredeemable and used it to make the world a brighter place. And then it was all for nothing.

When Wrex and Eve thanked me for saving their species, I felt that I had truly accomplished something great. When Tali set foot on her homeworld, I felt that I had truly accomplished something great. When Javik gave his inspiring speech, I felt that I had inspired something truly great. When I activated the Citadel's arms, sat down to reminisce with Anderson one final time, I felt that I had truly accomplished something amazing. I felt that my sacrifice was meaningful. Significant. Relevant. And while still a completely unexplained deus ex machina, at least it was a little bit satisfying.

And then, just like everything else in this trilogy, it was all for nothing.

If we pretend like the indoctrination theory is false, and we're really supposed to take the ending at face value, this entire game is a lost cause. The krogans will never repopulate. The quarians will never rebuild their home world. The geth will never know what it means to be alive and independent. The salarians will never see how people can change for the better.

Instead, the quarians and turians will endure a quick, torturous extinction as they slowly starve to death, trapped in a system with no support for them. Everyone else will squabble over the scraps of Earth that haven't been completely obliterated, until the krogans drive them all to extinction and then die off without any women present. And this is all assuming that the relays didn't cause supernova-scaled extinction events simply by being destroyed, like we saw in Arrival.

And perhaps the worst part is that we don't even know. We don't know what happened to our squadmates. We didn't get any sort of catharsis, conclusion. We got five years of literary foreplay followed by a kick to the groin and a note telling us that in a couple months, we can pay Bioware $15 for them to do it to us all over again.

It's not just the abysmally depressing/sacrificial nature of the ending, either. As I've already made perfectly clear, I came into this game expecting sacrifice. When Mordin did it, it was beautiful. When Thane did it, it was beautiful. Even Verner. Stupid, misguided, idiotic Verner. Even his ridiculous sacrifice had meaning, relevance, coherence, and offered satisfaction.

No, it's not the sacrifice I have a problem with. It's the utter lack of coherence and respect for the five years of literary gold that have already been established in this franchise. We spent three games preparing to fight these reapers. I spent hours upon hours doing every side quest, picking up every war asset, maxing out my galactic readiness so that when the time came, the army I had built could make a stand, and show these Reapers that we won't go down without a fight.

In ME1, we did the impossible when we killed Sovereign. In ME2, we began to see that the Reapers aren't as immortal as they claim to be: that even they have basic needs, exploitable weaknesses. In ME3, we saw the Reapers die. We saw one get taken down by an overgrown worm. We saw one die with a few coordinated orbital bombardments. We saw several ripped apart by standard space combat. In ME1, it took three alliance fleets to kill the "invincible" Sovereign. By the end of ME3, I had assembled a galactic armada fifty times more powerful than that, and a thousand times more prepared. I never expected the fight to be easy, but I proved that we wouldn't go down without a fight, that there is always hope in unity. That's the theme we've been given for the past five years: there is hope and strength through unity. That if we work together, we can achieve the impossible.

And then we're supposed to believe that the fate of the galaxy comes down to some completely unexplained starchild asking Shepard what his favorite color is? That the army we built was all for nothing? That the squad whose loyalty we fought so hard for was all for nothing? That in the end, none of it mattered at all?

It's a poetic notion, but this isn't the place for poetry. It's one thing to rattle prose nihilistic over the course of a movie or ballad, where the audience is a passive observer, learning a lesson from the suffering and futility of a character, but that's not what Mass Effect is. Mass Effect has always been about making the player the true hero. If you really want us to all feel like we spent the past five years dumping time, energy, and emotional investment into this game just to tell us that nothing really matters, you have signed your own death certificate. Nobody pays hundreds of dollars and hours to be reminded how bleak, empty, and depressing the world can be, to be told that nothing we do matters, to be told that all of our greatest accomplishments, all of our faith, all of our work, all of our unity is for nothing.

No. It simply cannot be this bleak. I refuse to believe Bioware is really doing this. The ending of ME1 was perfect. We saw the struggle, we saw the cost, but we knew that we had worked hard, worked together, and won. The ending of ME2 was perfect. We saw the struggle, we saw the cost, but we knew that we had worked hard, worked together, and won.

Taken at face value, the end of ME3 throws every single thing we've done in the past five years into the wind, and makes the player watch from a distance as the entire galaxy is thrown into a technological dark age and a stellar extinction. Why would we care about a universe that no longer exists? We should we invest any more time or money into a world that will never be what we came to know and love?

Even if the ending is retconned, it doesn't make things better. Just knowing that the starchild was our real foe the entire time is so utterly mindless, contrived, and irrelevant to what we experienced in ME1 and ME2 that it cannot be forgiven. If that really is the truth, then Mass Effect simply isn't what we thought it was. And frankly, if this is what Mass Effect was supposed to be all along, I want no part of it. It's a useless, trite, overplayed cliche, so far beneath the praise I once gave this franchise that it hurts to think about.

No. There is no way to save this franchise without giving us the only explanation that makes sense. You know what it is. It was the plan all along. Too much evidence to not be true. Too many people reaching the same conclusions independently.

The indoctrination theory doesn't just save this franchise: it elevates it to one of the most powerful and compelling storytelling experiences I've ever had in my life. The fact that you managed to do more than indoctrinate Shepard - you managed to indoctrinate the players themselves - is astonishing. If that really was the end game, here, then you have won my gaming soul. But if that's true, then I'm still waiting for the rest of this story, the final chapter of Shepard's heroic journey. I paid to finish the fight, and if the indoctrination theory is true, it's not over yet.

And if it's not, then I just don't even care. I have been betrayed, and it's time for me to let go of the denial, the anger, the bargaining, and start working through the depression and emptiness until I can just move on. You can't keep teasing us like this. This must have seemed like a great plan at the time, but it has cost too much. These people believed in you. I believed in you.

Just make it right.

Sums up everything I feel 

[stellap20]

well 105 pages on this post all of us saying the same thing. I agree with bwFex. Thats exactly how I feel. I finished it for the first time 5 days a go and I have been in a foul mood since. All I wanted was a house in the tropics with Garrus and our adopted krogan baby. How hard can that be. But nooooo I had to go and blow Shepard up one way or another.

I hope Bioware has something up there sleeve soon or I am loosing hope on them.

Just let us know what you are planning, we don't ask you to deliver it ASAP. All we ask is a hint. Just listening to us is no action.

[Papineau30]

I really enjoyed the game as a whole but got a little disappointed about the lack of information about the situation in the galaxy in general. It may be just adding a text like in the introduction but it let me hungry for more, and don't get me wrong I knew all along this was the end and in fact it was one main key in order to be a great game (in my book).

On the other hand, the story and combat sequences are awesome, fast and immersive. I loved the way the choices I've made through the previous game paid off. The cinematics are delightful and meaningfull, except for the catalyst part. All of a sudden, it like I didn't get to understand the game all along. It is just me or what?

Anyway a quick review I'd summarize by saying that the game was 33h45min of pure joy and 15min of wtf (late part of the ending).

[NightHawkIL]

bwFex wrote...

I really have been trying to let myself get over this nightmare, but since you guys promise you're listening here, I'll try to just say it all, get it all out.

I have invested more of myself into this series than almost any other video game franchise in my life. I loved this game. I believed in it. For five years, it delivered. I must have played ME1 and ME2 a dozen times each.

I remember the end of Mass Effect 2. Never before, in any video game I had ever played, did I feel like my actions really mattered. Knowing that the decisions I made and the hard work I put into ME2 had a very real, clear, obvious impact on who lived and who died was one of the most astounding feelings in the world to me. I remember when that laser hit the Normandy and Joker made a comment about how he was happy we upgraded the shields. That was amazing. Cause and effect. Work and reward.

The first time I went through, I lost Mordin, and it was gut-wrenching: watching him die because I made a bad decision was damning, heartbreaking. But it wasn't hopeless, because I knew I could go back, do better, and save him. I knew that I was in control, that my actions mattered. So that's exactly what I did. I reviewed my decisions, found my mistakes, and did everything right. I put together a plan, I worked hard to follow that plan, and I got the reward I had worked so hard for. And then, it was all for nothing.

When I started playing Mass Effect 3, I was blown away. It was perfect. Everything was perfect. It was incredible to see all of my decisions playing out in front of me, building up to new and outrageous outcomes. I was so sure that this was it, this was going to be the masterpiece that crowned an already near-perfect trilogy. With every war asset I gathered, and with every multiplayer game I won, I knew that my work would pay off, that I would be truly satisfied with the outcome of my hard work and smart decisions. Every time I acquired a new WA bonus, I couldn't wait to see how it would play out in the final battle. And then, it was all for nothing.

I wasn't expecting a perfect, happy ending with rainbows and butterflies. In fact, I think I may have been insulted if everyone made it through just fine. The Reapers are an enormous threat (although obviously not as invincible as they would like us to believe), and we should be right to anticipate heavy losses. But I never lost hope. I built alliances, I made the impossible happen to rally the galaxy together. I cured the genophage. I saved the Turians. I united the geth and the quarians. And then, it was all for nothing.

