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Reth Shepherd wrote...
I still think Koobismo of Marauder Shields fame put it best.When I started penning down the rough scenario for "Marauder Shields", I took the analytical approach, disseminating the story, themes and the bouquet of emotions seen in the first 2.9 games of the Mass Effect trilogy... And I believe I identified the word defining its guiding emotion. Hope. Hope for rescuing the galaxy, hope for stopping Saren, hope for humanity to show their true worth and join the other Council species... Hope that the desperate search for the Conduit will produce a miracleous way of stopping the Reapers... Hope that Shepard will friggin' come back from the rubble, with epic fanfares going on in the background.
The second game opens with Shepard declared as a "bloody icon", a symbol giving hope for humanity, its unity, its future... If we lose Shepard, humanity might well follow. Why do you think the narrative makes such a big deal out of this? Because Shepard is such a good shot, or such a powerful biotic? No. Because it implies that what the Normandy did in the first Mass Effect had consequences - and placed it in a unique position of being the nexus of galactic unity. One needed so badly in such desperate times. The Illusive Man clearly understands this, whatever we think about his shady plans or dangerous philosophy. He rebuilds the Normandy, investing significant resources, but he makes sure that the ship looks similar, he makes sure that the name stays the same. Because he understands he isn't just rebuilding a ship. Whatever his ulterior motives are... at that time he is reigniting the Beacon of Hope.
End of Mass Effect 2. Commander Shepard strouts through the Normandy. The ship is heavily damaged after the assault on the Collector Base... but she'll live. She'll fight. She died once before, as did Shepard, but the music announces that this is far from over. The crew members check their weapons, manly looks are exchanged (with Jack delivering the manliest, which I absolutely loved) and... Shepard stops at the viewport, starring down the stars, mirroring the ending scene from "Empire Strikes Back"... The narrative tells you, with the use of this simple, yet awesome scene, that with the help of your loyal crew, you can overcome any obstacles. You can fight and win. Because no matter the odds, there is always hope.
Mass Effect 3. Despite some logical and narrative flaws present in the story from the very beginning (the Crucible plot appearing from nowhere, Cerberus suddenly becoming a Bond-like villain organization), the game follows the emotional guidance of its predecessors to the letter (allow me to emphasize the fact that the "governing emotion" is *not* the same as a "theme"). The situation may be dire, the death of millions may haunt you 'til the day you die... But there *is* hope. *You* are the hope. And you achieve miracles. Turians and krogan working together. The geth and quarian fleets united. The galaxy gathering under a single banner... You see in their eyes the same fear that would take the heart of you. And you know a day may come when the courage of men fails, when we all forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship... But it was not that day! An hour of wolves and shattered shields, when the age of freedom comes crashing down... But it was not that day! That day... You fought. And the Free People of the Galaxy stood there with you... Holding the line.
The ending of Mass Effect 3. Everything changes. The narrative drops its core for no significant storytelling reason other than "we wanted to write it this way". Shepard's fight-until-the-end attitude, the only element of his (or hers) character identical for all players, gets broken off-screen. Nearly all major themes of the series are suddenly dropped and replaced by a twisted version of ME1's "organics vs. synthetics", no longer valid in this universe due to the events and ideas shared with the players in ME2 and ME3 - the concept evolved during the series, changed, progressed and, at the crucial moment, was slammed back to its original, embryo state. The game unexpectedly shifts from space opera science-fiction to space fantasy. And finally... The emotional guidance of the series suddenly vaporates and is surplanted with a substitute, a piece that doesn't fit the puzzle. Hope dies.
One could argue that the solutions presented by the StarChild grant you some kind of hope... And one would be wrong. The very philosophical themes of the ending indicate that nothing matters, neither in the past (all choices become invalidated), nor the future (everything can be invalidated once again, by another godlike creature with an even stupider plan - these are the new rules of the narrative). Your hopes, presented to you over the course of the narrative, were false - this is why it stings so much to return to the previous games, this is why replayability gets murdered by this finale. Let me emphasize this... The crucial emotion of Mass Effect was HOPE. Believing in a positive outcome fueled by your efforts and sacrifices, which is invalidated retroactively. You can hide away the "it's about the journey" asspull - how can you take the same journey again, how can you hope again, if you know that it's just a lie?
Instead, you are left with a scene of a godlike creature shifting the universe and life to its bidding... And you are assisting with it. You are not choosing, not really (unless you accept the Refusal ending, which is yet another emotional play to make you think of Synthesis as the right choice, no matter how wrong it really is) - you are selecting one of the options the StarChild is okay with. And each of the endings, from the mildly horrible Destroy, through pretty horrible Control, to the absolutely horrible Synthesis means one and the same thing... Your world ends, the current rules of reality governing Mass Effect are killed off and you are the executioner holding the bloody axe. Some may consider that a shyamalanalanyan tweeeaast. I consider it a false narrative. A bad one.
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