- Gladiator
You will be who you will be. We are our choices.
- Helios, Deus Ex
What Mass Effect is in reality is a story that BioWare has laid out, and you only chose which version of it you see, one that aligns with your personal choices. They've also given you a load of resources and backstory in the form of a Codex and a rich and branching universe. To completely condemn the ending and ignore everything that came before it is to devalue your own experience throughout the entire trilogy. BioWare said it will be the ending of Shepard's STORY. It didn't say that it would be a traditional game ending. And don't think for one second that your choices didn't matter: throughout the entirety of Mass Effect 3, you see the impact your choices had. Your choices do matter, and all plots and subplots get their ownProtecting Creative Risk And Integrity: Why Mass Effect 3′s Ending Should Never Be Changed
http://0.gravatar.co...523536?s=16&r=G Mark Serrels
Kotaku AU
March 13, 2012 1:00 PM
Yesterday folks got into a bit of a kerfuffle about Mass Effect 3‘s
ending. Some were happy with it, some were angry — but many have gone
as far to say it should actually be retrospectively changed. You can
agree or disagree — but that’s where I draw the line. This rant is
completely spoiler free!
In Tsugumi Ohba’s Bakuman, the talented Mashiro and Tagaki
write manga. It is their dream to create incredible stories together;
stories that will inspire and dazzle their audience. Their nemesis is
the scheming Nanamine, a writer who idolises the combined abilities of
Mashiro and Takagi, but secretly wishes to dethrone them.
He has no writing or drawing talent to speak of — he can’t create
Manga — so in order to compete he recruits hundreds of wanna-be writers
and artists from the internet. By manipulating this hive mind he
attempts to compete with Mashiro and Takagi.
Nanamine crowdsources everything — the writing, the art, the plot,
the structure — every aspect of his manga is fine tuned to the
expectations and demands of this massive group. His work is the end
result of hours of group testing, by hundreds of informed readers. The
end result is the perfect manga — finely tuned, slickly produced,
well-constructed.
And completely, utterly sterile.
I was reminded of Bakuman as the internet bile began to surface in response to Mass Effect 3’s ending. Considering the investment gamers had in the Mass Effect trilogy, and the personal investment
many had — in their own designed protagonist and choices — some sort of
negative response was always going to be expected.
I had no issue with the negativity, because I understand. On multiple
occasions I’ve been massively disappointed in fiction. I’ve been
frustrated. I’ve been downright furious with the way certain movies,
games or books have ended.
But not once have I ever, ever suggested that the author take their work back and completely transform and change something to my own personal specifications.
Because that would be complete lunacy.
Let me reiterate — if you hated the ending of Mass Effect 3,
please continue to whinge. Continue to be angry. Please continue to
**** about how it goes against everything the series stands for —
dramatically cast your hands to the sky like a collective Darth Vader,
and scream ‘NNOOOO’ in abject despair! Absolutely, that is your right.
But it is not your right to demand that the ending be changed. You have absolutely no say in that, and that is the way it should be.
There’s a tremendous difference between arguing and discussing how Bioware should have handled Mass Effect 3’s ending, and demanding they change it. Some are too entitled to tell the difference, but it’s paramount.
A game like Mass Effect, which is clearly designed and
carefully built — with every detail of the universe accounted for —
could not bear the damage a fan-demanded change to its fiction would
create. Its integrity would collapse. This is Bioware’s story — no
matter how personal your own existence within Mass Effect’s universe is,
that existence was made possible within the confines of Bioware’s
authorial intent. Full stop. You don’t get to change that. Once a word
is said, it cannot be unsaid.
Fiction should delight us, it should broaden our horizons. It should
challenge us, make us angry — often for the wrong reasons. Fiction
should also have the propensity to disappoint us. But it must never, never pander to us.
I don’t want to engage with fiction that simply regales the story I
want it to tell. Why would I? I want to be surprised by what I
read/play/watch. Compared to other media, video game fiction is easily
the least static, but that doesn’t mean that the creative act should be
democratic — there still has to be structure. You must still react to
what a creator has made for you, and you don’t get to change that —
imagine the precedent that would set.
