Wednesday 4 July 2012

Yes, yes, ME3's Extended Cut.

Quite a few want me to do an analysis of the EC.  I'm sure I'll get to it.  But believe me, there are way more interesting things than having to sludge through more Bioware-anything these days.

Upon learning you can "reject" the Starchild's illogical, insane ramblings via casual gunshot to his hologram (?), I was suddenly reminded of this wonderful deviantart post about one fan's interpretation of how the conversation with the Starchild should have gone.

http://arkis.deviantart.com/art/Mass-Effect-3-Alternate-Endings-SPOILERS-289902125

The fellow isn't some grand writer or master storyteller, but his Refusal ending is not only leagues ahead of what was given -- twice over I remind you -- it was simple.  It made sense.  Shepard is in character.  This is the problem no one understands about the writing team in the last 10 minutes; it's so painfully obvious on how to fix this thing without changing anything, and simply letting Shepard be Shepard (and not the static brick who goes wherever the plot takes him, or tells him to go.)

And that's all that the story demanded.  A Shepard to acknowledge the insanity.  To go "WTF?" to the complete insanity of the ending.  A Shepard that didn't betray himself, the audience or the galaxy.  Where he doesn't become a genocidal dictator, or become the enemy who will eventually succumb to absolute power, and most especially, doesn't jump into a giant glowing pile of nonsensical magical-flowing-shit to somehow infinite-energy-massless-explosion-nano-virus-gene-therapy every living cell in existence.  He's just a soldier doing the impossible, and these days, it seems that involves rejecting all the shit Bioware's now apparently peer-reviewed "fixed" ending gave.  (I can guarantee no one reviewed anything with so much as a care for logic or reason.)

Bioware had the opportunity to fix things.  Instead, they doubled down.  An expansion could have wiped the shit clean where it ended and then added with logic, reason, real drama, and resolution, through Shepard's rejection of it.  Like how he rejected Saren, TIM, Harbinger?

But boy, do I love the dichotomy this has brought to fans.  You can easily tell the brain dead, tasteless folk from the ones who are even more angry.  Little do the "emotionally satisfying" crowds not understand that in order to have emotion, you need thought.  Drama exists in several ways, but there has to be a number of things for it to work; cherry picking the narrative -- and turning off parts of your brain -- is obviously not effective storytelling.  Fans are looking for something to justify their attachment to this series, and now that the Indoctrination Theory is finally over with, they have to rationalize their passions without making themselves feel like idiots, by wearing their blinder-bias as a shield.  Instead, they really should be blaming the creators and their lies, lack of creativity, inane logic, and overall piss-poor work.

Face it: we're all idiots.  We've been had.  We've been lied to.  And we're still wasting our time on this bunk.  And it's not just the ending that's the problem.  It's the fans fueling this cacophony of rubbish; with this addition, you can't even call it mediocre anymore.

It was intentionally made by hacks.

7 comments:

  1. So, the grand question:

    What's coming next? Human Revolution, Alpha Protocol or Torment?
    Or even better, lessons on plot analysis and creative writing?

    ReplyDelete
  2. I really liked this article, much like I do most your work so I won't expect any spit-takes from you.

    My favorite part about the article is when you mentioned the fact we've all been had. The only chance of redemption died the moment "artistic integrity" was first uttered, and the EC was a useless perfunctory attachment of "and the plot thinens..." I'm not even going to get into the visual metaphor of a bitchslap their rejection ending was.

    I seriously want to read what you plan on covering next. As much as I loved all your analysis on the Mass Effect series, I'm practically writhing at the thought of any more coverage on this obvious, reiterated problem. To put it crudely: Someone constantly elaborating on how you got screwed will not somehow un-dick your asshole.

    I understand you have fans and followers who want more of this, and a thousand praises to you for doing right by them, but I can sympathize with your frustrations on the matter. Regardless of how much I'm exhausted on the topic, I know you'll actually finish what you start and see this thing through.

    Though we're indeed all idiots in this debacle, you sir are a respectable idiot.

    ReplyDelete
  3. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I fully agree with your article, smudboy (or Stefan would be better, i guess?).
    Especially loved this one piece:
    "But boy, do I love the dichotomy this has brought to fans. You can easily tell the brain dead, tasteless folk from the ones who are even more angry. Little do the "emotionally satisfying" crowds not understand that in order to have emotion, you need thought. Drama exists in several ways, but there has to be a number of things for it to work; cherry picking the narrative -- and turning off parts of your brain -- is obviously not effective storytelling. Fans are looking for something to justify their attachment to this series, and now that the Indoctrination Theory is finally over with, they have to rationalize their passions without making themselves feel like idiots, by wearing their blinder-bias as a shield. Instead, they really should be blaming the creators and their lies, lack of creativity, inane logic, and overall piss-poor work."
    I have been following your videos on youtube for some time.
    Have to admit, really liked those plot analyses of yours. Interesting, thoughtfull, funny.
    Keep up the good work. :)
    P.S. Sorry, if i've done mistake in writing. I'm not native speaker, but i'm learning. :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. By the way, smudboy. Have you played The Walking Dead by Telltale Games? That's an interesting game for you to analyze. I have my own perceptions of what's going wrong with it but it would be nice to watch your take on it. Besides, the game is getting out in episodes, and each one of those could fit in one of your videos.

    Tell me what you think if you have the time ;)

    ReplyDelete
  6. I actually think "Break the Cycle" is a much greater slogan and much more fitting than "Take Earth back" seriously Earth was mentioned what? 2 times in the other ME games? Or maybe even once and now it's this important crap, seriously I give up on Mass Effect, it's a lost cause anyways

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. BUT WHO WILL SAVE DAT CHILDREN YOU KNEW FOR 20 SECONDS?? HOW CAN WE IGNORE THE MOST HEARTWREAKING MOMENT OF THE GAM....NO, THE ENTIRE SERIES??

      Delete