"Nihlus."
"Yeah. I told you that mission was gonna be bigger than we thought."
It’s perhaps a clichéd sentiment to occur in the final instalment of a trilogy, and yet having now finally finished my long-awaited extended cut run, it has struck more of a chord.
Back in December 2007 I fired up a borrowed copy of Mass Effect, having previously briefly seen a friend playing through an uncharted world, in the Mako. My first thoughts upon seeing that? “Hey, some kind of space exploration game. Cool, a moon buggy! Looks fun.”
Funny now to think I was drawn to the right game for the wrong reasons.
I never anticipated at that point that I’d begun to play the first episode of what would become my favourite franchise bar none. That as my first Shepard strode purposefully across the Normandy’s CIC, I was taking the first steps in an epic journey that would stretch on for close to five years.
48 hours(ish) later, I sat mesmerised through the ending. When I thought my Shepard had died, my thoughts manifested in one, quietly spoken word: “No.” When I saw that he had in fact lived, I smiled.
It was a milestone for me. Up until that point, games had been about gameplay. About which game had the biggest explosions, the greatest expansive vistas, the guns with the most dakka. Yet now I had been slapped (hard) in the face with a revelation: video games can be more than that. They can have an immersive narrative, compelling characters, a gripping story. Games can make you care.
I came to the forums, lurking, looking for any glimpse of information about a sequel. February 2009 came, and the teaser trailer hit. I was ecstatic. Intrigued and perhaps shocked by Shepard’s apparent “death”, but ecstatic nonetheless. Mass Effect 2 became the first game ever that I picked over the web for on a weekly basis, desperately seeking any gobbets of information I could find.
A year and “Dat Trailer” later, ME2 launched. I played it, and loved it. It had evolved past its clunky shooter/arrpeegee roots in ME1 to something more refined. It wasn’t perfect, but the characters I knew and the universe were still there. It was still Mass Effect.
Another two years down the line, and I came to the trilogy’s conclusion. I was sucked straight in from the get go. The combat impressed me, for a game whose main selling point was its dynamic narrative, it now possessed gunplay that could give a lot of more “purist” rivals a run for their money. The universe was even more immersive than ever; the further I pushed through, the more of a sense I got that the galaxy I had spent two games in was slowly and surely going to hell.
I felt despair, and I mean that in the most positive sense of the word. When I played through segments like Tuchanka and Rannoch, they gave me the glimpses of hope I needed; to tell me that someway, somehow, there was a means by which Shepard could win this fight.
And then I reached the ending.
Granted, I wasn’t foaming at the mouth come the conclusion. Critiquing it afterwards, I could even see some good in it. But at the time, I felt empty. Unfulfilled. The galaxy’s fate was left open to, at least in my humble opinion, a ludicrous degree. I thought the franchise I loved needed to be done justice.
Having completed the EC, I can happily state I’m far more satisfied. To those who are still disappointed, I can empathise, I really can. After all, a few months ago I was in the same boat.
And yet with this satisfaction comes sadness. It’s finally hit me now that as far as Shepard goes, this really is “An End Once and For All”, regardless of which ending one might have chosen. There isn’t going to be another game with Shepard as the protagonist. Whilst he, or she, might have become the galaxy’s salvation, they will never grace the franchise again. And as far as I’m concerned, Shepard IS Mass Effect.
The trilogy has reached its terminus. Much like Shepard, when I first headed off to Eden Prime, I had no idea what I was in for. And it’s been one hell of a ride.
So this post is indeed self-indulgent nostalgia, but it’s also a thankyou. To the Mass Effect team of today and yesterday, and to the exceptional voice talent who brought the universe to life, with a special shout-out to Mr. Meer and Ms. Hale for making Shepard such a truly special character.
And it’s a thanks to you, BSN. Throughout the whole series we’ve laughed together, shared our favourite times, spawned countless ridiculous memes, and formed a community that is possibly more passionate than any other I’ve seen. One that regardless of different viewpoints, is unified by one thing.
We all care for this franchise, in one way or another. If we didn’t, we wouldn’t be here.
Shadrach out.
Modifié par Shadrach 88, 27 juin 2012 - 08:54 .
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