That the star child existed at all.
I know I'm totally preaching to the choir here. No one is ever going to say / has ever said that the star child was a good idea. What I think is interesting, though, is figuring out why he doesn't fit in the Mass Effect universe in the first place, because if you give it enough thought, he is the sole reason why the ending didn't work.
Beyond the fact that he's a deus ex machina, what he represents is thematically inconsistent with the entire series. For one, none of the options he presents are like anything you've faced before. Every decision you made up to that point had a practical outcome and impact - a race being wiped out, a person being saved, etc. The option he gives you at the end, however, is meta-physical. In destroy, all sentient technology (however that's discerned) is destroyed. In control, your essence is transitioned from organic to synthetic. In Synthesis, every single living tissue and synthetic component is somehow transformed. In every decision (save for refusal), the entirety of the galaxy is affected down to the essence of being.
Second is that every single decision results in a sacrifice. Even though Mark Walters and Casey Hudson stated that this was the theme of the series, I'm inclined to disagree. If ME2's "suicide mission" was any indicator, it's actually about survival. Every challenge has always afforded some leeway to be victorious. It's only in the last choice that you can't get everything that you want. It sounds spoiled, but it's an expectation they built up through the whole trilogy and only broke in the last five minutes. Every other sacrifice was either imposed (Anderson), by characterization (Mordin), or a result of negligence / poor choice (Miranda / Suicide Mission). Never was there a decision that you made that didn't have an entirely or reasonably positive outcome. Even in Tuchanka, the loss of Salarian support can be gained by other means.
The biggest reason that the star child doesn't work, though, is that he downplays the main antagonists of the series - the reapers. The primary reason why they were so intimidating was because they were enigmatic. You had no idea where they came from or what their goals were, and even if you were to find out, it would be beyond your comprehension. They were gods. No matter what the writers chose to do, the fact that they tried to answer the question of their existence at all undermined their purpose. Like all great story telling, some elements are more effective if left to the imagination (Inception's ending comes to mind). This is especially true for the reapers.
So let's apply it. Imagine a Mass Effect without the star child. Imagine if you concluded your confrontation with The Illusive Man only to confront a recognizeable foe - the voice of the reapers, Harbinger. Imagine if you had one final discussion where he was as hostile, intimidating, unforgiving, and mysterious as ever. Imagine if emotions were high, and instead of giving you an explanation, the only thing he afforded you was an argument like every other time you spoke with the reapers. Perhaps he gives a vague warning - "Without us, you will suffer a fate than the one we offered you". After that, he gave you a high-stakes choice with only two or three outcomes that are large in scale, but not meta-physical in application. Like every other decision, however, there is some moral ambiguity, but a potential victory either in the short-term or long-term. Maybe afterwards, the EC slideshow follows. Or even better - you don't get any of the EC content. You get something no larger than what we got in ME2 or ME1 - Shepard looking off in the stars, catching a sight of his team, and boldly going where no man has gone before. Would you have been angry by the lack of choice then? The lack of explanation or closure? The lack of "effect" your previous choices had?
Just food for thought.
Edit - Disclaimer: My post might suggest otherwise, but I'm satisfied with the Extended Cut, if only at a superficial level. I'm in no way suggesting some new fanfic ending. Just generating some discussion about the conventions of story-telling and how they apply to Mass Effect.
Modifié par matchboxmatt, 06 mai 2013 - 04:35 .
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