When they reduced the skills development, upped the shooter aspects and kept Shepard mostly away from the places of the first game, I accepted it all. ME2 still felt like a Mass Effect game.

I would have been okay with a surreal ending if it hadn’t been badly cobbled. But the whole “we created the AI Reapers to periodically decimate species advanced enough to find the mass relays and the Citadel, in order to stop them from creating AIs, which no matter what path they follow, always arrive at Daleks” thing was an intellectual betrayal to a series that constitutes some of the best science fiction of the last 20 years.

Also, I was outraged by the renegade decisions in ME3. Unlike other BioWare games, with their infantile choices between knight errant and petty brigand, ME decisions were never about “whether” you would save the universe, but about “how” you would. Because honestly, what kind of ding-dong finds out the known universe has a big target on its back, but would rather spend his time muscling NPCs for a couple extra creds?

I’m big enough to admit that there’s an element of my derision that comes from having my own idea about the Reapers, and I think if people are honest, most of them will have this, too. In the first game, we learn that the mass relays and Citadel preceded the Proteans, that they were dependent on the found technology, and that the Reapers struck quickly and mercilessly. I was POSITIVE from what we learned from the Protean archives that some species with technology far beyond the mass relays had created them to lure growing races into the death trap that is the Citadel. I was POSITIVE the reason for this was that they were abnormally xenophobic and knew that a species who suddenly finds technology far beyond what they can produce will become beholden to it, and complacent. I was POSITIVE that eventually Shepard would find the world of the Reapers’ creators, because it would be the only location with what he needs to stop them. And I was POSITIVE that the creators would be long dead from something mundane, like a plague. Shepard would save the universe once and for all from the Reapers, and the lesson of the creators’ paranoia and seclusion would not be lost on the spacefaring species.

Maybe you read my ending and thought it was lame, but I’ll bet you think the canon ending is lamer. And I contend that my ending is in line with the theme of the games (no small part of why I was so confident it would be the canon ending).

In BioWare’s version, the creators are apparently the first species to allow their (C-list) philosophers to make the decisions, instead of the politicians and generals. We may not always agree with our leaders, and I know it’s long been fashionable to have a casual, amorphous distrust of them, but it’s better than having George Lucas running the country.

Forewarned, I finished the story for the first time last night, so wasn’t as upset as I would have been.

For me the ending is more than anything else, hollow.

In my game, the Quarians were exterminated because I chose to protect Legion and facilitate the upgrade of the Geth. I was able to stomach this because I was fulfilling a promise, which undermines the ‘Starchild’s’ bald assertion that organics and synthetics are doomed to conflict.

David Hume’s critique of induction proves that the ‘Starchild’s’ assertion is unjustified: Just because a situation has always pertained in the past, doesn’t mean it will always do so in the future. There is no amount of experience which can overcome this flaw in inductive logic.

Bertrand Russell tells of the chicken who always ran to the farmer because the man bought food; an assumption which was quite right until the very last time.

The ‘Starchild’s’ stance is nothing short of a totalitarian assertion of ‘this is the way it is, get used to it’ and as I said above, an unjustified one.

I (inadvertently) sacrificed the Quarians precisely to preserve the promise of a better future where conflicts can be resolved; that is after all, how the new races were using the citadel.

The ‘Starchild’ was in a position where ‘he’ could see that ‘he’ was wrong. Shepherd should have been able to show ‘him’ that.

Thanks again.

PS: I’ve placed ‘Starchild’ in quotes because I dislike it being referred to in this way. At the end of 2001: A Space Odyssey, a starchild is created. It is far more benign creature, so I don’t like the association.

Sorry you had trouble with our DSL. Hopefully it’s not too late to help. I’ll be glad to offer my help. Just send me an email with your phone number and I’ll check things out for you. EMBARQ_Joey@embarq.com.

Thanks,

Joey H.
EMBARQ Customer Outreach
reachout@embarq.com