tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20292755.post5697262386183914705..comments2024-01-04T02:49:23.470-08:00Comments on Blessing of Kings: A Critique of the Mass Effect 3 EndingRohanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09090769681887119989noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20292755.post-278716738266469492013-04-10T09:47:04.683-07:002013-04-10T09:47:04.683-07:00Great post. I saw Sanderson at LibertyCon last ye...Great post. I saw Sanderson at LibertyCon last year and attended his writing workshops. He knows what he is talking about and I think you used that particular principle of his to pull back the curtain on the angst. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20292755.post-49568903865731983072012-06-29T12:48:23.245-07:002012-06-29T12:48:23.245-07:00I rationalize the ending given the quality (for th...I rationalize the ending given the quality (for the most part) of the previous work. I think with how big the project got and likely pressure to get it ready for shipping, the ending got shortchanged. <br /><br />95% of the game is awesome...ok 93% the 2% with the dream state just plain silly. <br /><br />I could buy into the ending where Shephard dies to save the universe. The theme was omnipresent throughout ME3: Mordin, the Earth child, the Geth/Quarian, the Rachni Queen. Someone had to pay the price for a choice. <br /><br />But at then end all of that didn't matter. I totally agree about the Crucible. <br /><br />Here are the plans for the uberweapon that will save the Galaxy says the old AI.<br /><br />What does it do? Despite being advanced beings we forgot to include the manual. Sorries.dahuthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09938110448159276945noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20292755.post-65633277297674465462012-06-29T11:32:22.118-07:002012-06-29T11:32:22.118-07:00While I can see where your points are coming from,...While I can see where your points are coming from, and they are well supported, I don't altogether agree with the whole "Crucible is magic we cant explain." Yes, Bioware never explained how it worked, but I don’t think Bioware ever needed to.<br /><br />If Bioware had explained how the crucible worked, then it defeats the purpose of having the choice at the end AT ALL. If the ME Galaxy at large reverse-engineered the Crucible to the point of understanding its energies, they could indeed do what you said: use it without limits or rules (ie who knows what it could really be capable of?). BECAUSE we don’t know how it works, we HAVE to use the rules passed on down the line to us from the Protheans, and the species before them, and so on.<br /><br />As for your questions of “Why choose this choice over another if its all magic to begin with?” is, I think, the wrong question to be asking. I believe the correct question to ask is “What do these endings mean for Shepard as a character, or hell, as the whole Galaxy as a character?” If you look at it that way, the endings make MUCH more sense because: Control means Shepard is just as much at fault as the Illusive Man in being so arrogant in the “ONE correct choice (Control)”; Destroy is what the galaxy was setting out to do in the first place, but because we DONT know the rules of the Crucible, it may or may not create additional devastation across Earth and the rest of the Galaxy; Synthesis is the unexpected twist, as you mentioned, because it is not a choice the Galaxy at large had ever considered (even the Star-Child said it was a brand new choice) and ties into the culture of the Geth wanting to achieve enlightenment.<br /><br />In summary, the ME franchise has not been so much about CHOICE as it is about CONSEQUENCES. Yes we do make certain choices over others, but the pay off is seeing what happens after we have made said choices. The original ME3 ending had very poor consequences for the choices made during the last 3 games. The Extended Cut expands on just HOW those choices affected the rest of the Galaxy. A good example is the Krogan: if you cure the Genophage AND save Wrex, the Krogan live on as a species and contribute. If you sabotage the Genophage, not only do you kill Mordin yourself (stab-and-twist) but you later have to kill Wrex, which leads to the ultimate downfall of the entire Krogan race due to infighting. The original ending of ME3 didnt even mention what happened to the Krogan, whether Wrex was alive and the Genophage was cured. We just didnt know what the hell had happened. Now with the EC live, we players now see the real CONSEQUENCES of our choices.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20292755.post-5927748760047823672012-06-29T11:24:44.874-07:002012-06-29T11:24:44.874-07:00You should add the "common sense is thrown ou...You should add the "common sense is thrown out the window" aspect of the ending to.<br /><br />Off the top of my head:<br /><br />1.What is Ghost Child? Oh sure, it CLAIMS to be "the Catalyst", and that's nice and everything, but what is it?<br /><br />2.Is Ghost Child at the end even the Ghost Child I saw throughout the game? Reapers might be able to read minds/know about the Ghost Child if is it Something Else and make a little image of it to trick me.<br /><br />The leads to the question when Ghost Child says "You can Control us" as to why I believe Ghost Child creature, whatever it is and whatever it wants.<br /><br />Basically Ghost Child is the second most important creature in the whole game and we never find out what it really is at any point. Or what it's goals were. Besides some "don't let synthetics kill organic life by killing all organic life". OH LOOK SHADES OF HALO!<br /><br />Not that I would believe Ghost Child when it tells me that because I don't even know what Ghost Child is and but it has also claimed I have a loaded gun pointed at it's head.<br /><br />In short, makes no sense. The only logical choice is to ignore Ghost Child and proceed as planned. Because Ghost Child got credibility problems.Whatevernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20292755.post-51226009103634822672012-06-29T00:45:54.138-07:002012-06-29T00:45:54.138-07:00I forgot to mention one of the most annoying plot ...I forgot to mention one of the most annoying plot holes IMO: Harbinger. Why the hell did they just abandon Harbinger as a character, and yet repeatedly reference him/it? The downed Reaper on the Quarian homeworld even specifically tells Shepard that "Harbinger told me of you."<br /><br />Ugh.Azurielhttp://inanage.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20292755.post-38084015179396499922012-06-29T00:43:35.835-07:002012-06-29T00:43:35.835-07:00I agree 100% that the large majority of ME3 was wr...I agree 100% that the large majority of ME3 was written by people who had no idea how the series was supposed to end. And by "supposed to" I mean "foreshadowing" and "consistent themes."<br /><br />Where was the Crucible in the first two games? If the theme was organic vs synthetic, why did we spend 3 games talking about the Krogan? If the Krogan were supposed to be a metaphor, it came across as extremely weak. The whole thing felt like the TV Lost, insofar as the writers had no idea what they were doing until simply ending everything as a vapid Christian allegory.<br /><br />On a side note, Gandalf didn't have to use magic to fly Frodo to Mount Doom, they just had to use the Eagles. You know, the ones Tolkien pulled out of his ass to save the main characters.Azurielhttp://inanage.comnoreply@blogger.com