When Mordin died, it was heartwrenching, but I knew it was the right thing. His sacrifice was... perfect. It made sense. It was congruent with the dramatic themes that had been present since I very first met Wrex in ME1. It was not a cheap trick, a deus ex machina, an easy out. It was beautiful, meaningful, significant, relevant, and satisfying. It was an amazing way for an amazing character to sacrifice themself for an amazing thing. And then it was all for nothing.

When Thane died, it was tearjerking. I knew from the moment he explained his illness that one day, I'd have to deal with his death. I knew he was never going to survive the trilogy, and I knew it wouldn't be fun to watch him go. But when his son started reading the prayer, I lost it. His death was beautiful. It was significant. It was relevant. It was satisfying. It was meaningful. He died to protect Shepard, to protect the entire Citadel. He took a life he thought was unredeemable and used it to make the world a brighter place. And then it was all for nothing.

When Wrex and Eve thanked me for saving their species, I felt that I had truly accomplished something great. When Tali set foot on her homeworld, I felt that I had truly accomplished something great. When Javik gave his inspiring speech, I felt that I had inspired something truly great. When I activated the Citadel's arms, sat down to reminisce with Anderson one final time, I felt that I had truly accomplished something amazing. I felt that my sacrifice was meaningful. Significant. Relevant. And while still a completely unexplained deus ex machina, at least it was a little bit satisfying.

And then, just like everything else in this trilogy, it was all for nothing.

If we pretend like the indoctrination theory is false, and we're really supposed to take the ending at face value, this entire game is a lost cause. The krogans will never repopulate. The quarians will never rebuild their home world. The geth will never know what it means to be alive and independent. The salarians will never see how people can change for the better.

Instead, the quarians and turians will endure a quick, torturous extinction as they slowly starve to death, trapped in a system with no support for them. Everyone else will squabble over the scraps of Earth that haven't been completely obliterated, until the krogans drive them all to extinction and then die off without any women present. And this is all assuming that the relays didn't cause supernova-scaled extinction events simply by being destroyed, like we saw in Arrival.

And perhaps the worst part is that we don't even know. We don't know what happened to our squadmates. We didn't get any sort of catharsis, conclusion. We got five years of literary foreplay followed by a kick to the groin and a note telling us that in a couple months, we can pay Bioware $15 for them to do it to us all over again.

It's not just the abysmally depressing/sacrificial nature of the ending, either. As I've already made perfectly clear, I came into this game expecting sacrifice. When Mordin did it, it was beautiful. When Thane did it, it was beautiful. Even Verner. Stupid, misguided, idiotic Verner. Even his ridiculous sacrifice had meaning, relevance, coherence, and offered satisfaction.

No, it's not the sacrifice I have a problem with. It's the utter lack of coherence and respect for the five years of literary gold that have already been established in this franchise. We spent three games preparing to fight these reapers. I spent hours upon hours doing every side quest, picking up every war asset, maxing out my galactic readiness so that when the time came, the army I had built could make a stand, and show these Reapers that we won't go down without a fight.

In ME1, we did the impossible when we killed Sovereign. In ME2, we began to see that the Reapers aren't as immortal as they claim to be: that even they have basic needs, exploitable weaknesses. In ME3, we saw the Reapers die. We saw one get taken down by an overgrown worm. We saw one die with a few coordinated orbital bombardments. We saw several ripped apart by standard space combat. In ME1, it took three alliance fleets to kill the "invincible" Sovereign. By the end of ME3, I had assembled a galactic armada fifty times more powerful than that, and a thousand times more prepared. I never expected the fight to be easy, but I proved that we wouldn't go down without a fight, that there is always hope in unity. That's the theme we've been given for the past five years: there is hope and strength through unity. That if we work together, we can achieve the impossible.

And then we're supposed to believe that the fate of the galaxy comes down to some completely unexplained starchild asking Shepard what his favorite color is? That the army we built was all for nothing? That the squad whose loyalty we fought so hard for was all for nothing? That in the end, none of it mattered at all?

It's a poetic notion, but this isn't the place for poetry. It's one thing to rattle prose nihilistic over the course of a movie or ballad, where the audience is a passive observer, learning a lesson from the suffering and futility of a character, but that's not what Mass Effect is. Mass Effect has always been about making the player the true hero. If you really want us to all feel like we spent the past five years dumping time, energy, and emotional investment into this game just to tell us that nothing really matters, you have signed your own death certificate. Nobody pays hundreds of dollars and hours to be reminded how bleak, empty, and depressing the world can be, to be told that nothing we do matters, to be told that all of our greatest accomplishments, all of our faith, all of our work, all of our unity is for nothing.

No. It simply cannot be this bleak. I refuse to believe Bioware is really doing this. The ending of ME1 was perfect. We saw the struggle, we saw the cost, but we knew that we had worked hard, worked together, and won. The ending of ME2 was perfect. We saw the struggle, we saw the cost, but we knew that we had worked hard, worked together, and won.

Taken at face value, the end of ME3 throws every single thing we've done in the past five years into the wind, and makes the player watch from a distance as the entire galaxy is thrown into a technological dark age and a stellar extinction. Why would we care about a universe that no longer exists? We should we invest any more time or money into a world that will never be what we came to know and love?

Even if the ending is retconned, it doesn't make things better. Just knowing that the starchild was our real foe the entire time is so utterly mindless, contrived, and irrelevant to what we experienced in ME1 and ME2 that it cannot be forgiven. If that really is the truth, then Mass Effect simply isn't what we thought it was. And frankly, if this is what Mass Effect was supposed to be all along, I want no part of it. It's a useless, trite, overplayed cliche, so far beneath the praise I once gave this franchise that it hurts to think about.

No. There is no way to save this franchise without giving us the only explanation that makes sense. You know what it is. It was the plan all along. Too much evidence to not be true. Too many people reaching the same conclusions independently.

The indoctrination theory doesn't just save this franchise: it elevates it to one of the most powerful and compelling storytelling experiences I've ever had in my life. The fact that you managed to do more than indoctrinate Shepard - you managed to indoctrinate the players themselves - is astonishing. If that really was the end game, here, then you have won my gaming soul. But if that's true, then I'm still waiting for the rest of this story, the final chapter of Shepard's heroic journey. I paid to finish the fight, and if the indoctrination theory is true, it's not over yet.

And if it's not, then I just don't even care. I have been betrayed, and it's time for me to let go of the denial, the anger, the bargaining, and start working through the depression and emptiness until I can just move on. You can't keep teasing us like this. This must have seemed like a great plan at the time, but it has cost too much. These people believed in you. I believed in you.

Just make it right.

1+. Influence of previous choices is by far the most important thing for me to see changed in new ending(s).

I'll add a little of my own opinion as well. I don't care if whatever new ending is created uses the current one as part of it at all. If it's entirely scrapped and replaced so that there's no need to explain the current blunder as indoctrination, I would be quite satisfied with that as well. I'll forget it ever existed.

However the ending is modified, for the love of all that is good and holy in Mass Effect, make the reapers real motivation something better than machines made to kill people so machines don't kill people. Dark energy prevention would be fine and explain some of the major events in ME2, or maybe the reapers just don't want other things to be able to become advanced enough to destroy them. Maybe they think they're gods, trying to direct evolution along their own paths to improve themselves or organics and eventually bring forth a supreme form of life. That would also explain some things. Making the human reaper could have been the step in their own evolution that was to be taken from this cycle.

In any case, have it clearly makes sense. One way or another.

EDIT: By the way, the ending sequence right up until voodo chile showed up was beautiful. Maybe could have done a little more with TIM, but that's a small complaint.

Modifié par NightHawkIL, 16 mars 2012 - 02:58 .

[Ronnocloki]

I understand and appreciate that the community managers are listening. The unforgiving hours you guys spend slogging through an enraged forum must not be fun. However what we're looking for is some evidence that the developers have some form of official course of action in regards to the numerous issues (plot holes, lack of choice, lack of consequence, etc.) players have with the endings.

[MegumiAzusa]

stellap20 wrote...

But nooooo I had to go and blow Shepard up one way or another.

Shep lives in one ending, the video is even called End03_Shepard_Alive_...


The ending imo can't stand alone and needs more explanation what each choice did, but in my opinion it was a great way to spark interest. Even if it's just because they hadn't the time to finish it, in my opinion it was a huge and emotionally strong moment and would have been diminished if resolved too quickly.
Though the Stargazer scene should have been in the patch/dlc that introduces more to the endings.

Modifié par MegumiAzusa, 16 mars 2012 - 03:00 .

[ET_rage]

shnellegaming wrote...

Brokering peace between Quarians and Geth

All things Garrus!!!!!

Grunt covered in blood.

"you are a sister to me" from Wrex

Staring down and blowing up a Reaper on Rannoch

Tali and Ashley Drunk

Waking up next to Aria

Being punched by Jack

Space Hampster chase

Blasto the Hanar Spectre

"I'm Garrus Vakarian and this is my favorite spot on the Citadel"

Thresher Maw vs Reaper

Liara writes your name in the stars

Heroic Mordin curing the Genophage

Punching Han Gerrill

"This is for Thane you SOB!!!"    *STAB*

"I'll be back for you and I'll bring every fleet I can.  Good luck."

