Like many of you, I played all three Mass Effect games and faced the notorious ending. The community response to the ending is.. fascinating.
In this post, I will discuss the response to the ending, my response to that response, and the ending.
I. They Rage Because They Care
First and foremost, people got upset because they were so deeply emotionally invested in the story. This is a sign of good writing, of good fiction, and of a good game.
II. Definition of “Ending”
A lot of people have posted quotes from Bioware/Casey Hudson/Etc from before the game came out, promising certain things having to do with the execution of the ending. Some of these quotes do appear quite damning; however, I believe that much depends on what people mean by “The Ending”. For Hudson & Bioware, Mass Effect 3 IS the ending. That is, everything that happens in-game is the conclusion to whatever choices you made and fights you won or lost in the previous games. It is the conclusion of a trilogy and storylines are wrapped up throughout the game. For example, I lost Mordin in my suicide run. He wasn't around in my playthrough of ME3 but there was some sentiment expressed about him. I saw lots of other characters return, though. My Shepard was always good friends with Jacob and Kaiden, and I got to have multiple conversations with them, dealing with issues of life or death, and whether any of us would make it out alive. These situations can change depending on hundreds of variables spread across the first two games. As far as I know, this is unprecedented in video games!
III. Lack of Epilogue
Some people have expressed disappointment that there is no epilogue. I gather that they mean kind of a bullet-point list of things like: “You saved Tali. She went on to lead her people... Blah Blah Blah.” My take on this is that the game itself functions in this role. The choices you made in the other two games do concretely affect the storyline you, as player, are presented with.
IV. Choice of Endings
There is a great graph somewhere on these forums showing how in Mass Effect I there is only one ending. In Mass Effect II, there is one ending with two choices: Save the Reaper Base, or Destroy it. In Mass Effect III, there is one ending with three choices. Players seem to be losing sight of the fact that you are Playing a Role in a story, and as such, you can make some rather major decisions. Despite this illusion of choice, you still careen down the same path as a Renegade or a Paragon. You still fight Saren, you still fight at the Collector base, you still end up fighting the Reapers in London. Your “choice” is not how the story ends, but how you complete that story and how you interact with characters along the way.
V. “The Ending I wanted”
Fiction is always at the mercy of the people who wrote it and circumstances that may or may not be within their control. Just because you pay for a piece of fiction does not mean you dictate how it ends. Unless you are a patron paying an artist/creator to create a custom work, you're get the ending that everyone else gets.
VI. Shepard is a Messianic Figure
Shepard is the only one strong enough to make the hard choices that others can't or won't make. Destroying the Mass Effect Relays but preventing the galaxy from a cycle of Reaper Terror is some heavy stuff.
There are foreshadowings throughout the series, and particularly during this last installment that Things are Serious and People May Die. Garrus even makes some awkward agreement to meet at a bar in Heaven.
His/Her name is Shepard. Obvious allusion is obvious.
The impressive thing to me is that a major publisher chose to (maybe) kill of the protagonist. This makes a lot of players mad because they wanted to play Mass Effect 10: The Massening.
VII. "The Star Child makes no sense”
Mass Effect has spent a lot of time explaining the technology, species, and various other parts of the universe to the player, creating a fictional universe with internally consistent rules and laws. It is precisely because of this that the player's ears should perk up when the Star Child abandons most of this to lecture Shepard—this situation is not as it first appears. There are threads about the Indoctrination Theory, suffice is to say that I agree with most of what they say, although some of the claims are a stretch. I'll list some, but not all, of my reasons here.
The presentation of the Star Child scenario follows that of the previous dream sequences. That is, fuzzy graphics, Shepard moves much slower than normal and can't roll, run, etc. The audio is fuzzy, dream-like. You hear comm chatter indicating that everyone is dead, yet Shepard and Anderson make it onto the Citadel. There are numerous inconsistencies regarding Time & Space (Anderson behind/in front of you, walls shifting, “Reminds me of your description of the collector base”, a shimmering child in the form of one you saw killed at the beginning of the game, TIM suddenly showing up, the black squiggly lines at the edges of the screen when he appears, the fact that TIM says something about “The Power they wield!” and forces Shepard to shoot Anderson (!!! He MADE YOU shoot Anderson. How could he have possibly done that, if not for indoctrination???)
Shepard doesn't talk back to the Star Child. What? Shepard has a galaxy-renowned smart mouth, but when this kid starts spewing nonsense, he just stands there. Dream-like.
Saren is the player's main introduction to what a Spectre is. He started out working for the safety of the galaxy, he became Indoctrinated, he thought he wasn't. It is more foreshadowing: Shepard became a Spectre, is becoming indoctrinated, thought he/she wasn't.
“Stay Focused”: This phrase is uttered over and over towards the end of the game. Shepard needs to Stay Focused and stay true to Anderson—Anderson is shown blasting the weird tube that kills the reapers, but the Star Child kind of glosses over this choice. If you don't Stay Focused and choose either Synthesis or Control, you lose and you die.
Switching of colors. The Renegade/Paragon colors were switched. Trixy Reapers!
Shepard wakes in London after choosing Destroy. I believe that the gasp is Shepard waking on the ground in London, having never physically set foot on the "Citadel" with Anderson, TIM, or Star Child.
VIII. Plot Holes
People complain about the plot holes. The Star Child stuff I have already addressed, so this leaves the Normandy sequence. I have not made up my mind about this, but these are some things to think about:
It has been established that the Normandy is the fastest ship around, that Joker is the best pilot around, and that he really doesn't want to lose another Normandy.
It is depicted before switching back to the Shepard-waking clip at the end, so it may be Shepard's “Hope” that things will work out for those Shepard cares about most.
What are your thoughts?
Modifié par marmot 1333, 26 mars 2012 - 04:46 .
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