I’ve been with Mass Effect since the begging. For all its gameplay and technical foibles over the three games, the one thing that forgave all the shortcomings was the story. I remember looking at every scrap of information that crossed my screen in the original; going so far as to read up on codex entries regarding the Mass Relays and how the guns worked – info I didn’t need to know to complete the game. The history of the Mass Effect universe was not only written down, but truly felt as you progressed along your own version of the story. It’s rare that games pay this much attention to detail; rarer still that it would be, in its own right, interesting and compelling. I will always point to Mass Effect when I need an exemplar for Action-RPGs done right.
It’s unfortunate, therefore, that people are railing against what they perceive as a disappointing or even hollow ending to the tale of the Reaper invasion. They’re saying that every option you may choose from is somehow broken or short-changed – that for all the effort Shepard went to, each option has a downside which negates any satisfaction to be had. Worse still, they’re saying that the only difference between each ending is the colour of the energy cascade which rips through the Mass Relay system. I, however, see it differently.
From the moment Shepard commits the Alliance Fleet to the first battle of the final offensive, the endgame has begun. Not only does it firmly mark a point-of-no-return by removing the Citadel as an available location on the Galaxy Map, but from here on everything you’ve worked to achieve begins to fall into place. At this point, several key characters from Mass Effect 2 have sacrificed themselves for the war effort (each with very, very good death scenes, I might add), and you’ve no more chance to change things before the end cinematic.
I knew there would be fights ahead of me, and game yet to be played, but even without knowing how far I was from the credits, it felt as though the burden of being the universe’s only hope for survival had been lifted. There was only soldiering ahead of me. No more quests, or favours, or politics, or kowtowing. Just my remaining comrades and I putting in the blood to go with three years worth of sweat and tears.
I knew I was right when, just before the last push, Shepard is given the opportunity to speak with the characters I had kept alive during the Suicide Mission through the Collector Base. We shook hands. We exchanged well-wishes. We said that it had been an honour to have served, and to have known, one another. We said goodbye. It was all I ever needed to know about them – that they would stand with me at the final hour. As friends.
Eventually, you come to the three-way-choice that has so outraged the community. However, when you consider the story which has gone before this final decision, it makes sense that each of those options would come at a terrible cost. It makes sense that there should be no ‘happily ever after’ – with Shepard walking off into the sunset amongst a swathe of Reaper debris…
From the moment you begin shuffling towards your preferred endgame, you’ve had all the closure you could possibly need from the story you’ve crafted for yourself. You’ve lived to see your plans succeed. As many of your friends as you could protect are alive and fighting, and the number of War Assets and quests you’ve secured should paint you a pretty clear picture of how relationships will continue for at least the next generation. Now, the choice is about how the universe will continue from this point, and how you will be remembered.
I chose the Synergy option, and began to move towards the column of light rising from the Crucible. From the first step, I was concerned I’d made the wrong choice. But I kept going all the same. Just like the aforementioned friends who sacrificed themselves to achieve peace, it is only right that Shepard does the same. In giving herself totally to the eradication of the need for the Reapers, she can protect all life, forever. It may not be the chaotic and selfish form of life we know, but at least it would not be a threat to itself or the galaxy as a whole. To choose the destruction of all synthetic life is the same form of genocide that the Reapers extolled as the best method of control. To choose control over the Reapers is to leave a burning requirement for an eventual cleansing – along with the means to make it happen.
My choice was vindicated the moment Jeff stepped from the crippled form of the Normandy and then turned to offer a helping hand to EDI. This proved my choice absolutely right above all others. The playing field had been levelled but they the were still themselves, and had each other. Human and machine together – but also more together than they could ever have been under other circumstances. My endgame was that everybody lives. Everybody lives and there is no more need for Reapers or extinction events to keep the galaxy in balance.
I consider this a pretty epic finale to a very tough struggle. The Citadel V.I. even tells you that Synergy is the final evolution of organic life. It is ascension. And I achieved it for the cycle of Humans and Asari and Salarians and Krogans and Turians and more besides. My cycle. The cycle I’d fought for over three entire games. I’m not disappointed. I think that it’s likely the best ending you’d ever see for a story this massive.
The one thing I’m very glad they didn’t do is show us what happened to our favourite characters after the three-way choice. I’m very happy to make those assumptions for myself based on what I did over the course of the games. Heaven forbid they get it wrong, or worse, completely kneecap opportunities for adventure by showing the characters as old, decayed shadows of their former selves. JK Rowling made this mistake at the end of Harry Potter. I don’t think I’d have liked that very much at all in Mass Effect 3. And if you’ve invested in the games half as much as these nay-sayers are boasting they have; you’ll know enough to imagine your own aftermath – for better or worse.
And we should all count ourselves lucky that Garrus Vakarian didn’t have an unavoidable scripted death scene.