darkway1 wrote...
Get the Mass Relay's back up and running,we need Mass Effect 4.
Modifié par reekboy, 19 mars 2012 - 02:30 .
Modifié par a9fc, 19 mars 2012 - 02:29 .
Raygne wrote...
I completely agree the endings were terrible. This is clearly a case of a writer deciding to get all artsy and doing something different just for the sake of being different. I can't believe no one in Bioware realized this and just suggesting that the players choices should dictate the ending. I would think having enough paragon/renegade for another choice just like in normal conversations would matter.
Not only were the endings bad, they decided to go against the very spirit of Shephard in that he always dictated his fate. The big selling point to the games was that your choices had consequences. The very idea that suddenly there is this magical being that appears out of nowhere just to allow a bad writer to feel important made no sense. It was completely random which is a sign of bad writing. Then they decide to blow up the relays just to really screw the galaxy over. Obviously someone needs to learn to write better.
Don't believe a word they say. They got there money, they honestly don't care anymore. All the statements are obligatory or they risk looking even worse. They were done with Mass Effect so they move on to something else. It's a shame since the universe they created was so alive and deserved to live on in more games. Plenty of stories to tell.
In the end, sometimes the journey is emotional enough so in the end, let the player smile. Drama doesn't always have to be tragic. A hero deserves to live in the world he saved. We were robbed because all the choices we made didn't matter. I feel like they mocked us this time. I just can't believe how bad the endings turned out. Anything would have been better.
All we can do is just not buy anymore of there games. I won't waste my money. I see no reason to even play the games ever again.
Modifié par Le0n1, 20 mars 2012 - 06:06 .
HAHAHAA "shephard now has the biggest kill ratio in known history and made the reapers look pathetic at thier job." epic.reekboy wrote...
Well just like every one here i'm sadden by the ending(s). not because i wasnt able to have beach front property with tali. All ppl can die in war and shephard's sacrifice shows that he isnt an immortal like master chief was. what gets me is the elogical cutsence after u go blue,red, or green. the cidadel goes boom along with the relays, normandy bailed on the untied galatic fleets, lands on planet x and ur whole crew is now chilling on some random planet, probly filled with dino's.
1. when the relay goes boom, it was stated that they go off like a super nova. as shown in the arrival dlc for ME2. this happens in all the endings that are important. shephard now has the biggest kill ratio in known history and made the reapers look pathetic at thier job.
2. if some how all sentaint life and planets and what not are now immune to super nova blast force, what does the fleet of god knows how many alien species do now thier trapped around and close to screwed earth?
3. jokers a great pilot but how did he manage to break the laws of physics with that ship? he gathered the crew on the front lines, flew to the relay and bounced with no reason? how did he manage to sneak past harbinger or w/e reaper was there at the light beam, confince the crew to get on, and leave with out so much as the allaince ****ing him out over the intercom?
those are my issues, i can live with shepard become 1 of few that can sacrifice himself for the entire galaxy and watch as the remaining organic/synthethic cyborg babies screw it up. kinda sad that the only way he shows signs of living is if u kill edi and the geth(geth/legion for life ME1). which would screw the quiarns which i couldnt do lol.
Modifié par AtlAggie, 19 mars 2012 - 02:47 .
AtlAggie wrote...
First, I want to start by saying THANK YOU to all of the hardworking Bioware employees, past and present, who have created something special enough to attract such a passionate fanbase. The story encompassed by these three games -- the world, the characters, the decisions -- has been the most engaging, most affecting form of entertainment I have encountered in recent memory. No movie, TV show, or other video game has left an impression on me like Mass Effect, and it is a testament to the vision and talent of the Mass Effect team that so many people seem to feel the same way. It has been said time and again, but it bears repeating -- love for this world that developers and fans have created together is the root of the current maelstrom.
With that being said, I am disappointed with the way ME3 failed to live up to the potential and promise of the series as a whole. Add me to the long list of people who are disappointed, confused, and saddened by the endings. Up until the last 5 minutes, the game was phenomenal. Not perfect, mind you, but certainly the best gaming experience I have encountered during my 25 years of gaming. I believe the ending is sufficiently problematic to have tarnished the legacy of the series, not to mention caused such a great amount of hurt within the fan community.
Here's my list of biggest problems with the ending:
1. The biggest flaw regarding the ending, IMO, is that it is all TELL, and no SHOW. A maxim of writing is that the author should, whenever possible, show rather than tell. Here, however, the culmination of the entire series, hundreds of hours and playing time, and scores of choices, is relegated to five minutes worth of (mostly choice-less) dialogue with The Catalyst, a character we've never met and never knew existed. The Catalyst TELLS us that the three choices will have far-reaching and wildly divergent effects on the galaxy, but we don't SEE any of it. All we are SHOWN is basically the same scene for each of the three choices -- color-coded explosions and a puzzling scene of the Normandy escaping the blast. The end choices would have been more palatable (although still quite problematic) if we had been able to SEE the true consequences of our actions.
2. Player is railroaded into an A/B/C choice scenario regardless of the choices which came before. This completely invalidates the idea (and promise) that the player's choices would matter. Additionally, because of problem #1 discussed above (telling instead of showing), the three choices feel virtually identical. It should be obvious how it cheapens the ending of the entire series to be boiled down the three virtually identical choices.
3. The choices exist at all. While not a universal point of view, I am one of many with the the opinion that the ending shouldn't have had any choices at all. Instead, the player should have encountered an ending which was determined by the CONSEQUENCES of all of our previous decisions. This would have fulfilled the promise that our choices throughout the three games actually mattered, and been much more satisfying than the presentation of three nearly-identical choices which come out of left field.
