I'm compelled to post about this. I don't think I'll be saying anything new, but just saying it might make me feel better.
Game journalism bitches and moans about not being taken seriously. Real journalists don't take it seriously. Gamers bitch and moan about games not being regarded as an art form. Art critics don't necessarily regard video games as art. It's easy to imagine them scoffing at the idea. My beef is not with art critics; it's with game journalists.
Game journalists are missing a rare opportunity with the Mass Effect 3 ending controversy. By and large, their response has been this and this(don't get me started on the "ninja turtles are aliens" part. Actually even if you do, I'll just agree with MovieBob I think. He's normally pretty on top of things). Fans have been saying this. See the disconnect? It's vast. It's so vast, it's impossible for dialogue to happen. Game journalists have, by and large, told fans of the game to shut up. (I know MovieBob is not a game journalist, but he weighed in on the issue and that makes him fair game.) Some fans have responded in untempered rage calling for mass firings and other unbelievably unreasonable things. Now, I agree that they should at least calm down. Other fans have started the Retake Mass Effect movement, and I don't like the wording of that. It presumes quite a bit. Other fans have bought cupcakes for Bioware, the makers of the game.
This is the time for game journalism to shine. This is a gaming issue, and game journalists have shown their ineptitude. Why the grand disconnect? What happened to create such a divisive ending? What happened at Bioware? Was this due to the game being leaked before the release? Was a new ending rushed? Did EA pressure Bioware into making the ending some kind of purchasable DLC to generate more revenue? Who's asking this? Who should be? Game journalists. Instead, they're saying this. Wah waaaah.
At least other journalists are getting into the fray and being reasonable. I suppose, being reasonable is agreeing with me. Yeah. Yeah, it is. I'm reasonable. I don't want the artitstc integrity of the game's writers to be compromised, but I can't deny that there are serious issues with the ending. Vast disconnects of logic, philosophy, and plot holes on a grand scale. Direct contradictions to the rest of the game. Let alone the fact that no matter what you do, the ending is basically the same, removing all choice from the player and negating all of the choices you've made to this point. Also, in Mass Effect 2's DLC Arrival, Shepard destroyed an entire system by blowing up a mass relay. If all the mass relays blow up, all the planets I sacrificed so much for or fought so hard to secure are obliterated, INCLUDING EARTH. I cause more destruction in ten minutes than my enemies could in 100 years. There's a little geek rage for you. Sorry about geeking out like that.
If you've followed my myriad of links, you're as familiar with this issue as I am. I think there should be changes made to the ending, and I trust Bioware to make them. I'm sure they'll make an otherwise fantastic game only better. Whether they go with the indoctrination theory or not, I know it will be better than what we got. I didn't mean for that to rhyme, but I'm okay with it. And the rest of the game is so good. It is SO GOOD. Whatever the ending will be, we'll know more about it in April. And it might not suck.