Yeah, ditto.  But I also agree with the guy that called Priestly on the deflecting. Distractions only work for so long. Reminding us about what we love in the game has the unfortunate consequence of reminding us of what we hate: the two-dimensional ending that reflects nothing of our choices throughout the five-year series and also carries science that flys in the face of what was stated in The Arrival.

Sorry, I'm not trying to be rude, but you've given so much variety and complex choices and issues through the series that having nothing even remotely similar in the ending (different colored explosions don't count, sorry) is utterly baffling. Especially for loyal fans to the series, the ending should have been epic.



BTW, the scene where the female krogan, Eve, shows up Wrex and blasts those Cerberus guys? That was awesome. "I can take care of myself, Wrex." Ha!

[Blackmind1]

stellap20 wrote...

well 105 pages on this post all of us saying the same thing. I agree with bwFex. Thats exactly how I feel. I finished it for the first time 5 days a go and I have been in a foul mood since. All I wanted was a house in the tropics with Garrus and our adopted krogan baby. How hard can that be. But nooooo I had to go and blow Shepard up one way or another.

I hope Bioware has something up there sleeve soon or I am loosing hope on them.

Just let us know what you are planning, we don't ask you to deliver it ASAP. All we ask is a hint. Just listening to us is no action.

This is the ending they planned. Listening to us is the best thing they can do for now. If they don't listen, then they can't move for a fix.

[vx SmOkEy xv]

TIm...

[Mister Despair]

The game was awesome. I've loved the entire ME series but the third was just amazing. The war felt realistic, the character development was immersive, and overall this game does a good job of getting an emotional response from the player.
That being said, the endings completely killed the entire series. It was a hell of a journey, but knowing this is the destination, I can't bring myself to replay any of the past games, let alone this one.
You did an amazing job on the game bioware, but I feel you flew too close to the sun.

Modifié par Mister Despair, 16 mars 2012 - 02:57 .

[Shinobu]

By now you have heard all of the arguments for why the ending is illogical and poorly executed. I'm going to come at it from a slightly different tack.

The reason this franchise is great is because it makes us care. All of the NPCs are fleshed out characters -- even the minor ones, like Reegar, or Gianna. We carefully plot our choices, worry and agonize because you have done such a great job of bringing these characters to life and making us love them. How many times in the past week have you heard "I always miss the bottle, because I don't want to one-up my bro, Garrus," or "I had to reload, because I promised Tali a house on Rannoch, dammit," or "I want my little blue children" or "I could never shoot Mordin, that's just evil"? We feel we know these characters, as if they actually ARE our friends and comrades-in-arms, our awkward exes and breathless new loves.

To me, it feels like the ending takes all of that and pretty much spits on it.

First, it makes the characters behave in a way we viscerally know they wouldn't. Joker would never leave Shepard. Shepard's LI would never leave Shepard. If anyone claimed they would, Shepard would stand up and punch them out. So, the first reaction to the Normandy scene is anger and disbelief. We feel: "How DARE anyone make them behave this way? Only someone who doesn't know and love the characters like I do could believe they would even do this!" Making  them appear happy or nonchalant instead of distraught at the loss of Shepard (esp. Synthesis) is just adding insult on top of injury.

Second, the game seems to say: "Your motivation for fighting is invalid. Care about something else." Mordin had it right: It's hard to anthropomorphize the galaxy. The players' motivation has always been about the "small picture." We want to cure the Genophage because it's killing Wrex's people. We want to stop the geth/Quarian conflict because Legion and Tali both deserve to live. By not giving us closure on our squad's fate and instead giving us some unnamed Stargazer, the game basically says: "Actually, forget those people we told you all along to bond with. You're supposed to be happy that there are any vaguely humanoid bipedal organics left in the galaxy. Yay!" To which the player replies: "I didn't fight and bleed for 100+ hours to save a poorly voice-acted nobody from the indeterminate future -- I fought to save Miranda! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH HER, YOU EVIL GAME?!" (Yes, I know it's Buzz Aldrin, but stunt casting people who can't act is disrespectful to the excellent voice actors who CAN create emotion, IMO.)

Third, the inevitability of doom, coupled with a complete lack of closure on our squad's fate leaves us feeling lost and griefstricken. Did they die in a system-sterilizing mass relay explosion? Did they starve to death after being stranded in Sol system without enough liveships? Were they cut in half by the Reaper beam? In contrast, Mordin's end was incredible. The circumstances depended on our choices, the cut scenes did his character and backstory justice and his death meant something to the fate of the galaxy (we thought). We watched him die. We knew what happened to him. To dispose of the remaining squad in a way that  1) is unvarying (if unknown), 2) has no consideration for their characters and 3) is not explicit dismisses the relationship and the struggle as unimportant. "Why should I broker peace between Krogans and Turians if Garrus is going to die anonymously anyway, no matter what I do?" This is what makes people say they can no longer play ANY of the Mass Effect games. Struggle is futile -- everyone is going to die. You don't know how, exactly, but they're going to die. Why should we start relationships with dead men? How can we enjoy romancing someone in ME2 when know they will only suffer horribly in the end and we will be unable to stop it? The problem is not the tragedy by itself. The problem is the tragedy compounded by inevitability and lack of closure, which retroactively destroys the relationship.

TL;DR
Bioware, you made amazing characters that we love and you actively promoted our attachments to them.
The ending then treats our relationships with the NPCs as worthless:
1) By contradicting everything we know about our squaddies and LIs. (Slander! They would never leave us.)
2) By suddenly changing the focus/goal. ("Who cares about Liara? Here, have some nameless grandpa!")
3) By killing them offstage without giving closure or choice in their fates. (Did you not do the dog tags quest? Closure matters. How can you make a quest about it and yet not internalize that knowledge?!)

All along we have heard: "Love your squad! Your choices matter! "
The end pulls a complete 180: "Who cares about them? You can't affect what horrible things will happen to them anyway. In fact, they're so insignificant we can't be bothered to let you know how they die. Oh, and by the way, they never loved you."

This could have been the greatest game written so far, in any genre. It WAS the greatest, most emotionally affecting game I have ever played. Until it destroyed my rationale for playing.

I am heartbroken.

[Piarath]

bwFex wrote...

I really have been trying to let myself get over this nightmare, but since you guys promise you're listening here, I'll try to just say it all, get it all out.

I have invested more of myself into this series than almost any other video game franchise in my life. I loved this game. I believed in it. For five years, it delivered. I must have played ME1 and ME2 a dozen times each.

I remember the end of Mass Effect 2. Never before, in any video game I had ever played, did I feel like my actions really mattered. Knowing that the decisions I made and the hard work I put into ME2 had a very real, clear, obvious impact on who lived and who died was one of the most astounding feelings in the world to me. I remember when that laser hit the Normandy and Joker made a comment about how he was happy we upgraded the shields. That was amazing. Cause and effect. Work and reward.

The first time I went through, I lost Mordin, and it was gut-wrenching: watching him die because I made a bad decision was damning, heartbreaking. But it wasn't hopeless, because I knew I could go back, do better, and save him. I knew that I was in control, that my actions mattered. So that's exactly what I did. I reviewed my decisions, found my mistakes, and did everything right. I put together a plan, I worked hard to follow that plan, and I got the reward I had worked so hard for. And then, it was all for nothing.

When I started playing Mass Effect 3, I was blown away. It was perfect. Everything was perfect. It was incredible to see all of my decisions playing out in front of me, building up to new and outrageous outcomes. I was so sure that this was it, this was going to be the masterpiece that crowned an already near-perfect trilogy. With every war asset I gathered, and with every multiplayer game I won, I knew that my work would pay off, that I would be truly satisfied with the outcome of my hard work and smart decisions. Every time I acquired a new WA bonus, I couldn't wait to see how it would play out in the final battle. And then, it was all for nothing.

I wasn't expecting a perfect, happy ending with rainbows and butterflies. In fact, I think I may have been insulted if everyone made it through just fine. The Reapers are an enormous threat (although obviously not as invincible as they would like us to believe), and we should be right to anticipate heavy losses. But I never lost hope. I built alliances, I made the impossible happen to rally the galaxy together. I cured the genophage. I saved the Turians. I united the geth and the quarians. And then, it was all for nothing.

When Mordin died, it was heartwrenching, but I knew it was the right thing. His sacrifice was... perfect. It made sense. It was congruent with the dramatic themes that had been present since I very first met Wrex in ME1. It was not a cheap trick, a deus ex machina, an easy out. It was beautiful, meaningful, significant, relevant, and satisfying. It was an amazing way for an amazing character to sacrifice themself for an amazing thing. And then it was all for nothing.

When Thane died, it was tearjerking. I knew from the moment he explained his illness that one day, I'd have to deal with his death. I knew he was never going to survive the trilogy, and I knew it wouldn't be fun to watch him go. But when his son started reading the prayer, I lost it. His death was beautiful. It was significant. It was relevant. It was satisfying. It was meaningful. He died to protect Shepard, to protect the entire Citadel. He took a life he thought was unredeemable and used it to make the world a brighter place. And then it was all for nothing.

