Mass Effect 3 ending

First let me say that I am fairly ashamed that my first post in what I hope will be an intellectually stimulating blog is about a video game.  Let me offer two defenses: first, of the many topics which I have "in the works", most address moral or philosophical questions which are more or less timeless, so they can be left unfinished in the interest of weighing in on a pop-culture phenomenon which will very soon be forgotten.  Second, if you give this entry a fair read, you will find that it is about much more than a video game.

So, the obligatory SPOILERS AHEAD.

Now, for any reader unfamiliar with this subject matter, I offer this summary.  Mass Effect 3 is the third and final video game in the Mass Effect series, developed by a company called Bioware.  This series is set in a science fiction universe more painstakingly created and detail-oriented than any other sci-fi universe that I have encountered in video games or movies, to include Star Wars and Star Trek.  The story of the games is not remarkable, but the lengths to which the creators have gone to define and describe the technologies, settings, and cultures in the games are so great as to truly remind one that "science fiction" originally meant a blending of REAL SCIENCE and imagination.  Instead of saying, "there are fast ships and laser guns and artificial gravity in space," the writers of this game have reduced the mystery of their imaginary technologies to a level easily swallowed by the analytically-minded.  As an example, the sci-fi staple of "guns that shoot lasers" is incarnated as a piece of equipment that fully respects the REAL laws of physics of our universe, except that there is one imaginary material that, when electrified, emits a field which changes the mass of matter within it.  Those who are curious are given encyclopedia-like entries in the game that describe in detail the physical workings of everything from the "shields" of military spacecraft to the bizarre consequences of  faster-than-light travel.

Bear with me now, this level of detail on my part will pay off later.

Next, I will address the controversy.  A huge percentage of core Mass Effect fans are seriously upset with the way the trilogy comes to an end.  Critics are immediately dismissive of these fans as entitled whiners, which is understandable to anyone who has not experienced the trilogy.  Unfortunately I have read many articles by professional journalists who all seem to miss the entire point of the fans' unhappiness.  If there is one point that I make here today let it be this:  Fans are not complaining about the story being over, or about how happy or sad the final moments were, or about who lived or died, or about how *they* would have written it.  Fans ARE complaining about how the final moments are utterly incongruous with the entire culture, if you will, of the series.  Read on, and keep an open mind.

I have seen dozens of references to "100 hours" as an estimate of the time it takes for an average playthrough of all three games a single time.  This number bugs me, as it seems irrelevant.  I personally have spent an estimated 300 hours (that's embarrassing, even over a three-year period) with the series, because these games are built around the idea of making tough choices which may effect anything from a couple's choice to immunize their unborn child to the extinction of all sapient life in the galaxy.  Not every choice is black and white, and even for those that are, I may wish to play through twice in order to see the effects of all possible choices.  So other die-hard fans (many of them more die-hard than myself), who are the upset ones, have invested many times more than 100 hours in this series.  I point this out because it is not at all comparable to watching a movie, but it is somewhat comparable (in terms of time spent) to reading a very long novel.  The other reason why that 100 hour figure is irrelevant is because Bioware, the creator, must have spent thousands upon thousands of paid man-hours to create just the details of the universe that were ultimately unnecessary to crafting a successful game.  Personally I think this may be largely responsible for the success of the series, but I'm largely ignorant on that topic.  My point is, the talented folks who created this game were interested enough in their own product to polish it to a much, much higher degree than is customary in today's popular video games.  Keep that in mind as you read on.

A lot of this controversy is tangled up in critics (critical of the upset fans, not the ending, I know that's a weird way to phrase it) arguing that the storytellers have a right to tell their story how they want to, and we (the fans) don't have a right to demand change.  They have missed the point entirely.  Let me demonstrate.  Before I even unwrapped my Mass Effect 3 Collector's Edition (again, embarrassing, but I thought it would be informative to point out that this is the only game I have ever pre-ordered, much less bought the collector's edition of), I was very unsure of how the game would end.  I was virtually certain that the main character would perish, and I even thought there was a really good chance that it would end in failure, i.e. galactic genocide.  I was very excited nonetheless.  I was along for the ride, wherever Bioware chose to take me.  During the two weeks or so it took me to get through the game, I was hooked.  I had to make choices that genuinely made me squirm, and I loved the game for that.  I never once adopted the mindset, "that part would have been better this way."  In short, the game was the best video game I can remember playing through.  Up until the end, I was genuinely on the edge of my seat.  How would this epic story come to an end?  Failure seemed likely, success just within reach, and I am always on guard for the unresolved ending which leaves room for a moneymaking sequel.

Then something very strange happened.  The plot was derailed, and I was subjected to a short interactive cinematic sequence which can only be described as surreal.  Not surreal as in the feel of the game was dreamlike, but rather the events in the game were suddenly so foreign to my 300 hours of familiarity that I felt disoriented.  Then the game ends in a way which is just so very inorganic.  The best way that I can think to describe it to one who hasn't experienced it, is if the last 50 pages of a novel were swapped with the last 50 pages of an unrelated novel.  It wasn't intrinsically horrible stuff, just not relevant to the story in progress.

So.  My personal, though uninformed, guess is that Bioware ran out of time.  This seems likely to me because as I noted earlier,  they seemed to genuinely cherish their product in its previous forms.  If that assessment is correct, then they do have something to answer for.  Artistic integrity is not a valid defense against not finishing a masterpiece.  And here's the really sickening part.  If they chose to release a new ending (I'm only saying this because they have confirmed that they won't), one that is up to the standards of the rest of their work, I would likely be willing to give them some of my hard-earned money for it.  I know, I know, that is disgusting.  But hear me out.  These games have stood head and shoulders above their contemporaries, and yet all XBox 360 and PS3 games (I don't know about PC) have the same shelf price.  I have bought games that I only played for 20 hours, so shouldn't there be a price difference for a game that will keep me interested for 5 times as long?  After all, a Ferrari doesn't cost the same as a Toyota (no offense).

In closing I wish to point out to the journalists who have missed the point, that the upset fans are not so much dissatisfied with the type of ending that was delivered, but rather that the ending does not fit the story.  This is NOT a small distinction. 

There are many more interesting facets to this controversy, but I have gone on for far too long already, and most of what I left out are the aspects most heavily discussed elsewhere.