4. There is no "payoff," i.e., there is no exploration or explanation of the impacts of Shepard's choice (going back to all tell, no show). Basically, the hero's journey we've been on for three games is incomplete. It is not necessary for the hero to survive, but it IS necessary for us to see the impact of the hero's actions in order for the tale to be concluded in a satisfactory manner. We're left with nothing beyond a nonsensical (and therefore meaningless) shot of the Normandy, and nothing else except for an apprehension that we've somehow obliterated most of the galaxy through destruction of the mass relays. Not a satisfying end to our hero's journey, and not worthy of everything we have been through to get our hero to that point.
5. Galactic readiness feels pointless (and therefore a waste of time and resources) because the final choices have nothing to do with the battle. The game tries to tie the GR scale to the endings, but it does so by forcing the correlation between them, rather than developing it organically. Again, we aren't SHOWN why or how the galactic readiness would have the impact it does on the final outcomes, we're just told that it does. Because the connection makes no sense within the construct of the finale, it comes across as illogical, inauthentic, and frankly really lazy. A better implementation would have been something akin to Dragon Age:Origins where you actively deploy the assets you've gained during the game, and they directly impact the final battle(s).[/list]
I want to reiterate that most of us are NOT upset because of the lack of a happy ending. The game did an excellent job of preparing the player to make the ultimate sacrifice at the end, and a story that ends with Shepard's death is fitting to me (although I am not adverse to the option of one happy ending where Shepard lives -- perhaps at great cost/potentially dire consequences, again like Dragon Age:Origins).
I would have been well pleased with an ending where Shepard dies, so long as it was handled in a way that respected everything the player has done and experienced during the 100+ prior hours. The endings, as they stand now, fall far short of this, and show little respect or consideration about the journey we've taken through this world with these characters.
tl;dr version: The ending disrespects the player and the story by presenting three choices which are disconnected from the body of choices the player has made over 100+ hours of playtime. The ending should depend upon the consequences of our previous choices, and not revolve around three nominally different but substantively identical choices. Also, the ending should SHOW us the impact of our choice and/or sacrifice, rather than just TELL.
Guest_Paulomedi_*
Supposing the Normany remained mostly intact, Shepard/ Normany crew could have contact the Salarians, Asari, Earth (Hackett on his flahship and several locations on Earth), but I'm not certain about the Krogan. This could have facilitated some contact though interstellar travel would have been impossible due to the relay's destruction. Also, do you know if the "Illusive Man" ending resulted in the destruction of the Relays as well?maxpowers2525 wrote...
just finished a few days ago wanted to think about endings i will say to me the relays being destroyed would not be the end of the world at earth all those races would still have their advanced technologies and it would force them to work together to find a new future of travel plus i may be wrong but i think the the quantum communication devices dont need the relays so if thats the case they could communicate with places that had quantum devices i may be wrong on that though however i do agree if your going to force shepards death give a hell of a lot more closure than they did and finally i could see the reapers destroyed ending working with shep being saved by the normandy and he or she lives but at the cost of EDI and the geth thus a fitting renegade ending in my opinion but that is just my 2 cents correct me on the quantum tech or confirm it please
maxpowers2525 wrote...
also i felt the of EMS thing was a joke we saw no real world results to me if your EMS was low the reapers should have been able to destroy the crucible i know it changed the cutscenes and your choice availability but that does not agree with the whole final battle idea the fleets should have been affected in some way
Omnike wrote...
maxpowers2525 wrote...
also i felt the of EMS thing was a joke we saw no real world results to me if your EMS was low the reapers should have been able to destroy the crucible i know it changed the cutscenes and your choice availability but that does not agree with the whole final battle idea the fleets should have been affected in some way
Clearly nobody understands that fire bruns a planet better if less ships are in orbit. Duh.
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 love mass effect 1 2 3 wrote...
Supposing the Normany remained mostly intact, Shepard/ Normany crew could have contact the Salarians, Asari, Earth (Hackett on his flahship and several locations on Earth), but I'm not certain about the Krogan. This could have facilitated some contact though interstellar travel would have been impossible due to the relay's destruction. Also, do you know if the "Illusive Man" ending resulted in the destruction of the Relays as well?maxpowers2525 wrote...
just finished a few days ago wanted to think about endings i will say to me the relays being destroyed would not be the end of the world at earth all those races would still have their advanced technologies and it would force them to work together to find a new future of travel plus i may be wrong but i think the the quantum communication devices dont need the relays so if thats the case they could communicate with places that had quantum devices i may be wrong on that though however i do agree if your going to force shepards death give a hell of a lot more closure than they did and finally i could see the reapers destroyed ending working with shep being saved by the normandy and he or she lives but at the cost of EDI and the geth thus a fitting renegade ending in my opinion but that is just my 2 cents correct me on the quantum tech or confirm it please
theoldludwigvan 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.
Well said, and needs to be continuously reposted.
Great game otherwise Bioware! Just gotta seal the deal!
Omnike wrote...
AtlAggie wrote...
tl;dr version: The ending disrespects the player and the story by presenting three choices which are disconnected from the body of choices the player has made over 100+ hours of playtime. The ending should depend upon the consequences of our previous choices, and not revolve around three nominally different but substantively identical choices. Also, the ending should SHOW us the impact of our choice and/or sacrifice, rather than just TELL.
This sums it up as good as anything. I honestly expected the ending to be shaped by our choices as we watch it play through.
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