When Wrex and Eve thanked me for saving their species, I felt that I had truly accomplished something great. When Tali set foot on her homeworld, I felt that I had truly accomplished something great. When Javik gave his inspiring speech, I felt that I had inspired something truly great. When I activated the Citadel's arms, sat down to reminisce with Anderson one final time, I felt that I had truly accomplished something amazing. I felt that my sacrifice was meaningful. Significant. Relevant. And while still a completely unexplained deus ex machina, at least it was a little bit satisfying.

And then, just like everything else in this trilogy, it was all for nothing.

If we pretend like the indoctrination theory is false, and we're really supposed to take the ending at face value, this entire game is a lost cause. The krogans will never repopulate. The quarians will never rebuild their home world. The geth will never know what it means to be alive and independent. The salarians will never see how people can change for the better.

Instead, the quarians and turians will endure a quick, torturous extinction as they slowly starve to death, trapped in a system with no support for them. Everyone else will squabble over the scraps of Earth that haven't been completely obliterated, until the krogans drive them all to extinction and then die off without any women present. And this is all assuming that the relays didn't cause supernova-scaled extinction events simply by being destroyed, like we saw in Arrival.

And perhaps the worst part is that we don't even know. We don't know what happened to our squadmates. We didn't get any sort of catharsis, conclusion. We got five years of literary foreplay followed by a kick to the groin and a note telling us that in a couple months, we can pay Bioware $15 for them to do it to us all over again.

It's not just the abysmally depressing/sacrificial nature of the ending, either. As I've already made perfectly clear, I came into this game expecting sacrifice. When Mordin did it, it was beautiful. When Thane did it, it was beautiful. Even Verner. Stupid, misguided, idiotic Verner. Even his ridiculous sacrifice had meaning, relevance, coherence, and offered satisfaction.

No, it's not the sacrifice I have a problem with. It's the utter lack of coherence and respect for the five years of literary gold that have already been established in this franchise. We spent three games preparing to fight these reapers. I spent hours upon hours doing every side quest, picking up every war asset, maxing out my galactic readiness so that when the time came, the army I had built could make a stand, and show these Reapers that we won't go down without a fight.

In ME1, we did the impossible when we killed Sovereign. In ME2, we began to see that the Reapers aren't as immortal as they claim to be: that even they have basic needs, exploitable weaknesses. In ME3, we saw the Reapers die. We saw one get taken down by an overgrown worm. We saw one die with a few coordinated orbital bombardments. We saw several ripped apart by standard space combat. In ME1, it took three alliance fleets to kill the "invincible" Sovereign. By the end of ME3, I had assembled a galactic armada fifty times more powerful than that, and a thousand times more prepared. I never expected the fight to be easy, but I proved that we wouldn't go down without a fight, that there is always hope in unity. That's the theme we've been given for the past five years: there is hope and strength through unity. That if we work together, we can achieve the impossible.

And then we're supposed to believe that the fate of the galaxy comes down to some completely unexplained starchild asking Shepard what his favorite color is? That the army we built was all for nothing? That the squad whose loyalty we fought so hard for was all for nothing? That in the end, none of it mattered at all?

It's a poetic notion, but this isn't the place for poetry. It's one thing to rattle prose nihilistic over the course of a movie or ballad, where the audience is a passive observer, learning a lesson from the suffering and futility of a character, but that's not what Mass Effect is. Mass Effect has always been about making the player the true hero. If you really want us to all feel like we spent the past five years dumping time, energy, and emotional investment into this game just to tell us that nothing really matters, you have signed your own death certificate. Nobody pays hundreds of dollars and hours to be reminded how bleak, empty, and depressing the world can be, to be told that nothing we do matters, to be told that all of our greatest accomplishments, all of our faith, all of our work, all of our unity is for nothing.

No. It simply cannot be this bleak. I refuse to believe Bioware is really doing this. The ending of ME1 was perfect. We saw the struggle, we saw the cost, but we knew that we had worked hard, worked together, and won. The ending of ME2 was perfect. We saw the struggle, we saw the cost, but we knew that we had worked hard, worked together, and won.

Taken at face value, the end of ME3 throws every single thing we've done in the past five years into the wind, and makes the player watch from a distance as the entire galaxy is thrown into a technological dark age and a stellar extinction. Why would we care about a universe that no longer exists? We should we invest any more time or money into a world that will never be what we came to know and love?

Even if the ending is retconned, it doesn't make things better. Just knowing that the starchild was our real foe the entire time is so utterly mindless, contrived, and irrelevant to what we experienced in ME1 and ME2 that it cannot be forgiven. If that really is the truth, then Mass Effect simply isn't what we thought it was. And frankly, if this is what Mass Effect was supposed to be all along, I want no part of it. It's a useless, trite, overplayed cliche, so far beneath the praise I once gave this franchise that it hurts to think about.

No. There is no way to save this franchise without giving us the only explanation that makes sense. You know what it is. It was the plan all along. Too much evidence to not be true. Too many people reaching the same conclusions independently.

The indoctrination theory doesn't just save this franchise: it elevates it to one of the most powerful and compelling storytelling experiences I've ever had in my life. The fact that you managed to do more than indoctrinate Shepard - you managed to indoctrinate the players themselves - is astonishing. If that really was the end game, here, then you have won my gaming soul. But if that's true, then I'm still waiting for the rest of this story, the final chapter of Shepard's heroic journey. I paid to finish the fight, and if the indoctrination theory is true, it's not over yet.

And if it's not, then I just don't even care. I have been betrayed, and it's time for me to let go of the denial, the anger, the bargaining, and start working through the depression and emptiness until I can just move on. You can't keep teasing us like this. This must have seemed like a great plan at the time, but it has cost too much. These people believed in you. I believed in you.

Just make it right.

I'm just gonna join everyone else in this and repeat what this guy  said. Shepard was all about conquering insurmountable odds to win, and we've seen the whole sacrafice thing go down each time. Just... yeah. This. Make it right.

[Zanturaz]

I really love Mass Effect and I'm fine with everything in the games, but one thing really bothered me to the point I vomited in anxiety, was the ending you choose to put in ME3. I felt like your writers basically got lazy and put up a middle finger to all of us fans. Over many gaming community sites, I've read nothing but hate about the endings. People want the Reapers gone, Relays stay, and Shepard lives to be with his Romantic choice the player chose. I'd even like to see the games story expand beyond ME3 into an ME4 or some MMO. I really love this game and all the aspects in it, but I'm just a bit mad about the endings..

[Muezick]

Five star post bwFex

I still can't believe Casey Hudson and Mac Walters did this.

It's the stupidest thing they could've ever done.

When you're a politician and you make a mistake like this IT ENDS YOUR CAREER!

I hope the same thing happens to them. That's not an attack, that's a visceral opinion.

THANKS FOR RUINING THE BEST GAME TRILOGY EVER MADE.

I'm never buying another bioware product as long as I live.


and i'm willing to bet that "Minority" (p.s. when 98% of your sample size reports the same conclusion it's not a minority) on the forums that voted against the current endings wont be buying another bioware game either.

[Visserian99]

Piarath wrote...

bwFex wrote...

I really have been trying to let myself get over this nightmare, but since you guys promise you're listening here, I'll try to just say it all, get it all out.

I have invested more of myself into this series than almost any other video game franchise in my life. I loved this game. I believed in it. For five years, it delivered. I must have played ME1 and ME2 a dozen times each.

I remember the end of Mass Effect 2. Never before, in any video game I had ever played, did I feel like my actions really mattered. Knowing that the decisions I made and the hard work I put into ME2 had a very real, clear, obvious impact on who lived and who died was one of the most astounding feelings in the world to me. I remember when that laser hit the Normandy and Joker made a comment about how he was happy we upgraded the shields. That was amazing. Cause and effect. Work and reward.

The first time I went through, I lost Mordin, and it was gut-wrenching: watching him die because I made a bad decision was damning, heartbreaking. But it wasn't hopeless, because I knew I could go back, do better, and save him. I knew that I was in control, that my actions mattered. So that's exactly what I did. I reviewed my decisions, found my mistakes, and did everything right. I put together a plan, I worked hard to follow that plan, and I got the reward I had worked so hard for. And then, it was all for nothing.

When I started playing Mass Effect 3, I was blown away. It was perfect. Everything was perfect. It was incredible to see all of my decisions playing out in front of me, building up to new and outrageous outcomes. I was so sure that this was it, this was going to be the masterpiece that crowned an already near-perfect trilogy. With every war asset I gathered, and with every multiplayer game I won, I knew that my work would pay off, that I would be truly satisfied with the outcome of my hard work and smart decisions. Every time I acquired a new WA bonus, I couldn't wait to see how it would play out in the final battle. And then, it was all for nothing.

I wasn't expecting a perfect, happy ending with rainbows and butterflies. In fact, I think I may have been insulted if everyone made it through just fine. The Reapers are an enormous threat (although obviously not as invincible as they would like us to believe), and we should be right to anticipate heavy losses. But I never lost hope. I built alliances, I made the impossible happen to rally the galaxy together. I cured the genophage. I saved the Turians. I united the geth and the quarians. And then, it was all for nothing.

When Mordin died, it was heartwrenching, but I knew it was the right thing. His sacrifice was... perfect. It made sense. It was congruent with the dramatic themes that had been present since I very first met Wrex in ME1. It was not a cheap trick, a deus ex machina, an easy out. It was beautiful, meaningful, significant, relevant, and satisfying. It was an amazing way for an amazing character to sacrifice themself for an amazing thing. And then it was all for nothing.

