Mass Effect is one of those franchises that I'm always going to look back on in a fond manner. It was one of the few role playing games to come about that gave actual weight to your moral decisions over the course of three games, having to even weight until the third to feel the real weight of your actions.
And then, we...get to the ending.
For spoilers sake, just turn back now because there's nothing spoiler free about this post. I'm not talk to you, Joe Somebody who hasn't finished Mass Effect 3, I'm speaking to the people who made it and them people who've already completed the journey.
This is what our decisions lead up to...
Yup. All three endings, the universal reset button gets hit and we're left with a Garden of Eden ending with one teaser bi
Now watch this video.
I am apt to agree with poster TheGOODKyle. It all makes sense. And as much as I want to tell Bioware to kiss my ass over potentially having to buy the proper ending as DLC...I'm probably going to buy it purely because I've been invested in the series for three games now, I may as well see it through to the end.
A lot of us are not happy with the finale of the trilogy as it stands. I agree, it is shit. However, if I put on my clever specs, I can see just how clever it is. No doubt the Bioware forums are exploding like the Mass Relays did, and people like Casey Hudson who remains unapologetic about the ending, even going so far as to say "we see the final moments and imagery as offering victory and hope in the context of sacrifice and reflection."
So, basically they want us to look at the ending and derive our own meanings and victories from it. Yeah sure. Until the DLC comes out, the Fanfiction writers are going to get right on that. It's clever. It really is. An ending so vague and unsatisfying, we can only engage in discourse and argument to find solace and closure. A conversation device. Well played, Bioware. You've inflated your forum traffice for another year.
Are the endings thought provoking? Yes...Yes it is. Is it satisfying? No. It's really not. Especially when all the endings are exactly the same, the only difference being the color of the laser being fired, and one scene in one where a child asks his grandfather to tell him "another story about the Sheperd."
Maybe we can look at the whole third game as one giant ending, a series of conclusions before we actually reach the big finale. A 20+ hour series of doors opening and closing and goodbyes being said and loose ends getting tied down. It's not really a suggestion that gets the rather bitter taste out of the mouth, mine especially, but it's at least an approach that makes sense. As long as we're settling for the least.
Mass Effect was a wild ride, but...If it had just been a book I was reading, after finishing, I would have contemplated the ending for a few minutes, maybe even re-read the last page once or twice, before flicking it across the room, letting it's shape carry it in perfect rotations, and letting it sit where it landed for a few days before it eventually got in my way and got shoved in a book case. A reminder when my eyes wander aross it's spine and I smile at the good times, before laughing to myself and uttering "Oh, that ending was horrible..." and moving on to something else.
So, I raise my glass to hopes that maybe the Indoctrination conspiracy theory is correct, and we can look forward to an extended ending. I can only imagine what else they'll nickle and dime us with before then, if at all.
And no, if it's just stuff for the multiplayer, I won't waste my money, not if THAT's the end result.
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