I know everyone is fed up with these “here’s my opinion” kind of posts and threads, but after 1 week and 3 days of depression, rage, despair, and denial, I had to write down my thoughts and share them with the world. Even though I know the world probably won’t give a damn about my opinion, I can finally let go of this tormenting burden and look ahead to see what the future and BioWare hold for us.
Also, excuse me, but this post may sound a whole lot like
the dear AdmiralCheez’s heart-gripping confession. I may hazard to guess that the reason why it will be so similar is because a lot of us feel just like Cheez, and because she conveyed her message so perfectly that nothing more can be added to it, only its content repeated with different words and phrases. (Thank you so much for writing all those things down, Cheez! Your post finally convinced me to write this down!)
I think I should be completely honest with everyone here. Back in 2011, I started playing the series with ME2, but not in the same way as honest people did. At first, I *coughed* the game. However, before everyone goes ahead to quick reply to this and tell me to burn in the deepest pits of hell, I’d like to note that after finishing my first playthrough I was so amazed, psyched, blown away, struck with awe that I told myself I had to get this game the right way. I checked one of my favorite retailers to see whether they had a copy… and they had one. I jumped on my bike the following day and cycled all the way to their nearest shop (distance from home was about 15-20km) and bought it. After I had returned, I deleted the *coughed* game, installed the true one and let myself get immersed in ME2 again… this time in the good way – believe me, I felt much better when I was playing on that day.
A month passed, and I decided to get the first game. But still, I hadn’t learned from my previous mistake, and I acquired the *coughed* version first (I was broke and school was rather tough back then with end-term exams going on). First playthrough done, school finished, got some money from parents, ordered the game from a closer store, jumped on bike, bought it, and went back to play ME1 the right way.
(Can provide photo of all three games in their boxes in case someone doubts this.)
And thus we arrived at the cathartic release of Mass Effect 3. This time, I knew I had to make up for my past sins, and I pre-ordered the Collector’s Edition (well, of course, the additional cool content, the N7 badge and the art book did have some influence on me). This is a big thing, as I’ve never in my life bought the CE of a game right off the bat.
And oh boy, I was in ecstasy . Right after leaving Earth and arriving on Mars I had to stop playing for fear I’d play until 6 am (current record is 5 or 5.30 am with Mass Effect 2) and damage my heart with the increased alertness at such late hours (plus, I was afraid I’d get to the ending too fast… a thought that I did not regret at all, as it turned out a week later.)
Mass Effect 3 was marvelous, despite some occasional bugs like the face import or the Aria: Eclipse one. It was so perfect. The end of epic, awesome voyage that took me to the farthest reaches of the galaxy and back, had me face fearsome enemies, allowed me to learn the lore and past of the galaxy, and make decisions that would be felt for millennia. If you guys and gals don’t mind, I’d like to be goddamn nostalgic and recall some events from my first and currently only playthrough.
The mission to Utukku and Grunt’s deed at the end nearly brought me to tears. I was silently saying “No, Grunt! No!” at the screen until that line of his that made me burst into laughter.
Betraying the krogan and Eve was horrible, making them believe they were cured, but I couldn’t let Wreav repeat the same old mistakes again. It was a tough call, one I thought would be expanded upon in the end, but it turned out I only set myself up for a disappointment.
What I did on Rannoch was incredible. I was so happy for what I had done, yet that dialogue between Tali and Legion made me cry – even now, when I hear Tali saying “Legion, the answer is yes.” tears well up in my eyes.
The events on Thessia raised my hatred for Leng, TIM, and the Reapers to unimaginable levels. I was shocked, but I know I couldn’t give up. I had to fight on for everyone.
This memory is maybe the one that hurts the most (after the ending). Even though I knew I was responsible for what had happened, but it was still terrific how that little choice on the Citadel affected the outcome of Sanctuary. I played the renegade bosh’tet, not wanting to devote resources in the middle of a galactic war even when my lover requested it. And you know where it got me. I was amazed and struck. But it was time for payback.
