Hm...to post or not to post...
Ok, let´s try this without ruffling too many feathers.
I liked ME3 during my first playthrough...until the ending, which left me...stranded? in a way...it was kinda the perfect WTF?-moment. I needed a few days to actually come to terms with it. Having thought about Shepard´s possible indoctrination long before ME3 came out I naturally gravitaded towards IT...nothing else made sense to me.
These days...post-EC...it still is the only way for me to stomach the endings and like...well
accept is probably the better word...them enough not to let them destroy my enjoyment of the overall series too much.
Having played ME3 with 3 different Sheps so far I´ve also come to realise, that the endings are not my only gripe with the game. I also dislike the prologue, the missing neutral dialogue option and the overall feeling that pretty much all of my so far quite different 20 Shepards will end up as almost the same kind of (dumb) pod person free to choose their favorite flavor of crap.
Did I expect too much?...my prior experience with BioWare games include ME1&2 as well as the DA games. I still have to catch up on Jade Empire and KOTOR, which I got a while back but haven´t had the energy to play yet.
Anyway...considering both the ME and DA franchises not to mention some of the pre-release statements by BioWare employees themselves (and I´m only refering to those statements made very shortly before release!), I don´t think my expectations were too high. I basically expected the SM on steroids like quite a few people around here.
I can´t speak for anyone else but me when it comes to the following reasoning, so those of you who don´t share my opinion, that´s perfectly alright, I don´t expect you to.
For me ME3 "failed" because it was supposed to be the finale of a trilogy but felt like a regular single game. Which I suppose caters to the advertising statement of being the perfect place to start.
Which quite frankly is stupid! Noone could ever give me one good reason to start a trilogy with the last part. I actually played ME2 before ME1 when a friend of mine introduced me to the games. The only reason I did that was because I had problems installing ME1 and couldn´t wait to play ME2. Honestly I can´t remember that first playthrough anymore...I doubt it made much sense to me, I only know that after finishing it I did everything in my power to get ME1 running so I could
really experience the ME-story.
I´m quite aware that ME is a hybrid between RPG and shooter, both ME1 and ME2 have some elements which needed some work to be "perfect", but all in all I didn´t mind too much. The setting, story and most of all the characters made things like a too big/small inventory, ME1s gameplay, ME2´s flying flint aka Hammerhead pretty much insignificant. I love these games despite their little flaws...I don´t even mind the occasional plothole now and then.
ME3 though...I don´t really consider it a RPG anymore to be honest...it´s more a shooter/interactive movie hybrid for me. The protagonist gets too streamlined character-wise, not to mention seems to have lost some braincells along the way.
I definately miss the neutral dialogue option and more distinction between paragon and renegade responses. Let´s not even get to the overbearing auto-dialogue.
The prologue was...urgh, I can´t think of a word...I have no idea how that can be the perfect intro for someone new to the series...except of course the pure shooter crowd who probably doesn´t give a rat´s ass about the story.
If you start a romance in ME3 you get what...one specific LI dialogue then silence until the final let´s bang scene? ME2 LIs get even less.
One of my favorite moments in the game is the bottle shooting scene with Garrus...that´s exactly what ME is about for me...the characters and your Shepards´ relationships with them. The fighting and galaxy saving for me is just a bonus.
I AM of course biased a bit, because I´ve come to realise that RPGs are really my favorite VG genre. I don´t like shooters all that much with a few exceptions. I DO love the shooter element in ME especially the gameplay in ME3 but it´s still not as important to me than the story and characters.
Ok...this is getting too long. I don´t think I need to say too much when it comes to the endings, there´re enough threads already which deal with them.
For me the original shown endings were abhorrent. Post-EC I´ve come to accept them...with headcanon I can even like them to a certain degree. With DLC they could still even turn into great, though I doubt that!
But having said that, I
did not expect the end of the trilogy to go completely against the established lore, neither did I expect for Shepard to get kicked to the curb like this (like I said...MY interpretation).
I
hate the whole crucible concept, it makes no sense to me whatsoever, if it doesn´t turn out to be a red herring, which it probably won´t, it´s complete bulls*** and then I have to say "yes, I definately expected more from the writers!"...it´s not like they didn´t prove they can do better, even in the same game...Tuchanka, Rannoch...some of the greatest moments of the trilogy are found in ME3.
That´s also why I don´t consider it a complete failure, that would be totally unfair. I do stand by my opinion though, that it would have been "perfect" if it would have still gotten the RPG treatment...including varying endings from "happy" to "total loss" with heroic sacrifice and differing losses in between...without crucible/catalyst.
And considering the art excuse...
I play VGs for entertainment, if I want art I visit a gallery or museum or watch an arthouse film!
VGs
can be art, yes, for me they´re art when they can draw me in, get me invested in the story, let me care about the characters and make me feel real emotions. ME3 did all that...long before the ending...and it had
absolutely nothing to do with a random kid on earth, some superweapon or a ghostly ReaperAI!
I´m all for change etc...but considering ME in essence as a RPG I don´t need change so much as variables. I expect a "story-driven" RPG to provide me with the options of at least a happy ending, a bittersweet ending and a defeat ending. If it has even more, the better. I do not think that´s asking too much, especially from a company who has shown in the past that they
can live up to that!
For those still reading...thanks for your time and interest!
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