When Thane died, it was tearjerking. I knew from the moment he explained his illness that one day, I'd have to deal with his death. I knew he was never going to survive the trilogy, and I knew it wouldn't be fun to watch him go. But when his son started reading the prayer, I lost it. His death was beautiful. It was significant. It was relevant. It was satisfying. It was meaningful. He died to protect Shepard, to protect the entire Citadel. He took a life he thought was unredeemable and used it to make the world a brighter place. And then it was all for nothing.

When Wrex and Eve thanked me for saving their species, I felt that I had truly accomplished something great. When Tali set foot on her homeworld, I felt that I had truly accomplished something great. When Javik gave his inspiring speech, I felt that I had inspired something truly great. When I activated the Citadel's arms, sat down to reminisce with Anderson one final time, I felt that I had truly accomplished something amazing. I felt that my sacrifice was meaningful. Significant. Relevant. And while still a completely unexplained deus ex machina, at least it was a little bit satisfying.

And then, just like everything else in this trilogy, it was all for nothing.

If we pretend like the indoctrination theory is false, and we're really supposed to take the ending at face value, this entire game is a lost cause. The krogans will never repopulate. The quarians will never rebuild their home world. The geth will never know what it means to be alive and independent. The salarians will never see how people can change for the better.

Instead, the quarians and turians will endure a quick, torturous extinction as they slowly starve to death, trapped in a system with no support for them. Everyone else will squabble over the scraps of Earth that haven't been completely obliterated, until the krogans drive them all to extinction and then die off without any women present. And this is all assuming that the relays didn't cause supernova-scaled extinction events simply by being destroyed, like we saw in Arrival.

And perhaps the worst part is that we don't even know. We don't know what happened to our squadmates. We didn't get any sort of catharsis, conclusion. We got five years of literary foreplay followed by a kick to the groin and a note telling us that in a couple months, we can pay Bioware $15 for them to do it to us all over again.

It's not just the abysmally depressing/sacrificial nature of the ending, either. As I've already made perfectly clear, I came into this game expecting sacrifice. When Mordin did it, it was beautiful. When Thane did it, it was beautiful. Even Verner. Stupid, misguided, idiotic Verner. Even his ridiculous sacrifice had meaning, relevance, coherence, and offered satisfaction.

No, it's not the sacrifice I have a problem with. It's the utter lack of coherence and respect for the five years of literary gold that have already been established in this franchise. We spent three games preparing to fight these reapers. I spent hours upon hours doing every side quest, picking up every war asset, maxing out my galactic readiness so that when the time came, the army I had built could make a stand, and show these Reapers that we won't go down without a fight.

In ME1, we did the impossible when we killed Sovereign. In ME2, we began to see that the Reapers aren't as immortal as they claim to be: that even they have basic needs, exploitable weaknesses. In ME3, we saw the Reapers die. We saw one get taken down by an overgrown worm. We saw one die with a few coordinated orbital bombardments. We saw several ripped apart by standard space combat. In ME1, it took three alliance fleets to kill the "invincible" Sovereign. By the end of ME3, I had assembled a galactic armada fifty times more powerful than that, and a thousand times more prepared. I never expected the fight to be easy, but I proved that we wouldn't go down without a fight, that there is always hope in unity. That's the theme we've been given for the past five years: there is hope and strength through unity. That if we work together, we can achieve the impossible.

And then we're supposed to believe that the fate of the galaxy comes down to some completely unexplained starchild asking Shepard what his favorite color is? That the army we built was all for nothing? That the squad whose loyalty we fought so hard for was all for nothing? That in the end, none of it mattered at all?

It's a poetic notion, but this isn't the place for poetry. It's one thing to rattle prose nihilistic over the course of a movie or ballad, where the audience is a passive observer, learning a lesson from the suffering and futility of a character, but that's not what Mass Effect is. Mass Effect has always been about making the player the true hero. If you really want us to all feel like we spent the past five years dumping time, energy, and emotional investment into this game just to tell us that nothing really matters, you have signed your own death certificate. Nobody pays hundreds of dollars and hours to be reminded how bleak, empty, and depressing the world can be, to be told that nothing we do matters, to be told that all of our greatest accomplishments, all of our faith, all of our work, all of our unity is for nothing.

No. It simply cannot be this bleak. I refuse to believe Bioware is really doing this. The ending of ME1 was perfect. We saw the struggle, we saw the cost, but we knew that we had worked hard, worked together, and won. The ending of ME2 was perfect. We saw the struggle, we saw the cost, but we knew that we had worked hard, worked together, and won.

Taken at face value, the end of ME3 throws every single thing we've done in the past five years into the wind, and makes the player watch from a distance as the entire galaxy is thrown into a technological dark age and a stellar extinction. Why would we care about a universe that no longer exists? We should we invest any more time or money into a world that will never be what we came to know and love?

Even if the ending is retconned, it doesn't make things better. Just knowing that the starchild was our real foe the entire time is so utterly mindless, contrived, and irrelevant to what we experienced in ME1 and ME2 that it cannot be forgiven. If that really is the truth, then Mass Effect simply isn't what we thought it was. And frankly, if this is what Mass Effect was supposed to be all along, I want no part of it. It's a useless, trite, overplayed cliche, so far beneath the praise I once gave this franchise that it hurts to think about.

No. There is no way to save this franchise without giving us the only explanation that makes sense. You know what it is. It was the plan all along. Too much evidence to not be true. Too many people reaching the same conclusions independently.

The indoctrination theory doesn't just save this franchise: it elevates it to one of the most powerful and compelling storytelling experiences I've ever had in my life. The fact that you managed to do more than indoctrinate Shepard - you managed to indoctrinate the players themselves - is astonishing. If that really was the end game, here, then you have won my gaming soul. But if that's true, then I'm still waiting for the rest of this story, the final chapter of Shepard's heroic journey. I paid to finish the fight, and if the indoctrination theory is true, it's not over yet.

And if it's not, then I just don't even care. I have been betrayed, and it's time for me to let go of the denial, the anger, the bargaining, and start working through the depression and emptiness until I can just move on. You can't keep teasing us like this. This must have seemed like a great plan at the time, but it has cost too much. These people believed in you. I believed in you.

Just make it right.

I'm just gonna join everyone else in this and repeat what this guy  said. Shepard was all about conquering insurmountable odds to win, and we've seen the whole sacrafice thing go down each time. Just... yeah. This. Make it right.

This post sums it up better than i ever could.

[taymorr]

Anevers wrote...

Kyzee wrote...

 
bwFex wrote...

I really have been trying to let myself get over this nightmare, but since you guys promise you're listening here, I'll try to just say it all, get it all out.

I have invested more of myself into this series than almost any other video game franchise in my life. I loved this game. I believed in it. For five years, it delivered. I must have played ME1 and ME2 a dozen times each.

I remember the end of Mass Effect 2. Never before, in any video game I had ever played, did I feel like my actions really mattered. Knowing that the decisions I made and the hard work I put into ME2 had a very real, clear, obvious impact on who lived and who died was one of the most astounding feelings in the world to me. I remember when that laser hit the Normandy and Joker made a comment about how he was happy we upgraded the shields. That was amazing. Cause and effect. Work and reward.

The first time I went through, I lost Mordin, and it was gut-wrenching: watching him die because I made a bad decision was damning, heartbreaking. But it wasn't hopeless, because I knew I could go back, do better, and save him. I knew that I was in control, that my actions mattered. So that's exactly what I did. I reviewed my decisions, found my mistakes, and did everything right. I put together a plan, I worked hard to follow that plan, and I got the reward I had worked so hard for. And then, it was all for nothing.

When I started playing Mass Effect 3, I was blown away. It was perfect. Everything was perfect. It was incredible to see all of my decisions playing out in front of me, building up to new and outrageous outcomes. I was so sure that this was it, this was going to be the masterpiece that crowned an already near-perfect trilogy. With every war asset I gathered, and with every multiplayer game I won, I knew that my work would pay off, that I would be truly satisfied with the outcome of my hard work and smart decisions. Every time I acquired a new WA bonus, I couldn't wait to see how it would play out in the final battle. And then, it was all for nothing.

I wasn't expecting a perfect, happy ending with rainbows and butterflies. In fact, I think I may have been insulted if everyone made it through just fine. The Reapers are an enormous threat (although obviously not as invincible as they would like us to believe), and we should be right to anticipate heavy losses. But I never lost hope. I built alliances, I made the impossible happen to rally the galaxy together. I cured the genophage. I saved the Turians. I united the geth and the quarians. And then, it was all for nothing.

When Mordin died, it was heartwrenching, but I knew it was the right thing. His sacrifice was... perfect. It made sense. It was congruent with the dramatic themes that had been present since I very first met Wrex in ME1. It was not a cheap trick, a deus ex machina, an easy out. It was beautiful, meaningful, significant, relevant, and satisfying. It was an amazing way for an amazing character to sacrifice themself for an amazing thing. And then it was all for nothing.

