Mass Effects Ending
and why it’s Terrible
This discussion probably comes about 3 years too late,
however as a newcomer to the series I haven’t long beaten the trilogy and thus
haven’t had any reason to talk about it until now. So … here I am.
The big thing to mention is like pretty much everyone I
loved the Mass Effect Trilogy. It
wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say about 98% of the series was fantastic and it
is easily one of my favourite gaming series ever. It’s very much about the
journey, not the destination so that’s good … doesn’t make the ending suck any
less though.
Many complaints about the endings have been made and I’ll be
discussing the endings as edited by the extended cut as that’s what I
experienced. I will say that after watching the version before the extended cut
was released however that what I saw was not as bad as it could’ve been. The
extended cut was an improvement and did have some really good additions. When I
talk the ending however I mean the part after the scene with Anderson and The
Illusive Man.
Before I talk plot holes and such things let’s talk the
actual premise. I personally didn’t like it and that’s due to how it basically
abandoned the series genre. Mass Effect is obviously a science fiction but it
was always grounded in the rules of its own universe. It’s not like in Star
Wars where it seems magical and the limits of the force and the characters
power is essentially limitless. All along Shepard is a normal human with no
extraordinary abilities. The closest thing to space magic in Biotics has its
own rules, limitations and is explained by the in game codex.
Suddenly however this Star Child comes along and tells you
the crucible somehow has 3 completely different functions which you get to
choose somehow. It all felt so out of place in the Mass Effect universe. It was
one step away from declaring it Shepard’s destiny or something and it felt like
we weren’t even in a Mass Effect game anymore. Then these options are barely
explained and you end up making a pretty blind choice hoping for the best even
with the extended cuts added dialogue.
Looking into these choices doesn’t help. We’ll start with
control. It’s portrayed as a good option and even has the colouring of paragon
blue. As a paragon Shepard I’d spent since the end of Mass Effect 2 and
deciding to destroy the collector base fighting with the Illusive Man saying
that controlling the Reapers is a bad and more importantly morally wrong
solution and now it’s pointed as a good thing. What’s more is if you do pick control
Shepard descends to this other level and controls the Reapers. The problem is
Shepard talks as no longer Shepard and if you pick this option the Reapers are
incredibly likely to end up being used to rule with an iron fist if any
conflict breaks out again.
So that’s bad and it seems like the same cycle would just
break out again, except with Harbinger replaced by Shepard. So maybe choose
Synthesis like I did first time and instantly regret it. The specifics of
synthesis are incredibly vague but what I can say is it goes against everything
we’ve fought for. So much for bringing everyone together despite their
differences and working for a greater goal together, now organic and synthetic
are basically all homogenised into one and it seems to me like everyone is
being turned into a husk.
The other two are admittedly better, destroy is what I wish
I’d picked. It makes no sense how Shepard could possibly survive but it is kind
of along the right lines. We got to fulfil what we were out to do, destroy the
Reapers but at a cost of all synthetic life in the galaxy, not only wiping out
the Geth, but killing one of our squad mates in EDI. When people talk about
multiple endings, I’d like to see multiple endings along the lines of this,
depending on how well you did with war assets and the decisions you made
depends on who you can save and if you can even finish the crucible at all. The
problem with destroy is by itself why is it the only option when wanting to
destroy the Reapers. The best ending should be to wipe them out and not have to
sacrifice an entire species, especially if you’ve done everything right.
Finally refusal while good being able to basically give the
middle finger to the dumb Star Child feels like a massive troll. It would’ve
been good if having enough war assets meant you could win the war with the
military might you had sent upwards of 30 hours of Mass Effect 3 collecting.
But no, no matter what everyone dies. Great. Even worse if the Star Child is
obviously a Reaper construct as he has a Reaper voice if you pick this ending
so he could be lying to you about everything to start with and thus your
decision is completely blind.
I’ve picked apart my problems with the ending as an ending
to a story. I dislike the plot twist and what happens as an ending, I hate the
ending for much better reasons than my own niggles. Now I’m going to start a
new paragraph with all the plot holes I can think of off the top of my head so
3, 2, 1 and go:
Why didn’t Harbinger shoot Shepard as he/she ran down the
hill, why did Harbinger not blow the Normandy to pieces as the squad was being
evacuated, why did Harbinger fly away, why did the Reapers establish a quick
way to get to the citadel which was the best way to stop them, how did Shepard
survive the hit from Harbingers beam when entire buildings are demolished by
it, why does Shepard’s armour and gun change after being hit with the beam, how
did Anderson get on the citadel and reach the control panel before Shepard, how
did The Illusive Man get there, where do the Illusive Mans magical powers come
from, if The Illusive Man kills you why does he ignore the console that he
believes is key to completing his goal, how did Shepard get a wound where
Anderson was shot, how does Shepard heal after taking the elevator to the Star
Child, how does Shepard run now, why does shooting the core thing activate the
crucible, how could Shepard possibly survive the blast.
That’s off the top of my head, I’m sure there’s more. Many
could be answered with the two words: Indoctrination Theory but Bioware didn’t
do anything to prove it and basically said, you can interpret that way if you
want to. The indoctrination theory I think was a brilliant idea and something
that would’ve been great to expand on in the extended cut but instead Bioware
largely dismissed it and it just seems too big a stretch. So instead we have
plot holes galore, another one being why isn’t Shepard feeling the effects of
indoctrination after everything he/she has done. Doesn’t Harbinger say he’s
going to take control off Shepard’s mind in the arrival dlc, do Reapers make
empty threats now?
I have one more thing I want to talk about, how the ending
still doesn’t supply closure and switches focus away from the characters. Yes
we got a slide show briefly pointing out what happened to some characters
(Although some of these slides just showed the character looking at the sky).
Even if you like the slide show however you still aren’t given any kind of
closure on the characters from your ship in Mass Effect 3 outside of EDI and
Joker.
I’ll talk from my own experience, after what was a very
touching scene where Liara put Shepards name onto the memorial what happened to
my crew. My favourite character like with many people was Garrus, what happened
with everyone’s favourite space bro. Did he ever reunite with his sister? We
don’t know. Did he help rebuild Palaven? We don’t know. Did he ever calibrate
the Normandy’s gun to 100% efficiency? We don’t know. Not long ago I caught him
sharing a moment with Tali (My second favourite character) and calling her
something to come back to. Did they settle down, maybe live in that house on
Rannoch that Tali always dreamed of? We have no idea. Did Garrus ever meet
Shepard at the Bar, cheesy yes but I would’ve found that satisfying. Mass Effect
did such a great job in getting us attached to these characters that just
leaving it all up in the air felt insulting.
Finally is the lack of focus on Shepard. Sure you make a
choice but it’s not really your choice, it’s what the Star Child allows. All
the decisions you’ve made before you’ve made by using logic and your own
morality and how far you’re willing to go. Here Star Child tells you what’s
allowed with no budging on what he says. Everything you’ve done up to this
point is irrelevant.
I’ve moaned a lot about the ending to Mass Effect 3 so I’ll
end on something positive. After replaying the series and once again witnessing
those great character moments I can conclude that it in no way ruins Mass
Effect, at least for me and I’ll buy Mass Effect Andromeda without a second
thought. If anything it shows how good a job Bioware did with everything else
so well done on about 98% of your series Bioware, now please don’t succumb to
EA’s indoctrination and make more day 1 DLC.
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