And by "just" I mean like 6/7 hours ago but I only just came online and saw some of the reaction.
Coming into the ending expansion I had low low low expectations. I didn't see the point or appeal of "extending" a bad ending. If you hate it why is more of it a good thing? And if you already liked it anyway.. Why is more of it a good thing? I suspected it would just be full of awkward plot-hole fillings that were needlessly inserted that raised more problems than they solved. Still I avoided all spoilers that I could and came in blind. Only thing I was ever told was "This is not a new ending, merely an extension"
And actually my words were right. At least partially. Things like Joker flying down from the battle to the beam to rescue your party members because they scraped their knees fixed the "how did they get on the Normandy" thing but it just raised 70 other more important things. I was literally cringing.
And while I was initially interested that I could finally talk to the Catalyst, I couldn't actually ask him anything I wanted to ask him. I could only be told a bio-card that sounds like it came out of a 1990's video game-manual that was both uninteresting and made the Catalyst make even less sense than ever before.
But I was also completely wrong because this wasn't a bad thing. And please bear with me when I say that. I will come back to it.
At this point while the Catalyst was blabbing on about who created him and how he started the Reapers my expectations went from "low" to "beneath floor." I was actually disappointed about something I didn't even really care about. It was that anti-impressive. And yes I know that's not a word.
Then suddenly I was given the option to **** the crucible and **** the catalyst and his stupid pointy face. This should have surprised me more if not the fact at this point I was only half-heartedly paying attention and didn't think the dialogue option would actually do anything. I will still expecting to shoe-horned into the 3 choices.
But then Shepard did reject it. Suddenly the Catalyst turned into Harbinger (or whatever) and suddenly I was on the edge of my seat. This was totally unexpected for me and I actually got a new ending I was told didn't exist (you
know what I mean)
And the best part was it fit My Shepard so perfectly. I have 3 sheps and this one is the comically overly Goodie-Too-shoes, War Hero, gives candy to orphans with one hand while blasting a husk in the face with an assault rifle in the other and pleasuring her lesbianonic bondmate Liara with her foot at the same time as teaching
troubled Krogan children how to read.
.. Okay I got a little carried away there but my point is this Shepard was the preachy "Never sacrifice the soul of the specie" stuck up Shepard. The one who wouldn't sacrifice entire races to win, the one who wouldn't end all life as the universe knows it just for some kind of survival and the one who wouldn't risk living in a world where anyone including herself was controlling the Reapers.
This is a Shepard who would have said screw the crucible and screw you and sat down to watch Earth get literally blown into little pieces and then rebuilt as a Reaper car-park just for her morals of "how we all stood united to the
end, our way!" The stubborn **** who is in the right but so ****ing in the wrong.
And then it was over. I had said no, not used the crucible, humanity fought to the bitter end and lost but they never gave in, never sacrificed the soul of their race and the next cycle beat the Reaper's thanks to Liara's little blue
box.
It was bittersweet. And not Hollywood "You actually saved the world but your wife is dead lul" bittersweet. Actual
bittersweet. You ****ed up but for what your character would have wanted and the result was still uniting the universe and intergalactic peace. In a completely unconventional ending.
... and... It was good. Not great. But not bad. A harsh critic could call it "fair" or "okay" and you'd struggle to argue with him but I'd not give up that struggle because I think it's good. It's a good ending. It has great closure, it really fits the tone of personality of someone who would tell the Catalyst to **** off in that situation (I mean why would you say it if it wouldn't?)
Sure it would be cool if say there were 3 different "screw the Catalyst" ending scenarios that play off military strength... But that doesn't spoil for me because here's the thing and this is the key part (to the one person who actually read this far): I really felt engrossed and excited in the story at this point. That hasn't happened to me since the very first time I was halfway through the Priority Earth mission until harby shot me on my ass and (IMO) the whole thing began to fall apart into a black hole.
And what makes this "good" ending amazing to me is they reached into this black hole of pus and feces and pulled out $20. Sure would a diamond have been better? Absolutely but still they pulled $20 out of a pile of nothing. Which to me is a really impressive feat to pull off and they did it within 5 minutes.
I went from below the floor ending hater to actually wanting to replay the extended endings again to the check out the other ones. Even if they suck, I WANT to do it with a different Shep and see what happens. I'm considering
replaying it since ME1 again just because I actually care again when I didn't before. Which probably sounds meaningless but after finishing ME3 for the first time I never had much desire to touch Mass Effect again. Not because I hate it, I don't. I really love it. But hundreds of hours of hurtling towards an ending that sucks just lost it's appeal. And now I find that weight is gone. At least somewhat.
This whole experience came as a complete surprise to me. Walking out of the extended cut feeling happy with a new ending... and I haven't even seen half or most of what the new scenes are.
But when I come online I'm disappointed. Not because people "didn't like it and I did." but because this new ending is being responded too as if it was an insult. Mocking the fans who hated the Catalyst, wanting out of the
crucible trap... and it clearly wasn't.
The thing I note that Bioware did and while I may not like it I can't deny they did it well (and this why I said bear with me earlier) is trying to allow everyone to have their cake and eat it too.
Don't you see? The explanations of the plot-holes are terrible because they want you to choose whether or not you accept them. If you're a fan who hated the ending because of plot-holes, here's your escape, the plot-holes were
filled. If you're a fan who wanted the plot-holes because it "proves" the Indoctrination theory, the plot-holes were filled so badly it almost does prove the Indoctrination theory (especially with the Harby Catalyst voice)
But keyword "almost"
Equally so they can't spend the entire game building up the cruicible and introduce "you didn't need it because you're awesome." as it would cripple the other endings. It becomes a choice of sacrifice.
Nothing is set is stone and everything is left open to interpretation... But you still get closure because the endings are clear endings when they weren't before. Guys like me got the reject, the guys who accept the ending at face value get the ultimate peace feeler of synthesis (which by the way I hate. Just feels like universal genocide) , guys who hated the plot-holes now have the holes filled, guys who wanted Shepard to be Indoctrinated now have everything they ever need to firmly demand that he was Indoctrinated and not feel stupid while they fire at destroy.
You get to pick. Not just literally the ending but how you take the ending and yet it's done in a way which feels like the end instead of just a blank page where the end should be. I quite like this.
And I fully confess this isn't great storytelling but it's all you need to walk away happy. And least I think so.
And much to my surprise and almost slight dismay. I actually really have walked away happy.
So anyway big thanks to the one guy out there who actually read all of my pointless rambling. And I hope you all have a great day.
Modifié par MetioricTest, 27 juin 2012 - 12:17 .
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