When Thane died, it was tearjerking. I knew from the moment he explained his illness that one day, I'd have to deal with his death. I knew he was never going to survive the trilogy, and I knew it wouldn't be fun to watch him go. But when his son started reading the prayer, I lost it. His death was beautiful. It was significant. It was relevant. It was satisfying. It was meaningful. He died to protect Shepard, to protect the entire Citadel. He took a life he thought was unredeemable and used it to make the world a brighter place. And then it was all for nothing.

When Wrex and Eve thanked me for saving their species, I felt that I had truly accomplished something great. When Tali set foot on her homeworld, I felt that I had truly accomplished something great. When Javik gave his inspiring speech, I felt that I had inspired something truly great. When I activated the Citadel's arms, sat down to reminisce with Anderson one final time, I felt that I had truly accomplished something amazing. I felt that my sacrifice was meaningful. Significant. Relevant. And while still a completely unexplained deus ex machina, at least it was a little bit satisfying.

And then, just like everything else in this trilogy, it was all for nothing.

If we pretend like the indoctrination theory is false, and we're really supposed to take the ending at face value, this entire game is a lost cause. The krogans will never repopulate. The quarians will never rebuild their home world. The geth will never know what it means to be alive and independent. The salarians will never see how people can change for the better.

Instead, the quarians and turians will endure a quick, torturous extinction as they slowly starve to death, trapped in a system with no support for them. Everyone else will squabble over the scraps of Earth that haven't been completely obliterated, until the krogans drive them all to extinction and then die off without any women present. And this is all assuming that the relays didn't cause supernova-scaled extinction events simply by being destroyed, like we saw in Arrival.

And perhaps the worst part is that we don't even know. We don't know what happened to our squadmates. We didn't get any sort of catharsis, conclusion. We got five years of literary foreplay followed by a kick to the groin and a note telling us that in a couple months, we can pay Bioware $15 for them to do it to us all over again.

It's not just the abysmally depressing/sacrificial nature of the ending, either. As I've already made perfectly clear, I came into this game expecting sacrifice. When Mordin did it, it was beautiful. When Thane did it, it was beautiful. Even Verner. Stupid, misguided, idiotic Verner. Even his ridiculous sacrifice had meaning, relevance, coherence, and offered satisfaction.

No, it's not the sacrifice I have a problem with. It's the utter lack of coherence and respect for the five years of literary gold that have already been established in this franchise. We spent three games preparing to fight these reapers. I spent hours upon hours doing every side quest, picking up every war asset, maxing out my galactic readiness so that when the time came, the army I had built could make a stand, and show these Reapers that we won't go down without a fight.

In ME1, we did the impossible when we killed Sovereign. In ME2, we began to see that the Reapers aren't as immortal as they claim to be: that even they have basic needs, exploitable weaknesses. In ME3, we saw the Reapers die. We saw one get taken down by an overgrown worm. We saw one die with a few coordinated orbital bombardments. We saw several ripped apart by standard space combat. In ME1, it took three alliance fleets to kill the "invincible" Sovereign. By the end of ME3, I had assembled a galactic armada fifty times more powerful than that, and a thousand times more prepared. I never expected the fight to be easy, but I proved that we wouldn't go down without a fight, that there is always hope in unity. That's the theme we've been given for the past five years: there is hope and strength through unity. That if we work together, we can achieve the impossible.

And then we're supposed to believe that the fate of the galaxy comes down to some completely unexplained starchild asking Shepard what his favorite color is? That the army we built was all for nothing? That the squad whose loyalty we fought so hard for was all for nothing? That in the end, none of it mattered at all?

It's a poetic notion, but this isn't the place for poetry. It's one thing to rattle prose nihilistic over the course of a movie or ballad, where the audience is a passive observer, learning a lesson from the suffering and futility of a character, but that's not what Mass Effect is. Mass Effect has always been about making the player the true hero. If you really want us to all feel like we spent the past five years dumping time, energy, and emotional investment into this game just to tell us that nothing really matters, you have signed your own death certificate. Nobody pays hundreds of dollars and hours to be reminded how bleak, empty, and depressing the world can be, to be told that nothing we do matters, to be told that all of our greatest accomplishments, all of our faith, all of our work, all of our unity is for nothing.

No. It simply cannot be this bleak. I refuse to believe Bioware is really doing this. The ending of ME1 was perfect. We saw the struggle, we saw the cost, but we knew that we had worked hard, worked together, and won. The ending of ME2 was perfect. We saw the struggle, we saw the cost, but we knew that we had worked hard, worked together, and won.

Taken at face value, the end of ME3 throws every single thing we've done in the past five years into the wind, and makes the player watch from a distance as the entire galaxy is thrown into a technological dark age and a stellar extinction. Why would we care about a universe that no longer exists? We should we invest any more time or money into a world that will never be what we came to know and love?

Even if the ending is retconned, it doesn't make things better. Just knowing that the starchild was our real foe the entire time is so utterly mindless, contrived, and irrelevant to what we experienced in ME1 and ME2 that it cannot be forgiven. If that really is the truth, then Mass Effect simply isn't what we thought it was. And frankly, if this is what Mass Effect was supposed to be all along, I want no part of it. It's a useless, trite, overplayed cliche, so far beneath the praise I once gave this franchise that it hurts to think about.

No. There is no way to save this franchise without giving us the only explanation that makes sense. You know what it is. It was the plan all along. Too much evidence to not be true. Too many people reaching the same conclusions independently.

The indoctrination theory doesn't just save this franchise: it elevates it to one of the most powerful and compelling storytelling experiences I've ever had in my life. The fact that you managed to do more than indoctrinate Shepard - you managed to indoctrinate the players themselves - is astonishing. If that really was the end game, here, then you have won my gaming soul. But if that's true, then I'm still waiting for the rest of this story, the final chapter of Shepard's heroic journey. I paid to finish the fight, and if the indoctrination theory is true, it's not over yet.

And if it's not, then I just don't even care. I have been betrayed, and it's time for me to let go of the denial, the anger, the bargaining, and start working through the depression and emptiness until I can just move on. You can't keep teasing us like this. This must have seemed like a great plan at the time, but it has cost too much. These people believed in you. I believed in you.

Just make it right.

This is one of the best posts I've read. 100% perfect.

This said it best.

this needed to be said i agree with it completely
we will hold the line

[Hanabii]

 
bwFex wrote...

I really have been trying to let myself get over this nightmare, but since you guys promise you're listening here, I'll try to just say it all, get it all out.

I have invested more of myself into this series than almost any other video game franchise in my life. I loved this game. I believed in it. For five years, it delivered. I must have played ME1 and ME2 a dozen times each.

I remember the end of Mass Effect 2. Never before, in any video game I had ever played, did I feel like my actions really mattered. Knowing that the decisions I made and the hard work I put into ME2 had a very real, clear, obvious impact on who lived and who died was one of the most astounding feelings in the world to me. I remember when that laser hit the Normandy and Joker made a comment about how he was happy we upgraded the shields. That was amazing. Cause and effect. Work and reward.

The first time I went through, I lost Mordin, and it was gut-wrenching: watching him die because I made a bad decision was damning, heartbreaking. But it wasn't hopeless, because I knew I could go back, do better, and save him. I knew that I was in control, that my actions mattered. So that's exactly what I did. I reviewed my decisions, found my mistakes, and did everything right. I put together a plan, I worked hard to follow that plan, and I got the reward I had worked so hard for. And then, it was all for nothing.

When I started playing Mass Effect 3, I was blown away. It was perfect. Everything was perfect. It was incredible to see all of my decisions playing out in front of me, building up to new and outrageous outcomes. I was so sure that this was it, this was going to be the masterpiece that crowned an already near-perfect trilogy. With every war asset I gathered, and with every multiplayer game I won, I knew that my work would pay off, that I would be truly satisfied with the outcome of my hard work and smart decisions. Every time I acquired a new WA bonus, I couldn't wait to see how it would play out in the final battle. And then, it was all for nothing.

I wasn't expecting a perfect, happy ending with rainbows and butterflies. In fact, I think I may have been insulted if everyone made it through just fine. The Reapers are an enormous threat (although obviously not as invincible as they would like us to believe), and we should be right to anticipate heavy losses. But I never lost hope. I built alliances, I made the impossible happen to rally the galaxy together. I cured the genophage. I saved the Turians. I united the geth and the quarians. And then, it was all for nothing.

When Mordin died, it was heartwrenching, but I knew it was the right thing. His sacrifice was... perfect. It made sense. It was congruent with the dramatic themes that had been present since I very first met Wrex in ME1. It was not a cheap trick, a deus ex machina, an easy out. It was beautiful, meaningful, significant, relevant, and satisfying. It was an amazing way for an amazing character to sacrifice themself for an amazing thing. And then it was all for nothing.

When Thane died, it was tearjerking. I knew from the moment he explained his illness that one day, I'd have to deal with his death. I knew he was never going to survive the trilogy, and I knew it wouldn't be fun to watch him go. But when his son started reading the prayer, I lost it. His death was beautiful. It was significant. It was relevant. It was satisfying. It was meaningful. He died to protect Shepard, to protect the entire Citadel. He took a life he thought was unredeemable and used it to make the world a brighter place. And then it was all for nothing.

