kaia

Okay, massive spoilers for Mass Effect 3 so I'm cutting this. After beating it, yeah, just need to talk about the ending.

First of all, the game was WAY more than I was expecting and that is saying something, because I was expecting a lot. It was an emotional rollercoaster, and I liked that. I teared up on a number of occasions. So it's a video game, you grow attached to characters you've played through 3 games with. I want a bff just like Garrus irl. So, as I go into my rant, know that I loved the pieces out of this game and the two previous games.

I was incredibly impressed with the game. That was, until the end. Just, ugh. Really? I've never been disappointed in anything Bioware has done before this, but I honestly am with the ending. So much so, I don't know if I'll want to replay any of the other games. That is also saying something, because Mass Effect is at the top of my favorite games and for just an ending to do that, it has to be bad. I had heard the rumors about the endings and how people were upset, but I thought to myself, man, it really can't be that bad. Bioware has proven time and time again they have amazing writers.

How wrong I was.

I can appreciate a bittersweet ending. I can appreciate a sad ending. I was expecting the sad, the whole game foreshadows sad. I mean, okay YES, I do wish my Shep would fly off into the sunset with Kaidan and her bff Garrus and all the other friends she's made and finally get to rest after all that has happened, but I figured that wasn't going to happen. I still hoped, because you know what, that's exactly what the series is about; overcoming the odds and making it through. I get that is a sugar and rainbows ending, but why can't there be more of those? The end just doesn't match that.

What annoys me the most though that no matter what I did in all three of the games, it doesn't impact the end. I still get the same three choices, which are all pretty crappy. You can either die, and control the reapers. Die, and sort of become a reaper and make everyone a human/synthetic, or you can maybe die, kill off one of your best friend's lover and all of the geth. And in all of these, the best way of getting around the galaxy is destroyed so here you worked to get everyone working together only to have them torn apart again for the next however long. What was the point of all of it? I get that Bioware wanted to give you some major choice at the end, and none of the three are the optimal choice, there are consequences to each and each changes the galaxy. Why do everything else then? It all leads to the same moment, the same choices.

I'm okay with a Shep dying ending. I knew there would be one. That would be fitting, just as her somehow beating the odds and surviving would. And I expected both, because there were supposed to be multiple endings. Technically, she did live in my game. She was in the citadel wreckage, but her crew is stranded who knows where and the mass relays are gone. So yeah, there's a chance she'll see them again but probably not. She can't live and NOT be with them. The last two games are all about the squaddies. At least in that ending, there is some hope though.

Just, why does it have to be dark and slightly philosophical? All three of the endings are that way, but the series wasn't either of those things. It was about one person, making a difference and saving the galaxy. I could understand the endings better if Mass Effect were a dark series, but it really wasn't. The end doesn't fit the series, and that's all I want out of it; an ending that fits the story. There are plenty of sad stories people love. My favorite movie Anna and the King is one such story, but it also would not have felt right to end happy. It wouldn't have fit, but being sad does not make me love it any less. Just like other stories end of happy, like Star Wars. That ending fit.

Give me an ending that fits the game, Bioware. You've had one in all the other games, why not this one? This one matters the most, at least to me.

I'm actually hoping there was some bug or something and those aren't the only endings. I thought Casey Hudson said there were quite a few and that people would be happy. I haven't seen much praise for the endings. I still have faith, Bioware. And if not, well, I guess I'll write my own ending in my head.

But really, ugh. I would've taken any ending that had the closure a trilogy needs and this one didn't. It left more questions and a bitter taste in my mouth.

Oh, and I totally caught the hint to another game in the Stargazer movie. Keeping the doors open, I like it, but I would rather have closure on this one. Shep's story is done.