I will address several items in this topic and it will be a long read. I will address some flaws and what my expectations were from the franchise. Some elements have been covered, but I hope my take on things explains the ending a bit, why it makes sense but also how it goes wrong and what would be needed to fix this.
There are many lose elements adressed by people, but I did not come across a single post that explains why the ending cannot be fixed or simply be changed. There are some good literature analysis, which come very close to explainign my experience. Reading into the lore and playing the games I had built up a vision on how ME3 would be, this vision explains a lot that went wrong with the game. I do think that expectations can always ruin the end result and makes you a bit biased. The conclusion I draw: ME3 a game that sporadically has very great moments, but fails to execute the plot with the disastrous ending as a result. However the ending is not far from what I expected… it is very true to the game lore.
The execution and the whole unravelling has been executed BADLY (to stay polite) and in fact the end is so bad due to numerous plot holes that 1. We have to hope for the indoctrination theory to be true 2. Hope that the ending is “fixed.” If you are a fan and want the story to succeed.
What I expected mass effect 3 would be like:
I expected a game that for 90% would be the same game whatever your choices were in the previous games. However by nature of your Shepard from the start you would be limited to only 1 themed ending (3 themes in total).
There are two reasons why I expected this:
1. Developer comments and promises and what was achieved in mass effect
2. Money. The fact you could play 3 stories, but only all 3 accessible and enjoyable at its fullest if you have the previous games and DLC. This would be the reason for people to purchase all DLC and all the games. A smart market strategy , but no one would care due to the quality that would be in the game. A justified way to increase the revenue.
I expected 3 elements for each 3 Shepards (neutral, paragorn and renegade Shepards based on previous renegade/ paragon scores).
1. The first element would be to create an army, unite the races. Subvert or extort races into cooperation.
2. The 2nd element would involve Cerberus and some devious scheme.
3. The element that would end/ conclude the game for each Shepard.
Paragon Shepard (the battle of minds/ soul):
Ties in with thematic themes of synthetics, organics and diversity mostly. Depending on your success rate there are losses to be taking into account even perhaps a sacrifice from Shepard.
The paragon Shepard would unite the galaxy and would cooperate with synthetics ideally. His end with the reapers would be a combat of minds and dialogue very likely taking place in a virtual world. The more races you would have with an extra weight on synthetics the better the battle would be. I guess the Crucible could be the power source/ device in combination with the citadel to be able to perform this battle. Thou in all fairness I more imagined something that involved the megastructure the Geth that you obtained by having the Geth cooperate (para) or you rewriting them (rene), which would hint back to ME2 that rewriting was just a lesser evil option at that time
.For the ending there would be several options:
Destroy the reapers (one of the best endings, but renegade), “malfunction” the reapers (making combat easier, but at a higher price), bring forth the positive aspects of the nations within the reapers (ending what the reapers are in essence, but keeping them alive, this would be paragorn), a fail to “free” most reapers and thus still taking severe losses (bad paragon ending) and one ending that sees your forces beaten.
Renegade Shepard (the warrior, the manipulator and the human supremacist):
Ties in with themes of indoctrination, human supremacy (less diversity), control and power.
Essentially Cerberus succeeds in their plan, but as Shepard you lay claim to their technology and you either cooperate with the Illusive Man or you take charge. The IM would be renegade and taking over would be paragon. This is a similar conflict as in the paragon choices. A pure renegade would have to cooperate with the illusive man, similar as how a pure paragon has to let the reapers live a conflict of choices (sound familiar?).
For the ending there would be several options:
Renegade: Control the reapers and bring humans forth as the new super power. Being the renegade story you already most likely betrayed the Krogan, perhaps either killed most Geth or Quarians… so it would fit the renegade them. Paragon: control the reapers to end themselves. Depending on how successful you are you do not see devastation of the forces, but rather how damaged Earth would be.
Again it is entirely possible that for success one has to go back to the crucible or citadel.
Neutral Shepard (the man of logic, realism and always approaching things practically):
[the story that is available without DLC or owning prior content]:
Ties in the themes of the universe. All the treasures and/ or artefacts found, the variety that is in it in both races but also technological marvels and discoveries as rapidly aging suns. This is the one that brings forth that success comes at the price (sacrifice), but you can rise against all odds.
It simply comes down to gathering new technology (Crucible as a weapon) and gathering as many war assets as you possibly can. There is one paragon and one renegade ending, where the paragon ending has all races gathered sharing an equal loss, and some “extra” damage to earth (detonate in the atmosphere). The renegade would see you sacrifice a lot of your ‘alien’ allies and Earth goes unscathed. Again depending on war assets and such the forces and earth would suffer more damage/ losses etc.
The nice part of this system would be that for all 3 endings you would need to gather the forces and still beat Cerberus. During the game some codex entries would differ, some dialogue would differ and of course the last 20min or so of the game would be different. Essentially 3 different games that share 90% of the same game content, but due to smart dialogue changes and slightly different outcomes it would play as something else. Note how all these elements and possibilities about control, virtual worlds and discovering old technologies are part of the other two games.
Why it would work also for DLC:
The essential battle takes place on earth. In any winning scenario you could not reach all reapers (some still in dark space… doing whatever). The Cerberus control was slightly flawed and some get away… a few that are set “free” stay what they are (the oldest ones) etc. etc. so the next game or next DLC the balance stay the same and the only difference is what you read in the codex. Exactly how letting the council live or die worked for us in ME2 and ME3. Also times heals all wounds, let it pass 2 centuries in this universe and you can have a lot of out of game events reshaping your world.
