Mass Effect 3
Wonderful game. Fun to play. Emotional-- there is hope and sadness, victory and defeat, and you can feel it all.
Do I have issues with the ending?
I knew Shepard would die. It fits. All things considered, it was well done and emotional. The suggestion of impending bleeding out is really well done. But two big things .
Gratuitous use of space magic. What happened with the relay network was space magic. In many other universes, it might work. Star Wars has that sort of thing. But Mass Effect always included a psuedoscientific explanation for everything. Sometimes there were errors, just about always there was fantasy. But it was fantasy with fancy futuristic words. Nothing about the relay explosions, or the crucible, was explained. At all.
So, relays all go boom. Worst case scenario is that every system with a relay-- everyone we've seen and quite a few we haven't-- is doomed. Arrival let us know what happens when a relay is destroyed. Best case, if the space magic caused a different kind of explosion (not stated or hinted at), is that everyone is cut off from everyone else. Large chunks of populations were at earth, I'm betting, and now they are stuck there, either totally screwed-- turians and quarians-- or probably totally screwed on a planet with very few resources. That is, if Earth is not destroyed (I chose synthesis, as it means maybe more people will live and the Reaper threat is gone. Also seemed to fit as well as any available for the themes.)
I have given hope to the krogan. I have made peace between the quarians and the geth, These were touching bright things. What did I just do all that for? None of it matters, because there is no galactic society anymore, no matter what you pick. If you pick destroy, everyone is back in the dark ages, and with control, they're all doomed anyway. That's maybe the biggest thing I hate about the ending. The unity that was so important is irrelevant after the battle of Earth. It's never been hinted at as a momentary thing before. Stories aren't like real life; the hero's actions have
Smaller things about the ending and the game.
Liara flashback is annoying. Thane was my LI. Glitchy Aethyta also annoying. Would have been OK if could refute her assumption.
Wanted to inform the Catalyst it was an unimaginative and stupid computer. Nothing could justify what it did. It committed genocide over and over again for what apparently is a Philosophy 101 debate, as there is still organic life in the galaxy. If you talk to EDI at a certain point, she'll tell you that the Reapers run concentration camps; she pretty much pulls a story verbatim from the Holocaust. This is the solution?! Torture and wide scale death, destruction of not just bodies but souls (indoctrination, along with more mundane methods), to solve a problem I guess the first civilization in the galaxy was terrified of but never saw come to pass because they committed what is effectively suicide by--just guessing-- turning themselves into Reapers. You want me to sympathize at all with this line of thinking?!
The existence of characters whose sole remotely interesting trait was their sexual orientation was stupid, unnecessary, and a waste of resources. Kaidan's sudden bisexuality is damn weird. They already had Liara. They could have made James bisexual (hahahaha) or added a new male squad member who was. Traynor and Cortez were boring as hell, because they were characters written based entirely on the kind of person they slept with.
Also, Traynor is pathetic. In the military, you don't bitch to your CO about how unprepared you are, especially not on what is effectively a lively deployment. I told her to shut up about it as best as the game allowed. For the love of God, she's on a stealth spaceship, too, not out sleeping in the rain in hostile territory like an awful lot of people are. Maybe it's a Navy secretary thing...Bioware knows about the military from old action movies, let me tell ya. Yes, I'm being nitpicky. But it's my culture, and I have a right to say it's being portrayed badly.
From the Ashes was a good DLC. Javik was my favorite new party addition. Wish Thane's death had gotten more reaction. The turn of the story at Thessia, after two victories and moving forward with the war effort, was brilliantly done. Why is everyone on the Normandy an officer? Why the hell does Ash dress for a night out when going to an official hearing before her military superiors? Didn't care for Normandy's half-finished redesign. And do you really want to me to believe Vancouver is the capital of Earth, or even the HQ for its armed forces? Ever? Hell, Moscow is more likely (and would be artistically very fun, actually). The OST is lovely.
I have an idea for a rather minimalistic rewrite of the series (mostly the second game, actually, the weak point of the trilogy) that would allow for better, more thought out endings that make thematic sense. I'll post about that later, if anyone out there cares to know.
