With the Mass Effect trilogy behind us, I never felt the pressure to defend Bioware’s “narrative direction. Mass Effect was THE franchise that I thought was so truly groundbreaking, it didn’t need any further co-signing or “convincing of awesomeness”. If you weren’t up on Mass Effect, too bad, your loss. It was the breakthrough that delivered something innovative into this generation of gaming where every gamer owned their own personal piece of Commander Shephard’s journey. While not perfect, (but damn close in my eyes) everyone had invested so deeply into Mass Effect that everyone’s story was special and unique.
In the first Mass Effect, I let Wrex live, saved the Rachni Queen, sacrificed Kaiden, (He was too needy and unstable to me) Romanced Ashley and spared the Council. In Mass Effect 2, I made Zaheed get his head out his a**, convinced Kasumi to destroy her memory box, stopped Mordin from killing his protégé, rewrote the heretics, romanced Miranda, made it out the Collector base with all 12 squad members alive and finally told the Illusive man to shove it while I detonated the whole joint. Those felt like they were all my decisions that reflected my persona. Hence Mass Effect 3: I dug up the Prothean Javik, freed the Rachni Queen, (again) Got punched in the grill by Jack (for breaking her heart and choosing Miranda in Mass Effect 2), even saved the cruel Ex-Cerberus employee (Project Overloard) who was running those Geth experiments on his little brother, Romanced Miranda (again) and finally, with a max of over 4000 EMS, I chose to destroy the Reapers once I got inside the arms of the Citadel. I also watched Shephard take that mysterious deep breath after all the cut scenes played out. From beginning to end, I found Mass Effect 3 to be an incredible journey that even surpasses Mass Effect 2 in terms of gameplay, emotion and sense of urgency.
However, Mass Effect 3’s final sequence still have many people angry, confused and perplexed---A brilliant dose of shock therapy that I didn’t even see coming but I truly, truly appreciate and embrace. This thread simply demonstrates( in my opinion) the beauty of Bioware’s narrative strategy. I don't felt they left me hanging, I just felt they actually did what few games have compelled us all to do on this kind of magnitude---and that’s to take it apart, analyze it, put it back together and try and make sense of it. I personally think the ending was brilliant and we FINALLY get to experience the final process of Shephard resisting or submitting to indoctrination during actual gameplay. This was not the Shephard I was used to. Bloody, letharthic, confused and out of his mind. He was now more vulunerable and human than he'd ever been throughout the entire trilogy. To me, that's so much more symbolic than a Boss Battle or quick time event. That's Bioware choosing not to take the easy route out, but Bioware showing the industry that their fans, us, the actual gamers, are mature, intelligent and can read between the lines.
Whether your opinion on the ending is good, opposite or you completely did not like it, one thing’s for sure: We’re all still thinking and talking about it---and that’s exactly what Bioware intended for us to do while they cook up something even bigger within the months ahead. Please feel free to share to this thread by leaving your comments. As always be vocal but respectful; and tell us what your interpretation of Mass Effect 3’s final moments mean to you.
Peace
Modifié par Tony Grant, 30 mars 2012 - 04:49 .
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