When Wrex and Eve thanked me for saving their species, I felt that I had truly accomplished something great. When Tali set foot on her homeworld, I felt that I had truly accomplished something great. When Javik gave his inspiring speech, I felt that I had inspired something truly great. When I activated the Citadel's arms, sat down to reminisce with Anderson one final time, I felt that I had truly accomplished something amazing. I felt that my sacrifice was meaningful. Significant. Relevant. And while still a completely unexplained deus ex machina, at least it was a little bit satisfying.

And then, just like everything else in this trilogy, it was all for nothing.

If we pretend like the indoctrination theory is false, and we're really supposed to take the ending at face value, this entire game is a lost cause. The krogans will never repopulate. The quarians will never rebuild their home world. The geth will never know what it means to be alive and independent. The salarians will never see how people can change for the better.

Instead, the quarians and turians will endure a quick, torturous extinction as they slowly starve to death, trapped in a system with no support for them. Everyone else will squabble over the scraps of Earth that haven't been completely obliterated, until the krogans drive them all to extinction and then die off without any women present. And this is all assuming that the relays didn't cause supernova-scaled extinction events simply by being destroyed, like we saw in Arrival.

And perhaps the worst part is that we don't even know. We don't know what happened to our squadmates. We didn't get any sort of catharsis, conclusion. We got five years of literary foreplay followed by a kick to the groin and a note telling us that in a couple months, we can pay Bioware $15 for them to do it to us all over again.

It's not just the abysmally depressing/sacrificial nature of the ending, either. As I've already made perfectly clear, I came into this game expecting sacrifice. When Mordin did it, it was beautiful. When Thane did it, it was beautiful. Even Verner. Stupid, misguided, idiotic Verner. Even his ridiculous sacrifice had meaning, relevance, coherence, and offered satisfaction.

No, it's not the sacrifice I have a problem with. It's the utter lack of coherence and respect for the five years of literary gold that have already been established in this franchise. We spent three games preparing to fight these reapers. I spent hours upon hours doing every side quest, picking up every war asset, maxing out my galactic readiness so that when the time came, the army I had built could make a stand, and show these Reapers that we won't go down without a fight.

In ME1, we did the impossible when we killed Sovereign. In ME2, we began to see that the Reapers aren't as immortal as they claim to be: that even they have basic needs, exploitable weaknesses. In ME3, we saw the Reapers die. We saw one get taken down by an overgrown worm. We saw one die with a few coordinated orbital bombardments. We saw several ripped apart by standard space combat. In ME1, it took three alliance fleets to kill the "invincible" Sovereign. By the end of ME3, I had assembled a galactic armada fifty times more powerful than that, and a thousand times more prepared. I never expected the fight to be easy, but I proved that we wouldn't go down without a fight, that there is always hope in unity. That's the theme we've been given for the past five years: there is hope and strength through unity. That if we work together, we can achieve the impossible.

And then we're supposed to believe that the fate of the galaxy comes down to some completely unexplained starchild asking Shepard what his favorite color is? That the army we built was all for nothing? That the squad whose loyalty we fought so hard for was all for nothing? That in the end, none of it mattered at all?

It's a poetic notion, but this isn't the place for poetry. It's one thing to rattle prose nihilistic over the course of a movie or ballad, where the audience is a passive observer, learning a lesson from the suffering and futility of a character, but that's not what Mass Effect is. Mass Effect has always been about making the player the true hero. If you really want us to all feel like we spent the past five years dumping time, energy, and emotional investment into this game just to tell us that nothing really matters, you have signed your own death certificate. Nobody pays hundreds of dollars and hours to be reminded how bleak, empty, and depressing the world can be, to be told that nothing we do matters, to be told that all of our greatest accomplishments, all of our faith, all of our work, all of our unity is for nothing.

No. It simply cannot be this bleak. I refuse to believe Bioware is really doing this. The ending of ME1 was perfect. We saw the struggle, we saw the cost, but we knew that we had worked hard, worked together, and won. The ending of ME2 was perfect. We saw the struggle, we saw the cost, but we knew that we had worked hard, worked together, and won.

Taken at face value, the end of ME3 throws every single thing we've done in the past five years into the wind, and makes the player watch from a distance as the entire galaxy is thrown into a technological dark age and a stellar extinction. Why would we care about a universe that no longer exists? We should we invest any more time or money into a world that will never be what we came to know and love?

Even if the ending is retconned, it doesn't make things better. Just knowing that the starchild was our real foe the entire time is so utterly mindless, contrived, and irrelevant to what we experienced in ME1 and ME2 that it cannot be forgiven. If that really is the truth, then Mass Effect simply isn't what we thought it was. And frankly, if this is what Mass Effect was supposed to be all along, I want no part of it. It's a useless, trite, overplayed cliche, so far beneath the praise I once gave this franchise that it hurts to think about.

No. There is no way to save this franchise without giving us the only explanation that makes sense. You know what it is. It was the plan all along. Too much evidence to not be true. Too many people reaching the same conclusions independently.

The indoctrination theory doesn't just save this franchise: it elevates it to one of the most powerful and compelling storytelling experiences I've ever had in my life. The fact that you managed to do more than indoctrinate Shepard - you managed to indoctrinate the players themselves - is astonishing. If that really was the end game, here, then you have won my gaming soul. But if that's true, then I'm still waiting for the rest of this story, the final chapter of Shepard's heroic journey. I paid to finish the fight, and if the indoctrination theory is true, it's not over yet.

And if it's not, then I just don't even care. I have been betrayed, and it's time for me to let go of the denial, the anger, the bargaining, and start working through the depression and emptiness until I can just move on. You can't keep teasing us like this. This must have seemed like a great plan at the time, but it has cost too much. These people believed in you. I believed in you.

Just make it right.

Translated to Pig-Latin.

exbwFAY otewray...

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atchway imhay ogay. Utbay enwhay ishay onsay artedstay eadingray
 ethay ayerpray, Iway ostlay itway. Ishay eathday asway
eautifulbay. Itway asway ignificantsay. Itway asway elevantray.
Itway asway atisfyingsay. Itway asway eaningfulmay. Ehay iedday
otay otectpray Epardshay, otay otectpray ethay entireway
Itadelcay. Ehay ooktay away ifelay ehay oughtthay asway
unredeemableway andway usedway itway otay akemay ethay orldway
away ighterbray aceplay. Andway enthay itway asway allway orfay
othingnay.

Enwhay Exwray andway Eveway ankedthay emay orfay avingsay
eirthay eciesspay, Iway eltfay atthay Iway adhay ulytray
accomplishedway omethingsay eatgray. Enwhay Alitay etsay ootfay
onway erhay omeworldhay, Iway eltfay atthay Iway adhay ulytray
accomplishedway omethingsay eatgray. Enwhay Avikjay avegay ishay
 inspiringway eechspay, Iway eltfay atthay Iway adhay
inspiredway omethingsay ulytray eatgray. Enwhay Iway
activatedway ethay Itadel'scay armsway, atsay ownday otay
eminisceray ithway Andersonway oneway inalfay imetay, Iway
eltfay atthay Iway adhay ulytray accomplishedway omethingsay
amazingway. Iway eltfay atthay ymay acrificesay asway
eaningfulmay. Ignificantsay. Elevantray. Andway ilewhay illstay
away ompletelycay unexplainedway eusday exway achinamay, atway
eastlay itway asway away ittlelay itbay atisfyingsay.

Andway enthay, ustjay ikelay everythingway elseway inway isthay
ilogytray, itway asway allway orfay othingnay.

Ifway eway etendpray ikelay ethay indoctrinationway eorythay
isway alsefay, andway e'reway eallyray upposedsay otay aketay
ethay endingway atway acefay aluevay, isthay entireway amegay
isway away ostlay ausecay. Ethay oganskray illway evernay
epopulateray. Ethay ariansquay illway evernay ebuildray eirthay
omehay orldway. Ethay ethgay illway evernay owknay atwhay itway
eansmay otay ebay aliveway andway independentway. Ethay
alarianssay illway evernay eesay owhay eoplepay ancay angechay
orfay ethay etterbay.

Insteadway, ethay ariansquay andway urianstay illway endureway
away ickquay, orturoustay extinctionway asway eythay owlyslay
arvestay otay eathday, appedtray inway away ystemsay ithway onay
 upportsay orfay emthay. Everyoneway elseway illway abblesquay
overway ethay apsscray ofway Earthway atthay aven'thay eenbay
ompletelycay obliteratedway, untilway ethay oganskray ivedray
emthay allway otay extinctionway andway enthay ieday offway
ithoutway anyway omenway esentpray. Andway isthay isway allway
assumingway atthay ethay elaysray idn'tday ausecay upernovasay-
aledscay extinctionway eventsway implysay ybay eingbay
estroyedday, ikelay eway awsay inway Arrivalway.

Andway erhapspay ethay orstway artpay isway atthay eway on'tday
evenway owknay. Eway on'tday owknay atwhay appenedhay otay
ourway admatessquay. Eway idn'tday etgay anyway ortsay ofway
atharsiscay, onclusioncay. Eway otgay ivefay earsyay ofway
iterarylay oreplayfay ollowedfay ybay away ickkay otay ethay
oingray andway away otenay ellingtay usway atthay inway away
ouplecay onthsmay, eway ancay aypay Iowarebay $15 orfay emthay
otay oday itway otay usway allway overway againway.