Do I have issues with the ending?
I knew Shepard would die. It fits. All things considered, it was well done and emotional. The suggestion of impending bleeding out is really well done. But two big things .
Gratuitous use of space magic. What happened with the relay network was space magic. In many other universes, it might work. Star Wars has that sort of thing. But Mass Effect always included a psuedoscientific explanation for everything. Sometimes there were errors, just about always there was fantasy. But it was fantasy with fancy futuristic words. Nothing about the relay explosions, or the crucible, was explained. At all.
So, relays all go boom. Worst case scenario is that every system with a relay-- everyone we've seen and quite a few we haven't-- is doomed. Arrival let us know what happens when a relay is destroyed. Best case, if the space magic caused a different kind of explosion (not stated or hinted at), is that everyone is cut off from everyone else. Large chunks of populations were at earth, I'm betting, and now they are stuck there, either totally screwed-- turians and quarians-- or probably totally screwed on a planet with very few resources. That is, if Earth is not destroyed (I chose synthesis, as it means maybe more people will live and the Reaper threat is gone. Also seemed to fit as well as any available for the themes.)
I have given hope to the krogan. I have made peace between the quarians and the geth, These were touching bright things. What did I just do all that for? None of it matters, because there is no galactic society anymore, no matter what you pick. If you pick destroy, everyone is back in the dark ages, and with control, they're all doomed anyway. That's maybe the biggest thing I hate about the ending. The unity that was so important is irrelevant after the battle of Earth. It's never been hinted at as a momentary thing before. Stories aren't like real life; the hero's actions have
Smaller things about the ending and the game.
Liara flashback is annoying. Thane was my LI. Glitchy Aethyta also annoying. Would have been OK if could refute her assumption.
Wanted to inform the Catalyst it was an unimaginative and stupid computer. Nothing could justify what it did. It committed genocide over and over again for what apparently is a Philosophy 101 debate, as there is still organic life in the galaxy. If you talk to EDI at a certain point, she'll tell you that the Reapers run concentration camps; she pretty much pulls a story verbatim from the Holocaust. This is the solution?! Torture and wide scale death, destruction of not just bodies but souls (indoctrination, along with more mundane methods), to solve a problem I guess the first civilization in the galaxy was terrified of but never saw come to pass because they committed what is effectively suicide by--just guessing-- turning themselves into Reapers. You want me to sympathize at all with this line of thinking?!
The existence of characters whose sole remotely interesting trait was their sexual orientation was stupid, unnecessary, and a waste of resources. Kaidan's sudden bisexuality is damn weird. They already had Liara. They could have made James bisexual (hahahaha) or added a new male squad member who was. Traynor and Cortez were boring as hell, because they were characters written based entirely on the kind of person they slept with.
Also, Traynor is pathetic. In the military, you don't bitch to your CO about how unprepared you are, especially not on what is effectively a lively deployment. I told her to shut up about it as best as the game allowed. For the love of God, she's on a stealth spaceship, too, not out sleeping in the rain in hostile territory like an awful lot of people are. Maybe it's a Navy secretary thing...Bioware knows about the military from old action movies, let me tell ya. Yes, I'm being nitpicky. But it's my culture, and I have a right to say it's being portrayed badly.
From the Ashes was a good DLC. Javik was my favorite new party addition. Wish Thane's death had gotten more reaction. The turn of the story at Thessia, after two victories and moving forward with the war effort, was brilliantly done. Why is everyone on the Normandy an officer? Why the hell does Ash dress for a night out when going to an official hearing before her military superiors? Didn't care for Normandy's half-finished redesign. And do you really want to me to believe Vancouver is the capital of Earth, or even the HQ for its armed forces? Ever? Hell, Moscow is more likely (and would be artistically very fun, actually). The OST is lovely.
I have an idea for a rather minimalistic rewrite of the series (mostly the second game, actually, the weak point of the trilogy) that would allow for better, more thought out endings that make thematic sense. I'll post about that later, if anyone out there cares to know.