Mass Effect 3 Extended Cut - A Disappointed Fan Responds
In his farewell Javik told my Shepard that she was the 'avatar' of all life. That everyone and everything in the universe was looking to her and at her at that very moment. That She was a symbol of all that existence could, and will, become it is from her metaphorical blood that a new generation will emerge. Even the Illusive Man, while cursing her name in a video feed said that he respected that Shepard's beliefs never wavered. She would do what she believed in, no matter the cost, no matter what the circumstance. And then the game places before her three atrocities cooked up by the guy who has been strangling the life out of the universe and demands that she go along with one. Her legacy is to be a sycophant to the sociopath who eons ago lost himself down a perverted path of malformed altruism. Not to shut him down. Not to expose the horror of his actions to him, nor argue him back to sense. To agree that his ways (destruction or control) or his wildest fantasies (* sparkles just-makes-everyones-the-sames rainbows *) are the only way forward for life. We've spent hundreds of hours fighting against such twisted ideals, and now we must not only suffer one of them, but wholly embrace it. Make it our own choice. The Reapers get to stand over us even metaphorically in their deaths shouting 'Stop hitting yourself! Stop hitting yourself! Stop hitting yourself! What? Gonna cry?' Hope it ain't. To give them credit, Bioware did ultimately let me reject the three endings that I continued to see as repellent, but the price was that I was no longer permitted to exist in their world anymore. Indeed, they vowed to torch it all down rather they let me spend another second there: 'The universe ends now. You can see your own way out.' As the credits rolled and I saw the creators names pass by all I could feel is that it would have been nice if they had have let me know all this three games ago: that I, and my dorky little ideals, weren't welcome. Bioware disabused me of my misconception that I was even part of their vision. I guess I was just fuel for that purging fire that the Catalyst wanted to unleash upon the galaxy too mired in my primitive hopes and faith to exist in his new galactic order. But I guess if I hadn't taken the ride I would never have enjoyed such rich characters. And it's true: you can't grieve for something if you didn't love it first.