Aucune réponse à ce sujet

[JMA22TB]

The Mass Effect trilogy was a watershed moment for the entire video game industry, a journey that swept millions under it and became a wonderful example of what I will claim to be both art and product.

First let's start with the product.

Mass Effect is a video game. It's a role playing game but it still involves a gun, people, robots, and big ugly things to shoot. There is no question that from Mass Effect to Mass Effect 3 that aspect of the game went from good to great to incredible. Mass Effect 3's combat system is something that anyone who makes a third person shooter will look at as one of the first templates in the future. The wheel system, powers, and the cover mechanics make missions and even multiplayer very fun to play. The gameplay balance is not broken by any stretch - in Mass Effect 3 every class you can play in both single and multiplayer has its challenges and advantages and no one who plays a certain class is screwed compared to another.

Next we have the design and animation. This is a triumph of the video game industry that only got better as the series went on. The character models became more sophisticated and aesthetically pleasing. The design of the level areas went from rather bland and too big to rich, snug, and varied. The sheer amount of detail that we see play out during conversations, camera angles, and body language is really on a different level than anything you see before it. LA Noir has the facial expression technology, sure, but Mass Effect's level of immersion and the overall setting is brilliant. You get to choose where to go, but it's right in the sweet spot between railroaded, like platforms and linear JRPGs, and humongous, like Bethesda games.

Of course, the voice acting must be spoken of. This might be the most wonderful part of the Mass Effect trilogy and what drives the love that millions of people who know the story inside out has for the game and its characters. Mark Meer and Jennifer Hale both did incredible jobs as Commander Shepard, with the supporting characters arguably being the best supporting cast anyone has ever seen. The list goes on and on of great supporting characters - Garrus, Tali, Zaeed, Ashley Williams, Kaidan Alenko, Kasumi, Miranda, Grunt, Wrex, Kirrahe, Mordin Solus, Thane Krios, and many, many more. It's mind boggling how well voice acted the Mass Effect series is and how well versed the scripts are for each character.

Now for the art.

The story of the game is both its greatest hope and, ultimately its greatest tragedy. Mass Effect, the original game, set the stage and the potential for what could have been the most glorious science fiction story in video game history, surpassing even Star Wars as the definitive story of space, heroes, villains, and a journey to victory over impossible odds. The Empire in Star Wars was a government ruled by evil men and the Rebels were scrappers that ended up winning because of their spirit and determination. That does not hold a candle to what could have been a single resourceful man or woman leading entire governments, races, and galactic civilization against an existential threat that would have completely destroyed everything anyone could hold dear, making impactful choices along the way that could have shaped the galaxy and saved it from a threat undefeated for millions of years.

That would have taken the bar for science fiction victories and raised it to a level that might not have ever been matched again. I do not say that lightly, and I say that because of the total package the audience would have recieved. You do not watch it happen. You MAKE it happen. You're pulling the trigger, telling the bad guy you're going to stop him, and making choices that change the setting and people around you. You hear your own character and all the others speak, you choose what you say and your morals. It is an experience that takes everything you could want in a story-driven game and lays it out before you.

And that's where the tragedy begins. The only conclusion anyone who looks at the story, from a structural standpoint, is that as the series progressed, the story became more autonomous to the game released, not to the overall narrative. The Collectors are not foreshadowed at all in Mass Effect, nor the major Illusive Man character, or the threats that either could be. The Crucible device from the third game is not referenced at all in the previous two games, nor a significant adversary Kai Leng. A DLC mission sets the stage for the third game that must be purchased to be aware of or participate in during the second game. Unfortunately, there are many, many more examples of how the games do not connect to the overall narrative but that is not even the most tragic part. While the disconnect created from the first to second game was relatively negligible, the disconnect the third game created to the others was exponentially larger.

The Reapers, who were clearly portrayed as alien, unknowable, and much more powerful than anyone in the galaxy, are diminished from the ultimate predator to servants of a single mind that is not introduced until the very end of the game, with a small amount of foreshadowing midway through the story. Sovereign, the first Reaper introduced, makes absolutely no indication of this "We are each a nation, independent, free of all weakness." This truth revealed negates all three descriptions - they are members of a nation, dependent, and do not possess free will! 

Which, of course, leads to the ending. Upon closer examination, the truth, however tragic, is that there can be little surprise, in a narrative sense, that the ending to Mass Effect 3 became what it did. While the constant theme of desperation persists and increases on the part of both Shepard and his or her allies, the chances for victory did raise as well. If a player builds alliances and their friendships well enough a fleet that dwarfs any kind of battle scene we've witnessed zips one ship after another onto the screen and the audience is left with a sense of awe. If there's any way to beat these Reapers, it's going to be in those possibly thousands or even tens of thousands of ships. While the odds were steep, the reader-writer contract at this point demanded choices, based on the previous narratives that could achieve victory, defeat, a sacrifice that could have led to either, surrender, or any number of options.

Instead, after all those choices and friendships, allies, and wonderful moments, the player is shown, by any logical account, the worst case scenario. After being brought to the brink of death a brand new character is introduced that raises at least ten times as many questions as answers, giving Shepard only three possible fates with far more strings attached than benefits. The entire galactic rapid transportation infrastructure is destroyed, the fleet you bring is stranded on a ravaged planet in a system that cannot support the likely millions of people that possibly survived the fight, the hero dies in nearly all cases, and only four of his friends' whereabouts are accounted for. It can only be assumed that the ending resulted in a galactic dark age, with most of Shepard's work undone, and as much closure as wanting to know what a loved one wanted to say to you before they are killed by a moving car right before they say "I love you" the first time.

It is an uncharacteristic way to end the saga for both previous games, introduces questions that ought never to be introduced in a story at such a critical time, and, quite appropriately, has outraged an ever growing number of people who have witnessed it. Unfortunately, none of the choices of the journey ultimately matter - they are just stops the hero makes on the road to destiny that leads to the complete destruction of everything and everyone they ever knew, with no answers why or how.

Conclusion

While the video game Mass Effect might be the crowning achievement of building what it takes to tell a great story for the video game industry, that is all that can be said about the experience after the story quite literally blows up in the audience's face. It was nearly unlimited potential, with the best and most copious supporting cast and most memorable characters in science fiction to date, rendered moot by the frankly ignorant way of ending the story.

While I certainly recommend the experience to anyone who wants to see great potential and the template in the future of video games as a story telling medium, I cannot recommend the Mass Effect trilogy as a story worth investing in.

I strongly believe that Mass Effect will be both the first place to look for a format upon which a greater story will be told in the future in this medium and also the greatest cautionary tale of what happens when that story goes astray.

Will Bioware tell that story? It's hard to say. A broken heart is something few who feel it can ever truly forgive and Mass Effect 3, as of this writing, is still breaking hearts by the thousands. Will the people who trusted them to tell that story trust them again? It becomes harder to say by the days that pass.

While they have promised to clarify and provide closure to the ending, that might be the final nail in the coffin of the story experience - clarifying and providing closure for an ending that goes against the character of the entire experience is not a compromise or an effort to go back to the roots. It is pouring salt on an open wound, providing yet more support for the Catalyst that ought never to have been introduced in the first place.

The good news, however, is that a storyteller in the future has a wonderful example to follow and plan to emulate and improve upon as far as the structure and product. Should that storyteller heed the caution of that example though, they will see their story ascend to the glory and triumph that the Mass Effect trilogy could have been.