Now, I’ll list the remaining moments as if they were to appear as expressionistic images of a flashback: the breaking of a sword and an omni-blade to the stomach, the fleets arriving (I stood up from my chair and saluted, at that moment… yeah, I’m hell of a nerd, but who isn’t who's so much in love with the saga), the space battle, the ground forces Hammering (see what I did there?) their way through London, Harbinger, the Conduit, the Cruicible, Marauder Shields (Sorry for shooting your head off, bro. I should’ve known better.
)…
And there I got to the ending. I… I was struck down. I replayed the ending to see the other two ones aside from Destroy, and I became even more desperate. I nearly cried, but only when the images of Joker, Liara, and Anderson popped up on the screen before the
wrong kind of “ultimate sacrifice.” I stayed up ‘till 3 am that day to search for a tiny glimmer of hope about this being just not what it was.
I did not understand why the Mass Effect universe had to be “ended” – or rather: destroyed – in such a soul-rending, heart-wrenching way. And not only that: why did you have to unload a whole thermal clip of bullets from a Revenant into the lore of Mass Effect from point blank range?
We’ve read all the dissections of the ending. It has been analyzed to death, so I don’t want to waste your time with repeating it. I just want to mention some of the greatest issues in my eyes.
The Reapers, the most mysterious and terrifying antagonists in the world of gaming to date, were turned into unwitting servants of godlike AI kiddo whose logic fails on many levels. Everything Sovereign said, “felt,” and did in Mass Effect was effectively annihilated by that 5 minutes of Starwhelp. Same could be said about Harbinger, but to a lesser extent.
Shepard, the man or woman who went against odds so great that C-3PO would’ve glitched and started shouting ERROR when he was trying to tell the crew about their chances of success, gives in, lets his/her resolve and will down at the end, and not only betrays his/her character but all inhabitants of the Milky Way – maybe excluding the Reapers, since their awesome character has been all but destroyed when the Catalyst appeared.
As I was writing this, I occasionally checked the MassEffect twitter feed. The bio under the name says:
“The war for Earth has begun, decide how it ends.” I did not get to decide how it ends. The Catalyst forced me into one of three terrible options.
As I mentioned before, we all know the rest (Joker’s unexplained and cowardly escape, the destruction of the mass relays, space magic, the seemingly broken promises, etc.)
For several days I was fervently hoping that it was all just a nightmare and I was soon going to wake up, continuing from London and getting to the end. When I got home from school or wherever I was, I felt depressed. I looked through BSN and other sites for news and developments to at least keep that little hope left in me alive.
The anecdote of my sinful beginnings is a, well, um… great example of what an amazing, inspiring, and incredible story (minus the ending, of course) you – the guys and gals at BioWare – created. If this wasn’t true, I would be a bit richer today, but not as happy, devoted, and emotionally immersed/attached as I am now, and would be still living the life of a pirate.
AdmiralCheez is a hundred times better rhetorician than I am, so I’m going to copy & paste her last paragraphs into this rant. (I strongly suggest everyone to read her post. I just wanted to let this out so I can finally be at peace… hopefully it will do have some effect, though.)
Thank you…
Thalador
You guys are the ones who get to make the final call, but I think you owe it yourselves, your artwork, your company, and your fans to fix this. The fanbase is upset not because we’re a bunch of entitled jerks, but because we love the hell out of Mass Effect, and we want to see you guys do the best you can and succeed. ME3 is supposed to be your crown jewel, your magnum opus, the epitome of everything you are capable of as programmers, writers, and artists. You screwed up, and that’s okay; we all screw up. But this is your baby.
We can be massive jerks, but at the end of the day, we’re still Bioware fans because we believe in you. Make our time, money, and faith worth it. You’ve done it before (at least twice), so the only thing stopping you from doing it again is, well, you.
It’ll take an enormous amount of courage, effort, and humility to make this right, but please. Guys. Don’t let the greatest epic of our generation die like this.
But that’s just my opinion.
~AdmiralCheez
Modifié par Thalador, 28 mars 2012 - 02:22 .
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in with the rest of the story line for it to be that limited. 