It'sway otnay ustjay ethay abysmallyway epressingday/
acrificialsay aturenay ofway ethay endingway, eitherway. Asway
I'veway alreadyway ademay erfectlypay earclay, Iway amecay
intoway isthay amegay expectingway acrificesay. Enwhay Ordinmay
idday itway, itway asway eautifulbay. Enwhay Anethay idday itway
, itway asway eautifulbay. Evenway Ernervay. Upidstay,
isguidedmay, idioticway Ernervay. Evenway ishay idiculousray
acrificesay adhay eaningmay, elevanceray, oherencecay, andway
offeredway atisfactionsay.

Onay, it'sway otnay ethay acrificesay Iway avehay away oblempray
 ithway. It'sway ethay utterway acklay ofway oherencecay andway
espectray orfay ethay ivefay earsyay ofway iterarylay oldgay
atthay avehay alreadyway eenbay establishedway inway isthay
anchisefray. Eway entspay eethray amesgay eparingpray otay
ightfay esethay eapersray. Iway entspay ourshay uponway ourshay
oingday everyway idesay estquay, ickingpay upway everyway arway
assetway, axingmay outway ymay alacticgay eadinessray osay
atthay enwhay ethay imetay amecay, ethay armyway Iway adhay
uiltbay ouldcay akemay away andstay, andway owshay esethay
Eapersray atthay eway on'tway ogay ownday ithoutway away ightfay.

Inway EMAY1, eway idday ethay impossibleway enwhay eway illedkay
 Overeignsay. Inway EMAY2, eway eganbay otay eesay atthay ethay
Eapersray aren'tway asway immortalway asway eythay aimclay otay
ebay: atthay evenway eythay avehay asicbay eedsnay,
exploitableway eaknessesway. Inway EMAY3, eway awsay ethay
Eapersray ieday. Eway awsay oneway etgay akentay ownday ybay
anway overgrownway ormway. Eway awsay oneway ieday ithway away
ewfay oordinatedcay orbitalway ombardmentsbay. Eway awsay
everalsay ippedray apartway ybay andardstay acespay ombatcay.
Inway EMAY1, itway ooktay eethray allianceway eetsflay otay
illkay ethay "invincibleway" Overeignsay. Ybay ethay endway
ofway EMAY3, Iway adhay assembledway away alacticgay armadaway
iftyfay imestay oremay owerfulpay anthay atthay, andway away
ousandthay imestay oremay eparedpray. Iway evernay expectedway
ethay ightfay otay ebay easyway, utbay Iway ovedpray atthay eway
 ouldn'tway ogay ownday ithoutway away ightfay, atthay erethay
isway alwaysway opehay inway unityway. At'sthay ethay emethay
e'veway eenbay ivengay orfay ethay astpay ivefay earsyay:
erethay isway opehay andway engthstray oughthray unityway.
Atthay ifway eway orkway ogethertay, eway ancay achieveway ethay
 impossibleway.

Andway enthay e'reway upposedsay otay elievebay atthay ethay
atefay ofway ethay alaxygay omescay ownday otay omesay
ompletelycay unexplainedway archildstay askingway Epardshay
atwhay ishay avoritefay olorcay isway? Atthay ethay armyway eway
 uiltbay asway allway orfay othingnay? Atthay ethay adsquay
osewhay oyaltylay eway oughtfay osay ardhay orfay asway allway
orfay othingnay? Atthay inway ethay endway, onenay ofway itway
atteredmay atway allway?

It'sway away oeticpay otionnay, utbay isthay isn'tway ethay
aceplay orfay oetrypay. It'sway oneway ingthay otay attleray
osepray ihilisticnay overway ethay oursecay ofway away oviemay
orway alladbay, erewhay ethay audienceway isway away assivepay
observerway, earninglay away essonlay omfray ethay ufferingsay
andway utilityfay ofway away aracterchay, utbay at'sthay otnay
atwhay Assmay Effectway isway. Assmay Effectway ashay alwaysway
eenbay aboutway akingmay ethay ayerplay ethay uetray erohay.
Ifway ouyay eallyray antway usway otay allway eelfay ikelay eway
 entspay ethay astpay ivefay earsyay umpingday imetay, energyway
, andway emotionalway investmentway intoway isthay amegay ustjay
 otay elltay usway atthay othingnay eallyray attersmay, ouyay
avehay ignedsay ouryay ownway eathday ertificatecay. Obodynay
ayspay undredshay ofway ollarsday andway ourshay otay ebay
emindedray owhay eakblay, emptyway, andway epressingday ethay
orldway ancay ebay, otay ebay oldtay atthay othingnay eway oday
attersmay, otay ebay oldtay atthay allway ofway ourway
eatestgray accomplishmentsway, allway ofway ourway aithfay,
allway ofway ourway orkway, allway ofway ourway unityway isway
orfay othingnay.

Onay. Itway implysay annotcay ebay isthay eakblay. Iway efuseray
 otay elievebay Iowarebay isway eallyray oingday isthay. Ethay
endingway ofway EMAY1 asway erfectpay. Eway awsay ethay
ugglestray, eway awsay ethay ostcay, utbay eway ewknay atthay
eway adhay orkedway ardhay, orkedway ogethertay, andway onway.
Ethay endingway ofway EMAY2 asway erfectpay. Eway awsay ethay
ugglestray, eway awsay ethay ostcay, utbay eway ewknay atthay
eway adhay orkedway ardhay, orkedway ogethertay, andway onway.

Akentay atway acefay aluevay, ethay endway ofway EMAY3 owsthray
everyway inglesay ingthay e'veway oneday inway ethay astpay
ivefay earsyay intoway ethay indway, andway akesmay ethay
ayerplay atchway omfray away istanceday asway ethay entireway
alaxygay isway ownthray intoway away echnologicaltay arkday
ageway andway away ellarstay extinctionway. Ywhay ouldway eway
arecay aboutway away universeway atthay onay ongerlay existsway
? Eway ouldshay eway investway anyway oremay imetay orway
oneymay intoway away orldway atthay illway evernay ebay atwhay
eway amecay otay owknay andway ovelay?

Evenway ifway ethay endingway isway etconnedray, itway oesn'tday
 akemay ingsthay etterbay. Ustjay owingknay atthay ethay
archildstay asway ourway ealray oefay ethay entireway imetay
isway osay utterlyway indlessmay, ontrivedcay, andway
irrelevantway otay atwhay eway experiencedway inway EMAY1 andway
 EMAY2 atthay itway annotcay ebay orgivenfay. Ifway atthay
eallyray isway ethay uthtray, enthay Assmay Effectway implysay
isn'tway atwhay eway oughtthay itway asway. Andway anklyfray,
ifway isthay isway atwhay Assmay Effectway asway upposedsay otay
 ebay allway alongway, Iway antway onay artpay ofway itway.
It'sway away uselessway, itetray, overplayedway icheclay, osay
arfay eneathbay ethay aisepray Iway onceway avegay isthay
anchisefray atthay itway urtshay otay inkthay aboutway.

Onay. Erethay isway onay ayway otay avesay isthay anchisefray
ithoutway ivinggay usway ethay onlyway explanationway atthay
akesmay ensesay. Ouyay owknay atwhay itway isway. Itway asway
ethay anplay allway alongway. Ootay uchmay evidenceway otay
otnay ebay uetray. Ootay anymay eoplepay eachingray ethay amesay
 onclusionscay independentlyway.

Ethay indoctrinationway eorythay oesn'tday ustjay avesay isthay
anchisefray: itway elevatesway itway otay oneway ofway ethay
ostmay owerfulpay andway ompellingcay orytellingstay
experiencesway I'veway everway adhay inway ymay ifelay. Ethay
actfay atthay ouyay anagedmay otay oday oremay anthay
indoctrinateway Epardshay - ouyay anagedmay otay indoctrinateway
 ethay ayersplay emselvesthay - isway astonishingway. Ifway
atthay eallyray asway ethay endway amegay, erehay, enthay ouyay
avehay onway ymay aminggay oulsay. Utbay ifway at'sthay uetray,
enthay I'mway illstay aitingway orfay ethay estray ofway isthay
orystay, ethay inalfay apterchay ofway Epard'sshay eroichay
ourneyjay. Iway aidpay otay inishfay ethay ightfay, andway ifway
 ethay indoctrinationway eorythay isway uetray, it'sway otnay
overway etyay.

Andway ifway it'sway otnay, enthay Iway ustjay on'tday evenway
arecay. Iway avehay eenbay etrayedbay, andway it'sway imetay
orfay emay otay etlay ogay ofway ethay enialday, ethay angerway
, ethay argainingbay, andway artstay orkingway oughthray ethay
epressionday andway emptinessway untilway Iway ancay ustjay
ovemay onway. Ouyay an'tcay eepkay easingtay usway ikelay isthay
. Isthay ustmay avehay eemedsay ikelay away eatgray anplay atway
 ethay imetay, utbay itway ashay ostcay ootay uchmay. Esethay
eoplepay elievedbay inway ouyay. Iway elievedbay inway ouyay.

Ustjay akemay itway ightray.