How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Mass Effect 3 Ending

After all the brouhaha I heard about the ending for Mass Effect 3, I was a little hesitant to actually complete the story.  I stayed spoiler-free (mostly), and eventually forged my way to the end after a long night and all-day playthrough today.

So, here is my official response to everyone that's calling for Bioware to change the ending to Mass Effect 3:

..|..

Yup, that's right: sod off.  Or more specifically, "Grow a quad emotionally and sod off, you mouth-breathing, keyboard-turning, cultuarlly-immature sacks of hot air."

I'm not saying the ending was a flawless dismount for Bioware's incredibly popular (and incredibly risky) space opera series, just that the criticisms I've seen don't hold water for anyone who appreciates storytelling that's more emotionally mature than, say, The Cat and The Hat.  Or the Twilight series.

Disagree with me?  GOOD.  Let's talk about it.

SPOILERS AHEAD.  YE HAVE BEEN WARNED. 

What's All The Fuss About?

The understand the complaints, you have to understand what happens at the end of ME3.  So here's the quick and dirty rundown to help you put it all into context.

Sheppard is presented with three different ways to use the Crucible superweapon and end the Reaper threat: 

- Control the Reapers to call off their attacks

- Destroy the Reapers and all other synthetic life in the galaxy (sorry, geth)

- Synthesize all life in the galaxy, changing it to a combination of synthetic and organic and thus removing the central conflict.

In all three cases, Sheppard dies* and a cutscene plays out.  Energy pours out of the Crucible/Citadel superweapon and into the mass relay system, spreading Sheppard's decision across the galaxy but destroying the mass relays in the process.  Joke and the Normandy are shown trying to outrun the wave, only to crash-land on a garden world somewhere.  Crew members crawl out of the wreckage blinking in to the sunlight, and the credits roll.

* - If you chose Destruction and have a very high amount of war assets, another cutscene plays after this that shows a scene of smashed metal presumably aboard the destroyed Citadel, with an N7 dog tag hanging off it.  A bulkhead suddenly shifts, a gasping breath is heard, and then it goes to black.  Bastards.

The Movement

Several factors about that ending caused an uproar among ME3 fans.  The chief complaint is that killing Sheppard off, crashing the crew on a remote world, and essentially marooning the entire galaxy through the destruction of the Mass Relays ruins any chance of furthering the franchise and player's continuing adventures with their version of Commander Sheppard.

Out of this dissatisfaction have come a number of movements from people trying to get Bioware to change the ending of the game, either through DLC or some other means.  Bioware has responded, saying that any single-player DLC would include fan feedback.  This raises some interesting possibilities about just how Bioware could possibly change the endings, or if they didn't how they move the story forward after Sheppard isn't around to be the central character anymore.

I have a problem with the criticisms being put forth about the game for this reason:  they're not critical of the plot holes in the ending (If Joker and the Normandy were at Earth fighting, why did they have a big enough head-start on the Crucible shockwave to attempt to outrun it?  And why does it make them crash, if it doesn't make the bajillion other ships around Earth crash?), or critical of the fact that the cutscenes are largely imitations of itself with a few swapped colors and textures.

No, the complaints are about the fact that the story ended at all.  They don't want Sheppard to dissolve in a beam of light and change the fate of the galaxy: they want Sheppard to walk into that beam, come out the other side, then crack wise with Garrus before throwing Liara over their shoulder and jaunting off to the captain's cabin.  Even though Mass Effect 2 had a dire suicide mission at the end, it was possible to get everyone out alive by a combination of min-maxing and strategic mission selection, and that's the ending these players expected to be able to get.

Instead, they are given three difficult choices that end in heartbreak one way or the other, and they rush to the internet to cry foul for being forced to feel something.

Grow Up 

I agree that the ending cinematics weren't perfect encapsulations of the player's journey and consequences.  They don't even show everything that's warned about, like the geth being wiped out in the Destruction choice or just what the Reapers do after Sheppard takes control of them. A big, flashing image of Sheppard's face with them shouting "ASSUMING CONTROL" as they took over Harbinger would have been very cathartic.

To add further variation, more could also have been done to incorporate shades of the player's Paragon / Renegade choices into the three endings.  A Renegade that chooses the Destruction option might have indeed fulfilled the Catalyst's predictions, replacing the cycle of Reaper harvesting with ever-escalating war between synthetics and organics (my money would still have been on the krogan).  A Paragon, meanwhile, might have inspired the galaxy through their example to develop synthetic life carefully and with an eye toward co-existence instead of domination.

But as for the other consequences, I stand by Bioware's decision to present the choices they did and ask Sheppard to make the ultimate sacrifice in all of them.  Going back now and changing that would only cheapen the emotional impact of the series, an impact that is necessary for both the video game industry and players to experience if the medium is to grow beyond simple wish-fulfillment and escapism.

Let the Sheppards of the galaxy rest, Bioware.  They have definitely earned their reward.