Once a piece of fiction is placed is complete, and released into the
wild, it must remain that way or its integrity will be desecrated.
In Bakuman, Mashiro and Tagaki write a weekly manga. They
respond to their audience, because theirs is a commercial endeavour. If
certain characters aren’t liked, they may phase them out. If a certain
story arc isn’t gaining traction, they may cut it short. But nothing is
ever changed in retrospect. Once is story is told it cannot be untold.
Mashiro and Tagaki work in isolation, fuelled by their own creative
impulse, delivering content fans are inspired and energised by. The same
audience reacts to Nanamine’s output with a dull indifference. It’s
hard to become passionate about something that’s created by committee —
something that lacks the spark of an individual voice. It can never be
original, it can never dazzle.
And that’s what we risk when we demand retrospective change by
committee — we risk derailing creative risk, we risk subverting the act
of individual creativity.
I haven’t finished Mass Effect 3 yet, but I don’t care if
Bioware’s ending completely shatters everything I hold dear about the
series. I don’t care if my Shepard starts doing the moonwalk over Reaper
corpses before engaging in a dance fight to the death with the Illusive
Man. I don’t care how ludicrous or flat out wrong Bioware’s ending to Mass Effect
is, I will accept it as canon because I shouldn’t have any choice.
Sure, I will howl at the moon with a primordial rage, maybe even snap
both discs in two, but I will never question Bioware’s authorial
integrity, because Mass Effect is Bioware’s story to tell, and I’m just going to have to deal with it.
endings. And each plot and subplot had its own closure in the context of
the story. Hudson did NOT promise a SINGULAR ending for every single
plot because that would be bad writing (ala. Fallout 3). For example, here's my ending:
-
I saved Wrex and Maelon's data and Mordin himself in the previous
games, and that ended up with Eve getting saved during the cure
extraction procedure and saved the Krogans from the genophage. With Wrex
in charge, he wants to expand krogan territory. With Eve still alive
thanks to Maelon's data, she will act as a balancing influence.
-
I gave Tali the geth data, and I absolved her in her trial. I rescued
Legion instead of selling him to Cerberus, and I rewrote the heretics,
who became even stronger afterwards (clearly a mistake?). I saved both
the Geth and the Quarians, and Legion sacrificed himself. That left me
with both cooperating for a better future on Rannoch and ultimately geth
uploading into Quarian hardsuits so the Quarians can better adapt to
Rannoch's atmosphere.
- I saved the council. I saved Thane. And
I saved Kolyat from what he was about to do. The Salarian councillor
offered his help in the end to the war effort. The Destiny Ascension
also joined the ranks of the war assets. Thane saved the councillor from
Kai Leng and ended up dying. Both Kolyat and I were on the deathbed of
Thane. Thane dies. Beautiful ending.
- I didn't alienate Conrad
Verner. I saved Gavin Hossle's data. I helped Jenna in Chora's Den.
I retrieved the writings of Matriarch Dilinaga. I helped him on Ilium. I
see him again on the Citadel, and persuade him to join our side. He has
a thesis on dark energy with information that needs to be translated.
He calls in a favor - GAVIN HOSSLE - to help him out. Shepard gives him
ancient Asari texts to help him complete his work. He jumps in front of
Shepard and saves him from the Cerberus agent. Turns out the agent's gun
was sabotaged by Jenna, and he was left alive in the end. They both
walk into the sunset to help with the Crucible.
- I paragoned Khalisah from the beginning, up to the end. She became a war asset.
- I saved the Rachni on Noveria. I killed the Rachni on Utukku. Problem solved.
-
I destroyed the Reapers at the end. What will the Quarians do without
the Geth? What if I synthesized organics and synthetics? How will the
relationship between Quarians and Geth change?
I could go on, really, but BioWare didn't create an ending. They created a story. And that's unforgettable, unlike an ending.
Modifié par saracen16, 16 mars 2012 - 02:39 .
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