Shermos wrote...
Ok guys. Stop getting so butthurt. I'll clarify what I mean by "lack of imagination".
Not everybody wants every single detail explained for them. There are fans which actually enjoy having certain things deliberately left to their imagination or to be expanded on in a future story. ME3 resolves the Reaper threat and Shepard's story and conflicts which came up in last two games. Pretty much all the plain plot lines in the previous games are resolved. In doing so however, it opens up new questions. Good stories do this. They leave the player/reader/viewer to imagination what might happen next and look forward to new stories in the same universe.
Agreed on the first bit, but what the Catalyst actually does is throw a number of explanations for everything at you. Just imagine an ending exactly the same way it is now, but without the Catalyst - I think the boards would now be filled with people arguing about what the reapers actually were and why they did what they did, and all the other questions posed in the series and the ending (are AI going to turn hostile, will the Krogan keep the peace, will the galactic civs be able to rebuild, amongst many others). Now we get a deterministic vision of technology forced onto us (AI will kill everyone, allways, no matter what), while the rest of the series actually tries to disprove just that and show that everyone can live together (or maybe not, depending on YOUR choices, not BioWares or anyone else).
The only real plot hole is how the crew on Earth managed to get back aboard the Normandy in the middle of a battle. Everything else haters are calling plot holes is due to a lack of imagination on their part. It's a sad thing, but it's their problem, not the game's.
The mere presence of a master of the reapers on the citadel brings up a number of plotholes, such as: why did he let Sovereign fail? Why not just take control of the citadel and open up the relay to the other reapers? Hell, why not indoctrinate the Citadel council? And sure, you can imagine the answers, but in no way do the games hint at answers to any of them. There are some minor questions that can be answered like that however (why is Anderson in front of you? Why didn't the reapers turn off the beam. How did you end up in the core of the Citadel? Even how the Illusive Man ended up there, imo). The imagination part comes up in what happens AFTER the finale, not to explain how the hell such and ending is even possible. It is still the role of the storyteller to make it believable and explainable within the stories parameters.
Then there's this "the ending came from left field" rubbish. I can't believe how many people actually believe this. The main theme of the ending and meeting the Catalyst is the breaking of a repeating cycle and what the consequences of doing this might be. This theme was delivered to the player with the subtlety of a sledge hammer almost from the start of the game, curing the genophage. (...) Taking the latter option in both situations breaks a continuing cycle of violence, much like the cycle of violence the Catalyst orchestrates, and the ultimate consequences are unknown. They are meant to be.
I agree with the theme, but there is a Deus Ex Machina coming out of the left field, nowhere has ever been hinted at the Catalyst being a ruler or master of the reapers. Conjuring up this god-like person to facilitate an ending is the definition of the term, and the worst part of it is that (unlike other Deus Ex Machina endings), it is not necessary! Cut out that master AI and just give us those options, that would solve a host of issues. If this kid woulud not have tried explaining the reasoning of the machines, keep the mystery going, keep them 'unknowable', that would have been more fun for me. This also undercuts the statement that each reaper is a nation, independant and beyond comprehension. Was that just hot air?
Also: the ultimate consequences should be unknown, agreed, but the Starchild tells you that AI will overthrow organics without any doubt, every time - no matter what choice you make (unless you take the synthesis option I would assume, but really, what does that even mean?)
Just to make sure the player has this theme in their mind, the Prothean VI talks about how his people came to the conclusion that a repeating cycle is taking place and the same themes repeat in more or less the same way, [b]with an unknown force controlling it[/i].
Agreed, but another theme of the entire series has been that species (and AI) can live together, and that AI are not necessarily evil (just look at how the Geth are designed, and how Legion and EDI are some of the most sympathetic personalities in the game). This has been discussed throughout the series, and the Catalyst just does away with that assumption and states that AI will ALWAYS overthrow organic society. This means he is either right and takes the entire discussion down with him, or he is a damn liar (or plain wrong), which raises the question why he was brought into the ending to begin with. Also, if he is so convinced that what Shepard is going to do is wrong, why give him the choice?
If people couldn't see how the game builds up to the ending rather than coming out of nowhere, they either rushed through the game or lack the ability to put 2 and 2 together. I honestly feel the writers over-estimated the intelligence of the average fan. It takes a little bit of out of the box thinking to get, but it shouldn't have been a big shock.
I have plenty of intelligence, I adore out of the box thinking and intelligent stories and I most certainly hate rushing through a game. Now I didn't think the ending was as bad as some people are saying it is, but I think they made some strange choices towards the end. You just cannot introduce a new villain in the last 10 minutes of a story (hinting at is not introducing), and in no way with 14 lines of dialogue. I respect the 3 final choices we were given, and for each of them you have to make a huge sacrifice. Although I feel that there is no way in which any technology could ever fuse organics and AI together as with the synthesis, but I am willing to go with it as it does present an interesting middle way.
Oh and of course, I can't forget the people who complain the ending rips off other Sci-fi. Wake up! lol, The series has been doing that since the first game. It's obvious Bioware meant the series to be a tribute to great and popular works of sci-fi. There are in your face tributes like the scientist on Noveria called Amisov, to the less obvious tributes like the Geth/Quarian conflict being an analogue for the Battlestar Galactica universe. The Krogan obviously have some influence from the Klingons. Need I go on?
Completely agree, as everything is in the end deduced or inspired by something else. Taking elements from other stories is completely normal, and there is no story, film, book or game that stands on its own withouth borrowing from what came before. And at least they are not trying to hide it.
There are legitimate reasons for disliking the ending, like wanting a Hollywood style happy ending instead of what we got, which I think was still pretty bright if you really think about it (and listen to what the writers actually intended you to get out of it). Everything else is pure bull****. Disliking it just comes down to your personal taste and it doesn't give you the right to demand a "better" ending.
Man, a happy ending would have been sweet at the time, but would in the end come off as a bittersweet, considering the way the series had developed. Also, I don't think anyone is asking for that. With a better ending they just mean one that makes a little more sense.
What I would have liked personally was to not have a big decision at the end - just make the game end determined on all the decisions we have made along the way. But this would require the entire game to be rewritten I suppose, so that isn't going to happen. What I hope the extended cut does, is answer the questions I raised earlier, and best without using the Catalyst. Let the Illusive Man explain it, even that would be better. What I expect it to do is give some extra dialogue, and give us some new cutscenes after the final choice, which would be sweet. And this is only because we are all so invested in those character we have spent all that time talking to, and personally I would just love to see what happens to them - even if that means I will get to see them die. The ending could have been so much more involving and emotional if it had tapped into the strong connection the player has with his teammates.
Modifié par curvz, 18 avril 2012 - 12:54 .
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