About ME3...
The price for loosing your head into something you are obsessed with; the price for becoming Shepard...
My story: So immersed in the role playing aspect of the game, I pulled a straight no break session of 12/13 hours for roughly three consecutive days out of a total of an entire week. For those intense sessions, I was tired as a rabid dog by the end of it, but my mind was satisfied knowing that it was what was required to save the Galaxy. (I chuckled at that thought before I went to sleep; how silly I was being totally absorbed in a damn video game that I would forsaken food and deprive myself of good rests, but my mind was invested.)
I had figuratively became Shepard, my mind and Shepard's became one. Hell, I was so emotionally invested that even the flaws in story, mechanics, etc all went out of the window; either I did not notice or I simply brushed past it. And when Shepard was pulling all-nighters and are mentally deteriorating, I pretty much thought to myself: 'Yep, at this rate, both of us are going to loose it; victory better be worth it.'
That was the extent of my role-playing and I am sure plenty of players did the same. My Shepard (Male) had black hair during the first two games. In ME3, his whole hair "turned" white. I have seen instances of that in real life when a person experiences so much stress that his hair "rapidly" turns to grey. I as a player during those intense RPG moments was trying to mentally fit myself into Shepard and my way of getting a feel for it; to feel the immense weight that was on Shepard's shoulder was to make myself physically suffer by playing the game with no breaks and no food; possibly the closest thing a gamer could do to emulate that emotional state. (It's unhealthy and stupid of course and arguably psycho, but I didn't care for I was invested. ;P)
So when finally I reached the end, my body exhausted, wanting to do nothing but to sleep, wishing it to be over, which I feel would be exactly what Shepard would have wished for; to finish this grisly business and save the galaxy, I was stunned, dazed by what transpired when the credit rolled. (Before EC, even after EC, still disappointed) I am not going to go into the ending for it has been done to death but I just wanted to express simply what I felt; for when I witnessed it, I was in the pure emotional trance of being Shepard in all his exhausted being, my logic could have been impaired as far as I was concerned. Being dazed is how I could explain my feeling after seeing the ending. I didn't know what to make of it, but I had this feeling that something was amiss, that it did not grant my catharsis; it lefts me hanging. It wasn't what happened to Shepard at the end, of course not; I was ready to accept that miles away as were alot of other players. In hindsight of course, I could see the flaws and shortcomings after I exit the RPG mode when logic and analysis are applied but when I was emotionally invested into the character of Shepard, everything I experienced was raw and I was emotionally vulnerable because I was wearied as was Shepard, I had to carry through my already fatigued senses. This is why I think the Indoctrination Theory could have some credence. In the situation at the end, after one pulls a few all-nighters to go through with Shepard, hell, I don't know how you could still have all of your faculty sharp and crystal clear to make the right decision that could affect trillions. It sure hell felt like having an indoctrinated mind; it was surreal affair, the whole Starchild encounter.
Per the ending, I could honestly say that I trust my feelings, for they can't be fooled and they told me that they did not like the ending and thus I don't.
One point I want to make with this is that ME3 sets you, the player to go through something like this, this hellish journey, hopefully not through a real fiendish binge playing like what I did but to put one in Shepard's shoes in the situation that he was in, what the Galaxy was in. The story of ME3 shouldn't surprises you for the previous two games have been setting all this up the whole time. Every player knows that the Reapers are coming; the inevitable all consuming war for the Galaxy. In a way, my reaction to playing ME3 was exactly how it was intended. (Before the end) In previous games, we were following Shepard, making decisions, yes, but we were never close to becoming him/her, only observing and acting out a Shepard that we think ought to be given our bias and perceptions. In ME3, we were close to figuratively becoming the hero because by this time you know your Shepard pretty much inside and out and thus all the more close to him emotionally like never before; and this game being the only one that actually involve you into an all-out conflict that was never present before. To Bioware's credit, I think this part of the implementation of ME3 was successful despite the things that were wrong with it. In a way, it was an easy setting to suck the players in in an impending brutal total war. We have seen it before many times but it works because it hints at humanity's innate strength of coming together as one against a common enemy, against overwhelming odds. This inevitably pits us to invest ourselves in whatever we are doing to achieve the goal even if it is remote and seemingly unattainable and we'd do it or die trying even if it was imaginary and pixels from an electronic screen. Still I think Bioware deserves applaud for setting this up admirably well to makes the players invested in the experience.
However, this high emotional investment is also the reason why there was such an uproar from the community about the ending. People were so emotionally entrenched into the story, into their Shepard that they were suspended high; they were in a higher energy state. In the end to be "dropped" and "slammed" into the ground was not what people expected. It was like humor except it was not funny; the unexpected did not bring joy. This is an instance where I would say that a story needs to go in a path of least resistance. There is just not a lot you could temper with and you shouldn't; there was two games building it all up for pete's sake. Imagine say by the end of LoTR Return of the King, suddenly it was revealed that Sauron was not the Lord of the Rings; that it was some new being/character that was never introduced at all. To a reader who isn't totally familiar with Tolkien's mytho and only reading and judging the book by what was introduced in it, he/she would of course call bollocks. Unless you then to start making exposition on this new char and continue the story into perhaps a forth book, you just can't end the story without the readers feeling cheated.
Again, the players could have forgiven alot of missteps were they not huge. The price for feeling Shepard is that it raises expectation to extraordinary high, and falling from that height does not bode well for anybody, Bioware or the fans. It was a double edged sword and unfortunately I agree with most that Bioware didn't come through to make ME3 the best game of the Decade or perhaps even in the history of gaming and beyond. But it was hell of a ride to be sure. So I am of the sentiment that ME3 did alot of things right but also did alot of things wrong, some very wrongs that shouldn't have been. ME1 was "golden", ME2 was "singular", and ME3 was "emotional". If only the spirit that went into ME1 was injected throughout the entire trilogy. I by no means would think that Bioware was entirely faultless but with EA as publisher, I cannot but feel much of the bad decisions have to involve them. Kinda tragic really but hey that's life, nothing can be implemented as desired and nothing is perfect or can be. Still, shame that it did not end on a high note that would have been glorious to be but it was a good trip, things went horribly wrong at the end but the trip was trippin'
So despite everything that had transpired, I hope ME4 would turn things around and proves that Bioware still got it in them to make the best RPGs in gaming...that is of course if EA would just let them do what they do best and stop trying to pander to trigger happy twitch junkies and forcing developments. Intangible investment in brewing good game development practices and design goes a long way in making profits.
But knowing that it's EA and from seeing what's been done to C&C, I doubt it.
Do hope ME4 turns out well though.
Modifié par Pause, 09 mars 2013 - 09:42 .
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laying out the political, difficult, and emotionally challenging decisions that would need to be made in a war for one's survival. I have a hard time discounting the different plotlines (i.e. genophage, quarian/geth, etc.) on the ground that the are "expected," as the OP does here. Any work of art has themes, and when you have a series one is supposed to build upon those themes to create some kind of ultimate outcome. For this reason, I had the hardest time getting used to Mass Effect 2 (which many people think is the best into the series), because I thought the Collector/Cerberus plotline was really random/didn't initially build off these themes. I wound up enjoying Mass Effect 2 (it was definitely better than Mass Effect 1), but it took awhile for me to get into it. Although I was not 100% satisfied with Mass Effect 3's ending (even with the EC installed), I enjoyed how Bioware decided to conclude the majority of themes/scenarios over the course of the game.
just as good as the first 2
