Left, right and center all I have been hearing is how awful the ending is, how abrupt it is, how many plot holes it creates and how there's no true closure. Immediately upon seeing the ending, I knew it was good. Great? No. I'm sure there was a way they could have improved it so that the emotional impact was stronger and so that the narrative felt more complete. But is it the travesty that many fans of the series are claiming it to be? Far from it.
For one, the issue with closure. You see that your squadmates, the people you have spent years getting to know in the previous entries, are perfectly fine. This was the case in my ending, and the case with at least ten of the other endings. I was satisfied with this because I saw that they would be able to continue their lives, and never forget the sacrafice of Commander Shepard and what he did to save the galaxy. All of the other key characters you had met have their closure as well. You either see them participating in the final battle to save Earth, showing how the numerous galactic races have all bonded together to fight this unimaginable force - thus promising at least temporary peace in all endings - while those that aren't on Earth you have a chance to say goodbye to through the com machine just before the final push. Admiral Anderson dies an honorable death knowing that he has done what he could to save the universe, and you do too for the same reasons. Commander Shepard dies at peace knowing that he's done everything he could have to save everyone. And so I did too. No elaboration is ever needed on the fate of anyone because their fate is clear from the outset. Thay they will all be at peace for at least some period of time. And, if you saw the post-credits sequence, long enough for stories to be told about you "many years" after this has happened. You've made your mark on the galaxy, and changed it for the better.
The other problem is with plot holes. Soverign said "your civilization is based on the technology of the mass relays, our technology. By using it, your society develops along the paths we desire." and some fans are arguing this completely goes against the Catalyst's reasoning for destroying organics with synthetics so synthetics don't destroy organics. The origins of the entity controling the Catalyst aren't explained either, and it comes out of the blue with no previous mention in the earlier games. As an athiest myself, I believe it doesn't need to be explained. Because no matter what explanation is given for what this entity is exactly, the audience will not be satisfied. Need an example? Lost.
SPOILER ALERT: The reason for everything that happened on the island is an ancient plug holding in all evil. And all Jack does is put the plug back in, everything magically becomes better again and then he dies.
Now the execution of that final reveal was pretty good. But my point is that simply calling the Catalyst an all-powerful entity is much better than needing to explain what it is exactly, because no matter what is said there will be a fan out there that is disappointed with it, or see it as rediculous. For thousands of years some human beings throughout the world have believed that there is an almighty being that is the creator of all life - so why would this be so hard to believe in a piece of entertainment created by humans? The fact that it comes out of the blue can be explained by what the Catalyst says themselves. They say that Commander Shepard is the first person to ever have been able to break the cycle, and so naturally he would be the only person aware of their existence outside of the Reapers. Of course the Reapers could have cryptically mentioned some kind of Catalyst in the earlier two entires, but in life nothing goes entirely to plan. It's probably the case that BioWare planned many of the key elements of the story for the trilogy from the begining. But I'm sure they never knew if they would ever get to definitely finish the trilogy from the launch of the first game. And so they would have over-looked including these small links between each game, focusing on the larger links instead. It's entirely possible that they may have over-looked this.
The final issue with it is what happens in the ending itself. People argue that all of the endings are practically the same and that no matter what you do the series ends in the destruction of the galaxy and the end of everything you have been fighting for. The first problem is simply not true - the Crucible acts as a signal sender to all the Mass Relays, and it is only the means to an end. The change in the contents of that signal is what matters, and the changing in the color of the beam reflects this. On the surface the endings may look very similar, but in terms of mythology they offer radically different repercussions to the same problem. The Mass Relays acting as bombs spread across the galaxy was the only possible way the mythology could offer universe-changing decisions in a believable fashion, but with the same focus on choice as the rest of the series. Yes, getting a simple A/B/C choice is a bit arbitrary compared to the choice system for the rest of the game, yet if this wasn't the case there would be no true choice for the player. Their ending would have already been decided based on past decisions rather than decisions chosen in Mass Effect 3, and there would probably be an uproar about their being no choice in what ending you get instead. In the end it is clear that the only way for the Reapers to be deafeated is if all alien races were to work together, and so in this way the choices you made could only lead down one path of conclusions.
But the most important part is how some are saying the endings make the entire trilogy pointless. By saying that, you are ignoring the entire arc of the trilogy. Commander Shepard's journey - your journey - is complete. You have gone from becoming an Alliance soldier to the Commander who sacrificed himself for the greater good. You have made thousands of years of conflict between differing races stop, either through peace or force. Nearly all of the people you cared about and who care about you are safe (or died to make the people they cared about safe), and they remember you for the things you did and the sacrafice you made. At the start of the series there was hope for this current cycle to continue, but instead a brighter cycle with an infinitely brighter future has begun. Not only that, but the cycle that your people have gone through will never be experienced again. And they have never forgotten for you for that. They still speak your name and they still speak about how you saved the galaxy from itself. And you will forever be known as "The Shepard" for that.
Now can someone explain to me what they found wrong with the endings?
Modifié par GunGrave TZA, 26 mars 2012 - 08:26 .
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