In every scenario I envisioned a deeper understanding of the Citadel; either through Cerberus, through the virtual world or through the technological discovery. The knowledge gained would answer some mysteries behind the reapers, it would name a few very deviant cycles where they did go wrong..., but mostly the reapers are left a mystery.
If I would compare the money potential with such a story plot and such incentive to buy previous games and DLC… EA would agree.
What we got:
I think in essence the ending is very close to what I envisioned. There is control, destruction and … well synthesis. The bad part is that all 3 options are available no matter how you played Shepard. The consequences of our actions are played out during the story… where each plot twist in prior games almost gets its own mission. This is the first thing I disliked about ME3. There is no “mass effect” behind the choices, there are individual results to each major choice you made in prior games, which has no cumulating “effect” in the end.
The biggest issue I have with the game is that the 3rd story element (the one that concludes the story), which is the Crucible is introduced very sudden at the start and progressing into the story it becomes clear that this Crucible can only have a single function, no variation is added.
The ending as such is very logical as all endings are tied to the crucible and because there are no twists in the game as I envisioned them, this device in any ending can only have 1 meaning/ result. It would take at least 2 hours of extra game (which could take place on the citadel) to evolve the crucible into divergent paths/ possibilities.
The last issue is the god child that destroys all mythical aspect the reapers had. In one appearance we lose all awe for these destructive machines and to kick us in the groin this little pest also introduces numerous plot holes and illogical thought patterns that… I guess the reapers were right I cannot comprehend. So here we enter in to the realm of the indoctrination theory.
Comments on the indoctrination theory:
I like this and I like that people involved it into rapid indoctrination and if there is hours left after you are done with the indoctrination the essence of mass effect can be saved. Currently as it stands the IT will not work, because we
assume an ending after IT. If this ending comes to quick without twists the Crucible is STILL THERE. As long as the Crucible stays the same as we know it now it does not offer any alternate ending than what we already have. The
ending is logic… in fact it is a wonder we get so many options still. Or is it a wonder? Everyone calls the colored blasts space magic and for such diverse results the crucible and citadel sure perform some awesome space magic (albeit not impossible due to the massive size of both devices, I would be disappointed if it had only 1 button =D).
The above reason is the main reason that I doubt the IT theory, because without adding a lot of content also in terms of game time there is no value in IT, but to end up with something very similar to as we already have, except that we might shoot ourselves.. Saren style if Bioware shows us mercy.
A glimmer of hope: there is a 5gb difference in filesize between xbox/ps and PC version, that would be some impressive amount of extra content (if that file size difference has nothing to do with programming/ storing options/ redundant textures etc.)
Comments on replacing the child with Harbinger:
One reaper to control them all, one reaper to find them. One reaper to bring them all and in the darkness bind them. I seriously do not get why people want to turn mass effect into the lord of the rings.
Respect the game lore and respect that the reapers are in essence different to us. They are truly alien to us, so let us not try and explain them. Giving harbinger such a monumental role is a mistake. If this happens we humanize the reapers, we bring them down to a level we can comprehend, by giving them order.
The star child is far better than harbinger as it is totally alien and in essence still is different from the reapers. Anything in charge of the reapers should be completely alien to our definition and preferably alien to what the reapers are too.
Comments on the dark mass theory:
This theory assumes that what happens in one galaxy influences the entire universe . A rather bold story and I do not like it, it would need to be very well written and explained before I take this above our current ending.
Comments on Mass Effect 4:
Some fan speculation a bit cliché so I deem it unlikely
and I think the story of Shepard is ended, but the universe is very much alive.I imagine an equally flawed logic that has the reapers holding back synthetics in dark space from evading our galaxy. In the near vicinity we are the only galaxy known of that still has organic life cycles. The reapers are the answer to a losing war and hold the line in nearby galaxies and patrolling the borders of ours. Gaining in power with each harvesting cycle (as they see it). So they go into a war, back off from the front to go into a war with organics that in our logic could contribute to their cause. They defend us but they kill us
To conclude:
I did not address the literature mistakes and there are plenty of well written articles and more knowledgeable posts found that address this issue. I wanted to make clear how close the ending got to a good ending, but that the entire game has bad elements and pieces that look brilliant, but in the end only resolving one prior game choice and killing the “mass effect.” On retrospect it looks like they went over a checklist from beginning to end.
The ending is close to being good, but due to the cumulating of elements; reaper myth busted, the deus ex machina, god child plot holes and killing of the “mass effect” by presenting the same ending to every single story.
My expectation are no replacement for the game story, the writers should suprize us with their own story, but the way it is told failed on many levels.
Note:
(The crucible
is a DEM even though it is introduced at the start. It is the DEM at mars that
comes down to a single conclusion and offers a singular solution to the story,
which is detached from other game elements. The closest thing that comes to it not being a
DEM would have been if the control choice would depend on Cerberus technology
and what you did with that technology (some earlier choice), but the control
choice has nothing to do with Cerberus it is a built in function. You cannot
influence the DEM at all. As said before one of the story elements that I did
not like working on Dem and I feared as such from the get go. There was enough
distraction along the way but each story element tied to the Crucible did not
bring it variation.
Modifié par Stonewall_Jack, 27 mars 2012 - 09:29 .
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