Hapimeses wrote...
First post here. I've never felt moved to post before.
Much like many others here, I loved ME3 until the last 10 minutes. Bemused at what I'd received at the end of my first playthrough, I reloaded the last section again to try a different ending. I was quite disturbed to discover that the endings were all, pretty much, identical, regardless of the decisions I made at the end, or, worse, made throughout the series. As a Paragon, I could get the Renegade end. As a Renegade, I could get the Paragon end.
Wait, what?
I'm no Mass Effect noob. I own ME on PC and 360. I own ME2 on PC, 360, and PS3. I own ME3 on PS3 and 360 (I use Steam for my PC gaming, so haven't bought ME3 on PC). I really love the games, for all I am fully aware of the flaws in each, and accept them for what they are. I was very keen to play ME3. I was especially keen to see how it would all end, the bit that would wrap it all beautifully, ending my journey with Shep.
The problem is: it wasn't really wrapped up at all.
Really, the end is is poor on so many levels (unless, of course, it's not the end, but something a little more complex -- but, I fear that's not the case).
I have 8 Sheps on various platforms each of which followed a different path. I intended to import each to ME3. I wanted to see how it would end for each of them. I expected many differences, kinda like all the many possible ends of Dragon Age (for all it was simply written in text). However, when I uncovered it would end the same for all my Sheps no matter what choices I took, the desire to replay was removed. I do not want to replay to see what happens. I know what will happen. For all of them. As Harbinger said:
'You cannot escape your Destiny, Shepard.'
That being true, why should I replay the game? Nothing changes. The end, as written, is inevitable. The differences between the different ends are laughably minor.
Honestly, I'm gutted. Unhappy. Displeased. Saddened. This is not what I had bought into.
That said, let me get to the OP's question: My favourite ME3 moment.
This is almost certainly Mordin's end. That said, there were many moments I loved. It's a great story -- for all the game itself is a little flawed, but I can live with that -- but marred by an inexplicably inappropriate end to the series.
To be clear on this, I'm not someone asking for a 'different ending'. Instead, I'm asking for explanations for the crazy events at the end that make no sense. Perhaps that could be reworded as asking for an ending that is an actual end.
Take, for example, the following event. It is inexplicable to me.
Liara declares undying love for my Shep just before the assault to reach the Conduit to the Citadel. They have a lovely, touching moment, clearly both aware that they may die. Then, they go to war. During that, Shep is seriously wounded, but makes it up to the Citadel, there to make a (bonkers) decision, seemingly dying in the process.
Next, we see Liara has, for some unknown reason, abandoned Shep, presumably long before he was dead (because the Normandy must have been beyond Sol's Mass Effect Relay before Shep died, as his death destroys it). Somehow, the Normandy has picked her up, along with everyone else from the Normandy's regular crew, even though they were all either dead, dying, injured, or, at the very least, deep in the middle of a war.
After the Normandy crashes, she steps out into a paradise world alongside Joker. She looks serene.
Say what?
Firstly: How and why did the Normandy pick the crew up from the middle of the battlefield, Reapers everywhere?
Secondly: Why was the Normandy fleeing the most important battle in the galaxy, long before the end?
Thirdly: Why did everyone agree to go -- really, I can't imagine any of them agreeing to leave Shep and Earth and the war with the Reapers?
Fourthly: Why isn't Liara a quivering wreck of an alien, having just either:
a) Lost Shep, the love of her life, who is now dead, or...
Found herself on another world, lost, a gazillion light years from her Shep, with no way to get to him ever again.
What about all her little blue babies? Think of the babies! Where's the tears, damnit! We all know Liara's prone to tears or a bit of fainting!
And that's just one issue. I have many more. In isolation, the above makes no narrative sense. I need more context. I need to understand what happened. This is supposed to be the end of the story, but it isn't as there is more to tell here. Either:
1) We simply have a poor ending.
2) Or we don't actually have the ending.
If it's 1, then I'm an unsatisfied customer. I've invested many, many hours of gaming on many platforms for a disappointing, ill-considered end. The more I think about it, the more holes I see, both in terms of the narrative as presented, and the choices available to the player to influence that end. It simply doesn't feel Mass Effect.
If it's 2, then I will wait to see what you plan. I shan't be very happy -- after all, I bought this game expecting to have a complete end by the time I finished my first playthrough -- but I shall be relieved. Perhaps all the subtle hints I thought I spotted as I played ME3 will actually be subtle hints of Shep's breakdown, of Shep's loss to Indoctrination or something else (perhaps Cerberus related)? There were certainly enough discussions orbiting this potential. Indeed, I expected some form of end-game impact concerning the fact Shep had been rebuilt by Cerberus, and what that meant in terms of her free will. Choice, after all, is built into the very mechanics of the game, and is a primary theme that recurs repeatedly throughout the series.
Anyway, you get the idea. I am unhappy, and feel so much more could have been done with the end. Indeed, I feel I could write many more fulfilling and satisfying ends than with what we have been presented. Which is unfortunate.
And, before I go, let me also add that I feel one character was very poorly served in ME3: Udina. He needed a deeper examination into how he fell into Cerberus's hands.
Anyway, thanks for reading (for those that did). I understand that this is a hard situation for all involved, and I'm just one voive amongst thousands, but I felt it was worth chipping in.
Also, thanks for an otherwise great game. I would have been happier with an extra crew mwmber or two, and with some vehicle sections, and with a few more dialogue choices, but I'm still very pleased with what I eventually received.
Barring the last 5 minutes, of course.
:innocent:
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